Against All Odds

Full Summary: On a chance adventure, one untold of in a rational world, Sakura finds herself with the most unlikely of companions. In a world that never existed, Sasori learns things he'd never let himself know. Multi-chapter. Shippuden AU. Sasori x Sakura

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

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1: Two Missions

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They say that deep within the Fire Country, our great country itself, there are two iron gates, red and crossed, blue and bent, placed deep in the valley of the highest mountain, the most treacherous mountain in the world. Indeed, it is a mountain covered by clouds so thick and snow so cold that not even the stars can see the top. The mountain has no outside passages, no winding trails to guide you; no, it has only cliffs too steep to climb, and heights too tall to reach.

But within those gates lies a path, the only path, to the top of the mountain. And at the top of the mountain lies a secret that men have died for and even the gods have begged to know.

But a secret, it has remained.

For anyone who's dared to enter, anyone who has desired to know this secret, never reached the top, and very few have ever returned. And those who have returned have only tales of horror, of an unending maze full of monsters and the bodies of those who had so ultimately failed. They say that their screams still echo throughout the cavern walls.

So why would men fight for such a secret? Why would they want this information, at the risk and against the odds?

They wish for this because the secret makes a life whole, a life complete, a life worth living, and a true meaning to both the world and of you.

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"And with that," Sakura said flatly, shutting the book entitled The Tales of Our Great Fire Country, "it's time for bed. Alright, kids. Story time is over."

"But Sakura-san," one little orphan who leaned on her lap whined, digging her nails into the older girl's skin, "we don't want to go to bed. We want another story."

"You've wheedled enough stories out of me already," Sakura said wearily, wincing and gently taking the little girl's hand off her thigh. "If you make me read them all tonight, there will be none tomorrow." In truth, Sakura had taken this job on as a chore to her master and Hokage, Tsunade-sama, while waiting for Naruto to come home after a long two and a half years. Something about charity and community service, as if being a fully qualified chuunin wasn't enough already! But she digressed. They were orphans, poor kids without parents like Naruto and Sasuke-kun. And besides, she really did like little kids, and they were sort of a welcome break to the harsh training her master usually offered.

Except for all this damn whining. Ugh, didn't they have anything better to do, like, pick their noses or something?

"Yeah," a little kid complained. "That one was so boring and stupid. We don't even know what the secret is!"

"That's why it's a secret, dumb-dumb," another kid shot back. "What's more stupid is the point of the secret itself. I mean, what's so great about a life worth meaning?"

As the chattering increased, Sakura waved to them all. "Now, now," she said, trying to calm them down while her Inner Sakura screamed bloody murder, "it's a good story. And knowing life's meaning and knowing your life had meaning would be nice. It would mean that you wouldn't fear dying, that in a way, you will have conquered death."

"But it was a dumb story!" a girl shouted, not even listening to the pink-haired storyteller. "And what was with it, talking about men all the time? Has a woman ever entered that cavern? I'm sure they have, but no, no, these stories are all written about men and boys! And they have cooties!"

"Yeah, it was written like crap!" another kid agreed, and soon the whole group chorused their agreement.

"Well, it's really old," Sakura trailed off, giving up pretty quickly. There was no point in making excuses for some little brats, and hell yeah about the men thing, but really! Why were kids so damn politically correct these days? Stories like these were supposed to make you think, not just lay out the world like a textbook! Perhaps there was no answer, but that was the point. It was interesting, but if these ingrates were unwilling to-

"Sakura!" About ten heads spun in the direction of the black-haired woman who just disturbed her thinking, their whining alike. Sakura smiled at the intruder, half grateful that she offered an excuse to not embarrass herself in front of a bunch of little kids and half grateful because she really did respect Shizune. If she begged hard enough, Shizune often would help put the kids to bed.

"Rumors are circulating," Shizune said, not even raising an eyebrow at the amount of kids tackling Sakura. "They say Uzumaki Naruto will return soon."

First, utter and total shock. Well, the time frame was correct, but…

"He will!? He really will?" Sakura asked delighted, standing up immediately and dropping her book along with the three kids hanging onto her. They landed on the floor with a thud, but Sakura was too excited to realize she just returned payback to the kids' incessant nagging. Her friend would finally return… and they would finally find Sasuke-kun together…

Tears began forming at the corner of her eye, but for once, Sakura didn't really care. These were tears of joy. Because she knew with their strength combined, they could bring back Sasuke-kun. The happiness that Sakura had always wished for would finally be found.

"Yes," Shizune said, interrupting her thoughts, though her face softened slightly at her junior's expression. Hardening her eyes though, Shizune continued in a business-like manner. "But in the meantime, you have a mission."

Sakura nodded quickly, eager to ditch the kids.

"When do I begin?" she asked, rubbing her eyes quickly with the back of her hand.

"Tomorrow," Shizune replied handing her a scroll. She gave the whole room a stern glance. "Get a good night's rest."

Sakura flipped open the scroll in surprise as Shizune left the room. Her eyes widened as she read the contents. How ironic…

"Well?" one child chimed to her, and the others all huddled around. "Well, what does it say?"

Furrowing her brows, Sakura said, "It says… I'm supposed to go to the country's highest mountain, the mountain that we just read about, and receive some herbs. It's about a day's journey from here to the mountain, so it will take about two days. There are certain medicines that grow only within that area."

"You're gonna enter that cave?" one little kid cried. "I don't want Sakura-san to die!"

Sakura laughed reassuringly and patted the child on the head. "Don't worry," she promised. "I don't even have to touch the mountain." She paused. "And if there's any belief to these miserable stories, then only an idiot would enter anyway."

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Early morning and deep within the Fire Country, two cloaked figures approached an iron gate, red and crossed, at the valley of the highest mountain.

"But, Sasori-danna," the blonde whined impatiently, "if you get lost in that cave, you'll surely die."

Though the massive scorpion-esque figure beside the boy had no real eyes to roll, irritation emanated from it as much as the usual danger it possessed. Deidara, though, was completely unafraid of the giant puppet. The real Sasori-danna, though a mere puppet itself, was in there. Besides, it wasn't like his friend didn't get mad at him every five minutes. As the approached the cave gate, the great figure rumbled at the man beside him.

"Shut up, Deidara," it instructed in a deep baritone. "I know what I'm doing."

The blonde hesitated. He wasn't exactly the superstitious type or the kind that even listened to fairytales, but not even he really wanted to screw with legends that had been proven over and over again to be true. He shook his head at his senior.

"They say that those who get lost in there never return, yeah," the blonde warned. "Danna, I really don't want you to go in there. I know I'm not going in there, and I don't care about what our leader says!"

Yes, Pein, quite naturally, had sent them on a suicidal mission, and that part, Deidara didn't mind at all. But when he learned it was just digging up some old legends in some haunted cave that many were thought to never return… well, where was the fun in blowing things up? But when Deidara approached Pein about the issue, he learned that Sasori had already agreed.

The great machine beside him heaved a mighty sigh, creaking as it did. "You don't have to," it replied. "I just want to receive the cavern's secret, and I don't really care about what the leader says." Its head seemed arched in thought. "This secret sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind having it for myself."

Turning its massive head to its companion, Sasori continued, reciting, "They say that those who have received that secret will have lived completely and have a life that's whole, will have a completeness." It paused. "Considering that I'm going to live forever, a whole life seems like a good idea. Not to mention-"

"The incredible power that this secret offers, yeah, as well as the bragging rights that you went in there and lived. Yeah, yeah," Deidara interrupted, imitating the story-telling tone and indicating that he had heard the tale at least dozen times. Not that he liked it. Deidara figured that life was a bang, and that it was whole if that was how you went out. His master had a lot to learn. "But, Sasori-danna, are you sure this is a good time? Our leader wasn't too direct about this. We also have to find the jinchuu-"

"No we don't," the man within the machine replied, lashing its steely tail in impatience. "At least, not yet. We still have about half a year, and receiving this secret will only take five minutes. There's plenty of time."

Deidara groaned as they approached the cavern gate. Yes, there was no point in dissuading his mentor, his partner, and the closest thing he had to a friend. Deidara peered through the bars, and shivered slightly at the darkness. He wasn't scared of the dark, but he didn't want that blackness to swallow Sasori-danna forever. Instead his eyes turned to an inscription beside the gate, ravaged by time and barely readable. Squinting, he read the caption out loud.

"Abandon hope, those who enter here… for you will only find what you not seek," he said. Frowning slightly, he asked, "Couldn't they have been more original? It doesn't seem like a serious threat."

"That's because it's not a serious threat, Deidara," Sasori explained as he pushed the gate open. "Like I said, five minutes. And you know I hate to keep people waiting."

Deidara nodded hesitantly, obviously not convinced.

"Good luck, yeah," he said in a voice surprisingly small and most unlike his own.

And with a final nod of acknowledgment, the machine was consumed by the darkness, his partner waiting in the bright sunlight outside.

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Getting to the mountain was surprisingly easy. Finding this herb was surprisingly not.

She had gotten about two hours of sleep last night, skipped it, and decided to go to the mountain right away. For some reason, most likely Naruto's return, she was anxious and unable to rest. Her trip was fast, and she had arrived there by late morning. Now all she had to do was find the thing and go home.

"Let's see," Sakura muttered as she flipped through the instructions. "The leaves of this herb can only be found on the sharpest of cliffs, cliffs found commonly only within the mountain region of the Fire Country." She paused, her eyebrows narrowed in frustration. "Well, that's nice. Good to know I'm in the right spot," she muttered, gesturing to the giant mountain range beside her. Though the movement was small, Sakura was actually very impressed. It was huge, bigger than even the legends had caused her to believe, probably because it was real now, not just some story But at the same time, it was ominous and sinister. It was sunny and cloudy at the same time (the weather patterns were most unnatural), and trees in the forest moved, she was sure of it. And the animals seemed to watch her, and even though she knew it was probably just a bunch of lousy mind tricks…

Yes, best to get out as quickly as possible.She scanned the scroll. "Let's see… needs the right atmosphere and environment… check, check, check…" She sighed. "I'm definitely in the right place, right? But where's the damn plant?"

As if in answering her call, a bird swooped down beside her. If bird's had human expressions, this one would've been smiling as it looked her directly into the eye. Beckoning its head towards a thick patch of bushes, Sakura frowned at it.

Somehow, this bird, bright blue and small, seemed eerily… human. Although part of her wanted to run back to Konoha screaming bloody murder, the other part, a larger and stupider part, was absolutely captivated. It was as if the bird was bringing those legends, legends she heard as a child and legends she read to small orphans now, to life in perhaps the most legend-like fashion. It was admittedly fascinating.

"What?" she asked curiously. "You want me to follow you?" Inwardly, she was definitely uncomfortable. Listening to a bird. She must've been going crazy… Still, this was her only lead. She followed the bird's advice anyway, and ran straight into the thick of the woods.

"Ouch!" The thorns in the bushes were sharp, sharp enough to cut her side anyway. Stupid skimpy ninja outfit. It was only like that for girls. The bird twittered happily, and Sakura glared at it.

"Oh," she asked, disregarding the fact that she was now really conversing with the bird despite the lack of special happenings, "you think that's funny, huh?"

The bird chirped in reply. Sakura could feel the veins popping. Here she was, about to see Naruto, about to search for Sasuke-kun, and the only thing in her way was a useless map and a bird that wanted a look at her legs! Really, the world was so unfair sometimes…

"Why, you-" She lunged at the bird. But with that unfinished threat, Sakura fell forward in through the bushes and down a cliff. She landed with a loud "umph."

This place really sucked. She hadn't even noticed that cliff even existed at all, an observation that went against her ninja upbringing. It was almost as if a hole had formed beneath her feet and sucked her in. But no, she was only making lousy excuses for her clumsiness…

She stood up and brushed the dirt off her butt.

"Great," she said sarcastically, not even bothering to notice that the bird had disappeared. "Now, I'm even lower than I started-"

And she suddenly stopped. For before her was… a gate. Overgrown with ferns, twisted and bent wires, but a blue gate nonetheless, proud and tall, despite the overgrowth and its age. And the bars seemed to lead only to darkness, an unnatural darkness that allowed not even light from the outside to begin. She looked through it, and to her surprise, it seemed that if she walked through the gate, she'd walk down a gift. Gazing in disbelief, her heart raced. Blue and bent. She thought that was a legend…

There was an inscription on the gate, and unusually enough, it seemed as if the vines had been cleared for someone to read it despite the way that the land looked untouched, as if no person had been there for ages. She peered at it carefully.

"Trust your heart for it will be your only guide… and you will be your only shield."

Against her smarter and saner judgment, she walked forward and touched the bars. Incredible… It was so alluring it might as well have been calling to her. She stopped right there, eyes wide open. Calling to her? What the hell?

Sakura laughed and leaned casually against the gate as if that motion would erase the very bad feeling that crept up her spine.

"Gosh, my mind must be playing tricks on itself…"

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But either way, Sakura had pressed perhaps a bit too hard, and suddenly, the hinges of the gate twisted further backward. Before she could even react, the gate fell through, and Sakura with it. But she didn't hit earth immediately. No, she fell far, far down into a bottomless pit, pitch black and on for what felt like forever.

The blue bird chirped, signaling the afternoon.

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AN: Made because there isn't enough SasoSaku love out there. It's a great pairing, and at least it had some screen time. Sorry for the fast pace, but it doesn't really begin rolling until chapter five or six. It's a long fic, especially considering it was made on a whim of mine.

And yes, like so many other authors out there, my Sakura is probably quite a bit out of character. But don't blame us. It's not our fault she's like a fandom bicycle.