Story Title: Unfortunate Circumstances

Chapter Title: 1. Lured by Death

Chapter 1 of 11

Arc 1 of 4

Pairing: ItachiSakuraKisame

Rating: M (Swearing, Later chapters)

Author: Backlash Symphony

Summary: Sakura is sent to a tiny village in need of medical help after the death of her husband, Kakashi. The Akatsuki attack, taking control of everything. Due to her reputation, she is forced to help the Akatsuki. More epecifically,

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Do you think I'd be writing this stuff if I did? Didn't think so.

Extra: Alright! So I'm back, yeah? For those of you familiar with my works, I've taken you through the world of strange pairings, past tragic and painful OrochimaruSakura, into the tortured reflective mind of OrochimaruAnkoJiraiya, the underwear snatching OrochimaruTsunade, and the uber sweetness and fluffiness of KisameSakura. So now I'm here to walk you through what I view as the most popular of the rare pairings. I bring you to the steps of ItachiSakuraKisame.

So enough rambling! Let's get the details straight!

In this story, before anything happens, Kakashi and Sakura realized their feelings for one another. Over time, Kakashi proposed and Sakura accepted. Kakashi was sent on a mission that he was told was B-Ranked, but turned out to be S-Ranked because of Akatsuki interference. He was killed in battle. This story is set three months after the death of Kakashi. Naruto is still with Jiraiya. Sasuke has run from Orochimaru who is looking for him. The Akatsuki are still searching for the Kyuubi. Sasuke is still looking for Itachi having already killed one of Akatsuki's men.

I've pretty much put a twist on the same old 'Sakura gets kidnapped to heal Itachi's eyes. Sakura and Itachi fall in love. Sakura is faced with the decision that could make her a brokenhearted girl at home or an in-love girl wanted by her friends and they'll never understand.' Yes, that's what you get when you read my work! Something you're not going to expect! Kisame is the center of attention here!

Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke: 20

Itachi, Kabuto: 26

Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade: 58

Aaand...that seems to be it for now. There'll be flashbacks of Sakura and Kakashi so you KakaSaku fans will get a little bit of that, and there might be a little flirting going on between Sakura and some of the Akatsuki members, though it would be pointless to Sakura and wouldn't stray Sakura's loathing eyes from Itachi and Kisame.

The name of the village used is Hitmitsuzuka. It means 'House of Secrets'. I did not create this name on my own. All ownership belongs to Theif of the Sand who gave me permission to use it.

Text means normal writing.

'Text' means thoughts.

'Text' mean Inner Sakura's thoughts.

Text means flashback.

Alright then! Let's get this fic started!

"And that's final, Sakura!"

The blonde hokage slammed her fist down on the table for emphasis. The tension in the air was tangible and those waiting outside the frustrated hokage's office were nervous. When someone else made her angry, they got off a lot more lightly than the person who came in next, especially if the person who pissed her off is the only person she'd ever take any crap from.

Sakura Hatake.

The pink haired 20 year old leaned lazily against the wall by the door, arms crossed over her chest as she slumped and gave Tsunade a half-lidded stare. It was a trait one would claim belonged to the infamous Kakashi Hatake. The complete lack of respect from one of the most respectful -and respected- people in the village would strike some as odd, but only if they didn't know the history behind it all.

Tsunade's ticked off look softened a bit and she sighed, looking at her ex-student sadly.

"Sakura, I know you're still mourning, but Kakashi's been dead for slightly less than six months, now," Tsunade stated firmly. "You know how much I hate saying this, but you're a kunoichi, and the strongest one in Konoha. You need to get over it, or at least make me believe you have. Continue going on missions. Go out more." Her voice hardened somewhat. "I know you're in pain, but your job and rank as a kunoichi doesn't allow you the luxury of sulking for the rest of your life."

Sakura's jade eyes flickered with an emotion Tsunade couldn't quite describe as the young woman straightened herself off of the wall.

"Fine," Sakura muttered flatly.

Tsunade gave the girl a small smile and straightened a small stack of papers on her desk before holding them out for Sakura to take. She moved forward and accepted the papers, tucking them under her arm and turning wordlessly to exit the office.

"You'll thank me later, Sakura," Tsunade said before Sakura passed through the doorway.

She stopped and turned her head to look over her shoulder. She gave a very soft smile.

"I hope you're right, Tsunade. I really hope you are."

With a cup of steaming apple blossom tea in her favorite red mug, Sakura settled down on the small two-seater couch, snuggling under a thick black blanket. Pillows propped up her back as she took a hesitant sip from her hot drink before setting it down on the table beside her. It was 80 degrees outside and she was inside tucked in with materials one would usually see during the winter.

Sakura smiled sadly. She remembered...

18 year old Sakura shivered and let out a frustrated groan as she rubbed her hands furiously up and down her arms. She was curled up into a ball on her bed.

"Why don't you fix the air conditioning already!" she shouted, though it sounded more like a whine.

Footsteps moved to the door to her room and Kakashi walked in.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, tugging at the collar of his t-shirt.

Sakura glared at him.

"What's wrong with it?" she repeated, looking at him skeptically. "It feels like freakin' 10 degrees in here!" she cried. "I'd much rather be outside in the heat than have to deal with this!"

Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head and moving closer to Sakura. The girl sat up on the bed and shot him another glare.

"Funny, I don't think it's cold," he said, seating himself next to Sakura.

"Well aren't you lucky?"

"However, there's something I recall learning about that could help with your...problem."

Sakura raised a brow, arms still rubbing the warmth into her skin, interested in where this conversation was going.

"Oh? And what would that be?" she asked bitterly.

He grinned at her, that adorable yet sexy smile -the one where he had dimples, one higher up than the other- that made her fall in love with him all over again.

"Well, it starts with a little something like this."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. Sakura caught on immediately and would've started laughing had Kakashi not deepened the kiss and pinned her shivering body between the shuriken comforter behind her and his heated body.

'We're never going to have a problem with the air conditioning ever again!'

Sakura smiled at the happy memory. Even after Kakashi had died, she'd refused to call in someone to fix the air conditioning. She had a handul of memories ranging from snuggling with Kakashi to falling victim to his melting touches in bed because of the lack of heat. She wasn't ready to give those up just yet.

With a sigh she shuffled through the papers Tsunade gave her, laying them across her lap to read. She scanned the first page. It was the basic introduction to her mission. Apparently she was needed to provide medical service in a village she'd never heard of. Sakura, the know-it-all, had never heard of this village before.

Hitmitsuzuka.

'House of secrets? Why would someone name a village that?'

"Good luck spelling that," she mumbled, looking at the rest of the page.

Hitmitsuzuka had fallen to some sort of unknown illness that was forcing the hospital to fill up. So far, nothing had cured it and nothing had been able to put an end to some of the symptoms. Apart from that, they were requesting Sakura stay and teach some of the people in the village so they wouldn't need to call upon them for medical help any longer after. Her trip was listed as an unknown length.

As Sakura continued to read more about the village, she came to realize that it held its name quite well. There wasn't much listed about its history, just that it was an old village. There were no ninjas and everything between the time it came to exist -including how- and just recently when the sickness broke out was blank. She figured from the comment on the first page that the people were very independent and didn't like asking for help from others around them.

Sakura took another sip of her tea and continued to read, making mental notes on the village and memorizing the details concerning the illness. The village was incredibly small. There couldn't have been more then one hundred and thirty people, and it was written on the paper that it was harmless despite the fact that she'd already noted the 'no ninjas' bit on the previous few pages.

The man in charge of the village was named Tsukakai. He was nearly as old as Tsunade but -apparently and amusingly so- more stubborn than the short-tempered woman. She didn't quite get why that was important, but then again she figured she may need to deal with him on more than one topic he may not be too keen on participating in.

She sighed heavily when she finished, placing the papers on the table.

She felt something was wrong with this village. She knew it wasn't her business to know the history, that she was only needed for medical purposes, but her ninja instinct was kicking in to tell her that there was something fishygoing on. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

'Tsunade wouldn't send me on a mission if she thought something was wrong with it.'

She had a lot of packing to do before she left at 6 the next morning.

Timeframe: Four Days Later

'Civilization is such a beautiful thing,' Sakura thought as the entrance to Hitmitsuzuka appeared in her line of vision. 'Man, I'm so pathetic!' she mentally whined.

Alright, so she hadn't been on a mission in a few months due to her husband's death. Big deal. That was something she expected. The fact that she'd forgotten what it was like to camp outside in nature surrounded by buzzing insects and pitch black darkness was incredibly sad considering she used to wish she could live outside. She used to think nature was something extraordinary. The woods gave her a feeling of comfort and the flowers and fields invited her to lay down and absorb the warmth the sun provided.

How was it possible that in less than half a year of staying in the village, she went from nature expert to girl scout beginner? Not to mention that she felt she was being watched the entire time. She blamed it on her lack of a partner. Ever since Kakashi passed away, being alone always made her feel like she was being watched. Spending four days by herself in the forest didn't help her any.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, she trudged forward, rummaging through her pocket for her ID and passport. The two village men standing watch at the gate eyed her suspiciously as she came closer. She gave a small sound of triumph as her fingers wrapped around the card that held her information on it. She held it out to the man on the left who looked at it cautiously. With a nod and a bright smile, he stepped aside to let her through.

"Welcome to Hitmitsuzuka, Mrs. Hatake," he greeted. "We're very grateful that you've accepted our request and have come to help us!"

Sakura smiled back warmly, though it was just as fake as this man. According to this man, she'd already found that some of her assumptions from the papers she received from Tsunade were correct. If this village was small, not found on any map, and harmless, why would they need guards? Civilian guards, but guards no less. The feeling she had before she left that trailed along the entire time she was away from Konoha was returning.

Kakashi had always said it's smarter for a shinobi to think too much of something than to ignore it until it's too late. She kept the smile up as she stored his words and her thoughts in the back of her head. She'd think things through a little more when she got some time to herself.

"If you'll follow me," the second man said softly with an equally as soft smile, "I'll show you to the inn you'll be residing in and let you rest. Your journey must've been quite tiring."

Sakura nodded and silently followed the second man, bowing politely to the first. When she passed through the gates, she didn't expect to see so many people. She knew that over a hundred people could easily make a crowd, but she didn't think she'd see the majority of that number in children and teens running around on the streets. There was adults scattered about the main path, supervising the activities and doing various things like sweeping and knitting and playing cards.

The moment Sakura and the man came into sight, the adults bowed, one by one, and the children stopped playing, parting down the center to let them pass through. Sakura blinked in surprise and her step faltered briefly. However these kids were raised, she wanted to know so she could tell Tsunade. Sakura smiled gently at the children, her own subtle attempt to get them to move back and continue their playtime.

The farther down the path she was taken, she more she realized how much bigger this village was than she'd figured it would be. There were small shops along the roads with friendly owners waiting outside for customers. On the right, there was a small building that couldn't have been bigger than her own home. She figured this was the one the man wanted her to stay in while she helped the village. They slowed to a stop and the man ushered her inside, helping her take her packs off and handing them to a young looking -though middle-aged- woman with a nod.

'They seem to nod quite a bit here,' she thought, eyes searching the room.

The entrance was designed much like a home. She wouldn't be surprised if this actually was someone's home. It looked comfortable with soft blues and light greys. Flowers were dried and hanging beside patchwork and embroidered cloth in frames. Everything looked like something straight out of a children's picturebook. She spotted the stairs, a thin but fluffy navy colored carpet lining the steps.

The man turned to Sakura, lightly shaking her to get her attention.

"This is where you'll be staying. I'll leave everything to Mrs. Richards, here. Hope to see you again."

He was out of the house before Sakura could say good-bye.

'Richards?'

The pink haired woman looked at the middle aged woman in front of her, bags beside her. Sakura blinked in surprise, taking in the features of the woman. It suddenly made sense why the name sounded foreign. Mrs. Richards wasforeign. She was American.

"Hello. I'm-"

"Mrs. Haruno, yes. I'm honored to have you stay here and very pleased that you're willing to help us out," she explained cheerfully.

Sakura smiled in response, this one not so fake because Mrs. Richards appeared to be genuine.

"Anything to help," Sakura said. "I hate seeing people hurt without anyone there to provide them with the medicine they need."

Mrs. Richards nodded and picked up Sakura's bags again.

"Why don't I show you to your room?" she offered, gesturing to the carpet-clad stairs. "I'm sure you'd like a nice bath before you get some rest. Four days on the hard ground isn't good for your back, you know," she continued, moving up the stairs with Sakura behind her.

She was shown to a room the same blue color as the rest of the house. There was a bed, a dresser, a desk, and a television. The bathroom had blue and purple butterflies chasing each other on the white tiles. There was a mirror and a bathtub as well as a shower. Mrs. Richards nodded her head in place of a bow and Sakura thanked her. Closing the door to the bathroom and locking it, she mentally thanked the older woman again for leaving the bags in the bathroom.

Sliding over to the shower, she turned the hot water on, feeling a bit too tired to sit in a tempting bath without worrying that she might fall asleep. Stripping from her clothing, she jumped into the shower with her shampoo and soap. Soon the smells of strawberry -from her shampoo- and lavender -from her soap- filled the small bathroom. Within minutes she had managed to ease most of her muscles and had completely cleaned herself.

With a squeak of the knob turning, she squeezed the water from her hair and proceeded to dry off and get dressed. Clad in black shorts and a blood red tank top, she grabbed her bags and exited the bathroom. She headed back into her room, closing the door behind her. Sakura tossed the bags in the corner before plopping down on the warm and inviting bed. She hadn't felt this refreshed in a long time. Her exhaustion caught up with her quicker than it had in the bathroom and her eyes fluttered closed, beginning to lull her into sleep.

Kakashi's voice popped up from the back of her head, effectively waking her up. But she thought back to the entrance of the village. Emerald eyes snapped open and Sakura shot up, eyes wide.

"Mrs. Hatake," she whispered, her shinobi senses starting to go off.

She suddenly realized that the man at the gate had called her Mrs. Hatake.

"How would he know that?"

She had never taken Kakashi's last name.

Screams signaled Sakura's shinobi alarms to heighten, causing the woman to jump from the bed and dive for her bag with her kunai pouch. Strapping the pack to her thigh, she pulled a kunai out, holding it between her fingers, slowly moving towards the window. Her eyes searched out through the sudden chaos outside and what she saw nearly made her drop her weapon.

Screaming children, crying, and panicking adults ushering the kids past the home she was staying at. She let her eyes follow the crowd up the street and she noticed the outline of a large building forming a dead end. Her eyes narrowed at the sight. She hadn't seen that building there before! What the hell was going on?

A red and black blur landed on the rooftop across from her. Sakura's eyes strained to see through the darkening atmosphere but she stumbled back at the object.

Akatsuki.

He was from Akatsuki. There was no mistaking the black cloak with white rimmed red clouds. Sakura felt her heart grip with fear. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle one by herself and at the rate these people were going, she had a pretty good feeling that this guy wasn't alone. What could she do? She was the only one who could possibly leave a mark on one of these guys but the probability of her surviving through a fight wasn't leading her outside.

"Shit!" she whispered, closing her eyes and sliding down the wall. "What the hell do I do? And why the hell is everyone going in one direction-especially when the exit is the other way!"

Her eyes snapped open at the realization.

"Wait, what? The exit's the other way, so why would they head toward the building?"

She jumped to her feet and raced to her bag, pulling out her black coat with pockets filled with small weapons and tiny scrolls as well as the information she was given regarding her mission. Slipping it on she exited the room, rushing down the stairs -and more or less forgetting about the woman who was in the house- before leaving through the door. The second her foot hit outside, the mob of people nearly knocked her over. Catching her balance, her eyes darted around, searching for something, and she made damn well sure that she hid her chakra. She didn't want to die just yet, nor did she want to do so without first discovering why the Akatsuki would be there in the first place.

Blending in was her only option, so she tucked away her kunai, making sure to cover her thigh with the long coat, and ran with the crowd, heading up the road to the mysterious building people were disappearing into. However, the farther up she got, she realized that not only was the building not coming any closer, but the people in front of her were stopping and attempting to back up. Sakura stopped running and squirmed her way through the group, trying to move further up to see what was making everyone stop.

Another flash of red and black made her stop. She froze, looking around. She met the sight of one incredibly tall shark-like man with an equally as large sword strapped across his broad back beside a blonde haired man -at least shethought it was a man- stood beside him, scanning the crowd. His single blue eye moved to her and paused, and she suddenly took an awkward step back before his gaze moved elsewhere.

'What the hell is going on? Let's just kick some damn ass already!'

Sakura shushed her Inner self and looked around, hoping to find something that could pose as a distraction while she tried to catch one of the two men ahead unaware.

"To the people of the village Hitmitsuzuka, you are no longer villagers here...yeah," the blonde man shouted over the panic.

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the comment. No longer villagers here?

"This village now belongs to the Akatsuki...yeah."

'What the? What's so special about this village that they need to be here?' Sakura hissed mentally.

She noted a few random people getting angry and someone made to complain. Sakura didn't have time to blink before his head was cleanly sliced off with a katana that appeared out of nowhere. She took another step back without realizing she did.

"Anyone else have any problems?" the sharkman asked, smirking darkly.

Sakura couldn't stop staring at the falling corpse. What did they want here? Why were they telling people they were taking over instead of just killing them? What the hell was going on! Another man and yet another man were impaled for trying to voice their opinions. Sakura's fists clenched. How could they do this? She didn't understand and if they killed anyone else, she might as well just ask for a few minutes to dig her grave before she attempted anything, knowing she'd find her head ten feet away from her soon. However, no one seemed to be listening to her thoughts and three more men were killed.

'That's it!' she thought.

"Let them go."

Every noise that could be made was silenced and heads turned to face the pink haired woman who was now gripping a kunai in her hand, ready for an attacking katana. None came. Her furious jade eyes met with the single cerulean eye of the blonde man. He raised a brow at her outburst and nudged the sharkman beside him.

"Looks like we've got a cute one...yeah," he whispered.

"What authority do you have? In case you haven't noticed, pinky, we're the ones in charge," the blue-skinned man explained, grinning. "You have a problem with us being here? Fight us and see how far you'll get."

Sakura opened her mouth to make a comeback and to nail him for calling her 'pinky' but the blonde cut her off before she could say anything.

"Exactly...yeah. Now, if you'll all kindly follow Kisame here to the building down the road, we'll consider keeping half of you alive...yeah."

The blonde was gone in a flash and Sakura looked confused. Why had he even bothered to keep everyone alive? And why hadn't they killed her for saying something when they killed the rest of those who made a point? It couldn't have been because she was a woman. They didn't have that much honor. They were cold blooded killers afterall. She couldn't think of something to say as the group hesitantly pushed forward, hoping to extend their lives for a few minutes by following the sharkman silently. Sakura stood still as she watched everyone move. For the fiftieth time that night she wanted to know what was going on.

So, finding that she suddenly felt like a complete and total idiot for standing up when she had no chance of surviving, she slowly followed, making sure to stay near the center. Everyone was taken to the building which turned out to be a rather large warehouse. The doors were opened and everyone was shoved inside without further directions other than to refrain from making too much noise and to keep themselves inside and not try to escape.

Naturally, the second the doors were shut, the children started crying and shaking. Sakura pushed aside all thoughts of reasons why they were still alive and decided to see if she could get everyone to settle down and take care of the children. It surprised her, however, when she made a move to pass by the people beside her. They were all looking at her expectantly, like she would know exactly what to do. Sakura paused for a moment, thinking about what she should say.

"Alright, first off, does anyone have any idea as to why the Akatsuki would be here?" Sakura asked over the crying and sniffling.

She was met with silence and shaken heads. She sighed.

"Great. Real helpful," she muttered, scanning the room.

"When do you plan on fighting them?" a random woman asked.

Sakura blinked.

"Fight?" she relayed, hoping she'd heard right.

The woman nodded.

"Yes. You are a ninja, aren't you?"

Sakura nodded.

"Yes, but you're missing the entire ranking scheme here," Sakura explained. "Just fighting one of them would take at least a dozen of me, and I've already gotten a count of six so far, and I don't even know how strong each is. I can't just go running off to fight them even if I am a kunoichi."

"Then what good are you?"

Sakura bit the inside of her cheek before she lashed out. Now wasn't the time for that.

"I'm a medic, got it? I came here to provide medical service, not save you from some random attack," she ground out. "But I'm trained for some of these situations, so if all of you would simply sit still, be quiet, control the children, and leave the rest to me, I can promise you they won't go on a killing rampage just for amusement."

"But I still don't understand why you just don't kill them by surprise when they come in here," another person asked, this one a man.

"Negotiate first, fight second," Sakura said with a sigh. "You're sure you have nothing that would prompt that Akatsuki's appearance?" she double-checked.

She got the same answer as the first time she asked. With another heavy sigh she noticed that some of the children were prying away from the other adults to go cry near Sakura. The woman sat down and was soon surrounded by sniffling and sobbing little kids. One that was trembling badly was picked up by Sakura and placed in her lap. With soothing words and comforting caresses, the kid eventually stopped crying -how long it took Sakura didn't know- and was sleeping peacefully in her arms.

With a look around, Sakura noted that most of the people in the warehouse were either asleep already or drifting into the slumber she so grudgingly wished she could find. Sakura knew that even if she wanted to -and yes she did want to. Hadn't she been just about to go to sleep before the damn screaming started?- she couldn't get to sleep. Her adrenaline was still pumping, even after it had been what she'd now assumed was an hour or so later. She couldn't lie to her senses and say that the danger was gone, to let her sleep.

She didn't even have to.

The door to the warehouse squeaked and crunched with rust as it opened, spilling moonlight into the dimly lit area. The blonde from earlier walked through the opening, looking around. Sakura watched him carefully before noting no one had moved. No one had heard the loud noise that signaled the entry of one of the Akatsuki men. The blue eye landed on her and she glared at its owner. His lips curved up into an amused smirk and he started walking over the sleeping bodies towards her. The man smoothly slid into a crouch in front of her, staring at her in a way that made her even more uncomfortable.

"Deidara...yeah."

His hand moved out in front of her and Sakura looked at him, confused.

'Is he joking?'

He wasn't moving, though something in his eyes told her he was expecting this. Hesitantly, Sakura lifted her hand to gently touch his. When he didn't make any sort of move to hurt her, she wrapped her entire hand around his, shaking it.

'Alright, he's not bad! Pretty cool, actually!'

Sakura brought her hand back and looked at Deidara strangely.

"So at least one of you is human," she muttered. "So," she raised her voice slightly, "what is it that you want with the village?"

He smiled brightly at her, one that reminded her of a certain ramen-eating Hokage wannabe.

"Why don't we take a walk?...yeah," he offered, hands reaching to gently pull the little girl away from Sakura.

She was startled at his words.

"Are you for real?" Sakura asked skeptically, nearly giving in to the temptation of poking him to support her theory that he was, in fact, an illusion.

She settled for pointing her finger at him instead. His grin got wider -which she couldn't find herself believing to be possible- and he wrapped a hand around one of hers, hoisting her up with him. She gave a loud shriek at the contact and the sudden jerking of her body. Once again, no one made any move to indicate they had been woken up or heard the sound. She took a cautious step back, careful not to step on any children.

"As real as you...yeah," he said with a chuckle. "Now come on...yeah. We've got to get going before someone sees...yeah."

Deidara began to walk around the bodies once again as he moved closer to the exit. Sakura stood frozen for a few moments, taking in his words. Immediately after she processed them she nearly leapt after him. She darted around the bodies and arrived by his side.

"What do you mean 'before someone sees'?" she asked, once again temptation popping up but this time to add 'yeah' to the end. "Aren't you going to get into major trouble for busting me out of here?"

They exited the warehouse and he closed the door, the same noises permeating the otherwise silent darkness. They walked a few steps forward before she thought to ask him again.

"I meant before someone in the warehouse sees us...yeah," he clarified.

Sakura stopped and looked at the blonde, hand drifting down to hover over her thigh. She saw him stop a few feet in front of her as if he just realized she wasn't following him any longer. He looked at her over his shoulder.

"You did tell me to let them-" he jerked a finger towards the warehouse, "-go, so I'm taking you to meet with our leader to negotiate...yeah. Afterall, didn't you say 'Negotiate first, fight second'?"

Sakura's eyes widened.

"You're not just going to slit my throat and put me on some sick display?" she asked, moving closer to him slowly.

He chuckled and shook his head. He slid an arm around her shoulders when she got close enough, immediately feeling her tense but not showing that he knew.

"We're the Akatsuki, pinky. We'd come up with something a lot more creative than that...yeah."

Sakura gulped.

"Lovely."

Deidara guided Sakura to one of the many small buildings on the road, letting her go in first. She moved in, nearly feeling suffocated by the overpowering chakra levels. She briefly wondered if Deidara actually knew if she was a ninja or not. She doubted he didn't, but he was treating her a little too nicely and making her believe he thought she was a civilian. A light was turned on and Sakura immediately closed her eyes and blocked it with her arm.

Within a few seconds she heard chuckling and slowly removed her arm. Deidara moved in front of her after locking the door and she counted at least eight men all clad in the traditional Akatsuki robes. She had a very bad feeling about this.

"How kind of you to join us, Miss Haruno," a raspy voice coming from a black masked man greeted her. "I've been hearing nothing but the best."

Sakura looked at the other men. They knew who she was. There went half of her theories.

"Why are you here? What's so important about this village that you need to take it over?" Sakura asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "And why would you bother to keep them alive? You certainly didn't have a problem with killing them for standing up to you. Though you didn't bother to kill me when I told you to let them go."

"Glad to see that much of her reputation is correct...yeah," Deidara piped in.

"So you knew who I was from that moment?"

"Before that," Kisame barked.

Sakura's brows furrowed. Before that? But she hadn't seen any of them before that, unless they had been in and around the village the entire time and she never sensed them. She didn't have a clue that-

"Crap."

Several chuckles filtered through her ears at her response, but she was too busy piecing everything together to really notice it.

"There isn't a hospital here," Sakura said slowly. "That warehouse wasn't there before, either. The papers said there were approximately 130 people living here, yet none of them are over 35 and the majority of the population is children under 14. And my name," she tilted her head up, looking at the black masked man. "My passport still says Haruno, not Hatake. It has no indication that I was married, especially that I'd changed my last name."

The grins on some of the faces she could see scared her. She was getting all of this right? Was she on the right track? Had this all really been just a set-up to get her there even though she didn't know what they'd want from her?

"And the leader of this village. Tsukakai...wait a second!"

Swiftly she wrenched open her coat, hand darting for the rolled up papers. She flipped through the pages to the second last sheet, smoothing it out over her thigh. The leader's name stood out and she scanned the letters quickly in her head.

"Shit!" she swore, stomping her foot down and simultaneously throwing the papers on the floor. "God damnit!"

Her fingers ran through her bangs, stopping to fist the pink strands at the beginning of her scalp. She could've avoided this altogether had she just paid a little more attention!

"A-K-A-T-S-U-K fucking I! I saw it and I didn't even- damnit!"

While the men in the room were incredibly amused by the swearing woman beating herself up for having overlooked something everyone would've made the same mistake on, Sakura was just about ready to pummel anything that got too close to her. Yes, anything. She still wasn't sure if sharkboy was human even though she knew he had one of the demons in him. It was common sense after befriending the Kyuubi holder and Gaara, both having physical traits that belonged to their demons. But his case was entirely different from the other two.

"If you're quite through with your immature display, I'd like to get on with this."

Sakura froze with her fist halfway to the wall. Her eyes widened slightly and she spun around to see the face of the new person who spoke. She was met with a man sitting casually in a chair with his red sharingan activated and his ebony hair in a ponytail. His face was emotionless. He was handsome. He didn't look a day older than when she saw him last.

Sakura felt like hitting her head against the wall but settled for banging her palm against her forehead.

"How the hell did I forget you?" she muttered to herself.

She swore again before letting her hand drop to her side. Now it was starting to make more sense. The sharingan, when used too often, eventually made the user blind. Sakura was titled to be the best medic in the world. Akatsuki wanted her to fix his eyes. But even that theory seemed a bit off. They wouldn't have gone through all of this trouble just to get her to fix his eyes. They could've easily taken her in the village or when she was training. No, this was something different.

"What do you want me for?" she snapped. "To heal your eyes? Tell you about Naruto? About Sasuke?"

"While it's nice to know it'll be easier to deal with you since you have that information, what we're looking for doesn't apply to the Kyuubi, Sasuke, or my eyes," Itachi explained tonelessly.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"One. Don't refer to Naruto as the Kyuubi. Naruto is Naruto, and the Kyuubi is inside Naruto, but he's still Naruto. Two. Don't try to blow off those things because they aren't your first priority. Stop being a bastard and tell me everything you're expecting me to do. Lay it all out for me to hear otherwise I'm gone," she hissed.

She saw the corner of Itachi's lips quirk up and amusement light up his crimson eyes. He moved to stand quietly, taking calculated steps towards her.

"The last time I saw you, you were such a polite little thing. What happened?"

Sakura barely suppressed a growl in the back of her throat.

"Well, I'll break it to you easy. You see, there's this new thing society's come up with. You don't play nice with the person who murdered your husband."

Oh yes. Itachi was the one who killed Kakashi. Sakura had been depressed afterwards, of course, but she had made it a silent promise that Sasuke would have some competition. She wanted Itachi to die by her hand. If she failed, she'd die happy having tried to take revenge. She'd have died honorably, just like her silver-haired husband. She couldn't exactly just start attacking Itachi without everyone else fighting her, too. Verbal abuse would lead to something, hopefully. And that was all she had left. Hope.

"Hn. No wonder you're so weak."

Sakura did let the growl escape this time.

"Typical Uchiha response. I'm startin' to think that for such a genius, your vocabulary is incredibly limited."

He stopped about three feet in front of her, fully intending to stare her down or threaten her with his Tsukuyomi. Hell, he'd have fun messing with her. It was in his nature to do just that, afterall. He couldn't care less about feelings or emotions. The only weakness he enjoyed in others was fear. To be feared made him feel on top of the world. Intimidating others and making them suffer from their fear was just about better than any present he could ever receive.

"So if I'm not here for you, what am I here for?"

Itachi's tiny smirk grew and her shiver didn't get missed by him.

"You're here to fix Kisame."

Sakura snapped her attention over to the crowd of men.

"The one that has blue skin?" she asked.

Itachi nodded.

"What do you expect me to do? Any problem he has can be fixed or healed by his demon," she said matter-of-factly. "If the demon doesn't do it, then what makes you think I could? Just a reminder, I'm not exactly prancing around with an unlimited supply of chakra," she stated sarcastically.

"Therein lies the problem."

"What, his demon?" she nearly laughed. "No, seriously, what is it I'm supposed to do?"

Itachi's smirk became a little more sadistic.

"You're here to fix Kisame by fixing his demon."

Sakura felt all the blood drain from her face as she glanced back at the towering sword holder on the other side of the room. They wanted her to heal a demon? That didn't make any sense at all.

"Naruto can tap into the Kyuubi's chakra at will," Itachi explained, causing the pink haired woman to turn her attention back to him. "Kisame can't access Isonade's chakra. We need him to."

I give you the very first chapter of 'Unfortunate Circumstances'! So, how'd you like it? Was it good? So I've explained a lot at the top. Here's some more.

The OC, Mrs. Richards, is obviously American. Before you go all out on me for putting America in there when it's not, I suggest you watch episode 193. The man the woman's supposed to marry knows how to speak American. The woman also brags about how amazing he is because he can speak American. If you don't remember, go to YouTube, type in 'naruto episode 193', and watch it. Believe me, you'll laugh till you pee your pants. Though that does tend to happen when you pair off Naruto and Ino for a stupid mission.

Also, although it is listed in the 9 Biju on wikipedia the names and a brief description of each, Isonade is not listed, though it matches too closely to Kisame including his Samehada. Therefore, Kisame has Isonade in him. So here you are!

Don't forget to review! Tell me what you think of this! Till later!

Backlash Symphony