Puppeteer

The woman who stole his heart

Kakuzu looked at the small woman in front of him, what she lacked in height, she made up for in skill. In fact, this was probably the hardest fight Kakuzu had ever had, he had all four masks summoned and his breathing was ragged. But the woman was no better off, she had a clan jutsu activated and all her injuries were rapidly healing. That was another problem, it was hard to defeat somebody with seemingly invincible healing abilities.

Eventually, both fighters called a truce, there was clearly no winner, both were equal in skill. But Kakuzu was not about to let his equal disappear, not after the scandal with Hashirama Senju. Instead, he decided he must bring her with him. As long as she was on his side, she would not be able to take him on, right?

-

It didnt take much more than one or two years before their professional relationship to become more intimate. At first, they were just friends, but later they became more than that. The idea of marrying somebody had never crossed Kakuzus mind until he met that woman. Their relationship blossomed and only a year after they got married, Hikaru was expecting.

-

Hikaru looked up at her husband of one and a half years, one hand on her swollen stomach. Whilst he might not have been your typical good-looking man and yes, he had an unhealthy obsession with money she loved him wholeheartedly. Currently, he was seated at the dining table, the money from his most recent bounty in front of him. The mans green eyes lifted to look at the pink-haired woman in front of him and smiled which caused the woman to reflect it back at him.

But their relaxing morning didnt last long, a knock sounded on the front door to their small house on the outskirts of Iwagakure. Kakuzu got up to answer the door, picking up his mask as he walked and carefully covering his face. When he opened the door, his eyes widening when it revealed Pain and Konan, the pair that had come to recruit him only a few hours before. "What is it that you want?" he was quick to the point, if he took to long, his wife would get curious then it was over. He was seen as this all-powerful immortal and if they knew his weakness, they would exploit it. While he did truly love money, Hikaru had always had number one spot in his many hearts. "We need you to go on your first mission. It is a bounty mission, we need to build up funds for the Akatsuki before we can do anything. Also, here is your cloak and ring." Konan's hands shifted and revealed a black cloak with red clouds highlighted in white and a ring with North written in dark green Kanji. Nodding his head, Kakuzu was quick to try to close the door, he had heard the footsteps of his approaching wife whos curiosity had begun to get the best of her, Kakuzu had been at the door for quite a while and appeared to know whoever was there which made her want to inquire on their relationship, after all, he killed almost anyone he came into contact with.

While the door did manage to obstruct most of the view of his wife, Konan didn't miss the flash of pink hair. Turning to look up at the tall orange haired man, she considered telling him, but something made her hesitate. Instead, she chose to talk to Kakuzu about it, she would need more information than just a brief sight to report to Pain.

-

A few months after Kakuzu had joined the criminal organisation and moved with his wife to Amegakure, his wife gave birth to a little girl, his daughter He couldn't help but smirk proudly at the sight of his daughter having his green eyes and the faint wisps of pink hair. He leaned down to kiss his wifes forehead, "She's perfect Hikaru. his exhausted wife smiled weakly up at him, the doctor smiled at the couple before saying, "May I check you daughter then please Mrs. Haruno (theyd taken Hikarus surname due to Kakuzu not having one) Of course." Hikaru passed her precious daughter over to the doctor who quickly began to run check-ups to see if the baby was healthy, the nurse spoke up, Do you have a name you would like to call her by? Hikaru smiled brightly before saying, "Sakura. Sakura Haruno. Is that alright with you, Kakuzu?" The man in question nodded his head in confirmation before taking the baby from the doctor whod now finished.

Days after Hikaru had given birth to little Sakura, she began to get very ill. Whatever it was that was making her like this was unlike anything the doctors had ever heard of before. With nobody to turn to, Kakuzu sought help from the Akatsuki. When he arrived with a wife and baby in his arms, the criminal gang were shocked. Theyd never thought Kakuzu of all people would be the one to have a family, the man was heartless, or so they thought. Fortunately for Kakuzu, Pain did have a solution, one that could give Hikaru another chance at life, but it had a steep price. The idea was to get Sasori to treat the poison (Which had turned out to be the cause of the illness) into baby Sakura. The transfer was dangerous for the sealers, however, so in exchange for the risk, Kakuzu promised that when Sakura came of age, shed follow his footsteps into the Akatsuki. What choice did he have, if he did not do this, Sakura would grow up without a mother and he would lose the only person to accept him and the mother of his child.

By the time Sasori arrived in Pains office, Hikaru was no longer able to remain conscious. Sasori looked at the woman beside Kakuzu, instantly recognising her as the one Pain had wanted poisoned. The man looked up at the rinnegan user in curiosity, why was he to treat the same person he poisoned. Suddenly the request that it be curable made sense. Crouching down beside the woman, Sasori began to remove some blood to run tests. The man disappeared, working on a puppet for an hour or two to keep up the facade before picking up the vial with the cure and wandering back to Pains office. "Your in luck Kakuzu, I was able to find the cure but any longer and she might have died." Kakuzu breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Sasori cure his wife, a smile on his face.