Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen:
Sweat drips down Sasuke's back.
It's warm and the air is humid, sweltering from the heat of his failed attempts at a new fire ninjutsu. Close by, Sakura is also engrossed in her training, her eyes shut tight in concentration as she holds her hands in the inu sign. A faint cloud of chakra forms above her.
To Sasuke's surprise, Sakura manages to summon a few raindrops before she ends the jutsu, collapsing onto the ground, exhausted and gasping for breath. Kakashi commends her all the same, showering her with praise. "Well done, Sakura-chan. You've truly impressed Sensei.”
Sakura responds with a muttered retort, rolling onto her back and covering her eyes with her arm. "Yeah, right. Can't you find someone else to bother?" she complains. "Maybe Sasuke needs adjustments to his stance, or Naruto needs another one of your vague explanations.”
“Maa,” Kakashi feigns being upset, placing his hand over his heart, or where it should be. Sasuke isn't entirely certain if his sensei possesses one. His useless mentor declares, "Go with the flow is a perfectly valid explanation!”
Sasuke can't hold back a snort, unable to suppress his remark. "I highly doubt that," he mumbles to himself. As he absentmindedly scratches at the faint yet fresh burn marks tracing along his arm, he contemplates the ongoing training that has now entered its second day. While both he and Sakura are making gradual progress, Sasuke is acutely aware of Naruto's struggles, left to face them alone.
He wants to help, but he doesn't know how. The more he thinks about it, the worse he feels. Ever since the moment he agreed to summon a wolf and experienced the overwhelming, possessive weight of Naruto's seal etched onto his neck, even if only temporarily, something dormant within Sasuke has been stirred.
He despises it. Utterly loathes it. The fact that he now feels powerless, all because he's developing a soft spot for his seemingly inadequate teammates, is something he can't fathom or accept.
It's pathetic. Truly. Sasuke has no use for these sentimental emotions or his imbecilic teammates. All he requires is himself and the path that leads him to revenge. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Except…
An ache begins to manifest in his chest. Sasuke ceases his scratching of the burn marks and places a hand over his heart, scowling. What the fuck is this?
“Your scent is souring,” Sakura comments, standing to her feet. “What's wrong?”
Sasuke can sense the piercing gaze of the girl fixed upon his back. Even worse, he can feel Kakashi edging closer, as if preparing to examine him for any signs of serious injury.
"I'm fine," Sasuke replies, turning to face his teammate and sensei. "I was just... thinking."
"Thinking ," Kakashi echoes, tilting his head inquisitively.
Sasuke clenches his teeth. "About Naruto," he explains, feeling akin to a lamb cornered by a ravenous predator. He curls his hand into his shirt, right over his heart. No. Really. What the fuck is this feeling? "He's..."
"Different," Sakura interjects, blinking softly. A gentle breeze tousles her pink locks and rustles the hem of her red dress.. "Yeah, I've noticed.”
“He's nothing like he was at the academy,” Sasuke admits, his throat tightening. “He's quiet and distant. He's cold.”
"Perhaps," Kakashi muses, "he's grown weary of pretending to be someone he's not.”
Sakura’s brow furrows. “Doesn’t everyone do that?” She asks, genuinely curious. “Doesn't everyone pretend to be someone else to appease the people around them?”
Sasuke's heart hammers behind his ribcage. He's got a team full of fucking liars. How is it that his teammates and his terrible sensei hide behind facades, projecting an illusion of normalcy, while he, someone who struggles to comprehend social dynamics, wears his heart on his sleeve? It defies logic.
"Not everyone," Kakashi says softly, his tone gentle. "Only a select few." He raises his hand and playfully tousles Sakura's pink hair. "Mostly jounin and ANBU, but not children." He crouches down, his hand now resting on the side of Sakura's neck, causing her to squirm. "Is there something you need to share with your sensei?"
Sakura scoffs. "I'll start talking about my feelings when Naruto does.”
"So, never?" Sasuke mutters, smoothing out the wrinkles in his high-collared shirt. Beads of sweat trickle down the side of his temple, tracing the curve of his cheek and finding their way to the hollow between his collarbones. He clenches his fists by his sides. "Whatever," he dismisses, losing interest in the conversation. He turns away, leaving the small training field to venture into the depths of the forest. "I'm going to find Naruto.”
A coolness envelops Sasuke as he moves beneath the shade of overlapping trees. He inhales deeply, detecting the scent of sea salt and sunshine, as if Naruto were born and raised by the seaside. He effortlessly leaps over a thicket of thick bushes, following Naruto's scent. Unsurprisingly, Sakura soon catches up, running to join him at his side. Behind them, Kakashi lazily trails along, his hands tucked into his pants pockets.
It doesn't take them long to locate Naruto. He sits by the marshland, perched on a stump while cooking freshly caught fish over a small fire. The wolf siblings accompany him. Chairo is rolled onto his back, brown fur glistening in the gaps of sunlight that filter in from overhead. Kuro rests beside Naruto, ears twitching, likely attuned to distant sounds while Shiro dips her snout into the marsh water to cool off.
Sasuke scans the surroundings, noting several deep slash marks etched into the trees nearby. They must be remnants of Naruto's training.
Despite Sasuke's unease and worry, Naruto once again manages to surprise him. Kakashi had warned about the discomfort of the wind element, yet Naruto sits there, completely at ease, as if he has already mastered it.
"Oi, dobe," Sasuke calls out, scowling.
Naruto shifts, glancing over his shoulder, and that familiar tightness grips Sasuke's chest once more. Half of Naruto's face is smeared with blood, a deep gash etched along his tanned cheek.
Sakura gasps and immediately moves closer to Naruto, settling on the grass beside him and Kuro. "I thought Sensei told you to be more careful," she says, gently placing her index and middle fingers beneath Naruto's chin, tilting his head to the side with care.
"It's fine," Naruto replies, blinking softly. He allows Sakura to fuss over his cheek briefly before moving his face away from her touch. "It's already healing."
Sakura's mouth curves into a deep, worried frown, but she respects Naruto's aversion to physical contact and lets him be.
"I see the training is going well," Kakashi remarks as he and Sasuke join the rest of the team around the small fire.
"It's going somewhere," Naruto responds quietly, his gaze fixated on the distant marsh. Silence settles over team seven, interrupted only by the crackling of the firewood and Chairo's soft snores.
Sasuke stares into the flickering flames, watching their dance. The burns on the inside of his arms itch, but he does his best to ignore the sensation. Instead, he focuses on the cooking fish and asks, "Is this why you don't eat at Tazuna's?"
Naruto shrugs a single shoulder. "Be careful," he warns, "you're starting to sound genuinely concerned about me."
"I am," Sasuke blurts out, immediately annoyed and downright mortified. The more time he spends with his teammates, the more he feels himself becoming foolish. He doesn't care about them. He really, really doesn't. It's just that they are always at arms reach, their scents a constant presence beneath his nose. It's… annoying.
Kakashi chuckles, likely amused from Sasuke's embarrassing outburst. “Maa,” he drawls, “I think we're all concerned about your health, Naruto-kun.”
Naruto doesn't say anything, just keeps peering into the distance of the marsh, like all the answers to his life are out there. Sasuke fiddles with the hem of his shirt and once again, silence fills the air. Which in itself is odd, because not once since Sasuke's dreadful joining of team seven has there ever been so much quiet. There's always bickering between them, a trade of snippy comments, a constant buzz of foul profanities being muttered beneath someone's breath.
Now there's nothing.
Just awful, grating silence.
Sasuke bites the inside of his cheek. He refuses to be the first one to break whatever the hell this is .
Finally, Naruto shifts and retrieves one of the cooked fish from the fire and extends the stick to Sakura, who looks up at him with a curious tilt of her head.
"Eat," Naruto insists.
Sakura begins to protest, saying, "I'm not hungry—"
"—eat," Naruto interrupts, cutting her off, his voice pitched low, the tilt of his head mirroring Sakura's own. It's not a mere suggestion; it's a firm order. Sasuke feels a shiver run down his spine, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. He hopes no one notices his reaction.
Sakura audibly swallows and reluctantly takes the stick from Naruto, holding the cooked fish over her lap. She gazes at it as if it's an unfamiliar sight, as if she has never seen it before. Sasuke can see her green eyes beginning to tear up.
"You're all too preoccupied with me," Naruto continues. "And Sakura takes advantage of that, picking at her breakfast, rearranging her lunch to make it appear as if she's eaten, when in reality, she's just starving herself.”
"Naruto-kun," Kakashi warns, his usual friendliness replaced by a chilling calmness. Sasuke freezes, observing each mask drop, one after another. His team are assholes. He's achingly aware. He's also an idiot, because while he noticed Naruto avoiding the food at Tazuna's house, he hadn't noticed Sakura doing the same. And worst of all, Kakashi knew this whole damn time.
Sasuke needs to start paying better attention.
“I'm sorry,” Sakura apologises quietly. She twirls the stick in her hand, looking at the fish from all sides, accessing it. “It's just… I'm not allowed to put on any extra weight.”
“Why?” Sasuke asks, voice coming out strained. Strangely, there's a lump in the back of his throat. He cannot begin to fathom why Sakura cannot eat and put on a little weight. It's not like she's a civilian, not anymore at least. She's a kunoichi now and needs all the food she can get for extra strength.
Sakura shrugs. “Mother doesn't like it,” she says.
"Well," Naruto retorts, a sharp edge lacing his words as he disregards Kakashi's pointed stare, "she's not here now, so stop pissing me off and eat.”
“Okay,” Sakura says softly, lifting the fish up to her mouth. Tentatively, she takes a small bite, chewing slowly and uncertainly. Only then does she swallow, her watery gaze shifting to Naruto.
"Good," Naruto acknowledges. "Keep going." He rises to his feet, sliding his hands into his orange pants, his expression unreadable as he gazes down at Sakura. "I'm going for a walk," he says, the wound on his cheek long healed now, just a smear of dried blood left behind. "Don't follow me."
And just like that, he departs, striding along the marshland with Kuro faithfully trailing behind him.
Kakashi lets out a tired sigh, clearly weary, and stands up. He affectionately tousles Sakura's hair. "You don't have to eat it all," he says, understanding her struggle. With that, he leaves to go after Naruto, no doubt to have an in depth conversation about feelings or whatever.
"He specifically said not to follow him," Sasuke shakes his head, exasperated. He watches as Naruto and Kakashi's silhouettes gradually shrink in the distance, growing smaller and smaller. Eventually, he reaches for the remaining fish, joining Sakura in their shared meal. At least this way, she doesn't have to eat alone.
And because, apparently, he has developed a distaste for silence, he starts a conversation. "That new jutsu of yours is pointless," he remarks.
"What?" Sakura asks, her voice wavering. She still has fish in her mouth. Sasuke waits for her to swallow before repeating himself.
"I said, your new jutsu is useless."
"Maybe," Sakura retorts, her mouth curling into a scowl, "you should go fuck yourself."
Ah, finally, Sasuke thinks, a return to normalcy.
"Don't speak with your mouth full," he retorts. He's awfully aware that he's going to get beat up in their next sparring session, but for now he basks in the glow of getting to bicker with Sakura.
"I wasn't speaking with my mouth full!"
"Hn."
"Don't 'hn' me, you jerk!”