AN: Yeah so, surprise, I'm still alive! I know it's been a while (scratch that, a loooong while) since I've been around but I never forgot about this story, I just didn't have any chance or determination to pick it back up. I'm back now - hopefully for a while - so I figured I'd give this a shot again. I remember sort of putting it on the back burner due to a severe bout of writer's block and soon enough after things just sort of spiraled into a bunch of life issues that never resolved themselves with a renewed vigor to write anymore. Let's hope that never happens again ( or at least waits until after I finish this story) Hopefully I've still got some readers left, but I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't haha.

On another note, one of my reviewers from the last chapter requested that I make the paragraphs shorter, as they were becoming hard to read when they were so long. Rereading through has shown me that yes, they are indeed much too long, so I'm going to attempt to shorten them. Moving on...Chapter Four, ho!

Also, one more thing to point out: I started writing this story before I had finished watching Naruto: Shippuuden and before most of the storyline had even come out, so a lot of things here are not canon with the original storyline. To change all of that now would cause major inconsistencies with my storyline so for all intents and purposes I'll just label this as very AU and we'll move forward. :D Cheers!

Chapter Four

...

Not Quite A Proper Initiation

...

She came from the wrong side of town,
She crossed the tracks and then she turned around.
Alone and restless, left without a choice,
She sought the comfort in a friendly voice.

She nearly lost herself along the way,
So full of anger in a world of hate.
Alone and restless, left without a choice,
She found the comfort in a friendly voice.

...

Kisame
...

He caught sight of those terrified jade eyes before he passed by Itachi's door, peaking out of the crack like a deer caught in headlights as she noticed him approaching. He would have normally felt a sense of accomplishment and pride in knowing that he had unsettled her as she had him before, but just that thing had kept that feeling from surfacing. He refused to break their odd little staring contest but something kept nagging him that he shouldn't even be acknowledging her presence. The reason as to why was an even more obvious blow to his pride.

Something - though he had no idea what - was wrong about this seemingly innocuous kunoichi. And the fact that she seemed more terrified than angry about her current situation was just not sitting well with him.

What the hell was wrong with her anyway? According to everything he had read and seen indicated that she was a very high-level shinobi; her superior training, infamous skills - from what he had read anyway - should have had her on the offensive about being here against her will.

No proper shinobi would just be okay - or quivering in fear - with her current situation.

But then again, she was from the Leaf. Those people seemed to have no problem showing irrational emotions on a daily basis.

Kisame plopped down on his bed, unnerved more because the silence and solace that his room usually offered were doing nothing to quell his previous uneasiness. Against his better judgment and the nagging voice in the back of his head that was telling him to just drop it, he racked his tired brain for reasons as to what was up with the girl.

"The kyuubi boy maybe?" He whispered to himself. Maybe. It wasn't unreasonable for her to be afraid that if she did anything that might not be conducive to following whatever rule she thought was necessary to survive here might prove dangerous to his situation as well.

He had read that both the girl and the Nine Tails jinchuuriki were childhood friends. Maybe she was also scared he'd try to come for her, thus falling directly into the hands of the one organization his village tried so desperately to keep him away from. That seemed likely but it was impossible to tell unless he spent more time around her, which he most definitely had no plan to do.

And that too was a problem. No matter how many times he tried to keep himself from thinking about it, he'd just circle back around to it again. Something was just...unsettling familiar about the girl.

He rose from the bed, shedding his cloak and repositioning Samehada against her favorite spot on the wall, and languidly stretched. Emptying prior thoughts from his head would prove a lot easier if he could get some alcohol into him.

Yep, he decided as he shut the door behind him, reacquainting with his old friend sake was definitely an occasion worth calling for.

...

Sakura

...

When the door to her 'cell' opened quietly, it signaled the return of the woman from before and with the almost silent sound of it closing cut off the tears previously leaking from Sakura's eyes. A tray was set on her lap, a steaming bowl and piece of hearty bread sitting alongside a glass of orange juice carefully arranged on top. Sakura was almost taken aback, as she had been expecting something more along the lines of a granola bar and if she was lucky a bottle of water to be given to her.

The oddly kind gesture was almost enough to send the rosette into another fit of tears but she refrained, her voice sounding impossibly small but understandably scratchy as she emitted a quiet 'thank you' instead. The blue haired woman - Konan, Sakura reminded herself - merely nodded and sat down carefully on the edge of the bed as before.

Though not as hungry as she had been before the hallway incident, the growling of her stomach could not be missed and she carefully inspected the contents of the tray. The steaming bowl was an obviously very meaty stew and honestly, it smelled so fantastic that she couldn't care less if there was poison in it. She picked up her spoon and took a bite, finding that it tasted even better than it smelled. Only after she had taken a few bites and washed it down with some juice did she speak again.

"This stew is very good. Thank you."

Konan let a small smile grace her features before responding softly, "I'm truly glad you like it. I made it for dinner last night so it's left over but I figured it was the best I could pull together without making you wait too long."

Sakura almost wanted to laugh, however bitterly, at the idea of an organization like the Akatsuki sitting down and having dinner together. That image just seemed far too...normal to align with the image she had for the Akatsuki.

Silence followed for a while after, Konan allowing Sakura to finish her food before speaking again.

"We'll be heading over to the main hall soon and there are some...things I want to tell you before we go, Haruno-san. Important things." Konan's voice seemed only slightly nervous but it was enough to retrigger Sakura's nausea. Her silence was enough to allow the older kunoichi to continue.

"I'm certain that with your reputation within the shinobi world, you're probably fully aware of who we are and more importantly what we do. I doubt, however, that you know the reasons behind those actions. I'm certain that Pein will be explaining them to you when you meet him, so I'll spare you. But there is something very important I need you to remember before you go in," Konan's hand reached out towards Sakura and she placed it lightly on her own hand, causing the rosette to look up into Konan's eyes, "No matter what your views are or how they differ towards Pein's, you must respond to him with as much respect as you can. This will ensure your safety for the duration of your time here. There is only so much I can protect you from on my own."

Sakura's eyes drifted back down towards the comforter. Respect. Ha, that was a laugh. How was it even possible to pretend to respect someone who's sole goal seemed to involve murdering her best friend and destroying the world with the contents within him? However, despite the arguement lingering on her tongue, all she could manage was a small nod. Her survival - the baby's survival - hinged on her cooperation, even if to do so would just be another nail in her coffin in the end.

'Well, I guess it doesn't matter how many nails are in a coffin if it's shut to begin with.'

Konan returned it with a small, albeit sad, smile and stood, lifting the tray off of the rosette's lap as she did. The smile disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced with a much more serious set across the indigo haired woman's face.

"Alright, Haruno-san. Follow me."

...

Kisame
...

"For Jashin's sake, how many bottles did you idiots fucking drink?"

The blue haired man settled into the overstuffed armchair in the opposite corner jumped up at the intrusion, nearly dropping the most recent bottle of sake he had been working on. He looked to the floor, noting with some very inebriated interest that his blond drinking counterpart hadn't been alarmed at the loud zealot's exclamation and was still drooling on the area rug, fast asleep.

Lightweight.

"I 'unno...a lot?" Kisame slurred, punctuating with another swig. How many bottles had they had anyway? He couldn't remember, all he could remember was that they...were...delicious, "Wha' d'you care?"

Hidan huffed and stepped through the doorway, kicking an empty bottle aside - loudly. Kisame's head thumped. Bastard. He swung his scythe towards Deidara pointedly, "Alright, fish-face, you finally killed him! Praise fuckin' Jashin!"

"He's not dead...I mean...I dun think he's dead," He hoped he wasn't dead, Leader would have a fucking bitch fit and frankly Kisame didn't want to have to listen to that shit. Kisame nudged the blond with his foot who snorted in response, still very much out, "See? Not dead."

"You know, Kakuzu is going to freak the fuck out when he sees how much sake you guys drank. I can see it now, 'Do you idiots know how much sake costs? Blah blah blah...fiscal responsibility...blah blah blah.'" Hidan laughed coldly, as if causing his partner financial woe was the greatest thing ever. Judging by the sudden serene look on his face as he imagined the incident in his head, it might just be.

"What do you want, Hidan?" Kisame growled, his previous mirth sullied by the zealot's grating voice.

"Well, I was heading down to do a ritual but then I got distracted by this shameless act of depravity you heathens are currently taking part in. You know," Hidan's face suddenly took on a very serious look, "Jashin looks down upon such weak indulgences."

Kisame snorted in response, drawing the last sip out of the bottle in his hand, tossing it at Deidara who leapt up when the bottle expertly collided with his head.

"What in the absolute fuck!? Who threw that at me, yeah?" The blond's eyes were narrowed in somewhat unfocused anger, still very much drunk but staring daggers into the mist nin. Kisame fought down the laughter bubbling up, widening his eyes and throwing his hands up defensively. He merely pointed at the white-haired Jashinist in the doorway and stood to leave as Deidara let out a growl and threw himself at Hidan, killer intent in his blue eyes.

Using this rather violent distraction to his advantage, Kisame snuck away as quietly as his inebriated body could allow, grabbing an unopened bottle from the shelf. He wasn't exactly drunk, per se, but he sure as hell wasn't sober either. As strong as his chakra was and as good as his control was, even his iron will tended to buckle at around five plus bottles of decent sake. He knew he had at least over seven and it had been pretty good sake.

'Damn good sake.'

His original plan, when he had popped open that first bottle, had been merely to drink just enough to calm him down and silence his thoughts. It had been going so well too until that loud mouth Deidara had come into the living room and started spouting off about art and ruined his plans. In order to shut the demolitionist up, Kisame had offered him a drink, to which Deidara eagerly accepted. One bottle had turned into two, two to four, and before long Deidara had passed out, leaving Kisame some quiet to ponder the meaning of life on his own...or whatever the hell he thought about when he was plastered.

And just when he thought he could get some real drinking going - because now he really needed it, damn it - Hidan had come along and ruined his entire buzz. Luckily the artist and the zealot hated each other, so it wasn't hard to incite enough toxicity between the two to allow Kisame to escape unscathed and untethered.

He wandered the hallways for a while, more ungracefully than he would care to admit - relishing in the silence of the base, sipping at his bottle - until he came upon the library.

Fortunately, it seemed to be empty and Kisame sighed as he slipped onto one of the large cushions against the wall opposite the medical scrolls.

Finally, peace at last.

"And this is our library and scroll room."

Or not.

"Oh, Kisame-san. I didn't think anyone was down here." Konan's steps stilled at the sight of the lounging shark-nin, the leaf kunoichi coming to stop by her side, eyes widening slightly. Opalescent eyes looked up and locked onto the pink haired girl's own emerald orbs. He could have sworn he saw her nearly flinch but she did nothing to break the gaze, merely staring down back at him, face hardening just slightly. The sudden tension in the room was not unnoticed by Konan.

A somewhat uncomfortable silence stretched out over a short time, making for a tense atmosphere for all involved. The blue haired kunoichi decided to break the silence.

"I was just showing our guest around the base." Neither Sakura nor Kisame responded to the soft voice, merely locked into each other's gazes as if they were in a Mexicali standoff. Konan continued, deciding that maybe an introduction would be enough to smooth some of the obvious tension out. Maybe if just one of them extended an olive branch, it would be enough to settle at least some of this uncomfortable atmosphere. It wasn't necessary obviously but Konan really didn't want to spend the next however many months cramped in a space with two people who obviously didn't seem to care much for each other. There would be at least some peace in this place, whether they liked it or not.

A headache was beginning to form behind amber eyes. How Pein ever thought this was a good idea was beyond her. She cleared her throat and the shinobi unlocked their gazes and set on her instead.

"Sakura," Konan lightly touched Sakura's elbow before continuing, shooting Kisame a look that clearly said 'behave', "This is Hoshigaki Kisame. Kisame, this is Haruno Sakura. Sakura will be staying with us for an indefinite amount of time. She'll be taking over medic duties in Sasori's absence and will be taking care of the domestic duties as well."

Emerald eyes softened slightly. Konan released a breath she didn't know she was holding. At least someone wanted to contribute to civility around here. Even if she didn't like it, Sakura appeared to at least be willing to accept the terms of this, however begrudgingly. Konan wanted to applaud her maturity, feeling somewhat more hopeful than before about this situation.

"It's nice to meet-"

"You owe me a new cloak, leaf."

That previously dissipating tension seemed to skyrocket. This thin ice was already breaking; Kisame seemed to determined to shatter it completely. The slight ache behind Konan's eyes grew to a dull throbbing.

So much for civility.

...

A/N: A super short chapter and not much seemed to happen but I figured I'd stop it there, put something out there for you guys to read while I work on the next part. I don't know if it was because I haven't written anything in so long or what but that was impossibly hard to crank out. I still have yet to fall back into a good flow, so please, bear with me while I do. Sakura's interaction with Pein was left out of this chapter, as I wanted to write more from Kisame's perspective in this one but the next chapter will have a rundown of it. I know I'm rusty but rest assured it'll get better. So read and review as you do, the next one will better, promise.