Her cold breath condensed as it made contact with the cold glass of the window against which her head was placed. She observed the drops of rain water slide down the surface as it poured heavily outside. For once, Sakura was relieved to be inside her cozy lounge, just observing the dark and misty storm outside. It was the first rain of the season and probably the most heavily descended. The clouds rumbled in a distance and she could see the dark street illuminated just for a fraction as the lightening struck again. It made her car, parked in her driveway, start to honk noisily as its headlights started to blink violently.
Sakura closed her eyes in frustration and straightened up from the window. Walking to the fireplace, she grabbed the keys from the mantel shelf before heading to the door. She opened the door to let a cold gush of air inside, standing in the door way she pressed the button on the key pad on her key chain but the car didn`t budge. The water splashed beneath her feet as she made her way out of the porch. It was extremely cold and the rain was making her shirt stick to her body in a way she didn`t like. Lightening struck again, just as she pushed the button the panel of her key chain to stop the security alarm, nearing the car. This time when the street illuminated, Sakura could see a body just a few paces from her car. It was gone, the light, even before she could properly register what she saw. She stood there, letting the water wash over her and narrowed her eyes in that direction. From what she comprehended, it was like someone was kneeled over, clutching their sides.
She couldn`t hear anything over the loud reverberating storm, so she took a few steps closer. Another flash of lightening was followed by the roaring of clouds. Now Sakura couldn`t hold back after what she saw. A mass of long black hair were whipping across the person`s body, he was dressed in a long ragged cloak. On of his hands was resting on the concrete pavement, supporting his body weight, while the other was gripping his ribs. But that was not what had caught her attention, it was the time when their eyes had met, she could have sworn that she had seen those crimson eyes before, but the contact was broken instantly as the light faded. She rushed forwards, although she couldn`t see them now, but she could feel the intensity of those sharp eyes watching her as if the person was not affected by the dark as she was.
She worked in the Konoha hospital as a well trained medic ninja, so it was more in her medical genes than in anything that she felt obliged to help the wounded. Nearing the place where she had seen the figure, Sakura could hear faint traces of frayed breathing. She followed it and came across the hazy form. Just to make sure that it wasn`t an illusion, she extended her hand to touch what felt like the shoulder.
"what…" the hoarse voice grunted with great difficulty, "are you doing?" it was a male voice.
"just stay with me, don`t let sleep or drowsiness over power you or you would be rendered unconscious." Although her voice was muffled by the other sounds around them, Sakura sensed that the person had somehow heard her right. The cold water wasn`t so much productive to act as a medium during healing so she forced some of her chakra into him and dragged the body with the thin chakra strands into her house.
She placed him onto the couch and lit the fire. In the light she could see the masculine face twisted up in pain and his eyebrows furrowed, giving her an impression as if he was glaring at her. Looking into those eyes she could still feel an odd sense of nostalgia but this was not the time to be wasting on remembering where she might have seen the person before, for all she knew he could have been her very old client once. She moved forwards and stared at his cloak, it was all black with red clouds imprinted on it randomly. Shaking her head at her ill sense of seeing things other than helping the other, she grabbed the front of his cloak and ripped it off. Looking at the face she could see the eyes half closed.
"don`t fall asleep sir," Sakura tapped her fingers on his gaunt cheek, "stay with me!"
At the side, on his ribs, Sakura could see a long gash. From the looks of it, someone had used intoxicant weapon to cause that, the reason for the induced drowsiness. She could feel the fractured ribs when she pressed her fingers near his wound, making a soft sound escape his lips. This might take longer than a minute.
She proceeded with the healing after splashing a few drops of the antidote on the cut, occasionally shaking the person`s shoulders to keep him awake, he just kept grunting in response to that and tried as hard as he could to keep alert.
The pain was fading away, giving him a false sense of security and he knew it. He felt his chilly clothes being dried up by a hot breeze, lifting his eye lids ever so slightly; he could see something pointed towards him, emitting his source of comfort, "is that…?" He couldn`t complete the sentence because his worn out lungs wouldn`t allow it.
"a hair dyer? Yes." Sakura answered his question; she had already taken off his cloak, leaving him in a pair of grey slacks and a thin vest. Drying most of his hair, she got up and said, "now you wait here."
After barely a minute, she returned from the kitchen, holding a cup of tea in which she had mixed a strengthening draught. That might help her keep him awake. She saw that his eyes were closed and he was taking slow breaths, before the tea cup could fall off of her hands and she could start screaming for him to not snooze off, she heard his tranquil voice, it was steadier this time, "I'm not sleeping."
Sakura sighed, for a moment she had thought that there might be no way to bring him back, that`s what the purpose of using these types of weapons was, make the target lethargic so that as soon as he fell asleep, he became cataleptic. "here," Sakura offered the tea, "this might make you feel better." She handed him the cup when he opened his eyes.
"hardly," He glared at the cup in his hands and murmured, "I don`t drink tea."
"it has medicine in it." She persisted. He was in no shape to argue; neither did he want to for that matter since he felt a slight hint of gratitude towards her for banking him. He looked into the contents of the cup and emptied them in one big gulp. Sakura`s mouth opened in surprise lightly.
After a minute or so, in which Sakura assumed that he felt much better, judging from the fact that he had attempted to sit up straighter and succeeded, she asked slowly, "how did you end up like that?"
It was only a moment before the person was on is feet like any normal one, swearing under his breath as he remembered the reason for him being injured, "I have to leave."
"Why?" Sakura got up from the chair placed near the couch and asked anxiously.
He didn`t want to talk, it took too much effort, and he had to get out of there fast because if his stalker found him and came here he would kill the other too. He despised innocent deaths, not to mention that the pink head had saved his life and getting her killed because of himself seemed to be a very poor way of returning the favor. He was about to walk towards the door when she grasped his wrist firmly, sending a sharp jolt of awareness to course through his whole arm.
"if someone is following you, don`t worry. We`ll hide-"
He turned and Sakura could see a ghostly image of an ironic smirk hanging on his lips, "he can feel my presence, he`ll destroy both of-"
His sentence was dissolved in the lightening and the deafening rumble of clouds outside, causing the siren of her car to launch again. The lights went out, making everything around them pitch black, causing fear to trickle down the back of her neck. She didn`t notice that she was still holding the older one`s wrist, the grip tightening by the minute. A moment later, her car stopped beeping instantly and the lights came back, illuminating everything. Sakura could see another figure standing in her doorway, accompanying the two. Their eyes met and Sakura realized the reason for her to feel the déjà vu upon seeing the eyes of her patient.
"Sasuke?" She choked, unconsciously letting go of the wrist she had been holding.
"Itachi." Sasuke ignored her and fixed his eyes upon the person next to her, his eyes flashing dangerously as he hissed.
He formed two chakra blades in the blink of an eye and sent them flying over to them. Sakura blocked them by a shield of her own chakra but it required too much expenditure from her. If she kept going on like this, she would end up without any energy in no time. Sasuke was undeniably too powerful.
"stay out of it Haruno or I'll kill you too." Sasuke said angrily.
"you won`t." Itachi interjected coldly, "this is between you and me, brother." He said each word calmly but Sakura could sense that it caused him all the energy he had.
"no!" She cried, looking helplessly between the two, "you can`t fight, you shouldn`t fight!"
Sasuke chuckled humorlessly before conjuring up another chakra blade and swirling at Itachi. Sakura wasn`t fast enough to make a shield but the other dodged it just in time.
"Sasuke, please!" She begged, tears streaming down her face.
Getting sick of losing chakra aimlessly, Sasuke lurched forward to use his hands for the battle, Tai Jutsu. As soon as his palm was about to make contact with his older brother`s bare shoulder, Sakura leapt in between, grabbed his wrist, using all her chakra, and twisted it away. Sasuke glared at her, stroking his wrist, "you wanna die?" He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his thumb across his lower lip, "let it be then."
Sakura could only see a flash before she was pinned to the wall.
"Sasuke, let her go." Itachi`s voice was marked with hatred and rage, "now!"
Sasuke merely ignored his elder brother`s command. Sakura on the other hand concentrated on the jutsu she had been taught by the fifth. The one which very few of even the medic nins knew. Chakra wedge no jutsu.
"you have to place your fingers precisely at the target`s neck artery…" The fifth had explained.
"Like taking the pulse?" Sakura had interjected excitedly; she had been told that this was a very vital jutsu needed for her exclusive training.
"quite the opposite Sakura, the fingers you have to press are the last two, not the first. Then you have to stop the flow of your own chakra, stop it completely and it will make the other lose his chakra." Tsunade paused, "but it makes you just as vulnerable as the one in question, it's a suicidal technique. Only effective when there is a third person on your side…"
Sakura lifted her eyes to meet Itachi`s from across Sasuke`s shoulders, he looked desperate and helpless but at the same time she could see the wrath so overwhelming that she had to avert her gaze for the sake of her sanity. It took all her might to lift her hand and locate Sasuke`s artery at the side of his neck. The instant Sasuke turned his head to mock Itachi, Sakura pressed her fingers against his cold skin and blocked her chakra flow.
It hadn`t been more than a second before Sasuke took a step back in pain, clutching his neck, "what have you done, Haruno?"
Sakura could feel her legs getting weak and she fell on her knees. Sasuke tried to form another weapon out of his chakra but no avail; it was easy to see that he was struggling to keep on his feet. He glared at her, a deadly look in his venomous eyes as he took a step towards her. Before his hands could make contact with her skin, he felt a firm grip on his shoulder and he was pushed against the same wall Sakura was pinned to earlier. Itachi pulled out a kunai from within his robes an pointed it at Sasuke`s chest.
"Itachi no!" Sakura cried.
The weapon stopped, pinching the skin and summoning a drop of blood. Itachi glared into those cold eyes, just the same as his and dropped the kunai from his hand. The medicine Sakura had given him had seemed to have taken effect. He pulled out another one, still staring in those eyes, now narrowed, and rolled it between his fingers. He raised his eyebrow and inched his face forward before shoving the kunai on his face, Sasuke didn`t flinch, he knew it wasn't meant for him. The blade sliced into the wall just beside the pale cheek.
"you owe her your life." Itachi took a few steps away and hissed coldly before turning around and walking towards the door, limping slightly on his left foot. As he reached the door, he stopped abruptly, his back towards the two occupants. Although his voice was muffled considerably by the storm but there was no mistaking the threat in it, "don`t you dare lift a finger at her." Sakura saw his back disappear in the mist of the blizzard. At another bolt of lightening she could see him halfway across the street.
Sasuke straightened up and glared at her for a minute, his look was almost judgmental. He didn`t say anything and went straight out the door without a second glance at her. Sakura couldn`t help but notice the similarity in their paces, both arrogant but weak.