A/N: Update! I know seriously overdue... I blame my health. I know its a lame excuse but one I must use. I've been in and out of the hospital for last few months, last time I went in almost had to be put on life support. Was really not up to updating or doing much. This year was really bad for my asthma and it would have sucked having to be incubated, having a tube down the throat isn't pleasant. I can't even deepthroat without gagging... just kidding, nah seriously bad gag reflex. Anyways, here is the next chapter and if things continue to go well I should have net at home next month YAY! Then I can start updating all my fics (I still got to walk a bit to get to a wi-fi, which is why I haven't last few months, had to get my asthma under control and I'm fat)

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Side note: I got this one plotted out to the end and a few more chapters already done, I've been typing some, just not updating. Yeah, that lazy excuse again. With warm weather I will try to atleast update every other week or so. This is still going to be a Deid x Sak and Hid x Ino. It will be some time before they are old enough for any smut so I can develop their relationships with everyone. Hope everyone hangs with me that long. Thanks for all the reviews so far, I appreciate them.

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Warnings: Language

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Chapter Three

Cleaning alone was boring, Sakura huffed and the silence was broken by the exhaled breath. Why couldn't she be the one to cook? The only chore she hated, was doing the floors. There was just so much of it! Green eyes narrowed noticing the mud stains in a section of the hallways she had already mopped. There was only one person with feet that small, the boy that she didn't like. The other members had larger shoes and were nice enough not to track in dirt. It still happened but not to such a degree. The rain had been coming down all morning, leaving them to work inside today.

Ino was happily in the kitchen cleaning and getting things ready for dinner. No one really liked the way she cooked and that boy would spit it out before tasting it good. She had been told to allow Ino to take care of the kitchen for now on. Kakuzu-sensei said she could be the one over the finances with him, her chore alone. That just meant they had to split the rest of the chores. However, Ino had to cook three times a day, so it left her with more of the chores to do.

A cloud of dust came up with a sweep, making her cough. Was that humming? The many rooms down this hall were reserved for members she had never met before. One was named Pain in the Ass, that was who Hidan said this room belonged to.

"Katsu!" the voice shrieked, then the loud bang made her ears ring. The wall came flying towards her, or was she going towards it? All she could think about was the mess that it was going to make as she slammed into something solid. The world around her spun in many directions, her eyes unable to adjust to the spinning. Something scraped along her eyeballs when she blinked.

"Owie!" The throbbing pain in her left side slowly began growing. She took a deep breath, to start a coughing fit. It hurt to breath and she was crying. She had promised Ino that she wouldn't cry anymore. The tears were rolling down her cheeks, even though she didn't want to be a baby.

"Sakura!" Kakuzu turned the hall hearing the low whimpering. What the hell had that blast been about? His ears tweaked hearing the ragged breathing and the wheezing. There was debris and plaster everywhere. He didn't believe for one minute that the little girl had been the one to create the mess. They knew it would piss him off and they would have to clean up the mess. That left only one culprit behind the blast. "How bad is it?"

"I... okay," she was okay, she wasn't a baby. What had happened? She turned her head to confront the man. Would he blame it on her? Would he yell because the wall had fallen apart? She wanted to tell him that she didn't do it but it hurt to talk.

"Don't bother explaining, I can hear you wheezing. You're injured and someone else is about to be. DEIDARA!" That little fool! How many times did he have to tell him not to test his pathetic excuse for art inside? It could have killed his charge and then he would have to hire another maid to help Ino with the load. Not to mention, it meant he'd have to teach Ino how to do the books. "Itachi, where is the little faggot?"

"Most likely running for safety." Itachi came around the corner, with a frowning Ino holding onto his robes. They had both left the kitchen hearing the explosion. Only six of the Akatsuki were currently in residence and one of them was about to be slain. He approached the little girl, who was still covered in rubble. "How serious is it?"

"Sounds like a busted rib or two, might want to check the lungs as well." Kakuzu didn't want her dying on him. They did more around here than that fucking pansy. Said pansy was coming down the hall with his arms crossed.

Itachi wanted to roll his eyes at the thickness in the air and it wasn't the dust settling. Deidara was still acting out and trying to kill the help wasn't going to make their leader change his mind. The children were staying for several reasons. Kakuzu wanted them to, that was the important reason. The man was a great asset to their organization and Pein wasn't about to let him leave because another member couldn't pretend that his balls had dropped. "Deidara, not only did you just destroy a wall but you managed to injure Sakura."

"Oops, I didn't mean to mess up the wall." Deidara scowled noticing that the little girl had only come away with minimal damage. She should have been crushed by the debris, if not killed from the blast alone. He had been sure she was right on the other side.

"You little fucker," Kakuzu ignored the soft warning from the Uchiha brat. His hand extended faster than the blonde boy could focus. It felt good to have it wrapped around his scrawny neck. Not only had he caused a mess, he had been trying to hurt his charge on purpose. He would not allow it. His authority and position were being tested by their youngest member, it would come to a stop right now or he would just rip off the bastard's head. "Are you trying to make me kill you? I told you not to lay a finger on them."

"I didn't touch her," his bomb had done the work for him. Deidara saw the rage in the dank, brown eyes and saw that wasn't the correct answer. It was hard to breath, how could he explain what he had done? Okay, so there was really no point in explaining. He had done exactly what they thought, he had tried to seriously injure, if not kill, the pink-haired girl. "I don't like her and who cares if she dies?"

"I care," Kakuzu didn't care how the boast was taken. The girls were a good investment and he had already put a lot of time and effort in starting their training. He wouldn't lose a good investment because this one couldn't grow up. "If you so much as touch them, fart in their presence or sneeze in the same room; I will go against Pein's orders and tear you apart. I assure you, my place in this organization is much more solid than yours. They will only scold me if I were to kill you. Don't think I won't do it. I'll take great pleasure in removing your heart the next time you are foolish enough to piss me off. Now, you are going to clean up this mess and then leave on a mission. Every dime made is going into repairing this wall."

"Okay, you two have seen enough. Come Ino, we will take Sakura to the medical room." Itachi didn't want to see what was going to happen next. From the look on Deidara's face, the boy was going to be stupid and argue. If any maiming happened, it was best if they didn't witness it. There would be plenty of time for them to see the many unpleasant slayings of their guardian.

"Is she going to be okay, Nii-san?" Ino kept a tight grip on the black robe. She didn't want to remain with Kakuzu now, he was really upset. Whenever his eyes got that yellow swirly thing spinning in the middle, he started hitting things. She liked Itachi the most and he didn't seem to mind that they wanted to call him Nii-san.

If they were lucky, her ribs were just bruised and not broken. She was wheezing but not coughing up blood or complaining about needing air. The dainty face was covered in dust and streaked with tears. Itachi was sure she'd be just fine, "She'll be okay, I just need to look her

over."

"You can heal?" Ino watched as he placed her friend onto a table as soon as they went into a room. It was one they often cleaned but there wasn't too much inside. He went about grabbing a white box before standing in front of Sakura.

"A bit, my mother taught me a few things." He didn't know much and he would never be good enough to be a med-nin. Just some simple healing was all he could do and that was the extent of his training. "I'm going to examine your ribs, so try not to move too much."

Sakura nodded in understanding when he lifted up her shirt. His hand began to glow and roamed around her skin. The stinging burn began to change to a warm tickling feeling. It was making the ouch go away. Once that was done, he lifted up her knee to look at the spot where her leg was bleeding. "Are you going to cut it off?"

"Of course not," Itachi reached to open the kit to retrieve something to clean out the wound. It wasn't that deep but he'd heal it to ease their mind. They both watched intently while he scrubbed the dirt out of the slit. Once done, he closed the wound.

"Wow! That was so cool! Can you teach me?" Sakura stared at her leg, it was all better. She had heard about med-nins in their last village but had never seen one before. It was so cool. Could she do that? "Can you teach me how to do it?"

"Me too!" Ino jumped up to grab his sleeve. If he was going to teach Sakura then she wanted to know how to do it too. It was only fair. They did everything together, he had to teach them both. It was better than learning how to figure out those numbers or what foods Hidan didn't like to eat. "Please, please, I'll bake you a cake."

"I only know a few basics, so I won't be that good of a teacher." Itachi felt like he had been punched in the gut as their smiles turned upside down. It reminded him of the one time he had told Sasuke that he didn't have time to train with him. That had always ate at him. He wished now that he could have spent more time with this little brother. What could it hurt? "Alright, whenever I'm free, I'll teach you what I know. However, if you want to learn real med-nin techniques, you'll have to do it on your own after that."

"How? How do we learn more?" Sakura wanted to learn how it was done. If she knew how to do that then she could have healed the booboo Kakuzu had gotten during his last mission. He had come home with a huge gash on his arm. Instead of doing the neat healing, he had stitched it up. Those stitches were gross to look at.

"If you two can grasp the basics, I'll get you more scrolls to work with. How does that sound?" It would be nice to have a normal healer around, instead of Kakuzu's mideval tactics. Itachi hoped that Kakuzu wouldn't mind if he showed them a few things. They had spare time to learn, as long as it didn't interfere with their chores.

"Neat, what about with kunai? Can you teach us how to fight too?" Ino wanted to learn to fight. That way she could beat up Hidan the next time he told her that the eggs were runny. "I wanna learn taititsu."

"That's taijutsu," Itachi ran a hand over his nape and sighed. Their enthusiam reminded him of his brother for some reason. Their eagerness to start learning and curiosity about something new. Would he regret agreeing to show them anything? "Alright, but you have to make sure it is alright with Kakuzu-sensei first."

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"Here you go," Sakura winced as the heat began seeping through the cloth into her fingers. Luckily, Kakuzu had just moved his arms in order to allow Ino to push the tray of bacon onto the table. With the pan of bisquits she had just taken out, all that was left was the eggs, which Ino was in the process of scrambling. It was routine for the members to eat first and then they would gorge themselves on the leftovers. The only one that ate a lot was Hidan. The only time Kisame would pig out was when they cooked pork. This morning, Shark-face and Itachi-nii-san were on a mission. The only ones present were Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu. Sasori was around but he never ate with them.

"Any longer and they'd be hard as rocks." Hidan eyed the food being shoved onto the table. The little twerp rolled her eyes before walking away. Just because it was better than what he'd burn, didn't mean he couldn't complain if it was burnt. The edges of the bacon had little spots of black on the edges.

"Don't complain, or you can take over the cooking duties and I'll just get myself a suitable partner." Kakuzu saw nothing wrong with the meal. No one else liked their bacon to be rubbery or undercooked. He was sure the Jashinist just wanted something to bitch about.

"Heh, I'm the only partner willing to put up with your face. Don't think for a minute I'll end up in the ktichen, I'm not a bitch." Hidan snarled before fisting a handful of the overcooked strips of meat, ignoring the heat seeping into his skin.

Ino didn't expect much of a verbal rescue from anyone. Sakura was more content to just ignore the foul mouth. Kakuzu-sensei just shrugged, not really caring that his partner had more or less called her a bad name. She really didn't like him, at all. "A bitch is a female dog or what polite company would call your mother."

"What the fuck did you just say?" The fork paused in retrieving one of the rock-hard biscuits. Hidan was sure he had heard wrong. That little bitch hadn't just insulted his mother. He didn't really care for the woman either but only he was allowed to talk trash about her.

"Just eat your damn food, we have a mission to see to after breakfast." Kakuzu didn't feel up to listening to any fighting this morning. Could the two go a minute without spitting acidic words? He almost prefered Deidara subtle attacks over Hidan's loud and obnoxious methods of complaining.

"No, I believe your little cunt has just insulted me." Hidan tossed the hard biscuit on the table, making sure to use some force so everyone could hear the hollow thwack as it hit the surface. Not his fault the little brat couldn't cook. "If you can't keep her under control, I can teach her some manners."

"You don't have any," Ino quirped in her opinion. She had manners, she knew not to throw food or talk when it was in your mouth. One didn't insult others when they were trying their best either. The annoyed member stood so fast, she reacted by quickly stepping back. The pan of eggs still clutched in her hands.

"And you're an ugly little bitch with no talent, that doesn't even deserve a place in the kitchen. It's no wonder your real parents didn't want you." Hidan knew he'd gone too far, not with the kid. Kakuzu's fist tightened, breaking the metal untensil in the process and a thick thread shot forward to latch around his throat.

"You will watch your damn mouth." Kakuzu sneered, hating that the man didn't so much as fucking flinch at being choked. Fucking immortal bastard wasn't the least bit phased at having his life threatened. Still, he wouldn't have any of them bringing up either child's former life. The last thing he needed was for them to start thinking of their previous home and long to return. Having them flee would be a pain in the ass. Especially when both children knew it wasn't true, he had taken them against their will, kidnapped them from Konoha.

Sakura didn't know what to do. They weren't allowed to interfere with their fights but what he said was mean. She had no idea if her parents still wanted her, or if they missed her but it didn't matter. This was their home now and they were trying their best to be helpful. She looked between the two men that were caught in some kind of staring contest, until something large and dark flew between the two. The object made a solid thwack, and then clattered onto the table.

"OH FUCK!" Hidan reached to grab his face, the stinging heat quickly settling in. He looked down at the thing responsible for his pain. On the table was the frying pan, eggs scattered all over the place. He hadn't even seen the little bitch move, but she actually threw it at him. Without thinking or caring that his partner already had a hold on his throat. He snatched up the pan and returned the throw, aiming right for the pinched, girly face.

Ino saw the pan coming at her but couldn't move, she was frozen, her feet wouldn't move. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. Another two seconds and still no pain but a cracking noise was heard. Metal hit the floor and she cracked her eyes, sure that her sensei hadn't let her get hit. In front of her face was a large metal tail, fully intact.

"How can anyone get any work done with all this noise?" Sasori spoke calmly at the group. The noise hadn't been heard until he had neared the room but was it really necessary? He had been hoping to catch the two girls alone having their own breakfast. Didn't those two have a mission? The silence following his words was destroyed by a larger crash, from a fist slamming down onto the table. "Unnecessary."

"Fuck you!" Hidan couldn't believe this shit. Did everyone in this damn place have to take their side? He would have loved to see that smart mouth split open.

"You will be paying to replace that table." Kakuzu released the sweaty throat so that his partner could storm out with the dignity of a two year old. So much for having a peaceful breakfast before having to get some work done. "Ino, you were the first to throw something, you will be responsible for half the cost of the table."

"Hai, Kakuzu-sensei." That wasn't fair. She hadn't broken the stupid table. The only thing she had hit was the dork's face. Not like she had damaged it, or made it worse. Now all her extra earnings would be going towards replacing the table and not towards new clothes next year.

"It's okay, I'll help you pay for it." Sakura ran foward to pick up the cooking pan. Kakuzu nodded towards her before following after Hidan. She couldn't believe how close that had come to Ino's face. It was the first time their sensei's partner had retailiated with a physical attack.

"Come to my room later." Sasori figured the table wasn't expensive. That tight-ass wouldn't purchase anything nice for their members to eat on. "I need assistance from you two."

"With a puppet?" Did that mean she'd be able to see his puppets? Sakura was sure Fishface had said Sasori had over a dozen of them. Could she play with them? Did he do shows with them or were they only for battle?

"Kind of, an experiment of sorts which requires the use of small hands." Small hands that could still feel. "Don't worry, you won't be harmed and I will pay you well for the assistance."

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"I take it the mission went well." Sasori settled next to the desk, taking in the relaxed posture of the two. He had been working on a new type of poison, with the help of his new helper, when it had been alerted that the pair was returning. Little Sakura-chan had politely excused herself to greet them. He had given them an hour before coming to request funds from the treasurer.

"It was acceptable." The Tsuchikage had paid them well for getting rid of some unwanted trash. It was enough to pay for the expenses for the next two years but he wouldn't inform the others of this. If they knew how much was stored, they'd be demanding more. "Are you in need of something?"

"I nee..."

"Kakuzu-sensei, you're back, you're back!" A bundle of blonde hair and limbs came sliding into the room all smiles. Why hadn't Sakura told her? She would have dropped the laundry to welcome their sensei back. He was going to be so proud of her, "Guess what, Sensei?"

This was said with tiny hands reaching out to hand over a small pouch. Kakuzu eyed the little blonde, wondering why she was so cheerful. Sakura was also in a great mood. He had feared returning home to learn that Deidara had acted up while he was away. Everything seemed to be in place and no one was dead. Later he'd lecture her on interupting other people. "What is that?"

"I did it! That is my half for the table." It had only taken her a week to get what she needed and more. Ino was proud of herself too. She had managed to get all of it, without having to use any of the money Sasori-sempai had paid her. She wasn't making as much as Sakura from her assistance but that was okay. Just another thing she wasn't as good with. Her friend was better with understanding the complex posions their sempai liked to use.

"This is actually more than half. How did you manage to get it?" Kakuzu knew she wouldn't take from the savings. He had the only key and she would know that he counted it every night before going to bed. No, they weren't stupid enough to steal from him again. So what had she been doing to earn it?

Sakura almost laughed seeing the look on Sasori's face. What was pulled out was more than what they had both earned together with their chores. She wondered how long it would take before what had been done was noticed. It had all been Ino's idea, she had gone along to make sure her friend was safe on the trip.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY SHIT? WHO THE HELL MOVED MY THINGS?"

"Must he scream?" Sasori noticed that the blonde child quickly moved so that she was standing on the side of Kakuzu, furthest from the door. Clearly hiding behind him as the man's partner came storming into the room.

"WHERE IS MY SCYTHE, YOU FUCKING TWAT? YOU MOVED IT WHEN YOU CLEANED MY ROOM!" Hidan knew which one it was. The pink was gnawing on her bottom lip and looked ready to break out either in tears or a good laugh. That was a fucking giggle. He knew it, that little brat had hidden his shit while he was gone. If it was so much as scratched, he was taking the price out of her boney ass. "They hid my weapons."

"They have both been in my supervision since you departed. Your things haven't been transfered to another part of the building." Sasori whipped his tail in aggravation, preventing Hidan from stepping further into the room. The poisoned tip striking the hard floor got the point across. It was just a couple of rusty weapons. He also spoke the truth, they had spent most of their time with him. If one overlooked the day they snuck out to head into the nearest village.

Kakuzu placed his pen down and turned to his partner. "And this is why I stress the value of money. If you understood it, then you wouldn't carelessly misplace your belongings and lose what is valuable."

"Whatever, bite me. I'll find them."

Ino watched him leave and couldn't stop the smile. At least she wasn't laughing like Sakura. Would their sensei get angry to learn that they had snuck into the village? She hadn't wanted to spend the money she earned from Sempai. Blue met dark brown and she saw the question. "We went into the village but it is okay, I got a good price for them."

"Good Girl," Kakuzu knew he should lecture them on leaving the compound without permission but a part of him was pleased. Ino had done what it took to get the money, he had taught her well. What pleased him more was knowing that both of them had managed to leave the compound and had willingly returned on their own. An escape attempt could have been dared, but they hadn't thought of it. Both had come home to wait for his return. It meant that soon he would be forced to put more trust in them. They were wanting to train and do more, there was no escaping their growing up. He also knew that one day they would have to decide their own paths and face their origins. "You two get to bed early tonight, tomorrow we head into the village to stock up on supplies."

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Thanks for reading, I went over twice and I hope there aren't any mistakes, if there are we'll just blame it on Hidan!

Oh, please review!