Fighting With One's Self

Chapter 11 - Punishment

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait. I have a lot going on at the moment, and a bit of writer's block, and I don't want to update on impulse. I want it to be perfect. So please bear with me.

As always, R&R

:)

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Itachi-san disappears in a quick-to-disperse puff of smoke, leaving me alone with the most fearsome person I know. He says nothing. The silence is worse than anything I have expected. It is as though, in the silence, Pein's outrage is all around me, suffocating me. I have no idea what he is thinking. In the few brief glimpses of him that I have taken within the last few seconds, there was no trace of any emotion.

I fight against the lump in my throat. I need to be able to speak. I need to be able to defend myself. I need to apologise and explain. If I have to, I will even reveal that I wished to train with Sakura, and that no harm will be brought to the organisation.

"Can you speak?"

His words catch me off-guard. They are just as emotionless as the rest of his face. A flicker of hope appears in my tightly contracted chest. I try with all my might to say 'yes'. I choke and cough, but no sound escapes my throat. I am resorted to shaking my head.

"I will not play the game of 'yes and no' that the others have in order to get answers from you," he says, and the flicker of hope dies. "I will just ask you this: did you, after being made clear that you are not allowed to leave the premises without an escort, go to the village of Konoha?"

This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me before. Does he have no interest as to why I went there? No explanation? Why does he not just give me a piece of paper? Anything. A tear escapes my eye as I nod.

"I am not interested in why you went there. I am only interested in one thing: you disobeyed a direct order. So you will serve the punishment for your crime. "

***

Sakura's POV.

I could not understand what happened. Those men in the black cloaks must have knocked me out, because I have no recollection as to what happened after they appeared. One of them had looked strangely familiar. That black-haired one. I wanted to know who they were. I needed to go to Kakashi-sensei or Jiraiya-sama. Tsunade-sama is simply too busy at the moment. It might not be something to worry about at all. But I need to know.

I am on my way to Kakahi-sensei's house when I find him, but not where I expected to. He is sitting in a coffee shop with Jiraiya-sama. They are talking in hushed voices. I head around the corner and perform the Transformation Jutsu, taking the form of a young woman who had just walked past me, and went to the coffee shop.

I deliberately take a seat close to their table and order a coffee. I pretend to be immersed in the menu while I eavesdrop.

"There is an organisation called Akatsuki that I've heard about," Jiraiya-sama is saying, "Most of them are missin-nins who were thrown out of their villages for serious crimes against the villages themselves. We only have intelligence of a few of them, one of which being Uchiha Itachi."

Despite myself, I sit a bit straighter, straining my ears more than ever.

"Uchiha?" Kakashi-sensei asks, mimicking my shock.

"Sasuke's older brother," Jiraiya-sama says, nodding, "They have something of a uniform. They wear black cloaks with red clouds."

My eyes are wide and unseeing. Could I possibly have met the one and only Uchiha Itachi? Just when I decide to continue eavesdropping, I see something outside the shop.

Trembling from shock, I leave money on my table and hurry out of the shop, following the black cloak decorated with red clouds that I had just seen. I go around the corner, where they had disappeared, but I see nothing.

Who exactly are they, and what do they want? Is Yoku a threat to the village? What should I do?

***

Yume's POV

I wonder where Yoku is. I haven't seen her all day. Her bed had not been slept in. I thought that she might be training, but no one has seen her. When I asked Kisame if he had seen anything, he bowed his head, his face full of an emotion that I could only describe as a mixture of anger, sadness and deep disappointment. 

This worried me.

I found Itachi-kun sitting at the window in the living room, as he always did. Kakuzu is in the corner, minding his own business.

"Where's Yoku?" I ask him.

"The Leader is dealing with her," he says simply, not even looking at me. My heartbeat gets caught in my ass.

"What do you mean, dealing with her?" I demand.

"She left the building soon after Kisame and myself. We found her in Konoha, conversing with a pink-haired girl-"

"She was talking to Sakura?" I asked. I am so confused it is not even funny. Itachi-kun looks at me for the first time, a strange look passing over his eyes.

"Have you been to Konoha as well? Is that how you know her?" he asks.

"No I haven't, and nevermind how I know her, you comma-eyed prick! Where the hell is Yoku?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," he says, returning his gaze to the window, "I left her with the Leader."

My heart sinks. Yoku, what have you done?

***

Yoku's POV.

Pein-sama imprisoned me. He had me stripped of weapons and thick clothing, and blindfolded me before leading me to cell somewhere underneath the building. My wrists and ankles are shackled. The iron is rusted, and cuts into my skin.

It's been several hours that I have been in here. I am hungry as hell and stone cold. Whenever I shiver, the metal of the cuffs cut more deeply into my skin. If I had not been so thirsty, then tears would have streamed down my face. I am hungry, cold, tired, but most of all, scared.