Disclaimer: Yada-yada-yada, I don't hear you!
To those who mentioned that the blue haired woman's name is Konan: Konan will be Yuri's last name, so that way I won't have to change things much.
Chapter 7: Yuri Konan's Talk
Sakura had just succeeded in stopping the flow of tears when a knock was heard at her door and the woman's voice said, "I'm coming in, Miss Haruno." Sakura sat up and quickly wiped the tears off her face, hoping the woman wouldn't' notice she'd been crying. The door opened just enough to let the woman in, then it closed and the woman stood there, looking at her.
Then the blue haired woman started walking towards her, saying, "I'm sorry if they disturbed you, Miss Haruno. I had hoped they'd make you feel better, but I see that wasn't the case." Sakura just stared, her brain fumbling to comprehend what the woman was saying. The woman continued as she neared Sakura, "It was Itachi's idea…" Sakura stiffened at the mention of Itachi, looking down so that she could better hide her emotions.
"...but it wasn't the children, was it?" asked the blue haired woman. When Sakura didn't respond she prodded, "It was because of Itachi, wasn't it?" Sakura didn't answer again; instead she clenched her fists so that the woman wouldn't see that her hands were shaking. The next thing she knew the blue haired woman had put her hand gently on one of her shoulders as she asked in an almost dangerous tone, "What did Itachi do to make you cry?"
Sakura stiffened again, this time at the woman's voice and what she said. Why did this woman care? She was an Akatsuki, so why was she being nice to Sakura? And why had her voice changed from friendly to dangerous when she'd mentioned Itachi? Sakura shook her head no rather than answer. She kept her head bent so her hair would hide the pain and confusion she felt when she thought about Itachi.
Some of her emotions must of shown because the woman sat beside her with a sigh, "So, you don't want to speak about it." The woman paused, then continued, "But I think I have an idea…those children told you it was Itachi who killed their clan, didn't they." It wasn't a question.
Sakura nodded rather than speak. She could feel tears pricking her eyes again, and she hated it. Why was she so weak? A truly strong person would do the right thing without a second thought. A truly strong person wouldn't let their emotions cloud their judgment. A truly strong person wouldn't have let themselves get into the situation she was in. But she wasn't strong…no, she was weak…so weak that she couldn't figure out what was right and what was wrong because her emotions were blinding her from seeing the truth.
The woman stayed quiet for a while, just watching her. Finally she spoke in a quiet voice, "You're torn, aren't you?" Sakura looked up at the woman as she continued, "I know what that's like." The woman looked at her, and though her face was blank, Sakura could see in her eyes something that reminded her much of how she herself felt.
The woman continued, "Our situations are different, but the resulting emotions are the same." She paused, then said, "Itachi told my partner and me what he remembered, so I know that you love him…and that he loves you. But I also know that that happened over ten years ago, back when he was still a part of the Leaf village." She poked Sakura's Leaf symbol as she said, "It's not hard to see that you are still very attached to the Leaf village, unlike him."
"Knowing that, it's not hard to tell what's hurting you. You're in pain because you allowed yourself to love him back when he still was a part of Leaf, but now that he's not, you don't want to love him, but you do. That's what's hurting you, isn't it." Once again it was not a question. The woman went quiet for a few minuets before she spoke again.
The woman's voice was almost sad as she said, "You're torn between your duty to your village and your love of Itachi, but you're not alone." Sakura stared at the blue haired woman. What was she trying to say? What was her point? The woman continued, "I'm torn between duty and love as well…but my story is different. Your lucky that at least your love is mutual…my love is all one sided."
The woman paused and Sakura carefully examined her face, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. The woman's face was blank, but Sakura saw once again that look in her eyes that reminded her of how she felt. Could this Akatsuki member really understand her? It was hard to think of someone in the Akatsuki loving anyone…this woman and Itachi…It was just so hard to believe that they could love anyone…
The woman's voice was still quiet as she said, "I can't tell you much for multiple reasons…but I can tell you that I love someone who will never love me back because his heart already belonged to someone else long before I met him. He told me to move on…but as you know, one can't tell one's heart whom to love. It just doesn't work that way." The woman slightly shook her head, as if to dislodge the memory.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Sakura was surprised she'd asked aloud, but now that she'd begun voicing her thoughts, she couldn't stop, "Why are you trying to comfort me? I'm your prisoner, aren't I? Why are you being so kind…so polite…to a prisoner? Why do you call me 'Miss Haruno'? Surely none of this is normal conduct for treating prisoners, so why?" Sakura hated how her voice sounded almost desperate, but she had too many questions and not enough answers.
The woman seemed to wait to make sure she was done before saying in her quiet voice, "You are not a prisoner, per se. If you were, do you think your accommodations would be so…nice?"
Sakura felt something close to anger as she said, "Then what am I? I've been brought here against my will and locked in a room. I've noticed that you've got Akatsuki members standing outside my doorway even when I'm locked in. But then there's the fact that you pointed out about my room. There's also the fact that you've gotten me clothing and you bring me much better meals with much more food then it takes to keep someone alive. These thing are all contradicting themselves…so what's the truth? What am I, if not a prisoner, and why?"
The woman just looked at her for a while before she spoke. "You are not a prisoner. You are currently locked in your room only because I do not believe you have recovered enough to leave your room. Once I feel you are healthy enough you will be allowed to leave your room, you just won't be allowed to be alone or to leave the premises."
"I'd be lying if I told we weren't being extra careful not to let you run away, but there is another reason behind what we do. All these rules that I'm sure you already hate, are to keep you safe as well as to keep you here. You see, we know that Sound for sure is trying to get you, though we don't know why as of yet. It's possible that others could be after you as well."
"It is for those reasons that whenever you leave this room one of us has to be with you. It is best on both of our sides." Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but the blue haired woman beet her to it, "No, I can not tell you why you are here. There are only two people who can tell you, and I am not one of them." She stood up and put on a fake smile as she changed the subject, "So, was there any clothing that didn't fit?"
Sakura sighed as the door closed behind Yuri. They had talked for a while, and it was during their conversation that Sakura had finally thought to ask her name, and had been told to call her Yuri. Sakura had ended up asking Yuri if she could see her cousins later, and Yuri said that they could visit her after dinner, if she was feeling up to it. The weird thing that Sakura noticed was that when Yuri talked about her cousins, she didn't really seam to care about them, but when Sakura talked about them, she listened as if she did care.
Yuri was an odd one, to say the least. Sakura had noticed as they talked that for some reason Yuri seemed to be protective of her. She couldn't figure out why, but Yuri acted differently around her then she did around others.
Yuri had just left because the boy with the mask (she called him Tobi) had come in and said he needed her for something. With her, Yuri was kind and almost motherly, but the moment the boy came in she did a complete 180. She suddenly was completely stoic and when he spoke to her, she answered in a tone that said he was below her. The boy mentioned something about Leader needing her, and she immediately straitened and said that they should hurry then.
She had then pushed Tobi out of the room and said good bye before she closed the door behind them. Now Sakura was once again alone in her room. Sakura looked around; Yuri had gotten her simple yellow covers for her bed, so now the room had at least some color to it, but it was still pretty much empty and bland. Sakura went to the only chair in the room and sat down, wondering what to do now. She finally decided to check her Chakra again to see if she had enough to heal the rest of her wounds.
She fell into herself, and found, to her relief, that her Chakra was recovering; though it still wasn't completely full, she should have enough to heal all her wounds. Now, to heal herself. Sakura called to her Chakra, telling it to get to work on her wounds, but like before, it was slow to do what it was told. But it obeyed, and that was what was important. The act of healing wasn't hard, even now, but it was going much slower than it should have been. Once again Sakura felt as if her Chakra was hesitating to do what she told it to do.
When finally Sakura finished healing herself she felt wiped out. Why was she so tired? It wasn't like healing was hard work, not for her. Sakura stood up and the world spun so she had to grab the chair until it settled again. What was wrong with her? Was she sick or something? If she was, wouldn't she have noticed when she was healing herself? If she wasn't sick, then what was wrong?
Sakura walked over to the bed as she wondered what was wrong with her. Finally she decided that she just needed to sleep…that would make her feel better. The thing with Itachi had worn her out physically and now she knew she was worn out mentally. The only answer she could think of called for her to sleep, so that was what she would do. If Sakura noticed that she was trying to put off thinking about what had happened with Itachi, she ignored it.
"You wanted to see me, Pein?" asked Yuri after Tobi left the room.
The auburn haired man turned to face her as he said in a low voice, "Yes, Yuri. Zetsu has informed me that we now have two new prisoners from Sound that were ordered to kidnap the girl. They are, however, withholding the information we want to know."
Yuri nodded and asked emotionlessly, "My orders?"
Pein took a few steps closer to her as he said "Get them to tell us why Sound wants her. If you can, get them to tell us about some of the other things Sound has been up to. But the main thing we need to know is why Sound is after her. Once we have that bit of information, if they don't prove useful for anything else, you can leave them for Zetsu to finish off."
Yuri just nodded in response. She was about to turn and leave when she thought of something and decided to ask, "Pein?" He nodded and she continued, "When do you plan to tell Miss Haruno why she's been brought here? She's already asked me, and I could tell she wasn't happy when I told her that I couldn't tell her."
Pein took a few more steps closer as he said with a sigh, "I have my own orders…he doesn't want her to be told anything until…later." He was now standing little more than an arms length away from her as he asked, "Yuri…why are you so attached to this girl?" Yuri didn't say anything; she knew that he already knew her answer.
He took a step closer as he said, "Yuri, you know it would be best for you to get over that like he told you to." Yuri kept her face emotionless and didn't answer, even though she knew it wouldn't make him happy.
As she expected, his brows knitted together as he said, "Yuri, you need to get over what can never be, what you can never have. You need to look beyond what's holding you back or you'll never be able to move forward to where you need to be. If you don't let go, you'll never get to where you know you truly belong."
Yuri remained quiet, this was nothing new, she'd heard it many times before from him. She knew he was right, but she also knew it wouldn't happen, she wouldn't do it…she couldn't do it. Her silence, as always, was the last straw in the conversation that pushed Pein over the edge. His hand shot out and she knew what to expect, though she didn't like it. This was how this conversation always ended.
She kept her face emotionless as his hand neared her face quickly.
Sorry I haven't updated, but I've had to study for some big tests! So blame school, not me!
Now, as I've said, I'm not up to date on Naruto...I only have seen as far as what toonami shows and I only know things I've been told, so if I mess things up sorry. With this said, I've heard that Tobi has some healing ability, at least for healing himself. I am going to mention that in the next chapter, so if you disagree (or agree and have more information) speak now or forever hold your peace. Also, I repeat the fact that Tobi is not (in my story) a Uchiha, nor is he the person Pein reports to (though Pein does report to someone 'higher up').
Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome...flames will have to go into the fish tank with Kisame. Now, on to the pretty list!
Thanks to: LadySakuraForest, Challa, RyuMiko, Dreamergirl92813, Makokam, FreezeQueen, UchihaMarina, LenoreHepburn, Tempy, Chibi Saku-Chan, sakura-angel113, Sandlewood996, Quiet Moon, Akina-chan (Tee-hee...u), Youkai Goddess, xXBamBOOzledLUVerXx, Gaara's-Guardian-Angel, fallin'sakura-tenshi, dark Alley, DeidaraAddiction, LilBitzer, XxPinkCherryBlossoms4, DemonicAngel08, CosenAngel, xnarutoxrocksx, Gothic Raven, Starlight - Wild Koneko, krazykoreangurl, Shadow Ninja, Chaerring Trinity, SnowSkadi, Sakimi1014, tonnora, cherryblossomsky, Rangerette, yourmaster (His answer was the same one he gave her in ACC...the necklace was a sign of his love. reread the chapter called Revelations if you need a review), Twilight Kunoichi, shadow miko, Kagome093, Purity of a White Rose, Addi-Chan, Gothic Saku-chan, bubbleyum, changelingchild, Hao'sAnjul, Chocochip Haruka, White Wolf Pheonix, . (I don't know anything about Twilight, so I don't think I'll be reading it, sorry), falling star90 (What do you mean, what happened...you did read my first story like I said to do in the first chapter, right?), Cute-killer-Gurl, magickbendingdemon, Cnguyen456, angelica, chikarubunny, xokatherine229, evilteddybear (thank you for the long review), Itachi4Eva, Lucy-san, Anilmathiel Greenleaf, Confuzzled239 (happy birthday then too), LaReSaKa, shadowfox908, meisi, Tenshi Akki-chan, Shilen Terrara (I'm afraid that school makes drawing near imposible, but if I can, I will), ReemyCreamy (it was supposed to be), Jester08, GreenEyedGrimKitty, The Reveiwer known as Name, Chibi Kabuto, animelover123456, Sakura-cherryblossom16, jHeyTTernallie, SpeedDemon315, checkers467, Black Amber, layla, Flower of the Desert, blackdragonwingz (I like to think that it's quality, not quantity, that counts when I write a chapter), sakuragirl13579, lilkitCC (all Hoshi's have pink hair, even the boys), aerodestiny, Akatsuki's-Kunoichi, sincerely -your stalker, PhAnToM SpEaKeR, clea everlasting, I-Love-Akatsuki, & purple-witch93 (go to my profile and you'll see) for reviewing!
