REVISED, EDITED, BETA'D: 1/5/O7
A/N: This fic picks up at the end of Sakura and Chiyo's fight with Sasori of the Red Sand. Consider the details of the actual battle to be canon, but the end spinning off into original. I chose not to rewrite the entire fight, mainly because if you want to see it just read the chapters- Kishimoto can tell it much better than I can. ;) So it has been insanely condensed. Enjoy.
Spiral Out
By: Ane S. Thesia
Beta Readers: The wonderful Riza and Lally
PROLOGUE
Here from the king's mountain view
Here from the wild dream come true
Feast like a sultan, I do
On treasures and flesh never few
Gaara's body lay lifeless on the cave floor, his mouth slightly open in a silent scream, eyes rolled back so only white peered out.
"Done."
The man referred to only as 'Leader' eyed his fellow conspirators with a weary expression.
"It's getting rather noisy outside; seems our visitors have finally arrived. Sasori, Deidara, take care of them. The rest of you, scatter."
Paying no mind to possible protests or acceptances, Leader's body faded away into the unknown, closely followed by the others.
Only one man stayed behind.
Itachi tried to hide his displeasure at being so quickly cast aside in favor of the two belligerent artists, when in reality this particular Bijuu was supposed to be his.
Twisting his face into a diabolical smirk, the blond-haired Akatsuki member spoke with excitement evident in his voice. "The Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki is out there, isn't he, mm? Itachi-kun, how will we know which one he is?"
For a moment Itachi thought about simply leaving without answering him. If they were given his task, they should have to deal with the consequences. But he wasn't in the mood to make enemies… Not right now, at least.
"He'll be the one to run at you, loudly."
He wasn't holding his façade very well, even as he focused his benevolent eyes on Deidara's, which were now twinkling with mischief.
Sasori flipped his long, clay tail to the ground causing dirt to fly up and envelope his partner, obviously annoyed.
"Don't think badly of me, Itachi-kun." Had the mask covering his face the ability to emote, there would have been a self-satisfied smile in place.
Stoicism carefully in place, Itachi stepped backwards into the cave wall, leaving behind nothing but his barely audible 'huff' of disapproval.
What the two remaining Akatsuki didn't know was that he hadn't really left at all. Masking his chakra to unreadable levels, he decided to stay hidden inside the earthen boundary of the cave wall. He wasn't going to let these two ruin his chance at the Jinchuuriki today, and what better time than when the entire group of Konoha ninja were distracted by their enemies.
That, and he'd seen the way Sasori's body language had bristled upon receiving the knowledge that Chiyo was amongst the group-
'I never would have thought the puppet to be such a sentimental fool for someone like his grandmother'
-whom they all knew was just as manipulative as her adopted kin.
'Raising the boy with marionettes...'
Everyone in Akatsuki had at some point heard the rumors about his childhood.
The entrance to the cave was smashed open with ease and the group poured inside in a defensive position, all blinking at the sudden darkness. After their eyes adjusted, they all seemed to see nothing but Gaara lying beneath Deidara's feet, a united gasp rising up.
"Give Gaara back to us!" the yellow-haired boy in the group growled, fists clenched at his sides. "You'll be sorry for what you've done!" Unruly chakra rolled off the teenager in waves, voice promising furious anger.
Deidara and Sasori both eyed one another with similar amusement.
"You must be the Jinchuuriki," Deidara spoke with glee, throwing his fist into his side pack. With an air of urgency he pulled out a glob of clay, quickly consuming it up with the mouth in his hand and spitting it back out. A couple quick hand-seals created a giant bird. Nodding at Sasori in mutual understanding he jumped on its back, picking Gaara's lifeless body up in the bird's mouth at the same time. "I'll take this one out of here while you deal with the others, mm, Sasori?"
"I'll make very quick work of the rest, you just wait and don't touch that Jinchuuriki," was the warning reply from his dear partner.
In a flash, Deidara's plan quickly came together as he flew from the cave, looking over his shoulder as Naruto and the Copy Ninja followed close behind.
'The thrill of the chase, mm?'
His toothy grin mimicked the excitement in his gut, the kind he lived for. Giving one last glance in Sasori's direction, he continued into the forest, successfully ripping the four-man team in two.
Itachi didn't move as he watched the battle commence. Giving short credit to his two associates, he noted that splitting them up was probably the best plan. The girl and the old woman had proven a bother earlier when they awoke the Jinchuuriki from his genjutsu prematurely, but now the two females were left all alone to Sasori's devices. He knew it wouldn't take long...
Or...?
The cave was summarily destroyed not long after the fight started. Boulders and chunks of stone littered the area, a disaster zone. Blood and dust hung in the air. Heavy breathing, despair…
Itachi hadn't lifted a finger. He wasn't supposed to be there anyway and if it weren't for his own curiosity he'd have been following Deidara. But there was something entrancing in the way the two kunoichi fought together as one, even as he'd gleaned their unfamiliarity with one another. The old woman, the proverbial knife in Sasori's side, had gotten under his skin faster than expected; he was fighting with anger lacing his every move. Not like himself at all, he pulled out all the stops.
But the seasoned Chiyo stayed calm and collected as she countered all his skills with equal fervor. She was indeed impressive to watch, and the way her young partner added the finishing touches to what she couldn't manage herself was interesting, he admitted. Her agile moves and incredible brute force was the tip of the iceberg that undid Sasori's ultimate trump card; his unrivaled poison.
He had seen the girl inoculate herself after the first laceration she received, much to his amusement. 'Clever…' was all he could think when he realized the fight was indeed far from over. And by the time Sasori's body was completely destroyed, Itachi found himself enthralled by such quick thinking. Sasori's hands were more than full with this pair; they were overflowing. And his cocky attitude and low expectations would ultimately be his undoing.
Sasori's body pulled itself back together, eerie clicking noises filling the cavern. What would he do now?
"Shiro Higi, Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu," Chiyo breathed out huskily, obviously feeling the last legs of a tough battle. Ten imposing puppets surrounded the duo, ready to do their master's bidding.
Itachi smirked inwardly- he knew this was it. Sasori was going to use his last jutsu, one he'd only seen once before.
The scroll now in Sasori's shaking paws unraveled with a loud 'zip' as he played his final hand. Not to be outdone, he introduced his own forbidden technique: the Red Hidden Seal, Performance of One Hundred Puppets. The entire upper caverns filled with black-cloaked bodies of one-hundred dead.
Chaos ensued.
The moment of defeat as all puppets were dismantled was only fleeting, realizing too late that Sasori had hidden his real self inside the skirmish as a normal puppet. As they tried to quietly celebrate the end of their long, hard fight and inoculate Chiyo with the last curative as she, too, had been cut by a poison-laced blade…
His sword slid gracefully into the girl's abdomen. The shock and pain showed so plainly on her face as she realized the real Sasori had just stabbed her all the way through.
Itachi shifted slightly in place, 'Never let your guard down…', knowing full well there was no way they could have seen it coming, as he had.
She gasped, trembling violently as blood gushed from her already beaten body, the poison seeping into every vein and blood vessel in rhythm with her pounding heartbeat, slowly closing her coffin before she could even consider what was happening.
Chiyo lay a few feet away, a surprised sound escaping her with heartbreak and poison in her mind. "This... This," her breathing became more labored with every word, "can't be the end, not this way..." her voice trailed off.
She grasped the stones beneath her with what little strength she could muster, searching desperately for the vile of poison counter Sakura had given her. If she could just manage a few feet before passing out from the venom coursing its way into her heart…
Sasori pulled his blade out violently, not missing the chance to spill just a little more blood from the girl who had caused him such trouble up until now. Without sparing a moment, he lunged at Chiyo for the killing blow.
Two figures popped into his peripheral vision before he could even steal a full glance. Before he knew what was happening his body shut down and all he saw before his last breath was the dead, dull faces of his 'parents' and their merciful blades piercing the only thing that laid him any claim to the living world. They had sliced his heart right through, there was no chance now. It was indeed over.
Sakura's eyes rolled about under her eyelids as she searched her surroundings for answers as to why the silence had befallen her. She could hear nothing now but the rushing of blood in her ears.
"Chiyo-sama! Where are you, I can't hear you!"
Silence.
She managed a glance from her position, face down, head turning as much as was allowed in her condition. A single tear escaped when she found Chiyo crumbled like a doll on the ground, not a single hint of life left in her small frame.
"N-No… Chiyo-sama..."
The remorseful cry wasn't just for her fallen comrade; she knew her body was just on the borderline of being in the same state. She'd never been so close to death before. Moments she cherished and moments she always wanted to forget washed across her mind like a great flood, changing the landscape as it passed. For a moment, she almost let the torrent pick her up and escape to wherever it was heading…
'I'm not ready to die!' her inner mind screamed, 'I have people depending on me! This can NOT be the end!'
She knew it, too. She promised she'd save her friends, but at what cost, she suddenly wondered… It didn't matter at this very moment, however, because neither could be done or debated if she died here and now.
"It's not death if you refuse it," her brilliantly cocky shishou had once imparted.
She wouldn't let herself die today. There was one last hope and she prayed it would work.
Itachi's eyes scanned the corpses around the room. As silent as a ghost, he pulled his body from the cave wall and stepped onto a portion of floor that lay still intact.
"Sasori…" he mumbled disapproving, walking toward the body of the once powerful Akatsuki member, now draped on top of his demise, swords still protruding from his chest. Reaching over carefully, Itachi closed the man's dead eyes with his fingertips.
Turning his attention to the two intruders, he let out a low sigh, knowing they were both also deceased.
'Pointless.'
Sakura could feel something brush past her leg as she struggled with willpower so suddenly immense she hadn't even known it existed. Her eyes flickered open at the unexpected movement, but couldn't focus over the dark spots in her vision as her life bled away. She felt her body turning over on the sharp rocks, cutting into her stomach and sides, but continued her intense concentration against all odds. Her hands had formed the seal almost on their own, repeating a mantra deep inside that she couldn't die, she couldn't die, she couldn't…
Bright red eyes suddenly turned her way.
"This girl…" Itachi mused under his breath, a slight tinge of disbelief there. His thoughts turned over, piqued. 'Where did this come from suddenly? Her death wasn't questionable, even her chakra-'
She was stealing into an impossible reserve of chakra out of virtually thin air and his Sharingan spun to life, animating his features ever so slightly with wonder.
"Souzou...Sai...sei..."
Wide-eyed, Itachi observed as the half-dead girl lying in shambles before him suddenly summoned an intricate seal to the middle of her forehead. 'The Sixth Chakra, perhaps?' He filed the idea away for later because it was now spreading like veins up to her hairline and down through her eyebrows- 'Inside her body.' - It became drastic, he could sense the incredible healing chakra pulsating before him without even having to look. The air about the two felt heavy with death, and now rebirth…
"Genesis…"
He sat in a state of disbelief as the seemingly novice kunoichi executed a technique he had only heard rumors about surrounding one of the Legendary Sannin- Tsunade. But here it was right before his very eyes, filling the girl's face back with its original healthy color, generating life where there once was none at all.
Her azure eyes shot open with a life of their own, a look on her face as if a great spirit were possessing her. The moment wasn't long lasting as the abuse her jutsu detailed on her body forced her into a deep state of total blackout.
Itachi smirked, allowing for greed. He had to have it.
-
The devil and his had me down
In love with the dark side I've found
Dabblin' all the way down
Up to my neck soon to drown