This wasn't as hard to write as I had expected it to be, I was able to knock writing and reviewing this chapter out in just a few hours. A new record for me! Makes me feel all fuzzy and feelsy on the inside. Don't judge me!
This chapter is a bit of an expansion from the last chapter with Itachi and Kisame, but another member will be introduced! Yay!
WhiteQueen1116, you asked for an update and I decided to deliver a little quicker than I had originally planned! This one is for you, dear!
Anyways!
I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.
If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!
S Lyubov'yu,
Casper!
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Previously;
"Am I allowed to hear this?", Kisame grumbled.
"You can hear it, Mr. Fishy. I don't mind.", Sakura sighed from her place behind the blond. She knew that everybody would know eventually and when they did hear, she didn't really want to see the pitying looks that she was more than likely to be given. She didn't want pity, she just wanted to heal and move on.
If that was even an option for her.
Deidara looked over his shoulder, looking down at Sakura. He looked straight into her eyes, silently asking her if she was truly okay with them hearing this. When he received a small nod, signaling for him to go ahead and get it over with, he turned back to his comrades.
"What I am going to tell you isn't the easiest to hear, Sakura is still healing from her ordeal and I will not let anybody hurt her any more than she's already been hurt, yeah.", Deidara began, eerily calm.
When he received two nods in response, he continued.
And he told them everything.
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Time seemed to stop for Itachi and Kisame. They had heard many stories in their time and it was steadily getting harder and harder to surprise them. But after hearing the horrors that the child currently hiding behind their comrade's legs was more than a little surprising. What surprised them more than anything wasn't the fact that she was still alive. No, it was the fact that she could even bring herself to trust the blond bomber. Deidara had made sure not to go into too much detail for Sakura's sake, but he had given them the gist of what she had endured at the hands of her home village.
Sakura had not said anything during Deidara's talk with his comrades. She had stayed silent in her hiding place behind her legs and was more than happy to just sit back and listen. It was a nice change from having to be the one to share her life story with people. Now that her blond friend knew her story in its entirety, she was hoping that when the time came to inform the other members of the organization, he would be the one to tell them. She didn't think that she could bear the thought of having to repeat her story. The times she had had to were enough already.
"Do you understand why she's here with me now, un?", the blond grumbled, reaching a hand around his back to gently pet the child behind his back's hair. He had felt her tremble slightly during his chat with Kisame and Itachi but she had made no move to stop him from continuing. He was pretty damn proud of her at that moment to say the least. She had stuck it out until the end and hadn't even cried. He made a mental note to tell her later how proud he was of her.
"Not really, to be honest. I get that the kid had a hard life, but what does that have to do with her being a member of the Akatsuki?", Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow. The child's story had not been an easy for him to listen to, but then again, his own upbringing back in the Mist had not been the greatest. To become a Genin in the Mist, you were forced to fight and kill your other classmates to move up. He had done it, and in truth, it still haunted him at night.
"Because she has the same bloodline limit as me and I blew up that godforsaken village she was forced to call home, yeah. What was I supposed to do? Just leave her there to suffer more at their hands, un?!", Deidara snapped, he felt Sakura's grip on the back of his cloak tighten. He mentally slapped himself for losing his temper for a moment and tampered his raging emotions down. The last thing he wanted to do right now was scare her. He was pretty sure Inner would chew him a new asshole if he scared her again.
"That is exactly what you should have done. We do not take in strays and the fact that Leader not only allowed you to keep this child, but to bring her to the base is nothing short of surprising.", Itachi droned, he could sense the little girl hiding behind the bombers legs tremble at his words. A part of him was satisfied that she was afraid of him, but another part of him wanted to slap himself for doing such a thing. In a way, the little girl somehow reminded him of his own younger brother.
"I don't need the man who murdered his entire clan and tricked me into joining this damn organization to tell me what I should have done, yeah. You have no right to give me your opinion on this matter, un. Sakura is staying here under Leader and I's protection. If you have an issue with it, take it up with him, yeah.", the blond shot back calmly, he had wanted nothing more than to rip into the Uchiha murderer but he restrained himself for Sakura's sake.
'Kid's starting to make me go soft, yeah. But she needs me more than anything, so I'll do what I have to do, un."
Without another word on the subject, Itachi turned gracefully on his heel, his standard issue Akatsuki cloak fluttering around his ankles, and left the kitchen, no longer feeling the need to continue the conversation.
"That was a bit of a low blow, Deidara. Now he's going to be all teenage girl on her first period with me for the next week.", Kisame groaned, running a blue hand through his navy hair. He snuck a glance over at the child that was peeking out from the blonde's cloak. "Whatcha lookin' at kid?"
Sakura flinched back to her position behind Deidara, not sure if she should be worried about the fact that she had been caught staring.
"It's alright, Sakura-Chan, Kisame won't bite you.", Deidara chuckled, reaching his hand back around to try to shuffle her out from her hiding place behind his legs. He felt her shoulders tense for a moment before relaxing. She stepped out from her hiding place and regarded the large blue man on the other side of the room with a curious look.
"Something I can help you with, kid?", Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow. Truthfully, he didn't mind having the kid around. Somehow her presence had calmed the normally energetic and quick-tempered bomber next to her. That in and of itself was a miracle. That, and her presence had stopped his partner and Deidara from trying to kill each other.
Again.
"I… I was just wondering about something you said, Mr. Fishy.", she spoke up shyly, her face reddening with embarrassment. She knew she needed to work on her confidence and if she was going to live in this place with these people then she needed to learn to communicate with her. Deidara had assured her that the blue man would not harm her and she trusted him. So, everything would be okay, right?
"What do you want to know, kid?", Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow, thoroughly amused by her little nickname for him. He had to hand it to her, the kid was shy but she had guts. Most people that compared him to a fish were flayed like one. But he wouldn't harm the kid, he had a feeling that after a little more exposure to the rest of the group and after a little training she would be a force to be reckoned with. Deidara seemed to have faith in the kids' future abilities and Leader approved, so everything would be alright in the end. At least, that's how he saw it.
"I was just wondering…. What's a period?", she asked softly. She hadn't understood what he had meant about his partner acting in such a way, especially since she knew for a fact that he wasn't a girl. She swallowed silently and turned her face so she was looking Kisame straight in the eyes and waited for his answer, completely missing the way Deidara's face had paled at her question.
"Uh, ask Deidara kid. He's going to have to have that conversation with you eventually anyway.", Kisame chuckled nervously. He had been hoping that she was going to ask him why his skin was blue, or if his partner had really killed his entire family, or any other question than that one, really.
"Dei-Kun? What's a period?", she asked innocently, removing her gaze from the former Mist nin and returning her attention to the bomber. She didn't know what her question had to do with herself but now that she knew that it did, she wanted answers more than ever.
"I'll tell you when you're older, Sakura-Chan, you have a while before you need to start worrying about things like that, un.", Deidara replied with a twitch of his eye. He was going to blow Kisame to pieces later, so help him Kami. He had wanted to avoid conversations like this for as long as he could. He hadn't even thought about the fact that he would most likely be the one who had to explain to her the things she would experience as a woman later in life. Granted, he didn't exactly have very much knowledge on these types of things, he was a man after all.
"A man who gets mistaken as a woman on a regular basis, un. Not my fault I don't look right with short hair, and my long hair keeps me warm in the winter damn it, yeah!", he thought grudgingly, absently running a hand through his mid-back length hair.
"Why can't you tell me now, Dei-Kun?", she asked quietly, she knew that she should just let it go but she didn't know why she wasn't able to. She decided silently that if he refused to answer her question a second time, she would let it go for real this time. And maybe ask the puppet man back in their room about it later. She had a feeling that he would probably have no issue answering her questions. But would that be a betrayal to Deidara? She didn't think so.
"Like I said, you won't have to worry about those sorts of things for a long time yet, yeah. I wouldn't worry about it too much right now, Sakura-Chan.", he sighed, really hoping that she would just drop it. He was happy that she was finally comfortable enough to start asking him questions, but these weren't exactly the questions he had in mind. He had been more so hoping for questions retaining to training or art. Not the periods she would face in the future. He sure as hell was not ready to touch that subject any time soon.
"If you say so, Dei-Kun.", she nodded, giving him a small smile. She would drop it for now, but the next time she was alone with his partner, she would try to mosey out an answer from him. Like she had said, she didn't think he would have any issue with telling her. She had gotten a weird vibe from the man, almost like he wasn't completely human. But then again, she had been talking to a seven-foot-tall blue man moments before. A grumble emitting from her stomach broke everyone in the room out of their thoughts, her face paling in embarrassment.
"Let's just get you something to eat now, yeah. Sound good?", Deidara asked hopefully. He was more than a little happy that her need for food had made itself known, now he could avoid any further questioning from the young pinkette. Something he would forever be grateful for.
"I was just about to make some ramen if you two want some too, not like it'll be any extra work. Plus, I kind of want to get to know the kid better if she's here for the long haul.", Kisame offered with a shrug. Contrary to popular belief, Kisame wasn't a total dick to everybody around him. He was a pretty nice guy if you weren't on the receiving end of his Samehada. Not that his enemies needed to know that he was secretly a nice guy.
"If it isn't too much trouble for you, Mr. Fishy.", Sakura grinned. She didn't know what it was about Kisame, but she rather enjoyed his company. She grabbed a fistful of Deidara's cloak, not wanting to stray too far away from him, and waited for him to guide them towards the table. They had been standing in the middle of the kitchen during the entire exchange and she hadn't even spotted a table anywhere near them. She suspected that they ate in a different room.
Sakura was secretly grateful that even though she had grown up living in squalor, she at least knew how to eat and behave like a decent human being. She was used to eating off the floor, but she knew that those days were over for good, Deidara had told her as much. She had been assured that she would never live the way she was forced to in the past ever again. She really didn't know how she could ever thank these people for their kindness. Even if the outside world didn't see them as anything less than people who needed to be destroyed. She refused to ever allow that to happen.
"That'd be great, Kisame. I didn't know what the hell I was going to cook, un.", the blond groaned thankfully. It was a well-known fact throughout the base that the blond was a truly hopeless cook. Ask him to blow up a city, he could do it easily. Ask him to sculpt a monument in honor of Jashin, he could do it, even if he wasn't even a follower of such a religion. But ask him to boil water? He'll burn it and probably destroy the kitchen.
"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're hopeless in the kitchen, Blondie.", Kisame huffed with amusement. He could still remember the first time he had witnessed the poor bomber attempts at cooking. He was pretty sure he had a scar on his thigh somewhere from the shattered plates that had littered every inch of the kitchen. The bomber was a master at crafting explosions, but somehow at the same time he was a gigantic klutz.
Kisame blamed the long hair in his face.
Deidara blamed the intelligence levels of the inanimate objects known as plates.
"You don't know how to cook, Dei-Kun?", Sakura asked, her surprise evident in her voice. She held such high praises for the man that finding out that he failed at something was a little more than shocking.
"Don't tell me you know how to cook, Sakura-Chan, I'll die of shame.", Deidara groaned pitifully, laying his head on a nearby counter.
"Sometimes at the tavern I was put in the kitchens to cook. I know how to cook, just not a whole lot.", she shrugged.
Kisame and Deidara shared a silent look, it seemed their new comrade was finally starting to come out of her shell. She hadn't stuttered or flinched away after speaking. They were more that impressed at her change in demeanor in the last few minutes. Deidara let out a small sigh of relief, this was the real Sakura. Inner hadn't taken over for her. He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he did. And he wasn't about to start questioning it.
"You want to help then, Squirt?", Kisame asked with a raised eyebrow. He figured that if he could teach her a few things in the kitchen, then maybe he wouldn't always be the one stuck cooking the organizations meals. They had tried to get Hidan to cook once, but they never asked again after they were given horrific food poisoning. It had gotten to the point where one of the other members had begged him to be sacrificed to the immortals God of Slaughter. Too bad for said member, the Jashinist had been too sick to even try to do such a thing.
"Are you sure that's okay?", Sakura asked innocently, she really didn't want to get in his way or intrude.
"It's fine kid, you don't have to be so stiff. Calm down a little, we aren't going to hurt you and if anyone tries, I'll hit them with Samehada a few times.", the shark nin shrugged, offering her a hand. He noticed Deidara's smug smirk from behind the pink haired child and resisted the urge to shoot him a rude gesture. The last thing they needed was a seven-year-old girl going around giving people the finger. That would certainly end well.
"In that case, I'd love to help!", she cheered happily, grabbing hold of Kisame's hand. She wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to learn something new, or hone the miniscule skills she already had. She knew that her skills weren't that great but it was better than nothing. And if she was given the offer to help her improve, she wasn't about to pass it up.
Kisame closed his hand around the girl's much smaller one, being careful not to crush it, and led her over to the fridge. They started to pile ingredients onto the countertops and shooed the lingering blond out of the kitchen.
The blond left after making Kisame promise that he wouldn't let Sakura handle the knives, let her touch the boiling water, and anything else that would cause her harm. After suppressing the urge to laugh that how motherly the blond was being, he agreed to his terms.
Once the blond was out of the kitchen and out of the way, the two set to work on preparing lunch. Kisame walked Sakura through every step, letting her do most of the work while he observed. She had confided in him that she wanted to learn everything she could possibly learn from him and he had agreed to help her.
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The smells of freshly made food wafted through the lower level of the base, not one room was spared from its enticing smells. Deidara moaned when his senses were assaulted with the smells of food, even the mouths on his palms were licking their lips at the thought of finally getting some food in his stomach. He had heard Sakura talking to Kisame from his place in the dining room and couldn't have been happier about the fact that she had found some sort of kinship with the former Mist nin. He hadn't been too worried about leaving her alone with him.
It was a few of the other members he was a little more concerned about. But he would just deal with them when the time came for her to meet them. Now there was something he was quite looking forward to.
Sakura and Kisame entered the dining room with three bowls of freshly made ramen in their hands, both smiling like fools. Sakura couldn't wait for Deidara to taste the food that Kisame had helped her make. During her time alone in the kitchens with him, she had grown quickly attached to the man who was easily three times her size. She had come to find out that he only looked and acted intimidating when others were around. He was nothing more than just a giant teddy bear. If she didn't understand how to do something he was teaching her, he would stop her and explain it again and again until she got it. If this was how he was when it came to teaching her cooking, she couldn't wait to start training with him in the near future.
They set the bowls down on the table and took in their seats. Just as they were about to dig into their food, another voice interrupted their meal.
"Who the fuck made the food?! Smells fucking delicious and there had better be some for me, Jashin damn it!"
"Oh, fuck me…", Deidara moaned, banging his head on the kitchen table, careful not to knock over the meal that had been set in front of him.
"Dear Kami here we go…", Kisame groaned.
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And there's chapter seven. Can anybody guess who the next person to meet Sakura is? If you can't, well, I don't have any words to describe how disappointed I am haha. I think I made it pretty clear.
How do you think our new introduction is going to react to little old Sakura, yeah?
If you enjoyed please leave a review, favorite, and follow!
Next story to be updated with me Clash!
Until Next Time!
