Time to let the brain rest for a bit I feel. And I hope you all like blood…Rated M for weirdness.
Disclaimer: I don't need this… do I need this? Naruto © Kishimoto Masashi
Respite, Chapter 6
The group of nin moved through the dense stretches of forest with relative ease. Naruto was keeping up an almost constant string of chatter with the one kunoichi present. Raidou, in the lead, kept glancing back. One reason was to tell Naruto to give it a rest, which he didn't pick up on, and the other was to check on Hayate who had been steadily falling further back, finally bringing up the rear of the group.
Hayate's chest tightened painfully, like his muscles felt it was impossible to work for a moment, only to relax a second later as coughing took over. Holding the crook of his arm over his mouth he kept moving, practicing slow breaths to get enough oxygen in order to keep up.
The leader of the Sand nin, Usagi, glanced back every nowand then, giving the man considering looks before keeping pace with Raidou as they moved.
"What's wrong with him?" Usagi questioned quietly as another fit of coughing could be heard.
"Nothing. He's fine." Raidou answered immediately.
Although Hayate's coughing was more like white-noise for someone who was used to it, Raidou was becoming aware that it was happening far too often. It didn't seem natural, especially since Hayate had been in the hospital right before the mission had started.
Usagi gave him an unbelieving look but pressed on nonetheless; it wasn't his business and his nin were perfectly capable of continuing their journey towards Konoha. But, a few moments later Naruto's chatter came to halt as the kunoichi growled something to him and leapt away to travel with her teammates.
"Oi Raidou! I'm kinda thirsty, there's a stream coming up, maybe we could stop and fill up our canteens?" Naruto said while giving a look and jerking his head back at their group member now out of sight.
"Good idea. We'll press on until then." The main part of the group quickly disappeared as Naruto let his speed drop to what felt like crawling for him. He enjoyed the scenery for a moment, noticing the wind rushing through every now and then, giving him relief from the moist air.
Hayate was directly behind him but didn't catch up, and he looked back quickly when the man's movement halted. Hayate was bent over holding his chest and spat something towards the forest floor. Naruto grimaced as the smell of blood hit his nostrils.
"So…" Naruto said dropping down next to him, watching as the man wiped his sleeve across his mouth. "How's it goin'?"
"Fine. You?" Hayate said conversationally, tightening his hitai-ate into place.
"Bit muggy out." Naruto commentedscratching the back of his head. "Okay, seriously, do you need to stop for a moment or something?"
"We should catch up." Hayate appreciated the offer, but his best bet was to make it back as quickly as possible so that he could rest for awhile.
Naruto plastered himself to Hayate's side as they continued on, practically brushing up against him as they landed in tandem. When a stretch of meadow came up in front of them through the trees Naruto slowed his vigorous run to keep in pace.
They were so close together that when they both jumped back into the trees Naruto practically knocked Hayate off the branch.He grasped the man's shoulder and hauled him back onto the limb of the tree.
"Whoops! Sorry 'bout that!" Naruto grinnedkeeping a grip on his shoulder. A strange prickling went through Hayate's skin and increased to the feeling of needles as Naruto hung on to him.
"What are you doing?" Naruto blinked and removed his hand. He thought he'd try out his chakra trick on Hayate but from the look in the other man's eyes it hadn't worked out that well. Maybe he could only do that to Sakura; he'd never tried it on anyone else so he wasn't sure exactly how it even worked.
"My mistake. Guess it didn't work…" He looked around embarrassedly for a second. "You know that stream ahead? The one that's like…" He made a zigzag motion with his hand. "There's also this rock where one time I saw this village girl taking a dip. Oh man, you'd never catch Konoha girls doing something like that! She was so beautiful with really dark hair and-"
"Naruto." Hayate cut in, giving the young man an inquisitive look. "What are you doing?" He rubbed his chest, trying to calm the erratic feeling of pinching to his lungs as Naruto smiled sheepishly.
"Nothing really, I was just… keeping you company." Hayate raised an eyebrow but pressed on ahead, leaving Naruto scrambling to catch up.
"I don't need to be babysat, Naruto."
"I'm not! But what if all of a sudden we got attacked and you came back all bloody? Well bloodier anyway-" Hayate's dark glance made him rethink what he was trying to say. "What I mean is, Sakura-chanwill do terrible things to me. Have you seen her when she slips on those black gloves of hers? Terrifies the hell out of me."
Hayate smiled as Naruto shuddered dramatically, although the look in Naruto's eyes said he really was just a tiny bit scared, if not excited as well. He laughed softly, cutting it off before his lungs thought it was a signal to start another round of pain.
"Besides, I'm your friend as well as Sakura-chan's, and she likes you and whatever…" Naruto lost his train of thought, if there had been one, as Hayate dissolved into something that sounded like a laugh before turning into a horrible bloody mess.
"You're a good friend, Naruto. But, maybe we should just catch up so we both can get home faster." Naruto loomed over his friend's bent back, unsure of what to do as fresh blood was mopped away.
"Ah, sounds like a good idea. Try to keep your lungs in your chest until Sakura-chan can strap you back down to a hospital bed." Hayate nodded in a subdued manner. He'd been thinking that was exactly what was going to happen.
Sakura paced outside Tsunade's office; she'd caught sight of Naruto's smiling face as he entered and the door shut behind them. It'd been almost forty-five minutes and still she waited. None of the injured jounin had awakened and all were in stable condition, so she really didn't need to be at the hospital.
Thinking about storming in was sounding good until the door opened and Naruto walked out. Sakura peered around him quickly before the door closed once again. Now only the Sand-nin were left in Tsunade's office.
"Where is he?" She grabbed Naruto's vest and dragged him down the hall a little ways.
"Who?"
"You know who!" Sakura hissed dangerously. He regretted the bid for playfulness and allowed himself to be manhandled further away from prying eyes.
"He and Raidou left through the window a second ago, Raidou was going to go to Jounin HQ for a second, and Hayate said something about cleaning up." Sakura frowned and looked down at her feet. "But I think you should go see him…He wasn't coughing at all while we were in there, so Tsunade didn't say anything to him but…"
"What?"
"He was coughing up a lot of blood on the way here, Sakura. I don't think he wanted to go back to the hospital though, since I told him you were waiting out here." Sakura's face fell for a moment and then set into hard lines.
"Well, if he doesn't think taking care of himself is important, then I guess I shouldn't worry about it. I'm going back to the hospital." She turned as Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, okay. I'll probably see you tonight, then." He walked the other way as Sakura raised a hand in farewell.
She fumed a little on the stairs, mind torn between waiting him out and going to him immediately. One would satisfy her ego, but the other feeling was rooted much deeper and she found she was able to shove back her ego with surprising ease."
It was still relatively early in the evening and people were heading up and down the streets at a leisurely pace. Sakura tapped her foot, heel moving up and down in the air nervously as she stood outside his door.
"This is stupid," she decided as her thoughts left her with images of him bleeding out slowly in his apartment. She turned the knob and let herself in quietly. The shower was running and she had the almost insatiable urge to go down the hall and just walk in.
No! I'm angry. He should have come to get checked out first instead of going home. Who cares about being sweaty when you're coughing up blood? I shouldn't be so worried…
Sakura took off her sandals and picked up the katana he'd brought back, trying to occupy her mind. It wasn't the old one that looked incredibly well made, but was nice enough in its relatively new seeming way.
She set it back on his low coffee table as she sat down on the couch to wait. The wait wasn't a long one, as she heard the shower turn off and the door open shortly after. Sakura leaned on the arm of the couch and listened to him walk across the hall behind her.
When the sounds of cloth rustling came from his bedroom she gave up. Worriedly she headed into the hall, setting her face blank for what was in store before peeking around the doorframe. Hayate turned, fastening his pants, and glanced at her leaning against the doorway. She didn't look worried, in fact her face was almost completely blank, maybe only slightly bored in a way.
He sighed and felt his lungs protest as the heavy feeling gathering in them worsened. Sakura let her gaze run up and down his body, taking in his pale skin and the dark circles beneath his eyes. But noticing most of all, the slump to his frame and loose hanging limbs around his painfully noticeable ribs.
"Come to check up on me?" Hayate asked as she walked into the room. Stiffening in surprise, he looked down at the top of her head as she leaned against his chest. "It's okay…I'm fine Sakura." He whispered wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"I know…" She gulped and squeezed him a little, control slipping for a moment, hands running over his ribs as she glanced up at his face. He smiled reassuringly until she tilted her head up towards him.
"Don't-" He pulled back a little too slow and her lips pressed against hisown.
He tried to swallow the taste of blood from his mouth as her tongue glided across his lower lip. When he didn't respond she leaned back, moving her hands to his neck, questioning silently with her eyes. His lips were so soft she didn't want to stop, but his lack of response had her hesitating along with him.
"I…" He pressed his fingers into the flesh of her back and debated whether he should just brush his teeth and hope she'd understand, or leave things as they were.
Sakura wondered at the hesitation forming between them before meaning dawned on her. Strengthening her grip around his neck so that he couldn't get away,she kissed his jaw line and ran her fingers through his damp hair.
Finally, her lips made their way over his and rested, waiting for a response. He opened his eyes when the soft soothing touches stopped slightly on his mouth, her slow breaths washing over his skin. He looked around frantically, trying to think everything through before time stretchedout too long. Sakura on the other hand resolved to stand there until he either did something or possibly left, because she was not going to move.
The way her smooth pink lips parted slightly went a long way towards wiping out doubt, and coupled with her closed eyes laying dark colored lashes against her cheeks all eroded his control. One last soft gulp, and he pressed his lips to hers. He paused at this point, but then her lips opened more while her fingers gripped his dark locks. She silently urged him on and he complied, slipping into her mouth and carefully exploring her.
Hayate thought she tasted wonderful, like she'd just eaten something he couldn't quite place but knew he savored. She responded in turn, guiding him skillfully and letting him wander at his own pace. When he fell back, she wrapped her lips around his retreating tongue before it escaped. Hayate grabbed the hair at the base of her neck and pulled them together roughly with an arm at her back.
Sakura smiled a little mischievously as he came down to her cheek to lay a soft kiss before engaging her mouth once again. This time she forced his lips apart and swept through him with force, knowing instantly why he had hesitated. Although, she'd sensed it as he met her, the taste of blood was blatantly obvious in his own mouth. But, there was the underlying taste that she had smelled on most occasions when treating him, an almost sickly sweet taste.
It didn't offend her; it was strange but not unpleasant, and she let him know by running herself in his mouth while her hands ran over his exposed chest and stomach. Sakura tickled her nails down his clenching stomach muscles, causing a small noise to escape from his mouth only to be eaten by her own.
Hayate shivered at how hot her hands and body felt against his, the heat seemed to invade his chest and he dragged her backwards. She moved easily with his body, already used to following its direction. Sakura opened her eyes in surprise when he broke with her mouth, and her hands lost his flesh as he sat down on the edge of his bed.
With their break in contact, Hayate took the opportunity to try and quell the burning in his lungs with a helping of air. It didn't work, instead his chest seized, telling him of its coming mutiny. Sakura caught the look on his face and frowned as his arm flew from her back and arched around his mouth.
Sakura winced and gripped his shoulders as she watched on. Oh…God, she thought as blood dripped from the pit of his elbow and dropped onto his thigh, immediately indistinguishable from the dark fabric. He panted in short, painful sounding bursts, hands coming to rest on his knees for support.
He longingly wished for just a small respite from his condition as he leaned forward, resting his head against Sakura's stomach. Closing his eyes and remaining there in a sort of apology, he gathered himself slowly, letting the weight settle back into his lungs. She carefully ran her fingers through his dark hair and along his straining shoulder muscles. Biting her lip and pulling her thoughts back and forth forcefully she tried to think rationally.
I should drag him right to the hospital!, she thought instantly before he had leaned into her. His hands came from up from his knees to hold her hips lightly, and then helifted his head, running his chin along her stomach to look up at her. The look he gave her was calm but something pleading flickered through the darkness before being swallowed up by the nin inside.
Sakura sat down on his parted knees, sliding her legs along the bed until their hips were flush, not caring in the least about the blood that cooled her bare skin for a moment. Hayate breathed out in a rush and eyed her warily as she tempted him to do more than he was willing to even think about in his current state.
Sakura wanted to do something about both of the looks she'd just witnessed. One wanted to be assured of something, the other wanted to be placated. She wasn't sure she could do either, but she was willing to start trying in earnest now. His current situation called for a careful handling, but Sakura threw that aside for a direct approach as she grabbed his chin to keep him from leaning away again. Her tongue forcing its way into his mouth surprised him and he made a true effort at this point, grabbing her upper arms and pushing her back.
"I don't care how much you bleed on me, Hayate. I'm just going to keep coming back." Sakura whispered as he searched her pale green eyes for something.
Sighing, he relaxed his grip, smoothing the marks he'd made by running his hands up and down her soft but firm flesh. Sakura shivered in response.
"I'm sorry…" he offered, glancing up and down her body while she shivered from his small touch. Sakura shook her head, gathering him up into a hug, her arms squeezing and her legs doing the same to his hips.
"Don't apologize. Just let me…want this without you worrying about it," she mumbled over the skin of his shoulder.
Not for the first, or even thousandth time, Hayate wished he were younger, healthier, as one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen draped herself around his body. His chest started to ache, but he couldn't be sure it was entirely caused by the sickness worming its way deeper into his defenseless tissue. So he stroked her back, carefully trying to spare her clothing of the blood staining his arm brightly in the fading light.
"Maybe we should go now." I don't want to go… Sakura gripped him fiercely even as she uttered the words.
"Not yet." Hayate lightly squeezed her, wanting her to stay, warming his body, but afraid his body might respond to her closeness and heat. Or, rather, he was more afraid of the lack of response and subsequently offending her. "In a bit…Let's go out first."
"What? Where?" Sakura pulled away slightly, adjusting her legs so that she sat almost cross-legged around him. Hayate didn't seem fazed and didn't make a big deal of the decidedly more intimate posture.
"Out for a drink of course," he smiled a little as her eyebrow quirked. "We probably won't have time later…and besides, I told Raidou and Naruto I'd be there."
"Well…alright. But eat something, I can still see all your ribs," to make a point of this she ran her palms over his sides. "Then we should go…afterwards."
"Back to the hospital." Hayate finished, deadpan. The thought of lying awake all night in that room curled cruelly in his stomach. Sakura bit her lip a little but nodded in response. As of yet, she had held off sending even the smallest filament of chakra into him, afraid of what she'd find out.
"Let's get something to eat." Sakura whispered.
Sakura forced food on him, much to the amusement of the gathered nins. There were, surprisingly, many nin out and about that night, coming and going from shops, restaurants, and most notably bars and hangouts.
The news of the current situation had, of course, spread like wild fire through the ranks and most older nin were expecting some kind of imminent conflict, taking the chance to relax before the storm hit.
Neither Raidou nor Naruto mentioned Hayate's condition, even as he sat at the table with them regularly filling up his napkin between stretches of conversation. Finally, Sakura couldn't deal with it anymore and offered to walk him home. She ledthem on their way through the shabby gathering place.
When they stepped out of the smoky, loud mass, it was into the dark of evening. Still early enough to be humid, but the gathering shadows promised a respite from the hot day. Sakura felt the air stick to her skin, doing nothing to cool her down as she walked alongside Hayate through the streets.
Hayate pulled on his shirt a little, the combination of mugginess and the already heavy feeling in his chest making him uncomfortable. His mood dropped further as they made their way steadily to the hospital. He glanced over and found Sakura trailing slightly behind him, arms clasped at her back. Then she stopped moving entirely, staring at the ground in concentration.
"You don't want to stay at the hospital tonight."
He agreed with her in his mind but being the man he was, replied in the opposite.
"I don't mind. I'm used to it by now."
Sakura frowned at him disbelievingly. She came back to his side and grabbed his hand, squeezing until he squeezed back and smiled down at her. If he did anything without thinking about it first, it was to smile. Sakura never felt he was doing it just to appease her or anyone, and it wasn't just the ingrained response she felt most people possessed.
"Well, even if you do stay there it will be to have someone check in on you every once in awhile." Hayate's face blanked and he tilted his head to side. "So I won't really be treating you or anything…"
"Isn't the point to have someone hovering over me?" He couldn't really see where this was going, he already knew the hospital routine well.
"Yes…" Sakura fidgeted a little, breaking his gaze and looking around. "What I mean is, since no one's going to be doing anything to you, there's no point in staying at the hospital tonight."
Hayate perked a little bit, the thought of 'sleeping' in his own bed before being confined again was extremely pleasing. So he tried to say as much without sounding too hopeful. "I suppose that's true." Sakura's face broke into a huge smile and he looked on wonderingly.
"Then it's settled!" She said happily, tugging him along a different street, away from the hospital room with its window and two beds perfectly made, one always empty.
Hayate followed, pushing his arm along hers as they made their way towards his apartment. "Are you walking me home?"
"Yes."
"Shouldn't I be the one walking you home?" He smiled as she practically dragged him to his door.
"That wouldn't make any sense," she laughed as he unlocked the door. "Since I'm staying here tonight." The door swung open but neither entered as he stared down at her.
"What?"
"Don't 'what?' me." Sakura smiled wider and walked in, quickly taking off her sandals and leaving them by the door. He followed suit sedately, watching her make her way towards his bedroom and disappear.
"Why?"
"You ask that like you expect me to attack you in the night." Sakura laughed and turned to him as he entered. "If you don't want to sleep at the hospital, then I have to stay here."
Hayate highly doubted that. But, he looked over the young woman standing in front of him, face set in a half smile that looked a little worried. If he wasn't so occupied with thinking about how much coughing he'd be doing that night he'd view the situation differently.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea. I'm not planning on doing much sleeping..." The look on Sakura's face had him backtrack and rethink quickly. "That's not what I meant."
Her eyebrows were arched highly. "Oh, that's too bad. You shouldn't give a girl false hopes, Hayate."
He snorted in disbelief before he could control himself, shaking his head at her innocent look. "You can have the be-"
"If you offer me the bed we're going straight to the hospital," she hissed at him.
Hayate was at a loss as to how to handle the situation. They stared at each other for a few minutes before decidedly giving up. He went to his closet and pulled out some clothes, passing a pile to her and pointing to the bathroom in the hall.
"Bathroom." One word that he meant to be a command, since seeing Sakura change wasn't going to help him at all. Even if he wanted to try anything, he was sure his lungs would rein him in quickly enough and leave him more than uncomfortable.
"Hai." She smiled as she closed the door behind her, letting it slip then.
Sakura considered the clothes he had given her as she thought about the actions she'd have to take. Once she was done dressing she would have to at least get an inkling of the extent of damage he was walking around with.
When she finally slipped out of her own clothes into the shirt and shorts he'd given her, he was already done getting dressed. Which seemed to involve just taking off everything and slipping on a pair of drawstring pants.
"Can you just sit on the edge of the bed?" Resting on the side of the bed he watched her walk over and then crawl around behind him. He thought about maybe giving her a pair of pants as well, seeing as her bare legs were getting to be a slight distraction.
He took the smallest breaths possible as she curled her chakra through his back into his chest. It didn't hinder his breathing in any way, but he had to practice a calm posture and force his thoughts onto keeping his lungs in line so as not to disturb her.
But, his general condition was disturbing enough for her. Coughing wouldn't have made her think of it as worse, since she could hardly believe he was up and functioning in his current state. Although, his flesh wasn't lying to her, she was amazed at the trauma she could 'see' inside. Fluids sloshed in both lungs and seemed to be leaking slowly from every tear she'd ever tried to mend.
"Okay, all done." Sakura said patting his shoulder and sitting back.
"Good." He stood and walked to the bathroom quickly, a fit of coughing taking over as she listened to him spitting into the sink. The sound ofrunning water in the bathroom floated to her before he returned. "I'll try not to wake you too often."
Sakura smiled and pulled up his comforter, getting underneath and sliding over as he did the same. When they were both settled in the dark room, he shifted uncomfortably for more than one reason. Sakura, unsure, reached out and pulled herself closer to him, resting a hand on his chest and her head on his shoulder. Hayate slowly laid his arm along her back, resting his hand on her waist.
This is nice…she thought absently since it had been…well, she couldn't remember the last time she'd just lain next to a man. One part of her was wished their situations could be different, but she was content enough just being there.
When her chakra leaked through her hand and flooded through him he twitched. Again it was odd, but this time it was just the comforting feeling he usually experienced when Sakura was working on him. She did what she could to stop the bleeding and weeping inside of him. It was a vicious cycle of bleeding, then coughing, which would lead to more tearing and in turn more bleeding.
He sighed a little as the heavy feeling lifted minutely, pulling Sakura a little closer, taking comfort in her soft, feminine form. Sakura watched his eyes drift shut and returned her concentration to her chakra, intent on trying her best to ease at least a portion of his discomfort.
Thanks:
Aliora - I promise to fit in some yaoi as well. Haha, only joking. But I'm not really…
Wildwesternwind - for the love of GOD, stop putting dirty thoughts into my head. (And check out my Bio/Profile/Author's Page for a link to an awesome pic of Hayasaku goodness she drew for me! My greatest dream fulfilled.)
Everyone who reviews, comments and stalks me!
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