A/N: Sorry this is late, I was hoping to get this chapter done by last week but college exams happened.
"Hurry up Naruto! I'm not losing my position as top of the class just because you can't run fast enough!"
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Naruto whined, panting along behind Ino as they made their way to the Academy. "It's not like they'll care if we're five minutes late."
"I care!" Ino snapped. "Besides, Sasuke is never late and if I'm not careful he'll get better marks than me."
"Who cares about Sasuke?" Naruto grumbled.
"You do, considering he's your rival or whatever."
"Sasuke is my rival? What? No he's just a jerk who thinks he's better than me, but I don't care enough about him for us to be rivals."
"Sure you don't." Ino drawled sarcastically as they reached the entrance to the Academy. "You think no one else can see the glares you guys send each other? Just because no one understands your silent communication doesn't mean we're completely oblivious."
"Ok whatever maybe he irritates me a little." Naruto sighed. "But whenever I see you-know-who she's always focused on Sasuke and it pisses me off. Why doesn't she just haunt him?"
"Language!" Ino hissed. "And maybe she is haunting him. You'd know if you actually talked to him."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Naruto muttered. "Let's go throw shuriken at logs before she pops back up to distract me."
"I've noticed that she's stopped appearing very often." Ino commented as they slipped into the classroom before the bell rang. "You think she's fading away or something?"
"I'm not sure." Naruto said, sliding into a free seat in the back of the class.
"Let's hope she leaves you in peace, because it's not like she's doing anything else."
Naruto chewed his lip and made no reply as Iruka began the lesson. Did he want this ghost gone? She'd been with him for years now and never done anything. Other than bringing him and Ino together his life hadn't been any different because of her, and it certainly didn't seem like he was ever going to get an explanation as to why the spirit of a young girl was haunting him. Yet the thought of her completely fading away was not pleasant.
He just couldn't give up on her. It had been years and the hallucinations had become rarer and rarer, but as long as they still happened Naruto couldn't let her go, and honestly he didn't want to. Yeah, she was weirdly pretty for a ghost girl and everything, but it was more than that.
There was something about her that made him unable to let her go, and no matter how hard he tried to figure it out he had no clue what it was. Maybe it was a feeling deep in his heart, or perhaps just his own stubbornness. Either way, when he saw her out of the corner of his eye during shuriken practice, he smiled.
Yes, she was cheering on Sasuke. But whatever, no hallucination was perfect.
When the clouds began filling the sky and the grey dreary buildings of Ame appeared on the horizon, Sakura almost cried.
She wanted nothing more than to go back to Tsunade and Shizune. They had treated her kinder than anyone else she could remember yet it was for that exact reason that she couldn't stay with them. Keeping them safe from Pein was how she could repay them, and if that meant returning to the Akatsuki so that he wouldn't track her down and kill them all then that's what she would do.
When she reached the lake between the village and the outside world, she steeled herself. She closed her eyes and thought back on all the experiences Ame had given her, the training, the torture, the constant fear and paranoia. She took all her memories and when she opened her eyes her face was a blank mask.
She could still feel her emotions bubbling inside her, but they weren't supposed to exist. They couldn't anymore.
She took a deep breath, remembering all the moments that made her happy this past year. Tsunade telling her she'd done well, Shizune working through difficult medical scrolls with her, Tonton curling up next to her when it was time to sleep. She took them all, and pushed them down into the back of her mind.
She was a weapon who'd been acting like a person, not the other way around.
Getting into Ame was surprisingly easy. She had no doubt that the second she stepped into the village Pein knew she was there, but no one came to escort her anywhere and none of the villagers bothered talking to her.
She made her way to the familiar central tower and then hesitated. Should she go back to her room? Try and find Konan? Head to the debriefing room?
In the end she went towards the last room she had been in before she left. She could hear voices coming from inside so instead of walking in through the door she slipped in through a crack between the walls. A year had passed and she still remembered the best places for spying in this building.
She wasn't worried about being caught. Pein already knew she was there, and she was confident that if he didn't want her to overhear then he would make that clear. Sliding around until she found the hole she used to see into the room, she watched as Pein and Konan talked to another Ame shinobi. It seemed fairly basic talk of how the villagers were fairing, what they were saying, if there were any problems, all routine stuff that didn't interest her.
The meeting only lasted a few minutes before Pein dismissed the nervous shinobi. Silence fell on the room, and Sakura waited patiently.
"Sakura, report."
She flickered in and landed in front of them, one knee on the ground and her head bowed. She wasn't scared to face them, right now she just felt a little sick.
"One year of training under Tsunade successfully completed. New skills acquired and no complications in leaving."
"Elaborate on those skills."
She raised her head, just a little, so that they could both see the diamond tattoo.
"When released this seal gives me instant healing and regeneration, as well as a significant boost in strength. Basic ninjutsu, elemental ninjutsu and taijutsu have also been hugely improved. My medical expertise has grown and I learnt new related skills and jutsu."
"…I see." Pein said at last. "It seems your assignment was a success. That seal in particular, can you recreate it on anyone? If we can power up every Akatsuki member that way…"
"I'm afraid Tsunade had to help me with the seal." Sakura lied. "I can show them how to store chakra but creating this seal is something only she can do."
She knew that was a lie. Tsunade had guided and helped Sakura through the process of forming the tattoo but there was no part of the jutsu that exclusively needed the Sannin. She was keeping that from him, just like she was careful not to mention a summoning contract. The truth was that spilling all of Tsunade's secrets to Pein felt uncomfortably like a betrayal, and Sakura couldn't afford to show Pein that she felt hesitant to disclose anything.
Lying probably wasn't the best option, but Sakura decided that she was allowed an adjustment period before becoming a fully functional weapon again. Almost a year of trying to be a normal person meant that it would take some time for her to get back in the swing of things. She doubted Pein would understand her reasoning, especially hiding something as valuable as a summoning contract, so she kept quiet about it.
"Very well then. Use this day to catch up on everything you missed with the Akatsuki. Tomorrow your missions will begin again as normal."
"Yes sir." she said calmly.
"Konan will show you to your room. Dismissed."
She nodded and followed Konan as she left the room. She still remembered the way to her small impersonal chamber that she slept in every night in Ame, so she wasn't sure why Konan was walking with her. The silence between them wasn't awkward, but it did feel kind of empty. Sakura didn't bother filling it.
Konan hesitated when they reached Sakura's room, and Sakura waited expectantly. What was it, some kind of additional test? Did Sasori want to poison her again? Did Orochimaru need a new test subject?
"It's good to have you back." Konan said, and then she left.
Sakura watched her leave, wondering why she had said that. Was Konan genuinely happy that Sakura was back or had she just picked up on Sakura's uneasiness and was trying to manipulate her into feeling more secure with the Akatsuki?
Sighing she entered her room and flopped down on the bed. She didn't know, and she didn't care. She was back and she was staying, so there was no reason for them to be worried.
Before she left, that simple sentence from Konan would have kept Sakura happy enough to stave off the loneliness for at least a week, but after her year away the words just felt hollow. She lay on the bed and stared at the dark stone walls until the silence became suffocating. The entire building was just so empty. Empty rooms and hallways, and when they were used it was by people with empty hearts. Readjusting to being alone was more difficult than she had expected, and the emptiness of the room made her feel like she was drowning. Childishly, she threw the pillow on her bed across the room and punched the wall next to her. Two seconds later she panicked, checking to see if there were any visible cracks. Luckily, there had been no chakra behind the punch, so her mini tantrum was unnoticeable.
She put her head between her legs and took a few deep breaths, feeling her temper fade. She needed to keep a level head. She couldn't let her emotions betray her, not here.
She had survived the Akatsuki for years, ever since she was a young child. She wasn't going to throw it all away because she couldn't get over one year of being treated like a normal human being. The year with Tsunade had been the best time of Sakura's life, but it was over now and she had to move on.
The training ground. If she could focus on smashing rocks she wouldn't have time to think, to be bitter. Jumping off the bed she raced out of the room, her feet following the familiar path to the underground cavern.
Just as she reached the entrance, a pair of hands plucked her from the ground and swung her around. Her instinct told her to try and stab her assailant with a kunai, but she recognized the huge, rough hands that were holding her. Not many people had blue skin after all.
"You're back! Hey Itachi look! The little baby killer is back!"
Kisame placed her back on the ground, and as she turned around she saw that both he and Itachi were standing in the hallway. Since when had they been friends? It felt like she'd missed something big since she'd been gone.
"Technically I've never killed a baby. Well… it depends on if you count toddlers or not."
Kisame let out a rough booming laugh and ruffled her hair.
"See? I've missed this little psychopath. You're a good partner Itachi, but like most of the Akatsuki you lack a sense of humour. You all take life to seriously, you know?"
"I disagree." Itachi said quietly. "But despite our different outlook on life we can still work well together. I value that more than your skewed sense of humour."
So they were partners now. Sakura wondered what had happened to Juzo, and then promptly decided that she didn't want to know. Whether Juzo betrayed them or died on a mission she had no doubt that he had met a bloody and painful end. Such was the fate of all Akatsuki members so far.
Something else was different. As she took in the two men, she noticed that Itachi wasn't watching her as intensely as he used to. Whatever problem he'd had with her, the year apart seemed to have cooled him down. He almost looked uncomfortable, but then again his face was still very impassive so perhaps his expression meant that he was simply thinking about what to eat for lunch. She'd never met anyone so difficult to read, and the Akatsuki weren't exactly a friendly and open bunch of people.
"So you guys are partners now?" she said "Seems like I missed a lot."
"You have no idea." Kisame grinned. "Orochimaru tried to steal Itachi's eyes so he cut off the snake's hand. It was quite amusing watching him explain the situation to the Leader. Itachi, show Sakura what you were like."
Itachi stared stoically at Kisame.
"See? He just casually told the whole story to the Leader without batting an eye. 'He tried to take my eyes so I took his hand.' I haven't seen the Akatsuki so rattled in a while." Kisame laughed, and Sakura smiled along, feeling slightly relieved.
"Be honest kid, you never liked that creep did you? Don't worry, none of us did. He was a twisted guy, and that's coming from me."
"When he was a member of the Akatsuki it was my duty to protect him and value his life above my own." Sakura said carefully. "But as someone who betrayed the organization he is my enemy now, and while a weapon can't hate people… I can certainly say that I will do everything I can to take him down."
"You won't be the only one." Kisame said cheerfully. "Samehada is purring at the thought of sucking all that ugly chakra out of his body."
"If I find a way to track him down, you'll be the first to know." Sakura promised. "But right now I need to train. A year with hardly any proper fights left me rusty."
"Well we can't have that." Kisame grinned. "I'll let you go practice being a good little weapon, just don't be a stranger."
"I'll try." Sakura said calmly, nodding once to Itachi before flickering away.
She made her way to the training ground and began warming up. Much to her annoyance the exercise didn't help her brain to focus. Instead she went over her conversation with Kisame, and wondered why it didn't feel nearly as satisfying as her talks with Tsunade.
Maybe it was because Sakura's humour didn't actually match Kisame's, and she faked it to make him fonder of her. The fact that she had killed toddlers was not something she was proud of, and the truth was that she didn't fit in with the psychopaths that made up the Akatsuki.
It felt like her year with Tsunade had reawakened a side of her she had long since buried, and Sakura wasn't sure if she should call it a weakness. Yes, the girl who had woken up with no memories years ago had been weaker than her, but there had been purity about her that Sakura had lost along the way. Her morals had been fixed since the day she awoke, and no amount of conditioning had been able to truly erase them. Killing had never made her feel good; she'd only done it to survive.
But with Tsunade she hadn't needed to kill, in fact she'd been forbidden to do so. It had felt good, pretending to be a normal person. Good in a way she never felt with the Akatsuki. It was ironic really, that the sense of goodness she had developed with Tsunade was the exact reason she couldn't let herself stay. The caring, empathic side of her, as small as it was, couldn't risk their lives for her own selfish reasons. She wanted to stay to continue feeling like a good person, but to be a good person she had to leave.
So here she was, but there was a problem Sakura hadn't counted on. After years of knowing nothing other than life as a weapon she had thought that she was content, but one year had been enough to show her a new, more worthwhile life that the Akatsuki had yet to offer. Her conversations with the members proved that there was no fulfillment to be found in interacting with them, so right now she was struggling to find a value to this existence.
The good life she'd had with Tsunade had made her feel more whole than all the years of her life in Ame. She sacrificed her ruthlessness to feel like a decent person, and it had been a satisfying trade. What did the other side have to offer? What good was cold bloodedness if it brought her no satisfaction?
That was the question she struggled to answer as she punched the walls of the cave, smashing the rocks and then kicking them to smithereens. She grabbed a rock and threw it across the room, hitting a weak point in the wall of the cave and knocking more rubble down. She pushed chakra into her feet and leapt at the rubble, pulverising it in a matter of seconds. She was panting for breath by the end of it, but adrenaline coursed through her as she looked around, satisfied with the destruction she had caused.
It hit her then, what being a weapon had to offer in place of morality.
There was another side to her, one that she had been careful not to acknowledge very often. She didn't like killing, but the feeling of walking into a room and knowing you could kill everyone in it? That gave her a thrill that she usually shied away from. It didn't feel right, both as a person and a weapon, to feel so satisfied with her power. But that side of her was there, in the back of her mind she had always had these thoughts, and the satisfaction of being the strongest person in the room was the only thing she could think of that could compare with the satisfaction of being a good person. If she had to give up the morality she rediscovered last year, she could throw it away with the goal of becoming more powerful.
They were completely different kinds of thrills, the thrill of receiving a genuine compliment off Tsunade after doing the right thing and the thrill of crushing a man's skull with her bare hand. But if she couldn't have the first one than the second one would have to do. After discovering the pleasure of a life outside the Akatsuki she needed the motivation of power to stay.
Maybe one day, she could even become powerful enough to go toe to toe with the other members. She'd keep that thought to herself for the time being.
The next day Sakura woke up ready for her mission. She assumed that she would be given new clothes, but to her surprise she found none. She'd taken two sets of clothes when she ran back to Ame and left the rest behind, assuming that the Akatsuki would provide her with more practical mission attire. Tsunade had given her useful clothes like a mesh shirts and leg guards, but everything else, from the sandals to the stylish haori, were entirely too casual and decorative for the Akatsuki. Yet it appeared that neither Pein nor Konan were bothered enough to fix that, and Sakura was more than happy to let them overlook it. She left the patterned haori on her bed, and took off to the debriefing room.
Her first mission after her return was a simple assassination. When she defeated the merchant's guards and had him sprawled helpless in front of her, she didn't think about how disappointed Tsunade would be. Instead she focused on the thrill of taking down all those bodyguards, on how she could kill this man because she was strong, and he was weak. She let those thoughts cloud her head and when she slit his throat it didn't feel nearly as bad as she feared it would.
Returning to Ame, she gave Pein her mission report. As usual he displayed no outward signs of satisfaction. She hadn't expected any praise, honestly she would be suspicious if he did start congratulating her, but it still was something she needed to adjust to.
When she returned to her room her haori was gone. Sakura felt her emotions surge when she saw the empty bed, and she quickly shut it down. She'd never even liked the grey colour and the weird red spikey motifs on the edges, but it had been a gift from Tsunade when she'd learnt how to summon Katsuyu, and she'd thought Pein hadn't cared enough to take it away. Clearly she'd been wrong.
The room was still too bare and silent, and Sakura felt unable to stay there. Instead, she went outside and leapt onto the roof of a small building. She hopped her way across Ame, idly watching the ordinary people below her. She could have been one of them, with her childlike appearance she'd blend right in. Why had this been her destiny? Why was she a weapon?
Something caught her eye and she froze, halfway up a wall. In the alley below her an Ame shinobi was advancing on a civilian woman, a leer on his face that Sakura recognized. Sakura watched calmly as he ignored her screams and grabbed her. Only when he tore at the woman's shirt did she leap down.
He turned around in surprise, eyes narrowing when he saw Sakura. She stared at him, considering. She remembered when Shizune caught her killing a man, and Sakura was certain that if Tsunade was here she wouldn't want Sakura to kill him. Hurt him yes, but not kill him.
But Tsunade wasn't her shishou anymore. Sakura was no longer focused on right and wrong. Instead the question was whether or not she had the power to do so.
The man walked towards her, attempting to be intimidating. Sakura could tell he was bluffing from how hard he was sweating. A year away hadn't damaged her reputation among the high ranking Ame shinobi, and it was clear that this man knew who he was up against.
He still flung two kunai at her, which she easily dodged. He was slow enough that she didn't even need to use Shunshin. She just stepped into his guard and slammed a palm into his chest. He crashed into an alley wall and didn't get back up.
The woman had gone quiet, but when Sakura looked at her, her eyes were wide with fear. Sakura tilted her head, gesturing for her to leave, and the woman scurried away. Sakura took one look at the unconscious man, and wondered what to do next. What was the punishment for attempted rape anyway? The man was clearly a threat to the people of Ame, and it was Sakura's job to eliminate threats. She considered bringing him to Konan, but was such an insignificant event really worth the hassle?
She propped the unconscious man against the wall, and then she carefully aimed her foot. Her kick smashed his head open and narrowly missed cracking the wall behind him. Sakura gingerly wiped her foot clean on his robe, staring down at the bloody mess that had once been a man's head. She could feel the guilt bubbling in her stomach, so instead she focused on the other emotion struggling to be heard: awe.
She had done that. She was capable of smashing a man's head open with her foot. She let the thrill of her own strength consume her, and as it surged through her the guilt faded. Sakura almost grinned. Maybe she would be alright with the Akatsuki after all.
She pushed all thoughts of Tsunade and Shizune to the back of her mind, and leapt back onto the closest roof.
A single paper butterfly floated above the scene as Sakura leapt away. Fluttering off it flew all the way into the central tower, where it pasted itself onto Konan and immediately became part of her.
She sighed.
It wasn't the worst thing. Technically Sakura had just done her job. Konan had been worried that the year away would have had more drastic side effects on Sakura, but this was still the first time she'd interfered in a simple Ame crime.
She would need to talk to Sakura about this. If she could nip this in the bud and teach Sakura to be more considerate of the consequences her actions generated, Pein wouldn't even have to know about this. Konan was sure that as soon as Pein got the impression that Sakura was malfunctioning, he would either fix her or dispose of her. Either way would be a painful experience for Sakura, and Konan was tired of watching a child suffer so horribly, weapon or not.
The girl had been human before she became a weapon. The year with Tsunade reminded her of this, Konan was sure. All she needed to do was to stop Sakura from displaying obvious behavioural changes, and Pein would have no reason to question the mental state of his weapon.
She let another sheet of paper peel off her finger, and it flew off to find Sakura. Two minutes later the girl landed in front of her, head bowed.
"You wanted to see me?"
"I wanted to talk to you about that shinobi you killed today."
"The one who attempted to rape the civilian woman? What about him?"
"No one ordered you to kill him. So why did you do it?"
Sakura looked up at her then, and her eyes were calm.
"My orders are to serve and protect the Akatsuki. This village and all its citizens are under the protection of the Akatsuki; therefore they are under my protection, correct? That man was attempting to harm a civilian, and I had no orders to contradict killing him. In fact, as his weapon my duty is to carry out the laws Pein-sama created, and I believe raping a civilian is something he deems a crime. Forgive me, but I fail to see the problem with my actions."
"The problem is that the care and protection of the citizens of Ame is my duty, not yours." Konan replied coldly "I was aware of what was happening, just as I am aware of almost everything that happens in this village, and there was no need for you to interfere. Furthermore, it is not your duty to play judge, jury and executioner when it comes to Ame crimes. I would have never let that woman get raped, and I would have punished that shinobi as he deserved, so I suggest you focus your time on improving for the challenging missions you are actually ordered to do, understood?"
"Mostly." Sakura said boldly. "But to clarify, if I see people disobeying Pein's orders, am I to ignore them and assume you are aware of what they're doing? If I see another instance like today am I to assume you have it covered and merely stay back and watch?"
"Just…" Konan sighed. "If you see a crime you don't think I am aware of, bring the perpetrator to me and let me be the one to deliver justice."
"Understood. No killing criminals. Only storing them away until you're ready to deal with them."
"Exactly." Konan said, relieved that the discussion was over. "I'm usually very busy, but if you can get me at a good moment I'll deal with the criminals you catch."
"Very well. Shall I get back to training now?"
"One last thing." Konan brought her hand up, and sheets of paper carried a haori over to Sakura. It was the same one the girl had arrived with, only Konan had added a strip of black fabric with red Akatsuki clouds running down from the lapels.
She handed the haori to Sakura and carefully observed her reaction, looking for any sign that the girl was unsatisfied with what Konan had done. However Sakura merely nodded in thanks, not looking a single bit put out at the new addition to her jacket.
That was a relief. One of Konan's main worries was that Sakura would carry sentimentality back with her from Tsunade, but the child seemed to have regained the practical nature of a weapon fairly quickly. She took the haori without complaining, put it on and then flickered away after one final bow.
Konan expected that to be the end of it. A year away may have awakened some emotional side that Sakura had repressed long ago, but the child had always been smart, and Konan had faith that she would keep that side hidden from Pein until it faded away naturally. A few abnormal actions were to be expected, but as long as Sakura was willing to readjust to the Akatsuki life there shouldn't be a problem.
A week later, she caught Sakura dragging an unconscious Ame shinobi through the base.
"Sakura." the girl paused and turned to face her, her gaze blank. "What are you doing?"
"I caught this one-" she gave the unconscious man's leg a shake. "-about to murder two children for stumbling across his smuggling ring. I saved the kids, knocked him out and now I'm putting him with the others."
"The others?" Konan knew she would regret asking.
Sakura nodded and started walking, Konan reluctantly following behind her. This… this was worrying. As a weapon Sakura walked a thin line between being a mindless tool and having enough intelligence to be of use. Right now she was taking too much initiative, and if Konan didn't stop this Sakura could end up rebelling, which wouldn't end well for the girl.
They stopped in front of a blank wooden door. Sakura unlocked it and flung the shinobi into the room, where he landed on a pile of bodies.
"Are they…"
"They're all alive, as you ordered." Sakura replied calmly. "I needed a place to store them until you were ready to deal with them, and this room wasn't being used so I borrowed it."
"Right." Konan said tiredly. "How many are there?"
"Eleven. Three attempted rapists, two abusers caught in the middle of domestic violence, one child molester, and five attempted murderers."
Konan observed the room, filled with unconscious shinobi, mostly chunin and jonin. It didn't look like there was any kind of sedative keeping them knocked out, which meant Sakura had to regularly come here and fight them all until she knocked them unconscious. She looked beside her, to the deceptively innocent face staring up at her, and it hit her then.
This wasn't Sakura attempting to defy the Akatsuki. This wasn't her rebelling against her conditioning.
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"I'm fairly certain boredom isn't an emotion I can feel."
"Of course not."
Surprisingly, Konan found herself slightly amused. Despite the cold, emotionless demeanour Pein had forced on the child, Sakura had always been a dynamic presence in the organisation. There were moments when she made Konan slightly uncomfortable, but there were other moments where she made her feel a little lighter than usual. She reminded Konan of Kisame in a way, except Konan vaguely liked the girl. Silly events like this had been lacking in Ame since she left.
"Well thank you for this, I'll make sure to deal with them all. If you want something more interesting to do then testing yourself against basic chunin and jonin, a new member has arrived."
Sakura perked up at that. It was just a tiny spark of excitement, but Konan caught it.
"His name is Deidara, he's Orochimaru's replacement. I imagine you'll want to observe him so you can be ready to report on him to Pein."
"Absolutely." Sakura nodded. "I'll get right on it."
"Good. And if you ever want a challenge, just come to me instead of picking fights with every common criminal in Ame."
Sakura ducked her head, but Konan saw the red tinge to her cheeks.
"I understand."
The girl took off down the corridor, and Konan couldn't help shake her head with fond amusement. A second later she frowned.
Sakura wasn't allowed develop emotional attachments, but neither was Konan. Especially not to a weapon that Pein could easily discard, that was just asking for trouble.
Deidara had been here less than a day, and he could already tell that this place was fucking creepy.
His new partner, who apparently preferred to live inside a deformed puppet, had said all of five words to him before going off to work on his art. The intimidatingly tall shark guy, named Kisame according to Itachi, had cheerfully slapped him on the back before leaving him alone in the building. Deidara could have asked Itachi for help, but the Uchiha and his bullshit genjutsu eyes bothered him, so after a minute of awkward silence Itachi had shrugged and left.
Other than the three that had brought him in, Deidara had met Kakuzu (also an intimidating guy), Pein the leader (what was with the creepy eyes? Did they also have overpowered genjutsu abilities?) and Konan (probably the most normal member he'd met so far).
Look, Deidara had mouths coming out of his hands. He'd spent years working as a rouge terrorist bomber. He was well acquainted with the creepy, unsettling side of the shinobi world, so when he said that these people were weird? It meant something. If his pride had let him, he would have bolted the second he saw Kakuzu dissolve into a mass of thick grey threads and tear a shinobi apart. Especially when Konan calmly explained that he had only done that because the poor low ranking shinobi couldn't pay back the money Kakuzu had lent him.
But Itachi had suckered him into this freak show, and Deidara refused to go back on a deal, so he grit his teeth and accepted every strange thing he saw. By the time the day was ending he felt like he was starting to get used to this place. The village was grey and wet, but he'd been given a nice workshop and a guarantee of never-ending supplies. Sasori had come by to watch him work, and although he'd seemed scornful as Deidara showed him his art at least he'd had an interest in it. So all in all, Deidara felt like maybe the Akatsuki would be alright.
Then he noticed the kid on the ceiling.
A girl, no older than twelve for sure, was staring at him with dead green eyes. She had pink hair and a grey haori with the Akatsuki symbol running down both edges. Was she a member? Deidara was fairly certain they all wore the same uniform, so he didn't get why this girl was different.
"What are you looking at, yeah?" he snapped, hoping to scare her off.
Instead, the girl flipped down off the ceiling and continued to observe him. Deidara glared at her, his hand twitching towards his clay.
"My name is Sakura. You must be the new member."
"No shit." Deidara growled. "Why are you spying on me?"
"It's my duty." her voice was so monotonous and soft, it unsettled Deidara just a bit. "As a weapon of the Akatsuki I must familiarize myself with all the members."
"A weapon, yeah? What the hell does that mean?"
"It means that I have the same value to you as a kunai." she said calmly. "Granted, I'm probably more useful than a normal kunai, but my point is that I am a tool to be used by the members as Pein-sama orders."
"A tool." Deidara repeated disbelievingly. "Of course, of course they've got a creepy little girl working for them as a living weapon. How did I not see this coming?"
The laugh he let out was slightly hysterical, but the girl's demeanour didn't change. She just stood there staring blankly at him, which made him sober up.
"I kind of want to know how they convinced a kid like you to become their slave, yeah, but I'm pretty sure the answer would disturb me. In fact, you're kind of bothering me right now. It makes me want to show you my art, yeah."
"You have nothing to fear from me, Deidara-sama." she bowed, her voice still inflectionless. "My duty is to protect all loyal Akatsuki members, even if it costs me my life. I cannot harm you in any way. We can spar, of course, but I am forbidden from using lethal force."
"Who said I was afraid?" he snapped. "Maybe I'm just looking for a good test subject, yeah. You look pretty strong, but if what you say is true I can kill you if I want and you can't lift a finger against me?"
"As long as Pein-sama allows you to kill me, I would have no say in the matter."
"You wouldn't try and stop me, yeah?" Deidara pressed. "You wouldn't put up a single bit of fight against me knowing that you were going to die?"
The girl, Sakura, just shrugged.
"If Pein-sama decides it's how I would be most useful, then I have no right to object."
"That's… that's fucked up kid, I'm not going to lie. Are they going to brainwash me like they did to you, yeah? Because in that case, I'm out."
"You're a valuable member, and I'm only a weapon." For a second it almost sounded like she was amused. "So no, Deidara-sama, they're not going to brainwash you. You're more valuable to the organization the way you are."
"Fantastic." he muttered. "Well listen, I won't lie and say this was pleasant, but compared to some of the people I've met today you're alright, yeah. Your eyes don't have any ridiculous abilities, do they?"
"My eyes are normal I assure you." She definitely sounded a little amused now.
"Great." Deidara mumbled. "That's great. In that case, I'm going to go back to my workshop and pretend this whole day never happened, yeah. Goodbye creepy child."
"Goodbye Deidara-sama." she bowed again. "I hope we can work well together."
She flickered away before he could reply, leaving him scowling at the wall.
The girl herself wasn't intimidating. Compared to Kisame and Kakuzu she was laughable to look at. It was the way she spoke, the way she carried herself. It was so… lifeless, like she had no fire or passion in her. Maybe the kid had been bluffing about letting him kill her, but if so she was a damn good actress. For Deidara, a man who'd let his fire and passion shape his whole life, meeting someone so dull was a dismal experience.
To be fair, this whole day had been quite a dismal experience. Hopefully the actual work he did for the group would make up for the people he would be forced to interact with. He almost laughed remembering the kids in Iwa who had been grossed out by his hands. If they could see the circus he was with now they'd be horrified.
"Welcome to the Akatsuki, yeah." he grumbled to himself. "We've got brainwashed kids, creepy eyes, and a blue shark man. Make yourself at home."
A/N: Writing Deidara's speech was difficult due to his accent, and I almost left it out completely but it didn't feel right. Some people choose to write it as un or hmm, but I chose yeah. Thanks for all the feedback and happy holidays!