It was raining, when she was running away. Running away from that village which seemed to never stop damning her very existance.

There were quick footsteps sloshing through the mud close behind her. "Sakura-chan!" said a voice from whom those footsteps belonged to. "You can't leave! You can't leave Konoha and you can not.. you can't leave me!"
It was a sudden decision to leave. Sakura hadn't thought about it at all. It was only when she realized that she didn't particularily enjoy the wrinkles settling into her forehead from them constantly being knit together out of worry and sadness that she decided she didn't need that anymore. It wasn't right.

It had been getting better. The last year had been pretty damned bearable, being with Naruto. But no. He didn't have time for a relationship anymore, with striving to become the Hokage.

Of course not. Why would someone have time for someone like her? Demanding and selfish. Horrible, worthless...

"Sakura-chan!"
Said girl started running faster, ignoring the fact that she winced when Naruto called her name. Sakura did her best to ignore his ever-so distinguishable voice and concentrate on how dark and grey the dead trees looked when they blurred by her quickly. How if she ran fast enough it looked like the rain was actually stars that were hitting her face.

Then she was thrown back into the air. Was Naruto growling? Did he rip the back of her shirt? "God damn it." Sakura sighed as she awkwardly poked her fingers at the middle of her back, feeling bare flesh. "You didn't have to rip it." she mumbled in a tone that sounded like she'd given up the point of the sentence half-way through, and started walking away. Just walking. She didn't dare look back to see if he was coming at her. The look on Naruto's face would be broken. First Sasuke, now her. What did they expect, though? Everyone treating her like crap.
'Good job,' she thought towards herself as she started jumping down the moss covered rocks, pacing herself to get to the lush valley below. 'You haven't blamed anyone else in a while!' Who knew leaving would help so quickly?

That's when she started to ignore everything that she could. She ignored the rain as it was getting colder and colder from night fall. Ignored the slight tiredness in her feet from running for the past two hours. The broken cry that sounded through the dead forest that got quieter and quieter.

Colder and colder.

Quieter and quieter.

Feeling less and less.

Sakura didn't remember any dreams she may have had when she woke up in a musky, damp room in what she presumed was the next morning. She still had her wet clothes on and there was someone knocking at the door. Her emotions told her that she was 'annoyed'. Haha.

"Yes?"
"Do you need your bed changed, fresh towels or anything, miss?"
Figuring she might as well be normal to people as to not arouse suspicion, Sakura went to the door and opened it with a smile. Not before quickly using a transformation jutsu to alter her appearance. Technically she was a fugitive now, after all. "Hello. Do you have any bath robes I could wear while my clothes dry?" she tried to sound as friendly as possible.

The small older woman smiled and handed her a soft, white and fluffy robe from the folded stack of them on her metal supply cart.

And Sakura's day went on.

After she showered and ate a complimentary breakfast, she put back on her sandals, grabbed her bag and left, changing out of her transformation when no one was around. She was in River Country now. When did she leave the Fire Country? Her mind only went blank at attempted remembrance. Oh well. She had just decided to give in to her childish wants to walk through one of the many giant rivers that led to nowhere when she noticed a gigantic, bird-shaped shadow passing over her and the river. It went too quickly. When she turned around it was already too far into the distance so that even her kunoichi-trained eyes could barely make out the strange white thing. It did look like there were people on it. Two people wearing red and black coats.

Sakura knew what that was. But the strangest part was that she didn't immediately turn hateful to what they were. They weren't her enemies now. In fact, she couldn't give a damn. Maybe, she couldn't give a damn.
Was a damn being given? No, couldn't be. It couldn't be that that long black coat with the red artsy clouds seemed... inviting.
And yet, something had her on her feet, running through the calm river that flowed up to her ankles right in the same direction that clay bird went. They would be long gone by now, but, maybe that blonde girly-looking man would blow something up! That'd be easy to track.

Why was she going, though? Sure they seemed inviting but, who said they'd take her. She wasn't a killer by any means or a psychopath. Maybe they'd just kill her. She supposed it didn't sound too horrible. Blowing up could be fun. It didn't take her long at all to find them, as, predicted before... he blew something up.
"Senpai... what'd you do that for?" Sakura heard as she approached the green forest, the ground dry with dirt and green leaves, weaving through the trees and closer to the criminals.
"I didn't do it on purpose, un." That's Deidara.
"Yes you did!" a low yet childish voice laughed. And that would be Tobi, Sakura noted to herself.

She started walking towards them, a little hopeful. Something snapped infront of her face and then another something blew up in the same place. A very tiny explosion, but with just enough force to make her fall backwards on to her butt.

She shook her head, temporarily blinded and dizzy, sighing.
"Pinkie?" Deidara questioned, "Where's the others, though? Although I suppose with considering how you don't look angry beyond all reason I shouldn't be too worried, un."
Sakura nodded. "I left." she informed him, staying seated on the leafy forest floor, there was a twig poking into her back, too.
Tobi was automatically curious. "Really? Why? Were they mean to you?"
Such a kid. "So to speak, I guess. Some things you just need to get away from forever."
Deidara eased up a bit and stepped closer when he saw her blindess, but he would still be on guard. "And may I ask why you decided to seek out two dangerous criminals and enough C4 to blow you sky-high? Un."
She tilted her head, pondering the question herself. Her vision was coming back a bit and she looked at his face. It didn't look angry or defensive, so, why lie? "I figure I may as well attempt to do something with my newly found criminal aspects."
That made Deidara snort in amusement.
Sakura huffed. "Or get myself killed. Why not?"

Deidara sighed and looked at her, attempting to remember any information about her. She was strong enough to kill his Danna. Sakura Haruno, an S-rank level kunoichi with barbaric strength, skill and world-class healing. And Deidara had no healers in his family. Sakura was actually worth considering to him.
"She seems fine to me!" Tobi told his senpai happily. Deidara ignored him.

"Okay, un." He looked straight at her and raised his visible eyebrow. "I'll take you in to be considered."
Sakura felt her chapped lips crack a bit as she smiled for the first time in ages.

Deidara only found her cocky with that, but, she seemed happy enough not to ruin the mood. "I'm going to have to knock you out, though, un."
"What?"
And then everything went black.

This time she dreamed vividly. A lot of her past mixed in with strange quirks and actions that made no sense... it made her think, when she was regaining consciousness slowly, that her life, as it was now, kind of was like a dream. It didn't make sense and she was doing things that did make sense. That's what dreams usually were. And you'd always be surprised when you did find yourself to have a normal, make-sense dream. Those were the boring dreams, though. Those weren't the dreams Sakura wanted to have. And so she chose not to.
Her eyes opened a bit and she quickly took in her surroundings out of habit. It was quite a unique place and actually rather beautiful considering it was constructed out of cement, stairs twisting everywhere and anywhere. She was high up enough to see a small cluster of buildings in the distance, but it led on until she couldn't see anymore over a ledge of the building. This would be a very high tower in a very large city. That's interesting. She wanted to move up to see over that ledge and look down and maybe see the people as little ants.
Sakura wanted to, but couldn't move for her life. She felt sluggish and rather achey. And probably would have fallen off of the step she appeared to be sitting on and straight on to her face, if there wasn't an arm pulling her up and closer to the body that belonged to it. "It's okay, I've got you."
Sakura blinked the sleep out of her eyes and looked next to her, a tiny bit surprised when she found her looking straight at a bright orange mask, the shape of it twisting to the one hole left for an eye. "Tobi."
"You're all set, un." said a voice from her other side. Long blonde hair flew into Sakura's face as a gust of wind blew towards them. "Pein said you could be needed and then told us to welcome you."

Was it really that simple? Just see her while she was sleeping and give approval just like that? Was there no test or initiation or... at least an interview? "There is a task he wants you to do. A pretty big one, un." There it was.

She cleared the frog out of her throat and blinked a couple more times before looking at Deidara. "Which is?" he only shrugged in response.

It surprised her when he smacked her on the back and smiled at her, and Tobi's arm tightened around her shoulders lightly. "Welcome!"

The day was weird, to say the least. After heading into what was her new home, she felt comfortable and strangely welcomed. Tobi, ever the optimist, gave her a tour of the place. It was dark and a bit damp. the walls were cement and the floor alternated between wood and stone within the many rooms. Her room had two beds and simple shelves and flooring for whatever she may have brought with her. Which was nearly nothing. When Sakura left her village she grabbed her worn bag with whatever was left in it from her last mission and bolted. Probably a few different kinds of nutrition pills and some scrolls and medical supplies. At some point she must have put her forehead protecter in there as well because the top of her head felt a little lighter. She didn't bother looking and just threw her bag onto her bed.

It was a strangely normal place. And that's what made it weird. The people she passed in the hall seemed fine with her presence. All people she had seen in her small book of criminals. A couple of them said 'hey', others nodded and one even smiled at her. On Sakura's personal tour she found quite a few laughing and talking with each other, some rough housing with each other.
"They're more like a family than a group of criminals..." Sakura thought out loud.
Tobi nodded and laughed quietly. He seemed quite happy just to be there when he spoke of the place and its residents. She did have to remember that they were all criminals and they really might just kill her if she screwed up anything. Like the unknown task she was about to do at god knows when. She wanted to ask but Deidara, who didn't seem to know anyway, left at some point when the living area was shown. Something told her she'd be staying close to Tobi and the blonde explosive man.

The day drawled on awkwardly for Sakura. She was shown the library and found Deidara in there. Tobi pointed to the medical section before disappearing. She only stood there quietly, peeking at Deidara once in a while as he read some thick fiction book.
Finally he looked right back at her, "What is it? Un."
Sakura sighed and sat down in a chair across from him. It had been bothering her as soon as she realized that they were a family. She helped kill Deidara's partner. "I..." she swallowed, "want to apologize."
That took him off guard. He took a few seconds to think it through and then laughed, "Don't! You don't go in to a fight looking to live, un. Danna was an emotionless..." he trailed off for a second before shaking his head "cocky puppeteer who was fighting against you as well. One of you would survive and only one. It was you and I hold nothing against you for that, un."
Sakura took Deidara's words in and relaxed a bit in relief. "I'm glad you don't hate me, then."
"You amuse me greatly, and you seem to get along with Tobi. Someone other than me needs to keep him at bay once in a while, un."
She laughed for the first time in what seemed like ages. Deidara smiled with her.
She was looking through a shelf of forbidden medical technique books, pondering as to how she got here in just a few days and why she was so comfortable with it all, when she heard a low voice call for her. It wasn't Deidara's. When she rounded the corner she was surprised to see a man with brightly colored orange hair, and more piercings on his face than she thought possible. "Hello," she greeted cautiously. Sakura hadn't seen his face in the criminal book before.

He nodded to her. "I'm Pein." he told her. She wasn't used to the formality. Everyone else she'd met today just greeted her like it was any old day at a cafeteria. "And I do suppose you're curious as to what task I would like you to do."
Sakura's eyebrows raised and she nodded. Deidara came to stand right next to her as if it was his job. His back was completely straight.
"You're going to bring a previous member of the Akatsuki back to life."
That surely stopped her in her tracks, and Deidara as well. He stiffened beside her.

What? Her eyes wandered away from Pein and to the dusty wooden flooring as she thought this question through. "How?" she finally asked.
"There are many ways to do it. All forbidden in the shinobi world, of course, but... as you might have noticed I'm not that opposed to that which is. The easiest way is what you will be doing."
Doing, not trying. Noted.
"You will not be doing this on your own but you will need to give it your all." Pein walked over to her and held out his empty hand toward her. A scroll appeared in a puff of smoke. The scroll, thick as ever, held the most interesting designs along the edges. The woven designs seemed to be glowing ever so slightly. Sakura took it and nodded. "Read it all." Pein told her.
She looked up from the scroll and found he was gone. Deidara was looking closely at the scroll held up in her hands, a questioning look on his face. "How..?" he shook his head and took his place back in his thinly cushioned chair, picking his book back up and began reading again, but the look never left his face.
Sakura sat across from him once again and began studying the scroll. It was no where near boring. It began with teaching a way of channeling chakra that she didn't even know was possible. She played around with the technique with her fingertips, a nearly white colored chakra seemed to be flowing from her hand. It looked like see-through snow was falling upwards from her hand. Once she was done examining it she went back to the scroll. Channeling chakra, restoring the body, the mind, the soul and then life.
This would be very interesting.
And it was. After Sakura read and memorized the scroll, she began channeling all of her chakra that way and kept doing so. And she learned somewhere in that scroll that this proccess could take days to complete. There was no turning back, either, as the scroll would be used in the technique. There was no practicing with a bird or fish and there was no stopping after one started. If you stopped before completion, the technique would use all of the life force of those who preformed it.

"Do or die," Sakura thought aloud once again. Deidara ruffled her hair after that.

It wasn't by any means comforting, but she wasn't scared. In fact she felt important. She didn't feel useless or a horrible person here. She was needed. And even though this was on the worst means neccesary, as she was now becoming one of a group of the biggest enemies against the world... she felt helpful. Good.

Meals were given at certain times, but the kitchen was open. You could sleep when you wanted to and unless you had certain priorities, you did what you wanted as well. There was a library, a living area, a training area and two relaxation areas on the floor of the tower that they used. All of the members' personal rooms were one floor up. It was a simple situation and easy to get used to in the two free days she had before preforming the task. Deidara and Tobi kept her company often and she began to accept the hugs Tobi was so willing to give. Deidara was forced to get in on a hug once, but didn't seem to mind too much and Sakura was relieved to find him getting comfortable around her. But that made her wonder, "Why don't you think I'm a spy?"
Deidara tilted his head and pondered his explanation as he looked at her. Leaning back in his chair in the library, which they both went to each day, he began to speak, "Well, for one; they all have a certain attitude about them that's too easy to spot. They're so hesitant about things and are over-friendly. You accepted the task Pein gave you without thinking against it at all. You sleep at night, you actually laugh and seem happy, un." he stopped now, wondering if he should say any more. "And you... were important to the Leaf's Hokage, un?"
Sakura blinked in remembrance, as if she'd forgotten her shishou completely. As if that was ages ago. She nodded slowly.
"Then you'd be too important to send in just to get killed, un. Why send one of the best medical nin to spy on enemies by yourself when that isn't your gig?"
She nodded again and exhaled the breath she'd been holding in. "I guess you do have a good point." She smiled, "And another question, why do you say un so much?"
He smiled back at her, holding up a hand that was sticking its tongue out at her and waving it a bit, "What ever do you mean? Un."

But smiles wouldn't last long after the nervousness that evening settled in down to her bones. She was about to do it.

Sakura was about to ressurect Sasori of the Red Sand.

A/N: See? I told you more explanations. And to those of you who were asking questions; I'm so sorry I didn't see any of those! I was very honestly scared to look at my reviews. I knew this story was so horrible and I take criticism very horribly. But knowing exactly how this story goes, I'm writing faster than ever. The sequel will come soon after this and I'm saving all of the old chapters in case enough of you for some reason want that story. I hope you like this!
You are my inspiration, reviewers and followers. I really do love you all.