'thoughts'
"talking"
'inner Ryuu'
OoOo Recap oOoO
"Now, could someone show me around this place?" Sakura asked.
"Me!" Deidara, Kisame and Zetsu said in unison while Sasori just stood silently watching.
"I'll show Sakura-chan around, yeah!" Deidara said.
"No I will!" Zetsu said.
"No I will!" Kisame shouted. Sakura felt the urge to sigh.
"Well all of you could show me around." Sakura said, interrupting their glaring match. They nodded before they started their little tour of Sakura's new home.
OoOo End of recap oOoO
Two hours later
After two hours of walking around the compound Sakura was beat. So she said good bye to Deidara and the others and went inside the room and sat down by the small table and began reading the mission-scroll:
Name: Hatashi Yamato
Age: 32
Status: Rough-nin
Mission: Retrieve the 'Black Phoenix scroll' and kill him
Location: Teahouse in Rain
There was also a picture of a man with short black hair and hazel brown eyes.
Sakura recognized the man as one of the most-wanted in the bingo book. He was known for stealing different artefacts and then selling them on the black market.
'So I'll have to disguise myself as a geisha and seduce him into telling me where the scroll is.' Sakura concluded.
She got up and started packing for the mission. Shuriken, senbon needles, kunai's and so on. While she was packing Itachi entered the room and walked over to Sakura so he was standing beside her.
"We never finished our conversation." Itachi stated in his calm, cold voice.
"There is nothing to discuss." Sakura said simply, not even looking at him. Itachi grabbed hold of her hand, preventing her from packing. Sakura looked up at Itachi with a look of annoyance.
"Let go of me." Sakura said irritation evident in her voice.
"Not until you answer my question; what's bothering you?" Itachi asked still holding onto her wrist. Sakura frowned and in one fast move she ripped her hand from his grip and glared at him.
"That is none of your concern." Sakura informed and continued packing. Itachi narrowed his eyes at her. No one and I mean no one denied Uchiha Itachi answers. Itachi quick as lightning pushed Sakura onto the bed beside her small bag and placed one hand on each side of her head. Itachi stared into her eyes.
"Now I'll ask you again; what's bothering you?"
'Maybe he does care?' A part of Sakura wished that he did.
"What is it to you what's bothering me?"
"If we are going to be on a mission together I need you to be focused; right now you aren't and that can prove to be fatal." He stated.
'Of course, why did I even expect something else?'
"Well I can assure you that my problems won't affect the mission, so you can relax." Sakura said irritated. Itachi slowly got up from Sakura.
"We have dinner with the rest of the Akatsuki." He informed.
Sakura got up from the bed and followed Itachi out the door. She closed the door behind her and walked down the halls until she came to a big room with a dinner table. The "real" Akatsuki (Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Leader, Deidara, Sasori, Tobi, Kisame and a woman with hazel brown hair and ocean blue eyes) were seated around a table.
'That woman must be Leaders partner.' Sakura thought as she made her way to one of the two empty seats. She sat down between Zetsu and Deidara and opposite of Kisame.
"Hi Sakura-chan!" Deidara greeted her happily.
"Hello Deidara." Sakura retorted with a small smile.
When Sakura was seated a couple of Kage bushin's served the food. The food consisted of a stew, some vegetables and bread. Sakura immediately checked her food for poisoning or drugs, finding none she ended the small jutsu. When she looked up she noticed that everybody was looking at her.
"Habit." Was all she said. They waited for Leader to start eating before they did; it was an act of respect.
While they were eating Deidara decided to try and start a conversation.
"So Sakura-chan; how'd you obtain Ryuu?"
"He came to me in a time of need." Was all Sakura said.
Sasori who had been, as well as the rest of the Akatsuki, listening in on their conversation asked.
"How strong is Ryuu?"
"Compared to the Kyuubi?" Sakura questioned. Sasori nodded.
"About three times." She said in a calm voice. Coughs could be heard from people almost choking on their food.
"T-three?" Deidara asked.
"Something like that, hai." Sakura answered truthfully.
"How'd you end up in the prison mansion?" Kisame asked after a while of silence.
"Sasuke Uchiha found out about me inhabiting a 'demon' as they called it and told Tsunade." Sakura explained.
"Why?" Deidara asked not quite understanding what the Uchiha would gain from revealing Sakura. Sakura's face darkened and she clenched her fists tightly under the table. Wordlessly Sakura stood up and rounded the table to the exit, but before leaving she stopped with her back still turned to them.
"He wanted to me to marry him and re-build the Uchiha clan with him and because I refused to do so he thought that if he locked me up in a room, without chakra and being weak, betrayed by my friends and village that I would eventually give in." As Sakura walked out the door she whispered so no one could hear.
"And he almost succeeded." But Itachi heard her and, although he didn't quite understand why, it infuriated him to think that his foolish little brother had almost succeeded to make her his.
Sakura walked outside to the training grounds, she needed to release some steam. She did some seals.
'Aquarium jutsu.' And the training grounds were covered in 10 meter (A/N: 33 centimetres equals one feet.) high water. Sakura then did another set of hand seals.
'Kage bushin no Jutsu.' And an exact replica of her appeared on the opposite side of the training grounds. They got into stance. Suddenly they disappeared; you could only hear the sound of kicks and blows being exchanged.
'He took everything away from me!' Sakura screamed in her mind as she dodged a kick to the head.
'My friends, my home everything just so he could get what he wants.' Sakura kneed the clone in the stomach which sent it flying into the house wall.
'I'll never forgive him!'
In the shadows of the surrounding trees Itachi was watching with interest.
'Clever. She uses the pressure of the water to put more strain on her body, giving it a harder and a more effective work-out and then she uses a clone that has little of her own chakra so that it doesn't disappear when hit and it can do jutsus with the chakra it has.'
Sakura's clone got out from the hole in the wall and charge at Sakura, who was still inside the 'aquarium', with the katana it had strapped on the hip.
Sakura waited to the last second before she drew Seijyru and blocked the clones' katana.
Itachi noticed that the katana that the clone used was not the same as the one that Sakura was wielding.
'Usually when you create a clone it gets all the same things that you have, so why does it have different katana?'
Sakura pushed the clone out of the aquarium and jumped after it. The clone twirled around in the air and landed on its feet. Sakura charged at the clone who went into a defensive position. When Sakura was close enough she preformed the 'Dance of the Crescent Moon.' Three shadow clones appeared that attacked along with Sakura in a complicated sword-dancing pattern. The clone was confused and hesitated which led to it getting a sword trough its chest and disappear in a cloud of smoke. The shadow clones disappeared and Sakura sheeted her sword and then released the aquarium jutsu. She sighed.
'I feel much better now.'
'The Uchiha is here.' Ryuu said.
'Aa, I noticed.'
"What do you want, Itachi?" Sakura asked her back turned towards Itachi.
Itachi stepped out from the shadows.
"Why didn't your clone have the same katana as you have?" Itachi asked.
"Seijyru is a katana specially made for me. No one else can use it, not even my clones." Sakura said in a calm voice as her hand moved to rest on the handle of Seijyru.
"What happened at the mansion between you and Sasuke?"
Sakura turned around and looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Kisame and I saw Sasuke enter the mansion, but he wasn't among those we killed, therefore he must've been with you." Sakura closed her eyes and flashes of that night entered her mind.
"Not that it is any of your business but he tried to rape me." Sakura said in a voice with hidden anger and sorrow before she turned around and walked inside.
She closed the door to their room and leaned against it. A heavy sigh escaped her lips.
'Sometimes I wish I could just remove all these memories.'
'It can be painful to have memories but they also make you who you are.'
'I know.' Sakura replayed before making her way over to the closet and take out one of her sleeping yukata's and then walk into the bathroom and to take a long, hot shower.
While she was showering events of the day entered her mind.
'Who was the one offering money for me? And who gave to rough nins the knowledge to summon those snakes?' Sakura tried to come up with an answer but didn't find one. She turned of the shower and stepped out and dried herself of and put on the yukata.
When she stepped out of the bathroom she looked out the window and saw that the sun had already set. She opening it and listened to the sounds of the night. It calmed her to listen to the crickets play and the owl's ho-ing (sp?) in the distance.
'Better go to sleep now. We leave early tomorrow.' Sakura thought as she turned around and went to the bed and slipped under the covers and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.
∞ A while later ∞
Itachi, who had been making preparations for the mission, came in only to find Sakura fast asleep. He took of his clothes, everything except his sweatpants and his t-shirt, before he climbed onto the bed.
Two hour's later he had still not fallen asleep; he was tired but just couldn't sleep. He lied onto his back and just then he felt a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw Sakura fast asleep clutching onto his shirt. He wrapped his arm around her, bringing her closer. Almost immediately he felt himself become sleepy.
'Great, we share a bed for three nights and I'm already addicted to her.' He thought before he fell asleep.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The next day they left for Rain country. They travelled all day, Deidara and Sakura discussing everything between heaven and earth and finding that they had much in common. Sakura didn't remember sleeping in Itachi's embrace for he had left before she woke up.
"Do you ever miss your family back in Konoha?" Deidara asked. Sakura's face saddened.
"I don't have a family anymore." She said softly.
"How come?" Deidara asked carefully. Sakura took a deep breath.
"When I was 15 I and my parents were assigned on a mission to retrieve a scroll that some mist-nins had stolen. We got the scroll back, everything had gone smoothly, but what we didn't count on was that the mist-nins had called for back-up and we were outnumbered. My oto-san and oka-san stayed behind while I went to Konoha for help, but my body couldn't handle the strain and I collapsed about two miles from Konoha." Sakura lowered her head so that her bangs covered her eyes.
"I survived thanks' to Ryuu but they died." Sakura whispered.
Deidara put a resurging hand on her shoulder making Sakura up at him.
"Gomene (I'm sorry) I shouldn't have asked." He said while smiling sadly.
"It's ok. You didn't know." Sakura said smiling sweetly. Deidara nodded and moved his gaze back ahead. They continued chatting until they reached Rain at nightfall. They didn't enter the town where Yamato was staying jet; they needed to disguise themselves first so they stopped by a stream near the tea house.
Sakura did some seals. When the smoke settled she had black that hair was put up in a complicated bun with pearls and an iris flower to finish it of. Her eyes were now a combination of blue and violet. She wore one of the kimonos she had gotten from Itachi, the one that was dark blue with white, silver, light blue and light purple butterflies and a silver obi to match. Her already pale face was painted even whiter, her lips blood red, some rouge and some mascara and eye liner. Deidara gaped at her while Itachi felt his breath catch in his throat, she was simply stunning.
"Sakura-chan you look beautiful!!" Deidara exclaimed when he got his voice back. Sakura smiled a little.
"Arigato." She then looked at Itachi.
"Are you coming or Deidara?" One would have to stay if something went wrong. In that case the one left behind would have to go back to Leader and rapport it.
"Hn." Was all he said before he did the necessary seals. Sakura's eyes threatened to bulge out. He had his hair in the usual low ponytail, no hitae-atae (sp? forehead protector), his sharingan turned off and he wore a pair of black hakamas (Japanese traditional trousers) and a blue haori (Japanese traditional men's upper kimono) he was really handsome. He offered his arm which Sakura took and they started walking trough the forest to the tea house. While walking something green caught Itachi's eye. He looked down and saw a green stone dangling from Sakura's neck.
"Where'd you get that?" Itachi asked looking straight ahead. Sakura looked at him questionably.
"What?"
"The necklace." Itachi replayed calmly. Sakura took the necklace into her hand and looked at it smiling slightly.
"It belonged to my oka-san; she got it on the day of my birth from my oto-san
Itachi nodded slightly, for some reason he felt relieved knowing that it was from her mother and not another man.
When they reached the tea house they walked inside a room with five other men, including Itachi, and all of them had one or two beautiful geishas by their side. In the back of the room Sakura saw her target. She gracefully and soundlessly made her way to him. He looked at her when she reached his side.
"Good evening Yamato-sama." Sakura said with a bow and a smile.
"Good evening and what may be this beauty's name?" Sakura pretended to blush, although you couldn't see it trough the make up. She sat down on one of the pillows by his side.
"Tomoe. Would you want some sake?" (A/N: Tomoe means iris, I think xp)
"Hai." He said and held out his cup. Sakura spotted Itachi from the corner of her eye a couple of feet away.
"So Tomoe, can you sing?"
"Hai and dance."
"Could you give me a demonstration?" Sakura smiled.
"Of course." Sakura got up and made her way to the small stage. She took out two fans that had flowers painted on a creamy white back ground. She held one fan in each hand. One arm was outstretched to the side while the other hid her face. The music started and Sakura began to dance, moving her fans in a hypnotising way and then she started to sing:
(A/N: song: House of the flying daggers-Beauty song. It is sung in Chinese but I took the translated version.)
In the north lives a beauty
Her soft angelic voice made everyone and everything stop what they were doing and listen as she sang and watch as she danced.
She is the most beautiful in the whole world
Sakura closed her eyes, putting her everything in the song.
A glance from her destroys whole cities
A dark figure outside in the trees watched with interest through the window as the beautiful maiden moved in an entrancing way. A smirk tugged at his lips.
"I found you, my cherry blossom." He whispered.
A second glance from her lays the whole world in ruins
Itachi watched Sakura and couldn't help but feel his killing intent rise when he saw the other men's lust filled gazes on her. It took all his self control not the kill them all.
Nothing exceeds her neither city nor country no one can measure to this beauty
Sakura ended her performance by falling to her knees as the drapes closed.
Loud applauses rang through the room as Sakura walked back to Yamato's side.
"You were superb!!"
"Domo Arigato Gozaimasu." (Thank you very much)
"More sake?" Sakura continued.
∞ An hour later ∞
Sakura had gotten Yamato drunk so that it would be easy to get information from him. He was now so drunk that he couldn't talk straight so Sakura decided to strike.
"Yamato-san…." Sakura said in a seductive voice.
"I heard some men talk about you having some kind of powerful scroll?"
"Ah (hick-up) sche schtark shcwenisch schroll" (A/N: translation: the dark phoenix scroll)
"Hai! Could I see it please Yamato-san?" Sakura asked sweetly.
"Schkive me a sckiss firscht." (A/N: translation: give me a kiss first) He said leaning forward while he pouted with his lips. Sakura was throwing up mentally, but in real life she leaned towards him and gave him a kiss.
Itachi saw this and felt his hand inch towards the kunai he had hidden in his haori and just slit Yamato's throat, he quickly pushed those thoughts aside but was glad when they finally pulled apart.
"Can I see it now Yamato-san?" Sakura asked.
"Shcfollow me..." (A/N: translation: follow me) he said standing up wobbly. Sakura steadied him and they walked to his room. They soon came to his room and went inside. Yamato took out his suitcase from beneath his bed and put in the correct combination for the lock. (A/N: to think that he could remember the code although he was so intoxicated xP) The suitcase opened but it was empty. But then he opened the bottom of the suitcase.
'A hidden box.'
He took out the scroll and held it in front of her. It was a black scroll with a white ribbon.
"Oh, can I hold it?" Sakura asked eagerly
He gave a big grin and gave it to her. As soon as Sakura held the scroll she took out a senbon needle from her kimono and stabbed him in the neck on a pressure point, making his heart stop. He had a shocked expression on his face before fell dead to the floor. Sakura knelt down in front of him and healed the small cut from the senbon and made it look like a natural death. She then hid the scroll inside her kimono sleeve and stood up and walked out the door to the entrance where Itachi was waiting. First now did she notice that he didn't have his sharingan on.
'He looks different, in a good way.' Sakura thought as she walked over to him. She put on her sandals and he wordlessly offered his arm once again, Sakura accepted and they discreetly made their way back to the stream where Deidara was waiting. They walked in a comfortable silence, both unconsciously relaxed in each others presence as they slightly lowered their pace as they walked down the dirt covered path in the forest, both thinking the same thing:
'Mission accomplished.'
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A/N: CHAPTER 9 IS UP!!! I'm glad I got the time to update this chappie earlier then the last one and I really hope you like it :D!!
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