Forever
SasuSaku
After Sasuke came back from Orochimaru, he found a note in his apartment. From her. It was always her. But, it wasn't what he expected. After 3 years, it still wasn't what he expected her to be. Black with red clouds.
It's exciting to see so many new reviewers. It inspires me =]
Chapter Five
Shine
Sakura grimaced as she reached the border. She knew there was a reason why she despised going into Rain Country, and the fact that Deidara – her new partner, she supposed she should get herself used to the idea – did nothing but grumble incoherently in between his 'yeah's.
As the name suggests, rain trickled down from the sky. The border wasn't getting the brunt of it, but she had a feeling that the farther they traveled into Rain, the heavier the droplets would pelt against her skin. She glanced to her right – Deidara seemed unaffected by the rain, but other than that, his expression was non-existent. Her brows furrowed. Yes, it wouldn't take much effort to convince her that an Akatsuki member wore a stony mask to hide emotions, but the fact that he did irritated her.
"Where exactly are we going?" Deidara didn't even shoot a glance her way
"You'll see when we arrive, yeah." Sakura suppressed a groan. But she kept quiet after that, noticing that he didn't seem in a talkative mood. She pursed her lips for a moment.
If she was to become his partner – which was inevitable, as his partner was dead – and he turned out to clearly never be in a talkative mood, both she and Inner Sakura decided one thing: Haruno Sakura would cry.
Lost in her thoughts, her foot briefly touched a seemingly small puddle. Her foot sank deep into the mud and her body snapped forward and backward due to the velocity that she had been traveling. Her spine let a sickening crack ring loud in her ears and, from the mud, a fury of kunai and shuriken sprung toward the sky, cutting into her back, arms, torso, and neck. The mud around her foot was tightening its grip, as if someone with strength similar to hers was slowly crushing the limb. She coughed up blood as she fell on her side, her body craning in disgusting ways as if her bones were made of jell-o.
It took 5.1 seconds for this all to register in Deidara's mind. In truth, he hadn't been paying much attention to Sakura. Instead, he was pondering over what Pein would say about his failed mission. It had been crucial to his Leader's plans…
The blonde shinobi cursed, flinching at the sound made by her spine. He would have been lying if he said the thought of her falling into a trap wasn't funny, but the cruel, crunching sound drained all the hilarity out of the situation.
He tried to tug her out of the mud, but it was becoming denser by the second and he didn't have the strength to take it out and one of the few people who did possess the strength was the one trapped by it. A tongue from one of the mouths on his palms licked his fisted hand, bringing him back to reality and giving him a plan.
He stuck his hand into his weapons pouch, the mouth quickly going to work. With his moments of free time, he wondered why she hadn't screamed and, upon closer inspection, it seemed as if there was a poison on the weapons that had shot up, effectively giving her temporary paralysis everywhere it had touched…which included her neck.
He uncurled his fingers, his visible eye attentively scanning the miniature spider for any visible imperfections that might hinder its purpose. He saw none in a fraction of a second and placed it on the mud that was starting to harden. The clay creature sinked into the softer spots in the mud, sliding as far away from Sakura's leg as possible while still able to do damage to the chakra-enhanced mud.
As Deidara jumped back onto a tree a few yards away, he saw Sakura's eyes watching his every move with uncertainty. He could only grasp a certain understanding: she saw that he had no real reason to keep her around and, if she fell for traps that easily, it was best just to get rid of her. But while he would never deny his criminality, he was still undoubtedly loyal when he felt a person deserved it
He pressed his hands together in his favorite sign, and "Katsu" slipped through his lips.
~kxa~
Naruto's arm sprung out and connected to Sasuke's face. His nose snapped to the side with a sickening sound and the boy-man felt his eyes turn red. Just as the menacing Sharingan eyes were opening, another fist flew his way. Naruto's other fist slammed into Sasuke's cheekbone, effectively crushing it with the force put behind it. He fell to the ground.
"The fuck dobe?" He swore, holding his face. Blows like this weren't new to him, but the fact that he couldn't fight back unless he wanted to die made it all the more painful to bear. Attacking his friend on the eve of his return to Konoha was not a smart idea.
Naruto's body was encircled by a demonic chakra Sasuke recognized as Kyuubi's. While he seemed in control, Sasuke knew that one slip up could lead him into a boiling rage. As he was formulating a course of action in his mind, a certain silver-haired shinobi placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder, hot white chakra seeming out of his hand and into Naruto. The blonde froze for a second before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"Aa, so you mentioned her." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, snapping his nose back into place. "Be glad that I was here. Naruto…let's just say Naruto is still touchy about the subject, so I'd suggest you'd keep your mouth shut." Kakashi gave Naruto a glance before whipping out his beloved orange book. Sasuke simply grunted, glaring at the unconscious dobe.
After looking at the pages for what seemed like a second, he closed the book and put it back in his pocket. "As much as I'd like to catch up with you, Sasuke, I have somewhere to be. Ja." The sarcasm on his words was heavy and he disappeared in a puff of smoke, as always.
~kxa~
Kakashi appeared in Tsunade's office, surrounded by other shinobi and ex-sensei, Asuma and Kurenai among them. With her office filled up, Tsunade lifted her head from her hands and looked at them all.
"Neji, if you will," Her voice was shaky and her aged face was somber, as was everyone else's in the room. With a nod, the Anbu member activated his Byakugan and scanned the room for any bugs or eavesdroppers, as well as the outside corridor. When everything was cleared, he deactivated his bloodline and looked back at the Hokage.
"Right," Tsunade let out a breath and held up a piece of paper for everyone to see. It was a document and at the bottom right-hand corner there was a signature that, while it wasn't legible, it was well-known by these particular shinobi. "Danzo has released his statement and report, and the only thing stopping it from becoming official is my seal." A few shinobi in the room held their breath, while some, specifically Neji and Tenten, became rigid and stone faced.
~kxa~
The explosion wasn't deafening, but it attracted some attention. The shinobi who had set the trap were making their way towards the trap site, but Deidara was already gone with Sakura on his back. He set up a small camp at the base of a large oak, covered by genjutsu. With the basic medical training he had, he stopped the blood loss and healed her minor flesh wounds. However, there was still the problem of her paralysis and her badly injured leg.
"Shit, I really didn't want it to come to this but…" Deidara trailed off, rapidly doing hand signs and then slamming his hand into the ground. After a minute or two, something green began to poke out of the ground until the trap-like head split open, revealing a man's head, which was half white and half black.
Before he could say anything, Deidara pointed to Sakura. "This girl is to be my new partner, but she's severely injured and was poisoned with some paralysis serum, yeah."
The man didn't say anything for a second. "Go north until you come across the rendezvous spot. A spy with extensive medical training will be there to assist." His deep voice eventually faded as he disappeared back into the ground. Deidara grunted, picking Sakura back up and went north, clay already in his hands in case the shinobi found them.
~kxa~
Tsunade didn't care to notice every expression made. All she knew is that, if the document was released to the public, she'd end up a dead woman after brutally murdering Danzo and the other elders on the streets of Konoha for all to see, since the Hokage isn't supposed to do that.
"What we had feared is coming to light." While only a few of the shinobi were looking around, wondering just what she was talking about, others were struck with fear and hatred. "Danzo is trying to convince Konoha that Haruno Sakura, who recently defected from the village, was not under the control of Orochimaru during that particular mission." Tsunade closed her eyes, her voice becoming weaker. "Danzo means to tell Konoha that," She suppressed a hiccup that usually meant for an onslaught of tears.
~kxa~
Maito Gai slowly walked down the streets of Konoha, his usual attire replaced with one of pure black. His downcast eyes thoroughly examined the road he treaded on, analyzing every pebble and rock he laid eyes on. He soon slowed to a stop, lifting his head slightly to the right, letting the stone come into view. The memorial stone of shinobi killed during duty.
He directed his path towards the stone, clenching his fist whilst he did so. Only then was he reminded of what he had brought. He left the flowers under a freshly carved name, the orange and green petals cheerily reflecting onto the stone. Gai's face contorted into one of ultimate suffering as he fell onto the stone, his body shaking so harshly it was painful for the citizens that walked by to see.
For the freshly carved name read: Rock Lee.
Tbc
I cried writing that ending, but it had to be done.
Anyway, I'd like to spotlight MidnightWriting's story, Stupid Geniuses. It's a hilarious story starring the Akatsuki! I absolutely loved it =).
Akura OUT!