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Chapter 4

Sakura took a deep breath as she infiltrated the genjutsu surrounding the castle Orochimaru called home. Genjutsu had always been easy for her, and with Itachi's last minute training, it had become a piece of cake to break into the heavily guarded fortress. She closed her eyes and focused her chakra in her eyes, like Itachi had taught her. She imagined what Sasuke looked like, what his chakra felt like, his personality. Soon, a mental map began to form in her head. She opened her eyes and followed the directions her chakra was telling her. She followed one hallway after another, up stairs and back down them, around corners and through doorways.

Anytime she felt a chakra presence, she would mask her chakra and will her body to slow her heart rate down. Finally she found him. Slowly she opened the door.

Itachi sat on a branch, extending his senses towards the castle, and his partner. He promised that he would come if he felt she was in danger, but he knew that the only one she would have trouble with was Orochimaru, and he wasn't there.

Itachi smirked when he felt Sakura use her chakra to locate his little brother. She was terribly slow at learning taijutsu, her genjutsu skills were impressive. He knew that he would have to step up her training once they got back to the hide out, she was still too weak to survive on her own once her plans started rolling, and him helping her outside of the training was out of the question. He was going easy on her, letting her adjust to life as a rouge, but with The Leader's impatience for an Uchiha child, the pressure for her to figure out a way to take him down was getting to a boiling point.

Sakura stood in the doorway staring at a pair of red sharingan eyes. She didn't blink or turn away, mostly because she was used to those eyes with Itachi's training. He had been teaching her to resist the genjutsu they can cast.

"Sakura huh?" Sasuke said through the darkness, with mild amusement. "Come to take me home?"

"No, actually I came here to fight." She responded, letting him have a better view of her outfit. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to her. He looked her over for a long moment and then walked past her out the door.

"Come with me." He said simply and walked down the hallway with Sakura following close behind. They entered a courtyard that was obviously used for high level combat training.

"You didn't just come here to fight me, what have you gotten yourself into, Sakura?" Sasuke turned to face her with a stoic expression.

"You're right." She said with a smile and launched into an attack. She hit high while blocking low like Kakashi had taught her. Finding an opening, she smacked him in the shoulder with her chakra enhanced hand, breaking several bones there, she learned that from Tsunade. Noticing that he was facing an actual opponent, Sasuke used his Sharingan to create a genjutsu. Sakura pretended to fall for it, until the last moment when she lifted her heal to come down on the top of his foot, catching him off guard and off balance. Itachi had taught her how to break the specific genjutsu that he knew Sasuke would use.

They broke away, and Sasuke smirked at her.

"You have gotten strong, you must have worked very hard." He said appraisingly.

"I had no choice. You left, Naruto left, and I was left behind like always. Who would have thought that the weakest of team seven would have ever become the newest member of Akatsuki?" Sakura hit the ground in front of her, the ground split and Sasuke jumped out of the way at the last second.

"What is it you need of me?" Sasuke asked.

"I need help." She said quietly. "The Akatsuki want an Uchiha baby, and The Leader thinks that he can get one out of you and me." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. "Well I don't plan on having the kid! I need help in taking down Akatsuki before they get one. Even if they kill me, The Leader will stop at nothing to have an Uchiha heir to fulfill his plans and those plans include making a war that will kill millions of people."

"Why should I help you?" Sasuke asked with the same kind of monotone that his brother used.

"Why? Well lets see… You left Leaf out of selfishness, you are training with a monster who wants nothing more than to kill everyone in the village you swore you would protect, you also swore you would protect your team with your life and last I checked I was a part of that team you abandoned. You owe the Leaf village, and you owe me." Sakura said angrily, charging again. Sasuke saw right through the attack and grabbed her by her throat and held her in the air.

"What if I want to break those bonds, what if I want to kill you?" He said sadistically.

"Then you would be worse than your brother." She choked out. Sasuke's eyes softened and his grip loosened slightly. This gave Sakura the opportunity to kick him in the stomach with her chakra enhanced foot.

"As a former teammate, I am asking you for help. If you don't help me, then I will be killed and the best chance the world has for taking down this organization goes with me." Sasuke stood and looked at his former teammate with a new found respect.

"What do you want me to do?"

Itachi sensed Sakura coming and gathered their packs.

"Lets get out of here." Sakura said quickly, grabbing her pack. Itachi did not answer, but followed her towards the bunker.

"All went well?" Itachi couldn't help but ask a few miles away from Orochimaru's castle.

"A stranger sort of reunion than I had originally thought, but it went well enough." Sakura answered truthfully.

"Did you consummate your new relationship?" Itachi asked stocially.

"Did I…? EWW!" Sakura nearly fell out of the tree she had landed on. "Itachi, what part of, 'I don't want to have a baby' didn't you understand the first time?" She nearly screamed. Itachi didn't answer, and a silence fell over them throughout their journey.

"Let us stop here." Itachi called out about a mile away from the bunker. Sakura raised an eyebrow at his request, but stopped anyway.

"What's up?" She asked, putting her pack down.

"You do realize that your mission was to… how did you put it…? Jump Sasuke. There are tell tale signs on a person's body that confirm that this transaction had commenced, and you have none." Itachi thought carefully for the words to describe what he meant.

Sakura looked clueless for a moment before realization hit her. "Oh." She said simply.

"Marks, on your neck are missing, and your clothes are in pristine condition, as well as lacking a flush one acquires during these activities." Itachi set his pack down and crossed his arms.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Sakura asked with a hint of panic in her voice.

"It was your mission." Itachi pointed out.

"Do YOU want to be a father?" Sakura challenged, knowing that if she were discovered that he would be in charge of producing the child.

"I will assist you this time, but make sure that you are better prepared next time." Itachi said with a dark expression, he hated being backed into a corner.

"Okay, so… umm." Sakura began awkwardly. She had no idea what she was supposed to do, how was she supposed to make herself look ravaged?

Itachi sighed and removed his cloak, indicating that she do the same. He beckoned for her to come closer, and with a gulp, she complied. Once she was in reaching distance, he took her by the arms and spun her around and up against a tree.

"Try to relax." Itachi's smooth voice rang in her ears. Sakura forced her body to relax, letting her eyes drift closed in the process. Itachi stepped closer and pressed his lips to the soft skin under her ear. Slowly, he started to ravage her neck with small bites that, at one point, forced a small moan out of Sakura. She couldn't help the reaction her body was having to his ministrations, and although she was mortified that she was one step away from making out with her sworn enemy in the middle of the woods, she was in pure heaven with the things he was doing to her.

The moan didn't go unnoticed by Itachi, and he couldn't help but smirk at how talented he was in areas outside of fighting. He moved to the other side of her neck, carefully trailing across her collar bone and under her jaw. When he kissed right under her earlobe, Sakura's knees nearly gave out. Feeling satisfied that he created a much better picture of a ravaged lover, he released Sakura from his grasp. Sakura looked torn between grateful and murderous. She was grateful that he had helped her make a picture to convince The Leader that she and Sasuke had taking a rolling around in the hay, but felt murderous that he had made her feel so wound up without any thought of a release. Then the thought came to her that she had thought about a "release" with Itachi.

"Thankyou." She managed to mumble out before they resumed their hurried speed to the bunker. Itachi left Sakura at The Leader's door, and Sakura braved a knock and entered.

"Sakura, how was your 'meeting'?" The Leader smiled evilly.

"Wonderful." She said with a forced smile. The Leader looked at her closely and noticed something amusing. He began a low chuckle that turned into a rather scary laugh.

"Apparently not so wonderful, the little brat didn't leave you satisfied, did he?" He laughed. Sakura looked mortified but tried to regain her composure.

"I…" She began.

"No, no. I understand. You may go and release your 'frustrations'." The Leader laughed at the bright red woman. Seeing that as a dismissal, she left the room quickly. She shook her head in embarrassment, 'The Leader thought Sasuke couldn't satisfy me?' she thought with horror.

Sasuke sat in the courtyard, he had thought long and hard of all that had been requested of him by his old teammate. He had never realized how much potential Sakura had, and found a new respect for her. He felt Orochimaru and Kabuto reach the mangled courtyard.

"What happened here?" Kabuto asked, his eyes wide.

"I had a visitor." Sasuke answered truthfully and stood, putting less weight on his broken foot, keeping his broken shoulder and two broken ribs in mind.

"A visitor?" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, not liking the thought of someone walking in to his lair and beating the hell out of his prized possession.

"Sakura Haruno. My old teammate, the one who was training with Tsunade. She has become a missing nin and joined Akatsuki." He limped over to Kabuto. The medic started to treat his crushed bones while Orochimaru stared in disbelief.

"The pink haired girl I nearly killed three times? I guess Tsunade's training has improved her greatly." Orochimaru looked impressed.

"The Legendary Three are now training a new generation of Legends. With Naruto under Jiryia's training and with Sasuke under yours, the old team seven has become more than the bunch of misfits it had been." Kabuto said with a smirk.

"Indeed. What did this Sakura Haruno want with you?" Orochimaru turned the focus back to Sasuke.

"To prove she could finally stand up to me in a match." Sasuke answered.

"And?" Orochimaru pushed.

"She can. She is stronger and braver than I would have ever thought possible. I am going to enjoy watching her blossom." Sasuke said with an evil grin.

A/N: Okay, there is a whole bunch going on than meets the eye! I love twisty turny plots! Please read and review and THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH to those who reviewed!! LOVE LOVE LOVE to you all!!