My SasoSaku piece and my RufusTifa piece have been trying to dovetail in my mind and I think this is going to be the last chappie in this for a while, probably ever, because I only see tragedy in the future when I try to take it somewhere logical. But damn they're sure a hot couple! Clearly I need to find some lemony goodness featuring them (pst someone rec me one).

Thanks to all who read and/or reviewed!

Inspiration for this chapter brought to you by the band Orgy. Also Alice in Chains. Not that new bs, though. This would probably work better if it were a movie scene. This worked better in my head than on paper. Might need to come back and revise... but I'm sticking with it for the moment.

Disclaimer: see part 1

"You have a traitor's soul, Uchiha."

"Whatever…" Sasuke was doing well in Orochimaru's compound, apparently. At first he had thrown him in to piss off Itachi and find some use for the annoying kid. Using him as a double agent was convenient since Orochimaru fed him the chemicals he craved while trying to use him against the Akatsuki itself. Sasori figured there was little harm he could cause on purpose compared to what he had done on accident. Sasuke had free reign in both arenas which irked Itachi beyond reason, though if it was because of the sudden threat Sasuke posed to his position or because he actually worried what the outcome might be for his brother Sasori neither knew nor cared. In both cases Itachi suffered and that was reason enough alone for Sasori.

Deidara had been grumbling lately about Sasori getting vicious. There had been more cleanup involved than Deidara wanted to be a part of, particularly because he was getting a higher profile than he cared to have. The authorities had been circling, not just the corrupt network they could pay to look the other way, but federal agencies and local hotshot politicians who were eyeing elections. At some point someone was going to misstep and quietly Pain had been building connections in other cities with Sasori's help to assure there was a backup plan. When the move came they knew it was going to be sudden.

For the first time in years there were unexpected choices to be made and Sasori was at the forefront of many of them. When Pain needed someone to talk to rival networks it was Sasori's puppets at the table, and he made it perfectly clear he wasn't sticking his neck out for anyone even Pain. Privately, he set aside money in more accounts, planning for the downfall that had been as inevitable as the rise. Sasori was not the only one warily watching the movements of the heroes monitoring them.

"Orochimaru is moving sites soon. He got a deal on a bunker built by some dead libertarian who didn't believe in the army but sure believed the communists were coming. It's all underground, multiple exists, usual crazy den of snakes bullshit." Sasuke tried sounding tougher than his years, but his tone didn't match his tired body and strung out sunken eyes. Internally, Sasori thought he was looking more and more like Orochimaru every time they met. He'd give even odds on Sasuke joining in with Orochimaru in actuality, given enough time. The kid was hungry for something and didn't have enough strength of character or direction to choose his own way.

"Would this bunker happen to be located within convenient driving distance?" Sasuke's nod told Sasori that the bastard was finally consolidating to push into their territory again. He still had something to prove after all these years.

Sasori looked over at the air inversion on the horizon. The city looked grey and orange in the sunset and Sasuke's pale face was washed with color as he waited for Sasori to say something more.

Sakura was sifting through her clothes, trying to figure out what was even worthy of being boxed and shipped to her new home away from home. Stars had aligned and the scholarships she had applied to at her first choice med school had come through as she heard she had been admitted. Suddenly she had possibilities unfolding in front of her that had been pipe dreams before and impossibly far away as she had picked through the burnt rubble that had been her apartment a year ago. Ino was less than pleased, since her internship at a management leadership program at a flagship department store chain meant they were going to be separated for the first time since they were kids.

"You're leaving me…" Ino said dramatically, flopping on the mattress they had put in the corner of Ino's tiny loft for Sakura after her world had fizzled up in smoke. The sheets they had stapled to the ceiling for privacy were drooping, as usual, and Ino tugged at the corner of one absently. "My baby! All grown up!" She gave a fake sob but the sadness touching her words wasn't feigned.

"Just be happy you're starting your job already. I've got a while to go yet. More stress. More tests. More studying. All that stuff I know you'd rather forget."

"Finals week was the happiest and saddest I've been in a while." Ino tapped one recently manicured nail against her lip. She had sprung for designs this time, and tiny pigs frolicked across the tips of her digits. Sakura couldn't imagine getting anything practical done with nails that long.

Sakura stifled a snort. Ino had been crying loudly into her pillow for hours before final grades came out and she found she had passed the math requirement that might otherwise have barred her from graduating. Sakura had worked with her for hours, tutoring her through concepts, and it was nice to know it paid off when Ino walked out of it with a solid B- after a low C showing at midterms and a warning from the teacher. There wasn't a chance she wouldn't have passed, but her pride being what it was Ino felt like a C might as well be an F.

"Will you be back next year?"

"If Naruto even graduates next year, but more likely he's almost two years behind us now." They didn't speak of Sasuke. It was the agreement all of them had reached collectively to save on the pain. "He's been talking like he might try to join the police after all this. He's pretty determined."

Ino shifted gears, picking up a sequined halter top she had forced Sakura to try on weeks ago and then forgot about. "We've still got a couple days before you can fly out and set up in your new place. We should go out tonight. Maybe you can finally have that one night stand you've been threatening you'd have all year to prove you're not a frigid cow." Ino waggled her eyebrows as she refastened her high ponytail with a hairband.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the text books she was loading into a box, bought with the money her renter's insurance had provided (thank heavens her dad had insisted she get some!) and tried not to be annoyed. It wasn't Ino's fault that she had been unsuccessful at dating, but it was Ino's fault she felt bad about it. Life had been busy as a freshman, and she hadn't felt like participating in the hook-up culture. Then in sophomore year when a lot of those hook-ups became relationships she had been obsessed with finding Sasuke. After that… well she was allowed to talk big over drinks in a club but she never actually wanted to have one night stands with anyone. She wasn't sure she could involve herself so casually with someone when she wasn't confident she made healthy choices.

The shiver that ran down her spine as she thought about the man with red hair and unsmiling eyes that had haunted her periodically now for years reminded her how broken her idea of relationships might be. From one monster to another she sure knew how to pick them, even if she hadn't consciously made a choice on the second one. All the bros at the clubs, and the studious scientific men she usually encountered hadn't made her blood hum the way Sasori did. She was convinced she would be a spinster doctor with a dozen dog-children.

"You're making that, 'I'm going to die alone' face again." Ino knew her too damn well.

"Well I might!"

"You just think too much. That's always been your problem. You have to let yourself be led around by your hormones once in a while. Your brain can't be the only thing with needs."

Sakura stood up, stretching out tight muscles in her back from being hunched over boxes. "What I need is to be left alone so I can finish packing." The mock stern tone in her voice didn't fool Ino who was swinging the halter top around one finger and looking at her expectantly. "…And then maybe we can go out tonight."

Ino whooped and sprung off the bed. "I'll call the gang! I know Hinata will come if I call Naruto first. We'll call it your going away party and then everyone will have to come!"

So much for her quiet night, but Sakura couldn't help but feel like it was going to be fun to let off some steam and celebrate. All the graduation parties were over so it wouldn't be a crush like it was a week ago when they went. Tonight, she felt, was going to be a nice chance to say goodbye.

It was humid, with rain finally threatening tonight with possible thunder showers for the rest of the week. Sakura's top stuck to her skin uncomfortably and she cursed the inventor of polyester silently in her own mind. She was two Cherry Bombs into the night and combination of energy drink and vodka made her wonder if her heart was going to explode. Ino had been doing them with her and was dancing with Chouji indecently, as usual. Hinata was hanging back with Naruto who was laughing over something Kiba had said. Naruto had actually gotten it through his thick head he needed to pay some attention to her when he realized she and Kiba would be working at the same veterinary office and Kiba was not so good a friend that he wouldn't make a move when given the opportunity. Somehow fistfights solved everything and they were all fast friends once again.

She was going to miss this. Well, not this in specific, since the club scene was not her favorite way to spend time with people, but having a network of friends close by she could call on. It was hard to imagine what a new city would be like, new friends, new classes, and all of bits that made up daily life. There was video chat and text messaging, but that wasn't the same as calling someone up and seeing a movie on the fly. Or surprise pizza parties. Sakura suspected her sadness was mutual, since a lot of everyone's smiles were a little too wide and their laugher a little too loud.

"I think I'm going to get some air." Sakura yelled at Lee.

"Would you like for me to come with you?" He said it too fast, hope lighting up his eyes as it did every time she said anything to him.

"Uh, I'm hitting the bathroom first. I'm good." She hoped he would finally move on once she wasn't close enough to be the focus for his attention. He simply nodded, and Sakura tried not to sigh her relief right in front of him.

Out on the balcony it was just as crowded, but the music was muffled and it didn't feel like she was drowning in her own sweat. Digging in her purse, she checked her phone to see missed call after missed call from an unknown number. Suddenly heat was not the issue as it felt like a bucket of ice had been poured over her, and she didn't even think about it as she hit redial.

As he had suspected, the attack had come as a complete surprise, and in retrospect he had wished it had been the SWAT team instead of Orochimaru that had jumped the gun. Wrong time wrong place, Sasori realized, as a pale Kabuto cornered him with long knives drawn. He should have been at home tonight but had only come out at the behest of Itachi who wanted to argue once again about the use of his brother as both bait and spy for Orochimaru. Itachi thought him too unstable, too prone to suggestion, and a bumbling fool who needed a handle on his addiction before they could use him reliably. Sasori basically agreed with all those points, but also knew that no plant they had used previously had been half as successful as the younger Uchiha had been in providing accurate locations and plans from the crazy former Akatsuki member. You had to take risks to get results sometimes.

From what he heard in jumbled words from Deidara as the blood loss made him too dizzy to hear much of anything, this had been an attack meant to take down Itachi alone. Sasuke must sure hate his brother, which would have been valuable to know before entered the quiet warehouse that Itachi leased to hold various tools and machine parts. Working on cars and motorcycles was a convenient hobby when you needed loud noises to drown out other transactions. Even if he hadn't been the target the knife wounds Kabuto had scored on him felt oddly personal.

Blood was everywhere. Itachi had fled, with the whole group of Orochimaru's cronies after him. Sasori had been left for dead along with a few unfortunate tweakers that Itachi had taken down in the first waves of attacks. The two dead men near Sasori, bullet wounds testament to Sasori's accuracy with his pistol, had been meant to finish him off when the whole mess of people had taken off. He had put the call in to Deidara before those two had arrived, and he felt the hot weight of the gun in one hand as he pulled his dropped phone back over and slumped against a metal post.

The red orange smears on the screen were lit from behind by the monitor and he considered how much time he might have left with the traditional idea of last regrets. It was possible these wounds were fatal, and they certainly hurt like hell. If they were not fatal in this moment, then it was equally possible they would be eventually fatal. Before he knew it the number was on the screen. He owed her something, after all this, after obsessing over her and ruining every part of her life he had ever touched. It wasn't on purpose, but he didn't really care if she thought it was or not. If he had anything of value to offer as a human, he wanted her to have it.

Sappy bullshit, he probably was dying if he was thinking like that. He dialed her again anyway when she didn't pick up the first time, or the second.

"Fuck…" There didn't seem to be anything else to say.

"Hello? You called my number? Who is this?" Sakura heard breathing on the other end and wondered if it was just some pervert. At least it would be something she could laugh about with Ino when she blocked the number.

"Sakura." It was a sigh, almost a wheeze. She had heard her name said like that by that voice before, and her body responded involuntarily to the memory.

"What do you want? Why did you call?" She should hang up on him, she knew. She should shut him out of her life, change her number, move to her new school and get on with the business of a normal life without the threat of him hanging over her.

He laughed; it was short, followed by a wet sounding cough. In the distance she heard someone call his name and he swore. He must have pulled the phone away from his head because she heard more voices as if through a tunnel.

"Dei! Here!"

"Shit man, that's a lot of blood. Not dead yet though, damn, heh."

There was a sound like a lot of grunting, scraping, and swearing.

"Get the gun."

"This is a mess man, I can't get it cleared up before the cops—"

"Toss some bleach on my bloodstains and forget it."

Suddenly, his voice was close again. She almost swayed on her feet, forgetting the club, tuning out everything except whatever terrible thing was happening on the other side of the line. "Where are you?"

Woodenly she told him, she didn't even think of denying him. If he was hurt she wanted to be there. Every impulse in her, medical student and woman, told her that if there was something she could do to fix him she had to try.

"Wait out front. Look for the car flashing its lights. If you don't find us…" in the background Deidara was spouting constant cursing and running commentary which she could barely make out. "Forget about it. All of it."

The line went dead.

Her heart in her throat, nerves jangling, Sakura waited near the front of the club. Men came to talk to her and she pretended to answer her phone, ignoring them. Drunken people stumbled out, laughing, and she craned her head around them down the streets. There were only three approaches where a car could stop, and she watched each one in turn. The buzz of the alcohol was there but adrenaline was more powerful now and she look down in satisfaction at her level hand. Maybe ER doctors felt like this at first, waiting for patients to arrive. She wanted the medical life she wondered if maybe a piece of her relished carnage.

If an eternity could feel like a second, that's how she would have described this. She jumped at every car that drove by, running hands through damp hair and rubbing lipstick off her lips as she located her tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. This was all business tonight.

The flash when it came found her running over to the crosswalk and mashing the button frantically. Never did she think she would move this fast in heels, even the little ones Ino had put her in tonight. The tight green sleeveless dress she had borrowed from Ino rode up on her thighs and she held down the hem as she practically sprinted on the walk signal.

An attractive blond man rolled down the window and nodded at her tightly as she approached. "Back seat," was all he said to her before rolling the window up again.

"Sasori!" She surveyed him quickly, familiar red hair messed up and gritty with random dirt. One hand was clutching his side where his white shirt had a large spreading bloodstain. Blood was all over his hands, and his black suit looked wet in patches. "This isn't something I can just stitch up, you need a hospital right now."

"No shit…" the blond man in the front was clutching the wheel tightly but he didn't turn his head to them, merely using the mirror to monitor her.

Sasori was gritting his teeth together, his brown eyes were calm but clouded with pain. "You're going to help me out of this car and into that alley right over there. Then you're going to call the ambulance and say you found me. Deidara is taking my wallet and phone and I am going to become a wounded citizen to your Good Samaritan. Can you do this?"

He actually needed her answer. This was bigger than making an anonymous call, she was going to be questioned by police and she needed to be willing to lie for him. He had never asked her to enter into his world before, to take part in something truly illegal. She would be an accessory to whatever it was he had just escaped from. Just like the first choice he offered her, albeit more pleasant then, this was all up to her.

"I'm not letting you die."

"Answer the fucking question!" He wasn't going to budge an inch unless she answered him definitely. Now was her chance if she wanted to escape this world he was part of, that he kept drawing her back into for whatever reason. "Can you do this?"

"I can do anything I damn well please, up to and including this so get your ass out of the car!" Deidara backed up enough so they would have some cover from a nearby tree from the main street they were next to, and Sakura bore Sasori's weight into the alleyway.

Deidara slowly left by backing up the car and taking a side street to wherever it was he needed to do, Sasori's personal items in hand. Sakura put in the call with the obligatory hysterical weeping before she hung up and turned to regard Sasori as calmly as she was able, wiping her sweating forehead with the back of her hand.

"I leave for med school next week. I imagine you'll find me if you want to," she felt the anger stir in her at him, complicated with all the other emotions he inspired in her. "If you're still alive. But you made it this far, I don't suppose I'll ever be shot of you."

Sasori didn't say anything at all, he just watched her, his eyes darting around her face and body. When he reached up to touch her cheek she didn't flinch like she thought she would and she didn't pull away like her brain told her to. Ino's words that you needed to think with something other than your brain were all that consciously ran through her mind as she leaned down and kissed him.

He tasted like she remembered and he had enough spark in him to ease his tongue into her mouth in an indecently sensual way. Sasori may have been half dead but you'd never know from the intensity of his lips over hers.

"That sounds like an invitation, maybe I—" He never got to finish as flashing lights filled their vision and Sakura became mindful that she was, officially, a complete stranger to this man.

Paramedics, shouting, blankets, confused friends, and there was Sakura with fake tears for the police and real tears for the sense that she had just relinquished control of some part of her life to someone she could never really trust.

Monitors beeped around him. For the first time in his life he had all the painkillers he could want, and absolutely no inclination to take them. Sasori examined the polka dot hospital robe with distaste and wondered for the fiftieth time if his roots were showing yet. Hospitals, he decided, were not his scene.

Deidara sat there, a grin fit to split his face the main indicator to Sasori that he was going to recover. Deidara had no real power in the Akatsuki other than what he'd gotten through Sasori. If Sasori had kicked the bucket then he would have to ingratiate himself with another high ranked member, and that would be either inconvenient or deadly depending on who he tried. Sasori living was good news for Deidara.

"I wanted to make you paper cranes or whatever, but then I remembered I'm not a twelve year old girl."

Sasori didn't crack a smile at that but he considered it. The only paper Deidara actually passed him was a hotel napkin with Konan's lipstick mark and a number. He silently memorized it and tore it up. Pain had a new number it seemed. He wondered what else was new now that Orochimaru had fired the first shot. The hospital was no safer than anywhere else, since Orochimaru held nothing sacred. He couldn't wait to get out.

"First vacation you've had in a while. I bet you wish it wasn't my pretty face here yackin' at you, yeah? Looks like some of those nurses back there have their eye on you. They sneakin' peaks under your robe when they change your bed pan?"

"Get out of here. Come back when you have more to tell me than jokes." He didn't say it angrily; Deidara at least relieved some of the boredom. You could only watch so much daytime TV. He'd be released in a few days' time, and soon enough life would be terrifyingly interesting again. It would be like the early days when they were still carving out territory for themselves against the old guard, only this time there were grudges. How long would the feds wait for them to slaughter one another before they swept in too? Certainly he had a lot to discover and Pain needed his services more than ever as a broker of information and liaison.

Through the pain and the monotony of this time in the hospital it wasn't the promise of battle that kept him going, but the thought that once he got out he had to start the hunt for a certain pink haired woman. The kiss she had planted on him before the ambulance arrived still made him stir, and he'd be damned if he didn't finish what she had started. No more cat and mouse, if she was temptation he was giving up and sliding into the pit.

He was damned anyway, he admitted to himself, but by some stroke of luck he'd dragged an angel down into the pit with him.