Sasori explained most of the tracks to Deidara when he questioned why he thought that, and by the time he had finished, the rest of the Akatsuki had somehow managed to find them. They had all been coming back from missions, and not only had Itachi seen the both of them running off in this direction, but they hadn’t been covering themselves either, so it hadn’t been hard to follow them. From the speed they were running and the look on their faces that Itachi had noticed before, they had known something was wrong, and now that Sasori told them, they knew they had been right.
Nodding in acceptance of that fact, several of them began to contemplate what to do next, but Sasori rolled his eyes and turned to the direction the ninjas had left in and had jumped into the trees instantly to follow. Mikansei was in danger, and he wasn’t about to wait to talk about strategies and see what would happen next. If he did that, then Mikansei could be dead already, and there was no way he was letting that happen. He didn’t even turn his head as Leader appeared beside him, Deidara on his other side, and Leader began,
“Sasori, you can’t just run off like this. You don’t know what these ninjas are after or what they’re planning to do. I know you’re angry at Mikansei having been kidnapped, but diving into this head first is not the way to go about this.”
“I won’t know what the ninjas are after if I sit around waiting, though, will I? If I don’t do something now, then it could be too late. I don’t care if you try and force me to stay, Leader. I will keep going until I find her, regardless of whether you want me to or not.” Sasori merely retaliated, and though Deidara paused at how vehemently he had said that, he glanced at Leader and said,
“I don’t know what will happen, Leader no danna. But I’ll go with Sasori—at least then I can act as backup, un.”
Sighing imperceptibly, Leader narrowed his eyes at the both of them, but eventually nodded and agreed, albeit reluctantly. Sasori was right, and there was no point trying to hold him back from going after Mikansei. His feelings for Mikansei combined with his natural impatience would only heighten things. If Deidara was with him, he would have someone there to try and help him out and watch his back if something went wrong. Out of all those he could pick, Deidara wouldn’t exactly have been the one he would have picked first, but he knew more about the situation with Mikansei and knew Sasori’s abilities well. He’d just have to hope things went alright, and begun to slow and turn away from them both, adding as a goodbye,
“Alright. But be careful—and at least try and be rational.”
With that he was gone, and Sasori was left with Deidara at his side, and they continued on, speeding up now they didn’t have Leader with them. Whatever they wanted from Mikansei, or whatever they were doing to her, Sasori didn’t care. He was going to kill them, and he was going to bring Mikansei back alive, if it cost him his own life. After all that she had been through, she didn’t deserve any more of this shit. And glaring at the trees in front of him, he clenched his fists and promised himself just that.
Mikansei was sitting in a cell for the moment, while the ninjas gathered the stuff they needed in order to finish off the experiment. She was beginning to lose all hope. Sasori and the others had said it must have taken a lot of inner strength to break free the first time—so there was no chance of her doing it again. They were right; all she was good for was a weapon—a soldier. Apart from that, there was no worth to her existence. So everything that Sasori had said…it had never been in the way she now knew she wanted it to be. All that happened in her life was that she built up something good, and had it taken away from her just like that. She had broken free of Tanju and gone to the Akatsuki; made friends and everything, only to be reminded she wasn’t finished. Then when that started to be fixed, and she got closer to Sasori, she was ripped away from him like she had been from her parents.
So why bother anymore?
If she did, it would only crumble beneath her fingers and disappear, like grabbing fistfuls of sand and watching as it poured through your fingers. When Tanju had owned her there had been purpose there—not having someone there meant that everything became uncertain. True, the way Sasori and the Akatsuki had treated her had been better than she thought she had ever deserved in life, but what difference did it make? If she was going to be owned, it might as well be with these guys, having known Tanju to begin with.
After all, it’s not like Sasori would want anything like her if she was there.
He had been fine without her, he would be fine now.
No matter how much those words tore at her heart.
Sighing, she turned to the window and pulled herself up, hating the fact that they were probably all watching this and loving that fact. Walking slowly over to the window, she pushed that idea away, not caring anymore. What did it matter? It was going to be the first in a long line of situations just like it, so she might as well get used to it now. This thought didn’t fade as she leant against the windowsill, staring down at the ground below and wondering how her life had ended up like this, not quite understanding the transition.
Though that idea was lost a minute later as something moved beneath her.
Her heart rate suddenly speeding up in shock, she froze where she was; not quite knowing what to do. She had given in to the despair inside of her—a despair that had existed ever since her parents had died but one that she had never let herself give in to. So to look out the window and see that same mass of red hair that she had grown to know so well, along with smooth blonde hair, Mikansei couldn’t help but feel a huge flare of hope surge within her. She didn’t truly understand what was going on, but she didn’t care—happiness overwhelmed at the idea he was there.
It was the reason why she was caught a little off guard as they finally arrived and dragged her into the hall from her cell. But even as they did so, she was still deep in thought. He had come to find her and take her back with him. He wouldn’t risk just rushing in here with Deidara if it was only because she was a weapon and a soldier the Akatsuki could use to their advantage. It was more than that; Mikansei knew it, Sasori himself knew it (even though he was a little too preoccupied to truly focus on that fact at the moment). The emotions inside of her were still ones that were incomprehensible to her, it was true, but they were good feelings, and that was all that mattered—especially with the idea they were focused on Sasori.
A pain across her face brought her back to the present, and blinking to get used to the change, Mikansei found she was lying on the floor, a guy standing over her and yelling at her for not paying attention when was supposed to be training. She hadn’t even noticed that was going with her happiness at Sasori being around, and knowing he could be arriving at any moment meant that her confidence came back in full. More so than with anything in her life. Even when she was spending time with the Akatsuki, it had risen, but never to this extent. But now—for once—she finally felt free.
Sasori had heard the noise of them taking Mikansei to the hall and then one of the ninja shouting at her for not paying attention, and as such followed that quickly. It hadn’t taken long to find the building, and why the ninjas hadn’t bothered to cover their tracks particularly well, he hadn’t a clue. Of course, he wasn’t about to protest, knowing it had just helped him find Mikansei quickly and easily, and as such pushed himself onwards, finally arriving at the hall and bursting in to see a dead body on the floor and Mikansei looking a little fiercer than Sasori might have expected her to be.
But now the rest of the ninjas were panicking; it would never work now Sasori was here. It had been her doubts that they had played on to allow them to take her so easily. So there was only one other option now. They couldn’t just let her go off with the Akatsuki—it would only increase their power to incredible new heights, and they were powerful enough already. No, the only way things would work was if Mikansei was with them…or she wasn’t with anyone at all.
No one had been expecting it as a needle was slammed into the back of Mikansei’s neck.
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