200 reviews! I am a happy girl. :D Thank you so so so much you awesome reviewers!

Katara-Hatake: Yeah, I know. : ) But some were still asking so I made it more obvious for them again. Hehe. And I like Sak's development too! Thanks for reviewing! :D Enjoy this one!

Shadow Wolf: Thank you many berry! ;)

DontWaitUpForMe: Yep, Sakura is my favourite female too, though Kishimoto didn't really.. give her much of a development as anticipated. She was damn good initially in Shippudden, but she just fades into the background somewhat afterwards, and I choose to see her as how fanfiction writers do. :D Kick-ass! And I can't fathom the idea of GaaHina and SasuHina either… (wonders if it is ever possible) Thanks for reviewing! : ) Enjoy this one!

Black n Blue Sun: Hehe. Thank you many berry! :D

Asdf: Where's jkl? LOL sorry that was lame XD And yeah I can't imagine any of the pairings you said either! And yes, Sakura has just her hands :D nothing else. She's special that way! Hehe. Thanks for reviewing! : )

Akatsukigirl1223: Thank you so much! : D Enjoy this one!

KurayamiEra: Hehe thank you :D And I like Sakura toooo. Enjoy this one hehe!

Bloody-Immortal: Pein does everything like a BOSS XD Hehehe hell yeah! Enjoy this one and thanks for reviewing!

Noo3: I appreciate your vote XD

organizationkhII: I'll fix that later, thanks a lot for pointing it out! :D And yes I updated! Here ya go! : )

DiamondForest: (stares at loooong review) Oh, wow. I loveeee your long review! Thank you so much for pointing out my mistakes! I'll fix them later. I love your two cents so I don't mind! And I appreciate your opinions on both characters. I think you got both penned down pretty accurately. : D Enjoy this one!

SherryLovesChux3: Thanks for your vote! Enjoy this one! : D

Annyeong: Yes, she's the most realistic one out of all of them, totally agree! And yeah, Sakura is special in a way that she's not so special (without any clan abilities as you have mentioned, etc) And I want to make it strictly that, but my mind has other ideas and it's pretty hard to avoid… a certain relationship, in this story. So… it has to happen, this pairing. And… I think the pairing will be pretty important later on, so I have to include it. Oh gosh. Never expected it to turn out like a harem but OH WELL! XD Enjoy this one!

KagomeAngel91: Aha! So she is unique in a way that she has NO unique abilities and has to work from sheer strength and willpower! I totally agree! And yes she grew into something more! I like, hehe. Enjoy this one yeah and thanks for reviewing! : D

Jjangqueen: Team KURAMA? You and your crazy teams. Munthal. 8)

Sarah: Thank you many berry! : D Enjoy!

KiraTokyRickiSalvatore: Thank you so much! Enjoy this one!

SakuraEmma29: Thank you so much! :D I shall do my best! And thanks for your vote! Enjoy this one! :D

Scarlett Winds: Hehe. XD I ALSO WISH they displayed more of that in the manga and anime! I think it's a little 'unstable', Sakura's character. It's like she was so kickass in the first few episodes of Shippudden and then she just fades into the background. Anyway thanks for reviewing! :D Enjoy this one!

Kakafina94: My 200th reviewer! Hello! And thank you for the praise! I just hope I can continue to show that in the next chapters! And thanks for your vote! (well, votes XD) Enjoy!

Results: Sakura won, hands down, and many said she was special because she was not so special. Which is unique, indeed. XD I hope I'm not confusing you. Eheh.

Anyway, what happens when Kisame gets drunk?

Enjoy this chapter! : )

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It was then that the two Akatsuki nins heard a door sliding open and they looked up to spot a damp-haired Kisame trudging out of the bathroom in standard black pants and a T shirt. A familiar scent wafted into the room from the open bathroom and Sakura shot the blue man an undisguised gleeful grin.

"Strawberries, Kisame? Seriously?" The roseate-haired girl let out a small snicker, and she saw Itachi at the corner of her eye glancing at his taller teammate with a slight curl of his lips.

The Mist nin looked fairly disgruntled as he hung his towel in an available cupboard, sighing. "Pinky, the only thing this stupid inn has is that damn strawberry shampoo. Even Itachi-kun here smells of it," he complained, missing the icy glare his male teammate sent his way. "Anyway, at least they provided this," he continued further, his expression and tone suddenly turning suspiciously cheery as his hands excitedly shot in the cupboard as though reaching for something.

His hand retracted with a huge sake bottle, and Sakura heard Itachi groan almost inaudibly. Curious jade eyes turned to look at him. She briefly noticed a strained expression behind his carefully schooled features, which were focused on the bottle in Kisame's hand. Ah. Sakura guessed that it had to be a bad habit of Kisame's.

It was Kisame's next sentence that proved her deductions to be accurate. The shinobi flashed her a shark-like grin, his beady eyes wild with happiness. "Ne, Pinky, let's have a toast to celebrate your entry into Akatsuki! Oh, and I heard medics can hold their alcohol well… Better yet, let's have a challenge to see who can hold their liquor!"

It was then that Itachi spoke up, turning his back to them as he headed to his bed. "Hold the contest in Sakura-san's room. I have no intention of partaking in this foolish game," he spoke silkily, his eyes narrowed slightly. With a muted sigh, he proceeded to sit in a meditative pose on his bed, closing his red eyes. Kisame appeared unperturbed and walked towards the door, gesturing for Sakura to leave the room as well.

Ah. "So, I gather Itachi-san is poor at holding his liquor?" The pink-haired nin hid a smile as she walked towards the room door that Kisame was holding out for her. The elusive Uchiha opened an eye to shoot her a cold glare. She hastened her steps and left the room before Kisame, who had just opened his mouth only to pour oil onto the fire, grinning madly as he did so.

"Oh Pinky, you have no idea what Itachi-kun does when I get him drunk as hell-"

A moment later, a kunai embedded itself into the room door with a loud thwack – just milliseconds from where the shark nin stood before he had left the room.

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It was amusing to see an extremely inebriated infamous killer wax poetic and spout flowery language about the essence of life.

It was even so when the man was blue, large, and had gills on his cheeks. It was truly an amazing sight, and for a moment, the pink-haired nin rested her chin on her hands, watching him interestedly from her cross-legged position on the floor. Sakura knew that not many had lived to see one of the famed seven Swordsmen up close this way, and with him being so very open and unguarded.

Any enemy nin could kill him right now, and he probably wouldn't be swift enough to counter the person's moves. For a moment, she stilled at the thought of her doing so, an image of her driving a blade through his chest, his mouth trickling with blood as he stared at her with hurt, confusion, and maybe a hint of anger in his eyes.

To her dismay, she found herself disgusted for even thinking of it. How had she managed to confuse him as being one not of the enemy? It was getting increasingly worrying as to how she had let the Akatsuki nins one by one, pass through her walls, which she had deliberately constructed around herself for the past two years.

She had let her guard down, and she shouldn't have. She had a foreboding feeling that the outcome of her predicament would not end well, now that she started to form attachments to the Akatsuki members. Sighing softly, she stared moodily at the floor, wishing she could reverse back time.

But if she could reverse time, where would she reverse it to? Would she reverse to the time Deidara and Tobi found her real self on the ground, motionless? Would she reverse time to the moment where Deidara was dying and she healed him? Or, would she reverse time to three years back to prevent Danzou's takeover?

Too late to do anything now, she mused. Brushing her fingers through her now drier pink locks, she gazed up at Kisame, who shot her an unassuming lopsided grin.

"Ne, Kisame?" she started halfheartedly, and steeled herself slightly for the plan she had constructed the moment she and him stepped into her room.

"Mm. Yes Pinky?" Kisame gave her another of his cheerful smiles before chugging down another shot of sake. "You see, I'm not even drunk yet!" Nevertheless, his sitting form was wavering slightly and he was blinking slower than usual as he said it. He gave her a toothy, innocent smile, though it fell short slightly because of his intimidating outward appearance.

Sakura sighed. It really was going to be difficult, but she had to push him for information. It was also helpful that she was a medic and could burn off the alcohol by concentrating her chakra on her liver. Hence… she was far from inebriated.

She was sober, while he was not. Sakura knew that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to press him for information, since he was unlikely to remember what had happened afterward. She decided to do it quickly before guilt hit her halfway and stopped her from doing so. Her eyes turned calculating and gleamed as she spoke.

"You wish, Seabass. By the way, I've been wondering about someone in Akatsuki for quite a while. Do you know who Tobi is?" Her words were carefully measured and clear, as she wanted the Mist nin to hear her and process her words.

He blinked slightly, and there was a frown on his blue features, as though he was thi8nking of something unpleasant. "Hellll, Pinky. As though I have any idea," he slurred, tilting his head as he studied his empty glass with a dazed look.

Sakura's face fell.

"But I know Itachi-kun is suspicious of him. And I am, too. He's weeeeiiird… He's the newest recruit out of all of us, excluding you of course, Pinky… and he's always talking to Leader. I find that he acts like he has a split personality sometimes. I can't help feeling like shit's going to go down whenever he's around. Don't you think so, Pinky?" He gave her a wide-eyed look, as though he was curious of her answer.

"Mm," Sakura answered noncommittally, as she mulled over his words in her brain. Kisame seemed satisfied, for he was suddenly extremely fascinated at the sight of the carpet he was sitting cross-legged on, picking on the black woollen material.

"So… Do you happen to know why Itachi joined Akatsuki, Kisame?" Sakura inquired, her voice deceptively mild. Casually, she took the sake bottle to pour herself another cupful.

There was a long moment of silence on the Mist nin's end. Sakura stilled abruptly, thinking that he wasn't inebriated enough and had figured out what she was attempting to do with him. However, the blue-skinned man let out an alcohol-laced breath into the air with a loud whoosh, frowning, as though he was thinking intensely about that hard question.

"To be honest, kunoichi… I don't even know. Not all voluntarily joined like him and me, you know." He let out a long sigh. Sakura paused halfway as she drank her cup of sake, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"So… you're saying that not all wanted to join Akatsuki when they were recruited?" She asked, a frown present on her face.

The Mist nin gave a bitter laugh, hiccupping slightly.

"Pinky, I don't know if you've realised the animosity between Deidara and Itachi yet, but why do you think Deidara hates Itachi so much? He was forced to join the group." At this revelation, Sakura's body tensed. Kisame continued his ramblings. "Ah, and about Itachi-kun. He's a cold-blooded killer, or so the civilians and the other crap nins say. But I don't believe that shit," he declared, waving his hand in the air dismissively.

"Seriously?" Sakura's tone was sceptical and she did not bother to hide it. He would forget all the details in the morning. Even if the alcohol didn't suffice for him to forget… she'd do it herself, making everything a foggy blur for him to recall tomorrow.

"Pfft. Bitch, I'm serious. Since when have I ever joked about this shit?"

Ah. So he cursed more when he was drunk, too.

"The world is like a gaping black hole, devoid of happiness," he continued sombrely. "I wouldn't lie for shit. It would just make the hole bigger."

Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes exasperatedly. He was spouting his poetry again. Sakura was about to interject when he continued to speak, this time thankfully getting straight to the point.

"Honestly speaking, I think he's not a cold-blooded killer. There's something about him that I sense. It's like he has a reason for everything he does. I work with him long enough to see it. And it's the small things… the small, unnecessary things he does, that makes me think twice about him," he concluded, his expression turning as pensive as a drunk man could get. "Like… He doesn't like killing unnecessarily. He always gave me orders to stop killing once the job gets done, and you never go against an Uchiha, especially him. I did that once… nearly lost my head." He chuckled, absently rubbing his head.

"Also, I don't think Itachi-kun believes Leader when he promised a world of truth to us. I intend to see it of course, but I doubt he does. I don't really know his motives for joining, really. Maybe the pay is too good?" He let out a chortle and burped loudly. Sakura couldn't help but giggle slightly, a dimpled smile on her features as she watched him with a fond look.

"Anyway, bitch, life is too short. You should… go find a boyfriend… sometime," he slurred, and he blinked slower than ever as he tried to focus his vision.

Uhuh. Sure.

Sakura raised her hands in front of her in a placating gesture. "Sure thing, but I need you to answer one last question - Um, Kisame, what are you doing?" Her voice raised an octave as she spotted the Mist nin yawning and suddenly curling up into a sleeping position on the carpet. In her room, no less.

"Going… to… sleeeep," he drawled lazily, closing his eyes. "Night, bitch."

"But I still have a question- Oh, never mind," Sakura grumbled, watching glumly as her teammate's chest started to rise and fall slowly and his breathing grew even. He was knocked out in a matter of seconds.

"Night, Seabass," the jade-eyed girl whispered. For a while, she stared at the steady rising and falling of his chest, watching. Then she crawled over to him, her fingertips reaching for his forehead to do the necessary. It was a simple step for her to erase memory, and she had done it many times.

She hesitated.

Just do it, she told herself, and her frown deepened in concentration as she summoned her chakra to her fingertips.

Her chakra faltered, and with a start, she realised she couldn't do it. Frustration swelled in her chest and she let loose a small snarl, throwing her cup across the room. It smashed against the wall on impact, leaving shards to collect on the floor. Kisame didn't even stir.

Her vision blurred, and she felt cold trails of wet tears down her cheeks. Sobbing softly, she walked to the bed with a weary sigh and lay down, pulling the covers.

Her eyes slid shut, but it was a long time before her conscious mind did.

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So.. she couldn't bring herself to do such a simple thing. I typed this in 3 hours, so I apologise for any errors.

She likes Kisame. Aww. : ) I like Kisame too. And she finds out about Itachi… I haven't included her thoughts about him yet because, well, she'll get plenty of him in the next chapter.

You will like the next chapter. Mehehe.

I feel (once again) like something is missing. Something… somewhere… Either that or I am braindead and I am reading too much into things.

Big thanks to those who review. And here's a new question! I totally had it in my mind and just had to ask, haha.

QUESTION: IS TOBI SEXY? XD

HAHA. Leave your comments below! : ) Toodles!