"So there was a guy I was after, right? Complete schmuck. Not worth the money on his head, but hey, money is money when you're in a job like mine. But don't do what I'm doing when you're older, it's not good," Kisame said. He spooned some applesauce into eight month old Sakura's mouth as she sat in her high chair, smiling as she ate and hugging her shark plushie close to her chest. "Anyway, I go to my assigned destination and my target's there with no guards whatsoever. Stupid bastard."

He blinked and pointed a finger at his daughter's giggling face.

"Don't say that word. It's bad."

"Bast'd!"

"Yeah, that's right. Bastard's a bad—"

His sentence died on his tongue as he realized her usual babbling actually turned coherent. A grin of sharp teeth and glee spread across his face as he began to laugh.

"No-No, don't—" he snerked, laughter breaking through his sentences. "That can't be your first—pfft—word—"

Sakura tittered along with her father's joy and chanted along with him.

"Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!" she squealed. She raised her arms and made grabby hands to which he complied readily, lifting her up and spinning before planting a kiss on her cheek.

"You can't keep her from the world she was born into."

A little after his excitement died down and he situated her back into her high chair, he took out a set of notecards he made himself and had been showing her each day he could for the past month and a half. Leaving her with Kakuzu had been an unfortunate eye opener for him, and if she was going to grow up in his world, she would have to know how to look out for herself the second she learned of the situation she was in.

Kisame held up the first card in front of her.

DANGEROUS

"Just like last time, okay? I'm going to show you the top fifty shinobi listed in the Bingo Book, including some honorable mentions. The most dangerous and worth the most across the five nations," he explained. She might not yet understand everything now, but he read there was a 'window of opportunity' in children where learning was the most crucial. The brain developed most rapidly between birth to five years of age, so the more he taught her when she was young, the more mentally prepared she would be.

He held up the first card with a picture and a name underneath. It was of an older man with unruly white hair and red paint that ran from his eyes down to his chin.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin. Affiliation: Konohagakure."

The next card. A woman with blue hair, stone cold hazel eyes, and an origami flower placed neatly in her hair. Sakura lit up and pointed at the picture.

"Ko!" she exclaimed. Kisame blinked as he stared at her, the card, then back at her again.

"You know lots of stuff already, huh?" he mused. "Must've gotten those brains from your old man, eh? But yeah, you're right. Good job. Konan, the Angel of Ame. Affiliation: Akatsuki and Amegakure."

It went on for the next forty-eight pictures filled with Kage, notorious missing-nin, jinchuriki, and formidable forces.

One day, she would know these names and faces by heart. She would know the people who could be out for her life, and when she did, she'd see that the life of a shinobi was kind to no one no matter how much heart they put into it. 

Once he finished with those cards, he told her about what she'd have to learn when she was older.

"We'll have to work on your chakra control, at most. That's the most important thing that links in with everything you'll learn from ninjutusu to taijutsu to genjutsu to swordsmanship," he explained. He glanced at the ceiling thoughtfully. "We'll also have to see what elemental type you are when you're older, pup."

Sakura beamed at him.

"Her father's a murderer—a traitor, a villain. Why hide it from her when she could know the truth before you can have a chance to lie?"

Kisame fed another spoonful of applesauce to her before taking up a frown. He was once again at a loss of options as to who to leave Sakura with for the time being. Orochimaru and Sasori were still high on the 'no-go' list and Kakuzu made himself a cozy spot at the very top with what he'd done a little over a month ago.

He sighed. Konan really was an angel in times like these.

"Alright," he said. He took her and her shark plushie into his arms. "We're going to see Leader-sama to see if he can look after you for a while."

::

Pein stared at him.

"You want me to look after your spawn."

"It's just a three week long mission, Leader-sama, or at least until Konan-san comes back. Please, it's... it's only because I don't have anymore options. Especially not after what happened last time," Kisame said. Pein spied the girl's torn ear and wondered how she managed such an injury.

But regardless of his musings, that's how his day turned from decent to less than enjoyable as he took to having the child in his office until Konan returned despite his earlier command to never have her in the tower until she learned to control herself. 

Kisame was loyal. Loyalty was rewarded.

Pein placed her on the blanket next to his desk with the sole intent of ignoring her as best he could while he completed his work. While children didn't amount to much, especially those as young as her, he rightfully assumed that she shouldn't be much of an issue. She was eight months olds, could sit upright and crawl, and had some basic cognitive ability to understand simple statements. So in theory, she should be able to sit on her polka dot blanket with her shark plushie and behave.

But she wouldn't, of course, because why would she.

Sakura suckled on her pacifier for a good minute before she grew bored and started to crawl off the blanket and into Pein's immediate work space. One of her hands lifted to grab the the drawers attached to his desk. She managed to fumble with the handle a bit before she was dutifully picked up and returned her to her spot.

He glared.

"Don't move."

He sat back down in his seat and resumed his paperwork. Pein didn't know how much time passed since he glanced up to check on her, but he did a double take when he realized she wasn't on the blanket again.  A quick scan of the room granted him the sight of Sakura having crawled over to the opposite end of his position to pat some books on the bookshelf. He withheld a sigh and strode over to pick her up and dump her back onto the blanket for the second time.

She giggled at the way his face creased in irritation at her actions as he took some of his books and stacked them around her like some makeshift barrier.

"Stay," he ordered. She gurgled and smiled and hugged her plushie. When Pein thought it was safe to go back to his papers, he was only able to get through two pages before there was a collapse of hardcover and a tug at his pant leg.

He glanced down and saw a pair of sparkling green eyes looking up at him.

"You're a handful," he said. He reached down for her and pulled her into his lap. "Annoying. What will happen to you if your father turns up dead and you become an orphan? Who will be there for you then?"

"Just stay here, Nagato."

"Hide and they won't find you."

"These Konoha shinobi..."

"My parents! DON'T KILL THEM!"

He frowned. "There will be no one to take care of you after that.

Sakura stared at him a little longer before clasping his nose and tugging. Pein pursed his lips in exasperation.

"You're an extremely irritating child."

He settled her down on his thigh moments before there was a single knock on the door and he called for them to enter. Kakuzu strode in all deep-seated discontent and red liquid soaking the ends of his cloak, ignoring the baby in Pein's possession and standing a meter or two away from the desk.

Sakura grew strangely subdued.

"Report," Pein commanded. Something at the back of his mind noted the girl's sudden change in temperament but he stayed focused on the Akatsuki member in front of him. Kakuzu dropped a bloodied sack to the side of the leader's desk—a head, most likely, because the chances of it being anything but was very slim—and began his oral deliverance of his mission details in the same monotonous way he always did.

Sakura stayed miraculously well-behaved the whole and while, only shifting every minute or so to fiddle with the fabric of Pein's sleeve.

And it wasn't until the wrap up of the report did she raise her head and slowly extended an arm out towards Kakuzu.

"Foo," she cooed quietly. "Foo. Foo."

Kakuzu shut his mouth before looking straight at her, the calculating flare of his eyes searching as he thought back to the words he told her the day he massacred those Takigakure shinobi. Remember what you witnessed here, he'd told her. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world.

And she did remember. Even after all he'd put her through in her short, short life.

"That's right," he said detachedly. "Fool."

With nothing left to say and his evaluation completed, he nodded his head minutely towards the leader before taking his leave. Pein was dumbfounded at the exchange. Sakura didn't mind it all, turning when the door shut and smiling.

"Pei!" she exclaimed. He removed himself from his musings.

"You will address me as Leader-sama."

"Sa?"

He stared her down with a stern expression that couldn't quite meet the thread of softness he allowed himself to hold. "You'll learn."

And she would have to, because she had already seen too much. She had already learned to live with her surroundings. She had already made it apparent through her smiles and giggles that she would grow beneath her father's wing.

She had already sealed her fate.

The Akatsuki could not afford to let her go.