okay okay i'm back again
title: epinephrine
pairing: sasuke/sakura, shikamaru/ino
summary: you wish this were just a game.
chapter: 3/5
notes: so this probably wouldn't even be up if it weren't for the lovely shirley asking me about it yesterday! you have her to thank :)
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epinephrine
you’d better be stronger, if you don’t want to be broken.
-
-
-
With the help of Sasuke’s handy GPS, they reached Mt. Fuji in a short amount of time.
It was exactly how it always looked in the textbooks, the encyclopedias. Pristine and untouched by the tainted hands of humanity. Mt. Fuji had always been a place that was preserved as the world was slowly being eaten away-and in this world, where war was plaguing the country, it seemed to shine even more.
“This is safe territory,” Sasuke said after they landed. “We can rest here for a while.”
Sakura and Naruto fell to the ground with a sigh. The strain on her arm wasn’t helping, and neither was the tense silence as they travelled. If they wanted to get out of this relatively safe, then they’d have to work together-but it was so difficult, when Sasuke was so grumpy and difficult to open up to. It was stupid, but they needed trust. And she couldn’t trust Sasuke if he was going to be like this.
“I’m in my first year of university,” she said quietly, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. “I want to be a doctor.”
It was quiet for a moment, until Naruto caught on. “Me too. But I don’t know what I want to be yet-maybe a ramen taste tester. I’ll search for the best ramen in the world!” They were in a field right at the base of the mountain; the grass was soft underneath her, and she couldn’t help but lie down in it.
“What about you, Sasuke?”
Sasuke didn’t speak, so Naruto did it for him. “Teme’s the same age as all of us-he’s going to be a policeman.” But it wasn’t the same, coming out of his mouth.
“What foods do you like?” she asked, looking directly at him. He looked at her pointedly before rummaging through his pack for something to eat.
“Tomatoes,” Naruto supplied. “He eats those things like a regular person drinks water.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” she said shortly, a frown set on her lips. The three of them fell into a silence after that, and she clenched her jaw subconsciously in frustration and fear. She was afraid of this moment-the moment when there was nothing to preoccupy her. It was now that the menacing thoughts would slither into her mind-she’d always had a strong imagination-and now, it put her to a terrible disadvantage.
What if they never got out of this? What if her arm healed improperly, and she remained mangled forever? What if they died, killed in this simulation game? And what-
Suddenly, she froze.
What about Ino? Was Ino okay? Ever since the game started, her best friend barely crossed her mind-it was just a game, after all-but it wasn’t anymore, and what-what if she was hurt? What if she didn’t know yet? What if she unknowingly walked straight towards her death?
“Sakura-chan?” She snapped out of her reverie when Naruto waved a hand in front of her face. “Hello? You okay? You look kind of pale.”
“Kind of like Sasuke?” she asked weakly, in attempt at a joke.
He blinked. “Yeah, kind of like Sasuke.”
“We should eat something, sleep for a bit, and then continue on,” Sasuke said, as though he had never heard their little exchange. “There’s a distinct path around the base of the mountain-we can walk while our jet packs recharge.”
And so they continued on their way-she kept her mouth shut about Ino, because Ino felt like a piece of precious information that she didn’t want to give out.
Maybe she understood a little of how Sasuke felt.
-
He frowned when they reached a small cottage, right beside a large apple tree. Was there supposed to be civilization here?
“Oh my God, apples,” Sakura breathed, rushing over to the tree. “I don’t think I’ve been so happy to see fruit in my life.” Sasuke didn’t bother to tell her that it was probably private property, and was considered trespassing if she picked some apples. (He was kind of craving some anyway. They looked rather ripe and ready to eat.) “Here, Sasuke, Naruto.” She tossed one to each of them, and kept one for herself, biting into it contently.
“Hey, I bet the person living here has food!” Naruto exclaimed-and with that, began pounding on the door of the cottage. “Oi! Anyone in there?”
“Idiot,” Sasuke hissed, pulling him back by the collar. “Those are hardly the right manners-” He paused midsentence, wondering when he ever began trying to correct Naruto’s manners; it’d been an impossible task from the start.
The blonde shrugged him off. “Whatever.” And proceeded to bang on the door again. “Hey! Anyone in ther-” He was promptly thrown back when the door blasted open-literally-off of its hinges, revealing a young, large-breasted woman, not looking at all pleased.
“Who the hell gave you the right to bang on my door like that, you little brat!” Sasuke had to hide is smirk-it served Naruto right.
“Not my fault you didn’t answer the first time, you old hag!” Naruto shouted back with vigor, scrambling to his feet. He and the woman glared at each other, until Sakura cautiously intervened.
“Um, excuse me-we’re travelers and we were wondering if you would offer us food and a place to stay-”
“Sure, for you two.” The woman nodded at her and Sasuke. Then she glared at Naruto. “But not you.”
“Hey! I have money, though!”
The woman seethed, but opened her door wider. “Fine.”
-
Tsunade broke the news over dessert. “Actually, I have something to say.”
“Me too, Baa-chan!” Naruto said with his mouth full. “This apple pie is awesome!” She ignored him.
Her eyes closed for a moment as she thought of how to put it. “I’m sure you guys have noticed that there’s something wrong with this game.” The three teenagers tensed at once, snapping to attention. She took a moment to admire how different they were-black, green and blue-and how they reminded her of her and her boys. “I’m Tsunade. Do you recognize my name?”
Sakura was the first to realize. “You’re one of the creators of the game, aren’t you? Along with Orochimaru and Jiraiya.”
“Right. Each of us placed replicas of ourselves in this game as characters on a whim-as you can see, my role is to help you three along and give you some tips. But there’ve been…glitches in this game. There was no way for you guys to quit, and no way for us to communicate with you. So I replaced my character with myself.”
“Good.” Sasuke put his fork down with a small clink on his plate-she noted how he didn’t even touch his slice of pie. He was so similar to Orochimaru. “We’d like to know what’s going on.”
“Orochimaru thinks the game is being hacked-he’s the tech-savvy one, so neither Jiraiya nor I can argue with him.”
“But what does that mean for us?” Sakura looked at Tsunade with bright eyes-she was like a mirror image of her younger self-“I mean, will we be…alright?”
“We’ve deduced that losing the game will cause in brain damage,” she said grimly. “We don’t know if it’ll be permanent or not. I’m sure Orochimaru is working on the glitches right now, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll be fixed anytime soon.” The girl shrunk back farther into her seat, poking her pie miserably.
“Hey, hey.” Naruto put down his fork, looking satisfied. “So if you’re here, where are the other people who made the game?”
“I’m the only one whose consciousness is actually in here. Orochimaru’s character plays the prime minister, and Jiraiya’s character got killed off with the history of the story.” Tsunade studied the boy momentarily. “Does that even matter?”
“Well, we have to know about the game if we want to beat it, right?” he said defensively.
Sakura smacked Naruto over the head. “That’s like cheating!”
“Does that really matter right now?”
And it was okay, she thought-because these three kind of reminded her of her life, her childhood-everything she’d ever needed-and so she settled down comfortably in her seat, and told them what they needed to know to win.
What they needed to know to survive.
-
After two days of recuperating, Tsunade revealed to them that she had a car. Naruto didn’t know what to expect anymore-that woman was just full of surprises.
He had taken full advantage of the fact that there was good food and a bed. Sasuke and Sakura, however, spent most of their time devising plans, back up plans, and back up plans for the back up plans.
One slip could cost them their lives.
And he would’ve helped-really, he would’ve-but he knew that his IQ couldn’t match either of theirs-and why try to help when he knew he would be a bother?
(He had more fun sleeping anyway.)
Sakura’s arm was now in a cast and on its way to full recovery-Tsunade had said that the recovery rate in this game was much faster than in real life. Naruto still felt guilt stab at him every time he looked at it, but he felt better about it now-he had drawn all over the cast, and been especially nice to her.
It was silent in the car. Naruto was fidgety-Sakura had shoved him in the passenger seat beside Tsunade, because she said she and Sasuke deserved the space in the back, for working so hard. He was restless. He was bored. There was absolutely nothing to see outside the window-it was a wasteland as soon as they left Mt. Fuji. The pollution in the air made it extra warm, too, and-
“Baa-chan, turn on the air con!”
“Shut up, you brat,” Tsunade muttered. “That’ll only cause more exhaust fumes, and that’s the last thing we need right now.”
Pouting, he turned around. “Sasuke, tell her to turn on the air con!” But his best friend didn’t answer him. Naruto blinked, and couldn’t help but snicker. Sasuke and Sakura had fallen asleep on each other-her head on his shoulder, his cheek pressing against the top of her head. It was funny, because his mouth was slightly open, and when he exhaled, he’d ruffle up her hair a little.
“Hey, Baa-chan.” He nudged Tsunade. “If I took a picture on my cell, would it transfer to my actual cell in real life?”
Tsunade glanced in the rearview mirror, eyes softening a little. “Probably not, but it’s worth a try.”
Heh. He was so going to show this to them later.
-
“Hey,” Ino whispered. Shikamaru opened his eyes blearily.
“God, woman, what time is it?”
“About four in the morning,” she said indignantly. He groaned, rolling over in his bed. She was loud enough as it was during the day-he didn’t need her to ruin his nights, too.
“Go away.”
“Why?”
“I’m sleeping.”
“Pein, um, has some problems.”
“Lock him up or something. I’ll deal with him tomorrow.”
“But he has some big problems.”
He glared at her. “Fine.” Troublesome. It took him a moment to get out of bed and shuffle after her. It was quiet in the entire building, save for the whirring of machines and their footsteps. He scowled. Even politicians and the other scientists knew that this was a time for sleeping.
When they reached Pein’s room, Ino’s hand hovered over the doorknob. He frowned. “I need my sleep, woman.”
“Actually.” She turned on her heels sharply, facing him. It was dark, but he could still see her eyes glint from the different lights flickering from the machines. “Pein needs his sleep too.” That was when he sighed, and scratched his head in annoyance-and also realized that she now knew how he looked with his hair down. Tch.
“Then what did you wake me for if he was sleeping?”
“Well. Um. Good question.” She smiled at him, all charming and cute. He rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Wait!” she said, just as he turned to go. He breathed in deeply. Calm, Shikamaru. Calm.
“What?” He tried to glare at her, but was too tired to. For God’s sake, it was four in the morning. People didn’t have energy to express annoyance at four in the morning.
Before he had the time to react, she had her small hands on his cheeks and her lips against his in a soft kiss. He blinked, caught off guard for a moment-but when his senses kicked in, one arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, his other hand weaving through her hair that was free of her usual elastic. She sighed breathily when they pulled apart, her smile completely different from before-this time small and genuine.
Funny. He wasn’t tired anymore.
She kissed him again, but longer this time, more sensual-and he found it too soon when her hands left his face, when she stepped away from him.
“Goodnight, Shikamaru.” And she slipped away.
Damn. He was never going to get back to sleep now.
-
“You’ll reach the outskirts of Tokyo by jet pack in just about ten minutes,” Tsunade was telling them when the car came to a stop.
“You’re not coming with us?” Naruto asked.
“An old woman like me would do more harm than good.” She sounded a little regretful, but it didn’t show in her expression. “There’ll be guards there, but Sasuke should know how to get through without getting caught. Right?” They made eye contact in the rearview mirror, and he nodded once. “Alright. Good luck. And if you don’t win this game, I swear, I’m going to kill you.”
“You got a husband and children waiting for you at home?” Naruto asked, grinning. Tsunade smacked him. “Ow! Okay! Geez, we’ll win!” He turned around to face Sasuke. “Oi, wake up your girlfriend.” Sasuke scowled, but looked down at the girl on his shoulder. Wordlessly, he shook her arm a little.
“Naruto, I swear to God, if you wake me up one more time, I’ll rip your spleen out,” she muttered, snuggling closer to him. Naruto paled.
Tsunade smiled wryly. “Don’t worry. You don’t need your spleen to live.”
“Get up,” Sasuke said irritably. “We’re going with the plan.” It was a moment before Sakura groaned, punched him with strength that was impossible for a girl, let alone a sleepy girl. He grunted, trying to hide his pained expression.
“Screw you,” she muttered, before opening the door of the car and slamming it shut behind her. Naruto and Sasuke sat there in a moment of stunned silence.
“Well.” The blonde laughed nervously. “See you around, Baa-chan.”
“Treat her well, and she won’t hurt you,” the woman advised, soundly oddly wise. “I know from experience.”
Sasuke was smart enough not to ask, and followed Sakura out of the car. After a few more seconds, Naruto did the same. “Thanks, Baa-chan!” The car drove off, back in the direction they came from, and they were left alone, with clean clothes, apples, preservatives, and charged jet packs.
“Well, let’s go!” Sakura said cheerily, turning on her jet pack and rising into the air. Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. Sasuke decided not to delve too deep into female mood swings.
Tsunade had gone through the game the night before-what they would have to do to win. She didn’t explain how, though-it depended each time, with the different antagonists’ choices. But he was confident, though-with his enhanced healing abilities, his fractured leg was fine now, and he was well fed and rested. Sakura’s arm was also now out of its cast and as good as new.
They could do this. They had to do this.
-
Sakura’s eyes were wide. “They have a soldier patrolling every few feet from each other! How are we going to get in?”
Sasuke didn’t exactly look like the happiest guy in the world. “They’re weapons just like me, but they’ve been programmed only to keep people out. They’re not going to attack you unless you try to get in by force.”
“Do they have any human emotions?”
“They’re minimal, but they’re there.”
Sakura studied the patrolling weapons, swallowing. All of them looked so blank-almost as if they were artificial robots. “Sasuke, what were you programmed to do?”
“Kill. I was one of the weapons on the front lines. I haven’t actually experienced it, though-the game started when I defected. But I have memories of it.” She shivered, not wanting to think of what it would be like to be programmed to kill.
“Whatever, you guys,” Naruto said, shrugging. “Can we beat them up now?” They were currently hiding behind a broken and deserted building.
“They’ll have to authenticate you before they let you in, but because we can’t be authenticated, we’ll have to get in by force. Sakura, you go ask one of them if they’ve seen your brother-make up some appearances, and distract them. It won’t take me long to knock a few of them out. Naruto, follow as close behind me as you can as soon as I’ve secured an entrance. They react quickly, though-so Sakura, you’d better run as fast as you can, too. I’ll stay behind to keep them away long enough for you two to get in safely.”
She swallowed. “That doesn’t sound very foolproof.”
“Do you have any better suggestions?” Sasuke glared. “As far as I know, I’m the only one with combat skills. But we have to keep you safe-you’re the hero for a reason.”
Which was true. Up until now, she hadn’t been presented with any special abilities-she kind of almost felt like a tagalong. Sasuke was able to fight, and Naruto had weapons on him-but she had nothing, was nothing. “I’ll go.” She had to do something to help.
“Make sure you look harmless.” Sasuke began to check the weapons on him, the radio in his ear, leaving her standing there. Naruto smiled at her encouragingly.
When she rounded the corner of the building into the weapons’ line of sight, she made sure to put on a limp and cradle her injured arm gently. “Um, excuse me!” The closer she got, the more they speculated her. She did her best to look weak. “Excuse me-um, have you seen my brother?” They glanced at each other, as if unsure of what to do-maybe they’d never encountered a situation like this before. She smiled a little.
“Who are you?” one of them finally settled on asking.
“My brother,” she insisted. “He has brown hair, but eyes like mine-green, you know? Have you seen him? He’s taller than me, a larger build-” She cut off abruptly when the soldier she was talking to suddenly crumpled to the ground. She only saw a blur, but she knew it was Sasuke. The other weapons around her crumpled to the ground as well, and she immediately took off after Naruto, who was easy to spot from anywhere, from his bright hair. It was a little difficult to keep her balance on her feet when one of her arms was set in a sling.
“Sakura-chan!” She collided with Naruto when he grabbed her good arm, pulling her around the corner. The soldiers were finally realizing what had happened-a few of them took after her and Naruto, and she wholeheartedly ran when he pulled at her arm down a smaller street.
There was no sign of Sasuke, but that was to be expected. She barely registered the people who looked their way as they raced past-her lungs burned and her legs protested, but Naruto kept on pulling her along-farther, faster, longer-
The scream almost escaped her lips when someone appeared in front of them. She recognized his outfit immediately-a weapon.
“Don’t move.” His voice was dangerously quiet. She began shaking in her shoes when she looked into his eyes-he had no pupils. They were just white-blank, empty-she faintly registered that Naruto was cutting off the blood flow in her hand, but she was most likely doing the same to him.
“What are you going to do to us?” Her voice came out shrill and shaky. He didn’t answer.
There was shouting in the direction of the main gates, but the pounding of her heart was louder. Her lungs were on fire, her mind racing but going nowhere.
What was she supposed to do? Run? Her hand was sweaty, clasped to Naruto’s-she knew, because when he pulled away, the air hit her palm in a cold burst. She didn’t know what he was doing-but a tiny flicker of hope sparked in her when he tried to deliver a punch to the weapon’s jaw.
It promptly went out, though, when he dodged. Predictably.
“It’s useless,” he said, voice frighteningly blank as Naruto attacked again, this time with a roundhouse kick. “You don’t have the ability to surpass me.”
“We’re not going down without a fight!”
Sakura had never had any experience with physical combat, so she didn’t know what to do-but her conscience told her that she had to do something. But what? She didn’t have weapons, she wasn’t a weapon, nor did she have any abilities-
She bit back her scream when Naruto was thrown back against a building, promptly going unconscious.
“I won’t hurt you as long as you don’t resist,” the weapon said, approaching her slowly. She swallowed, and on instinct, stumbled backwards and against the very same wall that Naruto had hit just moments prior.
What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t fight-couldn’t even run-
“Sa-Sasuke…” His name came in a whimper at first, and then-“Sasuke!”
The weapon raised a delicate eyebrow. “Sasuke? Is there another one of you?” She hated the way he referred to them-like they were bugs, scum-if anything, he was the scum, doing terrible things like this.
She looked around frantically. “Sasuke!”
“Sasuke”-he was right up against her now, a cold finger tracing her jaw line-“isn’t here.”
“Are you sure about that?” Relief flood through Sakura before she even had time to register it-she recognized that voice, she recognized Sasuke-
And suddenly, everything was okay.
It was difficult to see him in the shadows of the buildings towering over them, but there was no mistaking that voice-the dark chocolate that slipped down her throat-and the weapon immediately leapt away, bending into a defensive position. She shakily exhaled a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding.
“You have two options.” Sasuke’s steps were padded, cautious. In his hand was a simple blade-in her hand, it might’ve looked harmless, but when Sasuke held it, it seemed deadly. “One: You let me wipe your memory card. Two: You let me kill you. Which will it be?”
The other boy’s opalescent eyes narrowed. She shivered-it reminded her of ghosts and the undead. “You’re Uchiha Sasuke, aren’t you? We have orders to capture you alive.”
Sasuke’s smirk was comforting. “Yeah, about that-I don’t think it’ll happen.” And he lunged.
Sakura didn’t even have time to bask in her uselessness and vulnerability-it was almost breathtaking, the way two weapons fought. It was all speed and power and grace, all rolled into one-but it was obvious that Sasuke was better.
The other weapon leapt back, roughly wiping some blood off of his chin. His eyes flickered from Sasuke to her, and then to Naruto’s unconscious figure, a little ways away. She could almost see the gears spinning in his mind, balancing the pros and cons and the chances of victory.
She realized what he was going to do a split second before she did it. “Sasuke-he’s taking Naruto!”
But it was too late. By the time Sasuke propelled himself on his feet, their blonde friend was already in the arms of the weapon, flopping like some sort of dummy as he was slung over his shoulder. A wave of unexplainable anger suddenly washed over Sakura-she wasn’t sure why, but just the very image of Naruto being man-handled like that-
Her feet started walking all on their own.
“You can take me,” she said, voice low. “You can take me and rip me to shreds, but you cannot take Naruto.” The thought of someone like her being spared, but not the blonde, who was working so hard, fighting so hard-
For a moment, the soldier was taken aback. “I don’t take pleasure in choosing hostages,” he said icily, before backing away.
“You don’t get to take him!” Her voice was unfamiliar to her own ears when she screamed, running towards him. Angry tears were prickling at the back of her eyes-Naruto-the one who’d been trying so hard-the one who made everything seem remotely okay-he couldn’t be taken away, he couldn’t-
She was running as fast as she could, but by the time she reached where the weapon was standing, he was gone.
And so was Naruto.
-
“You let him get away.” She sounded distant. “You let him get away.”
“It would’ve been a disadvantage for us if we fought.” Sasuke clenched his hands, but made sure to keep them out of her sight. He was careful to sound unaffected. The last thing they needed was two overly emotional players in this fucked up game.
“How?” Sakura demanded. Her cheeks were damp with angry tears. “How could it have possibly been disadvantageous towards us? You were winning, dammit!”
“You heard the guy. I’m a wanted defect. If I fought him, it would’ve only attracted more attention-and then, we’d be outnumbered. And it’s not like you have any combat abilities.” He narrowed his eyes are her. Really. For a hero, she was a little useless.
She clenched her jaw. “Do you think I want to be useless?” she hissed. “Do you think I want to watch my friend being taken away?”
“He’s not your friend,” he said shortly. “He’s mine.”
“He’s mine, too!” Sasuke looked down, eyebrows raised, when she grabbed his collar. She shouldn’t have been intimidating, but the way she was glaring at him with shining eyes made her a tad frightening. “Just because I didn’t know him prior to this game doesn’t mean I don’t care about him, you inconsiderate asshole!” Her knuckles were white around the fabric of his uniform.
For a long moment, everything was tense. Then he brought his hand up against hers-it was cold and clammy-and slowly loosened her fingers until she let go. She was panting heavily, trying hard to stop her tears.
Her fingers clenched his in a bruising grip. He did his best not to grip back even harder, keeping his hold on her loose. Gentle, maybe.
“In any case, we’ll get him back,” he said, voice quiet. “We’ll figure something out.”
She stared at him for a long moment, and it was only then did he realize how green her eyes were. Her short, pink hair was disheveled and matted, and briefly, he wondered if he should smooth it out for her. He didn’t.
Little by little, her grip on him lessened, until their fingers were loosely interlocked. He would’ve pulled away, but her bottom lip quivered, and she finally surrendered to her tears. Her head bowed down, so he couldn’t see her expression, but she made no sound-no sobbing, no wailing like a child.
But he didn’t miss the way her frame shook, or the droplets collecting at her chin and slowly dripping off.
-
“Uchiha Sasuke, you can’t hide from me,” Ino said wickedly, an evil grin on her lips. Shikamaru was convinced that she made a very good antagonist.
“Mm,” he hummed, pulling her closer. In the past half a day, he had discovered how nice it felt for her body to be pressed against his.
“That weapon did a good job in putting a tracker on him,” she said, leaning into him quite comfortably. “What was his name again?”
“I think it was Neji,” he said noncommittally, tracing circles on her hipbone. She had very nice hipbones.
“Oh. Well, in any case, I can’t wait to see the epic showdown between him and Pein. Do you think there’s any popcorn around here?”
“This place is a research facility, Ino. Not a movie theatre.”
“That’s a little disappointing.” She sighed. “It’s starting to get a little boring without anything to do. Do you figure this game’s a little less interesting if you’re not a protagonist?”
“It’s interesting,” Shikamaru countered, lips grazing the shell of her ear.
She giggled. “Stop doing that, you pervert.”
“You started it.”
-
“The official government buildings are probably empty. Orochimaru, the prime minister-he spends most of his time in the research facilities.”
Sakura took this moment to appreciate their current economy and form of government, hoping that their future wouldn’t actually be like this.
The Tokyo of 2113 was very technology-based. The sounds were of the vehicles whirring, of the hustle and bustle of people doing business. No one spoke to each other unless they were at a restaurant or in a store-everyone on the streets kept their gaze straight ahead, not stopping until they reached their destination.
Because of this, Sasuke and Sakura could blend into the crowd enough without being noticed.
Sasuke kept a firm grip around her wrist as to not lose her-he tugged her along, and she followed behind him like a puppy. (In retrospect, it kind of sucked.) “Is the security there tight?”
“Not as tight as it is at the main gates, as no one really tries to enter.”
They continued like this for several more blocks-she had no idea how far it was to the facility. Tokyo was a big city-and she could feel her legs beginning to ache.
“Hey-hey, Sasuke.” Her throat was dry, her lips chapped. “The sun’s setting. Let’s rest for the night? Plan things out more thoroughly? After all, we only get one chance at this.” She was hungry and exhausted-too much had happened today.
Sasuke didn’t show any sign of stopping, so she didn’t press him. He probably heard her, but he was more composed one out of them both, and most likely had something up his sleeve that he wasn’t sharing with her. He never shared anything with her anyway-not that she really expected him to.
But then her legs finally did give out from under her, and they were slowed to a stop.
“Get up,” he said, looking down at her flatly. She swallowed, not liking the way her throat protested in pain.
“I don’t have the same stamina as you,” she said, breathing heavy. “Can we please stop somewhere to rest? And sleep?”
“You slept earlier today,” he pointed out.
“And if I remember correctly, someone woke me up,” she said dryly, not really in the mood for an argument. “Just-Sasuke, please. We aren’t going to get anywhere by blindly walking forward.”
They were in a more rural area now-a neighborhood-so there weren’t as many people to witness the odd sight of a pink-haired girl on the ground whose wrist was being held up by a boy who had a high probability of being a jerk, or perhaps even a potential rapist. (And knowing society nowadays, the chances of someone helping her would be slim to none.)
Finally, he sighed. “I’ve been looking for a place to stay for a while now. Even if we have money, we can’t stay at a hotel. They’ll recognize me.”
“An alley?” she suggested. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d slept in one.
He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Tokyo is too big for that.” His grip loosened on her wrist, until he let it go altogether. She let her hand fall into her lap, staring at it, feeling a little hopeless, a little scared, and a whole lot hungry. She took an apple out of her pack, and bit into it, savoring the taste.
First things first, after all.
“I saw a playground a little while back,” she said slowly. “The chances of children or anyone being there aren’t all that big.”
Sasuke frowned. “I am not sleeping in a playground.”
“Do you want to collapse tomorrow from exhaustion?”
They stared at each other for a long moment-a battle of perseverance and stubbornness-something Sakura had been told that she had a lot of.
“Fine,” be said finally. “The playground.”
-
“What’s wrong?” Jiraiya peered at Orochimaru, who was looking tense.
“The game is beginning to heat up.” He sounded a little panicky. And knowing Orochimaru, that was not a good thing. “Judging by the looks of it, they’ll have about one hour before it burns out altogether.”
It took a moment for the severity of the situation to sink into Jiraiya’s mind. “So wait. What’ll happen to Tsunade?”
“Brain damage, most likely. Maybe worse.”
He closed his eyes, leaning back into his chair. Okay. Calm down. There was nothing he could do here from the outside. “All they have to do is win, right?”
Orochimaru snorted lightly. “Easier said than done.”
“How long will it be for them if it’s one hour here?” The other man took his time answering.
“About a day.”
pairing: sasuke/sakura, shikamaru/ino
summary: you wish this were just a game.
chapter: 3/5
notes: so this probably wouldn't even be up if it weren't for the lovely shirley asking me about it yesterday! you have her to thank :)
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epinephrine
you’d better be stronger, if you don’t want to be broken.
-
-
-
With the help of Sasuke’s handy GPS, they reached Mt. Fuji in a short amount of time.
It was exactly how it always looked in the textbooks, the encyclopedias. Pristine and untouched by the tainted hands of humanity. Mt. Fuji had always been a place that was preserved as the world was slowly being eaten away-and in this world, where war was plaguing the country, it seemed to shine even more.
“This is safe territory,” Sasuke said after they landed. “We can rest here for a while.”
Sakura and Naruto fell to the ground with a sigh. The strain on her arm wasn’t helping, and neither was the tense silence as they travelled. If they wanted to get out of this relatively safe, then they’d have to work together-but it was so difficult, when Sasuke was so grumpy and difficult to open up to. It was stupid, but they needed trust. And she couldn’t trust Sasuke if he was going to be like this.
“I’m in my first year of university,” she said quietly, hugging her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. “I want to be a doctor.”
It was quiet for a moment, until Naruto caught on. “Me too. But I don’t know what I want to be yet-maybe a ramen taste tester. I’ll search for the best ramen in the world!” They were in a field right at the base of the mountain; the grass was soft underneath her, and she couldn’t help but lie down in it.
“What about you, Sasuke?”
Sasuke didn’t speak, so Naruto did it for him. “Teme’s the same age as all of us-he’s going to be a policeman.” But it wasn’t the same, coming out of his mouth.
“What foods do you like?” she asked, looking directly at him. He looked at her pointedly before rummaging through his pack for something to eat.
“Tomatoes,” Naruto supplied. “He eats those things like a regular person drinks water.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” she said shortly, a frown set on her lips. The three of them fell into a silence after that, and she clenched her jaw subconsciously in frustration and fear. She was afraid of this moment-the moment when there was nothing to preoccupy her. It was now that the menacing thoughts would slither into her mind-she’d always had a strong imagination-and now, it put her to a terrible disadvantage.
What if they never got out of this? What if her arm healed improperly, and she remained mangled forever? What if they died, killed in this simulation game? And what-
Suddenly, she froze.
What about Ino? Was Ino okay? Ever since the game started, her best friend barely crossed her mind-it was just a game, after all-but it wasn’t anymore, and what-what if she was hurt? What if she didn’t know yet? What if she unknowingly walked straight towards her death?
“Sakura-chan?” She snapped out of her reverie when Naruto waved a hand in front of her face. “Hello? You okay? You look kind of pale.”
“Kind of like Sasuke?” she asked weakly, in attempt at a joke.
He blinked. “Yeah, kind of like Sasuke.”
“We should eat something, sleep for a bit, and then continue on,” Sasuke said, as though he had never heard their little exchange. “There’s a distinct path around the base of the mountain-we can walk while our jet packs recharge.”
And so they continued on their way-she kept her mouth shut about Ino, because Ino felt like a piece of precious information that she didn’t want to give out.
Maybe she understood a little of how Sasuke felt.
-
He frowned when they reached a small cottage, right beside a large apple tree. Was there supposed to be civilization here?
“Oh my God, apples,” Sakura breathed, rushing over to the tree. “I don’t think I’ve been so happy to see fruit in my life.” Sasuke didn’t bother to tell her that it was probably private property, and was considered trespassing if she picked some apples. (He was kind of craving some anyway. They looked rather ripe and ready to eat.) “Here, Sasuke, Naruto.” She tossed one to each of them, and kept one for herself, biting into it contently.
“Hey, I bet the person living here has food!” Naruto exclaimed-and with that, began pounding on the door of the cottage. “Oi! Anyone in there?”
“Idiot,” Sasuke hissed, pulling him back by the collar. “Those are hardly the right manners-” He paused midsentence, wondering when he ever began trying to correct Naruto’s manners; it’d been an impossible task from the start.
The blonde shrugged him off. “Whatever.” And proceeded to bang on the door again. “Hey! Anyone in ther-” He was promptly thrown back when the door blasted open-literally-off of its hinges, revealing a young, large-breasted woman, not looking at all pleased.
“Who the hell gave you the right to bang on my door like that, you little brat!” Sasuke had to hide is smirk-it served Naruto right.
“Not my fault you didn’t answer the first time, you old hag!” Naruto shouted back with vigor, scrambling to his feet. He and the woman glared at each other, until Sakura cautiously intervened.
“Um, excuse me-we’re travelers and we were wondering if you would offer us food and a place to stay-”
“Sure, for you two.” The woman nodded at her and Sasuke. Then she glared at Naruto. “But not you.”
“Hey! I have money, though!”
The woman seethed, but opened her door wider. “Fine.”
-
Tsunade broke the news over dessert. “Actually, I have something to say.”
“Me too, Baa-chan!” Naruto said with his mouth full. “This apple pie is awesome!” She ignored him.
Her eyes closed for a moment as she thought of how to put it. “I’m sure you guys have noticed that there’s something wrong with this game.” The three teenagers tensed at once, snapping to attention. She took a moment to admire how different they were-black, green and blue-and how they reminded her of her and her boys. “I’m Tsunade. Do you recognize my name?”
Sakura was the first to realize. “You’re one of the creators of the game, aren’t you? Along with Orochimaru and Jiraiya.”
“Right. Each of us placed replicas of ourselves in this game as characters on a whim-as you can see, my role is to help you three along and give you some tips. But there’ve been…glitches in this game. There was no way for you guys to quit, and no way for us to communicate with you. So I replaced my character with myself.”
“Good.” Sasuke put his fork down with a small clink on his plate-she noted how he didn’t even touch his slice of pie. He was so similar to Orochimaru. “We’d like to know what’s going on.”
“Orochimaru thinks the game is being hacked-he’s the tech-savvy one, so neither Jiraiya nor I can argue with him.”
“But what does that mean for us?” Sakura looked at Tsunade with bright eyes-she was like a mirror image of her younger self-“I mean, will we be…alright?”
“We’ve deduced that losing the game will cause in brain damage,” she said grimly. “We don’t know if it’ll be permanent or not. I’m sure Orochimaru is working on the glitches right now, but there’s no guarantee that it’ll be fixed anytime soon.” The girl shrunk back farther into her seat, poking her pie miserably.
“Hey, hey.” Naruto put down his fork, looking satisfied. “So if you’re here, where are the other people who made the game?”
“I’m the only one whose consciousness is actually in here. Orochimaru’s character plays the prime minister, and Jiraiya’s character got killed off with the history of the story.” Tsunade studied the boy momentarily. “Does that even matter?”
“Well, we have to know about the game if we want to beat it, right?” he said defensively.
Sakura smacked Naruto over the head. “That’s like cheating!”
“Does that really matter right now?”
And it was okay, she thought-because these three kind of reminded her of her life, her childhood-everything she’d ever needed-and so she settled down comfortably in her seat, and told them what they needed to know to win.
What they needed to know to survive.
-
After two days of recuperating, Tsunade revealed to them that she had a car. Naruto didn’t know what to expect anymore-that woman was just full of surprises.
He had taken full advantage of the fact that there was good food and a bed. Sasuke and Sakura, however, spent most of their time devising plans, back up plans, and back up plans for the back up plans.
One slip could cost them their lives.
And he would’ve helped-really, he would’ve-but he knew that his IQ couldn’t match either of theirs-and why try to help when he knew he would be a bother?
(He had more fun sleeping anyway.)
Sakura’s arm was now in a cast and on its way to full recovery-Tsunade had said that the recovery rate in this game was much faster than in real life. Naruto still felt guilt stab at him every time he looked at it, but he felt better about it now-he had drawn all over the cast, and been especially nice to her.
It was silent in the car. Naruto was fidgety-Sakura had shoved him in the passenger seat beside Tsunade, because she said she and Sasuke deserved the space in the back, for working so hard. He was restless. He was bored. There was absolutely nothing to see outside the window-it was a wasteland as soon as they left Mt. Fuji. The pollution in the air made it extra warm, too, and-
“Baa-chan, turn on the air con!”
“Shut up, you brat,” Tsunade muttered. “That’ll only cause more exhaust fumes, and that’s the last thing we need right now.”
Pouting, he turned around. “Sasuke, tell her to turn on the air con!” But his best friend didn’t answer him. Naruto blinked, and couldn’t help but snicker. Sasuke and Sakura had fallen asleep on each other-her head on his shoulder, his cheek pressing against the top of her head. It was funny, because his mouth was slightly open, and when he exhaled, he’d ruffle up her hair a little.
“Hey, Baa-chan.” He nudged Tsunade. “If I took a picture on my cell, would it transfer to my actual cell in real life?”
Tsunade glanced in the rearview mirror, eyes softening a little. “Probably not, but it’s worth a try.”
Heh. He was so going to show this to them later.
-
“Hey,” Ino whispered. Shikamaru opened his eyes blearily.
“God, woman, what time is it?”
“About four in the morning,” she said indignantly. He groaned, rolling over in his bed. She was loud enough as it was during the day-he didn’t need her to ruin his nights, too.
“Go away.”
“Why?”
“I’m sleeping.”
“Pein, um, has some problems.”
“Lock him up or something. I’ll deal with him tomorrow.”
“But he has some big problems.”
He glared at her. “Fine.” Troublesome. It took him a moment to get out of bed and shuffle after her. It was quiet in the entire building, save for the whirring of machines and their footsteps. He scowled. Even politicians and the other scientists knew that this was a time for sleeping.
When they reached Pein’s room, Ino’s hand hovered over the doorknob. He frowned. “I need my sleep, woman.”
“Actually.” She turned on her heels sharply, facing him. It was dark, but he could still see her eyes glint from the different lights flickering from the machines. “Pein needs his sleep too.” That was when he sighed, and scratched his head in annoyance-and also realized that she now knew how he looked with his hair down. Tch.
“Then what did you wake me for if he was sleeping?”
“Well. Um. Good question.” She smiled at him, all charming and cute. He rolled his eyes.
“Whatever. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Wait!” she said, just as he turned to go. He breathed in deeply. Calm, Shikamaru. Calm.
“What?” He tried to glare at her, but was too tired to. For God’s sake, it was four in the morning. People didn’t have energy to express annoyance at four in the morning.
Before he had the time to react, she had her small hands on his cheeks and her lips against his in a soft kiss. He blinked, caught off guard for a moment-but when his senses kicked in, one arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer, his other hand weaving through her hair that was free of her usual elastic. She sighed breathily when they pulled apart, her smile completely different from before-this time small and genuine.
Funny. He wasn’t tired anymore.
She kissed him again, but longer this time, more sensual-and he found it too soon when her hands left his face, when she stepped away from him.
“Goodnight, Shikamaru.” And she slipped away.
Damn. He was never going to get back to sleep now.
-
“You’ll reach the outskirts of Tokyo by jet pack in just about ten minutes,” Tsunade was telling them when the car came to a stop.
“You’re not coming with us?” Naruto asked.
“An old woman like me would do more harm than good.” She sounded a little regretful, but it didn’t show in her expression. “There’ll be guards there, but Sasuke should know how to get through without getting caught. Right?” They made eye contact in the rearview mirror, and he nodded once. “Alright. Good luck. And if you don’t win this game, I swear, I’m going to kill you.”
“You got a husband and children waiting for you at home?” Naruto asked, grinning. Tsunade smacked him. “Ow! Okay! Geez, we’ll win!” He turned around to face Sasuke. “Oi, wake up your girlfriend.” Sasuke scowled, but looked down at the girl on his shoulder. Wordlessly, he shook her arm a little.
“Naruto, I swear to God, if you wake me up one more time, I’ll rip your spleen out,” she muttered, snuggling closer to him. Naruto paled.
Tsunade smiled wryly. “Don’t worry. You don’t need your spleen to live.”
“Get up,” Sasuke said irritably. “We’re going with the plan.” It was a moment before Sakura groaned, punched him with strength that was impossible for a girl, let alone a sleepy girl. He grunted, trying to hide his pained expression.
“Screw you,” she muttered, before opening the door of the car and slamming it shut behind her. Naruto and Sasuke sat there in a moment of stunned silence.
“Well.” The blonde laughed nervously. “See you around, Baa-chan.”
“Treat her well, and she won’t hurt you,” the woman advised, soundly oddly wise. “I know from experience.”
Sasuke was smart enough not to ask, and followed Sakura out of the car. After a few more seconds, Naruto did the same. “Thanks, Baa-chan!” The car drove off, back in the direction they came from, and they were left alone, with clean clothes, apples, preservatives, and charged jet packs.
“Well, let’s go!” Sakura said cheerily, turning on her jet pack and rising into the air. Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. Sasuke decided not to delve too deep into female mood swings.
Tsunade had gone through the game the night before-what they would have to do to win. She didn’t explain how, though-it depended each time, with the different antagonists’ choices. But he was confident, though-with his enhanced healing abilities, his fractured leg was fine now, and he was well fed and rested. Sakura’s arm was also now out of its cast and as good as new.
They could do this. They had to do this.
-
Sakura’s eyes were wide. “They have a soldier patrolling every few feet from each other! How are we going to get in?”
Sasuke didn’t exactly look like the happiest guy in the world. “They’re weapons just like me, but they’ve been programmed only to keep people out. They’re not going to attack you unless you try to get in by force.”
“Do they have any human emotions?”
“They’re minimal, but they’re there.”
Sakura studied the patrolling weapons, swallowing. All of them looked so blank-almost as if they were artificial robots. “Sasuke, what were you programmed to do?”
“Kill. I was one of the weapons on the front lines. I haven’t actually experienced it, though-the game started when I defected. But I have memories of it.” She shivered, not wanting to think of what it would be like to be programmed to kill.
“Whatever, you guys,” Naruto said, shrugging. “Can we beat them up now?” They were currently hiding behind a broken and deserted building.
“They’ll have to authenticate you before they let you in, but because we can’t be authenticated, we’ll have to get in by force. Sakura, you go ask one of them if they’ve seen your brother-make up some appearances, and distract them. It won’t take me long to knock a few of them out. Naruto, follow as close behind me as you can as soon as I’ve secured an entrance. They react quickly, though-so Sakura, you’d better run as fast as you can, too. I’ll stay behind to keep them away long enough for you two to get in safely.”
She swallowed. “That doesn’t sound very foolproof.”
“Do you have any better suggestions?” Sasuke glared. “As far as I know, I’m the only one with combat skills. But we have to keep you safe-you’re the hero for a reason.”
Which was true. Up until now, she hadn’t been presented with any special abilities-she kind of almost felt like a tagalong. Sasuke was able to fight, and Naruto had weapons on him-but she had nothing, was nothing. “I’ll go.” She had to do something to help.
“Make sure you look harmless.” Sasuke began to check the weapons on him, the radio in his ear, leaving her standing there. Naruto smiled at her encouragingly.
When she rounded the corner of the building into the weapons’ line of sight, she made sure to put on a limp and cradle her injured arm gently. “Um, excuse me!” The closer she got, the more they speculated her. She did her best to look weak. “Excuse me-um, have you seen my brother?” They glanced at each other, as if unsure of what to do-maybe they’d never encountered a situation like this before. She smiled a little.
“Who are you?” one of them finally settled on asking.
“My brother,” she insisted. “He has brown hair, but eyes like mine-green, you know? Have you seen him? He’s taller than me, a larger build-” She cut off abruptly when the soldier she was talking to suddenly crumpled to the ground. She only saw a blur, but she knew it was Sasuke. The other weapons around her crumpled to the ground as well, and she immediately took off after Naruto, who was easy to spot from anywhere, from his bright hair. It was a little difficult to keep her balance on her feet when one of her arms was set in a sling.
“Sakura-chan!” She collided with Naruto when he grabbed her good arm, pulling her around the corner. The soldiers were finally realizing what had happened-a few of them took after her and Naruto, and she wholeheartedly ran when he pulled at her arm down a smaller street.
There was no sign of Sasuke, but that was to be expected. She barely registered the people who looked their way as they raced past-her lungs burned and her legs protested, but Naruto kept on pulling her along-farther, faster, longer-
The scream almost escaped her lips when someone appeared in front of them. She recognized his outfit immediately-a weapon.
“Don’t move.” His voice was dangerously quiet. She began shaking in her shoes when she looked into his eyes-he had no pupils. They were just white-blank, empty-she faintly registered that Naruto was cutting off the blood flow in her hand, but she was most likely doing the same to him.
“What are you going to do to us?” Her voice came out shrill and shaky. He didn’t answer.
There was shouting in the direction of the main gates, but the pounding of her heart was louder. Her lungs were on fire, her mind racing but going nowhere.
What was she supposed to do? Run? Her hand was sweaty, clasped to Naruto’s-she knew, because when he pulled away, the air hit her palm in a cold burst. She didn’t know what he was doing-but a tiny flicker of hope sparked in her when he tried to deliver a punch to the weapon’s jaw.
It promptly went out, though, when he dodged. Predictably.
“It’s useless,” he said, voice frighteningly blank as Naruto attacked again, this time with a roundhouse kick. “You don’t have the ability to surpass me.”
“We’re not going down without a fight!”
Sakura had never had any experience with physical combat, so she didn’t know what to do-but her conscience told her that she had to do something. But what? She didn’t have weapons, she wasn’t a weapon, nor did she have any abilities-
She bit back her scream when Naruto was thrown back against a building, promptly going unconscious.
“I won’t hurt you as long as you don’t resist,” the weapon said, approaching her slowly. She swallowed, and on instinct, stumbled backwards and against the very same wall that Naruto had hit just moments prior.
What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t fight-couldn’t even run-
“Sa-Sasuke…” His name came in a whimper at first, and then-“Sasuke!”
The weapon raised a delicate eyebrow. “Sasuke? Is there another one of you?” She hated the way he referred to them-like they were bugs, scum-if anything, he was the scum, doing terrible things like this.
She looked around frantically. “Sasuke!”
“Sasuke”-he was right up against her now, a cold finger tracing her jaw line-“isn’t here.”
“Are you sure about that?” Relief flood through Sakura before she even had time to register it-she recognized that voice, she recognized Sasuke-
And suddenly, everything was okay.
It was difficult to see him in the shadows of the buildings towering over them, but there was no mistaking that voice-the dark chocolate that slipped down her throat-and the weapon immediately leapt away, bending into a defensive position. She shakily exhaled a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding.
“You have two options.” Sasuke’s steps were padded, cautious. In his hand was a simple blade-in her hand, it might’ve looked harmless, but when Sasuke held it, it seemed deadly. “One: You let me wipe your memory card. Two: You let me kill you. Which will it be?”
The other boy’s opalescent eyes narrowed. She shivered-it reminded her of ghosts and the undead. “You’re Uchiha Sasuke, aren’t you? We have orders to capture you alive.”
Sasuke’s smirk was comforting. “Yeah, about that-I don’t think it’ll happen.” And he lunged.
Sakura didn’t even have time to bask in her uselessness and vulnerability-it was almost breathtaking, the way two weapons fought. It was all speed and power and grace, all rolled into one-but it was obvious that Sasuke was better.
The other weapon leapt back, roughly wiping some blood off of his chin. His eyes flickered from Sasuke to her, and then to Naruto’s unconscious figure, a little ways away. She could almost see the gears spinning in his mind, balancing the pros and cons and the chances of victory.
She realized what he was going to do a split second before she did it. “Sasuke-he’s taking Naruto!”
But it was too late. By the time Sasuke propelled himself on his feet, their blonde friend was already in the arms of the weapon, flopping like some sort of dummy as he was slung over his shoulder. A wave of unexplainable anger suddenly washed over Sakura-she wasn’t sure why, but just the very image of Naruto being man-handled like that-
Her feet started walking all on their own.
“You can take me,” she said, voice low. “You can take me and rip me to shreds, but you cannot take Naruto.” The thought of someone like her being spared, but not the blonde, who was working so hard, fighting so hard-
For a moment, the soldier was taken aback. “I don’t take pleasure in choosing hostages,” he said icily, before backing away.
“You don’t get to take him!” Her voice was unfamiliar to her own ears when she screamed, running towards him. Angry tears were prickling at the back of her eyes-Naruto-the one who’d been trying so hard-the one who made everything seem remotely okay-he couldn’t be taken away, he couldn’t-
She was running as fast as she could, but by the time she reached where the weapon was standing, he was gone.
And so was Naruto.
-
“You let him get away.” She sounded distant. “You let him get away.”
“It would’ve been a disadvantage for us if we fought.” Sasuke clenched his hands, but made sure to keep them out of her sight. He was careful to sound unaffected. The last thing they needed was two overly emotional players in this fucked up game.
“How?” Sakura demanded. Her cheeks were damp with angry tears. “How could it have possibly been disadvantageous towards us? You were winning, dammit!”
“You heard the guy. I’m a wanted defect. If I fought him, it would’ve only attracted more attention-and then, we’d be outnumbered. And it’s not like you have any combat abilities.” He narrowed his eyes are her. Really. For a hero, she was a little useless.
She clenched her jaw. “Do you think I want to be useless?” she hissed. “Do you think I want to watch my friend being taken away?”
“He’s not your friend,” he said shortly. “He’s mine.”
“He’s mine, too!” Sasuke looked down, eyebrows raised, when she grabbed his collar. She shouldn’t have been intimidating, but the way she was glaring at him with shining eyes made her a tad frightening. “Just because I didn’t know him prior to this game doesn’t mean I don’t care about him, you inconsiderate asshole!” Her knuckles were white around the fabric of his uniform.
For a long moment, everything was tense. Then he brought his hand up against hers-it was cold and clammy-and slowly loosened her fingers until she let go. She was panting heavily, trying hard to stop her tears.
Her fingers clenched his in a bruising grip. He did his best not to grip back even harder, keeping his hold on her loose. Gentle, maybe.
“In any case, we’ll get him back,” he said, voice quiet. “We’ll figure something out.”
She stared at him for a long moment, and it was only then did he realize how green her eyes were. Her short, pink hair was disheveled and matted, and briefly, he wondered if he should smooth it out for her. He didn’t.
Little by little, her grip on him lessened, until their fingers were loosely interlocked. He would’ve pulled away, but her bottom lip quivered, and she finally surrendered to her tears. Her head bowed down, so he couldn’t see her expression, but she made no sound-no sobbing, no wailing like a child.
But he didn’t miss the way her frame shook, or the droplets collecting at her chin and slowly dripping off.
-
“Uchiha Sasuke, you can’t hide from me,” Ino said wickedly, an evil grin on her lips. Shikamaru was convinced that she made a very good antagonist.
“Mm,” he hummed, pulling her closer. In the past half a day, he had discovered how nice it felt for her body to be pressed against his.
“That weapon did a good job in putting a tracker on him,” she said, leaning into him quite comfortably. “What was his name again?”
“I think it was Neji,” he said noncommittally, tracing circles on her hipbone. She had very nice hipbones.
“Oh. Well, in any case, I can’t wait to see the epic showdown between him and Pein. Do you think there’s any popcorn around here?”
“This place is a research facility, Ino. Not a movie theatre.”
“That’s a little disappointing.” She sighed. “It’s starting to get a little boring without anything to do. Do you figure this game’s a little less interesting if you’re not a protagonist?”
“It’s interesting,” Shikamaru countered, lips grazing the shell of her ear.
She giggled. “Stop doing that, you pervert.”
“You started it.”
-
“The official government buildings are probably empty. Orochimaru, the prime minister-he spends most of his time in the research facilities.”
Sakura took this moment to appreciate their current economy and form of government, hoping that their future wouldn’t actually be like this.
The Tokyo of 2113 was very technology-based. The sounds were of the vehicles whirring, of the hustle and bustle of people doing business. No one spoke to each other unless they were at a restaurant or in a store-everyone on the streets kept their gaze straight ahead, not stopping until they reached their destination.
Because of this, Sasuke and Sakura could blend into the crowd enough without being noticed.
Sasuke kept a firm grip around her wrist as to not lose her-he tugged her along, and she followed behind him like a puppy. (In retrospect, it kind of sucked.) “Is the security there tight?”
“Not as tight as it is at the main gates, as no one really tries to enter.”
They continued like this for several more blocks-she had no idea how far it was to the facility. Tokyo was a big city-and she could feel her legs beginning to ache.
“Hey-hey, Sasuke.” Her throat was dry, her lips chapped. “The sun’s setting. Let’s rest for the night? Plan things out more thoroughly? After all, we only get one chance at this.” She was hungry and exhausted-too much had happened today.
Sasuke didn’t show any sign of stopping, so she didn’t press him. He probably heard her, but he was more composed one out of them both, and most likely had something up his sleeve that he wasn’t sharing with her. He never shared anything with her anyway-not that she really expected him to.
But then her legs finally did give out from under her, and they were slowed to a stop.
“Get up,” he said, looking down at her flatly. She swallowed, not liking the way her throat protested in pain.
“I don’t have the same stamina as you,” she said, breathing heavy. “Can we please stop somewhere to rest? And sleep?”
“You slept earlier today,” he pointed out.
“And if I remember correctly, someone woke me up,” she said dryly, not really in the mood for an argument. “Just-Sasuke, please. We aren’t going to get anywhere by blindly walking forward.”
They were in a more rural area now-a neighborhood-so there weren’t as many people to witness the odd sight of a pink-haired girl on the ground whose wrist was being held up by a boy who had a high probability of being a jerk, or perhaps even a potential rapist. (And knowing society nowadays, the chances of someone helping her would be slim to none.)
Finally, he sighed. “I’ve been looking for a place to stay for a while now. Even if we have money, we can’t stay at a hotel. They’ll recognize me.”
“An alley?” she suggested. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d slept in one.
He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Tokyo is too big for that.” His grip loosened on her wrist, until he let it go altogether. She let her hand fall into her lap, staring at it, feeling a little hopeless, a little scared, and a whole lot hungry. She took an apple out of her pack, and bit into it, savoring the taste.
First things first, after all.
“I saw a playground a little while back,” she said slowly. “The chances of children or anyone being there aren’t all that big.”
Sasuke frowned. “I am not sleeping in a playground.”
“Do you want to collapse tomorrow from exhaustion?”
They stared at each other for a long moment-a battle of perseverance and stubbornness-something Sakura had been told that she had a lot of.
“Fine,” be said finally. “The playground.”
-
“What’s wrong?” Jiraiya peered at Orochimaru, who was looking tense.
“The game is beginning to heat up.” He sounded a little panicky. And knowing Orochimaru, that was not a good thing. “Judging by the looks of it, they’ll have about one hour before it burns out altogether.”
It took a moment for the severity of the situation to sink into Jiraiya’s mind. “So wait. What’ll happen to Tsunade?”
“Brain damage, most likely. Maybe worse.”
He closed his eyes, leaning back into his chair. Okay. Calm down. There was nothing he could do here from the outside. “All they have to do is win, right?”
Orochimaru snorted lightly. “Easier said than done.”
“How long will it be for them if it’s one hour here?” The other man took his time answering.
“About a day.”