Spiral Out
By: Ane S. Thesia
Beta read by: Griggling
Chapter Six: Like You Better Dead
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"Sir, if you're not more specific, I don't think I can help you."
Kisame messaged the skin between his eyes with irritation. "Antibiotics, whatever you got. I have 600 ryo on me, just give me something strong."
"There's more than one kind, sir. What's the ailment?"
He dropped his hand to his side and cracked his neck abruptly, causing the old woman to cringe. "Uh… severed arm?" He delighted in the shocked expression she gave him. "Infection, old woman, hurry it up."
She fumbled around her cart for a moment, producing two small bags. "This is the most potent thing I have for infection. You'll have to administer it intravenously. The syringe and needle are 100, herbs are 300. Do you have someone with you who knows how to work herbs into resin?"
"Yeah, yeah, here." He snaked the pouches from her hands, replacing them with the correct amount of cash. Tucking the supplies into his cloak, he turned without another word and started stalking back to the village entrance, readying for the long run back.
Despite the hour of night, the village was relatively busy. It was small compared to most, more like a place you stop to rest at on your way by. It didn't appear that there was any housing in it other than red-light hotels lined with blue lanterns. The rest of the buildings were supply depots, solo carts here and there selling random wares, and places to eat and drink. All kinds of sounds of ruckus flowed along the breeze from the open establishments.
"Oooh! Blue-saaamaa!"
Kisame looked up to his left, spotting two women waving from the second floor of a rather busy Inn. He sneered egotistically, showing his sharp teeth to the beckoning females. Lifting a hand, he gave them a curt wave. "No time tonight, ladies, things to do." He winked up at them from where he stood, having stopped below their window.
"Awwww… but we're sooo lonely!" The woman with bright blond lochs spoke down to him with painted lips in a mock frown. Her black haired companion giggled teasingly, leaning out the window just enough to show a little skin to the passerby.
"Oh-ho, I bet." He chuckled, throwing them a devilish grin. The women giggled amongst themselves, earning a thoughtful smile from below. 'Maybe just for a little while…'
A voice of pure mockery broke him from his 'inner battle'.
"Ooooo Fish-saaaaamaaaa!"
'Shit, I know that voice.' He winced, closing his eyes for a moment as he turned expectantly.
And he was correct. Akatsuki robes. One significantly taller man with his head and lower face covered, blaring white eyes much like his own. The other man, slicked back blond hair, smart-ass smirk, huge scythe climbing his back…
Kisame cleared his throat. "Kakuzu… Hidan... What a pleasure to see you," he spoke, obvious displeasure lacing his words.
Kakuzu simply grunted a 'hello' with a short nod, continuing past the two men into the hotel.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't happy to see us, Kisame," Hidan teased with a smile, using his middle finger to tap his chin.
Kisame retorted with a crass grin. "That'd be an understatement."
At that moment, Hidan took on an uncharacteristically serious look, throwing his fellow Akatsuki member off slightly.
"What's with that expression?"
"It's actually a hell of a coincidence that we ran into you here, Kisame…" the blond spoke conspiratorially, "We just left the main base earlier after stopping in to speak with Leader. You'll never guess who we spotted leaving…"
There were a few instances over the years where Haruno Sakura found herself wondering if her 'time had come'.
The first time had been during the Chuunin exams a few years ago when she met Orochimaru. His killing intent sent shockwaves through her consciousness, feelings she had never even fathomed until that moment. And then hours later, standing with a shaking kunai in her fist, she defended her closest friends from his minions of the Sound. If Rock Lee hadn't shown up, she was sure she would have died.
Every time she looked back on those close moments that day, they never really seemed real.
The second time her mortality came into the limelight was a month later at the hands of Sabaku no Gaara. She hadn't been awake for the entire incident, having been knocked out when the Shukaku pinned her to a tree and began squeezing her life out. If Naruto hadn't been there, she was sure she would have died.
She had shyly thanked Sasuke for saving her after that day, only to find that Naruto had been the one to step up and risk his life to protect her. The thanks had felt empty either way.
The third time was only a couple days before the present. Beaten badly and stabbed through the gut with a poisoned blade. That time, however, it had been her own means that saved her life.
And then things were suddenly very much put into perspective. Sakura was naïve…
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The back of her neck tingled at the touch of his warm breath. It moved her hair ever so slightly, and the words that traveled on that breath clenched her heart and made her feel ill.
"Thank you, Sakura."
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His genuine smile lifted her spirits from a deep hole.
"I will bring him back to us, Sakura-chan. It's a promise of a lifetime."
The defeat he suffered after breaking his promise left her with a resolve she'd never felt before. She would never look at their backs again. Never, ever again.
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"I think you make an excellent shinobi."
His eye creased as it always did, and she wondered what the smile might have looked like under the mask he always wore. The words were sincere, though, she could tell.
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The wild-haired boy flashed a fanged grin at her when she planted a kiss on his cheek. He had asked playfully if she'd go on a date with him if the Uchiha hadn't stolen her heart.
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Reverie.
"…in all circumstances we are utterly alone."
Itachi lifted an eyebrow at the pink enigma sprawled on the floor at his feet, soaking up remnants of ink into her pallid skin. That was certainly not what he had expected to hear…
"It seems you're becoming coherent."
Sakura sat up on her elbows, startled beyond words. She blinked several times, trying to focus tired eyes in the near complete darkness, save the roaring fire light across the room. Her hands twitched involuntarily from pain when she tried to right herself into a sitting position. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered why she was achieving a knack for waking up on hard wooden floors…
"My hands feel like they're on fire." Her voice was weak and forced.
"As well they should," Itachi spoke matter-of-factly, motioning towards the prone form beside them. "You blanked out about two hours into healing him. Honestly, I'm not familiar with healing rituals like these, so I assumed you were just meditating..."
The utterly confused look on Sakura's face didn't go unnoticed.
He cleared his throat. "It's been five hours. His wound closed up and eventually all I could smell in here was burning flesh, but you still didn't seem fazed. I had to smack you several times to get you to stop. Your chakra…"
She stuttered on the now enveloping pain. "M-m-my chakra is… it f-feels like I have nothing left..." Lying back down with exhaustion, she continued, propping her wrist on her sweaty forehead. "I feel like d-dying..."
Against his own better judgment, Itachi knelt down and reached a tentative hand out, grasping the sides of her throat with his fingers. She didn't even flinch at the contact; he noticed the glaze descending over her jade eyes.
"Your glands are swollen, I can see them sticking out from your neck."
She placed her throbbing hand over his, which he pulled away the moment she touched. Rubbing gently, wincing, Sakura then felt for the glands under her arm pits as well, making a sour face.
'My body must think I'm sick, it's acting like I have a fever—'Almost as if the realization was at fault, she turned on her side and started dry heaving.
Itachi jumped back from her side to avoid possible mess...
It was quite obvious she was suffering from very severe chakra depletion at this point. Something that could cause death.
"Use it."
"Wha…" Sakura started coughing, choking on her own throat, it felt like. "I need water…"
He studied her with his Sharingan. "Use it. The Souzou Saisei. You could die, you know."
Incredulous, she tried and failed to sit up and look fiercely at him. So she just settled on glaring at him from behind damp hair, body balled up on the floor. The effect she wanted was indeed lost.
"No."
Itachi couldn't tell if he felt sorry for her or not, but either way his body moved on it's own volition to the kitchen, where he got her a cup of water and brought it back to her still form. She took it from him and sat up on her elbows once again, tired through and through. Sipping the liquid gingerly so as not to upset her stomach, she found herself staring into hovering red eyes for the hundredth time in her relatively short lifetime.
Her glance shifted to the body of Deidara, still lying in the same position she remembered him being in hours before she blacked out. "Is he…?"
"He's alive. Seems to be sleeping at this point."
She sighed. "I don't know why I went these lengths…"
Itachi murmured something unintelligible and moved out to the front porch, leaning on the doorframe with his back to her.
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He failed to mention that she very well may have died for a moment not even a half hour ago. Her body had begun to seize violently, still pouring chakra out of her fingertips, and she'd fallen backwards into a drooling heap… Eyes rolled back and fluttering convulsively to show nothing but white. She called out for her mentors, the Jinchuuriki, and even his own brother between loud gulps of air…
In the five or so minute span this all started happening, Itachi continued to sit where he had been cross-legged on the other side of the room…
…And for some reason far beyond his ability to understand, he came to the conclusion that the girl was not better off dead at that moment. Chocking it up to her inevitable usefulness to himself, he ground out an inkling of unease at having her die in the middle of his home on a cold floor.
In a finale that went against everything he'd lived by for the past six years, Itachi did a last second copy healing jutsu to try and save a stranger.
Pressing his left hand to Sakura's forehead and his right to her chest, he gathered a minute amount of chakra to his fingers and concentrated on making it look and feel like he had observed hers to. Only a minute or two passed before her shaking subsided and her wheezing breath steadied and righted; allowing her back into the world of the living; using her next breath to speak very incongruous words about loneliness to a man who related all too well.
No one would ever know what he did in this obvious lapse of insanity, not without taking it to their grave. The familiar darkness in his personality had settled back over him triumphantly.
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He peeked over his right shoulder and found her once again asleep with the empty cup still gripped in delicate fingers. The lifted edges of the ink circle tattooed her face and arms with black reminders of her deed.
"Tch…" The sound escaped his lips at the sight of her weak, crumpled form on the floor.
By no means did she look like that strong kunoichi she pretended to be. The short pastel pink hair she sported didn't help her look any less innocent. Her eyes didn't hold that typical hardened or troubled stare you'd expect from a shinobi, either.
Something about it pissed him off. He found himself glaring at her from over his shoulder now, detesting her presence.
'Just kill her now,' his mind told him, 'You studied her chakra manipulation already, the technique you want is something you can figure out on your own…'
He turned around and moved swiftly to her side once again, piercing holes through her serene face with an intense stare.
'You could crush her throat with the ease of swatting a fly…'His fingertips prickled at the idea of it. A distinct want for feeling her flesh under his ministrations, the cracking sound of bone, the shock and fear she'd have on her face when she realized what was happening… blood spilling from between those pink lips…
"Itachi."
"Kisame… what?" he spoke to the new arrival but didn't turn away from the snuff film playing out in his mind.
Kisame stepped into the shrine, shaking the dew from his cloak. He dropped the bags he brought onto the table against the wall, sighing quietly to himself when he crossed the room to settle by the fire to warm his cold hands.
Needless to say, he felt the tension in the room before even stepping foot inside. Something was going down, and by the look of things, Itachi was in a strange state for some reason. His killing intent probably scared away all the animals within a mile radius... And it was only going to get worse once he heard the news…
Not looking forward to the inevitable, Kisame found himself wanting to just go to bed and forget. But it was his duty not just as a partner to tell Itachi… And, whether or not it really mattered, it all bothered him as well.
"So, how's Deidara?"
Itachi blinked the images away, clenching and unclenching his fists for a moment, feeling mechanical for some reason. He left the unsuspecting girl on the floor, noting that her breath was shallow but even, and took a place next to Kisame by the warmth of the fire.
"Seems her medical jutsu skills are impressive," he said as nonchalantly as possible, keeping his eyes straight ahead so as not to betray.
"So he's going to live, that's good, I guess." Kisame's eyes wandered to Sakura. "I want to know how he got himself into this situation. He captured the Shukaku without much incident, do you think it was the Kyuubi who did that to him? He seemed useless both times we've met…" He seemed to ponder the idea. "Perhaps it was the Copy Ninja?"
Itachi gave a noncommittal "Hm" in response.
"So, what are we going to do with the girl? Did you get any good techniques from her then? Are we killing her or what?"
His partner remained silent.
Kisame smirked. "Don't tell me THE Uchiha Itachi is lonely?"
On queue, the 'red glare of death' sent the Shark's mouth into a straight line, eyes reflecting someone who was waiting for a swift punch to the face. "Ahem, yeah…JOKE."
Voice slightly colder than normal, Itachi raised questioning eyes. "So, what took you so long?"
"Funny thing, that…" He searched for the correct way to go about not raising serious ire right away. "You'll never guess who I ran into in town…" He tried to study any hidden reaction in the now black eyes watching him expectedly. "I was on my way out when I happened upon Kakuzu and Hidan coming from meeting with Leader…"
"And?"
"And… All right, I'm just going to come out with this, you're not going to like it. Hell, even Kakuzu looked displeased and that's only a step up from seeing you look happy."
Itachi's eyebrow twitched. "Will you just fucking get to it already? I'd like to get some sleep before the sun comes up."
Kisame obliged. "Alright, so, they were walking up the stairs to the back entrance of the compound and felt two familiar chakra signatures. Ones that weren't supposed to be there, you know... They snuck the rest of the way up to see that Kabuto kid and someone in a cloak leaving from the back door…"
"Someone in a cloak?" It was all too obvious if Kabuto was there…
"Uh, yeah… Hidan was sure it was Orochimaru…"
Kisame blanched a pale shade of blue when he saw the fire behind Itachi's thoughtful eyes. But, despite that, he seemed calm…
"They want to meet with us and discuss the… implications. Sometime later today I guess, they said they'd be in town until tomorrow then they have to get moving again. There's word the Nekomata Nibi will be out on a mission and all that."
Itachi stood stiffly and walked to his bedroll a few steps from the hearth. His gaze still reflected the burning of the fire, though his back was to it now as he shrugged out of his mesh shirt and readied for sleep.
There was no place for words at the moment. They both knew the mutual feelings among the older members of Akatsuki when it came to the Snake. Things would only get more complicated now, no doubt about it.
Kisame took the retreating figure for what it was and headed to his room for the night. He came to a stop at Sakura's feet, throwing an inquisitive glance at the black lump that represented Itachi in the darkness of the room. Questioning his intentions again so soon would be suicide…
'Ah, hell…can't let a pretty lady shiver on the floor all night, right?'Even though said 'pretty lady' had managed to give him quite a fight, not something you attribute to soft femininity. He pulled his cloak off and draped it over her anyway.
"Pathetic."
Kisame ignored the compulsory mocking from his partner with a grin.
"I call it chivalry, my friend."
Hours later, the sun made it's way above the trees, pushing the chill of night into distant memory. The small patch of forest that hid a shrine full of dark intensions and a hidden group of saviors pitched in the breeze, liberally dropping leaves of many colors over the ground in a blanket of decay. The season of death was on its way into full swing, promising plummeting temperatures and freezing rainfall in its wake.
High above the earth, a brown and tan speckled hawk called a warning from deep in her throat. Today was the beginning of an important event for her and the masters she kept and would soon be keeping. The scrolls wrapped carefully and tied to her neck signified its advent.
With eyes sharper than sharp and duty on her wings, the Godaime's own hand-chosen messenger hawk braced against the current of the wind and charged headlong down to the edge of the forest to her destination. She'd had a long trip back to her master in the late hours of the night and turned around only moments later to come back through the early hours of the morning.
Tsunade had given her the name Naomi, a name most fitting.
Her flock awaited her eagerly, the one named Yamato greeting her the moment she took her perch on a nearby tree stump.
"She was right, Naomi, you're unbelievably swift," he said warmly, giving her a pat on the head and a piece of fish he had saved.
She puffed her chest out with pride, arching her neck to the side allowing him access to the notes she carried. He thanked her and she disappeared in a puff of displaced air and smoke.
Yamato placed the one marked specifically for their charge in his vest pocket, unrolling the squad's mission scroll and memorized every word with wide eyes. "This…"
"What is it, Commander?" his burgundy haired subordinate asked, jumping down from an above tree branch to land next to him.
He shook his head for a moment. "I just… I'm still having problems digesting this mission."
"May I?" Yuugao motioned to the paper, sliding her cat mask up to rest on the crown of her head.
"Oh, yeah, of course." Yamato responded, handing it off. "You all need to read it, then we'll get this plan organized."
"Well let's see here…" Yuugao summarized for her team, "Haruno Sakura. Assigned team Kakashi since age twelve. Now fifteen and a Chuunin. She's been training with Tsunade-sama for the past two years. It seems she was involved in the death of Sasori of the Red Sand, who was, as we all know, an S-Rank member of Akatsuki… That was only a few days ago, it seems. She disappeared with obvious signs of trauma. Umm… oh, wow…"
Aoba stepped up beside her and glanced over her shoulder. "What is she doing healing Akatsuki members here in Grass country?"
"In her defense, we can assume she had no choice. We don't know why they've taken her, but it's been confirmed she's now traveling with Uchiha Itachi…" their medic, Houshou, piped up from his spot by their dwindling fire as he finished his breakfast. "Hence this mission. Though, from what I know about the Uchiha, one ANBU team with one medic won't be enough to--"
Yuugao cut him off. "It says here we're not supposed to rescue the girl?" She turned an inquisitive glance to their commander. "This can't be right. She's a fifteen year old Chuunin!"
Yanking the scroll from her hands, Aoba continued reading aloud, "Intercept Haruno Sakura without letting her captors become aware. Give her the scroll. Trail the group for as long as we can and report findings every other day. Commander Yamato is to plant the summon for Naomi on her so she can send correspondence directly to the Hokage."
Houshou whistled at the proposition. "That's heavy… I met her a few times at the hospital, she seemed talented and all. But fifteen years old and doing a solo S-Rank level mission? The Hokage must have serious faith."
"If we find that she's being mistreated to the point that she can't continue her mission we're to pull her out, it says." Aoba finished, handing the scroll back to Yamato.
A solemn mood descended over the battle-hardened ANBU squad. None of them were younger than twenty-three years, all having had their own share of battles throughout their lives. Some even having experience in not one, but two wars to defend Konoha. Were they helping to doom a young woman now? Is that what this mission would ultimately come to?
A single thought hit a crescendo among the four, silently ringing on and on…
'This is insane.'
Yamato cleared his throat, bringing everyone to his attention. "What we think personally doesn't matter here. We're to follow the Hokage's orders."
Mumbles of "Yeah, we know…" And "Of course…" echoed around him.
"But, we're all in obvious agreement. Which is why we'll do everything in our power to help Haruno Sakura from the sidelines. This is, in essence, an information-gathering mission for a team of five. At least, that's how I'd like to think of it. No matter what happens, we will not see our fellow Leaf shinobi die. As long as we have breath in our bodies."
With a new kind of fire in their eyes, the ANBU squad made a silent pact at the commanders bold words.
"Five minutes. We're going to head east and loop around so we descend on that shrine from behind. From there we'll wait for our chance to intercept our 'inside man'. Without being able to simply fight our way in, we'll have to plan around what they do. Clear? No matter what happens, we can't let them know Konoha is trailing them, for the girl's sake. It could put her in further danger."
"Hai, Commander!" the three said in unison, going their separate ways to cover the campsite and collect their belongings.
Yamato straightened his vest, fingering the scroll marked 'Haruno' in his pocket.
'How will you react when you find out we're not here to rescue you, Sakura-san?'
Across the forest in a shrine invisible to the untrained eye, a storm was brewing.
The second to last existing Uchiha paced drastically back and forth in the kitchen. Blocking out the activity around him.
Out in the main room, a pink haired Konoha ninja bickered relentlessly with a dangerous criminal Shark, both shoveling rice into their hungry mouths.
Across the room, a recovering patient stared longingly at the two noisy people, praying for silence long enough for him to continue sleeping…
It was a strange puzzle, indeed.
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"You got ripped off, is all I'm trying to tell you! Stop getting so defensive!"
"If I wanted to hear your opinion on the matter, I'd beat it out of you, woman!"
'THUMP!'
The distinct sound of splintering wood…
'CRASH!'
The old wooden table indeed saw it's last legs. It and its contents went flying everywhere, cups and plates shattering against the walls and floor, food spraying everywhere.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Kisame jumped to his feet, just barely dodging the steaming hot teapot that flew towards his skull and crashed against the wall.
Sakura stood with her hands at her sides balled into fists, panting lightly with searing anger. "Don't you ever--!"
But the insane feeling of pure calamity radiating from the doorway cut her off. Itachi stood stiffly with his arms hidden inside his Akatsuki cloak, directing his intentions towards everyone in the room. He'd clearly had enough, finding it increasingly hard to keep his cool anymore.
"Kisame!" he barked, striding as light as the air itself to look the man straight in the eyes. "Get your stuff together. Now."
He turned his dark eyes to the second offender. "And you!"
Sakura absentmindedly pointed to herself, wide eyed and clearly shelved. 'Oh, Kami, he looks unbelievably pissed off…'
"Do what you're told and just fucking inoculate him already!"
She looked at the floor, scanning her eyes over the mess for the bags that had been amongst the fodder. "I…"
"You. Have no say. You. Seem to be forgetting rather quickly who's in charge here. Do it now."
'He'll surely kill me.' But she realized she needed to compose herself as best as possible. This couldn't go on any longer.
"Fine," she said softly, finding the bags near the outside doorway and picking them up. "Will you just tell me though… when can I teach you the Souzou Saisei and leave? I think we'd all be better off if we could part ways already, right?"
Nervous laughter…
"You have no use for me above the original reason you kidnapped me, are you going to let me leave or not?"
She watched as Kisame left the room briskly, heading for his bedroom.
Itachi seemed to ponder her question for a moment, but he didn't give her an answer. "Make sure Deidara is in condition to move, we're leaving in fifteen minutes."
"What!" Sakura was floored by his blatant disregard. "Where are we going! Why won't you answer my question!"
He once again dodged the issue as she watched him disappear through the doorway. There was nothing to do but stand there and try not to shake from roiling anger trying to escape.
'He makes me feel so powerless!'
Sakura found what she needed in the kitchen, returning moments later to kneel at Deidara's side.
'If he plans on making me stay for some reason…'
"Sit up," she spoke coldly.
The tired blond did his best, weakly sitting up to lean against the statue at his back. Tired eyes focused on her angry face.
'If he plans on killing me…'
She eyed the packet of herbs, sighing. Dumping half into the large spoon she took from the kitchen, she did her best to displace the remaining space with as much water as possible. She channeled the tiniest bit of chakra to the tips of her fingers, resting the full spoon on top to suck in the heat.
'I will not go out without a fight; I don't care how strong he is! I'd rather die in the wilderness than let him use and kill me here! I have too many things to do yet…'
Deidara watched the girl hovering over him with a thoughtful expression. He could clearly see the debate going on behind her eyes. There weren't words to express his thankfulness towards her for all she had done. And even if he found the words, his throat was far too dry and his body in too much pain to articulate.
Sakura met his gaze. A frown automatically followed, and deep down she found herself feeling sorry for him at that moment.
'What the hell is wrong with me…?'
Blinking and looking away, she reached down and picked up the syringe. She sucked the thick brownish liquid up from the spoon slowly in an attempt to get as much of the drug as possible.
Deidara looked nervously back and forth between the needle and the girl holding it in a clenched fist, as if she were about to simply stab him through with it. Who was she, anyway? And why was she so familiar?
"Alright, this is probably going to hurt, I won't lie. And this herbal mixture is really harsh on the stomach. You won't be having much fun later…"
She grabbed his left arm unceremoniously, laying it flat against her thigh. Grabbing his wrist, she bent it slightly, tapping the veins at the inner elbow to get them to pop up. No such luck.
"Hmm…"
The room held no makeshift tourniquet. She debated against tearing cloth from her own shirt, well… Itachi's shirt. That settled it.
The fishnet cloth tore easily and she tied it above his elbow tightly.
"There we go." She gave him a weak smile.
He was still staring intently at her, sending a shiver up her spine. When the needle pricked the fat blue vein protruding from his arm, he didn't even flinch. She emptied the syringe slowly and withdrew the needle.
Sakura spoke under her breath. "Well, let's hope that does it, I guess…"
She continued to look over his right arm and other injuries, watching his expression as she bent and poked at painful spots. His arm was definitely not healed completely, or maybe not even correctly, she realized. But he was alive, that's all she could assure him. Her mind fought with her conscience over whether or not she really cared.
Her skin crawled the moment his fingertips lightly touched her forehead.
Wide-eyed, she brought her hand up to smack his away. "What are…?"
He huffed slightly, bringing his hand down, speaking between cracking lips. "You have black on you…"
"Eh?" She rubbed her hand over her skin roughly.
"You have ink all over the side of your face."
As jumpy as ever, Sakura realized she hadn't noticed that Itachi had come back into the room. How long had he been standing there?
Their eyes met in dually unreadable stares. An uncomfortable silence descended upon the room, the breeze outside whisked a few yellow leaves in through the front door to skitter across the wooden floor. Deidara shifted uncomfortably.
"If you're done with him we're leaving now."
Abstraction.
"I… want to take a bath first, and wash my clothes…"
He fought the urge to lash out. "You can worry about that when we get to town."
"Town?"
"Yes."
'We're going to a town! This might be my only chance…'
Leaving her 'patient' to lean where he was, Sakura scurried to get her med pack and blood stained clothes from the washroom where she had left them. She came back out, tying her discarded hitae-ate in place, slipping her feet into her 'shit kickers' (as Ino had so eloquently called her boots) and lacing them up her shins just below her knee caps. She stomped one foot in place, remembering why she liked her new gear so much.
Kisame strode out of his room with a bag slung over his shoulder, eyeing the kunoichi with a barely permissible grin. "You look good in black. And those boots…" he half growled and chuckled.
She rolled her eyes at him.
Itachi raised an eyebrow. 'That she does…' He quickly ditched the thought. "Let's go. Kisame, carry Deidara."
-
Three Akatsuki criminals and one Konoha medical ninja took to the trees minutes later amidst hitching pain, a growl of protest, and twofold sighs of irritation.
Amidst their departure, four Konoha ANBU moved with them at a safe distance, as silent as the wind pushing at their backs.
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Yeah, it took a little bit to get this chapter out. I apologize. I was trying to get a chapter out every week, but personal crap started popping up and all that… you know how it goes. ;
Lots of new characters this chappie, eh? I put up a page with some short character bios with pictures for those of you who aren't totally up on the manga and whatever. Go to my profile and the link to the bios page is there. Enjoy!
Reviewers!
Squishy Penguin, Rhonda21, iamNOTafangirl3221, tri1, JadeCrescent Fallen, firevixen73, XxHotBloodySirenxX, sillymail…
Aslan'sWhiteWitch: You may be pleasantly surprised how that plays out…
SweetAssassin: In so many words, the answer is indeed YES. :D
katsuhito sage: Thanks! The easiest way to write about Itachi and Sakura is to just throw them into love right off… but that just isn't believable, ya know? And yeah, I don't think she knows the summoning in the actual story, but I'm positive she could do it if Tsunade taught her. She's better at using her Chakra than Naruto, and he learned his Kuchiyose rather quickly himself. I agree with Kishimoto not giving his female characters enough credit. Hmph. Though, he IS getting better, I think. Sakura has sooo much potential, and she's surrounded by so many strong people. She's intelligent enough to learn so many different things, I hope he helps her improve even more than she already has.
Lady Light/claps along with you/ Weeee! Lol…
Melinda-chan: Doh! And here I thought I could actually spell things… haha… /sweatdrop/… Yeah, I suppose healing him was illegal, but she didn't have much of a choice. I can say though with certainty, she will not be joining Akatsuki. Though I think she'd look awesome in that cloak…
Sakura0890: You'll find out about those arms eventually. And yeah, what the hell? No one is updating their fics anymore. I have like 55 stories being watched on my favorites list, it's so depressing…
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, GUYS! YOU'RE ALL SO SWEET, AND YOUR ENTHUSIASM HITS ME RIGHT IN THE HEART! I HOPE YOU ALL CONTINUE TO ENJOY MY STORY.
Xoxoxox
Ane S. Thesia