Disclaimer: same as always… me + Naruto equals no own

A/N: Ok I know its been a long time since my last update but please don't kill me (cowers in corner) although I will admit that my lack of update is due purely to laziness on my end… that and my dog stepped on my laptop screen and cracked it therefore I had to perform a funeral for my loyal friend (meaning I'm on my daddy's laptop at the current moment)

To all my reviewers: I thank you all for your reviews to the last chapter and I apologize again for being lazy and not updating in so long…

On to the story…

Remember You, Remember Me

Chapter 8: Stories, Spasms, and Plans

By: trailsofblood aka Wizard

Last time on RYRM:

Tsunade was the one who took the initiative in starting the conversation. "Start from the beginning Sakura, the night you nearly killed Kiba"

Sakura scrunched her eyebrows together and looked at the ground; this was going to be a very long afternoon. "Well, I suppose it started just like every other day, woke up, went to the hospital, worked, all that great stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual day to day monotony…"

(flashback)

Sakura walked down the paved street leading away from the hospital. It was late and she had been forced to work way beyond her scheduled time when a shinobi came in with some critical injuries; mission gone way wrong apparently. Needless to say she was falling asleep on her feet and wanted nothing more than to just get home and pass out in her warm, cozy bed.

Putting her feet on auto-pilot the pink-haired kunoichi allowed herself to drift off thinking about her delicious sounding bed. She was so absorbed in the thoughts of finally being able to relax that she failed to notice the presence trailing closely behind her. Not that she would have thought much about it had she turned around anyways.

Displaying the skill only ninja's possess the boy wove in and out of the shadows, steadily nearing his unaware target. Feeling a familiar tingle travel down her spin, Sakura whipped around and grabbed the kunai aimed at her head; she wasn't a high level Chuunin for nothing. Bringing the kunai down chest level she scanned the growing darkness for her attacker.

She wasn't too worried; it was more likely than not just Sasuke or Naruto making sure she was staying on top of her game, even when she is tired. Possibly even Kakashi just doing the weird shit he does best. Snapping the kunai forward the green eyed girl released the object back the way it had came, heading straight for whoever had thrown it in the first place.

Not letting her guard down for a second she waited for her mystery attacker to make another move. When nothing happened Sakura sighed and dropped her stance, she wasn't in the mood to play tag with a kunai.

"Whoever it is, I don't want to play. I just want to go home and crawl in my bed and never come back out. So if you will excuse me, I'll be going now." Whirling around she continued on her merry way, at least she intended to. What she wasn't counting on was slamming hard into another body, causing her to fall backwards onto her ass with a grunt.

Sakura titled her head upwards towards the being that so effectively knocked her over. The moment her eyes met his, an instant spike of fear traveled down her back to settle in her stomach. Though the figure before her looked like Inuzuka Kiba his eyes said different. Eyes that normal displayed emotions clear as water were now clouded over with dark nothing. It wasn't the eyes of the Inuzuka Kiba that stared out at her now; these orbs belonged to someone else, someone void of any and all emotions.

"K-kiba, are you alright?" Sakura asked, pulling herself up from the ground and backing up slightly.

Kiba's reply was a quick slash at her neck with a kunai which she evaded by taking another step back and kept going. Backing herself up against the wall of a building, the green-eyed chuunin watched him advance on her again. This time she threw herself to the right and rolled out of the way. Kiba's kunai lodged itself into the wall where her head had been a few moments earlier and stayed there.

"Kiba, what are you doing!" Sakura screamed as she pulled herself upright and put a few more feet between them.

Slowly Kiba turned to face her, eyes still cold. "Orders." Was the dead reply that she got.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Orders? From who? I don't understand, who would order you to attack me? What did I do?"

Kiba didn't reply as he rushed at her again, forming seals as he went. The young kunoichi's mind was frantic as he charged at her again. He was ordered to kill her, but why? As far as she knew she hadn't done anything even mildly wrong, let alone something to get her killed. Nothing was making sense in her world anymore. If he was ordered to kill her the orders had to have come from Tsunade-sensei, but why? WHY?

The question pulsed through her head and bounced off the sides of her skull, leaving a throbbing headache in their wake. Snapping open her eyes she saw Kiba rushing at her from all sides. Thinking fast Sakura back flipped out of the way and began her own set of hand seals.

Completing them as the Kiba Clones closed on each other the young chuunin pushed chakra to her hands and out her fingertips, successfully making four long, dangerous spikes. The real Kiba turned on Sakura, kunai poised in both hands and charged. Everything faded around her vision except the enemy and Sakura let herself sink into the zone.

If she used this jutsu on the oncoming boy her place in Konoha was gone. Shizune had taught her this to use against an enemy, not an ally. If she were to impale Kiba his chances of survival were slim to absolutely none, she didn't want to kill the boy but he was trying to kill her. What was she suppose to do.

'Why?'

Time slowed as Kiba drew closer. 'I don't understand.'

'Why?'

Bringing her arm up Sakura prepared to strike. 'Please, what have I done?'

'Why?'

Her arm tensed the closer her came, drawing in energy and coiling it, preparing it for the hit. 'Don't do this, please, I'm begging you, stop.'

'Why!'

Sakura shot her hand out, all the energy uncoiling like a compressed spring and impaling Kiba in the chest. The chakra spikes sunk in up to her fingertips and she released a violent wave of her own chakra into his system attacking all of his organs simultaneously. The boys emotionless eyes went wide as blood began to trickle out of his mouth.

An agonized scream tore from the boys lips as he fell to the ground, Sakura could only imagine what he must be feeling. Tears started to leak from her eyes as she watched her former friend writhe in pain on the ground. Someone would hear his screams and then she would be in even more trouble. If Tsunade had sent him to quietly assassinate her in the dead of night she could guess what was coming next and it chilled her to the bone.

Now it would be the ANBU's turn to have some fun.

Turning on her heel Sakura ran as fast as she could through the village, she would leave here as quickly as she could and that would be the end of it.

Or so she thought…

(end flashback)

Sakura looked up at the people gathered around her. "I don't want your sympathy or care about your understanding, its all worthless to me. My friend standing in the corner over there may have asked for my re-entrance to the village but I didn't. I was perfectly fine taking care of myself as a nukenin."

"If by 'perfectly fine' you mean 'nearly getting killed by the Akatsuki' then yes you were perfectly fine. Stop acting like a child Sakura and take help where it comes, gods know you need it." Darkness pushed himself off the wall and took a step towards the girl. Sakura's eyes in turn narrowed dangerously and took on a look of disgust.

"I'm curious about that. Itachi and Kisame rescued you just to nurse you to health and try to kill you? That makes little to no sense to me." Tsunade voiced her opinion and leaned towards the kunoichi in the spotlight.

"Hn. My brothers and evil bastard, what more needs to be said?" Was Sasuke's input from his perch. Sakura could feel her temper rising.

"I don't know what was going through their minds and, truthfully, I don't care to know. They did what they did and that's all the information I need." Darkness answered and Sakura's temper snapped.

Sakura sprung up from her chair and shakily pointed to the door, keeping head bowed and eyes to the ground. "Out." Nobody moved. "I said get out! All of you! You know nothing, none of you know Itachi so don't assume you do. GET OUT!"

At this point Darkness rushed forward through the gathered people and clamped his arms right around the girl, bringing her hand down in the process. She fought against him for a second but ultimately resigned and let her weight fall. They knew nothing, there had to be an explanation, Itachi wouldn't just betray her… would he?

"I'm sorry for her behavior, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. It seems she is still in pain over being betrayed."

As everyone filed out of the room Sasuke hung back until only Tsunade, Kakashi, Naruto and Hinata remained. Without turning to look at Sakura or her friend he spoke. "I think we know well the feeling of betrayal, we have had enough of it in our lives." And he disappeared.

After everyone was gone and the door was shut Darkness guided his depressed charge to her bed and sat her down. With a sigh he sat down beside her and folded his hands. She looked so lost and hurt, he wanted to take all that pain away but knew that he couldn't. Only Itachi and Kisame could fix his broken ward now.

"I don't get it, please explain it to me. What did I do wrong in life, what did I do to deserve this?" Sakura's voice came out small and tear-laden and Darkness could feel his metaphorical heart breaking at the pitiful sound.

"I'm sorry Sakura I don't have the answers to that."

Said girl raised her head and cast her teary eyes on the opposite wall. "I love him you know. I would have done anything for me had he asked it of me. Had he asked me to bring him a star I would have gone to the heavens and back just to make him happy. I gave everything to him that was precious to me so willingly. I feel so cheap now, so dirty, so used. Did I mean anything to him at all?"

The humanoid katana stared at her. 'Damn you Itachi.' "I don't have the answers to that either."

At this Sakura let out a soft chuckle and a sad smile. "That what are you good for hmm?"

"Making you smile."

Itachi watched as night descended on Konohagakure. This time of day made his blood run wild in his veins. Everything was shutting down and hiding for the night so darkness and shadows could engulf the world and reign supreme for hours until the sun made its next appearance. This was the true beauty in the world. This was his element.

Quiet as a whisper of the wind Itachi jumped the walls of the village and made his way down familiar streets with Kisame right behind him. For the first time in what seemed like years the shark man was finally quiet. They had a meeting that they couldn't be late for or else they would lost their opportunity to set things into motion they way they had planned.

Rounding a corner Itachi strolled into his old home community. This had been patched up around the Uchiha district since he had last been here. The most noticeable being the fact that lifeless body weren't strewn throughout the streets with pools of blood everywhere you stepped. This he was glad for, the last thing he needed was to make any unneeded noise what-so-ever.

He had no illusions about this place. He knew his baby brother still lived in the same house he had lived in growing up, he also knew one slip up would alert him to their presence and bring the whole village down on them. This was still the safest place in Konoha for them to meet thought because it was completely deserted other than its single inhabitant and there was little to no chance of somebody stumbling upon them out here.

As the duo walked through the streets Itachi surveyed his surroundings. He had memories of just about every one of the houses lined along the avenues and yet he felt nothing. There was no pain at his loss, no regret, no satisfactory at his accomplishment. Just complete empty nothingness. It was like passing by a tree that you had passed a million times before; just because you saw it every day didn't mean you would miss it or be saddened if you walked by one day to find it cut down. After all, it was only a tree.

Stopping in front of a familiar house Itachi quickly and quietly opened the door and motioned of Kisame to enter. The house had belonged to some close relative of another, but after so many years he failed to remember who. He wanted Kisame to go first just in case an attack was waiting for them on the other side, Kisame would be the first to die while he had time to make his getaway. Taking a quick final look around to make sure they weren't followed or spotted Itachi stepped in to the darkened house and quietly closed the door behind him.

Lighting a small flame on the tip of his finger Itachi cast a small glow over the room. He hoped it wasn't bright enough to attract attention, but then again any light coming from an abandoned house would attract attention. Moving deeper into the house, away form he windows, Itachi sought the one they were to meet. He stretched out his sense to engulf the house but felt nothing, not that that meant a damn thing anyways.

Slowly and stealthily they made their way to one of the inner rooms near the back of the house, no one would be able to see a flame in a room that had no windows. As much as he enjoyed the dark he preferred to keep his eye on the man they were meeting, he unnerved the Uchiha prodigy to no end.

Sliding open the screen to the appointed room Itachi and Kisame momentarily looked into complete blackness before moving the flame so it could reach into the room. The moment the little light engulfed the room the figure of the man they were to meet became visible to them and made Itachi inwardly cringe. He hadn't felt his presence all the way through the house and even now, when the man stood no more than 15 feet from him, he still couldn't feel him.

Nothing was said between the three as Kisame slid the door shut behind him and the three settled at the low table in the center of the room. From an outside perspective it looked like they were having a late night cup or tea or something equally as girly instead of having a secret, illegal, meeting in an abandoned house. Itachi lit a small lamp with the flame on his finger and set it in the middle of the table so it cast eerie shadows on their bodies and the walls.

"Nice to see you again Darkness." Kisame smirked and arranged himself into a more comfortable position.

"And you Kisame, Itachi." Folding his arms Darkness nodded to each in turn.

"Akaaki." Itachi smirked and leaned forward so his elbow rested on the table and his chin on his hand.

Darkness cocked his head slightly and twitched his lips up at the corner. "It's been a long time since I was last called that."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "It is your name isn't it?"

Darkness nodded. "It seems you've been doing your homework."

"Yes, but that's a discussion for another time, we have more pressing matter at the moment. How is she?"

Akaaki leaned back and closed his eyes, letting himself sink into thought for a moment before answering the Uchiha. "Things aren't going the way you planned. It seems your 'betrayal' scarred her deeper than we had intended. Her main flaw is that she foolishly fell in love with you and can't seem to get her head around your actions. She refuses to interact much, if at all, with any of her former friends and teammates. Just earlier today she nearly bit the head off of everyone when they commented on your motives; I thought for sure she was going to kill your brother when he called you an 'evil bastard'. It was quite entertaining really but very anti-productive. She's falling apart at the seams. I want to remind her about always trusting you but I'm afraid that would make everything completely obvious to her and might endanger the whole mission. After all it is better if she goes on unawares until the perfect moment so she doesn't slip up but she's doing a poor job of regaining their trust anyways."

Itachi and Kisame took in and digested the information. It was a few moments before anyone spoke again.

"What are our options?" Kisame asked looking from Akaaki to Itachi and back again.

"Keeping her here uninformed we risk losing her, but if we inform her we risk her accidentally exposing herself. We could remove her and find another way to go about the mission but that means starting back at the beginning and the boss isn't going to like that much. We could also just leave her here and continue on with this mission just the three of us. Personally I don't like that last option but the decision is ultimately yours Itachi." Akaaki opened his golden eyes and watched Itachi as he threw the ideas around inside his head.

"I want to inform her but I'm not entirely sure that that's a wise idea. I know she would never intentionally do anything to jeopardize the mission but she can be a little clumsy and messy at times, one wrong move could end her life permanently and I'm not sure I want to take that risk. How about this, if she doesn't seem to be improving or she seems to be getting sucked too far in at the end of two weeks we inform her of the mission and pray for the best. I know she is going to be angry no matter what we do, I just hope she isn't so much so that she gets unreasonable and blows the mission. Monitor her behavior Akaaki and make the call yourself, we trust your judgment. You know how to get in contact with us if something goes wrong."

Akaaki nodded and stood as Kisame and Itachi did, signaling the end of the meeting. Itachi blew out the lamp and re-lit the small flame on the tip of his finger. Kisame exited the room and waited for his comrade on the other side. Itachi paused at the doorway and turned his head sideways slightly towards Darkness one final time. In a low soft voice he spoke to the humanoid sword.

"Take care of her."

And then they were gone, leaving Akaaki in the dark to chew on the eventfulness of their meeting, or lack-there-of.

"I sincerely hope things go as we planned."

Ending Notes: ya! So Darkness (Akaaki) is in on Itachi and Kismet's evil plans with Sakura (insert insane laugh here) what is in store for out little pink kunoichi in the future, what is it that the Akatsuki wants in Konoha? Well I guess you will find out at a later date cuz that's the end of this installment…..

I'm sorry if I don't update for a week or two, I don't like asking my dad to use his laptop and mine doesn't get sent in to the shop until this Monday or Tuesday to get fixed and I don't know how long it will be there… just bare with me, once this is all cleared up I will update regularly again…. I promise on my life….

Don't ask me what Akaaki means, I think its 'red autumn' or something along those lines but I don't know so don't yell at me if I'm wrong I didn't come up with it… my friend Static just threw a name at me when I asked…

Until next time….

Review!