Comfort In Surreality

by Mellow Penelo

After a series of chance encounters, and one of Kisame's more capricious decisions, a pink haired girl has become Akatsuki's newest tool. What? He's the one that has to deal with her? Damn it, he really should have paid more attention in that meeting.

3. Chapter 3

A/N – It's a long one.

.Disclaimer.

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.Chapter Three.

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Sakura shook out a pair of pants, sand scattering over the tiled floor. She meticulously folded them, doing her best to optimize the space in her small backpack. Almost done, she twisted them in just the right way to send a pile of sand falling to the floor like the hiss of a snake.

"Gah…" Sakura let out with growing frustration. She dug into the pockets, leaving a tiny desert at her feet. She folded it again, no where as neatly as before, and moved on to the next article of clothing.

It was a mesh shirt, so there was little trouble. However, the next shirt proved to be more tedious than the pants. After a few shakes, Sakura realized that the cursed little grains were embedded into the weave of the cloth.

Did Sakura ever mention how much she hated sand? If not, let it be known now. Sand is a bitch.

It gets everywhere. In her hair, her mouth, in her eyes, behind her ears, between her fingers and toes, under her finger nails, it just stuck to her skin in general. There were a few times that Sakura thought she was getting freckles from the sun, only to realize it was just sand.

Not to mention the fact that the sand around here was constantly airborne. The sand pelted into her skin and face and rammed into her eyes. It wasn't even funny. At first, Sakura was laughing because it was just ridiculous how hard the wind blew. Hell, Sakura had seen small animals and on a few occasions children get lifted by the wind (not to worry, the children were always grabbed before they got badly injure. Maybe a little scuffed up and a tad traumatized, but nothing severe).

Of course, the wind did provide relief to the heat, which otherwise would have been absolutely unbearable. The times the wind did finally die down, Sakura felt like crying at the sudden intensity from the rays of sun. It was like being submerged in a hot bath. Fully clothed.

However, despite the inhuman terrain, and the fact that a village never should have been place in the middle of a freaking desert in the first place, Sakura was sad to leave.

The village had its charm. When it hit dusk, it became the most beautiful and welcoming of places. The sky turned a warm lavender, cooling the burning heat of noon. The streets lit up with lanterns, filling up with people from all walks of life. Restaurants and booths opened up, the smell of delicious food drifting into the cooling air. It had the energy of a carnival every night, children running around, families up and about shopping and laughing.

A sad smile eased onto Sakura's face as she looked through her report, making sure all the papers were in proper order. She picked up the envelope; a rustling told her that sand had found its way in there too. Sakura let out an exasperated sigh as she tilted it to the floor.

"Need some help?"

Sakura turned to see a red-headed boy standing in the doorway. His face held little emotion, his mouth in a neutral line, his bows slightly dipped in questioning.

"Hey, Gaara." Sakura smiled widely, "Yeah, at the rate I'm going, I'll be bringing a pound of sand back to Konoha." She shook out another pair of pants. Instead of the sand pelting the tiles, it drifted lazily in the air, like dust, then floated over towards Gaara's open palm.

This boy was not the same one from the Chuunin exam. After a little catalyst called Naruto interfered, Gaara… How could the change that took place possibly be described? Well, it was amazing what could happen in a little over a year.

When Sakura had first heard the rumors about somebody being sent to Wind Country, the first image that came to mind was a monstrous Gaara. A single image of one crazed green eye and the other, a deadly focused gold and black.

Yes, she had heard about how he saved Lee, how both his siblings had saved dear friends. However, the very idea of a benevolent Gaara was a hard idea to grasp at the time. And frankly, Sakura was just glad that she was too busy with training to ever be assigned a diplomatic mission.

Because almost every memory of him had been terrifying. His battle with Lee was one of them. Sakura was shocked and could only watch with awe as Gaara battled without even moving. Gaara had almost single-handedly crushed Lee's hopes and dreams with the clench of his palm. If that wasn't enough, Naruto had told her about the incident in the hospital. And the monster she witnessed firsthand emerging from his body. She was glad she didn't ever see his complete transformation. Sakura didn't need more material for her nightmares to work with.

But the boy that killed to validate his existence was gone. Now, there was someone searching for something else, for what Naruto had found.

And as fate would have it, Sakura was sent. Whether because she was the Hokage's assistant, therefore knowing the inner workings of politics, or because she happened to be quite the efficient ninja, or because Shisho thought she need a break from the near constant training. Whatever it was… Sakura was glad.

Not because she got to help in the hospital, share a few of the new techniques in her arsenal, or because she helped recreated a new, more efficient system for the paper work and taxes, or even because she got to travel and live in a different village and value the differences between her own. Sakura was glad because she was a witness.

One of the jobs pawned off on her in the beginning was dealing with all of Team Gaara's paperwork. The citizens, the advisers, everybody at the time was still rather tense and uneasy about being in the same room with him. And honestly, so was Sakura. Though she did think she hid it well, being as smiley and unprovoking as possible. She made quick friends with Kankuro. His casual candidness reminded her of Naruto, making her feel more at home, more welcomed.

Temari intimidated the hell out of her. While the blond was rough around the edges, Sakura learned that the serious girl was actually rather agreeable. It took a while for both Sakura and Gaara to warm up to each other, but Sakura couldn't help but feel that he was trying.

Gradually as the days passed, as their meetings became more frequent, more casual, she witnessed his progress day by day. She saw the way his eyes softened when Kankuro would bring him lunch. The way his mouth lifted ever so slightly when Temari would fuss over a smudge of ink on his cheek. The way the tension in his shoulders would ease when Sakura would gave him an honest smile.

Yes, he was still very guarded with his words, placed physical distance when someone (usually Sakura) would step, lean close enough to make him nervous. Sakura would admit that a lot of the time, she wasn't really sure what to say to him. So she just said whatever came to mind, told him about her day, a joke or a funny story that had happened. He seemed to appreciate that.

And then one evening, Gaara was the one telling her about his day, and telling her about the latest scheme or otherwise stupid thing Kankuro had done. And Sakura really looked forward to seeing him each day, or anxiously awaited when their Team would get back from a mission. Sakura earnestly considered them friends.

Though, she couldn't help but feel that Gaara was one of those people-you-liked-much-more-than-they-actually-liked-you, but Sakura didn't mind. Besides, Kankuro (who she couldn't help but confined her silly worries in) said that Gaara just gave off that vibe, and that the boy actually liked her very much.

There was a moment of silence as Sakura watched sand drifted out of her backpack, even out of her hair and the clothing she was wearing. She turned to him to give him an easy grin. His muted voice interrupted her.

"There're rumors that they're considering me to be the next Kazekage."

Sakura gasped with delighted surprise. "No way!"

Gaara nodded, observing and deciphering her reaction, as was his manner.

Sakura couldn't help but grin at him. Yeah, he had definitely come a long way. "Well? Are you excited?" She asked looking at his stone face.

Really, a good majority of the time, Gaara expressed as much as a white wall. Though Sakura had enough excitement for the both of them

He shrugged. "They're just rumors…" He looked away for a moment, then back at her. His jade eyes pierced though her with a sudden desperate intensity, "What do they mean?"

Her brows dipped at the loaded question. It was her turn to observe and decipher. His posture was suddenly tense, his brow heavy over his eyes and his mouth in a firm line.

Sakura spoke resolutely and calmly "It means they want you to protect them."

"That's what Kankuro said." He murmured to himself, glancing at his feet.

"You don't believe him?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It's not that… It's just…" He struggled with the words, running a hand through his hair before letting out a soft sigh. "Yeah, it is hard to believe." He sent those piercing eyes up at her again, "Don't you think?"

"I would've once." Sakura said truthfully, with a soft smile, "But not now. It's… Well, actually, I think I should've seen it coming."

"Because I'm strong?" Gaara asked as he tossed a ball of sand out the door and sat down on her bed. While his tone was almost sarcastic, his eyes locked on her, telling her, almost begging her to tell him differently.

Strength is a major factor in electing the strongest shinobi in the village, she almost said. Though she didn't think Gaara would appreciate the joke right now. Actually the way his eyes bore into her, his attention focused intently on her, showed he desperately wanted there to be another reason why.

"You know, at one point, Orochimaru was going to be the Hokage." Sakura began calmly.

Gaara's eyes narrowed at that, whether with surprise, or confusion, or even annoyance at an indirect answer, Sakura wasn't completely sure. But she went on.

"Because he was the strongest."

Gaara's eyes looked down at his feet, and Sakura hurried to her point before he drew the wrong conclusions. "But," She said with a lighter tone, a disarming smile "When it was found out how evil he was, how selfish and power hungry, the title was given to someone more worthy.

"They expected great things out of the Kage. Most of all to do what's best for the village, what's best for his people. If you become Kazekage, it means that they trust you with their lives. Trust you to not only protect them, die for them, but to live for them. This village will become your precious people."

"My precious people…." He repeated his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper, his eyes wide.

Sakura gave him a serene smile. Man, she wished Naruto was here to see this. That she could somehow tell him herself about Gaara's progress. He'd be so proud (Not to mention a tad jealous that Gaara beat him to the punch).

He sat on her bed in silence for a moment, thinking about all the true implications of being chosen as Kazekage. And Sakura quietly went about arranging the sand-free clothing into her bag.

Man, it was ridiculous how much jubilation was flowing through her right now. It was just- everyone, his entire village was acknowledging Gaara's efforts, his success. Something about that just made her heart swell.

Maybe one of the reasons Sakura was so glad, so damn happy that Gaara had changed so much, was because it meant so could she.

"Hey!"

They turned to see Kankuro standing in the doorway, holding a wrapped package in his hand.

"Hey, Kankuro!" Sakura replied equally as enthusiastic. Kankuro ambled into the room, and leaned again the bedpost beside Gaara.

"Did Gaara tell you?" He asked with a grin.

"About Kazekage? Yeah! We were just talking about it." Sakura said easily, the room full of lively comradely. Kankuro and Sakura always had that effect when they were together. Even in his pensive mood, Gaara quietly, but greatly, relished it. Like always.

Kankuro didn't get enough credit for being discreet, but it was at this point that he exchanged a glance with Sakura over Gaara's head; all without losing any of the jovial atmosphere he brought in.

Sakura read his apprehensive look clearly and give him a subtle nod. He was asking how the Kazekage conversation went. He had one with Gaara prior, and was still worried how his brother felt about the whole thing.

But with Sakura's nod, his worries melted away, and he moved on to the next thing that was on his mind. "You should stay another week, Sakura."

Sakura grinned, wrapping a glass jewelry box (a souvenir for Ino) in one of her shirts. "I gotta get home, Kankuro. Besides, you know I gotta leave with the team I came with."

"You didn't stay with your team while you were here." He dismissed with the wave of his hand, "We'll send you an escort back to Konoha."

"I got training to do, new techniques to learn." Sakura said crossing her arms with mock-sternness.

Kankuro shrugged. "I'll teach you to work with puppets; you got the chakra control for it."

"I don't really think that's my thing, Kankuro." Sakura said, remembering when Temari and herself tried to set up a joke on Kankuro using his puppets. It backfired severely. Kankuro and Gaara were greatly amused. Temari and Sakura were traumatized.

"What's that?" Sakura motioned to the package in his hands.

"Oh, here." He said rater unceremoniously and lazily extended his arm.

Sakura reached out for it, her brows dipping in intrigue. Gaara and Kankuro watch as she ripped the brown paper in silence.

Setting the shredded paper aside, Sakura held in her hands a picture frame. There it held Kankuro, Temari, Gaara and herself.

It was the four of them in Sakura's temporarily office, eating fast food. Kankuro's head in the foreground, being the one taking the picture, a silly grin on his face. Temari was sitting cross-legged on the large desk, a carton in her hand, food in her mouth, and clearly protesting about the picture being taken. Sakura sat behind her desk with a caught in headlights look, and chopsticks in her mouth. Gaara was leaning over her-- looking at the papers on the desk a moment before-- looking calmly at the camera.

"Why did you pick this one?" Sakura laughed.

"Cause Temari looks ridiculous in it." Kankuro said with a smirk.

Sakura laughed again, and sat down next to Gaara so he could see. The corner of his mouth lifted just the slightest.

"You'll visit, won't you?" Gaara asked her in his usual muted tone.

Sakura gave him a shining grin. "Course."

"Gaara-san." A Chuunin appeared outside the window, crouched down. "You're summoned to the tower."

Gaara nodded, and the Chuunin was gone. He glanced at Sakura, his eyes boring into hers. "Take care."

Sakura nodded, "You too." And with a nod to Kankuro, he dissolved into a million grains of sand and was gone.

"You think they're going to tell him?" Sakura asked excitedly, packaging the last article of clothing.

"They'll just officially tell him that he's considered for the job. It'll probably be another year before he's officially the Kage." Kankuro said knowingly, and then grinned "He's so young."

"Yeah, he's my age." Sakura said with realization. She hadn't even considered that earlier. A thirteen-year-old, and he was considered for Kazekage.

"Hey, thanks for talking to him about it. I know it was buggin' him." Kankuro said, a hand on the back of his head. "I tried to talk to him, but I'm just not so good with that kinda stuff. I mean, Temari's the one that usually deals with emotions and junk."

Temari was currently in Konoha, part of the massive, but delicate, treaty that brought Sakura to Suna. She had left a few days ago.

"You're such a guy." Sakura rolled her eyes, her smile still present. "You better get used to dealing with emotions and junk. There's going to be times when neither Temari or I will be here."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to get good at it."

"Yeah you will." Sakura carefully placed the picture frame in her bag. "And thanks for the picture, I really like it."

"Good. Sorry I can't see you off, I gotta go see what's going on over at the tower." Kankuro said truly apologetic.

"Don't worry about it." Sakura told him easily.

Then Kankuro glanced at her grain-free clothing "I don't know why you bother, you'll just pick up all the sand again."

"At least this way I'll start out comfortable."

"Good luck with that. I grantee, you won't be 15 minutes before you have twice as much sand back on you ." Kankuro laughed.

"Probably." Sakura admitted, shaking her head.

Kankuro looked out the window at the stretch of blue sky, his eyes turning serious. "Storm season was late this year. So if you guys see some trouble, don't get ahead of yourselves, alright? The weather can change pretty quickly."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine."

---

Sakura left with her team at the appointed time. The sand village was already sinking behind them into the horizon.

"How'd your part of the mission go?"

Sakura turned to a blond, brown-eyed girl. She was a new Chuunin; the kind that like to admire their new vest every 20 seconds. Sakura found her own vest a tad cumbersome with its thick padding. Especially in this climate.

"Good, you, Eriko?"

"We were doing some regular missions, picking up the slack." Eriko said with a shrug. Apparently she had been hoping for something more exciting.

"You hung around the tower most of the time, right? Heard you were dealing with their strongest shinobi and all?" A Chuunin by the name of Kyo asked. He sent Sakura a playful grin.

"Yeah…" Sakura gave him a sheepish smile, then shrugged it off "Nothing too impressive. Just helped with paperwork, and did a lot of work in the hospital."

"We could've used your medic skills on our last mission." A rookie Jounin name Ametsu said. "There are a lot of rogues around here. Me and Kenshi were just delivering a scroll to one of the feudal lords and Kenshi nearly lost his arm."

"Savin' your ass." Kenshi muttered. He was the leader, eldest and most experience of the group.

"Come on! You didn't see that guy till the last minute either!" Ametsu defended, but his eyes were lit with good humor.

Sakura smiled, listening to their banter fondly. Half wishing she could join in on the conversation. But while they reminisced, relived stories and repeated inside jokes, Sakura could only nod and smile, not having been there for any of it. The only real interaction she had with them was when they traveled together over three months ago. Any rare bump-ins during that time had only consisted of sparse small talk.

In fact, even back in Konoha, it was becoming very rare for Sakura to be part of a team. There was always work to be done in the hospital, techniques to learn from Shisho. The few times she was assigned as a medic to a team, she always felt like the odd one out.

It wasn't as if anyone deliberately tried to exclude her, it was just…

There was always something in the way Team Ten attacked, anticipated each other's actions, reactions, and impulses, constantly held each other before themselves.

Something about the way Team Eight worked, interacted and read the slightest facial movement, body language, heard the slightest cadence in a single word, truly listened to what each other was saying, and wasn't saying,

Something with the way Team Eleven put up with each other, aggravated each other, yet in the next breath fought so fervently for each other.

Something that made all those teams have an unshakable faith in each other.

It was something that made Sakura miss her team so much, and at the same time wonder if they even had that something to begin with.

It was a closeness, a bond that really only came from growing up together. Training and learning together. It was something that Sakura understood that Team Seven may never have, and maybe never really had a chance to attain.

Now, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke weren't growing together. They weren't learning how to fight together. They weren't learning to read each other, or foresee each other's movements. Actually, it was quite the opposite.

Naruto was out there, somewhere, with Jiraiya. He was training to develop his own strength. Honing his massive chakra reserves, calming that wild fury of energy and power. He was learning his own techniques, growing without her. Seeking to keep a promise to her, an oath to himself.

Sakura was left at home. Frantically trying to catch up with the Naruto that left her. Fearing that when he came back, she would still be leagues behind him. That he was dwarfing her leaps of progress with inhuman bounds.

Sakura mended shattered bodies back together and broke others apart. She studied every strategy and technique she could get her hands on. She was obsessed with becoming an asset instead of a burden.

And Sasuke was gone. Completely out of her reach…

Sakura shook her head and tried to concentrate on the chatter around her. That subject was too painful for her. It was a wound that was still trickling blood, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't heal it.

Sakura wondered what would have happened if he never left. Where they would all be. Would they have that something that held all the other teams together? Something that made them know each other's minds better then they knew their own?

But that notion seemed so ridiculous now. It seemed almost impossible, like a foolish dream to keep hoping that one day they would be as close as the other teams. As painful as it was to admit, the fact was that Team Seven were all strangers to each other.

Sakura knew very little about Naruto's past. What had happened to his family? What else did he want other than acknowledgement? She didn't even know his birthday. It was little things that she felt she should have known about her teammate. While Sakura could anticipate Naruto's reactions, more often than not he ended up surprising her. Perhaps because she was still trying to erase years of underestimating him, still trying to put her faith in him. She did have faith in him, but it wasn't unshakable.

Kakashi had always been a mystery. Yes, Sakura could read Kakashi's mood and facial expressions, despite that mask he wore, and she wasn't just talking about the fabric one. But moods and emotions didn't mean anything if you couldn't see the thought process driving it. Sakura simply had trouble deciphering what he left unsaid.

She did admired Kakashi greatly, but ultimately, after Sasuke left, he seemed to disappear too. He buried himself in A-class missions, even a few S-class. She rarely saw him anymore. Sakura couldn't help but feel utterly left behind by him too.

And Sasuke?

Without a doubt she wanted him back. There was something in her mind driving her, telling her that if Sasuke came back, it would be like it was before the Chuunin exam. When things were simple, and perhaps they could start over, develop that something. Yes, it was foolish and every time she thought of it, she shoved it to the back of her mind. And it was there that it slept in her subconscious.

Because, there had been a time when Sasuke put his teammates before himself, when Sasuke would risk his life for them. When he was selfless. Now…

Sakura could really only cling to the idea of the boy she knew. She knew that everyday that passed, he was changing, growing away from both her and Naruto. Growing away from them in every way that could possibly matter. He became more of a mystery to her than Kakashi. Yes, Sakura knew why Sasuke left. But she still couldn't justify his reasons or be satisfied with them.

Sakura shook head again, clearing the dark fog that gathered. She hated that her thoughts always turned back to Sasuke, it was a hard habit to break. But she could have some pride that what she did now didn't revolve around him, rather it was for her team, her friends, her village.

Spikes of chakra to the east interrupted Sakura's thoughts and the group turned to see two ninjas being pursued by Sand-nin. They were a good deal behind Sakura's team and were heading past them, towards a group of towering rock formations

"Do we jump in?" Eriko asked, her eyes wide and shifting between the scene and Kenshi.

"Sand is our ally." Kenshi said with a resolute nod. His eyes narrowed as he went through the possible scenarios. "Alright, we're in position to cut them off. Set up an ambush and wait. We don't know if they're wanted dead or alive."

"Ametsu, Eriko move in from the west. Sakura, Kyo, go in from the east, I'll fall back and get information, keep proper distance and watch for my signal. Break."

Kenshi, Ametsu and Eriko ran off, while Kyo began to do hand seals. Sakura pulled on her gloves as she waited for him. They were currently on the west side of the enemy. In order to get to the east of them, without running right in front of them or some other silly maneuver that would give away their position, Sakura would have to depend on Kyo.

Kyo muttered the jutsu under his breath, then quickly turned to Sakura. "Grab on!" The sand around his feet began to whirl and he sunk lower and lower into the point of a perfect cone. Sakura practically had to tackle him to avoid slipping into the sand. "Hold your breath!"

Sakura took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut as they submerged into the sand as if it was water. Suddenly she was being pulled to the east; she tucked her head to Kyo's neck and held onto him for dear life. It felt like she was holding onto a snake frantically tunneling through the sand. Kyo's movements seemed gratuitously jerky and fast, like he didn't know what he was really doing.

Finally, after what was less than a minute, but felt like twenty, the sand reeled around them again and a gust of fresh air surrounded them. Kyo was standing in a little conical crater; his hands in the last seal, with Sakura clung on his back like a starfish.

"Sorry Haruno, not really used to doing that technique in sand." He gave her an apologetic grin as she slid off his back, a tad dizzy.

"Don't worry about it." Sakura murmured, a palm on her head. She shook her head around to get rid of the dizziness, but really only managed to pelt Kyo with a barrage of sand.

Sakura's eye twitched. All that time she spent getting the grains off her person and now she was practically caked in it! The amount of sand in her pockets made it feel like there were weights deliberately sown to her clothing and backpack. Damn it, Kankuro had been completely right.

Sakura slipped off her backpack and looked around. The little crater they stood in gave them cover from the approaching shinobi. Kyo peeked his head out waiting for the signal. He had dirty blonde hair, so he blended right in. When Sakura motioned to peer out of the crater, Kyo placed a hand on her head, effectively stopping her from going any further.

"If they see a random pink spot over here, call me paranoid, but it could give away our location," He drawled, his eyes slightly lidded with good-humor.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but a small smile was on her lips. "Fine." Every time she was with a new team, her hair always came up at one point or another. "Fill me in on what's going on then."

"Alright." He drawled lowly, "There's two guys heading this way. With their speed it looks like we got 30 seconds or so before they fly right past us. One of them's pretty big, I'm guessing taijutsu specialist."

"Why?" Sakura knew very well that appearances meant nothing in the shinobi world.

"I dunno, just a feeling." Kyo shrugged, "The other guy's pretty lanky and has a huge scroll strapped to his back. Looks like a summons to me. They're moving through the sand like we do, they're not used to the terrain- The signal! Attack!" Kyo leapt out of the crater like a slingshot.

Sakura ran out ahead, stopping right in the enemy's path. They were about twenty yards away from her. Kyo threw a volley of kunai from the air, making the enemy jump back and halt to avoid them. Sakura pulled back her fist, gathered a massive amount of chakra, and slammed it into the ground below her.

The sand waved and shifted violently like an earth quake, making the enemy lose their footing. They jumped up into the air to avoid most of the chakra waves traveling swiftly through the grains.

Ametsu and Eriko launched from the west. Ametsu held two massive swords and was attacking the big guy like a fiend. The sun glimmered off the blades, making Sakura look away. Eriko threw explosive notes at the lanky guy. He threw his own kunai to counter them and the tags exploded on impact. A massive black cloud stained the blue sky, marking their battle for all to see.

The lanky one landed back on the sand, sliding the scroll off his back and opening it in one fluid motion. He bit his thumb and was about to mark the blank sheet.

Sakura sent another tremor through the ground, making him stumble and the bloody line was sloppily placed, smudged and crooked. Regardless, black characters appeared on the scroll and with sudden puffs of smoke, a lizard the size of a house stood beneath him. Smaller lizards littered the ground, each about the height of a horse and as broad as a rhino.

Sakura heard a strangled yell from her left. She glanced to see Kyo's eyes narrowed in fear and anger, his lips pulled back in a snarl. "Why the fuck did it have to be lizards!?"

Sakura was completely taken back by Kyo suddenly losing his cool. She didn't know what to do with that reaction and didn't really have time to respond to him anyway. One of the horse-sized lizards was barreling towards her with an alarming amount of speed.

Sakura narrowed her eyes and pulled back her fist. Once again she hit the ground; making the lizard's feet sink and struggle in the sand. With her other fist cocked, she ran and drove it into the lizard's nose, smashing it with a loud crack. A gust of wind embraced her as it puffed away into smoke.

"Sakura, get em!" Kyo frantically roared.

Sakura turned to see Kyo surrounded by three lizards. She didn't even have time to curse the fact that Kyo was lacertiliaphobic. While two lizards attacked him, Kyo seemed to go berserk and started throwing everything he had at them. His body twisted and turned, throwing kunai and explosive tags every which way.

He was too preoccupied with the first two, he missed the third reeling its head back, its stomach expanding. Sakura instantly knew it was a Katon.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a kunai, with lighting speed she attached a wire to it and hurled it, revolving her wrist to add the necessary spin for her goal.

The wire wrapped itself around the lizard's snout, and with a hard tug from Sakura, effectively sealing its mouth shut.

The lizard's eyes widened in alarm and it began to thrash about. Sakura planted her feet to the ground with chakra. Before the lizard could even begin to think of moving towards her, his gut, filled with chakra infused fire, exploded sending scorched entrails everywhere. Hot blood splattered the sand like paint, but with a poof of smoke it was gone.

Sakura could be thankful for that. She was so close to upchucking her lunch (dealing with and sewing together organs was one thing, seeing a living breathing thing blow up, was something a tad different). Two more loud pops and Sakura turned to see a scratched up Kyo, exhausted, sweaty and panting, but surrounding by two dispersing clouds of smoke.

There was a sudden violet gust of wind and Ametsu was careening towards her, those blades dangerously sailing through the air. Sakura braced herself to catch him. With an outrageous amount of impact, Sakura slide back, her chakra planted feet digging into the sand and gouging out trails. She knew she was heading straight for a small rock formation, and in a rushed panic gathered a layer of chakra at her back to protect her.

She slammed into the rock with such force that she left a small, but devastating crater. Ametsu would of snapped his spine if she hadn't caught him. Sakura slumped down to the ground. She let out a gasp as one of Ametsu's swords sliced the side of her calf.

Sakura ignored it, already gathering chakra in her calf to heal it later. She looked over Ametsu in her arms. He was like a sack of rice on her, his eyes open but glassy. Sakura carefully placed him on the sand, now grateful for the shade the rock provided. Sakura quickly glanced up to make sure her comrades were keeping the enemy occupied.

Eriko and a few Sand-nins seemed to be getting rid of most of the smaller lizards. Other Sand-nins were dealing with the massive lizard and the lanky ninja standing on its head. That lizard was spitting out acidic saliva, the sand smoking and violently sizzling where Sand-nins had avoided it.

Kenshi was fighting the big guy, his chakra infused chakrams spinning and crackling with lighting. However, that big guy was holding his own, and Kyo was right. He was a taijutsu specialist. He was faster than he looked, maneuvering his body in a manner she thought only Lee and Gai capable of.

Kyo was fighting off any lizards that came towards her with such feverous intensity, you would think that lizards had been the sole cause for every misery to ever enter his life.

Sakura turned back to Ametsu, checking his pulse to find it frighteningly slow. He was moving his mouth, but not a word came out. His eyes stared up at her, seeing through her. Those dark green eyes looked empty, the pupils gone.

"Ametsu!" Sakura called to him, her voice strong. "Can you hear me? Blink if you can."

He didn't react. Sakura searched his body, and found his ribs smashed in and his collar bone broken, ugly bruises already forming over him. He had to have internal injuries. Sakura's eyes narrowed. Those were the worst to heal, especially on the field.

Blood began to drip from his mouth, confirming Sakura's conclusion. She cursed under her breath and quickly unzipped his green vest. She pulled it open and sliced open his black shirt with a kunai. She then tossed the weapon into the sand and placed her hands over his chest. They glowed a pastel green and Sakura sent out a fine wave of chakra, scanning over his organs.

The right side of his rib cage was completely broken, smashed and tearing into the soft tissue of his lung.

"Damn it." Sakura cursed. What she wouldn't do for the Byakugan right about know. She closed her eyes and saw (felt, really) his organs and bones outlined with her chakra. She pulled her chakra, tugging the bones out of the spongy tissue. Blood gushed into his lungs and Sakura desperately tried to weave together the lung's tissue and block out the blood.

Sakura was completely in the dark here. She had been actively studying how to heal external wounds, burns, slices, punctures. She only knew the basics of internal wounds; she was going to start that as soon as she got home.

However, if Sakura had one skill, it was her chakra control. With tendrils of chakra she pulled the tissue together. She gently pierced the flesh with the chakra thread, stitching up the wound. Sakura let out a sigh of relief, it wasn't the best job, but it would hold till she got him back to Konoha. Next the ribs-

Ametsu started gurgling, blood gushing over his lips and down his chin. Sakura gasped in alarm. Damn it! Her hands rushed over his lung, and she closed her eyes to see his lung half full of blood. What the- that meant there was another injury she missed.

Sakura let out a growl of frustration and frantically tried to pull the blood out of his lung. She had been practicing poison extraction in Suna, she would use the same method. With intense concentration, Sakura pulled out long globs of blood and threw it on the sand, trying to beat out the blood flowing in.

When she got the blood low enough, she sent out another wave of chakra and found the injury. His sternum had been hammered in (Sakura cursed harshly, she missed it the first time). It looked like he avoided a hit only enough for his sternum to be tilted towards his lung instead of smashing into his heart.

Sakura's eyes widened. She would have to put his sternum back into alignment in the same way she would put a bone back into its socket. Except she'd have to do it with her chakra. Not exactly child's play. Sakura took a deep calming breath, pushing away the exhaustion that was beginning to creep in on her.

"Ametsu, this will hurt a little bit." Sakura whispered to him. It was lie, it would be excruciating.

She placed her hands over his sternum and with exceptional control and one quick jerk, twisted it back into place. Ametsu didn't make a sound.

Sakura glanced at his face, concerned at his lack of response. But she could feel his heart beat. She needed to heal that punctured lung and then figure out what else had been done to him.

"Damn it, they're on the run again." Kyo said landing beside her.

"Don't talk to me!" Sakura hissed, not looking up from the task at hand. Dealing with distractions was one thing that Sakura still needed to work on.

"Ametsu!" Kyo cried as if he just looked down to see what she was doing. Suddenly two other bodies were brought to her by the Sand-nins. "Kenshi!" Kyo cried again, Sakura glanced to see that a burned up Sand-nin was also brought to her.

One of the Sand-nin, and older man, started talking. "ANBU forces are on the way, that artifact must be retrieved at all cost." It was more of an order towards Kyo and Eriko (who were the only ones not occupied or incapacitated) to keep pursuing them along with the Sand-nin that were already after the Rogue ninjas.

"Who are those guys?" Eriko asked, her voice filled with a sense of anger and awe.

"Hamo from Earth and Kajika from Waterfall, both missing-nins and marked in the Bingo book. They must have been hired to steal that artifact."

Why were they talking?! Sakura wanted to scream at them to shut it. She tried to block out their voices and finally managed to close the puncture. She drained out the remaining blood in Ametsu's lung.

"What did that Hamo guy do to Kenshi and Ametsu?" Eriko asked concerned.

Sakura wasn't sure if Eriko was talking to her or not, and frankly she didn't care. Sweat was beginning to drip into her eyes and the wind was picking up, lifting sand up into the air. Sakura narrowed her eyes focusing on pulling the bones together. The shards of bone weren't life threatening, she just had to make sure they didn't dig into the vulnerable tissue and muscle around them.

"They're locked in some genjutsu…" Kyo muttered. From the shadow that fell over her, Sakura figured that Kyo was waving his hand in front of Kenshi's face.

Sakura fastened the bones together, the bonds brittle and temporary. She let out a sigh and did one more check on Ametsu. Satisfied that his body was in a stable condition, she turned to Kenshi. He was slumped over his legs, leaning back slightly on the rock.

The Sand-nin spoke up again. "Leave them with the medic." And with that he was gone; Eriko was gone a second later. Kyo lingered for a moment looking at Sakura, his tone soft.

"Don't exhaust yourself, reinforcements are on the way."

---

Kisame decided that he hated Sand Country.

It was dry, windy, dirty, and unbearably hot. His cloak was itchy and his arm-warmers were not his favorite piece of clothing right now. There was sand in his sandals, in his cloak, under his shirt, and in his gills. And no matter how much he scratched or picked, he couldn't get the damn grains out. Normally he would just wash them out, but there wasn't exactly a steady water source around here.

The first time the sand-in-gill incident happened, Kisame simply washed them out with his canteen. Only for sand to be blown in his face a second later and make it look like he was wearing a sandpaper mask.

Itachi had found that amusing. Kisame did not.

After washing that sand off, with the wind to his back this time, Kisame still managed to get a second skin of sand. He was only left to let it dry and rub the sand off. Of course that left his face dry and itchy and his gills caked with sand. Back to square one, Kisame was rubbing and scratching at his gills, but to no avail. He just had to wait it out.

Do you have any idea how irritating it is to have stuff in your gills? No. Of course not. The only thing Kisame could liken it too is a layer of sand covering the back of your throat, but ten times worse.

Of course, that wasn't the best part. The air was disgustingly dry. His tongue had turned to cotton in his mouth hours ago. He had to constantly keep blinking his eyes to keep the sand out. At one point, Kisame had gone on with his eyes closed for over 20 miles, then he got careless and walked into a rock formation.

Again, Itachi found that amusing. Kisame was ready to kill something.

Damn it, he could not remember the last time he was this uncomfortable. Being from Mist, he was used to constant humidity. In fact, he would go as far to say that he loved humidity. He had even convinced Itachi to wait a week until storm season kicked in, so that Kisame would not die from the dry heat.

As Kisame's luck would have it, storm season was late this year. And Itachi would not wait any longer.

When they were at the edge of the desert, just about to venture in, Kisame suggested making a river and just swimming to their destination. Itachi didn't think this was very inconspicuous. Apparently, someone might investigate the sudden 100-something-mile long river. Kisame begged to differ.

Itachi put his foot down.

And now Kisame was sweaty! Contrary to what people may think, Kisame did not enjoy being sweaty (who would?). Actually, he had a big problem with being sweaty. The fact was that Kisame enjoyed being clean, he enjoyed the smell of clean water, he enjoyed being comfortable in his skin. Sweat was thick, like a layer of grim, and it made him feel greasy. Also… Alright, he was just gonna come out and say it. Sweat made him smell fishy.

There.

And Kisame did not like that smell coming from him. It's not like he was a pansy about it. He wasn't like Hidan, who took two showers a day and bought a ridiculous amount of hygiene products. Kisame just always found a way to rinse off the sweat before he began to smell.

However, no opportunity was presenting itself. So here he was….

He glanced at Itachi, who had place a noticeable amount of distance between them. Jerk. Kisame looked forward. He hoped some bad ass ninja suddenly ambushed them right then and there so he could summon a lake.

The wind blew the little bell hanging from Itachi's hat and sent the white strips of cloth into Kisame's eyes, along with more sand. The white strips clung to his skin. Somehow, he had managed to keep the grains of sand out of his eyes, but not this time.

With a growl of frustration (he had sensitive eyes, okay?), Kisame unclipped Samehada and tore off his cloak. He felt Itachi's gaze fall on him.

"Kisame-san, you should probably put that back on. You're going to burn…or grill."

"That is not funny, Itachi-san!" Kisame spat out, annoyed to no end. Itachi always chose the most horrible times to exercise his almost none-existent sense of humor (usually when Kisame could not partake in it)! Kisame angrily pulled off his arm warmers and threw them to the ground.

Itachi spoke again, his tone perfectly leveled as always, "We're in broad daylight, so stripping may not be the best idea."

"Just go ahead, I'll catch up." Kisame knew Itachi was just trying to get on his nerves. Also contrary to popular belief, Itachi could be a real punk.

"How do people live out here?" He muttered darkly.

"It's your own fault we got sent out here." Itachi reminded, not bothering to look back as he walked ahead.

Kisame cursed under his breath as he remembered why Pein had sent them, of all the teams, out into the desert.

He was in the training ground with Sasori. One way or another, they started an extensive conversation. It somehow led to the desert. He forgot why, but Kisame started bragging that he could turn the whole damn country into an ocean if he felt like it.

For the life of him, he couldn't remember why he said that, because Kisame usually didn't boast like that (maybe he's been hanging around Hidan too much), so he could only assume that Sasori had provoked him.

Anyway, Sasori said that he couldn't turn the country into an ocean. Kisame said he could. Sasori said he couldn't. One thing led to another, and the entire east wing of the compound ended up flooded and destroyed.

That also happened to be where all the food supplies were stored.

Now here he was, in the damn desert, with a 40 percent salary cut for the next 6 months. Stupid Pein…

And you know what? Sasori didn't even get in trouble for goading him!

Kisame stuffed the arm warmers into his pack. Then threw his cloak back on, clipped on Samehada and grabbed his hat. He walked on trailing after Itachi.

Their mission was to pick up some artifact. A teapot, apparently. The importance of the artifact was beyond him, but orders were orders. This was supposed to be Deidara and Sasori's job. But Pein decided to be an ass, and sent Kisame to the damn desert, and this is a direct quote, "…to turn it into an ocean."

Of course, Pein made it sound almost as if he was simply giving Kisame a chance to disprove Sasori. He was a benevolent tyrant.

They also had to check on the resident Jinchuuriki while they were there. Scouting and all that was actually Zetsu's job. Though, it seemed he had other matters to attended to. Itachi's Jinchuuriki was out running around with that Sannin. Kisame had yet to locate his own. He should probably work on that sometime (since Zetsu was too busy with who knows what).

A few other missions were assigned to them while they were in the area. Kill a few feudal lords; retrieve some scrolls, the usua-

Kisame caught a scent on the wind. There were three groups of people to the east. Chakra spiked in two of the groups. There was a single massive rock formation near them and in seconds both Kisame and Itachi were at the top of it, concealed behind a natural stone wall

Kisame saw a group of Sand-nin chasing after two ninjas. His eyes zeroed in to see that one was from Waterfall, the other from Earth. His eyes swiveled to the group farthest from them, Leaf-nin.

"Well this is…." Kisame's eyes did a double take on a pink spot. "…interesting."

Itachi said nothing, simply observing the events unfold.

"Let's jump in." Kisame stated, already slapping his hands together for his Bakusui Shoha. He would take any opportunity to summon some water, he really was going to summon an ocean this time-

"Kisame-san." Itachi said firmly, his voice catching him with the same effect of a physical restraint. "Don't be so hasty. I believe those rogue ninjas have our artifact."

Kisame raised a skeptical brow. "When did you get the Byakugan?"

From this distance, Kisame had the better vision. Yeah, Itachi could see every minuscule detail in their immediate surroundings, he could track every step one of those ninjas made, he could faintly see the chakra running through their bodies, he could see where someone was going to move, and this was after intense concentration.

It was Kisame that could quickly scan over faces, forehead protectors, weapons, focus in on details and hand seals. Of course, once they got closer, Itachi would be the all-seeing one. While Kisame had seven times better vision than the average human, Itachi had specialized updates. It was actually quite absurd how powerful those red eyes of his were.

However, they couldn't see through clothing. And as far as Kisame could tell, those rogues weren't holding any teapots.

Itachi ignored Kisame's smart-ass comment, "One of the Sand-nin pursuing them is Ukikusa. He's in charge of the guards assigned to protect that artifact." Itachi looked over to Kisame. His face clearly conveyed: 'Really, you should know that, and I'm disappointed.'

Anyone else but Kisame would have completely missed all that. As it was, he got the message.

Kisame tried to look nonchalant.

So he skimmed over the random particulars on the mission assignments. It's not like he really needed to read every little detail anyway, especially with a partner as thorough and meticulous as Itachi. However, it was still kinda embarrassing when Itachi caught him with stupid little fine points like that.

Kisame looked on. The Leaf team suddenly split up. His gaze stayed on that pink-headed form. Another ninja stayed there doing an earth jutsu. Suddenly the pink one jumped onto the other ninja like a frog and they both disappeared into the sand.

Kisame scanned over the area to see where they would pop up. He saw the other Leaf-nin jump to surround the Rogues, and one of them fall back to the Sand-nins. The pink one and the other ninja appear in a burst of sand, ahead of the Rogues. They stood in a little crater, just out of view.

He eyes stayed on that pink one… Could it be…? Nah… But, come on, how many pink-haired kids were there? Really?

Sakura. Yeah, he remembered her name. Her annoying little friend had called back to her in that Dango shop. He only remembered her name because he thought it was funny. Really, could her parents be any less creative? Pink hair- Sakura. Done.

He was mildly curious to see her again. He wondered if he would have to fight her. This thought almost made him laugh out loud. How old was she? Twelve? She was probably still a Genin. A little innocent Genin dragged into the wrong fight.

Though, it was odd twist of fate to run into her again. They would eventually be pulled into the fight, they needed to retrieve that artifact. He started hoping she would live long enough for him to step in. Just for fun. No one else really looked that interesting.

His eyes ran over the Rogues. He focused on their faces. They looked familiar…

"Bingo Book." Itachi said simply before Kisame could ask.

"Oh." Kisame let out simply. He wasn't embarrassed for not knowing that. Itachi had copied every new Bingo Book that came out, Kisame just glanced thorough it.

"They any good?" Kisame couldn't help but feel a bit hopeful now. He was getting in the mood for a good fight.

"Kajika has some impressive summoning techniques, but other than that he's a simple Jounin. Hamo, the bulkier of the two, is known to have been an ANBU commander before he left Earth."

"Well, that's promising." A grin eased onto Kisame's face.

Suddenly Sakura and the other ninja leapt from they're hiding spot. The ninja threw a round of kunai, making the Rogues jump back. Sakura punched at the ground and before Kisame could even raise a skeptical brow, the sand shook violently with power. The Rogue ninjas were forced to jump into the air and the other Leaf-nins attacked from the west with explosive tags.

The Rogues countered and a vast dark cloud was the result.

Kisame looked over to Sakura again, where the hell had that strength come from? Wow, things just got a bit more interesting. She moved towards the skinny guy and hit the ground again, the chakra booming through the sand like thunder.

He focused his eyes on the scroll and realized Kajika was summoning two massive reptiles (he couldn't tell what type). However, Sakura's attack made him stumble and mess up the summons. Instead, only one large lizard appeared along with around 30 smaller ones.

One came running towards Sakura, and she didn't even seem to flinch. She met it head on, slamming her fist into its face.

"Ow." Kisame let out under his breath. He could tell that she completely shattered its snout.

"That's one of the Sannin's techniques..." Itachi's voice trail off, his tone had the smallest lilt of intrigue. "We should get closer." He finally said.

Kisame rolled his eyes. The kid clearly wanted to copy the technique, unable to at this distance.

"Itachi-san, don't be so hasty." Kisame echoed, chuckling at his own joke. Itachi sent him a dry glare.

One of the Leaf-nins suddenly went crazy on two lizards. That kids was really going all out. Which was rather silly in Kisame's opinion. No use getting exhausted with those, they were just lackeys. There were still the Rogues to deal with.

Also in his frantic rush, he seemed to miss the third, whose gut was filling up with fire. Sakura threw a kunai at its mouth, which was connected to a wire. The sun caught the metal line, making it glimmer and shine. Now the lizard had its mouth wrapped up and sealed shut.

It only took a few seconds for it to burst into bloody flames. Blood splattered everywhere. It covered a few Sand-nins, and lingered for a few moments before it poofed into nothing.

Kisame grinned. That was delightfully brutal. His eyes swiveled back to Sakura. Another Leaf-nin was thrown towards her like a kunai. She braced herself to catch him, but the force threw her back into a rock formation. The damn thing curved in such a way that it blocked her from his view.

His eyes turned over to the Hamo guy. A Leaf Jounin was now fighting him with chakrams. Kisame probably should have been watching Hamo from the beginning, seeing as it was looking like it would come down to Itachi and himself taking care of those Rogues.

Hamo was a bit cut up from the last Leaf-nin, but was doing just as good against this one. At first it looked like the Leaf-nin would do Hamo in. After all, it was pretty difficult to fight barehanded against chakra infused chakrams. However as the fight progressed, the Leaf-nin was miss-aiming his attacks by mere inches and then his movements became slower, his reaction time lengthened and it seemed as if his body wasn't listening to his brain anymore.

Itachi took the opportunity to enlighten Kisame. "Surrounding Hamo's body is a sphere of chakra, about a five-foot radius. It's very difficult to detect. Its purpose is to make his opponent more susceptible to his doujutsu."

Kisame focused on Hamo's eyes, but couldn't see anything more than their blue color at this distance. "What's his doujutsu?"

"It's a bloodline limit. Genjutsu oriented. The Bingo Book is not really clear what it does exactly. Something about removing the mind from the body."

"So, do you wanna fight that guy?" Kisame said rather impartial. Itachi tended to take care of the Genjutsu users, having the Sharingan and all. He also liked to challenge other doujutsu with his own.

Kisame just liked to fight, he didn't really care who.

"Sure." Itachi said simply

Hamo dealt the Leaf-nin one more hit that set him flying back, leaving another Leaf-nin to catch him.

One of the Sand-nins managed to get a good hit on the lanky guy, who was still on the massive lizard, only to find a water replacement. The Lizard turned and twisted and attacked wildly at the remaining Sand-nins and caught one with a Kanton. The lizard seemed satisfied with that and poofed away voluntarily.

The lanky guy was making his escape, having been able to preoccupy and distract most of the other shinobi, and Hamo was catching up to him.

They were running towards a group of rock formations. The rocks jutted out of the sand like towers, all surrounding a wide colossal one that looked like a natural overpass.

"Let's move in." Itachi finally ordered. Kisame didn't have to be told twice.

They leapt off the cliff and ran across the sand, meaning to cut off the Rogues at the overpass.

As soon as they passed the first rocky spire, Kisame felt his skin tingle. It was subtle enough for his mind to not fully register it. He knowingly brushed it aside.

Kisame was at the point where he didn't really care about precautions. He was hot and gross and still very uncomfortable, so he just wanted to kick some ass.

Some would call this reckless, but that was something Kisame could always afford to be.

He looked around, Itachi was nowhere to be found, and Kisame realized he suddenly couldn't sense any chakra signatures, not even his own. But with a sense of smell and hearing like his, it didn't really hinder him much. Kisame leapt up to a ledge on one of the spires and turned to see the Rogues approach a nearby rock tower.

Without much ado, Kisame grabbed Samehada and was about to just jump in, when three Sand-nins sent a volley of explosive tags at the Rogues. What made Kisame pause was that a few of those kunai went flying at the spire he was standing on and with a thundering boom, the spire was crumpling and falling down onto the Rogues.

Kisame jumped over to another spire just as the Rogues jumped to avoid the avalanche.

Then there was an awkward moment where all three of them were in the air, kinda just looking at each other in surprise and bafflement.

"Screw this." Kisame muttered having lost the element of surprise in the lamest way ever. Without reserve, he swung Samehada in one long sweep towards Kajika.

Kajika tried to pull his body back, but could only curl up his legs to protect his gut. The guy was wearing metal shin guards, but Samehada severed through the thick metal enough to dig into the flesh of his shins.

Kisame pushed and back flipped to another spire, planting his feet on the slanted surface viva chakra. Meanwhile, Kajika plummeted to the ground

Hamo flew back and landed on another spire. His eyes looked over Kisame's cloak and widened. It was now that Kisame saw the ring of small black dots surrounding his black pupil.

"Gimmie the pot." Kisame called out rather tactlessly. As soon as he said that, Kisame realized that that probably sounded funny. Okay, Kisame would be the first to admit that he didn't always think before he spoke.

From the look the ninja was giving him, Kisame needed to clarify. "The teapot."

The Sand-nins were approaching fast, but Hamo actually pulled it out. (Kisame wasn't sure from where, it was actually pretty big and he started wondering how he missed it before…)

Before Kisame could even react, Hamo shoved the teapot into the solid spire wall, and it melted through like he was pushing it into mud.

Kisame rolled his eyes. Great, Itachi would probably blame that on him somehow. Wait- where was Itachi, anyway?

---

Sakura looked back over Kenshi, having healed the Sand-nins burns as best she could. Kenshi didn't have any internal injuries like Ametsu, only his left femur had been broken. But something else was wrong with him.

His brown eyes held the same emptiness that Ametsu's did. After repeatedly scanning both of them, she found Hamo's chakra sticking so closely to their own, that it looked like a merging film.

Like a bolt it came together. The foreign chakra was masking the pain and all the other sensations the body felt, keeping the brain out of touch.

Sakura cursed under her breath, normally she would have just sent a pulse of chakra to disrupt the flow of the foreign chakra, there by dispelling the genjutsu. However, with the foreign chakra clinging to Kenshi's, her pulse would also go against his. Normally his system would naturally recover, but with his brain disassociating, she wasn't sure. She risked doing permanent damage to his chakra system.

Sakura looked between the two men, her brows dipped in worry and concern. She had no idea what was going on in their heads, but the genjutsu could be doing irreversible damage to their minds. And there was no fixing that once it happened. And in many ways, that was worse than death.

Sakura had no choice but to make such a finely controlled pulse of chakra that she only disturbed the enemy's chakra, like knife cutting between the skin and the muscle. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her hand glowing over Kenshi's chest.

What made the whole damn thing even harder was the fact that she had to do this by sensing alone, by feeling everything out. It's not as if she could actually see the chakra.

She let out a ragged sigh of frustration and began.

Sakura slowly sent out the wave, sinking through his skin and muscles and finding the chakra coils. At first she tentatively hovered over them, spread out the wave, and encompassed all of his coils. Her hands were shaking from exhaustion and she harshly willed it away.

Sweat dripped down her closed eyelids, gathering over her tear ducts. Sakura ignored it and with a twitch of her fingers, her chakra surged against the enemy's. The green clashed into yellow, making it disperse into nothing.

Kenshi gasped, his eyes snapping to focus. Sakura let out a swooshing breath of relief. She slumped over for a moment, panting. Her hands feeling raw and sore.

"Sakura…?" Kenshi breathed out, he reached out to touch her, his hand shaky as if she would disappear.

Sakura looked up and caught his hand, giving him an encouraging smile. "You okay?" She sighed out, her body craving rest.

He closed his eyes and nodded. Then they snapped open in realization. "The enemy?"

"They're being pursued by Kyo, Eriko and the Sand-nin." Sakura said, forcing her voice to be professional. She then turned to shake Ametsu out of his stupor.

Kenshi stayed quite, flexing his hands and moving his body experimentally. He waited in silence, watching Sakura work on Ametsu.

With her sight only seeing Ametsu's chakra coils, she missed the look of respect and thankfulness he gave her.

Unlike Kenshi, Ametsu's eyes slowly came into focus. It was almost comical how Ametsu was looking at her questioningly, and then his face slowly contorted into confusion and then a howl of pain. "What the hell?!" He cried out.

With his mind reconnecting with his body, he was now feeling the pain of broken bones and damaged tissue. Sakura could only be relieved that he was finally responding.

"You're going to be okay, just bear through." Sakura soothed taking his hand in hers, he clenched it, and Sakura summoned a bit of chakra to make sure he didn't break it.

Kenshi addressed her, his tone gentle but that of a commander, "Sakura, with Kyo and Eriko fighting-"

"I know." Sakura said simply. She could tell that he was going to giving her the option of staying to recover her chakra reserves. But she had responsibilities. She was their medic. She had to go make sure they were okay.

Sakura gave him a nod, which he returned. Sakura passed him Ametsu's hand. He was surprised by the force he suddenly received from Ametsu and gave Sakura an astonished look.

Sakura leapt over the rock and into the sun light. She landed hastily on the ground, and without much effort, sent chakra to her feet to help her glide over the sand.

---

Kisame swiped at the Sand-nin that was attacking him. Geez, just because you wear a mysterious black cloak, you must be on the enemy's side. The Sand-nin's gut got torn up and he dropped to the ground. But Kisame was effectively distracted from his goal and Hamo was getting away.

Kajika was in a battle with three Sand-nin, and despite his bloody shins, was really making the Sand-nin work for it with a barrage of fire jutsus. The Sand-nin were getting the upper hand with a few well placed poisoned darts, but Kajika didn't have that damn artifact, so Kisame didn't care.

Kisame leapt to a ledge on a spire and spotted Hamo a few towers ahead of him. Kisame was about to head over to him when someone suddenly melted out of the wall right beside his face.

Startled, Kisame swung Samehada and the figure jumped out of the way just in time.

All that was left was a massive crater that made it look like someone grabbed a colossal ice cream scoop and took a chunk of the spire off. Also, an irritated Itachi now stood in front of him.

"Kisame." Itachi said firmly, and Kisame knew he was particularly miffed because he dropped the honorific. "Would you bother to dispel the genjutsu?" And with a single seal Itachi took the genjutsu off of Kisame.

Now Kisame could feel everybody's chakra signatures dotting the area and he felt a set of very controlled signatures heading towards them with alarming speed.

"Well, I was trying to even the playing field…" Kisame said rather lamely, turning to the group. Maybe it was reckless to give your opponent an advantage, but if it resulted in a good fight, then it was worth it in Kisame's opinion.

Itachi completely disagreed. "Those are ANBU."

"They're still a ways off; we got at least fifteen minutes." Kisame shrugged. ANBU shmANBU.

"Stop messing around, Kisame-san," Itachi had cooled off a bit, "They sent the artifact to a third team member. It appears that he is not only a Genjutsu master, but is employing a strong Doton."

"Earth? So he's hiding in the rock?"

"I can't see him; I can only dispel the genjutsu. We'll have to lure him out." Itachi's gaze shifted over to Kajika below, who was barely holding out. "You deal with Hamo." In an instant Itachi was gone.

Kisame let out a snort. Itachi rarely fully explained what he was planning. Usually he just told Kisame a basic order. Leaving Kisame to just go with the flow and improvised as he went. Itachi had always been skilled enough to tie up any loose ends.

In the corner of his eye he saw Itachi below already cutting through two Sand-nin and descending on the third. They were in the way.

Kisame closed his eyes and sought out Hamo's chakra. To the northwest. It didn't take long to find him and without much warning, Kisame jumped down from a spire, Samehada held high over his head.

Hamo looked up just in time to roll out of the way and the sand waved and left a soft crater where Kisame landed, Samehada submerged into the sand up to its hilt. With his back to him, Hamo took the advantage to attack and sent out a hammer kick

He underestimated Kisame's speed (a lot of people do), and with disturbing strength, Kisame tore Samehada out of the ground like the sand wasn't even there, and spun to counter.

At the last minute Hamo switch tactics and pushed off the blade. Kisame didn't miss a beat and shot forward. Hamo landed, his back to a tower and jumped up, making Kisame take out the base of the rock. The spire began to tilt forward, having lost a massive part of the foundation.

Kisame threw himself to the left in time to see Hamo's hands flying through seals. He was mildly disappointed to see that Hamo's little chakra sphere (which Kisame could barely sense by the way) was the only thing that changed. Instead of that five foot radius that Itachi had mentioned, it was now twenty, which was a pretty big jump.

But ultimately… Well, whatever. Kisame jumped into another attack and instead of Hamo dodging, he threw up his forearms to block. He too had metal arm guards, and with a roll of Kisame's shoulder, Samehada ate through them.

That chakra field was being sucked in by Samehada, shrinking in on Hamo.

Hamo's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What the-"

"Surprised?" Kisame asked politely. For some reason, no matter how many times he explained what Samehada did, Kisame never got sick of it. It was like introducing an old friend.

"Regardless," Hamo muttered after Kisame's little spiel "With the density of my chakra, it won't take long. Your sword won't be able to hold it."

Kisame give him a wide grin "It doesn't matter how concentrated, raw or powerful your chakra is, Samehada has a limitless capacity to absorb it."

"But can you?" Hamo stated calmly before launching another attack.

Kisame brought up Samehada; Hamo quickly shifted his attack to a low kick. Kisame jumped up, and slammed Samehada down towards Hamo's head. Kisame's grin widened the instant the sword made contact, immediately recognizing the way the impact traveled through Samehada and back to his hand.

Mud spattered everywhere and Kisame's free hand shot out to catch the fist barreling towards his face. Kisame clenched his fist, hearing the bone crack as if they belonged to a sparrow. Hamo let out a strangled cry and quickly made a seal with his other hand.

A wave of chakra shot through Kisame's body. His eyes narrowed, a bit confused. Almost against his will, Kisame's eyes looked back to Hamo, locking with blue and black. Kisame suddenly felt dizzy, but quickly shook it off.

Before Hamo could do anything else, Kisame pulled back the fist in his hand and hurled the body away with an alarming amount of power. Hamo crashed into one of the massive rock pillars, disappearing in a cloud of dust and debris.

Kisame stood still, taking deep breaths as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He concentrated chakra to his hand experimentally. It took a little more effort than it normally did. Damn, what did Itachi say about that doujutsu?

Something about mind and body…

Kisame heard Hamo stirring. He looked over to see the guy emerge from the rubble. Kisame readied himself for another attack, but the Rogue... waited. Kisame's eyes narrowed, what was he waiting for?

He let out a sigh of slight disappointment. Kisame better end this soon. He wasn't sure what kinda of jutsu had just been place on him. And some time ago, Kisame had learned not to underestimate doujutsu (actually, it was around the time he met Itachi).

Also, now that he thought about it, it probably wasn't best to engage in close combat with this guy. Maybe Kisame should stop messing around.

Especially if it ended in a genjutsu. Because… Well, Kisame had long ago come to terms with the fact that genjutsu just wasn't his forte. It wasn't like he was Genin level or anything. It was just embarrassing that compared to how skilled he was with everything else, his genjutsu was rather mediocre. Laughably mediocre. It was one of the reasons Kisame was partnered with Itachi.

Alright. Time to end it. Kisame decided it was time to summon that ocean. Actually, why the hell hadn't he done that sooner?

Instantly Kisame registered how hot and uncomfortable he was under that hat and heavy cloak and fell into a sour mood. And lucky for him he had someone to take it out on. Kisame moved to stick Samehada in the sand beside him and brought his hands together-

Hey… Why was he moving so slowly…?

Kisame saw Hamo jump into attack, as if his sluggish movements gave him a cue. Kisame summoned Samehada to his hand, and with speed and precision that no intimate object should move with, flew through the air towards Kisame's hand. Skillfully, the blade intercepted the feet that were about to bash Kisame's skull in. Hamo reeled back completely caught by surprised, leaving himself open for an attack.

Kisame grasped the hilt firmly, and moved to tear through Hamo's gut, but his body was listening a second later than when he willed it. Hamo took advantage and managed to summon a replacement just in time. Mud splattered against Kisame. He let out a snort of annoyance.

Letting go of Samehada again, he slapped his hands together to summon the water. He let out a curse when his eyes began to register double; he was even more annoyed when his hands weren't moving as efficiently and quickly as usual.

Hamo was on him again, and Kisame's eyes widened as the color in his vision started to fade. With a sharp punch to the jaw, Kisame flew back. While airborne, he completely lost his equilibrium and couldn't tell which way was up. He wasn't sure if he was falling down, if the blow had sent him up or what. Even when his back crashed into a rock face, he really wasn't sure where he was.

Yeah, Kisame hated genjutsu. Especially if it stemmed from a doujutsu.

---

Sakura ran towards the stone towers, the sun hot on her back. She entered the threshold and instantly felt a genjutsu smear over her skin like thick grimy cold mud. Sakura grimaced and instantly dispelled it. In that moment she realized that there was something up with the rock formations. She glanced at them warily, but wasn't exactly threatened by them.

She turned her attention to find chakra sources. There seemed to be six chakra signatures in the area. Two were familiar and she instantly recognized them as Eriko and Kyo, they were fighting an unfamiliar chakra. It wasn't Hamo or Kajika either. The third Rogue maybe? She found Hamo's chakra fighting a ridiculously huge one. For a second she paused, was that even human? There was something about that chakra that reminded her of Gaara for some reason. Well, it was fighting Hamo so she would leave that alone for the moment.

Kajika was weak, and not moving. Maybe he was dying. Sakura couldn't tell.

However, the strangest chakra was faintly surging through all the spires. Some sort Doton?

Satisfied with the scan, Sakura jumped over a pile of recently broken boulders and came to a shadowed area between the spires. It was littered with bodies.

She checked each one. One had his throat cleanly slice, the death quick and surprise permanently etched on his face. Another had a kunai violently shoved up the base of his skull. Instant death, his face slack and blank. As she appeared to the last nin, her mind went over the scenarios. Did the Rogues ambush them here? The Rogues didn't seem inclined, if even capable of surprising them and killing them in that manner.

The hairs on her arm stood up, telling her there was another Rogue about. Sakura glanced at the last Sand-nin and saw his stomach. She involuntary stepped back with revulsion. It was literally shredded open, no kunai or blade did that. It looked like he was mauled by a wild animal. He was left in a pool of his own blood, his eyes staring lifelessly past her, at the blue sky.

Sakura's mind warped to Kyo and Eriko, she had to find them. Her fist clenched, there was no way she could find them like this. Broken and beaten. She couldn't let that happen. Locating them, and disregarding the other battling chakras, Sakura leaped up onto the spires.

She was pretty sure that the chakra in the spires was only projecting the genjutsu. Which she had detected, so they should be harmless to her now. Sakura leapt towards Kyo and Eriko when they're chakra suddenly blipped of the radar. Sakura's heart stopped, her chakra holding her like a gecko to the rock side.

Her brows knit together, another genjutsu? Or…? Before Sakura could even decide what to do, Hamo and that monstrous chakra were careening towards her. Then as she turned to look at them, the entire stone tower she clung to was shaking from the very foundation.

The stone cracked into massive jagged pieces, and Sakura could only jump down from boulder to boulder to the ground. She masked her chakra and landed in the sand. She stood behind a fallen column of rock, effectively out of view of the shinobi fighting on the other side. In the fresh new rock wall, Sakura found a long slash of a window between the boulders and saw the ensuring battle.

Her mouth dropped open as she saw a black cloak and a straw hat. She couldn't see his face and the sword was unwrapped revealing rows of blue sharp, something. But she knew, without a doubt in her mind.

It was Kisame.

Her brows dipped in incredulous bafflement. Wow, what where the chances of ever bumping into him again?

Sakura didn't have the time to reminisce as she was distracted by something else. Hamo's chakra signature. It was like he was much, much bigger than he actually was. It reminded her of Choji when he did the Baika no Jutsu, just a perfect sphere of chakra surrounding his body.

Kisame jumped to attack him and Hamo threw up his arms to block, to Sakura's absolute astonishment the sword tore through the thick metal as if it was made of dry drift wood. There was just the thinnest of metals covering his arms now.

And what was even more amazing was that the sword seemed to be absorbing in Hamo's chakra, the giant sphere around him was shrinking. Hamo seemed even more surprised than she was at this development. The two exchanged some words, but Sakura couldn't really make them out.

Then Hamo was attacking again, and Kisame brought his sword up to block. Sakura tried to watch their movements, but she couldn't help but notice how every time Hamo neared Kisame, that sphere of chakra engulfed him.

Sakura closed her eyes to concentrate on it and noticed that Hamo's chakra was clinging, lingering on Kisame's. Her mind instantly flew back to Ametsu and Kenshi. How that chakra blinded them to the world around them, completely isolated their minds.

As Kisame's sword slammed into what turned out to be a mud-clone, Hamo appeared to his left, sending a fist at Kisame's face. Their movements were quick. Sakura was just able to catch that Hamo's entire arm was pumped with concentrated chakra, that lingering chakra.

Kisame caught the fist in his own and without hesitation crushed it like the bones were uncooked noodles. A burst of Hamo's chakra shot into Kisame's arm, and like a poison traveled through his body. Kisame hurled Hamo into a rock face, his body crashing and causing a cloud of debris.

Sakura's eyes swiveled back to Kisame and for a moment was left wondering if the foreign chakra was even affecting him.

There was a sharp shift in the air and Eriko and Kyo's chakra was back. Eriko's was normal, but Kyo's was alarmingly alive and flaring.

Sakura scowled at herself in horror when she realized she forgot them. She was completely taken in by the fight, by seeing Kisame again. She scanned the area and found that her team was holding their own. It was two against one. They were fine.

Sakura's gaze, almost unwillingly, went back to Kisame. Kyo and Eriko could hold out a little longer…

Hamo leapt from the debris. Sakura closed her eyes to feel out the chakras and could tell that the foreign chakra was indeed taking its toll. The only reason she could tell at this distance, and without getting detected, was because there were just so much of it. From both opponents.

Kisame's movements were now slothful and Hamo flew in for an attack. Out of nowhere, that sword flew, as if on its own accord, and perfectly blocked the hit. However, Sakura noticed that while it sucked away at Hamo's chakra, it left Kisame's and the foreign chakra alone.

Kisame moved for a blow, but the chakra was sticking to him like coat of grease, separating the mind from the body. It seemed that Kisame was beginning to get disoriented.

In Sakura's mind she saw him giving into that genjutsu, saw his body broken and his mind imprisoned, just like Ametsu and Kenshi. Then Kisame was flying and crashing into the rock.

Hamo took the first opportunity he had to run, and bolted up into the spires and to the west, masking his chakra. It was then that Sakura realized he was scared. He clearly wasn't sure if he would get another chance to escape with his life and didn't want to risk it.

There was a moment of odd silence as Sakura turned back to the rubble where Kisame was. She felt the area again and found Eriko and Kyo's opponent was significantly weaker. The towers that were still in one piece pulsed with the genjutsu, Kajika's chakra was gone. Whether he was dead or just hiding she couldn't tell.

But Kisame's chakra pulsed steadily, the foreign chakra holding him in its clutches.

Sakura's heart beat like a drum in her throat, her ears rushing with blood and sudden adrenaline. Her shoulders were tense, her whole body rigid. Her hands twitched at her sides, her brow heavily set as she went over her options.

She could hurry to Eriko and Kyo and help them finish that guy up. She could choose to leave him. Leave him in the state that Ametsu and Kenshi were in, letting him suffer under that genjutsu, let it do whatever carnage it may to his mind…

Her eyes were wide as she considered this. She would be faultless. She had no duty to him. He wasn't an ally, she didn't even know what village he was from… They were strangers.

Yet, Sakura found herself hopping over the boulder and walking towards him. Her mind didn't try to talk her out of it, instead it reasoned alongside her.

It wasn't as if it was anything personal. It was just in her nature to be compassionate. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The business side of her said she had duties to Kyo and Eriko first. Not this stranger.

Despite it, Sakura's hand effortlessly picked up boulders, pushing them aside till she found his cloak.

And it was then that she decided that the only reason she was doing this was because they had met in Wave Country. And it really didn't have to make sense when she said it out loud, or if he questioned her.

Because it made sense to her. And frankly who else's opinion really mattered right now?

Sakura pulled him out of the rubble, and found out he was quite a heavy guy. With some effort she had him leaning against a boulder, all the while his head slump, turned, or covered, so she didn't manage to see his face. She kept glancing though, getting really frustrated when her hair would blow into her eyes just when his face was at an angle where she could catch a glimpse.

Her hands were too preoccupied with dispelling the genjutsu and she pushed the desire to see his him to the back of her mind for the time being. Really, she sort of already imagine him to look a certain way, what if he had a plain face after all?

Sakura scanned his body, and he didn't seem to have much physical damage at all. Wow, Kisame just got a whole bunch of bad ass points. Next Sakura place a hand over his chest and like she did with the others, sent a wave of chakra slicing between his chakra and the foreign-

In an instant Kisame was on his feet and in alarm Sakura jumped back three yards.

Her eyes were wide, her body tense, and her hands clinched in reflexive fist-

When the hell did he pick up his sword?!

Sakura was completely disturbed by his speed. His movements were sure and he didn't even look disoriented in the least.

Kenshi, who had been a former ANBU, was at least out of it for a few minutes. Kisame was already staring at her, and even though his hat was hiding his face (how the hell did he manage to keep that on?), Sakura knew he was completely focused on her.

"Why did you do that?" He asked, his voice both curious and amused. Apparently he was also very aware of what had happened.

Once Sakura had recovered from the shock of his insanely quick recovery, and gotten her eyes back to normal sized, she said the thing that first came to mind. It was a surprise to the both of them. "I don't want you dead."

It was true. There were few people that Sakura actually wanted six-feet under. Besides, if it was in her ability to help someone, she would. Okay, and maybe she realized she wanted to bump into him again. One day.

He began to laugh, sharp and deep. "Okay." He said as if humoring a five year old.

Sakura instantly took offense. "Fine, the next time we bump into each other, I won't even bother."

He laughed again, And Sakura could tell he laughed with his whole body, that his laugh started deep in his belly. She absently noted that she like those kind of laughs; Kiba and Naruto laughed like that.

"Funny how that keeps happening." He commented easily.

There was an enormous wave of chakra and both turned to the west in alarm. Something happened in Eriko and Kyo's battle... Without a glance at Kisame, Sakura bolted out towards the new battle. Now was not the time for chitchat. She healed him. She was done. Now she had a job to do.

---

Kisame watched her run off for a moment, and with a shrug finally began the jutsu he had been dying to do since he stepped foot in this forsaken desert. He summoned five shadow-clones. And each clone gathered more chakra than he ever had for this technique, he did promise an ocean this time.

"Bakusui Shoha!"

In an instant, waves gushed out of his throat and filled the area like a tsunami. Kisame got a lot of crap because the water appeared out of his mouth, but really, it was clean.

It took a lot longer than usual, simply because of the sheer volume of water, but he was happy with it. The clones disappeared when their job was done and Kisame was left standing at the bottom of an ocean.

He took the opportunity to finally clean out his gills, get the fishy smell off of him (absently, he wondered if Sakura noticed), and to all around cool his skin.

Now that that was done, he was going to go kill Hamo.

Freakin' Bastard. That damn jutsu had left him practically paralyzed. While he was aware he was in a genjutsu, for the life of him he couldn't break it.

His mind was stuck in this nightmare world. And yeah, Kisame saw some pretty freaky stuff, but frankly, he'd been on the receiving end of the Tsukuyomi before. Enough said.

Kisame swam up to the surface, Samehada strapped to his back. He contemplating taking off his cloak (though he always had trouble finding it after the battle)-

"That was completely unnecessary, Kisame."

Kisame pulled himself up on the water and turned to see Itachi, completely soaked, standing on top of a spire.

Kisame gave him a grin. "Couldn't get out of the water in time?"

"I was occupied." It wasn't like Itachi had stated that any different than usual, but Kisame knew Kajika was dead.

"Well, what did you find out?" He asked only mildly curious.

"Apparently, there were four Rogues. Hamo, Kajika, Taro of Lightning and Doroko of Earth. Their plan was to lure the Sand-nins here, ensnare them in Doroko's genjutsu, and then Taro was to ambush them. He's fighting Leaf-nins at the moment."

"So where's the teapot?

"Doroko. She is also the Doton specialist and is hiding in the rock. She wouldn't even come out to save Kajika's life." Itachi said, not exactly surprised.

"Well… I'm gonna go kill Hamo." Kisame drawled, clearly leaving Itachi to figure out how to get the artifact.

If Itachi was the type to roll his eyes, he would have, but as it was he simply disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Kisame turned to where Hamo was now fighting the Leaf-nins, apparently that Taro guy was dead. He willed the waves to move towards them, riding them expertly. Might as well make an entrance.

---

Sakura hovered over Kyo, healing him as best she could. There was just so much blood. Apparently, their opponent also had a nightmarish genjutsu in his arsenal. And whatever had happened in that jutsu had appeared on Kyo's body.

Sakura had found her team in a clearing, having arrived just as Kyo was lured into the jutsu. And while he had only been under for a few seconds, Sakura watched his skin tear itself open. Like there were phantom razor blades gliding over him. Sakura made it just in time to catch him. Her appearance had momentarily distracted the enemy and Eriko took her opportunity to attack him.

That was when the crash of waves rumbled between the spires and a floodgate was opened. In absolute confusion, Sakura carried Kyo and jumped up the spires, outrunning the rising water and found herself on the massive overpass in the center.

Sakura settled there, finding the top relatively flat and suitable to lay Kyo down on. Eriko and the enemy found it the best place to fight as well and now they were only five yards away. Sakura scowled, why wasn't Eriko luring him away?! It wasn't as if she couldn't swim, or walk…

With a cry Eriko impaled the enemy with a long spear, recently summoned from the discarded scroll on the ground. There was a moment of silence, where Eriko let out a sigh of relief. Then like an explosive kunai shooting at the platform, Hamo was careening at them.

With a massive Fuuton projected through her spear, Eriko sent Hamo away from Kyo and Sakura like a bloody kite. When he got himself together, Hamo rushed Eriko, intent on destroying the Leaf-nins that had interfered. It was all Eriko could do just to keeping him occupied. If Sakura had the opportunity to watch, she would have been impressed that Eriko was managing to holding off a former ANBU Captain.

However, Sakura had to deal with Kyo now, take advantage of what Eriko was doing for her team. Kyo's entire body was covered in blood. There wasn't one patch of skin that didn't have some sort of slice, cut or massive flesh wound.

Sakura was frantically trying to stitch him together, mending muscle and skin, but she was getting exhausted and there was just so much blood. Granted compared to all the internal wounds she had been healing earlier- Well, Sakura was just glad all the damage was external. Usually the torn flesh would be hard to see, difficult to mend in the pools of blood, but a thin veil of chakra told her where to stitch.

Sakura's breaths were coming out ragged now. She was getting dangerously low on chakra. She glanced at Kyo. While she was trying to heal the major wounds, that genjutsu threw him into shock.

His eyes were glazing over and his mouth with opening and closing. There wasn't much she could do there. He was already out of the genjutsu, he had to fight off the aftereffects himself. Sakura glance over to the carcass of the one that did this. At least Eriko had killed him…

She looked over to where Eriko was fighting Hamo, out in the middle of the platform. Eriko was becoming sluggish. He was so out of her league. Sakura's attention kept switching from Kyo and Eriko.

Sakura was numb now. Professional, clinical. With her mind being exactly what it should be in these situations, Sakura was able to calmly anticipate the moment when she would have to choose whom to save.

Eriko, Kyo or herself.

It was then that with a sickening snap, Sakura looked to see Eriko, a heap of limbs on the ground.

Her neck bent at an inhuman angle.

Maybe because it was the first time one of her comrades died on the field, right in front of her, without Sakura being able to do anything- or maybe because she had anticipated this moment ever since she decided to be a medic- or because she studied and studied, and practiced and practiced- maybe even because she felt so numb and exhausted and there was no emotions in her to be overwhelmed with at this point, or maybe it was just instinct- or autopilot.

Whatever the reason, Sakura was able to calmly heal all of Kyo's major wounds, and just as calmly stand up and prepare to protect her teammate with her life.

Hamo nodded at her, and then in seconds he was sending a roundhouse kick to her face. Sakura ducked and sent a devastating fist to his sternum.

He jumped back; having a clear memory of the last time he saw her punch. Her fist swung into the empty air and before her body could rebalance itself; his fist was shooting towards her heart. Sakura lifted her other chakra-loaded hand just in time to catch his. While she saved her heart, the sheer force still sent her crashing back into the waves.

Sakura plummeted through the blue, her back leading the way and her limbs trailing behind her with streams of bubbles. She opened her eyes, disoriented, exhaustion closing in on her.

Kyo! Her mind screamed at her. While he still had breath he was her responsibility, her mind reminded clinically.

With nothing but pure will, Sakura forced her body back to the surface. She only realized how exhausted she was when Sakura felt as if the waves were pushing her up. Man, she did not need any hallucinations right now.

However when her face broke the surface, her body didn't stop moving forward. In fact, Sakura hit the surface in a diagonal line. Like emerging out of a shadow, the air hit her entire body at once. Sakura realized she was being propelled by an enormous wave and straight onto the overpass.

She prepared her arms to catch her, fully expecting the wave to slam her against the stone like a fly swatter. However the wave shifted its force from behind her, to below her feet, safely easing her onto the rock form. Almost gently, she was lowered down and the water swish back into the ocean behind her.

Sakura sensed him before she saw him. Kisame. He stood on the other side of the platform. She looked up, but saw Hamo first. He lay on the ground, his stomach gutted like that Sand-nin. Sakura let out a sigh of relief and began to look over to see him across from her, but stopped when the ground began to swirl. The solid rock turned to mud and her feet began to sink.

Instantly Sakura knew it was a genjutsu and with her last burst of chakra slammed her fist into the ground. Her wave of chakra smashed the rock open and the natural overpass cracked in the middle and the stone began to fall into the ocean.

Sakura jumped back towards Kyo, who was left undisturbed and checked him over. He was okay. No different than when she left him. He could hold on a little longer. Sakura looked up when she detected another chakra signature.

There on a spire stood a young girl, holding what looked like a teapot.

Suddenly there was another cloaked figure behind the girl and it happened so fast, that Sakura missed it. But the girl's body was drifting lifelessly in the water and the cloaked figure had the teapot in his hand.

"Kisame-san." Was all he said. And Sakura instantly remembered that muted voice from before. Then in a puff of smoke he was gone.

Sakura turned to Kisame- and then there was a killer intent of chakra behind her – she turned around too late.

Blood sprayed over her back, over Kyo, over the rock and into the water. There was Eriko's opponent, who they should have made sure was dead. A kunai was in his hand, ready to drive it into her skull.

Sakura let out a gush of breath, her body slumping slightly over Kyo. She looked over him again, it was becoming reflexive. He was unconscious, but his heartbeat was normal.

She looked back over her shoulder and followed the sword that was embedded into the enemies chest. She looked at a familiar blue hand, up the fine muscles of his arm, the ball of his shoulder, the curve of his neck, to his face.

She traced the hard line of his jaw; her eyes lingered on his sharp teeth. They were a pristine white, long and triangular, just poking out from behind his lips. He had prominent cheekbones and a set of gills on either side, right under his eyes. His eyes. There were dark… almost like pointed shadows framing his eyes, which were a vibrant white and the pupil a black pinprick.

Sakura took it all in, every contour, every shadow, every shade of blue. And smiled. Because frankly, someone that had such a powerful air, such an intriguing presence, someone so unforgettable, went perfectly with such a remarkable and fascinating face.

It was better than she imagined.

He tilted his head to the side, wet navy locks dripping over his eyes. He looked incredibly confused, his brows dipping. He looked away from her for a moment; Sakura followed his gaze to a cloak, drifting almost comically on the surface of the water. And if he wasn't a giant of an extremely talented shinobi, Sakura would have thought he was suddenly self-conscious.

He looked back at her. It seemed as if he was studying her himself now. And as the moments ticked by, Sakura got the feeling he was waiting for something. She wasn't quite sure what he wanted to hear, and looked away for a second before it got awkward. Her eyes caught the enemy he saved her from.

"Why-"

"Because I don't want you dead." He said with a very sharp smirk. His analyzing look was gone and now he just looked cocky.

Despite her exhaustion, she found the energy to scowl, it was very clear that he was simply mocking her words from earlier. Like if it was really some big joke between them. With the flex of his arm, Sakura watched him pull the sword out of the carcass. She heard the blade- whatever it was –tear through the tissue, shredding skin and muscle, ripping organs apart as it moved.

This would have once made her sick to her stomach, but with every mission, Sakura found herself becoming more desensitized to what happened to her enemies. She watched as Kisame swung the blade away from her, shaking off the blood and entrails.

"I gotta go, kid." He said turning away from her and walking straight on to the water and over to his cloak. He didn't bother to wring it out and slipped it on. Then he found the wide leather baldric and placed the sword on his back. "You see a hat around here?" he asked her nonchalantly.

Sakura raised a brow, but couldn't help looking around anyway. She couldn't help but feel that the whole situation was suddenly bizarre. Odd…

"Damn it, I always lose it at the last minute." Kisame muttered under his breath. He turned to look at her- and then he quickly turned to the east -then back to her. His sharp white eyes bore into hers and after what seemed like long moment of silence he spoke. His tone was more serious than she had ever heard it. "You never saw me, alright?"

And it was then that Sakura saw the carved slash running through the village symbol on his headband. Blaring alarm signals went off in her head, but her body froze. He seemed to realize she just noticed and gave her a disarming grin (well, it was as disarming as it could be with a set of teeth like that). His tone lost the edge it had.

"Think of it as an exchange for those." His chin motioned to the carcasses of Hamo and her other enemy.

Kyo and herself would have been dead if it wasn't for Kisame. She was a Chuunin, a medic, not a hunter-nin. He was not her responsibility. And from what she had seen of him fight, it would have been suicide.

Sakura was satisfied with that, and stopped looking for justifications to keep him a secret. For keeping him a secret.

"Get out of here." She said easily, motion with her head. "Stranger."

And that was the truth, she reminded herself. What they were really.

He gave her a smirk. "Don't make me regret this, Sakura."

---

He stayed just long enough to watch her eyes widened in surprise. Kisame dove into the water, his body weaving through the waves just like he was made to. Man, he wished he could just get rid of his cloak and sword. When was the last time he just swam? Oh well.

His mind went back to the body he left behind. The one that was still breathing. That was a first. He learned long ago to never leave survivors. Especially when he joined Akatsuki. A small group of missing-nins couldn't afford to have the great villages knowing their comings and goings.

But…

He sort of owed her. Back when she took that genjutsu off of him. Granted she didn't save his life, but she did save him some embarrassment of Itachi finding him like that later. And while Itachi wouldn't really say anything about it, he did have a way of rubbing it in Kisame's face with a single dead-pan look, maybe shaking his head a little.

Besides, as long as Itachi didn't find out, as long as she kept her mouth shut, it wasn't that big a deal. Right? It was just one kid.

And well, maybe Kisame was a little impressed with her. Actually for a pink haired twelve year old, he was a lot impressed with her. Not just her Sannin technique, but the fact that she was even able to take the genjutsu off of him. And she did inadvertently get the artifact for them.

It wasn't that she broke the overpass where the Earth girl lurked, Kisame could have done that with his pinky. It was that she channeled chakra into the blow, dispelling the genjutsu hiding her and interfering with the Doton protecting her.

Then there were her healing abilities. He hadn't seen too much, but he knew that bloody Leaf-nin should have been dead. Kisame had never even heard of such a young medic with that kind of skill. The kid must have been born with innate chakra control. There was no learning things like that.

And maybe another reason he let her live was because… Kisame didn't really wanna admit this was one of the reasons… but it was. She smiled at him. When she saw his face she had smiled at him. Smiled. A real one. An honest to goodness smile. Her eyes lit up and everything.

To be honest, Kisame had figured that maybe his cloak was on. He actually had to make sure it was still floating in the water. Then he was insanely confused as to why she didn't scream or cringe away in horror. Really, for a small child, it was a first.

No, she actually smiled. At him. Hoshigaki Kisame.

And well, Kisame didn't really feel like killing the first one to ever do that.

Anyway, he figured with his hat off, it was only a matter of time before she noticed the line on his headband. He was hoping his face would distract her to that, which had happened in the past. But she noticed, and that was the only time she stiffened.

He had expected that. Itachi had told him to finish her off (in his own way). Right after he killed that earth girl. Kisame was going to do it too. A tad regretfully, but yeah, he would of gotten around to it.

But… he made his choice. He was already docked in pay anyway. What was there to lose? He could afford to be reckless.

Kisame propelled himself out of the water face first, his feet planted on the tip of a spire that just poked out of the water. Itachi was waiting at the water's edge.

"You know, technically your ocean's a lake." Itachi commented, looking over the great expanse of water and the group of rock formations that were now a dot on the blue horizon.

"What?" Kisame let out, a tad scandalized at the suggestion. He turned and looked over his handy work. The sheer magnitude of the water had forced the sand to form a large basin. It blasted the sand away and pushed it down, making the ocean at least thirty miles wide and Kisame knew it was fifteen miles deep.

Itachi turned to leave. "I believe you still have 98 percent of the country left to flood."

"When we have more time." Kisame said easily, and then followed Itachi's lead into the desert. Regretfully leaving the body of water behind.

They picked up the pace and were careening through the sands. Kisame's mind couldn't help but drift back to Sakura.

Maybe one day he would bump into her again, when she was older, wiser and stronger. When she would be an exceptional kunoichi. There weren't too many of those out there. Which was a shame, because they were really fun to fight.

So one day, maybe he'd get to fight her. And when he inevitably beat her, he'd spare her again. Because there were very few people he generally preferred to stay alive in the world.

"Hold this." Itachi suddenly commanded, tossing the iron teapot over to Kisame.

Kisame rolled his eyes. How come he always ended up being the pack mule? Kisame's thoughts headed to more pressing matters. He was getting hungry…

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.To Be Continued.

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A/N – Thanks to everyone that reviewed and added this story to their favorites. I greatly appreciate it.

Gah, this thing took me forever. Computer crashing on me, having to rewrite pages of this. Man, sorry for the ridiculously long chapter. But I really wanted to keep all their little bump-ins confined to one chapter.

Hopefully no one got bored.

Heh, and my Kisame is a bit more casual than I think he is in cannon. He's really fun to write though, so hopefully you guys don't mind.

Love it? Hate it? Lemmie know. Also, if you see any inconstancies, or if something seems off, you know the drill.

-Mellow Penelo