Intemperate

immoderate in indulgence of appetite or passion

The first time he noticed her was in a crowded market. Who couldn't? The pink hair was a dead giveaway. At that time, he hadn't known who she was—he was told to scrounge around for any information on Akatsuki, not dawdle around and watch pink heads—so he hadn't told Sasuke. He hadn't seen any point in it, so the small insignificant encounter with her was stored away in the back of his mind. Only after, when they were on the run from Konoha nin, did he realize that Sasuke's genin teammate had pink hair. He still didn't tell Sasuke. They already knew that Konoha was on their trail, so there still wasn't any point.

After that, he hadn't seen much of the pink haired medic. He was busy with other things—Sasuke had killed Itachi; Hebi became Taka and joined the Akatsuki, and so on. Once the Hachibi had been successfully captured—he still cursed the man for being a total ass to catch—Taka was off duty for a while. Pain and his other bodies were getting ready to capture Kyuubi, and Sasuke was preparing to help him. So, he, along with Juugo—Karin was off stalking Sasuke—left the hideout for large periods of time, after they informed someone, of course. It was during one of those wanderings, without Juugo, that he saw her again.

For once, Konan had allowed him to wander around the border of Ame and the occasional trip into Konoha. A few weeks had passed since his last spotting of the pink haired medic and he had been more than a little shocked to see her—alone, surprisingly—at the border town which was little more than a mile away from Ame's border. With Konoha already knowing of Akatsuki's main base, it was rare for any ninja other than the border patrol to be that close, and alone to boot.

He knew it was her with a simple glance; the pink hair still gave her away. If he had to hazard a guess, he would say that she had been crying recently, a lot too if her bloodshot eyes were anything to go by. He watched as she paused on a tree branch, hand covering her mouth, and leaned against the trunk. A second look told him that she was crying, shoulders shaking. When half an hour had gone and went, he stood from his crouched position on a tree twenty feet away—it was a miracle she hadn't noticed him, even in her distressed form—and left. Konan had made it clear that he was to be back before sundown and he knew better than to ignore her orders, even if he was a bit old for bedtimes.

When he returned to base just an hour before dusk, Sasuke was waiting for him. Unconsciously, he stiffened; though the Uchiha lacked more emotions than a teacup, he had told them of his old teammates, but his feelings on them had never been revealed, other than his desire to kill the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

"You've been spending a lot of time out," Sasuke noted. He resisted the tempting urge to roll his eyes. "It's almost as if . . . you're considering running."

"Is that so?" he asked, not daring to look into the Uchiha's Sharingan eyes. It wasn't that he was afraid, but more along the lines that everything he had been doing on his trips would be revealed with one simple lock of their eyes.

There was a momentary pause between the two teens as Sasuke evaluated the former Mist nin. He knew the chance of Suigetsu actually leaving was slim since here he had plenty of opportunities to challenge Kisame even though there was no chance of him winning, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Having a prodigy in the art of killing on the loose would be . . . troublesome, if he were to use that Nara's words.

"Be on your guard. The invasion will take place in three days," Sasuke warned.

Once he had gone, Suigetsu let out a breath. Before he had been sprung from his prison, he had heard of the rogue Uchiha under Orochimaru's tutelage. Apparently, he was being used as the next 'container' for the snake Sannin. For him to be able to subdue said Sannin—even if he was weaker than usual—meant that he had power, and even though Suigetsu's boasts weren't all lies, a fight between him and Sasuke would end with Sasuke as the clear winner. Sure, he would be able to give the Sharingan user a good run for his money, but with the curse seal . . . there wasn't much hope.

At least he didn't find anything out, he mused, slightly cheered by the small fact, though his thoughts dampened considerably at his next train of thought. The fight would be in three days . . . . Suigetsu knew he was more than ready, but he was more worried about the new person who had invaded his thoughts.

Haruno Sakura. He had finally, after much subtle prodding on his part, figured out the name of Sasuke's female teammate. He didn't care for the girl, not by a long shot, but he was intrigued by her actions. On one occasion, she was this determined little kunoichi on a mission to find her lost love—were all girls whose hair color ranged from pink to red deranged enough to be infatuated with Sasuke?—and the next she was this little fifteen year old who was sobbing her heart out near Ame's border of all places which was nearly three hours away from Konoha without an escort or anything. She was, in his mind, the strangest person he had ever met—and that was including Karin.

He wanted to know more about her. It was as simple as that: he wanted a chance to learn everything—why she was so in love with Sasuke, why she had been crying, even down to her favorite color! The worst part was that he didn't even know why he wanted to know all those things. Oh, he knew what lust was—he had experienced it first hand in a shady bar—but it was a far cry from that. It wasn't love either—he shuddered at the very thought of it—but then what? What could have made him feel so curious about a little pink leaf?

Bringing one hand up to rub his eyes wearily, he decided that that answer wouldn't be appearing for a while and went to his room.

Bringing one hand up to rub away any excess tears, Sakura began making her way back to Konoha at top speed. She had just wanted to get away from it all—Naruto leaving again, Jiraiya's death, Tsunade's grief—and coming here had seemed like a perfect idea. She had just passed her chuunin exam when she had stumbled upon this little area of forest near Ame's border and fell in love with it at first sight. It was secluded enough so people would have a hard time spotting her—if her pink hair didn't give her away like usual—but open enough that she didn't feel suffocated. In her mind, it was perfect.

But its nature wasn't enough to stop the dam that had broken inside of her. Within moments, the waterworks started even with Sakura's halfhearted attempts to halt them. Her reason for crying was simple enough. The first time Naruto had left, she had been entirely focused on her training to get Sasuke back. This time around . . . he left to prepare for a battle that she knew he wouldn't win. He was strong, she knew that, but Pain . . . Pain had killed Jiraiya. Naruto wasn't that strong, not by a long shot. And because of that, she cried. She cried because her friend would die soon, and so would the majority of Konoha when Akatsuki either completed its goals or it came knocking on Konoha's doors. Either way, people would die, the most prominent being people she thought family.

However . . . the thing that made her suddenly stiffen and race back to Konoha had nothing to do with that. Or, at least not directly.

Sakura was a kunoichi. A good one at that. She knew when she was being watched, and only because of her emotional upstart did she not notice the presence seven meters away from her. What really shocked her though was that she only noticed him once he had left. But, the most shocking thing that nearly gave her an attack right there? He was Sasuke's teammate. She had only seen him once, and very, very briefly at that, but the sword strapped to his back was a dead giveaway both times.

So she bolted, not unlike a scared jackrabbit. Zabuza had, in the end, proved himself to be a good person—sort of—so she wasn't scared of him, but his sword, that massive head chopping sword was something that was a frequent guest in her nightmares. The last time she had seen it had been in Wave, and she had hoped that would be the very last time. It clearly wasn't.

She sighed. Konoha was about an hour and a half away now, and she was alone except for her wandering thoughts, who, at this moment, were wandering to the strange shinobi who had Zabuza's sword. The first time she had seen him was a few weeks ago and even then she had thought it to be a trick of the light; he had been at the very edge of the forest with three others before running. All she had caught of him was that massive sword and light hair, if that. She didn't have a name, previous country, or how he and the other two joined Sasuke. She also didn't know why her thoughts were about him.

I think . . . I've finally lost it. Thinking about a guy that I've never spoken and probably wants to kill me. Brushing a stray lock of hair off her sweaty forehead, she sighed in relief when the large village gates could be seen through the foliage. Granted, she would be seriously reprimanded by Tsunade and Kakashi—if he had even noticed—the second she entered through those gates, but anything was better than sticking around Ame.

Sure enough, one busty blonde was waiting in front of the village gates with her arms crossed. Sakura sighed again and slowed to a halt before her.

"Tsunade-sama," she said, eyes weary.

"What were you thinking, Sakura?" her teacher asked sharply. "Leaving at a time like this was not only stupid, it was irresponsible! We can't afford to have any shinobi slacking off, and that includes you."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Sakura knew that at this point, it was better to agree with everything the Godaime said.

Exhaling sharply, the blonde muttered, "Just don't do it again. Now come on; you're ready for the next step in your training."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," she repeated, sounding like an old broken record. At least, with training, her mind wouldn't be free to wander on things it should have stayed far away from.

The next two days passed in this fashion: Sakura would get up, go to either the Hokage tower or hospital, receive her training, eat, and then sleep. All around Konoha, shinobi were being called back from missions to train or sharpen their weapons or to evacuate the civilians. On the third day, Sakura awoke with a dead feeling in the pit of her stomach. A quick look outside told her that daybreak wouldn't arrive for another three hours, and her next training session with Tsunade wouldn't take place for five. If she rushed, she could probably make it to her spot . . .

Mind made up, Sakura hastily dressed in her regular red outfit, strapped on her shurikan holster and hip pouches and locked the door on her way out. After taking a sniff of the cool night air, she was off into the trees, rushing to that little place near Ame's border. She would be late to her session with Tsunade, she knew, but it would be well worth it just to see a spot of small beauty before it became tarnished with war—because it would, soon. That feeling in her stomach hadn't lessened at all, and she knew something was going to happen soon.

After two hours of hard running, she had made it to her place and took a moment to just lean against the tree trunk. The dread was starting to consume her and she was beginning to feel paranoid at every bird squawk or snap of a twig. When the latter happened, she jumped and a hand instinctively went to her shurikan holster as she turned around, jade eyes wide.

"Jumpy, aren't you?"

Suigetsu honestly had no idea why he was here, without permission too, but the chance of stumbling into the little pink haired medic had to be up there in the millions. Still, he had gotten a kick out of watching her jump around.

For her part, Sakura's hand pulled out a kunai as she watched him wearily. The sword—Zabuza's sword, she thought—was once again on his back so it was no mistaking it. He was Sasuke's teammate, the one who had been watching her not three days before.

"What do you want?" she asked, the kunai still held tightly in her right hand.

"Nothing," Suigetsu replied easily, "I was just wandering around when I saw something pink . . . . You know anything about it?"

He was baiting her, Sakura realized with a twitch. "No, I haven't. Can you describe it?" she asked sweetly.

"Oh, it looked like a bird's nest, pretty small and ugly looking. Kinda like a squirrel's tail too if you think about it."

Sakura's mouth dropped open. The . . . the gall of this boy—he was barely a year older than her—to insult her hair! True, she barely did anything to it nowadays other than shampooing and using conditioner, but still! "Oh really? Hmm . . . well, I didn't see anything pink, but I did see a white one."

It was a poor insult since his own hair was perfectly straight unlike Sakura's which had the distinct appearance of one who had just rolled out of bed, and they both knew it.

"Right," he said. Suigetsu took in her appearance again, just to be sure. "You're Sasuke's teammate, aren't you?" It was more of a statement than question.

"That title belongs to you now," Sakura retorted with a touch of bitterness that didn't escape Suigetsu's notice.

"So I was right then. Well, my job is so much easier now." He grinned at her, revealing shark-like teeth. Sakura barely had the time to gasp before he was behind her with his hand at the base of her neck. A swift chop later, she was unconscious, though not before muttering, "Bastard."

"Selfish bastard," he corrected, slinging her on his shoulder. If anything, Akatsuki now had a medic even if she would probably have to be Sharingan-ed by Sasuke before she agreed.

And if that doesn't work, I can at least say that Konoha doesn't have one of their best medics.

When Sakura woke for the second time that day, it took her a moment to realize why she was feeling so infuriated.

Oh. Right. The Kisame copy decided to knock her out and take her to god knows where. Joy. Vowing to castrate that thing the next time she saw him, Sakura then did what any good ninja would do in a strange environment. She observed.

The room she was in now was clearly home to a very messy individual; papers were haphazardly scattered, as well as arm guards, several kunai, shurikan, and the occasional rock. The bed she was lying on was quite large by her standards—her own bed back home was barely big enough for her now—with probably enough room for two to three people. Instead of the plain white walls she had been expecting, these walls were dark, nearly black, without any windows that could provide an opportunity to escape.

Wait . . . I saw this room before . . . Brow furrowing, she tried to remember the very foggy memory. This wasn't her second time waking up . . . it was the third. After being knocked out, someone had woken her and given her something. A drug, Sakura glumly thought. There wasn't any way of figuring out just how long she had been out now, unless a person helpfully skipped into the room with a giant clock on their shoulders.

As if hearing her thoughts, the door opened.

The person entering the room however, wasn't a) helpful at all, b) skipping, or c) carrying a giant clock. He did have a giant bloodstained sword though.

"You're up," Suigetsu noticed, "the drug was supposed to keep you under for another hour or so. You can't move by the way," he added when Sakura finally tried to move her legs. "Not until I release the jutsu, that is."

Sakura settled for glaring at him. "I hate you."

"So I've been told." Suigetsu leaned his sword against the wall and threw off his soaked—Sakura had the horrible feeling that it was soaked in blood—Akatsuki cloak to the floor.

Gulping audibly, Sakura quietly ventured, "W-what have you been doing?"

Suigetsu grinned audaciously. "Aw, is Sakura-chan" —he had finally learned her name after much cajoling on his part— "worried about me?"

She glared at him again, though her eyes lacked their previous malice. Now, they were simply worried. "Have you – did you attack Konoha?"

He had to applaud her deduction skills, though the first glance at the blood should have given it away. Still, Suigetsu knew this was a delicate part in his mission. According to Sasuke, she was a genjutsu type so excessive use of the Sharingan would only get her accustomed to it and in theory she would be able to break away from it completely. In other words, he needed to gain her trust if she was to be of any use to Akatsuki. "Technically? We went to Konoha, attacked some losers who got in our way, and found out that the Kyu—that your friend wasn't there."

"Did you kill anyone?" It was an innocent enough question, in Suigetsu's mind, but the answer—which was so obviously on his cloak—wouldn't be so innocent.

"Hmm . . . a lot of blood was lost on their account," he answered vaguely. "Don't worry though; your Hokage's still alive and kicking, though the village itself is pretty messed up." Something that I had a huge part in. Very large swords could create a lot of damage if wielded correctly—though it would probably cause even more destruction if used incorrectly.

Sakura let out a relieved breath. With Tsunade alive, things couldn't be that bad. Now, to the next order of business . . .

"Why did you kidnap me?"

Hiding his face behind a mask, Suigetsu drawled, "Isn't it obvious?" He walked to her, snagging a lock of rosette hair between his pale fingers. "You're a medic, one of the best. Of all the Akatsuki members, not one has any medical training beyond the basics. Besides," he grinned at her shocked face, "you were stupid enough to come to Ame's border all alone. I would have to be an idiot to not take that chance."

"You didn't before," Sakura mumbled, desperately wishing that she could move—that bastard definitely deserved to get punched through a couple walls for touching her like that and he was still doing it!

"Ah, you noticed me? Apparently you aren't so stupid." Suigetsu shrugged. "Before, I wasn't sure if you had a companion or not." Lie. "Since you came there a second time, I figured you really were that idiotic."

Heat rushed to her face. She wasn't stupid! Her brains were rivaled only by Shikamaru and that lazy ass had an IQ of over 200! This guy probably had the IQ of a goldfish, and their memory span was three seconds! Reigning in her anger though tremendous effort—years of knowing Naruto helped with that—Sakura gritted out, "You do realize that I won't heal any of you, right? That . . . that includes Sasuke-kun."

"I know," Suigetsu said quietly, letting her hair fall from his fingers, "but you really don't have a choice in the matter."

"Wha—"

The door opened again and Suigetsu stepped away, revealing to Sakura the silhouette of a tall man whose only visible aspect of his face was his whirling red eyes.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura murmured before darkness consumed her once again.

She fell like a sack of potatoes and Suigetsu rushed forward so she didn't whack her head on the headboard. Again.

"You overdid it," he said lightly, settling the surprisingly light rosette properly on the bed. That done, Suigetsu faced the lone Uchiha who was fixing him with his famous impassive looks. "What now?"

At first, Sasuke said nothing, his spinning eyes going from the unconscious Sakura to the annoyed Suigetsu. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Hōzuki had been lying three days earlier. "You didn't bring her to be a medic."

"No," Suigetsu countered slowly, "I brought her here because it would save us some trouble in the long run. That teammate of yours will coming running to us now."

"Hn. Just get her to work. I won't always be here." Turning on his heel swiftly, the raven haired sixteen year old left, leaving Suigetsu and one hypnotized kunoichi alone.

Sighing deeply, he watched as a hand made its way back to Sakura's face, toying with a strand of hair at her forehead. "Such a selfish bastard," he muttered before taking his leave as well.

"How much farther?" an exhausted Sakura asked, wiping at her brow. The desert heat was unbearable.

"About . . . another hour," Suigetsu grumbled, taking a generous gulp of water from his ever present bottles.

When Suigetsu had barged into her room—it was actually his room, though she had only recently figured that out—nearly a month after she had been taken hostage, she had shown the first signs of responding to anything in a month by grabbing the kunai stashed beneath her pillow. He had stared at her for a second before grabbing her wrist and running as far from the base as possible. Sakura had looked back briefly, just in time to see demonic red chakra eating at the very place she had been in moments before. Naturally, she had kicked, screamed, and even bitten Suigetsu to get him to turn back to where Naruto was, but he had simply tightened his grip.

That had been two months ago. Since then, they had been on the run constantly from both Akatsuki and any other villages—the most prominent being Kiri and Konoha. It wouldn't do well for either of them if their (previous, in Suigetsu's case) villages saw them together, and Sakura's already tarnished reputation would take a further hit. At the rate they were going though, it would be a miracle if she would even be allowed back in the village.

Which was why they were crossing Suna's desert; Suigetsu had managed to, somehow, get in contact with Naruto and said he was bringing a certain medic back. When Sakura had asked why, he had flatly replied that there were things he needed to do—things that didn't include her.

She was used to being treated as a burden; it was to be expected with powerful teammates like Kakashi, Sai, and Naruto. But Suigetsu only teased her, never patronizing, and it had hurt when he had said that, almost to the point where she had disregarded anything he had said about her returning home.

They continued on in that fashion, with her asking every now and then how much longer until they were out of the desert, and the land slowly shifted from a barren wasteland to the green foliage Sakura had grown up with. Within hours, the village gates were visible in the distance, and that was when Suigetsu stopped.

"This is as far as I'm going," he said flatly. "Good luck with whatever, pinky."

Sakura rolled her eyes; his personality was a bit of a mixture between Sasuke and Naruto if she thought about it. "Wait . . . before you go, I have questions for you. Questions that you have to answer." Questions that she would never get ask again, though she hadn't needed to say it that bluntly.

"What?" Might as well get it over with.

"Why did you save me? Why go through the trouble of kidnapping me, then running for two months if you were going to let me go back anyway?"

He said the first thing that came to mind.

"Because I'm a selfish bastard."

Sakura stared at him. Those were the same words she had said to him all those weeks ago. "You are," she agreed, "but that's not the real reason."

"You know that I won't tell you the real reason because I'm a selfish bastard."

He couldn't be anymore vague, could he? Sakura mused. She felt the familiar sadness creeping into her stomach. It had felt like this when she watched Naruto take on the Akatsuki months ago. It felt like this when Sasuke had left. So why was she feeling it with Suigetsu of all people?

"I still hate you, you know that?"

If anything, he looked amused. "I know."

He also knew that that was as close as he would ever get to admitting the true reason, and she probably knew it as well. After all, she wasn't that stupid. Not really.

AN – Where this came from, I have no idea. I just had the urge to write something with Suigetsu and Sakura as the main roles. Yeah, I drew my own conclusions and al, and intervened a bit with Suigetsu seeing Sakura when he didn't in canon, but hey; this is fanfiction. Anyway, even though it seems a bit anticlimactic, even to me, hopefully you guys will like it. There aren't many SuigetsuxSakura fics out there, so maybe this'll count as something. Review, please! They actually do help authors you know.