Faery Tale - Chapter Forty six

Chapter 46: Determined


Half an hour ago, Sakura thought she would slip into waking dream and never come back. Now, she thanked every deity she could think of, as the flashes of memory receded just enough that she can be aware of her surroundings. It was perfect timing, she had to defend Itachi or at least keep him from being impaled.


"Go," She heard Itachi's labored breath. He was deathly pale, "save yourself,"


A sound soldier had come too close. She whipped her knife but it swished through empty air. She was about to kick the stocky man when he was fell backward. Sasuke was crouching near the man, barely making eye contact before going back to the melee. A wave of gratitude washed through her; thank god that he was a remarkable warrior. Every time someone pressed too close he was instantly by her side to fight off the opponents, as if he had a sixth sense. Sakura didn't have delusions regarding her strength; she could fight decently on her own, but she couldn't attack and protect the wounded Uchiha at the same time. Right now Itachi was her number one priority.


A quick glance at her Master revealed that the final battle did not start yet. Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya were talking to Orochimaru who was sitting on the golden throne. She could sense the tension in the air between them.


"Leave me," Itachi grabbed her ankle from his sitting position. His hand shook with the effort. She had enough time to kneel down and look him in the eye. This was no regular man: he was a veteran soldier, an ANBU and his instinct was always to sacrifice himself for another cause. How could she convince him to choose life and not self-sacrifice?


"Your brother is fighting to his limit so you can live," She started kindly, "You would do the same for him, I'm sure of it and I want to help you both survive," She shook her head at his weary expression, "Please listen to me, it doesn't have to end with more pain, we can still win, we have hope," Itachi closed his eyes and she feared the worst, "We all lost so much, but Master is here, same as Lord Jiraiya and soon the whole army will come too. We can still make it, please trust me,"


"…crazy to stay here," his voice was barely audible. Her strategy was not working and she wished had some of Ino's mind magic. A little compulsion-spell would be really useful now.

Sakura took a deep breath and did the only think she can think of. She grabbed Itachi's shoulder somewhat forcefully and filled her voice with as much confidence as she could. They were about to die anyway, why not pretend to be someone confident?

"Ok pretty boy, your brother is fighting his ass off to save this entire kingdom. Do you want him to be ashamed of you? That you gave up because some girl got hurt? Man up and stop throwing your life away!"

She prayed that would do the trick, these soldier types did not respond to pity or compassion, they responded to a kick in the ass. She felt like a hypocrite telling Itachi to act like a man, he was one of the bravest and strongest people she knew. But it had to be done.

She waited for the longest time, and avoided three indirect stabs. One man was sent crashing into the wall, courtesy of her foot and some bad footwork on the soldier's end. Finally, Itachi spoke again. There was strange smile on his pale face, and sweat trickled from his forehead, "…Really think so?"

"Do you even have to ask? You help us more by staying alive,"

"No- I meant 'pretty boy'" His smile made sense now, he thought she was flirting with him while he was on his death bed. She felt like an idiot.

"Um---You are pretty handsome," She flushed, "sorry, I didn't mean to be---uh- inappropriate –this time,"

He tried to laugh but it hurt all over, she could tell. Another crashing body jolted them out of the awkward conversation.
  
"What the hell are you doing?! You're supposed to protect him not make him cough out a lung!" Sasuke shouted as he yanked the fallen soldier and dragged him back. He was so distracted by Itachi's spasm that he didn't see the shadow forming behind him, Sakura threw her weapon blindly. Kakashi tried to teach her once by throwing a knife at her, so she mimicked his gesture. Unfortunately her aim was bad and the blade grazed Sasuke's arm before going off course. He stared at her with an offended air.

"I missed!" She shouted back, "Look behind you!" and he disappeared again, lost in another fight.

"-- he --likes you," Itachi spoke slowly, "you-- still alive-after-knife,"

Well that's comforting…

"Don't talk, save your energy," She advised gently and took the bodyguard position again. There would be hell to pay if Itachi died on her.

Four ANBU joined their area, she didn't recognize any family marker on these. Soon enough most of the enemies were out of the commission, not only in the small corner but the entire room as well.

"Itachi, stay with me! Open your eyes!" Sasuke was kneeling next to his brother now, he had some bruises and cuts but he didn't seem to care, "Itachi!"

"Too loud," Itachi murmured, "little brother," he slowly opened his eyes.

"We should get him to a medic before he loses consciousness," An overweight ANBU said before he lifted Itachi up on his feet.  
"H--"
"It's ok kid, your brother is one of us," A second ANBU, this one was masked, "we don't hurt our own,"

Sasuke only glared. He let them take his brother away.
"Take a deep breath," Sakura told him, she didn't know what else to say, "The fight is not over yet,"

He opened his mouth to say something when Naruto was sent flying across the room. Everyone in the vicinity rushed to his side. Sakura tried to run as well, but pain shot through her left leg and she looked down. There was a nasty cut and blood, not a lot but it stung. She could not remember where it had come from. She tore one of the curtains and used the cloth to make a bandage. It was quite an expensive bandage, butt he royal family owed her this much.

By the time she got to the group, Naruto had orchestrated yet another brilliant plan. She gritted her teeth, they conveniently forgot about her. Not only that, when she asked him if he had forgotten someone, all of these powerful soldiers completely ignored her.

You just wait…Jerks…

At least Sasuke had the good grace to look ashamed. Still, he should pay for his behavior.  Sakura started limping in the direction of the dais, and didn't look back to see if the others followed. She didn't walk long. A wave of energy slammed into her and forced her to the floor. She couldn't make a sense of what happened. The only trace of the magic was an echo in the air. The entire room seemed to vibrate.  

Two shadows passed by her, and raced to Jiraiya's side. One was Naruto and the other predictably was Sasuke. Each had a weapon raised and ready to strike. They did have good intentions, but they were not on par with Orochimaru. He blocked with a flick of his hand, just as he was fighting Jiraiya. Sakura's eyes could not keep up with the ghostly movements of the two men. The boys on the other hand were sent flying backward, a few steps ahead of her. They stood up quickly, but did not make any other movements.

Three ANBUs made an attempt on Orochimaru but he was well ahead of them. He didn't need to physically block. An energy wall spread through the room again, and anyone not strong enough fell on their knees.  Only Jiraiya, Tsuande and Naruto were left standing. She noticed that Sasuke was struggling to get up. Sakura slowly shifted her weight to avoid putting more pressure on the injury. It hurt like hell.

"Don't overdo it," someone whispered behind her, "You're going to make it worse if you move," She turned around and saw another Sound soldier, her first thought was the group she was with earlier, but this one looked, well, less bloody. His black hair was tied a pony tail and sharp eyes stared into her own.

She felt a nagging familiarity. He reminded her of Kakashi and dark corridors.  

"You're Shikamaru?" She remembered the boy in the hidden passages the day she met the King. He was from Royal Guard. Also, she did not remember seeing him in town or with the prisoners.

He nodded. She stopped trying to get up and let him crawl next to her.

"Is Kakashi here?" She whispered again. Another nod.

"We can't attract too much attention, you have to move closer to the door, slowly now," He was looking at Jiraiya's hand to hand combat against Orochimaru.

She shook her head again, "He saw me, he'll know that something is up if I'm gone." No need to say who 'he' was. "The Sound Army is coming back soon, do you have a plan?"

His mouth quirked in a wicked smile, "Leave that to Kakashi, he's enjoying himself down there,"

She could not hear his next comment because a shower of red filled her visions. One of the ANBU was right shielding both her and Shikamaru from a fatal blow. His limp body fell before them, and Sakura winced.

"You sure you don't want out?" He asked again.

"Positive,"