Itachi scanned the desert ahead of them. They had just left the confines of the forest, only a few trees here and there remained, the rest was endless sand for miles.
"ETA," Itachi asked for forms sake every 3 hours.
"24 - 32 Hrs sir. As you know, sand is unpredictable, but we are making good time." Kisame responded quickly.
Itachi nodded. His phone buzzed…
"Moshi Moshi,'' "No, Shisui are you sure, absolutely sure?", "How can he control something like that?", "Damn, he is certainly clever, much more than I thought...this is beyond anything we have ever faced. I want you to contact Tsunade Senju see if you can find out more on this parasite.", "I don't care, do whatever you have to do, she was her apprentice once, and planned on being her apprentice again, she will help us, for Sakura's sake."
Itachi hung up the phone and rubbed his temples. His head hadn't stopped hurting since yesterday. This was far worse than any poison or elixir.
"What is it?" Kisame asked him quietly.
"Sasori has a Master's Degree in Microbiology. Shisui found a folder with detailed research notes on an amoeba called, The Amoeba of Madness. It eats brain matter, human brain matter. He found the folder with Sasori's collection of Sakura's life. He is contacting Tsunade Senju to get more information on this Amoeba and it's possible uses." Itachi told him.
"Shit," Kisame said never taking his eyes off the receding road in front of them.
"Hn."
"We should hoof it from here." Kisame threw it in park and cut the engine.
"Hn."
Sasori sorted through the little collection of vials in the drawer of the nightstand. He pulled out two more and set them by the clear one he had shown Sasuke earlier. He had waited so long to have her here with him, now that she was here, he was in no hurry, he had plenty of time.
He had watched her nearly all her life, he knew what kind of a person she was. He knew he had to win her heart, and he would with a little help from some of the most brilliant elixirs and poisons he had ever created. Yes, he produced and marketed a few of his more deadly poisons to aide the countries under his protection but these, these were just for him, him and Sakura. Sasori gently fingered the glass of the last vial he had pulled out.
"Methodical Madness." He liked to call it. It was the most brilliant creation, so simple really, one just had to have the imagination and genius to manipulate and control it. Sasori had both.
He set the tiny vial back down on the nightstand with the others. First, the starter doses that Kabuto was getting ready for him, then the last vial.
"Sakura, soon, your only reality will be what I allow it to be, my living doll, my greatest work of art. My magnum opus." His hand ran down her cheek and neck stroking her soft skin.
"Sir. I have what you asked for, doses 1-10 are here." Kabuto waved a hand over a small wooden box with the Akasuna clan crest burned onto the lid. "And your tea of course. A new cup for the lady and your usual." Kabuto pushed the cart next to Sasori, bowed and left.
Sasori reached for the wooden box, ran his fingers over the crest and opened it. 10 fully prepared syringes lay neatly in blue velvet, ready for injection. He picked the first one up with care, he had waited so long for this, he took a deep breath and turned down the blanket covering Sakura.
"Dose one." He plunged the syringe into her wrist, into her vein and pressed down till it was empty. Looking to the clock on the wall he noted the time and wrote it on the empty syringe, placing it back into the wooden box.
Sakura didn't move, didn't make a sound, she lay peacefully on the bed blissfully unaware of the danger she was in.
Shisui turned photo after photo over in his hand reading the backs. Each photo back he read, the more disturbed he became. There were not only notes or facts about Sakura, her friends, her family, but about deals the Uchiha had made, people they had killed, nations they had taken over. Sasori knew everything...and Shisui knew Sakura knew nothing.
Shisui set down the last stack of photos. "He will use this against us, he will turn her against us." He had to call Itachi.
Itachi's phone rang…
"Shisui, what do you have?"
"Itachi, he knows about everything, the Uchiha plan, our agenda." Shisui's voice came through the phone laced with grim defeat.
"He will use it to turn her against us, you know what kind of a person she is, it's why we value her so much, it's why we never let her see that side of the family, this won't go over well." Shisui continued.
"She won't believe him like you said we kept her away from it all."
"She is smart Itachi...as smart as you. She will know a truth when she sees it." Shisui said.
"I never cared for my father's agenda, my uncle's.. It might not even be an issue depending on what we find out from Tsunade, any luck there?" Itachi asked.
"She said she would call me back, you know how that woman is, you never know how she will react, it's why we hate dealing with her, above and beyond the fact she is a Senju, she's frightening." Shisui laughed nervously.
"Keep on it, that is the priority, call me when you have something. Don't worry, Sakura will listen to me." Itachi hung up.
He gripped his phone in his hand. "Shit."
Itachi shoved his phone back in his pocket, he would have to deal with it later, right now he needed to focus. He brought the goggles down over his eyes and motioned for his team to move forward. It was at least a 24-hour hike through sand and heat, they couldn't waste any more time.
"One dose every half hour, only one more to go, my dear, you're doing so well." Sasori pet Sakura's hair.
It had been 5 and a half hours since the first dose. One more, then the two vials and the last full dose, at full strength, then, she was his, all his, forever.
Sasori stood up from his sitting position on the bed. He would go wash up and make ready for the last dose, things would move quickly after that and he wanted to be prepared.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he walked to their bathroom.
"Baki, any movement?"
"None Sir, all is well." Baki returned.
"Good, keep watch, do not underestimate Itachi Uchiha. I do not expect them to breach the manse, but they will come, be ready." Sasori hung up his phone and set it on the bathroom counter. He grabbed a towel from the golden rack and set it on the wooden bench inside the shower main. Turning the taps on he removed his clothing, ignoring several scars that ran up the side of his chest over heart, and stepped under the spray of warm water closing his eyes.
"Sakura." He hummed as he ran his hands down his sides gripping the hard shaft between his legs pumping it twice. "Soon doll, soon."
He reached for the shampoo bottle and started to wash, unaware of the green eyes that had fluttered open in the other room.
Tsunade slammed her fist down onto her desk in her office for the fifth time in ten minutes, "Damn fucking Uchiha!" She screamed for the fifth time in ten minutes.
She thought they kept Sakura out of their sick little agenda, she thought her apprentice was safe! Damn it, she paced back and forth, glancing at her computer every other footfall. This was worse than she could have ever imagined.
"What the fuck did they get her caught up in !" She screamed and grabbed her phone.
"Hashirama! Come to the hospital now, I need to speak with you, bring Tobirama, have him ready his men, you are taking a trip into the desert, now!" She slammed the phone down.
"I need a fucking drink."
She picked up a small framed picture off of her desk. Pink hair mixed with blonde as they posed for the picture together. It had been the second week of Sakura's apprenticeship, it had been the day when Tsunade had finally found the one to bequeath all her knowledge to, the day she had found her one true apprentice worthy of all her medical secrets.
"Damn all Uchiha!" She screamed into the air.
Hashirama bit his lip and called his brother.
"Tsuna wants to see us in her office at the hospital, it sounds like an emergency, meet me there, oh, she said to ready your men, we are going into the desert."
Hashirama grabbed his coat and keys and left his office.
Sasuke groaned. His head hurt, his legs hurt, his hands hurt. His face hurt, everything fucking hurt.
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked. Where was he? There wasn't anything in the room, just a chair, and he was sitting on it. He tried to stand but couldn't. His legs wouldn't work. There was no door he realized as he looked around.
"What the fuck?" He groaned. The sound of his own voice hurt his head. He closed his eyes again. Bliss.
Sasori stepped out of the shower and grabbed the towel he had laid out for himself. Running the towel over his body and hair he wrapped it around his waist. He checked the clock on the shelf and turned to the door, it was almost time for the last dose. He made his way out to the main part of the bedroom and froze.
Sakura was standing in the wedding dress by the window, the dim evening light shone through and made the sequins of the bodice glitter brilliantly.
"Sakura, you look like starlight." He made his way over to her.
"Sasori?" She looked confused.
"Yes, Sakura, it's me Sasori, you remember, don't you?" He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist drawing her back against his chest.
"Yes, I remember, but where are we Sasori?" Her head was fuzzy, she couldn't remember why she was here much less where it was.
"We're home doll, we live here." He smiled into the crook of her neck running his lips over her bare shoulder.
"We live here?" She frowned. "But." She turned in his arms to face him.
"We just got married dear, you're my wife." He kissed her softly, slowly running his lips over hers, finding the right spot and pressing forward flicking his tongue over the part of her lips.
She opened for him and he smiled into her mouth, kissing her gently.
Slowly, her arms rose and she wrapped them around his neck, deepening the kiss between them.
He pulled away slowly, reluctantly, he had to give her the last dose so he could move onto the next phase.
"Come, dear, you need your medicine, I have it here for you." He took her by the hand and led her to the bed.
"I take medicine?" She tilted her head making her hair shift to the side.
So expressive he hummed to himself, her eyes are so telling, so innocent, so beautiful.
"For your migraines, don't you remember?" He faked a concerned inquisitiveness.
"No, I don't remember...anything really. I get migraines?" She asked him, the innocence shining in her eyes again.
"Yes, but this will help, I make the medicines you need, this won't hurt, remember?" He slid the syringe into her vein expertly, quickly and pushed down the small plunger, then removed the needle quickly putting it back into its wooden case.
"All done." He smiled at her.
"I don't remember Sasori." She said absently looking around the room.
"You remember me though." He prompted her.
"Yes." She smiled, " I remember we met a long time ago, when we were children on the playground."
His heart leaped, yes, it was working.
"Yes, that's right, we have been with one another ever since that fateful day, there has been no one else for you but me." He took her hand.
"Would you like some tea, my dear?" He lifted the teapot invitingly to her.
"Please." She smiled at him. So trustingly.
"Give me just a moment doll, let me change into something more comfortable and I will attend you." He rose from his seat, taking the small vials from the nightstand and placing them on the cart. He wheeled the cart over to the dressing closets and entered without looking back.
Sakura watched him move about the closet, he had left the door open, they must be intimate she thought for him to do such a thing. She frowned, she couldn't remember. She watched as his towel slid from his hips to the floor and she blushed. Her cheeks burned even hotter as he raised his eyes to meet hers, a quirk to his lips. She looked away then, to the floor.
Sasori smirked, she liked what she saw, she was attracted to him. He was going to enjoy this. He had been patient, he deserved this.
"I need you to get your asses into the desert and bring me back my apprentice, Sakura Haruno." Tsunade barked at her two cousins as they stared at her dumbly.
"Why is she in the desert?" Hashirama asked.
"She was kidnapped by a serial killer who hates the Uchiha and is using her to get back at them! Shisui Uchiha contacted me a few hours ago asking for my help with a memory drug, only it isn't a drug at all it is a parasite! My apprentice has been or will be injected with it, I have less than three days to reverse the effects! Now go get her! This is Shisui's number call him, he has all the information you will need. I am going to wait for you on the border between Fire and Wind country, now go!" Tsunade screamed and pushed them out of her office.
Hashirama looked at his brother Tobirama. "The girl we see at the house in your lab all the time?"
"That's Sakura, I didn't know she was mixed up with the Uchiha." Tobirama frowned. "Why should we help an Uchiha?"
"She is not an Uchiha, her childhood friend is. Tsuna told me they took her in after her parents died in a car is Tsuna's apprentice, I remember the girl, she is brilliant, beautiful, but how would someone like her get mixed up with, what did Tsuna say, a serial killer who has a grudge against the Uchiha?"
Tobirama kept scowling, "I know she is like a daughter to Tsuna but still. Can't the Uchiha get her back, why do we need to go." They were still outside of Tsunade's office door.
The door flew open. "This is not about the stupid crime war you have going on with Madara, Hashirama, it is about an innocent, now go get her! I'm leaving here within the hour and will be waiting on the border." She slammed the door shut.
"She is an innocent Tobi." Hashirama looked at his younger brother, "And she is important to Tsuna, let's go. Call your team, have them meet us at the border."
Tobirama sighed, "Fine, but if this turns out bad, I'm blaming you. Whoever heard of the Senju working with the damned Uchiha to get back a pink haired medic." He all but rolled his eyes and flipped his phone open. Sakura, Tobi groaned, why did it have to be Sakura.
Tsunade dialed Shisui's number.
"Listen up Uchiha I am only going to say this once. You have dragged my little aprentice into a fucking shit storm and if she doesn't come out of this in the same mindset she went in, I'm coming for all of you."
"So good of you to call me back." Shisui grinned on the other line and hoped it didn't leak into his voice.
"Cut the crap Uchiha, The Amoeba of Madness, is essentially a cyst, and when it comes into contact with an inviting host, it sprouts tentacle-like pseudopods and turns into a form known as a trophozoite. Once it's transformed, the trophozoite heads straight for the host's central nervous system, following nerve fibers inward in search of the brain where it then proceeds to feed on the brain cells, tissue and anything else it can ruin."
"Holy shit."
"I'm not fucking done! The symptoms start slow, dizziness, incoherence, drowsiness and memory loss. What I want to know is why the fuck you are asking about it and why the fuck is my aprentice in the desert and with who!"
"Akasuna no Sasori."
"Are you fucking kidding me! This is worse than I thought. My cousins Hashirama and Tobirama have gathered a team and are heading to the desert. Tell who ever needs to know. I assume it is Itachi leading the team, I saw the engagement announcement, no doubt it was Madara's doing? You fucking Uchiha I should have kidnapped her myself if only to keep her from getting involved with your cursed family! I thought you would keep her safe!"
"There is more to this than you know, I'm still uncovering how deep this rabbit hole is, no one could have seen this coming, not you, not me, not even Itachi. I will call him and let him know to expect company. Meet me at the border, Hashirama knows the spot, it was his and Madara's meeting place long ago, when they were friends."
The phone went dead and she slammed her phone down on her desk, grabbed her purse and keys then flew out the door.