I'm very sorry for keeping you all waiting for this chapter. I came down with malaria and now I've had to go through my mid-terms so it's been pretty hectic. Anyways I apologize once again.
The surprise interference of Sasori in the middle of the fight had created a stir.
Sasuke was bleeding profusely while Suigetsu was in a bad condition.
"We'd better retreat" said Karin as Jugo burst out some smoke bombs and while the smoke cleared the four disappeared.
"Oh no, I'm not letting them get away so easily" said Akane as she prepared to jump after them but she found a hand grabbing hers and swinging her around so that her back was pressed to a tree and ten hands pinning her down against it.
"You've caused enough trouble, all you'll do now is go back to the base with me" said Sasori sternly.
"Who do you think you are ordering? Just because you're my partner doesn't mean you have the right to flaunt your authority wherever you want "cried Akane kicking and scratching at the puppets that held her down in rage as Sasori merely stood by and watched.
After ten minutes she collapsed on a parched branch sweating and panting.
"Are you done or have you got the sequel part of the show ready as well" said Sasori.
"Shut up" said Akane still panting as she struggled to stand up but fell back.
Soon the world around her began to fade away and she found everything black.
"News is that Orochimaru has supposedly been killed by Sasuke who now is searching for Itachi with a team he has put together" said Jiraiya.
"Would you mind mentioning where you get these astonishingly accurate scraps of information from Jiraiya? I really doubt your source is a legimate one because you are never willing to show it" accused Tsunade.
Jiraiya smiled at her, "Well I'll tell you my source if you tell me where you hide all that booze you're always drinking?"
"Humph, one up to you, but seriously, are you sure this information is accurate?" asked Tsunade.
"Undoubtedly, only this will have quite a wrong impact on…"
The door burst open and Naruto Uzumaki stood with Sakura and Sai behind him.
"Is it true?" he asked panting.
"It is true Sasuke's left Orochimaru and he's now coming back to Konoha?" asked Sakura with her face aglow with happiness and joy.
Tsunade and Jiraiya exchanged looks.
"Where did you here this from? It's supposed to be top secret" said Tsunade.
"Meaning it's true? Sasuke-kun will be with us again? Is it true shishou, please tell us" begged Sakura.
" What you have heard is only half correct, Sasuke has not left Orochimaru, he's killed him, and no, Sasuke is not returning to Konoha as of now, if that had happened then I would have been extremely surprised, you two are forgetting why he joined Orochimaru in the first place, while Itachi lives, Sasuke will never find peace" said Tsunade.
Sakura's face fell, Naruto's acquired a dark look and surprisingly Sai looked a little relieved.
"I knew it was too good to be true" said Naruto in a low voice as he turned to leave.
Sai followed him out but Sakura remained firmly standing there.
"Shishou, I want to ask you something. Please don't be insulted" said Sakura.
"Go on" said Tsunade looking curious as to what her polite pupil would say that would insult her.
"I wanted to know, what efforts are being made to bring Sasuke back, over the past three years not a single positive report about the whereabouts of Sasuke have been brought in, are you even trying to rescue him from the darkness? Are you even trying, shishou?"Asked Sakura quietly.
Tsunade seemed taken aback but Jiraiya glanced knowingly at the young rosette standing before them.
"I want to tell you Sakura about the Nijou Shoutai, they are a group of very specialized jounins some of whom you have already met, five members of the nijou shoutai have always been kept aside for the Uchiha business, they take no other mission, they only work to find Sasuke, and I'm sure a day will come when they will be successful" said Tsunade calmly.
"Five members? Is that it? Just five members? Five members are all that he means to you Shishou, he's a member of your own village and you keep just five members to track him down?" shouted Sakura with her eyes now glistening a little.
"Look Sakura, it's not as if I don't care about Sasuke, I do, but there are numerous reasons for not being able to give him my fullest attention yet, firstly, apart from Sasuke's threat there is also a massive threat of Akatsuki looming over our heads, on top of that the possibility between a war being declared between us and Iwagakure is very probable, we cannot send platoons of men after that one person, secondly, Sasuke had left the village of his own accord, of his own greed, I would have welcomed him back with open arms if he had returned after killing Orochimaru but no he has not which clearly disillusions you to the fact that it was Orochimaru who was keeping Sasuke there, thirdly, you are greatly doubting the capacities of the Nijou Shoutai, I can assure you that they are absolutely the best suited for this sort of job" said Tsunade still staring calmly at her pupil.
Sakura looked down at the floor; her breathing was very hard and rough.
"I'm sorry Shishou, I should not have lost my temper, I apologize" said Sakura bowing and walking away from the room.
Tsunade sighed and then rubbed her temples, "That boy Sasuke is turning out to be a much greater problem than I thought he would be and I just can't get my mind away from Akatsuki, on top of that there's that Black Assassin everyone's talking about and then the probable war with Iwagakure, I just loathe being Hokage at times"
" Hey take it easy, Naruto won't be a bother, Akatsuki is being watched out for everywhere, so is that Black Assassin, while Sasuke may seem a little problem now if he manages to kill Itachi then he may return and that would mean a great obstacle out of the way" said Jiraiya patting her on the back.
"I just hope what you say is true, I just hope" said Tsunade.
Outside Naruto and Sai were sitting at Ichiraku where Naruto had gone to drown his disappointment.
"Hey old man, the usual please" sighed Naruto as he slumped down on the stool.
"Rough day, Naruto-kun?" asked Teuchi cheerfully from the back.
"No, just had the largest disappointment of my life" said Naruto glumly.
"Sakura-Chan refused to go out with you again?" asked Ayame putting out two bowls.
"Nothing like that I tell you" said Naruto glumly slurping down the ramen present in his bowl.
"Tell me Naruto, what will happen if Sasuke comes back to Konoha?"Asked Sai looking at the downhearted blonde.
"We'll be able to be the best of friends again, Sakura-Chan and the others will become happy and my promise to Sakura-Chan will be fulfilled" said Naruto.
"I see" said Sai quietly.
"Why're you asking me?" inquired Naruto becoming a little more cheerful and a little suspicious.
Sai looked directly at Naruto, for a moment the deep black eyes met the shiny blue ones.
"Oh no reason at all" replied Sai quietly swallowing his noodles.
Akane and Sasori sat in a large cave on the outskirts of the Fire country. They had decided to wait there for the rest of the night and continue their journey back to Amegakure the next day.
A small fire lit up their cave and the two sat on opposite sides, not asleep but not entirely awake.
It was only when Akane noticed a red stain on the black part of Sasori's cloak that she became aware of her surroundings.
"You're bleeding" she stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Oh yes, I was ambushed by a pretty fast group of missing ninja, they gave me a few hits before I could exterminate all of them" said Sasori.
"Well what are you doing about that wound?" asked Akane.
"Nothing at all, I've been in the Akatsuki long enough to know that wounds like these tend to heal by themselves" said Sasori.
"What rubbish, you have a wound which is pretty serious and you sit here saying it will heal by itself? I know enough medical ninjutsu to know that a wound of that degree takes an eternity to heal naturally" said Akane forcefully.
"So what do you propose I should do instead?" said Sasori looking slightly amused at this outburst.
" I thought you were somewhat intelligent, it can't be simpler, if you get a wound, you simply treat it till it is no longer a bother, that is all there is to do isn't it?" asked Akane.
Sasori gave a small laugh, "Even though you are past twenty years of life and are probably one of the most powerful kunoichi's in the ninja world you still have a mentality of a seven year old, my dear partner"
Akane went red and said, "Well excuse me for being concerned."
At this Sasori's amused air faded and his eyes disappeared behind locks of flaming hair as he looked down.
"Were you really?" asked Sasori quietly.
"What was that? Can't you speak louder? Or has your throat not got accustomed to your new body?" asked Akane.
"Were you really concerned?" asked Sasori again.
Akane subsided but the red color of anger had now turned into a slight blush.
" O-of course not, I mean not concerned in any extreme sort of way, I mean since you got hurt while on a journey to assist me I feel it is my duty to help heal the wound you've got" said Akane stiffly.
"I see" replied Sasori.
"But in spite of that, I would like to say t-thank you for saving me back there" said Akane now becoming very interested in the fire between them.
Sasori allowed himself a small, inconspicuous smile, "You're welcome, but don't expect me to come saving you everytime you get into a fix"
"Of course not, what do you think I am? A genin?" questioned Akane indignantly.
"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" asked Sasori.
Akane got up and grabbed her kunai pouch and began rummaging in it for something.
"You wouldn't attack a wounded man now would you? You wouldn't be as cold hearted, cold blooded and cold minded to attack a man who has suffered tragedy now would you?" asked Sasori.
"No but as your partner it is my duty to see that wound is patched up, come on now remove your cloak" said Akane taking out a small medical kit from her pouch.
"I told you twice it's not necessary at all, I've borne much worse wounds in much more terrible conditions and yet I have survived" said Sasori.
" That's because you had a puppet body then, now that you have a human body the wounds will not only take longer to heal but also they will adversely affect your internal organs" said Akane pulling out cotton balls, a bottle of green ointment and some bandages.
"Hm? I never knew you were a medical ninja" said Sasori.
"I'm not, these are just the basic things I've picked up during my travels" said Akane.
"You travel? You're a traveler?" asked Sasori.
"Before I joined Akatsuki I worked as a lone mercenary traveling through all the smaller ninja villages and only sometimes entering into the five great ninja nations, on condition that the pay was sufficient" said Akane.
"Well Kakuzu was impressed with your money handling skills" said Sasori.
"It's true, you'll be shocked to know how many people, even civilians want dead, and you'll be even more shocked to find how much they offer for the job to be completed, I for one feel it is much safer to lurk beneath the shadows and work in the smaller villages than work in the great ninja nations where the chance of failure or capture is ten times more" said Akane.
"I see, that is a clever idea, profitable on both sides" said Sasori.
"Yes and are you going to remove your cloak and let me treat your wound now or will I have to pester you all night?" asked Akane.
"All right, all right," said Sasori removing his cloak to reveal a simple grey dilapidated shirt and a faded pant.
"You're really not into glamour and fashions now are you?" asked Akane lifting his shirt slightly and dabbing the wound with cotton.
"No, being in akatsuki since you're fifteen doesn't give you much scope for fashion, besides, all I ever have eye for are my victims and my eternal art" said Sasori.
"Humph, eternal art indeed, more like eternal pieces of wood turned into a battle machine" said Akane now applying some green ointment with exceeding gentleness.
"I'm too tired to argue on that point with you right now" said Sasori wincing slightly
"Is it stinging?" asked Akane bending over to apply the ointment better.
"Just a little" replied Sasori. "Her hair smells of roses" thought Sasori smiling.
"What're you smiling about?" asked Akane now putting on a white bandage on the green ointment.
"I would never have imagined, the great Akane Takigawa, the Black Assassin, member of the deadly Akatsuki to use rose scented shampoo" said Sasori.
Akane turned red for the third time that night and for the first time became extremely aware of the intimacy between them.
"Also it's a wonder how gentle you are right now compared to that cruel beast that you appear to be on the battle, is your tough outlook on the battle a façade and your really a feminine little girl from the inside?" asked Sasori thoroughly enjoying seeing his partner blushing more and more.
"Oh well... that's not a crime now is it and one can't expect someone to put ointment on a wound that same way I drive katanas through skin" she said as she nervously put on all the bandages and backed away hastily.
Sasori stared at her and said, "Yes you are correct. Thank you, your concern is much appreciated"
"It's no big deal, by the way, do happen to know if Itachi-san has any enemies?" asked Akane putting back the bottle of ointment.
"Itachi? Not any special enemy unless you consider his younger brother Sasuke" replied Sasori.
"Hmm, I seem to recall something about that, didn't Itachi-San massacre his whole family sparing only his younger brother?" asked Akane.
"True, now that you think about it, the guy who was attacking you today looked a lot like Itachi" said Sasori.
"And I think that red haired, bespectacled banshee called him Sasuke, so that must mean he's Itachi-San's younger brother out to seek revenge for the whole clan?" asked Akane.
" How imaginative you are, but yes in this case it is true, this pest has been hounding Itachi for around four years now going even up to the lengths of joining Orochimaru" said Sasori grumpily.
"I heard from Konan that Orochimaru was your partner in Akatsuki before Deidara, is that true?" asked Akane.
"Yeah that's right, why?" asked Sasori.
"No, it's just like you two are very familiar" replied Akane.
"How do you know? Have you even met him? And from what angle do I feel like Orochimaru?"Asked Sasori feeling insulted.
"Well I did do a mission for him once, I'd say you two have some similar characteristics, both of your names are associated with deadly animals, 'Orochi' means snake and 'Sasori' means scorpion" said Akane.
"And your point is?" asked Sasori still looking annoyed.
"Also both of you were in the same team and have the same creepy way of presenting yourselves, I think" said Akane taking revenge for the way Sasori made her blush minutes ago.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked now getting angry.
"I mean, he's creepy with his slicky tongue and snake like eyes but you…"
"I know I'm a creepy freak because I love inanimate pieces of wood and had a puppet body right? I've heard that a million times so I don't need you to tell me that" said Sasori getting up and leaving the cave.
Akane stared as he walked past her, "I was only going to say that he wasn't so creepy after all because he could see the good side of things once in a while, it must be a touchy subject to him" she thought as the night ticked on and Sasori did not return.
Well folks that's all for now. My exams are finally over so maybe I'll be able to post another chapter in a few days. Do review if you feel like it. Thanks for reading.