Authoress' Note: After a grueling 2 hours I finally completed this chapter. It's not as long as it's predecessor, but I feel as if I have done okay. Is everyone eager to see what Deidara's plan was?

Once again, a HUGE thank you to everyone that reads this story and a GIGANTIC thank you and many huggles to those who review as well. You make my world keep spinning . Please, please review once you've read this chapter, since I wasn't entirely happy with the end of the chapter at all and there is only one more chapter left of this story.

DISCLAIMER: I wouldn't be writing this if I owned 'Naruto'. Instead, I would've have made this part of the actual plotline so that Sasori could have lived. Sadly, I do not own 'Naruto', so it'll never happen.

Chapter 12

Sakura was well and truly screwed; there was no way that she'd survive so many enemy ninja attacks, all by herself. If she was lucky, she'd be able to take out at least three or four before the rest made mincemeat out of her. The whole idea of dying was not something that Sakura ever liked to entertain in her mind, but she knew that she'd probably die slowly and painfully. These guys couldn't be happy with losing so many of their forces against two enemies, so Sakura was fairly certain that they would be taking their aggression out on her.

One thing surprised the pink-haired girl though: the Kage of their village was still alive, but Sasori had told her that he was dead.

Sakura glanced curiously at the black clothed figure, whose face was well-hidden beneath the black Kage hat. She couldn't see anything that would reveal the man's identity – not that she actually knew any of the Darkness ninja anyways. Except she knew of that Shinji person from the prison area, but he was probably still back there unconscious…or dead.

So, it was a great shock for the poor Leaf ninja when the man let out a twisted laugh and removed his hat, giving Sakura a full view of his cruel face. The face of the man who she had beaten unconscious back in the prison: Shinji.

"Well, well, little girl it appears that you are all by yourself now. Where's your 'brave' companion? Did he leave you because he realised how annoying you were? Or perhaps he left because he was not the 'chivalrous' person you thought he was?"

Sakura couldn't respond, her words were caught in her throat, so she just settled for fixing him with a cold glare. It only caused him to laugh harder though and she wondered whether she had knocked his brains out when she hit him before.

"I still haven't forgotten what you did to me before pinky, so I'm going to make sure you get all that you're due. But first…" Shinji signalled with his right arm and the close circle of Darkness ninja formed hand signs, all the same ones and all at the same time. Within seconds the entire space around Sakura and the Darkness ninja became engulfed in a black sphere. From somewhere within the total darkness Shinji's taunting voice echoed, "We wouldn't want you to fight back now pinky. You can't find your way out, so don't bother trying that either. Just stay put and let me kill you painfully!"

A shuriken slashed at Sakura's left arm and she hissed at the pain, while the blood started to seep out of the wound. The Leaf girl took on a defensive stance and tried to sense the chakra of her enemy, but she couldn't feel anything except her own. Her hearing was also not as adept as it should have been; the sphere made it impossible for her to locate where Shinji's voice had come from. With no sight, no hearing and no sense of her enemy's chakra, Sakura was literally fighting in the dark.

More shuriken began to hurtle from various directions in the darkness and Sakura tried to dodge each one, only barely avoiding a metal star that was aimed at her face. The rest managed to cut her all across her bare arms and her legs.

Quickly, Sakura gathered some chakra into her palms and started to heal the small wounds, but before she could even close up one, Shinji dove at her with a weapon that she couldn't identify. After the metal easily slid into her flesh, Sakura's hazy mind realised it was a katana that he had driven into her side. He ripped it out and laughed once again as the sphere vanished around them all.

Sakura's vision blurred while the blood continued to slowly escape through the wound in her side, but she was unable to move her arms to heal the injury because Shinji was standing on them both.

"How does it feel pinky, to be in so much pain?"

Sakura couldn't answer; the pain was consuming her thoughts and forcing her to drift away slowly into a blissful slumber. Anything was better than the pain and the look on that cruel man's face as he soaked in all her anguish.

Before Sakura could fully succumb to sleep, another voice spoke up over Shinji's laughter, "Get away from her now."

Sakura knew that voice; it was one that she had become accustomed to over the past few days and nights. With painstaking effort she turned her tired head to see the owner of the blissfully welcome voice. Her eyes brightened when she saw that Sasori was standing just outside the circle of Darkness ninja, his face a look of pure rage.

Apparently Shinji was not worried at all, "Oho! You came back to save her did you? Stupid fool, you're a puppet! We can stop you with our jutsu!"

Sasori didn't move at all, but a large shadow hovered over the ring of ninja like a giant cloud. The Darkness ninja all looked up with curious expressions and saw the largest bird imaginable flying just above their heads. While each of them was distracted, Sasori dashed for Sakura's limp body and scooped her up before the enemies even realised what he'd done.

Shinji, of course, noticed the second that Sasori had taken Sakura a safe distance and he tried to pursue them both. He never made it farther than out of the circle of ninja, for the large bird quickly dropped from the sky and a spectacular explosion emitted from its clay body. Screams began, but were silenced as the ninja's lives fazed out and vanished. There weren't even body parts left over; only the occasional tattered pieces of clothing remained.

Hysterical laughter rang through the air as Sasori's partner Deidara skipped over to admire his handiwork. He had a huge grin plastered on his face and his eyes were lit up with mirth, "Sasori, did you see their faces? They had no idea what was about to happen, yeah! I think I outdid myself this time. That was the biggest clay bird I've ever crafted before, yeah." He turned to where his partner had carried Sakura, but at once his smile began to subside, "Sasori…is she okay, yeah?"

The red-head glanced at his partner briefly and then looked back down at the injured girl in his arms, "I don't know Deidara. She lost consciousness not long after I picked her up. She's seriously injured as well."

The puppet master's normally calm voice faltered slightly at his last comment. Sasori just didn't know how he could help the girl; he'd never healed before in his life! The logical thing to do would be to take Sakura to the Sand village and hope she got medical care in time, but the journey would take a while on foot. He didn't know if Sakura would last that long and he wasn't sure what he'd do if she died.

This girl was the first to make him care for someone else and he…liked her. He would admit that much at least. She was amiable company and she had even gotten a few laughs and smiles out him. He honestly didn't want to lose any of that, so he just had to save her…somehow.

"Deidara, can you make another clay bird?"

The blonde had now moved next to Sasori, who was standing rigidly with Sakura asleep in his arms. With a quick nod, Deidara removed the necessary amount of clay from within one of the pouches on his hips. He placed the clay into the palm of his left hand and waited while the mouth on his hand ate the clay. When the mouth spat it back out into his palm, he quickly moulded the clay into that of a bird. With the bird completed he tossed it onto the sandy ground and formed a one-handed sign with his left hand. The bird enlarged to a size that could easily carry three people and Deidara motioned for Sasori to get on the back of the bird first.

No words were exchanged as the pair flew off into the sky and headed for the Sand village. Somehow Deidara had known that this was the only place to take the girl and Sasori decided it was best not to question his destructive partner. In stead he settled for staring into Sakura's sleeping face, trying to will her to be alright and open her green eyes. She didn't, as he guessed that she wouldn't.

With a speed that would make many envy Deidara's creation, the pair of Akatsuki arrived in the outskirts of the Sand village after only half a day. Deidara quickly jumped off of his clay bird and collapsed onto the sand floor, completely tired with the amount of chakra it took to make the bird travel so fast.

Sasori paid him no mind as he hopped off of the bird and marched swiftly into the village that he had abandoned so many years before. Luckily for them both, there were no sentries on watch duty when Sasori entered the streets. It was the middle of the night and nobody was around. The puppet master was mildly surprised, but the fragile person in his arms easily stopped his mind from wondering too much about the lack of security in the paranoid village.

He strode swiftly to the only hospital that the village had to offer, one he remembered even after so many years away from the Sand village. There was only a single woman at the desk when he walked in, and she looked far from alert so he didn't bother with discretion. He just cleared his throat and demanded, "I need a doctor right now."

The woman rubbed at her tired eyes and then paled when she saw the state of Sakura's bloody body, "Yes, of course - down the hall and on your first right." She pointed and Sasori took off in that direction, careful to make sure that he didn't knock Sakura into any doors or walls.

He kicked the door in easily, rather than trying to struggle with the handle, and placed Sakura neatly onto the spare bed in the room. Once he was certain that Sakura was still breathing – something he had to keep reminding himself to check – he waited for the doctor to come and see to her.

It took the space of two minutes before a doctor and his assistant swiftly entered the room and then began to see just where Sakura was injured. The assistant tried to get Sasori to leave, but he refused to budge until he knew if she would live or not.

After the doctor had begun to heal Sakura's major wound – the hole in her side where Shinji had impaled her – he reassured Sasori that she'd be just fine after rest and some recovery time.

"How did she get like this, young man?" the doctor asked Sasori once the hole had closed significantly.

"She was attacked." Sasori deadpanned, not bothering to go into great detail.

"I see." The doctor gave Sasori a questioning look, "And did you see who attacked her?"

"Yes, but that's not important now." Before the man could ask any further questions, Sasori asked one of his own, "How long will it take for her to wake up?"

The man sighed, a weary expression on his face, "It varies with each person. If she's strong enough, she should wake up within a couple of days."

Sasori just gave a nod to the man and then walked out of the room. He went back to the main desk and asked for some paper to write on. Once the woman gave him the things he needed, he moved to one of the chairs in the waiting area and began to write a note to Sakura.

When he finished he stood swiftly and ordered the woman to give the note to Sakura when she woke up, but forbid the woman to read it at all. He knew she'd do what he said; his threats were never taken lightly and the one he had given the woman at the desk was no exception.

He never slowed down as he made his way back to the outskirts of the village where he had left Deidara.

His thoughts were only of Sakura though, even as he waited for his partner to collect himself and follow after him into the desert beyond the Sand village.