Authors Notes: Hi again!! I'm in a good mood! So I decided to update Missing! Letsee... Ah! The slave for a week bet! -grins evilly-
Lily: Uh oh... I'm screwed...
Sasori: What do you mean? -innocent look-
Lily: I hate you all.
Me: Yes I know! Anyway... On to the chapter! Uh... It's Hidan's turn to do the disclaimer!
Hidan: Fuck no!
Me: Just do it you damn immortal freak...
Hidan: Why the hell should I? -sees my glare- Fine... Flicker doesn't own the Naruto characters, but she does own her damn OCs.
"When does the week start?" I asked, almost afraid of what the answer was. I was afraid? That's messed up... I'm never afraid. Sasori smirked.
"Right now,"
Are you kidding me? Right now! Wait... Why am I moving. I'm not making my body... Why the fuck didn't I recognize them earlier? I thought the names were just a consequence. Are these really the Naruto characters? No. Yes... You're experiencing Sasori's puppeteering skills right now. And since when did he become human? And... No more questions for right now... How in hell did I get into this mess. Rose was going to have a ball with this... There goes my plead for sanity. Damn. Wait... Why am I so close to Sasori... And why... I really hate the world right now. Really really hate it. Shit. I still can't control my body.
"Let.Me.Go," I muttered, trying to resist. I was now sitting in his lap. Too close... Too close... Way way too close. Sasori just smirked.
"Lily..." he said. I waited. "What do you really think art is?" he asked. How did I know he was going to ask this? I thought for a moment. Everlasting art is appreciated more, but people don't admire it as much. Art that is fleeting is admired more, but isn't as appreciated as much. I bit my lip.
"It depends..." I started. He signaled to go on. "Art that lasts a long time is appreciated more, but not as admired... But art that only lasts a few seconds is admired but not appreciated as much," I tried to explain. Sasori looked deep in thought. Then something hit me. I was sitting in the lap of an S-ranked criminal.
...
...
... HOLY SHIT! I'M SITTING IN THE LAP OF AN S-RANKED CRIMINAL AND HE ISN'T KILLING ME.
I say that's an accomplishment! But my train of thoughts stopped when Sasori said something.
"No one has ever said that before... I like the way you think," he said. If I wasn't already frozen, I would have froze. He liked the way I thinked? That was weird. Everyone else said I was weird for thinking that way... I felt my arms move and I tried, in vain, to stop them. They wrapped around his neck and... He really wasn't doing this was he? Yeah. He was. He smirked and wrapped his arms around my waist, and he still wouldn't let me go. In one movement he pulled me closer and crashed his lips onto mine. My eyes widened as my brain registered only one fact.
Akasuna no Sasori, S-ranked criminal of the Akatsuki, was kissing me. Me, some weak little civilian of America. I must have pissed off some God somewhere. Then all thinking skills faded into nothingness.
Later I would describe the kiss as a soft and sweet kind of kiss, cute yet loving at the same time. But after that kiss, I couldn't think, move, or do anything. I could see Sasori smirk.
"How was that?" he asked. My mouth opened to say something. Then closed. Then opened. Then closed.
"Fantastic..." I managed to get out. He smirked. He still had me on those stupid chakra strings. It was probably past dinner now. Great. Perfect. I really don't feel like explaining this to Rose. At all. In fact I felt tired. I need sleep. I wish I could lay down and go to sleep, but no, Sasori had to keep me up! I yawned, hoping Sasori would get the message. Thankfully he did. He released the chakra strings and I dug under the covers and scooted as far away from Sasori as I could. Even after that fantastic kiss, I still wanted to be as far away from him as possible. I groaned when he attached his chakra strings on me again and made me scoot closer to him. Damn him and his puppeteering skills! But right now I was too tired to care and I fell asleep.
I was in a forest. It look eerily similar to the one close to camp. I turned, half expecting to see the camp behind me. The freaky thing was, the camp was right behind me. I was on a trail of some sort. Was I thrown out? If I was, I was going to kill Anko in the morning. No... I wasn't thrown out... I remember falling asleep in... You know what? I'm not going to relive that memory. But why was I dreaming I was in the forest? Weird. Maybe I finally went insane... A voice shook me from my thoughts.
"Stop it! Get away from him!" came a voice that sounded very familiar. Rose? No... Her voice is different. I decided to go farther into the woods. I shuddered as my hand passed through a branch on a tree. So I was a ghost in this dream? Very comforting. I came to a small clearing where there was five people. One was on the ground, injured it looked like. Another was standing in front of the person on the ground, in a defensive stance. The last three looked like they were about to attack the two others. I took a look at the one on the ground. He had long black hair, pulled into a ponytail, and his clothes were ripped and his eyes were closed. Unconscious. The ones attacking had weird masks on. I realized who they were. ANBU. If they were Leaf ANBU, they would have only one person out there while the other two hid in the trees. I caught a glance of a headband on one of the ANBU arms. Iwa. Enemies of the Leaf. I glanced at the one protecting the unconscious person. And did a double take. She had shoulder length blond hair with gray-blue eyes. She was dressed in what I would imagine shinobi clothes. But that wasn't what caught my eye. It was how much she looked like my sister. My sister was a few years older than me. And that was what it looked like. Me, a few years older. I ran into the clearing, forgetting that I was a ghost in this dream, and stood protectively in front of my sister.
"Get.The.Hell.Away.From.My.Sister," I growled, but they didn't hear me. My sister took a weapon, a kunai, from her holster and threw it with perfect aim at the center nin's heart. The Iwa ANBU didn't get out of the way fast enough. He collapsed and his companions started to attack.
"No!" I screamed as a kunai slashed against my sister's skin. But she didn't seem to notice it that much. She took a katana and slashed through one of the ANBU. Only one was left. He performed some hand signs and stone spikes tried to impale my sister and the unconscious man. My sister took the unconscious man and leaped up to the trees. She carefully set the man down and performed some hand signs.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" I looked amazed. My sister was a shinobi? Who could use chakra? And Fire Release? The Iwa ANBU fled. With that, my sister panted and dropped to the forest floor with the unconscious man. Then she promptly fell unconscious. I rushed over and found she was exhausted. She must have been running for days! I saw the night gradually turn lighter, and I knew it was dawn. I looked at my sister once again.
"I'll be right here in a minute... Trust me..." I whispered and closed my eyes.
I woke up in the cabin bed. It was warm. But that could be because Sasori had moved during the night and once again was holding on to me with a death grip. I looked to the other bed. Rose and Deidara were still sleeping. Well... Deidara was at least. He moved and bumped Rose right off the bed.
"What the hell?" Rose groaned, getting up. She took one look outside and groaned.
"It's freaking dawn! Move over Deidara!" she muttered, pushing the blond back to his side of the bed. Rose looked too tired to help me, I would let her sleep. Maybe... I turned around and poked Sasori. He didn't move. I sighed and flicked him.
"Damn it Sasori... Wake up! It's important!" I muttered. He still didn't wake. I sighed. I can't believe I was going to do this, but it was my sister... Whom I thought was dead. God I was going to regret this for the rest of my life...
So I bent down and kissed Sasori. Instantly his eyes snapped open and widened. I pulled away before he took control.
"Sasori... I need your help," I said. He rolled his eyes.
"Why would I help you, you're supposed to be the slave here... And besides its dawn, what could possibly need your help at dawn?" he said.
"My sister. I had a dream about her, and I know where she is. She's alive and unconscious, with a man I don't know, but she's alive and needs my help!" I said, no, pleaded.
"Please Sasori! I'll do anything!" I pleaded when he looked skeptical.
"Anything?" he asked. I nodded. He thought for a moment.
"Alight then, lead the way," he said. I brightened.
"Thank you!" I said, practically glomping him. An instant later I was pulling on a jacket and sweats over my pajamas. He pulled on a jacket and jeans. I quietly opened the cabin door and practically ran into the woods. And tripped over a sleeping Naruto. He looked up.
"Uh... Who's there?" he muttered. I lifted my head from the ground.
"You got kicked out again Naruto?" I asked, spitting out dirt. He nodded.
"Well... I'll need your help too!" I said, grabbing the back of his shirt and dragging him deeper into the forest. Sasori rolled his eyes. I tried to remember the way to the clearing. In the dream I just sort of ran forward. So I ran forward and a second later I was in the clearing. By now Naruto was awake and walking on his own two feet. Sasori entered to moment later. I looked around and found the spot where my sister fell unconscious. My eyes widened. She was there, still unconscious.
"Ni-chan..." I whispered. Looks like I picked up some Japanese words while reading manga. Naruto was scouting around.
"Looks like there was a fight here. According to this guy's headband and mask, he's from the Iwa ANBU," Naruto said, poking one of the corpses.
"Naruto, go tell Tsunade, Lily and I will take care of things here," Sasori said. Naruto nodded and dashed off into the trees. I walked over to my sister. I bent down and pushed aside her hair in her face.
"Sasori... Do you have my notebook?" I asked. He nodded and handed it to me. I turned to the first picture. It was a portrait of my sister, before she "died." It was a perfect replica, except younger. I set my notebook down and smiled. I had found my sister. My dear sister. I glanced at the still unconscious man. Long black hair in a ponytail, his cloak, or rather what was left of it, was in shreds, unrecognizable. There were two lines on his face, birthmarks like Naruto's whiskers, I thought. One more thing I had to check before I was sure of who it was, but I had to make sure he was ok first. I reached my hand out to check his pulse, when quick as lightning, his hand caught my wrist. So he was awake. I blushed. One of his eyes opened. It was dark blue, almost black. So it was him.
"Emi-chan?" he whispered. That's right... He was going blind.
"No... Her sister, Lily," I whispered. His other eye opened now, and he tilted his head back. My sister was like in a deep sleep. He relaxed a bit. Then he gazed behind me.
"Sasori?" he muttered.
"Is that you Itachi? Never thought I'd see the day when Itachi Uchiha was beaten and had to be protected by a girl," he said. That got me a bit angry.
"What? Are you saying that girls are worthless? That we're just there to cook, clean, and give birth? Is that how you see girls!?" I hissed, turning to face him. Itachi let go of my wrist.
"No... That's not what I meant..." he muttered. I swore I heard Itachi chuckle.
"The great Sasori has been taken down a few notches," he said. Sasori glared at him. And then he looked at me.
"Remember our bet," he said. I silently cursed myself. I had totally forgotten about the bet. Great...
"You get him, I'll get Emi," I said, taking my sister's arms and wrapping them around my neck, while I lifted her legs with my arms.
"She doesn't look that heavy, but are you sure you can carry her?" Sasori asked, putting Itachi's arm around his shoulder and lifting the injured Uchiha up.
"If she can carry Itachi for days, I can carry her for five minutes," I said. Though I had to admit she was kinda heavy if you didn't have shinobi training. Which I didn't.
"Are we really only five minutes away from the best medic in the known world?" Itachi asked. Sasori shook his head.
"No, two of the best medics in the known world," Sasori corrected. I snickered as Itachi glared a glare that said 'Shut up you idiotic puppet turned human' We started towards the camp. No way was Jiraiya touching my sister. I would make either Sakura or Tsundae heal her personally. Suddenly Sasori cursed.
"What?" I asked.
"Another Iwa ANBU. No. Two. Probably sent out to find the squad that attacked these guys," he said, gesturing to Itachi and my sister. I cursed too. We were almost out of the forest too! We had to fight. It would probably be a breeze for Sasori, but me on the other hand... Not so much. I carefully put my sister down at the base of a tree and uh... "borrowed" her kunai and shruiken.
"What are you doing?" Sasori growled, putting Itachi down too. I glanced at him.
"What do you think? I'm helping you fight!" I said. Sasori muttered something and then cursed again.
"What?" I asked.
"I forgot my puppet scrolls in the cabin," he muttered. I slapped my palm to my forehead. We were doomed. Unless...
"Use me," I said. Sasori looked at me weird.
"What?" he said.
"I said use me as a puppet!" I muttered. Sasori would have said something, but then the Iwa ANBU shinobi showed up and Sasori attached his chakra strings to me. I gulped. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. One of them threw some kunai and I instinctively dodged. Ok... So he was letting me do some dodging and probably punching, and he would control where my movements went. Suddenly I was pulled back. A moment later, where I was standing stone spikes appeared. That was close. Got to focus. I reached down to grab a kunai from my sister's holster. I threw it at what I hoped was one of the Iwa ANBU's heart. It was perfect aim. I made a mental note to thank Sasori later. I shuddered mentally. I had just killed someone. And I would have to kill another if I wanted to survive. Why was this so confusing? Whoa... Getting off track...
When my attention was back on the second Iwa ANBU, he was making hand signs. I groaned. I barely avoided one jutsu, how was I going to avoid another. This would be so much easier if... Wait a minute... Where did that ANBU go?
"Shit!" I muttered when I felt something grab my foot and pull down. I was sinking in the ground. Damn... How was I going to get out of this one? Too late now. My head was already starting to go under. The earth was going to suffocate me. Earth... Lightning. I needed lightning. Now... Where was Kakashi or Sasuke when you needed them? So I did what any girl would do when the earth was pulling you down. I wriggle and dug upwards. Oh God... Dark small space. Not good. Not good. I was claustrophobic. So I dug faster.
"Light!" I cheered and pulled myself out of the earth. Sasori had a 'How in hell did she escape?' look on his face. The Iwa ANBU shinobi blinked.
"How the hell did you get out?" he asked. I blinked.
"How the hell do you think, I dug upwards! I'm surprised none of you shinobi have ever figured that out..." I muttered. (A/N ok... I was reading a crackfic when I wrote that...)
Sasori's chakra strings reattached themselves to my body as I dodged a few kunai from the Iwa ninja. This would be so much easier if I knew how to do jutsu... I glanced over to my sister. She groaned. She was waking up! Perhaps... I backed up to her. She glanced up. Her eyes went wide.
"Lily-chan?" she whispered. I nodded.
"Emi!" I whispered. She recognized me. Emi glanced at the Iwa ANBU.
"Lily... Watch what I do with my hands, ok?" she said, making a few hand signs. I nodded and repeated them.
"Good. Now when you make the hand signs, concentrate on your energy and guide it to your lungs and mouth. Inhale then imagine that you are breathing a fireball, ok?" she said. I nodded. She smiled. "Make me proud," she whispered as I faced the Iwa ANBU. I smirked. I made the hand signs. Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. I named them off in my head. I focused on concentrating my energy in my lungs and mouth. I inhale a deep breath. Hopefully this will work... I imagined myself breathing a fireball. A big fireball. If this didn't work I would be screwed... I exhale, even going a step farther and imagined the air light up with fire. I heard someone gasp a little. My eyes were closed, so I couldn't see if it worked. Then a moment later I felt it. Heat, right close at my face. I opened my eyes in shock. There was a medium sized fireball. Not to bad, but it was red, on the verge of turning white. I felt my energy waning and I decide to stop the jutsu.
Oh my lords. I just did a Fire Release jutsu. And I wasn't even a shinobi. I felt like I sprinted two miles, but it was worth it. The Iwa ANBU was severely burnt and injured. He fled. I just stared. I did a jutsu. And it wasn't even a crappy jutsu either. I took a deep breath. It felt like my lungs were on fire. I coughed a little and some smoke leaked out of my mouth. Sure I was scratched and bruised a bit from nearly dodging kunai's and shurikens, but it was worth ever drop of blood I lost. Which wasn't too much, thankfully. Then I realized Sasori didn't have his chakra strings on me anymore. I looked back at him. His expression was one of shock. I glanced at Itachi. His normally expressionless face was in shock. So in shock that his jaw was hanging open. Emi bit her lip. I tried to suppress a laugh at Sasori and Itachi's faces, but failed. At the same moment, Emi and I burst into laughter. That seemed to snap the two Akatsuki members out of their trance. After a few minutes of laughter, I gasped for air.
"You should have seen the look on your faces," I said, when I finally caught my breath. I still felt like I just sprinted a mile. Emi stood up using the tree for support.
"Oh no! You aren't hurting yourself even more!" I muttered, grabbing her wrist. She snorted.
"Lily-chan Lily-chan... I can sleep when I get him to Tsundae or Sakura," she said, unlatching my hand and walking over to Itachi. Itachi just hn'ed. She rolled her eyes and practically threw the Uchiha on her back. Even Sasori glanced at Emi with a look that said 'Are you crazy woman?' I glanced at her wearily. This was Itachi Uchiha, right? A moment later she was walking through the trees.
"Come on Lily, let's get to the camp, and take your boyfriend with you," she called back.
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"
"I'M NOT HER BOYFRIEND!" Emi laughed though.
"Sure... Sure..." she said. I sighed and took a weary step forward. And promptly tripped over a rock. What is with me and tripping over things? Before I could fall though, something, err... someone, wrapped their arms around my waist and pulled me back up.
"Thanks Sasori..." I muttered, trying to break free. But he wouldn't let me go. A small blush rose to my cheeks as he practically threw me on his back.
"I can walk ya know..." I muttered.
"Knowing you, you would trip, and plus, you twisted your ankle after you did that jutsu. If it weren't for my chakra strings, you would have collapsed," Sasori said matter-of-factly. I sighed. "And plus, the bet is still going," he mentioned. I groaned. Then I realized it was about breakfast time. I wasn't that hungry, but damn I needed to go to the bathroom!
"Sasori, can we stop at the bathrooms..." I asked. He shook his head. I sighed.
"Please Saso-chan!" I pleaded. He turned and glared at me.
"Only if you promise to never call me that again," I nodded enthusiastically. Oh this was so black mail! We stopped by the bathrooms and I hobbled over to one of the stalls. Praise whoever invented to toilet! After that was done, Sasori dropped me off at Tsundae's office.
"Where are you going?" I called.
"To shower," he said. I sweat dropped. Sighing I knocked on the door and opened it. Emi and Itachi were already in there, looking much better. Seems like Tsundae or Sakura or even Shizune healed them. I sat down in the empty chair.
"I really don't know why I'm here..." I muttered. "I just didn't want to go to Jiraiya to treat my twisted ankle..." I added. All the heads in the room nodded. All in sync. Wow... That was creepy. Sakura smiled and bent down to treat my twisted ankle. A moment later I sighed. It was mostly healed, I just needed a few days rest. I thanked Sakura and she nodded. I turned to Emi and Itachi, and almost turn away again. My eye twitched. Emi was sitting in Itachi's lap. Sitting. And the worse part was, Itachi was letting her sit there. I stared at my sister who was giggling.
"You have a lot of explaining to do Emi..." I muttered. Emi just smiled at me.
"Don't be judging us, I've seen the way Sasori looks at you," she said. Itachi smirked. I blushed and muttered something along the lines of 'he's a manipulative idiot' I stuck my tongue out at Emi. She rolled her eyes. She grinned evilly. I stared at her. What was she thinking? I almost hurled at the sight I saw next. Emi kissed Itachi, full blown on the lips. And surprisingly, Itachi returned it.
"Get a room..." I muttered. Then I remember Sasori and the bet. I groaned for the third time in the last hour. He was probably going to fucking molester me. Great. More scarring for life... I heard Tsundae cough to get our attention. I turned her way. I still didn't know why I was here. But I guess I would find out.
Authors Note: Whoa... That took longer than expected to type up... I'll be gone all weekend because I'm being dragged to Arizona. Great. So no updates until at least Tuesday. -dodges brick- I'm sorry! -gets hit in the head with a brick-