one_long_mission

"And then I woke you," she pointed out. His hand was warm, almost impossibly so, but she didn't let go. If anything, her grip only tightened around his as she met his eyes.

He was so alone, had been so alone for so long. Just like she had. And now she had a chance to do what no one had ever truly done for her.

"...What can I do?"

He shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. Another reason he hated these nightmares was that they robbed him of his usual defenses. He rarely had anyone wake him, and if he ever woke anyone else with them, they had known it to be better off pretending that nothing was wrong.
Those white eyes, in the darkness of that cave, were mesmerizing.

Wait, did he just think that?

"Nothing. You can't do a thing, I can't do a thing. No one can." he wasn't trying to reclaim his hand, perhaps since he knew her grip wasn't to be contended with. "I.. it's.. they won't leave.. and we.. should sleep."

Her uncle and cousins would disapprove. That entire side of the family had always been a stickler for formality. But she kept her hand in his, not about to let go.

"Sleep," she murmured, shifting in her bedroll to lie closer to him, easing the awkward angle of her arm. "They are not the only ones who are with you tonight."

He gave a light whimper, almost moving away, although his body shook he rooted himself firmly. Why did he want to flee?
He hid under the robe he used as blanket again, looking like nothing more than a scared child as he did, hand gripping hers a fraction tighter, perhaps in a result of the light tremor that coursed through him.

If he was alone, he couldn't be hurt...
...if he lost someone again, it couldn't hurt him if he wasn't as close as he could be.

She only squeezed his hand more tightly at the tremor and rested on her back, letting her eyes fall closed. She could not force him to acknowledge her as being there for him, only leave the opening and hope he would take it, for his own sake.

Overnight, he had shifted closer and closer, until only the bedroll separated them, his robe lying awkwardly sprawled over him, having somehow still hung through all the shifting. His face was lying a breath away from hers, features exponentially more relaxed than anything she way have witnessed earlier.

Despite his thoughts, the subconscious did not lie.

When she woke that morning, the first thing she was aware of was the unfamiliar warmth only centimeters away. Even through the bedroll she could feel it, and once she opened her eyes, she resolved the warm 'breeze' into Sasuke's breath.

And her cheeks flushed a dark red at the realization of just how close he was. She didn't shift, didn't try to wake him... it was his expression that caught her attention more than anything else. As much as he tried to push her away, his face...

It was captivating, in its own way. With a soft smile at his relaxation, she rested her head back down against her bedroll and closed her eyes, willing to wait until he woke.

It was about half an hour later, and his breathing shifted slightly as he swam out of a welcomed, restful sleep.

When he shifted, however, it was into her, and his nose dug faintly into skin before warning flashed into his brain and he pulled away, sitting up with a vaguely confused expression.

Better play it natural. "..hm.. morning." he murmured, gathering his robe, not intending to wake her at the moment if she was not.

Her breath caught, and she went completely still at the sudden press of his nose against her skin. She couldn't quite stifle the strangled gasp of surprise, and her hand immediately drew free of his as she sat up.

"G-Good morning," she greeted, cursing her own stutter as she reached behind her and tightened the tie in her hair. "Did you sleep well?"

He felt that, heard it, all of it... from her stillness to the very light gasp, and that stutter. Of course she caught his of course.

"Y-yea... I did." he fitted his robe upon himself again and carefully rose, careful about the cave's ceilling, feeling her hand's warmth still upon his. He shook his head to clear it. How easily could he be led astray. His journey had a goal, and he was close to it.

"We should reach the temple before darkness falls, if all goes well." he claimed a breath to steady himself. "It's a straight path north-northeast from here."

"I am pleased." And she meant that genuinely at least, wondering at herself how she'd managed to sleep through his shifting closer. Was it because she truly felt that safe around him...?

Forcing the thought aside she finished rolling up her own bedroll and slung her pack over her shoulder, fishing out a piece of fruit to munch on as breakfast. "Assuming there are no Shourisha in our path, that is."

"Assuming so, yes.... although if we find only a few strays, I wouldn't be adverse to cutting through them in order to speed up." he, after all, hardly seemed to wish to waste time.

"You still want to go through with this?" it was late to ask her this, but he still did. "Even I can't say for certain what I expect to discover." he knew some scriptures were mentioned, but what if the temple was devoid of anything? how could nothing have been pillaged? He may find nothing but dust, and then the voyage would have been for naught.

"Of course." She nodded, though it went without saying. The more Shourisha they could cull from the enemy's ranks, the less they would need to deal with during their next assault.

She moved to retrieve her wire trap, tucking it away in her kunai pouch as she glanced to Sasuke, almost questioningly. "If I have come this far, do you truly believe I would turn back?"

He gave a slow nod and pushed aside the brambles and thorned branches enough to allow them to exit the cave. Seeing those Shourisha yesterday, all gathered, made him hope that one of the parties scouting could spot them before they reached their main force...

And so the day went on with their progress unhindered, until... "You've been scouting ahead, right? No changes? The temple should be straight ahead."
And indeed, it would sit where he expected it, but about five-hundered meters ahead were also a small party of their enemies, advancing in their direction either by design or coincidence.

"I have," she confirmed, though in truth, she had been largely conserving her Chakra, only sweeping the area every fifteen minutes to half an hour. At his words, she focused her Chakra again, pausing as she caught sight of the enemy approaching.

"And I believe we will have a welcoming party of four guests." She extended a hand to indicate direction, gaze sharpening on them. "Currently five hundred meters away."

"Two against four? I say we can take them on." they were not so severely outnumbered, and really, the only thing they had going for them was not much more than brute force. "Are they any armored? If there are, they'll regret it." because being caught in a fire jutsu, temperatures rise dramatically...

"Two of them are, the larger ones." She nodded in confirmation, assessing her own levels of Chakra. "I foresee no difficulty. I cannot discern if we have been spotted, but I believe not."

She jerked her head and started forward, keeping herself lowered as she started to run. Best to intercept them as quickly as possible.

"I'll take the bigger ones. I know just how to deal with them." and no, he was not saying this because 'bigger enemies means I am cooler', simply for the sake of downing their foes as quickly as possible. Her fighting style did not do well against well-protected opponents.

Everything about Sasuke changed as they charged, moving like a predator racing towards their foes. They were spotted, the enemies coming up to meet them, but the shinobi held the advantage.
Sasuke sprang up and, out of nowhere, his sword appeared in his grip een as chidori raced down its blade, which he planted and left into his opponent's chest, and pounced over the taller one in armor, weaving sings in mid-air. "Katon: gokakyu!" and soon, there was a large fireball headed to burn the canned man from within his quickly-heating armor.

Finished with his targets, he headed to retrieve his blade from the corpse, keeping aware of noises, even if he knew Neji would have most likely dispatched her targets just as quickly as he did his.

She only nodded in agreement of his assessment, a tight smirk curving her lips as they ran. His abilities were much more suited to those in armor, while hers were not exactly nullifed, the impact was significantly reduced.

That said, a few ducks and twirls, and Juuken to the heart was enough to prevent her opponents from rising again. Not even breathing hard from the exertion, she glanced toward Sasuke and let her Chakra fall away from her eyes.

"Shall we?"

He gave a nod, cleaning his weapon upon a corpse's clothes. Her keen eye would notice the movement and just where the summoned blade would vanish. There was actually a seal to summon it upon his robe's belt. It certainly explained why he had kept it closest to him as he slept.

"Let us go."

And so they walked the last hundreds of meters, discovering...
"Thank you. No, really, thank you so much for not slipping me any indication of this." he was visibly at a loss. The temple had, for all it appeared, collapsed upon itself. He could guess the weather had taken its toll, or some materials for its construction had been ill-chosen. The defacing may also have been done by humans, but he chose it hardly mattered. "...then again, you probably knew it'd take more than that to have me lie down in defeat."

He took a few paces back and motionned her away. "This might hurt, stay back."

This was where the sharingan was useful. Not only the sharigna itself, but at least its ability to copy other jutsu. Even though Sasuke could not manipulate the earth element as well as a natural user, it was enough to shake the ground and have it rearrange the remnants of the temple into an opened passage rather than a blocked one.

"Seeing any surprises inside?"
There would be indeed, and the biggest one just might be that there was an actually very long staircase leading to an underground chamber...

She only inclined his head, watching him carefully. Though she had seen it... it was best for him to see it for himself, as she knew he wouldn't turn back without at least that much. The truth was always subjective to another's eyes.

She moved in closer, about to put a hand on his shoulder to offer what comfort she could when he advised her to stand back. Immediately she did as he said, leaping backward out of range as he started to shift the ground. In spite of herself, a low exhale escaped her lips as she nodded once, impressed with the feet.

"Stirs, underground," she mentioned, pressing her gaze past the entryway into the temple beyond. "It does not appear to be trapped. Anything else... you will have to see for yourself, Uchiha Sasuke.

"Do you wish me to accompany you?"

"..." he was about to reply, but paused and closed his mouth, eyebrows curving into a deep frown.

"If I am not back within the next half-hour, or if anyone happens within your radius of sight, step in and follow... but be wary." he added, only because she was a comrade. "...there may be traps within. I wouldn't put it past the Founder to have set up ways to keep those not of Uchiha blood from entering or proceeding safely." there was no hesitation as he bit into his thumb and claimed her hand to smear it upon her knuckles. "This'll have to do if anything's rigged."

Had he been alone, he would not have needed to worry. If he -had- been alone, he also might have come across that band of 18 Shourisha.

"I'll be off." he turned away then, and headed into the temple. He did stop where the gates may just have been when it stood whole, head bowing in silent prayer, and then disappeared in the darkness of the ruins...

For a long, long time afterwards, only the wind blew, and the only sounds were birds overhead... It had been slightly more than a half-hour, and there was no sign of Sasuke.

Inside the temple, as she advanced within, she might feel much malevolence as well as a tingling upon her knuckles. There were indeed traps, an horrid genjutsu activating upon her entry, although it appeared faded, perhaps thanks to either the blood's presence, or the seal's strength having faded.

There were more traps along the long stairs that descended underground, and once she reached the bottom, there was an altar in front of a stone door, engraved with the Uchiha crest, torches with everburning fire set at each side.

The door laid slightly ajar, and in another, large torchlit room was Sasuke, sitting and staring with deep-red sharingan at what seemed to be.... a large blank tablet.

"Ah--" She didn't protest the smear of blood beyond that, though her brows furrowed deeply that he wanted her to remain here. Very well, she would. They had come too far for him to abandon her now... And after they had spent the entire night all but nose-to-nose, she couldn't help but feel like that meant something.

Stubbornly, she forced it out of her mind, trying to ignore the cooling warmth of his blood against her knuckles, settling in to a pose for meditation beneath cover. It was fairly easy to keep time as such, slightly harder to keep her thoughts from drifting to how good it had felt to have him roll over and press his nose into her neck.

But when the allotted time had passed, she moved without hesitation beyond that of caution into the temple itself, taking careful stock of the temple itself. Whether it was the blood on her knuckles or her own blood (if the rumors saying the Uchiha and Hyuuga had once been related...) but she could definitely sense that she was not welcome here by the temple itself.

Once she found him... she remained wary, only taking a single step into the room he was in. "Sasuke?"

He looked over briefly, acknowledging he had heard her, before returning to staring the tablet, not moving from the spot where he sat at. His eyes did move, so he was perhaps reading it.

In the room, there were large engravings, the Uchiha clan symbols ruling over the walls. There was also a larger-than-life Sharingan engraved upon the wall at the back of the tablet.

There was a smaller tome right where Neji had entered, and she could see names scrawled over its pages.

Madara Uchiha
Naoto Uchiha
Kagami Uchiha
Fugaku Uchiha

They were all written in blood, and of course she would see the somewhat fresh sheen upon the latest name at the bottom of the page.

Sasuke Uchiha.

It seemed to be some sort of guestbook. Another larger tome -it looked also blank from where she stood- could be spotted at the back of the room.

Five names written in blood... The emphasis of the blood wasn't lost on her as her eyes swept the rest of the inner sanctum, noting the tomes, the seemingly blank tablets.

She could have asked him what he was doing, could have approached and attempted to read the tablets or perhaps page through the tomes. But even without the temple's own traps blatantly informing her that she didn't belong, she wouldn't. This was not her clan or her family. Instead, she took a seat cross-legged on the floor near the door, settling in for meditation. He would call for her attention when he was ready. If he wished to explain, she would listen, but she would not pry until after they were already gone.

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