Chapter FIVE

Until decisions could be made for the night, Sakura and Gaara were given the guest room to rest in, though it was obvious they were not tired. Konan carefully closed the door before she turned back to the rest of the Akatsuki. "So, what do you think?" She asked, indicating that it was safe.

"I still haven't managed to wrap my mind around everything." Yahiko admitted. He led the Akatsuki members back to their meeting room.

"And they still haven't told us what they are, or more exactly, what they are made of."

"I'd say the Gaara-brat was made of fucking titanium." Hidan exclaimed. "You saw him block that fucking bullet-"

"But he's flesh." Sasori said. "Well, flesh enough to feel human."

"Then how'd he block the bullet?" Deidara asked. "I feel human, but I'm sure I can't block a bullet-"

Sasori scoffed. "You do not feel human, you are human."

"If I'm human, I've got to feel human!" Deidara and Sasori walked on ahead, completely ignoring the exasperated looks digging into their backs.

"What are we going to do?" Itachi asked. "We cannot completely dismiss what they say."

"They haven't outright lied so far." Zetsu agreed quietly. "I think we won't lose anything by listening to what they have to say."

"We already listened to what those shitheads have to say." Hidan snapped. "I say we hand them over to the mental hospital."

"That's where you belong, but none of us have sold you out yet." Kakuzu ignored Hidan's enraged protest. "Thank your stupid god your bounty isn't worth much."

Konan took a deep breath and promptly tuned them out. "Actually, I don't think we heard everything they have to say." She thoughtfully bit her lip. "They

know much more than they told us, and we don't actually know what their real aim is."

"They said they want to take down Orochimaru." Yahiko said, frowning.

"They did." Nagato agreed. "But that is what they said. We don't know if we can take what they said as the truth."

"We shouldn't just assume they're lying." Yahiko insisted.

"We won't." Konan said. "Besides, they haven't told us what they want from us either."

"Give and take."

Everyone who had been paying attention turned to Zetsu, who had been the one to speak. "Like they said, there are plenty of things they offer us, just like there are things we can offer them."

Nagato let out a breath. "For now, we'll keep them here." He decided. "We'll take turns sleeping over at the office. Maybe we'll be able to pick up something."

Itachi and Kisame, who had been assigned on watch for the night, settled themselves onto the couches in the office. The door to the guest room was open and from their current positions, they could clearly see Sakura and Gaara. The blinds had been lowered and the lights had been kept on. Konan had brought the pair blankets and had left another cup of water on the table before she had departed.

The two of them hadn't moved once since the rest of the Akatsuki had left the room. Sakura was perched on one of the couches, piercing green eyes looking out into nothing. Gaara was sitting on the edge of the couch in the space beside her, glaring eyes taking in everything around them. Once in awhile, he would turn his piercing gaze towards them and if their eyes met, he would hold it until Kisame and Itachi looked away. When then looked back up, the redhead was once again looking in the opposite direction.

"You think they're gonna sleep?" Kisame whispered.

"You should ask them." Itachi replied, eyes on his book. As if one cue, Gaara turned to glare at them again.

"No dude." Kisame leaned in closer and lowered his voice even more. "That guy's creepy."

Itachi eyed his friends then internally sighed before he put his book aside and stood up. He then began walking towards where their guests were stiffly sitting.

"Where're you going?" Kisame hissed.

Itachi ignored him and instead, he fully opened the door separating them with deliberately obvious movements. "Are you uncomfortable?" He asked softly. "Too warm or too cold?"

Gaara looked away from Kisame to glance up at the Uchiha. He then looked down at Sakura, who had also turned away from whatever she had been staring at.

"We are fine, Uchiha-san." Sakura said. She paused, before she added, "Thank you for your concern."

Gaara nodded, as if to agree with her words, before the two of them turned away as one.

Itachi, however did not return to his previous spot. "Do you not sleep?" He asked curiously.

Both Sakura and Gaara once again turned to him.

"We do not require sleep." Sakura told him. "However, we do hibernate. Nothing can function without a little bit of rest."

"So what?" Kisame joined in. "You just, uh, sit here? Until morning comes?"

"This time of day is usually spent calculating." Sakura said. "However, that is currently not possible, and therefore, neither of us have anything to do."

"So you need stuff to make predictions?" Kisame pressed.

"An electronic device would do." Sakura explained. "Of course, the level of prediction I can make depends on the power of the device."

"So, say I give you this." Kisame fished out his smartphone and held it out. "What kind of predictions can you make?"

Sakura stared at Kisame's hand, then at the man, before she nodded. Gaara snatched the phone from the Akatsuki and glared at the screen before he handed it to Sakura, who began looking through the home screen.

Kisame blinked. "Wait-" He leaned in until Gaara held out his hand to stop him. "Hang on, how did that happen?"

"Gaara is my firewall." Sakura said, now looking through the contacts list. "There is no security block he cannot get past." She switched off the phone and held it out. "You will receive a call from a 'Momochi Zabuza' with an invitation to go out for a drink. After twenty three minutes of talking, you will agree to go."

Kisame opened his mouth, but Sakura beat him to it. "Please do understand that that prediction has more of a chance of being wrong than right." She said. "When people know their future, they try to change it, even if it does not particularly benefit them."

"Because they are are weird." Gaara said, as though he had said so plenty of times.

"Hard to understand does not mean weird." Sakura said, as though she had said this plenty of times too.

Kisame watched them for a few more seconds before he turned to Itachi, an eyebrow raised. "Do computers and firewalls argue?" He asked.

"Perhaps that is the reason we experience lags." Itachi sat down on the couch opposite the one Sakura and Gaara are occupying.

Watching them reminded him of Shisui and himself, arguing over something for the sake of doing so. Perhaps the pair do not know that they almost seem as though they are ordinary people, but he thinks that, maybe, they are not as strange as they had first thought.

Chapter five~

Darque: Sorry about the late update...

Raven: Yeah...

Darque: So, nothing really important here.

Raven: Thing'll start moving soon enough...probably...

Darque: Hopefully.

Raven: This is where you're supposed to reassure us that you know what you are doing.

Darque; I know what I"m doing.

Raven: Do you?

Darque: No.

Raven: Then don't say you do.

Darque: But you told me to say I do.

Raven:...

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