Rained Love

She had to run. She had to get away from the village. That very thought
felt so wrong as it went across Sakura's mind. The woods were only green and
brown blurs in her bleary vision, as she hurtled her body over tree limb after tree limb. She didn't even care when it started to storm about an hour ago. All Sakura could think about was to get away from the hell that was once her home. But her body was tired and the rain was not helping. She started to slowdown when her muscles refused to continue working for her. A place to rest seemed the only likely option.

Emerald eyes scanned the area she stopped in. The only thing she could find was the space among the braches of the tree she stopped under. It was her only choice. She sat herself among the thickest of the branches for what safety she had. Her head rested on her drawn up knees as she leaned her back against to the tree. I still can not believe what happened..." she thought as she closed her eyes, her mind slowly drifting off into the awaiting darkness, ...the village. But all she could hear was the soft pattering of the rain on the leaves she once called home.

Orochimaru had finally taken over Sasuke's body. Konoha couldn't explain it but he managed to do it. With this new body, his first task was to go straight to Konoha with his new skilled ninjas and slaughter everyone there. Sakura could still see and hear the screams of the people she loved fall to the Sound ninjas. The Nin's that Orochimaru brought with him were not even human. They were more powerful and more skilled then ANBU.

Hatake Kakashi, her first teacher, screamed as a genjutsu forced him to face his real nightmares. The most horrible death was Tsunade's. Orochimaru had taken
great pleasure in running her through with his blade. Her Creation Rebirth couldn't even save her; she died from the overuse and strain of her technique. Out of everyone, Naruto's death still rang clear in her mind.

Naruto came yelling at Orochimaru in hopes his yells would bring Sasuke
back to reality. But Orochimaru just laughed at him while they fought. "Run!" was
the last thing Naruto said before Orochimaru beheaded him. The last thing Sakura saw of her home.

That was days ago, but it felt like it happened yesterday. The Sound ninjas had followed her from Konoha and it was all a matter of time before they finally caught her. She needed to get out of Konoha. She needed to head toward the borders of Suna; there she would be guaranteed safety. The rain still continued on during the night and into the next day, but Sakura needed to keep going if she was going to make Suna by daybreak. How could this happen? thought Sakura as she jumped to another limb. Her sandaled foot slipped from the branch due to her fatigue. She returned to the forest floor to rest against a tree for a minute.

She rested her head against the wet and cold bark that somewhat welcomed her tired state. "So much for the stories Mom used read to me wean I was little." she muttered into the tree. Sakura remembered the stories that held the last bit of innocence of her childhood life. Stories where knights saved princesses from evil monsters and later ride off into the sunset to live a happily ever after. Happily ever after, she thought, happiness can not be found for a ninja.

Even now she sometimes wished that such dreams were able to come true, but it was just a fairy tale. She knew that it would never happen. A loud crack of thunder interrupted her thoughts. Her head snapped up to look out into the rain, her exhausted senses went back to normal from their frightened state. At least the storm will hide my tracks. thought  Sakura, but she heard a splash. Sakura held her breath as she drew one of her few kunai from her holster. She pressed her back against the tree so she could look out into the rain.

Jade orbs gazed over the clearing for a sign of threat, but she couldn't see anything. She sent a small amount of her valued chakra out for a concentrated area scan. She felt something but her senses were so drained she couldn't tell animal from human. But she knew something was out there.

"Where are you?" whispered Sakura as her eyes swept over the clearing again. Her eyes saw a flicker of movement; she focused on the spot to see the acknowledged presence. It was a man with a painfully familiar Konoha headband. Sakura nearly lowered her kunai recognizing the symbol, but she brought it up seeing the other parts of the man's uniform. The uniform was dirty and ragged, like he just escaped from a fight, but the jacket was one size too small and the headband was stained on one side. Her stomach clenched slightly, hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was. "Are you a survivor?" she asked, hoping that he didn't notice her wavering voice.

"Yes, I have a message for you." Sakura felt this swell of hope go through her. Maybe someone else survived like she did. If at all possible maybe Lee, Ino, Hinata, or even Yamato, just let it be anyone.

"What is it?" she asked taking a step toward him. She halted slightly, noticing her movement; she couldn't just let this random ninja fill her with some false information. She had to make sure that he was for real.

"I was told that your sensei Kakashi wants to regroup with you." He said taking a step toward her. Sakura's hand clenched on the hilt of her kunai, as she retreated her taken step. Hatred and sorrow filled her heart again hearing the name of her teacher. Her jaw became stone as she fought back the tears, her eyes leveled with the messenger Chunnin.

"Did Kakashi give you that message?" she asked bringing her kunai up, heart taking a dip of emotion. The messenger only looked at her and tilted his head.

"Yes, he gave it to m-"

"Kakashi is dead." Her grip on her kunai turned white as she spread her feet a bit farther to ready the attack.

"You know you are right," The man said. "But it doesn't matter." He snapped his fingers causing solid ropes to fly around Sakura tying  her to the tree. She slammed into the tree; a curse erupted out of her as she tried to break from her bonds, but she didn't have the strength or power to.

The Rogue Nin just smiled as he looked at her. Sakura watched him helplessly from her bound position. Two men flickered to both sides of him; she couldn't help the feeling of uselessness that swept over her. She was so physically and mentally exhausted that she didn't even sense the other two chakra signals. The gods only know how long they were there and following her.

So he was a diversion. Thought Sakura as her eyes quickly flicked between
each Rogue Nin. She struggled against her bonds but as if on cue they instantly tightened around her, she cringed at the tightening.

"So Leader, what should we do with her?" said one of the men.

"Hmm," their leader said as he came closer. He lightly grabbed Sakura's chin and turned her head to the left and right to look at her. "Well Orochimaru-sama said we could have a little fun." The other men smiled at this.

No!, thought Sakura. She struggled harder against her bonds, but the tightening made her groan slightly from the pain. She sagged against her ropes, feeling the burn and itch of the rope go into her skin, but everything became clear when one of the men made the one remark that broke her.

"I hope she will be better than that pearly eyed girl and loud blonde."
Sakura lifted her head up hearing those words.
You can't mean... she thought. Ino...Hinata..."What did you do to them!" she yelled at her captors. She felt the chakra flow into her fists, but she was already so drained that it barely did anything to break the ropes that bound her. "What did you do!" she yelled at them again.

With those words Sakura fought harder against the bonds that held her. This
just made the men laugh at her. She felt the tears peep out of her eyes and tried to hold it back but the tears just kept coming. She clenched her teeth to keep from crying.  Again the men laughed at her. The leader of the group stepped toward her and reached out to  take up some of her dangling hair to twirl between his fingers.

"Keep fighting and begging," the leader said as he moved closer to her,"it makes it all the more fun for us." He dropped his hand from her hair and went toward the zipper of her vest. Just then a shuriken flew between them causing him to jump away from her. They all turned their heads in the direction of the thrown shuriken. There in one of the trees was a man, or what was supposed to be man, instead of having a normal skin color, his skin was blue with matching spiky blue hair.

If the infamous black and red cloak didn't frighten anyone, an oversized bandaged sword was propped over his shoulder. From his crouching position, he could have easily taken them but he didn't with the loose grip he had on the hilt of his weapon. His expression enough was relaxed showing that he didn't want to fight. That was if he felt threatened by the Sound Nin's.

"If you are finished, I need the kunoichi." The sword wielder stated. This only caused the men down below to laugh. Sakura took in an intake of air; she knew who just happened to save her. Hoshigaki Kisame was an S-Class criminal from the land of Water and standing member of the group Akatsuki. If she was correct, he was still was Uchiha Itachi's partner. Her insides rolled at the thought of her so called 'savior'.

"Do you know who we are?" asked the leader. "We're the best of Orochimaru-sama's Ninjas and there is no w--" In seconds the blue skinned man was in front of them not even allowing the leader to finish speaking. Now that he was to their level they all could see just how tall Kisame actually was, even now he was towering over them.

"I don't care," He said as he took a step toward them, he watched them
take a step back from his larger profile. "Leave or I shave a few layers off of you." He brought his fabled sword, Samehada, down to the ground in front of him.

The leader swallowed as he looked between Sakura and the new lumbering threat in front of him. "Kill him." He said to his men. They rushed Kisame, but with one swing of his large sword he managed to catch one of the two men off guard and easily dismembered him. The other was quicker and managed to throw two kunai at him. The sound of clinking metal rang in the area showing Kisame's ability to block with such a large blade.

He swung his blade again from above, his opponent anticipated it but when he realized Kisame's late faint to the left did he receive a clean sweep of the toothed blade through his middle. The leader managed to somehow get behind him and throw a few dozen shuriken and kunai at him, again Kisame deflected the metals. A flicker of movement showed the leaders ability to rapidly blink from once place to the next, he aimed a kick to Kisame's head.

He was only stopped by getting his foot caught by Kisame's large blue hand and received a kick of his own from the blue giant. The hit went directly to his face causing it to make a sickening sound for Sakura. She turned her head slightly as she saw the leader's body go flying off into the trees. She heard another swish of the large blade toward her and she cringed against the tree. Her mind was already visualizing the teeth of the blade
ripping at her skin but she didn't feel anything go across her skin but the slight tug and rushing feeling of ropes falling from her.

"Not even a workout." Kisame stated. Sakura watched as he slipped his sword into the carrying belt that he wore across his chest. He then turned to face Sakura and took a step closer to her. Sakura got into a fighting stance preparing for her fate. She saw him stop at her actions; she waited for him to make the first move but he didn't.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked again noticing the waver of emotion. His expression was blank when compared to her emotion ridden one. She swallowed trying to get the parched feeling out of her mouth. "Stop toying with me and finish me off." He didn't do anything. She narrowed her eyes at him.  "Come on fight!" she yelled charging at him. She swung with her right aiming for his head but he simply blocked it by catching her small fist into his.

Sakura tried pulling away but she couldn't get out of his death like grip. She brought her leg up to deliver a kick but Kisame only spun her around and had her in a bone crushing embrace. His large arms pinned her arms against her small body disabling her movement. She wiggled madly to trying to break free.

"You're pathetic." The Akatsuki said above her. Sakura froze in her place hearing the words. Due to her weakness she saw her friends, comrades, and loved ones die. Her weakness was what killed her. She hung her head and sagged against her captives arms. Tears silently fell down her face as realization hit her. She felt his arms withdraw from her allowing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

Sakura remained there groveling on the ground allowing the feeling of weakness and worthlessness consume her. She closed her eye and waited for him to do something. She heard him move from behind her and walked to around her to face her kneeling  position. "If you are finished?" he said down at her. Sakura swallowed back her
remaining tears and looked up at him.

"So get it over with." She spat looking at him with hard eyes. She saw
his eyes darken slightly.

"I said I needed them not kill you."

"What?" she said drawing her head up a little higher. "You are just
going to do the same things like those men." His eyebrows narrowed.

"Don't tempt me," he said drawing his hands into his sleeves. "But I'm
not that easily tempted by a little girl."

Sakura was about to retort to his statement when he suddenly squatted
down to her level. She fell back on her rear due to the sudden closeness. Kisame's eyes stared at her for a minute analyzing her, and then he let out a slow breath. He ran a hand through his blue hair, his eyes looking at the ground as he did. He then gave Sakura the once over and got up from his spot. Sakura watched him, wondering what he was up to.

"Either you come with me or I can kill you now to save you from the pain and suffering."
Sakura looked at him with what shock she could muster from her tired body.

"What makes me want to go with you?" He only stared at her, she watched him bring a hand up to rest it on the hilt of Samehada. Sakura's heart rate quickened slightly at the action.

"Because you have no choice."

"I think I prefer to die." She said lowering her jaw. "I want to die with my
village." Kisame looked at her again, but he didn't make a move to bring Samehada
out from it’s place. She saw his jaw twitch slightly in thought.

"You have guts to talk to someone like that, particularly someone like
me." Sakura couldn't help but blink at him. This couldn't be the Hoshigaki Kisame
that she read about in the files back in Konoha.

"What?" she said in slightly confusion. Kisame looked off into the surrounding trees before speaking.  

"You're not the only one to hate Orochimaru," he said looking back at
her. "Even a group like Akatsuki has its enemies." Sakura looked at him with  confusion.

"What are you saying? Are you offering to take me to Akatsuki?" Kisame only shrugged.

"You will be guaranteed protection, safety, and a chance for revenge,"
he said titling his head at her. "Isn't that what you want?"

Sakura swallowed the last part of information with difficultly. She
wanted to so much get back at Orochimaru and what he did to Konoha. What he
did to her, Naruto, Tsunade, Kakashi, the countless others that he slaughtered. "Well?"

Sakura looked back at the Akatsuki member in front of her. "Orochimaru will pay for what he did." She saw a corner of Kisame's mouth twitch into a smirk.

"Let's go." Sakura got to her feet but as she took a step fatigue and nausea swept
over her body. She felt her knees buckle but her fall was stopped by Kisame having a hold of her waist. Sakura had a hand to her head trying to get the stars out of her vision.

"How long have you been like this?" he asked above her. Sakura swallowed trying to get her breaths.
"For a couple days now, but I can go on." She said trying to get on
steady ground.

"In this condition you won't." Before she knew it, Sakura was swept up into his arms. Sakura didn't even put up a struggle against it because his body warmth swept over her, stilling her movements. She felt Kisame take off into the tree tops with her safely tucked into his arms. Her mind was reeling from the last few moments.

Her thoughts went back to Kisame's file back at Konoha. It said he always seemed to have a smirk on his face and he particularly enjoyed making a sport out of killing people, but this couldn't possibly be the same Kisame that offered her a place at Akatsuki. This couldn't be the Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the fabled Seven Mist Swordsmen that  was carrying her in his arms. It just couldn't be the same man could it?

She went back to their interaction trying to find out if maybe he could have lied to her, but she couldn't remember any expression if he used any. Now she was a fool for believing him but who could she trust nowadays? All the people that had her trust were dead and gone. Sakura felt his body heat seep into her cold and tired body, she leaned
her head against his chest a bit more.

She felt Kisame stiffen and look down at her before looking back at the path ahead. Her eyelids drooped with much needed rest and the warmth that was around her only welcomed sleep more. Her emerald eyes watched what was visible of one of red clouds flutter on his cloak as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch. She didn't know when she started crying again but she did. Please let this turn out all right. She thought as sleep finally took her.