Love of Insanity

A/N: Here we are again. Sorry it's taking so long to crank things out. Things have been decidedly weird though I can't tell you if that's good or bad.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters or series.

Chapter 3: Enter Kakuzu and Kisame

XX Shikamaru POV XX

Shikamaru was frazzled. It was very unlike him as he paced around his office waiting for a certain pinkette and two Uchiha to appear in his doorway. He asked himself why he was so frayed though he knew. He simply didn't acknowledge. He was a doctor (not to mention a genius) and as such he could never even begin to accept that he was attracted to Sakura. He so needed to get out more.

However when he thought about it, he could see it working. He could be someone who understood and cared about her regardless of "Sayuri." In truth Sayuri seemed just as much a part of Sakura as her right arm. They were just two sides of the same coin. Both sides were equal, opposite, and most of all necessary. Shikamaru believed that "Sayuri" was born from a fear of rejection inside Sakura and a background that beat into her what was "acceptable" and what wasn't.

Yes when Shikamaru thought about it, he was certain that "Sayuri" was just another part of her he found rather endearing. It was obviously time to stop thinking about it. That seemed quite impossible as soon as "Sayuri" stepped through the door.

XX Sayuri 1st Person POV XX

When I first saw Shikamaru Nara, he was exactly as I expected him to be. At least he was till he cocked an eyebrow at me and smirked. It made me want to punch him in the face. Still I didn't want to be in here anymore than "Sakura" did, so I restrained my fist for once.

Yet as time went by, it became clear that he treated "Sakura" and "Sayuri" the same way. That I couldn't have predicted even if I were some kind of prophet. Between cats and dogs you had some similarities I suppose. They had fur, four legs, and were both mammals. That's typically where it ended though. When it came down to personality, they were as different as night and day. With so many differences it was natural for people to develop preferences. The question "Are you a cat person or a dog person" existed for a reason.

Note to self: See how people react when I ask them if they are a Sakura person or a Sayuri person. I giggled to myself not truly caring who thought me insane. The smart ones always did believe me to be the train wreck of psychopaths. That brought my train wreck of thought (I giggled again) back to the enigma that was Shikamaru Nara. He wasn't just smart, but a genius, completing every intelligence test thrown at me faster than I could, even when I used the combined brain power of both Sakura and myself. Though we didn't share memories we would share knowledge. I just chose to ignore most of it and settle things with my fists.

As I brought my thoughts back to the present, I found Shikamaru staring at me and smirking. Then instinct kicked in when I felt a wave of animosity wash over the room from my right. Like the cat I compared myself to earlier I crouched and shot myself backwards to avoid the splintering wood of Shikamaru's desk. Obito had just sent his heel through it as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. The only thing that hinted at the displeasure that spurred the scarred Uchiha into action was the barely detectable twitch in his eyebrow. Shikamaru's smirk had disappeared as he looked Obito up and down. He seemed ready for a fight.

You'd think Shikamaru had challenged Obito to a chest beating contest from the way the two were acting. My eyes darted left to Itachi who leaned against the wall, and because every man in the room seemed to take a sudden interest in staring, he decided he would stare at me. What a weirdo or maybe he just wanted to be thought of as straight. He really hated it the last time I accused him of being gay for Pein. A low growl from Obito's throat forced me to decide if I wanted to contemplate weirdness vs. male oversensitivity or the possibility that Obito was on his man period. Man period won that one.

"Stop staring at her like you know everything there is to know about her split personalities. Someone like you could never understand!" Obito roared. Fury coated his every word, but it was his tone that caught my attention. Is he trying to defend me or something? No, oh no. There is no fucking way he is going to turn me into some lame ass damsel in distress in desperate need of rescuing!

Just as I opened my mouth to give that knight wannabe a verbal assault he would never forget some rude-ass underling of Shikamaru's ran in headlong to talk to him like we weren't even in the fucking room. I was about to hit my boiling point as they continued talking about some giant prisoner – oh, I meant patient – like Obito, Itachi, and I didn't even exist, when Shikamaru spoke up. "You three get back to your rooms immediately! Kakashi will escort you there. Wait right here until he arrives. If you don't, you can forget about good behavior!" With that he was out the door.

I bristled at the threat, but more than that, I was furious because I knew exactly what Shikamaru was trying to do. Like Obito, he seemed to feel some inexplicable need to "protect me" or some such nonsense. Normally I would think I was starting to think about it far too much and tell myself to get a grip. What sane person would actually want to get mixed up with someone insane? The problem was I wasn't convinced Shikamaru was completely sane. Most people here weren't.

Let's face facts here. If you spend all your time with a certain group of people, you will eventually be influenced by those people. There were exceptions to every rule of course, but the sad fact of humanity was that we couldn't survive alone. Sasori had tried and just look how he turned out.

Everyone understood this to some degree and therefore most people developed a need to fit in and be accepted, even if it meant changing yourself to fit in. As many problems as there were with this logic, it was the way most people felt. The biggest problem I saw with it was that puzzle pieces are only meant to fit only a few other puzzle pieces. When a piece doesn't fit you aren't supposed to alter it; you're supposed to find the pieces it belongs with while keeping its original shape. People can only alter themselves so much before they end up crazy! The proof of that was all around this mad house.

Just as those thoughts ended, I felt more than heard the huge crash of the door breaking down. I turned as fast as my body would allow but I was still too late. A fist was so close to my face that I couldn't see the face of the man behind it. It took only a second to break free of my shock but in that second I was hit right between the eyes. Pain was all could register for half an instant, the amount being so great that not even my will to live could suppress it. It was more that I could take and admitting that only added insult to injury as my mind went blank and my vision went black.

XX Sakura 3rd per. POV XX

Sakura awoke to an immense headache and a cold floor. That was strange enough, but what really caught her attention was how quickly her mind cleared. Normally when she returned to herself, she would have quite a bit of disorientation, but her mind must have worked overtime in its fight for survival. She knew she had awakened in the middle of a brawl, and what a fight it was.

Obito and Itachi were tall, strong men. Anger made them even stronger to the point where they seemed almost invincible to those around them. However if there were any men who could match them it would probably be the two giants currently trying to shove Obito through the ceiling. While Itachi kept out of the second giants reach with a sort of familiarity, Sakura couldn't help but think they had met before and this was some sort of ritual for them. She also made a mental note of how Itachi wasn't fighting with everything he had to work with. It was as Itachi was a tree attempting to leap out of the ground, but the roots kept pulling him back to the same spot.

Then it occurred to her what Itachi was doing when the great blue skinned giant ran at Itachi with every bit of speed he could push through his enormous body. Itachi was attempting to protect her Itachi didn't flinch and looked like as determined as if there were chocolate on the line. In this case she was just glad it wasn't dango they were fighting over because if it was she doubted the giant would be feeling very tall right now. Hell Itachi nearly killed Shisui for attempting to steal just one.

Back to the subject at hand, Sakura sprinted past Itachi towards the charging blue mountain of man in front of her. At the last possible moment Sakura spun 180 degrees around him catching his arm on the spin. Using both his force and weight against him, thrust her leg into his back while pulled on the arm and wrenched it right out of its socket. She made herself so proud. Obito and Itachi had both stopped to stare at her, completely dumbfounded. She smirked at the both of them before remembering there was a second opponent. He took the time to knock out Obito with a lazy yet quick movement of his hand and Sakura realized that while the other had brute strength going for him this was the more dangerous adversary.

The way he looked her up and down wasn't the normal way someone sizes up a foe. He was measuring where her weakest points were and how much pressure he should apply to break her without killing her. This man was lethal.

"My name is Kakuzu." He stated as he made his way over to his fallen ally. He gripped the arm and popped it right back into place with rough hands. "The headstrong, mentally crippled one is Kisame. Would you care to share your name, little ember?"

"Sakura," she replied with a curt nod, her instincts screaming at her not to anger him right away. One eyebrow rose at his nickname for her. "Why are you addressing me as little ember?" She questioned with narrowed eyes.

"It fits you, wouldn't you say. You were laid up by one fist, but recovered quickly and came up swinging." They began to circle each other with Sakura doing the same thing he did moments earlier. She looked him up and down, targeting pressure points and the like, working out strategies of how to get there with as little exerted energy as possible. "You were just laid up on the floor before you roared to life with a little help from kindling," he glanced at Kisame. "and perhaps quick breath of oxygen, and just like an ember you glow no matter the circumstances." He stated with a shrug.

Then he attacked.