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Rainflakes

''Because sometimes, life can change in ways you least expect...''

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Pain... Darkness... Aching... Bed?

Sakura felt movement beside her and struggled to open her eyes. She settled instead on feeling her way around the comfortable, warm bed she was currently residing in. It hurt her to think, to move, to breath, but she done it nonetheless. Memories... she scrounged through her mind in search for anything that would give her recognition to her whereabouts. She grabbed memories and threw them away until she came across one in particular that caught her eyes. A black background and blood red clouds. Horror rushed through her. The Akatsuki, Itachi, the paralysation...

She sat up from her world of comfort and the woollen blanket fell off of her body. She waited until her eyes adjusted to the piercing light and stared in shock around the room she was occupying. It was small, but slightly cosier then she would have imagined; the Akatsuki certainly didn't seem like the kind of people who were to suddenly start providing them with free guest rooms, but she was clearly mistaken.

She gazed down at the clothes she was wearing and found she was sporting a rather skimpy nightgown, on top of the fact that her broken arm now seemed to be completely healed. She shuddered at the thought of the shark-faced man dressing her and tucked the warm blanket back under her neck. It wasn't until deep breathing next to her made her realise she was not alone in the room. Only inches away from her laid Itachi, deep in a paralysed sleep. The big single bed they were forced to share left little room for her to move and it was a wonder that they hadn't ended up entwined with each other while they slept.

She watched the ANBU Captain and studied his sleeping face, openly smiling at the vulnerability he showed while peacefully resting. She resisted the urge to move a strand of his ebony hair out his closed eyes and instead lay back down beside him. There was nothing she could do until he woke up, so instead she curled back into the covers and watched her team leader sleep.

~*~

She didn't notice she had fallen asleep again until a small sound inches away from her face awoke her. She snapped open her eyes and found herself staring into Itachi's black orbs. Instantly, she moved backwards and bumped hard into the solid wall that was behind her.

"It seems we have an issue." Itachi's voice was laden with tiredness and he rubbed his forehead with the arm that was outside of the blanket, sitting up slowly and gazing around the room. He took it in the same way as Sakura, except without the show of emotion. She shook her head and sat up too, clambering out of the bed while being extra careful not to brush Itachi. He took his eyes off of the bland room for a moment and drew them to Sakura, raising one eyebrow at the ensemble she happened to be wearing. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't. Say. Anything." She lifted a finger in warning and stormed over to a window that filled half of the grimy, stone walls and looked out, her eyes widening at the sight before her. Water was gushing down outside of it. They were inside a waterfall.

"Well, it's certainly discreet." She mumbled, turning back to Itachi. He was staring at the floor, deep in thought and it was clear that he was analysing the situation because his eyes flickered with light and intelligence. She walked up to him and bent down to the floor, catching his distracted eyes. They moved to her face.

"You can analyse the situation for weeks and possibly days Itachi, but the outcome is gonna be the same. We're captives and there is no way to escape." She rose to her feet and approached a damp wall, running her hand along it and staring at it closely.

"The walls seem to be infused with some sort of chakra. There's no way I can study it fully without my kit, but I'm assuming it's to prevent any jutsu blasting or erasing the wall." She turned and rested her back against it, sliding down it slowly towards the floor. Resting her elbows on her bent knees, she entwined her fingers through her pink hair.

"This is just brilliant. I don't think the mission could get any"- A hand clamped over her mouth and she stared up at Itachi with wide eyes. He was bent down beside her and a slight smirk was twitching around his silky lips.

"Don't jinx it, Sakura." He spoke coolly, removing his hand. She continued to stare with an open mouth and scoffed quietly at him, turning away from his amused face.

"This is hardly the time to play around, Captain. They may want to torture us for information and I don't really find that amusing." She stared up through her eyelashes at Itachi, her eyebrows furrowed and strained. Itachi shook his head and rose to his feet to sit on the edge of the bed, which was still messed up from when he had left it earlier.

"They need my eyes and battle skills. No doubt they will keep us here until I accept their offer, but for the meantime I will just have to watch them carefully and hope there is some way to escape. They won't inflict much harm to us if we are to be useful to them." Itachi winced suddenly at the thought of being a mindless puppet to them and turned away so his emotions were not shown to Sakura. He knew they were in a bigger mess then it seemed. He could barely hold out against one member and now he was in a hideout that could contain hundreds of unknown Akatsuki. Sakura pushed herself up from the wall and began to search each cabinet out of curiosity. A small sound that emitted from her caught Itachi's attention.

"This is some sort of sick joke." She hissed to herself, leaving the draw open as she turned away. Itachi looked warily at the drawer and approached it, snorting at the sight before him. Two Akatsuki uniforms were folded up neatly in the oak chest, the obvious size difference in them clearly indicating that they were for him and Sakura. For such a disgusting gesture, it was quite surprising he found it amusing.

"This is bad," Sakura ran a hand through her dirt-ridden hair and pulled a face. Itachi straightened up and approached the large, dank window, staring out of it dazedly.

"We are in no danger. They stated that we were useful to them. As soon as we have an opportunity to escape, we will." He tapped his fingers against his cheek and his eyebrows twitched.

Sakura watched the leader and struggled to decipher his emotions. He was no doubt attempted every slight possible way for them to escape from the Akatsuki's grasp and she was in no position to help, since she couldn't get inside his head. She dropped her arms which had crossed across her chest and sighed, heading for the bathroom.

"I hate that I'm giving in to their luxury, but I really need to take a shower." She stalked into the surprisingly glamorous bathroom and stripped down, ducking her head as quickly as possible underneath the warm jet of water that burst down onto her body. She moved her hands through her hair roughly and tugged at the tangled ends furiously.

Damn Akatsuki. We go on one measly mission to catch a pest and we end up being captured by a bunch of gormless idiots. She winced when she pulled too roughly on her hair and yelled out a stream of curses, then turned off the gleaming tap. Clambering out of the steamy shower seemed to do nothing but arouse her anger further when she looked at the luxury of the bathroom. She infused chakra to one fist and punched hard at the protected walls. It succeeded in doing nothing but leaving the shield shimmering as though taunting her failure.

"Sakura, you will only proceed in harming yourself if you attempt to punch through the walls." Itachi's bland voice called through the doorway. She stormed over to it and bit her tongue, disallowing herself the string of insults that tingled on her tongue. Yanking open the door in nothing but a towel certainly caused the expression on Itachi's face to shift a little, but she couldn't care less.

"They've taken my clothes, given me the world's worst piece of clothing and now they seem to be forcing us to wear those disgusting colours. These people are sick in the head. SICK." She yelled, storming around the room. Itachi's eyes scanned her flaunting figure intensely and he cleared his throat before removing his own long black shirt.

"I would much prefer you wore something at the very least. That towel won't hold your tantrum for much longer." He stuck out his arm and watched her passively as she ran her own eyes over his bare chest. It appeared she was unimpressed but her eyes remained on him all the same.

Sakura greedily absorbed every inch of Itachi's lean body and approached him, yanking the shirt out of his hand. Grumbling a quiet thanks, she stormed back into the bathroom and swiftly changed. It seemed to be long enough and certainly beat the skimpy little thing that was strewn across the floor now. The sudden image of Itachi wearing the ridiculous nightshirt caused her to stifle a hysterical amount of giggles that had arose in her chest and she bit her lip, feeling a little better. But just a little.

Quietly unlocking the door and stepping out, she discovered that Itachi was resting easily on the bed and staring at the ceiling. She sighed. Note number four; Itachi doesn't get tantrums.

"How long do they plan to keep us in here?" She asked to no one in particular, sitting on the corner of the bed. Itachi spared one eye to scan her, and then brought it back up to the rocky ceiling. A short silence followed and she was sure he wasn't going to answer.

"I am just as frustrated as you at being stuck in here with someone I am not very close to, but the only thing we can do is sit and wait." He spoke with mild irritation in his voice. Sakura – slightly offended by his tone – immediately jumped away from him and headed for a cushy armchair in the corner of the room.

"I never said I was frustrated." She grumbled to herself, slinging her legs over the arm and her back resting against the other. Boredom and impatience was certainly two emotions that never struggled to arise in situations like this. Casting a careless glance over the half-naked Itachi only caused her to shuffle uncomfortably even more but a wise thought struck her; being stuck in the room with Naruto or Sasuke would have been much worse. Naruto, with his constant shouting and yelling that he'd kill them or Sasuke, with his unwillingness to converse with anyone but his brother. Sighing, she rested her head against her hand and frowned at the back of the red armchair. She was right, it could have been much worse.

A small glint of blue caught her attention and she realised that a bracelet of what seemed to be chakra was wrapping itself around her wrist. A ruffle of the bed quilts meant that Itachi had straightened from his lying down position and was watching it intently too. It was then that the door to their 'cell' opened and they immediately both assumed their natural fighting positions in the centre of the floor, side by side. A woman with red hair, cropped tightly around her neck and a set of enticing green eyes greeted them with an expressionless face. She didn't even raise an eyebrow at their defensiveness and continued as usual.

"I am Kiko. The idiots sent me down here to place that jutsu on you, although personally I think this was a waste of time. Those bracelets will mean that any attempt to escape will immediately bring you right back here to this room and the charm will neither run out nor break unless I have released the jutsu or have been killed, both of which seems unlikely. The leader shall be seeing you two very soon to discuss something pointless and then you shall be given meals." Sakura blinked twice and gazed at the passive woman and was about to move forwards and swipe the bland expression off of the womans face. However, she found that her body had frozen to the spot. Itachi seemed to feel the discomfort of the freezing jutsu and winced.

"What if we were to refuse?" He asked bluntly. The woman named Kiko narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at the man that was under her jutsu and showed nothing but a bland expression as a reply.

"There is no refusing." She turned around and stepped out of the room, leaving an even more frustrated Sakura and a twitching Uchiha to fall to the floor. They both pushed themselves up with their arms, glanced at each other and then the bracelets that had so easily washed any relative plan of escaping from their troubled minds.

"Well, Mr I'll-Piss-Off-Miss-Passive. What exactly do we do now?" Sakura gritted her teeth in bitterness and hauled herself from the floor onto the bed. Itachi didn't respond to her insult and settled himself on the edge of the bed similarly, staring at his hands and twisting the chakra-infused bracelet around his wrist. His face showed no emotion, but his eyes were almost straining with concentration as he scrolled through any possible ways of survival they had left. After a long 15-minute silence, an aggravated Sakura opened her mouth in irritation to ask him again, but he raised his head to answer her question.

"We wait."

It took everything she had to not strangle her adoring fellow prisoner there and then.

~*~

"Don't talk, don't say anything." Itachi muttered to Sakura, who was gritting her teeth and clenching her delicate fists tightly. They were on the way to meet the leader of Akatsuki and she was more than a little fuming. Being cooped up in a room which Itachi for so long with nothing to do but sleep? It certainly ticked her off. Included with her little tantrum was the irritation of not following the dates. She had no idea what day it was, or the time. It must be about a week until my birthday... Her clenched fists tightened, her nails almost piercing the soft skin of her palm.

Now she was going to meet the disgusting man responsible for all of this kidnapping and prison crap and she certainly wasn't going to be biting her tongue. She would yell and scream at him until her throat was raw from the cursing and insults that were threatening to spill from her mouth. Itachi seemed to sense this and pinched her arm slightly, glaring at her.

"I mean it." He spoke sternly, intimidating her for a moment. Sakura decided to retaliate in the most immature way possible and stuck her tongue out at him. After receiving a disgusted huff of defeat from the man, Sakura opened her screwed up eyes and stared at Itachi, who was now seemingly more pissed with the situation.

"I am still the leader of the team, Sakura." He hissed to her, throwing his eyes warily around the four Akatsuki that surrounded them. They turned another corner and Sakura rolled her eyes in return.

"Yeah, and what a team it is. I'll accept any punishment you want to give me when we get out – if we get out." She corrected herself and looked around at the cloaked men leading them. Deidara seemed to be the only one struggling to keep his mouth shut, obviously under orders to not provoke the shinobi in any way. Sakura smiled to herself at this and winked at Deidara, who then proceeded to open his mouth to retort angrily.

"Deidara." The red-headed woman Kiko warned. He shut his open mouth and narrowed them at Sakura, who threw him a smug smile of victory. Itachi pinched her again.

"Will you quit doing that?" She hissed under her breath, rubbing the sore area which had been tormented with pinches. Itachi ignored her angry tone and continued to face forwards passively as they proceeded through the dark, damp corridors as though travelling through an endless maze.

"Don't provoke them." Sakura rolled her eyes at the order and snapped her direction of gaze to a red door that stood out at the end of the corridor. Shuddering, she was reminded of those horrible nightmares that consisted of a never ending doorway and a simple door that was unreachable at the end of it. They slowly approached it, however and it seemed like they were getting closer. I wish it was a nightmare...

Kiko leaned forwards and rapped her knuckles on the door, her usual stoic face showing a small brush of annoyance. The other Akatsuki surrounding her seemed to curl each of their lips up in repulsion before the door was opened by a purple-haired woman, a disgusting lip piercing hanging from her bottom lip.

"We have brought the shinobi, Pain." Kiko's silky voice echoed in the silent room. Sakura snapped her eyes to the cloaked figure in the chair and grimaced at the piercings that he withheld. For the leader of a bloodthirsty group, he certainly looked young. If she had known better she would say he was almost attractive, had it not been for the bits of metal that were hanging from his face. When he showed no emotion on his pierced face, she almost laughed in disbelief. The Akatsuki were either emotionless or mouthy; she didn't know which one she preferred more.

"Sit." He ordered, glaring at the rest of the Akatsuki who warily stood by the door. Each of them nodded and left swiftly obviously glad to be out of the presence of their terrifying leader. Itachi and Sakura remained wary, sending each other dodgy glances before finally pulling out the two red armchairs in front of his desk and placing themselves in it. A tense silence followed with only Sakura suffering under the immense pressure that built up in the back of her head. So many things she wanted to yell at this man threatened to burst out her mouth at once and instead, she settled on a gritty, calm approach.

"Why... are we here?" She hissed slowly through clenched teeth. The leader's eyes brought themselves up to hers and she almost gasped. The darkness in the room hid half of the man's face and she had not noticed his eyes until they were brought into contact with hers. A swirl of orange seemed to entice her into the heartless eyes of the leader and eventually she snapped herself out of the trance, frowning harshly at him.

"Well?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the passive leader. Itachi threw her a warning look but she continued to wait patiently for the leaders answer.

"We need the widest range of abilities we can find in order to become successful and it so happens that the Sharingan will be a definite use to us. As discovered by our group, you happen to be the Legendary Sannin's pupil who possesses immense strength and healing abilities. However, if we were to somehow fall into some sort of debt, we can hold you at ransom and throw you back into the arms of your petty village in order for a substantial amount of money." The man's voice was unnaturally soothing and didn't show any hint of arrogance or bloodlust. Still, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the leader.

"Couldn't you have got on fine without us? You don't seem to be in any danger without the Sharingan." She suggested, ignoring the never-ending glare from Itachi. The ANBU Captain sighed in defeat and lifted his gaze to the orange-haired man and awaited his response. Orange orbs swiftly switched between the both of them.

"We want a never-ending supply of power and if unwillingly forcing two shinobi to work for us is the way to do it, we will not hesitate. I am aware of the uncertainty you two have with us," his eyes drifted over Sakura's attire – Itachi's t-shirt – and Itachi's barely covered chest. "But I assure you we mean you no harm. I'm afraid I sent out my most eager members to pursue you and they got a little... carried away." His lips twitched and Sakura almost smiled with him. Her eyes widened in realisation when she figured that she was nearly going to make a gesture of friendliness towards the leader. She shuddered and settled her face back to her frown.

"Of course we're uncertain. You lock us in a room with nothing to wear but your filthy colours and then tell us we're to work for you? We've been told you're merciless killers; how do you think we're going to react?" She replied with less fierceness then she'd hoped. For a moment, it was as though she had silenced Pain into a thinking session and the dreary silenced stretched between them.

"I'm afraid to say that I agree with her. Right now I feel nothing but hatred for you and we will be trying to escape at every possibility we can." Sakura turned to Itachi who had not only begun to speak, but also revealed so openly that they were going to be attempting escape. She didn't keep her gaze on Itachi long as she wished to see the reaction this comment had made on the leader. To her surprise, he remained as passive as ever, not even sadistic amusement showed.

"You are more than welcome to attempt it, but we will be surveying your every movement. But I assure you that as time draws on; you will be less than willing to leave. Our intentions are not always as hard-hearted as people make out and the real nature behind the Akatsuki will soon become clear to you." Itachi frowned at this. The real nature behind the Akatsuki?

"You have killed families for the sake of their treasures and you sought out Naruto to take his power. Those are not hard-hearted acts?" Itachi's voice spoke about such harsh activities, but it still remained monotone and bored.

"I have already explained our intention to draw in more and more power. The rumour of the jinchuuriki's power was well-known and we attempted to take him. It was then that you turned up, so our plan was instantly converted to that of one concerning you."

"The families were hardly going to put you in any danger, why take their lives for your own financial purposes?"

"They had buried criminal acts even more dreadful then the one's we have been rumoured to perform. I will not decline the fact that the other members strive for blood and kill without blinking an eye but they will not lay a hand on the innocent unless it puts them in danger. When an attempt to rescue you is brought on, the Akatsuki will not willingly let the shinobi kill them. They will go to whatever limits to ensure our group is not affected in any way."

Sakura looked at the two men who expressed no emotion on their faces or through their voices as they spoke and she found herself wearily losing concentration. It was like staring at a brick wall for 15 minutes. However, she realised the last comment Pain had made and frowned.

"Are you trying to say that this group is actually... good?" She asked. A long silence followed as she eagerly awaited the answer. Pain seemed to be running through a suitable answer and it was at least a good 10 minutes before he decided to reply.

"We have betrayed our villages by leaving them, yes, so we should be ashamed of that. However, we feel that some tasks that the villages refuse to do themselves are our responsibility so we make sure that it is completed, taking our own rewards along the way. We can dig deeper than any village can and solve issues that have long since been forgotten." His lips twitched. "All for the sake of financial purposes and freedom."

Itachi and Sakura were drawn to silence. The whole meeting with the leader had done nothing but confuse their roles more and now he was claiming the Akatsuki were nothing more than a petty group of police ninja.

"It is a help that the rumour spread is we are murderers and to be feared. The last thing we need it for our operation to be interrupted-"

"But you've abducted us. That itself is a rule that you've broken." Sakura quickly cut off the end of Pain's sentence and narrowed her eyes once more at the orange-haired leader. One edge of his pierced lips upturned into what could have been a half-smile.

"I never said that we followed the rules." He spoke smoothly. Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but the door to the pokey office was opened and the purple-haired woman stood expressionless in the opening.

"Take them back to their room, Konan. They will stay there until I require their services." Pain nodded at Konan, who stepped forwards to move away from the entrance. Itachi said nothing and rose to his feet, but Sakura certainly did not enjoy the idea of being locked away again.

"'Require our services'?! We're not just people you can call and then jump to your every whim! We-" A hand clamped over Sakura's running mouth and she was reluctantly dragged from the room by Itachi who looked a little more than peeved. She attempted to bite his hand as Konan closed the door, hiding the leader from view. The frustration she felt at being dragged by Itachi made her feel almost sorry for Naruto after the amount of times she had performed a similar action on him when he opened his big mouth for too long.

As soon as they turned the corner, Itachi released her and ignored the intense daggers that were being thrown at him.

"What's the big idea, Itachi? Were you just going to let him talk to you like that?" She almost yelled. Itachi looked down his nose at her and Sakura could say that he almost snorted.

"We are in no position to argue, Sakura. This is the unbeatable Akatsuki that are our captives and I'm afraid this is where we will be for a long time to come." His expression seemed to turn slightly distorted with frustration before he turned his back on her and followed the purple-haired woman down the hallway, passing Kisame on the way down. Sakura scowled at him and received a hearty chuckle in reply. A flash of blonde hair appeared around the corner and Sakura hissed under her breath at Deidara, who was heading towards her.

"Hey cherry blossom, how's it hangin'?" He changed direction so he was walking beside her and she clenched her fists tightly to resist punching the arrogant bastard. His gaze drifted along her body and he lifted his eyes back up to the side of her head.

"You might want to wear a little more clothing then that, dear. There's plenty of men around here who could find that an invitation." Sakura gagged in disgust at his comment and lifted a fist to punch Deidara, her resolve breaking. Konan stopped walking and watched Sakura lunge and cause Deidara to stumble backwards against the wall. He was grinning as he watched her fist sour towards him, but a hand clasped around her delicate wrist. Sakura snapped her head around to growl for Itachi to let her go, but found he had moved from behind her. He was now standing directly in front of Deidara, inches away from his face.

"There are no paralysation bombs to your advantage here. I suggest you keep your comments to yourself unless you want me to rearrange your face." Itachi spoke so calmly, it was a wonder whether or not he was being serious. A flash of fear crossed Deidara's face when he realised how right Itachi was.

"Deidara, stop being careless. On your way." Konan spoke so quietly it was amazing he even heard her. But he did and with one last glare, he left. Sakura watched his retreating back and smirked to herselfboth at the fact Itachi had defended her and that she was victorious in this little spat. Sakura 1 Deidara 1.

As footsteps behind her indicated that they were on the move again her mind moved to Itachi, who was walking beside her as calmly as before. She was tempted to smash the perfect face into the wall, just to get a little bit more of a reaction out of him.

Itachi felt her gaze on him and ignored it profusely, refusing to meet those turquoise eyes of hers. He had only jumped to her defence because it was insulting to him too. He had used the inside of one of the cloaks to make himself a scrappy t-shirt and it was barely concealing his own chest. To have Sakura walking around in his t-shirt was disconcerting for him too, but the thought of criminals laying their eyes on such a young kunoichi. He wouldn't let anyone touch her.

"Here." Konan opened the only door along the hallway that seemed to glow and Sakura felt her innards sink. Back in there? Sheesh... She reluctantly walked in and again she felt down and low. The constant sheet of water that fell out of the single clear window done nothing to brighten her mood and she made her way over to it. Itachi reoccupied his space on the bed and watched her gaze outside, the full moon that hung in the night sky reflecting off the water and leaving an obscure shine on her face. She looked sad, bored and exhausted.

"I keep wondering if I'll ever get back to the Leaf Village. I don't have any family to go back to..." She hesitated as a distraught expression crossed her face, as though horrible memories were flashing through her mind. "But I don't want to end up working for the Akatsuki the rest of my life. At each chance of escape..." She glanced down at her glowing blue bracelet and cursed, not bothering to finish her sentence. Itachi said nothing as usual and settled on staring at the dull, glowing wall.

"As an ANBU Captain, I understand what it a true and what is false..." Sakura's head jolted sideways to look at Itachi, who was concentrating on staring at the wall. He continued.

"There is an element of truth to what Pain says." He slightly moved his head so he could stare at Sakura out of the corner of his eye to see her reaction. She seemed frozen, as though contemplating what he had suggested. It was difficult for himself to believe, but the body language and tone of Pain's voice was almost difficult not to consider. To even have the slightest belief in something such a worthless enemy has told him after being in his grasp a few hours... it was what was stopping him from believing the leader completely. Sakura seemed sidetracked and went back to staring out of the window, watching the glistening water fall by.

"I have only Naruto and Sasuke to go back to. But that's enough to get me out of this place." She huffed in annoyance and slumped onto the floor, gripping at the floor with her fingers.

"It's just so infuriating... I hate being helpless." She hissed to no one in particular. Itachi winced at her tone and got up slowly from the bed, making her way over to the girl. She didn't hear him approaching and flinched when a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Do not think you are the only one suffering, Sakura." He whispered, pulling her up from the pale carpet. She flinched at his comment and scolded herself. Way to go Sakura, you're so frickin selfish aren't you? Itachi has Sasuke to go back to and he isn't even complaining about being stuck here.

"I'm sorry." She grumbled after his hand left her shoulder. Her reply was an expected silence and she moved toward the bathroom, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I need a shower and then I'll try to get some sleep." She left Itachi in the dark room alone and stripped off the t-shirt and underwear, cursing when she felt her recently healed arm click. I'll get that bastard back, she thought, images of the smart-ass Deidara popping into her head. His smug smile and pretty blonde hair... she just wanted to smack it off.

After having a triumphant shower, she twisted off the taps and dressed in Itachi's t-shirt which surprisingly still smelt strongly of his scent. She shook herself out of a daze she appeared to have fallen into and – as quietly as she could – opened the bathroom door. Itachi was sitting in exactly the same position she had left him in and his attention was only diverted to her once she sighed.

"You really need to stop thinking so much. You'll only hurt yourself." She strolled over to the bed and began to crawl onto it on her side. The sleeping arrangements were far from awkward and she had been avoiding speaking about it the entire day. Yesterday, she had been under paralysation, which had restrained her from flinging her arms and legs around. She didn't how she'd cope tonight.

Damn Akatsuki, I bet they did this for their own entertainment. She cursed the murderous group and settled down on the bed, holding back a curse when she banged her elbow on the solid wall. If this was double bed then Gaara could fly. Itachi had settled himself under the covers and when she moved herself under them, his leg accidentally brushed against hers. Her instant reaction was to freeze and when she finally decided to move again, her same elbow caught the wall. This time she cursed aloud.

"Would you like me to sleep on the floor? I have slept on harder surfaces."

Sakura inclined her head towards Itachi and found that he had done the same. They were almost nose-to-nose. She swallowed as onyx circles connected with her own weary eyes.

"No. Don't suffer just because I'm careless, I'll get use to this stupid sleeping arrangement." She hissed under her breath, insulting Akatsuki out loud. Itachi didn't smirk, just closed his eyes. She was left to face him and listen to his shallow breathing.

"Should we trust them? How do we know they won't kill us in our sleep?" She whispered worriedly, really only wanting to keep Itachi's attention. She wasn't ready to fall asleep yet. The nightmares she had could plague her and they were the last thing she needed.

"We don't have a choice but to trust them, Sakura." Itachi's voice came out in a hoarse, tired whisper and his eyes remained closed. She caved in, deciding that even passive arseholes needed to sleep sometime. She closed her eyes and fell asleep beside Itachi, dreading the nightmares that were to come.

----**----

To Be Continued...

A/N: Writing Chapter 5 as you read. I've fiddled around with the title and summary and have settled on this one. Tell me what you think. ^_^