AN: So... I know I said this would be up soon but it turned out way longer than what I thought and I didn't have the heart to cut it again and give you another short chapter so... here it is!

Thanks to: PieKiller, .Blossom, Blossom-channn, nadeshiko-yuna, Hana-Taisho, la canelle, alice Orihara Scarlet and Infinite Nosferatu for your lovely reviews! They made my day! Lots of love to everyone who's supported :)

Flowers of Felicity

This is the second time she's been in the hospital this month.

Sakura takes a deep breath and releases it shakily. The world around her is fragmented, no longer tangible but so real at the same time.

This world is real, somewhere along the balances of time. It is only Sakura that isn't real. Sakura that shouldn't exist.

Because Sakura is dead. And so are Akatsuki, and Hebi.

Madara's final jutsu killed them all. Only he and Kabuto lived to tell the tale.

And things will not be- right- until she dies again.

The door to her ward opens and Ino squeals.

"Sakura!" she exclaims, "You're awake."

She runs up to the bed and envelops her friend in a hug.

"I was so worried!"

Sakura nods mutely. Ino feels real, concrete and palpable, but yet she knows that for her, Ino is not real.

Her Ino is dead.

This whole world has shifted, broken in her eyes but just out of reach still complete.

"You won't believe what happened!" Ino squeals, sitting down before Sakura can squeeze out a word. "Right as we got there – you fainted! And Uchiha Sasuke was too busy to come! We got our money back but still- the whole day was absolutely ruined! And we've all been so worried about you too, especially since you'd just been discharged from the hospital and look huh- you're back again!"

Genjutsu, Sakura recognises, Ino doesn't remember a thing. She'll believe anything - even this poorly constructed story.

She continues to go on about how Sasuke is going to reimburse them but Sakura cannot bring herself to even procure a smile at the thought of Sasuke – the man who banished her to this reality.

Speaking of whom – what had happened to him? To Karin and Suigetsu and Juugo?

Kami. Does Karin still work here?

Then she could be assassinated at any minute! Especially considering how she's stuck like an invalid on a hospital bed. What is she going to do? What can she do?

"Where's Karin?" Sakura asks quickly, interrupting the blonde mid-rant.

Ino suddenly freezes.

"There was… an incident," the blonde says slowly, "Karin's… missing. And presumed dead."

Sakura pauses. So something did happen - but what about Suigetsu and Juugo? And - and Itachi! Ino's looking terribly conflicted, probably thinking about the feud she had with Karin and all the mean words she said, but Sakura just needs to know-

"What was the incident?"

"It's… classified," Ino says slowly. "I can't tell you."

But Sakura needs to know this. And right now she doesn't care a bloody bit about Ino's work regulations. "Come on," Sakura coaxes, "You know I won't tell anyone else. Plus – what could the harm be? You're a good intelligence officer. You know who to trust. And you can trust me."

"This is beyond that though," Ino says desperately, "This is beyond our reign. This is deep politically, corporately and I can't tell you."

Sakura bites her lip and leans back. "Very well. I'm sorry Ino."

Then, with a few rapid seals under her bed sheets, Ino is wrapped in her genjutsu.

Uchiha Itachi is talking to Prime Minister of Japan. The PM goes along with his wishes, not wanting to upset the CEO of Japan's biggest corporation and his largest sponsor. Behind them, the corpse of Karin lies still on the bed.

Then she reaches a mental barrier – Itachi must have blocked Ino's memories. But Sakura can knock them down – she's spent two years training with Akatsuki - Itachi's not even bothered using a strong mental block. A few nudges with her chakra in just the right places and the barrier topples. But before the blonde can reorientate herself anymore Sakura charges deeper into Ino's psyche.

Ino walks closer to the corpse of Karin. Sakura recognises Itachi's killing technique – the quick and painless death.

Except that death itself is far from painless.

The corpse – the dead corpse – is writhing with pain. Her mouth is open in a silent scream and she's convulsing and crying- Karin is in pain, dead but dying and it's never-ending-!

Itachi steps forward, wrenches Ino away and his eyes begin to turn red.

But Sakura's eyes are locked on Karin, locked on the way she's jerking, cadaverous and broken. And then she realises that she is not seeing the body, not the corporal form of Karin.

She is seeing the soul.

Sakura ricochets out of Ino's mind.

For a second, the blonde looks at her with unimaginable horror.

But then Sakura slams her with another genjutsu and Itachi's memory block re-establishes itself.

For a second, Ino sways, and Sakura fears the worse.

But then the blonde says-

"Fish'O'Fill just hired the cutest waiter by the way, we should totally check him out."

Sakura recognises the chakra signature outside her door and dissipates her chakra scalpels.

"No need to stop for me," Kakuzu says calmly.

"I can't believe you," Sakura says with a guttural laugh, "All this time, you were the receptionist!"

Kakuzu grins. "You were always oblivious."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Don't pull that shit on me. Now why don't you explain what the fuck is happening."

Kakuzu raises an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound a lot like Hidan."

"Well excuse me," Sakura drawls, "if being stuck in an alternate reality and then thinking I was going mad and then finding supposed super powers and then finding that I'm actually dead is not enough to mitigate the effects of my swearing."

The two eye each other for a second before Sakura breaks down into tears.

Kakuzu crosses the room in two big steps and envelops her in a hug. He smells of harsh antiseptic and ink and his arms are still disjointed like the way they were before but she doesn't care because he's familiar. He's Kakuzu.

"I was so confused," Sakura sobs into his shirt, "But now it all makes sense! The rise of Jashinism, Uchiha Sasuke and Hebi, Kisame's restaurant chains - like he always wanted! - and Uchiha Corporations – I mean trust Itachi! – and even Sasori as a little schoolboy! And Deidara that little shit blew up Sydney!"

She laughs a bit at the end but it's hollow and crackled. Kakuzu sighs pats the back of her head soothingly, just like he did when Temari gave up her life to save Naruto.

God. Temari. The Sand Siblings - the celebrity reality-TV show stars - the new Kardashians. They were Temari! And Kankurou! And Gaara!

Sakura's sniffles begin to turn into empty laughs, choking her chest. Kakuzu is simply silent, stroking her hair, up and down.

Finally, she looks up at him.

"We're all dead, aren't we," she says with surprising clarity.

"Yes," Kakuzu says quietly. "Akatsuki, Hebi, and you. Even though it was never meant to be you."

Sakura scoffs, but it lacks any force. "Why didn't I know?" she asks softly, "Why didn't I know? And how – how do we escape this-" hellhole, lie, decrepit excuse of a fucking reality "-world?"

Kakuzu pulls back and looks her in the eye.

"Akatsuki is meeting in The Hague. Next Tuesday. At the Crowne Plaza Den Haag – Promenade. 7:00 that night. Come. You'll get answers."

He lets go of her and turns to the door.

"Wait," Sakura calls desperately, "Where are you going?"

Kakuzu gives her a wry smile. "I have work to be doing. You do too. Now get going before Tsunade jumps on your ass."

And Sakura laughs as the last point of clarity in her world leaves and splinters.

"See you tomorrow!" Kakuzu smiles.

"I'll be there," she says firmly.

Crowne Plaza Den Haag – Promenade

The sun seems frozen in its descent downwards. It's night, and according to the time difference she should be pretty tired by now – but she's not. Not at all. She's too excited – the thought of seeing everyone again, of seeing her old life a lifetime after-

No. Sakura is not tired at all.

Her phone suddenly begins to blare and Sakura jumps, nearly falling off her chair. Hastily, she searches through her pockets before finding it and quickly answering it.

"Hey Ino," she says, plomping down onto one of the chairs on the balcony.

"Forehead girl!" Ino shrieks, "Where are you? I went over to your apartment today but you weren't there! I can't find you anywhere! I checked the library, the mall, the hospital – of course – the café, the cinema-"

"The Hague, Ino," Sakura says quietly to her phone, "I'm in the Hague."

There's a moment of silence before Ino laughs.

"You're shitting me aren't you."

"No," Sakura says ruefully, leaning back on her chair as she surveys the view from her hotel room, "It's true."

Next to her, the clock rhythmically ticks to 6:40.

For a second, there is silence on the other end. And then Ino shrieks - "What the hell are you doing there? There's nothing to see! It's The Hague!"

"I'll be back soon," Sakura reassures, deftly avoiding the question. "And aren't you in the Netherlands anyway?"

"Well, yeah," Ino relents, and Sakura can almost hear the pout in her voice. "But I'm on assignment. What are you going to do there? I know for a fact that nothing's happening except some UN conference. And stop avoiding my question! Why are you even there anyway?"

"You know what?" Sakura says quickly, "I'm running low on credit gottagobye."

"Forehe-"

With a click, Sakura hangs up. For a moment, she feels slightly guilty but she pushes that away, shutting off her phone. This is more important.

But next to her, the clock only reads 6:42.

Oh fuck this, she thinks, there's no way I can wait that long.

She grabs her purse and hurries to the elevator, waiting impatiently for it to arrive. She could probably run down the stairs with her chakra faster than the elevator, but living in this society her whole life has taught her about security cameras – cameras that would be watched, especially in such a high class hotel.

Finally the elevator arrives and she hurries in, taking deep breaths to steady herself.

This is it. This is where she'll get all of her answers.

The elevator pings and Sakura steps out into the lobby.

The place is rather quiet, except for a few people milling in and out, checking in and checking out. The only thing that seems irregular is the great presence of bodyguards scattered around the place. Probably for the UN delegates staying at the hotel.

Speaking of whom, was that red hair? Next to blue hair?

Pein and Konan?

Sakura swivels around but the two figures have disappeared behind two potted plants.

Sakura bites her lip determinately, striding her way across the lobby in large steps, her heart hammering in her chest with excitement, nervousness, hope-

Is that them?

UN delegates? Of Japan?

Is that why they were meeting here?

Was it even them?

Then they turn, and meet her eyes.

It is them.

Sakura begins to tear up, choking, sobbing, and then she's walking faster and faster towards them and they're walking faster and faster towards her too-

Pein swoops her up in his arms and she laughs, and a second later Konan has her familiar comforting hand on her back and Sakura feels whole again, like she finally belongs in this alternate reality.

"Sakura," Pein says quietly, happily, "I see you finally understand."

"Yeah," she laughs bitterly, "Hidan knocked some sense into me. Literally. Back in freshman year."

Konan gives her a small smile.

"Good, good. Come with us. The others are waiting."

"They're already here?"

Konan's eyes twinkle. "Of course. No one could wait that long."

Sakura follows the pair through the main lobby and towards one of the conference rooms, her heart hammering all the way.

Are they all… alright? Do they still remember her? Are they still friends? What have they been doing with their new lives?

The conference room finally appears in front of her and Pein motions for Sakura.

"We've all been waiting for you," he smiles.

Sakura takes a deep breath and opens the door.

Akatsuki are waiting inside.

"Hi," she breathes.

For a moment the room is silent, and then Kisame, closest to the door, sweeps up and hugs her.

"Hey Princess," he murmurs into her hair.

"Hey Mr. CEO of Fish O' Fill," she giggles back, and it feels as if her heart is soaring.

that seems to jolt all the other members and suddenly they're all congregated in the middle, touching but not really touching, whispering soft words of comfort.

Sasori is grinning when he grasps her hand, looking much like a mischievous high-schooler and Sakura is torn between hugging him and hitting him for all the stress he put her through.

Itachi is calm, like always, and she hugs him tightly to thank him for all he'd done for her. Hidan and Kakuzu – those bastards – are grinning cheekily and she pulls them by the ear to give them both a big hug.

And then Deidara steps forward and all she can say is-

"What happened to your hair?"

Deidara grins sheepishly, running a hand through his now short, black locks.

"Hey! It was actually really hard for me to get here yeah! The whole police force around the world are chasing me! And technology's actually real high-tech here! Did you know I actually can't be caught on camera? They also have this new system which can ID you through bone structure – and even a henge can't change that!"

"Oh kami," Sakura says, giving him a weak smile. Deidara grins at her like a child. "I can't believe you blew up the opera house! Why did you do that?"

"Now that, is a long story," Pein says pointedly. "If we could all take a seat?"

Akatsuki flitters back to their seats, but Sakura has missed them so much that she can't help but grab the hands of the two next to her – Itachi's lips curve into a small smile and even though Sasori is as stoic as ever, she knows he's missed her too.

"Now," Pein says, leaning forward. The whole room simmers down to silence and the friendly, happy atmosphere immediately turns serious. Kami Sakura has missed this - Akatsuki's working environment, all of them around her.

"To start from the beginning," Pein says slowly. "Itachi knows most about this technique..."

"Back in our world," Itachi starts, leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh, "Uchiha Madara had been planning an old old Uchiha technique. It was supposed to take us out of our world, to another place. No one knew where back then - no one had ever had the capability to perform the technique - but it was known that it would not have been... pleasant. The technique would not have taken us to this world."

"Wait," Sakura says sharply. "Than why are we here?"

Itachi locks his gaze with her.

"When the technique was finished, only Kabuto and Madara were out of range. The rest of us – we were starting to be torn apart. The technique was not a calm technique, was not some portal which we magically fell through. It was a violent technique which tore you apart and built you back together again in hell. But..." he swallows harshly and looks away.

"You released your Strength of a Hundred Seal," Deidara says, uncharacteristically serious. "And somehow – somehow – it meddled with the technique and brought us all… here. We're dead, all of us, but you brought us… here."

"And that's why you don't remember anything," Konan finishes, "the seal took up so much of your chakra that you… lost it. It was gone. All of it."

"Scared the shit out of us yeah," Deidara mumbles.

"It was never meant to be you," Sasori repeats, "You were never meant to die."

"But we're all dead anyway," Sakura says hollowly, "So why do I have my chakra? Was it because Hidan hit me?"

Hidan sends her a wicked grin, but even he is strangely mellow.

"We studied your functioning, Itachi especially with his sharingan," Konan says quietly, twiddling with her fingers. "We figured out after a few years of research and tests that it was a barrier, preventing you from accessing your memories and your chakra. Hidan, the buffoon, decided to hit you the moment we figured out it was a mental barrier. Even though none of us knew how it worked. He put you in-"

"Grave danger," Hidan drawls, "I know! But it worked didn't it? I had Jashin-sama on my side!"

Kakuzu hits him over the head.

Sakura resists the urge to giggle, biting her lip. "Thanks anyway," she says. Hidan grins.

"However the problem was that after that, you became much more in tune with your chakra," Sasori says. "You were still tentative, delicate, and every time we were too close to you you would have sudden bursts – visions – and it was not safe to have been battering your brain like that."

"So we left before we could damage your brain any further," Kakuzu explains. "Sasori stayed a few cities from you, Kakuzu was stationed in your hospital – the closest – and Hidan was in the city. You could've handled more, except Hebi was keeping their eye on you too yeah. Karin was at the hospital, and Suigetsu and Juugo not too far away either."

"Wow," Sakura breathes, "But why – why did Deidara blow up the Opera House?'

"Hebi was planning," Itachi says with a strong sense of finality. "They had felt your chakra fluctuating – like we did – and had gotten it into their heads that since you had brought them here your death would bring them out. I had a little talk with my otouto but… he didn't listen."

"Evidently," Hidan grumbles under his breath.

"So Deidara set out to make a clear warning. Made sure to do something big, so Hebi would get the message. So that they would know that we had eyes on you too."

"Thanks," Sakura says, remembering the fear. "Thanks for me, and for not, you know, killing anyone."

Deidara gives her a lopsided smile.

"I figured out a technique – an old Uchiha one-"

"The Uchiha have a lot of bloody secrets," Deidara mumbles.

"-and I imparted it onto you at Sasuke's house. So now you're... as you were before."

Sakura takes a deep breath and leans back. She sees now, understands now, how all things in her life were interconnected, building up to this moment. Alive, but not really alive. Waiting for… something. Everything was so tangible and yet not at the same time. She was torn - they all were. A part of them was still in Konoha, another part was dead, and the last was... here. In this strange world of 2014.

"How do we escape?" she asks finally. "How can we find peace, and die? Because Karin…"

"We don't know," Itachi says, voice cracking slightly. "And I am sorry that she has to go through this because of my lack of foresight."

"What happened to her?" Sakura asks quietly.

"She's gone to where we would have gone had you not interfered," Pein says quietly, "It could be anywhere – the shinigami's stomach, hell itself – but it is not a pleasant place. It seems that your technique only provided an intermittent, a medium, and that once this ends, we will go there too in death."

Sakura remembers Karin, and her horrified expression and represses a shudder. "But that can't be," she says, almost pleading. "That can't be."

"This wasn't supposed to happen to you," Sasori repeats quietly.

"This wasn't supposed to happen to any of us!" Sakura shouts, feeling the tears beginning to build under her eyes.

"Someone's coming," Kisame says suddenly, raising a hand. The whole room silences and a layer of chakra cloaks over every member, silencing even the sound of their heartbeats. "I can hear the footsteps."

Cautiously, Sakura spikes a shot of chakra to her ears. She hears two pairs, rapidly approaching. But she can't identify them – they have no chakra. No one has any chakra except for them. And for the first time since she was a genin, Sakura feels helpless.

The door bursts open.

"There you are!" Ino says in relief, Shikamaru at her side. "I was so worried about you you numbat! You just got out of the hospital and then you disappear - and to The Hague of all places! You weren't even cleared to fly! Who knows what the plane ride could've done to you - you're still recovering! Plus, you weren't answering your phone – after all that's happened, with the incident at your office, I thought you'd been kidnapped or-"

"Ino," Shikamaru says sharply. The blonde pauses and looks at her partner. Shikamaru raises one hand and points at Deidara - with the other, he presses the emergency help button on his belt.

Ino freezes.

"Fuck," Sakura breathes.

Slowly, deadly, Ino turns to Sakura.

"Sakura." she says icily. "What's going on. Ambassador Pein? Ambassador Konan? Uchiha Itachi? Hoshigaki Kisame? And that's – that's the boy you bumped into! And is that- Kakuzu? TV man? You're all harbouring – Deidara?!"

For a second, Ino is stunned into silence. And then, she narrows her eyes and pulls out her gun.

"Turn around," she says flatly, "Arms in the air. No sudden movements, or I'll shoot."

AN: Cliffhanger. I know. I couldn't help myself... plus, I couldn't find an appropriate place to end. But yeah! Review please! I've got some good things planned :)