A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 23

Sasuke was terrified, that thing was still out there and Naruto was nowhere in sight. He tried to clam himself down but his fear of the woman was overpowering him, even with his wound. The last scene that woman showed him was setting him on edge, he needed help and he knew it.

"Sasuke? Sakura? What happened to you two?" A familiar voice asked. Sasuke turned to see Mei looking down at them from a nearby branch. Sasuke's breath hitched, a friendly face! A face that hopefully that woman wasn't creating with her Jutsu.

Mei leapt down and landed next to him, placing a hand on both his and Sakura's foreheads. A worried expression dawn on her face but she quickly covered it up with a smile.

"So where is that Bozo we call Naruto?" Mei asked happily. "W-we don't k-know. He just disappeared" Sakura managed to stutter. "Alright calm down-" The tangerine started but was cut off by a loud hiss. The three of them looked up to see a giant snake with a tall tan-skinned female with long black hair on the snake's head.

Sasuke recognised her and grabbed both girls, dragging them along with him as he fled from the serpent. He barely had enough courage to look around as he ran and so was cut off by the woman and her snake.

"Hello there Sssasssssuke. My aren't you a young man. You look dreadfully like your older brother" the woman said. Mei held back a gasp of pain, the mark on her arm had heated unexpectedly and had suddenly appeared, jet black, on her skin. It was the first time she had seen it since she was a child.

It was the symbol of Clarity. She was slightly fascinated by it and hadn't noticed the Genjustu over her and her teammates. Once she did she released it and felt a pair of arms around her.

"Orochimaru-Nii" Mei whispered as she saw the pale arms and black hair. "Hello Mei. Why are you here and not with Kisssame?" Orochimaru demanded, turning the tangerinehead to face him and allowing a worried look to dawn on his face.

"I was taken away by Konoha nin. Zetsu-Nii thought I was dead but I'm ok" Mei explained. "They're coming out of the Genjustu now Orochi-Nii" Mei said before Orochimaru could say anything. "Do... do you wisssh to join me?" Orochimaru asked, almost pleaded. "Not today Orochi-Nii. I wanna stay here a little longer" Mei replied, hugging her elder.

Mei broke away and joined Sasuke, Sakura and now Naruto and waited for Orochimaru to finish the Jutsu.

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Dorai kept spinning his Kunai on his fingers. He and Junsuke had stopped most of the weaker teams from getting further but a few they had let through. They were getting more and more bored as time went by and weren't really surprised when the sun started setting.

"So dude. We should set up camp" Junsuke said suddenly. "Yeah sure" Dorai replied, standing up and starting to help Junsuke to set up camp.

"Who's taking the first watch?" A weak voice asked. Both males turned around to see a bloody and beaten Mei. "MEI!!" Both yelled, running over to her and catching her before she fell over. Dorai dragged her over to the base of the tree and checked her pulse. They both rushed around for the next hour making sure she didn't lose too much blood and that she didn't dehydrate too badly.

~

Dorai relaxed quite a bit. He was sure that Mei was gonna be ok and he closed his eyes as Junsuke called for first watch. He was at complete peace.

Junsuke waited for an attack as he held both scrolls in his tanned hands. He watched with careful eye as the darkness around him teemed with life. He jumped smile when he saw three people at the base of the tree crowding around Mei.

Junsuke slowly lowered himself into the lower branches as the group continued to whisper among themselves. He watched as the smallest member uncorked the gourd on his back and place his hand on the opening. That's when Junsuke decided that they had gone far enough.

"Oi! Get away from her!" He cried, making his presence known. "Shh! Otherwise you'll wake her up!!" A tall blonde girl hissed. "W-what is he doing?" Junsuke asked jabbing his finger at the Redheaded male. "I'm patching up her wound properly. Otherwise she'll bleed to death" the male responded, waving his hand over her, now, exposed side.

Junsuke watched as sand crawled over her wound and hardened over it. It was a near indestructible cast but didn't restrict her breathing in any way. "There. She'll be up in the morning thanks to you, but this'll keep her torso from bending the wrong way and stop her from bleeding out. I suggest you go to sleep, you'll need it" the redhead male said, standing up and gesturing for the other two to follow him.

Junsuke watched them go before turning to Dorai, waking him up and telling him that it's his turn for watch. Dorai took one look at the surroundings before falling back asleep. He felt certain that nothing was going to attack.

Little did he know that the people from before had taken refuge just outside of his sight, making sure that nothing got through.