Forsaken

Summary: When Ino offers her to join the Akatsuki for money, Tsuky knows she can't refuse; she needs it too much. But as she slowly starts to understand the gang's way of life, questions arise. What is the connection between Orochimaru and her past? Is it right to kill countless lives to save her sister's? And what about the fearsome leader, Uchiha Itachi? What is the origin of Akatsuki and Oto's rivalry? And why does it look like…he's interested in her..?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Because if I did, Itachi would be alive :(

Pairing: Itachi x OC (Tsuky)

Setting: AU

A/N: Hey there, everyone! I hope you will enjoy reading this. The prologue is short but the chapters will definitely be longer (They may be in two parts however, because I can't post long chapters and I don't know why.). As for the updates, I won't be updating regularly and I might let long periods of time between updates (don't hesitate to remind me to update in reviews). So, I hope you will enjoy reading this :)

Prologue-Undone

"They're here! Hurry!"

Two shadows ran along the black walls of the narrow street, unseen, blending together with night's darkness. Their footsteps echoed softly on the concrete ground, the sound muffled by years of training and habit. They crossed the street and reached an old deck, with holes in the ceiling and a dilapidated front. The moonlight shone briefly on the two, breaking their shield of darkness.

Two young people.

A man with blue eyes, no older than twenty-four.

The other one, not quite a woman, not quite a child.

Almost twenty-one.

Two heavy breathing.

Leaning against the wall, both were trying to catch their breathing. While the shorter one was keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, while painting quite heavily after the run, her partner for this particular mission was searching his cloak's numerous pockets, probably looking for that so called art of his- explosive clay. So, she had to keep watch on the place, and on her unstable partner. Great.

Partner.

The word resounded in her head for long, agonizing minutes. She'd never thought she'd ever be back on the field, wearing the same cloak on her shoulders-knowing a dark-haired man was waiting anxiously for her return, even though he'd rather die than admit it to anyone else except her. That's why he never sent her on missions dubbed dangerous. Yet here she was, a gun in her pocket, fleeing from three unknown thugs armed as well. They should have been able to handle it, but they'd been caught off-guard, because there wasn't supposed to be anyone at the place, according to Shikamaru's data, and the guy was usually never wrong. Plus, it was three against two, and Deidara lost precious time looking for his clay. Damn this stubborn guy. Itachi'd probably give him an earful if he ever heard about it.

A tiny, unwanted voice in her head quietly reminded her that, not so long ago, she'd have loved to blackmail the blond about it. But that time was long gone, and Tsuky shook the voice off before it could say anything else, along with painful memories. She was distracted by her companion's curse.

"Damn. I'm short on explosive, yeah." The man muttered angrily, his hands rummaging almost feverishly through his pockets.

Tsuky sighed in exasperation; they'd barely escaped, and he was still concerned about his clay. She might have known him for a while now, she still couldn't understand him sometimes. Then, she realised with a smile that she suddenly didn't have to monitor him anymore. He couldn't do anything stupid without clay.

At least, she hoped he wouldn't.

"Good thing. Explosives aren't exactly what one would call discreet, Deidara." she whispered, hair as black as the night itself swishing gently with every movement of her head. Her ocean-blue eyes, darker than her friend's, stared unflinchingly in his own. Said man glared at her, before muttering as loudly as he could:

"Art is life. I don't give a damn about it if I can't blow things up, un."

The girl sighed again before looking left and right, searching for their opponents. Nothing was heard in the air apart from their quieted pants. They were hidden behind the huge wall of the dock, and since they were dressed in rather dark clothes, their pursuers must have failed to see them when they turned the corner leading here about ten minutes ago.

"I think we lost them," she whispered, wary eyes scanning the perimeter. She couldn't see nor hear anything but then again, as she stated earlier, it was so dark they wouldn't see anything. She turned back towards her partner. "It should be okay to g- Watch out!"

The two dived behind the nearest wall, narrowly dodging the bullets aimed at their heads. Two shadows were standing on top of the building, and a wave of bullets was launched at them. While Tsuky remained hidden from their attackers, Deidara took his gun out and pulled the trigger twice; two heavy 'thuds' were heard as the two men fell from the roof onto the ground, and Deidara stood up. He nodded once to his partner, letting her know that she could come out; she wasn't a coward, but she wouldn't risk Leader's-her lover's, she thought with a wince- wrath by coming back injured. She'd never hear the end of it, and neither would Deidara.

She approached the motionless corps, before averting her eyes. She scanned the area while the blond artist turned a body with foot.

"Fools," he smirked. "They thought they could take Akatsuki members head on and win, un. You're right, I'm glad I didn't have my clay; I hate wasted it on low lives who don't understand a thing about art." He started to turn around. "You know, you'd-"

A bang! echoed loudly behind him and he spun on his heels, ready to fire again, before freezing in shock upon seeing what happened.

His young partner was standing there, gun in hand, and smoke still coming out from the weapon. In front of her, twenty meters ahead was a dead body shot right in the chest, dead before he touched the ground. The third thug he had completely forgotten.

He stared at the girl; her arm still raised, her face unreadable. After what felt like an eternity, she lowered her gun and faced him.

"Let's go." She said, already walking away. Deidara didn't follow.

"I was told you never use your gun, because you'd never kill."

The girl stopped, and raised her head to gaze at the dark sky above. Lots of memories were coming back to her, along with emotions she couldn't deal with right now. She pushed them away; just like she always did. She would always gaze at the sky, at night or during the day, wondering if there was someone above their heads, watching over them, punishing the bad guys and reward the good. She'd wonder if their parents were there, too; if they were proud of them…

She met Deidara' expectant gaze. It was kept private, so not many people knew about this part of her past. And she intended to keep it that way. So she settled for half an answer.

"Time changes. The person I was before, the innocent girl who'd never have taken a life like that, even to protect herself…She's gone."

Deidara stared at her. Her tone was even, but her voice was…empty.

"Why? Not many people can change like that, in such a short amount of time, Tsuky…What made you change?"

For a while, the girl kept watching the moon above her head, lost in thought. She didn't want to talk about it. The wound was still painful, and would probably never heal. But Deidara wouldn't let it go.

She turned away from the sky, the heaven she'd never reach, to face the blond artist; embodiment despite himself, with the cursed black cloak with red clouds she was wearing too, of hell on earth. And in a voice so pained and eyes so full of despair Deidara could have drowned in it, she answered him.

"I changed…because she died."