DISCLAIMER:
I do not own Naruto. (yes, my arm being slowly and painfully twisted out of its socket right now by none other than my muse so i don't really have a choice but to say this outright). OUCh.
All In Time
by Boyarina
Chapter 2: Ramifications of Kiss Take 2
It's an S-class mission and Team 7 couldn't have been happier about it. If there's one thing they couldn't agree more about it's having a mission that practically scares the bejesus out of them.
Even Sasuke who rarely smiles at anything has his discreet grin at the very idea of it. Chilling it might be for someone outside of the team to see it, to Sakura, it is heartwarming.
Naruto, who displays every possible human emotion there isi currently is jumping around (hoozah!), cheering for their team to go forth and complete their mission.
...that guy has been hanging around Lee too much, Sakura mused, her eyes lingering on Naruto's beaming fox-like face. Though she did not mean to, her eyes dropped to Naruto's stretched mouth and thought of how was it possible for a loud mouthed baka to actually posses such soft lips? You would think that for a person who uses his mouth quite often enough, it'll be rough and callused much like a hand that is constantly put to work.
But his lips were soft, and sweet---almost like a fruit that has ripened.....
"Sakura."
Having heard her name Sakura snapped her eyes back to the path ahead and dashed any other thoughts about a certain kitsune. Guilty at having been caught staring at Naruto by non other than Uchiha Sasuke, her face blossomed into a cherry red color. Desperation had her grasping at straws to fix a mask of innocence on her face.
"Nani, Sasuke-kun?" she said in a voice that is a pitch higher than usual. Silently, she pleaded that he not ask out loud why in Kami-sama's name she is looking at Naruto like there's no tomorrow.
For now she is given a reprieve.
"I am the leader of this team and for that I am ordering you to leave the fight to either Naruto or I," he said in a voice that left no room for argument. However, this is Sakura he is speaking to, so he had anticipated one of her infamous 'buts'. Holding his hand up, he stopped her just in time from interjecting.
"Your skills as a medic nin is valuable to us. But if you use your chakra in fighting, there'll be little or none of it left lest Naruto or I gets injured. Understand?"
"We are not exactly excluding you from the fight, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, picking up from where Sasuke has left off to placate Sakura's incoming protest.
"We just need for you to fight a different battle."
Sakura's string of protests died down into grumbles. Two against one: between Naruto's conviction and Sasuke's stubbornness, she knew she could never win.
Shooting thte two of them dark looks of displeasure, she reluctantly grumbled, "Hai. Hai."
Naruto sighed in relief. It's good that Sasuke has brought this up at the start of their mission. At least now, he would not keep on worrying his head off about Sakura fighting an opponent that might be stronger than her or an opponent stronger than than the opponent he is facing. Now he could focus on actively protecting her without ticking her off or offending her.
Naruto sneaked a glance on Sakura's direction, noting how contemplative her face is. She probably is regretting on having agreed about Sasuke's proposal.
He couldn't really blame her though for despite her delicate attributes, Naruto knows Sakura is a fighter. She has the training, she has the strength and she had the right attitude.
There is but one thing that Naruto thinks doesn't fit in his mental picture of a fighter Sakura: that one body part that never in his whole life imagined that he would be able to invade, least of all come near at.
The pressure of Sakura's lips on his own. Truth to be told, it's taking all his will power not to have a nosebleed whenever the memory creeps up and slam him right in the face. More so, it's taking all his ninja strength, plus demonic chakra so he wouldn't do it again.
Well, not without Sakura's consent anyways.
Naruto grinned to himself, completely forgetting that the peek he snuck in earlier had now turned into a blatant stare (actually oggling is a better term to use) and his two companions have noticed it. However, (and fortunately for him), it is only Sasuke who dared to voice it out aloud. Sakura stayed resolutely mute, since, all things considered, with the amount of discomfort it had caused her, acknowledging Naruto's piercing gaze is the farthest thing in her mind.
"Oi, dobe," Sasuke called out in his usual montone, startling Naruto so much the said dobe nearly lost his footing from the tree they are jumping from.
Seeing this, Sasuke smirked and shot an amused glance at the blond who flapped his arms a time or two as he quickly righted himself.
Naruto heaved out a huge breath, the firm grip he had on the tree branch back in-place. Pushing chakra off his feet, he hastened to jump into the next branch and into the next one after that until he reached Sasuke-teme.
"What was that for?" Naruto trumpeted into Sasuke's ear in the hopes of breaking his eardrums. But, unfortunately for him, his teammate once again proved how resilient he is to his loudmouthedness.
Placing his palm against Naruto's face, Sasuke roughly shoved him away, feeling some parts of Naruto's face sqaush against his hand.
"Get away from me. You're spraying saliva all over me," Sasuke growled out, wiping out imaginary flecks of fluid from his cheeks.
"I'm not going to until you tell me why you scared the daylights out of me!"
Sasuke noted how red Naruto's face is and thought twice about telling him the exact truth. When he saw Naruto scrunched his face a bit more and bared his teeth at him, Sasuke decided to just let the usuratonkachi have it.
"You keep staring at Sakura like that, and you're gonna bore a hole through her."
Sasuke stifled the sudden snicker that nearly burst through him, very amused by the reaction he generated from the blond. As it is, Naruto's face had turned a more crimson color as he spluttered, trying to find the right word to defend himself.
"I-i wasn't staring!" Naruto proclaimed feebly, daring to dart a look at Sakura who had been quiet all this time. Normally, she would have bashed his head by now. But she is ignoring him....completely ignoring him.
Behind him, Naruto heard Sasuke scoff. Taking his eyes off Sakura, he sighed dejectedly and wondered if ever she's gonna talk to him again during the entire mission. Knowing her penchant for the silent treatment, Naruto couldn't but feel that is exactly what his punishment is going to be for the next couple hours.
"Get your head off the gutter!" Sakura snapped, her face in the exact same shade that Naruto has. Blood pumped visibly into her temple veins when Naruto, instead of being properly chastised, actually pumped his fist into the air.
"Yosha!" he shouted, clearly (if not strangely) cheered up by her outburst.
Even Sasuke gave out a snort of laughter.
Sakura doesn't know what to do withn them. She would have written them both off as lost cases, but then again, if she did that she wouldn't be able to let off steam. Deciding that lecturing is a much better sport than keeping quiet, she started her litany:
"How are we to find the element bender if you don't keep a straight head on? All we know is that this person lives in Air Country's Palace, probably is a girl, probably is surrounded by millions of guards, probably one of the princesses or ladies-in-waiting," she growled, "Worst case scenario is that she could be a he and I am just about tired of being surrounded by guys who can't keep a clear head!"
Sakura nodded sagely to herself when NAruto and Sasuke didn't say anything after a couple of seconds. The gravity of the situation finally has gottent into their thick heads......
"Yosha! We get to visit the palace's harem!"
....or not
Sakura gnashed her teeth together at the sight of Naruto's grinning face. What irked her even more is the fact that Sasuke too seemed excited about the visitng the harem idea.
She should have just bashed their heads earlier when she had the chance instead of enlightening them. It does them no good....none whatsoever.
"Ne, Sakura-chan, don't worry too much about finding the bender. She's supposed to be Orochimaru;s daughter right? It wouldn't be that difficult finding an Orochimaru look-alike." Naruto said, feeling quite sure that his answer will hold true until the end ( or until they find this person).
"Dobe, have you even considered what the mother looked like?" Sasuke drawled out, smirking at the pained look that came on Naruto's face.
"Don't call me blockhead," Naruto snapped, shooting daggers at the evil Uchiha, "Anyways, no beautiful woman would come near that snake so therefore this child's features is not gonna be a far cry from her dad's looks. She'll be as ugly and as scaly as they come."
"Dobe, is that the explanation they gave as to why you came out looking like that?" Sasuke asked, his hilarity increasing a notch up as Naruto's smug countenance fell and a snarl tooks its place.
"What did you say?!"
Sasuke would have kept at baiting Naruto (a sport that is ever so entertainig) if not for the fact Sakura shut him up.....well, shut the two of them up actually.
"Guys, will you put a lid on it?!" Sakura exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "You two couldn't be together for two minutes without fighting. Could you not give it up just for this day?"
Naruto was instantly apologetic, for which Sakura was grateful for. Sasuke, as expected of him, didn't say anything. Sakura would have bonked him on the head for his indifference to her temper, but then again she favors him more than she does Naruto. More so, the bonkings are her preferential tretment to Naruto and Naruto only.
"In a little while, we will be setting up camp," Sasuke said, once again taking upon himselfthe rightful role of a leader, "It'll take more than a day to reach the Air Country. We should rest."
"I'll be the first watch," Naruto volunteered. He knew the task is going to be delegated to either him or Sakura. Being the gentleman that he is, he saved her from that unsavory deed and simultaneously saved himself from the comparatively unsavory task of cooking.
Sakura had on a resigned face even before Sasuke turned and broke the news to her.
"Sakura you prepare dinner and I'll prepare the tents."
"Hai. HAi." Sakura gloomily replied. First not being allowed to fight and now wifely duties! If they are planning to domesticate her they better have another thing going! Otherwise, she'll thrash their sorry asses.
But the, there's one consolation in this scheme of things. At least, she'll be nowhere near Naruto, who up until now makes her feel uncomfortably warm and tingly all over.
It's not an all together nasty sensation. To tell the truth, it's acutally kinda...nice. Had she been sharing this with a particularly close girlfriend of hers, she would have been squealing by now. Good thing that her two closest friends are actually these guys and until hell freezes over, she wouldn't tell a word to them about this.
Especially not that Naruto.
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Something to think about:
The mind is not just 'oneness' or a singular entity because it manifests in manifold ways. It is not a plurality or many things, either, because these numerous manifestations all have one essence. No one can describe its nature saying, "It is exactly like this!" It is indescribable, unutterable, inconceivable, nonarising, unceasing, and nondwelling, like the essence of space. Mind nature is discovered within the experience of awareness and is cognized individually.
-Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen"
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Chapter notes:
The two stories are taking up all my freetime!! But don't fear!!! I would be able to do the updates! I just need some major Kyuubi chakra!!! (or a gallon of caffeine plus couple hundred hershey bars)
Enjoy!