Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I'd have made a killing off of the gaming merchandise alone. But I'm skint, so it's clearly not mine. I'm merely borrowing the characters - and the series - to completely alter the reality of everyone to suit my needs.

S'up my loyal readers! I'm glad that so many people viewed the last chapter and I'm super happy that people are still reading this. I'm grateful for any and all feedback that I get for this story, because it's been through it's ups and downs in this process, just to get this far after about seven years working on this trilogy. I know, I'm slow.

Still no Deidara, I'm sorry to say, but he's definitely coming up. I feel like there's too much not happening in this chapter, but maybe that's just me. I know my Bleach story is moving a little faster in places, but that's probably only because I have fight scenes in that one and not in this yet.

I hope I've given everyone equal time in this chapter, but I still feel like Hidan's taking over. Maybe I need to get rid of him. I have plans for everyone in this, so hopefully what I plan to do to him will help ease off his leaching of the lime light.

Once again, enjoy and leave me any feedback if you like! ^-^

Oh, forgot to say this before, but since Hidan's in this story, expect foul language. He can't be stopped, it's just his nature. Apologies in advance.

Chapter 4

Sakura blinked in shock – it was her first proper kiss after all, if you didn't count Naruto trying to kiss her back when they were kids – but she quickly melted into his soft lips and followed what her instincts told her to do to. She pressed forwards to close the gap between their bodies even further, when a throat suddenly cleared very loudly in the room. The pinkette pulled away from the puppet master, completely flustered, and looked over to where her Master and Shizune were standing awkwardly in the room. For some reason, she felt like her mum had just caught her doing something she shouldn't have been doing, although she knew that logically Tsunade was merely her teacher and leader – not her parent.

'Wow, this is embarrassing.'

The warmth that had filled Sakura's whole heart from the kiss Sasori had bestowed on her hummed pleasantly throughout her body and her face felt like it would never stop blushing. She briefly took a look back at Sasori, although for some reason she felt shy about doing so, and noted that he appeared very irritated. It was probably because he'd been interrupted, something that the pink-haired Chunin knew to be one of his many pet-peeves. He had his faults, she recalled fondly, but she still loved him for them.

'And I do, love him that is. As soon as we're alone, I'll tell him how I feel. I hope this kiss means he feels the same way, otherwise I'm getting some seriously mixed signals here.'

"I'm sorry to break up this…interesting reunion, but there are still things that need to be discussed. Questions that you both have to answer if I'm to start getting those old fogies off of my back."

At this, Shizune produced a blank sheet of paper from her seemingly never ending supply on her clip board and handed it to Sakura, along with a fountain pen.

Sakura looked at the objects like they were toxic frogs or something, before asking her teacher with a slight frown on her face, "What are these for, Lady Tsunade?"

Tsunade folded her arms and looked expectantly at the two younger ninja, "I think you've kept silent about your activities from over a week ago long enough, Sakura. I want you to write down everything you can recall about the Akatsuki, from the moment you met Sasori here," she nodded to the red-head, "to the moment that you fought with those other two, Kakuzu and his oddly dressed partner. While you do that, Sasori here can answer some questions, in detail, about the Akatsuki's goals and main operations."

Sasori levelled a steely glare at the Hokage, "Surely you know everything already - from Deidara I presume? You do have him in your custody, don't you? I don't expect you Leaf ninja like to allow criminals to walk freely amongst your precious civilians."

Tsunade's hazel eyes matched Sasori's glare and raised it with an eye-twitch too and she said, "We've already gotten a lot of information from the other one, Deidara, but he told our inquisitors that you were a senior member of the organisation before your defection. Perhaps even a founder of it..?" The puppet master reluctantly nodded a 'yes' to her question. "Then you need to tell us anything else that he wouldn't have known. After you've done that, both Deidara and yourself will be considered temporarily under our jurisdiction and you'll be treated as allies – free to wander the village at your leisure. If you don't co-operate, I'm afraid you'll be detained just like he is."

"Fine, I will tell you what you want to know. Just make sure that he's free as soon as I'm done."

Sakura was just going into detail about her imprisonment with the Darkness ninja – even though she felt it was all pretty redundant at this point because she'd already been over that mission before – when she jabbed the pen too roughly into the paper and punctured it. The knowledge that they'd had Deidara locked up, questioned and possibly interrogated for a week and nobody had prevented it upset her more than she could rationalise. She wasn't close to the brash blonde, but she'd started to equate him to Naruto in many of his quirks – and in the way he could successfully irritate her until she committed violence to silence him.

'I hope he's at least being treated fairly until we can get him out. If I'd just gotten out of my self-afflicted angst sooner, he might have been let out a lot sooner. He's probably the closest thing to a friend that Sasori had ever known, as well. I shouldn't have let him down.'

Her worry and guilt must have shown on her face, for Sasori moved one of his hands to start gently stroking her damp hair, attempting to soothe her pain away. And it was working, because any caring or gentle action that the puppet master performed always seemed to brighten her moods and fill the pinkette with warmth. His moments of complete humanity were special to her and she treasured every single one.

Tsunade spotted the change in her mood too, for she quickly tried to reassure the girl that nothing was amiss, "I swear, Sakura, he hasn't been tortured while he's been in our custody. He was actually surprisingly helpful when we asked him things and I made sure to let Ibiki know that no-one could talk to him without me in the room." The fifteen-year-old didn't look convinced, but thanks to Sasori's thoughtfulness, Sakura's worry had started to fade. The Fifth Hokage continued on, "He's fine, as far as I know. Why don't you two go and visit him as soon as we're done here?"

"That would be agreeable, Lady Hokage. Now, can we get on with these questions, or do you want to try my patience even further?"

'Typical Sasori, never knowing when to wait. Unless I ask him too, that is. He tries, for me, at least.'

Hidan blearily started to come around when he heard a calm voice droning on to some slightly jittery voice on the edges of his senses. He couldn't remember how he had gotten drugged in the first place, but he'd definitely admit that it was the best damned sleep he'd had in years. He tried to lift a hand to rub the sleep from his eyes and felt a resistance on his wrist. The result was the same for the other wrist and he came to understand that he'd also been shackled to something while he was out of it.

'Whoever the fuck did this is dead when I find them.'

He blinked to clear the sleep from his eyes, momentarily blinded by the bright white of the room – 'fucking hospitals, I hate them!' His hearing improved the longer he was awake and he finally registered the sounds of a heart monitor 'beep'-ing steadily to his left and the voices coming from his right. His vision started focusing more and he concentrated on trying to see who the unwanted visitors in the room might be. One of them had their back to him – the calmly speaking person – while the one dressed in an obvious doctor get-up stood with their face exposed to the Jashinist.

The doctor appeared to be very unnerved and he kept wringing his hands together and stuttering out replies every time the other man spoke. The other person was decidedly familiar to Hidan and the longer he looked at his back, the quicker his brain connected the dots. The stupid, floppy silver hair gave him away in the end and Hidan swallowed past the dryness in his throat to get the man's attention, "What the fuck am I doin' here, Kakashi?"

The doctor almost leapt a foot in the air when Hidan's voice broke through their conversation, but Kakashi didn't appear surprised at all. The copy-nin rotated around to include the Jashinist in their discussion and shrugged casually as he replied with, "Your guess is as good as mine, Hidan. You're not sick or injured, so you don't need to be in the hospital at all, right doctor?" The jonin raised his visible eyebrow in the nervous man's direction and the doctor rapidly shook his head in agreement. "That's good to hear! So, shall we get him released so he can be on his way?"

Somehow the doctor found the nerve to try and prevent this when he stuttered out, "I d-don't think that the c-council will be h-happy about this, Hatake."

"It doesn't matter what they think, because the Hokage gave her consent to have Hidan released and escorted out of Konoha. You wouldn't want to upset Lady Tsunade, would you doctor?"

The man hastily shook his hands as he said, ""N-no, heaven's no! Here's the key, now just take him and go!"

The copy-nin took the proffered key from the doctor, who immediately fled from the hospital room as if death itself was stalking him. Kakashi busied himself with unlocking the restraints on Hidan's arms and legs, before moving around and unhooking the other medical equipment that they'd strapped to his body to monitor vitals and other technical things that he'd never understand. Hidan sat up and rolled the kinks out of his neck and shoulders, aware that he'd be a little sore from being asleep in one position for a long duration.

"How long was I out for?"

"Only for a day. They didn't get the chance to do anything more than put you out, luckily."

Hidan breathed a sigh of relief and pushed off of the bed, glad that they hadn't taken his clothes off of him either. His shoes were standing by the foot of the bed, but he didn't see anything else that belonged to him in the room. He turned to the silver-haired jonin and asked, "What happened to my stuff, Kakashi?"

The jonin propped his body against the doorway as he waited for Hidan to get his shoes back on and said, "Don't worry about your things. I kept them somewhere safe so they wouldn't be taken from you." Kakashi watched the other man finish putting on his foot wear and moved away from the door frame and into the hallway. He kept his voice low when he said, "We need to get moving before that doctor comes back with ANBU, or worse. Keep your head down and stick close to me."

Hidan narrowed his eyes at the copy ninja, "I thought you said I was allowed to leave?"

"You are, but Tsunade hasn't exactly told the council members of her decision yet. It was all sort of a last minute rush and she's probably going to get into trouble before the day is out. Which is why we need to hurry and leave."

"Alright, alright! Keep your fucking pants on, I'm going."

The former Akatsuki exited the room and stuck to the Leaf ninja's shadow, trying to be as invisible as he could until they got out of the claustrophobic maze that was the Konoha General Hospital.

"Well I think that fills in some more of the gaps with our intel. Maybe now we can start being one step ahead of those bastards." The blonde Hokage gave a nod to Shizune, who collected Sakura's completed report, added it to the substantial notes in her arms, and then exited the ward – presumably to hand it over to the council members.

Sakura finally relaxed in Sasori's lap, glad that no more questions would be asked. Perhaps because her mind was more at ease, the pink-haired teen finally noticed the room's silent occupant lying on the bed. At first, Sakura was startled by how deathly still the Elder of the Sand Village, Chiyo, lay on the mattress. However, the young medic soon pieced together part of the problem that had been nagging at the back of her mind.

'Lady Chiyo must have done something to revive and repair Sasori. She's the only person who might have been able to.'

The puppet master spoke up, as if reading Sakura's thoughts, "I think my Grandmother used a forbidden medical Ninjutsu to bring me back, Sakura."

Sakura looked to her mentor to corroborate this.

"It was a technique that I've never heard of or seen before. Essentially, it traded Chiyo's life for Sasori's. Shizune and I still can't work out what she did, but Chiyo was gone before Sasori even regained consciousness. Whatever she used is lost with her."

The pinkette reached for one of Sasori's hands and gave it a gentle squeeze to try and comfort him. She knew that he wasn't close to his grandmother after the long years of being on the run, but not even getting to say goodbye – or get any kind of closure – must be an awful thing to go through.

In death, the old woman looked younger and at peace. The lines along her brow and around her eyes were not as severe as Sakura remembered them being. Sakura only hoped that she passed painlessly, although no-one would ever really know.

'Thank you for giving him back to me, Lady Chiyo. I'll look after him so you didn't have to die for nothing. I swear it.'

Sasori still hadn't processed the sacrifice his estranged grandmother had made for him. That she would give her life for his pseudo-existence led the puppeteer to consider that she had continued to love him, even after all these years.

'That or she still felt guilty for tricking me and pushing me away.'

If he wanted to start changing, becoming a better person for Sakura, then he would just have to believe it was the former and not the latter which directed Chiyo's actions. Now it was his turn to try and do something for the old woman, even though her spirit was long gone from this world.

"I'm taking her body back to Suna so that she can be given a proper funeral. Her brother, my Great-Uncle, can arrange the details once she's back there."

"Are you sure you don't want to help him with that?"

"I would not know where to begin, Sakura. So no, it is better if I merely take her home and then leave. I would not be welcome by Ebiso anyway, I suspect."

"Alright then," Sakura reluctantly agreed, a sigh passing her lips as she did.

Sasori knew that she expected him to grieve with his remaining family member and endure the whole process, but he was still largely indifferent to sentimentality and he did not want to spoil the final moments that Ebiso would have with his sister before her burial. It was better for both parties that he stayed away. The old man had never cared for Sasori while he had lived in Suna and Sasori held nothing but contempt for the old man now.

The Hokage gave one last glance at Chiyo's body, before she easily agreed with Sasori's request. He hadn't needed her permission though. He was planning to take Chiyo's body back to Suna, with or without her approval. He was merely being polite for Sakura's sake, as the blonde woman was the pink-haired medic's mentor.

"I'll arrange for you to take her body once we release your friend from his cell." Tsunade walked to the still open door and gestured over her shoulder, "If you'll both stop with your mushy cuddling now and follow me, we can get this over with."

Sasori tensed up when he heard this, worried about Sakura's reaction to the Hokage's words. Would she suddenly reject him? Had he been too forward and acted too hastily? Tsunade proceeded off into the corridor, assuming that they'd both start following her, so Sasori hesitantly twisted around until he could see Sakura's face, to try and guess her feelings. He was not so shocked to see her blushing as red as his hair, for he'd come to understand that she was easily flustered when embarrassed.

'But does she want to be with me, or is she ashamed now that she's had time to think?'

Apparently, he had nothing to worry about for the time being, because she slipped off of his lap and still kept a firm grip on his hand, threading her fingers with his so he couldn't let go. She was still a deep red colour, but she was smiling all the same when she said to him, "We'd better keep up with her, or she'll save a punishment for us to use at a later date, when we can't even remember what we did 'wrong'. Come on!"

She tugged his arm and he followed.

It was something he'd probably continue to do for many years: follow Sakura wherever she wanted to go.

The two grey scale individuals left the hospital with no incidents, which shocked Kakashi. He'd expected at least a little resistance from some of the staff, or even some complaining from his brash companion. Kakashi wouldn't be surprised if they encountered problems leaving the village though, because security had been upped since the incident last week with the Akatsuki battle. The copy ninja still found it hard to believe how much had shifted and changed, all because of one girl befriending one too many crazy characters.

'I don't know how Sakura did it, but she drew out just enough good intentions from those three S-Class ninja to flip their allegiances. Hopefully, none of us come to regret allowing them to roam free. Well, two of them at least. Hidan's going to be the problem.'

Kakashi wanted to trust Hidan to keep to the task that Tsunade and he had come up with, but the Jashinist was fickle at the best of times. If it hadn't been for the journey they'd made during this last week, Kakashi wouldn't even have considered Hidan for the job. He might agree at first, and he might stick with the plan for a while, but eventually he'd get bored or someone would get killed for his so-called 'God', and then they'd have to fix the problem.

'Let's hope it won't come to that.'

"So, where are you keeping my things, Kakashi? Not in some elaborate dungeon, I hope. I don't fancy getting lost trying to find my rosary and my scythe. That'd be the best way to complete my crappy day."

"Your day isn't so bad, Hidan. I got you out, didn't I? And it isn't raining, so that has to be a plus, right?" When the magenta-eyed man only levelled Kakashi with an unamused glare, the copy-nin shoved his hands into the pockets of his vest and continued, "I left them under a log in the training grounds. Follow me."

The duo were about to turn down a side-street that would lead to said training grounds, when a familiar voice halted them both in their tracks.

"Kakashi-sensei! There you are! Where the heck's Sakura gotten to?"

The silver-haired jonin angled his head to look at the blonde youth that had just jogged up the road towards them. So far, he hadn't noticed Hidan, but Naruto wasn't as dumb as he looked and it was only a matter of time before he asked questions. Thinking fast, Kakashi grabbed Hidan's right-arm and substituted them both – with a litter bin – to just behind the hospital. The distance wasn't far, but with a whole building in between them, Kakashi figured that Naruto would soon lose interest and give up trying to find them.

"Who was that blonde brat? And why the fuck did we have to run away like that?"

"That…was Naruto. He can't keep a secret for very long and the last thing we want is him realising who you are. He doesn't know you like Sakura and I do, so you'd be better off not staying too near to him for now."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's just get my stuff so I can leave this shit hole."

Kakashi released his grip on Hidan's arm, but he whacked him lightly on the head for the slight against his home. Nobody insulted the Leaf village and got away with it.

"We'll just have to go around the longer route to get to the training grounds. Not that I mind, because I never arrive anywhere on time, as a rule."

"Face it, you're a lazy bastard."

"I could still leave you, you know. I'm sure the ANBU are already looking for you in the hospital. One word and you'd be back there, strapped to the gurney while they readied you for dissection."

"Okay, okay, I get it! I know you're helping me and…I guess I should…thank…you."

It was clearly hard for the Jashinist to say, but Kakashi appreciated the sentiment all the same.

"You're welcome. Now, let's go."

"Finally! When I get my scythe back I'm gonna…"

Hidan trailed off and stopped dead, looking at something just beyond Kakashi's shoulder. The copy-nin followed Hidan's gaze and blinked in surprise when he saw Tsunade, Sakura and Sasori – the latter two with their hands entwined together – just leaving via the back entrance to the hospital. The trio had halted immediately and Sakura actually looked to be panicking a little bit.

Tsunade folded her arms and shot an annoyed glare at Kakashi, grumbling, "I thought you'd have been long gone with that pig by now, Kakashi. What's the matter, losing your edge?"

"Sorry, we got a little waylaid."

Sakura's quiet voice interrupted the back-and-forth between the two, "What's Hidan doing here, Kakashi-sensei?"

The silver-haired jonin met her eyes and tried to convey his apologies through his expression, but before he could explain, the loud-mouth just had to open his trap, "Not happy to see me, pinky? I'm hurt."