I honestly cant believe I am on chapter ten already! [We're more than halfway done!] I have been looking forward to posting this chapter for a long time! I'm so excited for your reactions. This is a 16-page chapter, so I better get some lovin'! Enjoy!

I don't own Naruto.

This chap is dedicated to Orochimaruismyman not only for reviewing constantly, but to make up for the fact that I called Orochimaru a pedophile last chap!

XXXXX

Knock, knock.

She heard a muffled come in as she entered Sasori's room. The base had been strangely quiet that morning, Sakura noted when she woke up to almost complete silence. Pushing the door open, Sakura entered to see Sasori sitting on the edge of his bed, slightly hunched over in pain.

"How're you feeling?" Sakura asked, having a feeling she already knew the answer. He looked at her and smiled pleasantly.

"Good morning, Sakura. I thought you might pay me a visit this morning." His tone was forced, as though he were speaking through pain. She heard the admission he didn't want to say out loud.

"Lie back, please," she said, her professional side taking over. He grunted softly as he laid back.

"I need direct contact with your skin, would it be alright if I slid my hands under your shirt?" That sounded wrong, she noted, as she felt her cheeks heat slightly. He nodded with an amused smirk.

She put her hands on him and let her chakra pour into his—

Holy shit. She blinked and started to laugh. I forgot he was a puppet!

"Being that you have—" she met his eyes and tried to keep from laughing, "—a limited number of blood vessels, this shouldn't take long."

"You forgot I was made of wood?" He asked, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Yes.

"Er…yes, actually. When you fainted, I wasn't really thinking about anything other than making sure you didn't die." She laughed. "But you have to admit—forgetting that you aren't completely human might have been important."

He nodded. "Perhaps."

She continued to send healing chakra to his lungs—which she had the time now to realize—were considerably smaller than the average human's.

There wasn't much to heal, as he was just feeling sore, so when she finished a short time later, she held out a hand to help him out of bed. He took it gratefully.

"Do you know where everyone is?" She asked, steadying him.

"Itachi-san and Kisame are on a mission, as are Deidara and Tobi. They will return by tonight." He was smirking in a way that Sakura didn't appreciate.

"Do you need anything else?" She said angrily, eyes narrowed, letting him know that she knew what he was laughing at. He shook his head, the smirk not leaving his lips.

"Would you stop smirking? I was curious about where everyone was!" Well, maybe one person in particular…

"Of course." He said, not believing a word she said. "You were supposed to go with him, but he took Kisame instead."

Her brow furrowed. "Why?"

"I would assume it was because your chakra was depleted."

She sighed. "Okay then, get some rest." She smiled and turned to walk out.

"Sakura," she turned, "I…appreciate your ability." He was standing a few feet behind her with his hands on his chest.

Prideful bastards, the lot of them.

She smiled slyly, "You're very welcome," and closed the door behind her. Walking soundlessly into her room, she flopped onto the bed, and was asleep by the time her eyes closed.

XXXXX

Waking up sometime later, Sakura was glad it was still light out. She sat up, pushed the blanket off of her, and her feet met the cold ground. Brushing her hair and tying it up, she decided to go outside and train a bit, leaving her cloak in the closet.

Before she left Konoha, Tsunade had promised her that she and Kurenai would work together in genjustu training. She was sincerely looking forward to it, but now it seemed unlikely…could she persuade Itachi to help her?

I doubt it.

He might teach her the basics, then she'd be on her own—he wouldn't dare teach her something that might make her more powerful. Sighing, she opened the door to the base and went outside. It was a bit cold—as it was fast approaching fall now. She shrugged off the temperature and went back to concentrating on all the things she could do with perfect chakra control and an affinity for genjustu. She knew more than one thousand ways to affect—or kill—the body by just touching. Coupled with genjustu, she could confuse her opponent's mind, then kill them with just a tiny amount of chakra. Granted, that was best-case scenario, but if she could get close enough, a tiny shock would be enough to confuse the nervous system.

She needed someone to practice with—and Sasori was out of the question. He needed to rest.

"Sakura-san!" She knew the owner from the cheery tone.

"Hello Tobi." She greeted as he was returning from his mission, Deidara at his side. "How was your mission?"

"Psh…no problem, yeah." Deidara said with a wave of his hand and a wink.

"It was very good, Sakura-san, no problems whatsoever."

"Good." She smiled. "Hey, Deidara, could you help me with something?" She hoped he could tell from the look on her face that it needed to be in private.

"Sure, yeah, let me put my stuff away." He said, motioning to the bag he was carrying.

"Okay. Do either of you need anything healed?" She asked with an incline of her head.

Deidara shook his head as he walked inside. "No I'm fine, thank you, Sakura-san." Tobi said politely as he made to follow his partner.

A few minutes later, Deidara walked back outside, smirking as always. Rolling her eyes at his arrogance, she waited for him to come closer.

"So, what do you need help with, yeah?" He stopped a short way in front of her, arms crossed.

"Genjustu." She said truthfully.

"Genjustu?" His smirk vanished. "You need Itachi for that, not me, yeah."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I need you for something else."

He raised a brow, not knowing whether or not to take her serious tone to heart. "Okay, yeah. What is it?"

"I want you to tell me about Pein." She forced her face to remain neutral because to be honest, she was slightly frightened. She had spoken to him on only a few occasions, and now she knew that he suspected her of something. Asking too many questions would draw attention to herself, but she needed to risk everything for Konoha's safety.

"Why are we talking about this outside, yeah?" He asked, looking around.

"Because I need to spar with someone." She said levelly.

"Taijustu?" His smirk growing more pronounced.

"Yeah." She said before he could finish the sentence, and smiled. Kunai in each hand, she took a few steps back from him, just to the borderline of the trees, and waited for him to make a move.

Grinning in a way that made Sakura's hair stand on end, he stood there, hands underneath his cloak. He couldn't be making bombs, this was just taijustu… her eyes narrowed. What was he doing?

Then before she could blink, he flung about twenty small clay bombs towards her.

Panic crossed her features when she realized that there was no time to dodge them all. But, he was too close to use bombs...why was he not moving?

Son of a bitch, it's genjustu.

"Kai!" She yelled, and the bombs disappeared. When her eyes focused on him, he was doubled over in laughter.

"You should have seen your face, yeah!" She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one foot.

"Ha. Ha. You are so funny." Asshole.

Standing upright, "Sorry, Sakura-chan, I couldn't resist. I guess I can do some genjustu, yeah." He scratched his chin, pretending to be thinking.

Picking up the kunai she had dropped to dispel his illusion, she wasted no time to fling them at him as hard as she could. He dodged them easily, but his humor as vanished, and now his eyes were lit with challenge.

"I haven't spent much time with Pein to really know him, but all I know is that there's something going on between him and Konan, yeah." He crouched into a defensive pose.

Sakura snorted. "I don't care about their relationship, you idiot—"

"That's not what I'm talking about, yeah." His gaze darkened, standing straight.

"I mean they're planning something that no one knows about, yeah. Something on the side…"

That caught her attention. "How the hell do you know that?" Her brows furrowed.

"Tobi told me he heard them talking about it, yeah." He shrugged.

Sakura felt like ice had slipped into her stomach. "Tobi told you?"

"Yeah."

How did Tobi know? I thought Pein hated him…

"…He was also the one who—wait." His brows pulled together as though he was trying to remember something.

"I remember walking in on a conversation he was having with Tobi once…"

"…And?" Sakura pressed.

"Tobi was the one who told Pein about Sound, that's how I knew Sound was invading Konoha. But how did Tobi know that?"

"That's a good question." Sakura was deep in thought, chills running down her body now. Something's not right…

"That motherfucker!" He suddenly yelled, pouting like a child.

"What?" She blinked, surprised at his outburst.

"He's doing side-missions for Pein, yeah! I thought Itachi was the favorite…" Deidara was obviously highly offended, but Sakura didn't have time to be amused. This was something she'd obviously have to be paying more attention to.

"What's his plan for the tailed demons? Where are they kept?" She asked, trying to mask her uneasiness.

"They are kept in a giant stone statue, on the border of fire and wind country, yeah. Originally, each member was supposed to get one, but now that the sixth is dead, I don't know what will happen, yeah." He paused, thinking. "He told us in the beginning that his goal was peace." He snorted. "I don't know if that's still his goal, yeah, but if it is, he's got a strange way of going about it…"

"You mean by killing everyone who gets in his way?" Her hands were now on her hips.

Deidara nodded.

"Why does he want peace anyway?" He seems like the type who would want anything but peace…

"No idea, yeah." He shrugged.

"What did members becoming Jinchuurikis have anything to do with his goal?"

"Each member would get their own territory to rule over, yeah. We would all answer to him, obviously. But everyone would make sure that there were never any wars."

"Ah." She nodded. "I see. So basically he would have peace between nations…by having a dictatorship?"

He nodded.

"So basically everyone would be enslaved, but as long as there were no wars, everything would just be peachy?"

He held his hands up. "Don't kill the messenger, yeah. It wasn't my idea."

"Yeah but you're a part of it!" She yelled.

Deidara raised a brow. "…So are you."

She closed her mouth promptly and tried to calm herself down. Breathe, Sakura, breathe. Pinching the top of her nose, she counted to ten. You almost blew it…again. Relax. For Naruto. His face flashed through her mind, and calmed considerably when she remembered that his life was at stake.

She couldn't save Sasuke, and she be damned if she couldn't save Naruto.

Keeping Naruto in mind, she grinned slightly and made a hand signal.

For Naruto.

"Kage bunshin-no-justu!" Ten Sakuras appeared in a circle around her, each grinning.

Deidara smiled and stuck his hand in his clay pouch. "Not just taijustu anymore, yeah? I was wondering when you'd get serious."

XXXXX

Itachi and Kisame arrived sometime later, bringing food back from a nearby village. Kisame said their mission was 'easy as shit', but Sakura's mind was focused on Itachi's outstretched hand—he remembered to bring back her favorite: tempura.

"Tempura again, yeah?" Deidara whispered in her ear as he walked by. "Don't tell Kakuzu that he's spending extra money on you." Sakura bit her cheeks to keep from smiling.

Her eyes followed him as he sat down across from her. "Shut it or I'll rearrange your nerves." She whispered menacingly.

He chuckled. "Oh no! You're so cruel, yeah!" He said in a girly voice.

"You'll think it's cruel when you go move your leg to walk and you accidentally punch yourself in the face." She smiled evilly. He didn't make fun of her again after that, although he huffed at her smug expression.

Her gaze traveled to Itachi, who had seen the exchange. She couldn't tell what he was feeling from the blank look in his eyes, but she nodded slightly to thank him for her food. He quickly averted his gaze, obviously uncomfortable with her appreciation.

Sitting down to eat, Sakura looked around at the members sitting around the table. Who would have thought that one day she would have been sitting having dinner with the world's most wanted killers? Those same people who wanted to kill her best friend? Who would have imagined that she would be in the same room as the man who made one of her best friend's lives a living hell? She smirked a bit just thinking about it.

She looked around as Deidara and Sasori were having another discussion (argument, rather) about the meaning of art.

"How can you say that? Art is fleeting! If it lasted forever it wouldn't be considered art."

"Then what would it be considered exactly?" Sasori asked smoothly. Sakura smirked as she directly her attention elsewhere, not wanting to listen to this argument for the millionth time.

"You should stop," Itachi was saying to Kisame.

"Stop? Why would I do that?" Kisame asked.

Sakura looked at Itachi and saw him close his eyes. She knew that if possible, now would be the time that Itachi would sigh.

"Eventually, it will affect your performance on missions." Itachi said.

"Not to mention that it is killing your liver." Sakura chimed in. He looked at her and smirked.

"Thanks for your concern, princess, but who knows when my last day will be?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. She was not getting involved in this argument again, either. He was right, in a way, but it was too morbid for her.

"Fine. Just drink yourself into oblivion, then." Sakura sighed.

Kisame snorted. "You're one to talk. I seem to remember not too long ago you were pretty trashed yourself…"

"The difference between you and me is that I know how to counter the affects."

His answer was a roll of his eyes.

Kisame's stubbornness had suddenly brought Sasuke to her mind. Sighing, Sakura's attention turned inward as she started to try and figure out the meaning of his words that night at the club. So he obviously had known that she was 'involved' with Itachi? He could tell by just watching their interactions? Why wasn't he angry? Why was he 'giving' them more time together? She was now more confused than ever. She tried to stifle a yawn, but of course Itachi caught it.

She saw the question in his eyes.

"I'm fine," she answered. "I just had a long—yawn—night."

"Hn." 'I don't believe you.'

"That figures," she mumbled, dropping her chopsticks.

She saw Itachi smirk. He would never outwardly show that he actually was concerned for her well-being, so he let the topic drop, but he continued to stare at her as though he was waiting for something.

She knew what it was, and he would have to wait.

"I'm going to sleep," she said suddenly. She still hadn't fully recovered from the three healings and spar she had today. She could feel her fellow members' stares, but at that moment, she wasn't concerned.

Just as she was about to stand up, something very peculiar happened…

FLASH

She stood in a dark room that was only lit with two candles positioned behind her. It was cold and she heard a steady drop of water from the ceiling.

"Sakura!" She heard a man's voice call out.

FLASH

She was back at the table, unaware that every eye in the room was now on her. She didn't move her eyes however, which were currently staring at her plate.

What the hell is going on?

FLASH

"Sakura!"

She was back in the room. She tried to call out, but the only thing she heard was a whisper.

Why did this place seem so familiar?

FLASH

"Sakura?" Deidara asked. "What's wrong?"

No answer.

Eyes flittered to Itachi, as though they were afraid of what his reaction might be.

He continued to watch her, unblinkingly.

FLASH

Suddenly, she saw two eyes as black as night materialize in front of her.

"Sakura, please," the man said in a distressed voice.

She could only continue to watch in horror as she felt the man's blood start to soak through her shoes.

She couldn't tell in this light if it was Sasuke or Itachi. The candlelight only reflected their eyes. Her instincts told her who it was, but she needed another clue to be certain.

"Help me."

And that was all she needed.

FLASH

Sakura stood up so suddenly that her chair flew backwards and smashed into the kitchen counter. Her eyes, wide as saucers, were still staring at the same spot on her white plate.

Everyone was concentrating so hard on her horror-stricken face, that no one noticed the fleeting look of something akin to panic cross Itachi's face.

"Sakura." Itachi said in a stern voice, recovering from his moment of 'weakness'.

"Sasuke," she whispered, her eyes frozen to the spot on the table, hands clenched.

Itachi's eyes narrowed.

Her eyes suddenly snapped up to look Itachi right in the eye. Everyone's level of panic rose a bit when they saw her wild looking, tear-filled eyes.

"Itachi," she said, her voice wavering. At this, Itachi also rose from his chair.

"Sakura, what happ—"

"Deactivate your Sharingan!" She said, getting hysterical. Itachi and Sasuke's eyes were very close to the same color, but Itachi's had more of a green and purplish glint to them, while Sasuke's had more blue. She needed to be 100 percent sure it was Sasuke before she went running to him.

For a moment, Sakura could clearly see the shock cross his usually emotionless façade.

They just stared at each other—he, calm and collected, and she, petrified.

"Deactivate it, please!" She said, now yelling, as the tears came faster.

The rest of the table just watched in shock at the interaction between the two.

Itachi continued to stare at her, red Sharingan gleaming.

"God damn it, Itachi! Turn your Sharingan OFF!" She yelled, breathing heavily.

Itachi closed his eyes, and slowly opened them to reveal his onyx eyes. If she had been thinking clearly, she would have been very grateful—and shocked—that he listened to her for once. She looked into them, and they confirmed what she already knew.

She raised her hands and started to pull slightly on her hair.

"No, no, no, NO!" She began chanting, now pacing in circles.

Itachi was starting to feel what he supposed was panic, and he did not like the feeling one bit. He was about to open his mouth when she starting yelling.

"NO!" She shouted loudly as she dropped to her knees, breathing heavily.

Everyone was on their feet now, not having any idea what was happening or how to fix it.

Itachi did not move. For once in his life, he was not only at a loss for words, but he had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Sakura, what is it?" Deidara tried.

She was crying hard. This time, Itachi's Sharingan (now activated) caught that she was attempting to rub the skin in between her shoulder blades. Not wasting any time, he walked over and put his hand on her back, in an attempt to rip her shirt so he could see what she was trying to get at.

Just as his hands ripped the back of her shirt open, Sakura was brought back into reality. She immediately looked up, with a shocked expression, almost as though she had forgotten where she was and whom she was with.

"I need to leave immediately," she croaked out, getting to her feet. Itachi never got a good look at what was on her back.

Deidara and Kisame looked at each other.

"Where are you going?" Itachi asked her monotone, also rising to his feet.

"I don't know the exact location." She answered. But I have a pretty good idea.

"No," he said.

If she could have, she would have let out a sarcastic laugh.

Instead, she tried to take a calming breath.

"You're not going to save him," he said, no hint in his voice as to the sudden anger he felt that she was going to run off to save his foolish brother.

Sakura snapped her head in Itachi's direction.

"Excuse me?" She said. Now's not the time to get into a fight, Sakura. You need to leave right this second if you want to save him. Your seal already burned…

Kisame looked at Deidara. "Save who?" He mouthed. Deidara shrugged.

"You're not going to rectify what ever problem my foolish brother has gotten himself into."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"You don't have any say in the matter, Itachi. I am going whether you like it or not." She turned around and headed for the stairs. Itachi got a glimpse of what was in between she shoulders: it was an Uchiha fan. His eyes narrowed and he suddenly felt something red hot run through his body. Was it a tattoo? As far as Itachi knew, Sakura and his brother were never romantically involved…that was it! They had to have been involved. Why else would he give it to her?

They did sleep together, the thought rang through his head, loud as a gong. He said it just to get a rise out of her, but she never answered…Just the thought of Sasuke touching her made Itachi livid. It couldn't be a tattoo. No, it had to be a seal. Why did she have it? When did he give it to her? He needed to know the details before he did something rash.

Kisame, Deidara, and Sasori stood silently in the kitchen wondering what the hell just happened.

The trio watched as Sakura ran back down the stairs, crossed entranceway, and walked out of the front door, slamming it in her wake.

Kisame turned around to ask Itachi if he was going to follow her.

But Itachi was already gone.

"Shit." Kisame said sitting down again, sighing. "Deidara…?"

"Yeah." Deidara replied already molding his clay into a bird that could track Sakura and Itachi.

"Should we…?" Kisame asked.

"We'll give them a few hours, then we'll go." Sasori said.

Deidara and Kisame nodded.

It was going to be a long night.

XXXXX

Sakura had never run so fast in her entire life. The woods around her were only a blur of green and brown as she shot through the trees. It wasn't for a few miles of running when she realized she had been crying.

She was going to be too late.

She could feel it.

It was just one more thing to add to her list of failures.

Damn it!

She knew this would happen. She knew he was going to get himself killed.

But he was an Uchiha. He didn't listen to anyone else's advice. She snorted.

He doesn't have any idea how much he and Itachi are alike.

Itachi.

Concentrating her mind as much as she could, she began to try and feel for Itachi's chakra.

Her eyes widened when she realized just how fast he was coming up behind her.

Shit.

XXXXX

"Sakura." She knew exactly what he wanted just from the way he said her name.

But she didn't stop.

Pushing harder, her eyes widened when she realized she didn't have time to stop herself when he appeared right in her path.

"Itachi! What are you—" She ran right into him, but he didn't move an inch. Instead, he grabbed her upper arms to keep her from escaping.

"Sakura." He said calmly. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut.

She thought he would take it as a challenge—but he didn't.

"Sakura," He began in a voice that told her he thought she was being foolish, "open your eyes."

"Listen, Itachi, I know you don't care whether he dies or not, but I am going. And quite frankly, you can't stop me."

If he were being perfectly honest with himself, he would have admitted that he was taken aback by the fear in her voice. She was genuinely terrified that Sasuke was going to die.

"I have no intention of stopping you."

"That's smart because one wrong move and I'll blind you before you can say—what?" She opened her eyes and blinked.

He continued staring at her.

"Then…why did you stop me?"

He smirked and turned around. "You are going the wrong way." And he pushed off the branch and turned south. She followed him, wondering why on earth he would help her.

XXXXX

She didn't know how long they raced silently through the trees. She barely registered the blur of trees around her or the coolness of the night—the only thing she could see was the moonlight reflected off of Itachi's hair. They were completely silent—save for the rustle of cloaks every now and then.

How did Itachi know where Orochimaru's base was? Had he ever been there before?

She knew she could not voice her questions incase they stumbled upon enemy shinobi. They could not afford—she could not afford to waste anymore time. She had no idea whether what she saw was in the future or past.

But she did know that she wasn't looking forward to seeing him again. She knew it would be difficult. She often found it hard not to blame herself for the way things turned out; if only she tried harder—tried harder to be his friend, tried harder to help him, call for help when he left.

She knew it wasn't her fault, but that didn't make it any easier.

She couldn't help but feel a rush of anger towards Itachi: everything somehow led back to him. If he hadn't killed the clan, would she be in Konoha right now, safe and sound with her friends? She sighed.

I'm just trying to find someone to blame.

Itachi had nothing to do with Akatsuki's idea to capture the tailed demons. But if he hadn't killed the clan, would he have been an Akatsuki member? Of course not. Did he come here because he had nowhere else to turn?

"It's about fifty meters to the North." Itachi stopped, and Sakura stepped next to him.

"Hai. I see it."

Itachi nodded.

"Can you see anyone with your Sharingan?"

He paused for a moment, and Sakura assumed he was counting. "There are about thirty guards outside. Jounin level."

Thirty would be no problem. The problem was that they couldn't inside undetected.

"Okay. Can you tell where the entrance is?"

"It's along the western wall on the right." He answered without hesitation.

How do you know that? Was on the tip of her tongue.

"Okay. So, do you have a plan?"

He turned towards her, his brow lifted. "You were going to come here by yourself with no information whatsoever. Does it matter if I have a plan?"

"Er…I suppose not." She looked away. "Okay, then," she sounded no braver than she felt, "I guess we just show up and fight whomever comes our way."

"You are foolish."

"What? You just said—"

"I will put them in a genjustu, you find the entrance."

"Well what are you going to do?" She asked, still not looking at him.

"Fight." He said as if she was stupid.

Of course.

"You can put them all in genjustu at once?" She asked, her gaze snapping to him.

He nodded.

"Alright," she said, dread starting to make itself known along with the fear in the pit of her stomach, "let's go."

OOOOO

I'm quite curious as to what you thought if this chapter, so your feedback will be greatly appreciated!

Some 4theloveofholy trivia: This was the first chapter I ever wrote for this story! Then I wrote the first, then the last [there should be a total of 18 chapters].

Until next time!!

By the way, I always update my bio, so if you want to know when the next chapter of my stories will be out, chances are it'll say. Next up: What Defines Us.