Rivals, Friends and Lovers (part 8 of 13)
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A/N: I give you all the eight chapter. I expected to get more reviews from the big cliff hanger in the previous chapter. My goal is to pass 100 reviews and I still got 6 chapters left (including this one) so I will probably make it. Feel free to contribute to help me reach the goal ) The real Shojo-Ai part is getting closer as you will notice in the end of the chapter ;)
Italic text is when someone is thinking
"this is text when quoting a sentence from a previous chapter"
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From bad to worse
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The sun had gone down hours ago. Night had replaced all light with pitch darkness. Only the moon provided some light, albeit a bit weak, for the forest to be visible. The sky had opened itself up, a torrent of rain pouring over the two kunoichi. A minute after being exposed to the elements, their clothes completely soaked stuck to their skin like cold glue.
Only a couple of minutes had passed since Sakura had fallen unconscious. She had pushed Ino out of the way of the falling tree, successfully saving her from almost certain death…but instead Sakura had taken the blow from the tree directly on her head.
Ino lay on her side, staring at the unconscious body of Sakura. Her face was twisted with nervousness and she shivered, whether from the weather or nervosa she didn't know. A trail of blood trickled down Sakura's forehead, mixing with the raindrops in the soil. With her hands and elbows, Ino crawled and dragged herself to her, shaking her gently while calling her name in a tired voice.
"Sakura…"
Ino looked down at her, who was not responding. She considered what to do next with their current situation. Ino was much too weak and wounded to move on her own, while Sakura was unconscious and there was no way to tell how badly hurt she was, or even when she would regain consciousness. As it was, the rain was falling heavier now and the wind was blowing extremely hard, causing Ino's wet hair to fly around wildly in her face as she hovered over Sakura's body.
Sakura had taken care and nursed Ino even though neither of them really liked it but Sakura still knew she had to do it for it was her responsibility. Now it was time for the roles to change.
You saved my life again Sakura…why do you keep doing that? Ino thought to herself as she stared at Sakura's body, before remembering what Sakura had told her before.
"You may be my rival Ino… but you are also my best friend. I shall protect you even if it will kill me. I am sure you think the same about me for that's what friends are for"
Sakura's words from the past echoed inside Ino's head.
You are my rival… my equal…my best friend…but to me you are also something else…something you don't know about me because I am so afraid you will hate me if you find out, and I can't risk losing my best friend… Ino smiled weakly, reaching out to caress Sakura's face.
Ino needed move both herself and Sakura to a safer place, to that cave Sakura had mentioned before. It would not be easy with the wounds she had.
She remembered how Sakura had saved her from falling to her death before. Things had looked grim, and yet Sakura refused to give up and had managed to save her.
"Yeah…you saved my life…guess I owe you one" She had told Sakura on that day, the day when Ino's life and existence could have ended but was prevented by Sakura's willpower. Ino's expression got more determined as she looked down on Sakura.
"This time Sakura I won't lose to you. I will make up for what you did for me on that day by saving you… and save myself too while I'm at it."
Once again, she tried to get up, only to be stopped again by the combination of exhaustion and pain. It was simply too much for her mind and body to handle….she felt horrible inside for her failure and weakness.
If Sakura were in my situation…she would have ignored the pain and kept walking until she died. I can't even take a single step…
She bit her lip nervously, unsure of what to do before turning her face again to look at the unconscious face of Sakura.
"Maybe you are a little stronger than me Sakura…" She murmured to herself. "But I will still beat you!"
Her determination which had sunk rock bottom flew instantly back up to the top after she said those words. Hoping to find something useful, Ino put her hands into one of the many pockets her clothes had. Most of them were empty to her dismay, except for one where her fingers felt something.
Oh no! How could I forget I had these with me? She thought as she remembered what it was.
Out from the pocket she took out what looked to be a folded hankie, and opened it. Inside were three small brown ball shaped objects, otherwise known as soldier pills. They had been given to her as a gift from her team mate Chouji. Soldier pills were hard to obtain because you were only allowed to have them on missions or exams and only medical ninjas had the authorization to distribute them. Chouji's family though had plenty of pills and so then he had given some to Ino.
Ino took one of the pills and swallowed it instantly. It did not take long before she could feel her stamina and chakra being replenished. Feeling alive again, it was now no problem for her to get up and walk a couple of steps before quickly dropping down again to her knees while whimpering in pain, clutching her broken ribs and fractured knee.
She had dealt with exhaustion problem but the soldier pills could not do anything against the pain that throbbed inside her, especially with the new pain that had started to come after recently falling to the ground.
"I'm sorry Sakura… the pain…is too much for me. Forgive me for my weakness…" She weakly said, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
I might as well curl up and die; at least it will be a good death for me. To die together with Sakura…
When Ino turned her head to the left, through the water drops she saw a small bush, which she hadn't noticed before. Immediately Ino recognized it, looking at the yellow berries that covered the bush.
Dream berries!
Ino began to slowly make her way to the bush by crawling on her stomach, her body making a trail in the wet mud. It was not easy; the pain in the ribs and knee stung her heavily.
I can't believe it. Dream Berries usually don't grow in forests like this, especially not during this time of the year. What the heck, it's still my ticket out of here.
Dream Berries were known to be pretty effective as painkillers, although they can dull your senses and can make you a bit light headed. Ino grinned triumphantly as she reached the bush, her hands picking off all the small yellow berries gathering them together in a pile. After she had over a hundred of them she put them all in small plastic bag. This would make this whole trip a lot easier.
Putting her hand in the bag, Ino grabbed a handful of the berries, chewing on them thoughtfully. They were very sour tasting and were far from other berries she had eaten before. Just like when she had taken the soldier pill it only took a minute before the pain in her head, knee, and most importantly her ribs started to fade away. The berries did not remove the pain completely but enough for Ino to walk normally and not think so much about it.
Now I am ready!
Quite easily she walked back Sakura, still limping a bit though, lifting her up and putting Sakura over her shoulder. Being slightly more muscular than Sakura helped Ino carrying her.
Thank god for finding those berries and having soldier pills with me or else this would have never worked.
Still she had a long and tough walk was ahead of her. The rain and the storm showed no signs of stopping and just kept raining and blowing.
"Hang in there Sakura, I will bring us both to safety," she said and started walking towards through the storm.
However…
Ino had no idea what was truly happening inside her chest…she did not know the real reason why that wet snapping sound was heard inside of her before and why she was feeling this new kind of pain inside of her chest…
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One hour later
Ino's mood had really hit the bottom. A series of curses flew out from her mouth; some of them especially nasty and had unheard to human ears before. She hated rain; it ruined her make up, washed off her perfume and made her hair sticky and uncombed, but worst of all it made her all wet and cold. Time after time she had kicked dirt and loose rocks with her healthy leg in anger and frustration.
"Damn it all to hell! Damn you Asuma-Sensei! Damn You Kakashi!" She cursed vehemently, furious at them for sending Sakura and Ino out here.
"And damn you too Sakura for constantly trying to save me all the time! You should have let that branch hit me since I'm mortally wounded already No need for both us to be like that!" She cursed her unconscious friend too, seeming to be ungrateful that it was thanks to Sakura she was still alive.
"I could have stayed in a warm bed at home right now but noooo! I am forced to walk in a forest in the middle of the night during a storm while carrying around a body and having half of my bones broken!!" Ino kept complaining to herself angrily.
The effects of the soldier pill and dream berries were slowly fading away. She had two more soldier pills but she wanted to save them for later use. From the Dream Berries however she still had plenty and she probably could find more if she took some time to look around for in the forest.
I need to find that cave quickly or both Sakura and I will freeze to death!
A few moments after she had that thought, she noticed how her surroundings had changed. The amount of trees had gone down significantly and she saw an opening ahead. After walking towards it with renewed hope, Ino saw a very small hill with a cave entrance in it.
"Yes! We are saved! I hope…" Ino smiled victoriously, her fighting had finally saved them both from death.
She was very thankful to have found it when she did; she had no idea how much longer she could've lasted searching. She dragged Sakura and carried their backpacks inside the cave, which on the inside did not look as bad as she thought it would. It was not so big but enough for them to stay there. The ground inside did not have any rocks or bumps but looked pretty clean and well shaped. The depth of it was not much either, about 4 meters deep which Ino liked because then she would not have to worry about the cave already being occupied by some animal.
Still though, even if it gave Sakura and Ino good protection from the rain, it did offer them less against the chilly wind. While being inside the cave, Ino leaned herself against the cold hard wall and sat down, sighing in relief and grimacing slightly in pain. The effects of the dream berries were almost gone; soon she would have to take new ones to make the pain go away. She panted unusually heavy.
My chest…it feels strange…and when did my stamina become this bad?
With her hand she gently touched her left breast. She was feeling another kind of pain in her chest. The pain was not in or around her broken ribs instead the pain was deeper inside her, feeling more like a stab wound than a broken bone. She was having trouble breathing properly, if it was because of the new unknown pain or the weather she could not decide.
Tiredly Ino sat down, hugging and rubbing her hands and body to try to keep the heat and blood circulation going.
Suddenly, without warning, a burning headache instantly appeared inside Ino's head. Reflexively she grabbed her head while groaning as it spread and grew further inside her skull. Then she began to feel very nauseous and everything started spinning around her. She went down on her side while grunting in pain.
Dammit…what's…what's wrong with me!?
Her mind tried to think of what was causing this while hoping it would soon disappear.
Thankfully, one minute later the nausea and the head ache disappeared without a trace. She sighed out of relief. But it was not over…Ino felt a acrid taste spreading inside of her mouth. A taste which she had felt before in her life…the taste of blood.
Reflexively her body coughed heavily some times. Something liquid of the same stuff left her mouth. Looking on the ground in front her knees she saw it was stained with blood drops.
"What the hell was that?" She panted heavily, confused. Quickly she forgot about it and did not give it any second thought, it could be nothing and besides she already had a lot to worry about.
Ino was freezing so much that she could not feel her toes or fingers and her teeth chattered endlessly. Lighting a fire would be useless and impossible inside the moist cave. Looking at Sakura who still was unconscious, Ino got reminded that she had a duty to take care of Sakura and she had completely forgotten about it for some minutes.
Sakura's body must be even colder than mine in her unconscious state…
There were not much she could do next but to try to sleep, there was one little problem though, they only had one sleeping bag left. Ino had to leave some of their things in the forest in order to carry Sakura and the more important stuff. She cursed herself for not bringing the other sleeping bag; there was no way for her to walk all the way back to get it.
If I use the sleeping bag Sakura will probably freeze to death. If I give the bag to Sakura then I will surely die in my sleep…
Ino grunted and slapped herself as she realized what she needed to do. And she really did not like it at all.
It was not easy with the wounds and pain she had, but she managed to put the unconscious Sakura inside the sleeping bag. What was she going to do? Was she really going to sacrifice herself for Sakura to live? No, she did not close the sleeping bag. Instead she moved herself into it too. Ino did not want to let any of them freeze to death so they were going to have share the bag instead and use each others body heats to warm the other. Despite both of them being completely soaked from the rain, Ino thought Sakura's body felt warm.
Never ever did I think I would actually lie on top of Sakura like this…
With her ear on Sakura's chest, Ino could hear Sakura's heart beat inside, making her smile weakly.
"You have such a nice heart Sakura; it's so full of love and warmth. How much I wish I could have that love from you" She whispered and brought her eyes from Sakura's chest up to her face instead.
I wonder if she can hear me…or feel me
Hesitantly Ino moved her face a bit closer to Sakura's still face.
"Somehow Sakura, I hope you can feel this," Ino whispered and put her right hand on Sakura's cheek, bringing her lips on top of hers, moving them gently for a few seconds. Sakura's lips, Ino felt they tasted sweetly and wore the taste of the rain drops. Ino pulled herself back, still feeling the taste.
There, it's done. Didn't feel as bad I thought it would be. At least I have finally done it
"The first and only kiss I will ever share with you…I just wish you could be awake and feel it…maybe even share it with me"
The eyelids of Ino only got heavier and heavier. The last thing she heard before falling asleep were the massive amounts of falling rain drops outside the cave and the heart beat from Sakura. With a smile on her face, she fell asleep.
End of chapter 8
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A/N: Aww isn't that cute? what will Sakura think and do when she suddenly sees that that is Ino sleeping on top of her? Why did Ino cough blood and why did her head hurt so badly?
Those who read the comic "Elfquest" might recognize the name Dream Berries. In the next chapter you will find out what is truly inside Ino's medallion.
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