Chapter FOUR

The moment the girl stepped foot outside the room, Sasori knew Itachi would notice. The Uchiha had put security measures around the room to ensure the girl did not run but he didn't think there was anything to stop the pinkette from hurting anyone inside the room. After all, he doubted anyone had expected her to wake up so soon after rescue.

There were rapid footsteps and at one point, there was a guttural snarl that probably belonged to the girl followed by a couple of loud sounds of things breaking. The ground shook. All the while, Sasori glanced numbly down at his broken wrist, because had his Soulmate really snapped his limb?

Soon after, there was a single sound of someone hitting the ground and Itachi appeared at the doorway.

"Are you okay?"

Sasori glanced up and raised his injured arm. "Apart from this, yes."

Itachi approached him and inspected it. "It looks like a clean break," he said.

"She just snapped it with her hand," Sasori told him. "Then ran."

Itachi glanced over his shoulder, to where Kisame was carrying the once again unconscious girl in his arms. "She is now under my illusion," he said. "I did not want to cast anything directly onto her, just in case Orochimaru did something to her mind, but I did not have a choice lest she bring the place down. It is nothing too complex and hopefully, she will stay under until we arrive back at base tomorrow."

"What do you mean 'bring the place down'?" Sasori asked. He ran his fingers over his wrist and noted that indeed, it was a clean break.

Itachi gesture towards the door. "Check it out yourself," he said.

Kisame was grinning as he placed the girl back onto the bed. "Careful, Sasori-san," he laughed. "Your girl is one strong tiny thing."

Curious, Sasori exited the room and looked down the corridor. Or, what would have been the corridor. He stared at the huge gaping hole in the stone structure, then at the trail of destruction that led towards the exit before abruptly stopping right outside what he recalled was Kakuzu's room. That must have been where Itachi caught her.

"She tossed Hidan right through the wall, un," Deidara said, jogging over. "I was out there with the bastard when she just burst out of the room. She grabbed Hidan by the face just as she ran past and hurled him through the wall."

"I'd have loved to see that," Kakuzu called. "Where is he now?"

Deidara shrugged and gestured towards the pile of debris. "Underneath the mess?"

Konan appeared soon after, Zetsu right behind her. "I sent notice back to base regarding our….situation," she said. "Proper space for containment will be set up for our return."

"Something that blocks chakra," Itachi suggested. "I assume she healed faster than expected due to her chakra, and that this monster strength is also chakra based."

Konan nodded. "Keep her in your illusion until we return," she ordered. "And the rest of you, try to get some rest."

Konan glanced his way as she said this and Sasori simply sighed. "And what do we do about this?" He asked bitterly, lifting his arm. "It hurts."

Itachi did an Uchiha equivalent to an eye roll, which was a small twitch of his facial features. "Yes," he said with mocking patience, "it's broken."

Sasori actually rolled his eyes. He had a feeling nothing had really settled with him yet. Perhaps tomorrow, his mind would be clear.

Sasori woke up as he had every morning for the past several years, body tense and the smallest bit afraid of the pain that might be ringing in his bones.

There was nothing, though, and he reminded himself that unless the girl had somehow rolled off the bed and hit the floor, there was no way he would be hurting. He sat up, testing his limbs anyways, and faintly smiled when nothing hurt.

He was the first at the table and had just thrown himself something to eat from the foods he had found lying around when Itachi and Kisame joined him.

"Good morning," Itachi said softly, and Sasori nodded, swallowing his mouthful before he returned the greeting.

"Good morning."

"Early as always, Sasori-san," Kisame grinned. The blue man eyed his plate.

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Who knows if there will be any food left if I let any of you eat before me."

Kisame laughed at that before he vanished into the kitchen. "A sandwich, Itachi-san?"

Itachi took a seat next to Sasori and nodded, even if Kisame could not see. "Yes, please." He then turned towards him. "Your girl is still asleep," he said. "Hopefully, the illusion will allow her to rest."

Sasori swallowed again. "What is it with 'my girl'?"

Itachi chuckled. "Soulmates are bound by a physical bond," he said, "and when they meet, as rare as it is, they develop an emotional bond as well. Perhaps it is one born of the knowledge that no matter what, that someone will know your pain, or perhaps it is much more complex, just like how we share pain between two bodies. Regardless, you, one of the most rational people I know, claimed the girl to be your Soulmate based on a feeling."

Sasori took his time chewing. Itachi watched him for a while. "In other words, it is almost impossible for Soulmates to return to past lives and relationships after meeting."

"Even if one half of the bond is a psycho Orochimaru girl with pink hair and a tendency to break bones?"

Itachi remains silent, merely watching him, and Sasori sighed. "I know," he said softly. "I'm not being fair."

"I do not know about fair," Itachi began, "but I believe I can say with confidence that the girl did not choose her situation of free will." Kisame stepped out of the kitchen with a plate in both hands. The Uchiha took the one held out to him and nodded in gratitude. Sasori watched him take a bite as Kisame sat down next to him.

"If Deidara ever made me a sandwich, I'd be too suspicious to eat it."

Kisame snorted.

"No, really," Sasori said. "He might sneak a bomb inside you, then later when you fight or things don't go his way he'll use it to threaten you."

"I highly doubt he can hold onto it for so long," Kisame said. "He'll make it explode on the spot."

Deidara chose that moment to make an appearance. "Who'll make what explode?"

Kisame burst out laughing and Itachi had a rare smile on his face. Sasori rolled his eyes. "We were just discussing how your brain will explode if you think too much."

Deidara's protest was drowned out by a flurry of curses that suddenly erupted from behind the closed door. It was thrown open and Kakuzu stepped through. Sasori caught a glimpse of Hidan behind him just before he slammed it shut.

Kakuzu ignored Hidan's enraged cry as he took his seat.

"So what's wrong with him?" Deidara asked, appearing to have forgotten about the insults against him.

Hidan had been dug out from under the rubble after the girl had been settled into her room and Itachi had once again secured the perimeters. Sasori had half expected him to crawl his own way out but when they found him impaled and pinned to the ground a large slab of stone, he realized why he hadn't. His injury hadn't stopped him from talking, though, and he cursed his pink haired attacker to hell and back the entire time they were digging him out.

"He was being rather unpleasant so I didn't put him back together until this morning," Kakuzu said easily.

There was a loud sound of Hidan kicking the door, only to be followed by more cursing. Sasori scoffed; that was a pull door. Deidara snickered when Hidan finally entered.

The silverette sneered. "Shut the fuck up."

That only made the blond laugh louder and Sasori excused himself before he was dragged into the mess. The door closed behind him just as Hidan threw himself over the table at Deidara.

Nagato greeted them at the entrance to their base.

Sasori knew that the twenty-two-year-old man was kind and polite when he was not acting as leader of the group. He was confident and projected that well through a mask of charisma that played a large part in keeping the Akatsuki together, especially when it came to newer members.

Currently, he was wearing his mask and he merely nodded at them. He and Konan exchanged a few words too quiet to hear before the blue haired woman returned to them. "You have ten minutes to put down your things before there is a meeting. We will be discussing the mission, as well as future plans."

Kisame questioningly raised the girl in his arms and Konan gestured toward one of the corridors. "One of Orochimaru's old cages have been adjusted to suit our current needs. We'll move her out until something more suitable is ready, but until then we'll have to make do."

Sasori had to remind himself that it was Kisame that needed to carry the girl there and that there was absolutely no reason for him to follow the blue man. He followed Deidara towards their personal rooms, ignoring the chattering of the younger as they went. Once in his room, he dumped his things on the floor. Then he stripped himself of his uniform and threw on some loose clothes, instantly feeling less restrained.

He checked his wrist, making sure that the wrappings here properly holding, before he exited his room.

Every single core member of the Akatsuki was present when the meeting began. Nagato sat at the head of the table with Yahiko, the third of the childhood friends, and Konan sat to their right. Sasori took his seat and was soon joined by Deidara. Itachi and Kisame arrived together and Hidan and Kakuzu were right behind them.

All meetings held after major jobs and missions went like this. However, there was a tenseness in the air that usually wasn't present and Sasori felt it increase the further along with their report they went.

Itachi began a verbal report, with the other members chipping in here and there when they thought the Uchiha had missed something, though there really wasn't much he did leave out. Konan and Zetsu spoke up from time to time about what they noticed from the outside.

Finally, Itachi reached the point of the story where they found the pink haired girl and everyone turned to look at him.

"Sasori, you are sure this girl is your Soulmate?" Nagato asked.

Sasori felt himself bristle at the repetitive question against his certainty and took a deep breath to try and calm down because it was not as though the suspicions were unwarranted.

It was simply difficult to explain it to those who hadn't experienced it.

Instead, he nodded. "Yes," he said firmly.

"Is it possible Orochimaru knew?" Zetsu wondered.

"Knew that Sasori and the girl were Soulmates?" Kisame asked.

"If that were the case, wouldn't he want to keep her with him?" Deidara said. "So that he could use that to his advantage? He could literally torture Sasori through her."

"A lucky coincidence, then."

Sasori narrowed his eyes. "The girl looks not much older than me," he said slowly. "I've been experiencing pain through our bond since I was a kid. Orochimaru defected only a few years ago."

Itachi was quick to catch on. "It is possible she was somewhere else before Orochimaru got to her."

"Somewhere equally evil," Yahiko said.

The orange-haired man was twenty-two and was the most laid back of the three from Ame. Sasori was sure that behind his carefree mask was someone hardened by years of living on the streets, but it appeared as though he had taken it upon himself to balance out his more serious friends. The man usually never went out onto the field, and instead took care of the political side of their organization. Sasori guessed that his personality allowed him to form relationships with those whose support the Akatsuki needed.

"Or maybe Orochimaru was evil for longer than we thought, un," Deidara added.

Yahiko nudged his friend, and Nagato nodded. "Orochimaru's files were very well organized," he said. "I separated the papers that may hold information on her. Sasori, I'll give them to you. Sort through them while you're at it."

He nodded. "Understood."

Later that day, Sasori once again found himself sitting beside the unconscious girl. On the table beside him were two piles of files they had found in Orochimaru's base and in his hand was one of many he had yet to look through.

Even during his time within the Akatsuki, Orochimaru had had some questionable habits. When he had defected, the Akatsuki had salvaged some of his creations, one of them being the chakra containment room the girl was placed in. Sasori didn't really know the full details of how it worked, but he knew enough to know that it recognized the chakra of those inserted into the system and stopped them from using chakra while within its a glass wall, which was also reinforced with chakra to make it more durable.

Sasori halfheartedly wondered how that would help, though, because the girl had broken his wrist without the aid of chakra.

Still, he did not allow that thought to bother him. After all, Nagato had given him first access to the files regarding the girl, and he would have to be quick with them before he handed them off to have them properly analyzed. He was sure that at some point, the files would be passed from the Akatsuki to the T&I organization.

He closed the file currently in his hands and placed it on one of the two piles. So far, all he had found were records of experiment results and medical files. Those were fascinating in their own right and allowed him to gauge the girl's abilities, but there was something specific he was looking for, and that was not how long it took for the girl to heal herself of severe wounds.

He wondered, not for the first time if the girl could even recognize pain.

Finally, he came across a single file, thinner than the others, and he knew this was it. He tossed the others onto the ground by his feet and flipped it open. He was instantly met with a photograph of her, which he put to the side.

On the top was a number, which he guessed was something of a serial number. Below was a series of headers that gave trivial information on her. There was a section labeled 'origin' too, though under that was simply the name of another file, which he noted down.

Finally, at the very bottom, was an 'additional notes' section, followed by hasty hand-scribbled notes. He skimmed over it, eyes lingering on a single line among other unimportant ones.

...the experiment will be known as 'Sakura'...

Sakura.

Sasori looked up at the bed. His eyes lingered on her striking pink hair and he thought of the girl's green eyes.

Empty, lifeless eyes.

Still, her name suited her.

Sakura.

Chapter four is here~

Darque: I really like Itachi/Sasori friendship. I have no idea why. I just love it.

Raven: I can tell.

Darque: I know right. In my stories, they're almost always friends. It's like, sarcasm versus brutal honesty.

Raven: Haha.

Darque: But yeah, Sakura soon.

Raven: Maybe.

Read and Review~