Hi guys! So this is my first shot at a Naruto fanfiction. I will probably need tips and pointers; constructive criticism is always welcome xD I apologize for anything that I got wrong in regards to the Akatsuki or to Sakura. Please let me know how you like it :D

Learning To Forgive

The wind rustled through the trees as a petite figure flew past; the sound of a branch cracking as a foot hit a branch echoed around the otherwise empty area. Bright jade eyes stared straight ahead in concentration; only shifting every once in a while to scan the area around herself. Short startling pink locks twisted around the girls head as she moved faster than a civilian eye could catch. A few minutes later, Sakura Haruno stopped her movement and jumped down from the trees; landing with a soft thud, she groaned and stretched her arms above her head as she tossed her bag down by the base of a tree.

Scanning the area once more, and feeling out with her chakra tentatively, she turned and sat down; quite satisfied that she was alone and fine. Taking a bottle from her bag, she gulped down greedily before forcing herself to stop; not wanting to get sick all over herself in her hurry for water. Sighing happily, she placed the bottle back in the bag before leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest; tilting her head back against the tree she looked up at the bright blue sky with a small smile. She wondered where Naruto and Kakashi were; all she knew was that right before she had been sent out to deliver a message to Suna the two had gotten a mission. She wouldn't be surprised if it was about Sasuke; the thought had her closing her eyes and cringing.

Most people knew about the girls infatuation with the young Uchiha when she was younger; however, after bearing her heart to him that last time and still knowing he left she was slowly getting over it. Now the thought of the Uchiha simply made her blood boil; she could recall in her minds eye as clear as day the last time she had seen him. It was on a bridge; and, despite the fact she knew she had to, she couldn't quite bring herself to attack him. If Kakashi hadn't shown up when he had she would surely be dead right now. Shaking herself free of those morbid thoughts, Sakura opened her eyes; squinting up at the bright sky she wondered just how long she had let herself daydream for. Standing quickly, she zipped her bag and flung it over her shoulders; she hadn't made it out of Konoha territory yet and she had wasted valuable time in her musings.

Groaning to herself, Sakura forced chakra into her legs and feet and took back off into the trees; a little while later she jumped down when she spotted the end of the treeline and the beginning of Land Of Sand. 'That's going to be fun' she thought to herself sarcastically. She was just at the edge of the desert when the flare of chakra alerted her to another presence; and not just one. Cursing aloud, she pulled quickly back into the tree line and masked her chakra as she jumped high into a tree; hidden behind a few branches she narrowed her jade eyes as she quickly scanned the area looking for the source of the rather ominous feeling chakra signatures.

She discovered the source not even five minutes later when a group of figures appeared down the way from her several feet; cursing her luck as her eyes caught onto the pitch black cloaks with the red cloud designs on them. "You've got to be fucking kidding me" she hissed under her breath as she pushed herself further into the green of the tree. It was just her luck really that she would run into the most hated and feared organization on the planet; really she shouldn't have been surprised. It had been a few years since anyone had heard anything out of them; after their leader, Pein, and his partner, Konan, had been killed by one of their other members the remaining few had gone into hiding.

As she forced herself to remain still and not flee like her life depended on it, she watched as the group made their way into the sand; a man with silvery slicked back hair could be heard complaining even where she was standing. As she caught a glimpse of his purple eyes, looking oddly matched with his hair and tan skin, she went cold down to her toes as she knew right away who that was. Information not only from the Bingo Book but also from fellow Rookie Nine ninjas had her naming him off the bat; Hidan. Jashinist and member of the Akatsuki… And killer of Asuma Sarutobi. Next to him, and looking quite irate with the fact, was a man all but hidden beneath robes and a mask over his head and face; however, the creepy but distinct coloring of his eyes immediately gave him away as Kakuzu… Hidans partner.

Supposedly he had this huge hang up on making money; the way Kakashi and the others had described him was nothing short of monstrous. Moving on from him, she didn't need to see his face to know who the next one was; standing a little behind the others was none other than Itachi Uchiha; murderer of his clan and rogue ninja of the Leaf and the reason Sasuke defected from his home village in the first place. Rage, pure and unadulterated, ran through Sakura so hard it took all she had not to lunge out of the tree and shove a kunai in the traitors eyeballs. And next to HIM was someone else she knew; Kisame Hoshigaki. A tall blue skinned shark like man with beady little eyes and a feral grin on his face; according to Guy-sensei the fight with him had been hard to say the least. That sword strapped on his back, Samehada if she remembered correctly, was able to sap chakra from a person; even without touching, getting close was enough for it to do the job.

There was one more; and to say she was surprised was an understatement. Standing next to the others, but looking far from being happy, was none other than the Explosionist everyone thought to have died in the fight with Kakashi. Deidara stood with his arms folded and scanning the area around him; she didn't know much about this guy. All she knew was that he had some sort of Kekkai Genkai that no one really knew much about; he had mouths on his hands that allowed him to shape and use clay for whatever he wished it to do. Thinking back to her fight with his ex partner, Sasori Of The Red Sand, she shuddered recalling the casual way he had sat on the Kazekages corpse. Thanks to Chiyo, Gaara was revived and now back in his village with his brother Kankuro and sister Temari; she couldn't help the small giggle that escaped as she thought about the girl with her friend Shikarmaru.

Shaking her head to clear it, she was brought back into the present and she narrowed her eyes as she realized belatedly that the group she had been looking at was now gone. "Son of a BI-" her cursing was cut off as the chakra flared again and she twisted quickly; only to come face to face with burning red eyes. Cursing again she turned and leapt backwards; closing her eyes at the same time so she didn't get caught in his infamous genjutsu. The hot sun beat down on her skin as she skid into the sand and slowly came to a stop; opening her eyes she groaned and cursed her luck yet again. Standing before her were all five members; although she should have guessed they wouldn't have gone anywhere without Itachi. A deep baritone voice interrupted her musings and her jade eyes immediately snapped towards the tall man who had spoken; Kakuzu simply looked at her impassively. "Sakura Haruno if I remember correctly. According to the Bingo Book you would fetch quite the hefty price" he said softly; the menace rolling off his tongue made her go rigid and she immediately dropped into a fighting stance.

"Relax kunoichi. As much as Kakuzu would enjoy tearing into you I'm afraid I cannot allow that" another soft voice spoke up and she turned much slower to face Itachi; she kept her eyes firmly on his chin as she scowled. "Oh I suppose I should be grateful then" she said; sarcasm dripping from her voice and causing the tall blue man behind him to roar with laughter. "Oh she's feisty Itachi. I think I like her" a shark toothed grin met her gaze and she repressed a shudder. Seeing this only caused Kisame to grin wider at her and she tried her hardest to remain scowling; for some reason his grin seemed to be slightly contagious.

As Sakura looked from one to the other she calculated quickly her chances of getting away alive; which were not really looking all that great if she was being honest. Going up against one of them would have been hard enough; forget five and forget the fact that she was alone. The only thing that mildly surprised her about the situation was that they had come so close to the borders of Suna and Kona… Which begged the question why?

"OI! Bitch stop being such a fucking space case and pay the hell attention!" a loud angry voice interrupted her musings and she felt her eyebrow twitch in anger. Her jade eyes narrowed and she slowly turned towards the grinning Jashinist who simply stared back at her; for the first time in a long time she felt her Inner rear her head and she snapped. "Who the FUCK are you calling BITCH you silver haired FREAK" she spat at him as she curled her hand into a fist by her side. Her question was met with a few beats of silence before a groan was heard followed quickly by the sound of several people guffawing. "Oh fuck curse at me again bitch" he groaned and grinned disgustingly at her; she looked at him in disbelief before looking at the others. Deidara and Kisame were clutching their stomachs and trying to stay upright with how hard they were laughing; Kakuzu looked mildly impressed that she had the nerve to stand up to an Akatsuki. And Itachi; well Itachi just looked bored with the whole situation.

Stifling his laughter, Kisame glanced at Itachi and when the dark haired man looked back he raised an eyebrow. "She would be perfect yeah?" a voice from the other end called out calmly but still with traces of laughter in his voice. At the question Sakura went rigid once again; narrowing her eyes, she took slow measured steps back as she watched them. "Wouldn't try it bitch" the amused voice of Hidan called to her. She felt herself getting riled again and, much to his disappointment she noticed, she managed to reign her temper in. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about but I'm not going anywhere with you" she said stiffly. Quickly readjusting the gloves on her hands, Sakura brought her fist down into the sand before anyone could blink. She heard a few muted shouts as sand and dust exploded up into the air; using the confusion she took off in a random direction as fast as her feet would take her. She was already running low on chakra as it was; and she really didn't want to have to open her reserves if she didn't have to.

As out of it as Sakura was with her thoughts, which she knew better than to not pay attention in a time like this, she didn't hear the whistle of air as a scythe swung dangerously close to her. Yelping slightly, she twisted to the side in time to avoid a fatal hit; however, the first blade made contact with her side and she grit her teeth as blood splattered the sand and she jumped backwards quickly. She barely had time to move before another weapon was tossed her way; judging by the way she suddenly felt drained she guessed it was Samehada that had just flown past her head. Sakura pushed herself backwards yet again; this time she landed outside of the giant cloud of dust and sand she had created. Pressing a hand to her side she tried to quickly close the wound with her chakra; luck apparently just was not on her side today.

Something dark and wiry shot out of the dust and before she could so much as move she found herself being hauled into the air none too gently by a giant thick stream of… Was that hair? She coughed and blood trickled down her lip and chin as she watched the dust settle; the group of men looked calm and relaxed as they stood there watching her with, dare she think it, admiration? She scoffed as best she could with the hair wrapped around her neck. "Haruno-san this could have gone much differently if you had simply listened to us" Itachis smooth and soft voice cut through the fog currently moving over her mind. Cracking an eye open slightly she glared at him with as much hatred as she could muster. "Like….. F-fucking… H-hell…." She sputtered out; the wound on her side beginning to bleed more profusely as her arms hung limp and numb at her side.

"Oi Kakuzu ease up on the bitch or you'll kill her. I want my fun with her too!" she vaguely heard Hidan pout and glare at his partner. The next thing she knew she was dropping rather quickly to the ground but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to care. As she let her eyes fall shut she dimly realized that rather suddenly her body was caught up in something strong and warm. So she let herself embrace it; her body curled into the warmth and a small sigh escaped before her mind slid from consciousness.