Itonami: I apologize on my hands and knees for being so late with this chapter! Blame the exams! I've been so busy studying and I haven't gotten the chance to write so much. But to grovel at your feet for forgiveness, I have written a more romantically oriented chapter… I think… It is my peace offering! Hopefully, you'll be satisfied!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto.
Chapter 4
Sakura leapt through the trees with Lee and Neji, keeping on alert for any sighs of other movement or chakra. The Hyuuga beside her had his Byakugan on, chakra veins feeding his eyes to see beyond normality. Lee turned his head from side to his, mostly his ears doing the listening for anything.
They neared their destination quite quickly, Naruto keeping them informed about his own team's location. Tenten also kept them updated in her search for Uchiha Sasuke, with Neji feeling a wave of relief whenever he heard her voice. Sakura couldn't help but smile just a little when she heard the infamous Byakugan user sigh softly when the weaponry master spoke.
They reached a little village, untouched by the Akatsuki incessant rampage. Naruto, on their earpieces, suggested that they make camp in the forest nearby. Everyone agreed and traveled on past it.
Neji was getting just a little edgy. It was now two hours since Tenten last updated on her status. She was now out of his Byakugan's range, and it frustrated him to no end. They were already at the assigned location and the weapon master still had not reported. Damn it, Tenten, why aren't you talking? He felt the strong desire to turn around a search for her himself. But he had a duty to the ANBU. He couldn't just abandon them for his own desire to see her back by his side. Angrily, the Hyuuga punched a tree trunk, causing it to collapse on itself.
Sakura sighed as she heard her teammate attacking the poor tree target. He was never in good humor if something irritated him. Neji was a hard person to deal with. He's almost as stubborn as…the jounin stopped and looked down at her hands softly. Sasuke…Lee patted her on the shoulder reassuringly, though he didn't really know what she was thinking about. "Lee-san, how long has it been since we've made camp?"
Lee thought for a moment and smiled at her. "Almost an hour or so since we have camp and about thirty minutes has passed since Neji decided to destroy our forest cover." He glared at his longtime friend.
But the Hyuuga was in no position to stop, so he turned his white eyes towards the pair and said emotionlessly, "I'm going to train."
Without another word, Lee and Sakura blinked when he disappeared somewhere, obviously going somewhere else to kill forest life.
"Do you think he'll be all right, Lee-san? What if he does something stupid?" She asked dully, staring at the place where the furious Byakugan user had been.
"Of course, Sakura-san! Neji may be mad, but even in a state of uncontrollable anger my rival never does anything stupid." He said, almost proudly.
Naruto's voice came over the radio. "Guys, I believe the Akatsuki has been spotted. Lee and Sakura snapped back in attention.
"Where?" Sakura breathed, her heart pounding painfully loud in her chest. She couldn't forget those blood red eyes of the Sharingan.
"In one of the surrounding villages. We're not sure which one yet, but we're going to need a persuasive person to going in those villages and get some information. Sakura, are you up to it?"
For a slight moment, Sakura was about to ask why her, but she had to swallow her fear of that…that man. "Alright, what will I need to do?"
Naruto's breathing was the only thing heard for a moment. "We need simple peasant clothes and you need to pretend to be a part of the village. Try your best. You will go the first village which is slightly south of your current position and I will go to the second village which is east of us. In each of our packs, Shikamaru packed some high frequency radio earpieces. The ones you have on now won't work that far away. Just casually ask around; maybe do some ninja sneaking at night. You mission right now is quite simple. Don't reveal your real identity to anyone. It's too risky. You'll also have to leave your forehead protectors someplace else. You can't wear it for obvious reasons."
"Hai," Sakura said. "Can I take some weapons with me? Just in case?"
"Yea. If you are found out, head down to the river. From there, follow it to us. It will be the best way to throw off any pursuers." Naruto replied. "Make an effort to do this quickly. Tenten might be back in two days at the earliest. We need to hurry so we can lead Sasuke directly to Itachi."
After the given side mission, Sakura left Lee with a goodbye in search for plain clothes. She met a girl, only slightly younger than her, and she asked for clothes. The girl agreed very simply and brought back a simple white dress that fortunately fit her well. The hem of the dress reached past her knees and she felt comfortable in them. Secretly, she slipped on her shorts underneath with her weapon pouch tied around her thigh, taking an extra caution if she had to fight.
Soon after, she slipped inside the village, renting a room in an inn. Sakura stretched and started to prepare on how to approach the villagers. They were relatively friendly and they didn't seem to mind new comers. She was fortunate and she hoped that Naruto was having as much luck as she was.
The jounin pocketed her earpiece because it would look simply very suspicious if she went around with a transmitter in her ear. But since she needed to be in constant contact with her team, Sakura needed it with her. Heading out to the hot summer heat, Sakura looked about first, thinking that maybe she could find a few gossiping women somewhere.
But of course, being so concentrated on her mission, she did not feel a pair of eyes on her from a distance away. Sakura-san, what are you doing here? Itachi thought to himself, as his lips tugged in a very small smirk. It still looked misplaced on his face, as if a smile never belonged on the smooth contours of a handsome man, strangely unaffected by his years of battle experience. He got up from where he was sitting and stooped just a little so that he wouldn't look so out of place in the crowd. His straw hat protected his face from being seen and also from the glaring sun. The elder Uchiha quickly sidestepped into a small alley when he saw her about to turn around. Sakura's pretty head looked about her, and her face broke into a wide grin as she apparently found what she was looking for. He watched her weave her way though the mass of people towards a small group of women, their arms carrying laundry baskets. But Itachi was stunningly distracted from the pretty ninja to the young men staring at her as they walked by. Although his indifferent countenance remained on his face, Itachi felt his blood boil.
She was beautiful, yes, very beautiful and it bothered him that so many men stared at her. Oddly, even as he asked himself why, he took the extra strength to perform an advanced disguising jutsu, sealing away his chakra and his looks to change his entire form. Itachi's Sharingan receded into complete onyx black eyes. He stepped out from where he was hiding and he strode swiftly to a drunken man that was currently pestering her for a date in a room alone. Almost gliding, he firmly grasped the sides of the man's head and snapped it 180 degrees. He fell dead before Itachi's feet.
Sakura's eyes darkened and her smile was dropped from her face. "You killed him."
"You're welcome." He said shortly and left.
"Wait!" She called out, grabbing his muscular arm tightly. The stranger turned around and met her with his eyes, eyes that seemingly looked like they were chiseled from the blackest obsidian. Her soft emerald eyes grew wide and her hand flew from his arm, like she touched something hot. A millisecond later, they shot to the weapon pouch on her leg, grabbing a kunai, accomplishing it in under two seconds. But Itachi was faster, and he gripped her hand that contained the sharp object and he hurled both of them towards a wall, while the crowd scattered.
Sakura winced when her back hit the wall, but ignored the pain and raised her leg in defense to knee him in the stomach, but he didn't flinch. She angrily twisted a piece of her dress ripping in his hand and she forced him to lose his grip and she spin-kicked the side of his neck. The medic nin pulled out another kunai and dipped her hand into the pocket that contained the radio.
"Looking for this, Sakura-san?" He voiced, releasing his jutsu to reveal Uchiha Itachi. In his hand, he held her hope to reach her ANBU team. He fingered the torn piece of cloth in between his fingers and then dropped it, turning his attention back to the pretty jounin.
She slid in to an offensive position, holding the kunai in her right hand in a dangerous sideways grip. "If you would be so kind to return it to me…Uchiha-san." Her words were heavily coated with sarcasm that it made him smile. A noticeable one. However, he remembered something about her two years ago.
"Do you miss him, Sakura-san? My brother." He inquired quietly, his smile fading quickly. Itachi felt her tense considerably.
"No." She answered curtly.
"You're not a very good liar." He said, stepping forward. She stepped back.
Itachi could tell she was fighting to keep from turning back into the helpless, twelve year old girl that she desperately worked to change. But her eyes still displayed every emotion including the one that she showed now: fear. He enjoyed seeing that fear inside those emerald orbs; it sent a slight tingle of pleasure down his body. It just occurred to him that he was holding out his free hand to her, as if he was extending some sort of invitation.
"I will show you something. I will show Sasuke to you."
Even though every fiber of her being was screaming at her not to take his hand, Sakura grasped his hand with her trembling one and they disappeared from the street.
Sakura found herself in a dark hall, Itachi walking beside her, his figure hidden by his Akatsuki robe. "Where are we?" Her voice echoed loudly, the vibrations fright of her nervous tone painfully easy to hear.
"Inside my mind." He replied, tapping his temple with a long finger. The Uchiha wondered what had caused him to do so, but he wanted to show her the mind of a twenty-three-year old genius.
He reached a door, a door that was seldom visited because it always resulted in a nightmare. Mentally ordering his hand not to shake, he turned the knob and they both stepped through.
The pink-haired jounin saw images of a younger Itachi with a little boy with familiar dark hair that unruly stuck up at the back. One picture flashed by of a giggling Sasuke was on the swing with Itachi pushing him gently, and then another one in a bubbly bath, Itachi stripped to the waist, trying to hold down his mud-caked little brother. She blinked at third image of the two of them at the park, Sasuke piggy-backed on Itachi and holding two ice cream cones. She watched them at the beach, Sasuke playing in the water, calling for his solemn brother to come play with him. That depiction disappeared and another took its place with the Uchiha brothers training in the woods and Sasuke sprained his ankle after attempting what his brother had shown him. But when the happy memories faded and passed away, she only saw darkness so horrendous that she let out a choked scream.
Sakura stopped when a hand gripped hers. Her terrified eyes looked to where Itachi's hand made contact. She was breathing heavily and his body radiated heat, relieving her slightly of the panic that she felt.
A sudden beam of light flashed a few feet from where she was to reveal an older Sasuke, sitting on a chair with his posture loose and relaxed, his head bowed so that his ebony bangs created deep shadows over his eyes. The medical ninja felt her eyes sting with mixed feeling of hatred and longing for the young man. Mustering a little courage, Sakura stepped forward and laid a hand on his firm shoulder. He did not look up. "Sasuke," he still did not stir, but she thought she had heard a soft hissing sound. Sakura shook his shoulder little bit more.
Sasuke's head slowly raised up to meet her, his usual black eyes were yellow with bloody purple pupils in slits like a cat's. She saw his tongue was forked like a snake's when they flickered in and out, and they reminded her horribly about the one that she always had nightmares about: Orochimaru. His smooth skin was ruined and they seemed to be melting off of his face. His mouth was set in a crazed smile and they flapped strangely with every word. "What's wrong, Sakura? You don't love me anymore? Didn't you miss me, Sakura? I missed you. Why are you backing away from me? I thought you loved me."
Sakura thought she screamed, but it was all she saw. She woke up drenched in cold sweat on a soft futon. Wildly looking around her, her eyes first landed on the window. It was night. Then she noticed the man sitting against the wall in her room, opposite from where she was. Red eyes stared unblinkingly at her.
"You!"
Itachi looked at her. "You're awake."
Sakura forced herself not to cry. "Tell me Sasuke is not like that. Tell me."
Itachi tilted his head to the ceiling. "I don't care how Sasuke is, Sakura-san. I don't know what became of my brother. Like you, I haven't seen him in two years."
Fresh anger exploded inside her. "You've created a monster, you-you bastard! He's like this because you made him like this! He left because of you! He left all he had behind to go after a heartless, killer because he wanted to avenge his family! He left me! It's all your damn fault! He left me for you! I hate you! I hate you! I hope you go to hell!" She screamed hysterically with salty tears streaming down her face.
A dark chuckle made its way from Itachi's throat. "I already am in hell, Sakura-san. Sasuke created my hell for me."
Her weeping stopped. "What are you talking about?" She asked in a whisper of disbelief.
"When he was younger, he adored me. He wanted to become me. Sasuke…he was the light when my father was the darkness. My father pushed me to do everything perfect, to climb the shinobi social ladder, to be the bridge connect the Uchiha family to other important clans and he'd walk all over me when I became that. My capacity, Sakura-san, was to be more than a simple bridge for my father's feet. When Sasuke was born, life could not be any happier. His innocence was everything. But his love for me did not stop me from reaching beyond being that bridge. I slowly pushed him away so that my mission could be complete. To measure my fullest capacity, I knew that Sasuke and my clan would be a hindrance to my mission.
"You are not stupid, Sakura. You know about the Uchiha Massacre. How I killed my parents and left Sasuke to become the witness of my capacity. Hate is all I know, because this is all I let myself to know."
The young woman wondered why he was telling her this. "But what do you want from me?"
He hesitated but she didn't notice. "You have your team somewhere, Sakura-san. I have your earpiece and now I have you. You will remain here. It seems like Fate has something in store for the both of us. We will await what that is."
She scoffed softly, causing him to stare at her in slight surprise. "You don't look like the kind of man that believes in Fate."
"You're right, I don't."
He got up and strode to the only door. "I have guards outside those windows, and outside this door. If you try anything, I'll be the first to be notified." He disappeared with a swish of a breeze from the window.
Sakura buried her face in the pillow. "Naruto, please help me. I-I don't know what to do." She suddenly missed being with everyone back home. The isolation was almost suffocating her.
Tenten crept through the night, tired and exhausted in her hunt. A quiet rustle, almost inaudible, caught her eye and she immediately threw a shuriken where the sound came from. There was no sound of it hitting a target.
"Konoha ANBU? That's interesting. Are you looking for me?" The one who spoke stepped out of the dark shadows and into the faint moonlight. Uchiha Sasuke was twirling her shuriken around his index finger, with his tall, sinewy figure clad in black.
"I'm here to help you." She replied, just as calmly and coolly as he was being right now.
A humorless chuckle reached her ears, pricking a minor jolt of anger. "Help me? I doubt it." Tenten watched him carefully through her whtie mask, checking for hostilities. He was as tall as Neji now, yet leaner. His hair was exactly the way she remembered it, except just a little bit longer; it was obvious that he kept it trimmed. His face was still unmarked by scars therefore it was smooth. It was also easily seen that he kept himself well fed, because there was no gaunt or hollowness in his cheeks. And on his forehead was a Konoha forehead protector with a line drawn across the Leaf's symbol.
"Uchiha Sasuke…bastard, you really have no idea how much pain you've caused, do you?" She spat, her anger getting the best of her.
His eyes grew very cold. "You're here to lecture me, woman?" His voice was equally as biting.
"No, I'm here to lead you to your death. Follow me and you find Itachi." Tenten didn't feel like explaining anymore and so she turned around and leapt back into the trees.
After a few moments, when she began to lose hope that he was going to follow her, she heard him rapidly gain pace with her. When she knew that Sasuke was out of hearing range, Tenten muttered into her earpiece, "I got Uchiha Sasuke. I'm heading in your direction."
Her transmitter buzzed and Naruto's voice came on. "Sakura's in trouble. We suspect she's been taken captive by the Akatsuki. You've got to stall him."
Hearing Sakura's name, she muttered darkly. "Captain, don't you think it will be better to tell him that Sakura's in trouble?"
"No, keep Sakura out of your conversation. It's not going to make anything better." The ANBU captain snapped. "My orders are not disobeyed, Tenten." He said sternly and forcefully after hearing her tensed silence.
"Yes, sir." She replied.
Neji's deep voice came over their radio. "Tenten, are you all right?"
"Hai, Neji. Don't worry, I'm coming."
The Hyuuga's short laugh echoed in her soul. "You'd better be."
"By the way, the Uchiha's an asshole."
Everyone laughed at her words.
They cut off communication for now. Tenten casually glanced over her shoulder at Sasuke, who looked like he was on a night stroll. He glared at her. "Why are you leading me to Itachi? Is this a trap?"
"No, I just thought I'd do everyone of Konoha a favor by getting rid of you." She snapped.
A smirk made its way to his face. "Hn, I'll play along for now. If I suspect a trap, I'm out."
"Do what you want. I don't really care. I just wish you'd die quicker."
"It's strange that we wish for the same thing." He retorted.
Tenten scoffed. "By dying you'll bring everyone more happiness in this miserable war…especially Haruno Sakura."
The weapon master detected a slight falter in his steps. He looked away.
"Does it hurt to think about her?" She sneered, her voice filled with contempt.
"No, I don't care about her. I forgot about her a long time ago."
The ANBU ninja grew furious. "Really? Then I guess you wouldn't care that she's just been taken by the Akatsuki. Who knows what your bastard of a brother is doing to her now."
Her steps were abruptly halted by a death grip on her shoulder. She turned around to meet strange Sharingan, one that she had never seen in her life before. The three blades swirled to meet with his black pupils that were surrounded by the blood red irises. They were frightening to look at.
"Where is she?" Sasuke snarled dangerously. "Tell me, or I'll drop you dead where you stand."
Author's notes: Chapter 4...did you like it? I'm having so much fun writing this. I don't think I've ever enjoyed writing a story before. I hope this chapter can be accepted as an apology for being so late. I really didn't mean to be so late. I'll try to update as quickly as I can, but I really can't gurantee anything. Please wait patiently for chapter 5! I'm working on it!