&dedicated to: i'm-a-wallflower (for reviewing every chapter in a row! thank you. :D)
Summary- In the natural scheme of things, the dead stay dead. But in the world of ninjas, nothing's for certain anymore. Sasu/Saku.
&for the fourteenth time, law suits, I do not own Naruto. so consider the DISCLAIMER well APPLIED.
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March 22
Location- Grass
Sakura's eyes shot open and she sat up in her bed. Blinking, she shook her head and ran her hand through her hair, ruffling the tangled locks out.
"Nightmare?"
She looked up at Sasuke. He sat by the door, a vaguely curious expression on his face and an opened bag lying on his lap. Sakura shook her head, dazed. "No." Her dream was all mashed-up sequences of things that had happened, things that were happening, and things that might happen. Like so many of her dreams, it was bright and blurred, and she was mute the whole time. She could scream as hard as she could, and no one would hear.
"Hn." Sasuke eyed her and glanced back at the bag. Sakura's eyebrows lifted, and sliding to the edge of the bed, she peered over the end to look at what he had. Newspapers, bingo books, posters, magazines –they all stacked on top of each other in a messy collaboration of patterns and words and colors. Haphazardly, the binds of paper were in a messy circle around him.
"Sasuke-kun," she started, examining the covers and titles of the reading material. "What are you looking for?"
Sasuke leafed through another pamphlet at his right. She stared at the back of his head, the black hair spiking up at odd angles from sleep, and tried again. "Has something happened?" And she slid out of her bed, noting the cold air drifting in from outside. Discreetly, Sakura glanced down at her bare legs and grabbed her skirt out of her bag, buckling the fabric over her shorts as she plopped down in front of him.
Sasuke sent a half-hearted glare at her for being a distraction, eyes lingering on her before he looked back at the small mountain of news. He sighed softly and explained, "A lot of complaints about Sound ninjas. But none since several days ago."
Nodding, Sakura covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a yawn. "Since it's unlikely they've all been killed off, they must be gathered somewhere, right?" She took her hand away and tucked a lock of pink hair behind her ear.
Looking up at her, Sasuke hummed an affirmative before he went back to work. She crossed her legs and made herself comfortable where she was. (She thought she heard a grunt of disapproval from Sasuke, and she smiled.) Patting her hair, Sakura straightened the unruly strands and then smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes. Glancing up, she raked her eyes over Sasuke's face and found what she was looking for. He couldn't have slept very long. "How long have you been up?"
She sort of knew it was a pointless question. Sakura had figured she would only get silence and a distracted shrug. Which she got. But shouldn't he be resting? They were getting closer and closer to where Karin had sensed Itachi. But he didn't seem to be worried about that. He knew something, Sakura reflected, conspiracy leaking into her thoughts. "Does Karin know that Itachi isn't in the area?" Almost looking startled, Sasuke focused his burning gaze on her and held her eyes. In the back of her mind, she thought she felt very exposed and vulnerable when he looked at her like that. He was so careful when he examined something; he never missed anything.
Looking back down, Sasuke didn't answer. He flipped another page before he sat the book in his hands down. That was a yes, she concluded. Was he surprised that she guessed? Sakura held back an indignant huff: just because she didn't have the Sharingan, that didn't mean she was blind. Cautiously, she slid a glance at him as he hunched over his work. Why was he looking through all this?
"Sound ninjas have been sighted everywhere but Konoha."
She pulled her eyes up to his face. The determined set of his jaw, the hardness in his eyes, the sharp planes of his face -what was he planning? "You think maybe Sound... wants to attack Konoha?" Why else would they avoid Konoha, not want them to know the extent of their army? Or that they were alive at all? A surprise attack? …But why? Her eyebrows scrunched together and her lips fell into a frown. "What could Sound want?" she mused out loud, turning her head to stare out the window.
"That doesn't matter so much as when," Sasuke answered, leaning backwards on his hands as he watched her. Sakura resisted the urge to fidget when she felt his eyes land on her face, but when she looked back and caught his eyes, she found she very much liked the way he was looking at her. (Promptly, she shoved that thought away. Even if she knew being stared at was better than being ignored.) His curious, speculating eyes lightly stayed on hers and she wondered what he was thinking. Opening her mouth, Sakura ventured, "So... what next?"
Light filtered through the window; the sun was rising above the horizon. A ray of light spread out on Sasuke's shoulder, fanning over his chest. He motioned toward the stack of books and said, "There was a report of a loud explosion some months ago. Later, villagers from Rain found a building in shambles a few miles into the border."
Sakura fought the grimace creeping onto her face and she closed her eyes. "Another deserted building?" She grunted and opened her eyes. "Do we have to?"
Maybe she was imagining the faint amusement lingering behind his stare. "Yeah, we have to."
Hours later, Sakura wandered down the rows of herbs. Sasuke had stopped at the next village and told her to get what she needed. He had walked off in the general direction of the bandages, Karin close behind. Jugo had stayed with her by default, remaining where he was even when she walked down another aisle. Suigetsu, on the other hand, tagged along rather exuberantly.
"What'cha looking for?" His smile was big and toothy, and she nearly imagined whiskers on his cheeks. Sakura looked over her shoulder and offered a smile. "Ah, just a couple herbs and maybe some more wraps," she answered, crouching down to eye a particular gathering of plants. Mentally sorting through its uses, she gingerly picked out the amount she wanted and placed it in a bag. Tsunade's voice was the one in her head, reciting the proper amount she needed to make an effective antidote.
"What were you and Sasuke talking about this morning?" Suigetsu bellowed in her ear. With a start, Sakura shot a glare at him and stood up. His look was almost apologetic; he threw his hand over his back to carry his sword and followed her as she marched to the next hall.
"Nothing much," she replied off-handedly, scanning the tabs above the different leafy plants.
"Oh, come on, Sakura!" Sugietsu whined. He set his sword against the shelves and placed his hands on his hips. "Karin's still hawking Kisame, so Itachi might not even be here. So what are we doing here?" After a moment's pause, he added, "And why are we preparing like this?"
A very good question, Sakura thought to herself. It was around eleven o' clock and they were already in Rain. The border's slack in security was almost laughable. Disapprovingly, Sakura shook her head as she remembered how easily they, as rogue ninjas, traveled. As best as she could tell, they were a couple miles from the building Sasuke mentioned. "Some blown up building," she responded. Suigetsu didn't seem pleased with the vague answer, but he prodded again, anyway.
"Like, an Akatsuki hideout?"
"Possibly." Probably. Sakura sure hoped not. She really didn't think she could handle another one of those.
Leaning over again, Sakura picked a stem of a plant and stuffed it in the plastic bag. She started the trek to the check-out counter, not missing Suigetsu's look. "Why are you paying?" he questioned. The word sounded foreign on his lips. It probably was. As often as she forgot who Suigetsu really was, he wasn't a model citizen. And she'd seen him fight; mercy wasn't in his vocabulary, either. She had a hard time remembering that.
"Because that's what you're supposed to do." She got a huff in return. Rolling her eyes, Sakura wasn't quite prepared for what came out of Suigetsu's mouth next.
"What do you think of Sasuke?"
Sakura stopped in her tracks and peered over her shoulder suspiciously. A mix of surprise, confusion, and speechlessness passed over her face. "What kind of question is that? What do you think of him?"
Suigetsu snorted. "He's an ass. What else?" Sakura heard a distinct lack of disrespect in that. As "unfeeling" or "cold" as Sasuke was, no one could deny his talent. "But you didn't answer my question," he continued, skirting around her and standing in front of her. She tried to step past him, but he kept placing himself directly ahead of her before she got tired and forcibly relocated him.
Suigetsu rubbed his shoulder with a frown and followed her, a little more wary of inciting her displeasure. He leaned over her shoulder and started again. "What do you think of him?" he repeated. Sakura ignored him and stepped into the two person line of the check-out counter. Suigetsu wasn't one to give up. "When I first saw you, I figured you'd crush on him like every other girl. But you don't fawn over him and you don't ignore him. So... what then?"
Sakura chewed on her lip and didn't answer. Stubbornly, Suigetsu started for her, "I know you used to be teammates." He fell into silence then, waiting for a reply. Her pink head of hair bobbed up and down as she shifted from her right foot to her left. Suigetsu stared uncertainly at her back until her voice reached his ears, light and unconfident.
"He's nearly the same as he always was. Circumstances have changed him little."
He got the feeling she wasn't done, but he probed for more. "And?"
With a quick jerk of her shoulders, she turned impatiently and frowned at him. "And he's Sasuke-kun." Lines knitted themselves on her forehead, and she stared blankly at the opposite wall, not meeting his eyes. "I..." The lady at the counter waved them up, and she seemed happy for the distraction.
With a disgruntled sigh, Suigetsu stepped forwards with her and leaned close to her ear. "You used to love him, didn't you?" He slightly marveled at how stiff someone could become while still managing to carry out a movement without interruption. Sakura continued handing over her items. Suigetsu shook his head and amended, "No, that's not the right question. Do you still?"
Sakura handed the cashier the money and yanked her bag off the counter. Eyes shining with irritation, she turned to him and angrily spit out, "I don't see how that is any of your business-" Cut off by the look on Suigetsu's face, Sakura uncertainly glanced over her shoulder in the direction he was staring. She caught sight of Sasuke's dark form by the exit. A pang hid in her chest, not fading out, but embedding itself as a constant ache. (Suigetsu didn't know how long she and Naruto had gone without seeing his face.) The lowered line of Sasuke's eyebrows made her usher Suigetsu with her to the door. She slung the plastic bag onto her arm and met Sasuke's suspicion with a half-hearted smile.
"Are we leaving?" When Sasuke's look went even darker, Sakura reprimanded herself for sounding so ready to leave. As if that weren't suspicious enough. Ruffled, she tried to calm down her hammering heart and look anywhere but Sasuke's face, even though she only succeeded in the exact opposite. Sasuke examined her with unabashed staring, and she licked her lips uncomfortably. "Jugo and Karin are outside," Sasuke said, eyeing her facial expression with scrutiny.
She scampered out the door, missing the interaction behind her altogether.
Sasuke had turned his gaze to Suigetsu, this time as a hard glare. Suigetsu grunted with something akin to disbelief and threw his sword over his back as he said, "Don't act as if you didn't want to know the answer to that yourself, Sasuke."
Awkward, was all Sakura could think. Suigetsu looked somewhere in between offended and snide. Karin was still focusing on Kisame and company's movements and Jugo was largely unaware. Staring at Sasuke's back, she noticed the tenseness in his back was about four times worse since this morning. What was wrong with him? He looked almost murderous as he left the store, Suigetsu sauntering in front of him. Sakura shook her head; not completely murderous. Wondering, too.
It was just a small hike to where Sasuke had said they were going. She watched the unchanging green and gray scenery as she wished they could stop traveling. But she wasn't keen on arriving, either. Suigetsu's words rang in her ears; she always hated storms.
Sasuke started slowing down his pace, and Sakura sighed to herself. They were almost there. With that thought in mind, she watched as Sasuke leapt down. She came closer to the edge of the forest and she followed suit, landing with a soft plop. Familiarity was almost too much to take. Sakura grimaced as the flashback was bright and clear in her mind. She probably wasn't far from where she had woken up a little over two weeks ago. Was it really only that long ago? she wondered. Yeah, it was. It seemed like a lifetime ago, though. (It sort of was.)
Blinking, she tried to force the image out of her mind, and she stared at the piles of debris. If the building had been blown up, then it had been blown up thoroughly. One portion looked only dilapidated, but others were reduced into powder. Maybe one of the bombs was a defect, and it hadn't gone off, she guessed.
Sasuke walked forwards first, his hand set confidently on the hilt of his sword, back straight, eyes scanning over the remains. His ease made her feel a little better. She stepped forward and ignored the spongy feeling of the soggy ground beneath her feet. But everywhere was foreign and strange to her; nowhere was Konoha.
Suigetsu marched behind her and leaned over her shoulder. "I bet he wanted you to say yes." It took her a second to understand what he was talking about.
"No, Suigetsu, you don't-"
"If nothing else, he's selfish." He threw his sword behind his back and jumped to the opposite side of the rubble. With a cringe, she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
To her right was the still standing portion of the building. Wandering, Sakura veered toward that. It was dark gray, darker still from the rain. She peered into the opening and glanced warily at the ceiling. How sturdy was this, anyway? She ran her hand along the wall and stopped when she felt indentions. There wasn't enough light to see it clearly, but the indentions roughly seemed like someone's hands. Bigger than hers, at least. She glanced away from the wall and stared into the darkness. The halls were littered with broken pieces and debris and rats. Instead, she imagined it empty and lighted; endless.
Sasuke's voice pulled her away from her thoughts. "Sakura." Spinning on her heel, she jogged out of the hall into the open air. Her skin prickled as she felt two chakra signatures pulsing very close to where they were. Was it-? Warmth pooled against her back: Sasuke suddenly stood close behind her. She felt Sasuke's arm firmly wrap half-way around her waist. Another tug later, and she was standing unbalanced next to Sasuke and the others. Despite herself, she spared a glance at him. Sakura rasped in a shaky breath and regained her sense of balance; the speed of moving almost made her dizzy.
Sasuke still stood very close to her and she had a hard time concentrating as the flicker of a cloak appeared between the trees. Karin had a deep frown etched onto her mouth. The redhead hadn't felt them as early as she would have liked. Suigetsu, on the other hand, seemed very excited about this. Jugo just looked ready, as he always was.
Sakura's breath hitched in her throat. Kisame singled her out and smiled. The tilt of his head and his feral grin made her uneasy. Thickly, she swallowed and cast a sideways glance at Sasuke. Pulling on her gloves, she felt only a little better.
"Nice to finally catch up with you." Kisame kept the same smile on his face as he spoke, looking sinfully delighted to be there. His robes fluttered at the bottom, and a flurry of paper sprang up beside him. Layers of paper piled on top of itself and formed the soft face and shape of Akatsuki's only female. Konan lifted her face in greeting. The paper folded itself behind her and disappeared. Understanding, Sakura looked upwards at the gray rain clouds. Then they weren't here to fight, she thought. Or at least Konan wasn't; she couldn't, not with the rain.
"Can we just start this already?" Suigetsu said, a wicked smile playing on his lips. No sooner than he spoke, he wielded his sword and raced toward Kisame.
Konan wasn't here to fight, and maybe Kisame wasn't either, but he definitely didn't mind, Sakura noted. His fishlike face was smiling; he had his hand already poised on the handle of his Samehada. Suigetsu neared and Sakura lost her vision as water enveloped the both of them. Konan took an uneasy jump backwards into the trees, away from the water and remained there.
A hand landed on her hip. Sakura sucked in a breath and held it as Sasuke pulled her in the opposite direction. She opened her mouth to complain, but he cut her off. "Stay out of the way."
"Last I checked you put me there," she snapped, glaring at him until he settled his gaze back on her. Gruffly, he stared down at her and said, "What, you can't move now?"
"Well, I'm beginning to wonder," was all she got out before a blast threw a wave of wind over them. Crouching, Sakura gripped the earth in her hands and distinctly felt Sasuke pull her behind him. She peeked up at him, despite the gust of wind, and stared at his back in front of her. (She realized she didn't like the look on his face. Like he was prepared for the worst.)
Abruptly, the wind stopped. Suigetsu skidded to a halt several meters from where Kisame was. Sporting a rather large wound on his side, he cradled the gash against his arm. Karin hopped down beside him from the cover of the trees, and Sakura watched curiously as he bit her arm and the wound closed. A transaction of chakra-?
"Kisame. Enough." Konan's voice was soft coming from the veil of the trees.
Resting his sword beside him, Kisame glanced up to Konan and gave in to her reluctantly. With a sigh, he turned back to them, eyeing Suigetsu with satisfaction.
"What do you want?" asked Sasuke, voice flat with demand.
Kisame gave a short laugh. "Just visiting." He smiled at Sakura and said, "We still have that deal, you know."
"A deal?" Sakura began, fighting the dread that was settling into her stomach. She stood up to her full height, painstakingly aware of Sasuke's mood change; his stiffness was unnerving.
Kisame's face went blank and then split into a ferocious grin. She let out a steadying breath as he said, "Have you forgotten? Oh, Itachi really is good." He switched his gaze towards Sasuke. "He's very thorough. He almost always does his jobs without exceptions."
"Forgotten?" Sakura directed his attention back to her.
"I'm sure you've figured a thing or two out," Kisame remarked. "I'm sure this place is awfully familiar. Lots of good memories."
Her face fell into a frown, and Sakura grit her teeth. Déjà vu made her head swim.
Barking out a laugh, Kisame smiled widely, his canines sharp and visible. "You never ceased to be lively. I certainly hope you haven't forgotten everything; it would make me feel a little underappreciated." He titled his head to the side. "Do you still have that scar on your side, Sakura? That was-"
"Kisame." Sasuke's mouth was a thin, slanted line, tipping downwards in a scowl.
"Fine," he announced, checking over his shoulder for Konan and moving his sword behind his back. He stared at Sakura and began, "Since you don't remember the details, I'll make this simple. You help us; we don't kill Naruto. You don't help us; we don't have any reason to keep him alive. And you know..." he paused, adding, "Konoha's already surrounded. You may want to answer that quickly."
Already surrounded? Were they fighting now? Thoughtfully, Sakura hedged, "Help you? ...With what?"
An annoyed expression passed over his face and Kisame replied, "With Madara. You'll heal him."
"Is he still alive?"
"...He's being preserved."
So Akatsuki wanted her to what, re-grow his vital organs and revive him? Sasuke angled his head towards hers and she stared at him out of the corner of her eye. Kisame prompted, "Well?" and Sakura sucked in a breath. Naruto...
"No."
Sasuke kept his eyes steadily on her, and Kisame gave a disinterested shrug. "Your loss." He didn't make a move to leave. "But are you sure?"
"If Itachi is so thorough, don't you already know how to help Madara?" Sakura asked.
Konan jumped down from the trees. "Her answer is no. Let's leave, Kisame."
"All work and no play," Kisame sighed and turned around. They disappeared in the trees.
No one moved. Sakura tried to quiet her uneven breathing and felt the nausea turning in her stomach. Dizziness made her thoughts drown from the sensation. Suigetsu was the first one to move, standing up as he cursed. "One of these days," he mumbled, still rubbing the spot where Kisame's sword had hit him. Karin crouched dazed next to him, and Jugo landed a few yards from Sasuke. His yellow orbs landed on Sasuke and he asked, "Now what?"
"Itachi will be in Konoha."
Sasuke only looked down, but Sakura insisted again, "You know he will." She stepped in front of him and leaned her head down to see his. Briefly, he looked at her in response and glanced back at Jugo. The silver rays of noon cast a shadow across his face.
"Yeah." A smile started its way on Sakura's face. He raised his voice for Suigetsu and Karin and repeated, "It looks like we're going to Konoha."
a/n.
woo. i finally finished it. with independence day and my brother and his wife coming to visit, i didn't have as much time to work on this. anyway:
review, guys! if i haven't mentioned it before, i really appreciate your feedback. i rather enjoy reading it. xD