Vertigo

Chapter Nine: We All Break the Same


"Is everything alright?"

Sakura looked up and met Konan's feline-green gaze. "Mhm," she murmured against the rim of her cup before taking a sip.

The other kunoichi turned her cup in slow circles on the table, creating faint scraping sounds that echoed between them. "You've been rather quiet today. You seem troubled," she observed.

Sakura curled her fingers around the cup, absorbing its warmth as she looked out the window. Still raining. "It's nothing," she said evenly. She doubted she was convincing, but she knew Konan wouldn't pry. In fact, it sort of troubled her that Konana even cared to ask. Just one more thing on the list of reasons why this mission was getting harder to carry out. She had to get it together before everyone else noticed. "I know this is where you grew up and all…but this place is kind of depressing sometimes."

Konan gave a small nod of understanding. "It can be," she agreed, her expression turning slightly wistful. "When I was a child, this city was little more than a refugee camp for victims of the Third Shinobi War. River country, and Grass as well, are small nations surrounded by giants; Fire, Earth and Wind. They fought their battles in our fields, and housed their soldiers in our towns. Many of the deserters came here to this village and made their way by taking advantage of the native people. That was the Hidden Rain I grew up in. Pein and his vision changed everything. He liberated the people and reclaimed what was not for others to take. The scars of the past are still visible, but it's much better here than it used to be. And…it's the only home we know," she finished quietly.

Sakura wondered, not for the first time, how Pein could be such a hero and a villain at the same time. It was all a matter of perspective, she supposed, and couldn't help but wonder how much her own outlook may have shifted since she'd been here.

"Where is Deidara?" Konan asked after a moment, brushing a strand of indigo hair from her brow.

"I'm not sure. I haven't seen him in a few hours," she replied, thinking again about their quiet interlude earlier that morning. "He said he was going to talk to Leader about getting a mission. I guess we've both been kind of restless lately."

"Ah. He's always gotten restless easily. Though he's been much better and less impulsive since you've been his partner," the older woman said, the corner of her lips twisting slightly.

Sakura kept her expression neutral and tried not to read too much into her words. "Do you think Leader will have a job for us?"

"I'm sure he'll think of something. It's been an unusually slow month, and you two aren't the only ones going a little stir crazy. You've probably noticed that most of us aren't really the communal type."

Sakura frowned slightly. "I've noticed. Some people around here don't play well with others. So then why have everyone come here to Rain?"

"It makes it easier to communicate and carry out orders, and most of the time things run smoothly. It's only when we're all cooped up together like this for weeks that it starts to get a little tense around here. But winter is ending and we'll all be busy very soon."

Sakura wondered why that was, and was about to ask when Kisame entered the kitchen carrying a travel pack, and headed for the large pantry.

"Don't mind me, just grabbing some supplies," he called to the two women.

Sakura smirked at the sounds of canned goods being shuffled around and, by the sound of it, knocked over. "It's kind of hard not to with all that racket you're making," she called back. His chuckle drifted out from inside the pantry. "What's your mission about?"

"We're going to Swamp country to recruit some shinobi for the mercenary force."

"Swamp country? That's really far, all the way on the other side of Wind or something, right? I didn't know they had a hidden village."

Before he could reply, her attention was diverted by Itachi walking into the room. The Uchiha glanced briefly at Sakura and Konan before crossing to lean half-sitting against a different table on the far side. Sakura pursed her lips wryly. Antisocial jerk.

"They have a small one," Kisame answered as he came out, arms full of various dry goods. He began stuffing them into his pack as he continued, "Hidden Moss or something like that. Apparently they're under pressure from their Daimyo and are trying to throw out any shinobi who don't have special clan jutsu or bloodline limits. So we're going there to pick up the strays."

"That's ridiculous…lots of shinobi are very powerful without any inherited abilities. It's stupid and a waste to just cast them out," Sakura said with a disapproving frown.

"They are not the first to do so," Itachi said in his typically disinterested manner.

"And they won't be the last," Konan added. "And we will take in those castoffs, and they will help us achieve our goal."

Sakura didn't respond to that, and it was quiet except for the sounds of Kisame filling his pack. Then suddenly Sakura frowned as she caught an unpleasantly familiar scent. She glanced at the three people in the room, and saw they had caught it too. Itachi gave no reaction, but Konan's features set in muted distaste, and Kisame actually smirked rather sadistically. "Why does it smell like blood?" she wondered aloud.

"All in a day's prayer."

The voice came from behind her, in the doorway. Sakura's hackles rose as she heard it, and the smell of blood grew stronger as she turned to regard the last person she wanted to deal with today. Then her eyes went wide as she took in the sight before her.

Hidan was transformed into his reaper aspect, and literally covered in blood. What's worse was that it was his blood, oozing in thick crimson rivulets from gaping wounds all over his bare torso. He had mutilated himself, no doubt for some horrible ritual to his evil god.

Sakura made a disgusted face. She was still furious about what happened yesterday, and seeing him like this set her off. "For fuck's sake, are you completely uncivilized? Why would you come walking in here like that?"

He merely shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because it's disgusting."

Hidan smirked at her. "Don't tell me you got a problem with a little blood, Sakura-chan." He licked a crimson droplet from the tip of his finger. "You wouldn't be much of a kunoichi if you couldn't handle a little…bodily fluid."

Sakura scowled at him, bristling at his insinuation.

"If you insist on practicing your rituals, Hidan, then do them in your own quarters. This is a kitchen, people eat in here, and you're getting blood all over the floor," Konan reproved, giving the cultist a withering look.

Hidan looked down at the crimson puddle beginning to pool at his feet, not even bothering to appear contrite.

"You go through more cloaks than all of us combined, man," Kisame remarked with a pointy-toothed smirk, glancing at the ripped and blood-soaked cloak slung over Hidan's elbow.

Hidan shrugged indifferently. "Tch. Like I care about that. My religion looks down on materialism."

"It's not a religion, it's just an excuse to be evil," Sakura muttered under her breath.

Hidan heard her, and scowled. "What the fuck would you know about it? You Fire country heathens and your pathetic ancestor-worship. Do you get anything from it, any power? No, all you get is a load of obligation and a ridiculous sense of duty and guilt. I've been made a fucking immortal, so whose religion is superior, eh?"

"It's a good thing you're immortal, because I wouldn't heal you even if you begged. If I found you bleeding out in a ditch somewhere, I'd stop to watch you die and then be on my merry way," she retorted waspishly.

"Now you're starting to sound like an Akatsuki. Then again, you're probably full of shit. After all, that's not what you did with Deidara. You went all out of your way to help him, your enemy, and got yourself in a shitload of trouble for a little punk who's not even worth saving. And why are you being even more of a bitch today than you usually are? You still all wound up about that kid?" He gave a scathing laugh. "Seriously, I don't know how the fuck you managed to become a missing-nin or get into Akatsuki with that weak-ass softness of yours."

He cocked his head quizzically and crossed his arms, making a sickening squelching sound as more blood seeped onto the floor. "Here's a question for you, sweetheart, one I'm sure everyone here will be quite interested in: if you're that reluctant to kill some stupid kid you've never met before and don't care about, then how the fuck do you plan to help us yank the demon out of your little jinchuuriki friend?"

Sakura tried to restrain her growing rage. This argument needed to end before his insinuations made her look suspicious. "You know nothing about me, or what I'm capable of. Uzumaki Naruto was my teammate, I never said he was my friend," she lied, using the anger in her tone to sound convincing. She could feel Itachi's eyes on her, and she glanced at him to find those crimson orbs full of intense appraisal. Shit. Itachi was the one person who would know her words were a contradiction. She looked away casually and glared at Hidan again, even angrier at him now for putting her on the spot like this.

Hidan laughed derisively. "If you say so. And yeah, I don't know you, and I don't want to. But one thing that's pretty damn clear is that you don't belong here with the rest of us if you're so weak. You may have the ability to knock over a mountain, but you can't even fucking use it without crying 'is this really necessary?'" His tone was high pitched and feminine as he mocked her, and his lip curled in a sneer. "Don't you think you'd be better off playing in a meadow with some fucking kittens, little girl?" He flicked his blood-wet fingers, spattering a few droplets in her direction.

Something inside Sakura snapped, and before she even realized what she was doing, she flew at the cultist and slugged him as hard as she could. There was a loud crack and Hidan flew backward, hitting the doorframe hard before going down in a heap. She stalked toward him, and no one moved to stop her. The other Akatsuki watched the scene with intense, surprised stares.

She stood over his prostrate form, glaring down at him hatefully. One side of his face was completely smashed, part of his skull caved in, his neck broken. A fatal blow to anyone but him. In fact she could see him breathing, or the appropriate word might be seething; the side of his jaw that still had teeth clenched in fury. Sakura was still seeing red as well. "I know you can still hear me, you bastard. How's that for weak, huh? I just took you out in one hit, and you would never get up again if you weren't an undead freak." A darkly smug smirk curled her lips. "In fact, you're completely incapacitated until the part of your brain I just turned to jelly regenerates itself, aren't you? I bet I could find a way to finish you off for good before it does…"

"Sakura. Enough."

Sakura turned quickly, eyes widening as they met Pein's intense, heavy gaze. The Akatsuki leader stood in the other doorway, the one leading to the rooftop. Deidara was with him, staring at the scene in the kitchen with eyes just as wide, if not wider, than her own. In fact everyone seemed to be a little shocked. Kisame's jaw hung open, Konan looked equal parts surprised and angry, since she'd been sitting across from Sakura and some of the blood Hidan flicked had hit her too. Even Itachi and Pein's normally impassive faces were easy to read. Sakura was a shocked by her own behavior as well. She knew she had a bad temper, but it was rare to get so angry that she would lash out this violently.

She backed away from Hidan, still incapacitated on the floor, and turned to fully face the Akatsuki leader, her fists unclenching as her anger subsided.

"What is going on?" Pein asked, more sharply than his usual bland tone.

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself. "He went too far this time."

Pein glanced at Hidan's crushed face and then back to her. "You realize you would have killed him, were he not immortal."

"Yes. But he won't die, because he is," she replied unapologetically. "From what I've heard, his old partner tried to kill him several times, in ways a lot worse than this. He deserved it, and I'm not going to heal him. He can fix himself."

Pein stared at her for a long, tense moment, and Sakura held his gaze bravely. He glanced at Konan briefly, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the other kunoichi give a faint nod. When he met her gaze again it was less intimidating than before.

"I won't expect you not to retaliate when provoked, but I do expect professionalism from you as well. Hidan has no missions at the moment, otherwise I would make you heal him. Do not do something like this again inside the building. If you cause structural damage to these headquarters I will be most unpleased." His tone gave just enough warning that 'most unpleased' was a very bad thing for him to be.

Sakura nodded acceptingly, inwardly relieved that he wasn't really angry about what she'd done, or the fact that she had acted defiant. She shouldn't have lost her temper like that, but Hidan had a way of getting under her skin like no one else, and he'd had it coming since yesterday. If she wasn't required to play her part here, she would have finished him off.

"Kisame, take Hidan to his quarters. He'll recover in a few days."

Kisame sighed irritably, but did as directed. The burly shark nin picked Hidan up by the back of his belt with one arm, leaving the bloodstained cloak on the floor, and carried him hanging at arm's length toward the private quarters.

After they'd gone, Pein looked to Konan. "Send for someone to clean up this mess." Konan nodded, and he strode forward and casually stepped over the dark puddle. He paused when he reached Sakura. "You two wanted a mission. I have one for you. Come."

Sakura fell into step beside Deidara as they followed Pein down the hall, catching his 'what the hell was that about' look, as well as the beginnings of an amused smirk on his lips. She gave him a look that said she'd explain it later.


They entered the library, and Pein directed them to a desk covered in several documents and scrolls. He must have been working in here earlier, before Deidara came to talk to him about getting a mission. He picked up one of the scrolls and handed it to the explosives expert.

Deidara read over the scroll, and then gave Pein a look of mild skepticism. "Fuzen?"

Sakura took the scroll as he passed it to her. It was a letter from a businessman, and it mentioned something about a deal or exchange with Akatsuki. She frowned slightly as she scanned the contents. Fuzen was a trade port on the far eastern coast, in a neutral territory between Fire and Lightning. It was a black market hub, a haven for shady dealers. This letter was no doubt from one of those shady dealers.

Pein nodded. "The man who sent this letter, Yakushiji Saito, is a one of the top crime lords in Fuzen, and he has expressed interest in establishing a business arrangement with Akatsuki. He is apparently a man of foresight, and anticipates our impending monopoly in many of the industries that city is known for. He asks that we allow him to maintain his operations once we take control of Fuzen's trade industry, in exchange for a percent of his profit."

"A payoff, only he's the one offering," Sakura said, still reading the scroll.

"Correct. I need someone to go his base of operations and evaluate whether any of his enterprises would be useful enough for us to agree to such an arrangement. The two of you will go to Fuzen and conduct an appraisal of Yakushiji's businesses, and of course check out his competition as well in case they have something better to offer, along with any other dealings of potential interest to Akatsuki in that area."

"Sounds like a long mission," Deidara remarked.

"That is what you were looking for, is it not?" Pein replied evenly, looking at them both in turn.

Deidara hadn't said that specifically when he'd brought it up, but after what happened with Sakura and Hidan it was pretty obvious she would want to get away for a while. "Pretty much," he said. "This place gets boring after a while, yeah."

Pein looked at Deidara knowingly, and then turned his ringed gaze to Sakura. "This assignment will likely take a few months to complete, perhaps longer if there are complications, though there shouldn't be any. I will contact you periodically for reports, but otherwise use your own judgment."

Sakura nodded. "When do you want us to leave?"

"You can go whenever you're ready, but no later than tomorrow night."

Deidara smirked. "Hn. We'll be gone in the next hour, yeah."

When they were gone, Pein turned his attention to some of the other paperwork on the desk. A few moments later he looked up as he sensed his partner, and met her familiar green gaze as she silently entered the room.

"They will be gone for some time," he said as she stopped before him.

Konan nodded. "That's good. We don't need any more incidents, and Hidan will be angry about this for a while. He did bring it upon himself, though. His behavior today was much worse than usual."

Pein gave a small, indifferent shrug. "Sakura is our medic, and her many abilities are rivaled only by her former master. Hidan has always been problematic, and has become rather unreliable lately. She is of more value to the organization than he is at this point. If I'm forced to make a decision about the situation, it will most likely be in her favor."

"She is valuable to us in many ways," Konan agreed. "Even in ways she herself is unaware of; her ability to manage Deidara's volatility, for example."

"She shows him a respect that his other partners did not. With someone willing to listen to him, he doesn't feel the need to prove himself recklessly, and shows her respect in return."

Konan gave him a pointed look. "You know it's more than mutual respect, Pein."

One corner of his lips curved just slightly.

"Is it a good idea to send them off alone together for so long? Their chemistry is palpable…their relationship will not stay platonic."

"As long as nothing interferes with their missions or our goals, then it doesn't matter. I will not set those limitations unless it becomes a problem."

"Of course…to do so would be hypocritical of you," she said softly, moving a bit closer.

Pein's eyes, normally piercing and cold, softened as he gazed down at his partner in every sense of the word. He lifted a hand to trail his finger along the smooth skin of her jawline, stopping below her chin. "Yes…I may be a god," he murmured as he bent his head to hers, enjoying the way her darkened lashes dusted her cheeks as she lowered her eyes in anticipation, "but I am not a hypocrite."

Konan's lips curled in a sweet smile, just before they met his own.


"How much farther is the border? And why does it have to be raining in Grass too?" Sakura complained, frowning down at her mud-covered boots as she walked. The rain hadn't let up once since they'd left headquarters yesterday afternoon.

Beside her and a little ahead, Deidara chuckled. "It's about another half-day on foot, and it's raining here too because the season is changing, yeah."

"I know. I just really wish we didn't have to walk. We can't even travel on a road in this territory," she muttered, inwardly cursing her status as a missing-nin.

"Being partnered with me has spoiled you. And we do this every time…though we usually don't have to walk all the way out of River country for the sky to clear." They could have been over halfway to their destination by now, but because of the weather they'd had to stop for the night just inside the Grass border.

Sakura cast a sidelong glance at her partner. "Yeah I know. It's just… the sooner we get away the better, you know? Are you sure your birds can't fly in the rain?" she asked without any real hope.

Deidara smirked at her over his shoulder. "Oh they can fly, but I doubt you'll want to be high in the air when the clay becomes waterlogged and falls apart."

She nodded in response and trudged on with a dejected sigh.

"Besides, the longer it takes to get there, the longer it takes to do our mission, and the longer we can be out of Ame, yeah," he said, still watching her.

She gave a small laugh at that. "Maybe we should walk the whole way then."

Their pace was slow since they were travelling cross-country, avoiding roads and densely populated areas where they may be recognized, and they were walking because neither of them felt like burning the chakra needed to run. It was raining buckets, but their heavy cloaks and wide brimmed hats sheltered them from the downpour. They crossed the soggy fields and plains of Grass in companionable silence. When they came across a road around midday, they stopped to eat lunch in a small roadside shelter before heading back into open countryside. The country was named Grass because that's pretty much all there was: grass. Rolling fields of green dotted with farms and small strands of forest here and there. It was rather quaint and pretty, though it got boring after awhile.

Around mid-afternoon as they were crossing a wide field of tall grass that was waist high to Deidara and nearly reached Sakura's chest, their cloaks becoming increasingly wet as they brushed the long leaves, the air turned heavy and static and the sky took on the amber tint that signals an oncoming storm. A couple minutes later the thunderclouds that had been churning overhead all day finally let loose with a blinding flash and a loud, resounding rumble. Another followed soon after, and a full-scale lighting storm commenced over their heads.

Deidara stopped walking and grinned up at the chaotic sky, his eyes glinting with excitement as another flash of lighting arced high over their heads. Sakura stopped as well, smiling more with amusement at her partner than at the storm.

"You like thunder and lightning?"

"Of course I do. They're proof that nature agrees with me about art," he said, glancing down at her with that adorably crooked, half-mad grin of his.

"So then I guess you also like flashfloods, avalanches, and earthquakes," she said wryly.

"And volcanic eruptions. Those are the best, yeah."

Sakura had to laugh at that, and turned her eyes to the sky again. They stood there for some time, shoulder to shoulder, watching the clouds roll and the lighting lace erratically across the sky.

Then a tiny prickle of chakra infringed on the edge of Sakura's senses, and the next thing she knew she was being jerked down to the ground. She braced her landing with a hand in the mud and looked to her partner in alarm, instinctively masking her chakra as she felt him do the same.

"Did you see that?" he murmured in an urgent, hushed tone.

"No, but I felt it," she replied in the same low voice. She'd felt it because she was sensitive to chakra, but hadn't seen anything in this bad visibility. Deidara was wearing his scope, and had much keener eyesight than her in the first place due to his aerial fighting style. "What did you see? Shinobi?"

"I don't know. Probably. I only saw one, but…" He released her arm and sat up a little to try and peer through the tall strands of grass. A moment later he quickly crouched down again, and met her concerned gaze with an agitated frown. "Fuck. ANBU."

No sooner had he said it than several more chakra signatures appeared at what felt like five hundred feet or so to the north. "How many?" she whispered.

"At least ten. Probably a full platoon, yeah."

Not good. "Did they look like they were searching?"

He shook his head, still looking in the direction of the threat. "They haven't noticed us or they would have masked their chakra already. That's what they always do. It's probably just a scheduled rendezvous between squads, and we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time, yeah."

Sakura frowned, thinking of their options. They could just wait for them to have their meeting and go away, but somehow she didn't think it would be that easy.

As if the universe had read her mind, Deidara suddenly gave a low growl of irritation.

"Damn it, they're coming closer." He turned and locked eyes with her again. "We need to get out of here before they sense us."

A moment after he'd spoken, a few of the chakra signatures disappeared, followed a second after by the rest of them. It was as if they had all vanished. But Sakura knew if she was to look over the top of the tall grass, she would see a dozen dark figures crouched low to the ground and moving slowly in their direction. Searching for them.

This was bad. They were in the middle of an open field, and no matter how tall the grass, they wouldn't be able to hide forever. "They're going to find us!" she whispered fiercely.

"I know that," he whispered back, looking more angry about it than worried.

"Are we going to fight? I know you said your transports can't hold up in the rain, but what about the explosives? Will they last long enough to do their jobs?"

That seemed to make him even more irritated. "They will, but they lose a lot of power when it's raining like this. And we'd have to fight on the ground, with no cover. There's no way we can fight a dozen ANBU in the open without serious problems. I mean I know I'm good, but that's asking a bit much, yeah."

She caught his smirk, and rolled her eyes a little. "This is a bad time to make jokes, Deidara. So what are we gonna do?"

He didn't reply immediately, scanning the area ahead with his scope. If Deidara excelled at one thing, it was thinking fast in tight situations. Finally, he motioned for her to come closer. Sakura leaned in as he whispered his plan in her ear, the need for total silence more important now because they could both feel their instincts screaming of the approaching danger, and they knew it was only a matter of minutes before they would have no choice but to fight.

Sakura nodded that she understood, and they both silently discarded their kasa, eliminating the problem of the charming but incredibly un-stealthy bell ornaments. Deidara reached a hand into each hip pouch and quickly began to mold clay. In one hand he produced several tiny sparrows, which he tossed out toward the approaching enemies and enlarged with a one-handed seal. The missiles screeched as they grew to full size and locked on to their targets. Voices of the enemy nins could be heard as they caught sight of the explosives and began evasive maneuvers. Deidara muttered the command, and several resounding blasts filled the air.

"Go!" he said urgently.

They sprang up from their hiding place, using the chaos and smoke for cover. Sakura flung several kunai in the enemies' direction, but couldn't see if any of them actually hit. Then she was grabbing Deidara's outstretched hand as the second object he'd created sprang to life and lifted into the air. The flying construct was small and made for speed, and they took off in the direction of the forest about a half mile away. Several kunai struck the underside of the bird with audible thuds and a series of small vibrations, and a couple stray weapons flew past their flank as they rose above the smoke cover and out of range.

"This thing's gonna go down fast! Be ready to jump!" he shouted above the wind.

Sakura could already feel the clay losing consistency, becoming slimy and soft under her fingers as she held on with chakra. Any minute now it would start to fall apart, and they definitely didn't want to be on it when it did. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw seven dark forms racing across the fields after them. It seemed they had been able to take out almost half of them, though it was probably more Deidara's doing than her blind kunai toss. If he wasn't here, she would be royally screwed.

They may be screwed anyway, because her knee suddenly sank into the bird's back as the clay began to sag under her weight, and her eyes widened in alarm as she saw one of the feather tips of the wing fall away. "Deidara!"

He glanced over his shoulder and saw for himself. "Shit. Hang on!" He veered the bird sharply toward the treetops.

Sakura no longer trusted the stability of the bird, and clung to the back of Deidara's cloak instead as they dove practically headfirst into the forest.

He flew them toward a thick tree as more wing tips began to fall off. "Jump!"

Sakura jumped from the crumbling back and dove for the nearest branch, just before the sagging clay projectile that had once been a bird crashed into the trunk with a spray of soggy earth. She caught the branch and clung to it with chakra, wincing as the palms of her hands scraped the bark on the rough landing. Their transport began to dissolve as it slid down the trunk, the remainders falling in clumps toward the ground.

A moment later Deidara landed next to her, jumping down from the branch above where he'd landed. "Come on, we can't stop here," he said, looking around for any sign of their pursuers.

"It'll take them a while to catch up, but they saw where we landed and they're going to search this whole area."

They leaped through the treetops as fast as the wet conditions would allow. She glanced once at her stinging hands, and saw that they were bleeding where the skin had torn off. She also noticed that Deidara was trying somewhat unsuccessfully to cover a limp, and she guessed that his landing had been rough as well. It could have been a lot worse, she supposed, as far as crash landings at breakneck speed in hazardous weather conditions went.

She followed his lead, zigzagging and erratically changing direction, sometimes running through the trees, sometimes on the ground. He was far more used to this kind of scenario, and much better at losing pursuers than she was. It was a good thing they'd been travelling leisurely all day, otherwise they may not have enough chakra to outrun the enemy. They were only a few miles from the Fire border, and she knew that was where they were heading. ANBU were a territorial bunch, and their pursuers would be reluctant to cross over and risk running into any Leaf ANBU on patrol.

Several shuriken came flying at her from the left. Sakura avoided them by flinging herself onto the opposite tree. The enemy nins appeared a moment later on the branches above them. They appeared to have split up; there were only two of them. Those were manageable odds. Sakura crouched low on her branch, ready to spring away with the slightest movement from the other two.

Then Deidara suddenly flew at one of the nins from out of nowhere, surprising Sakura as well as the two ANBU. He was faster than even she was aware of if he'd pulled back and gotten behind them already. He tackled the other nin and they began to grapple back and forth. The second leapt for Sakura, and she jumped down to ground level as more shuriken embedded in the branch she'd vacated. He came at her again, armed with his sword, forcing her to evade in a series of dodges and leaps. He deflected her kunai throw with his blade, but it distracted him long enough for Sakura to stomp her heel into the earth and create a rift that threw him off balance. She rushed him in that moment, throwing herself inside his reach to drive the heel of her palm into his sternum. The enemy nin flew backward and hit the nearest tree hard enough to crack the trunk, fell to the ground in a heap and didn't get up again.

She looked for Deidara and her eyes widened in alarm, for as she spotted the two fighting shinobi, the ANBU slipped on a patch of rain-slick moss and lost balance. He fell from the branch, but at the last second grabbed Deidara's cloak and pulled him off too. They fell several feet and hit the ground hard. Fortunately Deidara managed to maneuver in midair so that the other nin took the brunt of the fall, though Sakura could clearly see the pained grimace on her partner's face, and knew his landing hadn't been entirely smooth.

Deidara stood slowly and stiffly, still a little shaken from the hard fall. Sakura approached him and saw that a kunai protruded from the ANBU's chest, and he didn't appear to be breathing. Either Deidara had stabbed him while still on the branch, possibly being what caused the slip, or he had managed to do it during the fall.

"Did you see how many of them followed us into the woods?" he asked her.

"I saw seven, which means there's at least five more still after us," she replied, glancing around for any sign of movement.

"We have to keep moving," he said, already turning to go.

"It'll be tricky, but we can take five of them..." she began.

He gave her a long, highly disgruntled look. "We can't fight. My shoulder's dislocated."

Sakura frowned in concern. "The fall?"

Deidara nodded.

"Here, let me see…" she said, already moving forward.

"Not now," he said curtly, grabbing her wrist with his other hand as she reached for his injured shoulder.

She backed off, still frowning, but nodded in acceptance and they took off running again.

A few minutes later they felt the presence of their remaining pursuers. It seemed they had regrouped, and all five were now closing in. They caught sight of a small river about fifty yards ahead, and when they reached it Deidara jumped down from the trees and began to run downstream atop the water's surface. Sakura followed, knowing he was trying to eliminate their trail entirely. The river was picking up speed, and she heard the loud rushing of a waterfall in the distance. As they reached the vertical drop Deidara jumped to the bank and began to hop down the side of the cliff, and she quickly followed him. It was easier said than done, with Sakura's scraped and bleeding hands and Deidara's use of only one arm, but they managed it without incident. She thought they would keep running, but instead Deidara motioned for her to come closer.

"There's a cleft behind the waterfall where we can hide, yeah."

"How do you know that?"

"I've been here once before." Without explaining further, he started making his way across the slippery boulders. The small cleft funneled inward and became very narrow the further they went. By the time they had passed under the edge of the falls and shuffled their way to the back about fifty feet in, they were completely soaked. But that wasn't Sakura's biggest concern at the moment. The most pressing thing on her mind right now was that the constricted space forced her right up against Deidara, and that there were less than four inches of moving space between their bodies.

She looked up and met Deidara's gaze. His face was much closer to hers than she was entirely comfortable with. In fact, every part of him was much closer than she was comfortable with. But it couldn't be helped, and she tried to push thoughts of his proximity and how she could feel his body heat even through the wet layers of their clothing from her mind. "Do you think we'll actually lose them this way?" she asked, just loud enough to be heard over the rock-muted rushing of the falls.

He nodded, causing water to drip from the ends of his long hair. "They'll lose our tracks at the river, but they'll think we crossed because Fire is that way. We're so close to the border that if they can't find our trail they'll assume we already went over and give up. All we have to do is wait a half hour or so, and by then we can use the oncoming darkness as cover, yeah."

Sakura gave him a small, amused smile. "You're really good at this kind of thing."

He smirked at her. "I've been a missing-nin for almost ten years; I know how to lose a few ANBU by now. Besides, they weren't even hunter-nin, just a regular platoon."

"Still, I'm impressed," she said, looking a little sheepish. "If I'd been alone I'm sure they'd be hog-tying me and dragging me away for torture by now."

He shook his head a little. "You could have lost them on your own. You don't give yourself enough credit."

Sakura was glad the shadows hid most of the color in her cheeks. She squirmed uncomfortably as a trickle of cold water dripped from the rock above and ran down her spine, but her shifting caused her chest to brush against Deidara's, and her blush deepened as she felt him still. "You were limping earlier, did you hurt your leg?" she asked quietly, not looking up at him.

"It's nothing. I think I just bruised my kneecap. It barely hurts anymore."

She nodded faintly. "About your shoulder…I can reset it now, and do the rest with chakra once we're in the clear."

He gave her a skeptical look. "Okay, but how? If you haven't noticed it's a little cramped in here."

"Um…" Sakura hesitated, thinking how to go about it, and then inched forward until she was right up against him. "Here…" She slipped her left arm around his back and pressed her palm flat against his shoulder blade, purposely thinking only of the mechanics, and blocking out the fact that she heard his breath hitch a little and felt his body tense in a way that had nothing to do with pain, or that her breasts were smooshed intimately against his ribcage. She brought her right hand up to press steadily against the hollow of his shoulder. "Ready?"

"Mm," he murmured, closing his eyes in preparation.

"Deep breath," she instructed. He did, and she did as well, readying pressure behind her hands. "Now exhale…" She simultaneously pulled with her left hand and pushed hard with her right, and with a loud crack and a grunt of pain from Deidara, his shoulder popped back into place.

Deidara sighed in relief, the sharp stabbing pain already dying down to a dull ache. He relaxed against the rock wall, cracking his eyes open to see the top of her drenched pink hair. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Sakura remained pressed against him and began to firmly but gently rub the muscles around the shoulder blade. It would be more effective if she could get behind him, or if she had access to his bare skin, but both were impossible, and the second was probably a very bad idea.

"Everything feel okay?" His only reply was a short mumble she took to mean 'yes.' "The surrounding area will tense and knot if I don't loosen it up, and then it will hurt almost as bad as before," she explained, feeling like she should keep talking, otherwise things may start to feel a little too intimate. She wondered suddenly if this – their proximity and the way she was touching him – even if it was mostly professional, might be getting to him. It was certainly getting to her.

Then she caught his scent as she leaned in a little closer to reach the muscles near his spine, and her fingers paused as she suddenly felt a little fuzzy and flustered. He smelled the way all shinobi did; of leather and metal and outdoors. Being a shinobi herself, and having grown up around it, it was comforting and appealing. But there was something else there too, something uniquely him, only detectable up close like this; the faintest hint of smoke and clay along with his natural scent, the combination warm and earthy like the wind in summer. It was intoxicating, and she closed her eyes and stilled against him for just a moment.

Her eyes flew open again as she realized what she was doing. No no no no bad idea! She backed away as nonchalantly as possible, or would have if there were more than a few inches to back up in. She dropped her arms to her sides and willed herself to look up at him. His azure eyes were unreadable, and she wondered if he'd noticed her little lapse in composure. "Better?" she asked, keeping her tone light.

Deidara nodded, regarding her with a clouded expression. Sakura looked away first, feigning casual as she stared at the water dripping down the rock.

"You're bleeding," Deidara said suddenly.

Sakura followed his gaze to the front of his cloak, where a darker stain of moisture seeped into the fabric in the place where she'd pushed against him.

Without waiting for a reply, he reached down and grabbed her hand, turning it palm up. Sakura winced as he lifted her hand between them. He gingerly ran the pad of his thumb across her palm, taking care to avoid the welts and opened skin. "What happened?" he asked, frowning a little.

"I scraped them on the bark of the tree when we crashed, and I think I made it worse when we climbed down here," she explained, trying to ignore the tiny currents running through her as his thumb continued to brush over her skin. "They're fine, it's only superficial…I'll fix them later."

Their eyes met, and it was clear they were both fully aware that he was holding her hand longer than necessary, even if he'd stopped tracing her palm with his thumb. Something flickered in his eyes and he released her, and a moment later they both looked elsewhere a little self-consciously.

A long minute passed before Deidara finally said something, just to break the awkward silence. "It's probably safe to head out now. Once we're over the border we'll take flight as soon as it clears up, yeah."

"Sounds good," Sakura replied, using the same deliberately casual tone.

He motioned for her to go first, and with that, they made their way out of the cleft and back to the riverbank, then turned and ran full-speed for the border.

#

The rain finally ceased after twenty minutes of travelling through northwestern Fire, in the direction of Waterfall. They agreed the less distance they had to travel into Fire the better, and only stopped once so that Sakura could tend to her hands and finish up Deidara's shoulder. Once they reached the edge of the forest and emerged into an open valley they stopped again, and Deidara began molding clay for their transport.

Just as he finished and enlarged his creation, there was another pulse of chakra, coming from the forest, approaching fast.

"Fuck, not again," he growled, more annoyed than concerned now that they had an immediate escape option. He turned to Sakura, "Even if it's only one, I don't want to deal with it. Let's go."

But Sakura didn't move. She stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide with both panic and longing, because she knew that chakra signature, almost as well as she knew her own. Before she could even try to figure out what to do, he was there, jumping from the trees and skidding to a stop not twenty feet away.

"Naruto…" she whispered, her constricting throat making it impossible to speak louder.

He stared at her with an expression conveying his disbelief, hurt and anger all at once. "Sakura…" he murmured, just loud enough to be heard across the distance between them. "I knew it was you."

Sakura inwardly cringed at the guarded, clipped tone of his voice. She didn't know what to do. She hadn't expected to see him again until her mission was over and she could tell him the truth. And Deidara was standing right there, watching everything. There was nothing she could say.

"I didn't believe them," he said, voice low and carefully controlled. "When they told me…I didn't want to believe it, that you did what they said you did…"

"Naruto…"

He shook his head. "I told everyone they were wrong…that you would never help an Akatsuki. I said I would prove you were innocent and bring you back. I believed in you. But now…here you are, with that guy, wearing that cloak. Gods, I'm such an idiot sometimes." He gave a short, choked laugh, ran a hand through his hair. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. "How could you, Sakura? How could you join Akatsuki? They want to kill me!"

The anguish in his voice nearly broke her, but Sakura willed herself to stay strong. "Naruto…there are a lot of things you don't understand. Please—"

"I don't know what you're doing, but it doesn't have to be this way! We can fix this! Me and Kakashi and Sai…we love you Sakura-chan. Let us help you!" he pleaded, taking a step toward her.

Deidara tensed, one hand hovering over his clay pouch as he glared at the other man, but relaxed when he made no further movement. When he saw who their surprise visitor was, his first reaction was excitement, at the idea of fighting Uzumaki Naruto again, and of snatching Itachi's assignment right out from under him. But confusion set in as he watched the exchange between his partner and the jinchuuriki. He was so baffled by what he was seeing that he wasn't even eager to fight anymore. Right now he just wanted to know what the hell was going on.

Sakura closed her eyes, unable to stop the tears from spilling over. "It's too late for that," she said very quietly.

"No it isn't," Naruto argued. "Tsunade feels terrible about what happened. I can see it every time your name is mentioned. We can work something out, I promise! I've always kept my promises to you, haven't I?"

She choked back a sob, hands fisting tightly in the long sleeves of her cloak. "Naruto, don't…"

"Kakashi and Sai are nearby; we can take this asshole out and return to Konoha!" he urged, casting a brief glare at Deidara.

Both Akatsuki members tensed again, for different reasons.

"Sakura…let's go," Deidara said with muted urgency, scanning the tree line for any sign of movement. It would be a problem if the Copy Ninja and the ink artist showed up, because he had a sneaking suspicion Sakura wouldn't be able to fight them.

"I can't," Sakura said shakily, her composure cracking. "What's done is done. I can't go back. Please understand that."

Naruto took another step forward, reaching out to her, his own cheeks wet with tears, his voice breaking as he said, "We can't just give up on you! Sakura-chan please…please come home."

Sakura couldn't take much more of this. She couldn't handle that look on his face, or listen to his pleading. They needed to go. If Kakashi and Sai showed up everything would fall apart, and Deidara would be in danger as well. Mustering every ounce of resolve she could find, she slowly walked toward Naruto.

Her movement surprised both men; Naruto's eyes widened with a glimmer of hope, Deidara's in slight alarm and uncertainty. But Sakura kept her eyes down, on the ground in front of her, unable to look at either of them.

When she stood directly before Naruto she finally willed herself to look up at him. His blue eyes were bright with tears and relief, thinking she had agreed to his request. Closing her eyes as more anguished tears spilled forth, she moved forward and drew him into a tight embrace. He was surprised at first, but almost immediately wrapped his arms around her. Sakura nearly faltered, allowing a long moment to pass as she hugged him desperately. Then her hand slipped to the back of his neck.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered miserably. "Please forget about me."

With a tiny pulse of chakra to the base of his skull, his head dropped onto her shoulder and he went limp in her arms, unconscious. Sakura supported his weight and lifted him over her shoulder, then walked just under the cover of the trees and gently set him down with his back against a trunk. Her teammates would find him soon. She ran her fingers through his spiky hair and leaned down to place a soft kiss on the top of his head. "Forgive me, Naruto…someday you'll understand," she whispered, and then turned away.

Deidara had followed a few steps behind, a look of incredulity on his face. His bewilderment only increased when Sakura turned away from the unconscious shinobi and began to weep quietly, her hands covering her mouth. She looked up as he reached her, and the look of heartbroken sorrow she gave him stopped him in his tracks and stole away anything he was thinking of saying.

"Deidara…I know what's expected of us…but I—" She cut off, her voice breaking.

Deidara knew what would be expected of them in this situation as well, and he knew just as clearly that Sakura couldn't do it, and would probably try to stop him if he did. And strangely, after what he'd just witnessed, seeing the state Sakura was in now, he didn't really feel like doing what was expected either. They were both tired and stressed from their ordeal in Grass, and Sakura looked like she was about to lose it completely.

"Let's just go, before anyone else shows up," he sighed, bringing a hand to her shoulder to turn her toward their waiting transport.

Sakura nodded and gave a small sigh of relief. She glanced a final time at her dearest friend, and then let Deidara guide her away.

#

They stopped for the night in small village in eastern Bird country, and when they checked into a modest room, Sakura went straight for the shower and didn't come out for a long time. Deidara let her be, even though what happened had raised a lot of questions in his mind. She hadn't said a word since they'd left her former teammate in the forest, and when she came out of the bathroom she went to lay down on one of the two single beds without even looking at him.

When Deidara emerged from his own shower a while later she was still curled up on the bed, wide awake and looking so forlorn that he couldn't even bring himself to bitch about her using most of the hot water. He walked over and sat at the edge of her bed, watching her with a slight frown. She still didn't look at him, but she curled her knees a little closer to her chest to give him more room.

"Sakura…" he began quietly, unsure how exactly to say what he was thinking, "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I have to ask…"

Her eyes slowly travelled up to his face, though her expression remained dull and listless.

"What happened back there today?" She didn't answer. He sighed and tried again, "Uzumaki Naruto…he's the friend you told me about, isn't he? The one you missed so much?"

Sakura closed her eyes, moisture pooling beneath her lashes as she gave a small nod in response.

"Then why did you join Akatsuki, when your best friend is a jinchuuriki? It makes no sense."

She didn't reply immediately, her eyes still closed against her emotions. "I had no choice," she said finally, giving as much of the truth as she could. "You said it yourself; I would have been killed if I refused. I don't want to die…but I can't go through with killing my best friend either…"

"Then what are you going to do…when that time comes?" He didn't understand how she could get herself into this predicament, but he felt bad for her all the same.

"I don't know…" she murmured brokenly, more tears streaming down her cheeks and onto her pillow. "I really don't know…"

Deidara felt a sudden urge to reach for her, to try and comfort her even if it wouldn't really help. But the foreign thoughts startled him, so he didn't act on the impulse. Instead he left her alone and went to sit on his own bed, not really knowing what else to say, troubled in ways he couldn't define. Part of him felt bad for her and wanted to help her, and part of him felt a lingering unease. If anyone in Akatsuki learned they let a practically effortless opportunity to capture the kyuubi jinchuuriki slip by, that they had purposely not taken him, they would both be in serious trouble. He understood Sakura's reasons, but wasn't quite sure of his own, though he knew that it probably had a lot to do with her. And though he couldn't really put his finger on it, he suspected she wasn't being entirely honest about the whole situation.

He had no intention of telling anyone about what happened today, but he couldn't help but wonder, if something like this happened again, would he look the other way next time? Would he help her keep her friend away from the fate their organization had planned for him? The only way to do so would be to defy orders and go against Akatsuki, putting himself at risk. Was he willing to do that, for her? What was she to him, exactly, to make him even ask himself such questions?

After a while Deidara turned off the light and got into bed, noticing just before he did that Sakura's eyes were still open and staring blankly ahead of her. Neither of them spoke again, but each knew that the other remained awake long into the night.