Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with this series (Naruto) Masashi Kishimoto does
Warnings: This chapter contains a lot of blood and violence, strong sadism, strongs thoughts of homicide, a lot of discussion pertaining to death, references to sexual situations, some incest, some yaoi, coarse language, slight thoughts of suicide, OOC, and the canon is not this story's best friend. There are also some errors in here as well as a poorly written fight scene, this chapter is also shorter than half of the chapters in the story.
Pairings: ItaSasu, a little SasuSaku, some ItaSaku, a trace of AsuKure, a pinch of GaiKaka, a dash of NaruSaku
Sakura opened her eyes as she struggled off of the ground. There was something different about Itachi; she could tell by the way that he moved. He had been working, training to this day so the gap between them couldn't close as much as she wanted it to. The amount of raw power that went into every single one of his punches was enough to make he body freeze in place. Another hit and she could be dead.
I never expected him to be this good… that means that Sasuke must be almost comparable to this. What was I thinking doing all of this? She looked up into his scarlet eyes, her body shaking at the sight. She had to kill him; it was the only way to make sure that Naruto was going to be safe. She couldn't risk his life anymore.
"Now die," he breathed as he pushed his fist into the ground, missing her head by a few inches as he narrowed his eyes, looking into hers, his breathing heavy as he never broke the contact, his knuckles digging in deeper to the ground. "Sakura… you could have prevented all of this, you could have gotten out of this alive. You could have been the one who could save Naruto…"
Her eyes closed as she looked away from him, she could hear the ground crumbling beneath his left hand. He was serious about hurting her. This wasn't a game to him; this was his life running away from him. She could tell that he was in pain as he looked at the direction that Kabuto had gone in.
"Let me go," he breathed as he stood up, starting to stagger toward the direction where Kabuto had walked. "Let me finish this, Sakura. Let me have my life back. I'm asking you to find it in your heart to let me go right now…"
She looked up at him. "You're lying…" she struggled to her feet. "You're lying to me, Itachi. You're not going to save anyone; you aren't going to be the hero. You're Itachi Uchiha, you don't know the words mercy and compassion. All you know is torment and pain. I'm not going to listen to anyone ever again. Not like you!"
She grasped a poisonous kunai and threw it in his direction watching him jump out of the way, pulling out his own kunai, hurling it in her direction. As she moved out of the way, he had already moved his body to be behind hers, his hands grasping her hair as he pushed her to the ground. More tears passed her lips as she felt his grip tighten on her hair, she cried out once.
"You're hurting me…" she grunted.
"Let me go, Sakura," he loosened his grip. "You can still live through this. I told you I don't break promises, but you can live if you let me leave you here. I can bring Naruto back to you, I can make all of this right again. You've got to trust me."
"I don't have to do anything," she hissed, moving her elbow to hit him in the abdomen with all of the strength that she had. She never thought that he would be this physically strong. Itachi was always a genjutsu type ninja, but his taijutsu was now comparable to Gai's.
He spat once. "So be it," he caught his breath quickly in between coughs. "I won't go easy on you like I did last time. Kabuto and Sasuke aren't here to stop us. You're going to die here, Sakura!"
Pain filled her body as she was thrown to the ground, the sound of his heavy breathing filling her ears. Every hit at her was passionate as she fell to the ground; she could feel the pain that he was going through. She was making a mistake.
Itachi stepped back from her as he looked into her eyes. "Sakura, you're a brave girl challenging me. I've seen highly trained jounin beg for mercy at my feet. You're also a stupid girl, aren't you? At your current level, you won't be able to defeat me. You're going to die for a man who poisoned your friend, suppressing the capabilities of the spirit. He'll die, Sakura, he's going to die before he even makes it to the Sound Village."
"That's not true," she breathed, closing her eyes. "Stop lying to me! Stop it, Itachi! What makes you think that you know anything about this situation? I helped set it up. I helped Kabuto make the poison," she shook her head, struggling to her feet. "What makes you think that you understand what that poison is?"
"Because," he took a deep breath, grabbing the handle of his sword, "I removed the said poison from a Konoha chunnin not too long ago. I analyzed it. What you probably thought was just to kill me was to immobilize Naruto's strength so he doesn't fight back. It won't kill him as fast because the nine-tails is trying to cure him, but the poison will soon halt that luxury."
She closed her eyes: Iruka was going to die and Itachi saved him. What kind of war did she get herself into? She was on the side where they killed everyone in their way, Kabuto didn't know the meaning of the word injure. She had been played like a fool again. Once again she had been nothing more than a burden to Naruto and Sasuke, now she was killing them. Slowly she got to her feet as she looked into red eyes, her own eyes narrowing.
"Are you going to fight me, or are you going to chicken out?" she smiled wickedly as she looked into his eyes, watching his hand tighten on the sword. "Are you going to run away from all of this or are you going to take it like a man?" she watched as he slowly walked toward her. "That's right; show me what you can do…"
Her words were cut off as she felt the handle of the sword dig into her stomach, pushing deeply at her. She couldn't breathe as she looked up at him. This wasn't the fight that she wanted to start out with. She would fight Sasuke anytime compared to taking on his brother. Itachi was hungry for her blood as he pushed the handle deeper into her.
"Still want to act tough?" Itachi asked as he watched her fall to the ground. "Or are you going to humor me some more?" he grasped her hair again, pulling her off of the ground. "You're not so tough now are you? What's wrong? Finally realize that you're too weak?"
Sakura coughed lightly, a drop of blood passing her lips. "I will love to see the day that you burn in Hell…" she coughed as she clutched her side. "I'll see you when this is over…"
"Hell?" Itachi asked with a grin. "That doesn't suit you. No one like you should be cursed to the same realm as me," he gripped her hair tighter. "What makes you think that a divine creature like you has made mistakes that compare to mine? You haven't even dreamed of actually killing someone, have you?"
"I'll kill you!" she gasped, looking back at him. "I won't rest until the day when I bathe in your blood."
"Keep your dreams small," he commanded as he pulled at the hair tighter. "The smaller the dream, the easier it is to accomplish. You'll find that there are many obstacles in your way, but you can overcome them if you stay within your limits."
She struggled to break free from his grip as she felt his hand tighten in the locks of pink. Everything around her started to blur as she realized what she had gotten herself into. Kabuto didn't care about her well being, all he cared about was Naruto. To prove that point, he had now left her with the most challenging opponent she would ever face. She was nothing but a pawn in his sick game.
Everything that they had done together was completely expendable. The moments that they shared weren't to make her better; they were nothing more than to use her as a distraction up against Itachi. This was her purpose; she was supposed to die at this man's feet while Kabuto got to live. She had been used.
"Are you going to let me go?" Itachi asked, pushing her to the ground, stepping gently up against her back. "Sakura, I didn't want it to come down to this, but when I am threatened as much as I have been I'm given no choice. The nine-tails is mine, he belongs to me. So be a smart little girl and stand out of my way…"
She watched as he started to walk after Kabuto, her body shaking as she thought of all that they had gone through. She had come too far to watch Naruto die. The sooner Itachi was defeated, the sooner she could get to Kabuto.
"No!" she cried out, running to grasp his wrist pulling him back, his body not moving from the spot where he was standing. "Stop it! Please…"
He looked back at her, his eyes narrowing as he tried to break free. "Begging? What are you trying to prove?" he scoffed. "Sakura, I have to do this, this is what I've wanted from the first day. The pain and suffering I gave everyone was so he would hand himself over easily…"
"All of that was for Naruto?" she asked her voice shaking. "All that you've done was for Naruto?"
"Some of it," he looked back at her. "Sakura, this had nothing to do with you. I don't know what caused this sudden change of heart, but you have to put your fortuitous hatred behind us. You could save Naruto…"
She grasped a poisonous kunai, closing her burning eyes tightly as her hands shook. "Like hell…" she opened her eyes as her grip of the kunai was starting to falter. "Like hell you're going to save Naruto. I believed you once, Itachi, and I found out that throughout all of this you were playing Konoha…"
Her hand moved swiftly to move to Itachi's chest, pressure holding onto her wrist as he grabbed it tightly. The kunai fell to the ground as she looked into red eyes, her whole body shaking. He's serious, his hand tightened as he curled his other into a fist. He's going to fight for Naruto, but why? She watched as his eyes narrowed, the creaking of his leather gloves filling her ears. Why is he doing all of this?
"Sakura," he panted. "I will ask you one last time to move out of the way…"
"And I am telling you that I'm not going to move," she breathed back, narrowing her eyes. "I can defeat you. Don't underestimate me because I'm a girl, you sexist pig…"
"It's not that you're a girl," his fist drove into her stomach again as she fell to the ground. "It's that you're nothing more than a genin, Sakura. The level that Sasuke was at before I helped him was less than formidable. What makes you think that a normal genin who doesn't have a kekkei genkai would be better than him?"
Sakura struggled to catch her breath; he was dong severe physical damage with his taijutsu. Desperately, she looked for a weakness; she looked for an aspect that he was lacking in. She found none.
"Give up?" he asked, looking down at her. "Or do you still want to play this game that you've fallen in love with. Fight all you want, Sakura. It's futile. You were a fool to go off with Kabuto. You should have stayed out of this…"
"You should have stayed out of Konoha, you knew we'd retaliate," she struggled to say, her breath not coming easily.
"This is hardly retaliation. They all think that if I get what I want I'll leave. Not entirely an incorrect theory," he laughed as he started to walk past her. "You see Sakura; I have no interest in your pathetic village. You can have it. All I want is to take what is rightfully mine. Everything else means nothing to me."
Sakura's lip quivered in anger as she struggled to her feet, the scalding pain of bruises running through her body as she tried. The pain was too great; this was the pain that she had caused. Why couldn't she have just let him go? Why couldn't she let him walk by? She let him do it before; she even taught him how to use a technique that saved his life. Every time she looked at him, she saw something beyond a criminal: she saw a human being. She saw flaws. She saw pain. She saw mistakes. She saw everything that made him truly human, everything that he had been trying to hide. But she didn't want to see that.
She wanted to see the monster that he was, she wanted to see the torture that he had caused, she wanted to see what she could not. Even now as he walked away from her in the direction of Naruto, she knew that he was right all along. He was going to be the one to save Naruto. But she still couldn't let him go.
"Itachi," she breathed as she got to her feet. "If you want to pass… you'll have to kill me…"
"You think I won't?" Itachi asked coldly and quickly, the atmosphere around them starting to chill. "I should have killed you a long time ago, Sakura Haruno. I should have killed you the second that you came running at me with that dagger," he glanced back at her. "I would have, you know. Sasuke wasn't only saving me when he jumped in the way of the attack, he was saving you too. Why, I don't know. I would never save a person who was running at someone with a dagger with intent to kill. Sasuke was always so human, it's so beautiful. Don't you think?"
She shook her head as she tried to get to her feet, her whole body shaking. This wasn't going to end the way that everything else ended. She wasn't going to watch as he ran away with everything leaving her with nothing. There was no time for her to be weak; she was all that they had. She was going to have to save them. She was going to have to stop Itachi before Naruto got caught in the crossfire.
"Why are you standing there?" she asked with a smile. "Don't want to pass?"
He looked over at her with a scoff. "Fine, I'll appease you…" he walked closer to her. "But you made a mistake," he curled his hand into a fist. "Now die!" he pushed his fist to the ground watching her fall. He moved quickly to kick her forcefully, her body pressing into a tree, her body falling to the ground. The sound of her bones cracking filled her ears. She wasn't going to make it.
"I-is that it?" she asked, looking up at him, wiping the blood from her lips. "Aren't you going to kill me?"
"Asking to die?" he asked, grasping his sword, walking toward her. "Sakura, when somebody says that they will spare your life with no strings attached never ask them to kill you. They'll do it," he pulled his sword from the sheath, pointing it at her. "You want to die, Sakura?" he pushed the sword closer. "Because you're going to…"
She closed her eyes tightly as she watched him pull the sword back, starting to thrust it toward her. This was going to be the end.
-----
They all looked at the papers that were on the desk. This was time of urgency, not the usual threats that they had gotten. Three genin have gone missing, a chuunin was almost killed in the process. The havoc that Kabuto Yakushi brought was more than Itachi Uchiha had ever dreamed of.
"How long has Naruto Uzumaki been missing?" the Hokage asked, looking at the jounin who had been crowded at his desk. "What about the last sighting of Sakura Haruno, when was that? And Sasuke Uchiha, when was he last seen?"
Kurenai looked him straight in the eyes. "According to Iruka Umino, Naruto Uzumaki was taken last night at approximately eleven. That was also the last time that Sakura was seen. As for Sasuke Uchiha, we don't know much about what he's been doing at all. We just know that he's left the village."
The Hokage shook his head. "He's going to pursue Naruto and Sakura to bring them back to the village… he could be killed by Kabuto Yakushi."
There was a slight silence right before Gai spoke up. "He didn't go alone. I've heard reports that Itachi Uchiha has gone that way as well."
"He's going to kill her," the Hokage whispered venomously.
He should have known that it was all going to end up this way; he should have known that this feud between the two of them would continue. Perhaps it was wrong not to send anyone after Sakura sooner. Now all they could do was sit and wait to see who the victor was, not knowing which one they wanted to emerge the winner. It was a deadly battle that they had only helped become more vicious, now there were three genin who could be killed in the process.
"What do we do now?" the Hokage asked, looking at the three jounin at his desk. Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai were almost silent as they all looked at each other. "You all were so vocal about what to do before we were actually going to lose these children."
The room was silent as the three jounin closed their eyes, trying to find some way to save these kids. There was no more hope. All three of them were in the middle of a humungous feud, the survival rate not in their favor. The question that Gai had asked was running through their minds? How would Kurenai feel if Shino, Kiba, and Hinata's lives were on the line? How would Asuma feel if it were Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino? How would Gai feel if it were Neji, Lee, and Tenten? They couldn't even begin to feel how Kakashi was feeling. They were selfish to try to control this outcome; they were too late to realize their mistake.
"What is there to do?" Asuma asked, looking up at the Hokage. "There's no telling what's going to happen to us if we go out there. Itachi Uchiha is a ruthless ninja; he will stop at nothing to get what he wants."
"If we tried hard, we could probably save one of them," Gai continued.
"But which one?" Sarutobi asked, looking at the three of them. "Which one of the three children are we going to save?"
There was another silence as the jounin looked away from them, Asuma finally opening his mouth to speak. "Sasuke…"
Kurenai's red eyes shot open as she looked over at Asuma. "What did you say?"
Asuma sighed as he clenched his jaw. "Sasuke was the last one to leave. He left the village all by himself. That makes him the easiest to bring back. If we leave now before he catches up to his brother there is a chance that we can save him."
"You can't be serious," Kurenai scoffed. "You can't actually believe that we can only save one of them. Asuma, Gai, how can you look at these children and honestly believe that only one of them can live? If you can save one, you can save all of them."
"I wish we could," Gai continued. "But I agree with Asuma, we can save Sasuke if we work quickly. We could catch up to him before he gets to Itachi and we can bring him back here until it dies down. Sakura is with Kabuto and it would be dangerous to retrieve Naruto. We have to save the ones that we know we can."
"And you think that Sasuke is going to run away with you?" Kurenai asked. "Those are his teammates out there. Do you think that he's going to run away from them?"
"Those are my thoughts exactly," a voice called out from the door, the sound of a cane hitting the ground being heard as he drew closer. "That's why we have to try our hardest to get all three of them out of there so that Kabuto and Itachi can end their feud," the sounds moved to the front of the desk as the other jounin looked to their sides. "We have to work our hardest to get all of them back."
"Kakashi," the Hokage sighed, looking at him. "I told you that you don't have to do anymore for the village. We can't risk your health throughout this, whether they are your students or not."
The other jounin closed their eyes tightly as they heard those words were spoken. Kakashi was only allowed to sit and watch from a distance as all three of his students were in danger of dying. How could any human force that pain upon another human, let alone one who had gone through so much? After a long struggle to save his students, Kakashi Hatake was stuck watching every last one of them die, making bets on the one who they would be able to save.
"Try to secure Sasuke," the Hokage continued.
"What of Sakura and Naruto?" Kurenai repeated. "Sir, you can't honestly want to leave them to die. They're part of Konoha, they're Konoha ninja, and you want them to die?"
"We save who we can," Asuma breathed, closing his eyes. "If we can save Sakura from Itachi and Naruto from Kabuto then we do so. But the chances that Sakura has survived whatever Itachi has thrown at her is slim to none. I fought with him, Kurenai; he's not one to go easy someone. Even when he does, the blow is just as bad as it would if he was being merciful. The difference is that one way you die, the other there's a chance you might live."
"Then we should stop standing around," Kurenai breathed. "Let's assemble a team to go scout to see if Sakura's alright."
"I already assembled a team, that is if the Hokage will allow mw to do something in this mission," Kakashi looked over at him. "I will ensure that more people will survive this. No one on the team that I send will die, I put my faith in them."
Everyone looked at the old man as if asking him to listen to what Kakashi was saying. The whole time throughout the whole Itachi scare, Kakashi was right about everyone. This could be what they needed to solve the problems; this could save all three of the misguided genin. This could be what they've been looking for this whole time. This could be the way to make this work out.
"Fine, I'll allow it, Kakashi. Save as many as you can, but I want this team that you've made to have a little contact with Itachi as possible. I don't want more people to die in this feud. Do what you like with Kabuto, but remember, I still don't want Itachi dead, we don't know what we'll upset if we kill him."
"What team did you put together for this?" Asuma asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
Kakashi looked straight at his colleague. "Your team, Asuma… Team 10," he watched as the other jounin stared blankly at him. "Iruka Umino has volunteered to oversee them as well as come back here if we get any more information. That's why I want permission for Asuma and me to be back in commission to help Kurenai and Gai throughout this…"
There was another long silence. "Depends, are you two willing to give everything up? Are you willing to die for this cause? Are you willing to end everything that you worked for just to bring these genin back?"
Kakashi sighed. "I am…"
The Hokage looked over at Asuma. "Asuma?"
Silence filled the room again as he closed his eyes, all of the jounin looking at him. Would he really risk his life to save all of these children? The same way that he risked his life before when he fought against Itachi? He reopened his eyes and looked into those of the Hokage, into the ones of his father. Taking a deep breath he mustered up enough to give him the answer.
"I will…" he looked back at Kurenai seeing the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Besides, I'm not in that bad of condition, I think that I can still make it through this," he looked forward at the Hokage. "I will go if it is necessary."
The Hokage looked at Kakashi. "Send your team on the way to the route of where we saw Sasuke go, but I want no contact with Itachi Uchiha. I won't lose anymore of my ninja to him."
Kakashi nodded as he walked toward the door, Gai walking after him. "Are you insane, Kakashi? What are you trying to prove? I know that Asuma can still take the pain, but you?"
There was no response for the jounin as Kakashi continued to move. Gai stood there as if he were staring off into nothing. This was the final road that he had to choose. Kakashi chose to walk to save his students. For once Gai knew what he would have done if it was one of his students. He would be doing the same as Kakashi was right now. He would risk everything for them.
"Kakashi," Gai whispered as he watched him turn a corner. "Why do you always have to act so in control, even when you're in the worst pain of your life? Why do you always have to outshine me?"
A single tear hit the ground as he closed his eyes. This was what it had all come down to. If his plan had gone through, what would have been happening now? Would they have to be in this situation? The whole time all Gai cared about was Kakashi. All he cared about was if Kakashi was going to make it out of this alive. Now he realized that he was a fool to think that he could control this situation. Kakashi would eventually die; he would have to let him go no matter how much it hurt him.
-----
There's no time to spare, his feet hit the branches harder as he made his way through the path that Sakura and Kabuto went through. Everything that he had to make him feel secure was all leaving him so fast; there was no telling when he was going to lose his own life.
After all of his training, all of the time spent on perfecting himself, he knew that none of it would matter anymore. Itachi was going to die throughout this plan, there was no more saving him, there was no more time for him if Sasuke continued to move this slow. Thoughts ran through his mind, why did he let him go off on his own? He still wasn't fully healed from the injuries he was caused. He might never be able to heal. The blood stains were never going to leave Sasuke's mind.
Sasuke blanched as he thought about all of that blood that night when he walked into that room. Every drop was his brother's blood. He didn't know that he would be able to heal him that much. He thought that he would have to consult a hospital, but Itachi would be too proud to seek outside help. He was too proud to even wait for Sasuke so he decided to work on himself in his state of hysteria. He almost killed himself doing that. He was in the same state right now. He was going to sacrifice everything to get Naruto away from Kabuto.
He started to increase his speed as he clenched his right fist, feeling his sensei's glove up against his hand. He had to try to get Sakura away from Itachi, even if he had to kill her himself. He kept his eyes forward as he tried to see something through the rising sun. All he could see was the color of red as the sun started to rise. The color of blood.
Taking a deep breath, he sprang off of the tree. There was no more time to sit back and try to ignore his friends. It was time to bring them back.
-----
"Damn it!" she yelled as she jumped out of the way of another one of his punches, the ground continuing to shake below her.
It felt like the whole world was going to cave in if they kept this up for much longer. She already had cuts and bruises along her legs and arms. If he actually managed to hit her, there was no telling what would happen. A hit like that could instantly kill her if she wasn't careful.
"What's wrong?" he asked as he licked her blood off of his lips, his red eyes matching the tint of the cursed liquid. "You aren't as tough now are you? Enough games, Sakura. What happened to you wanting to kill me? You haven't even laid a decent hand on me.
Her most important goal for right now was to get away from him before he found her. There was no telling what else he could do to her if she got to close. All of the techniques that Kabuto had taught her were now useless. Nothing was going to get through to him. He was too fast and too strong.
"Come out already!" he slammed his fist to the ground a few off the already loose trees starting to fall to the ground. All hiding spots were starting to be of no use to her. He was demolishing their battlefield. "Where are you?"
She stopped breathing as she felt the surge of chakra starting to come to the tree that she was hiding behind. Shit! She tumbled out of the way as she threw herself to the ground, his fist moving through the tree. He's good. The sharingan is amplifying his accuracy. I'm not going to win this fight…
"Amazing," he chuckled as he pulled his gloved hand out of the tree. "You foresaw that attack. I've been underestimating you…" he started walking toward her, his fingers moving to grasp her hair. "But then again, I've been treating you like a fly, a pathetic insect. What can you do to me that you haven't already tried?" he grasped the hair tighter. "How about you stop playing the tough girl act and you let me pass. Or do you still wish to die?"
Opening her eyes she glared at him. "I'm going to fight until you die…"
"Then prepare to fight for a long time," he hissed. "Because I don't intend to die…" he closed his eyes gently. "You think you can win this just because you want to, don't you? You've forgotten that you're still a genin and your skills are still at that level. In a few years you could come back to me and possibly put a scratch on me. But not many genin have been able to do that while I'm in full health. Only Sasuke…"
She remembered the blood that had once been rolling from his lips. She remembered the agony that he was once in. That was no longer here to push the cards in her favor. He had an inhuman amount of chakra and his control over that chakra was flawless perfection. He was going to win this unless a miracle came along. She was going to die.
"So you're going to kill me?" she asked as she felt his fingers still run through her hair. "You're just going to wipe me off of the face of the earth with no regards of who's looking for me?"
"You chased them all away. You made all of them give up. Sakura, no one will care if you die. The punishment that you're going to go through is going to be unforgiving. I might be giving you the easy way out," Itachi pulled out a single sai. "There is not much out there for people like you and me. We broke away from everything that once mattered, and they forgot about the good that we once did. They can only see what we've become. We're monsters…"
"You're a monster," she corrected, breaking free from the grip that was on her hair, her eyes moving down to look into his. "I can go back there if I wanted to, but I can't… there's nothing there for me… there's nothing for me in the Sound Village. Knonha betrayed me and Kabuto is using me. I was too fixated on hurting you to see it. Now I have nowhere to go, I have no purpose. But I have a new purpose. My purpose is to kill you!"
She pulled out a kunai and pointed it right in between his eyes watching him not even flinch in shock. Her tears poured down her cheeks as she looked down at him. She had to kill him. She had to put an end to him.
"Try it," Itachi stated monotonously. "You'll find that it's futile. No matter what you do, I know what's coming. I know everything that you can do because I know everything that Kakashi and Kabuto can do. Once you know everything the instructor can do, you know everything that the student can do. That's why Sasuke and I will kill you. You might know what we can do, but you can't do anything against it…" he curled his hand into a fist, pushing it to the ground, watching as she fell down.
She fell face first into the ground as she tried to catch her breath, her lip splitting as she tried to bury her face in shame. She felt so small in front of him. As she thought she was getting better, Itachi had developed a deadly aspect that she would never be able to fight. It was hard enough trying to dodge his almost perfect aim, now she had to watch out for his hits as well.
"Shit," she coughed her fingers, gripping at the dirt beneath her. There was no hope for her now. There was no way that she was going to escape him, nor did she want to. If she was going to die, she was going to die knowing that she tried to save her teammates. She was going to die with honor.
"Get up," he commanded as he looked down at her. "Sakura, get up and fight me or I'm going to leave you behind."
He was never like this whenever she heard stories. He was supposed to be reserved, but now just looking at his face was enough to understand what bloodlust truly was. He was going to kill her no matter what he said.
"Itachi," she breathed as she struggled to get off of the ground, blood dripping from her lips. Bruises, cuts, broken ribs, she wasn't going to survive another direct hit from him, so she had to hope that he would use his strength to push her to the ground rather than cause direct damage.
"What is it?" he asked as he gripped his sai tighter, looking down at her. "Is there something wrong?"
She grasped a kunai and held her hand out yet again only to have his foot move on top of the limb. She could feel the bones starting to break as he applied more force, twisting his foot little by little as he heard her cry out in pain. He was taking away all ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques, only leaving her with hits and weapons. This battle was almost over. Itachi had just made it so.
"Sakura," he panted as he applied all of his weight to his foot, watching her eyes close tightly. "You never were going to win this fight. You were never strong enough to do it by yourself. You have potential, but you ran off too early for your own good. Now that you're alone with no one to guide you, you're useless…"
"I'm not useless," she argued, looking at the blood running from her hand and then at the red irises of his eyes. "I never was useless…"
"Now you are, you're a broken tool," he removed his foot as he backed away from her. "I should finish you off right now…" he curled his fist tightly as he looked into her green eyes. She was ready for the end.
The blood that ran from her lips sent chills down his spine. He remembered that pain, the pain where he could barely breathe. His fist started to falter as he moved forward to finish her off. But looking at the blood continuing to drip, his fist harmlessly hit the ground next to her. He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to block out the pain that was building in his lungs. Sasuke was right, he wasn't completely healed, and he never would be. The emotional scars were still sobbing to him as he tried to kill her.
"You," he breathed as he opened his eyes. "You now know the pain that I went through, you'll try to catch your breath but you never will. You'll never truly breathe again, Sakura. Now you know the pain that I went through. You know what it truly means to be nothing…"
Her green eyes watched as his hands moved to her hair pulling her forcefully off of the ground. She let out small pants as she felt the pulling at her scalp. The pain was far from over. She didn't know what he was going to do next, but as he held on tighter to the sai all she could see was the blood.
"You have gotten rid of all of your bonds, even the one to life. You threw your life away when you went off with him. You threw Naruto's life away as well," pulled her closer, his breath warm on her neck causing her to shudder at the contact. "The only bond that you've kept is the bond to my brother's love… isn't that right, Sakura?" he grasped her hair tightly. "Isn't that why you kept your hair long?"
Her whole body was shaking as she felt her body up against his, his pulse rushing hurriedly through her body as he continued to breathe in anticipation. She closed her eyes tightly and let out a small strangled noise as his hand tightened in her rose locks. The sai was close to her neck as she buried her face in his shoulder, gripping his shirt with her left hand. The blade came closer still; her only response was digging her teeth into his shoulder. She heard his gasp in shock as she dug her teeth deeper into his flesh, his hands shaking in her hair.
She could feel the thrill that Sasuke got out of that heartbeat, out of those gently breaths, it was magical. She could see why Sasuke wanted to be with him instead of her. He could supply so much. She had nothing to give to him, nothing but more pain and inconveniences.
"You only have one bond," he stated lightly. "Only one bond left out of all the bonds that you made. Why not break it like the rest of your bonds?" he held onto the sai tightly as he pulled tighter at her hair. "This is the last bond that you will ever have severed."
The pressure of his hand left her scalp as she felt her hair being cut from her head. Everything that she had to prove her love to Sasuke was gone. The last piece of assurance was gone. She could see the pink hairs falling to the ground out of the corner of her watering eye. Itachi had won this round, there was no taking that back.
"No bonds remain…" he snickered as he pushed her to the ground, standing up quickly. "Now let me go or I will take away your bond to this world as well…" he started to walk away, his eyes closing as he looked back at her. "Sasuke will come soon; maybe he'll take you back to the village. I'd have that hand looked at Sakura; I do believe that I broke it…"
Sakura sputtered through her tears as he ran her hand through the remainder of her hair. "You bastard, do you take pleasure in seeing me in pain? Or am I just the lucky one? Am I the one that you decided to harm?"
"You were the one who stood in my way," he stated as he walked back to her. "Do you want to know why Sasuke's been through all of this pain? Do you want to know who's been hurting him since I came back?" he knelt down to her. "You… it was you all along. Your betrayal, it hurt him deeply, you've made him go to the end of the line, to the end of the world and back and still you chose this. Look at what the darkness does, it leaves you when you need it the most."
She looked down at her hair, the last bond that she had ever made to anyone. She lay on the ground clueless to what was going to go on. Her left hand moved to touch the forehead protector on her head, the one that Kabuto gave her if she pledged her allegiance. It was another bond that she would have to break, a bond that no longer needed to be fortified. As he ran her hand through her hair, feeling it stop at her jaw line, she realized that Itachi hadn't made her path of loneliness start. She did this on her own.
Her hand moved to untie the forehead protector, watching it fall to the ground. What would she need Kabuto for anymore? She knew why she was here; she knew it the second that Itachi laid a hit on her. She was a distraction while he went off to the Sound Village. He never cared for her. This whole time she was on the wrong side, she was working for the greater of two evils.
"I've had it," she breathed as the metal of her forehead protector hit the ground. "What are you going to do to me now that you've gotten what you wanted? Are you going to kill me like you always wanted to because of what I did to Sasuke? I love him; I love your brother with my innermost soul, Itachi. I felt horrible about turning on him, but seeing him with you… I realized how happy you made him. I realized that maybe everyone was wrong about you. But I wanted to see the truth; I wanted to see what everyone wanted me to…"
He grasped the sai again as he pulled her by the small amount of hair that she had left. "Sakura," he moved to whisper in her ear. "I never got to formally thank you for making this all possible. Thanks to your kindness back in the hospital room both Sasuke and I are both still alive," he pushed the sai to her neck, causing her to cry out in shock. "I want you to die that girl in the hospital room."
She closed her eyes a tear falling down her cheek. Itachi was only alive because of what she did. She made Sasuke finally be able to bind his brother to this world when the bond was fleeting. It was thanks to her that they were still alive. More tears fell down her cheeks as she closed her eyes feeling the sai against her neck.
I want to die that girl too…
Author's Note: I know that fight scene took longer than it should have, but Sakura barely made if made any hits to him at all. The story is going to the final countdown, only five more chapters left. The next chapter will be a continuation of fights with Sakura. So what did you think? Good? Bad? Should have done more damage to Sakura (she already has broken ribs and a broken hand upon many MANY other injuries)? Honesty is my policy and is a great thing to hear.