Hey there! Nessie-chan is back!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and if I did, you would surely be able to tell by the supreme dominants of Akatsuki…

I probably should warn you against OOCness but hopefully not too much.

Please enjoy AND REVIEW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! It's the only way I know what you think, and if there's anything I should improve.

Three hours had gone by since psychiatrist Dr. Kataya Okane had visited the Akatsuki at the famous Amegakure Asylum. Three hours since she had seen that man, and yet she still could not get her mind off it, let alone stop shaking.

As she stood in the small kitchen of her apartment, cooking the daily dinner consisting of instant ramen, her mind began to wander to the highlight of the day. It had been beyond weird to hear him speak her name again, but what truly pleased her was the way he had said it. She was quite positive no one else had heard the emotions behind the word but her. To others his voice had seemed rough and irritated, but she knew better. Chock was the first and most dominant emotion; that much was certain. She also detected guilt and… perhaps a bit of grief? The next and last emotion she recognized was something that really pissed her off though. He had sounded almost accusing.

The mere thought of it made her spill her ramen, as she made her way towards the worn couch, which also served as her bed at the moment. It just seemed too alien in the bedroom.

Considering the events of the day Kataya found herself being absolutely exhausted, so instead of making herself a new dinner she tried to clean up the one currently lying on her living room floor. This proved to be a rather difficult task, as the sauce kept seeping down between the cracks in the wooden floor.

After 5 minutes of intense fighting against what was once an eatable dinner, she simply gave up, throwing the soaked paper on the floor, while glaring at the mess she had made. To finish the disaster she kicked the ramen container across the room, just for the sake of doing it, until it bumped into some forgotten laundry.

"Oh, for Christ sake…" she muttered to no one in particular, but instead of picking it up she decided it was time to go to bed. She didn't even bother to take off her clothes, as she tugged her blanket tight around her body.

Before she could doze off to the blissful world of sleep, her mind took her a couple of hours back in time.

Just as her and Shizune turned back towards the metal door and planned to leave, a dark rough voice reached their ears, and even though they only heard one word, that one word was enough to make an uncomfortable shiver run through Shizune, while Dr. Okane secretly smiled an almost sick smile on the inside. Yes, only one word, or should I say… name?

"Kataya!"

Shizune looked at the woman beside her questioningly. The secretary was on the verge of asking if she should leave, but the doctor didn't make any move to turn around. Not that she could blame her really. Instead Shizune pointed her attention towards the man who had spoken. His eyes looked frustrated. "Kakuzu," the short woman quietly mumbled to herself, with something resembling pity in her voice.

Kataya simply ignored the both of them. She kept walking through the door with a concerned Shizune, and not once did she look back.

The stars watched over the sleeping city, like a guardian angel would over a tiny newborn baby. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful. Like the darkness of the night could hide all the wrongdoings of the world. That was until…

"Arrrrgh!" Kataya woke up at the sound of her own scream. She could instantly feel herself sweating beyond belief, while her pulse was racing away.

"Ugh, not again," she complained to herself, as she groggily tried to figure out what time it was. "4.30 am. You have got to be kidding me…" she deadpanned. She sighed deeply and made her way towards the bathroom, though she didn't stop mumbling to herself until the water started to cool her down. She sighed again in bliss before mumbling a last "fucking nightmare."

When she exited the bath she found that the sweat had been replaced by her entire body shaking uncontrollably.

In an attempt to stop it she hurried to a small cabinet in the kitchen, from where she took out a large bottle, before she went to fetch a glass of fitting size.

Kataya wasn't normally a very big fan of alcohol, but it was 5.10 in the morning, plus she had to get up in one hour, so it was pointless to go back to sleep, and on top of it all she was still shaking.

'Oh, what the hell' she thought to herself as she started sipping the clear vodka she had poured in the glass. When she felt the shaking come to an end she sighed relieved.

After that, time seemed to go unbelievably fast, and soon she was on a bus on her way to the asylum.

Upon her arrival she instantly went to see Dr. Senju, who wished to discuss her future there.

The doctor sat behind a paper filled mahogany desk, while looking incredibly bored. When Kataya entered she lightened up though and motioned for the other woman to sit down as well. The two women stared at each other for a couple of seconds, before Dr. Senju broke the silence.

"So you did decide to come back to us. I can't say I'm surprised though. I think we both know you would, regardless any compromises I put up," she started.

Kataya narrowed her eyes at that. "I thought we already agreed to whatever compromises there might be, yesterday?"

"We did – I'm just pointing out the obvious. And before you even think of asking, I'll let you know that I haven't changed my mind; if you want to work with Kakuzu, you will work with the rest of the Akatsuki as well." Kataya flinched the second Dr. Tsunade mentioned that name, but either the blond doctor didn't notice or just didn't care.

"And I agreed to that compromise, though I think I deserve to know why. You failed to mention that," Kataya insisted.

The elder woman sighed. "I have had the Akatsuki in my custody for nearly a year now with top psychiatrists' working with them, yet not one of them has shown any noticeable signs of improvement. Then you show up at my asylum; a brand new psychiatrist, who is currently famous in most of the United States for your miraculous work with our time's most feared insane criminal, Madara. Would you really expect me to let go of an opportunity like that? Especially when I have the means to practically blackmail you to cooperate," she finished with a smirk and a dangerous glint in her eyes.

As much as Kataya would like to say she disagreed and were slightly offended by the comment, her inner self couldn't help but linger at the fact, that it sounded unmistakably much like something she herself would say. All in all Dr. Senju reminded her so very much of herself from time to time: the very thought of it secretly irritated her beyond belief.

"Very well, then. I suppose that does make some kind of sense," she finally admitted against her will.

"Of course it does," the other said with a smile and a hint of pride in her voice. Then, however, she turned serious again. "I have one more thing I'd like to make clear though."

Kataya really didn't like the sound of that. In the short amount of time the two doctors had known each other, they had quickly figured out that, whenever Dr. Tsunade said anything, the brunette had a nasty habit of disagreeing and vice versa.

"I think it would be in everybody's best interest, if you started working with some of the other members of Akatsuki, before you start working with Kakuz-"

"Absolutely not!" Kataya was glaring at the blond in a way the most hardcore criminals would fear. Despite that, it seemed to have very little effect on Tsunade.

"Dr. Okane! I will not discuss this. At this point I don't think you're strong enough mentally to start out with him. You know this to be true, even if you don't want to admit it. You can work with two or three of the others as a starter, so to speak," the owner of the asylum said with a stern voice that left, as she had said, little to be discussed.

"…Fine," the other spoke seemingly calm, while she secretly fumed.

After five minutes of uncomfortable silence Kataya sighed. 'No need to get all worked up over it, if she won't change her mind anyway. I guess it would be fun to work with some of the others too' she thought to herself as she withdrew her glare.

"So…" she said after a while. "Who will I try out first?"

While the two female doctors kept trying to bite each other's heads off, Kakuzu sat on his neatly made bed deep in thought.

Despite his mental problems he was no stupid man. Actually he was considered quite intelligent and clever minded, though with an unhealthy interest for ripping out people's hearts. Literally.

Kakuzu was very well aware of his own intelligence, which was also why he mentally cursed himself for the shock, that had taken over his body and mind, as he had seen her just outside his cell the previous day. He had always known that she eventually would seek him out, so why had it come as such a shock?

'It has been twelve years after all' he mused. 'Twelve years… Has time really run that fast? …My sweet little Kataya…' he thought as a creepy and challenging grin dominated his usual irritated features. 'I wonder what you have in mind for me…'

His thoughts were interrupted as the door to the Akatsuki's 'dungeon' swung open, and in walked the very cause of his current thoughts, accompanied by two men dressed in white. One of them was holding a gun-looking device, but instead of bullets, it was loaded with little arrows, that were coated in a serum, which would make the victim lose consciousness in no time.

Kakuzu knew this as a fact, since he had found himself at the wrong end of that gun one too many times.

He watched as the trio made their way towards Sasori's cell, who stared at them with a look of indifference on his face.

As the two men dressed the redhead in a straitjacket, the 'gun' pointed at him at all time, Kakuzu kept his eyes on the female.

She stirred a little, as if she could feel him starring at her and finally turned her head to meet his strong gaze. Her own eyes were a blur of emotion to Kakuzu, although she was obviously trying to hide it behind a glare. The emotion he found the most pleasure in digging out from the frustrated doctor's eyes, were sheer and deeply regretted curiosity. The supposedly emotionless serial killer was actually quite amused by the sight.

The moment was destroyed, as Sasori and the two orderlies walked out of said redhead's cell. They lead Sasori to the end of the room opposite the metal door, where another, smaller door decorated the wall. It was no secret what was behind the door. They had all been there – all the Akatsuki, and all of them hated it with an equal passion: the therapy room.

As the straightjacket had been removed from the patient, and the door to the therapy room shut behind Kataya, with the two men's promise to be right outside if anything should happen, she shivered in a mix of angst and excitement. The calm gaze of Sasori Akasuna met her, with an obvious hint of expected insanity.

He sat on a simple, uncomfortable-looking chair on one side of a desk. Kataya sat down across from the serial killer.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the man across from her beat her to it.

"Oh. No notebook I see? That is quite unusual; wouldn't you say so, Kataya Okane?" His voice was very calm and sophisticated, but at the same time extremely challenging. His eyes narrowed in a way that would indicate he already knew the answer for whatever question he may ask but simply wished for the counterpart to voice it.

The complete image of him, received only from that first line, was a dangerously provocative, yet intelligent psychopath.

'Just lovely' the doctor thought to herself, with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

"I don't do notebooks. I find them distracting and a waste of time, to be honest," she answered in her own professional voice.

"Is that so? That would make perfect sense, I guess, if you could remember and analyze everything being said in a therapy meeting such as this, without the means of a material thing like a notebook, that is," he said with a disbelieving voice and a devious smirk on his lips.

Before the criminal could say more to offend her, Kataya took a recoding tape from the bag she had brought with her, turned it on and put in on the desk, irritation clear in her movements, although she tried to hide it.

"Now that is more like it; don't you agree dear?" he commented satisfied.

"You seem awfully interested in my opinion Mr. Akasuna? And I would really much appreciate it if you didn't call me such names," she said, trying to regain her professional self.

The criminal chose to ignore her request regarding the nickname. "Please, call me Sasori, dear. And of course I would want your opinion, as you, as far as I'm concerned, will be the one in charge of our 'treatment' from now on; am I not correct?" he asked in false concern.

Kataya opened her mouth to reply, when she, once again was interrupted by the man across from her. It secretly annoyed her to no end.

"You're nervous," he stated calmly with a knowingly look in his chocolate brown eyes.

"What would make you say that?"

"You keep grinding your hands together; a sure sign you're sweating. Besides, your breathing is quite irregular, meaning your heart is beating at random intervals; caused by stress I should say."

"I beg to differ," she said as composed as possible, while she mentally cursed herself and rearranged her hands. "You on the other hand seem quite calm?"

"Oh, I have tried this many times before Kataya, and not one of those previous pathetic persons should have the right to call themselves psychiatrists." There was something resembling anger in his voice.

"Ahh, yes," Kataya remembered. "In your files it said you graduated as a psychiatrist from 'Sunagakure Academy of Psychology', just before you were captured. Must be frustrating; being a psychiatrist who is questioned, judged and looked down upon by other psychiatrists. Thinking they can cure you from who you are…" she mused, trying to provoke him.

"Do you look down on me, doctor? Judge me?"

"Look down on you? No. Quite the contrary. I see you as someone I can learn from – someone who can improve me. Do I judge you? Of course. Judgment and prejudice: some of the most basic traits in human nature. I couldn't stop judging you if I wanted to. What matters, however, is how I judge you," the brunette stated, desperately hoping he accepted her response. It seemed he did.

"Congratulations Kataya. That was the right answer," he pronounced in a playful voice. "This might prove more interesting than I thought," he added. "So, how do you judge me, dear?"

"Ah-ah. It's my turn to ask the questions, don't you think?" The last part was slightly mocking.

Sasori just shook his head.

"Quid pro quo, Kataya," he replayed jokingly.

Said doctor frowned. "It figures you would have seen 'Silence of the Lamps'."

"Why of course!" he exclaimed joyfully, clapping his hands together. "He is quite interesting, isn't he? Hannibal Lecter. Very fascinating…" he mused.

"Extremely," she commented drily. "You sound positively in love with him," she muttered under her breath, hoping he didn't hear her.

"Love your sarcasm," he said with that irritatingly provocative glint in his eyes. "But I stand by what I said, dear. Quid pro quo; if I tell you things, I expect you to do the same in return. It's only fair that way, you see."

"I see what you mean, Mr. Akasuna, but so far you have been the only one asking the questions," she insisted.

"Now, what did I say to you about my name? And if you haven't questioned me, it would be your own fault. You are the psychiatrist; I am just the poor insane guy," he stated.

Kataya hated that he was right. "Why puppets?" She decided to start with the most obvious question regarding his fetish for turning his victims into puppets.

"What is true art, Kataya?"

She instantly knew this to be an important question, since the puppeteer saw himself as an artist, so she thought about it for a moment. "I would say that… true art is when an artist creates something that other people can love and appreciate even after said artist's death." She studied his expression to see if she had his approval.

"Very good. True art is eternal; something that lasts through the ages of time; something that does not decay," he then added.

"Like puppets?" Kataya guessed. He didn't answer her.

"Tell me doctor," he started, as he leaned forward with hands interlaced and darkened features. The temperature in the semi-lightened room seemed to drop a few degrees, as the next words were said. A wide, creepy grin replaced the previous smirk on his face, just as all the blood drained from his opponents face. "Do you ever play with puppets?"

…

It took the brunette a couple of minutes to find her voice again.

"Wh-what do you mean, Mr. Aka-Sasori?" she nervously asked.

"I mean," he repeated, "do you ever play with puppets? With a friend or… a sister, perhaps?" he said with a mischievous expression.

"Brother!" she quickly corrected him.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow to voice the unspoken question.

"I hav-had a brother. Not a sister," she explained, while trying to keep calm.

"Had? What happened to your brother?"

"Do you see yourself as insane?" she asked instead of answering the man's question. Luckily it seemed he went along with her change of subject.

"All people are insane, Kataya; some in more drastic ways than others. Do I believe I can be 'cured'; that I can change? Perhaps. It would solely depend on the psychiatrist," he said with a smirk.

With that, their first therapy session ended. It wasn't until she exited the asylum, that it hit Kataya; he had been toying with her all along!

'FUCK!' she thought to herself as she made her way towards the bus stop.