Three year old Hoshigaki Sakura was only allowed out into the village at night when most of Ame's citizens had retired for the day and only the adult establishments were open and bustling, but Papa never took her near those. He said she wasn't old enough.

But she didn't care about not having to go as long as she was able to spend time with him. Normally on these days, her and her Papa would walk down a path to one of the training grounds in the village to work on cultivating her skills. She had to wear a cloak too because Papa didn't want her to get sick—but it wasn't like the pretty one he always wore.

Once, she asked him if she'd ever get one like his.

He tried to hide a sad smile from her and answered:

"I hope you never do."

She still didn't know what that meant, but at least now she understood that red clouds mean "'katsuki" and that "Leada-sama" was in charge of everything. As she kicked up puddles and walked down the dark streets with her hand in her father's, her curious stare darted from the buildings glowing softly in the moonlight up to the rain that fell to the tips of her toes.

"Why no moon?" she asked. Kisame tipped his head down at her, the tassels of his hat shifting across his shoulders.

"Because when it rains as much as this, the clouds cover the sky and you can't see anything else."

"Star?"

"No stars either."

"Sun!"

"The sun's a star too, pup, but it's a special one that only comes out during the day," he said, patting her hood covered head. "But I guess you've only seen the sun in your books, huh?"

Pein never stopped the rain and Sakura knew no different than that, so he took it upon himself to get as many picture books as he could to show her that skies could come in all kinds. The day after he'd done that, Sakura spent all her free time looking outside her window to look at the clouds above. 

She asked why it never stopped.

Kisame laughed, pat her head, and said that "God" had a bit of a complex.

"I'll show you the light one day," he promised as he sobered up from the memory. She beamed at him. "I'll take you out of the village so you can see the moon and the stars and the sun. Whaddya think?"

She hopped into a puddle and let her yellow boots get covered in the muddy water. She giggled.

"Yeah!"

But the night wasn't just for late night walks and answering the infinite number of questions his little girl procured, but it was also his opportunity to train her without the rest of the village's wandering eyes. He taught her how to properly hold kunai and shuriken and had her aim for the crudely marked targets he carved in the trees. He started bringing her out when she learned to walk on her own and had her practice until she said she was tired.

Normally, she'd aim for the targets and ask questions about the types of trees she was trying to hit or why there wasn't a lot of grass when there was a lot of dirt. Kisame didn't know all of the answers, but he made sure to look them up and tell her the next day.

Though today, she started to ask some questions he hoped she wouldn't ask until she was older.

"Why we do 'tis?" Sakura asked. She stopped throwing and held up one of her kunai so her father could get a closer look. "Game?"

"This ain't a game, pup. You need to learn to protect yourself from the people that might come to kill me."

Confused, she tilted her head to the side.

"Kill Papa? Why?"

He gave her a bitter smile and bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Because I'm not a good man."

She shook her head and clung onto the front of his cloak. "No! Not! Papa a'ways good!"

"Not to them."

"Why?"

"'Cause I kill people too. I'm not a good man. I don't do good things, and I don't think I'll be able to make up for that."

"But I love Papa," she protested. Her bottom lip started to wobble. "Papa a'ways good!"

Kisame lifted her up as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her face into his chest. She tried to blink away the water that welled up in her eyes.

"I love you too. I'm sorry it's like this."

She shook her head and sniffed. "No sowries. I love Papa."

He held her close and resolved to carry her back home; their training could be held off for another day. 

He wondered, sometimes. About what he did to deserve such a sweet daughter like her.

::

Sakura met him completely by chance.

Her father told her to wait at the tower for Konan and not to move or go with any strangers. It didn't worry her that much, really. All the people who came in and worked closely with Akatsuki and everyone he didn't want her to meet were supposed to be on on missions.

But then a hunched figure hobbled in wearing the same cloak as "Ko-san", "Kazu-san", "Papa", and "Leada-sama".

::

Sasori entered the building, arriving from the mission earlier than normal and being thankful for the fact that it hadn't extended over the deadline like his previous few missions before his current one. He expected everything to be in its place when he entered and didn't think that there would be any visitors at this time of day.

He was displeased to find that he was wrong and that a pink haired infant was sitting in Akatsuki-barred territory. A stray, obviously. What else would it be?

He approached her in his Hiruko form and loomed over her.

"You shouldn't be here."

The girl shook her head. "No. Papa say stay."

Sasori raised an eyebrow. Her father? There wasn't an idiot foolish enough to drop their daughter in a place that hailed the most dangerous criminals across the nations.

"You shouldn't try my patience, girl. Leave," he sneered. The girl shook her head harder and had the audacity to glare at him.

"Nu-uh! Papa say stay an' wait! Go 'way!"

With tried patience, Sasori unwound his poisoned coil and held it over his head like a scorpion threatening to impale its prey. A hint of interest flickered in his eyes when the girl slipped out a kunai from her sandal and held it in front of her protectively. Not in the exact proper position that it should be, but close enough for him to know that the child was currently being trained at her startlingly young age.

"It's a shame you'll die here," he drawled. "You would've been such an effective puppet if you hadn't gotten on my nerves."

Before he could move, however, a sea of paper sheets swarmed his blade to block it from aiming at the child. Irked, he watched as she took the chance to skitter around his reach and duck behind the newcomer who stopped her impending bloodshed.

She held onto Konan's cloak as she stood by her side.

"I wasn't aware you let pests into the building," he hissed. The paper detached itself as he let his coil retract back into his body.

"If she were a pest, she would have already been promptly exterminated," she answered. She placed a graceful hand behind the girl's back and gently nudged her forward. "This is Akasuna no Sasori. Sakura, introduce yourself."

Alarm bells suddenly blared in Sakura's head as the word dangerous flashed in her mind's eye and the way she stiffened didn't go unnoticed by the other two in her company. Akasuna no Sasori. Missing-nin. Former Affiliation: Sunagakure. Current Affiliation: Akatsuki. But he didn't look like the red head in the pictures her father showed her.

"I'm Hosh'gaki Sak'ra. Nice t'meet'chu," the girl said reluctantly. Sasori cocked his head.

"Peculiar," he mused. He smirked at the way she avoided his stare and kept her head bent slightly downwards. She had the oddest reaction to the mention of his name. "Why weren't we informed of this development?"

"It isn't of any importance."

"The girl is an asset."

"Kisame-san is unwilling to allow her into the Akatsuki."

"Like forced association isn't something this organization partakes in," Sasori scoffed. "You did it to me. You did it to Kisame. Leader-sama did it to Kakuzu. You both are going to do it in the future."

He turned his attention back to the little girl—Sakura—and grinned beneath his facade. "Did you understand that, girl? You're Akatsuki's homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"

"Sasori," Konan warned. His wooden tail swayed.

"I'm going to make my report," he said. His steel eyes glimmered with mirth. "If you told me the girl was already a puppet, I wouldn't have wasted my time considering making her one of my own."

Sakura ducked her head down as he passed them by and continued his original path towards Pein's office. Once he turned a corner, Konan strode off in the opposite direction and beckoned the girl to follow after her. They walked together towards the rooftop where the overhang extended over the ledge and allowed Sakura to stand on her tippy-toes and peer down at the village below.

"Ko-san?" Sakura called out. Konan looked up at the girl from her spot near the door. "Wha's a as-set?"

"Something or someone that can be used to gain an edge."

Sakura cocked her head but didn't look behind her.

"Why'm I one?"

The Angel of Ame exhaled quietly through her nose. The Akatsuki as a whole lacked certain sensibilities when it came to socializing, but there was no way they'd come to familiarize themselves with children before coming into the work they do. Then again, it's not like they needed a kindness in their lives. Kindness got criminals killed, and they had no inclination to treat Sakura unlike the way they treated the rest of the world despite who she was.

She didn't want to exude such kindness either because she didn't want to instill such a small child with a hope she would never find here, but Sakura reminded her of herself when she was younger.

Much, much younger when the rain wasn't cold and war hadn't scarred the land.

"Because you were born into Akatsuki," she replied. But she wished she wasn't. "When you're of age, you'll be sent on missions similar to the likes of your father. Assassination, infiltration, espionage, everything."

She wished Kisame had taken his daughter far away from this place.

"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."

She was so sorry that she couldn't tell the girl any different.

Sakura didn't reply for a long while and kept her bright green eyes down at where dark blobs went of up and down the streets. There were lots of words Konan used that she didn't quite understand yet, but there were enough words in there that she did know. And it brought her images of red, glinting metal, and faces twisted in screams.

"Like Papa?"

Konan nodded once. "Yes."

The girl turned around with her face carefully blank like the way her father taught her how to do in the face of those she wanted to hide her feelings from.

"Like... Like Kazu-san too?"

"Yes. Is there an issue with Kakuzu-san?"

Something flashed across Sakura's face.

"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."

"Because I'm not a good man."

"Did you understand that, girl? You're Akatsuki's homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"

"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."

She turned back around and went back to looking off the roof.

"No. S'okay.'

And it was. At least, for a little while.