Hi, everyone! I'm back and I should be updating a lot more frequently. In fact, I've already started on the next chapter. YAY! My Exams are over and I'll get my results in August, so I really hope I did well.

Okay, so, enjoy this chapter and the next one should be up soon! However, it might not be up till sometime next week, as I am busy at the moment and my Prom is coming up. If anyone wants to see pictures of me and my friends, just tell me in a review or PM and I'll send you a link to where I'll put them up as soon as they're of DeviantArt.

Shadow Quil

Chapter Twenty Three

Deidara was angry.

No, in fact, he was beyond angry! Not only had their youngest member disrespected the Leader's rules, but she went full-out and betrayed them all! She utterly refused to continue with her mission, capturing the Kyuubi by gaining his trust. That was the problem with girls, Deidara believed; they gave into their emotions far too easily.

He would have thought that a Haruno girl, of all people, would have a stronger grip on their emotions, but it was just his luck that the curse of her family told the opposite. In return for complete control of their emotions, they were doomed to be driven by their emotions through all of their lives. Deidara knew that he wouldn't have minded so much, if only those emotions had driven her towards him instead of her target.

Her punishment was simple. She had to know that the village she had chosen over them would turn on her just as quickly as she turned on the Akatsuki; all they needed was a little prompting. For that reason, Itachi did not tamper with the cameras in the Forest of Death as he normally would have done. Deidara could tell that the Uchiha felt just as betrayed as he did.

The blonde was ready to tear her apart when he witnessed her kissing the demon kid. She was supposed to complete her mission, with no emotional attachments, and come back to the Akatsuki. Then, when she grew up a bit, she was to be his! Forget the Uchiha, just his! Deidara was only glad that he and Itachi were the only ones even close to her age, or else he may have had more competition.

Itachi. One of the few people in the world he could dedicate his life to kill and then die happy with the knowledge that the bastard was dead too. If only, he often thought, Sakura was on his side. The power of himself and that girl combined would be more than enough to take down more than half of the old windbags that made up the organisation, and Itachi too.

However, Pein was very clever when it came to selecting his members. He was fully aware that, while some may get along, none of the people in the organisation ever had the capability to truly be loyal to each other, or at least more loyal to each other than they were to him. What he hadn't been counting on was Orochimaru turning up one day saying that he had found someone to join the organisation.

Finding members took months of planning and organising, and then he had to decide how they should be approached and whether they were truly worthy of Akatsuki time at all. So, when Orochimaru made his announcement, Pein was pissed. It was only when her clan name was mentioned that Pein, as well as the rest of the organisation, became interested.

Now, Deidara hadn't been there when Sakura joined, since Orochimaru had still been Sasori's partner, but he remembered being told of how she was like a stubborn mouse that refused to give in when it was let into a lion's den. He could really see the fire in her eyes that would support the story, as well as how she had fought against Orochimaru to stay with the Akatsuki, if only for her attachment to Hidan.

The Jashinist and the pinkette had, against all odds, formed some sort of twisted friendship during her time at the base. There was no real foundation to their companionship, either. He was brash and rude, while she was more reserved and calculating. She would take the time to plan her actions carefully before going through with anything while Hidan would kill first, think later. Sakura also thought that Hidan followed a ridiculous, pointless religion. The only way to really know why the two had formed any sort of friendship would be to ask one of them, and Deidara knew that Sakura wouldn't give him a straight answer and Hidan would tell him to 'mind his own fucking business'.

Deidara could still remember the first day he entered Akatsuki, thus meeting Sakura for the first time.

~Flashback~

The newest addition to Akatsuki was wandering up and down the halls of the Amegakure Kage tower in search of a certain Uchiha he needed to challenge to a rematch. When he found said Uchiha, he didn't expect to find him battling with a girl with pink hair. What really shocked him was to see that Itachi was actually beginning to breathe heavier than usual.

"Give up, teme!" The girl yelled in his direction while she readied herself to dodge. Itachi said nothing, but attacked her hip.

"You need to learn to block attacks to your hips." He scolded without any emotion in his voice, though Deidara could clearly see the amusement in his eyes.

"Shut your mouth! You sound just like my Otou-san!" She glared as him, turning and leaving the training room. Deidara didn't move in time and the girl saw him. "Were you spying on our training?" She demanded.

"Uhh…no." Deidara told her. "I was just looking for Uchiha, un."

"Yeah? Well, there he is! In all his asshole glory." She muttered, walking away. Deidara looked to the training room and shrugged, going after the girl instead.

"What's your beef with Itachi-san, un?" He asked, seeing the annoyance on her face when he realised that he was following her. "And how can you keep up with him like that? You're…what? Six, un?" He chuckled slightly, looking down on the younger girl.

"Firstly, I'm seven. Secondly, it's not my fault if you got your ass kicked by him and I didn't. And, lastly, get over yourself! If you're seriously going to be an Akatsuki member, you'll need to be more humble that you're acting." She lectured. The blonde fumed slightly, not like being told off by someone four years younger than him.

"Now you listen to me, un!" Deidara began, seeing a bored look settling on her face. "I will not be told—!"

"Yeah, yeah. As fascinating as what you were about to say might be, I have a meeting I need to get to. In fact, judging by that cloak, you should be attending too." She told him, wandering off. Deidara, knowing that he would get lost if he didn't, trailed behind the mouthy seven-year-old, glaring at her in contempt.

~End Flashback~

The blonde sighed and shook his head, walking to the exit of the building where Sasori was waiting for him. Nodding once to acknowledge the redhead, he smirked.

Time for the rescue mission.

—With Sakura—

'It's already over.' Sakura thought to herself. 'I'm not going to answer him; he knows that. It's over.'

"Haruno…I have a surprise for you." Ibiki smirked as he walked into the room, a shorter person following behind him. Sakura's eyes widened, turning yellow as fear took over.

"Naruto-kun?"

~Flashback~

Naruto walked into his apartment after coming home from shopping. His budget was tight as it was and now with another mouth to feed, he wasn't sure how long it would be before he could no longer pay the bills. The boy wasn't, however, selfish enough to kick Inari out. The poor brunette was in a panic when he discovered from gossip around town that his 'big sister' had been arrested.

"Inari?" He called, kicking his door shut behind him. Receiving no reply, Naruto walked to the kitchen and set the bags down before pulling out a kunai. "Inari? Are you here?"

"The kid's fine." A woman's voice sounded from behind him. Naruto threw his weapon in her direction and turned, seeing Anko grinning as he held his kunai between her teeth. "That's really some killer aim you got there, brat." She laughed, throwing the weapon to the wall and letting it stay there. "But you need to work on speed."

"What're you doing here?" Naruto demanded, running to pull his kunai out of the wall. He really couldn't afford to have it fixed.

"I'm here to collect you." She announced, showing the boy a scroll that gave her permission to take him to the interrogation building, against his will if necessary.

"Why?"

"Your little girlfriend refuses to talk." Anko shrugged. "You're the one who's going to loosen her lips, ready to blab everything she knows about Akatsuki."

"Yeah? Why should I?!" Naruto yelled. "She betrayed Konoha! She betrayed me! Why should I have to go near her, huh?"

"Because Ibiki believes that she was blackmailed." The purple-haired woman sighed, rolling her eyes. Naruto froze.

"Huh?" He grunted, completely shocked.

"Yeah, kid, great comeback." She snorted. "Ibiki thinks they have something over her…or at least that they're threatening her. But she won't listen to anyone, or speak, even when we promise to keep her safe and protected. So, since you're the only one in this village that she trusts, you're the one who'll talk her into giving up everything she knows."

"What if I can't?" Naruto asked, his fists clenched. 'Like she'll listen to me. For all I know, she only used me. I'm so stupid.'

"Then I'm happy to say Ibiki got permission to use any tactic his sick mind can think of to make her talk." Anko grinned, loving the way Naruto gulped in fear. "Maybe he'll do it traditionally and start with digging senbon under her fingernails…or maybe he'll just skip straight to breaking her legs in half, slowly, painfully—"

"Okay, I'll do it!"

~End Flashback~

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto greeted with a nod of his head. He was shocked to see her sitting in a metal chair, completely unharmed. He mentally thanked himself for not being stubborn enough to say 'no' to Anko, for he was sure that if he took any longer, Sakura would be bleeding by now.

"What…What're you doing here?" She asked shakily as her eyes flicked between yellow, fear, and purple, anger. "Ibiki, he has nothing to do with this! Let him go!"

"No one forced me to come here, Sakura-chan." Naruto cut in. Her eyes became red.

"Then why are you here, idiot?! You should be at home, loathing my very existence! I used you to get Konoha's trust! Why don't you hate me, are you that stupid?!" She demanded, her eyes slowly turning back to their normal shade of green. "Get out of here, Naruto." She ordered, seeing tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

"No!" Naruto yelled at her. "A part of me does hate you, and that part makes me want to hit you right now!"

"Then go ahead!" She permitted, turning her head so that he had a clear shot of her cheek. "If you hit it at the right angle, maybe you'll even break my neck."

"I don't want to!" He cried. "The part of me that hates you is so small that I can ignore it…for the most part." Naruto trailed off, his eyes narrowing and his clenched fists shaking slightly. "But…" He began, stepping towards her and lifting his fist. Sakura wince in anticipation, but didn't shy away from the incoming hit. Naruto's fist came closer to her face and she closed her eyes, but felt nothing.

"Wha—?" She breathed when she opened her eyes, seeing Naruto's fist mere millimetres from her nose. "Why?"

"Because I know you would never try to hurt me." Naruto told her, his tears falling down his cheeks. "Tell me the truth…would you really betray me like that?"

"Yes." Sakura answered quickly. "I already did!"

"No." He said, looking into her eyes. They were black. "Pride-san…I want to talk to the girl with grey eyes."

"Why the hell do you want that?" Pride scoffed. "And her name is Emotionless-chan."

"Because she's the only one who can give me an honest answer." He said, remembering a training session he and Sakura had not long ago.

~Flashback~

"Naruto…I'm going to use my Kekkei Genkai. You'll fight against whatever emotion comes out, okay? Each has their own style, so keep on your toes—I'll cancel the jutsu when you're tired."

"Okay, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, happy that they were training together, just the two of them, for the fist time since they became a team a week ago.

"Kanjoo Jiyuu!" Sakura called, her eyes flashing a number of colours before settling as light grey.

"Who're you?" He asked, having very little knowledge of her emotions other than Vain was turquoise, Rage was red and Fear was yellow.

"That is not important." She told him, readying kunai. Before she could throw, her eyes faded and became very light green.

"Huh?" Naruto voice, his shoulders slumping.

"S-S-So-Sorry." The girl stuttered uncontrollably. "Y-You were-we-weren't supposed to f-fight her."

"Why not?" Naruto asked the shy girl. Something in his mind clicked. He was talking to Sakura's shy personality—Shy-san.

"She-She's v-very s-s-st-strong." Shy replied. "T-Too strong."

"Okay?" The blonde said in confusion. "So, I'm fighting you?" He asked, sighing when the girl shook her head. "So…um…Who was the grey-eyed one?"

"O-Oh…She's Emotionless-san. S-She's a-always b-brut-brutally honest, be-because she d-doesn't h-have any r-reason to l-lie. She do-doesn't have the ab-ability. Th-his a-also m-make-makes her v-very strong."

~End Flashback~

"Fine, fine." Pride sighed, her eyes dulling to grey.

"Yes, Naruto-san?" Emotionless asked in her monotone voice.

"Did Sakura-chan really betray Konoha?" He asked, determination still filling his tone he watched her eyes flash a thousand colours, as if all the emotions were trying to take control to stop her from leaking anything Sakura didn't want to be known.

"Yes." Emotionless' voice rang clearly from the body and Naruto's eyes dulled, his face hardening.

"That's all I wanted to know." He grunted.

"Idiot." A more demonic version of the same voice called. Naruto heard Ibiki's stifled gasp and he turned sharply, seeing projections of two versions of Sakura on either side of a now unconscious body.

One had her hair cropped around her shoulders and was wearing a black, formal kimono with a white circle on the back and the other had long, flowing hair let down around her ankles, and she was wearing a white formal kimono with a black circle on the back. The Sakura with cropped hair had onyx eyes with white pupils and a black spot in the pupil while the one with long hair had white eyes with a grey pupil and a white spot in the middle of the pupil.

The long-haired girl was smiling softly and the other was scowling, just as Naruto remembered them from when they had fought Zabuza not that long ago. He looked to the darker-dressed one, knowing it was her who spoke to him, since the voice sounded nothing like the angelic tone he remembered coming from the long-haired twin.

"Who…Who are you?" Naruto asked, unsure about whether the question would get him killed or not. He was never too sure when it came to Sakura and her Kekkei Genkai.

"I am Yang. This is my sister, Yin." The demonic girl, Yang, introduced.

"We are the split combinations of Sakura's good and, well, 'evil' parts of her personality." Yin smiled, her voice sending Naruto into a brief daze until he managed to snap out of it. He looked between the two and frowned.

"Last time I saw you…Yang was taller." He noticed. "Now, it's the other way around. Or…is it just me?"

"No, you're right, unfortunately." Yang scoffed, looking up slightly at the taller girl. Yin was tall enough for Yang to only reach her chin. The light side smiled again.

"Well, that's because she has more good in her personality that bad; she's had that ever since she truly became friends with you. Trust me, before she came to Konoha and met Hinata-san, Yang was the size of a building and I was a grain of rice. Eventually, we evened out, but Yang was always taller, until she accepted you as her friend." She explained. Yang cut in gruffly.

"And then, all thanks to you, I started shrinking!" Yang snarled before a smirk made its way to her face. "But, this whole interrogation thing you got going on is causing me to grow again. Thanks, Ibi-chan!" She grinned nastily. Yin gave her a reprimanding look and shook her head slightly.

"Look, we're here as representatives for Sakura-sama. She can't talk to you herself because her emotions keep arguing over information that should be allowed—"

"—and information that shouldn't." Yang carried on, turning on her heel to face Ibiki. "Luckily for you, all of the questions you've been asking fall into the latter category. Ha!" Yang once again was on the receiving end of a stern look.

"Long story short; Ibiki needs to stop asking questions and Naruto needs to start. Sakura-sama is more likely to answer if they're coming from him, Sasuke-san or Kakashi-san." Yin explained, her image fading. When she completely vanished, Yang sighed and disappeared too. Sakura blinked twice as she came around, her eyes finding Naruto.

"…Sakura-chan…?"

"What's going on?" She asked sleepily, suddenly becoming alert when Naruto took hold of her chin. "Naruto-kun?" Sakura acknowledged, frowning at the seriousness in her face.

"Why did you betray Konoha, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, the pain clearly showing across his face. Sakura opened her mouth when the door burst open and hit the wall.

"Akatsuki!" A flustered Jounin cried as he panted. "Akatsuki are—!" He was silenced when a kunai cut through his throat. Naruto and Ibiki were blown back by a small explosion and Sakura felt was seemed to be strings wrap around her waist. She was suddenly pulled towards the door and into wooden limbs.

"Sasori!" She yelled, looking up at him. The redhead looked down at her blankly and she paused before thrashing in his grip, trying to see if Naruto was alright. "Naruto-kun! Answer me! Naruto-kun, are you okay? Naruto-ku—!"

"Shut up!" Deidara snarled, holding the back of his hand over her mouth and taking her from sasori. "We're getting outta here, un! Let's go!" He ordered, taking charge and dragging the struggling Sakura out of the building, onto the clay bird waiting outside. He took his hand off her mouth, only to listen to her calling her boyfriends name.

"Naruto!" She yelled. Deidara's eyes narrowed and he knocked her out, but not before she could whisper one final 'Naruto-kun' into the air.

"Deidara?" Sasori called when he saw the blonde sitting still on the bird, gazing down at the pinkette in his arms.

"...We're leaving, un."