Sakura gasped when she felt Kabuto grab her shoulder. She looked around feeling slightly scared; she was alone with the person who wanted one of her teammates! This was not good!
"What do you want, Orochimaru?" She spat at him, glaring at the snake-man.
The man laughed, walking closer. "You were the one who came to us, my dear. But since you're here I would love your help. You see I no longer want Sasuke, but his brother, Itachi." he said, eyes glinting with lust and evil.
Sakura's eyes widened. "And how do you expect me to get him? I'd at least have half a chance with Sasuke…but Itachi…not even Kakashi-sensei can beat him! He'd kill me!" Orochimaru's still expression did not change. "…fine." she finished with a hint of distain in her voice.
The two males blinked, surprised. Hadn't she just said that Itachi would kill her? And she had agreed! What the hell was wrong with her! "Oh, well then, it all works out." his velvety voice chimed, satisfied.
Sakura pulled out of Kabuto's grip and started to walk away. "Oh and you guys can keep my shadow until I come back with Itachi. He's behind that tree." She pointed and Kabuto walked over and behind the tree, bringing a struggling Muteki.
"I'll see you again when I have Itachi."
XXX
Sakura
trudged through the thick underbrush towards the Akatsuki hideout.
She knocked on the door, hoping that Itachi would be the one to
answer. The door opened and Kisame peered out. "What do you want?"
He muttered, glowering down at the pink-haired girl.
Sakura looked up at the blue skinned man. "I need to speak with Itachi! It is very important!"
Kisame chuckled and opened the door.
"Come on in." he trudged through the dark halls,
the girl,
cautiously following. "She wants to see you, master Itachi."
the man said, stepping aside to let the girl walk in.
"Hello." Itachi purred, "What brings you to the Akatsuki?"
"I need you to come with me." She scarcely glanced up from the floor as she said this.
"To where? To Orochimaru?" His eyes showed amusement, as he knew the answer that was to come.
Sakura looked up amazed, "Wha?--How did you know!"
"Tell him that if he wants me then he can come get me himself." he said, pride cloaking his voice.
"But…but you really need to-"
Kisame cut her off. "He's not going with you. Plain and simple."
"But…I'll give you anything you want!" She pleaded with him, her eyes wide with hope.
"I already have what I want." When he said that the door opened and showed Sasori and...
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura turned to glare at Itachi. "Let Sasuke go NOW!"
"No. Leave and go tell Orochimaru my message." Itachi said effortlessly.
"I'm not leaving without Sasuke!" Sakura bravely declared.
"Do you really think you can fight even one of us, much less three? Leave." Itachi advised, lips beginning to curl into a frown.
"I can try!" She snapped angrily.
Kisame had moved closer to Itachi, "Can I kill her?" he whispered, irritation evident in his smooth moist voice.
"No. We may need her." The ebon haired man whispered back.
"Sa…Sakura…" Sasuke turned to Sakura, pain choking his voice. Sakura turned to look at him. "Le-leave now."
"No! Come on!" She grabbed him away from Sasori and pulled him out of the room.
"Are you just going to let her take him?" Sasori asked Itachi.
"Heavens no!" he replied, lips curling into a viciously evil smile.
XXX
Sakura was still pulling Sasuke along when she whimpered something that Sasuke nearly missed. "I'm a horrible ninja. I think I am going to quit."
Sasuke stopped and stared at Sakura. "You can't just quit like that."
Sakura gave him a weak smile. "I'm not really good at anything…Not as a ninja anyways. You and Naruto always have to save me. I'm just making it easier for you two."
"You can find something your good at. Don't give up! Come on! Sakura?"
She untied her headband and held it out. "I can be a teacher or something…Take this...to remember me."
Sasuke shook his head. "No! Sakura, I can't take it! Not from you." Sakura tied it around his belt loop, tears in her eyes.
Suddenly a voice rang out through the hall. "Come here Sasuke."
Sasuke unwillingly turned back around. "Itachi gave me some kind of drink that makes me do whatever he tells me to." He started to walk forward.
Sakura ran towards him. "I'm not letting you go back in there alone. I'll get the antidote."
Sasuke winced before breaking into a run. Sakura followed. When she got back into the room Sasuke was in Kisame's arms and Itachi had an evil grin on his face.
"Let him go, Fishman!" Sakura yelled. She grabbed his arm and pulled; only making Kisame angry.
"Let go of me wench." He growled, clearly giving Sakura a warning.
"No! Not until I get Sasuke back!" She tugged on Kisame's arm again.
With lighting speed Kisame bit down on Sakura. Three rows of teeth bit through her left arm.
Sakura screamed which gave Sasuke the chance to get away by distracting Kisame. Sasuke crawled away and lay in a corner, he looked completely exhausted.
Kisame released Sakura's arm and she walked over to Sasuke, holding her wounded arm. "Are you okay Sasuke? Did he do anything to you?"
Before he could replay Kisame cut in. "His blood tastes much better then yours."
Sakura gasped, "Where did he bit you? I'll have to clean it up," she looked over at Kisame, "You might get rabies if we don't."
Kisame glared. "I'll remember that you little weak piece of meat."
Sakura quickly turned back to Sasuke who had pulled down his color of his shirt while she had been insulting Kisame. She gasped at the blood. "Here, let me clean it up." She quickly cleaned the blood away and bandaged it. "There."
"Sasuke, come and sit with your big brother." Itachi patted the space next to him.
Sasuke got up and walked over to Itachi. He sat down next to him and leaned his head on his shoulder. His eyes were half closed and he looked as if he were about to pass out.
"There, there, my foolish little brother. You can rest now." Itachi smoothed Sasuke's ebony hair and he said this. Soon Sasuke had blacked out. Itachi looked back to Sakura, "I will take you back to Kohona and let you take him for I know his true path and we will meet again. I trust you will give my message to Orochimaru."
With that he lifted Sasuke up and he walked over to Sakura. He placed a hand on her shoulder and with that the three disappeared.
They landed in front of Kohona and Sakura turned to thank Itachi. He was already gone.
Sakura pulled the waking Sasuke with her as they went into the village. She would get Sasuke to Naruto and tell them both sorry. This whole thing was her fault. If she hadn't been the idiot she was and run off to try and get the sword herself none of this would have happened. Sasuke would be fine; their team would be fine. It was really her fault.
Sakura knew where to find their teammate and started there right away. When she got there Sasuke was able to walk on his own and they both saw the orange clad figure, eating bowl after bowl of ramen.
When Naruto saw them he jumped up from his seat and ran over. "You're both okay! I was so worried." He said as he hugged them both tightly. When he pulled away he looked them both over. He missed the bandages around Sasuke's neck but quickly caught sight of Sakura's arm. "What happened? You need to get that patched up, fast. You should go right now."
"I was just about to!" Sakura smiled brightly. "But I just wanted to make sure Sasuke got back to you ok. See you in the morning."
Sakura walked out but instead of heading to her home she went to the bridge that their team met at for missions. She pulled herself onto the railing and started down at her reflection in the water. 'If I hadn't gone off and been idiot, thinking I could get the sword back myself then none of this would have happened. None of it. It's my fault.' She sighed and a few small tears slid down her face and into the water.
"You really should have bandaged that up."
Sakura's head snapped to the side and she saw Itachi and Kisame standing on the bridge and watching her. "I don't care." She muttered, defeat almost dripping from her voice.
Kisame grinned evilly, "Then you won't mind me doing this." He bit into her shoulder. The pink haired girl winced but didn't push him away.
"Kisame, you know better than to bite little girls. You leave those ones to Deidara. He has too much fun. Anyway, Sakura, I have a proposition for you. You want your teammates to notice you, do you not? You want to be able to save them instead of being the damsel in distress, right? I can help you. I can give you power that no one here would even dream of teaching their students. It's fear, that's why they don't. They fear that you will become stronger than them. They fear you may become too strong. I know this first hand. Sakura, will you become my pupil? Will you become my apprentice?"
Sakura's pale green eyes grew wide. "Really? You'd help me?" She bit her lip. "Ok. I will." Kisame gave the girl an odd looked but saw the smirk on Itachi's face and shrugged it off. He let go of Sakura and took a step back. Itachi placed a hand on both of them and the three disappeared.
ENDOFCHAPTER02
(This story was written by SalimaLiAkiyama, Yureidoru, and FallenSeraphim and we do not own Naruto! We wish we did)(Rewritten on 7-28-06)