Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 18

-Matsuri's POV-

A smile tugged at my lips as I jogged, my breath making puffy little wisps in the cold air. Hinata woke up yesterday, and Sakura woke up in the middle of the night last night, so my friends were out of immediate danger, finally.

"Can you believe it? We were laying right next to them!"

I looked over to see Ino complaining about something to Tenten, who looked amused. The blond caught my curious gaze and gave me a look that said she hoped I would give her a better reaction than our other friend just had, "Sakura and Sasuke woke us up last night!"

A warm blush met my cheeks, "Woke you up how?" I knew the answer before she gave me an incredulous look.

"They were fucking right next to you? That's baller! I didn't think the Uchiha had it in him," I turned my head to see Kankuro and Kiba, the former being the one to speak.

Ino laughed loudly, "Sakura? Fucking? Hell no! They were messing around, though."

Tenten finally cut in, "Are you sure it's not just a misunderstanding? Neither of them seems the type to do that kind of thing."

Sai chimed in from ahead of us, "Actually, this kinda thing is on-brand for him."

Tenten shook her head, "But surely Sakura wouldn't do that, right? I mean, Ino, come on. You know her better than any of us."

The blond shrugged, "I mean, if I didn't see her on top of him like that, I wouldn't believe it, but I did," an almost proud look came to her face, "My baby is growing up and exploring her urges. Gah, I'm gonna cry."

Almost everyone laughed, even the couple of others running ahead who were simply listening rather than joining the conversation. Tenten caught my gaze and teased me, "What about you, Matsuri?"

A few others turned to look at me expectantly, and I glared at the tall young woman with a red face, "What about me?"

Ino responded, catching on, "How far have you and Gaara gone?"

My blush heightened further, and I opened my mouth to deny her accusation, only for Kankuro to interrupt, "Whoa, hold up! You're telling me Gaara's getting more action than me?" Everyone glanced back to see the boy in question glaring at his sibling as he jogged behind us.

I.

Was.

Mortified.

I reached over and slapped the older Subaku boy and glared when he grinned wolfishly at me, "It's not like that. Stop it!"

He snickered, leaning forward slightly without slowing down his pace and speaking in a joking tone, "Wanna test which brother's better?"

His sister yelled ahead of us, "You're such a pig, Kankuro!" Those around us laughed. I was interrupted again by the unmistakable sound of a bullet narrowly missing and flying past.

We scattered without a word, and everyone quickly found something to use for cover. I only had a handheld taser on my person, so I was useless in a long-distance battle, but Sai, Ino, and Tenten all had handguns. The only people back at the house were Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke, and Shikamaru.

Across the street, I saw a few others trying to peek and catch a glimpse of where the shooter was and followed their lead. As close to the ground as possible, I crawled forward to peek around the edge of the truck I was hiding behind and frantically searched where the shot had come from.

Another bullet flew by, but it wasn't as close, so I didn't flinch and instead narrowed down the location it'd come from. Whoever it was was using a silencer because the sound was much quieter than it should've been. I was confident the attacker was in one of two houses. I swiftly sprinted across the road and dove behind the house Temari and Neji were using for cover before creeping around its side, slowly pulling the taser out of my pocket in case I needed it. The two inferred that I'd located the bad guy and silently shadowed me.