Twilight – an Itachi & Sakura story.
By: MitsukiShiroi

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto

A/N: After the last chapter, I had gotten some comments on Sakura in this story, that she's too weak and such.

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that it's an AU. Sakura was abducted by Orochimaru when she was incredibly young, so her experiences with Sasuke, Naruto and Ino that shaped her in the manga to the great young woman she's now never happened in Twilight.

Chapter Seven – Heartless

Her initial reaction was to run to Sasuke, activate her medical jutsu and make sure that the gaping wounds on his body would close before she'd heal the minor wounds, until he was the old Sasuke again. No blood coating his cheeks, or a small stream of blood running from his mouth.

He would be just the old, seemingly invincible Sasuke who had saved her so many years ago.

The one that had forgotten that she even existed in the first place.

Slowly, she attempted to move around Itachi to get to Sasuke, but Pein was still standing behind her. He put one of his strong hands on Sakura's shoulder and as she turned to meet his gaze, his grey eyes stared hard at her.

Pein shook his head. "Itachi first."

"Itachi is dead."

"He's not, kunoichi. Look closer."

And as Pein pointed to the seeingly lifeless body of Itachi, Sakura noticed his chest heaving just a little, before it lay still. And then it rose again.

"Heal him. Now," Pein ordered, pushing her down to the ground.

She shook uncontrollably because of her anger as she hastily formed the handseals for one of her best medical jutsu. A blue glow of chakra enveloped her hand as she moved forwards to the large gaping hole in Itachi's chest.

The smell around Itachi was horrible, as if someone had set his body on fire and doused it within a few seconds. She heaved, swallowing the bitter bile in her throat. "After Itachi is healed, can I see to Sasuke?"

"Itachi is the main priority now. But if the younger Uchiha lives when you're done, you're allowed to heal him."

Sakura nodded and bowed over Itachi's still body, pushing the blood-drenched shirt up until she could see his stomach, or at least, what was left of it.

His skin was ripped to shreds and where the hole was, she could see the inside being half burned. Shocked to her very core as she noticed how extensive the damage was, Sakura increased the amount of chakra and placed her hand over Itachi's stomach, covering the hole.

"Pein-san, I need… some water and a clean cloth. I need to clean up the wound."

It became quiet for a while and as she cast a glance over her shoulders, Sakura noticed Pein still standing there, watching her as she attempted to heal him.

"Konan will be here in a few seconds, I told her to get water."

Clever, Sakura thought. Of course he knew I'd try and heal Sasuke while he's gone.

Sure enough, she could feel Konan approaching and within a minute, Konan appeared on the battlefield, holding a bottle filled with water. "Will this be enough?" Konan queried as she handed the bottle to Sakura.

"Yes, but I'll need your assistance," Sakura said, looking at Konan. "I need to keep my hands here, but we need try and clean him up a little, otherwise I can't see what I'm doing. Only probing the insides with chakra is incredibly dangerous and one mistake could kill him."

Konan exchanged a glance with Pein. He waved vague gesture with his hand and Konan sat down on the other side of Itachi, pushing Sasuke a little to the side while doing so. Sakura couldn't help but flinch as she noticed Konan had pushed him right into another puddle of blood.

"What should I do?" Konan questioned as she sat down, staring into the wound.

"Wetten the cloth, then dab around the wound first. There's too much blood here for me to see where to start."

Pein just watched as the two women cleaned up one of his best members and then watched how Uchiha Sasuke stirred ever so often.

And then he smirked ever so slightly.

Everything had gone according to plan.


The silhouette perched on the balcony watched as the sun set slowly, painting the sky with vivid colors like red and pink as the first stars of that night appeared. A calm evening breeze blew, messing up his hair.

He brushed a couple of stray, white hairs out of his face and his green eyes were always focused on the sight in front of him.

Even as it started raining softly, Kimimaro kept perfectly still, barely blinking as he kept staring at the inn in front of him. According to the woman in town, the pink-haired girl was with a group of men, S-Class missing nin. But when he had gone in to see if he could find Sakura, he was told that they had left a few days ago, but their leader had said they'd return.

And so he waited.

No matter what the costs, he was getting Sakura away from those shinobi. Sakura hated it with Orochimaru, but Kimimaro couldn't even imagine how bad Akatsuki was probably treating her.

He heaved, coughing violently as the rain continued to fall down. Even as Kimimaro glanced at the dark sky above him, he knew the rain would fall relentlessly as it had for days now.

"Pein is in the vicinity, huh?" Kimimaro whispered amusedly, turning his gaze back to the inn just in time to see two Akatsuki members entering the house. One of them had silver hair slicked back and was talking to his partner whose face was almost completely covered with a few pieces of cloth.

Kimimaro thoroughly enjoyed the look of annoyance that crossed the man's face as he continued his violent waterfall of words. Even from where he was sitting, Kimimaro could faintly hear him cursing madly while his partner grunted once or twice.

When more Akatsuki members arrived, Kimimaro stood up from the balcony he was sitting on and jumped onto a tree that was closer to the inn.

Just in time apparently as two Akatsuki members appeared, holding onto another member. Kimimaro strained to look at the face, but the cloaks of the two carrying him obscured his features.

Behind them, two women followed and Kimimaro's heart nearly skipped a beat as he recognized Sakura's telltale pink hair sticking out above the red and black Akatsuki cloak she was wearing. Next to her was the blue-haired woman he had seen once before while scouting for Orochimaru.

And finally, Pein walked behind them, carrying someone over his shoulder with apparent ease. Kimimaro stepped onto another branch, peering through the thick foliage as he tried to identify the person Pein was carrying, but all he could see was short black hair and a white kimono.

Then something blue and red flashed on the kimono and Kimimaro's eyes grew as he realized it was the Uchiha logo.

"Uchiha Sasuke…" he whispered quietly. Orochimaru had wanted the boy in his custody for years now as he finally had mastered his body changing technique. But the Uchiha had stayed away from Orochimaru and with good cause, Kimimaro knew.

But bringing him to Orochimaru would mean taking a step to fulfill Orochimaru's wishes.

Calculating his moves, he eyed Sakura one more time before she disappeared inside the inn together with Konan, Pein and Sasuke.

The Uchiha was unconscious, but Kimimaro could certainly carry him and he was sure Sakura would help him with getting away from Akatsuki. Furthermore, other than dark circles under her eyes, Sakura looked fine and would definitely be able to run along with him as they moved away from Akatsuki.

But on the other side, there would definitely be a guard in Sakura's room and in Sasuke's room.

Gritting his teeth, Kimimaro dropped down to the ground and wrapped the black cloak he had bought a while ago around his wiry frame. They knew what he looked like. The moment they'd see him, they would know that he would be there for Sakura. And the entire attack had to be a surprise; if it were possible, Kimimaro would prefer to leave with Sakura without stirring an entire riot.

After all, he was still sick and unable to fight for a very long time. And Akatsuki was a group that should not be underestimated at all. Orochimaru had warned him of that long ago and Kimimaro would do well to remember so.

As he got closer to the inn, two more Akatsuki members appeared, one small, dragging slowly over the ground while the other one was about his height. And as he removed his hat, Kimimaro immediately spotted the blond hair that was etched in his mind.

Him!

Kimimaro would never forget the day that Akatsuki attacked. They came before the appointed time, before Kabuto was done instructing everybody and with their first hit, they had took out the three genin in their party, Tayuya and Jiroubo.

Afterwards, they just killed everybody they saw, until they got to him.

The red-haired man, the puppeteer, Sasori was busy fighting Sakon and Ukon at the same time. And the blond, Deidara was his name, started fighting him, using mind-blowing explosives that were unpredictable and so hard to read for the tired Kaguya.

But he'll never forget that arrogant grin that played on Deidara's lips as he looked down at Kimimaro on the floor, coughing violently, before knocking him unconscious, mumbling something about a deal.

Just thinking about it made his blood boil.

Resolutely, Kimimaro paced to the inn, pulling the hood of his cloak farther over his face as he tucked all of his wet hairs away from sight.


Sakura was just done taking a bath, washing Itachi and Sasuke's blood off her fingers when a knock came on the door. Wrapping one of her large, shabby towels around her body, Sakura peeked out of the bathroom. "Who is it?"

"Pein," the deep voice said from behind the door. "Are you decent?"

"Half," she responded, and Pein obviously didn't care about it as the door opened and he stepped inside. His Akatsuki cloak was opened, and she could see some of his piercings through the mesh of his shirt.

He eyed her momentarily and Sakura held her breath as his leer traveled down her body, to her legs. Instinctively, she stepped backwards and felt relieved as Pein's eyes went back to her face. "How are your chakra supplies?"

"Low," she responded softly. "Healing Itachi took most of it, and closing the worst of Sasuke's wounds was incredibly hard, even after Konan-san donated some of her chakra to me."

Pein nodded. "The younger Uchiha is asleep in room twenty-nine. Deidara is there to guard him. Feel free to visit him."

Grateful, Sakura bowed deep, but as Pein turned to leave, she softly called out to him. "Pein-san?"

"Yes?" he said, glancing over his shoulder.

"What about Itachi-san?"

He turned to face her completely now, his grey eyes almost puzzled as he considered her for a moment. She stood perfectly still, holding her towel with one hand while the other one was balled in a fist.

Disheartened, Sakura wondered whether she was stupid in asking him that question.

"This is interesting," Pein replied smoothly. "I thought you wanted us all dead, yet here you're inquiring how Itachi is doing."

"I'm a medic," Sakura retorted after a small, uncomfortable pause. "It would be bad if one of my patients died after I spent so much chakra trying to heal him."

To her greatest surprise, Pein smiled vaguely before turning around. Just as he stepped through the threshold, he halted and calmly said: "Room twenty-seven. No guards, but I trust you will not kill him."

"I won't," Sakura said with a faint smile.

"Waste of chakra," Pein said dryly as he walked away.


Deidara seemed to understand when she walked into the room as he greeted her politely and said he'd wait outside.

She sat completely still, watching his chest heave with every labored breath he took. Though his breathing was still strained, it sounded a whole lot better than a couple of hours ago.

He was still unconscious, and for that she was grateful, because when he woke, she wouldn't have the chance to touch that silky, short hair of his. Or his soft skin.

Sakura sighed softly as she laid her head on Sasuke's pillow, her hands softly touching the strands of raven hair. Even though it was spiked on the back, it soft and she could comb her fingers through effortlessly.

Her fingers moved from his hair to his soft cheeks, down to his masculine jawline, all the way down to his chin and then up to his lips. Slowly, savoring the moment, she touched his bottom lip, imagining how it would be to feel his lips on hers.

Acting on impulse and the intense longing to be desired by someone like Sasuke, to be held by him and feel as safe as she felt when he saved her, Sakura bent forward and softly kissed his lips. It was chaste and quick, but for her, it lasted an eternity.

His thin, warm lips against her were as close as she could come to salvation and she wanted to last a lifetime.

But the moment would not last as Sasuke began to stir underneath her.

When he opened his eyes, all he saw was the wooden door softly closing.


He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so weak, but he imagined feeling pains like these often. Whenever he saw Kisame doubled over after getting nearly beaten by a Hakumei member, or when Deidara came back from his mission with only one arm, he would often imagine what it felt like to be hurting.

He was Uchiha Itachi.

Nobody could even come close to touch him, much less hurt him. Pain was a concept he had never understood, but his own brother had taught him that lesson.

His eyesight was blurry and with his fingers, Itachi felt the bandages wrapped firmly around his abdomen, slowly remembering the last moments of the battle.

Sasuke's chakra was down to his last reserves and suddenly he exploded into a final attack which came in the form of a huge chidori. There was a lot of chirping and blood and then… nothing.

Itachi coughed out a laugh. He knew Sasuke had potential, but that the little brother that always trailed behind him could become the ruthless man that stood before him – it impressed him, and he was not easily impressed at all.

"If you ask me, you have little to laugh about," a voice came from his left. Itachi immediately identified it as Sakura's and relaxed as much as he could, but the fact that she had been there all along and he hadn't sensed her was something he could not comprehend.

"You have a concussion. That's why you haven't sensed me. You were wondering about that, right?" Sakura continued, sounding awfully clinically.

"How bad is it?" Itachi questioned, opening his eyes. His eyesight was blurry and the bright lights in the room hurt his weakened eyes.

"You had a hole in your chest and were close to having a punctured lung. Two broken ribs, a severe concussion, you were bleeding from your eyes when we found you, so I assume you overused your doujutsu."

"Sasuke?"

"… Was in a better state than you when we found you."

"And he's alive." It was a statement rather than a question. "Pein probably took him along as well."

"You guessed well," Sakura said. Itachi turned his head towards where she was sitting, detecting the bitter tone in her voice.

"You're angry," he said simply.

"You attacked Sasuke," she hissed in his ear.

"On the contrary, Sakura. Sasuke attacked me. It was self-defense."

She said nothing. Instead, Sakura put her hand on his eyes. "Lay still. Pein ordered me to heal you and that's what I'll do in order to get away from you."

Itachi lay perfectly still as she initiated the healing process. Warm chakra spilled over his face, her warm hands warming his cold cheeks as she leaned over him. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Two days," Sakura said calmly. "Sasuke awoke yesterday. Kisame is drawing his chakra regularly to ensure that he doesn't escape. Deidara guards him well. Are all of you Akatsuki members trained to be watch dogs or does Pein just treat you as such?"

Within a split second, Itachi had grabbed her fists and pulled her up to the bed. He opened his eyes, eyesight better, but still slightly blurry, his head was pounding, but he ignored all of it as he stared down hard at Sakura.

"You insult me," Itachi said plainly, no malice or anger in his tone.

"Are you going to kill me, Uchiha Itachi?" she taunted.

He almost grinned at her futile attempts. "Sasuke is here. Chakraless, bedridden."

From what he could distinguish, her face changed from amused to thoroughly upset. She gritted her teeth; he could hear them scraping over each other. Her hand came up as she pushed him off her, which proved to be an easy task with Itachi weakened.

He retaliated, grabbing a handful of her hair as he nearly pulled her on top of him, one of his hands wrapping around her neck while both of hers wrapped around his. Itachi's other arm was trapped under her leg.

"This is a compromising position."

"I'll kill you, Uchiha Itachi," Sakura whispered hoarsely. "I'll kill you for touching Sasuke."

"Sasuke? The man who has forgotten about you?" He let go of her hair, dropping his hand down to her hip. "The one you desperately wanted to see, even though he can't remember you."

Itachi smirked, not holding back anymore. "You are weak."

"At least I'm not a selfish bastard like-"

"Sasuke."

"I want to slap you right now."

He made an amused sound and softly started kneading the soft, firm flesh of her hips as her fingers wrapped tighter over his throat.

"Let go of me, Itachi," she whispered dangerously soft.

"You're holding on to me."

With an irritable sigh, Sakura let go of his neck and he promptly let go of her hip, allowing her to climb off him again. She was breathing harshly, still pumped by her anger and most probably, the fact that she could have killed him if she wanted to.

"I believe you were going to heal me," he said quietly. Playtime was over and it was time she healed him. Though he had fun, the throbbing in his head had increased and the fact that his eyes were even less sharp than usual annoyed him.

"I believe you were going to sit still," came the reply.

Amused, Itachi leaned back and said nothing as Sakura continued the healing process.

"I need to speak to Pein after you're done."

"I'm sure you do."

Itachi bit back a laugh as he tried to remember the last time he was so thoroughly amused by someone's behavior. It didn't take long for him to realize the last time he had laughed for real was when Sasuke was younger and drove his father insane by crying all the time.


Sasuke was sitting up straight when she opened the door and peeked inside.

He glanced up momentarily, eyeing her, before continue looking out of the window.

"May I enter?" she asked quietly, almost as if she was afraid to be heard.

"Do as you wish," Sasuke replied shortly, his deep voice drifting through the room.

She stepped inside and bowed to Deidara, who greeted back with his usual grin, stood up and exited the room quietly.

As she moved towards Sasuke, she held up the tray of food she had brought to him. "I brought you something to eat," Sakura said nervously, attempting to smile genuinely. "Some rice, fruits and soup. I wasn't quite sure what you liked so I took a little of everything we have for supplies."

"Who are you?" he questioned, his dark eyes looking back and forth at hers. Apparently he ignored the entire story about dinner as he didn't even acknowledge the tray she put on the table next to the bed.

Sakura sat down on the small chair. "My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm from Konoha."

"A missing nin?" Sasuke began. "No. You're not Akatsuki. A hostage then?"

"Something like that," she smiled sadly, gesturing to the food. "I was from Konoha until I was a small child. Orochimaru kidnapped me then and I was forced to work for him as a medic. I met you while working for him."

His eyes were bland, as emotionless as Itachi's Sharingan, but looks could be deceiving. She knew there was so much more inside of him, more than just the avenger everybody said he was. Sasuke was not like Itachi; of that she was sure.

"I can't seem to remember you."

Seems he saves a lot of dames in distress if he can't remember a girl with pink hair, she thought. "It was outside a village in Grass. I was harassed by a couple of men; you knocked them down and carried me to an inn in the village."

Sakura smiled as she tucked a strand of bubblegum hair behind her ear. "I was crying constantly. You asked me whether I was okay, and I was, I wasn't injured. I guess I was just young and crying seemed like a simple option. And then you told me I was annoying."

Sasuke took a bite from one of the apples she had taken along for him.

Swallowing hard, she continued. "You smiled while saying it though. And it shut me up, that's for certain."

"I see," was all he said before taking another bite. Sasuke seemed to be mulling things over as he chewed on his apple. His dark eyes were focused on his sheets.

"What of Itachi?"

Sakura's smile turned into a vicious grin as she remembered the state Itachi was in when she found him. "You nearly had him. They forced me to heal him."

He gritted his teeth and threw the half eaten apple back onto his plate. Folding his hands, Sasuke stared outside, leaning on his hands as he thought things over. "I'll come back later," Sakura said, acknowledging the fact that she thought he needed some rest amd time to think things over.

"You said you were from Konoha," Sasuke said, still looking outside. "How long since you've been there?"

"Ten years," she whispered quietly.

Sasuke nodded. "Konoha is peaceful."

She smiled, immensely excited to hear something about her home country. She lingered, waiting to see if Sasuke had more new to tell her.

"The Third died a couple years ago," Sasuke said quietly. "Tsunade, one of the Sannin trained by the Third is now leading Konoha.

"What is she like?" Sakura asked breathlessly.

"I never met her. I left Konoha just after she started as the Godaime."

"I see," she said, a little disappointed. "I'll go now. Enjoy your food." Sakura turned to leave the room, wrapping her Akatsuki cloak closer around her to try and block out the cool winds that blew around this time of year.

"Sakura," Sasuke suddenly called out.

She turned around, shocked that he was calling her by name. Shocked but not offended. "Yes?"

Sasuke relinquished his stare at the world outside as he faced her, a small smirk playing around his thin lips. "I'm glad you've stopped the constant crying."

Her eyes widened and she smiled widely as she bowed deeply. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun," was all she could say. And then she hastily made her way out of the room, afraid to prove him wrong by crying right then and there.


A/N: Told you this one would be quicker!

I thought I should tell you I updated my profile with two interviews held with me, for anyone who is interested! And I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.

See you next time!

-- MitsukiShiroi