Magnetism

Chapter Twenty-five

-Treason-

Akito stood on a sand dune, sharingan activated, and stared off into the distance at the desert wasteland called Suna. He didn't really understand how people could live here, but whatever. That wasn't his priority right now. At the moment, he needed to make sure his troops were ready for their 'surprise' attack. After defeating Mist in their battle a week ago, he had written Natsumi like he had promised, informing her of when he would be in Wind. And every night since he had left her, he'd looked at the moon when it reached midnight, and thought of her. He missed her so much. More than he thought he could miss a person.

He became alert when he felt her chakra drawing near and his anticipation grew. Good, she was on her way. The funny thing was that everyone in Konoha believed her to be dead still. And he couldn't tell them otherwise, because, technically, he had no proof.

Minako came up to him then. "Commander, the army is ready." She said, remaining formal with him. He nodded.

"Excellent. Today, we make up for last time." He said, keeping up his act. In reality, he and Natsumi would 'fight', once everyone got over the shock that she was still alive. His father was actually present for this battle, along with Naruto, since they were going to take Suna. But surprisingly, he didn't care that his father would be disappointed in him and call him a failure when he found out that Natsumi was still alive. All that mattered was that she loved him and wanted him.

Minako gave him a troubled look. After their last battle against Sand, she had thought he would've changed, since she knew he felt something for Natsumi. Instead, he had been more distant than usual, and now he was back to his normal self. She never thought he could be so callous and uncaring before, and now more than ever, she regretted her agreement to their marriage. Would he remain this way the entire time, even when they had kids? Because they would have to, it was in the contract that they both had to sign. Haru came up to join them then.

"Well this is it, isn't it? The day Suna falls to Konoha…" the brunette sighed, crossing his arms.

"Finally." He replied, continuing his stoic façade and keeping up his lie. He knew they weren't going to take Suna, especially since Natsumi was alive.

"Commander Natsumi-sama, are you sure that you are ready for battle. You just recovered last week from a fatal blow." One of the lieutenants asked worriedly, as he followed the pink haired woman who was in the lead.

"So Youn, please calm yourself." Natsumi smiled, waving her hand in the air in a dismissive manner. She tied her head band around her forehead, tugging up her gloves. She was dressed similar to how she was in her last battle. She had on her short shorts, her thigh high shoes, and her laced up Anbu vest. The only significant difference was that she had a black long sleeved shirt on, the tight collar going halfway up her neck. She had her sleeves pushed up to her elbows and had Akito's ring around her neck proudly. Besides anyone who saw it, wouldn't be able to catch the symbol as fast as she would be moving.

Satomi and Toshiro came to her side, looking out at the desert. The Konoha forces had already entered the desert and were headed towards them now. Temari and Kankuro came up as well, looking down at their niece. "I don't understand why dad sent you two to babysit me. I'm going to be fine." The youngest of the sand siblings smirked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Just be careful Natsumi. Kill the Uchiha and get it over with." Temari said simply. The pink haired woman rolled her eyes, starting forward and leading their ninja army towards the oncoming threat. They wouldn't go too far from Suna, but just enough to keep it safe. This was it. She was finally going to see Akito again. It had been too long in her opinion and now the moon only reminded her of his beautiful face.

As they traveled they finally saw their enemies, making their way towards them. Natsumi halted her army and waited patiently, Akito would come to her. Just like he always did.

Minako gasped as the Suna army came into view. "Akito-kun! Natsumi-chan is alive, and is leading the army!" she exclaimed, looking at him in surprise. He remained unfazed by the news.

"Is she now? Guess I'll have to do a better job of killing her this time then." He said nonchalantly. The news of her return spread through the Leaf troops like wildfire, and the soldiers began to get restless. They had initially thought that they would be able to take Suna this time since the sand princess was dead, but at the sight of her, they feared that the battle would be similar to the last one. For if their Commanding General, Uchiha Akito, could not take her out, then there was no hope.

Smirking as he saw the Suna army halt, Akito raised his hand slowly, causing his men to become silent. He swiftly lowered it in one quick movement, signaling the beginning of the battle. The Konoha army started forward then, shouting their battle cries. They would fight with everything they had, despite the pink haired woman's return.

Searching the line of enemy shinobi, he searched for Natsumi. Finding her, he began to run in her direction, but halted when he saw that his father was already headed towards her. There was no way he would make it in time to get to her first, since he had been positioned father back in the troops so he could overlook them. Cursing silently to himself, Akito headed for her anyway. If he couldn't fight Natsumi, then at least he could fight near her, to make sure she was okay. But before he could even reach her, a huge gust of wind swept him up, causing him to fall back. "Uchiha. You will not get near my niece ever again." Temari seethed, readying her fan for another attack.

Natsumi looked around, seeing everyone had already begun to engage in their own battles. But she was trying to find Akito, she wanted to see him so badly. Her sense sharpened and in one fluid movement she drew her sword from her back and deflected a blade aimed for her. She almost let a smirk come to her face, but it wasn't Akito who she was fighting, it was his father! She was forced back, as she barely blocked all his attacks. The sand around her shot towards him, slithering around like vines needing to ensnare its prey. "Uchiha Sasuke. Long time no see." She smirked.

His facial expression didn't even change, unlike Akito's would have. "Hn. My son is useless it seems, if he was unable to kill someone such as you. I will just have to finish the job for him." He said, attacking her once more.

She just laughed, "You think you can beat me old man? I'm gunna kick your ass, just like my daddy kicked yours." She let her sword rest on her shoulder, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "I wonder if killing you would piss Akito off," she chuckled, taking off and disappearing in the blink of an eye. The next thing the elder Uchiha saw was the blade, aimed for his center. He dodged, but felt the steel slice across his arm. His hand went immediately to the cut, it wasn't deep, but it was a clean sweep. Natsumi flipped back, landing on her feet and staying ready. "When are you going to give me the credit I deserve?"

"When you actually deserve it." He replied, sending lightning into his blade. He disappeared then, actually excited for this fight. It wasn't often he could fight worthy people, and she seemed worthy, although he would not feed her ego with the knowledge. Plus, it had been years since he could actually go all out with someone and not kill them within the first five minutes of the fight. When he reappeared he was behind her, and he slashed at her back, just barely missing. But unlike when she fought Akito, Sasuke's attacks were aimed to kill.

Her playful smile vanished, it was hard, since lately she had only fought Akito. But Sasuke was very skilled and unlike Akito, Sasuke was not in love with her. She jumped back, solidifying her sand and pushing off so she could meet his attack. Their swords clashed over and over again, but the sand around Sasuke's feet began to move and hold him down, well at least slow him down. And she could tell it was really starting to agitate him, because she was already faster than him, he didn't need this inhibiting him as well. She attempted an attack with her sword and when their blades met once more she thrust her free hand forward, the dark green glow emitting from it as she aimed for his heart.

He twisted his body and quickly formed a sword in his free hand made of lightning. Using his momentum, he swung around and aimed for her center, causing her to halt her attack on him and dodge the deadly blade. It was in that moment Sasuke saw the necklace she was wearing, and the ring dangling from it. "How dare you. You are not worthy enough to wear that ring girl. And when I take it back, I will be sure Akito is punished within an inch of his life for this betrayal." He seethed.

"And how do you know I didn't just steal this when I was in Konoha last?" she arched a delicate brow, moving side to side, and avoiding all Sasuke's blows. She dashed to the left, disappearing from his sight and slamming her hand down on his already wounded arm with as much force as she could. But she could only send a bit of her harmful chakra into his muscle before he forced her off and followed up with another lightning attack.

"Then Akito will still be punished for being useless enough to allow you to steal it." He responded, swiping at her once more. Predicting where she would land when she dodged, he quickly did a few hand signs and sent his family's most famous fire jutsu in the direction.

She glared hatefully at him, she was done with this man and how cruel he was to her precious Akito. She would kill him for her love and rid him of the terrible tyrant. Natsumi barely dodged the fire ball, going a bit wide eyed. Was he predicting her movements that well? She smirked then, fine, she would just let her mind go. Sure it was dangerous to allow herself to become unstable but she'd be damned if she let herself be seen through. Her speed picked up then and she was glad the fact made the elder Uchiha grimace. The fact that she brought him displeasure just exhilarated her.

Meanwhile, Temari was keeping the younger Uchiha occupied. He had to admit that the older woman was skilled. But it was obvious her strong suits were only in long range, so if he could get close he would have victory. The blonde whipped out her fan, yelling out a summons, as a weasel soared straight for Akito on a gust of wind, holding a scythe.

He quickly bit his thumb and summoned a large hawk, one that was decked out in armor and had metal coating its talons, making them even more deadly. His summons flew at the weasel, preoccupying it. In Temari's moment of surprise, Akito used his speed to get close to her. He drew his sword from his back and slashed down at her, only to have her block his attack with the outside of her fan.

"Nice try boy. I admit you're better than I thought." The blonde said, swinging her fan and creating another huge gust of wind.

Akito smirked and made a few hand signs as he jumped out of the way, sending a large fire jutsu at her, which was only made bigger by her wind. She dodged, but not before a bit of her hair was singed off at the ends. "You're not too bad yourself, for an old lady." He taunted.

"I'm not old you punk!" she shook her fist in the air angrily, "Now get outta my desert, you no good Uchiha!" she swung her fan over and over again, starting a giant cyclone that sped straight for him. Luckily, for everyone else, they had avoided the two knowing the fight would take a lot of range.

Akito just smirked. Had she not learned her lesson? Wind only fueled his fire. He formed a series of hand signs, and suddenly a large fire dragon shot from his mouth. It flew straight at the oncoming cyclone, growing bigger once it hit the wind. Then it continued on its path towards Temari. Knowing she would be preoccupied with that for a while, since he had made it to follow her for a few seconds, Akito shifted his red gaze to where Natsumi was fighting his father. He exhaled in relief, seeing that she was holding her own against Sasuke. Then his eyes widened when he saw that she had fallen for his father's trap.

In the midst of their fight, Sasuke had allowed himself to be injured in his shoulder, giving Natsumi the impression that she was going to win the fight. But while she had let the victory of the blow go to her already oversized ego, his father had summoned the King Cobra, which was now striking at her swiftly, and she was sparely fast enough to dodge the large snake. While she was distracted with that, Sasuke activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, and was in the midst of aiming his Amaterasu at her, since he would be able to tell where she would land when the snake struck. Finally picking the opportune time to strike, the black flame began to shoot from the elder Uchiha's right eye.

"No! Natsumi!" Akito shouted, and using a speed he didn't know he possessed, he quickly ran over to her and grabbed her, jumping out of the way of the deadly embers. When he landed he was holding her bridal style, and he looked over at his father, glaring hatefully.

"You traitor!" Sasuke yelled in disbelief, not believing that his own son would turn against him. Suddenly everyone else stopped fighting at the elder Uchiha's exclamation, a sea of eyes turning towards the trio and widening at the sight.

"Are you alright?" Akito asked the woman in his arms, his watchful glare not leaving his father.

Natsumi just stared wide eyed up at Akito, gripping his shirt tightly. "Wh-what was that black fire?" she asked, looking just like the little girl from his past who had been frightened out of her wits.

He glanced down at her and then back up, not dropping his guard. "Amaterasu, one of the many abilities of the Mangekyou Sharingan. It eats everything in its path, able to be controlled by its master, and only disappearing when its master gets rid of it. Nothing can deflect it, and nothing can stop it."

Natsumi let herself down from his arms, but he still kept a firm grip on her. She glanced around noticing that everyone was watching them now. "Natsumi-sama!" a couple Jounin came closer only to be met by her sand wall. "What's going on Natsumi-sama?" they asked.

She closed her eyes and looked up at Akito, catching his gaze. Toshiro and Satomi walked up, standing beside Minako, watching the two. Natsumi grabbed Akito's face in her hands and brought his lips to hers, showing to her own people that she too was a traitor. She would not allow Akito to go down alone. "Akito," she whispered against his lips. "I love you, more than I love my village."

He smiled down at her and stroked her cheek tenderly. "I love you more than I love my honor." He replied, kissing her sweetly, leaving no doubt for his own forces that he really was betraying his village.

Sasuke grew outraged. "That's it!" he yelled, then looked out at the troops. "I am hereby taking charge. Everyone, kill the traitor!" he ordered, pointing at the couple. The Leaf shinobi reacted quickly, too afraid of Sasuke to disobey him, and, their Commander had saved the sand princess, and was currently kissing her. That was enough reason for them.

"Akito-kun…"Minako whispered sadly, frozen in place. She knew what this meant, and the thought upset her.

Satomi seemed to snap, stepping forward. "Suna Shinobi, ignore the Konoha ninja and kill Sabaku no Natsumi and Uchiha Akito! They are both traitors and deserve nothing but death!" she pointed. They hesitated at first, but Satomi was Natsumi's elder and it was plain that even the strong sand princess had turned her back on them.

Toshiro frowned, taking a step forward to protect his sister, but stopped. He knew better and he knew Natsumi would not allow herself to die.

The pink haired woman looked up at her love and smiled brightly. "So are you proposing?" she teased, lacing her fingers with his. He could already feel the sand swirling around them, prickling against his skin.

"Actually, I proposed the day I sent you that ring." He said, nodding towards her neck. "But now it's official." He smiled, placing his forehead on hers and deactivating his sharingan, since he knew they would not be touched.

She laughed and closed her eyes, pressing her lips against his once more. The sand around them swirled and surrounded them and when it fell the two were gone. Satomi screamed out in rage. "I want that Uchiha bastard found and I want his head brought back to me on a silver platter!"

"Satomi!" Toshiro yelled, silencing everything once more on the battle field. He glared at his sister, not wanting to have to deal with her right now but she was out for blood. "Stand down. Now!" the red head stepped forward and gave Sasuke a stern look. "Obviously now we each have our own problems to deal with. If you agree to leave now, we will not attack you."

He nodded. "Yes, the Hokage will want to know of this. Pray that you find them first, because if we do, your sister is dead." He said, signaling for his troops to leave. They did so quickly, wanting to get back to Konoha as soon as possible.

Toshiro nodded and ordered his own troops to do the same. He needed to inform his father of this immediately, and he knew already that it was not going to go over well.

"Natsumi did what?" Gaara shouted, slamming his fists on his deck. Both Toshiro and Satomi shied away, feeling their father's sand swarming angrily around in the air.

"She disappeared with that Uchiha." Satomi said softly, unable to meet her father's gaze.

Sakura let out a sigh and placed her hand to her forehead, trying to stop her oncoming headache. She should have known this would happen, suspected it even when her daughter had come to her crying about the boy. But she had hoped that Natsumi had seen the error of her ways and moved on, just as she had all those many years ago. But, this meant that her daughter really did love him, since she turned against her country, her family, just to be with him. Something that Sakura could relate to, since she had done the same to be with Gaara. But she wouldn't say so, especially when her husband was in such a bad mood. She had never seen him this livid, not since Konoha had tried to kill their daughters when they were young. Looking up at her family, her gaze fell on her son, who appeared not to be as surprised as Gaara. Figuring that he knew more than he was letting on, she spoke up. "Toshiro should go after her." She stated.

Both the red heads looked to her in surprise. "What?" Toshiro asked, clearly having missed something since he was deep in thought.

"Are you insane?" Satomi snapped. "The only reason she better be brought back is so that I can execute her myself! This is not fair! How come I have to deal with all this political bullshit and negotiations for Suna?" the eldest twin yelled, actually showing emotions for once. "I have to go off to Iwa even though I don't want to, but when Natsumi betrays the village all were doing is bringing her back so she can be scolded?"

Gaara glared at his daughter, silencing her. "This is completely different Satomi."

"Why?" Satomi snapped back, frowning. "Because Natsumi is your precious little princess? God, I hate you both so much!" she yelled, turning around and leaving the room. Toshiro just stared after her, utterly confused.

"What is she talking about?" he asked.

The Kazekage sighed, running a hand down his face. "Your mother and I have been offered something very rare from Iwa. They want to form an alliance with us and…they made us a very nice offer that sparked our interests."

Toshiro still didn't seem to catch on. His parents hated Iwa. It was the placed they had been taken when they were kidnapped. "I don't understand…"

"They want to marry the Tsuchikage's grandson off to someone in Suna." Gaara said finally.

The younger red head grimaced as realization washed over him. "You mean either Satomi or Natsumi?"

"Natsumi was too unstable to send to Iwa to be married off." Gaara interrupted quickly. "She's irrational and we didn't know what she would do if she were placed in that situation."

Toshiro looked at his mother. "So you're just going to send her off…to get married to the place you hate the most. What exactly did they offer you?"

Sakura averted her emerald gaze. "They offered us all the men who survived from the place they kept us. And will allow us to execute them personally."

Their son frowned, looking down towards the ground. "I don't know mom…maybe…we should just let Natsumi go?"

She shut her eyes, a lone tear escaping and rolling down her cheek. Opening them, she gave her son a concerned look. "Honey, if Konoha finds them, they will kill your sister and take Akito back to be punished. I know she can handle herself, but they have very skilled assassins. Especially now that they have seen Natsumi fight more than once, they will no doubt have a plan on how to take down your sister. I would rather have her here and unhappy, than out there with a price on her head. The other nations will no doubt hear of this, and they will send bounty hunters of their own. Leaf for sure has put up a hefty reward for her head." She explained.

"Mom, she's with Akito. Natsumi is one of the strongest ninja to ever live and you know as well as I do that the Uchiha are powerful. If they don't want to be found, which I assume they don't, they won't be found." He said seriously, "Natsumi is a tracker, she's not going to allow someone to follow her. And Akito is more than capable of protecting her." He stopped immediately, realizing he had just called the Uchiha by his name.

Gaara glared at his son, he had certainly not missed that. Sakura just hit the wall with her fist, causing the entire building to shake. "I don't care Toshiro! She is my daughter and I want her found now! Because so help me God I will go out there and find her myself if I have to, and while I'm at it, I'll kill that damn Uchiha." She said with conviction, a hateful glare marring her usually happy features.

Toshiro stared at his mother, a little shocked that she had gotten angry with him. "Sakura, you are not leaving the village." Gaara said sharply, giving her a furious glare. He dared her to defy him. He would not put his wife in danger, especially with everything that was going on right now. "Toshiro." The Kazekage growled, walking around his desk. "You will go and find your sister, you will bring her back, and you better not set foot in this village until you have done so. Do you understand?"

Calming down a bit, Sakura walked up to her son and gave him a tender look, placing her hand on his cheek in an attempt to apologize for being so terse with him. It wasn't his fault, he was just there for both parents to take their frustrations out on. "Honey, please just do as we ask. You may not agree, and you may not understand, but please do it anyway. I know you will find her, you know your sister better than all of us, and you will sense her sand, no matter what." She said, rubbing his cheek softly.

"Yes ma'am." He said, a scowl forming on his face. He left then, not wanting to be his parent's scapegoat any longer.

Gaara sighed and leaned against his desk, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How could this have happened?"

Sakura let out a sigh and shook her head. "She loves him. Somehow, she fell in love with that Uchiha, enough to betray her village to be with him." She said.

"But why? How! The only time they ever saw each other was on the battle field." He leaned back, lying flat on his desk. This was just awful, things couldn't possibly get any worse.

She walked over and placed her hands on the desk next to his head, looking down at him. "Remember when she was gone for almost two weeks, and Toshiro thought she had hickeys on her neck?" she asked, surmising that they were from the young Uchiha.

Gaara growled. "How could our Anbu not find her, yet of all the people in the world, he happens upon her?"

"Well he is in the Konoha Anbu Black Ops, supposedly. So he has some skill. Either that or fate threw them together, just as it did us in that cell." She suggested. She wasn't entirely keen on the idea that her daughter was meant to be with the Uchiha, but as she had said, as long as her kids were happy, she was happy. And if that boy made Natsumi happy, then Sakura was willing to try and deal with it.

"It is not that same!" he huffed, sitting up quickly and looking back at her. "That was reasonable. We spent every day together and neither of us had a hidden agenda. Plus I'm not an Uchiha, so that automatically makes it right. While it makes this wrong." He said crossing his arms defiantly.

She cupped his face in her hands and smiled slightly at him. "Sweetheart, I know this is difficult for you, especially because it's Natsumi who's out there. You think I don't have a vendetta against Uchihas as well?" at his pouting look she kissed him. "We just have to try and look at this objectively, no matter how difficult it is. Akito is not Sasuke, so maybe he has some hope. Not a lot, but some. And, he turned his back on Konoha to be with Natsumi, so he's in the same boat she is right now. I highly doubt he has a hidden agenda when it comes to her, since Uchiha have too much pride to fake liking someone and being called a traitor, just to gain something in return. Hopefully Toshiro will find her quickly and bring her back, where we can ask her ourselves what it is this boy means to her. Natsumi can handle herself, and if it turns out that he is using her, I have no doubt she will kill him in the most painful way possible." She said with a reassuring smile and stroking his cheeks. She needed to get him to calm down a bit more, because things would go downhill quickly if she was the only one thinking with a level head. Soon she would lose her temper again, and lord only knew what would happen then.

Gaara let out a deep sigh, relaxing slightly, "But she's my little girl. She's not supposed to fall for anyone who isn't me." He frowned.

Her smile widened and she chuckled lightly. "Well, she can't fall for you, because you're already taken. And I'll kill anyone who tries to take you away from me. I like having you all to myself." She said, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning against him slightly.

He smiled for the first time that night and pulled her closer, kissing her neck. "I just hope she's alright." He said sadly, his grip on Sakura tightening.

She nuzzled him, kissing his neck. "She's our daughter. She has my personality and wittiness, and your strength. There's no way she'll be hurt." She said as she pulled away so that she could see his face. "Now come on. We still have one child here who needs us right now."

He nodded, "You're right. Let's go make sure Satomi is ok."

Sakura smiled and took his hand, leading him out of his office and off to find their daughter.