Sakura, the Beginning of a Kunoichi

7.- Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi, Hidan y Kakuzu

He couldn't believe it. He had joined one of the most compromising criminal organizations, and for what? To turn great villages to ashes, transform people into stars with his beautiful art, or intimidate great ninja nations? No! He felt outraged just to think that maybe he had fought against that despicable Uchiha just so they could have him as some sort of babysitter. A babysitter! Barely arriving at the headquarters after joining, they sent him for a week to fulfill a task with Sasori, in some sort of compatibility test, just because his former teammate decided to turn his back on Akatsuki. And now, they gave him the obligation to take care of Akatsuki's little girl because everyone was too busy to do it themselves.

He walked through the halls of Akatsuki's central headquarters in search of that Haruno Sakura. Just the sound of her name made his teeth grind. Definitely, when he found her, he would give her one of his beautiful creations to play with. And then, she would accidentally play too much with it and end up disappearing into thousands of pieces. And since she's a child and children make mistakes, they would let it slide as if it were just an accident.

He chuckled at his ridiculously brilliant plan. The only problem was that he had traversed more than half of the building and still hadn't found her. If he didn't find her soon, he was sure he would blow the building up, even if they had to rebuild it afterward. But, wishing to continue living without the leader's wrath, he decided to seek out his companion Sasori to see if he knew anything about the routines of the girl he had to take care of.

"Sasori, do you know where the girl is?" he asked as he opened the door to Sasori's room.

As always, he found him sitting at his desk, focused on his work with the puppets. He waited for a response, but when he didn't get one, he began to grow frustrated. He was about to yell at him to stop and answer him when Sasori finally spoke.

"She was here a while ago," he commented, still carving the doll he was working on.

Deidara furrowed his brow even more at the doubt: why would that girl be in a place like this? If there was one thing he knew about Sasori, it was that he wasn't very patient with his time, and children tended to be noisy, spoiled, and annoying. He surveyed the room, trying to see what might have caught the girl's attention to enter, but he found nothing interesting. What he did notice was a small child-sized chair in a corner, and next to a small table were two dolls: one that looked like a green imp and the other, half-finished, a black figure. Sasori didn't usually make that type of puppets, so he guessed the girl had really been coming to Sasori's room to learn from him. Confused but knowing he wouldn't get any more answers, he closed the door and continued his search for the girl he had to find.

He kept muttering different ways he would make her disappear from the earth "accidentally." He entered the living room, stopping abruptly when he saw Kakuzu, as usual, counting money. Everyone knew the explicit rule that no one could approach him while he was counting money unless you were immortal and didn't mind being torn apart. However, to Deidara's surprise, there, next to him, was that girl with the strange pink hair he had been tasked with looking after.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing: there was the girl next to Kakuzu, shining with innocence and happiness. He blinked several times and even used the "Kai" signal a couple of times to make sure this was real, that the girl wasn't dead or dismembered. Instead, she was counting money.

She and Kakuzu counting money. She touching Kakuzu's money.

No one touched Kakuzu's money.

"Four thousand two hundred forty!" she exclaimed with a bubbly voice, proud to have counted the money Kakuzu had given her perfectly.

"Are you sure?" said Kakuzu, as serious as ever. Sakura's pink eyebrows curved at the hint of doubt. "One must always be sure. Money is very important. One must know how much they have and save as much as possible..."