A Little More Than This (Discontinued)

Chapter 46

Mei neared the Akatsuki base, hearing the sounds of battle erupting from the collapsing cave. Mei quickly climbed the side of the cave and peered into the open cave. The damage had surprised her greatly and she cursed herself for thinking that either side would be taken down easily.

She watched silently as Sakura ducked and weaved gracefully through each and everyone of Sasori's attacks, Chiyo accompanying her attacks with her own puppet attacks. Mei sat back, contemplating whether or not she should step in. On one side she could make sure neither Sasori, Chiyo or Sakura was killed, but on the other this was the perfect opportunity for Sakura to prove her strength to the others.

Mei peered down when she heard and explosion and gasped a little. She knew how strong Sasori was but she never guessed that Sakura and Chiyo would be strong enough to cause him to use the 100 puppets jutsu. She smirked at Sakura, proud of just how strong she had grown in the time they had spent apart. She surely was something to marvel at.

Mei sat back and continued to think over her options, and finally came to a decision as Zetsu popped up next to her. She grinned at the plant-man and bit her thumb, causing it to bleed. She then summoned a small dragon that was a delicate blend of red and white and looked up at her expectedly. "When he is distracted, crawl into his heart and place this scroll there, you may leave when you sense danger" She instructed, giving it a thick green scroll and shooing it away.

"What was that for?" They asked, watching the dragon scamper down the side of the cave. "Sakura is going to win. But I won't let Sasori-nii die" Mei replied strongly, grinning as the dragon skilfully crawled into the organ on Sasori's right without the redhead noticing.

"You have a lot of faith in Pinkie" Black Zetsu sighed, sitting down next to her. "Where is your little, um~, follower?" Mei asked, looking around for the man she had sensed when she first neared the cave. "Shook him off for a bit. Why?" Zetsu answered. "Why what?" Mei asked, tilting her head as she stretched her arms, her attention focused completely on him.

"Why do you have such faith in Pinkie?" Black Zetsu sighed, raising his eyebrow. "Sakura has always seen herself as weak, but she's actually kinda strong. She punched a hole in the rock, she saved Konkuro-kun, she's kicking Sasori-nii's ass. She'll become a great women, and an even better Shinobi, she just needs to stop blaming herself for things she can't control" Mei replied, smiling a little as she eyed the battle below.

She found that the two women had trapped Sasori's puppet body with a giant sealing body, the Lion Closing Roar if she remembered correctly. "Huh, she must be special" White Zetsu sighed, "Are the rest of them that special?"

"Fuck yes" Mei groaned, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Hm~, Don't get jealous now. But is that why you didn't accept our offer?" They mumbled. "Yeah it kinda is. I think I have a few things to do before I accept" She sighed, looking away in shame. Zetsu sighed and nodded slowly, slowly rising to their feet they jerked their head towards the open cave.

"You were right" they said as they walked away. Mei looked down into the open cave and smiled sadly. Sasori lay, defeated, his body in the arms of his 'parents'. Mei watched as Sakura and Chiyo left the cave before she skidded down the side of the cave and slowly approach the unconscious body.

She carefully pulled his body from the other two and removed the swords that had impaled his heart. A single whisker extended from an open wound before glowing bright green and disappearing back. Mei rested the redhead's wooden skull against her leg and sighed as the healing process began.

Mei slowly and gently combed the knotted and messy hair with her fingers, humming a soft tune and slowly rocking the elder man. She then stood up and walked away, going to find her teammates.

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Mei didn't know how she and her team mates had ended up in that field, Sand ninja surrounding them as they celebrated Garra's revival. She faintly recalled pulling Gai's team from one of Deidara's bombs, and she remembered seeing him scamper off into the foliage as both teams wheezed in exhaustion.

But she couldn't quite figure out how she had gotten in that field. Suddenly Neji nudged her and she became aware that he was speaking to her. "Huh?" She asked, focusing her attention to him. "I asked how your little mission went" Neji repeated, sighing a little at her lack of attention. "I tracked them to a little shop, they dawdled, helping clean it up after a raid before they vanished" Mei answered, smiling at his shocked face.

"I didn't think they'd do something like that" Neji murmured, frowning as he thought. "There was a little old lady that constantly threatened a thrashing with a large stick if they didn't help. Maybe it was one of their mothers?" She replied, grinning as surprise crept it's way onto Neji's face.

"C'mon, Naruto and the others look worn out" Mei sighed, pulling the brunette towards the little group of Leaf Ninja that surrounded Gaara. Tenten began to talk to Neji and Mei crouched down next to Gaara.

"You reckless bastard" Mei giggled, gently patting his red hair. "I learnt from the best" Gaara retorted, remembering the time she had convinced him to go exploring in the desert when they were younger. "If you're referring to the time we got lost in that goddamn desert I would like to say, in my defence, that that was your fault as I was new to the area and was hallucinating from the heat" Mei defended, turning slightly pink, having long since turned back to her original appearance.

Gaara opened his mouth to reply curtly but was interrupted by Tamari, who had burst through the small group to weakly hug her brother, face flooding with relief as he confirmed that he was fine. Mei stood up and sent a swim ft look over her shoulder, bowing her head at the concealed man a few meters away, who's visible eye widened with shock. He watched as she turned back to her friends and the large crowd slowly shifted towards the village.

Deidara watched as Mei happily walked away, alive and well.

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Zetsu and a fairly tall man, whose face was concealed by a bright orange mask, approached Sasori's unconscious form.

"Is he dead?" The man, named Tobi, asked, crouching down to the redhead's body. "Shut it you! Black Zetsu! Be nice!" Zetsu growled, pushing Tobi to one side. Black Zetsu's hand slowly crept forward and pulled back his cloak, revealing a smooth and flawless back. There was no sign of the gaping hole that should be there nor the heart that usually filled it. In fact, when Zetsu stooped low to further inspect, they found that he wasn't even made of wood, he had smooth, warm skin.

Zetsu smirked and instructed Tobi to pick him up. The two walked from the cave, Tobi following close behind, and they made their journey back to the base the rest were currently stationed at.

'Mei-chan sure has gotten powerful, huh Black Zetsu? Indeed she has, gracefully too'

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Hello, Bookie here. I apologise for the lack of updates recently, I've been lacking motivation. But I'm trying to get everything back to normal. This is basically dedicated to _Dark_Otaku_ for the encouragement. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed.