Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

34. Got Poison On My Mind

"... Hold her down..."

"... too pale..."

"... going to die?"

Words filter through my consciousness, broken and soft. Pain has a funny way of drowning everything but itself out, and right now my entire body burns. It feels like fire is eating away at every cell, turning me to ash. I just wish it would hurry up - ash can't hurt.

"... suck the poison out." Someone says. A moment of clarity, then a burning brand touches my neck.

Someone's mouth. I think distantly, but the thought is gone as quickly as it appears.

The burning heat comes and goes like the tide, and it makes it almost impossible to completely block it out. As soon as I think it's over, it comes back, accompanied by that strange pull.

"That... enough."

"She... too pale..."

"... take time."

.
.
.

As I fade back into complete consciousness, the first thing that registers is the pain in my neck.

"Ow..." My voice sounds pathetic, even to my own ears, all weak and raspy.

"Look! She's waking up!" Someone yells - someone who sounds like they just swallowed a bucket of gravel.

Naruto.

"Maya! How are you feeling?" Sakura's softer voice asks as she helps me sit up. I blink against the harsh light and wait for my eyes to adjust.

"I'm surprised you woke up so quickly, things looked pretty touch-and-go for a moment there." Kakashi's peering at me with one heavy-lidded eye, slowly lowering a distinctive, orange-covered book.

"So you decided to read a porno?" It hurts to speak, but I can't resist.

"Che. She's fine, let's get going." Sasuke clicks his tongue with a scowl. A retort is halfway to my lips before something occurs to me, and it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. In the silence that stretches between us, Sasuke's frown deepens, until he looks almost thunderous.

"Well, it looks like near-death experiences really do change some people." Kakashi doesn't sound nearly as delighted as he should be, and the air grows tense.

"Come on, we're burning daylight!" The bridge builder snaps, drawing my gaze to him.

"... Who're you again?" I ask out of spite. He goes red in the face.

"Tasuna!" He yells, spit flying.

"Oh, right." I say mildly and turn away from him. From the corner of my eye, I see him turn purple.

"You certainly seem recovered. Can you stand?" Kakashi offers me his hand and pulls me to my feet. Once I'm upright, however, my head starts to spin, and I topple forwards into Kakashi's arms.

"Ugh..." I groan.

"Careful, you lost a lot of blood."

"How?" I don't remember being cut that badly.

"We had to draw the poison out," Sakura explains, "and the best way to do that was to suck it out, since none of us are medical-nin."

"So that's what that was..." I murmur, "who sucked the blood out?"

"We all had to, except Tasuna, of course, since it had spread so far through your system." She tells me, and I ask her for a mirror. Sure enough, surrounding the cut on my neck is mottled red skin. I just wish my first hickey could have been more, I don't know, romantic?

I stand shakily and bow to them.

"Thank you. All of you."

"I'm just glad your okay." Sakura gives me a relieved smile. I barely have time to return it before someone's grabbing my arm and dragging me off down the path.

"Sasuke, what-" Naruto starts to ask, but Sasuke cuts him off.

"We're going on ahead." Is all he says, not even pausing to glance over his shoulder.

"Hey, I didn't agree to-" I protest.

"Shut up." He snaps, and my eyebrows shoot up. No way did he just say that to me.

"Excuse me?" We're a good distance away when I yank my arm free of his grip and turn to glare at him. But looking at him reminds me again, and my anger fizzles to a dull, ashamed ache. Sasuke's face contorts, his lip curling.

"Stop it." He orders.

"Stop what? I'm not-"

"You're holding back. Ever since you found out about my family, you've been holding back."

"Okay, yeah, but that's because-"

"You pity me. Well, I don't need your pity."

If this guy cuts me off one more time... "It's not pity-"

"Whatever you want to call it, stop. It's annoying." He crosses his arms and glares at me. That's it.

"Oh well I'm so sorry for annoying you," I spit, seething, "I forgot that the almighty Sasuke-bot can't process simple human emotion." To my shock and frustration, he smirks.

"There, you can do it."

"Do what?" I huff, crossing my arms to glare at him.

"Treat me like you always do." And with that, he tucks his hands in his pockets and walks off down the road.

"What the - YOU JERK!" I yell after him. How cocky can you get?!

"Wuss." He responds, sounding almost cheerful, but not quite. The Sasuke-bot doesn't do cheerful.

"Are you two finished?" Kakashi asks as the rest catch up.

"Apparently." I huff, still mad.

"Hmm..." Kakashi peers down at me, calculating, again.

"Will you stop that?!" I snap, unable to help the flush it brings to my cheeks.

"Looks like you've got your fire back." He says finally.

"Excuse me?" I scowl.

"Your fire. Whatever you and Sasuke talked about, it brought it back." He's not making any sense. Wait, does he mean -

"You've got to be kidding me." My tone is one of judgement and total disbelief.

"Just an observation."

"Sasuke didn't do anything to help me." No way, not in a million years.

"If you say so." He shrugs, finally looking away from me.

"I do say so."

"And yet."

"Ugh!"

A/N: another late update, please don't hate me. Writing is HARD! Also, I'm considering a rewrite of some of the older chapters. Yes, yes, I know, another rewrite. I don't plan, and that's why. I'll put a note in the title of the chapters I change for you.
Ta-ta~