Chapter Seven
I push Sasori's harsh arms off of me and stand quickly, my anger getting the better of me. "What do you think you're doing?! We could have easily taken that ninja down!" I yell at him, frustrated and confused. Why is he such a coward?! He only shakes his head at me and stands up slowly, dusting off leaves that had stuck to him from the forest floor. Ignoring what I had asked, he again begins to walk. I keep still, not moving until I get my reply. "Answer me," I say lowly. I pause, surprised by my own tone of voice; since when have I been so commanding? He slows down his pace some, then starts to answer, slowly.
"Listen Sakura," he says, not turning to look at me while he talks. "Did you even take a good look at that ninja?" he asks. I begin to walk, catching up with his pace. Did I really? "I mean, do you take good enough of a look to know his physical condition?" All I saw was that he was following us, and his anbu mask. I shake my head to Sasori, what is he getting at? Even though he couldn't possibly have seen me shake me head, he continues to talk, as if he knew I did. "His left leg was wounded. If we had continued to go for maybe two more minutes, we could have been free of him. But," he says angrily, looking at me, "that was an anbu agent, you seem to forget. If we had stopped to fight them, like you were, we'd have no idea what we were facing. For all we know, they could have been a weaponry specialist." He explains, making me feel like a complete idiot.
"Oh," I say, feeling like I was useless. How did I not figure that out?
I look around and realize where we are. Looking behind me, I see the rundown looking building that we had a conference with the Akatsuki leader in. Why would Sasori have us go back instead of just moving us further up the path? I think about his jutsu. It's probably just a simple relocation jutsu that brings him where he has recently been and wishes to return to. And judging by his hand signs, it shouldn't take up too much chakra. I think about this, then find myself again wondering of other things.
Sasori seems to have a completely clear idea of where we are going and of how we are to get there. Besides that point, he never fully filled me in on what the mission entails. Much less where we are going. If we get separated, I'll have no clue where to go except for back here, and even then, would I be able to tell the Akatsuki leader that I lost my partner? That wouldn't bode well for me.
I turn and look to him, his face washed over with concentration and a bit of anger. Why didn't I pay more attention to the ninja? If he could have gathered all of that without even turning around once, then why was I unable to? I was putting all of my strain into listening to the footsteps, and even I couldn't tell if they were wounded or not. Since when was Sasori so extremely serious?
I turn my face to him, I have to know about the mission. "Sasori," I start, he glances at me to acknowledge that he heard me. "What is our mission, and where are we going?" I ask, turning my sight back to the long forest path ahead of us. All of the familiar ground not bearing any marks to show that we have been here before, as if it was again our first time down it. For moments, Sasori is silent, as if thinking over an advanced problem. He again glances at me, and I feel like he is measuring me up, the way leader did. He sighs, then begins to speak.
"I guess that there is no way to go about this without telling you," he begins, looking ahead. His face drops from tense to almost bored. "Do you remember why the Akatsuki captured you two years ago, Sakura?" he asks, speaking thoughtfully, as if he was unsure if I was ready to hear something or not.
I think about it. Why had they captured me? I remember I was out in the forest that morning, I was gathering some rare herbs that could not be grown in town, with all of the pollution of civilization, because it would taint them. It was for Sasuke, I had thought that they might help him heal sooner, it was only a couple days after his fight with Itachi. Naruto had left the village with Jiraiya, they had been gone a couple days, before Sasuke arrived back only to be at the hospital. And then, Itachi and Kisame appeared, I only knew to run because of their cloaks. Kakashi-sensei had informed me of them. And they were- they were after Naruto. They wanted to get to him through me.
"I do," I say, my thoughts now wrapped around the Uchiha's. "But what does that have to do with the mission?" I ask, misunderstanding what he was trying to tell me.
"You do remember what Kisame and Itachi's past mission was, don't you?" he asks, looking at me like I was too slow to catch on. It was to capture Naruto and get Kyuubi from his body, wasn't it? I look up, shocked and finally understanding what Sasori was trying to explain to me.
"Our mission is to go to Konoha and capture Naruto?" I ask, referring to him by name without even noticing, giving away that I had a bond with him. Sasori nods to me, not glancing back this time. I make a mental note to only refer to him as nine-tailed fox. Could I possibly do this? Naruto was extremely annoying to me, but I didn't hate him. He was always getting in the way of me and Sasuke, I should thank him for that now.
I shake my head at my thoughts, I can't think about him or any other person in Konoha with feelings such as those, I am an Akatsuki member now, when I agreed to making their goal my own, I agreed to cut all of my bonds to the people I once cared for. Naruto is nothing more than a target now.
A smile slips onto my lips as I finally realize where we are going to- Konoha. How perfect. Anticipation grows in me, my chance to get to kill Sasuke is coming! Suddenly, it seems like getting Naruto couldn't come soon enough and I find myself for the first time, happy that Sasori was chosen for me.