Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 14

-Matsuri's POV-

Sakura looked exhausted when she finally arrived in the bedroom where Ino, Temari, and I had laid Hinata down on her stomach. The Subaku woman and I put our differences aside because the unconscious girl before us mattered more than our spat earlier today.

It took almost an hour for our pink-haired friend to extract the glass shards we weren't able to get, not to mention the bullet lodged in the girl's shoulder. Judging by the ruckus we'd heard downstairs earlier, we were lucky Hinata didn't wake up during the process. After cleaning everything, Sakura completely closed the glass wounds before healing the bullethole enough that the girl wouldn't need stitches.

After doing our best to get all the smoke residue off of our unconscious friend, we helped hold her up as Sakura wrapped a bandage around her, going under the left arm and over the right shoulder so it'd stay firmly in place over the wound. Then, we dressed her in a thin bathrobe so she wouldn't have to wear something more constricting while healing and got her into bed.

The moment he was given the okay, Naruto shoved past Tenten, who'd been acting as our security guard, and came to sit at Hinata's bedside with a look of relief. Sakura didn't bother asking his permission and lifted his shirt up to inspect the big black bruises across his back. We probably could've done almost anything to him and he wouldn't have cared.

Once she was convinced she'd healed him as much as possible for the night, she motioned for us to follow her out of the room and give Naruto some space. I stole one last glance at him before closing the door behind me. Although it was scary to imagine how he'd been feeling, I hoped someone would come to care about me like that in my life.

My forehead hit someone's back and I lifted my gaze to see Sakura standing there with a hand over her eyes and a look of discomfort on her face. "Are you alright?"

The other three girls turned back to see what I was talking about, only to rush over when our pink-haired friend suddenly collapsed. "Sakura!"

After helping the other girls get Sakura into bed, which was coincidentally the one Sasuke was resting in, I went back downstairs and fell heavily into one of the giant couches with an exhausted sigh. The injured Uchiha boy had glared at us the entire time we were in his presence. I hoped he wasn't mad at us for bringing her in there. He should be grateful to the girl for literally saving his life. Sharing a bed was the least he could do.

One by one, those who weren't injured or unconscious joined me in the family room. It'd just gotten dark out when Shikamaru finally spoke, breaking the tense and silent aura, "I think we should stay here until everyone's fit for travel. If we only use the electricity for bathing and heat, it might last long enough. We can send people into town each day to look for food and supplies. What do you guys think?"

I nodded, eyes heavy with exhaustion. Today had been more exhausting than the two days in a row that we'd traveled by foot from morning to night.

No one argued so he continued, "I don't see it taking more than a week, two at the absolute most. Let's set up some portable barricades at each entrance in case more of those weird guys come around."

By the time I could freshen up and find a shirt in the owner's closet that wasn't button-up so we wouldn't have a repeat of this morning, I could barely stay on my feet. My head fell heavily against the pillow and I was asleep before either of the two boys could even get situated.

Ever since we were sent to the asylum, I haven't really been having dreams. They hadn't made me take any medications or anything, but they just stopped happening. Maybe it was my subconscious deciding it would do more harm than good. I dreamt this time though.