A/N: Welcome back. The plot thickens. Some funny stuff, and then canon plot.
After the discovering of her Chakra Nature, Sazuko's days became split between Training with Yahiko with her Water Release, and Nagato for her Lightning release. Several other of the Akatsuki members also joined in on her training, some with matching natures assisting her with learning new jutsu, and others with opposing, to test her growth, and challenge her to get rather creative to cover her weaknesses. All in all, Sazuko couldn't really remember ever being so content with her lot in life. The pain and trauma were still there. Some things would never really go away- but she was getting better at managing it. She still woke up in the middle of the night in a feral frenzy of panic and terror, but even she would admit it didn't happen as often as before. Kurogaine was slowly but surly beating it into her that repressing her emotions was a bad thing. Which, Sazuko had to admit, was true.
The empty hole in her heart was still there, as was the near constant shrieking pain of loss. But she no longer coated herself with forced apathy, so she was making some sort of progress there. Sazuko still had yet to apologize to Konan, honestly she wasn't sure how to approach the girl about it, and it seemed like Konan shared the sentiment. Yahiko and Nagato at least, she had made amends with. Yahiko wasn't easy as he still carried a lot of guilt about the whole incident, but the pair had managed to overcome the awkward tension with Kurogaines help- plus it gave Sazuko someone to talk to about her heritage, and the ridiculousness of clan politics. Nagato she had forgiven almost immediately. The kind hearted boy was far too sensitive for his own good, and Sazuko couldn't find it in herself to stay mad at him no matter what he did.
It helped that Nagato had tried to defend her to his friends, and was the first one who made the move to try and repair the rift they had caused. It also helped that the boy was so openly genuine about things, Sazuko found it refreshing to speak with someone who held no pretenses and who she could let her guard down with and just be. It was comforting in a way she had missed, and it only solidified his place in her small pack.
Currently, Sazuko was trying to hunt down Yahiko, she had a few questions on the Water Release jutsu he was helping her to develop. Sazuko knew the basic jutsus, but the more advanced ones she couldn't seem to grasp. Yahiko had taken the time to teach her his Pillar Encirclement Jutsu, of which Sazuko was eternally grateful, but she still couldn't keep it up for more than a few minutes at a time. Being in Ame and it's constant rains gave Sazuko all of the water she would ever really need, as well as the storms that followed them. Most of her Ninjutsu now consisted of defensive jutsus, or close combat ones, which Yahiko pointed out could easily be the chance between life and death for her as they paired nicely with her taijutsu.
Sazuko shook herself from her thoughts as she continued her search for their leader. It wasn't long before another Akatsuki member informed her that he was out on a mission, and he wouldn't be back for a few days yet. Sazuko chewed on her lower lip slightly, that put a dent in her plans.
"Oh, but Konan-sama also has water release. You could go ask her if you need some help!" Sazuko paused, mulling the information over. That would be a good solution to her problem, and it would give her an excuse to talk with the woman. But then, there came the dilemma. Sazuko still wasn't sure how to approach her. With a sigh borne of suffering, Sazuko trudged her way to the infirmary- it was where Konan usually resided when she wasn't on mission.
No time like the present, or so they say...Sazuko mused in irritation. Really, it was probably better to go ahead and get the whole ordeal over with. Like ripping off a band-aid, best to do it quickly. That was why Sazuko found herself standing outside of the closed infirmary door, hand raised to knock. Which, Sazuko didn't knock. She'd been standing there for the better part of an hour trying to force her petrified body to move, and only growing more frustrated with herself the longer time went by. With a groaning whine of sheer irritation Sazuko crouched down and grabbed fistfulls of her hair, inwardly panicking and berating herself.
Why is this so hard? Just go in there and apologize!
I mean...it's not like it's been weeks since that blowout. How bad could it be?
She paused in her ranting to chance a look at the still closed door, before she cursed inwardly and began biting on her thumb.
Seriously you dumbass? Just get up and go! It's not nearly as hard as you're making it out to be!
But...what if I just make things worse? Wouldn't it be better to just let sleeping dogs lie?
No, Kuro would have my hide if I don't apologize. I can see the strain it's putting on Nagato...
Plus, poor Yahiko looks like he's going to fall over and die if we don't fix this soon...
That was how Konan found her, sitting there arguing with herself while muttering under her breath, crouched down with one hand stroking her chin and glaring mercilessly down the other end of the hallway. Konan paused, her lips creasing into a frown, holding on to a thick stack of paperwork with one hand as she tentatively reach out to poke Sazuko on the shoulder- Two things happened in that moment that Sazuko would never live down for as long as she lived. The first of those things, happened like this:
"Sazu-" Konan began as soon as her fingertips touched the other woman's shoulder-
"HOLY KAMI ABOVE DON'T EAT ME!" Sazuko let out in the most high-pitched shriek her vocal cords had ever produced, and had never been able to reproduce since, before she jumped about a foot in the air forwards from her crouch, going to catch herself last second to tuck forward into a roll- failing, managing a hurried half roll with such speed and force it barreled her into the opposing wall hard enough to make her see stars once her head cracked into the stone floor. So, Sazuko lay upside down, with her lower half bowed over her upper, feet touching the floor in a full bend. Truly ass over head, if it were. She hadn't known what had touched her, and she was too dazed to properly see straight at the moment.
The second thing that happened was this:
Konan tried, she really truly honest-to-kami tried not to laugh. At first she had jumped straight up in the air, dropping the medical paperwork everywhere and letting it scattered to the wind, leaving her wide-eyed and confused as to what had happened. And then she found herself staring at the sight before her. That was about when her brain grinded to a screeching halt before kick starting again, and the tremors in her body started to form. And then the laughing. At first, Konan shoved her hand over her mouth, muffling the sound as best as she could before she fully lost herself to full bodied laughter that swiftly turned into breathless cackling at the other woman's misfortune.
Tears bled from her eyes as she leaned against the wall for support, one hand firmly pressed to her stomach to try and stem the rib cracking laughter emanating from her.
"S-Sa-Sa-zu-ko...!" She managed to gasp out between shuddering laughs, while the woman in question regained her wits about her. Blinking herself back into clarity as she stared wide-eyed at Konan.
"Yes...?" She managed to rasp out, still not moving from the rather ridiculous position she currently found herself in.
"Sazuko..." Konan gasped, "You are supposed to be..." Another snort of mirth, "A Shinobi." Konan managed to strangle out.
"Yes, Konan-san. I am a Shinobi." Sazuko meekly replied, a deep scarlet blush working its way up her neck to settle on her cheeks. Whether it was from embarrassment or the blood rushing to her head, Sazuko wouldn't say.
"Then why...Did you jump...like a scalded cat?" The question had Konan doubling over in a whole other round of laughter as she took in the tomato red appearance of Sazuko's glowering face. The woman was sweating bullets as she struggled to come up with an answer, before finally giving up and dryly responding:
"Ninja reflexes?" with the most deadpanned expression she could manage in her current situation. Another snort of laughter wrenched itself out of the blue haired girl as she fanned her near purple face to try and calm down.
"O..oh...is that all?" Konan choked out, as Sazuko worked on righting herself, releasing a pained groan as her hand came up to clutch the back of her head once she was resting on her knees and other arm.
"I think...I have a concussion." She concluded dryly as she closed her eyes tightly against the throbbing pain in the back of her skull, her fingers gently prodding the lump forming on the back of her head.
"Only a concussion? My...what amazing...Ninja Reflexes!" Konan was cracking up again, causing Sazuko to groan in misery. Oh yeah, she was never living that down.
After she had managed to settle down, Konan had set about collecting the medical papers before ushering Sazuko into the infirmary to check her over with only minor snickering on the blue haired girls part. Thankfully, Sazuko didn't have a concussion, just a really tender lump on the back of her head and an order to take it easy from training for a few days. After which, lead to lots of apologizing from both parties involved, for this incident and the one prior, and left a tentative friendship in place. The two women still had moments of awkward interaction that neither of them were sure how to fix just yet, but they were working on it.
"I understand what the Jutsu is supposed to do..." Konan began as she watched from one of the stone benches in the training grounds.
"But you're having trouble moulding it into the shape you want, correct?"
Currently they were working on one of the offensive Ninjutsu that Sazuko was struggling with. Several buckets of water were placed around her, and Sazuko had shed both her white haori, and her black Akatsuki cloak. Instead she was currently left in a skin tight sleeveless dark blue undershirt that stopped below her rib cage, and her black hakama pants. Water dripped down her form as she shook the droplets from her hair before tying it back in place. She had her boots off, and was currently pacing around the many puddles of water barefoot in frustration.
"Yeah, kind of? I can get my chakra to make the water move, but I can't get it to hold the form..." She muttered, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff of irritation. Sazuko's eyes narrowed in frustration as she stared at the buckets of rainwater. They'd been trying to find the problem for the last hour or so, but Sazuko was about to call it quits for the day, progress wasn't being made and it frustrated her to no end.
"Run through the seals again?" Konan prompted, leaning forward to watch more closely. Sazuko sighed as she began forming the signs for the jutsu, molding her chakra as she flashed through the hand signs. Her fingers coming to a stop in the 'Dragon' sign at the end. A few of the buckets began to shake as long coils of water began to rise up and take form, twisting and turning in a curling arc before promptly falling out of shape and dousing the Inuzuka once more, causing a growl of frustration to echo out of her throat.
"I think I see the problem...You're using too much chakra while starting the jutsu, and not enough to sustain it in any particular form. Try cutting back on the amount of heads you are trying to raise and go from there. I also noticed a few of the seals you are using might not be correct. You're using the hand seals for your clan jutsus mixed in with seals for water release- try using only water release seals?" Konan instructed, showing Sazuko the seals without forming chakra.
"So replace 'Hare' with 'Tiger' and 'Dog' with 'Ram'?" Sazuko commented, watching her closely before coping the movements without molding her chakra. "Alright, that might work. Last time I'm trying it tonight though, I don't have a lot of chakra left."
Sazuko exhaled through her nose as she began working through the seals again, working on keeping a steady chakra flow as she focused on one of the buckets. The water began moving, twisting and turning as it crashed into another bucket to draw more water into it's swirling mass. Gritting her teeth, Sazuko focused on shaping the chakra infused water into a snake. She could feel sweat dripping down her temples as she coaxed the towering spiral of water to do as she asked. Chakra Transformation wasn't as easy as some people made it seem. There was a reason children went into the academy. Sazuko knew the theory behind it all, and it wasn't all that different then moulding ones chakra for the combination jutsu's that her clan typically used. But it was difficult in that Sazuko didn't have the six years of training that came from kids who had studied and practiced nature transformation jutus.
The Inuzuka didn't have as large of chakra reserves as an Uzumaki, for example, but they had deep reserves to support drawn out combat situations, and nature transformation's took a lot of chakra. Even her reserves were straining under the demand, unused to such a usage. Konan had assured her that with more training, it wouldn't drain her as bad once she had gotten used to shaping her chakra in a different way. It was like working out an unused muscle- it was there, she just had to train with it. As the large snake-like head finally formed, Sazuko held it steady for a for more moments before the water construct snapped and fell back to the ground. Sazuko dropped to her knees gasping as her control finally gave way. The empty feeling of her coils had her grasping her arms and shivering. But even that couldn't stop the large grin overtaking her features. It was only one head, but she had finally managed a step in the right direction. Turning, she beamed at Konan, as soaking wet as she was, Sazuko was happy.
Later that evening, Kurogaine was pleased to see a new light shining in Sazuko's normally darkened depths. Even though she was scowling as he and Nagato laughed about her earlier misfortune, he didn't miss the faint smile that hid in the corners of her lips.
Time Skip: 4 months later
Sazuko paused mid bite as she took a moment to eyeball Yahiko. Her lips pulled into a frown as she lowered her food back to her plate. The group was currently having dinner together and discussing strategies and recent mission results when Yahiko had dropped a bomb on them. The third Shinobi war was slowly drawing to a close, Konoha was currently discussing an armistice agreement with Iwa- not that Sazuko thought it would work. The Tsuchikage had a notorious hatred for all things land of fire. She should be happy that the war was finally coming to a close, but the sheer amount of life lost during the last five years of pointless warfare and posturing by heartless old men left a bitter taste in Sazuko's mouth. She couldn't really celebrate the promise of peace when so many had needlessly died. The total death count was astounding, and how anyone could consider the sheer amount of life lost an acceptable price of war- it was beyond her understanding at least.
As the war had progressed, the Akatsuki found themselves preaching peace less and less, and enforcing it more and more. None of them liked it, and the increasing violence had made more than one member uncomfortable with the way things were going, but the majority of them stuck with it, trying to see how their own little war in Ame was going to play out. More than once Kurogaine had questioned if she wanted to leave, but Sazuko had refused, stating she was too far involved now to back out, and the Akatsuki had become more of a family to her then her own clan. She couldn't turn her back on them after she had given them her loyalty, and someone had to watch her makeshift packs back. Kurogaine had laughed and said she was stuck with them then. She had pointed out that while she didn't fully agree with their recent actions on a personal level, she understood that sacrifices were necessary for the cause as a whole. It didn't mean she liked it, but she would support them in full. They did their best to avoid unnecessary violence and only killed when there was no other choice. That was something she could live with.
However, Amegakure was being thrown into it's own special war, its leader Hanzo seemed to have a raging hard on for the Akatsuki that rivaled the Tsuchikage's for Konoha. The man was downright inhumane to his own people, and Sazuko suspected he wasn't going to give up power without one hell of a fight. That was why she was currently gaping like a fish at Yahiko, trying to get her brain to comprehend the massive bombshell he had just dropped on them. Apparently Hanzo had invited the group to meet with him in order to negotiate peace. After the last four months of near constant fighting with Ame Shinobi and the river of blood they left behind- Hanzo was suddenly calling for peace? Sazuko's hackles raised so hard she found herself slamming her hands down on the table with such force her tea cup spilled, rolling off to shatter against the ground.
"Oxshit." she snarled, leveling a full glare at Yahiko as she continued.
"If you think, for even a second that poxy bastard has even considered the idea of peace given what we've had to deal with these last four months Yahiko, you are more ignorant then a Kiri nin in a brothel." Well, nobody had really been expecting that to come out of her mouth, given the sudden silence and wide eyed stares she was receiving. Yahiko flushed, but Sazuko brushed off the irritation growing on his face as he tried to speak.
"No. It's a kami-damned trap, Yahiko. It smells like a trap. It looks like a trap- Kami damnit, it feels like a trap. Hanzo the Salamander is not a man who condones peace, he's a power hungry old man that destroys it."
Kurogaines hand settled on her shoulder in silent reprimand, but Sazuko disregarded it. She was doing well to hide the tremors of fear that racked her body. Sazuko was afraid, for the second time in her life, of losing something precious to her. She had already lost her companion, she had betrayed her clan and her village. She would be damned if she would lose her pack as well. While the trio weren't her best friends ever, they had come to be good friends with each other during her stay with them. The very idea that something could take them away from her? Sazuko growled at the very thought. They'd have to go through her first.
Loyalty demanded she protect what was hers. The Inuzuka clans greatest strength, and deadliest curse. Loyalty. Sazuko was loyal, not to the Akatsuki, but to them. To the four other people sitting around this very table. Sure, she supported the Akatsuki's message, she was content to be a member and spread their message even. But she wasn't Loyal to the organization. She was loyal to the people in it. And the thought of losing one of them? It nearly had her hyperventilating as she stared Yahiko down. It had her instincts screaming at her to grab her four most precious people, and run, to hide them away in some dark corner of the earth and never see the light of day again. It was like Yemon all over again, and Sazuko would fight tooth and nail, claw her way up from the depths of the underworld once she died and keep fighting if it meant she could keep them safe.
"Saz. Sit down. Breathe, before you collapse." Kurogaines voice cut through her thoughts as she bonelessly collapsed back into her chair, bringing shaking hands up to scrub at her face. Yahiko sighed as he took a drink of his tea, good mood turning into something more serious.
"I have my suspicions that you are correct, Sazuko...But on the off chance...that it isn't." He paused, seeming to gather the words he wanted to say next.
"It's a risk I'm willing to take. All the fighting? All the bloodshed up until now? I owe these people that much, Saz. I know you know that." His brow was furrowed, tension etched lines on his face as he stared at his reflection in his cup. Sazuko closed her eyes in pain.
"I understand. I don't like it...but I'll back you on your decision. Just be careful, please?"
She begged him quietly, resigning herself to the fact he wasn't going to change his mind. She wished she could convince him to pursue a different route. To reconsider and fight for a better solution. But she knew he wouldn't budge. And he was right, they did owe it to the people they led. While the civil war in Ame was miniscule compared to The Third Shinobi World War- everyone was tired and the losses were heavy on both sides. They owed it not just to the Akatsuki members who had died fighting for a world of peace, but the innocents and civilian families, the families of shinobi they cut down when they had no other choice. They couldn't afford to miss this chance. Sazuko knew that...but it didn't mean she had to like it.
"I want you and Kurogaine to stay at the base, incase it is a trap. You're both some of our strongest hitters, and it would give me peace of mind on the off chance of an attack."
Konan and Nagato stayed quiet, they had already made up their minds earlier, they were only informing Kurogaine and herself out of a sense of friendship. They would make an official address later tonight to the rest of the Akatsuki.
"We can do that. But at the first sign of trouble, I'm coming for you- No, Yahiko. Give me this, at least. I'll make sure things here are good before I go running off to your rescue, but you will not sway my decision on that. If only for my peace of mind." Sazuko snapped when he made to argue. She would make sure the base was secure first before she went looking for trouble, she could at least promise him that.
"You are my pack, and I protect what belongs to me." This at least caused all of them to chuckle. Yahiko raised his cup in gaceful defeat in response, causing her to smile warmly at him. Kurogaine's hand reach over to squeeze her knee before dropping back to his plate.
"Now then. Since all the doom and gloom is over with, let's focus on happier things, yes?"
While the cheerful tone was strained, it soon smoothed back into easy camaraderie as they resumed eating. Eyes that were far too knowing watched the people around her as she burned their visages into her brain. The sinking feeling in her gut started to coil like the slithering of snakes. Dread coursed through her veins. But throughout it all, Sazuko smiled, and did her best to enjoy the moment.