DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only, without any intention of infringing upon any copyright.

Desires of the Heart
Part I

Chapter 3
The Proposition

Crash!

The noise reverberated throughout her head, making her stir. She flinched as soon as she came back to her senses. Her head throbbed with a dull pain; making her want to clutch her forehead until the pain stopped hitting her in such sharp waves.

"Tobi! Look where you are going, yeah!" someone snarled and there was a loud smacking sound.

"Ouch! What was that for, senpai?" a childish whimper sounded from very close to her.

Everything sounded unfamiliar. Memories of the recent events flowed into her mind.

'Akatsuki.'

Sakura didn't dare open her eyes or make any kind of movement. She held her breath in.

"You better breathe in a lungful of air before your face turns blue like Fish-face, kunoichi, yeah," someone was telling, "And Tobi, you idiot, keep away from my art!"

Sakura stiffened as she realized that the first part of the phrase had been addressed to her, and decided to take the unknown person's advice and let out the breath that she was holding in. Chiding herself for getting caught so easily, she snapped open her eyes.

There was a man in an orange mask with swirling patterns peering down at her, blocking the light out of her eyes and so making it easier for her heavy eyes to adjust to the surroundings. She blinked up at the guy for a long time.

The mask had only one eye-hole and she saw his clear, dark eye widen for a fraction before it crinkled to a smiling one as he began clapping ridiculously, "She is awake! She is awaaaa-" He never anticipated the fist that came to meet his face.

CRASH!

There was a moment of silence while Sakura did a quick check over her body for any kind of bruises and found none, but she noted the obvious absence of her chakra. Maybe that's why she felt so exhausted to the bone.

There was a cackle from the far end of the room and her eyes instantly snapped up towards the noise and she had to bite back a cry of surprise.

"So that's what Kisame got the bruise from," the blonde was saying in between his guffaw, and nodded at her in, what Sakura could only deduce as approval, "I gotta hand it to you, yeah."

Sakura recognized the blond man as Deidara of the Akatsuki from a file she read about Akatsuki. He was not wearing his Akatsuki cloak, making it hard for her to actually believe that the laughing and easy-going man could ever be as dangerous as his name suggested. And he looked very young too.

The air settled as Tobi sat up groaning in pain. He was not clutching his head which seemed to have taken most of the injury where a huge, red bump poked out. He was instead covering his face with his hands. Chips of orange could be seen falling off his face. He whimpered.

Before she could think anything else, the paper door at the far end of the room slid open noiselessly, letting in a flitting ray of bright yellow light into the gloomily lit room. Her mind instantly replayed how she came to be here.

Managing to stand up from where she had been sitting, Sakura bit her lip as her eyes fell on the figure at the other side of the room. The tall ninja stood there at the door, unmoving. His gray-blue epidermis was tinged a muted skin tone in the dim orange glow of the lamp fire. Sakura could see the bruise taking a repulsive purple color on the side of his cheeks where she had landed her punch earlier. His limb also looked awkwardly stuffed in the sleeves of his Akatsuki robes. Sakura suppressed the smirk tugging on her lips.

'So I did fight him after all, it wasn't a part of the genjutsu,' Inner sniggered along with her.

His black soulless eyes watched her every movement and that same dark smile was on his mouth as if it was still there from the last moment she looked at him. Sakura could see the shark man's sickly sadistic grin bending the gray flesh around his mouth.

"I have been waiting for you to come around, Pinky." The sword strapped to his back made a grilling sound, startling her. Sakura wondered if he was planning of taking some kind of dreadful revenge on her for the punch and the hand.

'Oh, let him come, we'll take him on,' Inner flipped her hair haughtily, 'There will be more from where that punch came from.'

Sakura raised a brow at her other persona, ''We?''

That shut her Inner up, leaving her free to concentrate on the more pressing situation at hand. Her eyes followed Kisame's every movement warily as he came to stand in the middle of the room, prepared in case he lashed out. But he merely stood there surveying the part of the room which lay in a rubble.

"What happened here?" He eyed the frantic Tobi who was now trying to piece together his broken mask and directed his question at Deidara whose laughing fit had at last resided.

Deidara chuckled, "Pinky here is a fighter, yeah," he explained and took a look back at her with his sole gleaming eyes. Sakura couldn't place the look that he gave her. But knowing him it couldn't be far off from blood thirst, she shuddered.

A wide smirk spread across Kisame's blue tinged lips, he spared her a sweeping look, "We will have to see about that soon."

It made blood rush to her head in anticipation of what was coming. For the first time since waking up Sakura let the fear that had been threatening to seep in from the very beginning come crashing on her. The fear she felt creeping up her veins, to her heart and her brain, was very different than the panic that she had felt earlier in the forest. It was much more intense, and she hoped that the others didn't notice the tremor that passed over her. What has she gotten herself into?

Everything about the fake mission and the Junko clicked into her mind; she needed to inform Konoha about this as soon as possible. But seeing where she was now, she doubted she would ever get the chance. She distinctly wondered how she was even alive...

"What do you want from me?" she asked, eyeing the two men in as much contempt as her fearful heart would allow.

"Yeah, man. From when does Uchiha force himself on women, yeah?" This earned Deidara a glare from the said Uchiha's faithful partner. Sakura's lips quirked upwards, and she would have laughed then if the situation at hand hadn't been so dire.

"Shut up if you know what is best for you," Kisame murmured, withdrawing to one corner of the room to lean against the still intact wall.

Deidara seemed to color a little but decided to say nothing more on the matter. He called at Tobi, "Oi, get yourself together. We are leaving, yeah."

Sakura glanced down at Tobi who was still bent over his mask trying to fix it. He complained, "Bu-But senpai! It won't stick!"

Despite herself, she raised a brow, was this truly an Akatsuki member, dangerous as the word itself? She couldn't believe it; if anything, Tobi seemed like a child trapped in a body older than his. Surely he couldn't be up to the malevolence that requires of an Akatsuki...

"Kunoichi."

Sakura stiffened hearing the cold, quiet voice. Her mind whirled and her eyes snapped back at the doorway. There stood Uchiha Itachi, his red eyes spinning as he regarded her, his face cleared in a blank slate. How long he had been standing there she couldn't tell because she hadn't heard him coming to stand there.

Sakura was startled to find herself looking into his eyes and instantly removed her gaze, choosing instead to look at the high collar of his dark robe that reached his chin. She remembered the last time she had peered into those pair of haunting orbs.

'And look where it has gotten me,' she grumbled.

'Not true,' her Inner decided to drawl out now of all times, much to Sakura's irritation, 'You know you wouldn't have stood a chance even if you hadn't taken a peek.'

'Shut it,' Sakura growled, unleashing the frustration that she felt creeping up to her on her Inner, 'I'd like to tell myself that this is entirely his fault.'

If she had felt frightened when Kisame had entered, she didn't know what to feel now. She tried to keep herself calm, but whatever inner tumult her face could hide with difficulty, she knew that her emerald eyes betrayed it all. She cursed herself for being so poor at controlling her emotions. How did she even make it this far in this treacherous world?

In an attempt to keep her eyes anywhere but on his eyes, Sakura's eyes ventured down to his right arm. It was where she had used her scalpel and succeeded in piercing through his muscles, hopefully she even had severed more than enough nerves to render it useless. The thought brought a little quirk on her lips, despite the situation of life and death she was faced with right then. It was just the fact that it wasn't everyday that someone could take Uchiha Itachi off guard.

She would have liked to push up his sleeves and examine his hand to see the effect she had left with her own eyes, rather than knowing that it had affected him. But his arms were hidden within the shrouds of his dark cloak.

'And I can't just ask for a peek now, can I?' she said to herself scathingly.

Closing her eyes, she just let herself bath in the triumph of knowing that she had caught him. And being a medic she knew that it must hurt like hell. Then with a grimace she realized that even if she had indeed hurt him, he showed no indication of any pain. This made Sakura groan mentally as she realized, with a high pain tolerance as someone of his caliber should have, he may not even have considered the blow as much as a scratch.

Itachi, probably noticing how her eyes lingered over his arm, lightly cleared his throat to bring her attention back to him.

"Uchiha-san," she replied quietly, nodding at him, again fixing her eyes anywhere than his lethal eyes.

"Kunoichi, do you know why you were brought here?" he drawled out in his impassive tone.

The words flew out of her mouth even before they even registered in her own mind, "You mean kidnapped?"

There was a pause while Sakura's eyes widened in the horror as the weight of her own words sunk in. She cursed herself for being such a fool. You don't just go offending people as dangerous as them! If she was wondering so long why she had been kept alive, now she would surely be killed and relieved of such thoughts.

Then Deidara chortled, making Sakura wonder if she should sigh in somewhat relief or say her last prayers all the same. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Kisame's beady eyes shifting from her to his stoic partner, a hidden amusement shining in them.

"Hn."

Sakura's eyes flinched as she realized how much Itachi sounded like his younger brother right then. Immediately she struggled to push back the pang that hit her chest. She unconsciously clutched at her heart.

"Is something the matter, Pinky?" Kisame mocked her, because there was no way she would believe him to be capable of being concerned about someone's well being. She managed to glare back at him which only made him arch a brow.

Her eyes went back to meet Itachi's Sharringan; for a moment she was not scared of its wrath as she felt anger building up inside her, not for kidnapping her but rather for sounding so much like his younger brother and in turn arousing the uncertain emotions within her which she had struggled to lock up for so long.

He didn't use his eyes on her.

Emerald eyes narrowing she hissed, "Since I'm not dead yet, I'm guessing you require something from me. And since you did the honor of kidnapping me, why don't you do the honor of enlightening me as well?"

The silence that followed was overwhelming. The air around them seemed to have tightened. Something was escalating; she could feel it. Maybe it was Itachi's power because the room seemed filled with his presence; filled with some sort of prickling energy that scared her poor heart even more.

But Sakura didn't dare break the eye contact with the Uchiha. She knew for sure that she had blown it this time. Even if there was only a slight chance of him disposing of her at the earlier comment, there would be none to save her from his wrath now. But she found herself not caring, instead she felt a strange sense of satisfaction for being able to mock Uchiha Itachi and live at least the next second to feel the fulfilling sensation.

The rest of the Akatsuki seemed to be holding their breath too, watching the two of them, unblinking. It looked like even they were just as sure of her fate and were only waiting for the blow to make contact. She herself waited for the dojutsu to pull her into the world of eternal pain... Unknowingly she closed her eyes in anticipation and saw her whole life flash in front of her like she had earlier in the forest.

But nothing of the sorts happened. Sakura's eyes cracked open as she blinked stupidly for a few seconds.

"Manners, kunoichi." Was all Itachi chose to say, much to her amazement. Sakura took a fleeting look at Kisame out of the corner of her eyes who seemed just as bewildered as her.

Sighing, she knew she had better listen to Itachi's direction, lest she wanted to be killed right there. Perhaps there was still a chance to...negotiate her way out? Perhaps rescue teams were already being sent out in search for her? She didn't dare hope.

Then she asked something that had been bothering her ever since she was driven out of the Damiyo's household, "Did Akatsuki have anything to do with the false mission requesting me?" She knew the answer even before it came, but she wanted to make sure that her assumption was wholly correct.

"We are not obliged to answer your queries," Itachi said in his monotonous voice.

"Nevertheless, it's a pretty harmless query," she presented her logics, adding, "It would be better for me to know the whole situation if I wanted to think clearly, rather than making assumptions."

She seemed to have a fine point as the Uchiha replied smoothly, "The mission was false, devised in the fashion to lure you out."

"That would explain the specific request for me," she muttered under her breath.

'But why though?' No matter how much she thought about it she couldn't find any other reason for them to go through all these trouble other than to secure her as a hostage for using as a bargaining chip against Naruto. It was the very likely reason. Of what other use can she be of?

Shaking her head she asked the next question, "And what about Junko-san?"

The elder Uchiha cocked his head, "What about her?"

"Is she unharmed?" she asked, dreading that the way Itachi had stalled her question would bring some unwanted answer.

"I was under the impression that I had already answered that question, kunoichi," he answered smoothly in his deep, firm voice. Sakura sighed in relief because the last time she had asked of the old woman's fate the results had not been alarming.

Nodding solemnly, she moved to the next question, which had been bugging her for some time now, "Have you sent a message to Naruto yet? Of my capture?"

This time Kisame downright laughed and exclaimed, "Pinky you are one of a kind, really!" But it didn't strike to her as anything amusing and in fact it was quite repulsive coming from one such as him.

"Thank you," she said, her voice laced heavily with sarcasm as Kisame laughed more despite the obvious offense, and even Deidara was chuckling to himself quietly. Sakura turned instead towards Itachi expectantly.

He seemed to be smirking, another trait that seemed to link him to his resemblance with his younger brother. As she saw a familiar look cross his lips, she tried to stop her mind wandering to the dark thoughts regarding the younger Uchiha; now was not the time. It had been a long time since she had seen that same Uchiha smirk on the other man's mouth, but it seemed like it had been another time, another life away.

"You assume we have captured you to lure out the Kyuubi," he remarked, his smirk still in place, "I thought you had made it clear that none of us wanted to work on meager assumptions."

Sakura could only blink at him stupidly, "Huh?"

Then everything clicked into her mind. So they were saying that their motives were...different from capturing Kyuubi? Should she be stupid enough to believe their words? And what would Itachi ever gain from lying to her?

Out of the corner of her eyes she observed the other three Akatsuki. Deidara and Tobi seemed oblivious to this whole thing. Perhaps they had no hand in it, Tobi seemed clueless enough to convince her of their detachment. Kisame on the other hand, definitely played a part in it. And what would he gain from lying to her about their motives?

Right. Simply nothing.

Sucking in a deep breath she outright demanded, crossing her hands over her chest and narrowing her eyes at them, rather than the elder Uchiha, "Then what exactly do you have in mind?"

Kisame smiled at her, a matter of revulsion to her, and for one crazy moment Sakura panicked when the thought crossed her mind that he would reply saying that they had brought her just for the kill of it. But no, Kisame just smacked his lips much to Sakura's distaste and asked, "Impatient much? Well then, let's get down to business."

"Kunoichi," Itachi had her attention again by just one word. Sakura took in a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst, knowing that whatever was going to come out of his mouth was never something that would sound good to her ears.

Itachi seemed to observe her quietly for a moment before dropping the bomb, "It has been noted that Akatsuki is in need of the skills of a medic."

Deidara and Tobi seemed as astonished as herself. On second thought Sakura noticed that it was true that she had never come across the knowledge of any Akatsuki members having the skills of a med-nin.

'Not that they needed it,' she snorted.

Deidara and Kisame raised a brow each, at her. She just bit her lips. So they had basically said that they had sought her out for her medical services. Not happening. It was out of question! Maybe she should take pride in her abilities that were note-worthy even by the standards of few of the top shinobis to ever live, granted they were all criminals. But, predictably, she felt deeply insulted by their thoughtlessness.

"You are asking me to join Akatsuki's ranks as a medic?" She tried to steer clear of the anger that threatened to burst out.

"No," Itachi's answer made her stop short. What the hell? Didn't the man just say so a minute ago? She wanted to pull at her hair. He was truly complicated, she decided.

"What the hell?" She could feel the veins popping out on her forehead, not that it would serve any purpose other than getting her killed sooner than destined.

"A certain situation has aroused requiring the most competent medical attention. Clearly Tsunade-hime was not an option..."

'And hence me,' she completed the sentence in her mind as Inner sniggered. She winced, 'I should have known.'

"How dare you think I would help the likes of Akatsuki after all you have done?" She didn't try to contain the rage that spilled out then. She looked upon them in contempt, surprisingly making Tobi, who had managed to salvage what was left of his mask and put it back on, flinch under her gaze. Deidara and Kisame seemed to be most amused by her outburst.

But Sakura looked forward to Itachi's reaction most, since she figured that her life or death depended very much on it; but he was of course as unreadable as ever. And just when she was beginning to think that he wouldn't lash out, suddenly he disappeared from the line of her sight, making her heart pound erratically.

Instinctively Sakura took a step back only to be pressed against something, or rather someone. She stiffened. Warmth was the last thing that she expected to radiate off him. Biting back a gasp, she stood her place, willing her body to not betray the rolls of fear that washed over her. She tried to contain her heart within her chest.

The tip of his kunai was pressed into her throat, reminding her awfully of the last time in the forest. The warm line of blood slid down her skin as she waited to see if he would respond or end her life. Those few seconds seemed like an eternity before he spoke.

'Such a foolish gamble, Sakura!' She was angrier at herself than anyone. Why, oh why, did she of all people have to be so stupid enough to be outspoken; especially in the presence of international S-class criminals?

"Kunoichi, know your place well."

The words were low and whispered against her ear, making a shiver run along her back. The hair on the back of her head trickled as she held her breath, waiting for the worst. But for the umpteenth time that day, nothing came. But Sakura didn't dare let out the breath that she was holding in. Finally the kunai was withdrawn, but she could feel every bit of him against her back. It didn't promise much to her life.

Sakura would forever be grateful to Deidara who just then took a step forward and broke the unyielding aura that had filled the room in the last few minutes.

"Well we will be off now, yeah." Turning to Tobi he motioned him towards the door.

Tobi who had been standing on the rubble and had been silent the whole time, finally seemed to be broken from a trance and said in his high pitched voice, "Bye-bye, kunoichi-san. Tobi had just wanted to see kunoichi-san's hair from a closer view earlier because Tobi had never seen anyone with pink hair."

Sakura felt remorse built up deep within her chest at the innocence in the masked man's voice, but a second later she blinked and checked herself.

'What am I thinking?' she cursed herself for being so soft.

Tobi bowed to her humbly, shocking her. "But Tobi had obviously made kunoichi-san mad. Please forgive Tobi. Tobi meant no harm. Tobi was only curious."

Sakura swallowed at the clarity of the boy's apology. She could only nod in acceptance of his apology. Her hands itched to summon her healing chakra and heal the bump on his head and the limp on his leg which she noticed as soon as he began walking towards the door where Deidara had been putting on his straw hat and Akatsuki cloak, observing the whole exchange.

This time Itachi who was still standing still all this time and about whose presence Sakura had all but forgotten, spoke, "You will heal Kisame and Tobi."

No matter how much her hand itched to heal Tobi, Kisame's name made her remember the company she was now amongst, and brought back her spirit immediately.

"No."

Sakura was sure that by now everyone had assumed that she had a death wish. And died she would have, if not Akatsuki's pressing need for the skills of a medic. She knew from her heart that it was the only reason that kept Itachi from killing her. But she could tell by the way this was going that it wouldn't be long that they would see it fit to dispose of her, seeing that she was proving to be more trouble than worth.

"You will." His voice was firm, leaving no space for resistance.

Sakura noticed how he made no mention of the injury she had inflicted upon him earlier or demanded of her to heal him; it proved to her that indeed he hadn't considered the blow even a scratch. She snorted; if Itachi could take a hit from her most formidable jutsu and feel nothing, surely Kisame and Tobi's injury was a child's play. It didn't matter whether they were in pain or not, or that defying Itachi's words meant certain death, Sakura would be damned if she gave in.

"Never."

There was a flash in Itachi's eyes but before he could act upon it, Tobi interrupted, frantically shaking his head, "Tobi is quite fine. Itachi-san need not trouble kunoichi-san about healing Tobi! No! No!"

And Sakura didn't know what made Kisame say it, perhaps it was his ego or perhaps it was just out of pity for her, probably the first since Sakura knew that the shark-man could want nothing but to kill her as painfully as possible. "I will be damned if I let that vixen touch me anytime soon."

Sakura was stupid enough to comment, "A wise decision Kisame-san," making Kisame laugh out loud. She seemed to make him do that a lot. Besides, she had merely used a numbing technique on Kisame's hand, nothing lethal. His senses would be coming around in a while as soon as the jutsu dispels. She could see one of his fingers already beginning to twitch.

'And as to his cheek that has gone a nasty shade of purple, hmm, he deserved that.' She pursed her lips.

Itachi didn't question their refusal and after what seemed like forever to Sakura, he finally moved away from her, his steps towards the door swift and easy as he pulled his straw hat over his dark locks. He was turned away from her, but shifted his head so that she could see the left side of his face a little.

"We will leave you to consider the proposition..." Sakura scoffed at the choice of the word making Itachi's eyes flash. But he didn't comment about it, instead continued, "...if you don't accept, the consequences will be dire. And if you do..."

Sakura interrupted him, frowning at his back, "Don't bother explaining Uchiha-san, because I have absolutely no intention of accepting it."

There was a pause and then Itachi disappeared. For a moment Sakura prepared herself to expect him to appear in front of her, or behind her, finally making her pay for her constant insolence. But he seemed to have really been gone. As his lasts words rang in her ears, Sakura couldn't suppress the shiver that went along her back or the fear that rose in her throat.

"Choose your words with care, kunoichi."

After a full minute that Itachi was gone, the others who were just as frozen to the spot as her, finally made a move.

Deidara sighed, "Well, trust the Uchiha to be all cool." Then he turned towards her, letting a smirk touch his lips, "Why don't you just agree to it, yeah?" He saw the angry outburst coming towards him and raised his hands in surrender and winked at her, "You are stuck with us either way, yeah."

Deidara finally left the room with Tobi following his suit after bowing to her and apologizing to her once again. Kisame was the last person to leave. She could see the sadistic smirk curling around his lips.

"What is it?" she snapped at him; she had enough of them for a lifetime.

"Maa, maa, what a temper you have there, Pinky," he laughed at her openly.

"Oh yeah? You have yet to see the first of it, Kisame-san," she spat out at the floor.

Kisame paused, staring at her in astonishment before recovering, "Was that a threat Pinky?"

Even if Sakura was stupid enough to say what came to her mind, she was not just going to tempt a famed mass murderer into killing her by confirming that it had indeed been a threat, albeit one that she most certainly couldn't carry out.

When Sakura didn't answer he waved a dismissive hand towards her and continued, "Well, anyways, you should watch your tongue. And don't try anything funny. We will be notified the instant you try to pull something off. He won't be so considerate next time, Pinky."

Sakura could only be sure that the 'he' referred to Itachi.

"Don't call me that!" she snapped at him instead.

"Besides, I can feel the senses coming back in my hand. Who knows if I will be able to resist the urge to fit it around your neck the next time around?" His laughter rang out and then the sound of the door sliding shut, and Sakura was left to herself, her eyes twitching at Kisame's wicked innuendo.

Sighing, Sakura fell on her knees. The ground was made of stone and was cold. For the first time she took the time to take a good look around the room.

The room was quite spacious with stone floor and walls. There was only one window, facing a pond of some kinds, giving her no clues whatsoever about where she was situated.

'Country of Waterfall maybe?' Inner Sakura suggested but she shook her head dubiously.

The room was very humbly furnished with tatami rugs and a futon at the corner of the room. There was some tapestry hanging from the walls but held nothing of interest to Sakura. The room was dimply lit by one single fire lamp; the orange glow was far different from the florescent ones that she was used to back at home.

She walked over to the wall of which most of it lay in rubbles.

'What are you waiting for, knock the damn wall down!' She watched Inner grin in her mind's eye.

Sakura sighed, 'It's not that easy.' She glanced at the chipped off stone, the wall was too thick to actually be penetrated by one of her non-chakra enhanced punches. 'They drained me off my chakra,' she made a face. 'Besides, it would take at least a few chakra enhanced punches to make even the smallest dents on this solid stone.'

Plus, the walls, the window, the door, all of it seemed to be wired with some kind of chakra that trickled through it. Now anyone of lesser knowledge in chakra manipulation would have never noticed it. But Sakura being an efficient chakra processor, had noticed it without even touching it or disrupting the flow. Because a disruption would surely inform her captors of it and could do nothing more than invite trouble for her. Hence, all forms of escape route were blocked, unless of course, she wanted to invite trouble.

She didn't think she wanted to take another chance with the Akatsuki this soon, especially with their patience which already was running low with her. She had already as well as pissed Itachi off and it was his mood that made the difference between her life and death. Kisame had very well walked out of the room with a challenge. She didn't want to evoke the monsters within any of them on simple whims.

'If we're going to pull out an escape from the clutches of Akatsuki and hope to make it out alive,' she told Inner, 'we have much to plan.'

But for now she was exhausted to the bone. Groaning to herself, she flopped herself on the futon. The mattress didn't bring her any comfort; mentally or physically. Tossing around for some time, she settled to simply summon up everything that had happened in the short period of time. With nothing else to do, Sakura had no other choice but to mull over the proposition that Akatsuki had bombarded her with.

The capture itself informed her of nothing, other than that Akatsuki had found means to tamper with the Damiyo's seal and with Konoha's mission roaster. The prospect was alarming. She hoped that Junko was safe by now and has deduced something to send back word to Konoha of her misfortune.

She wondered how much time had transpired since she lost consciousness back at the forest. Why had she forgotten to ask them so? Surely, if word has reached Konoha by now, rescue teams have been dispatched... But then again Akatsuki wasn't stupid enough to leave a trail behind them, unless they wanted to lure them here, which she doubted now since Itachi also had made it a point to outright deny. Not that she believed his words for it of course, but really, what did they have to gain lying to her?

'So they must be telling the truth,' she mused.

But that meant that Akatsuki was truly in medical trouble... she vaguely wondered which of their member it was. It must be pretty serious and quite a delicate situation if they were anxious enough to seek outside help.

Sakura's medical side kicked in and she found herself growing curious by the second as to what could have happened to one of the members of Akatsuki to have disregarded their ego and vehemence to seek out help... She wanted to know.

Plus if it was a delicate situation and if she agreed it would mean that she could possibly get knowledge of the anatomy of one of their members to some extent, and that mere knowledge was sure be of a great advantage to Konoha in the times to come. Or maybe she could even manipulate certain components in the body to serve her purposes...of course she would have to be careful, lest she wanted to get discovered and killed.

Then it drew to her mind. Akatsuki was seeking out help, yes, that must mean that they were aware of the matter of revealing many of their secrets to a complete stranger, and in her case, a certain enemy. Why would they ever risk revealing themselves to one such as her?

The thought made her blood run cold.

Unless, of course, they were planning on disposing of her as soon as they deemed her unnecessary to their cause; for they possessed both the authority and the malice to do so.

And then another though crossed her mind; one that made her eyes widen in horror greater than the thought of her disposal.

She had actually been considering the offer.

Sakura clenched her fists and bought them to punch on the either sides of the futon she was lying in. She stared up at the high stone ceiling, unconsciously following the long web that some spider had conjured.

She lay there in silence for a few moments, breathing in and out, calming herself. Finally she opened her eyes.

A picture of Naruto flashed in front of her, grinning at her like there was no tomorrow. And then Kakashi's face popped up, his lone eye crinkled. Tsunade's proud smile as she watched her knock down trees. Her parents telling her that they were very proud of her as she showed them her green jounin vest. Ino's smirk as she challenged her. Lee giving her a thumbs-up in all his kindness. Neji smirking at her, telling her that she had indeed improved. Tenten teaching her how to throw a shuriken with the perfect accuracy. Hinata blushing as soon as she mentioned Naruto's name. Shizune. Sai. Shikamaru. Yamato. Kurenai. Chouji. Genma. Gaara. Temari. Kankuro. And so many, many more people who looked up to her and depended on her.

She was ashamed to have even considered the offer. There was nothing to consider, there was nothing to think about; her choice had already been there from the very start. To think anything beyond that was surely treason.

She was a respected kunoichi and she served Konoha and that's where her loyalty rested. There was nothing to think about. Her choice was set and she would stick to it. It didn't matter even if it costs her very life. Shinobi were raised to value their country's aspirations over their own lives. Likewise, she was a loyal shinobi of the Leaf, and she couldn't think of a better way to die than protecting her country's honor.

Sakura found herself drifting off in an uncomfortable but appreciated slumber, with the last thoughts of an unwavering resolution.

There was no way she was going to betray Konoha or her friends' trust by healing even a scratch of their mortal enemies. Uchiha Itachi could kill her if he wanted.

To be continued

A/N: Personally, I love the last sentence hehe :3