A/N: Okay. So I FINALLY finished re-working this chapter for the eighth time. For those of you who really wanted Itachi back, I've buckled under the pressure. He's here in spirit, as it were. Just a warning: there's a lot of confusion on a lot of people's behalf in this chapter. Sakura and Naruto, mostly. Oh, and Naruto has really good self-control when it comes to some things. Things to watch out for: very awkward moments for Naruto, Itachi trying to take over Sakura's head, and a really pretty dream.

Legal Stuffiness: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters therein. Kishimoto Masashi, sole proprietor.

Dog Days

Last time...

"Do you remember that night, three years ago, when you left?" He nodded. She swallowed audibly. "Just before you knocked me out so that I wouldn't scream, you said something. Do you remember?" Fresh tears were drying on her face. When he spoke again, his voice nearly faltered.

"Hai. I said, 'thank you.'"

"What did you mean?"

Of all the questions she could have asked, this was the one he was utterly unprepared to answer. He knew the answer, of course, but was he ready to say that out loud? For a long moment, he chewed on his bottom lip, wondering how he should answer her. Usually, he would tell her not to ask him things like that. But, as he had pointed out to himself earlier, he would have to try to be a different person from now on. "I…"

Chapter 6: Who Do You Love?

"Something'swrongwithSakura-chanyouhavetocomerightaway!" Naruto yelled as he barreled into Tsunade's office, the befuddled Hokage staring at him slack-jawed.

"Breathe, baka." She stood up and walked around her desk, laying a hand on his chest. Chakra flared, and soon his breathing steadied. "Now, you were saying?" Naruto's face held all of the worry he felt for Sakura. His heard still felt like it was going to explode, even though Tsunade had used her medical jutsu to calm him down. His impatience got the better of him as he looked at her completely calm face. He looked at her and huffed, then waved his arms exaggeratedly in the air.

"I already told you! There's something wrong with Sakura-chan! She collapsed." He chewed at his bottom lip for a moment, then continued. "She's scared to let Sasuke near her, and she has a fever. I don't know what to do!" His breathing started to pick up again, and he was glancing wildly around, for something, anything that might help him. In the very back of his mind, he realized that he was panicking, but there was nothing that he could do to stop it.

The woman's brows drew down. "Look, chibi…give her aspirin, and keep Sasuke away from her. You know I have much to do. If she needs medical attention, call Shizune. I love Sakura like she was my own daughter, but even she knows that I can't go running off like that." He stared at her in disbelief. How could she be so unfeeling? His hands balled into fists, and he started to shake. She saw this, and sighed. Suddenly, her voice rose to a frightening pitch and she yelled, "Shikamaru!" An instant later, the Chuunin was standing, or rather lounging, against her desk, Naruto having barely seen him come in through the window.

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to go with Naruto. He is to retrieve Shizune and take her to the Uchiha compound, where she will examine Sakura. You will not, under any circumstances, speak of what you see there. After Shizune is finished, I want you to ask her a few questions." When the dark-haired young man raised a slim eyebrow questioningly, she smiled and said, "I want them to be open questions, Shikamaru. None of your devious bullshit. Ask her outright about her condition. You should be able to tell me, based upon her answers, what is wrong."

He balked. "I'm not a medic, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade leaned closer to him, and his eyes widened as she did, a fearful expression on his face. "No, I don't think that this is anything that has to do with her medical health. Her body is most likely having a psycho-somatic reaction to what's going on in her head." Naruto blinked in confusion.

"Ne, Shikamaru, translate…please?" He asked, frowning almost desperately.

In a rather annoyed tone, the Chuunin smirked and said, "It means that her body is reacting to some kind of problem in her head." He looked back at the blonde woman who was still leaning toward him. "I'll go. Can't promise great results or anything, but I'll go." Raising an eyebrow again, and speaking so quietly that Naruto could barely hear him, he said to her, "Have you ever thought of wearing a shirt under that thing?" Shikamaru indicated the more than ample cleavage that she was revealing. Naruto wondered if the boy had a death wish. He could see Tsunade tensing, and could almost feel the chakra starting to gather inside her for a crushing blow that would most likely send Shikamaru out of her office by the way he had come, though more forcefully than he would like.

Instead, she only stepped closer to the Chuunin and growled, "We'll discuss that later, when you come back." Naruto knew he wasn't supposed to hear that, or Shikamaru's last comment, so when Tsunade turned around, and had a rather devious smile on her face, he had to keep his face studiously confused and impatient. If her tone was any indication, Naruto felt sorry for Shikamaru. That tone wasn't an angry one, but it was much worse than that, and from the look in the lazy Chuunin's eyes, he knew it. As they left to find Shizune, Naruto spoke not a word. He didn't have to. Just the way Shikamaru was walking mechanically beside him was enough to tell him that he was not looking forward to going back to the Hokage tower.

"Sasuke?"

"Ma, ma. I'm trying to think of how to say it." Sakura watched him as he spoke, head bent low, mind obviously working to find some satisfying combination of words. It was apparently something very important, because he was frowning, not looking at her, and his foot was twitching nervously. "I…I wanted to thank you, because you tried to stop me. It showed that you care, and it made me…glad to know that you did." That was not what she had expected. She expected…well, she didn't know what she had expected, but it wasn't that.

Sakura smiled at him slightly. "You know I'll always be your friend, Sasuke."

He gave a small start, staring at her. As he allowed a smile to come to his face, she heard something strange. "Sakura…" She jumped. Where did that come from? Her eyes searched the room wildly. "Sakura…" Sasuke looked at her worriedly. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she had jumped up from the bed, and started checking windows and doors, trying to find the source of the voice, which was all too familiar to her. Then, she heard her inner voice. This is bad news, honey. You know who that is, don't you? Answering, she hissed in her own head, Of course I know, you idiot. I just want to know where he is!

"Sakura, come to me…"

"No!" She said aloud, not knowing that she did so as she threw the door to the closet open. "Damn it! Where are you? Come out! You don't have me chained up now! Come out here, so I can kick you into the next millennium!" She yelled into the air, turning around and looking every which way. Her eyes settled on Sasuke. "Finally decided to come out, did you?" His eyes widened, and she stood there for a moment, staring at him. No, darling. That's not—

Shut up! That's him! He's come out so that I can finally get rid of him. I'll get my revenge for what he did to me!

But that's not him!

Of course it is!

No. Take a close look at him. When did Itachi ever look that scared? That is not him. You know this boy, don't you, Sakura?

All this time, Sakura was standing stock still in the middle of the room, staring hard at Sasuke, who was growing more worried and frightened by the moment.

Hai…I do. It's…Sasuke! Itachi's brother, Sasuke. I grew up with him. I used to love him.

Used to?

I don't know anymore. He's my friend. I don't want to hurt him. Why do I want to hurt him?

Then, the voice that had been speaking to her from nowhere came again, but now, it was worse, because she could see him, too. There was Itachi, kunai drawn, kneeling on the bed, directly behind where Sasuke sat. The steely blade was inching toward his neck. Her eyes widened in horror as she heard Itachi say, "He'll die. Either I'll kill him, or you will. But he'll die."

"No! Don't hurt him!"

"Why don't you do it for me? Then we can pick up where we left off." His tone became low, and it sent unwanted shivers through her. "Come back to me, Sakura. Kill him and come back to me."

She stared hard at Itachi, who now had the kunai at Sasuke's throat. "I—will—not—kill—him." Her voice grated out as Sasuke's mouth hung open in shock. "I will not do what you want me to." That's right. You tell him. Now, you just have to stay strong, Sakura. You have to stay strong. "I won't…" Suddenly, she felt something from the center of her simply burst open. "I won't kill him, Itachi! I wish it was me that killed you instead of him! You bastard!" Tears sprang forth in her eyes, and she fell to her knees. "You can't make me do it. You can't make me! He's one of the most precious people in the world to me, and you're nothing but a sick, power-hungry bastard! Get away from him!" She screamed suddenly, and launched herself at Itachi.

Naruto's heart was in his throat when his sensitive ears picked up Sakura's scream from something like a kilometer away. "Screw walking!" He formed the hand seal for a teleportation jutsu, and found himself in the guest room in Sasuke's house. What he saw was beyond comprehension. Sakura was flying though the air at Sasuke, hands outstretched, and looked like she was going to tackle him. Before he could move to act, he saw her fly right over Sasuke's shoulder, and begin grappling with an invisible assailant. Naruto's voice seemed to have broken. He barely got out a quiet "Oh, shit."

Shizune and Shikamaru appeared with small puffs of smoke on either side of him, and they all simply stared for a moment. Sasuke was the first to recover. He turned around and carefully took hold of Sakura's wrists, and wrestled her to the mattress. Naruto looked at Shizune. "Do something!" he croaked. She ran over to where Sakura's head was, and a medical jutsu surrounded her hand, then sunk into Sakura's forehead. Instantly, Sakura calmed, and blinked slowly up at Sasuke.

Cocking her head to one side, she spoke. Her voice was slurred. "Sas-ke, what're you doin'? I don't know that I like you on me. Get off." She planted her index finger in the middle of his chest and lifted him off of her easily, pushing him to one side. She sat up slowly, and turned to the rest of them. Her eyes locked on Naruto's face, and she smiled happily. "Narutoooo. You're back…I was wondering when you'd get your little ass back here." Naruto blinked. He looked at Shizune, who was smiling broadly.

"What did you do to her?" he asked accusingly. His hackles were starting to rise. What was this, some kind of joke?

"I...re-routed a few things temporarily." Her eyes never left Sakura as the girl got up from the bed. "Right now, I'd say that the best way to describe what she's experiencing is a cross between her being drunk, and high on sodium pentetol." Naruto wanted to hit Shizune. Especially when Sakura wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed him until he thought his ribs were going to break.

"I was scared." She looked up at him, an awkwardly placed frown on her face. "I saw him. He came back, Narrrruto. Don't leave. He isn't around when you're here." He had no idea what she was talking about, but she was looking up at him from where her chin rested on his chest, that frown twisting her lips downward. He glanced over at Sasuke. The Uchiha was still rather stunned.

"Sasuke, could you come with me while Shizune and Shikamaru talk to her?" He tried to disentangle himself from Sakura, but her grip was very strong. "Ne, Sasuke? Some help?"

Sasuke was now smirking slightly, but he did move toward him from his position near the bed. "Oh, some ANBU you are. Can't handle a drunk girl?" He shot Sasuke a venomous glare for that. Let him have Sakura crushing the life out of him and looking up at him like she was, and then they would see who could keep their cool. As it was, Naruto knew that no one else saw what her hands were doing. Drunk? High? Oh, he believed it. Sakura's left hand was under his shirt, stroking the skin of his lower back, and the other one, well…let's just say that it was somewhere it shouldn't be.

Sakura's right hand squeezed, and then Naruto began to blush profusely. He looked pointedly at Sasuke, who was just looking on in amusement, then at Shizune, who glanced down and behind him. She bit her lip, apparently to keep from laughing. Shikamaru, when he looked at him, was chuckling silently. "Oh, you bastards...Sakura, Shizune is going to examine you now to see if you're sick. I can't be in here."

She pouted. "No. You have to stay."

He shut his eyes tightly as her left hand started playing with the waistband of his pants. It took everything he had not to let his voice crack. "Sorry about this, Sakura-chan." He raised his left hand, and hit a pressure point in her shoulder, causing her left arm to go limp. She blinked in disbelief as she was pulled away from him by Sasuke, who reversed what Naruto had done. "I'll be right outside with Sasuke if you need me, okay?" She nodded sullenly as Sasuke handed her off to Shikamaru, who was laughing openly now. Both he and Sasuke stepped out of the room, and he leaned against the wall.

"What the—" Sasuke started to ask, but Naruto cut him off.

"I thought she was…she loves you, doesn't she?" He asked, his heart still pounding and his face still very red.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke was rather puzzled.

"She…" he took a deep breath. "She grabbed my ass!" Sasuke's eyes widened almost comically. "Damned Shizune. She's a trouble-maker." Sasuke laughed quietly, and started dragging him down the hallway. "Where are we going? I told her we'd be right outside!" His agitation was growing the longer his friend was silent.

When they got to the kitchen and Sasuke got out cups and the kettle for tea, he set them down and said, "Now you know how I feel." Naruto stared at him for a moment, not comprehending. "Fangirls, Naruto. Fangirls."

"Uh, no. This is Sakura-chan we're talking about. And I've never had a fangirl in my life!" The Uchiha eyed him for a moment, an amused smile on his lips. That smile spoke volumes that all said how very wrong he was. "What? Name one."

"Hyuuga Hinata." That amused smile spread, and Naruto wanted to hit him, then realized what he said.

"What?" His voice cracked. Damn. "No way! You can't tell me that! She's…she's…Hinata!" Then, he realized the real issue here. He waved a hand to dismiss the idle conversation. "Sasuke, I need to ask you something, seriously." He looked Sasuke in the eye. "Do you love her?" Sasuke started, then shut his eyes tightly, shaking his head.

"Not that way, dobe. Never in that way. I care about her, more than almost anyone else. But not the way you do." His friend was full of surprises. Naruto had not realized that Sasuke knew about how he felt for Sakura. He sat heavily in one of the kitchen chairs. Stunned beyond belief, he simply watched Sasuke making the tea. The Uchiha looked over at him again. "What's wrong?"

"She couldn't like me that way."

Sasuke laughed. "You sure about that? Girls like Sakura don't just squeeze your ass for no reason. Especially if they're under the influence. Besides, how else do you explain that you're the only one she'll let near her without thorough examination and weapons check beforehand?" Their conversation was cut short when Shizune came into the room.

Naruto stood so quickly that the chair he had been sitting in clattered to the floor. "How is she?"

"She's fine, except for a little strain to her chakra pathways. Shikamaru is talking to her now." Naruto sagged where he stood. Relief washed over him. Shizune took his teacup from the table and sipped. "Naruto-niisan, I need to tell you something." He blinked at her momentarily, and she said, "Just for safety's sake, I think you should stay with Sakura as much as possible. And Sasuke, you should try to keep your distance." When the two boys looked at her confusedly, she pursed her lips. "She kept saying that Itachi came back. She thought that Sasuke was Itachi."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "She was ranting, screaming as if Itachi was there. The whole time, she was looking straight at me. I believe it." As he said this, he frowned into his tea. "I guess we'll have to wait and see what Shikamaru says?" He looked worried. Naruto didn't blame him. He was worried too. They all sat in silence for nearly twenty minutes, waiting for Shikamaru to emerge. When he finally did, Naruto all but tackled the man.

"What's wrong with her?"

Shikamaru frowned. "I don't know. This is more than I know how to deal with. And I only know two people qualified to work with this sort of situation. Before I get them, I need to talk to the Hokage." With that, the man disappeared in a soft puff of smoke.

Sasuke looked questioningly at Naruto. The blonde shinobi said, "She told him not to tell anyone what he saw. So, until he reports to her, we'll just have to wait." Shizune excused herself, and left them alone in the kitchen. "Ne, Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

Shikamaru walked in the door, a bell ringing as he did so. A bright, feminine voice said, "Ohayo, Shika! What can I do for you?" When he bypassed all of the flowers in the shop, Ino frowned. "What's wrong?" He stopped at the counter, and leaned in close.

"I need you and your father to come with me to the Uchiha compound, Ino. It's urgent." She started, but removed her apron. After going into another room for a moment, she came back with her mother so that she could mind the shop, walked to another door, and opened it.

"Otosan! Get down here!" Shikamaru cringed. He had forgotten for a moment how loud Ino could scream. There was the sound of heavy footsteps falling on the stairs, and soon Yamanaka Inoichi was standing in the door, looking at him appraisingly.

"Ohayo, Yamanaka-san. I'm sent to get you and Ino, and go to the Uchiha compound immediately. Please follow me." He turned and left the shop, Ino and her father following. Fifteen minutes later, they were standing in the room where he had left Sakura a few hours earlier. Sakura was sitting in the bed, covered to her waist by the blankets and propped on pillows, reading. "Sakura-chan, Ino and her father are here. I need you to cooperate with them."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You mean you're going to let them get in my head?" Marking her page with a scrap of paper, she said with a wry smile, "I don't know if you want to do that. It's already a little crowded in here," Sakura pointed at her head then sighed. "I guess you can go ahead. Things can't get any worse." Shikamaru leaned against the wall, waiting.

"So, otosan, how are we going to do this?" Ino asked her father, who was looking at Sakura. "Otosan?"

He turned to her, a strange look in his eyes. "I don't want you to go in there by yourself. We'll use the new jutsu." Her eyes widened, and she shook her head.

"It's never been tested on a human subject, Otosan. Please, I don't want to fry her brain." She pleaded with him, but he looked to Sakura, who merely nodded, saying that her brain was already pretty bad off. Ino turned to Sakura. "If this hurts you, I'm sorry, okay?" Her friend nodded, and Shikamaru watched as both of the Yamanaka came to stand in front of Sakura.

Ino positioned herself in front of her father, making her seal for the Shintenshin. Her father did the same, and placed his above hers. "This might hurt." Inoichi said, his mouth set in a hard line. An instant later, both father and daughter slumped to the floor, and Sakura went rigid. Ino began speaking through Sakura, letting him know what was going on.

"It's a mess in here, Shika. She's got two personalities already, but there's another one in here now. Shit. It isn't just his personality. His memory is in here, too. It's going to take longer than this jutsu lasts to get all of it out. I'd say about six times, and we should be able to get rid of everything." He nodded, and told her to get started. Five minutes later, Ino and her father got back to their feet.

"That girl has got some serious problems." Inoichi said, shaking his head and jabbing a finger in Sakura's direction. "Even once we've got all of Itachi out of her head, she's still going to need counseling."

Ino frowned, looking at nothing in particular. "I know I shouldn't have looked. I saw what he did to her. I saw everything." Her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath. Then she went over to Sakura, who was still recovering from the effects of the jutsu. "Sakura, honey, if you ever need to talk about it, or just hit something, come and talk to me, and I'll see about finding us a punching bag. Chouji's usually really good for that." The pink-haired girl smiled up at her. "It's good to have you back, forehead girl." Turning to the spiky haired Chuunin, she said, "We'll have to come back tomorrow. Make sure those idiots don't get her worked up."

Both Yamanaka left, and Shikamaru turned to Sakura. "So, he's still kicking around in there, huh?" She nodded. "Well, try to keep your cool. No more tackling Sasuke. Might want to try to keep your hands to yourself where Naruto is concerned, too." That made the girl blush profusely.

"Hey, I was kinda out of it! You can't blame that on me!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Right. Later, Sakura." He used his teleportation jutsu to get the hell out of there, because it was starting to freak him out.

The boys sat in the kitchen, drinking their tea. Not long after Shikamaru's departure, Sakura stumbled into the kitchen, a blanket wrapped around herself. "That looks nice. Can I have some?" The girl asked as she plunked herself down in one of the chairs surrounding the table. Sasuke rose to get more tea, and Naruto kept glancing at Sakura from the corner of his eye. She seemed…tense. When a steaming cup was placed in front of her, she smiled weakly and looked around the kitchen. After seemingly taking in the room, she fixed Sasuke with her startlingly bright eyes. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. If I scared you, I'm sorry."

He waved a hand dismissively. "No problem. I'm going to keep my distance now, so that it doesn't happen again." He turned to Naruto. "What was the distance we discussed?"

"No closer than two meters."

"Ah, yes. I'm going to try to stay away from you, and not get closer than two meters away. For the most part, I'll be in a separate room, just in case. If I'm needed, I'll come, but for now, I'll be out of sight." He smiled slightly, almost a smirk, which Naruto did not miss, but knew better than to comment on. If he had, surely, he would make a complete ass of himself. So he instead settled on glaring across the table at Sasuke, who merely smirked more clearly. The master of the house finished off his tea, and said, "I'll be in the library, if anyone needs me." Then, the young man took his leave.

Naruto saw Sakura almost wilt in her chair. She looked so much more relaxed now that Sasuke was not in the room that it took a lot for Naruto not to ask her what was wrong. She was intentionally not looking at him, he was sure, and it was bothering him. Her eyes remained fixed on the table top, and she sipped her tea with an expression that was completely blank. Naruto knew he was watching her openly now, but he couldn't help it. The scar on her neck was dark, and he understood why she would want to hide it, but he didn't agree with it at all. There seemed little he could do for her. Everyone else was taking care of that. Shizune would deal with Sakura's health, while Ino and her father would kick around in Sakura's head to get rid of any traces of Itachi.

Suddenly, she looked up at him and snapped, "Stop staring, baka." When he looked away, a hurt expression on his face, she said more carefully, "I'm sorry, Naruto. But you've been doing that for about five minutes straight."

He stared at her. Just like before, he really couldn't help it. She was a completely different person, but she wasn't. The contradiction was making his head spin, and he hoped that it didn't show on his face. Naruto reached out a hand and touched the purplish skin on her neck. "Does it hurt?" She nodded, and he drew his hand back. "Sorry." He looked away, and continued to sip his tea.

"It's all right, Naruto. This is only a small pain. I'm used to much worse, now." Her eyes moved from their accustomed spot on the table, coming to meet his as he looked at her. When he saw the lingering pain there, he had to clench his fists so that he did not grab at her and crush her to his chest. How much of Itachi was still in her head? What exactly had the bastard done to her? He still was unsure of the full extent of whatever torture he put her through, since Tsunade had not allowed him to see the reports. "So, I'm sure you know more of what's going on than I do. What's the plan?" Her voice jarred him out of his thoughts.

For a long moment, he merely scratched at the back of his head, then looked up at the ceiling, trying to formulate his explanation. Finally, he simply stopped trying. "I'm supposed to stay with you, and the teme's supposed to keep away. That's pretty much all I know." Sakura, of course, did not seem satisfied with this answer. He held his hands up in a defensive gesture. "Hey, don't kill me. I just work here."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. Clearly, she was unhappy with the fact that she wasn't privy to information that concerned her. Naruto smiled and said, "Hey, it's gonna be fine! Just think of this as a vacation. And…mental spring cleaning!" She raised an eyebrow at him threateningly. "Or, you could beat the crap out of me, whichever you prefer…" At that, Sakura actually smiled. That seemed to happen so rarely now that he was extremely glad that it was happening. She was strange now that she had come back, and even if she did trust him, he really had to wonder how much she did.

"I was told not to exert myself. Since when have I ever beat the crap out of you?"

He nodded. It was true that she had not ever succeeded in truly beating him up, but he thought that had more to do with the fact that he was like a cockroach in a way. He was damned hard to kill. Jiraiya and Tsunade both said that it was because he was too stubborn to die. He personally felt like it had something to do with the Kyuubi, though he knew full well that it hurt him every time he used the damned thing. Sakura's fist connected with his shoulder, again rudely pulling him out of his thoughts. "What was that for?" He whined indignantly.

"For spacing out. So are you supposed to be my babysitter now?"

"Don't think of it as me being a babysitter, Sakura. Look at it like we just get to spend a lot more time together, and you can work on your temper, and learn how not to pummel me." He took her teacup from her, then set it on the table. "Come on, and we'll get you cleaned up. You'll feel better." She allowed him to lead her down the hallway, and back to the bedroom she had been placed in. When he sat in a chair near the bathroom door, she seemed a little confused. "What?"

"Oh. Um, nothing." Her face was turning pink, and he saw a strange look in her eyes before she started rummaging in her duffle for something else to wear. As she did, he thought. She was blushing. He was sitting next to the door, and she had looked…confused. It took a long, long moment, but after that, the gears in his head meshed, and he realized what was going on. She had thought that he was going to watch her?ust what exactly had Itachi done to her?

Sakura walked past him into the bathroom, and shut the door, then he heard the shower running. Naruto leaned his head against the wall, and closed his eyes. His hearing was very good, as was his sense of smell, and his ears caught every sound, even with the running of the shower. The curtain being drawn aside as Sakura stepped into the shower had a grating sort of quality to it. Her feet stepping on the wet porcelain with small slapping noises reminded him of some of the better times he'd had as a child, playing in the rain puddles. But when he heard the soft sound of water drumming against skin, he wished that his ears weren't so sharp. Almost as if he were a bat, the sounds leant themselves to shapes, and he was getting a vague mental picture of what the shower looked like. It was about three feet wide, six feet long, and there in the middle of it was Sakura.

Unlike with actual eyesight, he could not look away. The image of her assaulted his senses, aided by the soft and mellow scent of jasmine that drifted out from under the door at him. When he tried covering his ears, the sound was only muffled, and the image was still there. Naruto tried to breathe through his mouth so that he didn't smell the petal-soft aroma of jasmine, but now he could taste it. He ground the heels of his hands into his ears, but it did no good. Sakura was singing in the shower, and the added sound only served to intensify the effect, and it was causing his body to react in a way that was totally inappropriate.

Finally, he just gave up on blocking it out. He simply sat there, in the chair, the ludicrously intense sensation of listening to the shower washing over him along with the beautiful smell of jasmine and another scent beneath that was just Sakura. His breathing began to quicken at the images in his head, and he blushed, feeling like a peeping tom. Of course, he knew better than to actually peep, because he knew that Sakura would break his arms, and legs before digging out his eyes, but this, he could not control. He also could not control the fact that he was starting to feel like the pants he was wearing were far more uncomfortable than they were a moment ago.

The water suddenly was cut off, and the image of Sakura naked in the shower left his head. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or annoyed. Whatever the case, he had to think fast so that he didn't end up in a very embarrassing situation when she came out of the bath. The door creaked open, and his first thought as he saw her come out was: Oh, crap. Sakura was wearing nothing but a dark blue towel. Naruto swallowed audibly, and watched as she moved to sit on the bed. He now saw that she was marked in other ways than just the scar around her neck.

Just where Sakura's shoulder met her neck, there was a large, rather dark bruise that was surrounded by teeth marks. The young woman ran a comb through her still-wet hair, humming softly to herself. It was a tune he did not know.

Sakura combed her hair, feeling the water from it dripping down her back. She could sense Naruto's eyes on her, but it was not an uncomfortable feeling. It had been different when Itachi looked at her, almost as if she were some kind of exciting new toy that he was waiting to play with. Now, with Naruto looking at her, she knew he would never look at her that way. She was his friend, and he would never think of her that way.

When she glanced over at him, she saw that he looked extremely uncomfortable. "Ne, Naruto, are you okay?" He nodded vigorously. Sakura's eyes narrowed, and she stood and walked over to him. "No you're not. You're practically hyper-ventilating." She performed a simple hand seal, and then put her hand on his chest, letting her chakra flow through him, finding every nook and cranny of him, looking for anything wrong. There were no abnormalities in his nervous system, or his skeletal system, and to her surprise, not even his digestive system (though she had always suspected him of having more than one stomach). But after a long moment, she realized what it was that was wrong with him, and her eyes widened.

Naruto was looking at her with abject fear on his face. He was totally mortified. She removed her hand from his chest and then smiled. "Naruto, calm down. It isn't like you were peeping." His face turned a dark crimson, and she sighed. "I'm not supposed to exert myself, so don't make me knock some sense into you."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan. It's just that my hearing is very good. Probably too good." She did not understand. What did his hearing have to do with anything? All he would have heard was the sound of the shower, and maybe her off-key rendition of a song her mother had taught her as a little girl.

"I still don't see what you're so upset about." It was beyond her how anyone could be so hot and bothered by hearing a shower run. "But if you're going to be so…jumpy, maybe I should give you a reason to be?" She said threateningly, though she was not feeling like hitting him. He shook his head vehemently at the suggestion, and she smiled. "Good. Now, I'm going to take a nap before I get dressed. Having Ino in my head really tired me out." She pulled him out of the chair, and tossed him onto the bed before lying down next to him. He started to get out of the bed, and she huffed in a very irritated way. "Stop squirming, Naruto. I left my teddy-bear at home, and you're the closest thing I have." She really didn't know what she was thinking, snuggling up to him.

He was warm, and his shoulder was the perfect pillow. It wasn't long before she fell asleep, and did not dream of anything that involved Itachi.

Sakura's dream…

The early morning light shone down on the green of the field, and she watched the breeze blow the tall grass. The smell of the greenery was all around her, and she breathed it in. The dew was soaking into her clothes as she walked through the chest-high sea of green, making the light cloth cling to her. In the middle of the field, she had seen a bright yellow sunflower, and was walking to it.

After what seemed like hours, her thin white dress was completely soaked, and was clinging to her most uncomfortably, but she had finally reached the bit of yellow she had seen in the distance. It was, in fact, not a sunflower. Standing in the middle of the open space in the center of the field of grass was Naruto. He was staring at the sun, his eyes catching the light. When she entered the small clearing, he turned to look at her. "Ohayo, Sakura-chan. Welcome."

"Where are we?" She asked, but was unable to look away from his face. He simply seemed so at peace here that she wasn't sure it was even a dream. It seemed too beautiful to be a dream, but more like a completely different universe, where nothing bad ever happened.

"It's your dream, Sakura. Why don't you tell me?" He said this teasingly, and sat on the ground, unzipping his jacket as he did so. She joined him, trying to pull her dress into some more decent arrangement. She had no idea where they were, and said so. "But Sakura, you brought me here. There must be a reason." This, she thought about for a long moment. "Is this where you come to relax?"

"I told you. I've never even been here. How am I supposed to know?" He didn't seem to believe her. Flopping down onto the trampled grass with a huff, she did what she always did with Naruto. She ignored him once he got to be annoying. But her irritation only lasted so long, as she closed her eyes and breathed in the day, letting the sun soak into her.

"Sakura." His voice was closer now. Very close. When had he moved? Opening her eyes, Sakura found that Naruto was leaning over her. Those bright blue eyes were staring down at her, making her feel safe but still a little unsettled. "Sakura, why are you doing this to me?" She looked at him, completely confused.

"Wha—" her thought was interrupted as she was scooped up into a nearly bone-crushing embrace.

Naruto's breath was warm on the side of her neck, and she wondered suddenly when he had become so strong, because she could not move. His voice was low, and full of fitful emotion. "I love you. You've known that for a long time. Why do you have to be so difficult? Why?" Sakura could feel his arms loosening, could feel him slipping away from her. "Why can't you admit your own feelings?"

Sakura's voice failed her. What was he talking about? Her feelings? How the hell was she supposed to know what her feelings were with an extra person knocking around in her own head? But at the moment, she was content to just stay the way she was. It didn't matter if Itachi was in her head. He wasn't showing his arrogant face at the moment, and Naruto was there. If this were real life, it would be pretty close to being perfect. So Sakura pulled him close again and buried her face against his neck, breathing in his scent. He smelled like grass, and honey. Why he didn't smell like ramen, she had no clue.

"Do you love me, Sakura?"

Looking up at him, she was unsure how to answer. Sure, he was her friend, so she could say without a doubt that she loved him. But how did she love him? Did she love him the way she had tricked herself into thinking that she loved Sasuke? Could she ever think of her friend, that loud-mouthed, annoying, brash, and idiotic (but utterly adorable, loyal and incredibly sweet) boy as more than a friend? In her mind, there was only one way to find out.

Sakura reached for his face, and tilted it down to hers, and…

­

Naruto had been uncomfortable before, but this was the most uncomfortable he had ever been in his life. More uncomfortable than the time he'd been trussed up by Jiraiya in a dress for his 'information gathering', and much more uncomfortable than he had been when he'd been stuffed into a tiny chakra prison by some rogue nins in the Lightening Country. Right now, with Sakura pressed against him, in a bed, and wearing only a towel (which was quickly coming off with all of the squirming she was doing), he was painfully aware of every curve of her. He had not had the chance to calm himself, so his little problem had grown steadily over the three quarters of an hour that Sakura had been sleeping on his shoulder.

Her weight felt too comfortable against him, the soft swell of her breasts resting against his side and her lips nearly touching his neck…He pulled the pillow from under his head and covered his face with it as he made what would have been a loud groan. Sakura's leg was now wrapped around one of his, and her lips brushed over his skin. Had she been awake, he would have been stammering while trying to ask her what she was doing. As it was, he was completely unable to make an intelligible sound. When he removed the pillow from his face, a hand replaced it, and turned his head toward Sakura.

She was still asleep when she started kissing him. After a long moment, her eyes fluttered open, but she continued to kiss him, shifting her weight so that she was lying on top of him. Was she still asleep, with her eyes open? What the hell? The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up and get the wrong idea. Somehow, he was sure that she would find a way to make it seem as if this entire thing had been his idea. It would be labeled as one of his practical jokes. But this was not a joke. It wasn't a joke that Sakura's lips were pressed against his, and it certainly was not a joke that her towel had come open.

When her lips pulled back from his, she looked down at him with a kind of amused satisfaction. "Does that answer your question?"

"Huh?" He said, instantly confused. Then, she looked down at him, and around them quickly, and her eyes nearly popped out of her face. "Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Naruto." Her voice was low, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I had a very…interesting dream." His discomfort was growing, along with a sense of impending doom. Against his neck, she continued to speak. "You were there, Naruto. In my dream. You were asking me something."

"What did I ask?" His voice nearly cracked, and he tried to steady himself, but it wasn't really working.

"You asked if I love you." Naruto couldn't breathe, and it wasn't because of the weight that was settled onto his chest.

"Wha-what was your answer?"

Sakura pushed herself up onto her elbows, and smiled down at him. After almost a full minute of smiling down at him, she asked, "What do you think my answer was?" He was still confused. "How about we try that again?" Naruto suddenly blinked rapidly as he found himself being kissed. For the second time in so many minutes, he was unable to breathe. That didn't stop the wheels in his mind from turning, and it certainly didn't stop them from arriving at a positive conclusion.

He nearly laughed out loud when he realized what she meant, which he was glad that he didn't, because Sakura was kissing him, and that would have ended up being rather uncomfortable. When she pulled away from him, she smiled down at him again. "Satisfied, baka?" Her voice said, low and far more…sexy than he'd ever heard it.

"Well, not exactly. You see, I have a little problem…" Oh, but he was trying not to laugh. How well he succeeded would depend on her reply.

"You know damned well that isn't what I meant, Naruto. Your erection is not my concern at the moment." Sakura's brows drew down in a frown, and he chuckled, unable to hold it in any longer.

"But it could be." She seemed surprised at the suggestiveness of this statement, but took it for the joke it was. If there was going to be any actual relieving his problem, he would deal with it himself. Sakura had admitted—finally!—that she loved him, even if she hadn't actually said so. He then remembered the fact that she was practically naked. "Anyway, Sakura, you should probably fix your towel. I mean, it isn't every day that a girl practically jumps me in a bed and her clothes fall off, but maybe for your own comfort..?"

"Don't start, Naruto." She snorted, and adjusted her towel as she sat up. "It isn't as if you haven't already seen me practically naked, anyway."

"That was different, Sakura. You were in pain." He was suddenly very angry at Itachi. He wished that he could get his hands on the bastard for what he had done, whatever that had been. He sat up, and pulled her against him gently. "I won't let anything happen to you ever again."

"I can take care of myself, Naruto." She said, trying to push herself away from him. He nodded in understanding. She could feel something in the air, a kind of burning tension that was becoming more tangible by the second as he held her loosely and as his eyes burned intently into her. Sakura could feel his hands trail up her arms, to her neck, then come to rest on her face. Those calloused hands held her there as his face inched closer to hers. The tension in the air was as thick as honey and seemed to be slowing his movement. There was almost a tingle over her skin as she waited for what seemed to be forever.

Every bit of burning in the air disappeared when Naruto's slightly parted lips came into contact with hers, pressing gently yet insistently. Sakura soon found where all of that tension had gone, though, when Naruto's hands moved, carefully pulling her closer, one finally coming to rest on her outer thigh. His other hand had found its way into her hair and was pulling her closer as she began wishing for air, but then found that she didn't care, since his tongue was slipping past her lips, deepening the already passionate kiss.

In the back of her mind, she started to hear a low, rumbling laugh, followed by her inner voice, which piped up rather indignantly, Leave her alone, usuratonkachi. She hates you.

Following this outburst from her more forceful personality, a voice like honey wrapped in silk sounded in her head. "She's mine. And she's letting him touch her. That will only result in pain." But Itachi's voice was only making impotent threats at the moment, and Sakura knew that. Her mind was focused on Naruto, and how it felt to be here with him. Then she realized that his hand had moved from her thigh to her hip, under the towel. "Mine. He's touching what's mine! He'll take what's mine…I can't allow that."

Shut up, Itachi. You are powerless. You are residue. There is nothing that you can do to stop her from loving whoever she wants. Drives you nuts, doesn't it? Then, somewhere in her head, there was a short struggle, after which Itachi's voice was heard again.

"You know, I think I can do something after all."

Suddenly, Sakura felt as if she had been set ablaze. Her breathing was ragged, and her eyelids wanted to slide shut. She felt like a puppet. Sakura felt her hands opening Naruto's jacket, sliding it off of him, and then doing the same to the shirt he wore. His eyes had gone as wide as they could go, and she laughed at him. "Naruto," she breathed, her fingers playing along well-defined stomach muscles, but did not finish.

"Sakura, you are mine. My weapon, my toy, my lover. I thought you learned this already. If you want pleasure, you will have it, even if it is with this…idiot. But for that, he will die, just like Sasuke."

No he won't. You have no power.

"She has to sleep some time." And then he was gone, vanished back into the furthest recesses of her mind.

Sakura was only vaguely aware of this internal conversation. She was more concerned with the fact that her body, though no longer being controlled by a foreign entity, was still doing what it had been. Sakura was still slowly removing Naruto's clothes. "Sakura?" He said weakly, obviously trying very hard to control himself. "What are you doing?"

Too far gone to care, Sakura smiled and said, "Taking care of your problem." Then, she felt Naruto's hands again, but they where not encouraging. On the contrary, they stilled her own hands, as they were in the process of unbuttoning his pants.

"Sakura, stop. This is not right. Something happened just now, didn't it?"

She glared at him, now in complete control of herself, and said, "So what if it did? So what if Itachi was making me do this? There's a part of me that wants to, as well."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself. "Sakura, part of you isn't enough. I love you, and I want to be with you, but I don't want that to happen until every last bit of you wants me in the same way that I do you." Sakura was confused. She was going to have a difficult time of things in a real relationship, it seemed. Her confusion only lasted a moment, until her medic training came back to her, and she realized the situation. It didn't take a diagnostic jutsu to know that he wanted her. The proof was in the way he looked at her, and the way his hands seemed to tremble as he held her fast, not to mention the undeniable bulge that was even now still there.

Though she could sympathize, her feelings toward him were far too new to entertain the notion of wanting him that completely. He gently lifted her from where she had been straddling his hips, and placed her in a seated position on the bed. After gathering up his clothes, he got up from the bed and started toward the bathroom. "I have to douse myself in cold water now. Be out in a minute."

As soon as the door closed behind him, Sakura could hear and see Itachi again. "Sakura, why did you stop? Were you trying to save him? It won't work. He's going to die, just like my brother. And it will be beautiful when he does."

"I'm not going to kill him, Itachi."

"But you don't need to, my little one. I'll do it for you. Just like before that idiot stopped you a moment ago."

"You mean to tell me that it was you doing those things to Naruto, and not me?" The Uchiha walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, his hand reaching out to touch her face. He moved faster than she could see, and had ripped off her towel before throwing her down onto the bed. All she could do was lay there as he plied her body with sensations she did not want from him. Then, he was gone from the room, but the feelings of pleasure still echoed in her body, bouncing from nerve to nerve and back again. She wanted him out of her head. Especially when she rose from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Most especially when her hand reached for the shower curtain and pulled it aside.

"He's going to die, Sakura. He'll die soon. Let him die happy."

A/N: