I
Tea for Two, Part 2
Solo missions sucked, Sakura decided.
It wasn't that the missions themselves were bad: in fact, they were usually fairly simple and paid very well, due to her status as a medic. Most often her solo missions were never above B-class, almost always consisted of healing some wealthy lord or other noble (thus the excellent pay), and typically involved no real danger or combat.
And that was precisely why they sucked.
Okay, so the pay was something she would never complain about (although it did bother her that with all the sick and dying people in the world, special attention was given to those with enough money to hire someone as skilled as herself when she would just as readily heal someone for free-but that was neither here nor there.)
The main reason she had come to hate solo missions was simply because she felt she could, and should be doing so much more. Sure, she was a medic: but that was only one of her abilities. She was also a genjutsu specialist (a fact that was hardly ever considered when given assignments, it seemed) and her taijutsu was, like her shishou's, legendary. She found great satisfaction in healing people, and of course she didn't want all of her missions to be risky and bloody and violent: just some of them. Otherwise, her non-medical skills might get rusty. And after working so, so hard to get to where she was today, she was not about to let that happen.
At least the solo mission she was currently on had a little bit of spice to it: not in the actual mission, which had been to heal the burns of the Wind Daiymo's mistress (she had tripped into a fireplace), but because of the pseudo-secret nature of the patient, she had been required to travel in disguise. She was, after all, quite recognizable: especially in Wind country.
But that had been the extent of the excitement. The healing had been quick and easy, the pay had been received without problem, and her travels thus far had been without incident. Not even one measly bounty hunter. She scowled into her cup.
She was currently traveling back to Konoha, but had stopped at a little teahouse she liked to visit whenever she was passing through River country. At any rate, it was the only place to get a decent meal within a day's travel in either direction.
Well, a days' travel had she been going at her normal speed. But as she was currently well disguised as a plain civillian girl (with her chakra control only a sensor-type shinobi would be able to detect her henge), she also had to travel like a plain civilian girl in order to complete the illusion. Which meant walking. A lot of walking. And although it was slightly thrilling to have a secret identity, that particular novelty had worn off very quickly. She understood the point of secrecy while on her way to Wind country; the daiymo's lover was not well liked. But was it really necessary to keep it up all the way back to Konoha too? She was 99.9% positive that she was not being followed, but, since it was a specific requirement of the mission, she had no choice but to go with it.
"Here you go, miss." Her dango had arrived at the table.
"Thanks," she said, smiling. But the smile faded as soon as the man left to attend to other tables.
That was another thing she hated about solo missions. They were lonely. Sakura had always been a very social person (well, at least ever since she was given a chance to be) and the long, empty silences of solo missions were depressing. It gave her too much time to think: and that was never a good thing, especially since her thoughts always seemed to drift towards him...
Stop!
It was best to quash those thoughts before they even came. She took a rather violent bite from her dango and gulped it down. She studied the sweet little balls of rice flour with mild interest. She had forgotten how good they were here. She decided to take smaller bites from now on to make it last longer.
She was about halfway through her meal when she felt a huge spike in the chakra around her. She stilled. Someone capable of using chakra, and quite a lot of it if that abnormally large fluctuation was any indication, was nearby. Very, very, carefully, without letting her own chakra levels rise above that of a non-shinobi, she probed the space around her and immediately found the source. It was a ninja, all right, and a damn strong one, too. Even with his chakra levels somewhat depleted, she could tell that he was dangerous. But that wasn't necessarily a cause for alarm: after all, he could very well be one of the many highly dangerous shinobi that were her allies. His chakra signature was even vaguely familiar. She looked at the store's entrance to confirm.
And immediately looked away, praying to the gods that he hadn't caught her looking.
Akatsuki.
In the doorway to her favorite little teahouse, in broad daylight and full view, stood a man who belonged to the most powerful and evil criminal organization in the world. A man who was currently scanning the teashop for an empty seat, the only one of which happened to be at her own table. A man who was now headed her way.
Don't panic, he doesn't know you, doesn't know you're a ninja...
"This is the only seat left, yeah." A man she now recognized as the Akatsuki who had blown himself up trying to take out her and seven others and was supposed to be dead. A man who had single-handedly fought one of the five strongest shinobi in existence and won. A man who was currently looking very annoyed at her. She rushed to say something before that annoyance morphed into something else:
"Would you like to sit here, sir?" She hoped she had managed to keep the tremor out of her voice.
"Hn." His face had relaxed minutely and he slid into the proffered seat, removing his kasa to reveal the large blond topknot that resided on the top of his head. Distractedly, Sakura wondered how he'd managed to fit it under there, before the full gravity of the situation weighed down on her and she once again had to remind herself not to panic.
Calm, Sakura, calm. Don't blow your cover. It was vital that she keep her chakra from fluctuating and her emotions from showing. She looked down at her plate to try and hide whatever fear might be showing in her eyes.
Inwardly steeling herself, she tried to focus and recall everything she knew about this particular Akatsuki, both from what she had read in the bingo books and from what she had seen personally.
Name: Deidara. Age: ....she couldn't remember. Sakura chanced a brief look at his features. Can't be that old, though. Status: S-ranked missing-nin from Iwagakure. She took another quick look to spot the slashed-out boulders on his hitai-ate. Confirmed member of the criminal group Akatsuki-the cloak was a little obvious-and wanted in all five nations. Listing: Flee on sight.
Then she started sifting through her own observations. If he was from Iwa, he was probably an earth-type jutsu user. That would make sense, seeing as how he fought with those odd clay birds. He was a distance fighter--she noticed the scope was missing from his left eye--who launched explosives while flying on his transports, but he must also be extremely good at close range fighting as she remembered the man--armless, clutching a kunai between his teeth--had held his own against Team Gai, which contained three close-range taijutsu specialists. And if he was still alive... then that meant that it hadn't even really been him fighting them. It must have been a clone, a clone he had not only managed to make without any hand seals--meaning that his ninjutsu must also be preternaturally good--but had also been hardy enough to take several hits without disappearing, and then turn into a bomb so powerful that it would have killed them all had Kakashi not sealed away the blast in time.
"What would you like?" The waiter's sudden appearance startled her, but the Akatsuki didn't seem to notice her surprise. Probably because he was busy ordering half the menu.
"Some green tea, an order of Gyoza, a bowl of sticky rice, three chicken yakitori, some bean cakes," here he paused, and looked at her. Or her food, anyway. "And an order of dango, yeah."
"That's all? We'll have that right out, then. Suki!" The waiter left to go fill his massive order.
Overeating, much? Though as a missing-nin, he probably went hungry a lot--serves him right--and he did look a little worse for wear at the moment, though the medic in her, rather than causing her to feel the usual automatic sympathy at his condition, was annoyed that someone could have such blatant disregard for their health. Eating nothing for days and then gorging was a great shock to the body. Then again, so was losing your arms. His, she noted with mild curiosity, had at some point been reattached. Hm. Akatsuki must have a medic, then.
Her attention was drawn back to his face when he snorted suddenly, and their gazes met for the briefest second before she shifted her gaze slightly downward to his nose and lips. He had a really wide mouth, she noticed, but that was probably exaggerated due to the fact that he wore an almost perpetual arrogant smirk, almost like S-
-not going there-
Someone else she used to know. His nose was small and narrow, but rounded at the end in an almost childlike pudgyness, and the way his ears kind of stuck out only added to the babyish look, though she knew he was far from innocent and could never be called adorable. Impish, maybe. He was also surprisingly tan for someone supposedly from a cold northern country, but then again, she knew plenty of people from very warm climates who were quite pale: Gaara, being one of the most notable, but also herself, Neji, and Sas--Sai. His hair was obnoxiously blonde, even more so than Naruto's, and the length of it annoyed her. Not to mention the fact that, despite lookng so disheveled, his hair still looked healthier than her own. And his eyes--which were still scanning her face, she noted with growing discomfort--were weird-looking; slanted, almond shapes encompassing an iris of stark, cold blue--nothing like Naruto's crystalline sky-blue or Ino's softer powder-blue--surrounded by thick fringes of eyelashes far too dark for a blonde. They were, in a word, piercing. And if he didn't stop looking at her then she was afraid her composure would slip and if that happened...
"It's impolite to stare, you know." Technically, she had been staring, too. But she had to do something to break the tension.
"No one's ever called me polite, yeah." And he sounded proud about that status. He was even smiling--though the smile looked a little too manic to indicate happiness. She wished he would wipe that stupid grin off his face, or she might be tempted to do it for him. It was starting to unnerve her. Fortunately, the waiter had impeccable timing.
"Here you go, enjoy!" He unloaded an entire tray of food onto the criminal's table, looking extremely pleased, most likely at the prospect of the huge bill he would get to deliver in the near future--though Sakura kind of doubted that this particular customer would leave him with anything more than dirty dishes.
Deidara's unwanted attention to her all but vanished as he attacked the loaded plate of dumplings, cramming two in his mouth at a time and barely chewing. Then, a little wet piece of something landed on her cheek, and her mind went blank except for one, isolated thought:
Please don't let that be what I think it is....
With a sense of foreboding, she looked at the ceiling above her, praying that the roof was leaking. But no such luck. She used a napkin to gingerly wipe off the little fleck of saliva-coated dumpling and tried to repress her urge to run to the bathroom and scrub the Akatsuki spit off her face before she got contaminated or something. As a medic, she knew it was unlikely to catch anything from a tiny drop of spit and had at many times been covered in far more gory bodily fluids while on the job; being 17, she knew and had known for some time that there was no such thing as cooties: but neither of these logical reassurances comforted her, so she was forced to continue sitting still while trying not to glare at him. Not too much, anyway.
At some point Deidara must have noticed the look on her face--which was probably very disgruntled--because he started eating much more obnoxiously than before. She knew he was doing it on purpose, and from the quick little glances he kept casting at her, he knew that she knew and was all the more amused by it. Sick, arrogant bastard. She remembered the way he had tormented Naruto--sitting on his dead friends' body, slapping his face to prove he was dead, and then stuffing Gaara's body into one of his birds--all just to get a rise out of him. Obviously, making people upset and angry was one of his favorite past-times. She felt her own anger kindling in her chest, hot and suffocating, and the bitter taste of hatred was curling on her tongue. She wanted to kill him. He really needed to be dead, for many, many reasons. But Sakura had no illusions that she would stand a chance against him in a fight, even when he looked so ragged. Sure, she had technically defeated his partner, but she hadn't been alone, then, and her ally in that fight had had intimate knowledge of Sasori's battle strategies. So, she couldn't outright confront him. But she also did not want to give him the satisfaction of getting her worked up; so she kept her more violent feelings locked down.
"I can see why nobody has ever called you polite." In response, he just looked at her, with that same infuriating smirk, and a calculating look in his eye. That made her a little wary. What was he thinking? Was he planning something? Did he know who she really was? She would have no way of knowing... but better safe than sorry; she would keep up her disguise as long as possible. But what was he thinking...?
The waiter came around a minute later to refill their drinks, but Sakura could only manage a brief glance at him and an automatic 'please-and-thank-you' because she had somehow ended up in an impromptu staring contest with the blonde criminal across from her. He was winning; he hadn't broken his stare once, merely scooting his cup to the side for the waiter to refill while never moving his gaze from her face. She realized that this staredown was actually a common intimidation tactic used by interrogators; to look into someone's eyes until they were squirming on the inside. She knew this because Morino Ibiki, head of T&I for Konoha, did this to everyone he talked to, though whether it was intentional or just out of habit, she didn't know.
"Something wrong?" And damn it, it was working. She could feel the sweat gathering at the nape of her neck, but she wouldn't let her nervousness show. In fact... it was high time for a few mind games of her own. She took a deep breath to prepare herself.
"No, nothing's wrong, why do you ask?" Her words were like sugar, but only tasted sour as they left her mouth. She almost felt ill. It had been quite some time since she had last worn her mask of false cheer, and she had forgotten how much it chafed. It had rubbed her supressed emotions so raw that at one point in her younger life, her personality had split and she actually heard a voice in her head. It had been years since her 'Inner' last spoke, and she sincerely hoped that She wouldn't resurface today because of her actions.
"That's a creepy smile, yeah. I bet you could scare people with it." He sounded more amused than unnerved, though he was a little of both. She was going to have to try harder.
"Actually, you're right." Don't give in to his taunts; respond in a way that he isn't expecting... "I can, and have." She was droning on in that sickly sweet tone, eating her dango--with overly emphasized delicacy--while trying to think of what to do next. "But only when it's deserved..."
She finally saw a flash of anger in his eyes, and she suddenly remembered just who she was dealing with and wondered if maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all, but any further doubts were wiped from her mind when he replied in a haughty tone.
"And what have I done, hm? Offended your better sensibilities?" He leaned towards her. "Am I disrupting your perfect little lunch, princess?"
What had he done? What had he done!?!? Only belonged to the the organization whose primary focus was to suck the soul out of her friend, tried to bomb Suna, essentially killed their Kage, had tried to kill her and her teammates, and commited who knew what other horrible crimes. And now this homicidal maniac was acting like he had done nothing wrong! Acting like she was bothering him! Like he was someone that actually deserved any kind of special treatment, unless of course special treatment included public execution. How could he even...? Oh.
She was a 'civilian' today. She wouldn't know who he was or what he had done. Luckily, her mental slip-up had only lasted a second or two, so she regained her composure and set her cup down before her straining hands accidentally cracked it.
So, apparently, he must think she's some prissy little stuck-up snob who wanted nothing to do with low-lifes like him. And while parts of that were true--she really didn't want anything to do with him--she wasn't such a prude that she'd dismiss someone for their bad manners. After all, she ate with Naruto all the time, didn't she?
Still, even if he was a criminal, she absolutely couldn't stand it when people thought of her as shallow or hypocritical or annoying... but she couldn't really break his false perception of her, not without revealing who she was.
"You know nothing about me." It was the best she could do. Deidara looked slightly surprised by her answer, and a hard look came into his eyes before he replied:
"Likewise." And with that single word, Deidara had unwittingly set into motion the beginning of a plan in Sakura's mind, though Sakura herself didn't know it yet. Right now she could only ponder the truth of his statement.
He was right. She knew next to nothing about him, or the organization he worked for. Her sense of duty provided her with only one possible course of action for her to follow from this point:
She had to get as much information out of this man as possible.
Akatsuki was quite possibly the single biggest threat to her home village and the shinobi world at large. It was certainly the biggest threat to her best friend, Naruto. And as of right now she was in almost unheard-of position: she could actually talk to the criminal; not exchange banter during battle, but just talk to him. A casual conversation, though not as effective as intense torture and interrogation, could actually be an extremely good way to pull information from someone like him. He seemed very arrogant, and if she prodded the conversation in the right direction...he might start bragging about himself. And because she was only a 'civilian' at the moment, he was not going to be as guarded about what he told her, and she was hoping that because of that he would be more likely to accidentally slip and give away valuable information: information that could mean the difference between life and death for countless people. She only now noticed that she was beginning to smile. She schooled her expression before it gave anything away.
"True," she said in response to his earlier statement. It had been too long since she had last spoken, and she didn't want to test his patience. She was going to have to play this very carefully if she wanted anything to come of this, other than her slipping up and getting herself killed. Easy or not, there was still a great deal of risk if she failed, so she proceeded with caution. "But it doesn't have to stay that way."
He looked like he didn't comprehend what she was saying at first, but after a few seconds the strangest expression crossed his features and Sakura didn't know what to make of it. Feeling slightly on-edge, she pressed forward.
"I apologize for being so rude before. My name is Uroshi Hana." She was immensely greatful that she had practiced introducing herself under her guise name until it sounded natural. "And you...?" She already knew his name, but she was curious as to whether he would give her his real name or not; testing the waters, so to speak, to see how readily he gave up information about himself. He hesitated for a moment before replying, face still contorted in that unreadable expression.
"I'm Deidara." Well, he wasn't lying to her so far. That was a good sign. "And i'll accept your apology. But just so you know..." she was a little surprised by his easy acceptance of her apology, but that could only make things that much better for her if he was on 'friendly' terms with her during the course of their conversation. But before she could think much more on the subject, he once again had her mentally spluttering at his next words.
Studiously avoiding her gaze and scratching his face in a move that was probably meant to look unassuming, the Akatsuki continued: "You're not really my type."
'Not his-WHAT? WHAT THE HELL?!? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?! HOW COULD HE EVEN... I MEAN... WHAT? THAT'S JUST...EW! NO... HOW DOES HE EVEN.....? HUUUU.....' Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sakura thought she felt several nerve-synapses dying. Determined not to let loss of brain function stop her though, she responded as soon as she was able.
"I'm sorry if i've given you the wrong impression, but that was not what I was suggesting. I simply meant that there was no reason why we couldn't just have a civil conversation instead of annoying the hell out of each other." Because she knew what he had been doing now. He hadn't really been hitting on her, he had just said that to anger her. And it did. Bastard.
She could barely think straight when she was angry, and he was very good at riling her up: a fact he seemed to realize and had been capitalizing upon the entire time, which did not bode well for her at all. She was really going to have to take one of those anger management courses Sai kept suggesting she take, or else she might end up dead one of these days. She also made a mental note to specifically request that she be given no more stealth missions after this assignment. But her plans did her little good right now, so she was just going to have to grin and bear it--literally. She put on a smile and tried to restart the conversation on some relatively safe ground.
"So, what brings you to River country?" He hadn't said or done anything in response to her little rant, but he answered her question easily enough.
"Just passing through."
"Where are you going?" Even if he was farily unspecific, she could still give a report on his likely whereabouts when she got back to Konoha, and then they could send out a team large enough to hunt him down.
"Fire country." She felt her lungs constrict. He hadn't said Konoha, but she had a sinking feeling that he was headed to her hometown. What if he was going after Naruto?
"Really? So am I. I live there." He would be less likely to lie if he knew she was familiar with the area. "What are you going to do when you get there?"
He narrowed his eyes at her and Sakura feared that he had somehow found her out, worrying that maybe she had been a bit too forward in her line of questioning. But before those fears could come to frutition, he responded.
"I have some business to take care of there." Akatsuki business was not likely to be anything pleasant. Even if he wasn't coming after Naruto specifically, he was bad news for Fire country. Although she was far from grateful at the moment, she knew she was extremely lucky to have been able to get this information. Now, at least, she could give Konoha a chance to prepare itself against him. She was about to ask him another question, but he interrupted her with a seemingly random statement: "I'm an artist."
For a moment, she was utterly confused. What on earth was he talking about? An artist...? Suddenly an overheard conversation came to mind: She, having smashed through the entrance of the cave, rushed in to find the two Akatsuki who had inflitrated Suna sitting on the cave floor, engaged in a heated discussion about the nature of art. She hadn't really paid much attention at the time--seeing Gaara's dead body was more than a little distracting--but did remember that later, during the course of her battle with Sasori, he had declared his puppets to be great works of art. Deidara, then, must consider his clay sculptures to be art.
"Really? An artist and a shinobi? That's..." She had actually been thinking of Sai and his ink creations, but couldn't really talk about her knowledge of shinobi/artists. "Different," was the term she decided upon. Certainly, all of the people she had met that fell under that category were quite...unorthodox, to say the least. He looked a little put-off by her choice of words though, so she tried to seem interested.
"What kind of art do you do?" She actually was curious as to whether he was referring to his clay sculptures, or if he worked with any other mediums as well. Somehow, though, she couldn't imagine this man quietly sitting and painting a bowl of fruit or something. But she wouldn't be getting much of an answer. He looked even more annoyed than before at her question--which surprised her since he seemed the type to brag about his 'art'. Instead, he just sniffed at her.
"You wouldn't understand." Oh, did that make her angry. She hated, hated, hated it when people dismissed her like that. Like she was stupid. Or weak. Or worthless. Or annoying.
"And what makes you think that?" She was not going to sit by and let some damn criminal insult her like that. But instead of responding to the anger in her voice like she thought he would, he just sat there, looking sullen, and occasionally poking at his food. Well, then. It looked like she wouldn't be getting anything else from this line of questioning. Apparently, his art was a touchy subject for him.
"Well, if you don't want to talk about it..." she finally murmured. She needed to come up with a new topic. What would a civilian girl say? Probably... "What do you do as a shinobi? Surely something exciting." Yeah, that sounded about right. People sometimes asked her questions like that.
"I carry out missions," he deadpanned back.
'Well, duh!' Sakura was very tempted to say it, but managed to keep her sarcasm in check. Though he probably wouldn't reveal anything major, she was at least hoping to get an idea of Akatsuki's activities outside of capturing jinchuuriki.
"Like what?" At this, he perked up, and his somber mood suddenly took on an air of amusement.
"I kill people. I do robberies and bombings... occasionally take a hostage or two..." He was purposely nonchalant, but Sakura could tell that doing these things really didn't phase him much. But she was paying more attention to his actual words, rather than how he delivered them. Really... it sounded like he did exactly what shinobi in her own village did, aside from the taking hostages part--which she could only assume was referring to capturing jinchuuriki. Aside from that, killing, stealing, and destroying enemy territory were quite common during the course of a mission. And that gave Sakura pause: she had no idea why they were rounding up the Bijou, but if they were carrying out 'normal' missions as well... then who was assigning them those missions? Crime lords or rogue groups of ninja occasionally posted missions, but Akatsuki's services probably didn't come cheap. Realistically, the only ones who could afford to have such a powerful group on their payroll would be... but no. That couldn't be! The other hidden villages wouldn't hire a group of S-class nins to do work for them.
Would they?
Akatsuki was full of missing-nins from just about everywhere--it would be political suicide to interact with a wanted criminal from an enemy--or even an allied--country. It was treason of the highest order, and could be considered--and had, in the past--cause enough to start a war. And if he was headed to Konoha, as she suspected he was...then that meant someone, likely another hidden village, had hired Akatsuki to do something in her village. She had to make sure though:
"So is that the kind of 'business' you'll be attending to in Fire, then?" He looked downright serene as he seemingly mulled over her question, a small self-satisfied smirk gracing his lips as he replied.
"That would be telling." That, would be a resounding 'yes.' And for her, this situation had just become about ten times more dangerous, as things were wont to do when they become politically sensitive. Because now, it wasn't just that Akatsuki was coming to Konoha, but it was that Akatsuki was most likely being sent to Konoha by another hidden village.
And for once, Sakura didn't think: she just acted.
"Would you mind watching my stuff for a minute? I have to use the bathroom." She practically jumped out of her seat and headed off towards the far corner of the restaurant, leaving a very surprised criminal in her wake. She heard him mumble something as she was leaving, but wasn't really paying attention. She had far more pressing matters to consider.
One of them being, what the hell was she doing? She wasn't sure at what point exactly her plan to 'get as much information from this man as possible' had matured into 'capture this man and return with him to Konoha', but that was exactly what she was about to attempt, huddled in a bathroom stall, measuring out the ingredients for a heavy-duty knock-out drug into a small vial.
She had made the decision in an instant: she would not let this Akatsuki get away. For reasons she couldn't even fully explain to herself, she knew that she was the only one who would be able to stop him from carrying out his mission--that, if she failed to stop him here, there would most certainly be blood on her hands. Though she actually had no idea what his mission was, she doubted its' success would result in anything less than lives lost. And if she just let him leave... well, then, what if he attacked before she even made it back to Konoha for reinforcements? What if they couldn't even track him down afterwards? It was sheer coincidence that she had crossed his path today, but despite his rather flashy battle style, he was still a missing-nin: if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. And then there was the possibility that this Deidara was carrying out a mission given by another hidden village: if she let him slip through her fingers, she would also be losing the knowledge of what possibly hostile nation he was working for, and any chance at Konoha taking preemptive actions against said country. And she could. Not. Let. That. Happen.
So, yes: she knew full well that what she was doing was risky--but it was easier for her to deal with than letting him go.
She made a single shadow clone and sent it back out into the restaurant with instructions to make small talk with the blonde criminal and keep him occupied. But holding a henge and maintaining a shadow clone was exhausting--how did Naruto do it?--so she would have to put her 'plan' into action quickly. She waited a minute to follow her clone out of the bathroom and then snuck into the kitchen. Peeking around a corner, she saw that her waiter was in the back storeage room, arguing with somene. Perfect. This was her chance. She grabbed a tray with a teakettle on it and quickly poured in the knockout drug, stuffing the empty vial in her pocket. After henge-ing into their waiter, she headed back out into the crowded dining area, ignoring all the cries for refills and heading straight towards her own table. Her clone noticed her approach and looked up, smiling widely at her. Wow. That actually was a little creepy--though she told herself it was only because she was technically smiling at herself.
But she brushed that aside and focused on what she was doing. So far, Deidara didn't look too suspicious--just kind of bored. She poured herself some tea first--her clone, that is--and then topped off Deidara's cup. And then it was done. She left, praying that she had made the doseage correctly. If she had made it too strong, then he might collapse right here on the table, and that definitely had the potential to become a very awkward situation. Conversely, if she had made it too weak, he might not fall asleep at all, realize someone had tried to drug him, and kill everyone in sight. She really hoped that neither of those things would happen, and that the drug would work as she meant it to: him ingesting the drug gradually as he sipped his tea, and after finishing it, having about five minutes of conciousness. He was practically done with his meal, so he should be leaving soon, leaving him plently of time to walk far enough away from the restaurant so as to not cause suspicion when she tied him up and carried him away.
But as Sakura snuck back into the kitchen and out the back door to wait, other worries surfaced: what if he didn't drink all of his tea? Then it wouldn't even matter if she had made the doseage correctly, because he wouldn't be getting the full dose. And what if her clone forgot and accidentally drank some of the drugged tea? She wasn't sure if the effects of the drug would hit her once her clone was dispelled--she felt, as a medic, that she should know more about this, and was annoyed that she didn't--but now was not the time for testing it out. She was just about to mix up the antidote when she felt her chakra return to her and gained the memories of her clone, breathing a sigh of relief as she ran through them.
Her clone had played the part well, she realized, while mentally running through a conversation with the criminal about types of weather in different areas of the world that she hadn't really had with him, among a bunch of other random topics. But that was what impressed her: her clone had come up with an idea of her own--which in and of itself was a little disconcerting to think about--but the weirdest thing was that it had allayed a concern that she hadn't even had until after she went back into the kitchen. What did that mean? That the clone had free will? Was it still her, existing in two different places at once, or another entirely seperate being that merely possessed identical talents and wit, yet ceased to exist the moment it was dispelled? Or was it some odd combination of the two? Or what if--gah! Focus, focus.... She could worry about the ethical and philosophical implications of clones later, because she was in the middle of a mission right now. A self-imposed mission, to be sure, but a mission nonetheless.
Herself or not, it was still very clever what her clone had done. Her clone had been a real chatterbox, asking the Akatsuki all sorts of pointless questions and requesting his opinion on the stupidest things. And so, Deidara, to avoid answering her clone as much as possible, had occupied his mouth with taking tiny sips of his tea until he practically had the thing glued to his lips, and in doing so ingested the drug in the most effective manner possible. When her clone began to notice the first signs of the drug taking effect, she got up, paid--Sakura winced as she realized she had technically just stolen her food, since that money would have also disappeared when her clone did--and walked out of the restaurant, dispersing herself as soon as she was out of sight. When her clone last saw Deidara, he had been just about ready to leave, and that had been over two minutes ago. She slunk around to the side of the restaurant, peeking around the corner just in time to see the blonde come stumbling out onto the path. He looked muddled, glancing left and right down the road, before finally deciding on left, which was east, which was towards Fire. She waited until he was quite a ways down the road before dropping her henge and coming out from behind the building and trailing him. Stoned or not, he was still a ninja with honed senses and killing reflexes, so even after he finally teetered off the road completely and slumped to the ground beneath a tree, she waited a good three minutes before approaching him.
It was bizarre, really. Seeing one of the worlds' most dangerous men lying out in the open, looking so defenseless. Yet he was defenseless right now. She thumbed the hilt of her tanto, deciding again. In a few seconds, she could finish what even a Kage had not been able to...and then her friend would be safer--the world would be safer if this man were no longer a part of it. She had changed her plans for him once: she could do it a second and final time. She could do it so easily right now. Do it and still return to Konoha on right on time. And she would be praised for her actions. Tsunade would be proud of her for getting rid of such a powerful enemy. Naruto would thank her for killing the bastard that had killed his friend. There was absolutely every reason to end him.
So why wasn't she?
It was a shinobi's duty to kill enemies. She was a shinobi. He was an enemy. It was her duty to kill this man. He was dangerous enough that any information he had was possibly not worth as much as having him dead...but then again, it might be. That couldn't be what was staying her hand at the moment, though. Her breath shook as she tried with greater effort to pull the small sword from her back--had it always been this heavy?--but it still wouldn't budge. Dammit! What was wrong with her? Just a few minutes ago in the teahouse she had been hard-pressed not to kill him, and now as she thought about actually sliding her sword across his neck...she felt bile rise to the back of her throat. Why? Why was she reacting like this? This man was evil, he was a sadistic murderer who would think nothing of doing the same to her, probably just for fun. At least when she killed, she did it because she was trying to protect her country. She never enjoyed it.
Much.
She froze, and her hand slid off the tanto to hang listlessly from her side. Did she actually......yes, she thought as a cold knot formed in her throat. The sound of an enemy's skull cracking from her punch, shattering the ground with her inhuman strength, seeing someone who had threatened her and the lives of her friends fall and never get up again...gave her a sick sense of satisfaction. Was she really... like that? Was she the type of person who could kill in cold blood because duty dictated that she did so? Was she weak if she didn't? If so, did she really want to become someone that could? Someone like him?
No. She would not become like him. This....this....
And yet, as she paused, looking at him, searching for words... she wondered if there wasn't another reason she had been unable to finish the job. Because right now, cloak and headband aside, he didn't really look all that evil. Long blonde hair was hardly a menacing attribute, and when his face was relaxed like this it was obvious that he really was quite young... So young, like her... Plus, he just looked so... vulnerable, with his deadly blue eyes hidden away, and his features devoid of all malice and arrogance. She really couldn't bring herself to kill him like this.
Oh, sure, she knew as soon as he was conscious again she'd probably want to rip his head off, but by that point, she wouldn't be able to kill him because he'd be too strong. Ironic, that when she wanted to kill him she couldn't, and when she could kill him she didn't want to. Musing over that fact, though, she was starting to get a little worried as to how she was going to actually get him back to Konoha, now that she had him. She couldn't drug him the whole way... even if she had enough medicine to do so, he could die from being drugged that much. She could bind him with chakra-restraining rope, but that would really increase travel time, and if he managed to get loose--and there was a pretty good chance that he would--there would be hell to pay.
She scooped him up and slung him over her shoulder, glancing around twice before running into the woods. She had to stay on the ground though, because the extra weight of carrying someone larger than herself would make jumping form tree to tree as she normally did impossible. She still wasn't sure what her plan was for keeping him from running away, or killing her, or both, but she couldn't just stay out in the open where they might be seen by an enemy ninja after one of their heads. Finally, after fifteen minutes of running, she spotted a cave next to--surprise!--a small river. It was big enough though, that she couldn't see the shadowed back of the cave, and secluded enough that it would suit her purposes of stayinig hidden. She had to duck her head as she entered, but accidentally knocked Deidara's head against the cave ceiling.
"Unghh..." She froze. That wouldn't have waken him up, would it? She not-so-gently laid him on the floor of the cave and peeled back his eyelid. His sight was unfocused, and his eye was lazily rolling around in its' socket. Good, he was still unconcious, then. She slipped a hand quickly to the back of his skull, trying to ignore how soft his hair felt as she fingered his scalp, looking for injury. She found a rather large goose-egg, but he wasn't cut or bleeding and after a quick probe of her medical chakra she learned that he had not suffered a concussion.
Drawing her hand back to herself, she sighed, the adrenaline rush she had been in ever since the criminal had first walked into the teahouse finally ending. A small, humorless chuckle escaped her. She had just succeeded in one of the stupidest and most reckless undertakings in all her life. And after all that, Sakura, relaxing in a dark cave next to someone she normally wouldn't be able to get within a hundred feet of without being blown up, had only one, anticlimactic thought:
Now what?