Chapter Eight: Mutiny Among the Rank

"My black eye casts no shadow
Your red eye sees no pain
Your slaps don't stick
Your kicks don't hit
So we remain the same
Blood sticks, sweat drips
Break the lock if it don't fit
A kick in the teeth is good for some
A kiss with a fist is better than none
A-woah a kiss with a fist is better than none"

—"Kiss With a Fist" by Florence and the Machine

Sakura

I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't—fuckin'—believe it.

"Now, now Sakura–hime, let's remain calm about this." There was a smile in Madara's voice and he spoke softly, as if to a child!

Ha! I'll give him child!

Summoning chakra to my fists, they flared wildly like I was holding a fist full of ribbons. Already I could see the civilians slinking slowly back out of the streets, their eyes wide with fear and their doors locking like the closed door would be able to protect them from the emending destruction about to be had here.

"Calm? You want calm? Oh, you Uchiha son of a bitch. Then you shouldn't have brought them here." I cracked my knuckles ominously, stepping over the unconscious red-haired girl at my feet. She had been a part of Sasuke's little rag-tag group, Team Hebi, or whatever. And if she was here—in my goddamn village!—I was pretty sure Juugo, Suigetsu and the Other One was here too and I was going to take freakin' joy in snapping their necks.

"Now, now," Madara batted his hand softly. "You're getting ahead of yourself, Sakura–hime."

"How?" I seethed.

"Why; you can see them tomorrow, I wish to initiate them into the Akatsuki."

Isamu

From the wall of the courtyard, Konohamaru and I watched the remains of the building crumble to the ground and followed by the enraged screams of our teacher.

Sakura

The next day, Madara was waiting for me outside of the courtyard.

"Ready to train the new recruits?" he asked cheerfully.

I hadn't slept all night.

I jumped onto a roof top and began leaping over the city to the far west of it where a series of caves and trees made up a small training ground that was otherwise vacant for the day—Madara not a step behind.

With a final leap into a small cluster of trees I could see the less gloomy courtyard and who was in it. "Their names are Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu and—my prize find—" Madara said softly, his deep voice like thunder, but I didn't need to hear the last name. My hand clutched a thick branch of wood and it snapped causing the ninja to turn towards us, though they still couldn't see Madara or me.

—raven hair and black eyes—

It's . . . Sasuke . . .That son of a bitch Madara! I inwardly screamed and then my rage turned toward Sasuke. That mother . . .! How dare he show his face here!? Chakra fused with my fist; strong and violent, ready to kill. The female of the group—the one I caught hiding in the destruction sight yesterday— jumped almost a foot in the air and looked around wildly as Suigetsu asked her what was wrong.

"Sakura," I found myself slammed back against the trunk of the tree glaring into Uchiha eyes hatefully. "You promised me to remain calm about this . . ."

"I made no such promise!" I hissed, fighting to get away from him. "He killed Itachi!" I whisper-yelled at him; my strength started to drain and I found it almost impossible to move even an inch.

"It matters not," he breathed. "You will train them, and get them ready for their first mission. No questions asked, ne?"

"No." I seethed and Madara drew closer to me, his chest pressing heavily against mine. I felt the air slowly leaving my lungs, invading my personal space making me seem smaller. Madara's Sharingan started spinning. "That doesn't work on me." I growled.

"I'm making it worth your while, Hime." Madara said darkly, reminding me of our deal: I help him, he'll resurrect Itachi. "Don't kill him and Itachi will be all yours again." I shoved Madara off of me and glared hatefully at him and he smirked. "A powerful kunoichi you might be, but still a bit young in your years. And I know you'll want to toy with him awhile. That'll I'll let you have." Madara pulled his mask back fully over his face and jumped down into the courtyard, I followed in suit and watch Sasuke's eyes widen a size at the sight of me.

"Morning, Sasuke-kun, sleep well?" Madara asked coyly as they stared at me with moon-eyes.

"Oi, Sasuke-kun," said Suigetsu said. "It's that the girl we captured! Did she join the Akatsuki too?"

I could feel Madara's rage radiating off him at the thought of his 'little findings' attacking and dragging me into Orochimaru's territory. "No, Sakura–hime didn't join the Akatsuki." That was my cue to speak, I guess.

"My name is Reiame Sakura, but you will call me 'Leader–sama' or 'Sakura–hime'. I'm leader of this organization and this man here," I gestured to Madara. "Is my colleague, you will address him however he wishes. As your leader I'm saying this now: if you show any signs of straying loyalty you will be dealt with in the most severe way possible, no questions asked. Do you understand me?"

"Hai," all but Sasuke squeaked.

"She's a lot scarier when she's not behind bars." Suigetsu whispered to Karin who nodded. And I smirked, letting them know I heard that.

One good thing about being leader, you could see them squirm.

They saw me fight before. They saw me escape Orochimaru's clutches.

"I tolerate no meaningless squabbles within this village. If you're going to fight, get out of my sight. This is my village and you will treat it, and its people, with the upmost respect."

"Hai, Leader-sama," said Juugo. I mentally pegged him as my favorite out of Team Taka—he knew how to take orders.

"Sakura–hime, you run them through the rules, I've business with Zetsu." Madara said, I nodded and once I felt Madara leave the area my gaze narrowed in on Sasuke.

"Alright, now that you've got the basic idea down: being in the Akatsuki is like becoming a shinobi of this village, only in the Akatsuki our tracking team is nothing to laugh about and we will kill you." I opened my cloak a bit, so if I were to run it would get caught in my legs. "Now let's begin your training, I want to see how strong you really are. I've gotten a few more new tricks since the last time we fought. Land a blow strong enough to bruise me and I'll let you live."

Sasuke glanced at me; his gaze was guarded and wary.

"One blow?" Suigetsu asked, a sharp tooth hanging out of his mouth.

I nodded. "One blow."

"Easy." He lifted his heavy sword and charged forward, at a seemingly slow pace—for me, at least. "Haaaaaa!" Then I noticed something about that sword he was holding above his head. The curve of the blade, the way it moves, the way the armature swung that thing around . . . Why didn't I realize it earlier? It's Zabuza's sword. The one I'd seen on my first mission.

The blade swung down and I jumped with a twist in the air I landed with my hand clamped onto Suigetsu's shoulder I could feel him starting to melt, I let my chakra flow into him, grabbing and halting the process, and demobilize him. Using his body I flipped and landed behind him, turning to see him tremble before he fell.

"That," I pointed at the weapon he weakly clung to keep himself a lift as his nervous system became jumbled mess. "Does not belong to you. Last time I recall seeing it I laid that on a grave sight." Suigetsu stared at me and I turned to face the one I really wanted to fight.

I smirked and pulled a kunai from my sleeve and rushed towards him, keeping low to the ground and moving even faster.

Everything broke down to milliseconds as I executed my next technique.

I stood tall in front of Sasuke and smiled before putting the kunai to his throat. I had to make a hasty backbend in order to dodge Karin's chakra laded fist and quickly traded the kunai to hold between my teeth. Then I twisted my body and planted my hands on the ground while kicking Karin's legs out from under her with enough force to make her lose the feeling in both her legs—she crashed to the ground helplessly. I twisted again and, still moving at my fast pace, ended up behind Sasuke. Lifting a well worn boot I slammed in it the base of his spine and grabbed his arms to pin them behind his back.

Sasuke landed face down in the dirt and then I remembered, Juugo. He came at me with a battle cry and I gathered chakra into my foot and kicked outward—sending the bulking man into one of the few thin trees of the training yard.

I took the kunai from my mouth and pressed it against Sasuke's neck—more than ready to slash his throat.

Yes, yes I could. I felt nothing, emptiness building up and everything inside me screamed to do it quickly. I added more pressure to the blade and Sasuke didn't even wince, he was expecting this.

I started to see the blossom of red under—

Someone sighed loudly. "Oi, Sakura–hime, be nice to the new recruits." I glared into the trees to see Madara sitting idly hanging from one. "Why are you wasting your energy when you could have just blown them back?"

Sighing to myself, I got off of Sasuke and gripped the blood laced kunai. "I wanted to demonstrate what I could do without making a single hand sign." Amusement danced in Madara's crimson eye and I saw that funny look again. Adoration? Lust?

Pervert.

"I know you may hate a chosen few Uchiha's but at least try to be nice to this one." I glared at Sasuke and sent a burial kick into his side—he grunted—before stalking off out of the training ground and into the village. "Huh. Sasuke–kun it seems you've angered my little kunoichi."

"Hn," I could feel twin Sharingan gazes burning holes into my back as I left the scene.

Sasuke

Although we all parentally 'failed' Sakura's little test, Madara told us we were more than welcome to stay and he'd given us all a shared room in the Tower, as it was called, where the rest of the lurking members of the Akatsuki stayed.

Madara was an odd one, to say the least. But the way he acted around Sakura was even stranger. How he talked to her, taunted her and treated her.

At first, I had compared their relationships to mine and Naruto's when we were younger—rivals, striving to become better.

But there was no rivalry. Madara was powerful and Sakura could throw her weight around enough to match to him.

At second glance, I noticed small things from the shadows Madara had taught me to bend with, how they clashed.

It's not that they didn't get along—or at all—but they could make up good battle plans for catching the last few Jinchuuriki and the traitors that tried to flee the village. Then Team Taka witnessed how disagreements led to arguments, and then throwing insults led to throwing punches.

What surprised me the most was how quickly fights escalated between them.

"Son of a—!" Sakura's fist slammed into the side of Madara's face, which was half-unmasked. He'd surprised her in the train field with the promise of a spar, and then had attempted to get close to her, touching her lower back.

"You son of a bitch, Uchiha! Don't," She kicked him. "Touch," Punch. "Me!"

Something snapped.

Madara kicked outward and Sakura jumped too late, he clipped her leg with a chakra enhanced hit and Sakura tumbled backward. Her hand immediately, curling around the bend of her knee, green chakra burning through it and something snapped which made Sakura's teeth grind.

He broke her leg?

Madara jumped back and her chakra levels spiked to a high level, covering her entire leg.

"You shattered the entire bone!" She snapped with venom and began to pump more chakra into the limb, trying to piece it back together again.

Sakura

Creating rain was a delicate art, difficult at first, but easy to control once you found the correct rhythm. I stood stonily still and felt the element around me.

Water in the streets. Water in the houses. Water hanging thick and heavy from the clouds above.

It was vibrating, waiting.

The vibes of power shook through me and on rode on them with chakra, pulling and coaxing the water to move to fall.

A small drop touched my nose and I smiled.

Rain patter down like a million tiny pins, each dropping from the sky and into the ground with grace and then bouncing before settling and making a puddle in the cracks of the courtyard, washing away the blood stains made from yesterday and the remaining smells for doctor materials.

Dismissing the Uchiha's from my mind I lifted the genjutsu from my eyes and it felt like taking off sunglasses, everything became brighter and sharper again and I could see the chakra fused in the water—a hue of bright blue falling from the sky. I was almost sure that Karin—the medic that could sense chakra—was going haywire right now with the 'powerful, evil chakra'; truly I do think I did this just to annoy her without her knowing.

I inhaled the smell of the rain and continued to lazily watch it fall, feeling a strange sense of pride knowing I'd been the one to create it. The chakra control and timing execution had been perfect—as Madara said; just as good as my father's.

His promise as a God was fulfilled through me.

Every Sunday, it would rain.

I smirked to myself and then I heard the soft footfalls and wild blaze of chakra from down the hall. I closed my eyes and tried to pick up further details—knowing a person by their chakra patterns was a useful skill that took time to mold. It was male . . . he's strong . . . smart enough not to mask his chakra around me . . . and he was pissed.

"Hello Sasuke." I said without looking back and he stopped in the archway and turned to look at me, sitting on the walkway in my black medic skirt and black shirt, watching the rain with my half-healed leg. He seemed taken aback by my silver ringed eyes.

"I thought you'd be out here," I finally glanced at him and kept my face clear of emotion. After the week of him just hanging around the Tower and training with his team, I'd somehow managed to suppress all anger toward the youngest of the clan.

"Anything you want to say to me?" I asked venomously.

"Yeah, what's your problem?" Sasuke snapped.

Ah, always the one to get to the point.

"What's my problem? Are you seriously asking me that?" I laughed humorously and stood up showing that even though I was at least four or six inches shorter, I had the more when it came to power and chakra.

"Hai, Sakura-hime, I am." Sasuke stayed obstinate and for a moment I stood there in the rain shaking with anger.

"Fine, I'll tell you: I loved your brother." Shock registered in Sasuke's features and I continued. "I wanted to be with him. I needed him with me. I'd crave my own beating heart out for him. And you had to ruin everything I'd built up here for myself! I lost everything and everyone I know and love this past year!" My voice started to pick up speed as I began to rant like a mad woman. "Konohagakure has me in their bingo book, my father is dead, and all my comrades here are dead too. And I need—needed—Itachi." I couldn't slowly feel myself starting to break.

"And I needed revenge." Sasuke said after a long moment of silence and the patting of the rain echoed throughout the room.

"Selfishness—"I whispered, turning my back on Sasuke.

"He got what he deserved."

"Arrogance—"

"He was a bad man . . ."

"Ignorance! The three things I hate the most, all the things that made up the man that my father became in the end; thriving on teaching everyone the lesson of 'pain'. You've become him! You want everyone to feel sorry for you because your family was murdered, but you don't want consoling because your too strong—that's what everyone did and now you want to end the very village that kept you're your sorry ass alive for all those years. You're just a selfish, bitter man with no ambitions left in the world." I glanced back at him to see his stoic features and hand twitching for his kunai pouch.

"I've seen death, Sasuke; I know it's hell and it's bloody. I've killed, I've lived, I never cried because it was a sign of weakness in my father's eyes. I wasn't jumping through hoops to please him like you were; I jumped through hoops because if I was strong enough I could leave this Tower on my own and have my freedom!"

"You're trying to top me with a bad childhood?" He asked, I only snorted.

"No, this is my nice way of telling you to grow up and stop screwing with my life." I shoved him back and stepped into the rain and let it drench through my clothes.

"You're saying I should have just forget that Itachi slaughtered my entire family!?" Sasuke shouted after me. "That's pathetic; I never would have let it go. If you were there that night, if you saw what I saw, I you have never let it go. You would have wanted him to die too. You would have given anything just to see him d—"

"Madara killed my mother." I interrupted.

With his silence I turned slowly and met Sasuke's dark gaze through the heavy rain.

"I can't avenge her because he will kill me and unlike you I still have everything to lose."

I took a few more steps outward into the rain until I was in the very center of the courtyard, the needle-like raindrops stabbing at my cold and numb skin. Saku's motherly touch, holding my leg together so I could walk properly. "Think about it before you take Madara's deal and sell your soul. Because of you I didn't have that choice."

Rain pounded harder down on me and my eyes lulled closed as the Transportation jutsu swept over me.

Leaving Sasuke alone with his thoughts.

Ta-da~! Miss me?

Sorry for the long wait, work, starting school soon and two family brithdays all while juggling a cold and so many other updates.

Hope this chapter makes up for it because I am going to go to sleep now.

-Song- It fits everything in this chapter.

Review me, let me know your with me,

~QueenVamp