Anger was still pulsing through Sakura as she slammed the door to her room and began pacing, running her hand through her hair, which was flying around freely. Tears began to cloud her vision, but she didn't pay much attention. Looking over, she noticed the drapes on the wall. They were large enough to not only cover a window, but double doors. Wrenching them open, Sakura let out a small laugh. Exquisite glass double doors were latched together, closing off a large stone balcony. The whole scene could be absurdly romantic, if not for the mood Sakura was in, and the people she was with.

This brought her back to the whole reason she was standing in her room, feeling just about ready to kill someone. Itachi in particular. The damn bastard had seen right through her. Luckily, Sakura reminded herself, there were some things even he wouldn't be able to see. Mostly because she was so determined to hide it. Two years ago, something had happened on one of Sakura's missions that had left her scarred beyond repair. Of course, she didn't let it affect her personality, but it was always in the back of her mind, haunting her every move. No one knew about it, thanks to the time she had had to recover, but when she had gotten back to the village, Naruto, Sai and Kakashi had been suspicious of her behavior. Within a few days though, they forgot about it, and Sakura put it away as deep as she could.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She spun around, planning on telling whoever it was to go away, but the door just flew open, and Hidan walked inside.

"Oh. You're still alive," was all he said before closing the door and going over to sit on the bed.

"What do you mean I'm still alive? Of course I'm still alive," Sakura retorted indignantly. Hidan just raised an eyebrow.

"Nobody's ever fucking treated Sleeping Beauty the way you did and fucking lived,"

Sakura sighed. She had figured as much.

"You're not exactly fucking smart when you get angry, are you?" Hidan watched with amusement as she raised herself to her full height defensively, which would still only bring her to his shoulder.

"It's not my fault. It was like he was trying to push my buttons on purpose and…wait a minute…" she looked at Hidan more carefully. He just frowned in confusion, "weren't you up on the wall?"

"Oh, yea. Leader decided that I should be off the fucking wall for at least a fucking hour before my fucking mission, so he ordered fucking Kakuzu to fucking take me down and put my fucking vocal cords back in. I fucking heal quickly," he said, answering her unspoken question about how he could speak. She shook her head slightly, trying not to think so she could avoid a headache.

"Why do you speak like that?" she asked suddenly. Putting up a hand to rub at the ache between her eyes.

"Like what? This is how I always fucking speak," he looked sincerely perplexed. Sakura laughed, taking her hand away from the bridge of her nose to point.

"That! Always cussing and insulting people,"

Hidan merely shrugged. "It's just how I fucking talk. If anyone has a fucking problem with it, they'll fucking have to deal with me," he looked up at her. "Do you have a fucking problem with the way I speak?"

"No," she laughed a little more, and then shook her head. "No one I know talks like that. It's kind of refreshing, actually." This surprised not only Hidan. Even Sakura was a little surprised to discover this little revelation.

"Does everyone you know talk like a fucking saint or something?" his voice and face were clearly mortified. It took a lot of effort for Sakura not to laugh again.

"No, they just don't cuss after every other word,"

"Well why fucking not?" Hidan stood up, walking closer to her, running a hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Because not everyone needs to let out that much anger and violence," Sakura said, not the least bit intimated at how close he was coming. "And even if they do, they don't feel the need to let it out in vulgar language,"

"Oh. So you find my fucking language vulgar, do you?" Hidan raised an eyebrow, close enough now to Sakura that they were almost touching. She turned to face him fully, challenging him.

"Yes. Not to say that I don't like it, it's just a fact," she brought her arms to her side, looking up at Hidan, surprised to find that she was enjoying the little mental challenge they were having. It was getting rid of all the pent up stress and anger she had had.

"So you fucking think that my fucking language is fucking vulgar, but you fucking like it. Is that fucking right?"

"That's the general idea,"

Hidan gave a laugh. "You are fucking strange. It might not be so fucking bad having you around," he backed off a bit. "We need someone to add some more fucking entertainment to this goddamn boring fucking house," Sakura gave a real laugh this time, causing Hidan to look at her with both eyebrows raised this time. "How is that fucking funny?"

"I'm just not used to that language." She managed between laughs. "And you seem so horribly miserable that you're desperate for anything." Managing to calm down, she looked back at Hidan, who was still watching her warily, but with more of a frown on his face. Then he just shrugged.

"When you live in a house with these fucking bastards, you get fucking bored. I would say that Sleeping Beauty can be interesting, but he's mostly in his room, living up to his name," This caught Sakura's attention, and she looked in the direction of Itachi's room, a frown crossing her own face.

"Why does he sleep so much?"

"Because the fucking bastard is always off doing missions, using his eyes and getting himself fucking injured. You would sleep for days on fucking end too if you did all that fucking much," he began to walk towards the door, muttering. Sakura caught a little bit about how it was all Itachi's fucking fault because he was never careful enough. "By the way, you are allowed to leave the room on your own, just not the house. Konan and Pein gave you permission to wander the house, but, I would stay away from the cellar," he gave a grim smile.

"Why?" Sakura asked, already guessing what it might be.

"That was where Orochimaru lived,"

For the next couple of weeks, Sakura spent most of her time with the other members, watching them fight with each other and breaking it up, or just…talking. Even though the only actual full conversations she had were with Pein, Konan, Deidara and Tobi. Whenever she had tried to talk to Kisame, she had always had to yell at him to keep his eyes up, and Hidan just had a short attention span. Kakuzu and Zetsu just kept to themselves. She had been able to explore the floor where her bedroom was, and the floor beneath it with the main entrance, living rooms, and kitchen. Any of the other times she was tempted to go looking elsewhere, she would always get distracted by one of the members. All of this time, Itachi remained a constant shadow. Wherever she went, she would only have to look around, and he would be nearby. There were some occasions when he would just randomly disappear, and she would be left alone with some of the other members, but all in all, he was close by.

Some of the other discoveries Sakura made were in her own room. When she tried opening the balcony doors, she was thrilled to find that they were unlocked. However, she kept these closed most of the time because of how cold it was outside. The location of the hideout seemed to be in the midst of winter. There hadn't been any snow yet, but the sky and cold air were threatening. It was nice to go out for a little bit each day and drink up the cold air, then go back inside where it was nice and warm, and curl up by the fire.

Another discovery Sakura had made was that there was a small compartment in her closet that held a myriad of books. The variety ranged from books that had been written as recently as a few years ago, to some of the oldest classics. One of them, much to her delight, was even written in a different language. Her delight only increased when she realized that it was one of the languages that she had learned a few years ago. Hidan had, at one point, tried to read over her shoulder, then cursed loudly about how she was "fucking crazy to read shit like that." Kakuzu had seemed slightly impressed at her choice of reading though. He even came up and asked her what it was, then nodded his head as if in approval. What surprised her the most, was how Itachi had commented on the fact that he had enjoyed reading it a couple years prior.

To say that life at the Akatsuki hideout was dull, would have been a complete and utter lie. There was never a dull moment for Sakura, except when she was sleeping, and even that was sometimes hard to come by. Deidara's room was in the same hall as hers, and he was constantly setting off bombs, followed by Hidan and Kisame's yelling, and, occasionally, Tobi coming into her room and asking if he could sleep in there because his senpai was scaring him. All the while, Sakura had to keep her head clear, and make sure that they didn't get to her too much.

One afternoon, after two and-a-half weeks with Akatsuki, Sakura woke herself up very early one morning, determined to explore the rest of the house unaccompanied. By now, she had managed to pick up and memorize all of the member's sleeping habits, and therefore knew exactly when she could get up and roam around. There was the slight issue of Tobi being up at all ungodly hours, and Itachi, being just plain unpredictable, but she figured she would try anyway. Luck seemed to be on her side as she managed a shower, then got dressed without waking anyone up. Her luck only increased as she made it downstairs on her own without anyone following her. Smiling brightly, she went down to the kitchen, expecting to find everything dark, but was slightly and disappointingly surprised when the lights were on. No surprise came when she walked in and saw Tobi, pulling out some containers from the refrigerator.

"Tobi, what on Earth are you doing up at this hour? You were up very late last night?" Her voice startled Tobi, and he jumped away from the refrigerator as if he had been caught doing something bad.

"T-tobi was just hungry, and woke up to get something before breakfast. Tobi didn't know that Sakura-chan would be up! Why is Sakura-chan up?"

"I wanted to look around the house some more, and was hoping to do it without Itachi following me," she said, voice dropping a bit as she said Itachi's name.

"Itachi-san's not all that bad. He's just following Sakura-chan because he was ordered to so that way Sakura-chan wouldn't run away or get into trouble," Tobi defended Itachi, sounding completely sincere. "Itachi-san has always been nice to Tobi. He may get frustrated sometimes when Tobi does something klutzy, but he has never insulted Tobi, and even sometimes acts kind,"

Sakura sighed, finding all that hard to believe. "It just gets annoying. He's also done some things that I cannot condone," she looked away for a moment, out the dark window.

"Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"What does condone mean?" Sakura looked back at Tobi, surprised, then laughed. "Ask your senpai when he wakes up." Now more alert, Sakura looked around the kitchen. "Do you have anything I can eat while I walk?"

"Of course! Here is a banana and some toast for Sakura-chan! Have fun!" handing both items to Sakura, Tobi then went back to grabbing containers.

With toast and banana in hand, Sakura set off, deciding to start up and make her way down. She had known already that there was a floor above hers, but didn't know how far underground the building went. Upon entering the top floor, she realized that at least two of the rooms were bedrooms. Treading very carefully, she walked past the short hall and turned left, finding another hall which had a beautiful mural on the left side, and windows from floor to ceiling on the other. A little light was coming in from the just-rising sun, making the glass sparkle around the edges where it had frozen. It was breathtaking.

She walked along the hall, taking in the beauty, then stopped when she came to a door. Gently putting her hand on the handle, she opened the door, slightly surprised to find it unlocked. Her breath was once again stolen. White marble, which would normally have been blinding, was gently gleaming from the dim light, shining slightly from a thin layer of ice. Glass domed over the top to form a see-through ceiling, and an assortment of white, silver and pink flowers adorned part of the floor and halfway up the glass. From the looks of the room, it hadn't been touched in years. The flowers were petrified in ice, but seemed like they could survive independently once the weather got warmer.

She had been so enthralled with the room itself, that she hadn't even looked out the glass to the view below. A vast lake surrounded by trees with mountains in the distance created a spectacular sight. Because of the fact that Sakura had never really looked out of a window besides her own and the kitchens, which faced the west, she had never seen this part of the house's surrounding. The sun was peaking over the mountains, staining the clouds a dark pink color, reflecting on the water. Sakura would have been perfectly content to stand and watch the sun rise, but she remembered that she needed to get down to the bottom floor without running into any of the others. Not to mention the fact that it was freezing cold in the room. As quietly as she could, Sakura managed to make it down to the kitchen, look around for anyone, and head on down the stairs towards the bottom floors. Not daring to believe her luck, she continued down the stairs, incredibly curious to what was underneath the house.

Hidan came down into the living room, yawning and stretching, but stopped in mid-stretch when he felt an oppressive aura bearing down on him. Opening one eye, he looked around, noticing Pein, Konan and Kakuzu, all looking at him with hard faces. Itachi was leaning against the wall opposite him, looking completely emotionless, but Hidan knew he was the one with the oppressive aura. Taking a second to look at them all, Hidan was able to put together what the problem was.

"She's fucking gone isn't she?"

"Yes," Konan spoke, sounding completely calm and serious, but still with an edge. "We figured you could help us figure out where she went. Itachi says she's still in the house, but she's done some very good chakra work, and we can't find her exact location."

"Well why the fuck are you freaking out if she's still in the fucking house? She probably just went fucking exploring and didn't want anyone fucking tailing her. Can't fucking blame her myself," he stopped what he was about to say, seeing Itachi open his eyes and look over at him, eyes like knives.

"Well," Pein sighed, "do you have any idea where she could be?"

Hidan paused, looking around as if trying to decide if his well-being was on the line. "I heard her go past my fucking room earlier, at a fucking ungodly hour, and then she fucking went back downstairs about an hour ago," he watched them give each other glances, then look back at Itachi, who said nothing.

"Do you think she got lost?" Pein asked, looking back at Hidan.

"She could have, but I wouldn't fucking worry. I don't even fucking know why you all are,"

"There are still some traps down in Orochimaru's floor that, if she got lost, could get her into serious trouble," Hidan's eyes widened slightly as Itachi finally spoke.

"He fucking speaks. Never fucking knew,"

"We need to go find her before she gets herself killed," Konan said before Hidan could say anything that would land him back up against the wall with his vocal cords on the floor again.

"I'll go," Itachi said, pushing away from the wall and walking out of the room and towards the staircase. "You're coming with me," he said to Hidan as he passed him.

"What? Why the fuck do I have to go and fucking find her?"

"Because you can go in and set of some of the traps without getting yourself killed," Itachi said, giving Hidan a withering look, which of course only made Hidan glare back.

"Fine. This is fucking ridiculous,"

Down on the last floor, Sakura had finally figured out that she was lost. She had explored for about an hour in content, loving the garden floor, then, what appeared to be a worshipping floor, and a couple others that were very interesting. However, she know found herself in a dark corridor, with dim red lights glowing softly to create and ominous feeling. After wandering the corridor for a few minutes, she realized instantly why the foreboding feeling had risen. Without thinking, she had wandered down to Orochimaru's floor, and now, thanks to her stroke of brilliance, she was lost.

Cursing herself, Sakura sped up, trying to find a way out. As her pace increased, she began hearing whispers, like a gentle breeze against her ear. She spun around on a gasp, but there was no one there. Chills running up and down her spine, her heart beating manically, she turned back and started running toward the staircase she had come from, but couldn't find her way. The voices got louder, becoming a confusing roar in her ears. Though she couldn't understand the words, she could guess their meaning, and knew that she had just gotten herself into huge trouble. Beginning to panic, she threw open a door, and ran inside, slamming the door behind her. She leaned back against the door, relieved to hear the voices subsiding.

As her knees buckled, Sakura slid down and collapsed to the floor. Her heart froze as she heard a voice, coming from directly in front of her.

"Well, what a surprise. Haruno Sakura,"

A.N. Hey everyone! Thank you sooo much for the reviews! They really inspire me to write more. Unfortunately, I had to re-write chapter four, but it's up now, and chapter five will soon be up as well. I am so sorry to animeloverxoxo, but I can't do much to space the paragraphs any more. I divided them up a bit so they're not as big, but I unfortunately can't do any more than that, and I am really sorry because I know how you feel. Thank you all again for the reviews, and more would be wonderful! Slant agat! --Kat