Metamorphosis – An Itachi & Sakura story.
By: MitsukiShiroi

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

A/n: Oh my God! Thank you so much for the 100 reviews! I never expected this story to become to popular, so thank you, all of you! I apologize for the delay though.

Chapter Seven – Medical Attentions

"Get up kunoichi, or I'll have to drag you out of there," Kisame's voice growled in the early morning. As the pink-haired kunoichi by the name of Sakura finally opened her eyes, she found him standing in front of her bed, sneering at her with a look she hadn't seen before.

"We have to go immediately, so hurry up and get dressed," he said quickly, and walked out of the room. A little peeved, Sakura tried to wake up and rubbed her eyes. She turned around to see if Itachi was in the room. As she found out he wasn't there, she quickly discarded her pajamas and dressed herself. She ran a comb through her hair, and threw her Akatsuki robes around her shoulders when Kisame walked in.

"Done?" he asked; the tone of his voice a little bit more friendly then earlier.

"Yes," she replied, before following his retreating form.

Not a word was said until they stepped outside, and Sakura couldn't help herself. She looked around to check the area again for any signs of the dark-haired man that traveled with them, and when she saw none, she turned towards Kisame.

"Where's Itachi-san?" she asked hesitantly.

"We ran into some friends of yours, ANBU from Konoha. Deidara and Itachi-san are fighting them now, and Itachi-san specifically asked me to get you out of the inn," Kisame replied simply. As Sakura focused on his voice, she could hear that he wasn't worried in the least that Deidara and Itachi would lose, and this thought slightly stopped the fear that ran through her body. She nodded, and both disappeared in a flash.

As they made their way through the forest, Sakura suddenly found an opening in Kisame's watchful eye. He would be looking around and focusing on enemy chakras, rather than keep his ever watchful eye on Sakura. Her opportune moment arrived when Kisame started sprinting through the forest, his hand on the Samehada and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. As Kisame let his guard down for a moment, thinking that Sakura would surely follow him, she dashed away in a random direction, making sure that her chakra was well hidden.

She could hear the faintest sounds of Kisame cursing as she made progress through the forest, and slowly those sounds diminished, until she could only hear the sound of the birds and the leafs rustling.

Feeling a little faint from her dash, she sat down after a good two-hour run, hoping that she had lost Itachi and Kisame. She felt exhausted. The run had depleted most of her chakra as she needed to get as far away as possible, and she wasn't used to running as much as she used to now that she had been locked up for two weeks in one hotel room.

And then, she felt it. His chakra was nearing her fast, and it showed no intention of stopping to look around in the surroundings. This could only mean that he knew exactly where she was. Sakura slowly stood up, and prepared herself to start running again. It would be wise to try and get as far into Sound as she possibly could, without Itachi following her.

She started gathering chakra into her feet when she sensed it. Itachi had stopped. More precisely, Itachi was untraceable at the moment. It was as if his chakra had completely vanished into thin air. No matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't feel it anymore.

"Damn," she cursed silently.

"That would be the appropriate word for this situation, yes," a smooth male voice came from behind her. As Sakura cursed her luck, and inner Sakura threw a tantrum, she slowly turned around, not wanting to see the man who had uttered those words.

The first thing she saw was three Akatsuki robes, and as she slowly moved her gaze upwards, she saw that Itachi stood nearest to her and Kisame and Deidara stood behind him. Sakura tried read the look in his eyes, but as always, Itachi remained poker-faced while he stared back at her.

Sakura tore her gaze from Itachi's blood-red sharingan to observe Deidara and Kisame. Deidara was grinning, as usual. His light hair was obscuring his left eye, but she could see something black with a spiral on it poking out there. She removed her gaze from Deidara and looked at Kisame. He was slightly hunched, his hand fisted in his robes.

I wonder what's up with him…?

"Going somewhere?" Deidara asked; the grin still in place.

"As a matter of fact, yes," she retorted angrily.

"To meet Itachi's bro… yeah," Deidara chuckled before pointing towards Kisame. "Itachi was quite pissed actually, look what he did to Kisame… yeah."

"That is enough Deidara," Itachi finally interrupted. Deidara glowered at Itachi for a second, undoubtedly angered that his fun was spoiled, but he remained calm as he fixed his gaze back on Kisame. He laughed out loud when Kisame shot him a glare of impatience and anger and squatted down in front of him, starting a conversation while talking in hushed voices, ignoring Itachi and Sakura completely.

Finally, Sakura found the strength to talk to Itachi, while stubbornly ignoring the glare he was giving her.

"Why did you come here?" she asked quietly, not knowing how to deal with her anger now that another one of her brilliant escape plans failed her.

"You are a hostage, I cannot allow you to escape," he answered.

"Well, then let me go," she retorted.

"I'm afraid I can't. My eyes haven't been healed yet, and perhaps your medic skills will come in handy."

"So, I'm just a tool for you to get your eyesight back? Don't you even care about your brother!"

She watched him like a hawk as his eyes slightly narrowed. She knew he was getting agitated because of her tone, and the fact that she was half-yelling at him. Kisame and Deidara had stopped their conversation, and now shifted their attentions from Itachi to Sakura.

"I don't care about anyone," he said, voice still devoid from emotions. "If you ever thought otherwise, it would be best if you used your mind next time, before throwing a tantrum at me."

He took a few steps towards her, making sure that she was pressed up against a tree when he slightly leaned towards her. His sharingan made sure that she kept her eyes on his, even if she didn't plan on looking away.

"After all, I am an S-Class criminal," he said quietly.

He abruptly let go of her and stalked off towards Deidara and Kisame, ordering them something as the both of them stood up, and he was gone within an instant. As Sakura's gaze focused on the place he was standing just seconds ago, Deidara dashed towards Sakura, eyes wide.

"How the hell did you do that!" Deidara asked incredulously.

"Do what?" she asked, still slightly confused.

"If Salmon here, of me would have thrown such a tantrum towards Itachi, he would have killed us without hesitation, whether we're Akatsuki or not… yeah," Deidara explained hastily, making Sakura snort when she heard Kisame's nickname.

"But he didn't kill you? Perhaps old Itachi is become soft… yeah," Deidara smirked. Sakura chuckled. Deidara was certainly her only source of entertainment at the moment, and she couldn't help but laugh when she saw Deidara turning around, calling Kisame a Salmon again. After Kisame let out a string of curses, in which she was sure she heard the words 'Samehada' and 'shaving' he stood up, still clutching his Akatsuki robe.

Itachi's probably really strong, if he can make Kisame flinch like that after one punch.

As Kisame struggled to walk towards them, Sakura tentatively stepped a few steps towards him, molding her chakra to her hand.

"I'll heal you," she said, a little self-conscious that she had been the cause of his injury. He nodded, gritting his teeth in pain when she opened up the Akatsuki robe, and he pulled up his shirt a little. She had been prepared to see Kisame's blue skin, as she had learned over the weeks that it was a trait of his clan, but she hadn't expected to see that his body was a normal as a human's. She would have expected more shark-like traits, but his stomach was normal, except for the blue hue that graced it.

As her chakra entered his body, and she quickly healed him, she wondered how someone like Kisame could survive in this hard world. She knew that Naruto had been ignored for almost twelve years. She knew that even the Kazekage – Gaara – had been alone for such a long time, both because they were the vessels of demons, but what if you just looked that way because you were born in a certain clan.

Years ago, when she was still a genin, when she was still twelve, when she still had Sasuke, Zabuza had told them that the Mist country was a lot tougher than Konoha. She didn't quite understand what he had meant with that, until Naruto told her the tale of Haku, how war had corrupted the minds of the citizens of the Hidden Village of Mist, how they were killing everybody with a bloodline limit.

Now that she thought about it, Gaara had gone completely berserk without friends, or any loved ones. If Kisame had shared the same kind of fate as Gaara had, it wasn't unlikely that he had gone wild as well, killing whoever stood in his way.

Sakura didn't exactly know what Kisame had done, but what she had heard from a few Jounins in Konoha, it seemed he killed a feudal lord, and a few shinobi while he was at it. Strange to think about it, as Kisame had always acted pretty nice around her. Perhaps he needed somebody else to talk with. She could imagine that traveling alone with Itachi could work on ones nerves.

"Oi, kunoichi, I think Salmon's wound is already healed," Deidara's voice came from her right. The train of thoughts left her, and she suddenly found herself with her hand still pressed against Kisame's stomach, staring at his shirt. As she looked to her right, she could see that Deidara was biting his bottom lip to stop himself from laughing, and as she looked up to meet Kisame's face, he was staring at her in a weird manner.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I was lost in thought there," she apologized.

"Kunoichi," Deidara said, the laughter not escaping his voice. "You're still holding him."

In shock, Sakura stared at her hand, which was positioned above Kisame's lower abdomen, and she removed her hand so quickly as if his skin was burning. She could hear him chuckle slightly with Deidara, happy that he didn't read more into it than it actually was.

He pulled his shirt back down and closed the Akatsuki robe, before thanking her and standing up. As he inspected the rest of the area, focused on enemies in the vicinity, Deidara neared her.

"You really are an interesting kunoichi, aren't you? … Yeah," he chuckled slightly, and Sakura found herself annoyed, as well as amused with Deidara. He was certainly something else. He had a great sense of humor, and he wasted no time in using it. He smirked as he caught Sakura staring at him.

"So, first you work your magic on Itachi," he grinned as Sakura choked. "And now, you're seducing Salmon with your hands on his stomach… Should I be worried? … Yeah." Deidara laughed out loud as Sakura turned a deep shade of red.

Kisame wisely ignored the conversation. He knew Deidara was only joking, and despite of that, it still got on his nerves. He knew that Deidara was very skilled in fighting though, so that wasn't an option. He'd give him hell later on.

"How is Sasori doing?" he grumbled as the three of them walked towards the border of the Hidden Village of Rain. Deidara grinned as soon as he heard the name.

"Who is Sasori?" Sakura asked before Deidara could answer the question. As soon as she asked that question, Deidara and Kisame exchanged a significant glance, before Deidara turned towards Sakura.

"Another Akatsuki member. He's weird though… yeah. He's from Sand and supposed to be my teammate, but we don't hang around that much. Itachi and Kisame are far better entertainment… yeah," he answered her question after a slight pause. "He likes art too though!"

"Art?" she asked confused. "What kind of art?"

"He's a puppeteer," Deidara replied. "He collects the bodies of the people he kills, and turns them into dolls. Like I said, he's weird," Deidara shrugged.

"Personally, I like the more finesse side of art," Deidara continued ranting. "I prefer clay over those bodies, and at least I don't have to cut the bodies open." He grinned at that statement.

"You made a big mistake there kunoichi," Kisame growled as he tried to cover up his ears to protect himself from Deidara's ranting. "Once Deidara talks about art, it's all he does. He'll give a demonstration sooner or later." After that, Kisame grinned and proceeded to walk in a faster tempo than Deidara and Sakura, determined not to drive himself crazy.

Deidara's demonstration proved to be sooner than later, and after a few minutes of Deidara putting things together, and making hand seals, she watched in awe how the little bird he made flew away. As soon as he saw the smile lit on her face, Deidara chuckled, making another one for her. He liked the kunoichi, it wasn't too often that he came in contact with someone else than Sasori, Itachi or Kisame, and he liked the fact that she could appreciate his sense of humor and his art.

No matter what people thought of S-Class criminals, they were still human, and sometimes, Deidara just craved for somebody to talk with. Sure he enjoyed the senseless batter he and Sasori had sometimes, but Sasori was a sore loser when he lost the discussion. He inwardly grinned and gave the new bird to Sakura.

"How old Sasori now?" Kisame asked as soon as he realized they'd stopped talking about art.

"Depends," Deidara answered vaguely.

"Depends?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, sometimes he's around fifty and sometimes he looks as young as the handsome fellow here." Deidara laughed out loud when he uttered that last statement, and Sakura could hear Kisame chuckle.

"Can I ask you one more thing Deidara-san?" Sakura asked timidly after they passed the border.

"Sure thing kunoichi… yeah, what is your name?" Deidara asked.

"Sakura," she responded.

"Nice, it fits your hair… yeah," he grinned slightly. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

"What did Itachi say when he left?"

"That we should get you to the Hidden Village of Rain, and should we lose you a second time, he would kill us, whether we're Akatsuki or not," Kisame responded instead of Deidara. "It's good that you didn't try to escape again though."

Deidara nodded in agreement. "Itachi never gets really angry, but if that's the case, you might as well kill yourself because a look in the Mangekyou Sharingan isn't exactly a walk in the park"

Sakura nearly stopped walking after that statement. So even his own group was scared of him. No wonder that he was almost in control and Kisame followed his orders. She knew Itachi was strong to have killed the entire Uchiha clan in one night. She had also heard about Kakashi's injury and had spent every day next to Sasuke's bed when he had been attacked by Itachi, but the mere thought that he was this powerful, that even the strongest missing nins from different villages were scared of him frightened her slightly.

"So, who is your boss?" she asked out of mild curiosity. She had been wondering about him for a long time actually. Yet when she asked that question, she could feel two intense gazes upon her form, and she realized she had asked the wrong thing.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, without knowing what she was apologizing for. "It seems I've offended you," she added quietly.

"No need to apologize, it's normal to want answers about a group that is as secretive as ours," Deidara said in an unusual serious voice. "But you're not part of Akatsuki, so we can't tell you anything other than our members."

She nodded understandingly and the remaining part of their journey remained silent. Deidara and Kisame occasionally chatted with each other about things Sakura knew nothing about, and when Kisame was checking in at the hotel they would be staying, Deidara showed her some neat tricks that she could do with the bird.

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Dinner had arrived a few hours after they finally got to the inn, and as Deidara and Sakura joined up and headed for the dining room, they saw Itachi arrive. He was unharmed, and it didn't look like he had been in a fight of some sorts. He looked normal, and Sakura couldn't help but question what he did when he went out.

Itachi glanced at the both of them, and headed for a room. To her dismay, she saw that it was her room that he had entered, which could only mean that they were sleeping in the same room—again.

Sakura kept wondering about Itachi's whereabouts until they had arrived in the dining room. Kisame was already seated in one of the chairs. Sakura sat down on the opposite side of Kisame, and Deidara sat down next to her.

"So… Who ordered?" she asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"I did," Itachi's smooth voice came from the doorway.

"Shit," Deidara cursed. "If Itachi ordered, it means that we're having a 'well out-balanced meal' as he calls it himself. But Kisame and I think it's boring to eat so much sushi… yeah." He snorted as Itachi dropped the bag on the table and seated himself next to Kisame.

"How did it go?" Kisame asked. Naturally Sakura tried to understand what they were talking about, but she figured that this was 'Akatsuki stuff,' so she had taught herself not to ask them about it. Deidara seemed to understand though, as he smiled when he passed her the sushi.

"Oh Itachi!" he suddenly exclaimed, forcing Itachi and Kisame to stop their conversation and look at Deidara who had stood up, holding a cup of Miso in his hands. "You actually bought something without rice in it! Miso soup, my favorite!"

Sakura laughed when Itachi decided to ignore the overly-happy Akatsuki members, and resumed eating as Kisame was laughing at Deidara as well. He had trained himself for years not to smile, whatever happened, yet Deidara could act so stupid at times that he had to stop himself from smiling. The cold exterior which he had built wasn't there for nothing. He felt the corners of his mouth tug a little as Deidara confessed his love to the cup of Miso and yet said his condolences as he had to open up the cup to eat it.

Moron.

He switched his gaze to Sakura instead. The kunoichi had grown since she first arrived. She seemed friendly with Kisame and Deidara, and kept out of his hair, which was good, but a little disappointing at that. Itachi couldn't deny that having somebody intelligent to talk with was a nice change from Kisame and Deidara, but he wasn't one to push a matter. If she wanted to have a conversation with him, which didn't involve threats, she could come to him herself.

That didn't make him forget about that fact that she was going to heal his eyes soon, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited at the thought of his old eyesight returning. He had walked with those blurry eyes for a while now, and he couldn't wait to see everything as sharp as he once could. It had been long since he was excited about something.

"Sakura-san," he started as he watched her taking a bite of her sushi. She immediately choked because of her surprise. Deidara started to pat her back enthusiastically and because of that, her lungs were free of rice again. She wiped away the tears that had set in motion and drank from her glass of water before turning to Itachi.

"I apologize Sakura-san," he said smoothly. "When we're done, I'd like to start working on my eyes."

"After dinner?" she asked while glancing at Deidara's disappointed look. She knew he couldn't go in against his wishes, but she had really looked forward to his demonstration of his powers and he had promised her to teach her the trick of his paper bird.

As Itachi nodded, Sakura braced herself for what she was going to say.

"I can't," she blurted out, her eyes never leaving the table. At that moment, everything became quiet. She couldn't hear the soft scraping of the chopsticks on their plates, nor the sounds of them eating; all three had stopped eating and were looking at her in utter amazement.

"And can I ask why not?" his voice didn't betray his emotions, even though she knew he was fuming inwardly.

"Deidara and I are going out after dinner, he was going to show me something," she calmly replied as the shaking of her voice gave her true feelings away.

She lifted her head up to meet his eyes, and couldn't help but be surprised when she saw amusement flicker through his eyes. She could also notice the fact that he was slightly peeved and inwardly cringed with that thought.

"We had a deal Sakura," he remarked and she noticed how he suddenly stopped using the suffix, indicating nothing more then trouble.

He can't kill me… He needs me, don't forget that Sakura. He won't kill you.

"Well, the deal never said anything about a strict time we should follow, so I thought there wasn't going to be any problem if I treated your eyes one day later," she retorted, finding back a little more of the strength that she used to have.

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, another indication that he was beginning to get impatient and angered. Deidara noticed this change in Itachi and quickly rose from his chair.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan," he started. "If Itachi wants you to heal his eyes, we'll do it another time. We've got all the time in the world anyway." Deidara grinned reassuringly.

"No," her voice was stern.

"Deidara, Kisame, leave," Itachi suddenly spoke up.

Kisame and Deidara exchanged a significant glance, before Kisame nodded and disappeared, and Deidara followed after a slightly worried look towards Sakura. Sakura just sat in silence. From the worried look that she had gotten from Deidara, and the way Itachi dismissed the two, she could sense that she had definitely passed the line, and that he would be angered.

"We had a deal Sakura, you were supposed to heal my eyes," he said in his low voice. This tone always helped him out in Sakura's case, and he couldn't be more surprised now that her scared looked disappeared and a scowl came in place.

"The DEAL never said ANYTHING about the time! I can't even go out and have fun with Deidara because you're in such a hurry to have your eyes fixed!" she yelled at him.

His eyes narrowed again, and she should have noticed it but she was too blinded with the piling emotions inside of her that she needed to throw it all out, be damned the consequences. With one swipe of her hand, she threw everything off the table, slamming her palms on top.

"Who the hell do you think you are! Just because you find me, you automatically assume that I'm your hostage and I'm going to act like your lapdog, well GUESS AGAIN!" she resumed, yelling at him at the top of her lungs.

He stood up now, discarding his robes and stood still as she continued her tantrum.

"AND THE WORST THING ABOUT ALL OF THIS IS THAT YOU'RE KEEPING ME AWAY FROM MY GOAL. DAMN IT ITACHI LET ME GO TO SOUND, LET ME GO TO SASUKE," she screamed, not caring that she was acting like a child.

She continued screaming, and finally, Itachi had enough. He moved so quickly that she couldn't even see his movements, but the next thing she knew, she was with her back on the table, looking at his furious face. His mask finally broke and the emotions that he had kept bottled inside came out. She didn't stop yelling though. She pounded at his chest, demanding him to let go. That soon stopped though by a tiny movement of Itachi.

His lips were pressing against hers.

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A/n: I've received various reviews, asking me if this story is going to be similar to Leafygirl's Loophole. The answer is no. Yes, ofcourse I know that Sakura also healed Itachi's eyes in Loophole, but Loophole is a different story than Metamorphosis, and I just hope that you can see that. Sakura fixing Itachi's eyes is a part of the plot.

Another thing I wanted to clarify about this story is the Akatsuki members. I really envisioned Deidara to be a fun-loving guy, who likes to tease his teammate. And because we don't see him much during the manga, I could go my own way. Kisame is the same thing, he might act all stern and serious when Itachi is in the vicinity, but when Deidara shows up, Deidara can usually make everybody (except Itachi) smile. Another question about the Akatsuki is if anyone else is going to show up. Well, Sasori is definitely going to make an appearance; he won't be one of the main Akatsuki members in this story, mind you. Zetsu might be an option, but I don't really think he'll meet up with Sakura.

As for questions about when this story happens, it's sort of an AU from the manga. In the manga they already know when Orochimaru can take over somebody's body, how much time he needs for that. And in the manga ofcourse (spoilers; stop reading now if you're not past the second part of the manga) Sasori already died because of Sakura and Chiyo-baasama.

See you next time!

-- MitsukiShiroi