[Temari]
I looked out of the window and noticed that the rain was clearing up. I smiled slightly as sun started to warm the cabin.
"Break's over." Yamato stated as he stood up. I stood up also and was promptly met with Shikamaru holding my bag out to me. I smiled at him before taking my bag from him. Shikamaru is such a gentleman…I wonder if he shares the same feelings as I do…or whether he's just being kind to me to keep the alliance between our villages.
"If the Akatsuki are still on the move, they could be traveling by different means. So that they can't be tracked." Shikamaru spoke while Yamato weaved a few hand signs to collapse the cabin.
The surroundings were still damp, however the sun was shining down on the woods brilliantly.
"How the hell are we going to track them if it's just rained then?" Naruto spoke up. I looked over at him and he wore an unfamiliar expression…it kinda broke my heart to see him look so down…especially seeing as he helped Gaara find his light.
"We'll split into three teams and head into different directions." Jiraiya stated while rummaging through his bag. He pulled out three headsets that looked really high-tech. "Shikamaru. You'll go with Yamato." He nodded, I felt slightly sad to be separated from him. Jiraiya handed a headset to Yamato. "You're with me, Naruto." He continued as he attached a headset to himself. "You and Temari." He finished while giving Kakashi the headset. "I'm going South-east, you head South-west, and you guys head South." Jiraiya stated while pointing at each of us in turn.
We all made noises of agreement before darting off in our assigned directions.
I kept up with Kakashi easily. As the scenery passed us I kept an eye out for any sign of Sakura's presence, but I couldn't see a thing. Are the Akatsuki that careful to keep their tracks hidden?
The terrain seemed to change immediately, to a huge muddy clearing with a long pebble path.
"I feel like this is the right way." I said as a sinking feeling invaded my body involuntarily…I don't know how, but I'm certain I have a sixth sense that allows me to track well. I started to run ahead of Kakashi. He allowed me to lead for five minutes before I stopped suddenly.
I looked around before noticing an opening in the side of a wall in the distance, I looked from the entrance to the path and noticed three sets of foot prints that were decorating the mud in front of us. I looked at Kakashi.
"I recommend we keep our guards up." He commented, I nodded before running to the opening. The closer I got to it, the more I saw a white cover that covered the bottom half of the cave. I swiftly hurdled over the white rock like surface and quickly looked around the cave.
Nothing was in here. My shoulders slumped as Kakashi entered the cave.
"I was certain I'd find something here." I thought out loud. I walked over to an elevated rock and saw water resting on the surface. I looked at the rock closer before smiling. I noticed that there was a small section of the rock that had a few pink strands stuck to it with water. "Sakura must have been here!" I said while carefully picking up the strands of hair.
I turned my head to the left and noticed Kakashi crouching next to me.
"What is it?" I questioned as I kneeled with him. He pointed at some green moss like substance on the rock.
"This is poison." He stated while scratching his head. "Mixed with water…" He continued before standing up. I took a closer look at the poison and noticed that it took on a weird shape.
"Doesn't that symbol look familiar?" I questioned as I stood up. I looked over at Kakashi who nodded.
"I believe it's the cloud symbol of the Akatsuki." He answered before crossing his arms. "Sakura must be panicking…I believe she's unaware of us knowing what we know…She believes she's alone and no-one would figure out who took her." His voice grew more depressed with each word that was spoken. I frowned.
"Well then, it will be a nice surprise for her when we find her. But for now, given the warmth of this cave and the amount of water that's been left here, they must have left recently." I noted.
Kakashi nodded before he raised his hand in a simple formation.
A few seconds later, his dog, materialised out of nowhere.
"Hey Kakashi, what do you need me to do?" He spoke, Kakashi looked over to me and signalled the dog to walk to me. I bent down to present Sakura's hair to him while he took a few seconds to sniff what I was holding. I hesitantly stood up as the dog started sniffing the air and pacing around.
"I'm going to be honest and say that I can't smell Sakura anywhere but in this cave." The dog said. Kakashi suddenly weaved a few hand signs before aiming lightening at the entrance. The white substance seemed to react to the lightening and it started to gloop up and melt to the ground.
"Deidara…They're still here…" Kakashi said before looking down at his dog. "Thank you, Pukkun." He dismissed his dog with a cloud of smoke. There were a few moments of silence. Kakashi slowly reached up to start a dialogue with Jiraiya and Yamato.
My eyes darted back to the green poison and noticed that there was a faded green arrow pointing behind us.
"We've-" Kakashi started as I spun on the spot to face behind us. To my surprise there stood three Akatsuki and Sakura who was hung over the black-haired guys shoulder.
"Kakashi!" I shouted as I prepared my weapon. Kakashi jumped out of the way as the blue-skinned man struck for him. He darted out of the cave, leaving me in the small cave with the other two Akatsuki members. I internally panicked as Itachi darted out the cave with Sakura. I instinctively started to follow him.
"I don't think so." The blonde guy said as he threw some white birds in my direction…The birds seem to have been made of the same material as the white rock at the entrance was. Before I could react, the birds exploded in my face, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the cave.
I coughed through the smoke and jumped out of the cave. I looked over at Kakashi and he was engaged in an intense fight with the blue-skinned man. Itachi had disappeared from my sight… I cussed to myself before snapping my focus back on the blonde-haired man.
"You won't leave here alive." He threatened while throwing more birds in my direction. I simply fanned my weapon to produce a strong gust of wind to blow the birds back in his direction.
He darted to the right, avoiding the birds explosions, and produced a big bird before jumping onto it and flying above me. He dropped some white clay in my direction. I moved my fan to blow them back but it didn't work his time. I widened my eyes involuntarily before darting away from the bombs.
They exploded and forced my body to land harshly on the mud. Great, the right side of my body was caked in a layer of mud. Before I could fully stand, the man jumped off his bird and sped up to me before rearing his fist to punch me. I couldn't dodge the attack as the mud beneath me was slippery. I braced myself for the impact and was horribly surprised as my body flew back quite a distance. Before my body hit the ground again, I dug my weapon in the ground to help me stand on my feet.
The guy sped towards me, throwing birds ahead of him to reach me before he did. I decided that I'd endure the burns from the birds as I swung my weapon behind me before swinging my weapon at his face. He blocked my attack with his arm but I heard a few cracks. Smirking at my hit, the man lifted his leg and kicked my side.
I didn't see that coming…I fell harshly on the ground before struggling for breath.
I started panicking as the man slowly towered over me.
"It's a shame you're so weak, I thought this would be fun." He chuckled as I rolled my body and flailed my right leg out to trip him over. Surprisingly it worked and he fell on his side. I struggled to stand as he got himself up…Am I really going to die here?
I looked over at Kakashi and he looked pretty beat up and worn out…These Akatsuki…they're ridiculously strong.
Just as the blonde-haired man tried attacking me I subconsciously exerted chakra in my hand and sliced at him. He grunted and jumped back. I managed to slice through his cheek as I saw quite an amount of blood fall from the cut instantly. I internally thanked Sakura for teaching me a few close combat tricks that my body could remember as a reflex.
I was still struggling to breathe properly as the man's bird that was circling around us in the sky started to plummet down in my direction at a scarily fast speed.
I jumped out the way but it was useless. The bird created a huge explosion that burned my left arm, leg and the left side of my face. I let out a scream as my skin burned. My body harshly slapped down on the mud. I saw Kakashi try to run to my aid but the guy he was fighting had prevented him from running towards me.
I tried moving my body but I was weak, the mud was hard to move through.
The blonde-haired man towered over me. The blood on his cheek dripped down onto my forehead, which I found gross.
"Now, it's over." He said darkly with a smirk on his face. I closed my eyes tightly to brace myself for what he was about to do to execute me. I regret not doing so many things. All sorts of thoughts started rushing through my head.
A few moments passed and I felt nothing. Am I dead already?
I carefully opened my eyes to see that the man was frozen in place. His hair slowly brushing past his shoulders to hang in front of him.
He looked confused.
"Kisame!" He growled through gritted teeth. I looked to my right and saw that Kakashi had just been hit with the blue guy's sword. Kakashi fell unconscious as he hit the ground a few metres from where I was.
"What?" He responded before jumping to his side. Before he could react, a huge block of wood struck the man at an incredible speed. Making him lose his balance.
My eyes lit up with joy as I looked over to my left. It was Shikamaru and Yamato…I won't die. I was about to smile at Shikamaru but he'd suddenly lost composure. He had deactivated his shadow possession jutsu and started to run towards me…what? I looked back to the two men and saw that the blue haired man was aiming on stabbing me with his ridiculously wide sword.
I braced myself before a big chunk of wood hit the side of the blonde man's head. He bumped into his partner which made his attack miss my stomach and instead taking out a chunk from my side causing me to scream in pain.
His sword felt like extremely rough sandpaper.
"They'll be more soon, we should leave." The blue man said. His partner nodded and the two men vanished from my view.
"Temari, are you okay?" I heard Shikamaru say as he knelt to my height. I smiled at him and flinched at the pain my burn gave me.
"Never been better." I joked. He didn't smile. His eyes were looking up and down my body.
"This is going to hurt." He prepared me as he picked up my body without hesitation. His arms were completely covered in mud.
"What happened here?" I heard Jiraiya's voice speak before Shikamaru turned me around to face Jiraiya.
"Uh, we ran into the three Akatsuki members…the one with black hair ran off with Sakura. I tried to follow him but the blonde one attacked me…Kakashi dealt with the other guy…he's knocked out, they've just ran off somewhere." I looked over to Kakashi. I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go after them!" Naruto said. I looked over to him and saw his expression was still dark. I involuntarily let out a grunt of pain as my burns starting to sting.
"Shikamaru, hand Temari to Yamato. We have to chase them now, before they get away." Jiraiya spoke, I frowned at Jiraiya before looking back up at Shikamaru. He kept his eyes ahead as he walked over to Yamato. He swiftly handed me over before briefly looking down at me. He turned around to walk back to Naruto and Jiraiya.
"Be safe, Shikamaru." Was all I could muster, I felt my face heat up as I frowned at Shikamaru.
"I will return to you." He replied before he lead the three of them in the direction the Akatsuki ran off in.
Why am I so frigid when it comes to telling Shikamaru my true feelings to him?
"Ugh." I quietly complained. I really hope he comes back safe…
Thank you for reading, I'll update soon!