I do not own Naruto

My life on the Line

Chapter Four – My mother did what?!

When I woke up on the couch a few hours later Kisame was gone but Deidara was still with me, my head was in his lap and he was gently stroking my hair with absent movements.

The TV was still on but now there was another movie playing and since Deidara hadn´t noticed that I was awake, it seemed to be better than the one that was on before. But suddenly his eyes found mine and I stretched my body like a cat before sitting up.

"How are you feeling?" Deidara asked and put the movie on pause.

"Better, I feel like me again." I told him honestly and got up from the couch, grabbing my safe deposit box from the coffee table at the same time.

"Where are you going?" Deidara asked as I started to leave the room.

"I´m going to take a shower and then I´m going to start sorting through all the papers in the safe deposit box. I won´t find a connection or a motive unless I look for one you know." I said with a smile before leaving him to watch the movie.

I went back to my room and put the box on the bed as I went into the bathroom to shower and change. I emerged about half an hour later dressed in a black mini skirt, thigh high red and black striped socks and a black long sleeved shirt that hung off one shoulder.

I took a seat in the middle of my bed before unlocking the box with the combination code and emptying its content on the bed. The first thing I did was sorting out all the photos and putting them back in the box, I knew them by heart and there wasn´t anything on them that would help me in the moment.

Instead I started to read all the official papers and private notes that came from dad´s old cases, perhaps I would find a reason to why sound wanted me dead amongst them.

Time flew by as I read through paper after paper without finding anything of interest. But suddenly I came upon a small, worn notebook hidden amongst the papers. I picked it up, curious as to what it could contain. Written on the very first page in the book was my father's name and I realized that he had used it as some kind of diary.

Hope rushed through me and I quickly started reading through the first pages of the book.

I… I don´t really know how to do this, but I feel the need to write down my thoughts right now, so much has happened…

I have a new case and if I succeed it will give my career a big lift, I´m going to prove that the Sound gang´s leader really is the bad guy everyone believes him to be but can´t prove.

I just hope that I can keep my daughter Sakura safe while doing so…

I know that it will be dangerous and I accept that because if I can put Orochimaru in jail, most of the Sound gang will fall apart, making a huge difference on the streets.

I want to make the city streets a little safer for my Sakura.

Should something happen to me (god forbid), then at least Sakura can get all the help she needs thanks to the contract I have with the Akatsuki. I even thought about if I should contact them and use their services as I work this case but I don´t want to make Sakura worry more than she already are…

It´s bad enough that her mother left us a few weeks ago, I don´t want her to have to deal with this as well.

I quickly closed the notebook as a knock on the door interrupted me and I called out to whoever it was to enter while furiously rubbing at the tears that had gathered in my eyes.

The door opened slowly and revealed that it was Itachi standing on the other side. He came up to me and lightly touched the small cuts on my face asking me.

"Are you okay? You seemed rather shocked before."

"I´m fine, I had a nap and now I feel great. I found this notebook and it seems my dad used it as a diary, perhaps I will find something that could help us in it." I told him, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Sounds like a great idea, mind taking a break and join the rest of us for dinner? I believe Konan misses you already."

I shot a surprised look at the clock, was it already dinnertime? It was, so I followed Itachi to the kitchen and took a seat in between Sasori and Deidara.

"So you finally decided to join us huh, we started to think that you had gone into hibernation." Hidan snickered, earning a smack to the back of his head from Konan.

"Behave Hidan." She scolded him and served everyone their food before sitting down at the table as well. Several times during the meal did I feel their gazes lingering on me, I think every single one of them shot me a worried gaze at least once. Finally I had enough of that and told them.

"Stop staring! I´m fine! I won´t break just because they caught me off guard." I then left the table and went back to my room, slamming the door behind me angrily. I sat down on the floor with my back against the now locked door and sighed. I regretted it already…

They didn´t do it to annoy me, they did it because while they were used to situations like that, they knew that I wasn´t and they worried about me. Just like Naruto and Sasuke would…

I sighed again and rested my head against my knees, I was sorry for yelling at them and for slamming the door but I didn´t have the energy to deal with them tonight. I decided to apologize in the morning and instead got off the floor and returned to bed to keep reading in my father´s old notebook.

I can´t believe she did that to us… Leaving us was one thing but this? This is unforgivable…

My now ex-wife Mebuki left us a few months ago, leaving only a note saying that she wasn´t coming back and not to look for her because she didn´t want anything to do with us.

But that she actually went to stay with Orochimaru and the Sound gang… Now that is betrayal on a whole other level.

I can´t tell Sakura about this, she has just recently accepted that her mother abandoned her and I will not tear up old wounds by telling her this. I was actually rather worried for her when it seemed like she was sinking into depression.

And when she started getting piercing´s and tattoo´s… I didn´t like it in the beginning but now I actually really like her new look.

But what could Mebuki be planning, joining Orochimaru and his gang?

I was itching to read more, to find out what had really happened but getting to know the betrayal my mother had committed against my father was taking its toll on my mind.

But I wasn´t sad in the slightest, I was angry.

Tears of anger and frustration fell from my eyes and dripped down into my lap. I hid the notebook under my pillow and got up from the bed. A quick look at the clock showed me through my blurry eyes that it was close to one am and I was surprised that I had been reading for so long.

I suddenly felt the need to hit something, how dared the woman that used to be my mother leave us for Orochimaru! Without thinking I punched the thing closest to me which turned out to be a mirror. It broke underneath my hand and sharp shards bit into the skin over my knuckles, making them bleed.

I stared at my hand as blood started dripping onto the floor before I cursed silently and fetched a towel from the bathroom to wrap around my hand. I was just about to go and look for a broom to sweep up the shards with when there was a frantic knock on the door.

I opened it, curious as to see who was awake at this hour of the night except for me. Hidan was on the other side of the door, only dressed in a pair of dark purple pajama pants but with worry clear in his eyes.

"Hidan? Is something wrong?" I asked him, not understanding why he was standing outside my bedroom door in the middle of the night.

"I heard a crash. My bedroom is right next to yours, remember?" He said and then I understood. He had woken up when I punched the mirror and gotten worried that something had happened.

"Oh… that´s right, I had forgotten that. I´m sorry if I woke you up." I apologized to him hoping that I wouldn´t have to explain the broken mirror until I could come up with an explanation.

"It´s fine, but what was that crash? If it was loud enough to wake me up something must´ve broken." He said and tried to see into the room, searching for any signs of trouble. I sighed, realizing that he wouldn't leave until I told him the truth. So I opened the door wider, motioning for him to come in and explained.

"I read some things in a notebook that belonged to my father that upset me and I accidentally punched the mirror… I was just about to go and fetch a broom to clean up the shards."

I could see Hidans amethyst orbs widen in surprise when he saw the damage I had done to the mirror and I blushed when he turned his gaze onto me and said.

"Damn girl you clearly pack a punch… You didn´t hurt yourself did you?" I blushed even harder and tried to hide the hand wrapped in the towel behind my back. But Hidan noticed my movements and grabbed my wrist.

"You did hurt yourself then, why would you try and hide it from me?" His grip on my wrist was strong but not painful and his eyes searched mine for an answer, a look of slight hesitation on his face.

I didn´t know what to answer him, telling him that I was embarrassed made me even more embarrassed so that didn't seem like an option… But I didn´t want to lie either…

"Is it me?" Hidan asked suddenly, pulling me from my train of thoughts. "Am I making you uncomfortable? Is that why you were hiding that you injured yourself?" My eyes snapped up to meet with his and what I saw in them made me inwardly flinch back a little.

His beautiful eyes held sadness that came with being misunderstood and shunned over and over again. He knew that he was a rather violent character and he was fine with that because he also knew that he was capable of kindness.

But other people didn´t see that, they saw only the violent side of him and didn´t believe him capable of kindness. And because of that he had become hesitant when it came to share his kindness with others.

"No Hidan it´s not because it´s you, I would have tried to hide it no matter who had been knocking on my door. It´s… It´s embarrassing that I lost control like that and broke the mirror and that I hurt myself didn´t improve the situation…" I told him while looking away, a blush burning brightly on my face.

The grip he had on my wrist tightened for a moment before loosening up again and then his other hand gently gripped my chin and turned my head so that I was once again meeting his eyes.

"There´s no need for you to be embarrassed over something like that when you´re staying with us. We can´t seem to manage even one week without breaking something… and while we rarely get hurt while on the job, we have almost daily accidents in the apartment. So there´s no need for you to be embarrassed, you´re just like us." Hidan explained to me in a low voice while carefully unwrapping the towel to take a look at my hand.

I remained silent and only winced once when he prodded the wounds in my hand. I was thinking about what he told me and the meaning of it and barely even noticed that he led me to the bathroom to rinse my hand under some water. When the cold water hit my hand I flinched a little and focused on the present only long enough to take notice of that Hidan was taking care of my injured hand before going back into my own mind to think some more.

He had told me that I was just like them.

But was I really? They seemed so in control of everything while I felt like I had had no control whatsoever since the first incident with the note in my bag the night it was announced that Orochimaru had been released from prison.

They were both capable of keeping themselves safe as well as people around them while I couldn´t even keep myself out of trouble. I really wished that I was more like them, but would I be able to change?

"There, as good as new." Hidan announced and I looked down to see my hand wrapped securely in gauze.

"Thank you." I told him honestly and followed him as he returned to my door, clearly intent on going back to his room now and get some more sleep.

"It´s no trouble, but next time try punching a pillow instead. They can´t hurt you back." He gave me a crooked smile and a quick hug before he disappeared, wishing me good night as he went.

I closed the door slowly, surprised by the hug but loving the feel of it. I glanced at the shards of the mirror that was still on the floor but decided to clean that up in the morning instead. Right now I wanted to curl up underneath my covers and think some more about the slight bonding session I had just had with Hidan.

The next morning came without further incidents and as I promised myself last night, the first thing I did was cleaning up the broken glass. After that I took a shower and dressed in black leggings, a short black denim skirt and a green long-sleeved shirt.

I went to the kitchen to grab some breakfast and there I met Konan and Pein.

"Good morning Konan, Pein. Where are the others?" I asked them since the apartment was unusually quiet for this time of the day.

"I sent Itachi and Kisame to get some more clothes and things for you, it was a punishment for Kisame but I believe they will do fine. Kisame had changed the contents of my shampoo bottles and I figured that buying clothes would be a proper punishment, don´t worry, I didn´t ask them to buy underwear." Konan told me with a gentle smile and I turned towards Pein to get to know the whereabouts of the other four.

"Sasori and Deidara are still working on the bomb that went off in your apartment and Hidan and Kakuzu are out on the streets trying to find out how they knew that you were at the bank." Pein answered with a serious expression on his face and a hint of worry in his grey eyes.

I gave him a smile, trying to reassure him that I was alright but since Hidan most likely had told them about my angry outbreak during the night, they would find it hard to believe.

I quickly ate my breakfast before returning to my room to read even further in the notebook that held my father's thoughts and ideas.

I have finally found out what my ex-wife is planning, and know I wish I didn´t know…

She and Orochimaru have gotten engaged but did she do it because she loves him or to make herself even more money?

I have found out that the entire time we were married; she had an account hidden from me. An account with a rather large sum of money, and the amount has only increased after our divorce.

I have researched her past as much as I was able to and what I found is a past of lies and deceit.

She has another child.

When she was sixteen, she gave birth to a boy who she immediately put in an orphanage, wanting nothing to do with the boy. The only thing she was after was the money given to her by the father to keep his name off the child´s papers.

The child´s name was Yahiko.

Four years later, at the age of twenty, she had yet another child.

She was given another large amount of money from the father but this time her own mother, Chiyo, took care of the child and broke all contact with her daughter, she died from a heart attack when the boy was seventeen. The boy was named Sasori.

A few years later she and I met and after only two years of dating she was expecting Sakura. She never gave any signs of not wanting her, but how could she leave us just like that unless Sakura meant nothing to her? Did she only have her to make me happy so that I would allow her to buy expensive clothes and jewelry?

No matter what Mebuki thought about Sakura, I will always love her with everything that I am and everything that´s in my heart.

And while she might´ve divorced me to get to my money, she won´t get nearly as much as I knew she wanted. And that´s because I put most of it in an account for Sakura, should something, (god forbid), happen to me.

If Mebuki wants my money, it will be after Sakura´s death unless she has children of her own. And not even a woman like Mebuki would be able to kill her own daughter just for money.

At least, that's what I hope…

The notebook fell from my hands after I noted the date of the entry written. It was dated the day before my father´s murder.

How could the woman described in the notebook be the same woman that played with me when I was little, told me about the mysteries of being a woman, calmed me when I had nightmares and taught me how to cook, bake and clean?

On one side, I couldn´t believe that it was true; on the other side it made perfect sense.

It would explain the attempts on my life and it would explain the Sound gang involvement. If she and Orochimaru were trying to kill me to get to the money, they would most likely use the gang to keep suspicions away from the woman formerly known as my mother.

Then realization hit me, her other two children were named Yahiko and Sasori, could it be the Yahiko and Sasori who were both members of this very organization?

Could it be that I had found two half-brothers when I taught I had no family at all with Sasuke and Naruto in Japan?

I didn´t know, everything spun around in my head in a wild vortex out of control and I couldn´t think anymore. I needed to find reassurance, to find someone to tell me what was true and what was not.

I picked up the notebook again and then left my room in a daze, walking blindly through the apartment in search for Pein or Konan or anyone really. I felt lost and didn´t know if I wanted to be angry at my mother or sad that she was the one wanting to kill me.

I bumped into something hard and warm and looked up to see Peins concerned gaze locked on me, he had apparently seen me coming and stopped while I hadn´t even noticed that there was something in my way.

"Sakura are you alright? Did something happen?" He asked and while I didn't answer him, I handed him the notebook and watched him as he read the same entries as I had.

"Oh dear good what a mess… Is it alright if I make copies of this and hand them out to the other members?" He asked and when I nodded he pushed the small notebook into his back pocket and pulled me in for a hug.

"We´ll work this out Sakura, I promise. No matter if it is our mother trying to kill you or not." He assured me and since he admitted to be the boy mentioned in the notebook, it meant he accepted me as his half-sister, and I allowed myself to cling to him while tears streamed down my face.

When my tears finally dried up, I felt empty and I still didn´t know what to do next. But Pein took my hand and led me to the kitchen where he pushed me down to sit on one of the chairs while he started making some hot chocolate for us.

Soon he put a mug of steaming hot cocoa in my hand and a little of warmth and resolve was transferred from the lovingly made cocoa into me as I slowly sipped it.

I wasn´t going to let this take me down when nothing else had.

So when I had finished the cocoa I put away the now empty cup and returned to my seat in front of Pein.

"What do we do now?" I asked him tiredly but with my spirit back.

"We fight back." He told me simply, with a determined look in his eyes and smile on his lips.

When the others returned for the night, Pein took Konan aside and told her about the discoveries we had made during the day. I could see her eyes widen even from across the room and then her eyes locked on me as she nodded to something Pein told her.

He handed her what I recognized as the copies of my father´s notebook before gesturing to Sasori to come with him. I knew what he was going to do so I followed them.

We went into the office and closed the door behind us, I could see that Sasori was curious as to why he was here but also a little worried, probably wondering if he had done something wrong.

"Take a seat Sasori, I have something to tell you and it might take a while to get all the question marks straightened out." Pein told him seriously but Sasori responded that he preferred to remain standing.

As Pein told Sasori about our discoveries, also letting him know that all three of us were half-siblings, I was watching him closely, searching his eyes and face for any reaction given. And while he kept his face in the same calm mask during the entire time, his eyes gave his true feelings away.

"So what you´re telling me is that all three of us share the same mother, who had the two of us only for money, and that she is the reason the Sound gang wants Sakura dead? All because of money?"

"Yes." Pein answered plainly and Sasori sighed and said.

"What a mess…" He then turned towards me and asked me. "How are you feeling about all this Sakura? You´re the only one that can actually call her mother…"

"That woman is not my mother. A real mother would never want her child dead just for money." I told him before answering his real question. "I´m not sure what I feel… I´m angry, I´m sad and I´m confused. I´m sort of happy to know the reason someone tries to kill me though… And I´m also happy to know that the two of you are my half-brothers." I explained, slowly and thoughtfully but with truth.

"I guess I can relate to that…" Sasori admitted with a small smile.

There wasn´t much left to say after that so we exited the office and joined the others in the kitchen for dinner. During the entire meal I could feel their eyes on me though and it was driving me insane.

So as soon as I was able to without being rude, I excused myself and went back to my own room, hoping that someone had picked up on my uneasiness and would tell the others to not act like I was going to break any given second.

Back in my room I picked out a pajama and locked myself in the bathroom to try and calm myself down enough to go to sleep. I turned on the shower and slowly shed my clothes as a fine mist made the small room seem like something out of a dream.

I stepped under the hot spray of water and sighed in content as the stress was eased from my muscles by the water cascading down on my shoulders. Even though I hadn´t really done anything, my body felt tired and I briefly wondered if I was coming down with a cold.

After finishing my shower I dried myself off and pulled on my pajamas, a pair of dark navy pants with a lighter blue t-shirt with a picture of a penguin in the middle of the front. After drying my hair I exited the bathroom and to my surprise found Sasori sitting on my bed.

I would have expected it to be Itachi.

As if he knew what I was thinking, the first thing he said was.

"Itachi were on his way over here after dinner but I asked him to allow me to give it a try. I can go and get him if you´d rather talk to him but he, Pein, Konan and I could all see that something was bothering you during dinner."

"It´s fine, I don´t mind talking to you." I assured him. "It´s nothing really… I just didn´t like that everybody was looking at me like I was going to break at any possible second, it makes me uneasy…" I said before sneezing and rubbing one of my eyes tiredly, I was feeling even worse now and my head was starting to ache.

Sasori frowned before placing the back of his hand against my forehead, checking me for a fever.

"You´re burning up Sakura… Get into bed while I go get some fever reducing medicine for you." He ordered me and I obliged without a fuss, not feeling well enough to argue with him.

To be able to relax against the soft mattress and the silk sheets was heaven for my tired body, but the coolness from the sheets seeped into my body and suddenly I was shivering with cold.

When Sasori returned he gave me the medicine and then fetched another blanket to spread out on top of me, but even then I was still shivering. As the first hour passed and then the second, Sasori grew more and more worried.

My fever didn´t go down much but it didn´t go higher either, keeping me in the situation where I was cold and feeling like shit…

"We can´t keep doing this for the rest of the night Sakura, you need to sleep…" Sasori said when I was once again shivering with cold. I could see that Sasori's warm brown eyes were dark with worry and then he left the room, telling me that he would be back soon. While I was alone in the room, something strange happened.

My father appeared.

Oh I knew that my father was dead, and a part of me was convinced that I only saw him because of the high fever, but the other part of me was hoping he had appeared to lead me onto the right road since I felt so lost…

He smiled at me and a single tear fell from his eye but just as he was about to open his mouth and speak, Sasori returned and he had a sleepy looking Deidara with him. The instant the door opened, my father disappeared and I felt tears of disappointment gather in my bleary eyes.

I wanted my father back.

I started crying, helpless sobs escaping me and tears falling freely despite my attempts to stop them. Deidara froze and was looking at me with wide blue eyes, suddenly fully awake. And while Deidara was unmoving, Sasori was instantly at my side, asking me what was wrong.

I couldn´t answer him because of the sobs that wouldn´t stop coming and he seemed to get that because he wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug and laid down on the bed with me. He pulled the covers over us and then said to Deidara.

"Come on Deidara, she is cold and sick, she needs to sleep but she won't be able to unless she is warm."

That got Deidara moving and he joined us underneath the covers on my other side, so that I was sandwiched in between them. The heat from their bodies slowly seeped over to mine and eventually my shivering died down as well as the sobs.

I was in a place halfway between sleep and awareness when I heard Sasori and Deidara talking to each other.

"Hey Sasori?"

"What brat? I´m trying to sleep."

"Won´t Sakura be mad at us in the morning for sleeping in her bed with her, yeah?" Deidara asked concerned.

"I highly doubt that. Itachi said that she didn´t mind sharing her bed with him and Kisame, apparently she used to share a bed with Sasuke and Naruto as well." Sasori explained in a quiet voice.

"Oh…" Was Deidaras intelligent answer and I felt him shift beside me, putting a little distance between us. The distance made cold seep in once again and I whined, pulling at his shirt to make him come back.

"Stay close to her Deidara, or she will get cold again." Sasori mumbled and tightened his own hold on me. Deidara moved back and when he once again was pressed against my side, I sighed contently and let sleep overtake me.

So tell me what you think...

Question: which pair from the Akatsuki would you rather sleep in between?

I would answer Deidara and Sasori because While I Love Kisame, sleeping in between him and Itachi sounds like it would be a tight fit. Sleeping with only Kisame would be a dream though... I also love Hidan but since he and Kakuzu can´t stop fighting I wouldn´t get much sleep.

Love C