AN: 18 chapters… the story is growing up! –sniff- It's legal now! It can vote…and have sex!
"You? Join Akatsuki?" Pain looked like he could laugh, but, of course, being the evil badass he was, he didn't.
Sakura steeled herself. She'd managed to convince Kisame to lead her to Pain—she could convince Pain she was worthy. "Yes. I am Haruno Sakura. I trained under two of the legendary sannin, both of whom I can provide information on. As I'm sure Deidara has explained, I killed Sasori, proving that I am as good as him. Sasori claimed he took out an entire country. It seems to me I am more than capable."
"Can you recount what you did during the fight to beat him?" Pain asked, unimpressed. "Deidara tells us that the Leaf took out his greatest weapon before you got to him."
Sakura remained silent. Pain remained undaunted. "Show me what you can do."
Now we're talking, thought Sakura. "Do I get a dummy to hit or something?" she asked dryly, sounding a lot more confident than she actually was.
Deidara laughed derisively as Pain shook his head. "You'll spar with one of the members."
Ohshiti'mscrewedican'tdothisi'mtooweakthey'resostrongthey'?
Through Inner Sakura freaking out, Outer Sakura kept on a poker face and merely said, "okay." She surveyed the Akatsuki present. Apparently these people called "Hidan" and "Kakuzu" were out on a mission, so it was up to her.
"Hey, Leader," Kisame said with that creepy grin. "If she supposedly has super strength like the Hokage, let's see how much of my chakra she can counter."
Pein didn't even look at him as he said, "Kisame will test you. Be warned; unless you go at him with a killing intent you will get nowhere."
Sakura winced at him familiar the words were—but this was totally different. This was not the bell test. This was actually life and death… Kakashi-sensei she could trust, but this freak…what was that thing on his back anyway? Some sort of mummy? It had a handle, so it was probably a sword, but good would it do all wrapped up like that?
As Kisame stood across from her, Sakura looked around. Was there anyone here who would stop her from being cut to ribbons? She surveyed Itachi's emotionless countenance. Nothing there. Pein's crossed arms. Nope. Deidara's sneer. Definitely nope. The plant-dude appeared to be focusing on the scene very intently, but didn't appear particularly charitable. The guy with the orange mask was giggling, but seemed more delirious than helpful. The blue-haired woman…would she help someone of the same gender? Sakura tried giving a small smile, then realized her error. This was Akatsuki. Nobody cared for smiles. She grimaced instead and returned her attention to her opponent.
Kisame Hoshigaki, she thought from the Bingo Books. No qualms with slaughtering anybody endangering the mission. Former Hidden Mist Ninja (Alias Monster of the Hidden Mist). Gets stronger in proportion to strength of opponent. Shit… my 'inhuman strength' will just have him feed off it. Low genjutsu and relatively low intelligence, but insane strength and stamina… everything's pointing to the fact that I have to use my intelligence. I may have used some genjutsu in the past, but I'm just not confident with it…
"You start," Kisame smirked.
Sakura jerked out of her thoughts and took a breath. She formulated the beginnings of a strategy.
"In a battle, you don't have time like this," Pain said, looking unimpressed.
Sakura winced as she remembered Sasuke saying almost the exact same thing… "You do realize that in an actual fight, you hardly have time to stretch."
And then she grabbed three kunai without warning and threw them, the speed catching Kisame off guard. Without checking to see whether she'd been successful, Sakura used the distraction to charge. She drew her fist back and punched—only to feel blinding pain.
When the dust cleared, she saw that none of her kunai had hit and that her hand was currently entrapped in the snarls of the enormous sword Kisame had unwrapped—just the tip. Blood trickled down her arm and dripped onto the floor. And her arm was weak and limp, her chakra being drained…
"Samehada doesn't cut flesh," Kisame told her smugly. "He shaves it off. And he loves chakra—he'll eat yours right up."
Grimacing, Sakura pulled her mangled right hand back. That would stop her from using any powerful punches. Which, she realized, should have been the plan from the beginning.
She narrowed her eyes and took an experimental swing. Samehada blocked. She tried to kick, but the sword was large enough to block both blows. She jumped back, aware that this was not a very impressive display.
Kisame was still just standing there. He hadn't even moved.
Sakura growled and made hand-signs. She ran at Kisame once more, but this time she flickered right before she would hit him and the next thing Kisame could know, he was getting hit from behind. He stumbled forward. Sakura's next hit was blocked by Samehada, and Kisame swung the sword at her, but Sakura ducked it and threw a shuriken. It grazed one of Kisame's gill-scars, causing a small drop of blood to trickle down. He recovered quickly though, and the next hit seemed impossible to avoid. And then…it went right through Sakura.
"How...?" Kisame wondered out loud, and swung again. This time she flickered and disappeared. But that wasn't supposed to…
Sakura hit him right under the chin with her left, fist, full strength. Kisame flew against the rock wall of the base and a bit of the surface crumbled onto him. Sakura finished it off with a kick, and Kisame coughed up blood. "Genjutsu!" she crowed.
"Nice trick, girl," he said, then made the summoning seal and Sakura found herself encased in sharks.
Ow.
Sakura punched through as many as she could, but her bleeding right fist wasn't making it easy. She jumped as far as she could, knowing sharks had to be underwater to breathe, so maybe they'd disappear. She used the chance to heal her wound. Sparing a glance at the sidelines, she realized that the Akatsuki members seemed to be a little interested by now.
Kisame had, at this point, gotten himself up. "Genjutsu," he repeated. "Nice trick." With that, he was suddenly right in front of her—that speed!—and Samehada was on her, draining her chakra. Sakura allowed her legs to crumple so she could dive under Kisame and kick his legs out from under him, but he reacted in time to step on her. Sakura was pinned. Kisame raised the sword to make the finishing blow when Sakura made handsigns and two snakes grew out of her torso and wrapped around Kisame's legs, flipping him over. Two more snakes wrapped around his thighs, attempting to keep him down. Unfortunately, Kisame cut right through them and resumed the attack. Doesn't this guy get tired? Sakura thought desperately, dragging out a kunai to slightly deflect the monstrous sword bearing down on her.
Clearly Kisame had a lot of chakra. Alright then: she'd just have to find a way to block it off. Discreetly, Sakura reached into her pouch and fingered some senbon. She jumped away, throwing a shuriken as a decoy and aimed the senbon. Only one hit, but it was in his sword arm and Kisame hissed. He pulled it out, but the damage had been done: chakra was already being hindered. Sakura smirked, glad for her infallible accuracy. She'd trained with TenTen, the weapons mistress herself, for a time… but this wasn't a time for reminiscing.
She tried the same attack, but even though Kisame wasn't necessarily a genius, he was a member of Akatsuki. He wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Sakura suffered a blow from Samehada, a roping scar forming across her stomach and chest where it had hit. Gasping for breath, she staggered. Kisame punched her with rough, scaly fists, grabbing her kunai and turning it on her. It grazed her shoulder. Sakura sank to her knees. It had been right on the already irritated curse seal…she was tired, and she wasn't going to be able to repress Orochimaru's chakra for much longer.
The first seal began to crawl up her neck, pain lancing across the burning area. She had the presence of mind to jump away, so that Kisame couldn't take advantage of her pained state. She leaned against the crumbling stone wall to steady herself until her whole left side was covered in the seals. She unsteadily raised her hand to heal herself (though healing chakra came more difficultly in curse seal state), hovering over the worst wound on her belly. Power was already starting to course through her. For the first time, she examined the seals. They were shaped almost like tear drops, or perhaps petals. Actually, they looked very similar to the seal itself where she'd been bitten. They lanced across, and they twinged in pain but Sakura stood with a smile.
She was seeing purple and realized it must have been the curse seal's energy. Like that first time Sasuke got his…she glanced over at Akatsuki again. Pain still looked emotionless, Deidara looked angry. After all, he must have seen Sasuke's seal as "cheating". The plant-dude almost seemed to be… smiling? No time to think. Kisame was incoming: he obviously didn't know how this worked at all.
She stood and drew her fist back…punching right into Samehada. "Get a load of this chakra," she growled in a voice that was not her own. And she let the curse-seal chakra flow right across to Kisame, to burn his veins as it was burning hers. It wouldn't kill Sakura, since she had the original curse which gave her a small immunity, but Kisame could very well die from this foreign contaminant. Kisame howled and jumped back. Sakura kicked Samehada out of his hands, using snakes to ensnare Kisame and trap him against the wall. Not losing a moment, she kicked his hard, scaly stomach and punched his face, breaking her nose. Her knuckles were bruised, but that was okay. Kisame attempted to bite at her, but these snakes were stronger and he didn't have Samehada. Sakura reached around his head to clap him on the temples. Unconsciousness was immediate. Just to be safe, she disabled his arm by pressing certain chakra points. He slid to the ground.
Panting hard, Sakura tried to make the curse seal go away as she faced the rest of them. She had…she had an urge to kill… she wanted to see blood… more blood splattering the ground…
"Orochimaru's curse seal," Itachi said emotionlessly. Pein nodded in comprehension. "This may be her first time using it. In all likelihood she cannot control the bloodlust it brings."
Pein turned to look at her again. "Your next task is to heal Kisame. Heal every injury you dealt, maybe more."
What? Heal? She'd just barely restrained herself from killing him, the fucker. She wanted to kill! Could she at least cut his chest open with a scalpel? Maybe 'accidentally' stop his heart? She was just considering ways to pull it off when Itachi met her eyes with sharingan.
The curse seal decided it was time to go now.
Almost drained of chakra, Sakura dropped to her knees, gripping her shoulder.
"Well?" Pein said. "You're no good as a medical ninja to us if you can't heal in a tired state."
Sakura glared at him, but started to crawl to the wall. She made an effort to stand; it didn't quite work. She hovered unsteadily over Kisame. Throwing off her cloak, she got to work. She forced out the chakra to the bruises, aware that the rest of Akatsuki was coming over to watch. Sakura had made few blood-drawing wounds. She barely heard Konan whispering, "She leaves little trace in terms of blood. Good for leaving silently."
Normally Kisame's injuries would have been no problem to heal, but Sakura was tired. Very tired. So she tried a rather dangerous technique, drawing on Kisame's own chakra to heal him. Her chakra acted merely as a chaperone so that she could manipulate Kisame's chakra and take it to the right place.
When she was sure there was not a scratch on him, Sakura undid the damage to his arm.
"It's done," she said and looked expectantly at those looking down at her. They had formed a circle, their Akatsuki cloaks foreboding. Well, this was the moment of truth.
"Your initiation will take place tomorrow at sunrise," Pein told her without a hint of expression. "Rest and recover until then. You will stay in a room with Itachi and Kisame."
"I'm in?" Sakura asked dazedly.
"You're in."
She was in.
She was Akatsuki.
The next day, Kisame shook her awake. "Wake up, bitch. Time for your initiation."
Sakura yawned and stretched, aware that she was once again in just a camisole and pants left over from her Sound uniform. "Are you going to call me 'bitch' for the rest of my life?"
"The rest of your life, which may be very short," Kisame smirked. "Anyway, follow me. Time for initiation."
"Initiation? What, so I get my cloak and get introduced to everyone?" Sakura yawned.
"Not quite," Kisame laughed. They walked down the dimly lit stone hallways (apparently, they had carved out these hallways in the huge mountain. Sakura didn't want to know the power of jutsu necessary for that) until they reached the same room in which Sakura had sparred with Kisame: the one with a hugeass statue with a lot of closed eyes. Sakura assumed that was for the sealing of Jinchuuriki.
In the room, lit and warmed only by a huge fire in the middle (Probably Itachi's doing), stood all of Akatsuki. Evidently Hidan and Kakuzu had returned, because there were two new members.
It was certainly…odd.
"This pink bitch 'proved herself worthy'?" Hidan asked skeptically. "Yeah fucking right." Sakura could tell they were going to get along just fine: they were thinking the same thing, after all.
"Haruno Sakura," Pain said. "You will be the newest member of Akatsuki. To insure that you do not betray us, there are some binding jutsu we must place on you. As long as you are in this organization, you will obey my orders only, and cooperate with the other members. We also expect that, since you are a medical ninja, you will heal any injuries of members to the best of your abilities. Do you agree to these terms?"
"Yes," Sakura answered, determined to stop her hands and knees from shaking.
"To complete the jutsu, simply repeat my handsigns. This jutsu will also reveal uncertainty, so if you are not positive you should be here, if you are planning treachery, I suggest you stop now. It will kill you."
"My intentions here are pure," Sakura said firmly.
"Then we will begin."
It was a long jutsu, about ten minutes of repeating handsigns. Sakura felt her energy slowly being drained; her chakra must be getting added to some sort of storage container. She wasn't sure what the purpose, but she knew that if she stepped out of line Pain would know. This was it. On the short term, she was losing power, but she would gain it. Surrounded with these powerful people, she would learn and become strong, strong enough so that nobody would die when she wanted to save them. So powerful she'd never fail again.
When they'd finished, Sakura felt tired, but not nearly as much as yesterday. It had been a tough week. She hoped she'd get at least a little bit of rest…
"YAY!" The orange-masked guy—Tobi—shouted, and started dancing around the room. "Sakura-chan joined! Wheee!"
"Tobi, shut up!" Deidara reprimanded.
"Konan?" Pein asked.
"Yes." The blue-haired woman stepped out of the ominous line and, holding a cloak, handed it to Sakura. It was embroidered with red and black clouds, just like all the other Akatsuki uniforms.
Konan said emotionlessly, "Welcome to Akatsuki."
"Now, before we are dismissed, there is the matter of a partner for Haruno," Pain said. "Now that there is an opening—what with Sasori's death—there should be even groups of two."
Sakura looked around nervously. All the members were foreboding, but she'd be willing to take any of them, just not him…she probably couldn't handle it…
"I've determined that Kisame and Deidara will be paired together. Are there any objections?"
Nobody spoke. Sakura realized with growing horror that that just left…
"Very well then. Haruno will be partnered with Uchiha. She will take Kisame's bed. Uchiha, any objections?"
"None," Itachi replied smoothly.
AN: You guys had better be grateful. I put off my school projects to finish this…I'll probably get a bad grade…but it was worth it! This has been eating at the back of my mind for a while!
Dude, I do my fight scenes WAY too much. I can just see them happening in my head, and I play epic music in the background and have to overdescribe EVERYTHING. It's fun ;) But seriously, would you have believed Sakura had subdued Kisame if I said "and then Sakura won. The end."? No. On a side note, I remember NOTHING about Kisame, so if something was off with his fighting weapons, sorry.
So, dundundun, Sakura is paired with Itachi. How will Itachi use this to his advantage concerning Sasuke? Will anything happen between the two of them? Can Sakura help Itachi in any way, or will she just be a hindrance? Will she stay with Akatsuki? Place your bets!
And I know the initiation ceremony was lame, but honestly, I have no idea what it should be like. The closest we ever saw was Pein introducing Itachi. Meh.
This wasn't proofread. I have a lot of work to do...
Reviews appreciated as always.