[Chapter 1]
"Alright, you're free to go," the officer said carelessly, handing her a small bag. Sakura raised an eyebrow at it.
"All your previous belongings," he explained, already turning away to go help someone else. She smirked and took the bag, opening it to find only the slutty, green dress she had come into the prison with. Well that just wouldn't do.
The pink-haired young woman whistled a nameless melody as she strolled out of the building and into the sunlight. She was free again. It had been two years, two long years, filled with hundreds of different emotions, but she was finally free again.
She flashed a peace sign to the guard standing unmoving by the only opening in the fence, and he scowled darkly back. She stood before him for a few moments as he checked her credentials, and Sakura humorously realized that this was the guard she had made a fool of a few weeks after her prison sentence had begun. Well, she mused, it was really his own fault, for not paying better attention to the high-security prisoner he was guarding. She smiled sweetly at him before continuing on happily to the prison compound's parking lot.
Looking around, Sakura quickly noted down every car parked around her, before her eyes finally caught sight of a Lamborghini tucked away in the corner of the lot. She grinned widely. That would do perfectly.
The car was a sleek silver, and had a conveniently left open retractable-hood. The owner really should've known better than to leave such an obvious little prize like that unattended in a prison parking lot of all places. Humming to herself as she climbed over the locked doors and into the car, Sakura yanked on a corner of the dashboard, watching with satisfaction as it tore off as easily as a band-aid. She'd been taught how to hot-wire cars when she was four, for goodness sake, it was like second nature by now. Her deft fingers unwrapped the plastic coverings of two of the wires and crossed them over each other. Perfect, that would short-circuit the security system of the car.
Sakura allowed herself a single moment to bask in satisfaction for a job well done, before she shifted the car into rear mode, and pressed the pedal to the floor. Time to fly. The tires of her new car squeaked against the asphalt as she made several dangerous turns out of the parking lot and onto the nearby highway.
The wind rustled her hair as she drove. It was about mid-back length by now, much longer than it had been when she entered the prison. Removing one hand from the steering wheel to run it through her locks, Sakura decided that she first thing she really needed to invest in was better shampoo. The prison had only offered harsh, chemical bars of soap for the inmates to wash themselves with, and it really didn't do much for the softness of a girl's hair. She sighed as she turned off the highway and into one of the richer districts of Konoha. Not that she had much time to be vain, there was still so much to do.
With one hand on the steering wheel, the pink-haired girl pulled a relatively new phone from under her bra. She'd stolen it earlier from the unobservant police officer who had released her, and there really had been no better place to hide it. She stared down in distaste at the green nightclub dress she was wearing. Why couldn't they offer dresses with pockets?
Shaking off her wandering thoughts, Sakura quickly typed in a phone number with her right hand and hit 'dial'.
After a few moments the call went through, and a voice picked up.
"Hello. This is the voicemail of Kakashi Hatake, please leave a message at the beep," a male's voice drawled.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Kakashi, I know you're there."
Despite his eccentric personality, Sakura knew Kakashi was probably the best information-dealer in the entire five-nations. He traded secrets with a skill Sakura had never seen before, and he was always intimately aware of practically every single illegal act happening at the moment.
"Beep," Kakashi responded, mimicking the sound of an answering machine.
"Kakashi," she whined. "I need to meet up with you."
The man sighed loudly, and she could hear the rustling of papers in the background. "Alright. I'll be free next Friday at noon. Does that work for you?"
The stoplight in front of her turned green, and Sakura drove past the intersection, turning into a large mall parking lot. "Well actually, I'm already here. How does two-pm today sound?"
"No. Nope. Not happening. I have plans for today, Sakura!"
"Like what? Watching porn?"
"You say that like it's a bad thing! I'll have you know, porn is very informative," Kakashi said.
"Well I just drove all the way up here to see you, and I won't be very happy if you turn me down. You of all people should know that I'm not a very pleasant person when I'm unhappy," she responded, letting just the tiniest bit of frost leak into her otherwise joking words.
There was a moment of tense silence, before Sakura practically heard the silver-haired man on the other side of the connection drooping in exasperation. "Fine. But only because you're my favourite pink-haired brat. I'll see you at two in the usual place."
"Great!" She ended the call, and climbed out of her stolen car. She didn't bother closing the door, knowing that if someone stole it then she'd just steal an even nicer one. There was that classy Mercedes-Benz near the entrance of the parking lot she'd seen when she'd drove in. It would do.
The inside of the mall was expensively decorated, with marble floors and classical music drifting from the loudspeakers. There were displays lining every shop wall, with most of them consisting of lavish fur coats and shimmering pieces of jewelry.
Sakura walked slowly across the main floor, feeling out of place in her slutty green dress, compared to the classily dressed shoppers around her. Judging by what time she had been let out of the prison, it was about one right now, which gave her plenty of time before her meeting with Kakashi. He had an annoying tendency to be at least two hours late to every single meeting, and over the years Sakura had grown used to it. Perhaps her first order of business should be to get a few nice pieces of clothing. She'd always loved expensive things, afterall.
There was a charming jewelry shop on the second floor of the mall, and Sakura strolled inside, ignoring the odd looks she was getting from everyone around her.
The thing about shoplifting, was that it all relied on your confidence. In the end, it didn't matter how quickly or smoothly you could slide an item into your pockets, or how well you had planned for every situation. When stealing an item, it always came down to if you looked guilty or not. Oh, and of course making the store attendant like you. Sakura was very good at that part.
"Hello, can I help you ma'am?" A male worker asked, as she walked up to him.
She smiled politely, and eyed his neatly ironed tie and shirt. He was definitely new on the job, no person who worked at a mall every day of the week for at least ten hours would spend so much effort to make themselves appear presentable every morning. That would definitely work in her favour.
"Actually, I'd like to try on that beautiful ring over there," she said, pointing to one of the extravagant rings behind a glass display. "The one with the large diamond on it."
"Of course. I'll get it for you." He reached over, and retrieving a key from one of his pant pockets, opened the case.
He took out the one she had pointed at and held it up for her. "This one?"
"Oh yes! You don't mind if I try it on do you?" Sakura smiled brightly at him.
The worker bit his lip. "Um, actually ma'am our store has a policy which prevents shoppers from wearing any of our pieces. So that they don't get dirtied."
She pretended to look disappointed. "Oh, that's annoying. You see, I came here with my fiance, and we're looking to find the perfect rings. It looks perfect, but I just want to make sure it fits, you know?"
Sakura could practically see the indecision in the attendant's eyes. Let her try on the ring and break store policy on his very first day of work, or possibly ruin a wedding and happy marriage?
"Well… that is quite a special occasion. I suppose I could let you try it on just this once," he said hesitantly.
She squealed and leaned over the glass display to wrap her arms around the worker. He blushed, and she supposed it was mostly due to the dress she was currently wearing. "Thank you so much, that's wonderful!"
Sakura slipped the ring onto her fourth finger, marvelling at how it glimmered in the light. "How does it look?" She asked the male across from her.
"I-I th-think it looks gre-great," he stammered, still blushing.
"I'll be right back! I need to show this to my fiance," she said brightly. The worker nodded mutely, and so Sakura skipped away, having no plans at all to come back.
She wandered the mall for the next few hours in a similar style, stealing expensive articles of clothing right under the noses of the oblivious employees. By four pm, two hours after her scheduled meeting with Kakashi was supposed to have happened, Sakura was decked out luxuriously. She wore a metallic silver versace dress, with a handcrafted leather jacket over it. Her feet were covered by heeled, black platform boots, and on her ears hung the most obnoxious possible 24-karat gold earrings.
Which is why nearby shoppers were probably quite surprised when Sakura strode into a small porn shop at the very back of the mall. It was the type of place any respectably wealthy person would never dare enter, and especially in a high-end mall like this one, the shoppers avoided it like the plague. Which, of course, only made it all the more perfect for Kakashi to work from.
She peered around the aisles filled with books and dvds, and seeing no one else in the store, apart from a plastic mannequin behind the counter, she picked up a book. With boredom, and possibly the slightest hint of curiosity, she slowly flipped through the pages. It was titled "Icha Icha Paradise", and while it really was mostly smut, there was a tiny bit of plot if you squinted. Sakura kept reading, casually leaning against one of the bookshelves.
"Up in the security units, word was buzzing around for at least a year that one of the inmates almost managed to escape 'the pit'. I assume that was your doing, seeing as how you have absolutely no patience?" A male voice drawled from behind her.
Sakura smiled sweetly and set down the book she had been looking at, intentionally placing it in the wrong spot on the shelf.
The man peering down at her had a mass of gravity-defying silver hair, which while most certainly not natural, also didn't look gelled. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch, but the faint traces of a scar could be seen from behind it. Kakashi was an odd man, both appearance and personality-wise.
She looked down at her watch - another stolen artifact - and chuckled a bit as she met Kakashi's gaze. "You're only three hours late. You must be excited to see me."
The silver-haired man gave her only an eye-crinkle in return. "Of course not, I just want to hear what your master plan is," he said lightly.
Sakura shrugged. "Why would you even assume I have one."
"I heard about the Madara thing. I'm sorry," Kakashi said, ignoring her previous words. Suddenly, he seemed awfully serious.
"Whatever. We were partners. I helped him and he didn't help me when I needed it. He stole my money and ran away," Sakura replied nonchalantly.
As she shifted her weight off of the bookshelf behind her, Kakashi looked at her calculatingly. "Except I heard that perhaps you were also something more than partners."
She rolled her eyes. "You know everything, don't you. Well since you showed up so early, I'll tell you my master plan for revenge. I'm going to steal his money and run away."
Kakashi laughed, and slung an arm over her shoulder, guiding her deeper into the shop. They walked through a few more aisles, each one getting more and more explicit, before finally stopping in front of an average looking collection of videos. He pulled a specific dvd off the shelf, and suddenly an intense whirring sound filled the shop. The bookshelf disappeared to reveal a cozy room, with two armchairs across from each other and a blazing fireplace at the side.
"Isn't the fireplace a bit cliche?" Sakura asked, rolling her eyes.
Kakashi shrugged, gesturing to one of the armchairs as he made the bookshelf close behind them. Sakura sat down. "I find it makes my clients less hesitant to tell me their deepest secrets."
He sat down in the pillowed chair across from her. For a few moments, there was only silence and the crackling of the fireplace as the two examined each other.
"Alright," Kakashi said, breaking the tenseness. "What do you want to know, and what will you tell me?"
"I want to know where Itachi Uchiha is," Sakura said curtly. "And I'll tell you what exactly I'm planning to do in exchange."
The silver-haired man across from her blinked a few times. "You want to know where Itachi Uchiha is? What makes you think I even know that."
She didn't bother responding, simply raising an eyebrow at him.
"Ok fine, perhaps I have some ideas," he admitted. "But it doesn't matter. What you're offering me isn't enough.
Sakura tilted her head. "Why?"
"There's simply no money in it for me," Kakashi explained. "Policy demands that I'm sworn to secrecy on all plans that I hear, so I definitely can't sell the information to anyone else, which eliminates the main income of my business. I've had other come in and describe their plans to me, but even then it's because they're paying me to help them spot any weaknesses or potential problems. And I don't believe you need anyone to do that for you…"
"I don't," Sakura admitted. "I've been thinking and rethinking through all the steps for two years."
Kakashi nodded and tightened his lips. "Well? So what other information will you give me in exchange?"
She tilted her head challengingly. "I really can't give you anything more, except the fact that Tobirama wears silk underwear."
"Not good enough," Kakashi replied immediately, rolling his eyes. "Although it would make a great plot for the next Icha Icha."
Sakura examined him for a long moment, before standing up from the armchair. "Alright, Kakashi. I'll just find Itachi on my own then," she said, leisurely starting to walk towards the door.
The bookshelves were just within reach when Kakashi finally called out after her.
"Fuck, Sakura," he swore loudly. "I'm too curious about how exactly you're going to take Madara's money, and what the hell Itachi Uchiha has to do with it."
Sakura smiled, knowing Kakashi couldn't see, with her back to him. She turned on her heel and walked back to the armchair, plopping down.
"The Sharingan Gala. You know, the one that Uchiha host every ten years?"
"Of course I know it, it's the biggest event of the decade," Kakashi responded. "Get to the point."
"Well, Madara is hosting it at the palace this year, since he got voted in as King," she said. "And on display, are going to be the Uchiha's precious Sharingan Eyes gem collection. Amaterasu, Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, Izanagi, Izanami, Tengai Shinsei, Kamui, Kotoamatsukami, Kagutsuchi, and Mangekyou. The ten blood jewels."
The silver-haired man laughed. "You don't actually believe Madara is going to put his clan's most precious items out on display, do you? They're going to be locked up safe in a vault somewhere."
"Of course," Sakura replied, nodding. "But I know Madara. He has a close group of powerful friends. He will want to show off the real gems to them, meaning he will be keeping them close by. Definitely somewhere within the palace."
"Alright. But you haven't explained how you're going to get them," Kakashi said.
She grinned. "This is the fun part."
He stared at her blankly.
"I'm going to get a team together, and we're going to enter the palace, disguised as party-goers. It's the perfect opportunity right?"
Kakashi frowned. "Ok, look, Sakura. I believe that you and whoever you recruit will be able to enter unnoticed, and get to the gems through whatever genius tricks you choose to use. I even think that you'll be able to get into whatever vault they're being kept in, you're good at that. But it doesn't explain how you'll be able to get out. There will be security measures, unavoidable ones. The palace will be on lockdown within minutes, you won't be able to get out."
"No, we won't be trying to escape. They're going to let us out," Sakura said, her eyes glittering with mischief. "They're going to think we've already stolen the blood jewels and gotten out, sending them rushing out to chase after false leads. While in reality, we're still in the palace."
Kakashi leaned closer. "How are you going to do that?"
Sakura smiled sweetly and leaned back in her armchair, relaxing with one hand on the armrest. "Where is Itachi Uchiha?"
The silver-haired man across from her slumped dejectedly. "That answer was not satisfying at all. If anything, my curiosity is even greater now."
"Kakashi. Where's Itachi?" Sakura asked again.
"Fine," Kakashi said grumpily. "After Itachi ran away from Madara and the clan, everyone assumed he fled the country or something, while in reality he stayed in the city, right under their noses. Itachi now owns a nightclub called 'Akatsuki', along with this guy named Kisame."
Sakura nodded and stood up from her chair, striding across the room. "Thank you, Kakashi," she called back, as she exited the little porn shop in the corner of the mall.
Around five minutes later she was standing at a busy intersection, waving down a taxi. One almost instantly pulled up next to her, and she smoothly opened the door, sliding in.
"To the Akatsuki Nightclub," she told the driver.