𝕥𝕨𝕠 𝕠𝕗 𝕒 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕 ➱ ｎａｒｕｔｏ ｕｚｕｍａｋｉ

𝟐𝟎: 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰'𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞: 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 & 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

MICHIRU wakes suddenly, wakes to the sound of breathing that isn't her own. It's heaving, like a man and rapid as if he's running. to her surprise, both sasuke and naruto were sound asleep besides one another.

i wonder what happened..

her eyes take in every ray of light and without a doubt she knows she's slept too long. she lies so still, breathing shallow--every thought in high definition as she adjusts to the wooden surroundings.

with slow and steady movements, she sits up-- this gaining attention from the half asleep pinkette.

"you shouldn't be moving around-- you're wounds are still healing.."

michiru rose unsteadily to her feet, it was against sakura's orders to be moving right now but she needed to wash and treat the wound and she'd have to have both legs broken before she'd ask for assistance with that.

but sakura didn't seem to get the hint, she rushed to the fiery haired girl and took her weight onto herself— michiru reluctantly wrapping her arm around.

"--you don't have to be so closed off. we're all a team and here for each other.."

michiru stared into sakura's eyes, determined not to look away first. she was certain that she knew she was trying to hide something, but still she was determined to fool her. she contorted her lips into an awkward, toothy smile, but her cheeks were not so compromising. she could feel their reluctance to be molded falsely.

"be there for them", she nodded towards the unconscious boys, "i'm capable of handling a little cut."

she slipped her arm, along with the rest of her, away from haruno.

when sakura finally averted her gazed, uzumaki's smile fell lifeless, allowing her face to return to its usual cold hard gawk.

"--i'll be back."

⁂

from a distance the waterfall had been like a silent white stream cascading over the rocky outcrops. as she had drawn closer, the noise had increased steadily until michiru was only a few hundred meters away.

the mud and grit had become enmeshed with raw pink flesh and was spotted with blood. one thing was for sure, it was going to be very painful to clean and michiru's clothing weren't helping.

alright, let's get this over with

closer still she drew until she was in the plume of water vapor that hung over the plunge pool and in only minutes she was as wet as she would have been in any rainstorm. damp strands of red hair clung to her head and around her face.

she grimacing as she rubbed her body clean.

a few minutes later she'd wrapped it up as was nearly on her way.

the ache is a dull, as if some lazy torturer is standing right behind her, only applying enough pressure to be an annoyance. it sits there, just to the side of the right shoulder blade toward the spine.

after the cleaning process, uzumaki refilled the canteens then limped back to camp.

she couldn't move without a plant touching her skin. everything she loved about the forest just elevated her heart rate and killed her logical thinking capacity. the sheer denseness of the foliage had made her feel cozied, like in all this space she could still be snug. the thousands of noises had crashed over her as refreshing as any waterfall, overriding her senses and setting her brain.

the pain has an unpleasant warmth to it, eating at her stomach. there's nausea too, just enough to make her hold onto the trees for support and breath slow. she's often prized herself in ignoring pain and just rocking on regardless, but that just isn't possible right now. it owns michiru, dominates her every thought, controls every action.

once it seemed like she passed the same trees for the past ten minutes, michiru grew suspicious. it wasn't often that the girl found herself lost-- since navigation had come naturally to her.

this must be some kind of genjutsu

michiru's wide-open eyes move with pointless speed, she want to see blue sky and space all around - not these iridescent arms that grope and lofty limbs that blot out even a patch of blue. even the warm air, so reminiscent of saunas, has come to feel like soup in her chest. she would run but she didn't know which direction to take.

"what a pain.."

—

after what seemed like hours, she'd finally returned to the temporary camp-- only to find her squad distraught and some stragglers. her eyes landed on sasuke and sakura-- the girl was bruised and had gotten a haircut in the time she had left.

naruto..

michiru's initial instinct was to locate her brother, and to her surprise he was still asleep.

"--somebody outta kick him awake.. this is embarrassing."

" can i do it?"

"i'd appreciate it if you didn't."

shikamaru and choji were startled at the sound of the female's voice, the both of them creating space for her. michiru hobbled over to her brother's still body-- retrieving the filled canteen, she spilled the contents of it onto his face.

he woke with a jolt, "what was that for?"

she ignored him, her focus on the other boys.

"someone want to fill me in?"