"Kabuto, did you get what I asked for?" Orochimaru's eyes glowed yellow with anticipation as he watched the young white haired man approach with a single metal box.
"Yes Lord Orochimaru, I did." Kabuto set the box down on the table of the lab.
"Excellent." Orochimaru opened the box.
Kabuto and the pale skinned lord looked down into the metal case. Floating in oil, was a small circular, glowing device with an amber vial of the most peculiar glowing liquid in it.
"He truly is a master." Orochimaru said quietly.
"What is it Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto had leaned forward to peer into the box with his master.
"A virus Kabuto, a very deadly virus...a global killer." Orochimaru licked his lips.
"What are you going to do with it? Weaponize it?" Kabuto asked , never taking his eyes from the object in the box.
"No need, it is already weaponized, such is the ruthless efficiency of our dear Sasori. I just need to figure out how to use it." Orochimaru hummed in anticipation.
"You mean you don't know how?" Kabuto was interested.
"Not yet, but I will, in time." Orochimaru closed the lid and locked the latch again.
"For now, there are things we need to do. He will be coming, he will want this back no doubt, and he will want revenge." Orochimaru smiled wickedly.
"For the death of his father?" Kabuto asked.
An evil laugh echoed throughout the lab, "Avenge his father, no Kabuto. Sasori and his father were not...close. In fact I am sure he is happy the old man is gone. No, he will want his revenge for the damage I caused to his village. Home is important to that one, more than blood."
"And his girlfriend?" Kabuto asked.
"Make no move to take her yet. She is too well protected." Orochimaru led the way out of the lab down the hall.
"By the Uchiha." Kabuto said wisely.
"Yes but as far as my spies can tell, the Uchiha have made no alliance with Akasuna, they only wish to protect the girl, they see her as one of their own." Orochimaru laughed.
"It would be clever of Sasori, if I thought it had been his plan the whole time but he hates the Uchiha almost as much as I do." Orochimaru chuckled.
"Lord Orochimaru, if the Uchiha joined in an alliance with Akasuna." Kabuto started to say.
"They won't." Orochimaru interrupted the young man.
They had entered the main room of Lord Orochimaru's compound. "Check the security and reinforce the guards around the entrance and close off all exits immediately. He will be coming, and soon."
"He is only one man." Kabuto said.
"Indeed, which must tell you how very dangerous he is, do not underestimate him. He was killing people by the village before he hit puberty, he is a prodigy, an elite. Now go." Orochimaru waved Kabuto away.
Sasori placed the last set of eyes into the last cooler and shut the lid. Someone handed him a damp cloth and he cleaned the blood from his hands as he made his way to the main part of the manse.
"Report." He told Baki who strode up beside him.
"The manse is no longer under fire, the damage is in the kitchens and back greenhouses only, the rest is operational, including your underground lab sir." Baki told him.
"Good. Have team 5 and team 8 ready and at the gate in one hour. We are heading to Oto." Sasori walked through the front doors of the manse to be greeted by his butler.
"A bath, fresh clothes, my gear, pack for Oto and I mean pack heavy." Sasori walked to his rooms, stripping as he went.
The butler drew his bath as he splashed bucket after bucket of warm water over himself washing the last of the blood from his arms and legs. He scrubbed his hair and washed his face.
As he lowered himself into his bath his thoughts drifted to Sakura. She would be safe with the Uchiha. He had to think this through, he had never wanted to live more than he did right now. It was like he had told her, he had something to lose. He smiled to himself before he ducked under the hot water completely...he also had something to come back to now. He couldn't loose, no matter what.
He would come back to her, even if it meant doing what he never thought he would do. Sasori reached for his phone.
There hadn't been any more messages from Sasori. Sakura had gone to bed early and lay in bed not moving, not sleeping, her phone in her hand.
Itachi cracked the door and peeked in to check on her. He could tell she was awake but she didn't move so he closed the door and left.
He made his way back to the second living room where Shisui and Sasuke were still sitting watching the news. Madara and Obito had left early to take care of some family business that didn't require anyone else.
Fugaku and Mikoto had retired to their rooms for the night asking Itachi to keep an eye on Sakura and let them know if anything else happened.
Sasuke and Shisui were arguing when Itachi entered the room.
"She doesn't know what she wants, this is ridiculous, she hardly even knows him!" Sasuke was keeping his voice down but was clearly pissed.
"You're an idiot, and don't think I like this anymore than you do but did you see her? She is a wreck, she is clearly in love with him, there is nothing we can do but be here for her." Shisui was leaning back, head resting on the back lip of the couch.
"It is an infatuation, she couldn't possibly love him." Sasuke insisted stubbornly.
"It is you who does not know her Sasuke." Itachi sat down beside Shisui on the couch and Shisui looked over at him sitting up.
"What the hell does that mean?" Sasuke glared at his brother.
"She cried, those weren't tears of fear or worry, they were tears of love. The sooner you can accept that the sooner you can help her." Itachi sighed.
He didn't like it either, he had told her he loved her and he had meant it.
"Love isn't always black and white Sasuke." Itachi told his younger brother.
"Doesn't it infuriate you? Aren't you mad Itachi? I know you love her just as much as we do." Sasuke didn't understand.
"It is because I love her, really love her, that I am going to try to help her, to be whatever she needs right now. She doesn't need a foolish, selfish, childish or jealous friend right now. She needs assurance that we will help if it is needed." Itachi said sternly to Sasuke.
Shisui sighed at his side, "So, it has come to that huh, fine." He ran his fingers through his hair.
"What the hell are you two talking about!" Sasuke did yell then, his frustration getting the better of him.
Shisui shook his head at the younger Uchiha in pity and Itachi just closed his eyes as if his head hurt and ignored him.
"We leave for Oto, this is not for my father, this is for our village, our home. Orochimaru has stolen something from us, from me. It looks like this and I want it back." Sasori handed out picture copies of the box they would be looking for.
"This is not a typical weapon and must be handled carefully. The box is bulletproof, fireproof and waterproof, however, you must still be careful not to damage it. Biological warfare, that is what lies inside that box, a global killer if released into the air. You will die, I will die, there will be no one left. Do you understand?" He looked at the two teams assembled.
"Yes Sir." They chorused.
"Good, we will work in these two small teams, it is infiltrate and collect, nothing else do you understand? This is a stealth and silent mission, he will be expecting us. I chose you, because you are the best. Don't let me down."
He turned to Baki."You understand what I told you?"
"I do Sir." Baki took the cell phone Sasori held out to him.
"Good. Follow through if you don't hear from me in two days." Sasori instructed him as he climbed into the truck that had pulled up alongside of them.
"Yes Sir." Baki said and watched them drive away, toward Oto. Baki looked down at the cell phone, a picture of a pink haired girl smiled back at him. A small smile curved the hard lips of the man who had known Sasori all his life.
"If your mother could see you now." The older man shook the smile from his face and turned back to Suna, "What are you standing around for! There is more to do before your night it over! Move! Move! Move!"
Itachi lay in his bed, eyes closed trying to sleep when he heard his door click open quietly.
"Itachi?" Sakura whispered softly from the side of his bed.
"Sakura, is everything okay?" He went to sit up but she stopped him with a small hand to his chest.
"Can I," She hesitated." Can I please lay with you for a few?"
Itachi paused, what should he say, she needed comfort, she had come to him, not Sasuke, not Shisui, she wanted someone who wouldn't take advantage of her. He sighed and pulled the covers back for her. She laid down next to him and he pulled the covers over them both.
Sakura curled into him, her arms around his neck hugging him, her face buried in the side of his neck. Itachi sighed again and wrapped his arms around her, smoothing her hair down from his nose.
"I'm sorry Itachi, I know this is wrong I just. I need you right now." Sakura whispered into the side of his neck.
"I understand Sakura." Itachi spoke softly over her head.
He did understand, but it still hurt.
"How did you, when did you...know you loved me?" She asked him.
"When you moved, when you left. When you were gone." He told her honestly.
"Like Sasori." She sniffed into his embrace.
"Like Sasori." he agreed but didn't completely agree.
"Sakura, are you sure what you feel for him is love?" He was hesitant to ask but he wanted to know, and he wanted her to be sure. If Sasori succeeded, and he thought he would, she would know, he was not the man she thought he was. He wondered if it would change her feelings for the man.
"I am worried about him, I miss him. I was devastated when he pushed me away." She told him.
"You have felt those things before, about Sasuke and now admit you were infatuated. Are you sure it is love that you feel for him?" Itachi was trying to be gentle, he didn't want to push her.
"I don't know." She said quietly.
Itachi sighed and hugged her close to him.
"I am sure." He said so quietly she might not have heard him, but she did.
"Itachi, I love you too, and Shisui and Sasuke, all of you." She kissed his neck.
"I don't know what I would do without any of you. It is confusing to me. It feels the same as what I feel for Sasori but, also." She trailed off.
"What I feel for you is not what I feel for my cousins or my other family members Sakura." Itachi told her.
"What if, can I, try something?" She looked up at him.
Itachi cocked his head to the side and looked down at her, "Try what?"
Sakura looked at him, watched his eyes search hers, pushed up from his chest with her hands and moved her mouth over his. Itachi tightened his hold on her and pressed her to his body. She moved against him, willing him, challenging him to react to her touch.
"Sakura, stop." Itachi broke their kiss and tried to move her back and off of him.
"I want to see if what I feel when Sasori touches me is normal or if...or if it is something else." Sakura told Itachi and pressed her mouth to his again.
Itachi groaned into her kiss. He had dreamed of this day for years, he had pictured her kissing him in his mind many times but never, never had it been like this.
"Sakura." He broke their kiss again, "This isn't fair to me, I don't deserve this."
Tears fell from her eyes.
"You're right. I'm sorry. Forgive me Itachi." She rested her head back down on his chest and sobbed.
"There is nothing to forgive, I understand." He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
"Sleep. I'll wake if anything happens, rest." and he held her to him, a pain in his heart, throbbing with every exhale from her lips over his chest.
"I'm sorry Itachi." Sasuke whispered again her tears slowing as she fell asleep in his arms.
"Rest Sakura. I have already forgiven you for anything you have done or could ever do when I decided I loved you." Itachi whispered into her hair.
"Always so good to me Tachi." She hummed and was asleep.
"Always, no matter who you are with." Itachi kissed her head, the pain in his heart piercing his soul.
Shisui stood outside his cousins room. His hand fell away from the knob, he turned and walked slowly back to his own room, laid down and tried very hard not to clench his teeth like his fists at his sides.
Sasori watched the terrain as they passed, dessert as far as the eye could see but he knew soon in the next few hours desert would turn to forest and then to brush and fields, rice paddies and smaller villages, Oto. Konoha lay in between Suna and Oto. Sakura.
He thought of her at the Uchiha compound and clenched his teeth, it couldn't be helped. He had known what he was getting into when he chose her. He had thought he was the one in control of the situation, pulling the strings from the shadows, putting Karin in the right place at the right time to do his bidding. He had arranged for her apartment to be the one under his. Their art class had been full but he had called in a favor and they had let her in. Yes, he thought he had masterminded their entire relationship, but he hadn't been prepared for the full force that was Sakura.
She was sincere. Her beauty was genuine, nothing fake, nothing forced, she was who she seemed to be and at the same time so much more. She was clever and witty, she made him laugh, smile, and desire. Desire to be something he had never been, a good person. With her, he was whole, he was alive. Without her, he was a killer, a criminal, an assassin. Sasori wasn't in control, she was, and he found that he didn't really mind.
Sasori laughed to himself. He was tired of that life, had been for some time. It had been what he had wanted, he thought, to be alone, to be feared, but he realized, no, no more, he wanted out. She was worth it. He had planned on waiting until they reached Oto but that would be foolish. It had been his pride that had gotten in the way, but when it came to her, he had no pride. It was time, to prove his words to her. What had she told him once, actions speak louder than words. Well okay, here goes. He pulled the phone from his pocket and called Baki whom he had given his cell to.
"Call them. Make the offer." Sasori told the older man and hung up.