I struggled with this chapter because I actually forgot if they knew who Tobi claimed to be or not lol. I went back to watch the episodes and I know for a fact Sasuke knew, but I'm not sure if the rest did? Oh well, this isn't a completely canon fic anywayyyy~

Time to respond to the lovely reviews! I love you guys seriously, it's so encouraging to see you guys enjoying this story!

Daastan Go: Yeah, I kinda realized that implying SasuSaku in this story wasn't really needed, but I always liked the idea that Sasuke and Sakura could have been closer when they were in Team 7, so I wanted to translate my own interpretation here. Also, although I do try my best to stay true to the canon, my story is obviously tweaked from the canon to fit the pairing so there's gonna be differences. I appreciate the criticism though, thank you!

Legend-Saint-14: I'm happy you're enjoying it! I don't think I'll elaborate much on the SasuSaku since at this point Sasuke hasn't been thinking about her like he did in the beginning and you'll see later on, Sakura is definitely over him. ;)

Guest: I know! In the show they showed him looking pretty rough after and I wanted to translate that and add some fluffy cuteness for our favorite couple. I also wanted to show that Karin is capable of having empathy and has a softer side.

LeafMfkin'Clearwater: Aww your review made my heart flutter, thank you so much! And yes, we all know what unprotected sex can lead to. ;)

Anywho, that's all!

Enjoy~

It had been a week since the masked man who revealed himself suspiciously as Madara had taken Sasuke and led the rest of team Hebi to the Akatsuki hideout. It only made sense for the newly appointed leader of the swiftly diminishing organization would want to use the last Uchiha and assimilate his team. By this point only Kisame, Zetsu and the masked man were the only ones standing in the Akatsuki. Karin had been skeptical of the men since her arrival to the compound, someone had to be in her stupid team. Jugo did whatever Sasuke said without question and Suigetsu was smitten with Kisame Hoshigaki, he had no care about the risks of joining the Akatsuki. If they weren't branded as criminals before, they were definitely going to be now.

It has only taken a few days for Sasuke to regain his strength and return to his same brooding cold self, with the help of Karin's healing abilities. Tobi had provided her with her own room, a room that used to be occupied by a woman by the name of Konan, who had recently disappeared, but she vehemently refused to sleep alone in this place. She had moved a bedroll in Sasuke's room and had slept there the entire time. During the night was pretty much the only time she saw Sasuke after being healed. He trained with Tobi who was clearly feeding the Uchiha information, truth or lies, it didn't matter. Whatever that orange masked freak was saying, her lover was buying it and it agitated him. She could feel it in his chakra. And since it agitated him, it was agitating her because it was delaying her goal of getting Sasuke to finally confess his love for her. He was supposed to do it after his quest for vengeance against Itachi and she was still waiting, impatiently. She hated to admit it but she somewhat felt jealous of Tobi.

Dawn came as quick as dusk, but no one would ever know with the lack of windows in the hideout. In fact, almost every hideout she'd ever seen were windowless. Most were inside mountains, underground or simply hidden from light. They had to live up to their name, didn't they? Karin had always found that it was harder to breathe inside these fine establishments. Mostly due to having no fresh air come in or out. Usually they would only have the basic needs. Minimalists would love it.

When the redhead awoke, Sasuke had already left and she had found his cloak draped on top of the thin brown blanket she had on top of her. Her heart warmed at the gesture, it really wasn't very warm in the hideout and the blankets provided were terrible. They were the equivalent of cut potato sacks. Karin wasted no time in getting up and stretched, feeling a sudden pang of dizziness and nausea that quickly passed. She ignored the feeling and took the cloak from the bed and wrapped herself in it and got her personal hygiene supplies from her bag, getting ready to go shower. The hideout had its own bathroom with multiple showers, like a communal bathing space. Very uncomfortable being the only woman in the compound, she would usually just leave her cloak outside to warn of her presence. The plumbing here wasn't the best, being stuck in the middle of a mountain, it was the best they could do, but it didn't stop the feisty redhead from complaining. The water wasn't very clean, nor did it get hot. Karin showered to only wash herself, not to relax like she would usually do. It only took her a total of fifteen minutes to take care of all her needs in the morning.

She stepped out from the bathroom in what she wore at night, a dark blue blouse that fell below her backside and tight black short shorts and headed back down the hall towards her room, crossing through the pathetic 'dining' room they had. It was simply a table with chairs around and a box of rations in a corner. Kisame was sitting there eating with a cup of tea. He watched the redhead stroll through the room and licked his lips without her noticing. She didn't utter a single word to the swordsman. She was surprised Suigetsu wasn't there with him trying to start a fight. At least her teammate had found a new target to pick on. Regardless, she wasted no time in reaching her bedroom. She opened the wooden door, an audible creaking followed as she slipped inside, closed the door and dropped her stuff on the ground before she lifted her head and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose to be slightly startled by Sasuke sitting in the wooden chair by the table with his eyes closed, very much shirtless. Meditating? She raised a brow and finally spoke when he said nothing about her coming in.

"Good morning. I thought you left."

The redhead spoke in a softer tone and leaned her back against the uneven, stone wall and had her hands behind her back. The meditating man let out a small groan as he was being interrupted, but he didn't open his eyes to look at the woman across from him, speaking in a low tone.

"We have a meeting in a couple hours."

Karin's piercing red eyes stared at him intently before they lowered to the floor and she chewed her lip unconsciously. If that were true, he wouldn't have come back to the bedroom, where she spent most of her time. Too much testosterone in the living area and Zetsu creeped her out immensely. People had accused Karin of having dual personalities, but he actually had two different personalities in one body. And he could separate the body. It was weird and gross.

"So, why'd you come back here instead of enjoying the luxurious wooden benches outside?"

A hint of sarcasm and humor escaped the redhead's lips, and she smiled a little to herself, trying her best to get a reaction out of the cold man across from her. All it got her was him opening his eyes and averting his gaze to the side.

"It's my room." He replied coldly.

"Where I spend most of my time." The redhead sharply retorted and took a few steps forward towards the man in the chair. She stood a foot away from him now and placed her hands on her hips."Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

I love you, maybe? His dark obsidian eyes shot to her intently as she approached. She could see the hunger in his eyes. His actions were subtle confirmations that he did love her, but she longed for him to simply say it out loud. She wanted to know what they were. What she was to him. She wanted to know she wasn't just some minion, here to satisfy and keep him alive. She was broken out of her thoughts when he spoke, an answer she didn't want to hear came to her ears.

"I told you. We have a meeting soon."

The look he was giving her betrayed his words though. She knew what he wanted. What he was planning on doing to kill two hours before the meeting. What confirmed her theory was when he reached out and grabbed her wrists and pulled her onto his lap. She instinctively straddled him and placed her hands on his bare shoulders and brought her face close to his as she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist, pulling her tighter against him and she could already feel something poking her lower body. His dark eyes gazed into her crimson ones and then to her lips. He shucked her blouse over her shoulders slowly before he pressed his lips her soft pink ones. Karin was starting to lose it when he kissed her, her cheeks grew a light shade of pink. She needed to snap out of it. Before the kiss could deepen as he had tried to do, she pulled away and broke the kiss, making the man under her grumble.

"What?"

The raven-haired man asked sharply in an annoyed tone and Karin licked then bit her lower lip and sighed, tightening her hold on his shoulder before she spoke, her breath uneven and a little shocked by his actions. She usually was the one to initiate any sort of intimacy.

"Well…Don't we need to…Discuss something first?"

"No?"

His voice was low and impatient. Karin wanted to facepalm herself and in turn slap him across the face. Had he forgotten his promise to her?

"Sasuke, what am I to you?"

Sasuke groaned in annoyance at the question, as if to say 'Not this again…'
He moved a hand that was resting on her waist up her front and to her throat and gripped her sensitive skin gently and used his fingers on the back of her neck to tilt her head down to look at him. His dark eyes were hungry and dangerous, he muttered his words huskily.

"You're mine."

Those words hit her differently. Those two words were bittersweet as they reminded her of Kabuto. He'd always say that to her, but this was Sasuke, this was a man she truly loved. She could remember him saying the exact same thing the first time they had ever slept together. He had been dominant and possessive over her the first time and she enjoyed it. But this time, it felt more real. It would have to do for now, although not completely satisfied with it, she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of him without pissing him off so she gave in and raked her delicate fingers through his black hair softly.

"I love you." The redhead whispered softly, hot glazed eyes never leaving his dark ones.

Sasuke rolled his onyx eyes and scoffed, tightening his grip on her neck and moved his other hand from her waist to her backside, squeezing the supple flesh beneath his hand before he dipped his head to kiss her shoulder, making her hiss softly. He had this way of making her melt in place and forget everything, like her brain turned to mush. This man was going to be the death of her.

She placed a hand behind his head and massaged her fingers in his hair. He released her neck and began to slide her blouse down more to reveal small perky breasts, which he fervently kissed, licked and bit, forcing soft moans from her as she rolled her hips and grinded against his hard member through his pants, earning herself a groan that was pressed into her breasts. Unfortunately for them, their little session, however, would soon be put to an end when a green haired black and white head slowly started to raise out of the floor. They hadn't noticed until it finally spoke out, ignoring what the lovers were doing.

"Oh Sasuke, Madara is ready for you."

The redhead's red eyes widened, and she whipped her head, shrieking as she heard the voice. Had Sasuke not been holding her tightly against him she would have fallen off the chair. The raven-haired man growled and took in a deep breath and cursed under his breath. He was about to respond when Karin did it for him, pulling her blouse back up over her shoulder, her face as red as her hair.

"Y-you pervert! Have you never heard of a fucking door!? What's wrong with you!"

The redhead ferociously shouted while shoving her finger at the golden-eyed man who was halfway in the floor and out, completely unfazed by her. Actually, he was ignoring her as she raged. Sasuke waited a moment, tightening his hold on the woman in his lap, warning her to shut her mouth physically rather than verbally. He kept her on a leash, so she knew what he meant just by the way he touched or looked at her. The intrusion made him go completely soft unhappily. Always holding the redhead, he stood and let her down on her feet before grabbing his shirt and putting it on. He attached his sword to his hip. Karin also quickly got decent after Zetsu dove back into the floor and left, a very creepy and unsettling grin on his face as he slowly sunk into the floor. The redhead grimaced then frowned deeply while Sasuke waited for her at the door. They were both annoyed and upset they weren't going to get to satisfy each other. That two-hour time frame was bullshit. Tobi sucks. This place sucks.

"I can't wait to get out of here."

Was all she said before she followed her aggravated lover out the door, going to the conference room to have their meeting to discuss what the next plan of action was.

You're mine. It replayed in her mind. She liked the way those words rolled off of Sasuke's tongue.

The meeting lasted over an hour and had been incredibly disturbing for the redhead. There was no organization to the meeting. Everyone stood around a table with a stone throne at the end of it where Sasuke had taken it upon himself to sit in. There didn't seem to have a clear leader and it felt very much Akatsuki and what was formerly known as Hebi. Sasuke had changed the name of the team to fit the new mission he declared. Destroy the Leaf and assassinate the elders. This, did not sit well in Karin's gut. That was a serious and extremely risky endeavor. Sure, going after Itachi was dangerous, but it wasn't impossible. But destroy a village and go after the elders which were probably under immense protection? What the fuck.

Then Suigetsu just had to make a scene and attack Kisame, as if the tension between both teams wasn't thick enough. He really did have the mind of a goldfish. After that debacle was settled, that was when Madara revealed his own plans for Taka. In order to gain the Akatsuki's help, Taka would be sent to capture the Eight Tailed beast, since their goal was to have all nine of the beasts. Only three remained. This wasn't as threatening to Karin as Sasuke's plans. It would be four against one and even if he did have a beast within him, the eight tails surely couldn't take all four of them. Jugo's curse seal alone could take down an army. Karin would be the brains behind the operation, Sasuke was the assassin and Suigetsu was, well, Suigetsu. Either way, the redhead wasn't thrilled about the plans.

What was the most frustrating part though, was that every time she tried to speak up, speak her mind or add valuable information, she would be shut down or interrupted by either Sasuke, Suigetsu, Madara or Kisame. Zetsu and Jugo kept their mouths shut. It made her blood boil. What was the point of her attending if they wouldn't let her participate? Oh, her team was getting an earful later. No one shut her up and got away with it.

In the end, the only positive note she had about the meeting was that Taka would set out for the Eight Tails who was revealed to be a Cloud nin by the name of 'Killer B', immediately. Which meant she would finally get to leave this dump and since Kumogakure was far, they probably would be staying in inns which had hot water and comfortable beds. Much better than a dirt floor, a used bedroll and a potato sack for a blanket. Karin had stomped out of the conference room and immediately went to her and Sasuke's room to gather her stuff and get the fuck out as fast as she could. She didn't even want to see the Akatsuki men. The rest of Taka did the same. Suigetsu exchanged cocky words with his senpai, Jugo retreated to his room and Sasuke exchanged last words with Madara.

The redhead waited outside the compound when one by one, Taka was now four outsides, ready for their excursion to Kumogakure. Karin decided she wouldn't fuss about how she felt just yet and instead would wait until they were all seated later when they would make camp.

And just like that, they set off to capture the Eight tailed beast.

Dead or alive.