"What the hell was I supposed to do? They were about to fuck! I wasn't gonna stick around for that!"
Kisame crossed his bulky arms defensively. All the primary members of Akatsuki Co. were gathered in Madara Uchiha's office for their weekly meeting. Sasori was currently criticizing Kisame's ability to keep Sakura in line.
"It's alright, Sasori," Madara interjected. "Zetsu would have notified me if the dancer and the beast were doing anything of consequence."
"But she is a spy!" Sasori's deceptively angelic face contorted to reflect the raw outrage that he felt. "We should eliminate her immediately. Make it a warning to other companies."
"I'm fully aware that Sakura is a spy," Madara retorted. "But then again she's not much of a spy is she?"
He turned his attention to the infamous Uchiha. "What do you remember of the girl, Itachi? I'm sure you've seen her before."
"She was a classmate of Sasuke's," Itachi answered passively. "She was quite forgettable so there's not much I remember."
It was true. Itachi barely remembered Sakura. However, it was not necessarily because she was forgettable. No. He could hardly forget her nowadays. He simply had been too busy to pay further attention to anything else back then.
"Hm," was all Madara responded. He got up from his swivel chair and grabbed a brandy snifter from the liquor cabinet. The other Akatsuki observed their boss silently as he poured himself some cognac. He swished the liquor around in his glass but did not drink from it.
"Let's keep things the way they are," Madara continued after a long stretch of silence. "Let the girl think she's in control. Let her have hope. If she wants us to believe that sham of a romance between her and the beast, then for fuck's sake, let us humor her and believe it."
Sakura awoke to the smell of crisp bacon. She noticed that the space next to her on the bed was already empty.
"Gaara?"
Sakura did not regret anything that transpired the night before. Although Gaara was a generally reserved person (even around his closest friends), he certainly had no qualms about letting go in bed. At first, she thought that the idea of having sex with Gaara was weird. He was Gaara. A close friend. A man she respected. And he knew her all too well. But then she realized that that was what made the experience much more intimate and erotic. Last night she was able to love him in ways that not even Naruto could. In return, he revealed to her a part of him that probably not many people have witnessed.
Gaara turned out to be in her kitchen scrambling some eggs, so Sakura decided to take a quick shower. When she returned to the kitchen, Gaara was already seated at her miniature dining table.
"Sleep well?"
"Yes, thank you. You know, you didn't have to cook. We could have ordered room service."
"I know. But I wanted to do something nice for you. This could be our last time seeing each other."
Sakura's eyes dropped to her plate. "Don't think like that. I'm sure everything will work out."
Gaara said nothing.
Itachi or the Leaf?
Sasuke could not decide which one he hated more.
On one hand, Itachi had killed their whole clan. No one, besides himself, had been spared from the massacre. Not even their mother and father.
On the other hand, it had been Itachi's loyalty to the Leaf that had caused him to kill them. Of course, no one else knew about that significant twist to the story. Itachi wanted to play the silent hero? Well, he wouldn't let him.
As Sasuke went to retrieve his order from the Artisan Company, he decided that he would start with the Leaf. When he faced Itachi, he wanted to be able to tell the traitor that he had destroyed his precious city. He also wanted to be able to show him how much stronger he had gotten and how pathetic he was in comparison.
But all this will happen in due time.
For now, he needed to pay a certain someone a visit.
Sakura felt paranoid.
She was so sure that Madara would call her into his office and threaten her about her devious scheme the night before.
But nothing.
Kisame had knocked on her door after her breakfast with Gaara and had simply asked her what she was planning to do with the rest of her day. A tall burly man dressed in a black shirt with the Akatsuki insignia, black jeans, and black combat boots came in shortly after to escort Gaara back to his cottage.
"Well, I suppose I should go to the dance studio to rehearse my number one more time," Sakura told Kisame after Gaara left. "I mean, there really isn't much to do here."
"There's a lake nearby if you wanna go there instead," Kisame offered. "No offense, but I've watched you rehearse your number a hundred times already."
Sakura ignored his last comment. "A lake? But we're by the beach. The terrain around here doesn't seem complementary to a lake."
"It's man-made."
Sakura was impressed. But then again this was Akatsuki. Akatsuki was ambitious if nothing else. And unethical. They probably enslaved their prisoners and made them do all the labor without any compensation.
It took ten minutes to drive from Hotel Akatsuki to the dock. When they arrived, a guy with platinum blonde hair named Suigetsu approached them.
"Kisame, it's been a while man," Suigetsu greeted, pounding Kisame's right fist with his own. "We got a lot to catch up on."
When Suigetsu finally took notice of Sakura, a prurient smile crept on his face. "And who's this pretty lady?"
"This is Sakura. She's the new dancer," Kisame replied and then turned to Sakura. "Sakura, this is Suigetsu."
"Pleased to meet you, Suigetsu," Sakura gave the guy a shy smile and shook his hand.
"You guys going to the Center then?"
When Sakura gave him a confused look, Suigetsu elaborated.
"There's a town center on the west edge of the lake. There's a movie theatre, some shops, and several restaurants there."
Just then, Sakura noticed an orange haired guy approaching. He seemed very familiar.
"Suigetsu!" the guy called. "Hey man, bring Ame down for me will ya?"
"Yahiko! For sure man. Hey, have you met Sakura-chan over here? She's the new dancer!"
Yahiko's gaze followed Suigetsu's and landed on Sakura. "Of course! How are you doing today, Sakura-san? Still remember me, I hope?"
Sakura could not help the huge smile that graced her face. She could already tell that Yahiko was one of those people who just naturally exuded copious amounts of energy and cheekiness. He was like Naruto.
"From the audition, right?"
"I'm pretty unforgettable, aren't I?" Yahiko winked at the cherry head. He turned to her bodyguard, "Kisame, how you doin' man? You guys goin' to the Center too?"
"Yeah, we were just headed there."
"Well, if you're busy man, I can take Sakura-san. I'm free for the rest of the day."
"Yeah? Alright. I have to meet up with Itachi anyway," Kisame replied. "Later then Suigetsu, Yahiko. Be good cherry."