A/N: I'm updating because of all the reviews! YAY 54! I love you guys. So here is the next chapter sorry if its just rushed. My cousin is up and I want to spend time with her she lives hundreds of miles away. Everyone .. I'm not social. Soooo I thrive off her company once a year and reviews .; Man I need a hobby … WAIT I have one. Its writing .;;;;

"Get up" Hands roughly pulled Sakura from the hard chipped floor. Dry blood was flaking from the walls.

She shivered staring at it. Was it hers? Or another unfortunate guests? Her hands were stained with her own blood. As well as her lower lip where she latched her teeth down to keep from crying out in pain. Itachi was inhuman her screams would only bring his fury down harder upon her.

"I'm up" she hissed flailing against the warm almost gentle hands upon her upper arms that pulled to her to feet.

White hot searing pain shot through her. Wounds opened and bruises lit upon fire. She mewled softly.

'I can't do this'

'Shut up I'll do it then' Inner Sakura growled unhappily.

'…'

Sakura threw herself against the wall her eyes darkening. Her lips twitched as she kicked away from the helping hands. Pain seared and ripped through her. Though her limbs prickled painfully and she couldn't feel them move she knew they were moving as she paced around the figure trying to free herself of the room. When she got free they would pay. They would all pay!

Itachi's silhouette loomed in the doorway. He chuckled softly and stepped towards her once more. "Spirited thing aren't you"

"Demon" she hissed gathering her wits and backing into the wall.

"Where did the almost friendly conversation go?" He growled snatching the collar of her shirt. He brought her face next to his. His breath gently brushing over her face.

"Burn in… h.h.." Sakura had fallen unconscious her head falling to his shoulder.

She'd awoken with those same words on the tip of her tounge. Obviously inner Sakura was quite attached to them. "BURN IN HELL ITACHI!" she screamed throwing her head back.

"Good morning to you as well" he answered calm as ever.

Sakura attempted to clench her hand into a fist. But found her hand unmoving. She tested out her arms also finding them unmoving.

"I used a Jutsu to keep you from thrashing in your sleep" he answered ignoring the girls questioning face. "I couldn't have you flinging your limbs in my face while I'm trying to care for you now could I?" He chuckled brushing her hair away from her face.

"Fuck you! What do you want from me!" She struggled to move her hands. The chakra inside of her was building up but had no where to go. For a moment the pink haired teen wondered if she would explode.

"Answers" he said leaning over her.

The temperature in the room was unbearable. Even with the searing heat from her wounds it was freezing. Rolling his eyes at her fragile feminine form. Itachi pulled his cloak off and draped it over her. "I'm just asking for your cooperation"

"What do you want?" She growled. Indeed Sakura was dealing with the devil. No one got away free. There was always some underhanded movement that you never caught onto until it was too late.

"I heard rumors…" He trailed off to think back to exactly what he'd heard.

Flashback!

'That's right! I know what I know' An old man grumbled loudly as he gossiped in the middle of the town.

'And what do you know?' Muttered what was possibly his wife swatting him behind the head and calling him senile.

'The pink haired child tames demons!' he cried shaking his hands. 'It all makes sense. The one that was beginning to look like a snake, the fox demon, and finally that fierce sand demon from suna'

Itachi stood to one side with his hat pulled down listening. The demon from Suna must have been Gaara, his brother was the snake, and the fox was none other than the infamous Naruto Uzimaki. If he had the girls powers over these demons then he could harvest them for himself. No one would be able to stop him.

End flashback

"You tame demons do you not?" He quirked an eyebrow at her still giving her a dark glare.

"No! I'm just a leaf nin. I can't subdue a demon let alone tame one!" she shivered slightly.

"You lie. I saw you and the sand nin" He leaned against the door frame.

"Sand nin?" She looked at him clearly confused. Slowly the pieces of the missing puzzle fell into place for Itachi. She didn't know. She was completely clueless. It was she herself and not a jutsu that 'tamed' the demons.

It was in the way she smiled. In the way she lost her faith and began to cry. The way she argued with herself mentally. And the way she had refused to give up even though she'd been torn away from everything she'd known.

"You will have your freedom… But I require your assistance" He smirked down at her.

The blood had drained from the pink haired girls face. She was helpless. Would she die to help everyone? Did they deserve it because they would have done that to her? Would they sacrifice her to a monster such as Itachi if it meant they would all live?

Sakura let out a small snarl. "I decline your generous offer Itachi.. I'm not like them" She turned her head swiftly to one side and stared off the edge of the bed biting her tongue.

"Name your price" he answered narrowing his eyes at the insolent teenager.

"Death" The words slid off her tongue smooth as silk and ringing in his ears softly.

And so it was. That night a partnership of sorts was formed. A partnership merely based on the thought of living. Everything to prove their existence. The death that stained Itachi's hands changed from a way to pass time into proof that he was living. That he was really here.

And the bitter words that escaped her lips every time she had a chance to run. Were merely a way of life.

"Itachi?" She dropped the formality not seeing him as a superior nor a friend.

"Hn?" Of course the normal response from most males.

"I'm afraid to die" She answered. "But I wouldn't mind dying for a cause. I'm just not sure what's after it" She murmured ducking her head to blush.

"Nothing" He answered coldly.

"You just accept that?" Sakura demanded raising her head sharply to gaze at him.

"Don't get killed" He answered simply turning swiftly around another maze-like corner of the Akatsuki hideout.

"I didn't plan on it bastard" she said flipping her hair over her shoulder.

The routine was always the same. Every other day. Switch to a different hideout. Kill, kill, kill. The blood made her nauseous. She stood back watching the men as they carried out the tasks. Itachi had taken her leaf head guard from her. He said she was free and didn't need the likes of a village such as Kohona holding her back.

They tried to make her one of their own. Offering to turn her into a killer. She would be accepted among the many Akatsuki members. The stories they told made her laugh. Ahh the adventures they had. Even if they were killers. It was something about them that baffled her. Almost as though they were like the people of Kohona. Doing was it took to survive. But they didn't have something foolish as pride and morals to stop them from surviving. They'd find one way or another to survive.

Itachi chuckled watching as Sakura tagged along behind Kisame telling him he reeked and such. She told him perhaps he should think of being a vegetarian if he was going to smell like fish just because he ate them.

Soon enough, he was sure if he pressed her into the gang. She'd slowly mold into them. The power of Shukaku and Kyuubi would he his. A small smirk flittered over his features. The possibilities. Maybe even immortality.

What would become of the girl? Well he'd keep her of course. Much like a pet. Maybe even at his side. Her techniques were widely known to be powerful and very concentrated.

Flashback

"Naruto?" Sakura sat in front of her friend with her head on her knees.

"Heh?" He looked over at her his nose twitching in a fox like way.

"Thanks" she murmured shrugging her shoulders and looking into the distance.

"Hey Sakura?" Naruto looked at her from where his head was propped up on his hands casually.

"Yeah?" The pink haired teenager asked curiously.

"Were going to stay best friends forever right?" He asked innocently.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She could always count on Naruto. Though he acted slow and a bit out of it at times he was there for her when the wrong cards were dealt.

"Yeah.. Best friends" was the response she threw over her shoulder at him.

She felt as though she'd won her fight against Ino even if they'd tied. Her hair was short and her temper even shorter. Sakura had grown. From a girl, Naruto's crush. To a woman curvy and hard to control. She was powerful and self tamed.

She hugged him and with a mysterious smile vanished into the forest her home away from home. She knew each foothold and hiding place. In the dark the only thing slowing her was the condition. Fresh dew was on the branches of the trees. Causing her to slip and few times and barely catch herself before barreling onto the next branch.

"Best friends" the word was foreign on her tongue

----------End flash back------------

Sakura clenched her hands into fists.

"Because Naruto cared" she growled under her breathe tossing her hair out of her eyes and tying another knot into a leather thong.

"Because Itachi isn't my best friend" she said trying to remind herself of what was real outside of the lies Itachi wove intricately around her. Sometimes she found herself believing that she could belong in the Akatsuki. That somehow, she would be needed and wanted.

She slammed her fist into the mattress that was provided for her. Desperate tears clung to her eyelashes. Somehow in the time before she went to Suna she began to feel more and more like herself. Perhaps a pet had really helped.

'Don't cry little Sakura' Whispered a rather harsh voice within the depths of her mind.

The hairs on her neck began to stand on end. Sakura desperately tried to grasp a reasonable concept. She didn't hear a voice in her head! She wasn't that insane!

'I'll protect you' This time the voice sounded almost malicious.

"How?" She asked aloud. Her cheeks tinting an interesting shade of red.

'I'll destroy that man for starters' The voice was painted with a sort of blood lust.

"Who are you?" the pink haired girl pushed her bangs out of her eyes.

'Did Itachi hurt you?'

"N..Not at all" she answered a bit too quickly.

'You need to escape and make it outside the walls.'

"How?"

'Run as fast as you can of course' The voice sounded almost smug.

"Great I'm taking advice from the voice in my head" she muttered slowly peering out the door that connected her room to the vast corridor outside of it.

Then she fled. With chakra at a desperate low she ran without it. Her heart pulsing painfully hard in her chest. The voice said no more, much to her thanks.

Itachi was at the gates. His ebony hair clashing painfully against his pale face. He inhaled softly and drew a kunai. "I've been expecting you to come this way for some time" a bloodlust tainted chuckle filled the outer ridges of the wall. He stood in-between her and freedom.

"Itachi-sama I have a duty" she said wheezing painfully.

"Your duty is to me!" He snarled almost desperately.

"Your confused and insane!" she cried wringing her hands nervously.

A/N: I was really tired and I really think I totally bombed on this chapter. I may delete the second half and rewrite it. I'm not quite sure what to put down yet. It was really late when I finally got it up. But still… Its up. Oo; My cousin is visiting so it might be a long while until I get to post again. Sorry all. BUT I will get around to it. Feel free to leave me a message . Hoshi