A/N—This chapter took a little longer to get out but it is also twice as long as normal. Woo-hoo! lol. Please review.
0o0o0
Finders Keepers
Chapter 10
I Can't Get You Out of My Head
0o0o0
0o0o0
Southern border of Fire nation.
0o0o0
0o0o0
Itachi swiftly brought the katana down upon the neck of his silver-haired opponent. It was a clean kill, the kind he preferred, having trapped the man in a genjutsu beforehand. The older male probably hadn't felt a thing.
His partner jumped down from a nearby tree. Having watched from above, he hadn't lifted a finger, the fight had finished practically before it started.
"You sure he was in the bingo book? Cause I gotta say, as a ninja his skill…well, it sucked."
"Hn," The stoic young man answered. Normally, he didn't play with his prey like the ex mist-nin.
"Well, the bounty should keep Kakuzu from bitching about the roses you bought anyway, right?" he laughed good naturedly. "Samehada and I would have enjoyed a little tussle though."
A shadow broke through the trees, and another member of the organization joined them as he rose from the soil.
"Itachi-san, I have completed the drug that you require," He handed Itachi a box wrapped in plain brown paper. "After this I am heading north to the Daiyamo's residence to set things into motion. I'll send word when the girl shows up."
The Uchiha nodded his approval, "There are no dangerous side effects to this drug, then?" Itachi calmly cleaned his katana on the clothes of the dead jounin.
"Not if she is given no more than three doses in a day."
"Three?"
"She is a strong medic-nin, in fact poisons and antidotes are one of her specialties as we know from her battle with Akasuna no Sasori. Therefore, when she receives the first dose, she will immediately begin to clear it from her blood and still be able to fight reasonably well. If given the second dose quick enough, her capture should be easy enough. The third dose may be necessary during the recovery trip back to base," Zetsu assured him, "The bitch may become difficult."
Zetsu nodded to himself in agreement, "Deidara-san will have to judge for himself, as he will be taking her alone," A small smile crossed the bi-colored nin lips, "It's his funeral if the little idiot loses control of her. They'd probably both die."
"What side effects can we expect? Will she be unconscious?"
"Undetermined, but she should become sleepy and very…friendly."
"Friendly?" Itachi raised an eyebrow.
"For your purposes, I could make a few extra doses to make her more willing."
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary, Zetsu-san," Itachi picked up the head of the silver haired nin and deposited it into a bag to be brought to collect his bounty. He turned back once more to the dual skin toned ninja.
"Zetsu-san, would you mind disposing of the body for us?"
"I would be happy to, Itachi-san," Zetsu replied, "I'm fucking starving."
Kisame shivered as he and his partner left the battle scene, "Now that," the large blue nin pointed over his shoulder at the carnivorous ninja devouring the dead man, "is just not right."
0o0o0
Konoha
0o0o0
Sakura transported herself right to her front steps from her jutsu without even thinking.
Along with her came most of the sand and dirt that had been swirling around her in the wind razor jutsu.
"Great. Now I have another mess to clean up," she muttered, shook herself off and stepped up to her door. She dug in her pocket for the key and then remembered Sasuke had broken the lock.
"Of course," She pushed it open with one finger and went inside.
Leaning back against the door she closed her eyes, using her senses to feel her surroundings. Calmly, she felt around, sensing no disturbances in her house. "For once," she mumbled, "small favors."
She went into the living room. Using chakra she picked up a very large, very heavy bookcase brought it over and shoved it against the door.
"Kick that in and break your toes asshole," She smiled grimly.
'You'll just end up having to heal it yourself,' her Inner voice reminded her. 'Plus that nasty gash we sliced on his beautiful face.'
'Like hell I will. He can go to the hospital. I wouldn't heal that frickin pervert if he was the last man on earth,' she thought back angrily. 'And YOU! What gave you the idea that you could think for me? Jumping in and taking over that clone. Now he has a reason to think I deserve to be in that book. Thanks a lot.'
Inner Sakura smiled at the memory, 'I couldn't help myself. He looked so…'
'Don't say it! Sasuke's gonna tell everyone I'm a perv now, too.'
She kicked off her sandals.
'He started it, with the genjutsu he dropped us into,' her Inner self reminded. 'If you won't heal him, maybe I'll take over again and do it myself.'
'Ha! You got lucky, taking control of my bunshin. You can't do that with me. Besides you just want to jump on him.'
'I'm part of you remember? It's natural to feel that way about the one you love,' her inner argued.
'Love?' she scoffed. 'What you were trying to do had nothing to do with love. Sasuke is going to think that I'm still that same old fangirl wanting to service him, like when I was twelve, only this time the "service" won't be making him lunch or getting him tea.'
Sakura unstrapped her kunai pouch, setting it on the table next to the notorious roses from the other Uchiha.
Her back stiffened. "Oh yeah, I've got to do something about that, too." She hated the thought of throwing out the beautiful flowers, but she couldn't keep the creepy aide memoire either.
"On the other hand, maybe I should just keep them as a constant reminder to be on my guard. Well, whatever, worry about it later Sak," she told herself, "right now I just need a long, hot shower."
Going to her room she stripped her filthy clothes off, wrapped in a robe, and grabbed something clean to change into. She left her room before stepping back, grabbing her senbon carrier, and bringing it into the bathroom with her. It didn't hurt to be extra cautious. She could hook the weapon case right to the shower rod. Anyone who dared to enter her bathroom would look like a porcupine when she was done.
0o0o0
Sasuke walked up to Sakura's front door. He knew she had gone straight home but he was not exactly looking forward to confronting his rose-haired team mate. Sakura's clone had done some things that were so completely out of character. He wanted to know if she had done it on purpose, as some kind of strategy to throw him off. If so, she was going about things totally the wrong way. Any other man would have not let her get away with that kind of flirting—he almost hadn't himself. It hardly seemed possible to him even now that she could do that so well, being as innocent as he knew she was.
His knock received no answer. The busted door was blocked from the inside. He knew she was in there. He felt her discomfiture through the bracelet and she had set off his trap alerting him when she entered. Either she was ignoring him or she didn't hear him. He suspected the first.
Going around the side of the house he came to her bedroom window. Seeing no one in the room he pulled up on the sash and it came up easily with a loud squeak. The flimsy genjutsu of Kakashi's dog, Bull, which leapt at him through the window, was laughable.
Ignoring the dog Sasuke growled at her lack of preparedness."Kai," he grunted, releasing the noisy jutsu.
Climbing through her window he heard the sound of Sakura's shower running, and figured it to be the reason she didn't answer the door. He contemplated entering her bathroom to punish her for not locking her window, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. It was more like something the pervert or the dobe might try. She would probably not talk to him for a month if he did it. They had to get along if he was going to train her to fight against the Sharingan. If he stepped too far Tsunade might put him back under house arrest, even if she said he could do what he wanted. If Sakura ended up running to her in tears the Hokage would probably pound him before throwing him in jail.
He sat onto her bed, kicked off his sandals and looked around his team mate's room. It was decidedly…girly.
It wasn't just that it smelled nice. Naruto had been right about her having room for more than one in her bed. He had thought the dobe was just pulling his leg, but the bed was a enormous four poster bed with a white cotton duvet with red and white throw pillows. He picked up the largest pillow and there on the red sheets laid a small black sheathed tanto. He smirked. 'At least she's equipped to deal with an intruder, or Naruto if need be.'
Mementos of her life were scattered in an orderly way about the room—pictures of friends and his own team on the white dresser. He lay back on the soft bed, closing his eyes and relaxed while he waited for her. He hadn't got much sleep lately, since he had designated himself to guard her house when she slept.
Thinking back to their fight, he wondered if he hadn't left Konoha, if he might have seen this room in a more private setting before now—he definitely would have made sure the dobe never had.
0o0o0
Sakura stayed in the shower until the hot water tank ran its course. She was dreading the confrontation she knew was coming, there was no way on earth that Sasuke wouldn't have something to say about her clone's ecchi actions earlier. She groaned and turned the water off, smacking her head against the tile wall a few times for good measure.
'You're an adult, you can't run and hide from everything,' her Inner scolded.
'Easy for you to say, you're the one that embarrassed me in front of—'
"Your most important person?'
'I was about to say that arrogant jerk!' Sakura insisted in complete denial.
'Come now, it doesn't matter what you say. You can't hide your feelings from me. We're together in this, ne?'
'I am never giving you control again!' Sakura snarled.
'If you gave me control more often, this would never had happened. Ino was right, you should have kissed every one of those other boys that liked you. Sasuke too, whether he liked it or not. If you had, you never would have acted like that with Itachi and perhaps you might have slipped under his radar.
'You wish I had kissed all those boys,' Sakura sniffed, 'I can't help if Sasuke filled my heart first—but I can keep him out from now on.'
'You wish,' her inner self scoffed softly.
Sakura sighed, there was no point in avoiding it now. She just had to come up with an excuse for her clone acting that way. She threw on one of Naruto's old faded black t-shirts and a pair of boxer shorts then blew her hair dry.
0o0o0
For some reason Sakura wasn't really surprised to walk into her bedroom after her shower to find Sasuke sleeping there. The self-conscious girl in her wanted to yell at him for that horrible genjutsu, but her clone had acted just as badly. Even though she didn't want to go over that embarrassment with him, Sakura had to take responsibility for her clone's actions no matter what. The resigned ninja hung her robe on the bedroom door and walked over to wake him up and make him go home.
0o0o0
Uchiha Sasuke was in her bed. When she was younger she would have loved it. Now she was just confused by the boy.
Kakashi's words came back to her.
'Maybe you should consider that while you don't need him anymore, he still needs you.'
No, Sasuke was a loner. He couldn't possibly need her for anything.
'Sakura, I'll feel better if Sasuke is nearby,' Kakashi had told her.
'Sorry, Kakashi,' she thought. 'It won't work, I'm already losing it and it's only been half a day. My heart can't take being near him much longer—it already hurts.'
She hesitated as she stood over him. He was beautiful. He looked much younger when he was relaxed, not that she ever saw that much. The dark-haired, young man was usually the definition of tension. Naruto was always teasing him about having a stick up his ass. It wasn't totally his fault. She supposed he had a lot to bear since he had declared himself his clan's avenger. If he had chosen to share the burden with his friends, things would have been so different now.
'He still has that gash on his face too,' her inner nudged her. 'He was only trying to help you know.'
'Yeah, I know.' She heaved a sighed, reached out, and placed her hand against the side of his face, sending cool healing chakra through his skin.
0o0o0
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, watching her work. He could feel the odd sensation of his skin knitting itself back together. The burning from the cut disappeared as she worked, and a pleasant feeling replaced it. The girl's touch was so comforting it made him want to nuzzle into her hand—as if he would ever do such a thing.
There was no other med-nin like her. Most only worked to get the job done. Sakura was a perfectionist. She always did her best to take away all signs of pain as she worked, being so skilled with her chakra she could do both, and she never left a scar. She really wasn't cut out to be a cold hearted killer, she was too compassionate. The pressure from her punch earlier in the week was also relieved, as she healed the last of the bruising from his black eyes and broken nose.
"Thank you."
"Well, you were getting blood all over my pillows, so I had to do something." She smiled shyly, her cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink.
"Hn," He grunted. "Your security sucks."
She turned away from him and picked at a broken fingernail. "Yeah." She laughed softly. "Um…about earlier. I really wasn't—"
"Sorry," Sasuke interrupted her. "I think something went wrong when you made the clone," he supposed, giving her an easy out. "You couldn't copy the bracelet's jutsu correctly without knowing it and I believe it may have it made your clone act, strange."
"Yeah," she sounded relieved, "maybe. I don't know what happened. Too much exposure to Kakashi's dirty books." She laughed and scratched the back of her head.
He eyed her suspiciously. He could tell she was lying, but about what?
"We need to talk about what happened."
"Come on, Sasuke."
"If you don't learn to break the Sharingan, Itachi will hurt you."
"Nobody can break the sharingan, Sasuke."
"It can be done Sakura, with my training…training that you keep avoiding."
"Yeah, well, if you have the Sharingan eye then maybe you can stop another Sharingan. You should go. Ino will be here soon, you don't have to babysit me."
She got up and he noticed instead of her tight tank top, she had a shirt on that was huge on her. He tugged it, stopping her. "Where did you get this?"
"Huh?" She looked to where his hand was pulling her shirt. "Oh, it's one that Naruto left here."
She could swear Sasuke's eyes flashed crimson as he rose from the bed. "Why are you letting him sleep in your bed?"
"Naruto?" She raised an eyebrow at him, taking a step back."He's harmless—annoying, but harmless."
"He's a pervert. You let him sleep next to you—touch you."
"Hold on! Wait just a minute! He does not touch me. I'd pound him into next week."
"How do you know? You're asleep."
"Sasuke, I used to sleep next to you, too, and Kakashi and Sai and Yamato." She was put off by what his words implied and her face showed it. "Honestly, you make me sound like I'm a slut."
"You put too much trust in other men." He took another step toward her, making her back off more.
"So I should trust no one?"
"Aa."
"I can't do that. I can't shut everyone out like you did Sasuke!"
"Then someone like Itachi will take advantage."
"I'm supposed to be able to trust my team. I can take care of myself Sasuke," She told him boldly, taking a step forward.
His eyebrow rose in disbelief.
"I've been by myself for years now with no family." Another step brought her face to face. "I don't need you to tell me what to do." She pushed him towards the door.
"You need someone to watch over you Sakura—you always have."
"Sasuke, I have one question and I don't want you to answer me. I already know the answer. I just want you to answer for yourself."
"Why haven't talked to me since you been back? Why do you only care enough to speak to me now?" A final push had him out of her room, the door firmly shut in his face, locked. She'd tried to hide it, but he had seen the tears in her eyes.
He put his hand on the doorknob but he couldn't turn it. If he went back in there right now she might make him answer that question and the answer made him scared for her. If he told her the truth, she would never be safe again.
Instead, he walked down the hall, through the kitchen, to the living room. Seeing the reason why her door wouldn't budge he smirked, thinking of that little slip of a girl picking up that giant bookcase and setting it in front of the door. He forgot just how strong she really could be when he looked at her. To him she always seemed fragile.
"Sakura," he called down the hall. "I'll be back later to fix the door."
She didn't answer, but he knew she heard. He pulled the bookcase out far enough to slip through the door and pulled it closed behind him.
0o0
He didn't get ten feet from the steps.
"Konichiwa, Sasuke-kun," Ino crooned irritatingly. "Are you and Sak done training today?"
"Hn."
"Ever the conversationalist," Ino teased as he passed her. "She's not like other girls you know," Ino went on. Sasuke stopped and listened without turning around.
"You stepped on her heart a long time ago and while you bruised it you probably did her a favor. Her heart hasn't hardened like the rest of us. She has hopes. She still thinks ninjas can be all good—that there are still heroes. "
Sasuke turned to look at her questioningly.
"It's true, but what she doesn't realize, is that she's one of those heroes. She's kept her heart locked up for you for so long, she doesn't even begin to understand how to open it."
"She'll never pick up on the hints you're sending her. She was rejected by you so harshly, fully, and more than once that she no longer sees herself as worthy of love." Ino reiterated. "That's where you're in trouble."
The dark haired boy sneered, "Why's that?"
"If Itachi steals her, gives her that kind of love and makes her feel worthy, she'll fall for him, bad guy or not. She doesn't know it fully, but she craves that feeling of being loved, that closeness, more than anything. She just doesn't understand how to get it. She'll fumble and make mistakes.
The thing is, are you gonna be the one by her side when it happens, or is Itachi."
Sasuke tensed to argue with her and she put up one hand to stop him.
"Don't get me wrong, none of us want her to go with him," Ino assured him. "But you're the only one who can protect her this time. You're the only one who can keep her heart here, in Konoha. You just have to decide if Sakura's heart is what you want." Ino's voice softened. "I know you care for her. We all see it. Funny thing is, she's the only one who can't. She refuses to hope for happiness with you anymore, even if it's all she ever wanted. All she sees now is that the guy who rejected her is finally looking at her, only because his aniki did."
The Uchiha growled.
"Her heart is fragile. You'd better put on the kidd gloves. You'd better make her understand that she's what you want."
"She would be in constant danger with me," Sasuke rebuked her.
"It's too late for you to wait till it's safe for her. Her safety evaporated when he kissed her the second time. I saw it. Itachi wants Sakura and Uchiha's get what they want, right? She'll never be safe now anyways, as long as Itachi desires her. The proclaimed greatest ninja in generations desires her."
She looked at him cunningly. "Maybe it's not just him. Maybe Akatsuki has a plan for her we can't see. Maybe it his job to use her heart to drag her into the Akatsuki. Do you think he can't do it? If you don't hold her heart then he's going to take it without a fight."
Sasuke's aura darkened but Ino wouldn't back down.
"She chased you all those years, became strong for you. Are you gonna give her back some of that strength, or are you gonna hang on to that stupid Uchiha pride? The pride that killed its own clan."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger, but Ino ignored him.
"You know it's funny, Sakura's my best friend. She could have turned out just like me. In fact I encouraged her to, but she's the least shallow person I know—and the dumbest when it comes to matters of the heart. She locked hers away years ago. She won't get the hints. She doesn't trust you after you've were so cruel when you were younger. You're gonna have to give her the full force of your feelings, just like your brother did. Like it or not you have to tell her."
She crossed her arms, her voice became hard.
"I only hope your feelings aren't just lust like Itachi's…simple sexual desire. If they are, don't bother, because she will give in to you and when you dump her this time, she'll never come back from that heartache. If it's lust, just leave her to your brother. Because even if, god forbid, he rapes her, we'll be able to bring our Sakura back with her friend's love, but if you give her your love and take it away, she'll never return from that heartbreak another time, you'll have accomplished what none of us could. You'll harden her heart beyond repair, and she'll never be the girl this whole village loves again."
Sasuke took a step away and stopped.
"Don't misunderstand me, Sasuke-kun, I'm rooting for the two of you, but if you're not man enough to take responsibility, don't take her virginity. Then at least if she settles for someone else she'll have some form of happiness, even if she never has the love she deserves."
Sasuke left without a word.
Ino sighed. "Well Sak, I did my best."
She went up the walk and knocked on the door.
0o0o0
"Yuck!"
There was dirt and sand piled around the front steps.
The door opened by itself when she knocked and Ino finally noticed its state of disrepair.
"What the hell happened in here?"
"Hey Forehead you ok?" Ino yelled squeezing through her front door.
Hearing her friends voice Sakura unlocked her bedroom door and called back.
"I'm in my room."
"It looks like there was a battle in here." Ino looked. Taking in what would normally be her pajamas, Ino couldn't resist teasing, "Did you have sweet dreams of a hot s-class nin?"
"More like nightmares, pig."
"Come on Sakura, you have to quit acting like a virgin sometime in your life." The blondie had to rub it in if she wanted to get the two icebergs to kiss tonight, "Sasuke's probably gay if he hasn't made a move by now. "
"He's not gay, pig."
Ino put up her hand in defense. "Alright, he's hetero, but he's still an ice-cold jerk. You deserve more than that."
"Itachi Uchiha is more?"
"Well, he's cute."
"So?"
"So, your first kiss could have been much worse. A total dog, like that shark face. Or someone embarrassing, like Lee."
"Lee is a nice guy."
"Yeah, but would you kiss him?"
Sakura made an unpleasant face. "No."
"See? You need to relax. If you're careful, you won't have to worry. Itachi's not coming to Konoha to look for a date from you. And if you go on a mission just don't go anywhere alone. You have four of the best watchdogs around. Itachi won't even get close to you."
The pinkette sighed, letting Ino's advice sink in a little. "I guess you're sorta right. No use worrying about it. No turning back the clock."
She turned to her desk, fiddling with some scrolls she was writing.
"Have you thought more about how to break the Sharingan?"
"It's impossible."
"Nah. No bloodline is invincible, forehead. Look at how you broke the ShinTenShin at the Chunin exams. In fact I think you owe me a rematch. What do you say?"
"That was probably a fluke."
"Let's try it right here. There is not much moving around required so let's give it a shot. Just try to recall the whole fight and why you were able to break my hold on your mind."
Sakura looked at her warily.
"You're not scared, are you, forehead?"
"Bring it, Pig!"
"Sit on the bed," Ino instructed getting comfortable against the pillows.
"Here?"
"Yeah and if you lose you have to tell Sasuke you love him."
"No way. When you lose you have to eat half a dozen donuts."
"Are you kidding? Do you know how many calories are in a donut? No way!"
"Chicken…Pig?"
"You're going down, forehead!" Ino did the hand signs for her mind body transfer technique, trapping Sakura's mind with her own.
"Haha, forehead! Let's see you get out of this!" Ino crowed.
"Screw you, pig!"
Sakura struggled to break Ino's control over her mind to no avail. To see the girls in the room you could not tell there was a battle going on, Ino was slumped over, seemingly sleeping and Sakura was frozen with a grimace of determination on her face.
'Oh, come on, forehead you can do better than that,' Ino taunted inside her head.
'Shut up, pig.' Sakura was trying to eject her rival forcibly but she was getting nowhere fast.
'Hehe," Ino laughed evilly. "I'm going to relive a few of your memories. I finally get to see what Itachi's kiss felt like.'
'You wouldn't!'
She already was.
'Sakura! He's even more gorgeous then Sasuke close up! Oh, my god! It's not fair! My first kiss wasn't near that hot! Oh! Did you tell Sasuke what Itachi told you?'
'Leave it alone pig,' Sakura warned.
'If you won't tell me I'll just see for myself,' Ino bragged.
'Shit,' her inner complained, 'we have to get her the hell out of our head.'
'No kidding.'
'Oh Sak! Sasuke did that to you!' Ino saw the breakfast incident. 'Why didn't you tell me? Itachi sent you flowers? He's sooo jealous! Cha! Jariyah wrote a dirty book about YOU? Oh my GOD! Why didn't you tell me all this?'
'THAT'S IT PIG! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!' Both Sakura and he inner screamed and Ino was pushed forcibly out of Sakura's head and back into her own.
"Forehead!" Ino sat up on the bed, "You did it! Holy shit! Do you know how you did it?"
Sakura, panting, shook her head trying to think. She had been angry—as was her inner. Perhaps they had agreed long enough to work together, but that didn't seem quite right either. She needed time to think about it.
"See, it was nothing to get mad over. I have faith you'll work it out. Let's go out tonight and find a couple of cuties to kiss. That will take your mind off Uchiha's hot bod." She laughed as they got off the bed. "Actually forehead, I was a little jealous of all the attention being on you. I didn't know Itachi Uchiha scared you so much. Forgive me?"
"Yeah."
Ino hugged her best friend in the world. "I knew you'd see it my way, forehead."
"Yeah, why not?" Sakura hugged her back. Stealthily she took her friends ponytail and dipped it into the bottle of black ink from her desk, saturating it thoroughly. "I can't stay mad at you." She quickly hid the ink bottle as Ino pulled back.
"I gotta go work at the flower shop for two more hours forehead. Let's go out later. Pick out something sexy to wear so we can drive the guys crazy."
"Alright, I'll meet you at the bar at eight." She grinned as Ino left, her new hair color dripping down off her ponytail onto her back as she left Sakura's room.
'I just can't stay mad at that girl,' she thought, stifling a giggle.
0o0o0o0
0o00o0
Things you probably already know:
Aide memoire-Reminder-memory aid.
Tanto-A small to medium knife used by ninja with a blade 6-12 inches long.
Ecchi—H—slang for hentai-perverted.
0o0o0