Empty Eyes: Book 1

Chapter 34

Something soft was enveloping my body, that's the next thing I felt after passing out. Whatever it was, it felt as though it were moving or maybe atop something that was moving.

The aches from my injuries slowly started to become less dull until suddenly I couldn't force myself to stay unconscious and jolted awake with a pained gasp. The sky was dark and cloudy, but it wasn't raining.

On instinct, I clutched at the necklace holding Sasuke's fang with one hand, something I've done every time I awoke since the day Orochimaru had given it to me, and realized I couldn't move my injured arm at all. When I glanced down, I realized it was wrapped tightly against my body with a makeshift sling. It hurt like hell and I sucked in a breath when I attempted to shift my torso a bit. My entire body hurt, just like when I first awoke from my coma after Gaara attacked me.

A cloak of some sort was wrapped around me and I finally realized I was riding in the back of some type of truck, which was going incredibly fast down a road with dense forest on either side.

A flash of Sasuke's exhausted face shot through my mind and I frantically tried to sit up, only to feel something around me inhibit my movements. My wide eyes danced over and met Sasuke's and I finally realized that he was holding me in his lap with a relieved expression on his dirty face.

My airways stung as I sucked in a gasp, but I couldn't even register the pain as I struggled to embrace him with my good arm. He wordlessly helped me a bit more upright and held me tightly as I fought to stay calm. The slightest movement caused an unimaginable pain to shoot through my entire body, but it could kill me for all I cared. The relief of seeing him alive and uninjured was too great.

Panting slightly with effort, I pulled back to look around, finally noticing Naruto and Hinata curled up and asleep barely a foot away from us. Another vehicle was following ours, but I didn't recognize the driver. Sasuke didn't seem worried, so I ignored it.

My attention was pulled back to the prince when he gently pulled the necklace away from my chest to inspect it with a tortured expression.

My teeth grit in pain when I moved to wrap my hand around his wrist and his eyes came back up to meet mine, "Stop moving."

His voice was incredibly hoarse and the guilty look on his face told me that he was about to apologize, so I ignored his words and struggled up to press my lips firmly against his with tears in my eyes. Despite my eagerness to distract him from his negative thoughts, my body started to tremble slightly with effort and I was forced to pull away or else I'd faint. I rested my head against his chest and he let me. Before long, I fell asleep again and hoped to not be in as much pain the next time I woke up.

Days of extremely uncomfortable traveling passed before we finally made it back to Konoha. After everyone had a much needed bath, Hinata looked over us all for injuries and it was deduced that I'd gotten the worst of it. My right arm and ankle had fractures that couldn't be healed by a vampire, so I was ordered to take it easy. Naruto and Sasuke didn't have any notable injuries, but Hinata had multiple broken ribs.

Once news of our return reached the rest of the Hyuga family, the heiress was retrieved by Neji and by the look on his face, we'd be lucky to see her again anytime soon. Her father was likely furious. Naruto was escorted home soon after with an aura of defeat about him.

Sasuke and I didn't speak much because if we weren't being doted on by his mother and Tenten, we were resting. I was bedridden for nearly a week after our return because of the pain and the queen was by my side almost the entire time. Even if she hadn't been, I felt like the prince and I still wouldn't have talked a lot. I can't speak for him, but on top of being injured, I was emotionally exhausted from agonizing over whether or not he was safe and from being tortured for what we learned was nearly three entire months.