Quote of the chapter: "It's never too late to be what you might have been." -Anonymous
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cнαpтer 19
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Once all of the things are packed up, they headed during broad daylight. Sakura had to hurry in finding all of her missing items thanks to the people who took her. With her fragile possessions she decided to bring the blanket and place it under the medicines for safe-keeping.
Hours passsed when they had reached the outskirts of the village and it was too far to turn back.
While they were sprinting, they all felt fazed with their surroundings. There was a slight sense of heat, despite the cold breeze due to the waterfalls around and the view seems faded to add up.
In an instant, a smoke bomb appeared as Kakashi extended his arms to alert his teammates to stop and step back.
Once the fog cleared, a bunch of men emerged as a man with black coat became noticable, being the head of the team.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked, however there was no response other than uteer silence.
Judging by their looks, they seemed to be acquainted with the men that they killed, who also took Sakura in jeopardy.
"Reinforcements." Sasuke stated.
"That is one heck of a threeday-late reinforcement." Naruto commented as he scratched his head.
In response, the man with dark clothing raised his hand as fire erupted from the ground and they knew that they were in no position to release their ultimate skills-because they need information.
The team broke into two groups as they fought. Naruto summoned multiple clones to defeat half of them all at once. Kakashi did not use his sharingan to avoid leaking details.
On the other hand, Sakura used her close combat skills with a pinch of super human strength, just enough to lead the enemies unconcsious while Sasuke released his katana and sliced the throats of the opponents that passed by him.
Not longer enough, the man who has the capability to control fire casted fiery flames as the whole team was set apart due to the outburst.
On the brighter side, more than half of the enemies were left off laying on the ground.
Naruto was dropped into the lake and Kakashi masked himself as soon as he heard the upcoming eruption. Sasuke, who was near Sakura, grabbed her by the waist and dashed to the nearest hiding spot just when the fire was released.
They both landed into a waterfall which had a cave behind it. The entrance of the cave cannot be seen due to the huge amount of water that was descending.
Sakura groaned as she was on top of Sasuke. When she noticed this, she immediately rose up and helped him sit up to lean at the wall.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know-"
"It's okay, just shut up." He grunted angrily and by his difficulty to speak.
Sakura realized that Sasuke was hurt. He had an injury, including the fact that his back was hurt because of their rough landing.
"You're hurt." She murmured as she held the hem of his shirt. "Aren't you?"
"No." Sasuke hissed.
"Let me heal you, it's my job. And who knows, maybe you'd die because of blood loss sooner or later with that injury."
Sasuke gave her a long stare and Sakura turned back to get her pack. He gave his consent by removing his hand at the wound on the side of his belly as he took of his shirt.
Once Sakura returned, she gaped. This is the first time that she saw Sasuke's well-built body so of course she could not avoid staring. Thankfully, she was a medic so she has seen various men with perfectly toned abdomen which means she had enough practice on her self-control to stop staring.
His large wound was caused by the flames that the man had sent and it was more fearsome than Sakura had thought.
After she treated the first-aid, she used her healing abilities on the injury to recover easily.
Silence took over the atmosphere once again until the heavy rain had dropped which lead to a colder weather.
"Come to think of it," Sakura began to which caught Sasuke's attention. "I never got know why you didn't stay in Konoha after the war. Or rather, why you chose to be in the shadows and be black knight?"
"I payed back my sins. For every innocent man I killed, I put a criminal to justice."
Though, Sakura was still drowning in curiosity so she pressed. "But why did you have to hide? What's holding you back?"
Begrudgingly, Sasuke answered. "My purpose." He said with a stern expression. "That is what's holding me back, that's what I've been searching for all those years."
Sakura thought for a moment before replying. "So, have you found anything?"
Sasuke glanced at her. "In fact, yes I did."
"Good then." She remarked as she finished healing his wound. He patched him up with enough bandage that she had.
And with the rain, Sakura recalled the blanket she got. She gropped the thick cloth at the bottom of her bag as she gently placed it on Sasuke. It frankly got Sasuke surprised by the sudden action as Sakura crawled over across his side, leaning on the wall with her eyes shutting down.
"Let's take a rest first then leave the first thing tomorrow." She hugged her legs whle she mumble, holding back her shivers from the cold wind.
Just then, Sakura felt warmth which stopped her from shivering. "W-What are you doing?" She asked when Sasuke got up and started to place a pile of wood from the side of the entrance.
"You're freezing."
"I am most certainly not."
"Your teeth is chattering."
Sakura could not think of a better reply because it was true. "You should rest, you're not in the position to be-"
"Sakura?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
And so she did.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!" Sasuke remarked as he blew fire from his mouth and into the wood.
They were deep into the cage so the brightness of the fire cpuld not be seen from the waterfall.
"Thanks." Sakura said when he sat down from where his position was before. Then Sakura stood up and gave the blanket. "But you're the one who got injured."
Sasuke pulled Sakura down beside her. "And you're the medic, but you're still stupid to not even know body heat could refrain from getting sickness."
"Well that is true, but are you sure about this? I mean..." Sakura was at loss for words at that time.
"Better than getting ill."
Sakura agreed and as soon as the weather got even colder, the more they had to move nearer until their forearms touch. Sakura unconsciously layed her head on Sasuke's shoulder as Sasuke locked his head on Sakura's and they both dozed off into deep slumber.
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As soon as the rain stopped, all of them had meet up at their meeting point near Konoha. Sakura and Sasuke did not speak any of that happened after the fight, only Naruto bragged about his adventure.
"Then I was thrown to the lake!" He remarked with a couple of sound effects coming from his mouth. "After that, I was rescued by a beautiful angel that-ouch! Sakura-chan, I was getting to the best part dattebayo!"
Sakura rotated her wrist after smacking Naruto right at the head. "We all know you made that up, baka."
Naruto pouted with his half-lidded eyes stuck at Sakura as if it was giving her poison. "That's no fun."
"Alright, enough you two." Kakashi patted both their heads as he suggested. "I'll be treating you to Ichiraku if you would-"
"Yosh, all you can eat ramen and it's on Kaka-sensei! Let's go!" Naruto dashed off to Ichiraku when they reached the gates of Konoha.
Sasuke followed the dobe's trails slowly. "You're dead." He told Kakashi with a smug look plastered at his face and Sakura continued.
"Good luck on that, Kaka-sensei. You won't be able to buy the mini book of your favorite book." Sakura teased as she happily left him by the gate.
"Kids these days..." Kakashi muttered after sulking when he checked his wallet.
END OF CHAPTER 19
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//PUBLISHED.5.19.15//
Short chap, yeah it's a bit boring lol
Thanks for reading, voting & commenting, very much appreciated! ^^
:)
~TheSketcher