Chapter Three

"Get off me, you creep!" Sakura screeched, trying desperately to shake Sasori off her. He had picked her up in his arms and clearly, she didn't like that at all. "I can walk by myself!"

"Perhaps, but this is the best way."

"What's that supposed to mean?! How is this the 'best way'?"

"…"

"See! You don't even have a proper reason. You know, you should treat women with more respect! Stop assuming and ask!"

"Alright then - Sakura, would you like me to carry you?" Sasori said, giving a fake attempt to be polite.

"I told you already, Your Majesty!" She sassed back. "No, no, no. I don't want you to carry me!"

"Overruled."

"What the hell! That's not fair!" Sakura kicked her legs at him, but failed miserably to do any damage.

"You had better get used to it - life isn't fair, love. Especially here. You will be beaten, killed, tortured… And nobody would think twice about it. You're lucky I'm taking you in, otherwise you might've gotten stuck with someone like Hidan. So really, I would be more grateful if I were you."

Sakura thought about that for a moment. Hidan was the one who had killed Asuma mercilessly, and almost Shikamaru as well. From what she learned about him, he was immortal, ferociously loyal to his god, and enjoyed pain. A lot.

'Alright, so maybe things could've been worse. But even still, it's not like staying with Sasori is going to be a walk in the park. He's still a notorious criminal, and as such I don't trust him. I'm surprised that I've even lasted this long!' She thought, looking up at Sasori. 'I'm sure if it weren't for the fact that I can heal him, he would've attempted to wipe me out. At least that's what I would expect…I killed him the first time, after all.'

Sakura groaned in despair. How dare he use sense on her...

"I'm serious, Sakura." Sasori said menacingly.

However, his tone didn't take it's effect on Sakura. "And I'm serious, too! Let me down. Now."

"Following the demands of a little girl? Hah - think twice."

Sakura then drew her hand back and punched Sasori in the chest. The blow sent him flying back, and in the process he dropped her.

"Why you little-!" Sasori gasped, clutching his chest in pain.

"That one's for Konoha, jerk!" Sakura cried victoriously, cracking her fists. "And believe me, there's more where that came from, if you don't pay heed to what I say."

Looking down the opposite end of the cave, she smiled smugly. "I bet I could find my own way through here. I don't need you."

Sasori tried to get up, one hand braced on the cave wall, the other on his chest. He winced in pain. "I'd really like to see you try, love. You'd be killed before this day is out."

Sakura slowly turned her head to face Sasori, his form crumpled over. "There's worse things than death, Sasori. Truly there are."

Then, without another word, she turned to the darkness and started stalking through it.

"How dare she do this to me…" Sasori clenched his teeth. "She'll get what's coming to her. Eventually."

Sasori wasn't sure how long he stayed there in the darkness, leaning against the cave wall.

And why he didn't move from that spot, even he didn't know.

'I hope she gets killed.' Sasori thought. 'And I bet she will…there's no way she couldn't. You can't just walk through the Akatsuki base - the others will think she's a spy who has somehow infiltrated herself in here. But then again, she'll probably find a way to survive. She always seems to, at least.'

He chuckled at that thought. Sakura wasn't your average girl - the girl had pink hair for God's sake! But in a way… Sasori liked that part of her. It was because she was different, because she had the guts to say no to him. If she agreed to everything he said, that would be boring.

Perhaps he felt that way because he was human again. And surely that was part of it. But even humans aren't attracted to everything - and the fact that he was attracted by her said something. Something very crucial and important.

Sasori was brought out of his thoughts when he detected two distinct chakra signatures from the other side of the cave entrance. He recognized them of course, and he knew who it was almost immediately.

The entrance slowly came open, completely filling the cave with light. The two figures made their way into the cave, the whole time their eyes on Sasori.

"Itachi, Kisame." Sasori greeted.

Itachi nodded at him, his eyes plastered onto Sasori's form.

"Hey Sasori." Kisame smiled, revealing a row of pointy white teeth. "Man, that mission was ridiculous! All that work for just a scroll…geez." He shook his head and laughed.

"Anyway, why are you all the way out here for? I really doubt you came this way just to greet us."

The ends of Sasori's mouth tugged upwards. "No, certainly not."

Kisame adjusted Samehada on his shoulder as he looked at the puppet master. "Okay then…well, did you guys get that Sakura girl while we were away, at least?"

"No, not exactly. Actually she came to us."

That caught the twosome's attention. Kisame took a double-take. "Wait, slow down…she did what?"

Sasori let out a groan of frustration. "I told you. She came to us. All on her own accord."

Kisame was clearly shocked, and he looked at Itachi to see what he thought of it. And sure enough, even Itachi's emotionless face held traces of surprise.

"Why?" Kisame asked.

Sasori shrugged. "She didn't really give a clear reason. Although, if my assumptions are correct, she wanted to see for herself if I was really alive."

"That's foolish." Itachi scoffed, his voice hard. "Did she bring any others with her?"

Sasori shook his head. "No. Just herself."

Kisame rubbed his forehead in surprised, his mouth opened slightly. "Really? Geez…that's suicide! If what you say is true, then when she came here, she had no idea that we needed her. Did she even know what she was getting herself into?"

"The curiosity and suspicion must have been too much for her to handle. She probably decided to just go and find out for herself. It's foolish, yes," Sasori said. "but convenient."

Kisame shook his head slightly. "I guess…but if she did come here like you said, where is she?"

Sasori removed his eyes at the twosome's glare, and instead directed his attention to the opposite end of the cave.

"Ah, I see…" Kisame said, trying to muffle a laugh. "She beat you up in a means of escape."

Sasori nodded.

Then Kisame let out a loud laugh that seemed to shake the whole cave. "I can't believe that! Let me get this straight; You got beaten by a girl? Listen, I knew she was the one who killed you the first time and all, but it's kind of pathetic that you let her do that."

Sasori opened his mouth to explain, but was cut off by Kisame.

"- Now, now. Don't give us that 'She's a ninja with super inhuman strength' excuse. She's still a girl, so you should be ashamed to have gotten beaten by her. Twice. I'm seriously surprised at you."

"Would you shut up you blue, oversized whale? If you recall, she's still out there wandering the caves! We need to get her back." Sasori retaliated.

"Well maybe we wouldn't have this problem, if you would just man up and stop letting her push you around…"

"Sasori, Kisame, enough." Itachi interjected. "You two stop your useless bickering. I will retrieve the girl, since you, Sasori are currently incapable, and you, Kisame need to start straightening up the kitchen. Now."

"Yes, Mother…" Kisame mumbled as Itachi started off to find Sakura.

"I hate him." Sasori said bluntly after Itachi was gone.

Kisame just shrugged.

Sakura continued her venture around the caves, again mostly feeling her way through.

Although she wouldn't admit it, she had to give the Akatsuki credit. Finding their way through a place like this would definitely be a major pain.

A part of her, though a semi-small part, was afraid of being caught by one of the Akatsuki. But then she would just tell them that she was with Sasori and was told to find her own chamber. But what if Sasori had been lying? What if they really weren't expecting her, and Sasori just wanted to get revenge? Then that would be bad… but she wouldn't go out without a fight - that was for certain.

She wasn't completely sure of where she was going - she had gone straight for a long time, then turned a few corners, one going left, then another going right.

"Ugh…" Sakura groaned quietly. "This just really sucks! I'm lost." She slumped down by a wall, as she attempted to think about her situation.

All rules that stated 'when lost, stay where you are' were definitely out. She shouldn't stay in one place for too long. That was dangerous. But then what should she do…?

She sprawled her leg out into the middle of the hallway, trying to stretch her muscles. She was so stiff…but she had no reason to feel that way. She had been moving constantly all day long. She let out a sigh. What a mess she had gotten herself into. Although somehow, she couldn't make herself regret it.

'Maybe I'll get more out of this than I realize…'

She certainly hoped so.

"Aaah!" Someone hit the floor.

Sakura woke at the suddenly frightening noise. It was dark so she couldn't properly see who fell…

'Did I fall asleep?' She thought to herself. 'Odd…I don't even remember.'

It seemed that someone had tripped over her leg, which was still extended into the hallway.

"…um, hello?" Sakura squeaked.

"What the hell, yeah?!" That accent sounded familiar. A man, definitely. Young, too.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trip you."

"Whatever. Just don't ever do it again because I -" Then the man stopped. "…who are you? You're female…and you don't sound like Konan."

Sakura's pulse doubled at that point - she was the surprised that the man didn't hear it. Yet she couldn't make herself answer him.

"Hey, I asked you a question, yeah. Who are you?"

"…"

"Hmph. So you're an intruder then? I'll teach you a thing or two, yeah."

The man had took both his hands and rung them around Sakura's neck. He pinned her on the wall, and hard. She took her hands and tried to loosen his grip, but her muscles began to slacken.

She began seeing colors and her lungs begged for air - she wanted to cough but couldn't.

'So this is how I'm going to die…' She thought, her vision becoming blurrier by the second. 'What a waste, what a waste…' Sasori's words echoed in her head.

She wished she could've returned to her village, at least one more time. To eat at Ichiraku's ramen shop with Naruto…to visit Ino's flower shop…to train with Kakashi… All of which made tears come in her eyes. She wouldn't even mind seeing Sasori again, if that meant she got to live.

'This can't be the end…'

Sakura thought about what could've been. She could've been happy. She could've found a man who loved and respected her for who she was. She could've married him. Even had children. Lived in a quaint little home.

This realization hurt worse than any death possibly could. Tears ran down her flushed cheeks, never stopping, never pausing.

'If only I got that chance…'

And as soon as she was sure it was the end, the strangling sensation stopped. She was dropped to the floor, where she lay in a mangled heap. She gasped for breath, trying to refill her lungs with the precious air, no matter how musty it was here.

"What do you think you're doing, Deidara?" A monotonous voice came to her ears. "This girl, Sakura, is our guest. She has come under Pein's strict orders. I should report you - you nearly killed her."

"Guest?" Deidara spat. "I…didn't realize that she was allowed here. Honestly, Itachi. I thought she was an intruder."

"Well you thought wrong. You are to apologize later. Dismissed."

The sound of receding footsteps bounced off the walls - Deidara was gone.

Sakura would've laughed had she not been out of breath. How ironic…Itachi, the man who had made Sasuke's life a living hell had come to save her. Well, maybe save wasn't the right word. He was probably just under orders or some such. Itachi wouldn't come to her rescue without a proper reason.

Sakura could feel his intense gaze on her, even though her eyes were closed.

Without saying a word, he picked her up and cradled her against his chest. He began walking to who knows where - Sakura was too far gone to notice.

Falling asleep in the arms of a notorious criminal…that too was ironic.

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Yay! Chapter Three 3 The next chapter will come very soon ^_^ I'm getting pretty into this story. Several of you requested some Itasaku and/or Deisaku in this story as well. And so i thought that was a great idea. I'm a pretty big fan of those couples myself, so i had no other choice but to add it in. It will be mostly Sasosaku, but it will have mixtures of Itasaku and Deisaku, too. Actually, Sakura will have some kind of relationship with every single Akatsuki member, but only time will tell what kinds of relationships they'll be. Some good, some bad...maybe.

Also, It's really fun to read your guys' reviews about Only In Darkness. So if you have time, please review ^_^

Thank you for reading!

3 Getsuei-Hime