Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter Twenty-two
I was standing in front of the front door, looking at a painting that confused me greatly. It was all black, with only a few red dots that almost looked like eyes…
Suddenly the front door was kicked in and a man hidden in darkness stepped in, the only thing visible was the dark purple, pulsating evil aura he emitted.
It was Sasuke.
"Do you like the painting I made you? This way I can watch you all the time, no matter where I am."
Shills ran down my spine as I returned my gaze to the painting. The red dots were eyes, and they now followed my every movement.
I tried to run away but before I had gotten no more than two steps away, I was grabbed around the throat. I felt my feet leave the floor and my air supply was cut off. My vision was darkening as I was turned around so that Sasuke could look into my eyes.
"You can never hide from me Sakura."
Then everything went black.
I woke up screaming and immediately tried to get away from the person holding me down.
"Sakura! Sakura calm down!" I recognized the voice as Hidans but just as the time I was panicking and accidently hit Konan, it held no meaning to me. I fought his hold on me with everything I had, kicking and screaming.
"What´s happening?!" someone asked and I assumed that it was Shisui since he was closest to us.
"She had a nightmare and is panicking, she doesn´t recognize me right now so I need you to help me hold her down!" Hidan commanded him and I felt him tentatively holding down my legs.
Since Hidan now could concentrate on keeping my arms from doing damage he soon got through the nightmare induced panic and managed to calm me down.
But then the tears started and I hid against Hidans bare chest to get away from Shisui´s concerned gaze. I felt ashamed.
"Sweetheart don´t be ashamed, it´s not your fault you get nightmares… Shisui won´t think any less of you I promise." Hidan tried to comfort me and I tentatively shot a look at Shisui to see if he was right or not.
He was right. In Shisui´s eyes I could only read worry, sadness and guilt.
"Hidan´s right Sakura, I would never judge you. It is after all much my little cousin's fault that you have these problems…" He said before turning away from me, clearly intent on going back to the other room.
He to felt guilty for what Sasuke had done, even more so now when he had seen the reactions of it. He was just like Itachi.
"Don´t feel guilty… please?" I begged him with eyes still wet with tears and a hand reaching out for him. His eyes softened and he grasped my outstretched hand, holding it tightly.
"I´ll try." He answered before leaving us. I looked up at Hidan with a trembling lower lip and he hugged me harder against him, telling me.
"It´ll be alright Sakura… It´ll be alright."
The next morning was filled with different embarrassments and hangovers but was still very calm and quiet. It was noon before everyone was up from bed but who cares.
We were all gathered for a late lunch when Itachi asked Shisui.
"Is Madara going to pick you up or do you need a ride?"
"I wouldn´t turn down a ride but Madara can pick me up if you´re busy."
I looked in confusion from Itachi to Shisui, didn´t he have a license? He was certainly old enough to.
"Don´t you have a license?" I had to ask him.
"Yeah I do but my car´s not here, it´s at the apartment." He answered without looking at me. I suddenly felt really sad, he hadn´t looked at me all day, probably because of what happened last night.
I quickly got up and left the kitchen, both Hidan and Itachi´s worried gazes following me. Hidan knew what was wrong and I had a feeling that he had told Itachi. I didn´t care whichever since Shisui clearly had decided that being my friend came with too much trouble…
And I had really liked him too…
I ran up the stairs until I got to the attic but I didn´t stop there, instead I made my way out on the roof. I found my hidden place, a spot where I could not be seen if you didn´t know where to look. I couldn´t be seen from the street and I couldn´t be seen from any of the windows.
I sat down and finally let the tears out. I hated myself for crying over this, it made me seem even weaker than I actually was. I wanted to feel strong for once…
After about an hour I started hearing people calling my name from inside the house, apparently they had grown worried about me. I wondered if Shisui helped them look for me or if he had already left… but I hadn´t seen any cars in the driveway so the chances were good that he was still here.
I had slowly crept closer to the edge of the roof as I heard voices from the outside; it was a rather peculiar feeling to sit on the very edge of the roof of a three story building. Last time I had been high on painkillers but this gave a rather awesome rush as well.
I let my legs dangle over the edge while leaning dangerously far out in an attempt to see who it was. I could barely hear what they were saying.
"Does she disappear like this often?" It was Shisui who asked and I frowned, I didn´t understand him in the slightest.
"Nowadays she only does that when she´s got a lot on her mind or when something is confusing her, when she first got here she would disappear every other day for several hours." Answered Hidan outwardly calm but I could hear the anxiousness in his voice.
"This time however I believe that the reason for her disappearing is you Shisui…" Itachi added.
"She disappeared because of me? Why?" Shisui sounded both surprised and a little remorseful.
"Because you ignored her." Hidan answered softly.
"But I only did that so that she wouldn´t feel uncomfortable about last night! I didn´t mean for her to feel bad about it…"
About now Itachi suddenly raised his eyes and made eye contact with me, his eyes widened in alarm but I gestured to him to be quiet. He frowned but slowly nodded and turned his attention back to the other two.
"Then I suggest that you tell her that." Hidan said.
"I will, as soon as we find her." Promised Shisui.
"She's right over there." Itachi told them and gestured towards me.
Both Hidan and Shisui looked up at me and I waved half-heartedly at them, making Hidan smirk and Shisui pale. I suddenly felt that evil streak inside me come alive and I scanned the side of the building, looking for an 'alternative' way down. It looked like I would be able to pull this off.
I smiled down at the boys, making Hidan tense as he realized what I was about to do. Then I dropped from the roof. As I felt the air rush past me I felt an incredible feeling of freedom as well as I heard panicked shouts from below.
But I had looked closely and knew that there was a ledge I would be able to stop my fall with. I reached the edge and managed to grip it hard enough to stop my fall, then I simply let go and fell the last couple of feet with ease.
I turned around to see Shisui pale as a ghost and Hidan and Itachi glaring at me.
"What? It went fine." I said loudly, drawing Shisui out of his stupor. He blinked a few times before asking for forgiveness for his earlier behavior which I easily granted; I had after all heard his reason to why he had acted strange.
Suddenly another (according to me) bright idea popped up in my mind.
"Hey Shisui do you still need a ride? I could take my baby out for a spin." I told him with a smile and I thought I saw Itachi pale a little.
"Sure what car do you drive?"
I grinned even bigger and answered.
"A black dodge charger -70 with a HEMI engine."
His eyes started to glitter and I figured he liked that kind of car as well.
After another twenty minutes we were all set to go and Shisui, Itachi and I met up in the garage. It was decided that me and Itachi would spend the day and night with Shisui and Madara in their apartment since everybody else were going away anyway.
Pein and Konan were going shopping for furniture to the nursery and had decided to travel to another town and spend the night there to get some alone-time. Sasori and Deidara were going on a mission also in another town that they calculated would take about a week to finish. Kakuzu, Hidan and Kisame were doing a small overnight mission in the neighboring town so only Itachi and I would be in the house anyway.
I put mine and Itachi´s bags in the trunk of the car and then we all piled in with me behind the wheel, Shisui in the passenger seat and Itachi in the backseat. Itachi immediately put on his seatbelt, making both me and Shisui laugh.
"Are you scared Itachi?" Shisui asked him mockingly.
"You wasn´t in the car last time she drove it." Itachi said blankly.
Shisui shot a suddenly nervous look at my grinning face and asked him.
"Does she drive badly?"
"No, but wildly…" Itachi muttered just as I started the car and backed out of the garage in about the same manner as last time. I would never tire of that was my only thought when I finally let up on the gas pedal and Shisui was as pale as a ghost.
I giggled at his funny expression but then the rear windshield suddenly shattered and a bullet made its way through the car before exiting out the front windshield and I was immediately dead serious.
"Who´s the shooter?!" I yelled towards Itachi as I swerved the car in hopes of avoiding another bullet. I heard another bullet hit the door on the driver´s side and a burning pain appeared on my thigh before another bullet lodged itself in the dash.
I ignored the pain for now and instead focused on my driving and what Itachi and Shisui yelled.
"I think its Kabuto who´s driving but I don´t recognize the guy who´s shooting!" Itachi yelled as I took a turn with all four wheels spinning, not getting a grip on the slick asphalt.
"We need to lose them and fast!" Shisui yelled, strangely calm despite the dangerous situation. It made me wonder why he wasn´t a part of Akatsuki.
As I took the next turn on only two wheels the window next to me shattered as well as the front windshield and another burning pain erupted on my body, this time in my left shoulder.
I swore loudly and then I felt Itachi press his hands on my injured shoulder, one hand over the entry wound and one hand over the exit wound.
"It went straight through, nothing serious when we can stop the bleeding." He told me and I nodded before giving a frustrated sigh.
"You need to let go Itachi I can´t drive like this."
"But if he lets go the bleeding will get worse, you might faint." Shisui told me shakily. After a quick look at his pale face I realized that he maybe wasn´t so used to this kind of situation as I had thought. Both Itachi and I were after all calm; Shisui I was starting to worry would panic.
"I won´t faint." I told them both and Itachi reluctantly let go of my shoulder. I knew I was telling the truth, I wouldn´t allow myself to faint while I was driving.
I turned a hard right and we entered the highway. If we got on the highway, my HEMI engine would be able to make us lose the tail. Kabuto drove after all a plain pick-up truck; my car was built for speed and his wasn´t.
I floored it.
The speed meter climbed higher and higher and while we lost Kabuto, it also got harder and harder to steer. When we hadn´t seen them for ten minutes I exited the highway and followed Shisui´s directions to their apartment.
I started feeling dizzy and told Itachi.
"I think you need to put your hands back on my shoulder." He immediately did so but frowned and spoke out loud.
"Are you feeling dizzy already?" I nodded.
"Yeah but that might be because of the bullet graze on my thigh…" My statement caused silence at first but Itachi soon spoke again.
"A bullet graze on your thigh? How bad?"
"Don´t know, I can´t take my eyes off the road."
"Shisui can you see?" Itachi asked. Shisui leaned closer to me and then swore loudly.
"Yeah it´s bleeding pretty badly," He said and then leaned over me so that he was able to put pressure on it, making me grit my teeth in pain. Luckily we were soon at the apartment. I listened to Itachi telling Shisui call Madara and have him meet us in the garage.
"Madara you need to meet us in the garage!" I could hear the streak of panic in his voice and almost smiled.
"Some guy named Kabuto and another one started shooting at us on the drive over, Sakura´s been shot."
"Yeah we´re pulling in now." He said and pointed to an underground garage on my left.
I parked what was left of my baby before turning off the engine and slumping in the seat. I heard Shisui and Itachi get out of the car and then the door next to me opened and I was lifted out of the car.
I opened one eye to see Madara look down at me with worry in his gaze, he was carrying me bridal style and I could hear the faint sounds of my blood dripping on the concrete floor. We got into an elevator and soon we were in their apartment.
They put me down at a hard cold surface and I could see Itachi´s face hovering over me.
"We´re going to undress you and tend to your wounds, okay?" I nodded and then closed my eyes to make the dizziness stop.
I must´ve fallen unconscious because when I opened my eyes again I was in a bed and it was not my own. I looked around and saw that I was in a medium sized room with light blue walls and dark furniture. The giant bed had black silk sheets and felt like heaven to my aching body.
I looked underneath the sheets and saw that somebody had dressed me in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that were too big on me, but I had to admit that they were rather comfortable.
My thigh was dressed in gauze and wrapped tightly as well as my shoulder. I carefully got out of bed and figured that I would be able to move around if I did so carefully. I set course towards the door but stopped when I realized what had happened to my baby.
They had hurt my baby…
Tears started falling from my eyes, partly because of the stress my body had gone through and partly because my baby was hurt. That´s how the three Uchiha males found me a few minutes later when they all entered the room. They all surrounded me, asking worried questions, trying to find out why I was crying.
Was I in pain? Was I scared?
I wanted to frown at their (to me) stupid questions. Yes I was both in pain and scared but that wasn´t why I was crying. They had HURT my baby…
Finally I had enough and I turned towards Itachi.
"They hurt my baby…" I whispered, hoping that he would understand. He did and actually smiled at me while wrapping his arms carefully around me.
"We can fix her, I promise." He told me to the others confusion, but it was all that I needed to be able to stop crying.
"Who is her?" Asked Shisui confused. Itachi only smiled as he led me out to the couch in the living room.
"The car."
I sat down in the soft, comfy couch and Shisui and Madara sat down on either side of me as Itachi disappeared to what I assumed was the kitchen. I could feel both of their worried gazes on me and told them.
"I´m fine guys, promise. These kinds of things tend to happen to me a lot…"
"But how can you stay so calm? You were shot and still you acted as if it was nothing?" exclaimed Shisui.
"Like I said, these kinds of things tend to happen a lot. Besides, I´ve been through worse."
They looked at each other once again, their shared look telling me that they were afraid to ask what I had been through that had been worse. Luckily Itachi returned before the silence got uncomfortable, he was carrying a tray filled with food which he sat down in front of me.
"Here, you need to eat to replenish the blood you lost." He said before sitting down in an easy chair. I started eating as Itachi answered Shisui´s and Madaras different questions about how we were able to stay so calm and what we exactly did as the Akatsuki.
When I had finished the food, Itachi kneeled in front of me, a tense look on his face. I felt apprehensive about his look, like he was about to tell me something I wouldn´t like.
"Sakura, I need to meet up with Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame. We need to find out who the shooter was and I am of more use with them." He told me, his voice gentle as if he knew he was going to hurt me.
"You´re just going to leave me here? I´ll come with you!" I told him while attempting to get up from the couch. But he only placed a hand on my good shoulder and told me.
"Yes I am leaving you here; no you are not coming with me. You are hurt Sakura, you´ll be safe here and I will be back soon." I turned my head away and whispered so that only he would hear.
"What if I get a nightmare or a panic attack?"
"I´ve talked to both Madara and Shisui about that, they know what to do. Besides, Madara is a licensed psychologist he might even do a better job than we do." Itachi said softly while placing a comforting hand on top of my head.
I felt tears gather at the corners of my eyes and I whined.
"I want Hidan…"
He pulled me in for a hug and sighed in my hair before answering me.
"Yeah I know… you´ll see him soon I promise. Hopefully all of this mess will be over soon." And then he was gone. I felt a hand land comfortingly on my knee and looked up to see Shisui look intensely at me. I gave him a watery smile and asked him.
"Can we watch a movie, please?"
He only nodded and I gave him a small smile in return, he was so sweet to me. I felt I slight nudge on my good shoulder and looked to my right only to come face to face with Madara.
"Are you going to be okay?" He asked me, his voice gentle and sincere. I nodded and lied down so that my head was resting on his lap.
"Yeah I´ll be okay…"
Shisui returned to the couch and I lifted my legs so that he could fit. When he sat down I stretched out my legs and rested them across his lap as well. When the movie started Shisui was massaging my feet and Madara was petting my hair. Their gentle, soothing strokes had soon lulled me to sleep.
But had I known that I would dream, I would not have allowed myself to sleep.