Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I smile every time I read them.
I don't own Naruto.
This was the hardest chapter I've ever written. I had such a hard time…not really sure why. I hated it for like a week. I must have rewritten parts of this at least ten times. Then, an idea struck and now I really like it! I hope you do to. Enjoy.
XXXXX
Three months prior
It should have been a simple mission.
The idea was simple enough—go to the Rock village, and see how much progress the Tsuchikage was making in building an army. Sakura felt like ice had dropped in her stomach when she learned one of Konoha's enemies was building up forces—
"Sakura-san." Itachi's (great) voice stirred her from her thoughts.
"Yes, Itachi-san?" She asked, hoping he didn't hear her hesitation.
"Do you think there is anything…wrong with your current appearance?" He asked in a mocking tone.
She looked down. She was in her usual ninja get-up, her Akatsuki cloak in place.
"Um…no?" She said self-consciously.
"Hn." He sighed, gesturing to himself, who had no cloak on. "They know we are Akatsuki, but try not to broadcast it." He was irritated, she noted.
"Oh, of course." She smiled slightly, trying to hide her embarrassment. Making a few hand signals, she performed a genjutsu on herself. Her cloak was gone, replaced with a tight long sleeve black shirt and black pants. She wore her usual ninja sandals. Her eyes were the same bright green, but her hair was black as night, and long enough to reach her lower back.
"Is something wrong, Itachi…san?" Damn it, she always had to remind herself to add the honorific. He always heard her hesitation...and he always smirked that 'yes-I-know-I'm-sexy' smirk. Which irritated her to no end.
But this time, he wasn't smirking. In fact, he was staring at her, a peculiar expression on his face. She was so astonished that his face was showing emotion, that she stared back, unwilling to admit to herself that she was attracted to him.
He looked…curious for a moment, then switched to perhaps, thoughtful? Sakura did not know, and she dare not ask, doubting he would answer anyway.
Was he so shocked at how she looked with normal color hair?
"Let's go."
She'd never know.
XXXXX
She followed him through the trees at an alarming rate. His stamina—it seemed—was almost as endless as Naruto's. They were nearing the village—and Sakura was starting to get nervous. This was her first actual mission for Akatsuki. The previous ones had been small things—mainly just healing.
"Stay here."
Stay here?
"What?" Her brows furrowed, her hands on her hips.
He looked at her as though she were an annoying bug he wished would die.
"Stay here." He enunciated the words as though she were mentally handicapped.
"But—" she blurted, "why? This was my mission too." He seemed to regard her for a moment before audibly sighing and looking at the gate.
"No. Your mission is to heal me should something happen. You are merely coming along to serve your purpose as a medic-nin." He acted as though this were the most boring thing in his life. But he switched his gaze back to her, and when she looked him in the eye she thought she thought amusement. Was he trying to rile her up?
"Serve my purpose as a medic-nin?" She asked, offended. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Do you think that I cannot fight…or act, in this case?" She added as an afterthought.
He smirked as though he were enjoying some sort of inside joke that she was not privy to.
"No, Sakura-san, I believe your acting skills are excellent."
And then he was gone.
XXXXX
She wouldn't have a chance to ask him what exactly that meant, because when he came back four hours later, he was limping and was ghostly pale.
"Itachi! What—?" He stumbled, catching her shoulder at the precise moment of his fall. They stood there for a few long moments just staring at each other. He was bent over, his right hand on her shoulder, his red gaze holding hers just mere inches from her face.
"Is there a reason," he said smoothly, "why you are not healing me?"
Her eyes widened. "Oh!" She raised her hands to his abdomen, sending chakra into his system to assess the damage. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't hear the sigh of relief escape his lips (much to his chagrin).
"Itachi-san," there was the honorific again, "this would be easier if you would lie back."
"…Hn." As gracefully as possible when injured, he dropped to his knees and slowly lied back onto the hard ground.
His eyes never left her face as she worked on the enormous gash in his left thigh. How he got it, she did not ask. It seemed impossible that he would be hurt in a village that was expecting him. It was wrong to assume, but perhaps it was some type of warning for Pein? Why Pein needed a 'warning', she did not know. Why Itachi took this 'warning', she did not know. Would she have gotten the same injury?
A few minutes after pouring her chakra into his system, there wasn't even a scar left. She sat back to admire her work, smiling slightly.
Not wanting to waste one more second looking weak, he immediately stood and jumped into the nearest tree. He hesitated for a moment, waiting, obviously, for her to catch up. They took off into the trees, his eyes never looking toward her again. It wasn't until a long while later that she heard him say faintly,
"Thank you…Sakura."
For some reason she could not explain, she could not wipe the smile from her face when she realized what that meant for him.
He acknowledged her skills as a medic-nin.
…
He acknowledged her.
Present
The tension between Sakura and Itachi the next day at dinner could have been cut with a knife. Sakura jumped whenever asked a question, and Itachi noted that all her smiles were faked. "The only thing left to wait for is you" kept replaying in his mind over and over as he struggled to make a decision.
When Sakura abruptly left his room last night, it would have been foolish not to admit that he was shocked.
Was there something serious wrong with him?
"Itachi-san." Sasori's voice brought him from his thoughts.
"Hm?"
"Pein-sama wants to speak with you."
"Hn." He rose from the table and left the room, aware of Sakura's eyes on him.
He would ask her later tonight.
XXXXX
Itachi's hawk-like gaze was doing nothing to settle her anxiety. She didn't really know why she felt so paranoid, but ironically, she was a rather bad liar—a large problem in the shinobi world. She felt guilty, she supposed, that she had invaded his privacy, but was excited to do it again. To add to her nervousness, he never brought up her 'proposal', so she was left to believe that he either thought she was crazy…or he thought she was crazy. Either seemed believable.
She sighed.
I need a drink.
XXXXX
There were many things in which Sakura was in control.
Sake was not one of them.
She made a mental note of the fact that drinking heavily with fellow shinobi—not to mention Akatsuki members—was doing nothing for her sake…dependence.
"Let's play a game, yeah!" Deidara called from the other side of the table. Sakura giggled when she realized just how much he sounded—and looked—like a girl.
"You want to play a game?" Sakura said. "How manly!"
Kisame snorted in his drink and Tobi clapped his hands together.
"Tobi loves games, Deidara-senpai!" Sakura rolled her eyes.
"Thank you Tobi, yeah," Deidara said, happy that someone was standing up for him. "We'll each take turns asking each other questions, and you have to answer each question truthfully. You cannot pass a question and there are no limits as to the subject matter, yeah."
"Okay," Sakura said brightly, "You go first."
Deidara put his finger on his chin and thought for a moment.
"Okay, yeah," Sakura didn't like the mischievous look in his eye. "Are you a virgin, Sakura?"
Sakura choked on her drink, her eyes wide.
"What kind of a question is that?" She asked incredulously. Kisame was staring at her, clearly interested in her answer.
"Of course she is," Kisame slurred, "Look at her." He took another sip of his drink.
"Excuse me?" Sakura said indignantly. "Are you calling me ugly?"
"Nope. Just saying you're too innocent." He shrugged.
"I'll have you know," she raised her head proudly, "that I am not a virgin, thank you very much."
"What's a virgin?" Tobi asked, but was ignored.
Kisame laughed. "Didn't think you had it in you."
Deidara looked like he had been hit by a truck, but the quickly regained his composure.
"So, who was the guy, yeah?"
"You have to wait your turn to ask me another question…my turn!" She said brightly.
She seemed to be thinking for a moment, but then her expression turned to one of horror.
"Oh my God!" She yelled suddenly.
"What's the matter, Sakura-san?" Tobi asked.
She burst into laughter. "Itachi is going to kill me!"
Deidara and Kisame laughed. "Why's that?" Kisame asked.
Sakura giggled. "Because I totally fuck—"
SLAM!
XXXXX
Itachi resisted the urge to sigh at his current…predicament.
Pein was such a pain in the ass sometimes.
"Do I make myself clear?" Pein was angry.
"…Hai."
"Good. Now leave." Pein turned around and sat back down behind his wooden desk.
Itachi turned and left the room with grace only known to powerful shinobi. Once the door was closed behind him, he let out a sigh. Pein had wanted to know about Sakura's assassination mission, again. Why didn't he just ask her himself? If he was suspicious of her, why didn't he interrogate her? She completed her mission, did she not? What was the problem?
Was there something else he was planning?
He looked to the direction of the kitchen when he heard Sakura's laughter drift into the dark hallway.
"Why's that?" He heard Kisame ask. He heard her laugh again.
"Because I totally fuck—"
"Sakura." Itachi said coldly. His eyes traveled from Tobi, whose head had just hit the table, to the empty bottles all around the kitchen. Kisame didn't look drunk, except for the minor glaze over his eyes, and Deidara's cheeks were slightly red, and he was also swaying. Sakura looked at him, surprised apparently to see him standing in the hallway of the kitchen.
"Itachi!" He didn't like the way she was slurring his name. How drunk was she? "I was just talking about you!"
Itachi cocked his head. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I was talking about Sasuke actually…" Her gaze traveled to the ceiling, as though she was trying to remember something. "…But close enough!"
Itachi's eyes narrowed as Kisame suddenly became very interested the grain of the wooden table. Deidara choked and started coughing loudly when she said 'Sasuke', but she paid him no mind.
"Why were you speaking about Sasuke?" He asked angrily, but Sakura did not notice.
Sakura laughed again. "Well because Deidara asked me if I was a vir—"
"Sakura!" Deidara laughed nervously. "Why don't you see what Itachi wants to speak to you about, then you can come back."
Sakura smiled brightly. "Okay!"
She rose from the table, stumbling slightly, but used the counter to steady herself. The room was deadly silent while she used the walls to aid in her walking. She walked—stumbled—to the other side of the entranceway.
"Wha's 'a matter?" She asked him. He studied her for a moment.
"I just had a meeting with Pein about you."
She laughed. "Oh? What about?" There was something in her eyes that told him she wasn't as drunk as she seemed.
"He is growing suspicious of your behavior." He said flatly.
"Pshh…" She shook her head and waved him off. "He's just paranoid, everything's great!"
"…I hope you know what your doing." Was his only response.
Her face went blank, her mouth open slightly in surprise. He knows…He knows.
Fuck.
She shrugged and made her way back towards the kitchen, leaving him facing the wall.
"Are you comin'?" She asked from the doorway.
He turned. "Hn."
"Oh stop acting like you have stick shoved up your ass and come drink with us."
He didn't move.
"Just this once…" She clasped her hands together, trying to persuade him with the sad eyes that usually got her what she wanted.
He walked down the hall and shut the door behind him.
"Fine!" She called down the hall.
XXXXX
"What did he want?" Deidara asked. Sakura shrugged.
"Nothing important." She sat back down. "So…where were we?"
"Your turn." Kisame downed another shot.
"Hmm…Deidara, do people often mistake you for a girl?"
"What?" Deidara said indignantly. "Of course not!"
Kisame chuckled. "I beg to differ, freak. People always think you're a girl."
Deidara huffed. "My turn, fish-face. How do you get women when you look like that?"
Surprisingly, Kisame laughed. "I suppose the same way you get women when you look like that."
Sakura joined the laughter. "Nice one." She said, and raised her glass to Kisame.
He raised his glass. "Thank you. My turn. Have you ever made out with a girl?"
Sakura laughed.
"What is up with these questions? You guys need to seriously get laid." They shrugged.
"Hmmm…Oh yeah! I made out with Ino once." She laughed at their expressions. "What?" She asked innocently.
"It's always the quiet ones, yeah." Deidara took a long gulp of his drink.
"…It was a dare. Stupid, horny boys…" She finished with a whisper.
Itachi appeared in the doorway, looking pissed. They all looked up, wondering whether to say anything. No one spoke, but Sakura moved her seat over to allow Itachi room. Besides, she didn't want to embarrass him by saying he only came because she asked him to. He walked over, and sat down without a sound—his Akatsuki cloak gone.
He changed! Inner Sakura giggled.
"My turn!" Sakura said brightly. "Itachi, who slashed your hitai-ate?" She still had no idea why she wanted to know so badly, but she knew he did not want to discuss it. To her, that meant he had something to hide.
"I will not be a part of this game." He said smoothly, avoiding her gaze.
"Fine." Sakura snapped. "Deidara, what's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?" She leaned closer to him, smiling slightly, knowing this was going to be good.
It was hard to tell in this light, but she thought she saw a tinge of red on his cheeks.
"Are you blushing?" Kisame asked incredulously. "You're gay."
"Shut it flipper!" Deidara yelled. Kisame rolled his eyes.
"Like I haven't heard that one before."
Deidara glared, but continued. "Once when I was…younger, I went to my girlfriend's house, and I was a bit—intoxicated, yeah. I went into the house, and I saw her lying on the couch. Well, I went over to her and we started making out, yeah. After a couple of minutes, the lights were switched on. I looked up, yeah, and it was my girlfriend who turned the lights on." His face was worried.
"…And?" Sakura pressed, suddenly very excited. She could already feel the laughter bubbling inside of her.
"The person I was kissing was…" Deidara gulped, "her brother." He looked so ashamed.
Sakura and Kisame roared with laughter. Even Itachi's lips curled into a smirk.
"How could you not notice?" Sakura had to steady herself to keep from falling over.
"Are you so used to making out with guys that you didn't notice your girlfriend was suddenly…flat?" Kisame asked.
Deidara's face burned with shame.
"It wasn't a proud moment in my life, yeah." He muttered.
"Was it because you look so much like a girl that he didn't notice he was kissing a man?"
"Alright!" Deidara yelled. "Let's drop it, yeah!"
The chuckling quieted down. "It's your turn, Deidara." It took him a long minute to gather his temper. He turned to Itachi just in time to see Itachi's gaze snap from Sakura.
"You still refuse to play, Itachi?" Deidara grinned arrogantly. Sakura held her breath, wondering what he would say, and wondering what questions to ask him. If he played, things would get a whole lot more serious.
"I will play." He seemed to frown at the word. "Under one condition. I will ask questions, but I will not answer any."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's convenient." Kisame snorted at her statement.
"Fine." Deidara said, wondering what on earth Itachi could possibly want to know about.
"Do you love my brother?" He asked, staring at Sakura intensely.
Well, that was unexpected.
Sakura seemed to choke on the air before she looked at him, her gaze guarded.
"No, Itachi," she said softly as she swallowed her warm drink, "not anymore."
"Why did you stop?" He didn't seem to care that he was no longer playing fairly. But then again, he never said he would abide by the rules.
"None of your business." She answered shortly. He smirked in a way that made her want to slap him.
"Why are you such a bastard?" Why doesn't he just mind his own business?
"Did you really kill the Mizukage?" He challenged.
"Why did you kill that boy's father? Don't you like violence?" Sakura's temper was starting to get the best of her—or maybe it was the alcohol, she didn't know.
Deidara and Kisame were watching the exchange like they were watching a tennis match—their heads darting back and forth.
"How many times did you fuck Sasuke?" Itachi looked bored, but Sakura could see the fury in his eyes.
Sakura hesitated for a moment—she didn't know if it was because it was the first time she heard Itachi swear, or maybe because she didn't know how he found out. But she stood up, their innocent game turning serious.
"Why did you leave him alive?"
"Why won't you answer?" She was sure that if he kept that sarcasm in his voice, she was going to punch him. There were tears shining in her eyes now, probably due to anger and frustration.
"Why won't you? Why did you leave him alive? The whole 'to measure my capacity' excuse is bullshit." She yelled.
Itachi seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said, "I said I wasn't going to answer questions."
Sakura scoffed. "That's real fucking convenient. If you don't have to answer questions, then why should I? Why are you such a damn hypocrite?"
"If it bothers you so much, why haven't you left yet?"
"How could you kill your own parents?" She seemed to catch herself and cocked her head slightly.
"What do you mean 'why haven't I left yet'?" Shit. He does know.
Itachi backed off and stared at her in silence, his eyes softening slightly. "People are never what they seem." He said quietly. "…That's why I killed them." He stood, and left the room as quickly as he came.
Sakura didn't move. Her mouth was agape, and she was staring at where his face had been moments before, her eyes wide. She didn't know how long she stood there, her mouth wide open. When Kisame cleared his throat, she blinked and slumped back in her chair.
"Well…" He seemed to struggle with words. "I'm spent." He stood up and left, but not before shooting Sakura a pity glance before he walked through the doorway. She was sitting at the table, staring blankly at the wall. She looked—lost, confused maybe. Kisame sighed and walked into the dark hall.
"What—what the hell just happened?" She whispered. Deidara stood up and moved his chair closer. Timidly, he reached his hand out and put it over hers in her lap.
"It's alright, Sakura-chan, yeah." He said quietly. She looked at him and smiled sadly.
"You've never called me that before." She said quietly.
Deidara laughed quietly. "That's because Itachi would kick my ass if he heard that."
She smiled. "I doubt it. Itachi doesn't give a shit about me." Perhaps it was the alcohol, but she started to laugh.
But Deidara didn't. "You honestly believe that, yeah? I've never seen him so interested in anyone. He pays you a lot more attention than you think, yeah."
He watched as a tear fell out of her eye, and lifted a hand to wipe it.
"What's the matter?" He asked softly.
"I just...can't accept it. He's killed so many people. Am I just supposed to look past it all?"
Deidara thought for a long moment. "Yeah…" He smiled ruefully, "…yeah you are."
Her intake of breath was loud. "How?" She breathed.
"I don't know, yeah. That's between you and him."
She looked away from him, obviously not satisfied with his answer.
"Sakura-chan, do you love him?" He tried to ask as delicately as possible, but as soon as the words left his mouth, she broke into sobs. He put his hands around her and brought her to his chest. Unsure of how to console her, he didn't open his mouth.
She kept crying.
"Sakura, breathe."
She was silent for a long time while he held her. "Should I tell him?" She whispered.
He didn't know how to answer that. "I don't know, yeah."
She looked up at him and he tried to smile. "Thanks, Deidara."
He nodded and watched as she shakily stood up, using the table as leverage. He saw the way her hands shook as she grabbed the half empty bottle of sake, not bothering to use a cup. She swayed slightly as she made her way through the doorway, drinking from the bottle.
He could have sworn he heard her sharp intakes of breath as she walked towards the bathroom.
He sighed.
You're so fucking blind, Itachi.
XXXXX
Sakura turned the water colder than normal. Stripping off her clothes, she took her bottle of sake into the shower with her. She thought a shower would calm her down, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. The time to herself allowed her to think about everything that was happening. Sliding down the wall, she wrapped her arm around her knees. Taking another swig of sake, she allowed her mind to wander to her village—the one she had committed treason against.
Hoping everyone was asleep, she didn't bother to hide conceal her sobs.
They really were going to hate her—Sasuke especially. No one would understand, Tsunade least of all. She was in love with a murderer. They would be so disappointed. She could only thank whatever God was listening that her parents were dead. She didn't think she would be able to handle their disappointment that she was a missing-nin (Tsunade would not have been able to tell them about her mission), let alone that she was in love with a cold-hearted killer.
Speaking of which, she was in love with someone who would never be able to love her back; someone with whom she would have no communication—it would be a one-sided relationship. He didn't love her; he would never love her. She would never know about his past, he wouldn't want to know hers. He wouldn't care—he doesn't care. That was a hard thing to accept.
She downed the contents of the bottle in one gulp. Wiping her mouth, she closed her eyes as she let her head rest on her forearm.
Damn this.
Naruto was probably going to die, Sasuke was probably going to die. Akatsuki was going to die. Itachi was going to die. At some point, she was going to be alone.
Who knew how much time there was left? Nothing was certain.
Suddenly, she felt the bottle being taken out of her hand and the water was shut off. Slowly she raised her head to see a hand being extended toward her.
"Come." He said.
But she continued to stare at his offered hand. Her eyes traveled to his, which were black. She took a deep breath, and closed her hand around his. He pulled her up, and thankfully had a beige towel in his other hand, which he promptly put around her. She just stood there, watching their reflection in the mirror. He looked up from just behind her left shoulder and caught her gaze. Surprisingly, he held it. She didn't have any idea of how long they stood there, just looking at each other.
He bent down, still holding her gaze and whispered, "Come." And kissed her shoulder.
She nodded.
It didn't matter how much time they had left. At least there was time.
He raised her arm and put it around his shoulder, trying to support her. For some reason, the action made her giggle. She must have been one of those emotional drunks, being that she was crying not ten minutes before. Reaching her door, he slid it open, and dragged her inside. He hadn't fully closed the door before she pinned him to the wall with her petite body.
"Sakura." He said warningly as she slid her hands under his shirt. He did not want to admit that the hands running over his chest and abdomen was a pleasant feeling.
She stood in her tiptoes to bring herself face to face with him. As he looked into her eyes, he saw the same look that told him earlier she wasn't as drunk as she seemed.
"Shut up and kiss me, Itachi." She whispered against his lips. He did not move, so she removed her hands from under his shirt and placed them around his neck instead. He wanted to push her away, but all coherent thought flew out the window when she pressed her lips against his. She leaned forward into his body, desperately, it seemed, to get a reaction out of him.
She got one.
He raised his arms to her hips, and slowly dragged them up her back to settle on the sides of her neck. The heat that formed between them caused their kiss to become more hurried and hungry. It was odd, he thought, that she could get such a reaction out of him. The arms around his neck tightened, as if she knew what he was thinking, and their tongues glided ferociously against each other. Without giving it much thought, Itachi switched their positions, pressing her back to the wall instead. She moaned when he let his hands slide down her back, gripped the back of her thighs and lifted her up to allow for better access. With her legs now wrapped around his waist, he pressed against her harder wanting to feel ever curve of her body against his. His fingers were itching to remove her towel, and it took a significant amount of willpower not to remove it. When she pulled back for air, her heavy breathing was felt on his neck as he slid his tongue along her collarbone.
"Itachi." She moaned in his ear.
For some reason, his name seemed to waken him from his lustful haze. He abruptly stopped ravishing her neck, and raised his head slowly to look at her disoriented eyes. He didn't have time to admire the fact he could make her disoriented, when he remembered the amount of alcohol she'd consumed.
She's drunk.
He pulled away from the wall, and placed her onto the bed. She was still breathing heavily, but made no attempt to stop him from leaving. She pulled her black sheets up over her towel-clad body.
"Goodnight Itachi." She called as he neared her door.
She didn't expect him to answer—he didn't, and shut the door behind him.
OOOOO
You'll be happy to know that the rest of the story is almost completely written. I am deciding whether I want to add one more transition chapter before the 'climax' of the story, because without one, the timing may seem strange. So, next update should be within two weeks, but quicker after that. Thanks again to those who have been with me since the beginning. I really do appreciate it.
Please review if you like this fic.
Until next time!
P.S. If any of you read Taking Chances, I need a serious kick in the butt to finish the chap! Someone yell at me!
