Chapter Forty Nine
"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here? I thought I'd never see you again after the sand-nin came!" Sosei confessed, holding his sister close to him as if he was worried she would disappear again when he let go. Sakura just returned his embrace and hugged him in the same way. The twins, Terrane and Karene just stood to the side of their 'ojiisan' and stared at the man embracing their new sister with envy. This was the first time in weeks she had truly smiled, and they were not the cause. Sure, it was a rather selfish thought, but they had began to see Sakura as the only person in the world they could truly count on, and now she had found her brother again, it might all become different between them.
"Sosei-nii-san, why didn't you come to find me?" Sakura asked, hurt obvious in her eyes. He brother just smiled in an apologetic manner and they let the topic drop.
"How have you been?" He asked her. She smiled and shrugged.
"You want the truth or the lie?" Sakura question back.
"Truth." Sosei stated.
"Long version or short?"
"Hm…give me the short version."
"Okay, here goes nothing. Obtained an inner-self, parents killed, avenged them, I got another inner-self, this one more bloodthirsty though. Then I went to live with our aunt and uncle, aunt and uncle got killed on a mission. Left Konoha, my home after mist, to train for four years and came back as an assassin. Betrayed Konoha, when I joined Akatsuki, fell in love-"
"Fell in love?!" Sosei asked in anger.
"NOT with this guy." Sakura said, jabbing a thumb in Sai's direction.
"Okay then. Thank Kami-sama!" Sosei sighing in relief, apparently not liking Sai too much and believing he wasn't good enough for his little, still baby to him, sister. "Continue."
"Betrayed by Konoha, left Akatsuki on a short vacation, adopted four siblings, went back to Akatsuki with siblings, betrayed by Akatsuki, went back to Konoha, kidnapped by 'rebels', escaped, got a prisoner and now I'm here!" Sakura finished happily, slightly out of breath.
"That was the short version?" Sosei wondered in disbelief.
"Hey! A lot has happened in the past few years! You went missing when I was four and now I'm twenty. That's sixteen years gone! You're twenty four for kami-sama's sake!"
"I guess that is quite a long time…" Sosei admitted. "Well, I went missing, stayed alone for a few years, was found by the rebels, met Sai, left the rebels and came to the temple to find ojiisan. I wanted to leave to find you after they told me you were here before, but Hasha said that you'd come back for him. It wasn't the whole truth, as I now see, but you still came back and that's all that matters."
"To tell you the truth, I only came back because I heard that you were here somewhere." Sakura admitted.
"Nice to know that you care so much." Sosei said with a Naruto-like grin before he then noticed the four siblings beside his sister. "Who are these four, Sakura-chan?" The red-haired adult asked his younger sister. She smiled and motioned for her new siblings to come and meet her older brother.
"Sosei, meet Karene, Ryiko, Tyiko and Terrane, our adopted siblings from Konoha, they're Harunos now. Kids, meet Sosei, the older brother of both you and I." Sakura introduced with a smile. Terrane was the first to react, and she did so by approaching her newest older brother and holding his hand gently. Sosei seemed shocked at the sudden contact, but smiled down at her and held her hand back. This small action caused Terrane to grin widely, but her other brothers weren't the type to run up and hug someone, so they settled for grinning at him. Terrane seemed to be very good at breaking the ice between people and would always be able to stop conflict in her own special way.
"I believe that we should all return inside the temple now. It has been a tiring day and we all need rest." Saishi commanded softly. Everyone obeyed him, since he was a respected elder of the temple, and re-entered the temple in groups, one of the stronger men helped the elder priest with Sai by carrying him into the temple, but Saishi waved him off and took Sai by the arm himself. Sakura stopped suddenly, her family halting with her, but she just waved them forward and told them that she would join them in a moment. As the others left, the pinkette walked over to the teenage boy, previously referred to as 'Hasha'.
"Why do you see fit to cause trouble as soon as I get back, even after all these years, insolent child?" Sakura questioned venomously. The boy turned to her with gritted teeth and full-force glare.
"I'm not the weak little child I was four years ago, Sakura-senpai. I have trained and I am now ready to beat you in a battle. Any time, any place, just say the word." Hasha spat defiantly.
"The word." Sakura said back mockingly. Hasha gritted his teeth again and growled under his breath at being mocked to openly. He drew out two kunai, one in each hand, and held them threateningly in front of him. The gleam in his onyx eyes as his jaw-length, sandy blonde hair swept over them proved that he was ready to kill her if needed.
Hasha charged at her, but Sakura just side-stepped him poked him in the back with her left index finger. The boy crumpled to a heap on the floor by her side, but was quick to rise again and take up a fighting position once more. Seeing this, Sakura smirked. Blonde hair blew back as he ran again, throwing three shuriken ahead of him before attempting to stab the graceful assassin with his kunai. Sakura, seemingly amused by his efforts, just caught the shuriken in-between her fingers and dropped them to the floor before tapping the coal-eyed teen on the head with her index and middle fingers, causing him to fall forward onto his face. He got up again and spat the dirt out of his mouth.
"My, my, aren't we determined today." Sakura stated in utmost amusement by his poor display of fighting. Hasha growled at her and launched a barrage of kunai and shuriken at the candy-haired woman before him, trying his absolute best to hit her. All of the weapons landed and the boy was on the verge of jumping for joy, but the body before him erupted in smoke as soon as the hits were made. A shadow clone. Looking to the left, then the right and finally above, Hasha believed that he had lost her. That was true, until she spoke to him.
"Not looking for me very hard, are you, Hasha?" Sakura asked, whispering in his ear while standing directly behind him. His face turned an interesting shade of red and he leapt forward, brandishing yet another weapon. Sakura sighed again, still holding the same mocking smirk on her angelic face, as she dodged every blow with ease and the flexibility of a cat.
On one of the walls in the temple, Saishi stood with, a now untied, man named Neboutoshi Sai. They were watching Sakura and this boy fighting, although the 'rebel' man couldn't quite figure out why. Sure it was perfectly understandable if the old geezer wanted to keep an eye on Sakura, admittedly it was more for the younger boy's safety than her own, but why did he have to drag Sai into it?
"I know what you are thinking younger one, and my reasons are ones that I feel no need to share with you." Saishi explained with a strange gleam in his eye.
"That line is always used by men who want their daughters to marry the man they're talking to." Sai stated, smirking at his own logic. "Or in your case, granddaughter."
"No, no, nothing of the sort, young man, I assure you. I know of the man who will be good enough to wed my granddaughter and, no offence intended of course, it's not you." Saishi told him in reply. "No, the man she will one day wed is a criminal, not a rowdy rebel who got a few of his friends together so they could fight in an utterly and completely pointless war of the lands."
"Rowdy? I'm not a 'rowdy rebel', as you so gracefully put it. I'm a ninja, helping my father in the war." Sai retorted quickly.
"Hm. Wars are pointless and you shouldn't take part by choice. I understand the reasons of the Akatsuki, the sound, the leaf and the sand fighting, but rebels should just stay away until it concerns them personally."
"So…you're the one who taught Sakura that wars were pointless." Sai observed. The old man nodded slightly in reply. "A question, if I may. Who is that boy down there, the one fighting Sakura?" The Neboutoshi rebel asked, staring at the fight once again.
"His name is Hasha. Sakura found him six years ago, a mere year after she first came to this temple and spoke with me after years of not seeing each other. This temple, commonly known as the Tarento temple, was once home to many of the Haruno clan. However, a war passed and most were wiped out, leaving me, my wife and our late son, Sakura's uncle, along with our late daughter, Sakura and Sosei's mother. Sosei, along with his mother and father, left for the mist village shortly after Shousho, their mother, became pregnant with Sakura. Their uncle left for the leaf soon after that and met his late wife."
"Wow. I feel kind of sorry for her." Sai confessed sadly.
"Don't, Sakura hates pity." Sosei said from behind them, the four newest Haruno siblings standing with him.
"As for Hasha," Saishi continued, briefly acknowledging the presence of his grandchildren. "He was abandoned and alone, so she took pity on him and brought him here, into her friends care. Her friends, I cannot recall his name right now, died not too long after. Hasha blamed Sakura for the years he had to live alone after she found him. He said that she should always be with him, rather than going away to complete all her many jobs and earn some money."
"Possessive little boy, that he is." Sosei added with a small glare towards the blonde-haired, onyx-eyed teen.
"I think I understand. So, he wants her to stay with him instead of leaving for so long?" Sai asked, trying to confirm his knowledge. The old man nodded along with Sosei. Karene, Tyiko, Ryiko and Terrane were all listening with interest to the stories their new grandfather was telling them so openly, while they had to practically beg Sakura for the smallest insight on her past. Terrane, on the other hand, was also watching the fight or, more specifically, the boy named Hasha with a small smile and a light pink blush.
"However, do you see how he stays far from any close-contact with her during their fight?" Saishi asked. This time, Sai nodded. "Well, the truth is that he has a baby-crush on her. He admires her strength and fell for her beauty. A teenage boy, as he is, he became possessive over her and hates any man she speaks with other than him. This might mean that he will attempt to attack you, so be on your guard."
"You can say that again. When I first came here asking for Sakura, the kid bit me! He threatened me and everything! Of course, he stopped all that when he found out I was Sakura's older brother. Now he just asks loads of annoying questions and stuff about her, like her favourite colour and what food she prefers. The little brat thinks he hates her, but he acts like a love-sick puppy!" Sosei said, holding an aggravated look on his face at the thought of the questions.
"Can I continue?" Asked Saishi, slightly irritated.
"Sorry. Be my guest, ojiisan." Sosei permitted cheekily.
"Anyway, as I was saying. Fighting against Sakura, he may look weak, but that's only because Sakura is so strong. She's holding back by not fighting him back though. Sakura, out of compassion, doesn't with to harm Hasha and Hasha himself is rather afraid to hurt her seriously in any way, since she might stop talking to him or ignore him if he does. Hasha hates it when she ignores him, thus explaining why he was so temperamental earlier."
"That still doesn't explain why he attacked her." Sai pointed out obviously.
"Baka." Sosei muttered, looking around innocently when Sai glared at him, earning a few laughs and giggles out of the younger children present, Karene just looked smug about someone finally calling Sai names. Sure, Sakura lugged him around and insulted him, but never called him stupid or anything like that.
"Well…they have a sort of…unspoken agreement. If Hasha can prove that he is stronger than her, she will stay in the temple. Until the day comes when he can defeat her, she will come and go as she pleases. Although, Hasha is letting out built up rage at the moment, she has been gone for four years after all, he has been training to keep her here, at the temple, so she doesn't leave him again." Saishi explained, trying to ignore Sosei's comments.
"How…how old is he?" Sai asked unsurely.
"He's fifteen, baka." Sosei answered. This time, however, his grandfather sent him a warning look and he shut up for the time being.
"He was eleven when Sakura last saw him, but they have a rather strong bond. The reason she could still recognise him after all this time is thanks to that bond. If you ignore the fighting and the glares, you can see that they actually care for each other strongly. Hasha protects her from the men, even if she doesn't need it, and she protects him from everything else."
"According to him, she even killed off three criminals on their way here, just so that they didn't hurt him." Sosei cut it helpfully. Note the sarcasm.
"When Sakura found him, he was a scared little nine-year-old, a child of the old war. That is the main reason Sakura hates wars. To tell you the truth, more than half of the teens or children, even some of the adults, here are the ones who were orphaned by the war. They are the lucky ones Sakura and Sosei have brought here for protection, their parents and uncle before them." Saishi told him. Sosei looked smug, to say the least, at the slightly impressed look on Sai's face at the knowledge, but he smartly remained quiet.
"I see." Sai said quietly.
"What are you doing, ojiisan, and nii-san?" Asked a female voice from the right of the three older men, along with four children. They all turned and saw Sakura, who seemed to have vanished from her fight while they were talking about Hasha's age, and was now next to them with a tired and red-faced Hasha on her back. He seemed to be pouting, but not all that upset about Sakura caring for him enough to carry him. However, the youngest Haruno siblings were upset about this and they instantly became jealous of the boy, who was older than all of them.
"I just brought the young man out for some air." Saishi explained to his suspicious granddaughter.
"I came out here to let the kids see the best view of the temple." Sosei added, just to explain his reason.
"Well, okay then. I'm going inside to find obaasan (grandmother) and some of the others. You guys coming? Sosei, Karene, Ryiko, Tyiko, Terrane? Or anyone else for that matter?" Sakura stated, following with a, rather extended, question.
"Yeah, I'm going in. Coming guys?" Sosei asked the younger Harunos while looking down to them. They just shook their heads and moved slightly closer to their grandfather. Sosei shrugged and walked inside.
"U-Um…S-Sakura-senpai?" Called a cherry faced teen to the woman carrying him.
"Hn?"
"C-Can you p-put me d-down? I w-want to s-stay o-out here with S-Sai-san and S-Saishi-ojii-sama."
"Okay then." Sakura said, putting him down. "Just make sure you go and see my obaasan when you go back inside, deal?"
"D-Deal." Hasha stated as Sakura lowered him to the ground and walked inside, sending the males a mocking, three-finger salute as she walked, not turning back once. When Sakura was out of their vision, Saishi excused himself, sending a brief warning glance across to Sai, and followed his granddaughter inside.
"So, I-"
"Stay away from Sakura-senpai." Hasha demanded coldly, interrupting Sai as he was about to speak. "You don't deserve her and she doesn't like you anyway." Apparently, both of the, older than them, males had forgotten the presence of the younger siblings of Sakura.
"W-What?! I don't like her that way, kid!" Sai promised. "I just…she and I…we're friends, okay?"
"She hates you. You're not her friend." Hasha told him, turning around to face the others present. He sent a glare over his shoulder at Sai and turned his full attention to the younger siblings. Sai was considering using this opportunity to escape, but decided against it as soon as he felt one exceptionally strong chakra, along with six that were not as strong, but still far stronger than him, and one weaker one. It wouldn't be the smartest idea to go out on his own right now. He sent a look to the glaring teen and the not-yet-teen Harunos, but shrugged and entered the temple.
"Can I help you?" Karene spat at the older boy, standing in front of his siblings protectively. As he did this, the twins unconsciously shielded Terrane from his view, while the eight-year-old girl just attempted to look over and around them to see this boy, whom she though was quite good-looking despite his fearsome snarl.
"Move it, shrimp!" The boy, Hasha, commanded as he pushed past Karene, knocking him onto the floor as he did so. Karene looked up from his new spot, lying on his side, and let his eyes fall on the form of the dreamy-looking Terrane. He mentally slapped his forehead when he noticed that that dreamy look was directed at the boy currently threatening them.
"Stop right there!" The twins said simultaneously, holding out their hands so they looked like a direct mirror image of the other.
"Don't go…" Tyiko stared.
"…Any further." Ryiko finished. Their words were ignore as the taller boy pushed past them too, sending each in a different direction. Hasha stopped in front of Terrane and looked down at her, since she was a lot shorter than he was. While Karene was up to his shoulder and the twins just a small bit shorter than Karene was, Terrane just past his elbow in height and he towered over her.
Hasha snarled at her, but Terrane kept a steady gaze at the floor rather than chancing to look in the face. Her eyes widened as Hasha bent down to her level and looked at her face by craning his neck so his head was tilted to the side and his shoulders lent with it slightly. His eyes softened slightly and a small, almost non-existent, smile appeared on his face. The boys on the floor were too furious at him being that close to their younger sister to notice that he was smiling at her rather than threatening the young child.
"You look a lot like my sister." Hasha said to her softly. "Her name was Hane, what's yours?"
"T-Terrane. H-Haruno Terrane." Terrane answered him with a slight stutter on her words from how nervous she was. She began to press her fingers together in front of her as her face changed from pale to pink in a matter of seconds. By the way she was acting, most would think she had taken lessons from Hinata to know how to appear so nervous.
"Terrane, huh?" Hasha stated in amusement. "Well I-" The teen was interrupted as he suddenly had a kunai thrown at him. It got lodged in his left shoulder and he looked around to find who had thrown it. His gaze first rested in the direction of Tyiko, but he looked just as shocked as Hasha felt when a second kunai hit his right arm. He quickly looked in the direction of Karene and Ryiko, but saw two tall, scary-looking men standing with them, a horde of kunai in the hand of the taller, more blue-looking one. Ryiko was standing behind the leg of the taller, bluer man as Karene snarled at him from by the side of the red-haired one.
"Hasha-san!" Terrane screamed as she quickly took the kunai out of him and started to heal the teen. People inside the temple, after hearing the commotion outside, had formed a crowd. Many, the non-fighters, were standing far back as someone ran back to tell their leader, Saishi, and his grandchildren of what was going on. It wasn't too long before Sosei had the red-head pinned to the floor, five of the other men were restraining the taller man and Sakura walked out with her ojiisan.
"Kisame?!" Sakura yelled in question. Her eyes widened as she saw Hasha and she ran to help Terrane, who was doing a very good job of healing him for a beginner of her age. Soon Hasha was fully healed, but also fully unconscious. One of the non-fighting men took the boy inside while three of the ninja helped Terrane, Ryiko, Tyiko and Karene away from the attackers. Sakura, however, approached Kisame and hit him in the cheek, causing him to remember the reason he tried, at all costs, to stay far from her bad-side.
"We were just helping Terrane-chan!" Kisame told her. "That kid was standing close to her and her brothers were on the ground all upset, so we thought he was going to hurt her."
"So you threw kunai at a fifteen-year-old kid?!" Sakura demanded, still fuming. "Where are the others? If you're here than they can't be far behind."
"Well, that's Sasori down there." Kisame said, motioning to the angry puppeteer being sat on by Sakura's older, and very amused, brother so that he didn't move an inch, let alone attack.
"Sakura-chan, could you kindly tell this buffoon to get THE HELL OFF OF ME?!" Sasori yelled. Sakura pulled Sosei by the arm so that he was off of the red-head, but restrained Sasori with chakra rope. Sasori just stared up at her in question and slight surprise.
"This buffoon is my older brother, Sosei." Sakura stated, causing both Kisame and Sasori to widen their eyes further. "How did you get here anyway?"
"It's a long story." Sasori told her warningly.
"I have time." She said back. By now, most people had left except the Haruno siblings and their grandfather. Since Kisame and Sasori were wrapped in Sakura and Sosei's chakra ropes, respectively, they were no longer a threat. Kisame decided to answer her though, taking the spotlight from a scowling Sasori.
"Well…"
Flashback
"Leave him, he's dead now anyway." Zetsu explained with a sigh. The plant got up and took a hold on Kiba's short hair, pulling him along until he was walking with his criminal associates. Leaving the body of Kakuzu behind, each of the Akatsuki grieved inside, knowing that Sakura would be upset the most by the news.
"How can you just leave someone behind like that?!" Kiba yelled, disgusted by their methods of 'respect' for the dead.
"Be quiet." Itachi hissed, rubbing his temples in aggravation. He was beginning to get a headache and this mutt wasn't helping the matter at all, it was becoming most troublesome. Kiba, just to see how far he could push the murderer, tried to yell again, but found his mouth clamped shut with some unseen force. He tried again, but still with no success. Deidara sniggered behind his hand and offered an explanation.
"The obedience collar makes sure that you do exactly as we tell you, yeah. That's why it was so funny to see an obedience collar on the mutt-boy, yeah!" Deidara said with the occasional laughter.
"Tell us if you can smell Sakura or her travelling companions." Zetsu demanded.
"She's north!" Kiba blurted out, clamping his hands over his fanged mouth afterwards out of regret. Itachi smirked as they carried on though the trees, in the direction the dog-man had told them.
"Oooh! Tobi wants to try something!" The masked criminal yelled happily as he jumped up and down. "Kiba-san, sit!" Tobi commanded, causing Kiba to fall from the tree he was hopping from and onto the floor, landing right on his butt. Tobi, Deidara and Kisame burst out laughing while Zetsu's dark half sniggered with Hidan and the stoic-duo just smirked.
"Haha! Laugh it up! When we find Sakura-chan again, she'll help me out of this thing!" Kiba yelled, jumping up the tree again. Itachi scowled as he noticed the honorific Kiba placed on the end of Sakura's name, claiming them to be close friends. Also, Itachi was a little jealous of the dog. After all, when he left, Sakura had constantly said she wanted him to come back. Sure, the only reason of that was because Toro wanted to play with Akamaru, but she still said she wanted 'Kiba-kun' back.
"Sit." Itachi spat though gritted teeth with an almost inaudible growl towards the Inuzuka heir. Kiba was, once again, on the ground, but no one laughed this time. They all, including Kiba, could hear the hate behind Itachi's words and didn't want him snapping at them too.
"W-We're here, yeah." Deidara stated as he looked upon the temple though the trees. The mood Itachi was in almost evaporated until he saw a boy towering over, looking like he was threatening, Terrane by the wall of the temple. To save the boy from immediate death, and also to cheek to see of the fallen Ryiko and Karene were okay, Kisame and Sasori took off in the direction of the temple, leaving the others behind to catch up.
As soon as they landed, the men helped Karene and Ryiko up from the ground as the aforementioned boys never looked away from their younger sister. Terrane was slowly turning pink and Kisame threw a kunai at the boy, who he believed was far to close to the girl. When the blonde looked in the opposite direction for the source of the weapon, Kisame threw another at him…
End Flashback
"…And that's were you came in." Kisame concluded. Sakura looked at Sasori, who just nodded in agreement with the story. Of course, the Kiba-taunt-match had gone on for a bit longer, but that would just further enrage their favourite little pinkette. Also, he left out the part about them fighting, possibly killing, the Konoha-nin they came with.
As if they did it to prove the story true, the others landed in front of Sakura not two seconds later. The ANBU-level run away scanned the group of criminals, but failed to see the completely-covered, money-lover of the mist base, Akatsuki. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away before anyone noticed. Kakuzu was really gone.
"Sakura." Itachi called softly, but without emotion. Sakura looked up at him and he had to stifle a gasp. Cuts and bruises, some from travel or the fight with Hasha littered her petite form and she had many deeper, scarring wounds on her bare arms, from where Oozora had hurt her, but Itachi and the others didn't need to know that.
"H-Hello, Itachi." Sakura replied with a soothing, but fake, smile. Kiba lifted his head and grinned at her with wolfish fangs, only to be hit over the head by Deidara to stop him trying to get Sakura's attention away from the Uchiha killer. Sure, Deidara liked her too, but he liked her in the same way Kisame did and would give a years supply of clay to see them together at last. Well, maybe not a whole year, but close enough.
With the Konoha-nin
Shortly after Hinata had gone around and helped everyone by healing most of their wounds with her limited medical knowledge and healing cream, the ninja were going around, picking up the bodies of their dead with care and respect. Neji had agreed to find Ino, the many pieces of her, since he was the only ones who wouldn't turn away at the sight of a severed arm or, the piece the ninja were mostly hopeful to find somewhere, her head.
Shikamaru, in the mean time, was scanning the area for any signs of were the Akatsuki headed, with Akamaru aiding him with his nose. Hinata was resting, due to loss of chakra, with Naruto fawning over her and the baby, even if he wasn't her husband or the father of the baby. He had promised Shinrin that he would take care of Hinata and the un-born Hyuuga child and he never broke his promises. Sasuke was just moping in a rather tall tree, staring at nothing in particular, while thinking over what his brother had just succeeded in doing. He knew his brother was fully aware that every one of the Konoha-nin was worried for Sakura, and he had still taken their best chance at finding her in the form of the dog-nin. Sure, they had Akamaru. However, the dog wasn't much use when the only person would could understand him was gone. They could follow the dog, but not understand if they were getting close to her or not.
By far, the most frustrating chore was the one Lee and Tenten had volunteered to do, since neither wanted to transport bodies or search for the rest of Ino. Both had chosen to dig out the graves, so they could set the departed to peace. The two konoichi had tears in their eyes while some of the shinobi, not all of them though, let go of the occasional sniff or wiped their eyes of small tears. Loss wasn't a small thing and no one was immune to it, no matter how emotionless they appeared.
"We have a location!" Shikamaru yelled to the other members of his, now slightly decreased, team.
"W-Where?" Hinata asked though tears. Shikamaru looked at her with a slight relief shown on his face for finding Sakura. He answered her and everyone else who were mentally asking the question.
"Finish the graves and bury the dead, but don't rush it, they deserve a proper burial. Afterwards…we head north."
