Otokage

July

Sakura talked non-stop, telling him about the things that really pissed her off, her favorite foods, and the types of weather she preferred. She had to keep him awake so the poison would have a hard time settling into his system. Constantly, she asked if was still with her with his replies reduced to being small grunts of approval. It was good. Well, she thought it was good until Inner began to cackle.

'Remember what I said?'

Sakura paused as somebody landed behind her.

'I guarantee.'

"Sakura...? Is that really you?"

She turned around. "Asuma-sensei."

::

Day 9

Sakura rolled her chair back to her office window and slid it open. She leaned out and stared at the man sprawled out carelessly on the ledge.

"Not that I'm complaining, but don't you have any hobbies?" she asked. "You've been hanging around here since you came to Oto. I have a lot of books in my office if you'd like to read them. I'm pretty sure there's The Diving Pool, Kokoro, The Tale of Genji, and The Waiting Years."

Hidan laced his fingers behind his head and rested an ankle on a bent knee. "Already read them."

Sakura blinked. "W-What? Really?"

"I'm not fucking illiterate."

Sakura took on a thoughtful look before retreating back into her office and closing the window. Three of those four books dealt with love and suffering, one of them even shedding light on the role of women in a patriarchal society. There were themes of isolation and a search for identity—something that she never expected Hidan to take interest in.

Honestly, she never expected him to be interested in reading at all.

"Do you think you'll be able to convince him?" Kabuto questioned. She sighed and took a long sip of her tea.

"Maybe. It's like what Kisame-san said: it's either Pein-san or me. I don't know what it's like to work under Pein, but he certainly is more powerful than I am. Aren't strong shinobi drawn to even stronger ones?"

Kabuto hummed. "Probably. But the Akatsuki aren't exactly your normal 'strong shinobi'. You've managed to change three minds. I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to change a fourth."

She sighed again and unrolled one of the scrolls on her desk.

::

He smiled. "Is this where you've been? Off collecting Akatsuki members?" he asked, jerking his chin to the man slung across her shoulder. "I'm relieved to hear that. I knew you wouldn't have gone off without a word without a good reason."

Sakura looked down guiltily. She took Deidara off her person and gently propped him up against a tree.

"We've all been worried about you. I know Ino has. There was a rumor going around that you'd gone off for good, but we wouldn't believe that. If you bring that Akatsuki back to Konoha, I'm sure the council will pardon you for your actions and welcome you back."

::

At sundown, Sakura looked out her window again. Hidan was still out there, oddly enough. He was sat upright with a glowing blue sphere dancing on his fingertips. From further observation, she saw that it was a concentrated ball of pure chakra. He seemed to have been playing with it for a long while, surprising Sakura. Condensing chakra so finely like that took an extraordinary amount of chakra control.