New chappie! Hope you like it! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto universe or the characters.

Claimer: I do own Ami, Hina and Chieko and whatever characters you've never heard of before in the Anime/Manga/Games/whatever you can think of that has Naruto in it. ^^

ENJOY!


Chapter 29: Saving him

Hina was running with the wind towards where Pein had sent Kakuzu and Hidan; The Country of Fire. She didn't like the fact that she was getting so close to the village she was born in, being a lot more careful after what happened last year with Kakashi hunting them and Danzo catching up to them. Her eye was, as mentioned, better, but her feelings of stress that day had been so huge, and she didn't feel like re-living them anytime soon.

Even though the thought of Sasori so hurt kinda stressed her. But she just didn't get why. Sasori was a puppet. He shouldn't be hurt unless it was a hit to the heart, and if it was, he'd be dead. Wouldn't he? Hina pushed herself harder at this thought of insecurity.


Not two hours later had Hina reached the Country of Fire. She had run through the Land of Sound, to reach the Valley of the End. Now she was there, standing on the statue of Uchiha Madara, searching for Kakuzu and Hidan. They shouldn't have gotten further, but it was possible that they had taken another way around to the Temple.

She sighed and sat down, trying to find them with her wind. She then opened her eyes wide when she felt a chakra hit her. She knew this chakra too well. She quickly concealed her own and jumped away, hiding behind the head of the Uchiha. She heard laughter and voices.

Kotetsu and Izumo, Hina thought, What're they doing here?

Now she was hoping Kakuzu and Hidan had taken the other way, but her wind had found them. She tried to slow them down as much as she could with a strong wind. She was starting to freak.

"KOTETSU, IZUMO! What the hell do you think you're doing out here? You're the guardians of Konoha! Get back there immediately!" a female voice bellowed, and Hina closed her eyes as she recognized the chakra as Ino's.

"Ino-san, we're taking a-"

"No, you're not. Azuma wants to speak with you. He said something about a mission," Ino said harshly and the two boys looked at each other.

"Well then," Izumo said and the two of them left.

Ino stood still. She looked in the direction of the statue of the eldest Uchiha.

"Oh, Sasuke," she whispered, "Won't you come back? If not for me, then for Naruto… and Sakura."

She closed her eyes and shuffled her feet before she walked away. Hina looked after her with both sorrow and relief. Sorrow, because of Sasuke, relief, because not two minutes later, Kakuzu and Hidan showed up.

"Kakuzu," Hina said to him, and he looked at her, surprised to see her as well as Hidan.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I need you to come back to the hideout in the Land of Rock. So," Hina said, and before he could say anything, she had grabbed both Hidan and Kakuzu, and the wind carried them away, mixed in with the water.

"OY! WOMAN! Let us down now!" Kakuzu demanded.

"Sasori is dying, and we need you to fix him," Hina said calmly.

Hidan looked annoyed. "Why can't he just die? We'd be better off without him," he said annoyed.

"And with 'we' you mean you and Chieko, right? Forget it, Hidan. She doesn't love you. And neither do you. You only want her to be your prize, and Chieko would never give in to you. And you should know this. But I guess your brain is just too small to comprehend so," Hina said coldly.

Hidan looked murderous and seemed to be about to hit her, but Kakuzu grabbed his arm.

"It is not worth it," he said in his normal, cold murmur.


They reached the hideout in less than three hours. It took a bit longer back thinking about the fact that she was also carrying one idiot and one money-freak on her chakra. Chieko and Ami looked extremely relieved when the three people arrived. Hidan smirked at Chieko, who didn't even notice him, but dragged Kakuzu with her into the living-room.

"Kakuzu, you can help him, right?" she asked and looked so hopefully at him that he couldn't even say anything, but walked over to Sasori, who was still conscious.

"You really shouldn't display your weak spot so evidently," Kakuzu told the redhead who frowned at him.

"But the fact that you survived a wound to the heart, I have to say, is very good. At least you belong in the Akatsuki," Kakuzu said.

Sasori didn't answer to that, and his eyes locked with Chieko's. She smiled slightly to him, but he saw how worried she was. He didn't like that look. He didn't want to worry her. And he certainly didn't want to her eyes to be blood-shot like they were now. He tried to smile at her, but he felt it come out as a grimace when Kakuzu suddenly poked the hole in his heart. It literally burned him.

And he had given off important information to their enemy about Orochimaru, but the information coming from that source couldn't be directly linked to the Akatsuki, so nothing should go wrong there. Or maybe one thing could go wrong:

They could be found out. Sasori found himself not giving a damn what that girl used her time in, and he didn't care if Chiyo Baa-sama was lying dead somewhere. It wasn't his problem. He was only glad the mission of the one-tailed was over.

Then he started feeling real tired, and just before his eyes slipped shut, he felt something grasp his hand and a calming, but rasp:

"Don't worry. He's only falling asleep."


Chieko sat in the only chair in the room, waiting for Sasori to wake up there he lay in the couch. She couldn't help but worry even though Kakuzu had told her that he was gonna be fine. Hina had taken Hidan and Kakuzu back to where they were, and Ami was in the kitchen with Deidara.

Chieko looked at Sasori. His chest was rising up and down so slowly. And nothing in the world made Chieko so happy as to know that the one part Sasori kept of himself, with exception of his brain, was his heart.

The only thing she'd ever need to hear was his heartbeat. She wouldn't need anything else. She didn't care. And then she blushed furiously. She had just imagined that Sasori was hers to take. She closed her eyes.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She then looked at him again. What if he was hers? Chieko smiled absentmindedly. And she rose. She couldn't help it, but she walked over to the couch and sat down on the floor. She then lifted her hand and placed it on Sasori's. She really liked him. There was no question in mind that she had fallen for him.

But she just couldn't see it all happening. That he would be happy around her and care for her the same way she did for him. That he would laugh and smile.

But then she remembered Itachi. And the fact that he smiles when he's around Hina makes it so much more believable that Sasori could smile when he was around his loved one.

Then the only thing was; Sasori's loved one wasn't Chieko. But then a mumbling-sound reached Chieko's ears and she looked up at Sasori (she hadn't noticed that she had looked away from him; he had been so clear in her mind), and he was looking back at her.

Chieko started grinning and said: "Back from the dead, ey?"

Sasori smiled at her.

Chieko blinked, but made no biggie out of it like Hina or Ami would.

"How are you feeling?" she then asked the redhead.

"I'm fine now," Sasori said, but it seemed like he was hinting to something.

"Do you want something?" Chieko asked him and he shook his head.

"You sure?" Chieko asked and contemplated on leaving to get a glass of water.

"Yes. Just… stay here," Sasori said and closed his eyes so he didn't have to watch her astounded look as she let the words sink in.

And they did. And Chieko then became aware of her still holding his hand. She then smiled, while blushing slightly.

"I'll stay," she said warmly and just leaned back against the couch.

Sasori didn't open his eyes, but another smile slightly graced his lips.


So, what do you think? Now there's no excuse for adding a review, since this is a completely new chapter! And I hope you will review, cause it really makes my day. :) And the next chapter can be added a bit quicker too! And maybe not? Up to you to decide

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XOXO

-Gaaras Devil