Author Uozumi
Genre Drama/General
Rating PG-13
Disclaimer I do not own nor claim to own this. The characters, ect...contained within are not my property. This is an act of fandom and I do not make a profit from this endeavor.
Summary Recovering from the run in with Kabuto and Orochimaru, the thrown together Team Seven regroups. Stuck alone with an unconscious Naruto, Sai is forced to dealing with someone only Sakura truly can: night terrors. Slight AU.
Note This is AU because, well, the fight probably won’t end at least until chapter 300, which I bet is when Sasuke will reappear >.> Regardless, this idea came to me with help from my seme Kitty! I hope that you enjoy the story. Also, a night terror is a nightmare that grips the victim so badly that they are literally terrorized. Think of it like a nightmare on steroids. Traumen is German for dreams.
It was too dangerous to move at the moment. After the skirmish with Orochimaru and Kabuto, the thrown together Team Seven were licking wounds and regrouping. Their only bead on Sasuke was worth nothing since it was a strong possibility that he would be moved now. After detransforming, Naruto had collapsed to the ground bleeding from multiple wounds which were beginning to heal. The Kyûbi put him into a temporary comma, the team having no choice but to set up camp somewhere and wait for him to recover.
Two days ago Yamato said that he would be leaving to scout ahead and see what information he could gain. He left Sakura in charge since she was the medical ninja. Sakura, however, had left a few hours ago to gather supplies she needed. Sai couldn’t understand what she thought she was doing making something for Naruto. It was clear that the Kyûbi was healing him, and he knew Sakura wasn’t trying to force Naruto awake.
Drawing absently, Sai glanced at his charge. Naruto had broken into a sweat a few minutes ago and was gritting his teeth. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen Naruto do this. Typically Sakura would hold Naruto’s hand and say something to him, calming the boy. Sai simply returned to his drawing, glancing out the window as he sketched. He thought he could understand why Sakura did what she did, but he couldn’t. He observed his teammates and when he interacted with them, it was to see what sort of reaction he could illicit.
A violent shudder drew Sai’s attention back to Naruto. His face remained expressionless as he observed the fifteen-year-old contort his body. Continuing to observe, Sai ruled out that this was a seizure. Naruto’s knuckles turned white as he clutched his pillow, some stuffing drifting out of the holes his nails made. His teeth were clenched and his lip snarled so Sai could see the teenager’s canines. For a moment, the face of Naruto’s four-tailed form flashed before the artist’s eyes but before he could latch onto the image, Naruto opened his mouth and began to scream.
It was almost an inhuman scream that seemed to rise in volume. Quickly, Sai hit Naruto in a pressure point to put him back into unconsciousness, but the boy kept screaming. For a fleeting moment, Sai considered putting the pillow over Naruto’s face only to muffle the sound, but the possibility of suffocation was too great.
Naruto’s mouth was moving, speaking in a language Sai didn’t know. Then as quickly as the screaming started it began to die down into panicked whispering. Standing over the boy, Sai observed him. Perhaps the moment was passing. Naruto was growing quieter, but his body was still tense and he was still moving his mouth in unfamiliar sounds.
Sai’s expression didn’t change as he began to hear a change in the words and voice. Naruto was clearly speaking Japanese now and it sounded very much like Naruto’s voice, only slightly higher.
The volume was growing again and it looked like Naruto wasn’t going to stop soon. Sai stepped back swiftly as Naruto lashed out blindly at something, screaming obscenities. Sai wasn’t sure what to make of this situation. Naruto was far too loud he was sure. Shifting his focus from the bizarre behavior to how to stop it, Sai knelt down by Naruto and reached out swiftly. Instead of grabbing Naruto’s hands like he saw Sakura do, Sai grabbed Naruto’s wrists and set his leg firmly on Naruto’s chest trying to restrain the boy. She would usually say Naruto’s name and then things Sai didn’t hear.
“Naruto,” he said. He had to shut the blonde up and get him to stop flailing around. Gritting his teeth, he tried to keep Naruto from kicking or hitting him. “Naruto!” he tried slightly louder though it wasn’t his style. He trained himself to keep his voice level and calm to help win people over.
The boy seemed to freeze up for a split second before trying to push Sai away. He was screaming in that gibberish again, but Sai caught one word he knew: Sasuke.
Sai opened his mouth to try a new approach when someone rushed into the room. Within seconds, Sakura was kneeling to Sai’s right and was saying Naruto’s name repeatedly. Sakura seemed to understand what was going on so Sai released Naruto cautiously, watching as Naruto began to calm at Sakura’s methodology. Within ten minutes, Naruto was back to the state he had been in when Sakura left them that morning.
Sitting back, he kunoichi looked down at her friend and ran a hand through her hair. Her green eyes scanned the room and rested where she dropped the herbs she collected before she heard Naruto screaming. Her eyes soon landed on Sai who was simply watching her and Naruto. He always seemed to be watching them. Sakura didn’t want to explain what just happened. Standing up, she began recollecting the discarded herbs while keeping an eye on Naruto.