Chapter 11: Chapter 11
"Neji…" Sakura looked at the pacing man and sighed. She'd been trying to get his attention for the past few minutes and he didn't seem to notice. She stood and stretched then walked over to interrupt him. As she grabbed his arm when he turned in the same never ending circle he was making he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Sakura…. Don't scare me like that…" He sighed as his hand covered his rapidly beating heart.
"Neji, come sit and talk with me." She asked him, her eyes pleading with him for someone to talk to. He nodded and left the circle he'd made in the floor to sit next to her, he winced at the coldness of the spot he'd chosen. "I know there is something on your mind. I would like it if you shared with me what it is." She made sure she was facing him so she could watch his body language. She might be the one in need of protection but he was in need of a shrink. She mentally laughed at this comparison.
"I… I don't want Shikamaru to get hurt… He's fighting the immortal Hidan, and I'm scared for him." He looked down and started shaking with unshed tears. She touched his shoulder and when he looked up at her she smiled.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, trust your heart. What's it telling you?" His eyes went out of focus for a moment as he thought about it and the smile that came to his face a moment later told her he'd found an answer.
"That he's fine, hurt and struggling, but he's pulling through." She nodded and smiled.
"That's what I do when I start worrying over Kiba. It calms me down. Shizune told me this shortly after I regained consciousness." He wanted to hug her but changed his mind as he noticed her hand on her stomach again.
"Sakura… I want to ask you something…" She tilted her head and nodded for him to continue. "When you… After all this…." He paused not sure how to continue asking her.
"You ok Neji? You kinda got a little pale there…" He swallowed and nodded looking into his lap knowing he shouldn't be asking her such a thing.
"Can I, that is, when you have your twins… Can I adopt one? Please? Shikamaru and I have been wanting a child of our own and we were thinking of getting a surrogate…" He trailed off and she sat there kind of stunned by his question. Who would want a kid of hers? She thought but then remembered her first child who she'd given up to a family in want of a child while they couldn't get pregnant themselves.
"This way, keep up!" Konan whispered over her shoulder as they crept along in their attempt to escape. She wasn't sure if there may be one of her teammates around, even after all the hype Pein put into raiding Konoha she was sure they'd all have gone with him, orders or not. She was a little put off that she wasn't allowed to go but killing the female of Pein's future child might have been a major setback in their plan.
Kiba was close on her heels not wanting to get lost in this huge ass place that she'd called home. They rounded one more corner and he had to stop suddenly so he didn't run her over as she stopped to open a door. They stepped through and into the night air. He breathed in and smiled relishing in how wonderful everything felt and smelt after who knows how long in that gross room.
"We had to take the back way out of the compound, so we have a bit further to go then if we'd gone out the way you'd come in." She said motioning over her shoulder, he turned and looked and in the distance he recognized the trees. He nodded at her and she headed away from the compound for a bit before turning back toward his home to make sure and bypass traps and such that they had set up.
"Konan… Why… why do you wanna be with me?" He asked as they ran alongside each other. She looked at him before looking ahead to be sure not to run into a tree. She was silent for a while before answering him.
"Your different from any of the guy's I've ever known or been with. I have a good feeling about being with you." She turned and smiled at him and he returned the smile but inside he felt a bit of dread creep up on him. They continued running until they could hear the sounds of fighting and headed around toward the eastern side of the city. He wanted to get to the safe house to see if anyone was there, it was closer to them than the hospital was at this point. When they were closer he stopped dead, something familiar ran across his peripheral vision.
"Akamaru!" He yelled and his dog turned to him and stood in shock before bounding up to him. He hugged his best friend and then asked him what was going on. In between Akamaru's explanation Kiba was told that Sakura had been taken to the safe house and was under the protection of Neji and Shikamaru. Kiba sighed in relief and nodded. "Let's go!" He took off not really caring at all if Konan was following him or not, he needed to see Sakura, he realized that his initial feeling of going to the safe house was correct.
"Kiba! Where are you going? Slow down please!" He heard faintly but ignored Konan he was on a mission of his own as he ran as fast as he could, and in a different direction than Konan was going, she had barely noticed he'd stopped in the first place. He stopped and backtracked some, having jumped down from a higher tree branch he jumped back onto another one a few feet away as a weapon came at him from his right. "Oh no…" Konan moaned out as she came to a stop next to him. Hidan's weapon lay lodged in the tree they were standing on.
"What the… Konan! What're you doing here? You were instructed to stay behind and watch dog boy here." Hidan said when he saw them as he'd gone to retrieve his weapon. His shock at seeing them caused him to be caught in Shikamaru's shadow immobilizing him. "Shit…" He tried to turn to look behind him but couldn't.
"Shouldn't turn your back on your opponent, especially one that has an intent to kill you." He said and Kiba smiled recognizing the voice.
"Thank you Shikamaru! I owe you one!" He said as he took off once again. He didn't hear Shikamaru's response or his name being called as he was intent on what he was doing.
Sakura hugged Neji and tried to calm the crying man. He'd been so overcome with emotion as they talked he couldn't help but break down. She knew her tears were flowing down her cheeks and into his hair but right now she didn't care. She was about to say something to him when one of the alerts they put up went off.
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
The suspense for Neji and Sakura as they waited to find out who had made it to the safe house was mounting horribly. Neji had quickly pushed Sakura behind him and down as he pulled a Kunai out and held it in front of him, his Byakugan activated. After a moment he visibly relaxed and put the Kunai away before helping Sakura back up and onto the chair she had been sitting in. Sakura kept staring at the door as Pakkun walked in and coughed to get their attention.
"All the Akatsuki are in the city. You are to leave immediately. I'm here to escort you to the border." Neji nodded and Sakura could tell that they were both fighting back tears at this news.
"Who sent you? Tsunade would have sent her slug." Sakura asked as she looked at the dog-nin.
"Kakashi summoned me, but Tsunade and Shizune gave me the message as they were a tad distracted with fighting. I did a reverse summons and Kakashi left till he could summon me where I couldn't be followed." Sakura frowned but nodded and turned to gather up her bag and hand Neji his. They followed Pakkun out the door and Neji asked a question they were both thinking.
"Who set off the alarm? It was just one of them too." Pakkun pointed a paw toward the alarm briefly before continuing to head out of the safe house and away from Konoha.
"I did, to let you know I was here so I didn't get attacked as I got closer. We need to hurry, someone's coming." Sakura and Neji glanced at each other before taking off at a run, Pakkun slightly behind them.
"Stop! Traps…" Kiba yells out to Konan as she nearly set one off. "Konan, let me go alone, they'll attack you, they won't me." She shook her head and moved closer to him and he sighed. He stopped and looked around sniffing occasionally before starting to point. "There, there and there. Be careful, I'm sure there's more, but their sent is all over the place I can't distinguish much more." He moved forward slowly and carefully until he reached the door and opened it up slowly, unsure of things as the door had been slightly ajar already.
Creeping into the safe house Kiba kept sniffing hoping to find a way to Sakura but when he got to the room where her lovely scent was greatest she wasn't there. Akamaru started barking for him and he turned and ran back to the door, bumping Konan out of the way, ignoring the 'Hey!' and the glare she sent him. "Akamaru?" He walked over to where his dog-nin was sniffing and noticed the tracks there. Once set of small dog tracks and two human feet prints. He looked at Akamaru as his dog informed him that Pakkun was leading Sakura and Neji somewhere else.
"Follow them boy. Stay with them." He pets his companions head. "I'll see you one day soon." Kiba waited for Akamaru to leave before turning back to a slightly ticked off Konan. "Let's go back inside; we'll be safe there until the fighting is over with." He smirked at her and motioned for her to go ahead of him. "Plus, I still have a few things to show you." He winked at her and she smiled before nodding and turning to go inside. Before he closed the door he looked into the distance where he could hear Akamaru howling for Pakkun to slow for him to catch up.
"Thank you Pakkun. Tell Kakashi that we appreciate this all." Sakura said after standing back up from giving the dog-nin a hug.
"Will do Sakura." She sighed as she turned to look at Neji with tears in her eyes. They could hear Pakkun running back the way they had come and she walked over to join hands with Neji.
"Our act starts here, we need to get going." Neji wrapped his arm around her waist and Sakura reached a hand out to place it on Akamaru's head. They started walking and occasionally had to slow down, reminding themselves that they had to act civilian now. Once they had crossed the border Pakkun reminded them to take their forehead protectors off and change into their new clothes.
"We still have a few days till we get to Kumo, we need to dye your hair before we get there." Neji pointed out and she nodded but kept walking. "There's a stream a few minutes' walk that way," he pointed off to the left, "I'll keep a watch with Akamaru while you do your hair."
"Ok, it should take about half an hour for me to get it all done. You mind helping me trim it up some?" He nodded and they started toward the stream. "Not short like I had, had it after the Chunnin exams, but shorter than it is now, I think that'll do me well enough to make sure no one recognizes me." Neji turned and looked down at Akamaru before motioning for him to start a patrol to the right and he went off to the left.
"Whistle when you need me Sakura." She chuckled and nodded.
"Hai, Tanji-kun." He blushed at forgetting to call her by her new name and waved as he walked away, leaving her to take care of her hair.
"Kiba, it's been four days, can we please leave this house? As much as I like you pounding into me, I really much prefer to not be stuck to a bed all the time." He gave her a look and a slight glare.
"How do you think I felt tied to the bed?" He stood and moved to the door and shrugged. "Do whatever you want, I'm staying here for a few more days." She sighed and got dressed, quickly dawning everything before walking outside, careful to avoid the traps that were still in place to go for a walk. Once she had left Kiba quickly got dressed and left the house as well, covering his tracks he headed right to the Hokage's office. They had heard the fighting stop the day after it had started and Kiba knew that Konoha would not have fallen easily to the Akatsuki. He was soon surrounded by Anbu and escorted into the Hokage's office where Tsunade looked him over before motioning him to come closer.
"What was the first mission that I sent Naruto on with your team, just the four of you." As she finished her sentence Naruto, Shino and Hinata walked in to stand a few feet behind him. Tsunade looked behind him at the three and nodded at them.
"The Search for the Rare Bikochu Beetle" Kiba smirked and turned to look at his teammates over his shoulder. "Naruto botched it with his fart." At this Naruto gave a faint blush but his demeanor didn't change for once. Kiba turned to look back at Tsunade and crossed his arms. "I escaped with the help of the S-Class criminal, we've been staying in the safe house, I just now was able to get away. I ran into Akamaru four days ago and he told me what happened with Sakura, I sent him to guard her along with Neji." Tsunade just looked at him for a few minutes more before sitting back and glancing at the window to her left.
"Safe house, S-Class criminal, be careful. Capture first, kill only if there is no other option."
"Hai." Came the reply and Kiba looked down at the ground slightly upset at what he had done, but he knew that it all was for the best. Konan may have been a criminal, but she was a woman, one he'd spent the last four days screwing into the safe house's bed like there was no tomorrow.
"Hokage. If she's captured... You need to do a pregnancy test." She gave him a slightly shocked look before nodding and dismissing them all. He turned to leave but paused in the door way. "One last thing..."