Author's notes: Well i got a lot of good feedback on the last chapter. Lots of people were sad and happy with the song selection! I'm also very pleased at the number of reviews I have. Thanks so much guys ! Just as you keep the reviews comming, I'll keep the chapters comming ! Well, enjoy !

Chapter 11

Here Without You

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The steel bars slammed shut behind her as Sakura entered the lonely, dirty, cold and dark jail cell. She turned around and looked at the three people standing on the other side of the bars. Naruto, Kakashi and Tsunade. Tsunade looked at Sakura and clutched her hand into a fist. "You know I don't want to do this." she said regretfully. Sakura nodded her head. "I understand." she said with a smile. Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore. "This isn't fair! Sakura didn't do anything wrong!" he said angrily. "Naruto, calm down." Kakashi said calmly. "No!" Naruto yelled. "You're the Hokage, do something dammit!" He yelled at Tsunade. Tsunade sighed. "Unfortunatly I cannot." she said sadly. "Naruto, it's okay. " Sakura began speaking up. " I deserve to be in here. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. " she said with a reassuring smile. Naruto calmed down. "I'll visit you everyday Sakura-chan. I promise." Naruto said as Sakura smiled and nodded. "Let's go." Tsunade said turning to walk as Kakashi and Naruto followed.

Sakura heard their footsteps and then a distant slamming of a door as they were now gone. She sat on the bed in the corner of the room. She sat in the dark. She looked around the small cell. She could easily smash the wall, or rip the bars off. But she wouldn't and Tsunade knew that as well which is why she wasn't placed in a special cell that could neutrilize her chakra and stop her from getting out.

There she was. Held as a prisoner in her own home town. Locked away like some felon. She sighed. Perhaps she was one. Afterall, she left the country knowing full well the consequences. She layed down on the bed and stared up at the concrete ceiling. That was when she began thinking of him. She began thinking back to the last image of him. He was all that was on her mind. She put her hands behind her head and contined to look up at the ceiling.

She went from a nice and comfy home where she would fall asleep in a warm bed everynight with the one she loved. She now layed in a dirty cell in a jail which was cold and smelled really bad. She sighed. She missed it.. she missed him. But she was home now, wasn't she? Wasn't this where she wanted to be, where she longed to be after he broke her heart. Why did she want to go back, why did she want to leave her friends again for him.. for the one who broke her heart..for the one she loved..

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He stared at the empty space beside him. He had layed there for about twenty minutes now. He remembered waking up to her face. He missed that. He missed her. Why did he have to go and ruin things, ruin the one true, honest thing he had ever had. He finally got up and got dressed. The leader wanted to see him, he was informed earlier. He knew it wouldn't be good, he knew he would be scolded for what he had done and how he had let her go. Then again, he was punishing himself for letting her go, he could feel the punishment.. for once. For once he could actually feel..emotionally. He felt the heartache, the pain. This was all new to him, this was all something he had never experienced before. Not even when he killed his entire family.

He grabbed the black book and put it in his pocket as he exited his room. His long Akatsuki cloak gliding over the ground as he walked. Finally, he arrived at his room. He opened the door and went in. It was dark, pitch black like always. Itachi saw Pein sitting in his usual chair in the centre of the room. However, Konan wasn't at his side this time.

"Welcome, Itachi." he said looking up at the man walking into the room. "You know why you're here." he said as Itachi didn't respond. "Why did you get rid of her. Why did you bring her back to Konoha. We had a deal Itachi. You said you would train her to her full potential so that we could use her, so that she could be ready for us to take that bloodline and make it our own. Why did you bring her back, why didn't you follow through on our deal!" Pein said angrily, now standing.

Itachi continued to stand there just looking at him. He could've swore he heard another voice in the room, but he only saw Pein and he could only sense Pein's chakra presence. Pein then appeared directly in front of Itachi. "I'm talking to you Uchiha." He said in a threatening tone. Itachi looked into the mans eyes. His eyes were made up of a number of concentric circles around the pupil, each different colours.

Itachi wasn't threatened or scared by him. "Answer me." Pein commanded more annoyed. Itachi reached into his pocket and grabbed the book. He put it against Pein's chest, not taking his eyes off of him at all. "No more." Itachi said as Pein took the book from his hands. Itachi then turned to leave.

" Why not? Don't tell me you care for the woman?" Pein said with a smirk. Itachi stopped. Pein began laughing. "You do, don't you. The great Itachi Uchiha actually has a heart. " he said provoking Itachi to do something. Itachi began walking again. "You know I'm going to send people to get her back, whether you like it or not." Pein said turning and walking up to his seat. Itachi exited the room slamming the door behind him.

He entered his own room moments later as he took off his cloak and walked over to his desk. Sitting down he sighed as he took off the Konoha headband with a scratch through it and he ran his fingers through his hair as he gripped his hand and put his elbows on the desk and and rested his head on his hands.

He then reached up and grabbed a book from the shelf as he opened it to a mark page and began to read. He stopped half way through closing his eyes. It was getting worse, his sight. His sight was affected constantly by his use of the magekyo. He re-opened them as he began to read again. He couldn't concentrate fully, he was still thinking about her.

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"Are you sure it's this way." he asked again for the fifth time. She slowly nodded. "Yes, I'm positive. I can sense the chakra ever since that day. Are you sure you're ready?" she asked looking up at him. He nodded. They continued walking towards their destination. The man with the black hair had determination and hate burning deep within his eyes.

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Sakura woke up as she slowly got out of the bed and stretched. She walked over to the mirror in the cell as she looked at herself. Did she gain weight? It looked like it. She suddenly didn't feel well. She turned for the toilet and threw up. She sighed wiping her mouth. Must be the prison food, she tried to convince herself, but it had been happening for a while. She fixed her hair. She turned around and saw that a sleeve was poking out from under her pillow. She walked over and fixed it. She had taken her Akatsuki outfit off a few days ago and put it under her pillow. She was now wearing some of her old clothes, thanks to Ino who had brought them by.

She sighed as she looked out the window at the sunrays comming through. She then heard a door open and footsteps appraoch her cell. She turned around to see a familar smiling face. "Ohiyo Naruto." Sakura said as Naruto stood on the other side of the bars with a paper bag in his hand. "Morning Sakura-chan!!" Naruto said as he held out the paper bag. "I brought you your breakfast." Sakura walked over to him and took the bag from him. "Arigatou Naruto." she said as she pulled the cell door to the side and Naruto entered the cell with her and she put the door back. They both sat on the bed as Sakura opened the bag and began pulling out some rice cakes and cereal.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Naruto finally spoke up. "What was it like?" he asked looking at her. She finished the last bite of her ricecake as she looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You know..the Akatsuki. What was it like?" he asked once more. "Oh.." she said putting the bag on the floor. "Well..not as bad as you think. They were actually..pretty cool people. I mean hanging out with them was just like being with friends." she said with a shrug.

"Oh.. are they better than us?" he asked looking at her. "Absolutly not." she replied with a smile. "No one could ever replace you Naruto." she said as he smiled back at her. "Why did you leave Sakura.." he asked quietly. Sakura's smile faded. She didn't know what to say. She knew that he knew that she left because she thought she was too weak and just in everyone's way. " I was selfish. I'm sorry." she said as her head dropped and she looked down at the ground.

Naruto outstretched his arm and placed his hand on her shoulder causing her to look up at him. "Sakura, it's okay. I forgive you. Promise to never leave me again.." he said with a smile as she returned the smile and slowly nodded her head, hopefully she would never leave again..would she? They talked for a few more hours before Naruto stayed past visiting hours and he had to leave. With a quick hug Naruto left, leaving Sakura alone in her dark cell once more.

Sitting on the bed she sighed as she leaned her head against the back of the concrete wall thinking..about him.

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He sat there. Emotionless and quiet. He continuously stared at the book for hours without moving. He wondered when Pein would send for people to retrieve Sakura, and who he would send. But most of all, he wondered what would happen once she was brought back. However, he knew full well what would happen.. what they would do to her. He couldn't let it happen..he couldn't let them do that to her.

But what could he do, stop them and betray the Akatsuki, that would make everyone his enemy. He wouldn't stand a chance against all of them had they chose to go after him and kill him. It was either he risk his life to save hers and she might possibly be killed, or sit around and do nothing and let her be killed anyway.

He finally let out a sigh and dropped his head holding it with his hands. What was he going to do...

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TWO MONTHS LATER

Day after day, after day. Sakura sat in the cell rotting. She had gained more weight, she was never out practising and training and she just ate all day and sat in her cell, throwing up afterwards. Naruto would visit as much as he could, but between missions and training it was hard for him to be there between visiting hours, which weren't that long. She sighed as she played with her hair, it had grown a bit since her time spent in jail. It had been two months already, not like she wanted to keep track but she was reminded everyday by Naruto who complained about it. Tsunade had been constantly fighting the elders trying to convince them to let Sakura before, so far, no luck.

She didn't blame her, she didn't blame anyone except for herself. It was because of her that she was in this prison. She stood up from her sitting position on the bed as something fell. She turned around and saw that it was her Akatsuki uniform. She bent over and picked it up. She looked at it remembering her times with them. She held it close to her as she could still smell his scent on it from when he carried her to Konoha that day. She sat down on the bed with the uniform in her hand and the cloak laying beside her. She thought back to him..she rememberd his smell, his body laying next to hers... his eyes.. the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her..the way he loved her.

She could feel her eyes start to water as she remembered what he had did and how he had used her. Tears rolled down her face as she threw the uniform across the cell hitting the other wall. She watched it fall and notice something slip out of the pocket. She got up and bent down picking up the folded piece of paper. She sat back on the bed and wiped her tears as she slowly opened it.

Dear Kokoro,

I don't know what's happening to me. This feeling inside.. it's getting stronger. At first I thought it was nothing, I thought it may have been the overuse of my eyes causing some strange side effect. Everytime I see her, everytime I look into her eyes and feel her presence near I feel.. safe, I feel warm.. I feel like she's the only one I want to be with. I want that feeling around all the time, the feeling of warmth and comfort. This feeling makes me never want to be apart from her, and when I am.. I am missing her every minute and long for the precise moment when she returns to me.. when she returns to my embrace. I don't know what this feeling is..I've never had it before, is this what they call love? Yes, that's it.. love. I feel love for this woman, I feel love for her. For her smile, her eyes, her unique pink hair..for her. I've never experienced this before, although there was the feelings I once had for my brother..but it's not the same, I can tell. I want to feel her.. I want to feel her touch, and her skin on mine. I want to lay with her, and wake up to her face. This thing.. the task that I am to preform for Pein, I do not think I can continue, at first I saw it to be no problem, I thought I could do this. It would just be another mission for me. But I never expected this, I never expected to fall in love. How could I fall in love. Shinobi do not fall in love, especially ones who kill their entire family, but I cannot help it. With her, all I can do is be in love. It's the effect she has on me. I have decided that I will not continue with this experiement for Pein, however I will update the progress book in case he decides to look for it or ask for it until the right time comes when I tell him I can no longer continue with the task.. or until I can safely get her away. This is all so new to me.. this.. love. I've never known what it was like before.. but I like it. I love it, I love her.

Sakura could feel her eyes beginning to swell with tears as she read it. She then noticed some more writing near the bottom of the page. She could tell it was added in after the previous entry because it was written with a different pen.

This is a dreadful day. I didn't expect this to happen, I didn't expect any of this to happen. How could I have been so stupid as to leave that book laying around, that book filled with lies. It was only used to fool and confuse him. She was never supposed to read it, she was never supposed to know. And now, now I know I've lost her. She told me that she hated me...after she said that I felt something, it wasn't like before.. it wasn't love, it was something else. Something bad, it was like a pain, but it wasn't physical. It made me...sad, yes.. sad. Something I had never experienced before. How could this woman have soo much effect on me in so little time. How could I experience these emotions now..these emotions of sadness and remorse. Why is it I cannot get my mind off of her, I'm always thinking about her. Unfortunatly, things will change now. She's going home, I'm making sure of that. She does not belong here, it's too dangerous and I'm afraid that I will not be able to protect her for much longer if she stays and he gets a hold of her. I love her, I always will. I know I will regret this day, the day I take her away from myself.

The tears were uncontrollable now. She couldn't stop herself from crying. She understood now, she now knew why he had did it. He really did love her, he really did mean everything he said. And then she told him she hated him. It was a lie.. she didn't hate him, she loved him. She cared about him a lot. She put the note down and looked around. She needed to see him, she needed to be with him. She needed to. She looked around, tonight she would leave. Tonight she would go see him. She had to break out, and she would.

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Itachi stood in the dark hallway as the other members were gathered in the living room discussing an important mission that was about to happen. It was the mission he hoped would never come. They were going for her tonight. Going to get her back so that horrible things could be done to her. No, he wouldn't allow that. Clutching his hand into a fist he turned and headed to his room. Once inside he began gathering things together, all his weapons and any other necesary things that he would need. He threw on his cloak and took one more look around at his room before exiting shutting the door behind him. He walked down the hall towards the entrance of the mansion.

Thankfully, no one had spotted him, or so he thought. He exited going through the hallway as he started off for the forest but stopped. He felt a strong chakra presence behind him. "What do you want?" he asked facing one way as he spoke to the person behind him. The shark faced man smirked as he held his samehada to the side of him. "You're really love her, don't you." he asked looking at the back of his partner and friend. "Hn." Itachi replied. "Have you come to stop me ? "he said as Kisame simply laughed. "Even if I tried, I don't think I could stop you." Kisame said with a smirk. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Kisame asked seriously. Itachi stood there for a minute before nodding and answering. "Yes." " You know they'll come for you." Kisame said as Itachi nodded. Kisame sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing." Kisame said before dissapearing.

Itachi stood there for a few more seconds before he too dissapeared.

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"How much longer?" he asked as they continued forward. "About another day's walk." she responded trying hard to keep up. He sighed as they continued forward, he couldn't wait any longer.

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He continued forward at full speed, he wanted to get there before them and get as far away as possible afterwards. He was actually in a rush this time and moving, fast. He wanted to see her, he needed her. Continuing forward he leaped from treebranch to treebranch anxious to see her face, and her flowing pink hair.

He suddenly stopped as he sensed someone ahead. Someone familar. He scowled as he knew who it was. Sasuke. Jumping down he landed right in front of Sasuke and his female companion.

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks as he stared his brother in the eyes. His face turned angry as he clutched his hand into a fist. They stared at each other for a few moments before Itachi finally spoke up. "If you're going to stand there staring at me, I will have to continue on. I'm kind of in a hurry. " he stated emotionlessly. "The only place you're going is hell!" Sasuke yelled unsheathing his sword as he charged forward at Itachi and slashing continuously. Itachi stood there holding a kunai lazily as he blocked all of Sasuke's attacked. "You're weak brother, why do you still insist on facing me when you know you're going to lose. " Itachi said catching Sasuke in the stomache with his fist and pushing him back further away from him.

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Sakura slipped on the last of her Akatsuki uniform. She looked outside the bars as she saw that the guards were both destracted. She turned around and faced the back wall of the cell. With a running start she charged forward, his fist pulled back as she thrusted it forward and the whole back wall fell apart leaving a gaping hole. Sakura smirked and leapt out of the hole. The guards ran towards her cell and saw that she had escaped.

---

The guards sounded the alarm as ANBU all appeared there in a split second. Recieving the report they took off after her except for one who reported to the Hokage.

Tsunade was in her office as the ANBU appeared and she sighed. "I know." she said as the ANBU remained quiet. Tsunade stood staring out of her office window as she saw Sakura head for the forest and the ANBU in pursuit after her. It was then she saw some of Sakura's comrades taking off after her as well. Naruto in the lead. "What are you doing Sakura.." Tsunade said to herself as she watched.

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Sakura ran as fast as she could dodging weapons while she ran. She looked over her shoulder as she saw all the ninja running after her. Including her friends. She knew she would never make it far enough with them hott on her tail, she had to do something. She reached into her cloak and pulled out several bombs attatched to wires as she hopped from tree to tree dragging the string of bombs behind her. She made a hand sign and waited until they all got close enough and she exploded them. She turned and continued running, full speed. Sakura looked behind her and saw that they were still following her, but she could see that Naruto was in the lead.

She didn't like this. She continued forward thinking of something to do. She threw dozens of kunai's and shurikans at them but it was no use, they dodged and deflected all of them. She stopped on a tree branch and made some hand signs as a huge tital wave appeared and headed straight for them, a technique she learned from Kisame. She smirked as she continued forward that was sure to slow them down, for now.

Several minutes later she looked behind her as she sensed them getting closer. She sighed, except at least now the ANBU were stopped. She had no choice, turning she stopped on a branch and closed her eyes, once she reopened them they were glowing green and suddenly all the ninja stopped. She looked at her friends. Naruto, Sai, Neji, Kakashi, Hinata, Kiba, Ino, Shikamaru and Tenten were all frozen. She felt bad but she had to do this. They all felt sudden pains at the back of their necks as they soon lost conciousness. Sakura's eyes returned back to normal as she looked at them laying on the ground unconcious, however she knew this wouldn't last long. She turned and dissapeared.

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Sasuke glared at Itachi. "You're going to die here today." he said as he held his katana to the side. Itachi just looked at him. Sasuke charged forward slashing at Itachi again, but this time, he was more calm and his attacks were more co-ordinated. He tried hard to keep his cool as he attacked his brother. Itachi just continuously deflected and blocked his attacks with a single kunai. They bothed back and forth attacking and blocking. Itachi had chose not to do anything dangerous..yet.

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Sakura stopped on a branch to catch her breath. Why was she so easily out of breath? This had never happend to her before. She continued forward when she ducked. A kunai whizzed past her head. Sakura stopped on a branch and turned around where she saw someone standing a few branches behind her, glaring at her. Sakura looked at this person, surprised. She didn't move. "Hinata..?" Sakura finally spoke.

Hinata looked up at Sakura. She had a look in her eyes that she never had before. Without warning she jumped forward pulling out a kunai attacking Sakura. Sakura, obviously surprised at this, quickly drew a kunai and blocked her attacks. "Hinata, what are you doing?" she yelled as they jumped to the ground and Sakura slid across coming to a stop.

They both stood looking at each other. Hinata gripped her kunai tightly glaring at Sakura. "For so long I've watched as you've hurt Naruto. All he's ever done is love you and take care of you. Then you leave him and put him in so much pain, I've never seen him like that before. And I never want to again, so I'm going to eliminate the problem.. " Hinata said as she looked up at Sakura. "I'm going to kill you!" Hinata yelled charging forwards attacking Sakura.

Sakura's eyes widened. She never knew Hinata could have this much hate, and want to kill someone. Especially her. Sakura blocked her attacks and pushed her back. Hinata brought her hands together. "Byakugan!" she yelled as veins protruded around her eyes and her eyes changed to an opaque colour with no visable pupil. She could now see Sakura's whole chakra system. Her expression changed only slightly when she saw her chakra, there was lots.. and it was somehow.. different. None the less Hinata charged forwrd and began attacking Sakura's chakra system trying to close off the system itself.

Sakura knew about this and what she could do. She moved from left to right doing everything to avoid contat from Hinata's hands. She didn't want to hurt Hinata, but she knew that Hinata wanted to hurt her. It was so unlike her, so unlike Hinata to do this. But then again, Sakura left and joined the Akatsuki, so nothing was like it used to be.. nothing.

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Author's notes: Well there you go. Next chapter. Nothing special to say. REVIEW ! I'll be answering reviews next chapter !