Someday You Will be Loved

A/N: Repost.

Same ratings as always, same warnings apply.

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“Someday You Will Be Loved: Chapter 2”


It had been almost three days since she had seen Aisen City, the grimy urban center that had been home for so long. She had barely been allowed enough time to run back to Hisadachi for the emergency supplies and downloadable copies of information before leaving. There had been no time to check on Reno, but she was pretty sure it didn’t matter anyway. The wound, from what she saw, was deep. Too deep for a normal civilian, no matter how strong, to live through.

She had left before dawn, anxious to get as far away from the murdering Konoha traitor and the lost memories she brought with her. That was all she needed right now: a group of her ex-teammates following her around and getting her in even deeper shit.

If that was possible at this point.

And what the hell was Sasuke doing back? That appearance deserved quite a bit of pondering, but there wasn’t enough time left in the history of the world to figure that situation out. She struck it down in her mental notebook as a question to ask if she ever got to see Konoha again.

There were a lot of people who would be extremely suspicious. She had left in the middle of the night without any warning to any of her informants, contacts, or supposed business partners. Over a year of careful planning, maneuvering, and sucking up was down the drain now. Her only choice was to emerge on the other side of Suna, right by the border of Fire, and hope that she could create a believable story to give her contacts there. Otherwise, she was merely gonna be a paycheck for the next biggest hitman.

She was nearing Suna now, and she wasn’t sure exactly how to pass through without being detected. She had to go into town; three days in Wind Country’s deserts had all but exhausted her supplies, so she definitely couldn’t make it the two days to Niigata from Suna.

There was no other choice.

As she saw the large dirty, solid walls of earth and stone emerging before her, she knew she would just have to try. She had already dyed her hair brown, and her contacts were in. Chakra was hidden, and her weapons were concealed with her underwear—because no shinobi on guard duty would look there. They were usually pubescent chuunins who were too embarrassed to do so.

She shuffled into the forming line outside the gates. The members of the gypsy groups and trading bands came through here often to get supplies, and hopefully she would be able to blend in. The line was quite long for so early in the morning, but she didn’t care. Suna meant a nice, warm bed and decent food. Maybe even a bath.

“Next! Move up!”

Still, she had to be careful. She couldn’t stress that enough. If she was caught here, well, they would kill her or ship her right back to Konoha to die. And if she hadn’t completed her mission, there was very little evidence that she was doing what Tsunade would say she was.

“C’mon! Let’s keep it movin’!”

She could feel the sand stirring about her feet, swept up in the Wind that the country was so famous for. If she knew any better, she would say a sandstorm might blow in this afternoon. But she had never spent a lot of time in Suna, and the weather patterns here were different than in the other areas she knew so well. Still, the wind-blown grains of sand dancing in the air, mingling with people’s clothes and hair, were beautiful to her.

“Next! Hurry up!”

The murmurs of the crowd drowned out most of the peripheral noise, and she felt at peace surrounded in this group of faceless people. Maybe that would make her faceless as well. But her stomach kept pointing to something else, something that didn’t bode well.

“You’re next, girlie. Papers?”

Sakura nodded, handing him the forged civilian papers she had bought of Hisadachi the night before. She had three other versions, too.

The guard looked at her, but Sakura kept her head bowed, acting like a shy, submissive female. She had found that it attracted less attention than her normal assertiveness, especially when going up against shinobi.

He shook his head, handing the bundle of papers back to Sakura before waving her on through the small pedestrian gate.

Finally, she had reached Suna. From here on out it would be easy.

She located a hotel off the main strip, and immediately booked a room to take her first real shower in almost four days. But hygiene wasn’t on her mind right now.

She exited the hotel not 30 minutes after she checked in, and grabbed a bite to eat at one of the food vendors on the street. She only had about an hour; after that, everyone would go in for his or her afternoon nap when the winds blew in.

She walked towards the Kazekage’s Offices, rambling down the busy street for about ten minutes. Suddenly, she swung left down a small alley that led into a small clay-brick building. This was the one of the may open salons that Suna boasted about, used for the civilians and ninja to find shelter from the heat and still get to interact with each other.

But this one was special.

She knew that only old civilian men hung out here, and, of course, one man who spent most of his time in Suna even though he was from Konoha. This was Shikamaru’s favorite hang out when he was here with his wife. On every previous trip to Suna Sakura had found him here, playing shogi for hours.

She wasn’t disappointed.

No one took notice as she entered, looked around, and left; they were sure she was someone’s granddaughter sent to retrieve an elusive grandparent for the afternoon lay-in. Shikamaru, though, knew her face like the back of his hand, and he finished his game as quickly as possible so that he could meet up with her.

She didn’t have to wait long, maybe four minutes, before he joined her under the shaded alcove near the draped salon. He looked at her, hard and glaring, before sighing. Surely, he realized that her presence in Suna meant trouble, trouble that he would become involved in.

“Maa, maa, Saku—“

“Kura, actually. Careful tossing that name around, Shika.”

“No one here is gonna come after you. Gaara won’t let them.” He took a cigarette out of the pack in his jounin vest, lighting it and savoring the slowly circling rings of smoke.

“Maybe it’s not Suna nin I’m worried about.” He shot her a sideways look, interpreting her underlying meaning.

“Konoha wouldn’t, not even with everything that’s gone on.”

She laughed, bitterly. She slumped, resting against the side of the building.

“Really now? I’m pretty sure that I just dealt with four ANBU from Konoha. All Danzou-sama’s work, of course.”

He nodded, puffing leisurely on his cigarette. “I’m sure. Have you ever considered calling this whole farce off? Obviously, this isn’t working. You two always have the most complicated ideas. It’s troublesome.”

This time Sakura looked at him sideways. “I shouldn’t be surprised, I guess. You were always so smart, Shika! Did you… find the papers, or just figure it out?”

“Please. It was obvious from the beginning. Even Gaara saw through it.”

“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. “Damn. I was hoping to be all sneaky about it, too.”

“Too bad.” He thumped his cigarette to the ground, carelessly smashing the burning embers with his foot.

“Well, then! You won’t mind me asking a little favor.” He looked over at her, his face askew with shock. “What? You think I just traipsed into Suna for no reason?” He shook his head, smiling. He had definitely missed her wit. “I have some papers I need to get to Tsunade, and I know you can do it without anyone but her seeing them. Diplomatic sensitivity and all.”

“And what is in these papers?”

“Oh, nothing you need to see, Mr. Nara.” She grinned impishly, and passed him the think packet. “Just get them to her, and tell her I’m moving on within the next two days. I can’t tell her to where, but at least now she knows I’m safe.”

He grabbed the papers, shuffling through the personal letter she had left unsealed. “Sure thing. You know, we’d like for you to give up whatever quest you’re on and come home, Saku—“

She was gone into the blistering heat of Suna’s afternoon. Nothing even marked her appearance, except the packet of papers.

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The gates loomed above the three ANBU, beckoning them into their home village. One was just happy to have the mission over, one wanted to sit down and get a good stiff drink to let the tension out, and one wanted to be able to mull over everything he had heard in silence.

“ANBU-san! Welcome back! Go ahead and sign in, and by then we’ll have the Hokage waiting for you.” Izumo smiled, showing his pearly white teeth as Kotestu vanished in a pillar of smoke.

“Ah. It is good to be home, indeed.” Neji stepped forward and signed his team’s designation on the graphed sheet before signaling to his team that they should all head for the Hokage’s office.

They were gone before Kotestu ever came back.

The walk was quiet; it was late night in Konoha and most civilians would already be in bed. But as they approached the Hokage’s office, they could see her office lights burning brightly, a beacon in the night for those searching for the truth.

Shizune wasn’t even waiting on them, and the large double doors were thrown wide open for their entrance. The Hokage looked up at them, tiredly, before motioning to them. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitatingly shut it again before finally finding the right words.

“I take it you don’t have good news, Neji, seeing as your fourth member isn’t even here.”

“We were informed she was too close to Danzou-sama. It was recommended that we return without her, for our own safety.”

The Hokage shut her eyes, leaning her forehead downwards. Her hand fisted in one of the blonde ponytails flowing over her shoulder.

“She’s not coming home, is she?”

Her voice sounded so pitiful at that moment that Neji couldn’t speak.

“Well, was it a total failure? Was something salvaged?”

“We did find this.” He stepped forward, setting a small package on her desk. “It was left, in my name, at the docks in Aisen. So you can only assume that Sakura left it for us to pick up. It was addressed to us, so we did open it. It contains pictures of our fourth member’s last team, butchered beyond recognition. It also has a picture of her… cleaning the blood off of herself. I’m sure it is enough to have her arrested and charged.”

“Sakura did her work well, then.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama.”

“Well, at least you tried. I—“

“Hokage-sama, I want an explanation.” She looked at Sasuke, glaring. “We had no idea what was going on, and you sent us after one of our ex-teammates?!”

“I didn’t send you after anyone! I found out about this mission two hours before you left. But now, thankfully, I have enough information to bring Danzou in front of the council. You, boy, have no clue what is going on, so shut the hell up!”

Sasuke did, although his consternation showed on his face.

“No one knows the full truth except for me and Sakura. Not even Neji. But if you want to know so badly,” she glared at the three in front of her, “I’ll tell you. For decades, Danzou has tried to undermine the control of Konoha. He despises the hokages because he wasn’t chosen to sit in this chair. But unlike Orochimaru, he chose to work much differently. He chose stealth over anger, subterfuge over direct attack.”

She leaned back in her chair, her eyes closed as if remembering a particularly harsh memory. “I chose Sakura for this mission because I trust her explicitly. We were worried about how to pass it off, but an unassigned search for you, Sasuke, seemed to be a good enough excuse. The council accepted it, and we declared her a missing nin. When you came back, they just assumed she was dead or had defected from Konoha. Since then, she has been working to gather information, and uncover Danzou’s associates.”

“So this won’t end when Danzou goes before the council.”

“No. I received a package from Sakura, via Suna, that detailed all the financial backers she had found. But there is something she is leaving out.”

She looked through the window to the Hokage Mountain, muttering to herself, “I was her sensei long enough to know when she’s holding back something important.”

“Tsunade-sama, we can go after her again—“

She cut Neji off. “No. The message arrived this afternoon, and Shikamaru assured me that she would be gone in less than two days. That would give you one day to get to Suna after you have traveled this far already. No, it can’t be done. We have to let her play the game as she sees fit. Sakura is a smart girl.”

She looked thoughtful, examining Neji anew. “But at least now someone else knows the full truth. So if something does happen to me, she will be saved if she tries to come back to Konoha.”

“I have everything under control, boys. Just go home and get some rest. Try to forget this mission after your reports. The information is going to be attributed to another nin that has no problems facing the danger Danzou presents.”

The three men sighed before leaving the Hokages office, more confused than ever before.

There was a well-known shinobi bar right down the way from the Hokage building, and the three entered silently. The chaos inside was almost welcoming after the past few days.

“Hey Neji! My eternal rival! We were wondering when you would return to your beautiful home! Are you okay? Did the mission go as planned? Are up for a youthful competition of drinking with these fine friends of ours? They won’t let me join, but surely you can save the reputation of Team Gai!”

Sasuke and Sai nodded at Neji as he walked away, almost resigned to his fate. The two moved toward a darkened table near the bar, hoping to ignore everyone else.

“Ahh, my two teammates have returned. Did your mission go well?” Kakashi winked at them, before following them to a table. He immediately requested a few more cups and another bottle of sake, hoping to find out what had his teammates so upset.

“You won’t believe this new Icha Icha volume. It has to be the best ever written…”

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“Hey there, honey.”

Sakura looked up from the enchanting scene across the street. Her book had long ago gotten boring, and she had already had her good laugh at Shika thinking he knew everything, so she had been watching the little girls across the street as they laughed and played. It had been much better than reading and sipping her tea.

But now she had been interrupted, and she didn’t recognize this guy at all. Most likely, he was just some Suna nin hitting on a pretty girl, but you could never tell. Once upon a time, she had almost been beheaded in a similar situation.

“Who are you?”

“So blunt! Mind if I sit by you for a minute?” He didn’t wait for an answer, seating himself across from her at the low café table. She scrutinized his features, but she still couldn’t place him.

“Again, who are you and what do you want with me?”

“My, such a mean woman. Here I am, trying to buy you another cup of refreshing tea, and you’re acting like I’m the plague. My, why doesn’t anyone ever appreciate me?”

“Because you come on too heavy.” He grinned at her, and she found it to be contagious.

“Well, I come with good news, my lovely lady. I am to be your new travel partner.” He gestured to his pack, which was almost identical to the one sitting at her feet.

“Really now?”

“Yes. I also have a friend, but he doesn’t seem to be here yet. Oh well, he’ll be here eventually.”

“Who are you again?”

“I’m still hurt that you don’t recognize me! Me! The esteemed friend of your mentor! Her closest equal! Her best friend! Her one and only lov—“

“Oh God, Jiraiya, take off the henge. Please.” He slumped, his smile gone, but did as she asked.

“You know, you should have picked up on that earlier.”

“I did. But that doesn’t mean I knew who you were. Better to wait than alert the suspect, ne?”

They grinned at each other, happy to have a little company in their solitary lives.

“You know, you are a hard woman to find, Kura. My companion and I have been looking for you everywhere. But then I saw the most beautiful lady imaginable, and I knew it just had to be—“

Her fist cut off his words.

“Well, definitely like Tsunade, eh?”

“Have to be around you. Whoever your traveling companion is, they had better hurry up. I have to be out of here by three. I’m sure you are aware of that, though. I imagine Tsunade sent you.”

“She did, she did! She was so worried about her student. But I promised to… look after you for her.”

The lascivious look in his eyes made her shudder, but she looked over his shoulder and saw the most beautiful sight ever. She was so sure she would never see him again, so sure that he was gone from her life. But there he was. Perfectly ok, perfectly himself, and coming towards them. She jumped up, rushing to him and enveloping him in the largest hug she could. He chuckled, deeply, and she could feel the vibrations tickle her ear that lay on her chest.

“Reno! Oh God, you’re alive! You’re alright! How? How did you end up with the old pervert? How are you here?”

He laughed that beautiful, tinkling sound that she could never tire of.

“Ah, Kura, you shoulda known I wouldn’t let ya face this stuff alone. Sides, those thugs didn’t hurt me bad. Almost like, they didn’t wanna kill me. As if they could.”

Her tears were dripping onto his white linen shirt, but he just held her closer.

“I figured you would want your friend along, and I offered to let him tag along. I had originally gone to Aisen on a tip that you were there, and he was the only evidence of you ever being in residence. So…”

She nodded, smiling. For once, she could thank Jiraiya for doing something right.

“Well, girly, I think it’s bout time we hit tha road. Gotta long way to go the next few days, and we shouldn’t stay here too long, ya know.”

She stepped away, and grabbed her pack. She smiled up at Jiraiya, the one man she never thought she would ever be grateful to, and set off beside Reno toward the gate.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought it would. She had Reno, who would help her with anything if possible. She had Jiraiya, her mentor’s most trusted companion. And she had Tsunade, the strongest woman in the world, rooting for her.

She couldn’t let her sensei down, not after all the effort Tsunade must have put into the last day to organize this.

Truly thankful for the end to her depressing loneliness, something she had lived with the past three years, she stepped forward into the blazing heat and blinding sands outside Suna. There would be no secrets now, at least with these two.

Gaara watched as the three appeared, seemingly from beneath his feet. They exited the small civilian gate, soon becoming small specks on the sandy horizon of Wind country’s vast emptiness. He had wanted to see her himself, make sure that all was as Jiraiya had said. Naruto wasn’t allowed to know of her appearance until a week from now, but he wanted to remember every detail he could to send to his friend.

The blonde ninja would be especially appreciative of this missive, he was sure. His first child’s birth was soon, and he was off mission status until then. Hopefully, this would cheer him up a little.

“Jiraiya!” He heard a smack, and saw the older ninja rolling along the sand. The redhead with the two laughed, holding the small woman back from pummeling the sannin.

Gaara let a rare smile grace his features.

“What are you smiling about, brother?”

“Nothing, Temari.” She grinned at him, poking his arm.

“C’mon. What is it?”

“I am imagining Naruto’s face when he reads my letter.”

Temari’s grin widened into a smile, then transformed into hysterical laughter.

“I’m sure it’ll be priceless, Gaara. C’mon, dinner’s gonna be ready soon, and Shikamaru has some papers we need to look over. Apparently the Godaime is in a rush to get the new trade agreement taken care of.”

“Yes. I’ll be there shortly.”

He watched as she left, smiling at the way she kept her hand over her growing stomach. They had grown up so much faster than he was prepared for. Families, death, intrigue… no one told him that this was what life was really like.

He watched until the dots on the sand disappeared before heading back to his house, which was most likely filled to the brim with Kankurou’s latest creations and Temari’s brats. His life was so peaceful, while one of his friends walked to what was surely certain death.

There was nothing he could do. He had already helped as much as he could. The rest was up to her.


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A/N: Well, another chapter down! I have an incredible headache from typing, or from staring at the computer for so long. I'm going to pop some Tylenol and get ready. Got a party to go to! When did they put a spell check on the document designer, too?

It's so... something, until the part with Jiraiya and Gaara. That shows how music influences my writing. I was being all depressive and listening to slow stuff, then I changed to Stroke 9 and Stephen Lynch. If you haven't heard of them, definitely recommended. Lynch is a singing comedian that is Awesome!

And as for Gaara, who is waaaay out of character, I'm assuming he would end up partially normal. Shuukaku's gone, he is being friendly in the series, so he can be nice to Temari. Also, in my universe, the thing with Jiraiya and Pein never happened (don't want to spoil it for everyone). So, I am diverging from canon once again. I can't help it! I love the old pervert! He is such a good character, so we'll assume he kicked Pein's ass.

Next Chapter: Naruto finds out Sakura is alive, and Danzou goes before the council. Sakura and her new travel companions find out exactly how Gaara helped them once they reach Niigata.