Chapter 5- Goals, Secrets and Feelings

When Sakura entered the base, she knew Itachi was there. Not just because this is where they had agreed to meet up once Sasuke had agreed to join Sakura, and therefore the Akatsuki; but also because she could feel his chakra burning in his room. It was a… comfort… she had missed over the past two days. Admittedly, it pissed her off that Sasuke had been right. She had been waiting for him when he had arrived at the small base, but she wasn't about to let that get in the way of the good mood she was in.

Madra sempi will be proud. She thinks as she walks down the familiar yet depressingly dark and damp hallway. She is just entering into the round room when she feels a tug in her thoughts. Knowing that Itachi was attempting to communicate wither she quickly formed the complicated series of hand signs whispering "Shisō no setsuzoku jutsu" (thought connection technique). Immediately she could hear a pleasant hmmm in her thoughts.

Itachi? Sakura thought loudly. This jutsu was one of her favorites. Itachi had taught it to her one day, stating that 'when team members communicated silently it gave them a better chance of surviving.', whatever that meant. Anyway, Sakura particularly liked this jutsu because it allowed her to talk to Itachi without being near him. As far as she knew there were no geographical limitations to it, which made it even better.

Sakura, I'm assuming you have successfully gotten Sasuke's agreement to join. She heard Itachi's cool voice ring through her head. It felt good to hear his voice again, they hadn't used this jutsu in forever and she missed being able to talk to him at a moment's notice.

Hai. Sasuke is officially my new partner. She thought back, sending her smug feeling with it. the jutsu was interesting in that not only could the users send thoughts but also images, feelings and sounds. To Sakura the connection felt like a wire connecting their minds. Of course he couldn't read all of her thoughts, just the ones she 'sent' to him. The feeling part of the connection was a bit more difficult, as their feelings were always being sent across to the other. They had no control over what feelings the other would receive. But Sakura thought this was just as well, considering that Itachi hardly ever showed any emotions, it was nice to know he still had them.

She felt Itachi's brief amusement at her, which disappeared quickly to be replaced by slight concern and superiority.

Sakura, you must be careful. Sasuke is more deadly than you know. Do not underestimate his power. She was surprised to feel the twinge of guilt that came with the thought. However soon enough the only thing she could feel was a cold indifference. From him.

I can handle Sasuke. She thought, a bit annoyed that Itachi didn't think she could handle herself. Sasuke wasn't so hard to handle (really all you had to do was invade his personal bubble and he backed off immediately.), besides, Sasuke was the one underestimating her.

Sakura, Sasuke has nothing to lose and everything to gain- Itachi thought before Sakura cut him off.

So do i. She thought firmly. She could feel Itachi's annoyance, anger and slight feeling of worry.

You think you don't but believe me, you do. He thought firmly, clearing meaning to end the argument. Before Sakura could reply he thought, I will be watching and listening. Sakura took that to mean that he would want to keep the jutsu open for the majority of the trip.

Sakura mentally sighed, slightly pissed off. Fine. I must go talk to Madra now.

Hn. And with that she lost the feeling of Itachi's connection. As usual it took her a few seconds to get use to the empty feeling in her mind after he had left. She ignored it however, convincing herself it was stupid to miss him. By this time she had reached Madra's door. She opened it roughly, still fuming about Itachi. She stepped into the office silently.

Madra was sitting at his desk and glanced up when Sakura stepped.

"Hello Sakura, how was your trip?" he asked in a strangely cheery voice. Weird Sakura thought, still upset there must be something going on. What aren't they telling me? She narrowed her eyes momentarily, before relaxing and putting a blank expression on her face.

She shrugged and replied, "It was ok, I used a teleportation jutsu to get here though, so im kinda low on chakra." Her indifferent tone made Madra raise an eyebrow. Not that Sakura could see it, but his sharingan eye got slightly wider. After spending five years almost constantly in his presence, Sakura had learned how to read him pretty well. Plus all the time she spent reading Kakashi- Sakura visibly flinched at the thought of his name. Anger continued to course her veins. She somehow managed to keep her face blank, covering up her venomous thoughts.

"Sasuke decided he wanted to follow me here" Sakura answered Madra silent question, "or I guess I should say try. He tried to follow me" she amended after a second of thought. Her voice was tight. She was so much better than Sasuke, why couldn't they see that? Why was everything always about Sasuke? Or Naruto? Didn't anybody care about her? SHE was the strongest now. But it didn't seem to make a difference. She turned away from Madra's eyes and glared at the filing cabinet on the floor.

"I see." Madra said indifferently. Then he stood up and walked across the room to a row of shelves on the other side of the room and started to rummage around. Sakura attempted to burn a hole in the cabinet with her eyes.

"First thing first, did Sasuke decide to join up again?" he asked not looking at the pink haired Akatsuki member.

"Hai." She said shortly, again always Sasuke. She let out a small huff of air.

"Good." He said then he seemed to find what he was looking for because he turned and walked back to his desk. "Next, take this. It's a chakra pill." He said handing her a small round pill. She took it examining it.

"You mean like a soldier pill?" she asked wearily.

"No. It artificially stimulated the body's chakra producers to give you more chakra. A chakra pill" he explained. Sakura looked at it skeptically. It didn't seem like it was a good idea. Things don't come without a price, chakra can't be made out of thin air. There had to be some catch.

"What's the catch?" she asked narrowing her eyes and looking at him.

"Sakura eat it now." Madra snapped at her. Sakura quickly popped the pill into her mouth and swallowed. She immediately felt dizzy and nauseous. She just gritted her teeth however and waited for Madra to speak again.

"Good. You know I would never do anything that would hurt you." He said absentmindedly.

"of course" Sakura managed to get out, she was still pissed off. Why couldn't they just trust her?

"Remember what they did to you Sakura. The tortured you, killed the ones you loved and kept you locked up." Madra says in firm voice. Sakura froze then clenched her fist. "And who rescued you?" he asked

"You did Sempi." She says angrily. She knew it was true. All of her anger seemed to shift over to the thought of what the stupid village had done to her. Madra had rescued her from the horrors of the leaf village, showed her the truth and made her realize what was the right way. Of course he would never do anything to harm her! He had Saved her! How could she doubt I him. It was all those bastards in Konoha's fault. She hated that place and everyone inside of it for do what they did to her. She needed to kill them all.

"Good, don't forget it." Madra said, "Now lastly, I want to warn you about Sasuke." Sakura stopped ranting in her head and turned to look at her master. Him too? God does nobody believe in me? Then she chided herself for not believing in Madra. Of course he knew what he was talking about. She was disgusted with herself for even considering her had been trying to put her down.

"Sasuke is a loose cannon. He cannot be trusted. Ever." The Akatsuki leader said solemnly. "DO you understand Sakura?"

"Yes sempi, I won't trust Sasuke. As far as I'm concerned he nothing by a means to an end." Sakura said forcefully. A means to kill all of the people who ruined my life.

"You are dismissed" Madra said unceremoniously. Sakura nodded and left feeling angry, confused and dizzy. As she exited the base she couldn't help wondering what was happening. Everyone seemed to know something about her new partner, except for her. It disturbed her. She was the one who had to be by his side for the next two months not them. Shouldn't she know what was going on. She had a feeling there was something bad coming, but she didn't know what. She was just exiting the underground base feeling motivated to accomplish her goals, when she noticed that all of her chakra had returned. She wasn't too surprised. After all Madra had said it would return all of her chakra back in no time. She smiled, this was good. She quickly made the hand signs and disappeared in a cloud of Sakura tree petals. She arrived in the clearing she had just left, in hidden rain country. It took a moment to realize that she wasn't alone in the clearing. Her eyes widened as she took a defensive pose, lightning fast, a snarl finding its way out of her mouth. It was about that time that the world went black and she collapsed. Her only thought,

I knew there was a catch.

A/N: well ya, I know I said I was gonna crank this out, but I just didn't feel like writing. Plus the lack of reviews has kinda got me unmotivated. Hint hint. Anyway. This is it. what do you guys think of the thought transfer jutsu? Who was in the clearing? Why are Itachi and Madra keeping things form Sakura? More importantly, why did Madra give Sakura a pill that ended up making her pass out? These question and more will probably not be answered in the next chapter! Ha ha. Well I guess ill start on chapter six now.

-Your bismuth killjoy, Lexie!-