Hi everyone~~!

Here i am with another chapter up! I hope I didn't take too long in updating the next chappie :O

Anyway, I don't think this chapter had too much of Sakura, for it mostly centered around Saki, Sasuke, and Naruto and everything that happened after they got back to Konoha. The next few chapters may be like that for the most part, besides the next one, still haven't decided.

And since Sakura is now officially away from the Akatsuki, they won't be appearing for a while, just so that this fic looks a little bit realistic and it doesn't seem Sakura is obsessed with the Akatsuki and wants to return immediately X) I didn't plan this fic to turn in to one of those :O So, I think this is the last we here of any Akatsuki member for the next few chapters, but don't worry, they'll be back.... they have to be..... after all, this is Itachi x Sakura, right? X)

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto! I take no rights, and i only own plot :D

Chapter 6: Mission

"Who was that?" Sasuke asked, reffering to the previous figure who had managed to gotten away. He could not believe he had confused that person for Itachi, of all people. He should have known better, seriously. Itachi would have had him in a genjutsu the moment he laid eyes on his cloak, or maybe even before that. Not to mention the figure did seem much shorter than Itachi too. Damn was he blind or what? Or maybe he was just naive; Sasuke wouldn't dare remind himself maybe Itachi had been right all this time about calling him 'foolish'.

"Whoever that person was does not concern you." Itachi responded stoicly, a katana piercing through his right shoulder, before he disappeared in a flock of black crows.

"It does, actually. He might be another Akatsuki member, or a spy." Sasuke responded, using his katana to deflect hundreds of thousands of kunai being thrown his way, his Sharingan eyes ablaze with anger.

"How do you know it's a he?" Kisame grinned.

"Kisame" Itachi gave him a silent warning.

"Ahh, so it's a she." Sasuke confirmed. He knew he would never be able to get any information out of Itachi, but Kisame wasn't exactly that smart. Fooling Kisame was the best shot he had, truthfully.

Kisame shrugged. "So what if she is a girl?"

"Who is she?" Naruto asked. "She tried to keep her identity a mystery because she kept her hat on the whole time. There must be something she doesn't want us to know." Naruto added.

"It doesn't concern you who she is." Kisame retorted. "It's none of your bussiness."

'Not after that Saki girl faked her death anyway.' Kisame frowned, and the mere thought of it made him send ferocious water dragons towards her. She screamed hysterically, and Naruto got her out of harm's way in the nick of time.

"Why aim for Saki? She's not even attacking." Naruto asked, putting her down gently.

"I don't particularly like this girl all too much." Kisame stated truthfully, and Itachi gave him an almost untracable warning look. "Her screaming is giving me an ear-ache. And what the hell is she doing on a mission you were un-doubtedly going to face off against Akatsuki?" Kisame scoffed. "She can't even get out of the way from a simple water dragon."

Saki had been seriously considering maybe flipping him off, or sending a few curse words his way, but the fact that he was a dangerous S-Class criminal refrained her from doing so. He already didn't like her, and frankly, she didn't need him out to get her either, though she seriously doubted that would happen. She hadn't even spoken one word to this man.

Minutes seemed like hours as they fought against each other, Saki just watching in the background. After a total of about 20 minutes, it was obvious who would come out victorious. Naruto was already pushed past his limits, and Sasuke was falling fast. Within another minute, Sasuke was knocked down once again, but this time he no longer felt the strength to get up.

"Leave before we decide to capture the Jinchuuriki." Itachi said stoicly.

Sasuke merely glared at Itachi. He really, really hated himself right now. He couldn't even defeat Itachi for God's sake. "No! Come back and fight me Itachi!" Sasuke growled, trying to get up. Saki came to his aid, trying to help him up but he so rudely shoved her off. "I don't need your help." he said harshly, not caring if the words stung her like a bee. It probably hurt Sakura 100 times worse anyway.

"You think you can defeat me in your curren state?" Itachi asked.

"No" he replied almost hesitant. 'But if I can't defeat you, or live with the love of my life, I don't see the point in living.' Sasuke thought harshly, mostly directing the anger towards himself. Sasuke had this look in his eyes... one filled with refget, and hurt, as if recalling something... or someone.

And interested glance was seen directed to Kisame, who glanced at Itachi with a glance which could have held much more interest. "You've become distracted." Itachi's voice seemed to echoe in his head. "That woman has made you weak, and unfocused from your true purpose."

"How do you know she died?" he asked, confused about how they could have possibly known about Sakura's death, let alone concluded he was hurt by it. He didn't even know Akatsuki knew he had a girlfriend.

"How we know doesn't really matter, but we are Akatsuki, we find things out rather fast." Kisame tried to cover up for Itachi's small mistake. Maybe something about this particular subject made him slightly uneasy, or just simply distracted, because let's face it, Itachi never messed up. In truth, no one really did find out Sakura Haruno had died. Even the man wanting her head for such a high-price didn't know. Konoha must have kept a low profile about it. It was a possibility they didn't want neighboring countries -or enemy countries more specifically- to know their best medic-nin and strongest kunoichi had vanished.

"But that's not really the issue; she has distracted you." Kisame continued.

"You haven't gone in search for me in years; she must have obviously kept you busy -distracted." Itachi mused.

"No" Sasuke glared. "I was training to get stronger. She isn't important enough to draw me away from you. Hardly important." Sasuke glared. From the sidelines, Saki seemed to spark with glee and Naruto seemed flabbergasted Sasuke had actually said that.

Truth be told, Itachi was right. He had become distracted, for Sakura's non-violent ways had somewhat rubbed off on him. She made him think that if he was able to reconstruct his clan that would be enough, and the need to kill Itachi could be overlooked.

But Itachi was here, in front of him, and he felt weak. Never before had he cared for someone, and that was why even as a Genin he thought he could kill Itachi, because he had done exactly what Itachi had told him. But what would happen if he said the truth, and said that yes, he had fallen in love, what would Itachi think? He really shouldn't give a damn about whatever he thought, but Itachi would always remain his big brother, and even the need to impress Itachi (whether it be with his strength, or his will power to kill him) was still pulsing through his veins.

If Itachi ever showed disappointment in him, it showed he had done something wrong, or he had failed. And frankly, he had failed too much for far too long...

Kisame and Itachi looked at each other; Kisame looked shocked, and even Itachi seemed to take the information it somewhat oddly. Itachi hardly knew Sakura, but he knew Sakura was a kind soul, far too innocent to have something like this happen to her. That only happened to horrible people... people like himself, and hey, look, it already did happen to him, when he had been 7 years younger than Sakura herself.

Kisame and Itachi hadn't believed their ears for several moments. Sakura had actually been telling the truth. Kisame honestly found it hard to find out someone could actually hurt her that much, and that her previous friends and family had pronounced they no longer cared for her, and they seemed to have erased her from their memory.

"Well then, you obviously haven't been training hard enough." Itachi's cold voice spoke. "You're still weak" the phrase seemed to echo in Sasuke's head, flashbacks going through his mind about the time he used to always call Sakura that. Regret filled his body. He had never fully known how those words hurt... now, he somewhat did. But then again, he wasn't the one being rejected by the love of his life.

"Kisame... let's go." Itachi said as they turned around and disappaered in puffs of smoke.

The new Team 7 was left there, hurt, dumbfounded, and for Saki, scared and humiliated.

...Why had Akatsuki just let them go?

"You think kitten got away?" Kisame asked, appearing in the kitchen alongside Itachi.

"If by 'kitten' you are refering to Haruno, then yes. She had plenty of time to make her escape safely." Itachi replied, going to the kitchen to pour himself some water.

"Geez... no need to be so uptight, just worrying for her is all." Kisame grumbled.

"Hn. You're lucky I arrived when I did." Itachi said monotonously.

"Yes, you're right." Kisame sighed. Itachi looked up in curiosity. Kisame would never admit defeat or ask for help. "Kitten was about to crack. Even though they harbor no feelings for her, it doesn't mean she doesn't. She was trying to kill herself out there, I tell you." Kisame frowned.

"Ah. That was when I interfered, was it not?"

"Yeah... she told me she couldn't find it within herself to fight the people she had cared for, for such a long time."

"She's too emotional." Itachi frowned an uninterested and unpleased frown.

"Don't forget it was those emotions that kept her alive this past month." Kisame noted. "She has a lot of devotion to friends." Kisame said quietly.

Itachi pondered his last statement for a while. "Maybe we can get some," Itachi paused, as if searching for the right words for a moment before continuing. "interest, from her devotion." Itachi thought out loud, mostly to himself.

"I think after seeing their faces, she doesn't treasure life that much."

"As she shouldn't. Life is not a blessing. It is a mission you must fullfill."

Kisame rolled his eyes. "I've never heard someone think of life as a mission. I've heard a gift, adventure, blessing, curse, but never a mission." Kisame chuckled.

"You either succeed, or fail. You choose how you finish." Itachi turned around to leave.

"And how is your mission ending?" Kisame asked Itachi. "What path did you take?" he said after a few seconds.

Itachi paused shortly, turning his head slightly to barely have eye contact with Kisame. "You tell me" Itachi left with no more words. In truth, he didn't want to tell Kisame his true opinion about his life.

Sakura jumped off the tree stealthily, hiding her chakra and stuffing herself in a bush. She stayed deadly silent as she heard nearby ninja pass by her. She didn't dare move until she knew they were a safe distance away. After all, she didn't need any Konoha ninja finding someone posed dead.

Hopping back on to the trees and continuing her journey, she tried to not pay too much attention to Konoha. Yes, she could see it from a distace. She didn't exactly know how to get back to the village she had previously been in, so she had to retrace her footsteps.

Besides, Sakura thought, since she was now fully recovered, it would not be as hard to get there. She wouldn't freeze from hypothermia, and she wouldn't amost get killed by unexperienced bandits, or get attacked by wolves, or get stuck in a hole...

Sakura shivered at the thought of re-experiencing all that all over again. Sakura had done all that for what? To get blown off and rejected, and backstabbed even?

Thinkng back, it was hardly worth her time, effort, and endurance.

Sakura ignored it, realizing she would feel like creating a large crater, and instead started calculating the time until she reached the village. It was already dark out, and she would need to camp out any time soon. Thing was, she didn't want to sleep on Leaf Village land, so she had to at least pass the border of Sound and Leaf for her to know it was a safe zone. After all, what would Leaf be doing in Sound territory?

Without Orochimaru, Sound had officially been marked as a place of no importance, that harbored no real threat, besides the occasional bandit. After all, Sound was now completely lost, and it was crumbling without a strong leader to help it stay together. So initially, if there was no need to be in Sound, why would any ninja who could possibly identify her as Sakura Haruno be over there?

It was around 10:00 at night when Sakura approached the river she had washed herself in about a week ago. She decided she would camp there. Sakura quickly pulled the cloak on, finding the temperature dropping to chilly degrees. She then got some wood, and quickly made a small fire next to the boulder she was leaning on. Sakura was just staring at the small sparks of fire.

Fire...

It reminded her of the Fire Country, which only reminded her of Konoha, and well, you get the point. The Will of Fire...

Sakura sighed. Was it really as marvelous as people thought it to be? Fire was destructive, and burned everyone and everything in its wake, leaving nothing but ashes... And all fire came to an end eventually, dying off slowly...

Sakura closed her eyes. She didn't need to be reminded of death, and everything she thought she found in Konoha, such as friends, family, a home, a shelter, and even comfort. Instead, Sakura tried to think of something else in her life. Something that hadn't completely failed her...

But the more she thought about it, she realized Konoha had been her everything. And it had been the only thing that failed her too... And only this past week had proven to let something else enter in her life, no matter how untrusted and dangerous the name was.

Akatsuki

Akatsuki, the place that had taken her in and she had found comfort in, and even friends... no matter how dangerous, untrustworthy, and conniving they were, they had showed her kindness, for the most part anyway. Even though she and Hidan had ended off with relatively bad terms, she wouldn't say that she hated his guts, and she was sure he didn't either...

Though a part of her felt that place had been more of a home than Sound, she knew she could not stay in Akatsuki. What would she do, knowing she was betraying Gaara, and Naruto, and basically going towards the destruction of the world? Though Sakura enjoyed being in Akatsuki, she didn't think of herself as evil enough to know she was causing the end of the peace in the world.

Sound was a much better place for her...

There were normal people there, who went on with their daily lives, and did not wish for the end of the world. The most they probably wished for was more wealth and good crops for the winter.

And hey, if she really put some thought in to it, they would need her. It would only be a matter of time before chaos reached their small little farming village, and what them? They had no fighters, and they definitely did not have enough money to hire shinobi and drive the bandits out, if they ever needed to. And though Sakura wasn't as skilled as Kisame and Itachi, Sakura was good. She hadn't been trained under the fifth Hokage for nothing, after all. She'd definitely be able to drive bandits away from there, and even shinobi. Because let's face it, after Orochimaru died, the village fell and she was sure no one was teaching people how to be decent ninja anymore. The worst problem she would probably have would be some Chunin, and at most, some pesky Jounin, but even they wouldn't compare to Sakura's super inhuman, strong, ANBU self.

Yeah, her logic made sense.

Sakura sighed before sleep finally took over, and she fell into a light slumber. After all, she could never be so sure when she was in the middle of nowhere, and alone.

A howl emitted from deep inside the forest.

Her point exactly

It was around 5:30 in the morning when Sakura got up, albeit groggily. She hadn't exactly gotten the best of sleep, considering the cloak wasn't exactly a cozy bed, the rock wasn't exactly a comfortable pillow, the howling wolves weren't the soothing purr cats always made outside her apartment window, the chilly wind wasn't the warm heater that would always go on in the middle of the night, and the snow wasn't the water she woke herself up with every morning.

Yeah, there had been a lot of issues with her sleep last night, and that was probably an understatement. Though the cloak hadn't exactly been a comfortable, cozy bed, she still had to admit she was down right thankful for it. How would she have slept without the cloak? She might as well have frozen to death, or become a snowman.

Trying to get up, Sakura had to shove several layers of snow off of the cloak to be able to get up. Going to the lake and planning to wash her face, she found it now, frozen. Just peachy!

'But...' Sakura frowned, staring at the snow.

Sakura stretched her joints while yawning. First thing first, she had to try and get some form of food in her system, no matter how satisfied she felt. Her lack of hunger would probably lead her to anarexia and bellimia if it didn't stop soon. Maybe her depression had something to do with the fact she was all alone now. She had never been all alone, ever since she had met Ino. Ever since then, it had always been smooth sailing, no matter how hard she told herself otherwise back in the days.

Going to the river, she quickly activated the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, to melt the small stream away for a water source. Afterwards, she quickly washed her face, completely waking her up, and then took a mouthful and gulped it down.

Sucking up the coldness of the water, she let out a low growl from the back of her throat, and then quickly shook it off.

'Food-Food-Food-Food Food-Food-Food-Food Food-Food-Food-Food-Food her mind thought self-consciously, and Sakura tried to drown it out. Though she surely didn't feel hungry, her inner-self sure did. Seriously, when had her inner of all people come back? Ever since she awoke to find herself in Akatsuki... or actually, ever since Saki appeared inner had slowly started to come out again. It was probably because while Sakura wanted to trust Saki with all the hope in her body, she had already known something was up. Her body had sent her warning signs with each and ever single minute Sakura had been alongside Saki. So, with two parts of her contradicting each other, another gap must have formed, re-awakening inner from her deep slumber.

(A/N: The food part was supposed to sound like that Meow-mix commercial X) if you know what i mean)

'Maybe I should wait till I reach the village to worry about starving. It's only been a day without food.' she snorted inwardly.

She soon crossed that option out though. Like they had previously told her a week ago, they barely made enough food for themselves, and if they didn't make enough, some would go starving. Sakura couldn't possibly take that away from them like that.

Sakura searched in her pockets, pulling out a small, plain red wallet. Opening it, she counted the money currently in it; it was about 75 dollars. She could easily get enough food to supply herself for several weeks. Problem was, where exatly would she buy the food from? Buying it from the villagers was just as bad. As far as she knew, they were scared people, who never traveled. What help would money possibly do for them if they had nothing to spend it on? It wasn't like that village actually cared to much for appearances like other girls, and it wasn't like they had any shops within their town to spend it on.

Yeah... Sakura was pretty doomed right about now...

'How about tailing back to Konoha?' her most unhelpful other side thought.

Sakura snorted out loud. "Like I would ever return to that hell-hole that lied to me since... forever." she retorted, muttering it all under her breath.

'But... I do need to eat...' Sakura seemed almost hesitant, and she stared behind her almost longingly.

"How would i even get past Shinobi gates?" she asked out loud, sighing. She'd rather sound mental in front of... no one, instead of talking to herself inside her mind... she always ended up with a headache afterwards, what with all the talking it was handling.

'Sneak in as a little girl.' inner shrugged.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "No one with brains would obviously let a small girl in the village with no consent from the Hokage." she retorted.

'Hey, how bad can it be? As long as Saki's guarding, she'll be too busy sucking face with Sasuke to even see us slip by.' Inner suggested. Yes, inner being the alterior persona which was supposed to help Sakura, she had initially forced herself to hate Sasuke's guts, even though Sakura herself was still not convinced. To begin with, she was never one to hate someone, let alone someone she had loved since she had been... what, 6? And look how blunt inner had been, swearing at Ino when she had snuck in to her head at the preliminaries at the Chunin Exams all those years ago. Inner was even mean to Lee and Naruto, which she had swore she would never be mean to after her fan-girly stage was over.

Lee had truly been a kind soul, and back then, she was able to tell that Lee's feelings for her were true. But ever since Sasuke came back and they both officialy became and item, it seemed Lee had given up, for he admitted defeat and realized he would never be able to capture Sakura's heart, for it had been forever devoted to Sasuke back then. Heck, she wouldn't even blame Lee if he hated her, just like everyone already seemed to.

Sakura groaned. Though she hated to admit it, inner Sakura was right. Saki was much too dumb, and not to mention dense to actually figure something like that out. "They probably wouldn't even be back from the mission. They just fought Itachi and Kisame." Sakura frowned. If it wasn't Saki managing that gate, then she'd probably have no chance in entering the village just like that.

But then again, if Sakura had made it to nearly sound in just about 15 or so minutes before them, then she had no doubt they made it back to Konoha. But it also depended on how gravely Itachi and Kisame had injured them, for they would most likely be in the hospital.

Sakura sighed, turning around and walking. It would be best she at least checked it out, for if she didn't, she'd go without eating this whole day, and inner would be nagging her for being such a baby for the rest of the week. She really didn't need that right now.

So deciding to get it over with quickly, she decided it was best to move fast and stealthily. Hiding her chakra and moving like a stealthy puma -as if she were on a real mission- she focused on getting through this hour. And technically, in her opinion, she was on a mission. A self-assigned mission to not get caught.

Once she could finally see Konoha from the distance, she truly focused, now deciding to hide in bushes, and behind trees. She even went as far as disguising herself as a random boulder on a road when Konohamaru came in with Ebisu and his team.

"Nee, I can't believe they totally wooped our asses." Naruto groaned, obviously dismayed.

"Sit still you dumbass!" Tsunade shouted, patching up the small scar he had on his face. It had needed 3 stitches.

"I can't believe you guys came out unscathed." Shizune said from the other side of the curtain, where she was currently treating Sasuke. He had a broken rib, and a fractured finger, and that was only the beginning. They only put up the curtain to keep these two from arguing, though it wasn't even doing much.

"Only Saki came out unscathed." Sasuke corrected, staring at Saki who was currently in the corner of the room, fiddling with her fingers. Maybe it was from all the attention she was geting from being completely useless on the mission, or maybe because Sasuke currently had his shirt off, showing his abs. She didn't know, and she really didn't care. She wanted to enjoy the show while it lasted.

"Still," Shizune frowned, "You guys came out alive. That itself means you two have improved dramatically." Shizune said, sending healing chakra to Sasuke. After they had arrived 40 minutes ago, Tsunade had personally made sure that she healed the team. She couldn't risk having any of those lousy medics making mistakes on the 2 most promising shinobi in the whole village.

"What about me?" Saki pouted.

Shizune rolled her eyes, looking back for a second. "You didn't exactly do anything, and you're the reason Naruto got stitches on his head, thanks to the Water Dragon, are you not?" Shizune almost felt like glaring. If anything more, Saki had actually been a hindrance.

"They were holding back." Sasuke admitted glumly. "I know when Itachi holds back." his voice sounded ominous and dangerous, and it made shivers go down Saki's spine, and Naruto and Shizune looked disturbed. Tsunade had long since gotten used to that though, and she didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Who are you to say Itachi was holding back? You hardly even know him." Tsunade retorted.

"Ouch!" Naruto whined. Apparently, with that little retort, Tsunade had stabbed the stitched too far into his skin.

"Shut up Naruto, you deserve this for getting hurt so badly. Why hadn't you guys run? You were going against 2 Akatsuki members. What is wrong with you?!" Tsunade glared.

"In my opinion, it was 3 Akatsuki members." Naruto grumbled.

"Excuse me?!" Naruto instantly regretted opening his mouth. "You went against not 2, but 3 Akatsuki members!" Tsunade was beyond furious, and she pressed her hands on Naruto's ribs, hoping it would cause him to puncture an organ.

"Baa-chan...!" Naruto trailed off. It obviously hurt him... good.

"Naruto, I don't think it would be wise to speak ill of her age with the curren circumstances at hand." Sasuke grumbled, though he didn't honestly have any objections. It wasn't like Shizune was treating his woulds badly, so it was all good.

"I can't believe you guys didn't run. You could have died! You must all be a bunch of idiots." Shizune rolled her eyes, knowing it must have obviously been Sasuke's fault. Saki was still at a fan-girlish state, so it wasn't like she was going to go around defying Sasuke and his will any time soon, and Naruto was just too good of a friend to let Sasuke miss a chance for his veneagnce, so it was clear who's fault it was. I mean, it couldn't be Kiba. Seriously, if things kept up like this, Naruto would make a lousy Hokage. He couldn't have his friends running around like idiots in the background!

Tsunade rolled her eyes and shook her head, obviously disapproving at the team's idiocy. "Saki, where the hell were you when all of this was going on? You could have healed them!" Tsunade was shocked, confused, and just... lost. Whenever Sakura went on a mission, she made sure none of her teammates had injuries worth going to the hospital for. Maybe she had expected too much of Saki... or maybe Sakura had just set up high expectations? After all, Saki had only been training with her for a month.

But... evenso, after one month of training Sakura's skill at improved drastically. Maybe Tsunade had slackened her strict training? Who knows.

"I-I......" Saki was lost for words.

Shizune rolled her eyes. "Did you even do anything?" Shizune dared ask the question that had been nagging her at the pit of her stomach.

Saki parted her lips, trying to speak words, but nothing came out. "Saki, this was an A-Ranked Mission for crying out loud!" Shizune threw her hand up in disbelief. "The chances of meeting Akatsuki had been over 70%! If you couldn't handle the mission we could've understood! Sai could have easily replaced you in this." Shizune was just very annoyed with this girl, seriously.

"Shizune calm down, it was her first Akatsuki-related mission." Tsunade made her calm down.

"In Sakura's first Akatsuki-related mission she almost killed Sasori of the Red Sand, a dangerous Akatsuki member, remember?" Shizune said in disbelief.

"She had been trained for over 3 years before that." Saki said.

It only shocked Shizune a fraction when Saki spoke up. "Regardless, she didn't stand in fear while they aimed deadly jutsus at her." Shizune glared. "She would have at least died trying, or saving her beloved teammates." Shizune's glare penetrated Saki. "But what did you do? You stood back and let them do all the work while you stood back, and let them aim hit after hit towards you. Look what happened to Naruto because of your lack of action." Shizune scoffed, pointing to Naruto, who had many injuries.

Shizune walked up to Naruto, pointing to a deep gash on the middle of his chest, leaning a little on the right, and a little bit low. "Naruto, how'd you get that?" Shizune asked.

"I... uhhgg..." Naruto hesitated to asnwer, because he already felt bad for Saki. It wasn't everyday Shizune totally burst and started yelling the hell out of someone... it was usually Tsunade, truth be told. "Kisame pierced me with an earth technique while I tried to get Saki out of the way." he replied nevertheless. A pissed off Shizune was something no one wanted to go through, and he sure as hell wasn't an exception.

She turned her glare back to Saki, who's face was unreadable. In truth, she was debating whether she should cry for being so weak and not helping out 'her Sasuke-kun', or whether or not she should slap the shit out of Shizune for speaking so ill of her, and making it seem like it was her fault Sasuke and Naruto got so hurt........ which in truth, if you thought about it, it was.

"You see this injury Saki? 1 second later, half an inch to the left, and 1 inch deeper, that wound would have killed Naruto." Shizune glared. "Of course, you wouldn't know that would you?" Shizune raised an eyebrow. "While I was strictly teaching you about all of this you were doodling hearts around Sasuke's fucking name on a notebook I strictly bought and was meant for notes," she added sharply. "You're lucky Naruto heals fast or he'd probably be needing to undergo some serious surgery which he would never survive, and he still needs it."

Saki looked down sheepishly, Naruto looked shocked, and Sasuke looked down right disturbed.

"While on the other hand, Sakura had been so devoted to her learning to help save her friends, and maybe convince Sasuke she wasn't the weak little girl he had thought her as, she had learned all the vital organs, their locations, and all the main chakra pathways in 2 days!" her frustration was just too much to handle. The room had risen 3 degrees in temeprature thanks to Shizune's anger, and she was seriously contemplating impaling the girl in front of her any second now.

"Shizune" Tsunade said hesitantly, though she tried to put as much authority and warning she could possibly put in it.

"What? You're going to tell me I'm crazy Tsunade-hime?" Shizune raised an eyebrow. "You knopw perfectly well Sa-"

"Enough about Sakura already." Sasuke banged his hand on the metal part of the hospital bed, bending the metal. He glared all around the room. "I am tired of hearing about Sakura everywhere I go." he continued. "I'd rather not be reminded." he stood up abruptly, pulling his shirt on.

"You still need to be h-" Shizune tried to stop him from pulling on his shirt by putting her hand on his shoulder, but he quickly shoved it off.

"I'll live damn it." he glared. He started walking away, and Saki lifted a foot, ready to walk as well. "Saki, if you so even follow my movements, I'll make sure you're the next one on that hospital bed with a concussion and a coma for a month." Saki quickly retreated her foot back to the ground, hesitant.

"But Sasuke-ku-"

"I really don't give a shit." he glared. "Don't you have guard duty or something? Get to it. I'll even drop you off there as long as you don't follow me for the rest of the week." his voice was dangerous and threatening; it seemed almost onimous again. He seemed very intent on keeping Saki away from him, apparently.

"I'll come with you gu-" Naruto quickly began but he was cut off.

"You're staying." Sasuke said firmly. "Shizune said if it were any other person, you'd need serious surgery, or you'd be dead so you better not move a muscle." Sasuke glared. Naruto opened his mouth, ready to protest once again, "I don't need to lose another precious person in my life on the same year."

If the threat to Saki wasn't one of the dangerous and most serious things Sasuke had ever said, then this surely was. This had immobolized Naruto, who had already been getting up and about to walk towards his team.

"I suggest you stop oggling me and start doing your job as Hokage and heal Naruto." And with that, Sasuke left, Saki only 5 steps away from him.

Saki didn't talk at all, for she feared if she did Sasuke would commence that threat and send her to the hospital even earlier. She didn't need that; frankly, she had barely managed to survive the last mission. And hearing Sakura actually defeated one of those crazy buffed-up ninja?

Saki frowned. Was it just her, or was she a long way from actually surpassing Sakura? And not to mention Sakura had defeated that Sasori of the Red Sand when she had been fifteen, five years ago.

Exiting the hospital, Saki stared up at Sasuke, who seemed as pissed, as pissed could actually get. Damn it, damn it, damn it! This mission was supposed to prove to Sasuke that she was strong enough to be his girlfriend! That she was as strong as Sakura, and actually, stronger, considering she had managed to impale Sakura with a katana, and practically kill her. God knows why she still survived after that. Either she was getting help from unnatural forces from the world beyond, or Saki was seriously underestimating Sakura, who she hadn't even taken lightly from the beginning.

(Or maybe if she had studied her anatomy better, she would have actually not missed Sakura's vitals)

Saki sighed. But then again, what did she expect from Sasuke's first and only girlfriend, who he had tried to propose to? She had been lucky Naruto had let it slip while they were at Ichiraku's right before Sakura arrived. That had been the day she stole her seat next to Sasuke. If it hadn't been for that, Saki would have never taken action. After all, she doubted she'd ever get Sasuke to move on as fast if he had proposed, or married Sakura for that matter. She had had to commence her plan before the day they came back from the mission, and if she did say so herself, she had done a pretty good job faking her death.

"We're here"

If it wasn't for Sasuke's warning she would have most likely run into a street pole, too distracted in her own thoughts. They were already right at the gates.

"Oh... already" she mostly said that to herself. "Thank you for accompanying me Sasuke-kun. And I wanted you to kn-"

"Save it Saki." Sasuke cut her off. "I really don't want to here it, and I could care less what you're about to say." Sasuke turned around coldly.

Tears streamed down Saki's face, whether they were real, or fake. She ran towards Sasuke, hugging him from behind, much like Sakura did when trying to control the Cursed Seal when Sasuke had not been able to control it in the Forest of Death, Chunin Exams.

The mere memory made Sasuke shiver, and the fact that that wasn't Sakura hugging him, made Sasuke shove her away violently. "I don't like your hugs" he merely stated.

"Why Sasuke-kun?" she broke down in tears even more. "Why can't you return my feelings? Can't you see I care more about you then Sakura ever d-"

"Shut up!"

This left Saki stunned for a moment, but nevertheless, she continued. "Why did you accept Sakura's feelings but not mine?! I act the same exact way as she used to-"

"And that's the point." Sasuke glared. "I know this isn't you, and even if you say you care more about me than Sakura, we both know its a lie. You know nothing about me." Sasuke said harshly.

"I know all I need to know!" Saki insisted.

"Hardly" Sasuke scoffed.

"Your favorite food is tomatoes! You're best friends with Naruto, and he is also your rival! Lee used to be your rival too, because you both wanted Sakura! You and the Kazekage don't get along very well! In fact, you don't get along with many people!" Y-"

"That's enough." Sasuke was looking at the floor, painful memories filling his head.

"Sas-"

Sasuke turned around violently, shaking her by the shoulders wildly. "Do you know my worst fear? My true life's ambition? My favorite thing to do? My favorite tree? Favorite game? Do you even know how i feel inside?!" Sasuke asked.

Saki didn't answer, mostly because she didn't know any of the answers.

"Sakura might have been a fan girl, but she was the only one who tried to look inside of me, for what really counted, not just my skills, looks, intelligence, and blood heritage." Sasuke glared. "The only one -who besides Naruto- gave a rat's ass about me when I was lost and confused, off at Orochimaru's. After I left, all the fan girls forgot about me, and turned to Neji as a new target. A fan girl means nothing to me." Sasuke glared.

"Sakura tried to be nice to me, something no other fan girl had ever tried, and when I was feeling down, she gave me the thing I truly wanted and needed, instead of stupid flowers, love letters, and chocolates." Sasuke continued. "She tried to keep me off the path of vengeance while the other fan girls only cared about me staying alive so they could keep fawning over my looks. Sakura actually stood up for me when I was helpless, and unable to protect myself any longer from Orochimaru." he couldn't even finish describing all of the amazing things about Sakura, and how she made him feel the way he did.

"Now tell me, do you think you're like Sakura, or just any other fan girl?"

Saki didn't reply again, now being in denial. How could she have been so blind? She thought that replacing Sakura would have been easy... where had she gone wrong? Had she truly underestimated Sasuke's affection for Sakura?

"That's what I thought." Sasuke 'hmpph'ed before he left, leaving a tear-stained Saki in his wake.

"Ino, I think we're done patching Naruto up, we can take care of the rest." Shizune assured her, patting Ino on the shoulder.

"You guys sure?" Ino asked, wiping her brow full of sweat. "He's still in pretty bad condition." Ino asked. She had been working a regular shift at the hospital when Shizune had contacted her and told her they would need to undergo surgery with Naruto. Apparently, that earth jutsu Kisame had used on him had also contained some posion, but it was nothing Tsunade couldn't handle with a little help and an antidote.

"Yeah, we just need to stitch it up and Naruto will do the rest of the healing by himself." Shizune assured. "You did good Ino, you may take your leave for the day." Shizune smiled warmly at her.

Ino nodded. "But what got him so gravely injured?" Ino asked.

Shizune sighed. "These idiots faced off Akatsuki" Shizune shook her head disapprovingly.

"By 'these idiots' you mean...." she trialed off, hoping it wasn't what she thought.

Shizune nodded, confirming her worst thoughts. "Naruto, Sasuke, and Saki."

Ino gasped. "Is everyone okay? What happened to Saki? And what room is Sasuke in so i can check on him?" Ino asked hurriedly.

Shizune laughed. "What makes you assume Sasuke's in here too?"

"He's clumsy, obnoxious, and it was Akatsuki. Itachi Uchiha Akatsuki." Ino sighed.

"You have a point." Shizune chuckled. "Saki got out scotch free because she was protected by Naruto and Sasuke the whole time. Didn't even help one bit." Shizune sighed. "Sasuke on the other hand had several wounds left unpatched so I'm worried they'll get infected. But Sasuke being Sasuke, ran off because of his usual, typical Uchiha emo-self." Shizune sighed.

Ino sighed, shaking her head, though she did seem worried. "I'll go check on him." Ino said.

"Good luck finding him. No one knows where Sasuke goes when in depression."

"Well... I can think of a few spots." And with that, Ino checked out for the day, putting her bloody white lab coat on the 'dirty bin' and then exiting the hospital.

'Now to find Sasuke'

End of Chapter

If you haven't noticed from the previous chapter, I'm trying to start showing people's opinions about Sakura's 'death'. A wonderful reviewer (you know who you are) pointed out that Shikamaru and Gaara should also catch onto Saki's fake-ness and total b!tchness x) I had thought about letting Shikamaru in it, because let's face it, that man's a genius, but not Gaara :) good point!

I hadn't originally thought about Gaara because he's not much of a main character in the story (nor does he live in Konoha) but I'm sure since Naruto and Gaara are all best buddies, I should be able to include it :D

(what do you all think Gaara, Sai, Shizune, Hinata, Sasuke, and Temari would do when they find out about Saki's plan? X) haha the mere thought makes me want to cackle evilly. (think about it, you'll see my point.)

Some reviewers were saying they wished Saki would have actually gotten hurt... was Shizune's out burst enough for ya? If not, just wait a few chapters... Saki will be broken down emotionally if not physically! :D Isn't it so much fun to just have a punching bag?

So, if any of you would like to join in on the fun, you could add in ur review (or pm me if you wish, though i rather have it in review) some type of way you would wish for Saki to suffer (besides the inital death, for that she will experience later on) and nothing too rash that will get her sent to a hospital with a concussion and a coma like Sasuke had promised... i mean threatened... haha...

But really, anything goes as far as Akamaru biting the shiz outta her X) Poor Akamaru, he'll have this nasty taste in his mouth for a while... haha i'm ranting now, sorry!

Any and all feedback is much appreciated, and i hope you all enjoyed this long chapter! i think its the longest yet :O

-Marzy-chan~~! :))

P.S. I've realized I've been forgetting to put the recaps in the chapters. If any of you think it's best i put them up, please tell me and I'll make sure to put em'~~!