Akatsuki Base

I have been with the Akatsuki for over a week now and from what I have collected not a lot has changed as Itachi had said. The only thing was that Itachi and Sasori were the only ones that were mean to Tobi and I still don't know why.

Well maybe something happened while you were gone all these years. Ever think about that Saku?

Oh please just shut up and go find a corner.

And with that my demon left me to my thoughts. Everyone was still protective of me, especially my brother who didn't seem to like Tobi either. When he saw her talking to him yesterday he growled at Tobi and took her away from him with no explanation.

I am going to get to the bottom of this.

There was a knock on my door, so I pulled myself from my thought and went to door. I opened it to find my least favorite person of the Akatsuki, Hidan.

"Hey Blossom bitch, your brother wants you," Hidan said with a little smirk.

"I swear if there is one person I want to kill more than anyone in this world it is you," I grinded out.

The reason for my hatred of the silver haired Akatsuki was mostly because he had no respect for me what so ever and he called me annoying two days ago. And that day ended up with me very pissed off and a hole in the side of the house with Hidan's head across the room. That made Kisame laugh till he was on the floor.

"Fuck you bitch. Now go I don't want Leader-sama to bite my head off."

With that he tossed me down the hall towards my brother's office. I swore under my breath and headed towards the door of the said office. It was a tall dark wood door with an equally dark room inside, lit only by candles. Another discovery was that my brother could be really scary when he wanted to be, but he didn't scare me.

I stepped into the room to find my brother sitting at his desk holding an air of authority with a serious face. But I could see through his eyes that he was happy to see me. On the right side of his desk was Konan, who smiled down at me. And then to the left was Itachi and Kisame.

"Sakura glad to see you made it here unscathed by Hidan," Pein stated in a clam tone.

I put a hand to my neck, reminding me of Naruto, "Well he did toss me down the hall which means he is going to get his ass kicked later."

Kisame chuckled at this with Konan, and Itachi just smirked a little.

"Down to business now, sister this was a hard decision for me but I think it would be good for you to get out of the base for a while. And seeing that you still have the same ties you did back then with Itachi and Kisame, I will be sending you on a mission with them."

I nodded knowing that he was right. During my time here I have gotten close to those two, along with Deidara and Sasori, even though he almost killed me.

"You, Kisame, and Itachi are to go to the Land of Snow and kill Ichio Kiguren. He seems to know more than he should about the Akatsuki, which means he could leak information. You mission is to kill him quickly and to not be seen. That is all," Pein finished then he looked at me

"Sakura be careful. I know you are more than capable of an assassination but don't get hurt," I could hear the concern in is voice but then it turned menacing as he turned to look at Itachi and Kisame, "And if I found out that you let her get hurt or hurt her you can expect to not live very long."

And on that note I gave my brother, Konan, and the boys a smile then went to pack.

Kohona

Sasuke and Naruto were currently walking over to a Sakura tree, where Team Gai and Shikamaru, and Sai stood. Ever since Sasuke left Naruto and the rest of them had always met there after their missions were complete and just Sasuke's luck that not everyone was there.

The looks he got from two certain males, Neji and Shikamaru, were close to daggers. Naruto knew that those two would be really angry about Sakura being gone. Neji and Shikamaru had gotten closer to Sakura over the years and were very protective of her.

"Hey dickless why is the Uchiha here and not trying to kill us," Sai said adoring his fake smile.

"Nice to see you too," Naruto said as he slapped Sai over the head, "Well he is here because according to him he always cared for me and Sakura, so he was faking," then Naruto pointed a finger at Sasuke, "And I don't believe that for one second."

"Where is Sakura? Wasn't she on a mission with you and Kakashi?" Shikamaru piped up.

Naruto's face instantly became void of all emotion except sadness.

"Long story short, she found out that her family is the Akatsuki, her actual brother is the leader, and she left with them so she could protect me and be with her brother."

Everyone's faces ranged from upset to outraged. Neji was fuming along with Lee. Tenten and Shikamaru just had looks of shock on their faces. And Sai seemed to be confused with a new emotion, concern for his friend.

Shikamaru was composing himself as he said in a somewhat steady voice, "Well it isn't too surprising to see that Sakura has ties with the Akatsuki. She knew all their weaknesses, and having the extremely rare Rinnegan, the same as the leader of the Akatsuki, and she always told me that she felt like they were more than just enemies. I guess she was right...were going after her right?"

"No, we can't," Naruto said in a grave voice, "read this and it should explain why we can't go after her."

Naruto handed Shikamaru the letter Sakura had written to him. Neji, Sai, Lee, and Tenten were peering over his shoulders to also read. Tenten started to silently cry, and Neji consoled her. Lee, Shika, and Sai just stood there dumbfounded.

"So the hag made a deal with her brother and now they can't hunt you for six years," Sai said to himself, "Not surprising seeing as that you are her best friend. But what are we going to do with the Uchiha over here?" Sai questioned as they all looked towards Sasuke.

Outside of Akatsuki Base

I was waiting outside the base for Itachi and Kisame with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. This mission didn't seem hard; she had been on plenty like this before as an ANBU, but something about Pein's words just made her uneasy.

At least I'll have Itachi and Kisame with me.

Yep. Fishy and the Ice Cube. What fun...you know I don't know why you are actually friends with those idiots. Now that I think about all your friends are idiots. Especially that Kubbi Naruto and-

"Shut up!" I screamed not being able to take it anymore. And of course that's when my two partners decided to show up.

"Hey Pinky...are you ok," Kisame asked concern in his voice. I then looked at the normally stoic Uchiha, but even I could see that he was worried on some level.

"Yeah...just having a fight with her," I seethed, pointing to my back where the seal to keep the demon in was put.

Kisame ruffled my hair and spoke in a joking manner, "Don't pay any attention to her. Just talk to us if you need to talk, kay?"

I smiled, stood and looked up at him, "Yeah okay."

"We should get going now," Itachi stated.

"Let's go," I said.

We then headed off into the forest heading to Snow. My two friends with me, Itachi on the right and Kisame on the left.

And then that feeling started to creep back up.

Sasuke looked at all the people staring at him with disgust. Naruto just knew he was going to get a beat down from Shika and Neji. But he didn't know what Sai would do to him.

"Hey, I never meant to leave," Sasuke said in a clear voice, "I only left for Naruto and Sakura. And why the hell did you just call her 'hag'," Sasuke said his voice getting a little deeper.

"Don't get angry at him Uchiha, he just has never been good with nicknames," Neji grounded out at him, "And you have no place to say that you care about those two when all you have done is cause them pain. Sakura got into ANBU to get you back, yet you still didn't come back. You tried to kill her and Naruto a while back, didn't you."

"Look I had to do that so that Orochimaru wouldn't get suspicious. I had to get him on my side so that I could learn how to control the curse mark and kill him."

"I have had just about enough of your lies Uchiha. You can't imagine all the hurt you caused Sakura. Not only didn't she have any memory but someone that she loved left her and tried to kill her. She became an empty shell after you turned on us. I'm surprised that she doesn't hate you," Neji said in a menacing voice, eyes penetrating Sasuke.

Naruto watched the exchange with sad eyes, not knowing what to do. All he wanted was Sakura back, then maybe Team 7 could be back together. That is all Naruto has ever wanted, more than becoming Hokage. But Sasuke's betrayal ran deep with Naruto, and he was still trying to figure out how to forgive him for everything that he had done.

Itachi and I were setting up camp while Kisame went too look for some firewood. We had already set up the three tents so all we had to do was wait for Kisame to come back. So I sat down, Itachi following my actions and sitting next to me.

Itachi didn't talk to much, but his company was good enough for me. Then a thought came to mind, Tobi. I stilled wanted to know what happened while I was gone to make Sasori, Pein, and him hate Tobi so much.

"Itachi, I have a question...why do you hate Tobi so much, what happened while I was gone?" I noticed that my voice didn't betray the nervous feeling that I had inside.

Itachi immediately tensed up next to me at my question, and then he looked at me with that serious look in his dark eyes.

"I want you to stay away from him. He is not the childish person you remember. You would not only do me a favor by staying away from him, but also Sasori and your brother."

I looked Itachi straight in the eye and said, "You didn't answer my question."

"Hn," was his simple answer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way sadly *pout*

Yeah another chapter done! Oh and all the reviews, poll stuff, and messages have been added up to who Sakura's love interest is going to be...but is's gunna be a surprise...please don't hate me!

Oh and Review! You know you want to ;)