Perception

Perception by Cynchick
Chapter Six: Swords and Saviors


Naruto shifted in his sleep, settling further into the comfort of his warm bed. He turned onto his side as his body subconsciously sought the source of warmth next to him. A small smile formed on his sleeping face as his nose buried into raven hair and caught that scent, that combination of spring lilies and him that intoxicated his Kyuubi-enhanced senses so greatly. His arms wrapped tighter around her smaller frame with a contented sigh as he nuzzled his face further into that perfect place between her neck and shoulder, the silky strands of her hair tickling his nose and cheek. The woman in his arms murmured softly in her sleep, that sweet sound that was half moan, half dreamy sigh, and curled her body back further into him.


The two sleeping ninja attempted to melt into each other for another moment and finally settled into a mutually comfortable position. They were just about to drift away again into peaceful slumber, when a loud rapping sound made them both shoot up in the bed, instantly awake. Naruto’s arm was thrown loosely in front of Hinata, instinctually protective, though he hardly needed to be.


Hinata let out the breath she was holding and Naruto groaned in annoyance as the sound came again, not as loud as it had originally sounded to their sleeping ears, and they recognized it as someone knocking on the door. Naruto slid to the edge of the bed and silently got to his feet. Hinata pulled her knees in close and moved the covers further up her body to conceal the fact that she was wearing nothing but panties and a t-shirt; the exact same t-shirt Naruto had worn earlier in the day. Wearing only his boxers, Naruto grabbed a kunai from the floor where his discarded leg holster and wrappings lay, and padded silently to the door.


Not bothering to think about the fact that an enemy probably wouldn’t bother to knock because hey, you never knew… he quickly opened the door with the kunai held ready and out of sight. His alert expression fell instantly into a frown as the door swung open to reveal Sai, fully dressed and wide awake.


Naruto groaned. “Asshole, what the hell do you want?” He looked at the clock on his kitchen wall. “And what are you doing here at two in the damn morning!”


Sai’s voice was quiet but firm. “Naruto, hurry up and get dressed.”


“Huh? In the middle of the night? What the hell for?”


“The Hokage’s called for us. We need to go now.”


The dark haired man’s face was even and expressionless as usual, but Naruto could hear a slight edge to his voice, and his eyes glinted with something strange. And…he had just called him Naruto, not by one of his phallic nicknames. Something serious was happening. “Sai, what’s going on? Did something happen?” he asked, dropping the nicknames as well. Without waiting for an answer he moved back into his apartment and quickly began to throw his clothes on.


He left the front door open for Sai to follow, but his teammate remained standing on the doormat. It was probably for the best; Hinata was still in his bed in a state that only he should be allowed to see her in. He didn’t think it would be good for the team if he had to blind the guy. She was looking at him in concern, and he looked over at her with a small worried frown as he zipped his pants and quickly redid his leg and holster wrappings before pulling his boots on. He grabbed another black t-shirt from a drawer since Hinata was still wearing the other one, and he walked back into the front part of the apartment as he pulled it over his head. “What happened, Sai? Where’s Kakashi-senpai?”


“He’s already there. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but the message said it’s an emergency.” The artist’s face was more blank than usual, like he was trying to hide something. He may not know what had happened, but it looked like he had an idea. It was times like this that Naruto hated not being as clever and quick-witted as the rest of his team. The way Sai’s brow kept furrowing minutely before he could cover it again told him that whatever it was that the dark-haired man had figured out, it was bad.


He grabbed his zip-up jacket from the back of a chair and threw it on. Halfway out the door, he stopped suddenly as if forgetting something. He ran back to his room and leaned over Hinata, who was still sitting up and staring wide eyed at him, and he set one knee on the mattress for support. Her pale, lavender-white eyes were nearly glowing in the moonlight coming from the window next to the bed. So beautiful... the thought was accompanied by a small flutter as her presence calmed his inner agitation briefly. He cupped her face in his hands. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” He kissed her softly, and she nodded in assent. He locked his cerulean eyes onto hers. “I love you.”


“I love you too, be careful.” she whispered, and he kissed the bridge of her nose this time before standing up off of the bed and zipping his jacket. With that, he turned and ran back out the front door and closed it behind him. Sai was perched on the balcony railing of his third-story landing, and he nimbly jumped up next to him. They looked at each other briefly with mixed expressions of concern and urgency before taking to the rooftops, leaping with blinding speed toward the Hokage tower.

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From the rooftop across from the tower, Naruto and Sai could see the lights blazing in the Hokage’s office. Summoning them in the middle of the night was already outside the realm of protocol, so they didn’t think twice about making straight for the open window; no doubt it had been pushed open for that exact purpose.


Kakashi was standing next to the open frame, and he moved back just in time to let the boys jump through. The loose papers on the large ornate desk flapped in the breeze caused by the entrance of the two shinobi. Sai moved to stand near the bookshelves behind Kakashi; the artist never liked to be front and center unless he had to. Naruto moved past him to stand near the desk and looked at the still figure of the Hokage.


The tension in the room was palpable even to the usually oblivious Naruto. Tsunade stood with her back to them facing the window. She did that whenever she had news she didn’t want to tell, and was trying to find the best way to break it to them. She looked different aside from her rigid posture, and it took a moment for him to realize she was shorter. Gone were the uncomfortable looking high heels, replaced at this late hour by regular flat zori. Her long blonde hair was also down and flowing over her back instead of the usual loose pigtails. Apparently she had been woken up with whatever news she was now about to tell them. Shizune was also there, because she always was, looking just as worn and tired as her shishou.


Not one for patience, Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and demanded a good reason for dragging him out of his warm bed. “Ok, Baa-chan, were all here, what’s the meaning of calling us in the middle of the night?” he asked in his usual impolite manner.


The Hokage turned around to look at them then, and Naruto’s irritated expression immediately fell. Tsunade looked a wreck, and it wasn’t from a hangover or being woken in the middle of the night. She looked to be on the verge of tears. Shocked by her drastic change in appearance, his next words were almost a whisper. “What happened, Baa-chan?”


The blonde woman took a deep steadying breath, drawing on the deep inner strength that made her a great Hokage, and began to address the men before her. “I’m sure you knew that Sakura was sent on a short medical mission three days ago,” she began, watching the two younger men intently. Sai hadn’t known about Sakura’s mission, but the mention of her name didn’t surprise him as much as it did Naruto. The blonde looked like he’d just seen a ghost. He leaned on the small chair in front of the desk and felt his heart drop into his stomach as all of the clues clicked into place and realization hit him hard.


Tsunade felt a pang in her chest at seeing the boy’s worried face, but she steadied herself and continued. “It was a simple mission to heal an old politician in Grass. She was supposed to be back some time today. Normally Sakura would send word if the job was taking longer than expected, and I was planning on sending an ANBU team to find her if she didn’t return by tomorrow night.” She took another deep breath. “Two hours ago I was woken by the captain of an ANBU team that had been patrolling the border areas of Grass and Fire, claiming he had an emergency report. He reported that they had been scouting the area when they heard word of a disturbance in a nearby town; the town Sakura was sent to.” She saw Naruto’s eyes widen and Sai frowned. She didn’t look at Kakashi; she knew what she would see there and she didn’t think she could face it a second time. “There was a battle between shinobi that caused major structural damage. The battle was four against one, and it ended with the lone ninja being taken hostage.” She was skirting the issue, hoping the others understood so she wouldn’t have to from the words that were threatening to crack her careful composure.


“Tsunade-sama…” Shizune urged her mentor quietly to continue, as hard as it was.


“Just say it, Baa-chan.” Naruto demanded in a hollow voice that was so unlike him it was almost frightening.


The Hokage’s voice did crack then. “The lone ninja has been confirmed as Sakura, and the four shinobi who fought and captured her…were Akatsuki.” Feeling a great weight settle over the room at her words, she sat down heavily at her desk and put her aching head into her hands.


Naruto exhaled sharply. “Akatsuki…” he murmured. “Why?” he asked as though he already knew.


The Hokage continued to stare unseeing at the surface of the desk. “I suppose they may want her for her medical skills, but that’s probably not the main reason.”


“What do you mean, Hokage-sama?” Sai spoke up this time, the fact that he said anything at all when not directly spoken to showed how worried he really was under that blank exterior.


Tsunade did look up this time, and locked her amber gaze with Naruto’s. He knew; he was just waiting for her to say it out loud. “One of the Akatsuki was identified as Hoshigake Kisame, so it’s probable that one of the others was Uchiha Itachi. Most likely they are after you, Naruto, and intend to use Sakura as bait.” She sighed heavily as she felt little pieces of her heart break at the boy’s expression.


Fear, anger and guilt were al passing over Naruto’s face in successive waves. He stood rigid for a moment longer as it all settled in, his grip on the back of the chair turning his knuckles white. Suddenly he threw the chair across the room in a fury, causing it to slam into the bookshelves and break into splinters. “FUCK!” he shouted in anger and frustration, making the others to flinch though his reaction had been somewhat expected. His hands gripped into his blonde messy hair. “Damn it, this is all my fault,” he said in anguish. “Sakura-chan was taken by that bastard Uchiha to set a trap for me, because of the Kyuubi inside me. She had to fight all those Akatsuki alone, and now she’s being held hostage because of me! She must be so scared right now... What if she got hurt? What if they hurt her? What if they torture her…what if they…oh, fuck!” he sank into a squatting position and buried his head in his hands, guilt at being the reason for the horrors he was imagining his best friend going through tearing him apart.


“Naruto, don’t think like that. You can’t think like that, it will drive you crazy.” Kakashi spoke for the first time since the boys had entered the office. “Sakura is strong, remember that. That structural damage in the town was most likely caused by her. You know she can put up a hell of a fight.” He laughed weakly.


Something was off in the older jounin’s tone, breaking Naruto out of his despair and making him look up at his former sensei. Of course Kakashi already knew; as team leader he was informed first and he had already been there when he and Sai arrived. But something was definitely off about him. He was so agitated his aura was nearly vibrating with tension. Gone was his trademark slouch. His hands were in his pockets as usual but they were clenched tightly into fists. The silver-haired man hadn’t looked away from the window once since they got there, not even when he’d spoken, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to jump out of the open frame and run off into the night. “They wont hurt her, they need her alive and sound if they plan to use her as bait.” He said again quietly, and it wasn’t clear if he was still trying to reassure his team or himself.


Naruto had never seen the man so affected by anything, and another wave of guilt washed over him at being the source of so much pain and fear to his friends. “Kakashi-senpai…” he trailed off, not knowing what to say to the older man, or even if he should say anything at all.


The Hokage spoke up again before Naruto’s agitated state caused an unwanted Kyuubi appearance right here in her office. “Kakashi’s right. Thinking like that won’t help the situation. You think I don’t blame myself? This wouldn’t have happened if I had done more research on the mission, if I had checked the credentials better…” she took a deep breath. “Since it’s most likely the Kyuubi they’re after, we need to be very careful with the rescue attempt…”


Naruto stood up abruptly and glared at the Hokage, when he spoke his voice was low and dangerous. “Baa-chan…don’t even try to tell me…”


“I wasn’t going to Naruto!” she snapped back at the boy. Not letting Naruto be part of the rescue team would be the smart thing to do, since letting him go was essentially falling right into the trap. It was what the elders would demand she do, if she had any intention of telling them before she sent out the rescue team, which she didn’t. She wasn’t about to let some impartial, duty bound ANBU team go on this mission; they would see Sakura as just another Leaf nin, as nothing more than the one of village’s top medics. Sakura was like a daughter to her, like a sister to Naruto and Sai, and to Kakashi…she didn’t know for sure, but thinking about it made her feel even worse. She sighed heavily again. “I won’t tell you that you can’t go on the rescue mission. I know you’d just go running off after her anyway. I know how much she means to you all and that you will do whatever it takes to get her back. I would go with you myself if I could. This is a mission to rescue Sakura, Naruto, not for revenge. Do not lose control and don’t even think about doing something stupid like trading yourself for her, understood?” she eyed the blonde boy sharply.


“I won’t let them get the Kyuubi, Baa-chan. And we will get Sakura-chan back!”


The Godaime looked at Naruto in amazement. Sometimes he was like a totally different person; the person before her right now was the man that would take her place as Hokage one day. She gave him a small smile. “Good. And I know you will, I have the utmost faith in this team. You leave in the morning.”


“What?” Naruto exclaimed in outrage. “No way! We can’t wait until morning, Baa-chan; we’re leaving right now, tonight!”


“I know how you feel Naruto, but you can’t do that. Once you get to the town where she was taken you won’t be able to get information or pick up a trail while it’s dark, it will be too-”


“Sakura-chan is in danger! They could be taking her farther and farther away every minute! We need to leave as soon as possible!”


“As soon as possible is in the morning! Kakashi, you talk some sense into the boy,” Tsunade frowned irritably and began rubbing her temples.


She looked up when no wise words of agreement came from the Copy Ninja. She met his one visible eye, and he looked at her long and hard. He wanted to tell her yes, this was her fault, she didn’t think to verify the mission details because the village was too hard up for money and they took whatever they got, and now Sakura was in the hands of their greatest enemy. Only his sense of respect and duty was making him hold his tongue with the Hokage, a sense that was feeling smaller and smaller every minute he had to stand here. He was so furious that he wanted to run outside and Raikiri the first thing he came across. He wanted to agree with Naruto and leave right now this very minute, but he knew that in this matter at least, Tsunade was right.


“I’m afraid leaving right now would be pointless as we wont get any information or find a trail when its dark.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s now…three o’clock. You have two hours to get ready. We may be gone for some time and we won’t know where we’re going so pack accordingly. Naruto, you can tell Hinata about this but other than that tell no one about this mission or Sakura’s kidnapping. We leave at first light.”


Sai nodded and climbed back into the windowsill to leave. Naruto looked unhappy but accepting, and followed his teammate through the open window. Kakashi turned to jump out as well but Tsunade’s voice held him back.


“Kakashi,” He didn’t step back out of the window, just turned his head in her direction. Rude little shits, all of them, she thought, but couldn’t bring herself to be angry this time. Kakashi was clearly unhappy with her and she understood why. “I’m sending Yamato with you; I’ll have him briefed by the time you’re ready to leave. I want him there in case Naruto gets…out of hand. Besides that, he cares about Sakura as well. Oh and Kakashi…” the next words were hard to say because she cared deeply about the boy in question, but it was a necessary precaution. “Keep a close eye on Naruto, I will tell the same to Yamato. Whatever happens, the Kyuubi is not to fall into Akatsuki hands, at all costs.”


She didn’t need to say more, the Copy Ninja understood the dire implications behind her words all too well. It made him angry, but he could see that it hurt her to have to say it as well. He knew she thought of Naruto as something of a favorite grandchild, or even a little brother and that’s why she was so lenient with him. He nodded, “Understood, Hokage-sama.” then he leapt out of the open window.

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Naruto spent the next two hours in his apartment with Hinata, who did her best to calm her lover’s sporadic panic attacks as he alternated between throwing various items into his pack and at the wall. Twice, he got so angry that his eyes burned red, the demon inside him thirsting for blood. He was brought down both times by the patient and comforting whispers of the Hyuuga heiress as she soothed his rage and fear with soft hands and loving embraces. Hinata was never afraid of this rarely seen side of Naruto; as long as the Kyuubi didn’t emerge entirely she knew he would never hurt her, and she was one of the few who could reach him in this state. It was hard for her to be so calm when she was also worried about Sakura and even more scared for Naruto, but she knew what she was feeling was nowhere near what he was going through, so she did her best to be strong for him.


She helped him pack for the journey, because he was too distraught and preoccupied to figure out what he needed or where it was located and kept trying to stuff random things into his bag that had no purpose on a mission. At one point during a moment of clarity, Naruto stopped pacing back and forth and simply stood there watching Hinata gather everything he would need for the mission. He was struck by how lucky he was to have her love; she gave him so much, took such good care of him. He knew sometimes he was hopeless and dense and he didn’t know what he would do without her. Being worried and afraid for Sakura was causing him to think morbid thoughts. He had struggled his whole life to make friends, and losing them was his worst fear. He had already lost one, now another was in danger because a psychopath was using his friends against him. What if Itachi had known about Hinata? He would have taken her instead.


Hinata noticed his stillness and looked up to see why. What she saw was an expression so mixed with love and pain and fear that it tore at her heart. She knew he was thinking horrible thoughts, that he was blaming himself and making himself sick with worry for Sakura, when she suddenly found herself in a bone crushing embrace, Naruto’s strong hands gripping her for dear life as he buried his face in her neck and whispered harshly that he didn’t know what he would do if he lost her. She could only hold him back and whisper in return that he never would.


With dawn approaching, they said goodbye with whispered words of love and promises to be careful and to return, before Naruto left her with his key and ran for the main gates.


When he got there he found Sai and Kakashi already waiting. Naruto couldn’t remember ever seeing the Copy Ninja on time for anything, even meetings with the Hokage, but in this case the blonde wasn’t surprised to see him not only on time, but early.


The silver-haired man was perched on one of the tall fence posts of the Konoha main gates, his customary copy of Icha Icha nowhere to be seen. The older man didn’t look down as Naruto joined Sai below and the two started to talk quietly. He was looking out over the large red gates toward the horizon, his thoughts far away, no doubt somewhere in Grass country.


Naruto stood next to Sai, who fixed dark eyes on him and nodded once, their mock-hostile tendencies put aside. The blonde looked up at Kakashi, who really did look like a scarecrow perched up on the pole like he was, and leaned in to mutter quietly to the artist. “If this is what it takes for him to not show up late, I hope he’s never on time again.”


Sai nodded in somber agreement, his dark eyes thoughtful. He looked up at his team leader and Naruto did the same. “He was here when I got here.” He said, and the blonde frowned.


After leaving the Hokage’s office Sai had gone straight to his loft to pack, then went straight to the gates intending to wait for everyone else. It never took him long to prepare for anything and he had no one to say goodbye to; everyone he cared about was going with him or in Sakura’s case, already gone. It hadn’t taken him more than thirty minutes but he still wasn’t surprised when he showed up to find Kakashi already there sitting on one of the stone benches, elbows resting on his knees with hands clasped and his head bent in thought. The older man had looked up when he approached, and regarded him with a single dark eye for a moment before standing and jumping to his current location on the pole. Sai didn’t ask why he was actually on time for once or make attempts to talk to him. Sai was very perceptive and understood far more than people thought he did.


It was quiet between the three men after that, each lost in their thoughts. Naruto was beginning to wonder what they were still standing around for and was about to ask when they heard the sound of someone approaching, and the two younger men turned around to see who it was.


“Yamato-senpai…” Naruto muttered in mild surprise.


“Naruto, Sai…” the tall man greeted both younger men and merely looked up at the third, apparently sensing the Copy Ninja’s mood.


At hearing his old teammate speak, Kakashi finally jumped down from his post and walked toward the group. He greeted his old friend with a curt nod. “Yamato.”


“Kakashi. I’m guessing we’re all ready?” The other ANBU veteran only nodded in reply.


It was then that Naruto noticed his former team leader was wearing a pack similar to the rest of them. “You’re coming too?” he asked, surprised.


“That’s right. The Hokage told me what happened a little while ago.” His look became more serious then. “I’m glad she assigned me to this mission; Sakura is important to me too.”


Naruto nodded, pasting on one of his cheesy grins. “I know. Don’t worry, we will rescue Sakura and teach those Akatsuki bastards a lesson!”


“Let’s go.” Said Kakashi, and they walked the rest of the way out of the giant red gates.


Full of determination, and with Naruto’s ability to raise peoples spirits, even just a little, no more needed to be said and the four ninja leapt into the trees and raced toward Grass country.

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“Ow! Damn it, watch where you throw those things!” shouted Kisame, who was currently using Samehada as a shield with one hand while covering his sensitive parts protectively with the other. The shark nin was running and hopping around the walled yard erratically, ducking and dodging wave after wave of shuriken and kunai being thrown at blinding speed by a seemingly relaxed Uchiha genius.


“You’re the one who is leaving so many openings, why wouldn’t I take advantage of them?” drawled the cloaked ninja standing in the center of the yard. He seemed almost bored, but there were small signs indicating otherwise; the set of his shoulders, the small angle of his head, and the gleam in his eye were all signs of the thrill of the fight, the battle-lust known by all warriors was easily detected by all four ninja in the yard with him.


“Openings, my ass!” More shuriken were embedded into the large wrapped sword as Kisame jumped away with a grunt. “It’s that damn Sharingan of yours. It sees openings where there are none.” He jumped out of the path of more projectiles, and they flew past him toward the side of the house.


Tobi, who had been slumped against the wall in exhaustion from his own sparring match, yelped in alarm and dove out of the way just as the evaded weapons embedded in the wall where his head was only seconds ago.


“Keep telling yourself that, but don’t blame me when you get killed by some third-rate shinobi because you weren’t paying attention.” Itachi smirked before launching another wave of weapons at the shark.


Kisame wondered where all those weapons came from. If he was really armed that heavily he wouldn’t be able to walk around normally. It dawned on him then that he’d been caught in a genjutsu for some time now and hadn’t noticed because the Uchiha was so damn good at it. “Shit…” he groaned in annoyance and made a few hand seals. “Kai!”


His partner smirked smugly. “It’s about time.”


Kisame put up a hand to call a halt and catch his breath. “I was never very good with genjutsu.”


“Yes, I know.”


Kisame wiped his sweating brow and took off his cloak, tossing it aside. “Why don’t we level the playing field and have us a good old fashioned sword fight?” he grinned wickedly and slung Samehada over his shoulder.


“Alright. If that’s what you call leveling the playing field.” He smirked again and took off his own red and black cloak, revealing that underneath he wore a shoulder holster similar to those worn by ANBU. And just like those of the elite masked ninja, it supported a sleek black katana that was not usually visible thanks to his high collared coat. He pulled it slowly from the scabbard and the tempered steel made a deadly ringing sound, beautiful to the ears of the shinobi in the yard.


Sakura sat back on her hands, thoroughly enjoying the show. They may be enemy shinobi, but a battle between two highly skilled swordsmen was always a beautiful and exciting thing to watch. She was sitting on the back porch of the old house, legs stretched out in front and crossed at the ankles in a relaxed posture.


Tobi had returned to his position against the wall once he’d deemed it safe from any more flying pieces of sharp metal, and was busy trying to pull the firmly lodged weapons out of the wall. Deidara was seated a few feet from Sakura at the other end of the porch, one elbow resting on his bent knee and the broken arm was tucked to his side on his lap.


The three seated ninja watched the spar in silence, the clashing of metal against metal stirring their blood. It was entrancing to watch the two elite warriors move back and forth across the yard in their savage dance, and something primal stirred deep within the pink-haired kunoichi as she watched them, something both animal and very human at the same time. She sighed softly with a smile, feeling that mixture of exhaustion and contentment one only got from a very hard workout.


They had trained in the yard for the last three days now. The first day Sakura was still too uncomfortable to impose on their activities. She had spent most of the past two days in the old study reading whatever looked interesting, still trying to avoid her captors as much as possible, but the ringing of weapons had caught her attention and she found herself watching them spar from her window. Yesterday she had quietly opened the back door and watched them from the doorway before Deidara frowned at her from his seat on the porch and told her to stop lurking and letting the cold air inside. She had crept out and sat some distance away from them to watch the S-classed training session. Tobi had waved at her and said hello, all past grievances apparently forgotten. From what she had witnessed in her almost-six days of captivity, the somewhat obnoxious masked ninja was used to being pummeled and yelled at by his comrades, especially his short-tempered partner.


Today she had felt more confident and comfortable, and had taken a seat next to Deidara on the porch. He didn’t seem to mind too much, at least he hadn’t said anything if he did. Kisame had suggested with a sadistic grin that she spar with Tobi. The orange-masked Akatsuki didn’t seem to like the idea all that much, but had agreed. It was taijutsu only since they obviously weren’t going to give her a weapon. He was a good fighter as she already knew and was to be expected by an S-class shinobi, but Sakura had much more agility and chakra-infused muscles on her side, and eventually won their match by knocking him out cold.


After winning that match, Kisame wanted to use her to warm up on, again with no weapons. She quickly learned that the former Mist nin not only looked like beast, he had the strength and stamina of one too. The flying kick she had landed to his head should have taken him down, knocked a few teeth loose, or put him out entirely. Instead, he had only ended up with a nasty black eye and bruised cheekbone. Sakura however, had ended up with several large bruises and a broken nose that bled profusely, and she had to cede the match and attend to it or she surely would have passed out.


She looked down her front at the torn, dirty and bloodstained mess that was her now-ruined shirt. It was too far gone to be salvaged now, and she was glad she still had the long sleeved one to fall back on. It wasn’t so bad, she decided. One ruined shirt was well worth the approving looks and grudging words of respect she got from the elite ninja watching her fight.


The only one in the yard not dirty and sweaty from mock-battles was Deidara, who was not happy about having to sit out and had a fixed frown-pout on his face for the better part of their sessions. They were limited with what they could do during training in this place, forced to stick to weapons training and hand to hand as any ninjutsu could end up damaging the house or alerting others to their presence here. Considering that Deidara’s ninjutsu consisted of loud elaborate explosions, and he was unable to do other forms of training due to his broken arm, he was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch. Sakura was a bit disappointed too; she was interested to see what else the explosives master could do besides blow things up.


She studied the movement of the two Akatsuki sparring in front of her, and suddenly found herself wishing she possessed a Sharingan to see even more detail in their movement. Kisame was much stronger and his swings contained deadly brute force, but Itachi was clearly the better swordsman; he moved with a refinement, grace and skill that was nothing short of a master. It was beautiful to watch. He was beautiful to watch, and she found herself becoming slightly hypnotized by it. It was hard to tell under the large bulky cloaks they all wore, but she noticed now that he was actually not very large. Kisame was more than half a foot taller and twice as broad. The Uchiha was light and compact; with a proportionately angular frame and a strong, lean muscle mass. The ideal body type for a shinobi. It amazed her that someone so relatively small could have such a large and intimidating presence. She forced herself to forget for a moment about who and what he was, and just watch the man fight.


“See something you like, hmm?”


She turned her head in the direction of the amused voice and saw that Deidara had been watching her watch Itachi with an appreciative look on her face. Trying not to look embarrassed or make it look like more than it was, she smiled at him. “It’s beautiful to watch, isn’t it? When two skilled swordsmen go at it like that… Most people wouldn’t think anything so violent could be beautiful, but it is if you look at it the right way. They way they move almost looks like a dance, almost like…art.”


Something lit up behind the ice blue eyes and the blonde man smiled at her, a real smile, and she noticed for the first time that he was actually quite handsome. “Yeah…” he agreed softly, looking back at his sparring comrades. “It is.”


Their peaceful moment of understanding didn’t last long, as Tobi’s remarkable sense of bad timing and habitual tactlessness kicked in at that moment. “Too bad you can’t join them, huh Deidara-senpai?”


The blonde had dropped the frown some time ago and had actually looked rather peaceful for the last couple minutes, but it returned instantly the moment Tobi spoke, and much deeper than before as he glared daggers at his partner. “Damn it, Tobi, what the hell is wrong with you, hmm? When are you gonna learn to keep your damn mouth shut?” he snapped.


Tobi, clearly never one to get the hint, decided to dig his hole a little deeper. “Hehe, sorry Deidara-senpai! I was just trying to say you must hate it that Sakura-san hurt your arm so bad…she’s sure got a mean punch huh? If you don’t get it healed soon you may never be able to use it again, wouldn’t that suck?” anything else he may have said was cut off with a yelp as he dodged the kunai flung at his head.


Deidara jumped to his feet in anger. “I swear I’m gonna fucking murder you in your sleep one of these days!” he pulled back his cloak and reached his good hand into one of his clay pouches, intent on launching a grenade at his clueless partner’s skull.


The commotion caused Itachi and Kisame to pause their match, since a real fight was clearly about to break out at their little sparring session. Deidara looked like he was ready to rip Tobi a new one, broken arm or not, so Sakura decided to intervene before she was caught in the blast radius of one of his bombs. “Deidara-san wait, don’t fight with him here. You know Tobi is a little dense, I don’t think he was trying to insult you…” she laughed lightly and grabbed his right arm with both of her hands, applying slight pressure to coax him into lifting it out of the clay pouch.


He jerked sharply at the contact and glared at her with a surprised and angry expression. He obviously wasn’t used to being touched like that, and it looked like he was thinking that she was the reason his arm was fucked up and hurting so bad and maybe he should be blowing her up instead…


Sakura slowly removed her hands from his arm with an apologetic expression. “I’m pretty hungry, I think I’m going to go make some lunch…” she trailed off, hoping he got the hint and came with her into the house and away from Tobi, who still didn’t have the good sense to get the hell out of there. She was getting nervous since Deidara still looked like he was debating whether to hurt her or not. A moment later something changed in his eyes, like he remembered something, and eventually his angry glare was replaced by the trademark frown-pout. She had come to think of it as cute, and she smiled brightly at him before opening the door that led to the kitchen and going inside. She held the door open and looked at him to follow her. Deidara cast a final, surly glare at his partner and followed Sakura into the house.

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You gotta love Tobi, right? He just can’t help himself.:D
Hope you liked it! I know it was a bit short, especially after the last chapter (10k+ words, OMG), but the next one makes up for it…in more ways than one ;)