Keisei no Suna

A/N: This is an OCxSasuke fanfic. The OC is my creation, along with any characters regarding her past and also the antagonist in the story.

Chapter 5 – Weakness

Where did that girl run off to? Sasuke thought to himself as he trudged through the village. It was only so big, so how could he not find her? The sky began to turn an orangey shade, a hue of pink embedded into it. The evening time had begun to roll in and he would be damned if she got lost or kidnapped or worse; killed. Naruto would have his head for sure.

He remembered before the meeting that afternoon, before Mio, Shikamaru and his team had arrived. "I could tell she has some power inside her, but she just needs some help bringing it out, that's all." Naruto explained, looking through the papers he had Gaara send over regarding her old team. "From these reports, they were a great sealing team, and she was a very good Taijutsu user."

Naruto gave Sasuke the quick rundown of Mio's past and how she no longer fought for a village, but used the agility and summoning skills she learned as part of her routine in her group. Hence, why Naruto could tell why she had such potential; because she did have it at one time in her life. The knock on the door silenced the two, and the meeting had started.

Sasuke was, he would never admit aloud, curious.

Mio posed no threat to him, he believed. She had a potential that the hokage could see, unlike Sasuke. She proved herself to him when she couldn't fight off a single bandit…she proved she was useless.

"That was a close one." Mio whispered to herself, hiding behind a shack as she was sitting on the dirt, back to the wall. She had her scroll leaning against the wall beside her with her dirtied hands resting on top of her knees. She sighed heavily. What she didn't sense was Sasuke's chakra slowly closing in on her, as she closed her eyes and opened them to find two red orbs staring back at her. She was about to scream if it weren't for his hand covering her mouth. She wriggled around, trying to get out of his grasp.

"Hey…hey! It's me! Calm down." Sasuke whispered to her harshly. Mio stared at Sasuke's face for a while before her body relaxed, and leaned back into the wall. Sasuke removed his hand and sighed. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked her.

The blonde sighed and shook her head. "Nothing…" She answered, turning away only to see the male a little frustrated. "Go back to the inn, Sasuke." She told him and was about to stand up if it weren't for him yanking her back down to the ground. "Ow!"

"I'm not leaving without you. I have my orders." He spoke coldly towards her. Mio could sense that he didn't want to be here, talking to her. Or rather, she could sense that he didn't want to be here in general and she was to blame for that.

It was her fault entirely that Team Taka had to be put on this mission, babysitting the likes of her. However, it was also Naruto's condition that made her team up with them. She should've left the village while she could before this whole thing started….

Yet something stopped her. She couldn't place a finger, but something told her to just go with it. Take the chance. It had been a long time since she's seen the woes of battle and she rarely made new friends since her troupe was traveling all the time. There was never a chance to sit down and get to know someone.

This was her chance.

"You don't have to follow those orders. You could just, uh, tell him I changed my mind about going after my old sensei and call it a day!" Mio suggested, but the Uchiha's gaze on her never wavered or showed any reaction. She looked away, sighing. "Alright…I'm sorry I'm really a pain. I just haven't fought in a long time, so I'm kind of out of the game." She told him. It was funny, since she had a feeling he didn't give two shits about her and her excuse yet, she's going through the trouble to just talk to the guy.

"Hn." Was all he replied with, releasing her wrist from his grasp. Mio rubbed the same spot and smiled softly to herself and turned to him, holding her hand out. "Let's start over! I'm Mio Arihyoshi, also known as the Pear Blossom, from my troupe." She told him.

Sasuke eyed looked at her hand, and then her. She was definitely strange, rather a handful of trouble, yet instead of refusing her handshake, he took her somewhat rough hand into his own, and shook it. "Sasuke Uchiha He replied, and the girl smiled. "I look forward to working with you, Sasuke Uchiha!"

The next day, Mio woke up refreshed and new. The day before, Sasuke had told her that he would help her with training, which she couldn't help but accept, much to Karin's dismay, who glared at her. The four were in the captain's room, discussing the intel they had all came across.

Suigetsu was the first to share. "It seems that the bandits were sent by someone other than Ren. A guy named Ikito runs this little town, so he definitely knows we're here." Mio's stomach dropped. Ikito? Karin caught the girl's sudden change due to her chakra being very easy to read. She turned to her, "Seems like you've had a connection with this Ikito?"

Mio didn't say anything but nodded her head. "He was my old teammate from my sealing team in Suna." She explained. "We weren't as close as I was with my other teammate, Enho, but we were friends at least." She laced her fingers together, gripping her hands tightly. "He was a weird guy now that I think about it… and not a good weird either." Mio found herself remembering times with Ikito and the missions her team had been on. The connection she had with him was strange, but civil. She couldn't place a finger on it but that was just how she felt.

"So he's in charge huh…that doesn't surprise me actually."

"What do you mean?" He asked, and she gave a small smile.

"Ikito was never one to take orders. He always tried to be the leader, thinking he was so powerful and knew everything. It's funny because I'd tease him once in a while about it, telling him he wouldn't get anywhere. Silly me…since I'm the one who can't even be called a shinobi anymore." Mio looked at her twiddling fingers and sighed. She could feel the burning of tears that she tried to blink away. Emotions were a weakness. The idea of that was something she was made to believe and she did for the longest time of her 'shinobi' career. She was touchy with her past. She disliked the fact that she could show her vulnerable side so easily to this Uchiha, who held no interest for her in the first place. She bit her lower lip, holding the burning of tears back, blinking her eyes fast to get them to stop. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Anyways…when I left the team, Ikito was kind of upset with me since I just kinda left without a notice or anything. It was really him and…well my sensei that were truly upset with the fact I quit my shinobi life."

Sasuke was baffled by this girl.

He couldn't for a moment think of not being a shinobi…it was practically his life. What would he do? Just live as a simple man with simple dreams? He disliked that idea. He thought it was weak, and stupid, and so he judged Mio. Judged her for her actions, and deemed her as such; stupid and weak.

It was sad because Mio could sense Sasuke's change of feeling. She could feel the air tension once again, which made her feel suffocated. She suddenly breathed heavily, and tried to relax herself. "The only reason why I would think he would attack me is the fact he's still not over me leaving the team the way I did."

"This is stupid." Was call he muttered, and Mio looked at him as he stood up abruptly.

"Wha—"

"This is a waste of time. It sounds like just petty business between you and your old team. There is no point for Konoha, much less ANBU to be involved."

Mio was speechless. She had been saying that the entire time, and now hearing it played back to her, she felt somewhat hurt…as if she wasn't worth anyone's time suddenly. Karin and Suigetsu both looked at each other, unsure of whether or not to step in. "I did say—"

"You can settle your own business. My team and I are leaving." He threw his hand down, showing this was the move he was making, and his team would follow forth, and readied themselves to leave, when Mio called out, "But Naruto said—" "He is the Hokage. Where is your respect?" He scolded her. Mio didn't say anything only muttering an apology. "Goodbye, Arihyoshi." And Sasuke disappeared, and so did his team.

Mio was left by herself. She had given his team an hour to themselves and left the inn, only to return and collect the small things she left there. When she did go back, she saw that Karin's and her room closed, and Sasuke's and Suigetsu's room open. Strange, she thought. Perhaps Karin had closed the door on instinct…or maybe she was still in there. Regardless, Mio turned the knob to see it was unlocked and saw her scroll opened on the floor. "What…?" She mumbled and looked around, seeing no one in the room.

She was cautious when she walked to roll her scroll up. Suddenly, her vision was gone, and found herself screaming into a piece of cloth. Her body became limp as silence filled the room.