Piper: Hi guys! I'm really happy you're liking the story. I hope I can keep it interesting for you.

I don't own Naruto or Slender Man/Slender.

Chapter 3 - Can't Run pt3

Sakura Haruno

I rose out of the car, my front dangerously close to brushing against the attractive ebony haired male that had opened my door for me. I could smell the lingering scent of his long smoked cigarette clinging to his person, mixed with an attractive odor of some kind of cologne. I ignored the tingle running up and down my delicate spine, and carefully moved around him so that our two bodies did not touch.

When I passed his shoulder, my head barely taller than it, I got to get a better look at the red head. He was shorter than his two companions, much shorter, but still taller than I was. His posture was elegant, yet slightly slack as though he were a bit tired. I could see his eyes more clear, and how utterly unamused he seemed with everything going on around him.

Deidara was standing a few feet away, staring at the onyx haired male with a cold look. He seemed to snap out of it when he noticed my gaze, his face twisting into a smirk before motioning for me to follow him and the red head into the house. I was a bit more hesitant to follow this time, but with the black haired male right behind me I knew right there that turning back wasn't an option. Turning back hadn't been an option the moment I had approached the two males in the street. Turning back hadn't been an option when I first entered that forest so long ago. I just had to keep moving forward.

The boys didn't even knock on the front door, just opened it freely and strutted right in. I followed after in a much less confident fashion, hearing the onyx haired male close the door behind me. Shivers were rolling up and down my spine as I realized just how trapped I truly was in life. My body was trapped by gang members, while my mind was trapped by an unimaginable spook.

My eyes drank in the sight of the living room we had just waltzed in to, seeing it relatively clean. It was much nicer on the inside than it was on the inside. It was a bit cleaner, for one, but it was also filled to the brim with up-to-date furniture, electronics, and other house hold items. The front window had a rather large flat screen placed in front of it, with one large 'L' shaped couch facing it with a glass coffee table within leg resting distance. There was two recliner chairs, large and plush. There were a few suspicious items scattered around that made a heavy reminder that this house didn't belong to some average person. This was a home to a couple gang members, who were no doubt armed to the teeth and lacking a conscious to give a single fuck on who they killed.

Next, my eyes took in all the unfamiliar faces staring at me as I entered the room. The silver-haired man and his partner were there among the faces, the silverette casually laid across one of the plush couches. The masked man was sitting at a dinner table placed near a large archway that seemingly led to the kitchen, an alarming amount of money evenly stacked before his greed eyes. Sharing the couch with the silver haired man was a man who was alarmingly tall even when sitting, with blue skin and even darker blue hair. Sitting in front of the television was a man, who had an odd orange mask covering his face. It only had one eye hole, and the mask was decorated to swirl in to the single eye hole.

The characters sitting at the table with the masked man were the ones who both scared me the most, and intrigued me the most. One was a man with black and white skin, literally. One half of his body, cut vertically down the center of him, one side of him was the color of onyx and the other of chalk. His eyes were an intense shade of gold, shaggy green hair sprouting from his head. He was staring at me almost hungrily, and I could've sworn on my rapid heartbeat that he had licked his lips before I had torn my gaze from his.

The second male had unbelievable long and shaggy black hair, and looked strikingly similar to the one that had been smoking in the front seat. His face was elegantly cut, with smooth, pale skin. His eyes were the same shade of blood red as the other males. There was only one imperfection on his face, and that was a small scar right on the top of his right cheekbone, just below his eye. It made him look all the more dangerous, furthering his predatory look.

The last male was the one I couldn't quite get over. He was a carrot top, his attractive features framed lightly by his shaggy orange hair. The part of him I couldn't get over, however, was his eyes and piercings. His eyes were a soft shade of gray mixed with purple, but he had no whites. The color filled all of his eyes, and they were ringed. Around each pupil was a ring, and a ring around that one, continuing all the way until you couldn't see further. His piercings, however, were all over. Three on either side of the bridge of his nose, snake bites, one eyebrow, too many along his ears to count, and an industrial bar through each ear horizontally.

All of these men were peculiar. I knew that I had no room to talk, having been naturally born with hair the color of a freshly bloom cherry blossom. But some of them had eyes, hair, and skin that didn't make sense. Somehow my hair had come out pink, so I could sympathize with that. However, a man completely split in half with onyx black on one side and chalk white on the other, and a man who was completely blue, were not something I knew was ever possible in nature. Nor did I ever think I would see someone with red eyes, or ringed eyes at that.

Something was off and if I had felt threatened by a car ride with three of these men, I now had the complete feeling of a sheep cornered by wolves. These oddly colored men were older than me. Maybe not by a lot, only a couple years or so, but they all each had the knowledge and experience to wipe me out without a care.

My life had just become a fucking mine field. One wrong step and everything would get blown sky high.

The orange haired man rose from his seat, his eyes looking into my very soul as he prowled around the table and closer and closer to me. I could feel my heart skipping each time I heard his foot hit the ground, his ever dangerous presence coming closer and closer each half a second. My whole body grew colder as he drew in the last few feet, standing only a couple feet away from me.

I mentally reprimanded myself. They weren't the scariest thing I had faced. I knew of greater, and I knew that even though they could kill me, death at their hands would be ten times better than death in his hands. I had been the one to choose the road I was following. I had was the only one to blame for anything that came out of this badly. This was all on me.

"You are Sakura Haruno?" The ginger questioned, his voice as smooth and sweet as chocolate, a melody sung through each movement of his lips.

My knees quivered in response. Whether it was from fear or the pure vibrations of his voice, I didn't know.

When tested, my voice failed to support me and help me answer. So, instead I settled for a shaky, yet confidant nod. I would have to give them my all if I wanted to live. I couldn't slack on the job or on my manners. I didn't know what kind of people they were yet, so I had to just make sure to keep myself in a straight line until I figured out how much flexibility I would be allowed to have when hanging around them.

There was a low round of chuckles at my noiseless answer. They seemed to deduce that I was nervous, and that made them enjoy the experience that much more.

I didn't want to look any of them in the eye. All the odd colors around me were so intense, I knew if I looked I would get myself lost. I wasn't a fool. I knew these men were both dangerous, and dangerously attractive in their own ways. Each little suspiciously odd quirk only made them more attractive in their individuality. It was a bad thing to think so, but I couldn't deny it. I couldn't let it go further then admiration. Not with the threat looming over my shoulders, and the potential danger they obviously possessed.

"You were right Kakuzu, she is thin," The ginger called over his shoulder to the man in the mask.

I could finally put a name to a face, which made them seem slightly more human. They were people, with names, likes, and dislikes. Rationalizing them that was took a bit of glamor out of their fear-instilling image. It helped me calm down for a moment, so that I could catch a breath.

They're just people. They're just people. They're just people.

"You know what you're getting yourself into, girl?"

The question was slightly blurred, echoing around me as I tried to find my center and peace within my own mind.

Inhale.

Exhale.

They're just people. They're just people. They're just people.

My mouth moved, but before the strangled words could even think of leaving he took ahold of my chin. Sparks of stomach warming electricity shot from his warm finger tips and down my body, the skin where he was touching burning hotly at the skin-on-skin contact. It had been so long since I had touched someone and hadn't feared their bodies being cold. I wasn't afraid of his touch in that way. He was a different kind of danger than the one that made my skin crawl.

"It's rude to look away from people in the eye when you speak," He murmured softly.

I forced myself to look. Those ringed eyes turned my vertebrae into liquid and my knees into jelly, and it was getting harder for me to breathe with each passing second.

With my limited air, I chose to use it on answering this dangerous snake of a man. "I'm sorry. B-But... Yes. I know."

"I don't think you do," He said, his eyes becoming colder. "By doing this you are giving yourself to us completely. You are our little messenger. Ours. No one else's. If we tell to do something, it will be done. No hesitations. No questions. You are to take what we give, and do with it as instructed. If you betray us, we will know. If you turn us in, we will find out. If you blab any secrets, we will know. If you so much as whisper a word of who you work to to anyone, we will know. If this happens, we will find not only you, but your family and friends.

"Do you understand?" He finished, using his grip on my face to pull me onto my tiptoes, closer to him as his face bent down closer to mine.

Word vomit came out instead of what I should've actually said.

"I don't have friends," I spat out, feeling anger bubbling inside the pit of my stomach at the thought of him threatening the people close to me. I did that enough on my own by just being around them, I didn't need my new bosses hanging over their shoulders.

His fingers tightened around my jaw, his eyes flashing slightly. I felt a flash of hatred for him, angry to be manipulated in such a way. I knew deep down that I was used to being manipulated, but that didn't mean I had to like it. If I hadn't wanted to be ordered around and intimidated, then I should've just stayed sitting when I saw those two obviously dangerous men searching for hire. It was my own fault that I was in that predicament.

"Do you understand?" He repeated more firmly, his nose almost touching mine.

I wanted to spit in his face for talking to me like a child and making me feel so mentally-violated, but I knew nothing good would come of it. He would probably strike me, and my father, before he left for war, had always told me that spitting in someone's face was one of most disrespectful things you could do to a person. I had promised him once at the tender age of seven that I wouldn't ever stoop so low, even offering to curl my tiniest finger around his own finger in a pinkie promise. The oath of a child.

"Yes," I whispered angrily, gritting my teeth.

"Louder. I can't hear you."

"Yes," I bit out, feeling tears of anger threatening to fall from my eyes.

He let go of my chin and I jerked away from him, stumbling back a couple of steps. I took a moment to breathe, to calm my anger and to push back those damn tears.

I hated how much of a crier I was. I cried when I was angry enough, I cried when I was sad, and I cried when I felt too much pain. I had such a low pain tolerance. I could hold my own in a regular high school fight and through the bumps and bruises of life, no doubt, but when it came down so feeling intense pain I would cry. My pride, however, was what made me hold it in most of the time.

When my breath caught up to me, I didn't even want to look back but I knew I had to. I looked back, seeing them all watching me once more. The silver haired man was grinning, eyeing me with this wild look in his eyes that made my stomach curl. The man that was split down the middle wasn't grinning, but his eyes held the same expression as the silverette. Except they were more... hungry. The rest were a little more stoic, though the man with the swirled mask was staring at us with his head tilted curiously to the side.

It took me a moment to remind myself where exactly I was, and who's face I had been wanting to spit into. I felt my stomach go cold with fear, realizing what I had just done. I had taken a snap at a coiled snake, and had been lucky enough to get off with just a warning. I would have to keep my temper in check, because after that small encounter I knew that I would have to be as respectful as I could.

"Your records from your old high school said that you enjoyed parkour," The man said suddenly, continuing on as if he hadn't just crushed my jaw and threatened everyone I knew.

"Yeah," I said, trying to subtly move my jaw a little to get the feeling back into it.

"Were you any good?" He asked next, turning his back on me to go and sit back at the table.

I shrugged my shoulders, even though he couldn't see with his back turned. "I was alright. I've always been a bit flexible, so it was easier for me to do. It's been a long time since I've done it though."

"You're weak."
The bluntness of the statement stung, but I couldn't deny it. It had been very long since I had last exercised, and I had lost all the muscle I had used to have. I was more bony than fit. Fear could do that to a person, because when you're scared of something that you can't always see, you don't leave your house unless you positively have to.

He didn't wait for a reply, seeming to know that he wouldn't get one after a comment that rude. "You will need to put some weight back on and begin working towards parkour. If we choose to keep you, you will need that kind of flexibility and quick thinking for some of the bigger jobs we may have. Lots of these will need to be on foot, and we will have to teach you have to avoid the authorities without getting yourself in a bind.

"I am Pein, leader of the Akatsuki. After introductions you will be given your first assignment," He said, sitting down and staring at me from behind the table.

"What about training?" I asked, my brows furrowing slightly.

"That is your training. We'll leave your diet in your hands, but as for building muscles, you should do plenty of that doing your job," He said, before beginning to introduce the members.

Piper: Alright guys! Sorry this is a bit late, I've had a lot of stuff going on this Halloween. Oh, Happy Halloween to everyone! I hope you all got lots of candy (even if you're an older teen like me XD) and enjoy the horror-filed, candy-coma-inducing holiday!

Please review!