III
Recap: Sakura was pulled back into reality when she realized that someone was standing in front of her. She blinked before turning to look at the boy/man who was gazing at her.
"Sakura."
Said girl cocked her head to the side and asked, "How do you know my name?"
Sasuke's eyes bled red angrily at her words. The girl stared at him in surprise before remarking, "You have the Sharingan like him!" Sasuke started, and stared at her.
"Who has the same eyes as me?!" He demanded.
"…Nii-sama?"
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Sakura watched hesitantly as the mysterious boy with the same eyes as Itachi-nii-sama snarled, "What?!"
"Nii-sama…?" she weakly murmured once again.
Due to Sasuke's Sharingan, he immediately spotted that that Sakura was fruitlessly trying to edge away. "Don't move," he snapped at her. Sakura didn't know what was going on. She realized that this man might be one of those 'really, really bad people' that Kakuzu-nii-sama always warned her about. He never managed to explain clearly to her, because before he could, Hidan-nii-sama had stabbed him through one of his hearts while screaming 'don't tell her you F--ing idiot'. Something about a man, a woman, and a bed? Yes, she was confused on that matter. Now that she thought about it, something like that happened with Deidara-nii-sama and Sasori-nii-sama…
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Flashback: "Hey! Sakura-chan! Do you like my shirt?!" Deidara asked while striking a strange pose. The shirt he was wearing was simple enough; it was black with a large white arrow pointing down on the front of it.
"...Um…Yes?" The blonde scowled lightly when her answer came out as a question, but quickly recovered.
"Hn…actually, Kisame dared me to wear it. It was this, or getting skinned alive by his freaky sword." Sakura noticed that Deidara flinched slightly as he said this.
"Well…it's not a bad shirt." The blonde grinned at her words, but it was replaced with a horrified expression when Sasori appeared in the doorway. The puppet master's arms were crossed, as he leaned on the frame.
"Sasori-nii-sama!" Sakura called out happily.
Said man nodded his head slightly in her direction, before smoothly turning his gaze back to Deidara. "That shirt is wrong." He deadpanned.
Deidara turned red while he sputtered, "I know that! It was a freaking dare!"
The blonde's partner raised one eyebrow in a mocking way before stating, "I meant that the shirt's on wrong." Sakura turned to stare at Deidara's shirt perplexed, as did Deidara.
"Huh?"
Sasori smirked, before announcing, "The arrow should be on the back of the shirt."
The room succumbed to complete silence, before Deidara exploded. "What?!" The pink-haired girl backed away from her Dei-nii-sama nervously, as his face twisted up in fury. "How can you possibly think that?! I am not gay!!"
"Oh, I see. My mistake." Sasori smirked, his voice full of mocking sarcasm.
Sakura, who had been waiting patiently for them to explain to her, finally plucked up the courage to ask, "Um…Sasori-nii-sama? What's gay, and why should the arrow be on the back?"
The red-haired Akatsuki turned to gaze impassively at the beautiful girl, whose head was slightly cocked to the side in question. "Gay is a term when a guy likes another guy; and the arrow is because when a guy and a guy want to d—"
"Don't you f--ing dare tell her!!" Deidara quickly intercepted. His eyes were panicky, and furious as he glared at Sasori accusingly.
Sasori blinked calmly and lazily said, "Fine. But I'll say it again. The shirt is on wrong." With his statement said, he walked away, leaving a fuming blonde Akatsuki and a perplexed Sakura.
A/N: I know that they are a bit OOC, but I just had to put this in. Lol. This was an idea that I came up with while daydreaming during Calculus.
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Before Sasuke could do anything, Kabuto appeared at his side. "Sasuke-sama, we have to leave." He pushed his glasses back up into place with his index finger, and turned to study Sakura. He had to admit, she was quite the beauty. Sasuke's gaze became frigid at Kabuto's expression. Kabuto blinked, before turning his eyes from Sakura immediately. He knew that Sasuke's temper wasn't something to be taken lightly. The chilly atmosphere was finally broken, as Sakura cautiously took a bite of dango that was forgotten for a while in her hand. How can she be eating dango in this situation? thought Sasuke in slight annoyance.
The crowd of people who had been passing by the three, like a stream of bright colors, slowed down, and the cheerful talk faded off to a hushed whisper as people stopped or slowed down to stare at Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi realized that during all the fuss, the sun had set, and the moon was out. A full moon… She thought faintly.
Sasuke and Kabuto could see the reflection of the moon in Sakura's pale green eyes, and the intoxicating scent that was drifting from her. This was why everyone had stopped to survey her. In the light of the moon, she looked like a goddess or an angel, but the sweet marvelous scent that was being emitted from her was enough to freeze everyone's train of thought.
One thing that Sakura had learned was that during a full moon, she gave off a wondrous scent that had a healing effect. She was extremely glad for this because kind, self-sacrificing Sakura had always been upset over the fact that all of her powers harmed people. Her skin and wings were cursed it seemed with the ability to let out certain dusts and poisons that harmed. The only kind that could actually helped was her dust that let her numb and or make people fall asleep because it could be used to help those in pain, and insomniacs.
The healing gift had limits of course. For physical injuries, the most it did was let the wounds heal faster, and to keep it from becoming infected. But for illnesses, poisons, and mental wounds, it helped tremendously, and sometimes even completely healed as well. Truly, the full moon was Sakura's favorite time.
The Akatsuki ring on her left pinky became warm, a signal from Itachi, summoning her. The pink-haired kunoichi blinked slowly, as she looked around the area for where Itachi was. She couldn't see him, not to her surprise. The girl sighed sadly while lowering her eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, before disappearing, to quickly appear once again, inches, from Kabuto and Sasuke. "Sleep…" she murmured while gently brushing their cheeks. To Sasuke, the ground seemed to sway, and Sakura's beautiful face spun, before slowly becoming farther and farther away. That was the last thing Sasuke remembered before his vision finally blackened.
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"Itachi-nii-sama? Did you get the target?"
"Ah."
There was a period of silence after Sakura's soft inquiry, and Itachi's one syllable response. The two were heading back to the Akatsuki base, which would take a few hours judging by the pace that the two of them were traveling. The terrain was rather repetitive and bare. All that could be seen for miles and miles were rocks. Usually, when on a mission with Sakura's silent Itachi-nii-sama, she amused herself by trying to find as many things in the area that started with a specific letter. The letter for today was ironically R. R for rock. So far, she was on 2,403. Finally, the extremely bored pink-haired kunoichi decided to start a conversation with Itachi.
"Um…Itachi-nii-sama?"
The man slightly turned his head in her direction to show that she was listening. "Well…I was wondering…why did that boy have the same eyes as you?" None of the Akatsuki had told Sakura of their past life yet, so she was clueless to the Uchiha Massacre, and all the history of the other members before they joined Akatsuki.
"It's something that you don't need to know."
Sakura dropped her head slightly in disappointment, but didn't complain. If there was anyone who could make Itachi feel somewhat guilty, it was Sakura. Actually, she was so innocent and pure that even the true leader of Akatsuki, Madara, had felt guilty for corrupting her into joining a criminal organization. The Uchiha gave Sakura a sideways glance to see that she was muttering the number of rocks that she saw so far. Like a kicked puppy, he thought.
But counting rocks wasn't the best way to pass the time, so Sakura decided to try once more to start a conversation with Itachi. "Itachi-nii-sama?"
"Hn."
"What does a shirt with an arrow pointing down on the back of it mean?"
"…"
"Itachi-nii-sama?"
"Why do you ask?"
Sakura quickly embraced the start of a conversation eagerly by hastily recounting her story with Deidara-nii-sama, Sasori-nii-sama and the shirt. The Uchiha listened to the story with a stoic expression, but Sakura saw that he was slightly, almost unnoticeably, more tense then before.
"Ask Hidan the next time you see him," was his response. This was Itachi's ingenious way to escape from answering the rather awkward question.
"…"
The rest of the journey was passed in heavy silence.
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After a few hours, Sakura could see the area where the base's entrance was hidden, and she could also see her Hidan-nii-sama waiting for her. He did this every time she left on a mission without him: always hovering around the entrance, unless he himself had a mission.
"Sakura-hime!"
Even after knowing Hidan for a year, he still insisted on calling her hime, much to her embarrassment. Madara on the other hand had been undeniably pleased by Hidan's attachment to the pink-haired 'angel' because out of all the Akatsuki members, Hidan was the one who he had the least control over. Sakura was both Hidan's strength and weakness, so it easy to say that her existence was welcome. (A/N: I'll think about Hidan/Sakura for a pairing…but I also love Itachi/Sakura because that's one of my favorite pairings.)
"Hidan-nii-sama, please just call me Sakura…"
The immortal frowned slightly, before giving in, "Hai…Sakura-sama."
The pink-haired Akatsuki sighed, "That's not much better..." Then she suddenly remembered what Itachi had told her, "Hidan-nii-sama? What does a shirt with an arrow on the back pointing down mean?" The silver-haired man's face paled, before swearing softly to his self. "Where the Fu…f-fudge did you hear that?"
When she observed his tense face, she found herself felling quite worried. "Um…Never mind Hidan-nii-sama…" Quickly ducking her head, the girl swiftly escaped.
After making sure that Sakura was out of earshot, Hidan quickly turned to glare accusingly at Itachi. "You! I knew there was something gay about you!! How dare you corrupt her you beep!" (A/N: I have nothing against gays so please don't take offense)
The Sharingan master, who liked to avoided conflict unless necessary, blinked blankly at the silver-haired man, before his eyes bled red, and shifted into Mangekyo Sharingan. Scoffing, Hidan said, "You know that torture doesn't work on me."
"Watching Sakura and I make love for 72 hours isn't torturous enough for you? I'm sure that this is the best way to prove my gender preference." The fact that Itachi said this all in a complete monotone just made him just more frightening.
"You beeping beep! I'll show you real torture you beeping beep beep! Go to hell beep beep you beeping beep beep!"
Kisame, who had observed the whole situation from a distance, sighed while muttering, "There goes Itachi again with the mind games."
Suddenly, from where Sakura's room was located, there was a burst of foreign and powerful energy. It was rather supernatural, but not like the chakra of Kyuubi. It was more pure, and free, energy like the power of nature itself. Itachi and Hidan exchanged quick looks, before moving with impossible speed to Sakura's room.
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When Sakura escaped from her Nii-sama's, she had quickly fluttered away on quick feet to her room. The girl lightly slipped through the door, and gently shut it until she heard the soft click of the latch. Like always, she unsealed all her belongings, and then carefully placed them back to their usual place in her room. Finishing, Sakura straightened, frowned, and then looked around hastily. She couldn't see her book anywhere! The book was her key to her past. It was the only thing that could possibly lead her to her family. Tears prickled in her eyes, and the world seemed to spin as she tried desperately to remember where the book could possibly be.
Suddenly, she felt strange, foreign chakra coming from below her. She quickly glanced down and saw to her immense surprise that strange blue runes were appearing right underneath her feet. The runes started to glow, shrouding Sakura in a cocoon of light, and then they swallowed her up hungrily.
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Everyone who was in the Akatsuki base at the time felt the chakra. As Hidan and Itachi sprinted towards the pink-haired angel's room, Kisame, Kakuzu, Deidara and Sasori soon joined them. Hidan, who was in the lead, wrenched open her door and entered to see…
"What the F--!?"
The other Akatsuki entered the room as well, and froze warily. Sakura was collapsed on the ground, and next to her, her small book lay open, glowing. The Akatsuki could see that the page that the book was turned to at the moment had nothing but strange blue runes, which was what was glowing.
Itachi, whose Sharingan was spinning in his eyes remarked, "She's under genjutsu."
"From what? What's the source?" asked Deidara.
"It's obviously the book," growled Kisame.
Hidan took a step towards Sakura, reaching for the book, but before he could touch it, white chakra sparked out, flinging Hidan across the room. The immortal was slammed against the wall, and swore loudly as he made impact. Deidara, who had tried to get to Sakura, was also flung back by the strange white chakra.
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All around her was swirling light. She felt as if she was traveling through all the colors of the world and more. Finally, the funnel of colors receded, and Sakura found herself gazing at females with pink hair. They were suspended in the air in clear, glass like cocoons, and none were the same age. Their eyes were closed, but Sakura suspected that the eyes would have been as green as her own. That's when it struck her. All these people were herself from the past and herself in the future. Sakura glided across the smooth ink black floor to stand in front of the youngest one that looked about five years old. With trembling fingers, Sakura gently reached out to brush against the foreign material that surrounded the figure.
A gasp of shock rippled through the endless chamber when Sakura's fingers made contact with a soft substance. The cocoon was soft and smooth as sponge, and she thought that with a bit of effort, she would be able to enter all the way to the girl.
But overcome with wary fear, Sakura quickly pulled her hand back to clutch it protectively against her chest. She bit her lips nervously, before venturing farther down the row of…'Sakura's'… She made her way to the young women of about 27 and asked her. "Where am I? Who am I?" The figure didn't answer.
As a shudder went down her spin, the pink-haired kunoichi saw with shock that her wings were out. Her soft white wings with the pink blushing on the ends were flapping lightly up and down.
"Sakura-sama…"
Said girl snapped her head up to look around frantically for where the voice had come from. "Sakura-sama…" the voice echoed all around the room, louder then before. The pink-haired angel's eyes grew wide in alarm as the Sakura's that was 5, 9 and 12 years old slowly, but surely started to push out of their cocoon. They were all wearing a simple, white dress, and Sakura saw that that their hair was damp and wet. All the Sakura's that were out of their cocoon started to open their eyes. I was right their eyes are green. But there was a main difference in their eyes and hers. All their eyes were darker green with pupils, unlike her pale green and pupil-less eyes.
"Sakura-sama…" the youngest Sakura murmured.
"Who are you?" the original Sakura asked.
"We are you from the past. And we are your vessels. As you grow older, more and more of us will be born. Use us as you please."
Poor Sakura was bewildered. "What do you mean?"
"In other words, you can use us like summoning. But we are more powerful than any summoning in history. If you die, we can use one of our souls to revive you, but in return, one of us will die," explained the 12 year old Sakura.
"If you are my past, then you should know about my past! Tell me, please!"
"Sakura-sama…your wish is our command, but in return, you will have to give away something precious to you. Are you still determined to remember your past?"
"Something precious…" The pink-haired angel's eyes clouded over with worry. She wasn't sure how much she wanted to gain her memory back. "I…I…accept. I…will give you my voice. Is that…enough?"
The 5 year old Sakura nodded, before murmuring, "Then so be it."
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In the real world, the Akatsuki watched the still figure of Sakura. Hidan had tried again and again to get to his 'angel', but again and again, he failed. The light of the book suddenly rapidly faded, and Sakura slowly opened her eyes. Tears prickled in her eyes as she realized that somehow, she had joined the Akatsuki, the criminal organization that was a considerable threat towards Konoha. She ignored the questionings that flew around her, and instead turned her gaze to her ring. Once an Akatsuki, always an Akatsuki…
Forgive me Konoha. My place is here now.
She turned towards the worried face of Hidan and Deidara. And opened her mouth to tell them that she was fine. No sound escaped from her mouth. Crystal tears overflowed from her eyes at the realization that she would never be able to talk or sing again.
The book that everyone had been so curious about lay open, and forgotten on the floor as silent sobs racked the pink-haired kunoichi's figure.
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A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! I just want to mention that Chocolat-Chan drew a picture of Sakura with wings. Check it out on my profile page!
BETA's Note/Chocolat-Chan
OMG YAY!! A new chapter!! How exciting and—and YAY!
YESSS HidanSakura! Heave ho, I will hound Layla-chan for more. 8D
The voice thing reminds me of The Little Mermaid…. TT-TT How sad!
MWAHAHAH, the shirt and Itachi's torture are priceless!
-cries- Last night was the last night I get to sleep in my bed for a week or so… My aunt is coming with her baby and the guests ALWAYS get my bed.
-runs off to make Paper Children-
