Moon Eyes

Chapter: Onward

The temperature was continually dropping further and further as they traveled, frost bite was now a common thing that Sakura and her new recruits were having to deal with. They were still three days away from their destination and had only run into trouble one other time. Hinata had dealt with said problem with little emotion on her face and had struck the points of tenketsu that would deal out the most damage, the enemy had fallen in a bloody mess.

Sakura shivered and pressed in closer within her white winter coat as she dashed across the dry snow covered land towards her tent she shared with Sai, Kakashi and Akamaru. As more people came to be apart of their small survival party tent layouts had changed. Her brown snow boots lined with fur scrunched in the snow, yet another wonderful add on with the dropping temperatures. She stopped a moment when she saw Karin jogging towards her.

Karin came to a stop, readjusted her own coal black winter coat to keep the wind from the more vital parts of her body, and tucked her hands into the pockets. Her long red hair was hidden inside the fur lined hood of her coat, and she chose to keep the goggles down around her eyes and the black cloth around her lower face. The woman had ended up being a great asset to Sakura and tended to be the one second in command. Ino hadn’t been feeling overly well as of late.

“So, I just went and saw the occupants in tent thirty B. Everything seems alright, but the five year old is sick with fever.” Karin informed her.

Sakura sighed, “fuck me…”

Karin snorted, “I wish that was my problem.”

Sakura paused, and realized she too could use a good lay, then they both started to laugh. It was odd how there friendship had started to bloom, but some of it had to do with a shared history with a certain Uchiha who had scorned them. It had started out strained, and awkward, but now it was fairly easy between them.

“Just keep an eye on her, I have some medicines but I don’t want to use them unless necessary.” Sakura told the woman.

“I can do that, how often should I be checking on her?”

“Every four hours.”

“How long do you think we will be here?”

“Until Shino and Gaara get back from the village about fifty miles from here.” She answered.

Karin sighed, though the sound was lost in the howl of the wind, “after this we head for the mountain right?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait til I’m warm again.”

Karin laughed lightly, “I don’t think I even remember what that is.”

Sakura laughed this time and rose a hand to pat Karin on the shoulder, “you know, you are right I don’t either.”

“Well I better get back on duty, I have a few other tents to visit in my area.”

“Have you seen Ino and Matsuri today?”

“I’ve seen Ino, she seems well enough.”

“Matsuri must be sleeping,” Sakura commented.

“I imagine so. She had the late shift and then even went and did her rounds once this afternoon.”

Sakura sighed, “if you can call any of the time, day that is…”

“No kidding.”

“Hey if you happen to catch Matsuri tell her I found a midwife who knows a lot about child birth.”

“Will do.”

With that Karin took off to visit other tents leaving Sakura standing in the cold before her body caught up with her mind and she realized she was freezing. Jogging to her tent she finally made it without being stopped a second time and unzipped it before sitting down backwards so she could take off her knee high brown boots. Quickly stashing them in the side compartment just for boots she zipped up the tent and took off her coat.

“Is everything going alright?” Sai asked making her jump.

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, “for now anyway. I thought you had this shift.”

“Kakashi took it, says I need to rest.”

“You do, you’ve been doing back to back missions.” She paused, “speaking of do I need to check you for any injuries?”

Sai shook his head and frowned when his long hair fell in his eyes, forgetting momentarily he had been in the middle of pulling it back when Sakura entered their tent. Sai reached up and pulled back on his hair using a brush to make sure it was perfectly straight then brushed the hair up off the back of his neck, now long enough to go in the ponytail, before wrapping the tie around it. His hair grew a lot faster than anyone else’s Sakura had seen as it was now slightly past his shoulder.

“I could cut that for you.” Sakura suggested.

Sai placed his hands in his lap before glancing at the dog and brushing his fingers through the white fur, “no it is not that much of a hindrance.”

“If you change your mind,” she started.

“I will inform you.” Sai said looking over at her, obsidian connecting with emerald green.

Something inside her twisted up and she looked away and busied herself with unfolding her sleeping gear. This however did not stop her from realizing he was only in a pair of black sleep pants revealing a well toned body. Something she had never realized before, and she wasn’t the only one who had noticed either. Ino had made a comment awhile back when they were still at the hot springs.

‘How the hell does someone that hot never get noticed until he’s wearing shit loads of clothing?’

Sakura had only made a non-committal sound in the back of her throat at the time but now she could feel her cheeks heating up. Ino had a point, the man had practically paraded around in the nude for all the clothing he ever wore, and now when they had to wear winter garb all the time, was when people realized how good looking he was. It just wasn’t natural. It could possibly be all the stress, maybe the women in the group needed to get laid.

“Sakura, are you feeling alright? You seem flushed.” Sai said gruffly.

The sound did things to her insides that she didn’t really want to think about, “uh n-no I’m just tired.”

“Mm.”

Akamaru whined and they both looked at the dog, who was looking at Sai. Concern washed over her the look the dog was giving the man was one of worry. Then Sai placed a hand on top the dog’s head and scratched behind his ears. Akamaru wagged his tail and dropped his head in Sai’s lap before rolling onto his back. Sai smiled slightly and rubbed the dog’s belly, which only made the tail thump against the ground.

“You’re really good with him,” Sakura whispered.

“I treat him with respect and he treats me the same. It is a partnership of sorts.”

Akamaru yipped in agreement rolling back over to rest his head on his paws. Sakura smiled at the dog who wagged his tail for her, causing her to lean over and rub the dog on the head. It made her forget momentarily in order to do so she was leaning over Sai, and the distance wasn’t much of one. When another’s body heat penetrated her senses she also took note the man wasn’t breathing.

She turned her head slightly to look at Sai, and he had his eyes turned elsewhere his body tense his breath held. Quickly she sat back on her heels, embarrassment tinting her cheeks. She hadn’t meant to get that close to the man, he had some sort of aversion to touching, though on occasion she had hugged him and he had returned it. Thinking about the hug made her remember it and it only served to make her more uncomfortable.

“I couldn’t resist Akamaru is hard to ignore,” she whispered in lieu of an apology.

Sai shrugged his eyes still elsewhere, “it is fine.”

The wind rushed over the tent, rocking it, and the cold seeped into the enclosed area. Shikamaru had been right, these tents wouldn’t last to much longer, Sakura was already finding it harder to sleep at night because it was so cold. She looked at Sai and wondered how he was shirtless, she was still wearing the faded pink tank top that ran down to attach to the brown corset that hooked all down the front of her only to fade back into the pink tank top. Her brown form fitting pants lined in fur was also still firmly on and she had goose flesh pebbling up all over her. Sakura could even feel her nipples tightening under the leather of the corset and fabric of the tank top.

Wrapping her arms around her self she rubbed her arms to get more circulation going and felt her teeth chattered. Cold weather sucked and she had even been up to snow country once and that cold was nothing compared to this. She tensed when a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders and tucked tight around her. She blinked and looked up to see Sai was only a few inches away from her. His own hands rubbing up and down on her arms through the blanket. His eyes blankly determined to help her out.

“You are becoming sick.” He stated.

She shook her head, “no I’m fine I’m just cold is all.”

Sakura froze when lips were pressed to her forehead, “you are warm.” He breathed over her skin.

Only when what he had said finally made it through her head did her heart start to beat again. Sai hadn’t kissed her, he was checking her temperature though there were other ways to have done it. Still he was trying to keep her safe and he was concerned like a good team member.

“Drink this,” he told her placing a canteen into her hands.

“I can’t these are,”

“My water rations. I will live, you are sick you need fluids. I am no med nin but even I know fluids are helpful.”

Sakura sighed, “I will be fine. It’s nothing.”

Sai stared at her long and hard, “it would not do if the leading medic got sick and was unable to perform her duties.”

Sakura dropped her gaze on the canteen, Sai was right. Uncapping the container she brought it to her lips and took a drink. The water felt good on her parched lips and down her dry throat. It made her remember she had not taken a drink all day, she had used up the rest of her rations to clean up before delivering an unexpected baby to one of the villagers. A baby boy, only six pounds, but he had a strong suck so he would be alright. Food rations would have to be shifted around to make sure the woman would have extra to eat.

She sighed, that was something else she needed to go talk to Shikamaru and Temari about. The two strategists had come up with a way to have food last them until they got to where they were going and then some. People were only eating once a day, those who were pregnant were allotted two meals, medics were allotted one and a snack, and those who had given birth… Well that hadn’t been decided just yet. The woman wasn’t to have given birth until they had reached the safety of the mountain.

“Is something troubling you?”

Sakura closed the canteen and fell back into the comfort of her sleeping gear pulling the larger fur blanket closer around her, “a really long day.”

“I can deliver a message to Shikamaru or Temari if you need me to.”

“No it can wait, it’s just been a really long day.”

She listened as Sai sank down into his own sleep gear, and then smiled when she heard Akamaru growl in protest.

“You shouldn’t have been lying across the bottom of my sleep area,” Sai grouched back.

Akamaru grumbled something in dog language and huffed.

She could almost hear the roll of eyes, “I can put you outside, that’s where pets go.”

Sakura peeked open an eye and watched Akamaru sit up and stare at Sai as if he couldn’t be serious about such a cruel thing. Sai simply stared back at the dog until he looked away. The man seemed pleased he had won an argument with a dog and Sakura giggled attracting bother their attention.

“You two are such an odd pair,” she explained.

Akamaru seemed to agree and haruffed before lying down next to Sai. Sai huffed and seemed highly put upon. It was sometimes odd to see him with any emotion what so ever and occasionally it caught her off guard. Maybe it wasn’t that she was in need of some sexual release, but that Sai seemed human, and sure of himself that made him attractive to everyone.

Sakura yelped when her sleep gear, her on top of it, was dragged next to Sai’s. She glared up at the man who seemed unrepentive of his crimes which only served to upset her more. That is until the man started to situate everything so they shared the same sleep space. Granted it was decidedly warmer, and she was thankful for that, but now she was closer to the half naked man.

And he was definitely a man, his muscles well defined at this distance and his scent invading her. Burying her face into a blanket up to her nose to hide her blush as she looked away from him. She was not attracted to him, she was not attracted to him, this was only a by product of lonely nights and stress filled days. Besides this was Sai, and he didn’t feel attraction to anyone let alone her.

“Sai, what are you doing?” She mumbled into the blanket.

“You said you were cold, I am sharing heat in order to help you.” He explained and then added, “it’s purely non sexual I assure you.”

Sakura slowly looked at him again and watched him lie down before fussing at Akamaru who moved to her other side, then he turned his back to her. It might not be sexual in nature to him by any means, but her body wasn’t really thinking clinically with his close proximity. Quickly turning her back on him as well, before she did something truly horrific like hug him or something, she wrapped an arm around Akamaru who pressed his cold nose under her chin.

“Nrgh,” she mumbled as her breath sucked in quickly as the cold nose surprised her. “Jeeze, give a woman some warning will ya?”

Akamaru whined moving his nose away, and she took it as his way of apologizing and smiled burying her face in his fur. She wasn’t sure why the dog didn’t smell like one, but of fresh mountain air and… The dog smelt like Sai and she closed her eyes and indulged herself of a guilty pleasure by breathing in deeply. Akamaru smelt of snow covered mountains, fire burned pine wood, and of coarse Sai which was why she was sniffing the dog in the first place.

So much for not being attracted to her team mate. Apparently her mind didn’t remember her promise about never allowing herself to become involved with another team mate. Not that she had ever really been involved with Sasuke, and really she wasn’t involved with Sai either, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to be. She sighed slowly relaxing into the heat and blankets surrounding her. Sakura needed to stop thinking, and sleep was the best remedy for that.

*****

Karin, had stopped at Matsuri’s tent just to check on her, even though the girl belonged under Sakura’s care and she didn’t have enough skill yet to really help. Still it made her feel vaguely useful, and assuaged her concern for the brunet. The ever present Rock Lee was there as was the untouched bedspread of Subaku no Gaara. Matsuri sat up and smiled at her and she pulled away her hood, yanked off the scarf around the lower half of her face, and let the goggles dangle around her neck.

“Hey, just stopped in to see if you are feeling alright. Have you been able to eat?”

Matsuri grimaced, “a little.”

“How is the fever?”

Lee spoke up, “it broke about an hour ago.”

Karin nodded as she unzipped her coat and tossed it to side of the tent and made the appropriate seals to do a diagnosis jutsu. Quickly she ran her hands over Matsuri and then nodded pulling back. She sighed, it was very stressing to do even the low level medical jutsus, it made Sakura seem far more superior even if the woman had been at it longer. Karin had heard enough to know that Sakura had mastered the jutsus faster and had gotten her stamina increased easier than it seemed she herself was. Though Sakura was still unable to really train them physically.

Ino was next in command but the woman was in and out with fever occasionally for no real reason at all. Karin worried about the blond often as it seemed Sakura did as well. Yet when they found nothing wrong with the woman there was nothing to be done. Ino did everything she could when she could.

“Sakura wanted me to tell you that she found a midwife. The woman is proficient in child birth. Or so I assume or Sakura wouldn’t have mentioned it.” She informed the woman while flipping back her long red hair over her shoulders.

“Alright I’ll be sure to talk to Sakura-sensei when I get the chance.”

Karin nodded, “Lee are you feeling alright? I know that you were recently on border control and that you reported odd goings on.”

“Ah yes I am fine, just a few animals that were not quite themselves.” Lee answered giving her a thumbs up.

She frowned but let it go, Lee would only bow down if it were Sakura best to move on. She grabbed her coat, zipped it up, pulled her hood back on, brought the goggles back over her eyes, and tucked the scarf back around the lower half of her face. Turning she unzipped the tent and stepped out.

“Ja!” She called out behind her.

“Be careful Karin-chan be sure to never let go of your youthful passions!” Lee called out to her.

Karin rolled her eyes, the honorific when placed after her name just seemed far more childish sounding. No matter though, Lee would always call her by it. Tucking hands into her coat pockets she made her way towards the next section of tents, she had a job to do as it was her shift now.

Shifts generally overlapped each other unless an emergency happened, like the baby born earlier that day. Which meant Sakura was working when it wasn’t her turn, but she was the senior medico. This would mean less sleep for the woman, but she seemed to handle it alright. Karin just wanted to get to the safe point, she was getting tired of all this constant vigilance. She hoped that when they got there shifts wouldn’t be so horridly long and trying. It would just be an on call thing, or she dreamed it would be anyway.

Karin sighed, if she could at that very moment she would have kicked Sasuke Uchiha right in the balls, hard. Seriously, with so much sick satisfaction that she would be sent straight to hell. She paused and reigned in her anger. This would not make the situation any better, even if it allowed her a moment of satisfaction to picture it in her head.

Sasuke if you aren’t dead you better hope that you get a quick one when this group finds you, she thought darkly.

~TBC~

End Note: Okay soooo this was a long time coming. Man... sooo yeah the reason why I didn't really warn you guys about the wee bit of SaiSaku is cuz it's just not a whole lot at least not n my book. But yes... there is a future there. But don't worry Sakura becomes better. I already find her to be not her usual self. ^^

There's going to be a surprise character that no one is going to be expecting coming up here in the next coup chapters... Anyone who can guess it I will write a one shot for you. Pairing of choice (yes even NaruSasu but not SasuNaru ...Naruto needs to be the MAN!! lol) Oh and peeps I love ya.. so maybe you can skip on over to Crimson_batwings page and read "Pretty When You Cry" it's a co-write I have going on with her a SasuGaaSasu fic.
http://naruto.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600102668
It would be awesome to get a few reviews even if it's concrit. ^^