In Your Hands
Chapter 3

A/N: Oh, wow. Now I feel spoiled with all the reviews! Thank you so much for your encouragement and general squee'ing over my fic; ya'll have no idea how much I appreciate it.

On another note, I officially loathe writing in the previous past tense. And I'm usually better at introspection than this. wtf, brain?

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The moment the door closed, Sakura started a pacing circuit around what amounted to a fancy prison cell. She knew it was fruitless to search for makeshift weapons or escape routes, but she needed something to occupy her body with while her mind ran in furious circles.

Even with Zetsu's parting warning in the bathroom, she had still half-expected Kisame to jump her the second they were alone. While he had been almost unfailingly polite in their encounters, the man had set off far too many of her internal alarms-- mainly the one that screamed in her head about how a predator was closing in quickly, and why wasn't she running yet?

Maybe it was morbid curiosity that kept her there, or it could have just been over-confidence; she knew there was no way in hell she could fight all of them at once and win-- but one at a time? While it was true that she hadn't been able to take out Sasori without teaming up with Chiyo-baasama, that had been years ago. She was stronger and more experienced now, with a better chance of winning. So she was sure that Kisame had moved close to the bathtub in a bid to intimidate her, at first.

What she couldn't figure out was why a stupid little bite mark had set him off the way it did.

The almost obsessive need to remove Kiba's scent didn't make any sense. It wasn't like the mark had been intentional, nor did it mean anything. It sure as hell wouldn't affect her performance as a medic, nor as a kunoichi in general. Kisame hadn't even noticed the damned thing until he was practically on top of her, so it wasn't something that would attract unwanted attention in the field unless she was prancing around topless, which she would never do in the first place.

Once the scent was gone, he had seemed to regain control of himself, for which Sakura was very grateful. Hoshigaki Kisame unrestrained by social niceties was something that made her extremely nervous...made her feel like prey. And from the way he had distanced himself and intentionally tried to annoy her afterwards, he knew it.

The distraction hadn't worked, but was nonetheless grudgingly appreciated, if it meant he'd stop being so grabby. The mood had shifted, becoming... not really friendly or comfortable, but it was a sight less nerve-wracking than before.

And then that stupid towel had gone and ruined everything.

It wasn't like she'd needed him to catch her. She had regained her balance easily like any good kunoichi, but before she knew what was happening, strong hands had lifted her against another warm body, and...

Sakura made a noise of pure frustration and tugged at her hair. "What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I freeze like that?"

Kisame was probably wondering the same thing right now, considering the way he had tensed in expectation of violence. In fact, it was almost like he had been... anticipating it?

Did he want her to fight back? He'd looked a bit disappointed when she'd failed to lash out.

Sakura stilled, mind whirling as she came to the inevitable conclusion.

He had been intentionally provoking her, trying to get her riled up. That had to be it, because up until that point, he had been fairly respectful, barring verbal innuendo, of course. And even when he'd pulled off her clothes to apply the monitoring jutsu, his hands hadn't wandered like Deidara's. When he'd let his fingers stray beneath her skirt, in reality they hadn't gone very far; her panicked mind had merely told her otherwise at the time.

Now that she thought about it, she realized he had been mocking her fear, not trying to enhance it. Deidara too, even if the blond had chosen a rather unorthodox-- okay, moronic-- manner in which to do it.

It was then that she accepted that, the usual cloak-and-dagger routine aside, Akatsuki hadn't done anything specifically designed to scare or hurt her, which was really kind of disturbing all on its own... but there were too many variables amongst the group as a whole. Best to deal with one problem at a time.

She just wished she could figure out what it was about Kisame that unnerved her so badly.

'Maybe it's because he looks like the demented lovechild of Jaws and Fabio, and former just happened to have most of the dominant genes?' an inner voice guessed.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Charming mental image, but that wasn't it. She'd gone up against a fair number of odd-looking opponents, and as a kunoichi, she knew that looks could be deceiving. Incidentally, it also hadn't taken her long to realize that the 'perfect' pretty boys were usually the most mentally unstable, hardcore fuck-ups for miles.

Kisame didn't really seem the type to get off on her fear, at any rate. From what she'd been able to glean from Team Gai's past reports when she had been doing research on Akatsuki, Kisame found excitement in battle. If provoked, he would play with his opponents, but only if they presented a proper challenge for him. Or just pissed him off, which Maito Gai apparently excelled at.

Was that how he saw her? As a different sort of challenge?

Or maybe he was just messing with her head until she was such a nervous wreck that she couldn't fight back. There were simply too many things to consider.

Sakura really hated these kinds of situations.

Reaching the desk Kisame had mentioned, Sakura gave a rather un-ladylike snort. While it vaguely resembled a table, it was more like a rock formation that someone might have shaped with a doton jutsu. It held no drawers, merely a flat, braced surface at waist-height. A two-tiered bookshelf was also set into the wall above it. Browsing through the books there, she realized that she recognized almost all of the titles from her own library at home, except for three that she couldn't read because they were written in a roman-based alphabet.

Shaking her head, she snatched up her scrolls and finally plopped down on the foot of the bed-- just in case that bondage-vine... thing got any ideas. She had an insane moment where she almost expected it to come to life and attack her like something out of a bad H-novel, then firmly pushed the thought away and vowed to beat the stuffing out of Jiraiya next time she saw him.

A while later, a firm knock on the door interrupted her contemplation of potential escape plans. Without pause, a series of clicks and a faint glow of chakra signaled the locks and wards being undone. The door swung open to reveal Zetsu on the other side.

"If you're not going to wait for a response, why knock in the first place?" she asked rhetorically. As expected, the former Grass-nin didn't reply, simply directed her down the hall. Happy for a change of scenery, she didn't complain.

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Haruno Sakura. Kisame rolled the name around on his tongue for a moment, then scoffed; it didn't fit her, past the obvious coloring. She definitely wasn't delicate. Kisame himself could name more than a few ninja that had broken down when faced with a potentially hostile group of shinobi so far above their own level. The girl was obviously still off-balance, but she had adapted to the situation far more easily than any of them would have predicted.

He was intrigued by her, despite himself. In the past, he had always made a point to not get involved with women other than random prostitutes that he would never see again. Regular civilians always wanted more than just a tumble, and kunoichi... Kisame never got involved with kunoichi if he could help it. They were far too troublesome, even if the initial battle for dominance always got his blood flowing. The inevitable treachery and attempts on his life when he was in a supposedly 'vulnerable' position irritated him to no end.

But this woman... she wasn't like the others. Kisame's pupils dilated, nostrils flaring as if he'd scented something alluring.

Sakura hadn't reacted how most kunoichi would if they were pressed into a situation far out of their control with their captor. She hadn't tried to maim or seduce him in order to escape. She had, however, reacted on a very base level-- that of a female responding to a powerful male's proximity.

He wondered if she had figured it out yet; she'd looked unnerved but clueless as to the reason behind it at the time. And speaking of looks…

The girl had a surprising number of scars for a medic-nin. They weren't large or disfiguring-- the complete opposite, actually. A scattering of thin lines on her arms marked numerous close-encounters with kunai, and small diamonds left by shuriken littered her back. At some point, someone had unsuccessfully tried to hamstring her, if the textbook horizontal slash running across the backs of both her legs was any indication. A shiny patch of burned skin at her hip trailed around her lower back: the glancing blow of a small fireball or stray exploding note.

It hadn't registered as more than a passing thing at the time; he'd been more interested in her wet-and-naked status. He was curious now, though-- why had she neglected to heal them fully? It would be easy for a medic of her caliber to smooth away the blemishes. Weren't kunoichi her age always going on about things like that?

He shook his head at that particular stupidity. Unless the female nins exclusively performed infiltration missions that required them to appear harmless, scars were of little importance. They were expected, really, in their line of work.

Kisame was abruptly dragged out of his musings by the sound of hurried footsteps headed his way.

"Kisame-san!"

He glanced up just as Tobi pushed the door open and peered into his room. "What is it?"

"Where's the fire extinguisher?" he asked urgently.

"In the closet next to the extra room," he replied automatically.

"Thanks!"

Kisame blinked, and he was gone. He listened as the younger man ran down the hall and slammed open the linen closet as directed, then squeaked as what sounded like a mountain of sheets and towels fell on him.

Setting down the scroll he'd been staring at absently, he stood and made his way over to glance down the hall. Tobi managed to struggle his way free of an amorous pillowcase, grabbed the desired bright red cylinder from the inner wall, and booked it back down the hall. He skidded around the corner a bit before he remembered to apply chakra for better traction.

After a moment's pause, Kisame followed at a more sedate pace. When he reached the kitchen, he found an extremely irritated Deidara standing in the middle of a mess. More specifically, every surface of the room was covered in a thin layer of off-white dust. Tobi was nowhere to be seen, though a smudged trail of footsteps led straight into the wall-- behind which was a secret exit. Kisame reflexively tracked over them when he felt Zetsu and the girl headed in their direction.

"What happened in here?" He hadn't heard any explosions...

The demolitions expert grimaced and waved a hand expansively. "Tobi." At Kisame's raised eyebrow, he elaborated. "The dumb-ass got it into his head to try and make takoyaki without supervision."

"...He doesn't even like squid."

"I think he was trying to impress that kunoichi, un."

"And he thought burning down the kitchen would be a good way?"

"He said she liked his cooking or something. Maybe she's suicidal?"

"Let's hope not. She'd probably try and take the whole complex down with her."

Deidara grimaced, not bothering to argue the obvious.

OoOoOoO

"Where are we going?"

"Dinner."

"Er, not that I mind being out of that room, but it hasn't been very long since I was fed last. Do you guys really eat this often?"

"Are you implying that we are fat?" Zetsu deadpanned.

"What? No! I--" Sakura cut herself off when it hit her like a ton of bricks-- he was actually teasing her. That he had referred to himself in the imperial third person didn't even faze her.

A wicked thought formed, and she skipped ahead a step before she could stop herself. Glancing back, she eyed the way his cloak had been cut extra-large to accommodate the flytrap-like extension on his shoulders, and raised her eyebrows in an exaggerated manner. "Then again...oof!"

Sakura was very nearly bowled over as an orange and black blur suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tackled her. She shifted her balance automatically, one hand reflexively coming up to rest lightly on her attacker's head before her brain caught up and she realized that it wasn't actually Naruto-- couldn't be. She pushed down a pang of homesickness.

Wrapping his arms around her middle, Tobi proceeded to bury his masked face in her stomach and started bawling about kamikaze grills and possessed fire extinguishers.

At a loss, she patted his shoulder awkwardly. The motion displaced a cloud of the fine white powder that liberally dusted his clothing, making her sneeze.

A bit of singed cloth caught her attention, and, purely on reflex, she ran a glowing hand down his arm to soothe away the red, blistered skin.

When she felt Zetsu's intent focus on her back, she curled her hand into a fist and let it fall to her side. She refused to look at him, instead staring down at the younger missing-nin that still clung to her. "...Does anyone have a crowbar handy?"

Kisame appeared from inside what she assumed was the kitchen. "Tobi, stop fraternizing with the hostage. The last thing we need is you contracting Lima Syndrome."

The man in question immediately released her and jumped back as if she were contagious. "But I don't like beans!" he exclaimed, as if that made perfect sense.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow, forcing herself to act like nothing had happened between her and the former Mist-nin. "'Hostage'?" That was the first hint of their reason for abducting her, but it didn't make sense-- why would Akatsuki need a hostage? They had all but disappeared off the face of the earth for the past few years, with no word on their movements. It had been assumed that they were hunting Jinchuuriki on another continent, or some of the other more delusional theories that were floating around in hushed whispers.

"What did you think we wanted you for, un?" Deidara broke in darkly. The effect was somewhat lessened by the way a small pile of chemical dust was dislodged when he tilted his head slightly.

Sakura propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I'd rather not give you any ideas."

"Like you could, in that outfit," he scoffed.

She made a frustrated noise and rolled her eyes. "What is your obsession with my wardrobe?"

"You look like you're wearing a tent."

"It's a normal t-shirt!" Seeing an increasingly familiar glint in the blond's eyes, she lifted a fist and cracked her knuckles. "And I swear I will deck you if you so much as get near me with that water bucket, monitoring jutsu or no."

Zetsu's restraining hand landed on her shoulder, and he shot a quelling look at Kisame, whom had cuffed Deidara upside the head. "Perhaps you should return to your room, Haruno-san, before any more childish antics begin."

Sakura grimaced. "There's nothing to do in there," she said, then pointed at Deidara without missing a beat, "and hell no."

"Are the books too dry for you?"

She gave Kisame an annoyed glance. "I've read those before. Multiple times."

Sakura started to say something else, but stopped mid-sentence when a shadow appeared around the corner. She didn't have to see more than a hair-shaded profile to know it was Itachi; she could recognize that cold aura anywhere.

Hands grabbed and restrained her before she even realized she'd been about to charge after the man, weaponless but for her own chakra-enhanced strength and an intense desire to see his blank face broken and smeared with bright, fresh blood.

Itachi didn't even spare her a glance, merely continued on his way until he was out of sight.

Deidara was staring at her, one hand hovering over a pouch at his side. "That would have been beyond stupid, un."

Kisame used his hold on Sakura to shake her a bit. "We do not have to give you so much freedom, kunoichi. It's a privilege that you don't want to lose."

When she didn't reply, he shook her again. "Understood?"

"Yes," she ground out.

"Good." When he was sure she wouldn't try to chase after his partner, Kisame shifted his grip to her shoulders and pushed her towards a suddenly tense-looking Deidara.

"Deidara, Tobi, escort her to the library, then back to her room. Zetsu and I will clean up here." Neither argued; instead they flanked the girl and led her away. Tobi attempted to strike up a conversation with her, continuing on as if she were actually replying to anything he said.

Kisame let himself watch the sway of Sakura's hips as she stalked off after Deidara and Tobi. When they were out of his line of sight, he turned back to Zetsu.

"What was that flash of chakra the kunoichi used? It didn't feel familiar, and too low-range for an aborted attack."

"She healed a burn on Tobi's arm. It appeared to be a simple subconscious reflex, but we have noticed that she is notably less hostile towards him."

"He has that effect; he doesn't 'feel' dangerous. I don't think they've met in the past, either."

"That is correct." There was a pause, then Zetsu's lighter half added, "It could not hurt if she were better disposed toward us."

Kisame gave him a sharp glance. "And how do you propose we accomplish that?"

"...We are open to suggestions."

"I'll take care of it." The reply was past his lips almost as the thought was formed, but he didn't bother to take it back. If anything, it gave him more of a claim over the woman.

He really did enjoy a good challenge.

-tbc-