Chapter 8
Friends
"A MONTH?!" Sasuke thought his heart stopped. He slowly sat down on a nearby chair and placed his head in his hands. He sighed heavily.
"Sasuke," Naruto placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I don't want her to die. I can't bare to see another person I care about die at the hands of my brother. Please, there has to be a faster way." Sasuke looked up at Kakashi hopefully.
"We think there might be a path leading straight to their hideout, but it would take 2 weeks to get there." Kakashi said, but he didn't sound to thrilled.
"What's the catch?" Neji asked suspecting there was more to it than that.
"It passes through the Sound Village." Shikamaru sighed. He knew exactly what Kakashi was talking about, but had been trying to avoid it. "There's a good chance we might run into one of Orochimaru's minions, or worse, Orochimaru himself."
"But we have to get her back! Who knows what Itachi could do to her!" Sasuke shouted feeling frustrated.
"Or what he's already done." Kiba added.
"I'd rather not think about that." Sasuke retorted.
"We can take Orochimaru! Believe it! Besides, we have to save Hinata as well!" Naruto said nodding.
"Are you forgetting what he did to the 3rd Hokage?!" Ino asked sharply. Everyone turned their attention to the blonde girl standing in the door way.
"Ino? What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked confused that his teammate showed up unexpectedly.
"Did Lady Tsunade send you?" Kiba asked and Akamaru barked showing that he was also curious.
"No, Tsunade did not send me here. I was just passing by when I overheard you guys talking." Ino said then walked up to Naruto and slapped him across the face.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" Naruto yelled rubbing his cheek.
"For being an idiot!" Ino snapped.
"What? Why?!" Naruto asked confused.
"You're an idiot for thinking you could take on Orochimaru and his goons! For God's sake, Naruto, he assassinated the 3rd!" Ino began to cry. "Sakura's been taken by the Akatsuki and Hinata disappeared. I'm losing my friends! I don't want to lose you guys too!"
Naruto just stared at her speechless. Shikamaru sighed and pulled her in a tight embrace.
"Don't worry, Ino. You won't lose any of us." Shikamaru replied softly, rubbing her back as she cried into his chest.
"Yea, Ino. We'll be fine." Naruto reassured her.
"Don't worry. We'll get Sakura and Hinata back." Kiba grinned. Neji and Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"Sorry to interrupt this very touching moment, but if we're going through the Sound Village, then we're going to need a second squad." Kakashi said.
"A second squad?" Naruto repeated. "Why?"
"It's like a back-up team to help us out if we have to have to fight any of the sound-nin which, not to mention, we have a good chance at doing." Sasuke explained working out the details in his head.
"Oh, then who's going to be on the reinforcements?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Ino, Lee, Shino, and Kurenai." Kiba answered.
"How do you know?" Naruto asked turning to Kiba.
"It says in this letter from Tsunade that she assigned us a second squad." Kiba replied holding up the scroll.
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"Hey, you're back." Sakura said waving at Deidara.
"Yea, so what've you been doing since I was gone?" Deidara asked, hoping to to start a conversation.
"Just relaxing." Sakura replied. Deidara nodded and laid down on the grass beside Sakura. "Can I tell you something?"
"Sure, un." Deidara said, turning his head to face her.
"I know this might sound weird, but you're nicer than I thought you'd be. You're an awesome friend." Sakura said smiling a little.
"We're friends?" Deidara asked making sure he had heard her right.
"Yea, we are." Sakura replied with a a giggle. For once, Deidara was speechless. This was the first time anyone accepted him as a friend, other than Tobi but he was a butt face. (A/N: Don't get me wrong people! I love Tobi! Just so ya don't think I'm working with the anti-Tobi force! lolz X3) He was an S-ranked criminal and yet this pink-haired girl sitting beside him had just told him they were friends. He was happy.
"Uh, Deidara? Are you ok?" Sakura asked, poking his shoulder. Apparently, Deidara had spaced out.
"Huh, yea, I'm fine, un." Deidara said quickly.
"Ok, whatever. Hey, I'm getting bored. Let's go back." Sakura said getting up. (A/N: Oh, did I mention during Deidara's absence, she got re-dressed? Of course I didn't. Back to the story.)
"NO!" Deidara shouted grabbing Sakura's arm.
"Why not?" Sakura asked, asked titling her head to the side.
"Uh, because when I was gone I ran into Sasori and...uh...he told me to...uh...keep you here for awhile because...uh...the house is flooded, un. Yea, that's it! The house is flooded, un!" Deidara lied. He mentally smacked himself in the head for telling such a stupid lie. He surely could've come up with something better than 'the house is flooded'.
"Aww, that's sweet of Sasori not wanting me to get wet...but I still hate his guts." Sakura said crossing her arms and sitting back down.
'Phew. She bought it, un.' Deidara thought mentally sighing in relief.
'Of course she bought it! She's an idiot!' Deidara's inner self laughed.
'You again?! I thought I murdered you, un! And she's not an idoit!' Deidara fought back.
'You can never get rid of me! And I just tricked you into admitting you like her!'Deidara's inner self laughed maniacally.
'No you didn't! All I said was she wasn't an idiot!' Deidara exclaimed defending himself.
'And if you put that in simple terms, it means...YOU LIKE SAKURA!' Deidara's inner said with a smirk.
"SHUT UP!" Deidara actually yelled.
Sakura looked up at him confused and frightened by his sudden out burst. "But, I didn't say anything."
"Oh, I'm sorry, un. I was just thinking." Deidara apologized, feeling stupid for having not controlled himself from the little out burst and mentally cursed his inner self for causing such a rucus.
"Oh, ok then." Sakura smiled then returned to looking at her reflection in the water.
'I wonder what she's thinking, un.' Deidara thought looking at the pink-haired kunoichi.
'Wouldn't you like to know.' his inner smirked.
'Shut up, un.' Deidara said then shook his head making his inner go away.
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"Hey! Guess what!" Kisame exclaimed grinning.
"Kisame, for the last time, I don't care." Itachi sighed, rubbing his temples. Kisame had been trying to tell Itachi that he had baked a cake without eating it, but Itachi didn't care because 1. he already saw the cake and 2. he already made another one and hid so Kisame couldn't find it.
"Please!?" Kisame begged, getting on his knees and grabbing onto Itachi's cloak.
"Shut up or else! And get off!" Itachi said giving him the Shut-Up-Or-I'll-Use-The-Mangekyou-Sharnigan glare. Kisame quickly stood up in an instant and shut his mouth. "Good."
"You know, I liked it better when he was unconscious." Zetsu said with a deep sigh.
"I agree." Sasori cut in walking into the room. He paused to look at the room. "Well, I can see you didn't get very far."
"We would've been almost done if somebody, not mentioning any names KISAME, hadn't wrecked everything." Zetsu said impaitently tapping his foot on the cold marble floor. Kisame pointed at himself confused. Zetsu narrowed his eyes, "Don't even go there."
"Me? But I didn't do anything." Kisame said trying to sound innocent. Itachi, Zetsu, and Sasori rolled their eyes and continued decorating the room.
"Hey, you guys?" Kisame asked putting streamers up. "Who's the party for?"
The three Akatsuki hesitated before Itachi spoke up. "It's for the Sakura."
"THE BRAT?!" Kisame shouted in shocked. "What the hell are we throwing a party for her for?!?!"
"It's her birthday." Zetsu answered calmly.
"WELL I'M NOT HELPING!" Kisame protested, stamping a his foot on the ground and crossing his arms.
"I bet he's gonna give in a 3 seconds." Sasori whispered to Itachi.
"Oh, yea." Itachi replied with a smirk.
5 seconds later...
"I wanna help!" Kisame whined grabbing the streamers and hanging them on the doorway.
"Told ya." Itachi said smirking.
"Hn." was Sasori and Zetsu's reply.
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Author's Note: Ok people! I hope you enjoyed! AND R&R OR ELSE! If you don't I'll shove Deidara off a cliff, watch him get eaten by piranhas, rained on by acid, and covered up by cow manure! X3
Deidara: O.O
Sakura: holds up pitchfork and laugh evilly
Deidara: ...help
