Disclaimer: I had this funny image in my head of lawyers perusing FF.N, going "Disclaimed, disclaimed…OHHHH LOOK! Oh man! This one did not put a disclaimer! Hahahaha! D Call Masashi Kishimoto, boys! I sense a lawsuit!"

And then I realized I might be slightly insane. :) Anyway, I do not own Naruto, but I do own Kumo and the plot to SNJ.

Chapter Five: The Jade Crane

Across from her was her own reflection in the vanity mirror.

"99...100!" she said cheerfully, and allowed the silken pink locks of her hair to drop back down her shoulders. Sakura placed the hairbrush down and looked at herself with a tentative smile at her lips. She was sure she was pretty. Her mother told her that all of the time and so had her father.

She looked at his picture, which always was on the vanity table so that she could see him when she came to comb her hair and make herself look nice for Team 7's training every day.

Haruno Matsuo was a handsome man, strong masculine features and vibrant blue eyes that always seemed to be laughing. It was the pink hair that set off this masculine image of a man. Though, his strands were a paler shade than her own and cut short. She did not remember very much about her father. He died when she was very small, but some memories remained.

"Where's my pretty girl?" he would call out when he came home from a mission.

Sakura would run to him and find herself hoisted up into the air by strong arms. He was a big man, and could lift her up as if she were nothing more than a kitten.

"Throw me higher!" she would shout out, then squeal with laughter when he through her so high she felt like she was flying.

"Careful!" Momo called out with worry at seeing her daughter's tiny body go up a few stories into the air.

One day, he never came home, and he never called her 'pretty girl' again.

A hole. The great Uchiha prodigy…fell through a hole in the ground.

Sakura could not believe this! She had been strung up like a puppet and tossed right to the one person she did not want to see, but now he might be dead because he fell into a hole. Her mission in the afterlife was going to be so short lived, she must have been the worst guardian in the history of guardians!

Why was she complaining, though? Didn't she want Itachi dead so that she could be rid of him and just move on? Rest in peace somewhere? Nirvana? Heaven? Mars?

A part of her frowned darkly at her behavior. Itachi might be seriously hurt. She looked down at him, finding that she could see very well in the dark. His eyes were closed, not tightly, but loosely like a person in sleep. His hair was sticking to his forehead in one place where a trickle of blood was seeping from a deep gash. She inhaled sharply, then kneeled down to get a closer look. Luckily for Itachi, the gash did not touch on anything fatal or too serious but it was deep enough to need stitches at least, and in this cold, he was in even more danger.

"Uchiha! Wake up." she tested out speaking, wondering if he might actually be able to hear her. When his brow furrowed, she started a little.

"Nnn..." he moaned, then turned his head a few times before he eased his eyes open. She knew he would be able to see nothing in the dark, so the question of if he could see her or not would be unanswered. It would be forever unanswered if he died here.

Itachi shifted his arms so that his elbows were pressed back against the ground, allowing him to push himself up into a sitting position.

"Kisame." he called out, and used one arm to continue to prop himself up while he reached the other one out into the darkness to feel for something, anything that might give him a clue to his whereabouts. What he could not see, Sakura could see clearly.

The place they had fallen into was a perfectly circular room carved from the cavern walls. The floor dipped towards the central point where a smaller hole had been made, with a spiral groove carved at a point beneath a pillar rising nearly four feet from the ground and around the room until it ended in the hole. She watched with morbid fascination as the blood Itachi lost slowly made its way around the spiral until it was draining into the hole.

When she saw the torches that stood tall, she smiled. "If you had a fire, you would be able to see." she said, and walked away from him to get closer to one of the walls.

FWOOSH!

Screaming, Sakura spun around to locate the source of the noise. Itachi was perfectly still and then...The hand seals...

She realized what he was doing and stared, wide eyed, as he blew a huge ball of fire from his mouth towards a torch and thus, lighting it. The moment of truth had arrived.

Could he see her?

Sakura froze in place and stared straight at him, her chin held high and her eyes holding a defiant gleam 'just in case'. For a moment, she could swear Itachi was looking right into her eyes from where he sat. He said nothing, though. Only the sound of the snapping fire cut through the silence.

"Well?" she asked and cringed at the tremor in her voice. He continued to stare, then narrowed her eyes, causing the pink-haired girl to tremble. "I didn't want to be here, Uchiha. This is just something beyond our control and..."

She trailed off when he stood up, his eyes still on her form. Sakura quaked again, and nearly screamed until he simply passed right through her. Confused now, she turned around to see that he was actually looking at.

Sakura's was in awe, to say the least. Above each torch, large animals had been painted with a dark material. Each beast, a koi, crane, tiger and viper posed majestically and almost seemed to come to life with the flickering shadows from the torches.

How had she missed this? With relief, she understood that Itachi had not been looking at her at all. He was staring at the wall paintings.

Itachi stepped from the center of the room and closer to the pillar situated in between the crane and the tiger's torches. Sakura wondered how he could be so calm about falling into a pit that had no 'door' except for what was above them, with a bleeding gash on the side of his head...Then again, he probably had experienced much worse and that gash was the equivalent of a mosquito bite.

"What are you looking at?" Sakura asked, mostly for her benefit as she walked closer to his side. He might not be able to hear her, but if she could pretend, she would feel a whole lot better.

What Itachi was looking at turned out to be writing on the smoothed, flattened top of the pillar. Curious, she leaned in closer to read.

"My unfortunate friend, if you have found yourself here then I extend my deepest apologies and this plea: Finish what I did not have the strength to do. The Four remain separated and protected with my jutsu so that those who would bring the Abomination could not See what hides beneath the surface.

If you, stranger, choose to take my burden upon your shoulders may the heavens give their protection.

Bring the Four together.

DESTROY THE ABOMINATION!"

Itachi frowned at the bizarre message. The scent of very old blood wafted to his nose ominously. He scraped his finger across the initials, smearing them before Sakura could read, then brought the sooty residue up to his nose.

"Blood…" he murmured.

Sakura shivered and backed away. Did one man really do all of this alone? She looked at the paintings once again and they did not look as majestic as before. Instead, they were grotesque and demonic. These were painted in his own blood just like that message and the spiral groove...What did he make that with?

Bone?

The dull, grating noise of stone grinding against stone echoed in the chamber, drawing Sakura's attention back on the other occupant. To her surprise, he shoved it down until it crumbled on the ground.

"What are you doing now?!" she snapped, her disgust and fear turning into anger. Anger felt much better than fear.

He kneeled down and sifted through the crushed, shattered stone until a lacquered box was in his hands. After cracking the lock with the tip of a senbon, piles of folded papers were revealed to them.

"Itachi! Are you down there?"

Both Itachi and Sakura looked up. The light caught Kisame's eyes, making them glow strangely. Soon after, Deidara's and Tobi's head popped up along side the hole along with Zetsu.

The Jade Crane Tea House

Rain Country - One week later

The four Akatsuki looked upon the tea house. The structure was delicate and proud, speaking of a long heritage and immense wealth. Common sense would say that the owners had this in their family for many generations and prospered, being a place that drew in high profile clientele. The letters found in the box, however, dictated that the tea house was something much more. Tobi and Kisame remained clad in the black Akatsuki cloak, formidable white-lined red clouds hanging in the heavy rain and conical hats topping their heads. With Tobi's refusal to remove his mask and Kisame's distinct features, the task of going in was left to Deidara and Itachi who appeared normal. The fact that they were handsome did not helped matters considerably, but neither man chose to acknowledge it when Kisame chortled this 'revelation'.

Grudgingly, Sakura agreed, but how could she not? No woman could look at the two and not have less-than-pure thoughts.

The comedic scene of Deidara being forced to brush his hair down and back from his face still played in Sakura's head and would forever live in infamy.

There were four, thick folded papers in the box, each sealed with a red wax. One unsealed paper specifically gave an order in which to open the seals or the Shinigami Scroll would not be found. Sakura was personally impressed, though wary of Itachi's lucky find. She was not alone in such feelings as the five Akatsuki sat around a table to examine the contents.

Itachi cracked the first seal, expecting to find a letter. Instead, an ink painting covered the yellowed page.

"Isn't that the Jade Crane, un?" Deidara asked. Kisame looked at the blonde and arched a brow. With four pairs of eyes and Sakura's unseen presence, (assuming four, considering no one knew if Tobi was actually looking at him) Deidara grew agitated and crossed his arms with a flustered glare on his face. "What, un?!"

Kisame smirked and gave a casual shrug. "What's the Jade Crane? Please, by all means, tell us."

Deidara narrowed his eyes. He could sense that he was being teased, but nothing directly insulting had been said yet. Kisame possessed that kind of gift, and nothing irked the blonde more than indirect insults. He felt that those were doubly insulting, because his intelligence was insulted as well as himself.

"It's a tea house, un." came his reply in a low, dangerous voice that dared Kisame to make any remark on it. Despite herself, Sakura grinned at the interaction. Being dead and out of the picture allowed her to look upon this scene without too much bias and really, it was pretty funny.

Itachi's expression relaxed from the vague frown. He recognized it now. "The Jade Crane is a high class establishment." he added on. They all knew what that meant. Since they would not be able to sneak in, they would have to go incognito. Deidara groaned, but his displeasure was ignored.

Zetsu finally left, claiming to report their findings to their leader and have this part of the mission funded and supplied.

Two days later, the clothes arrived.

Sakura was delighted by the yukata and haori. The silks were finely made and heavy. Even more so, she was pleased by the idea of seeing attractive men dressed up in those nice clothes. (Sure, she hated them from the bottom of her heart, but eye candy was eye candy! Ino would understand.)

"Eh? Why do I have to wear this getup, hmm?" Deidara snapped. Itachi glared at him mildly.

"Are you a shinobi or not?" he asked, thin eyebrows raised ever-so-slightly. The implications were enough to knock Deidara out of the tantrum he was about to throw.

Deidara mumbled something under his breath then gave up and pulled on the silks, fully unaware of Sakura's lecherous eyes.

It was not until Itachi who, much to Sakura's disappointment dressed in a different room, walked out with a hair brush that the delicious situation grew to hilarity. Deidara fumbled with the hakama, obviously having never worn such fineries, eyed the piece in Itachi's hand with suspicion.

"What do you have that for, un?" he asked. Itachi stared at him without saying a word, then slowly approached.

"Take your top knot down."

Deidara refused vehemently, mostly because Itachi was the one to tell him to do it. With the blink of an eye, Itachi had Deidara pinned to the ground and working his hair until it was smooth and finely brushed. As Itachi tied it back properly so that both of Deidara's eyes would have been for the world to see, the younger man screamed out every obscene word in the book.

To say that Sakura had naughty thoughts at this view would have been a great understatement.

Now both stood Itachi in black and red, Deidara in dark blue and gray. The conical hats protected the from the softly falling rain from a dismally gray sky. Deidara was unaware of the lecherous eyes on him while the girl replayed his torture in her mind, but Itachi felt distinctly uncomfortable. Women had undressed him with their eyes before, and he studiously ignored the, but he saw no woman or man around to do so. He wondered about this 'watched' feeling lately but now was not the time to dwell on it too much.

When they walked in, they were immediately greeted by the owner, an elderly woman in an elaborate green kimono with the jade cranes. Her gray hair was tied back properly.

"Honored guests, welcome to the Jade Crane." she said demurely. Itachi bowed in return, but Deidara stared at her as if she were some strange alien species. Itachi remained bowing, but rolled his eyes when he saw the blonde standing dumbly next to him. Not so far away, pretty young girls stood near a partially opened door and giggled behind their sleeves at the sight of the handsome, elegant man and the funny blonde. "Bow." Itachi said through the corner of his mouth as low as he could so that the woman would not hear him. Deidara huffed silently then bowed awkwardly.

An exchange proceeded where Itachi and Deidara exchanged their false names, names stolen from prestigious men. The money they presented backed up their claim along with facts that they had been given.

Had Sakura not known that this was a mission of sorts, she might have fallen asleep. This was the single most boring thing she had experienced so far.

Didn't the Akatsuki live wild and dangerously?

She walked behind them once they were lead down past the shoji doors of different tea rooms until they were seated in the best one at the far end of the hall so that they could look over the murky green waters outside of the ornate black windows. Itachi was seated with his back to the Tokonoma as the most honored of the guests...But behind him...Behind him was the hanging scroll. Sakura's lips parted to emit a gasp of surprise. The rice paper had been painted to a perfection, with a soft yellow sun setting behind emerald mountains and pale green clouds. A single jade crane flew over teal waters, the wings stretched out and gold lining its feathers. Sakura drifted past them to stand before it and press her fingertips near it. Sure, she could not directly touch it, but she could give herself the illusion. When she was as close as she could be without going through, she noticed something.

She could feel it.

Frowning, she pressed her hand against it fully and felt the smooth texture. Even more disturbing, she could sense something flowing off of it in waves.

She turned away from the scroll when a dainty young girl stepped into the room from the doors at the opposite side of the scroll. The severe woman stood beside her while she bowed. "This is my own daughter, Fuyumi Mariko." she introduced. Itachi bowed in return, much to Deidara's annoyance. He openly sneered then bowed.

The song and dance of manners was brought to an end when they were all seated. Sakura, wanting to feel included, sat next to Itachi.

Deidara ignored the woman pouring their tea. He shifted every now and then, anxious to be blowing something up. These quiet, fancy places simply were not his style. Itachi was the picture of an aristocrat though. He spoke with the young girl that had been left to care for them by Fuyumi Kiku in hushed tones as he sipped the steaming tea. He was leading the conversation towards the special piece of art behind him.

At this, Deidara rolled his eyes towards it. He did not deny the beauty. That scroll held life and the crane looked as if it would burst from its stationary confines at any minute. If only he had his clay! He would be making a perfect imitation of the magnificent creature he was gawking at.

"I could not help but notice the scroll as I walked in, Fuyumi-san." Itachi said, drawing both Deidara and Sakura out of their artistic reverie. Deidara picked up his tea cup and took a sip, then grimaced at the taste.

The young girl's doe-eyes shifted towards the scroll hanging in the Tokonoma then back down to the tea pot. Talking about what was displayed in a Tokonoma was frowned upon as being rude and immodest. If her mother got word of it, she would be scolded badly. So, she remained quiet.

Sakura saw Deidara twitch again and Itachi's eyes take on that sinister gleam that most did not recognize. Being more in tune with him, she knew the girl was in danger.

"Be nice to her!" she hissed to him. "Why not say something nice? Geeze, you men don't know how to treat women at all!" Sakura knew he could not hear her, but that did not stop her from snapping in his ears.

To her surprise, Itachi's eyes returned to the dull gleam from before.

"Surely you do not mind sharing with weary travelers, hm?" he asked, but leaned foreword a little, his voice almost a purr. The moment he took a lock of the girl's hair into his fingers to feel the silky texture, Deidara stopped fidgeting and looked at Itachi as if he grew another head. Sakura's jaw dropped and the girl blushed deeply.

Did Itachi just...? No way! He totally did! Sakura gaped at him openly.

It worked like a charm, though.

"That is the Jade Crane." she said softly. "It has been in this tea house for many generations. and is the namesake as well."

Itachi 'mm'ed and nodded, the strands twirling along his fingers. Encouraged, she spoke on.

"The Fuyumi family believed that the jade crane brought luck to the tea house. There have been many floods and horrible storms but the tea house always remained untouched."

She leaned in to whisper, having become happy that there were willing listeners. Itachi leaned in for appearances, but Deidara was genuinely interested in what the girl was about to say.

He would never admit it to anyone, but he always liked a good story or legend.

"But a visitor once told me a different story. He said that the crane was not a spirit but a demon! The tea house was built on these grounds to seal it away and that the gods keep the tea house protected so that the crane is never released."

Deidara arched a brow. A demon crane? Cranes looked about as demonic as a butterfly.

Sakura, however, tensed. She watched Itachi turn the information over in his head then looked back at the scroll.

That thrum of latent power...Could it be true?

Kumo alone was enough evidence that powerful spirits roamed, and Naruto was proof that those spirits or demons could be sealed away, but for some reason she never thought she would hear of it in any other place.

How foolish she had been!

"A visitor?" Itachi asked, his stroking of her hair pausing abruptly and his gaze growing sharp. Mariko stared at him curiously, then nodded.

"Hai. He was a special man like you, Hiroshi-sama." she said to Itachi, smiling. "With the strangest pink hair…I can not remember his name, though. That was fourteen years ago and I was only seven years."

Sakura's brain came to a screeching halt. She felt what was similar to a clenching heart and missed it when Itachi and Deidara's eyes met, then both nodded. They had what they came for. The girl smiled at them both now, completely innocent of the information she just fed to two Akatsuki.

"Where's my pretty girl?"

"Outou-san is not coming back, Sakura-chan…I'm sorry."

Sakura frowned at the sudden memories that had attacked her at Mariko's simply claim. Eager for more, she looked back at them, only to be horrified at what she was witnessing. "No! Don't do it!" Sakura begged when she saw Itachi lean closer to the girl. His Sharingan eyes resembled that of a predator and the girl had no warning at all. In fact, rather than run away screaming like she should have, she became entranced by the deadly beauty of the crimson eyes. For a moment, Itachi looked as if he might even kiss her, but Sakura recognized the tell tale signs that the girl was trapped in the dangerous world Itachi could create.

Deidara looked away, his lips twisting in an unpleasant way with bitterness filling his eyes.

In no time, the girl was dead. Itachi gently laid her onto her side.

Sakura was furious. Had she not frozen up like that, she might have stopped him! Something, or anything, she did not care that she was dead! She would have stepped right through the barrier of life and death to kick Itachi right in the face for even thinking about killing an innocent like Fuyumi Mariko! She stood up and glared down at the man. He did not have to kill her! He did not!

"Why did you do that?!" she shouted at him. "You could have let her go! No one would have known that she told you anything!"

She began an assault on him, punching and kicking her limbs through his body but Itachi crossed the space between the table and the Tokonoma, completely unaware. She attempted another punch, but finally gave in when he stared at the scroll intently.

"Why...?" she whispered a little more sadly than angered.

The next piece to the puzzle had been gathered, but at what price?

Sakura, tears of anger budding at the corners of her eyes, looked back at the jade tea house. The majesty it possessed seemed to have diminished. It was just a simple place now.

Or at least it was until it exploded into tiny timbers. Next to her, Deidara sighed in relief then smiled.

No, the demon trapped within it and the demon that assured its protection was taken away. She looked at Itachi and the fresh feelings of hate and disgust heated.

He had serious protection on him for a marked man. He had the Jade Crane, the Sharingan, the Akatsuki...

...And he had her.

A/N: Ehhh! This was a tricky, tricky chapter to do! But thanks to Nolable's help and patience with my constant ranting while I did this, it is here. Your awesome reviews have also been very encouraging.