Naruto - Seven Degrees

No matter how many times she walked the streets of Konoha -- despite the fact that she made the trek one district at a time on a daily basis -- Tenten could never get used to the eerie quiet that had settled on the once bustling city. Formerly a high rise metropolis teeming with life and activity, now it stood as a deserted wasteland and breeding ground for soulless monsters. A cafeteria for the undead corpse that now walked the paved roads. And it was their best bet to finding their salvation from the disease that had overtaken the island nation.

For now, though, Tenten would've settled for surviving the night.

Even as they stumbled along past the Tetsu district, the sun had already begun to set. And like all hunters knew, as vulnerable as they were in broad daylight, they were still better off. Because during the day, they could at least see the predators coming and prepare for their attack. Under the cover of darkness though, there was no way of knowing when death would come.

Squinting into the horizon, she guessed that they had another half hour at least of daylight left before the zombies would come take advantage of their situation. If the virus hadn't become a problem by then, she was quick to correct herself. Already, Tenten felt different than she was before. Things that would've gone unnoticed by her normal senses were heightened to a degree. She could hear the strong beat of his heart loud and clear with crystal clarity. But moreso, the young soldier could smell his blood; could almost taste the salty copper flowing across her tongue when she finally bit into him...

And that was enough of an alarm that their time was drawing closer to its end.

In an attempt to distract herself from the thought, the young woman glanced back to check if he was still following behind. "How you holding up, back there?"

Stern and even-faced as always, he gave no outward sign of difficulty or discomfort from his injuries as the young man worked his way over a pile of rubble. Not anything that could've been construed as out of place for a normal person, in any case. But Sasuke was anything but normal. And most certainly, he was a man with extreme amounts of pride. If not for her own determination, he would've been lost to them a long time ago. Then again, that was what she was there for, right?

Turning her glance a little, the young gunner quickly assessed the way he carried himself and would decide their next move based on that so as to save them both from a pending argument.

He was still holding his side, she noted, something that concerned Tenten more and more as time passed given how much blood had managed to seep through the bindings already. The crimson spot was nearly the size of her fist, having grown from the tiny little pea of a spot it had started out to be. And all this movement they were doing certainly was not helping the matter further. But it was bad enough that the scent of blood was already in the air and on both their clothing -- After cleaning and dressing his wound, she had no real qualms against using it to help bind her own injuries. They were both already infected with the virus; contracting some other ailment from eachother's stale blood hardly compared -- Staying put in one spot, even only just long enough to change out his bandages, would be suicidal.

Logic would give the victory to him in this fight.

There was the option of offering to help him along so that they would be able to move through the streets faster. But Tenten knew long before the thought even entered into her mind that Sasuke would refuse. If he was to escape this adventure, he would do it under his own strength. And she could give him that much dignity for his pride.

"We're nearing the Akatsuki Corp. Labs," she mumbled, gesturing with a nod towards the red stain across his stomach, "We can take care of that there and rest a bit."

"I'm fine," came his gruff protest, doing little to mask the irritation of even the implication that he was weaker than he was.

Smirking softly just long enough for him to register the expression, the young woman turned and continued their trek across the city. "If that were true, you would've ditched me already and told me to leave you behind ten blocks back."