I'M SO SORRY!
My deepest apologies. Updates will be on track again!
"You're lying." Sae said as she bent to grab the hilt of her katana, slipping it into a reverse-grip, "I won't fall for such a ridiculous scam." Venom iced her tone as she skipped back, throwing her sword with a startling amount of force. The ANBU flinched as she dove out of the way, whirling as her teammate gave out a cry, Saezuri's katana cleanly piercing his shoulder through.
"You..." The woman flipped her gaze back to Sae, who stood with a smug touch to her lips.
"Aww, I wanted to get him!" Tobi whined loudly, crossing his arms childishly as his ANBU opponent staggered, gripping the katana and pulling it out.
"Get serious, Tobi!" Deidara snarled as he dropped from the building rooftop, the third ANBU on his tail with a fire jutsu streaming from his lips, exposed from his tilted mask. Saezuri moved and started handseals, gaining the female ANBU's attention once more.
"We'll just have to take you in for associating with a known Iwagakure fugitive, then." She snarled as she moved into a battle-stance, strawberry blonde braid whipping to the right as she darted forward. Sae finished her seals and raised her pointer fingers to her mouth, blowing a thick stream of water that caught the petite woman in the chest.
"Fugitive? I didn't flee from anything, hm!" Deidara yelled as he landed with a strong stance, sliding on his feet some as the clay barrier he had thrown up was battered by the fire jutsu.
"You're a fugitive classified in the bingo book! There's no escaping it, you're coming back with us." The obvious lead ANBU stated, straightening from his crouch and wiping the soot from his mouth, "All three of you!"
"Hey hey! I have nothing to do with this!" Tobi skidded to a halt, pointing an accusing finger at the ANBU that had spoken. Saezuri paused in irk when the third ANBU, whose shoulder was still weeping blood, fell on Madara and pinned him with an elaborate hold. "Can't- breathe!" Tobi wheezed as he weakly reached out with a hand, the ANBU's legs wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Saezuri!" Deidara snapped, throwing an arm towards the sky. Startled, Sae whipped around in time for the woman ANBU's foot to catch her in the neck, sending her to the rubble-filled street with a choke.
"Damn it." Sae hissed as she rolled out of the way of the woman's follow-up stomp, sand flying into her eyes. Blindly reaching back to her sheath, her hand was met with empty air as she groped around for the hilt of her katana.
"Looking for this?" The ANBU woman asked, holding up Sae's sword. The metal gleamed slightly in the light, betraying its owner as the ANBU plunged it deep through Saezuri's arm and into the street below. The woman kept a firm grip on the hilt as she knelt to peer at Sae's contorted face, blonde strands sticking to her forehead as sweat perspired from her pores. "You'd make a formidable comrade." The ANBU tilted her head slightly, touching Sae's cheek with one hand curiously, "Come back to Iwa with us."
"Get," Sae huffed, flexing her pierced arm, "your grubby hands," she could feel the metal where it was slipped between the two main bones in her forearm, "OFF my sword!" With a carefully controlled thrust, she caught the woman in the jaw with her free hand, kicking her in her chest as she was stumbling backwards. With a pained groan Saezuri pulled her katana from her arm, chilled when for a brief moment she could see the street below through her flesh. Running forward, Saezuri feinted to the left and swung her katana from the right, cleanly creating a gash through the woman's uniform over her ribs. Quickly using dirty street moves, Sae knocked her in the teeth with the butt of her hilt, before grabbing the back of the woman's recoiling head and bringing her knee up and into her forehead. Fast, Sae hooked a slim hand under the woman's stiff ANBU vest near her waistline, jerking her body forward and sweeping her feet out with a vicious kick.
"Enough!" The lead ANBU barreled into Sae, knocking her wavering balance off as she released the woman. Instead of attacking further the man just hovered cautiously as Saezuri recovered, her senses wild.
"I'll get you back for that." The woman ANBU spat as she stood, her face broken and bleeding.
"Stop. Chase after Deidara while I wrap up here." The lead snarled, calling attention to the fact that Deidara had slipped off. Sae's dark eyes darted around in search for either him or a clay creature, but could see nothing other than a moaning Tobi still crushed in an ANBU's grip.
"Fine." The woman shortly said, her braid trailing after her as she nimbly leapt from the street, catching a balcony bar with a swift hand and hopping over the rooftop and out of sight.
"Your father is waiting." The lead turned his attention back to Sae, the dark holes of his mask enough to raise the hairs down her spine. She dithered for a moment, cautiously lowering her katana after a tense silence.
"How do I kn-"
"Saezuri." She abruptly cut herself off as Madara's tone lashed out viciously, his head turned enough so that his single eyehole was boring into her.
"But I..." She trailed off, flinching when Madara easily tore the ANBU off from him and threw the man into the adjacent alleyway. The lead observed her reaction with a tense suspicion, his arms flying up when Madara turned towards him.
"Go." He shortly said, reaching out with a large hand and catching Saezuri's wrist. The lead paused for a moment before recollecting his senses, raising one hand and disappearing with a neat pouf. "You need to focus." Madara turned to Sae, who was looking away sullenly. He tapped her collarbone twice, stilling when he noted her still refusing attitude to grant his attention. His lips pursed faintly under his mask as he resorted to pinching the delicate skin of her neck harshly, her responding squeal enough to make his mood dark.
"I am focused, just fine!" Sae finally snapped as she brought her gaze to the single eyelet in the orange mask, irked enough by the object to snatch it from Madara's face. His greeting expression was almost enough to make her want to replace it, his pulled eyebrows and firmed lips speaking of his irritation.
"You're not. We're after the three-tails, remember?" His slightly caustic tone caused Saezuri to clam up, her jaw set.
"Just because your family is all dead doesn't mean mine is." Saezuri clenched her hand that held the mask, the ceramic groaning underneath the pressure. She knew she had crossed a line by how still Madara was as he blankly stared at her, before he suddenly lunged for her. His huge hand was just closing over the dome of her skull and the other fisting in her shirt dress dangerously as her hands were flying up in a useless defense when they both heard a scattering of small pebbles.
"We'll discuss this later." Madara lowly said as both their frozen muscles tweaked with adrenaline; he eased his grip off Sae and she smoothed her clothes calmly, facing the direction the noise had come from.
"Come out!" She raised her voice after a few pregnant seconds, sighing in relief when it was Deidara, haggard and breathing hard. Her fingers twitched wildly when she realized that she had been holding Madara's mask, but when she whirled around in search of the orange object, she found it already on the Uchiha's face.
"Having a lover's spat, hm?" Deidara eyed them both, his nostril flaring as he hunched to the side to spit. He looked at the splattered blood with disgust, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Nevermind. Let's just go already."
"What happened to the ANBU?" Sae asked, more curiosity than apprehension in her tone; Deidara said nothing as he worked his palm with his fingers, revealing a sparrow.
"Don't worry about it, un." He finally spoke as her pressed his thin fingers together, the bird enlarging. He climbed on top as Tobi followed, orange mask turning towards Sae with an air of expectation.
"I'll take Sen. Go!" She flicked a hand, ever aware of Madara's clenched hand.
"Fine. Head southeast if you get lost." Deidara said as the bird leapt into the air, leaving Saezuri alone in the street. She waited until the clay was out of sight before warily adjusting the arm guards attached to her forearms, sneaking into the shadows carefully with one last glance at the sky.
Thoughts?