Chapter Text
It was a normal day for Sakura- Well, as normal as one could say. Taking a break from dealing with Naruto and any of the others sitting around the village today, Sakura chose to return to more of her medical studies. After all, it had been a while since she had gotten the chance to do this.
Naruto knew how to keep her well distracted with his dorky antics. Not to mention all the kids that he somehow kept bringing around. Seriously, how did he manage to always find a horde of them and play with them? He was really too old for stuff like that. Maybe she should talk to him about it later?
Nah, he wouldn't listen to her. Plus it gave the kids something to do and kept them entertained. Not to mention it did the same for Naruto. That was one less person to bother her while she was trying to study.
Or so she hoped.
Having just sat down to begin reading one of several scrolls that Tsunade had given her, Sakura could hear the knocking on her door. Assuming it was Naruto at first, the pinkette sighed loudly while getting to her feet. And here she thought that today was going to be a quiet day.
Listening to the sounds of what she guessed was impatience in those knocks, Sakura told the visitor that she was coming and to calm down. But that didn't seem to stop them. In fact, it sounded like it made them pound against the door harder.
Now mildly irritated by this, Sakura threw open the door with a forced smile on her face.
"What do you want? I said I would be right here and-" Pausing in her words when she realized that it was Kakashi, the girl relaxed somewhat. She was surprised that it wasn't Naruto. "Oh? Kakashi, what are you doing here? Did Naruto do something stupid again?"
"Oh, no. Nothing that's too much trouble. Lady Tsunade was actually asking about you. She keeps wanting you so she can tell you something, I think. Either that or she has a mission for you."
Green eyes widened slightly in surprise. A mission for her? Did that mean Naruto was going with her? If that was the case, it might be a good idea to stock up on some more herbs. Not like she would really need them, but one could never be too prepared.
But now the question was what could the mission be. Maybe going to a distant land? Or maybe Sasuke sent word that he needed help? No, that last one was doubtful. Not only was he too prideful, but Sakura was no longer at her friends beck and call like some lovesick little girl.
It shocked everyone in the village when she had stated that she no longer had feelings for Sasuke. And even Naruto tried to deny it, saying that she shouldn't lie to herself. But she was being truthful. The pinkette really didn't have any feelings of affection for him anymore.
The problem then was that no one else believed her either! Frankly, it was insulting. People thought that this was a ruse to make Sasuke want her. But everyone stopped voicing their opinions about Sakura's confession when she threatened to punch Naruto and anyone else who talked about it into an early grave. Hell, she even promised to create a tombstone out of their houses.
After that, no one questioned Sakura's relationship with Sasuke. Which was all for the better. In her mind it was, at least. It gave her more freedom to get things done and not have people constantly asking if she still liked the ravenette. Though it had some faults, Rock Lee thought that this meant she was available again. So she had to deal with that every now and then.
But it wasn't that big of a deal. Not to Sakura, at least. She could deal with Rock Lee easier than she could deal with the whole Sasuke thing. That probably would confuse a ton of her fellow ninja, but not Sakura. Not in a life time.
"So what kind of mission is it, Kakashi? Do you know?"
"Not really, no. Though..." Taking notice of Kakashi's pause, Sakura stopped stuffing medical supplies into her bag, pink bangs looking up towards her former sensei. "I don't think you'll enjoy it too much."
Not enjoy it? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a really dangerous mission? If so, shouldn't she have someone joining her along the way?
These questions must have shown in her eyes because Kakashi chuckled underneath his mask. Though it didn't seem to have any humor inside of it. It sounded more like it was dry. Lacking in the humor department, was he?
"You'll see what I mean, trust me. For now, you should still go see Lady Tsunade."
It was with that, that Kakashi left, walking away from the girl's house. But she was already packing her things up and starting to head out the door.
Still, her thoughts were focused on what the mission was- and why her old sensei thought that she would be unhappy about this. There was no way that could be possible. Unless she was stuck with someone that she couldn't trust. Like someone from the Akatsuki, for example.
But that wasn't possible. They would never show up around the village. Right?
Skipping through the village, Sakura could hear the familiar voice of Ino calling out to her. Just seeing her friend made the pinkette's heart soar. Not because of affection or anything, but because she was so happy that Ino and her were back to being friends. Ever since the Chunin exams so long ago, the two had begun talking again.
That honestly made her so happy. When they weren't communicating and insulting each other so much, it put a strain on Sakura's heart. But now that they were back together? She was able to talk to the girl about anything that she wanted and not have her friend be offended. Of course there was the usual arguments, but wasn't that normal in all friendships?
If it wasn't, then there had to be something wrong with the other friendships.
"Ino, hey. What are you doing here? I thought you were working at the flower shop today."
"Well, yeah! I am. I was just taking a break, cause I heard you were going on a mission." So she knew about it too? Did everyone in the village know about her mission besides her? If so, that didn't bode well for her at all. Maybe she could get some information out of Ino? That is, if she knows anything that Sakura doesn't.
"Yeah, I'm going to see Lady Tsunade about it right now. Kakashi was saying that I won't like it. Do you have any idea what it is?"
That question seemed to surprise Ino. Perhaps she really didn't know what the mission was? That was definitely possible. Majority of the time, the ninja's that weren't involved in the missions had this problem. Or they heard about it days after the quest was done with. Sakura had dealt with things like that before too.
"Well actually... I heard that your partner for the mission was someone that smelled like fish. Or that they looked like a fish? I don't remember."
Looked like a fish? Smelled like one? While that wasn't the weirdest thing she had ever heard, it was definitely something that she hadn't been expecting to hear. It must have shown on her face because Ino chuckled as she shook her head.
"I know, right? I mean, who would go around smelling like a fishermen's catch? Seems weird, right?"
"Yeah, definitely. If that's true, I hope they know what a bath is!"
This caused both girls to giggle. Like young teenagers again, way back before they had even begun to train as ninja. It was a nice feeling, to be reunited with a good friend like Ino.
But unlike other days, when she would sit and talk with her blonde friend, she had to leave today for Lady Tsunade's. Was it odd to admit to being excited for the mission because of the mystery of who she was working with? No, it didn't have much to do with that. It was the fact that she was going on a mission that made the excitement rise.
It had been so long since a mission had happened that involved Sakura. For all she knew, she could be rusty!
But with all of her training, that wouldn't be possible. She was more than capable of this mission, without a worry for her abilities to be rusty.
Shaking her head once more, Sakura began waving her hand towards Ino in a goodbye gesture. She had places to be and Ino probably had customers in the store waiting for her to come back inside while her mother manned the shop.
"Well, I'll be going then! Maybe we'll see each other after the mission is over?"
"Yeah, you can count on that, Sakura. I have some new flowers that you might wanna look at too. There are pretty ones that I think you'll like!"
Was that so? In that case, the next time that she stopped by the flower shop, Sakura would definitely have to take a look at them. While she wasn't well informed about what flower meant what thing, Ino was by her side so often when she was in the flower shop that she didn't have to worry about that. The blonde was always able to tell her what each item meant and what they represented.
But that information was neither here nor there right now. Sakura had other things that needed to be done. Including going to see what the mission was and who was joining her on it.
Several minutes later, the pinkette had arrived at the Hokage's office. Where Tsunade was there, waiting for her to open the door. She probably already knew that Sakura was waiting outside the door, but she had enough patience to wait for the student to step inside.
And that was good for he, considering she could hear the words being spoken against that door. It wasn't anything that she could easily pick up just yet, but as she leaned the side of her head against the door, she could start to hear the words more clearly now.
"...do realize that your partner might not approve of this? If she knows who you are or where you're from, this won't end well. You might even get flung out the window. Or it'll be smashed from you trying to introduce yourself as a former member of the-"
"I can take a beating. After all, when I first showed myself to you, you almost broke Samehada. A feat that no one has done, if I might add."
Samehada? She had heard that name before, she was certain of it. Had Naruto mentioned something about a weapon like that? Or was it Kakashi? More than likely it was the latter, seeing as Naruto didn't often remember things word for word. So it definitely had to be Kakashi. Though she did feel a little annoyed with herself for not remembering immediately who talked about it first.
"Your partner is stronger than me, so she may just break your sword, Kisame."
Now that was a name she recognized. Sakura had heard Kakashi talking about that man. He had been part of the Akatsuki, alongside Sasuke's brother, Itachi.
So did that mean... she was partnered with someone that was previously from that group? The same one that tried to capture Naruto and Gaara? That simply wouldn't do! Why would someone from that group of criminals come here? How did they even manage to not get captured and keep from being executed? Something just didn't add up. No, not something. Everything about this wasn't right.
Deciding that she should stop listening in on a private conversation, Sakura pulled her head back. Only to then open the door, her eyes focused on the blue skinned Kisame that had turned to look in her direction.
Definitely not someone she was familiar with. But from the way he looked- like... a shark? Yeah, that had to be it -there was just an air about him that screamed he was evil. Shuffling of a chair brought Sakura out of her glare, as her eyes turned towards Tsunade, a bright smile on the pinkette's lips.
"Hello, Lady Tsunade. Kakashi told me that you were assigned a mission for me?"
The blonde woman stared for a moment, as if trying to remember what Sakura was here for again. Some would think that she was getting too old to be Hokage still; but the young woman was not one of those people. Tsunade was more than fit to be the leader of this village. And those that said other wise to her face tended to either get punched or insulted. Usually by Sakura or Shizune.
"Yes, actually. Sakura, this is Kisame. If you weren't aware, he was part of a group of criminals in the past. We found him on the outskirts of the village, asking for a chance to redeem himself and start over here."
Oh did he? For some reason, that sounded far too suspicious to Sakura. Who would waltz up to a village like that? Especially if it wasn't their home town and no one even knew them? Well, knew them in a good light. It just didn't make any sense and that was what bothered the girl the most. But she couldn't just say that out loud.
After all, she didn't have proof. And proof was always something that you needed when it came to these sort of things. For now, she would have to stay quiet about this, and come to Tsunade when the time was right.
Putting her attention towards Kisame, who seemed to be enjoying this interaction with Tsunade and her. That grated the pink haired girl's nerves the wrong way. And it took all she had to keep from punching the lights out of the fish boy.
"I can tell from the look in your eyes that you don't believe a word your Hokage is saying, right?" Did that even warrant a nod? That was a rhetorical question, she knew it. "Well I can assure you, that I'm not going to defect on the mission. Or anywhere else. Though I might kill our companions on accident."
...That had to be a joke. He wouldn't actually kill their comrades if blood-lust took over, right?
But as Sakura stared at Kisame, she could see that this was not the case. He wasn't joking. He meant every word that he had spoken. Was she seriously supposed to team up with this man? For all she knew, he would kill her at a moment's notice! Or try to, seeing as it wouldn't be as easy as it used to be.
"Right. So what's our mission, Lady Tsunade?"
"Oh right. Can't believe I forgot about that," watching as the fifth Hokage began looking for files that she needed to explain things with what Kisame and Sakura needed to do. "You two have been tasked with the assignment of several D rank missions throughout the village. At least for now."
That seemed reasonable for Sakura. It meant that she could get used to having to be partnered with someone like Kisame. It would give the two the opportunity to understand and look after each other. And then there was the chance for the two of them to get to know each other and become friends. But that was a far distant dream, considering his origins.
Kisame didn't seem to like this idea though. He made that obvious by the sound of his snort.
"I didn't come all the way here to be given chores that a weakling could do. Give me something else." God, he was rude. How was she supposed to handle dealing with this guy? It made her think of Naruto when he was younger. Though he hadn't really changed that much. He was still hyperactive.
"You want more of a challenge? How about during your little journey's through the village, you don't get punched by Sakura. That's an S rank mission right there."
Tsunade was joking of course. She didn't hit every one of her partners if they irritated her. Just Naruto. Most of the time. Okay, she may have decked a couple of her partners, but they all had valid reasons.
Sai was being a jerk once and she was already having a bad day. And Sasuke had been an accident. He was teasing Naruto and she had gotten between the two and forgot her own strength and had shoved both against the nearby walls some feet away. That wasn't her fault. Totally not.
"Tch, this little girl? She's the one you said could break Samehada; but I'm not buying it. She doesn't look like she can break anything but a nail."
That was the last straw. Tsunade saw that look in Sakura's eyes as the corners of them twitched in agitation. Before the blonde could even try to issue a warning for the fish ninja, the pinkette turned to face the male.
Cracking her knuckles against each other, Sakura focused her attention on Kisame as she stomped towards him. If he didn't believe she was a strong woman, their team work would get nowhere fast. It'd be best to prove how strong she really was now; then she wouldn't have to called weak.
She wasn't weak. Not since Lady Tsunade had begun training her as a medical ninja and showed her how to make her punches stronger. And it was time that she showed Kisame that. It would keep him from making those types of comments for the rest of his days.
"Listen here, Kisame," Sakura began, one fist raising itself as the muscles in her arm began to tighten considerably. She really was going to punch him. It wouldn't take much to swing her arm back and hit him square in the jaw. That's all it would take to break his jaw- probably even rip it off his face. "My name is Sakura Haruno. Lady Tsunade trained me to be one of the best ninja that there is here in Konoha. So since we're partners, you better remember my name because I'll have to heal you. And I'm strong. I could punch you out this wall and break it, and you would still be flying passed the village."
That threat seemed to make Kisame shrink down, if even slightly. He didn't want a confrontation? Even though he was the one that was antagonizing her and calling her weak? How pathetic was this guy?
Whatever. His actions were enough to make Sakura roll her eyes before she looked to Tsunade with a smile. After all, if he was going to act like this, it wasn't worth the effort needed to deck him.
"May I have the documents or information about what missions Kisame and I will be doing here in the village, Hokage?"
This caused the older female to chuckle as she looked between the two. They were certainly an odd pair. Not because of the places that they lived, but their entire personalities. Sakura was out-going and caring for all of her friends; if she found that one of them was wounded, she would stop everything and go save them. Even if she was unable to do anything but stand there and pray for their lives to continue. Strong as she was, Sakura was the type that couldn't be swayed when something happened that she didn't approve of. She had weaknesses though, but that would come later.
Kisame, on the other hand, was ruthless. While he was calm and teasing right now, everyone that had heard his name before knew of what he was capable of. This included not only outright murder of people around him, but comrades. Companions that trusted him with their lives on missions. He was the type to kill the ones that weren't valuable or that irritated him.
Hopefully, pairing one of the more cruel with the more kind would create something stable. Something unique. Something that would easily last and cause balance in Konoha, instead of causing nothing but disaster.
"Yes, of course. Here are the three missions we have for you two. For now, you can get to know each other today, and then do them tomorrow," handing the three folders to Sakura, Tsunade continued speaking, "or you could even do one today. It's all up to the both of you."
Hmm. The missions were simple enough. One was to look for a lost dog, another to paint the house of the ramen shop, and the last one was dog walking. Huh. That last one was familiar.
God, it was just like the time the old Squad Seven went out to walk the dogs. Naruto had let his lead him into land mines. Of course, he had picked the biggest dog to impress her and to try and show he was better than Sasuke. Which hadn't worked out.
...Now she just had to hope that Kisame didn't do the same thing. That was the last thing she needed.
"Alright. Kisame, you and I can get to know each other before we get started. That way, we can figure out which of these missions we're compatible with!"
Not getting an answer, the pink haired girl blinked in confusion. Followed then by her turning to look at the blue skinned man. Only to pause when it came to her realization that he had disappeared. Well, that was certainly unexpected. How had he managed to slip by her like that?
No matter, the response Sakura had was immediate irritation. Which made Tsunade shake her head as she pointed to the now open window. A silent explanation of where he went when the pinkette wasn't looking.
Great. Just great. Now she had to go hunt him down. It was times like these that she wished she knew Kiba better. She could ask him and Akamaru to track someone down. Or even TonTon.
But since that wasn't the case, she would have to do it by foot. Though with how blue he was and how much he stood out, Sakura figured that it couldn't be that hard to locate him.
Just as the girl was about to go out through the window to find her partner, Tsunade could be heard asking her to wait. And that was just what she did, green eyes now focusing in a questioning manner on her Hokage. Was there something that she needed to know?
"It might be wise to tell you this now instead of letting you discover it later, Sakura-" so there was something that she had to know. "-but Kisame didn't turn up on the outskirts of the village on his own. We put him there so he would think that."
"So he would think that he turned up here? Why would you do that? How did you even do that?" Though she asked this, Sakura was already coming to the conclusion of what this meant. And what it had to imply.
"It's a bit of a long story, but the short one is that we captured Kisame while he was sleeping and I came up with the idea to try and change his memory. Kurenai even helped to use some genjutsu on him. I'm impressed that it worked so well; but on the off chance that it no longer works and he realizes that he didn't defect from the Akatsuki, you are paired up with him to take him out."
So that was it. Kisame was being manipulated by genjutsu and a change of his memories. Thinking about it, that made sense. But the real question was how long it would last. And how much time they had before the rest of the Akatsuki- at least who's alive -came to get their member.
But if Sakura was the one watching him, she would be able to keep the genjutsu up. As long as the others didn't show up and attack her, that is.
"Alright, I understand. But is there more of a reason for why we did this to him? Or is it because we wanted a member of the Akatsuki on our side?"
"No, there is another reason," Tsunade answered, sighing as she turned her head to look outside at the bright sun, "We want to get as much information as we can from him. Without torture. So we picked one of the most strong willed people we could find, and that was you. Your real mission is to get as much information out of Kisame as you can, relay it to me, and when he has given you all the info that he has, release him from the genjutsu. Preferably outside of Konoha."
Thank goodness. She didn't want to have to kill someone. That wasn't worth any information in the world if she had to kill Kisame. At least not without a proper reason and fight.
"That's all I have to say. For now, find Kisame and try to get along with him. I have faith in you, Sakura."
Nodding in understanding, the girl went ahead and climbed out of the Hokage's office through the window. Immediately, the fresh breeze greeted Sakura. It played with her hair and brought the smell of sweets and ramen, even though she didn't care for the latter. What did matter was that she had to find Kisame.
The question then was, where would he go? Closing her eyes for a moment as she began to wonder where a giant fish-like man would travel to in Konoha.
Maybe the market? No, that didn't seem right. Bookstore? No, she was certain he was a bit too slimy for that. Was he even slimy? He didn't look like it. Wait, shit, she was getting distracted.
Gah, this wasn't working at all! She just kept getting distracted. Forget it, she would just look on foot instead of stand around like there was nothing to lose.
Deciding that that was the best option, Sakura took a running leap from the rooftop. She had complete faith that she would land on the building on the other side of the street. And that showed in her grin when her two feet touched the gray roof top.
As soon as her feet found balance on the ground underneath her, Sakura took off running in one of the random directions that had houses lined all for her. Especially with its rooftops. She could look for Kisame easily this way. Even up above here, higher than any other person on the ground below her, it would be easy to spot her partner. After all, how could anyone miss a blue fish man?
An hour after Sakura had begun her search, it seemed that question was becoming harder and harder to answer. She couldn't find Kisame at all!
This had to be a bad sign for the beginnings of their partnership. Should she call it friendship, now that she thought about it? That made the most sense, right? That was what Tsunade asked her to do. In a way, at least.
"Excuse me, I'd like all the shrimp you have."
Wait- That voice. Was that him?
"Yes I have enough money for the shrimp. Your sign says all you can eat, right?"
Okay yeah, that was definitely Kisame's voice. It was a little hard to recognize, but when your mouth sounded like it was a bit full and had something deep stuck in your throat, it was hard to forget a voice like that.
Hopping down from the rooftop that she had been sitting on, Sakura blinked as she saw Kisame conversing with a seafood seller. So this was what he was doing? Buying shrimp?
"Well I'm sure I can easily eat all of your shrimp, so you better be ready to get me all of your food!"
This caused the girl to sigh in exasperation. Of course. Her new partner just had to be like Naruto when it came to food. Was she cursed with dealing with people like this all the time?
Well she couldn't complain that much. It was better to deal with people that enjoyed food too much than them enjoying something else. Like... things involving death. It was a bit hard to enjoy anything with a person that liked the macabre sort of things.
"So this was where you ran off to? A shrimp stand?" Sakura questioned, causing the blue haired man to look at her, his eyes taking her in for a moment.
"Did you have to follow me here? I was going to enjoy this food by myself, you didn't have to show up." Did he have to act so bratty too? It was like she was dealing with a combination of Sasuke and Naruto.
"We're supposed to be partners, and I said that we needed to get to know each other better, remember? That way, it's easier to understand each other and react faster when on missions together." Now he was rolling his eyes, as if Sakura wasn't watching him. If Naruto had done that, she would have punched the daylights out of him. But for now, she decided that Kisame wasn't worth the effort. Not yet. She could pretend to be weak until the time came to show her strength. She had done it before.
"Whatever. If you want to try and chat while I'm eating, go ahead. But don't expect me to talk back or something." So that was how it was, huh? Well two could play at that game. Ordering some fried squid, Sakura sat down beside Kisame. She could handle dealing with a brat like this. So bring it on, Kisame.