Sorry for the late late late update. The votes are counted, and the winner will be announced in the end notes.
Beta: konek0
Rainy Feelings- Chapter 8
Sakura woke up the next morning and screamed.
Kisame was in her face, grinning.
"Morning, Saku-chan." Kisame was still only inches from her face and his grin widened, "we have a mission to do."
Sakura slowly got up, rubbing her eyes as she went, "a mission, with you? I don't want to go."
"Tough luck, you're stuck with us." Kisame left the room and Sakura got up and donned her coat muttering to herself unhappily.
Sakura entered the kitchen and was surprised by the magnitude of people. Sakura was surrounded by many cloaks and none of them, she dully noted, had food. Sakura spotted blue and made her way towards Kisame, who sat with Itachi and the person she recognized from before… Sasori or something like that.
When she went to sit next to Itachi, Kisame shook his head and grinned.
"I told them you'd cook." Sakura glared at Kisame.
"Ever heard of asking?" Sakura turned her glare at Sasori, who started to chuckle softly.
Despite her complains, Sakura didn't sit, but went over and started cooking. She could feel the eyes watching her as she moved. When she finished, she placed dishes on the table in front of the Akatsuki members and served Itachi last.
When she was done serving them, she sat down and started eating with the rest of them.
When Itachi and Kisame finished, Itachi spoke, "Get up, we have a mission."
Sakura looked up at Itachi and shoveled down the rest of her food down. Slamming her bowl down, she gave Sasori a nod and followed Kisame and Itachi.
The two entered a hall that Sakura had never been to before, so she followed them closely, not wanting to get lost. When they stopped in front of a door, Sakura could feel strong charka waves from the other side.
Itachi and Kisame walked in. When Sakura tried to follow, Kisame held his hand out to stop her. When he finally established that she stopped, he shut the door.
Sakura scowled at the closed door and was tempted to kick it, but thought better of it and glared at it instead.
Sakura sat down and leaned back against the wall. She waited until the two came out ten minutes later.
"What was that about?" Sakura asked, curious about what could happen behind closed doors.
"None of your business." Said Itachi before Kisame could answer. Sakura sneered at his back.
"Stop sneering and hurry up, we have a mission to start." Was the only indication that he may have eyes in the back of his head.
Sakura quickened her pace to keep up with the two taller Akatsuki members.
When they went outside, Sakura was unprepared for the bright sunlight that hit her. Being inside the hide out was like being in a cave. The other two were apparently used to it, for they gave Sakura no time to adjust.
By the time Sakura could see properly, Itachi and Kisame were already in the thick of the woods. Sakura had to run to catch up, pumping a little charka into each step.
When the caught up, Itachi signaled to Kisame and Sakura and the group was off.
They jumped through the trees in silence; Itachi and Kisame side to side and Sakura in the back. They continued for half an hour in silence before Sakura broke it.
"What are we supposed to be doing?"
Kisame looked from Itachi to Sakura, not sure weather or not he could respond. When Itachi said nothing, Kisame spoke.
"We are heading towards Sound, we are to negotiate a treaty between them and us." Said Kisame without looking back at her.
"Why am I here? You hardly need a medic for negotiations," Sakura pointed out.
"You're here because of who we're negotiating with, medic. Now keep quiet or we may be caught," Itachi snapped just as he sensed another presence.
"Too late," Sakura mumbled half to herself.
The three didn't stop; instead, they kept on going until stopped by a silver haired nin.
"Itachi-san, Kisame." The loss of the honorific on Kisame's name was not lost on Sakura as Kabuto turned to her.
"Sakura-san, we meet again," Sakura only looked at him with a blank stare as he looked her over, "all grown up now. How's Naruto? He should be fine and well, or have the Akatsuki killed him?"
"Naruto's fine, not that you really care," Sakura said frostily to the other medic.
"Let us be, Yakushi, or do you favor a premature death?" Kabuto shivered lightly as he moved out of the way.
He was silent when Itachi and Kisame passed, but he spoke as Sakura walked by, "You better be stronger than before, or you will be the first to die." When Sakura turned to look at him, he was already gone.
"Saku-chan, hurry up!" Sakura looked from Kisame to Itachi and sighed as she found herself running again to catch up.
The trio continued their way through Sound, not stopping at all until Itachi signaled them.
Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but Itachi put his finger over her mouth to silence her.
There was a rustling in the bushes, then shruiken flew out from the bush. The three scattered in different directions.
Sakura sat higher in a tree. From her perch, she could see behind the bush; there was no one there. Sakura then felt a presence behind her. Sakura closed her eyes and then swiftly turned and lunged.
Before she could make contact, she was stopped by a single hand. Opening her eyes, she saw it was only Itachi, who in this case, was the lesser of two evils.
The two crouched silently before both sensed the charka patterns of four different people. One was Kisame, the other three were unknown.
Sakura stayed in the tree, but Itachi was gone in the blink of an eye.
Sakura watched from her stoop as Itachi and Kisame took out one of the sound nin's. One of the standing ones disappeared, but Sakura quickly located him, right behind her.
"If you want to live, you better not move." The man hissed through his teeth. Sakura could gauge the man's skill through his charka control and his idiotic threat.
Sakura turned quickly and brought her hand to his neck, snapping his neck on contact. The man fell through the branches, taking leaves and branches with him. When he finally crashed to the ground, Itachi turned, but didn't flinch. Kisame was finishing up defeating the last nin, so he didn't react.
Sakura jumped from her perch and landed gracefully besides Itachi.
"Not bad," Itachi looked from the fallen nin to Sakura and gave a slight nod of his head. As they turned to leave, one of the fallen ninja's moaned.
"Who you face next will not be defeated so easily, we do not forgive trespassers," with that, the man fell and lay unmoving.
"I thought we were here to negotiate," said Sakura, skeptically.
Itachi narrowed his eyes, but it was Kisame who spoke, "We are here to negotiate."
Sakura shrugged her shoulders at this and walked with them until they stopped. Sakura looked down and gasped at what she saw.
In the large pit was a village. The houses were all connected to another. But from where she stood, the houses formed a maze. In the middle was the symbol of the village, the single eighth note, made out with the rooftops.
The three made their way into the heart of the village, toward the oval shaped house that made up the head of the eighth note.
Sakura brought up the rear again as they launched into the heart of the village. Sakura could sense that the strongest charka point was coming from the center; the charka was over whelming.
Sakura gulped as they got closer to the overwhelming charka.
Sakura felt eyes on her. They were burning into the back of her head as she kept running, not bothering to turn in fear of not keeping up.
"Kunoichi, there's someone watching you. Confront them and get rid of them, we'll have no use for you in negotiations," Itachi spoke from the front without looking back.
"Fine," was Sakura's only reply as she disappeared from her position.
When Sakura followed the trail back into the woods, she slowed down and heightened her senses. She could imagine her opponents' muscles tense as he attacked, and she easily turned and grabbed their leg.
There was a moment of silence as the two simply stared at each other.
"Uchiha?" questioned Sakura, not releasing his foot.
Notes: The winner is… Sasuke, woot! You're probably wondering why I had to have the votes in, since there seemed to be no major movement in the chapter. I had to set up for the character and my plot. Anyways, it was a close win for him.
So voting is off now, but you can still review my story, don't be afraid!
LWB
