Revised: 1/17/07
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By: Ane S. Thesia
Beta'd by: Lally
Itachi let out a relieved sigh when he finally spotted the old Shinto shrine he and Kisame currently claimed as their home. It was long since used for its original purpose of housing kindly monks; now overgrown with weeping willows and tall, extravagant weeds… and harboring two dangerous S-Class criminals. But perfect, nonetheless, perched in a barely visible forested area on the outskirts of the country of Grass. Far enough away from the scattered, poverty-stricken villages that littered the countryside with no chance of someone stumbling across it accidentally.
.
The girl over his shoulder never regained consciousness after he had snatched her up and left, and a couple times he had to stop just to make sure she was still breathing. He'd given her the rest of the remedy as a precaution, having pried it from the hands of Chiyo before leaving.
For a moment he wondered whether or not Deidara had met the same fate as his partner Sasori…
'Not my problem'. There were more important matters at hand.
Scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary, Itachi ascended the stone stairs and entered the shrine. Straight ahead of the entryway, he met eyes with the familiar aged statue of a happy Buddha. The stone pallet below him, which had at one time been lined with offerings and incense, was littered with stray kunai and shurikan where Kisame often soaked up the irony through target practice.
Noting the stench of burned food and eyeing the form of the slumbering shark-man stretched out on the tatami mats of the main room, Itachi quickly skirted by and slid the door to his room shut as quietly as he had entered. He felt relieved to finally be able to rid himself of the burden hanging over his back, plunking the Konoha nin down onto the middle of his bedroll. Stealing a last glance at the girl's serene face, curiously lingering on the tiny diamond-shaped mark in the middle of her forehead, Itachi stoked the fire in the small pit across the room before leaving to find some dinner.
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The first thing Sakura noticed as her mind finally came back to her was the delicate smell of burning wood. 'Cherry wood', she realized, inhaling the scent deeply.
The second thing she noticed was how hard it was to breath, because her throat was being compressed by…
Her eyes shot open, horrified. It took her several seconds to realize what was happening, before a grotesque chortle sent shivers down her spine. She was being CHOKED!
Frantically, she brought her hands up around the large blue mits grasping her neck mercilessly. She stifled a throaty cough before focusing her eyes on the face of the large blue-hued man, smirking delightedly down at her.
"Wha…!" She coughed again, feeling the blood vessels behind her eyes pulsating.
"Now that you're awake- who are you?" the man rasped out through jagged teeth.
Sakura started kicking her legs wildly at him, anything to get him to let off of her sore neck. Her entire body was in pain and feeling weak, but despite all that she needed to escape somehow.
The obvious confused look on her face didn't go unseen by her predator, though.
Kisame let off her throat enough for her to talk. "I see by your hitai-ate, you're from Konohagakure. You have some serious BALLS coming here."
"Who…who…" Sakura's eyes darted around the room again, trying to discern anything familiar. Judging by the classical style décor around her, she knew she wasn't in her hometown. "Let me go! I don't know any more than you do!" she gasped out painfully.
But he wasn't letting go and, if anything, his grip was tightening. A blood vessel popped behind her right eye and she could feel it flood into the Sclera.
Lest her neck snap or trachea collapse, she needed to do something and quickly. Her hands came together over her head clumsily into the Horse seal and she concentrated just enough to let off a mild mind shock genjutsu.
Kisame's grip loosened just enough for her to wriggle free, and she sat up with a groan, scurrying as far backwards as she could. 'What is going on…?'
And then it all came flooding back. The fight with Sasori, Chiyo dying from her wounds and poison, herself… on the brink of…
Wiping a stray tear from her eye with the back of her clenched fist, she gazed in shock when she noticed she was actually wiping away blood. Upon further inspection she realized she had quite a bit of blood on her. Remembrance smacked her as she grasped the wound on her abdomen, shocked to find that it no longer existed.
"It worked?" she stammered, with a sigh of relief, "I can't believe…" Her eyes shot back up at her attacker angrily. "Where am I?" she accused, "Who are you and where is Kakashi-sensei, Naruto-!"
Kisame rubbing at his eyes a moment longer as the genjutsu dispersed almost as quickly as it had come. He focused back on the retreating girl before him with a snarl.
Sakura jumped up from where she sat, weaving for a moment before getting her steady footing back. "WHO ARE YOU!" She pointed at Kisame with her fist out in front of her, ready to defend herself with a newfound course of adrenaline creeping up her spine.
Kisame simply stood there flatly, debating whether or not it was worth torturing the girl for information or just right out slaughtering her.
Sakura tried to mask the fright shooting through her mind the moment she recognized his cloak for what it really was. "Akatsuki!" she bit out with nervousness hidden behind intensity. "I don't know how I got here, but what I do know is that I must have been captured after I..." she sputtered, "You can't keep me here!"
The nervousness she was experiencing was nothing, though, compared to the anger she felt at the thought of being nabbed away in her vulnerable state.
Without waiting for any further responses from the imposing man in front of her, despite the sincerity behind his act of playing stupid, Sakura leapt forward with mustered audacity, channeling all her strength to a kick in his stomach.
With a grunt, Kisame was moved back but not knocked over, a look of surprise and anger taking over his features.
"You just made the last mistake of your life."
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Itachi reveled in the hunt. Creeping slowly through the trees, he enjoyed the way the chilly breeze felt on his face, the way the leaves danced all around him and the trees groaned mourningly against the wind.
He had been stalking an older buck for the last ten minutes, and finally decided his chance was best taken now. He brought up his bow with ease and plucked an arrow from the satchel on his back, pulling it back on the bowstring, enjoying the sound of stretching sinew and the whistle of the arrow as it was let loose to fly. His aim was on its mark, and the buck died quickly as the arrow pierced right into his heart from under the left armpit.
Itachi leapt from the high branches, landed with an inaudible thud, and stalked towards his dead prey with a slight smile playing on his lips. Brushing loose black strands of hair from his eyes, he bent down to heave the solid feast over his back. The trek back would be fast this time, unlike usual when he had to travel much farther out for such large prey.
Today he felt lucky.
He was pulled from his reverie the moment he heard a resounding crash from the direction of the shrine.
"Damnit," he whispered under his breath, closing his crimson eyes for a moment as he visualized Kisame finding the sleeping girl in their house. He knew he had to hurry; his partner had a way of getting out of control when the mood hit...
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"Uuugh," Kisame gasped out, a bit of blood falling from his lips in unison. "THAT one hurt, I'll give you that much." He gave the pink-haired fighter a sadistic smile before wiping the dribbles away with his thumb.
This girl was proving tougher and tougher by the second, he realized amusedly. 'You really can't judge a book by its cover'. But by the looks of things on her end, it wouldn't be going on too much longer.
The dark circles under Sakura's eyes were growing more red with every attack, the fatigue she felt growing very evident. Her face was ever pale, and she trembled uncontrollably. Blood gushed down her thigh from where his Samehade had torn away flesh and drained her chakra.
She made a quick decision to disarm him after that, though, and was relieved when he had no choice but to relinquish his grip after she delivered a swift kick to the 'family jewels'. She hated resorting to such dirty tricks, but this was getting far too serious for her to stomach so soon after her last fight. Her gloves were torn, and her knuckles bled… to the dismay of the bedroom wall… and the large Oak tree just outside…
The moment she'd found out her foe was Akatsuki, she noted that she needed to get out of the small fighting space and get herself together. She didn't give him even a second to move again before punching a gaping hole in the wall behind her, diving through and jumping into the nearest tree to nurse the side of her face where the shark-man had landed a solid punch just moments before. She smiled evilly when she saw the look of shock overcome him the moment she initiated their fight.
Moments passed before she saw him emerge from the front of the building with his giant serrated Zanbattou, a lustful look in his eyes.
Lust for blood.
She didn't wait for him to come for her. Thanking the gods her medical pack was still in tact and still clinging to her waist, she slipped a Hyourougan into her mouth, swallowing it greedily. She hurdled from the tree unseen and drove her fist into it on her way down, aiming for the diversion of it falling towards Kisame so she could gather more chakra to her right hand. Savoring the feeling of the soldier pill taking effect, she pounced with instant fervor at her enemy, initiating contact with the tight muscles of his stomach, attempting to use her Chakra Scalpel on the sensitive area.
Jumping back with grace, she landed several feet away from him, ready for anything… except she wasn't ready for the playful look in his beady eyes.
'He's enjoying this,' she realized, disgustedly. He was relishing in the blood coming from his mouth, and he paid no attention to the gash she had driven into his abdomen. 'I can't go like this much longer.'
The pain in her leg was growing unbearable, a slight side effect of popping Hyourougan being over-sensitized nerves. But it was also like taking some kind of amphetamine; it didn't last too long, but it did the trick in a tough bind. But she was running out of pain killing endorphins by the second.
She focused back on Kisame, who was already on the last seal of a jutsu. Jumping back as far as she could, as quickly as she could, she scolded herself for not even noticing him start his technique.
"Suiton! Bakushouha!" he gurgled, as water started pouring out of his mouth in a torrent. He was taking advantage of the small crater Sakura had uncontrollably left after trying to keep her footing after being thrown away by his Samehade.
Sakura jumped back a little further, knowing he was going to be using another water jutsu. Grasping a kunai from her pack, she channeled some chakra into it before throwing it with great speed towards his upper body, hoping to stop his next move long enough.
He allowed it to pierce his bicep as he finished the last seal for his Aquatic Shockwave attack. "Hope you can swim!" he laughed, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Long, coiling spirals of water leapt from the pool of water at his feet, soaring towards Sakura. She jumped with all her might, straight up, the razor-like water nipping and tearing at her shins. Taking advantage of her flesh wounds, she smeared some of her own blood on the tips of her fingers and the back of her hand, performing the seals of an attack she had only had the chance to practice once before with Tsunade.
Today seemed to be a day for trying new things…
The water splashed back down below her as she landed on another nearby tree branch, filling the front yard of the shrine with roiling waves. Sakura slammed her hand down on the wood below her…
'Katsuyu-sama, I hope you're with me today!' "Kuchiyose no…!"
Before she could continue, she felt her body being kicked square from behind, throwing her face-first towards the ground. She didn't have time to brace herself other than a twist of her body before she landed on her shoulder blades on the ground with a hard, breath-stealing 'thud'.
"Stop," a soft voice spoke from above her, unreadable in its tone.
Black and white stars flooded her vision momentarily as she tried to regain the air knocked from her lungs. She swore she heard someone tell her to stop…?
She looked up at the tree she had just been in with an audible gasp, realizing the man who had knocked her down had two very bright, very angry-looking Sharingan eyes.
'Itachi!?'
"Itachi, this isn't done," Kisame growled, still clenched in the last seal of his jutsu, "This girl infiltrated our house, then attacked me. I'm only cleaning up Konoha's assassin trash!"
Itachi continued to stare down at Sakura with eyes devoid of emotion. "You use Kuchiyose and you'll destroy our home, I'm not ready to find a new place to live just yet."
Sakura blinked several times, confused.
"Itachi…!" Another growl from the peanut gallery. Might as well have been a whine, at this point.
Sakura tried to sit up and glare over her shoulder, but her body really had had enough today. She continued to lie there beneath the large arbor, steadying her rapid heartbeat. The pill was wearing off…
"Kisame, you're excessive. Shut it before I shut it for you." This time his eyes did divert to his fellow Akatsuki, who let out a very loud sigh in protest.
Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and let the remnants of water beneath her body seep into the back of her shirt. What the hell was going on? Why was she in an unknown forest with Uchiha Itachi glaring down at her, and the half fish Kisame plotting her demise silently from mere feet away?
Why did she suddenly feel like laughing?
"Heh…! Heh… hehhehheh heh…."
Sakura trailed off as she let herself slip into blackness; it was the least she could do for her poor psyche.
The two men threw her inquisitive looks before looking back at one another with obvious disturbed confusion.
Rubbing the skin between his eyes for a moment, Itachi reminded himself why he had taken this strange girl home. He jumped down from his seat up high and scooped the battered kunoichi under his arm. He'd have to be careful to make sure she couldn't go wild again when she woke up later.
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Hours later, sitting around the wooden slab they called a dinner table, Itachi was still bent that his bedroom had been destroyed over pitiful circumstances. He scolded Kisame right out for his idiocy, reminding him that what goes on in his bedroom is of no mind to anyone but himself. Strangers or not.
Kisame just huffed, tearing into the overcooked meat lying on the plate in front of him, grimacing at the pain lingering in his stomach. Mumbling something about Konoha spies, he leaned back on his elbows, rubbing more numbing ointment into his wound.
He had stolen Sakura's medical pack as soon as he could and strewn the contents out over the floor, eyeing it all wearily before settling on the ointment and a vile of pills, which clanked and rolled across the floor. Playing with a Hyourougan between his tongue and cheek, he savored the sour taste it exuded when his sharp tooth pierced and broke the gelatin shell.
"Gods, I haven't had these in ages…" His eyes rolled back momentarily.
Itachi ate gingerly, eyeing the (now bound) unconscious girl lying on the other side of the room. He had moved his bedroom out into the main room for now, since he couldn't sleep with a gigantic hole in the wall of his old room. The fire crackled and spit sparks into the surrounding ashes, giving off a flattering red glow that danced on Sakura's coral-colored hair. She was once again out cold, Itachi thought to himself, flashing another glare at his partner.
"Next time she wakes up, don't lay a finger on her, Kisame," he tried to say as calmly as possible. "Even if she manages to attack you. She has a technique I want, and I can't very well get it from her if she's constantly on wits-end."
Kisame grumbled.
He was still wondering why the girl was there, assuming Itachi had stolen her at some point after they had extracted the Shukaku and disbanded. He found himself curious as to what kind of jutsu this girl knew that could garner Itachi's attention so much as to bring the Leaf back with him. He flashed Itachi a curious look.
Reading his long time partner's silent inquisition, Itachi spoke with a light hint of excitement underlying his soft tone. "Genesis Rebirth."
Kisame's eyes widened, and an ugly sneer painted his face. "Banzai," he mouthed, grinning knowingly.
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