How Troublesome

Chapter 7:Disturbing Discoveries

Despite the blood on the ground, she was still standing, which was a good sign, but then he got to the front of her.

Her orange shirt was sliced straight down her chest, and a scarlet line stood out shockingly, and horrifyingly, against her tanned skin, blood dripping downwards.

"Naruto," he choked out. The wound wasn't just a scratch.

The Uchiha was paler than usual and his eyes were wide.

Naruto, on the other hand, was... frowning? "That... hurts!" she yelled, dancing from foot to foot. "Shit! Ow, ow, ow!"

Sasuke and Shikamaru exchanged glances. Shikamaru was pretty sure that if you're mortally, or even badly injured, you didn't dance around yelling. He had read something that said that when children were injured, you needed to worry when they were quiet and still. If they were yelling, then they were fine. Using that information as a basis, he decided that, somehow, Naruto was probably okay.

Finally, Naruto calmed down and looked down at her wound. "Dammit! I really liked this shirt!"

Shikamaru stared at her. That was all that she had to say? There was a six inch bloody gash on her upper body.

She looked up from her ruined shirt and bloody body to Sasuke. "Another second and I might have been really hurt. You're getting lazy, Teme," she said, punching his shoulder, albeit harder than usual. Sasuke managed an "Hn" but Shikamaru could see that he was a little rattled and worried, and, was that... shame? Naruto really did seem to be the only person the Uchiha cared about.

Next, Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "Give me your vest," she said, gesturing with her hand.

That was one of the last things that he expected her to say. "What?"

"Your vest. I need it. Look at my shirt. I can't wear this," she said, acting as though she hadn't just been attacked.

Shikamaru looked at her shirt; it was being held together by only a thin strip of fabric. A faint gust of wind fluttered the pieces of cloth covering her from being completely nude on the top, and he was tempted to wait for a bigger gust of wind. He shook his head. There was nothing sexy about the situation, well, except for the fact that Naruto was very close to being shirtless.

"Why his clothing?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, he's closer to my size, well, at least a little, and you aren't wearing a vest. If I took your shirt, you'd be walking around shirtless, and then we'd be mobbed by fan girls or something. Shikamaru still has a shirt under his vest," Naruto explained.

Shikamaru nodded and took off the small vest he had been wearing. Since he was supposed to be a civilian, he didn't have his normal flak jacket, but instead a dark green, thin, vest with a single wooden button. "We should bandage your wound first, Naruto," he said, holding the vest back at the last moment.

She didn't even spare a glance at it, "Huh? Oh, right. I suppose."

Was it natural to be this unconcerned about wounds?

"One of you will have to bandage me," Naruto said innocently, having no idea the effect that her words created. The cut started at the dip between her breasts, and if it needed to be bandaged...

Sasuke had bandages out before Shikamaru could blink.

Emo-bastard.

Naruto frowned, "Now, how am I going to manage this."

Shikamaru could see her problem. She had to take off the shirt to let Sasuke bandage her, and she was completely naked under the shirt, so they would see it all. Finally, she slipped her hands under her shirt, hands cupping her breasts, and said, "Okay. Shika, you bandage me, and, Sasuke, you cut my shirt off the rest of the way, okay?"