~*Sexiest Ninja of Konoha*~: ^_^ I'm so happy about all the faves/reviews/alerts I'm getting for this comic! It's more popular than I thought it would be 0.0 Thank you guys :D
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Itachi spun the kunai on his middle finger, grinding his teeth. He could have killed Hidan, if Sasuke hadn't already done it. What the hell was he thinking, using his blood manipulation? Stupid religious bastard, always prattling about 'Jashin-sama' and 'His great will.' If Hidan took over Sasuke's body, heads would roll.
"Oi! Itachi, are you going to answer me or what, hmm?" Deidara grumbled. A nervous, squeaky voice piped up from the floor near Deidara's feet.
"Ano... Deidara-senpai... perhaps Itachi-senpai is thinking? And he wishes to be left alone," Tobi mumbled, bowing his head. Deidara glared at the shadow of a man on the floor, who was now groveling.
"Please, forgive me Deidara-senpai!" he cried shrilly, trembling. Deidara sighed. Spineless ingrate.
"What do you want Deidara?" Itachi muttered, putting an end to Tobi's wimpers.
"I asked whether or not you wanted in on the pool betting on your brother's life, hmm; I say he won't last another day, but Sasori-sama says different, hmm. He thinks he'll live, and Kisame says Hidan will win and take over his body, hmm," Deidara smirked. Itachi ceased spinning the kunai. Deidara knew that would irritate Itachi to no end, and his life had been slow lately.
"Unless you have a death wish, Deidara, I suggest you keep your dirty mouth shut," Itachi said thoughtfully, glancing at the smirking blond with the famous bloodred eyes. The smirk was gone.
"Hey, I didn't mean to offend you, hmm. I just wanted to cheer you up; friend to friend, hmm," Deidara folded his arms across his chest, nodding. He stopped cold and snapped his eyes open as the kunai hit the wall behind him with a thak. He blinked as tiny slit of his cheek was cut, the blood streaming into a thin line down his face, like a tear drop. The room was silent. Tense.
"Urusai... I'm trying to count money here," Kakauzu's raspy voice came from the next room. Itachi's eyes never left Deidara's surprised face. Tobi looked anxiously from one to the other.
"Usually, your mind would have come to a crisp by now; you would be dead and decaying before you hit the floor within the minute. But I couldn't be bothered listening to Pein bitch at me for killing you, or wasting my energy on a gutless being such as yourself," Itachi said quietly, smoothly. Deidara clenched his fist angrily, but said nothing. He knew very well that he was lucky to be escaping with a cut. He shouldn't have provoked the Uchiha in the first place... oh well.
-X-
Sasuke walked aimlessly through the dark... whatever. He kept pinching himself to stay awake. To remember. He kept repeating the words inside his head: Get out of here, get out of here. It took a lot of concentration and will power to fight this... curse. Yes. That sounded right. This was a curse, not poison.
'Hmm, you're smarter than I thought... yes, this is a curse, thanks to the one and only god, Jashin-sama! He definitely rewards his good, wholesome followers!' Hidan cried passionately. Sasuke ceased his constant repeating to reply tartly to Hidan.
"That's why you're dead, right?" he spat, then resumed his thinking and pinching his arm. He just had to keep walking, had to find a way out. Out of what though? He didn't even know what direction he was moving in; he could be going in circle's now for all he knew.
'Oi oi, don't get hasty. Jashin-sama works in mysterious ways...' Hidan's voice trailed off, becoming increasingly more distant. Sasuke stopped cold in his tracks. Had... had Hidan left?
'No... I'm still here... it's finally complete...' Hidan's distant voice was growing so faint, Sasuke could barely hear his words. What was complete? He grunted, doubling over as a pain blossomed in his chest. What the hell was this?
'I'm finally done... I can finally take over!' insane, psychotic laughter filled everywhere, ever crevice, ever part of Sasuke's being. It echoed in his head so loud it hurt. Sasuke clutched at it, crying out in pain. What an ugly sound! If he had to listen to it any longer, he would go insane! He would... he would...
'You won't do anything any longer. I am the reborn! I am reborn into the world as Uchiha Sasuke!'
-X-
Hishazaki was probing at the wound. He had cut through the skin and penetrated into the muscle, hoping to glimpse a hint of what might be causing these violent, spontaneous spasms in his patient.
"How much time before the anesthetics-" Hishazaki asked over his shoulder before he was cut off by a scream.
"He's... he's waking up!" the nurse cried. Hishazaki removed his tools, looking at Sasuke's face. Yes, he was awake! But... he was acting peculiar. Instead of crying out in pain, like most of his patients would have done at this point, he looked around the room hungrily, greedily, as if drinking in his surroundings for the first time. He shook his head; he had just woken up, it was probably just shock.
"Oi, Doctor, stitch me up will you?" were the first words out of Sasuke's mouth. Hishazaki faltered for a moment before nodding. He kept glancing worriedly at Sasuke as he stitched his skin together. His face remained stoic throughout all of it.
"Uchiha-san, would you like to see your friends?" a nurse asked. Sasuke turned his head slowly to face her.
"My... friends? Is... is Cherry Blossom with them?"
-X-
Neji stirred, looking up and down the deserted corridor. Wasn't that damned doctor done yet? They had been there for eight hours! He sighed, repositioning himself on the seat. Shikamaru was staring blankly ahead of him. Any regular passerby would think he was totally uninterested in the whole ordeal, but his friends new better. Neji knew Shikamaru was worried, and calculating hundreds of plans to save Sasuke, or bury him. He shifted his gaze to Sakura who was biting her lip uneasily. It was bruised and bleeding. Her eyes darted back and forth as she thought hard about something. Neji's eyes softened at her distress. He jerked in surprise as a loud snore jolted him out of his thoughts. He looked irritatedly at Naruto, who was sleeping curled into a ball, drooling all over Sakura's lap. At least she was wearing jeans.
"Guys! We're finished," Hishazaki called, standing outside Sasuke's door and waving to them. All three jumped up immediately. The sudden movement threw Naruto spiraling into the air, only to come crashing down at their feet.
"What? Whazz happning?" he gurgled. Hishazaki waved them over.
"He wants to see you guys," he said, smiling triumphantly. He was the man. They raced hurriedly to the door, Naruto stumbling after them. Sakura was first into the room, pushing past the disheveled nurse to rush to Sasuke's bedside. He was sitting up calmly, his hands folded neatly on top of his covers. He looked up as Sakura gave a cry of delight.
"Cherry Blossom," he smirked. Sakura threw her arms around him. She didn't even give the nickname a second thought.
"I'm so glad you're alright; you had us worried sick about you!" she whispered into his ear. He ran his hands up and down the length of her torso, not answering her. He could have taken her, right there and then.
'What would you think if I did that... Sasuke?' Hidan thought brutally, still hugging Sakura. Inside of him from somewhere, Sasuke grunted in annoyance.
'I would think that if you laid even a finger on her, I would kill you,' he yelled venomously. Hidan chuckled out loud.
"What's so funny?" Sakura teased, pulling out of the embrace. Hidan stroked her face with his finger, making Sasuke fume with anger and jealousy.
"Nothing, you just make me so happy," he said smugly. Take that Sasuke. You couldn't kill Hidan and get away with it.
"Hey teme! You made it!" a loud voice yelled ecstatically. Hidan grunted in annoyance at the blond haired fool of a shinobi that was grinning stupidly at him.
"Yeah, would you except anything less from me?" he scoffed. Shikamaru was squinting suspiciously as Sasuke's behaviour. Normally, he wouldn't be so cold and distant. Well, maybe he would, but not right after coming out of a near-death experience. Even Uchiha Sasuke would have been shaken. But he wasn't. He was smug and confident, as if nothing had happened.
"What are you staring at?" Sasuke shot at the plotting Nara. Shikamaru narrowed his eyes even more.
"Nothing, just happy to see you all better," he masked his irritation seamlessly. He would definitely have to keep an eye on Sasuke. This whole business seemed very insubstantial to him. He would have to delay his return to Tokyo. How troublesome.
-X-
Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. Sasuke had pulled through... alive.
"Yeah, we're going back to hotel now; Shikamaru decided to stay with us a little longer, just because he says he's tired after his flight, but I think he's lying," Naruto was babbling over the phone.
"Good, you may need support from the outside; remember, he isn't a new member of the Akatsuki, but he can definitely help you with plotting strategies," Kakashi said, rubbing his eye tiredly. The bags under his eyes had never been so defined. The blackness of it really added to the scene as well. He looked like an eighty year-old man, perfect.
"Right; I'll tell him. And you, Kakashi, you need to go get some sleep. You sound terrible, so I can only imagine you look worse," Naruto scolded. Kakashi sighed.
"Alright, then, I'm off. Remember to report in with updates," he said sternly before clicking the receiver. He rubbed his eye again and stood up. Now that Sasuke was safe and they were at the hotel, he could get some worry-free sleep. That is, while it lasted.
-X-
"It seems that Sasuke has survived; Sakura just called in and said they would report here tomorrow," Pein said conversationally, strolling into the lounge that was based in the middle of their headquarters building. Itachi was staring out the window again, and Deidara was playing with his clay. Toby was sitting at Deidara's feet- like usual- and Kisame was rebandadging his sword. Kakuzu was most likely somewhere counting expenses, and Sasori would be in the workshop. His other men would be out doing various missions and errands for him.
"Oh? Ne, Deidara-chan, you owe me money," Kisame grinned. Deidara stuck his tongue out.
"You don't know if it's Hidan or Sasuke yet; and we both owe Sasori money, hmm," he grumbled. Itachi clutched the armrest of his chair so hard, it splintered into thousands of pieces. Pein glanced at him lazily.
"You're going to see your brother for the first time in almost ten years; is that bothering you?" he asked thoughtfully. Itachi's mouth trembled with rage. It had been a while since he had showed his true emotions.
"I... no, I don't care," Itachi finally muttered, turning his back on the room and staring gloomily out the window. How he wanted to crush Pein's head, squeeze his neck until his esophagus exploded internally and stained his skin black with blood. But that would have to wait until he was strong enough to take on all of Akatsuki. As powerful as he was, he could only manage five at a time, maybe. Tch. More to his disadvantage. It couldn't be helped, though. He would just have to play the waiting game a while longer. And then he would have his revenge. Oh yes, he would have his revenge. He would taste Pein's blood on his tongue, feel his heart cease to beat in his hands. He would avenge his clan, his family.
Sasuke...
~*Sexiest Ninja of Konoha*~: ZOMG D: lol
By the way, just in case this was too complicated, or I wrote it kind of weirdly and you couldn't follow what the hell happened, I'll give you a summary: Hidan used a blood manipulation thing on Sasuke so he could take over his body. That's what the poison was: his own blood. Yes, yes, I know, total rip off of Orochimaru's technique, but this one takes longer xD so when 'Sasuke' wakes up, it's not really him; it's Hidan, and Sasuke is still kind of inside of him, like a prisoner in his own body. He avoided the full effects of Hidan's jutsu, so he still has somewhat of his memory, and he most definitely has not fallen into sleep. I was kind of hoping the whole "Cherry Blossom" thing would tip you guys off xD Oh well, that's all I have to say on that… please R&R with criticism! I want to know what I can do to make this better for you guys :3