That of Foxes and Wolves [ADOPTED]

10. Some Recovery Time

NARUTO POV

     I groaned as I woke up and instantly felt multiple stabs of pain. Of the many things there was no doubt that my back and... butt, hurt more than anything. I could faintly hear people talking, and there was some sort of wind constantly blowing on my face. When I opened my eye I quickly realized we were still traveling, since Kakashi-sensei was carrying me and seemed very focused ahead.

     He seemed to chance a quick glance down at me and his eyes widened. He almost instantly slowed down and stopped on the ground, and soon everyone else had stopped too. When Sasuke finally- almost reluctantly -looked from Kakashi-sensei's face to mine, his eyes widened as he saw me look back at him. I noticed Sakura was crying, but she had a smile on her face.

     I saw the other rookie teams along with Team Gai, and they were all looking at me with concern as well. ...Wait WHAT?! What are the other teams doing so far out here? Were they just conveniently going to or near the same location as us? Am I missing something here? I must be, since no one from my team looks even the slightest bit shocked or confused. Wait oh sweet Kami how long have I been out? WHY DO I CONTINUE TO GO UNCONSCIOUS?!

     I saw Shikamaru look at me for a moment, before he looked down and muttered something I surprisingly couldn't pick up. I huffed irately and shikamaru cracked a small smile while his deer ear twitched as he shook his head. Though I had managed to lighten the atmosphere slightly, a small sniffle from Sakura was all it took to bring everyone down again. I wanted to groan, but decided against it in case anyone assumed it was from actual pain. I finally gave up on trying to make things less gloomy, and instead looked up at Kakashi-sensei awkwardly.

     "Eto, Kakashi-sensei?" He looked at me questioningly and nodded for me to continue. "Could you let me down?"

     "Oh yes of course, but I'll be keeping an eye on you just in case okay?" He told me, I nodded and he helped me get out of his arms.

     I eventually managed to get to my feet, but as soon as I went to take a step I felt a sharp pain in my spine again. I quickly collapsed in response, but someone was close enough to catch me. I looked up and saw that Sasuke was the one who had managed to catch me in time, and now had an arm wrapped securely around my waist.

The blanket I had around me slipped slightly during the entire mishap, and had fallen down to my shoulders. It had revealed a few of the bite marks still on my neck and upper shoulders from what I hoped was only the previous night. I noticed a few of them looked a little fresh, and assumed Kūrama was too tired to heal them right now.

     I held onto Sasuke as I pulled the blanket back up, recovering my shoulders. Once the blanket was put right again Sasuke sat me down gently at the base of a tree. I suddenly remembered Kaen was still sealed in my forearm from the fight before my kidnapping, and though I wanted to unseal him I currently had no clothes on under this blanket. I looked at Sasuke embarrassingly, but ended up looking down anyway.

     "Can I get dressed please?" Everyone nodded and awkwardly trailed off, though I could still see my team hovering closer than the rest. I wasn't that bothered by them, now that I think about it I'm pretty sure they've all seen me almost if not completely naked at least once at this point.

     I finally laid back for a moment, and though the pain reappeared for a moment it quickly faded back to dull aching. I was relieved that the pain was lessening, that also meant Kūrama was still trying to help me heal. I hoped momentarily that he wasn't overworking himself, yes he's an extremely powerful bijuu but he can still overexert himself.

     I finally unsealed one of my outfits and put the articles on gingerly. I had decided to wear a fishnet shirt under a white sweater that had blue markings on the sleeves. I was wearing light blue jeans and a dark blue pair of sandals. As soon as I was comfortably standing I sealed the blanket and unsealed kaen.