Chapter Twelve: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
"Hidan, over here."
The sadistic masochist walked towards the cell which Kisame Hoshigake stood in front of. The two of them had been searching for hours, questioning the prisoners of Amegakura's prison complex, looking for anyone that might have information on the history of Akito Kurosuki. They were in an area of the compound that housed only Otogakura fugitives, experiments, and villagers. Although Akito Kurosuki was originally from Kirigakura, the Otogakura citizens would be the ones to have information on him. "We've found what we've been looking for."
Hidan reached the cell and stood next to Kisame, the prisoner contained behind its bars wasn't exactly what he had expected. The man was not large, burly, or even deformed, instead he was old and shriveled, cowering in the corner in filth. He looked as though he was on his deathbed, how could this man have been one of Orochimaru's specimens? "So what does this fucking bastard have to tell us?"
The old man flinched at Hidan's language; it was obvious that he was terribly frightened as he attempted to push himself further against the wall behind him as if to escape somehow. Kisame gave Hidan a look that signaled for him to keep quiet and let him do the talking, "So, old man. You say you're one of Orochimaru's experiments?"
On that note the man seemed to relax, in fact he uncurled himself enough to face the two of them. Kisame had said the right thing, the old man wanted to have his story heard before he passed away, "That's right, I am one of Orochimaru-sama's immortality test subjects."
His honorific usage signified that he was still loyal to his experimenter, which was something that Kisame did not expect, "And what exactly did you undergo?"
"I was injected at age twenty with a serum that Orochimaru-sama had concocted to produce immortality, obviously it failed," He said this with a twisted smile on his face, perhaps he had grown senile in his old age. "That was five years ago."
Kisame looked to Hidan; both of them wore the same bewildered expressions. How could this man whom looked ancient be only twenty-five years of age? "So the serum worked in the reverse affect, you aged quickly instead?"
"That is correct, and now I am approaching my last hours… I can feel it," The old man looked up at the ceiling, passed it, towards the Heavens. Tears had formed in his eyes, his last wish had come true, and he could now die in peace knowing that someone had heard what had happened. "And now, I shall tell you of Akito Kurosuki."
After hours of searching they were finally going to hear what they had came for. The information that they would obtain would become crucial to their plan to dispose of Orochimaru, "Go fucking on then, fucking tell us."
"When I was being observed for the effects of the serum," The old man wheezed. "A young boy named Akito was stationed to observe both the test subjects and the prisoners, both were placed in the same room on opposite sides."
The shark man had to stand back as the old man hacked and hacked, there was blood in the mucus that he was coughing up. "The boy, Akito was very silent and still as he sat on a stool in the middle of the room, crouched over hugging his knees, he never made a move but his eyes… his eyes they were so cold… the Devil's eyes."
The old man took in a large breath and continued coughing, managing to utter words in between, "He would scan over each of us, you could feel his gaze over you when those eyes reached your cell… you could feel death."
Hidan looked over to Kisame somewhat confused, how could this be the same Akito Kurosuki? When they had met in Otogakura, Kurosuki had seemed rather strange but he hadn't noticed anything particularly evil about him, nothing like they were accustomed to seeing. Kisame just gave him a curt nod and returned to the old man, "Please, go on."
"We were all so hungry, especially the prisoners… We hadn't been fed in days. There was this one boy, only about five or six years old, his cell was nearest to Akito's, who put his hands outside the bars and pleaded for Akito to let him have some food. The Devil… he sat there for a moment… then he stood up and he walked over to the boy and smiled kindly at him… but his eyes were still so cold… The boy, he didn't see them though, he laughed happily as Akito opened his cell door and led him out into the center of the room. Akito… He picked up a spoon that had been dropped… He told the boy to open his mouth… and when he did…"
He started hacking again, much worse than before, but Kisame urged him to continue. They had to know what Akito was capable of; this dying man was their only hope. "The boy… he opened his mouth and Akito put the spoon on his tongue…and then there was bright flash of light and then this burning smell…and then when we could see again… the boy was convulsing… blood was gushing out of all the orifices of his body…his eyes… his nose… his mouth… his insides were burnt… and then he died…and Akito…he was laughing, laughing so hard tears were streaming from his eyes… Crocodile tears… The Devil had electrocuted him… conducted it in his body."
So Akito was a psychopath, but wasn't necessarily dangerous unless up close. In fact, with that description he seemed even less hazardous than his older brother. Kisame and Hidan turned to leave when the old man called them back, "That's not all… I heard… I heard one of Orochimaru-sama's subordinates say after that… that Kurosuki… he once conducted enough electricity… in his body to cause a shockwave that… that took out… an entire country."
A country? Enough electricity to take out an entire country? Was that even possible? Kisame had known that Raiga Kurosuki could generate electricity in his body to shock his opponents and that he could control it with his swords, but Raiga could never take out half a village let alone a country with one wave. If it was true, that meant—"He's fucking Akatsuki level."
"Please…leave me…I do not wish to be seen like this… on my final hour…"
The two Akatsuki members left the man to die in peace, as they exited they did not speak to each other. Akito Kurosuki had been only ten years old when he had done such atrocious acts, now he was fifteen and capable of much more. They were dealing with something much bigger than they had ever dreamed of.
"Sakura-san, you cannot comprehend how happy I am. I was hoping you would join me someday for lunch," Sakura Haruno sat across from the pale black-haired boy she had met three days earlier. After he had 'saved' her and her two accompanies from 'danger' she felt obligated to submit to his request. It was only lunch after all, it wouldn't hurt.
"Oh, well I'm glad you offered, Taoki-san. It's been a long time since I've been able to eat out; I haven't since I was last in Konohagakura." She smiled warmly, swallowing a spoonful of soup. The last time she had had lunch with friends was with Ino and Hinata, the day before she was abducted by Sasori. Even though she was comfortably sitting across from her new acquaintance, in the small, cozy restaurant across the street from the jewelry store, it hadn't been easy for her to get to that position. She had to inform Kisame of where she was going and when she was going to get back in order to get him to keep an eye out for Sasori and Itachi so she could sneak out of Akatsuki Headquarters. The two of them had been keeping an awfully close watch on her for the past few days. "Shame it isn't spring or something, we could have eaten outside."
"Yes, it would be rather chilly out there today," Taoki said, sipping the steaming coffee that he had ordered. Sakura watched him curiously, it was nearly boiling and yet he didn't seem to be affected at all, he hadn't even blown on it to cool it down. "But it's nice in here all the same."
"Yes, yes indeed it is," Talking to him was rather pleasant; she didn't have to listen to the swearing of Hidan or be outwitted by Sasori or Itachi. "Have you lived here long, Taoki-san?"
"Oh, no it's only been a few years. Tell me, Sakura-san where did you get such a necklace?"
"Hmm? Oh," Sakura blushed and looked down at the heart-shaped diamond necklace that was hung around her neck. "It was a Christmas present from one of my friends."
"I see, might I ask who? I may know this friend you speak of."
"Oh, no you probably wouldn't. He's not originally from here either, he's from Sunagakura."
"Sunagakura, I see. Yes, you're right, I probably wouldn't know him," Sakura noticed a slight change in Taoki's tone but decided to pay no attention to it, it was probably just the coffee, maybe it was bitter. "So Sakura-san, tell me about yourself."
His question took her aback, if she was still in Konohagakura she could have gone on about her teammates and her apprenticeship with the Hokage but now she was with the Akatsuki and she wasn't really sure where to start. "Well, in the shinobi department I'm skilled in medical jutsu and I have perfect chakra control which enables me to have incredible strength capabilities."
"I see, and who is your partner in the Akatsuki?"
She wasn't sure if she was allowed to answer that sort of question, the Akatsuki were very secretive, "Well, currently my partner is the same one who gave me my necklace."
Taoki chuckled to himself, "No names then?"
"Sorry," Sakura smiled warmly at him, she didn't want him to get the wrong idea and have him think she was angry at him for asking.
"Well I'll just have to figure it out for myself then," He closed an eye and waved a finger at her, smirking. "So, what inspired you to become one of the Akatsuki?"
"Well, I err," It probably wasn't a good idea to tell him that she had been kidnapped from her home by the same person who was both her partner and the one who had given her the necklace around her neck. "I don't know, I suppose I just lost loyalty to my original village and so I sought out the Akatsuki. They pay awfully well; it's a missing-nin's dream job."
"Ah, I see. But your headband, it doesn't bare the traditional slash through the insignia."
'Shit,' Now what was she supposed to do? He had caught on to her, but was he just being observant or was there intent to his questioning? She untied her headband and looked down at it on the table. "I suppose you're right, I never really thought about it before."
"Oh I see, well you should probably slash it out then right? You wouldn't want people thinking that an Akatsuki was still loyal to their village," Taoki remained cheerful even though he was making Sakura panic inside; she deemed his questioning as completely innocent. He seemed harmless, he was just a villager after all, what could he possibly do?
Sakura picked up her headband off the table and retied it around her head, "It's just a symbol, there's really no need to scratch it out. I have no real loyalty to the Akatsuki; I just do their dirty work to get paid. Crossing out the symbol of Konoha would just mean that I was truly one of them."
"I see."
Akasuna no Sasori stood in the kitchen of the Akatsuki Headquarters, scowling at Kisame, Hidan, and Tobi. He had searched the premise of the complex for the pink haired kunoichi from Konoha from top to bottom but to no avail. Sakura was neither in the building nor anywhere on the grounds. She had not escaped by herself, someone had assisted her. "I'm giving you three five seconds to fess up."
"I didn't fucking do anything!"
"Five."
"Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is a good boy!"
"Four."
"It wasn't me, Sasori ol' pal!"
"Three."
"I don't even know what's fucking going on."
"Two."
"Alright, alright! I helped her!" The puppeteer was already pissed off, if he finished counting down it would be the end for all three of them. Kisame sighed, "Look, she just wanted some fresh air, it can't hurt right?"
"I'm sorry, did you not hear what Leader said about not letting her wander off?"
"It was you who was supposed to be watching her, not us."
"That doesn't mean you just give her the 'O.K.' to roam about the countryside."
"Look, she just went on some date with some guy that we met the other day."
Sasori's brow furrowed further at Kisame's words. A date? With some guy? "And you let her do this knowing that Orochimaru and his two henchmen are out there pursuing her? You now know what Akito Kurosuki is capable of and yet you let her go meander with 'some guy you met the other day'?"
"He was harmless; we met him when his kid brother and his gang attempted to hit us with two by fours."
"He also could be working for Orochimaru; you know very well that he has spies all over. The more 'harmless' the better."
"Oh c'mon, you're being paranoid, Sasori. Sakura'll be fine, no need to get so concerned about her."
"I'm not concerned about her, I'm concerned about the fact that I will be blamed for her death," He wished he could say that it was true, well he was concerned about his tail being blamed but he was also worried about the well-being of Sakura Haruno. It puzzled him as to why it was so, he had never worried about anyone besides himself before, but at that moment he didn't have time to question himself. "I do not wish to have to explain to Leader that her death was caused due to some lunch date."
"Please," Kisame scoffed. "He was harmless, right Hidan? The kid certainly didn't look like some spy or assassin."
"Spies and assassins aren't supposed to look like spies or assassins, that's the whole point, Kisame."
"Well you know what I mean, there was just no way."
"Akito Kurosuki played the part of a harmless innkeeper and look at what he turned out to be. You said it yourself, he is Akatsuki level."
"Yeah well this kid looked sorta sickly; he was really pale and stuff. What was his name, Hidan? It started with a 'T' I think and ended in 'ki'.
"Fucking 'Taoki' or something."
Sasori muttered the name under his breath a few times, spelling it out in his head when suddenly it hit him, "You fools! 'Taoki' is an anagram of 'Akito'!"
The puppet master darted from building to building, scanning the structures on the opposite side of the street for signs of Sakura. Kisame had said it was a lunch date but at this point in time they could very well be roaming the streets of Amegakura. His insides were twisted in a knot of worry for the kunoichi's status but he chose to ignore it. He had to focus on getting her back, if he thought of all the ways Akito Kurosuki could be torturing her it would get in the way of his search, which of course proved his theory on emotions right. They did get in the way, at least sometimes. He would have to inform her of that, without telling her how exactly he had come to that conclusion of course.
Snow was falling from the dark grey sky; the rooftops were covered in it making it difficult for him to leap from one to another. Still, he continued on down the road towards the jewelry store where the mob of girls had been, where he had purchased the necklace for Sakura.
He jumped down onto the street as he neared the jewelry store; the villagers paid no attention as they were all accustomed to ninjas darting from place to place. Running through the crowded streets, Sasori stood in front of the store, looking up at the sign that hung above it, and then he turned and looked across the road.
There sat Sakura Haruno, sitting opposite of a sickly looking boy with black hair tied into a short ponytail, in front of the picture window of the restaurant. Sasori relaxed, she was still in one piece. However, she also looked rather cheerful talking to Kurosuki, she was laughing at the moment, which angered the Scorpion.
"Sakura-san, you must try this tiramisu, it's to—Look out!" Taoki grabbed Sakura's hand, pulling her towards him on the floor of the restaurant to cover her from the flying glass. As the kunoichi recaptured herself, kunai in hand, she noticed that three humanoid puppets were perched on three separate tables, the customers at the noted tables in a state of shock. When they realized what was really happening, both they and the onlookers at other tables scrambled through the door to safety.
Sakura stood up, shaking with anger at the man at the end of the strings. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sasori?!"
"I'm saving your ass, you ungrateful girl!" He jerked a few of his fingers sending two of the puppets towards the sickly-looking boy who dodged them with ease. Unfortunately Sakura did not catch this action, for she would have known that he wasn't really a civilian, she was too busy yelling at the puppet master. "How dare you disrupt my lunch date?"
"And how dare you speak to me like that?!" Sasori snarled, sending poison-tipped senbon at Taoki from one of the puppet's mouth. "Especially since you do not understand the circumstances."
She smirked, almost maniacally, staggering back as one of the puppets flew by her at Taoki, "Are you jealous, Akasuna no Sasori?"
The ex-Suna-nin hesitated for a moment, unable to find a retort to counter her remark. '…Jealous?'
"Of course he's jealous of us, Sakura-chan. Who wouldn't be?" Sakura whirled around to see her lunch date grinning fanatically, eyes on Sasori. She watched as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke with a 'poof' and when it cleared her eyes widened as she realized with whom she had been dining with. "Akito."
"Yes, Sakura-chan, it's me. I just had to come and see you; I've missed you something dreadful." His persona changed as he turned to her, he smiled warmly with eyes creased, and then he turned back to Sasori. "Now then, time for us to play."
Akito threw out several shuriken, aimed at Sasori, only to have them blocked by one of his puppets. His grin grew wider; the idea of such a battle against the puppet master excited him.
He disappeared into thin air and reappeared behind Sasori, kunai in hand. The Scorpion was taken by surprise, he hadn't expected him to be able to reach such speed, nevertheless he twitched one of his fingers, sending a puppet towards him, knocking the henchman into the wall.
But that wasn't the end of the fight; Sasori had to release the chakra strings that bound the puppet to him as Akito was sending an electric current up them through it. He had cut them just in time too; if the wave had reached any further he would have been sure to be electrocuted.
Sakura had finally taken the situation in, how could the gentle Taoki have been the monster her partner was battling? But then she remembered how kind and charming Akito could be and it didn't surprise her as much. His questioning over lunch all made sense now.
Now it was her turn to enter the fray, she focused her chakra into her fists and dashed towards Kurosuki, only to be knocked aside in mid-air by one of Sasori's puppets. As she recovered herself on the ground, he gave her a warning glance which Sakura smirked at. This was his battle.
The two puppets, that were still in commission, flung themselves towards Akito, one sending senbon out through its fingertips, the other emitting a poisonous gas. Sakura covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve to protect herself, what was he thinking? He was going to kill all three of them, had he forgotten that he no longer inhabited a puppet? It didn't really matter though, because Kurosuki had formed seals that produced a strong gale of wind that blew away the noxious gas, protecting them all from its toxins. "Sasori, you idiot! You'll kill us both!"
She saw a small smile play on his lips; just what was he smiling about? Sasori stood firm in his battle stance as he watched Kurosuki conduct balls of electricity in the palms of his hands. It was almost like two chidori, except instead of blue lightning it was white. He charged at Sasori, dodging the two puppets that had been hurled at him. The puppet master narrowly dodged the attack, the right sleeve's hem of his robes had been singed by the current and he fell to the ground, rolling over to break it.
Akito launched himself off the wall, forming seals. A large electrical snake was summoned from his jutsu, which dived at Sasori missing him only by inches, and tunneled into the ground. The missing-nin from Kiri laughed as he watched Sasori turn around and around, looking for where the snake would emerge from the ground. He could sense its chakra but it was circling underground so he was unable to detect as to where it would strike.
Although she had been told to stay out of the fight, Sakura thrust her fist into the floor, creating a fissure in the ground big enough to reveal the snake. It sprung up towards Sasori, who wasn't ready for the attack.
It was as if the world was going in slow motion, Sasori's eyes widened as the creature hurled itself towards him. He would not close them; he would face the pain of electrocution without flinching. The puppet master might have been immortal but that did not mean he didn't feel pain.
"Stop!" Sakura Haruno stood in front of her partner, arms outstretched as if shielding him from the oncoming attack. The snake immediately vanished and Sakura relaxed. Akito wouldn't dare hurt her.
"My dear Sakura-chan, you need not protect such scum. You're only prolonging his eventual death." Kurosuki smiled warmly at her, waving a finger. "I suppose I've overstayed my welcome now haven't I? Don't worry Sakura-chan; I'll be back for you."
And with that he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
She turned to the Akatsuki who was sitting on the ground looking very sour. He was rather dirty from the dust that had risen after she had made impact on the ground and his sleeve was singed from the snake. Other than that he looked okay physically, maybe a few bruises from the fall he had taken, but his ego had been damaged. Not only had Akito Kurosuki escaped from him yet again he was saved by some girl.
Sakura sat down beside him in the rubble that was once a restaurant, "I guess it's a good thing you came to rescue me, if you hadn't I might have been stuck living with that creep for the rest of my life."
Sasori made a noise that told her that her efforts to cheer him up had failed miserably. She couldn't really blame him for sulking; his pride had just been stomped on. "I can't believe I didn't see through his disguise."
"Neither can I."
"What's that supposed to mean?" It was expected for him to say something like that, that was the idea. At least it would get him talking. "It means you're not much of a shinobi."
"Oh is that so?"
"That's right," He ruffled his hair with his hand to shake out some of the dirt. "You should have never passed your exam."
"Well it's a good thing I did; I wouldn't know what else to do with myself if I wasn't a ninja."
"You could have become a housewife or something, clean and stuff," Sakura frowned; Suna's citizens could be so old-fashioned. "And who would I clean for?"
"You could clean for me; I appreciate having my quarters at Headquarters spotless, if you haven't noticed."
"Well in order for me to do that I'd have to be your wife, now wouldn't I?"
"I suppose you would," He seemed to muse on the subject, looking up at the patch of sky through the hole in the ceiling in wonder. Sakura was busy looking at him however, her face flushed as red as his hair and eyes. "I assume you'd want me to cook for you as well?"
"Hmm, well I do take pleasure in cooking however I suppose you could if needed."
"And what else do you expect me to do?"
"Let's see, well you could greet me at the door after I came home from a long battle or something with tea and sandwiches," It was amazing how casually he could talk about the assumed life of him and her. "And then you could massage my shoulders or something."
"Oh I see, and what about the kids?"
"Children?"
"Well yes, I plan on having kids."
"I see, how many?"
"Hmm, how about eight?"
"Eight children?"
"Sure."
Sasori's casual aura changed as he turned to her, his lip was curled and his eyes were the same as they had been the night he had kissed her, "We must have been awful busy to produce eight children."
"Indeed, I suppose we would have been," Her own lips twitched into a smirk, she couldn't help it. It seemed awfully strange, the two of them sitting in the aftermath of a battle, the place torn to bits, in the freezing cold, pondering a make-believe life together. Passersby must have found the sight rather peculiar. "Then again, I don't know if I could take eight little Sasoris, one is bad enough."
"Oh? And what is that supposed to mean, Miss Sakura?" He smirked, arching an eyebrow.
"Nothing, nothing," She laughed, throwing her head back as she rocked back and forth, legs crossed. "Nothing at all."
"Well then, where would we live with all of these children?"
"In a huge castle," She said, standing up and stretching her arms out to signify the size of the fortress. "Surrounded by a vast meadow of flowers."
"A castle, hmm? So now we're not only husband and wife but king and queen?" The puppet master sat there watching her twirl around listing off all the wondrous things that they would do. He decided he liked this carefree, happy version of Sakura; well then again, he liked most versions of her, except maybe when she was crying. The night she had wept on his shoulder wasn't one of his more favorable moments of her; he would even take the angry version of her over that. For some reason he could not explain, he didn't like to see her sad.
The two of them conversed of their supposed magical life for nearly an hour until the wind whipped itself up and it was beginning to get dark. "I suppose we should head back to Headquarters, our real home."
Tsunade stood before the shinobi team of ten that had come before her. Their bags were packed full with food and sleeping supplies as well as weapons, this would be a long journey that would require them to be in top shape and on guard at all times. It would be an adventure for all of them, a deadly one but an adventure all the same. Every single one of them knew full-well that there was a chance that none of them would make it back to their village alive. The mission they were about to embark on surpassed the highest ranking of danger, and once they started there would be no turning back. They were going to take on the Akatsuki and return what they had taken from them.
"Sakura Haruno will be heavily guarded; do not think for a minute that you will go finish this mission without a fight for your life." The snow was falling quickly and would make travel for the ninja difficult, but their task had to be done. The Sannin walked a few steps towards them, "Her captor is Akasuna no Sasori, there is no question about it: you will have to take him down."
"Tsunade-baachan, Sasori is dead, Sakura-chan killed him!" Naruto Uzumaki took a step towards the Hokage himself, challenging her statement. "I realize that Naruto, however there is no doubt in my mind that it was he who sent me that letter."
He opened his mouth to defy her but Kakashi Hatake held out a hand to silence him, "So, Hokage-sama, please go over the mission details."
She gave the Copy-nin a curt nod and proceeded, "As you know you are to bring Sakura back alive from the clutches of the Akatsuki. Our sources, meaning Jiraiya, inform us that their Headquarters is located not far from the boundaries of Amegakura. Do not, under any circumstances enter into the village, there will be spies all over, a large crew of ninja, no matter how well disguised, will be easily picked out."
For a moment she paused, looking over the serious, yet eager shinobi in front of her. They all seemed so determined to return their friend to her rightful home, "I had stated before that Sakura will undoubtedly be heavily guarded, do not forget this. The Akatsuki will stop at nothing, they are ruthless murderers and skilled at that. I'm afraid to say that there is really no plan that could possibly be put into order, the only thing I could hope for would be that they will not be at Headquarters all at once."
Tsunade tried to smile but she couldn't manage it, there was a possibility that none of them would ever make it back to the village alive, there was a possibility that each and every one of them would have their name inscribed on the Memorial Stone under the currently frozen cherry blossoms trees' branches. "And now, I wish you all the best and I expect to see you all return to Konoha with Sakura unharmed."
With that she stepped aside and allowed the ten of them to dart off into the snowy unknown.
A/N: Hopefully that was a bit better than the last chapter. Like I said before, I'm a noob when it comes to fight scenes, I just feel like I can't do the characters justice in showing off their real potential and strength…I seem to make them seem so weak and…genin-like.
Anywho, the Konohagakura-guys are finally entering the pursuit of Sakura, it's about time if I do say so myself. I couldn't have them going after her right away because then the story would be over with in like two chapters. Of course that doesn't mean that this is anywhere near finished.
I may take a little break from this story to work on the other two, catch 'em up to where this one is. That and I have to figure out what exactly I'm going to do for the next few chapters. Gotta try and keep it interesting after all.
Reviews would be nice. Kthxbye.
