A/N: This chapter mostly concentrates on Itachi's point of view, but written in normal view. Sorry if he seems a little OOC, but it's my first shot at probing deep into Itachi's mind. Okay? Okay.
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"Why 'damn you Uchihas'?" Itachi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you hold a grudge against my family?"
Sakura raised her hands up and waved them in a defensive manner. "No…" she said, sweat dripping down her temples. "…just your brother."
"You have relations with my little brother?" He inquired.
"I just told you he tried to rape me." The kunoichi crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Uchiha, are you turning this into a 20 questions game?"
Itachi pulled the chair from the desk and sat in a casual way, turning the chair around and resting his arms on the back rest. Honestly, he was thinking that this was more like an interrogation, but decided to play this 'game'. "If you wish to call it that,"
Sakura smiled slyly. "Then that means, I get to ask you questions in return." She clapped her hands childishly, as she saw the reaction on the Mangyekou user's face. 'Looks like he never played 20 questions before…' "You already asked me three questions, I asked you two questions—so that means I have another turn before you can continue."
"Fine,"
She pulled her knees towards her torso and hugged them. Her chin rested on the joint in a fetal position, and she tilted her head in inquiry. "When did the blindness start?"
'How did she know?' Itachi thought, but still kept his straight face on.
"I'm a medic-nin trained under the Godaime Hokage herself." She stated, as if she read her captor's mind. "I know these things."
"I was thinking that you would inquire about things like how you got here or why you are here and questions in that family." He retorted.
"You already explained that." The pinkette said with a shrug. "I got here because your 'associates' found me stranded in the forest the other day, and I know I'm here because your Sharingan is causing your blindness and you want me to try and heal you, since I'm the student of the Hokage, and possess the medical skills needed." She set down her hands from making air quotes. "Just answer my question."
--
In Konoha
"Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and Yamato along with Team Gai will scout the land of Wind and Rain respectively." Tsunade deadpanned. Four shinobi teams were gathered by the gates, right in front of her. "Team Asuma and Team Kurenai will search through Grass and Stone. The Kazekage has his shinobi scouting other areas as well."
"Hai," The teams chorused.
"Time limit is two weeks. Two weeks without word from you and I am sending back up. Is that understood? Good, now go get my student!" The shinobi jumped in a blur of colors, out to their respective direction.
The female Hokage looked up to the sky hopefully. Her student was highly skilled—she possesses the medical skills of the Sannin herself, and not to mention her kick-ass strength. She, strangely enough, has even mastered the 5 elements, plus plant-life control and ice. Even with her wounds, she would last quite a while.
Still, she couldn't help the strange feeling at the very pit of her stomach. The blond can't imagine her life without the pink-haired teen calling her 'shishou' all the time. Much worse, Naruto and Neji. Ever since their academy days, Naruto has admired Sakura profusely. He would be heartbroken if she wasn't around to punch him or push him around. Neji on the other hand, helped Sakura reach her full potential. They've trained together and been teammates a few times, and rumor has it that he has a little crush on her.
'Please get to her soon. Please save my student.'
--
Back in 'classified location'
"A few months ago." He answered bluntly. "My turn,"
"Couldn't you be more specific? Like, the situation when the blindness started?" Sakura asked, medic instincts kicking in.
"No. It means what it sounds." The Uchiha deadpanned, but continued with his turn. "There is more than just a silly rape attempt by my brother. You knew him before that."
"I'm surprised you haven't heard of me from the Academy." She laughed sarcastically. "Sasuke and I were practically 'best friends'." She giggled, only to stop and see a straight-faced Uchiha Itachi. "I am Haruno Sakura—I was on Sasuke's genin team before he left."
In turn, Itachi was the one who chuckled. "So you weren't a fangirl?"
Her mouth fell open in shock. "If I was, then why would I run away from him?" She crossed her arms proudly across her chest. "You asked two questions, now it's my turn."
He nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Go ahead."
"What was the situation when you started losing your eyesight?" She inquired. "Specifically,"
Itachi sighed. "I just killed a few guards with the Sharingan. Nothing big." He explained. "Is the situation really necessary to the op—?"
"Yes," She cut him in mid-sentence. "It's still my turn. Why did you kill your clan?"
The raven-haired nuke stood up from his position in the chair and walked over to the other side of the bed. He stayed silent as he lifted the black comforter to let himself in. "Get some sleep while you can. Explosions and cursing start in a few hours."
"Wait!" She cried. "Are you sleeping beside me?"
He tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow. 'Stupid Deidara…' "This is my room. It is either you sleep on the bed or on the floor without a blanket or a pillow." He deadpanned. "If you don't want to get sick and keep your chakra to heal my eyes and be released, then sleep on the bed with a comforter and a pillow."
She contemplated on her options. For one, there was her shishou enforced pride to consider. Then again, she was in the base of a group of S-class nuke-nin, so escape wasn't one of her options.
"Fine," She slinked back under the covers and turned away from her companion. Her eyelids drooped closed. She was more tired than she thought, even after a whole day of sleep. As she did, she realized that the Uchiha smirked before climbing into bed beside her. "Good night Itachi," She said in a mocking tone.
"Hn," was all she got in respond.
"Uchihas are all the same." She whispered to herself before succumbing back into a not so peaceful sleep.
--
The breakfast table was hectic as usual, since it occupants being everyone, minus Leader-sama. Even if he did eat inside his room (he barely came out for specific reasons), Konan was kind enough to cook for the group of pathetic men who spent their lives learning techniques and completely disregarded cooking as a basic survival necessity.
"Fuck you! That's my fucking omelet Tobi! Come back here you little shit!"
"Noooooooo!!! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi only wants breakfast!!"
"I asked for that fucking omelet with ham you shit!! Give it back!!"
"Hidan!" A booming, female voice halted the Jashinist. Her finger peaked out from her blue blouse's sleeve (A/N: They don't wear their cloaks indoors—why would they anyways? They already know that they're all Akatsuki, so what's the point?) and pointed at the desolated area the chase left.
"Tobi's fault!" He cried, waving his hands defensively as the blue-haired female brought out a stack of papers. "Spare me!!"
"Konan," Said kunoichi turned to the source of the voice. There was Itachi standing at the bottom of the staircase. "You do know that even if you give him multiple paper cuts, he'll just resurrect again."
"Yeah, I know." She said gloomily. "What do you suggest, Ita?" The paper manipulator chuckled evilly, seeing the Jashinist quiver at the thought of Itachi's 'suggestion'.
"Psychological torture."
"Agh!! Fuck you!!" Hidan cussed, waving his fist in the air. "Fine, I'll clean it up."
Do you see why Leader never comes out?
"Wow, you were right," A small voice piped up from behind the deadly Sharingan wielder. "The cursing does start early."
"Oh!" Konan cried, her hands whipping to her cheeks. "She's awake!" She rushed to where Itachi was standing and shoved him away. "Hi, I'm Konan!"
"Sakura…" The pinkette returned the smile.
"What's got her all uptight today?"
"There's another female in the room."
"So Sakura, did anything happen last night in Itachi's room?" Konan asked, eyebrows raised in a teasing manner.
The medic flushed three shades of red. "No, nothing at all!" As they arrived back at the table, the pinkette's chin fell to the floor. Her fingers were pointed accusingly at the two artists sitting on the table, debating on how lasting art really is.
"Art lasts forever…" One stated. "What is the use of creating something beautiful if it will just disappear the next second?"
"Art is a bang!" The other one backfired. "It is the cycle of life, everything eventually fades away."
"You two are supposed to be dead!" Sakura cried. "I saw…Sasori…puppets…Chiyo…poison…katana…EEP! This is so confusing!"
The whole group turned their heads and faced the kunoichi. The blue-skinned man broke the silence with loud chortling. "You're the chick that defeated Sasori?"
The pinkette placed her hands on her hips and plastered a scowl on her face. "Is there a problem with that, Sushi?"
"Ooh, Sushi," Konan piped up. "I like this girl already."
"It is true," Sasori broke the stare-off between blue and pink. "She, accompanied by Elder Chiyo, almost killed me."
"Why are you still alive?" Sakura asked. "You even gave me information in exchange for defeating you. By the way, your mind control jutsu on Kabuto was broken."
"I already knew that." Sasori deadpanned. "And to the question as to why I'm still alive, was because I never died. No further questions." The redhead shrugged off the topic.
Sakura then turned to the blond Akatsuki member. "What about you? You exploded yourself and caused my sensei three weeks in the hospital!!"
"Suicide clone, yeah." Deidara chuckled, proud of himself for baffling the pinkette. "Don't worry though; we don't hold any grudges against you, yeah. I have to admit, you Konoha dudes really gave us a fight, un."
"Sakura!" Konan called her attention and pat the seat beside her. "Do you like ham omelet?" She presented a mess of yellow and red on a white porcelain plate.
"That's my fucking ham omelet, bitch!" A voice from outside the kitchen screamed.
The blue-haired female secretly mocked the Jashinist. "Fuck off! There's enough for everyone!"
"EEP! Tobi thinks Konan-sempai is scary…" The orange masked Akatsuki-wannabe quietly sank down in his seat, shivering with fear.
Deidara tapped the shoulder of the oblivious pinkette. "She's bipolar, yeah."
Sakura shrugged. "I think I've noticed."
--
"Naruto," Yamato called for the blond, dipping his head to look threatening. "Enough,"
"Eep! Captain!" The Kyuubi container cried, inching away from Sai, who he was formerly bugging. The captain burst into laughter. "It's no time for laughing." Naruto said solemnly.
"You're right." The captain agreed and sat down by the campfire.
"Captain," Sai said, breaking the silence. "Do you think Sakura's still alive?"
From behind the group of three, the Copy-nin came back from his rounds. He looked up from his book, cursing the fact there wasn't enough light in the night. When he did, he saw three abnormally silent teammates. He laid down face up on his sleeping mat and gazed at the stars. He had heard Sai's question.
What would Sasuke want with Sakura? She was a good medic, but Kabuto was already there. Was it her kunoichi skills? Did they want to make her one of their 'experiments'? After all, she is a jounin of Konoha and had the skills of the Slug Sannin. But he was very sure Sasuke didn't want that. Was it…
He shrugged off the thought. They were—what—fifteen for crying out loud! Sasuke couldn't want that already! Sure, Sakura was highly wanted by many of Konoha's male population—he had already fended off a lot of those. She wouldn't be that kind of girl. She would probably pummel Sasuke into the ground before he could try anything on her (Oh believe him, he has seen that happen).
Leaving that topic, he went to another possibility. His pink-haired student could have escaped. She was really kick-ass, and many times has he been on the receiving end of those kick-ass skills.
Still…
Even if she escaped, there was always a major possibility she was already dead. She had a gaping hole at her side. According to Team Kakashi's past two mission reports, she was first stabbed by Sasori by a poisoned katana in an organ that cannot be completely healed by her amazing medic skills. It wasn't even completely healed, but she was okay enough to go to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth. After that, she was scarred by the Kyuubi's chakra. Then she got stabbed again in the same place by Sasuke this time.
She's really injured, and he couldn't help but doubt that Sakura was really dead.
--
"Stay still Itachi." The medic-nin commanded. "Geez, for a stoic Uchiha, you sure do squirm a lot."
He twitched at the feeling of her cool forehead on his, connecting their chakra flow. Her face was barely an inch away from his, and she smelled like roses. Even after days of traveling, the smell of coppery blood, or dirt or sweat was overpowered by the sweet, floral scent of the shampoo Konan lent her. Or was it her natural scent? Either way, it made his breath hitch every time he inhaled.
He remembered the night before. When he woke up, she was tangled in his arms, and her hair tickled his nose. She was cuddle by his chest…wrong day to not wear a shirt to bed. Before she could wake up though, he removed himself from her hold quietly, snuck into the bathroom and got changed.
His jaw tensed, as his obeyed the pinkette. "Turn off the Sharingan." Itachi opened his eyes, the pupils being a charcoal black. She pushed chakra into his temples, and searched through his systems for the flaw.
What could possibly be the problem with the Sharingan? The Byakugan worked perfectly, so how come its cousin was flawed?
"You're tense." She stated. "Ease up; you're practically blocking my chakra."
He obeyed silently as he observed her expression. Sweat trickled down her temples as she probed deeper into his eye system. He could feel her cool, green chakra run through his veins. The feeling was refreshing at the same time, addicting. It was like he was drunk on her chakra. He felt hazy and disoriented—
SMACK!
He swiped her hands away from his face. "Uchiha, what the—"
His lips were pressed roughly against hers, and his hand snaked around her petite waist. Her eyes flew open at the feeling, but she succumbed to his embrace and slid her hands on his shoulders. He pulled her down beside him onto the bed. He leaned in closer, close enough that he was halfly on to of her.
He broke the heated kiss just as stomping was heard from down the hall. The door flung open and revealed Tobi.
"Can Tobi hi—" He was cut short when he saw the position Itachi and Sakura were in. "What are Itachi-sempai and Sakura-sempai doing?"
"TOBI, GIVE ME MY CLAY—Holy…" Deidara stopped in the middle of choking the orange masked ninja when he also noticed Itachi and Sakura. He grabbed Tobi's collar and pulled him out of the room. "C'mon Tobi…" And he slammed the door behind him.
Itachi chuckled softly as he buried his face in her sensual pick locks, inhaling her sweet, floral scent. "Smart boy,"
He once again dove in to kiss her, when all of a sudden, Luna pops into her head, wearing an 'I heart Weasel' T-shirt, and waving flags with Itachi's face. 'Sasuke's overrated! Itachi's the new Sasuke!'
'Damn right—Shannaro!'
(A/N: I could end the chapter here, but since I have nothing else to do…)
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She's spent one week under the Akatsuki's roof. In that span of one week, Deidara has taught her to make spiders out of non-explosive clay, went shopping with Konan in the local district, beat the crap out of Kisame for flirting with her, plot with Tobi about stealing Kakazu's money, out-badmouthed Hidan, tended the garden with Zetsu and learned about marionettes from Sasori.
Oh, and fell in love with her village's most notorious criminal.
Maybe the Akatsuki weren't so bad. They—well; most of them—actually seemed human, regardless of the fact that one was a walking, talking shark; one was a human marionette and the other a giant venues fly trap.
"Itachi, get your ass over here so I can work on your eyes!" Sakura screamed, her voice echoing throughout the base.
"Shut up pinky! I still have a hangover from last night!" Kisame poked his gilled head through his bedroom door.
"Well it's not my fault that you never worked under the sake-addicted Godaime, learned to have high alcohol tolerance from her or cheat with medical ninjutsu, Sushi." She stuck her tongue out in a childish manner and placed her fists on her hips. "Have you seen Itachi?"
Kisame extended a faded blue finger out from the crack of the door. "Behind you,"
The kunoichi threw her arms in the air as she turned around and saw a stoic Itachi standing behind her. His arm made its way around her waist and pulled her closer. She slapped his chest half-heartedly. "Don't scare me like that!"
He chuckled softly, so soft that only she can hear it. "Sorry,"
The Samehada wielder shook his head before disappearing behind his door. He couldn't believe that one teenager can turn the whole Akatsuki upside down, not to mention bring the Uchiha Itachi down to apologize to her.
Is that why Leader-sama will summon her to his chamber?
--
A/N: SWEE! Another chapter done! Akatsuki rules! Again, sorry if Itachi is OOC. R&R please! I'll love you forever and ever…:))