A/N:

This is an idea that I came up from listening to the song Time Is Running Out by The Muse. Hopefully you enjoy. It's a bit long, and I'm not really sure where I'm going with this yet :)

He repeated his ultimatum. "Time is running out for your comrade, Kunoichi. Make a deal with me. In exchange for your comrade's life, you will accompany me in Akatsuki. You will heal me."

Sakura clenched her fists as traitorous tears began to leak out of her eyes. She could properly assess the tremendous damage that the damned Itachi had given to her with ease. He was clever. Itachi had damaged her to the brink of death but just barely in case she changed her mind.

Damn him, she vehemently thought as she tried to grasp the will to talk without her voice betraying her true emotion: fear. If she helped Itachi heal, she'd be helping the enemy. If she didn't, though, her teammate would die . . .

Sakura's emerald orbs trailed from the elder Uchiha's foot to the bloody heap not too far off that was pinned against the cave's wall. His chocolate hair was matted down with sweat and from his own blood from severe head injuries. Blood was oozing from his mouth and multiple shurikens and kunais were strategically sunk into vital points of his body. His eyes were closed and still drawn in pain. Itachi had casted a Mangekyou Sharingan genjutsu upon him and was probably causing immeasurable agony for him.

"Yamato," she whispered as she futilely reached out one of her battered arms to heal him. If she wasn't so advancedly trained in the art of healing, she would mistaken him for a corpse. He looked so lifeless. Her heart wrenched at the sight more than it should've and that gave her the strength to glare up at the Uchiha that looked down at her in disdain.

"Your decision? He's fading away," Itachi inquired nonchalantly, not a single emotion of regret or even triumphant written on his face. Sakura wanted nothing more than to land a crushing blow to his face and make him suffer for what she was doing to her . . . lover.

It took all of Sakura's stubborn, strong-willed strength not to utter a sound of pain as she trembled to her feet. She lifted her chin up at the detestable excuse of a shinobi. "Let him go."

The edges of Itachi's lips quirked up into a small smile that didn't reach his emotionless eyes. "Wise choice." He turned his gaze back to the fading shinobi and easily lifted the casted genjutsu. He began to approach the wood user and placed his hands upon the profusely bleeding forehead. A malicious glow of crimson chakra surrounded the hand upon Yamato's forehead.

"W-w-what are you doing?" Sakura stuttered in shock as she began to painfully hobble over to the dangerous ninja in an attempt to stop that malevolent looking chakra from absorbing into her captain's head.

Itachi tossed a cold glance at the feeble, pain induced woman and returned his attention back to what he was currently attending to. "Don't fret. I'm simply adjusting his memories. You will take a part of this as well. You will tell him you've decided to side with me upon your own choice. You will tell him you are a missing ninja and," Itachi gave a smile that was the definition of cruel, "convince him that you have no feelings for him. You may use Sasuke as an excuse."

Sakura's mouth filled with blood became dry as she began to efficiently process what Itachi was forcing her to do. "Y-you bastard," she stammered, gritting her teeth in anger. "That wasn't part of the deal! You're reading his mind, aren't you?"

Itachi shrugged. "More or less. I'm merely editing it to my desire. I can't change the strong feeling of love he harbors for you, but I can change the fresh memory of what happened here. In his mind, it was you that attacked him and put him into the state he is in now. He will think you used him as a tool to get to me so you could get to Sasuke."

The kunoichi clenched her jaw, using all her self-control to not let the curses that were threatening to slip out of sharp tongue. She growled and spit out the blood that was slowing coming to an end as her body began to regenerate itself. Even if she was starting to heal and feel stronger, she knew better than try to launch an attack on the Uchiha. Closing her eyes, she said reluctantly, "Whatever . . . "

The elder Uchiha, after a few unsettling silent minutes, released his hold from the wood user's forehead. "There. I'm finished. You may heal him now. He must believe that you injured him severely. Just bring him back long enough to hear your words."

Eager to take the opportunity to touch and talk to him for the last time before she was whisked away by this damned man, she swiftly sat beside Yamato. She fully ignored the bloody muck of her love as she leaned up against him. She only used one hand to steadily heal him. She wanted as much time as she could spare with him, even if he wasn't conscious. She had a sinking feeling in her gut that it'd be a very long time until she was able to stay this close to him.

If she could only slip in some type of word or item that would allow him to try to remember that she still loved him . . . As if reading her thoughts, Itachi warned, "Don't try anything, Kunoichi. My sharingan sees all. If you in any way try to compromise our current objective, the deal is off."

Sakura cursed as she scooted closer to her unconscious lover. She wrapped her arms gently around his neck and eased his weapon infused body against her own. She carefully cradled him so that his head was tucked in securely in her bosom. "I'm going to miss you so much," she whispered to him, wishing somehow he'd be able to hear, even though she knew quite well that he was still sunken into a deep oblivion. She planted kisses all over his handsome face, ignoring his blood that began to seep through her skin and clothes.

By the time Yamato started to stir, Sakura's face was smeared with his blood. She had made sure to kiss every possible inch of his skin that wasn't covered by his clothes. She tenderly placed him back against the wall and wiped away the tears that had grown stale from the pure hatred of what Itachi was making her do. She reluctantly left Yamato's side and took her place beside Itachi. She was going to do everything in her power to make this work.

She knew Yamato more than anyone. He wouldn't lose faith in her, which was exactly why she was going to have to do this thoroughly. He'd do anything to get her back, even if that meant going up against Itachi, and she would not have any of that. She loved him too much to have him just be destroyed and at the brink of death once more.

Sakura's breath subtly hitched as his deep, kind, fathomless orbs began to flutter open. She closed her eyes and collected all of her strength into this last loving act she could do for him. The pink haired kunoichi slipped out a kunai from her pouch and twirled it around her finger in an effort to look nonchalant.

Yamato's gaze was blurred and he narrowed his eyes into slits to properly zone in at the view in front of him. He immediately wished he hadn't. The scene in front of him allowed a stream of unwanted memories to evade his thoughts. The pain that his body was dealing with had nothing on what those memories were doing to his heart. She had attacked him point blank and had knocked him unconscious so she could talk to Itachi alone.

"W-why?" he beseeched hoarsely, his mouth still caked with his own blood. His eyes looked at his lover, looking for signs of remorse, for anything that could possibly explain why she had did what she did. He could find nothing from that cold, expressionless face of hers.

Sakura let a sadistic smile slip upon her lips as she shrugged. "Why not? I never loved you, you fool. I'm Sasuke's, I was never yours."

Those words were like the final blow straight to his heart. His eyes began to sting as tears streamed down his face as reality sunk in. "I-I-I . . . H-h-how . . ." he stuttered in hurt. He gritted his teeth as he clenched his eyes shut, willing for reality to disperse. All of those intimate moments they had shared . . . had been for nothing . . .

"Y-you used me," he murmured in realization as he snapped open his eyes in anger.

"Oh, bravo, it took you years to finally realize that, huh? Pathetic." Sakura decided to land the last blow by effectively tossing the kunai aimed directly at his heart.

Yamato yelled in agony as the kunai struck dead on at his vital area - his heart. The kunai let out a sickening wet sound as it lodged itself into his skin.

Sakura's cruel smiled at the sound of his pain and she laughed, "Taichou, you have exactly 2 hours to get back to Konoha before that poison begins to sink in. Even then, I highly doubt even Tsunade-sama has the cure for the poison I dipped that kunai in. Only I know the antidote. However, I still want you alive to report back to Konoha. I want you to tell them that I'm not coming back, ever. Sasuke needs me. Itachi is going to insure I get my only desire - Sasuke. From here on out, I'm an Akatsuki member."

Yamato was unable to effectively respond back as the poison immediately took its toll. Already, he felt his chakra begin to deplete and his energy being sucked from him by a mysterious source. "Why?" he questioned once more, unwilling to accept what was happening.

"I already told you, idiot. I want Sasuke. I'll do whatever it takes to get him," Sakura answered back irritably. "Now get up from your weak ass and haul it over to Konoha before you die. I need a messenger and I have no time to see the weaklings of Konoha."

The wood user squeezed shut his eyes as he put his priorities in order as he analyzed his situation. The only thing he could possibly do is get out of here and come back for her. With the way she was acting, he had no doubt that she was serious, but he wasn't going to accept it. With that, Yamato began to steady himself upon his feet. As he began to limp for the exit of the cave while feebly trying to tug out the various weapons that were lodged into his body, he glanced back to take one last look at his . . . ex-lover.

"I won't give up," he promised underneath his breath as he trudged painfully back to Konoha.