Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 17: Love At First Sight

Ayuda's P.O.V

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

I quickly whipped my head around to the source of the voice. It was Naruto Uzumaki who had finally awakened from his deep slumber. I finally took notice of a massive, noticeable bump atop his head. Believe me when I said that the bump was bigger and taller than his spiky yellow hair. Shikamaru had crouched down next to the yellow-haired boy with his 'it's troublesome' look.

Naruto traced his eyes all over the place and finally landed on Ino who now held Rock Lee's unconscious body as she got up on her feet. His eyes widened in an instant and wildly scanned the whole area before he literally threw his body to the ground and exclaimed out of the blue, "Everyone, hide! No, get down!" he lowered his voice as he crawled forward on all fours, "Where is he? Damn it."

I sighed. I ignored him as I stood up; my purple orbs glued to the passed out Kazuki who were lying flat on his stomach next to Sakura, Kaito, and Chouji. I walked away from Sasuke's side and seated myself on a free space next to my unconscious teammate. I flipped him over so he could lie down on his back. I visibly cringed when I observed his wounds closely.

Cuts that were wide open, dark purple bruises, deep bloody gashes. My face immediately contorted into one of sympathy. Those Sound ninjas had obviously beaten the living daylights out of him. If only Kaito and I arrived much earlier... we could've prevented all of these happening to him. I didn't know how strong the Sound genins were but judging from his wounds, they were all strong enough to wallop him this severely.

I wasted no time to take out a roll of bandages that I had prepared in my hip pouch and began to treat his wounds. After taking notice of what I was doing, Kaito quickly came to help me with the task. Naruto sprinted towards us and asked Sakura regarding her now short and messy hair. She replied with a small smile and a pair of gentle yet sad eyes, "Just changing my image. I like long hair. But, you know, it gets in the way when I move around in a forest like this."

"Hmmm," Naruto turned his head to look over his shoulder; looking up at Shikamaru and Chouji who stood behind him, "By the way, why are you guys here?"

Shikamaru sighed noisily, "Explaining it to you is too troublesome for me."

A warm smile tugged on Sakura's lips, "Everyone helped us. Even Kazuki-kun..."

Her voice trailed away as she shifted her emerald orbs to my unconscious teammate. Naruto, following her gaze and finally became aware of Kazuki's brutal condition, inquired with wide, shocked eyes, "W-why is he all bloody?! Why does he look so hideous?! And why-"

"Don't say something like that about him!" Sakura cut him off angrily; her gentle look immediately vanished when Naruto called the passed out boy hideous. She had punched him on the head again, causing the bump on top of his head to grow even more if possible. Naruto, as usual, winced loudly and whined childishly of why she hit him all of a sudden.

My eyes blinked questioningly at the pinkette who now picked up the roll of bandages and helped me and Kaito with treating Kazuki's bloody wounds. It was obvious to me that she had grown softer and paid more attention to the unconscious boy now. I had expected that she would run over to Sasuke and ask him about his condition. But look, here she is, continuously looking after Kazuki. Something must have happened when the Sound team attacked them. She continued to wipe out blood off of Kazuki's skin while Kaito and I exchanged quick glances and we resumed our tasks.

"Wake up, Lee!!"

I turned my head to the side and looked over my shoulder to see Tenten furiously shook the unconscious Rock Lee by his shoulders. The said boy was moving back and forth like a tattered cloth because of her aggressive actions. Tenten released him, letting the boy fell to the ground on his knees. His right eye fluttered open before he tilted his head up and looked at his teammate, "Tenten... Why are you here...?"