Akatsuki's Brats

Prologue

Author: Ms Trick

Summary: Immediately after passing Kakashi's bell training, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are abducted by the Akatsuki. The consequence is a very different world. But sometimes at the core, nothing's quite as different as it seems.

Pairings: NaruSasuNaru, onesided SakuraSasori

Notes: I thrive on reviews. I really appreciate feedback on my stories. Like you have no idea.

Kakashi dragged a fingernail along the mahogany bar top, keeping his eye on the tiny round table in one of the dimmer corners of the tavern. The small room was crowded with civilians and plumes of cigarette smoke rose to splay against the dirty ceiling. Two pints of cheap golden beer were clunked down in front of him. He picked them up and casually made his way back to the table.

He set them down and took his seat, facing his unwilling drinking partner. She eyed the drinks with a sullen amusement.

"Sharing a drink with the apprentice of a master of poisons...you sure you're still on top of your game, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi remained silent, his uncovered eye making note of her lips pressed thinly together and the criticizing glint in her eyes. Her hair was kept off her face in pair of unkempt French braids that snaked down behind her shoulders. She was skinny too. Skinnier than she really should have been. She had been his captive for the last two days and at mealtimes, he offered her food. But he was always met with a gaze full to the brim with distrust and she ate only enough and only when she had to. But she had been skinny before that.

"Besides, I'm not even old enough to drink, technically," she laughed, reaching towards the foaming tankard.

The movement was somewhat encumbered by the strong, chakra-infused rope that bound her wrists tightly together. Despite the hindrance, she lifted the full drink to her lips with both hands and took a girlish sip that Kakashi thought was more suited to the person she had been. It seemed almost comical now, though.

"You're sixteen," he stated.

"That's right," she said evenly, setting the drink back down and eying his full one. She guessed it was going to remain untouched the entire night.

"Sakura, where are Naruto and Sasuke?" the copy-nin demanded, effectively deadening the small talk. He slouched comfortably in his chair, looking for all the world like he was enjoying himself. But Sakura didn't miss the slight tension in the gloved hands resting on the tabletop.

He wasn't letting his guard down, even after she had been stripped of every weapon and poison he had found on her person. This pleased her somewhat.

"How about...we start at the beginning?" She drawled, her fingers playing with the handle of the glass tankard even as her wrists remained bound. "How about we talk about you losing us, Kakashi? How about we move our conversation in the direction of discussing how your carelessness left you without the first students you ever passed? And on the very day you passed them."

Her nasty tone was dicing but Kakashi let the provoking comments wash over him like breezes. He could feel the crush of guilt later. Right now, he needed a story.

"Let's see..." She continued. "You vanished into thin air, if I remember correctly, leaving me and dear old Sasuke to untie Naruto from a log. And then--poof," she bit out. "Stolen. Right from the Konoha training grounds by members of a group of terrorists. Heh, we were so happy that we had passed the almighty Hatake Kakashi's bell test...and the next thing, I wake up with all those dreams I'd had snatched away. Being an upstanding Konoha ninja, my loving family...poof!"

Kakashi folded his arms and sat back. She narrowed her hard green eyes at him and took a more confident gulp of beer.

"And then it's a fucking meat market. Me, Naruto, Sasuke, and a bunch of other jailbait kids are hogtied and ready for apprentice picking."

"You were allotted to Sasori," Kakashi supplied in a monotone.

Sakura's gaze hardened further and she looked away with a painful bite of anger. People milled into the bar; drinks were being ordered loudly and then consumed enthusiastically.

"Who were Naruto and Sasuke assigned to?"

Though Kakashi had made himself heard over the din, Sakura didn't answer for a few seconds. She wryly thought that her old sensei had to have access to the spy network; he probably already knew the answers to half the questions he was going to ask her. She chewed on her tongue and then turned back to the masked ninja with a smirk.

"That's where it gets interesting. Orochimaru got Sasuke. An Uchiha. Just like he wanted. And Uchiha Itachi himself got Naruto."

Kakashi started. It was barely a sudden tensing of the shoulders but it was so out of line with his stoic attitude that, to Sakura, it appeared nearly exaggerated.

"The Akatsuki hunts jinchuurikis," Kakashi stated.

Sakura frowned. "Yes," she confirmed, unsure of why they had suddenly moved onto a new topic.

"The apprentices helped?"

Another frown. "Yes."

"Naruto as well?"

"What the fuck are you going on about this for? Yes, Naruto would have had to aid Itachi in the search for his assigned target, which was the jinchuuriki with the Nine-Tailed Fox."

Incredulous but not revealing an ounce of it, Kakashi searched her face for any sign of untruthfulness and she stared back, confused but instinctively defiant.

"Has the Kyuubi been located?"

"As far as I know, not yet."

If she's telling the truth...Well, I'll be damned...Kakashi thought, nearly disbelieving the irony.

"Where's Naruto now?"

"Wherever Itachi is, probably."

"And Sasuke?"

"Long story."

"So start at the beginning."

She looked straight at him for a long time, her eyes catching the dim light of the bar like jewels. She thought bitterly of Sasori. Of Orochimaru. Of who she had been. Of who Sasuke and Naruto had been. Of who they were now.

"I guess I've got nothing to lose."