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THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED
stfuSPARKS
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 'The Remedy' by Jason Mraz :)
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IX.
The Remedy
"If you've got the poison
Then I've got the remedy,
The remedy is the experience,
This is a dangerous liaison,"
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"Someone answer the friggin' phone!" Deidara shouted from his room, feeling extremely irritated after hearing the phone ring over four times.
"You fucking answer it!" Someone who suspiciously sounded much like Hidan roared from somewhere else in the headquarters, sounding equally as annoyed. "Not all of us are lying on our asses being lazy all day! Some of us actually have stuff to do, you know?"
A vein throbbed on the blonde's forehead. "I'd answer it if I could, you dumbass!" He screamed back furiously. "On the contrary to your dumb opinions, I'm actually busy doing something!" He paused to look down at his incomplete clay sculpture in his hands. "I absolutely refuse to believe that no one is free to pick up the stupid phone! I know for a fact that no one has any missions today!"
No one bothered to answer him.
Ah, it was a typical day of the daily life in the Akatsuki headquarters.
Finally giving up, Deidara ripped off his rubber gloves and stormed out of his room, heading over to answer the phone sitting on an end table in the living room. He almost ripped his hair out when he saw Sasori sitting motionlessly on the couch, reading a book.
"You couldn't just reach over and answer the phone?" The blonde incredulously asked his partner.
"Hm?" Sasori looked up from his book. "Oh. I wasn't aware that the phone was ringing." He said flatly, before busying himself into the pages of his book once again. "Well you might as well answer it, now that you're here."
"How could you not hear the phone ring?" Deidara's jaw dropped open. "I could hear it all the way from my room which is on the opposite side of this house!"
Giving Sasori a dirty look, Deidara picked up the receiver. "Hello?" He snapped to whoever was on the other line. He was feeling too irritated to feel guilty for being so rude. "This better be important because you're not calling at a good time." He added, clearly not in the mood for a phone conversation right now.
"... ah. Deidara?"
He froze at the familiar voice on the other end of the line. It couldn't be who he thought it was- she would have no reason to call them. She hadn't willingly talked to them in almost a year. However, his hearing didn't lie. This was definitely the only girl he had ever considered precious to his heart.
"Sakura-chan." Deidara breathed, and this time Sasori's head quickly snapped up to look at him. "Is that you?"
There was a long pause at the other end of the line. "Yeah, it's me. It's been awhile, I guess."
Deidara finally gathered up the courage to answer her. "What do you want?" He sneered crudely. "I thought you didn't want to see or talk to us anymore." He could almost see her flinch. "Won't Idate-kun be mad if he finds out you're calling us? Or maybe even Sai won't be happy with you either. After all, they're the ones who didn't approve of you hanging out with us. We're only going to be bad influences to you." He added the last part mockingly.
"Deidara, I didn't call to argue with you."
"Oh well that's funny, because I can vaguely remember you punching me in the face the last time we met." Deidara replied dryly, secretly enjoying her vulnerability in this conversation. "You do realize that by doing that, you openly admitted to cutting all ties with us? The small chances of us ever being friends again flew out the window when you threw that punch."
"I might die."
He froze in the middle of his rant at her words. He felt his throat dry up. "What do you mean you might die?" He repeated hoarsely. "You can't die easily, you pink haired freak. I've seen you in action before, remember? You're as good as invincible with that barrier thing on you." Sasori quietly scoffed at his attempt to sound tough.
"I don't know, but my powers are attracting all sorts of wrong attention. I need your help- or I might really die. It's just a matter of time before these people find out my weakness."
"You can't expect us to forgive you so easily." Deidara weakly said, wishing he could sound as confident as he wanted to be. "You threw us away like trash, just because one man told you to."
"I just wanted to live a normal life."
"People like us can never live normal lives, Sakura-chan. You should have known that from the start." His voice was quiet this time. "Is being normal that important? I thought you were happy just being with us. None of us may be normal, but we're still a family nonetheless."
"I dont know anymore." There was a pause. "Deidara, you know I wouldn't be calling you if I wasn't really in trouble."
"Don't think you can call us whenever you're in trouble." He snapped. "We're not your objects." He slammed the receiver onto the phone, hanging up on her. He breathed heavily, trying to regain his composure. "What the hell are you staring at?" He snapped at the redhead sitting across from him.
Sasori didn't falter. "Are you sure you were being honest?" He asked blankly, tilting his head to the side. His intelligent brown eyes were calculating. "I dont think you meant any of that right now."
"Mind your own business, puppet boy." The blonde snarled viciously.
Sasori's eyes narrowed. "I am simply trying to help you out, Deidara." He said coldly, looking back at his book. "After all, you were the one who took Sakura's departure the hardest out of all of us. You were the one who could never forgive her for leaving us, while the rest of us simply understood her."
"What do you mean you understood her?" Deidara asked, glaring at him. "The rest of you were just as mad as I was!"
"Only at first." Sasori told him calmly. "But you have to understand Deidara, she was much younger than the rest of us when she was first brought in. She was only fifteen years old- she wasn't an adult like the rest of us. She was still growing up- in fact, she's still growing up now. She was at that age when she still didn't know who she was, so it was perfectly understandable for her to follow a man she loved. Perhaps we were the selfish ones, expecting her to stay with us forever."
Deidara unwillingly reflected on his partner's words. No matter how much he didnt like it, he had to admit that Sasori had a point.
"Well it's no use now." He miserably said, rubbing his temples. "You heard what I said to her over the phone. She definitely doesn't want to see me anymore now."
"I don't know what she was asking of you, but I'm sure every single one of us would be glad to help." Sasori solemly said, handing him the phone. "All it takes is another phone call, Deidara. Try not to mess it up this time."
In that moment, Deidara threw away the last of his pride and reached for the phone once more.
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Sakura had actually forgotten how intimidating the Akatsuki members looked when they were all bunched together in one spot.
She uncomfortably shifted under the intense stares they were currently receiving from the people around them.
If the situation hadn't been so serious, it would almost be comical. The Akatsuki was vastly known for its extremely unique members- and each were known to be extremely dangerous in their own way. She had spent two years with these people- but they would never cease to intimidate her.
The infamous Uchiha Itachi was sitting right across from her, sitting at the center of all the powerful men, sipping on a glass of expensive wine. He was easily the most handsome member out of them all- outshining them with his long silky raven hair and pale face. Although he was much older than her, he was still appealing in his own mature way. His ruby red eyes were a different shade from her own- while hers were usually bright red and bloody, his were darker and deeper. She had to admit that they were still sexy as hell.
"I must say, I was surprised to hear that you requested us to meet us." He said in his sultry deep voice. "But it is a pleasure to see you all the same. You've grown up to be a beautiful woman."
"Woman? I see nothing but a little brat."
She turned around to glare at the person who had just insulted her. Kisame (but in her heart he would always be Fish-chan) sat to Itachi's right, viciously chewing on a piece of meat. He was easily one of their most intimidating members, with his grayish blue skin and beady black eyes. His sharpened teeth were a bonus as well. As she had expected, his faithful Samehada- a gigantic sword which he carried around with him everywhere- was strapped to his back.
"Kisame, you're always so rude." Zetsu spoke up, smiling gently at her. "You look fine, Sakura-chan." His expression suddenly morphed into a twisted sick grin. "Perfectly delicious." His tone of voice was suddenly much darker, almost sadistic.
Sakura shuddered, remembering how long it had taken her to get used to Zetsu's split personality. He was perhaps the person that scared her the most in the entire gang. Half of his body was painted white, while the other half was black- leading to the nicknames 'White Zetsu' and 'Black Zetsu'. They usually used 'White Zetsu' to refer to his gentle persona- the one who was kind with everyone and didn't hesitate to help a partner in need. 'Black Zetsu', on the other hand, was the crude and sick side of Zetsu, the one who was selfish, greedy and twisted.
"Was about time you fucking grew a pair of tits." Hidan vulgarly swore, shooting an appreciative look at her body. "I mean they could be bigger, but what the fuck."
Hidan's vocabulary was crude enough to make a sailor blush. His physical appearance wasn't all that bad- in fact, if Sakura didn't actually know him, she might've thought that he was actually good-looking. His slicked back silver hair was pretty silky and his dark violet eyes were extremely sultry. On the other hand, he had by far the most vulgar personality she had ever seen in a man or woman. Though sometimes it could be entertaining, most of the time he was simply annoying.
"It's no surprise you're broke all the damn time." Kakuzu glared at the silver haired man. "You waste half of your time on women. You spend the other half of your time paying for women."
Typical Kakuzu. The tall, broad-shouldered man had not changed at all. The dark-skinned man was as easily irritated by Hidan like she had always remembered him to be. His bright green eyes, similar to her own, narrowed down in disdain at his main partner. Kakazu had long brown hair that he always kept hidden under a white hood. The lower half of his face, on the other hand, was disguised behind a black mask. She had once seem him shirtless, and needless to say she had been highly disturbed by the endless amount of stiches that covered his body.
"Sakura-chan, it's been so long!" Tobi cried out, leaning over the table.
Tobi was perhaps the most amicable member of the Akatsuki, though was impossible to see what he was thinking under his orange wooden mask- no one had ever seen his face before. He was the youngest member (after herself), which explained his short and scrawny stature. He had a tuff of raven hair that was untamable (she had tried many times) and a childish personality that was always able to brighten her day up. However, most of the members just found him plain annoying.
"You're attracting too much attention." Sasori said tonelessly.
His face was just like a blank canvas- always expressionless. Sakura sometimes wondered if Sasori was truly capable of feeling any emotions at all, but he very rarely had moments that proved that he was human. He was very pretty- his honey brown eyes and ruffled red hair were features that were usually extremely appreciated by all kinds of women (she would never understand why). Despite his young appearance, Deidara had always hinted at the fact that Sasori was much older than he let on.
And last but least, sat the person who had been the most important to her throughout her entire stay in Akatsuki.
Deidara hadn't spoken a single word ever since they had met barely half an hour ago, and to be honest it was starting to irritate her. He simply sat in the corner furthest away from her and stared at her with those intense sky blue eyes, as if he was trying to analyze her. He hadn't changed at all- his blond hair was lovely as always, sweeping over his left eye while half of it was tied into a high ponytail. She was briefly reminded of the times in which she had tied his hair for him, jealous of the silky texture.
He was the one who had been crushed the most by her so-called 'betrayal'.
She would never forget the look in his face when she had confessed to them that she wanted to leave. He had been hurt- the thought of Idate or Sai holding more importance than him had been too much for him to handle. Spiteful words had been exchanged on the day of her departure- and their relationship had never been the same since.
"Are you really not going to talk to her at all?" Sasori murmured to the blonde sitting at his side. "You know it's now or never."
Deidara refused to answer him, taking a long sip of his own glass of wine. He felt in dire need of a smoke right now- the tension between him and the pink haired girl was suffocating.
"It's rare of you to ask for our help." Itachi said, arching a perfect eyebrow. That damned smirk would be the death of her one day.
"It wasn't my idea." Sakura mumbled, shooting a glance towards Shino as if to prove a point. "He said I had no other choice, so here I am."
Hidan smirked as well, leaning forwards. "You know if you don't want our help that's fucking fine with us." He said in a low voice. "It's not like there's a contract forcing us to help you whenever you're in trouble." She scowled at his words. "However," He drawled. "If you're nice to us, we might consider it."
Sakura scoffed; there was no way she was going to fall for that. "Fat chance." She grit out. It was bad enough that she was asking for their help in general- it made her feel so helpless.
"Oh well." Hidan shrugged. "It was worth a try."
"Don't listen to Hidan-san! We'll help you in any way we can, Sakura-chan!" Tobi exclaimed enthusiastically, accidentally knocking over a glass of water on the table.
"Who died and made you leader?" Kisame asked the younger boy, rolling his eyes. "This isn't a decision for you to make kiddo." He could almost see the pout behind Tobi's mask.
Everyone expectantly turned to look at the older Uchiha. "This decision isn't up to me either." He slowly said, as he gaze shifted over to the end of the table. "Deidara?"
"W-what?" Deidara spluttered, caught off guard. His face immediately reddened at the sudden attention. "This has nothing to do with me, why the hell should I be the one making any decisions?" He crossed his arms and looked away from them. "I don't care either way."
"So are you saying you wouldn't care if we don't help Sakura-san?" Kakuzu immediately caught on with the drift. Deidara looked bewildered at his question- it was obvious that he hadn't been expecting anything of the sort. Deidara snuck a look at the pink haired girl, and hastily looked away when he met her gaze.
He was becoming more flustered by the second. "I don't know, decide for yourselves!"
"You and Sakura-san should make amends with each other." Zetsu kindly said. "For fuck's sake, you're both being ridiculous." He immediately added with a hiss.
Sakura and Deidara both pointedly ignored each other. Both weren't quite sure of how to approach the subject of their fight- it had been over a year ago after all. An awkward silence overcame the entire table. Shino sighed once again- he seemed to be doing a lot of that ever since he had met her. "Sakura-san, there's only so much I can do to help you." He told her.
Before either of them could realize what was happening, Kisame roughly grabbed them both by the collars of their shirts and unceremoniously dumped them onto a nearby, separate table. Sakura let out a small cry of pain as she felt her bottom collide with the chair. "You're both dense idiots." He grunted, before taking a seat again.
She whirled around to protest, only to be met with Kakuzu's menacing green eyes. "Time is money, Sakura-san, and to be frank you are wasting all of our time right now. Please do not even think about returning until you are finished discussing with the blond idiot." His voice was cold, making both of them shudder.
They awkwardly faced each other, not daring to look directly into each other's eyes.
"Ah." He said, nervously looking at his hands. He was currently wishing that the ground would swallow him whole. "It's been awhile, I guess." He mentally slapped himself for the lame remark- but he couldn't think of anything else to say in the situation right now.
"Yeah." Sakura seemed to reflect his anxiety. "Listen Deidara-" He looked at her in surprise as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "-I thought about what you said earlier over the phone- and you were completely right. I can't take advantage of you guys like this. It's unfair of me to call you whenever I need help. It was completely tactless of me."
Deidara was inwardly horrified. Did this girl actually believe his words from before? How dense could she be?
"Plus, I can handle myself on my own." She continued, forcing a smile onto her face at her blatant lie, hoping that he would just buy it. "I can probably kick all of their asses by myself." Even her laugh sounded strained. "Sorry for wasting your time. I'll be leaving now." She quickly stood up from her seat.
His hand shot up to grab her.
"No." He said quietly, and for the first time that day he looked straight into her eyes. "Stay."
Sakura had to swallow the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat. She wanted to cry- but this wasn't the right place or time to do so. She had to stay strong for now. Her tears could come when this was all over.
And so she sat back down and started to talk.
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I was sixteen years old when I first joined the Akatsuki.
The story of how it happened is one that should be saved for another time and place. The only important part that you need to know is that it was Deidara who picked me up and saved me. Of course I had Sai- and Idate too. Yet it had been an entire year since I had been dismissed from the hospital and there was still a part of me that felt unfulfilled.
Maybe it was because Sai and Idate would never know the pain of being an outcast. It was easy for them, to step back and pat my back while I suffered by myself. They could sit beside me and whisper words of comfort but they would never be able to shoulder my pain with me. They had no idea what it was like to feel so tainted and cursed as I did.
But Deidara knew.
Sai picked me up. Idate gave me a push forwards. But Deidara was the one who held my hand and led me to the finish line.
Deidara was the one who introduced me to other people who were just as broken as I was. While Sai and Idate had busied themselves in trying to fix me and put me back together, Deidara was the one who taught me that true beauty lied within flawed things.
Like us.
He was the one who taught me that it was okay even if we weren't normal. We could survive in this world together, with each other.
Now that I think back on it, Idate was never too happy with me hanging out with Deidara- and deep inside, I couldn't blame him. Akatsuki never brought good news. I was mainly assigned to small and petty missions, but even those weren't exactly legal. I would never know what the bigger missions consisted of- those were mostly assigned to our strongest members, such as Itachi or Kakuzu.
But I couldn't leave. Even if Idate meant the world to me at the time- I just couldn't. Idate could never give me what they could.
Because 'they'- every single member of the Akatsuki- was just like me in a way. Of course, they didn't have my powers or anything of the sort- but that was the factor that let us understand each other the most. It was because each of us were one of a kind in this world.
I thought we could last forever.
But time is cruel and it changes people. A girl at the age of sixteen going on seventeen starts to develop different needs. It is a time when her mind starts to change, starts to confuse what she has and what she really wants. While it was fun to skip school everyday and hang out with my other friends, I began feeling a bit wistful when I would walk down the street. Seeing normal high school girl wearing their uniforms, chatting among each other as they walked home from school made me realize that I was jealous.
I began developing a need to join that normality that I once hated so much.
I wanted to have a normal life. I wanted to go to high school and meet new people and grow up. I wanted to know the feeling of having to study hard for a future. I wanted to be able to bring my obento to school and eat lunch with the other students. I wanted to have a boyfriend who could walk me home and take me out to dates- but who was I kidding? Who would ever accept me for the way I was?
When I turned eighteen, Idate asked me to become his girlfriend.
He was my best friend. He was more mature than any other guy I knew- I knew for a fact that he would never hurt me. I loved him as a precious person to me- but not as the precious person. But who was I kidding? Idate had fallen in love with with me- for the person I was. He had accepted every single part of me, and it was more than I could ask for.
I could learn to love him, with time.
He promised me that I could be normal. But to do that, I could no longer stand beside my friends in the Akatsuki. I had to choose between being normal and an outcast- and at the time, I desperately craved to just be like everyone else.
To say that Deidara wasn't happy with my decision was the understatement. of the year.
Hurtful words that we would never be able to take back were exchanged on that day.
"I'm leaving."
My voice was never as confident as I wanted it to be. I could feel myself waver for a second as his blue eyes snapped up towards me, his mouth dropping open. A look of disbelief overcame his face, as if he thought I was lying.
"What?"
"I have to leave."
"You can't leave."
We stared at each other for a second. "I can't live a normal life like this." I slowly told him. "I want to be a normal teenager. I want to experience life like everyone else, and I can't do that here."
"You can't leave." He repeated blankly. "This is where you belong. With us."
I was starting to grow frustrated. Why couldn't he see it? "Deidara, no. I'm eighteen now and I haven' done anything with my life. I want to study, go to a university, get a job and maybe even get married and start a family. How do you expect me to do any of those if I stay here with you?"
His jaw dropped open. His expression suddenely hardened, as he looked enraged. "It's that Idate guy, isn't it?" He hissed. "He's brainwashing you into leaving. He never liked us to begin with."
"Idate is my boyfriend now." I wish I could sound just a little happier. "I'm going to live a normal life with him."
The hurt that briefly flashed in his eyes was almost heartbreaking. "Boyfriend?" He asked. "Who are you trying to kid Sakura? You don't love that guy. Not romantically at least. I know you better than he does. Hell, maybe I know you better than Sai does. You can't fool me."
"I can learn, starting now." I briefly contemplated on whether I should continue or not. "He can give me what you can't."
How ironic. Two years ago, it was the other way around. I thought Idate was the one who couldn't give me what Deidara and the others could.
His lips curled back into a sneer, and I saw him change into a person I'd never seen before in my life. "Well good." He said with a sinister smirk. "Was about time. No offense Sakura-chan, but I've been waiting for you to pick up your stuff and leave for awhile now. You're too weak to catch up with us- you're only holding us back."
I felt my voice quiver. "Liar." I whispered, trying to stay strong. "You just told me not to leave."
"Isn't that what girls want?" His smirk widened. "Don't they want guys to stop them when they say they're leaving? I had to do it at least once to make you feel a little better about yourself." He paused. "After all, knowing you, you'd just beat yourself over abandoning us for your selfish needs. But hey, news flash! It's fine Sakura-chan, you're actually doing us a favor by leaving!"
"You're lying."
"No." It hurt more than it should have. "I never should have saved you that night. I would have just left you to die if I had known that you'd turn out to be so useless."
My blood ran cold. "That's low." I whispered. "Even for you Deidara, that's low."
If he was regretting his words right now, I couldn't see it. "Leave." He said, getting up and turning his back towards me. "Leave right now and never come back again. Don't ever contact us again either. Don't regret it when you wake up one day and realize it was a mistake. We won't be there for you anymore."
My feet started to move on their own.
"I hate you."
And as much as I wanted to turn around and say it wasn't true, I walked out of the room and never looked back at him again.
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"Can ever ever go back to the way we were before?"
Deep inside, Sakura knew it wasn't possible. Too many hurtful words had been exchanged for them to ever go back to being the family they had been before, but that didn't mean that they couldn't try to mend the patches.
Deidara remained silent for a moment.
"You've grown." He stated, straying away from the main subject. His voice sounded strained. "It's barely been a year and you've changed so much."
"That tends to happen when a girl is in her teens, y'know?" Sakura answered with a soft smile. "And what are you talking about? I saw you the other day at the movie theater, remember?"
"You're no longer a teenager." He said, looking at her blankly. A brief image of a crying sixteen year old girl flashed through his mind. "And you cut your hair too. I've never seen you with short hair before. I thought you liked it long."
"I guess people change with time." She was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the way he was staring at her.
Deidara finally looked away, sighing. "We can never go back to the way we were before, Sakura-chan." Her heart dropped for a second. "But that's not our fault. It's because we're no longer the same people we were back then." He looked back at her again. "But that's why the me right now is telling you that I didn't mean the words I said back then."
Sakura slowly felt relief flood through her body.
"I didn't mean it either." She quickly said, rubbing away the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "I never hated you Deidara. I just didn't know how else to defend myself back then, but I never hated you." She had to take a deep breath. "You were right in the end. I can't be normal. Not the way I am right now."
"No one in this world is normal, Sakura-chan." Deidara told her. "Normal is just a concept created by mundane people."
Sakura hadn't previously been sure if she wanted to go through with this or not. Even when going to Shino, her mind hadn't completely been set on wanting to sruvive. But now, as Deidara held her hand, she finally knew that she did want to live.
"Deidara... can you help me?"
The tears finally spilled over.
"Do I have the right to live?"
She had almost forgotten how comforting his arms felt when he wrapped them around her.
"I'll never leave you again, Sakura-chan."
I promise.
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"It seems like Deidara's finally growing up." Itachi said with a smirk, taking another sip of his wine.
"It was about damn time." Kisame grunted, rolling his eyes. "He always gets angry at Tobi for acting like a little kid, but he doesn't realize that he's a little kid himself. He didn't realize that he was the one who pushed Pinky away from us. I don't remember ever telling her that I didn't want to see her again." He sighed, looking defeated. "People would be surprised at how human most of our members actually are."
Sasori glanced over at them, watching the blond embrace the crying pink haired girl. "They both still have a lot of growing up to do." He murmured. "But at least they look happy right now, don't they?"
"Aa." Zetsu said with a nod. "They do."
The table watched silently as the two exchanged a few more words. When Sakura had finally calmed down, they made their way back to the others.
"We're going to help her." Deidara said flatly, holding her hand. "I don't care if anyone objects. I don't care if Leader objects, I'm still going to help her."
Hidan raised an eyebrow. "Well isn't that a fucking twist." He said with an amused look on his face. "Weren't you whining about not caring if we helpd her or not barely ten minutes ago?" He teased with a wink.
Deidara flushed. "Shut up." He muttered, looking away. "So what's it going to be? Are you just going to stand by and watch as people try to murder her?"
"We were never planning to abandon her from the beginning." Kakuzu said with an irritated sigh.
"Huh?" Deidara's jaw dropped open.
"We were just waiting for you to stop being a complete idiot." Kisame muttered. "It wasn't going to work out if you were going to sit in a corner being depressed all by yourself. We were just waiting for you and Sakura to make amends with each other."
"Sakura, as much as we'd love to sit here and hear about your life during ths year, we're going to have to save that for another time." Itachi said, setting down his now empty glass. "Right now you're in trouble, and we're going to have to start planning if we want to protect you." He expectandly turned towards Shino, who nodded in return.
"Seeing that Sakura-san was in the Akatsuki for one entire year, I assume that all of you know about her strange powers-"
("Who fucking wouldn't?" Hidan snorted crudely. "Her punches hurt like a bitch. I've never seen a man or woman punch that hard in my entire life.')
"-I have been observing her for some time now-"
("Are you a stalker or something?" Deidara blurted out.)
"-And unfortunately as her powers grow stronger over time, they also gain much unwanted attention from the wrong kind of people."
("Idiots." Kisame muttered under his breath.")
"It isn't going to be as easy as you think. These people are probably professionally hired assassins of high calibre-"
("I'm sure our strength alone will suffice." Zetsu said calmly. "We'll tear them to pieces.")
"-And since Sakura-san is obviously not going to die easily, they have probably infiltrated her surroundings, trying to see if they can gather more information about her weknesses."
("How typical." Itachi said flatly.)
"We obviously can't have any of you infiltrate her surroundings, since you're too recognizable-"
"Tobi can take his mask off if it will help Sakura-chan!" Tobi exclaimed enthuiastically.)
"-So the first step we can take is having at least two of you escort her from places."
("We have to play bodyguard?" Kakuzu asked skeptically.)
Sakura was quite amazed at how Shino did not even stop once to acknowledge them at all. She had gone to her fair share of Akatsuki meetings in the past, and knew how infuriating it could be to try and speak over the eight obnoxious men.
"In the meanwhile I will personally aid Sakura-san in trying to control her powers, so she will be able to defend herself." Shino continued. "When I am not trying to help her train, I will go undercover in attempt to unmask everyone around her." He paused, giving her a look. "We don't have enough time to explain now, but Sakura-san has regained all her memories from the past. We have our suspicions on who these people are, but we cannot be fully sure. Sakura-san's wish is that we do not attack anyone unless we are completely sure about their intentions."
Many questioning looks were sent her way when Shino mentioned that she had regained her memory. She avoided their gazes, unable to provide any answers right now. She knew that after this was all over, they were going to expect her to tell them about her entire life- Sakura's mysterious past had always been a hot topic between the members.
"Why do we have to be sure about their intentions?" Dediara shot, looking irritated. "It's not like they're going to hesitate."
A brief image of Naruto and Sasuke flashed through her head. She didn't want to believe that they were trying to kill her- she didn't want to harm them until she was absolutely sure.
"Just don't, okay?" Sakura insisted. Deidara rolled his eyes, shrugging his shoulders.
"We'll head back to headquarters and split our schedules up so two of our members can be with you at all times." Itachi told her, getting up from his seat. "We should head back before we attract too much attention."
"I think it's too late for that." Kisame said, gesturing towards the people who were staring at them.
"It can't be helped." Sakura replied with a small smile. "You guys attract attention wherever you go.'
"No Pinky, we do." Kisame said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't forget that you were part of our weirdo group too once. Don't act like you didn't attract any attention at all with that weird pink hair of yours." His statement earned a giggle from her. "Alright, be a good girl and hurry on home. Leave the rest to us." He ruffled her hair.
The intimidating group of eight men stood up, towering over her.
"You can count us in, Sakura-chan!"
In that moment, she thought Deidara's grin had never looked more beautiful.
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Sasuke sighed for the fifth time, warily glancing at the door to a certain pink haired girl's apartment.
He had been standing there for the past ten minutes, contemplating on whether to knock on the door or just leave. He wasn't even sure why he was there- but a part of him had been insecure ever since he had left her with that strange man with the dark sunglasses. The latter's words were etched into his memory-
I know who you are.
What did he mean by that? Could it be that the mysterious man knew about Sasuke's purpose here?
"Sasuke? Is that you?"
The Uchiha jumped, whirling around to come face to face with the very person he had been thinking about. He quickly regained his composure- he was a professional assassin damnit! People weren't supposed to sneak up on him so easily. Then again, she wasn't exactly the same as everyone else.
"Sakura." He said flatly, eyeing her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "I thought I told you that I wanted to be alone-"
"Sakura, you know." Sasuke interrupted her mid sentence. Shikamaru may have been the genius of the group, but it didn't mean that Sasuke was dumb in comparison. His intuition was sharp and quick- and in the end, it didn't take a genius to add one plus one. "You can't hide it from me anymore."
He pinned one hand on each side of her head, effectively trapping her against the wall. His tall frame towered over her tiny body- she could feel him breathe on her neck. He lowered his face down until his mouth was almost touching her ear, in almost a teasing way.
"I know you remember."
Sakura's breath was momentarily caught in her throat.
"Are you going to kill me now?" She looked up to stare at him. To his surprise, she didn't look scared at all.
He stared straight back at her, a slight smirk gracing his features. "What do you think?" He murmured, leaning forwards. "What do you think I'll do?"
She was mesmerized. His right hand moved, her eyes never leaving his movements. Her heartbeat quickened as she saw him pull out a silver revolver from his pocket. Slowly yet carefully, he raised it so that the cold metal muzzle was softly touching her temple.
His eyes widened.
"Your barrier isn't activating."
"I guess you found my weakness." She told him with a weak smile. "Congratulations, Sasuke."
He could've done it right then. All he had to do was flex his finger and she would be dead. Their mission would finally be over, and he would be able to return to his mundane life, which didn't include annoying blondes and tiny pink haired girls. He could receive his paycheck, meaning that he would be able to take an entire month off before having to go on another mission.
But those eyes.
He couldn't look away from her eyes. They were absolutely captivating.
He let out a hollow laugh, as his gun fell down to the floor with a loud clatter.
"Who am I kidding?" He said, stepping away from her. "I can't kill you."
With those words, he crushed his lips against hers.
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The unavoidable kiss,
With the minty fresh death breath
Is sure to outlast this catastrophe.
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