Story: "A Dangerous Trade."
Author: MarauderGirl777.
Summary: Sakura and S-rank criminal Uchiha Itachi accidentally switch bodies due to a mishap in a battle. Will they destroy each other, or will this bring them closer together? SakuraxItachi, hints of SakuraxSasuke.
Rated: M, for language and possible mature scenes in later chapters.
Language: English.
Category: Naruto.
Chapter One.
She woke up, and her eyes were blurry. Once her vision cleared, she looked around. The skies and trees were blurry. Why was her vision so bad?
She squinted her eyes, trying to see more clearly. Nothing happened. 'Damn, did that jutsu make my eyesight go bad too?! Which reminds me.. Where the hell is Itachi?!' She began looked around, and what she saw almost made her pass out again.
It was her body, lying unconscious about twenty feet away from her. She looked down at her own body, and saw the red clouds…
'Oh no.. Oh no no no.. This CAN'T be happening…' She shook her head, panic beginning to well up in her chest. 'No no no.. No.. This can NOT be happening to me.. Please..'
She shook her head and slowly got to her feet, stumbling over to her body. The body she was currently in felt fine, and perfectly at ease, but her mind was whirling. 'Am I in.. Uchiha Itachi's body..?! Please, please let this be a dream..'
She smacked herself in the face. She didn't wake up, she didn't appear somewhere else. She only felt a stinging sensation on her cheek. She then looked down at her body, before frowning in disgust. "Ugh, do I really loo--"
She covered her mouth. Instead of hearing her own voice, she heard the silky-smooth of the Uchiha prodigy saying the words she thought. 'I can't even talk without making myself shiver.. This is bullshit.'
She looked back to her body, and when it began stirring, she yelped. She then inwardly giggled at how odd it sounded, Itachi yelping like a girl. She immediately quieted however when she heard a few colorful words come from her mouth. She raised an eyebrow, and when her body rolled over, jade eyes opening, they both froze.
They both screamed.
Sakura's high-pitched screech joined Itachi's throaty yell as they both stared at each other with wide eyes.
Finally, they stopped, and just stared.
"… Why am I staring at myself?" Sakura's body asked, her face carefully composed.
"I don't know," Sakura replied truthfully, and inwardly smiled at how civil they were being. This was the longest conversation they'd ever shared.
Itachi looked down pensively, before murmuring, "Something to do with the jutsu..?"
"I think so.." Sakura frowned. God, those eyes were getting annoying..
"Are you going blind or something?" Sakura finally blurted, and she saw her body's head jerk towards her, eyes wide with rage. Next thing Sakura knew, the body she was in was pressed back against the dirt, her own body atop it. Sakura felt the strength surge within her, and knew she could easily push Itachi off, but she was scared shitless at the moment. She didn't know why, because Itachi was no threat to her now, but there was something about that stare… It put dread in her like nothing else ever had.
"You will tell NO ONE about that." he hissed through clenched teeth, and Sakura nodded, eyes wide.
Her body shook its head and got up. "Seeing myself like that disgusts me."
Sakura frowned, quickly getting agitated. "You don't think it creeps me out, too?! You better not touch me while you're in my body!"
"Girl, I have no need for that." Itachi said coldly, but the effect was lessened with the high-pitched tone of Sakura's voice.
Sakura began to giggle at how funny it sounded, and Itachi snapped. "Stop that."
Sakura immediately stopped laughing and looked at him quietly.
"Now," he said, looking at the ground, jade eyes thoughtful. "We're going to have to figure out a way to get us back to normal…"
Sakura frowned. "And how the hell are we going to do that? I guess we'll just walk right up to Danzou and say, "Hey! Guess what! Yeah, funny story.. Uchiha Itachi and I switched bodies! Heh-heh, see? Isn't that funny?""
Itachi scowled. "Listen. I don't know how, but we're going to have to live each other's lives until we find a way to get us back into our proper bodies.."
"Wha… How the hell am I supposed to act like you?!" Sakura demanded.
"We'll just…" Itachi sighed, beginning to rub his temples. Er.. Sakura's temples.
"Hey! I told you not to touch me!" Sakura growled.
"Oh, get over yourself.." Itachi sighed, looking at his body. "Kami, this is weird.."
"Tell me about it," Sakura mumbled. "Well.. I'm sure you don't want to tell me information about the Akatsuki, so.."
"And you probably don't want me within a mile-wide range of the Kyuubi," Itachi replied.
"So.. What do we do?" Sakura sighed. "If we go to Danzou about this, we could probably be switched back, but she would definitely take you into custody.."
Itachi closed his eyes. "That's something I am willing to take. I could get out of Konoha's prisons, anyways.. I used to be a shinobi from that village, remember?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well.. I guess that's what we'll do, then."
The rest of the day, the two traveled through the woods, towards Konoha's front gates. The journey was completely silent; Sakura was too afraid to talk and Itachi didn't see the point in talking.
They hid in the trees and waited until nightfall to enter the village. When they saw the guards at the front gate, Sakura cursed. "Kuso.. Forgot about them."
Itachi only grunted, before looking at her. "Act unconscious."
Sakura, being a quick follower, understood what he had in mind, and let him sling her over his shoulder. Obviously he had excellent chakra control, because he easily lifted his own body over his shoulder and began walking. Sakura closed her eyes and let her host body become completely limp, and they walked for a little ways. She then heard a few gasps and she heard one guard question, "H-Haruno-san, is that..?!"
"Yes, it's Uchiha Itachi," Itachi replied smoothly. "I've finally captured him."
"But how--"
"I don't have time for talk," Itachi cut in. "I need to see the Hokage, immediately."
"O-Of course, Haruno-san…" the guards muttered and quickly opened the gates. Itachi walked through smoothly before taking to rooftops, leaping smoothly and gracefully towards the Hokage building.
Itachi landed on a window sill, and quietly began working on one of the windows, after setting Sakura down. "What are you doing?" Sakura asked incredulously. "The windows are locked."
"Precisely." Itachi murmured, undoing a tiny latched, and the window unhitched, the whole glass pain coming loose. Itachi grabbed it, holding it, and motioned with his head for Sakura to slip in. She did so, her feet landing silently on the tile floor, and saw Danzou asleep at his desk. Itachi hopped in easily, using her booted feet, and he replaced the window quietly. He did a few things to lock it in place, and Sakura whispered to him, "How did you do that..?"
"You learn a few tricks when you're an ANBU." he whispered in reply, before walking up to the sleeping elder, who seemed to be wide awake, in a sitting position.
He tapped his shoulder, and Sakura was about to protest when the man shook his head sleepily, and looked at them.
Sakura smiled sheepishly, and said, "Uhh, Hokage-sama.. We have a problem."
Danzou's eyes were wide as saucers, and Sakura didn't blame him. Sakura was sure he had seen alot through his life, but he'd never awakened to see Itachi grinning sheepishly and calling him Hokage-sama.
"Am I.. dreaming?" he stared at them both in utter horror.
"Unfortunately, no." Itachi said, and Danzou's head jerked in Sakura's direction. "We're stuck in each other's bodies, and we don't know how to return to normal."
Danzou just sat there for a moment, taking it all in.
"So you're telling me.." he sat back in his chair, looking back and forth between them, still slightly unbelieving. "You two are in each other's bodies?"
"Precisely." Itachi answered.
"So.. you're Itachi," he pointed at Sakura's body, before his finger turned slowly to Itachi's body. ".. And you're Sakura."
"Yep.." Sakura muttered, embarrassed.
".. Incredible.." Danzou looked at them thoughtfully, and Sakura wondered why the man hadn't immediately taken her body and dumped it in prison; Itachi was dangerous, whether he was in the body of a seventeen year old or not. The old man was also acting extremely out of character, and Sakura wondered if he'd been shocked that much.
".. Ta--...." Danzou's eyes widened and he clutched his chest.
Sakura's eyes widened. "H-Hokage-sama?"
"Ta.. N-Ngh.." He fell out of his chair and crumpled up on the floor, trembling and shaking.
"Oh my God.." Sakura murmured and was about to rush out the door before pausing.
".... Itachi-san.. could you, uhm.. go get Shizune-sama?" Sakura said. "She's down the stairs, first room on the left.."
"Alright, hide." Itachi said, and ran out the door. Sakura nodded and rushed to the windows. She unlocked one and opened it, before leaping out of it and landing on the sill. She hopped down one, and sat down on that sill, hunched into the cloak surrounding her body. She liked it, surprisingly; it was comfortable and it made her feel.. powerful. Important.
Itachi ran down the stairs, pink hair rushing in the wind, created by his speed. He knew he was acting oddly; he couldn't help it. Despite his criminal rank.. deep down inside, he knew he missed the village. He wanted to hate them for making him kill his family, but.. he couldn't. He couldn't because he knew it was the right thing to do. He was one of the only ones in his family who wasn't getting roused up at the plans being made to take over the village. He did what he had to do.. he did his duty. And for that, he could never hate the village.
So, in a way, he was glad to be a normal shinobi again.
Maybe this whole switching bodies thing wouldn't be so bad after all.. At least, for a little while.