You are the only one.... ×Book 2×

13. Fake smiles: Ruka's deadly 'stress reliever'

We walked silently down the path towards our destination; the Tenchi bridge.

Naruto and Sakura were staying away from Sai and he just smiled every time they glared at him. I'll admit that insulting them was rude, but if we want to find Sasuke we have to work together. I told them that but Naruto and Sakura are to stubborn to listen to me.

"I can't wait to find Sasuke" Naruto said frowning as he glared at Sai "and don't think you're replacing him teme! Once we find Sasuke your getting the hell out of Konoha!"

Geez...

"Don't worry" Sai said smiling "I don't want to be a rouge ninja anyway. I don't like being compared to filth that abandoned his village and hurt his comrades."

Everyone gasped and stopped in their tracks as they stared at Sai.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Naruto yelled angrily "DON'T YOU EVER..."

He got cut off as Sakura stood next to him and held her hand out; silencing him completely. She lowered her hand and smiled at Sai as he stared at her curiously.

"Calm down Naruto" she said "it's fine. What he said is true...and there's no denying that."

"But Sakura-chan...!"

"Naruto."

Naruto growled angrily and fell silent as Yamoto let out a sigh of relief; thinking Sakura was mature enough to stop the argument. I knew better.

She was about to punch something.

SMACK!!

Told you.

Sai went flying backwards and slammed hard into the ground as Yamoto started to panic. Sakura unclenched her fist and glared at Sai as he stared at her; shocked.

"Regardless if what you said is true or not" Sakura said coldly "you have no right to talk about Sasuke like you know him! You don't know him like Naruto, Ruka, and I do! So keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand!"

Sai slowly stood back and continued to stare at Sakura.

"You tricked me" he said simply "you used a fake smile to get me to trust you. That was clever."

Sakura just continued glaring at him and seconds later we felt the ground rumble as a giant wooden cage erupted from the ground and Yamoto stood in front of it.

"If you four can't learn to get along I'll throw you all in here!" He threatened.

What the hell did I do?!

I huffed in annoyance and blew a strand of hair out of my face.

"So I'll give you an option" Yamoto continued "either I lock you all in this cage for a day. Or we all go and spend a day at the hot springs."

Well that's a no brainer.

"Hot springs" Sakura said.

"Hot springs" Naruto said nodding.

"Hot springs" Sai replied.

Everyone turned towards me as I remained silent for a moment; thinking.

"Cage" I said shrugging.

*****

After a lot of persuasion, Naruto and Sakura convinced me to go to the hot springs, but I refused to get in.

"Come on Ruka" Sakura pleaded coming over to the edge of the spa "come in! It's nice and warm."

"I'd rather not" I said simply "I don't feel like getting in the water, I'll just soak my feet."