We sat around the fire in the cool night. It's been two days since we've been traveling and it was time for us to take a break before we continued to Konoha. Haru and Jurou made small talk while I sat there silently. I heard thunder and then lightening striked a few yards away from us. I jumped up as the rain started falling down.
"We need to get to shelter!" I yelled, trying to get my bag in order. Haru and Jurou were doing the same. Once our stuff was packed, we ran and ran until an old haunted looking house came into view.
"Look, let's stay there."
"No. It's wrong. Let's just keep moving until we find a safer place to stay." I said.
The boys nodded at me and we made our way through the rain. We wouldn't make it to Konoha until the following afternoon. After about 20 minutes the rain let up and it began to sprinkle. An inn came into view and we made our way towards it. The rain stopped completely by the time we reached it. I went in first and the two followed me.
"Hello. How can I help you?" The man at the desk asked.
"We need a room for the night. We got caught in the storm." I said.
"Ahh yes, terrible storm that was." The man said, handing us a key. I went to get money but the man held up his hands. "It's on the house tonight. Just enjoy your stay and get warm."
"Thank you for your kindness." I said, giving the man a polite smile.
The three of us made our way to our room. I opened the door and claimed my bed right away. I sat down and took my shoes off. Haru and Jurou sat on their bed and did the same.
"I'm claiming the bathroom first." I said, grabbing my bag. "We'll just hang our wet clothes in there." The two nodded at me and I made my way to the bathroom.
I changed from my wet clothes into my night clothes. I hung my wet clothes over the tub and made sure to leave enough room for the boy's clothes. I wrapped my hair up into a bun and finished in the bathroom. Once finished, I made my way back out to the room. I laid down on my bed and got under the covers, trying to snuggle and get warm. I didn't fall asleep until Haru and Jurou were both finished in the bathroom. Once everyone was settled, one of the two turned off the lamp and soon we were all asleep.
I smiled as the three of us approached Konoha. During the rest of our journey, we didn't have any problems. Haru, Jurou, and I talked the whole time. The gates came into view and I inhaled the air of my home.
"Anako!" Kotetsu called to me.
"Kotetsu, Izumo!" I yelled back to them. We got to the gates and I smiled. "It's so good to be home."
"Anako, this is where we leave you." Haru said.
"We'll miss you." Jurou said.
"I'll miss you guys too." I said, hugging both. "Make sure you get home safe."
"Will do." They nodded at Kotetsu and Izumo and then they were gone.
"Well I need to go to Lady Tsunade's office. I'll see you two later!" I said, waving at the two. They waved back and I made my way to Lady Tsunade's office. I searched for Naruto's mind and didn't hear him anywhere in the village. I got to her office and knocked on the door.
"Come in." I opened the door.
"Lady Tsunade!" I said, smiling at her.
"You're back!" She said, leaning back in her chair. "How'd the mission go?"
"It went great. And they treated me well."
"Good. Any problems?"
"None at all." I said. I felt bad for lying to her about seeing Itachi, but I didn't want to risk anything.
"Good. Naruto should be returning in a few. They went out on a mission to seal the Three Tails, but it was unsuccessful." I nodded.
"Very well. I will be heading home now." Lady Tsunade nodded and I made my way out of the Hokage Building. I walked home, smiling at passing villagers. My home came into view and I ran to it. I opened the door and saw Konohamaru and Kurenai eating.
"Auntie Anako!" Konohamaru yelled, running from the table and tackling me with a bear hug. "I'm so glad you're home."
"I am too, Konohamaru. I sure did miss you."
"I missed you too, auntie. But you're home now!" We stood up and I walked over to the table. Kurenai stood up and gave me a hug.
"Welcome home." She said, pulling away and smiling at me.
"It's good to be home." I said.
"Sit auntie!" Konohamaru said. I laughed and sat down with the two. "Can you tell us about your mission?"
"Yes I can."
I spent the rest of the night telling the two about my mission, sparing only a few memories that were only meant for me. After sharing all my stories, I made my way to room and unpacked everything. My final thing that I unpacked was the picture that I took with A and B.
-Next Day-
"Anako!" Naruto yelled, hugging me tightly and spinning me around. "I'm so happy you're home!"
"I'm glad to be back too!" I said, smiling at my rambunctious teammate.
"How'd everything go in Kumo?" Master K asked.
"Everything went good." I said.
"You came back so soon." Sai said. I shot him a glare and he gave me a fake smile.
"Just ignore him. He's Sai." Naruto said.
"That's true." I said.
"Let's go eat ramen!"
"Okay!" The four of us made our way to Ichiraku's and we sat down and ordered.
"So what's Kumo like?" Sai asked.
"There are rocks everywhere!" I exclaimed. "There are barely any trees or grass, or anything green for that matter. But there is an awesome view of the ocean. They even have a beach. That was something worth seeing. And the people are very serious. They are polite, but they are just really serious. And the Raikage is huge! I barely came up to his chest. And buff."
"Wow, it sounds like you had a good time." Naruto said, looking a little down.
"But I enjoy Konoha way more. There are people here that I love and care about." I said, putting my hand over Naruto's. He turned to look at me and smiled.
"Thanks, Anako." Naruto said.
"Four bowls of ramen." Teuchi said, placing the bowls down in front of us. We all got our chopsticks and began to chow down. An ANBU was suddenly in our presence.
"Lady Anako, Naruto. Lady Tsunade has requested you immediately." The ANBU said.
"What about us?" Master K asked, referring to Sai and him.
"She only said Lady Anako and Naruto." He said.
"Well, let's go then. Don't want to keep her waiting." I said, grabbing Naruto by the collar.
"Hey wait! I want to finish." Naruto screeched.
"There is no time for that. Something big has happened." I said. Naruto straightened up and looked at me.
"Right, let's go then." We ran to Lady Tsunade's office and Naruto just barged right in.
"At least knock." I said, punching his shoulder.
"It's about time." Lady Tsunade said from the window. Master Jiraiya is here as well.
"I apologize, Lady Tsunade. We were eating lunch when the ANBU came for us." I said.
"It's been a while you two!" Jiraiya said. His thoughts ran through my mind. I refrained from gasping and looked back at Lady Tsunade as she sat down. So, Itachi was right all along.
"So what is the meaning of this?" Naruto asked.
"It concerns the information that has been circling in most places throughout the region."
"Orochimaru has been killed by Sasuke." I said. The three gave me a shocked looked.
"How did you know?" Jiraiya asked me.
"I went walking around the outskirts of the village this morning. I heard a few shinobi talking about it." I said, making a lie.
"Is it true?" Naruto asked.
"It is. I've heard it from a reliable source." Jiraiya said. Naruto started to laugh.
"There's no way he would have been beaten by the likes of Orochimaru." He said. "That means he is coming back to the village then?"
"No, he isn't." I said.
"How can you, of all people, say that Anako?!" Naruto shouted at me.
"He's going to go after Itachi."
"How do you know this?" Naruto asked.
"If you don't know by now, then you really are stupid. The first time we all sat down as a team, Sasuke said that he had to kill a certain someone. Then there was the time at the hotel. Itachi is the one Sasuke wants to kill." I said.
"Then we have to form a team. We have to go after Itachi Uchiha." Naruto said.
"Itachi Uchiha, what's up with him?"
"If we capture him, we'll be able to get information." I said.
Everyone started talking and I just stayed silent and listened. Master K showed up and said that a small team like us isn't going to do much against Itachi. Team 8 came in and we all knew what we had to do. After leaving Lady Tsunade's office, I went home and grabbed all my battle stuff. I zipped up the vest and put on the cloak that we were given. I heard rain start to come down and I left my house. I arrived at the gates, as did everyone else.
"To depart in such lousy weather." Master K said.
"Alright, let's go." Naruto said.
"The rain will keep this hot head cool." Kiba said.
"Don't get so stupid." Sakura said, glaring at Naruto.
"Listen, forehead." I said, glaring at Sakura. "I like you and all, but badmouth my teammate one more time, I'll kill you." Everyone got silent. I wasn't in a mood to be played around with.
"Alright then, let's head out."
We landed on the roof of this building. Master K explained that we'll search 5km in the area, all directions. Sakura opened her mouth and started saying we wouldn't be able to communicate through our devices by going 5km. Master K summoned his dogs and we each were given two.
"You can count on me, Anako!" Shiba said.
"Will you just shut up for one second?" Bisuke asked. Great, I get the two dogs that fight. Thanks Master K. Master K explained that we'd go after Sasuke's scent first, then we'd go after the Akatsuki and if we ran into them, flee and come back to the place we were now.
"Spread out!"
We all went different directions. I went towards the forest. I decided it'd be best to walk on the ground instead of hoping through the trees. The dogs talked while I was silent. We got to an open area and I heard thoughts behind me. I stopped in my tracks when I knew the thoughts of the person.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the girl who killed my teammate…" The voice said. I turned around while the dogs started to growl.
"Deidra…" I said, eyeing the blonde man in front of me. A mask man stood next to him. I read his thoughts and I shivered. This man is the man Itachi talked about, but he isn't who he says he is…
"Senpai! This girl killed Sasori. She looks pretty wimpy if you ask me." I shot the man a nasty glare and he ran back. "She's mean." This is all an act for him. I have to remember that, but I doubt he'd reveal his true identity.
"Anako, we need to flee. I'll notify-"
"No. You two need to go away from here. I'll handle these two. Go to Master K."
"But Anako, that isn't allowed. We have to stay with you."
"I don't want you to get hurt. So go." I said. The two dogs looked at me and then ran off. I turned back to Deidra and the mask man.
"I still want payback for you killing my partner."
"Sasori deserved what he got." I said, disregarding my cloak. Deidra stuck his hand in this bag of clay and his hands ate it. Right, this guy deals with clay explosives. I took a stance and Deidra made this clay bird. I studied his movement as he got on the bird. He's a distance fighter, which isn't too good for me. I'm a short-range. He flew into the air and I could do nothing but watch.
"Take this!" He launched some clay at me and I jumped away from the explosion and landed on a tree. He landed on the ground in front of me.
"Senpai! She's fast!" The masked man yelled. I took out some paper bombs and launched them at the two. I lit the flint and they blew up in front of them. They were out of the way fast.
"Ha. She likes boom too." Deidra said. He made some more clay bombs, but this time they were a lot stronger than the last one. They were little balls and suddenly, lightening was coming from behind me and the balls were stopped. I froze in my spot as thoughts hit me.
"Hn, you're Akatsuki members." Sasuke said.
"Senpai! It's Sasuke! Wow, he looks just like Itachi." Sasuke must've of given him a glare, because he hid behind Deidra. "I don't know who is scarier, the girl or Sasuke."
"Perfect! I get to kill both Sasuke and the girl that killed Sasori." Deidra said.
"You run your mouth a lot, don't you?" Sasuke asked. "If that's the case, why don't you give me information on Itachi?" I still hadn't turned around to see where Sasuke was.
"These two brats are annoying me." Deidra said. I jumped down from the tree and landed a few feet away from the two. I clenched my fist and glared at the two.
"Shut up already." I said.
"Is she going to fight us?" The masked man asked.
I had had enough of their talking. I slammed my fist against the ground and it shattered all the way to them. I used that as a distraction and made my way to the two. I went for the masked man first and I went to throw a punch at him. Instead of punch him, my fist went through him. I gasped and swung my leg at him. The same thing happened. I growled in frustration as my attacks just kept going through him.
"This is fun." The masked man kept laughing.
"Take this."
I made the lightening light up in my hand and started to swing at him like that. Well fuck. Nothing was working on him. I felt myself being punched and I got thrown back. I wiped away the sweat from my brow and glared at the two. Sasuke jumped down and I looked up at him. He held his hand out to me and I noticed the purple ribbon still. I huffed and took his hand, allowing him to help him up.
"I'll handle this. You just go find safety." He said to me.
"Don't tell me what to do." I snapped, roughly pulling my hand away from his. "I can handle myself, you know. I don't need anyone to help me, especially from the likes of you."
"Are you two going to argue, or are you going to fight me?" Deidra asked, making a huge dragon suddenly.
"There it is! Senpai's favorite art technique; the C2 dragon."
"You know what to do Tobi!" Deidra said, jumping onto the dragon.
"You can count on me! It's "that" isn't it?" Tobi asked.
"Right! Get ready Tobi!" The dragon spit up a bunch of clay balls like Deidra used before. "Go get them Tobi!"
"Yes sir!" Tobi said.
"What a pain." Sasuke said, moving towards the two. I stayed where I was.
"He's coming! Show him the power of your art-pop senpai!" Tobi yelled.
"Pop is dead. My style is super flat!" Deidra yelled.
The dragon spit a bird at Sasuke. Deidra used his hands to detonate the clay. It blew up in front of Sasuke, but he moved back to where I was as Deidra went up into the air with the dragon and then Tobi was gone. Sasuke made lightening in his hand and launched it Deidra. It only goes 5 meters though. Deidra started talking about Master K.
"He's a long range fighter, Sasuke. Unlike you and me, we're short." I said to him. "I hate you, but if we work together, we should be able to defeat him."
"Now you want my help?" He said in a smartass tone.
"Just shut up and let's do this." I snapped at him.
"They're gonna pack a real punch this time!" Deidra yelled at us. "I don't care how strong your defenses are, this time; you're going to fly, hmm!" He threw a bird at us and detonated it. Sasuke grabbed me and moved us out of the way. 'Damn, he's fast. He was even able to get her out of the way.'
Sasuke stepped on the ground and boom. He threw me into the forest and I slammed against a tree. I cough a bit and looked before me. Sasuke was in his second cursed seal stage. I made my hands green and healed a few of cuts that I received. Tobi popped out of the ground and yelled that he finished setting the ground bombs. Deidra started explaining how the C2 clay bombs work. I stayed out of the battle as the two began to fight. I covered my face as bombs just started going off everywhere. I looked and saw Sasuke on the ground with one of his wings gone. Sasuke did something that I couldn't really tell, and then landed on his sword. He used his lightening and got one of the wings of the dragon. Sasuke trapped Deidra with a shiruken on his dragon and it went straight to the ground. Deidra hit his bombs and boom. Sasuke used snakes to land next to me. Tobi was yelling about Deidra dying due to bombs.
"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked me, going back to his normal form.
"I'm fine. Let me heal your injuries." I said. I put my hands on his bare chest and healed his cuts and scratches. Deidra flew out of the rubble and was still alive.
"He just keeps coming…" Sasuke said, removing my hand from his chest. He activated his Sharingan and stood up. I stood next to him and clenched my fists. Deidra thought of the time when he first met Itachi. He started to eat clay.
"This is my most powerful attack! You're dead." He yelled. "Tobi, get out of here!" He went back as if he were going to spit at us. He spit out himself.
This is just insane. If that's a bomb too, then we are definitely done for. Sasuke grabbed my hand and started running. We jumped through tree after tree. Deidra just kept yelling at us. He clapped his hands together and the big Deidra started to inflate. Then it blew up. Sasuke kept ahold of my hand as we didn't stop. He used his Sharingan to figure out what happened; then casted a genjutsu on Deidra. He made him believe that we were annihilated due to his jutsu he used. We landed on a tree and Sasuke left me as Deidra was yelling that he won. Sasuke was in his cursed seal and then was engulfed in clay. I looked into the clay, into Sasuke's mind and tried to figure out what was going on. There were partials in his body. That means if Deidra detonates those bombs, we'll both blow up. Deidra uses clay which is earth. I'm a lightening user. I need to electrocute myself in order to stop the bombs for going off, or I'll be killed. I thought about what A told me about using the lightening armor. I closed my eyes and lightening engulfed my body. I looked up and saw Deidra detonate the bombs and nothing happened to me. I released the lightening armor and saw Sasuke and Deidra both fall to the ground. I made my way over to them and just hide while listening to the two talked. Deidra tried to use clay on Sasuke, but Sasuke used lightening to stop him. Sasuke fell to the ground and I made my way to him.
"How are you still alive?" Deidra asked, looking at me.
"I am a lightening user as well. I figured it out not too long ago." I said. I clenched my fists and looked at him.
"This time my art will win, and you will die!" He said, laughing. He stopped and looked at the both of us. He started yelling at Sasuke saying he was just like Itachi.
"I don't give a damn about this; just tell me where Itachi is." Sasuke said in a monotone voice. He deactivated his Sharingan and Deidra smirked.
"You keep underestimating me." Deidra said, ripping off the rest of his shirt, revealing stitches on his heart. The mouth on his hand began to remove the stitch and he got clay in the other hand. A tongue came out of his chest as he gave the clay to it. Okay, that's just fucking disgusting if you ask me.
"This is my ultimate art! I'm going to blow myself up. Death will make me a piece of art! An unbelievable explosion, that'll make incredible scars on earth… and finally it'll kill you two." Sasuke tried to move, but fell. I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. I put his arm around my shoulder and mine around his waist and we started to move.
"The explosion will cover a 10km radius! Don't think you'll be able to outrun this. Now, be frightened!"
"Anako, stop. I can save us." A big form of light started to shine on us and I gasped. We're going to die if we don't get out of here fast enough. Sasuke made the hands signs for summoning jutsu and the giant snake that Orochimaru always used showed up. Sasuke used his Sharingan to control it and it coiled around us, protecting us from the explosion. I started to panic as I felt Sasuke's arms go around my waist. I was pressed against his bare chest. Now I really couldn't breathe.
"Just relax. I've got you." He whispered in my ear.
I stiffened at his words as the he practically shielded me from the snake. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I felt my heart start to feel warm again. For I had truly missed the feeling of Sasuke's arms around me. I choked out a sob as everything around us began to settle down and the snake was uncoiled from us. I realized he used a space time jutsu. A blue haired guy appeared in front of us.
"Man, you're all beat up." He said. He looked at me. "And who are you?"
"She is none of your concern." Sasuke said. He let me go and looked at me. "You need to leave me. I will come for you another time."
He did something I didn't expect him to. I felt his lips on mine as he pulled my body closer to his. I was shocked but relaxed into the kiss and felt like the whole world stopped in its place. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, Sasuke and everyone else was gone. I looked around my surroundings and realized I was in the forest. I don't know how he did it, but he did. I sat down on the ground and started to cry uncontrollably. This wasn't fair.
OMG! I haven't updated in forever! The past couple of weeks have been tough! I've got loads of homework, but I am all caught up. Thank goodness! Hahaha. This by far is the longest chapter I have written. Read and review please! I really love feedback!
So yeah, Sasuke still loves Anako...
Thanks for the reviews:
leejustinemay (Thank you! Hope you still enjoy it! :))StarTrail (No worries. I know what it's like to be busy!)
StarTrail (No worries! I've been busy too. Hence why the super late update!)
Thank you for all the follows and favorites! I love you all! :)
