Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews!
For some reason, I can't help but think that this fic is going into a different direction than I had originally intended, but I think I can make it work. What do you think?
Sorry about this chapter being too short. I'm guilty of that more often than I'd like...
Pat. Pat. Pat
She had to move faster.
Tip pat. tip-pat.
Not fast enough, she had to keep moving!
Tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip-tip.
There, that was good enough, for now.
The constant patter of her feet, as quiet as it might have been, seemed to become a constant sound ringing through Sakura's eardrums. She'd been on the go for four days straight without sleep, rest, or much food, and lots of water. What she did consume was while she was moving. Even if she hadn't spent all of those years studying as a medic, she'd have still known that her body couldn't take much more, but she needed to follow that pull. It yanked at her chest constantly, and as unreliable as it was, she could feel it getting stronger. It was as though her heart was telling her 'This way, come this way! You'll find what you're looking for if you come this way!' So she did. Besides, it wasn't as if she had any other leads, but now she needed a rest. She felt secure in the fact that the feeling was stronger than ever at that moment, and an hour or so of rest wouldn't hurt anything.
She bit her nails as she pondered over the thoughts floating through her ever shifting mind as she took a seat against a tree. If this was him, she'd finally be able to confront him, ask him why he'd done what he had. She could feel confident that what he'd done wasn't her fault, not in the least bit. Another thought crossed her mind, overshadowing the happier ones. This couldn't be Itachi. He was too strong to allow her to catch up to him, unless it was... a trap? But why would he care about her? She was so confused. Although there was no explanation for it, she knew, just knew, that it had to be Itachi. A sigh passed her lips and she tried to focus on something else, anything else. Of course, that didn't work. She began to think of how familiar her feelings were. She'd felt it before. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on trying to remember.
Memory
Forcing a false, but convincing, smile to appear on her face, she walked beside a man she utterly loathed. As anyone might know, disgust is a hard feeling to conceal, especially if you have the power to remove it from your presence. Thankfully for her, and Konoha, she kept that same, admiring smile plastered across her face.
They sat on a park bench, and Sakura again marveled at how hideous this man truly was as she kept him in conversation, mostly talking of her 'sisters'. He was a deep tan color, and then again, most people were in Suna. He had a squared jaw, and his lower jutted out farther than his upper one so that when he spoke, small amounts of saliva dribbled down his chin. His dark eyes were permanently glued to her chest, and it took everything in Sakura's power not to set his jaw in alignment with her fist. Instead, her hand constantly twitched. Oh! How much she wanted to just pull at the neck of her shirt, just to pull it up over what was exposed! But, she resisted. He was a rather large man, not fat, but big boned. He had short dark hair, to match his eyes, and very hairy arms and legs. He was disgusting, and she was reminded strongly of a well dressed caveman.
As she continued speaking about her imaginary life, a nervousness began to well up inside of her as she realized that they were totally alone, and it was unnaturally dark for that hour. Oh, how lucky she'd been on this mission. She'd been the one paired up with the thing sitting beside her. She'd been the one who had gotten the chance to acquire information if she kissed that thing. And now, she was the one who was caught in this situation with that thing. No one was walking past, for most people were inside at that hour, eating dinner with their families. He seemed to notice it too, and reached his arm around her. She froze, and then allowed, or rather forced, her body to relax. Taking a deep breath, she did her best to keep talking. Forcing herself to keep speaking was harder than it sounded.
As she spoke, she had an overwhelming urge to walk over into the trees at her right. Vaguely, she wondered if Ino had some type of summoning jutsu that she'd kept a secret until then. Standing, she said something about needing to get home, Ino was probably wondering where she was. He looked disappointed, and followed her out of the little clearing surrounded by trees that they'd been sitting in. It took all the will power she owned not to dart away with as much speed as possible. Instead, she giggled and slowly ran home.
She made herself sick.
End Memory
Sakura opened her eyes slowly.
So... it had been in the Sand? But... he couldn't have been in the Sand, could he have?
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that she'd fallen asleep, and it was dusk. She could barely feel it. She jumped up, and used all the strength she could muster to rush into the trees and follow.
XXXXXXXXX
She gasped for breath.
Somehow...
Somehow she'd managed to catch up, in an hour and a half.
Somehow... she felt even closer than before. She'd never been one to have much stamina, and now she had to suffer the consequences of over-working her body. She felt as though a weight had been laid across each of her feet, and across her shoulders. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem, but she was sooo worn out. She fell to her knees and squinted her deep green eyes to see up ahead.
She froze.
Her eyes widened.
Up ahead, there were two dark figures, not moving.
She'd found him! It had to be him! He had a partner, didn't he? Kissame something? And both figures were wearing dark cloaks.
Years ago, Tsunade had taught her how to store chakra in a sort of... reserve in her body. According to the Sannin, it was intended to be saved for emergencies. At that moment, Sakura considered her situation a dire emergency. She could feel the strikingly cold chakra pool around her feet before she'd even decided whether or not she was going to use it.
In seconds she was before them. She tried, with everything she could muster, to see their faces. They would probably kill her now. There was no use even trying to stay conscious. She wouldn't be able to fight them. After all, they were Akatsuki.
She fell to her knees.
"It...achi..?"
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