A/N: Udates are slow, yes, but life happens. Thanks for sticking with me though. Your feedback is much appreciated, even if I don't always respond.
Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto. Harder to Breathe by Maroon 5 is not owned by me.
xXx
When it gets cold outside and you've got nobody to love,
understand what I mean when I say
there's no way we're gonna give up.
Something soft but hard was felt on her lips. Her chest and lungs burned with each fake breath being given to her, her fingers and toes were numb, and with each pounding on her chest sent a convulsion through her body. Sputtering, Sakura scrambled to sit up after she felt her world sinking back into focus, only to find that what she was staring at was a white ceiling and she was perched upon a cot with blankets wrapped tightly around her legs and torso, but her chest was exposed except for her soaking bindings.
What she didn't notice at first was that Itachi loomed beside her, watching her with cold, red eyes.
Her fist went flying and connected with something before she was being pinned down to the bed. Screeching, she tried to yank up the blankets modestly and to cover herself to her neck before realizing that even the little expended amount of energy reduced her to wilting. She was released, and a hand was placed on the small of her back but she flinched away from the touch, not believing that Uchiha Itachi had his lips all of hers!
She was laying in the hallway of the first floor just outside of her room, stuffed with blankets and heating pads. No sign of anyone else aboard the ship had her worrying that maybe something bad had happened, but then she clued in to the fact that he was purposely suppressing all of her chakra like a dam to a river, so detecting outside entities was nigh impossible without it.
Desperately, Sakura tried to collect her thoughts whilst ignoring Itachi's piercing stare.
Okay, you dove off the side of the boat without any strategy and he was resuscitating you. He saved you, Sakura! Don't be a fool and at least thank him! Sakura internally berated herself, a hand coming up to wipe away strands of her pink hair from her face. With more civility she regarded Itachi levelly, only to find that his face was utterly emotionless.
Her lips formed the words 'thank you' but no sound emitted. Her cheeks flared red hot when she remembered that he had given her CPR, and had in fact saved her life, but why should she feel grateful for someone who brought her back just to keep her captive again? She found herself becoming docile when she noticed that she had actually punched his nose. It was slightly askew and already forming a bruise, blood dripping down one nostril, but he was impassive as ever to what she did to him.
"Are you all right?" Itachi intoned, giving her a once-over, and she had to remind herself that she was fully covered and he wasn't being a pervert.
"Yes," she replied, but she wasn't; she felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on her and crushed her.
"What you did was utterly ridiculous. You couldn't possibly have figured you had a chance of escaping in your conditions." He was chastising her as if she were a five year-old.
But her sleep addled mind didn't care that he was lecturing her. Her body was freezing despite the enormous amounts of blankets that coated her, and she was sporting a massive headache.
"How long was I out?" she finally asked through a cotton-mouth.
"Seven minutes."
"Ah," she replied lamely. Gods, did her throat feel parched.
"Why did you attempt to escape?"
The question itself was simple, but it implied two things; one, he thought her incapable of being able to escape on her own (although she had been, in her defense, inebriated and rash), and two; like he assumed her being kept here was based on her willingness to be here, as if he had already broke her. It almost made her want to laugh, but had to remind herself bursting out into hysterical laughter wouldn't justify her rationality and sanity.
"Like I want to be..." she settled for murmuring, hiding behind a curtain of her pink tresses that were damp and on the verge of solidifying from the cold.
"Is it possible, perhaps, that you simply don't wish to reveal the whereabouts of my Ryuukaton?"
"I told you I don't know where it is!"
Itachi merely blinked at the volume of her voice and seemed to give up once again on the interrogation. "You may want to make sure you don't have any permenant brain damage. You were oxygen deprived for three minutes. Also, the ship will be departing in two days." Deftly, he stood and made his way up the staircase, leaving Sakura to her own devices, and to wonder how she would truly get away from him now.
xXx
"Kakashi-sensei?"
It had taken said ninja more than five minutes to find where his tongue had went. Meanwhile, his mind was racing to find some sort of an excuse to come up with should the blonde not have noticed to whom he had been talking to. But how much had the boy seen? Would he think Kakashi was a liar and a scumbag for not apprehending the lost Uchiha when he had the chance?
"Kakashi-sensei..."
"Sorry," Kakashi said with a dry mouth. "What was I doing, exactly?"
"You seemed to be talking to yourself," Naruto folded his arms across his broad chest. "I think my sensei's so old he's going senile. Maybe even dementia." He said this with a worried expression on his face.
"Oh, no." Kakashi waved him off. "Nothing like that. Just out here," he expertly flipped open a page from his Icha Icha Runaway from his pocket and selected a dog-eared page, "just catching up on my reading is all."
Though Naruto appeared to have accepted the simple gesture, something gleaned behind his cobalt eyes that hinted to Kakashi the boy knew more than what he let on.
"O-kay." Naruto drawled, spinning on his heel and stalking off.
Kakashi's shoulders slumped in relief.
Whatever Naruto had seen, obviously it hadn't been Sasuke, otherwise he would have gone on a full rampage through the forest to retrieve his comrade. And he wouldn't have been so calm about it, either. Thanking his lucky stars, the Copycat Ninja strode off in the direction of the village, only to feel Naruto's normally quiescent chakra explode nearby into what could only be him in his fox-cloak.
"Naruto!" He shouted, bunching his legs and taking off into the direction of the large amount of chakra. He should have known he had accepted his excuse so easily. The boy was no longer a force to be trifled with, seventeen and already the strongest ninja in the Fire country. And if Kakashi didn't push himself to the limits and catch up to him, Naruto would undoubtedly catch up to Sasuke and learn the truth of their union.
xXx
Sasuke had felt the enormous amont of chakra pursing him after he left Kakashi, and knew the only person who could be tailing him had to be Naruto.
Dope, Sasuke thought caustically as he swerved onto another branch, his Sharingan straining in the dim light to give him some semblence of an outline to follow. Tree branches and other animal critters were particularly hard to spot in the dark, and when moving at the pace he was at, everything just became an unfocused blur 360 degrees around him.
His feet helping him to maneuvre swiftly from branch to branch, the entity was vastly approaching, and unless Sasuke wanted to be hunted all night he would have to stop and confront his pursuer. Naruto, he knew, could be one of the most hard-headed people on the planet when he set his mind to something, and if he was intent on not having Sasuke leave he would sure find a way to make it possible. And, as an inconvenience, had to jeopardize the new 'mission' his former sensei appointed him and not get a chance to finally locate and kill Itachi.
Weighing his options, the Uchiha fled off hard to the right, throwing a cloud of dust behind his back for good measure. The dust would eliminate all traces of his scent, and with any luck it would deter Naruto enough so he could make an escape to the Rock country.
Another few hundred meters and Sasuke was unable to detect any persons around him, so he figured something as simple as his scent absorbing dust was enough to mislead the great Uzumaki Naruto away from him. Relying mostly on his sixth sense, he ventured into thicker depths of the forest around him as he was crossing nearer and nearer to the border every step. He had taken an alternate route, one he wasn't so sure if Naruto knew about, a route that cut straight through the thicker densities of the forest which signified he was far away from Konoha, and this would take him straight on his path to Iwa.
Suddenly he felt the chakra of a nearby shinobi, and concealing his, dashed lower to the ground in attempt to find shetler in the canopies of leaves. It was hot on his trail, and though he wasn't so sure if the chakra belonged to Naruto, he was almost certain it belonged to someone else. Nevertheless, he continued brusquely and never slowed, determined to out-run this one, too. After another two clicks, he decided to confront this unknown nin.
His heel upturned the bark off of a low hanging branch as he deftly spun around, stopping with his chakra upon his heels. Drawing his sword from his back since his pursuer was drawing vastly nearer, he strained his chakra to the blood vessels to his eyes to work his Sharingan to its full extent, which granted him more visibility, but already his eyes were pulsating in his skull and his chakra was depleting vapidly.
Only a hundred feet, a female shinobi halted on a branch horizontal to him. It took him a moment to piece the face into his memory, but when he recognized her, it was tough to say that he was indeed surprised.
"U-um..." stammered the kunoichi, her feet shifting nervously. Her pale eyes stared at him, the veins in her eyes gradually diminishing as she, too, recognized her enemy. "S-Sasuke, kun?"
"Hinata." Sasuke said magnanimously, withdrawing his weapon. "Why are you following me?"
The girl let out a tiny squeak, but after that, he noticed something transformed with her since he'd last seen her. "I heard a commotion, and I found Naruto-kun. He... he must have been chasing you, and I calmed him down. I sent him back, b-but then..."
"You went after me yourself?" he supplied, clearly unimpressed by the replacement reconnaissance.
"W-well, yes. I didn't want Naruto-kun to hurt himself."
Something striked Sasuke; a sudden epiphany. It alerted him the moment Hinata activated her Byakugan when he tensed ever so slightly at the thought that she was here to attack him. Such perception... and her eyesight must be perfect, too, and with her kekkai genkai, no doubt she could see kilometers away, and maybe even the traces of chakra trails if she were a high calibre shinobi.
"How far can you see, Hinata?" he asked almost nonchalantly, but it startled the Hyuuga heiress into taking a defensive stance. "I'm merely curious. You mut be able to see at least eight clicks away, am I right?"
Shyly, her head bowed and her eyes averted him. "Ten, actually... More than Neji-nii-san..."
"Well, that's quite impressive."
Her head shot up, eyes scrutinizing him, but the compliment it appeared to have been genuine.
"What're you getting at, Sasuke-kun?"
He smirked in the darkness. His genius mind began weighing his options, and if he were to carry out the mission Kakashi had bestowed upon him so suddenly he would need further assistance. His Sharingan could work only for so long, and even then its affects would take a toll on him and would render him blind for hours at a time. And when it came to tracking, what better than a Hyuuga. If he had an Inuzuka, he would have utilized him, too.
Hinata was a much better choice though; a push-over, willing to concede to anything to help out her friends, and easily intimidated. He'd seen as much at the Chuunin exams, and knew it would be worthwhile for her to help him.
"Do you know that Sakura is missing?"
Shock registered on Hinata's face. Sasuke took that as a no. "I'm going to find her."
"To capture her?"
"No. I'm not the one who wants her."
"Then who?"
"Kakashi. He wants me to search for her, since he can't afford to do it himself." There was evident doubt on her face, and it was all he needed. "I could find her faster and more efficiently if I had eyes like yours."
Again, that weary, cautious stance was taken and it almost made Sasuke laugh. He had her, and though she didn't know it yet, she would soon.
"If you help me, we can both find her. You do know who has her, don't you?"
Hinata solemnly shook her head.
"My brother. Uchiha Itachi."
A scowl formed on her normally passive face. "You're lying."
The younger Uchiha smirked and crossed his arms. "It's true. He took her. And Kakashi knows it, too. So, what'll it be? You can help me find her and bring her back to her haven, get all the credit, and I'll be on my way. Deal?"
It almost appeared to him as if she would accept; but then Sasuke should have assumed there would be a catch.
"I will only help you," she began, lowering her upraised palms and deactivating her bloodline limit, "if you agree not to harm Naruto-kun again."
What a foolish, foolish girl... Little did Hinata know, his interest in Naruto went as far as his interest in potting plants. But if it was all it took to get her on his side, then so be it.
"I won't go after him."
And if Sasuke were crazy, he could've sworn he saw a small smile on her face. "All right. I'll help you."
xXx
Now, Sasuke may have been a half-blind man and a knack for getting into trouble, but when looking for a missing nin who happened to be his former teammate back in his genin days, one could say he was a little... persuasive when hunting for information.
"I'm sure you admire that... handsome face of yours, Mr. Nakamoto. And, if you want to keep it, you must tell me the last place you spotted Uchiha Itachi."
"W-who?" the blubbering, two hundred pound overweight man sputtered. "I assure you I've never seen anyone-"
"Oh, spare me." The sword dug another inch into the man's tender flesh under his clavicle. "You've been sniffing around as much as I have because you're his messenger, aren't you? Well, if it's money you want then I have it. Now, where was the last time you heard of him?"
The man was still refusing to loosen his tongue, so Sasuke decided to do it for him; with one swift motion he unhinged the man's shoulder socket from his body and his arm fell almost mutedly to the ground. Before Mr. Nakamoto could utter a whimper Sasuke caught his tongue with his hand, yanking particularly hard, but not so hard as to rip it from his mouth.
"I think that may be your cue to tell me before I dismember you even more."
Sasuke let the man's tongue go and like a crow he began to sqwuak.
"The last time I heard of Mr. Uchiha-sama he was inquiring about purchasing a ship from a dealer! That's all I know I swear!" Sasuke released the man and allowed him to nurse his wounds while fleeing the scene before the man could call reinforces.
Securely on the outside of the small village, Sasuke extracted the Uchiha scroll from the hidden pouch in his scroll, undoing the jutsu and expanding it to its exact size. This would be the first time he used the scroll out of his seventeen years, and though it was mandatory for each Uchiha member to know how to utilize the scroll and decipher its contents when he came of age and developed the Sharingan, unfortunately for Sasuke he had no family when he had matured.
So, acting on instinct and conjuring fuzzy memories from when his father and older brother were to use it, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and opened the contents. To a normal man, the normal kanji scripture would become as indecipherable as jibberish. But to Sasuke it gradually revealed contents of the Uchiha's family tree, origins, secret jutsu, and finally, rare artifacts.
Written there was the Ryuutakon and how to conjure it; reveal its location; break the bond with the user; break the seal; and various other pieces of information that were incrucial to him at the moment.
Sasuke gathered his chakra and began analyzing through hazy eyes the order of hand seals to find the whereabouts of the item. Tiger, ox, tiger, and dragon were what it told him to do, so he initiated it and almost instantaneously he began to feel a surge of warmth extending to the right side of his body. His arm tingling, he faced where the North was, where indeed there were no signs of water. It lead him to the Rock country Iwa, and what Itachi would do with a boat out there was anyone's guess.
Folding the scroll back into its secret compartment Sasuke headed to the meeting spot with Hinata. The kunoichi was waiting for him under the tree they had christined their rendez-vous point, and she was absently tearing off a piece of thread from her pants. Her head popped up the instant she sensed his presence, and there was question in her eyes, whether it was from having made the decision to follow a wanted missing-nin across the country to search for her missing comrade, or about if tearing the thread off had been a good decision or not.
"He said he purchased a boat and my instincts tell me he went to Iwa. I know it doesn't make much sense for him to go to Iwa with a boat with no water, but—"
"She went to Kiri."
Sasuke regarded her as if she were insane. "How would you possibly know that? And I know she's in Iwa, otherwise—"
"She's not in Iwagakure. She went to Kirigakure."
He was bristling, trying to contain his anger. He didn't like being repeatedly cut off. "How would you know, anyway?"
"I can trace chakra with my Byakugan. Her trail leads away from the Rock country. It's very faint, but while you were 'interrogating' that poor man, I was following the lead. And it ends going South."
Sasuke's jaw clenched in frustration. Here she was, this insolent girl who claimed to be a higher calibre shinobi amongst her own kind, telling him he was wrong, when clearly the scroll of the Uchiha pointed him North.
"I don't believe you. I am a hundred percent positive that she's North. There's no way I'm mistaken."
Hinata rose from her perch from beneath the massive tree to stretch her limbs. Her sight strayed away from his face. "Go North, but you won't find her there. I'll just get her myself."
Sasuke drew his weapon in the same instant Hinata activated her kekkai genkai and prepared to meet its blow with a chakra infused hand. They stood like that, several seconds ticked by, and with it went Sasuke's patience and Hinata's guileness.
"I say as to where we go." Sasuke gritted, reluctant to use his blade on her when she could prove useful. But if the insufferable girl changed the course of action his scroll told him about, he would have to dispose of her.
"You are not correct." Her pale lavender eyes sparkled with a hidden fire he hadn't known existed until this point. Whatever happened to the downcasted eyed girl who faced against her cousin and stood no chance of conquering? Apparently, she left her at Konoha.
Sasuke sheathed his weapon once more and backed away. Should he follow her just to prove her word wrong?
"Sasuke-kun," he looked at her, his ruby eyes trying their hardest to focus clearly on her face. "I know where she is. You asked me to help, and I am. I want to save my friend unconditionally, unlike you. So you should trust me."
Grunting, the Uchiha simply stowed his pride elsewhere and nodded for her to lead. Hinata's legs bunched and she took off into the trees, directly South, quite the exact opposite of where he wanted to go. He supposed he could simply leave her behind, but right now failure wasn't an option. If he didn't do what Kakashi had requested of him he would undoubtedly hear about it for the rest of his existence.
Sasuke silently followed her, wondering where his head went.
xXx
Sakura woke sometime after dusk, having inspected the injury to her cranium and investigating any other compromising damages done to her. As of now all she had managed to find was a small concussion, a mild case of onsetting hypothermia, and cyanosis had already been flushed out of her system. Her brain still felt like there was someone with a jack-hammer doing renovations inside of her skull, but other than that she just felt exhausted.
Having slept from last night until this evening, it was almost impossible to believe that she was still sleep-deprived. Her stomach moaned wantonly for nourishment, and she'd been doing a fairly good job at ignoring it, fear of confronting Itachi—or any of the other members for that matter—keeping her locked in her quarters and starving.
Ever since Itachi resuscitated her something had changed. To place her finger on it was as hard as trying to get Naruto to shake off his diet for ramen noodles, but there definitely was something different. Whether or not this feeling was mutual, Sakura would never know, lest she leave her safe haven of her room and journey into the unknown.
But her gut was aching for food, and with a half-hearted groan she hauled her heavy laden body from under the covers and into the first floor corridor. Making her way into the kitchen she passed not a soul, and it was almost as if she were here by herself. The chakra tag upon her kept her hopes at bay, since it always hummed and throbbed when Itachi was near. Whether he was actually inside the boat or not was anyone's guess, and after finding out the hard way last night why she should stay away from the restricted vicinities she didn't need another episode.
Upon entering the kitchen something blonde struck her eye. The man she met last night, Deidara, she recalled, was rummaging through the fridge in search for food as well. Sakura stopped in her place. Well, maybe she wasn't that hungry...
"Hey, you know how to cook, yeah?" asked the missing-nin as he removed one container of balogna and cheese. "I would like some steak, but..."
As if Sakura were the only one in the room who recognized this situation to be awkward, Deidara humbly strolled up to her and deposited the two items he fetched from the fridge in her hands. He looked at her as if he expected her to perform some sort of magic. "Well? Are you going to cook me something?"
Blinking, Sakura merely placed the balogna and cheese on the counter and began walking from the room, telling herself repeatedly that an S-class Iwa missing-nin was not asking her to make him supper.
On her way out she spotted the man who she'd been trying to avoid all day walking down the hall, probably in the direction of the kitchen. From the fact that his normally bland, passive face wasn't so bland and passive, Sakura wouldn't have known chaos was slowly about to ensue.
As she attempted some sort of casualty while passing, she didn't get very far—Itachi blocked her way in the narrow corrider and looked upon her with heavy eyes.
"I know you weren't lying," was all he said. Sakura was about to heave a sigh of relief before his next sentence stomped her. "Someone else is in possession of it that should never have come into contact with it."
"And who's that?"
Apparently disclosing that information wasn't an option with her, and he moved past her to the kitchen to speak with Deidara. She didn't wait around for long and went back to her room, choosing to starve rather than face him again. Who could have stolen the necklace in the first place? And how would he have figured it out so quickly?
As she heaeed to her room she spotted Kisame emerging from the bathroom, sake bottle protectively tucked away under his armpit. He looked at her and smiled toothily, probably recalling her little stunt last night and the drinks they had together. As he beelined toward her she made an attempt not to look too brash. He hadn't exactly been the epitome of evil around her while she was there, so being rude wasn't the nicest thing to do.
"Hey. Wanna go drinking?" he teased, chugging the from the neck of the sake bottle. "Or you wanna go diving instead?" His raucuous laughter filled the hallway and Sakura tried not to look too grim at his jibes. He was probably drunk anyway.
"No, thanks." She took off quickly away from him, passing yet another obstacle that separated her from her sanctuary. She needed to ruminate on a more elaborate escape plan, because if they were to depart in less than forty-two hours, this one would have to work.
She supposed she could have given them a major case of food poisoning, but as it was the food in the fridge was always freshly bought and nothing ever seemed to spoil. Dipping into the water to catch a hopefully contaminated fish was too risky and inprobable. Nothing aboard the ship would be able to help her concoct a serum to put them to sleep. So what?
The thought of using a genjutsu spell came and went so quickly it was almost a laugh that she even had thought of it. Using a genjutsu technique against the most skillful user in the world? Now that was worth a laugh. Unlike the others, Itachi would never fall for it. Even if she were to put him in a state where he would be most susceptible, he would see through her guise almost instantly.
But still, did it really hurt to try? Vaguely she recalled the boat-diving expedition she underwent and dismissed the thought. It would be setting herself up for suicide—or worse.
Well, maybe she didn't have to put Itachi under. To her current knowledge there were others aboard the ship that she had learned in the bingo book were susceptible to genjutsu. And though she loathed to think of it, Deidara was the only one with no expertise in genjutsu that she knew of. If she somehow managed to make it convincing enough, he may help her out of the boat himself.
If the plan backfired she'd be risking a lot of hell for it, but really, what could be worse? If they sentenced her to death it would be horrible, but to know they could do much worse, it was almost inviting.
As she opened the door to her bedroom and curled back under the covers, a plan began formulating in her head, and she knew by the time she woke up, Deidara would be the victim of a very terrible kunoichi.
xXx
Somewhere in Iwa, the Ryuukaton sparked yet another electrical surge through the unknown user as its barriers were being attacked.
"Fuck, why can't I remember? I could've sworn that it would work this time..."
The fate of the world would have already been determined if the stupid object had submitted to his will already and follow under his command. Yes, he was not an heir to the Uchiha, but he had garnered enough knowledge of all sorts of forbidden jutsus and artifacts that this should have looked like child's play.
As long as Uchiha Madara wasn't privy to the fact that he possessed it, he could continue to try and get the item to reveal its secrets. Ever since this item assisted in the kyuubi attack on Konoha seventeen years ago, this item was thought to be kept under guards of the Uchiha clan, for its destructive power was far too great if it could lure a tailed beast. But Sasuke, being the only Uchiha to leave the estate after the massacre of his family, took it upon himself to retrieve the item and give it to a nonsensical kunoichi of all people.
With this item being in the right hands, not only could it once again summon the kyuubi, but the other tailed beasts as well. Though seven had already been captured and sealed away, the eight and nine tails still resided in living vessels and would be much easier to extract. The others would take time, but they could not ignore the beck and call of the Ryuukaton any more than they could refuse the command of a Sharingan user.
This object also held another powerful ability he planned to utilize once he figured out the damn code...
Orochimaru, borrowing Kabuto's body, snickered in the dim light as he approached closer and closer to his goal. It wouldn't be long now. One code down, twelve more to unlock.