A/N: Wow it's been a long time since I've posted anything here, it's about time I did something like this. I'll apologize to those that are waiting for the next chapter of Skateboard Girl, I've kind of hit a road block there and am not sure how I should continue the story, if at all.
Well anyway, I hope you enjoy this and that it makes some sense as I just wrote it down for the heck of it ;P
Rated T for blood and minor cursing.
Ba-bum. . . Ba-bum. . . Ba-bum. . . . Ba-bum. . . . Ba-bum. . . .
She was scared, terrified really. She didn't know when the last time she felt to useless, so weak, so pathetic.
Ba-bum. . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . .
It was probably on her first mission out of Konoha. When Naruto lost control and she thought Sasuke had died.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . .
That was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. He hands were soaked with her comrades' blood as she tried to stop the bleeding that only seemed to be getting worse when in fact it was getting better.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . .
Things couldn't have gotten worse even if they tried. Her captain was out killing the last one of the enemy that had been following them. One of their teammate was held captive and she was desperately trying to keep one alive. It didn't help that she was almost out of chakra and had a deep cut on her shoulder that had thankfully stopped bleeding some time ago.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . .
His heart was slowing down by the minute; if this would keep on she wouldn't be able to save him.
"Sakura, what's the status." Her captain was finally there and he seemed to be alright judging by his normal, if not a bit heavy, breathing and stand. Taking a deep breath the pink haired medic tried to formulate words.
"He, - if the bleeding won't stop he'll… he'll die captain." She informed him, forcing her chakra into the wound to try and close it faster. She wasn't interrupted again as she felt the wound finally stop bleeding. "He needs more blood." She said taking her hands away from the brunet lying on the cave floor breathing in shallow gasps.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Going through her things she found what she was looking for and in swift movements she crushed the small pill into dust. "Blood replenishing pill." He captain murmured as she placed the dust into her mouth and poured some water in with it.
Mixing the pill with the water only took a few seconds but there was no time to waste. Bending over Sakura forced the dying man to drink the mixture by pushing it into his mouth and coaxing him to swallow it.
Once she was sure the mixture was in his system she placed a hand on his chest listening to his ever slowing heartbeat.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"No, no, no! Come on Genma, your heart needs to be beating for the pill to get into your bloodstream!" Sakura practically yelled at the unconscious man.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tears started to flow down her cheeks as she felt his heart stop beating but in a desperate fit of anger she raised her hand charging it with the rest of her chakra. "Sakura don't." Her captain said and was about to stop her when she slammed her fist down right above the brunets heart.
Placing her head on his chest Sakura listened closely.
Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . Ba-bum. . . . . Ba-bum. . . Ba-bum. . .
Sitting back up she sighed in relieve, the pill was taking effect, his heart would be able to pump the newly made blood through his system and he'd make it. "He's stable for now. But the pill is only a temporary solution and he needs more blood than it can give him." She said for the first time looking up at the bloody ANBU mask of her captain.
"Give him another pill to replenish his blood. Judging by the amount on the floor he'll need at least two more." Her captain ordered only for Sakura to shake her head.
"It doesn't work that way Itachi, the pill forces him to regenerate his blood at a faster rate, if I give him more than one per twelve hours he'll die from the strain put on his body." She explained dragging out a long thin tube and a couple of needles. "What blood-type are you?" She then asked as she stuck the needled to each end of the tube and took out a long string cutting it in half.
"I'm AB positive." Itachi said crouching down next to the pinkette and helped her bind one of the string tightly around the unconscious man's upper arm.
Sakura scowled at that and looked down at Genma. "Do you have any idea what he is?" She then asked but only received a shake of the head from her ANBU captain. "Great, help me tie this around my arm." She then said handing the second string to Itachi who did as told, knowing that it was always best to listen to the medic.
Once the string was tightly around her upper arm she poked around for a vein and when she found one she took one end of the plastic tube lying on her lap and stuck the needle in her arm. Taking the other end she found a vein on Genma and waited for her blood to start leaking out of the unused end. "Could you hold his arm for me, I don't want him to move and break the needle?" She asked as she was about to stick the silver object in her teammates arm.
Doing as told Itachi held the arm firmly as she stuck the needle in, the brunet didn't even twitch. "There, I won't give him too much." Sakura said looking as her blood went into Genma's arm helping him survive the night that would soon fall on them.
"You're an O?" Itachi asked also looking at the blood being transferred from the pinkette to the man he'd been working with for many years.
Looking up Sakura nodded. "Yeah, O negative, it comes in handy in situations like this, no?" She was trying to lighten the mood but both knew it wasn't working in the slightest.
They sat there in silence for the next ten minutes before Sakura pulled the needle out of her arm and waited until the blood went all the way over to Genma to do the same. "There, he shouldn't wake up until tomorrow morning, tomorrow evening the latest." She said knowing that even if Itachi wouldn't ask he would want to know about his teammates' situation.
"Good now you get some sleep, I'll check the perimeter and stand watch tonight." He ordered making sure that Sakura knew there was no arguing with him.
The pinkette nodded and quickly but softly moved Genma away from the bloody aria he was lying on. She lied down next to him making sure he wouldn't get cold during the night and fell asleep as soon as she was certain Itachi was close by watching over them.
Waking up Sakura didn't know where she was at first but seeing the back of her captains back she sighed in relief. "Captain, you should get some rest while you can. I'll stand guard while you sleep." She offered standing up after she checked Genma's vitals.
"There is no need Sakura, I need you to be at top condition in case something happens." Itachi said looking back at her for a moment; his mask was still firmly on his face while Sakura's was strapped to her hip.
Walking over to him she gently pulled the mask away and looked him in the eyes. They were bloodshot and weary after too much use and too little sleep for the past three days. "As the medic on the team I highly recommend you to sleep for a few hours while I stay awake. It wouldn't do us any good if you'll mess up or your eyes give if we're under another attack. You'll need all the sleep you can get if we're going to safe Shisui." She said kindly.
Itachi was about to resort when she took out an identical pill she had given Genma hours before. Swallowing it she smiled up at him. "See I'll be alright and I've already slept enough. Now go lie down before I force you."
Itachi was too tiered to reprimand her for ordering her team captain around so he only stood up and sat down next to Genma who hadn't moved an inch since he stopped bleeding. "Wake me up if anything unusual happens, and I mean anything Sakura." He said making it clear that it was an order that she had to go by or else.
"Alright." She said sitting down at the entrance and looked out over the woods surrounding them. As she kept guard she couldn't help but think about all the small things that led them there.
She wasn't a fully qualified ANBU even if she was frequently assigned mission with an ANBU team as a medic. Tsunade had decided that her pink haired apprentice was good enough for those kind of missions and they were short on medics of her caliber. So for almost a year now she had been going out with ANBU teams, more often than not she ended up with Neji and Shikamaru's team or Shino and Tenten's team. She had also gone with the older and more seasoned ANBU and even laded on a mission with Kakashi once but Tsunade made sure that never happened again after Kakashi came back home all black and blue after his former student.
It had been an coincident that she landed on this particular team as Hayate, the fourth member and the only one on the team that knew some medical jutsus, had quit ANBU as soon as his wife became pregnant. That had happened months prior and the once most successful ANBU team started lacking and coming home more often than not near death.
It was at that time when Tsunade was about to force them to take on another member that Sakura demanded to be promoted into ANBU, saying she was sick and tiered of only being part time ANBU which only made her life more chaotic. So to deal with both her problems at once Tsunade had placed her as a temporary teammate on Itachi's team where Sakura had been couple of times before and knew they worked well together.
After the first few missions Tsunade told the team that if their next mission would go as well as their last one she'd make Sakura a full member of the platoon consisting of Genma, Shisui and Itachi. That decision had led to their current mission, to assassinate a scientist that was rumored to be working with Orochimaru. Unfortunately it turned out to be a former Iwa ninja that had deflected along with a large portion of his fellow shinobi, about thirty men.
Thankfully the base wasn't hard to find and getting in wasn't much harder. Sakura was ordered to wait outside with Shisui and act as backup if something went wrong. Itachi and Genma finished the mission and were heading back out when out of nowhere a single girl had spotted them and called for backup. Hearing Itachi order them to stay back through the radio had made them anxious and when nothing was heard from them in five minutes they headed inside.
When Sakura and Shisui jumped into the battle, Genma was already injured but still fighting and Itachi was being held of by six large men. After causing a successful distraction Sakura was able to move Genma away from the battle and out into the forest. There she had to run away from a man sent after her and ended up fighting him just as more came and caused trouble for her.
Luckily the Uchiha cousins showed up and started fighting them of one at a time. Shisui was injured by that time and couldn't move as fast as he used to so in the end one of the former Iwa shinobi managed to knock him out and barked out the order to take the bark haired man back to the base for interrogation.
Neither Itachi nor Sakura could stop them as they were forced to defend themselves and Genma who was lying on the ground bleeding from his large wound on his side. They managed to kill most of them and when only two of them were left Sakura managed to drag Genma to a cave nearby and start treatment.
As she reflected on the things that happened Sakura swore to kill the bitch that had gave them away. It was her fault that Genma had almost died and that Shisui was most likely being tortured by now.
Sighing Sakura noticed that it was almost dawn and that they would need to move just in case some more Iwa shinobi came looking for them. Standing up she made a couple of hand-signs, making three shadow clones and ordering them to scatter around and see if they'd find a place they could stay at for some time. Walking over to Itachi she placed a firm hand on his shoulder as not to startle him too much while waking him up. There were many stories about when a shinobi was woken up and had killed the person out of instinct.
"We need to start moving away from here." Sakura said softly as Itachi opened his eyes looking like he had just closed them two seconds ago.
Standing up in one swift movement Itachi nodded at Genma. "You take Shiranui to Suna; it's little over a day away. Once you're there inform the Kazekage of our predicament and ask that he sends out a team. You are to stay at Suna. Do you understand me?" He ordered strictly, looking down at Sakura to make absolutely sure she knew that there would be no arguing over what he just said.
Sakura cleansed her fists tightly at the order knowing that she had to obey him no matter what. "Understood captain, I'll leave as soon as I've healed the worst of your injuries." She said looking down at her feet.
Itachi allowed her to do just that and as soon as she finished he sent her off without a word, planning to head back to the base after his older cousin.
"A team will be sent out in a few hours. Go rest Sakura you've got to be exhausted traveling here at the speed you did." The redhead Kazekage said looking the determined pinkette in the eye as he pointed his brother to go gather a team.
"You have to send someone now Gaara. Shisui and Itachi might be dead by the time you get there; it's already been a day since I left him by himself." Sakura demanded, glaring at the redhead who didn't even flinch. Seeing that he wouldn't discuss the matter any longer she turned around and slammed the door open. "Fine, I'll meet the team there when they decide to show up." She said and was gone before Gaara could capture her with his sand and stop her.
Growling Gaara rushed out of his office and yelled down the corridor. "Get me Kankuro and Temari NOW!"
Sakura wasn't that far away to not hear the angry shout from the former host and she was only glad that she was at least out of the building and well on her way to the exit of the village. Digging through her pouch she located a soldier-pill and quickly popped it in her mouth feeling the effects taking place almost immediately after she started to chew it.
"Hold on you guys, I'm on my way." She said to herself as she used her newly gained strength to speed of into the desert night, not slowing down until she was well over half way to the base the Iwa nin were occupying.
"Damn Sakura, you can travel fast when you want to." Kankuro commented falling in step beside the pinkette just like his sister did on her right.
"Good to see you too. I see Gaara decided to listen to me after all." Sakura just said, not looking at the puppet master at her side.
"Not exactly, he was cursing you to the grave the whole time we were with him. I don't think I've ever heard him talk like that after Shukaku was suppressed." Temari said smiling at the pinkette.
"I'll apologize when I've been punished by Itachi and Tsunade back home." Sakura said shrugging as she jumped down from the treetops and landed smoothly on the ground making the two Suna shinobi do the same. "We're close." She said pointing in the direction the base was located at.
"Alright, Sakura you take the rear and keep an eye out for the Uchiha's, since we haven't been able to sense them at all on our way here we can safely assume they're both being held captive or dead by now." Kankuro ordered, moving to take the front with his two humanoid puppets disguised as random ninja from his village.
As they moved towards the base at a slow pace Sakura swallowed another soldier-pill ignoring the look Temari sent her. She couldn't sense Itachi or Shisui anywhere and that made her terrified. "Alright we're as close as we can get, let's wait out here until its dark and then we'll make our move." Kankuro ordered in a low voice.
Sakura nodded just like Temari knowing that arguing would do no good. Once they were at a relatively secluded place she spoke up. "How are you planning on getting inside? You sounded like you had a plan." She asked looking at the purple-faced puppeteer.
"I'm planning on sending Karasu inside disguised as one of the Iwa scum. I'll be able to take out the rest of the guards with him and gain information while at it." Kankuro explained but his sister then interrupted seeing the flaw in his plan.
"You won't be able to push him very far inside without loosing sight of him and they might sever your chakra strings, what then?" She asked her voice holding a mocking tone but Sakura then spoke up.
"Do you think I could fit inside of him?" That made both sand siblings turn to look at her like she was crazy. "If you're able to get me inside I could guide Karasu through the base until we find where my team is being held." She said hurriedly, making Temari shake her head in disbelieve.
"You can not be seri…"
"It's brilliant." Kankuro cut the blonde of. "You're tiny, I'm sure I could fit you inside of Karasu if I remove a thing or two. Wait a sec." He then started dissecting his beloved puppet and soon there were bits and pieces on the forest floor. "There, we don´t have to wait for it to get any darker than this, we'll be able to get the location of the Uchiha's and bust them out before midnight if we're lucky." He said pointing Sakura to get into the puppet, ignoring his protesting sister.
Once inside he closed after her and used sand to change it to look like one of the guards they had seen earlier. "There, you have your radio on?" He asked once he was finished.
"Yes, we used frequency 298.7 so it's better if we don't use that one if they have their radios, I'll change it to 825.8." Sakura said making it look like the sound was coming from the sand man's stomach.
"Alright, you're going in, good luck." Kankuro said as Temari murmured something about crazy pinkette's and stupid brothers.
It didn't take long until Sakura was inside the base and directing Kankuro where to turn with a small whisper barely audible. "Turn left in three, two, one; now." She said quietly aware of her surroundings. "Walk straight ahead for about two hundred feet." She kept directing him until she found something that resembled an interrogation room and it was just her luck that they had someone familiar inside.
"Bloody no good Konoha shinobi. Alright take him away, we have no more use for him today, bring out the other one." A man said standing in the doorway lighting a cigarette with his bloody hands. Sakura saw as they pulled a bloody and beaten Shisui out of the room and down the hall. Noticing they were having some difficulties moving him she told Kankuro what to do in hushed tones.
Taking under Shisui's legs she indirectly helped carry him away to a cell where he was tossed in and she watched as Itachi was forced to walk out of the cell next to him and down the same corridor as they had walked through.
"What are you looking at bastard? Haven't had enough?" She heard the black haired man cough out glaring at her through swollen eyes.
"Kankuro let me out; let me out right this instant." The pinkette demanded and just like she asked for the puppet opened and she collapsed out of it surprising her beaten up teammate.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" He asked shocked but she ignored him as she started to unlock the cell via her chakra scalpel and rushed over to him.
"You're free to make your move any time now. I've got Shisui and Itachi's in the interrogation room." Sakura said through the radio as her hands started glowing green and she held them over Shisui's head to check for trauma.
"Copy that Sakura; we'll be right with you." Came Temari's voice and suddenly Karasu was pulled swiftly back by the chakra strings leaving the two Konoha ninja alone.
"Oh god Shisui, you're a wreck, it's a wonder you're still conscious." Sakura said as she moved her hand down his body only healing what would hinder their escape.
"Itachi's going to have your head for coming back." The man simply said closing his eyes as the pain started to leave his body.
"Well he'll just have to get in line; Gaara's pretty pissed at me too." Sakura said standing up, ignoring the dizziness she felt as she pulled Shisui up also. "We have to get moving, it sounds like Temari and Kankuro are already in action and we still have to pick up Itachi before them. You think you can run?" She asked waking up to the cell door glancing at the tall man who followed her.
"I should be able to manage. But are you sure it's only the two of them up there? It sounds like a lot more." He then asked, making Sakura listen more closely.
A smile tugged on her lips as she realized that Gaara's team was most likely with the two sand siblings. "I think we got reinforcement." She said happily as she broke into a run.
"Duck!" Someone suddenly yelled making Sakura do just that as a stray kunai came at her, looking back she saw Shisui had managed to dodge the flying weapon also. Looking around she saw that there were at least three Suna shinobi along with Temari and Kankuro.
"Where's Itachi?" She called to the older blonde who jerked her head to the right signaling the exit of the base. Nodding, Sakura supported Shisui the best she could while running out of the base and into the surrounding forest.
Once they were a safe distance away Sakura allowed herself to relax a bit and when she felt the familiar chakra of her captain she rushed over to where he was talking to, to her surprise, Gaara. Stopping only a few feet away from the two powerful men she felt the glares directed at her fully.
"We've managed to secure the base, Sakura did you get out ok?" Kankuro asked over the radio.
"Yeah, I made it out of the base ok." She said then murmuring to him in a lower voice. "But I doubt I'll make it out of the forest alive." Her only answer was a loud laugh that could be heard not only on the radio but through the forest as well.
"Sakura, I was under the impression that you were to stay at Suna once you'd sent out a backup team." Itachi said in a dangerously low and calm voice. Sakura just nodded and helped Shusui sit down at the ground.
"And I thought I made it clear that I would handle this." Gaara said sternly while crossing his arms. Again Sakura just nodded while wondering her next move. Deciding on the safest option at the moment she sprinted away, momentarily shocking her captain and the Kazekage.
"Get back here Sakura." Gaara growled and to her dismay he was able to grab her with his sand and pull her back to them. The looks on their faces scared her shitless but fortunately Temari came to her rescue as she walked towards them.
"We're ready to leave, there were no casualties among us only some scrapes and bruises." She informed her brother that only nodded still glaring at the pinkette in his grasp. Temari seemed to notice the tiny girl then and took a step back in surprise. "Eh, Gaara I think Sakura needs to rest along with the other Konoha shinobi. After all she's been running on soldier-pills for days now." The blonde said thinking she was helping when in fact she was only digging Sakura's grave a bit deeper.
"You what?" Itachi hissed furious that she would do something stupid like that. "How long is it since you've had food?" He then asked the shameful pinkette who was staring at the ground.
"Three days ago, the night before we infiltrated the base." She admitted feeling the sand around her loosen and lower her to the ground.
"You really are stupid. Those pills could have killed you; they're not supposed to be used regularly like that." Gaara said letting go of her completely and fishing around for the small amount of food he knew he had on him. "Here, eat a bit of this." He then said handing her a small piece of bread and then he divided the rest to the two Uchiha's, knowing that it was better for them to get only small amounts of food until they were at better health.
"What happened to Genma? I never got around to ask." Shisui suddenly asked, making Sakura look down at him only to feel the same dizziness as before.
"He's alright; he'll be back on his feet in two days or so." She said and started nibbling at her bread only for her to fall to her knees and empty her already empty stomach behind a bush. "I'm fine." She said before anyone could ask. Handing Shisui her bread she smiled. "I guess I'm not hungry." She said ignoring the looks she was getting as Kankuro made his way to them followed by the four shinobi that had accompanied Gaara there.
"Are we ready to leave?" He asked looking the three Konoha nin over with a small smile as if to dare them to complaint. Standing up they all nodded and started heading towards Suna where Genma was sure to be waiting for them.
They had only traveled for eight hours and were just out of the forest when Sakura started to get wobbly on her feet; luckily she was in the back so no one saw her stumble a few times before getting back on track.
When he vision started to ebb away she stopped moving altogether. "Captain?" She said making Itachi turn his head to see what she wanted. "Yes Sakura?" He asked stopping also when he saw that the pinkette wasn't moving.
"I think I'm about to faint." She said and just like that she started to fall forward only to be caught by the black haired man.
"I swear I'll never understand you Konoha people." Temari said raising her hands in frustration. "Who the hell gives a warning before fainting?" She asked turning to each of them expecting an answer but getting none.
Shisui just smiled as he shrugged. "At least not all of us Konoha shinobi are crazy enough to get stuffed into a puppet, that's just her." He said jokingly making Kankuro laugh and start to explain what the older Uchiha meant exactly. To say that everyone in Suna considered Konoha shinobi, but mostly Sakura, crazy from then on would be an understatement.
A/N: Comments are appreciated ;P