Hiya everybody. It's great to see you all again. Welcome to the twenty-first chapter of 'The Reason for Existing'. I won't babble long so please read and enjoy and review of course!
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, I ONLY OWN MY OCs.
Sakura had been allowed to walk on her feet with both her hands chained behind her back and an extra chain hovering menacingly above her ready to strike if she attempted to escape.
"Could you get these chains off me? I won't try to escape" said Sakura wearily for the chains seemed to be draining her chakra.
"Oh it would delight me to no end if you tried to escape but my partner is too careful with these sort of things so I'm afraid I'll have to refuse your request" said Akane.
Sasori who was walking much ahead of the two females did not hear her completely but turned his head slightly and gave Akane a stern look.
Akane Sent him a cheeky wave to which he sighed and turned back to the map he was carefully studying.
"Akasuna no Sasori" muttered Sakura under her breath.
"It was pretty impressive that you managed to bring him down earlier, I mean even if are the Godaime's student" said Akane.
"I could never have done it without Chiyo Baa-Sama, she spent so much of her chakra, and it was such a waste" said Sakura tears gathering in her eyes and falling on the parched sand on which they were traveling.
Akane watched the girl cry quietly for sometime.
"I don't know what exactly happened to his granny but from what I've heard so far she sacrificed herself for someone else, and anybody who sacrifices themselves does not earn my sympathy, I call sacrifice foolish" said Akane.
Sakura looked up angrily, "Foolish my foot, I wouldn't expect a murderer like you to understand anything about sacrifice, you wouldn't understand the love, the care, the strength and the will power it needs to kill yourself for the sake of someone"
"Don't preach me about sacrifice; god didn't put us into this world just so that we could kill ourselves" cried Akane.
"Nor did he put us into this world to kill others" said Sakura angrily.
"We in the Akatsuki don't sacrifice ourselves, we either die fighting or we die for the sake for our mission, if we kill it is to achieve our goals" said Akane.
"You have no right to take the life of others" yelled Sakura.
"And neither do you!" yelled back Akane as Sakura drew back a little, feeling surprised.
"You claim that the Akatsuki are monsters and murderers because we kill people, or maybe it's because we dress in black cloaks with bloodied clouds and hold secret meetings in secret bases, well then Sakura Haruno if that is your basis for calling us monsters then I would say the Hidden Villages are pretty big monsters themselves" cried Akane.
"What are you trying to say that you haven't killed anybody in your whole life? Maybe you haven't because you're still so young but that doesn't apply to everybody, you may be under the illusion that you're Konoha is a sweet place where old ladies and young women and safely walk at night without fear of being killed or raped, you're wrong, and that applies to all the villages" she said glaring at Sakura now turning towards the pinkette.
"You call yourself Shinobi and like to pretend you're getting rid of evil in the world but in reality you don't realize how much evil you are spreading yourself, innocent people are caught between the crossfire of two or more villages, young and weak ninja, ordinary civilians, they all die because Konoha is at war with some other villages" said Akane in one breath, her face appearing flushed from all her yelling.
"The truth is that in this world nobody can call themselves sinless, nobody can consider themselves pure and holy, and if someone does, then they're a big FAKE!" said Akane ending it with a loud kick in the sand which sent a shower of sand flying.
Akane stored forward and bumped into Sasori's back.
"There's no need to be so hasty" he said calmly.
"Whatever, why the heck have you stopped?" asked Akane still fuming.
"We have reached our newest base in Sunagakure" said Sasori with a slight triumph visible in his voice.
Akane remembered Sunagakure was where Sasori came from.
"Let go of the girl, Konan will be coming up to bring her to the Leader just about now" said Sasori.
Obediently the chains around Sakura's hands dropped away but the chain above her still hovered menacingly.
Sakura knew it would be useless to try and run and it would only result in her getting harsher treatment when they caught her again.
"I'll have to try and contact Tsunade-Sama when I'm inside, at least I know we're in Sunagakure" thought Sakura.
"Take a good look at the sun girl, this might be the last time you see it in a long time, if ever again" said Sasori.
Just then smoke filled the area as Konan emerged seemingly out of nowhere.
"What's with all the special effects?" asked Akane coughing.
"Our Kusagakure Base was broken after Sasori's last fight, and our Konoha and Iwa bases have been invaded, it seems something or someone is leaking information to the villages so this is the Leader's new policy, none of the members except the Leader himself knows the exact location of the base and how to get inside, every time the gate opens it releases this gas which hazes sight, vision, smell and touch. Anyways have you got the girl?" asked Konan.
Sakura felt a pull on her hand as she was dragged to the woman with blue hair and an origami flower in her hair.
"Good, you two go in first, the Leader will have a small talk with you" said Konan glancing at Sakura who squirmed a little.
Akane took a step cautiously in the smoke and found herself falling a long way before she landed with a bump on her hips.
"Ouch!" she complained getting up and rubbing her hip.
Sasori landed nimbly beside her on his feet and smirked at the look Akane gave him.
Akane stuck her nose into the air and took a step forward to find that she was actually on the landing on stairs and began falling face first onto the ground before she was caught by strong arms and pulled back.
"Do you usually get into such accidents or have you specially become clumsier after joining Akatsuki?" asked Sasori pulling her back.
Akane blushed a little to feel him so close to her and to feel his breath tickling her ear.
Sasori himself seemed to realize that they were a bit closer than usual but did nothing to increase the distance between them.
"N-no, umm t-thanks" stuttered Akane quickly disentangling herself from Sasori and rushing down the stairs in such a hurry that she bumped into someone when she got to the bottom.
"Oh for sake of…" Akane stopped as Deidara got to his feet in rage.
"Oh it's you, I'm surprised to see you're still alive" said Akane without getting.
"You bet I'm still alive and ready to kick your sorry ass whenever you want, yeah" said Deidara.
"Oh please, after you're last pathetic display of power I doubt I even want to waste my time fighting you" said Akane.
Before Deidara could reply a person jumped on his back causing him to fall back and hit his head on the cold stone floor.
"Senpaiiiii, welcome back, I'm so excited to be in this secret base" cried Tobi clinging to Deidara who got up groaning and rubbing his head.
"Umm, yeah, thanks" said Akane nervously as Deidara flung Tobi off his back and pounced on his and the two began brawling.
Sasori came down and Akane blushed a little at their close moment a few seconds ago.
"Are you going to stand there all day? Leader has asked for us" said Sasori.
Akane nodded and rushed down the passage till she was standing right in front of the Leader's door.
Sasori walked up quietly beside her and Akane pressed herself to the wall because the passage was very narrow. While he raised his hand to knock on the door his hand brushed again Akane's and both of them drew their hands back.
Sasori though too dignified to blush allowed himself a small step away from Akane before knocking thrice on the Leader's door.
At his quiet 'Come in' they pushed open the door glad to get out of the narrow passage and into the spacious room inside.
"Sit down both of you" said Pain pointing to the two free chairs in the room. The other chair had been occupied by Itachi who stared at the new arrivals with his usual indifference.
"I feel that Sakura Haruno should be made into a full fledged member of the Akatsuki" announced Pain.
Akane's mouth fell open, Sasori gave Pain and curious look but Itachi just stared into space.
"The reason being she will be a major asset to us, she'll be able to lure in the Kyuubi, we'll have an able medical ninja, one competent to find an antidote to even Sasori's poisons" said Pain as Sasori's eyebrows gave an annoyed twitch and while Akane suppressed a giggle.
"However taming the girl is going to be a difficult task, also there is the problem that the girl may be too weak for our standards, if that is the case then I want you to teach her Itachi" said Pain.
Itachi looked up, "I don't think any of my skills will be useful in teaching the girl"
"I disagree, Sakura Haruno specializes in Taijutsu, although you do not specialize in it you're skills are formidable, you will help her to enhance her abilities in Taijutsu as best as you can" said Pain while Itachi merely lowered his head in assent.
"Her other specialization which is her medical skill will be aided by you Takigawa-San" stated the Leader.
"Huh, me? But…but I don't know a thing about medical ninjutsu" said Akane looking surprised.
"No you don't but you have excellent chakra control, if you had wanted to you could have become a medical ninja of even the Fifth Hokage's caliber, but you chose to mould your chakra instead and that requires very precise chakra control, you will teach the girl how to control her chakra and she will enhance her medical skills in that way" said the Leader.
"Lastly you, Sasori, I don't think your puppet skills will be of any use to her but I want you to feed her knowledge about various kinds of poisons "said Pain as Sasori nodded.
"Itachi, you and Kisame will serve as her team members for the time being because putting her with Hidan or Deidara would only hinder her progress, make sure Kisame does not do anything foolish to her, and she must not escape, at whatever cost" said Pain.
"You all do realize that you will teach her what I instructed you to only after I feel that she is ready to be considered a part of Akatsuki, I will let you know when that time comes and you will begin your job then,"
Just then there was a light knocking on the door and Pain uttered 'Come in'.
Konan entered dragging Sakura long by her upper arm.
Sakura shrank in fear at the sight of the older Uchiha sitting quietly on the chair regarding her carefully.
"Damn, of all the people it had to be him sitting here, I'll be reminded of Sasuke every time I see him" thought Sakura biting her lips nervously.
"Sasori, Itachi, Takigawa-San, you three may leave and keep in mind what I have said to you" said Pain as Itachi walked out followed by Sasori and Akane.
They walked out and went their separate ways.
While they walked to their respective rooms Sasori caught Akane's hand before she could enter her room.
"Listen, I wanted to ask you something" he said quietly.
Akane turned to him and was surprised to see his eyes averted, he usually looked directly into her eyes whenever he spoke.
"Do you think I am a monster?" he asked.
Akane stared at him for a few moments surprised by this question, "Why do you ask that?"
"Just answer me…please" said Sasori.
"This isn't like him at all, what could be wrong" thought Akane nervously.
"I see, I guess I better get back now," said Sasori, his eyes lowering and his bangs covering them.
He left Akane's hand and walked over to his room.
"Wait, Sasori-San" said Akane hurriedly.
Sasori stopped and turned. His face was just like always but there was a certain sadness to it.
"I don't think you're a monster at all, how could you think I would think of you as a monster after you've saved me more times than I can count, you are not a monster, and neither are you just my partner" said Akane a bit hesitantly.
Sasori's eyes lit up a bit and he folded his arms, "If I'm not just your partner then what am I?"
Akane looked at him determinedly and was glad to see a bit of surprise on his face, "You're my friend, whether you like it or not, whether you find it silly or not, you are my friend"
Sasori stared at her for sometime before his face broke into a small smile, "A friend eh? I think I like the sound of that, yes, it feels good to have a friend, I've never known how it is to have a friend"
"You never had a friend before this?" asked Akane, feeling astonished.
"I told you I was in the Akatsuki since I was fifteen, I never had time for friends before that, I always used to be immersed in my puppets" said Sasori.
After a short pause he asked, "Do you think it's possible for me to ever be a good friend?" he asked.
"I know you can and I'll be there beside you all the while" she said smiling at him.
Sasori smiled back but suddenly turned and walked back into his room, he came out a few moments later and handed Akane a small puppet.
"Aww that's so cute" said Akane.
The Puppet had red hair but it was a much brighter shade than Sasori's hair. Its eyes were deep brown and there was a slight smile to its face. In fact if one hadn't been looking carefully they wouldn't have noticed the smile at all which gave the puppet a certain mystic.
"That is a part of the Eien no Kizuna set, it was made by a group of traveling puppeteers who used to go by Suna every year when I was small, my parents said they held strong spiritual powers, and …I'd like you to have it" he said quietly.
"Really? I can have it? Thanks a lot. Sorry I can't give you a stature of fluid or chakra, but I'll try to see if I can find something, but before that, may I ask why you're giving me this?"
"As a token of our bond, as friends" said Sasori before walking into his own room and closing the door.
Please don't hit me for not making that very good and for making Sasori a bit OOC. You see, my theory was that since Sasori had spent so many years being an emotionless puppet he would show lots of emotions if he ever felt close enough to someone. And 'Eien no Kizuna' stands for 'Eternal Bonds' if you didn't know. Please let me know what you thought about it. I KNOW I'm not good at writing emotional or sweet scenes and any advice, tip or suggestion you can give would be much appreciated. See you guys next time. Toodles.