Fic for: Laurapen90
Pairing: ItaSakuDei
Word: Choice
It was a brilliant Sunday morning when she realized that matters of the heart were never simple. Never easy.
They were fogging her thoughts and making the right decision…any decision…so much more difficult.
Itachi.
Deidara.
He held out his hand to her and looked at her expectantly. His hair glowed in the sunlight and his blue eyes sparkled when the sun hit them. A devilish smirk appeared on his lips and Sakura soon found herself responding to it with an answering grin. Sakura held out her hand and he took it pulling her up. She had a few seconds of being airborne and seemingly weightless before she felt his body pressed against hers. The smile fell off her face as she stared into his eyes. That feeling. The one she always felt when she was close to him…it was back.
She had only felt that feeling twice before. Once whenever she was with Sasuke during a period so long ago and the other was when she was with…
"Hn."
Sakura immediately stepped back and turned and looked at the ninja who had joined them.
Her eyes automatically lowered to the ground avoiding the glowing scarlet orbs. He walked away and she followed him because although there was a part of her that wanted to stay at Deidara's side until the day the sun stopped rising, there was another part of her that would follow Itachi to the ends of the earth. She glanced over her shoulder at Deidara. He had turned his back to her by then but she still noted the stiff set of his shoulders and his jerky, angry movements.
She had been kidnapped by the Akatsuki some time ago. They had wanted to use her as bait for the Kyuubi. It hadn't quite turned out the way they expected. Naruto and Sakura had grown apart. In fact, she would say she was certain she wasn't one of his 'special people' anymore. Naruto was known for his rashness when it came to his 'special people' and they had banked on that to lure him out so that he could be captured.
Naruto never came.
Sakura hadn't been hurt. She had actually been glad. Despite the distance between the two she still cared for him. She didn't want him to die at the hands of the Akatsuki.
So she was a prisoner within the Akatsuki but she was given more freedom than a prisoner should be given. It was probably because she was just bait. Kisame kept her pretty much drained of chakra so what harm could she do them? A lot actually but she kept her cards up her sleeves until she had the right moment to reveal them.
In the mean time she got pretty close--as close as one can get--to certain members of the Akatsuki. Deidara, for one, was at her side almost constantly. She didn't know why he had become so--friendly wasn't the right word--accustomed to her being near him. It freaked her out at first. Especially since the mouths on his hands continuously made what she felt were lewd gestures towards her. But soon she became comfortable with him being there and often sought him out on her own.
Kisame was another she was grudgingly fond of. They argued constantly at the beginning of her captivity but towards the end they laughed together as much as they argued. As she grew to know Kisame she began to realize that while Kisame was a member of the Akatsuki his loyalty really lied with Itachi.
Uchiha Itachi. The sworn enemy of her old teammate. Now, while she hadn't become close to Itachi like she had with Kisame and Deidara he didn't treat her badly like some of the other members and he had thereby earned a tiny bit of her respect.
When their plan failed to capture the Kyuubi she had expected to be killed. It didn't happen that way. For some reason Kisame had stopped draining her chakra. She never questioned him about it but she could never really focus her mind on escape. She personally thought that soon she would receive an invitation to join the Akatsuki but that didn't happen either.
It turns out she was kidnapped several months before Itachi went through with his plan to destroy the Akatsuki. When the battle went down he was joined by Kisame and that was when Sakura realized the reason that Kisame had stopped draining her chakra. He was giving her an opportunity to make a choice. She could either fight by their side or she could escape. She was initially frozen with indecision but when Kisame took a rather nasty hit from Hidan she knew that her decision was made. She would fight at their side. Didn't she want to see the Akatsuki destroyed anyway? Sakura joined the fray but because she did Deidara joined as well on their side.
Unfortunately for all the ninja villages, they failed and were forced to retreat. The battle had been bloody but there were no causalities on their side. Of course there were none on the other side either. They had come to an impasse.
When Itachi gave the signal to Kisame to retreat Sakura followed with Deidara hot on their trail.
When Itachi was sure that he had temporarily lost their would-be murderers he stopped and immediately faced her.
"Why are you here?"
She had been taken aback by the question. The shock caused her eyes to widen and her eyes to connect with his which everyone knew was taboo. But he didn't attack her mind for which Sakura was eternally grateful. However, he did wait silently for an answer to his question and from the expression his face she knew he would wait as long as it took to receive an answer.
The thing was…she didn't have an answer. She didn't know why she had joined the group of renegades. She didn't know why she didn't take the opportunity to run. All she knew was that deep inside she knew she was where she wanted to be.
So that was the answer she gave him.
"Because this is where I want to be."
He said nothing at first. Then softly, so softly she almost didn't hear him.
"Go home, little kunoichi."
He turned his back on her and looked towards Deidara. He looked as if he was going to question him as well. Sakura found she was curious as to why Deidara had joined them. She knew he hated Itachi but she was unsure as to why. When she had posed the question to Deidara he hadn't answered. In fact, he had left the room that they were in leaving her to stare surprised at his retreating form. But while she was curious about Deidara's animosity she found that she couldn't let herself be distracted and let Uchiha Itachi walk away from her like that.
"No. I will not."
He turned back to her then. His eyes briefly flashed with annoyance but it was covered so quickly that she had no idea if she had seen it or not.
It was then that Kisame felt the need to intercede.
"She's a medic. She can be of use to us."
Itachi stared at Kisame contemplatively then he gave a slight inclination of his head and she knew then that the subject of whether she should stay or go was dismissed.
They traveled for what felt like months to her poor, tired thighs before they found someplace that Itachi deemed safe for them to stay. Not that he felt any place was truly safe. He took paranoia to a new level.
Time passed and Sakura's heart softened more and more towards the Uchiha.
He was the definition of the word loyalty but that was a contradiction because he had betrayed Konoha so heinously. And that betrayal was something that never quite left her mind. She could overlook Kisame and Deidara's past. She could also overlook her own because helping these men constituted a betrayal of her village, didn't it? The end justifies the means is what she would tell herself.
But Itachi's betrayal was something closer to her heart since it had affected her and those close to her. It wasn't something she could easily forget.
However, he took care of them all...even Deidara who didn't want his assistance. He may not have trained with them but he supervised their training. They became so much more under his tutelage.
They were growing more and more powerful.
And in this time that they trained and grew in dynamics. As they learned to work together as a team…Sakura slowly began losing her heart.
The thing was…she wasn't sure to whom.
It was sad really when you thought about it. What kind of woman falls in love with two men at once?
She loved the nights she spent curled up on the sofa sitting next to Itachi reading quietly.
She cherished the time she spent talking with Deidara all night in front of a blazing fire.
She treasured the small quirk of the lips that would appear on Itachi's face when she was a tad bit spunky.
She adored the way Deidara would drone on and on about art and oh how endearing the word 'yeah' had become. She loved the way Deidara would wrap his arms around her from behind and rest his chin on the top of her head.
She didn't know how obvious her dilemma was growing. But apparently it could be seen because Kisame spoke on it.
"Haruno."
She had just peered into Deidara's room searching for him with no success. When Kisame called out to her she jumped causing Kisame to laugh.
"You should have sensed me here. You suck as a kunoichi."
"Shut up, you bastard!"
He stopped laughing and sobered up rather quickly.
"I need to talk to you."
Sakura immediately became worried at his tone. She nodded her head and followed him outside. They passed Itachi in the living room meditating so she automatically made sure she was extra quiet because she knew how he hated being disturbed while he was meditating.
Once they were a few feet from their home Kisame started to speak.
"You need to choose."
Sakura's brow furrowed.
"Choose what?"
"Between Itachi and Deidara."
Sakura inhaled sharply.
"Normally, I wouldn't give a damn but this shit affects me too. You're screwing up the team dynamics. We have the Akatsuki after us. I've heard they've gotten new members. I don't want to die because my teammates focus more on their love lives rather than protecting their asses."
"Kisame--"
But he wouldn't let her speak.
"Preferably, I'd rather you pick Deidara. Maybe with you around he won't accidentally blow us to hell and Itachi would be able to focus better on a plan to ensure we make it out of this alive."
Sakura took a deep breath. "Kisame, I'm not in a relationship with either. There's no need for me to choose."
Kisame snorted.
"I'm not blind Haruno. I see the way Itachi watches you. I see the way Deidara touches you. There's something there. Not all things have to be said with words. Figure out what you want. Before your indecision gets us killed."
He walked away then leaving Sakura in silence and darkness.
Sakura didn't take Kisame's advice. This, in hindsight, was the stupidest thing she had ever done. It wasn't long before the animosity that was once one sided between Itachi and Deidara became two sided. Whenever they shared the same space the anger between the two was suffocating.
Kisame would never say anything. He would only look at her pointedly.
It was a blatant: I told you so.
Most times Sakura could charm Deidara into calming down usually by saying something inane like:
"Human emotions are an art form, Deidara, which are beautiful. Why don't you show me something besides anger?"
And he would give her a lazy grin and begin arguing with her about what art really was.
Itachi would always leave the room but she would always find him later on. He would never acknowledge her presence. She would sit at his feet and lay her head against his leg eventually she would feel his fingers slide into her hair and give a slight tug and in response Sakura would pinch his leg. And everything would settle down for a little while.
After several of such incidents, Sakura didn't want to do it, she knew she was going to have to make a choice. And it wasn't an easy choice. It took her months to make it….
But she did finally.
His eyes were closed when she finally approached him but he knew she was there.
She opened her mouth to speak.
It wasn't an elaborate speech. It was short and to the point.
"I love you. I want to be with you."
Once her decision had been made for a while things weren't easy on them all. But while time doesn't heal all wounds it makes them a bit better.
They eventually worked better together than they had before and Itachi pursued his plans but this time with success with the three of them at his back.
The bijuu that the Akatsuki had collected were, upon Sakura's insistence, delivered to Konoha along with a message that Sakura Haruno had died during a battle against the Akatsuki.
It wasn't a total lie. The person she had once been died a long time ago. She had evolved into the something else and she wasn't exactly displeased with how she had turned out.
Because in the end she was happy with the man she loved.
A/N: Yes it was deliberate. I've always been a fan of the story The Lady or the Tiger...so you choose. Who did Sakura pick?