Summary- In the natural scheme of things, the dead stay dead. But in the world of ninjas, nothing's for certain anymore. Sasu/Saku.
&dedicated to: Livvy22 (for being the 60th reviewer and reviewing every chapter in a row!)
&yet again, the disclaimer is applied. i don't own naruto. ):
"Have you found her yet?" His voice echoed against the hollow walls -it sounded strained from little use. He circled around the plain room to reach the multiple bookcases lining the bare walls. He scanned the shelves with rigid posture, tense from different plans forming in his occupied mind. Long shadows filtered across the floor's length in thin stripes, bending to his movements. He plucked a bulky hardback from the shelf and swept his gaze over the figures. Contemplating her silence, he paused to wait for her answer.
Her fingers grazed the heavy fabric of her clothing as she raised a hand to her hip expectantly; a small sigh formed in the back of her throat and she lifted her head to part her lips. She replied in mild disinterest. "Not yet. She's nowhere within a fifty mile radius - she could be anywhere," came her answer, soft and wistful.
The figure chose not to answer. He slid the book back into place and returned to the steel table at the end of the room. His back hunched over and his hands methodically arranged a variety of scrolls. The near silent sound of his hands in constant movement halted as a clipped thud pounded on the rock floor. "Yes?"
Something glinted in the streams of light from the brightly lit wall lamps, and a tight voice recited, "We have a lead."
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chapter
eight.
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March 15
Location- Waves
"Hey, Karin, do you… sense someone with Sasuke?"
The redhead snapped her head into his direction, the jerky movement stunning the muscles in her neck. She was so caught off-guard at his saying anything that she almost lost her footing as they sped through the skimpy trees. Karin clumsily questioned, "Huh? What do you mean, Juugo?"
Juugo glanced away to avoid her inquisitive look and muttered an explanation, his large hands fisting by his sides in awkwardness. "I mean, I think I sense someone with Sasuke. Do you know who it is?"
Karin harshly stopped on the next tree branch, frowning as she slightly lost her balance. The weathered wood whined under the new weight while she knelt down into a comfortable stance and let her chakra stretch throughout the area. "I don't know why there would be anyone." There better not be, she thought.
Leaning his giant sword against the trunk of the tree with a heavy thunk, Suigetsu laughed with his toothy grin. "You're just jealous if there is, Karin." He snickered as she shot a glare his way, knowing he was free from any attempted abuse as long as she was preoccupied with anything to do with her dear Sasuke.
"Shut it, Suigetsu." Karin retorted before concentrating on the chakra sources that filled up her mind's eye, shining in different hues and shapes until she rested on Sasuke's dark blue, massive, swirling chakra. "Found him."
Suigetsu fiddled with the cloth wraps on his sword's handle and sighed shortly. He opened a single, lazy eye and mocked, "Yeah, so? Like to drag things out much or what? Anyone with him?"
Juugo watched in only half apathy, wrinkling his eyebrows in confusion as Karin huffed, disengaged her jutsu, and looked away without bothering to answer. He felt Suigetsu's elbow make contact with the bulk of his arm, and he looked blandly at him as the sword master laughed at Karin.
"I think that means she found someone with him that she'd rather not be."
Karin whirled her head around at his mocking tone and twisted her face into a deep scowl; she sneered at Suigetsu and snapped, "Who cares what you think, stupid! I just don't feel like telling you who it is."
He gathered up his sword and threw it over his back, balancing the considerable weight with experienced efficiency. Taking a swig of water, Suigetsu glanced her way and smugly grinned at her. "Then we should start heading back now, I guess, since the whore here isn't planning on sharing any of the dirty, naughty details, huh?"
"Suigetsu!" she shrieked, hauling herself up and jumping quickly to catch up with the two males. Once she fell into rhythm, Karin threw a firm hand at Suigetsu's arm, missing him by a hair as he continued through the trees, laughing at her irritation.
"Swatting flies, Karin?"
"Yeah, keep it up, and I'll swat your freaking head off!"
"Ooh, scary. I'm shaking in my boots here."
"We're almost there."
The two shared looks while they glanced at Juugo, surprised again by his unusually talkative self. Cool air rushed in between the figures and Suigetsu glanced uncharacteristically at his team before muttering an agreement. "Yeah, guess so."
The scenery raced by as the three traveled at high speeds, two of them wondering who Karin had sensed. Suigetsu could just barely make out a soft chakra source, practically swallowed by Sasuke's vast aura, only slightly glimmering in the same location as they were heading towards.The chakra flow seemed very… slow. Controlled, even. Maybe it's another tracker? He continued trying to distinguish the chakra, but thought different when he remembered how Karin had reacted. Oh, probably not a tracker. Just female, and Karin's all pissy because she thinks she's got competition. Even though, she's not competition herself. He chuckled to himself at the possibility.
Wind tunneled in and out between the forms and Team Snake landed at the familiar campsite within a half an hour, all staring at the same sleeping bundle beside the fire.
That night Sakura dreamt in bright, vivid colors. They smeared together in streaks and played out throughout the whole night-
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Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Sakura's head lolled to the side, hanging down on her chest as she fought the nausea finally seeping out of her system. No falling asleep next time, she thought as she eyed a particularly large, circular bruise on the inside of her right arm. She flexed her stiff muscles and mentally weighed the effects of whatever had been injected into her bloodstream. Listing her symptoms to herself, she tried to stretch out as best as she could.
Stiffness, sluggish reflexes-
"Hey, why do we have to stand here?"
-blurring vision, dulled senses...
Ignoring the whispers outside the door, Sakura scrutinized the left over coloring of the murky brown poison that was lingering along her skin. It stood out against her white skin, even paler now than it was. A sleeping poison? Why would they need me asleep? she wondered. Her forehead lined with her growing thoughts.
"Oh shut up; just do what you're told." She heard a scuffle as the guard hit the other.
"Hey, come on! Lay off the abuse! And I know, but she's asleep, right? No point in guarding someone who's gonna be knocked out for hours."
"Because we're keeping watch while everyone else is erasing any traces of us being here, stupid."
"Hey, don't call me -wait, where did you hear that?"
"Doesn't matter. But I heard we're going to be moving; you know, that someone's in the area, who probably knows we're here."
Moving?! Sakura whirled her head to face the beaten door, its five feet iron re-enforcement dented in with an eerie resemblance to her own fist. Straining her hearing, she narrowed her eyes at the two men guarding her. Come on, keep talking.
"No way, Akatsuki hasn't been found out ever since the last members faked their deaths! Not even the mighty Leaf knows about this hideout."
"Well, apparently someone is enough to make the boss worry. Once they're done, we'll move this little girl out, and blow the place to smithereens."
Sakura's eyes widened as she reflexively began to toy with the chakra binds on her wrists. Blow it up? Where were they going to from here? Where ever "here" was, that is.
"Huh, then do you know why the Akatsuki's keeping this chick?"
"No one talks about it. But I think she just knows something they want to know. I keep seeing Itachi having to go in there, and you know that can't be fun. Because if she won't talk, he's the one that's got to try to go around in her mind to try to figure it out."
"What do you mean he-"
Sakura heard the guards gasp as they felt an explosion from the west side of the building; she lurched forward from the impact, the pointless metal shackles snapping apart from the force, but she wondered why the chakra binds had flickered as well…
The door slammed open in a hurry, and she briefly thought that whoever the Akatsuki had spotted must be one bad ass ninja for the all the security to slack. Sensing a familiar chakra, Sakura placed a small sleeping genjutsu on herself while distantly noting that she was being jerked up into someone's arms and carried out the door.
"Hey! Kisame! What about us?"
"You stay."
"But…you're blowing up the hideout, right?"
"Yeah, we are. And you're staying."
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The sun still hid beneath the horizon; Sakura's lidded green eyes stubbornly refused to open.
-who-…………………. -who wil-………………….. -you ch--
who will you choose to save?
Morning already, huh?
It was either dread or laziness, maybe both, that kept her from getting up. A bird twittered in the trees and fish splashed around in the water, but morning wasn't as kind to her these days. She smoothed out her breathing into a rhythmic, controlled one and focused on not moving a muscle. Her mind sluggishly made its way out of unconsciousness and Sakura wasn't particularly in any hurry to start thinking… She silenced her body with a meditation and tried to clear her mind or calm herself down. Finally opening her eyes, she shifted her head to look at the remains of last night's campfire
"Who's she?"
Sakura stifled a chuckle at the red-haired woman's predictable response; she tried to ignore the nagging jealously at the back of her mind that Sasuke had chosen this Karin (and company) worthy enough to help him fight Itachi.
I love you more than anything!
It wasn't really that Karin was a girl that bothered Sakura. And it wasn't just the redhead. The fact that Sasuke had chosen anyone to be a part of his team was like slapping Konoha in the face. (Slapping them in the face.)
She sighed and glanced in the direction the girl was in; she was lying on her back, only half-aware of her surroundings. Years of blood, sweat, and gore, of the life of a shinobi, an ANBU shinobi, had constantly reminded Sakura of the importance of never letting your guard down. Seeing your friends killed in front of you because you couldn't help them can teach you that. And there Karin was, sleeping like a genin. Why did he pick her?She shook the traitorous thought away; Sakura was no amateur with chakra and she could easily pick out Karin's chakra as a tracker's. And of course, one of Sasuke's biggest priorities is having a capable tracker to hunt down Itachi.
Moving her thoughts toward the water-based ninja to Karin's right, Sakura wondered if that certain trait was from birth or an experiment. She mocked her own thought as she guessed that the chances were that all of them had been involved with Orochimaru at some point. So it'd be more than likely that his body substance was mutated. Just take a look at the big guy; she turned to her left.
Looking at Juugo made her skin crawl. Her eyes flickered off Suigetsu and turned to the large heap in the corner of the fire. He lay in a tangle of massive limbs, but his muscles twitched and jerked in his sleep. The group had shown up while she was already sleeping (faking sleep, technically; the noise they made traveling was more than enough to wake her up thirty miles away), and every single one of them looked beyond surprised. Karin had thrown a fit and stormed around that a girl was joining them, and Suigetsu had somewhat smiled at her "sleeping" form before taking advantage of the moment and ragging Karin about how Sasuke was replacing her with someone better.
"He's finally realized how worthless you are, Karin! Trading you in for a new model!"
"Shut UP, Suigetsu!"
She mused on the fact that Sasuke had chosen a… colorful team. Especially colorful for someone like him.
But Juugo. Sakura had thought about him ever since she'd sensed him. Her medical instincts screamed at her every time she recognized that erratic flare in his chakra flow. It reminded her of the sparks of chakra related to curse mark transformations. He must've been experimented on for years by Orochimaru; his chemical balance was probably insanely unstable.
Sakura let out a low grunt and closed her eyes, stashing away different possible answers for a later time. Relaxing, she focused on her chakra seeping in and throughout her chakra network, instinctively checking for any abnormalities. She ceased her chakra's direction after feeling every groove and curve through the flowing energy, satisfied with the outcome. All her injuries had finally completely healed. There were no traces of any poison at all. But that also meant that she wouldn't be able to find out what the poison was.
Her hand automatically flitted toward the circular indention on the side of her neck. Sakura pondered for the millionth time what it could've come from. Run-in with a vampire? She laughed at her own thought.
Sakura groped around the various cuts on her arm and clenched her green eyes shut. The quiet wasn't her friend; it always brought up the subjects she wanted to avoid, but Konoha was as much as part of her as anything, something that wasn't ever truly out of her thoughts. What were Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are doing? Did they think she was dead? Did Tsunade-shinsou tell them that she was alive? Maybe not; what good would that do, anyway? It wasn't like she could come back: the Council would just execute her for treason... and Tsunade would rather her live no matter what. Anything was better than dying as a traitor, being remembered like that always.
Twilight still remained and Sakura shut herself off from her thoughts, letting a relieved sigh escape out of her mouth as the rays of light finally began to shoot through the scarce trees. She lifted herself up and glanced at the sparrow perched on a tree limb across from her…
A smirk ran across her lips. She optimistically thought that maybe things weren't as hopeless as Sasuke made them out to be.
The clanking and clattering of cups and silverware were unfortunately not loud enough to drown out Naruto's thoughts. He ran his thumbs over the cracks in the small white cup thoughtfully, every so often taking gulps of the bitter sake Grandma Tsunade always had. It didn't really help.
"Hey, kid."
The voice carried over the sounds of the villagers passing in front of and behind the little stall. A heavy plodding accompanied the greeting.
Naruto didn't turn his head from the scene of the restaurant in front of him; he'd already recognized the chakra some miles away. Not moving a muscle, he kept his azure blue eyes set on the half empty cup in his hand.
The body shifted next to him, and plopped into the seat beside him. "Why so down?"
"Jiraiya-sensei, I was so close; I know I was. I could feel her." Naruto's tone copied the same voice pattern he had years ago when he was still young. Jiraiya felt distinct pity and worry soaking through his previous good mood.
He studied Naruto's face out of the corner of his eye and tried his best to retain his cool behavior. "What are you talking about, Naruto?"
Naruto ruefully noted that that same mannerism had popped up again: Jiraiya had leaned back and set his hand on his thigh. It was one of the few things he did that seemed like what an old man would do. It was his "this is a serious conversation but I'm going to try to keep it light" pose. The sudden respectful title had been a dead give away and Jiraiya rapidly began wishing that he hadn't taken that three week long mission.
Naruto leaned forward and his taut muscles screamed in protest. He ran his hand loosely through his ruffled blond hair. "Sakura, Jiraiya. I'm talking about Sakura."
Jiraiya groaned in a mixture of sadness, irritation, bitterness, and compassion. "Naruto, you know-"
"Don't say it, Jiraiya!" The cups and plates crashed on top of the table as Naruto's fists collided with the old wood. "She is alive! Alive, okay?! She's not-she's not… she isn't dead. She isn't, Jiraiya-sensei. And I know it."
Jiraiya let his shoulders slump down, and he looked out the window to his left. He hesitated before even trying to say it. He knew he wasn't going to ever win this conversation, but he'd try one more time- "You need to accep-"
"No! She is alive! I was on a mission, and I felt her chakra! I felt it! And you know there's no way I'd mistake that!" Naruto's anxious eyes stared holes through him as he desperately wanted someone to believe him. "Why will no one believe me when I say that? Do you all want her to be dead?"
Jiraiya clenched his eyes shut. There was no good way to say this, was there? "No, Naruto. But the chances of her being alive aren't the best. A lot of people who care about her very much can't afford to get their hopes up."
His knuckles gleaming white under the table, Naruto spoke with restrained anger. "Oh, they care about her, huh? They care about her so much that they'd rather think she's dead. So that's it?"
Jiraiya tried to fight off the grim frown setting on his face while he attempted to reason with the most stubborn eighteen year-old he'd ever met. "No, it's not that. It's just that-"
"That they'd rather give up and let her die! Because she's certainly not dead now! And why did Tsunade have to send her on that mission, anyway?! It was too long a mission to send Sakura on; she shouldn't have-"
"Naruto!" Jiraiya's stern voice momentarily silencing his. "First, Sakura was over-qualified for a mission like that. And it is not Tsunade's fault, Naruto. She, more than any of us, is dealing with it hard enough. You know Sakura was like a daughter to her. She-"
"IS. Sakura wasn't anything, so stop using past tense," Naruto bit out, his voice stiff and uncaring.
Jiraiya sighed before getting up, pausing to glance at Naruto, "…Naruto, please…take care of yourself. Tsunade will never be one to not let you look for Sakura, but you can't let this kill you. Just remember that things... sometimes, just happen." He threw another worried look at him as he poofed away, arriving at the Hokage Tower within seconds.
She was alive. He knew she was. Remorsefully, Naruto stared down at his hands; with a determined look in his eye, his whispered decidedly, "Not to the people who mean everything to me, Jiraiya."
"Um, N-Naruto?"
Naruto snapped his eyes up from the same cup as before, catching sight of Hinata's shiny, purple hair. She fidgeted under the street light, shifting from left to right. "Oh,…hey, Hinata."
Her face softened as she noticed the rings around his pretty blue eyes and the fatigue written all over his face. She reached a small hand out and timidly brushed a stay hair off his forehead. "Are you okay, Naruto?"
His pounding headache was curiously fading away with her cool hand on his forehead, Naruto distantly noted. He leaned into her hand. "No, not really, Hinata."
She gently rubbed his soft hair for only a second before regretfully pulling her hand away. She put her hands on the zipper of her coat to fidget again and looked away. "Do you…want to talk about it?"
He sighed out of pure tiredness; his eyes drooped and he leaned his head onto the tops of hands. "I don't think so… but..., will you sit with me for a while?"
Smiling shyly, Hinata sat in the same seat Jiraiya had only moments before occupied. "Sure."
a/n.
hello there. i'd written this ....uh, three months ago? but i hope you all enjoyed reading. and i don't know how many reviews to expect (everybody review!), so i think i'll dedicate the next chapter to the longest reviewer. ;)
::::::yoyoyo, check out 'themes of life'. totally. i updated today.
and i hope this wasn't a major disappointment; i've been stalling updating. do i still have readers? take pity on your pitiful authoress and review.