DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto's characters. I do not own the song.

Word can't even begin to explain how sorry I am that I haven't been keeping up with this story (or my others for that matter) and how annoyed I am that I haven't been doing so. That being said, I have found that it was much easier to find time to write when my daughter would nap like she should. At 7 months she thinks she doesn't need them anymore… so please, continue to bare with me!

Thanks to my reviewer(s) : craizypet, Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha, TeenageCrisis, ylfrettub, UchihaTragedy, KagomeAngel91, withloveagain (times two!) and pen007.

As always, enjoy! - laydee kai

A Traitor's Heart: Self Inflicted
Chapter Nine

The door creaked open and Itachi and Sakura were greeted with a rather annoyed string of curses.

"Where the hell have you two been? I wake up and find no one is here… there's no damn food either."

"Guppy." Sakura greeted back with a small smile before erasing it to continue. "Shut your pointy toothed mouth. You are so damn ungrateful, do you know that?"

"What are you bitching at me for now, woman? I've been out for days with nothing to eat…. I think I am entitled to something to eat!"

"Kisame-san." Itachi interrupted.

The large blue man opened his mouth to retort but then closed it. He looked at his partner and raised his eyebrows to indicate that he was waiting for whatever Itachi had to tell him. Itachi shifted his eyes quickly to Sakura to catch her looking at him just as oddly as Kisame.

"That's enough. Allow Sakura to check your injuries so we can be on our way."

"But I'm hungry." he answered back.

"We need to head out. You can eat while we are traveling."

Kisame started to grumble to himself as Sakura removed her medical bag and walked over to him. She bent down and scanned him from head to toe to see how his wounds looked. She placed her hands on his stomach and applied a small amount of pressure. Kisame grunted in return.

"I thought you were some great medic. Why haven't I been healed yet?" he asked rudely as he watched her dig through her bag for more bandaging.

"I couldn't heal you completely because of Itachi's nifty little seal. Both of you sustained injuries and I was only allowed the bare minimum of chakra. I did what I could. I have been trying my damnedest to keep Itachi from using any of his chakra since he opened his eyes."

"So?" he prodded her. His eyes fell to his bandaged midsection to watch her cut away the dirty ones in order to tend to the wound before replacing them.

"So, I had to do this old school… with bandages, stitches and ointments. That is why we weren't here when you woke up from your beauty nap, which I recommended you trying again."

"Ha. Real funny kunoichi. I wish you would hurry and heal Itachi already. I can't wait until I don't have to worry about opening my eyes and seeing you and your ugly hair." he teased.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as he laughed at her hair. She had just squeezed a glob of medical ointment onto her index finger. Keeping her eyes locked on to Kisame's beady ones, she jabbed her finger at the wound.

"Damnit!" he growled.

"If it wasn't for me and my ugly hair your ass would have bled to death."

"I'm going to kill you!" he continued with his rant.

"Try it." she answered back with venom. "Then who will patch your fishy ass back up next time your brain stops working on a simple mission. I don't know why I was ever scared of you. Clearly, Itachi carries your ass through everything."

Kisame's jaw clamped down at her words and the insinuation that he was weak. He bared his shark like fangs at Sakura. She didn't even blink. He batted her hand away from his stomach.

"Don't fuckin' touch me. I don't need your help!" he roared.

"Fine." She answered calmly as she turned from him and packed up the remainder of her things. She stood and looked at him as she snapped her bag back into place. She turned to face Itachi who was watching them quietly.

"I need to check you too." she said tautly, keeping her eyes locked with his.

He nodded but didn't move.

"I need chakra to do that." she explained.

He grunted first and then extended a hand to rest on her bare stomach and the other on her head. He pushed a small amount of chakra into her abdomen and head allowing her chakra to move and seep out slightly. When he withdrew his hands, hers flared to life.

She raised them up to his head and from there her hands trailed over his chest, hovering very closely, to stop over his heart. She took note that the base she had given him had long since left his body and the acid levels were the same as they were the first time she checked them.

Keeping her eyes shut tightly, she murmured to him, "Arms up."

He looked at her and obliged. His arms rose from his side as her own snaked around to his sides and then to his back. She was checking his kidneys. The hum died down and she opened her eyes as she pulled her arms back to wrap around herself.

"Your acid levels are high again. I don't have time to make you another base powder before we leave so the trip will be uncomfortable." she explained apologetically.

"I have dealt with it before, I will be fine if that's what you are worried about." he answered. "Are you?" he added softly for her only.

Her eyes widened before they contradicted her answer, "Of course not."

Sakura stepped around him and walked to the bathroom. Itachi's body didn't turn, but his head did slightly as he watched her from his peripheral.

"Something happened with you two?" Kisame asked as he stood up.

"No." Itachi answered simply.

"Are you really going to start lying to me now, Itachi-san?"

"Nothing has happened." he answered stiffly.

Kisame shrugged slightly before slipping into his cloak. "Guess we better get this over with so we can ditch that damn kunoichi. I'm really getting sick of her mouth."

Itachi shook his head as he gathered the few things that were his, stuffing them in the correct pouches.

"Why are you shaking your head at me?"

"No reason, Kisame-san."

"You know, Itachi-san, we have been partners for years. I use to have a hard time reading you. You were always so cryptic about everything. But right now, I can read you like a cheap novel. If you don't feel that its important enough to tell me what's going on with you, then don't. But don't forget that I only play dumb."

Itachi paused for a moment. His eyes firmly locked on to his partner's. He held his ridged stance.

"That kunoichi has changed the way we are. I understand that you need to keep her happy so she will heal you, but don't delude yourself." Kisame added gruffly.

"I would never do such a thing." Itachi answered coldly.

Kisame seemed to accept his words and dropped the subject.

Sakura had confined herself to the bathroom while she gathered her emotions. Kisame was harsher than normal and his words stung slightly. She never thought that anything that came from his mouth would affect her in such a way. It was unnerving.

Sakura put her back to the door just in time to over hear the conversation between the two men in the next room. Her heart thudded violently in her chest and then stopped. The ice that tinged his words, I would never do such a thing flowed through her veins. The bathroom got smaller and the air seemed to all but vanish. She slid down the door, silently gasping for a breath that she couldn't find.

Why did his words hurt her? Why did she let him get to her. They were nothing. He meant nothing to her and she nothing to him. She knew that. What was it that made it hurt so damn much?

The door shook behind her.

"We're leaving." Kisame's voice rumbled through the door.

She swallowed hard and lifted herself from the ground. She had to spend more time with these two ungrateful bastards and she wouldn't let either of them know that they had done anything to get to her. She would heal the Uchiha and be on her way. She would return home and never look back. She would never think of an Uchiha again after this was all said and done.

The trek back to the small one roomed shack was silent. Every time either male looked back at her, her face betrayed nothing. She was emotionless and silent.

"Nothing to say, Pinky?" Kisame prodded.

Sakura's lips remained tightly shut. She didn't even cast her eyes in his direction. Itachi eyed her cautiously. He slowed his pace and dropped back to where she was.

"You are uncharacteristically quite." he stated in a soft tone.

Her heavy gaze settled on him. "You know nothing of my character, Uchiha-san."

He didn't show it outwardly, but he was taken back by her sudden coldness to him. He thought that there was something different between them, but now he didn't know what to think.

After a moment of silence, he answered, "You are right, Haruno-san. Pardon my assumptions." and with those words he picked up his pace but not before noticing her breath hitch at his words in response.

Something had happened that clearly upset her. Itachi's mind ached as he thought about this. He realized that life was much simpler without having to think about and decipher the actions of a woman. It was much simpler when he didn't care about such things, but for some reason, he found that he did. He cared more than he should. Itachi thought more and more about what could have upset her. The only thing that he thought of was Kisame's words to her.

"You two have a fight or something?" Kisame asked sarcastically.

Itachi sighed. "I doubt it was anything I had to say."

"Oh, so I said something? I wish I would have figured that out sooner, it would have been a little quieter."

Itachi said nothing.

"You disagree?"

"Hn."

Kisame groaned. "What the hell do you mean by that? Do I have to be nice to her now or something? She means nothing to me. She is here to fix you and then be out of our lives."

"Being nice and being grateful do not always go hand in hand, Kisame-san. What she said was true, you would have bled to death."

"No, I wouldn't have. I'm tougher than a little cut to my stomach and you know basic medical jutsus… we have been through worse than that damn assignation."

"With my condition, I couldn't have healed you. But we must see the logic in this situation, Kisame-san. The kunoichi will be with us for some time. For all parties concerned, this would work much smoother if we all played nice."

"Play nice?" he asked confused, "Why the hell would I do such a thing?"

"You did it in the beginning and were fine. She insulted you and now you are acting like a child. And on top of that, no matter what you think, I will kill one of the two of you because I don't have the ability to deal with you right now. I can take the sarcastic banter and insults, but not this."

"Then kill her." he shot back in a mumble.

"That would be counter productive to me being healed."

Kisame's eyes narrowed at the implications behind Itachi's words. This one person was throwing their whole messed up dynamic down the drain. Something was different now and he didn't like it, not at all.

I know that Kisame and Sakura's relationship kind of took a more "I hate you" turn in this chapter. But it's like Itachi pointed out, Sakura insulted Kisame by saying that it's Itachi who carries the team and without him, Kisame would be pretty useless. I mean, to any man I think that would be a blow to their ego. I'm not sure how or when, but I would like for the fences to be mended between them and they go back to messing with each other. That's always fun to write! - l.k.