A Lonely Blossom

by animeduchess14

The Akatsuki are well known in the Shinobi world. They were S-rank criminals who show no mercy. Until that fateful day...they attacked Konoha, planning to destroy the powerful hidden village. Many lives were lost, making the 5 year old pinkette, Sakura Haruno, an orphan. Because of the day, her life changed forever.

5. Chapter 5: The Ups and Downs

Chapter 5: The Ups and Downs

*Sakura's POV*

'Inner. I'm determined. I want today to be productive. I'm tired of just sitting around. I'm gonna work my butt off today!' 'Cha! You go girl!' It was 6 am. I usually don't wake up for another hour, but I wanted to get my day going already. The other members are usually awake by 9, except Itachi, Sasori, and myself who get up before 7. I got ready and quickly ran off to a former sensei's room. Still asleep too. "Deidara." No response. "Dei-nii?" Still no response. "DEIDARA! WAKE THE HELL UP! I wanna train!" That seemed to wake him up a bit. "Hmm, just 10 more minutes, un." I punched him on the head, and dragged him out to the training grounds relentlessly.

"Well?" The half-awake blonde said drowsily, "Run 3 laps around the training grounds, and meet me back here when you finish." "Hai!" I quickly ran the 3 laps, excited to train. I haven't trained under Deidara for a while now, because he's had a lot of missions lately. Also he was usually sleeping, or getting into fights with Sasori-kun. I quickly made it back in five minutes, only to see him dead asleep lying on the ground. Totally pissed off, I grabbed both of his feet and led him (well more like dragged him) in the freezing lake. "S-sakurAAA!" 'He didn't say 'un' that time! Better run fast girl!' I couldn't help but laugh as I looked back at him. "Get back here, un!" We were currently running in the hallways, Deidara was tracking water throughout them. "Never!" 'You're having too much fun with this.'

"Sakura, un!" "Come and catch me Dei-kun!" I stuck my tongue out at him while running, which infuriated him even more. "You wanna train, un? Let's go spar then!" He was totally pissed. "I don't wanna now! Oomph-" I was quickly pulled over Itachi's shoulder, while Sasori-kun was controlling Deidara with his chakra strings. "Let-me-go Itachi!" Suddenly, more members arrived at the awkward scene. Itachi broke the silence surprisingly. "Sakura, what happened and why are you screaming so early in the morning?" "Dei-kun yelled at me!" 'Playing innocent might help you win this.'

Itachi turned me around, and I had my puppy dog eyes on. 'So you are going to play the innocent card, keep it up!' Everyone shifted their eyes to the soaked wet, infuriated blonde. His eyes shifted towards Itachi. "Only because she dragged me into the freezing lake, un!" Sasori broke his control on Deidara, which made me a bit more agitated seeing how Itachi still had a hold on me. The pressure drifted to me. "I only did that because he fell asleep while training!" It's a well known fact that the artist has tendencies to fall asleep quickly. 'At this rate you might win, Outer.' Then everyone waited for his response, which he practically yelled out. "Because she dragged me out of bed at 6 am, un!" I somehow managed to get out of Itachi's grip and ran down the hallways laughing, picking up a few mumbles, like 'baka'. Later in the day, I formally apologized, hoping he wouldn't hold a grudge and discontinue training me. "I'm sorry Dei-nii. Please forgive me?" I bestowed him the presence of my innocent eyes, which made him look away quickly. "Yeah sure, un." I knew after all no one in the Akatsuki could stay mad at me for very long.

*TIME JUMP; 1 Year later; Sakura's POV (Now 15)*

Still excited, but sad remembering that yesterday was my fifteenth birthday, I replayed in my head what had happened. I was kinda stunned because only four members were at the base, being Sasori, Deidara, Itachi and Leader-sama. But we did have a small party nonetheless. I was just happy to be with my family. But back to today, because today is the day I've been waiting for a long time. I haven't been outside the base much, and I really wanted to explore. I've only been recently grocery shopping in Amegakure with either Leader-sama or Sasori-kun a couple times, so you could see why I really wanted to go out and have fun, especially with people MY age.

While I was walking towards Leader-sama's office, I started to feel happy which was soon clouded with nervousness, when I knocked on the door and sat down. "Um, Leader-sama, I was…wondering if maybe…I could go out on a..medical research trip for a month." His eyes flickered towards me. 'He totally didn't see this coming Outer.' "I'll think about it." I sat there in silence, totally bummed. 'Give him the puppy eyes!' I did as Inner told me and continued with an innocent voice, "Maybe we could ask the other members what they think?" With his famous sigh he replied, "Fine. I'll hold a brief meeting tonight and ask their opinion. But mine over rules." 'Darn.' "Thank you Leader-sama!" I left quickly, hoping he wouldn't change his mind. 'Now to pray to Kami-sama it works!'

*4 hours later* Since most of the members were out on missions, Leader-sama asked via mind signals, if that's what he even calls them. Leader-sama informed me that so far Konan, Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara were against it, and (surprisingly) Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan, Zetsu, and Tobi were ok with it. So basically Leader-sama gets to decide, great. *In Leader-sama's office* "So, I've come to the conclusion…" "That?" This was killing me, he was doing this purposely. I wanted FREEDOM! "I've concluded that you will not be going." I felt like an arrow went through my chest, as I sulked in my chair. "But whhyy?" I was so pissed off and confused. He practically spat at, "Because you are too reckless to set out, let alone for a month!" 'I kinda agree with him Outer.' 'Oh shut up Inner.' "Don't you trust me Leader-sama?" He turned around, "In most cases." "GAAH!" He is soo frustrating! "Sakura, you just turned fifteen. I'm not going to send you out alone for a month." 'I swear Inner, he is so bossy sometimes.' 'More like all the time.' I sat back in my chair, pouting. "What if I-" "NO." "Hmph." He turned back around. "You're not going. Dismissed." Since he couldn't see me I stuck my tongue out at him and then sighed and gathered my broken dream that was stomped on, and left. Life is just unfair. 'I've come to the conclusion that eventually he will crack if you constantly nag him Outer.' An evil smile erased the frown off my face.

*10 days full of nagging and begging later* "…and finally as the medic of the Akatsuki, I feel as though it is my duty to find out more information on jutsus that could help progress my learning." "OK Sakura." I blinked. 'Did he just agree?' 'I made him crack!' He turned around, looking me dead in the eye. "You can go-ONLY with another member of my choosing though, which I will tell you later once I finish some paperwork. Dismissed." *Right outside of his office* "YES! WHAHOO! SHANNARO!" *back to Sakura* I walked down the hallways, skipping, overpowered with joy. I walked into the living room to find Kisame and Sasori watching tv, Itachi reading (like always), and Deidara asleep. "Guess what guys! I'm going on the trip!" 'CHA!' Itachi looked up to see me jumping up and down out of excitement. "He..actually agreed?" I nodded my head profusely. "Yeah! Only if another member goes..but still! I made him crack!" I smiled graciously at my accomplishment. I skipped out overhearing someone say, "I can't believe she played Leader-sama like that." I didn't care though, I, Sakura Haruno, defeated the stubborn Leader-sama and his menacing ways.

*Pein's POV*

I sighed, knowing I shouldn't have agreed to her random request. I just couldn't take it anymore. 'There, there. It's ok Outer, you tried your best.' 'I HAVE AN INNER?' I totally just freaked out, listening to hours and hours of her constant nagging, begging, and reasons why she needed and wanted to go. She was like a miniature Konan. 'Good thing she can't hear you.' 'WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?' I felt like agreeing was going to backlash on me, and I knew it would. 'Now to decide who to send with her.' 'SHUT UP!' This stupid 'inner voice' was getting to me, no matter. I continued with my thinking. Definitely NOT Tobi or Hidan, they would just be too reckless, annoying, and a bad influence on her. IT couldn't be Zetsu, he was currently on a long spy mission. Not Kakuzu or Kisame because they had upcoming bounties that needed to be taken care of. Deidara would fall asleep all the time and possibly belittle her, so Itachi or Sasori. Both are good candidates, from who she trusts as well. Itachi wouldn't speak much, and Sasori would be a chatterbox. Plus, Itachi is stricter than Sasori when it comes to her. She's close to both of them, so I guess Itachi is the one for the job.

*Sakura's POV*

I was reading a magazine when Itachi knocked on the door. He came in for a few short seconds and simply stated,"Leader-sama summoned us." "Kay." I got up from my current extremely comfortable position and walked beside Itachi. 'I'll be happy if he's the one who gets picked. He looks fiiine.' 'S-shut up Inner! I shouldn't think like that!' I started to blush, because of what Inner said, good thing Itachi wasn't looking at me. Lately, Inner has been really pervy lately, and quite frankly it's pissing me off. When we reached Leader-sama's office, Itachi knocked on the door and then we sat down. "I'm sure you know by now Itachi that I granted Sakura permission to go on that trip, seeing she screamed it out to the world." "Hai." 'He's just mad cause you beat him at his stupid mind game.' "Good. You will accompany her for the time being. You will set out tomorrow, make sure you pack everything you need. Sakura you are dismissed." "Hai!" I shut the door, and decided to lean my ear to the door to listen in. "Itachi, please make sure she doesn't do anything reckless." He paused for dramatic effect, and did a classic sigh. "I assure you I will keep her safety my top priority Leader-sama." "Thank you. You are dismissed." I quickly got away from the door, and half-ran half-walked back to my room. 'Packing is not going to be fun.' 'You could say that again.'

*Next morning; 6 am* "Sakura, let's go." I fell asleep on the floor while packing, how ironic. I felt someone pick up my bag, as I slumped back to the floor. "If your late, he won't let you go." :Huh? What time is it? Is that you Itachi?" "It's 6." "SHANNARO!" I jumped up, and ran to my bathroom and quickly got ready. As I was walking out~ "Uh, Sakura-" "Hu-" I tripped over my bag and face planted on the floor. "I put your bag there." *sigh* Your hopeless." I was still dizzy from the trip, so I had my eyes closed, and it didn't help my case that I was already half asleep either, so I quickly gave into temptation. Itachi picked me up, along with my bag. 'Don't open your eyes now, but there's an Uchiha carrying you.' UGGH, I did not want to hear Inner's pervy comments this early in the morning. "Do you want to say your goodbyes now, Sakura?" "Oi! Wake up, un!" 'How ironic, Deidara telling you to wake up.' I was totally not even awake when Itachi set my down on my feet and Tobi tackle-hugged me. "Tobi is gonna miss Sakura!" "Huh? Is that you Tobi?" I opened my eyes to find myself being pried off from Tobi's bone-crushing hug and into Deidara's tight hug. "Gonna miss you Sakura, un." "I'm gonna miss you too Dei-kun." "Hmph. What about me Sakura-chan?" I attempted to hug Sasori, but he caught me instead. "You must be really tired Sakura-chan." "Is it noon yet?" He just laughed. "I'll see you soon. Don't do anything stupid." "Bye Sasori-kun!" I was being pulled away by an agitated Uchiha. "Bye guys!"

It was suddenly dead quiet in the base. "She made this place so lively, un." Sasori nodded in agreement (which was quite rare between the two artists). "Yeah. It's gonna be a long month." Both them already missed her cheery smile. *back to Sakura* Last but not least, my final goodbye was with Leader-sama. "I promise I won't do anything too reckless and *yawn* and stuff." 'That sounds so promising.' "Good luck Sakura, Itachi." He nodded as I waved goodbye sleepily. "How much sleep did you get?" "Well its 6:30 now, you woke me up at 6, soooo 15 minutes." I lagged behind Itachi. "Why did you pack so much?" "Well I've only been outside the base a couple times. I didn't know what to bring *yawn* so I prepared just in case."

"Even at the cost of being sleep-deprived? Now I just have to carry you." 'Ooh, I like that idea.' Whatever, I was too tired to care or argue, so I just closed my eyes, and suddenly felt very warm. 'That's an Uchiha for you.' I tried my best to ignore Inner, the huge pervert who talks to me inside my head (that makes me sound really delusional). "Are we there yet?" "No, I don't even know where we are going, I', just heading north." I just yawned and totally ignored him and his obvious question to where I wanted to go. I was totally delusional (I think that's my new favorite word). To break the silence, I pulled out random questions that I made up.

"How old is the moon Itachi?" "What?" "Wait- how old is Leader-sama. He's probably like 90 something." I giggled, having no idea what the heck I was saying. "You are so strange Sakura." 'I couldn't agree more, Mr. Handsome face.' "Did you know cats have tails?" I started to laugh uncontrollably, and detected a small laugh from Itachi as well. "I wonder if Leader-sama and Konan are married. They are, aren't they?" No response. "Aww, your no fun Itachi." "Why don't you just rest?" "Why, do I annoy you?" "No. But I don't want to carry you the whole day." "Yeah, yeah. *yawn* doesn't Kisame remind you of a fish? I gonna start calling him Fishy-chan again."

*Itachi's POV*

I sighed. She was amusing, but oh so delusional (A/N: I DON'T KNOW WHY I KEEP USING THE WORD 'DELUSIONAL' GAAH!). She hasn't said anything for awhile, so she must finally be asleep. I needed to keep her up though, despite how she needed the sleep, because SHE was supposed to lead this mission. I set up camp, realizing she wasn't going to wake up willingly any time soon. I set up a one person tent- obliviously for her- and made a small fire using ninjutsu. Figuring she wouldn't wake up for awhile, I pulled out my book from my bag and continued reading, occasionally looking around the area. She looked cold. It couldn't be helped~ I picked up her lifeless body and set her gently down in the tent, and out a blanket over her. As I was getting up, suddenly she grabbed my wrist. She had a pretty strong grip for being asleep too. *Sigh* I attempted to pull away, without waking her up, but she wouldn't let my wrist go. So I sat there, in the small tent, with Sakura holding my wrist, now hand, and then she put my hand on her cheek. She looked so peaceful while she was sleeping. Slowly, she lessened the grip off my hand, and I quickly exited the tent. Returned to where I was originally sitting. It was only 10 in the morning. Bored out of my mind, I just read, occasionally surveying the land. She was still asleep when I got back from surveying at four. It was 6 when she finally woke up.

*Sakura's POV*

I knew I had been sleeping, for who knows how long, but I was still tired. Itachi was probably pissed at me for sleeping. I got up and out of the tent. "Itachi, how long have I been sleeping?" "Almost 12 hours now." "Why didn't you wake me up!" "Well you didn't get any sleep, so I figured we would leave when you woke up, but I got caught up with my reading. Are you ready to leave now?" I sat across from him, with the small fire in front of us."We should stay here till tomorrow then." "Hn." I just looked around, observing the stars, while he continued reading. 'Say something girl!' "Um….thanks for carrying me earlier." "No problem." 'You're getting him to talk! Keep it up!' "Soo...what did I say when I was falling asleep?" I had a hint of blush on my face, hoping I didn't say anything idiotic. "Well, first you asked me how old the moon was, and you said that Leader-sama looked like he was 90 years old. It was quite an amusing conversation." He had a small smile on his face. "You must think I'm delusional (A/N: DAMNIT I SAID IT AGAIN! I NEED TO FIND A NEW WORD!) now." "Eh. You were just tired."

I looked up at him. "Hungry?" I nodded. "Here" I anime sweat dropped (A/N: What the freak, is that what it's even called? Lol) as he pulled out two sticks of dango. "Umm..?" "What?" "N-nothing." I ate them slowly, savoring it. Trying to break the silence I said, "So what is Sauske like?" He looked up at me and smirked. "Hopefully strong and full of ambition." He looked kinda sad when I said that, so I switched the topic. "Have you ever had a girlfriend?" "I had a serious girlfriend that I had an arranged marriage with, but she was an Uchiha." I just made it worse.

'Way to go Outer.' "I'm sorry.""It's ok, you didn't know." It got quiet, really fast. "So what are you reading about?"He motioned for me to sit next to him. As I did, he pulled out a book. "You sure read a lot." It looked like it roughly looked had over a thousand pages. "What's this one about?" I looked into it. It contained thousands of scientific and math-looking equations and solutions. "Did you solve all of these?" He nodded. "S-so you're like a super genius!" He chuckled, "I don't know how to respond to that." 'Did you see that Outer! You made him laugh! Aww he's soo cute!' "I wish I was as smart as you. You must be a prodigy or something." Believe it or not, Itachi Uchiha actually LAUGHED and out his arm over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. Inner almost died of blood loss! I blushed, and tried to hide it. 'I shouldn't be blushing! He's like an older brother to me!' 'He's only 9 years older than you. I think it's cute.' 'Of course you do Inner, you perv!'

"You're a funny girl Sakura." "Y-you think?" "Yeah." I continued to look in the book, attempting to figure some of them out. "So, is the answer to this equation 2?" "Um... Sakura. It's a chemical equation." "Oh..I knew that!" "Sure you did." I was blushing red. "I, um, will be right back." "Ok?" I quickly got up and walked west of our campsite. 'You ok Inner? You haven't said anything in a while.' 'You should have kissed him, you twit!' 'Inner! I already said this; he's like a brother to me!' 'Are you sure about that?' I blushed, and took a breather. 'That Uchiha is fiiine. I think he likes you. 'No. He is supposed to take care of me on this mission.' 'He sees to be enjoying it. You were blushing like crazy Outer.' 'J-just shut up!' 'That's what I thought.' I sighed and continued to walk back to the campsite, where I found Itachi reading, AGAIN.

I thought of all of the Akatsuki members besides Konan and Leader-sama, as my big brothers. Leader-sama was like a fatherly-figure, and Konan was like a motherly-figure to me. But I couldn't hide the fact that I had feelings for Itachi, whatever they were, they made me nervous. I quickly sat down again across from Itachi, and pulled a scroll out of my bag, and pretended to read it. The sun was starting to set, being 8 pm already. I don't think I've ever been alone with Itachi this long before.

'Your 15 and he's 24.' 'What does that have to do with anything?' 'Just wait till your 18.' 'Inner! You perv!' I couldn't believe Inner was thinking that! If she was a person, I would slap her for saying something like that. "So…." I looked up at Itachi, and then back to my scroll. "You can sleep if you want." "Aren't you tired?" I've been sleeping ALL day! "Wouldn't want a delirious (A/N: YOSH! NEW WORD!) Sakura to carry around now would I?" I stuck my tongue out at him, and walked into the tent, plopping hard on the sleeping bag. I wasn't really tires, well sorta, but I didn't want to sit in across from Itachi with my confused feelings about him. He probably just saw me as a weird, pink haired girl that he had to take care of because Leader-sama picked him to. I feel asleep debating on whether, more like when, I should tell Itachi where I really wanted to go. He was gonna figure it out sooner or later. I'll just see how it plays. Most likely he's gonna be mad, including Leader-sama. 'You made this decision, so you should stick with it.' Inner was right, surprisingly. Hopefully tomorrow goes by quickly.

*Next day; 7 am*

I woke up, and yawned while I walked out of the tent, surprised Itachi was even sleeping. 'AWW! SO KAWAII!' He was in a sleeping bag, and had a book in his hand. 'What should I do Inner? Wake him up?' 'No. He so cute! kwah~~ 'Is 'kwah' even a word? You're no help.' Inner was being pervy again. I'll just wait for him to wake up. 'You should pretend you're asleep.' 'Why would I do that?' 'Maybe he'll kiss you!' 'OH MY KAMI-SAMA! SHUT UP INNER!' I debated on whether or not if I should wake up the sleeping Uchiha decided I shouldn't. I sat across from him and pondered about how I should reveal to him where I really wanna go. 'Stop stressin'. Everything will work out.' 'You say that with such ease Inner.' I grabbed a scroll out of my bag, and actually began reading it this time. Surprisingly, he woke up about 20 minutes later.

He was so quiet; I didn't even know he was awake until he started to put the tent away. I didn't say anything to him. He quickly folded the tent and the two sleeping bags by sealing tem within a scroll. After that, he put the book he was reading back in his bag. "You ready?" "Hmm. Oh yeah!" I copied his previous action, putting the scroll in my bag. "Which direction are we going?" "Umm…east." "Lead the way." "R-right." 'He's already made you blush today? Aww!' Inner's comment just made me blush even more. "Where are we headed anyways Sakura?" Crap. I had to lie, quick. "I read about this village east of here, near the Fire border, that has rare medical scrolls worth checking out." "Oh, ok." 'I can't believe he fell for it!' 'I know me either.'

*Time skip; 4 hours later*

We were really close to the Fire border. I had to tell him soon. "Where is this village Sakura?" I pulled out a random scroll, and stopped for a moment, pretending to analyze it, making sure Itachi couldn't see the scroll either. "I'm pretty sure it's nearby." When we reached the closet village, I pretended like it was the one I was looking for. When we reached the nearby town, Itachi got suspicious. "I thought you said it was nearby?" "I thought so too." Itachi caught on. When I turned around to ask him something, I looked right into his Sharingan activated eyes. He used…the Sharingan…..ON ME? I was trapped in a genjutsu.

I've read about this genjutsu before. Konoha ANBU use it to get information. He quickly realized where I wished to go, and then he released the genjutsu. I could not believe he used his Sharingan on me. That made me furious. He never has before. Without thinking, I slapped him straight across his face, hard, and ran. I couldn't see very well, considering tears were forming from my eyes. Just then Itachi caught me…..in a hug? "Sakura. I didn't mean to use my Sharingan, it was a gut instinct. Please…forgive me." When I looked up at him, his eyes were already back to the onyx-colored eyes I remembered. With his hand, he wiped away some of my tears. "I…forgive you." I knew he was going to take me back to the base; it was only a matter of time. I felt his hand drift from my cheek, and then he pressed the pressure point on the back of my neck, I was out cold instantly.

*Next day (back at base); Pein's POV*

Itachi had returned with a sleeping Sakura in his arms. They had come back only being gone less than 3 days, which was rather shocking. Itachi had left my office to put Sakura to bed, and came back soon after. "I knew she wouldn't be out the whole month, but less than a week was unexpected." He sat down, with an agitated look in his eye. "She wanted to head to Konoha." I somewhat expected her to think about Konoha, but not her main destination. "Interesting." "I used my Sharingan on her to bring her back."His eyes turned cold. "Well, you did the right thing. If was in your position I would have dealt it in the same way." He looked angry with himself. "I'll talk with Sakura when she wakes up. Dismissed." He left my office without another word.

*No POV*

The Uchiha walked back to the pinkette's room. He left a note on her side table. He truly regretted doing that to her. He vowed to protect her, not harm her. He left. Hoping she would forgive him.

*Sakura's POV*

I woke to find a note at my beside table. It was from Itachi. It read, 'Sakura, I hope you can forgive me. I was only following orders, but I should have been less hostile about it. – Itachi'. I had already forgiven him. He was beating himself up about it, I could tell. I understood his nonchalant attitude well enough to know. As I got up to turn my light on, Leader-sama knocked on my door and came in. I quickly sat down back on my bed. 'Here comes "Boring Lectures 101".' He pulled over my desk chair and sat next to me. Before he could even speak I asked bluntly, "Why do the Akatsuki hate me?" He sighed (which he has done a lot more recently). "Why would you assume that? You should know that we only want to protect you from harm." I knew that was true, but tears came flowing down my face anyways.

*Pein's POV*

I think I just made things even worse. I wasn't the 'comforting type'. "Now Sakura, strong kunoichi don't cry." I managed to let out a smile (one that I would only show her). "Oh yeah? Well I wouldn't be so strong without this stupid mark on my forehead!" How could I even respond to that? "That's not true. Even without your mark, I would still believe in you." She was already lying down, obviously trying to avoid eye contact with me. But I did notice her eyes were closing. I tried to get up, but before I had the chance, she grabbed my hand.

"Thank you, Leader-sama." Her eyes, closed but her grip on my hand was still tight. She was probably asleep by now. "Don't you realize blossom, we only love and want to protect you." I felt so bad for her. "You brought us sanity to our tainted hearts, so please don't cry." She slowly let go of my hand. I had just remembered that I had to *sigh* finish paperwork. As I was making my way out, I noticed she had stopped crying. I shut the door quickly and quietly, and made it back to my office.

*Sakura's POV*

'He thought you were asleep. How cute.' I couldn't believe Leader-sama had said that to me. I knew he cared about me, but not that much. I truly respected Leader-sama, even more now than ever. *Next day* IT was noon, and I decided to pay Leader-sama a visit. I knocked on the door and walked in quickly, making sure I shut the door tight. O skipped up to Leader-sama and bent down to his level to whisper to him. "Just so you know, I wasn't asleep when you said that. Arigatou Leader-sama." I left before he could respond. I could only over hear him say, "She never seizes to amaze me."

(A/N:) Sorry about all the a/ns throughout the story! This was a REALLY long chapter! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! It encourages me to type more! ;] Arigatou! (Sorry for all the capitalizing and spelling mistakes, my computer doesn't like me).