(points to self) doesn't own Naruto... sorry

A/N: Sorry everyone... just got out of the hospital after a nasty car accident... turned the truck to mush, then again going into a ditch, hitting a culvert, going airborne 3-4 feet and proceeding the smash into a tree at 60mph will do that to a vehicle... luckily everyone was remotely ok, 1 fractured wrist, a multitude of bumps, bruises and cuts and some VERY painful issues with my neck and shoulders... and THEN after i was all better and ready to update got stupid on me and wouldn't load up on my laptop... grr...

Thanky all for your reviews!

Ending?

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"speech"

'thoughts'

Remember You, Remember Me

Chapter 4: Decisions, Decisions

By: trailsofblood666 aka Wizard

Itachi watched Kisame pace the alley. Ever since he had hunted down the shark-man 2 days ago he had been on edge. The sun was rising on the third day since Sakura's return to consciousness, the day she would get up and move again, the day the storm began. Turning his head he looked at Darkness leaning up against the wall at the entrance to the alley, eyes closed and head bowed like he was deep in though. Itachi was having his own troubles keeping his heart from racing in his chest.

Stopping his pacing Kisame looked at his comrades and sighed. "Is everything in order?"

"Yes." short and simple, just they way Itachi liked it. Using his shoulders Darkness pushed himself of the wall and turned towards the Akatsuki boys.

"Then all that's left is getting Sakura to agree."

Itachi nodded. "She has to come willingly."

Sakura untangled herself from the sheets and stood. Her body still ached all over but the blinding pain that shook her body whenever she moved had dissipated. The sun was just beginning its ascension and tender rays of light were streaming through the window, licking warmth warm trails over her exposed skin. Now, she decided, was the perfect time to bathe and since all the boys had already gone off to do their various activities they wouldn't miss her anyway. Yes, a bath sounded positively delicious.

Quickly grabbing a change of clothes and sliding her dirty fishnet shirt back over her flesh she fled the room. It had been a long time since she had stood on her own so lost balance and hit the wall a couple times on her way to the stairwell. Chuckling to herself she began her decent, she probably looked hopelessly drunk ping-ponging off the walls.

The bath house was warm, steamy and filled with happy chatter. A sudden wave of sadness hit Sakura like a rock. Here in the bath house were a bunch of females with the ability to share their lives with precious friends and loved ones, all she had was two moody, childish, Akatsuki assassins and one overly cocky, blood hungry, katana. It was times like this she missed Konoha the most. She missed the sounds, the smells, and even some of its inhabitants. Pushing away the dangerous thoughts she lowered herself into the heated water.

Several of the women turned to look at her with strange glances. What had they never seen a girl trying to get clean? Uncomfortable with the stares she dunked her head under the water and held herself there scrubbing frantically at her scalp. If she just refused to ever come up again would anyone bother to look for her? Surely Itachi and Kisame would notice her disappearance but they would probably think she was just running again.

For the first year and a half that she traveled with them she often ran away only to be caught by them a few hours later. The first time she was scolded and told never to do that again if she planned on living long, the second she was forced to train for 3 days straight, and the third she was straight out hit. The memory of Itachi's fist connecting with her jaw still sent a tingling sting across her face to this day. He was an abusive man when he wanted to be. Kisame just asked if he could kill her.

Feeling the strain on her lungs from lack of oxygen Sakura shot herself to the surface. She could feel the stares of the others in the room with her piercing her flesh as she took several deep breaths. One woman was even brave enough to swim a few feet towards her to make sure she was alright. For a few minutes the entire room was silent except the occasional water drip from her hair.

"You're a ninja aren't you?" One woman asked, breaking the silence. Sakura just raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning look. "You were under there for nearly 10 minutes, i don't know any normal people who can do that. What village are you from?"

What was this girl doing, trying to make friendly conversation with an assassin? Then again she didn't know Sakura's standing in the world. Eyeing the girl warily she took in the detail. Medium length black hair, brown eyes, fair complexion, plain face, defiantly not someone who would stand out in a crowd. She decided to humor the girl for now.

"Kirigakure."

The girlknit her brow and gave Sakura a critical look. "Funny i don't remember there being any pink haired kunoichi's in Kiri, and you would think me being from there and all i would remember." 'Oops.' "I do, however, distinctly remember a pretty pink kunoichi in the Chuunin exams wearing a Konoha protector," 'My bad.' "and if i remember correctly she turned up in the bingo book a few years back as a nukenin with a bounty on her head."

Sakura took this as her cue to leave. Jumping from the water she ran, grabbing her clothes as she went. She could feel the presence of 2 others following her and cursed herself for being so stupid. If she had just looked harder she would have seen the signs of being a ninja written all across that girl. She could really be careless sometimes.

Busting out the front door of the inn she ran down the street, struggling with her clothes as she went. A kunai whizzed by her head nicking her ear in the process. She didn't have any weapons on her and after just recovering from her last fight now was not the time to battle anyone. The only option left to her was to run as fast as her feet could take her and hope that they couldn't keep or just gave up.

Skidding around a corner into an alley Sakura jumped onto the rooftops. It would be easier to get away this way but impossible to hide. She hated hiding so for the moment she would just run. She could feel the girl and her companion falling behind but it wasn't far enough to allow her escape. Perhaps it was enough to buy her time though.

Jumping to the right she avoided the kunai that was hurled at her. If she could find one of her allies she would be okay but chances of that were slim. Those boys evaporated into the air when the mood took them. A thick cloud of mist closed in around her when she reached the edge of the village.

Sakura was fucked and she knew it.

Darkness opened the door and froze mid-stride causing Kisame and run into his back. Where once a little girl laid curled in bed was nothing but empty sheets. Getting irritated Itachi pushed the duo through the door to see what the problem was. Glancing to the left he noticed that her clothes were gone but nothing else.

"One would think if she was going to run away she would at least have the decency to come and get me. Running around in her current state with no protection is foolish." Darkness crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head, he seriously gave that girl too much credit.

"She didn't run away, all her things are here but her a change of clothing. My guess is she went to bathe." Itachi replied, shaking his head. Kisame plopped himself down of Sakura's futon and made himself comfortable.

"So we wait."

"Can you find her with the link between the two of you?"

Darkness raised his eyes to the Uchiha and shook his head. "There is no link between us when im in this form." he made a motion towards the katana that contained him. "If she had my katana on her then i would be able to find her using that but since its still sitting where i left it she's as good as a ghost to me."

"Well we don't have time to wait around for her. Kisame check the lobby and the west side of the city, Darkness check the bath house and the east side, I'll check the bar and the north. Meet back at the front doors in 15 minutes and if she still isn't found we go south together, she has to be close by."

Nodding at their tasks each went their separate ways. They would find Sakura before the sun was mid journey.

Itachi sped along the rooftops of the northern portion of the city. Lucky for him it was the shady part of town and there were only twenty million places she could hide. This girl was a pain in the ass, if only she wasnt so damn important to everyone around her he would just leave her for dead.

'No you wouldn't.'

The voice startled Itachi into stopping. It had been a long time since his conscience had made it's last appearance and it was surprising and unnerving to hear that voice coursing through his skull.

'I would let her die without a moments hesitation, she's nothing.'

'No, she's a trusted friend, one of the very few you have in this world. She means more than anyone will understand.'

Smiling Itachi shook his head clear of all thoughts, this girl had him talking to voices in his head. Maybe he was going insane. All this was doing was making the oncoming task that much harder. He needed to be free of any and all emotions when the time came and his conscience was just being a hindrance. Was there any way to kill a conscience? Perhaps he would look in to that.

Continuing his route he judged the time, 5 minutes to go an he hadn't even covered half the places she could be hiding. Getting frustrated he sped up along the roofs and opened his senses wider to his surroundings. He could feel hundreds of people in the area but none were his target.

It was a strange thing, one moment Itachi was just merrily scouting the city and the next he was overcome in a thick haze of mist. He knew this attack, Kisame had used it many times before on their missions. Kirigakure no Jutsu provided perfect cover for assassins and confused it's target, add in a genjutsu to keep the target going in circles and you have the perfect attack. It wasn't so great now that the technique was being used against him though.

Hiding his presence Itachi scanned the mist for signs of life, he nearly jumped out of his skull when somebody landed beside him. Kisame just chuckled and pushed Itachi sideways.

"Jumpy today?" Itachi's eye twitched in annoyance. "You can see this cloud clear across the city. Looks like the kid attracts trouble wherever she goes, this is really getting tedious."

Nodding his agreement Hitachi carefully slid through the mist. Sakura may be a pain in the ass, a bitch, and sometimes downright annoying, but she was a friend and right now she needed their help and nothing like a little bit of water hanging in the air was going to stop them from getting to her. So, being the men they were, they went to the aid of the little girl with very few hesitations.

In moments the two assassins stood behind Sakura's attackers. Itachi was the first to strike; quick, silent and deadly, just the way he liked it. His target fell down with a bloody gurgle as their life-liquid drained from the clean slit across their throat. The face of a young girl, maybe 21-22 stared up at him with glazed over honey brown eyes and the Uchiha shook his head. People needed to think before the acted

Kisame took a little longer in his strike, toying with his prey before making the fatal blow. He attacked from various angles, throwing kunai at the girl and just barely missing any vital organs. Her pained screams and groans seemed to hang in the air forever, hurting Kisame's ears and driving him crazy, so he shut her up. Moving behind her the shark man grabbed her head and twisted it around so her eyes were facing towards him. The look of pure horror that would be engraved on her face for all eternity sent shivers of pleasure down his spine, he reveled in that feeling for a moment before letting the girls limp form fall.

With the enemy ninja dead the mist jutsu dissipated leaving a clear view of a half dressed Haruno a few feet away. Darkness stood behind her protectively and it sent a spike of respectful fear to Itachi's stomach. Darkness wasn't truly alive therefore he had no chakra to hide which also meant he wasn't able to be detected. How long the humanoid katana had been standing beside Sakura was a mystery but the girl didn't seem to notice he was there.

Sakura shakily wrapped her arms around herself. For all her talk of wanting to die rather than betraying anyone when actually faced with the real possibility she was terrified. While entrapped in the mist she had come to some realizations, 1.) she didn't want to die 2.) there was always going to be people like the mist girls ready to attack her and 3.) she REALLY didn't want to die.

Hitachi reassuringly wrapped his arms around the dazed girl and Sakura unconsciously sunk into that warm embrace, but it did nothing to ease her mind. So many people had died for her, died so she could live. She didn't want to give up her life but she didn't want others to give up theirs either. There had to be a middle ground somewhere, a place where she could live in peace without being pursued so others could live.

"It will never stop you know? There will always be people after you until the day you die," Itachi's voice was a soothing whisper in her ear. The kind that drew you in and made you want to believe whatever was being said. "but there is a way to stop Konoha from pursuing you. You have to be willing though."

Sakura shifted in his arms and looked up at the mans ever-active Sharingan with a questioning gaze. People, like the girls from mist, would always attack her in hopes of the reward, but she could stop her friends, her former friends, in Konoha from throwing away their lives trying to stop her? How?

As if spoken allowed Itachi answered her question. "We attack Konoha directly."

Ending Notes: Ok i know nothing really happened in this chapter but I'm just getting over some serious muscle trauma gimme a break... now from here this story can go one of two ways, one way leads to an ending that can either be sad or bittersweet and the other way leads to either a happy or bittersweet so i need to know which ending you guys want... think of it as a 'choose your own adventure' kind of thing...

So... Happy ending, Bittersweet ending, or Sad ending

Review!