White Silence [Naruto Fanfiction]

V • So Close Yet So Far

Previously:

Kabuto jumped away, siding with Sasori. Which was strange until a couple words were exchanged and Kabuto's hand lit up in blue and he cut straight into Yamato's disguise, destroying it.

Yamato jumped away, and before Orochimaru's snakes could grab him, he planted a substitution, landing in a crouch a few feet away.

Great. So this is how it was going to play out.

***

"Gah! Be a little more rough, please!"

"Sorry..."

After what felt like an eternity of ducking and dodging and pushing Sakura out of danger's way, possibly the worst battle Yosuga had ever fought in (if you could even consider it fighting) was finally over. Yosuga really wanted to be happy she had even been able to toe to toe with Kabuto for a short time, but the overall lack of fighting left her antsy and pretty frustrated. Especially considering how she somehow ended up being the only one with any kind of physical injury.

"This is so fucking lame," she muttered, laying on her back in the grass as Sakura tried to heal the wound on her thigh. It hurt. A lot. And she knew exactly why it hurt to much and so did Sakura and so did Yamato. But that was a conversation for later. Or never. "Ah! Jeez!"

"Sorry!" Sakura cries for a umpteenth time since she began healing her wound. Naruto and Yamato had gone off to discuss "battle plans" (which was a complete lie, and everyone knew) so it left Sakura and Yosuga alone in the forest clearing. Sai, to everyone's surprise but Yosuga's had ran off with Orochimaru.

Okay, so maybe it was a bit of a surprise to her, but she knew something was up with him from the beginning, so she'd like to give herself a little credit for not trusting that slug.

"Why did it have to be me..." Yosuga whined, which- yes, she did push Sakura out of the way to take the blow instead, therefore completely expecting this to happen, but she was feeling a little dramatic. "I'm a good person. I do good things," she reasoned. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I get the feeling you might be milking it now..." she grumbled, but continued to heal Yosuga.

"I'm not! It really does hurt!" The green haired kunoichi argued.

"Mmm... this is pretty slow to heal... the best I can do for now is try to take the pain away. I'm sorry I can't do more," Sakura trailed off, sitting back on her legs. The pain in Yosuga's leg had started to go away, clearing her mind a bit more. "I'm sorry you're hurt because of me."

Yosuga had to resist the urge to roll her eyes, sitting up to look Sakura in the face. Except the pinkette wouldn't look at her. She frowned.

"Everything I do, I do it because I want to. Because I'm ready to take on the consequences. This wasn't any different." And that was pretty much all Yosuga could give her. "This isn't your fault."

Sakura's frown didn't go away, but she looked up at Yosuga and nodded. That would be good enough for now.

Sakura looked back down to the wound on her thigh. "Does it still hurt?" She asked. It did, a little.

"No." Yosuga shook her head. "All better." She smiled. She knew Sakura would at least feel better if she smiled. Sakura took in a deep breath, nodding.

"Okay."

***

Something inside Yosuga boiled at the thought of seeing Sasuke again. A part of her knew why, but another part of her wished she could react the same way as Sakura and Naruto. She watched them stare at the rock formation that was supposedly Orochimaru's secret base. They held anticipation and determination in their eyes. They were excited to see Sasuke. To take him home. Yosuga was... dreading it. She wanted to be able to forget the pain he had caused her just like her teammates had appeared to, but the image of him turning his back on her as she cried out to him was too vivid and too raw to try and numb the feeling it gave her.

"This... this is it..." she tried to sound enthusiastic. Tried to force emotion into her voice so they wouldn't figure out how much she didn't want to face him. It didn't work, but Sakura and Naruto didn't seem to notice either way. They were focused on Sasuke.

Naruto was ready to jump right in, as always, but Yamato stopped him, holding out his hands.

"Before we go, eat these," he gestured to the seeds in his palms. "They're trackers. This way if we get separated, no matter where you are, I'll be able to find you." Yosuga found it strangely comforting, so she took one and ate it. Sakura and Naruto followed suit with wary looks on their faces.

They decided they would enter the secret base by digging a tunnel a few yards away and quietly moved in. Yosuga's stomach churned the entire time.

"Yosuga?" Sakura whispered to her when Yosuga paused, making sure Yamato and Naruto were out of earshot. "You okay?"

Yosuga hesitated. When it came to this- to Sasuke- she found it hard to lie. "I... I'll be fine." She rubbed at her bandages and continued forward. "It's just... last time I saw him- I don't know why I'm freaking out so much."

"I know it's weird, but his actions last time you met shows that he still cares. If not about all of us, then at least you. And right now, that's all we need to get him back," Sakura reasoned. And it made sense- a lot of sense, but it didn't make her stomach stop somersaulting with every step she shook.

The last time she saw Sasuke was a little over a year ago. Back when she had yet to meet her team. Back when her hair was a little longer. Back when the burn covered with bandages on her arm was new.

"What were you doing in the woods?" He had asked when she woke up in a hotel bed instead of in the middle of the woods where she fell asleep.

He had said it so casually, like it was no big deal that he was standing there in front of her, when the last time they had seen each other was when he abandoned her. It made Yosuga's blood boil.

She had screamed at him to get out. To stay away from her. He had listened, but for some reason it still left a bitter taste on her tongue. Because seeing him meant that everything leading up to that moment in the hotel was real, and she didn't just dream it. It meant the burn mark on her arm wasn't the result of an accident during a friendly spar.

A part of her wondered if Sakura was right- that Sasuke really did care about her. Would he have helped her if he didn't? But would he have left her if he did? Did it even really matter if he was now with Orochimaru?

Yosuga sucked in a breath, looking Sakura in the eyes.

"Let's find this brat and bring him back, yeah?"

———-

Y'all really out here writing battle scenes? Couldn't be me!

Whew! I really waited like 8 months to post a chapter huh? Sorry, I kinda lost interest in Naruto and pretty much this whole book for a while :/

But I ended up redownloading wattpad and saw you guys still reading and commenting and it made me feeling bad for abandoning you so here I am!! Back to uploading!

Tell me you missed me. I need the validation✨