More Breaking Benjamin. 'You Fight Me', this time. And also Skillet.
Disclaimer: Still not mine. Why do you even ask?
Dedication: To all the wonderful reviewers.
---
I stared at her, shocked. No. I was not making a blood pact. No.
But it was Sasuke who snarled and wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Tsunade, that will never happen," he growled out, and I wanted to shush him for being such an ass to her, but he was right.
I'd seen what a blood pact had done to Neji and Tenten. I wasn't going to let anything like that happen to me.
Hinata was standing at my right side, her eyes wide and scared. And Naruto, Naruto was growling, more darkly and more lowly then Sasuke was, but it was there. Tenten and Neji were clinging to each other, on my left.
And then I realized that I had friends, and that I didn't want to leave them.
Tsunade half-smiled at us, her lips curving upwards, and a strange look in her eyes. I'd seen that look before; Anko gave it to me whenever she saw me with Sasuke. Damn it, that couldn't be good…
"I said 'How much would you hate me if I asked you to make a blood pact?' I never said it had to happen. And I was asking Sakura, not you, Uchiha." We all noted the use of his last name, and we all knew that if Tsunade really wanted this, then she would just order it, and it would happen.
If only because I never go against orders. But she had asked me a question, and I was going to answer it honestly. "I'd hate you for a really long time, Tsunade, and I really don't want to have to do that."
She sighed again, but it was a different type of sigh, more satisfied then sad. "Good. No, you're not making a blood pact with him, but…" she trailed off, and I didn't like the sound of this.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our world is changing. Our enemies are getting stronger and stronger, and certain sacrifices are needed to be made. Thankfully, I refuse to allow blood pacts to happen under my watch, excusing," she nodded at Neji and Tenten, "The two of them."
"So what do you want us to do? I'm not making any fucked-up pact with Silver. I hate him, Tsunade, and you know that. Blood-pact or no, we won't work together. And I'm pretty sure this one," I jerked my head at Sasuke, who was still growling "Wouldn't like it too much, you think?"
She nodded at my assessment, and I knew I was safe.
"I had to suggest it, the council wanted me to. I'm sorry Sakura. But anyways, the other reason why I called you down here is very simple."
"Okay, what is it?"
"You remember that I said I have a job for the three of you? Well, you're going undercover, back to the hotel where Anko and Kakashi and the others are."
I stared at her. There was underlying urgency in her words, and I was suddenly terrified for the adults I had loved my entire life.
"We haven't heard from them in three days, and I'm starting to get worried. You're going back there, and investigating why we haven't heard from them. It's not like Anko not to call."
I looked at Tsunade, baffled. "But I talked to her like… yesterday!"
Tsunade shook her head, slowly. "No Sakura, I don't think you did. Somehow, I don't think that was Anko."
I heard a sharp intake of breath, and then I realized that it was mine. If I hadn't been speaking to Anko… who had I been speaking to?! Tsunade knew what I was thinking, probably from the look on my face. "You may have been speaking to… well, you weren't speaking to Anko."
I shook my head, and watched my vision spin. "But I heard Kurenai! And I know Anko's voice! No one can fake someone else's voice!"
Tsunade shook her head, all slowly again, but she didn't disagree with me. "Either way, it doesn't matter. You all are going there, and I expect daily reports Sakura."
Her voice went steely. "And if you find that my top six agents are dead, I want you back here immediately. I don't care how many humans have to die, I want their bodies back."
I clenched my jaw. No. Anko and Kakashi were not dead. Tsunade was just giving us a warning, in case it did happen. But it wouldn't. It couldn't.
I took a deep, calming breath, and nodded. The only thing I could do now was accept the orders, and go with it. "When do we leave?"
""Preferably now, but tonight is what I'm expecting of you. Go back home, get cleaned up, pack, and be ready to go by eight."
Sasuke hands, which had yet to leave my waist, gently pulled me towards the door. Tsunade looked down, at the papers on her desk, and I knew we were dismissed. I was never more miserable to leave that tiny, cramped, badly lit space, and to break out into icy white sunlight.
I smiled bitterly at the five other people with me. Sasuke was still holding onto me, his fingers never leaving mine.
I was happy for it. My heart hurt, and I didn't want to be alone right now. The thought of being alone scared me.
"So where do we go now?" I asked.
Tenten shrugged, her body still close to Neji's, and I tilted my head at her when she spoke. "I don't really have anywhere. I'm an orphan, you know?"
"Then let's split up, and meet back at my house." I paused, and thought for a moment. "God, this is almost becoming routine, huh?"
Hinata laughed, and linked her fingers through Naruto's, and pulled him forward with her, until he was running down the street with her, laughing happily in the crystal clear air. I watched him pick her up and swing her around and around, the sunlight bouncing off her blue hair blue-as-the-sky-just-as-the-sun-sets, and I thought that they were going to be very happy for a very long time.
I looked over at Sasuke, and whispered "They're almost unfair, you know?"
"Yeah," he whispered back, "I know."
---
I stared up at the ceiling of my still-half-painted bedroom, the walls no longer white, but now were a rainbow of colours that I couldn't name like-red-and-blue-and-yellow-and-pink-and-green-and-and-and…
Sasuke was lying next to me.
He never left me alone, anymore. I don't blame him; I think he thought that I was going to kill myself or something.
Because after the others had gone off in their own directions, I had felt slightly sick, and I had wanted to go find a corner to curl up in and die. Or maybe just puke my lungs out.
I feel like that a lot, actually.
We lay there in complete, perfect silence. I love silence. It's such a beautiful thing. And there were so many things I wanted to say, but I didn't want to ruin that ideal, innocent, golden silence.
"Princess…" Damn him, he ruined it.
"Hm?"
"We might die."
I nodded at the ceiling. I knew that. We all knew that. But I didn't want to know where this talk was going, so I decided to play dumb. "Sasuke, everyone dies."
"We might die tonight," he clarified, and I wanted to wince.
"So? There's usually this probability that someone is going to die."
"Do you want to die?" he asked, and I actually winced this time. Why did he have to ask such annoyingly hard to answer questions?
I shook my head. "No one wants to die. It's the reason why leeches tend to have so much success in this world. It blows." I growled as I ended the statement, because it was true.
"Sakura, I asked if you want to die, not everyone else."
I sighed. "No, I don't want to die."
"Why not?"
I shrugged, my many pillows curling about my shoulders, and I grumbled softly. Why was he asking so many questions?
"Why do you want to know?" Honestly, I really don't get him. He loves playing twenty questions, but he'll never answer any of mine!
He shrugged back. "I want to know you."
I rolled onto my side, and stared at him. Why did he have to make every single little emotion I felt feel a hundred times stronger?! Because right now, I want to not only kick him, I want to kiss him, and I am really starting to hate this confusing-emotions crap!
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
I laughed, softly softly-softly-what-are-you-trying-to-hide-softly, and mumbled "That doesn't really help me."
"I know it doesn't."
"So just… talk? Tell you everything?"
He nodded, and I looked at him for another minute. "Only on one condition."
"Shoot."
"You tell me everything, too. It's only fair."
He nodded again, and I half-smiled at him. He stared at me, and then said "Start there."
"There? Where?" I asked him. I was totally confused.
"With that smile. Where'd you get that smile?"
I smiled that half-smile again, and I whispered into the continually-still air "Anko. It's Anko's smile."
He sort of grinned at me, and I felt my heart do some weird dying-bird flip-flop flutter thing. I wanted to close my eyes, but I didn't, because I didn't want to miss the look on his face when I told him about the first time I'd been locked in a closet.
I took a deep breath, and began my monologue.
I told him about nights spent lying on rooftops in New York, looking for stars in the night sky but never finding them because the lights from the city blurred them out, and about spring days spent in Washington, staring at the pretty cherry blossom trees, and about Tokyo's sky scrapers and the weird fashion trends there and about the amazing drifting races I'd come to love, and about Toronto, where Anko had nearly been killed, and where Argent was still buried.
I told him every leech encounter I could remember, and I told him everything I knew about Silver, and every other leech I'd ever met, and I told him how much I hated crying, because crying was weak, and I hated weakness in myself.
I told him about Anko and Kakashi' wedding, and I told him that I'd never really had friends. I told him about growing up with Kurenai and Shizune as older sisters, and about Asuma and Genma and Gai as crazy older brothers, and about having Tsunade as a hard-assed grandmother. I told him about Lee, and how over-the-top he was, and about Shino, a strange kid I'd met once in my life, when Kakashi thought that I needed friends to survive.
I told him that I didn't even really consider my blood relations my family anymore, because they were just all gone, and that Anko and Kakashi were my family now.
I told him everything.
And then he, in turn, told me his stories. So I listened quietly while he told me what his older brother had been like, and what his favorite foods were.
He told me about growing up here, in Konoha, with so many other kids around, even though a good three-quarters of the time he just wanted to be left alone. He told me what it like coming home to a blood-splattered house, and seeing his father shielding his mother and Itachi, and his mother screaming for him to run. I laced my fingers through his during that part, because he looked like he still wasn't over it, and I don't blame him for that fact.
He told me how much growing up alone had hurt.
He told me what meeting a child Naruto was like, and how strange the sunny-haired boy had been, even then. I giggled, because Naruto really was strange, albeit in a good way. He told me about Shikamaru, too damn smart for his own lazy good, and Temari, from a desert town in the south, and how they spent most of their time fighting, but they couldn't deal with anyone else on a daily basis. He told me about Karin and Suigetsu, and how they'd been found in a ghost town together, all alone, and how often they had screaming matches. When he said that, I remembered what Hinata had said about the make-up sex. Yummy.
He told me what meeting Kaeleo had been like, and how that whole nine-year-old meeting had changed him forever.
He told me everything, and I think that part of me loved him, right then, because Sasuke never opened up, not to anyone, or so Hinata told me.
And then everything was quiet for a while, because we were both as packed as we could be, and we were just playing the waiting game again. Waiting, waiting, wait-wait-waiting for something to happen.
---
And then we were driving again, heading back to that hated part of town. Sasuke was in the driver's seat, and I was half-asleep. I love cars, but I still prefer motorcycles.
And honestly, you can't ride a motorcycle to school, and not expect to get attacked by boys, which is why I never rode mine.
Besides. My bike belonged on skyways in the middle of the night in New York, not on normal roads in a tiny city. I looked out the windows at the passing suburbs, distaste staining the inside of my mouth.
The sun wasn't even out today.
It was hiding in the clouds, and that gave me a bad feeling. I don't like it when the sun's not out; because that means the leeches have plenty of opportunities to go out and have a meal. Blah. Although, considering, it didn't really matter, because the sun's setting, and it's like watching a losing battle over and over and over again.
I saw Naruto's probably-stolen convertible Ferrari smoothly join Kakashi's Viper, and I could see that Tenten and Neji were curled up in the back together. Nothing new there.
I watched the city lights flash over my face, and I yawned. I know we're going to be there, soon now, soon, but I'm so tired.
I don't even register it when we pull up to the hotel from before, and Sasuke carries me in. I'm already asleep.
---
I woke up the next morning in a strangely familiar room. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, and I suddenly felt a very strange sense that something, or someone, was missing. I couldn't put my finger on it, and I let out a worn out sigh.
I sat up, and I ran my fingers through my snarled hair, and then I let out another exhausted groan. I yawned, and looked around the yucky hotel room. It was the same one we'd stayed in last time, but they'd replaced the bathroom door.
Snort. The poor door.
I yawned again, and plugged my iPod into the speakers. Hard rock blasted through the speakers, and I sighed in satisfaction.
This place may have been shitty, but they had good speakers, and that was enough for me.
And I really love hard rock.
I laid down on the bed, face down, and let the bass pound through me. I mumbled the words along with the singer, and I didn't hear the bathroom door open and close.
So it more then slightly freaked me out when I felt lukewarm drops of water hit the back of my neck.
"GAH!!!" I screamed, and I whipped around (or, at least, I tried, considering that I was curled up on a bed), and I half wanted to punch and/or kick whoever it was. When I finally flipped myself over, I realized that I was looking up at Sasuke.
And then I realized that he was only wearing a towel, and that half-want tripled, and I glared up at him, trying (and probably failing miserably) to look unimpressed. Actually, I kind of had an urge to jump him, but I squashed it.
I was not letting this insane urge have its way. The last insane urge that got it's way… Well, let's not talk about that, shall we? I continued to glare up at him. "Put some pants on, Sasuke."
He smirked down at me, and I watched a droplet of water trace it's way down his neck. "Are you sure?"
The innuendo in those three words has staggering. I glared harder, and tried not to notice the fact that he was very attractive. "Yes. Now go put some pants on before I freak out and kill you."
He continued to smirk at me, and I continued to glare at him, and, just like everything else with Sasuke and I, it probably wouldn't have ended for a very long time (probably not until one of us died), but then the door-bell-knocker thing rang.
Damn.
So I went and opened the door, conveniently forgetting that Sasuke wasn't exactly wearing clothes. He growled at me as I did it, and he sounded annoyed, and it was funny. Pfft, I don't care what he thinks, it's just Sasuke.
It was Hinata and Naruto at the door. I ushered them in, and then closed the door with a quiet 'ka-chik'. If Tenten and Neji wanted to come in, they could knock, too.
And then I looked at Hinata and Naruto, to watch their reactions to Sasuke in his state of undress. They had very different reactions, to put it mildly.
Naruto crowed and congratulated me on whipping his best friend into shape, which was kind of funny. Hinata turned red as a beet, and started stuttering, which, on the other hand, was very funny. Poor Hinata. I'm so mean to her.
But poor Hinata's torture didn't last very long, because Naruto quickly covered her eyes, and sent a very protective-boyfriend glare at Sasuke.
I giggled. It was funny. Naruto glaring at a half-naked Sasuke because said boy was making the first boy's girlfriend blush, and then covering her eyes to make it easier on her, it was funny.
And then it got funnier when Hinata tried to pry Naruto's hands off her eyes, so that she could see what I was laughing at, and he just hid her face in his chest to keep her from having her mind scarred.
I broke down laughing, and I spent the next five minutes howling on the floor, laughing so hard that my ribs hurt. While everyone else stared at me like I'd gone mad, I slowly regained my composure. "Sasuke, put some pants on. That's the third time I've told you that, and no appreciates your scrawny, almost-naked body. So go. Now."
Of course, I was lying, but no one else needed to know that…
He looked somehow offended (also very funny, because his eyes sort of crossed, and his lips curled up all weird in this lame attempt at a sneer…), and he stalked off, to find some pants, I presume.
I yawned yet again, and listened to the grumbling that was coming from my stomach. It wasn't quiet. Sigh. My stomach demanded food. Now, or so it said. And if I didn't feed it, very bad things would happen.
So I pulled Naruto and Hinata out of our room, with a yell over my shoulder to Sasuke, and the three of us went downstairs to eat the shitty continental breakfast that the hotel offered, and I was still creeped out by the front-desk guy, and he smiled all creepily at me again, and I shuddered.
Then Sasuke came down, and sat down with us, right next to me, and sent a fierce glare at the front-desk guy, and he stopped staring at me. Yay! No more creepy staring!
And then Neji and Tenten joined the other four of us, and they both looked a little annoyed to be up this early. I don't blame them; getting up early is pure hell.
And so the six of us were sitting there, at a dingy table in this ugly, dirty hotel lobby-place, and then Hinata said "So… what now? We're here, right?"
I shrugged, a grimace on my lips. "We go find my parents, I guess. Can anyone pick a lock?"
Neji nodded, and mumbled "I can." Naruto nodded as well, and said "Teme taught the both of us how to a while ago."
I grinned at him, and said "Good, then I need you to pick the lock on room… hmm, Tsunade said 212, 213, and 214… so Neji, you and Tenten take room 212, Naruto, you take Hinata and do room 214, and Sasuke and I'll go through 213. Is that okay?"
They all nodded. They also all knew why I wanted 213. It was Kakashi and Anko's room, and they knew that I wanted to search it myself.
I'm kind of obsessive-compulsive, so sue me.
And so then we walked up a flight of stairs, turned a corner, and looked down the hallway. I went straight to 213, and stared at the door. Damn. I didn't bring my picks with me.
Longingly, I watched Sasuke pull out a length of metal, and slip it into the key-hole. See, despite my dislike for crappy, old hotels, they do have an upside; they rarely have automated key cards, and picking a lock is easy enough.
I pushed the door open, and found, to my horror, utter chaos. There was black guck on the walls, and everything shred-able in the room had been shredded. There was white… fluff? …everywhere, as well, and then I realized that they were feathers.
I shook my head. A place like this shouldn't have been able to afford feather pillows. Actually, now that I think about it, they shouldn't have been able to afford a sound system like the one in our room, either.
There was something very, very, very bad going on, and I had a feeling that we'd need back-up. I decided to call Tsunade as soon as we got out of there, but I knew I was going to make the best of this situation while I had the chance.
I walked towards the closet, the one place that I knew Anko tended to hide things. I pulled the doors of it open with a wince, and I found both her, and Kakashi's, clothes. They weren't disturbed, and that weirded me out.
I pulled out one of Kakashi's leather jackets, and slipped it on. It smelled like him, and I was instantly reminded of safety. I shoved my hands in the pockets, and when my fingers brushed against something that crinkled, I yanked it out.
I was a slip of paper, that had Anko's writing on it. It was a phone number, and my name. I blinked at it, and then slipped it back in my pocket. "Sasuke! C'mere, we need to go through their clothes!"
"What?!"
I rolled my eyes. "Just get your ass over here, okay?"
So we went through their clothes for another hour, although Sasuke refused to touch anything of Anko's.
"You're stupid. They're just clothes."
"You mum is scary."
"Why do you say that?"
"Sakura, she managed to whip Kakashi. There is something very wrong with someone who is able to do something as impossible as whip Kakashi!"
I rolled my eyes at him again. "I have Kakashi whipped, and so does Tsunade! He's too lazy not to do what he's told! And he knows that if he does avoid whatever it is he's being told to do, he'll get in trouble!"
He shook his head at me. "The females in your family are scary."
I rolled my eyes at him again, and examined another slip of paper, this one in what looked like Kakashi's writing. It said 'Brittl-' but the rest of the word was ripped off.
I growled. "Damn it, what did this? This room is fucked twenty-one ways to Sunday, and I don't know where to start!"
Sasuke just shook his head at me again, and pulled me off the feather-strewn ground.
"Let's just get out of here."
"'Kay…" I mumbled, and followed him out, locking the door behind me. We'd be back later, but right now, we had to get the others, and get ready for patrol. Well, no, that was a lie, but I needed to get out of that room.
There was nothing that said "Hey, Anko and Kakashi are dead, too bad for you!", but it felt… wrong… in there. Like there was something missing in extreme proportions.
And I knew I'd spoken to Anko and Kurenai. I knew it.
I shuddered, and wrapped my arms around myself. Sasuke, walking next to me, carefully dropped his arm over my shoulders. I blinked up at him, and then I smiled.
He sometimes has a strange aversion to touching me. I don't understand it, and I don't expect to, but that's okay.
He's still mine.