Her light destroyed, Sakura now finds herself on a path she never thought she'd take, that of a missing-nin. Rumors of her status are spreading, and one organization has taken notice. Redemption is offered, will it be taken? Will the light of her life be replaced with a catastrophic boom?

A/N Sorry that this was up late, I was busy with the new Pokemon game! 'v '

WARNING

CHAPTER CONTAINS DESCRIPTION OF CASUAL NUDITY.

Recap

"Now, what do you want?" Sakura switched the topic back before Deidara could respond and potentially insult her any further. She still had questions she wanted answered.

"That's easy Sakura-chan, an answer for an answer, yeah?" Sakura's eye narrowed, not exactly pleased with the asking price. "You ask me something, I ask you something."

"Think of it as a...team building exercise, yeah?"

Questioning Thoughts

Chapter ten

The water swirled around her breasts, cooling the aches and strains that permeated through her body. The water was gentle, chilled and above all else, soothing, but it did little to alleviate the annoyance she felt over her situation. Her eyebrows pinched as she wondered if the answers she'd receive would be worth it. Glancing at the blondes arms again, she conceded it was.

'Such a technique could be incredibly useful.' Sakura was always told she was too studious for her own good.

"Who reattached your arms?" She had been sitting there for over five minutes, watching Deidara clean himself, waiting for him to ask the first question. When he had finished and reclined to enjoy the brief interlude between missions with no question forthcoming, Sakura had lost her polite patience. Deidara's lips quirked in one corner, as if he had been waiting for her reaction.

"Kakuzu, yeah." Sakura's eyebrows pinched further as she stared him down, hoping for more information without having to ask for it and potentially costing her more. Sakura had gotten very, very good at pulling information out of people when they didn't want to give it up, a skill she had Kaishoku Gake's bartering system to thank for. Deidara rolled his eyes before responding.

"The big dude next to Hidan? His partner. We call 'em the Zombie Combo." He finished with an amused smirk as Sakura heard Sasori scoff in the distance, obviously finding the nickname distasteful. All it did for Sakura was make her more curious, but she would not follow that line of questioning.

Sakura leaned backwards to contemplate the answer while she waited for Deidara to ask his own question, her back pressing up against the outstretching mangrove roots, the soft bark digging into her skin.

'I don't have any information on Kakuzu, no one in Konoha has ever met him in battle. I don't know his fighting style or any personal information.' Sakura grit her teeth as she remembered one little snippet of information she had remembered from her days in Konoha. 'There was the Fire Temple incident. The description of one of the attacker fits Hidan, so I'm guessing his partner at the time was Kakuzu.'

The mission report filed by Asuma's Nijū Shōtai hadn't been of much use at the time, as they had arrived too late to confront the Akatsuki team. It left Sakura little information to go on, the only thing she was sure of was that the two men, the "Zombie combo" were exceedingly dangerous and would have to be watched carefully.

'One of them is highly aggressive. Could Kakuzu possibly be a healer or some kind?' Sakura's eyes wandered over to Deidara again, picking apart his arms and critiquing the stitch work and reattachment.

'No, that's no work of a medic-nin. The lines are jagged and the stitching mediocre, like that of a standard nin doing a field patch up.' Scratching her head she glanced back up at Deidara, desiring to ask more questions but knowing it would be best to wait for him to ask his. The last thing she wanted to do was work up a debt she couldn't pay off.

He was absentmindedly cleaning himself once more, obviously not content with his level of cleanliness. He seemed to be focused more on his torso, the pads of his fingers rubbing against the paler skin of his chest, usually covered up and not toasted to that delicious golden brown that his arms, face and neck shared. His nails scraped against his flesh, leaving white trails that blazed red not too soon after, trying to scratch off the stubborn dirt that had worked its way under his shirt and chainmail.

He slipped lower still, both hands coming to work on his abdomen, rubbing in soft circles to try and work the dirt into a muddy lather to easily wash it off, but it didn't seem to be working. The grime had soaked into the sweat and then set flush against his taut skin. As he smoothed his hands down his softly defined abs, Sakura could spot a pair of tongues sliding out leisurely from their concealed locations.

He was licking himself like a cat.

As his hands descended further, his tongue lathered over the soft bumps of his abs, not overly defined as was common in long range fighters, but defined enough that you could see where they were and no doubt feel them beneath your fingers. A tongue tip dipped into his belly button as his fingertips plunged into his thick thatch of blonde pubic hair, Sakura's breath caught in her throat and-

"So," Her fiery emerald eyes snapped up to his just in time to see him gaze up at her, no hint of amusement or anything more in his eyes. Sakura let the breath in her throat go with a nod, pleased to find she hadn't been caught. "what made you change your mind, yeah?"

Sakura gave a sigh, knowing that this question had been coming.

"I was convinced otherwise." The look Deidara was giving her was dry and unimpressed; he had expanded on his answer and it seemed she would be expected to do the same. She sighed again before elaborating further.

"I had some misconceptions about Akatsuki's goal, which Leader-sama was gracious enough to explain in depth to me." She turned her face downwards, seeing her reflection within the surface of the water below her as she continued in a soft voice. "It turns out that they coincide with my own goals and beliefs."

"Really, and what would those be, yeah?" Sakura's head snapped up, her wet pink locks flicking slightly at such a quick, sudden movement.

"To live to serve others, to live a life as unselfishly as possible." Deidara snorted, opening his mouth to rebuke her but Sakura didn't let him have that opening. "Leader-sama did not phrase it that way, but that is what I see at the core of his plans. He wants what is best for others, he wants to bring light to a dark future, he wants to help those that cannot help themselves, through the strength he has earned." Sakura grit her teeth, the similarity to Naruto staggering now that she delved into the depths of Akatsuki's plans.

"He is like Naruto. Though he lacks the same heart, both of their eyes are fixed ahead of them, staring into a bright future. They share the same vision." Her eyes peered into Deidara, alight with unearthly fire that burned deep into her soul as she spoke with conviction and heart. "Naruto's Nindo is my own, his goals are now mine to carry, but I wont be selfish, I wont make that mistake again. Akatsuki will be the vessel in which I see Naruto dream come to fruition."

"Naruto was the kyuubi boy, was he not?" This question came from Sasori, his subtle, understated voice reaching her from his sitting place. At Sakura's nod, Deidara gave a scoff, folding his arms over his chest. Sakura was aware of their run in several years back, and it seemed to have left its mark.

"You would be naive to think all Akatsuki members subscribe to Leader-sama's god complex and fanciful ideals." Sasori continued, standing from his perch and slowly beginning his walk over to the waters edge, Sakura's eyes watching him. "Not all of us joined as willingly as you did." His last comment was accompanied with a vague hand motion and Sakura cut Deidara a look from the corner of her eyes briefly.

"A lot of us simply use Akatsuki as a means to achieve our own goals and desires, like you." Sasori crouched at the waters edge, a scant few feet away from her as he met her eyes once more, the dead glassy surface reflecting the vibrant, crystal sheen the water gave off. "Do not think they are as pleasant and self-sacrificing as yours." He finished by whipping out his hand, a flash of metal whizzing towards her head. It was caught easily and without worry as she looked down on the small object, the disgustingly dirty and rancid smelling ring laying within her palm.

Sakura broke eye contact as she plunged the ring into the water, beginning to briskly scrub the offending particles from the smooth metal surface. She wished to bite back at the puppet boy, ask him what his desires and goals were, to ask Deidara how he had become a member, but she knew it would cost her. She had other questions that needed answering before she delved into their personal lives like they were doing to her.

"I'm no fool, Sasori." She looked up from her task to see the back of the puppet master, having decided to reclaim his perch over by Sakura's discarded clothing. Sakura bit her tongue, not willing to call him out on such a small, disrespectful slight

Turning her attention back to the ring that had just recently been secured around the digit of the notorious, yet dead, Orochimaru, she once again resumed cleaning it, her thumb nail being used to scrape off the dead skin that had clung to the metal surface.

"Your turn Sakura-chan, yeah!" Deidara chirped, hoping to grab Sakura's attention back with a bolstered, overly chirpy attitude. It seemed to work as Sakura looked over at Deidara once more, surprised to find him half walking half paddling over to her side of the inlet. She raised an eyebrow but let him be.

"How are they attached?" She asked as he took a seat beside her, once more crossing his arms over his chest. Sakura's eyes gazed down to his arms, a small desire to touch and prod and examine building in her.

"Dunno." Was the simple reply once more, a blinding grin following such an admission. Sakuras upper lip twitched in annoyance as she felt a vein in her forehead throb, her fist clenching automaticly. She did not want to go through this every time she asked a question.

"I mean, I don't know how it technically works, yeah? No need to look at me like that." Deidara held both hands up in a placating motion. He'd nearly been punched once today and his bruise was still healing from the first punch she had landed. "All I know is Kakuzu found an arm and an elbow and sewed them back on with his freaky thread bullshit, yeah?"

Sakura nodded, though not quite pleased with the lack of a true answer. It seemed Deidara didn't care to learn how his arm had been reattached as long as they worked. Deidara opened his mouth again, ready to ask another question when Sakura interrupted him, holding a single finger up in the air in the space between their faces.

"You asked two questions." For once it was Sakura wearing the sly, roguish grin and Deidara didn't know how to take that.

"So, is it a Kekkei Genkai, kinjutsu or some really fucked up body experiment?" Sakura asked with little to no tact, not that she thought Deidara would mind, he didn't seem to be the type to exercise restraint. The grin that lit up his face let her know he didn't mind her phrasing at all.

"Bit of this, bit of that." Sakura raised an eyebrow, curious. "I wasn't born with these, yeah? But I was born with something unique and relatively unheard of. It was, in a sense, a Kekkei Genkai, or at least the start of one." Sakura stood at attention, her back bouncing off the roots as she leaned forwards, coming closer to Deidara with excitement in her eyes. Deidara was amused by the reaction, though seemingly used to it. His smugness seemed to grow twofold.

'A new type of Kekkei Genkai? A new one hasn't been documented in the last fifty years and Deidara managed to get to his age without word getting out? Iwa must have done a fine job of keeping that under wraps.'

"One other family member had it, a distance uncle, but he's dead now so that leaves me as the only person possessing this Kekkei Genkai, yeah." He seemed overly smug about it, but Sakura could see why. In the world of shinobi, possessing a Kekkai Genkai gave you privilege above all other, let alone one that no one else possessed. The social standing Deidara would have possessed in Iwa would have been astronomical, which made it all the more interesting as to why he had left.

'But then, privilege and power hadn't stopped Sasuke, had it? If anything it drives them to seek more.' Sakura's jaw creaked as she clenched her teeth.

"It was named Bakuton, as the Kekkei Genkai imbued me with explosive chakra. Anything I touched, anything I put my chakra into, became an explosive." Sakura briefly wondered how destructive she could be if she managed to herself some of that chakra. 'It explains his ability, but not the mouths.'

"These," Deidara remarked as he held up his hands beside his head, the tongue lolling about lewdly as they waggled at Sakura, though she gave no reaction more than an eyebrow raise. "are how I found myself as a missing-nin."

"Kinjutsu." It was a statement and not a question and Sakura would stand by that if Deidara tried to play her for it. Deidara nodded at her assessment.

"I wanted it, I wasn't allowed it, so I stole it from right under Onoki's fat nose, yeah." The smirk Deidara displayed was slightly vicious and quite unsettling, but Sakura was stuck on the way he had spoken the Tsuchikage's name. There was familiarity there.

"It allowed me to elevate my art to a whole new height, yeah."

"It's how Akatsuki noticed you." It was an offhanded remark, but by the way the teeth in his hands clenched closed, it hit a bit deeper than she had thought it would. He had answered a question without her even having to ask it.

"If you two are done with your bath we must head off, I will not tolerate being late." Sakura could detect the subtle annoyance Sasori never sought to hide.

"Oi, Sakura-chan still owes me an answer, Sasori-danna!" Deidara bit out, eyebrows pinched, voice verging on the edge of yelling.

"I really don't care, Brat." Deidara grit his teeth before stomping out of the water, yelling at his master a slew of insults directed at Sasori's prefered artistic medium. Sakura rolled her eyes and finished up her cleaning; once finished she dragged herself from the water and over to her clothing, still able to hear the half dressed Deidara bitching from a few tree's away as he stomped his way back to the clearing to prepare for their journey.

Sakura paid no mind to Sasori as she reached down to her clothing, beginning the slow, leisurely task of dressing herself. She was sure she'd hear a hastily jabbed remark about her taking her sweet time from Sasori and any second, but until then she'd take as long as she wanted. Her underwear and pants were first to take their position before she begun to slip her shoes back on, desiring to remain without her binder for as long as possible. It had been a long time since she had worn one, never having sought to replace her broken one when on the lam.

'They're tighter than I remembered.' Sakura was lucky that her breasts were small enough not to need a bra, but the extra support and protection that came from using a binder were above any discomfort as she might face. With a sigh she grabbed the binder as she stood up, only to feel the cold, hard touch of wood press against her lower back.

As she whipped around she found a kunai in hand, defensively holding it in front of her. She stared Sasori down with a hard, angered look, daring him to come closer and invade the space between them so she could drive the sharp point through his heart. Chiyo may have missed once, but Sakura would not make that mistake.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Sakura heart was racing, creeping memories of a fight long past sneaking up from forgotten depths; Sakura knew what he was doing, what he was touching, because some times when the humidity was low and temperature high, that scar he left her throbbed.

Sasori simply stood there, watching her, not moving or speaking or doing anything to assure Sakura it was a mistake and that this encounter wasn't going to leave one of them dead. Her hand tightened around the kunai as she wondered if Deidara could hear her from here.

'There's no saying he wouldn't side with Sasori, it would be best if he was not alerted.' It was then Sakura realized that she had made a very dangerous mistake of being alone with Sasori in the first place.

"You are very different from when we first met, Sakura." There was a soft elegance to Sasori's voice that she found uncommon from a Suna native, but not something she wanted to think about right now. Sasori's eyes connected with hers and she swore she could see mirth held within the glass orbs.

"Am I less attractive to you now, Sasori?" Sakura bit out, remembering how he had desired to make her into one of his controlled, dancing puppets, wondering if her hard, unfeminine body turned him away from her like it did so many men before. So many men drawn in by a cherubic face only to be confronted with the harsh, strong body of a shinobi.

Sasori gave a soft smile though his eyes were bright and manic, it seemed so out of place on the short, ever eternal boy that Sakura was forced to take a step back least she drive her kunai between his eyes.

'He's your comrade now, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. He hasn't attacked yet, he's done nothing to warrant a death.' It was hard for Sakura to talk herself down from brutally murdering someone that had haunted her for a good portion of her teenage years.

"If you think for a second that art" His grin grew that little bit more at the way he hissed the word. "bends to the heels of societies perceived notions of beauty you are very wrong, Sakura." As he took a step forward Sakura held her ground, deciding this would be her last stand if one was to be made.

"I desire you to be mine even more now than I did back then." He turned from her then, walking away from her so casually that Sakura nearly went through with her desire to drive the blade through the back of his heart container. "I shall talk to Leader-sama upon our return, I will inform him that I think it best you join Deidara and I as another facet to our team. Your skills fill an empty slot and" He paused as he turned to enter the path winding between the trees that lead to the small clearing they would depart from.

"if you are to die, I will be there to collect your body." And with that, he faded into the trees, leaving Sakura even more uncomfortable than before.

'If he thinks for a second I will comply to being placed within this unit he's more a fool than I thought.'

The trip back had been long, cramped and entirely uneventful. They had landed within the same small clearing they had once departed from and had begun their trek back to Amegakure. Sakura had not missed the rain.

Their arrival was quiet and subdued, but there was no hiding or sneaking this time, they had simply walked through one of the gates, their cloaks acting like identification cards. The time had been around three am, about two hours short of happy hour ending, not that Sakura felt the need to drink her woes under the table at this point in time.

'The mission went surprisingly well.' She thought blandly to herself, too tired from the travel and lack of sleep to put any deep thought into the statement. If she'd been a bit more lucid she might have remembered the way Deidara nearly blew up an entire mountain. 'We got the ring, no one died and no one got hurt.' There was definitely a strict ranking as to what was 'good' on a mission.

She hadn't paid any attention as they walked through the streets or entered the Akatsuki stronghold, she only gave a mild, interested look at her companions as the trio came to a stop outside of her room. Sasori had only stopped from a brief few seconds, giving her a small nod before departing, not wanting to cause excess noise and wake anyone that slumbered beyond the other doors.

Deidara stayed.

"It was fun working with you, Sakura-chan, yeah." He beamed and Sakura could make out his teeth even in the dark hallway, no one having bothered flicking on a light yet. Sakura responded with a nod, agreeing with him to a certain extent, as she slowly peeled off the seal closing her door. It had been a long time since she had fought side by side with competent ninja, it left her with a homely, warm feeling.

Deidara leaned in closer, arms crossed over his chest until his lips were a few scant inches away from her ear. Sakura's hand gripped the doorknob as she contemplated simply pushing through and slamming the door in his face to end this now awkward encounter.

"I'll come collect later, yeah?" It was soft, dark and whispered, making Sakura feel just that little bit uncomfortable. Deidara turned and left, leaving Sakura alone in the dark hallway.

With a huff she centred herself, pushing in the door and entering her bedroom once more. She had only been gone for one night but the scent of stale air hung in her room. It was then that it hit Sakura just how fast the mission had actually been.

'Only one night?' Her eyes pierced through the darkness after Deidara, astounded that such a technique could effect a mission so heavily. 'That mission would have taken at least a month.' She began disrobing as her minds picked over the travel time and the mission in depth until she was only left in her black, standard issue underwear. Taking a seat at her small desk she cleared some medical instruments and large textbooks out of the way as she dragged over a blank scroll and small bottle of ink.

She began to fill out the scroll, writing down the mission details in accurate points listing their movements, times and actions taken in brief sentences. As she finished with the short debriefing she continued on to describe the mission in depth, leaving out certain aspects like arguments and awkward, uncomfortable moments. Eventuallyshe begun to pick apart in her head how they had worked in a three person formation, there were certainly problems but for the most part they had worked extremely well together.

While yes the teamwork could do with some work, but by the last fight they had worked like a well oiled machine.

'Perhaps Sasori was correct? Maybe we would make a good team.' Sakura bit her tongue for having entertained such a thought. 'Or maybe the team will be as dysfunctional as the original Team Seven. It would end up with someone dead.'

Sakura was logical enough to see both sides of the coins, but emotional enough to side with the one she prefered. She would talk to Pein tomorrow, give her report and tell him that she would prefer to work in a medical role stationed with Amegakure.

Leaving her scroll unravelled to dry, she slipped into bed, not having bothered to get change -Kakashi would skin her alive to know she had slept so unprepared for an assault- and promptly fell asleep.

The next morning she had been up at around seven, pleased with the four hours of uninterrupted sleep. She had changed quickly, stuffed the ring and mission scroll into a small pocket within her cloak and set off looking for Pein. Sakura had assumed he would be located at the highest point within the keep and it seems like she had guessed correctly.

"I said no, Sasori." Pein's voice was low and monotonous as ever, but it instantly caught Sakura's attention as she came to a stop, roughly five feet away from the door his voice permeated through. She held her breath as she took a few small steps forward, intensely interested in the conversation taking place.

"She would fit well within our team." unmistakably Sasori's voice and unmistakably her they were talking about. "She makes up for our lack in close range techniques, is a level headed, intelligent and can work around challenging difficulties, can keep up Deidara in his unartistic destruction but can also work elegantly with my own puppets. She is also very adept with medical jutsu which Deidara needs as he continuously gets himself mutilated. It only took two fights and he was armless and defenseless. There is also her extensive knowledge about Kono-"

"I said no." Sakura nearly took a step back as Pein's sheer presence pressed against her, his voice hadn't changed at all but by the way he reacted non-verbally had shut Sasori up. "All of the points you make are the exact reasons that make her a valuable asset to any of the other teams. Haruno will not be made a permanent member to any of the teams."

Sakura could nearly scream in joy, but instead settled for making a silent 'Shannaro!' and pumping her fist in the air.

As the door opened before her and Sasori filtered out Sakura couldn't hide her sense of satisfaction, an incredibly smug look settling on her face as she stared the short male down. 'I know I'm antagonizing him,' Her smug smirk grew that little bit more as his eyes narrowed. 'but I cannot bring myself to care.'

"Haruno-san, please, come in." Pein's subdued, deep voice brought her back as he gazed out from beyond his open door. She gave a small nod, swooping pass the departing Sasori and into what she would come to call Pein's office.

"Sasori has informed me the mission was a success, do you have the ring with you?" Pein asked before Sakura gave another nod, pulling the ring from her pocket along with her mission scroll, handing them both to the taller, imposing man.

"Yes, I also completed writing the mission debriefing last night as well." She finished with a respectful bow at the waist.

"That's a first." Came the soft, feminine voice of Konan as she glanced at Sakura from her position by a large, bay window. "Normally the men give it to us verbally." Konan approached Pein, taking the scroll from him and opening it to begin reading. "What a nice change for once." Her tone was pleased and Sakura took it as a complement; Tsunade had beat the importance of paperwork into her from an early age, even if it was only because she wanted to get out of doing it herself.

Pein walked towards his desk, a large scroll already unravelled across its surface as Sakura broke from her respectful bow. She followed as Pein motioned her over, now standing behind his desk with Sakura in front.

'I've never seen a seal like this.' It looked complicated and old, some of the symbols she had only ever seen replicated in books. The seal was made up of three circles, one large one in the middle and two smaller ones on each side. The right, smaller circle had the symbol for Sky, mirroring the ring, so it was no surprise when Pein placed the ring within it. The large middle circle was empty, but surrounded by interlocking symbols Sakura had never seen outside of a book, having assumed they were obsolete.

"Sakura-san, please place your left hand here." Konan asked politely, her hand motioning towards the left circle. Sakura complied, though not without an odd sense of trepidation welling up within her. Apart from the Byakugō no In Sakura had never been on the receiving end of a sealing ceremony; she had never even participated in one.

The paper felt old and worn under her hand, the scroll was no doubt older than she was if her theory was correct. 'The likelihood of this scroll dating back to pre-war time is great, it might have even existed before the shinobi villages came into creation. The books I read dated these symbols to the beginning of the shinobi way, it coul-'

"Sakura, look at me." Without a second thought Sakura looked up, only to feel the bottom of her world drop out below her as she felt the pulse of the rinnegan flood through her body. A gasping, desperate breath in was all she could muster as she panicked, her existence being pulled into one infinitesimal dot within the centre of Pein iris.

If she had the ability to look down Sakura would have noticed that the seal had been activated, Pein's hand within the large middle circle flaring with overwhelming chakra. The symbols seemed to bleed into brilliant purple chakra chains, swallowing both her hand and the ring in their effervescent glow.

But before Sakura could come to realization that she wasn't going to die the ceremony was completed, which let Sakura free from Pein's all consuming gaze as she ripped her hand back and away.

"Calm yourself." It was a soft voice that brought back some sense as Sakura's panicked eyes flicked to Konan, the older woman's hand outstretched and placed upon her shoulder. Sakura no doubt resembled a Deer caught in the presence of a lion as she panted heavily, feeling a few beads of sweat descend from her hairline.

"It's been done, Haruno-san." Pein informed her with a casual side glance, causing Sakura to flinch, the sensation of the Rinnegan still fresh within her mind and still permeating her body.

Holding up her left hand to check that it was still intact, she was greeted by the sterling ring now transfixed around her left little finger and nails blacker than any polish she'd ever been able to buy.

"Welcome to Akatsuki, Haruno Sakura."

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What takes you a few seconds to do lasts me a life time

Notes

Nijū Shōtai - Squad of 20 or Twenty Platoons is a task force created by the Tsunade consisting of twenty four-man teams. Their mission is to scour the Land of Fire in search of members of Akatsuki. Basically that's when Asuma died, but he doesn't die fighting Hidan in this universe.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, but Pokemon! More casual Nudity and Sakura is now a fully fledged member of the Akatsuki! I wonder what her next mission will be, and I wonder with who? When will Deidara come to collect? Will more questions and answers be traded?