Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Hiasobi
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I lay claim to any characters contained within. I do not gain monetary or any other form of profit for my writing.
NOTE: A special thank you goes out to Leafygirl who has been so kind as to beta both Chapter 2 and 3 for me.
Chapter 3
The sun was barely filtering into the tent signifying the early hour. Sakura glanced over at the other form in the tent. He was still asleep. This could be the perfect opportunity to escape.
In a swift, silent movement she pounced on him. She straddled his body, pinning his arms to his sides with her muscular legs, her hands wrapped around his throat. His coal eyes opened to meet hers in a steady gaze as he watched her choke him as if he were watching her do the dishes. Didn't the man's expression ever change?
He looked so much like Sasuke, his onyx colored eyes, ebony hair, and that mouth. To her horror, she felt her eyes tearing up. Almost as if it were Sasuke she was strangling the life out of. Killing Itachi would be harder than she thought.
His face had turned a deep red from lack of oxygen, yet his gaze remained steady and bored. She wondered how many times he had stared death in the face to keep that impenetrable mask firmly in place. Her legs imperceptibly loosened their grip on his arms, but Itachi took advantage of it, pulling his arms free.
He pulled her hands from his throat, and she allowed him to with no resistance. He did not ponder the tears sliding from her eyes. She wasn't the first person to try to kill him in his sleep and wouldn't be the last.
She hadn't moved off of him yet, so Itachi gave in to a wicked impulse, an impulse born of waking to a beautiful ninja cuddling him the last two mornings, and straddling his prone form now. The killing lust he saw in her eyes when he first opened his own didn't hurt matters either. Sliding his body slightly higher, he pressed his morning erection against her sweet derriere. She jumped as if burned at the realization of what he had just done. Her shriek of outrage followed her as she threw her body away from his, quickly exiting the tent.
He smirked to himself. That had gone over even better than he thought it would. She had been so distraught that she hadn't even tried to slap him. It would be easy to manipulate her by using her obvious innocence against her.
~~~~~
Kisame had been cleaning his weapons when a shriek from Itachi's tent caught his attention. The flap moved, and a cherry red Sakura emerged from Itachi's tent in a flurry of movement. She turned her back to him for a few seconds, obviously upset. He didn't care for women's mood swings, so did his best to ignore her. Hence, he didn't have time to really ponder what was going on when she jumped on him, grabbing his scattered weapons and launching several quickly at the tent which still contained Itachi.
'Oh shit! Itachi's going to kill me.' Kisame quickly went after her, but she evaded his grasp, scrambling into the trees. She had the slight advantage being a native of Leaf Country. She was at home in the trees, where Kisame had been forced, as a missing nin, to adapt to a variety of terrains ranging from the flat plains of Hidden Grass to the treacherous footing of Hidden Rock's cliffs and everything in between.
Kisame looked back and forth between the shredded remains of Itachi's tent and the spot he had last seen Sakura. Itachi had yet to emerge from the tent, Kisame was sure he wasn't dead, but he couldn't be sure that he was unscathed or what state his temper would be in when he did show himself.
~~~~~
Sakura was pissed, so pissed, that she didn't even relish her freedom. 'That jerk! How dare he think he could do something so... so perverted!' And what made her even madder was that she had felt a warm jolt in her stomach when he did it. No man had dared to do something like that to her. Probably from fear of being turned into a red smear in a crater-sized hole in the ground.
She didn't have time to ponder her anger; she needed to use that adrenaline to fuel her speed. She needed to be swifter than the wind, and disappear like a shadow in the noonday sun.
She fled, fleet of foot, for over an hour, making her way steadily towards the nearest safe haven she knew of, which was still 3 days travel away. She used every evasive trick that she had learned over the years, covering her ass as well as she could. She knew that both were exceptional ninja, but she was uncertain how proficient their tracking skills were.
~~~~~
She had gained a head start of about 30 minutes on them. That was how long it had taken them to tear down camp, and cover any signs that they had been there. Kisame led, having the better eyes of the pair. It was Itachi's best kept secret that he had extremely poor vision which was a side effect of years of using the Sharingan.
Kisame had been slightly surprised when Itachi had emerged from the tent, one minor scratch, and an amused expression on his face. Even in light of the fact that they had to take the extra time to track this girl, Itachi's tent had been trashed, and they would have to stop at a town to get another, or stay at an inn this evening.
Itachi's moods were something he had long ago stopped trying to figure out. Kisame was legendary for his chakra reserves not his brain capacity, although he was far from stupid, Itachi was just too much of an enigma.
~~~~~
Sweat poured off Sakura and her breath came in ragged pants. She had pushed herself to the breaking point, fatigue had long since turned to exhaustion, and she didn't know how much further she would make it. She had not paused even to eat, which was beginning to take its toll on her weary body.
She had passed a village about an hour before, but opted to keep going. If she had still seen no signs of pursuit by the following evening, she would find a village to stay the night in. Before long they would be able to track her on smell alone, she needed a bath.
Noting that the day was waning, Sakura allowed herself to let up the relentless pace a little. She needed to find a place to shelter for the night. Preferably a place out of the open and easily defended, especially since she had no weapons. She had been foolish to throw all of them at the tent which had contained that letch, but she had been so very angry.
That anger had still not completely cooled. A small part of her wished she could see Itachi again, just so she could waste his ass. But the sensible side of her told her that if she was lucky, she would never ever lay eyes on the older Uchiha again.
~~~~~
With evening setting in, Kisame and Itachi opted to stay the night at a small inn in a village which her trail skirted. The waitress in the pub on the first floor of the inn brought their food; she smiled at Itachi as she served them.
Kisame slapped some coins down on the table drawing her attention when she lingered longer than necessary. The effect of his feral grin was not diminished in the least by the tape he still sported across his nose. It was enough to send the foolhardy waitress high-tailing it back to the bar.
Kisame was nothing if not intimidating, one of the advantages of the transformation he had undergone since he received his Jinchuuriki. Some men would be bothered at the prospect of being so unattractive to the female population, but not Kisame. He had welcomed the power which hosting the shark monster would grant him.
Not that he had been particularly handsome before the transformation, but as with Itachi, his interest had laid in achieving more power rather than what female could warm his bed at night. Neither man indulged in frivolous relations with the opposite sex, although Itachi was known to use his looks to seduce information out of a target from time to time.
Kisame glanced at Itachi out of the corner of his eye. What had he done to the kunoichi this morning that had gotten her panties in such a bunch? Itachi had certainly been amused by the whole ordeal. He had yet to reveal why he wanted her, but Kisame had formulated his own theory on why.
In all the years that he had known Itachi, he had never known anyone to break out of the mangekyou sharingan. The technique was virtually infallible. The only problem with it was that if Itachi used it more than once in a short period of time, it drained his chakra supply to next to nil. While Itachi didn't like to share his weaknesses, it was important for the two of them to be aware of each others weaknesses as well as strengths. It could mean life or death, especially when he only had one other person to depend on.
He probably wanted to use her as a test subject and figure out just how she managed to break free of the technique. If Kisame was completely honest with himself, he was more than a little curious himself. He did not envy her the tests she would more than likely undergo. He had been on the receiving end of it once. It was not an experience he cared to revisit, ever.
~~~~~
Sakura's eyes darted around, as she settled into a hollowed out tree for the evening. She had collected stray branches and covered the hole inconspicuously, making it look as if they had fallen that way. She munched quietly on the assorted edible plants she had found. Grimacing at the taste, she made herself eat; she would need the energy they provided.
She forced herself not to freak out when she felt an insect crawling across her skin. Instead she flicked it out the opening of the tree, gooseflesh and tremors running through her body as she wondered how many other creepy crawlies shared her bed for the night. She admired Shino and the other members of the Aburame clan for their strength, but was more than happy to allow all the insects in Konoha flock to them and stay far, far away from her. The thought of having them crawling not just over her skin, but under it too was just too much and if she didn't distract her train of thoughts she would be jumping out of her sanctuary rubbing away imaginary insects like a crazy person, possibly giving away her position.
She turned her thoughts to Sasuke. He had changed so much yet so little over the years. His hair was slightly longer, but still stood up, unruly on the top. He was tall now too, probably close to six feet in height if she had to guess, not much shorter than Naruto's towering six foot three inches height.
It's ironic how Naruto was always the shortest of them and grew up to be a virtual giant. Maybe Jiraiya had force fed him giant food while he was training under him those years. Not like Naruto didn't resemble him enough in other aspects, both were noisy, boisterous, perverted, annoying powerhouses who towered over the average person.
Che, perverted. It seemed it wasn't such an uncommon trait in men in general. Hopefully Sasuke hadn't turned out to be a pervert. Orochimaru was warped and had probably corrupted Sasuke in unfathomable ways; it would probably take years to help Sasuke overcome whatever atrocities he had witnessed and partook while under that serpents influence.
Sakura remembered the blinding, piss your pants fear she had felt in that snake's presence. She didn't know how Sasuke had endured years being by his side. She knew that part of the problem if she ever faced Orochimaru again was her preconceived notions working against her. She had been a gennin the first time she met him. She had changed so much since then, but Tsunade had told her that oft times a mental handicap could be more crippling than a physical one.
'Tsunade,' a small smile graced Sakura's features at the thought of her mentor. How she strived to be everything that she was. 'She also was born with no blood line limit. No special skills to call her own. Her only claim to anything was being the granddaughter of a former Hokage. She got where she is today through guts and determination. She is everything I aspire to be.' While many rightfully feared the fifth Hokage, Sakura held a special place in the woman's heart and vice versa. She had overheard a conversation with Shizune in which Tsunade told her it was like training herself.
Sakura had worried after she began training under Tsunade that Shizune would feel displaced, but quite the contrary, Shizune had welcomed her. While Shizune was one of the best medics Sakura had ever met, second only to Tsunade, her personality and style of fighting differed drastically from both Sakura and Tsunade's style. Shizune preferred ninjutsu style fighting as Tenten did, while Sakura and Tsunade excelled in taijutsu.
Tsunade had also taken advantage of Sakura's propensity to be good with written works and Sakura helped Shizune along with Izumo and Kotestu to lighten the load, freeing up more time for Tsunade to be able to train her. As such, Sakura had been privy to a lot of classified information that only top ranking ninja were allowed access to.
Maybe Itachi had found out that little tidbit of information, and wanted some top secret information. If that was the case, even if he caught her, he would end up having to kill her, because she would never betray Tsunade's or Konoha's trust in her. Anyway, she was able to play the part of a dippy teenager with air where her brain should be so well, he would question his information.
A small smile flitted across her face at the thought of outsmarting an S class criminal. Her eye lids grew heavy, and she finally allowed her exhaustion to overcome her.
~~~~~
Deep navy faded into lilac and pink until the colors evened out into cornflower blue, which would brighten as the sun peaked over the horizon. The fresh scent of the lush greenery would fade as the sun baked away the condensation which accumulated in a fine layer on everything over the night.
Long shadows followed the two men as they continued the previous day's hunt. A grim smile graced Kisame's features. They needed to check in with the Akatsuki in 2 days to report their findings. If they did not find her today, it would cause unwanted complications.
~~~~~
A shaft of light fell across Sakura's face, rousing her from her replenishing slumber. Birds sang happily in the canopy above, alerting her to the fact that she slept a little longer than she would have liked. The rotted tree had been soft and spongy to sleep on, allowing her to rest comfortably. When she rose, alert for any presences in the vicinity, the chill of having her entire backside soaked through set in raising gooseflesh.
She comforted herself with the thought that at least her body stench was covered with the mossy smell that lingered in her clothing. Once again she longed for the comfort of clean clothes and freshly washed skin and hair. Her eyes widened as she remembered the creeping things she spent the night with, and she flipped her hair, shaking it out to dislodge anything that may be clinging there before dusting every inch of herself three times to make sure she wasn't bringing any friends along for the ride. A shudder ran down her spine at the remembered tickling of whatever had been crawling on her the night before.
She was still two days away from the closest safe point. She scrounged up a quick breakfast of more tasteless and bitter plants, she knew better than to start a fire, and again set out.
She would have to remember to thank Kakashi if and when she got home for the knowledge he had bestowed upon them in their gennin days. He had taught them so much more than just basic fighting in the field and molding chakra. While the boys had a seemingly endless supply of stamina, they sometimes needed it when learning new jutsu, while Sakura picked up on them more quickly. More than once Kakashi had sent her to collect edible plants for them to eat as part of the training; both for her to find them and for them all to eat them. Naruto always complained very vocally, but Sakura found the knowledge invaluable now when she had nothing.
~~~~~
The mood of both men had declined as the day wore on and they showed no signs of closing the distance between them and their prey. It meant that they would have to track her into the night, which was always a pain in the ass. But given the time constraint that they were under, the only other option was to allow her to escape. Which Itachi was not about to do, and after the hassle of chasing her this far, Kisame wasn't about to either. But if anything, this only proved that she was worthy of the interest Itachi had placed in her.
~~~~~
The second day since she had escaped the dastardly duo as she had nicknamed them was waxing into evening. She had pushed herself equally as hard today and the prospect of staying the night at an inn was more and more appealing. She hadn't stopped at any of the towns she had passed earlier; instead she gave them a wide enough birth not to accidentally encounter anyone.
Money for staying at an inn was not an issue, provided the town was large enough to have a bank. She had all her security numbers memorized and Bank of Konoha transactions were honored throughout Fire Country. The prospect of even buying herself a change of clothing and a few weapons boosted her mood.
As dusk set in, Sakura performed a jutsu* to enhance her night vision. The irises of her eyes turned a silvery color and the forest took a new depth as colors reflected back with an entirely new vivacity that was as unique as it was beautiful. When she had learned this jutsu she wondered if the Hyuuga clan had somehow perfected a variation of this jutsu to the extent that it became permanent and evolved over the years.
Her muscles had passed weary hours before and her strong determination as well as the haunting memory of Itachi's sharingan eyes staring her down was all that kept her moving. Finally, a glimmer of light shone like a beacon in the distance. A quick glance at the sky told her it was about nine pm. She closed in the distance, and was happy to see a decent sized town from the amount of light.
She dispelled her jutsu, and quickly lost herself among the people still out in the streets.
~~~~~
It was a little past midnight when a pair of shadows disconnected from the forest and wearily made their way into a town still bustling with nightlife.
~~~~~
*For those of you wondering, yes my inspiration for Sakura's night vision was Pitch Black's Riddick and his special implants. It just was a stroke of luck that the Hyuuga eye color is so close to silver and I was able to tie it all together so neatly
NOTE: A special thank you goes out to Leafygirl who has been so kind as to beta both Chapter 2 and 3 for me.
Chapter 3
The sun was barely filtering into the tent signifying the early hour. Sakura glanced over at the other form in the tent. He was still asleep. This could be the perfect opportunity to escape.
In a swift, silent movement she pounced on him. She straddled his body, pinning his arms to his sides with her muscular legs, her hands wrapped around his throat. His coal eyes opened to meet hers in a steady gaze as he watched her choke him as if he were watching her do the dishes. Didn't the man's expression ever change?
He looked so much like Sasuke, his onyx colored eyes, ebony hair, and that mouth. To her horror, she felt her eyes tearing up. Almost as if it were Sasuke she was strangling the life out of. Killing Itachi would be harder than she thought.
His face had turned a deep red from lack of oxygen, yet his gaze remained steady and bored. She wondered how many times he had stared death in the face to keep that impenetrable mask firmly in place. Her legs imperceptibly loosened their grip on his arms, but Itachi took advantage of it, pulling his arms free.
He pulled her hands from his throat, and she allowed him to with no resistance. He did not ponder the tears sliding from her eyes. She wasn't the first person to try to kill him in his sleep and wouldn't be the last.
She hadn't moved off of him yet, so Itachi gave in to a wicked impulse, an impulse born of waking to a beautiful ninja cuddling him the last two mornings, and straddling his prone form now. The killing lust he saw in her eyes when he first opened his own didn't hurt matters either. Sliding his body slightly higher, he pressed his morning erection against her sweet derriere. She jumped as if burned at the realization of what he had just done. Her shriek of outrage followed her as she threw her body away from his, quickly exiting the tent.
He smirked to himself. That had gone over even better than he thought it would. She had been so distraught that she hadn't even tried to slap him. It would be easy to manipulate her by using her obvious innocence against her.
~~~~~
Kisame had been cleaning his weapons when a shriek from Itachi's tent caught his attention. The flap moved, and a cherry red Sakura emerged from Itachi's tent in a flurry of movement. She turned her back to him for a few seconds, obviously upset. He didn't care for women's mood swings, so did his best to ignore her. Hence, he didn't have time to really ponder what was going on when she jumped on him, grabbing his scattered weapons and launching several quickly at the tent which still contained Itachi.
'Oh shit! Itachi's going to kill me.' Kisame quickly went after her, but she evaded his grasp, scrambling into the trees. She had the slight advantage being a native of Leaf Country. She was at home in the trees, where Kisame had been forced, as a missing nin, to adapt to a variety of terrains ranging from the flat plains of Hidden Grass to the treacherous footing of Hidden Rock's cliffs and everything in between.
Kisame looked back and forth between the shredded remains of Itachi's tent and the spot he had last seen Sakura. Itachi had yet to emerge from the tent, Kisame was sure he wasn't dead, but he couldn't be sure that he was unscathed or what state his temper would be in when he did show himself.
~~~~~
Sakura was pissed, so pissed, that she didn't even relish her freedom. 'That jerk! How dare he think he could do something so... so perverted!' And what made her even madder was that she had felt a warm jolt in her stomach when he did it. No man had dared to do something like that to her. Probably from fear of being turned into a red smear in a crater-sized hole in the ground.
She didn't have time to ponder her anger; she needed to use that adrenaline to fuel her speed. She needed to be swifter than the wind, and disappear like a shadow in the noonday sun.
She fled, fleet of foot, for over an hour, making her way steadily towards the nearest safe haven she knew of, which was still 3 days travel away. She used every evasive trick that she had learned over the years, covering her ass as well as she could. She knew that both were exceptional ninja, but she was uncertain how proficient their tracking skills were.
~~~~~
She had gained a head start of about 30 minutes on them. That was how long it had taken them to tear down camp, and cover any signs that they had been there. Kisame led, having the better eyes of the pair. It was Itachi's best kept secret that he had extremely poor vision which was a side effect of years of using the Sharingan.
Kisame had been slightly surprised when Itachi had emerged from the tent, one minor scratch, and an amused expression on his face. Even in light of the fact that they had to take the extra time to track this girl, Itachi's tent had been trashed, and they would have to stop at a town to get another, or stay at an inn this evening.
Itachi's moods were something he had long ago stopped trying to figure out. Kisame was legendary for his chakra reserves not his brain capacity, although he was far from stupid, Itachi was just too much of an enigma.
~~~~~
Sweat poured off Sakura and her breath came in ragged pants. She had pushed herself to the breaking point, fatigue had long since turned to exhaustion, and she didn't know how much further she would make it. She had not paused even to eat, which was beginning to take its toll on her weary body.
She had passed a village about an hour before, but opted to keep going. If she had still seen no signs of pursuit by the following evening, she would find a village to stay the night in. Before long they would be able to track her on smell alone, she needed a bath.
Noting that the day was waning, Sakura allowed herself to let up the relentless pace a little. She needed to find a place to shelter for the night. Preferably a place out of the open and easily defended, especially since she had no weapons. She had been foolish to throw all of them at the tent which had contained that letch, but she had been so very angry.
That anger had still not completely cooled. A small part of her wished she could see Itachi again, just so she could waste his ass. But the sensible side of her told her that if she was lucky, she would never ever lay eyes on the older Uchiha again.
~~~~~
With evening setting in, Kisame and Itachi opted to stay the night at a small inn in a village which her trail skirted. The waitress in the pub on the first floor of the inn brought their food; she smiled at Itachi as she served them.
Kisame slapped some coins down on the table drawing her attention when she lingered longer than necessary. The effect of his feral grin was not diminished in the least by the tape he still sported across his nose. It was enough to send the foolhardy waitress high-tailing it back to the bar.
Kisame was nothing if not intimidating, one of the advantages of the transformation he had undergone since he received his Jinchuuriki. Some men would be bothered at the prospect of being so unattractive to the female population, but not Kisame. He had welcomed the power which hosting the shark monster would grant him.
Not that he had been particularly handsome before the transformation, but as with Itachi, his interest had laid in achieving more power rather than what female could warm his bed at night. Neither man indulged in frivolous relations with the opposite sex, although Itachi was known to use his looks to seduce information out of a target from time to time.
Kisame glanced at Itachi out of the corner of his eye. What had he done to the kunoichi this morning that had gotten her panties in such a bunch? Itachi had certainly been amused by the whole ordeal. He had yet to reveal why he wanted her, but Kisame had formulated his own theory on why.
In all the years that he had known Itachi, he had never known anyone to break out of the mangekyou sharingan. The technique was virtually infallible. The only problem with it was that if Itachi used it more than once in a short period of time, it drained his chakra supply to next to nil. While Itachi didn't like to share his weaknesses, it was important for the two of them to be aware of each others weaknesses as well as strengths. It could mean life or death, especially when he only had one other person to depend on.
He probably wanted to use her as a test subject and figure out just how she managed to break free of the technique. If Kisame was completely honest with himself, he was more than a little curious himself. He did not envy her the tests she would more than likely undergo. He had been on the receiving end of it once. It was not an experience he cared to revisit, ever.
~~~~~
Sakura's eyes darted around, as she settled into a hollowed out tree for the evening. She had collected stray branches and covered the hole inconspicuously, making it look as if they had fallen that way. She munched quietly on the assorted edible plants she had found. Grimacing at the taste, she made herself eat; she would need the energy they provided.
She forced herself not to freak out when she felt an insect crawling across her skin. Instead she flicked it out the opening of the tree, gooseflesh and tremors running through her body as she wondered how many other creepy crawlies shared her bed for the night. She admired Shino and the other members of the Aburame clan for their strength, but was more than happy to allow all the insects in Konoha flock to them and stay far, far away from her. The thought of having them crawling not just over her skin, but under it too was just too much and if she didn't distract her train of thoughts she would be jumping out of her sanctuary rubbing away imaginary insects like a crazy person, possibly giving away her position.
She turned her thoughts to Sasuke. He had changed so much yet so little over the years. His hair was slightly longer, but still stood up, unruly on the top. He was tall now too, probably close to six feet in height if she had to guess, not much shorter than Naruto's towering six foot three inches height.
It's ironic how Naruto was always the shortest of them and grew up to be a virtual giant. Maybe Jiraiya had force fed him giant food while he was training under him those years. Not like Naruto didn't resemble him enough in other aspects, both were noisy, boisterous, perverted, annoying powerhouses who towered over the average person.
Che, perverted. It seemed it wasn't such an uncommon trait in men in general. Hopefully Sasuke hadn't turned out to be a pervert. Orochimaru was warped and had probably corrupted Sasuke in unfathomable ways; it would probably take years to help Sasuke overcome whatever atrocities he had witnessed and partook while under that serpents influence.
Sakura remembered the blinding, piss your pants fear she had felt in that snake's presence. She didn't know how Sasuke had endured years being by his side. She knew that part of the problem if she ever faced Orochimaru again was her preconceived notions working against her. She had been a gennin the first time she met him. She had changed so much since then, but Tsunade had told her that oft times a mental handicap could be more crippling than a physical one.
'Tsunade,' a small smile graced Sakura's features at the thought of her mentor. How she strived to be everything that she was. 'She also was born with no blood line limit. No special skills to call her own. Her only claim to anything was being the granddaughter of a former Hokage. She got where she is today through guts and determination. She is everything I aspire to be.' While many rightfully feared the fifth Hokage, Sakura held a special place in the woman's heart and vice versa. She had overheard a conversation with Shizune in which Tsunade told her it was like training herself.
Sakura had worried after she began training under Tsunade that Shizune would feel displaced, but quite the contrary, Shizune had welcomed her. While Shizune was one of the best medics Sakura had ever met, second only to Tsunade, her personality and style of fighting differed drastically from both Sakura and Tsunade's style. Shizune preferred ninjutsu style fighting as Tenten did, while Sakura and Tsunade excelled in taijutsu.
Tsunade had also taken advantage of Sakura's propensity to be good with written works and Sakura helped Shizune along with Izumo and Kotestu to lighten the load, freeing up more time for Tsunade to be able to train her. As such, Sakura had been privy to a lot of classified information that only top ranking ninja were allowed access to.
Maybe Itachi had found out that little tidbit of information, and wanted some top secret information. If that was the case, even if he caught her, he would end up having to kill her, because she would never betray Tsunade's or Konoha's trust in her. Anyway, she was able to play the part of a dippy teenager with air where her brain should be so well, he would question his information.
A small smile flitted across her face at the thought of outsmarting an S class criminal. Her eye lids grew heavy, and she finally allowed her exhaustion to overcome her.
~~~~~
Deep navy faded into lilac and pink until the colors evened out into cornflower blue, which would brighten as the sun peaked over the horizon. The fresh scent of the lush greenery would fade as the sun baked away the condensation which accumulated in a fine layer on everything over the night.
Long shadows followed the two men as they continued the previous day's hunt. A grim smile graced Kisame's features. They needed to check in with the Akatsuki in 2 days to report their findings. If they did not find her today, it would cause unwanted complications.
~~~~~
A shaft of light fell across Sakura's face, rousing her from her replenishing slumber. Birds sang happily in the canopy above, alerting her to the fact that she slept a little longer than she would have liked. The rotted tree had been soft and spongy to sleep on, allowing her to rest comfortably. When she rose, alert for any presences in the vicinity, the chill of having her entire backside soaked through set in raising gooseflesh.
She comforted herself with the thought that at least her body stench was covered with the mossy smell that lingered in her clothing. Once again she longed for the comfort of clean clothes and freshly washed skin and hair. Her eyes widened as she remembered the creeping things she spent the night with, and she flipped her hair, shaking it out to dislodge anything that may be clinging there before dusting every inch of herself three times to make sure she wasn't bringing any friends along for the ride. A shudder ran down her spine at the remembered tickling of whatever had been crawling on her the night before.
She was still two days away from the closest safe point. She scrounged up a quick breakfast of more tasteless and bitter plants, she knew better than to start a fire, and again set out.
She would have to remember to thank Kakashi if and when she got home for the knowledge he had bestowed upon them in their gennin days. He had taught them so much more than just basic fighting in the field and molding chakra. While the boys had a seemingly endless supply of stamina, they sometimes needed it when learning new jutsu, while Sakura picked up on them more quickly. More than once Kakashi had sent her to collect edible plants for them to eat as part of the training; both for her to find them and for them all to eat them. Naruto always complained very vocally, but Sakura found the knowledge invaluable now when she had nothing.
~~~~~
The mood of both men had declined as the day wore on and they showed no signs of closing the distance between them and their prey. It meant that they would have to track her into the night, which was always a pain in the ass. But given the time constraint that they were under, the only other option was to allow her to escape. Which Itachi was not about to do, and after the hassle of chasing her this far, Kisame wasn't about to either. But if anything, this only proved that she was worthy of the interest Itachi had placed in her.
~~~~~
The second day since she had escaped the dastardly duo as she had nicknamed them was waxing into evening. She had pushed herself equally as hard today and the prospect of staying the night at an inn was more and more appealing. She hadn't stopped at any of the towns she had passed earlier; instead she gave them a wide enough birth not to accidentally encounter anyone.
Money for staying at an inn was not an issue, provided the town was large enough to have a bank. She had all her security numbers memorized and Bank of Konoha transactions were honored throughout Fire Country. The prospect of even buying herself a change of clothing and a few weapons boosted her mood.
As dusk set in, Sakura performed a jutsu* to enhance her night vision. The irises of her eyes turned a silvery color and the forest took a new depth as colors reflected back with an entirely new vivacity that was as unique as it was beautiful. When she had learned this jutsu she wondered if the Hyuuga clan had somehow perfected a variation of this jutsu to the extent that it became permanent and evolved over the years.
Her muscles had passed weary hours before and her strong determination as well as the haunting memory of Itachi's sharingan eyes staring her down was all that kept her moving. Finally, a glimmer of light shone like a beacon in the distance. A quick glance at the sky told her it was about nine pm. She closed in the distance, and was happy to see a decent sized town from the amount of light.
She dispelled her jutsu, and quickly lost herself among the people still out in the streets.
~~~~~
It was a little past midnight when a pair of shadows disconnected from the forest and wearily made their way into a town still bustling with nightlife.
~~~~~
*For those of you wondering, yes my inspiration for Sakura's night vision was Pitch Black's Riddick and his special implants. It just was a stroke of luck that the Hyuuga eye color is so close to silver and I was able to tie it all together so neatly
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