AN: This is for you, M00NBunnie K! =)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter Eight
Recap: "Will you join the Akatsuki?"
I was stunned silent, why would he want me in the Akatsuki? Did I want to be in the Akatsuki? The Akatsuki were a gang and gangs dealt with weapons, drugs and assaults… Could I handle the illegal part of being in a gang even though I loved the guys in it?
"Sakura?" Peins voice pulled me back from my thoughts and I looked up to meet his steady gaze. "Huh?"
"Will you join the Akatsuki or not?" I hung my head in shame. "I don´t know…" At hearing this he frowned before asking me. "Why?" I sighed, preparing myself for possibly having to leave my newfound family.
"Because I´m not certain that I would be able to handle the part about drugs and assaults and stuff…" I told him honestly. "Has no one told you what we do as a gang?" I shook my head no and told him. "The only thing I know about the Akatsuki is that you are a powerful gang, that all of you are really skilled and that you hold respect in the city."
"Then you need to know that we are no ordinary gang, instead I guess you could say that we are a gang that works to stop the other gangs. We don´t deal with drugs or any of that shit, we only try to protect the people in our area from the other gangs as well as make the other gangs go away." Pein explained to me.
"But not by killing them?" I asked him hopefully. "Not unless we have to or they attack us first." He answered truthfully. "I have never held a gun." I warned him but he just shrugged. "We will teach you."
I found myself wanting to join but still unsure if I should. Why did they want me to join? Was it only because I was Sasoris baby sister? Was it because they pitied me? It had to be something like that; I had no skills to brag about like the others.
"Why do you want me to join?" I found myself asking, despite being slightly afraid of hearing the answer. "You are kind, perceptive and a good fighter. You also don´t judge us." Pein told me but I questioned him.
"How could I possibly being a good fighter compared to you guys? Just because I got lucky enough to beat Hidan once…" Pein cut me off here. "It wasn´t luck that made you able to beat Hidan, it was skill. Yes you were playing dirty but so does the other gangs. You saw an opportunity to win and you took it."
He must have seen that I had trouble believing him because he took my hand in his and told me. "If I didn´t think you would be an asset to the gang I would never have offered you a spot as a member." This I believed and I gave him a half happy, half scared smile and told him.
"If you really believe that, then who am I to say no?"
"Does that mean you will join us?" Did I hear wrong or did Pein actually sound hopeful? I nodded and the happy overtook my smile.
"I would love to join the Akatsuki."
Pein filled me in on what exactly they had been doing; apparently they have managed to keep the gang work hidden from me during my stay here.
Their area was the whole south part of the city, with this house sitting in the middle of it. They were currently fighting against the gang called Sound, which was being led by Orochimaru. There was a few other gangs as well, like the Leaf and the Sand but they were kind of allied with the Akatsuki and didn´t cause any trouble.
Apparently Zetzu and Tobi wasn´t at all on a gardener's convention. Instead they were on a mission to spy on the Sound gang while at the same time trying to find out what Orochimaru and Sasuke wanted with me, besides the obvious.
But he also told me that all of them really did what they had told me, they just did the gang work as well. But of course none of them worked full time.
Pein then proceeded to tell me that he himself would teach me how to handle a weapon and that I would get some classes in first aid by Kakuzu. "It would be good if you kept sparring with different partners as well." I only nodded agreeing with him. "Should I keep up my swimming lessons as well?" I asked him. "You can´t swim?" He asked me with raised eyebrows. "No, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu and Kisame offered to teach me how when they found out." He nodded. "Yes that would be good."
He also told me that I needed to get their symbol, a red cloud lined in black, tattooed somewhere on my body. He also told me that I could pick where to put it and that I didn´t need Sasoris approval to do that one.
"Could we keep it a secret to all but Kakuzu that I´ve agreed on become a member? I really wish to be more on par with the rest of you guys before I tell them…" I thought Pein would think my request as odd but it didn´t seem like that when he told me.
"Sure, just tell me when you´re ready. But I won´t send you out on missions before that and then you still don´t go alone. No one goes out alone. I easily agreed to that and he told me I would meet up with Kakuzu the following day for my first lesson in first aid and getting my tattoo.
When I exited Peins office Hidan was waiting for me in the hallway outside. The concerned look he gave me told me that he too had been worried about Pein yelling at me because of our sparring.
"What did he want?" He asked me but before I answered him I took a closer look at his eyebrow. "Sorry about that." I whispered before telling him. "He was just wondering about how much fighting experience I had, he wants me to keep sparring with you guys." Hidan nodded at that. "Seems like a good idea to me." He told me, clearly agreeing with Pein. "Come on now, I know you didn´t eat something before and there´s leftovers in the kitchen. I smiled at him before letting him leading me away to the kitchen.
That night I was physically exhausted when I went to bed but still I woke up a few hours later, screaming once again from the nightmare. And once again Hidan had woken me up and now held me as I cried.
"What do you dream about that makes you so scared? Is it your parents? Or Orochimaru and Sasuke?" He asked me. He asked me that question almost every night but never getting an answer.
But this night I answered him. Kakuzu hadn´t thought that I was stupid so why would Hidan? Right?
I was scared of his reaction but still told him. "I dream of all you guys dying on me… All of you in different ways…" I was starting to shake and Hidan held me tighter against him. "I dream of Deidara getting his throat slit, of Pein and Konan hanging from the ceiling their eyes milky white and unseeing. I see Sasori getting electrocuted and you getting your heart ripped out… And the guilty one is Sasuke…"
I was now sobbing once more, drenching my pillows with my tears. And Hidan was once again comforting me.
The next morning I woke up in Hidans bed, we had deemed my pillows to wet to sleep on and I had spent the rest of the night in Hidans embrace.
I turned around and found him awake and looking at me. "Morning." I whispered. "Morning Cherry." He responded and yawned. I took a peek at the alarm clock he had by the bed and almost panicked when I saw that it was showing 10:14. I was supposed to meet Kakuzu for my first lesson at 10:30!
I jumped out of bed, gave Hidan a quick peck on the cheek and then ran into my own bedroom to change. It wasn´t until I pulled on a pair of grey skinny jeans that I realized that I had kissed Hidan. Sure It was just a peck on the cheek but still… I shrugged, I would probably find out his reaction to it later, for now I was still running late.
I pulled on a black shirt with big golden stars printed on the left side and put my hair in a sloppy ponytail before rushing past the kitchen, grabbing an apple and managing to meet Kakuzu outside his room right on time.
"Morning Kakuzu." I told him happily, getting a nod and a small smile in return. He was kind enough to let me finish my apple before starting to teach me the basics in first aid. I thought the lesson was supposed to be an hour but we kept going until lunch.
"Good work Sakura, let´s meet at the garage in an hour." He told me as we finished our lesson. I nodded my agreement before heading to the kitchen in search of some food.
In the kitchen I found Hidan at the table, eating something that looked like lasagna. I opened the fridge and to my joy found more leftovers. As I sat down across the table from him I remembered my sudden departure from his bed this morning and a blush crept up on my cheeks.
"I´m sorry… about the kiss this morning. I wasn´t thinking and…" Hidan cut me off here. "It´s alright Cherry." He winked at me. "I didn´t mind."
My blush grew even stronger and Hidan tried to hide his chuckle. He clearly found me amusing.
I met Kakuzu in the garage as planned and we rode in his dark grey Shelby to the shop where I was going to get my tattoo. He pulled up in front of the shop and turned off the car but when I saw Peins red mustang I grabbed his arm and asked him worriedly.
"Is someone else here?" "Only Pein." Was his calm answer and I felt myself relax again. He led me inside and Pein waved at us from his station. Kakuzu led me to a small room clearly meant for tattoos on sensitive places, or tattoos that would take very long to do.
He gestured for me to sit before he started fixing the station, fixing with the machine and the colors. "Have you decided where you want it?" He asked me while washing his hands and putting on some rubber gloves. I nodded. "I would like it on the back of my neck." "Sure, put your hair up and we´ll begin." He told me and I nervously put my hair up in a bun on top of my head before turning around, letting Kakuzu see my bared neck.
"Will you be able to tattoo over the scar?" I asked him in a whisper. I knew I had an ugly scar from a burn on the back on my neck. I had scars over most of my body but there was a few I only wanted to forget about. The one on the back of my neck was one of them.
"I will." Kakuzu said, lightly touching the pale, uneven skin. He dipped the tip of the machine in the black ink before putting it to my skin. The pain wasn´t so bad but the buzzing sound was annoying.
"What gave you that scar?" He asked me as he worked. "My father did, he heated up a pipe with a Bunsen burner before putting it to my skin." He worked in silence for a while before asking the next question.
"Why did he do that?" I gave a small shrug. "I don´t really remember… I was only 12…" Suddenly the machine got silent and I felt him wipe off my neck before saying. "It´s done." I eagerly jumped off the chair and took a look in the mirror. Kakuzu held up a small mirror for me to look in and I smiled at how beautifully the tattoo covered up the scar. "It´s perfect." I told him with a smile.
On impulse, I gave him a quick hug around the middle before looking up at him with begging eyes. "Would it be possible for me to get a really small tattoo without disturbing Sasori for permission?" I asked him, making my eyes as big as possible.
He seemed to be fighting with himself for a while before his shoulders sagged slightly and he said to me. "If he finds out and disapproves, he will kill me…" I smiled at him, bigger this time. "I promise I´ll protect you."
He smiled in return before sitting back down, asking me what I wanted. "I want to get the word hope on my hipbone." I told him and he changed the needle in the machine before putting out more black ink and reclining the chair into a table for me to lie down on.
On the way out I showed Pein the cloud on my neck, but I didn´t show him the word. That one was my own little secret. During the car ride back to the house Kakuzu told me that I should avoid swimming in the pool for a few days because of the tattoos, and now I was wondering what to use for excuse if Hidan asked to continue my lessons. But Hidans car was gone when we came home so it didn´t seem like I had to worry about it tonight.
I was a bit sore from the sparring last night but decided to train again tonight anyway, since all of the guys were out for a bar night. Konan had tried to stay at home with me since I wasn´t old enough to go out but I had convinced her to go with them, telling her I was big enough to be home alone for a night.
I wore a similar training outfit as last night and cranked up the volume on the sound system before running my usual 8 miles. After I was done with that I went over to a machine and started lifting weights.
"Hey Blossom, what are you doing un?" I dropped the weights in surprise as Deidara entered the gym. "Dei you´re back!" I more or less yelled before hugging him to me. "Yeah I am un, where´s the other guys?" He asked while hugging me back. "They are out on some bar somewhere… Is Sasori alright?" "And they all just left you here? Yeah he´s fine, bitching about how they won´t let him go home just yet." I nodded. "That´s good…" Deidara looked at me before asking me for the second time. "Yeah but why did they leave you here alone?" "Because I´m not old enough stupid." I told him with a smile. He blushed and turned his gaze away for a moment before saying. "Oh, right, I forgot that, un." I noticed he was wearing sweatpants and an old navy t-shirt and asked him with mischief sparkling in my eyes. "You want to spar?"
At first he only stared at me as if I suddenly had grew a second head or something before a smile grazed his lips and he nodded his consent. "Sure about that Blossom?" I nodded, eager to get started.
"I don´t pull my punches." I warned him just as I had warned Hidan. We stretched before laying out the same mats Hidan and I used last night. Deidara only gave me a look that told me he didn´t thought I had a chance at beating him. If he only knew I beat Hidans ass last night.
We started circling each other and I pretended to barely be able to block Deidaras punches making him believe he could win this easily. "This is all you´ve learned from those krav maga classes? You should ask for a refund, un." I only smiled at him before taking him down in only two moves. Deidara was completely unprepared for that and he fell onto the mats with me on top of him. Much like me and Hidan did actually…
"You still think I should ask for a refund?" I asked him while trying to hide my smile. He only shook his head, saying. "And here I thought I would win this… You´re a good fighter blossom, Pein asked you to join yet?" I froze, panic slowly filling me. "Why would Pein ask me to join?" He met my gaze and told me. "Don´t play stupid Blossom, I can tell by your reaction that he has already asked you to join. What´s going on, un?" I hung my head and he sat up so that I was sitting in his lap with a leg on each side of his hips. He let his forehead rest against mine as he waited for an answer.
"Yes he asked me to join…" I admitted. "And you haven´t told anyone." Deidara concluded. "Why?" I sat silent for a while, thinking about how to answer without him realizing that I was already in the Akatsuki.
"Do you think Sasori would be mad at me?" "If you joined us or if you said no?" "Both."
He seemed to think about my question for a while before answering me. "If you joined us, he would be happy and at the same time scared that you´ll get hurt. And if you don´t join, he will be relieved since you´ll not be in the same danger but at the same time he will be sad since he will not see you as much." I thought about what he had told me and decided I didn´t want to lie to him.
I hugged him and said. "Thanks Dei… I´m sorry I didn´t tell you but I kind of decided what to do when Pein asked me last night after he saw me take down Hidan." Deidara looked at me with excitement in his eyes. "Well what did you say? I pulled away my hair and because I was hugging him, he could easily see my new tattoo.
"You joined! Wait did you say you took down Hidan in hand to hand combat?" I nodded yes and asked him not to tell anyone I had joined. "I want to get better at things before I tell the others, the only ones who know are Pein and Kakuzu and I want it to stay that way until I say otherwise." I told him, my voice firm. "Will you be able to not tell my brother about this?" I asked him, my voice becoming soft. "Why wouldn´t I?" I only looked at him, a tiny bit of sadness in my eyes that I hoped he couldn´t see.
"Because you´re in love with my brother Dei…"