Summary: She cherished her friends, her family, her loved ones, and her life. She longed for peace and fought for what was right, but when destiny chose to face her, she encountered the opposite of joy and was forced to learn their part of the story.
Warning: The following may contain some spoilers, excessive language, violent content, and mature themes. If you are not prepared to read this, please don't.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does
Title: Cherished Blood
Rating: Mature
Author: XxNarutoFanGurlxX
An intensifying burst of flames scorched the heavily leafed trees, causing a tremendous wildfire. It suddenly began to rain ashes as another deafening explosion set off south of the previous one. The atmosphere was filled with smoke and soot, almost so much that it made it nearly impossible to see or breathe. Behind the dense gray clouds, there lay a huge wildfire. It was a hungry lion, biting and clawing at all obstacles. It would make no hesitation to kill all, for power was all it needed to survive. The more, the bigger the flames would get.
As the orange wisps tore at everything in their way, Deidara made his way out of the area. Speedily and cautiously, he leaped from branch to branch, gripping tightly onto his wounded limb. He grunted in pain as he forced himself through a narrow opening. He felt his gash enlarge on his arm and he tried his best to keep it from growing.
With no luck, he stopped dead in front of a wide stream and hid himself behind a large boulder. He slid to his bottom as he searched frantically in his shuriken holster for an extra roll of bandages. Fortunately, he found one. Quickly, he started wrapping it around his bloody cut. He winced as he tied the two ends together, still panting from his rampant journey across the burning forest.
Deidara was in the midst of the Fourth Great Ninja War between the allied forces and the remaining Akatsuki. Before he, Sasori, and a couple of other fallen members were revived, it was only Sasuke Uchiha, Madara Uchiha, Zetsu, and Kabuto. When Kabuto was ordered to infiltrate the island where they kept the two last jinchurikii hidden, it was then when he was revived. Soon after a miserable failure, his old partner Sasori was revived. The rest of the revivals followed.
He, Deidara, rogue of the Hidden Stone, was grateful toward Kabuto. It was great to be alive once again, but it did not exactly feel the same. He still felt as if he was a ghost of the past. In fact, it felt odd to be doing humanly actions again. Perhaps he was not used to this sudden revival?
But he and every other Akatsuki member knew that he was now living, and no longer dead. The only difference was his eye color, which significantly showed that some sort of jutsu had been activated - specifically the reanimation jutsu.
Rustle.
The blonde leaped to the stream and crouched on the surface, his hands flying to his head as a paper bomb went off behind him. Pebbles had hit him on the neck and the ground had shook mightily, causing the clear water to splash gently against his ankles.
He gazed over his shoulder and slowly, his lips curled into a small smile. His eyes met the emerald gaze of a pink-haired kunoichi. She stood tall, shoulders broad. The look of her face said that she meant business.
The Akatsuki member turned to face her completely with a wry smile. "It's a delight to see you again, hm!"
A frown tugged at her lips and she furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought you were executed, as it says in the bingo book," she muttered as she pulled her gloves onto her petite hands. "Well, I suppose…it is a delight to meet you again after a while. Now lets just see if you get your ass beaten up like your red-headed pal."
He laughed deviously, "Ha! Don't you understand, Pinky? That was the past! Now that we were revived and given more power, we, the Akatsuki, are sure to defeat you meddling Leaf ninja!" He held his hand in front of him and launched clay explosives at the kunoichi, enjoying the sight of her dodging them continuously.
He suddenly held to fingers in front of his face. The bombs were immediately triggered and exploded all around the girl. When the smoke cleared, the grounds were empty and he kept his guard high. All of a sudden, he was attacked from behind.
He felt his spine crack slightly as she threw a rough punch at his back. He flipped backwards and skidded to a stop, his hand planted on the ground for support. He eyed her suspiciously. She must have improved a lot to catch him by surprise like that.
"Are you finished?" She reached into her shuriken holster and pulled out a wad of shuriken, "Or are we just getting started?"
"It would take a whole lot more to take me down, hm!"
Deidara held both hands out in front of him, sending clay birds flying in her direction. "Now this here! This is true art!"
One by one, the clay birds detonated, each one injuring the kunoichi. Each time she attempted to avoid his attack, she failed miserably. His tactic was brilliant. Not only he had sent his clay birds after her, but he had also placed a wave of them hidden in the trees during her short period of reign.
It was minutes before she collapsed to her knees with a thud. She was panting horribly, blood dripping down her sides.
The blonde slowly strode to her and bent over her. He glared at her as she coughed up blood, her chest rising up and down continuously. He revealed a mock grin that he knew would agitate her to the point where her face would boil red. She almost looked cute just sitting there, her hair bunched up in a mess and her eyes looking out at him from underneath her thick lashes.
"Fuck," she breathed onto his face. "You look more like shit up close."
He felt his brow twitch in anger. Was she making fun of him, despite the fact that she knew that he could kill her right at this very moment?
All of a sudden, he lashed out at her. He grabbed her by the neck and pushed her up a nearby tree, slightly pressing his body against hers. The heat between them rose mightily. It was so tremendous that it made his stomach burn ferociously. She to wiggle her way out of his grasp, but he tightened his hand around her fragile neck. He felt her muscles tighten and heard her breaths shorten.
Deidara allowed his lips to ghost over her ear lobe. His tongue shot out and flicked at it, causing her to shake. "You, my dear, better listen up good," he whispered huskily. "I will make no hesitation to end your life, do you understand? Don't you get it? I'm sparing you, unless you decide to let your mouth run along those dirty string of words again. Hm."
The pink-haired kunoichi chuckled. "You son of a bitch."
He forced her further against the hollow tree.
"Deidara, don't."
Deidara glanced over his shoulder and saw Itachi nearing him slowly with a ghastly expression. He loosened his grip and finally released the girl. He watched as she lifelessly hung her head, her emerald eyes growing pale of its bright color.
"Just take her hostage," continued the older Uchiha sibling. "She will act as our bait for the nine-tails jinchurikii, Naruto Uzumaki. Aside from that, she may be useful toward us in the future, relating to health conditions."
Deidara snorted, "I know that she is the pupil of the great Tsunade Senju, but bait?"
"She is one of Naruto's closest friends and is her teammate. I am telling you, her absence will infuriate the boy and he will eventually come crawling to us," explained Itachi.
"I see," sighed the blonde, "Then she must also be the ex-teammate of your younger brother, Sasuke."
Itachi nodded. "Correct…she is Sakura Haruno."
"Hm, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take her hostage—"
Deidara rose an eyebrow at the kunoichi who had suddenly collapsed onto him. He hesitatingly brought his hands up to her waist to keep her steady. Glancing awkwardly at Itachi, he hoisted her up onto his shoulder and kept her flimsy body in place by planting his hand firmly on her back. She almost seemed like a rag doll hanging from his shoulder.
The two Akatsuki members stood silently and locked their gazes.
"Do you sense another presence?" questioned Itachi, quietly scanning the area.
"Yeah. More than one."
"I thought so."
Deidara stepped forward and called out, "Show yourselves!"
It was a few moments before a three-man cell, consisting of the Great Copy Ninja, former experiment of Orochimaru, and a member of the Hyuuga clan.
"Release Sakura at once," demanded Kakashi, his mismatched eyes growing dark.
"I don't think we will," smirked Deidara.
Hinata readied herself and put herself in a fighting stance. She held one hand in front of her, the other behind her back. "L-Let her go, or else we'll take the matter into our own hands!"
Itachi activated his sharingan. "I don't think that's going to happen."
All of a sudden, wood burst from the ground below and shot at Deidara. Stealthily, the blonde avoided the ambush and leaped into the air. As he slowly fell back to the ground, he summoned his bird just in time for him to land safely. "I'll see you all later!" he laughed with a wave of his hand.
From the corner of Itachi's eyes, he saw Kakashi's hand spark blue and immediately foresaw the jonin's attack. To avoid further damage, Itachi sprinted toward the Copy Ninja and performed his set of hand signs.
"Lotus fire flower bombs!"
Fire blazed at the squad from each direction, their ferocious flames blinding them. To their fortune, they were able to dodge them successfully, but their clothes were singed in the process. When the fire cleared, as well as the smoke, it revealed nothing but Itachi standing on the surface of the stream.
Kakashi swallowed. Hard.
Itachi performed a hand sign, "Until next time…"
A cloud of black feathers enveloped the Uchiha and when they all fluttered to the ground, he was nowhere to be seen.
~ X x . . . x X ~
"My, my. Deidara-san, what have you brought us this time?" Zetsu rose to the surface of the cobblestone flooring, his head barely visible behind the chunks of leaves surrounding his head. He glanced questioningly at Deidara, then at Itachi, who was following slowly behind.
"The pupil of Tsunade-sama, hm." Deidara shrugged his shoulder that the unconscious girl laid on to keep her balanced. Irritably, he rolled his darkened eyes and sucked in a deep breath, "Itachi-san told me to take her hostage instead of ridding her. I would have loved to end her life, but apparently she is the best friend of Naruto Uzumaki."
"The nine-tailed fox boy?" hummed Zetsu. "Wow, what a handful. I suppose she is useful after all—"
"Who is useful?"
Two figures emerged sluggishly from the shadows. When they stepped into the vague rays of sunlight that poked through the holes of the ceiling, the three other Akatsuki members realized it was none other than Madara and Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke's eyes opened slowly, revealing his eternal mangekyo sharingan, the original eyes of Itachi Uchiha, his elder brother. The dark-haired boy nearly flinched when he saw his former teammate dangling from Deidara's broad shoulder. His nose crinkled in disgust.
"You brought her here? For whatever reason?" pondered Sasuke, raising a brow at the blonde.
Deidara grinned, "You should know, Sasuke. She will lure the Uzumaki here, and then once we capture that damn boy, we will overpower the world of ninja! If we get lucky enough, we might be able to capture the Copy Ninja if he falls for our trap too."
Zetsu chuckled, "Sasuke-san, it appears as if there will be a future reunion."
Sasuke clenched his fists in irritation and sent a deadly glare toward the plant-like Akatsuki member. "You…you all make me sick," he spoke coldly, returning to the darkness. "You all make me sick…"
Everyone stood still silently for minutes until Madara broke the silence with the impact of his weapon on the ground. His red and purple eyes icily stared out into the distance, "Just let the child be. I know he won't be liking the presence of his former comrade, but I will happily make a change of plans using this kunoichi right here. Like you said Deidara, we will use this girl as bait. However, we have to be careful. We all do not know whether Sasuke still has feelings for her and the rest of his past comrades. We cannot afford to push her too far, understand?"
"Understood," they all chimed quietly.