Alrighty, then. I'm back! *hides* Please don't kill me for taking so long. I finally figured out what I didn't like in this chapter. I seriously had to cut a whole section out, probably about a page and a half of dialogue and general filler crap. I figured 7 pages is enough. ;)
Anyways, I've got a general outline of the rest of this story kind of mapped out on some sticky notes on my desktop background (haha, love that app SO much). I'm thinking maybe another 10 chapters at most, but I'm not sure what the least amount of chapters to fit it into would be. I'm gonna revise that poll up on my profile as far as pairings go, so please VOTE! I need to know who everyone wants Sakura to end up with in order to finish this, and for once I want to actually finish a multi-chapter fanfic, rather than dropping it and never getting the inspiration to pick it back up. Lol
ALSO! Important announcement: If anyone wants to ask questions of the Akatsuki members pertaining to this fic, direct a question to your member(s) of choice in your review, and they shall answer when we have enough questions! I'm stealing a page from LadyBattousai's book and having a character Q&A session, so feel free to ask away!
That said, college is going well, but it is still ranked higher than this in my priorities list (though not that much higher, lol). I'm very busy with all of my school work, and finding the time and inspiration to write this is becoming rather difficult, but I will continue! I love this fic (and you lovely reviewers) too much to just drop it. ;) Which is why I wish to further entertain you all with a character Q&A if my muse decides to take a vacation again.
But enough about me, let's move on, shall we?
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any characters found therein. Blame Kishimoto for how messed up things are getting.
"Wow, Pinky. Is that…?"
I blushed furiously. "Shut up, you oversized haddock."
Hidan guffawed, and I swear I heard a harsh exhale come from Itachi, which usually meant that the normally stoic Uchiha was disguising his laugh to make people think he was physically incapable of being anything less than badass.
Kisame blinked. "Was it…?" He glanced at the resident Jashinist as he trailed off; he didn't even bother to respond to the haddock jab.
"A couple of them are. The other one's from… the target."
The entire room grew deathly still.
I chanced a look around at their slightly murderous expressions. Kakuzu looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, a tentacle-thingy unraveling from his wrist and looking especially sharp and deadly.
Hidan grew incredibly sulky-looking, glaring at the hickey (the one that wasn't one of his) with an angry intensity I hadn't seen since the night of our botched mission.
Kisame reached for Samehada, which was currently resting against the counter beside him, and his eyes practically shouted his murderous intent.
Itachi, Sharingan activated and spinning agitatedly, merely stared expressionlessly (though I thought it looked like a forced nonchalance) at my neck.
All was silent, until Itachi decided to announce his battle plans with the casual tone of one who was stating his croquet plans for the afternoon.
"I'm going to kill him. And when I come back, Hidan will finally understand how… un-pleasurable pain can truly be."
I gulped, and Hidan started to back his way out of the kitchen slowly, hoping not to attract the attention of the volatile Uchiha.
I decided I should probably do something to calm him down.
"N-now Itachi, I don't think that's entirely necessary. I mean, at least the part about torturing Hidan…"
I heard Hidan and Itachi talking as they passed my closed bedroom door later that afternoon. Seeing as they were probably the most unlikely pair to be striking up casual conversation in this organization, I decided I really needed to hear what they were talking about.
"…believe me. I fucking wanted to beat the shit out of him right then and there, but she gave me this look, y'know, like she didn't think it was worth fighting with the damn bodyguard just to finish the mission."
It was easy to tell which voice belonged to which irate Akatsuki: Hidan had a vocabulary that would put a seasoned sailor to shame. Itachi's voice was much more subdued, and consequently much scarier.
"You should have killed him, regardless of what she was thinking."
"That's what I fucking thought, too. But you know that look she gives you. Denying her is like kicking a fucking puppy."
I had my ear pressed against the wall (grinning all the while because who knew that I was so incredibly influential?), so I heard Itachi's irritated sigh as they ambled past my doorway.
"I want to come with you, when you go after the bastard."
A pause. "Fine. Perhaps your morbid forms of worship will come in handy…"
I sighed. What a bunch of drama queens. It was a hickey! Big deal. It's not like they weren't trying to do the same thing 24/7. I went back to studying up on my medical ninjutsu.
Dinner together that night was lively.
Well, about as lively as a bunch of dead people. Details, details…
Deidara wasn't even hitting Tobi or screeching at him like he normally does. And, speaking of Tobi, the most child-like one of us wasn't blathering on about rainbows and kittens and sunshine.
Most unusual. And slightly worrying.
Kisame kept staring at my neck like I had a fatal bout of leprosy and I would drop dead any second now.
Hidan kept glancing up at me in between slow, distracted bites of his tempura. His eyes would tighten and he'd look back down at his food before violently stabbing one of the tasty morsels and staring at it on his fork.
Kakuzu, who had decided to grace us with his presence for dinner that evening, merely watched me eat as his own food got cold. With those weird eyes of his, I began to get rather creeped out.
Itachi still had his Sharingan activated, and the tomoe were still spinning agitatedly. I quickly avoided his gaze, unsure if he was mad enough to unleash the wrath of his Tsukuyomi.
I cringed inwardly, remembering how messed up Kakashi-sensei was after dealing with that.
I sat through about ten minutes of this silent torture, before I decided to get up and evacuate the increasingly tense atmosphere ASAP.
"I'm, ah… I'm gonna go… somewhere else. Yeah, um. Yeah."
My skin crawled as I left the dining room and six sets of eyes followed my nervous movements.
I decided avoidance was the best course of action until the guys cooled off a bit. So avoid I did, only coming out for the occasional PB&J sandwich and to use the bathroom.
In the time I spent sequestered in my room, I worked relentlessly on trying to come up with a new jutsu that would put even this criminal organization full of geniuses to shame.
To put it simply, I was trying to come up with an alternate method of tailed-beast extraction that wouldn't end up killing the host. The sooner I figured this out, the sooner I could talk to Tsunade (via handy-dandy wind jutsu), and the sooner we could figure out a method of convincing Leader to spill his evil plans and bribe him with my epic kick-ass jutsu.
Damn, am I good.
Well, I would be much better if, you know, I could actually figure out how the hell I am going to do this!
I mashed my palms into my forehead, attempting to relieve a nasty headache without actually wasting any chakra, which could be used to attempt another trial of the extraction.
What I really needed was a willing victim to help me further my goals for world domination (or at least evil organization domination).
At that very moment, Itachi chose to open my door and peek inside. "What are you doing?" he asked, an intrigued expression making its way onto his face when he took in the books strewn around on my bed, floor, and desk space.
I huffed in exasperation, and decided to forget about his hypothetical attraction to me for the moment and usher him inside. "I'm merely attempting to take over the world with my epic medical ninjutsu skills," I answered as I made space for him to sit down on my bed opposite me.
He smirked slightly. "Would you like some assistance?"
I thought for a second. Would I?
"Actually, yeah. I really would. How much do you know about chakra-sealing?"
He grew unnaturally still (more so than he normally is, which is saying something). "What exactly are you doing, world domination plots aside?" he asked dubiously.
I deflated a little, thinking of the real driving force behind my long hours of research and practice runs: Naruto.
"When you… left Konoha…" I began, looking up at his face from under my eyelashes to gauge his reaction. He was still rather immobile… and was that some discomfort I saw? Naw, that can't be.
"What about it?" he asked carefully.
"Did you, um… have any… friends? That you sort of left behind?" I asked.
He relaxed a little bit. "Not exactly," he replied. "I wasn't very… social, I suppose. I was normally on ANBU missions." Before I killed my clan, was what he left out, but we both knew what he meant without him needing to say it.
"Consequently, I didn't have many 'friends'. For shinobi, friends are generally a luxury, and as an Uchiha, and having been dubbed one of 'Konoha's prodigies', it was a luxury I wasn't allowed to indulge in. And besides, after I left, I'm sure any friends I did have only sought my life instead of holding any desire to bring me 'home'. I'm sure you understand having such devoted friends like that better than I do."
I knew who he was hinting at with that: Sasuke. But I had given up on him, even though Naruto hadn't.
"But, you understand that, if you had friends, you would want to do anything to protect them?" I asked, half-hoping that he'd understand what I was getting at before I would have to confess anything crucial to the mission.
He nodded. "But, as a shinobi, one must put the mission above all else, including friends and family."
I got the distinct feeling that there was something he was leaving out there, but I didn't press the issue. It was the most I had ever heard the taciturn Uchiha speak, and I wasn't about to allow him to clam up if he was willing to be so forthcoming.
"Is it okay, as a missing ninja, to hold on to old bonds just a little?" I asked quietly, looking up at his face to watch for unvoiced feelings.
He blinked slowly. "Am I correct in assuming that you have one such bond?"
"Kind of. I mean, I'm not about to go make a house call, but he's really important to me, and his safety still remains a top concern of mine."
His eyebrows furrowed fractionally. "Why should his safety remain a concern of yours, unless he's being targeted by this organization?"
I bit my lip. "Would Leader be open to suggestions involving the hosts of the tailed demons?"
Itachi remained silent for a moment, and I was worried that he had me figured out right then and there and I could kiss my dreams for the future goodbye.
"Is that what you've been spending all of this time in your room doing? Coming up with alternative solutions to the extraction process?" he asked, and I grinned, sensing that he wasn't about to tattle on me.
"Yeah, and I'm really close. I just need some help as far as the actual extraction goes. And it's great, because what I've been thinking means that it would only take a couple of hours and one competent individual to fully extract the demon from the host. I was thinking if we could just contain the demon in some sort of inanimate vessel… What?"
Itachi was smiling softly. "I'm sure Leader will be open to a few suggestions, but I think you should be careful about your reasoning behind it. It wouldn't be beneficial for anyone to figure out exactly why you're here, now would it?" He stood and made to leave, but I was able to get a grip on my slowly crumbling mind and shout for him to wait.
"How did you…? You…! Gah!" I rambled incoherently.
He smirked and moved his fingers across his closed mouth in a zipping motion. And then he seemed to think twice about it, and removed his hand from the doorknob, slowly advancing on me.
"I'll keep my thoughts to myself regarding your little confession, but there will be a price," he warned, smirking devilishly (which was rather scary, seeing as it's freaking Uchiha Itachi) as he leaned towards me, bracing his hands on either side of my folded legs.
I gulped, all rational thoughts effectively draining out of my ears. "And what might that be?" I asked warily.
He leaned further forward and pressed his lips to mine softly. My eyes widened, and I swear he was smiling against my lips.
The next thing I knew, I was pushed back onto my bed with an anatomy text book crushed beneath my left side and a chakra guide digging into my upper back. I promptly forgot all about this as I felt his calloused hands wandering up my bare legs to the hem of my shorts, and his fingers began to slowly worm their way underneath the tight fabric. All the while, he was kissing me and pretty much melting my brain.
I was snapped out of my daze when the wandering, unimportant thought of 'where did my shorts go?' made its way through the goo that was my cerebrum.
"No!" I shouted. "No, no, no!"
Itachi immediately stopped kissing my neck and moved to look at my face. "Are you sure?" he asked, and I had trouble concentrating on his words when they were coming from his lips…
Snap out of it!
I nodded. And then shook my head. And then frowned and nodded again.
He chuckled. Uchiha Itachi chuckled. Can you believe it? Luckiest girl on planet Earth, right here people. I'm pretty sure I was the first person (besides his parents, probably) to have heard the Uchiha Itachi let loose a sound purposefully indicative of amusement.
"Alright," he said, sounding more than just a little amused. "I suppose that payment will suffice. I get the added bonus of seeing Hidan burst a blood vessel. Very worth it, indeed."
I didn't know whether or not to be offended, so I just stared at him as he straightened his shirt and gave me back my black shorts.
I quickly pulled them on (blushing the entire time), and attempted to straighten my own shirt.
Itachi put a hand on the door handle, and just as it was opened said, "And by the way: an interesting choice in undergarments, Sakura. Hello Kitty suits you."
The door closed before I could get a word in edgewise, but not before I heard Hidan scream an outraged, "THE FUCK? BASTARD!", followed by a rather loud thud and some more shouts of distress.
"This place is a madhouse!" I cried softly, tugging at my messed-up hair.
So… Hello Kitty is from the Devil. I swear the only reason it got in there was because of my friends Jamie and Geoff who had mentioned it in passing one day, and the evil little thing managed to pop into the story without my knowing. Lol I seriously didn't remember writing that until I had proof-read this before editing a few things and finalizing.
Since a lot of reviewers haven't signed in or wrote anonymously, I've decided to take up more space and reply to them. I love getting reviews, and so I feel bad that I can't reply to people when they've spent the time writing to me. Feel free to skip it, but here it is:
If there is someone who goes by ducky678blueyonder and tried to have me send chapters to their email, I apologize, but I was unable to send anything. I kept getting an error message, so please try again! Keep in mind that fanfiction. net doesn't typically allow links or email addresses. So sorry!
To ( ): I'm glad you enjoyed chapter 24, and you're very welcome. Thank you for reviewing. :)
To Mel: I'm happy to have added another pairing to your list of favorites. :) I never really liked HidanxSakura, and I didn't intend to add it until I started "researching" the pairing by reading other HidanxSakura fics. Now, I love the pairing almost as much as ItachixSakura.
To PeopleLookAtMeWeird: (that's not necessarily a bad thing, btw) I loved the ending to chapter 23 as well, and I actually liked it more when Tobi joined, just because it made it just a tad cuter. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though, and thank you for your review! And as for your review to chapter 24, I don't think I'll do any starving, kicking, or baby-eating, even if it is your annoying cousin. ;) PS: I love HidaSaku too, and I hope you end up liking it more.
To Ellie: Thanks so much! I'm also a fan of HidaSaku and I'm glad you found chapter 24 very satisfying. :)
To animeangel88: I'm glad you liked it! Sorry it took so long (I think it was more than a month, but I'm not sure). Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well (please don't die).
To lara: Thank you so much! I'm so happy that you're enjoying it, and I hope you're this enthusiastic about chapter 25. :)
To PeachyPie: I'm glad you find it so funny. ;) I love writing it, and I'm often trying to suppress my giggles while I come up with ideas. Thanks for your review!
To Starlight Angelz: As far as PeinSaku, I'm pretty sure that will be a 'no'. Mostly because I'm a huge fan of PeinKona and they just seem like the parents to this wacky family we call the Akatsuki. That said, I'm not 100% sure yet, so there could be a very minor PeinSaku moment that you'll have to find by squinting. Thanks for your question, though!
That's it for the review responses. If you've read through to this point, I want you to pat yourself on the back and fetch a cookie, because I'm not a huge fan of taking up this much space in the author's notes. I mean, I even feel kind of iffy about having such a huge author's note up at the beginning of this whole thing. *shrug*
Thanks for being so patient!
Much love,
child_of_the_moon
XO