Chapter 27

The flight was taking a lot longer than I had thought. I never realized how fast I really can move on my own until I watched the trees below us. "What is the situation, hn?" Deidara questions bringing my attention away from the ground way too far below us. "Orochimaru has seven men trying to obtain the beast. The leaf has sent two former Anbu black ops, the copy ninja, three of Tsunade's apprentices, two of might guy's student's, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and the nine-tails for a total of twelve leaf shinobi."

"They must really want the three tails, hn." He mutters and I shake my head. "Actually the plan is to seal the three tails then ship it to a different dimension out of reach of their enemies." Deidara clicks his tongue as he glares ahead of us. When he turns the bird to avoid one of the larger trees I grab ahold of him again with a squeak making him laugh as I bury my face against his back. "Jerk. You did that on purpose." This makes his laughter grow louder as it reverberates against his back.

The night was already falling on us by the time we meet Tobi back on that cliff. However instead of Deidara landing this thing he jumps off and the bird seems to fly farther from the edge. Keeping me rooted in place. "Deidara you ass. Let me down!" I yell at him making him laugh again before he turns. "How about... No, hn." He smirks up at me and turns back to Tobi. Who was already doing his act of the fool wiggling around. "ooo. Deidara! Keeping her for yourself! When did such a scandalous love triangle start!" I shake my head at the man and puff out my cheeks. "As far as I'm concerned, she's my prisoner until we take her to Leader."

"Hey, what are you talking about? I came and got you remember?" I growl down at him and cross my arms. However, I know how stubborn this man is. No matter how much I yell at him he won't let me down. "Oh just shut up! hn." He yells up at me before his bird moves higher making me drop down to my knees as he laughs. "Trust me, when I get down from here I'm going to kick your ass."

Just then there was a roar from the three tails and I scramble to look in the direction the sealing team should be. Instead, I see the three tails shoot a chakra sphere at a cliff aimed right at a bright blue light. "Wait… Tobi?! Where's the kid?!" I yell down at him making him raise his hands up in a why not posture. "He got away from me! I looked away for one second and poof!" He then begins to sway with his hands on either side of his mask again. "Please don't be mad, Kira. It was an accident!" I roll my eyes at his antics. That just means he wanted to see what the kid was capable of so he sent me off to get Deidara just so he could return the boy.

All I can do now is watch. I sigh crossing my arms after I carefully shift my position so I was now setting in indian style on the stupid bird. The roaring of the beast turns into more of a screech as the area becomes enveloped in orange light. Moving back to my knees I move over to the edge of the bird. My eyes widen at the sight. Someone had just set the beast on fire! "Hey, guys." I call down to the two only for no answer. "Guys!" I yell causing Deidara to look up at me in question. "What is it now?!" And then he saw it too. His eyes widen before he smirks. "Someone's got style. hn." Sighing I watch the beast turn tail and run back beneath the water at nearly the same time the bright blue light fades.

"Hmm, looks like it's done." I mutter to myself. Closing my eyes I go against my better judgment and feel out with my energy. Someone picks the kid up from the cliff and jumps away into the trees. In Yamato's building, the others were beginning to congregate. Some moving slowly as others were being carried. Hesitantly I counted the individual breaths coming from each body. Exhaling a sigh of relief that I didn't realize I was feeling I smile to myself. All twelve, are alright. Hurt, but still alive nonetheless. This thought confused me. I'm supposed to be on the Akatsuki's side meaning I shouldn't care if they all made it back or not. All my life I didn't worry about anyone other than myself, Light, and Taiyo. Everyone else was collateral damage if something happened. So why am I worried about them? I should remain focused on the task at hand right? "Hey!" I yell down moving to the other side of the bird to look down at the two. "The beast is wounded, I don't feel any of Orochimaru's men so they were defeated. The leaf are weakened and wounded. Now would be the perfect time to strike." I yell down as they both look up at me. "Even if the leaf does figure out what's happening they are in no condition to fight. So they will be forced to do reconnaissance rather than confront us." I explain making Deidara laugh.

"Well about time, hn." His bird then drops in altitude only long enough for him to jump on. " wait!" Tobi yells as the bird flies over the lake. "Well so long, Tobi." I mutter making Deidara laugh again. "That guy is annoying, hn." He comments and I nod to him "You know you could have dropped me off so I wouldn't be in the way up here."

"You're staying right where you are, hn." He then reaches into his clay bag taking his time to sift through the clay and mold it with his chakra. "There." He says as the bird begins to hover. Grabbing onto his robes I shakily stand and look over the bird to see a large dark mass beneath the lake. "So having a bird's eye view, does come in handy." I mutter just as Deidara throws his clay into the water. "Hang on, hn." He says just before his clay detonates causing a tsunami of water. Dropping back to my knees to grip onto this clay bird with energy to my hands and feet I growl at him in irritation.

My eyes widen seeing the three tails now standing on the water practically at eye level with the bird. "Go higher!" I yell and Deidara shakes his head chuckling. "Never thought you'd ever say that, hn."

"Well, that kind of looks like a turtle, a really, huge turtle." Tobi says as he appears on the water near us. "Well you've done such a good job already, I'll just leave the rest to you!" I sigh closing my eyes. The commotion has already drawn the attention of the Leaf ninja. "Tobi, you wanted to be a part of the Akatsuki and now you are. You handle it. Hn!" Just then the clay bird flies higher leaving the three tails to Tobi. "Well, it is his mark." I mutter. "Since Sasori.." I frown.

"Just say it, he's dead so now his mark falls onto Tobi who wears his ring, hn." I nod looking down at the water. Wondering how high he was going to take us. The three tails then raises a tail and whips it at Tobi. Making Tobi scream as he runs away. "Heeellp, it's gaining on me! Help! This thing is a water creature, I'm totally the wrong man for the job! Shouldn't we have assigned this to somebody else like Kisame, or anybody else!" He continues to scream in fear until the three tails dives under the water taking Tobi with it.

"Well, now we get a reprieve from his wretched screaming." I mutter making Deidara laugh again. He watches the shadow in the lake before his bird begins to fly after it at a quick rate. "Truly pitiful." Deidara mutters as he digs into his bag of clay again. Sending an odd fish into the water I close my eyes and focus more on not falling off. It didn't take long for Deidara to raise his hand in the hand sign and yell. Causing another explosion from within the water. Sending Tobi flying out of the lake screaming.

The bird begins to hover again as the Three tails rolls onto its back unconscious and Tobi lands on it hard with a loud oomph nearly causing me to laugh. He then stands on the beast waving his arms in the air. "I did it! Victory! Victory! Did you see that? Did you see me knock out this giant monstrosity with my jutsu? I have to admit, at first, I had my doubts but.." I turn my head towards the shore ignoring Tobi's rant. "We should go." I mutter feeling one of Sai's birds flying in this direction to get a better look at what was happening. If I hadn't of already been on my hands and knees I would have fallen over laughing as Deidara sets an exploding bomb off on Tobi.

He then jumps down onto the three-tail's belly and sends some more fish into the water. Pushing the huge turtle with his clay as his bird annoyingly goes up higher into the air. "Hey! Deidara, Let me down!" I yell at him making him laugh again before his bird does a summersault making me scream. "I told you to shut up, hn." By the time the stupid bird stops rolling, I was almost in tears. Sai, however, caught up with us. "Kira." He says holding a hand out for me. At this point, I trust this cold broken kid over Deidara rolling me again. I nod and reach out for him only to have Deidara yell out. A smaller dove-like clay bird flies out after Sai making him sway away from me.

Sai being chased by more doves meant to keep him away from me made me frown. Until they explode sending Sai flying off of his bird. My eyes widen as Deidara makes a content grunt. Another bombing dove shoots out aiming to collide with the stunned Sai. That bird... it's one of his C-4s... At the racing of my heart feverishly hammering in my chest, my lungs begin to burn from a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. "Sai..." I breathe quietly and before I could think about what I was doing. I found myself flying into the air towards the boy. My energy roaring through me as if I am on fire. The familiar feeling of flames flickering around my body and holding me reached my senses a moment before I wrap my arms around the boy and throw my body weight just as the dove explodes. Searing heat and pain slams into my back as the explosive hits me dead between my shoulders. Whimpering in pain I pull the boy closer to me. Cradling him so I take the majority of the flames.

From my initial roll in mid-air, we were sent spinning down towards the water. Slamming into the lake felt like my bones were screaming in protest. As if from the force they should have shattered. Holding onto the boy I push myself to kick my feet. Fighting against my disorientation and the protesting of my body to reach the surface. It wasn't until I felt him jerk that I loosened my grip on him and grasped onto his arm. Pulling him behind me until he was able to gather himself enough to help. The moments we spent under the water felt like an eternity before our heads emerge. Coughing and sputtering I climb onto the water's surface pulling Sai up behind me. As if it was taking every ounce of strength he could muster, I pull him up onto the water watching as his knees and hands slowly begin to sink back beneath the surface. With a shuttering force, I found my body shaking as my gaze begins to glaze in that familiar red hue only capitalizing the pain I am already feeling.

If we stay out here, we'll both drown. I think to myself as I growl and push against my body. Forcing myself to my feet and trying to steady my chakra so I won't fall back into the water. Glancing around for any signs of Deidara or Tobi before turning and grabbing Sai. Picking him up off the water and pulling his arm over my shoulders I couldn't help the pain-filled sound that leaves me as my knees try to buckle under me. Looking back at the now-empty lake I couldn't help but frown. I had just disobeyed Tobi and by that dove exploding point-blank on me, Deidara was trying to either kill me or seriously injure me. At this time it is finally sinking in as I am recalling what had just happened. I have officially betrayed the Akatsuki. It's no longer orders to remain here, my body chose to save their enemy. What's even more confusing, is this situation doesn't bother me in the least. It's almost a... relief.

Do I really feel like I belong with these people? Or is it simply because of the plans I have already set into motion? Shaking my head I look down at Sai who's eyes were drifting in and out of focus. Pulling him up painfully higher over my shoulders I begin to walk towards the way we had flown. "Thank you." I say quietly causing the boy to slightly raise his head to meet my gaze. "I really didn't think anyone would come to try and save me. I guess..." My voice drops as I look ahead of us feeling a weight on my chest I'm not used to feeling anymore. "I thought it would be like before. They would take me and no one would care." I admit to him with a sigh. "You gave me the strength to overcome my fear of heights Sai. You set me free."

"You say that, but if you had really wanted to, you could have gotten away from them. I may not know you very well, Kira. But, I know you could have gotten away before now." His voice was quiet yet beyond the empty feeling of them there was a lingering tone that told me. He figured it out the moment he saw me on Deidara's bird. I found myself stop walking and looking down at him. He looks up at me with his empty onyx eyes. Unwavering with his deduction. Sighing I reach up with my left hand so my sleeve would fall back. Giving view to my ring. His eyes narrow on my hand making me frown. "You're right. Beyond Deidara truly thinking that I had defected from the Akatsuki. I was only here on orders to keep an eye on Naruto."

With those words, his eyes narrow on me and he tries to fight out of my hold. "Stop!" I snap at him and grip onto him more tightly. "You are too injured to make it the rest of the way on your own. If you continue we both will drown!" He seems to stop struggling though his eyes remain fixated on me. "Don't you get it? The very moment I saved you I disobeyed my orders to return to them. The c4 packed into that clay dove was enough it very well could have killed me." I snap at him for once showing my underlying annoyance with him. "You can feel it for yourself, can't you? Even with my healing, my skin is still charred and missing from my back. Even as we speak I'm bleeding, I can feel it. That bomb did some serious damage, enough I'm barely able to keep us on the water myself." I sigh and look up at the darkened sky. "I've never been injured this badly before. Probably because I've only forced myself into a position this drastic to protect one other person in my entire life."

"Sasuke." He speaks barely above a whisper and I give him a nod. As I force myself to continue forward. "My time with the Leaf this time around has been completely different than the years I spent there previously. More people accepted me, they've actually shown to come to find me if I don't make it back when they think I should. They've watched over me in times of my own weakness." I frown as a tear slips down my cheek thinking back to these last six months. This made my legs finally buckle and we both hit the surface of the water. I still manage to keep ahold of the boy even as I feel the bottom half of his body slip beneath the surface. Shit, I'm too weak. I've taken on too much damage we won't make it.

"Is that why you left?" He asks me honestly trying to understand what I'm telling him. I shake my head. "It's why I saved you. These feelings inside me.. I've made myself not feel for so long that they are confusing to me now. They are foreign to me. But it feels kind of like I might have a home again, filled with people I more than just tolerate. It took me this long to realize it. But, I don't want to go. I didn't want to leave even though I kept telling myself, this was temporary. That I might have to fight you guys and kill you so I couldn't let these emotions get in the way. And yet, when the time came and I was stuck on that bird waiting for the idiot to finally let me down. I found myself counting the people returning to Yamato's wooden house. Counting their each individual breaths. I felt a relief I never expected when I found that everyone was alive and alright. I wanted to see for myself. If only to make sure. To see with my own eyes what I was feeling." I shake my head again to my words and look at him as I show him a small smile. "I want to see why I was worried about all of you. Why the leaf stirs the emotions I thought had died inside me. But more importantly, I want to see why I didn't wish to leave."

"We are the same." He says quietly causing me to frown. I had never thought of it like that. Does he stick around because he wants to reclaim emotions? "Come on.. we need to get back." I mutter and grunt as I try to stand back up. "I think I can get up on my own now." He suddenly says as he struggles to his feet. Taking his weight off of me helped me to stand up myself. "Tell me Sai." I found myself speaking hesitantly catching his attention as we walk alongside each other. "Did you realize what was going on when you seen me on Deidara's bird or when I came up missing?"

"When the boy showed up and started controlling the three tails without you." He states blankly. "Most of us realized at that point there were only two possibilities for that to have happened. Either you were defeated by someone which is unlikely or you went to warn the Akatsuki about the three tails." He then looks ahead of him so his stoic eyes were no longer watching me. "It was Kakashi who had suggested it." For some reason with that one statement, my stomach began to knot up painfully as my heart felt like it was being clenched so tightly it couldn't beat. Fighting through a lump that accumulated in my throat I speak up into the silence that had fallen between us. "Actually I had already told them about the three tails when Naruto came up missing. I ran into Tobi when I was on my way back with the boy." His steps suddenly stop as he looks at me. Causing me to stop as well and turn towards him a bit. Looking from him down to the water under our feet. Should I lie again? Tell them that Tobi turned out to be far stronger than I had expected and he overpowered me? No, by now they would have heard from the boy that we stopped so I could talk to him, and then I left him behind. "Tobi told me that my time with the leaf was at an end and to go get Deidara. I obeyed without thinking much about it. I didn't want to leave the boy behind with someone like... O... Tobi but I did as I was told anyway. Then that jerk stuck me on that clay bird and hung me high over a freaking cliff." Sighing I look up to him and give him a half-smirk. "He used my fear against me." I tried to shrug but I ended up looking down again.

"I thought that was the case." His cool calm voice speaks over us from behind me. A hint of pain lingering in his tone. I found myself painfully stiffening at his approach. "Kakashi." Sai speaks up as if surprised at the Jonin's presence. "You were taking too long so we came to see what was the hold-up." The creepy male voice of Yamato pipes up from next to Kakashi making me wish that I hadn't been so injured. I was using every ounce of my willpower just to stay on the water. So it's not like could use my energy to feel around us. Finally turning around I suck in a breath and look up at Kakashi who was watching me closely. His eye is cold showing me he was ready to fight if he needs to. "Tsunade was right." He sighs down at me. "You never escaped from the Akatsuki."

"If you knew that, then why?" I ask quietly as I watch his left hand move to his pants pocket. "We needed to know what the Akatsuki was after, sending you to the village. The best way to achieve that was to let you think you had us fooled."

"That makes sense. And I'll admit." I pause a moment and show him a small smile I don't really feel. "You had me fooled. Yes, Pein sent me back to the leaf, I didn't run away from them like I had said. He wanted me to keep an eye on Naruto so that when the time came the Akatsuki would know his exact location for extraction. That was all I was really supposed to do. But then this mission happened and the location of the three tails was revealed. Pein wanted me to stop your sealing of the beast if necessary but to stay where I am. When I ran into...O... Tobi... well if you truly know the man unlike 99% of the Akatsuki, you know you don't disobey him."

"Then why are you still here?" Kakashi asks lightly causing confusion to begin to bubble inside of me. "Deidara was going to kill Sai." I mutter and look down at the lake. "She's right, Kira leaped in and took the force of the explosion." Kakashi seems to look from me to Sai and back again as if debating with his own thoughts. I bite my bottom lip and reach beneath my left sleeve. Automatically his gaze hardens as his body stiffens ready for a fight. Seeing his tension I raise my hand so my long sleeve falls back to show what I am doing. Pulling Kakuzu's ring from my hand I hold it out to him. "I'm done with the Akatsuki. By saving Sai I have officially turned my back on them. If my back wasn't proof enough for you. Take the ring. These rings signify the main members of the Akatsuki and they can't simply be replaced which is why when Orochimaru defected he took his ring with him to prevent the Akatsuki from replacing him... The moment I retrieved this from Kakuzu's corpse was the moment I became a full-fledged Akatsuki member. So by giving it to you I am renouncing that position."