15 days left
As was normal for Amegakure, by the time the sun rose the entire village was covered in a thin layer of mist. Sakura finished her jog, her breath coming out in little huffs of vapor. Baiu had given her the day to train by herself, and the freedom to explore the village while doing so. Of course, she was almost certain that he was secretly monitoring her, but as long as she trained hard and didn't give him a fault to find, she would be fine.
She had decided to start off with a run, since that was usually how she warmed up before heading into the more intense training. Usually she did laps of the underground cavern, alternating between the floor, the walls and the ceiling. But today, she decided to take advantage of her so-called freedom and discover more about the village she called home. Baiu had been very clear when he warned her not to go outside the village or into any of the restricted buildings. She doubted he would be sloppy enough to let her discover any important secrets, but it was still vital that she figure out the basic information about the village.
The first thing she learnt about the village was that despite all the large metal skyscrapers, the air in the village was crisp and clean. She assumed Pein had a hand in that, but perhaps it was just the constant rain that made it smell fresh. Either way it was a lot more pleasant that Sakura expected, considering how dreary the village looked.
The second thing she learnt was that the village was surrounded by a huge lake. During her run, she was careful not to get too close to the outskirts of the village, staying just far enough away to appease Baiu or whoever he assigned to spy on her. As she ran, she tried to see beyond the water, but it was too vast. She managed an entire lap of the village, yet saw nothing beyond the village but the lake.
It was strange, because she remembered walking across the lake with Sasori and Orochimaru and reaching a path on the other side. At the time, she'd assumed that there was a proper road leading out of the village somewhere, but it appeared that they were completely cut off. Even though she was well aware that there was life beyond the village, it left her with an even bigger sense of loneliness that usual, so she didn't bother doing a second lap.
Amegakure itself was fascinating. Compared to the isolated rural farm villages she had passed through on her mission with Sasori, it was only slightly bigger but far more industrialized. All the buildings were made of metal and most of them were more than four stories tall. The village may be small, but Sakura was fairly sure the population was much higher than the villages around it. Strings of neon lights, currently switched off, hung between some of the buildings, while others were connected by metal walkways. Some buildings were covered with huge advertisements, none of which were remotely colourful. It was almost like there was a law against any colour that could be considered cheerful.
The few people who walked through the streets didn't look particularly cheerful, but they didn't seem sad or frightened either. Mostly they just seemed grumpy, which was understandable this early in the morning. Some of them glanced suspiciously at Sakura, either because of her hair or because they knew what she was, but no one tried to approach her. She hadn't expected anyone to, really.
She ran around the village for a while longer, trying to make it look like training instead of her just sating her curiosity. She wasn't sure if she was convincing enough, but she'd find out tonight when she and Baiu met.
Eventually, she started running back, happy in the knowledge that she now knew her way around the streets. She hadn't tried to enter any of the buildings, even the public ones. She had a feeling she wouldn't be welcome and besides, why would a weapon go into a ramen shop?
She ignored the strange feeling of warmth she had gotten when she'd seen the sign. She didn't even like ramen that much, although, that could just be because the ramen Baiu always brought her way watery and flavourless. Maybe if she tried some-
She shook her head and focused on finding her way back. Thoughts like that were pointless. No, worse than that, they were dangerous. Caring about things like food was dangerous. Food didn't matter. She'd eat what she was given and use it to make her strong.
She reached the building where she lived and pushed open the door. She started making her way down to the training ground before remembering that she was allowed walk around the building. Perhaps she could find out more about the Akatsuki that way. Of course, there was the danger that she would run into one of the members, but she could probably brush it off and let Baiu handle it.
So instead of going down the left corridor, she opened the first door she saw and walked inside.
"Hokage-sama, we have a problem. It's about Naruto Uzumaki."
Sarutobi sat back in his chair and looked expectantly at the ANBU agent kneeling in his office. He felt the ANBU's chakra spike, quick and small enough that only a Hokage would notice. The agent was nervous, and he had good reason to be. Sarutobi was notoriously prickly about the Uzumaki boy. Rumour had it that he'd demoted a Jonin for calling Uzumaki 'The Kyuubi" in one of his reports.
"Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka have been heard asking people about a pink-haired child. It's unclear if they are working together, or what their intentions are. If you approve, I would like to double the amount of time spent observing the boy, just until we find out what their intentions are."
"A pink-haired girl? Could they be talking about the Haruno child?"
"According to our intel, neither of them have ever spoken to the Haruno child before. However, considering Naruto's proximity to the girl at the time of her disappearance, I'm worried that if he tries to get in contact with the Haruno family they will end up lashing out at him. The results could be incredibly dangerous for Naruto."
The Hokage crossed his fingers together and leant forward, deep in thought.
"Is that all the information you know? Do you have any idea why he's doing this, or why the Yamanaka girl is involved?"
"No Hokage-sama."
"Then double the watch. Follow him from dawn till dusk if you have to. I need to know if he is in any danger."
The ANBU nodded, scribbling down a quick note on his hand.
"What about the Yamanaka girl?"
"I'll talk to Inoichi myself. It's been a while since I visited the flower shop."
The ANBU bowed his head, before using his Shunshin to exit the room.
The Hokage sighed and sat back, staring out the window. The sun was just starting to rise, golden rays peeking out over the top of the Hokage mountain. Minato had always loved the sunrise, and had even arranged his desk so that he could have the best view of it. Sarutobi hadn't had the heart to change it back once he resumed control of the office.
He closed his eyes for a second, the memory of his successor bittersweet. He hadn't been able to save Minato or Kushina and he could still recall the horror he'd felt when he heard the news. He had vowed to himself to keep their child as safe as he could, but Naruto was proving to be more difficult than he had hoped.
"What are you up to, Naruto?" he murmured.
On second thought, this probably was not one of Sakura's greatest ideas. Most of the rooms were either empty or filled with office furniture. She only came across one or two shinobi, and they merely shot her puzzled looks before returning to their work.
Just as she was about to give up and go back to the cavern, she opened the next door and entered a room filled with various strange looking contraptions. There were red bags hanging from the ceiling, and various bars of differed sizes with black circles on the ends littered the floor. After a second or two of looking at them, a word for this room popped into her head: Gym. This was a place to train.
Sakura would have grinned if she wasn't so paranoid. This actually looked fun.
She flexed her fingers and formed a fist, before walking over to one of the bags. She gave it a tug. The ropes seemed strong, but not strong enough to withstand a chakra-filled punch. She needed to work on her strength without chakra anyway, so she got into her normal taijutsu stance and started throwing punches at the bag.
It was the most enjoyable training she'd had in a while. She set herself a rhythm, dancing around the bag as she punched, imagining that it was a person she was hitting. Two hits to the stomach and an uppercut to the jaw, and her imaginary opponent was down.
She carried on like this for a while, occasionally throwing in kicks and blocks. She preferred fighting with her hands over weapons. When she held a weapon in her hand, she was reminded of the people she'd killed. Punching didn't bring back those memories. Instead, she felt the faint tingle she was starting to associate with her random flashes of memories. Somehow, her chakra filled punches connected her to her past, and she had no doubt that they had been her favourite form of fighting. Why, she couldn't tell, but it was nice to know at least one definite thing about her former life. All she had outside her shinobi instincts were a few memories of people that she couldn't remember, yet who felt achingly familiar. Sakura knew that dwelling on them for too long would only make her frustrated, so she doubled her effort at beating the bags.
She twirled through the room, punching and kicking as she went. Now she imagined that they had weapons, and dodged left and right before landing a hit.
"Well isn't this a surprise."
Of course something had to ruin her fun. Of course it would be Sasori.
She was surprised that he wasn't wearing his puppet body, but she supposed it made sense. He was in his own base, and they weren't sparring. From her perspective the puppet looked sort of uncomfortable to be in, but maybe it was cushier on the inside. Either way, he wasn't wearing it now, and he was staring at her with cold brown eyes. She turned around and bowed her head.
"Sasori-sama."
"Hello Sakura. I see you've been exploring."
She nodded and turned back to the punching bags. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd just go away.
He didn't leave. He stood there watching her, radiating smugness. Sakura was used to Sasori generally being a little smug, but this was far too much. He was planning something.
"Was there something you wanted from me Sasori-sama?"
"Yes actually." He was definitely too smug. "I want you to come with me now to the labs. I have more tests that I want to run on you."
Sakura felt her blood run cold, her brain flashing back to that horrible night where she had screamed and screamed but they had just kept injecting her and-
"I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to clear that with Baiu. I'm supposed to be training today."
"I see. I'll do that now then, but do tell me; why did you go with Konan when she didn't have it cleared with Baiu?"
He knows he knows I'm dead he knows. "I'm sorry sir?"
"You heard me, and you know exactly what I mean. So here's what's going to happen. Either you come with me now, or I'll tell Baiu about your trip to the medical ward. He will probably tell Pein and you will probably end up dead."
Her throat felt dry, like she was going to choke at any second.
"Konan-"
"-may feel a little sympathy towards you, but do you really think she cares enough to defy Pein head-on for you? I know Pein better than you. If he found out he'd be angry with her, but you would be the one he decides to get rid of."
She wanted to laugh at him, or come up with a scathing reply, but she suddenly felt like she was just a small child, well out of her depth.
"But why would he kill me? I'm supposed to obey Konan."
"That's not the point. Konan disobeyed Baiu, who Pein deliberately employed to turn you into a functioning weapon. Therefore, she disobeyed Pein. Unlike the rest of us, he won't kill her for that." There was the faintest note of bitterness in Sasori's voice when he said that. "What he will do is destroy whatever is making her act this way. That thing being…"
"Me." Sakura finished dully.
"Precisely. Now I can be reasonable. I understand that you've been busy training with Baiu, but today you have the opportunity to 'train' with me in my labs. Baiu will understand. If you refuse to come with me, I'll tell him about your little trip. If that doesn't work, I'll tell Pein myself. Believe me, if you don't come with me now I will make the rest of your life incredibly short and painful."
She felt panic welling up inside her, until her eyes started to tear. She pushed the tears back. She had never cried in front of Sasori, not even that night with Orochimaru when she had screamed and screamed and begged for the pain to end. There had been no tears then, and she sure as hell wasn't going to shed them now.
But even as her eyes stopped watering the panic remained. The thought of going through that torture again was enough for her to seriously consider the alternative, which would definitely end in her death. Both options seemed horrible, and she wished that she could freeze time and never have to move from this room. But time refused to stop and Sasori was staring at her expectantly, his normally dull eyes gleaming with satisfaction. They both knew what her choice would be.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered. "What have I done to make you hate me this much? Why can't you just leave me alone?"
Sasori shrugged. "Amegakure is incredibly boring, and I don't like you very much. Why wouldn't I spend time making you miserable? It's entertaining, and compared to my other test subjects you're the most useful one. Now come with me please."
Her foot trembled as she took a step forward. Sasori smiled icily and turned around.
"Good girl. Just-"
"Hey Sasori, are you in here? Oh? Who's this?"
A new figure entered the room, wearing the Akatsuki uniform. He was tall and bulky, a little bit taller than Kakuzu. One look at his face however, confirmed that this man was certainly not Kakuzu. His skin was a blue-grey colour and his face was covered with markings. After looking at them for a few seconds, Sakura identified them as gills. An image of a menacing looking creature popped into her head and a second later she remembered its name along with all the information she knew about it. Shark.
She looked up above his oddly round eyes and saw that he was wearing a Kirigakure hitai-ate with line drawn through it all clicked into place in her brain. It was the fashion of Kiri shinobi to make there features more like a shark with the aim of striking fear into the hearts of their enemies. This man certainly had the fear part down, although dyeing his skin seemed a little overboard. Perhaps he was born like that. Could Kiri shinobi mate with sharks? Sakura couldn't imagine that it would be pleasant.
"Kisame." Sasori said, not sounding very happy to see his co-worker. "This is Sakura, the one I was telling you about. Sakura and I were just leav-"
Kisame stuck his head past Sasori and grinned at Sakura, bearing all his pointed teeth at her.
"So you're Pein's pet project? I'm Kisame Hoshigaki, an ex-member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū."
Immediately, Sakura's head was full of facts about these shinobi. Each carried a distinctive sword, like the one strapped to Kisame's back. There could only be seven at a time, and they were considered Kiri's greatest swordsmen. What was frustrating was that she couldn't remember a single fact about them as individuals, not even their names.
Kisame was still grinning at her, blatantly ignoring Sasori's annoyed frown. Sakura realised that could possibly be her only opportunity to delay Sasori's plans for her. She needed to keep Kisame talking as long as possible.
"Hello sir. I'm Sakura."
His grin got wider, which she hadn't thought possible.
"Well aren't you just cute! The hair really perfects the whole look. Don't misunderstand me; I'm certain you're more than just a cute child. Why else would Pein keep you around?" He stepped forward and ruffled her hair. Sakura managed not to flinch. The last thing she needed was to make another bad impression. "Why I bet you can pack quite a punch! Don't tell him I said this but I saw Baiu limping yesterday. Actually, tell him. It'll be funny."
Sakura tried not to feel good about that. Kisame's tone of voice reminded her of Orochimaru, yet it was also quite different. The playful air Orochimaru had around him was deliberately designed to unsettle, while Kisame just seemed to not care about being grim and cold like the other members. It was a welcome change from the Akatsuki that flat-out disliked her, although Kisame was still incredibly intimidating. His voice did have a sinister edge, but most of his scariness was due to his appearance. Still, the important thing was that he hadn't threatened her yet, which made him far better company than Sasori. As long as she kept her speech as neutral as possible, she should be able to manage this conversation.
"I train as hard as I can, sir. I'm nowhere near good enough to take any of you on though."
"Don't be so hard on yourself! Here, give me your best shot." To Sakura's horror, he opened his arms wide and gestured at his torso.
"Sir, I'm not sure if I'm allowed-"
"Or course you are! I just said to do it, didn't I? Think of it as sparring, except I'll just be standing here." He squinted at her when her fingers started fidgeting. "What's the matter? I promise Samehada won't bite."
"Alright." Sakura said at last, taking a step back and channeling her chakra into her right fist. She kept her face blank, but mentally she was rapidly running over her options. On one hand, if she failed to even wind him a tiny bit it would be bad. On the other hand, if she punched him through the wall that would also be bad. Aside from the fact that he was an Akatsuki member and one of the best swordsmen in the world, she had no way of judging just how strong he was.
"Come on now kid, I don't have all day." There was an edge to Kisame's voice that made Sakura decide to just go for it as quickly as she could.
She put her left foot forward and swung her fist straight into Kisame's stomach, seeing as it was as high as she could reach without jumping. She was nervous, but that didn't diminish the feeling of satisfaction she always got when her fist sunk into flesh.
Kisame let out a grunt and took a step backwards, clearly winded. Sakura kept her face expressionless, waiting for Kisame's reaction. It took him a minute to get his breath back, but when he did he looked up at her with a grin on his face.
"Heh. That was quite the punch Pinky. I wouldn't mind seeing what else you could do."
Sakura had a choice now: Sasori or Kisame? With Sasori she knew what she was getting into, and it involved lots of pain and torture. Kisame was unpredictable, and going with him had the potential to end in even more of a disaster. But Sakura had absolutely no desire to be Sasori's test subject again, and Kisame seemed slightly more reasonable about the whole needless pain thing.
"I could show you now, if you want." she offered, not missing the flash in Sasori's eyes. So he'd figured it out, she wasn't surprised. Still, if she could get Kisame to fight Sasori for her company than the choice of being his test subject would be out of her hands, and Sasori would have no reason to rat on her other than spite, which she wouldn't put past him.
Kisame seemed to be about to agree, but Sasori cut across him.
"Actually, Sakura was just coming with me. Isn't that right Sakura?"
Sakura hesitated, and Kisame looked between them. He saw the intense expression on Sasori's face and the barely concealed fear on Sakura's and the penny dropped. Sakura felt relieved when she noticed his eyes widen slightly. Kisame wasn't stupid, it would seem. Now all that remained was for him to decide whether she was worth helping or not.
"Ah, I'm sure you two could hang out another time! You've had her for weeks Sasori don't be greedy!" Apparently he thought she was. "C'mon Sakura let's find a bigger room to spar in." Sasori looked like he was going to protest, but Kisame scooped Sakura up and walked past him. Once they were out in the corridor he used Shunshin to get them away from the room. Everything blurred for a few seconds, and when they came to a halt they were at the entrance to the building. Kisame put Sakura down, more gently than she was expecting.
"Thank you." she said, once she was firmly on the ground. "Sasori doesn't like me very much, and he was planning on making my day really miserable."
Kisame laughed; a deep, wet sound that wasn't as unpleasant as it should be to Sakura. "I noticed that. What did you do to piss him off?"
She gave a little shrug. "I almost broke his puppet when we first met. Things have sort of escalated from there. He's good at carrying a grudge."
"Oh Sasori doesn't just carry grudges, he savours them. This one shinobi accidentally mixed up a few of his vials once, and the body he dumped on the family's doorstep? It looked more like an animal carcass than a human."
Kisame had a grin on his face while he said that, and Sakura realised that she needed to keep her guard up. Kisame was just as messed up as the other Akatsuki members; he was merely friendlier about it. She could use that, if she was careful about it.
"I appreciate you sparing me from that." she said. "I don't have time to waste being a lab rat. Would you actually like my company or should I go now?" She hoped he'd let her go.
"I wouldn't have helped you if I didn't like you, kid. It gets dull here waiting for our next mission, and I've wanted to meet you ever since Kakuzu spilled the beans about you. So follow me and I'll show you something fun."
"What did Kakuzu say?" she asked, careful to keep her voice steady. They left the building and started walking through the streets. More people were out and about, but when they saw Kisame they scurried out of the way as quickly as they could.
"He said that personally he wasn't impressed, but he trusts Pein's judgement."
"What about you?"
He glanced down at her, and she focused on the street in front of them. She saw him grin out of the corner of her eye.
"Aren't you supposed to have no emotions? Why do you care what my feelings about you are?"
She could explain how his opinion of her was a valuable piece of information that could help her work more efficiently with him, but instead she shrugged and said flippantly: "I'm still in training."
She knew she'd made the right move when he gave another laugh, reaching forward to ruffle her hair.
"I hope you stay like this after you're training is finished. The Akatsuki are far too uptight. Most of them are too focused on their personal objectives to just enjoy life, you know?"
"What about you?"
His grin became slightly more dangerous. "We're not on that level of friendship yet, kid."
They walked in silence for a minute until Kisame put his hand on her shoulder and steered her toward another bleak grey building. This one seemed more run down than the apartments around it. Kisame pushed the door open, his right hand still on her shoulder. It was gentle, but she could feel the strength lurking in his fingers. She had no doubt that if he squeezed he could crush her shoulder in a second.
They walked through the door, and into a place that looked like a bar. Sakura had a feeling it was more than that.
"What's the plan?"
"Simple. This bar makes the most disgusting drink you'll ever taste. You and I go one round; you can chose the challenge. Loser had to drink a glass of it."
It didn't sound like a good time, but it wasn't like she could say no. Well, maybe she could, but she'd rather not test the limits of Kisame's friendship just yet.
"What's in the drink?"
He winked. "Apparently that's a trade secret. There's probably some alcohol though. Personally, I also think that there's piss in it, but don't tell Yudachi I said that. He's very proud of his concoction."
At the end of the bar a door swung open, and a man that Sakura presumed was Yudachi walked in. He looked up and noticed they were here, and Sakura saw shock and fear flicker across his face before he masked it with a friendly smile.
"Kisame. I haven't seen you in a while. Who'd you bring this time?"
"This is Sakura." Kisame said waving his hand and almost hitting her in the face. She wasn't sure if he did it on purpose or not.
Yudachi eyed her suspiciously, and Sakura stared back. Whatever opinion of her he gathered, he was careful to keep it off his face. This probably wasn't the first time Kisame had brought someone unusual here.
"So kid, what'll it be?" Kisame said cheerfully, nodding at Yudachi. This apparently was a signal for Yudachi to start fiddling with the bottles behind the bar. Sakura spared a second to watch him work, just to make sure that there wasn't really going to be any urine in the drink. Then she looked around, her mind racing to find a game that she could convincingly lose without it looking like she hadn't even tried. She didn't know Kisame well enough to trust that he wouldn't lash out if he lost. So far, all the Akatsuki she had met, with the exception of Konan, had an unstable mix of pride and arrogance. All of them thought that she was beneath them, and if she wanted to survive she had to convince them she was.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to figure out the most logical and strategic way of doing this. Instead she glanced wildly around the room until her eyes landed on something that would work.
"Darts." she said.
Kisame raised an eyebrow and looked skeptically at the worn dartboard hanging on the wall.
"Darts?"
Sakura bowed low. "My apologies Kisame-sama. I didn't realise your skill-set doesn't include darts. Perhaps I could pick something else. After all it's no fun if one of us is far more skilled than the other. Is there-"
"Alright, alright you can stop." She blinked innocently up at him and he snorted. "You're a little shit kid, you know that?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about sir." she said smoothly.
He laughed and shook his head ruefully, but he walked over to the dartboard and tugged the darts out. Sakura relaxed a little.
Until she remembered that she had no actual memory of ever playing darts, just a vague feeling that she should be good at them. Darts required precision and hand-eye coordination though, so this should be fine.
Fifteen minutes later she was chugging down the most disgusting thing she'd ever tasted. Even if she got her memories back right this second, she was ninety-nine per-cent sure that this drink would still be number one in worst thing that had ever touched her tongue.
Beside her, Kisame watched her swallow it down with a smug grin on his face.
"Be honest, how much did you limit yourself so that I won?"
She finished the glass and grimaced.
"I'd never played darts before, so I had no idea if I would be good or not."
"So you didn't hold back?"
"I was held back by the fear of what you would do if I won, but I didn't do it on purpose. Besides, I fought the legendary Kisame Hoshigaki to a tie-breaker. That's pretty impressive."
He laughed. "How do you know I'm legendary? I thought you had amnesia."
She deliberately let her eyes roam all over his huge body, his sword, and his teeth.
"Lucky guess."
He laughed again, and ruffled her hair.
"This was fun kid. You're precocious, but not annoying. I hope Pein doesn't kill you."
"Me too."
He gave her a parting grin before getting up and walking out the door. For a second Sakura thought he was going to bang his head on the door-frame, but then he was gone.
She let out the sigh of relief that she had been holding since Sasori threatened her, and rested her head on her hands. Now that that was over, all she wanted to do was rest. Perhaps she could stay in the bar for a little while, not long enough to make Baiu suspicious, but long enough to let her relax, just for a while.
A glass banged down in front of her and her head snapped up. The bartender was staring coldly at her.
"Is there anything else you need?" he asked, his tone clearly stating that serving her was not something he wanted to do. For a brief second she idly thought about killing him.
Since when was that such an easy option?
Sakura froze. The bartender was still staring at her, but she could see that his hands were shaking. She scooted off her seat and made her way out the door as quickly as she could. The cold wind calmed her, and allowed her to think clearly.
Sakura killed for survival. That was what she had decided. She didn't know who she had been before she joined the Akatsuki but she was sure that when she woke up for the first time in that dark cold room she had no desire to kill anyone. The thought had barely crossed her mind. Escape, yes, and fight if she needed to, but kill? Killing was for self-defence, and as she had adapted, for survival. Kill or be killed, at least until she could get home.
But as the days went by and home never became any clearer it had started to become easier. Baiu brought her a random person and ordered her to kill them. Sakura had no choice. Only now she noticed that after the first time she had never bothered asking why the person deserved to die. There had to have been a reason for them to have wound up in Baiu's possession, but she hadn't cared. All she had cared about was the satisfied look on Baiu's face that said she would be allowed to eat that night.
And now? Now Sakura was the kind of person that could contemplate murdering an innocent person for annoying her. The Akatsuki had changed her, and was still changing her. The question was, could she stop it?
She looked around her, and all she saw were grey buildings and civilians trying to stay as far away from her as possible without looking conspicuous. She was alone, and she would continue to be alone until she somehow found her home or her memories. The problem was, she had no way of finding them. Until a way presented itself, she had no choice but to bury her feelings and survive. She could deal with the cost of her actions once she found a way out.
Squaring her shoulders, she took off down the street. She'd go back to the gym and train until she was ready to collapse. Then in the morning Baiu would wake her and give her new orders. This would continue until… well, until she found a way out, whenever that would be.
"Inoichi, Ino! Dinner's ready! Hokage-sama has also stopped by!"
Ino stopped scribbling and slowly closed her colouring book. There was no way the Hokage was here because of her. He had more important things to worry about than two kids chasing after a girl who Ino was half convinced was just an imaginary friend she and Naruto happened to share. She'd never actually shared an imagination with someone before but Naruto was weird so it kind of made sense.
Kind of.
She was quiet walking into the kitchen, but if her parents noticed they didn't say anything. Their attention seemed to be directed towards the man with the funny red hat standing in the middle of the room. Ino wasn't dumb, she knew who he was and what the hat stood for, but she still thought that the design was stupid.
The man smiled at her. Normally, she would smile back and try and charm him into giving her sweets, but due to her scheming with Naruto, she was a bit nervous. She glared suspiciously at him, and she thought she saw his eyes flash with something she didn't recognize.
"Inoichi." the Hokage said gravely. "We need to talk about your daughter."
11 days left.
"Kill him."
Sakura hesitated. This was her second kill today, something that had never happened before with Baiu.
"Why is he here?"
The blow to her face was expected, but if he would give her an answer it would be worth it.
"You're a weapon. I've given you all the information you need to know. Now kill him."
It shouldn't be affecting her like this. Just because a kill a day had become routine didn't mean it was something she controlled. It was stupid of her to think she had any power in this situation.
Still she hesitated.
Baiu walked over to her and squatted down, so close she could feel his breath on her face.
"You're not being weak are you? The Akatsuki has no time for people who can't keep up with their strength."
He'd gotten good at pushing her buttons, and she in return had gotten better at erasing them. Her breathing steadied and she walked over to the sobbing man. Her nose wrinkled slightly when she noticed that he'd wet himself.
"Quick or slow?" she asked.
"Quick."
She reached down and wrenched his head to the side, snapping his neck before he had time to cry out. She didn't like it when they screamed.
Baiu watched her with something that in a less twisted man could be labelled pride.
"Good girl. Here."
He held out his hand and Sakura caught the warm scent of ramen. Her stomach growled, and the part of her that demanded she shove the noodles in his face had grown so, so small. She reached out and took them, her head bowed.
"Thank you sir."
He smiled and placed his hand on top of her head.
"You're doing good, Sakura. You'll be ready in no time."
The smell of the dead man's urine filled the air, and Sakura felt like getting sick.