Last Priority
Chapter One
Summary: Sakura has given up her dreams, her promising future, and even the trust and love of her friends in order to protect them. What more can she give for the people around her?
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
…
Haruno Sakura—first rate medic nin in Konoha, second only to her mentor Tsunade herself, ANBU captain, and highly respected kunoichi—cursed under her breath as her legs carried her further and further away from her team.
Her team had been assigned to a mission to 'investigate the actions'a gang of missing nin causing trouble in River Country and deal with it as deemed necessary, in other words, put an end to it; simple enough. However, they encountered a pair of particularly dangerous missing nin on their way back; the infamous Akatsuki.
Flashback
"Lee, head back to Konoha and inform Tsunade-sama of our situation," Sakura instructed.
"Sakura-san, I want to help! I cannot simply leave my team in the face of such danger. That would not be the youthful thing to do!" Lee protested, a familiar fire burning in his eyes.
"You are the fastest person on our team and we will need reinforcements."
"But -!"
"Lee," Sakura gave him a pointed look that clearly left no room for argument.
"H-hai, taichou. I wish you the best of luck, may you tap into the spring of youth and emerge victorious!" With that, he removed his weights and dashed off towards Konoha.
"Shino, Mikage, We'll hold them off until Lee returns with help. Do not let on about your capability. Let them believe you are weaker than you really are and analyze their strengths and weaknesses first."
"Hai," they replied in unison.
The remaining three stepped out of the bushes and crossed the mile distance separating them from their opponents, trying to look unfazed.
Sakura eyed their opponents warily. She recognized one by the unnaturally blue hue of his skin-Hoshigaki Kisame. The other, she stiffened at the sight of him. Uchiha Itachi she mused.
'Older sibling of Uchiha Sasuke,'Inner Sakura reminded her.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned, trying to sound more confident than she felt at the moment.
"Our matters do not concern you," Itachi stated stoically.
"Like hell it doesn't. You are not welcome in Fire Country, especially not this close to Konoha."
"Hn."
"Fine, I'll just have to beat it out of you then." His lip twitched and he almostsmirked at her hollow threat, easily sensing her apprehension despite her surprisingly calm voice.
"It begins," Itachi said quietly, but it rang out loud and clear.
Shino and Mikage launched themselves at Kisame, leaving Sakura to face off against Itach.
'Are you suicidal?'Inner Sakura chimed out, 'What were you thinking, taunting him like that? This is Uchiha Itachi, the man who killed his entire clan just for the hell of it! You're just begging to die aren't you?'
Sakura did her best to ignore this as she focused on her opponent. Channeling chakra to her left foot, Sakura stomped down, creating a large crater in the earth before jumping back into the trees. She felt Itachi behind her and swung a kick behind her as she swiveled her body to face him. He expected her reaction and caught her kick, bringing his elbow down to jab it into her tibia, with every intention of breaking it but, sensing his intent, Sakura brought her other leg up to kick his arm away before he did any damage, supporting herself on her arms as she successfully twisted out of his grasp. They both jumped down from the tree eyed each other warily, waiting for the other to make a move. Itachi disappeared, leaving Sakura alone in the middle of the trees trying to feel for his chakra. She looked up to see her opponent throw several kunai down at her, but dodged them easily.
'This is too easy, what is he doing?' Sakura wondered. She was pulled from her thoughts as Itachi materialized in front of her and threw a kick at her. She blocked it with her arms but failed to dodge the punch coming from the right and she was knocked off balance.
'He's fast!' Inner Sakura supplied in the midst of the struggle.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" was the only warning she got before a large fireball made its way towards the small kunoichi
"Suiton Suijinheki!" Sakura countered it, shooting a blast of water from her mouth.
The two jutsu collided and blew each other out, filling the vicinity with a wall of steam. By the time the steam cleared, the small area they had previously occupied was empty, all trees were incinerated. The only sounds to be heard were the other three shinobi as they continued with their own fight. Itachi felt, more than heard Sakura rushing towards him with speed he was unaware she was capable of. He turned and caught her chakra enhanced punch, forcing back the grunt of pain as he heard several of his bones crack with the pressure. She smirked in satisfaction, knowing the pain it must have caused him, despite the look of indifference his Uchiha pride forced him to maintain. They continued their dance for a long time until Itachi decided it was about time to end it. He pinned her to the tree, trying to get her to look into his eyes, but she knew better. She looked to her left and saw her team was having a hard time keeping up with Kisame and his large sword. Sakura suddenly disappeared from Itachi's grasp and all that was left were cherry blossoms; how cliché. She reappeared several yards away from him and closer to his partner.
"Shino, Mikage RETREAT!" she yelled as she dodged another fireball from her opponent.
"T-taichou?" Mikage had never been a problem when it came to discipline, but was reluctant to follow this particular order, knowing that she would stay behind.
"Sakura-" Shino started, but was interrupted
"Leave. NOW!" Sakura ordered. The safety of her team was always put above anything else.
Hesitantly, her two subordinates took off with renewed energy and speed. Kisame tried to follow after them but was intercepted by a certain bubblegum haired girl.
"Do you really think you can defeat us both… by yourself, pinky?" Kisame laughed.
"Do you really think you can get past me, sharky?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
That got his attention, "Why you little…" but he stopped himself, laughing loudly. "You're an interesting one pinky."
Itachi stood quietly watching, then cleared his throat, "Let us pass kunoichi and we may not kill you."
"Over my dead body."
"Gladly, pinky." Kisame smirked.
Sakura rapidly began making the appropriate hand seals, "Kaze no Yaiba!"
The wind picked up and surrounded them immediately. They covered themselves with a shield of chakra to try and block out the attack. The pair was unable to dodge this attack but came out with only minor injuries. She knew they would come after her now that she had gotten their attention and managed to land a hit on them, minor as it may have been. Konoha was safe for a while longer. She took off in the opposite direction and sure enough, they were hot on her trail.
End Flashback
Sakura racked her brain for something that might help her lose her followers. There wasn't much she could think of considering her chakra levels and exhaustion. A string of profanities found its way out of her mouth as the felt the two chakra signatures pursuing her, getting closer by the second. Then, nothing. They suddenly disappeared and all was quiet, not unlike the calm before a mean and, in this case, potentially bloody storm. She stilled and turned around, waiting for her pursuers to emerge from the trees. She swiftly turned and blocked a massive kick from an even more massive Kisame but was knocked unconscious by Itachi, who suddenly appeared behind her unguarded back.
"What should we do with her?" Kisame raised an eyebrow, looking down at the pile of pink on the ground.
"Kill her," Itachi answered casually, as though they were talking about something as common as the weather, instead of taking the life of another.
"She's interesting, and it would be a waste. Maybe we should take her to leader, she might even end up being useful, and she's the Hokage's apprentice after all. She could even heal you eyes, ne?"
Itachi examined his hand and tried to move his fingers, making no indication that he heard Kisame at all, but his partner waited patiently.
". . . Very well."
…
Sakura woke up with a splitting headache a few hours later and attempted to lift a hand to her head so she could alleviate the pain, only to find that she was couldn't mold her chakra accordingly, and she had unnaturally low chakra levels. Sure she had fought against two S-class missing nin, but she was certain that she hadn't used up as much chakra as she was missing.
'Kisame must have used Samehada to drain our chakra, that bastard!' Inner Sakura piped up, but that particular train of thought only served to heighten her headache as she recalled her earlier encounter with Itachi and Kisame. Sakura fought back the urge to groan at her growing headache as she scanned the area for the two aforementioned criminals. As if on cue, Kisame made his way into what looked like a camp area.
"Hey you're up, pinky! How 'ya feeling?" Kisame smirked knowingly, aware of her migraine she must be having.
"Like shit," this time, Sakura did not fight back her groan as she rubbed her head gingerly. She glared up at him from her semi-sitting position on the ground that promised certain death as soon as she had the opportunity.
"Couldn't have you running away now could we?" His laughter echoed through the trees.
"Why didn't you kill me back there? What do you want with me?" the slightly injured pinkette demanded, snarling viciously—well, as vicious as one can while sitting down with a migrane, looking up at a seven foot shark with legs.
Itachi chose this moment to emerge from the trees and spoke up, "You will find out when we arrive."
"...arrive? Arrive where, exactly?"
"You ask too many questions, kid." Kisame said from his spot across the fire.
"Hn," came Itatchi's monosyllabic agreement.
Sakura huffed and ignored Kisame's ...insult? "Where are we?"
Kisame's laughter boomed throughout the campsite as Itachi answered her question. "We are in Bird Country."
Not quite in the mood to converse with their ...hostage, Itachi turned around to face the fire and took a fish cooking from the fire to give to Sakura. "Eat," he said simply, "You will need your energy, we leave at dawn."
"And what makes you think I'm going with you?" She asked, raising an elegant pink eyebrow
He simply looked at her for a moment, then turned around to tell Kisame he'd take first watch. His partner grunted and promptly headed for his sleeping bag and went to sleep.
"Bastard,' Inner Sakura reminded her.
The silence left Sakura to dwell in her thoughts. The reality was sinking in: she was captured by the infamous Akatskuki, she was far from Konoha-her friends, her home—and, being completely honest with herself, she didn't believe she would be getting back ever. Her vision blurred and her eyes burned with unshed tears. She blinked them back and steeled herself; she refused to be seen as weak, and showing emotions was definitely going to label her as just that. She may not have the energy to fight back right now, but she'd be damned if she was going to outright cooperate. Sakura would definitely be as difficult as she could be. Feeling temporarily comforted by her new found resolve, she threw the fish Itachi gave her into the fire and watched it burn. She let the quiet crackle of the flames lull her into an uneasy sleep.
Itachi observed the sleeping kunoichi from the corner of his eye. She was having a very fitful sleep, no doubt uneasy being in the company of such dangerous people. She suddenly shot up into a sitting position, eyes wide open. He raised an eyebrow at this and waited to see her reaction. Sakura looked around her, groggily and realized just where she was, and with whom. Her eyes widened a fraction before she got up and took a seat by the fire, directly in front of the fire; causing Itachi's eyebrow to lift even higher. He simply looked her over, his eyes finally resting on her emerald ones.
"What do you want with me?" Sakura met his gaze evenly, as she stared into the now charcoal grey eyes of her captor.
"You will find out when we arrive," he repeated.
Sakura, obviously unsatisfied with his characteristically vague response, huffed and looked into the fire, "Arrive where?"
"I am not fond of repeating myself, kunoichi."
'Did you really think you'd get an answer this time?' Inner Sakura spoke up.
'Well I hoped,' she returned
"My name is not kunoichi. It's Haruno Sakura."
"I am aware."
"Then use it!"
"Hn."
Once more, Sakura huffed and brought her knees to her chest, hugging them close to her. Suddenly, a thought struck her, "How's your hand?" She smirked.
"Hn." Itachi was not about to give some short, pink haired, green eyed, sorry excuse for a kunoichi the satisfaction of knowing she had been able to land a hit on the Uchicha Itachi, let alone the fact that it hurt him more than he cared to admit.
'CHA! Serves you right!' Inner Sakura spoke up.
'Since when do my conversations with myself consist of more words than my conversations with the people in front of me; real people?'
'Since the person you're talking to was Uchiha Itachi.'
'Right'
"If you put some ice on it, it may help with some of the swelling," she told him smugly, "but there's not much you can do about the sharp, burning pain." She made sure to drag out the last few words to accentuate her point as she made her way back to the sleeping bag she had previously occupied.
"Hn," Itachi returned, choosing not to dignify her declaration with a proper response. He easily caught the stone that was aimed for the back of his head and threw it back, right in front of her, makingsure to remind her that had the rock been a weapon and had it been thrown with the intention to kill, she would be dead by now.
Once again, she huffed and tried to go back to sleep. Needless to say, she was unsuccessful.
'Interesting,' Itachi smirked as he continued to watch the fire.
Exhaustion finally took over Sakura's weary consciousness as she was thrown into yet another fitful sleep.
"Sakura-taichou…" Mikage's wounded figure managed to croak out.
Sakura took in her surroundings and concluded that she was in the battlefield she and her team had faced off against the Akatsuki in. Mikage was in a heap to her left, bathing in his own blood. There was a gaping hole right through his shoulder and his blood was steadily leaking through it. Several kunai were stabbed all over his back and a single katana pinned him to the ground. She looked to her right.
"Sakura-san, please," Lee coughed, "Help." He had several bones jutting out and his left leg was fixed at an awkward angle definitely bent past its natural limits. He was heavily burned, parts of his skin charred to a nearly black color while his left arm was bled profusely.
Sakura's breath hitched and her voice was caught in her throat as she looked around her. Shino was dangling lifelessly from a nearby tree covered in blood with several wounds all over his body. The entire vicinity was filled with the metallic smell of blood and burning flesh; death.
'No…' Sakura tried to gather healing chakra to her hands, preparing to heal her comrades. She was frustrated to find that she couldn't accumulate an acceptable amount, nor could she mold it properly
'No!' She tried again and found that she was dangerously low on chakra, undoubtedly not enough to heal her teammates. Suddenly her view began to fade to black. 'I can't leave them like this... .'
"Sakura-san, please don't leave..." she heard Lee plead.
"NO!" Sakura awoke to find herself back in the company of her captors, trembling, eyes burning with unshed tears.
"Keep it down, kunoichi. It's too early for loud noises," Kisame's voice carried over the campsite with no real malice.
She just groaned.
"There is a stream nearby, you may make your way there and bathe yourself," came Itachi's assent, completely uncaring of her unstable state of mind.
"I may?" Sakura's previous nightmare temporarily forgotten. Who did he think he was? The fact that they were letting her go without some kind of supervision or restraints only served to aggravate her further. They clearly didn't see her as any kind of a threat; weak.
"Yes, you may," Kisame chuckled at Itachi's expected reply.
Sakura mumbled something under her breath, along the lines of 'insufferable idiot, I don't believe this!' as she rubbed her still aching head. Itachi tossed her a pair of simple black pants and matching mesh t-shirt, she looked up, puzzled.
"Your clothes are dirty and blood stained. I doubt you would like to change back into them after cleaning yourself off," Itachi stated coolly. She briefly humoured the idea of ripping the offered clothes into tiny shreds and dropping them into the newly lit fire, but then considered the idea of putting on her own dirty clothes and decided that the alternative was only slightly more favourable.
'Damn him and his logic.'
Of course Kisame wouldn't give her his clothes, as she would just drown in their depths. Despite her current mood, Sakura couldn't help but inwardly giggle at the mental picture.
It was still early and the sun had not risen yet, meaning the water had yet to be warmed by the sun's rays and she didn't have enough chakra to perform a fire jutsu to warm it herself; she was in for a cold bath. Regardless, Sakura was looking forward to washing the blood, dirt, and grime off her person.
"You think maybe I shoulda left her some more chakra? I mean, how is she gonna keep up if she can barely walk?" Kisame asked his stoic partner.
"Hn," came the reply
"Plus she didn't eat yesterday."
"That was due to her own stubborn foolishness."
"I don't think she'd be too happy about the idea of one of us carrying her all the way there."
"Hn."
With a sigh, Kisame dropped the topic and continued cleaning up camp, ensuring that there were no traces of their being there.
Sakura lowered herself into the water and began scrubbing away the remnants of her struggle. Her slow, methodical rhythm brought her thoughts back to her dream. She shivered at the thought. 'That was impossible, they got away safely and back to Konoha,' she reassured herself. She saw with her own two eyes. But she couldn't shake the feeling of helplessness when she was unable to help her dying teammates. She had forgotten this feeling and it came back full force, reminding her of her days as a genin; she was weak. Sakura rinsed her hair and got out of the cold water and did her best to keep her mind off such thoughts.
'No use in dwelling on the past, Sakura. Get over it and move on!' Inner Sakura urged.
To help keep her from wandering to her dream, she tried to think of a way to escape Kisame and Itachi. No doubt they would drain her chakra again once it got to a level that she'd be able to fight back. So she'd have to... gain their trust? Which means she have to be nice to them…or something; she visibly recoiled at such a thought. But this was the only way she could think of that they'd let her keep an acceptable amount of chakra. 'So much for fighting them tooth and nail, making their lives as miserable as humanly possible.' Sakura preferred that plan of attack better, but her current plan would definitely be more effective. So it was settled; she would make...friends with her captors.
Steeling herself, Sakura dried off and put on the clothes given to her and began making her way back to camp
Upon her return, Sakura noticed that the two had cleaned up and there were eating ...fish.
"What, no pancakes for breakfast?"
"Sorry, little blossom, gourmet breakfasts are saved for when we get to the base," Kisame chuckled.
'K, so we're going to some kind of base,' she mused. "Uh, isn't that kind of gross? That's... kind of a cousin, isn't it?"
This time, Itachi smirked at the expense of his partner.
"Ouch, that hurt little blossom," the large shark nin feigned hurt
"I have a name you know."
"I know, but isn't little blossom better?"
"Then use it! And no, it really isn't"
Itachi interrupted their mild bickering, "You seem to enjoy repeating yourself, kunoichi."
'oh. hell. no. He did not just go there.' Inner Sakura was fuming
'Make friends, Sakura, be nice.' She reminded herself, and with the self control her mentor most certainly did not have, she bit back her vile response, instead sweetly saying, "Why of course Itachi, sometimes people need to be reminded constantly in order to get the message."
Inner Sakura sweat-dropped, 'Smoooth, he'll definitely want to be your friend now.'
"Hn."
'Of course, what else did we expect,' Inner Sakura rolled her eyes.
"You're an interesting one, little blossom. It would be a waste if Itachi killed you though, so you should watch what you say," Kisame boomed with laughter.
"Eat kunoichi; we leave in half an hour," Itachi said as he turned away from them to finish packing up, effectively ending the conversation.
"Sa-ku-ra. Is that so hard?" she persisted
She immediately found herself pinned up against a tree, looking up wide-eyed into a pair of crimson eyes.
"You forget your place, need I remind you, Sa-ku-ra?" he said, looking down at her menacingly.
She couldn't quite find her voice, so she settled for glaring viciously at him. She was speechless and, though she'd never admit it out loud, she was more afraid for her life than she could remember. Alarms in her head were demanding she break the staring contest and look away, anywhere but in his eyes. Being so close to him, she realized that his eyes were the deepest shade of red, almost like blood. The thought sent shivers down her spine; Itachi misinterpreted it as fear and smirked down at her. For a long moment, they said nothing and continued to stare into the other's eyes. Finally, Itachi straightened and let her go making his way to the stream.
"It would be wise to heed Kisame's warning," he called after him. Sakura let out a breath she was unaware she had been holding as she gingerly rubbed her wrists.
"I told you to watch what you say," Kisame offered her some breakfast, which she politely refused. "Geez, little blossom, I really thought he was gonna kill you. You may be one of the only people who taunted and made fun of Itachi without being killed!"
"It's an honor then," Sakura said satirically.
Inner Sakura was slightly disconcerted, 'So much for making friends.'
The two engaged in light conversation for the next half hour and Sakura was surprised, to say the least, that an S-class missing nin—of Akatsuki, no less—was capable of such a thing, especially when he was seven feet tall and looked like a shark. They continued this way until Itachi emerged from the trees, signaling his partner that it was time to move.
"Come, we are leaving," he regarded the Sakura.
"Didn't I say I'm not coming?"
"You are being difficult," he deadpanned, the tomoe of his sharingan spinning rapidly in an attempt at looking more menacing, not that he need it.
Much to Sakura's dismay, it worked.
"Damn straight. Until I get some answers, I'm not moving from this spot!" she declared, doing her best to hide the fear that was dangerously close to the surface.
The stoic Uchiha sighed at her immature response, "Kisame."
"Right," the shark nin said dutifully.
That was the last thing she heard before she was promptly knocked out.
A/N: Well there it is. Thanks for reading :D
This is my first fanfiction and I would love to hear your opinions. both support and constructive criticism are welcomed!
Hope you enjoyed. Reviews are highly appreciated :D
