Perception
Chapter Eight: Moments in the Dark
Deep within her subconscious, Sakura felt the prickle of her senses warning her of danger, a tiny voice in the back of her mind screaming for her to wake up!
She shot up in bed with a start, ready to fight, and was immediately shoved back down. Chakra flowed to her fists as she struggled against the unknown force pinning her. Her knee connected with something solid, and she heard a low pained grunt before a hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her angry protest.
"Sakura! Wake up and calm down, damn it!"
Sakura immediately stilled at the hissed command and focused on the shadowed figure. It was Deidara. He was pushing down on her sternum, pinning her to the bed with his right forearm, which she was currently digging painful bruises into with chakra-laced fingers. His chakra was completely masked—the reason she hadn't sensed his presence until he was right over her. He removed his hand from her mouth once she stopped struggling. It briefly occurred to her that he was far more powerful than he looked if he could hold her down with one arm.
"Deidara…." She released the death-grip on his forearm, and realized her knee had been pushing roughly into his side and jarring his hurt arm, so she relaxed and moved it away. She couldn't see his face in the dark, but she was sure he was feeling the pain.
"Shh. Mask your chakra, yeah."
She did instantly, instinct telling her not to question it.
He silently backed away. "Grab your stuff and come with me. Hurry."
Sakura quickly pulled her boots on, grabbed her backpack and moved silently to Deidara's side. She realized now that it wasn't his presence which triggered her shinobi instincts and woke her. The house was dead silent, but there was an air of calm alertness that told her something was amiss. She looked up at Deidara and whispered, "What's going on?"
Despite his calm outer appearance, he was on-edge. "Hunter nins." He gestured in the direction of the hallway and silently moved out of the room.
Sakura followed and they walked the short distance to the stairs, where Deidara jumped over the banister and landed on the bottom floor with only a slight rustle of his cloak. It was to avoid making the old steps creak, so Sakura followed in the same way, making even less noise as she had no oversized articles of clothing and two hands to brace her landing.
The others were waiting in the foyer with their chakra masked. All had the same aura of tense alertness. Were they going to make a run for it, or stay and fight?
The question was answered when Kisame gruffly whispered, "We'll take care of 'em. Stay alert in case a couple slip past us, and be ready to go when we get back."
Deidara nodded tersely. "Tobi, go conceal yourself outside and keep watch, yeah."
"Okay, Deidara-senpai. I won't let you down." He opened the front door and faded away into the night.
"If we're not back in twenty minutes, leave," Itachi said to Deidara. Then his gaze turned to Sakura, and he regarded her intently for a moment before handing a small bundle to Deidara with a pointed look.
Deidara nodded in response to the silent communication. He grabbed Sakura by the arm, but not harshly, and steered her down the hall of the lower floor. With slightly more caution than their mask-wearing comrade, Itachi and Kisame moved outside and disappeared into the darkness.
Deidara led Sakura silently down the dark hallway, past the study toward the very back of the house. The satchel Itachi gave him was slung over his arm and brushed her elbow as they walked. She heard the clink of metal inside it. He let go of her to open a door at the end of the long hall, then gestured for her to go in before following after and locking the door from the inside.
Sakura looked around in the dark and guessed they were in the master bedroom. She walked to the large bed and pushed on it to test the springs for creaks before sitting down. Deidara stood in the middle of the room, his body tense, alert for the smallest sound or movement.
"Where are they?" she whispered, barely loud enough to hear.
His keen ears did hear, and he silently moved closer. "In the woods a few hundred yards from the house, yeah."
Sakura nodded, watching his profile. He looked irritated, and it was probably less to do with the fact that hunter nins had found them, and more to do with the fact that he had to stay behind and babysit the hostage because of his broken arm. It was clearly hurting again—if it had ever stopped—because she'd jarred it with her knee when he tried to wake her. She could hear the strain in his voice, could see the tension in his body and the way he held his left arm tightly to his side, and even saw a thin sheen of sweat at his temples. Being both the fun-spoiling hostage and the cause of his injury, Sakura began to feel a little bad for him.
He noticed her watching him and wordlessly handed her the satchel.
Sakura took it curiously, hearing the clink of metal on metal again as she opened it. Her eyes widened. Inside were all of her confiscated items. Her shuriken holster and wrappings, all of her kunai, wire, senbon, medical herbs and poisons; everything was there. They were giving her weapons back?
"It's not your toys that make you a threat, it's those fists of yours," he explained. "Besides, I'm not some hero. If any of those hunters get in here you're gonna have to fight for yourself, yeah."
Sakura gave him a wry smile. "Fair enough. Do you think they found this place by chance?"
"I don't know. We can't stay here anymore, though, after this. We never should have stayed here…but it's not my mission," he muttered sourly.
Sakura quietly rearmed herself and continued to steal glances at Deidara, who was either concentrating intently or deep in thought. The part of his hand that could be seen under his long sleeve was trembling slightly. The compassionate part of her was getting harder to ignore, especially since he'd been rather nice to her the past few days, all things considered. He obviously hadn't found a healer with the skill to fix it, and she knew he likely never would.
"Hey," she said quietly, and he glanced in her direction. "I'm sorry…about your arm. Not for breaking it in the first place—you deserved that. But for aggravating it earlier."
He didn't turn, and from this angle she couldn't see his face through the curtain of his hair. "Don't worry about it. It's fine, yeah."
"No, it's not fine. Even if I weren't a medic I could see that." She stood and buckled on her medic's apron, then moved silently to his side. "You've managed well, but I know better. I'm the one who did it, after all."
He shot her a look. "You sure you want to rub it in like that?"
"I didn't mean it that way. Here," she sighed, and reached for his hand.
Deidara started and jerked away slightly. "What are you—"
"Nothing to freak out about. Let me see your hand." She reached for him again.
He didn't pull away, but continued to watch her warily. As gently as she could, Sakura lifted the sleeve of his cloak, frowning at the sight of her own handiwork. It wasn't as swollen as it should have been, and she figured he must know a little medical jutsu, enough to keep it down himself. However, the rest was hideous; dark red and purple splotches all over his hand and wrist from bruising and inflamed nerve endings. It was painful to even look at, and she couldn't imagine how it must feel, or how he could keep from screaming every time he brushed against his own sleeve.
His jaw clenched when she delicately pressed it with her fingers, but he gave no other indication of pain. His eyes widened but he said nothing as her hand began to glow a pale green. She met his gaze reassuringly before pushing her chakra under his skin. Deidara closed his eyes tightly at the intrusion. Her frown deepened as she assessed the damage she'd done. Every one of the carpal bones were fractured, some in more than one place. All thirty five of them, as well as the ulna. If she'd known it was that she might have asked to look at it earlier.
Mind made up, Sakura withdrew her chakra and gently grabbed him by the elbow. "Come on," she whispered, and walked him toward the bed.
Deidara complied almost dumbly, too confused by her actions and in too much pain to protest. She sat on the bed, pulled him down next to her. She held him gently by the wrist and lifted his sleeve again, this time to the elbow. He grimaced, but remained silent. Looking at his exposed forearm, she noticed that in several places there was scarring that looked like burns, or that the skin had been scored off. Gaara had done this with sand, she knew.
Without thinking, she scooted a bit closer and placed his hand on her own thigh for support so she could work with both hands. He watched her hands begin to glow again, and immediately emitted a relieved sigh as her healing chakra soothed nerves and numbed the pain.
"Isn't this going against masking our chakra? Why are you—?"
"Hey, if those hunter nins find us it won't just be because of this. And if they do I'm not going to save your ass, you're gonna have to fight for yourself."
He laughed quietly before closing his eyes, enjoying the soothing feel of cool healing chakra. They were silent for a while, before Deidara hesitantly said, "Uh…sorry about earlier." She looked at him, confused. "For you know…that." He held up his other hand. "I just didn't want you to yell out, yeah."
Sakura's brows shot up in understanding: by clamping his hand over her mouth to keep her silent, the mouth in his hand had come in contact with her lips in a warped sort of kiss. She hadn't thought anything of it at the time, and found that it didn't creep her out at all. She shook her head. "I know. Don't worry about it."
Minutes of silence ticked past as she mended each fracture. The bones of the hand and wrist were very small and the process of restoring and resetting them was intricate. Deidara appeared to be deep in thought again, staring at the bedcovers.
"I hate this place," he muttered softly.
Surprised by the personal statement, she leaned a little closer to get a better look at his averted face. "What happened here, Deidara?" she asked gently.
He turned and regarded her a long moment, debating. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He made an amused sound and raised his eyes to the ceiling like he couldn't believe he was actually going to tell her, and then he quietly began to talk.
"I was born in this house. I grew up here with my parents and my older brother. It was pretty normal I guess. We even had a dog. We grew crops and sold them at the market a few miles from here, and my mother made sculptures and sold them too. She was the one with the bloodline limit, though I had no idea what that was back then. My brother and I had it too, and she taught us how to make the clay and mold it. We didn't think anything was different about us because we kept to ourselves and I didn't really know anyone else. I guess we were pretty happy, yeah."
He paused a moment, watching her work. "One night when I was seven, I was woken up by the dog. He was barking like crazy…and then he yelped and went silent. I got up to go see what happened, but my mom ran into my room and told me to hide. She was scared, and told me not come out no matter what I heard. So I hid. And I did hear things; shouting, crashing…but I stayed hidden and waited for someone to call for me or find me. But no one ever did. I don't know how long I hid… hours I guess. After a while I couldn't take it anymore and came out. I was scared and I wanted to find my parents and brother. When I found them, they were all dead."
Sakura gasped. Deidara still wouldn't look at her.
"There was blood everywhere. It trailed down the hallway, so I followed it into my brother's room, and that's where I found my family. They'd been dragged in there from where they were killed and laid in a row on the floor." His frown deepened as the moment replayed in his mind. "My mother and brother's hands had been cut off…it was…" He trailed off and shook his head as if to rid himself of the images forever burned into his memory.
Sakura paused, and her fingers curled around his forearm. "Deidara…I'm so sorry," she whispered. Her heart broke for the boy he had been.
Deidara shook his head. "Don't…" he said flatly, not knowing how to respond to her compassion. He sighed heavily, and though he'd already answered her original question, he decided to continue his tale once he felt her chakra in his arm again. "I was so shocked I just sat on the floor in that room. I don't know how long it was before they found me."
"Who?"
"ANBU. Though I didn't know what they were, and when I saw their masks I was scared and tried to fight them. Then the captain came and talked to me." His eyes narrowed. "He said they heard some rogue ninja were in the area and came to investigate. He said that's who had killed my family. He said…" His lip curled in a snarl and his other hand fisted into the bedcover. "He said he was sorry they didn't catch them in time. He told me that I was safe now, and that he would take me back to his village."
"And that's how you became a shinobi?" Sakura asked gently.
He nodded. "They took me back to Iwa and gave me to people with the same bloodline limit. They said they were my mother's family and they would take care of me from now on. I was immediately put into the academy. Nobody asked me if I wanted to become a ninja. It was just decided for me. I grew up like that in Iwa, and because of the war with Suna, eventually I was one of the few left in my clan. That's when things started to get…unpleasant. The Tsuchikage wanted me and the others to have a bunch of babies as soon as possible to restore the clan. He didn't even want me to get married, he just wanted me to basically screw everything that walked and build myself a harem or something."
Sakura snorted softly, and he smirked at her. "I know. Most guys wouldn't complain, but I didn't want to be used like some fucking stud pony. I don't even want kids. And I was only thirteen then. He said it was my duty, but I still fought him on it. On top of that he told me I had to limit how I used my art, that I couldn't just blow things up whenever I felt like it. Tch. Like he even knows what art is. That old bastard didn't like my ability, yet he wanted a bunch of people with the same jutsu under his control? It didn't make sense, so one day I got ahold of my classified ANBU file to find some answers."
"You were ANBU? At that age?"
He raised his sleeve higher to show her the faded tattoo on his shoulder. "Mm. But that's not important. What matters is what I read there." His expression darkened again. "It wasn't exactly what I'd been looking for, but I finally leaned the truth. My mother had been an Iwa kunoichi. When she fell in love with my dad, a civilian, the clan freaked out and forbade her from marrying him. She was pregnant with my older brother, and the elders said if she didn't leave my dad they would take the baby when it was born and cast her out of the clan. So they ran away together. No one knew where they were for ten years, and then one of the clan members saw her selling sculptures at the market."
Sakura gasped. "They…oh…."
Deidara confirmed her suspicion with a nod. "The file said my mother had stolen important scrolls containing secret doton jutsu."
Sakura's heart skipped. She was pretty sure those scrolls were currently sitting in her backpack not a foot away. She schooled her expression as he continued.
"The Tsuchikage gave the order for them to be retrieved, and for my family to be eliminated. It was the ANBU that found me who killed them. They figured I was young enough to merge back into the clan. The ANBU captain was my uncle. I never knew."
Sakura was scowling right along with him. "That's horrible. It's just…so fucked up. What did you do when you found out?"
He smiled sadistically. "I blew up the Tsuchikage's tower with him in it. Then I left."
Sakura wasn't surprised. "Did he die?"
"Unfortunately not."
"So that's how you became a missing nin. I guess…I can't really blame you for leaving, or for your reaction. What did you do after?"
He shrugged. "I perfected my art, found people who were willing to pay me to for it. It paid well, and I was allowed to practice my art freely, so I was pretty happy."
Every time he said 'art' she had mental images of entire cities burning to the ground. She supposed he had a good reason, but he was a little insane. So were half of her friends, she mused, and mentally shrugged. "What made you join Akatsuki?"
"I didn't have a choice, yeah. I'm sure you've noticed that Akatsuki seeks out shinobi with bloodline limits or unusual jutsu. Leader heard about my art and sent Sasori, Itachi and Kisame to recruit me. I didn't want to be part of another establishment, but Itachi made a deal with me that I would only have to join if he beat me in a fight. So I agreed, which was stupid now that I think back on it. It was those damn eyes of his, yeah. I'd never seen a Sharingan before, and he caught me in a genjutsu the second I first made eye contact with him, before we even spoke. I almost blew myself up because of his tricks. I knew they wouldn't leave me alone, and they said I could create my art freely and I would have a wider range of opportunity to do it, so I joined."
Sakura wasn't sure what to make of the fact that he'd basically been forced into joining Akatsuki, what it might mean in the bigger picture. She tucked it away for later pondering. They fell quiet again, the steady green glow of chakra flowing between them. After a while she looked up at him curiously. "Why did you tell me?"
He met her gaze, but didn't answer immediately. "I don't know. I may still decide to kill you for it later."
She laughed wryly. "I'm good at keeping secrets."
Deidara sighed tiredly. "I have a lot of reasons to hate you, yeah. You killed Sasori, and because of that I was stuck with that idiot Tobi. And, obviously, the way you mangled my arm... But for some reason I don't feel like blowing you up. I think in a way you remind me of myself, of how I might have been if things hadn't turned out so fucked up for me. I think that's probably why I told you, yeah."
Sakura smiled. "Yeah...I think I feel the same. I mean, you did kill Gaara, even though he came back. You're also a total asshole—on purpose. But we do seem to have a lot of similarities. I think I may even have a worse temper than you. If I'd been through what you have, then maybe… I don't think I would be blowing things up with clay, though."
He smirked. "No, you'd be blowing people up from the inside with chakra, yeah."
Sakura smacked him lightly on the arm. It disturbed her to realize how much of what she'd said was actually true. Deidara blinked in surprise when her playful blow didn't hurt. She sighed tiredly. "All done. Let me see the other arm." She grabbed it without waiting for a reply and quickly healed the dark bruises she'd put there during their brief struggle.
Deidara gave her a small, quiet smile. "Thanks."
She had a feeling he meant for more than just his arm. "No problem." She grabbed his arm again, turned it in her hands and bent the wrist and fingers, making sure they were all working properly. Then she noticed his palm; two of the teeth in the mouth had been knocked out. "Uh…I don't know if I can fix this…"
He stared at it with the trademark frown-pout, and flatly said, "You can't." She looked like a kicked puppy then, and he sighed. "Forget it, yeah. It's not the end of the world."
Sakura let go, and he began to flex and rotate his hand for the first time in a week. After a moment she gave him a devious smile. "I guess now you'll always have something to remember me by."
Deidara stopped, his expression clouded, and watched her for a long moment. Finally, he smirked. "I guess so, yeah. Maybe I'll have to give you a similar memento."
Sakura grinned. "Are you flirting with me again?"
"You wish, yeah."
"Hah!" She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Don't start that with me. You'll definitely lose, especially since I can use both hands now."
"Pervert."
Deidara simply smirked and returned to testing his fixed arm.
"How long has it been?"
"Almost half an hour, yeah."
"Do you think they ran into any trouble?"
Deidara snorted. "I doubt it."
"What happens if they don't come back in the next few minutes? We leave?"
"Yeah. We'll grab Tobi and head for the next base. The others will meet up with us when they kill or lose the hunters. It's happened before."
She pondered that for a moment. "What happens if they don't show up? I mean, say for a moment they are killed or captured, however unlikely. What will happen then? You said this isn't your mission, so there would be no point in holding me hostage anymore..."
He gave her an amused look. "Sorry, hellcat. I don't think you'll get that lucky."
Sakura frowned, and was about to ask about the hellcat thing when she felt rather than heard something outside the room. He felt it too, and immediately tensed and stood up, reaching for a kunai. She silently reached for her own weapons. They stood together in the center of the room, waiting tensely.
Deidara relaxed suddenly and straightened. A moment later she felt the chakra from the other three Akatsuki. Sakura quickly grabbed her backpack and followed Deidara down the hall to meet the others. As they entered the foyer again, her nose was immediately hit with the strong smell of smoke, dirt, and underneath it, blood. None of them appeared to be injured, so it wasn't their blood she smelled.
Itachi looked at her, his eyes traveling down to her apron and leg holster before returning to her face. She read nothing in his expression, so different than what she'd seen only a few hours ago when he'd almost kissed her. She mentally shook herself; now wasn't the time to think about that. He looked away and addressed the others. "Five minutes," was all he said, and all four of them took off for different parts of the house to grab their gear, leaving Sakura alone in the dark entryway.
Sakura used the opportunity to pull out her traveling cloak. It was the coldest part of the night, in the wee hours before dawn, and they were much farther north than her native climate. The Akatsuki returned in no time, and then the five of them sped across the fields for the nearby forest. They halted when they reached the cover of the trees. The forest was still eerily quiet; the creatures that had gone silent at the sounds of battle had not yet come out of hiding. Sakura caught something strange in the corner of her eye, and stopped dead in her tracks to stare in morbid fascination at the corpse of one of the hunter nins a few yards away, completely decapitated with a dark pool of blood staining the ground beneath him.
She turned away, looking back in the direction of the farmhouse as Deidara walked up and stopped next to her. He gazed at the house in the distance, and her eyes widened as she watched him make a quick hand seal and mutter "katsu!" before the building exploded in an enormous ball of flame.
Deidara watched his childhood home burn with a look of dark satisfaction. He'd left a fitting parting gift for his bad memories. Sakura observed the inferno with her mouth agape, before turning her eyes to the architect of this tragically beautiful moment of art. He met her gaze, and they shared a moment of silent understanding. He would say it was to destroy evidence and make sure no one ever used this place again. She was the only one who would ever know the real reason, and she gave him a grim smile.
They turned away to find Itachi staring darkly at Deidara. Kisame and Tobi were behind him. That explosion was sure to alert any ANBU or hunter nins to this place in no time. Deidara returned Itachi's glare with a look that said it was his house and he had every right to do what he did. The two Akatsuki stared each other down for a long moment, before Itachi turned away and leapt into the trees. Kisame, Tobi and Sakura followed. Deidara cast one last look at the burning ruins of his past before leaping after his companions, and the five of them sped away into the night.
Sakura didn't think she'd ever run so hard in her entire life. They practically flew through the trees, feet barely landing on branches before pushing off again, and each leap seemed to stretch forever. She was amazed by their speed and even more amazed with herself for keeping up with them. She wouldn't be able to for much longer, though. She'd used quite a bit of chakra to heal Deidara, and was draining more every minute. But she'd be damned if she complained or showed weakness. She was a jounin, apprentice to the Hokage, a member of one of the top teams in Konoha. She would just have to suck it up.
It was nearing dawn. They'd traveled for hours, never staying in the same direction, zigzagging, circling around and cross-cutting. It seemed like a waste of time and energy, but she knew this was how they operated, and why they almost never got found. They were being extra careful this time because of the attention Deidara's little 'work of art' was sure to attract. ANBU must be all over that farm by now. They would find the bodies of the hunter squad in the woods and if Stone nins operated like Leaf, there would be a massive search. Sakura wondered how they planned to leave a trail for her teammates to find and still make sure none of the ANBU picked it up too.
Exhaustion was setting in, but she refused to acknowledge it. She would not look weak in front of her captors, not when they were just beginning to respect her. There was a good reason for their haste. If they were caught, Sakura would be no safer than the Akatsuki, as Stone nins were notoriously hostile to outsiders. She didn't want to be found by them any more than the others.
They'd been forced to leave the farm ahead of schedule, so they waited in a small clearing and sent Tobi to find out if their intended destination was safe. The masked ninja had apparently learned some spying and reconnaissance techniques during his time as Zetsu's lackey and could travel underground at rapid speeds. No one spoke as they waited, and Sakura took the opportunity to rest without looking like she was resting.
Tobi returned some time later, popping out of the ground like a jack-in-the-box and informing them that their intended hideout was in fact not clear. There were ANBU swarming all over it; scouring the countryside because of the explosion and the dead hunters. They would have to keep moving and find another place to stay. That information had elicited a string of curses and finger pointing from Kisame, mostly aimed at a very unrepentant Deidara, who matter-of-factly told the shark nin where he could shove his opinion.
They moved out again, running at the same rapid speed in a generally northwestern direction. They still made sure to conceal their trail, but the need to find cover before daylight placed speed above caution. Sakura was nearly out of energy and it was becoming increasingly difficult to land securely on the branches. She was starting to lag behind slightly, though if anyone noticed they didn't give any indication.
A few miles later, Sakura's body finally decided to rebel against her determination. Her foot landed unsteadily on the branch below her, and she couldn't channel chakra fast enough to avoid slipping. She didn't fall, but she stumbled and had to stop completely to regain her footing and not crash headfirst to the ground. Someone landed on the branch next to her, and though their landing was soft and sure-footed, she still hadn't completely regained her balance and had to throw her arms out to steady herself. A pair of strong hands grabbed her waist from behind, bracing her. She looked over her shoulder to find Itachi giving her a discerning look. She hadn't realized he was behind her; he must have swung back around to mask their trail. The others noticed and stopped as well.
Without moving his hands or waiting for her to speak, Itachi simply lifted her by the waist and dropped to the forest floor with her. Sakura huffed in surprise and grasped his wrists in an almost-attempt to remove him as they landed much more quietly than she would have expected. She glared at him over her shoulder, and was about to ask what the hell he thought he was doing, when the other Akatsuki dropped down from their respective trees to join them. Sakura could feel Itachi's body heat radiating into her back, and he still hadn't removed his hands from her waist. The others were right there, and she was becoming uncomfortable in more ways than one. He may or may not have agreed, but he moved away all the same and stood across from her.
"Is there a problem, Sakura?"
"No. I'm fine," she said petulantly.
Kisame scoffed. "No you're not. We can all see you're exhausted."
"I said I'm fine. Shouldn't we keep moving?"
Deidara spoke up. "We should stop in the next town, yeah. We need to find cover before daybreak anyway."
Itachi glanced at him for a second, then moved closer to Sakura and visually assessed her condition. "You are a jounin. You shouldn't have this much trouble keeping up with us."
Sakura scowled at the Uchiha, and was about to retort hotly when Deidara stepped in again. "It's because she's low on chakra, yeah."
The others looked at Deidara, then back at her. Itachi inspected her again, his eyes moving over her like he could see her chakra through her skin. "Why?"
Kisame made an amused noise that sounded almost like a giggle. "Yeah, Deidara. What did you do to her while we were gone, eh?"
Deidara shot him a baleful glare. "Nothing, you fucking sicko. She healed my arm."
Kisame's eyes widened. "She did?"
"I just said so."
"Why did she do that, Deidara-senpai?" Tobi chimed in.
"Hey! I'm right here, goddamn it. Why don't you try asking me?" Sakura snapped.
Itachi hadn't taken his eyes off of her during the entire argument. "Why, then?"
The others turned to look at her as well. Deidara eyed her sharply. Sakura sighed irritably. "It's like I told him; if any of those hunter nin had gotten into the house, I wasn't about to fight for both of us." The rest of them didn't need to know what had gone on in that room. He had discreetly tried to help her by suggesting they stop in a town. She wouldn't reveal his secrets to the others.
Tobi chuckled. "That would be funny, seeing Sakura-san do all the work while Deidara-senpai just stood there like a lame horse."
Deidara turned toward his partner with eyes blazing, and the next moment Tobi went flying ass-over-end into the nearest tree. He stalked toward the slumped ninja ready to make good use of his newly restored fist. "Sounds exactly like what you do every fucking mission we go on, Tobi!"
Tobi jumped up and backed away from his enraged partner with his hands raised. What came out of his mouth was completely the opposite of his body language however. "What? Do all the work while you—OW!" He was cut off by another whack from Deidara.
"I'm surprised Zetsu never ate your stupid ass! When are you gonna fucking learn, huh?"
Tobi ran around the small area, Deidara stalking after determinedly. "Sorry, Deidara-senpai! OW! Don't hurt me! Tobi is a good boy!"
"You say that every time, but you keep doing stupid shit, yeah! You can't be that retarded."
Sakura almost laughed at them. Tobi was as bad as Naruto, quite possibly worse. Was this what it looked like when she chased him through the streets of Konoha?
"Enough," Itachi said in a quiet but inarguable tone.
The partners stopped, though Deidara gave Tobi one last punch to the head for good measure. Tobi made sure to stay several feet away from his partner and rubbed his skull. "Are we going to find an inn, Itachi-san?"
Itachi didn't respond to the question. Instead he turned to his own partner. "Kisame, carry her," he said, not once looking at the kunoichi.
The shark nin scoffed. "Why me? Why don't you carry her?"
Sakura had had enough. "No!" she growled indignantly. "Absolutely not! I will run by myself." Her defiant outburst surprised the others, but Itachi just looked at her. "I'll be fine if I can rest soon and regain some of my chakra. I won't fall behind, I promise. I don't need to be carried like a damn child."
Itachi regarded her a long moment, and she held his gaze, tired but determined. "Fine," he said, turning away. "We will stop in the next town." He jumped back into the tree.
Sakura smiled wearily at the small victory, and followed after the Uchiha.
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A few miles later they reached the edge of a small town and slowed to a walk in order to avoid suspicion. As if five cloaked figures materializing out of the fog in the dim, pre-dawn light could ever look inconspicuous. Fortunately there was no one around to see them at this hour.
The town was poor and run down, and they headed for the seediest area they could find. Sakura knew they were seeking out the kind of establishment accustomed to receiving clientele of their sort: lowlifes, criminals, fugitives. Businesses that catered to the underbelly of society never asked many questions, keeping their mouths shut and their purses open. It didn't take long to locate just the sort of place they needed; a shabby little inn tucked into a back alley, that barely looked like an inn from the street. It was too small to have many rooms, meaning there would be fewer guests, which was perfect. They entered the dingy establishment and stood in the dim lobby. If it could be called a lobby, since it was so small the five of them barely fit and personal space was invaded all around. The Akatsuki formed something of a barrier around their captive, their larger forms and bulky cloaks shielding her from any prying eyes and preventing a possible escape attempt at the same time.
The innkeeper appeared from the door behind the counter to greet them somewhat irritably. He was a short, scrawny little man with a graying greasy comb-over that failed miserably to hide his baldness, and he fixed the dangerous looking group with beady dark eyes and cleared his throat before addressing them. "How can I help you?"
"We require rooms," Itachi answered.
The sleazy innkeeper looked at the Uchiha and clearly saw something there that made him uncomfortable. "Ah, of course. Unfortunately, I don't think I can accommodate all of you."
Itachi just stared at him.
He cleared his throat again nervously. "Well you see, there are…" He tried to peer over Itachi and Deidara to get a look at the pink head just barely visible in the center of their cluster. The two men shifted to block his view. The innkeeper lowered his head timidly. "Uh, five of you. Unfortunately, I only have two rooms available."
"That doesn't matter," Itachi said coolly. "We will take the rooms."
"Of course, sir." The little man shuffled around behind the desk for the registrar and room keys. As he gathered what he needed for business, he tried to peek over their shoulders again at Sakura. "Your name for the logbook, sir?"
"I trust you are a professional man who respects the privacy of his clients." Itachi's tone was calm and business-like, but the underlying threat was quite clear.
The innkeeper shrank back. "Yes, sir. Discretion is how we operate here. Your business is your business, of course," he said nervously, and put the unsigned logbook back under the counter.
Itachi placed some bills on the counter, much more than was needed, but such was the cost of privacy and discretion.
The shifty-eyed man snatched up the money and exchanged it for two room keys. "Rooms nine and ten, up the stairs and to the back. Enjoy your stay."
Itachi grabbed the keys from the counter and walked away. Kisame sneered, showing the innkeeper a flash of pointed teeth before following his partner. Deidara's glare lingered on the already intimidated man as he turned to follow. He placed his hand flatly on Sakura's back, firmly and quickly guiding her away. The innkeeper's beady eyes watched them suspiciously as they left.
They passed beneath the noren curtain on the door and into the inn's common room. It looked to be nothing more than a seedy bar with a staircase leading to the dark upper floor. They barely spared a second glance at the large empty room and headed up the stairs.
Sakura was practically asleep on her feet. Deidara's hand pushing her forward was all that kept her going. This place was a hovel, but she didn't care where she was at the moment as long as she could sleep in a corner of the floor somewhere. Fortunately it wasn't that much of a dive. They walked to the end of the hall as the innkeeper had directed and stopped. Their rooms were the last two in the back of the building, the hallway veering off in a T that led to the upstairs washrooms.
Kisame cracked his neck loudly. "So…how are going to do this?"
"I don't really care, yeah."
The shark smirked. "Well if we leave you alone with Tobi he'll probably be dead when we wake up."
Deidara merely shrugged. It was always a possibility.
Itachi handed one of the keys to Kisame. "You three take one of the rooms. I will stay with her."
Sakura snapped out of her exhausted stupor. Say what? She would prefer to stay with Deidara, who she felt most comfortable with. She would even prefer sharing a room with Tobi over Itachi. But she knew any opinion she gave on the subject would raise too many questions and would probably be ignored anyway.
Kisame looked at his partner strangely. "Why are you volunteering?"
Itachi looked at him blankly, but his voice held a hint of impatience. "Because I'm the one most capable of watching her, Kisame. And perhaps I want to get away from your snoring."
Deidara sighed irritably. "Whatever. Can we just decide already?"
Kisame shrugged indifferently and turned to open the door and go inside. Tobi followed him, waving goodnight in the doorway. Deidara shoved him into the room, casting an appraising and almost wary look at the remaining two before going in and closing the door.
Itachi opened the other door and went inside, leaving it open for Sakura. When she entered he closed it and slid the lock into place. There was no window, so it was pitch black. Itachi turned on the light, but how he found it in the dark was a mystery to her. The room was small and sparsely furnished with a nightstand and single armchair. It was shabby and obviously not cleaned often, but that wasn't the biggest concern for Sakura.
There was only one bed.
She sighed and removed her pack, tossing it into the corner wearily, and stood at the foot of the bed, uncertain about what to do next.
Itachi set his own pack down and took off his cloak and sword. He walked over and stood next to Sakura with a small smirk playing on his features. "Relax, Sakura."
She looked from the bed to him. His close proximity was not helping to ease her mind. "How is this going to work?" she asked warily.
He raised a brow minutely. "Are you really that uncomfortable? Would you prefer to sleep on the floor?" He almost sounded like he was teasing her.
She wanted to say yes, but the bed looked infinitely better. She was an adult and she could act like one, no matter how weird the situation was. It wasn't the first time she'd had to share a bed with a man, though it had always been one of her teammates and not an unpredictable sociopath. "No, it's fine. I can deal with it if you can." She would just…hug the edge of the bed or something.
She unbuttoned her traveling cloak and removed it stiffly, still on edge. Itachi took it from her hand as she was about to toss it over with her pack and leaned a little closer.
"Relax, and go to sleep," he said softly. He moved away and draped her cloak over his on the back of the armchair before sitting down and crossing his arms over his chest.
Sakura sat on the bed and removed her boots doggedly before crawling under the covers. She lay there with the blanket pulled up to her chin, occasionally stealing glances at the occupant of the chair. His head was bent and his eyes were closed, and she could see under the curtain of his dark hair that his brows were drawn in what looked to be a pained frown. Had he used the Mangekyou tonight against those hunter-nins? She figured he had, and was now paying the price. "Your eyes…they're hurting?" she asked quietly.
His eyes snapped open at her words and he glared almost balefully at her. "I am accustomed to it."
"You know, it wouldn't be so bad if you didn't use the Sharingan when you don't need to."
"It's none of your concern, Sakura. You should sleep and regain your strength." He closed his eyes again.
Itachi was right; it wasn't her concern, and so she dropped it. No point in giving advice to someone who was just going to do what he wanted anyway. She glanced at him one more time before reaching over and pulling the chain on the bedside lamp. The room fell into total darkness. Her head hit the pillow in an exhausted flop, her tired mind no longer caring about the room's other occupant or where he slept as long as she could rest.
