I don't own Naruto – VZ

Sakura could feel her heart racing and her breathing quicken. The eyes that were so close to her own were two vivid pools of red, regarding her with dark intent. She wanted to tear her gaze away from his but she was frozen. And when Sasuke accused her of lying, she almost died on the spot. No, she wasn't afraid of him exactly. But she was immensely disappointed when her fake identity had been found out almost immediately.

Although, a part of the pinkette wasn't really surprised that Sasuke had found out her real name. He wasn't an idiot, far from it actually. It would have been a miracle if she had gotten away with it. But of course, a girl could hope right?

Since Sakura found no way out of the situation, especially with a smug Uchiha crouching next to her, she decided to wing it. Seeing that she couldn't lie her way out of this one, might as well go along with the truth, but maybe not all of it. Sasuke would be absolutely ecstatic to hear that she had been in close contact with his older brother. Who really wasn't that bad. Possibly dark and twisted, and actually very horny. The medic-nin did escape thanks to his lust for her. Nevertheless, now was not the time to think about certain, passionate older Uchiha's. Maybe later…. no….better not.

"Wonderful work Sasuke, finding out my real name. Thank Kami for that genius brain of yours." Her voice dripped with acid and sarcasm, a toxic combination.

Even though she was noticeably shorter than him, Sakura looked straight into his eyes. Her brilliant green gaze was unflinching and strong, quite different from the old Sakura he had once known. There was no red cheeks or flirty attitude, something he was fairly thankful for.

Sasuke stared back into those endless jade depths. He could see the pain he'd caused her, the rejection and hurt. A large part of him reveled in the fact that he was no longer weak because he had successfully cut ties with his past. And not only that, he managed to inflict pain on others as well. Yet there was this miniscule part of him that mourned for the loss of his teammate, the loss of her innocence and happy self. Yes, Sasuke could still see hints of the little happy girl he once knew. But there was this hard glint in those eyes, and the odd thing was…. He liked it.

"Oh, it wasn't that hard."

"No shit." She cursed while he smirked (very, very slightly).

"Now now, good little girls shouldn't use such coarse language." He murmured, tilting his head to the side.

There it was again, her eyes would harden to the point of looking like green little jewels.

"Who said I was a good little girl Sasuke?"

Oh, how he was coming to like that look. It basically screamed at him to simply burn in hell. As if Sakura Haruno no longer cared for him, but he knew better.

"Aren't you?"

"Not anymore." The pinkette glared at him openly, not understanding how he looked so amused.

"Of course not." The dark haired man said it in a way that sounded like he was humoring her.

"I'm not! I'm stronger than before Sasuke, you just don't see it."

He watched as her mouth thinned into a grim line, her eyes spitting emerald fire.

"I see nothing before me but a pathetic child who is just as weak as the day I saw her."

"I…am…not…a….child." Sakura said slowly and clearly, poking him on the forehead with each word. Sure, it was rather stupid to push his buttons like this. But despite that, it was too tempting to resist. Besides, she'd already called him an asshole.

Blood red eyes flashed.

"Could have fooled me." He muttered darkly, gesturing to her tiny form.

"It's not like I meant for this to happen." Sakura grumbled and stepped away from the youngest Uchiha.

"Hn…."

It was silent for a while, and then the most irritating sound pierced the cold night air.

"Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuuun!"

Juugo flinched at the annoying shriek and Sakura could have sworn seeing her old teammate wince just a bit.

"Suigetsu is being an idiot again." Karin squealed, running next to Sasuke and latching onto his right arm.

"Takes one to know one bitch!" The white haired male stepped out of the trees and joined everyone else in the campsite. A cocky grin was plastered on his face and sacks of most probably food were hanging over his shoulder.

"I am not a bitch!" The red head stomped her foot on the ground, much like a child throwing a tantrum.

At this, Suigetsu laughed heartily as he threw down the sacks near the small campfire.

"Got something to say you moron?!" Karin dug her nails into the Uchiha's arm as she glared at swordsman.

"Oh lots, but you know what they say. If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. And you, bitch, are far from nice." He shrugged casually and smirked, sitting down near the flames, he started sharpening his large sword.

"Why you…." Her voice was irritated and a red eyebrow twitched.

"Yes, me?" Suigetsu batted his eyelashes at Karin, his voice high-pitched and somewhat similar to his teammate whenever she fawned stupidly over Sasuke. Sakura was actually disgusted by the fact she used to be quite proud of being one of his fangirls, it was downright sad.

Karin looked more than pissed, but it was obvious that Suigetsu was much better at bantering and giving witty comebacks. So she turned to Sasuke with what she thought was a sexy expression when in reality, she looked comical.

"Sasuke-kun! Tell that idiot to shut up so that we can have some private time together." She winked at him suggestively and Suigetsu rolled his eyes. Even Juugo appeared exasperated with her constant flirting.

Sakura scoffed and rolled her green eyes just like a certain white haired male.

The red head heard and looked down her nose at the pinkette, not liking the girl instantly.

"Got something to say pinky?"

Sasuke, Juugo and Suigetsu just stood and watched as Karin lashed out at the girl. The three of them could feel the tension in between the two females and no one wanted to get caught in the middle of it.

The Uchiha observed his old teammate, finding her expressive green eyes more than intriguing. They would just flare up; it was an interesting sight to say the least.

"Pinky? Well that's creative." She remarked, pulling on a lock of bright pink hair.

"I know right?"

The medic-nin actually face-palmed.

She gave a look to Sasuke that said ' Really? You gave team seven up for this? '

Naturally, he remained stoic and emotionless as ever.

"As fun as this is….."

Sakura turned abruptly and started walking away very slowly due to her wounds.

"…..I'll be taking my leave now."

After taking a few steps, her tiny body bumped into something hard.

A wall maybe?

…..

No, fate wasn't as kind.

Instead of a wall, Sasuke Uchiha stood there. Looking dark and cryptic as always. Honestly? Didn't the man have any other expressions?

The look he gave her said ' Where do you think you're going?'

She glared daggers at him, giving him a scowl.

"Away from you, as charming as your presence is…. I'd rather face the wilderness."

"Aren't you going to beg for my return to that pitiful excuse of a village of yours?" Sasuke questioned, bending down to her level.

She hesitated for a bit, seriously thinking it over. Wouldn't Naruto want this? Wouldn't the entire village wish for his return? Would I? As thoughts raced through her head, she pondered. After a while contemplating her answer, she finally chose.

"Why bother?"

His expression didn't change (No surprise) but she could tell that he was shocked by her cold and harsh reply.

"I know that you'll stop at nothing to kill your brother, the only family you have left. So, go ahead. I honestly don't care about your silly ambition of wasting your power and life on chasing a revenge that will never be yours." Sakura declared. Although her voice was that of a child's, it was still strong and unwavering. A far cry from the girl she used to be in Sasuke's opinion.

The Uchiha leaned in, the curtain of his black hair shielding her face from the silver light of the moon. It was longer than before, but the back of his hair still stood straight.

All she could see right now was red, like blood. There was also a haunting black color that blended with the red nicely. Sakura had to be careful, if he wanted to, he could kill her easily.

"That murderer is not my brother, he is a killer."

His voice was soft and smooth, much like velvet.

"Like you're any different?" The girl countered viciously. No, she didn't know why she was defending Itachi Uchiha of all people. However, she was. Did it mean something? Why was she so protective of him? Even as Sakura as herself, she already knew the answers to all of these questions. Despite his ragged past, Itachi had been civil towards her. More than civil actually, he was nice to her. Although there was no way of telling that he was faking it, still….Why would he save her from dozens of exploding tags if he were pretending?

No one truly evil would spare her life like that, and to say that she was worth the risk? Sakura Haruno knew in her heart that there was no way that Itachi was a murderer. Of course he'd killed she had too. But…there she just had this feeling that there was more to him and his clan's deaths than meets the eye.

"All shinobi kill, it's our way of life." He stated emotionlessly, red eyes piercing her very soul. Never before had Sakura seen the Sharingan so close, it was strangely beautiful and frightening at the same time.

She leaned away and turned once more, deciding to go the other direction. The pinkette didn't care if she was lost and might be very far from her village and would have a hard time finding it. As long as she got away from Sasuke and his killing intent for the man that saved her.

"Fine, while you go on with slaughtering other's lives….I promise you…..I'm going to be busy saving them." Her voice was solemn and her stance determined and spirited, despite her discomfort thanks to her injuries.

But before she could take another step away from the dark and twisted man behind her, an arctic voice whispered softly, intimately into her ear.

"Not before I kill you first."

And with that, and a hit towards her neck, all she saw was black.

"Where the hell is she?!" Kisame yelled and punched a nearby tree, denting the bark and leaving a nasty mark on the surface.

"….Hn…."

"We've searched everywhere! And I can't sense her chakra at all. It's like she's disappeared from the face of the earth or something." He grumbled the last part, a frown marring his blue features.

"….Hn..."

"We're already late, leader is going to kill us for not reporting back to base two days ago."

"…..Hn..."

Suddenly, a large sword wrapped in bandages crashed into the wood an inch away from Itachi's head.

He raised an eyebrow at the sight of his partner's weapon lodged into the tree quite deeply, almost reaching the hilt.

"How can you be so calm about this Uchiha?" He asked the man who appeared cool and collected, leaning on the tree which now had a sword jutting from it's trunk.

When he didn't reply, Kisame twisted his blade, drawing the side closer to the Uchiha's skull.

"Well?"

"Acting childishly would get us nowhere."

"C-childishly?" The larger man asked, his voice disbelieving.

"It's best to remain level-headed. This way, we can think more clearly and efficiently." Itachi stated as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Kisame rolled his eyes and extracted his sword from the bark with a scowl.

"Well sorry for not acting like an emotionless freak. I'm worried about angel okay? So excuse me for showing that I actually care if she'd still alive."

The Uchiha regarded his partner before nodding, straightening his spine and leaned away from the tree.

"I agree."

"What?"

"Angel…is a suitable name for my blossom." The dark haired male said, observing the twist in the mist-nin's features.

At first, there was a faint satisfaction after hearing that Itachi actually agreed on something with him. But it soon turned into distaste once he had claimed that Sakura was his.

"We better go…before Leader realizes that we're running behind schedule."

"…He already has." Itachi held up his ring, which was glowing. It was a sure sign that Pein wanted to speak with both of them immediately.

"We're so screwed." Kisame stated, shaking his head.

Hope you liked it! I was actually going to update on Sunday but since it's KyuubiHost's birthday this Saturday, I decided to make an exception. And if you're reading this….HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Anyways, lots of love an thanks to those who reviewed last time. Can you believe that this story has gotten over 360 reviews?! Ihonestly didn't think I could get such a positive response from everyone. And it makes me very glad that you guys take the time to read and review. It seriously means a lot to me. And by the way, hope you like this update KyuubiHost! Think of it as my b-day gift to ya. Till' next time! – VZ