AN: Yes, I did copy and paste this note from my chapter of Blue Jays. Don't judge, I'm lazy. Alright guys here's another chapter for you. I hope you like it. Oh, as some of you may have noticed I did begin a new story. To be honest, I've been writing it for a while but I was just avoiding posting it. Some friends read it and insisted I post it, so I did. It's called The First Time. While Blue Jays and Nothing but the Truth take precedent, I will be updating The First Time as much as I can. I've posted a summary for it below at the end of the chapter. I would love if you would read it.

How about this, just review and let me know what you think about everything?

Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 11: Facing Danger

"There is no living thing that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid."

L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

He had felt the first flare of chakra which made him perk his head up from his bed where he had been trying – and for perhaps the first time in his life, failing – to keep thoughts of a certain pink-haired kunoichi from his mind. Then, there was another flare of chakra and the house shook, and he realized that the chakra was from aforementioned kunoichi. Standing suddenly, he felt his stomach sink into his feet as his heartbeat grew louder in his ears.

"Itachi?" Kisame called from the hallways. "That's not a sparring session, is it?"

Itachi pushed his chakra outward, trying to grasp the situation, and found Deidara who half a mile away from Sakura. Sakura – Sakura was surrounded by eight (seven, six, five) people and judging by the way the numbers were dwindling, was fighting them. He rushed out of the bedroom, taking Kisame by surprise. "Let's go," was all he said.

Kisame was behind him in a moment of true understanding and Itachi was flying swiftly through the trees straight towards where he had felt Sakura when she had been battling whoever was attacking her. As he drew closer, he became more aware that Deidara was rushing back towards her as well. Had he really been stupid enough to leave her alone? Who was attacking her? Itachi flew into a large clearing, Kisame behind him, just as Deidara was reaching the same clearing on his bird.

"What happened?" he asked, trying not to let his voice betray the silent panic that was sweeping him from within.

"I went to go find a waterfall I had seen on the way in, yeah," Deidara explained breathily. Apparently he had been in quite the rush to get back as well. "Then I felt a whole bunch of chakra points flare up when I got a mile away and then Sakura's chakra started flaring and I heard a crash so I raced back here…"

He was practically hyperventilating now and Itachi held his hand up, commanding him to be silent. He quickly surveyed the scene before him with his Sharingan. There were two large craters in the center of the field and six dead bodies lying around, most of them dead due to hand-to-hand combat, it seemed. Sakura's wrinkled Akatsuki robe lay in a heap on the other side of the clearing. Looking at the trees, Itachi sensed which way Sakura had been taken with four others – seemingly male and very strong. Not strong enough to take him in a fight, but more than enough to take Sakura if there really were four of them.

"This way," Itachi intoned, flying into the forest. Kisame was not far behind and Itachi sensed Deidara flying above them, surveying the landscape. Is this what panic felt like? The way his heart was beating like it was having an attack, the sweat that was sheening over his neck and face, the way his legs were shaking – this was panic. The path suddenly split into two places, three of the criminals going one way, and another path with Sakura going the other.

"You kill them," Itachi commanded, inclining his head towards the path where the three shinobi had gone. "Take Deidara with you. I will retrieve Sakura."

Kisame motioned for Deidara to follow on his bird, and he nodded in understanding. Itachi flew off in the other direction.

Sakura was being carried on the back of one vulgar male while the others had gone off in a different direction, supposedly to split the Akatsuki up. Now, though, Sakura was very aware that this was one of the men that had insinuated 'having fun' with her earlier, and she was internally panicking. Her chakra stores were low – very, very low – and she still was having trouble bringing her body to do what she commanded.

The ninja she was being carried by suddenly changed his direction and whack, hit her ankle on a large rock. Sakura choked out a cry and he merely laughed – telling her that he had done that on purpose. Sakura pushed some diagnostic chakra into her ankle; it was fractured. Broken wrist, concussion, contusions to the head, minor skin wounds – some from poisonous senbon – and a fractured ankle, Sakura listed her injuries to herself and realized that if this man chose to have his way with her, she was in no position to fight it.

Almost as if reading her thoughts, he found what he'd been searching for: a secluded cave. Sakura cursed inwardly as the man slammed her hard into the wall of the cave. He was so disgustingly close to her that she had to force herself not to spit in his face. If he tried anything, she would, though. She wasn't passed that at all – she would do whatever it took not to be a victim of this.

Struggling the best she could, the only thing the vile man did was 'shhh' her as he placed a hand over her mouth. Trying to bite him, Sakura unclenched and clamped her jaw down, but he was able to avoid it. "Don't worry, I like the ones that fight," he hissed in her ear. Sakura tried to scream, but to no avail as his hand was back over her mouth.

She kicked out with her good leg, but once again, the man was able to dodge it. He was tall – just as tall as Itachi – but much more muscular, almost to the point of it being too much. Like he had something to prove. The thought of his masculine inferiority complex almost made Sakura laugh, but the situation was currently much too dire for that. The man clamped her hands above her head with one hand, and then formed several hand seals.

Rock jut out from the side of the wall and fastened Sakura's hands down. She pushed and pulled against it, forcing whatever chakra she had left into escaping, but there was no use. Sakura whimpered in despair, the tears now threatening to spill over as her entire body shook. She knew this was sometimes a negative event that happened to kunoichi. It was something that some of her friends and comrades had gone through. It was why they trained kunoichi to cope with these situations when they occurred, but nothing could prepare even the strongest kunoichi for when it actually happened.

Sakura fought with all of her might, thrashing out with her legs again. The ninja simply grabbed her by her thighs roughly and pulled her so he thrust his erection into her hips. Sakura became very aware of his desire for a female body, and a few tears leaked from her jade eyes. Luckily, they were both fully clothed still. However, this didn't seem to be the case for long as the male, with one hand still over her mouth, forced her shorts and underwear down to her ankles.

"It's been too long," he breathed into her ear. Sakura fought to keep her thighs clothed as her teeth instinctively sought out to bite the man. Since he had been distracted by undressing her, she was able to clench her teeth down onto his hand. And it was hard and blood began to seep from his hand. That very hand reared up and smacked her hard across her face. "Bitch," he muttered; however, now he was dropping his own pants to the floor.

"Back at you, you sick bastard," she hissed back. "It's not my fault you can't even pay a whore to fuck you, you worthless ugly piece of-"

Another hand hit her in the jaw and she felt it dislocate. "Maybe now you'll shut up."

He was getting dangerously close, and her words had done little to deter his physical desire. Pulling himself between her legs and taking her thighs roughly in his large palms, Sakura braced for the worst.

It didn't come.

In fact, very suddenly the man was off and away from her, and pressed to the other end of the wall; almost comically, his pants were still down, but his desire seemed to have fled that particular extremity.

Suspended two feet from the ground, Itachi held the man by his throat against the wall. Never before had Itachi understood what 'blind-rage' or 'seeing red' meant, but now he was sure he did. However, a very good part of him was more than relieved that he had reached her just in time.

"Release her," Itachi commanded with the most deadly intent in his tone and his red eyes as he glared at the man. The ninja did, and Itachi heard Sakura fall to the floor and she let a cry of pain rip through her as she landed on her ankle.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry," the ninja sputtered. "I didn't know she was Akatsuki."

"You should die with your mouth shut for you will only make it worse," Itachi replied in the same deadly tone. Sakura was pulling her underwear and shorts back on, and then she fell to the ground, holding her arms and shaking lightly.

"Have mercy," the man replied, his voice trembling in fear at the look in Itachi's eyes. Mercy? The ninja had to be joking. He was certainly showing Sakura no mercy when Itachi had arrived. That very man who was now begging for mercy like a weak child was about to rape Sakura. His Sakura. Itachi shook the notion off the moment in jumped into his mind – she wasn't his, but he liked the way it sounded. Regardless, that was beside the point. Judging by the bruises on her face and the way she coddled her arm, no one had shown the girl mercy all day. That was a joke.

"No," Itachi replied, and pinwheels started to rotate in their sockets. The man was gone into his genjutsu before he even realized what happened. After hours in Itachi's alternate universe, and only mere seconds in real life, the man fell unconscious. However, he was still alive. Itachi reached up with his left hand, as his right was still holding the man to the wall by his neck, and with one swift twist, his neck was broken.

Lifeless, Itachi allowed the man's body to slump to the floor. This was perhaps the first time Itachi had killed and it had been truly satisfying. It was the first time he had killed for someone; he had been defending someone he kind-of-sort-of-maybe cared about. Now, he turned his attentions back to said person.

Sakura was just staring at him through trembling jade eyes. She was still on the floor, cradling one arm in the other and it was clear that it was broken. Itachi walked over to her slowly trying to assess her condition thoroughly. Then, to his utter surprise, Sakura jumped up using the one good leg she had and threw herself into Itachi's arms.

Her one good arm wrapped around his torso in a forceful grip and she buried her face into his chest, her other arm hanging limp at her side. "I never thought I would be so glad to see you," she whispered, allowing a muffled cry to escape her lips.

Just like two days ago, Itachi wasn't sure how to reciprocate such a gesture. It was as if it were so natural for her to find her way into his embrace, so he allowed his body to take over and he pulled her in tighter. She was now flush against him and his Akatsuki cloak seemed to engulf her. He allowed his cheek to lie on the top of her head as his hands rested on the small of her back. Enjoying the contact, he allowed his arms to squeeze her in a little tighter, and he was suddenly aware that this was a very intimate embrace for just a platonic relationship.

Sakura squeaked a little, but she didn't pull back. Itachi was warm and comforting, and that was what she needed right now. Right now, even though he may be one of the 'bad guys', he had saved her from a trauma and a fate some would say was worse than death. Plus, Sakura was beginning to have major doubts whether he was one of the bad guys. Also she was thoroughly enjoying the contact with Itachi, consequences be damned. She was sure her inner would be swooning if she had been a conscious part of her mind right now.

Itachi suddenly stiffened underneath her, and pulled her back by her shoulders lightly, much to her displeasure. As if reading her thoughts, he whispered, "Deidara and Kisame are almost here."

Sakura pulled back and braced herself on Itachi's arm, as if she was trying to walk. Itachi almost laughed out loud – the girl clearly was having trouble staying conscious much less making the four mile trek back to the base. Sakura looked up at him, confused at the pure amusement in his now onyx eyes (she had instructed him to turn the Sharingan off the second he finished using his genjutsu, after all).

Itachi pulled his cloak off as the girl was now shivering at the cold dampness of the black cave, in addition to her emotional ordeal. He tucked it around her securely and then pulled her onto his back quickly and pulled her legs lightly around him and she draped her arms unceremoniously around his neck and over his chest. She could barely hold on, but his firm grip told her that she would not fall. Sakura barely registered the pain shooting through her after being tossed around like a rag doll.

What was it with Itachi and man-handling her after she gets sexually assaulted? She logged that this was the second time this had happened – the first being the time in the woods after Noboru had tried to have sex with her. Of course, this situation was much different, but the principle of the thing was still the same. At least it was to her.

He strode out of the cave carefully as she held onto the last vestiges of consciousness she could. Itachi was very conscious of her curves against his back, but he tried to ignore them. It was more than inappropriate for so many reasons, one of which being that she was very injured.

Deidara and Kisame had just made their way to the mouth of the cave. Deidara looked very ruffled and Itachi realized that the man's chakra stores were very low. They wouldn't be flying Sakura out of here like Itachi had originally planned. He supposed that he would be carrying her the four miles back, not that he minded.

"She's okay?" Kisame asked, unable to mask the concern in his voice for the kunoichi. Itachi merely inclined his head in response.

"She looks hurt, yeah," Deidara noted, getting closer to the kunoichi, and by default, Itachi. Not liking the blast-nin's proximity, Itachi backed away towards the house where they were staying.

"She will need to be healed when we return," Itachi replied. "She has several injuries, but none of them are life threatening."

Deidara nodded and they began their journey back at a relatively fast pace, but Itachi tried to keep his strides lucid and even. Each time he took a step the wrong way or had to change direction quickly, the barely-conscious Sakura would groan in utter discomfort and pain. The sounds discomfited the Uchiha so he attempted to make the journey back a smooth one for her.

As they entered the house, Deidara asked, "Where's Tobi, yeah?"

"Miss your boyfriend already?" Kisame replied, trying to ruffle the blond. Deidara whipped back around and held an obscene finger up to the shark ninja who just laughed. Itachi made his way past them, ignoring their inappropriate antics, and into Sakura's room. Kisame and Deidara were following him, and they helped him lower the girl onto the bed.

Sakura let out a sigh of pain as her body hit the bed and Itachi kneeled next to her. Pushing his mediocre diagnostic chakra into her, he felt every break and bruise. Slowly, he replaced diagnostic chakra with healing chakra.

First, he addressed the head wounds and concussion. Those were most threatening to her. Then, he moved onto the ankle and wrist, mending the broken bones. Finally, he treated her jaw, but he felt that something was still wrong with her. Her face was flushed with heat, but her entire body felt cold to the touch and she was shivering.

Meekly, Sakura regained some consciousness as the last of her visible wounds were healed. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed Itachi's wrist to get his attention. "Itachi," she whispered. Itachi was over her, searching her dazed eyes. "Poison," she grit out but her eyes closed as a wave of pain rushed over her.

Itachi didn't know what to do – poisons were hardly his specialty. He shook her lightly, "Sakura."

"Sodium nitrate – it was in my bag when you captured me…dissolve…one ounce…water…" she managed to mumble, but then she slipped into a fitful slumber again. Deidara had been behind him the entire time and ran to his room where he kept Sakura's original belongings. He quickly found the vial she had been talking about and rushed back into Sakura's room. Kisame he retrieved the water and quickly they were diluting the substance into it.

Itachi shook her again and Sakura mumbled something incoherent but her eyes opened. Propping her up, he held the glass to her lips. Sakura drank without question and fell back down into the bed. "Thanks," she whispered. Itachi felt his heart jolt a bit when he realized that she would be okay – at least that's what he had taken from her last words to them.

What seemed like an eternity later, her temperature seemed to regulate itself and her skin turned to a normal pallor. Itachi didn't leave her room that night for fear that she would suddenly relapse and die on them. That was hardly favorable for so many reasons.

One, Konoha would come after them and attack them hopelessly until the entire Akatsuki was destroyed. He had gathered that Sakura seemed to be a beloved member of their world. Perhaps they weren't so clueless after all, if they put stock in people like Sakura.

Two, Leader would be much less than pleased. He wanted the girl for the Akatsuki as she possessed great power and prowess as a medic. He seemed to believe she would be an invaluable asset to them all.

Three, she was healing his eyes and heart condition saving him from future pain and suffering. Not to mention he kind-of-sort-of maybe cared for her just a little bit – enough to want to keep her around for at least a little while longer. Despite the fact that he and Kisame were currently trying to hash out a plan of how to get her back home in one piece, without Leader discovering how they did it.

Now thoroughly exhausted himself, Itachi pulled two of the cushions that were next to the low table in her room together and laid down. He would only close his very sore eyes for a few moments before returning to observe her condition. Yes…only a few moments…

X

Tsunade-sama,

We have picked up her trail in northern Earth Country. Records show she was on a barge to Lightning Country using one of her usual aliases. I believe they allowed her to choose what name she would be travelling under. We are stopping for twenty-four hours to rest and restock supplies, and then we will continue the search.

Neji

Tsunade shook her head at the note – Lightning Country? Why take her to that god forsaken place? Sakura hates the rain – she thrives in bright sunlight. Not that the Akatsuki would know that. However, maybe they did. Knowing Sakura, she would make friends with them all because that's just who Sakura is. Perhaps that was why she was staying with them.

Her recollection of her debriefing of Team Ebisu came to mind. Sakura had told them that she was staying with the Akatsuki for the same reason she did everything else. When the hokage had asked Konohamaru and Moegi what that was, they had replied that Sakura does everything to protect Konoha and the ones she loves.

Therefore, the hokage had to assume that Sakura had a very good reason for staying with them and helping the Uchiha. The frighteningly irritating part is she couldn't figure out why. In all the messages Sakura had managed to get back – Sasuke, Team Ebisu, even the underlying message in her birthday gift to Naruto – hadn't explained why she was choosing this path. If Tsunade could only understand the reasoning behind everything…

Her musings soon ended with a knock on the door. "Come in," she replied, hiding her bottle of sake in the top drawer of her desk.

Morino Ibiki walked in with Inoichi Yamanaka behind him. "So?" she prompted.

"The boy seems to be aware that Orochimaru has implanted his soul within him, but he's fighting the foreign body," Inoichi explained. "The displeasure he seems to emit is genuine and he's battling with everything he has to keep Orochimaru under control."

Tsunade sighed a bit in relief. If Sasuke truly was trying to defeat the snake-sannin from within, it meant that there was hope for him yet. The question was where to go from here? How could she extract a piece of soul? That would be the next step – get Orochimaru out of Sasuke. It was way beyond her repertoire of medical knowledge. This was where Sakura would pipe up with some ludicrous idea, but it would be brilliant, and they would find a way to do it. Even if Sakura had not yet surpassed the Godaime in pure strength and medical ability, her creativity and determination was bar-none, which gave her an advantage that no one else had.

However, now this mind was in the hands of the Akatsuki. Tsunade was just glad that her mental barrier seemed to work against the Uchiha's Sharingan.

"Hokage-sama?" Ibiki asked.

"Huh?" she asked as she hadn't heard anything the two men had said during her reverie.

"I was asking what you'd like to do with the Uchiha?" he asked again.

"We can't have him running around with Orochimaru inside his mind because the possibility of him taking over it too great," Tsunade replied. Her mind was trying to formulate the best response. "He also has to wait to stand trial, but it may be several months before that happens. Down grade him to a high-risk inmate as opposed to a maximum-risk and explain your findings to Kakashi Hatake and Shikamaru Nara. Don't tell Naruto, though."

The two agreed and bowed lightly, and then they left her. Pulling her sake back out, she took a swig straight from the bottle. Sakura, what do you have in mind for all of this?

X

Sakura had smashed herself as far into the comfortable couch that sat in the house library as far as she could go. Having pulled out an all-too-familiar medical dictionary, she was leafing through its pages thoughtlessly. She had this particular edition at home and right now she needed something familiar to distract her.

It had been two days since the attack. She had woken the next morning groggy, sore and still slightly off from the poison, but she felt better. Itachi was lying with his back against the wall on two cushions, his eyes shut. He had clearly been sleeping, but when Sakura rustled his eyes shot open. Sakura wanted to comment on his ruffled looking appearance and unclear eyes, but he had waved her off silently. He had regarded her wordlessly and then asked about her injuries. After discussing the events for a moment he had stood up and left the room, only to come back a few minutes later with chicken soup and some crackers.

He had told her to take it easy and keep her food intake light as they were still unaware of the poison that she had been afflicted with. Sakura had agreed wholeheartedly, and was a little touched by his concern. Thinking back to the event, she realized just how truly angry Itachi had been at the whole situation. The Uchiha had seemed truly incensed and Sakura couldn't help but think (okay, maybe she was wishing) that Uchiha Itachi cared for her; even if it was just a little bit.

Kisame had seemed disgruntled by the whole situation, and Deidara had spent the good part of today and yesterday apologizing and begging for her forgiveness. There was nothing to forgive, though. He clearly hadn't sensed the presence of the men, and she certainly had been unaware. It was just something that happened, or didn't happen thank to Itachi.

Sakura then found herself very aware of the missing Akatsuki Tobi. After asking where he had gone, Deidara said he had a tracking solo mission to do for one of the jinchuriki. Sakura's inquiries stopped there but only after they had assured her that it wasn't Naruto. She remembered her entire chest feeling so light and relieved at that particular moment that she had gone up and hugged Kisame for delivering such good news. He had just laughed and patted her on the shoulder like she was some little child.

Now, Sakura was enjoying some light reading before bed about the human heart, trying to make sure she was an expert before she dared try to heal Itachi's. She was still an expert, of course, and she found herself able to identify every portion of the organ. Her entire body was still so exhausted and affected by the poison that she hadn't been able to do any healing for Itachi. She felt bad about this, but he assured her that it was alright, and that she should just get better soon. Once again, his words had struck her as oddly compassionate. However, she had just brushed it off as her wanting him to care.

Itachi walked into the library silently. Sakura was staring at a large diagram of the human heart, her brows furrowed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Itachi nearly laughed out loud at how endearing the face was, but he managed to suppress it as such a display of emotion on is part would be incredibly uncharacteristic and abnormal. He settled for the smirk that had now tugged its way onto his lips instead.

Sakura looked up at him and smiled at him lopsided. "Just trying to make sure I remember everything," she explained a little languidly, her eyelids dropping a bit.

"You need rest," Itachi replied walking over to her. "You are still healing."

Sakura nodded in agreement. She had been about to protest, Itachi noted, because her brow had furrowed again and she'd gotten that stubborn look in her eye, but then her mouth widened in an unexpected yawn. There was no point in arguing now, she supposed. To her surprise Itachi held out his hand to her, offering to help her up.

Sakura tentatively took his hand in hers as she braced herself on his firm grip. Pulling herself up, she had forced too much strength into the gesture, due to her not being familiar with her body and it's reactions from the poison, that she was quickly falling into him. Hitting him in the chest with her body, she pulled back quickly, a flush in her cheeks. "Sorry," she muttered, pulling away from his grip completely.

Itachi merely observed the entire thing silently. Surely, he could have avoided that entire scenario, but he enjoyed seeing the pinkette flustered and he wasn't going to object to the contact. "It's fine," he replied.

Sakura walked out of the library with a book in hand, and Itachi couldn't help but grab it from her grip. It had been resting on the table before while she had been studying the human heart, and he was curious to see what she read besides medical textbooks. The Legends of the Samurai he read.

"Itachi, give it back!" Sakura squealed, trying to steal the book back. He was able to dodge her advances, though, as he floated lightly around the hallway. If he hadn't had the book in his hand, it would look as if they were trying some sort of odd and perverse dance. Finally, after he had perused it, he snapped it shut and looked at her.

Sakura stopped dead as she locked eyes with his. For a moment, just a moment, she was sure that she saw something in his black eyes that was different. It was a strange mix between desire and affection, and she was positive it was there. This wasn't just her hoping it was there because she had made sure she looked twice.

This was something she had learned in all of her time spent with the Uchiha over the past two months: his emotions graced his features for a mere moment before he was able to return them to their normal passivity. That was only when the emotions were strong enough to make it to his face in the first place because they rarely did. Sakura noted that she had just enough time to get two glimpses of an emotion before he would return his face to its' normal state.

Therefore, after two pointed looks at Itachi Uchiha in the hallway, she was sure as to what she had saw. In fact, even now as he just stared at her determined look blankly, Sakura was sure of what she had seen. And now, she was thoroughly confused.

He desired her – at least on a physical level. That had been very clear in his eyes and now that she thought about it, there were a few other times that she caught those glimpses. She had seen him silently noting her female physique a few times, but she ignored it because it was something males just did. At least, they just did it around her, and she'd spent enough time with Kakashi and Naruto to know that they did it to most other females with a shapely body.

However, there was something else there – the affection. Where the hell did that come from?

That's when Sakura's thoughts got cut off by an Uchiha who was suddenly very close to her. "You are overthinking things, Sakura," he whispered quietly as he leaned down next to her ear.

Her body automatically pressed against the wall behind her as he slowly boxed her in. The proximity and heat of his breath was enough to make her shiver a bit at the closeness. It also made her a little uncomfortable. It was a mere two days ago she was in the same, yet a very different, position with another male. Except that male had forced that on her, but this one wasn't. Sakura knew that if she asked, this male would back off instantly. However, she found herself not wanting to ask.

She managed to keep her cool, though, at least outwardly. "You're one to talk. You're the most calculating person I know," she retorted, trying not to think too much about the fact that Uchiha Itachi was leaning very close to her, and the fact that his hand had slowly made its way to her hip.

"Not about this," he replied smoothly, but he was already pulling back. His hand moved its way to the back of her neck and he pulled her in. He forced the book he had into her shocked hands and kissed her lightly on the forehead before pulling back completely. The spot where he had pressed his lips tingled and Sakura nearly shuddered again. "Goodnight, Sakura," he mumbled into the top of her head.

Then, he disappeared behind his bedroom door silently.

AN: Alright I hope you liked it! Oh here's a summary for The First Time. I hope you read it. Please review!

The First Time:

The first time he saw Haruno Sakura, he was nine and she was five. The first time he talked to Haruno Sakura, she was twelve and he was seventeen. The first time he took real note of Haruno Sakura, she was fifteen and he was nineteen. Little did he know that such inconsequential meetings would affect the rest of his life. AU Itachi/Sakura Non-massacre.