Hello, everyone! I'm back from the dead!! Sorry for being gone so long, but things have been really hectic lately, and all in all school sucks. But I've prepared a long chapter for you guys in the point of view of our adorably awkward ravenette, so enjoy! Here is chapter 10!

            Sasuke smelled her as soon as she entered the forest, and sat up. Apparently his nose couldn't ignore her intoxicating scent. Naruto seemed to notice a minute later and sat up as well, finally stopping his rant about how hungry and bored he was. As she strode into the clearing looking quite happy, Sasuke felt as if he were in a daze. Her overwhelming scent was driving him crazy. He tried to concentrate on something else.

           "Konnichiwa, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, waving enthusiastically.

           "Hey, were you waiting for me long?" Sakura replied, sitting down in front of them. He felt her eyes on him, but did not look at her. Besides the fact that he didn't want to get caught up in the effect that her scent apparently had on him, the knowledge he had discovered while following her the previous day was still weighing uncomfortably on his mind. He could tell it was bothering Naruto as well by the way his eyes didn't linger on Sakura long whenever he looked at her, and, though he masked it well, his voice was a bit higher than it usual. Sakura having not grown up with Naruto as he did didn't notice these signs.

            "No...." Naruto trailed off.

           Sasuke looked up and saw Naruto's eyes focused on the basket Sakura was carrying. Sasuke had been so preoccupied not looking at Sakura he hadn't noticed the even more intoxicating scent of food. It hit him full force, and he stared down the basket hungrily. Though blood was really what kept him alive, food still sustained him somewhat, and having not eaten anything, blood or otherwise, for several days, it was all he could do to keep himself from tearing the basket apart to get to it.

            Sakura laughed, and took out the containers of food, pushing them towards Naruto and Sasuke.

           "Arigatou, Sakura-chan! Food, finally!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes sparkling.

           "Hey, that isn't all for you, Naruto. Share," Sakura said. He felt her eyes flick over to him, and he tried to stamp down his hungry expression at the sight of the food that she had made. Naruto and Sasuke both dug in heartily, stuffing anything they could get their hands on into their mouths. What Sakura had made was quite simple, but to two starving teens it was like heaven. The meat was a little overcooked, and the rice a little hard, but he decided to overlook the imperfections. Sasuke was just raising a piece of meat to his mouth when he felt Sakura's eyes on him again, and this time they lingered. He paused in his eating, and, determined to glare at her to let him eat in peace, met her gaze. Before he could glare, however, she looked away, and tucked a lock of hair that had been covering her face behind her ear. What he saw made all thought of eating fly out of his head: Sakura's cheek was purple and swollen, and Sasuke could just make out the outline of a hand. He immediately put down the piece of meat he was eating, and asked, "What happened to your face?"

            Sakura put her hand up to her cheek, and realization dawned on her face.

            "Crap," she muttered.

            By this time, Naruto had stopped eating too, and was also surveying her cheek.

            "What happened to your cheek, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his voice now serious.

           Sakura didn't meet his eyes, and said, "Nothing, don't worry about it. Must've slept wrong or something."

            She's lying, Sasuke's inner said, and for once Sasuke was inclined to believe him. Sasuke's eyes flicked around Sakura's body, and his eyes landed on her left forearm, which bore similar marks. Sasuke grabbed her arm, completely forgetting any pretense of not paying attention to her.

           Sakura yelped out of surprise, and Sasuke held her arm up in front of her.

           "What is this?" he asked lowly.

            Sakura looked down at her arm and seemed as if she was going to try to free herself, but Sasuke looked at her hard, stopping her.

            "What is this?" he repeated.

            Sakura's bright jade eyes met his own and stayed there.

            "I just had a small run-in with some men in the village who don't like me, and started pestering me," she murmured, not breaking eye contact with him. If it weren't for the serious situation, Sasuke was sure he would have gotten lost in her eyes.

           "They did this to you?" Sasuke asked.

             Sakura nodded, and then said hastily, "It's really nothing to worry about, they're only bruises, and I'm sure they won't do it again."

            "Those bastards," Naruto spat, a growl emitting from deep in his throat, masking Sasuke's own.

            Sakura looked shocked, and then muttered under her breath in a bemused tone audible only to Sasuke because of their close proximity, "Of course he can growl..."

            Naruto suddenly made to get up, and Sakura looked alarmed.

           "What are you doing?" she asked worriedly.

           "Gonna go teach those bastards a lesson," he said.

            "Oh, no you don't. You sit down right now," she ordered.

            Naruto looked surprised, and glanced at Sasuke before complying.

            "Listen, I appreciate your concern, but what's done is done. There's no changing it. Secondly, the matter has already been resolved," she said, smiling cryptically. She looked really happy and, for some reason, it caught Sasuke off guard. He felt the heat rise to his cheeks, warming his naturally cold skin. Damn it, I lowered my guard! He thought furiously to himself. His inner cackled, and said in a tantalizing tone, You haven't felt this way about any girl before, have you, Sasuke? Just more proof that she's our mate!

           Shut up, Sasuke thought furiously, that is not proof enough. Plus, I'm sure you're just all messed up in the head because of how much blood we lost.

            Me? All messed up in the brain? Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. How many times do I have to tell you? I am you, and you are me. I'm just a more refined manifestation of your instinct.

            Then why are you so infuriating?

            Who knows? Maybe I was granted this infuriating quality to get you to listen to me, since you're so stubborn.

            You- but Sasuke's thoughts were cut off by someone calling his name. He blinked and saw that Sakura was looking at him, her cheeks slightly pink.

            "Are you going to let go of my arm?" she asked, the ends of her lips twitching up.

            Sasuke looked down and realized he was still holding Sakura's forearm. He flushed, embarrassed, and immediately let go. He turned his head, avoiding her eyes, and met Naruto's instead, who was looking at him with an odd expression on his face. He glared at him until he looked away.

            "Anyway, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, diverting her attention from Sasuke. "What do you mean it's resolved? You sure you don't need us to go teach them a lesson, cause me and Sasuke-teme will, dattebayo!"

            "Tch, who said I would go with you?" Sasuke asked.

           "What? What do you mean? Of course you would!" Naruto said, clearly dumbstruck by Sasuke insinuating that he wouldn't go along with him.

             "You shouldn't assume I'll go along with every whim you have, Usuratonkachi," Sasuke responded, smirking; he was quite enjoying teasing him.

             "Teme! This is a serious offense to Sakura-chan, and you were angry too, dattebayo!"Naruto yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at Sasuke.

             Sasuke's cheeks once again heated up, but his inner said, You know it's true~.

            "You seriously never know when to shut up," he growled in response to Naruto and his inner.

            "Aaw, look who's embarassed~" Naruto cooed.

            "Why you-" Sasuke started, his temper rising.

            Suddenly though, Sakura burst out laughing. Sasuke immediately turned to stare at her. She was laughing so hard her arms were wrapped around her stomach, and her eyes were squeezed shut, small tears of laughter leaking out. Her laughter was loud and unrestrained, not feminine at all, but Sasuke could feel his heart pounding as he looked at her. He was terrified. He had never felt this way before, and the fact that someone existed who could cause him to have such a reaction made him want to immediately run in the other direction, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. His heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest, and his hand unconsciously traveled to his chest and squeezed, as if to muffle it. He waited for his inner to make a remark, but he said nothing, apparently as in awe as Sasuke.

           "You two...really have... a strange relationship," Sakura said between laughs.

            Her laughs died down, and she grinned, her jade eyes glittering with mirth.

            "It's nice having you guys around. Thank you."

            Sasuke couldn't even bring himself to respond with his usual "Hn", as he just sat there, hand still clutching at his chest.

             Sakura eventually left, since it had gotten quite late, and promised to bring more food the next day. Sasuke noticed as she bid them goodbye that her face no longer showed any sign of fatigue. The dark circles under her eyes, and her tired eyes seemed to have been erased by her earlier laughing fit, and she was now positively radiant. She was even more beautiful than the day they first met if that was possible. Although maybe short hair would look better on her, Sasuke thought wildly as she left, and then mentally reprimanded himself. He must have been making a weird face because Naruto glanced at him and snorted.

            "I don't know what's up with you lately, but it's been worth it to see those faces you make every time you're thinking," Naruto said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

            "Tch," Sasuke scoffed, and laid down, staring up at the circle of night sky their clearing offered.

              They sat in silence for a while, each to their own thoughts. Sasuke was sure Naruto was either fantasizing about food or Hinata, as he had muttered her name in his sleep so often. Sasuke though was looking at the stars to see how many constellations he could spot. It was one of the few activities that calmed him down. When he had been younger and had been so recently devastated by the knowledge that his mate was dead, Mina, Itachi's mate, had been doing all she could to try and cheer him up, or at least get him out of the house. One day though, he had raged at her that she didn't know what it felt like because she had her mate, and had insulted her quite a lot, and it had seemed she had given up. That night though, Itachi had come to his room and woken him up in the dead of night, Sasuke had been sure, to scold him, but he had simply beckoned to him and had led him to a large park in the middle of Konoha.

              They had lay there in the dark, and Itachi had randomly started naming all the constellations to be seen, patiently showing Sasuke when he could not see. At the end of the night, Sasuke had felt much calmer than he ever had, the constant turmoil that had raged inside him abated. On the way back home, Itachi had suddenly said, "Mina was the one who wanted to do this with you. She's been insisting for a few weeks that all three of us should go, but she told me today that it would be best if I took you." And he had left it at that.

              He had apologized to Mina the next morning and thanked her for the idea of the star-gazing because he had liked it in a rather embarrassed manner (words had never been Sasuke's forte), and she had looked bewildered before laughing and saying, "It's true that that's why I've been badgering you to go, but it was really Itachi's idea." Sasuke had simply stood there, very confused as to why Itachi had not told him this, and it was at that moment that he conceded that he would probably never understand why his brother did the things he did, but that he loved him all the same.

             Ever since, it had been a habit of Sasuke's to stargaze whenever he was feeling particularly troubled. He had just spotted Gemini when Naruto's voice carried to him suddenly, "What aren't you telling me, Sasuke?"

             Sasuke started at the sudden break in the silence, and his head swiveled to face Naruto, who was in a similar position to him, his arms crossed behind his head, and his head turned from the sky to face him.

             "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

              "Ever since you met Sakura-chan, you've seemed off. You've been staring into the distance more often, and you... well you act weird when you look at her. What aren't you telling me?"

            His blue eyes seemed to blaze in the darkness, and Sasuke didn't answer for a while. He had deceived himself into thinking that Naruto was too dense to notice the changes in his behavior, but he knew better. Naruto was his best friend (though he never voiced it aloud), and though he could be stupid in certain matters, he was, as Mina said, emotionally smart. Normally, Sasuke would have done his utmost not to answer him, but seeing as they were both stuck in this clearing for who knew how long, and Sasuke's burning desire to tell someone and get their opinion, he decided to answer.

            "My inner says that she's my mate," Sasuke said slowly, saying each word as if it was painful to voice aloud.

            Naruto's blue eyes were wide in shock, and his mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water, clearly at a loss of what to say. Under any other circumstance, Sasuke might have found this comical, but it only deeper confirmed his theory that his inner was wrong in the head.

            "Your inner spoke?" Naruto asked finally; it seemed to be the only thing he could think coherently.

            "Yes, much to my displeasure, but I'm sure he's just wrong in the head because I've been suppressing him all these years or lost a lot of blood," Sasuke rushed on, wanting to impress the only plausible theory that he had come up with to explain his inner's ludicrous declaration on him.

            Naruto seemed to think about it for a moment before replying gravely, "That's not how inners work. He won't go crazy like a normal person being isolated because he's you, and even if you repress him so he doesn't talk to you, he still experiences everything you do."

            Well, that theory went down the drain.

             "But your mate is... well... dead, right?" Naruto asked uncomfortably.

            "Yes," Sasuke said, nodding vehemently.

            Naruto, sat up, screwing up his eyes in concentration, evidently thinking hard. Sasuke sat up as well, internally grateful that he was taking this as seriously as he was.

            "What did you feel when you saw Sakura-chan for the first time, Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

            "When she first came, it was like.... Like I couldn't smell anything but her smell... And... weird thoughts came into my mind," Sasuke said, having great difficulty. The blood was once again returning to warm his cheeks as he remembered his wild thoughts of running his hands down her skin and through her hair.

            "What kind of thoughts exactly?" Naruto asked, leaning closer.

            "Just... embarrassing thoughts okay! I'm not gonna tell you! I was just delirious from blood loss is all!" Sasuke said, the mounting frustration of the past two days evident in his voice.

            "Okay, okay. Sorry. When you first met her though, did you- was it like she was the only presence you could feel?" Naruto asked patiently.

              Sasuke thought back; when she had walked into the clearing everything had disappeared around Sasuke, he had even completely forgot about Naruto and had let him fall to the floor.

             "Yeah," he answered.

              "Is her scent addicting?" Naruto asked.

             "Yes. It's intoxicating," and even as he said it, it was as if she were standing right in front of him and her scent was filling his nostrils. He shook his head, angry that his body had unconsciously memorized her scent.

            "Sasuke... That's exactly what you feel when you meet your mate," Naruto said slowly, clearly wary of his reaction.

             It was as if someone had smacked him hard over the head with a hammer. Sasuke sat there, dumbfounded. It wasn't possible. After finally coming to terms with the fact that he would have no companion for the rest of his life, this impossible development had come and punched him right in the face, making a crack in his beliefs, in the walls he had built to protect himself.

            "Sasuke..." Naruto said tentatively.

             "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Sasuke burst, "AFTER EVERYTHING? AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, WHY NOW? SHE'S DEAD! THEY TOLD ME SHE'S DEAD! THEY FOUND HER BLOOD! They found her blood... This is just a trick... Some subconscious manifestation of some sort of hope that I," his voice cracked, and his eyes burned, "that I won't be alone..."

            He turned away, ashamed to be showing such weakness, but Naruto reached out an arm, and pulled him into a hug.

            "Wh-What are you doing, dobe?" Sasuke said, taken aback and embarrassed at his actions. "Let go!"

             But Naruto didn't budge, and Sasuke eventually gave up; his grip was too strong. They just sat there like that for a few seconds, before Naruto finally let him go, and Sasuke saw to his greatest shock that his eyes were glistening with unshed tears, but they were set in that expression that was so often on his face, that of unwavering determination.

            "Sasuke, they never found a body," Naruto said firmly.

            "Wha-" Sasuke began, but Naruto cut him off.

           "They never found a body," Naruto said, putting emphasis on each word. "That means that she could still be alive, and that means that it's entirely possible that it's Sakura-chan. Trust your inner, dattebayo. Why don't you want to accept it?"

            Before Sasuke could respond to this rather troubling question however, a shiver ran down his spine; it felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, and it was slowly chilling him to the bone. His inner suddenly screamed, Something's wrong! Something's wrong with our mate!

            Sasuke jumped up in alarm, not caring that his wound stretched painfully as he did so.

            "Sasuke, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, jumping up with him. "Is someone out there?"

            What are you doing? RUN! Get to her! SOMETHING IS WRONG! Sasuke's inner was yelling so loud now that it felt as if his voice was vibrating in his body. Sasuke disregarded all the questions now flooding his brain about how he knew this, or if it was even true, and pushed them aside.

            "She's in trouble," Sasuke said in a breathless voice.

            "Sakura-chan is?" Naruto asked.

           Sasuke nodded, and set off at a run, Naruto close at his heels. An insane panic was thrumming through his body, and all he could think was, Pleas let us get there in time, please let us get there in time.

            They soon cleared the edge of the forest, and Sasuke stumbled, having completely forgotten about the effect of leaving the forest. Naruto, who didn't know about it, had fallen flat on his face.

          "The hell," he groaned.

           Sasuke doubled back and grabbed him under his arms, heaving him up to stand.

           It's what happens when you leave the forest. Come on, get up," Sasuke grunted, having difficulty himself. A thought came to him in that moment: if Sakura really was his mate, why was she not affected by leaving the forest as he was?

            It's not the time for this! Think about it later! Move, his inner said.

            Sasuke hurried on, pushing Naruto in front of him. Soon, they saw the first houses, and Sasuke jumped up on the roof of the nearest one, Naruto following him. As they ran along the tiled roofs of the village houses, Sasuke realized that he hadn't followed Sakura all the way to her house the first time he had come, nor did he know if she was even at her house. Almost as soon as he thought it, he caught a whiff of her scent, and immediately turned off his initial course, following the trail that seemed to have been created for him.

          Sasuke jumped down in front of what he knew to be her house right into the middle of what looked to be the entire village gathered around her door. He ignored their murmurs and yells of fear, and kicked the door open. As soon as he did, he heard sobbing, and rushed down the hallway to his right, Naruto right behind him. They came into a living room, the sobbing now closer, and Sasuke saw an open door in the hallway beyond. He ran in, and stopped dead in his tracks; Sakura was sobbing over what appeared to be a frail woman, and there was blood everywhere, so much blood.  

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Cliffhanger! Mouhahahhaha! Next chapter is ready, but I want to have content ready in advance from now on. Computer at 2%, so... yeah. Next chapter of Dragon Boy and Princess is in the works. Sorry it took so long. Ja ne!