Trigger warning: blood, scenes of torture, death and sex
For over a thousand years now he had been trapped in an endless cycle, an unbreakable promise, an absolute bond that could never be ignored or cast aside. Try as he might to overcome those that shackled him, to turn his back on the unforgivable acts of his clansmen, he never could and thus, the cycle resumed and showed no signs of so much as quivering even when he gave his all to destroy it.
What's more, he was no better than the rest. On countless occasions he lost himself and forgot what he stood for, drowning himself in the bloodshed that followed him wherever he went because he was the darkness that created it in the first place, one that snuffed out the pureness of others.
She was supposed to be different.
Standing opposite the woman he still believed to that day to be his one true love, he despaired for the way it all turned out.
Until he met her, soulmates were make believe. True love did not exist. And he sure as hell did not deserve anything that so much as flickered with purity. But then she came into his life, gushing vibrancy and hope and filling him with a maddening bout of longing. Denouncing all that he was hadn't seemed so impossible while standing in her presence, for she fought off the darkness without wavering and kept him grounded.
For five years he turned his back on his clan. For five years he got out. Found happiness – true happiness. He was so close to having it all with his soulmate, his true love. Even children. Him!
Then he was reminded in the worst possible way why he could never have any of that, his duties to the clan snapping him right back into that torturous cycle and reminding him that everything he touched, anything that so much as glimpsed at him, turned dark.
He'd foolishly believed she would be different.
"What now, Itachi?" she rasped, and he admired the sheer stubbornness that kept her standing when it quickly became apparent all her body wanted in that moment was to shut down.
That was the issue with last minute plans and last ditch efforts. They were filled with too many outcomes to predict or anticipate, leading to what was now causing their impasse.
Over the first few years following his leaving, Itachi… kept an eye on Konoha. Solely to know whether his presence was necessary to take down the hunters that were supposed to follow his murderous rampage to the borders of Suna, where they would surely have had their work cut out for them tracking the elusive and bloodthirsty Sabaku Clan – had they been there. Upon noticing they were on a fool's errand, they'd promptly returned to Konoha to try and pick up any trails they may have left behind, but his love had quickly discovered that in order to survive their wretched lifestyle, she had to do the unthinkable and persevere. Had to adapt.
Watching Sakura without her humanity the first time round wasn't just unpleasant, it was torture and he would be damned (more than he already was) if he let her go through that again.
Everything she once stood for and all that she once desperately hoped to acquire were long lost to that switch and to that day, Itachi suspected she'd yet to rediscover what held her back emotionally (simultaneously making her the remarkable woman she once was). Although prompted to turn her humanity back on by a gullible blonde following a fly by visit from his sympathetic cousin, Sakura had focused on the wrong things and thus, descended into the darkness just like the rest of them.
That runt didn't help matters. If anything, Sabaku no Gaara was the one holding her head under. Teaching her his barbaric ways, bringing out the absolute worst in the woman he loved… He despised the other man with every fibre of his being.
If only there was a way to permanently keep an original down.
"This will only get you so far," he warned, both of their situation and her doomed relationship.
Sakura rolled her neck but it was evident even that caused a great deal of pain, even in her emotionless state. "It'll take me far enough."
Would it, though? It was a risky gamble relying so heavily on a coven of Orochimaru's descendants – his brother had learned the hard way that anything remotely Orochimaru related was setting himself up for failure. To think that they were capable of preserving her life, of honestly believing that Sasuke's immortality would protect her from the venom, was unlike the woman he'd come to know and love. It was unlike the woman he disliked.
In theory, the linking spell should work, however he had been relying on her intense need to survive to push Sakura into his waiting arms.
It was a spell Itachi witnessed countless times over the past thousand or so years, and he suspected he would encounter it throughout the next millennia also. Any harm that came to one body, happened to the other and that included the weakening of Sasuke also, meaning it worked both ways. The linking spell was created so that the one who had the spell cast on them, would die in place of the one being protected by it, however there was always a loophole in the supernatural and in their case, said loophole involved any injuries Sasuke sustained, went straight back to Sakura. The spell was not intended for long term use.
Considering Sasuke was an original vampire, the link would never sever even with his death, for the coven no doubt bound it to his immortality rather than a singular life. However, for Sakura, it would be just the once. If Sasuke was to be taken out with real intent, then Sakura would die. Permanently. They hadn't spent nearly long enough studying Orochimaru's grimoires to try and successfully tweak such a huge spell to grant her the same immortality as Sasuke. If he died in a way that was permanent for a regular vampire, then he would take her singular not-so-immortal life.
That was Madara's plan. Or… Would have been, had Itachi allowed it, hence the reason why he hadn't allowed Sasuke to weaken himself when the rest of them ingested the vervain, despite it meaning indirectly weakening Sakura. His brother had to have some kind of advantage over the wildcard.
More importantly, that was precisely the reason why he and Shisui found it prudent to keep the linking spell from the rest of the clan. Knowing that no death would ever be permanent for them, they took their immortality for granted. Madara alone was known to lash out and cut down the rest of them just because he was having a bad day – if killing Sasuke meant eradicating what his clan sincerely believed to be a problem, then he wouldn't hesitate. Hell, his parents would offer their assistance all the while stating it was about the bigger picture.
He needed to retrieve Sasuke before they did.
But his plan was failing miserably.
After being bitten – the one goddamn job he'd ever asked of Naruto even after a millennia of knowing him – Sakura's survival instincts were supposed to have kicked into overdrive, just as they were wont to do. Handing Sasuke over in return for sparing her coven and clansmen by calling off the wolves, in addition to saving her life with Naruto's blood, should have been enough. Truthfully, Sakura was never in any danger in that regard thanks to the damned linking spell, however with his clan's involvement…
His weak plan had fallen through.
And now he was running out of time and options.
"You are prolonging the inevitable," Itachi stated icily, keeping in place the mask of indifference that aided him through the thousand years of torture and despair.
Returning to Konoha hadn't been his intention. In fact, waking in the first place hadn't been his intention, but of course, when Sasuke was involved, there was usually a crisis that swiftly followed. Itachi hadn't even needed Shisui to fill him in upon waking him from his slumber. His first words had in fact been, "What has he done?"
"That… may be so," she spat back, grimacing. "But I–"
All thoughts of how to rectify his problem were eradicated at the stiffening of Sakura's muscles, her head whipping around to stare out into the forest. If that hadn't promptly put him on edge, then Gaara's low growl of annoyance reverberating throughout the small break in trees certainly did, one that grew progressively more menacing when Itachi attempted to find out what had Sakura on edge.
"You disobeyed me," she accused. "You shouldn't be here."
Finally.
Inwardly sighing as he found his opening, Itachi tipped his chin without looking in Naruto's direction, wordlessly ordering him to resume their operation.
"You…"
They had to act fast if they wanted to create a fair amount of distance between Sasuke and the rest of the clan, who were bound to inevitably show up.
"Fool," muttered Gaara disapprovingly, barely even glancing at the kink in their plans.
The problem with that pesky humanity switch was that it could never be permanent – not solely down to his compulsion, either. Although Sakura was much too young to have come across such an issue, the older a vampire was, the more difficult the switch was to find or even sustain until finally, turning it all off was impossible.
What he wouldn't give to be able to turn it all off, even if only for a short while.
The blonde could only stare in horror at the mangled wounds on Sakura's body, features falling with grief and despair and during her distraction, Naruto lunged forward (unlike werewolves who needed to transform to deliver the lethal bite, the hybrid secreted his venom even in his human form thanks to the vampire half of himself).
Itachi struck when Gaara attempted to cover Sakura's righthand woman undoubtedly on her behalf, not hesitating to ram a hand through the redhead's chest and forcing him to come to an abrupt halt, the strain on his features undeniably pleasant to cause.
"You are no match for me when you are in this state," he goaded, gaze condescending as he locked eyes with one of the banes of his existence. "Sleep it off, Gaara-kun."
Sakura didn't even blink as the heart of the man she loved was ripped from his chest, eyes remaining locked on Itachi's when he dropped said heart carelessly to the ground. It was shortly followed by a desiccating Gaara, whose last words were of course a threat for what was to come should he harm Sakura.
"Shi-"
The screech was cut short by the sharp fangs that sunk into her throat, Naruto's grip unyielding as he kept Ino pinned to him until he was certain he'd inflicted enough damage. It was then that those blue eyes shut remorsefully at his actions, and for one much too long moment, he kept his face pressed to her neck almost as though he couldn't stand to admit to what he'd done.
It secretly had a part of Itachi sighing in regret, for that boy was just as trapped as he was, being forced to continue their shameful life of bloodshed and hatred on a continuous loop.
"What are you hoping for?" Sakura questioned carelessly, fighting through her physical agony. It wasn't difficult noticing Ino's helplessness or fear at her next words of, "This means nothing to me."
"S-Sakura," the blonde whispered, betrayed.
He ignored her. "If that is the case, then hand Sasuke over."
It was with a snort that she stumbled towards him, the clumsiness in her weak movements reminding Itachi all too much of how she'd been as a human. So fragile, so accident prone. Trying to keep a woman like that alive had damn near killed him – of exhaustion, that was.
The smirk on her features was cold, lacking the continuous flash of vengeance and rage he'd witnessed since waking. "I flipped my switch. I didn't forget why I've been doing all this."
"After a-all…" Expression scrunching up with the pain of Naruto's venom circulating, Ino snapped angrily, "…we… we've b-been through. S-Sakura, you…!"
They didn't have time to allow the righthand woman to try and once again flip the switch back for Sakura like she had decades ago. "But surely you no longer care as to why."
Not one single muscle twitched. "Nope. Bite her all you want. She's already dead now, anyways."
This was not how it was supposed to turn out.
She was supposed to be different.
Staring into those green eyes with carefully veiled guilt (because honestly, what had he even been expecting – he should have known he was fooling himself by believing they could have a life together), Itachi stepped over Gaara's lifeless body to close the rest of the distance with Sakura, ignoring Ino's weak thrashing against Naruto's hold as she admirably tried to come to her friend's defence.
"Don't you touch her…!"
"The last time you flipped your humanity switch, I did nothing," he murmured calmly, quietly, despite the rampant beating of his heart as he picked up on the fast approach of another. "I walked away."
He didn't look away from the sight of his love devouring her meal, merciless in her killing of the group of students. Previously, she had agonised over killing another and chose instead to raid hospitals of donated blood, sometimes even settling for carnivorous animals that roamed the forest surrounding their town (even then, she was overwhelmed by guilt for harming animals). Now she was practically bathing in their blood, looking just how a vampire should as she lost herself in her thirst.
"What did you do?" he questioned flatly at the unmissable aura of the man he despised.
His presence alongside Sakura's sudden turn was no coincidence. They were connected. And Itachi could just barely hide his hatred and heartache as he watched it all unfold before him.
"That woman is a hindrance," came Madara's cold mutter and he turned his back on the scene to walk away from it like he'd never been there to begin with, smirking. "Since you refused to part with her, I took matters into my own hands and I broke those ties for you."
Her humanity switch, Itachi realised with a sharp twisting of his gut. "What makes you so sure I cannot compel her to turn it back on?"
"You wouldn't put her through the torment of facing her much too raw grief. With a woman who feels as intensely as this one, the grief will most likely kill her or drive her mad," he wickedly assured him. "You see, I found a quaint cabin a couple of miles into the forest."
His features smoothed out.
It wasn't Sasuke.
"They were a… delectable couple."
His brother wasn't the one to slaughter Sakura's parents.
"What are you playing at?" Itachi demanded quietly.
He was genuine in his refutes.
"You are straying in your loyalties." Glancing over his shoulder at Itachi, Madara's amusement slipped away, making way for irritation. "Just know, she will never believe a word you say, for you will be doing nothing more than trying to protect your rampaging younger brother. More importantly, should that woman switch her emotions back on, she will be consumed by her rage and grief. The first thing she will do is go after Sasuke. Do you know what he would do to her in his current state? When we all know by now how impossible it is to get through to him during a ripper binge?"
All too well.
"What will you do, Itachi?" he questioned cruelly. "When the only way to protect her from this family and her grief, is to abandon her?"
He'd spent a great deal of the past fifty years desiccated, his body remaining close to Shisui at all times as he continued to live as normal, allegedly losing track of Itachi whenever anybody questioned his whereabouts. He of course attempted to sway his decision and find numerous reasons for him to continue living, however…
What was the point without her?
"Your mother often remarked on your ability to be emotional enough for your entire family." Ino blanched at the mentioning of them, attempts growing more furious as she hurled weightless insults his way. It seemed her fury on Sakura's behalf had wiped all pain from her system, granting her enough strength to surprise Naruto from his self-pity. "I wonder, did the returning of your emotions cause you any pain?"
It was necessary, Itachi reminded himself with a hopeless sigh.
The hand that caught his was weak, as were the icy fingers that attempted to dig into his skin. "Don't."
"You leave me with no other choice," he softly murmured to her, other hand coming to the back of Sakura's head to tug her closer. "I will stop at nothing to save Sasuke."
To save you.
The amount of vervain she ingested from his blood shouldn't affect his compulsion, and now with said blood (and Gaara's) being out of her system or at least nullified by the wolf venom, there was absolutely no reason why compulsion wouldn't work against her.
Easily tugging his captured hand free of hers, Itachi tipped Sakura's head back, instantly ensnaring her even when she fought valiantly to avoid eye contact. But that was enough to inform him how effortless on his part it would be to flip that switch, because fear shot through her gaze.
And fear was an emotion.
"Turn it back on," he ordered lowly, fingers splaying out in her hair to keep Sakura from attempting to break the contact. "Remember all that was once dear to you. Remember why you continue to fight. Remember everything, my love."
Everything.
Tears instantly filled her eyes at the following of his orders, the grief and remorse unmistakeable as she tried to look in Ino's direction, the responding helpless smile the cause for the tears falling. "I-Ino…"
"Don't… give i-in to… to… his demands, Sakura," she forced herself to demand, the pain returning and forcing her legs give out, prompting Naruto to tighten his hold on her so she would remain upright. "Remember… the pain. Sasuke… Sasuke's… an ass."
Naruto hid his snicker in her hair.
Well, he could not deny that. However, ass or not, he was his brother and he needed him.
"Ino, I can't…" she whispered brokenly, and Itachi noticed that Sakura vehemently refused to look in his direction while so emotionally vulnerable, confirming his suspicions that the switching on of her humanity (no matter how briefly it was off), caused her great distress. "You can't die. Not you."
"Release Sasuke and Naruto-kun will heal her," he pushed. Gently redirecting her attention back to him, Itachi ran a hand through her hair, the responding ache of how badly he'd missed holding her in such a way almost debilitating. "You have my word that the two of us and Shisui will no longer bother you."
But still refusing to meet his eye, a sharp exhale left her when those green eyes caught sight of her lover. "…Gaara."
"Will wake shortly," muttered Itachi with more disdain to his tone than he'd intended. Schooling his expression once more, he quietly reminded her, "I can compel you now to release Sasuke."
"Then why don't you?"
Because he wanted to know that a part of the woman he loved was still in there.
"It may grant you some form of leniency if you do so of your own accord," he responded. "I may even spare your coven, no matter how risky it is keeping them alive."
Once he had freed his foolish younger brother, he was going to ensure that there were no more slip ups. No more of Sasuke going behind his back and blaming Sakura for the way his life had turned out, or she him. No, his brother was going to spend the next century or so desiccated by his side whether he liked it or not. Perhaps then he would cool off.
First, however…
Another bursting into the small space had Sakura flinching, her pain fortunately too great for her to notice Shisui's grimace at the state she was in, or the accusing glare he shot to both Itachi and Naruto.
"I held them off for as long as I could," he quietly informed him, rather than reprimanded for how far they'd gone to keep up their farce. "We need to do this now, Itachi."
He really didn't have a choice.
Once more, to spare Sakura from an eternity of misery or having to face his wretched clan, Itachi knew what he had to do.
He had to bend her to his will.
"Sakura."
Pausing in licking off the blood that had trickled down the length of her forearm, Sakura looked to him, the dispassionate stare a complete opposite of how loving it once was. It was like looking at a stranger, not the woman he'd vowed to spend eternity with. "What is it?"
He envied how easy it was for newborn vampires to switch off their humanity and while knowing how futile it was, Itachi searched endlessly for his own – if only for the duration of their conversation. Said conversation wouldn't affect her now that she had no emotions, but it would kill him. It was killing him.
"Shisui, Sasuke and I are leaving," he informed her. "There is a platoon of hunters surrounding Konoha–"
"Just the three of you?" Sakura calmly questioned and dropped her latest meal onto the floor of their grand hall, standing gracefully and appearing every bit the predator she was in her blood soaked lingerie. "Just say if you don't want me to come."
"Would you even want to?" he countered.
A careless shrug was his only response for a moment as she poked the motionless human with her bare foot, forcing the half dressed man onto his back. Glazed eyes stared up at her, but rather than blanching as she had the first time she drank a person's blood, Sakura merely looked back to Itachi, like the person was nothing more than a bug she had squashed.
"I might be emotionless, but I still know that I have nothing left here for me now," she stated, then paused to add, "Well, other than that Ino girl. I feel like she's not going anywhere unless I kill her."
Good, he selfishly thought to himself. She would need a loyal friend to bring her back from the edge once she was ready to face the grief.
Ignoring the shredding of his heart, he uttered, "No. You are not coming."
"Okay."
It was the switch, Itachi reminded himself at her blasé response.
Rolling her eyes in her turn back to the dead man, Sakura crouched beside him, saying, "Well, if that's all, then you can go now. I have nothing more to say."
He had plenty he needed to warn her of, so much that he wanted desperately to clear up.
But to do so meant opening Sakura up once more to his cursed clan and the darkness that they were made up of. She didn't deserve that life. He refused to make her a paranoid wreck living on the run by continuing what they had, knowing exactly what Madara would do if he caught wind of it.
"What are you waiting for?" she questioned blandly. "Breakup sex?"
That was a thing? Shaking the ridiculous notion from his mind, Itachi approached her soundlessly and copied her example of kneeling beside her victim, doing his utmost to ignore the stench of human blood that called to him.
"I wish to tell you something of importance before I go," Itachi told her over the constricting of his throat.
"Get on with it."
Swallowing down his heartache, he reached out and cupped her cheek, turning Sakura's head in his direction and offering her a small smile when he caught her in his compulsion.
"Once your emotions are turned back on, you will feel nothing more than resentment towards my clan and myself," he softly whispered while bringing her closer, comforting himself with the feel of Sakura in his arms for the final time. "We not only ruined your life, but the lives of everyone you love, and you despise us for that. You despise what we have done to the town we call home."
He couldn't falter. Couldn't second guess himself. However, the weight of his own emotions were shockingly almost enough to shatter the compulsion, proving as much when Itachi nearly lost control of it.
"You will find love again one day with a person who empowers you and helps you thrive in your independence. You won't be afraid anymore as long as they are around. I promise you, Sakura, you will be happy again." Smiling helplessly, he brought their foreheads together with a gentle thud, murmuring, "This is goodbye, my love."
Ignoring the sympathy in his cousin's gaze, Itachi once more connected with Sakura, her thrashing abruptly coming to a halt once he had entrapped her mind to bend it to his will.
"You fought a good fight, my love, but your loyalty and love towards your friend and lover made this decision for you, for as much as you long to see the downfall of the Uchiha Clan, you refuse to do so at the expense of those who you love," he forced her to believe and noticed from the corner of his eye how Naruto copied his example with Ino, already allowing her to drink freely from his wrist to cure the venom. "You will release Sasuke from his confinement and return to your new life as though the past few days were nothing more than a nightmare."
Glancing downwards at the slow revival of Sabaku no Gaara, Itachi realised he had to wrap it up quickly. Indicating with a tip of his chin for Shisui to grab the redhead and unconscious witch, he made sure to keep his trump card weakened, ignoring Sakura's harsh snarls as he held her close and set off towards the prison at a dead sprint.
"Let me go," she angrily demanded, making Itachi sigh at the reminder of her being without original blood now. "I already agreed to your demands!"
Overlooking his love and her fury, he made sure to be the first one to enter the large clearing surrounding the derelict plantation, quickly coming to the realisation that they were out of their depth with the arsenal Sakura had backing her. It was almost enough to make him proud – no, it did make him immensely proud.
Sasuke's head immediately snapped up at their entrance, his sigh filled with annoyance and relief. Before him stood Orochimaru's coven, the sheer number of them astounding him due to how rare a coven as large as their own was to find nowadays – particularly descendants of Orochimaru.
"Sakura…!"
The sight of the boy's eyes had Itachi finally faltering, unable to look away from the golden glare that pierced straight through him, opening himself up to the sudden, invisible attack that flung him to the other side of the clearing, legs breaking upon impact but healing just as fast as they broke.
"Oi," warned Naruto, coming to stand between them all with his arms outstretched, unknowingly causing the two redheads of the coven to snicker at his expense when his move tore open the blazer Itachi had given him, revealing everything for all to see. "We've come to an understanding."
Sasuke blinked in surprise, demanding, "You have?"
Too entranced by the boy, Itachi was slow to pick himself back up, unable to meet Shisui's eye as he looked to him in disbelief and suspicion. Instead, he took a step forward, frowning down at the white haired boy who came to stand before the defeated Sakura defensively, despite his coven's warnings to step down against an original.
"Mitsuki-kun, you–"
"Hand Yukimaru-kun to Guren-san," he ordered coolly, never blinking as he watched their every move.
Fortunately, his cousin understood just how powerful the boy could potentially be, so Shisui didn't argue, instead carefully handing the unconscious warlock to his coven. "He is merely exhausted," he alerted them quietly. "I assume he cast a powerful spell that was too much for him to handle, but he should recover. His heartbeat is strong."
Hand raising when Itachi made a move towards his brother, Mitsuki muttered, "One more move and you will join him."
If only a prison like that could be enough to keep his clansmen at bay. While Itachi disliked the thought of being confined to such a monstrous place, he had to admit it was in an inconspicuous enough area that ensured they would never be disturbed as they desiccated.
"E-Enough," Sakura ordered, her trembling hand coming to Mitsuki's ankle.
As though the boy's fierce protectiveness of someone of their kind wasn't strange enough, Itachi found himself astonished at the immediate response to her words. He watched in awe as the young boy turned and knelt before her, hands faltering over the seemingly fatal werewolf bites.
"We will find a syphon," Mitsuki muttered, then looked to his coven, ordering, "Now."
"Yeah, because we have a fucking syphon on hand–" started one of the redheads, only to be interrupted by the others telling her to ease up.
It was tiredly how she clung to Mitsuki, thanking him for helping her remain upright and in that brief moment of their eyes locking, Itachi felt his heart clench tightly in his chest, lips involuntarily parting at the sight before him as it sent his mind careening into the past, to promises and wishes to one day have it all together.
Would she have looked to their child in such a tender way?
"We have a deal," Ino informed them wearily. Sighing, she took her place at Sakura's side, standing over her loyally, calmly. Of course, Naruto had compelled her to be nothing less than accepting of their wishes. "In return for Sasuke's freedom–"
"Are you insane?" a purple haired woman demanded in a furious yell. "We just expended ourselves trapping that bastard in there."
He was unable to focus too much on the arguments that erupted around him. Instead, Itachi continued to watch what he could only describe as a mother and son duo, struggling ferociously against the weakness that threatened to take his legs out from under him. His previous yearning for a future with Sakura had nothing on what suddenly ripped his heart from his chest, for his dreams continued to consist of such a sentimental moment – only, he was a part of it.
"Itachi," snapped Shisui under his breath.
They didn't have time for this.
Evidently only just realising how open she was being with her emotions, Sakura swallowed hard and struggled to separate herself from Mitsuki, limping towards the coven who were angrily shooting question after question at her. The uncaring visage she'd adopted during his absence returned and without a care, she dismissed the fuming coven demanding that she listened to them, coming to stand before Sasuke with a cold smirk.
"The only good part about having werewolf venom coursing through my veins is knowing you're suffering too," she spat hatefully.
"I am certain there is a form of poetry to your vindictive words," he drawled condescendingly in response.
It was as they both buckled under the onslaught of the venom that Itachi stepped forward, though was forced to come a halt by the coven crowding around Sakura to help her stand. Unlike Sakura, however, there was nobody to support his brother and while he knew Sasuke was a grown man who could protect and stand for himself, he ached at the sight of his brother suffering all alone. Apparently Naruto felt the same way, for he was quick to dash over to the entrance, squeezing between the others and Sasuke so that he could stand by his side on the outside of the barrier, offering quiet comfort.
The sight allowed Itachi to breathe a sigh of relief for his brother's sake, grateful that Sasuke had found someone outside of their twisted clan to call his family.
"That…" The woman (Guren, he believed) cradling Yukimaru close to her chest took a half step back, clutching the boy closer. "How is it possible for such a thing to exist?"
"An imbalance is the least of our concerns right now," snapped the purple haired woman and she gestured for Mitsuki to return to them, slipping the youngest of the coven to the centre of them all.
That move alone informed Itachi that he was of great importance however pairing it with the intensity of those golden eyes – not just the colour telling him whose eyes they once were, but the intent behind them – let him know why he was so important. The calculating stare that seemingly never missed a detail. How he was so blaringly obviously the strongest of them all.
But he was so unlike Orochimaru.
Sasuke clearly didn't seem to think so however, his glare continuously straying to the boy in such a way that it had Sakura shifting in her step, the pair of them entering another stare down despite the agony they were in.
She was being too open with her emotions.
"We need to move fast," Shisui reminded him, clearly picking up on her weakness also. "Before the hallucinations start and trigger Sakura-san and Sasuke in some way."
One of many side effects of a vampire being bitten by a werewolf. Already, Sakura was deteriorating fast, unable to stand by herself until she was given another reason to go on the defensive. Sasuke, who'd been bitten countless times over the millennia by Naruto alone, was more accustomed to the pain, his battered body resilient as he stood his ground.
"I want another–"
A yelp of pain that forcefully escaped through gritted teeth had many reaching out for Sakura, her legs finally having enough and giving out beneath her.
However, his resilient brother leaped at the chance, taking advantage of the stumble and yanking Sakura into the prison with him when just the tiniest part of her body passed the barrier.
"No," yelled Ino desperately, ramming Naruto out of the way when she appeared at the doorway with her hands gripping the doorframe hard enough to crack the stone. "You fucking cretin–"
Keeping an arm wrapped around Sakura's neck, Sasuke unintentionally though perhaps knowingly stabbed at his heart by using his love for leverage, cruelly yanking her impossibly closer and applying pressure to her wounds.
"Gaara!"
Just what they needed, Itachi thought with a sigh at the return of Gaara's siblings, who were quick to drop to his sides and assess the damage. It was Temari who reacted to Sakura's predicament first, eyes widening in furious disbelief first at her capture, then grave concern when she noticed the wolf bites.
Standing gracefully despite the tattered state of her clothing and body, she impressed Itachi with the lack of bites. They had definitely landed a substantial amount of damage going off the dried blood, but not enough to fatally wound her, since they were long since healed and she presented no outward signs of being poisoned by the venom.
"Your damned clan can never give this girl a break," came her low mutter of hatred, the anger leaking through the words creating a growl-like effect. "The sooner we discover how to take you righteous bastards down, the better. To spare her from more pain if nothing else."
Sakura really had set herself up with a great team to back her up – no, a family.
Protection, loyalty, devotion.
She had exactly what he couldn't give her.
"I assure you once this is over, you will not see the three of us again," Shisui stated genuinely, looking directly to Sakura. "I promise."
"L-Like your promise… means… anything," came her hoarse response, clawing weakly at the arm.
Whirling around at the coven, Ino demanded, "Hurry up and do something, damn it! You can't leave her in there with that monster."
Ah, he'd almost forgotten that the whole reason the blonde was turned was because of the two on the other side of the barrier. One tried admirably to protect her despite the fact it meant risking her own life while the other had slaughtered the entirety of the fraternity house she'd been partying at. All of her friends were murdered, Sakura had told him brokenly, but that sorrow on behalf of her new friend was overshadowed the moment news broke about her parents being dead.
That was the first time Ino displayed her unwavering loyalty for Sakura, leading Itachi to suspect she was potentially sired to her until she went against a direct order (those who were sired to their creators were unable to go against orders or the wishes of their creators). But for the other woman to feel so strongly for her without being sired was… relieving.
"We need to act while we still have the power of the moon," one of the warlocks sighed, glancing to his coven. "Without it, we're going to be too weak."
"With it we're too weak," argued Mitsuki. Reluctantly, haunting golden eyes returned to the entrance of the prison, head shaking faintly as he told them, "Erecting this barrier and allowing Yukimaru-kun to simultaneously channel my powers has left me significantly weakened."
Sasuke's demon eyes activated, and Sakura's hiss of pain indicated he'd harmed her somehow in his momentary rage. "Find a way."
"Considering your past with Orochimaru, you should know better about a witch's limitations," came the angered response of the purple haired woman.
But Sasuke wasn't swayed, upper lip curling. "It is because of my past with Orochimaru that I know there are ways around it."
Naruto blanched and jumped to his feet once more, shouting, "Don't ask that of them, Sasuke."
"Do not–" he seethed and Itachi masked his reaction to Sakura being shoved into the wall face first, his brother not feeling the second-hand pain due to his rage. "–tell me what to do. I have been in here long enough."
But as he was wont to do, Naruto didn't falter as he entered the path of Sasuke's fury, glaring him down with a jaw that set resolutely. "You can't risk it." Eyebrows knitting together until they furrowed fully in a bordering on desperate scowl, he pleaded, "Please, Sasuke. Don't."
The crack in that composure finally showed as it always did when it came to the pair, and his brother forced himself to look away, muttering, "I have no other choice." He inhaled deeply and glanced at the collapsed Sakura, hiding his expression in the shadows that were cast by the veil of his hair. "He has always been loyal to me."
"Until you killed him–"
"Because of what he did–"
Weakly, a hand came to the hem of his trousers, tired yet insistent in its tugging on the material. "Y-You… killed him…?"
Cursing inwardly at the broken form of his love, Itachi approached the coven, stating, "The next full moon is not for a whole month. Do you expect me to leave my brother trapped–"
"Like he's the one who's in danger," snarled Kankuro.
"She's protected by the linking spell," argued Naruto, looking between Sasuke and the rest of them with a frown. Uncaring that he invaded an already irritated Ino's space, he leaned closer to the barrier, pleading, "Sasuke. Promise you won't do anything."
"Naruto–"
"Please."
If anyone could get through to his thick-headed younger brother, then it was undoubtedly his equally thick-headed companion, who kept returning to his side like a wounded stray animal, regardless of how he was treated previously.
Torn, Sasuke met Itachi's eye, head discreetly tilting in Sakura's direction. "Nii-san…"
Of course, just because he promised that he wouldn't harm her, that didn't necessarily mean that Sakura would follow the same example. And why should she? In Sakura's eyes, Sasuke was the one who murdered her parents, who had callously destroyed what was supposed to be her happily ever after, as she'd often dubbed it. He was essentially the one to take everything away from her.
On the other hand, however, why shouldn't his brother, who was often victim to his ripper gene and blinded by rage and hunger, be able to defend himself should she attack him? Expecting him to stand by while she hurled abuse and attacked him was wrong, regardless of what she believed.
He redirected his attention to the coven, notifying Mitsuki in particularly, "My clan are on the move in search of them both and will stop at nothing to put her down. Are you powerful enough to erect cloaking spells?"
"Why do you suddenly care?" Temari questioned suspiciously, narrowing her eyes on him.
Nodding in agreement with his sister, Kankuro added in a low drawl, "Sakura means nothing to you, right?"
"Sasuke is his younger brother," came Shisui's swift response, features setting into a cold mask that dared them to continue pushing the matter further. "Surely you have heard of the madman that is Madara?"
Swallowing hard, Naruto added, "Do you know the sort of stuff he does to these guys for the fun of it?"
"Enough, dobe," snapped Sasuke, anger returning. Shifting in his step and looking down on Sakura, he muttered disdainfully, "I won't lay a hand on you."
She grimaced at that, pitifully attempting to adjust her position against the wall. "…L-Linked," came her broken up response and Itachi ached at the full body tremors taking over her. "Y-You… hurt y-yourself…"
"You have my word."
"Your word doesn't mean shit," hissed Ino.
Growling lowly, he glanced back to the blonde and snarled venomously, "Do you want me to kill you again?"
Blue eyes narrowed and she tipped her chin, grinning ferally. "Like you can, you runt of the litter. Every time you try, I just get back up."
"Like a damned cockroach–"
"Stop already," Naruto demanded. Turning to the coven, he questioned, "How am I supposed to give her my blood without getting trapped in there too?"
"Your blood?" questioned Kankuro, keeping one hand on Gaara's chest in a move Itachi quickly discovered was restraining. "What significance is your blood?"
Rolling his eyes but mostly unperturbed, the blond answered offhandedly, "All you need to know is that it'll save her, okay?"
"Like hell that's all we need–"
"Stop, Kankuro," Gaara stunned them by responding gruffly. In an evident struggle that Itachi took too much delight in (until he witnessed Sakura's relief to see him moving again), the redhead struggled against his brother's strength, his skin a sickly shade of grey thanks to the venom. He swallowed hard, assuring him, "It will work."
Temari was quick to round on the blond, demanding, "Prove it. Heal my brother."
Sasuke scoffed at that. "Why the hell should he?"
But her smirk was positively wicked, the bloodlust that entered her eyes screaming of the atrocities that followed their clan throughout the millennia – always at their own hands, also. Nobody dared to pick a fight with the Sabaku Clan, but regardless of that fact, they caused plenty of carnage, leaving piles of bodies in their wake. Many foolishly believed Gaara was the main cause of their apparent madness and killing sprees, but that was only because it was rare to actually see the clan. The only ones to see their faces and live to tell the tale were those who either could not die, or who were powerful enough to escape by the skin of their teeth.
"Nobody will want to be around my dear brother once the hallucinations start," she murmured with deadly promise. "Just keep in mind that at his absolute worst, he is still completely sane. Imagine the atrocities he can and will cause while lost in madness."
There was every chance she was bluffing to spare her brother the agony that came with side effects of werewolf venom, however he could tell by the reluctant acceptance of Naruto that he wasn't going to risk it – with good reason, because it wasn't a bluff. That was what turned Itachi's stomach so greatly about Sabaku no Gaara. There were no underlying ailments to excuse his sadistic behaviour, nothing twisting his mind. He simply got off on the terror he instilled in others.
But somehow, Sakura had fallen for such a man.
How? Why?
Scowling in his approach of the redhead, Naruto bit down on his wrist and shoved it in Gaara's face, muttering for him to hurry up and get on with it.
"Good choice," commended Temari sarcastically.
"We'll do it," Mitsuki informed them suddenly but didn't look their way, instead coming to stand beside the prison until Ino acted as a barrier, her hand coming down with a slap on the doorframe to block any chances of Sasuke getting a hold of him. Itachi didn't miss the warning glare she directed down at the boy, head shaking minutely. "We can put several cloaking spells in place to avoid the risks of their being discovered."
Wise move, Itachi thought, though returned his attention to Gaara as the unpredictable original regained his strength once more and stood, ordering of Naruto instantly, "Heal her."
They would get nowhere with such an arrogant attitude. After a millennia of knowing Uzumaki Naruto, Itachi had witnessed on hundreds of occasions how the blond responded to orders or authority in general. Perhaps partly due to the wretched, tortuous lifestyle he was forced to live after being tricked by Orochimaru, perhaps even down to his own brother's involvement in his becoming a disgrace to his original pack, who responded to his being a hybrid by banishing him. It didn't matter what caused it. The bottom line was that Naruto despised being ordered around and the blond could only be pushed so far before he snapped in the most violent of ways.
Predictably growling at his rudeness, the blonde snapped back, "I can't go in there without getting trapped too–"
"What is your point?"
"I don't wanna be imprisoned!"
Icy blue eyes shut in resignation, his deep inhale and rolling of his shoulders seemingly calming.
From the corner of his eye, Itachi noticed Ino shifting out of the way of the entrance, hair just barely covering her triumphant smirk, but it was Sakura's impish grin that alerted him to Gaara's intentions, her eyes lighting up despite her pain. And although he caught on effortlessly to their plans, perhaps unforgivably of him, he felt absolutely no desires to stop the redhead. Not if it meant easing Sakura's suffering.
"What makes you think I care about what you want?" he questioned softly, disarmingly.
Then before Naruto could react, Gaara's foot was planting firmly into his stomach, sending the hybrid careening through the clearing and straight into the waiting arms of Sakura, who despite having the wind knocked out of her from catching him, tugged him down into a beguilingly tender embrace.
Green eyes settling on Sasuke's in dark warning when he moved to protect him, she smiled, whispering to Naruto, "Don't worry. It won't hurt for long."
"Don't you dare–" his brother spat hatefully, only to be interrupted by her cold, weary chuckle.
"It won't kill him," she reminded him.
"S-Still," Naruto tried, smiling placatingly. Hands coming to her arms in a move Itachi instantly read as more reassuring than an attempt to separate himself from her, the blond asked, "Can't you just drink from my wrist like everyone else?"
But he didn't receive an immediate vocal response. Just Sakura running her hand through his hair in an almost loving gesture, effortlessly ensnaring Naruto with a sweet meeting of their eyes.
"Shh," she hushed gently and bumped her nose to his, making Itachi sigh with annoyance as his brother's foolish companion fell victim to his own libido once again. Then again, not many stood a chance against his love's advances. Even he couldn't turn her down. "I'll be gentle."
"Fucking w–"
But Sasuke's harsh insult was instantly drowned out by Naruto's screech of pain as she mercilessly sunk her fangs into his throat (most definitely returning the favour of how savagely his pack tore into her), the sound soon growing gargled and weak. A couple of the witches averted their gazes, some turning their heads away entirely whereas the sight of her feeding so greedily had Gaara smirking with pride until he looked to the coven, nodding once at Mitsuki to get started.
The boy responded by wordlessly turning to face the prison, hands raising in preparation for his spells.
A/N - I've slipped this onto the first chapter as well, but those of you who've been with me for past 7 or so years know that I create playlists for my stories (I write to them as they help set the scene a lot of the time). If you'd like to listen to the playlist for this specific story, here it is: /playlist?list=PL9HGeX2wrBGuDEApm1iMVUxlHHDn4SC-_
Thank you everyone for your continued support! And for those asking about Kakashi - don't worry, he's lurking. It's not just Itachi longing for a happy ever after!