Lost Year
Expecting!
People who hurt you are like sandpapers, they may cause you pain.
But when it's over, you'll be polished while they'll be useless.
What if…
What if she couldn't reach her in time?
"Lady Chiyo!"
The long sword pierced right through the fragile old lady menacingly, and a loud wince echoed the cave afterwards.
"No!"
With a jolt, Sakura sat up on her bed. Her pillow drenched with sweat and the blanket was already kicked on the floor. She continued panting hard, trying to keep herself calm.
"It's all a dream. Just a dream." Sakura muttered, her eyes slowly drew towards the tidied bed beside her, not even a single wrinkle could be seen on the bed sheet.
"Sasori?" Sakura felt herself calling out for his name before she even knew what she had said. She steadily grabbed the blanket and placed it neatly onto the bed before walking up towards the bathroom right at the corner of the room. The pinkette stood there for about three seconds before knocking onto the door when she couldn't hear a single sound inside.
"Are you in there?" She carried on with another loud knock before deciding to open the door to check it out herself instead, only to reveal no sign of the redhead at all.
Sakura carelessly shrugged, thinking that the puppeteer might have gone to have breakfast without her. The medic went to cool herself down by running the tap and splashing the cold water onto her face to make her much more awake.
After preparing herself for the day, she approached to the restaurant below the inn and glanced at every corner, but no redhead could be found anywhere at all.
She slowly sat at the chair corner by the window and rested her arms on the table, still scanning the entire restaurant. The waitress came forward to take her order before leaving Sakura alone again.
Come to think of it, he never tells me where he was going when he wanted to leave in the first place. She widened her emerald eyes that reflected signs of horror and betrayal.
"He couldn't have…" She spoke in a whisper.
"Your dumplings is here. Enjoy." The waitress placed the small plate of food on the table before leaving to mind her own business.
"He couldn't have…" Sakura repeated, slowly staring at the dumpling on the platter as if the food before her would actually answer her question.
The pair of wooden chopsticks that Sakura was clutching so hard snapped into two within a second. She fished out a couple of notes and coins for the bill from her back pocket as she hastily left the small restaurant and departed to the middle on the town in a minute.
Where could he be? The medic briskly past through the crowd of residents who were bargaining the storeowner to cut down the price for groceries they were buying. She continued looking around frantically, trying to spot any redhead from the crowd.
Where… would he go?
"Hey you are late!" A lady who was fanning herself with a stack of papers as her friend swiftly approached her.
"I'm sorry." She gave an apologetic smile.
"Haruka had gone ahead to put these posters of her missing cat an hour ago." The woman who was waiting for her friend spoke while handing half of the stack of papers she had.
"Actually, I don't think there is a point in looking for her cat. It had run away yesterday and even if the forest is at the other side of the town, the cat doesn't require a day to get out of the village and ran into the woods already." The latecomer commented.
"If you let Haruka hear this. She'll never forgive you." The other chided.
Sakura stopped on her tracks as she whirled around. Her lips parted slowly and her eyes were suddenly so dull and emotionless as she watched the two women hastily walking down the streets.
They were actually right. What on earth was she searching anyway?
If Sasori had left with Orochimaru yesterday, why on earth would they still be in the town when they could cover the entire village in less than ten minutes. By the time she had came back from the hospital, Sasori could have already crossed the border to the next village.
Sakura failed. She had failed her mission.
She didn't know whether to weep or scream in the middle of the town. All she did was standing rooted to the ground even when a few villagers bumped into her when they were trying to walk.
What should she do?
"How much is these."
The familiar voice made Sakura fresh awake again. The medic spun around, witnessing the person who had that familiar voice as she whispered loudly to herself.
"Kakuzu?" Sakura gasped, realizing that the man who she called might hear her, she quickly camouflage with a group of ladies who were buying cucumbers.
She recognized that man who Naruto had defeated with his Rasen-Shuriken.
Not liking the amount of money he had to spend for these garbage – to him it's garbage since he wasn't buying for himself – he gave a loud scowl that scared several customers away before proceeding out of the pharmacy and down the streets. He was still wearing the same cloak that every other Akatsuki members wore in the future.
Knowing that her pink hair was redundant for following Kakuzu, she transformed herself into an innocent foreigner who appeared to be wandering around. Apparently, Kakuzu didn't sense anything unusual when Sakura was following him all along.
He finally reached to the other side of the village and he stood before a rather cheap inn, walking in after acknowledging the signboard. Kakuzu walked past the counter while the housekeeper just gave a polite greeting, meaning that he had rent a room much earlier before.
Sakura, in her form of a female foreigner, walked towards the counter and ordered for a room. Just in case when Kakuzu suddenly pushed her to the wall and demanded why was she following him, she had proof that she was actually staying here.
After paying the rent, she walked up the wooden stairs and it creaked when she took every step. She tried to quicken her pace but not too obvious so that she could catch up with Kakuzu and know why was he doing here.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a man closing the door at the far end of the corridor. After making sure that her chakra signature was kept hidden, she slowly made her way towards the room.
"Drink this. It replenishes the amount of blood you had loss."
Sakura could hear some sipping sound followed by continues amount of coughing. "It taste so bitter."
"It cost me a bomb. Don't make me force you."
How she wished she had a pair of Byakugan so she could actually see what on earth was happening inside. She could recognize the one who had drank the stuff and claimed that it tasted bitter was a man, but she couldn't confirm if he was actually someone she knew since the voice was hoarse and faint.
As she stepped closer and put her ear close towards the door, a soft creak sounded as she inwardly gasped. The room was filled with silence and Sakura prayed that they didn't hear anything. But sometimes, not everyone's wish could be granted.
In a heartbeat, the door flung open and Sakura stood back just in time. However, in that split second, a rough grip suddenly grabbed around Sakura's neck, dragging her into the room as she tried to scream, but the tight grasp around her neck prevent her from doing so.
"L-Let go." Sakura weakly cried out after her transformation effect was gone in a poof.
A few threads threateningly rose above the pinkette's head, ready to strike right through her head.
"Kakuzu." A weak voice called out followed by a wince. "Let her go."
Sakura did her best just to pry open on of her eyes, only able to glance at the familiar redhead who was watching weakly at her, wanting to help so much yet he couldn't.
"Sa-Sasori?" She muttered hoarsely, trying to pull Kakuzu's hand away from her neck. When Ino had told her experience about Kakuzu strangling her and Choji when they return back to the village, Sakura didn't really understand how terrified the blonde was, but now she could totally relate it to her current situation.
"Who is she?" He growled, pulling the medic closer to him. Sakura continued hitting his arm that was slowly tightening every second.
The redhead tried to stand up from the bed as fast as possible but his legs gave way and he slumped back onto the mattress weakly. He was not going to give up there as he focused his little amount of chakra left in him to his feet, letting him standing and walking towards Kakuzu steadily.
Sasori went forward placed his hand on Kakuzu's arm, indicating for the Waterfall-nin to put his hand down.
"A companion of mine. She's not an enemy." He said, trying to hide how shaky his voice was.
Only after two seconds passed when he finally released her and let her fall onto the ground. Sakura squatted on the floor and started coughing heavily while rubbing softly onto her bruised neck.
"I don't un-understand Sasori. I've expected you to join Akatsuki sooner or later but at least don't make a promise when you're going to break it." Sakura continued chocking, not caring if the mention of Akatsuki affected Kakuzu or not.
"What are y-" Before he could even argue back, a loud wince escaped from his mouth as he clutched onto his stomach.
Sakura slowly stood up, panting heavily and refilling air into her lungs, she glared at both Kakuzu and Sasori.
"I actually have the rights to kill you since you knew about the organization and you weren't part of it." Kakuzu stared at her in disdain before continuing. "I have no intention in forcing him to join Akatsuki like what Orochimaru did. From the start when he first joined the organization, I don't like him a single bit. And I was actually hoping that you could kill that snake man when you were fighting with him." Kakuzu stared at Sasori before moving his green iridescence eyes to Sakura.
Fighting? Sakura diverted her gaze from the tall man to the weak man who slowly stepped back and slumped onto the bed.
"Are you injured?" Sakura trudged towards the redhead, watching how hard he was clutching onto his abdomen.
"This injury…" She paused in mid-sentence, finding that there was no need to continue. And there she was thinking that Sasori deserved it because he had broken her trust towards him. "You fought Orochimaru because you declined his offer?"
The silence was his answer.
He really…
"Can I see?" She said patiently, just like how she treated the rest of her patients in Konoha.
Sasori didn't argue or anything, so Sakura just rolled up his blood stained shirt and stared at the bloodied wound that was stitched up by threads which Sakura suspected were actually the same threads that Kakuzu were pointing threateningly at her when he was about to kill her.
"I have a question." Sakura spoke out formerly even when she knew there was no such need. "Why did you keep Sasori alive?" The question was directed to Kakuzu even though she never turned her head to look at him.
"I'm a sort of a treasurer in Akatsuki and bounty hunting is part of my job to raise funds." That was all he answered, and Sakura knew what he meant. She turned to face Sasori in horror before looking back at Kakuzu cautiously.
Bounty hunters usually kill their target before sending their body to the respective bounty station in exchange for the money. But the thing was, Sakura didn't understand why Kakuzu go that far to keep Sasori alive when he could have left Sasori bled to death before sending him to the bounty station.
No, it's not like Sakura was actually bothered about it since she was very pleased that Kakuzu didn't left Sasori to die, but she was just puzzled. And the medic disliked it when she came across something that she was really curious of yet she didn't have the answer.
"I could have kill him without even you telling." He sat down on a coach, taking out some papers from a hidden pocket in his cloak and looked at it, as if he actually doubted himself too. "But they specifically stated that they wanted him alive. So having him dead would be pointless."
Sakura blinked. She only heard of one in a thousand occasions where they actually requested for the wanted criminal to be taken back alive. Most of them wanted them dead so they could use them for experiments, but most of the case was because having them dead would be better so the captured bounty wouldn't actually kill anyone or destroy the village or the bounty station if they had gained back their strength and power to fight.
"I need to rest." Sasori said weakly, lying back on the bed before Sakura could further check his injury if he had any infection. But he soon fell asleep before Sakura could even nag at him. Although Sasori was dead tired from the start, he still bothered to stop Kakuzu from killing her, and that was something that Sakura was very grateful for.
She took a small stool at the corner of the room and settled it beside the bed. As she unrolled the shirt again, her warm green chakra hovered over Sasori's wound as Sakura tried her best to heal him as much as she can.
Kakuzu raised an eyebrow and gasped softly in disbelief. "You're a medic?"
No. I'm a wizard. "Yes, I am."
As Kakuzu put the papers back into his cloak pocket, Sakura could have sworn that she caught a glimpse of the Sunagakure stamp on it.
But no matter, she continued to concentrate on the healing, trying to ignore the curious stare that was directed to her.
"W-Where is the location for the exchange?" She inquired, politely again.
"The Wind village."
And she was actually hoping that what she seen on the paper was just hallucination.
This isn't good. If Sasori resist, there might be a battle. She glanced carefully at the puppeteer who was still sleeping soundly on the bed.
"I don't really care about what is the relationship between the two of you, but where are you from?"
"Konohagakure."
"Hn."
Oh. She had almost forgotten what Ino had told her. This man with all those stitches before her had claimed to Kakashi and Team 10 about his encounter with the first Hokage a few decades ago. And it was because of the failed assassination that had Kakuzu tortured by his own village when he had actually put his life on the line to kill the first Hokage. This old man wouldn't hold a grudge against a small little girl from Konoha, would he?
A member from Konoha killed Sasori's parents. Kakuzu was actually despised by his own village because he failed to assassinate a member of Konoha too. So... Was she actually at risk from getting murdered because she was from Konoha, the village they both had resentment to?
Sakura shuddered inwardly, eyeing cautiously at the door and estimating how heavy Sasori was. If there's a chance, maybe she could…
"You are coming with me."
"Why should I?" Sakura sneered, her green chakra soon faded as she swallowed hard, trying to ignore the sudden dizziness she felt.
Actually, if Sakura's escaping plan was to backfire and Kakuzu attempted to kill her for the second time, she would actually use her healing ability as an excuse to join Kakuzu and get Sasori back to the Wind village. Sakura's not going to leave Sasori no matter what, she had done it once and Sakura had admittedly regretted it like now as she watched sadly at the redhead who was still sleeping, oblivious to what was going around him.
Even if her I-have-healing-ability-so-you-must-take-me-too method didn't work and Kakuzu didn't want her to come along with him, she would definitely do something to make him agree.
But she had to stay calm and collective no matter what. She couldn't let the Waterfall-nin thought that she actually wanted to join him. Then, this entire plan would be more convincing.
"I require your healing skills."
Of course
"What if I say no?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow and gave a look that challenged Kakuzu.
A small smirk appeared behind his mask, which reminded Sakura about Kakashi.
"I'll kill you."
It took her quite some time to calm down after hearing that low, deep and threatening voice of his. If she was still the twelve years old klutz, she swore she could have fallen onto the ground and started crying.
Kakuzu stood up from the chair and noticed how tense Sakura was when he did. He gave a last glance at the redhead before moving to the door.
"I have some business to settle. Try to escape and I'll snap your neck once I found you." And the door closed behind him.
Kakuzu knew about the very critical rule that was set by the leader; about not allowing to sabotage any of the Akatsuki members and turning them in for money. Of course, this rule was only directed to the treasurer of Akatsuki, but this redhead was another thing.
Orochimaru almost killed Sasori during their battle, like what he had observed from afar when he had coincidentally passed by. And from that simple battle, he could already tell that the snake man wasn't holding back at all. If Orochimaru were to report to the leader that he had failed to get Sasori to join, perhaps Kakuzu could add some more information, saying that Sasori was dead when he tried to escape from Orochimaru.
Of course, the leader wouldn't be stupid to believe entirely both what he and Orochimaru said and would check it out himself. But since Kakuzu had some friendly connection with a few bounty officers, he could just tell them to change some information and stated that someone had already turned in Sasori's corpse for the exchange of money.
Yes. That's the plan.
Kakuzu nodded to himself slowly, taking his time to walk down the corridor of the inn.
0o0
Sakura sighed loudly after hearing the footsteps outside the door faded. She looked back at the redhead who was cuddling himself on the bed.
He looked just like a small and innocent child, so defenseless right now.
After a whole fifteen minutes, Sakura only realized that she was actually watching Sasori sleeping when a fly disturbed her sight when it landed on her nose.
"Shoo." Sakura frowned, waving it around so the fly would finally go away.
"I enjoyed travelling with you and I don't intend to go anywhere or do anything other than travelling with you. Get it?"
Sakura blinked, not knowing why she suddenly remembered what he had said when she was lying on the hospital bed just yesterday. The kunoichi could feel her face warming up as she lightly touched her cheeks, slightly puzzled why she was acting like that.
"Haruno Sakura, what on earth are y-"
"No…"
The pinkette blinked once again, turning her attention to the redhead. "Sasori?" Sakura stared worriedly at him, who was actually frowning ominously when he was actually sleeping so peacefully like a few seconds ago.
Is he having a nightmare? Sakura pondered, watching Sasori who was starting to move about in his sleep.
"No… It's not true…" He muttered weakly, his grip on the bed sheets tightened and his knuckles turned white.
"Sasori-"
"Lies!"
When Sakura went forward to reach out to the trembling redhead and wanted to shake his shoulder to wake him up, Sasori's eyes flung wide open. He then grabbed onto the kunoichi's hand that was touching his shoulder and tugged her down onto the bed, with him grasping tightly onto both of her wrists and pinning her down beneath him.
"Lies!" He bawled weakly.
"Sasori…" Sakura closed both of her eyes in pain, wincing at the harsh grip on her wrist and her sudden back pain when she was slammed onto the bed roughly. As she pried open her emerald eyes, she was staring right at the two frightened and scared chocolate-brown eyes. It suddenly reminded her of an incident during a time when a small girl was brought to the hospital as her parents were being taken away as hostage and murdered afterwards by a group of escape prisoners.
Those eyes, those two brown eyes that Sakura was staring right at held the same terror as the ones Sakura witnessed back at the hospital when she was accompanying the child.
"Lies!" He howled, his volume raised only a little than before.
"Sasori!" Sakura called out, trying to snap him back to reality.
Only after a few seconds, Sasori swiftly want back to his normal state as he moved away slowly to let Sakura get up from the bed.
"Are you alright?" Sakura sat up from the bed and eyed Sasori cautiously. He still looked so dazed that Sakura suspect that he didn't even hear what she had said a second ago.
Sakura reached out to his forehead and gently placed her hand on it. He flinched, not expecting the sudden warmth on his brow. But in a second, he soon calmed down and got used to Sakura's touch, letting her estimating what was his body temperature without demanding her to back away.
"You have a fever." Sakura blurted worriedly, moving her hand away from him and stood up from the bed, almost forgetting what just happened between the two of them.
She helped Sasori to adjust his position as he lay comfortably back onto the bed. The efficient medic then turned and headed to the bathroom, appearing outside again in a minute with a small towel that was soaked with cold water.
Perhaps it was because of the nightmare and fever, resulting in the sudden action just now. Sakura folded it a few times before putting it gently on Sasori's forehead.
She sat back on the small chair beside the bed and observed Sasori who seemed to have fallen back to sleep again.
Sakura gazed at the door impatiently, wondering what on earth could Kakuzu be doing to take him that long to settle his business.
"Why are you here?"
At first, Sakura just ignored him for a moment, thinking that Sasori was just sleep-talking. Only when she had finished glaring at the door and finally turned back, the female teenager noticed that the redhead was staring at her with those tired eyes of his.
"W-What do you mean?"
"How do you find me here?"
"I've found Kakuzu wearing the same cloak as Orochimaru so I decided to follow him to see if I can find you."
"Why did you take such long measures to find me?"
"Well maybe because I like travelling with you too?"
A long silence filled the room, and Sasori remained staring at Sakura as if everything was just a dream.
"You should get some rest so that your fever will go away soon."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" Sakura frowned, not liking it when Sasori was ignoring her advice.
"Getting so close to me."
Another long silence.
"You should just rest. Stop thinking about it so much." She kindly tugged in the blanket for him before settling down on the stool. Thinking that it would actually be fine not answering him, she realized that she was actually wrong when Sasori purposely shifted his position, letting the towel fell on the bed before turning again and letting his back facing her.
0o0
"We are leaving now." Kakuzu grumbled.
"Why don't we stay for the night?" Sakura suggested.
"No. Staying for the night means paying more money."
"At least let me finish healing Sasori first before we depart."
He gave a small snort before settling himself on a small couch. "An hour is all I give."
"Are you sending me back to the Wind village?" Sasori inquired, sitting up slowly with Sakura's guidance. He had a few guesses in mind already, and to his not-so-surprise, his first guess was correct.
"Yes." Kakuzu replied.
Although Sakura was trying her best to focus on healing his injuries, she couldn't help but felt a sort of menacing air around the redhead. Her head was lowered and her eyes were focused on a cut on his arm, but she could feel the harsh glare Sasori was directing at Kakuzu and her.
Before the one hour ended, Sakura had roughly done healing some cuts and bruises that Sasori had suffered. Since he was lying on the bed, it was rather impossible to heal the injuries he sustained when he was lying on his back so Sakura had no choice but to heal them now. Although most of the scratches were healed completely, the deep gash that Sasori had in the abdomen area was not fully healed. Kakuzu had used his threads to sew up the wound and Sakura had tried to patch the wound up, but it could only be fully healed if Sasori was given the ample rest and proper medication.
And truthfully, Sakura doubt that Sasori could be fully healed in a week if he continued to strain his injury whenever they were walking, running or perhaps battling if they encountered someone that wanted their life.
Sasori lifted himself carefully from the bed and tried his best not to reopen his wound like what Sakura had nagged him about thousands of times.
"Let's go." Kakuzu said, opening the door and closing it behind him when the other two had left.
As they slowly walked down the corridor, Sakura saw two drunken couple heading towards the room where they had previously left. And all Sakura did was to shrug and bustled her way down the stairs to catch up with Kakuzu and Sasori.
She have never met someone so thrifty as Kakuzu and she would never know what other kind of methods did the bounty hunter used to save and earn money, but she knew whoever his wife or children were, they sure were some lucky people if they were to inherit all his fortune once he dies.
0o0
Darkness soon fell, and the forest was almost pitch black. They had been running since late afternoon and hadn't stop since then. Even Sakura was tired, let alone the injured redhead who was now and then trying to suppress a wince whenever his abdomen felt a sharp pain.
Of course when Kakuzu had received the new set of bounty list, the other regular bounty hunters would also get one too. And currently, Sasori's one of the top three that had the highest amount of bounty on his head.
"That man. He's the one we are looking for." A youngster with no headband to indicate which country was he from pointed at Sasori who had stopped in his track when almost a dozen of men suddenly blocked their path.
Another man, however, had a headband around his forehead that showed that he belongs to the Earth country, grabbed onto his blade and recklessly charged forward.
Before he could even land a single scratch on the redhead, Kakuzu's arm flew across the clearing and made him slammed onto a tree, unconscious in a second. Kakuzu then had his arm connected back to his entire body in no time, before stepping forward and glared at the group who were slightly tensed at how powerful the Akatsuki member was.
"This bounty is mine." He hissed.
"I don't think so." Another hunter out of the ten members blurted out.
Sakura prepared her stance, trying her best to get use to the darkness around her. The best way to detect where the enemy was would be by the sound of their movement, like what she was taught by Tsunade. She concentrated hard and finally got a hang of it when a member was flung away with her punch when he attempted to attack Sakura.
They started attacking and Kakuzu had managed to knock almost everyone out so easily like breathing while Sakura just managed to punch two of them unconscious and Sasori just remained standing there, as if daring anyone to come and lay a hand on him. No one managed to since Kakuzu had blocked every attack that was aiming at Sasori.
Frustrated, the leader grabbed onto a scroll behind his back and rolled it open, aiming the middle part of the scroll towards the Sand-nin. He then threw the scroll into the air and made a couple of hand signs.
"Sasori!" Sakura noticed the leader was actually preparing an attack to the redhead as she started running over to Sasori who was preparing to summon one of his puppets out. She knew that if the man were to attack Sasori with some sort of jutsu, he might not be able to withstand it due to the injury he sustained in the early battle he had just yesterday.
Medics were supposed to make sure that their teammates were not injured, right?
A bright light engulfed the scroll as circle of weird kanji words that Sakura never seen before suddenly appeared out of the scroll and heading towards to Sasori's direction, and very fast. Channeling more chakra to her feet, she sprinted just in time to prevent the technique from hitting Sasori but herself. Fortunately, she had successfully blocked the attack from hitting Sasori.
Tons of kanji symbols started enveloping around the kunoichi's waist and in a second, the black words crashed down and shackled Sakura's arm and legs together, preventing her to make any movement.
Sasori stared in shock as he tried to reach out to the medic before him, but when the kanji words had fettered her, she was immediately gone in a poof.
"Damn it!" The man clutched onto the scroll that he had originally planned to use on Sasori, but the pinkette had blocked the attack and was used it on her instead.
This technique was one of his clan's secret jutsu, where they would trap the person when the jutsu was aimed it and would be sealed into the scroll, only able to summon out if the user wanted to.
However, the jutsu could only be used once, so they could not catch Sasori unless they have a second scroll. And rather unfortunate for them, they didn't know that they would acquire a second scroll for this bounty mission.
"Let's go. We'll just use her as a hostage. That man is dangerous." The leader turned to Kakuzu, his eyes scanning over him before signalling his remaining conscious comrades to take the other fainted ones and scatter.
0o0
"I'm not leaving." Sasori glared back.
"That girl is weak. Having her coming with us was the wrong choice I've made."
"She's not weak." Sasori growled, scowling unpleasantly at Kakuzu.
"Oh? And what's with the silent treatment you gave her previously? Now being protective of her? And I thought you actually disliked her."
"I won't go with you unless she comes back."
"No deal. I don't have time left to waste on you pests." Kakuzu strolled towards Sasori and was about to lift him up when the redhead was gone in a flash but he reappeared a few meters away from Kakuzu, standing towards the direction where the other bounty hunters had headed.
He's quite fast even though he's injured. Kakuzu noted.
"No deal either." The redhead spat back like a stubborn kid wanting candy when the parents refused to buy for their child.
Kakuzu raised an amused eyebrow, finding it rather ironic when this redhead before him was acting so indifferent towards the pinkette, yet he was actually concern about her.
Without waiting for Kakuzu's answer, Sasori started sprinting towards the way where the enemies had headed to, leaving the bounty hunter alone in the devastated clearing.
Never in his life had he ever negotiate anything with his bounty – since they were dead. But now this Sand-nin was really trying his patience, yet he couldn't kill him, since it would totally defeat the purpose in spending his precious money on the medications and the rent for the inn they were previous staying in.
If this bounty wasn't worth that much, I might have thought that it was actually the leader trying to test my patience skills. The Akatsuki member lightly joked with himself before scurrying ahead.
0o0
"Hey, why don't you guys untie me so I can heal you?" Sakura said merrily.
"Nice try girl, we won't fall for it. Having you chained up is much more better."
"Come on." Sakura whimpered. "You guys had me cornered now. I can't even do anything. Fleeing isn't a good idea since you had set traps around here that could easily kill me if I trigger it. I can really heal you!" She convinced.
After the leader had angrily summoned out the wrongly captured girl, they had set up a fire and decided to camp for the night and used her as a hostage when they encounter their bounty the next time.
The members gave each other a questioning look before turning to Sakura. "How are you going to heal us?"
"I'm a medic." She declared.
"That's a good catch. Maybe we should keep her instead of making her a hostage." One suggested.
"We can talk about that later. Now heal this bruise to prove to us that you are of good use."
Sakura made an exaggerated struggle before looking at the man who was the one that had bound her up with that weird technique. "I can't."
"Release her." A few hunters said in unison.
As the man sighed, he made a couple of hand signs before the kanji words around Sakura slowly lifted up and was gone with a poof. She could finally breathe properly.
"May I heal each one of you privately?" She asked blandly. When the leader gave her a questioning look, she continued.
"When you guys are looking at me, I'll feel pressurized. When I feel pressurized, I will panic. When I panic, I can''t concentrate. When I can't concentrate, I will do unnecessary stuff to make myself concentrate. When I do unnecessary stuff to make myself concentrate, I will make mistakes. When I make mistakes, I will-"
"Shut up and just go already." The leader signalled one member nearest to Sakura to get healed up first.
"But girl, if you pull any tricks. He'll alert me. And when you are caught, we can always use other methods instead of using you as hostage to lure the bounty out."
"Like I said. I'm outnumbered. And I value my life. I'm only helping you people out because I am just that nice." Sakura rolled her eyes before proceeding into the bushes with another guy following cautiously behind.
"Nice?" Kakuzu snorted, slowly sat down on a thick branch and rested his head on the bark of the tree while Sasori remained squatting on one of the branches.
"She's planning something."
"Oh?" Kakuzu glanced at Sasori. "So you aren't going to act hero and save her?"
Sasori gave a withering look. He'll only act as one if it's necessary. "It's none of your business."
"I have to barge into this if my money is at risk."
"Is money the only thing you can think of?" Sasori hissed.
"Money is the only thing that makes the world go round." Kakuzu said casually, as if they were even in a conversation.
"Even if it were to sacrifice your loved ones?" Sasori couldn't help but asked.
"One day, these loved ones will betray you. However, money wouldn't."
0o0
After a few minutes, Sakura and the hunter walked back to the group and the member sat down on his original position, all healed. Sakura stood proudly behind the patient she just took care of.
The leader looked rather impressed, becoming more interested in how Sakura magically heal his comrade. He actually thought she would just tie tons of bandages all over his accomplice and claimed that she healed him. But no, all signs of cuts and bruise on him were completely gone. And to think that he almost laughed when Sakura proclaimed that she was one of those rare medics available in the world when she really was one.
"Actually, leader." Sakura said cautiously, looking over at the man who was staring in space. "I think I should heal you next since that deep gash requires more chakra. And I don't think I would have enough to heal you if you were the last."
Agreeing with her, he slowly stood up, hand covering his injury on his leg. "Very well. Everyone stay put." He spoke calmly before proceeding into the bushes along with Sakura.
"That girl is hot." One commented when the leader was no longer in sight.
"I have to agree too."
0o0
"We are getting further away from my team. How far are we going?" The leader snapped, not liking the fact that the thick bushes brushes across his injury occasionally when they were walking.
Sakura finally halt and spun around, giving him a smirk.
"Far enough for you to run back to find all your comrades dead."
"What-"
With a loud poof, the medic was no longer in sight.
"Shadow clone?" He yelled in anger before running back to the campsite.
His comrade that had previously came back all healed was actually the real Sakura that had just transformed into his form while the one that asked the leader to follow her was just a shadow clone.
As the leader finally reach the campsite, all the other members had already fainted.
"What the-"
"Shanaaroo!" Sakura slammed her feet right onto the wound that the leader suffered on his knee. He gave a loud shout before receiving another punch right in the stomach, knocking him out cold in an instant.
After she had crushed the last member, she stood there with the impassive look on her face. Looking around to make sure none of them were able to stand up to fight, she turned around and headed off. However, she broke into a big grin before she could even control herself, but her smile was immediately wiped off when a figure appeared before her.
"Kakuzu." She muttered, as the said man revealed right before her. But in an instant, her face fell lax before she brightened it up again when the redhead appeared right at the moment when Kakuzu landed on the ground.
"Let's go. We have wasted enough time." The bounty hunter proclaimed, observing all of the fainted Shinobi and walked off. Both of the youngsters just followed without any argument.
0o0
"You sure you don't want to ask Sasori for help?" Sakura joked weakly, even though she knew that neither the two males were amused at all. They had been walking for about two hours and what Sakura saw everywhere was nothing but cactus and sand.
"Girl. I've roamed across the entire world and I know where I am heading better than you knowing how to breathe. Say anything and I'll kill you."
Sakura rolled her eyes, not even scared of Kakuzu's threatening words anymore. Even Sasori tried to refrain from yawning at Kakuzu's poor usage of vocabulary words.
However, the tall man before him wasn't kidding, indeed he know where he was going since every step they took, they were actually getting closer to the border.
Sakura's feet were sore and her back hurts from all the walking. Luckily they had replenished their water supplies before they began setting ahead into the desert or Sakura could have died from thirst. Although she was tired and her skin was burning, she observed that Sasori and Kakuzu were calm and collected even though the weather was killing her. She could understand for Sasori, but why did Kakuzu seem so unaffected at all?
She sighed inwardly, before looking up at the redhead again.
They had been travelling for about three days before they took a step into the desert. The trio had spent their nights in the forest and ate wild grilled animals and Sakura was always the one cooking since they say that woman belongs to the kitchen or whatever bullshit the two men were ranting about.
It was sort of an adventure camp, with Kakuzu as the instructor, Sasori the tetchy camper and Sakura being the girl that everyone bullied.
Tch, I should have poisoned their food or something. Sakura regretted thoroughly, lifting up her sore leg and took another step.
But what Sakura had been wondering since they left the inn three days ago was when would Sasori start his whatsoever plan he had in his secretive mind. Ever since they had crossed the Earth country border, the redhead had acted so quiet and calm. Too calm in Sakura's opinion.
He might be quiet and relaxed in all sorts of situation – except for the fever issue, that's it – Sasori was just too composed already. Two weeks ago, so much blood had been shed across the sand since Sasori was super stubborn and didn't want to return to the village no matter what.
Now the redhead seemed so willing to go back, as if he had just came back from a vacation. Sakura didn't know if Kakuzu noticed, but Sasori must have a plan in mind. As if all these while, cooperating and going willingly without fighting with Kakuzu was an act, but the real escaping plan had just started.
Not that Sakura was looking down of Sasori, but if the redhead had not obtained his puppet form, fighting Kakuzu and his other four hearts might just be the same as walking into his own grave. And with just that raw strength Kakuzu has, it already seemed hard.
Another ten minutes had passed and Sasori still hadn't taken any action, but it seemed some intruders had.
Not really intruders, since they themselves were actually the intruder.
"Who are you people?"
Ever since the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, the Wind village had begun a desperate search for the missing Kazekage, while also, finding a suitable substitute to fill in the role. With the amount of high leveled Shinobi killed when they attempted to catch Sasori, they had became very cautious about people going in and out of Suna's territory since they lacked the man power to protect their country.
But Sakura knew that they hadn't even reached the borders yet. Perhaps they had gone that far to protect their county and even took such long measures like patrolling even outside the borders.
"Isn't that Sasori-Sama?" One of the Chunin pointed at the redhead. Kakuzu slightly raised his eyebrow at the fact that they were using honorific terms to call his bounty, but this was no longer important.
Sasori cautiously stepped back and glanced at the dozen of men that came from the same village as him.
The redhead was actually planning to escape before they reach the Wind village since Sasori knew the routes around here well, and escaping from Kakuzu in the middle of the desert would be the easiest thing for him, but he never expected these groups of Shinobi spotting them so fast. Now he had lost his chance to escape.
"Tsk." Sasori clicked his tongue irritatingly. Of course, Sakura noticed.
So is the escaping plan ruined? Sakura wanted to ask, but she knew that it would be the best if she just kept her mouth shut.
Just in time, both Sakura and Sasori noticed the iron fists that were directed to them as they ducked away successfully before it hit them.
"Sasori!" Sakura tried to warn the puppeteer but it was too late.
Before he could react, a thread bound around Sasori's ankle and brought him up into the air before slamming him onto the ground, hard. She couldn't tell if Sasori was in pain or not, but she was definitely sure that the wound must have reopen again.
"No!" Sakura yelled. But what she did not expect was the other man who she had been travelling with had knocked her out too.
0o0
"So it seemed we had finally get Sasori back."
"But who is that girl that was exchanged with 5 million ryo? You all should know that we are dangerously low in fund."
We had received information that this girl might be a threat to others as well. Keeping her would be the safest thing to do."
A few Sand-nin had rushed over for backup for the last team that Sasori had encountered. In fact, there was actually a ninja who seemed to be dead, but was actually still clinging tightly for his life.
"S-Sasori-sama had l-left." The man spluttered out more blood as he weakly pointed at the direction where Sakura and Sasori had headed half an hour ago.
"A girl f-from K-Konohagakure w-with p-pink hair… She l-left with S-Sasori…" And just like that, his arm fell back to his side, finally dead.
When Kakuzu sent Sasori back to Sunagakure with Sakura unconscious, it would be natural to dispose the pinkette since she was not needed anymore. But when the counselors noticed Sakura, they knew the one that worked with Sasori to kill so many of their men was her. How many girls had they ever came across having pink hair?
Currently, the counselors were still debating whether they should either execute him for killing such a huge number of talented ninja in Sunagakure or actually continued to let the traitor live and becoming the next Kazekage.
"Since we got him back which such a huge amount of money, I don't see why we should kill him. Do you people even remember what were we intending to do when we manage to get him back with the amount of sacrifice we made for the number of lives lost?"
"But he's too dangerous, what if he betrays us and kill everyone?"
As Ebizo glanced across the room to find the chair that was supposed to be seated by his sister empty, he gave a soft sigh before continuing the discussion.
0o0
Sakura grimaced unpleasantly, immediately feeling a very sharp pain in her head.
As the pinkette slowly moved in her upright position, she reached out to her head to rub her temple, only to realize that both of her wrist were chained up and a piece of paper that was filled with familiar writing stuck on the chain, which Sakura guessed it was some sort of seal. Her legs were tied together too, along with the same seal stick onto the chains
"Sasori?" She jerked up, glancing around panicky to find the redhead sitting at the other side of the small cell. Both of his hand ended up being secured up just like Sakura. He seemed to be awake as both of his dull, mahogany colored eyes were staring at the small window.
In her entire life, she had never been to a prison—to be more specific—being thrown into a prison.
So after Kakuzu had knocked them out, they had thrown them into a small and suffocating cell and got them cuffed and even sealed them to prevent them from using any chakra to break free.
But what Sakura couldn't understand was, why on earth was she locked up and getting the same treatment as Sasori had?
Even after the long silence when Sasori hadn't reply, Sakura turned to see what Sasori was looking at. It was just the cell window that was high up and near the ceiling. They must have been unconscious for an hour or so since it was still late afternoon. Unless they have actually been knocked out for one whole day? No, it isn't possible. Although she didn't want to admit, Kakuzu actually didn't use so much force to knock both of them out compared to the hunters that were targeting the Sand-nin three days ago.
She didn't know for Sasori, but her two pouches that were suppose to keep her first aid kit, kunais, shurikens, some bomb tags and her other weapons were gone.
Sakura squinted her eyes and tried to look over the redhead to see if he had any injuries while trying to shift herself towards him. When she had finally moved from the end to the middle of the cell, she was rather satisfied since getting even more closer to Sasori didn't do any good, and trying to move with these heavy chains was rather exhausting.
"Are you alright?" Sakura scanned over his body to find any injuries but there was none. But a large blotch of red stain was found on his new shirt near his abdomen area — Kakuzu had kindly bought it for him since his old one was tattered and soaked in blood.
"Did your wound reopen?" Sakura stared horrified, moving more closer to him. That was when she realized that Sasori's face was rather pale.
"Kakuzu had taken care of it before he dumped us here. I won't die because of this."
"He did what?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. She wasn't shocked that Kakuzu had thrown them into this cell, but she was surprised because the Akatsuki member had bothered to close up the wound for Sasori.
Sasori slowly pulled up his clothes with both of his hands that were tied up together in front of him and show bloodied wound sewed up neatly, although Sakura was positive that further treatment for the redhead would be better, but the medic couldn't even do anything now. Her hand were chained and sealed so there was no way she could even channel any chakra to her fist to heal, or break any walls.
As he unrolled his shirt, he slumped both of his hand on his legs and looked away from the medic who was sitting just a meter away from him.
"I was wondering about this for quite some time..." Sakura started fiddling with the hand chains, looking up to see Sasori and his impassive expression.
"I don't understand. Why do you hate the Wind village so much?" She questioned, watching Sasori carefully and making sure that she would try her best not to trigger any sort of argument between the two of them. "I mean, wouldn't it be better to return here?"
He flashed her a cold look and continued staring at her with both of his intimidating eyes. Sakura wanted to tear her gaze from him, but she remained strong and forced herself not to even blink at all.
Knowing that the stubborn girl would just be wasting his time for such a nonsensical game like a staring contest, Sasori turned back and gazed at the corner of the prison room and the silence ensued once again. Sakura remained glaring at the redhead, refusing to turn or look away. But she did blink once in a while when her eyes were too tired.
Waiting as patiently as she could, a small pout began forming at her lips. The medic hated being ignored like that, but she knew that it would be pointless to ask again if the redhead didn't want to answer.
Only after a minute, he finally spoke.
"Do you have a place where you wish to never been there again? The place where it held the memories which you wanted to forget?"
Sakura stopped playing with the chains, her thoughts began trailing back where both Sasuke and herself were near the entrance of the village's gate. That place where she confessed her love to him yet he knocked her out cold after saying a "Thank you for everything"
She always hated taking that path to go or come back from missions. It always tears her heart into bits and pieces when she remembered the confession she let out could not make Sasuke stay at all. Even when she volunteered joining him, she knew that deep inside, Sasuke didn't need a weak girl like her.
"I want to leave that place, and to become stronger without having any burden from feelings and memories." He drawled before looking back at her.
These feelings and loneliness that Sasori held in his heart caused him so much pain that he couldn't withstand it anymore. And only abandoning them could make him stronger.
However for Sakura…
Those words that Sasuke left for her made her stronger, the memories she had with Sasuke made her wanting him back again made her stronger. She yearned for these memories, but Sasori's different.
His parents were killed. And no matter how many times he remembers those memories he had with his parents in the Wind village, they would never come back. So what's the point in clinging so tightly to the memories? Why don't just let those memories go and become stronger, so that one-day the pain could also be forgotten?
Sakura truly never expected Sasori to reply or even respond like that. She was actually preparing a little script in her mind, convincing him that Sunagakure isn't such a bad place and returning back there isn't such a bad idea too.
But this gave her a shock.
She had completely no idea what to say. Comforts? Apologize? No, the words that escaped from Sasori's mouth left her hanging for completely five minutes and there was nothing but silence that filled in the cell.
After a few minutes, Sakura could hear some prison warden talking and the sound of the locks unlocking could be heard. Sakura stared patiently at the cell door, wondering who could have been visiting them while Sasori just remained staring in space, seeming like he already knew who was it.
An old lady slowly stepped into the cell after talking quietly to the wardens and closed the door behind her. Sakura gasped, she couldn't feel any more happier when she stared at the old lady before her, very healthy and alive. She wanted to call out to her and hug her, but she had to control her emotions, if not Sasori could easily notice that something's wrong.
The female puppeteer watched Sasori from the door, but he just shifted his position and let his back faced the poor old lady. Sakura wanted to reprimand him so much, but she bit her lips, knowing that it would be totally unnecessary.
"Girl, may I know your name?" The woman who was also one of the Suna's counselors watched Sakura and her ebony-colored eyes softened. The old lady appeared to have lesser wrinkles than what Sakura had seen her in the future. But no matter how much she wished to hug the lady and cried out to her, she still quietly remained in her position and replied with a polite tone, which she always used to people that she respected.
"Haruno Sakura."
"Cherry Blossom. Ah… a nice name indeed." She nodded to herself as the aging lady gave a small smile.
"My name is Chiyo."
0o0
Kakuzu scowled, carrying onto the large case that was filled with money he loved.
He wasn't scowling because of how heavy the case was, or how hot the weather was. But this was the third time he actually mindlessly stopped and turned to order his two young companions to hurry their pace when he remembered that he had exchanged them for money.
Even though Sakura wasn't in the bounty list, Sunagakure gave 5 million ryo in exchange for the pinkette too, which he was actually pleased. It's just like killing two birds with one stone. He was able to get more money, and also get rid of the brat without having to decide what to do with her.
Although he didn't understand what was going on with him, he silently admitted that during the three days of travelling with the other two, he didn't wake up and thought only about money, but also the safety of these two little pest as well.
Ever since his fourth partner had been killed because of his uncontrollable temper, the leader was still trying to find someone who could actually survive his attacks and be his partner for at least a week or longer. So all Kakuzu do everyday was to loaf around and see if there was any unlucky bounty that crossed his path since the Akatsuki member hadn't receive any information about the whereabouts for his new accomplice.
Perhaps when he was travelling with that pinkette and redhead, he actually created a sort of stupid bond with them, kind of like a grandfather watching his grandkids by his side.
He shuddered inwardly. Seriously? Grandfather and grandchildren? Worst example he could think of in his whole life.
This was actually the first time when he could retain his temper and not flare up in front of the benign rosette and the grumpy redhead.
Truthfully, he was expecting some romance between them, not that he was an expert at this, he could actually remembered the times with his dead fiancée when he observed Sasori and Sakura together.
His grip onto his suitcase became tighter as he stopped in his track, the sand beneath his feet slowly sunk in due to his weight. Kakuzu slowly turned and walked back to Sunagakure in his leisure pace.
Maybe he could have some fun before he got his fifth partner or something.