29. A small victory
Sasuke was down on the ground. His clothes were frayed. His left sleeve has been burned off and revealed charred skin, but the wound did not look all that grave. Far more alarming was the way blood ran out from between his fingers he kept tightly pressed against his head, holding his ears shut. The pained look on his face did not make it better exactly… It looked as though he sustained a ruptured eardrum from the noise of the explosion. Judging from how grave it was (and seeing as he still hadn't gotten up it had to be rather grave) he was in no condition to carry on fighting. She had to help him!
So she was running again. And just in time it seemed, because Deidara started moving as well, slowly striding towards his agonised and currently defenceless opponent, always with that gleeful sneer on his face. Sayuri reached Sasuke first and planted herself before him. Against expectation he did not send her away again. He didn't even raise his head. With his eyes squeezed shut and his ears most likely ringing, he was probably oblivious to what was going on around him. That included her presence, but also the fact that Deidara's clay minions were back on their feet again and had them surrounded now. They tightened their circle, so there was no escaping. Not that there had been any chance for her to get Sasuke out of the way one way or the other. She somehow had to get past these things, which would be tough but probably manageable. Getting past Deidara, however, was a whole different thing.
Sayuri was not granted much time to come up with a strategy, as the explosive marionettes charged forwards. Their target this time was clearly her and not Sasuke. They came at her from all sides, while all she could do was dodge the various limbs and weapon-like extensions of their bodies. She has always been quick and nimble and situations such as this one rarely posed any difficulties to her. She might not be the strongest, but you couldn't defeat someone you couldn't catch. But that was in the past. Right now, however, her body did not move with the speed it used to do and most of the time she could only avoid a direct hit by a hair's breadth. It took her a while to be able to not only recognise but moreover accept the difference between her physical dexterity of the past and that of her current self: a mother and housewife still in the middle of maternity leave. It was frustrating, but hubris might prove fatal, frustrating as that may be…
Like Sasuke, she concentrated on severing the wires, connecting them to the Akatsuki and using punches and kicks to get rid of them, but that way she couldn't possibly defeat them and quite frankly her way of fighting wasn't well-suited for these kinds of opponents. It was a lot like training with wooden dummies. There was a hit from above so she ducked. When they attacked from the sides she either slipped out of the way or parried the attack. Attacks from below she usually jumped over. It seemed to drag on like this for ages, when in reality no more than a minute had passed. A sharp clay spike approached her face. She tried to leap back, but her feet were locked in place and she lost her balance and nearly did a bridge, but caught herself halfway. The spike missed her and once the coast was clear, she stood up straight again and used a shuriken to sever the wire that kept her attacker supplied with chakra. Then she looked down and saw that one of the clay things clutched her foot and now began tugging at it to make her fall. Without batting a lid she stomped on the creature's arm to make it let go and then delivered a swift kick against its head. Lucky for her, she had first freed her foot, because the clay minion exploded. Had it hit her with full force she'd be a goner now, close as it had been, but since she had been able to get at least a couple of metres between herself and the source of the explosion she was only left with some bruises and a set of ringing ears. And that explosion hasn't even been nearly as great as the one that had hit Sasuke.
A quick glance to the side showed Sayuri that he was still on the ground clutching his head, but had at least straightened himself. Karin was with him now. Hopefully, she could buy the redhead enough time to heal him.
"Boo-ooring…." Deidara drawled and received an angry glare by the violet-haired kunoichi. All it did was make him smirk. "I don't have all day – let's get this over with," he said and raised his hand, "Katsu!"
The clay explosive closest to her detonated, setting off a chain reaction. One by one they all exploded, while Sayuri could think of nothing to do but letting herself fall to the ground and shielding her head. The ground shook from the fury of the explosions. There seemed to be no end to them. And although she did not sustain any physical damage, at least nothing worth mentioning, the mere noise of the explosions was torturous. She didn't know what exactly happened then, for she had done her best to keep her eyes and ears shut, but at some point the world was quiet again, but for a continuous peeping sound.
Sayuri forced herself to open her eyes again and reluctantly lowered her hands and raised her head. What she saw then made her wish she hadn't. She was no longer surrounded by these white clay creatures. Instead there was Deidara now, standing next to just one of these things, but that one was even more grotesque and hideous than the previous ones and was most likely a result of them having fused into one being of enormous size. It had to be at least four metres high and had three heads like Cerberus, but only one eye. Otherwise it very much resembled its predecessors, but its sheer height made it look even more gawky and clumsy. When that thing went off there wouldn't be much left of them – Deidara included – but she somehow doubted he'd mind …
"Any last words?" Deidara asked with an air of condescension, but then his sneer was wiped off his face as he was simply swiped away like a bothersome fly and then picked up by a huge hand, which was surrounded by a violet sphere of light. Despite the surprise, Sayuri was quick to react and threw a handful of shuriken at the wire that kept Deidara and his clay creature connected, successfully defusing it, before the Akatsuki had a chance to set it off and blow them all away. Feeling at least a bit at ease, Sayuri dared to look over her shoulder.
"Sasuke!" She heaved a relieved sigh about seeing him back on his feet, surrounded by one of his strongest jutsu: Susanoo. At least a part of it. The Uchiha stood in the middle of its ribcage. It had only a single, skeleton arm on its right side and that one had Deidara in its clutches now. The Akatsuki was cursing and struggling, but to no avail. He was trapped like a sardine in a can.
"Way to go!" Sayuri cheered, despite knowing that this was only a temporary solution and a very brief one at that. Sasuke's chakra was limited and what they were supposed to do then, they couldn't tell.
"Get away from there," Sasuke ordered and glared at her. His eyes were bloodshot already. He would not be able to keep this up much longer and then they'd have the same problem all over again. It was exasperating.
"Move," he hissed as she did nothing but stand there and stare at him like they had all the time in the world. She had no idea what the Mangekyou was like to its user. It wasn't only the eyes that were strained to the point of bursting, but his entire body felt like he was being torn into shreds. Ironically enough it also made him feel mighty powerful and somehow more… alive.
"Uh-huh," Sayuri nodded quickly and leapt back to stand beside Karin. It was easier to hide the trepidation that had smitten her upon seeing the Mangekyou Sharingan when she did not have to look into it.
"Let go of me, you son of a bitch!" Deidara cursed and struggled in vain against the relentless hold of Sasuke's Susanoo. "Once you run out of chakra it's over! Then I'll crush you all! You hear, you little shit?!"
"Oh shut up you… you worm," Karin spat. Then she turned back to the others and said in a more resigned tone, "He's right though. We're running out of time."
Being a sensor, she was probably even more keenly aware of that fact than anyone else of their group, Sasuke included. She could practically see his chakra resources dwindle away at an alarming speed. A few more minutes, perhaps, and then he'd reach a critical state. Then he'd either succumb to having depleted his chakra or he'd be struck down by Deidara's wrath. Whatever the case, once Sasuke went down, the two of them would be next. Damn it all!
"You're first, you red-haired hag!"
"Hag?!" Karin repeated, incredulous. "Who do you call hag, Barbie boy?! Just wait till I get my hands on you!"
"Enough now," Sasuke interrupted the redhead before she could fully lose her temper. She was already rolling up her sleeves, so he called her back before she could cause any more trouble.
"Tell him! He's the one who started this!" Karin reasoned like a child and pointed at Deidara, whose head was beet-red now, as he was trying to use pure, physical strength to break out of Susanoo's hold. A fruitless endeavour.
"It doesn't matter," Sasuke said. You could tell by the slight quaver in his voice how much effort it cost him to keep his Mangekyou activated. The blood streaming out of his left eye underlined that fact quite nicely. "Now go."
"What?!" Sayuri and Karin repeated simultaneously and stared with wide eyes at the Uchiha.
"What do you mean go?" Sayuri asked.
"You two go ahead and search Mikan. This'll take a while. I'll catch up with you later."
"Later?" she furrowed her brows, "Nonsense! You have no idea what to do about him. We'll stay here with you."
"That's enough of you," Sasuke hissed and Sayuri was surprised at how icy his voice sounded. No longer cool and reserved as it did before. "You do as I tell you. No discussion."
"Exactly. I'm not gonna discuss about this," she replied and folded her hands before her chest like a stubborn child.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your little dispute, but someone's joining us," Karin said. Immediately the mood shifted from tension to utter devastation. There really was no such thing as luck for them, was there?
"What?! Who?" Sayuri asked and followed Karin's eyes to the rock face behind them. Sasuke's eyes wavered briefly from his enemy as well, but then he made his Susanoo tighten its grip, as compensation for his little neglect, so to say. Just not too tight, because he didn't want to risk killing him again. He'd have to rely on the two of them to act like his eyes. But could they also act as a defence? And not even for him but for themselves…
"Not an enemy," Karin said, still with her eyes closed and the fore- and middle finger of her right hand raised before her nose. An almost palpable sense of relief washed away some of the previous tension that had followed her last words, so she was quick to add, "I think so at least…"
"Keep him there! Don't let him get away!"
They perceived a male voice and only two or three seconds later they could spot its owner. It was a ninja dressed in the typical flak jacket of Suna Gakure. On his back, he was carrying a huge scroll of white cloth that was almost half his size. He slid down the still moist rocks and rushed their way, while reaching for the giant scroll.
"I don't plan to," Sasuke pressed out through gritted teeth, not quite able to feel any excitement about their apparent back-up. What could a single, random ninja possibly do after all?
"Release him the moment I tell you to!"
"Release him?" Karin repeated with a look of shock on her face. "Are you nuts?! This is an Akatsuki!"
"Just do it!"
"Yeah! Do it, un!" Deidara reinforced the Suna-nin, who had almost reached him now, that suicidal fool.
"NOW!" he screamed, and Sasuke did not waste but a single second to deactivate this so excruciating jutsu of his. And their timing seems to have been perfect. The moment Susanoo loosened its hold, Deidara vanished in a tight cocoon of the white cloth from the scroll the Suna-nin carried with him and was thus immobilised. But even that was not enough to make him shut up, although it made his angry curses unintelligible at least.
"Got him!" The Suna-nin exclaimed and dashed towards the cocoon. He slammed a paper tag onto it, out of which streamed lines of symbols like ants out of an anthill and surrounded the cocoon like chains. Now that this was done, the man wiped a hand across his damp forehead and heaved a deep sigh, which suggested that he too had not been altogether convinced of the success of his plan. "Phew…" he turned around to them and examined the sceptical-looking group, "As long as the seal remains intact he's harmless."
"And that's it?" Karin asked with a frown, although she was the one who should know it best. After all she could clearly sense that Deidara's chakra was confined to the limits of the cocoon surrounding him, which allowed not even the tiniest bit to leak out. He was hermetically sealed, so to say, but after all the difficulties they've had with him, it was kind of hard to believe how effortlessly this random ninja had dealt with the immortal Akatsuki.
"Yes," he nodded, "we'll just have to guard him until the back-up squad arrives. They'll take care of everything else."
"Hmpf," Karin gave a non-committal sound, still with that sceptical frown in place, as though she just waited for Deidara to burst out of his prison and blast them to nirvana.
"That was close, huh?" Sayuri said as she approached Sasuke, her eyes scanning his body for the tiniest scratch or bruise. She needn't search long. His body was littered with cuts and scrapes, a narrow trail of blood was running out of his left eye and an especially nasty-looking laceration above his brow gave her valid reason to worry. He did not appear to be faring too well. Karin may have healed him enough to carry on fighting, but he was nowhere close to being okay.
"Are you alright?" Sayuri asked nevertheless and at once let her skilled fingers wander gingerly across Sasuke's face to help her assess the damage done by the Akatsuki and remedy it. She was not just slightly caught off guard as Sasuke caught her by her wrist and pushed her hand down with mild force.
"What did you think you were doing there?" he asked, but Sayuri neither understood his question, nor did she understand the reason for the angry look in his eyes, when this should be a time of relief. They had won.
"What do you mean?" is what she asked thus and watched the Uchiha close his eyes impatiently, as though he needed to contain himself.
"I told you to stay out of everything and run away if necessary."
"But I had to! You-"
"You had to?!" he interrupted her angrily, "He could have killed you without batting a lid!"
"But if I hadn't done anything he would have killed you instead."
"That's not the point."
"It is!" She was the one to interrupt him this time. "Remember what you said? Who do you think matters more? If there is one person who can save our son that's you. You need to get through no matter what." She pulled her hand out of his grip, while her blatant words left Sasuke speechless. Never would he have imagined what an impact these words, uttered in a fit of temper, would have on her. What he had wanted was to protect her and not make her feel useless and squash her self-confidence under his feet. "Besides, I'm a ninja, too. Have some faith in me." She gave him a soft smile, as though no bad words had been exchanged between them and again tended to his wounds. Her forgivingness made Sasuke feel like the biggest jerk alive, but at least not the biggest jerk around; that one was sitting inside what looked like a giant roll of toilet paper and raged like the lunatic he was.
"That crest on your back,"
Sasuke looked over his shoulder to see the Suna-nin point at the red and white fan on the back of his pullover.
"And that technique you used… Are you Uchiha Sasuke?"
"What if I am?" Sasuke asked. His face was a blank mask that revealed no thought cruising through his mind, but his attitude was guarded. The Suna-nin on the other hand looked decidedly nervous.
"You are reported to be missing. I'll have to ask you to accompany me back to headquarters," he said and Sasuke didn't miss the way his eyes always flickered back to where he had come from, surely waiting for the back-up squad he had mentioned before to appear.
"And what if I refuse?!"
"In that case I have no other choice-"
"Sasuke!" Karin screamed, as she sensed how the Suna-nin prepared to use a jutsu, but the moment his hand clutched the beginning of the remaining white cloth on his scroll, it was as though something struck him and he became unnaturally stiff with both his arms pressed tightly against his sides and his eyes opened wide. In them she could see the blood red reflection of the Sharingan.
"Phew," Karin heaved a relieved sigh. She's had enough of confrontations for today. Dealing with this man would have been no great difficulty, but this was surely the nicer way of handling things…
With slow steps, Sasuke approached the hypnotised man, who had only seconds ago saved their lives. Sayuri watched him with a disapproving expression on her face. She didn't like the fact that he was using his Dôjutsu again, when he hadn't even recovered yet from the previous fight. But she thought it best not to share her opinion on that matter.
When only another step separated the Uchiha from the Suna-nin he halted. The three black tomoe in each of his eyes began swirling like a wheel and within seconds Sasuke's Genjutsu had broken the will of his victim, giving the Uchiha free access to every thought running through his head. He extracted every bit of information about this war and the current situation and then said, "You've never seen us. You fought against Deidara and managed to seal him, though you don't remember how." He closed his eyes and opened them again with their usual black colour. Some life returned into the face of his opposite, but before he could get a clear head again, Sasuke gave him a blow to his right temple. The man collapsed like a marionette that had its wires cut and was left lying on the ground with open eyes and a trail of saliva running out of his parted lips.
"Oh!" Sayuri gasped and clasped her hands before her mouth to stifle any further sound. The shocked look in her widened eyes spoke volumes anyhow.
"We should leave," Sasuke stated. From what he had learned, the Suna-nin was only a scout– the rest of his squad would follow soon, so they had better be gone before that.
As Sasuke started walking, Sayuri asked, "But what about him?" she looked down at the allied-ninja with a commiserative expression. It didn't seem right to abandon someone who just saved you in such a condition.
"Help is on the way. We have no time to waste."
"But-"
"-This is no game," Sasuke cut in, "If you don't like it you should have stayed away." He said and started walking.
"Huh," Karin gave a consenting sound and followed after the Uchiha and with a bit of an effort, hurt feelings and a mighty guilty conscience, Sayuri detached her eyes from the unconscious man as well and made haste to catch up to them. It didn't even take ten minutes until Karin stopped them again, having the weirdest of feelings.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked, but Karin only furrowed her brows and raised her hand to silence him as she was trying to concentrate. "There's someone there. I know the chakra, but… it's not just one… it's… it's…" she stammered as she was trying to arrange her thoughts, when suddenly things became crystal clear. Her red eyes flew open. "There!" She pointed towards the edge of the cliff above them, where an elderly man with a wooden walking stick was standing. Despite only seeing a shady silhouette, Sasuke at once knew who it was: Shimura Danzô!
Things were getting worse and worse…
"Up already?" Isamu asked, as he crawled out of the tiny tent he was sharing with Senkai. They had left the other one to her.
"Hm…" she nodded and stared through red-rimmed eyes at a turquoise firefly, climbing over moist leaves.
"You don't look all that awake yet…"
He scratched the back of his head and walked closer to the small girl, but she wouldn't make room on the tree trunk she was sitting on.
"Can we go now?"
"Why the hurry?" he laughed, always in that light-hearted manner – he didn't appear much like a proper criminal to her. "It's not like we have any appointments, or do you? Is there… anyone… waiting for you?"
He watched her stealthily, but she still stared vacant-eyed at the moving spot of light.
"Where is Senkai?"
Isamu grimaced as she just changed the topic, the way she always did whenever the talk came to herself, but then a more serious expression appeared on his face and he slumped down on the ground, not minding that it was moist.
"Today is not a good day," he sighed, "we'll need to stay here a little longer."
She nodded mutely, not really interested in learning the reason for their extended stay; knowing it wouldn't change anything about the fact that they had to do so, so why bother?
"But I'd say it's rather nice here, too, isn't it?"
"Hm," she shrugged and for the next few minutes she focused her full attention on the light bug again, acting like she was all alone.
"It's female."
"Huh?"
"The firefly. The male ones usually fly around and search the air for their missing piece, while the female ones stay on the ground and wait to finally be found. Stupid isn't it?"
"It's the colour of your eyes…"
"Huh?" he seemed somewhat surprised, before a smug smile settled on his lips. "How come you know my eye-colour? You never really looked into my face yet… are you maybe watching me secretly?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Well, why wouldn't you? I don't want to sound conceited, but… I'm a pretty handsome guy. No wonder you're always so shy with me around," he grinned while all Yuumei did was snort. "But nevermind, you're not that bad either. I mean if it wasn't for your looks, we probably wouldn't bother to keep you around, rude as you are…"
"…"
"Hey, that was a joke. But you really are… quite alright or you would be when you wouldn't look so grim all the time and you should really work on your attitude, seriously. How about giving me a smile, Yuu-mei? Yuumei, Yuumei, Yuumei – that's a nice name."
"Flattery is only deceit; for people who have entered the Way it has no use."
"That weird talk again… It's okay if you don't want to smile. I guess everyone has their own way to deal with what happened in these laboratories. You brood, I laugh and Senkai is trying to get it out of his system."
In that moment, an anguished groan came out of the tent and something about the air seemed to change. She wondered how literal he had been when he talked about 'getting it out of his system'. She had noticed before that something with the blonde was not quite right.
…
…
