Chapter 12

Sakura spent several days lounging about in her room. More often than not, others would come and visit her. A majority of her visitors were usually injured members. Karin, noticing Sakura's change of mood, came around for longer periods of time. The pair of girls earned a title within the group. The Jashinist had tagged them with the team name "Bloody Lunatics" for the many times they shed blood all around the base and their hair color, which he declared were only several shades from blood red.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright? Lately, you haven't been leaving your room much. And I saw Itachi-san leave the room paler than when he came in."

"I wish I could say I was alright, Kari." The nicknames between the two girls stuck. They were best friends, neighbors, and teammates. Yes, they would officially become a team, once Sakura stopped her depression. That was what Itachi had entered her room to say. However, he left paler than usual because of some disturbing things Sakura threatened to tell Sasuke if Itachi did not leave her alone.

"What's wrong?" Karin made her way to the bed, forgetting to close the door behind her. She sat down on the bed and put her hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"I think… I think I miss Konoha," The pinkette looked at her best friend and tears began to travel down her cheeks. The fragile hand on her shoulder pulled her into a bear hug. Sakura cried into Karin's purple shirt. If the redhead minded, she didn't show it. But what they redhead did show was red eyes with tears. Choking back tears the pinky whispered with the voice she could, "Why are you crying, Kari?"

"Because I know how you feel, Sakura-chan…" The girls cried together, ignoring the concerned Kisame, Deidara, and Sasori. The tears were abruptly stopped when Hidan was leaning against the doorway and mumbling curses.

"Damn, pathetic Bitch, she's even got the Whore to fucking cry with her sorry ass. What in the fucking world could you possibly be crying your asses off about?" Hidan stared at them and smirked. In his cruel, immortal mind they could not touch him. His moronic brain was stubborn and refused to learn any lessons the girls' beatings had attempted to teach him.

Sakura, knowing how to strum the nerves of the silver haired idiot, wiped her tears and looked at him with extreme fake sadness. "We just found three good reasons why Jashin isn't real." The redhead, understanding where her best friend was going continued to list several reasons why Jashin was a lie.

The Jashinist walked away, tears picked at his eyes. The sight of a grown man, an immortal man, crying made the girls bubble with laughter. Sakura smiled softly at her best friend before the plan began to hatch in her head. Most people wouldn't think that bubblegum pink head could come up with anything evil and devious. They were dead wrong.

Sakura grabbed Karin's hand and bolted out of the door. Pink and red were running out to the training field. If Sakura's memory was correct, the wide open space had a corner that was covered in trees. The pinkette was sure that nobody could see or hear them there. It was a perfect place to explain her plan.

"Sakura, where are we going?" Karin stumbled and attempted to keep up with the pinky. The redhead smiled when they came to a stop.

Sakura's smile was twisted upwards in the right corner. A sure sign that she had formed a plan in that head of hers and Karin was ready to hear it once the pinky was ready to speak. The two sat down under a tree. Its dark green leaves shaded any light from the sun, but it was fairly bright in the forest. The stream that was rushing was maybe a mile and a half away, but it could be heard running loud and clear.

"Help me visit Konoha. We can leave tomorrow; almost everyone in the Akatsuki has a mission tomorrow. The only person at the base will be Tobi. We could simply lie and claim we are going to go shopping in a nearby village. And once we leave for Konoha, we could alter our appearances with genjutsu." Sakura's elaborate plan caught Karin off guard.

"I don't know genjutsu, Bubblegum." The redhead frowned. The plan seemed flawless, except for that fact.

"Oh, I do! Did I forget to mention that to everybody? I thought Itachi knew…" The pinky went off into her thoughts and after a bit looked at her friend. "Bubblegum?"

"Your hair reminds me of bubblegum."

You have a weird best friend. Weirder than Ino-pig.

'Yes that is true. But Karin is a better best friend. For one thing, she doesn't point out my flaws and claim it's teasing.'

That is very true.

'By the way, where have you been hiding?'

Did you know you are a blood born master of the katana?

'No…?'

That, my friend, is where I have been.

Inner Sakura took a bow, leaving the outer Sakura to ponder what was wrong with her. The pinkette shook her head a fraction of a bit and explained her plan to her best friend with precise detail before walking back into the base. They bid their farewells and Sakura went to bed early. She could feel herself cheering up slowly with every minute that ticked by.

In the morning Sakura did not awake with Sasori's arms around her waist. Nor did she hear Deidara's usual death threats to anyone who dared call him feminine that morning. Kisame's morning fish smell did not creep its way through her door as it did early in the morning, and his partner's illusionist aura wasn't near at all. In fact, it was silent for a change in the base. Nothing stirred as Sakura's internal clock informed her it was a bit after seven in the morning. If she had come to know the base well enough, Tobi would not be awake until ten o'clock. Her best friend was a different story.

The knocks came delicately yet rapidly. It was their sign. Sakura got up and changed quickly, she slipped on a black t-shirt and shorts. With her ninja shoes on, she ran out the door. Karin was prepared as well. Each of them had weapons and the pinkette carried her medical supplies with her as well. Their pre-written note to Tobi was placed on the counter. Sakura read it over once to make sure it was alright.

Dear Tobi,

Karin and I have gone shopping in some of the nearby villages. There is some ramen in the fridge. DON'T TOUCH THE STOVE OR ELSE! We will most likely be back a little bit after sunset. If anybody, except Itachi, has come back, tell them where we have gone. If the base has been blown to pieces by the time we come back, you're dead. You may do as you wish for the day, except touching the stove or burning down the base. Tobi is a good boy if he follows these rules.

Love,

Sakura

P.S. My nail polish is chipping and when I return we must fix it. But this time, let's try a new color, okay? Purple isn't that flattering to my fingernails.

The girls left and once they reached near Konoha they stopped. Sakura performed the genjutsu upon herself first. Her pink hair turned a deep charcoal color and her eyes a clear, rain-like blue. Her clothing and skin color remained the same. She turned and placed one on Karin, who was staring in disbelief. The red hair, from scalp to tips, began to transform into a blue color, similar to Kisame's hair. Her eyes burned with a blue color similar to the pinkette's.

"Okay, Kari. You and I are traveling sisters. Your new name is Kasumi, and I am Amaya. Remember, we are looking for Hyuuga Hinata or Uzumaki Naruto."

"I got it, Bubblegum- I mean Amaya." Karin smiled a bit embarrassed by her tiny mistake before taking her 'sister's hand and walking to the gate. The guards let them in once they explained their predicament.

Karin and Sakura began to search immediately. They walked to the Hyuuga compound only to be told that Hinata was out with Naruto. They checked near the Hokage's Tower; absolutely nothing. They looked near the past Hokage's heads; still nothing. They spent a majority of the day looking before Sakura's common sense struck her in the head. She began to lead her friend to Ichiraku's ramen stand. Sure enough the blonde was shouting next to Hinata about his plans of becoming a Hokage. Sakura tapped Karin three times and pointed to the couple. They nodded and plastered fake smiles about their faces. Karin led the way into the ramen shop.

"Hello, I am Kasumi and this is my sister, Amaya. We are new here and would love it dearly if you could show us around." Karin's perfect acting was the reason she was speaking instead of the pinkette. And although the girl knew every part of Konoha, she wished to spend the day with her two friends. All that the pinky needed was Naruto and Hinata; they had always been two of her favorite people.

"H-hello, w-we would be glad to h-help you girls, right N-Naruto-kun?" The Hyuuga smiled weakly as Sakura guessed that Hinata would never change.

"Yeah, believe it, Hinata!"

"Thank you, Naruto and Hinata." Sakura bowed her head. It seemed unusual to be acting formal towards these two. She ignored that and asked to be showed a nearby and solitary park. The pinkette knew that even though the blonde did not know of one, the Hyuuga did.

"H-here we are, K-Kasumi, Amaya." Hinata smiled shyly again, blushing a deep red when Naruto kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, yeah." The couple looked at Sakura shocked that she would show such behavior. Their eyes only widened as Sakura release the part of the genjutsu to show the roots of her hair and her eye color before putting the genjutsu back into place. "I'm surprised you couldn't tell it was me. But before you go crazy and think about turning me in, I really missed you guys and decided to visit. But I have to leave in a few hours. Oh, and this is Karin. She used to be on Sasuke's old team, but she joined the Akatsuki and now we're really good friends." The pinkette somehow thought that they would try to drag her to Tsunade and turn her in. But to her astonishment, she was bombarded with hugs. Immediately, they dragged her off to have the best few hours in Konoha that they could possibly give her and Karin. They stood at the gate, tired and worn out from the many things they managed to do several hours later.

"Bye Sakura-chan," whispered Naruto. "Once I become Hokage, you'll always be welcome back, and I won't tell anybody about your visit."

"Goodbye Sakura, Karin." Hinata smiled politely and hugged her friend and new friend.

"I'll see ya around guys. And Naruto, take care of this village because even though I'm not a part of this village, I still love it."

"I will Sakura… Now I think you should-"

Sakura and Karin had already taken off. Sunset was coming soon and if they weren't back at the base, Tobi would surely tell everybody. It took all of their strength to make it back to the Akatsuki base in time. Once they entered they saw that most of the Akatsuki members were back at the time. In the living room, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, and Itachi were questioning Tobi about the girls' whereabouts. Tobi, upon seeing the girls, jumped up and hide in the corner.

"Tobi sees new strangers!"

"Why is there a genjutsu on you both?" Itachi's sharingan was studying them. He could see through it and that infuriated Sakura. She had tried so hard to perfect her genjutsu and here the Uchiha was acting as if he didn't majorly put down her skills.

Neither of them answered fully and neither of them looked at Itachi's eyes. Sakura's, still currently blue, eyes searched Sasori's big chocolate eyes for help. Similar to her, Karin searched Kisame's pleading to be rescued. Itachi, figuring he would not get an answer, stood up and walked to his own room. The girls took this time to attempt backing away.

"Sakura, come here." The puppet master's blue strings of death were floating in the air threateningly. As if Sakura did not have a choice at all.

"Karin," Kisame's voice was rough as he tried to hold back his smirk.

The girls reluctantly walked to the Akatsuki boys. They hung their colored heads down and both boys grunted with displeasure as they touched the colored locks of hair. Sakura released the genjutsu reluctantly and sighed. Her mind slowly adopted the thought that they would be caught, that they would never get away with it. Until an orange masked idiot jumped from the corner and attacked Sakura with a hug. Unprepared for the sudden bombardment, Sakura fell clumsily backwards into Sasori's lap. A blush crept its way to her face as she lifted her hand and struck Tobi behind the head. Deidara caught Tobi as he flew across the room and pulled him out of the room, despite the boy's fighting back and screaming.

Sakura looked at Sasori sadly; ready to speak when she saw his eyes widen the slightest bit of an inch. She turned her head to meet the sight of Karin and Kisame kissing on the couch. The pinkette flinched a bit as Sasori picked her up bridal style and carried her to their room. Once they closed the door and he placed her on the bed, she opened her mouth to speak. But Sasori placed a finger on her mouth, shaking his head.

"I'm tired and I've missed you dearly."

"As have I missed you, Sasori-kun." She smiled when he crawled over her and placed a quick, teasing kiss upon her lips. A giggle passed through her lips as he kissed her again and rolled over, pulling her body closer to his. Once he pulled away they closed their eyes tiredly.

"And don't ever leave to Konoha again without my permission."

Sakura's eyes shot open with shock as she stared at the beautiful puppet man before her.

WE'VE BEEN CAUGHT!

A/N it's super late right now. I'm tired and I want to sleep. So this month might be troublesome for uploading because I've got boat loads of events planned out. Yeah, this totally sucks. I'm thinking about making chapter 13 about Karin and Kisame and how they came to be. Sort of circling Karin's feelings for the shark. Review please and thank you. I love you guys, forever and always will.

Sincerely,

D.A.R.N