A sudden blur of pastel pink flew between the trees. Not far behind a flash of yellow and silver were following the chase. The three colors flew chaotically through the area, seeming determined to continue their sprint above the forest floor. From the blur of pink, a sliver of grey came shooting out. The object hissed as it cut its target.
The colors came to a stop, now leaving a picture of full bodies. The center body, ahead of the other two and the thrower of the kunai, was a young kunoichi. The kunoichi stared forward, a look of determination on her face as she looked ahead with her fierce emerald eyes. The cold wind blew around her face, causing her exotic pink hair to twirl in the air. Yet it seemed as though this nuisance was nothing as she glared at the raven haired person in front of her. An eternity passed between the group.
The tension in the air was thick, almost suffocating. A gentle river flowed toward the right; it was the water boundary separating Konoha from Sound. The young man that stood across the trio huffed impatiently. They stood in an open field, waiting, watching, and studying each other's movements.
"Sakura-chan, did you get him?" the yellow blur, now observed as a tall, tanned boy with bright yellow hair, asked the pinkette. His obliviousness to the tense air and area made the older man with silver hair sweat drop. The older man quickly recovered, and sensing the air between the pinkette, the blonde, and the raven haired boy he took a step back.
"Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi," the dark haired boy swept his dark eyes across the group, in the order of which he called them. He held back a smirk, thinking that his old team had not changed one bit. He took out his katana and stood in fighting position, yet his attention was now focused upon something above the forest tree line. Slowly his eyes became tainted with red, pure blood red.
"Sasuke, we don't want to fight. Just come back to Konoha!" Sakura called out across the space between them. She was on the verge of screaming out hysterics. Something inside her flared the old feelings she had for the man before her. But they were no longer feelings of childish love, but feelings that are associated with the loss of close family. The pinkette had cried for the days and nights to come after Sasuke had left, not because she was still immaturely in love with him, but because he was one of the last remnants of her family. After the death of her parents, she relied on Team 7 to be her dysfunctional family.
Sasuke gave her a look that was all too familiar. It was the infamous look that haunted the depressing memories of her childhood with him. It was the look that said 'you're so annoying.' It seemed that he opened his mouth to speak, maybe even justify the look with his words.
But he was cut off by what seemed to be a giant clay bird landing harshly in between them. Two people jumped off, a taller blonde who seemed to be wearing a cocky smirk, and another shorter person, who wore a straw hat upon their head that covered their face. Their cloaks flapped in the air, but that didn't stop anyone from noticing the red clouds upon the black fabric.
"It's the Akatsuki! Kakashi, take Naruto and get out of here!" Sakura yelled at them, assuming what the two from the clay bird came for.
Naruto began to protest, his blue eyes getting frustrated and worried. However, his sensei just grabbed his arm and ran. Kakashi had faith in his female student. He nodded his approval, though his slight protest was evident in his only eye. Once they were far enough that their chakra couldn't be sensed, Sakura turned carefully back to the Akatsuki members. She noted their appearance as much as she could, never forgetting to watch Sasuke for his movements.
The first Akatsuki member she noticed was a blonde. Their right eye was a clear, ocean blue, yet the blonde hair covered the left eye. When they turned their head, she could see a metallic eye piece on their left eye. The blonde was probably a foot taller than her. Yet what confused Sakura was the gender. She bit her lip to muffle the laughter that threatened to spill out. After a second the pinkette saw the resemblance between the Akatsuki member and her best friend, Ino.
But the second member was obviously a male from his stature. Sakura watched as the wind blew off the hat to show his hair. His deep red hair was scraggly and fell just above his half-lidded brown eyes. Chakra flowed from the finger tips of his left hand. The blue strings ended at a large puppet. Sakura realized that it strongly resembled the third Kazekage. As the pinkette made looked into the half closed eyes, she felt her breath hitch.
"Hey, Sasori, look at this. It's Itachi's little brother and a pinky, un," the blonde cut in. By the voice Sakura could suspect it was a male. He gave his partner a devious smirk.
"Shut it, Deidara," the redhead snapped lazily. He looked over at Sakura, and then at Sasuke, who seemed to be holding back a snarl at the members. "We were to only capture the Uchiha, but we can't just let her go, I guess," Sasori's voice was smooth, but emotionless. But a ghostly hint of amusement sparked in his eyes when Sakura positioned herself to fight.
No words were verbally said, but the look in the eyes of every one of them said they were prepared to fight.
Sakura slammed her fist into the ground with enough chakra to break the ground. And just as she planned, the third Kazekage was sent into one of the never-ending cracks. A smile of triumph was plastered on her lips, until her redheaded opponent took off his cloak. Stunned, she swept her emerald eyes over the wooden body in front of her. In the center was the heart chamber. The chamber's beating and pulsing was hypnotic, causing the pinkette to freeze in her tracks.
Sakura was snapped out of her trance when a barrage of senbon attacked her. She dodged effortlessly, remembering her training with Tsunade. The two attacked and parried each other, silently praising the other for their skills. It wasn't until Sasori's cord from his chest shot out and cut Sakura, a weak poison entering her system and causing her to pass out that the battle was over.
Across the field, the battle involved much less contact. Sasuke came to the realization that because of the eye piece, his sharingan would not work on Deidara. The entire fight consisted of the blonde throwing clay at Sasuke and the raven haired boy dodging with his own attempts to strike. Deidara, using some of his last bits of clay, fed his mouth enough to create a large scorpion. He smirked and winked at Sasori, mouthing 'just for you, Danna' before letting it loose on the Uchiha. At that moment, Sakura's body had fallen; the sound resonated in the area. And in that moment, Sasuke's guard fell and he looked toward the girl.
"KATSU!" Deidara screamed and watched it explode, leaving the man unconscious like his old teammate.
Sasori and Deidara picked up their new prisoners and walked back to the clay bird, heading in the opposite direction of the river near the Sound border. After a very long and silent twenty minutes Deidara looked from Sasori to Sakura, then back at the puppet man.
"She's kinda cute, un. Don't you think, Danna? Kind of like my art," Deidara smirked. He watched his teammate's face for any expressions that could give away the puppeteer's emotions. When he was graced with no such thing, he turned and stared over the edge of his clay creation.
Sasori grunted and glanced at the pinkette, his eyes surveying the girl below him. He stopped his gaze upon her closed eyelids, remembering how vivid they were when he fought her. Maybe, just maybe, there was a second where his eyes softened and he thought about how beautiful she really was. But he shook his head and grunted again, looking away, and only looking back to see if Sakura or Sasuke woke up.
It had only taken another fifteen minutes to reach the Akatsuki hideout near Lightning Country. Once inside, the pinky blinked her eyes open. The ceiling was moving and not because of her own wishes. She moved only her eyes, finally seeing that she was being carried bridal style. Without moving her body, she saw that her captor was Sasori, and his half-lidded eyes were looking straight ahead.
The pinkette took a moment to compose her body and fake perfect sleep, all the while observing the hallway and doors. Beautiful mahogany doors, each carved with a specific drawing lined the hallway. The few she noticed were quite peculiar. A fish, an eye, a money bag, and a scythe were on the left. But she couldn't move her head to see the right without being caught. Instead she focused on the walls. They were a dark purple color, a color like Itachi's nails.
A few seconds later she was being placed in a cell. She cracked one eye open, assuming she wouldn't get caught.
"Hey, Danna! Look who's awake, un!" Deidara smiled and leaned close to the kunoichi. His position giving her slight access to see Sasuke's limp body on a bed across from her's.
"Whatever..." Sasori smacked his partner's head and gestured toward the door impatiently, waiting for them to leave. "Hurry up," he growled, confirming Sakura's suspicion that Sasori didn't like to wake.
"Wait! Why am I here?" the pinkette called after to two men. The blonde artist laughed a bit and they continued down the hall until their footsteps faded away. She hissed, frustrated that she did not know why she was there when they obviously only wanted Sasuke.
And so Sakura sat for the next two hours studying her cell. It was a cold, bleak, and grey square. An air of dampness surrounded the room and there was mold growing in the corner. The mattress was a rock, solid, icy, and uncomfortable. The objects she called a pillow and blanket were no better. They stood in just as bad, maybe worse, conditions.
Slowly her ex-teammate awoke; he stirred slightly and jumped out of his bed. The Uchiha reached instinctively for his katana, only to find that it was not in its normal spot, just below his back. His head snapped upward when the pinkette sighed and looked at him.
"They stripped us of our weapons, Sasuke. We have been captured by the Akatsuki."
A/N I'm so sorry for this guys. But I was looking back at this story and I said, "Wow I sucked when I first started this." So I decided I would try to make it all better. So I will be going back to each and every chapter (and story) and I will edit it as much as I can, without taking out too many parts so it is a completely different story. I'm truly sorry if it is an inconvenience. I love you guys and all of your reviews and greatly appreciate them all.
Love,
D.A.R.N.