Just Keep Running
Gaara walked back in forth in his office, his fingers clenching into a fist. He was infuriated that he let his guard down back in Konoha. The team that came to inform him were already heading out with Kankuro and Temari. He was beginning to feel impatient and wouldn't wait for them to come back with her. He wanted to be there with them, to find her, to rescue her from danger. Then hopefully she would trust him again.
Then, he began thinking about her smile, her kisses, her laughter, her warmth. He had to sit down in his char and bury his head into his hands. He kept imagining what he did to her. How he felt her bones crush under the pressure of his grasp. Watching her fall to the ground dying. His chest began filling with more pain and sorrow. The words, "I love you," before she became seduced within the cocoon of sand. "Sakura," he whimpered.
--
Kisame awoke to see Sakura had been cooking robin eggs on a rock. The smell lingering into his nostrils and entrancing him to open his eyes. Itachi stood over the small fire across from her, glaring down at Kisame and Deidara who was still asleep. "Good morning ladies!" Kisame cooed. Itachi glared and Sakura turned around to show him her morning smile. "How did you sleep?" she asked. Kisame rubbed his back and groaned, "I think I slept on a few rocks. My back is killing me."
"Quit complaining and wake up Deidara." Itachi commanded. Kisame rolled his eyes and punched Deidara awake with a fist in his back. Deidara awoke immediately, and shouted, "You hit me in the kidneys you fish sex offender!" Kisame snarled, "Shut up you little punk, or next time I'll punch you where you'll just be pushing blanks for the rest of your life!'
"Hey guys, calm down. I got you robin eggs for breakfast! And Kisame, I don't know how you got the sword fish last time, but I hope these eggs will be good enough." Sakura handed him three eggs on large leaf to use as a plate. Kisame smiled for the first time in years. His smile was soft and genuine that it showed in his eyes. She had made him eggs. That was the sweetest thing anyone had done for him. He looked up at her eagerly, "Thank you, Sakura. You know, once this bounty is off your head, I hope we'll see you again."
Deidara was repulsed by Kisame's smile and shot back at him, "You're creepy when you smile." Kisame just glared with annoyance and began shoveling down his eggs with his fingers. "Thank you for the eggs," Deidara smiled. Sakura nodded and made sure everyone got their eggs before she did. Itachi ate his quietly while Deidara attempted his best to sit next to her. "Are you feeling alright?" he whispered. Sakura nodded for she couldn't help thinking about Gaara. "I'm fine. We need to pick up some supplies from a nearby village if we're traveling towards the Tea country." Sakura stated.
Itachi looked up at her and said, "We'll be heading in that direction but we have people trying to track us, so for now we need to divert them and try and go through Wind Country to get to the Tea country." Sakura nodded, and held back her over welcoming emotion of maybe running into Gaara. She felt excited and happy that she might see her Gaara.
--
Nightfall the group were at a head run, hurtling through the trees as fast as they could. Sakura struggled to catch up with them, for the Akatsuki were faster than she ever was. She ended up remaining fifty feet behind them. "Slow down!" she gasped. She was exhausted. They were running for two days now. Deidara looked back at her over his shoulder and slowed his pace to be a few feet in front of her. "Come on, we're almost there." he encouraged.
Sakura panted and nodded, she continued to run. A few times she had to push her self off branches. By the time they stopped, Sakura had completely exerted herself. She collapsed to the ground and was unable to get up. Deidara picked her up in his arms, and looked up at Itachi, "What do we do?"
Itachi walked over to her in Deidara's arms, "Let me hold her for a while. I want you to get rid of the group who are following us."
Deidara nodded in agreement and handed her into Itachi's arms. In seconds Deidara had contracted a large white dove. He saw that Sakura noticed and said, "It's how I see you, so in a way you'll be with me." Sakura smiled and watched him fly into the sky with the dove under his feet. Then he was gone. She looked back up at Itachi, then closed her eyes to slowly fade into a slumbering sleep.
--
Deidara flew and directed the dove to the direction the followers were coming. He threw handfuls of robin-bird bombs into the forest to bring them out. Two of them jumped onto the canopy of the trees. They looked up at him and suddenly stopped. They had recognized him somehow. Deidara took another look down with his scope hidden under his bangs, and saw it was Kankuro and Temari waiting. Zooming in closer he saw three other leaf ninja below pursueing open spaces that weren't under fire.
"Deidara where is Sakura?" Temari bellowed. Kankuro glared up at Deidara and shouted, "You sack of shit! You tried to mess around with Sakura right in front of Gaara's eyes! She trusted you, and this is how you repay her!?"
He tried to look passed Deidara and see if there was any sign of Sakura. Then Kiba radioed in, "I got her scent. She's with two other people. Both fully adult male. One smells almost like Sasuke for some reason...weird. They're heading NW towards the Wind Country. But wait. They have another scent going south towards the ocean by the tea country. Hinata, Shino, and I will follow that. Akamaru will help you keep track of the scent heading into your territory. Understood?" Kiba instructed. "Got it, dude. Take the south, we'll take the NW." Kankuro responded.
Author's note: I know I seem to have taken my sweet ass time. :( sorry people. I struggled coming up with ideas! :) And..I just rented Ultimate Ninja 3 of the naruto ps2 games! OO (it's awesome!)