Author's note: So, I'm not exactly off of my course yet, but within the four weeks that I have been lugging my ass around and learning to be a soldier, I managed to get another chapter done. Trust me, after I'm finished, there will be more updates from then on.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Feel It by Jakalope does not belong to me.

xXx

Is that you doing that to me,
with your stare?
I feel the temperatures start to rise,
and I really take it from there.

Sakura sat in front of Itachi, Kisame holding a kunai up to her throat. He had tied her to a chair, Samehada leaning against the chair beside her, keeping her chakra usage regulated. She still refused to give in and help Itachi, and, given his current condition, he might have less than three hours to live.

"I'm going to ask you this once more. Would you prefer helping Itachi out and you get away with a minor beating, or would you rather be tortured by my sword and on the brink of death?"

Sakura gave no inclination of her answer.

Kisame deftly jabbed the tip of the kunai into her thigh. Sakura yelled out in pain, clenching her teeth together to keep from biting her tongue off.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I don't care which way we do it, but Itachi only has a few hours. So you better make up your mind or I'll do it for you." He stabbed another kunai into her untouched leg. This time she held it in.

He was giving her an ultimatum, and those two choices didn't appeal to her. She knew that picking lesser than the two evils would save her, but did she really want to put her life on the line just to heal a criminal?

She knew that it was only a matter of time before Kisame moved on to places more vital, so she had to make up her mind fast. She looked at Itachi and his feverish state, knowing he didn't have much longer before the poison ceased his heart.

Kisame was about to get to business with some senbon, but Sakura stopped him.

"Untie me. I'll heal him."

Kisame raised an eyebrow. And to think, he had thought she was going to be defiant once more. "Oh yeah? And if you run?"

"I won't. Untie me."

"As you wish,"

He undid her ropes, and, like a prowling lion he tensed up and prepared to strike if she decided to peel. But Sakura stared blankly ahead of her and moved toward the edge of the bed, glancing down at the man who brought so much pain to the world. Let him suffer a bit, she thought before placing her glowing hands on her legs to heal them and then a top of his chest.

In medic mode, Sakura barely noticed that even though the sick Uchiha was in a state of duress, he was still quite handsome. His lean and toned body felt hot under her fingertips, his lips were parted to allow more air, and his hair was strewn about the pillow haphazardously. He looked like a model, but she wasn't seeing any of it; she allowed her chakra to enter his body and began assessing the damage.

It was far worse than she thought.

Itachi wasn't only sustaining a large amount of poisoning in his blood stream, but the bite mark on his shoulder was even redder and was discharging white liquid, the area around it flaming red. It was infected, and badly—it was causing even more problems with his condition. She lacked the necessary tools to get the poison from his system in a hurry, so more unconventional methods would have to be taken.

"Kisame?" she asked quietly, moving a strand of hair away from the Uchiha before her.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could find where that little spider that bit him crawled away too?"

Kisame thought of it an odd request, but he knew the reason why—she wanted to make antivenom.

"I'll give it a try. But are you sure we'll have enough time to make it?"

"I'll figure that out. Just find it for me."

Kisame did as bade, wondering where to start. Sakura had left the door open earlier, which means that little critter could be anywhere right now. As he purused the room, Sakura thought of the best way to go about this. First, she placed her hand onto Itachi's sweltering forehead. His eyes, black endless pools, tried to focus on her but his eyelids continued to shut and then reopen quickly.

"You're going to hate me, but you need to sleep." Sakura concentrated, and soon Itachi fell into a deep sleep. By working the chakra into his body, she forced his heart to slow down in increments at a time, lowering his fast blood pressure and preventing the spreading of the venom any further.

She hoped Kisame could find him soon. She had no idea how she could even begin making the antivenom before it was too late. If she failed, Itachi died, and Kisame killed her as a result. Reaching into her pocket, she took out the hair elastic and tied her short hair back into a messy bun, praying that he would find that spider in time.

She began working on Itachi diligently, knowing she didn't have the necessary requirements to extract the poison from her as with Kankuro. She'd just have to work the old fashioned way, which happened to be the hardest.

Sakura quickly exited the room, returning with a bucket of water, a cup covered with thin plastic, and wash cloth. She padded Itachi down and rinsed the cloth, her head spinning from the fact that both of their lives hung on the line.

Not a moment later Kisame returned, his hands cupped in front of him. "He's barely alive, but I think you'll get the sucker to bite once more."

Sakura sighed. "It's not that simple. If he's on the brink of death..." she didn't finish her sentence; she healed the spider without further delay. "Now, this is going to sound stupid, but I need him to inject venom into you."

Kisame recoiled. "What the fuck? I'm not letting that thing bite me!"

"Do you want antivenom for him or not?"

He looked puzzled, but he came off as if he knew what she was getting at. "Well, of course, but I don't see how having me being bitten as well would do any good."

"In order to create the venom, we need to inject it into a bigger animal. Since neither a horse or a sheep is here to do so and become immune to the venom, you're the biggest thing in this room. Don't worry; I'll speed up and create more antibodies to quicken the process."

Kisame hesitated still.

"Do you want to save him?"

The shark-nin weighed his options. If what the kunoichi said was true, then all he needed to do was beat the venom from his system and give her the antidote. But if she were lying... He glanced at his partner sweating on the bed, and it was clear he didn't have long before Kisame never found out where Itachi had hidden it.

"If you're lying, kunoichi, I'll rip your head off before the venom kills me." Without further preamble, Kisame surrendered the spider to the medic and waited orders.

Sakura brought out a small needle from her pouch and placeed the spider on a nearby table. She quickly retrieved her glass cup. Sakura waited until the spider became restless enough, and snatched it up, bringing its tiny mandibles to the plastic layer. She watched with relief as it sank into the material and ejected a pea sized amount of venom, and then retracted its mandibles and began to squirm.

Using the water she brought for Itachi, Sakura poured some water into the cup of venom while tossing the spider back at Kisame. "Give me a moment to dilute this," she said, and Kisame placed the tiny arachnid into a dresser drawer for now.

Sakura prepared the venom, and then plunged the needle into the diluted venom water, completely filling the needle. She approached Kisame, who still looked apprehensive, but she assured him that this would work. Before she injected the needle, she sent her chakra into his system to increase the white blood-cells in his blood. Then, she plunged it in without forewarning. Kisame barely flinched, watching with hope that this wouldn't kill him.

The effects of the venom came slow, but he definitely noticed a bit of sweat adding a thin layer to his head. He just hoped that she hadn't meant to kill him. He would surely kill her first before the poison took over.

Sakura took careful evaluation of Kisame's progress, knowing that there shouldn't be any reason for her experiment to backfire. His system was already beginning to create the necessary cells to fight off the poison, and unbeknownst to him, he was slowly creating Itachi's cure. He began showing some signs of being affected by the poison, but he would break it down easily enough. Although she couldn't help but notice the furtive glances he shot at her every time he felt some part of him become effected each minute.

"Kunoichi, you better have this ready for him before he dies. I'll kill you."

"Oh yeah? Try moving."

Kisame did just that—and his body felt lax and languid. Did she trick him! "I swear to fuck if—"

"Calm down, sharky. You'll get over it. Hold in there and wait another hour before I can receive a decent amount. And look over at your partner," she gestured to Itachi, "you really want to kill me when I'm his only cure?"

Kisame weighed his options, and knew the damn bitch held a point. No matter how much he wanted to shred her to pieces, he clenched his jaws together and listened.

Sakura ventured back to Itachi, assessing his damage. He was creeping even farther into the critical point, and if she didn;t do something now then he would definitely be a gonner. Not that she wanted to help him, but her life was on the line, and the only way to get to Sasuke was through Itachi.

"Where's the spider?"

"In the drawer, why?"

"I might need to inject more into your system if this doesn't work out the first time."

Kisame was silent.

Sakura checked the clock on the wall. "Okay, I'm going to take some blood from you and see how far along we're at." She removed a needle and approached Kisame, who flinched. She gave him a blank look. "Really? C'mon, give me some of your blood."

Kisame stood still as she plunged the needle into his blue flesh and extracted a tiny amount, and she moved it over to the table where she inserted into a small oval cup. Next she allowed her chakra to surface, and then she inspected his blood, learning his blood type, his genetic makeup, and finally the condition of his white blood cells. She was startled, to say the least, that within half an hour his body had effectively produced the necessary cells to fight off the poison.

"Okay, we're good. I'm going to get a bit more from you and then Itachi should be fine,"

Silently, she extracted more, and converted it into serum, and eventually brought it to the point where it was ready to be injected. Before she plunged the needle into the slowly dying Uchiha, Kisame stopped her. "Will it be enough?"

"This should do it, if not he'll just get another injection. You've created more than enough immune cells to counter-attack the poison. He's got a solid 98% chance of recovering."

Kisame raised a lone brow. "What about the other 2%?"

Sakura readied the needle. "His body rejects your white cells and he dies within an hour." With that, she gave Itachi the serum and watched as the liquid flowed steadily into his arm vein.

Sakura woke many hours later at the foot of Itachi's bed. Kisame was no where in sight, but she didn't really care. The first thing she did was assess Itachi's progress, having passed out midway through when his body was beginning to fight off the raging fever. Once she had been convinced that he wouldn't die the minute she took her eyes off of him, she had decided to close her eyes for a moment to replenish herself, and now that she looked at the clock, she had been gone almost five hours.

Her neck severely cramped, she stretched a little, all the while peeking at Itachi. That cold, pale flush had left his face, and though he still looked haggard, his breathing was no longer compromised and he looked less uncomfortable. She touched her hand to his forehead, proud that it wasn't sweltering beneath her hand, and began to do a routine check-up on his internal organs and his circulatory system.

The antibodies that Kisame had supplied had did more than she first thought on the first try. The poison was nearly completely wiped from his system, and he was on the boat to a full recovery. Sakura was more than relieved that her ass had been saved, but she wasn't done treating her patient just yet. She gave his immune system a tiny boost before deeming him cured, knowing that in the morning he would be feeling most likely muscle cramps and sickness. It was mostly out of her control, and the Uchiha could do with some agitation tomorrow.

Realizing that she didn't smell too nice, she wondered where the bathroom was, and if it contained a shower. Snatching another look back at the unconscious Uchiha, she crept silently out into the empty, eerie hallway. Skulking to the bathroom would just make her look suspicious, but she was apprehensive. She didn't even know if Kisame was dead or not, because for all she knew he could have died from the poison. So she played it safe and kept an even gait, alert for anything that may move that happened to be big, blue, and sharky.

Effectively the bathroom was located twenty meters around the corner from the room, and once inside did she let her guard drop a tiny bit. After finishing up, she headed back to the room with her hair drenched. Kisame was sitting next to Itachi where Sakura had previously been sleeping by, with an intent look on his face. Sakura could understand, to say the least, that he must be worried for his comrad. Even criminals felt for their teammates, she supposed.

"Is he better?" Kisame asked softly, never taking his eyes off of Itachi.

Sakura entered the room and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and assessing with her eyes Itachi's condition. He definitely did look much healthier than before, his veins that been extended before were now to their normal size, his body wasn't flushed and clammy, and his breathing was regulated. It would be a while before the entirety of the poison left his sytem, but for now he was cleared from the danger zone.

"He's perfectly fine. He'll be weak for a few days, and probably dehydrated, but he'll be fine." Sakura paused, not sure if she wanted to add any more incentives to assure Kisame of Itachi's condition, but thought better of it when Kisame sighed almost inaudibly.

"Thank you." Sakura's head shot up, unsure of she heard him correctly. Kisame looked at her finally, his beady eyes quite calm and relaxed. "But you're still a prisoner. Whether you saved his life or not."

She figured as much, but she didn't say anything, knowing the first time that she had an opportunity to escape she would definitely take it. Kisame promptly stood and left the room, stopping by the door before leaving. "I will find you again if you do escape, you know this, right?" Sakura wordlessly nodded her head and waited til he travelled down the hallway and could no longer hear his footsteps.

She took her position by the bed, about to take a thorough examination of her patient, when Itachi's ruby eyes snapped open, startling her.

Itachi didn't say a word, looking straight to the ceiling. She doubted he even knew she was there. Eventually, his gaze levelled until he was looking right at her. Apprehension crept into her as she stared back, waiting for her to succumb to the Tsukiyomi once more, but what he said surprised her.

"Was it you who healed me?"

She nodded. "Yes,"

He was silent again, still holding her eyes with his. Expecting for him to say thank you wasn't what she was waiting for, but he said it, and it really took her off guard.

"Thank you...for saving my life." He looked away. "But you're still not leaving."

Again, she knew this, but it still annoyed her that after all the effort she put into healing him he still wouldn't allow her to leave. Unconsciously, she lifted a hand and placed the back of it on his forehead. He didn't catch her arm, or flinch away, but allowed her to take his temperature silently. He was fine, but her hand lingered. He never said anything about it, but slowly she retracted her hand, wondering what was going through her head to have done that.

"You'll be fine. You should be back to full strength in a few days. Try to relax, don't hurt yourself, your body is still fighting."

"I'll be fine tomorrow morning." Itachi said almost convincingly.

"Bull. Lay down. Don't push yourself," she was about to leave, but he stopped her once more.

"I know you're lying. You had it, the Ryuukaton. It's been in your chakra for quite some time now. And soon, I'll find out how you've gotten it. Mark my words, kunoichi."

Sakura stiffened, wondering how long he had known. Maybe he knew all along. She left the room without a word, heading to her bedroom.

Itachi attempted to sit up in bed, but found himself becoming fatigued at this point already. To say the least, being fully recuperated tomorrow would be almost an impossibility, but he wouldn't let anyone show that he was weak.

There was one question on his mind, though; why did Sakura save his life, when she could have left him to die and she could have escaped? The answer evaded him, but he knew there must have been a reason, but to find it now would have to wait.

He sat back down, closed his tired eyes, feeling his muslces aching and his body refusing to move too much. He fell asleep again, the last thing running through his mind was the comforting feeling of Sakura's hand on his forehead.