Chapter Seventeen
The beginning of the end

The cold water seeped into Sakura's body. So bone-chilling she was sure the blood in her veins had frozen solid. She wasn't even sure how she made it to the shore. Only knew that in one moment she was trying to drive her numbing body towards the sandy beach and the next, Itachi was suddenly there, hauling her soaked form out of the river.

He supported the majority of her weight, her legs like jell-o as he half-carried, half-dragged her up the sand and towards his car. He leaned her against the back door before he began attacking her clothes, pulling her gloves off before reaching for the zipper of her jacket.

"Told you you'd survive," he told her as he worked.

Sakura glared. "I hate you," she managed to hiss through her teeth, the muscles of her jaw tense and her tongue heavy in her mouth.

She thought she saw Itachi smirk faintly before he pulled her shirt over her head. In her sluggish state, it took her a moment to realize she was down to only in her bra. Sakura opened her mouth, but the words were muffled when Itachi yanked his own sweatshirt off and slipped it down over her head.

The sudden, delicious warmth killed her retort on contact. And Itachi didn't wait for one. He simply ushered her into the passenger side of the car where the heat was blowing and the seat warmer was on max.

Sakura melted into the cushion. She greedily sucked up as much heat as she could, her fingers curling around the inside of the sleeves. Itachi's sweatshirt was big, much too big to fit her properly, but it was warm. So warm. She couldn't resist burying into it, his cologne clinging to the inside of her nose.

The car ride was silent as Itachi drove. At some point when her body began to thaw and her mind could focus on something other than how damn cold she was, Sakura peered out the window. The highway signs told her they were heading north. Out of the city. Those shimmering lights grower smaller and smaller in the side mirror.

She snuck a glance in Itachi's direction. He was in just a t-shirt. In the glow from the dash's backlight, his features were thrown into sharp contrast. She traced the curve of his cheekbone down to his jawline and mouth. If there was something to read in his expression, she couldn't see it in the semi-darkness.

As if he felt her stare, Itachi's gaze flickered to her. He seemed to sense her unspoken question for he told her as his eyes returned to the road, "I own some property up North."

He didn't provide any other details and she didn't ask. Just watched the street signs flash by until they pulled up to a house almost an hour later.

It was two stories and surrounded by a large yard. She couldn't see much beyond the darkness. Only a single light in the distance from a neighboring home. None of the lights outside or inside the house were on. Only the headlights of Itachi's car illuminated the driveway as they slowed to a stop. He cut the engine and got out without a word. Sakura watched him through the windshield for a long moment, debating her decision to follow him or not. In the end, she chose to abandon the vehicle.

The house itself was nice. Nothing too fancy. Just comfortable. Like a family home. She briefly wondered if this had perhaps been his, but she didn't ask. Just left her soaked boots by the front door and trailed behind him as he led her upstairs to the master bedroom. There, he handed her a towel before he directed her into the bathroom. And the shower.

xx

At least an hour had passed before Sakura wandered back downstairs. Itachi heard her footsteps on the stairs, that creaking bottom step always a giveaway. He peered over the top of his computer when she rounded the corner. She was wearing the sweats and plain, black t-shirt he had left out for her, her own clothes still tumbling in the dryer.

For some reason he did a double take. Unused to how her wet hair fell down her shoulders, the way her face was absent of makeup. With her big name and high-powered rifles, he sometimes forgot she was only in her mid-twenties. So young. Yet so old.

Sakura gave the room one sweeping glance before she finally turned back to him. When she noticed his stare, she cocked her brow pointedly. "What?"

He bit back his smile. This was more what he was used to. "Nothing," he shook his head.

Sakura eyed him a moment longer but eventually let it go. "I may have used your entire month's supply of hot water. Sorry," she said, not really sounding that sorry.

Itachi's smile widened minutely. "I can make some tea if you're still cold."

"I'm not much of a tea drinker," she told him as she pulled out one of the chairs to sit adjacent to him. Her phone and the radio she had stolen sat on one end of the table. She barely glanced at them, both too waterlogged to ever work again.

"That's right. You favor tequila," he said.

As if she had asked for some, Itachi stood and made his way over to a cabinet. Whatever he had been working on must have not been too important for he left his computer open and easily accessible to her viewing. She glanced at it briefly, only to find nothing of interest. Instead, she turned her head to watch him move about the kitchen.

Itachi returned with two glasses and a half-full bottle of tequila. He poured a drink and passed it off to her before filling one for himself. It burned in the best way as it went down.

"So," Sakura said after she had taken a few sips, "we going to discuss what the hell happened tonight?"

Itachi set his own drink aside, the glass clinking quietly against the tabletop. "I didn't know about the raid, if that is what you're asking. At least not until it was already too late."

When Sakura just continued to stare at him, he sighed. "I've been in Israel. My plane landed an hour before I called you."

"And were you playing good cop or bad cop this time?" she asked, the barest of smirks playing in the corner of her mouth before it disappeared behind her glass.

Itachi shot her a look but didn't bother with a reply before he returned to his computer. "From what I've been able to dig up on the CIA's end, the FBI was after Izuna's man, not you."

"I only set up this meeting with Izuna last night. How did they arrange a raid so quickly?"

He shook his head. "That I don't know yet. Shisui is still following some leads, but the FBI only know Izuna's man was meeting a woman by the name of 'Tsunade'. From the emails and text messages we've read through, they haven't been able to identify you specifically."

Hacked was more likely what Itachi meant but Sakura didn't call him out. It was the first thing he had said that actually made her relax. She sat back in her chair and drank from her glass slowly, thoughtfully. Rolling all this new information around.

It was unlikely Izuna knew his man was being watched, but between him and Hashirama, this was the second mole in as many weeks. Her confidence in them was beginning to wane. Dangerous for people in their line of work.

When Sakura looked at Itachi again, she was surprised to find he was already watching her. She didn't say anything. Simply cocked her brow quizzically.

Itachi sipped his glass again before answering. "I wasn't sure you would actually jump."

She huffed a laugh, but it was mostly lacking in amusement. "I'll admit it's definitely near the top of craziest things I've ever done."

The corner of his mouth twitched but he didn't immediately reply. He simply continued to study her, those black eyes piercing as if he was trying to read her very soul. Her skin flushed hot. From more than just her shower.

"What?" she asked again.

She half-expected him to shake his head again, but he didn't. He just continued to watch her, his chin resting in his palm. "You really don't have any fear, do you?"

There was no amusement or accusation in his question. Rather, just honest curiosity. Like he was looking at a puzzle he just couldn't figure out.

For some reason that question sank deep in her chest. Settled in that hole that seemed to grow heavier with each passing day. She tried to lessen that weight with more tequila. The alcohol helped numb some of it.

"I think a lack of fear is a requirement for my job, isn't it?" she asked with a forced smile.

A strange expression settling over his features then. As if something he hadn't considered before had just crossed his mind. "Except it isn't fearlessness, is it. You just don't care whether you live or die."

There was an usually note of sadness in his voice. It did something to her insides she didn't like.

At that moment, Sakura decided she was done with this conversation. Instead, she took to gazing about the room, noting that while there was furniture and pictures hanging on the wall, none of them had any meaning. Almost like a hotel. Decorated simply to fill the blank space.

"This is your house?" she asked eventually.

Itachi had returned to working on his laptop while she looked around. He typed out another sentence before he finally closed it. The quiet hum of the internal fan shut off, suddenly casting them into silence. He seemed to study the room before offering her an answer, "It's one of my safehouses. Not even the CIA knows it exists."

Her brow arched curiously at that. "And you brought me here why?"

"I'm not planning to kill you," he said as if he had read more into her question. "If I had wanted you dead, I had only needed to leave you in that river."

Sakura had considered that herself. It was the only reason she hadn't pressed him where they had been going in the car. She didn't bother correcting him, instead just rolled her head to one side. "Why did you help me out of that hotel?"

To her surprise, Itachi went quiet. Thought visibly rolled through his head. "Because you were right about Newark. If we hadn't pulled our team out when you said last week, they would have gotten caught up in the massacre that was Pier 86."

Flashes of Tobirama and the blood that had clung to him that early morning flickered through her head. A massacre was the only word to describe the failed raid he and his men had attempted against Akatsuki. It truly was amazing he had even gotten out.

Blinking, Sakura banished Tobirama from her mind. She drained the rest of her glass before she set it down and peered at Itachi again. "So, saving me was your way of thanking me?"

"If you want to see it that way."

She wasn't entirely sure what that meant. That strange look was back on Itachi's face. She didn't understand that either.

Unable to hold his stare, Sakura looked down to where her finger was tracing the rim of her glass, ignoring the way the back of her neck suddenly flushed again. She changed the subject. "Any update on Madara?" she asked.

When Sakura glanced up again, Itachi was no longer looking at her. He peered at the clock on the wall before turning to her again. "I do have one lead Shisui is following up with," he told her. "A port Madara is trying to seize on the south side. Once I have more information, I'll let you know. Have you heard anything more on your end?"

Sakura thought about the flash drive Shikamaru had given her. The list of working ports and warehouses Madara was looking into. She shook her head. "Nothing yet, but I may soon. Do you have anything more on Akatsuki?"

To her surprise, Itachi nodded. "Yes, that's actually why I was in Israel. I have a contact I want you to meet. I think he might be able to give you some information that may help."

Sakura eyed Itachi, somewhat amazed he was willing to give her information when she had none to trade in return. A trap was her first thought. But as Itachi had said himself, if he had wanted to kill her the opportunity to do so had already passed.

"When?" she asked.

"One week. In Tel Aviv."

She was quiet as she thought. A contact in Israel. That was her territory. There weren't any contacts there that she knew of. Unless they worked for the government. That made her hesitant. She didn't want to work with anymore military, police or otherwise. But Itachi knew her well enough not to offer something that would threaten her work.

In the end, Sakura's curiosity won out. "I'll be there," she said.

A smile crossed Itachi's face before he glanced at the clock for a second time. Sakura followed his gaze. It was four. The sun still some hours off.

Itachi stood with a yawn. "I haven't slept since sunrise in Tel Aviv. I need a nap. I'll take you back to the city afterwards."

Sakura remained at the table as he headed upstairs.

Itachi was hardly surprised when he awoke a few hours later to find she was gone. What did surprise him was his car was still in the driveway. Only the number of a burner phone in his cell's recent contacts.

Other than that, there was no trace she had ever been there. Their drinking glasses washed and put away, the tequila back in the cabinet. Her clothes were gone, the ones he had let her borrow folded in his drawer.

Itachi couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself. As if he had expected anything different. Not that it mattered. He would see her again in a week.

xx

The following night Hashirama summoned Sakura. As if he knew she was keeping her head low, he had texted her. Just a time and place. Not that he needed to. Hashirama was never very good at keeping a low profile.

Bright, flashing lights and balloons in blues and silver decorated the outside of the city aquarium. The venue for his business party. It took up the entire west wing. In front of the large, glass tank where the largest sharks and most colorful fish swam in circles.

The rest of the building was left empty and quiet. Sakura stood in a tunnel of jellyfish as she waited. With her head tilted back, she watched the see-through creatures drift through the gentle current, their neon bodies and tentacles brightened by the deep blue backdrop. It was mesmerizing to watch. How effortlessly they sank and rose. Bouncing off one another in slow motion before moving on.

She didn't have to wait long before the soft, inspiring background music was interrupted. She heard each step of those expensive shoes as they clacked against the tiles. Sakura didn't turn to greet Hashirama. Simply waited for him to come to a stop beside her.

They said nothing for the first minute. Merely observed the smooth glide of the jellyfish as they drifted through the water.

Sakura was the first to break the silence. "What grown man rents out an aquarium for a party?"

Hashirama just stared at her when she turned to face him. Side-by-side, she realized she could have been his rebellious daughter with her in her leather jacket and boots, and him in his pressed, tailored suit. Even before she had spoken, she knew this wasn't a friendly visit. Not that she was expecting one. She was pissed too.

"I thought I made it clear to you not to get involved with Tobirama," he told her calmly. Too calm.

Sakura cocked her head. "That's what you want to talk about? Not that fact that Izuna's primary supplier was being watched by the FBI. That I nearly got arrested and killed myself."

When Hashirama just continued to watch her, her eyes narrowed. "You have had two moles in two weeks. Your oversights are beginning to threaten my business, Hashirama."

He didn't immediately react as his gaze returned to the jellyfish display. He studied it so intensely she half wondered if he was considering drowning her in the exhibit. Make it look like an accident.

"Izuna assures me he was unaware that his man was being watched," Hashirama told her eventually.

Sakura scowled. "I don't give a fuck what Izuna says," she retorted, voice low. "I won't have a third incident. Clean up your house, Hashirama. It's beginning to fill with shit."

Hashirama didn't react but his hazel eyes were as cool as copper plating and as hard as lead when he looked at her. She was toeing a dangerous line. One wrong step from finding a bullet through her foot. Sakura glanced away.

The aquarium music filled the space between them after that. It almost felt like they were tainting the serenity of the chamber with their conversation. A dark presence in a pure room.

"I should hope moving forward that nothing will interfere with your business interactions with Tobirama," Hashirama eventually said. "I have enough to deal with between you and Izuna."

"Believe me, Hashirama," Sakura murmured, her eyes forward and her voice tinged with something not quite pleasant. "Izuna and I get along swimmingly."

She turned away after that, content to end their discussion there. Only to pause as Hashirama spoke again, "I know you did not come to me as thanks for pulling you out of that orphanage," he told her quietly. His tone non-threatening but dangerous both at the same time. "I never trusted Tsunade. And I do not trust you either."

Sakura couldn't help but smile at Hashirama as she turned her head to look back at him. "In our line of work, Hashirama, you would be an idiot to."

His gaze stuck to her back until she rounded the corner. Her smile held only a few minutes longer before it too vanished as she headed back out into the night. Back out into the dark.

xx

The waitress greeted Izuna the instant he stepped through the door. She collected his jacket and drink order before he crossed the room to sit in the leather chair he usually frequented at this gentlemen's club.

As he waited, he adjusted his cuff links, smoothed down the front of his suit. Settling only once every wrinkle had been flattened out.

"Your drink, sir," the waitress said a few minutes later.

She handed him an old-fashioned and smiled her thanks upon his generous tip before she vacated the room. It took Izuna one sip to realize she was not the only one to do so.

Setting his drink down, he eyed the bar, watching as the few remaining customers in the club stood from their seats and slipped out. So carefully, so smoothly he nearly didn't notice. With his guard up, Izuna slipped his hand into his jacket for his gun and made to stand. Only to still when the barrel of a gun pressed to his temple.

"I wouldn't pull that out if I were you."

Izuna's nostrils flared angrily but he withdrew his hand from his coat slowly, somehow unsurprised to find her here. "You have some nerve showing up here," he told Sakura coolly.

The pressure against the side of his head lessened as she moved around the chair to stand directly in front of him. She then touched the blunt end of the weapon to his forehead. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't just kill you now."

Her tone was casual enough but the steel behind her gaze was enough to let him know she was serious. Izuna ground his teeth together to fight back his retort. "I did not know my supplier was being watched," he told her.

Sakura pressed the barrel harder. "Not good enough."

Even with her weapon pressed to his face, he managed to glare. "What do you want? A written apology? Because you're not going to get one. The FBI is now on my ass, my primary supplier was arrested and I still have no weapons. From where I'm standing, it seems like you set everything up."

"Oh, don't even go there," Sakura rolled her eyes. "You chose the time and the place. This is on you. You're still going to pay for that shipment."

"Or what? You'll shoot me?" He reached up to wrap his fingers around the barrel of her gun and pulled it closer. "You and I both know you won't do it. You wouldn't do anything to jeopardize my brother and Hashirama's relationship."

Her eyes narrowed, her finger briefly tightening around the trigger. Not enough to engage the bullet but close enough that one twitch would scatter Izuna's brain matter on the high back of his chair. A long, tense silence passed before she loosened her grasp and lowered the gun.

Izuna had barely begun to smirk before Sakura cocked her fist back and punched him square in the face. Blood gushed from his nose and painted his upper lip red. He raised a hand to the damage before he looked down at the crimson staining his fingers.

"You bitch," he snarled.

Sakura straightened, a proud smile on her lips. "You only wish I was as nice as a bitch."

Izuna's eyes narrowed dangerously but before he could move, another swept into the room. Sakura held her weapon towards the newcomer. Only to pause as she recognized Tobirama.

He stopped short. First eyeing Sakura and the gun she still had pointed at him, and then Izuna whose blood had seeped through his fingers and was dripping down onto his pressed suit. Tobirama looked caught between smirking and frowning.

"Should I come back?" Tobirama asked her.

Sakura eyed him a moment, briefly interested as to why he wasn't being more abrasive. She wondered if he was actually sorry about bursting into her apartment those few weeks ago. She hadn't seen or heard from him since then. Not even through text message.

But she doubted that. Tobirama was never sorry about anything. More likely he had just heard of her botched meeting with Izuna's supplier. Had Tobirama been in her position, she was certain he would have unloaded a bullet into the younger Uchiha brother by now.

"No, we're done here," Sakura said, pocketing her weapon. Without another glance at either man, she swept past Tobirama and out of the room.

Three blocks later, Sakura got a phone call. She shoved both hands into the pockets of her jacket, only pulling the one with her cell out. She half-expected it to be Hashirama. Or perhaps Tobirama. Her brow arched when Naruto's name popped up on the caller ID.

"What is it?" she answered.

"Hey, do you remember that thing you asked me to look into?" Naruto asked. "About other possible places Akatsuki might be using to traffic their shipments in and out of the country."

On the other end of the line, she could hear the roar of the wind as if he was standing somewhere that was unprotected. "Yeah, did you find something?" Sakura asked, flexing the hand inside her coat. Her knuckles ached where they made contact with Izuna's face.

"Yeah, I found a port," Naruto told her. "And it's close. Very close."

to be continued…

I am so sorry for the delay. I could not get a moment of peace to edit this.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I love hearing everyone's thoughts. I'm pretty pleased with how this came out - let me know your predictions :)