The Inside

Summary: The best way to corrupt is from within.

Main Characters: Sakura (15), Deidara (18), Sasori (19)

Progress: Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 could be also known as Chapter 2: The End Of Childhood

Chapter 2 - The Nightmare

The following morning Sakura found herself twisted and entangled in the sheets. She also found that Deidara had left her some time in the middle of the night. Carefully unwrapping from the bed sheets, the pink-haired girl laid in bed for a while longer. Her entire body felt sore as she tried to roll over on her side to face the window.

What did she do last night? Fight a bear?

Her eyes settled on the closed curtains. Sakura then remembered the giant spider that had frightened her. Even now, the thought of the spider and it's menacing presence sent chills down her spine. She decided at that moment that she was glad that the curtains covered the window.

However, Sakura then remembered who closed the curtains. Her mind drifted off onto the subject of Deidara. She didn't know what to think about him. He always treated her as if she was a porcelain doll that needed to be protected. He always comforted her when she felt distressed or uncomfortable. Sakura had honestly wondered if he would stay with her until she fell asleep last night. She had to admit that she felt content knowing that he had stayed.

The sound of the door creaking open distracted her from her thoughts.

She sat up quickly despite the soreness in her back.

Deidara, as usual, peeked in before stepping inside. He always seemed to know when she woke up. He always joined her in less than ten minutes from the time that she awakened.

"Good morning." He murmured as he opened the door widely. His normally cheerful tone seemed subdued today. She would have thought to ask the reason behind this if the hallway outside wasn't so exposed. Deidara didn't even block the view of the hallway with his figure. He instead walked over to her and offered her a hand to step out of bed.

Sakura blinked at him in confusion before accepting his hand. She almost forgot to wish him a good morning in return.

"Sakura, are you hungry?" He asked quietly. She continued to look at him with a concerned gaze. He wouldn't look at her when she tried to meet his eyes with her own.

Sakura lifted a hand to his cheek, turning his head towards her. He didn't resist turning to look at her. His blue eye was a darker sapphire color that she had never seen before now. She tilted her head to the side with a questioning look.

Deidara ignored her look by saying, "Let's go to the kitchen, yeah." Without letting her answer, Deidara lifted a hand and gently grabbed her hand. He then proceeded to lead her towards the hallway.

Sakura had the urge to drag her feet like a child. She wasn't sure if she wanted to experience something new yet. She had never once been outside of her room because Deidara had always brought her food to her and she had her own bathroom. At the moment, Sakura felt more comfortable with the thought of avoiding an adventure. The spider incident had dampened her desire to leave the comfort of her safe haven.

By entering into the hallway, Sakura felt like she was going to enter an entirely different world.

However, right before Deidara and Sakura reached the hallway, Deidara stopped without warning. It was as if Deidara had ran into a brick wall. Sakura bumped into him and stepped back, slightly dazed by the sudden halt. She looked at the back of his head first out of instinct before leaning past his figure to look into the hallway.

A very tall, young man with silver, slicked back hair stood in the hallway. He wore the same cloak at Deidara did. Sakura felt the tension increase in Deidara's body as she continued to observe the man.

The first feature that struck Sakura odd about the man was his dark purple eyes. It wasn't just the color that bothered her; it was also the emotion that consumed them. Would it make sense if she thought the purple eyes held craziness that only a maniac's eyes could? His eyes narrowed in amusement when her eyes widened at this discovery.

"Hmph." The man made the noise in a cocky tone. He acted as though Sakura and Deidara were lower on some invisible scale than he was. Although Sakura felt fear as she looked at him, she also felt annoyance at his attitude.

"I suggest you keep your pet out of the way, Deidara." His voice was a higher octave than that of Deidara's. Sakura thought the higher octave matched the craziness in his eyes perfectly.

Sakura's lips formed a rigid line. She felt a natural anger surface as she stepped out from behind Deidara. Her hands clenched unconsciously.

"Go bother someone else, you jerk." Her emerald eyes flashed angrily at him.

The man raised his eyebrow in mild interest. He looked at her as if she had suddenly become someone of at least minor importance. In his book, Sakura had earned a point of respect for defending herself and speaking her mind.

He was about to open his mouth to say something when he suddenly froze for a moment. It looked as though someone had called his name by the way he tilted his head to the side. As if nodding to himself, he murmured something under his breath. His purple eyes set on her once more briefly.

"Farewell...for now." The man then started walking away, to the left of Sakura's vision. Sakura didn't relax until about ten seconds later. Her body felt tense and ready for action. She shook her arms out slightly to unbunch her muscles.

She then glanced at Deidara, who had not said anything for almost five minutes. Sakura noticed that his eyes were watching her cautiously. Had he been watching her the entire time? With a pang of annoyance, Sakura removed that thought from her head. She was being utterly ridiculous and paranoid.

"Who was that?" She murmured, ignoring the look in his eyes.

Deidara blinked once in response to her question. He was hesitating.

"His name is Hidan. I suggest that you do not provoke him. If you don't bother him, then he won't bother you, yeah."

Sakura looked at him in astonishment. She bent her arms at the elbows, turning her palms upwards in shock.

"He was making trouble before we even said a single word!" The volume of Sakura's voice was a level higher than usual. "Deidara, Hidan was the one trying to provoke one of us!"

Again, Sakura noticed Deidara make a pose as if he had heard someone calling his name. She had not heard anything but the silence surrounding them. Deidara then unfroze and reached a hand towards Sakura.

"It doesn't matter. The point is that I will take the responsibility of keeping him away from you." As soon as his hand touched Sakura's shoulder, she felt more relaxed. She resisted the urge to shake her head. Why was all of her anger fading away? Her eyes unconsciously found Deidara's hand on her shoulder.

Trying to be subtle, Sakura moved away from his hand and edged towards the hallway. "You know, I'm actually starting to get hungry." Deidara noticed how she walked away from him, but he chose to say nothing about it. As she had predicted, the calming effects were almost nonexistent after she had broken the physical connection between Deidara and herself.

"...Of course." He murmured before brushing past her to step into the hallway. He turned right, the opposite direction that Hidan had gone, and kept walking without waiting for her.

Sakura watched him leave for a second before quickening her pace to follow him. However, right as she entered the narrow hallway, she looked down the direction that Hidan had gone. For some reason, she felt that his prescence was still there even if she could clearly see that he was not. A lone, vertical rectangular window was at the end of the hallway. It was the only light in the hallway other than the light inside her bedroom cast. It's light showed that Hidan was not there.

With that one last glance, Sakura whipped her head around and started after Deidara.

xxXxx

CREAK.

Sakura startled awake at the sound of the door hinge moving. She quickly glanced at the curtains and noticed that they were still closed. Her eyes then settled on the bedroom door, which was only open a crack. She could barely tell that the door was open in the darkness. She wondered if the door hadn't been closed properly earlier for there was no one there.

With a tired sigh, the pink-haired girl removed herself from her bed and walked over to the windows. With one hand, she lightly brushed aside one of the curtains to look outside. As she had figured, the night sky had taken over while she had been sleeping. Sakura couldn't even see the forest in the distance for the grounds were pitch black. The moon that was normally above was nonexistent and even the stars were untraceable.

She yawned and rubbed one of her eyes with the other hand. Sakura then turned around and proceeded to walk back towards her bed. She wanted nothing more than to return to a peaceful slumber now. However, she stopped and glanced at the bedroom door which was still open.

Reluctantly, Sakura made her way over to the door groggily.

She drowsily reached out to push the door. However, as soon as her hand touched the wood finish, Sakura stopped. She felt her breathing quickly fade to nothing.

She suddenly did not feel alone.

Then the door burst open, smashing her body against the wall. She let out a painful gasp as her shoulder blades and back slammed into the wall behind her. The force of the push had left her so breathless that she could barely breathe. Her lungs felt like she couldn't take in enough oxygen to allow her to live.

Sakura moved her head slightly to the right, trying to see around the edge of the door. She cringed as she realized that the metal door knob penetrated her abdomen. In a daze, the pink-haired girl tried to adjust her head so that she could see her stomach. She could not see the damage because of the tight space she was in.

She, however, did feel the heavy liquid that dribbled down her skin. Her body spasmed uncontrollably once at the sensation. Sakura bit down on her bottom lip harshly in an attempt to endure the intense pain.

The door suddenly swung away from her. Sakura fell forward because of the lack of support and crashed into the carpet. The descent to the ground shook Sakura hard enough that she felt the vibrations in her mind. It jarred and destroyed any logical thought left in her head.

"Stupid bitch." Sakura's ears barely registered the words. The blood pumping in her ears nearly drowned out what was said. With the sound of pounding drums echoing in her head, she forced herself to lift her head an inch off the floor. Sakura then turned her head towards the sound that she had heard.

A dark figure towered above her with a dark, suffocating presence. Her eyes widened when she noticed the color of the man's iris. A menacing purple gaze glared back at her.

"I didn't appreciate your insult earlier. I hadn't done shit to you." He said. With an exaggerated sigh, Hidan crouched down in front of her. "Now...you have given me a reason to do so."

Suddenly, Hidan withdrew an item from his cloak. It was a small rod that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. Sakura stared in horror as the rod grew into a spear that was easily half a meter at least. She didn't have to look at the point of the spear to know that it was sharp enough to inflict a lot of pain.

"No." Sakura said unconsciously. She forced her left arm to move forward in an attempt to grab onto the spear. Although her body greatly protested, she struggled onto her knees and right hand quickly to move closer. Her stomach exploded in pain as she moved.

Her left hand grabbed onto the spear and held on tight. Hidan snorted and stood up, lifting her body like a rag doll. She appeared weak to him as she hung in mid air. Her feet couldn't even touch the ground.

She knew that she was denying the inevitable, but she still didn't want to give up. Sakura wanted to fight to her last breath. There was a fury building inside her that was running constant along with the fear. In fact, the fury was growing stronger as the minutes passed by. It was so frustrating to be so weak.

This hadn't been the first time she had felt weak. Hell, even earlier this week, Sakura had ran at the sight of a gigantic spider. Disappointment and anger came to surface at the thought of the spider incident. She knew the incident had caused her to fear going outside as a result.

Her eyes, which had been wide with fright, suddenly narrowed. Sakura's gaze set on Hidan intensely.

His head moved back slightly in surprise. It almost seemed like a recoil.

"Don't look at me like that." Hidan said in an annoyed tone. "You can act tough all you want, little girl, but it won't fool me." He then used his other hand to reach towards her bleeding abdomen.

Sakura tried to squirm away, but failed in doing so. His fingers forcibly probed the gaping hole in her stomach. She screamed in agony when a painful shudder racked her body. Her organs shifted uncomfortably as he toyed with them. Her mind screamed warning sirens as she endured.

Finally, Hidan retracted his hand and shook the spear until she lost her grip. With another harsh impact to the ground, Sakura inhaled sharply. She knew her body could not take much more pain. Circles of colors danced before her eyes.

"I'll show you what tough is."

Sakura's head snapped towards him. She couldn't believe her eyes when he smiled mischievously down at her before licking the blood of his fingers.

A premonition struck her without warning.

The image of Hidan turning the spear on himself came to her. He penetrated his heart with the spear without hesitation and laughed maniacally as he did so. As blood gushed down his chest, Sakura felt a pain in her own. In the next image, Sakura glanced down at herself to see a pool of crimson growing on her shirt. An unbearable pain followed, rendering her helpless as she collapsed. She knew better than to question if she had died in the process.

As soon as the flash of images ended, Sakura forced herself to her feet in a desperate attempt to stop Hidan. She knew that when he killed himself, that she would die too. Sakura had no desire to die with this man or any time soon for that matter. Her desire to live burned strongly within her as she pushed off her feet and lunged towards him.

At that same moment, Hidan turned the spear's point towards his chest. She reached out with her hands as she screamed a war cry. Sakura could see the excitement in Hidan's eyes as she grew closer. She honestly wondered if she would be able to save herself.

Sakura rammed into Hidan with a force that surprised Hidan. It was as if her lunge had been enhanced by some unknown force. His body slammed into the ground with Sakura right on top of him. His upper lip raised in disgust as a result.

The pink-haired girl did not realize what had happened during the fall until an intense, focused pain settled in the middle of her left hand. Sakura blinked several times as she tried to escape the dazed aftermath of her adrenaline rush. As if the world was muted, Sakura's gaze first went to Hidan and then to her hand. Hidan's face was expressionless the moment that her eyes laid sight on him. Then, his relieved sigh shattered the silence.

Her vision suddenly seemed to take in the entire scene. Before this point, it had been snapshots of the struggle. Hidan's face and his blood-stained lips. Sakura's spread out fingers on Hidan's cloak. Now, Sakura could see that Hidan's spear pierced through her hand and into his chest.

Blood forced a path up through Sakura's throat and onto her lips. The pain barely registered in her mind because it was so unearthly. It was as if her body could not comprehend such a feeling.

Hidan started laughing underneath her. His wild laughter echoed around the room and in her ears.

Her head dropped with a thud onto his chest. Blood splattered onto both of their faces when Sakura's face splashed in the pool of blood forming between their chests. She sensed the glaze overcoming her transfixed gaze as she stared at the open door of her bedroom.

As the room started to fade away, the fury that had captivated Sakura's heart continued to grow. What had started as a mere ember was quickly growing into an uncontrollable blaze. The blaze whipped around wildly, touching sections of Sakura's heart that hadn't been accessed in a long time.

Soon enough, the fury, which had seemed unfamiliar, would become natural once more.

xxXxx

When Deidara entered the pink-haired girl's room the next morning, he was accompanied by Sasori. Both of the cloaked men immediately sensed a difference in the normally calm atmosphere of the room as they stepped inside. A strained tension resided in the bedroom.

"Sakura?" Deidara hesitated before he called out her name. He then glanced at Sasori out of the corner of his eye when she didn't answer. Sasori ignored him and ventured towards the bed.

Sakura was calmly staring at the ceiling in thoughtfulness. She had her arms folded behind her head and her legs comfortably crossed. Despite the neutrality of her stature, however, Sasori could sense something off about her. Her normal self did not act like this.

"Sakura." Sasori murmured her name softly. She blinked once after a few seconds and then glanced at him without bothering to move her head. Her eyes bore into him for a moment blankly.

Sasori mentally noted that he could not read her emotions or her thoughts. The blankness of the stare reminded him of that of a dead person's. He had not seen her possess such an evasive front before now.

Suddenly, the atmosphere of the room changed once more.

Sakura sat up to face Sasori straight on. Her emerald eyes began to show emotion as they normally would. However, it was not emotions that Sasori or Deidara were accustomed to when it came to the girl.

Determination shone brightly in Sakura's eyes as she glanced between her two housemates. She was unnaturally lively today. When Sasori usually visited Sakura, she had the personality of someone who was afraid of life in some respect. Yet at this very moment, Sakura seemed as though she was ready to take on life without hesitation or a single thought for that matter.

"I want to become stronger." Sakura said with newly added volume to her voice.

Sasori stood quietly for a moment before replying. "What motivated such a desire?" He had never seen her before with such enthusiasm. The new trait made her more attractive in his opinion. He silently wondered if it was a trait that could last forever.

"I'm sick of needing protection. I don't want to be that little girl that is defenseless. I want to be able to hold on my own." As Sakura said this, her voice took on a slightly more serious tone. The tone notified Sasori and Deidara that she was not kidding. It also clarified that this change in Sakura was here to stay.

Sasori nodded to himself once in thoughtfulness. He then smiled towards Sakura.

"I approve of your choice, Sakura." She smiled warmly in return. "We would be happy to teach you."

Sasori turned his head and exchanged a quick glance with Deidara. Deidara gazed back knowingly at him and then looked away to distract Sakura with conversation. She hadn't noticed the seriousness in the exchange. If she had, she would have wondered what kind of strange emotions had overtaken her friends.

Sasori then remarked, "I will be back soon, Sakura. I must go talk to someone about your training."

Sakura stopped her conversation with Deidara to give him a questioning look. He didn't answer her until he reached the door and was almost completely gone from her sight. Sasori leaned back his head in the hallway so that his face was still visible.

He closed his eyes, saying in a relaxed tone, "Don't worry, dear. I am certain that you will be able to start this afternoon or tomorrow."

Sakura's fury felt almost quenched when Sasori basically promised her her first training session.

"I just need to be positive that Pein will allow it."

(A/N: Well, I cannot believe how quickly I updated once again. This story seems to be coming along quite nicely. I don't know - The Inside's plot is just coming so naturally right now. That probably explains why this chapter was as long as it was. Oh, I am so proud! :) Especially since I told some of my readers that this chapter would hopefully be out by the end of the weekend. I am meeting the deadline! Yes!

I bet most of you noticed how intense the nightmare seemed to be. Well, I chose to use this style of writing because nightmares in reality are actually that intense. And honestly, I needed something that would kick Sakura into action. And was the nightmare too much for a T-rated fanfiction? Let me know!

Also, I know Hidan needs his religious aspects to complete his Curse Technique. I chose not to include this for a reason. Sadly, I cannot tell you why I chose to do this until it is revealed later. (: At least this chapter contained a lot of action, huh?

For the record, this is currently an AkatsukixSakura fanfiction. I have no preference at this point. ;D Although I do notice that some of you do! Hehe.

Hope you guys enjoyed!,

SharinganAnbuSakura