ii.
Returning to the compound, Sakura tried not to think about her folly but instead of ways she could take out the rest of the Akatsuki.
Her mentor was sure to be dissatisfied with the outcome, and she cursed her reckless behaviour not for the first time that night. A swift massacre. It should've been easy, especially for someone like her, who had had practice her entire life. Perhaps the goal had been too far-fetched considering her target were infamous for their cunning and treachery.
She glanced over her shoulder discreetly before pushing in the door that lead into the compound.
Kakashi stood under the harsh fluorescent light, his silver hair appearing colourless, leaning casually on a lone desk. Grudgingly, she strode closer, clearing her throat to interrupt him from the files he was looking at. "Got a new one for me?"
"That depends," he said, putting down the files. "How did the mission go?"
She took a deep breath. "I didn't get them all. Some of them had already escaped when I got there, I was so sure–" her hand fisted.
"How many are left?"
"Nine."
"This could present a problem," Kakashi stated, sighing. "They'll be expecting more attacks now that they're aware we are after them."
She nodded, knowing what this meant for her. She'd have to be careful, even more so than last time. A cold burn spread through her, partially her hatred for the men who had eluded her and partially her incapability to finish them all in one clean strike like she had originally planned.
Kakashi said nothing more, and she felt the disappointment roiling off him. Usually he would lecture her on all the things she'd done wrong and could've done better, and though she outwardly scorned the criticism, inside she noted every constructive word.
"I found Sasuke Uchiha," she offered instead, something to ease the blow of her failure. Something to get some sort of reaction from him.
Kakashi tilted his head, mulling over the positives and negatives of this unexpected outcome.
"Good," he said simply.
This was worse than Kakashi's reprimands, this uncaring, indifferent voice, almost as if he expected her to fail. But Sakura could not say anything to change that.
She'd have to show him.
...
From what Sakura could see, there were only three of them. So much for taking the rest out like she had previously intended.
She consulted the file on the Akatsuki given to her prior to the assignment to identify them. Next to each picture was a short summary of their character, and she found she was facing the members Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame.
Her mouth twisted in disgust as she read their vulgar attributes, and then turned to a frown as she noted they were extremely hard to kill.
But that was only because she hadn't tried yet.
Sakura pulled out a knife before a hand stopped her, and her head instantly whipped to the side, gearing up for an attack–
"Oh. It's Mr 'I kill for fun'."
"Tch. That is not true."
She raised her eyebrow at him, and he let go of her wrist, looking off to the side.
"Please tell me you were not planning to do that again."
"And by that, do you mean kicking all their asses in one go?"
He looked back at her, his face hard as if he was scolding her. Sakura had met the notorious Sasuke Uchiha but the day before, and already she had began to predict his belittling attitude.
"You don't even need to be here. I can do this without you," he gritted.
"How many times do I have to say this? I'm here because I'm getting paid. It's not my fault some other fool decided to hire you for the same job."
"You're messing up my plans."
"And you're messing up mine. Look, as much as I hate to say this, we might as well work together. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner the world can be rid of them and the sooner I can bathe in all that coin."
"You want to take a bath in money?"
She rolled her eyes. "It's a figure of expression."
"Fine," he said grudgingly. "The deals on, Sakura Haruno."
She started. "How do you know my name? I don't remember disclosing that information."
"Maybe I'm just that good of an assassin."
She glared at him.
"Who else could you be?"
She seemed to be satisfied with that answer, a grin spreading across her face. "That, my friend, is very true indeed."
...
It felt like they had been watching them for hours, the three Akatsuki, who seemed to be doing nothing except dispute with each other.
The most normal looking one – which, actually wasn't that normal at all – was living up to his file, down to the triple bladed scythe he carried. Apart from his questionable choice of weapon, he was sarcastic and held an animosity towards one of his colleagues, who regrettably reciprocated.
A sudden realisation clicked within her. "He's armed."
None of their previous targets had had a single weapon on them, or any knowledge of skilled combat. They were much, much more different, seeming to joke about the gruesome ways they could bury the other one in the ground alive. She wondered if Sasuke was taking notes.
Her meagre blades and daggers seemed incompetent next to their large tools of destruction. But size didn't matter; it was the wielder who truly put value into their weapon.
Unfortunately, they seemed just as capable.
She glanced at the sword at her partner's side, his thumb brushing the hilt as if it was a lovable pet. Her eyes rolled against her will. It seemed she hadn't understood the extent of his love for violence.
But who was she to judge? She had a love for chaos.
Sasuke, who had only just seemed to hear her, frowned. His brows furrowed in the most comical way that she would've laughed at if the situation was not serious.
"At least one of them doesn't have a weapon," she tried to lighten up, gesturing to one with a mask covering half his face.
"Not one that we can see."
Honestly, how was she supposed to work with this guy?
"What I was saying was, maybe we should take out that one first? His name is Kakuzu."
Sasuke looked over at who she had pointed out. "Are you sure you're not related? Your eyes are the same colour."
Was he– was he trying to make a joke? But then she realised the deeper meaning behind his words, that he remembered the exact shade of her eyes, and flushed.
"Uh, I–"
"It was a joke, Sakura," he said, giving her a condescending look.
"I know... just not that you were capable of it," she mumbled.
"Hn. Are we going to going to take them out or not?"
She nodded. "Right." Why was she getting so flustered? He had practically insulted her by comparing her to that wretched leech.
Together, they planned what would be the best way to approach them, all the while the two Akatsuki members argued beneath them, the third occasionally interrupting to announce his annoyance.
"You – you want to use me as bait?!" she started.
"I didn't say that."
Sakura fumed. "But that's what you meant! Don't try to deny it. You don't think I'm capable enough, even though you fought beside me yesterday–"
"It's not that," he said, averting his eyes, "I'm just not used to working with other people."
"Then why did you accept?" she said, exasperated.
Sasuke seemed uncomfortable at the question. "Look, it's a better plan than yours."
"You haven't even heard mine!"
He raised an eyebrow. "But I can guess what it is."
"If you say 'kill them all in one go', I swear to Kami–"
Sasuke's lip quirked. "You said it, not me."
"Ugh!" she huffed, louder than she had intended.
The Akatsuki turned to look in their direction, and in that split second they had both ducked, eyes wide and hearts beating fast with the chance of being caught.
She was such an idiot! Sakura cursed herself. She had let him get to her- why was she letting him get to her? She knew better than this; her misstep had caused them the element of surprise!
"Kakuzu, did you hear that?" the member with the pale hair said.
His comrade nodded. Sakura and Sasuke tried to duck lower, feeling the criminals' eyes wandering the spot they were just standing on. It was useless. They were found.
"And I was just wondering what to sacrifice today."
It was now or nothing. Sasuke would probably berate her for it, but her intuition told her otherwise. This was their last opportunity to have the upper hand; if they attacked straight away, there was a small chance that the enemy wasn't ready yet.
Sakura's hand drifted to her knives.
But Sasuke was quicker. He must've been thinking the same thing, to her surprise. She didn't waste another moment before joining him in the fight.
The Akatsuki weren't unprepared. In fact, they proved right to her theories, and wielded their weapons well.
She aimed a swipe at the shark-man's face, but his sword deflected easily, landing a blow on her upper arm. Before she could try for another hit, Hidan's triple-bladed scythe swiped at her neck, and she had to jump back to avoid being decapitated. His off-key laughter rang in the air.
Sakura gritted her teeth. These were some of the hardest opponents she had had. She was used to killing, not confrontational battle. Dodging another attack, she gripped her knife tighter, and aimed for a weak spot–
A kick to the gut stopped her midstrike, and she choked, faltering. Sakura clenched her fist, ignoring the pain, and faced the perpetrator. Kakuzu.
"It's understandable why you do it. The money must be extraordinary. But what makes you think you can beat us?"
Sakura didn't have time to react, a whooshing sound to her right alerting her of another assault, and she blocked with her knife, bracing her arm for the burn as their weapons collided.
"Exchanging life for money isn't a job, don't listen to Kakuzu," Hidan said, as if they weren't engaged in a searing hold.
She bit back a scream. The pressure was too great, if they kept this up any longer, she was sure her arm would snap off.
With a surge of renewed energy, she shoved hard on her weapon, managing to push back her opponent enough to withdraw.
"I'm impressed you managed to survive that," he said, swinging his scythe back another time. But this time she was prepared, and skilfully evaded the barrage, flipping graciously away.
Her knife whipped forward in an attempt at a surprise attack, but a second figure intersected it. As much as they bickered, Kakuzu seemed to deflect any attack aimed at Hidan.
Sakura had an idea. He was fast, but maybe she could use that to her advantage.
She drew out a second knife, careful to avert as much attention to it. When she was satisfied it had caught Kakuzu's attention, she flung it hard. As expected, he went straight for it, missing her hidden intent to attack with her fists, and she caught him in the jaw, landing a second blow on Hidan's shoulder.
They recovered fast. "Now I'm mad. Let's slaughter these idiots!"
"Quick talk, for someone who's easy to kill," Sasuke said, suddenly appearing at his back, his sword running clean through Hidan's chest.
She had almost forgotten he was here.
Blood oozed from Hidan's chest. Incongruously, he grinned, mouth filling with a burble of blood, staining his teeth red.
Her eyes shifted to Sasuke, checking for any wounds. Apart from a few minor scratches, he was largely unscathed. Though he did seem a little tired.
Already? she thought, brows furrowing.
Sasuke started to draw the sword out of the Akatsuki's body, but she didn't have time to relish in his death, swivelling around to kick the shark-faced one under. Her success bought another attack from Kakuzu, but she punched him in the jaw again, sending him a few feet away.
She regained her breath, looking back at their fallen opponent, only to notice he was still alive.
The moment of bewilderment caused her to miss the next strike at her, Kisame's sword biting into the flesh of her arm before she could escape.
Strange; with a single hit, she felt... weaker. Drained. This must be why Sasuke had looked so tired.
Tears stung her eyes and her shoulder throbbed, but she pulled her arm back anyway, aiming a hit at the bastard who had ambushed her, throwing him a few metres away with her strength.
She turned back to Hidan, who was in the middle of fighting Sasuke, and her mind whirled at the impossibility that he had lived. Had Sasuke missed his heart? Still, his wound should have had affected him, and it was almost as if it never happened.
But he wasn't immortal – there had to be some way to kill him.
Right now, though, she didn't have time to think about it anymore, with Kakuzu and Kisame attacking her as if there was no tomorrow. She was getting better with her fists, having lost her two knives somewhere in the melee, and dodged as much as she striked, choosing not to reveal the other weapons on her person until the time was right.
It was when she nearly lost her head a second time by Kisame's sword that she thought of something. Though, it required her to lose her current opponents.
The solution was easy; she would have to pummel them enough to disable them.
Landing several blows to their pressure points, the two were quickly hurt enough to pause for a moment. It was all she needed.
Sakura veered towards Sasuke and Hidan's fighting forms, and when they were in the midst of exchanging blows, she struck out, pinning Hidan down with her fist, opening up enough time for Sasuke to slice through the sarcastic Akastsuki's neck.
The rest were somewhat easier to kill after that.
Rage was pure on their faces, though perhaps not for their fallen member, but more for the fact that one of them had been defeated.
But rage bred stupidity, and this gave Sasuke and Sakura an edge.
High on their kill, they attacked together, seeming to realise it was the best way to get rid of their targets.
Apparently, the Akatsuki did not work so well together, as their attacks were sporadic and messy, especially after witnessing Hidan's death. Though this unpredictable behaviour presented a slight problem, the assassins were skilled enough to block, only light injuries hitting their bodies whilst the enemy took the brunt of it.
Kisame was the next to go. The hilt of Sakura's hidden dagger buried straight into his neck, having distracted him with yet another blow to the face.
His blood was still warm on her fingers when the last remaining member, Kakuzu, made to retreat. But he wasn't getting away this time.
She advanced on him while Sasuke moved to go behind him; exactly like he had done the first time he had tried to put an end to Hidan. Anticipating his moves, Kakuzu turned to shield himself from the oncoming attack, underestimating the foe before him.
Sakura didn't wait before plunging the knife into his back, her breathing rapid as his body fell to the floor.
There was a silence she used to regain herself.
"It shouldn't have been that hard," she said, frowning. Her arm hurt and her whole body ached. Even Sasuke looked worse for wear.
Somehow, Kisame's sword had weakened them. Not only that, they had been almost worthy opponents. It was confusing – the Akatsuki were supposed to be business men.
She needed to tell Kakashi.
Before she turned to leave, she gave Sasuke a camaraderie nod. They couldn't have done this without each other, that much was certain.
His own features were grim, jaw locked as if he had just figured out this fact for himself.
"I'll see you, Sakura Haruno," he said, if a little grudgingly.
The fact that he knew her name still brought chills to her spine.
I just love the Akatsuki? idk they're just such great characters and I'm so excited to write about them! Would love to hear your thoughts!