A/N: Omfg, this is long for a normal chapter and I don't even have an appropriate place to split it. Nearly as long as chapter 17, my goodness :\ Hopefully, this doesn't become the paradigm, because I don't want to have to write this much for a chapter each time. There's lots of SasoDei interaction in this one, for those feeling like they're missing out on it.
I want someone to buy me an otamatone-
Medical genius, they called her. Tsunade's most likely successor but also pretty much guaranteed to inherit a place in Konoha City's civilian council from her mother, Haruno Mebuki.
For those things alone, and despite Tsunade's fearsome reputation, Sakura found herself on the receiving end on many marriage proposals. And when she turned them all down, the council pushed for a union with a suitor of their choosing.
But Tsunade, good old Tsunade pushed back even harder, sending her and Shizune (who was in a similar situation) to Ame to share their medical talents and strengthen their alliance. She was to come back every three months and report to Tsunade (and the country leaders and city council) on their progress. Akatsuki was the first place she stopped, and she found herself staying there with Shizune for almost the whole year.
Sakura was a well known face, even outside of Konohagakure, so when she accidentally knocked a blond boy flat on his ass, she expected him to expose her identity right there in the middle of the street.
Instead...
They had stared at each other. She had been about to apologize and maybe help him up when he pushed off his hands and landed on his feet.
"I'm Naruto."
It'd been so refreshing.
"Haruno Sakura."
He had then smiled deviously. "Hey, for knocking me over, you've gotta treat me to ramen, 'kay?"
"I... No way. I'm not spending my funds on ramen, Naruto-san."
"Ehh?! I'll report you to the police if you don't!"
"What?! No way are they going to listen to you!"
Naruto had pointed at an uncomfortable looking Sasuke, trailing behind a group of officers. He had been a mere trainee. "Teme! Arrest her!"
Sasuke had sent a withering glare their way, obviously reading the situation for what it was.
"A political shitstain" had been his exact words.
Sakura had smiled.
As they walked in a much more hurried pace than yesterday, Sakura stared numbly at her hands.
She could have died yesterday if not for Itachi's quick thinking. She owed him her life, but other things were currently on her mind.
I'm not supposed to be so... useless. Maybe I can't fight as well as the others even with my training with Tsunade-shishou, but... Sakura was supposed to be a medical prodigy. And she couldn't even save poor Taro before he turned into one of those monsters. The wound she had seen on his chest had been black and festering, but she hadn't had any chance to take a closer look. In fact, if she had been any closer to him at all, he would have tore her throat out.
"Hey, Sakura-chan?"
The medic tucked a strand of black hair (if they ever made it to Konoha, the first thing she would do was remove the horrendous dye) behind her ear as she turned. Uzumaki Naruto stared back at her awkwardly, as if he didn't really know what to say. It was unusual for most people who had met the boy, but Sakura was an exception. She knew Naruto had had a major crush on her before they drifted apart.
Sakura smiled, the action worn. "Naruto, hi." She hesitated before adding, "Walk with me?"
He did, and silence stretched between the two before he finally spoke up again.
"You're okay, right? He didn't do nothin', did he?"
She nodded. "I'm fine."
"Taro isn't," Anko, passing her on her right, muttered under her breath, just low enough for only Sakura to hear. The words were crushing. Sakura never really knew where Anko stood, but it was clear that the purple-haired woman held... resentment toward her.
If Tsunade were here, she would have exploded, no doubt. They both knew that there was nothing Sakura could have done to save Taro from turning. The poison had already been running strong in his veins before she even got to his side.
"Look," Naruto said bluntly. "It wasn't your fault that he died, okay? It was just a stroke of really bad luck." He kicked a stone with his shoe. "I'm really glad you're alive, Sakura-chan. I don't... want to lose another friend, y'know?"
Friend. Friend? Sakura stared blankly ahead. Are we still friends? Was it really that easy? Naruto seemed to read her like a book, and backtracked a little.
"I mean, uh, you're still my friend. Doesn't mean I'm yours, but I'll still be here. I ain't going anywhere, 'ttbayo." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, his brows knitted in a slightly embarrassed frown.
Sakura placed a hand on his shoulder, a small smile tugging on her lips as warmth bloomed in her chest. "Thank you... Naruto. I'd love to be friends with you again."
Because in times like these, people were too precious to lose.
"We should stop here," Deidara suddenly proclaimed when they reached a babbling brook. "It's easily defensible, and they can't go on for much longer." She jabbed her thumb at stragglers near the back of the group being ushered by Shisui, who was guarding them.
"A most bold declaration, Deidara!" Gai flashed his teeth at her and proceeded to further approve her idea by giving her a thumbs up. "The youth flowing in our veins will be restored, should we take this opportunity to rest our bodies!"
Hitoshi, now free of Ami's mother—she had died during last night's attack—voiced vehement agreement, as did most of the civilians.
Rations were torn open and devoured by exhausted travelers, while a party was sent out to stalk the riverbanks for fish. The hunting party consisted of Sasori, Deidara, Anko, and fourteen-year-old Yukari, whose hair had been significantly shortened. Unlike Lee, who was now sporting a bowl cut like Gai's thanks to Tenten's efforts, Yukari's hair had been slashed off by a long-clawed monster.
"There's literally nothing here," Yukari complained after ten minutes of walking up and down the riverbank. "Can't we go further up?"
"We could," Sasori answered, contemplating. "You and Anko go ahead, then, and see what you can find."
"Yes!" Yukari grabbed Anko by the hand and dragged her upstream. "Come on, senpai."
"Don't call me that, I hardly know you," Anko managed to bite out before the two females became two specks on the horizon.
Sasori turned to Deidara. "Let's get to work." He rolled up his pant legs and sleeves before stepping into the cold water, a shiver running up his spine. Deidara did the same, and, soon, they were slowly walking down the stream. In the distance, their group could be seen sitting or standing in a grassy clearing next to the stream.
Both artists removed their shoes and stepped into the stream, the cold biting at their ankles.
The sun was hitting its peak behind the clouds when Deidara let out a small yawn, eyes at half mast as she stretched, her back curving. "Ne, Danna, are there actually any fish here?" She tried to sound nonchalant, but there was a small waver in her voice that normally wasn't there.
He gave her a long stare before answering, languidly, "I don't know. I don't know enough about fish to answer that." Something tickled the skin of his ankle, and he looked down, seeing a fat fish squeezing between his feet. "Does that answer your question?"
She merely grunted, standing back as Sasori plunged his arm into the water and snatched the fish up by the tail. In his stone-tight grip, the aquatic creature flailed, mouth opening and closing as it struggled for life.
Something lurched in Deidara's stomach. It was dying. Dying so slowly and the way it was thrashing so longingly... She squeezed her eyes shut, massaging her temples. It was just the sun. Even if it was a cloudy day, it was just the sun. Behind her eyelids, Hitomi stared back at her, pale eyes hollow in death. A sharp gasp escaped her lips, causing Sasori to turn his head slightly.
"Brat?" When she didn't respond, he stepped toward her. "Deidara."
"I'm fine," she ground out, blinking her eyes open. The fish in Sasori's hand flapped one last time before stilling. "Can I just lie down for a second?" Without waiting for a response, she stepped out of the brook and lay back on the grassy riverbank.
Sasori stared at her for a moment longer before continuing on his hunt. A loud, triumphant shouting from further up the river caught his attention briefly—it seemed that Anko and Yukari had been successful. When he laid eyes on Deidara again, he saw that she had pulled out some clay and was molding a rough shape in her hands. Her fingers moved idly around the clay, fingertips leaving shallow indents on the surface. An eternity later, when he accepted that there would be no more fish other than the fat one he had caught earlier, he got out of the brook. By then, Deidara was nearly finished with her creation, and was looking notably more relaxed than she had been before.
He had felt the waves and waves of distress rolling off her form like a foul odor. It had made him pause. It hadn't even been a week since they had escaped Akatsuki's oppressive confines, and now a stranger, more imminent than ever threat had made itself known.
"A butterfly?" Sasori drawled out when her fingers unfurled to reveal a Lepidoptera sitting on her palm. She had smoothed out its edges extremely well, he had to admit, and had even implemented minute details on the wings and antennae. The dead fish felt heavy and awkward in his hand as he sat cross-legged beside her. She was still lying on her back, staring up at the clouds. When she finally registered him, her cobalt eyes flitted over to his diminutive form.
"No," she said, "it's a moth, un."
Interesting.
"So you prefer moths to butterflies?" he wondered.
"Not really," Deidara confessed, holding up her creation and admiring it. Sasori watched as she channeled a bit of her chakra into the construct, and as its wings began to flap. It took off into the skies, fluttering about as it enjoyed its newfound freedom. "But I knew someone who did." She was straight-faced, but Sasori could see the sadness in her eyes. He looked away.
A fine powder tickled his nose and he almost sneezed. Sasori glanced skyward to see the moth slowly disintegrating into a fine dust. Before long, it had completely disappeared, swept away by the wind.
"Nineteen dead," Deidara said abruptly, sitting up and wiping her damp palms on the knees of her pants. "That's... surreal, un." She stared out into the copse of trees across the babbling brook, tension filling her gaze, as if she expected a creature from the depths of hell to emerge from the twisted trunks. The canary's wing fringe on the left side of her face dropped to the right slightly as she hugged her knees to her chest. When the hair started to tickle her nose, she brushed it aside.
"More will follow," Sasori stated without preamble, feeling the sudden urge to get out some paper and pour his pent up frustration into words again. "You understand that, right, brat?" His tone was tinged with a grim, tired acceptance.
He was right, Deidara knew, and it terrified her. When had they become so... so intimate with death? They were constantly dancing around danger on their toes, and quiet, tranquil moments like this were hard to come by. Prior to the whole war fiasco, Deidara had never killed before, even while traveling on the road to Ame from Iwa. Now there was blood on her hands—more blood than she could have ever anticipated, and not only from the men and monsters (the lines were blurred in that regard, truly) she had killed in battle. It dribbled between her fingers and stained the teeth on her hand-mouths. She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling her chest constrict a little. "Yeah," she admitted, loathing the words that emerged so easily from her mouth. "I do know, Sasori-no-Danna, and I hate it."
That made two of them.
Eventually, she stood, brushing grass off from the back of her pants; she had forgone her cloak. "We should head back, un." Her eyes moved to the dead fish still in Sasori's grip. "Sorry for not helping."
"It doesn't matter." He got up as well, the fish slapping against his thigh. "There was nothing else, anyway."
Their timing was perfect, it seemed, as Yukari and Anko were on their way back from up the stream. They had caught a fish even fatter than Sasori's fish—one that had had enough muscle to swim upstream.
Anko seemed to be in a broody mood, a scowl etched on her face. Neither Sasori or Deidara blamed her. The purple-haired woman had just gone through hell. Taro had been someone that she'd known before leaving Akatsuki, and he'd been a man that she had respected.
As they neared the group, not bothering to make conversation with one another, raised voices reached their ears.
Sasori raised an eyebrow. They hadn't even been gone for half an hour and they'd already started fighting? At this rate, they'd all be doomed.
"What's going on?" Yukari asked no one in particular, trying to peer over Sasori's shoulder to catch a glimpse of the conflict participants. "Sawako!" she called for her sister, jogging over to the mass of moving bodies. "Sawako!"
"We're all going to die out here, anyway!" a man with thinning hair was shouting hysterically at a white-faced Naruto, whose face was contorted in a deep, disapproving scowl. "What's the point, huh, kid?! Why won't you just let us go back?! I'd rather be in Akatsuki than out here!"
"Mori-san," Itachi got his attention, "if we go back, we we surely die. Don't be a fool."
Izuna, fussing in his mother's arms, startled when Mori raised his voice up even further.
"I'd rather be shot than... than be ripped into pieces!"
Deidara couldn't blame him. Not entirely. The prospect of dying in such a manner was confronting.
"Even so," Kakashi piped up, crossing his arms, "Death is death. Isn't a slim chance better than no chance at all?"
"Kakashi's right," Kagami put in. "I didn't stick my neck out just for you cowards to turn back."
Shisui side-eyed the masked Uchiha, sweatdropping slightly. "You could have put it more delicately..." Still, Kagami, Kakashi, and Itachi were right. They'd come too far, and going back was not an option that any of them had, not even harmless civilians like Mori.
Mori opened his mouth to argue again, but an animalistic screech in the distance had his teeth clattering shut.
Itachi looked at the direction that they had come from. "We have to move. According to Shikaku, there should be a more fortified bunker north from here."
Anguished murmurs rippled through the group as they hastily complied and started hauling ass. A red-haired girl with glasses was noticeably fidgeting as she walked in the middle of the pack, her face white as bone and her breathing heavy. Sakura noticed immediately.
A combination of fear and the high altitude, was Sakura's first guess. But, taking a closer look at the girl—she was around their age, she was guessing—she could see that it was something else. Sakura narrowed her eyes and thought about consulting Shizune.
When the red-haired girl keeled over, Kisame caught her, looking a little lost as to what to do. Chihiro, startled, held the teenager's arm up, blinking in confusion.
"Karin?" A woman's voice broke through the crowd. "Karin, what's wrong?!"
"Stay back," Shizune warned, appearing next to Sakura, who was already by Karin's side. "Calm down, sweetie," she soothed when Karin began to heave.
"The monsters!" Karin gasped, causing everyone to flinch back.
Sasori sent chakra to his fingers, preparing to form chakra blades around them. If this nobody civillian—Karin, was it?—was turning, they would have no choice but to put her down. He pushed any reluctance he may have had aside, preparing to kill. Kakashi's single working eye slid to his form. If the puppeteer noticed it, he didn't react.
Instinctively, Sakura and Shizune stepped backward, knowing firsthand just how far gone patients that were in the midst of turning were. But Sakura was still close enough to notice.
There was clarity in her eyes.
"It's okay, everyone," Sakura said, raising her voice above the panicked sea of voices. "She's clear."
"I'm not a monster!" Clearly, Karin had picked up on their terror and disgust. "But...! I can feel them. It... It was like that on the night of the attack as well." Woozily, Karin tried to stand, Shizune helping her up when her knees trembled and threatened to buckle. She shuddered, nauseous. "I was the one who panicked first." Her glasses slipped down her nose as she began to cry. "I'm sorry! I'M SORRY! I couldn't control myself...!"
"Are you serious?!" Hitoshi snarled, a vein popping in his neck as he regarded the sobbing girl with loathing in his black, beady little eyes. "You could have killed ALL of us! And what about those poor bastards that did die, huh?!"
"Shut up, you're not helping!" Rin snapped at him, whirling around and baring her teeth. She was so sick of that man and his constant complaining. It'd been her, Izumi, and her children that had nearly died that night, not him. They would have died if not for Sasuke's intervention.
"She's a sensor. Hypersensitive to chakra." Sakura's words cut off any retort Hitoshi might have had. "It's an extremely rare kekkei genkai that manifests naturally every few generations." She could have launched into a whole lecture about genetics and their relation to kekkei genkais, but now wasn't the time.
Karin nodded numbly, tears drying quickly from the wind blowing against her face. "I've been called that before, yes. They... feel so horrible. They really are monsters."
"How close are they?" Sasori inquired, trying to keep his voice calm for her sake.
"I-I can't tell... but I don't think they're that close... it definitely wasn't as heavy as last night's." Karin hung her head. "Can we please just go?"
"That would be best," Kakashi agreed, and they set off again, Karin's unique ability lingering in their thoughts. "Itachi, want me to scout ahead? It'd be safer if we know what's coming."
"Bring someone with you," Itachi recommended. "And don't get caught."
Kakashi turned to Shisui. "You up for it?"
He was, and the two martial artists zipped ahead, no longer needing to travel at the standard civilian pace.
Kisame couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for Chihiro as she watched Shogo and Itsuki chase each other, weaving around random people. Her eyes were even wider than usual. One of the twins—Yukari, the more outspoken one—scolded them when one of them bumped into her, tone snippish.
"Do you want to join them, kid?" he asked eventually.
"Eh? Could I...?" Chihiro tilted her head as she looked up at him. Biting her lip, she turned away. "But I'm older, and a stranger."
Kisame shrugged. "Fine then. Keep wallowing."
Chihiro stared at him. Then she marched right over to Itsuki and Shogo, causing Kisame to chuckle.
"Is she your protégée now?" Kisame turned his head to see Itachi slowing down to walk beside him. The Uchiha master was looking as serene as one possibly could in these conditions. The rest of them looked like they'd just gone through hell while Itachi, unfairly, seemed to only have ruffled feathers. Damn tengu.
"Hardly." Kisame rolled his right shoulder, feeling the muscles in his back stretch with a pleasant ache. "But she's a good kid. A lot better than that Uzumaki brat." Now that he got a closer look at Itachi, he'd have to review his judgement. The younger man most definitely wasn't merely ruffled. The lines on his face were incredibly pronounced—more so than when they'd first met, on that fateful day when Kisame had been arrogant and swaggering and hadn't known the hardship that war brought—and he looked like he hadn't slept in a decade. No longer was he clean-cut, his garb splattered with dry blood, plant juice, and mud from when a monster had sent him flying into the dirt with a right hook. Briefly, Kisame threw his attention back to Chihiro, who was talking animatedly with the younger boys, looking a little out of place. Itsuki, easily led along by his mother's conventions, seemed to turn his nose up at her, but Shogo was more open into accepting her into whatever childish game they were playing. In the end, Itsuki relented, loudly stating that she could only play if she wasn't a "prissy girl". Kisame had to smirk at that, especially when Chihiro hotly accepted his terms and proceeded to tag them both in record time. Kisame was glad. She deserved a chance to just be a kid, even out here in these woods.
"By the way things are looking, she will be, soon," Itachi remarked, noticing the fond gleam Kisame failed to suppress in his gaze. His lips quirked upward in a smile that was hardly there. "I'm glad you're happy, Hoshigaki-sama."
"Kisame."
Itachi's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise, as if to say, are you sure?
Kisame grinned, displaying his sharper-than-normal set of teeth. "What's the point of honorifics? Especially out here, when we have to rely on each other, Itachi?" Itachi stared so long at him that Kisame almost blushed at the attention he was receiving.
Itachi caved after a few more moments, his eyes closing as he smiled. "Of course, Kisame. Also," he turned his head to one of the black-haired medics—the one with pink emerging slightly from the roots; that dye must not have been as permanent as she'd thought—walking in front of them momentarily, "Sakura wishes to speak to you tonight. She is very interested in your fast healing ability. If you really mean what you said about relying on one another, you would allow her to examine you, wouldn't you?"
Kisame tried not to gape. Damn! This manipulative Uchiha bastard was playing him like a fiddle. But then again, Itachi did have a point, even if he was using Kisame's own words against him. Almost as if she sensed they were discussing her, Sakura turned back, large green eyes blinking in blatant curiosity. "Fine," he relented, a hint of bite in his words, "If I can prevent anymore deaths from happening, then I'll let her probe me." He wasn't as thick-headed as to think that wasn't what Itachi—and by extent, Sakura—was after. His healing factor could be studied and save a lot of lives if it were to be recreated.
"I've spoken to Shikaku," continued Itachi. "There should be a medical bunker not far away from the one we're heading to right now, and a mission to replenish our medical supplies will be held once we reach the fortified bunker in the north."
"Let me guess—you want me to join the party?"
He nodded.
"Alright then. Who else is coming?"
"Sakura, Kagami, Kakashi, and Sasori." That left Deidara, Gai, Kakashi, Shisui, and Itachi himself as the top fighters in their ragtag group—three quarters of the former Big 4, a pacifist prodigy, and another genius with a penchant for not dying within the ranks of the enemy. And Anko was particularly ruthless with Orochimaru's old blade, and Sawako could hit a monster's beady black eye from quite the distance with her bow and arrows. That was acceptable. Sasuke and Tenten were formidable fighters with weapons as well, and Izumi could hold her own.
Having heard his name, Sasori angled his head toward them before facing the front again, his entire body on alert for any incoming monsters, even though Karin hadn't piped up since her small breakdown earlier. The red-haired man was walking with Deidara and Chiyo, all of them engaging in some talk every once in a while.
"If we're lucky, we won't need them," Kisame answered in the end, after some deliberation.
Unfortunately, luck was not something they could rely on. Itachi and Kisame knew that very well.
Shisui tried not to gag when Kakashi stepped around the third dead animal they had spotted during their scouting expedition. It was some kind of snowshoe hare, its stomach ripped open like double-doors. A greenish-black fluid decorated its remains, oozing from the massive hole in its guts. The whole area was rotten with death, and Shisui had more than once advised Kakashi to turn back. The stench made Shisui cough, though Kakashi seemed unfazed. Possibly because of the shirt-mask he wore, which really brought out the patch over his left eye, in Shisui's opinion.
"We're close," Kakashi said, his voice low. "To whatever nest they're living in."
Shisui looked around the area, spotting a few more half-eaten animals sprawled promiscuously on the forest floor. "No kidding," he muttered under his breath, waving his hand past his nose to dispel the horrid stench invading his senses. "We should start scouting from the trees."
"Good idea."
They continued their scouting mission in the trees, blending into the shadows. Eventually, they came upon a gully, and a decimated camp. Half-decayed bodies littered the deserted camp in the ravine, and both men felt their stomachs lurch at the sight. Shisui thought that it was a miracle he didn't fall out of his tree.
"A massacre," the Uchiha whispered. Not unlike our own. But those men down there had been enemies, if the ripped flag flapping tiredly in the wind was any indication. The mountain route was still undoubtedly the safest path, but there had still been enemy camps around. Never in his life had Shisui seen so many dead Tsukigakure soldiers.
Suddenly, a hunched figure emerged from one of the caves in the side of the ravine. Drooling jaws snapped at the air as one of the most grotesque monsters to date made itself known to the world. It let out an otherworldly screech, and stepped into the center of the camp. In their safety above, Kakashi and Shisui watched with stiff spines.
Shisui could see its brain. Suddenly, those dead animals in the forest didn't seem so horrible anymore. The cap of the monster's skull had been removed, leaving only a jelly-like substance to protect the delicate organ.
It opened its mouth and Kakashi leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
"Has he stopped fighting it?" the beast rumbled as more monsters appeared in their line of vision. "The man who sees all, but nothing at all?"
"We have him contained, sir," another monster replied. "He will succumb shortly."
Oh, gods, they were sentient. They had ranks. And order. A hierarchy.
"Good." A terrible grin stretched across the lead monster's visage, stretching it menacingly. "Leader-sama will be pleased with our progress. An entire camp of human trash either dead or added to our ranks."
It was then Shisui noticed that the smaller, barely-clothed monsters were just loitering around, not paying their utmost attention to their leader. Their eyes were foggy. They were mindless. The Uchiha genius quickly made notes in his head, and he knew Kakashi was doing the same. So not all of them manifested sentience. That was good to know. But then, how did sentience manifest in some of then? He had a number of theories already whirling around in his mind like a maelstrom, but, obviously, none of them could be confirmed.
"What of the humans travelling through the mountains?"
"We'll add the useful ones to our ranks. I have already picked some out from last night's assault. As for the rest, kill them, and feed on them if you wish."
There were a few approving moans from the lower ranked monsters. And Shisui remembered the broken sticks in the path that they had come through—this was likely their stronghold, meaning that they had come in and out through that path.
"They're heading north," said the leader's second-in-command (or, at least, that was what Shisui assumed it—he?—was). "To Konohagakure, most likely. Once they cross to the other side of the mountain, they'll be in Konoha Country." The leader smiled again, and a shiver ran down Shisui's spine. "We'll cut them off before nightfall."
There was a shift in the wind, and Kakashi grabbed Shisui by the collar and jumped backwards. "We have to go," the Hatake said, urgency clear in his low voice. "Or they'll smell us. They might already have." He let go of the Uchiha and Shisui balanced himself and continued to leap through the trees with Kakashi. "If we die now..."
The others would be doomed, too.
Shisui pushed himself to even faster speeds. No! I won't let them die. I'll defend them with my life if I have to. It's my duty... as a warrior of Ame!
Karin's paleness and shaking framing only further convinced them that the information Kakashi and Shisui brought back with them was correct. The sky was an odd mixture of color as the sun set in the distance, behind heavy storm clouds.
"Another attack so soon?" someone blurted. "H-how merciless... Am I dreaming?"
Dreaming or not, Sasori strongly suggested waking the fuck up because this was their reality now. It was cold, twisted, and left a bitter taste in his mouth, but closing your eyes at this point would only lead to more unnecessary death.
"Are you fucking serious?!" Deidara suddenly shouted, pupils dilating and fists clenching. Dammit! We can't even catch a break! But at least they had forewarning this time—surely, that had to count for something? It means nothing if we don't know what to do with it. The non-fighters in the group were simply standing around, knees knocking in terror as visions of their own deaths plagued them. I... I can't take this anymore. She swallowed a lump in her throat, leaning against Rin's shoulder.
The brown-haired widow could feel her friend trembling. It wasn't with her usual anticipation—it was fear. It ripped through all of their veins with a cold fire, freezing and burning at the same time.
"The bridge!" Shikaku's voice snapped through the air. "There should be a bridge a mile from here that we can cross to safety—we'll cut it down once everyone's across."
Right, the bridge. Sasori vaguely recalled it being mentioned by the Nara just hours ago. He shook himself out of his stupor. No more daydreaming, he told himself, he could dream plenty when he was cold and dead and six feet underground.
Itachi was speaking hurriedly with Izumi, who looked torn at his words, her eyes growing wide and stricken when he mentioned something. She held Izuna tightly in her arms, as if she feared that the wind—it was picking up vigorously—would tear their son away from her warm hold. The low bun she wore her hair in had come loose again, and wisps of dark brown—nearly black—locks framed her face in a disorderly mess. Then Izumi's eyes hardened, and she nodded grimly. Itachi kissed her forehead before pulling back and getting everyone else into order.
Sasori turned away as Itachi's words fell upon his ears. It made sense, and was probably the best plan they had. Get all the civilians to safety. Anyone who is able and willing will fight on the frontlines, while the rest fall back and defend those who can't defend themselves. Sasori had seen more than his fair share of blood in the past, and he was prepared to rip apart more skin and muscle when Itachi opened his mouth again.
"Sasori, Deidara, Gai, Sasuke, I want you to leave with the rest." By now, the fighters had separated themselves from the non-fighters, the civilians clumped together to the side, looking uncertain. Unsurprisingly, few actually wanted to fight the incoming monsters head-on.
"What?" Sasori said cuttingly, Sasuke echoing his disbelief near the back of the 'fighting' group. "Itachi—what is the meaning of this?" He waited for Deidara to protest as well, but her voice never sounded. "You know I can fight those things. They won't be a problem for me."
"I know you can, but," Itachi's eyes flashed as the first drops of rain began to fall, "I don't want you to shed anymore blood today, Sasori. Instead, use your abilities to save as many lives as you can. Deidara, this goes for you, too. You two work well together and are largely defensive fighters—you're skills will be more useful in defending than attacking. Gai?"
"Yosh!" Gai gave an affirmative nod, eyes like steel. "You have my word that I will defend them until I take my last breath. Those unyouthful beasts will not get past our solid defense."
"Good."
"And what about me?" Sasuke angrily demanded. His gray shirt was splattered with monster blood, as were his pants. "You've never been an idiot—you know that my skill lies in offense!"
"Sasuke," Sakura started hesitantly, but he talked right over her.
"What are you trying to pull? You're not looking down on me, are you?"
"Sasuke..." Naruto frowned. Hasn't it ever occurred to the bastard that his brother might be trying to protect him? He could see it practically bleeding out of Itachi's stoic expression—he knew it because he'd felt that toward Konohamaru and his little gang before. Currently, the Sarutobi boy, Moegi, and Udon were standing a little behind Naruto on the non-fighting side.
"You tried to save me from Madara," Itachi stated, and Sasuke stiffened for a moment, halting his verbal barrage. "Please allow me to save you as well, otouto."
A silence stretched between them before someone—Naruto—called out, "Come on! We have to hurry up, Sasuke!" Perhaps it was the lack of -teme, but Sasuke turned around with a surly expression on his face, stalking over to where the non-fighters (some voluntary and some not) were standing.
"They're coming! So—so close...!" Karin's teeth were practically chattering at his point, and it wasn't from the incoming storm. An older woman had her hands on her shoulders to try and stabilize her. Sasuke, standing next to her, shot her a brief glance as he felt her vibrate.
"We've wasted enough time," Kagami cut in, Sharingan flaring behind the single eye-hole in their purple mask. "Even I can feel them from here."
Itachi ran his eyes over the now-soaked people in front of him, gaze lingering on his wife and child. "Be safe."
They ran, Gai and Shikaku leading the pack while Deidara and Sasori rounded them up from the back, the latter pushing forward a woman who had slipped in the mud. Soon, they disappeared over a grassy mound.
Itachi turned his attention to the remaining members of their group of forty-five. He could feel a dark force pressing against his ribs, slowly suffocating him. Any minute now. He drew out two blunt kunai from his mostly-empty weapons pouch—one he had pillaged from the previous bunker.
Kakashi, Kisame, Shisui, Kagami, Anko, and a few more nondescript fighters stood alongside him, each of them tensely regarding their surroundings. When the first monster emerged from the tree line, giant claws sinking into the dirt, an arrow flew into its eye, and it howled.
Itachi whipped around, Sharingan blazing as he caught sight of the perpetrator. One of the twins, Sawako, was standing on the grassy hill above them. She gave them a quick salute before vanishing over the mound. The Uchiha smirked grimly as more of those unearthly creatures appeared, not even pausing to help the screaming, wounded one. Shisui had been right—they truly were mindless. It was the sentient ones they had to look out for.
Vines shot out at them, and Anko and Kisame cut through the first wave of them.
The battle had begun.
They ran downhill through copses of trees, panting hard and pumping their leg muscles as fast as they could. Hitoshi, the big, bull-like man, was running close to Gai, as if he expected the spandex-clad taijutsu master to defend him if a monster got close. And, to his credit, Gai probably would have.
Deidara squinted through the rain, dew clinging to her long, dark eyelashes. Her entire world was blurry, and she had nearly tripped a couple of times. Only her instinct had saved her, and she wondered when someone would trip up.
A roar bellowed behind them, far too close for comfort.
A warm body was flung into Deidara's side and her breath hitched as the small figure corrected herself and continued to run, stumbling over a root. Chihiro, Deidara matched a name to the round face of the little girl, Kisame's shadow. She was much tinier than Deidara had thought. She was supposed to be nine years old, but she looked more like she was—
Hitomi's face—her blood trickling out of her mouth and her dead eyes facing the sky—flashed through her mind, and she nearly choked. No! I can't...! Chihiro overtook her and the hold on her throat gradually faded away.
"Brat!" Sasori's voice sounded next to her ear. "Stop dreaming!"
"Alright!" she snapped, her voice pitching up.
Sasori gave the side profile of her face a long, hard look. Deidara, you fool... If she died, he wouldn't forgive her, even if he could see those tell-tale signs of a scar on her heart that had never quite healed. Sticks snapped behind them, and Sasori's pupils dilated. Shit, they're onto us. Dammit, how could Itachi let them escape?! It wasn't as if he hadn't saw this coming, but this just made things a thousand times harder than it needed to be and Sasori wasn't sure if had the patience to deal with such a thing.
"I got it, yeah." Deidara turned her body around, her blonde hair whipping past her face as she slowed down. The sleeves of her torn cloak fell down her arm, revealing her hand-mouths, which were already chewing. A dark shape lumbered toward them at a terrifying fast pace, obscured by the fog that was a consequence of the downpour they were experiencing. Clay shapes spewed out of her hands, blurring in the air as they flew toward the shape. It's not as effective in the rain, but it'll have to do! "Katsu!"
A huge explosion sounded, Sasori's ears ringing from the blast as the wind generated battered against his back. "Couldn't you have picked a quieter art?"
"Not on your life, un." The smoke began to clear and a strained smile reached Deidara's lips. "There's no way it could have survived that—that was C2 level—what?!"
The fog had cleared in the explosion, allowing them to see just what had happened to the beast. Thick, sturdy, and extremely charred vines were wrapped around its body, the shape reminiscent of a flower bud. Slowly, the vines unwrapped and sunk back into the center of its back.
"You damn, persistent bastard!" Deidara screamed at it, her lips pulled back in a frustrated snarl. Faster than Sasori had ever seen her move, she hurled more bombs at the thing, these ones larger and more humanoid. They were also attached to her hand-mouths, the white clay string disappearing behind the tongues. It was almost like—
"Have you been taking notes?" Sasori mused, a puff of smoke concealing him momentarily before being blown away. A puppet now floated in front of him, and he directed his wooden soldier at the monster.
"You wish," she ground out. "It's because of your smug face that I don't use this often, un... I developed it before I even came to Ame!"
The monster screeched and immediately began attacking their constructs, two clay and one wooden. It was a disadvantage for the two artists—the heavy rain was hindering their sight as well as the endurance of their puppets.
Eventually, though, Sasori managed to get his puppet to stab it through the heart while Deidara's clay humanoids melted against the monster's back, arms, and legs. The corpse spewed juice, and a muscle in Sasori's face twitched in disgust. He would never get used to that. At least humans had the decency to die normally.
The clay eroded in the rain, while Sasori placed his puppet back into his storage scroll, ready to whip it out again should another monster attack them. By now, the rest of the fleeing group was already far away. Looking up a little more, they could see a tiny wooden bridge in the distance, swaying in the gale.
They quickly caught up to their group and slowed down, forcing to travel at a civilian's running pace.
"We're almost there!" Gai roared over the noise of the wind.
Suddenly, there was a squeal, and a mousy-haired woman fell forward, picking herself up with her dirty hands. She winced when she tried to get up. "My ankle!" she wailed, her pain bleeding into her voice.
Collective caterwauls echoed in the distance as approaching demons bayed for their blood. Unsure, some people began to back away from the injured woman.
"Fuck it!" Hitoshi abruptly blurted, his tone grating. "We can't afford to be slowed down, let's leave her!" He ran forward, pausing when nobody else immediately followed. "Well?!"
"Are you insane?!" Tenten yelled at him, barely keeping her emotions in check as her voice grew shrill. She bent down to help the woman up. "I've got you." Lee bent down to help her, hoisting her up.
"I'll carry her," Sakura offered, and the two shot her skeptical looks. She sighed. "Look, we're on a time schedule and I've carried both Itachi and Izumi when she was pregnant before. At the same time. I can take it."
"You damn asshole!" Naruto shouted at Hitoshi as they ran, eyes burning with fury. "How could you abandon her like that?!"
"It was her or us, you dumb brat!"
"Hah! More like her or you."
"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke suddenly cut in, quietly.
Naruto shot him a confused glance. "Huh?"
"Just... shut up." Sasuke turned away from him, eyes burning into Hitoshi's back. The bulky man clearly wasn't grateful for a traitor's intervention, but Sasuke understood exactly how he felt. Because he had felt the same way as well, back in Akatsuki. The need to survive at all costs. He had thrown away his pride, his honor as an Uchiha, and had twisted the words of his dying mother into deluding himself that ignoring the suffering of others around him was right. It was funny, really, how Hitoshi would have probably followed a path similar to Sasuke's if their roles were reversed. And yet, no one was accusing Hitoshi of being a traitor to his country. Then again, what-ifs and hypothetical situations would never be a good enough reason to condemn someone.
The Uchiha could feel Naruto's sad blue gaze linger on him for a little longer before he sped up to catch up with Sakura, who was impressively carrying a grown woman in her arms as she ran. The black-haired medic had one hand hovering over the woman's ankle, and before long, the mousy-haired woman was gingerly jogging beside her, helped along by both Shizune and Sakura.
They were nearly to the bridge when they heard the first of three following explosions. The monsters were frightfully close to them, and Deidara had let loose her bombs, pumping more chakra into them than she ever had during her time in a peaceful Akatsuki, where there had been no reason to kill or seriously maim.
"Stop!" Sasori ordered sharply when she went to make a fourth explosive. "Conserve your chakra before you faint from exhaustion."
"They're getting closer...!" Deidara's voice reached the upper end of her vocal range. "Danna!"
The blade of a puppet sliced through one of the monster's vines before cutting its heart in half. It shrieked, collapsing, its juices draining out of its pores.
"GO!" Sasori shouted, making a few loitering people jump.
"This way, everyone," Gai instructed them as he led the group down the wooden bridge. It was worn and secured only by rope, but looked to still be able to support their weight if distributed evenly. "One at a time. Careful!" The gale picked up and the bridge swayed, a few people screaming. Sawako, who still wasn't on the bridge, desperately shot one of the few remaining arrows she had at the closest monster. It landed between its eyes and sank into its brain. It howled in pain but was hardly deterred, and lashed its long claws out at Sawako, who was trembling.
"NO! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Deidara launched herself at the teenager. Sawako's twin, Yukari, was already on the bridge, and turned her head around just as Deidara screamed, urgency betraying her fear. Sasori killed another monster and bought himself just enough time to whip around and see what happened next.
His brown eyes widened as blood sprayed through the air. No...! No, Deidara! The blonde woman was knocked backward by the force of the swipe, coughing as she picked herself up. Warm blood was splattered on her face, dripping between her eyes, but it wasn't her own.
There was an anguished sob-shouting as Yukari halted movement on the bridge, arm stretched outward and tears pouring down her face.
Sawako hadn't even had time to scream when the monster had cleaved her in half—from groin to the top of her skull—with one easy motion before using its other arm to smack Deidara aside. Redness had misted outward as one half of her twitching body tumbled off the side of the ravine, hitting a single branch protruding from the side of the cliff before disappearing into fog.
Hyuuga Hanabi and Hinata, at the back of the line, both put their hands to their mouths in horror. Hinata vomited off the side of the bridge as warm tears pricked her eyes, sobbing from the great heave.
Seeing that she was dazed, Sasori killed the final monster in the wave and lifted Deidara up by the arm. That could have been her who had been sliced in half, and not poor Sawako. And Sasori wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. "Are you insane?!" he yelled at her, staring intently into her wide blue eyes. "What were you thinking...?!"
"But I—"
"Look at me, Deidara. You couldn't have saved her." Tears appeared in her eyes but she pretended like they weren't there, so he did, too. "Don't be so foolish next time, you damn idiotic brat." He released his hold on her shoulders and rubbed his face with his hands. "It wasn't your fault so don't dwell on it."
She flared. "Don't say that so easily!" she spat hatefully. "Sawako is dead because I didn't make it to her on time!" She was so young! Deidara wanted to pull her hair out. Why were they dying? The ones that have so much to live for!
"If you had made it to her on time, it would be you in her place!" Sasori hissed, grabbing her wrists. "Deidara!"
"What?!"
"Stop blaming yourself for their deaths." His brow pinched and he looked to the other side of the bridge, where most of them had gotten across. To his relief, his grandmother was one of them.
Deidara said nothing. Their. He said 'their'. Why... does he know me like that? She kept her silence even when he took her by the hand and led her across the rickety bridge. When they were halfway across she had regained their bearings. "I'm okay now, un." She breathed out, and Sasori noted that her breath smelled like bile. She had vomited in her mouth. Trying to keep his emotions in check, he turned away.
Suddenly, the bridge swayed intensely, and the pair grabbed at the ropes. On the other side, a particularly large monster was standing at the end of the bridge. It smiled, revealing black, curved teeth that were much too big for its mouth. It was so much bigger than the rest that had attacked them that the only thing they could do was assume that it was sentient.
It jumped forward and closed half the distance between them, causing the bridge to sway. The five or so civilians left on the bridge screamed, clutching onto the side ropes for dear life. Gai rushed forward, helping two of them to the other side. "Sasori, Deidara!" the warrior dressed in green called. "Hurry!"
Suddenly, Hyuuga Hinata tipped and fell off the side of the bridge, screaming.
"NEE-CHAN!" Hanabi shrieked, grabbing at her sister.
"HINATA!" Naruto bellowed at the same time from safety, reaching down the cliff, as if it would save her.
Sasori swore as the monster stepped closer.
"Almost all of my comrades are dead, and your surviving comrades are coming this way," the monster declared, sharpening its claws on the rope that held the bridge together. "This will be my end, and yours, but there will always be more of us."
Hanabi had caught Hinata by the wrist. "H-hold on...!"
Sasori would have rushed forward, but it would be too late. Gritting his teeth, he ran to safety with Deidara, both of them heaving up the Hyuuga sisters as they dashed for the others. As if time had slowed, he felt the surface beneath his feet gradually disappearing. Deidara, behind him, reached out her hand, and he took, it holding it tightly. There was blood dripping down her head. A head injury or Sawako's blood? he wondered briefly as he felt his stomach lift and fall.
"Danna!" she shouted, and he felt like was underwater, his face aimed at the weeping skies. Then a force exerted on his right wrist jerked him back to the reality he hated. Hanabi grunted with effort as her little muscles worked to support both his and Deidara's weight. Her left hand was wrapped around a piece of rope dangling down the length of her arm. Hinata was already on the other side, trying to reach for her younger sister. But they were too far down—not even Gai would be able to reach them, though he was certainly trying, grabbing the wooden post that had secured the bridge and trying to shimmy down the cliff side.
"Hanabi!" Hinata was crying. "Hanabi!"
Sasori looked down and saw that Deidara was dangling in the air, the only thing keeping her suspended in the air Sasori's grip on her hand. He couldn't properly see her face with her hair falling down around it. He couldn't use his chakra strings either, because both of his hands were occupied, and he wasn't sure if his strings could even handle their combined weight.
"Nnngghhh!" Hanabi grunted with exertion as she slipped down the rope. She could see her sister's tear-stained face upon looking upward. "Hinata-nee..."
By now, Gai was trying to climb down the ropes himself, his heels barely sitting on a ledge on the cliff and his arm outstretched. But Hanabi wouldn't be able to reach it as she still had Sasori and Deidara dangling from her arm.
"Let go." Sasori's eyes flitted downward to Deidara, who had spoken. "If you don't let go, Hanabi, we'll all die, un."
Sasori stared at her, speechless. "Brat—"
"I know what I'm doing," Deidara cut him off, tilting her chin so he could look her in the eye. "Sasori, I need you to trust me. I'm not going to let us die when we've come this far, un."
"What are you up to?" he muttered, but she didn't hear. "Fine," he said, louder this time. "I trust you, Deidara." With my life, it occurred to him, and perhaps to her as well.
A small, relieved, and apologetic smile reached her lips. "Thank you... Hanabi, let go."
"What?!" the little Hyuuga clamored. "B-but—"
"Dammit, Hanabi, just let go! Before the rope breaks for you, too! Hanabi!"
"Listen to her, Hanabi!" Hinata hated herself for saying those words, but if her little sister could be saved, she'd say them aloud. "Hanabi, please!"
"Hanabi!" Deidara was shouting. "Let. Go."
It was then Sasori's patience thinned out. "Get ready, brat." He looked down at her. Then, without waiting for verbal confirmation, he slackened and Hanabi's grip around his wrist came loose.
They plummeted down the ravine. Wind was beating painfully against them and Sasori could barely manage to keep his eyes open. "WELL?!" he bellowed at Deidara. "What's your plan?!"
Deidara, the tears in her eyes carried upward and away by the wind, spread her palms beneath them. "This. You think I'd die here, Danna? If I'm going to die... it'll be with a bang!"
FOOSH!
Gai helped a shaking Hanabi up, rubbing soothing circles on her back when she promptly threw up her lunch over the cliff. Hinata hugged her sister close to her once she was done, whispering soothing words.
"Oh my god," Hanabi croaked. "Oh my god..." She vomited again, this time onto the grass. Frantically, she scrambled to the edge of the ravine, looking downward. Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY?! Had she really killed them? Maybe if she'd been stronger—
A flapping noise reached her ears, and she did a double take. Was it just the wind, or was something really happening down there? On the other side of the gully, Itachi and the fighters emerged from the trees, their numbers not as great as before. All of them were covered in blood. Itachi stared at the broken bridge, then at his wife and child on the other side, safe.
"Deidara!" Izumi was hysterical—had been when her friend had finally fallen. Izuna was crying from all the disturbance and noise, and Izumi was desperately bouncing him up and down a little to try and halt the crying. She was standing near the cliff edge, just a little behind Hanabi. Daichi's face was white with shock, matching his mother's complexion.
Deidara... The woman he had looked up to so much back then was gone. First otou-san, now Deidara-nee?! Tears welled up in his eyes and fell from his lashes as he tilted his head down, teeth gritted in a pain that ran deep. His spiky curls had gotten long in the months, and now fell around his face, stopping at his cheek. He was vaguely aware of his mother crying as well, and he could hear traces of her anger at the world for taking another person away from her.
Chiyo did not weep. Not yet. Sasori, my foolish grandson... She walked up behind where Naruto and Hanabi were crouching, looking down at the seemingly endless drop. Her eyes narrowed. Could it be...?
A strange shape was rising quickly behind the fog. Then—
FWOOM!
Chiyo and those standing near the front were nearly blown away by the sheer intensity of the wind. She looked up, seeing a great white bird among the clouds, its wings beating. Fog trailed behind it before disappearing into the clouds. As it descended, she could pick out the red hair of her grandson, sitting on his ankles on the behemoth's back, an unconscious Deidara in his arms. He held her close to his chest, so that the wind wouldn't blow her away.
Stunned, everybody could only step back when the bird landed on their side, and Sasori jumped off, still carrying Deidara. He noticed Sakura moving toward him, and, exchanging nods with her, he passed Deidara to her. Sakura immediately began a diagnostic test, hands glowing a minty green. "Chakra exhaustion," Chiyo heard Sakura mutter.
Then Sasori got on the bird again—it was a clay one, upon closer inspection—and Chiyo noticed that he was using his famed chakra strings to control it, since Deidara was out of the game. He directed it to the other side, where Itachi and the other fighters were stranded. Sasori carried them across two at a time, not wanting to put too much weight on a construct that he was unfamiliar with.
Eventually, all of them were safe as they could be, and the clay bird was starting to erode from the rain, since Deidara wasn't actively channeling her chakra through it for obvious reasons.
Sasori looked around but none of them said anything.
There was nothing to say.
By now, Sakura had already finished examining Deidara, and declared her clear of any fatal injures, and said that she would need a lot of rest, having exhausted her chakra supply. She hoisted Deidara up in her arms with ease.
But then Sasori stepped forward. "Wait. Let me."
"Sasori—" Sakura cut herself off, knowing that they were close. "Alright, but be careful with her. Keep her head up. Kisame, I need to speak to you..." As Sasori adjusted his hold on Deidara, who seemed a lot smaller unconscious than awake, Sakura drifted over to where Kisame was standing. Chihiro had attached herself to his leg, pleased that he was alive and well.
In the end, everybody who came back alive was clear, checked over by Sakura, Shizune, and even Chiyo, who had been an adept medic in the past (and probably still was if given the right opportunity). There were forty of them now, and their absence in their ranks was like a gaping hole that all of them tried to ignore.
The one who broke down first was Yukari, when Itachi handed her Sawako's bow and arrows, which had been strewn in the grass when he had reached the bridge. The girl sobbed wretchedly, sinking into her knees and clutching the weaponry close to her chest. She screamed, and screamed, and not even Karin's perpetual nervous fidgeting could get anyone to move. It was with a great horror and realization that they watched her mind be torn apart at the seams. No one said anything, not even Hitoshi or Anko.
"Okaa-chan, what happened?" Shogo asked his mother sometime later, voice quieter than usual. "Why was she crying? Was it because of that girl... the one who... died?"
"Yes," Asagi whispered to him, kissing his forehead as she hugged him close in their bed in the bunker. Dinner had been had about an hour ago.
"Am I... gonna die?"
"Not if I can help it." Her voice was steel.
"... Okay. Goodnight, okaa-chan."
Deidara woke up in the night with a pounding headache. She winced when she shifted her head on her pillow. Damn! What the fuck? Her eyes widened. She was in pain. She was alive. She would have laughed had she not realized that everybody around her was probably sleeping. Unable to help herself, she did a head count, and the results were disheartening.
Forty, she thought tiredly, rubbing her eyes as she slowly sat up in her bed. Her throat was parched, and she longed for water. She knew that Sasori had a canteen somewhere, and since she couldn't see him in the sleeping room, she assumed that he was awake. He's always been a bit of an insomniac, yeah, especially recently...
Quietly, she stepped around the sleeping bodies on the floor, and went out. This bunker—it was supposed to be more new and fortified—had a kitchen, to her relief. Sasori was there as well, his canteen conveniently open and in front of him as he sat at the kitchen counter, scribbling something on parchment. A lamp was sitting on the kitchen counter, giving him enough light to write whatever it was he was writing.
Deidara cleared her throat and immediately regretted it when she remembered just how dry it was. Wincing, she rubbed her neck. "Hey, Danna," she rasped, walking over to where he was sitting. There were two other seats, and she took the one on his right, peering over his shoulder. Not bothering to ask permission, she grabbed his canteen and gulped down the remainder of the water, breathing out a small, content sigh when the prickly feeling in her throat disappeared. "You couldn't sleep again? What are you even...? Danna, is this poetry?"
"No," he said snappishly, shooting her an annoyed glare. "It's just bullshit."
"It's so flowery, un." Deidara shamelessly read it with an amused grin.
Snorting, Sasori put it away. "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to talk, yeah. Just..." Her smile grew more world-weary, and Sasori schooled his face so he wouldn't say something he would regret. "Thanks, I guess, for snapping me out of it, and trusting me enough to let go. Actually, to be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work. I'd never made anything so complex that size before. I was relying on the updraft to bring it up high enough for us to jump to safety, un."
"I figured," Sasori replied, though he didn't sound angry. "I suspected it was one of your spur of the moment plans... when you dropped from chakra exhaustion, it was pretty obvious."
"Un. I'm guessing Sakura had to lug me all the way here?" Deidara could imagine the black-haired medic's annoyed yet concerned visage as she carried Deidara through the forest on her back.
His eyes went blank for a moment before he answered, "No, I did."
"Eh?!" Deidara's chair nearly tipped over when she suddenly lurched. "Why?"
He didn't really have an answer for that. 'Because I wanted to' wasn't adequate enough, and 'because I felt obligated' was even worse.
"You didn't have to, you know," Deidara continued, taking in his silence with ease. "But I'm glad, I guess."
It was his turn to ask why this time.
"Why? Because I feel like I've gotten through to you, yeah, especially after everything. You always seemed so closed off, even compared to Itachi. Sometimes, it's like I hardly know you."
"That's a little unfair," Sasori pointed out lightly, "considering I hardly know you." She scrunched up her nose in displeasure, and a smile that was barely there had his lips quirking upward. "Maybe I'll tell you about myself someday, brat. About what I used to do in Suna and my family. About... Hatake."
"Kakashi?"
"No, not that one."
"Hm."
"Until then, you'll just have to wait."
"Ironic," she said, her chest rumbling in amusement, "considering how you hate keeping people waiting. You're a walking contradiction, un. Well, if you want to withhold so badly, fine. But that won't stop me from telling you about me, yeah. Hope you don't mind, Danna, because I'm going to do it whether you like it or not."
"Deidara?"
"What?"
"I don't mind."
Deidara blinked in surprise, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks as she lowered her chin, her hair falling over her face. "Good. Then let's get started, un. I was born in a small village in Iwagakure..."
They talked long into the night, and Sasori found immersed himself into her past. At last, when it was getting late, they had to retire to bed, expecting an early morning. For the first time in a long while, both of them slept soundly.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crack.
In the night, a half-transformed monster hauled itself over the cliff, panting heavily, breath rotten with the stench of death. It stood, long claws moving about as it cracked its joints.
"Hanabi!"
It squeezed its eyes shut.
"Hyuuga... Hyuuga..."
Its eyes opened.
"HYUUGA!"