Itachi stood outside the Hokage's office, shifting from foot to foot. Office workers passing by stopped to stare at him. It wasn't every day you got to saw the pride of the Uchiha clan look anything but stoic. In fact, one Chunin had started a rumour that Fugaku had injected baby Itachi with some kind of emotion-suppressing venom, and now he was incapable of feeling anything.

Of course, this rumour wasn't true, but Itachi wasn't about to set the story straight for those gullible enough to believe it. It was almost humorous watching doe-eyed genin two years older than him stare at him in horror when he walked past.

The door in front of him opened, and a chunin stepped out. He shot Itachi a look, probably surprised to see the Uchiha looking so nervous. Of course, Itachi wasn't nervous. Itachi Uchiha did not get nervous. He always had a plan, and a backup plan, and yet another plan if the backup plan failed. He had tried everything to figure out what happened to this child, and he was certain that the Hokage would understand.

But would his father?

Itachi ignored that thought and reached forward to knock on the office door. Even if he was slightly worried about his father's reaction, he was far too pragmatic to let it get to him. He would give his mission report, let it be classified as unresolved, and let his father berate him for his failure. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, but Itachi hoped it would be the last.

The door swung open, and Itachi walked in, coming to a stop in front of the Hokage's desk. His eyes were drawn a little wooden statue of an owl perched on the edge of the desk. That was new.

"Itachi." The Third Hokage's voice was gravelly and worn, but it still made Itachi stand up a little straighter.

"Sir, I'm afraid I have been unsuccessful in locating Sakura Haruno. Here's my full mission report, but the gist of it is that whoever snatched her was very good at covering their tracks. I couldn't find a single trace of them. Perhaps a jonin or someone with more skill could unearth something, but this is as far as I can get."

The Hokage gave two long puffs on his pipe, scrutinizing Itachi over the desk. Itachi bore it with his trademark stoic expression. After a moment a small smile appeared on the Hokage's face.

"I see." he said. "Well, congratulations. Your first mission as a chunin and you succeeded in finding out crucial evidence about the case. You must be proud."

Itachi was taken aback. This was not the reaction he had been expecting.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear, I-"

"Oh you were perfectly clear." the Hokage dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Just as I will be, when I inform your father of what a wonderful job you did." Beneath his hat, his eyes twinkled. "Do you understand?"

Itachi was once again reminded why this old man was the Hokage. Being a powerful shinobi was essential to the job, but it required so much more than just combat skills.

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." he said, beating a hasty retreat out of the room. He wasn't quite comfortable with how much the Hokage seemed to know about his family life. He was careful to be as neutral as possible when asked about it, so it must have been his father. He would have to find a way to stop that.

"Itachi." the Hokage called, just as Itachi walked out. Itachi turned and stuck his head back in.

"Yes?"

"A chunin just dropped off a report from the Academy. Apparently one Sasuke Uchiha got into a fight with Naruto Uzumaki. Perhaps you should go sort that out, otherwise I'll have to tell your parents about it, and I don't think they would be very pleased."

Itachi sighed, but he couldn't be properly angry at Sasuke. He'd just give him a stern lecture on why fighting wasn't the way to solve things and then he'd buy Sasuke some dango for winning the fight(There was no doubt in Itachi's mind that Sasuke had won, and although he thought his brother was foolish for fighting, he couldn't help but be somewhat proud of him).

Quickly, he left the office and headed towards the Academy.

85, 86, 87, Sakura mentally counted as she pushed herself up and down. Balanced delicately on her index finger, the rest of her body was off the ground, like she was doing a handstand. A little way away, Baiu watched her with narrowed eyes, looking for a single tremble.

89, 90, 91, she focused on keeping her body still and her breathing even. Once she found a rhythm, finishing the exercise was easy. Once she had done a hundred on her right index finger, she'd move onto her thumb, and then she would be finished with push-ups for the day.

More than a day. she remembered I'll be gone for longer than that, which means no more training with Baiu. No more kicks, slaps, or screams for a little while.

But what about Orochimaru and Sasori? She wondered how she would get on with them. What would they expect from her? She already knew that Sasori didn't like her, and it appeared that frequently stabbing her with various poison-coated weapons hadn't changed his attitude. She had only seen Orochimaru in a picture, and Baiu's description of him was the only idea she had of his powers. She would have to be extra careful around him until she knew him a bit better.

99, 100. She switched to balancing on her thumb, still keeping the rest of her body in the air. The first time she had attempted this, she had sprained both her thumb and her index finger, and earned herself a kick in the ribs from Baiu. But after weeks of practice, she could finally do it.

Suddenly, she noticed a pair of Akatsuki sandals in front of her. She assumed it was Pein, since Sasori's puppet didn't have proper feet, and Konan's boots had heels. But when she looked up, it was an unfamiliar face.

It was also a very unpleasant one. A long thin face, framed by greasy black hair that went far past the man's shoulders. It was as if all the colour had been bleached out of his face, leaving it as white as a fresh sheet of paper. His cheekbones were sharp and his eyes- narrow, snake-like slits-were sharper. His reptilian eyes gleamed as they stared into her own, and a chill born out of pure primal fear ran down her spine. He looked at her like she was his prey.

Her concentration faltered, and she slipped and fell, already tensing herself for the kick. Sure enough, a second later, Baiu swung the toe of his boot into her stomach. She was used to it by now, so she simply rolled with it, and ended up only slightly winded.

She scrambled to her feet, her eyes flickering between Baiu and this new man, who she assumed was Orochimaru. Baiu looked angry and his eyes promised pain, but that was nothing new. So she focused on Orochimaru instead, who simply stared at her in amusement.

"My apologies for the interruption, but the Leader sent me to pick up the girl. We're leaving."

Baiu scowled, but flicked his hand at Sakura, dismissing her.

She wanted to feel relieved that the training was over for the day, but as she followed Orochimaru out of the cavern, she only felt more nervous. Unlike the other Akatsuki members Sakura had met, Orochimaru didn't bother fully hiding his power, and the chakra emanating from him was foul. It made her feel like she was rotting inside, tiny snakes crawling up her legs and down her back-

"Ah Sasori, you're early."

Orochimaru's voice jolted her back into reality, and she realized that that Sasori was staring at her. She quickly tried to look as impassive as possible. Sasori's puppet eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. His tail flicked out, and she caught the object he threw at her and examined it.

It was a simple straw hat, with a bunch of cloth tassels dangling from it. Still, Sakura knew what it meant, and she fingered it uncertainly.

"I'm not allowed wear official Akatsuki clothing." she explained. "I'm not a member, I'm just their weapon."

"Too bad." Sasori snapped. "Your hair is so pink it's bound to offend at least one person we meet."

"We can't have you drawing attention to us everywhere we go." Orochimaru added. "So put it on."

Part of Sakura wondered if it would really matter if people noticed her, considering both Orochimaru and Sasori were hard to ignore. Sensing her hesitation, Sasori rolled his eyes.

"I've cleared it with the Leader." he growled. "Now put the damn hat on."

Hastily she slipped it onto her head. It was a bit too big, and she had to shove a few of the tassels out of her way to see clearly, but she kept quiet about it.

Orochimaru and Sasori set off down the corridor. Sakura was careful to stay a step behind them, mostly out of respect, but also because she hadn't a clue where she was going. Orochimaru and Sasori were busy discussing the merits of various poisons, so she kept her head down and followed.

They made their way through the building. Sakura tried to memorize their route, but the amount of corridors and stairs and similar drab looking rooms and doors soon became dizzying.

After a few minutes, Sakura noticed a dim light ahead of them. It was different from the normal candle or electrical light. It reminded her of the genjutsu, and she suddenly realized that this would be her first time outside. Or rather, her first time that she could remember.

As she stepped into the light, she was surprised at its dimness. Compared to brightness she had experienced in the genjutsu, she found it very gloomy. She gave a quick glance up at the cloudy sky and a drop of water splashed into her eye. A second later, it started lashing rain.

"Typical." Sasori grumbled.

"It seems Pein doesn't fully trust us with his little project." Orochimaru sounded amused by the fact and not at all worried.

Sakura knew that Sasori respected Pein; she had seen it when she first woke up. Orochimaru seemed different, which made Sakura wonder why he was here. What was he after?

She realised that they were both staring at her.

"What's wrong?"

Sasori sneered, or at least, it felt like he did. His puppet body made it hard for Sakura to read his emotions.

"Why are you letting the rain hit you?"

Only then did Sakura notice that neither Sasori nor Orochimaru were wet. She looked harder, and realised that the rain was fizzling out the second before it touched their skin. Some sort of chakra shield, she supposed.

"Don't tell me you don't know how?" Sasori continued, after it became clear that she didn't know how to respond. "A genin learns how to do this. It's as difficult as water-walking or tree-jumping."

He was clearly trying to demean her, but instead he gave her hope. Both Baiu and Pein agreed that her chakra control was excellent, and Baiu had mentioned once that she could pass for a jonin. She knew how the shinobi ranking system worked. Maybe she could create a barrier and she just didn't know it.

As if she was about to heal herself, she concentrated on her chakra, trying to guide it all over her body instead of focusing it in one spot. She felt a strange humming noise echo in her ears, and suddenly she couldn't feel the rain anymore.

Sasori merely huffed and turned around, although Sakura got the feeling that he was slightly disappointed. It was Orochimaru that worried her. She didn't like the look in his eyes at all, and she wondered how much about what had just happened he had understood. Technically, she didn't do anything wrong, but she didn't trust him at all.

That was alright. Suspicion was one of the emotions she was allowed to have. She had learnt the hard way that happiness, sadness, and anger were the kinds of emotions that were forbidden. But emotions like wariness were allowed. She was allowed have her own opinion of people, as long as that opinion was purely out of logic, and wasn't detrimental to the cause.

So, although she knew Sasori disliked her, she wasn't allowed dislike him back. He had stabbed her many times, but nothing she had seen had given her reason to believe that he wasn't loyal to the Akatsuki. Orochimaru on the other hand, had untrustworthy written all over his face. The way he talked, his eyes, it all promised to backstab you in a way you wouldn't see coming. She wondered if Sasori felt the same, or if he actually liked Orochimaru.

They set off through the rain, Sakura's damp sandals squelching with every step.

They walked for hours.

It was starting to unnerve Sakura, the way Orochimaru kept looking at her. Even though she was walking at step behind him, she could still feel his eyes on her. He didn't seem to care that she noticed. It was almost as if he was trying to catch her eye.

The next time she caught him staring at her, his eyes full of cruel intent, she stared back. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He kept walking, but the corner of his mouth curled into a smirk.

Sakura hardened her gaze.

"Is there problem Sakura-chan?" Orochimaru asked, not even bothering to hide the danger in his voice. This was just a game to him. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"I don't have emotions Orochimaru-sama." she replied, wondering if saying it over and over again would make it come true. "I don't feel uncomfortable."

"Really?" Orochimaru asked, clearly not believing a word of what she was saying. "Would you mind if we play a little game then?"

It wasn't like she could refuse him. Sasori gave a grumpy sigh from in front of her, and she wondered if he resented her being on this mission. She knew he hated her, but perhaps he was also annoyed that Orochimaru was giving her this much attention. The Snake Sannin was still staring at her, as if he actually thought she would refuse him, that she could refuse him.

"If that is your wish." she replied, trying to keep her voice monotone.

Sasori barked out something that Sakura guessed was his version of a laugh.

"Baiu's doing his job all right. You've become a good little pet."

She knew that she should ignore the comment, but something inside her got irrationally offended, and before she could stop herself she was talking back.

"I thought it was your job to be Pein-sama's pet and my job to be his weapon? If it's the other way around, then shouldn't I be wearing the ugly puppet suit?"

Orochimaru actually laughed, but Sasori stopped dead in the middle of the road. Slowly, he turned around to face Sakura, who was trying her best to maintain her neutral expression. Inside, she was panicking hard.

"What did you say about Hirako, brat?" he growled. "You think the Akatsuki are the Leader's pets? You think you're above us just because you're getting a few scraps of his attention?"

She tried to sound as indifferent as possible. "My apologies if I misunderstood, Sasori-sama."

He continued to glare at her, probably trying to gauge if she was sincere or not. She stared back, and hoped he understood how much she did not want to die right now.

For a few seconds, she thought he was going to kill her anyway, but then Orochimaru began to laugh. Sasori's eyes snapped away and he glared at Orochimaru.

"Is there something funny here?" he growled.

Orochimaru seemed unbothered by the killing intent drifting from Sasori. He merely smiled and explained himself.

"Both of you are ridiculous. Sasori, you're arguing with a five year old child who's just trying to understand her place in the world. Don't be such a hothead."

"The Leader has already made her place clear. We're in charge of her on this mission, which means it's our responsibility to keep her in line."

Orochimaru sighed in a way that felt vaguely familiar to Sakura. For some reason, she expected him to mutter 'troublesome', but he merely shrugged.

"Fine then. If it'll make you happy, why don't you test out all your poisons on her when we stop for the night?"

Sasori seemed to consider the idea. Sakura watched him carefully, but tried to make it seem like she had no interest whatsoever in his decision. She couldn't tell if she was believable or not.

"I like that idea." Sasori said at last. "You hear that you brat? You're in for a fun night."

"Yes sir." Sakura replied, because she had no idea what else to say. Did he want her to cheer? Did he want her to cry and beg? She couldn't tell, and frankly she was exhausted from trying.

Sasori and Orochimaru began walking again. Orochimaru seemed to have forgotten about his 'game', and was busy discussing which poisons they could try that wouldn't kill her. Neither of them were paying attention to her. She could bolt right now. But where would she go? She had no village, no family, and no home. She was nothing.

Her mind flashed back to the feeling of pride when she healed herself, the shock on Baiu's face whenever she did something particularly skilful, the smile Konan gave her when they were picking out clothes, the relief when Pein had deemed her adequate.

No, not nothing. No matter what Sasori and Orochimaru thought about her, she was a weapon of the Akatsuki. She had a purpose. She was useful.

She started walking, matching her footsteps to the rhythm of Orochimaru's, careful to stay half a step behind them.

So, Sasuke had been a failure. Naruto had honestly tried. But as soon as he was finished asking his question, Sasuke had given him this really annoying look, like he was better than Naruto or something.

"What are you talking about, you weirdo? Why would I know about a girl with pink hair?"

He may have had a point, but he didn't need to be so rude about it. He was practically asking for Naruto to punch him in the face. Of course, Sasuke blocked Naruto's fist before it could reach his face, and suddenly they were brawling. But it wasn't really all Naruto's fault.

He tried explaining this to Iruka-sensei, who merely sighed. Naruto could tell he was trying really hard not to roll his eyes, and he appreciated that. Most teachers didn't make a single effort to hide their anger and irritation with him.

So, back to the point. It was clear he wasn't going to get anything out of Sasuke, which meant it was time to move onto his second target. If Ino turned out to be a bust, Naruto would have nothing else to go on. In a way, it would be a relief. A huge part of him wanted to give up, but he couldn't, not when he still had ways of finding out who this girl was. But if he ran out of leads, then he could let it go, knowing he did everything he could to find her.

He found Ino talking to a bunch of other girls. At first, when he walked towards them, they continued to chat and giggle. As soon as they realized that he was actually going to try and talk to them, most of them either looked scared, disgusted or both. Some of them just looked confused. He pretended not to notice them subtly backing away from him.

"Ino." he called "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Unlike most of her gang, Ino didn't look scared. She seemed curious, if a bit sceptical. Her friends started walking away, saying that they'd catch up with her later. One actually whispered "Be careful." right in front of Naruto. He pushed down his anger and frustration, reminding himself that he had a mission.

"What's up?" Ino asked, once it was just the two of them. Her tone made it clear that Naruto better have a good reason for talking to her. He gulped.

"I was just wondering, have you ever seen a girl with pink hair? She'd be around our age? I think she has green eyes, but I'm not a hundred per cent…" he trailed off, noticing the strange look in Ino's eyes.

"Sakura?" she whispered.

Naruto perked up. Was he actually going to get some answers?

"Is that her name?" he asked hopefully.

Ino blinked, and just like that, she seemed to forget what she was going to say.

"No, it's just a type of flower." she murmured, still looking slightly dazed. She shook her head, as if trying to clear her thoughts. Naruto felt very confused.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any girls with pink hair." she said, her voice getting more confident with every word. Naruto could almost believe her, except for the fact that her eyes were still slightly clouded.

"Are you sure?" he questioned. "I mean, the name Sakura would fit, with her having pink hair and all, so if you know anything could-"

"I don't know who you're talking about!" Ino snapped. Naruto jumped backwards, and something in his eyes made her soften. "Why do you want to know? Actually, why would you think I know? Who is she?"

"She's…" Naruto sighed. "Never mind. Thanks for talking to me."

He set off, and for one second he imagined Ino calling out to him, telling him to wait and asking if he wanted to hang out with her and her friends.

It didn't happen of course. For some reason, it never did. He tried copying all the different ways he saw the other kids make friends, but it never worked. Maybe that's why he wanted to find this girl. For some reason, she felt like she was already his friend.

Sasori was almost being friendly to her. It was creepy. They'd passed the border between lands a few hours ago and were almost at the outskirts of Kusagakure. Sakura had stayed silent for most of the walk, letting Orochimaru and Sasori do the talking. Occasionally one of them would ask her how she had reacted to some of the poisons used on her by Baiu, but mostly they ignored her.

Now they were stopping for the night, and as they moved closer to the door of the inn, Sasori began talking casually to her.

"I hope you're not to worn out by all that walking. We've still got all those tests to run."

"I'm fine, sir." she replied quietly. As if she could forget about all the poison she was going to be experiencing very soon.

"Good!" Ahead of them, Orochimaru opened the door and walked up to the reception desk. Sakura understood then, what they were doing. She plastered a smile onto her face.

"And how are you?" she asked as cheerfully and loudly as she could. "It was a pretty long journey, and I know I can't wait to fall into a nice warm bed."

"Two single rooms please." Orochimaru said. The tired looking man behind the desk nodded and bent down to get the keys. His eyes flickered up for a second and he gasped once he realized who he was talking to.

"You're him! You're Oro-"

Sasori's senbon flicked out almost too fast for Sakura to see, and the man fell backwards. Orochimaru reached out and took the keys from his hand, and they continued up the stairs. Sakura didn't ask if the man was dead. It was easier to pretend that they had merely knocked him out.

The wooden floor creaked beneath their weight as they made their way along the narrow corridor. Orochimaru took the first room, indicating to Sakura that she should follow Sasori. She did so, trying to tell herself that she wasn't dreading this in the slightest. Weapons don't feel fear. She was being ridiculous.

She unlocked the second room and held it open for Sasori, seeing as his puppet had no visible hands. He shuffled inside and she followed, closing the door behind her.

Once they were alone, she tried to prepare herself, but instead of lashing out, Sasori's puppet starting making strange clunking noises. To her complete surprise, the back of it opened up, and the real Sasori stepped out.

He was not at all what Sakura had expected. Young, with slightly tousled bright red hair and wide brown eyes, even his voice was different. In his hand was a jar of brown paste, which he began to apply to Hirako's joints.

"Guard the door." he ordered. "Orochimaru has been trying to see my true form for years now. It's amusing how hard he tries, but he still hasn't found out. He likes to walk in on me at unpredictable times, trying to catch me off my guard. Make sure he doesn't get near."

Personally, Sakura was pretty sure that Orochimaru already knew what Sasori looked like, but saying that would just make Sasori even angrier with her. She opened the door and stepped outside, unsure of what the point of this was. Why was it such a big deal that Orochimaru didn't see Sasori's real body? It must be a pride thing, Sakura decided. Orochimaru liked to mess with people's heads; that much Sakura understood. Maybe this way Sasori could feel like he had his own hold over the Snake Sannin.

For a while she stood in the hallway and listened to the sounds coming from the puppet-master's room. There was squeaking and clanking, and the occasional sound of liquids bubbling and boiling. She tried not to think about how they would soon be injected into her veins.

After an hour or so, Sasori finally called her back in. He was back in his puppet body, which looked much cleaner than before. To his left were racks upon racks of poisons. Sakura focused on keeping her breathing even. She could survive this. She had to survive this. They weren't allowed to kill her. Even if she didn't trust their loyalty to Pein, she trusted that she wasn't important enough for them to risk his wrath.

"Tell Orochimaru we're ready." Sasori ordered.

She obeyed, walking down the hall and knocking on Orochimaru's door. It opened immediately, and the Sannin stepped out, looking down at Sakura with poorly disguised, gleeful malice.

"Ah, Sakura-chan. Is it time?"

"Yes sir." she replied. "Sasori-sama wants to begin the tests."

"Excellent." he licked his lips, his elongated tongue making the simple action seem very strange. "I have my own poisons that I've wanted to test against his for a while now. Oh, this will be fun, won't it Sakura-chan?"

"Having fun would imply the sense of happiness, which I do not have." She was getting better at these kinds of factual sentences. It still didn't make them true.

"Of course. My apologies." Orochimaru didn't even bother hiding his sneer of disdain. She needed to work on being more convincing.

They made their way back to Sasori's room. He was ready and waiting, the tip of Hiruko's tail coated with a purple liquid.

"Ah, Orochimaru, I see you've brought your own new inventions. Do you still have the one that killed our last test subject?"

"I've made some modifications." Orochimaru replied. "It should be perfectly safe, provided she's strong enough to endure such pain."

Sasori nodded before looking at Sakura.

"You. Get on that bed. Just lie flat out, there's no need to be defensive."

She did as she was told, staring up at the grimy ceiling and trying to pretend she was back at the headquarters, training with Baiu. Who would have thought that she would actually miss him?

"You can go first." she heard Sasori say, and then Orochimaru's head was looming over her.

"Now this is going to hurt a lot, but I need you to stay calm enough to tell us how much pain you're in. We have plenty of test subjects that do nothing but scream. We don't need that from you."

He pushed her poncho up her arm, and she felt goose bumps appear when the cold air touched her skin. She saw Orochimaru fill a needle with a clear liquid and then he quickly stabbed it into her arm.

For a split second she didn't feel anything. Then it hit her. Pain. Pain so intense she sat straight up, clutching her arm. Sasori stared at her with obvious pleasure, and Orochimaru had a sadistic smirk on his face. Both of them were leaning towards her, absorbing every single second of her reaction. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a huge gasp. She tried to remember how to breathe, remember how to let go of the air in her lungs. She could feel herself starting to choke. Then something inside her seemed to burst.

Sakura screamed.