Chapter 7
His eyes observed her emotionlessly. He was cold. She could feel it. His heart was black, nothing could bother him. He felt nothing, no regret, no hatred, no love. Never had she met someone like him. He was like Sasuke and yet he was entirely different.
He was a dangerous man, but he had no intention to hurt her. She was far too weak to offer a good fight, that's why Itachi didn't care about her.
When he attempted to leave, she reached out and yelled: "Wait!" With all the strength she had left, Sakura fought herself onto her feet. Itachi remained silent. Indifferent. „You are Itachi, aren't you?", she screamed against the storm. She took a few steps to get closer to him. When they were about 3 meters apart, she stopped. Something about him scared her. But she hadn't come this far to be scared by the coldness in his eyes. "You are Itachi, right?"
There was a short pause, then he nodded briefly.
"Do you know where Sasuke is? Have you met him?" There was no answer. Sakura felt her strength leaving her. She had to get an answer before she lost consciousness. "Please, tell me," she begged. "I need to know. Have you seen your brother?"
His piercing gaze made her knees tremble in fear. He took a step forward. She had no idea what he was about to do. She resisted the urge to spin around and run away. Something about him scared her beyond reason.
And then he spoke, with a soft, low voice that just didn't fit his appearance. "Why were you following me? If you are looking for my brother, he is not here."
"I followed you because I am looking for an answer. Itachi-san, please, tell me where he is. Did you meet Sasuke-kun? Did you… did you kill him?"
He raised an eyebrow and within a split second, he was standing in front of her, close enough that if she reached out she could touch him. "A weak kunoichi from the hidden leaf village," he stated calmly. Sakura was no longer shaking from the cold that didn't seem to affect this man at all. His eyes… they were as scary as Sasuke-kuns had been during the chuunin exam. But Itachi's eyes had an insight Sasuke would probably never have. It was like she couldn't hide anything from him. He could look directly into her soul, read her thoughts and manipulate her mind if he wanted to. This was true power and for a split second, Sakura understood why so many people were searching for this. It had a morbid fascination to it, a part of her wanted to stay close to this kind of power and inherit a piece of it too. And she was scared of that part of her soul, even more than she was scared of Itachi.
His eyes never left hers as he said: "You are looking for Sasuke-kun? Our final battle has yet to come." When he mentioned his brother's name, an emotion flickered across his features. She had been wrong. The only thing this man could still feel was pain. In those eyes she could clearly see sadness when he talked about his brother. Did he regret his doings after all?
His eyes and everything she could see in them distracted her, but the meaning of his words finally sunk in. "So, he is still alive?", she whispered. Her heart was pounding heavily against her chest. This was the answer she had been looking for.
Itachi's face changed, but she could not read the expression on it. His face was like a mask. "Yes. He is Orochimaru's puppet now," he said with that disturbingly soft voice.
"Thank god," she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek, a tear of utmost relief. Sasuke was alive. Even if he was with a man as dangerous as Orochimaru, he was alive.
"Have you found your answer, little girl?"
With a sad smile, she nodded. "Yes. Yes, I have." And then her knees gave in, her body was finally overwhelmed by the cold. Sakura no longer cared. She fell into the soft snow and before she lost consciousness, she thought she heard his soft voice say: "He will come back to you alive, little girl. I promise."
***
Itachi looked down on the unconscious girl indifferently. She had outdone herself, if she was left here, she would die for sure. He tried to think back to the time when he had still been able to feel the cold. Nowadays, he had a wall of chakra protect him from the snow or any other of nature's obstacles. He could walk through the snowstorm forever without even getting cold.
He raised his head when he sensed something. An unfamiliar chakra was coming this way. Itachi nodded to himself, turned around and was gone.
***
Neji was worried. Just a moment ago he had sensed this incredibly strong chakra, and now it was gone. Her chakra had faded to almost nothing a while ago. In all likelyhood, Sakura was unconscious. But the other chakra worried him a lot more. It definitely wasn't Sasuke's aura, it was far too strong for that. Maybe it was Itachi after all.
As a child, he had met Itachi once, during a celebration at the Uchiha territory. The entire Hyuga clan had been invited to celebrate the Uchiha heir's birthday. Neji remembered how he had hid behind his father when he had met the eyes of that boy, the uchiha prodigy. And he had heard what the adults said about him. They called him a monster and how they could see his heart filling with darkness. The Hyuga clan had never liked Itachi. Probably because his strength was a threat to their power. But after seeing those eyes, Neji knew it wasn't the only reason. Itachi had always possessed a heart that searched for power.
Neji knew Itachi had wiped out his clan except for his brother. But no one knew about his motives, and that's what made him an inpredictable opponent. It was not very likely that he had attacked Sakura. But one could never be sure. No one knew what was on Itachi's mind.
When he arrived at where he had last sensed the powerful chakra, he stopped. No one was there. If there had ever been footprints in the snow, they were already gone, covered with fresh layers of snow. The wind had gotten stronger, and so had the snowfall. If it hadn't been for the byakugan, Neji would have gotten lost on his way long ago. But using them wasted up a lot of chakra. He couldn't go on like this forever and now that he could hardly feel her chakra, he didn't know where to go.
He was about to move on, when he saw a faint black color about 20 meters away, contrasting the white snow. He approached it. It was a handle of a sword, stuck deeply in the snow. His brows furrowed. And then he saw a hint of pink hair beneath the newest layer of snow. He fell to his knees and shove away the snow, uncovering her face. "Sakura!", he screamed and cradled her in his arms. Her breathing was faint, but it was there. Her skin was unnaturally cold to the touch. It was a sheer miracle that she was still alive.
"Sakura, wake up!", he yelled into her ear and shook her violently. Although he knew it was stupid to waste any more energy, he created a layer of chakra around his body to warm her up somewhat. Once again he shook her roughly, but she stayed unconscious. His chest tightened in fear. She couldn't die, not like this, not for that useless bastard Sasuke. "Don't die, Sakura! Do you hear me? You cannot die already!" He slapped her hard across the face and finally, her eyes opened. "Sakura. Stay awake!", he yelled. "If you want to live, then stay awake!"
He lifted her into his arms and kept screaming at her not to fall asleep. Her eyelids were half-open but her arms encircled his neck and she held on to him as if for dear life. Neji fought his way through the storm. At least he knew the way. The village wasn't far and he could see it with the byakugan. He just needed enough strength to get her there.
"Neji," she muttered over and over again. And once he could hear her say: "I'm sorry." A few meters before the entrance to the village, she lost consciousness again, but Neji had no more time to wake her up. He just had to get someones attention. Then they'd be safe. The entrance was barricaded, probably because of the snowstorm. He surely didn't have enough power to climb it.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a kunai and an explosion note. He wrapped the paper around the kunai and with all the strength he had left, he threw it against the barrier. The kunai got stuck in the wood and he sighed in relief. He managed a few more steps before he collapsed to his knees.
The note exploded and allthough it didn't do much to the barrier, it got someones attention. He heard voices and after a few moments of painful waiting someone saw them. A few people climbed the walls of the village and ran towards them. Neji heard them ask him questions but he couldn't make out the sense of their words. He just stammered, "The woman. She's probably injured. Take care of the woman." Sakura was taken from his arms and then he allowed himself to faint.
…tbc…