Thanks to evee11 for reviewing :D I'm glad you're enjoying the story- I'll try and keep it up to your expectations :)

Sorry it took a while to update, I had writer's block x) but it's a nit bit longer than the other chapters, so I hope it makes up for everything :D

Akatsuki Base

Knock, knock, knock.

"I got it!" Deidara called back to those of us watching TV in the living room. I thought nothing of it. But Konan stood up and tried to stop him from getting near the door.

"Wait, Deidara-," blood cut her off, splattering against the wall. "Deidara!" Kisame's sword was drawn and he charged to the doorway, where two men stood bearing confident grins and gruesome weapons. I followed Kisame's manner. Together we took swings at them, me roaring as a werewolf and Kisame growling.

They stepped out of the way of our attacks and danced around, jabbing at us with their weapons. Narrowly, we avoided them. But they were relentless, and it wasn't long before Kisame was back against a wall, both men turning onto him. "You're dead, fish," one snarled.

I barreled into both of them, the three of us tumbling through the open front door. "Zero!" I heard someone shout. But my ears shut down as pain seared through my stomach and two weights crashed down on top of me; the two ninjas were stabbing and scratching at me, yelling.

"You're coming with us, Wolf."

"Lord Orochimaru has plans for you, and I hope for your sake that they're not the same as that Sasuke-boy."

I snarled and shoved them off, blindly lashing out. My claws made contact with a soft face and blood was sent flying into the air, sprinkling down around us. The surviving ninja wasn't phased. He leaped. My limbs tried to respond to my brain but to no avail. I was toast. This was it, I knew it, I was dead. Well, at least I had gotten laid in my life, much more than Naruto could say.

But the pain never came. An unfamiliar brunette male was standing in front of me, blocking the man's weapon by taking it to the chest. My mouth dropped. Who…? Wait, instead of blood dripping out of the back of the male's body, there was nothing but wood splinters. I had seen something like this only once before, when sparring with Kankuro in Sunagakure after calling his puppets fat ugly money whores. (Somehow a rumor had gotten around that Kankuro's puppets were strippers. I have no idea how that started…)

"Kankuro?" I stammered. Nope, there was a red-head I had grown to know decently well right behind me, controlling the puppet's movements. The puppet sprang away, taking the weapon with it. Seizing my chance, I scrambled back. "Thank you!" I gasped. The pain in my stomach was getting worse and spreading.

"Stay there," Sasori ordered, and then his focus went entirely to the battle at hand. The ninja was dodging left and right, playing the mouse in this game rather than the cat. The puppet and man were becoming a blur. I was impressed by their speed until I realized that it was my eye sight becoming bleary, darkness lurking on the very edges of my vision, ready to pounce and take me. I threw up.

Sasori was distracted by me for a split-second. It was enough for the enemy shinobi to dart towards him, katakana raised for the kill. I forced my arm and hand to move, I grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into the shinobi's face; he cursed and missed his target.

The last thing I saw was Kisame joining the battle.

"Zero?" I groaned and cracked my eyes open. My head was throbbing as if it were about to split open any minute and spill its contents. Who was calling my name? "Oh, thank goodness! Sasori, she's awake." Was that Konan?

"Good. She's responding well to the antidote. You can leave, Konan, I should require no more assistance. Go help Sakura with that blonde idiot." My eyesight adjusted to the light and soon were able to focus on the red head that had saved me, staring down at me in a condescending manner. "Welcome back, Zero. You are the single-most idiotic ninja I have met that has barely scraped by death. Congratulations."

I attempted to glare, but I don't think it got across very well. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know how bad you're head hurts? That's because you tackled two shinobi that were S-ranked criminals to the ground and didn't think far enough ahead to guess that it wouldn't be enough to stop them. However 'heroic' it may have seemed to you, it was dim-witted." He wiped his hands on a rag. "You're lucky that poison didn't kill you," he scolded, softer this time.

I closed my eyes. "Thanks for coming to my rescue out there, I take it you also healed my wound?" My body ached and I wanted to sleep again.

"Actually, no. I simply took the poison out of you and Deidara. Our little Pink-head captive was the one to heal your wounds and take on Deidara's." That shocked my eyes open. Really!? Sakura was helping us? He saw my expression and chuckled. "That's right; her resolve finally broke when she saw the two of you unconscious and bleeding nearly to death." He touched my eyes gently. "Now sleep, you need it. I'll wake you up when Deidara's up and moving, Leader will no doubt wish to have a meeting."

"Thanks, Sasori," I said, relaxed. My stomach felt numb- probably part of the antidote.

I felt a hand brush my cheek and stay there for barely a second. "You were very brave, Zero." And then he was gone, leaving me wondering and confused by his sudden emotion.

Deidara and I compared wounds while we waited for the meeting to start, tugging bandages down when the others weren't looking- Sasori had already yelled at us once. "Look at this," he bragged. Glancing around, he tenderly pulled his bandage down and revealed a disgusting, deep wound to his throat. "Missed my artery by," he held his fingers a centimeter apart, "this much."

"Ugh, I don't think I can top that," I grimaced.

"Zero, Deidara! Do I have to yell at you two morons again?" Sasori snapped, making both of us jump and guiltily hide our wounds again. I slunk to the table and sat down. Deidara followed, gingerly swallowing before sitting down and setting to work on a 'non-explosive' clay bear. Or so he claimed.

Sasori sat on my other side, eyeing us like we were mischievous two year olds. It wasn't long before all of the Akatsuki members were seated, with the exception of Leader-Sir and the not-member Sakura. Even Zetsu was here! I hadn't seen him in a while! :D

I scratched at the table absentmindedly, wondering how long it would be before I saw her again and what she would say- what would I say? I made a considerable dent in the table.

"That's mahogany!" Hidan shouted. (Ten imaginary dollars goes to whoever gets the reference x)

"Sorry," I muttered. I withdrew my hand and waited for Leader-Sir to start the meeting patiently, like the good little puppy I was.

Black smoke announced his arrival. "Sorry I'm late," he said, appearing in his chair once the smoke dispersed. "I was going over files. Deidara," he turned to the blonde. "Anything to say about the incident?"

He didn't need to be more specific, Deidara understood perfectly. His face got red and he blanched. "Sorry, it won't ever happen again."

"It better not," Kakuzu spoke up. "This is our secret house. No one should ever knock on the door." He glared at everyone's favorite pyromaniac, who was beginning to look increasingly miserable.

"That's enough, Kakuzu. He knows what he did and how to correct it, but what we do not know is how to retaliate. Or, should we even retaliate?" Leader-Sir looked around the room, waiting for an opinion. No one offered anything, but unlike me, it seemed that everyone else was thinking about the question.

Itachi was the first to speak up. "They were sent by Orochimaru to capture Zero, correct?" Leader Sir nodded. "I have a feeling that if his need for her is dire the snake will send more of his henchmen in, and I personally think we should either move our headquarters or wait for them."

"Those are probably the best courses of action," Sasori agreed. "Going after that snake would require locating his hideout, and we do not have the means for that."

"Although he would make a tasty snack," half of Zetsu slyly remarked.

"No, Zetsu. We are not going after him- Sasori's right, going after Orochimaru would cost us dearly. Our hands are limited," Konan stated. Leader Sir nodded his approval. "But that still leaves us with two courses of action."

"I vote we stay right where we are," Deidara declared. "Stick it to him."

"You speak out of pride, Deidara," Kakuzu rebuked.

"But he has a point," Sasori defended him. "If we stay and he sends more henchmen, us being here will tell him that we fought off his last attack with no problem and can handle anything he throws. Maybe he'll lose interest."

"I highly doubt it," Hidan retorted. "If anything it'll make the bastard worse."

Arguing broke out. It was obvious that the Akatsuki was split right down the middle on what to do. I didn't say anything since I was the new member and entirely unfamiliar to the whole meeting thing, but I figured a nice compromise would do. But… I didn't know what sort of compromise could be made. It seemed pretty black and white.

"Stop!" Leader Sir commanded, and everyone was instantly silent. He looked at each and every one of us. "We'll leave it to a vote." Hidan groaned. "All in favor of moving the headquarters…?" Kisame, Tobi, Zetsu, and Deidara raised their hands, and Leader rose to announce the decision. "By majority vote we stay. But there one to two members will stay on watch every night to alert the rest of us if Orochimaru makes a move." He paused. "And we need to discuss our prisoner medic."

"She proved very useful in healing Zero and Deidara," Sasori spoke up. "We need her, she is no doubt more useful than troublesome."

Leader nodded. "I would agree. But the convincing has not been working, so what do we do to get her on our side? We cannot simply let her run loose in the headquarters." I agreed with him; although it had worked for me.

Hidan was muttering crossly to Kakuzu, who was nodding in agreement. Kisame, sitting next to the pair, shot them a glare that silenced them after he obviously overheard something offensive. Leader stared at the two as well. "Is there something you would like to say, Hidan?"

He nodded defiantly. "Yes, there is. I say we keep Pinky below in the cells and don't let her know about anything else; if she begins to think that help will never come she'll lose hope and options. She obviously thinks someone is coming to rescue her."

"But she won't ever help us if there is a prospect of escaping," Kakuzu agreed. I blinked at the harsh solution they had set forward. It was… true. What they said was true, if we took away what she was waiting for, she would lose her will to fight the Akatsuki any longer.

Leader thought about it. "You are right. Thank you, Kakuzu, Hidan. I think you've stated the best course of action. We shall leave her in the cells, but keep sending down members to convince her as if nothing has happened, even if Konoha ninja manage to find us, she will never know." He nodded to Sasori. "You will keep watch tonight. Konan, you will speak to Sakura after dinner. Dismissed."

He disappeared. Everyone got up en masse and moved out the door to go about their business. I was beginning to feel a bit wobbly on my feet, and one look at Deidara's pale and sweating face told me he wasn't feeling too hot either. Sasori touched my shoulder. "You two, go lay down. The poison isn't entirely out of your systems, just most of it. The rest won't be out for a good two days, so you'll be feeling some pretty bad symptoms. Plus, you both lost a lot of blood." He glanced at me once, but kept his eyes fixed on Deidara most of the time. "So rest up. We can't have two members out."

I nodded and Deidara seemed too dazed to respond. We both parted ways. I don't remember much after that, I got to my room and zonked out, only waking to throw up and stare wildly around at some made up noise or hallucination. The hallucinations ranged from truly frightening to just plain dumb.

Once I witnessed Sasuke standing over me with a kunai poised to strike. And then the next image I saw was a clown juggling with a disco ball flashing all around. After that I placed a pillow over my head to stop my eyes, but unfortunately that was put to an end when I threw up into… A snake's mouth? Then I felt spiders crawling down my spine. I cried out when they began to bite me, snakes and bats crawling up onto my bed and baring fangs, ready to lunge at my flesh. But all of it wasn't nearly as weird as the image of Liam coming into my room and hugging me, gently pushing me onto my back after the spiders had tried to eat me; he placed my blanket back on me and left. That was the last one I remember.

Two days later I emerged from my room. My head throbbed faintly, but it was nothing compared to the past two days. Hidan looked even worse than I had; he was sweating and pale and shaking, snapping at everyone. "What are you looking at, bitch?" I averted my eyes. They fell on the window, revealing it to be early morning.

Konan greeted me much more kindly, running over as I entered the kitchen and hugging me. "Zero! How are you feeling?" She held me at an arm's length. "You look a bit better."

"Was I hit by a train?"

She laughed. "No, but I have a feeling that would feel better. I'm glad you're alright." She hugged me again.

"Is Deidara up yet? And what happened to Hidan?" I asked her, peering around her shoulder for food. My stomach was practically howling like a wolf at the moon or roaring like a lion taking his place in the circle of life. Ooh! A glorious donut shone on a plate :D

Konan followed my gaze and smiled. She grabbed it and delivered the package into my eager hands. "Deidara hasn't shown his face in the hallways since the meeting; Sasori's been checking in on him. And Hidan…" She paused. "He won't talk about it to anyone. Honestly, I think Sakura is the only one that can help him; but her loyalty isn't entirely ours yet… Or even partially."

I took all the information in. Then I asked, grimacing as I thought of shooting myself in the foot, "Might I be able to talk to her sometime?"

Konan's face flitted from surprised to her usual kindness. "Alright, I'll go talk to Pein." She left.

Devouring my donut, I exited the kitchen to the room with the piano. It felt like it had been a while; too long. When was the last time I had played music? Grinning in anticipation, I sat down on the bench and cracked my fingers; it was time for some hard core Zelda music!

My fingers danced across the keys. I became lost in the pixel world of Zelda, which was so much better than my ridiculous hallucinations. In this world I could picture myself running around in a green suit with a shield and sword, rescuing a princess and defeating monsters. Oh, it was delightful. I mean, the sight of Liam had been great, don't get me wrong! But I knew he was dead. There was nothing in it anymore; it was time to move on, however much my heart didn't want to.

"Zero?"

My fingers crushed my Zelda-Dream in unpleasant notes. I sprang into a standing position, forgetting about all surroundings except the person in the doorway. "Leader Sir?" I questioned, nearly saluting him. But that seemed over-the-top.

"The cells are open for you."

"Thank you, Sir." I bowed. He left. And then I practically sprinted to the cells, the only thing stopping me being my headache. Descending the steps, I faced Sakura.

Sasori put water to Deidara's lips. "Drink," he ordered. The blonde did as he was told and then slumped back onto his bed. He placed the glass on the bed-side table. "It'll be here when you need it, Deidara," he told his partner, standing up to leave.

"Sasori-danna, are you helping Zero?" he croaked. Deidara fixed Sasori with glazed, blue eyes. He gave a weak grin and lifted his eye brows in a suggestive manner. Sasori glared at him. "I know you, Danna."

"Shut up and sleep." He didn't feel anything for the werewolf and the blonde's constant chatter was getting annoying.

He stepped in the hall to find himself face-to-face with Konan. "I heard that," she told him. Sasori scowled. "Don't worry," she assured, "I won't say anything. But I saw you in her room yesterday checking in on her; and so did Itachi. It's obvious that you've spent more time with her than with any other member of the Akatsuki. You sprang into battle to help Zero, not Kisame. Even if you deny your feelings, everyone but Zero can see them." She walked away, leaving Sasori a bit speechless. He had always known that Konan was quite perceptive, but he had never quite expected her to be so perceptive. Or was everything really just that obvious? He shook his head to clear it. "She's down in the cells," Konan called back.

Sasori didn't respond. His stomach jumped up a bit at the thought of her walking around already; first, that was a speedy recovery. Second, that was almost too speedy. She should probably be taking it easy. His thoughts drifted back to the Zero of yesterday, lying in her bed and shivering; she had been so vulnerable.

He headed to the doorway to the cells. Even if he wasn't going to talk to Zero about anything, hopefully seeing her would either confirm or nullify Konan's statements. Did he really have feelings for Zero?

The Cells

"Sakura!" I called. The pink-head turned to face me, surprised to see me standing there, rather excited. "Just making sure you weren't changing or something!" I bounced over to the chair outside her cell.

"What would I be changing into? I have nothing but freakin' bread and water," she snapped, reminding much of Tsunade. I flinched a little. Tetchy, as usual, I told her in my head. After all, enough balls I had not to tell that to Sakura's face.

Then something occurred to me. "Why haven't you used your super-strength to escape?" I cocked my head to one side, curious.

She shook her head. "That shark- Kisame- keeps draining my chakra. I don't have enough for that," she turned away and faced the other wall. "And leave. I'm not talking to you."

"But you're healing me," I pointed out. She didn't answer. "I just came down to say thanks," I told her, then up and dusted. I wasn't great with words, so I figured it was best if I left all that convincing and whatnot to the other members. I might make things worse again.

Reaching the top of the steps, I yelped in surprise as I nearly knocked Sasori over.

"I'm sorry!" Zero apologized over and over. Sasori kept on trying to wave her off, but the werewolf wouldn't take his nonchalance as an acceptable answer. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Zero, I am alright."

"Are you-,"

"Yes, Zero. I. Am. Sure."

She slunk away; peering around the corner to make sure no one else was "'waiting to ambush her," as she put it; Sasori had to stop her with a hand. "Zero, seriously. Don't worry about it, I'm fine. I actually came to find you- are you feeling alright? It's pretty bold of you to be wandering around already."

She nodded. "Yeah! I'm feeling loads better!" She smiled. Sasori closed his eyes for half a second, cursing himself. Konan was right. He loved it when Zero smiled and the way she got all excited at even the thought of music, and while he wasn't entirely sure what love was, he knew full well that he had feelings for the werewolf. But she wouldn't know until he knew what to do with those feelings; he was a bit too stubborn for his own good.

"Glad to hear it. Now run along; I need to see if Sakura can help our foul-mouthed friend."

"…Deidara?"

"Hidan, moron."

Outside the Base

Bushes rustled, the ninja behind them trying to keep hidden. "There," Shino pointed. Everyone looked but saw nothing. Kiba concluded his teammate was going crazy, tracking down imaginary strangers. But Hinata noticed the obvious.

"There's a genjustu around it," she whispered.

Akamaru whined. Kiba looked up sharply. "You're right, boy; Zero's scent is all over the bushes, and Sakura's is faint but drifting from over," he pointed, "there." The group looked to where he pointed. Kurenai and Kakashi were with them.

Kakashi's eye narrowed in thought and he sniffed the air for himself. "It smells like she's marking the territory." Disappointment flooded through him, the harsh truth crashing down on him. "She really is staying willingly."

They turned as one and left to report to Tsunade, the sun beginning to climb even further into the sky. The last thing they were expecting was to find themselves face-to-face with three of Orochimaru's henchmen.

Akatsuki Base

I yawned and stretched, sitting up from my place on the floor. "Going to bed?" Konan asked. We, with exception of Tobi and Zetsu, were watching a movie. It was Prince of Persia. I was really enjoying it, but my eyes would hardly stay open.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired," I replied, hopping to my feet and getting out of the way.

Sasori looked at Deidara next to him on the couch. "You should probably get to bed, too. Both of you should be taking it easy." Deidara shrugged. But he did as he told and managed to move out of the movie perimeter.

"Who's on guard duty tonight, Leader, hmm?" Deidara asked. I think part of him hoped it was him; if he was like me I thought my bed was becoming too familiar of a sight. No good.

"Kakuzu," Leader responded from next to Konan. I wanted to 'DAW!' in an expression of cuteness since he had his arm around Konan, but I kept my mouth shut.

Deidara nodded. "Night!" We said in unison. Everyone responded accordingly and then put their attention back on the movie. It was nearing the climax.

I waved Deidara good-night as we parted ways at the stairs. He traveled up and I stayed level; my room was open and I flopped down on the bed, letting sleep take over almost instantly. But I wasn't asleep for long. Nameless dreams and nightmares woke me up in a cold sweat; and it was then that I heard Kakuzu's breathless voice.

"Zero, I need your nose." I shot up. What was happening? I thought we were under attack, so I sprang out of bed to my feet.

"What's happening!?"

"Zero!" He placed a hand on both of my shoulders. "Calm down, nothing's happening." His green eyes were unnaturally bright in the dark, making me half-think this was another dream. He led me out of the room. "I just found something and I need a second opinion."

I wasn't going to ask any questions, but then he led me outside. My stomach dropped for some weird reason; something wasn't right and my instincts knew it. "What do you think you found?"

He didn't answer. I shivered but followed him all the same. It had been long enough that I trusted all the members unquestioningly- well, except for Tobi and Deidara. But that was self-explanatory. Kakuzu motioned for me to stop as we reached some bushes. "Look down there," he pointed. "Tell me what you think it is."

I strained to see through the darkness. My blood froze as the clouds above parted for the moon, outlining the shape of a body; the scent of blood reached my nose. And not just any blood. It smelled like Hinata's. "No!"

I dove into the bushes and scrambled around, trying to get a good look at the body's face. "Zero, what are you-,"

"I need to know…" My stomach settled into a calm once I found the face. It wasn't Hinata. "It smells like those same henchmen," I reported to Kakuzu. He nodded. "Have you spotted any others?"

"No, I haven't. I'm reporting to Leader now, though. I don't know what killed him but it can't be promising for us." He was about to spin around and take off inside, but I stopped him.

"Wait! Kakuzu!" He looked at me. "There's another smell here, I think it was a Leaf Ninja that killed him… I think they've found us." Kakuzu was gone, that was something to big to not report right away. I closed my eyes. They were coming for Sakura, not me; or at least I hoped. I doubted they could take the Akatsuki, but if they did and offered me a spot back in Konoha I had no idea what I'd do. My new friends would probably be sentenced to death. And I couldn't let that happen.

I opened my eyes. That's right, I told myself, that won't happen.

Unknown

"None of the five you sent have come back," Kabuto told Orochimaru from his bowed position on the floor.

Orochimaru smiled his creepy, child-wanting smile. "Do not worry, Kabuto. I don't think we'll get the werewolf that way. But you say you followed the last three and two were captured and taken by Konoha Ninja?" Kabuto nodded. "Perfect."

"Sir?"

"We'll exact our revenge on Leaf soon. After they capture the Akatsuki; I have no doubt they'll go all out to get back the werewolf they lost."

Kabuto grinned. "Yes, sir. I'll post a watch at the Akatsuki Base, then you will notified when the Leaf Village successfully captures them."