'thoughts'

"talking"

'inner Ryuu talking'

∞Flashback∞

Never before had neither of them felt happier and more content than at that moment.

"I love you Itachi, now and forever." Sakura whispered in his ear.

"And I you." Itachi said into her hair, before they sealed it with another kiss.

∞End of flashback∞

Itachi and Sakura were lying in bed exchanging kisses as things were heating up. Their clothes lied forgotten in a heap on the floor, leaving them in only their underwear. Their hands were roaming all over each other, touching and exploring. When they broke apart from one of their passionate kisses Itachi looked up at the woman lying on top of him. Her lips were swollen from all his passionate and feverish kisses, her hair was damp and clung to her face and her mesmerizing green eyes were glossy. Kami how he loved this woman.

He flipped them over so that he was on top. He started placing more love bites on her neck and collarbone, making her moan in pleasure. It drove him crazy.

'I want to make her mine and mine alone, I need her.' He thought possessively as he moved his face to hers, looking her in the eyes.

"Do you want this?" He asked.

"I've never wanted anything else more than to be yours." She said without hesitation. Itachi's answer was to lower his mouth to her shoulder and was just about to sink is canines into her tender skin and forever mark her as his when suddenly the mating mark Sasuke had placed on her started glowing an electric blue. Sakura could feel pain spread from the mark. It felt like she was electrocuted and the pierced by thousands of needles and the pain was getting worse every passing second.

'What's happening?' She thought in panic. It took every ounce of her self control not to scream as the pain was becoming unbearable. She bit her lip, drawing blood, trying to prevent herself from screaming. She could feel Ryuu trying to help lessen the pain, but the pain was still terrible.

∞Itachi∞

Itachi immediately pulled away from Sakura's shoulder when he saw the blue light from the mark engulf Sakura's body. Sakura had closed her eyes because of the sudden pain. He didn't know what to do in order to lessen the pain when he didn't know what was causing it.

'I have to do something! I can't just sit here and watch her suffer!' He thought angrily. He took her shaking body into his arms and hugged her close.

He didn't care that her nails dug into his arms and drew blood, he just wanted her pain to stop. Her breaths came out short and quick as her lungs desperately tried to get more oxygen.

∞Sakura∞

Sakura could feel herself be lifted into a pair of strong arms. The scent of cinnamon and pine trees filled her nostrils and she immediately knew it was Itachi. As Itachi held her she felt the pain slowly, but surely, start to lessen.

'So the theory is true; the mark does react to Itachi also.' Sakura thought tiredly, the pain had taken quite a toll on her. Sakura opened her eyes a little and looked at Itachi and managed to give him a weak and tired smile.

∞Normal POV∞

Itachi ran a hand through her damp hair as she closed her eyes again and leaned her head against his chest.

"Arigato." She managed to choke out, all but in a small whisper, before she fell asleep. Itachi held her a little while longer before he placed her down on the bed and lied down beside her, pulling the covers over them both. He then pulled her so that she had her head against his chest, his arms around her small frame, 'Never again do I want to see her in such pain.' He thought before closing his eyes and breathing in her intoxicating scent before drifting off into a light sleep.

∞The next day∞

The following morning Sakura woke up with a killer head ace. She concentrated some chakra to her head and seconds later the pain was almost gone.

'W-what happened?' she wondered. Flashes of last night entered her mind.

'How are you feeling?' Ryuu asked.

'I've been better.' Sakura told him. 'How long was I out?'

'About 11 hours.' Ryuu informed. Sakura nodded.

'What exactly happened last night?' She asked.

'It seems Sasuke is determined to keep you.' Ryuu stated.

'What do you mean?' Sakura asked a little confused.

'He has somehow changed the mating seal, it looks like an ordinary mating mark but when someone tries to make a claim on you , the seal will react and prevent it by letting a great amount of pain go through your body.'

'So the only option left now in order to get rid of this mark is to kill Sasuke.' Sakura more stated than asked.

'So it seems.' Ryuu said. Sakura nodded.

'Arigato Ryuu.' Sakura said before she opened her eyes slowly.

She let them focus for a while. It was quite bright outside Sakura guessed it was about 11 am. She raised her head slightly and came face to face with Itachi's sleeping one. Sakura smiled warmly at him before kissing him softly on the lips. Itachi's eyes flew open and fixated on the beautiful woman smiling at him.

His gaze softened.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. Sakura lowered her head so that it rested on his chest.

"My head hurts a little and I'm a little sore but otherwise I'm ok, Ryuu healed the worst wounds during the night." Sakura said. Itachi nodded as he lightly ran his hand up and down her arm while the other held her close.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked after a while. Sakura was quiet for a while, choosing her words.

"Sasuke has done something to the mark so that when someone tries to mark me the mark will react and prevent it by letting pain surge through my body." She said quietly. She felt Itachi's hand stop and curl into a fist. She raised her head and saw Itachi glare up at the sealing. Sakura raised a hand, ignoring the slight pain that surged through her arm as she did so, and placed it on his cheek, turning his head towards her.

"I know you're angry, this angers me just as much, but we'll get through this." She said, while caressing his cheek lovingly. She saw the anger in his eyes slowly disappear and felt him lean more into her touch as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"How do you do that?" He asked eyes still closed.

"Do what?" Sakura asked.

"How do you always know what to say or to do to make my anger disappear?"

Sakura smiled before she leaned over him, her lips slightly brushing his as she whispered:

"It's a gift." Before she kissed him. Itachi smirked against her lips before he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. When they broke apart Itachi leaned his forehead against hers and gazing into her eyes.

"Ita-kun? What are we going to tell the others?" Sakura asked after a while.

Itachi raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Ita-kun?"

"My new nickname for you." Sakura explained, twirling a loose strand of his hair between her fingers. Itachi seemed to be mulling the name over before he rolled them over so that he was towering over her.

"You may call me that, but only when it's only the two of us, blossom." He said nibbling her earlobe before he started nuzzling her neck, making Sakura let out a giggle.

'She's so happy, the happiest I've seen her in weeks, months maybe even years.' Ryuu mused to himself. Then he smiled.

'It's good to see her so alive again, the Uchiha really makes her happy.'

Itachi rested his head in the crook of her neck, closing his eyes.

"Ita-kun? You still haven't answered my question." Sakura said as she ran her hands through his hair, having removed the ribbon that held it tied.

"Hn?" Sakura felt the urge to roll her eyes at his short answer.

"What are we going to tell the others?"

Itachi remained quiet, thinking what the best thing to do would be.

"If as suspected have a spy here in Akatsuki it may be best if we keep our relationship a secret. At least until the spy has been found and eliminated."

Sakura nodded.

She carefully started to massage his scalp and was surprised when Itachi let out something that sounded like… purring? Sakura smiled at this.

'Itachi Uchiha the feared S-class criminal purring.' She mused.

After a while when she stopped her lips were immediately covered by his.

"We should get up now Itachi." Sakura said when they broke apart and tried to get out from under him, but he just tightened his hold on her.

"Not yet." He said giving her a toe curling kiss. Sakura melted into his kiss and placed her arms around her neck while thinking:

'Maybe we'll stay in bed just a little longer…'

After a while they got dressed. Sakura put on her pearl white kimono with gold coloured roses and dark green leaves and a matching green obi. She put her hair up with a golden ribbon. Itachi dressed in his usual clothing; black sweat pants and black tunic.

"Ok remember: nothing has happened between us." Sakura said as they were about to leave the room. Itachi's response was to pull her into a passionate kiss.

"Love you." He whispered against her lips. Sakura smiled slightly.

"Love you too." She whispered back before they left through the door.

As they were nearing the kitchen they heard familiar voices.

"WHAT WAS THAT GOOD FOR, YEAH?!"

'Deidara.'

"NO ONE CALLS ME FISH-FACE AND GET'S AWAY WITH IT!!"

"Kisame." Sakura thought. When they stepped into the kitchen they saw Sasori and Yuki (A/N: I think I've forgotten to tell you how she looks ;P anyway she has snow white hair and cerulean eyes) by the table, drinking tea peacefully while Deidara and Kisame stood in the middle of the room glaring at each other. Deidara also had a rather big bump on his head while Kisame had his fist as if he had just hit someone… which he had…

They all turned towards them when they entered.

"Ohayo everyone." Sakura said with a smile.

"Well it's about time! We thought you two had died in there, yeah!!" Deidara exclaimed, his fight with Kisame completely forgotten. Sakura glanced at the clock. It read one pm.

"Gomene to have you worry." She said, walking over to Deidara and healing his bump.

"Oh arigato, un." Sakura smiled in return and walked over to the fridge and started making a sandwich and some tea before sitting down beside Kisame by the table. Kisame and Deidara had both now gone back to eating their (more like dinner) breakfast.

"So what're you all going to do today?" Sakura asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Well I have a delivery mission in Thunder." Kisame said.

"I'm gonna repair my dolls and train." Sasori said sipping his tea.

"Mission." Yuki informed shortly.

"Mission in Thunder." Itachi said. Sakura nodded and turned to Deidara.

"And you Deidara?"

"Just hang around." He replied in a bored manner.

"Would you wanna come with me to the nearest town? I could use some new training clothes." Sakura wondered.

"Sure un!" Deidara said smiling cheekily.

"Great! When do you wanna leave?" Sakura asked.

"We could leave right after breakfast." Deidara suggested.

"Ok, I'll go get some money, can we meet by the exit?" She asked getting up, having finished her breakfast. Deidara nodded, his mouth full of food.

Sakura smiled and left.

∞An hour later∞

Sakura and Deidara stopped a couple of miles away from the town.

"We had better disguise ourselves." Sakura suggested. Deidara nodded and they did the necessary seals and a cloud of smoke covered them. When the smoke cleared Sakura had dark brown hair and brown red eyes, still wearing the same kimono and ribbon. Deidara now had dark blue hair and dark purple eyes; he was also still wearing the same clothes; black sweat pants and a fishnet shirt with a black tunic on top. Deidara looked at Sakura and smiled mischievously.

"Ready for some acting?" He asked, leaving the un and yeahs.

"Oh yeah." Sakura said taking Deidara's outstretched hand and walking towards the town.

When they arrived at the village gates they were, as expected, stopped by two guards.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" One of the guards asked. He had light green hair and dark green eyes. The other one had blond hair and black eyes. Both were obviously ninjas because of the Water country hitae-atae's (sp?) (headbands) they wore.

"My name is Kyu Mashimoto and this is my beautiful wife Anzu Mashimoto." He said smiling at Sakura who laughed in response. They had decided to go with the 'newly weds' act.

"We are here for some shopping." 'Anzu' said. The guards exchanged looks before looking back at the 'couple'.

"You may pass." The second guard said. 'Kyu' and 'Anzu' thanked the guards before they entered the village hand in hand.

'They really have bad security. No ID or anything is needed in order to get through the gates.' Sakura thought as she was walking down the road of the small village.

'But then again they are a pretty small village so they don't really have a need for high security.'

"So whereto do you wanna go first love?" Deidara asked, pulling her out of her musing. Sakura looked around and stopped at a small shop.

"How about that one dear?" She asked pointing in the shops direction. Deidara nodded and started walking towards it. When they entered Sakura immediately started looking for comfortable, but still stylish, clothes. When she had some outfits she went to the dressing rooms to try them on.

The first outfit was:

A beige skirt that came a little higher than to the middle of her thigh with slits on both sides, a pair of black tight shorts, a chocolate brow shirt with sleeves that reached her elbows and a pair of combat boots.

"Are you decent?" Deidara asked.

"Hai." Sakura said. Deidara pulled the curtain aside and looked at the outfit and whistled.

"Nice, you should definitely take this one.

"I think so too." Sakura said before she closed the curtain again to try on the other outfit. The second outfit was:

A tight, turtle neck, sleeveless, forest green top, a pair of baggy capris and a pair of ninja sandals.

Once again she showed the outfit to Deidara.

"I really like this one." Sakura said looking at the outfit in the mirror.

"It suits you really well. Was that the last one?" Deidara asked.

"Hai, it was." Sakura answered.

"Ok, I gotta go to the weapons store afterwards if it's ok?" Deidara said.

"Ok."

Sakura got dressed into her kimono and picked some other thing's before she paid with the money she had received from her last mission. They then went to the weapons store where Deidara bought some new exploding clay while Sakura bought some new shuriken, kunai and exploding tags.

They went to grab a bite to eat before they left towards the HQ.

"Want to train with me later today?" Sakura asked when they arrived back.

"Sure, I just have to go to Leader first, he has some mission for me and Sasori, un." Deidara said as they walked down the halls. Sakura nodded.

"I'll go change first but you can come to the training grounds when your ready."

"Ok later, un." Deidara said before going into his room.

Sakura went to Itachi's and her room and quickly changed into her beige skirt outfit before going outside where she found Zetsu and Koichi training. She sat down by the side lines and watched them. A couple of minutes later they stopped and Zetsu came over to her while Koichi just went inside.

"Ohayo Zetsu." Sakura greeted with a smile when Zetsu reached her.

"Ohayo."

"Have you been home for long?" Sakura asked.

"Just a couple of hours." Zetsu said sitting down beside her. Sakura nodded.

"How'd your mission go?"

"We received some unexpected company but it was easily dealt with."

"Have the others briefed you in on the current situation?" Sakura asked looking at the horizon.

"Hai they have." Zetsu said. Just then Deidara came.

"How'd it go?" Sakura asked.

"Just fine. I now have a mission tomorrow evening in Cloud with Sasori, un."

"When do you leave?" Sakura asked.

"We leave early and return in late in the evening, un." Deidara said. Sakura nodded.

"Shall we start?" Sakura asked getting up.

"Hai, un." Deidara said going to one end of the training grounds while Sakura stayed at the other end while Zetsu just remained sitting by the sidelines.

"Ok one can use any taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu they want." Sakura said. Deidara nodded and they both got into fighting stances.

Sakura didn't wait for Deidara to attack, instead she tapped her heal on the ground and a crack formed that raced towards Deidara at a fast pace who narrowly avoided it by jumping up into a tree where he made two clay birds and sent them towards Sakura but she hit them with two shuriken halfway which made them explode. When the smoke cleared Sakura looked up into the tree and noticed that Deidara was gone. She looked around trying to find him but he wasn't anywhere in sight.

'Where is he?' She thought. Suddenly she was imprisoned in a sand bubble.

'Sabaku Rō (Desert prison)'

Sakura could see through a small hole Deidara appear in front of the bubble.

"I didn't know you knew sand jutsus." Sakura said smirking. Deidara smirked back.

"Sasori-danna taught me some."

"Clever, but not clever enough." Sakura said before she started making some seals.

'Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique).'

As the fireball hit the sand it turned into glass. Shattered glass now lied around her as she was 'free' once again. She did some seals and whines shot out and wrapped themselves around his arms and legs to prevent him from moving. She then did a new set of hand seals and a enormous wave rose from the ocean and came towards them.

'Shit!' Deidara thought as he tried to free himself. Zetsu and Sakura jumped into the trees for shelter. Deidara managed to free himself but was still hit by the wave. When the wave withdrew back to the ocean Deidara was sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath as he occasionally coughed up water. Sakura jumped to his side and healed his wounds.

"You were good." Sakura said.

"Arigato." Deidara breathed out. Sakura smiled. When she had healed Deidara he, Zetsu and Sakura went inside for some dinner. When they had eaten they all withdrew to their rooms.

As Sakura was walking towards her and Itachi's room she started thinking about dinner.

'Koichi was behaving strangely. It isn't new that he lusts for me but today it was different.' Sakura shivered as she recalled his intense, lust-filled gazes.

She pushed her thoughts aside when she entered the room. She heard the water running in the bathroom.

'Itachi's apparently home.' She thought as she changed into the night gown she had bought in the small store, she always got so warm when she wore her sleeping yukatas. It was a forest green spaghetti strap gown that came to the middle of her thigh. She walked over to the window and looked out at the stars while leaning against the windowsill. Suddenly she felt Itachi embrace her from behind.

"You look beautiful." He mumbled against her hair. Sakura smiled and turned around and kissed him.

"Arigato." They just stood there for a while in each others embrace before they went to bed, Sakura in Itachi's embrace.

"I missed you." Itachi said eyes closed. Sakura smiled.

"I missed you too." She said sleepily before falling asleep.

A/N: Chapter 12 is up! I'm so sorry guys for not updating sooner but I just haven't had much time to do so. This chappie contains much fluffiness and it doesn't happen much but I promise that the next chappie much will happen ;D

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