Madara looked down at the woman who he had made into a punching bag in the past few days; laying in a puddle of her own blood. Her body temperature had been dropping drastically, it was obvious that she was going to die soon and even though he wanted to play some more – he needed her alive to torture Itachi with.

"He's coming, soon," Madara said as he lifted her up by the hair. Sakura's face was swollen so much that her blotchy eyes were closed shut, "I don't think he'll like the way you look…it's very….ugly. Filthy. He never did like the woman I made filthy."

She responded with a gargling sound and he tossed her down. She hadn't been able to say anything for the past twenty hours.

"Oh, happy days! Finally, Itachi….hahahahahaha. You put an end to my happiness, I will put an end to yours. Ten years," he turned back to the dyeing girl, "ten years he locked me up! Can you believe the injustice? I provide entertainment for the rich, and I gave a meaningful life to so many meaningless souls. Now you…if you hadn't punched me…you would have been fetched up for a lovely price and we'd all be happy. But no…you had to be a little bitch…but no matter. You'll be worthless soon, once Itachi comes…oh to see him suffer. I will make him suffer. Suffer. Suffer. Suffer! NO ONE BETRAYS ME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" A maniacal laughter echoed throughout the abandoned warehouse.

.

…

.

Madara heard the echoes of approaching footsteps. He tossed his crossword puzzle down to the floor and grabbed the hand gun from his pocket and directed him to the lump of flesh lying against the empty wooden box he was sitting on.

"Itachi! Itachi!" Madara greeted him and it filled him with glee to see how distorted Itachi's face became when he saw the doctor.

"Greetings, bastard," Itachi snarled.

"Me? Bastard? No, no, no. My pops is still alive…somewhere," Madara replied with a wicked smirk, "so how are you?"

"Let her go."

"Let her go? You only want me to let her go? What about those other woman? Mmmm? Didn't want me to let them go did you?"

"Let. Her. Go." Itachi pulled out a police issued gun and pointed it at Madara.

"Oh, you shot me, I shot her…you're left alllllllll alone…you lose."

"What do you want?" Itachi asked, his hand wavering in his hold of the gun.

"Just talk…we never got a chance to talk. You were so busy trying to kill me…never talked before. I just want to talk. That's all. Tell me, how did it feel…being my partner?"

"I wasn't your partner, I was undercover."

"No…no. That's not true. You were my partner. You helped me, you helped me do all those dirty things you hate me for doing. You were just like me aren't you? And you are just like me, now…Yes. Yes. You are."

Itachi stayed silent; his eyes remained focused and trained on his target as his finger pulsed and begged to pull the trigger.

"Hehehe, you know. When Tobi told me that he discovered that you were living with another woman…I didn't believe it. You? Committed to another person? That couldn't be. Because you were just like me. Isn't that right? If you weren't like me…you'd have come with feds, right?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed even more and his brows furrowed, it looked as if he was holding his breath.

"You like to get the job done. At all costs. No matter the sacrifice, right? Hahahaha, and look at you now, you don't want to make the sacrifice of this thing? She's better off dead now, anyway. If you really were different from me. If you really were fighting for good and justice and peace and all that shit, you'd have come here with a platoon of military men. You'd have done anything to put me back in the prison. But you haven't. You came alone….in what? Hopes that you could save her and kill me? HAH! You don't want to save her. You wanted to talk to me too; something pulls you in to me. You want to understand me, hahahaha YOU -," Madara's body went limp and he fell over the box cartoon to the floor.

The man Madara was talking to smiled in a way Itachi never would, "and this is it?" his voice changed to that of Sasori as he looked up at the second level of the warehouse where the real Itachi was positioned with a sniper rifle.

"Yes," Itachi replied Jumping over the railing and rushing down the metal stairs, "the ambulance and feds will be here in two minutes. I suggest you leave."

"Hmmm, so she's special to you?" Sasorai asked tugging off the fake black wig.

"Yes," Itachi admitted as he grabbed her weakened body and pulled her up in his arms, "you okay?" he whispered but only got a found indistinguishable noises from her throat as a response.

"I'm happy for you, Itachi," Sasori said, "maybe I'll go become a police officer, how does that sound?"

"Do whatever you want," he replied as he cradled her body close to him, hoping to give off some of his body heat.

"Heh," Sasori smirked as her turned around, "look for me on the T.V, will you?"

.

…

.

Sakura woke up to the sound of beeping, the smell of sterilized hospital equipment, and the feeling of warmth in her hand and by her toes.

"Hey," Itachi whispered.

Sakura inhaled and blinked at him. She had a lung tube in her mouth and wasn't able to talk.

Itachi called in the doctor after a few moments of exchanged silence. One entered to examine her and while writing down information on her chart, he told her prognosis with a bunch of medical terms that Sakura didn't really care about. She was more grateful when he removed the tube and allowed her to breathe on her own.

The entire time, Itachi had held her hand tightly.

"D-did you fee-feed Satan?" Sakura asked trying to clear her throat from the dryness.

"Yes, he hasn't moved from your feet since Shisui brought him here, nurses threw a fit over him…but a generous hospital grant has kept them quiet for the past few days."

"Yo-you st-stayed?"

"Yes, I'll go get you some water," Itachi said letting go of her hand and walking out.

She had been in constant surgery for almost two weeks, and then in an induced coma for another week. This month had official constituted as the worst month of his life. He finally understood Sasuke's words. When Sakura was gone, life wasn't right. Their apartment didn't look the same. Nothing tasted right. The air felt suffocating. And really – who the fuck RSVP's for a family dinner?

Then, when she opened her eyes to reveal bright ivory green orbs, everything was right again. He could breathe better.

It was so wrong.

So so so wrong.

But it didn't matter anymore.

He came back into the room with a glass of water and assisted in helping Sakura take small sips of it.

"What do you remember?" he asked after he settled the half empty cup on the stand beside her hospital issued bed.

"Some psycho…tell me he's locked up, please."

"He's dead."

"Good, he was…so….twisted. I was so pissed off at you."

"I'm sorry," Itachi apologized sincerely for the first time in his life.

"Oh, you better be. You ever associate yourself with a nut job like that again, and I will do more than give you the chicken pox."

Itachi tightened his lips, trying to keep the smirk from appearing which only made his face look more serious.

Sakura sighed and moved her head away from him, "Doctor said I might not be able to perform surgery anymore," she said in a half whisper.

"I have the best doctors in the world looking after you – including that woman; Tsunade flew in for your surgery."

"Where is she?"

"She had gone back to her hotel a few hours ago. I can call her right now if you want."

"Ahhh, no it's okay…so…" she looked down at her empty hand, "can I call in a favor?"

Itachi looked down at her and nodded. Sakura took a inhaled deeply, and exhaled the words she wanted to say.

"You're not allowed to move out until I drive you to it, deal?"

Disbelief was an understatement.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh please, you're a complete dumbass…and blaming yourself for that psycho – right? That's psychology 101 right there…Well boo-who. I'm alive. Get over it. Besides, if you move out now then that means Madara won and that's not alright by me. I'd like to be the one to kick you out. Fair and square."

"You are out of your mind," Itachi said, he had already bought an apartment back in Britain. He had planned to leave when Sakura was released from the hospital. He couldn't bring himself to remain near her, knowing what could happen again by the hands of another psycho who'd get free in the future.

"Excuse you; I do believe you owe me a favor," she said reminding him of the last vile of blood he had her examine.

"I'm going to have to pass on this one."

"I have met plenty of insane and unstable idiots in my time…spent lots of time alone in a cell with them…and you know what – I didn't run away. Man up, grow some balls, and stay in the apartment till I de-masculinzie you myself."

Silence passed between the two of them as both glared at each other stubbornly.

"Sakura, you don't understand the situation full –,"

"Fully? Yes I do. I was in there with that man-thing, you know. So what if it can happen again? I can get hit by a bus when crossing the street – that doesn't mean I'll stop crossing the street just because there is a chance. You still owe me a favor, you jackass."

"Listen, everything has happened so fast and–,"

"And what? You're going to get all sappy emotional on me? I'm the one in the hospital bed, thank you very much. I do believe I deserve at least a 95 percent say in what's going to happen next."

"Fine," Itachi said coldly, he was at a complete loss of what else to say. Apparently Madara's beatings did nothing to that thick head of hers.

"Good, now I was thinking about getting a water bed, what do you think?" Sakura asked lightly with a half smile. She never wanted to talk about Madara again….ever. She wanted to lock up those memories somewhere where they could never haunt her or him ever again.

"Go for it, you can clean it up after Satan gets his claws on it."

"Damn, good point. What about changing everything to a Hawaiian theme?"

"I will throw any and all furniture you buy out the window."

"Hah, I'm buying the Venus De Milo then, love to see you toss that thing out," she replied with an evil smirk.

"That is not furniture."

"I can use it as a coat rack."

"Only you….," Itachi said shaking his head from side to side with a half smile on his face.

A/N: "Technically" the story is complete, but there will be another chapter - hopefully updated tomorrow, that will bring everything together. :)

I hope you have enjoyed, and had a fun read with this. Thank you for the support, encouragement and reviews. Cheers everyone. I love you guys.