Note: If you haven't read "Taken By Force," I suggest you do, or else it won't make a whole lot of sense.
It's finally here! After a short break I have thought of a plot! There will be more angst, love and horror than ever before! Enjoy and please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Deidara scowled as he tore out another failed drawing from his sketchbook. He just couldn't get her eyes right. Just her eyes, everything else had fallen into place like she was there sitting next to him. He should be able to remember her eyes best of all, for he had often spent hours drifting through them.
He tried again, drawing them wide, innocent. No, not right. She was all but innocent... no, she was innocent, but only to a degree. She could kill without a second thought, yet she could continue her life like it never happened. Deidara sighed and once again tore out the page.
It had been several months since he'd last seen the kunoichi. It was a strained meeting, she had murdered his partner, Sasori and her partner had been responsible for Deidara's lost arms. Thankfully the arms were repaired.
When they had seen each other, Sasori and Deidara acted as though Sakura Haruno never had been with them. The same went for Sakura. Even when the tears leaked into her eyes when she saw what they had done, even when her partner, Naruto Uzumaki glanced at her knowingly, she kept the ruse.
It was now the twenty-eighth of March, precisely the reason Deidara was trying to sketch Sakura, it was her birthday. She would be sixteen today.
Deidara knew that if she had remained with them, Akatsuki, she wouldn't get a birthday. At best, whoever she was partnered with would be a little more kind to her, perhaps let her be the one to complete the mission. In Konoha, Deidara was sure she was getting a spectacular party and being lavished with gifts. It's too bad that the one thing she wanted she had left behind.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sakura was pacing the small closet the Hokage and her sensei, Tsunade, had provided for her to call an office. It was her birthday and no one was around. She had gotten up at six, as usual to check in at the hospital, only to find that Shizune and two other nurses hadn't checked in yet. So Sakura had been stuck for an hour filling out all of their paperwork and helping out their patient.
Now it was eight o'clock and still nothing. Sakura decided to take the issue straight to Tsunade. Whether or not the Hokage was awake or not, she would hear about this.
Sakura stomped up the stairs of the Hokage Tower, furious at the lack of order around the village. She had grown tired of the constant discord, people needed order and instruction to maximize efficiency. She had learned that during her short stay with Akatsuki. The organization had been incredibly easy-going and acted on impulse and it was slowly leading to their demise.
Sakura approached the sliding door to Tsunade's office and frowned. She sensed a large number of people behind the door, a political meeting perhaps? Were there some unknown affairs she wasn't informed of?
Sakura opened the door slowly without making a disturbance and shut it behind her.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Nearly half the village shouted as loud as they could. Sakura smirked and rolled her eyes. She had made it perfectly clear that she did not want a celebration.
Naruto ran up to her and gave her a firm pat on the shoulder and led her into the crowd. Tsunade stood in the center with a large bottle of sake and a silly smile, "Take the day off, you deserve it." Sakura nodded and plastered on a fake smile.
Has it really been that long?She counted the months. One, two, three... six months... It had been six months since she left the Akatsuki and her soul-mate, the S-ranked criminal, Itachi Uchiha. That's all over now, he's long dead and he's not coming back.
"...so I figured that since it's your birthday and all..." Sai rambled. Sakura had been completely spaced out and didn't noticed his pathetic attempt at handing her a gift.
"Oh! Thank you, Sai... I appreciate it," she answered offhandedly, accepting the poorly wrapped gift. She found the seam in the paper and carefully lifted it off.
Sai had painted her a portrait for her. A beautiful, expertly detailed picture of her team. Her new team, Sai, Kakashi, Naruto, Yamato, and herself. This is me now... not then, but now. Her past self would have cried over this, slipped into depression about Sasuke and Itachi, but she was different now. Her emotional pain had stopped her heart.
"This is beautiful, Sai. Thank you so much." She said, dipping her head in his direction. Sai nodded and turned away, but not without first giving her a questioning glance.
He had heard what had happened to Sakura a while back, and wondered what really conspired. No one else had thought about why she returned depressed, not happy, or why she would stand on her roof and watch the horizon for hours, as if searching for a bird in the distance.
Now it was the picture. He had expected her to show some sort of emotion towards it, not the fake mask she had adopted as of late. It was as if she had died and been replaced with the shell of the person she once was.
Sai approached Kakashi. If anyone would notice a change in Sakura, it was him. "Kakashi, have you noticed anything strange in the way Sakura is acting lately?" Kakashi turned around to face the pale teenager.
"I have, I also have some theories about it. Although I don't think here's the best place to talk. Let's go to the roof. Parties aren't my thing anyways." Kakashi laughed, his eye crinkling slightly. Sai nodded and the pair disappeared in a puff.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Alright, she is definitely faking her happiness. That is easy enough to see." Sai commented, starting off the conversation.
"Yes, that is easy enough to spot..." Kakashi grew silent.
"What is it?"
"It's peculiar... the last time she became like this was about three and half years ago. When Sasuke left the village."
Sai scoffed, "That traitor? What does he have anything to do with this?"
"Sakura loved him and always had."
Sai's brain clicked, "Are you suggesting...?"
"Exactly, I think Sakura fell in love when she was with Akatsuki." Sai whistled.
"Are you sure? Do you know how bad that is for her? She could be labeled as a traitor and thrown in jail for that kind of thing."
"Yes, that's why I hope it isn't true, but it sure seems like it is."
"Who would love that hag anyways?" Sai asked quietly crouching on the roof.
"I have wondered that, too... It would be one she was with a lot of the time... and one that would show interest in her talent..."
"Sakura is known for her ability to see through gen-jutsu, right?"
Kakashi nodded, "That's why I came to this conclusion... She fell for Itachi Uchiha."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Itachi removed the kunai from the targets. He had hit every single one, dead center and embedded them deeply. He never did screw up this exercise. He had been able to complete it since he was four, but now he couldn't do without the sharingan.
Itachi deactivated his kekkei genkai and scowled. His vision was terrible. He could hardly see the edges of the training field anymore. It was all because of his over-reliance of the sharingan.
He placed his kunai back in his pouch and started on his way. He was traveling down the same route that he had when Sakura had been his prisoner, and everywhere he looked reminded him of her.
That was where we posted the tent, the first night... I recall she tried to kill us. The 'us' was referring to Itachi and his partner, Kisame. Who had planned a revenge against Akatsuki for murdering his only family, Akira. This revenge had entailed that Sakura be murdered, so Itachi could feel the same pain he did.
Although it wasn't Itachi who killed Akira. That had been Sasori, but Kisame felt that as long as Akatsuki felt it, his revenge was complete.
Unfortunately Kisame's plan succeeded. Sakura's dead now and I once again have no one. Itachi had once considered suicide when he heard the news of her death, he felt there would be no way he could live without his fiancee.
But as life goes on, so did Itachi. Once his partner was killed that fateful night, he worked solo. Moving quietly through the shadows and slowly disappearing from the world of criminals. But there could be a way he could disappear from the world forever...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Deidara finally decided to just throw the sketchbook aside. There was no way he could do it. The only way would be to travel to Konoha and see her himself. It was a shame that was forbidden. Ever since the Kyuubi container and himself had made the agreement to separate Sakura and Itachi they swore to secrecy.
Deidara had told Itachi that Sakura was killed in the fight, and Sakura had been told Itachi was also murdered. That way Naruto could travel back to Konoha with Sakura and she could have her old life back and Itachi could stay with Akatsuki and not risk his life by becoming involved in a relationship (which was forbidden among Akatsuki).
The plan had gone fairly well, except Itachi took it a whole lot harder than Deidara expected. It turns out the pair were truly and utterly in love. They had committed themselves to each other through a sacred bond and swore to never break it... and they hadn't, Deidara did.
Deidara had once contemplated if he did it out of compassion for the pair; to save them from a grim inevitability, or out of jealousy. For he was once in love with Sakura as well, but it was Itachi that had won her heart and Deidara accepted that.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sakura left the party feeling disheartened. She had received many gifts, mostly trivial things, but nothing that she truly desired. Not that it mattered, she had banished her emotions to the deepest regions of her being. She had sworn that she would save herself from feeling pain ever again.
She looked in the mirror. She looked the same as always, her vibrant pink hair, growing long again, reached just below her shoulders. Overall, her birthday brought on few changes, everything was the same but her eyes.
They were once bright and lively. A pair of gleaming emeralds beautifully set against her other features. Now they were dull and listless, reflecting a painful and desperate past. Sakura shook her hair to cover her face, cover her pain and to cover the tears.
Her hands closed into fists as she once again stared into the glass. Instead of her it showed him. The tall, dark and hansom phantom of her past, the forbidden fruit she had so willingly bitten into, the yin to her yang. She had needed him. Even before she knew him, they were connected through his brother. They had complemented and contrasted each other, soul-mates in every way.
Sakura fled to the one place she felt safe, her roof. Where the world was quiet and the stars bright. She would gaze out across the land, praying to catch a glimpse of her past. Perhaps a clay bird gliding in the distance, or flicker of a campfire.
She stopped suddenly when she saw Kakashi and Sai lounging on the roof across the street. Their heads whipped around and in a nanosecond they were there. "What are you guys doing here at this hour?"
Kakashi stooped to be eye-level with her, "We have some suspicions, Sakura." Sai closed in, an amused look danced across his face.
"You fell in love with Itachi Uchiha, didn't you?"
How was it? As you can see (if you read the first one) I'm trying to make it have a significantly deeper theme. You know, with more metaphors and archetypes and such. So please review!