Practice
Just A Penniless Writer

Standard Disclaimer Applies
Author's Plea: Yes, this is Crack!Fic with little purpose other than a sweet sweet diversion from my 5 (wtf5?) WiPs. That said, I do love Itachi/Sakura, so please humor me and enjoy if you can.

Round 1.

"I just put them back together. Was this really necessary?"

"...Yes."

"There is a such thing as overkill."

Had she not been so ridiculously tired and drained of chakra, she might not have been so informal. However, he being a villain and a villain who did not see her as much of a threat, she knew it was for the best of the team if she remained alive and alert long enough to stabilize their injuries. Otherwise it would be more than just her corpse out in this No-Man's land.

"Are you not going to fight me, kunoichi?"

"Do I look stupid? I'm a medic. My first responsibility is to the survival of my team. And Sasuke would never forgive me."

That frank statement seemed to give him pause. However, most statements seemed to have a similar effect. She wondered if he was actually dense, or if it was just a ploy to make people uncomfortable. She suspected it was the latter.

"I should kill you."

"Probably, but that is not your mission, now is it?"

"Perhaps."

"Just go. My fight is not with you, it is to keep my teammates from dying. Really, if you were going to kill me, you would have done it by now."

"Perhaps."

"But then, that is not much of a challenge, now is it?"

"Another method then."

"Are you really going to waste your Sharingan on me?"

"You are annoying."

"Get on with it then. I have a lot to do."

When the colors of the world bled out, leaving only reds and blacks behind, she wasn't sure she'd said the right thing. But then, she hadn't expected he'd actually go through with it.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Are you ever quiet?"

"Sometimes. But I am very tired, and speech can be an effective weapon."

"Not today."

"No, not today." She paused to look around and test the bonds now holding her to the cross. "What now? I know you stabbed Kakashi-sensei for 72 hours. What's my torture going to be?"

"You are weak."

"Is that it? You're going to insult me for 72 hours?"

A slight expression of annoyance crossed his face before a sword she hadn't even noticed he had pierced her shoulder.

"Why didn't that hurt?" she asked peculiarly.

Without a word, he stabbed her again. The blood indicated the injury was true, but still...

"That tickles."

Again.

"Stop, please, I'm too tired to laugh."

Again.

"Now you are being annoying."

He paused and something that may have been anything between speculation, annoyance, and grief covered his features.

"Your mind is disconnected from your sense of pain. How?"

"What?"

"Where is your pain?"

"I could be wrong, but it might be behind you."

When he woke, the pink haired kunoichi and her injured teammates were gone. The headache plaguing him made recalling what exactly had occurred difficult.

Then he remembered the writing on her forehead. His demonic attacker within the tsukiyomi... had been labeled Inner Sakura.

His lips curled up into a slight smirk. The girl had split her personality, or at least her mentality, in two. It was something he had never come across before and something he wished to examine further.

"Interesting, Sakura-san. The next time will not be practice."