Inspiration: Boats and Birds- Gregory and the Hawk.

"Far from here with more room to fly. Just leave me your stardust to remember you by."

Pairing: The same as always.

Notes: Okay so here's the chapter. Not going to make a long Authors note this time. It's a relatively long, and very important one. Also I'd like to thank Rice for editting this for me. Nice to have your eyes on this. Thanks for being great. Also everyone who's followed, reviewed, and shared their love. I am glad to have your support.

Theme: Romance/Drama

Rating: Mmmm for Mature: following themes are or will be present in this chapter or throughout the fic: some vulgarities such as language, sexual themes, humiliation, drugs, and other dark themes.

[And never come back if you find another galaxy. Far from here with more room to fly ]

He was entirely past the limit he'd set for himself. Any minute now he'd reach that point of no return which would probably have him breaking down doors.

Sasuke Uchiha was nothing if not serious and reliable. He didn't have time to be unpredictable and angry all the time.

This was all her fault! If she hadn't showed up here things would all work out in his favor, just like they always had before. He couldn't believe that such a circumstance could shatter his self-image so thoroughly. It was outrageous to think about.

He was pacing back and forth in his brothers room as he waited for Itachi to return. It had felt like he was waiting for hours. Sasuke was quickly growing so impatient he was beginning to sweat, his knuckles were permanently aching from the strain of being gripped into fists for hours and his forehead was creased into a frown he couldn't seem to iron out.

How could he be confined to wait in this room while his brother was allowed to roam free and search the halls?

His brother told him he was reckless and would be better put to use waiting. Waiting! Sasuke wasn't supposed to be put on the backburner; he was supposed to be doing all the hard work.

Sakura would want to see him, he just knew it. Being without him probably had her knees shaking with fear. After all, look what would have happened last time if he didn't save her.

Unwillingly, his face screwed up into a deeper grimace as he thought of that moment. Hidan was lucky he didn't kill him for that.

Not to be mistaken with the fact that he had feelings for Sakura, Sasuke did genuinely believe that his old friend from the leaf didn't deserve such a fate. It was probably even her first time being touched by a man like that.

Annoyed at the thought in general, he punched the wall and it rumbled, knocking loose dust that sprinkled atop his cloak. He brushed it off harshly, as if its very existence might push him over the edge.

"Annoying." He mumbled to himself, and turned to the door without a second thought. No prompting, simply out of instincts and the inability to deny it anymore, he snatched open the door. It seemed he was making a habit of acting rashly where a certain pink haired Kunoichi was concerned.

He couldn't and wouldn't be confined to his brother's bedroom like he was a useless child.

Slithering out of the room like a snake, he shut the door behind him carefully and peered up and down the hallway.

With his dark eyes he saw no one, but to make certain he switched on his sharingan. Coast appeared to be clear.

Sakura was in Kisame's room last he knew, and that was around an hour and a half ago. That's a long time to be with any one member of their organization. Moving cautiously down the hall, Sasuke wondered how he managed to make it that long without checking on her.

Moving like he feared that his footsteps would alert someone to his intentions, Sasuke slid along in the dimness of the hall. The flickering of the occasional candlelight offended his stealth by casting a warm glow over his features and causing his shadow to stretch menacingly out in front of him. The grooves of his boots left imprints on the ground, and he could see the several other pairs of foot prints up and down, this way and that.

Including a very fresh set of prints that he could only assume belonged to his brother.

His slowly slinking along eventually brought him to the entryway to the next hall and he began to turn it very tentatively. Sticking his nose out first, he peered around the bend to see the flickering of a black cloak turning at the far end of the hall. They disappeared behind the corner before he could get a look at who might have been at the other end of that cloak.

He was alone again.

His eyes shot to Kisame's door, which was directly in the middle along the wall, then back to the now absent hall. Whoever they were, they didn't appear to be coming back but he over-cautiously halted anyways.

Thirty seconds. He would wait thirty seconds and then he'd quickly check Kisame's room for Sakura. He simply couldn't wait any longer, leaving her in that room with that brute.

Not to say that Kisame wasn't a nice guy, but Sasuke was reluctant to trust anyone with Sakura who wasn't himself or Naruto, maybe his stupid brother.

The silence of the hallways in the Akatsuki hideout was oppressing and he held his breath in fear that even such a thing would be too loud.

Fifteen seconds of stillness and Sasuke wondered if waiting the entire thirty would be a waste of his time, before he heard something that made him immediately go rigid. He hurriedly covered any trace of his chakra as if being out in the hall at all was a crime.

With his spinning red and black eyes, he listened and frozen, he waited.

The realization that it was not one but two sets of footsteps came under Sasuke's unyielding attention. They were walking side by side but neither was speaking. A grave frustration overwhelmed him.

Neither of the two were stepping particularly softly and it was beginning to make him paranoid. Did they know he was there? Were they just trying to get under his skin?

Sasuke was holding his breath as the suspense fell over him like a thick coat. He pressed his back against the grooved wall as he waited for the steps to make their way towards him.

No such occurrence came about however, as the two sets of Akatsuki stopped.

An absolute dread shot severely up his spine and he fought the strain of his muscles to sprint towards the new silence.

The steps had stopped exactly half way down the hall; exactly in front of Kisame's room.

Sasuke cursed internally as he listened to what sounded like a whisper, but he couldn't pinpoint the voice responsible for it for a reason he didn't want to think about.

The taxing sound of a door hinge swinging open and then horror overtook him.

A gasp, the short and clipped sound of a very simple and easily restrained struggle. "You!" Sakura's voice rang out and it was startlingly loud.

Sasuke's face twisted with conflict. What should he do? Run to her; attempt to cut in and save her? More sound of struggle, a loud thud, followed by Sakura's very disturbing garbled groan, and Sasuke had nearly made up his mind.

He owed her this much at least. He had to save her.

Beginning the motion to round the corner he heard another voice, one that wasn't Sakura's but was very feminine. He placed it instantly. "Don't move." Konan. Konan was speaking and she gave Sasuke pause.

Konan wouldn't involve herself in this affair unless she'd be commanded to.

This wasn't another member of the Akatsuki grabbing Sakura so that they could have fun with her.

Dismay filled Sasuke to the brim. This isn't a random occurrence; this was direct orders from Pein.

"Hey Pinky, long time no see, hm?" His eyes clamped shut at the sound of the second voice.

Fuck, Deidara.

When he opened them, he was gazing into another pair of black and red eyes on the other side of the hallway.

Itachi stood across the hall from him, a very foreboding stiffness in his form, and his eyes were daring Sasuke to move.

Fuuuck.

He clenched his fingers into fists, not for the first time this day.

Before him Itachi was motionless, but a slightly anxious expression could be seen on his brother's features.

"Glad to see you're still feeling feisty." Deidara's words made Sasuke want to forget himself again, and run to her rescue. "Let's go, hm?"

Only when he looked back at his brother was he able to check the impulse. Itachi looked positively uncomfortable.

He had closed his eyes and was standing next to Sasuke as still as the wall.

Somehow, subconsciously, Sasuke made his choice, even though it pained him. He could hear the retreating of footsteps and he didn't make a move to follow them.

He thought he heard Itachi let loose a sigh of relief, but there weren't any expressions on his older brother's face when he twisted towards him.

Sakura had just begun to feel like things were coming back into prospect. Her plan was in set in action and she was grateful for Kisame's cooperation. The only thing she required was Sasuke and Itachi's support. She knew loosely where they were, but how could she get there?

Thoughts of escape, plans, building up her chakra, eating, and running away were cluttering her mind and taking up her attention. So much so that she didn't hear the steps approach after Kisame left.

She didn't notice the door open, didn't even detect the figures at the door until she glanced up.

At first she assumed it might be Kisame, but straightaway she knew that couldn't be true. He had only left a moment ago.

When her eyes settled on the two dark forms in the doorway, she felt her heart jam itself uncomfortably in her throat. Black cloaks with red clouds, one outline much taller than the other. The shorter of the two stepped through into the room and Sakura was surprised to see it was a woman.

In spite of how dangerous it was, she wanted to relax at the sight of another female. Someone who couldn't harm her in the same way the others could.

However it would be ignorant to think that just because she was a woman she wasn't dangerous at the moment.

Sakura's eyes relocated to the other person in the hall and she shrunk into a smaller form of herself. Her arms wrapped around her knees and she pleaded this wasn't happening. She didn't want this to be happening so soon.

Kisame had just exited a moment ago. Surely he couldn't have had enough time to speak with Naruto. Besides, she'd planned on trying to locate Sasuke before this. Sasuke would at least refuel her confidence.

This was too soon.

This would ruin everything.

She recalled Kisame's last words to her, just before he left the room to do her that favor; "This is monumentally stupid, ya know." She'd been overwhelmed by the contradictions in the sentence. The playful tone, yet the reprimanding words. There was a minor pause in which he looked back at her and gave her a sharp grin, "Don't do anything to get killed." Though it sounded mean she could tell it was almost affectionate. It had given her hope.

It was too soon for that hope to be stolen away from her.

The female Akatsuki was skirting towards her before she could move and she gasped at the suddenness of it. The violet haired woman moved fluidly, almost beautifully, but her eyes were a blank slate and her expression was too clear. This woman wouldn't harbor any sympathy for her.

Sakura knew she was out of options but she couldn't just stand there.

She was going to make her attempt to run, but the female before her must have sensed something in her too distinct green eyes. The thought was dropped into the darkness of the room as Sakura suddenly felt a remorseless fist plummet directly into her stomach.

It racked her petite, weak frame and Sakura sputtered, folding forward into the woman who had suddenly appeared directly before her.

Her pink head flopped onto the woman's shoulder not too softly. Cheek bone pressed against her collar bone, and her frame still curled around the Akatsuki's fist. She groaned as the pain stunned her.

Perhaps if she had more chakra built up she could put up more of a fight, but there was nothing left in her. She attempted what little she could; to push herself away from the woman but she was met by words as undefined as what time of day it was. "Don't move."

Sakura submitted as she was hoisted up by a kunoichi's strength and carried in both of the woman's arms bridal style. The choice of carrying her that way was surprising to Sakura, but she was more stricken by the prospect of being off the ground again.

Never had Sakura been seasick nor had she ever been afraid of heights before in her life; but the wave of queasiness that returned over her by being lifted away from the ground again, was startling. She reached a hand up and clutched onto the violet haired woman's opposing shoulder in an attempt to steady her rapidly devolving stability.

For a reason she didn't want to think about, her silent pleading was met by feminine arms squeezing just a little tighter around her form.

They were walking towards the door a moment later and Sakura heard a familiar voice. She looked up into the eyes of the man she wasn't sure she wanted to see. The blond hair and blue eyes that she vaguely remembered, but she couldn't remember where she'd seen them.

She didn't dare look at him as he spoke to her, instead she focused on not feeling sick from being in the air. The feeling of the female next to her was welcomed, even though it was still a little frightening. At least this woman wasn't carrying her like she was a sack of potatoes.

They walked down the hall at a surprisingly and undesirably swift speed. The only thing Sakura could think of was that she hoped they had given Kisame enough time to speak to Naruto.

She wanted more than anything to see him again, so maybe this would turn out in her favor. Her blond best friend, with his charming smile and his bright blue eyes. The prospect of being near him was too good to deny.

Her heart was beating so hard that it was making her breath laborious. The woman who was holding her tilted her chin down to make eye contact. It was a very curt, brief glance, but Sakura was shocked by it. There seemed to be actual attentiveness underneath the honey colored eyes.

The hallways they walked through dissipated into the open room that she ambiguously remembered standing in earlier, the memory of removing her clothes. She would think it had only been a dream were it not for the very real fact that she was now wearing only Kisame's black training shirt. Even as she was being carried bridal style into the room, her breasts were peeking out of the armholes and her bare legs were overtaken by chills.

The blond haired man at their side was being quiet and she peeked over at him over the woman's shoulder to see him gazing at her. A somewhat amiable smirk on his face as he lifted his hand to give her what she assumed was a mocking wave. She shifted her face away from him quickly.

She glimpsed around the room as she tried to recall either of their names. The bingo book was still escaping her rather dull mind, but she could vaguely remember a woman. One of the few and if she remembered correctly the only female Akatsuki.

She strained her thoughts for a moment trying to regain the information.

Nothing came back to her before they had passed through the entire room, and were entering another set of hallways on the opposite side.

The pace was still too quick for Sakura to be sure that Kisame had enough time with Naruto and it was beginning to make her horrendously uneasy.

She remembered asking him if he would do her a favor and his agreement was the greatest relief she had experienced in hours.

"Your friend is annoying." The voice of the blond almost startled her and she glanced back at him again.

His words set in and she grimaced at him.

He gave her a wicked grin.

While they had meant to bait her, they had only successfully reminded her of Naruto once again. Was she really about to see him? Somehow it eased some of the tension inside of her to think that she'd soon see Naruto's face.

They had made it all the way to the end of another hallway and were turning onto another one when the atmosphere around them changed drastically.

It was suddenly suffocating. A darkness fell over her in the form of a shadow and she turned away from the blond Akatsuki slowly.

She shifted her chin around until it was facing the owner of the shadow. An unexplainable fear began to drain away all of the moisture in her throat.

She knew this aura. She couldn't deny the look of obedience in the faces of her two temporary companions.

"Leader," The blond was speaking, "We got her." He sounded both weary, and pleased at the same time, but Sakura was too busy to pay attention to that.

She was too busy dragging her eyes up along this figure. Up across his lean frame, entirely hidden behind his cloak which came up above his chin. Green eyes scanned in horror over the orange hair that brushed against his ears and collar, and his peachy skin, marred by the occasional piercings. They protruded from each side of his nose, and she followed them all the way up until she was captured by the spiral of his eyes. Peering into them was like gazing into her own soul.

Her breath was suddenly stolen entirely and she nearly fainted.

Pein.

She felt the air in the room evaporate and she knew she must have been shaking in the woman's arms.

Either the female Akatsuki didn't seem to care, or she was ignoring it. A moment later the thin arms expended and Sakura realized she was being sat down.

Her bare feet touched the ground but she didn't think she had enough strength to straighten her legs out, and she wobbled in the face of her enemy. The violet haired female at her immediate side made no move to secure her, and Sakura was almost surprised at herself for thinking she would. Somehow, she managed not to collapse under her suddenly unsteady frame.

His expression was endless, holding all meanings, and yet none at the same time.

It seemed somehow worse that he wasn't saying anything. The looming silence he was creating was even worse than any taunts or words he could have spoken.

With her arms free, the violet haired woman stepped away from her and she was standing in the face of Pein alone. She was notably trembling. He seemed to find it amusing, though he didn't smile. It was something in his eyes that reflected an innate mirth.

Seemingly dismissed, Sakura heard the shuffling of feet behind her and realized that the two others had left her.

Alone now, she was more afraid than she thought was right for a kunoichi like herself. She attempted to fortify her nerves, but it resulted in another lapse in her equilibrium that made her falter.

She was promptly caught beneath hands that, like snares, entrapped her painfully. His fingers felt like knives, and even though he wasn't gripping her very tightly, she gasped at his strength.

With his right hand gripping her by the waist, he pulled her forward.

Pein was exceptionally taller than her, though he was not as tall as Itachi. The fact comforted her only slightly. His stature aside, his hypnotic eyes were making her dizzy.

She tried to pry his fingers off of her with her opposing hand, but he didn't acknowledge her attempts.

His deep eyes moved themselves away from her face and shifted to her chest. She subconsciously chewed her lip and fought the urge to whimper.

She was a kunoichi, she reminded herself yet again. She couldn't cry again.

His seemingly arbitrary interest in her chest made her freeze.

Kisame's shirt.

She was wearing Kisame's shirt.

Would Pein think that it was strange? Would he think Kisame had helped her and blame the tall man for it?

Sakura was suddenly afraid for him and she didn't dare look into Pein's eyes.

He found this humorous as well and she thought she could hear his excitement.

Any further thought on the manner was cast aside as she was jerked forward in a way that was so startling she let out one loud screech.

She was pulled into his arms, and for the second time this day she was suddenly being lifted away from the earth.

Unlike Kisame who had carried her over his shoulder, Pein seemed to think differently of such a thing. Sakura was instead cradled against his chest like she was precious and he was gazing down at her with a detached expression.

Tucked into his arms she felt herself panicking again.

She just wanted to see Naruto.

Why couldn't she see him yet?