Chapter Ten

Karasu and Naruto entered the hidden base and were greeted with silence. The corridors, with adjoining doors leading to bedrooms, were empty and the lights were only barely clinging on to life. The only sound was that of their footsteps, and in the main hall where they had shared a meal not too long ago was deserted and empty.

'Where is everyone?' Naruto asked tiredly, looking around unhappily. He walked over to a couch, draped his cloak next to it and let himself fall lazily onto the soft cushions.

'Left already.' Karasu replied without much emotion. Naruto looked over to his partner curiously, but saw nothing to suggest her being upset so he decided to ignore her lack of emotion.

Karasu walked around to the kitchen and rummaged through it soundlessly, moving tins and cans aside, grabbing random ones and then placing them on the counter. Naruto sighed and craned his neck to look at Karasu again. Her eyes had changed to their bright icy blue, eyes lighter and colder than his.

'What're you doing?' He asked tiredly.

'Making a cake.'

'Why?'

'Because what else is there to do except for wait around for Pain's orders. Going outside right now would mean running into someone we don't want to meet right now. They know you're alive, they're searching for you.' Karasu explained quickly and rashly, grabbing things and beginning to stir the batter together with tremendous enthusiasm.

'And you.' Naruto said in a sing-song voice as he stood up and grabbed some orange juice from the fridge. Karasu froze mid-stir and slowly raised her head to look at Naruto. He pretended not to notice, investing himself in squeezing an orange to acquire the juice from within. Tobi has most likely had the last of the pre-squeezed juice.

'And me?' Karasu asked slowly, voice as frosty as a blizzard. It sent shivers up Naruto's spine, but he pretended that she hadn't affected him in the slightest.

'Indeed.' He answered coyly.

'What do you mean, and me?' Karasu whispered carefully, pronouncing each word with extra venom.

'I mean, Sakura is an intelligent girl. Did you see the way she was looking at you? I noticed. She's suspicious, she has an idea in her mind, and she's going to investigate. Isn't your family still in the Leaf?' Karasu's icy silence was all the answer that Naruto needed. He chuckled darkly at her frozen form. 'She's going to find them.' He whispered darkly, eyes burning bright with mischief. Karasu's muscles tensed angrily at his words, and he almost thought that she was going to fight him. But then she seemed to relax. To melt. Everything just sunk and she seemed smaller.

'I'm done baking.' She declared quietly, leaving the half-mixed cake batter where it lay. Naruto looked at her retreating form in confusion. This was rather unlike Karasu.

'But the cake isn't baking. It isn't even finished mixing.' Naruto called hesitantly. She had never walked away from baking in all her life, at least the life that Naruto had known. Was Sakura investigating her past something she feared or dreaded so much?

Naruto didn't even know much about Karasu's past, and everyone else always kept quiet about it. All Naruto knew was that she had entered the Akatsuki incredibly young, and she had made them into a family by insisting they spend time together to the point where she'd actually tied down members with her jutsu's. Apart from that, she was a virtual mystery to him.

'I know.' Karasu said before she vanished into the dark hallways. With her gone, the entire base seemed quiet and still, like a creature holding its breath.

Naruto frowned unhappily and began cleaning up after his female partner. It took him only ten minutes, but the longer he did it the more he began thinking about Sakura and Karasu. Karasu had come from the Leaf, and he'd only taken a stab in the dark about her family. He couldn't help but wonder if he had once known them, maybe even been what he had believed to be friends back then.

Perhaps someone else would know, someone who had been close to Karasu from the beginning.

If Sakura's revelation was going to put Karasu in danger, then the Leaf ninja would need to be eliminated.

!

Sakura walked through the Leaf slowly, thankful that she was alive and well but also disturbed by the turn of events. Kakashi was still in the hospital, as was the rest of the team that had confronted Naruto and the other Akatsuki. Thankfully Gai's team had managed to fare well with the traps that had been set, and they were walking around the Leaf with only scratches and bruises to contend with.

It was a nice day, though everything around her seemed ominous. She was currently on her way to see her mentor, Lady Tsunade. She had gotten back her old secretary, Shizune, and things seemed a lot calmer and happier now. Things were more organised . . . at least until they had all returned. It had been a day of peace, or at least a day that had been much more peaceful than the day when the team returned. Tsunade had always been hectic, but nothing was compared to now, when Tsunade found out that Naruto was alive and in league with the Akatsuki. Sakura had yet to tell Tsunade about the extent of Naruto's hatred of the Leaf, and it frightened her to think of the meaning of it all.

It still hurt to think of Naruto, more than ever now. It had been horrible when Sakura had believed him to be dead, but it was worse now. Sakura had always thought it would be a day or even a week of celebration if it was discovered that Naruto was alive. Sakura had dreamt of it so many times, she had envisioned Naruto's homecoming. Him walking through the gates of the Leaf and everyone running to him, Sakura being called and being all confused, even more so when she'd see the crowd of ninja laughing and crying and cheering. Then she'd walked through the crowd and there she'd see his grinning face, those eyes alight with life and pure joy just like they had always been.

Now she had seen his eyes, full of hatred and loathing and pure disgust at her, at Sakura. She had seen him fight too, and he had gotten better but he hadn't shown them even half of what he could do, of that Sakura was sure. Then again, neither had they. Naruto didn't know what they were capable of either.

What am I thinking? I can't fight Naruto? We can't fight Naruto. Sakura thought shakily. She looked down and saw that her hands were shaking, and when she looked up again she was standing in the cemetery, standing in front of Naruto's grave.

She wasn't the only one.

She looked to her side and saw what she first thought of as an old man, bent and stooped over as he sat on an unmarked rock. Then the man turned and looked right at Sakura and she recognised him as her team leader. He was heavily bandaged, and he was breathing heavily and it seemed to be difficult for him. He attempted to smile at her, but Sakura saw how painful even that was for him.

'Why are you here?' She asked him, attempting to sound stern but only sounding lost.

Kakashi sounded the same. 'Just needed to walk and I came here.' He whispered. Sakura saw his favourite perverted book by his side, but it hadn't been opened. It seemed that he couldn't even find the strength to read it.

'You should be in the hospital.'

'When do I listen?' Kakashi looked up at Sakura once again before letting his head fall to look at his folded hands.

'You could have died. That wound was massive and the extent of the damage isn't yet known.' Sakura reprimanded him.

Kakashi shrugged carelessly. 'I'm fine.'

Sakura looked at her leader, really looked at him, and saw that he wasn't going to listen to her. She was also willing to bet that if she tried to force him she'd have a fight on her hands. She'd win, Kakashi was still seriously injured, but fighting was only going to cause further damage to his injuries.

'All this time. All this time I thought he was dead and he was . . . living with those criminals.' Kakashi whispered so quietly Sakura had to strain to hear his words.

'It's not your fault.' Sakura said, sitting down cross-legged next to Kakashi. The rock wasn't big enough for the both of them so she had to take the grass instead.

'It is.' Kakashi whispered, shaking his head slowly. 'I left him. I chose Sasuke over Naruto and look what happened.'

'If you had taken Naruto instead of Sasuke, then Orochimaru would have gotten what he wanted and we'd be fighting Sasuke instead.' Sakura tried to comfort Kakashi. She knew what she was saying was true, but it didn't make anything better. It was just something to fill the air with.

'But Sasuke . . . he's different. Naruto was always . . . he was never bad. He never wanted to do bad or harm anyone good. But now . . . you saw him. You saw what he could do, what he did and the things he said.' Kakashi didn't know how to say what he was trying to say, but Sakura knew exactly what he meant. Naruto had always been a knuckle-head, determined and fiercely loyal. He had been innocent in a strong sense. But now he was full of hatred and revenge and he wanted to hurt people. He just didn't care. It was almost worse than him being dead.

The two sat in silence, pondering their separate yet similar thoughts. A few times Sakura looked over to Kakashi and saw that his condition was worsening. Every time it was worsening and she knew that he'd be needing to go back to the hospital soon.

Minutes of silence and then Kakashi slowly stood up. Sakura could see every one of his limbs shake with the combined effort, and she could see how agonising it was for him. But he didn't complain. He turned to Sakura and offered a weak smile. 'I should go. I can't report much to Tsunade, I'm going to be sleeping for a while I think. Please report in my place.' Kakashi asked her before shuffling off.

It seemed to take forever until he was gone, Sakura knew that if she had asked him if he needed help, or even insisted, he would have blatantly refused her.

When she couldn't see him anymore she left in the opposite direction to Tsunade's office.

!

Karasu lay on her bed on her back, staring up at the ceiling with a scowl gracing her beautiful features. Her hair, as black as a fresh strip of black paint, lay around her like delicate feathers and her eyes, which were now their calm icy colour, were glaring daggers at the pale ceiling.

Her room was nothing but black and white, with the two moving around each other to create images on the walls and the ceilings and patterns on her bed and lampshades. The only piece of colour in the room was the dull red scarf with tribal patterns on it resting on the door handle.

Karasu threw up the old toy she'd kept from her previous life into the air and caught it as it came falling down again. She didn't let herself think of where it came from or who had given it to her, all she let herself feel was the smooth coloured wool that covered the small rice sacks.

She thought of what Naruto had said, and then she thought of the pink haired girl. She had been intelligent, though Karasu hated herself for admitting it. She had been beautiful too, but once again Karasu didn't like to think of it like that. The only problem was that the girl hadn't fought with everything she had, probably because she'd been hoping to appeal to Naruto's old self. However the other Akatsuki had seen to it that that would never be the case.

That girl . . . had she actually figured it out? Had she actually seen who was Karasu's old family just by her hair and jutsu? Well her family's jutsu were incredibly unique, and she had heard rumours about her older brother. It seemed he had followed in their father's footsteps.

I bet he's glad that at least one of his kids turned out alright. Karasu thought bitterly, gripping the toy in her hand tighter. Just before it popped she released the pressure and felt the rice sacks sag with relief, but she hardly noticed it. All she could suddenly think of was her old family, always smiling and happy and always ignoring her. Always doting on her perfect older brother.

!

Sakura entered Tsunade's office hesitantly, and saw that the entire room looked as if an epic ninja battle had happened only moments before. Even the usually invincible table had been halved and the halves shattered.

Shizune walked in behind Sakura and surveyed the scene with dull eyes. She turned to Sakura with a sad little smile and then walked back out, carrying Tonton in her arms.

Tsunade stood by the window, hunched over and breathing heavily as she stared out at the sky. She didn't seem to realise that Sakura had entered, but Sakura knew her mentor better than that.

'Lady Tsunade?' Sakura asked gently. Tsunade flinched towards Sakura at her name, turning her head so that her confused eyes could see Sakura. Sakura walked towards her mentor, picking her way across the debris. There was only one picture frame hanging on the wall, and that was of Tsunade and her little brother. The one of her fiancé had been smashed but the picture was luckily still intact.

Sakura saw that in her hands was another photograph, and there was a smiling blonde kid staring out at Sakura.

'Lady Tsunade . . . I need to report from the mission. Kakashi asked me to.' Sakura said carefully. She wasn't sure how Tsunade would receive the news.

'Of . . . of course.' Tsunade turned shakily to go to her desk, but saw that she had wrecked it in her blind fury. Instead she opted for a windowsill. Tsunade motioned for Sakura to begin.

'There isn't a lot to report which you haven't already heard,' Sakura began slowly. 'All that's left is the magnitude of . . . Naruto's rage.' Tsunade visibly tensed at the name and her eyes hardened, but she nodded stiffly for Sakura to continue. Sakura breathed deeply before continuing. Then Sakura lost her professionalism, and she broke in the memory of her former teammate's hatred. 'It was horrible Lady Tsunade. He absolutely hated us! He fought Temari and Kankuro and Kakashi by himself, but he was also hitting and kicking Gaara's body! He was mocking us and Kakashi told me that Naruto believes that we abandoned him at the Valley of the End. He never said it, but we could see and feel that he hated us, and he claimed that the Akatsuki had shown him the truth of the Leaf and the Sand and we think . . . we think that he's in league with the Akatsuki to fight us, to defeat us. Lady Tsunade . . . he was so different I couldn't even recognise him. Even when I first saw him I thought that he was an imposter. I couldn't even recognise him . . .' Sakura trailed off in small sobs as she held her hand over her mouth and bent her head to cry. She felt the tears drip onto her hand and they only seemed to solidify her depressive state.

Tsunade was silent, but then Sakura felt her hand on her shoulder, felt the warmth being carried over to her. Tsunade's quiet reassurance only made Sakura cry harder, but it was alright now, because she wasn't crying alone. It was alright, because she'd lost someone in probably the worst way imaginable.

Sakura stood there crying for a while as her mentor held her shoulder and cried silently as well. They were both remembering better days, less complicated ones, and they both wished that they could just go back and change the course of time.

Sakura felt as if her chest were burning and splitting open with the pain, and her head suddenly felt clouded as she continued to sob breathlessly, and she could no longer smell the scent of broken wood and burned books that had hung heavy in the air. But as her tears dried up, the rest of her senses slowly came back to her.

She rubbed her eyes and smiled at Tsunade, thanking her silently for her support. Tsunade nodded, eyes red from crying as well, before removing her hand from Sakura's shoulder. 'Is that all?' Tsunade asked, voice cracking a little at the end.

Sakura was about to nod and leave when she remembered something incredibly important. She went to speak, knew immediately that her voice would crack, and took a moment to compose herself before continuing. 'No Lady Tsunade. I wanted to ask, did a young kunoichi, she would probably have been studying at the academy, disappear or even die? It would have been years ago, she may have even been younger I'm not sure.' Sakura asked, her voice still weak and brittle from the tears. She could still feel them, just out of reach but ready just in case her emotions overwhelmed her again.

'I don't know Sakura I haven't been here that long. I'd have to have a look at the records for that. Is it important?' Tsunade sighed, holding a hand to her head. She was probably looking for something alcoholic now to drown her sorrows in.

'It's highly important Lady Tsunade. It may help with . . . with Naruto,' Sakura had to take a deep breath before saying his name once again, she could feel those tears threatening to well over with that one name. 'If it helps it would have been from one of the clans I think.' Sakura added.

Tsunade looked at her suspiciously but didn't say anything. Instead she called for Shizune, who immediately took in their appearances and did what she was asked in record time. She came back with a small file which Tsunade opened and then passed to Sakura. Sakura read the name and knew that her suspicions had been correct.

'Thank you Lady Tsunade, Shizune. I need to investigate this further.' Sakura explained before taking her leave.

'Keep me informed.' She heard Tsunade mutter as the door closed behind her.

With new purpose Sakura headed out the building and to one of her old friends houses. She only hoped he was there at this time.

!

Karasu swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stood up, walking slowly over to her dresser. She opened the top drawer and removed a phony bottom before taking in what she was seeing, what she had tried to burn when she had come to the Akatsuki.

Pictures, hundreds of them, of her old life. She rifled through them before deciding on taking them all out, one by one so that she could look over the features of each of the people who had once inhabited her life.

Her finger absently traced over the face of her older brother as he looked up unenthusiastically at the camera. He'd always had that dull and bored look on his face, as if nothing could interest him. She wondered if he still carried that look on his face.

There was another picture of her family, but this one held bitter emotions. It was all of them, mother and father, brother and sister. But she had been pushed out by her father, probably unintentional, but she was in the corner there looking sad and confused as she stared at the camera, whereas her brother had their parents hands on both his shoulders and they looked happy to have him there.

Karasu threw this photo behind her so that she wouldn't have to look at it anymore. She picked up another and saw that it was with her brother and their dog friend, whatever his name had been. They'd been playing together and Karasu had followed them. Her brother hadn't even noticed that she'd been there, though several times she'd tried to be sneaky but so that he could see her as well. He'd never even known she was there, not even when this photo had been taken and you could see half of her face in the background.

There were many photographs like that, where Karasu had either followed family members or tried to be a part of what was happening. As she was going on she felt her chest tighten and her throat begin to burn with the effort of holding back frustrated tears. Why hadn't they loved her just as much as her brother? Why hadn't they cared about her, or her future? When she had came home from her first day at school, and all the teachers had gushed over her Karasu had been so proud. For the first time in her life she had been proud about what she had done, and they had even called her a natural ninja. It should have been the happiest moment of Karasu's life, there should have been a photo, but instead there was one of her brother being congratulated for getting an average on a test and then there was Karasu in the background, looking lost and sad and holding a certificate her teachers had given her congratulating her on her natural talent. She was in the background, just standing there staring at her father and brother.

Karasu didn't even know if they had missed her, if they had known that she was gone. She didn't even know if they found the fake body of her, or if they had grieved. This hurt Karasu the most, just not knowing if her parents had cared enough about her for something as simple as a family funeral.

The tears began to flow then. Slowly at first but then quickly and all at once. Karasu made no sound as she stared at that one photograph, but the tears were like rain and it blurred everything before her. She wasn't entirely sad, she'd never cried just out of sadness. She was still confused, and angry. She was so angry at them all, they had never thought of her as having much worth. Even after that first day at school things had started getting worse and worse. Due to her changing eyes she'd been made fun of, the teachers couldn't catch those people and then the legendary Uchiha had truly started to bloom and he was all the teachers had been able to talk about.

Once again Karasu had been fully ignored, and once again she'd been shoved to the corner for someone who everyone saw as better, but in reality it was someone who had been inferior. She'd hated that life, but here she was really appreciated. The Akatsuki had seen her potential, and they had taken her in. In return she had made them a family. She'd been a little lost girl then, and she'd needed a family and mentors all at once. She'd crafted the Akatsuki with her tantrums and jutsu's into what they were now. Without her they wouldn't even be having shared dinners once a month.

Then she made up her mind. She grabbed all the photographs and heaped them into a pile before lighting a match and letting it drop onto the pile without hesitation. She took another last look at the photograph in her hand, where she was in the background staring at her brother and father.

!

Sakura hurried over to the green fields where she was certain she'd find who she was looking for, stretched out on the grass and staring up at the clouds. She'd been right, he was there with a peaceful look on his face. Out of all the ninja he was the only one who Sakura could name that looked like that right now.

'Shikamaru!' She called out. He turned his head to look lazily at her and he didn't even bother waving a greeting or opening his mouth to say anything.

Sakura really hadn't expected any more.

'Hello Sakura.' Shikamaru greeted when she was close enough so that he didn't have to raise his voice for her.

'Shikamaru can I talk to you about something urgent?' Sakura asked, sitting beside him on the soft grass. The entire meadow filled Sakura's senses, from the birds chirping in the trees just to the side to the smell of wildflowers and fresh grass.

Shikamaru looked at Sakura and his eyes seemed to stare into her heart. She didn't break eye contact, instead she stared straight at him wishing that he would understand how urgent this was. He finally shrugged nonchalantly. 'It's that urgent is it? Go ahead.' He offered.

It was all Sakura needed. 'Did you have a sister once?' She asked.

He blinked at the question, clearly having been taken aback by it. He stared at Sakura for several long moments before sitting up and taking an upright position.

'I did . . . why do you ask?' He said slowly.

'I need to know what happened to her. I need to know about her. It could be related to . . . Naruto.' Sakura explained as shortly as she could. Shikamaru stared at her again before nodding slowly and looking down at his hands. Sakura wondered if he'd ever been asked about her.

'She was different I guess. Mum and dad . . . they didn't pay much attention to her really. It was always about me. It made her shy I guess, she didn't talk much but she was always trying to get our attention in other ways. A few times she'd follow me when I'd do things like practice jutsu, but I never really cared about it. She was just a kid. She started the academy and apparently she was a natural. No one really seemed to care, and it made her distance herself from us. I loved her, I didn't want that to happen so I tried to train with her, but she was too good for me. Her mastery over the shadows was just . . . she was a natural. She could also summon up ravens and turn herself into one of them, so I began to get wary of them as well. But I began to lose time for her I guess. When she was young she vanished and mum and dad immediately went nuts. They went searching for her like I never thought they would, but we found . . . we found her body and we had a funeral for her.' Shikamaru quickly explained his sister's short life.

Sakura nodded, saddened by the emotion in Shikamaru's voice as he talked about his sister. She could tell that he had loved her very much, but unfortunately Shikamaru had never been the best with expressing his emotions and it seemed, in this instance, his parents had been even worse. But there were a few more things she needed to know.

'Shikamaru . . . I'm sorry to keep asking but what she did look like?' Sakura asked gently.

Shikamaru shook his head quickly. 'No, it's alright. If it's for Naruto I'll tell you,' His voice was barely above a whisper now. 'She was incredibly pale, and she had this long jet black hair and her eyes changed. Normally they were blue like pale ice, but when she fought they turned black.'

Sakura breathed out a sharp breath. Shikamaru heard, but he didn't comment on it. He probably thought Sakura would explain it all later.

'What was her name?' Sakura finally asked, though she already knew the answer.

'Karasu. Her name was Karasu Nara.'

!

'Goodbye Shikamaru.' Karasu finally uttered the words she'd never been able to, and dropped the last photograph into the hungry flames.

So did any of you readers guess this? I mean it was pretty obvious as the chapter went on, but did any of you guess this beforehand?
Thank you very much for reading this story and continuing to read this up to chapter 10. It means a lot, so thank you so very much.
- Charandia