J A D E

Chapter Forty - Seven

"I am tired, Sakura-chan." Shisui mumbles as we approach Konoha. I chuckle at his antics and shake my head, my eyes focused on growing village in front of us. We pass the gates without being detected. I sigh, looking annoyed at duo, only to see several genins sitting on Kotetsu's and Izumo's place.

"Where are these two?" I ask confused Shisui, who shrugs his shoulders. We continue running from roof to roof, both of us too tired to use Shunshin. We had been shunshining most of our way, and it worn us out. But we had to be fast enough, so Kisame would not come after us. We might be ANBU and powerful, but we know when we have to run in order to survive and not fail a mission.

We jump straight into Tsunade's office, breaking yet another window. I wince as glass cuts my leg and sigh, kneeling down to heal it, without paying attention to anyone in the room. But when I look up, I see all of them. Beat up Kotetsu and Izumo, grim-looking Sasori, angry Shikamaru, scared Choji and Ino's tear stained face. Tsunade is sitting by her desk, raising her eyebrows at me and Shisui.

"W-We completed the mission." I mumble and give her the scroll as we were instructed before we left for the mission. She takes it from my hands and sighs, clenching it tightly in her hands. I look around the office once again, yet no one is speaking.

"It's good." Tsunade mumbles and looks up back at me. "Has there been ay complications?"

"We encountered Itachi and Kisame from Akatsuki." Shisui answers instead of me. Tsunade sighs, rubbing her temples. "Ano, what happened, Tsunade-sama?" Shisui asks in low voice. He is never the one, who asks questions, but the atmosphere in here is grim, gruesome.

"Akatsuki attacked." Tsunade answers and I flinch. My eyes drift to Sasori, who is staring at the horizon. "Hidan and Kakuzu, mostly known as Immortal Duo." I gulp as my eyes wander to Ino and Shikamaru and Choji.

"Is everyone okay?" I whisper with quivering tone.

"Sarutobi Asuma has been wounded." Tsunade's voice is professional, yet I can see the edge in it. "He is in coma. We don't know if he makes it." I sigh, nodding my head. "Sasori helped a great deal. If anything, he is the one, who managed to more or less, save his life." I smile at the redhead, but he does not even notice it. His eyes are full of horror and confusion. "Genma with guarding hospital ward currently. It is believed that Hidan will return to finish off what he has started." I clench my hands and nod.

***

"How are you, Sasori-kun?" I whisper as we enter the home. The house is empty, Naruto is still training with Kakashi, while Ibiki should be in T&I. Redhead looks at me with hollow eyes and sighs, pushing his hair away from his face.

"I could not save him." He whispers in broken tone. "I have promised you, to protect them, yet I could not do it." I can feel heartbreak inside his tone. I hug him tightly.

"It's okay." I whisper in his ear. "You did save them." I whisper again and smile. "Thank you, Sasori-kun." I whisper once again. He puts his arms around me, hugging me back.

"You know... I could not understand what your village had that others lacked." Sasori starts talking while hugging me. I can hear his voice in my hair, muffled. "And today... I saw it. It is desire to save the ones you love, to fulfill promises you made to others. It is friendship and comradeship." Sasori continues whispering in my hair. "Thank you, Sakura."

"For what?" I chuckle into his shoulder.

"For showing me what it feels like. For giving me another chance." He whisper again before letting me go. I smile at the wooden boy kindly, letting him ruffle my hair. "Come on, brat. You should be hungry, I will make something for you." He chuckles and starts heading towards the kitchen.

***

"Are you sure, this is edible?" Ibiki questions the food on his plate with tired sigh. Sasori glares at older man, But I think they are peers. I don't know, Sasori looks about eighteen and it is hard to tell his exact age as he is wooden.

"Yes." Sasori snaps. I chuckle at their antics. I think Ibiki grew on Sasori and vice verse. I can see that they already care about one another, and would bicker like I and Naruto used to. "Where is blonde?" Sasori still does not call Naruto by name. Well, mostly because Naruto still does not trust Sasori.

"He is training with Kakashi." Ibiki shrugs his shoulders and smiles at me. "Now, Sakura-chan how was your mission?" Ibiki asks me kindly and gently. Despite barely having time, I always make sure to tell him everything. After all, he is my father.

"Well, I met Itachi-kun." I whisper as I put my fork down. Both Ibiki and Sasori quit bickering and look at me with worry in their eyes. "We fought, but I and Shisui managed to run away before things accelerated." I admit and sigh. Ibiki nods, while Sasori stares at me. He usually reminds me of Sai, with the way of being unemotional and having no idea what to do or say in given moments. "Anyways, Ibiki!" I smile at the man in front of me. "Is there anyone for me to interrogate? Or did Anko scare everyone shitless?" I chuckle at man, who murmurs that I could not cuss at all, and that Anko is rubbing off on me in bad way.

"You should be more confident in yourself, Sakura." Anko shakes her head as she jumps in front of me. "You are strong, brat." She adds with small smile on her lips. "I don't understand what it is that you don't like."

"I can't save people, Anko-san." I rub my temples and sigh. "I needed to train more. But now, it is too late to whine about it, isn't it?" I chuckle humorlessly and look down t my burnt hands.

"Sakura." I look up at purple-haired demon. "I don't say it often. You are first person, who managed to impress both me and Ibiki. We are in the war, you can't save everyone. But you saved more than enough." She sighs and pushes me playfully. "You are strong, Sakura. Don't let others bring you down."

"Maybe it is not bad, that she is rubbing off on me." I chuckle at Ibiki's and Sasori's horrified looks. Sasori had pleasure of meeting her and he went on calling her demon for the rest of the week.

"No, Sakura." Sasori shakes his head, putting his eyes staring at me. He is just sitting with us, it turned out that when you are wooden, you don't have to eat, at all. "You can't become crazed maniac, you got me?" I nod at him, surpassing a laugh.

"Anyways, there is one." Ibiki butts in, sending us both KI. He sighs before turning to me entirely. "So, he is a missing-nin, and I think you can deal with him." I nod at him and happily continue eating my food.