29I do not own Naruto
My life on the line
Chapter 9 - Shots fired!
Warning: Lemon in this one people
The next morning I woke up feeling sore, both from the extensive running I did the day before and from the late night activities Deidara and I had indulged in.
But I didn´t mind…
Deidara had me wrapped up in his arms like I was his most precious teddy bear and he was afraid to lose me. I loved the feeling.
But the peace in my bedroom didn´t last, suddenly there was banging on the door and Kakuzu's voice drifted through to us.
"Deidara, Sakura, get up. We have a situation."
Deidara was immediately awake and fully functioning while I only blinked slowly, trying to get a grip on what was going on. Deidara got off the bed still as naked as he was last night and he pulled me off the bed and dragged me with him into the shower.
Since I was still only half awake he washed both himself and me and all too soon for my taste, he turned the water off and dragged me out again. He handed me a towel which I used to dry myself off with before I stumbled back into the bedroom and dressed myself, finally starting to move on my own.
I made it to the kitchen where Kakuzu put a cup of coffee in my hands before direction me down into a chair next to Hidan.
"I don´t drink coffee." I told them and frowned at the cup sitting innocently in my hands.
"I know." Kakuzu answered. "But I need you awake and functioning as fast as possible, shit are going down and we can´t leave you here by yourself."
Now I was starting to worry, what was really happening here? I looked down at the coffee in my hands and took a small, hesitant sip of the bitter, black liquid. It tasted horribly and that´s why I normally didn´t drink the stuff but since something was clearly going on, I forced the stuff down my throat.
When everyone was assembled, Kakuzu started explaining the situation.
"We have gotten tips on two locations where Orochimaru and Mebuki are supposed to be at in two hours, obviously at least one of them is wrong but we are not in a position where we can ignore any tips like this. I believe that they are watching us, since two tips like this comes in when we only have two teams assembled." Kakuzu paused to give the information some time to sink in before continuing.
"I believe that they are expecting us to investigate the tips and leave Sakura alone in the apartment. Because of that she´s coming with us out on the field, it´s easier to protect her if we have her with us than if she´s alone in the apartment."
Kakuzu's decision got some protesting from both Deidara and Sasori, it was obviously clear that they didn´t want me anywhere near something that could be potentially dangerous.
But Hidan was quiet next to me and I realized that while he didn´t want me in danger either, it was even more dangerous to allow me to stay here and if someone were to stay with me, one of the tips would be left uninvestigated.
I wanted my mother and Orochimaru stopped more than I wanted to be safe.
"I´m going with you." I said out loud, ending the quickly heated discussion between Sasori, Deidara and Kakuzu.
"Are you insane?! It´s too dangerous Sakura…" Sasori began but I interrupted him.
"I know that it´s dangerous I´m not an idiot. But if we hesitate now we might miss a really good chance at stopping one or both of them and then I might never be safe…"
My words were directed at Sasori but I was looking Deidara straight in the eyes the entire time I spoke. It was really important for me to get him to understand this… That I rather put myself in more danger now than having to live with a threat against my life for as long as I managed to evade their assassination attempts.
I saw in his blue depths that while he didn´t approve of it, he understood it and his shoulders sagged a bit before he turned towards Sasori who was getting ready to argue more with me and said.
"Drop it Sasori… We don´t have to like it but she´s right." He then turned his gaze on me and said with a small smile and sadness in his eyes.
"But if you don´t come back to me I´ll never forgive you." And with that he and Sasori disappeared to get ready to go to one of the places where my mother and Orochimaru might turn up.
In that moment I realized that I would be going with Hidan and Kakuzu and while I was worried out of my mind for Deidara and Sasori, I understood why I couldn´t go with them.
Since one of them was my boyfriend and the other my newly found half-brother, they would try and protect me to the point where they wouldn´t be able to concentrate on their jobs and that´s when mistakes are made and people get hurt.
They got ready quickly and then left, leaving Kakuzu, Hidan and I to prepare ourselves as well. I was so nervous that I felt nauseous as I followed Kakuzu and Hidan to the equipment room in their office downstairs.
My hands were shaking a little but I tried to hide it by tightening them into fists. Hidan went off to get himself ready but Kakuzu stayed with me, equipping me with a Kevlar vest and a gun in a thigh holster. He helped me strap on the vest so that it was tight and secure and then he watched me as I strapped on the holster and checked the magazine and safety on the gun.
"Are we ready to go?" Hidan asked us and Kakuzu nodded before herding me in the direction of the elevator. As the elevator door closed behind us I noticed that neither of them was wearing any Kevlar vests, it made me worry so I asked them.
"How come I´m the only one wearing a Kevlar vest? Why don´t you guys wear them to?"
"It´s not us the Sound want dead." Was Hidans explanation and while I accepted it, I didn´t like it. I had a bad feeling about this but there was nothing I could do about it, I knew they wouldn´t listen to me.
We climbed into one of the explorers that were left, Kakuzu behind the wheel and Hidan in the front passenger seat. I took my usual place in the backseat and then we were off.
I just hoped that everyone would come out of this alive and unharmed.
Two hours later I was starting to wonder if everything had been a trick just to get us out of the building. There had been no signs of my mother, Orochimaru or any Sound gang members and I was starting to lose hope that we would see anything at all.
We were sitting in the car, watching a small two-story house for any movements at all and I was bored out of my mind. I had long since abandoned the nervousness and was now imagining what could be hidden inside the house.
Was it a normal family home? With a father that worked and a mother that stayed home with their three children, a dog and a cat fulfilling their roles as pets. Or was it a home where the father was beating the mother, making the children cry and cover their ears as they had to listen to the fights that occurred almost every night?
Were the inhabitants an elderly couple? Having been together for almost all of their lives, raising two nice children into well-behaved adults that gave them plenty of grand children to love and spoil? Or was it an old woman living there? Her husband passed away since many years and her only child living far away never seeing her? Her only company a few cat´s and a bird in a cage?
My imagination was running wild and I blame it for not making me notice the black SUV when it first turned the corner and drove down the street we were parked on. But the boys did notice the car and the rising tension was what made me realize that something was about to happen.
I looked up just as the SUV drove passed us and one second everything was quiet and calm and the next one was a lot of noise and confusing chaos.
Someone in the other car had opened fire at us. Glass was shattered, metal was screeching and it was pure instincts that saved me from a bullet in the head. When the first bullet was fired I had ducked down to the floor and was waiting for the shooting to stop so that I could see what was going on.
But suddenly the car started moving and I looked up enough to see that Kakuzu was driving us away from the shooting car. Hidan turned around in his seat to check on me and I saw a small trickle of blood making its way down the side of his head.
"Are you alright Sakura?" He asked me and I answered.
"Yeah I´m fine." Then the rear windshield shattered and I took a peek over the edge of the seat to see that the black SUV was following us. I heard Hidan swear and then he moved to the backseat as well, he pulled his gun and started to shoot back at the car behind us, aiming for the tires.
I was just about to draw my own weapon and help him when I heard Kakuzu shout a warning and then something collided with the side of our car.
The sound of metal screaming hurt my ears and my body was thrown around like a rag-doll, boneless and tangled with Hidan. Then everything came to a stop and for a moment everything was completely silent.
"Are you two okay?" I heard Kakuzu ask from the front, the car had come to a stop lying on the roof so he was working to get free from the seatbelt that held him upside down.
"I´m alright." Hidan answered and got up on all fours since he had landed mostly on top of me. "Sakura?"
"I think I´m fine…" I answered a little dazed and sat up as well, checking myself for broken bones or other serious injuries. I didn´t find any so I followed Hidan when he crawled out of the car through where the now broken rear windshield used to be.
But as soon as Hidan and I stood up outside the car, we realized that it had been a bad idea.
"Hands where we can see them and no sudden movements!" a man ordered us harshly while pointing a gun at us and I did my best to memorize his appearance. He had silvery hair that was a few shades darker than Hidans and not nearly as pretty… He had dark eyes hidden behind round glasses and his face was hard and angular.
Hidan and I booth did as he said, hoping that Kakuzu would be able to help us when he got loose. One man stripped Hidan of his weapons and another did the same to me. I closed my eyes as his hands moved over my body, touching places I didn´t want him to touch but allowed anyway.
I heard Hidan let out a low, growling sound when he saw the way they treated me but there was nothing he could do to help me either. It was soon over though and I decided not to dwell on it. Two other men pulled Kakuzu from the car wreckage and I felt the hopes of being able to come out of this alive sink even more.
The silver haired one that was clearly the leader for this little group stepped closer to me and pushed a gun against my throat as he leaned closer to really look at my face.
"My, my, my… Isn´t this the little bitch that our king and queen wants dead?"
He was way too close to me for my liking and I swallowed nervously but refused to look away from his searching stare, I wasn´t going to show him any fear.
"Ha! The bitch has an attitude as well, who would have known…" He said but trailed off to lean even closer to me. He would regret that though. When he was close enough I head-butted him with everything I had and he stumbled back, howling in pain and with his hand pressed against his now broken nose.
"I don´t like being called bitch." I said casually and watched his struggle with a small smile playing on my lips. I hadn´t intended for it to be a distraction so that Hidan and Kakuzu could try and get free but that was what happened anyway.
They quickly got loose from the people holding them and I noticed from the corner of my eye that Hidan pressed the panic button that would alert all the other members that we needed help immediately.
I tried to get free as well but the man holding me had me in a grip that I didn´t knew how to break. And all too soon the leader was back on his feet and stalking towards me, a furious look in his eyes.
He backhanded me and I knew that he would leave a bruise on my cheekbone. Everything was in chaos around me, Hidan and Kakuzu fighting against two people each and then there was the man holding me and the leader left.
I did my best to keep the leaders attention on me, hoping that the boys would be able to take the others down before he had enough and decided to kill me.
Suddenly his gun was once again pressed against my body, this time to my chest, and he asked me.
"Should I kill you now? When your friends are too busy to help you? I wonder how their faces would look when they realized that they had failed to protect you…"
"Why don´t you shoot me then and find out!" I replied angrily, losing control over my temper for a moment. He looked at me and if I had to put it down to just one emotion, I would say that he was surprised.
"You´re not afraid of death? How stupid of you. Well you´re no fun to tease then…"
"Don´t pretend to act like you wasn´t going to shoot me either way." I bit out, still angry.
"Oh you don´t have to worry, I will kill you. But since you´re not afraid of death… I might just shoot one of your friends here, just to have some fun." He said with a sick smile and moved the gun away from my chest, aiming for the middle of Hidans back instead.
Since Hidan was standing with his back towards us, he didn´t see the impending danger and when I noticed the leader's fingers twitching, I realized that he really was going to shoot Hidan.
And I couldn´t stand the thought of that.
Letting my instincts take over, I head-butted the man standing behind me before slamming my elbow in his gut, making him release me.
And then I jumped in front of the gun just as the trigger was pulled.
My body flew backwards when the bullet collided with the Kevlar vest that I was hiding underneath my clothes and I felt the air leave my lungs on the impact. My back hit Hidans chest, since he had turned around in time to see me throwing myself in front of the gun.
He caught me and at the same time I heard another two shots being fired, this time coming from behind me. I noticed that the man holding me went down, as did the silver haired leader but then I stopped caring about them.
I couldn´t breathe.
There was no air in my lungs and my body seemed paralyzed, not being able to draw in more. Everything was pain and I wondered briefly if the bullet had gone through the vest and into my chest anyway.
Hidans arms supported me and he laid me down on my back on the ground before tearing my clothes apart, frantically searching for blood or injuries.
Then my lungs started working again and I drew in a much needed wheezing breath of air. The panic in Hidans violet eyes eased up and he exclaimed in relief.
"Thank Jashin… The bullet didn´t pierce the vest…" He leaned down and placed his forehead against mine for a moment before he sat back up and grasped my hands that were trying to get the vest off in hopes that the pain would ease up.
"Don´t move Sakura, the pain will ease faster if you don´t move. I know it hurts like hell but stay still and concentrate on breathing for now. We don´t know if you have any cracked or broken ribs from that and I don´t want you to collapse a lung."
I stilled my movements and Hidan continued to talk to me about nothing and everything until the pain became bearable and I felt like I could breathe properly again.
Kakuzu had checked every one of the group attacking us and while the four that the two of them had fought was unconscious, the man holding me and the leader was dead.
After he had made sure that there was no one left that could harm us he kneeled next to me as well and I opened one of my eyes to look at him.
"That was something I had hoped to never have to see, you taking a bullet for one of us. How are you feeling Sakura?"
"I was wearing a vest, you two wasn´t. Hurts like hell but I can breathe again." I answered in short sentences to avoid having to take large breaths.
"As long as you can breathe normally… That means that your lungs weren´t damaged and your ribs wasn´t broken. You might have cracked a few though…" Kakuzu said, relief in his voice before he and Hidan helped me up to a standing position.
I had to have both of them supporting me to be able to stay upright, and even then I was standing hunched over. Since all of us had some cuts and bruises from the car crashing as well as from the fighting beforehand, we looked really bad.
We hobbled over to the car and Kakuzu left Hidan and I leaning against the wreck while he crawled back in the car to look for the first aid kit. He had just crawled back out when another black ford explorer came to a screeching stop close to us and Sasori and Deidara left the car and hurried over to us.
Kakuzu held the two of them back long enough to explain what had happened so that they didn´t do anything stupid. Like trying to hug me.
Their faces turned grim when he got to the part where I had saved Hidan from a bullet through the chest and I could see that both of them got worried, in fact, all four of them were. But since I was breathing relatively normal and the bullet hadn´t gone through the vest, they all knew that I would be fine eventually and that there was no need for panic.
Since both Kakuzu and Hidan were a little banged up, Deidara and Sasori took over helping me walk to their car so that we all could get home and take care of our injuries.
I was placed in the middle of the backseat, Hidan on one side of me and Deidara on the other, Kakuzu in the front passenger seat and Sasori behind the wheel. As we started the drive home I allowed my head to fall onto Deidara´s shoulder, one of my hands pressed against the vest that combined with my bra was the only thing covering my chest from being exposed since Hidan had ripped my clothes, trying to ease the pain.
I felt him press a kiss over my right ear and he asked me in a whisper that only I could hear.
"Are you going to be alright Blossom?" I nodded a little but stayed silent, too tired to speak. Somewhere after that I fell asleep, feeling safe sitting in between my boyfriend and one of my best male friends. And there was no doubt in my mind that Hidan and I wouldn´t become as close as two people could get without being related or in a relationship, all of the Akatsuki had somehow reached the same place in my heart that earlier had belonged to only Sasuke, Naruto and my father.
I woke up when Sasori turned off the car engine in the parking garage of our building. I felt a weight on my left shoulder and looked that way to see that Hidan had been sleeping during the car ride back as well. I looked to my right and saw that Deidara was awake and unbuckling his seatbelt to get out of the car.
I poked Hidan on the head and watched as his mesmerizing amethyst eyes slowly opened and focused on me.
"We´re home." I told him simply and he sat up straight, allowing me my movement back. I moved slowly but got out of the car on my own. Hidan, Kakuzu and I all managed to get in the elevator with some help from Sasori and Deidara.
The ride up was silent and when the doors opened, Kisame and Zetzu were standing there, their faces taking on shocked and worried expressions as they noticed what condition we were in.
I was leaning heavily on Deidara, my hand still clutching at my chest with a slightly pained expression on my face and my clothes ripped to shreds. Sasori supported both Hidan and Kakuzu who both looked tired and beaten up, I guessed that they started to feel the effects of crashing with the car just as I did.
"What in the world happened?" Kisame asked as he took over supporting Kakuzu and Zetzu took over supporting Hidan so that Sasori could take a place on my other side.
"They were ambushed, the car crashed and then they had to fight against six sound members, Sakura took a bullet in the vest that would have killed Hidan had it hit him." Sasori explained and asked Zetzu and Kisame to look over Kakuzu and Hidan and to get him if they found anything serious, leaving him able to concentrate on me.
Kisame and Zetzu nodded before all four of them hobbled away, leaving Sasori, Deidara and I to do the same. The boy´s took me to the room that I shared with Deidara and Sasori told him to watch me as he fetched his first aid kit.
Deidara helped me sit on the edge of the bed before kneeling in front of me and asking with real worry in his eyes.
"Are you really alright Blossom?" I smiled at him and tried to reassure him.
"Yeah I am. It hurts like hell but I have no trouble breathing except for deep breaths because of the pain, I´ll be fine don´t worry." He gave me a weak smile but it was obvious that he still worried about me.
It didn´t take long for Sasori to come back though, and when he did the two of them helped out of my shredded clothes and the vest with the bullet in, leaving me in only my pants and bra.
I was thankful that the bra was one of my prettier ones, but not one of the slutty looking ones.
My entire chest was in pain and when the vest came off, I could stop wondering why. My entire chest was one giant bruise, painted in different hues of black, blue and purple. Sasori went over all of my ribs carefully and despite the skin tenderness, I didn´t feel any intense pain that could indicate a cracked or broken rib.
But when he felt down my sternum, I yelped and he got a worried frown on his forehead as he did it again, gentler this time. I still winced though and after a lot of painful poking and prodding, Sasori concluded that I probably had gotten a crack in my sternum.
"Is it dangerous? Should she go to the hospital?" Deidara asked and ignored the glare he got from me when he mentioned visiting the hospital.
"There´s nothing the hospital can do, except for keeping her under observation until the bone starts to heal and we can do that here as well. As long as she doesn't have trouble breathing, there´s nothing to worry about." Sasori assured him and after they exchanged another few words, Sasori left us so that we could take a shower before finding some food.
Deidara helped me into the bathroom and he turned on the water before helping me out of the rest of my clothes. I stood underneath the spray of water, supporting myself against the wall, watching Deidara as he undressed in front of my eyes.
I knew it was crazy when I had gotten hurt like this but I couldn´t help myself. The sight of his muscular and lightly tanned body being revealed in front of my eyes was turning me on.
He joined me in the shower and immediately went down to business, cleaning both my body and his. He washed my hair next before he washed his own and then we just stood close together underneath the hot spray of water, relishing in the contact of skin on skin with the other.
He was standing behind me, his hands holding on to me both gently and protectively. I felt something hard and silky smooth poke my backside and when I shifted to get more of the feeling Deidara released a groan and momentarily tightened his grip on me, pushing against me.
"Dammit Sakura we can´t do this now… you´re hurt." He said and backed away from me, making me turn around so that I could look at his when I begged him.
"Please Deidara… I need you… I tell you if it hurts my chest, I promise." He sighed but stepped closer again, cupping my face in his hands and pressing a kiss to my forehead before whispering.
"I just don´t want to hurt you…" He then pressed his lips to mine in a gentle kiss before allowing his hands to move over my water-slicked skin eliciting pleasure in a way that only he was able to.
When I felt him press at my entrance I moaned in pleasure and was silenced by another gentle kiss from his lips. Everything was much gentler than last night, bringing pleasure in a whole other way. He moved so carefully in me, was so gentle in his touches and the sensation was so agonizing sweet that I almost started to cry.
I knew that he did it mostly because he was afraid of hurting me but that he was capable of giving me such bittersweet pleasure almost blew my mind. All too soon and yet not soon enough, I felt the explosion of an orgasm rock my body and then the pleasure hit, rolling in like tidal waves, sweeping me away.
I faintly realized that Deidara was climaxing as well but the power of my own release pushed everything else away for the moment and when I came to again, it was to Deidara´s eyes searching mine and his shaft still inside of me. I was still pushed up against the shower wall, Deidara´s hands supporting my weight as we were joined at the hips.
"Can you still breathe alright?" He asked me worriedly and when I told him yes, he sighed in relief and rested his forehead against mine for a moment before pulling out of me slowly.
I gasped at the sensation and when he put me down I found my legs wobbly and unsteady still. He supported me with an arm around my waist as he turned the water off and then wrapped me in a towel. He dried himself off before he helped me doing the same and then he took me to the bedroom and helped me get dressed.
In clean underwear and a pajama much like the one with panda´s on, except this one was decorated with owls instead and Deidara dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt, we made our way out to the kitchen in search for food.
All the others were already gathered in the kitchen and there were a few boxes on the table that indicated that we were having Chinese take-out. Deidara helped me down on a chair before fetching both of us something to drink.
Both Kakuzu and Hidan looked much better after a shower and I figured that the same could be said for me as well. We ate in silence, everybody was exhausted and right now it didn´t feel like we were having much success in stopping Sound and my mother.
The next morning was sheer agony on my part, every time I moved my chest hurt. Sasori and Deidara had gone out with Kisame and Zetzu to get some work done but Kakuzu, Hidan and I were staying in the apartment for now.
I had manage to dress myself in black sweatpants and a white, short-sleeved, button up shirt that really belonged to Deidara but that I had borrowed because it was easy to get on. I had on a sports bra underneath so that I could leave the shirt unbuttoned if the buttons was going to hurt the tender skin on my chest.
I managed to get myself to the kitchen where I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before slowly walking off to the living room where I could hear that Hidan and Kakuzu were.
When they saw me enter the room, both of their eyes immediately locked on me and then never left as I slowly closed the distance between us.
"How are you feeling?" Kakuzu asked and I grimaced before telling him.
"I´ll be alright."
"Can I see?" Hidan asked me suddenly and I stopped and stared at him in surprise, not entirely sure what he meant. He looked up at me and I saw something in his eyes that I couldn´t decipher, could it have been guilt? And then he asked again, clarifying.
"Can I see the damage?"
"Sure…" I answered, shooting Kakuzu a surprised look before unbuttoning the shirt, leaving it open for the two boys to see my black and blue chest.
Hidan winced and Kakuzu grimaced in sympathy, before saying out loud.
"I´m still surprised that you didn´t crack any ribs…" I looked at him in surprise and asked him.
"Didn´t Sasori tell you? I might´ve not cracked any of my ribs but I did manage to crack my sternum." The silence that overtook the room told me that maybe it had been a bad idea to tell them that, but hey, they did ask.
They would surely have time to accept that I had gotten hurt though, it seemed as if I would suffer from this for a while. And while I could accept having nothing to do for a while, it made me worry more about Itachi.
I just hoped that he would get his memories back.
Please let me know what you think!
Love C