04- Fitting in

There was a short knock on the door. Sakura sat upright and watched it open. The blonde that seemed to hold a grudge against her stood in the doorway. Deidara was his name, right? He glared at her.

"Lunch is ready. I was sent to get you."

"Okay, thank you," she answered, and stood up. Smoothing down her hair, she walked towards him. She wanted to step out of the room, but he was in the way. He crossed his arms and looked at her, his bottom lip almost pouting. It could've been funny if he hadn't been so dangerous.

"It's too bad I'm not allowed to hurt you. I won't forgive you for killing Sasori, hm," he said. She smiled politely.

"I'm not expecting that. He was your partner, after all. I won't forgive you for killing my loved ones, either. We'll have to work together, but I'm not going to feign regret just to please you."

He was surprised by that answer, she saw it. But he pretended he wasn't, and nodded.

"Good to be honest," he said. "Now come, the others are waiting, hm."

She followed him to the assembling room. Much to her surprise, most of the persons she had seen that morning weren't there anymore. The long table was half empty, there were only a few people sitting at it. Itachi was silently spooning away some soup. It was strange to see him doing something normal, but what else had she expected? Even criminals had to eat. His dark hair fell over his eyes, and the resemblance with Sasuke became even clearer. For one moment, Sakura lost her breath again. What the hell was she doing here, helping the ones she hated the most, the ones whose deaths she had imagined so many times? Then Itachi looked up and she quickly recovered. He eyed her strangely. She sat down at the other end of the table, next to the orange mask, but Deidara shoved her aside.

"That's my place, hm," he said, but he didn't look as if he minded a lot. Where had the resentment for Sasori's death gone?

"Oh, I'm sorry." She quickly moved one seat to the left. Now she sat at the same spot as that morning, at the small end of the table.

"At least I can forgive you for that," Deidara laughed, grabbing a hump of meat.

"Are you always eating together?" she asked.

"Nah," he said with his mouth full, "As you see, mostly there are only a few members here, the others are gone on missions and such. Only this morning we had to be here all because you'd come, hm. Here, have some bread."

"Thank you." She took the bread he handed her and nibbled on it.

"Why are you suddenly so friendly to me?" she asked. "I thought you hated me for killing your partner."

"Oh, I do, make no mistake in that. But as you said, it's no use. I'll have to put up with you being around, hm, so I can better make the best of it."

"I see. Thanks, I guess."

The orange mask turned to her.

"Don't believe him, Haruno-san," he said in a cheerful voice. "Sempai is only really happy that there is a girl around now!"

Deidara glared at him.

"Don't listen to this guy," he said to Sakura. "He's always talking nonsense."

"Thanks for the advice," Sakura smiled, and then turned to the orange mask.

"Excuse me, mister," she said, "I'm afraid I forgot your name."

"I'm Tobi!" he said, holding out his hand. She shook it.

"Haruno Sakura, pleased to meet you." Well, the latter could be a lie, but it wouldn't hurt to be polite. She looked around the table. Itachi had finished his soup and stared at the wall, his eyes bleeding red. Leader sat at the other end of the table, looking through some papers. Konan still sat at his right hand and quietly talked to him. She looked agitated.

At that moment, Kisame came in. Itachi looked up, but he was ignored. Kisame walked towards the leader and said:

"All is still going well. I met my contact person, he said the people are busy preparing for your visit."

"Good," Leader answered. He turned to Konan. "Come."

She nodded and got up, following him out of the room. Sakura watched them go, her curiosity slightly stirred, but she didn't dare to ask what they were going to do. Itachi got up too and said something to Kisame that Sakura couldn't hear. The former Mist ninja answered Itachi silently, and took off his sword. He and Itachi left the room too, leaving Sakura alone in company of Deidara and Tobi. Deidara had seen her gaze following Itachi.

"I heard you come from the same village as Itachi, hm. Have you met him before?" he asked.

"Yes," Sakura said. "He killed my lover."

"Oh. I see."

Tobi decided to break the gloomy mood.

"Sakura-san, you haven't seen the rest of our headquarters yet! Come, sempai, let's show her around!"

Sakura smiled. It would be interesting to see more of the building. But Deidara looked at her inquisitive. "Hmm, I guess… But there's not much to see, really."

"Oh? What is there, then?" Sakura asked, pointing to the doors on both sides of the room.

"That," Deidara pointed to the left, "is the kitchen, and that," he pointed to the right, "is the laundry room. But you have nothing to do there, unless you'd like to wash the dirty clothes, hm."

She laughed. "Do you wash and cook for yourselves?"

"No, Zetsu has some underlings to do that. Tobi here used to be one of them. Well, the rest of the building consists of the rooms of the others, and they'll kill you if you even try to peek in them, hm! And there's a depository for weapons and such outside. Wouldn't try to get in there, though, unless you know the…"

"Deidara-sempai! We must tell her about the village too!" Was it coincidence that Tobi interrupted just when it became interesting?

"Yeah, yeah, later," Deidara brushed it off. "We don't even know whether Leader wants her to know about that, anyways."

"Village?" Sakura asked, curious. "I only saw a swamp outside."

"Of course you did, that was the purpose. But there's a ninja village nearby, the hidden Rain. Leader's sort of the boss there, so he visits them once in a while. I suppose you heard them talking about that just now, hm. But I can't really tell you much more. Secrecy, hm."

"Too bad," Sakura said. "Something else then: Do you get along well with the others?"

"Differs. Some guys are really irritating, hm."

"Such as?"

"Itachi, for one. But you're being awfully curious…"

"I just want to know something about the people I have to work with. And well, you seemed the most like a sane person, so I supposed I could ask you."

"Haha, don't let looks fool you, hm!" Deidara laughed, and raised his hands. There were mouths on his palms, with sharp teeth and tongues lolling out. He chuckled at Sakura's big eyes.

"You're fun, you know. Like a scared chicken, hm. Who knows, maybe I will be able to forget you killed Sasori-dono…"

"Please don't mercy me because you think I'm weak, because I am not."

"Oh, I'm sure you're not. But your attitude is so different than that of the other guys. You're really a girl, hm, we don't see those that often."

Tobi laughed again. "See I was right? Sempai really missed some female company!"

"But," Sakura said, "there is a woman with you, Konan! What about her?"

Deidara sulked. "Hmpf, if every woman was like Konan…"

"She's a little cold to all of us," Tobi whispered. "Only to Leader she talks a lot, and the others are ignored."

"Oh, I see." Sakura leaned back. Was she really having an animated conversation with the ones whose deaths she had prayed for? And she liked it, too. Well, life was full of surprises.

"Could you show me your hands again, Deidara-san?" she asked. He looked at her as if he expected her to rip his arms off his body. "I'm only interested in them because of my medical training," Sakura assured him. "I've never seen anything like it, so I'd like to investigate it a bit."

"You won't get any wiser just by observing," Deidara answered, but he held out his left hand anyway. Sakura saw well-hidden stitches peeping out from under the sleeve. She ignored them and concentrated on the mouths in his palms.

It looked like a real mouth, there was some sort of gullet going down into his wrist, but it was so small it probably wasn't meant for eating. There was an unusual amount of chakra channels around the saliva glands, she guessed that was what he used for that explosive clay of his.

"Interesting?" Deidara asked.

"Very, thank you for cooperating," she answered.

Suddenly, a figure flowed out of the wall in front of her, and she dropped Deidara's hand. It took her a moment to recognize it, but then Tobi yelled:

"Hello, Zetsu-san! How's the weather today?"

The plant-like man ignored him, but asked:

"Deidara, where is Leader-sama?"

The blonde answered: "He left some time ago with Konan, hm. I suppose he's either in his room or in the village."

"Okay," Zetsu said. "Sakura-san, your help is requested." Sakura looked up in surprise.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Hidan and Kakuzu are coming back from their mission, they'll arrive within the next hour. Hidan is lightly wounded, please prepare to heal him."

She nodded. "I will."

Deidara pouted. "So soon already? I was hoping on some more rest…"

"Don't complain," Zetsu said. Deidara glared at him from behind the hair that fell over his eyes. Tobi stood up.

"If you are going to Leader-sama, I'll be going with you, Zetsu-san!"

Zetsu didn't answer him, but turned to Deidara again: "You will not leave the medic alone." Then he left the room, followed by Tobi.

Sakura glanced discreetly at the blonde next to her, who was still pouting. He seemed to have lost his good mood completely.

"Ehm, Deidara-san?" she quietly said. He looked at her. "I'll go to my room to get my medical equipment, okay?"

He sighed. "I'll come with you. You heard it, I can't leave you alone, hm."

He muttered some more under his breath, but Sakura couldn't hear it well. It didn't sound very polite, though. She walked down the corridor to the room with no sign, pushed the door open and went inside. Deidara had followed her and leaned against the doorpost. He watched her rummaging through her bag, taking out some bandages and needles, then throwing them back and picking up the entire thing. She turned around and looked at the blonde missing-nin again.

"When would they arrive again?" she asked, her voice still quiet.

"Within an hour," Deidara answered just as silently. She went out of the room again, clutching her bag as if it were a baby. He saw her fingers trembling suddenly.

"Haruno-san, are you alright?"

She straightened her back immediately, and looked at him with confidence.

"Of course I am. Let's get back to the living room again."

He nodded, but wasn't convinced. This girl proved to be not what she looked like again. He wondered how many more surprises she would give them. The long rosy hair danced on her back as she walked before him, the torches illuminating it made it seem like it was on fire, glowing like gold it was. What exactly was going on in her mind? She was so very different from the others. They had all been missing-nin, outlaws, criminals already when they joined Akatsuki, but this girl had been a dutiful kunoichi before Itachi more or less forced her to go with them. Not to mention her loved ones had been killed by the very people she now had to live with.

They sat in silence in the living room. She gathered her medical tools, inspected them and put them back again, and he watched her out of the corners of his eyes.

Finally, when the silence became almost too heavy, there was noise in the hall and the door was thrown open.

"Damn it, Kakuzu! You just can't… Oh, hello there," Hidan said, clutching his left arm. It was twisted at an odd angle, definitely broken. Deidara greeted him and Kakuzu, who followed his partner into the room. Sakura stood up and said:

"I heard you needed medial attention. May I take a look at your arm?"

"Sure," Hidan said, holding out the requested limb. Sakura rolled back the wide sleeve of his cloak. She followed the line of the muscles with her fingertips, carefully determining the place where the bone had been broken. She found it almost immediately, and pressed on it. Hidan groaned. "Aaah, that's the spot." He had a sick grin on his face, almost as if he enjoyed the pain. Gathering chakra in her palms, she forced the two pieces of bone back together and used her medical jutsu to let them re-grow quickly, without a trace.

"What exactly happened?" she asked. Hidan laughed.

"We had some fun with a bunch of heathens. One was a bit annoying though, he broke my arm as you see. Kakuzu refused to fix it, damn bastard."

The masked man crossed his arm. "It's a waste if you have a medic to heal you and you don't make use of it. Besides, I'm tired of fixing you up always. Now you've got her to do that."

Sakura grimaced slightly. She wasn't some useful tool! But well, that was the role she had to play here. She finished repairing the damaged tissue, and stepped backwards.

"There you go, Hidan-san. Is there anything else you need from me?"

He looked at her, amused, and said: "Well, need isn't the right word perhaps, but there are many things I'd like to get from you…"

Kakuzu grumbled in annoyance. "Shut up, Hidan."

Sakura merely laughed a little, but Deidara noticed how unreal it sounded. She felt insulted, no doubt, but she hid it well. He decided to say something before she could answer Hidan.

"Have you received what you were looking for?"

"Yes," Kakuzu answered. "We were able to settle things quickly. But of course this moron had to find some sacrifices and it took him all morning. And then he managed to get his arm broken too!"

"Hey, it's healed now, isn't it?" Hidan said. Sakura picked up her bag again, which had been useless after all, and walked towards the door. She noticed Deidara followed her.

"Where are you going?" Hidan asked the blonde.

"I have to stay with the healer until Itachi's back, hm." Kakuzu turned around.

"Itachi and Kisame are on their way back as well. They'll arrive early in the evening, I think."

"Good," Deidara said. Then he followed Sakura to her room. Hidan and Kakuzu sat down at the table and continued their argument.

Sakura let her bag fall to the ground and sat down on the bed.

"You're not going back?" Deidara asked. She shook her head.

"I'd like to sleep some more," she said. Deidara shrugged. "I guess I can leave you in your room, then. There's a seal at the exit, so you can't get away anyways. And why would you even try, hm?"

She smiled, a tired look in her eyes. He left her room and went back to the others. Sakura waited until she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, then fell down on the bed and buried her face in her arms. She wouldn't cry, her tears were spilled a long time ago, but her head hurt just as badly. She had managed to keep a straight face while healing Hidan's arm, but that was a relatively easy job. What would happen when one of these guys got really badly wounded, and their life depended on her? Would she be able to save these people, save them from death? It was a dark deal she had made.

Kakashi-sensei smiled at her. Besides, they'll need you at the hospital, he said. It was true, she wouldn't be able to act as a medic if she was out there in the middle of the battle. She would be too busy saving her own life to care about others. And this war needed medics, badly. So she didn't complain any more.

Naruto silently called her name. She turned to him and noticed the strange look in his eyes. Did he already see his fate? This battle was all about him, after all. He stepped forward, hesitating. Then suddenly Kakashi was forgotten, Naruto leaned towards her and kissed her. A sweet kiss, desperate too, but it was the most honest kiss she'd ever gotten. He smiled at her confidently. Don't worry too much, I'll avenge Sasuke! How brave he was, how much he cared for her. He'd avenge her murdered lover. Sasuke-kun… She watched her two most precious persons (her last) running towards the fight and wished she could go with them.

Sakura shot upright. Why had she dreamed about that moment just now? The recent developments made her think about those events more than she had in years. She got up from the bed and straightened her black ANBU top. She really had to get new clothes. While she pulled a brush through her tangled hair (she had slept turbulently), she tried very hard not to think too much about the things that had happened after those she had relived in her dream. Kakashi-sensei's body in a black bag, the zipper pulled down just far enough to see his blood-smeared hair and torn mask. Naruto's bruised face under the blankets, the monitor only giving one long beep.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The brush was thrown back into her bag and she went back to the living room.

AN: Yep, the nice and polite behavior is all an act. Sakura really does hate them, but she knows it's not smart to show that clearly. But the Akatsuki members do intrigue her, they're different from what they appear as well. Although she has only had a conversation with Deidara and Tobi yet, she'll get to know the others better, too.