"Veritum dies aperit" (Time discovers the truth)

Chapter 5 Probability

Sakura sat on the uncomfortable examination table, looking around the room with disinterest. She was in for her bi-weekly check-up with Tsunade, and did not look forward to having to explain her recent memories. Helping an Akatsuki member was more than enough to get her prosecuted as a traitor- not as if she wasn't already in risk of that, but this incident simply confirmed her execution. Sakura sighed, and turned her head towards the other side of the room.

That was not all that was worrying her, however. It had been three days since her spat with Naruto at the marketplace, and he still refused to even look at her. Sakura could not ever remember a time when Naruto had held on to a grudge for this long- he was not the type to allow things to fester inside him. He was much more likely to let everything explode the minute it popped into his head.

His behavior made Sakura extremely uncomfortable. Was she really so strange to wonder about Itachi? She had never been the type to completely write people off, so she did not realize her behavior was anything to worry about until Naruto had raised such a fuss. Well, now that she thought about it, she did write Naruto off once upon a time, and Sasuke, and probably Itachi too… She didn't now though. Why? That question seemed to harbor a place inside her head, and whisper insistently whenever she stopped to think. Why? She didn't have any answers, and Sakura could feel herself heating up in frustration.

"Sakura?" the voice of Tsunade bombarded her musings. Sakura looked up, a bored expression moving quickly to take over her features.

"Yes?" Sakura answered her tone without inclination. Here it comes, she thought to herself with dismay, all of the accusations, and insinuations…

"Are you alright?" her teacher asked with concern. Sakura blinked in surprise, and stared up at the woman with a frown.

"Yes?" Sakura asked with hesitation, her brow furrowing. Was there a reason for her not to be?

"Tired?" Tsunade asked smiling wearily, and Sakura was struck by the irony of the statement. Her sensei's wrinkles were more pronounced than she ever remembered seeing, and there were heavy bags under her eyes.

"A little," Sakura stated, becoming more concerned as the sannin practically fell into the rolling arm-chair that was beside the examination table. She slumped back and closed her eyes for a few moments, before opening them and forcing herself to scoot forwards in her seat towards Sakura.

"So," the Hokage began, weariness still tainting her voice, "Naruto came to see me a few days ago with some interesting... ideas." Sakura simply stared at her sensei, and waited for her to continue. "What he told me about your interest in the Uchiha is not necessarily surprising. He assured me, however, that the situation was far more serious than I was making it out to be. Apparently, according to him, Sasuke impregnated you and you were so devastated with the missing-nin's abandonment of you that you made yourself forget all about it, and subconsciously decided to redirect your attentions towards the older Uchiha as a distraction. He maintains that you are in denial of what he claims is the truth."

By the end of this statement Sakura's mouth was hung open in indignation, and she was about to huff out some sort of declaration in her defense. Before she got the chance, however, Tsunade had held up her left hand in silence and Sakura was surprised to see a glint of what looked like amusement in the Hokage's eyes.

"I obviously did not view this information as important enough to send for you," Tsunade continued with a slight smirk, "But I did think you should know some of what was coming out of that boy's mouth." Sakura let out an exasperated sigh and held her head in her hands. Well, she thought to herself sardonically, she was definitely tired now.

"I assume you finally received a memory? When I first walked into the room you had the most disgruntled expression on your face. You didn't even notice when I opened the door," the sannin declared, once again serious.

"Yes, I did. I would rather not talk about it, though, honestly speaking," Sakura stated with a frown, her right hand balled up in the hem at the bottom of her shirt in slight anxiety.

"That bad?" Tsunade asked with concern.

"Enough for a public execution," Sakura maintained, her frown deepening. The realization of her words just now seemed to have hit her, and she looked down at her slightly shaking hands with despair. She didn't want to die. She didn't want her baby to die. Sakura always had a certain awareness about the inevitability of death- all ninja did. She had always assumed she would die on the field, however, battling against enemies- it would be quick and efficient, and she would be completely oblivious of her demise. Awaiting execution however, completely aware of her impending release... she did not think she would have the strength to face something like that.

"You healed him?" the Hokage guessed, leaning back into her seat and crossing her arms in front of her chest, her expression expectant. She was happy to see that as her student nodded in confirmation she at least appeared to be a little penitent. "Is that all that happened?" Tsunade asked.

"The last thing I remember is falling asleep after I had managed to change the bed sheets," Sakura stated, nodding again. She was surprised to see a gentle smile come across her teacher's face.

"Were you threatened during the exchange? Was there any evidence given that might have indicated that what you were doing was against your will?" her sensei probed. Tsunade's eyebrows raised in surprise as Sakura began laughing hysterically from just the mention of her experience.

"You should have seen the look on his face, Shishou," Sakura snickered in amusement with sparkling eyes, before answering her teacher's original question with a broad smile still on her face. "Yes and yes. When I informed Itachi that I wouldn't heal Deidara, there were death threats from both him and Kisame." Tsunade was a little disturbed to find that death threats from S-class missing-nins would cause Sakura to laugh, but did not get the chance to say anything about it before her student resumed speaking. "That shouldn't matter though. I technically went with them of my own free will, with the intention of healing him," Sakura declared with slightly furrowed brows, her smile gone from her face.

"We can still use it in your favor," Tsunade said, before letting out a deep sigh. Sakura liked to imagine that at that second her teacher was considering how much life really sucked sometimes. That was what she was thinking about. In any case, after a few minutes had gone by filled with quiet contemplation among both parties, Tsunade finally rose out of her seat and approached Sakura.

"Time for your check-up," she stated with a forced smile, motioning Sakura to lie down, before starting a process that over the months had quickly become routine. Paperwork was filled with Tsunade's messy scrawl about Sakura's blood pressure, heart rate, the condition of her eyes and ears, and Sakura's responses to questions about her health. Then Tsunade moved on to check the bulge that was Sakura's stomach and let out a wide grin with stethoscope in hand. "He's got a strong heartbeat," she explained to her student with satisfaction, and Sakura could not resist from smiling in response.

It was soon over, and Sakura once again found herself sitting upright on the examination table, watching the Hokage finish dotting down the last tidbits of her report. Obviously pleased, the sannin looked up to give Sakura the results of her analysis.

"Extremely healthy. Both of you," she stated with a broad smile, beginning to turn around and leave the room. She stopped herself, however, and turned back around frowning. "I forgot to say something," she stated, sitting back down in the chair. After a few seconds of silence Sakura became confused, and after a few more seconds disturbed. "Yes?" she prodded uncertainly.

"The Council, pushed by Danzo," her sensei's nose scrunched up in disgust at the name, "Has decided to take you off maternity leave, arguing that you were not working in the first place so you do not deserve the money." Sakura could do nothing but gape, before closing her mouth with a snap and frowning ferociously.

"How do they expect me to live without a paycheck? Sakura snarled, anger beginning to well up in her stomach against Danzo. The bastard seemed to exist to make her life hell. And the fact that her sensei had almost forgot to inform her about these events just left her feeling thoroughly disgruntled with life.

"They did offer some sort of compromise as far as getting a job goes..." Tsunade started to say, before her lips curled back in revulsion.

"What?" Sakura asked, beginning to feel a bit anxious from the sannin's expression.

"They wish for you to work as an interrogator. Apparently Danzo convinced the Council that you might be more grateful if you were to see how criminals and missing-nins are normally treated upon returning to the village. This is the only job you are allowed to do, however- they banned you from trying even D rank missions, and you are prohibited from working in the hospital," Tsunade explained, her eyes narrowing. "And unfortunately I can do nothing about their decision."

Sakura's eyes were narrowing on par with Tsunade's. "They want a pregnant woman to interrogate criminals?" Sakura asked sarcastically. "Is this some sort of joke?"

"I am afraid not," the Hokage sighed, before rubbing her eyes with her palms tiredly.

"And this is my only possible source of income in the coming months?" Sakura reiterated angrily.

"Yes," Tsunade replied solemnly, watching her previous student warily. Sakura's hands were in balls grasping the end of her shirt again, and her expression slowly went from one of anger, to one of distress, and finally to one of hopelessness. She could guess what the rosette was thinking- unless Sakura was willing to receive charity, which Tsunade knew the kunoichi would be very reluctant to accept, she would be forced onto the streets, which was not an option given her baby. And while Sakura's budget might have had the money to pay for her rent while she was gone, Tsunade was well aware that the girl's reserves were all but depleted.

"Fine," Sakura let out reluctantly in a voice barely above a whisper.

Tsunade nodded in understanding, before once again rising from her chair. "In that case, I should tell you that you are expected to meet with Ibiki Morino at nine a.m. sharp in the interrogation building on Monday to begin your training." Sakura nodded. Tsunade left the room before any pity could escape from her face.

Sakura refused to cry, refused to scream, refused to even acknowledge that Danzo's decision had any effect on her. Taking deep breaths while walking with wide strides, Sakura entered her apartment feeling tense and anxious. After pacing for several minutes around her kitchen table absentmindedly, Sakura stopped herself. Relax, she told herself repeatedly, before simply resigning to take a long bath followed with a comfortable nap.

The hot water did wonders to her nerves, and Sakura was satisfied to see that it was easy to get comfortable on the couch, covered in blankets. Closing her eyes with growing content, Sakura was startled to see that her head was beginning to pound and colors were starting to whirl together inches from her face. Attempting to steady herself, Sakura reached her hand out in front of her to grasp the edge of the coffee table, but was dismayed when everything went black.

"Kunoichi!" a loud voice was ringing next to her ears, and in her confused state Sakura only had the energy to swat at the source of the sound with the hand closest to it half-heartedly.

"Kunoichi!" the voice repeated, containing obvious amusement. Sakura let out a small groan of discontentment as she realized where she was, and attempted to open her eyes and raise her head. A dull pounding that she was not previously aware of began to throb in the back of her mind at the movement, however, and Sakura could not help but let out a huff of frustration and pain.

"Kunoichi!" the stupid voice called a third time, and Sakura could not resist from pinpointing the voice through the mothballs and the throbbing that seemed to have taken the place of her brain. Not even bothering to open her eyes, Sakura felt familiar tendrils of chakra slid into her fist before jumping up and attacking the voice. She opened her eyes just in time to see a surprised Kisame hop backwards with an odd sense of grace. Sakura frowned.

"Kunoichi?" Kisame asked, his lips curling back into a wide smile. It was then that she was suddenly aware of the other occupants of the room, and she turned towards them warily.

"Sakura," she responded thoughtlessly, simultaneously taking note of the two people standing around the bedside while determining the reason for her disorientation. It did not take her long to figure out- extreme chakra depletion had done worse to her before. The people toke perhaps a bit more times to analyze.

Most recognizable, perhaps, was Itachi, who was closest to the door and wearing his usual dispassionate expression. To Itachi's left was an intimidating man with light hair and swirling eyes- his stance was one that commanded attention and respect, and Sakura was anxious to see that she couldn't discern what he was thinking at all. His Akatsuki cloak covered up most of him, so Sakura was left to stare unabashedly at the many piercings covering the man's face. She also noted that he seemed strangely tense.

I couldn't even sense their approach, Sakura thought to herself with slight trepidation after she had carefully recorded the member's appearance. She looked back towards Kisame. He was now looking at the light-headed man, and Sakura turned her gaze to follow his. The man had not moved, and seemed to be sizing her up with his eyes.

They simply stood there, and Sakura grew more and more confused as time passed. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty. And nobody seemed to be able to move or speak at all. Finally, impatient and anxious to calm what promised to be a raging migraine, Sakura was about to say something before the light-headed man interrupted and asked a sudden question. "Why did you leave your village?"

Sakura was slightly taken aback by the man's bluntness, but she took the time to think about his question, her brows drawn together in contemplation. "It did not uphold my ideals," she stated after a few moments.

"Your ideals?" the man asked, his right brow raising.

Sakura thought back towards how Naruto and Sasuke were ostracized by the village for being different- Naruto for containing the Jinchuuriki, and Sasuke for surviving a massacre and being an Uchiha. The villager's (especially the adult's) intolerance had always surprised and confused her- now it just left her feeling jaded and angry. "They seem unable to embrace or even accept people that are different than them. It's... infuriating," Sakura responded with a frown.

The man nodded. "Why are you here?" he asked, his face still completely devoid of expression.

Sakura let out a small smirk. "Fortunately it seems the villager's sense of discrimination failed to rub off on me," she replied. This, now that she thought about it, was very true. Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and even Sai had been some of her most precious people, and all of them were hated by the village for one reason or another. And now she would be hated too... she was not able to follow this train of thought before the man once again spoke.

"Itachi was right, there is no need to kill you," the man stated in a thoroughly satisfied fashion, one corner of his lip tilting into a condescending smirk. Sakura's brows rose, and she frowned in response to his words, willing herself not to look at the Uchiha. The man continued. "You may refer to me as Leader-sama during your stay here. You are permitted to wear a cloak if you so wish, but you will not technically become a member of the Akatsuki- we operate with ten members at a time, and speaking plainly, you are not needed. Itachi assured me that you would have your uses as a medic-nin," here the man paused to look at the said Uchiha, before turning back to her, "which guarantees our hospitality. The moment it disappears, however, I can guarantee nothing."

This was said very quickly, and Leader-sama was soon looking to her for some sort of confirmation that she understood. "Yes Leader-sama," Sakura replied as monotone as possible, and satisfied the pierced man nodded at her before turning on his heal and quickly leaving the room. Sakura looked towards Itachi and Kisame, who were still in the room looking at her. "Yes?" she asked.

"Breakfast," Kisame replied with a grin, before gesturing toward her to follow him. He in turn was following the Uchiha, who at the time was already walking down the hall in long strides. Sakura nodded, and followed Kisame into a hallway that seemed very narrow due to the extremely poor light.

"Are we above ground?" Sakura asked turning her head warily from one wall full of closed cedar doors to the other. The Mist-nin grunted his assent, before picking up his legs and increasing his stride so that he was walking directly behind Itachi. Sakura let out a small huff of exasperation, before increasing her speed as well so she would not lose them.

After several minutes in which the Akatsuki pair had made turns in enough hallways for Sakura to wonder about the size of this establishment, they finally stopped in front a wooden door. Sakura was slightly confused- it appeared to be the same as all of the other doors. It was obvious that this was to lead to kitchen of some type, but she imagined that the door would look somewhat different, be somewhat more significant.

Itachi wasted no time knocking, or even slowly opening the door. It swung open with the puff of a breath, and the Uchiha immediately stepped inside and disappeared somewhere to Sakura's left. Kisame seemed to follow him and stepping into the now vacated doorway. Sakura blinked in surprise.

The Akatsuki's eating area was divided into two parts with a small wall, a kitchen to the right and a small dining area to the left. The room, in contrast with the hallway and the bedroom she had woken up in, was brightly lit by a small window located above the sink. What so surprised Sakura could have been the light, perhaps, or the fact that the counters, appliances, floor, and table were all gleaming magnificently, as if a beacon of cleanliness. After she had the time to appreciate the sight, Sakura turned her attention to the occupants of the table to her left whom she had looked over in her assessment of the room.

The table and chairs appeared curiously crowded, as if they had been pushed up against the wall and left there- it looked out of placed when considering the order of the kitchen and Sakura found herself tilting her head slightly to the side as she made her observations. Itachi was furthest from her, leaning against the wall to Sakura's left. His elbows were stationed on the table holding his head up, and his eyes were closed. Kisame sat kitty-corner from him, and was slouched in his chair gazing around the room with a bored expression, although Sakura could feel him turn towards her every few minutes as if on the look out for a source of amusement. A thoroughly bandaged Deidara was sitting across the table from Itachi and seemed to be blatantly ignoring her. The other occupant, a masked man with dark spiky hair, was gazing up at her curiously.

"Yes?" she asked him politely. In the back of her mind, Sakura noticed with a sense of childish wonder that her voice was magnified slightly by the small room. She tossed the thought away without much care.

The man in question sprang up from his chair after hearing her address him, and rushed forward to meet her. Apprehensive, Sakura could not help but take one step back so that she was in a defensive position as he bounded in front of her. "Hi!" he announced with a great deal of enthusiasm, slightly bouncing on his feet.

"Hi," Sakura responded warily and somewhat reluctantly, trying to resist from frowning in bemusement.

"I'm Tobi," he declared, before sticking his hand in her face expectantly. Sakura stared at it for a few seconds, before grasping it lightly and shaking it. He returned the action was gusto. Sakura realized he wasn't going to stop until she introduced herself, and responded, "I'm Sakura".

"Sakura! What a pretty name," the man stated, finally letting go of her hand and nodded to himself in a self-satisfied manner. Giving her what she guessed was a goofy grin, difficult to perceive behind so unrevealing a mask, he added, "Will you be staying with us long Sakura?"

The question gave Sakura a start, and she felt as if she had just now realized that she had somewhat, almost, maybe joined the Akatsuki. Frowning in surprise, Sakura wondered how that had happened- it had felt to her as if she had been drugged for the last few days, swimming through time as though it were molasses, and she had just finally managed to break to the surface. What was going on?

Tobi seemed to misjudge her expression as being displeased with him, and hurriedly began to make amends. "I am so sorry Sakura, I sincerely did not mean to offend you in any way…" He was cut short by Sakura, who put a hand up in front of her face as if about to proclaim an oath. Tobi became silent at once, and waited for Sakura to say something.

"There is no need to apologize," Sakura stated with a tired smile, "It was only a question. I am sorry- I just spaced off for a second. As an answer to your question, I have not really given it that much thought yet." Sakura silently reprimanded herself for being caught unawares, again, and promised herself that she would think about her situation more when she was by herself.

"No?" Tobi asked rhetorically before very visibly shrugging, which Sakura guessed was difficult to do underneath so heavy a cloak. "Alright then. Breakfast. Would you help me make it?" Tobi's plea was desperate, anxious, and excited all at the same time, and Sakura found that she could not resist from nodding. Tobi grabbed her hand and bounced into the kitchen happily in response.

Upon reaching the refrigerator he let go of her hand, flung open the door, and began piling a random assortment of food into the young girl's arms. Eggs, bacon, cantaloupe, butter, sausage, oranges, milk… He left her to juggle her goods onto an empty kitchen counter before he closed the fridge with a snap, and swung open the pantry enthusiastically. Walking back Tobi began shoving more things into her arms. Biscuits, bagels, potatoes, flour, sugar, salt, a loaf of bread… Sakura put it on another empty counter while Tobi busied himself by filling the empty teapot on the stove full of water.

Sakura was confused, and not one to avoid voicing her opinion, asked Tobi, "Are we seriously going to make all of this?" Tobi turned towards her in surprise and then silence. Sakura immediately felt foolish, and attempting to shake it off, sighed and turned back towards the food on the counter. She spun back towards Tobi in slight indignation, however, as he let out a large laugh.

"Of course not," he replied, still laughing "But when I cook I like to give my consumers choices." With that, he grabbed Sakura's sleeve and dragged her into the dining area. Pushing her forward with a hand on the small of her back he demanded, "Go ask them what they want." Sakura turned back around skeptically, a little confused at the man's constant change in behavior, but Tobi had already skipped back into the kitchen.

Sakura slowly turned her head towards the three men at the table, and was unhappy to note that they were all looking at her expectantly. Frowning in response, she said, "You heard the man. What would you like for breakfast?" They continued to look at her.

Feeling teased and annoyed, Sakura approached who she felt was the most approachable of the three- Kisame. He refrained from doing anything except smirk broadly until she was standing right in front of him, and even then he only deigned himself to say, "Nothing, if you are helping Tobi cook." Sakura cracked her knuckles and had to remind herself mentally that this was not Naruto, and it wouldn't do to engage in physical violence. Kisame might not be so forgiving. Instead Sakura let out a large smile and stated in a sickly sweet voice, "Alright. No breakfast. What about you two? Willing to have something to eat?

Itachi nodded, and Deidara just stared at her.

This continued for a few moments before Sakura gave way to her impatience. Spinning around and clenching her fists in frustration, Sakura left the dining room for the kitchen. "Well?" Tobi asked without a small amount of amusement from the other side of the room. The rosette was silent except for a small huff of frustration, and dragged herself up beside Tobi at the stove.

"Now what?" she asked, and Sakura swore that had Tobi not been wearing a mask, he would have been grinning.

An hour and a half had passed before Sakura and Tobi were ready to fill the table with food. Grabbing a stack of plates, she peered into the dining room as inconspicuously as possible. She noticed with slight concern that they were in the exact same position they she had originally seem them in, and wondered to herself whether they had moved at all. Entering the room Sakura quickly set the table, before returning to the kitchen to help Tobi with the food.

It was all set up and distributed within the next five minutes, and Sakura began eating in silence. The silence was broken rather abruptly, however, when Itachi began to cough violently. Surprised, everyone just stared at him. Slowly, however, after looking suspiciously at Itachi's eggs, their gaze turned to look at Sakura.

"What?" Sakura asked with an embarrassed frown.

"Maybe I was right to turn down your food," Kisame said, looking disgruntled.

"I didn't even make the eggs!" Sakura defended herself with a frown. That didn't seem to matter to any of them as they all continued to leer at her. Sakura attempted to ignore their stares while shoving the rest of her food in her mouth. After her eggs had disappeared she looked back up only to find Itachi just... looking at her. Despite that, his gaze seemed more intense than the glares given by everyone else.

Abruptly Sakura felt herself stand, and taking her plate, sulked into the kitchen. She dumped her plate nonchalantly in the sink, and was just about to open the door with a voice stopped her.

"Don't get lost," Kisame stated sarcastically with a smirk. Inside Sakura felt something snap, and the next thing she knew, she had sent a kunai aimed at his throat with a flick of her wrist. Kisame caught the blade between his fingers and started chuckling loudly. He was about to throw it back when she stopped him.

"Keep it fishy-chan," Sakura stated, before leaving the room. She noticed with something close to satisfaction that Kisame had stopped laughing, and began to tread the hallways in front of her with a curious sense of dread. Should she go left? Looking around at the narrow hallways with a frown, Sakura went right.

Sakura woke up with a headache, and an odd craving for tuna and dango. Struggling out of the couch, she shoved the blankets to the end too lazy to fold them, and picked up her once again cold tea cup. Sighing loudly into the cup, she walked over to the sink while pondering just what kind of mess she had gotten herself into. Her stomach grumbled. Yawning, Sakura made her way out of her apartment and into the marketplace.

In the light of the late afternoon the sun was just beginning to touch the edges of the sky, and everything glowed in an orange light. Walking over to a dango stand, Sakura bought several pieces, and started munching on them as she made her way over to Nokia-san's booth.

The woman was wearing a loose black dress with a sash tied around the middle, and was violently arguing with a man with soft brown hair and dark eyes. Sakura watched Nokia-san's eyes flash with irritation, and was inwardly amused. She took a few steps closer to listen in on their conversation.

"I refuse to move my cart just because you ask me to!" Nokia-san announced to the man's face, practically snarling. The man, in turn, was becoming just as angry.

"You have no authority, woman! You have no seniority, no important family ties or connections! No one knows anything about you! So what makes you think that you have the right to tell me and my friends that we can't sell where you are standing?" the man yelled back into Nokia-san's face.

"Because it's my spot, and if you don't move now, I can assure you that you will regret it," Nokia-san stated more quietly with a hard look.

"Yeah right, try your worst," the man sneered, leaning in and grabbing one of her breasts. Nokia-san struck quickly, her hand going instantly to the man's pressure points. The man fell to the ground in front of her stall in a piled heap. Sakura grinned, and pulled herself up next to the woman.

Nokia-san looked up at Sakura in surprise, but after seeing Sakura's grin, smiled. "Want to help me dispose of this garbage?" she asked.

"Of course," Sakura responded. Together they picked up the guy's body and deposited it on top of his booth. Standing together and watching the man's various fish rot underneath his stinking body, the women sighed in content, and went back to Nokia-san's stall to eat dango together.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. The wonders that might befell if I did... ah, well.

Note to Readers: Review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns please. 3