Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Never have, never will.
Sakura didn't know how much time had passed, and she was desperate for human contact. even hearing a voice other than her own would make her deliriously happy, whether or not it belonged to someone she despised. She knew this was how they were breaking her, but she was, without a doubt, becoming irrational. Sakura now understood that this was how they got prisoners to crack. They began to feel a twisted sort of, well, love for their captor and would spill secrets just for the hope that their short period of human contact would be prolonged. This was why prisoners became delirious after being released- they were addicted to that person, they needed them to live.
Itachi still refused to let her heal his eyes, no matter how much she pleaded with him. Pein, of course, didn't know that tidbit of information and was growing increasingly upset that Sakura seemingly wouldn't heal Itachi's eyes. He started going off about peace, war, God, and other nonsense she couldn't understand; she had lost consciousness after a while. She was extremely weak, both physically and mentally. She could feel her ribs jutting out, and her mouth was constantly dry and begging for water. Her urine was brown, and she could no longer excrete feces. She was dying. Fast. Not that anyone would care.
She briefly thought about her family, her mentor, her friends, Ino... How would they be after losing her? Would they be unable to function because they were too busy wallowing in their grief? What would Naruto think? Would he be saddened, or would he be ecstatic because the bitch he had loved for years finally got what she deserved? She was sure Kakashi-sensei would think about her a little, but he probably wouldn't be sad. And Sasuke? Well, he probably had already forgotten about her. Sakura hoped that somebody would notice she was gone.
And that was when she finally allowed herself to cry.
It wasn't as if Itachi couldn't feel sympathy for the poor girl. He just could not allow her to interfere with his plans. It would ruin everything he had worked for if she healed his eyes.
He held a poison-free plate of food and tall glass of water in his hands. Of course, he wouldn't tell Pein that he had done this, but it really was the least he could do for Sakura-san. She didn't deserve this in the slightest, but such was the fate of the shinobi.
Itachi strolled down the stairs and paused when he heard her sobbing. He lowered his head in shame where she couldn't see but eventually started up again, heading to the cell where she was being held.
Upon reaching the cell, Itachi very quietly opened the door and went inside. "Sakura-san," he said softly. Sakura turned one eye to him, but there was no reply. She just stared. "It is time to eat."
"I don't want it," she croaked weakly.
"Sakura-san, you must eat."
"It's poisoned," she coughed angrily. "You really think I am going to eat that? Think again, you bastard."
"It's not poisoned," he answered, but she just sneered at him.
"You're a liar."
"You're sick, and you need to eat."
She just laughed this time. "If you'd let me heal your eyes, we wouldn't be having this problem."
Something in Itachi snapped. He knew as soon as the words came out, he'd regret it. "You will be loyal to your country!" he hissed, baring his teeth at her. The girl's eyes widened, and she choked. Sakura flew backwards out of fear, but her fear quickly turned to anger.
"Loyal to your country? Who are you to talk?" she accused, tensing up and trying to scramble to her feet. Her knees were weak, but she wasn't going to complain about that. She would prove herself to this rat, this bastard, this imbecile...! "What would you know about loyalty?" she barked at him.
"I know everything about loyalty, you little child!" he spat. "How dare you presume you know everything about me!"
"How dare I?" she asked, shaky on her feet. "You are the one who kidnapped me, locked me up, tried to murder me and now you're trying to blame me? Oh, you pretentious little prick!" Sakura shrieked at him, raising her hand at him and striking him across the face. Itachi was not fazed or shocked in the slightest, but he was ten times as angry as he was before.
He struck her back.
Sakura felt every single second of the blow. It was painful, but she was also slightly happy because someone had finally touched her. At first, she was furious at Itachi, but it died down when she suddenly felt overwhelming nausea. Momentarily, Itachi thought she was faking, but it soon became clear as blood started overflowing from her mouth that she wasn't.
Sakura fell to the ground, and the world turned black.
The first thing Sakura register was the foul odor permeating about her nose. She crinkled her nose in disgust, and her face contorted as she tried to escape from the smell. She was much too comfortable to get up now; Sakura didn't want to be disturbed. "Stop," she moaned pathetically, swatting away the offensive scent. "Stop it."
"Señorita, you must wake up," an unknown voice spoke to her.
"Leave me alone," she grumbled. However, she heard the voice and others chattering beside her, but she tried her best to block it out.
"No choice," one woman with a deeper voice said, and Sakura heard someone angrily stomping towards her. The next thing she knew was that a bright light was flashing in her eyes.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Sakura said, shielding her eyes with her arms. "What are you doing?"
"It's time to wake up, Señorita. It has been four days. You've slept long enough."
Sakura sat on that. Four days? How could she sleep for four days? What had-
Realizing her previous situation, Sakura gasped and flew up, immediately regretting it. "My head..." she sighed, rubbing it with one hand. At first her vision was blurry, but it focused a little as she woke up more. There were two women and one man sitting at her bedside, looking at her nervously.
"Finally, you awake," the woman with a deep voice snapped. She was older, tanner, and had a very thick accent.
"Where am I?" Sakura said, panicked and dazed all at the same time. "Who are you? How'd I get here? Who-"
"Shh, Sakura!" A young lady hushed her. "I promise all your questions will be answered soon. We just needed you to get up. It's all right." The young lady smiled. Sakura immediately felt at ease. Except for her rapidly palpitating heart. "You nearly died a couple of days ago, so you were brought to us. You're still in very bad condition, but you are not as close to dying as you once were. You are not in pain right now because we medicated you practically into a coma, but in a couple of hours, the pain will return. Do you understand me?" Her voice had a melodic lilt to it. Sakura liked it. She tried to form a sentence, but she could only get one word out.
"Yes."
The girl beamed at Sakura. "Good. Now, I imagine you have to go to the bathroom. Let's take care of that now."
As it was, Sakura did have to go to the bathroom. She tried standing on her own, but the two women ended up having to support her and help her go to the bathroom. At this point, she hardly cared, but she still wanted to retain some humility. She quickly asked who had brought her here.
"Why, Itachi, of course," the younger woman replied to Sakura, tilting her head in slight confusion. However, it was Sakura who was confused. Why had he taken care of her? This was very uncharacteristic of him. He could have just left her to die, but he didn't. Why didn't he just let her die? It was baffling. She chose to shake the thoughts away as they did her no good.
Fifteen minutes later, she found herself back in bed, already tired out from her little trip to the bathroom. The young lady smiled at Sakura as she sat at her bedside. "I am Hanaan. It is very nice to meet you."
Sakura grinned giddily for some reason and said, "Yeah." The older woman, whom she learned was "Katriina," came around the corner with a bowl of porridge in her hands.
"Sakura, open up, yes?" she stated sharply. Sakura did as the woman demanded, and Katriina tenderly shoveled porridge into her mouth. Sakura now realized how hungry she was, but as she reached for the bowl, Katriina took it out of her reach. "No, you need eat slow." Sakura knew the woman was right, but she still pouted for a while. However, she faithfully ate the soup at a slow pace, trying to ignore the pangs and aches of her body that were rapidly returning. Hanaan, however, noticed her wince.
"All right, Sakura. I think it's best that you rest now. The pain is going to come back very soon so I suggest you sleep while you can, okay?" It's already too late for that, Sakura thought sadly, but she just forced herself to smile and nod.
Then she felt it. The muscles in her body started contracting intensely, and she gasped at the mere shock of it. Her stomach was the worst of all, twisting around in knots. Her heart was beating so fast she thought she'd have a heart attack. However, the medic side of her told her, in a matter of fact tone, that her heart wasn't beating nearly fast enough to go into cardiac arrest, and she was just over exaggerating. If anything, it was probably her body trying to fight off the poison that Pein had been giving her, and her body was simply too weak to recognize that. She shrieked aloud once, and Hanaan had a look of sympathy crossing her features.
"I'm going to be in the kitchen," she told Sakura, patting her hand. "If you need me, just call me." Sakura nodded quickly and frantically, trying to hold back tears. She was a kunoichi, dammit! She should have been able to handle this.
"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely, gripping her bed sheets so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Sakura spent the rest of the afternoon writhing in pain, and it was getting progressively worse. This was a good sign, actually. Hanaan had informed her that if her body was failing to rid this specific poison (which was a rather common herb in Cascana, she had said), her pain receptors would be one of the first things to go, and she wouldn't be able to feel anything. However, Hanaan still warned her that there was a high chance of her dying from the pain alone. They could make no guarantees.
Time passed slowly as she lay in bed, white as ashes and perspiring heavily. She heard voices squabbling a bit, but she didn't care to listen.
"Itachi, she is in much pain," Hanaan pleaded with him. "Please don't go in there."
Itachi ignored the girl and stepped inside the door, barring her out. Hanaan growled in frustration and went off to find her father, hoping he could fix the mess.
Upon entering the room, Itachi found Sakura in a pitiful state. Her teeth were clenched, and her eyes were squeezed shut in an attempt to hold back tears. Oddly, his heart twisted when he saw her like this, and he had no idea why. He dismissed it from his mind.
"Sakura-san," he said gently, and Sakura practically had to pry her eyes open to look at him.
"Itachi," she choked, though it could have been a sob as well. "What are you doing here?"
"I see you are still alive," he said, sidestepping the question and taking a seat by the young woman. "This is good news."
"Like you care." Itachi would have loved to argue with that, but Sakura really didn't need that at the moment. "What are you doing here?" Sakura repeated, releasing the bed sheets to hold her stomach instead.
"I came here to see if you were well again," Itachi replied truthfully. Sakura coughed out a laugh.
"Well, I'm not. So you can go." She turned to her side, her back toward the young man. He let out an inaudible sigh.
"I will stay here in case you need anything."
"Ha...I'll probably be dead from the pain in a few hours anyway. Don't bother with me," she spat out, believing her words to the fullest.
Itachi was silent, but he did not budge from his position.
Eventually, Sakura spoke. "I think I'm going to die," she told him shakily.
Thoughtfully thinking before responding, Itachi countered back with, "I highly doubt that."
Sakura just smiled bitterly and shook her head. Her voice quivered as she explained, "I'm not in good condition. If I was, my body would be able to fight off the poison better, but my immune system is shot."
This was probably true, Itachi deducted, but..."I will not let you die," he promised her.
"You don't have any control over that," she chuckled, shivering as nausea made her dizzy.
They were silent for a few moments more before Sakura said, "I've missed out on so much in life." She paused, not really caring if Itachi was listening, but she piqued his interest. "I spent so much of it chasing after your idiotic little brother, who only cared about you."
"Care isn't the word I'd use," he replied quietly, and Sakura smiled at that.
"You're evil."
Itachi flinched.
"I know."
Sakura licked her lips before continuing. "I'm fifteen years old, and there is so much I haven't done... I haven't even had my first kiss."
Itachi chuckled lightly. "Kissing's not that great."
"Well, you've probably had plenty of experience," Sakura bit back at him.
"Indeed." Sakura huffed at his one word answer, but she expected no more of him. She felt one more wave of pain flash over her.
"You know what, it doesn't even matter. I'm going to die anyway. I don't even know why I'm telling you this." She squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to make the world go away.
Itachi was not a man of impulse. He liked to plan, then take action. Therefore, it was understandable that even he was confused with what he did next.
Sakura felt his weight settle down on to the bed beside her, intimately close. She drew in a breath, suddenly extremely nervous. She rolled over slightly so she could face him. His eyes were dark, clearly torn. With what, she did not know. Then, slowly, he braced one arm beside her, leaned down, and brushed his lips against hers.
Six pages of fluffy, dark goodness. Hope you liked it!
