Here is the next chapter. I must say I am very happy with the amount of reviews I received for the last chapter. And I am actually really happy that I have managed to write 3 chapters, and post them this month, with more than 2k words each! :D

Chapter 10

"So you sign their death warrants, all because they wanted to sell me?" The viridian eyes had an undistinguishable emotion in their depths. Her face was an unreadable mask. She could have been a portrait if it was not for her body still quivering with an unknown emotion. Could it be fear? Anguish? The Akatsuki leader could not tell.

Pein looked at his sister. Was she not opposed to the idea of being a slave for someone? Surely she was; her strong, independent nature would clash with someone trying to out rule her. She might be young and inexperienced in the world, but she must have at least thought through the words that had just come out of her mouth. She had to of had the foresight to know that servitude is not a life she would have ever been happy with.

"Sakura, they were not good people!" Nagato tried to explain.

"I don't care! No one is perfect, so they wanted to sell me. It could have been for my benefit. They were going through a tough financial crisis; they probably couldn't have supported me and decided to kill two birds with one stone by selling me. They would have money and I would be supported for." Even Sakura knew it was bullshit that was spilling out of her mouth. She was upset at the idea, but she couldn't bring herself to believe a single word her brother was telling her. Her parents would never do such a thing. Nagato was lying. And from the look Nagato was giving her, Sakura knew he didn't believe she agreed with the words she had spoken.

"Sakura," Nagato said in a quiet voice.

"Nagato, I can't believe you. I won't." The vixen's voice broke and tears pricked at her eyes. "They were my parents. They loved me! Whatever they did that you thought was wrong, was probably for me! But I refuse to believe that they were going to sell me." She couldn't believe her brother; it would destroy her already fading faith.

"Sakura, how much about our parent's did you know? How much did you actually know?" Pein asked. Sakura was a smart girl, but when she was little she had the tendency to be selective. If she didn't want to hear it, she didn't. If she didn't want to see it, it was never seen. It was a great ability to have, if she could have controlled it. But it was adequate at best since no one can control their instincts. So was it because of her instinctual defense that she did not see any of their parents' misdeeds?

"That they had a shop below our house and were often busy so they could never play with me. But you know all of that, Nagato." Sakura told her brother; her eyes were lit up with curiosity. Pein could almost hear the gears in her head working as she was trying to figure out what he knew that she did not.

"What did they sell in the shop," he asked. Sakura blinked in surprise. The man could tell she did not expect that question in the slightest. By her reaction, Nagato knew she didn't know. And that little fact she lacked might change her whole view.

"You know I was never allowed in the shop," Sakura said in a clipped tone.

"But you were always a curious little girl, Sakura. Surely you must have tried to discover what our parents never wanted you to see." Sakura's body tensed at her brother's accusation. But she gave no rebuttal.

"Once, about two weeks before you slaughtered our parents, I tried to see what was in the shop. But daddy caught me coming down the stairs and I got in trouble. He threatened to take away my toys if I wasn't a good girl. So, I promised I would never do it again…if he took me to the park later that day." Sakura wasn't sure why she was telling him this. Why was she even talking to the man that killed her parents? Because he was still, somewhere deep down, the man she had loved with all her heart. He still had that part of him that she had clung to throughout these harsh ten years; she just knew it. And he was still the man she had told all of her secrets to when she was little. He was still her brother.

Nagato's eyes softened at her innocence. She stilled clung to her parent's memory. She still referred to the man Nagato had despised so much as daddy. He mentally shook that thought out of his head. Sakura was the one his focus had belonged to right now. He directed his attention to the bargain she had made, and a slight smile curled his lips. She had always used the park as a bargaining tool, why he never knew. She was often bullied as a child and the park was a known place of where her assailant's would hang out. Yet every time the opportunity would arrive, she would bargain for someone to take her to the park.

"Did he take you to the park?" Nagato asked.

Sakura bit her lip before shaking her head. "A few minutes before closing time, someone came into the shop. Mother said he was really an important client and that daddy would take me another time."

Nagato resisted the urge to scowl. He knew for a fact it was not the first time his father had blown Sakura off for a client. His shop was far more important than his daughter. No, money was more important than his familial obligation as a father. Nagato knew he should change the topic, this was dangerous territory enough as it is; he didn't need to add gasoline to the already growing fire that was his sister's temper. He needs to tell her before she was overcome with rage.

"Do you want to know what our parents were hiding?" Nagato asked.

"Not really," Sakura answered honestly.

This surprised Nagato and before he knew it he blurted out, "Why?"

"They didn't want me to know and, if my hunch is right, it might ruin my trust in everyone I grew to love." The pink haired vixen said. She had such conviction in her voice; almost as if she was preparing herself to deny the words he will come to say.

Nagato almost wanted to change the conversation once more, this time to something entirely different than his original purpose. But he knew that it would do no good for him to skip this topic. Sakura needed to hear this. She needed to know that the world was truly not black and white like she had believed for so long. She needed to know that where she had placed her faith all of these years were wrong. Desperately and horribly wrong.

"Well that's too bad." Nagato told her. "I think I will tell you anyway."

"You will do no such thing." The pink haired female stated. Sakura's eyes flashed and for a moment Pein wondered if her instinctual selective hearing would kick in. Or would she be forced to listen to him instead?

"Our family was just like every other person who you despise right now; especially our father." Nagato said.

Sakura shook her head before a heated refusal came from her lips. "No!"

"Yes he was Sakura; and that little shop of his was the whole reason they were killed."

"Tell me what happened that night," Itachi demanded his father. Itachi had no idea what made him demand such a thing from his father. Such obvious disrespect towards an elder was against his upbringing in every way, shape, and form. Yet it still slipped from his tongue, all because it involved that pink haired vixen that had so rudely walked into his life and challenged him.

"Itachi!" Mikoto cried out. She had grown accustom to Sasuke speak in such a manner towards them; he always acted before he thought. But Itachi never did anything rashly. He always had things planned at least a few steps ahead. So when her eldest son had spoken so brazenly and aggressively towards his father, Mikoto grew worried.

"Boy, you have no right to demand anything from me." Fugaku retaliated.

"Would you rather she does it? At least with me you might come out of this alive." Itachi said. Even he was shocked at the words that had flowed out of his mouth. He had never been so disrespectful; but what Sakura had told them shook something inside him.

Itachi had never been a fighter. He had always preferred to solve his problems with words, but on rare occasions verbal tactics proved useless and a physical fray had to take place to show who was dominate. Just like the animals people had believed them to evolve from. And hearing how at the mere age of eight the harsh vixen, which had generated havoc in his normally dull routine, saw the horrors of the world; with his father as one of the men showing her it.

"Did you just threaten your father, Itachi?" Mikoto asked in shock. Surely this could not be her well-mannered son.

"Mother, I think you should leave. This is a conversation solely between father and me." Itachi told his mother. Itachi doubted his father wanted his sweet wife to know what he had done a few years back, to his young son's best friend nonetheless.

"Itachi I will no-" Mikoto was interrupted by her husband who let out a defeated sigh.

"Mikoto, the boy needs to hear this. And I need to get this off my conscience. Maybe it is time to come clean about all my misdeeds." Fugaku told her.

"You have done nothing wrong, Fugaku! You are a good man. Our son is just not thinking correctly at the moment! Fugaku plea—" Mikoto was silenced by a glare from her husband. The message was clear to the matriarch. Leave. And because it was the head of the clan giving the order now, not her husband, Mikoto had no other choice but to obey his command.

When his female counterpart left, Fugaku questioned his elder son. "How did you find out?"

"She told me." Itachi responded.

"How did you come across her?"

"She was the one who was going against the Organization."

"But what made her tell you."

"She didn't; a few of us were just in the room when she told Pein, her brother." That got a reaction out of Fugaku. Her brother ordered him to kill those two people? The leader of the Akatsuki ordered the members to kill something that organization valued. The older man quickly recovered from his shock, though the disapproval laced his voice when he questioned his son on the matter.

"So what do you want to know, Itachi?"

"Why didn't you kill her?" Fugaku hadn't expected to hear that. Especially since his oldest son was never one to condone the taking of another person's life unless it was absolutely necessary.

"I hardly think you are at liberty to ask that," Fugaku said.

"She asked Pein that, I merely restated her question to a man who could actually answer it. So tell me father, why did you not kill her? She said she begged you to; she said she solicited you to rip her eyes out before killing her. So why didn't you do it?" Itachi asked.

Fugaku debated on telling his son his reason at all. He certainly didn't have to explain himself to his son. But at the same time he knew his son was persistent in matters he deemed important, and somehow that pink haired child he chose to keep alive all those years ago had made a place in his son's life. A place he knew Itachi would not let become vacant anytime soon. A smile suddenly crept onto the old man's face.

"She reminded me of your mother when we were younger." History always repeats in the most surprising ways. Maybe Itachi will find happiness through Sakura like he did with Mikoto.

Kakashi was surprised when the girl he considered a daughter came to his door with tears in her eyes. But the moment he saw the drops of liquid cascade down her face his shock turned to anger. He vowed to murder the person that caused them. It took a lot to make his pink haired surrogate daughter to tear up, and a lot more to make her actually cry.

"Sakura, what happened?" He asked as he shut the door after ushering her into his small home. He cupped her face with one of his hands, forcing her to look at him before wiping away her tears with his thumb.

"I met the leader of the Akatsuki today," she whispered.

Kakashi's visible eye widened. "What did he do to you? Did he threaten you?" Kakashi knew it would be hard, but he would kill the man for making his pink haired daughter cry. Even if he was going to die in the process, it would be worth it. Because to him, Sakura needed to smile; she needed to hope.

Sakura was a part of the future of Konoha. All of her generation was, and for one of them to shut off their faith in this town was bad. It only took one person to question their faith before everyone started to. And as more doubt flooded their mind the worse this city's future would be.

They had to prevent that. That was the whole reason he and others were going against the Akatsuki. They needed to protect this town's future. Therefore they needed to protect the younger generations.

"He didn't threaten me Kakashi, that man would never threaten me." At her statement, Kakashi couldn't help but disagree with her.

"Sakura he is the leader of the organization we are trying to take down. He will kill you to keep that organization running smoothly."

"He is my brother." Her answer was faint, barely above a whisper. But Kakashi heard her. And his shock returned.

Kakashi was well acquainted with Sakura's once iconic figure. When he had first met her, Sakura had only talked about her brother. How great he was, how she wanted to be just like him, how she wanted to see him again, or how she was so grateful he was her brother. But now, the grey haired man was curious to know if that sibling devotion would continue now that she had discovered he was the man she was trying to destroy.

Was her piety to Konoha stronger than her commitment to the man who had done her wrong?

"What did he say to you, Sakura?"

"He told me why my parents were killed. And I…I believe him." Kakashi could hear her heart breaking in her words. He could hear the last of her foundation crumbling away. This was why he loved her. He knew it was probably not the time to think about that. But this was why so many of them in the resistance loved her. She was strong and outspoken her in beliefs, but she was still a child. A child who clung to the innocence she claimed everyone had. She had the innocence all of them had lost long ago.

But it was also the reason Tsunade and he was so dead set on protecting her. She shouldered so much, and they both were just waiting on the day where she couldn't bear the weight anymore. When that day came, they promised themselves and each other as her surrogate parents, they would carry that weight. But only when she could no longer do it on her own. Kakashi was thinking maybe now they should have intervened sooner, but Tsunade's words rang clear in his head.

"Sakura needs to know her limits before she can ask either of us to help her do what she cannot achieve on her own. If we interfere now we could risk her losing her personal identity and possibly lapse into a state of psychosis."

So Kakashi settled on comforting her in the only way he knew how. "Tell me why you believe him," Kakashi pulled her into his chest.

Sakura's head buried into the man's chest and for a moment a small smile crept onto her face. This was why she went to Kakashi instead of her friends. He knew how to listen and ask the right questions. He knew how to make her feel like things weren't crashing down around her. Even though she knew that life would go on without her, he made her remember that for right now she was here with someone who cared for her and she loved him for that. Kakashi was her father figure, the man who she knew she would always be able to count on. The man she knew she could tell anything to.

"It makes sense, all the things I had questioned before their deaths. All of it makes sense as to why they died. I would have done the same thing if I were him." Sakura told him.

This surprised Kakashi. Sakura had always valued a person's life, but Sakura also valued what was right more than what she wanted in life. "Why?" he asked.

"Because they were evil, they were horrid, they were monsters." Sakura's voice caught in her throat every time she said 'they'. Kakashi knew she was trying to fight the tears from falling once more.

"Why were they monsters?" He questioned. He knew talking this out would make everything better for the young girl. It would make her rational once more.

"They sold women for sex. Women they obtained illegally. And they wanted to sell me to someone as well. They wanted to whore their daughter out when she was eight years old because some disgusting man had a lolicon fetish and would pay a hefty amount." Sakura told him, the tears fell once more.

"Are you sure you can trust what the Akatsuki leader said?" Kakashi asked. This was something that seemed a little too farfetched, but Kakashi didn't know what Sakura's original family life was like before.

"At first I was hesitant, but the more he said the more it made sense. I remember seeing that man on more than one occasion. I remember how every time his eyes landed on me, I just wanted to run and hide. I recall how my father would always put his hand between my shoulder blades and nudge me closer to that disgusting pig and how when I tried to tell my mother she would tell me that my presence helps daddy to obtain an increase in profit with that client." Sakura told Kakashi. "How can what Nagato said be lies when I felt them myself at such a young age?"

"So you would have killed your parents because they were going to whore you out?" Kakashi asked. He needed to ask this, not because he was curious. But because he knew this was the internal battle Sakura was having right now.

Sakura hesitated on answering. She wasn't so sure. After a few minutes of deliberation Sakura answered Kakashi's question. "No, I wouldn't kill them for that."

"Then why would you?" The grey haired man asked.

"Because this quaint little town has a dark secret; it only takes one person to make the whole town greedy. Corruption spreads a lot easier than anyone can possible fathom. And my own family played a huge part in creating the snowball effect. No one was doing anything about all the mayhem that was created. They turn a blind eye to it and I don't know how. But it needs to end now."

It will end now.

Okay so there was the chapter. To be honest I think there will only be one or two chapters left at the most, it depends on what goes down in the next chapter. I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think in a review though.

-Kori.