Against All Odds

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

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3: Introductions

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Glancing at the being before her in irritation, Sakura asked again.

"Well, what are you exactly?" The rude thing didn't even bother to answer, its head staring lifelessly into space. Were all the damned spirits around here this annoying? Another route sounded like a very good idea.

"Fine," she huffed. "Don't answer that. It was kind of impolite."

Still nothing even though she had just apologized. Was it even listening to her?

"Hey!" she shouted. "At least tell me who you are!" And with that cry, she ran up to it far against her better, more awake judgment and punched its giant head, hard enough to hurt, but light enough not to cause any real damage. She jumped back in amazement.

Wood chips… It was a machine. And the markings on it… It had been made recently. By someone skilled. A –

"A person who doesn't associate with teenage brats," the machine said, swiveling its head to look directly into her eyes again. Its voice was rich and deep, but somewhat mechanical as if it was being altered through, so that the person within had another voice entirely. "Or at least, doesn't like to."

Now, it was Sakura's turn to ignore him.

"You're not a spirit!" she moaned, disgusted with herself and her brief newfound religion to justify all the very strange and unfortunate things that had happened to her thus far. "You're a ninja!"

"Tell me something I don't know," the machine replied dryly, and it moved its tail onto the ground, slowly and in control but reluctantly at the same time. It turned its head over its shoulder, a remarkable feat for its size and structure.

"Damn," it muttered aloud. "I can't even move its tail well anymore. What kind of place is this?"

Sakura frowned in surprise before gasping in realization. Something about his movements reminded her of Kankurou-san. "You're a puppet master!"

"Puppet master, metal tail, not a spirit," the machine sighed to itself, obviously very, very annoyed. "Of all the idiots I could've been paired with, I get the greatest idiot at all. Why must this happen again and again?" Although the puppet held no expression, the user seemed to slump in resignation. Grudgingly, it addressed her, shifting its whole posture towards her face. "But unfortunately, I'm going to need your help."

"My help?" Sakura asked, wisely avoiding his insults. She needed information now if she wanted to ever see daylight, let alone her friends, ever again. "What, you can't beat those things?"

The machine seemed to tense as if that information made him extremely displeased. "Yes," he said, his voice bitter even through the puppet's alterations. "It seems that I've lost all my weapons. Not that it matters, anyway as those things can only be beaten if they're organic, so they wouldn't work no matter what." He shook his head, defeated.

"Living destroys the living dead," he repeated, almost as if he was mad that she had discovered that before he had. "Well, that's not ironic at all…"

Sakura scowled at the beast before her. Sarcastic, huge, utterly worthless, not to mention completely rude. But Sakura could also look at it with pity. Had she been in his situation, she would have expected help as well. She couldn't abandon a sentient being.

She groaned. Damn conscience.

"Well," she said, struggling to make her voice sound kind and not at all embarrassed about how miserably she failed, "if we're going to work together, we might as well introduce ourselves." She sighed. Step one all over again. "Um… Let's restart. My name is Haruno Sakura. What's your name?"

The puppet and its master paused. There was an uncomfortable silence as it seemed to weigh its options. Finally, it nodded to her.

"Sasori," it said briefly with a don't-ask-questions tone. Sakura rolled her eyes. Excuse her, but she wasn't the one in need right now!

"What, no last name?" she demanded, ignoring the unspoken message completely. The device flickered in irritation.

"No."

Although there was a thin layer of amusement in his voice, perhaps at her choice of words, for some reason, Sakura knew it wasn't a lie. But she also knew it wasn't the whole truth.

Still though, she couldn't dwell on it. She really needed to get out of this cave, this miserable hovel, and forget about the plant which was way more trouble than it was worth. Closing her eyes, she thought about what she already missed, though it had merely been a day. And then, she thought of the goals she swore to achieve. To see Naruto. To be with Sasuke-kun. To keep those promises she could afford to break no longer. Her eyes flashed open, pure determination raging through her body and saturating her words. If the machine was going to be stubborn and bitchy, that was fine. But it wasn't going to be useless entirely.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?"

"No."

In the back of her mind, Inner Sakura screamed in defeat, but still, she kept her focus and her head clear. She needed to think…

"I suppose our best option is to begin walking," the machine noted dryly. "Let's go, Haruno Sakura."

Yes, she needed to think, but she also needed to move. At least the machine had some sense.

"Alright, Sasori," she said, already beginning their journey, anxious, but trying to be steady. "Lead the way."

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Deidara sweated uncomfortably in the sweltering heat. How had the morning chill escaped into a tropical forest? And Sasori-danna really wasn't coming back… It had definitely been over five minutes…

Deidara was tempted to rush into the cave and save his partner, screaming gallantly at any curses which come as they would, might try to get in his way. But at the same time, the cave was spooky and Deidara's gut instinct, which was a very good gut instinct, protested very, very loudly. And if Sasori-danna had been lost in it forever, what exactly were the chances of Deidara succeeding in bringing him back? Quite slim, he knew, and not ones he was about to waste his time and possibly life on.

"Deidara."

Deidara frowned at the unexpected voice in his head. What did the leader want this time?

"Go to the Hidden Sand," Pein's voice instructed, "and capture the one-tail. Immediately." Well, that was extremely unfortunate for Danna.

Deidara weighed his options. There was no point in trying to break his leader's orders. Okay, he would get the demon, enlist help from the Akatsuki, and then find Danna. It was the only plan he had with any real success. And besides, Danna could last… a week… at the very, very least…

Okay, so a week was a very long time and more than a week was even longer. But he had to believe in his companion.

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"Why did you come in here anyway?"

Sasori inclined Hiruko. The kid certainly did like to talk. A lot. It was annoying, very much so, but in a way, that needless chatter sort of reminded him of Deidara which, for a reason he didn't quite understand, made it slightly more tolerable. And to be fair, the question was sound. He sighed within his puppet.

"On a mission," he said flatly.

"Oh," the Haruno girl said. "Same here, I guess." She seemed sort of embarrassed about the whole mission thing, not that Sasori really cared. It didn't matter why she had come. All that mattered was that she helped him get out, and he honestly didn't need to hear her frivolous words. He knew everything he really needed to know about her already. She had brute strength, she wasn't entirely stupid, and she was, judging by her headband, a kunoichi of Konohagakure, the Hidden Leaf. Why did he need to know anything else?

"Well, how long have you been stuck here?"

Actually, that wasn't a bad question. He'd have to give her some credit.

"For a few hours, I think," he admitted. "It's hard to tell how much time has passed."

"Same here again," she said glumly. "I just hope we can get out. I'm going to see my friend."

He didn't comment (really, what kind of use would her friend have to him?), and, for the time being, neither did she. They walked in a silence, neither awkward nor comfortable, just the silence of unlikely comrades, though the shifting caverns. Luckily, Sasori noted, the natural light within the caves – the crystals on the wall – seemed to increase greatly as they moved on. Although he could see well in the darkness, he knew the girl would stumble less with the more light there actually was, and the pace could quicken. Not that Hiruko could move very fast at this point. It was getting harder and harder to move his weapons. This place was made to make him miserable.

And this place, he realized, seem to go on forever. Somehow, it had transformed from a tomb-like area into untouched caves… the walls were definitely shifting somehow…

And then, the words he most wanted rang through Hiruko's ears and into his own.

"There's a light up ahead!" the girl cried and indeed, there was a bright light, a hole ahead of them. The two began racing towards it, Hiruko's creaky joints be damned.

"That's it!" she cheered. "That's the exit!"

Though somewhat exasperated with the overt celebration, Sasori couldn't help but feel some of her enthusiasm and perhaps, a small bit of triumph. So he hadn't found the secret, but he made it out alive. Not that he planned on dying in there anyway.

The exit was a large, large hole, perfectly circular, carved into the cave and the forest outside. They left the darkness, and jumped into the forest, the sun shining high above him. The kid flopped to the ground, in sheer joy.

"I never thought I'd see light again!" she said happily. "I'm coming! I'm going home! Naru-"

She paused suddenly and glanced around uneasily, Sasori sharing her realizations exactly. Something was dreadfully wrong. The trees were different from the forest before; they were tall and bare, slim and white. The forest outside the mountain was much more dense and lively. And the sun wasn't warm. It was white light. This forest… seemed dead. He shuffled with Hiruko. Harder to move than ever. The two turned behind themselves immediately to their exit upon the conclusion they each had reached.

Sasori was too pissed, too stunned, to even make a movement. The kid beside him let a moan of absolute distaste.

To make matters worst, the circular cave entrance had disappeared, replaced by trees as if the darkness had never existed at all. Stuck in another dead end.

"Oh no," the girl cracked, echoing Sasori's thoughts. "We're still in this awful cave."

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AN: Aw, don't you feel sorry for them? The next chapter, I'll be the first to admit, really sucks (and it's really long – I was tempted to split it in two, but I didn't want two crappy chapters). It's my plot device chapter through and through. But, chapter five is one of my favorites, so if you liked this one, I really do think you can enjoy this story. If you're still unsure, stick around until chapter five and make your decision then. If you want some romance though… that won't be coming for quite a time now unfortunately! XD But come it will, I promise.

And, once again, thank you for reviewing (am I supposed to thank you all individually? XD I have no web etiquette… ;;). I know that I despise reviewing, and I'm very, very lazy about doing it (actually… I'm just lazy…), so to all the people out there who have reviewed, wow. I feel really, really good. The story is practically done (it will be updated even if I get a negative amount of reviews!), so I didn't feel the need for receiving any reviews, but… you know, I'm so human, and I love them despite my promise not to. XD. I know it can be a real pain in the ass to click the review button (that sounds sarcastic, but I swear it's not), so thank you for donating me some of your time. And sorry for such a long AN! I usually keep them short at this point, but there was a lot I wanted to say.