Chapter 1: Proditor
(Betrayer)
"Give us a name," the gentle prodding was unlike her former master. Tsunade had a tendency to be far more rash than logical. Sheer strength and instinct had perhaps been the only things to keep her alive all these years, those and a steady sense of self-preservation.
She sat half leaning out of her chair, hands hovering over the young woman's lap hesitantly as if afraid to touch the woman she had created.
"If you just tell us where, we can help you as long as you help us."
A harsh laugh escaped the young woman's lips, the sound touching something deep inside each of them.
"Help me? Please, what can you possibly do? We both know that you can't trust me anymore," she leant back in her seat, avoiding the motherly hands hovering above her, "All you can offer me is a cage Tsunade. And I'd rather be dead than caged."
When she was younger she'd never imagined that she could say something so callous. In fact if it had been even a year earlier she would have done everything she could not to end up where she was. Now, she didn't have anything left to care about.
Tsunade drew herself upwards, breasts shuddering with each long shaking breath. Her eyes were fixed on Sakura and they were now very cold.
"Very well then, we'll do it your way. Haruno Sakura, you are formally charged with conspiracy against your village, desertion, and disclosure of classified information, terrorism and attempted murder. Until a decision about your future has been reached you will be held in the maximum security prison and classified as a threat to Konoha."
The young woman sat there and absorbed it all, keeping the mask over her emotions firmly in place. It had served her well for the last few months after all.
"Do you have anything left to say?"
It had taken her almost a week since their penetration to catch up to them. In the wake of the confusion of the attack she had slipped away, a single satchel strapped to her back.
It had taken ANBU only a day to realise that she was gone. It was a factor she had prepared for, after all as the student of the Hokage she was fairly visible to the public eye, it wouldn't have taken them long to figure it out. They had caught up to her by the evening of the second day and it took only twenty minutes to beat the six ninjas. She was fortunate that none of them had been people that she had known.
The delay, however meagre, had lost her their trail and she had spent the next two days bypassing numerous dead ends to find it again. Coupled with the loss of some of her chakra due to the fight she had been forced to slow her pace in order to make sure that if another battle was required she was fit to meet the challenge. A small gash where one had gotten lucky sat on her upper left arm stung but she knew better than to deplete her chakra further by healing it.
If their current pace was any indication, they didn't know that she was following them. She knew better than to think that. It was more likely that they had noticed her the second she had left Konoha. It would be unlike them to change their positions just because of her. They were Akatsuki after all, and they feared no one.
The forest was fairly thick but the trails were becoming more distinct, almost an offer for her to find them. Pushing herself off of a branch she searched the trees for any sign of an ambush from ANBU soldiers or from any of their current allies.
A change in the air and ebb of chakra let her know that they had stopped. It seemed that they were waiting for her, possibly because they were intrigued, possibly because they were sick of being followed, either way she pushed that little bit harder to catch up to them.
The clearing they had stopped in was fairly isolated, there were no towns for hundreds of miles the way she had come and she was willing to bet that there were none ahead of them for a while. Had she thought attention might bother them she would assume that it was so that nobody would hear her scream. But then she doubted she would get even that if it came to a fight between them.
One stood, sword extended and making graceful sweeps through the air. Sweat lightly brushed his forehead and his breathing had sped up a little. It wasn't due to the exertion, she could see that much. He was excited. The bindings on the sword were still on, but she was aware that Samehada could cause damage even as it was.
The other sat casually against a rock, one leg bent with his arm resting against it while the other hung down just brushing against the ground. His face was hidden by the large hat but she already knew what she would see if it were removed.
She dropped from the branch she was poised on directly in front of them. The grinning shark man turned and in an instant the sword was at her throat. A smirk settled upon his face and he drawled casually, "Told you we could catch kunoichi if we stopped."
It took everything she had not to flinch. This is what she had been training for but facing it in real circumstances and in the simulated version in her mind were two very different things.
He moved the wrapped blade forward to touch her throat and she pulled away from him, leaving a gap between her and the sword.
"Afraid kunoichi?" Kisame mocked, hoisting the sword on his shoulder.
She offered him the barest trace of a smile, "Not at all. But I prefer to keep my chakra."
He offered her a feral grin in return before launching at her with the sword. Anticipating it she dodged and pulled out a kunai in time to stop his second blow. He pushed harder against her, trying to force her back with sheer strength and she released her own and dropped to the ground to swipe at his legs with her foot. He was faster than she had expected though, stepping out of the way just enough that the blow narrowly missed him. In turn he swung the sword to the ground she had been kneeling on moments before and then again to her face. Blocking it again with her kunai she used her own strength rather than enhancing it with chakra. It wouldn't be smart to lay all her cards out on the table at the beginning.
"So why'd you come kunoichi?" Kisame queried, whipping the sword around to catch the back of her knees. Flipping back over it she flung the kunai at his throat.
"I have a proposition for you." They had stopped several paces apart, watching each other, assessing their individual weaknesses. Unfortunately for her it didn't appear that Kisame had any.
"You didn't find Naruto there did you."
The sword crossed over her head as she ducked.
"It's only a matter of time." The fist he threw hit her hard in the shoulder, sending her back into the tree with a force she hadn't expected. He smiled at her, "If you keep holding back, kunoichi, you're going to get yourself killed."
"If you thought that you wouldn't have kept me alive this long," she responded, picking herself up and facing him again. "I was there when Tsunade crafted his hiding place."
"Kisame."
At the sound of his voice the shark drew away, placing Samehada back in its holster on his back.
"Your proposition?" the Uchiha questioned, his voice smooth and muted.
"You want the kyuubi, I can give him to you."
The head tilted up until she could just see the shadow of his face between the edge of the cloth and the rim of the hat. The sharingan flashed dangerously and she found herself entranced by them.
"The price?"
She started at the sound of his voice and it seemed to amuse him. A familiar smirk touched the edge of his mouth, one she could just barely see under the rim of the hat.
"I want entry into the Akatsuki."
She could see Kisame find this statement amusing. Had she been in his position she would probably find the notion amusing also. As it was she held her ground, waiting on the Uchiha for an answer. He stood up, walking the few steps across the clearing to stand in front of her. Glancing down at her appraisingly.
"Do you really believe that you can betray Naruto-kun?" he asked, indifference lacing his voice.
Steeling her features into nonchalance she shrugged, "Believe what you want, the offer remains."
As he stepped closer, her mind was screaming at her thin ice, thin ice. Through the slit she could see the red of his eyes and the black of the three tomoe settled in them. They swept up and down her body fleetingly, appraising her before he stepped back.
"It is not a decision that can be made solely by us," he said quietly.
She nodded, she had expected that. Kisame's snort of disbelief in the background made her tense momentarily. The Uchiha turned to glance at him.
"You're welcome to voice your opinions Kisame."
She knew already that Kisame would obey the Uchiha's every wish, however she hadn't known why. It was impossible to judge but she could have sworn that for a second Kisame had shown fear at the Uchiha's offer. With one last sneer the shark man turned away, picking up his own overlarge straw hat, the bells jingling lightly on it as he did. Making sure he had secured Samehada to his back he looked back at them, waiting.
The Uchiha turned back to her, eyes focusing on her face even as she forced herself to meet his gaze. "Wait here kunoichi, regardless of whether the deal is made or not, we will be back here in a couple of hours."
There was a threat left open in that statement.
She nodded watching their backs as both turned around and left through the forest. She entertained the thought of following them in her head for a moment but she dismissed it easily. It was already far too late in the game to be compromising anything at this point. She knew that they wouldn't hesitate to kill if she did anyway.
Settling on the ground she pulled off her pack and put it in front of her. She hadn't stopped for a week, now seemed like the perfect time to take a rest and eat something.
She had drifted into a light sleep by the time anyone had come back, snapping out of it the instant she felt Kisame above her and dodging the drive of the sword, watching in an almost sick fascination as it plummeted through the ground easily.
He laughed, "Well, well, well kunoichi, so you're still here," re-sheathing Samehada he directed his attention back to her, "You're either brave or stupid."
She didn't answer. She was tired and emotions were too close to the surface after sleep, it was something that she hadn't yet mastered. Disciplining herself she stood again and sent him a dark look, swinging her pack over her shoulders as he stood there silently appraising her as if he'd like to see how quickly she'd die had that blow struck her.
"The verdict?" it came as a relief that her voice came out as steady and dismissive as she had.
He grunted, "The decision was made. If you come through with the kyuubi then you will be instigated into the Akatsuki."
Suppressing the sigh of relief she glanced around. The Uchiha was nowhere to be seen in the clearing. As if noticing her lack of attention Kisame released a rather noisy sigh.
"Itachi had other business to attend to, he left me to take care of you," he bared his teeth in a distorted semblance of a grin, "Careful kunoichi, I might get careless and hit you while I'm training instead of the target."
She was sure it would be entirely accidental as well. He turned north where before they had been heading west and began to walk slowly in that direction.
"Keep up kunoichi, if you get lost I'm not coming back to find you."
He was gone before she could focus and she finally released the sigh she had been holding. Pushing up her own pace to match his she sprinted after him, staying just out of the range of his sword as she did. A bark of laughter at her hesitance almost made her change her mind, but survival overrode the need to show him that she could take him on, because she wasn't sure how strong he was compared to her and she didn't know how the Akatsuki might take it if she accidentally killed one of their members. Due to the nature of most of the members of that group they would probably like that development.
Keeping the pace became the only thing she was concerned about, because the damn shark kept picking it up when she began to get comfortable with it. He was testing her she knew and because of that she made damn well sure that he knew just how little effort it took her to match his speed. Even if it was just a façade.
"I voted against you kunoichi," Kisame threw back to her, "I thought we should torture you for the information but I was outvoted," he turned his head back to look at her so that she could see the dark amusement in his expression. "It was a narrow call though."
She cringed inwardly, wonderful, if she did get into the Akatsuki after this then it didn't appear that she would be too popular. Although she would be lying if she said that she didn't have her misgivings over actually getting in after they had Naruto, hopefully by then the need wouldn't be as great.
He was watching her again and this time he threw out conversationally, "Perhaps they'll let me kill you when all this is over," his eyes narrowed, "Perhaps you'll betray us."
She could feel herself begin to sweat beneath his gaze and although it only lasted a few seconds it was enough to make her tense. It came as a hollow sort of relief to watch him turn back only to narrowly avoid coming head to head with a tree branch.
"Perhaps you should watch where you're going more Kisame-san," she called out to him conversationally unable to fully suppress the tone of amusement in her voice.
The response to that was a kunai thrown carelessly back over his shoulder, one that she had to dodge to miss. He turned back to look at her once more, this time his expression dark.
"Haven't I told you to be careful kunoichi," his tone was soft, "They will do little to me if you died on this trip suddenly, your life isn't worth much."
She gulped inaudibly as he turned back, she didn't doubt him.
The trip to their hideout or whatever you could call it was relatively short, a day at a breakneck pace, perhaps a couple of days from where she had originated in Konoha perhaps a couple of weeks. They didn't care that she knew where it was and she realised that it didn't matter because she currently had no idea where she was. The trip had been twisted and overlapping and she had given up trying to map the route fairly early on.
It was fairly simple, a high wall surrounding a citadel of sorts with a fairly large yard filled with training equipment. She didn't see an entry but apparently this didn't matter as Kisame left her there with the gruff order to stay put and walked around one of the corners.
Several moments later the section of wall in front of her blurred before being removed completely and Kisame was back. Walking through the makeshift entranced he went straight through the door of the building. She followed him slightly more hesitantly. It wasn't that she didn't trust him… no actually it was that she didn't trust him.
She glanced back as she reached the entrance to the building, the gateway behind her was still open and she wondered if it was all right to leave it like that but dismissed the thought as she entered the building and crept along the long hallway. Doors lined each side and it broke off towards the end into a main kitchen area complete with table and chairs. Kisame sat at one of them, chewing on something from the plate in front of him.
"Hungry kunoichi?" he asked a feral grin settling upon his lips as she edged her way in.
If she said she was she was certain that he would laugh at her, however with the kitchen in sight the need for food was growing rather dramatically. Pride won out in the end and she shrugged at him, "Not at all."
Instead of provoking him as she had expected her actions caused him to laugh. "Your loss kunoichi."
The rustling of cloth behind her caused her to turn quickly, almost losing her balance in the process. Uchiha Itachi stood behind her, the wide brimmed hat gone exposing more of his face. He appraised her for a moment before moving past her to the kitchen and picking a piece of fruit out of the bowl.
"Prepare yourself something to eat kunoichi," he murmured putting the fruit to his lips, taking a bite, chewing and swallowing, "You're no good to us drained of chakra."
Any protests she was about to make dried up at his statement as she realised just how low her chakra levels had gotten in her effort to keep up with Kisame on the trip. Moving into the kitchen she hovered hesitantly, unsure of what she could use or not. Both members ignored her and she decided to throw caution to the wind and simply rummage through the cupboards until she found something she could make use of.
"After you eat kunoichi we will go through the terms of our agreement."
She nodded, but despite herself she couldn't help but allow a certain degree of fear to fill her at that statement.
AN: Ok well this has been in the process of being made for a very long time. It is slightly reminiscent of leafygirl's Loophole but then most of the ItaSaku fics coming out after hers have elements of her fic in them because it is safe to say that with ItaSaku leafygirl is the master.
Thanks to Midnight Insanity for beta-ing.