Stealing Your Heart

Chapter 3

Darkness was everywhere. Void, and empty. 'What is this place?' For some reason her thoughts seemed to echo off the walls. She looked around. Nothing. Confused, she racked her brain for any type of memory as to why she was here. Frustrated as to why nothing came to mind, she sat down, loosing hope. 'Whats going on? I bet Inner Sakura knows...Inner Sakura!! That's it!' Excited from remembering her former annoyance she got up and used her energy to try and summon her. Why couldn't she do it? Maybe it was because she never tried to summon her, just to make her go away. "Come on! I need you...Please..." Sakura whispered. She waited; hopeful. Feeling her chest grow tight, tears started streaming down her face. This was it, she was stuck in god knows where, without anyone and probably left to die...Wait. Die. Die...'Why does that seem so familiar??'

"Its because your dead." Sakura jumped from hearing her Inners voice.

"Where are you?" Sakura demanded. "We have to get out of here!!"

"And how do you suppose to get out of death?" Inner mused. "Besides Sakura, even if you could find a way to get out of our mind, how would you escape the Akatsuki? Don't you remember?"

Images of memories started rushing at Sakura from the darkness. Bracing herself, they pounded her being, seeming to shake the whole room. Or in other terms, her mind... The ranged from her early childhood to now. When her mother was ill in the hospital, Tsunade watched over her, trained her, and treated her like a daughter. How she became a member of team 7 and having a crush on a boy named Sasuke. How Naruto would eat ramen and brag about missions to her. Memories of the way she left the village after her mother died, becoming a thief to grow stronger. Every detail was strong, and vivid. Then...the final memory danced around her, taunting her. She could remember the last fight she had with the scorpion and puppeteer. The way his fingers moved oh – so gracefully, his ruby hair, the way his eyes held no emotion. And finally, his voice when he told her the poison was deadly.

"NOOO!! I can't be dead!" Sakura screamed, filled with emotion. Furious, she turned to the direction Inner Sakura's voice came from. This time she stood there but she wasn't facing Sakura. Instead her focus seemed to be up. Storming over her, Sakura boomed, "Look at me! I'm alive-!" She was cut off by Inner putting her finger on Sakura's lips, not taking her eyes off of the endless ceiling.

'Shh. Listen.' She said as her eyes skimmed he darkness above her. Never seeing Inner so serious before she grew quiet and waited. At first nothing happened and then as if in a dream a small flicker of light crept in and then died. Then another. And another. We're not dead..' Inner mumbled..'WE'RE NOT DEAD!!' Excited, she grabbed Sakura and hugged her. The mummer of outside voices seemed to lightly drizzle the inside of their mind leaving a sense of happiness in the both of them. It grew quiet and the lights disappeared and finally..BOOM!!

Pain seared Sakura and Inner started fading. 'Have fun!!' Inner said with a evil smile before finally disappearing.. 'I should have kicked her ass when I had th chance...' Sakura thought before returning to her rightful position: Her body.

Finding her eyelids heavy, she managed to push them open, revealing a dim room. There was dim outlines of men (she guessed based on their muscular frame) standing in a circle around her. She was laying on a cold stone floor, her hands bound by large chains.

"You don't think I killed her, yeah...?" A deep yet soothing voice asked. From what Sakura could tell, her was standing in front of her. Sakura quickly closed her eyes.

It was quiet for a moment and then an eerie voice replied, "No Diedara. She's fine." It was hard to tell where the voice was coming from.

"But she hasn't moved, yeah. And I was just.." He began to explain but trailed of.

"Excuse me?" The eerie voice asked.

"Sorry, Leader-sama." He apologized, taking a step back and bowing.

"Very well." Directing his attention to someone else he continued, "Sasori, where exactly did you say you found this girl?"

"She was in my workshop.." Sakura could feel eyes boring into her. No doubt from the man speaking. "...Attempting to steal my things." Sakura reconized that voice. It was the the man she fought with earlier. She didn't dare move.

"Hmm...Interesting." The eerie voice replied. "Stand up, girl. I know you are awake."

Surprised at being called out, shivers ran up and down her spine but she opened her eyes and sat up. Pain shot through her whole body but she refused to complain or show her discomfort. Getting her balance, she was able to stand, like ordered.

"Very good. At least someone listens around here... What is you name?" Sakura could immediately feel the surprise and discomfort coming from the men around her. She didn't know why and even if she asked, it's not like she would get an answer.

"Sakura Haruno." She said, her voice hoarse and cracked. She tried to shallow but it seemed like he throat was full of sandpaper.

He gave out a dark chuckle. "Thirsty?" Sakura could feel a demanding, evil presence standing behind her. It reached around, its muscular arm covered in an Akatsuki cloak holding a wine glass filled with crystal water. He was so close she could feel his breath hitting her ear.

Weary, she watched the water sitting in the glass, dying for a drink. "No, thank you." She quietly denied.

"Well, I've already been informed you've been poisoned and then Diedara just woke you up using a bomb. What do you think I could possibly want to do to you now if I haven't done so to you already?" He countered "Besides if I wanted you dead, I would use much more painful methods than just a glass of water." Sakura knew he was right.

Intense stares were probing into her from every direction in the room. Taking a deep breath she lifted up her chained hands and attempted to take the glass of liquid but he moved it out of her reach. 'What is he playing at?' Sakura thought, annoyed.

"Open you mouth." he simply stated. 'You've got to be kidding me!.

Letting out a defiant sigh she grudgingly parted her mouth. Swiftly and carefully he laid the glass on the lips and let her drink. Reminded of how thirsty she truly was she quickly drank all of the icy water. After finishing he pulled the empty glass away and gave her a stroke on the head. 'What am I? A dog?' Immediately she felt a envious almost deadly presence in the corner of the room. Looking out the corner of her eye and in the direction of the emotion she thought she saw a swish of blue before it quickly disappeared.

Looking around some more, the outlines of everything became clearer. There was a man who had a strange resemblance to a shark standing on the far right giving her a toothy, blood thirsty grin and had a giant sword on his back. 'Remind me never to get caught in a dark alley with him anytime soon' Next, was a discolored man who looked as though he had a Venus fly trap attached to him. 'Well at least I know his weakness: Weed killer. After him was someone with a an orange mask and black swirls jumping up and down. Standing beside Mr. ADHD (AN: No offense to those who have ADD or ADHD) was a guy with long blonde hair in a ponytail. He was glaring at the guy who must of had too much sugar. He must have felt Sakura's gaze because he turned to look at her. Quickly adverting her range of vision she decided to look at the floor. Okay...So he's pretty good-looking. So what?' Looking in the opposite direction of the blonde, well more like next to him, she saw the man known as Sasori from earlier. His dangerous chakra seemed to illuminate the darkness, or maybe it was her fear. She definitely knew not to underestimate another Akatsuki member again. Leaning against a wall not so far from Sasori was a tall, muscular frame. His jet black hair was pulled into a neat ponytail and his sinful red eyes glared at her. His face was gorgeous and unemotional. Feeling the coldness of his aurora she was about to look at the rest of the members but she was distracted by the man known as the Leader.

"Sakura, you will work for the Akatsuki, paying off the debt of the object you attempted to steal." he said, backing away.

"I'd rather die." Sakura spat, refusing to take this any longer.

"Really? That's not what you said in you sleep a while ago. What was it? Ahh...Yes. Didn't you say "No..I can't be dead?" Weren't those your exact words?"

What else did she say in her sleep? Unable to deny that fact she admitted, "Yes. I suppose I did."

"Well then. It's settled. You have a few rules to live by if you are staying with us. One, If you steal anything else, whoever property it is, you will be at their mercy for 3 days then you will be under the care of one of the following people: Itachi, Sasori, Diedara or Konan. Two: Escaping is useless so I wouldn't suggest it. And Three: If in time you prove your self strong enough to join Akatsuki you will get full member privileges. Understand? Now for the time being, Diedara will be your caretaker until further orders. This meeting is dismissed"

The surprised blonde looked at Leader with disbelief as he walked forward toward Sakura. "You've got to be kidding me, yeah." He mumbled but not low enough so Sakura couldn't hear him.

"What did you just say? Do you think I want to be here?!" Sakura questioned.

"No. but maybe if you weren't so weak, I wouldn't have to be dealing with a brat like you. He simply said.

"You ass-hole!" 'He might be attractive but he's a jerk!' Sakura attempted to kick him with her leg but he easily grabbed it and she felt something bite her calf. Pulling away, she fell to the floor unable to gain balance due to the chains around her wrists. "Ow!" Looking at where he grabbed her leg she noticed blood was beginning to ooze out. Giving him a confused stare he hovered over her frame and showed her his hands, palm facing her. There, on each hand was a mouth, giving her a grin. She looked at Diedara's face and noticed a triumphant smirk due to her horror.

"Now that we understand each other, I think you and I are gonna have a blast." He gave a devious grin as if knowing some inside joke, before grabbing her by the chains and yanking her to her feet. Dragging her out of the dark room, she was awed when she was in a room full of furnishings and other pricey items. 'I don't remember seeing any of this when I came in...I can't believe I feel for a jutsu...Ugh. I thought this was a cave..' Pulling her over to one of the couches he threw her on a black leather love seat and toke a spot across from her sitting on the coffee table. 'Ouch. Could he be any more rude??'

Breaking th silence Sakura said, "What's your problem? What the hell did I ever do to you?" Glaring at him she waited for an answer.

He gave her a hard look. "Listen, I have training to do and because I'm stuck with you I won't be able to get enough in to go on the mission I wanted to, yeah...Besides, how old are you? Twelve?"

Her mouth dropped in disbelief. "TWELVE?! I'm fifteen!! Sixteen in 3 months! How old are you? 80?!" Rage was evident in her voice.

To Sakura's surprise, he laughed. She was caught of guard by how sudden it was. "80? Try twenty" He started eying her up and down making Sakura uncomfortable. "Well...Now that I think about it, I can tell you not THAT young." He smirked slyly making Sakura blush. 'What a pervert...' 'You know you like it. Or should I say WE like it. Ha Ha!!' Inner blurted. 'Oh. Now you come back. When theres a hot guy, sure. When you outer could be in danger, oh noo!! That's forbidden' Sakura thought sarcastically.

She was about to continue to go off on her Inner when she noticed a pair of baby blues messing with her thoughts. Snapping out of her trance she looked up to realize that a grown man had both his arms on either side of her, trapping her between them and his face inches away from hers. 'Now that I've got your attention..." He leaned in closer the same smile still adorning his features, and...

TO BE CONTINUED!!

Hey guys!! Sorry about the wait but I updated sooner than I usually do. So be happy! Lol. Anyway, This is the longest frikkin' chapter I've ever written. Consider your self lucky. I didn't really know where to end it so I hope the whole "cliff-hanger" was okay. Personally I like them cause they make the reader wanting more but..You guys usually don't . Sorry. I just had to. I also changed up my style a bit. Well...REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!! And if you have any ideas, hit me up and if I like em' or they work well for the story, I'll add em' and be sure to give you some credit. By the way this chapter was 5 pages long, six if you include what I'm writing here. Man, I'm tired..and gonna be grounded if I don't do my chores. G2G!!

Till next time,

Mexican B