Hi everybody. It's been a looonnnggg time, my exams are finally over and finally I'm back with another chapter of 'The Reason for Existing". Umm…. So I don't know what else to say so kindly read and review!
Sakura walked uncomfortably in her plain black cloak. The Leader had refused to give her a proper cloak until her initiation ceremony as complete.
They were currently passing through the Land of Water and the particular village was named 'The Village of Tundra' as no vegetation except tundra grew there due to the extremely low temperature.
"Are you feeling cold?" asked Akane who herself was wrapped in the warm Akatsuki cloak and hat.
"Umm, yeah, a little" said Sakura feeling surprised that the rude woman would bother to enquire.
"Great, I couldn't care less" said Akane turning away again as Sakura glared at her.
"Damn that bitch, who does she think she is? I'll rip her skin off and stuff it up her non-existent ass" cried Inner Sakura.
Just then Akane stopped walking as Sakura looked in front of her.
Three, large, muscular men had surrounded two females between them. One of the women appeared to be pregnant and the second was trying to shield her from the men.
"Get away you beasts, get away from my mother," cried the smaller girl who threw a kunai at one of the men who merely caught it in his hand and crushed it.
"Ouch, ohhh too bad, was that your best shot baby? Awwww" crooned the man as the other two laughed and they closed in on the two women.
Akane stared walking again but Sakura began running towards the two women.
Suddenly she found chains wrapped all around her as Akane casually passed the scene ignoring the two women's cries for help.
"What're you doing? We have to help them. Let me go" cried Sakura.
"No we don't" replied Akane indifferently.
"How can you just stand there watching that? Please let me go, I promise I won't run" cried Sakura struggling as the chains tightened around her.
"Quiet, you fool, if you'd calm down and notice the threat is gone" said Akane coldly as Sakura stared at the two women who were now staring in horror at the corpse of the three men.
Sakura turned to Akane in wonder, "Did you…?" she asked.
"Did I what?" asked Akane irritably.
Sakura shook her head, "Never mind"
As they walked on Sakura heard her mutter, "There's just too many sexually frustrated guys these days"
They walked on in silence for the rest of the journey till they arrived at the Village Hidden in the Stars.
Akane summoned an eagle and let it fly in the air until a kunai flew from earth and struck it right in the heart.
"Let's go" said Akane as Sakura muttered a short prayer of apology to the eagle.
They arrived at a clearing where the dead body of the eagle lay. A large tree was visible in the clearing. Akane walked up to it and pressed her palm on the bark.
Immediately a door appeared on the tree which swung open backwards.
"After you" said Akane holding the door open as Sakura hesitatingly entered through the tiny door.
She found herself in a small room with absolutely no furniture, no windows and no openings anywhere.
Akane came in after her and looked around, "Hmm, according to Konan the opening should be somewhere…here" she said as she took out a kunai and struck at a random spot on the wall.
Immediately a trapdoor fell open near Sakura.
"Once again after you" said Akane pointing down the door.
Sakura looked a bit worried and slowly began walking towards the trapdoor before she found herself being pushed forwards and falling through a long hole.
She fell with a bump on her hips and got up rubbing it tenderly as Akane landed pretty much in the same way she did.
"You never get used to landing properly do you?" asked Sasori quietly from the back of the room.
"Yeah well so sue me" retaliated Akane indignantly.
Sasori gave a tiny smile before turning to Sakura and gesturing towards a chair which looked so old that it seemed if a leaf settled on it, it would crumble into pieces.
Nevertheless it held Sakura though it groaned and creaked dangerously as she lightly settled herself on it.
"I believe the Leader has told you about the mission?" asked Sasori with a side long glance at Akane who gave a curt nod.
He looked at Sakura who nodded as well.
"I'd like to impress upon both of you a few things, you two are the newest members of Akatsuki, do not think you can go about doing as you please, I am the Leader of this mission and you will do as I tell you, am I understood?" asked Sasori.
"Cut to the chase will you?" said Akane as Sasori glared at her.
"I think you've been told that I need healing Sakura Haruno, but you can see clearly that I need none, this is due to the fact that I already got myself healed from a woman in the village nearby, and I also got a very important piece of information from her before I killed her" said Sasori as Sakura turned away in disgust.
"Apparently three of Sasuke Uchiha's comrades have been enquiring about the whereabouts of Kisame and Itachi, and a minor crime lord who had employed us in the past informed them of this base which as you can see they ravaged" said Sasori gesturing to the burnt walls, upturned tables and broken cabinets.
"Our mission is simple, capture Sasuke Uchiha and his comrades, this is due to two reasons, firstly Uchiha's conflicts with the Kyuubi jinchuriki could lead to some trouble, we do not want that jinchuriki dead at any cost, at least not until we've used him" said Sasori carefully watching Sakura.
"That's ridiculous, Naruto would never get himself killed no matter what, and hold on… you mean to tell me we're doing this mission to protect Naruto?" asked Sakura incredulously.
"Till we can lay our hands on him, also there is another reason" said Sasori looking at Akane who gave him a smirk.
"We needn't go into that right now, basically our plan will be very simple" said Sasori calmly.
"Ah, how I love simple plans" said Akane smiling wickedly at Sakura who stared at her in apprehensiveness.
Sasuke Uchiha had never been so annoyed in his entire life. Though his face retained its usual indifferent, cold demeanor his mind was going crazy hearing the insults Karin and Suigetsu were throwing at each other. Notwithstanding the fact that they both had hopelessly failed in their mission to locate an Akatsuki base coupled with the fact that Juugo had not yet returned to calm them down, Sasuke was not feeling good at that point.
"You want a piece of me you snobbish, dimwit, piece of dog shit?" cried Karin.
"Not one I'd like several pieces of you, all cut up and arranged on a cremation ground" retorted Suigetsu before quickly dodging as Karin aimed a kunai at his head.
"You're the most annoying, stupid, slob ever, I don't know for heaven's sake why Sasuke you keep you in Taka" cried Karin throwing whatever she could find at the white-haired boy.
"Shows he's got some brains doesn't he? If it were left up to you then we'd have been killed before even beginning our mission" cried Suigetsu as his head exploded into water due to Karin's well aimed throw of a clock.
"Damn you, I just wish you'd…"
"Silence, Karin, Suigetsu" cried Sasuke not being able to cope with it for long.
The two of them turned to look at the fuming Uchiha who glared menacingly at them.
"I don't care if you've got differences but if you can't get along then go somewhere else and fight and don't eat my head" said Sasuke.
"But Sasuke he started it, I was just minding my own…"
"Yeah right, you always have to lay the blame on someone else don't you? Silly little sissy. You're so useless that it's almost laughable and you're of no use to Taka either, it should be you who should be kicked out" said Suigetsu as Karin for once did not retort.
The sunlight caught on her spectacle frames as they disappeared under her red bangs.
"Do you really mean that?" she asked quietly.
"Of course I do you half-wit, lets see let me count the times you actually killed and knocked an enemy unconscious on your own, hmm, nope, can't seem to recall anything, oh yeah, even when we went to recruit you didn't you get your cronies to…"
Suigetsu couldn't complete as Karin got up and slapped him hard across the cheek. For once his head did not explode into water but his cheek turned red from the slap.
"I'll go see what Juugo is up to" she said quietly before walking to the door.
Sasuke stared after her and could swear she muttered on terms of 'You damn idiot' under her breath as she slammed the door shut.
Suigetsu was staring at the door to with a hand lightly touching his cheek. He turned to Sasuke with a clueless look, "Was it something I said?" he asked as Sasuke sighed.
Karin walked through the town trying to bite back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
Usually an argument with Suigetsu would be like getting up in the morning and opening your eyes, it just would happen. Usually those arguments would leave her more energized than before. But the things Suigetsu had said today had etched themselves deep in her mind.
"He's not completely wrong, I can't do anything constructive for Taka except heal or sense, I've never aided in any assassination nor can I gather intel very well" she thought as someone bumped into her causing her glasses to fall off.
As she stooped to pick them up a shadow was cast over her.
"Karin? What are you doing here? I thought you finished gathering intel" said Juugo as Karin stood up to face him.
"I...I just thought I'd go for a walk, it gets stuffy in there breathing the same air as Suigetsu all the time you know" said Karin in a false cheery voice.
Juugo was a perceptive man and could clearly see she was very upset about something. He saw a cream bun stall and pulled her over to it.
"Why don't we buy some? I know you like them, Sasuke does too" said Juugo kindly as Karin gave him a watery smile.
"Good day Ma'am, would you like our delicious cream buns? Or perhaps you would prefer those cakes over there?" asked the cheery shopkeeper beaming brightly at them.
"A packet of those buns please" said Juugo.
"Right away sir" said the shopkeeper scurrying inside the bakery to fetch a fresh batch from the oven.
"Juugo, can I ask you something?" asked Karin.
"What is it?"
"Do you think I'm useless to the Taka? Am I a burden to you and Sasuke and…Suigetsu?" asked Karin.
"Did you quarrel with him?" asked Juugo knowingly.
"Is it that obvious?" asked Karin as the orange haired man nodded.
"But don't you two always quarrel? It's nothing strange for Suigetsu to insult you, nor is it for you to insult him" said Juugo.
"Yeah but, this time I can't help feeling that he's not completely wrong" said Karin as the shopkeeper came back and handed them a warm package.
"Here you are sir, that'll be 200 Ryo" said the woman still smiling as Juugo dug around in his pockets.
"Drat, I seemed to have dropped my money somewhere" he said as Karin giggled and reached into her purse and took out 200 Ryo before dropping them in the shopkeeper's outstretched hand.
Karin turned to leave but found the shopkeeper holding her hand in a tight grip.
"Excuse me? Can you please let me go" said Karin sharply as the woman pulled her closer.
She whispered into her ear, "Oh yes of course I can but I won't just yet, listen I do hope you'll enjoy the cream buns my dear"
"Y-yes thank you now let me go" cried Karin struggling as Juugo stepped between them and forcefully separated Karin's hand from the woman's.
"Oh dear, dear, I seem to have made the young man rather angry ne?" asked the woman still smiling her bright smile which now appeared rather menacing.
Suddenly the woman's arm exploded and a greenish jelly like substance enveloped Juugo's entire arm.
"Hey…what the hell is this" he cried as it began wrapping itself around his throat as Karin stood watching in horror.
The rest of the woman began melting away like jelly and turned into a puddle on the floor from which a head came out.
"Just remember don't eat the cream buns in rainy weather, you might just spoil them" she said as the fluid completely enveloped Juugo whose curse seal began activating.
The head began rising and soon an entire body rose out of the puddle.
Karin's eyes widened in horror, "Akatsuki" she said backing away.
"Greetings tomato-top, you must be the sensory ninja from Uchiha's little group" said Akane walking towards Karin who suddenly took out a smoke bomb and threw it at Akane.
Taking advantage of the diversion she ran out as she noticed all the people who had been standing there a few minutes ago had disappeared.
"A genjutsu? On the entire village? They cast a genjutsu over the whole village to make it seem normal, such power, it's…"
Suddenly a figure landed before her and the ground cracked into many pieces. Karin jumped up to avoid being crushed, and she somersaulted and landed on the roof of a building.
Immediately the roof turned into jelly and gave way.
Karin realized what had happened and watching Juugo a few minutes ago she jumped again before the jelly could touch her.
When the smoke cleared Karin turned and saw two figures though only one was wearing the Akatsuki uniform.
"Get back or I'll have to harm you" said Karin gripping her kunai hard.
"Smoke bombs. Empty threats. Tsk, tsk, whatever processed you to use such cheap tricks against a member of the Akatsuki?" asked Akane as she took a step towards Karin.
Well that's it for this chapter. Stay tuned to find out what happens to Karin and Juugo. Where is Sasori? What is this simple plan? You'll have to read to find out. And don't forget to review!