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Absolution

is it better to

out monster the monster

or to be quietly devoured?

The world was much quieter up here.

Sakura breathed in slowly as gust of wind stroked her face, playing with pink locks as lithe legs dangled over the tower's edge.

She closed her eyes and thought about change.

The Divine Gate that was now her home consisted of layers and layers of steel, dividing the large tower in countless floors. Stone and metal twisted around and around and upwards, like snakes coiling around a rope. The four faces carved into the upper half of the Divine Gate, emerging from the metal chaos like a man breaking from the water, watched over all of Ame.

In its jaws Sakura had found her sanctuary.

Poetic, she supposed.

Around her, the rain was falling languidly downwards, as if dragged down by gravity against its will. The usual force behind it was missing, somehow, though Sakura couldn't say why.

Or maybe she could. Because, as she was watching, the clock hit twelve.

As one, the rain halted. The last drops fell like a blanket on the whole city, the downpour suddenly gone as if someone had pressed a switch. The clouds above them started moving, slowly but quite unnaturally.

(Kami-sama, they called him. Who needed an old dusty book to believe if one could simply look at the sky?)

As she watched the sun cast its warm rays on Amegakure.

Sakura threw her head back and basked in the sunlight.

Below her, easily seen from her vantage point, a massive black shadow spread outwards from the tower on which she sat. Countless shinobi moved silently through their city on high alert.

The former Konoha shinobi watched them with curiosity, musing over the implications.

"Outer…" Inner grumbled impatiently. "Stop lazing around! Aren't you exited?"

"I suppose. Honestly, considering how Konan and Tobi whipped the floor with us yesterday, I'm not feeling quite so confident."

Inner snorted. "Please. Deidara and you sounded quite confident in your plans this morning. And now you have me! And I can't wait to get out there!"

Inner's excitement was contagious, and Sakura couldn't help but smile. Shaking her head fondly and saying goodbye to her moment of peacefulness, she rose from her perch.

The breeze caressed through her hair and carried with it the warmth of acceptance.

Pink lips curved into a smile.

It wouldn't do to keep them waiting.

"Kunoichi!"

Kisame grinned as their newest member strolled into the training field. "Finally ready to face us, now that it's not actually raining?" he said while showing all his teeth.

The pink-haired woman did not seem impressed by his showing off. Kisame fought the urge to pout.

"Sakura-san her element is actually water as well, Kisame. And the rain would have been inconvenient for most of my fire-based ninjutsu."

Rolling his eyes at his partner, Kisame couldn't help a fond smile as he looked at the line of Itachi's shoulders. The man tried to hide it, but really, he was just as exited as Kisame was. Itachi actually said 'good morning' thrice at breakfast and he'd graced Kisame with a small smile at one of his shark puns.

For the stoic Uchiha, this basically translated to jumping in his seat.

On the other side of the field, team Mass Destruction – as he'd heard Kakuzu refer to the pair this morning with a pained grumble – looked exited as well.

Deidara, as per their one-sided ongoing feud with Itachi, was grinning maniacally, eye-piece already in place. The kunoichi looked a bit more guarded, calculating gaze flickering over Kisame and Itachi as they stood their in the afternoon sun, but even she couldn't hide a twitch of her lips.

"Yo," Kisame called loudly, "kunoichi, I wanna fight that inner demon chick you've got going on. That cool?"

Sakura startled slightly before raising an eyebrow. "I guess, yeah. I mean," the barest of pauses, "sure, we're up for it!" before flashing him a smile.

Cocking his head, Kisame patiently began to unwrap Samehada. It wasn't a surprise anyway, so why waste the perfectly good bandages? Sustainability was important. Caring for nature, and all that.

"Good." Kisame bared his teeth.

Making eye contact with Deidara for just a moment, Sakura nodded and stepped forward, over to Kisame's side of the field. Next to them, Deidara's clay bird came into existence. Itachi simply relaxed, shifting his weight on the balls of his feet.

"Ready?" Kisame asked eagerly, throwing Samehada into the ground with an ominous thud.

In response, Sakura simply closed her eyes. One second passed, then two, then three.

Then she changed.

It was different, to see it this way; next to him, Kisame could feel Itachi's attention sharpen, and knew without looking that his Sharingan was taking in every detail of the kunoichi's transformation.

Chakra saturated the air, settling around them like a heavy blanket, as if someone had just cast a high-level jutsu. The hairs on Kisame's neck raised in the best way. Samehada purred in his hand.

What kind of seal-less technique could cause this? Was it a bloodline?

As the pressure rose, so rose the subtle change in the kunoichi in front of him. The hair darkened; the diamond disappeared; the stance shifted. When Sakura opened her eyes, the shade of green was not quite the same, nor was the fire that burned behind it.

Sakura did not wait for anyone to say go.

As Kisame dodged to the left at the last second, the force of the displacement of air pushing him to the side, he grinned.

The game was on.

Samehada was eager in his hands, thirsty for the kunoichi's charka – or blood, for that matter. Kisame himself felt his face unable to let go of the grin as he reacted to the first punch, barely aware of Deidara and Itachi making their own moves next to them.

Their fight was…

Intimate.

For Kisame, a good battle was as much as a joy in life as good sex. Better, even, he could argue – had argued, actually, one late Sunday evening.

And Haruno Sakura?

Fighting her was exquisite.

As Kisame dodged underneath her kick and brought his own foot up in retaliation, to which the kunoichi simply twisted around in mid-air to push herself away from him using the aforementioned foot, thereby neatly dodging Samehada's eager teeth, his heart beat eagerly in his chest.

This. This was what he lived for.

The medic clearly know about Samehada's properties, and proved quite able to evade his strikes or parry them with her kunai. Still, Samehada feasted happily on the chakra cloaking the pink-haired medic like a veil.

His body was full of adrenaline, breath coming quick and all senses open. Samehada vibrates happily in his hands, more a part of him then his own heart.

If asked, Kisame would admit he feels giddy.

With each punch, each twitch of pronounced muscles, each crater left behind after a deceptively light tap of a foot, Kisame feels like he was truly getting to know Haruno Sakura.

The sharpness of her senses as she ducks away from a strike in her blind spot.

The strength of her will as she parries a blow from his sword a fraction too late, but does not falter even as Samehada cuts into her.

The brightness of her spirit as a particularly well-executed dodge from him brought a smile on her face.

Two minutes in, Kisame realizes he is very much enjoying himself.

The kunoichi is more resilient than he estimated. Most shinobi barely last a minute against him in a taijutsu-only fight; Deidara can last one and half. Even Itachi appreciates the challenge, though he can and has of course lasted five. What can you do.

Sakura is currently at two and a half.

Honouring their unspoken agreement, both Kisame and Sakura had not bothered with anything but taijutsu and kenjutsu in this fight. It felt good like this – more like two comrades testing each other out, instead of two enemies fighting for their life.

Although, Kisame thought wryly as the natural flow of the battle gave the two of them a moment's pause, their partners seem to be locked in a different kind of fight.

Throwing a quick glance over at Itachi, currently jumping high up in the air as a small explosion rocks the stadium, serene expression in sharp contrast with Deidara's feral one, Kisame cannot help but smirk.

"Kisame." The voice is curt.

Blue eyes meet green. "What?"

"Shall we switch?"

Kisame cocks his head, chest heaving. "Why? I'm enjoying myself immensely."

Sakura matches his grin. "Agreed, but I also know that your stamina is greater than mine." Indeed, Sakura's chest is heaving quite badly, though Kisame cannot help but shoot the pink haired woman a sultry look, glancing through his lashes. Sakura rolls her eyes and does not stop talking.

"You're going to get the upper hand if we continue like this, and that's boring. And we both know what the likely outcome of that is, as well," she adds neutrally while jutting out a thumb towards Deidara and Itachi. "Besides, this is supposed to be a team thing, is it not?"

Kisame purses his lips, barely reacting as the scorching heat of a fire jutsu aimed wide lands a few feet next to him. The shark-like man rests Samehada on the ground, taps his lips as if in contemplation.

His opponent takes his reaction as the unspoken agreement it is, and closes her eyes once more.

The earlier transformation recedes quickly, quicker than Kisame's expected. The tension leaves the kunoichi's body for just a moment, and she sags. Not able to hold it indefinitely after all, he notes.

"Only because you ask so nicely," he eventually answers, showing her his pointed teeth.

Sakura rolls her eyes again in response, than raises both her eyebrows in surprise as her gaze falls upon the fight next to them.

Kisame's eyes follow hers, curious, and he realizes his mistake a second too late.

The former Kiri-nin only manages to turn back towards the medic-nin, raising Samehada halfway, before his whole body locks up.

He cannot move.

Sakura winks at him mischievously and shunshins away.

Fighting Kisame had been hard.

But oh, how Inner had enjoyed herself.

"That was fucking awesome," is the first thought going through Sakura's mind as she takes the driver's seat once more.

Ignoring Inner for a moment, Sakura's mind races as she takes a quick stock of herself and her surroundings.

Samehada, while mostly dodged, had wrecked havoc on Inner's chakra levels. Sakura shuddered to think what that sword would have done had she not been used to dodging lethal punches.

When Inner had called for the ceasefire at Sakura's nudging, she'd been mostly bluffing. Though all injuries had healed immediately, Inner's chakra reserves had been two-thirds empty at that point.

Hoshigaki fucking Kisame, meanwhile, looked like he had just been enjoying a good workout.

Fucking S-level missing-nin.

Anyway, as Sakura opened her eyes and found Kisame showing her his teeth, she was surprised to feel her chakra levels higher than she expected.

"Chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energy. We share the same body, but not the same spirit. It's probable that this translates to our chakra reserves as well – same physical half, different spiritual half."

Sakura could feel Inner digesting the information. "Is that a good thing?"

Sakura mentally shot her a dangerous smile in response and pulled a dirty trick out of her book to distract Kisame.

One simple but powerful genjutsu later, she took her chance to strike.

Speed was on her side. Sakura managed to flicker over to where Deidara had just dodged underneath a spray of kunai, kicking up the mud underneath them so to force Itachi to close his eyes for just a second. It was enough to cover up the last of their hand-signs, and a earthen hand shot up from the mud, but Itachi had not hesitated and had already jumped backwards, out of reach.

Sakura was there, though, coming up on the other side. She had one fist extended, the other moving to her pouch and letting fly a volley of shuriken, forcing Itachi to flip backwards lest he be decapitated.

She met Deidara's eyes mid-air and for the first time felt like they were in perfect sync.

Deidara moved themselves forwards and down, arms extended, and Sakura got their idea without hesitation. She used the extended arms as a spring plank, changing direction and gaining speed, using the element of surprise to its fullest as her chakra-laden fist touched the edges of Itachi's cloak-

Itachi's hands had not stayed still. Her knuckles grazed flesh, then smoke, then wood.

The log exploded into pieces like it was firework.

Sakura snarled in frustration, landing smoothly on Deidara's bird as it swept in from their left. She shared a look of mutual frustration with her partner as beneath them, Kisame broke free of her genjutsu.

"Nice one," Deidara said proudly, hands moving quickly and spitting out white clay. Sakura felt a flash of pride, then huffed. "Not good enough," she added as she peered towards where Kisame had broken free of her genjutsu.

Deidara shrugged. "Itachi's a monster. Besides, I think some of the hit landed. See how he's putting his weight on his right foot?"

Hm. So he was. Sakura felt a little more satisfied.

More tiny animals joined them on their bird.

"You want to switch? Or go two on two?"

Deidara shook their head. "Their teamwork is much better than ours. For now. Let's switch – I haven't thrown around badass ninjutsu with Kisame for a while, and I'm sure Itachi is eager to fight you."

Sakura cocked an eyebrow, eyes still on the two figures below them, whose lips had stopped moving. Two pairs of eyes aimed skywards.

"Is he?"

"Itachi's a nerd like that. Or curious, if one would describe it kindly."

Sakura snorted. "How did your fight go?"

Deidara's shoulders sagged slightly. "Okay, ish. He's just too damn good, even without his genjutsu. I used to have this whole thing about defeating him, you know?" They barked out a rueful laugh.

"What you said helped, though. Watching the feet."

Sakura nodded, once.

Deidara's eyes narrowed.

"Let's go," they said, and threw their arms wide.

As the rain of explosive animals poured down from the heavens, Sakura let out a whooping cry and launched herself forwards at the same time as the darker figure launched upwards.

She met Itachi's blade with one of her own.

The grin on her face stretches her lips wide. She feels her whole body sing; come alive. Sakura is a creature of sweat and blood, and the battlefield is her home.

Their weapons glinted in the sunlight as Itachi and Sakura clashed, then moved once more. Sakura threw her kunai wide, not aiming to hit, but to manoeuvre them away from Kisame and Itachi.

Itachi's lips quirked slightly, and Sakura had the ominous feeling he was indulging her.

His fault.

Thoughts flickered through her head, her mental conversation with Inner taking place at lightning-fast speed.

"Okay, run me through what we know of his Sharingan once more?"

"Chakra usage won't be a problem with him, not with the Uchiha genes. Unlike our former sensei. We have to blind him, somehow, or he'll be able to track all our movements."

"Yeah, and genjutsu and taijutsu are our strengths. Can he dodge all genjutsu?"

"All genjutsu with a visual component are useless, and he's particularly apt at casting them himself, so be on your guard for any foreign chakra intruding on our system, Inner. And maybe I can try auditory genjutsu – or just one to paralyse-"

"We should blind him."

Sakura landed on lithe feet, whirling around to dodge another valley of sharp objects being thrown her way.

"We should. Though I don't think we'll be the first to have tried."

The place were Itachi and Deidara had been fighting had several small indents in the ground, but not that many. They were easy to step around as Sakura let herself fall back to the other side of the battlefield.

Itachi, hands still on his blades, apparently stops holding back and comes at her full-force. The Uchiha is an absolute master over his tools; Sakura has to stay absolutely focused to avoid getting skewered.

And of course Mr. Uchiha combines this perfectly with his ninjutsu.

The fucker.

Later, Sakura will recall what follows in flashes.

Jumping upwards to dodge the volley of shuriken, only to almost get thrown into the side of the stadium by a gust of wind.

Blocking bullets of fire with a water technique, only for the kunai hidden inside them to tear open a long gash along her arm.

Jumping forward, determined to get in close, only to be forced to retreat as the thrown kunai and shuriken hit each other mid-air and change trajectory to come at her unprotected back.

Finally dodging around the hail of weaponry only to be faced by a water dragon, chasing her back to the other side of the field.

And all the while, Itachi gets little hits in.

The gash on her arm. A burn to her leg. A knife buried in her shoulder blade.

Of course, Sakura's body is conditioned to heal itself, but this does take some effort. She's not pressing the advantage while her chakra is partway busy healing herself.

"He's keeping us at a distance, forcing us to burn our chakra. He'll outlast us easily, like this." Sakura bends backwards to avoid getting roasted, then blocks the following rain of metal with one kunai in each hand.

"Fucker. We're close-combat specialists supplemented by genjutsu. Like this, I can't do anything."

"It's boring!" Inner whines loudly as Sakura raises an earth wall to block a spear made out of fire. The heat scorches her skin, and the smell of baked earth hits her nose.

"That's an idea," Sakura muses.

"Itachi-san!" she calls out loudly from behind her wall of earth, jumping backwards shortly after. A single kunai pierces the place she had been sitting.

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Itachi answers her politely, landing lightly on his feet, still half a battlefield away from her.

"Isn't this a little boring?" she asks in between deep breaths, feeling her heartbeat calm down.

"How so? I am very much amusing myself," the Uchiha answers her, unknowingly echoing his partner just minutes before.

Sakura rolls her eyes. "I'm sure you are, playing with me like this," and that came out a little more playfully than she intended, "but this is a friendly spar, in the end."

Casually shifting her weight, "If this was a real battle, either I'd have someone to cover for my weak spots, or I'd have retreated and regrouped by now."

"I always play to win, Sakura-san." Somehow, this sentence was punctuated by one of Deidara's bigger explosions. Unfortunately, it was pretty cool.

Sakura smirked, then willed her face into innocence. "Ah, so you admit that I would defeat you in close combat? Well, I can at least cross arrogance off your list of sins."

From the viewer's alcove, someone hollered loudly.

Although Sakura was very pointedly not looking into Itachi's eyes, something in his body language changed; tensed, then seemed to relax.

"Very well," Itachi continued, and was he actually sounding amused? "I suppose you do make a point." Sakura could just imagine him tilting his head politely and couldn't help but courtesy sarcastically in return.

"Ladies first," Itachi said in a tone that hinted at honest anticipation. Excitement.

Looked like her fellow Akatsuki had been right. Itachi had been looking forward to this.

"Outer," Inner said with a grunt, "another genjutsu dispelled. That's the sixth already."

"Sixth!?"

"You were busy!"

"Such a gentleman," Sakura deadpanned, mentally apologized to Kakuzu, and punched the ground hard.

This time, she did not hold back.

Underneath her, the earth opened up, a gaping maw trying to swallow Itachi up. The shinobi dodged into the air easily, stepping on the debris that the earth spit up toward him.

(Behind them, the split did not stop, and she saw Kisame jumping back to avoid the debris as Deidara circled overhead.)

Sakura took the moment to flicker through signs and disappear underground. Out of visual range.

"Now what," Inner asked with a grimace.

Sakura wasn't stupid. Uchiha Itachi was a legend among legends, and unlike Pein-sama, he was not testing her or playing with her.

"We'll have to go in quickly, blind him, get close, and disable him as much as we can. It'll be over quick – either way."

Extending her senses, she let the earth speak to her until she felt the resonation of footsteps to her left. They moved, then stilled. On guard.

"I may need to use my chakra scalpels." Sakura repressed the urge to bite her lip.

"Do it." Inner's resoluteness cleared away any lingering doubts. "Anything to give us the edge – I don't care if it's a medical technique or not."

A strange feeling ran through Sakura at Inner's words, but there was not a lot of time to think. Each millisecond of hesitation meant another chance for Itachi to prepare himself. "Maybe you're right. We only have one shot."

One shot.

With a frown of concentration of her brows, Sakura's mind flashed back to a technique taught long-ago.

"The purpose of this technique is to clean up your chakra pathways," Tsunade instructed as student and teacher sat in what once was a training field and now more resembles a crater. "It's also useful to increase your chakra reserves, but does require some control to make sure you dispel your chakra evenly. It can also dispel genjutsu more efficiently than kai, but consumes far more chakra."

"How come I've never heard of this before?" a younger Sakura asked sceptically.

Tsunade shrugged. "Dunno," a huff, "not everyone has the patience to master it. And it's also a Senju technique."

The pink-haired teen cocked her head.

The recently appointed Hokage sighed. "It's also a good counter for Hyuuga chakra blocks."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That may be a reason why."

She mastered it within a day.

She gathered her chakra close to her and shot upward through the earth.

There was no way to know which way Itachi faced, so Sakura picked a spot and prayed.

She felt movement above her, and had a flash of insight – her gathered chakra must light up like a Christmas tree in Itachi's sharingan eyes as soon as she came close to the surface.

Fuck.

Sakura burst through the earth. As the pink-haired kunoichi breathed clean air again, she was already preparing to dodge. Fuck.

But it seemed lady luck had been on her side.

Itachi was still turning around from where she'd had the fortune to come up at his back. Sakura felt more than saw the way his crimson eyes turned to her.

A smile played on her lips.

"Release."

Every single chakra point in her system opened, briefly, at the same time. It took a precise amount of control to make sure her chakra points weren't overloaded, ruining them for at least a week, and could close again after.

Control had never been Sakura's weakness.

All the chakra she had been gathering expelled out of her body at once.

It burst out of her like an explosion.

Itachi's sharingan, focused on the new threat, was overwhelmed by the unexpected visual input.

Blinded. If just for a moment.

A moment was all Sakura needed.

Not hesitating, the woman grabbed the nearest limb of her fellow ex-Konoha shinobi. A shoulder, the right one.

She formed a chakra scalpel through the skin without hesitation. It passed through the outer layers of skin, instead cutting through the nerves and chakra pathways as quickly and thoroughly as she could.

Her hand touched skin. The scalpel connected. There was a rush of glee-

And then there was pain.

Sakura flew backwards as Itachi kicked her square in the chest, hard. She heard more than felt her ribs crack, and her own chakra rushed to her aid as the ribs punctured her organs in at least two places.

Of course, she had been faulty to think that just because Itachi was good at long range fighting, it didn't mean he wasn't an absolute beast at close combat as well.

The ground was not her friend as she slammed down on it, off-balance for just a moment. When her vision sharpened once more, it was filled with black feathers. They were coming towards her, filling her in, blanketing her limbs. Warm, peaceful. Go to sleep now, they seemed to say. It's safe. You did well.

She didn't have to be a genius to understand that this was a bad thing.

Forcing her limbs to move, feeling Inner shout in effort as another genjutsu was discarded, Sakura formed the seals for a shunshin and disappeared.

Her breath came heavy as she retreated, seeing a blaze of fire light up the place she'd just left.

As the fire died down, and her ribs snapped back into place, the outline of her opponent's body stepped forward through the flames.

"Quite an admirable approach," Itachi's voice resonated clearly across the battlefield, "if a bit predictable."

Even at this distance, it was clear to see. The Uchiha's right arm was hanging limply at his side.

Sakura's face transformed into a feral grin.

"If it works, it works," she called casually, not able to keep the pride from her voice.

"I suppose your ribs are already healed, are they not?" Sakura just smiled in response.

"Interesting," the man mused, "and impressive. Does that burn through a lot of chakra? Though I suppose you are not one to depend on the, ah, big flashy techniques."

"There are already enough shinobi like that," Sakura scoffed, "and they usually aren't worth shit. If you rely on such jutsu to finish your opponent in one hit, it doesn't matter how awesome," the word emphasized with derision, "your technique is. If that's the only thing you can do, you suck."

"Why, Sakura-san, is that what the youth nowadays call a 'burn'?" Itachi's voice was clearly amused, guessing which old teammates her thoughts were at.

"Please," she said, "you're like, what, four years olde-"

Sakura cut herself off as the hairs on her neck rose. Ducking to the left on instinct, she cursed herself for falling into the most basic of distractions – conversation.

"Kai!"

As she dispelled the genjutsu that had taken hold of her surroundings, she felt the rush of air that indicated a barely-dodged blow. Rolling to her feet quickly, the pink-haired medic brought both hands up in defence as she skirted backwards.

Itachi was suddenly standing in front of her, hair dancing around him innocently as his feet retreated from a powerful strike.

Sakura kept her eyes on his feet as she slid into her taijutsu stance and stared to dance.

Itachi should be severely hindered by his useless arm, but it seemed like barely more than an inconvenience for him. Sakura, meanwhile, had to keep her eyes on his feet, which she was not used to at all.

"It seems like you are very resistant to intrusive genjutsu, tethered to your own mind, but more susceptible to those tethered to the environment." Itachi spoke evenly even as he slashed at her with a kunai several times in quick succession, only backing off as Sakura managed to chuck a chakra-powered strike to the edge of the blade, breaking it in half.

"Does this has anything to do with your, ah, other form?"

Damn insightful Uchiha. "Maybe," she said just as evenly, then smirked. "Does your overconfidence have anything to do with your currently unresponsive arm?"

There was a flash of emotion on Itachi's face, something between surprised and annoyed, before it settled unto something that could have been respect.

"I can take a look if you want," Sakura added innocently. "Just hold still."

As Itachi prepared himself to response, Sakura lashed out with her legs in such a way that forced the Uchiha to bend backwards in avoidance, twitching himself out of her range of motion.

Giving her enough space to make the four necessary hand-seals and cast her chakra like a spear.

"Genjutsu: Chōkaku."

Itachi did not pause for a moment, Sharingan spinning as he swivelled back around.

Only to falter.

The ringing in his ears must be louder than a gong being pummelled right next to him. This neat little genjutsu was purely auditory, which meant the Sharingan's automatic defences did not catch this one.

Of course, this did not stop Itachi from moving to form the one-handed sign for kai, eyes just a little bit wide.

Sakura took the opportunity she created and moved forward, chakra-laden fingers aimed at Itachi's neck – one hit, and the Uchiha would be paralyzed.

Her fingers moved towards uncovered skin, just a hairs-breath away.

Her heart beat wildly, unbelieving in victory.

Her vision was filled with smoke as her fingers overextended and splintered the log that had sprung up in place of Uchiha Itachi.

Sakura let out a growl of frustration, spinning around and immediately searching for her opponent. Anger rushed through her body. How dare he, she had been so close!

"You were right, Sakura-san," Itachi called from the exact place he'd been standing as she'd burst through the earth, single hand switching from the sign for karawimi to that for kai. "Never underestimate the basic three."

"Asshole," Sakura grumbled.

"Most of my opponents barely understand how the Sharingan works," Itachi told her casually. "I failed to calculate correctly how much you differ from others in that respect," he said with an incline of his head.

Sakura sighed. Her chakra levels were starting to become dangerously low. Her neck ached and there was a headache building up in the back of her head.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep him out," Inner grunted.

"I'm glad I was able to surprise you, Itachi-san," she breathed out slowly, mind whirring.

Was there any way she could still win this?

"Please," Itachi responded, stepping closer with ease and inclining his head. "Call me Itachi."

Sakura's eyebrows rose in surprise and a genuine smile appeared on her face. A feeling of satisfaction spread through her chest; respect, hard-earned.

"Then call me Sakura," she answered, then smirked, "when you're done stalling for time, that is."

Itachi smiled slyly back at her and inclined his head. "What a fortunate timing that that moment has just arrived," he answered and stepped slightly to his left.

A kunai was in her hand before she had even consciously thought about it.

For a moment, the battlefield was silent.

Wait, silent?

"Kunoichi!"

Kisame lands sword-first onto the space Itachi has just vacated. The swordsman is covered in scorch marks, his shirt is torn in half, and he's bleeding quite badly from a gash in his arm. Samahada is rippling in enthusiasm, though, which matches the grin on Kisame's face.

Turning her head to the left, Sakura sees the other part of the battlefield – or what's left of it.

All she sees from this angle are craters, craters and more craters. The dry earth has turned to mud all over. Something tickles in the back of her mind, an association that is just out of reach. A puzzle piece that just won't click into place. She feels, more than hears, Inner grunt in effort.

There is no clay bird to be seen, nor a blonde figure.

"Kisame," she greets the man as she takes a wary step back, "I see you've finished your spar."

"And I see you're still busy with yours! Ooh, she got you good, didn't she, I-ta-chi?" Kisame teases his partner as he slaps Itachi on his not-working shoulder. The Uchiha glares at Kisame, and for a moment Sakura is reminded so strongly of Sasuke that she loses her breath.

"Are you going to do anything else, Kisame, or just stand there and make provide tasteless commentary?"

"Ahw, are you asking me for help, Itachi? Of course, I could never say no to-"

"That's not necessary," Sakura cut in, letting the exhaustion catch up in her voice.

Both heads turned to her. "Huh?" Kisame asked.

Sakura looked heavenwards, squinting her eyes against the dim light. Her head was pounding.

For a moment, she was standing once again in the forest outside the town of Kiru. Meeting Itachi and Kisame for the first time.

In some ways, her whole world had changed completely since that day. In other ways, she was still much the same.

"I surrender," she said clearly, dropping the kunai in her hand and relaxing her stance. Meeting both of their eyes without hesitation.

"What!" Kisame shouted, his lips starting to pull into a pout. Itachi had simply inclined his head, crimson eyes flashing with understanding. Up close, they were quite beautiful to look at. Hypnotizing.

Sakura blinked. "Yeah. I may not look like it, but I'm at the end of my rope. And I'll never win against the both of you together."

"Ahw, are we too much for you to handle, kunoichi?" Kisame taunted, a last-ditch attempt at provoking her.

Sakura laughed, and let herself fall back on the broken earth, feeling her limbs grow heavier and crossing her legs. "If you wanna spar two against one, sure, but not when you've both already exhausted me one on one first."

"You say the sweetest things," Kisame responded, to which Itachi elbowed him in the ribs.

Sakura smiles up at the both of them, and closes her eyes for just a moment.

"We accept your surrender," Itachi answers for the both of them. "You have fought well, Sakura."

"Thank you, Itachi. I enjoyed it as well," she answers and supresses a smile at Kisame's raised eyebrows.

"Good job, kunoichi," the sharklike man also answers and steps in to help her to her feet.

Sakura nods and sighs, relaxing. The spar is over.

It's over, but-

Something isn't right.

Sakura gets to her feet, accepts Kisame's slap on her back, and turns towards where she assumes her partner is lying unconscious. She has enough chakra left to awaken them.

Still, something isn't right.

It is not the way her bones ache with tiredness, nor the satisfaction of a good fight settled warm in her stomach.

It is not the way the watery earth squishes under her feet as she makes her way across the battlefield.

It is not the smiles on her fellow Akatsuki's faces as they walk (or, in Tobi's case, bounce) from the viewing alcove to the sparring field, neither the satisfying way Itachi's hand twitches towards the wound on his leg.

It is the way Deidara rises from unconsciousness, there in the middle of the open clearing, littered with small craters. The scorch marks on the floor. The brushstrokes of crimson scattered around the field.

Sakura slowly walks forward, ignoring the noises around her, until she stands at the edge of the biggest crater where Deidara stands in the middle and looks down.

Flashes of memory-

the landscape like a set for a play, not of romance, but of horror-

in the halls of the Hokage tower, whispers –

Kakahsi's mouth forming a word while her world crashed down –

it was the Akatsuki.

Static fills her ears. Her vision doubles.

"No," she hears Inner shout, vaguely, but it's faint.

And as Sakura looks down, looks around her, she feels like she's back. The men behind her aren't Itachi and Kisame; they are Kakashi and Naruto, pale as death. The air is hotter, her body is smaller, and she can't feel anything.

She's helpless.

All her attention is on the body at the bottom of the crater. The body that is lying there changes before her very eyes.

Fair skin she once longed to touch so pale, black hair littered with crimson.

Sasuke's eyes aren't gone. Instead, they stare at her, the black of his iris slowly blowing up until the crimson of his sharingan is completely gone.

Only then does he speak.

"Sa…ku…ra…"

A hand on her shoulder. Someone is standing in front of her.

Sakura blinks, twice, and the vision is gone. Fades as the fog, pierced with the morning sun.

Her world has turned cold.

"Sakura?"

A voice. It is barely loud enough to overcome the ringing in her ears.

She turns her head upwards, slowly. Her eyes catch on blonde hair and blue eyes.

Naruto, it's Sasuke-kun, he's, he's-

Not Naruto. Naruto would never actually kill Sasuke-kun.

The person touching her had.

"Deidara," she says low and dangerous. Deidara startles, takes a step back at the vehemence in her voice. Blinks.

"What?" they say, eyes narrowing.

"You," Sakura starts, then pauses, the whirlwind of emotions and urges in her chest too intense to find words for a moment. Her fingers twitch.

"You killed Sasuke-kun," she eventually manages and is surprised by how bland her voice is.

The killer in front of her frowns, then shrugs. Their eyes are weary.

"Itachi's brother? Yeah, a long time ago. It's not something I'm proud of, un," a flash or honest regret in their eyes, "but the guy just would not let me go and I'm not going to apologize for defending myself. Besides," they continue with a nervous look at the Uchiha standing where they left him, "Itachi and I managed to talk it out."

Sakura stops listening after the yeah.

What is left of her chakra is a beast inside of her chest.

"Don't," Inner shouts futilely.

Sakura is already moving.

Her foot hits the ground with purpose, shifting her centre just so. The strike is swift and powerful. Her chakra-laden fist surges forward with lethal intent. Deidara, still dazed from their unconsciousness at Kisame's hands, bends backwards at the last moment, reflexes the only thing saving them from certain death.

Her fists misses by the barest millimetres. The force behind it is still enough to send Deidara sprawling backwards.

Silence. There is only the ringing in her ears.

"You killed Sasuke-kun," Sakura repeats, the words stuck in her head like a mantra.

The moment her whole life fell apart. All because of them. Her partner.

Deidara is still on the floor, watching her with troubled eyes.

Something isn't quite right, but Sakura cannot focus on it right now.

"Sakura, stop." Inner is trying to stay calm.

Sakura clenches her teeth. She's moving, slowly, but moving nonetheless. Drags the last bits of chakra from her almost-empty reserves. It starts gathering in her fist, sharp and lethal-

Before she can do anything another man steps into her line of vision and Sakura freezes.

Sasuke?

The man has the same eyes, yes, bleeding crimson and spinning; the same facial structure. But the lines around his eyes are deep. He is tall. Had Sasuke-kun ever been this tall?

"Sakura," the Uchiha stepping towards her says sharply. His voice cuts through the ringing in her ears. There's something about the use of her name that surprises her, but it doesn't hold her attention for long.

Sasuke's killer is still laying on the ground. Sasuke is standing in front of her. Sasuke is dead. Sasuke is not standing in front of her.

Sakura's chest is heaving, exhaustion and emotion and anger warring within her. Her ears are ringing.

The look on Sakura's face does something to the blonde, the mix of betrayal and disbelief slowly morphing into anger, the bombardier already rising and planting their feet in a defensive position.

It clashes with the pain on Dei- the killer's face, something that does not fit within her current paradigm.

It's enough to make her hesitate, feet shifting as she prepares to propel herself forward, tethering on the edge-

Only to freeze as a unnaturally piercing childish voice breaks the silence.

"Tobi doesn't understand why Sakura is angry at Deidara-senpai!" The masked figure claps his hands. "Sakura killed Sasori-no-danna, right? So this makes you guys even!" Tobi gives them both a thumbs-up.

There is a kind of glee in his voice that starkly contrasts with the way Deidara's face darkens.

"You what," the blonde Akatsuki member says dangerously.

"Konan," she hears not-Sasuke say forcefully in response.

Sakura simply bears her teeth, swiftly curves around the man in front of her, and strikes.

This time, Deidara moves to meet her in the middle. The adrenaline coursing through her body lets Sakura slip easily back into her battle calm.

Neck, temple, spine, eyes-

Heart.

The blonde is up in the air now, teeth bared in a snarl and hands forming a sign.

Sakura does not feel afraid. In this moment, the kunoichi feels like she has true mastery over her body. The enemy moving towards her looks feral, pupils blown wide with aggression and mouth twisted in pain (pain, why pain?).

Sakura's hands reach forward, her chakra matches the imaginary ba-dum, ba-dum, the frequency she needs to end this swiftly.

Her vision is tinged with red. The static in her ears is deafening.

She reaches out to touch-

Arms around her, out of nowhere. Sakura is unable to dodge.

The world whirls around her as she is shunshinned away.