Darkness Within

-Dreamscape-

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, wish I did, but alas, I can only borrow them and play with them, then share my make-believe with you.

Important Note: The rating has been upped to mature people, so please know that this chapter deals with mature subject matter. It's a lime, although it's mostly implied, but please, don't read it if you find it offensive or scarring. Thank-you.

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! Replies are in your in-boxes! Enjoy the chapter.

Sakura woke to something soft pressing against her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she was confronted with a pair of red eyes. Itachi. He stared at her for a moment, and then he leaned in and kissed her again. His lips where warm and soft, yet dominating. Sakura felt herself leaning into his kiss. She knew she should stop, it was wrong, he was the enemy, but that voice was suddenly so small, and she didn't care. The only thing that mattered were Itachi's lips and the way they were caressing her own.

Sakura came to with a start, her breathing slightly rapid and a slight blush covering her features. She stared at the darkness rushing past her trying to cool her cheeks. Wait…darkness? Sakura had the distinct sense that she was moving…and there was something solid and slightly boney beneath her. Itachi. She was slung over Itachi's shoulder. Well, it was a better position than she had been in in her dream.

I'd take the dream over this any day, I think I'm going to be sick, at least it's dark so I can't see everything rushing past.

Shit. Her other half was still there, still muttering away in her head. Sakura had hoped that after almost killing Itachi her other half would just disappear. Well, at least the muttering was better than the calculated coldness, Sakura supposed that she could put up with her other half liking Itachi, it was that or let her other half out, not something she was going to be doing anytime soon. Groaning, Sakura closed her eyes and succumbed to her dreamscape again, though, thankfully her next dream was only about Naruto trying to force feed her ramen.

Sasuke rushed though the forest, he had picked up on the trail of the team that was tracking Sakura, and therefore Itachi, and now he was following them. He would pass them sooner or later, but he would let them do the work for a while. Sasuke still seethed with rage at being thwarted in his revenge, but a part of him couldn't completely hate Sakura. She had just been doing her job, he could forgive her, he would have to because every time he closed his eyes he saw her face surrounded by a pink halo of hair, her green eyes half lidded and her silky voice calling his name.

It was a torment to know that Itachi had her, Sasuke just hoped that Itachi didn't do anything to Sakura. But Sakura was strong now, she wouldn't let Itachi do anything, after all, hadn't she waited all this time for him to return? No, she would fight Itachi, and Sasuke doubted that his brother would do anything anyway, she was just bait for Naruto. No, Sakura would be his and his alone. A cruel smile found its way unknowingly onto Sasuke's face as he ran through the trees, his thoughts on Sakura.

Naruto glared at Kiba before exploding.

"What the hell do you mean Akamaru can't find Sakura's scent anymore?!" Akamaru wined and Kiba huffed.

"What the hell man, its like I told you, Akamaru can tell that Sakura's been in that house over there, and by the strength I'd saw recently and for a while, but after that there's nothing." Shikamaru sighed.

"So troublesome. They must be traveling to fast to leave a scent, which means that they wanted us to find them, che, I knew this was too easy, now the question is, why did they suddenly pick up the pace?" Naruto looked wildly at Shikamaru.

"They didn't do anything to Sakura-chan did they?" Shikamaru shrugged, his cool appearance not betraying his worried thoughts.

"Well, they are Akatsuki, but I doubt they did anything too damaging, she's the bait for you after all." Naruto nodded slowly.

"All right, then let's go check out that house." Shikamaru frowned, studying the house, he could think of several nasty things that the Akatsuki could have left them but decided against voicing his thoughts, instead he turned to Hinata.

"Hinata, is anyone inside?" The young woman activated her Byakugan and stared at the large house for a few minutes before her eyes returned to normal.

"No, it's empty and I can't see any traps, so either they didn't leave any or they're too well hidden."

Shikamaru nodded and sighed to himself, this really was a troublesome mission, but he wasn't about to turn back, he was friends with Sakura, and he would do whatever it took to get her back so long as it was what the Hokage wanted.

"Right, alright, let's go, Naruto, make a few shadow clones and send them in first, at least that way if there are any traps nobody will die." Naruto gave a curt nod and created two shadow clones, both of them shot up to the house and smashed through he door. Shikamaru grimaced.

"Che, so stupid, it was probably open too." Naruto shrugged, obviously not caring. After a while there was the faint sound of the clones disappearing and Naruto looked over to Shikamaru.

"There's nothing in there." Shikamaru nodded.

"Alright, let's go check it out." Naruto's mouth dropped.

"What!? But I already told you that there's nothing in there, we should be trying to find Sakura not see how the Akatsuki keep house!" Shikamaru sighed to himself and winced at Naruto's loud voice.

"So troublesome, geez. We're going to try and find clues as to where they might have taken Sakura stupid. How can we find her unless we have some clue as to where to track her to?" Naruto crossed his arms and somehow managed to look like a pouting child, Shikamaru sighed before Naruto finally relented.

"Fine, but let's make this quick, we have to find Sakura-chan soon." Shikamaru nodded before he motioned everyone else forward except for Jiro.

"Jiro, I need you to send a summon to the Hokage again, tell her about the house, its location and then about loosing Sakura's trail. Tell her we'll try to pick up the trail as soon as possible." Jiro nodded and Shikamaru took off.

Sighing to himself Jiro summoned two birds, sending the first off to Konoha, and the second her reluctantly sent to Orochimaru. His master wasn't going to be pleased that their progress had slowed, but if Jiro withheld information it would be even worse. Then he got up and headed into the house after all the others, hoping that no other Akatsuki members just happened to drop by and see that their home had been invaded.
Itachi frowned at himself, there was something wrong with him, he couldn't stop thinking about the pink haired kunoichi that was slung across his shoulder. She had been awake for a few minutes at one point and then she had gone back to sleep, she hadn't even protested him carrying her, which only meant that she had really drained herself.

Although, in a way that was a good thing because now Itachi didn't have to worry about her escaping once they got to their destination. They were heading to a small village near the mountains in the Country of Snow, normally Itachi wouldn't have stopped unless it was a place used by the Akatsuki, but he felt a need to scare someone, and helpless inn owners seemed to fit the bill.

When they entered the small inn Itachi saw Kisame grin at the instant fear that clouded the room when people saw their cloaks. Itachi shifted Sakura on his shoulder and moved towards the counter that one of the employees was standing beside.

"Three rooms." The young woman that stood behind the counter gulped, and, with her whole being shaking, stood up straight.

"I-I'm sorry s-sir, but w-we're f-full u-up." Kisame's grin grew and Itachi nodded to him. Suddenly Samehada was at the woman's throat and Kisame was chuckling softly.

Itachi spoke again.

"Three rooms, side by side." The woman cast fearful eyes in Kisame's direction and nodded slightly.

"A-as you w-wish." She quickly produced three keys, her hand shook and she gave all three to Itachi. Itachi smirked at the paleness of the woman's face, sometimes scaring people could be so easy. Itachi nodded again to Kisame and threw his partner one of the keys, then, taking both Sakura and the remaining two keys Itachi headed for the stairs. Kisame, he knew, would head out to find a bar and then probably drink them out of Sake. It was a good thing nobody asked the Akatsuki to pay for fear of their lives, because otherwise Kisame would have been broke long ago.

Itachi unlocked one of the rooms and carefully laid Sakura onto the bed. She moaned when he removed the Akatsuki cloak and the cool air hit her, causing her to shiver. Itachi couldn't stop himself from running a nail down her bare arm and watching her shiver and let out a small gasp in her sleep, her lips parting slightly. Her lips captivated him, they were full and looked alluringly soft. Itachi wrenched himself up fro his slightly bent position over her. What was wrong with him? He couldn't get her out of his thoughts, he was becoming weak and it was all because of a stupid kunoichi. Itachi quickly left her room, deciding to go to his and sleep, maybe he could escape her in his dreams.

Akamaru barked and Kiba called to the others.

"Hey, Akamaru say's Sakura's scent is strongest in this room, this must be where they kept her." Hinata followed the others into the room, and she was glad when it turned out to be just a small bedroom and not some kind of prison cell. They looked around in the room for a while but none of them found anything that would help to lead them to Sakura, eventually they all filtered out around the house, looking for something that would lead them to Sakura. Hinata wandered the hallways, feeling helpless, hoping that Sakura was alright and then feeling angry at herself for not being strong enough to help Sakura.

The light glinted off of something on the floor and Hinata sighed, her vision filled with spots. Perfect, just what she needed, something to slow down her hopeless search. But Hinata was curious to know what the sun had reflected off of, bending down Hinata saw it. It was a thin wire, it looked harmless enough but Hinata had seen Sakura use it before and she knew that it could be deadly. In fact, Hinata had been the one who had helped Sakura hide it in the hem of her ANBU shirt, Sakura couldn't sew and Hinata could, so Hinata had agreed to help her, always wondering why Sakura would want to put a wire in her shirt. Now she knew. The wire was there to help her is she was ever caught. Hinata carefully picked up the wire, staring it at it and what it implied.

Sakura had tried to escape, but it obviously hadn't worked because she never would have left her only weapon behind. Hinata looked up and saw the door not two feet away. Tears pricked her eyes. Sakura had been so close. A hand on her shoulder caused Hinata to jump a little, she turned to stare at the person attached to the hand and saw Naruto.

"Oy, Hinata, what's that?" Hinata sniffed a little, her sorrow for Sakura turning into a burning hatred for the Akatsuki bastards that had taken her best friend.

"It's Sakura's." Naruto looked puzzled and leaned in closer to see what it was.

"Um, Hinata, that's a piece of string." Shikamaru appeared and looked at the wire Hinata was holding, hitting Naruto on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Baka, that's not a piece of string, it's a wire, how do you know its Sakura's Hinata, they would have taken away her weapons."

Hinata glared at Shikamaru, and he stepped back a few steps.

"It's hers, I know it is because I helped her hide it in her shirt, it was in case she was ever captured, she also had small blades on her boots." Shikamaru looked at the wire then to the door, letting out a slow sigh.

"Damn, she was close too." Naruto looked puzzled.

"You mean Sakura-chan escaped!?" He sounded so happy it broke Hinata's heart to tell him otherwise.

"No Naruto-kun, she didn't. She almost did but if she had she wouldn't have dropped her weapon, someone stopped her before she could make it." Naruto stubbornly shook his head.

"No, maybe she left it there so that Akamaru could smell it and pick up her scent, and then we'd know that she was heading back to Konoha."

Kiba came up and leaned against the wall.

"No, Sakura knows that Akamaru can't get a scent off of something that small, sorry Naruto, but it looks like the Akatsuki still have her." Naruto sat heavily on the floor, banging his fist on the wall.

"Damn it! This is all my fault!" Shino walked up quietly, he was the only one that had kept his ANBU mask on while in the house but now he took it off.

"No, it was Sasuke's fault for not following orders in the first place, but don't worry, she's strong, she'll be fine. Let's go, there must be someone that saw which way they went." Shikamaru sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, it'll take forever but it's the only thing we can do, we'll have to stop at all the villages and talk to all the people we see on the road. Che, so troublesome. Let's go then."

Itachi woke up, growling to himself. Damn her. She had even followed hi into his dreams, she was always at the edge of his vision and he had never been able to catch her. Why was this happening to him? What jutsu had she performed to make her the sole thing in his thoughts. He had to find a way to break her hold on him. She was making him weak, he couldn't be weak, he had to be powerful, and she was dragging him down. It had to be stopped, but how?

Then an idea slowly bloomed in his mind. Perhaps it was just that she was something he didn't have. Maybe if he took her, if he owned her she would leave his thoughts. Yes. That was it, that was all, she was merely something he had denied himself and his mind was trying to tell him to take her for himself. Then his thoughts would once again be his own. It was so simple Itachi wondered why he hadn't thought of it before, realized it before.

Itachi slowly made his way into her room, smiling at the thought of finally being free of her curse, of releasing the chain that she had somehow bound him with.

Sakura woke up slowly, her groggy senses trying to make sense of her surroundings. She was in room again, ha she merely dreamed that they had been travelling? No, this room was larger, and the bed she was on felt worn but soft. Sakura looked around, although she barely had the energy to move her head, a small side table held a basin of water, a single chair stood beside the wooden door, a few bland paintings covered the walls. A small door led to what looked like a bathroom. It looked like an inn…Sakura could faintly hear the sound of people below her floorboards, so, it was an inn.

How unusual. Why would they have stopped at an inn? Then it hit her, they wanted to be found, she was the bait after all, and if they went to some hidden house owned by the Akatsuki, then Naruto would never be able to find them, but rumours of Akatsuki staying at an inn would eventually reach even Naruto's ears that seemed oblivious to everything but the word ramen. Sighing to herself Sakura shifted slightly, wincing at the stiffness of her body and her complete lack of energy, she felt like she could sleep for years, but she was awake now and she didn't allow herself to fall into sleep again.

Sakura realized that she wasn't tied up, just laid out on the bed, which wasn't all that surprising, seeing as how she couldn't find the energy to do more than twitch every now and then. How pathetic.

Yes, pathetic, and we wouldn't be in this pathetic situation if you hadn't stopped me from escaping.

Sakura wanted to hit her other half, but she didn't feel like hurting herself so she merely ignored her other half's mutterings.

Sakura wished that her other half would shut up, she knew that it was her fault she wasn't free, but she couldn't have let her other half kill Itachi so mercilessly. Or at all for that matter. What was wrong with her?

It's called attraction to the opposite sex, but relax, I'm sure it's just because the only two choices you have are between Itachi and the big fish, ANYBODY would take Itachi over Kisame, trust me.

It didn't matter that she was responding to the better looking of the two, she shouldn't have been responding at all. She had lived in Konoha for years and she had only liked Sasuke, then when he left she hadn't liked anyone. She didn't even respond to Sasuke when he had come back, so why were her thoughts always finding their way over to Itachi?

Che, who cares, just don't go soft and gooey on me, we still have to escape remember?

Like she could have forgotten, not that she would be escaping anytime in the next few days. Sakura's body tended to heal faster than others, mostly because she was a medic nin and her body automatically seemed to heal itself after years of relentless training, but even after using chakra to try and deplete the weakness of her body it would be a while before she could attempt another escape.

The opening of her door brought Sakura out of her thoughts and caused her to focus on Itachi. He was standing in her doorway, staring at her, his red eyes glinting in the weak light of the sunset. Sakura wondered what he wanted, it wasn't like she could go anywhere, but he might try to check and see if she had any other hidden weapons, let him try, he wouldn't find anymore of them anyway, the only other hidden weapons were in her ANBU gloves and he had already taken them from her sometime after taking her boots.

Itachi stared at her, lying on the bed with the cherry blossom trees tattooed on her legs and the cherry blossoms tattooed along her arm and trailing up her shoulder and chest. Yes, he would have her, she would be his, and then he would be back to his old self. Perhaps it was the tattoos, she was different, and so he wanted her because she was something he had never had before. That was all, and now his thoughts of her would end. Yes, he would cast off the small amount of weakness she had shoved onto him, freedom was within his grasp. Itachi stepped into the room, a small smirk on his face, hidden behind his cloak.

Sakura watched him slowly enter her room, she could tell he was smirking about something even though his cloak hid it, but he gave off a self-satisfied air. Why was he in her room? To warn her not to try to escape again? Probably, that or he was pissed that she had almost killed him, could have killed him but chose not to. Great, the last thing she needed was to be seen as a threat by a psychotic killer.

Ya, but he's a pretty hot psychotic killer, you've got to admit.

Sakura wasn't going to admit to anything her other half said, she would tell herself she wasn't attracted to him, and then eventually she would believe it.

Itachi watched her eyes watching him. Her eyes held puzzlement, she was obviously oblivious to what he was about to do that he almost smiled. It wouldn't matter soon, so soon he would be free. Itachi ignored the small part of his mind that told him not to do it, that told him he would regret it.

But why would he regret it? Once he had had her she would be gone from his mind, and why should he regret taking one little kunoichi when he had absolutely no regret for killing his entire clan? But the voice in the back of his mind was quiet, overpowered by his need to free himself from Sakura's power, from her presence in his thoughts, his dreams, his being.

Sakura watched him come closer to her, he closed the door and she waited for the threats to come. But, instead of threatening her for trying to escape he removed his cloak, revealing a black mesh shirt and black pants.

Run. Get out, get out, run, move, move now!

The fear in her other half's voice started Sakura, she had been expecting some sarcastic remark about how good he looked, not the urging to run. But she couldn't run, why would she want to, why was her other half so afraid?

Then Itachi moved, his speed too fast for her to see. His lips were on hers, harsh, rough, nothing like in her dream. His hands were stripping off her clothing. The warnings of her other half came back to her and Sakura realized what was going to happen too late, but she struggled anyway, not caring that he already had her out of her shirt, not caring that his eyes looked feral and dangerous. She struggled for her life, for her purity, for her sanity.

Itachi was somewhat surprised by the feverish way she struggled, at one point she managed to get away. It was then that Itachi noticed another tattoo on her. It was in the middle of her back, where her spine dipped. Sakura, written in kanji. It was the simplest of her tattoos but for some reason Itachi liked it the best. And then he pulled her back to the bed and bound her wrists above her head with chakra strings, ignoring her cries, her shouts of protest, her struggles. Intent on his task, his task of freeing himself, yes, he would end it all soon.

Sakura couldn't get away, her hands were bound and no matter how much she struggled against him Itachi just seemed to become stronger. The tears wouldn't stop running, the salty water flowed from her eyes, like blood, like the blood Itachi was causing her to shed. She felt numb, dull, stained, terrified, weak, oh so weak.

She felt pain, not just the throbbing pain between her legs but a pain that wasn't related to her body, she felt like she had been cut open, and that she would never be whole again. She hated Itachi, she hated what he was doing, she hated the feelings that he was producing, the numbness, but most of all she hated herself, her body for being so weak, for allowing her to be hurt. She was weak, had always been weak, but she had never wanted to be shown that, especially not in this way.

Then cool air surrounded Sakura's naked body and she realized that Itachi was standing now, staring at her for a moment before he grabbed his clothes, dressed, and then left the room, red clouds flowing along behind him just like her blood, her innocence. Sakura felt horrible, used, dirty, pathetic. She needed to be clean, to at least feel slightly less dirty, to be somewhat free from the memory of what Itachi had done.

Sakura moved her weak body slowly, as though she would break with to harsh a movement, something that felt all to real. Eventually she got up off the bed, only to fall to the ground in a cry of pain, it hurt too much, everything just hurt. And the tears wouldn't stop, like her should was bleeding, they wouldn't stop, she couldn't stop them. On the cold harsh floor Sakura curled her small frame into a ball and sobbed, letting the thin rug absorb the tears that would not be stemmed, only wishing that the rug could absorb her memories and fears just as easily.

Eventually Sakura shifted, the tears still hadn't stopped but she needed to wash everything away. Her body hurt too much to stand, so Sakura slowly crawled her way to the bathroom, wishing that the shower would wash more than just the stench of Itachi sweat mixed with her blood away from her body, but knowing it wouldn't. She pulled herself along the floor until the reached the shower, then she dragged herself into a standing position and turned the water on, waiting for the steam to cloud the bathroom, wishing it would cloud her thoughts.

Sakura moved herself into the spray of scalding water, and then she began to scrub. She scrubbed her body until her skin was red and raw, but still it wasn't enough, still she scrubbed, only when her skin seeped blood did Sakura stop to heal herself with what little chakra she had left. And then she began the process over again, still convinced that she could smell something, feel something other than a clean body.

No, she would never be whole again. And for once Sakura wanted the comments of her other half, but her other side was being silent, as though she too was too shocked and damned to speak, so Sakura was left alone with her new thoughts and memories, and still the tears came.

Wow. Okay, ya, I didn't want to write this…(sniffs) but it had to be done. First please let me say that there was a point to me writing this, it's not just some pointless thing thrown in to create drama, okay, it does/will eventually lead to things. All right, thank-you everyone for reading! Reviews welcome.