Chapter 3: Training with Itachi

THAT MORNING

"Wake up, kunoichi. Get up." 'Oh, who is shaking me? What's going on? This thing is soft.' Sakura cracked an eye half open, to see raven hair. 'Is this Sasuke? Maybe if I hold him, he'll stay. He'll never leave Konoha, and Naruto and I again.' Sakura grabbed Itachi, and pulled him on her. Itachi smirked.

"Sakura-chan, wake up." Itachi whispered in her ear.

"But, Sasuke-kun, I don't want you to leave again. Just stay with Naruto, and me. Revenge will get you nothing." Sakura replied, groggily. Itachi smirked, again. He was going to have some fun with this situation.

"Sakura, I won't leave you, my dear cherry blossom." Of course, when Itachi said that, Deidara happened to walk by. He stopped at the door and almost lost it. Itachi on top of his partner!

'Oh. My. Gosh. I got to get Kisame and Tobi! This is priceless!' Deidara thought, and ran off. And Itachi didn't know.

"I... I l...lo..." Sakura didn't finish her sentence, as Itachi kissed her, on the lips, stealing Sakura's first kiss.

Right then, Deidara came back, with Tobi and Kisame. They almost lost it. Itachi kissing someone! What's next? Deidara calling himself a girl, Kisame impregnating a gold fish, and Tobi becoming a bad boy?

"..." Was all the three guys could say. Suddenly Itachi turned around. 'When did he stop kissing her?' The guys all thought at the same time. Itachi glared at them. Sakura opened her eyes, and saw Itachi, on top of her, looking at her. Everything clicked into place. She thought Itachi was Sasuke.

"Kunoichi, I didn't know you had feelings for my pathetic brother." Itachi said.

"I... I don't, I had feelings, but I don't now. Quite frankly, I wish to kill him. I... must have been into my old self, again. It's happened before, usually something triggers a memory, like your hair did, so I feel like I'm in love with him again.

"You mean you don't like her?" Tobi spoke up. Itachi glared, as if saying "Get the heck out", which the guys caught, and left.

"Well, since you are now up, we have about an hour before we must train, I suggest you eat."

"Okay. Let me get dressed first." Itachi nodded and left. Sakura picked up the box, which held the Akatsuki uniform in it. She pulled it out, and got dressed.

It was a black fish-net shirt, with a red tank top over it. Her pants were fish-net stockings, and a black skirt over top that. There was a black, leather jacket that went over her clothes, and an Akatsuki cloak, and hat, as well. Sakura had left the cloak and hat off, as she noticed none of the members wear them inside.

Sakura went into the kitchen, and noticed all the guys weren't eating.

"Have you guys eaten yet?" Sakura asked, pulling out some ingredients.

"No." They answered.

"GOOD!!! I'll cook for you!" Sakura replied cheerfully. And true to her word, she cooked, a lot for them. There was miso soup, steamed rice, grilled fish, tamagoyaki, natto, nori, and pickles (Japanese style pickles!). They all ate up.

Soon, Sakura and everyone finished. Sakura washed the dishes, and went outside to train with Itachi. Or, spar with Itachi.

"Alright, Sakura-san, I want to know how many times you can hit me, since most fights, I barley get hit, maybe once or twice. Let's begin." Itachi stared at her, and didn't move, waiting for her to attack. Sakura did, and using impressive speed, that would make Lee proud, she almost hit him. He obviously, didn't think she could move so fast. Sakura attacked again, throwing a kunai, or several kunai, that almost hit him, except he dodged, very quickly. Her aim was as impressive as Tentens. Sakura tried to punch him, using her impressive speed, that Lee taught her. Coming close to him, she released her chakra, from the chakra hole in her hand, causing damage to Itachi's inside. She had done a Hyuuga technique, the Gentle Fist. Something only the Hyuuga's could do, but Sakura had trained with Hyuuga's, and because of her perfect chakra control, she was able to send out the right amount of chakra that the Hyuuga's used. Therefore, she could also use the Gentle Fist.

"I just hit you, this early in the match. What do you say to that?"

"Impressive, since that technique is used only by the Hyuuga's, and you learning it, means you have perfect chakra control, as you were able to control how much chakra you let out." They kept on fighting. Sakura tried to hit him again, but he grabbed her, and turned her around, so her back was facing him. He kneed her back, while pulling on her arms. Sakura kicked her legs back, so they hit him, and she flipped away from him. Then, Sakura did a jutsu, which he copied.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!" They called out, the waterfalls blocking each other. Using this as a distraction, Sakura did another jutsu.

"Ninpou: Doku Kiri." She said, spitting out a poisonous mist. Itachi dodged this, and did his own jutsu, one Sakura knew, too well.

"Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!" And Itachi spat out a fireball, blowing it towards Sakura. She dodged, and did a jutsu.

"Doton: Doryuu Taiga!" And the ground under Itachi turned to mud. He started sinking in. "Kanashibari no jutsu!" Itachi was paralyzed, sinking into the mud. Sakura landed on the ground, panting. Controlling the chakra from Hyuuga technique, then using all those jutsus, Sakura was starting to run out of chakra. Itachi finally escaped the mud, and attacked Sakura, while she was still panting. Sakura noticed right in time, to see him coming at her, with a kunai in hand, that would most definitely stab her.

"Doton: Doro Gaeshi!" A wall of mud shot up, just in time. She slammed her fist into the ground, which caused a fissure, to head towards Itachi. He dodged, and created a shadow clone.

"Am I doing good?" Sakura asked mockingly. He smirked. She got angry, and attacked the shadow clone. Throwing punches and kicks, the shadow clone dodged. "GAHH!! DIE! CHAKRA NO MESU!!!!" The chakra scalpel hit the shadow clone, and caused it to explode. Sakura was thrown back, and hit a tree (or more like went through the tree, and hit the one behind it)

Sakura spit up blood, and saw Itachi walk towards her. 'No! I won't end it this way! I'm not weak! I will hurt him! I WILL!' Sakura stood up, coughing up more blood.

"Give up. You have hardly any chakra left, and are injured. You are barley conscious."

"No. I... will.. b-beat you, o-or... hurt you, I swear." Sakura coughed up more blood. She wiped it off, and attacked him. Punches, kicks, and anything else was thrown at him.

'Even though she has no chance of winning, she still fights. She tries to win, to prove that she is strong, that she will not give up.' Itachi thought, while blocking her attacks, and dodging them. Sakura tried even harder, she grabbed weapons and threw them at him, some hit him. He punched her, and sent her flying, while thinking she would not get back up.

'No, I will win. I swear it.' 'Yeah, beat him! Show him who's boss! C'mon, attack him with the special technique' 'No, Tsunade-sama said that was only for emergencies, not sparring. Anyways I don't have enough chakra.' 'But it would count as practicing the move, and you'd win.' 'Well, yeah, but, it's dangerous. And I've only done it once, that time to show Tsunade-sama.' 'Please? C'mon, it'd be practice, so you could master the move. And you could modify it. So you could use the chakra and see the type of blast you get.' 'Fine. But I don't know the result.' Sakura finished conversing with her inner self. She started to do the attack. Holding her hands in front of her, green chakra started swirling around her arms. The chakra turned pink, and became small chakra cherry blossoms. She brought her hands to her chest and crossed them, so they made an X shape. The cherry blossoms swirled around her, going faster and faster, until it made a pink tornado. Sakura spread her arms to her sides, and the tornado stopped. The cherry blossoms spread out, and formed pink balls into her hands. Sakura aimed the balls at Itachi, and beams shot out. Cherry blossoms flew around the beams. Itachi dodged them, but the beams followed him.

'What?' Was all Itachi could think. He dodged, but the beams came at him again.

Sakura was running out of chakra, and she knew she would have to quit soon, or else she would pass out.

Itachi got hit by the beam, and it singed him. The other one came towards him. He barley dodged. He got hit again, and dodged, again. He was also running out of chakra, as jumping all that amount of time, took it's toll on him.

'I don't think I can hold out much longer.' 'You can do it! A little longer!' 'No, I don't think I can. I think this is the end.' 'Well, at least you hurt him. A lot more with that attack. And you held out this long, so you've proved how strong you are.' 'Yeah I have, haven't I?' Right then, Sakura closed her hands, cutting off the blasts, and collapsed onto the ground. Itachi noticed the beams stopped and went over to her. Sakura had passed out from using too much chakra. He picked her up, and carried her to her room, but found she locked the door. He searched her pockets, and found she didn't carry the key. Cursing, he brought her into his room. He put Sakura on his bed, and saw her squirming, and panting, and sweating. Plus, she was groaning. She must be having a nightmare, he concluded.

Sakura's Nightmare

"Sakura! Sakura!" A 12 year old, raven haired boy called. Sakura saw him.

"Sasuke! Hi!" Sakura called. Suddenly, Sasuke turned into cursed mark Sasuke, and had a horrible, maniacal smirk on his face. He grabbed her, and pulled her arms back (just like he did to Zaku in the Forest of Death).

"Sakura, you're worse than Naruto. You're annoying. You're weak." There were more hurtful things said. Ino appeared. She started calling Sakura horrible names, again. All Sakura's worse memories were reappearing, and everything that's made her want to give up, to die, everything that makes her feel weak. There was Naruto, Sasuke, Lee, Kakashi, all her friends, all rookie 9, and Gai's team, everyone she knew and loved, they were walking away from her. She was looking at their backs, again. She was trying to catch up, but couldn't, she couldn't do anything. She was weak. She couldn't do anything.

Itachi appeared, and looked at her. She wasn't crying, she wasn't determined, she was gone. Her eyes were blank.

"Sakura, I'll help you. I'll kill them, for you. You'll have no backs to look at, as you will be the best. I will help you." He repeated again. Sakura looked at him, her eyes shining with hope.

"Itachi, please, I want to be strong." Itachi nodded, and one by one, killed her old friends and teachers. Everyone she loved, and worked with were dead. And, all Sakura did was laugh.

"Thank you, Itachi."

End of Sakura's Nightmare

Sakura sat up, panting. Itachi cracked an eye open, and looked at her. She didn't look sick.

"You had a nightmare." He stated. Sakura nodded.

"I passed out, didn't I?"

"You used too much chakra. You should have stayed down, when you first got tired."

"I needed to prove myself. That I am strong. That I am competition for the great Uchiha, Itachi. That I've finally caught up to my teammates." Sakura mumbled the last part.

"Well, you have proved yourself strong."

"Hey, I fought you better than most other Akatsuki, so do I get a reward?"

"Sure, why not?" Itachi smirked and leaned over and kissed her cheek. Sakura blushed.

"I-I didn't w-want that t-type of r-re-reward." She stuttered. He smirked.

"So then, you want this type?" He leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She turned redder than the Sharingan.

"Stop t-that!"

"You're embarrassed. Why?"

"Because a hot guy just kissed me!! Oops." Sakura realized what she said. She had called Itachi hot.

"I wouldn't be embarrassed if a hot girl kissed me, but then again, I don't find girls hot. Quite frankly, you're the only girl I've really talked to. Most girls aren't worth my time."

"When you were in Konoha, did you have fangirls?" Itachi shuddered.

"Too many fangirls. Anywhere I went, it seemed like they knew. Fangirls were by far the worst enemy I had, there. Since I couldn't kill them without getting into trouble."

"I see. I also had fanboys, and they were very annoying as well. I had too many of them. Let's just say my Valentines Day, I'd always get a life time supply of chocolates. But you know what? I never acknowledged them. Until I was 15, I always thought Sasuke would come back. I believed that he would chose me to help restore his clan, and become my husband, and he'd finally love me, like I had loved him. But then, I finally realized the painful, heartbreaking truth. He doesn't love me, and never will. He might take me, in time, to be his wife, but that's just because he needs a woman to bare his children, not because he loves me. And the more I thought about all he did, the more I hated him. The more hate I got, the more the urge to see him dead was. I trained, with everyone in our village, to prove that I was strong, to prove to Sasuke that I was strong. And most of all ,to show that I didn't need him, I didn't want him anymore. I wanted him to feel the pain that I did, the Betrayal. So, I joined Akatsuki, and luck has it that I am here with you. But, Itachi, you're better than him." Sakura had silent tears falling down. "I mean, you've helped me, you've called me strong, something he never did, and you've acknowledged me." Sakura reached out and hugged Itachi. "Please Itachi, don't become like him. Please acknowledge me, and train me. I want to become stronger." Itachi just stared at her, not once reaching out to comfort her. He just let her cry on his shoulder. Finally, she calmed down and thanked him.

"Hey, Itachi?" He glanced at her. "Where are we?" Sakura asked, looking around.

"My room, your room was locked, and you didn't have keys."

"Oh, I keep it locked with my chakra. Only I can unlock it. Sorry, but I didn't want Kisame or Deidara coming in there."

"I see." Itachi got up. "Let's go, it is lunch time, and the others will want food."

"Hai." Sakura and Itachi walked out, and encountered... Deidara! Deidara scanned her.

'Messy hair, red face, kinda torn clothing, coming out of Itachi's room. And I thought Itachi had no interest in her.' Deidara concluded.

"Um, Sakura, what were you doing in Itachi's room?" Deidara asked, suggesting something.

"I-" Sakura was cut off by Itachi.

"We didn't do that, Deidara." Itachi glared at him.

"Do what? Wait- YOU HAVE A DIRTY MIND, DEIDARA!!!!! Geez, Itachi doesn't like me like that. And, it's just wrong, I mean I've been here for, like, a day." Sakura left, glaring at Deidara. "I'm going to cook." She called.

End of Chapter 3