Hidden Truths

Disclaimer: I do not own this series. All characters belong to Kishimoto! Unfortunately that includes Itachi….sad…

This is my first fanfiction so please review and tell me what you think!

At night in the Village Hidden in the Leaves a girl sits alone in a prison cell. Why she is there is no fault of her own, just fate playing its part. The girl's name is Sakura Haruno; she was born with a special gift that made her a dangerous weapon. Too dangerous to be left to roam the streets of Konoha.

There is an explosion and the sound of a kunai slicing flesh. Suddenly a figure appears at my cell, quickly breaking the lock.

"Come with me," the figure says in a husky tone. I waste no time asking questions and quickly follow the man in the cloak, anything is better than wasting away in that cell. We run out of the prison building and through Konoha into the forest where I sense another chakra signature. The man stops and effortlessly slices through my chakra bindings.

"Who are you?" I ask, glancing at his face for the first time. The man has a blue complexion and what appear to be…gills. I notice the trademark black cloak with red clouds. "Akatsuki," I breathe.

"Catch on quick don't you?" he said grinning, showing off a mouthful of pointed teeth. "If you know who we are then I bet you can also guess why we're here."

"You want to recruit me for my abilities." He nodded and the other person stepped forward revealing blond hair and a shocking blue eye.

"Don't be rude, Kisame, you should always introduce yourself, especially to an...innocent girl such as this. I'm Deidara, un. I believe we've already met," his eyes narrowed suspiciously at me as he spoke.

"Innocent girl my ass," mumbled Kisame. "Anyway, what do you say?"

"It's better than going back in the cell."

"That's the attitude, un! Now let's get going, we have to get back to the hideout." I followed the two S-class criminals, leaving my only home without so much as a backward glance

"Sakura Haruno, so nice of you to make it," says a man with orange hair and multiple piercings as I walked into the hideout. He motioned to a place next to him. On his other side was a woman with blue hair and an origami flower in her hair. "This is Konan." I simply nodded and sat where he had motioned to. "My name is Pein; I am the leader of the Akatsuki. The others will be with us momentarily." A loud wail came from the hallway and a dark haired man with a mask ran into the room, hair on fire.

"Tobi, what did you do to Deidara now?" the leader asked impatiently.

"Tobi is a good boy!" the masked man wailed as he managed to calm the flames eating away at his hair. "Tobi just decided to redecorate Deidara sempai's room while he was gone!"

"TOBI! Get back here, un! I'm not finished with you!" cried the blonde as he ran into the room, mound of clay in hand.

Pain pinched his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "Deidara, how many times do I have to tell you? No explosives in the building." The blonde looked up just as he caught Tobi by the back of his cloak. Said Akatsuki was struggling desperately to escape.

"Sorry leader, un," Deidara mumbled. He let go of Tobi and sat down next to me while the masked Akatsuki sat at the other end of the table. Kisame walked into the room followed closely by a shorter man with long dark hair and coal black eyes.

'There's no way...he couldn't possibly be…could he?' I thought as my eyes followed the man with the dark hair. His eyes met mine and I gasped. 'It is him! There's no mistaking the resemblance, that's Sasuke's older brother, Uchiha Itachi.' Itachi simply sat down at the table and stared off into space while Kisame grinned at me.

"Eager to meet the other members, shorty?" he asked. I glared at him.

"I don't know fishy, should I be?" Kisame snorted.

"Well that depends," he said, "do you like cannibalistic, money-obsessed, or self-mutilating men?" I raised an eyebrow and decided not to answer.

"Ah, here they are," Pein said as the remaining members filed into the room. "Shall we start then? As you all know, Kisame and Deidara were sent to recruit a new member. This is Sakura Haruno," he said, motioning to me.

"What the hell?" yelled a man with greased back hair and some kind of symbolic necklace. "You recruited a girl? And a small one at that!" I narrowed my eyes dangerously.

"Ignore him; Hidan has some…anger issues," said Leader. "These are Kakuzu, Zetsu, Hidan, Tobi, and Itachi," he motioned to each member that hadn't been introduced before. "You already know Deidara and Kisame." I nodded and Hidan spoke up again.

"Seriously? There's no way in hell this tiny-ass chick is going to make it in this organization!"

"I better not lose money because of her," came Kakuzu.

"Are you all feeling doubtful of Sakura's abilities?" leader asked curiously, "Perhaps someone would like to fight her so she can prove herself?"

"I'll go," Deidara volunteered, "I wanna see what you can do, un. It had to be good to defeat Sasori no danna."

"Are you sure about this Pein? Have you told them what my kekke genkai is?"

He smirked, "I will let it be a surprise." I nodded and he instructed everyone to the training grounds outside.

"Fighting in the dark, un, I like it."

"You sure you want to do this Deidara? You're not going to like what happens." I said cautiously.

"I can handle myself, un. Hit me with everything you've got, shorty."

'Great now he's calling me that, too.' "OK Deidara, but I did warn you," I said as I pulled off my black gloves. The night was calm and a light breeze blew at my pale pink hair. It was a full moon which illuminated the training grounds.

Deidara watched me as I put my gloves in my pouch. "Don't most ninjas keep their gloves on during a fight, un?" I smirked.

"Yes, but I'm not like most ninjas."

"Are both opponents ready?" Pein called from the roof of the hideout where the other members stood watching. Deidara and I nodded. "Then you may begin."

Deidara immediately threw small clay figures at me, which I quickly dodged, remembering Tobi's flaming hair. He quickly made another figure which turned into a giant bird. Deidara jumped onto the bird which took off into the air.

"A long-range fighter, huh? Well that's certainly not to my advantage," I mumbled. He threw bigger explosives at me which took more skill to evade. I quickly made hand seals, activating part of my kekke genkai and immediately vanishing from view. Deidara certainly looked surprised. I glanced at the other members. Itachi had his sharingan activated; his eyes were locked onto mine.

'What the hell? Sasuke could never see me with his sharingan, so why can Itachi?' I made a shadow clone to keep Deidara occupied while I tried to think of a way to get to Deidara. He was flying just out of my range. He would hear me if I jumped off one of the surrounding trees. I needed to get him by the roof of the hideout. Narrowly escaping a bomb, my clone managed to draw Deidara and his bird to the hideout. I quickly jumped on top of it and flung myself at Deidara, though still invisible. Somehow I made a soft landing and Deidara didn't notice me. His hands were in his pouch so I went in front of him and cupped his cheek with one hand, becoming visible as I did so. He was shocked and I tried to ignore the images flashing through my head.

"Game over," I said as I flipped off his bird and landed safely on the ground.

"What do you mean game over, un? What the hell was that?"

"You really shouldn't hold a grudge against Itachi," I said suddenly. "And I'm sorry about your family." Deidara's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide.

"Wait, what? How do you know about that, un? And how did you-" he started to say but suddenly "decided" to flip off his bird and let it explode in the air. He took a kunai out of his pouch and held it to his own throat.

I looked at him calmly, "As I said earlier, game over." Leader clapped several times and looked down at me.

"Well done Sakura. I didn't expect it to be that quick. I was correct in recruiting you. Would you like to explain to Deidara what just happened?" he called. I nodded and turned back to Deidara.

"My kekke genkai allows me to do three things. I can become completely invisible, both to the normal shinobi eye or…most…optical kekke genkai," I said as I looked at Itachi quizzically. "Then by touching some part of your skin with my hand I will both know every memory or thought you have ever had and be able to completely control your mind."

Deidara gaped at me and blushed furiously. "Every memory and thought I've ever had!?" I smiled and nodded, letting his hand fall back to his side. I looked at him and willed him to walk toward me and hold out his hand.

"I can reverse the mind control but your memories are something I'm stuck with."

"Don't reverse it yet shorty!" yelled Kisame. "Make him do a dance!" I laughed and rolled my eyes. Making more hand seals I took Deidara's outstretched hand and closed my eyes, concentrating.

"There you go Deidara, you have a mind of your own again," I smiled.

"Very well, now does anyone still have doubts of Sakura's abilities?" Everyone was silent and Deidara blushed again. Pein smiled and dismissed us. "Itachi if you would show Sakura to her room, it's directly across from yours. Seiko your cloak and ring are waiting for you inside. I will assign you your first mission tomorrow." Itachi and I both nodded and I followed him inside.

"This is a big hideout," I said awkwardly as Itachi let me through various corridors.

"Hn."

'Just like his brother,' I thought. 'I'm going assume he was agreeing.'

"Itachi?" I asked cautiously. He glanced at me to show he was listening but continued walking. "If you don't mind me asking, how could you see me when I had my kekke genkai activated? I've sparred with Sasuke before and he could never see me, even with his sharingan." Something flickered in Itachi's eyes, but I couldn't catch what it was.

"My little brother's sharingan is not as powerful as my own," he said stoically.

"Oh."

"This is your room." He motioned to the door we stopped at then walked across to his own. "Goodnight."

"Uh, goodnight," I replied dumbly.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, please! Next chapter up if you like it!

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