Accidentally
Chapter 2: Found
Sakura shifted numbly, slowly recovering from her daze. She immediately felt cold and took note of the wind blowing furiously against her.
She was outside.
Her arm was trapped uncomfortably beneath her and her shoulder was stiff as she made a move to sit up. It was then that the rest of her senses came back to her, albeit dully, and she paused at the familiar scent of sand and must. Before she got the chance to open her eyes, she remembered her predicament in previous hours. The voices that came only confirmed her worries.
"My bird won't last much longer out in this rain. Hmm..."
Then she was wide awake for a number of reasons, and she felt herself sliding.
Wind, rain, bird, voices.
"Senpai, maybe we should land and find shelter before Miss Sakura catches a cold."
Bird?
She cracked her eyes open slowly and through the blur, she saw the tops of trees.
Bird.
She hoped dearly that they were bushes in actuality; she didn't do well with heights.
She was flying. Fucking flying.
How about no.
Then it clicked – Deidara! The blond bombshell of Akatsuki. Sakura inconspicuously shifted herself onto her back, spotting orange before it happened – she slipped.
A strangled sort of noise left her lips and she desperately raked her nails across the slimy surface of the hulk of a bird. Even in her terror she found herself making a face at the texture. Sakura heard a grunt above her and belatedly realized that the artist had caught her hand.
"Looks like Sakura-chan is awake, Deidara!"
And then she saw him.
Tobi. Madara. Obito. Him.
Before she could react to his presence, there was a jerk upwards. She went nowhere safe and only then did she notice the look of genuine panic on Deidara's face and saw him slipping as well. She watched him crane his neck around to shout at his colleague.
"Oi, Tobi-no-Baka! Why don't you help me out before the whole bird capsizes?!"
Below this little fuss, Sakura couldn't very well find her voice as she watched the land rush by below. This left her ability to ask those two to kindly shut the hell up (and pull her in the same direction) at a very low possibility of success. The wind stung her eyes and she saw a pale boy with well-kempt black hair in her head. She could only handle heights when she was with Sai. He kept so calm and his creations were beautiful and she and Sai were so close and she felt at ease – but here? With two strangers?
Her other hand (the fingers of which were digging an inch into the bird, as her efforts to climb with chakra were rudely refused by the thing) was taken into a gloved one. Once Deidara caught his footing, the kunoichi was hauled up onto more or less solid ground. She landed on her feet, but watched them sink as she did so. She made another face.
"Dammit, yeah!" Deidara barked, "Now of all times!"
He whirled to face his passengers. "I might have to bring her in for a crash landing," he glanced at Sakura, "Don't go anywhere, princess."
He was impressed with the straight face that looked back at him, minus the twitching brow. Fair enough.
He saw the tail deforming behind her and acted quickly, pumping chakra back into the monstrosity as an attempt to salvage its appendages. To no avail, it seems, as the tail collapses the moment he straightens himself. Deidara struggles against the scowl wanting to creep onto his face and steps forward briefly to touch Sakura's arm to usher her towards him. Tobi followed closely behind her, slipping and clinging onto Deidara's leg while the blond glares at him the whole way.
"This damned weather. It always gets in the way, doesn't it? As usual, however, I've come prepared. Hmph." he mumbled, looking skyward and reaching into the pouch at his right.
Sakura watched from behind Deidara as the opposite end of the bird fell apart. She looked warily at Tobi, then at the soggy wings and contemplated kicking him off ahead of time. It could save them time, and very possibly a huge pain in the ass. He whimpered and looked around in a frenzied manner.
He needs to cut the shit with that chirpy voice of his. Who the hell does he think he's fooling?
Deidara throwing his arm aside distracted her from executing her plan and she watched him make a hand sign. Just as fast as it happened, her hand was taken again and she was hastily pulled over a great gap – and her heart skipped a beat when she looked down – to another bird. Her shoulder bumped Deidara's and this bird jerked away from Tobi's. The orange-masked rogue ninja squealed and flailed about frantically before ultimately deciding to jump.
Deidara sat near the neck of the new bird to keep it steady, Sakura standing over him. She chose now to speak up.
"Won't this put us in an achingly similar situation?"
"Not if I land the thing before history repeats itself. Humph." he said dryly, half-turning to her. A lopsided, amused smile met Sakura's gaze. "Are you going to help that idiot, or...?"
She turned to find Tobi hanging off the side of the bird, preforming something akin to running up the down escalator.
For now.
OOO
Sakura stayed at the back of the trio throughout the walk. They seemed completely unconcerned about the possibility of her running away and Sakura didn't know if this irritated or confused her more. She asked herself why she hadn't run away and found that her answer was her question, and it was right in front of her. They came across a decently-sized cavity in the side of some unnatural cliff. It was then that Sakura noticed the sun setting through the dispersing rain and wondered just how fucking long she'd been out. Not a moment after they were protected from the downpour did Sakura jump on the opportunity – quite literally.
With a chakra-enhanced leap, she tackled Tobi to the ground and violently straddled him, holding his hands on either side of his head with a force that threatened to snap his wrists like twigs. A harsh sneer crossed her face when he began to choke out incoherent cries and struggle against her. Deidara stood dumbfounded and watched, momentarily frozen.
"What are you doing here?! How are you alive?!" she reeled back a fist and laced it with chakra, but her elbow was caught by a panicked Deidara. She glared fiercely at him and he could've sworn she growled.
"Tobi, go get some firewood!" he shouted.
A shaky and rushed "yes, sir!" was spoken and when Sakura turned back, he was gone. She practically snapped to her heels and spun on them to find the bastard booking it out of the cave and into the forest. A noise of frustration left her lips but before she could chase after him, Deidara slid in front of her, hands up in defense.
"Whoa now, let me explain, Kunoichi!" he said, nervous smile in place.
"Sakura." she replied bluntly.
"Sakura," he dropped his hands but didn't relax. "Sakura? Humph. Creative."
She glared at him and he cleared his throat.
"Listen, yeah-I'm no happier about that idiot being back than you are."
"I find that hard to believe, considering you just saved his ass."
"I don't want another war, yeah. Do you want to know what happened or not?"
She calmed, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall of the cavern. Deidara took a deep breath, seating himself in front of her. Sakura's brow furrowed but she followed suit.
"When the entirety of Akatsuki was revived a second time on the whim of Sasuke Uchiha, he was turned away by his brother. Itachi claimed that 'this was not the way,' which, really, is Itachi-speak for 'this jutsu is gross and you shouldn't mess with Nature."
"Yes yes, you all decided to go on for the hell of it, bla-bla-bla – I want to know how and who the fuck brought him back!" she rushed huffily.
Deidara gave her a scolding look which she was unfazed by. "When Tobi was brought back, only the human part could be brought back, which was his "Tobi" persona. That part of him was actually a Zetsu or something like that, way back when. Behind that mask isn't either of those Uchiha bastards, just an idiot with impressive chakra. He's expendable, but not useless. Just fun to have around, at this point. Humph."
Her teeth were clenched, and she wanted to calm down, she really did, but despite this very real information, she still wanted to be angry. Kicking ass throughout the war didn't seem to release her hatred for those two men-it didn't bring Neji back, after all. It didn't bring anyone back, no matter how much she hated and scorned and screamed her heart out. Instead, she stiffly asked him more questions until the adrenaline died down – for everyone's safety.
"Where are we?"
Deidara relaxed his face, leaning back to sit up straight. He knew. "On the border of Ame and Tanigakure."
And she had nothing else to say; so many questions but she found no way or will to ask them. The blond in front of her seemed to notice how she mechanically pushed chakra to her fingers and back, like some sort of habit.
"You can calm down, yeah. You know how things are now. Everyplace, everyone is in turmoil, all struggling to get back on their feet. There are no enemies and no friends in this world anymore. And to be honest, I don't see it being any different for a long time. Hmm."
And she relaxed, just like that. A heavy sigh escaped her and she leaned her back to the wall once more, a deep, tired frown on her face.
Just then, a flash of orange poked its head around a corner and peered at them cautiously. Deidara jerked his head to the left, and Sakura sighed again. Tobi tiptoed in and set down the soggy wood just as the last remnants of daytime escaped them and the rain picked up again.
It was going to be a long night.
OoOoOo
Gonna try to keep up a weekly upload schedule here, so expect more on the 21st, the 28th, so on and so forth.
Stay frosty, ma shiftas.
(Also, happy early birthday to Kakuzu-kun, Russ, and Moeru! Hearts, hearts errywhere)
~Raven100
