Another chapter! Please read, review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: All lyrics belong to Kelly Clarkson.
Beautiful
After the meeting with Tobi and Kisame in the Akatsuki hideout about their teams' next moves, Sasuke and the rest of Taka turn in for the night. They'll need their rest for what they have planned.
In front of him, Sakura stops in her tracks on her way to the room she shares with Karin. Karin takes a few more steps without her before turning back with a miffed frown. "Aren't you coming?"
Ahead of them, Suigetsu and Jūgo head into their room.
Moving closer to Karin, Sakura lowers her voice. "Be honest with me. Don't you think that meeting was a little . . . disconcerting?"
Karin's eyes run down the corridor. Her gaze rests on him for a moment before she answers in a tone matching Sakura's. "What are you talking about?"
Sakura makes an apprehensive gesture. "Collecting the bijuus; attacking the jinchuurikis. Doesn't all this stuff worry you?" Perturbed by her train of thought, Sasuke inches forward to hear her better. "I mean," she goes on quietly. "We don't know what these people are going to do with this kind of power. We don't even know what Sasuke—"
"Sakura," Sasuke calls, voice resounding in the hall. He opens his door. "I'd like to speak to you for a minute."
Her shoulders tense, and he can only imagine her expression. She's managed to school her features when she turns around. She follows him into his room, and he tells her to close the door. Face carefully passive, she does.
Sakura gives him a tight smile. "Yes, Sasuke-kun?"
He approaches her with slow steps. "Is there something you're 'worried' about, Sakura?"
She's silent for half a moment, wearing a look of careful contemplation. She surprises him by being brutally honest, "Yes."
"Hn?" He steps closer still.
Taking a deep breath, she goes on, "Naruto is the Nine-Tails' jinchuuriki, Sasuke-kun. You heard what those men said they were going to do to him."
"So," he snaps, losing his composure for a hot second. "Naruto is no longer our teammate."
"So," she fires back, anger burning behind her soft green eyes.
Sasuke feels resentment build in his chest at her statement. He can't help but notice that this always happens when the topic of their old team comes up. Nor can he help but wonder why. Jealousy, he tells himself every time, isn't the reason. Slowly, he seethes, "You'll go along with whatever I decide."
Sakura's nose scrunches up in a way he used to think was endearing. "I may have chosen to follow you, Sasuke-kun, but I don'twork for you."
"Oh, you don't?" He sneers, "That's funny considering you do everything I say."
"Don't get cocky, Sasuke-kun," she bites back. "It's unbecoming."
His glare deepens, and his lips twist in quiet fury. "Watch it, Sakura."
Her body trembles with barely contained rage, but as she parts her lips to deliver whatever scathing retort she'd prepared, she deflates just like she always does during arguments with him. She rubs her face in frustration. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. This is all just so stressful." Before he can move out of range, she grabs his hands and entwines their fingers. "Forgive me?"
The timid upturn of her lips gnaws away at him, and he finds himself easing off. "Hn."
Her smile grows, and she gets up on her tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips. He turns his head before she can land the kiss.
He unclasps their hands and turns away before he can see the disappointment register on her face. Busying himself with untying his obi, he hopes she'll take the hint and leave him be.
She doesn't. She never does.
"Listen," she starts amid the terribly awkward atmosphere. "Can I stay here with you tonight?"
Oh, for shit's sake, Sasuke gripes inwardly. Why can't she ever leave me alone? She's always getting in the way of things. It would be so much easier to accomplish things without her 'd surely feel less guilty whenever he did anything that was morally ambiguous.
"Sasuke-kun?"
"No," he grinds out.
She makes a sound between a scoff and a choked-up gasp. "Why?"
"Because there's no time for pointless stuff like that," he grumbles, glaring at the wall in front of him. He doesn't want to look back and see whatever piteous expression she's sporting. Not because he feels he may cave if he does, of course. He simply doesn't want to acknowledge her ridiculous behavior.
He finally turns around at the sound of the door slamming. A crack forms on the wall next to the door hinge. Hn, he thinks with narrowed eyes. The building's foundation must be weak.
The members of Taka—Sasuke, mostly—chart their journey to Unraikyo before they leave the Akatsuki base. It's going to be a five-day trip, so they pack extra water jugs and jerky for the road. They depart one morning at dawn, each of them wearing their new Akatsuki robes. Sasuke heads the pack, as per usual. For two days, they maintain a relatively efficient routine. They stop at dusk, set up camp and eat, sleep for six hours, and head out again a few hours before dawn. They split keeping watch into three-hour shifts.
On the third day, they stop at a saloon because Suigetsu won't stop griping about "decent fucking food" with the agreement that he'll keep watch the whole night. Jūgo, Suigetsu and Sasuke sit at one table, and in front of them, the girls sit at another. The tavern has a musician performing, and Sasuke doesn't like her song one bit.
"He's as damned as he seems
"With more heaven than a heart could hold
"And if I try to save him
"My whole world would cave in
"It just ain't right," the dark-haired songstress sings, likely about a past lover.
Sasuke nose twitches in tune with his discomfort at how entranced Sakura seems to be with the ballad. It's not like every song has a relatable, symbolic message behind it.
The singer warbles on with the chorus, "Oh and I don't know
"I don't know what he's after
Sakura's whispered comments to Karin the other day were ridiculous. He's been perfectly clear with the team about what he's after. He's getting revenge for his clan by destroying Konoha—plain and simple. It's not his fault that means Naruto has to die, too.
"But he's so beautiful
"He's such a beautiful disaster
"And if I could hold on
"Through the tears and the laughter
She doesn't cry that much anymore. Though, she doesn't really laugh either—not like she used to.
"Would it be beautiful
"Or just a beautiful disaster," the musician breathes, strumming along with her guitar.
Sakura is leaning her head on her palm, ignoring her food in favor of scrutinizing the performance.
"He's as strong as what I believe
She's always rambling on about how strong he is. He'd always assumed it was mere flattery.
"A tragedy with
"More damage than a soul should see
His lips twist uncomfortably.
"But do I try to change him
He scoffs inwardly. Like she could ever.
"It's so hard not to blame him
He's seen the way she observes him as of late, like she can no longer accept the decisions he makes; like sometimes she's talking to nothing but an angry fool.
"Hold me tight," the woman pleads to no one, much like Sakura did to him the other day. "Baby, hold me tight."
When the chorus comes around again, Sakura mouths along with the lyrics.
On the fourth day, Jūgo is lighting the campfire when Sasuke decrees, "Sakura, you have first watch; then Suigetsu."
And just like the last three days, Sakura waits until after he's shrugged off his Akatsuki cloak to approach him. "Sasuke-kun, can I have a word?"
"I don't know, can you," he returns, feeling oddly childish for a second.
Her brow furrows. "Huh?"
"No," he states clearly. "I don't want to have this conversation again, Sakura."
"Well, I think it's important that we do—"
His upper lip curls in utter frustration. "Why?"
Her hands go to her hips. "Because I feel that you're not really listening to me." Sasuke narrows his eyes at her, neglecting to reply. It's mostly true. She gives him an imploring look and gestures to beyond the grassy clearing in which they've made camp. "So, can we please—"
"If you have something you'd like to say, you may share it with the group," he declares. Everyone's attention falls on Sakura, and Sasuke hopes more than anything that she'll relent out of embarrassment.
She squares her shoulders, and he almost sighs.
"We shouldn't complete this mission," she insists.
Sasuke tries not to roll his eyes at her repeated complaint.
Suigetsu doesn't. "Oh, come on," he gripes. "Don't go chicken-shit on us now. If we don't finish this mission, I'll never have a chance at Samehada!"
Sakura stomps her foot and turns her nose up at the white-haired rogue. "Shut the fuck up, Suigetsu! No one cares about your stupid ninja swords!"
"Hey, we all have our reasons for being here," Suigetsu contends in a surprisingly calm manner. "I want swords, Sasuke wants murder, Karin wants dick, you want—wait;" his face pulls into a confused grimace. "What do you want exactly?"
"I'm here," she iterates, "because I wanted—want—to help Sasuke achieve his goals."
Wanted, his mind echoes, a little incredulous.
"Listen," she implores, turned toward their teammates and completely unaware of his consternation. "I know we've done some gray-area shit in the past, but this is big stuff. A lot of innocent people could suffer if we deliver the Eight-Tails to these guys."
He swallows thickly. "Sakura—"
"And I really think," she goes on, practically fucking ignoring him at this point, "that we should consider the role we'd have in whatever they're planning if we do this."
"Sakura," he snarls, grabbing her arm and whirling her back around to face him. "We're working with the Akatsuki now. We're not gonna have a debate on what to do or their fucking intentions."
"Well, maybe," she persists, "we shouldn't have joined them in the first place."
"I didn't bring you along so you could question me at every turn," he nearly shouts.
She stumbles over her words, "I thought—"
"What," he snaps, deciding to throw caution to the wind. "You thought that because I graced your bed, I care about what you think?" He sneers. "You were just a warm body."
Sakura's face morphs into a positively appalled expression, and a hush falls over the campsite as the rest of Team Taka watches the confrontation continue to unfold with bated breath. "Oh, shit," Suigetsu whispers to Jūgo.
Her mouth opens and closes without a word, and Sasuke has to hold himself back from smirking. He got her. Finally, this endless dispute can be over.
His feeling of triumph doesn't last long, however.
Something that looks like resolve slips into Sakura's glassy eyes. It's the first time he's ever seen the emotion reflected so strongly in her. The only other time it's gotten remotely close to this was when she decided to leave Konoha with him. Briefly and certainly not for the first time, he wonders how often she regrets that decision. Right now, perhaps.
"And if I could hold on
"Through the tears and the laughter," a voice suddenly sings in his mind.
"I was just going to say," she continues, looking like she can't believe she's still talking, "that since I've known you since we were kids—"
"Would it be beautiful"
He bites back at her without missing a beat. "We're not friends."
Her eyes flit around the camp, not quite meeting anyone else's. "Whatever," she mumbles. "Forget it." A tear slips down the right side of her face, and she wipes it away as she turns and walks briskly into the surrounding woodland.
The other three nins' eyes remained trained on Sasuke. For what is perhaps the first time ever, Karin doesn't seem overtly pleased with his dismissal of Sakura. Sasuke shrugs it off. He doesn't care. He has far bigger fish to fry. He retreats to his bedroll and watches the cool breeze tickle the leaves at the tops of the trees far above his head until his consciousness falls away.
The next morning, three soldier pills and Sakura are gone.
"Or just a beautiful disaster?"
I couldn't resist including the song, you guys. I hope you liked the added element!