A/N: This was almost painful to write...but anyway I wrote it...it might be a while before I update again because I'm back at university now and that takes up a lot of time...I have over twenty five plays to read...
Disclaimer: I don't own anything
Enjoy~
The sight that greeted them made Ana's heart drop, a blonde sat on top of someone she could only assume was Gaara. Naruto was shouting at Gaara to get up, to do something but Ana knew he wouldn't. His face was pale and his eyes closed, no distinct rise and fall that signified breathing. He was dead. They were too late. Tears fell like droplets of rain from her eyes, her hands clenched hard, opening the wounds from her earlier battle. Naruto's aura began to shimmer with a red colour and she knew the Kyuubi's chakra was flooding through him and Ana understood why because she was filled with the same anger that he was.
"Get off him!" Naruto shouted, his voice deep and gravelly with the influence of the Kyuubi. His hands flung out to his side and he rushed forwards, a desperate look in his red eyes. "Get up Gaara!"
"Naruto," Ana said quietly, her hands clenching the back of his jacket to prevent him from charging to the two Akatsuki members.
"Well it seems you're the jinchuriki," Deidara laughed, "the one who charges in and barks first…Itachi was right." He reached over and lightly pat Gaara's face, "hey Kyuubi, you're gonna end up like this one here."
"Get off him!" Naruto shouted again, the Kyuubi's chakra fluxing slightly.
The two partners began arguing about art much to the disbelief of the five others, Naruto only got angrier and his shouts increased but they fell on death ears. Until Ana stepped forwards, passing by Naruto, her head bowed slightly keeping her eyes hidden as her tears fell to the ground. She paused a few paces away from them and slowly her head raised and cold angry green eyes stared at the bickering duo.
"Hey blondie," she called quietly though her voice echoed around the cave, her hands clenched tighter at her sides, blood and tears falling to the ground as her anger made her shake, her eyes focussed solely on the body of the kazekage. "I do believe Naruto told you to get off him."
"What?" Deidara asked as he turned to look at her, he grinned and pat Gaara's face again, "I think I will pass, he's a rather comfy seat."
"You seem to misunderstand," her magic rose up and like a whip and flung the blonde from the body of Gaara, "I wasn't giving you a choice."
There was a tense moment, a silence that neither side seemed to want to break until Deidara began to laugh, standing up and brushing off his clothes. He hadn't expected the attack and was shocked that she had managed to catch both him and Sasori off guard, he knew now then who the new comer onto the board was and watched her wearily. "Looks like Kisame was right… you are different."
"Damn right I am."
"He coulda told me how hot you were," Deidara sighed dramatically as he took in her appearance. Her pale complexion, large greener than green eyes and blood red full lips, slim toned body and a nice chest too. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders slightly, "seems such a shame to blow you up without seeing how hot you are under those clothes. Oh well you'll look beautiful when you're surrounded by my explosions."
"So you like explosions then pretty boy," Her wand twirled in her hand like a baton before she gripped it tight. "Then your gonna love this… bombarda!" the spell shot towards him, his time however he anticipated the move and jumped up in the air, the spell hitting the wall behind him and blowing a large hole into it.
"Well, well, it seems we have a feisty little thing on our hands," Deidara said as he landed on the ground, the mouth on his hand spitting out the clay it had been chewing on and he began to mould the clay into a shape. "I like your style, but you're going to have to do a lot better than that to match my skill," he released the clay onto the ground and in a puff of smoke it expanded into a giant bird, he jumped on it and the bird grabbed Gaara's body in his mouth. "I'm sorry Sasori-no-danna but it looks like I'm taking this jinchuriki as well."
"You over step yourself Deidara," Sasori told him, annoyance dripping from his tone but Deidara ignored him and flew out of the cave.
"Argh!" Naruto screamed as he followed Deidara, "get back here you bastard!"
"Naruto!" Ana cried out turning around to follow after the blondes only to be stopped by Kakashi.
"No, you stay here."
"No!" Ana protested angrily and she stalked forwards intending to pass the copy nin.
"Your powers are best utilised here," he grabbed her arm tight, refusing to let her leave, "I will go after Naruto and keep him safe. I'm his teacher and I will protect my student."
Ana looked at him, her piercing gaze peering into his eyes "why will my powers be best used here?"
"Sasori is a puppet master, his puppets do the fighting whilst he controls them. With your long range magic techniques and Sakura's close range brute force you will make the best team for the job."
So Ana agreed to stay behind and let Kakashi go after Naruto with a heavy heart but she knew he would protect his student and she was comforted by that. Slowly she turned back around and assessed her opponent. "Puppets always did give me the creeps," she muttered as she stared into the lifeless eyes of the puppet before her, she turned to Sakura as she spoke. "Hey pinky, anything I need to know about this guy?"
"My name is not pinky!" She screamed, fire in her eyes and her fist raised threateningly.
"Not the time pinky and not the place," Ana deadpanned, looking mildly irritated by the display, "I'm not Naruto and I won't be intimidated by you."
"He uses a deadly poison," Sakura muttered a slight pout on her lips as she realised what Ana said was right. Chiyo had remained quiet for the whole time, staring at Sasori with something akin to horror, Ana felt sorry for her having to be in this situation. Family was family no matter what they had done and going up against them like this must hurt the elder.
"Brilliant, I'm immune to poison," Ana said with a grin, her amusement growing at the open mouthed look Sakura gave. Her encounter with the Basilisk venom and the Phoenix tears had helped her immensely, she only had Voldemort to thank for once as he gave her something useful.
"My poison is unlike any you will have come across," Sasori said, tired of waiting to be recognised by the girl. "We will see how you fair against it."
"Sakura, you and your friend stay out of this," Chiyo told them, her hands in the sleeves of her jacket before pulling them out and kunai attached to a string of chakra hovered before her. "I will fight him alone," she released the kunai and they flung to Sasori who deflected them easily with his tail.
"I don't know how you do things in this country grandma," Ana stated stepping up to her side, Sakura following her. Both girls looking determined and unafraid as they smiled at Chiyo and Ana continued speaking this time for both herself and pinkette, "but where I'm from we help our friends succeed. You don't have to go through this alone. We are here for you!"
"Thank you child," Chiyo whispered, looking shocked and tearful before resolve gripped and she quickly formulated a plan and motioned the two girls to lean so she could whisper it to them.
Sasori watched them with narrowed eyes, wondering what plan his grandma had cooked up, it was a tense moment for him as he realised he didn't know who had the advantage in this fight. If this unknown girl hadn't been there he would have said he had the advantage though not a very big one, but this girl with her unknown abilities through a major wrench in the works. He had seen what she could do with Deidara but something told him her powers weren't always explosive and thus he was hesitant to strike while they were talking. She reminded him of Itachi, powerful and completely unpredictable it was hard to judge her but if he could beat her she would make an amazing puppet, she would be the icing on the cake of his collection.
"Ready girls?" Chiyo asked, bringing Sasori out of his musings.
Ana grinned and ran forward, casting a shielding charm around her body as Sasori opened his mouth and needles began to shoot out in a constant stream. "I'm going to blow that puppet suit apart," she called out to him as she approached, Sasori's tail slashing forwards to stab at her before both the tail and Ana stopped abruptly. "Psych," she grinned at him as he fell for their trap. Sakura, who had been running directly behind her jumped up and smashed her chakra fuelled fist down on his body, shattering it into pieces.
"I see," Sasori murmured after a short pause before jumping out of the broken body of his puppet, "you attached chakra strings to the tail, I didn't notice until the end that was clever of you baa-chan." He had his back to then and a cloak over his head, hiding his appearance from view.
"Come now Sasori, it's been a while since I last saw you let me see your face." Chiyo called, suddenly weary and Sasori laughed and turned around before pulling the cloak from his head. All three women gasped as they noticed how young he looked, he couldn't be much older than Ana in appearance.
"No way," Sakura whispered in disbelief, "Sasori left Suna twenty years ago, how could he look that young?"
"Because," Ana said, her voice holding a tinge of disgust as it clicked in her mind, "he turned himself into a puppet."
"Oh you are a clever one," Sasori chuckled, "I will enjoy making you my puppet, you will be exquisite with that power of yours."
"No way that's happening Pinocchio," Ana said before continuing sarcastically, "I'd prefer to keep things no strings attached between us."
"Is now really the time to make jokes?" Sakura hissed at her and Ana shrugged in response, not bothering with a verbal reply because she just knew it would start an argument.
"Now that I have you here, I want to show you something special," Sasori's voice echoed around the chamber but his words were meant for Chiyo, his arm dropped to his side and a scroll slid into his hand like the same way Ana stored her wand. Slowly he lifted it up and unrolled it slightly revealing three ink drawn lines across the page, "this particular piece was hard to acquire but I guess that's what makes me so fond of him."
There was a puff of smoke an as it gradually cleared another puppet was revealed and Chiyo gasped at the sight of it. The colouration of the skin was dark, as though it wasn't human but it had once been so, the joints were removed and in their places was pieces of puppetry but Ana could tell this was once a living, breathing human being. Disgust ran through her, eating away at her stomach until she felt sick.
"It can't be," Chiyo whispered breathlessly.
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"That's the third kazekage!" Chiyo replied as Sasori moved the puppet so it was almost hugging him from behind, as though trying to strike a threatening pose to intimidate them, "it's been ten years since the third kazekage disappeared from the village without a trace, the strongest of our kazekage simply vanished. Sasori, it was you?"
Sasori chuckled before answering, "yeah so what if it was, I'm not afraid of a retired old woman, you've got one foot in the grave and you want revenge. You can't even touch me."
"Hey Pinocchio have some respect," Ana said in defence of the elder, "she may be retired and getting on in year but together, the three of us are going to make you regret saying that. You might not have any loyalty when it comes to your village but I have loyalty in spades and I won't stand for you insulting my friends like that you spineless worm!"
"This is the third time you've messed with our kazekage," her tone was steely and Chyio's eyes were hardened, "You did this to the third and you took Gaara and then you helped Orochimaru kill the fourth, Gaara's father."
"Now, now, it's true the Akatsuki and Orochimaru have history together but I never did anything to the fourth that was an agent of mine."
"Same thing Pinocchio," Ana said before continuing slowly, "you mentioned you have history with Orochimaru… I want you tell me everything you know about him."
"Oh are you a fan?"
"No," Ana smiled, it was creepy and Sakura shuddered in response to seeing it, "I'm going to kill him and pinky here and blondie outside want to get there friend back, so I need all the intel I can get."
"I'm afraid you won't be getting any information from me, I don't do things for free."
"Then let's make it worth your while," Ana stated stepping forward, "You seem to be very confident in your abilities so if we beat you then we get the intel."
"And what do I win?"
"You get to turn me into one of those creepy puppets," she neglected to tell him that if he did her magic would no longer work but she wasn't about to reveal that any time soon.
"Well then," he smirked slightly as his fingers flexed, "shall we begin?"
The third's puppet body flew towards them and Ana apparated out of the way as Chiyo pulled Sakura back using the chakra strings. She didn't pull hard enough and had to block the razor sharp blades on the third's arms using the tail of puppet Sakura had broken earlier, the tail shattered but it was enough to get the pink haired girl further away. "Smooth old lady, let's see you handle this," Sasori commented, the puppets other arm extended and all along it panels opened up that had seals written along them, Ana knowing this couldn't bode well and knowing Sakura was the target of this attack quickly appeared at the girls side and, as over a dozen arms shot out of the panels she apparated the girl backwards, just beyond the reach of the arms. They weren't given much respite and one of the arms lift, palm out towards them as a small tube slide out it and cloud of purple gas erupted from it. Ana only had time to push Sakura back with her magic before she was engulfed in the poisoned smoke.
It was hard to breath but the poison she knew wouldn't affect her which made breathing in the toxic fumes a little easier. Distantly she could hear Chiyo and Sakura calling out to her, the latter shouting at her for using her magic to help the pinkette and hard as it may be to hear with the gas cloud dulling her senses she caught the remark about Sakura being tainted by her magic. So this was the thanks she would get for helping the useless girl, anger fuelled her next actions as she dispersed the cloud and turned to Sakura with a deadly glint in her eyes. "Look pinky, my magic is purer than your chakra will ever be and I will be having a discussion with you about that later but I unlike you, have bigger problems right now. Like the Akatsuki member over there who has intel on Orochimaru."
"Yeah right, you only want the information so you can join him and be with Sasuke." The accusatory was not missed on the raven haired girl.
"Now is seriously not the time for your fangirl issues," Ana said her anger spiking to an all-time high as she turned around to face Sasori again.
"How are you unaffected by my poison?" he asked incredulously, "I made that concoction myself, you shouldn't be able to move."
"I have had the most potent venom flow through my veins, there isn't a poison alive that beat it for deadliness, least of all a man made one. I have had phoenix tears join the venom in my blood, that is the only cure which heals everything and anything and just so happens to be extremely rare." Her eyes narrowed darkly, her tone was clipped and angry as the Akatsuki member actually flinched away from the girl as he stared into killing curse green eyes, glowing with deadly intent. He was suddenly reminded of a fellow member with deadly eyes, he noted then that had she been born into that clan her use of the Sharingan would be amazing. "You are going to give me what I want, I'm done playing around."
Sasori stared in shock as suddenly his puppet, his favourite and most prized in his collection, exploded into dust as if it was nothing more than rotting wood. He hadn't even gotten a chance to use the third's technique, this girl was something else entirely and he wanted her for his collection so bad. He laughed, a crazed look in his as his manic laughter filled the chamber and he brought out another scroll and puppets shot out of it a seeming never ending stream until a hundred filled the air. "It is said the strength of a puppet master is shown by the number of puppets he can wield at once," he opened a small door on his chest and chakra string poured out of it, attaching to the puppets in the sky. "Let's see how you can handle my hundred puppets."
"Oh please, you really are out matched against me and my magic," Ana said cautiously as the puppets zoomed down towards her, weapons at the ready. First it appeared she would do nothing but like the calm before the storm everything fell silent around them until they could hear a slow, dull roar and heat began to fill the room and slowly above them her magic began to take on form like a dragon hatching from a moon sized egg.
Sakura watched the events unfold in a dazed horror, her body trembling in a frozen fear at the sheer power this girl possessed. Of course she was aware it was different and unique but to have this much and to have it take a physical form was beyond comprehension, she couldn't believe it and she was watching it unfold before her eyes. Her light green eyes watched as Sasori puppets were taken down in one swoop of this dragon like manifestation and captured Sasori within it. Fear ran deep within her veins and as Ana got the intel on Orochimaru, with the planned meet up point at Tenchi bridge in a week's time, Sakura was slowly filled with another emotion. Jealousy boiled within her like a fiery inferno.
She wanted to have this kind of power, the ability that would make her strong and would help her get Sasuke. She could imagine it clearly within her mind's eye, this unrivalled power being hers and the next time she met with Sasuke he would realise her prowess in both beauty and skill and fall on his knees proclaiming his love. They would seek his revenge together and they would return to Konoha where they would marry and the glorious wedding night, where he would spend it making love to her. Just the thoughts of Sasuke taking her innocence made her blush, she had imagined that for a very long time, he would be gentle the first time round with soft touches and a tenderness that showed he loved her. Then he would gradually become more and more rough with his love making, she could imagine the way her head would tilt back in pleasure and her body arch into him. Suddenly the girl Sasuke was making love to had black hair and green eyes, it wasn't her hands gripping him so tightly they were paler and more dainty and it certainly wasn't her name Sasuke was moaning. Her dream shattered in that moment, crumbling to the ground like a fallen sandcastle. Her jealousy quickly turning her heart to hatred towards the other green eyed girl.
As Ana released her magic, having gathered what she needed from Sasori and killed him she felt tired, unused to her magic behaving like that and the only she could assume was that it was adapting to her new surroundings. She stared at the lifeless shell of Sasori, her magic having pierced through his heart, she felt cold and numb inside the thoughts of taking a life disgusting her as much as it had in the final battle at Hogwarts. She felt sick and was unable to keep the contents of her stomach down and as she vomited she was blissfully unaware of the brewing cauldron of hatred and jealousy that was stirring behind her.
A/N: I am so not happy with the fight scene...they are not my strong point but I tried my best though it turned out completely different to the original.
So...what did you think about the short insight into Sakura's mind? I was trying to get across her creepy obsession with Sasuke.
Sorry it's kinda short, I was just really struggling with this chapter and if I had tried to make it longer than it would be even worse to read...
Please review.