After only a few minutes of walking, the pain in Sora’s ankle grew. Despite trying to ignore her injury, she started limping, hoping that no one would notice. Unfortunately for her, Sasuke had sharp eyes.
“You’re limping.” He said.
‘Is he trying to show that he cares? It doesn’t seem very…caring.”
“No,” she said. “You must be seeing things. I’m fine.”
“Hn. I’m not seeing things.” Sora didn’t say anything, but continued walking. She was too busy thinking about any meaning behind what Sasuke had said to pay attention to where she was going, and got her foot caught in a ditch.
“Ah!” She fell before anyone could catch her. Sora tried to not make a big deal about it.
“I meant to do that.” She murmured as she got up, but as soon as she got up, she fell again from the now increased pain in her ankle. This time, Sasuke was quick enough to catch her. Sora blushed as Sasuke helped her up.
Squatting down, Sasuke said, “Get on my back.” It was an order, not a request, but Sora didn’t like appearing weak in front of guys, or taking orders. She refused politely and said that she’d be fine. Sora took a step forward and her ankle seared with pain. Grimacing, she saw that Sasuke hadn’t moved from his position.
“Get on.” Giving in, Sora muttered a “whatever” and let him carry her. She noticed that he was warm. By the way he acted, Sora expected his body to be cold like his personality and was surprised. She also thought that he smelled nice.
Sakura and Naruto continued behind them.
Everyone stayed silent so as to not waste energy. Even Naruto managed to keep his mouth shut during the long walk.
Sora had been riding on Sasuke’s back for a long while, and it was getting darker.
‘Aren’t they going to stop to rest for the night?’ She was getting very tired – especially after working so hard during her soccer game – but didn’t think it would be polite to fall asleep on his shoulder. So she struggled to keep her head held up, which drained her strength in her already weakened state.
“Go ahead, rest.” The sudden noise breaking the silence startled Sora.
“A-are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Yeah, go ahead. We’re not stopping until we get there and you’re barely managing to stay awake.” She laid her head on his shoulder, getting in a comfortable position. Sora smiled as her eyes drooped shut. Her last thought before she went to sleep was, ‘How can they still be walking?’
Sora woke up when the sun was coming up over the horizon. Sasuke was still carrying her and Sakura and Naruto were also still walking behind her. The pain in Sora’s ankle felt a lot better, but it wasn’t completely gone. When Naruto saw that she was awake, he walked up next to her and started talking.
“Good morning, Sora! How are doing? Does your ankle feel better?” Still groggy, she didn’t answer his questions. Instead, she asked if they were almost there.
“Yeah! It’s just up ahead! You’re gonna love Konoha! It’s really awesome! And it’s got the best place to buy ramen! Ichiraku makes the best! The noodles and the soup -” Sora just tuned him out. Who cares about ramen?
“Heh. You got the right idea.” Said Sasuke. Sora saw that he was grinning slightly.
“Naruto can spend hours talking about ramen. It’s all he ever eats. When he starts going off on it, just ignore him. That dobe doesn’t know that no one cares.” Sora laughed. Then, feeling a little embarrassed to still be on Sasuke’s back, she stopped laughing.
“Uh, Sasuke?”
“Hn?”
“I – uh - think I can walk now.”
“Hn.” He stopped walking and let her down. She gingerly took a step on her right foot. Surprisingly, it barely hurt her. Sasuke stretched his arms and cracked his neck, but aside from that showed no exhaustion. The group continued walking on in near silence, but they got used to Naruto ranting on. (“Have you ever tried that flavor? It’s the best!”) A while later, the Konoha gates came into view. Sora’s eyes lit up at the beautiful sight.
“Woo-hoo! Let’s go!” Naruto ran by Sora, grabbing her hand as he passed by. Nearly being pulled off of her feet she ran with him. As soon as they entered the village, Naruto stopped. He was thinking aloud of where he should take Sora first.
When Sasuke and Sakura arrived, which was a couple minutes considering how fast Naruto was running, Sasuke spoke in an annoyed voice.
“Come on, dobe. We have to take her to the hokage first” Naruto looked up and glared at Sasuke. He then turned around, took Sora’s hand and tried to run off again. This time, though, Sora stood her ground. Naruto looked at her with a confused look on his face.
“Naruto, I’m in a beautiful new village. I don’t want to run around so that I can’t see anything. We’ll head towards this hokage, but I want to look around some on the way. And when we do get to the hokage’s office, I want it too be all of us.” Sora looked at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all in turn, her eyes lingering on the Uchiha.
“Alright! Alright!” Naruto pouted. So the four set off again.
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Chapter notes: Yayness! My next chapter!!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but would by Sasuke if he had a price...