So yeah…Chapter 7.

Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, yeah! Though the plot and everything else does….


Shizune frantically rushed up to Tsunade, who was busy healing all the injured. Nurses could be seen rushing around, getting supplies and healing people. Karin merely stood aside, checking her nails, showing her true face for once.

"Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama!" Shizune panted.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?" Tsunade snapped at her, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as she healed a particularly badly injured ninja. "Shouldn't you be helping me heal everyone?" And, catching sight of Karin… "You too, Karin!"

Karin quickly scrambled to help, mortally afraid of the old lady.

"Kami, where is Sakura when I need her?" Tsunade muttered angrily under her breath.

Shizune looked scared. "That's the thing, Tsunade-sama. Everyone has been accounted for except Sakura. She's gone."

Tsunade finished healing the said patient and slammed her fist into the wall.

"HOW CAN SHE BE MISSING? FIND HER!" She yelled.

"Y-Yes, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune ran off to do her bidding.

Tsunade wore a grim expression on her face as she collapsed into a chair. She couldn't lose Sakura again.


Meanwhile, in the Akatsuki hideout…

Sakura woke up to find grey everywhere and a certain Itachi Uchiha beside her.

She sat up, wincing a little. "Why did you kidnap me?" Her voice came out a little raspy, although it was calm.

Itachi raised an eyebrow. What a…surprise. He had expected her to start shouting and to throw a tantrum, not this calmness, as if she wasn't just kidnapped by an S-class criminal.

"You love my brother."

She merely raised her eyebrows and turned her head towards the other wall.

After a moment of silence, she asked another question. "Who healed me?"

"Konan."

They lapsed into silence. Itachi stared at Sakura, wondering at her calmness. Normal women would be freaking out upon being kidnapped by Akatsuki by now. But then again, Sakura was hardly normal.

They stayed like that for some time, until someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." said Itachi, his voice emotionless, much like his little brother.

As Konan made her way in, Sakura flinched. Itachi was so like his little brother, it could kill her. His voice, his face, the same stoic expression….They all reminded her of the man who broke her heart not once, but twice.

"Leader-sama wants to see you, Itachi." Konan's voice was soft, lilting.

"Hm." Itachi acknowledged Konan's statement. Sakura flinched again. Even their responses were the same! She chanced a glance at him, quickly turning away when he got up from his chair.

Itachi walked towards the door. He paused in the doorway, glancing over his shoulder. Sakura was still staring at the wall, the expression on her face so soft and filled with sadness and bitterness that it could drive someone to tears.

Itachi breathed out noiselessly and walked out. I wonder why she was so….he mused, trailing off in his own thoughts.

He walked down the hall to another door. He knocked on it, mentally preparing his answers.


Konan and Sakura sat in silence, until Konan broke it.

"You are Haruno Sakura, correct?" Konan said, her voice soft with a steely undertone. "I will get straight to the point. Now that you are here, you have two options. One is to join Akatsuki; the other, if you choose not to join Akatsuki, is to die. Now that you know the location of our hideout, we cannot risk having that information leak out. We need someone with your abilities and your caliber anyway."

Sakura contemplated it, weighing the pros and cons in her head. Joining Akatsuki…..it was quite tempting, since she had not been planning on going back to Konoha anyway. Besides, there was no other place she could go. After thinking over it a little more, she decided the pros were more than the cons.

"I accept."


Another short chapter. Sorry for that. And the OOCness. Please review.