Chapter 2: Dresses

*No POV; age 6*

Sakura walked out of her room, flabbergasted. Konan MADE her put on a dress because there was a 'rich man' coming to the base today, who was going to give a lot of money to the Akatsuki. Konan told Sakura to be on her best behavior. Meaning NO pranks. Apparently, Leader-sama had kicked Hidan and Kakuzu out, purposely knowing Hidan would get on Sakura's nerves, plus his constant swearing. And Kakuzu, he just shouldn't be around money when he's with Hidan. They just don't mix well together.

Sakura wasn't a tomboy, but she wasn't a girlie-girl either, which made her sigh at the fact she had to wear a dress. The dress was a light purple color, which had a ribbon that tied in the back. It almost looked like a Lolita dress with all the frills and bows. Konan put Sakura's hair in a cute messy bun, and tied a white ribbon around it. And the shoes, that was the worst part. White flats. Sakura HATED flats, (any type of dress shoe), because they ALWAYS gave her blisters. She walked down the hallway, and luckily she didn't see anyone. Then she entered the dining room, that's when all hell broke. "Aww! You're so cute Sakura, un!" "Sakura-chan, that dress is very pretty." "Tobi loves Sakura's dress!" "Aww! Kitten should wear dresses more often!" She sighed. This was just the beginning of her day.

*Sakura's POV*

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Sasori always could tell when I was feeling down. "I hate wearing dresses." "Why?" "Because they are so uncomfortable!" "I wouldn't know from experience, but they don't look like fun to put on." I rolled my eyes. "And now everyone thinks I'm a girlie-girl." "I wouldn't say that. I don't think so." "R-really?" "Yeah. Just because you put on a dress, doesn't make you act like that." I smiled at that. "Thanks Sasori-kun." He nodded, "Try to cheer up. It will be over soon." That really made me smile. "Kay!"

Unfortunately, Sasori-kun was wrong. It's been 2 hours and I was starting to suffocate in this dress. I never got to see the rich guy either. I was told to stay in the dining room unless I had to use the restroom or someone came for me. I wondered why I had to dress up then. All the sudden, I saw a boy around my age walk in the dining room and then he sat across from me. "Hi! Name's Kiba! What's yours?" The boy had two red marks down his cheek, and it looked like he had fangs. "I'm Sakura! Nice to meet you, Kiba!" I smiled. He was a nice guy. "What village are you from Sakura?" I continued to smile, putting up a front. "Konoha." "Really? Me too!" "I haven't been in Konoha for awhile. How is it there?" I was really curious now, something sparked my interest about Kiba, he was..different. "Well the construction was finished about 4 months ago. It's like brand new looking now!"

After Sasori picked me up, I occasionally thought back to Konoha, but not that much. "That's so cool! So are you in the Academy?" I couldn't help but wonder how my life would have been different if I was in the Academy. I never would have met the Akatsuki. "Not anymore. I'm the first to reach genin level." "Whoa! So you're really powerful! I'm so jealous!" Quite frankly, I was pretty close to becoming a genin, half the age everyone else did, so this Kiba kid must have tough senseis. "Thanks! Maybe we could train together some time!" "I'd love that!" I really wanted to know how powerful he was, and if he could show me new tricks he picked up at the Academy. "I love that dress you're wearing Sakura." I blushed, I wasn't expecting that. "Y-you do?" He gave me a genuine smile. "Yeah! You're really cute in it!"'I think he likes you.' "Thank you Kiba!" I was still blushing, which caused us both to laugh. We continued talking about the Academy until Leader-sama and some tall guy in a suit were walking this way.

I was laughing at one of Kiba's jokes (he was actually really funny), when I heard someone talking behind me. "Who's this Kiba?" I looked up at the man and smiled. "This is Sakura. Sakura that's my dad." He handed me his hand and I shaked it softly. "Nice to meet you Sakura." "Nice to meet you too!" He looked back at Leader-sama, "So is Thursday ok with you?"He nodded. "Alright then. Let's go Kiba." Kiba jumped down from the chair. "Bye Sakura!" "Bye Kiba!" I was kinda sad to see him leaving already. I hope I can see him again.

When they left I asked Leader-sama, "Is Kiba coming back Thursday?" "He might." I let out a small smile. "He was a really nice boy. He's my age and he's even a genin!" "Luckily we made a good business with Kiba's father too." I gushed out, "He even said I looked cute in this dress." I started to blush again, oblivious to Leader-sama's reaction. "He said what?" "That I looked cute in this dress, even though it is uncomfortable." He looked away from me, "Boys are already looking at you, huh?" He was mumbling again. "What's that Leader-sama?" "Nothing. You can change out of that dress if you'd like."

"THANK YOU KAMI-SAMA!" I heard a small chuckle. I was just about to walk out of the dining room when I heard, "Oi! Come here kitten!" Crap (Hidan was getting to me). I slowly walked over to Kisame who was in the living room. "Yes, Kisame?" "Were you flirting with that little boy?" My face went red. "W-what? No! We were just talking!" Suddenly I heard a string of "Sakura's got a boyfriend!" and "awws". It was so annoying. "He's not my boyfriend guys!" "Then why are you blushing, un?" "Because I can!" I stuck my tongue out at him. Itachi broke the string of laughs, "She probably doesn't even know what 'flirting' is Kisame." I walked out of the living room, irritated, back to my room. First thing I was gonna do was take this stupid dress off!

After 10 minutes of struggling, I got the dress off, and now I could finally train again! Besides, it was only 1 now. Just as I was about to go outside, it started to hail…HARD. "WHY KAMI-SAMA WHY?" I couldn't even train today! And all the guys were making comments about my 'boyfriend' and how I was growing up too fast. It was irritating me so much. I walked into the middle of the living room and shouted, "HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Then a bunch of guys started cracking up. "I think its cute Sakura-chan." "We just talked. He didn't ask me out or anything." I walked up next to Sasori and sat down next to him, he was always on my side (usually). "Just ignore those guys Sakura-chan." "At least you understand." I started to hearing a bunch of laughs again.

"Ne? What was his name kitten?" "Shut up!" "I think his name was Kiba, un." "Aww! Kiba and Sakura!" I sighed, in defeat. And I'm the six year old? I looked over to see Itachi mumbling, "I wonder if Sauske likes girls? Or if girls like Sauske?" "Girls probably like Sauske", I said. "Sakura? How would you that?" "Kiba told me about his classmates. Sauske is one of them." "Sakura is-""NO! HE ISN'T MY BOYFRIEND!" "Good." "Good?" He smirked, making me feel kinda creeped out. I backed out of the living room slowly, only to bump into a ranting Kisame. "There you are kitten! Where's Kiba?" He was having too much fun with this. He started to crack up, so I just ignored him and went to my room.

I sat on my bed, wondering what Leader-sama meant when he said that. 'It means he noticed that boys your age are now interested in girls your age. He's pretty much saying you're not allowed to have boyfriend.' 'Like I want one anyways!' 'Do you?' I couldn't lie to Inner. 'M…maybe.' 'Aww! Who is it? Deidara? Itachi? Kiba?' 'N-no.' 'AWWW!' "S-shut up!' "My little Saku found her first love!' 'No! No I didn't!' Konan knocked on my door and entered my room. Without saying anything, she put a huge bag on my bed, smiled, and left. Curious, I looked inside the bag. I found a note, and read it first. 'Sakura ~ Konan here. It's an order from Leader-sama. Wear these when you're not training! –Konan' I noticed she had put a small heart next to the word 'these'. I was going to kill myself. I looked inside the bag to find twenty-some dress, all different lengths and colors. "WHY KAMI-SAMA WHY?" Not to mention I would have to wear the mini heels and flats in the bag, along with tights, pantyhose, and some hair accessories. 'I think they are trying to make you a girile-girl.' "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?"

*Next morning*

I sighed because no one was going to train me today – so that meant…I had to wear a dress. Out of sheer boredom last night, I color-coded all of them in my closet. I walked up to my closet, closed my eyes, and picked a random dress. A pretty light green one. Wait…did I just say it was…pretty? I sighed, utterly disgraced with my previous thought. I hurried up and put white pantyhose on, along with kitty heels. I was going to get revenge, I swore it. I attempted to put my hair up in a simple ponytail, though it wasn't perfect, like I cared though, I was a kunoichi not a princess. I took a deep breath and ignored the glares I received when I walked in the kitchen. I walked up to Sasori, and started helping him make breakfast. "Um..why are you wearing a dress Sakura-chan?" "It was an order." "Oh." He didn't say anything else, because he knew I felt uncomfortable about it.

When we finished making breakfast, we sat down, thanked for the food, and started to dig in, only to receive many confused glares. "It was an ORDER ok? Jeez." I continued to eat. "How long are you gonna wear dresses kitten?" "Psshh. I don't have to tell you." "Still mad about yesterday?" "NO!" 'Ahem, yes.' He laughed, as I sulked in my chair. "Sakura's a girlie-girl now, un." No. I'm. Not." "I think it's cute." The Uchiha SPOKE! I stared at him, looked away quickly, and blushed. "How many dresses did Konan give you exactly Sakura-chan?" I knew this was coming, and I tried to avoid it. "Twenty." "Twenty, un?" "What did you color code them or something kitten." I didn't reply. He had an amused expression on his face. "You DID didn't you!"

"I was bored!" 'What a horrible excuse.' Deidara and Kisame were cracking up. Whatever, I just tried to ignore them. Hopefully this will blow over soon, but they probably had nothing else to do except belittle me since they weren't on missions now. When I finished breakfast, I did the dishes, in that stupid dress. And when I finished, I walked back over to the table, got up in my chair (which I was still having troubles with because it was so tall and I'm so short), and layed my head on the table. "What's wrong kitten?" He should already know. "I don't like dresses." "Hey, it's not that bad, un." "So you say. You aren't wearing one." I was pouting, but I didn't care, I had reason to. "Why did Leader-sama make you wear a dress anyways, un?"

"I don't know." "Why don't you ask him then?" I was surprised Itachi was even in this conversation. "Cause I don't wanna." Pouting wasn't gonna get me far, but I didn't know what else to do."Why not, un?" "I'll just ask Konan." She was the one who gave them to me in the first place. "You do realize that Deidara won't be here to train with you tomorrow, right kitten?" I lifted my head up and looked at the smiling blonde, and set my head back down on the table. "Greeaat." "Don't get all depressed Sakura-chan.""I'm not; I just don't wanna wear this. It makes me feel like a doll." "What's wrong with that, un?"

They didn't get it, and it was irritating me. "I want to train. Not wear dresses all day and receive stares." That shut them up for a while. I could tell Itachi was looking at me instead of his book, "Maybe it's a test." That perked my interest. "A test?" "Yeah, to see how willingly you will go along with an order, no matter how ridiculous." I was twirling my hair around, since I was so bored. "I guess that makes sense. But why a dress?" "Because you hate them." He had a smirk on his face. I was annoyed by the fact I had to wear another dress tomorrow. "That makes sense too. Or maybe he's going to transport me to unicorn land and make me marry a prince that has 10 feet of gorgeous brown hair." 'That doesn't even make any sense Outer, you twit.'

Itachi was still talking to me, even though I wasn't really listening. "Or maybe he's arranged a marriage for you, un." Leader-sama can't do that. "Can he do that?" Kisame looked down at me, "He is the Amegakure kage." Then Itachi sneered, "Maybe it's with that Kiba boy." Ooh, that made me mad. "Or maybe Sauske." I stuck my tongue out. "Touché." I was utterly bored, just sitting here, arguing like usual. "I'll be in my room if you need me."

I lifted my head of the table, and walked out of the room. "Ja ne." This was gonna suck. I decided to ask Leader-sama instead. Since I walked right pass his office, and knocked on the door and sat down. "Sakura. I knew you would be here sooner or later." He knew I was coming? "Was it really an order or are you just messing with me?" He looked confused. "What are you talking about?" "Uh- the note?" "Do you have it with you?" "Yeah." I put it on his desk. "Konan." I knew it; it wasn't an order at all! She walked in his office and walked up to Leader-sama.

"What's the meaning of this?" He handed her the note. "Oh. Right." We looked at her, waiting for her answer. "She was just so cute! I couldn't help myself!" Leader-sama and I both sighed. "I was seriously depressed. I loathe dresses." "I can tell," Konan said sadly. "Sorry Konan." "It's ok; I can tell you're not a girlie-girl." "You could say that again." I looked over at Leader-sama. "If I wasn't here for that, then what am I here for?" "You didn't tell her?" "Oops."

We both sighed again. "There is a little girl named Kaede who is going to be here for a week. We will be temporarily hiding her from her enemies. This is your first mission, make Kaede feel comfortable here, don't make her mad or insult her, and lastly show her around the base for the time being. Any questions?" "What kind of enemies does she have?" She was my age, so she must be powerful or something. "Strong, powerful rogue Shinobi who wish to kill her because she is the last in her clan who can use a very powerful Kekkei Genkai." "Oh." "Good luck, dismissed." "Wait! Do I still have to wear these dresses?" He looked over at Konan. "While Kaede is here." "Darn." I got up from the chair and left, returning to the dining room table instead of my room because I was bored.

Itachi looked up at me from his book. "So did you ask?" I sat down. Why is he so interested? "I actually asked Leader-sama. He gave me a mission, and I have to wear these stupid dresses for another week! But the note was a fake luckily." "A mission that requires you to wear dresses, your first mission, strange behavior from Konan...Don't tell me-""Just one, for one week." "Do you know her name?" "I think Leader-sama said it was Kaede." "This should be interesting." "What?" "Two 6 year old girls running around in the Akatsuki base." "I can take care of myself. I don't know about her though," I sneered. "You are a tough kunoichi." "I couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or a compliment." "Mostly compliment." "Thanks!" I high fived him, I couldn't believe he even responded to me, let alone compliment. I really didn't want this other girl to be here, but since it's my first mission I'll gladly accept it.

*Sakura's POV; 2 days later (7:30 pm); Kaede arrives*

I looked around the hallways, because I heard someone say that Kaede arrived at it was my mission to find her. Luckily, I found the little blond girl wandering around in some hallway. "Are you Kaede?" I tried to give a smile, but I was tired it only came out as a small grin. "H-hai." She sounds nervous, I wonder why. "Nice to meet you! My name is Sakura, I'll show you to my room since we'll be sharing it. It's much prettier than the rest of the rooms." She smiled, and took my hand as I guided her through the barely lit hallway. "It's this one here." I opened the door, and luckily I turned my light on before leaving so I could see inside my room.

I opened my closet, and pulled out my sleeping bag, since I was unfortunately going to sleep on the floor. "Oh! And the bathroom is right there." I pointed to the connected private bathroom of mine, the one room I can truly be alone in, well besides my room usually. "If you wake up before me, just tap me on the shoulder, and I'll usually wake up." I gave her a cheery look, despite how tired I was, I did train all day to make up for that whole week I was just lying around. She sat on my bed, already in her pajamas."Thank you Sakura. You're really nice." "Thank you!" Maybe I will like her. I turned off the light and got in my sleeping bag. "Do you like to cook Sakura?" Ok, now I really like her. "All the time!" "Really? Me too!" "I'll show you the kitchen tomorrow. Night Kaede!" "Night Sakura." 'This girl seems pretty nice.' 'Yeah. I think we have a lot in common.'

*Next Morning; 7:30*

"Sakura?" I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Is that you Kaede?" 'No it's a big bear who's going to kill you.' 'Whatever, Inner.' "Hai." I stretched my arms out, and put my sleeping bag away in a safe place. My room was bigger than the others, which made me really happy. She was already dressed, which surprised me. How odd, she was wearing a dress too. Konan must think she's like going to be an influence or something on me. I opened my closet and picked a creamy-orange colored dress and a few accessories to go with it. "I'll be right out." She nodded, and I quickly entered my bathroom and changed into the dress, brushed my teeth, and fixed my hair. "You weren't too bored were you?" We both laughed, and exited my room.

As we were walking through the hallways, I told her a bit about the other guys. Like their personalities, what type of jutsus they have taught me, stuff like that. She seemed interested, which I was a bit surprised about. I thought of them as pretty boring, overprotective, powerful numbskulls. But nonetheless she stuck to me like glue, and was captivated by everything I said. We were walking to the kitchen like I promised, plus I'm hungry and I'm sure she is too. "Hey Sasori-kun! This is Kaede! She likes to cook too!" We both laughed at the stares we were getting from everyone, they were probably wondering why I was this cheery in the morning. "Hi Kaede, my name is Sasori, I'm the head chef here." "Haha, yeah right. I always help." "Surree." Sasori rolled his eyes and smiled.

At first Kaede was really quiet and the table, but once I started talking about jutsus and everything I learned (cooking wise) she was really talkative. She was kind of like how I was when I first came into the Akatsuki. They were pretty scary at first, and I didn't know what to say to them. I guess you adapt here pretty quickly. I introduced her to all the guys at the table, and they seemed to like her. She had explained to me what her Kekkei Genkai was; it's called 'Ice Style'. It's pretty powerful, and she only knows two or three jutsus to it.

After breakfast, I showed her out to the training grounds. Eventually I ended up showing her my favorite place in the whole base, the edge of the dock. We talked quite a bit, about our life, our friends, family, cooking. I even trusted her to the point where I told her about Konoha. "I wondered why you were in the Akatsuki." "Yeah, kinda weird huh?" "I think they were pretty lucky to find you." "What do you mean?" "You're like their hope." "Their hope?" She looked up at the clouds. "Yeah. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like you are their happiness." I never even thought about that. "I just figured I was brought in here by fate." "It could be that too. Either way, it seems like your happy here." We both smiled.

At first, I really didn't want another little girl here. But I really trusted Kaede. I wish she didn't have to leave. We did a lot of things while she was here though. We cooked (how surprising), read books, talked, did each other's hair (even though I sucked at it), and played at the training grounds. She even taught me some new ninjutsu. It was already Friday, which meant she was leaving tomorrow early in the morning. I was really going to miss her, having someone to talk to my age, was quite nice.

*Next Morning*

"Bye Sakura." I gave her a hug. "Be careful Kaede. I'll miss you." She nodded and waved goodbye as she caught up to one her guards. Besides Kiba and Kaede, I can't really remember talking to anyone else close to my age. In a way, they were my first friends, besides the Akatsuki. When I was with Kaede, I even secretly admitted that I liked wearing dresses because of the different colors, but I didn't tell anyone because I didn't like the guys calling me cute and saying I had a boyfriend- WHICH I DON'T. Everything returned back to normal until Kisame mentioned something. "You don't have to wear those dresses anymore, so why are you wearing one?" No reply. "SAKURA LIKES DRESSES!" Crap, not this again.

(A/N: Thank you so much for reading, PLEASE review, it encourages me to type faster. I didn't really describe Kaede much besides the fact she had blonde hair, so I might draw her and upload it to my deviantArt account – animeduchess14 – Arigatou! ^^)