I'll start by apologising for the wait, i've had this stupid stupid and frustrating block, but it's starting to get better, though i had to work on this chapter almost a week to get it done, i just... well, no excuses, so I'll just let you enjoy it!

In this chapter i decided to develop some of the ficticional characters, because, even if they're not from the anime or manga, they still have some importance for the plot. I'd like my dear to tell what they think about Kaorin and Jin!!

oh, also, tell me what you think about Yukizora, you'll who it is when you finish the chapter!! I really like my new character, and i think, not sure yet, he'll have an important role when confronttations happen.

I'm sorry if you were ocunting on some news from Naruto's group, b ut i'm out of ideas for them, so i didn't write anything, i'll try in the next chapter.

Please review, it makes me really happy when i get reviews!! and it makes me wanna work faster!!

I think i still had a few things to say, but... i forgot... XD

Anyway, enjoy and tell me your opinions, what you'd like to see happening, if you like it, etc, all thise things!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters of the anime/manga, Masashi Kishimoto has that previlege! As for the ficticional characters, they're the produsct of my imagination!

Chapter 20

He sighed and glared at the pile of paper work on his desk, why wouldn't it just disappear? And the contents of the documents were sooooooo boring, how could people make a big deal out of a vending machine? Please, couldn't they just focus on more important things?

…Apparently not, and it pissed him off. But what pissed him off even more was the fact that he couldn't complain about his paper work or he'd start being called a slacker, not to his face obviously, but still, he hated it when people started speculating and talking behind his back, it was annoying.

And then there was the small girl on his lap.

He rubbed his temples and maneuvered the clipboard of papers to the 'done' pile of paper work. In an hour and a half, on the good side of things, he had taken care of most of the paper work he had had to do, now having just a dossier and a couple of document to go through. On the not so good side of things, which was annoying him immensely, more because of himself than the girl actually, but anyway, the point was that Kyuuki had fallen asleep, plushie tightly held against her side ad she clutched his shirt with the other hand, not letting go for anything. And then she was snuggled on his lap, her small, tiny body pressed against his chest as she slept.

He sighed again and looked up at the ceiling, what was happening to him? Why was he… like this? Allowing small gaki to do what they pleased with him, wanting things he knew he couldn't have, getting ticked off by his own henchmen's actions with the twins.

Something was definitively wrong with him.

And then there were his henchmen, well, Ruki stayed out of the equation, but even Jin. They all questioned him about the twins, about if they were his, and he honestly got confused with that, sure, Sai and him had a few resemblances, but it was just the dark hair and eyes, nothing else.

They didn't resemble each other enough for Hana to comment with Kisame that the twins had some facial traits that resembled his own.

Sai and himself didn't resemble each other enough for Kaorin to comment with Ryo that the twins made some facial expressions that resembled some of his own.

He and his replacement didn't resemble each other to the point where Kai asked Deidara if the twins were his due to their personality, that he knew of, Sai didn't have a personality.

Sai and him didn't resemble each other to the point where Jin told him straight on that, not knowing the story behind it all, the kids could be his own.

Everything was starting to make less and less sense, she was living with the emotionally retarded ANBU, she had kids. It didn't make any sense.

And now even someone that was seeing Kyuuki for the first time thought she was his daughter. What was wrong with everything, was he missing some importing piece of information that incapacitated him from understanding everything? Was there someone trying to mess with his mind?

Everything seemed so messed up, and something came floating into his thoughts.

"Stop thinking of only yourself and look around, maybe you'll find something interesting."

"You're acting like an idiot, you're drowning in your own self misery and you can't even see the most simple and important thing in front of you."

"Just look at everything from a critical point of view, it's not everything about you."

"What you're doing is a mistake, you shouldn't be so irrational just because things aren't like you wanted."

"Think about it, don't let your misery cloud your mind, look at what's in front of you."

"You're being a complete moron, can't you just see it?"

The thoughts kept repeating themselves, what his brother had kept telling him, what was he supposed to see? What? He wanted to see it, so why couldn't he?

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Why couldn't he see?

He was distracted from his thoughts when the small girl shifted, pressing her face more into his ribs and mumbled something inaudible. He strained his ears and listened more closely to her quiet mumbles.

She tightened her grip on his shirt and didn't say anything else, and that made him sigh. With a glare directed at the papers he still had to look at, he took the ones on top of the pile, making sure not to move too much to not wake up the sleeping girl.

He opened the file with a resigned sigh and started scanning the contents, another boring compilation about something unimportant that only contributed to his growing annoyance and headache.

"…mama stills loves papa…" he stopped reading the annoying file and looked down at the snuggling girl with curious eyes, he had caught her quiet mumbled words, but what meaning was he supposed to take from them? He had no idea, and somehow, he let himself get lost in his mind as he watched her sleep.

"A-anou, did I come in a bad time?" he looked up to see the boy from before looking nervous and flustered as he looked down, the door still opened behind him.

"No, it's ok." The boy looked up, looking relieved and closed the door, then walked closer to the desk.

"Ne, you work really fast Sasuke-sama, you had a huge pile of work 2 hours ago." He raised a brow at the teen and shrugged lightly.

"It's annoying." The boy tilted his head and nodded.

"What did you want me to come for Sasuke-sama?" he was defensive again, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. He smirked in amusement and put the file down, then leaning back on his chair. He took his time to answer and looked the boy up and down.

He was wearing normal shinobi gear, looking slightly used, but still in good conditions, black pants that stopped on his mid-calf, navy blue shinobi shoes, a fishnet shirt under a black T-shirt and a navy blue jounin vest (he always thought the green vest were, well, not cool, navy blue was much better). The boy wore his hitai-ate on his right upper arm, a weapons pouch on his right thigh, another pouch secured by his belt on his lower back.

After that he moved his gaze to the boy's face, not too young looking, the childish features having grown, but not too adult looking either, his traits were soft and well defined, and if he had to compare him to someone he knew or had known, he would probably say Akasuna Sasori… ok, so he hadn't technically known the guy, he had still seen his face on paper and when he had used the Mangekyou on Deidara and wandered through the blonds' memories.

The boy in front of him possessed soft features like those of the since-years-ago dead Akatsuki Sasori, though only that, and maybe the eye color, seeing as Sasori also had had brown eyes, not too light nor too dark, a nice wooden brown. But the boy wasn't Sasori, for instance, his features weren't as… puppet looking and his skin was more tanned than the Suna criminal. As for the hair color, it was completely different, the boy in front of him had light brown hair, lighter than his eyes, a nice honey color, not too light nor too dark. His hair was unruly and his bangs fell in front of his eyes slightly, and it wasn't that short, almost grazing his shoulders.

But enough comparing, the boy in front of him, for one, he wasn't a criminal, and for two, he wasn't Sasori. He was Tsukiakari Yukizora… so it was kinda of a girlish name, it passed.

"Sasuke-sama?" the boy was still defensive, but also curious and wondering why he had been called and told to get out of his current house.

"I told you I was giving you an improvement in lifestyle." He smirked and the boy blushed, fidgeting with the hem of his T-shirt again.

He shifted in his seat and shifted Kyuuki on his lap before continuing.

"You'll be tested in different ways other than battle and you'll be living on this building." The boy's jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

"T-this b-building?? A-as i-in t-the A-Akatsuki… hm… h-headquarters?" the boy stuttered his words, barely able to get them out.

"Is there a problem?" he raised a brow at the kid, and was taken aback by the teens outburst of joy. Then again, he was already expecting it.

"There's absolutely no problem, it's just so… so awesome!!" the nervousness and shyness was gone in an instant. "It's like… wow, my biggest dream starting to come true!! I've always dreamed of some day becoming one of the 10!! Wow!!" he rolled his eyes.

"For now you'll just be my assistant though." The boy nodded excitedly, and he grinned at the boy's happiness. He looked at the remaining paper work and decided to leave it for later, right now he would let the boy enjoy his happiness.

"How would you like to see your room and meet everyone?" the boy grinned from ear to ear, excitement and joy in his eyes.

"I'd love to Sasuke-sama!!" he exclaimed loudly, and he was surprised that Kyuuki was still sleeping comfortably.

She had to do something, she couldn't just let everything in stand-by because she was too scared and confused about what she had to do. Things weren't always easy, in fact, most of the times, things weren't easy at all, and the decisions we had to make could turn out to be good ones or bad ones, a 50/50 chance of things going fine.

You had to take risks in order to achieve something, and she was willing to take the risks, she just wanted everything to turn out ok, she wanted to clear everything with him, with everyone. It was time to let the truth out, to let everyone know what really had happened, her reasons to hide the truth and why she had made such decisions, it was time to stop pretending and let reality stop being a phony act, empty of truth and honesty.

She would confront him, she was just gonna wait a few more days, preparing herself mentally, because she knew whatever would happen would hurt, it wouldn't be a peaceful talk, she was sure of it.

And Deidara, Kisame and Suigetsu would help her. Deidara because they were friends, Kisame because she would bribe him with sake and Suigetsu because she was sure he would rather help her than to be brutalized, maimed and pummeled by her.

And at the end he would know the truth, he would know that she never betrayed him or broke her promise, just made what was necessary to protect everything. And when he understood he would have to at least apologize, because… because he had hurt her enough.

She had no idea how things would end, the only thing she knew was that she had lived a lie long enough, pretending, faking, lying, cheating on all her friends, betraying them. She would break all the lies and pretenses and he would have to understand, just like anyone else would have to understand, and the first person she would be begging for forgiveness when she went back to her home village would be Naruto, because, no matter what, he had always been there for her and he more than anyone deserved her honesty because he was her brother, her best friend… her sun in the shadows.

And so it was settled, she would wait a few days to prepare with Deidara, Kisame and Suigetsu, and then she would confront Sasuke. And things would be alright… or so she hoped.

He looked around the room and narrowed his eyes, there were people missing and he didn't like it, especially since everyone should be there. So where the hell were those 4? Deidara was still out, even though Suigetsu was already back, and Kai and Ryo were Kami knows where with Ryuuki.

He sighed in frustration and looked over his shoulder and the blushing, nervous boy behind him, almost hiding.

Before doing anything, he looked around the room, analyzing everyone.

Hana was sitting in the couch with Kaorin, they seemed to be having a happy conversation since Kaorin was smiling. Jin was off in the windowsill, still not having apologized to Kaorin, the kid was a really stubborn one, looking outside. Ruki was sitting on an individual couch reading a book, 'the glory of number' it read in the cover, probably something boring. Suigetsu was talking with Kisame and Jugo while they sat in another couch. Tobi was sitting in the floor in front of the low table and was drawing, seriously, the guy really must be bi-polar.

He sighed again, Kai and Ryo were probably out and Deidara was probably with his best friend.

He cleared his throat and gained everyone's attention, except, of course, Suigetsu's, who kept talking with Kisame. His eye twitched at the water addicted nin.

"Ahem." Strike two, Fail.

"Will you shut up already." Suigetsu shut up mid-sentence and looked over his shoulder at him.

"Oh, you were there? Sorry, didn't see you!" the water nin grinned and scratched the back of his head, which made him roll his eyes.

"I got myself an assistant." He announced it offhandedly and stepped aside for everyone to see the 17 year old, still blushing and looking down.

The boy quickly looked up and then bowed deeply.

"It's an honor to meet you." He said quietly, the blush seemingly permanent on his cheeks.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, the kid needed some confidence lessons. Well, he would have to learn it while living with Akatsuki, they weren't exactly normal people.

"I suppose you know their names." It wasn't a question, a statement really. The boy looked up at him and nodded. "Then introduce yourself." The boy nodded again, blushing more, now in embarrassment.

"I-I'm Yukizora." The boy said quietly, bowing again.

"You got yourself a kid with no confidence whatsoever." Suigetsu started his unnecessary remarks. "What is he? A genin or somethin'?" the boy's head shot up.

"I am not a genin, I'm a jounin." He sounded outraged by the assumption. "And I'm a good one at that." He mumbled under his breath, so he also had a feisty side, huh? It would be fun.

"Don't mind him, he's just an idiot." The boy turned around abruptly to face a grinning Kai, his orange hair unruly and his green eyes shining in amusement.

"OY!" Suigetsu yelled, only to be ignored.

"But he's not the worse one." The comment was followed by the owner of the voice stepping into the living room carrying a sleeping boy in his arms. "Just ignore them." Ryo said offhandedly and looked around, purple/grey eyes scanning the room.

"Yup." Kai agreed while crossing his arms behind his neck.

The boy seemed confused for a moment, then he blushed a deep red, his face resembling a tomato. In return, Kai started laughing, then he walked closer to the boy and slung an arm over his shoulders.

"If you're Kami-sama's -insert Sasuke rolling his eyes here- assistant you gotta have some confidence, got it?" the boy nodded slowly, still blushing, and Kai grinned. "Don't worry 'bout a thing 'kay? Me and Ryo'll tour you around when Deidara get's back." A grin broke into Ryo's face as he walked closer to them.

"Just don't let yourself get pushed around by Ruki or Jin." Ryo voice turned into a whisper. "Especially Ruki. Jin has a personality a little like Sasuke there, but Ruki's more of a 'I've-got-a-stick-shoved-up-my-ass-so-don't-even-come-near-me' kinda bastard." The boy nodded, a grin making it's way to his face as he relaxed considerably.

And then his gaze settled on the small boy on Ryo's arms, and Sasuke found out that the teen was very observant.

"Ne, is that the little girls' twin?"

She sat on the balcony railing, looking at the city below. Long raven black hair flowed with the wind as sapphire blue eyes fought to hold the tears in. Her fingers clenched over the hem of her shirt and her feet pressed against the railing.

She should be over it, but she wasn't, it still hurt, being used by someone you care deeply about still hurt. And no matter how many times she told herself that it didn't matter, that it shouldn't matter, it still did, and it still hurt, made her heart clench, made it seem as if someone kept stabbing her over and over again.

Why did she have to care so much about someone that her best friends labeled 'Teme'? Why did she have to lose herself in his sapphire blue eyes every time he looked at her? Why did she have to stop breathing every time he touched her?

Why did her heart have to go wild when he was close to her?

They had known each other since they were small kids, but he hadn't always been like this, cold, uncaring and ruthless. Once upon a time he had been sweet and caring and gentle. Once upon a time he had been a mixture of Kai and Ryo, he had been goofy and cool, he had cared about others, he had been… so much… and now…

A slow tear ran down her cheek.

She remembered when they were kids, he used to go to her house and then drag her out, a goofy grin on his face. She always asked him, confused, where he was taking her, but he never answered, just kept on grinning and dragging her through the streets or the forest. And then they would play together, or train, though he was always never serious about training, always goofing around and getting into trouble.

She missed his grins, she missed his laziness, she missed the boy he had been. She even missed his moronic jutsus, the ones he created while he goofed around.

Like his Raiton: Shiden Onna, which was basically what it meant, Lightning element: purple lightning woman. He would use his skills with lightning and make a woman out of it, a purple one.

Another tear slid down her cheek.

He hadn't even been able to made a proper bushin when they were at the academy, she had scolded him and hit him so many times before he actually did a proper bushin, but every time she scolded or hit him he would only grin, it she hit him he would grin goofily after nursing his head and yelling something in the lines of 'ITAI!! What was that for?'.

And then his moronic attempt at making a 'super-cool-and-awesome' fire technique, which had resulted in him being engulfed in a thick wave of black smoke, and when he had gotten out, coughing, he had been all covered in black ashes, from head to toe, even his blond spikes had been black.

Another tear. And another. And another.

She missed him, she hated the person he was now, because when before he had always beat up others for hurting her, now he was the one to hurt her.

A sob escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hands, the tears were sliding freely down her cheeks, and she hated being like this because if he saw her he would only tell her to stop being pathetic, because he wasn't caring anymore, now he was ruthless.

And the fault was all of the Raikage, because if it wasn't for his decision, Jin would still have his family, she would still have her family, and they wouldn't have had to run away. They would still be in Kumo, their parents would scold them for running around all day, he would still be the moronic and goofy Jin she had fallen in love with, and, maybe, just maybe, he would have fallen for her too, and they would be together, and he would still care about her feelings.

The only thing she could thank for was the fact that Sasuke-sama had taken them in, even if he didn't show it, when he had told them to become Akatsuki, he had cared because not everyone would take in Chuunin that had ran away from home after such a thing happened, and they hadn't even been the best Chuunin there was. They had only been 13/14, Jin had been the screw-up and she had been the shy girl. They hadn't been excellent shinobi, just mediocre ones, not near the good ones, the Raikage didn't even send them on higher missions than C-rank or the easiest B-ranked ones, when everyone else of the ones they had been in the academy with already went on A-ranked missions. And to cover it all, they didn't even had a high rating of success, because sometimes, what looked like something was something else and they ended up doing something else, and the mission was a failure.

They had abandoned the village just a few months after the Chuunin exams, because they lost everything. In a way, they had done something similar to Sasuke-sama, only for different reasons.

She was sobbing now, and the tears wouldn't stop falling, even if she had her eyes closed tightly. She wanted to stop crying, but she couldn't, because it hurt too much. And because she wanted her Jin back, not the monster he was now.

"Why are you crying?" she choked on a sob, but refused to look back, it would only hurt more when he would insult her and then walk away.

"Kaorin." He called her name, but she ignored, why couldn't he just leave her to her misery? Didn't he at least understand that he only made things worse.

She froze when warm arms wrapped around her waist from behind and his breath fanned over her neck.

"Why are you crying Kaorin?" he rested his head on her shoulder, trying to see her face, but she looked away.

"Go away Jin." As much as she had liked it to come out coldly and filled with venom, it came out as a broken sob, the tears still running down her face.

"What's wr-" she cut him off and pushed him away.

"It's your fault." Another sob. "It's your fault, all yours." She got off of the railing and into the veranda, still refusing to face him.

He came closer to her again and turned her around, and the coldness in his blue eyes only made her break even more.

"What is my fault?" he demanded harshly.

"You used to care." She yelled, and she noticed he was taken aback. "You weren't ruthless, you cared about others." His hands on her shoulders tightened their grip and his eyes turned even colder, his face carefully blank.

"You used to be like Kai and Ryo, now you're-" he cut her off harshly.

"Am what?" she bit her lip and swallowed the sob that had been ready to come out. She freed herself from his grasp and took a few steps back from him.

"You're what you hated so much." She spoke softly, her arms wrapped around herself in a protective gesture. Her eyes lowered to the floor.

"You used to beat up the ones that hurt me." With all of her courage she glared at him, with all the anger and frustration she felt for him.

"Now you're the one who hurts me, and you don't even care do you?" she didn't wait for him to answer, she just turned away and walked back inside, at least now he knew what she thought, even if he didn't want to know or couldn't care less about it. It still felt nice to take it out, even if now she knew that she would stay broken.

I hope you all enjoyed, please let me know your opinions!! Reviews make me really happy!!

The story is reaching an end, the secret, which was the main thing of the plot, will be revealed, and after that i think i'll only make another chapter and a prologue or something, just so my beloved readers'll know how everything works out for everyone.

oh, BTW, please tell me what you think about the new Akastuki members!!

I love you all very much,

Kimi-chan!!