Watch My Back As I Move On

Chapter 22: Safe and Sound

The screech didn't stop after a few more minutes. One by one the members started falling. Deidara. Sasori. Hidan. Zetsu. Tobi. Kakuzu. Kisame. Itachi. "Sakura." Itachi whispered as he stared at Sakura's figure, his sight getting blurry. He saw pink move right before he fainted.

Sakura panted as she struggled to get up. "I'm poisoned." She told herself as she saw a blue wound. She scanned the area and saw her camrades fainted. She turned and saw the huge black figure about to claw her comrades. "They come first." She whispered to herself as she formed a hand sign. She focused and closed her eyes.

She and the present Akatsuki appeared in an area far away from the battlefield right before the claw could collide with Sakura's figure.

Sakura fell onto her knees. "My wound..." She whispered as she held up a hand over it and sent healing chakra to it. She successfully removed the poison out of her system. She was about to crawl her way towards the other and heal them, but her limbs gave up on her. "Why did you give up on me, limbs?" Sakura said, her vision turning black.

"Keep them safe." Sakura whispered as her vision started turning black. "I....should keep....them safe." She said, pulling herself on a kneeling position. Her eyes widened as she felt a familiar chakra behind her. "Rest, Sakura. I'll take care of them." A woman's voice said as Sakura's body gave up. "Ko...nan." She whispered, her eyelids also giving up on her.

"What happened to her?" Pein asked as he landed beside Konan. "Don't worry, it's only lack of chakra." Konan stated, carrying Sakura on her back. 'I wanna help her, but...I wouldn't wanna get my a*s kicked because I underestimated her.' Pein thought, twitching as he thought of the pro's and con's of helping Konan.

"Hey! Pein! Get over here and get the guys out of the opening." Konan shouted, snapping Pein off of his little pro's and con's convention. Pein formed a handsign. With a blink of an eye, the group appeared in a cave, far from the place where they were.

"Pein, their ears are bleeding." Konan stated, pointing at the guys. Pein turned and saw blood on their ears. "Let's wake Sakura up." Pein stated. "Shouldn't we let her rest first?" Konan said, lying Sakura down on the ground. "We have no choice." Pein said, touching Sakura's pulse. "I'll lend her some of my chakra." He stated, his chakra started flowing into Sakura's pulse. Pein's chakra glowed within Sakura's chakra system.

The glowing stopped, a few seconds later, Sakura's eyes fluttered open. She suddenly stood up, Pein and Konan backing away from her. "The guys! They were unconscious! I was so useless! I-I couldn't even protect them!" Sakura shouted, she gripped her hair as tears started falling. "Sakura, sweety, calm down. You weren't useless. You teleported the guys to a safer place. And that's a huge thing. You protected them and they're safe." Konan stated, hugging Sakura as she ran her hand over Sakura's back.

"Where are they?" Sakura asked, finally calming down. "There." Pein stated. Sakura turned and saw the guys. Their ears are bleeding. This scene made Sakura quickly stand up and ran towards them. She put her hands a few inches beside their ears and sent healing chakra. She started with Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Zetsu, Tobi, Kakuzu, Kisame, then last but not least Itachi.

"Care to tell us what happened?" Pein asked as Sakura sat up straight. "I got poisoned. By the time I came back to myself, they were all cold on the ground. There, I saw a huge black figure. I teleported everyone to that clearing where you found us. And the rest is history." Sakura said.

"We were able to gather a few amount of information." Konan stated. "We're at the end of the village known as the cloud tree. Rock dwellers and cloud guardians are one of the examples of the minions of the 'god' they were talking about." Pein stated. "The tree was talking to us a few hours back." Sakura said. "It said 'help me. Help me, the dark god turned me into a tree'" Sakura continued. Sakura turned when she heard a groan. "Zetsu, are you alright?" Sakura said, running beside Zetsu, checking his vital points. "The tree...it went inside my dream." Zetsu said.

To Be Continued...