Chapter Six: Just to Get You Started

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As the two women walked down the seemingly endless array of hallway, Sakura finally remembered a question that she had been meaning to ask since she had gotten out of her shower. From what she had seen all Akatsuki members had partners, and she was anxious - if not a little worried - to see who she would get paired up with. Her mind did a few run throughs so she could narrow down her options. Sasori was dead - she did that personally - so he was a no go. The Takigakure nin, known as Kakuzu, was also deceased as was Itachi, so they were out also. Kakuzu's partner, Hidan, was presumed to be 'eliminated' but one could never know seeing as he was immortal, and was probably still stuck in that hole where Shikamaru had left him. So really...all that left was: The Iwagakure nin, Deidara - but he had a partner, the annoying little nuisance known only as Tobi - Itachi's old partner, the Kirigakure nin, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Zetsu.

Really all it boiled down to was the shark or the plant, and Sakura was wondering which one was better. Finally as they entered the fitting room, Sakura asked the Kunoichi who was currently shifting through racks to see which cloak would fit the new member, who she would be partnered with.

"Konan-san, I have one more question." The blue haired kunoichi looked at her and gave another sweet smile.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering. Akatsuki all have partners correct?"

Konan nodded and then said, "Well...everyone but Zetsu and Kisame. Let me guess...you are wondering who you will be partnered with?"

Sakura nodded and Konan laughed, "Hmm. Let see, this one should work," She handed a short cloak to Sakura who slid it on, noting that it was a little long but would definitely do, and the Konan continued.

"Well the most likely option is Kisame, who is used to working with a partner. Zetsu...doesn't seem to get along with people all that well...so he mostly works alone. His type of skills require him to be mostly alone, as he delves into a more espionage suited missionary status. But who knows? You may be the first to work with him."

She smiled and picked a straw kasa off the shelf and handed it to Sakura, who tried it on to see it also fit well. "Why doesn't he like people?" Sakura said while snapping up her cloak, wondering why he would be so adverse to interaction.

"Well...I'm not sure, but most of what we know about Zetsu is that he prefers to be alone, and that he's much older than everyone thinks he is."

"And how old is that?" Sakura cocked an eyebrow as Konan led her out of the fitting rooms, and down the hall to where she presumed was the kitchen.

"Oh..well. I'd say he's about 90...maybe a hundred years."

Sakura almost choked on her own saliva. A hundred years old! But he looked so...unlike a hundred year old man! Of course her mind reminded her that in the shinobi world nothing is as it seems. Kakuzu was the only other Akatsuki member that she knew of who was old like that, but that was because he had to continuously replace his hearts when they were either destroyed or when they gave out. What was Zetsu's secret?

"Surprising I know, but as I hear it, he was even there at the battle in the Valley of The End. He never talks about it though, so all you can know is what people tell you, or what you read. The only member he seems to ever really talk to is Pein, and even then it's not for long."

Sakura revelled over what she was just told. If he was indeed at the battle in the Valley of The End, that would certainly make him quite the older man, but how did he keep on living for so long if he wasn't immortal? That's when she remembered something and a blonde haired, blue eyed best friend of hers popped into her mind. Ino.

"Some plants can even live to be over a hundred years old. There was one documented case of a tree that they found that was carbon dated to be over four hundred years! Isn't that amazing Sakura?"

At the time, Sakura really hadn't found it all that amazing, but now it made sense. If Zetsu was in fact, half plant like he seemed, then that in itself could be the reasoning as to why he was so old, and who knew how much longer he could live if he wasn't killed. Sakura found herself a bit intrigued by the oh-so-mysterious man, and found herself wanting to know more about him, even if he was cannibalistic. That fact didn't really scare her as much as she had figured it would, but she could really see why it wouldn't, after all she had seen stranger kekkei genkai than his, if that's what it was. Afterall, he hadn't eaten her right? Of course she knew if she had to watch the...act...her opinion might change. Finally, the two kunoichi had made their way to the incredibly large kitchen, and Sakura did a double take at the intricacy of it, the appliances were all new and shiny. There were at least three large refrigerators and two stove tops, a sushi grill and a bar! A bar, with lots of different alcohol behind it. She supposed that for a missing nin, this was as good as it would ever get. Hell for a shinobi period, this was good; she herself had been living in a tiny flat for the past three years. She noticed that there was a door frame on the side leading off to a dining area and two big double doors leading somewhere else.

"Well, this is the kitchen. You may help yourself to anything you see fit that's available, there is also a mini refrigerator in your bedroom in case you buy something solely for yourself. The grocery shopping is done bi-weekly, by who ever is scheduled that day."

Sakura couldn't help the giggle that came out of her mouth. A group of infamous missing nin, dangerous men, went grocery shopping! It was too much! An image conjured up in her head of Leader and Konan, walking through the aisles, Leader picking up a box of cookies and Konan slapping his hand and telling him that he could not have any cookies today, because she couldn't afford them. Before she could let out another bout of the giggles something, a blur of black and orange, came flying out at her knocking her to the ground and squeezing the life out of her.

"OOOOH! Tobi likes the new girl, Konan-chan! Can we keep her? Can we!" The orange and black thing had to be yanked off of Sakura - who was wide eyed with shock - by the seemingly calm Konan. Sakura stood face to face with the one only known as Tobi, who had seemed to take quite a liking to the rosette haired kunoichi and Sakura wondered if he was always this chipper.

Finally Konan spoke, "Tobi, what did Leader-sama tell you about attacking people? Tch. Tobi, this is our new member, Haruno Sakura. And yes," She paused for a moment with a small smile, "She will be staying with us. Sakura, this is Tobi."

Sakura slowly held her hand out to Tobi, who took it and then shook vigorously. She could briefly remember seeing this one in action and in all honesty it all seemed a little off to her. He acted like a complete idiot but the way he fought well...it just wasn't what she had expected. Before she could say anything or do anything a voice resounded from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Tobi, don't glomp the rookie, un. She might catch stupid." Sakura snapped her gaze to the man standing in the doorway, non-chalantly nibbling on an apple, his blonde hair cascading over one eye, leaving an ice-blue gaze to stare directly into.

Sakura clenched her hands at her sides and Tobi turned around, arms waving wildly.

"Deidara-senpai! That's mean!" He bounced over to his partner, to which Deidara gave a scowl of annoyance and walked into the kitchen.

"You must be the new member. Deidara, nice to meet you, yeah." He held his hand out, a sly half smile that looked more like a smirk on his features, and Sakura couldn't help but stare down at his hand. She felt a sense of tenseness around this man, because after all this was the guy who killed Gaara and then proceeded to use his dead body like a Lay-Z Boy. Still she took his hand anyway - unsure if she really wanted to be licked by his weird mouth hands -, shaking it almost too firmly.

"Haruno Sakura. And yes I am the new member apparently."She had to prevent herself from narrowing her eyes, a numb sort of bitterness radiating through her veins. She didn't know how to handle this right now. Why were they all being so...hospitable? Weren't they supposed to be mean, evil and cruel? She thought she might have been able to handle that better than whatever this was.

Deidara just gave a good-natured chuckle and pointed behind him, to the bouncing man near the table.

"Yeah, well don't mind Tobi too much. I'm pretty sure he's mentally deficient, so we don't hold it against him, yeah." Tobi just hung his head and placed his hands on his hips.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." She smiled halfheartedly and watched as he walked over to a counter and propped himself on top of it, still nibbling on the juicy fruit.

"It gets pretty boring around here, but when Kisame comes back it should be more exciting, yeah. I'm pretty sure you two will get along just nicely."

"I am certainly hoping so, as Haruno-san will be with us awhile." Came a voice from the other side of the kitchen, and everyone's eyes snapped towards the tall, orange headed man walking into the room from outside, Zetsu right next to him.

Deidara let out a tiny noise of dissapproval and said, "With all due respect, Leader-sama, are you sure that's a good idea? You know Kisame is still moping around about the loss of his girlfriend."

"I heard that, Deidara!" A yell resounded from far away down the hallways, and Deidara's eye sort of lit up.

"Kisame's back, un."

"He just returned, actually. Although, he took quite a few injuries and could be patched up." Pein's ringed gaze fell on Sakura, who just nodded her head. She couldn't lie and say she wasn't interested in meeting the infamed Hoshigaki Kisame, and if he needed her help than she would gladly give it.

Healing people seemed to take away from the stress and guilt of killing them that she was plagued with sometimes. A part of her nagged that healing one of these people was nothing short of treachery but another part, a larger and more traitorous part, relieved her because now she was one of these people. In a manner of speaking. The thought made her heart throb so she pushed it back down, she certainly didn't need it right now.

"Sakura-san, if you would so kindly allow Deidara and Tobi to show you to the infirmary, I'll send Kisame up shortly."

"Hai, Leader-sama. I take it that I'll be working there mostly in my spare time?" She asked, trying to keep her tone as neutral and polite as possible even if the feelings of uneasiness would rise when she was around him. He was just so damn intimidating, with that ringed glare that seemed to cut right through you. She chanced a glance at his partner and she couldn't help but notice the almost sincere and revering way she looked at Pein. There was something else though, something she tried to keep hidden from everyone else but him, and if Sakura hadn't been actively searching for it she would have definitely missed it.

It was love.

Sakura felt her gaze soften at the older woman, and she shot a soft smile towards her. Konan caught her eye and smiled back, equally as soft. She didn't notice the pair of golden eyes that were burning through her.

"Of course. We don't want your healing skills to go to waste now would we?" He gave her a smirk that made her slightly uncomfortable, his tone was mocking and it made Sakura feel insignificant. She had a feeling that he did that to everyone.

Her gaze traveled from him to the man standing at his right, and for some reason she wasn't aware of, she shot him a smile. He didn't smile back, of course, but he did look away, which confused her a little, but she waved it off as she felt a very persistent tug on her arm. She looked up to see an orange mask right in front of her face, and she smiled at him. Deidara was on the opposite side of her.

"C'mon, Sakura-chan, I'll show you to the infirmary."

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She sighed in slight relief as the door was shut behind her and she set off to prepare the things that she would need to patch up Kisame, who had still not arrived. Deidara mentioned something about the sharkman not liking to be healed, and would possibly be reluctant about it, but he was still a pretty cool guy to hang out with...yeah. She felt something odd tugging at her insides and she identified it as guilt.

She felt guilty for seemingly being so at ease with this place, and while she was still very wary, she definitely wasn't as wary as she felt she should be. After all these were all dangerous criminals, even Konan who Sakura was pretty sure wasn't really dangerous unless need be, she was still part of one of the most evil organizations in the world. She opened a cabinet and noted happily that it was well stocked with various kinds of poison antidotes, vaccinations, and pills. She pulled opened another cabinet and found it to hold various different herbal remedies and bandages of every kind. The infirmary was definitely well stocked but it didn't seem like it had seen much use in it's days. That would soon change, she knew, now that she was here to patch up the guys when she wouldn't be out. She leaned on the windowsill and looked out into the gloomy and rain cloud darkened streets of the village below her. What a twist life was, she mused, and her life had definitely taken a turn lately, although she couldn't really be sure if it was for the worst or not.

She wanted to go home, this she knew indefinitely, but she felt some sort of peace in this odd place. The only thing that really truly frightened her was the fact that she knew that the Akatsuki were still on the hunt for the jinchuuriki, and that they might catch Naruto. A little chill flowed through her body and she couldn't repress the visible shiver. What would Naruto think if he saw her like this? What would he think if he knew that she had become part of the very organization that had made it their mission of capturing him and ultimately killing him? He would be hurt, upset, angry, dissappointed. She prayed that they would never catch him, she couldn't bear to be responsible for her best friend's death. She felt a prickle behind her eyes and clenched them closed in desperation. No crying! Crying wasn't going to get her anywhere, she would just have to take it one day at a time and hope beyond hope that they would either give up the hunt for the bijuu or that they never got their hands on Naruto.

She was ripped back to real life when she heard the door creak open. She turned around slowly, and her eyes slightly bulged out when she laid eyes upon the person who just walked in. She had only ever seen pictures of him, but they were not even close to depict the pure, oddness of his features.

Well for starters, he was huge! Not like fat huge, or even incredibly tall huge-he was tall, near as tall as Zetsu was - but he was so broad! Both of her legs could probably fit into one of his pantlegs, and his shoulders were quite bulky and hard looking. His face was hard chiseled, looking like it was made out of some light slate marble, and his blue hair hung over his small, yet very bright eyes. She noted that his hitai-ate was off, which allowed his normally gravity defying hair to hang down. Upon closer inspection she noticed that the odd gill markings on his face were in fact not just that. The way they ruffled slightly in the air showed that they were actual gills. He was definitely an odd specimen, although she couldn't say he was unnattractive really.

"Whoa! You're the new member? Go figure, you of all people. What is up with you goody leaf nin and your defecting?" His voice was deep and rumbling and he let out a good-natured chuckle.

She gave him a look a confusion and said, "You know who I am?" To this he just laughed again and took a seat on the examination table, dangling his very long legs off the edge making him look like a big kid at a doctor's checkup. A very big kid.

"I wouldn't be much of a missin' nin if I didn't now would I? You're Haruno Sakura, student of the copy ninja and apprentice to Tsunade, the current Hokage. We do our homework too, ya know."

He flashed her a row of sharp-looking, pointed teeth, his smile more warm and teasing than malevolent like she figured that he would have been. Sakura merely tilted her head, wondering why he didn't scare her as much as he should, but she started second guessing everything she felt since she got here. Her mind and her heart seemed to be going in two different directions, having a tug-o-war over the rest of her. Her mind was telling her that this wasn't right, that she had a duty as a Konoha shinobi, that she was a traitor for even thinking that she could fit in here; that she was a traitor period. Her heart was telling her that maybe it wasn't so bad if she didn't see them as big scary criminals, that apparently her duty to her village wasn't important enough if the word of one previously defected bastard could get her run out, and that she was condemned to be a traitor anyway, thanks to Sasuke. She let her gaze fall on the large, blue man who was sitting on the table and she snapped out of her mind and stood up straighter, walking towards him.

"So what exactly happened to have Leader send you up here?" She looked into his eyes, and noted the sheepish grin that had overcome his face as he pulled up his shirt, revealing a very large however shallow gash that ran across the top of his navel to stretch all the way up to his collarbone. Sakura's mouth hung open, as her instincts went directly into medic mode.

"Gah! What the hell happened?" She asked as she rushed over to his side, immediately gathering chakra into her fingertips. Even if the wound wasn't that deep, he still could have bled out eventually or gotten a very bad infection without proper care. Upon further inspection she could see the very beginnings of an infection starting to show, and she gave a disapproving click of her tongue at the shark. The chakra in her fingers disappeared as she realized that the wound would need cleaning before mending it. She took an alcohol swab and ripped it open, pulling out the little pad and approaching him slowly.

"Some idiot with a kitana thought he could best me, I shaved half of his body off with Samehada though." He smiled viciously, as if remembering the fight with savor, "Didn't get away unscathed though, obviously." He added almost bitterly. Something told her he didn't care much for having weaknesses.

Sakura began to clean his wound up and looked up interestedly, "Samehada..That's your sword right?"

"Yup, one and only." He said and she noted a hint of affection in his voice when he spoke of it. According to Kakashi, it was a huge almost sentient like weapon that 'survived' and thrived off of chakra, taking it from it's victims and somehow transferring it to it's wielder. It didn't so much as slice as it shredded really, and could take chunks off of a human in a matter of seconds.

It was deadly and precise, just like it's owner.

All in all though, it was quite an interesting piece of equipment, and the only weapon that was almost alive and sucked through chakra the way it did. Sakura made a note to ask him if she could examine it one day, for research purposes.

"Were you just going to let this go unhealed?" She asked him, slowly trailing chakra along the wound, watching it heal seamlessly.

He just shrugged and watched with a slightly impressed look on his face. "You certainly have some talent there eh, little leaf?"

Sakura shrugged and blushed a tiny bit from the praise. She wasn't really that used to praise or any kind of good constructive feedback from anyone and when she got it it never ceased to make her feel warm inside.

"I guess. You don't how many times it got me out of a tight situation." She looked up at him, and began to wrap a bandage around his midsection, as the skin was still very fragile and could still be ripped with enough force.

"I bet. A pretty handy thing to know in our line of business, eh?" He asked, still smiling that snarky grin that didn't fail to make Sakura smile back. 'Our line of business'. Just another reminder that essentially she was the same as he was, even if not really on the same side. A rogue shinobi was still a shinobi even if they just fought for different things. He let out a little shiver as she ran her hands along his chest, checking for internal damage. Satisfied that there was none, she removed her hands just as promptly. Even if he too was an interesting specimen, she couldn't just go around digging inside of people looking for quirks.

"Yeah. I guess it is," She trailed off for a minute before she cleared her throat and stood up straighter, "Well there you go, Hoshigaki-san, all patched up and good as...well mostly new."

Kisame waved her off and closed his eyes for a second before opening them again, "Ack. None of that 'Hoshigaki-san' crap, just call me Kisame, okay?"

"Alright...Kisame." They sat for a moment in companionable silence before he stood up and stretched slightly.

"Well. I better get going, got another mission tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep," She chuckled at this and he laughed right along with her, "Thanks for the patchwork."

She nodded in response, cleaning up her area. He stopped right before he hit the door and turned around, smiling again. He smiled alot and she found that it made her feel more at ease with this whole situation.

"And it was nice to meet you, Sakura." He said it with such sincerity that she couldn't help but feel her heart tug a little. He really was a pretty cool guy, as Deidara had said, and was incredibly easygoing.

"It was nice to meet you too, Kisame. I would tell you to try and not move around too much but you already know that." He gave her another smirk. He waved one arm over his shoulder, almost just like Kakashi used to and was gone with the stealth and speed of a seasoned shinobi.

Sakura sighed as that traitorous feeling began to dwindle away and she had to wonder, what would she be like when this all came to a head? The possibility of growing used to this enviroment was not lost on her and it made her feel uneasy.

What was she going to do now?

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