Annoyance
Sakura was annoying. He had always thought this, and told her so himself many times, but right now she was really, really annoying. He wondered briefly what had brought him to this moment where he was standing in Sakura's room while she was lying unconscious in his arms with her arms locked tightly around his neck. He sighed resignedly as his mind brought him back to a couple hours earlier.
Team 7 had been sent upon another mission. It was supposed to be a C-rank but their enemies were putting up one heck of a fight. The battle was evenly numbered, if you disregarded Naruto's shadow clones which he was currently using, and Sasuke was struggling with his opponent. He hadn't had to resort to his sharingan yet, but it was getting harder and harder not to use it. His opponent was extremely skilled and left no openings for attacks. Sasuke barely missed a blow as he was so intent upon finding an opening. He cursed but stopped midway as he finally saw the opening. He took less than moment to aim and struck at it. He willed the kunai to hit and smirked as it sliced through the enemy's torso with precision. The wide-eyed shock on the ninja's face gave Sasuke a sadistic type of satisfaction for a moment before he decided to end the battle with one final blow. He came up behind the shinobi, raised his fist, and let it fall with added momentum. Sasuke counted the seconds till impact in his mind. Three. Two. O—suddenly a scream followed by Naruto's yell of "Sakura-chan!" pierced through his thoughts. He froze momentarily as instincts kicked in, but his mind temporarily overrode these in order to complete his task. Before his enemy had even struck the ground he was gone, looking for the source of the scream. Sasuke reached Naruto who looked as if he had tried to run to Sakura but his opponent had stopped him.
"Don't worry Naruto I'll find her, just worry about that guy." Sasuke shouted as he passed. Naruto nodded grimly and set his focus back on his opponent with a dangerous look in his eyes.
Sasuke set his own eyes on the landscape before him scanning the area for a flash of pink or red. He found Kakashi finishing an opponent to the left and swept his eyes quickly to the right where a shinobi could be seen hovering over something on the ground with a kunai poised to attack. Without pausing for thought, Sasuke was moving, sending chakra to his feet to make him move even quicker. The next few moments came to Sasuke in a scarlet-colored haze. He slipped a shiruken out of his weapons' pouch and managed to block the kunai right above Sakura's neck at the last moment. Sasuke glared up at the attacker with cold, blood-red eyes as his sharingan unconsciously awoke. The shinobi looked fearful for a moment before his face melted into an arrogant smirk. Sasuke smirked as well.
"You know, you should have kept that fear in your eyes." Sasuke said in a dangerously quiet voice before putting his weight on the shiruken to throw the enemy off of him. He positioned himself between Sakura and the enemy ninja who staggered back a bit and tried to hide the fear with more arrogance.
"It's too late to save her now." The man said looking at Sasuke smugly, even though his eyes showed fear. Sasuke growled quietly and pulled out more shiruken and flung them with all the strength and accuracy that he could muster. His opponent dodged and deflected all of these attacks without sustaining any damage, as Sasuke had expected, but the shinobi had had to concentrate too much on the shiruken and didn't see when Sasuke snuck up behind him with a fully charged chidori.
"I told you that you should have been afraid." Sasuke whispered. "How 'bout now? Afraid yet?" he laughed quietly in the ninja's ear. The enemy was visibly shaking and had turned his head half an inch to look at Sasuke with frightened eyes. Sasuke raised the chirping ball of chakra behind him and began to sling it towards the still immobilized opponent.
"Sasuke!" A stern voice broke through the haze and Sasuke immediately froze. The chidori was less than two inches from the opponent's back and it slowly faded into nothingness. Sasuke looked to the origin of the voice, slightly perplexed. Kakashi stood in front of him carrying two unconscious bodies. "That's enough Sasuke." Kakashi said looking at him evenly. Sasuke stood there a moment longer, wondering what exactly had been going through his head to lose his composure like that, before he straightened and shoved his hands into his pockets and muttered a "hai". The enemy shinobi took this moment to try and escape but unfortunately he ran into Kakashi's fist and landed flat on his back. Kakashi sighed and gave a disappointed look at his subordinate but didn't say anything. Instead, he kneeled down next to Sakura to check her wounds. Sasuke did the same and a few moments later Naruto joined them.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Is she okay? What happened?" he asked panicking as he pushed Sasuke out of the way to see Sakura.
"Oy, dobe, stop shouting." Sasuke said moodily and repositioned himself on the other side of Sakura.
"Kakashi-sensei…is Sakura alright?" Naruto asked ignoring Sasuke and looking at his sensei who was checking Sakura's vital signs, and running a crude medical test on her. He finished his task silently before sighing and getting to his feet.
"She seems perfectly fine, but…" he trailed off scratching his head. "I just don't know." He finished honestly. He glanced once again at his female subordinate before lifting her off the ground. "We're going to have to head back. I'm not taking any chances. Besides, you're hurt as well Naruto." Just seeming to notice this, Naruto looked down at his arm and Sasuke could see a long gash. "Bandage that up and then we'll be off." Kakashi ordered.
After Naruto clumsily bandaged his arm the team set off as fast as they could back to Konoha. Sasuke's mind was still slightly hazy and thoughts of what he had been doing swam through his mind. The only thing that he could clearly distinguish was his worry. He clenched his teeth and frowned at this. He wasn't supposed to let anyone get close to him and here he was growing attached to his team. That wouldn't be so bad, but for him to completely lose himself due to worry? That wasn't like him. He was cool, calm and collected. He had vowed he would never care for anyone again so that if anything happened he would never hurt again. He cursed mentally at his foolish behavior and decided to push his musings away. He convinced himself that it was merely concern for a fellow team member that had directed his actions and that this was nothing to worry about.
A little over an hour later they were inside of Konoha Hospital. They were ushered into a room with two beds and a view of the city. Kakashi laid Sakura onto one of the beds while Naruto climbed onto the other. Shortly after, a nurse came in and assessed the damage to Naruto's arm and then proceeded to turn to Sakura and run a few simple tests. After she finished jotting down notes onto the file she turned to Kakashi and Sasuke to inform them that the Godaime would be in shortly.
The Godaime didn't make them wait long and came in with a tired look on her face. Upon seeing Naruto her brow furrowed slightly.
"What have you done this time?" she asked in an exasperated tone.
"Nothing, baa-chan! Aren't you supposed to be worried about if I'm seriously injured or something?" Naruto shot back indignantly. The Godaime smirked.
"I would be worried, but you're in here too often with minor injuries for me to worry." she retorted sitting next to Naruto's bed and applying some salve to the wound. "How are you ever going to become Hokage this way?"
"I am going to become Hokage! Dattebayo! Just wait baa-chan!" Naruto said angrily.
"Hai, hai," Tsunade said amiably while smiling. Her smile faded as she turned to Sakura. The Godaime looked at the kunoichi for a moment before addressing the team. "Did anyone see what happened to her?"
"No." Kakashi replied solemnly speaking for the group. Sasuke had his back to the group and was staring out the window but kept his ears and attention on what was going on behind him. After ten agonizing minutes Tsunade spoke again.
"It looks like it may have just been a strong ninjutsu that knocked her out. I don't sense any serious damage besides cuts and bruises which I'm assuming she sustained prior to loosing consciousness. She seems completely fine and I'm going to discharge her. I would rather not let her go, I'm a bit worried. Things just aren't making sense, but we're short on commodities and I could be worrying over nothing. She needs some rest, and we'll have someone watching over her at all times. If anything goes wrong I need to be alerted because I'm concerned that it could be a lurking genjutsu." She paused, and Sasuke heard a rustling noise as Tsunade seemed to be searching for something. There was a clink as something hit the bedside table and Tsunade continued. "Just administer this medication to her every four hours." With that Sasuke heard her turn to leave. "Oh, and I'm discharging you as well Naruto, but stay home and let that heal." She said firmly as she walked out the door.
They all stood there in silence for less than a minute before Naruto was speaking energetically.
"I'll watch over Sakura-chan!" he offered boisterously. Sasuke turned around after hearing Naruto volunteer himself, thinking that he was no longer needed. Sasuke saw Kakashi shake his head.
"Nope." He said simply.
"Nani? Demo…demo…nande?" Naruto spluttered.
"One, you're supposed to be resting and letting your arm heal. And two, you're in no condition to get help with that arm if something were to happen." Kakashi said sighing.
"No fair," Naruto whined. "I wanted to stay with her but you're hogging her." Naruto sulked. Kakashi shook his head again.
"I can't look after her either. I have to write up a report and check with the Godaime about how to handle the rest of this mission." Naruto contorted his face in thought upon hearing this.
"Hai, hai…demo, who's going to stay with her?" Naruto asked.
"Sasuke." Kakashi said simply. It took all of Sasuke's will not to scream out a surprised "nani?" such as Naruto did, but he managed to keep his composure.
"What?" Sasuke asked irritably. In the background Naruto was complaining about how Sasuke got to do everything and other pointless things.
"Don't worry, just take her home, and I'm sure her parents will be able to watch her after you explain the situation and the Godaime's instructions." Sasuke sighed resignedly upon hearing this.
"Are you serious?" he asked in tired voice.
"Yes I'm serious. Now, everyone go." With that Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto continued to make a racket but Sasuke ignored him as he pocketed the medication, lifted Sakura from the bed with one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knee joint, and walked out of the hospital.
So here he was holding an unconscious Sakura in her room. He would have been gone by now but her parents were out, and from the note they left it seemed as though they wouldn't be back for a couple of days. He supposed he could call them, but he didn't know the number to where they were staying. He wasn't sure what he would do next, but he figured the first thing for him to do was to lay Sakura down and give her the first dose of medication. He lowered her carefully onto the bed and made sure her head was comfortably on the pillow before letting her go and standing up. The only problem was that he couldn't stand up. He tried again but Sakura's arms were latched tightly around his neck. He grumbled to himself about how annoying she was. At some point during the journey to her house Sakura managed to snake her arms around his neck and burrow her head into the space between his neck and his shoulder. He tried to gently pry her hands loose but she had a strong grip and his movements only caused her to unconsciously cling tighter and furrow her brows. Not knowing what else to do, Sasuke lifted her into his arms again. Now what was he supposed to do? He couldn't hold her like this all day. He tried to look down and glare at her so that she would somehow know that this was annoying him but he could hardly move his head due to hers. He turned his body to the left and to the right, looking around, hoping that some idea would strike him, but of course, none came.
With no other options open to him he sat down on her bed and positioned her so that she was kind of sitting on his lap. He colored slightly at the thought of anyone seeing him doing this such as Naruto or Kakashi. He would never hear the end of it.
"I hope you know how annoying you are." He snapped at the still unconscious Sakura. After a moment he shook his head realizing how foolish he was being. He was getting angry with someone who was unconscious for goodness' sake. He supported Sakura's back with one arm and fished in his pocket for her medication with the other. After a moment he found it and somehow managed to twist the cap off of it. Peering into the container he realized that it was a liquid and wondered briefly how he was going to get her to drink it, especially since she didn't seem to keen on moving. He tried moving her head, but that failed. He then tried untangling her arms again, which also failed. With no other options he decided to try and get her to unconsciously move.
"Oy! You have to get up now." He commanded sternly trying to move her even the slightest bit. She still clung to him persistently. "Hey! Come on now!" he said irritably as he tried again to no avail. With one last idea and grimacing at the thought of it he tried his last ditch move.
"Sakura. Please you have to move a bit." He said in the most soothing and gentle voice he could muster. "Sakura, please listen to me." He cajoled. Her face softened and he was able to move her head and her arms loosened a bit. He sighed. Finally he could breathe a bit. Sasuke tilted Sakura's head a bit and poured a small amount of the liquid into her parted lips. He saw her swallow automatically and she suddenly went completely limp. Her arms fell from his neck, her head lolled backwards, and her body fell slack in his arms. His heart started racing with worry but he then assured himself that this was what was supposed to happen. He picked her up, stood, and placed her comfortably on the bed.
Now that that was done there wasn't anything else that he could think of doing. He turned to leave to go find someone to watch over her, but something compelled him to stop in the doorway and turn back to look at her. She looked completely helpless. He turned again to leave but paused. What if something happened when he was gone? No one was here, and he wasn't sure how long it would take. He couldn't just leave her when she was so helpless; he had to watch out for her enough when she was fully conscious and armed. He screwed his eyes shut, not believing he was doing this and headed back into her room and pulled the chair from her desk over to her bedside. He plopped down into the chair and crossed his arms across his chest moodily. Someone would have to come and check on her after a while, right?
Three hours passed and Sasuke was getting fidgety. It wasn't as if Sasuke wasn't used to solitude and silence, but normally he had something to do. He always had training to do, or cleaning if the house needed it, but there was nothing for him to do here. He was close to taking a chance and leaving her there for a bit until he found someone but it was getting close to the time for her medication, and the dusk was starting to set in. He made annoyed noise as he realized that it was likely that he would have to stay here for the night and stay up to watch her. Just great he thought to himself.
He looked idly around her bedroom hoping to find something that would catch his attention enough to occupy him for another hour. On the farthest wall from the door there was a window with a beautiful view of Konoha. Sakura's bed lay on the wall to the right of the window. To the left there was what appeared to be a closet, a desk and a dresser. Above the desk hung a mirror and on top of the desk a few scrolls and shiruken were scattered. One object though caught his attention. A small picture frame stood on the dresser facing the bed. He walked over to the frame and picked it up, glancing at the picture. It was a photograph of Team 7 shortly after they had become genins. He had remembered that Kakashi said it was a tradition and that his sensei had made him take a picture with his team. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto in the picture who was also glaring back at Sasuke. Sakura looked as happy as could be even though she was in the middle of the glaring contest. Kakashi also looked to be happy for the most part. Sasuke's eyes drifted back to the image of Sakura. Here eyes were closed and a childish smile was spread widely across her face. She looked so young in this picture. He couldn't believe it was taken a mere year ago. He looked over at her sleeping form. She seemed to have grown up so much, but not at all at the same time. After a few moments he realized that he was staring and shook his head. His mind was certainly acting up on him today. He glanced at her clock and found that it was about time for her next dosage. He propped her up with one hand and administered the medication with the other. She went limp as before and he laid her back down, and went back to his chair. It was now ten at night and there was no way he could ask anyone to look after her now. He was just going to have to stay here until the morning. He sighed, and at risk of sounding like Shikamaru he mumbled "how troublesome" to himself. With nothing better to do, Sasuke drifted off into a light slumber.
Sasuke's eyes suddenly shot open. His ears perked up to hear any sound and his eyes had already transformed into sharingan to pin-point what had awoken him. His muscles were tense, and his mind was on edge as adrenaline flooded his system. After a few minutes in this ultra-sensitive state Sasuke's mind and body began to relax but he still remained wary. He crossed his arms and began to close his eyes, prepared to drift off again, when he remembered to check on the time. It was midnight and it would be another two hours until her next dose. He closed his eyes again but something compelled him to check on Sakura. He growled at himself for being so anxious like this but decided to check on her anyway. He pushed himself out of the chair and walked over to her bed. It was dark but his eyes could make out her features clearly. He frowned as he saw her brows were furrowed and a light sweat had broken out across her face. Without thinking he placed his hand against her forehead to check for a fever. She was a little warmer than expected although it was nothing major, she relaxed slightly at his touch, but he moved his hand away a moment later. At first she seemed unfazed at the absence of his hand but after a beat her brows furrowed again and she shook slightly wrenching her eyes closed. Sasuke's frown only deepened as she let out moan. What was going on? He wondered. He was about to go downstairs to make a call to the hospital when a sudden movement stopped him. Sakura had flipped to her side and was now curled up in a ball whimpering.
"No…" she moaned weakly. Sasuke walked back over to her unsure of what to do. Sakura began to flinch and toss and turn. "No…" she cried. Tears were forming behind her eyelids and falling down her cheeks. What had started out as a slight trembling had now transformed into full-fledged thrashing and she began screaming. "Stop! No! Don't! Please…" she whimpered he last word. Sasuke was torn. He didn't know what to do in this situation, genius that he was, and he didn't want to leave her to get help either. Sakura's screams brought him back to reality. "Help! Help me! Please help me!" Sasuke's mind immediately feared the worse remembering his encounters with Itachi's mangekyou sharingan. Heart racing now Sasuke acted on instinct to save her from the mental torture. He grabbed her flailing hand in an attempt to make here stop thrashing.
"Sakura." He said sternly, trying to bring her back to reality. She grasped his hand digging her nails into his skin as she arched her back in some kind of pain, screaming while she did so. "Sakura!" Sasuke cried as she fell back onto the bed limp and drenched in sweat but still whimpering in pain. He took this moment to try and cancel the genjutsu but it had no effect. Was this what the enemy had meant when he said it was too late to save Sakura? He only tightened his grasp on Sakura's hand. "Sakura!" he demanded. "Wake up! You're fine! Stop being so weak and break the genjutsu! Sakura!" he demanded of her small form as she still writhed in pain. He whipped the down drenched rose-colored hair out of her eyes and briefly let his hand rest on her cheek. "Sakura! You have to get through this." She was breathing heavily, panting and her eyes screwed shut even tighter and it seemed as if she was fighting against it. Sasuke could sense the chakra rushing through her as she fought against the illusion. "Come on, Sakura." He muttered as he still grasped her hand. Slowly she stopped thrashing and her breathing started to become even, although she was still breathing shallowly. The furrow of her brow began to relax as did her frown. Her eyes relaxed and were no longer shut so tightly. After she had calmed, Sasuke stayed by her side to make sure that she had defeated this thing. After a couple minutes, Sakura shifted in her sleep and Sasuke immediately tensed. She made a soft noise and squeezed her eyes shut before relaxing them, and slowly opening them. Her eyes were half-lidded, hiding part of their beautiful sea-foam irises. She closed them again and moaned before opening them again. Her eyes were hazy and confused but Sasuke released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He had been worried about whether he would ever see those eyes again, and the thought had unnerved him. Sakura's eyes slowly focused on him.
"Sas…suke…kun?" she asked in a raspy voice. Her eyes focused more and widened. She sat up quickly pulling her hand out of his while doing so, "Sasuke-kun!" she cried and through her self at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip and a sobbed into his shoulder. Her sobs wracked her body and she shook in his arms. He brought his own arms around her, holding her roughly but protectively. "Sasuke-kun! Oh, Sasuke-kun! They…They were killing you…and I…I couldn't…couldn't…oh Sasuke-kun!" She cried harder into his shirt and he said nothing as was his nature but continued to hold her tightly. Soon her sobs softened into quiet sniffles, and within moments she was asleep in his arms. He clung to her tightly as a he glared into the darkness willing anyone to try to take him from her, or her from him.
The next morning Sakura awoke to blinding sunlight. She squinted her eyes from the light and tried to sit up. It was then that she noticed that Sasuke-kun was asleep by her bedside. Her face colored as memories of last night flooded her mind. She looked again at Sasuke who had his head on her bed, his raven bangs falling in front of his closed eyes and one hand was draped protectively around her middle. She blushed again at this as she looked at his peaceful face. She gave into her heart and brushed his dark hair from his face and let her hand rest on his cheek. He nuzzled unconsciously into her touch and seemed to relax even more. She smiled at this and laid her head back down, closing her eyes. As far as she was concerned she would let this moment last as long as possible. The next time she awoke, Sasuke was standing over her with a tray of breakfast, his face emotionless yet again as he told her how annoying she was. Unconsciously he knew he wouldn't have it any other way.