A/N: im making my authors notes shorter...isnt that nice of me?

Chapter 2: Waking

The girl woke to the feel of harsh wool on her face, the small wiry tendrils were aggravating, and she moved her sensitive mouth away from the irritation. The sound of soft voices reached her ears and she froze in an attempt to understand what they were saying.

"What are you planning to do with her now that you have her?" came a gravelly, disembodied voice.

"The kyuubi is very close to this girl. I can't imagine any way that we can't use her against him. One word that we have her and we won't even need to look for him. He will come straight to us." The voice was low and almost beyond her ability to hear, it was also soothing in a way she couldn't comprehend.

"Will it be that simple?" came the reply. Now that voice…it gave her chills in a way she didn't want to consider.

"Yes, I do." was the quiet rejoinder. She wanted to see the face that went with that voice, she wanted to know who this man was. She had an almost irresistible craving to see the other side of that calm cool detached voice.

She opened her eyes to a dimly lit room, the walls were made of crude clapboard. In the center of the dirt floor was a low burning fire pit. She was careful to take in her surroundings before allowing herself to look for the source of the voices. She finally forced herself to look at the two men sitting in front of the fire, and was more then a little shocked at what she saw.

One man resembled what she could only describe as a …shark? He was tall, with the collar of his coat pulled up to cover the lower half of his face that was tinted a slightly grey color, and his skin looked harsh like sand paper. As weird as that was the other was a surprising contrast of normalcy, what she could see of him. He had retreated back into the shadows behind the fire and stared intently into the flames.

She shifted her weight and her breath caught in her throat as flares of agony twisted up her spine, blinding and arching her body tautly. The pain was unending and seemed to just grow worse as she slowly came to realize how bad her injuries really were. Wave after wave of mind numbing pain made her cry out, the sound a sharp cry in the silence of the room.

"Shhhhh, Sakura-chan just relax into it…. take a deep breath and relax. The pain will ease."

She felt a light dry hand smooth the hair off her forehead as she tried to follow his instructions. She screwed her eyes tightly shut, took a ragged breath through her nose, and slowly let it out her mouth. All though the pain didn't go away, she could feel the hot claws of agony slowly release her mind from its grip.

Still taking deep even breaths she looked up at the man leaning over her and for the first time, Sakura began to question why she was here with these two men. She knew somewhere in her mind that this person SHOULD seem familiar to her but she just couldn't seem to grasp anything. Thoughts seemed to slip away from without her being able to fully grasp them. She opened her mouth to ask but was unable to remember what she even wanted to ask as a wave of confusion washed over her.

"Wh…. who are you? Where am I? Where is this place?" She asked in a weak sounding voice. She then had another burning question enter her mind, one that had to come out…but she didn't want this man to think less of her.

"Who Am I?" He stared at her with pitch black eyes that seemed to suck up every bit of light in the room creating dark shadows around his face. He continued to look at her and then he smiled widely, as if suddenly everything was right in the world.

"Darling, don't you remember? I'm Itachi, your husband. You were in a bad accident. We found this little abandoned cabin and we brought you here to treat your wounds. You are my wife…Uchiha Sakura. You have quite a bit of damage and were in a coma for quite a while. Things might be a little bit confusing but don't worry baby, it will all come back to you, I'm sure of it."

"Ooh," She said looking up into his dark smiling eyes and she was content with his explanation. She could believe anything when he said it in that low husky voice. She felt her eyes droop and a wave of fatigue overcame her entire body.

"Itachi, I'm so tired I'm sorry I can't seem to stay awake," she whispered. She had so many questions she wanted to ask but the thoughts wouldn't come together long enough for her to grasp any of them long enough to articulate.

"Don't worry Sakura-Chan, you go to sleep and I will be right here when you wake up," he picked up her hand and tenderly kissed the bruised skin on her knuckles as her eyes drifted closed and her breathing evened out.

Itachi turned to find Kisame looking at him with eyebrows raised in shocked surprise.

"W. I. F. E?" he silently mouthed at Itachi. Questions clearly written across his features. Itachi chose not to respond, he returned to his place in the shadows watching the pink haired girl relax into sleep on her make shift bed.

Outside the snow continued to fall silently adding another foot onto the already snow encumbered mountain. At this rate they would be stuck on the mountain until spring, which had been the plan but they hadn't packed in enough supplies to feed her too. It seemed that they now had no choice but to stay, all of the passes out of the mountain were buried. Even the most skilled ninja could get hypothermia and die out there. Nothing but extreme circumstances would be able drive them down now.

Itachi suddenly stood and moved to pick up his bow, a quiver of arrows, and the trapping kit he had been setting up all night filled with the wire and bait.

"We're going to need more food with her here." He paused, "Kisame? If you know what's good for you, you won't touch her." With that ambiguous threat he silently exited the cabin leaving a draft of cold air in his wake.

Kisame silently contemplated the girl...he HAD been ready to touch her. He wanted to the minute he saw her but he respected Itachi's power too much to go against him on this. Itachi usually didn't make ultimatums, he had to be serious if he was making one now. Best, Kisame thought, to just sit back for now and wait to see how things went. He raised his head to allow the heady scent of her blood fill his sinus cavities, savoring the flavor like one would an expensive sake.

Besides I might still get my chance eventually.

Itachi sat on the tree branch unmoving with his bowstring pulled back to his ear holding the line taught waiting for the small young doe to walk into his line of sight. She was a small red deer and her long graceful legs lifted gently out of the snow and were almost as deliberately placed in front of her as unseen dangers stalked her, she moved her head side to side looking for the source of her uneasiness. Itachi admired her in a way, most humans never even knew when they were his prey but she could sense it, without even knowing why she was in danger she just knew she was. The little kunoichi could learn something from this deer…she was far to trusting.

He saw his opening and let the arrow fly and it landed with a solid thunk right between two ribs to be buried deep in her heart. Startled by the sharp pain and sudden movement she bounded up and made two graceful leaps before her body gave out and she fell to the forest floor. He jumped down from the branch and cautiously approached the downed animal, even mortally wounded a swift kick could incapacitate a man. Her harsh breaths came slower and slower and she made as if to move her legs, he came to stand over the top of her and admired his shot, it had hit perfectly. He looked for a long time into her large moist eyes as the life slowly left her, he lifted his hand to slowly stroke the side of her muzzle and almost as gently he cut her throat with the other. One other thing he admired about deer…they almost always died gracefully.