Chapter 7: Ambush of Sorrows

Shikamaru

A shrill note pierced the air, a note so high that it was impossible for any human to reach, and on instinct I clapped my hands over my ears in an attempt to drown out the sound. I stumbled out of my quarters dazedly, the sound had left me disoriented and all my usually sharp senses were in a shambles. The loud, screeching noise continued and I was beginning to feel light headed from the intensity of it; if it continued any longer I was sure my ears would bleed. I braced myself for the sound that would follow as soon as I removed my calloused hands from my ears, groaning loudly as the full volume of the sound hit me all at once, and ripped my ANBU sleeve into shreds. I shoved the stringy pieces of cloth into my ears, I could still hear the sound but it wasn't quite as jarring as it had been and it would have to do.

There was only one explanation for the sound.

Ninjas from Sound Village had to be here.

I raced across the creaky wooden bridges, the usual squeak and protest of the straining wood went unheard as the piercing shriek drowned it out, immediately running for Ino's room. If that blonde haired loudmouth had gotten herself killed…

Something lurched inside of me when her quarters came into view and a wide, glaring rip stared at me through her rice paper thin shojo screens. I could have sworn for a couple of moments my erratic heartbeat was louder than the shrill sound, the blood pounded like a death knoll in my ears and I eventually composed myself to the best of my ability. I removed the navy Konoha headband from around my left arm and angled it so that I could see the inside of the room through the reflective surface of the hitai-ate.

I could see four people dressed in the baggy grey uniform that all sound ninja wore and grumbled inwardly when I couldn't make out parts of the room because of the state of the metal plate. It was covered in scratches and fingerprints; obstructing my view of the room. I had always found it troublesome to clean it; I could be spending the two minutes I was using up on polishing the metal plate on something more useful. I was dearly paying for my actions now though.

I jerked as the shrill note from before reached an even higher pitch and the headband in my hand glinted as it accidentally caught the rays of light streaming through the troublesome treetops. I instantly realized my mistake and darted away from the doorway as a firey red explosion threw me some ten feet away like an anguished lover and I landed on my stomach. The unexpected and harsh throw winded me; I rolled onto my side as I struggled to catch my breath and narrowly avoided the long, jagged blade of a crudely made katana as it crunched into the wood beside me.

I cursed inwardly when I realized that the trees surrounding the ANBU camp didn't do much for the shadows I desperately needed to perform my jutsus. I wouldn't be able to use any of my shadow techniques if I had only a small amount of light…

I pressed my palms into the floor behind my head and pushed with as much power as I could muster so that I had enough momentum to propel myself into a well timed handspring. I latched myself to the bridge with chakra to balance myself as the whole wooden structure began to shake violently; I could see a couple of sound ninja falling over the side of the shaky pathways. Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, I raced towards a momentarily disoriented sound ninja and stabbed him in the chest with a black, if not sharp, kunai.

"Shinranshin No Jutsu!" A familiar, loud voice yelled out and I ducked just on time as a heavy and rather large man went zooming overhead to plunge the jagged katana from before into one of his team mates who died upon impact; a shocked look plastered onto his face.

I turned around for a brief moment and felt a wave of relief surge through me as I caught sight of Ino's confident, battle ready figure came into view. She winked at me reassuringly and I resisted the urge to smirk back lazily at her, settling for a half hearted sigh through half lidded eyes, taking on the appearance of a truly indifferent person. She then spun around, her long blonde ponytail followed suit like a lethal, yellow whip.

Crouching into a more balanced and lower battle stance, I began to focus on the battle at hand. The ninja we were fighting were clearly at least chuunin level and I suspected that the leader of their squadron would be the equivalent of an ANBU member. I hadn't seen enough of the enemy to get a good enough of idea of how many there were, but I had a gut feeling we were outnumbered. I began to work out our chances of winning this battle as I fought almost half heartedly, dodging every move with the appearance of a bored person. It was a technique I found managed to ignite anger in even the calmest and composed person.

The ninja fighting me raised their arms into an X shaped form to block one of my kunai and I stabbed them in their unprotected stomach quickly before ripping savagely upwards. A warm splatter of blood spurted from the wound I had just inflicted and I grimaced slightly as some of it trickled down and into the corner of my mouth.

"Shikamaru!" Ino's voice drew my attention and I grunted as a ninja with two blades protruding from their fore-arms made an attempt to slice my head off neatly. I was pushed backwards until my back was pressed almost painfully into the unreliable wooden railing.

I could hear the banister begin to crack and splinter under my weight and the ninja struggled to press his two killing blades close enough to my neck to slit it at least, but I pressed against them with my own kunai. I decided that it was about time I got a longer weapon (honestly; Sakura had her scalpel, Neji had his katana, Tenten had God knows what but she had it and Temari had a one metre long fan) since kunai were really just beginning to get far too small for my liking.

My blood ran cold as Ino did the stupidest thing she ever had done. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

"Ino, no!" I yelled at her and all of a sudden there was a dull thump as Ino's well filled out body hit the floor ungracefully, like a puppet without its puppeteer. The dull green eyes of the ninja before me glazed over suddenly and he, too, collapsed to the floor as Ino's body had done two seconds prior.

The ninja, or rather Ino, straightened up and flashed me a bright smile that wasn't really becoming, seeing as the ninja's teeth were blackened beyond belief. I raced towards Ino's lifeless body and began to mumble a string of curses. A thin sweat of trepidation broke out across my body as an oncoming ninja approached Ino's body in its currently incapacitated state and in a moment of thoughtlessness I threw five kunai at the ninja in my blind urgency. I was losing my head and all five of the kunai missed. I moulded whatever chakra I had to my feet but stumbled over carelessly from the unexpected speed. I looked up and it felt as if a heavy boulder of dread had rolled over me again and again and again.

"Ino, get back into your body!" I all but yelled at her and she formed the hand signals to change back.

The seconds that ticked by seemed like drawn out years to me and all the sounds around me died out until the only sound I could hear was that of the blood pounding in my ears. My breath caught in my throat. A sword glinted as it plunged towards Ino's body. I could almost see Ino's spirit flying back towards her body in a race against time.

There was a loud and sickening crunch and a loud, piercing scream that brought me to my senses. I had been running for Ino's life to get to her and her pained scream gave me an extra boost of energy. I smashed into the ninja attacking her and he took a few steps backwards to stable himself. He flew over the side of the railing as I landed a powerful kick to his chest and I was barely aware that he was the last ninja; the ninja Ino had earlier on occupied was currently unconscious from the mental strain the mind transfer technique put on him.

Ino was writhing on the floor beside me and clutching at a half a metre long katana that was embedded in her right shoulder, near her collarbone. I reached out to touch her but she merely slapped me away before screaming in pain and the rancid smell of burning skin wafted up towards me. I fought the urge to vomit over the side of the damaged railings and dry heaved once before composing myself. The skin around her wound was begin to hiss and I realized that I had to get the sword out of her to prevent whatever damn poison there was in that piece of metal shit.

I eventually had to straddle her to keep her from moving and she seemed barely aware of the position we were in; she was sweating and screaming from the intense pain the poison obviously brought. Each scream she screamed felt like a bullet to my heart, she had never sounded so pained before and I felt like I was the one who should take the blame…if only I had gotten to her faster…

"Ino, this'll hurt," I warned her and I became aware that my words were barely registering in her crazed mind. I needed to find a way to shut her up though, she would draw the attention of more ninja…

My calloused hands closed around the leather wrapped hilt of the poisoned katana and I pressed my lips against hers roughly to stifle the sound of her screams. She bit down ferociously on my lip and I could taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth as she began to draw blood. My stomach lurched, but not with disgust this time, and I fought to keep my emotions under control as I yanked the sword out of her chest suddenly. The pain in my lower lip became unbearable and I threw the sword to the side of me, hearing it skid across the wooden surface of the bridge before falling down into the dense forestry below.

Ino wasn't unclamping my lip and I was definitely sure she was going to rip off at least half a centimetre worth of me. I manoeuvred my tongue in between her teeth somehow and forced it into her mouth to relinquish her hold on my lip, establishing who obviously was in power here. She began to challenge my authority, her own tongue thrusting against mine and I wondered if she was aware of what she was doing at all or if it was just the poison making her woozy headed.

Somewhere in the depths of my mind, my conscience was jumping up and down screaming excitedly, 'You're kissing the girl of your dreams man!'

All in all though?

The kiss was definitely screwed up.

But it was nice.

Uzumaki Naruto

I had been arguing about something with Kisame only a few minutes beforehand. It did come as a big shock when a bright red and orange explosion blossomed from somewhere beyond the wall of my quarters and engulfed the back wall of my room. Kisame was thrown forwards from the force of the explosion and he was flung into the wall beside me like a rag doll. He let out a low groan and pushed himself off of the wall, a trail of black blood trickled down from a corner of his mouth and he spat the excess blood onto the floor.

"Damn it," He cursed loudly, wiping his blue mouth with a sleeve of his voluminous Akatsuki cloak.

A loud cracking noise drew my attention as I looked up at the ceiling of my half destroyed room. I grabbed the dark green bag Sakura had left for me a month ago; if I lost it I would be killed by a drunken Hokage and a hot headed pink ninja. The weapons inside clanked and Kisame looked in surprise at it; he hadn't really taken notice of the bag before I had picked it up.

The ceiling suddenly caved in on us and I dove for the rice paper screen door, dimly aware of Kisame lagging behind me. I pulled open the top of the duffel bag, digging inside for some kind of weapon that I would be able to use. I yanked out a small box of needles and opened it hurriedly, sliding as many as I could into various pouches strapped to my legs and upper arms. A sudden, blinding pain raced up my right leg and I began to feel dizzy all of a sudden, something wet and sticky began to trickle down my leg and caused my black pants to stick to me like a second skin.

I looked back at Kisame and was shocked to find that he had one leg trapped in the debris of my quarters. One of the wooden supports had fallen down on his leg and he was struggling to push it off of him, an impossible feat now that he was clearly suffering from severe chakra depletion thanks to the restrainer necklace. I raced over to him and he barely took any notice of me as he pushed against the huge slab of wood.

I snaked my fingers over the edge of the wood and pulled against it, my strong muscles straining with the effort it took to move it and Kisame gave a strangled gasp of relief as he pulled his damaged leg out from underneath the slightly raised chunk of wood. I knelt to the floor and put one of his arms around my shoulders, my cerulean eyes darting about the area to scan for enemies that just had to be there.

"Don't touch me, you stupid blonde," Kisame growled at me half-heartedly and I ignored his protests. He was heavy and I doubted that I could carry him very far; seeing as the both of us weren't exactly in perfect shape.

I pulled him along and he stumbled with me, both of our injured legs straining to support our body weight. All of a sudden, a sharp spasm of blinding pain raced up my leg and I leaned against him; my breath coming in laboured short spurts. Kisame took a few steps until he reached the railing to steady himself.

"Hey, dumbass, don't step on your right leg," He snapped at me irritably.

"Shut up! We're like this because you were the one stupid enough to get your leg crushed!" I retorted angrily and he eventually gave an annoyed huff.

I closed my tired eyes and pushed off of Kisame, hopping as fast as I could across the bridge on my left leg. Kisame lingered behind me but I knew he would follow; he had to because of the necklace anyways. I was thinking about how much my leg hurt and how pissed off Sakura would be when-

Sakura!

I took a shocked step with my right leg and fell to the floor from the unexpected strain my weight put on it. I was just about to push myself when someone grabbed me and I was thrown over a bony and hard shoulder disgracefully, like a sack of potatoes. On instinct, I began to beat against the person's back and suddenly my back began to throb horribly, causing me to stop.

"Put me down, you stupid fish face!" I yelled at Kisame and he ignored me.

"Shut up, if you keep falling over like that you're going to get us both killed. Unless you remove the necklace from my neck you won't have that cut on your leg and then you'd be able to fight," Kisame explained hurriedly and he suddenly ducked as a kunai sheared off the very tip of my golden hair.

All of a sudden, three or four sound ninja came into view as they seemed to materialize out of thin air and I sucked in a deep breath to try and calm myself down. I heard Kisame growl deep in his throat in obvious annoyance, spinning around to face our enemies.

Our enemies?

Wait…they were our enemies weren't they? For once we were on the same side and we had to defeat these guys together.

"Naruto, take the goddamned necklace off of my neck. You'll be able to fight properly and I can fight with this leg," He hissed at me and I froze in sudden doubt.

If I removed the necklace…we would stand a better chance of staying alive. But then, if I did remove it he might kill me or escape…

I could see the silver chain of the necklace from where I hung and it twinkled at me seductively, begging me to remove it. Kisame darted to the side and three shuriken flew past me, barely missing my slightly freckled nose.

"You stupid blonde, just fucking take it off!" Kisame all but screamed at me and in a moment of thoughtlessness, something inside of me snapped and I yanked it off brutally from around his neck. It fell to the floor and clinked against the tough wood with a dead sound, a sound that seemed so final and dooming in the noisy background.

Kisame suddenly dropped me to the floor and I barely had time to stop and realize how much my side hurt. I rolled to the side to dodge a deadly onslaught of senbon needles and razor sharp kunai and they clattered against the wood before skidding off the side of the high bridge. Kisame managed to snatch a few of them before they fell, throwing them right back at their owners. He kept one in his hand and used it to block a tirade of thrown projectiles. I stood up and found that my wound in my leg had disappeared instantaneously as soon as the necklace had left Kisame's thick, scaly neck.

I jumped up and touched my toes in a suspended split to avoid a sound ninja as they skidded towards me before landing on the floor some few feet away with one hand supporting my weight. I spun on my large hand, my legs spinning like the blades of a helicopter before pushing off the hard surface to land heavily on the wooden railing. I pulled out four of the senbon needles and threw them at two of the ninja. I cursed when only two of them made their mark in a shoulder and a knee; I honestly had to work on my aim.

I jumped away from my position on the railing just in time as it exploded behind me and moulded chakra to my feet so that I stuck to the sloping ceiling of one of the empty ninja quarters. I slipped on an uneven tile that smashed against the bridge and went sliding down the side of the roof, my fingers struggling to find a grip somewhere but to no avail. I moulded as much chakra as I could to my fingers and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the two hundred foot fall to the forest floor.

No more ramen…no more Ichiraku…no more discounts…no more Hinata…

What? No more Hinata?

A black kunai thudded into the wall beside me and I heard Kisame yell at me, "Naruto, it's a handhold!"

I grabbed onto the kunai just in time, had I been a second or so later I would have missed it and I pulled myself up back onto the roof. I took more care with my stepping this time as I ran back to the bridge and jumped onto an unsuspecting sound nin. He went down with my unexpected weight as I forced him down; I heard something crack underneath my feet and winced as I realized that I must have broken a few bones.

I didn't have much time to think about it as another sound nin engaged me in battle and something hard and tall pressed against my back. I heard rough, laboured breathing and my rough hands clamped tightly around the pair of kunai in my hands as I began to settle into battle mode.

I could imagine Kisame's smirk, "So, blondie, let's see what you can really do."

His challenging words made me smile despite our situation and I told him overconfidently, "I'm sure it's much better than what you can do."

I released the malevolent power of the kyuubi, keeping it perfectly in check and felt him stiffen up behind me in shock. The ninja who had been about to attack us froze in their tracks; paralyzed by my excessive chakra store. Finally, Kisame let out a low chuckle and broke the still, anxious tension in the air.

Suddenly, an equally strong chakra filled the air and I almost stumbled with it's intensity. It was as if an invisible hand had snaked its way up my neck and was threatening to choke me, I began to feel slightly light headed.

"Not bad," I observed in a half lie and Kisame snorted at me.

"Shut up, it's as good as yours. Do you know where my Samehada is?" He asked me.

"What the fuck's a Samehada?" I yelled at him and cursed loudly as a loud, piercing note cut through the chilly morning air like a guillotine.

The people around me were unaffected (surprisingly) and I plugged my fingers into my ears on reflex, trying to block out the deafening sound. I could see Kisame yelling something at me but I couldn't hear his voice; everything around me was too loud. He suddenly pulled me over the edge of the bridge railing and we were falling, falling to our deaths in a damn deserted forest and I was so sure nobody was ever going to find our bodies so I'd never become Hokage or get on the hero's plate and-

His large hands suddenly grabbed me by the face and I winced at the sand papery sensation of his bluish abrasive skin. My cerulean eyes darted about wildly as the earth rushed up to meet us in a blur of green and brown, I didn't notice the foreign chakra creeping about my body and blocking my ears. It was only when we ground to a sudden halt I realized that the sounds around me were suddenly gone; I could only hear the sound of my own violently thudding heartbeat.

Kisame was mouthing to me frantically and I looked at him with a shaken expression, not exactly up to guessing games at the moment. It was only when he began to repeat the same sentence in an increasingly urgent manner his words began to register in my mind.

"Where's my sword?"

I yelled back at him, unable to determine how loud my voice needed to be for him to hear me, "Your sword's in Hinata's room."

Kisame nodded and his strong, cloaked arm shot out to grab onto a sturdy tree branch before he swung the both of us up on to it. He had already begun climbing the trees back up, obviously intended for Hinata's room. I followed after him quickly for his own safety; he'd need back up eventually.

Uchiha Itachi

The entire wooden structure began to shake violently and a loud, shrill note reached my ears. I lifted my hands unhurriedly and pressed down on my ears, effectively muffling the shrieking sound. I could still hear it in the background, like tinkly lift music that made you want to smash the speakers to bits, and Sakura walked over to me quickly. She grabbed my wrists and I offered no resistance; she couldn't kill me while she we both had the restrainer around our necks. She lowered them quickly and the shrieking sound, very much like the sound of nails clawing down a blackboard, threatened to deafen me. She pressed her hands to my ears and closed her jade eyes in concentration. The sounds around me began to blur into one another, becoming fainter and fainter until eventually the sounds around me were nothing more than mere whispers. It was an annoying sensation and I felt that I would be much better off without the mute, my ears could withstand the sound. There was no way I could dispel it though, only Sakura would be able to.

The aforementioned loud mouthed kunoichi was hurrying to pull on some clothing fit for battle and I made no move to look away; she had grown used to my shameless staring. She had tried to get me to stop looking at her but no one, especially a weak Konoha ninja, would tell me what to do. She kept her back turned away from me, she was quite a self conscious person, and watched as she pulled a tight black shirt over her head. She slipped on her white ANBU bone armour on top and it clicked with a satisfying sound as she secured it in place.

The both of us were aware that there must have been some form of fighting going on, however I had no idea who it was attacking Konoha. I had never heard of ninja who fought with music but dimly remembered that the idiot snake man, Orochimaru had set up a village. He had never attacked Akatsuki out of fear for his own life but I supposed that he had set his sights upon Konoha. I remembered Kisame telling me once that my younger brother had become one of Orochimaru's subordinates but didn't know much beyond that. Had Orochimaru come for my brother…?

Sakura approached me and leaned at my side, bringing her face right up to my ear. I stiffened at the close proximity and my blood red eyes narrowed at her, she had no right to come that close to someone of my status. I could see her sigh in the way her chest rose and fell quickly in annoyance and she spoke to me, "Can you please come with me? I need to get out and fight."

"No," I told her flatly and her face fell at my blunt and apparently unreasonable answer.

"But- I have to go and help my friends! They need help, they might die!" She snapped at me and I stared out of the window with an indifferent expression on my face.

"It is no concern of mine whether or not your team mates die," I explained to her coldly and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. She obviously wanted to protest but could come up with no reasonable argument.

"I have to help them," she repeated helplessly and I ignored her futile pleading, it wasn't as if she'd get whatever she wanted from me. A few injured ANBU ninja would most certainly be beneficial to my cause.

Not only that though…my mind was whirring with the possibility of an escape. As my thoughts began to merge together and become a huge part of an escape plan, I leaned back against the wall of my windowsill and stared Sakura right in her jade eyes.

"If you want to help your friends so badly then just remove the restrainer. It's the only way you'll be able to get to help them," I told her quietly, turning my head towards the window again.

I had found Sakura's weakness and was more than ready to exploit it. It seemed as if she would do anything for her friends. I could already sense Kisame's unleashed chakra, along with a malevolent chakra I imagined could only be that of the Kyuubi's. My mind jolted when I realized that if Kisame already had unleashed his chakra then that meant that the Kyuubi boy must have removed his restrainer. If Kisame took time to analyze his situation he should kidnap the boy and bring him back to the Akatsuki hideout…

Sakura froze and hesitated, a strange look on her face and she made a quick and sudden move to remove the annoying Konoha pendant around my neck. She touched the silver chain of the necklace, my porcelain skin tingled with the icy cold of her fingers, and she looked at the necklace with an indecisive expression in her eyes.

"Take it off, Sakura," I whispered to her, knowing that she needed just a small push. She lowered her head, a curtain of pink hair falling over her green eyes and she fell very silent.

Her shoulders began to shake quietly and for a moment, I thought she was crying. I remained quiet, allowing her time to herself, knowing that she would remove the necklace from my neck. She wasn't too bright; she would never be able to read deeper into my actions. Her hands clenched around the necklace and I waited; she would pull it off any second now.

Then she laughed, a bitter, resentful laugh.

"The moment I take the restrainer off of you, you're going to kill me," She murmured, almost sadly.

She raised her head to look at me, a strange light in her vibrant green eyes. I could see my own face reflected in the glassy, empty surface of her eyes. I hadn't the least intention of confirming her statement, she probably already knew the answer anyways.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" She asked me. "To kill me, that is."

"I do not see what relevance this has to what I told you to do," I replied coolly, avoiding her question.

"Wouldn't you?" She pressed me further.

I didn't realize that we were so close until my chest brushed hers slightly. I had taken a few thoughtless steps forwards and stared down at her, using my slight height advantage to intimidate her. All flashes of the fear she had once held for me had disappeared and I found that very strange, when had she stopped being so scared of me? It didn't matter though, what mattered now was trying to come up with a plan B to escape from here. She held my eyes and I found myself powerless to look away, the sensation angered me slightly. I was always the one in control, I always had the upper hand; how could a worthless kunoichi like her have done this to me? The unspoken spell was broken however, when she closed her eyes and let out another empty, quiet laugh that sounded so…so dead in my ears. Her fingers clenched around the silver chain of the necklace and she opened her eyes again, a determined and bright light in her eyes.

"You are an idiot, Sakura," I thought to myself, absentmindedly.

I was a little bit disturbed by the fleeting thought. Something nagged at me in the back of my mind that it would be difficult for me to kill Sakura, but I dismissed the silly notion immediately. The mere suggestion that I had grown fond of the pink haired girl repulsed me but I couldn't help but feel as if the repulsion was…fake somehow. A sudden explosion caused the entire structure to shake violently and Sakura fell forwards, her slender hand lost its grip on the necklace to grip at my shoulders for support. On instinct, my calloused hands reached out to steady her and they tightened around her waist to keep her still. The both of us ended up much closer than we had ever anticipated and I removed my hands from her waist quickly, trying to forget I had done such a thing. I took a step away from her and her hands fell away from my shoulders.

"Sakura!" A masculine voice yelled out her name and her head snapped towards the rice paper door.

"Sasuke!" She screamed my younger brother's name, running towards the door, straining against the necklace's magnetism as it tried to bring her back towards me. Her jade green eyes were wide and terrified, not for herself, but for my younger brother. I leaned back slightly to give myself better grounding so that I wasn't dragged along disgracefully behind her. I could see her moulding chakra to her feet at a furious pace; she was desperate to get out and I was forced to take another reluctant step forwards to steady myself. A barely noticeable silhouette appeared on the rice paper and Sakura took no notice of it whatsoever.

That stupid idiot! If she got herself killed, I would die too!

I raced towards her, grabbing her around the middle and tackled her to the ground as a sound ninja came ripping through the rice paper screen. The ninja glanced around the room a few times, looking for us, and he froze and fell forwards onto his chest. I counted a grand total of five kunai and eight senbon needles imbedded into his back; someone had obviously been desperate to kill the ninja. A dark blue clad man raced into the room, barely noticing the dead man on the floor, his single blue eye and bright red Sharingan eye darting around the room. I stood up and stepped away from Sakura, staring coolly at the familiar man. Sakura lay motionless on the floor, shaken from the tackle and I could see her trying to catch her breath. Sasuke, of course, being Sasuke, immediately jumped to conclusions and grabbed me by the collar of my mesh shirt, a nasty and twisted snarl on his face.

"What the hell did you do to Sakura?" He hissed at me and I raised my hands slowly to remove his own. He hissed and spat at me, throwing me against the back wall. There was a sudden crack as I hit the wall wrist first and an inexplicable pain raced up my arm. I ignored it, allowing the angry and wild expression on my brother's face submerge me and for a quick moment, a shiver of exhilaration raced up my spine as his blatant hatred made me…made me…

Sakura let out a short cry of pain from her position on the floor before stifling it, clutching at her now equally as broken wrist. Sasuke, however, was too consumed by his own rage to even notice her scream. I guessed that Sasuke was merely using Sakura's injury as an excuse, any excuse, to kill me. He obviously didn't know about the restrainer necklace; I didn't think he would have been so reckless otherwise. I darted to the other side of the room as an onslaught of razor sharp kunai was thrown at me by none other than my younger brother. Ducking as a whirring shuriken whizzed overhead, it tore into the rice paper window sliding window cover and left a gaping hole before returning to Sasuke's waiting hand.

I spotted one too many openings and realized in utter disgust that this was the standard of Konoha ANBU. I could have knocked him flat in two seconds and killed him in the next. He raced towards me, a bloodthirsty look in his mismatched eyes, and I blocked his quick punches. The wooden chair at the writing table caught my eye and I leaped onto it quickly, standing on the top of its backrest, spinning it around to block a couple of Sasuke's kicks before landing on the floor. He tried to punch me but I used the chair as a shield, the wood splintered and cracked as his hand shot through with a sickening crunch. He pulled his fist out, ignoring the new blood on his hands, and kicked the chair away; it really was nothing more than a hindrance.

I could see Sakura stirring slightly out of the corner of my eye and she began to get up ever so slowly. My mind was tired from the lack of chakra and I wasn't thinking right, the small distraction caused by Sakura was all Sasuke needed to kick me to the windowsill. I managed a quick spontaneous pencil turn in mid air to slow me down and landed expertly on my unbroken wrist. I stood up quickly but Sasuke was merciless, he was in front of me already. I took a step onto the windowsill as he swung at me with a fist and ducked as he punched again, tearing through the rice paper screen. I took another step backwards and my hands began to sweat instantly as my foot slipped slightly, I hung onto what remained of the window to keep my balance.

I didn't so much as move as Sasuke's hand rested upon my chest, ready to push me out of the window. Our eyes never left each other's, his red and blue and my dark, bloodied red ones; there were no words between us.

"Sasuke, please don't!" Sakura suddenly screamed and he suddenly jerked, that small movement was all it took for him to push me out of the window. I fell backwards, falling…

I could feel a swish of a hand as someone missed my shirt.

My dark red eyes stared into those of my onyx eyed brother's and for a moment, I saw something shine deep within their depths, something frenzied and fleeting. I stared at his outstretched hand and was slightly surprised by it. I doubted I would die after falling out of the window, the branches I had counted for hours on end would slow down my fall. The only thing that would affect me was the obvious blow at my pride…being pushed out of a window didn't actually raise anyone's opinion of you. It seemed as if these Konoha ninja were all trying to humiliate me before I died.

"Well Shisui, what do you think of Konoha now?" I thought darkly.

Something suddenly strained against my neck and I was yanked back onto the windowsill. There was a loud 'snap' as something broke and I started, staring down at my neck. Sasuke's hand was the one grabbing me by my restrainer chain but a black, white beaded necklace stared back at me, harmless and innocent.

The sounds of small beads clattering against the floor brought me back to reality and I realized suddenly that the necklace was broken.

"Come on Itachi, it'll look pretty on you!"

All of a sudden, my anger welled up and surfaced; my hand was around my younger brother's neck in an instant. My grip around his neck began to tighten and I flung him against a wall mercilessly, my previous intention of holding back was gone and was replaced with a strange and unfamiliar bloodlust. I began to approach my motionless younger brother and stopped in front of him, my head lowered to my chest. Just as I raised my fist to strike Sasuke, something warm and strong gripped my upper arm tightly, preventing me from swinging at the defenceless shinobi slumped against the wall in a state of unconsciousness.

"Itachi-san," Sakura's voice was quiet and pleading.

And for a moment, I hesitated. A sudden anger, a sudden fear, washed over me; when had I ever hesitated? What had caused me to hesitate? I couldn't be hesitating over killing someone; I had erased all the morals Shisui had tried and failed to teach me. And this…this stupid girl was hanging onto my arm and I was letting her do so, when had I stooped so low?

Instead of striking the boy who once was, I lashed out and struck the stupid kunoichi. She remained latched firmly onto my arm though and I began to hit her, again and again, in a repeated attempt to get her off. She was an annoying parasite and I had had enough of her, I wanted to break her, I wanted to kill her.

For the first time in a long time, my self control had simply vanished. I allowed such stupid emotions to take control of me and my hits began to grow stronger and stronger, I was dimly aware of the pain coursing throughout my body. She began to whimper and I drew what little satisfaction I could from the painful sounds she made.

My dark red eyes flared as the hold on my arm eventually loosened and the pink haired kunoichi fell to the floor, gripping the hem of my black pants. I kicked at her to get her off and she cried out loudly, rolling across the floor limply. I could hear her crying, I could hear her breathing slow and she began to crawl towards me again. She grasped at my pants again and I kicked her again and again but she refused to let go, her face streaked with blood and tears. My kicks became weaker and weaker as I began to realize she wasn't letting go and the pain I had inflicted upon her soon became my own. I fell to my knees and I stared at her blankly, exhaustion settling in and my self control gradually began to return to me.

She looked up at me through tear filled eyes and what I saw there sent a shiver down my spine and my throat constricted for the briefest of moments.

In her eyes…there wasn't a hint of hatred. There was this unsettling and unnerving trust reflected in her eyes, trust that I had no idea I had even gained.

I became filled with disgust.

"I hate you," I hissed at her, watching for a change. Betrayal, hurt, something, anything but that unreasonable expression in her eyes.

She remained silent, watching me through those unflinching jade eyes. Her silence irked me and I raised my hand to hit her again, to hit her until she broke. I could no longer find the strength to raise it though, everything about me felt so heavy, and she began to stir, touching my limp hand where it lay on the floor. My breathing was erratic and loud, ruby red eyes wide open.

"I hate you," I repeated again and she began to move closer to me, her fingers twitching against the open palm of my own. I was slumped over in a sitting position, the both of us looked so very pathetic. She began to straighten up and I could no longer move, simply watching her. I was so sure for a moment that she had cast a paralysis jutsu on me but when my fingers in my left hand twitched involuntarily, I realized that there was no jutsu.

I could feel her hot tears making their way down her face, trickling down my skin, but I couldn't derive any satisfaction whatsoever from them. I could smell the blood that covered her body and instead of the adrenalin rush I had felt just a couple of moments ago, I was filled with disgust and repulsion at my lack of self control.

"If you're waiting for me to say the same thing back, I won't," She began in a hoarse whisper.

"I can't hate you…not when you're so full of self hatred."

A/N:
Uh...I'm terrified Itachi is awfully OOC here. Yeah. Then again, my Itachi is rather different so I derive some little satisfaction from that. :)

This is where the major angst starts and this is my cue to leave for a month! I leave for Philippines tomorrow and I won't be updating for a long time (not that I normally don't...). .

Here's the usual preview...

Preview:

"Don't turn out the way we did."

"Stay with me."

"He's a monster."

"Ayame, come on!"

"Be safe."

Selandora (the sickeningly emotional undeniably sexy one you must fear)