Heya! Here's chapter 5, gusy! ^^ As we speak I'm having even more work done on my house, so that's why the chapters are coming in so slow! :s
Disclaimer : Nope. Still not mine. *sigh*... BUT I DO OWN ITACHI! *Holds up Itachi poster* And yes, I do actually have posters of Gaara and of Itachi. It's not my fault I fall for the psycho's... It's hard not to when they are so awesomely good looking xD
"We don't know much about our enemies, but we know that one of them is Sasori of the Red sands, a great puppet master. Probably the best in the world. His partner uses explosives that, from what we could see, he makes himself out of clay. They are the two who kidnapped Gaara. Naruto was also targeted by the Akatsuki because he is a Jinchuuriki as well." Kakashi was explaining when I came to. I couldn't move at first because of the immense pain I was in, and found myself almost immediately clamping my teeth down on my tongue to suppress a cry of pain.
"You are?" Temari asked in a surprised tone. "I see…"
"The ones who attacked him was a man with shark-like features who used water jutsu's. A missing-nin from Kiri and one of the seven swordsmen, he goes by as Kisame. The other is a missing-nin from Konoha named Itachi Uchiha. An incredibly dangerous man." Kakashi explained heavily.
"An Uchiha? Well… That makes things more difficult." Shikamaru sighed lazily.
"No… Escaping genjutsu's are easy if you have a comrade. That's why you can never fight an Uchiha one on one. There has to always be two of you. One in front of the enemy, and one behind. With three people, two must stay in front and one behind so that the second one in front can free the first from a genjutsu." Chiyo explained calmly, and I noticed that her voice was a bit… nicer than usual. I was taking deep breaths to calm myself enough to get a grip on my pain.
The pain was immensely strong, but not as bad as the immediate explosion. I was still fighting back screams, and tears and sweat covered my body from the pain alone. I couldn't open my eyes because of how badly my head hurt, as it was the starting point of all the pain so my head hurt the worst, and my entire mind was blanketed in a white glow from the immense amount of… whatever it was I was sensing in Gaara. "How do you break the genjutsu?" Temari asked, and I opened my mouth to answer before Chiyo could.
"You insert chakra into the affected person." I said, my voice rough and gravely and my throat raw. "When you do that, it unbalances the genjutsu and shatters it…" I explained with a wince, now working on stopping my eyes from tearing up from the pain.
"Sakura… How bad is the pain?" Temari asked in an angry tone.
"Like I just got hit by a fully transformed Shukaku. Almost exactly like it, if I recall correctly." I answered dryly.
"Good." She hissed and I opened my eyes a slit.
"When did it snow?" I asked in confusion at the fact that everything was white.
"It didn't." Chiyo replied with a sigh. Oh. I thought, saying nothing. I started to sit up slowly, but was roughly shoved back to the ground by a hand on my chest, my head smacking against the earth. Fuck! I shouted in my mind at the pain that had me squeezing my eyes shut again.
"Don't bother. Naruto's clone is going to carry you. Even if you could stand, you'd slow us down." Kakashi said coolly, his tone hurtful even though it was mostly nonchalant. It was colder than the tone he used when he was angry or serious. No, it was distrustful, and I wanted to cry all of a sudden. God… I'm surrounded by people I used to be so close to, and they all hate me. They all think I'm some kind of killer… I wish they knew the truth, but I just can't tell them... It's too late now. I thought as Naruto's clone pulled me into its arms. The contact burned, making me feel like the places being touched were on fire.
Pain combined with the sorrow that filled me, and my mind and body were overwhelmed, and so I slipped into oblivion.
"What?" I was sitting beside Temari and Gaara, healing his injuries from the fight with Naruto, and staring up at a furious looking Baki.
"We found his body. I'm sorry guys, but it looks like Orochimaru killed him before the exams and impersonated him." Baki said, lowering his gaze. Because the three were the children of the Kazekage, they were practically treated like royalty.
"He's… dead?" Kankurou asked in a shocked tone, and Baki nodded.
"You three are young… Too young to be parentless. I'm sorry that this happened to you." Baki said with a heavy sigh. I heard a sob and looked at Temari, shocked to see she was crying. Immediately, I put my arm around her and hugged her tightly, using my other hand to heal Gaara.
"Don't get me wrong." Temari began as she cried, her voice shaky. "I hated the bastard. I'm just… I'm just shocked." She explained with a sob, and Kankurou looked crushed to see his sister reacting like that, but like Gaara, he was almost happy to find their father was dead.
"Bad father or not, he was a good Kazekage and his fate was too soon. We have no candidates to replace him." Baki admitted with a sigh. "We're probably going to be without a Kage for some time, so the Council will be taking care of everything until we can get a new one. Until Temari hits eighteen, you all with technically be under my care. If you need money, food, or clothes, come and talk to me. Other than that, you guys are free to live here until a new Kage is appointed. If this happens before you're eighteen, Temari, you all can move in with me."
"Thank you." Gaara said and Baki blinked at him in surprise before nodding. He stood and left, giving the orphans time to grieve the loss of a parent.
"I'm moving in." I announced immediately, and everyone looked at me in surprise. "What? Someone needs to keep you crazy bastards in line. Besides, without me, who'll cook and clean?" I asked with a grin, immensely relieved by this news. I kept chanting 'he's gone' and 'yes!' in my mind, thrilled to be able to be close to the siblings without eventually being ordered to kill Gaara. Honestly, at that point, I didn't think I'd be able to kill him. I couldn't bring myself to hurt Kankurou and Temari like that. They were like my brother and sister… and maybe one day I'd think of Gaara as a sibling too.
When I woke, I found the pain was lessening. Instead of making me feel better, it terrified me. I knew how Bijuu were removed, as Chiyo taught me, so if the pain was lessening, it just meant there was less chakra being destroyed… Which meant less chakra to be destroyed. I opened my eyes, seeing more than before even though it made the pain increase quite a bit, and found that no one was around but Naruto's clone, who was watching me from within arm's reach.
Annoyed and needing alone time to think, I swiftly reached over and slammed my fist into the clone's shoulder, causing it to explode in smoke and disappear. "You shouldn't have done that." A cold voice stated and I froze immediately. I narrowed my eyes at the black and red blur several feet away, unable to make out who it was.
"Who…?" I wondered aloud, squinting to no avail.
"You are alone, and injured. Your teammates must not care for you if they left you here with nothing more than a clone to protect you." The masculine voice stated emotionlessly.
"Not to protect me. To watch me." I corrected the person, laying back down and closing my eyes to ease the pain a bit.
"You're foolish to close your eyes near an enemy. Do you think so highly of yourself to assume you can fight me with your eyes shut?" The voice asked and I made no move.
"Nope." I said in a soft voice, my head throbbing too badly to make me want to speak much louder. "I just figure if you wanted to kill me, you could. My eyes open or not." I explained calmly. Please kill me… Just get it over with already. I thought sadly.
"You shouldn't have come here." The man said and I rolled my eyes under the lids.
"Too late."
"You should leave."
"Not going to happen."
"And why is that?"
"Because I've got someone to help." I said, opening my eyes and propping myself up on my elbow to look at the blur, which was closer now. That's right… I need to save Gaara before I can die. I owe him that… I owe him so much…
"Foolish. You risk more than just your life." The man said and I frowned. "One of the Ichibi's captors wants you as well… and he wants you alive." My eyes widened, suddenly realizing why the blur was red and black.
"Akatsuki." I hissed and the man made some movement. Ignoring the fact that it caused my head to explode in pain, I rolled to my knees and slammed my fist into the rough ground, causing it to shatter. The blur leapt away, and I couldn't see him anymore.
"You aren't fast enough to defeat me… Especially not when you are so badly injured, Sakura." The voice said from right behind me, and I quickly kicked my leg out and spun. I felt my ankle hit something before it was suddenly gone, and when I looked behind me, they weren't there. I jumped to my feet and tried to shake away the white that covered my vision. "You're too late to save him." The voice said and I looked around, unable to see where he was. Well, I was unable to see period, but who needs details?
I felt something cut my arm and spun in the direction that the object was thrown, only to have something cut my leg from another direction. I moved to face that direction, and the acts continued until finally, one of the objects deeply cut my back. Bleeding from many places now, I fell to the ground on my knees and hands. One hand was holding my upper body up, while the other hand was wrapped around my bleeding side.
They really don't care, do they…? I killed Naruto's clone well over ten minutes ago, yet no one is coming… I thought miserably. No… I refuse to be beaten. I need to save him… I have to! I shouted in my mind, narrowing my eyes as I forced myself to my feet with renewed strength. "Fine… You want to play hide and seek? Then we'll play!" I yelled, swinging my leg up above my head and then slamming my ankle into the ground. I watched as the earth shattered all around me, causing the trees to tumble to the ground loudly, shaking the earth and causing even more destruction.
Thinking quickly, I leapt away from where I had stood, leaping from cracked chunks of earth to other chunks of earth. I kept myself moving around the destroyed area, leaving drops of blood everywhere I went. "This is pointless." The man's voice said, but I just smiled.
"Or is it?" I questioned, smiling smugly.
"…I see…" The man's voice said after a moment's hesitation.
"Gotcha." I grinned proudly as a massive amount of dark brown poison rose from the chunks of earth. I heard heavy coughing and smiled wider in success.
"What is this?" The voice questioned in a strained tone.
"Poison. My own personal blend… I hope you enjoy coughing up alllll the blood in your body." I said in a sing-song tone. I frowned when the man chuckled.
"It'll be quite the family reunion." The man said before the coughing faded away. Still only seeing blurs, I healed the heaviest bleeding wounds until they stopped bleeding, conserving my chakra. Finally, after several minutes, the poison cloud was completely dissipated and I was able to start making my way towards the corpse.
"What happened?" I stopped myself from jumping in surprise at Kakashi's voice near my ear.
"This asshole here attacked me." I said coldly still limping towards the blurry mass that was the corpse.
"Impossible! This is Yura!" Temari exclaimed in surprise, and I blinked heavily in an attempt to clear my vision from the completely disconcerting whiteness that clouded it.
"Who is Yura?" Naruto asked curiously. Why is he so quiet whenever I'm conscious? I remember him being so obnoxious before… He must be upset because of my 'betrayal'… After all, I would be his second friend to turn sides on him. I thought sadly, my expression betraying none of my depressed emotions.
"He's a respected council member of Suna… I'd have never thought him to be a traitor." Chiyo said with a sigh, and once more I thought her voice was lighter.
"Chiyo…" I said, narrowing my eyes at the shortest blur. "We need to have a discussion after all this is over." I growled before I sat down and started to heal my injuries, hidden worry filling me when I felt the pain fading bit by bit.
Oh dear. Things are starting to get a bit more interesting, aren't they? Also, please don't think Sakura was OP. She totally got her ass kicked and was only able to defeat him because A. She was sneaky and slipped a container of poison gas into the earth so when she broke the ground, the canister released it, and B. She was blinded! How could someone blind be affected by the Sharingan? *raises eyebrow* But like I said, she barely even won.
Please review ^^