Sakura flipped over the random pages of her notebook. Cures for all sorts of poison popped out from the pages. Her hand stopped at the page where there was a line of scribbles. It was the cure for Sasori's poison, the one he put on his puppets. That time, they were trying to save Gaara. This time, it's Sasuke, but will Sasuke come back?
The words Sasuke had said when Sakura finally caught up with Naruto were still stinging her heart.
"Do as you wish, try as you might, I am not going back"
"Is it because of Itachi? Is that why you're following Orochimaru?" Naruto had asked then.
But Sasuke didn't reply, and Sakura didn't have the strength then to ask Sasuke the question she had in mind. The question that she'd been wanting to ask him ever since he left Konoha.
What would you do if you didn't want to have revenge anymore?
Yet Sasuke left with Orochimaru swiftly, and Sakura had to bury the question deep in her heart.
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Itachi fumbled through a wardrobe filled with Akatsuki robes. Strangely, Akatsuki never gets a designer to design some new clothing. It almost seem as if the robe was their trademark. Well, maybe it was. Itachi's hand hit something hard. He pulled it out, finding a metal case with a simple latch on it. He added a lock just in case some kid tripped over it.
"Hey, Itachi! Did you find it?" Kisame half whispered down the hall.
"Yeah, what do you want it for? Storing scrap paper?"
"No, but don't open the case yet. There's a map in there, a very detailed map of the land with every single little rock labelled on it. Don't lose it, and our plan could succeed."
"Every single rock? Why is it that I do not believe you?" Itachi replied in a suspicious tone of voice, but still, he hanged on to the small box.
The leaves rustled outside, and soon someone came inside, wearing a black robe with red clouds. He stared at the two members of his own organization.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you two supposed to be— "
"It's our own room. You can't prevent us from staying here." Itachi growled.
He left, still wondering where did he feel strange about what Itachi and Kisame were doing. There was something wrong, but he couldn't figure out just where it went wrong. And then he realized. It wasn't their room. He turned back and dashed toward the room, which was Sasori's room.
They were gone.
He cursed them, then went to wake up the others, only to find half of them also gone. They were up to something. And bad.
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Naruto slouched into the chair. He wasn't happy at all. Sasuke had really said some heart-breaking things about him, and his promise, to bring Sasuke back, was left to be uncompleted Something told him that Sasuke was hiding a really important fact, but he couldn't grasp what exactly it was. Sakura was making tea in the kitchen, with her pink little apron tied around her waist. Why did Sasuke just leave like that? Didn't he even think about Sakura-chan?
A knocking sound came from the front door, and Naruto went to open the door. A girl in light blue clothing from head to toe stood there. She's not a ninja, Naruto realized.
"Hello. I know that introductions are important, but I'm not going to make one now, considering I know who you are, Naruto-kun. I'm here for one reason, and don't ask why."
Naruto choked. "You, you know my name? Then, then, do you know, um, Sakura-chan?" He coughed through all those sentences.
Sakura came from the kitchen, her face with obvious jealousy. No wonder. The girl was way cuter than Sakura, with light blue eyes that was so penetrating.
"Look, I'm here because I think I can help myself. I'll save Sasuke-kun from Orochimaru for you."
"And what do you want in return?"
Kakashi had been leaning against the wall, looking at the girl with curiosity. If what she said was true, she either didn't know Orochimaru at all, or she had a lot of power. Either way, she was an interesting girl.
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Orochimaru took Sasuke down the narrow cave that concealed the stone snake. Lighting up the candles in the snake's eyes with simple matches, Kabuto blew out the match and stepped on it, making sure that it doesn't start a fire. He'd been questioning himself why had he used matches; the reply was that he needed to save his chakra for other more important uses. Not lighting up a candle, that was too easy. Footsteps echoed down the hallway behind Orochimaru, light and swift, yet meaningfully leaving a sound. As if to warn of something—
Orochimaru reminded himself of the few people that could come here. It couldn't be that brat Naruto; he was just here. Then, who? Some high-skilled shinobi wandering into the wrong place?
His question was answered when the blacked-robed figure walked out the hall. The bright red clouds printed on the pitch black cloth reflected only one thing. The symbol of Akatsuki.
"So, why are you here? Come to admire a genius in the making?"
"No," the figure replied briskly, before dragging out the main topic. "Orochimaru, what did you hide in Sasori's room?"
Sasori was dead. Orochimaru's never been to Sasori's room, not to say hide something there. But he had given Sasori a map, which was part of the plan to destroy Akatsuki. But with Sasori gone, the only one who knew about the map was Kisame and himself. Could Kisame have told on him?
The best reply would be of one that didn't reveal anything. "I didn't hide anything in Sasori's room," he smiled. "I've never been to his room before." This was the truth, and with that, He'd not suspect Orochimaru anything."
"Fine then, I'll agree to the fact that you've never been to his room before. Well, then, you'd better be telling the truth, or else—"
" This is my lair. In here, you're nothing but a useless pile of flesh for my snakes."
"You're not always here, are you? No, you've been out there in the sun before, and now, you still can be out there. Believe me, that's the time I'll strike."