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Without the courage to look at my "savior" face to face, I move my jade green eyes and start with his right hand, which is wound tightly around mine. His hand is slightly rough to the touch, covered in white, chalky dust. His fingernails are painted black and dark like the tension in the air, and on his index finger is his Akatsuki ring, which is teal in color. Just from this information, I know who he is. I also know that the pale dust on his hand is dry clay. After analyzing the Akatsuki organization for years, I've memorized most of their most prevalent characteristics, from their jutsus and techniques down to their hobbies and rings. Black nails, a teal ring, and clay belongs to the youngest and most explosive of the organization: Deidara.

Now that I have the knowledge of who this person is, I slowly slide my eyes up his cloaked arm and to his face, which is about a foot away from mine. I am right; it is the young bomber. I immediately recognize his trademark golden-blond ponytail, tied half up. He lets his bang, which reaches down to his chin, hang freely in front of his face, covering the left side. He has slightly slanted eyes, which are a startling shade of steel-blue. His face is slightly angular, but not sculpted like a grown man's. His mouth is set in a thin line and his blonde eyebrows are arched slightly. If hardcore criminals like him could have warm emotions, then it would be safe to say that there is some concern on his face.

Armed with the knowledge of who the person holding me down is, I'm assuming that the cloaked shadow behind Deidara is the orange-masked Tobi, his current partner. When I look up, however, I see a head of short and messy red hair. His face is emotionless with dark brown, calm looking eyes. I don't need any more information to know that this is Sasori of the Red Sand, who I presumably killed... Wait, why is he still alive then? I make a note to ask him if I don't get killed beforehand. Anyway, I can tell that he is getting impatient with Deidara. I kind of just want to yell, kill me already! If you're here for revenge, just get it while you can!

"So, what is this medical ninja up to at 1:30 in the morning?" Deidara asks, breaking the long silence, his sharp right eye trained on me.

"I was about to kill myself, but then you got in the way," I grumble, rolling my eyes in annoyance.

Deidara obviously doesn't like rudeness, for he tightens his grip on my hand and gives me a death glare.

"Why were we the ones that had to retrieve her?" Deidara mumbles, letting out an annoyed sigh.

Sasori quietly replies, "Don't you remember our mission? Stop making me wait."

"I know, I know. Just calm down. I'm getting on it, yeah," the blonde replies in his mellow, cool voice, contrasting with his partner's harsher, punctual tone.

"Getting on with what?" I ask viciously, trying to yank my hand from his grip but to no avail. "Also, I think I'm losing circulation to my hand, so if you could loosen the grip, that would be great."

"Why does Leader always want the obnoxious ones?" Deidara asks, continuing to grumble to himself as he summons a giant clay bird with his free hand. "Come on, get on the bird."

"No," I say with a stern look, still trying to fight back. My mind is racing faster than my heart was a few minutes ago. I have to keep reminding myself not to do anything rash, but then this is counteracted with the fact that it doesn't matter as long as I can die. First, my plan to kill myself failed, and now two of the most dangerous criminals want me. Maybe I could use them to my advantage and be killed in a more festive way? Or is this too imprudent?

"Come on, Pinky. Don't think we won't hesitate with using force," Deidara says, still trying to convince me to get on his majestically white bird.

I, however, just sneer at him, as if trying to provoke him with carrying out his threat.

"Do it or I'll kill you," Sasori threatens, although I know it's only an empty one. If their leader wants me, they would never be allowed to hurt me... which is a big problem considering what I'm after. Maybe I shouldn't go with them? But leaving for the Akatsuki will be better than staying in Konoha, right? Yes, anything's better than Konoha right now.

"First of all, I just want to make it clear that nobody calls me Pinky. My name is Sakura. Second of all, don't you understand? I wanted to die in the first place, but no, you—I'm not even sure why you're still alive—and Bomb Boy had to ruin my perfectly planned plan!" I finally explode, raising my voice in exasperation. Yeah, that feels good.

"Bomb Boy?" Deidara repeats, utterly disgusted, although he doesn't let his guard down. "I think I deserve a cooler name than Bomb Boy. Whatever, just get on the bird or we'll... um... keep you alive..."

"Idiot...," Sasori mutters, shaking his head in disbelief, much like I used to do to Naruto.

"Whatever. Fine, if you're not going to let me die peacefully or kill me yourselves, then just get me out of this stupid village," I say as I slowly get up, Deidara hesitating when releasing his grip on me. I then step onto the bird with the Akatsuki duo trailing behind me. If I wasn't allowed to kill myself, I'm guessing that the Akatsuki are. I've heard they're really good at killing people in many different ways too. Who knows? I might even get blown up or live my life as a puppet for all of eternity. Intriguing, no?

As we are about to lift off, a black bird, possibly a crow or raven, cuts through the sky, making the trees shake their branches, as if they were saying a final good bye to me. A quick shiver of anticipation jolts my body as we finally rise up and soar away from Konoha, from my old life, from Karin. And with this thought, my uneasiness finally settles, as if it is going into hibernation. Maybe this kind of forced change will be for the better. Maybe ending my life isn't what I am after; instead, maybe I'm searching for a new beginning, and I might of just found it.

Along the way, Sasori blindfolds me, much to my annoyance, curses, and many attempts of retaliation. My sense of time is off, so I'm not sure how long we've been flying. An hour? Maybe two? I'm not sure, but I eventually feel the clay bird slowly descend toward the ground, and I become fully alert again.

"Come on," Deidara says, grabbing my wrist while leading me off of the clay bird.

After I land on what feels like dead grass, his bird "poofs" away. He then turns me left and leads me forward until we get to what seems like a dead end. Although I can't see anything, I can feel a huge amount of chakra being used next to me. Then, I hear rocks cracking and grinding against each other, as if a boulder were being forced out of the way, which is probably the case. I am then roughly pushed forward, stumbling while trying to regain my balance. I attempt to reach out to touch anything familiar, but all my hands come in contact with is a cold, jagged rock wall. From behind me, I hear the grinding sound again as the boulder moves back into place.

Someone then removes my blindfold and says, "Welcome to your new home, Pinky."

Thanks to all the people who read chapter two! I know this one is still kind of short and didn't have much going on, but this will change as Sakura adjusts to the Akatsuki life, don't worry. Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please consider letting me know your thoughts so far; I'd love to hear them.

E person :)

6-9-11

2-8-13 - edited