Itachi watched Raban fly away to scout with a heavy heart. Raban understood Sakura; they hadn't spoken during the period Sakura had thought them all traitors, so she bore him no ill will or resentment. She saved all of that for Itachi. But Raban had chatted with her like it was any other day, complimenting her new skills and beauty, laughing at her embarrassment, tenderly wishing her a good night's sleep… things that Itachi could never do himself. Not since Sakura's hatred for him had formed. There was no place for him in her heart.

If only he had explained everything that day in the Nara Forest, before Sakura slit his throat. But he couldn't… at that point; he still cared about his mission, about keeping his true loyalty secret. After Sasuke died, he had felt his desperation to keep his secrets fade. It no longer seemed to matter. He had failed to protect his little brother. What did it matter if he told Sakura the truth?

He put a hand to his forehead, sighing. Sakura lay on her bed, tucked under the covers. Her face looked as sweet and innocent as she had in youth. But she was no longer a child. Under the covers lurked hard muscle, proof of the years of training she had committed herself to in her determination to kill him.

What was he doing?

How could he have imagined he and Sakura could live out this pitiful existence, hiding in hotels? It was only a matter of time before Pain requested he complete another mission, and Sakura would not want him to. It was one of the first times in his life that he could not see the path that lay ahead, what would happen if he chose to remain with Sakura, or if he left her.

He knew deep down he could never abandon her again. He had seen her face after his betrayal was revealed. It had not been a pleasant sight, and had lingered in his nightmares even years after.

His poor brother… the careless gossip of the merchants, two men idly chatting about the latest criminal brought to justice by the Hokage, a criminal who happened to be Itachi's own little brother. The knowledge that his brother had been executed cut him deeply like a fatal wound. He was certainly as pained as a dying man surely would be, the agony of his last kin dying alone, a criminal in the eyes of his own village, the village Itachi had given everything up for…

Though Sasuke had not been alone. Sakura had said she had been with him until the last moment. That at least must have been a comfort for Sasuke, in the end.

God, he hoped Sasuke hadn't just been putting on a brave face. Even though Sasuke's last words were a curse against Itachi's own life, he bore him no ill will for that. He just wished Sasuke could have redeemed himself, in killing Itachi.

Sakura turned in her sleep, frowning and clutching the covers tightly.

Itachi heard footsteps approach, careful, light footsteps of a shinobi. In an instant he was at the door, kunai out of its holster, until he recognised the sound of the footsteps and reluctantly lowered his weapon.

There was a quiet knock at the door.

Itachi flared his chakra so sharply that Sakura grumbled in her sleep, and Kisame opened the door with his own key.

"Hey," The shark-like man grunted, slipping through the door, "You here too, huh? Guess I'm –" He broke off, looking at Sakura.

Itachi had no expression at all, yet he knew somehow that Kisame could sense his embarrassment.

"You fucking psycho." Kisame chortled, "You kidnapped that brat?"

Itachi's shoulder slid up and down slightly in a tiny shrug.

Kisame showed his teeth, "She came willingly?"

Itachi sat down on his bed, avoiding Kisame's hard stare, "She could be useful, Kisame." He said quietly.

Kisame's humour seemed to die down, "You broke her mind. I watched you. You were gonna kill her. Why would she want to come with you?"

Itachi pulled his hair out of his usual ponytail and ran his fingers through it till it became neater, "I spent six years on her," He sighed, "Whether she likes it or not, she's loyal to me. It wasn't hard to persuade her to betray her village, not after how they treated her."

Kisame looked intrigued, casting the sleeping Sakura a glance, "What did they do to her?" He asked, taking the bait that Itachi had so carefully laid.

So he told him. Everything. About how they had ostracised her, how she'd lost friends and allies, how she had been tortured aged twelve, how she had been treated with suspicion, hatred and anger, how she had been imprisoned, left to rot in a cell as a child for sixteen days, how her career would be forever capped at chuunin, how she was under constant supervision, how she had been forced to watch her teammate be executed in front of her and tied down painfully for hours and hours after breaking down in public…

Kisame listened with a little frown on his face, rubbing his scaly chin. When Itachi had finished he smirked wryly, "I can see why you were the lesser of two evils. Can we trust her?"

"Yes." Itachi said without hesitation, "She was always a very loyal subordinate. I plan to continue her training."

"You gonna inform Leader-sama, or will I?" Kisame asked.

"I will," Itachi said calmly, "He will be pleased we've found another dependable follower."

Kisame let go of his tension and grinned widely, "Let's welcome her to the scary family."

Itachi sighed again, but knew Kisame wouldn't give up until he got the chance to banter with Sakura. He liked to assess whether a new acquaintance was wittier than him within seconds of meeting them.

Itachi cautiously approached Sakura's bed, stretching a hand out to touch her shoulder lightly.

"Wake up." He said softly.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and immediately fixed upon his face. She tried to lunge for his throat instinctively, but Itachi was too quick for her and grabbed her, pinning her to the bed as she struggled.

"It's me, Sakura." He said firmly, aware Kisame was growing more and more amused as Sakura tried her best to rip his throat out.

She suddenly went limp in his arms as she remembered what had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

"Itachi?" She said hoarsely, "Sorry."

He let her go gently, avoiding Kisame's stare.

"Brat!" He said cheerfully, "Remember me?"

Sakura paled at the sight of him, dislodging the pillows in her attempt to move away from him.

"Now don't be like that!" Kisame pulled at his cloak, "We're like family now. And I might take offence, if you don't straighten out those manners of yours."

"Kisame." Itachi snapped.

His teammate looked surprised, "Just teasing. Don't worry brat, Samehada won't be shaving you any time soon."

Sakura slipped out of the bed, her eyes never leaving Kisame, her spine as stiff as a poker, radiating tension. She was wearing a white slip and dressing gown the hotel had provided, and pulled her gown to her more closely as Kisame's grin turned into a leer.

"Family?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Akatsuki." Kisame confirmed her fears, "After we let Pain-sama know you've turned, he'll sort some things out, get you a new identity, maybe a cloak if you're good (or bad, depending how you look at it), and he'll add your name to the mission list. Be prepared, brat, cause you've –"

"No more, Kisame," Itachi rasped, "I have a headache."

His head did hurt, yes, but it was the look on Sakura's face that made him intervene. She looked horrified.

Unfortunately, while it did distract Kisame, it just reminded him of something else Itachi didn't want him to talk about, "You still feeling rough?" He asked, eyes narrowed. Kisame was fully aware Itachi was dying, but they never spoke of it outright. Kisame liked to act as though Itachi was just getting over a particularly violent cold.

Sakura frowned.

"It's just a headache." Itachi said dismissively, walking into the bathroom to place a cold cloth on his forehead.

"I can heal that," Sakura said, her hands already beginning to glow green, "Come here."

"A healer too?" Kisame raised his eyebrows, his grin growing a little toothier, "We hit the jackpot with this little one."

"I don't need healing," Itachi said hastily. With the other healer, it had taken them at least fifteen minutes to identify the problem and discover his illness, but Sakura was second only to the Hokage herself in terms of medical ninjutsu. There was every possibility she would find out just by touching his head, "Do not waste your chakra on trivial aches and pains."

But he'd forgotten how stubborn Sakura could be. She followed him into the bathroom, ignoring Kisame's wolf whistle, and picked up the cloth for him.

"Sakura," Itachi started to say, frustrated, but she cut him off by reaching forward to brush his aching, hot forehead with the wet cloth. He fell silent. She was unbearably close, her long eyelashes clearly visible, her forehead creased in a frown, her mouth pursed as she concentrated on the task at hand.

She held the soothing cloth up to his head for only a second before taking it away. She gave him a funny look, and slowly lifted her hand to touch him. He intercepted her quickly, grabbing her wrist. She broke his loose grip without hesitation and touched his dripping wet forehead.

Her chakra flickered into visibility, cool and calming. The darkness that had blighted it was still there, curling about the edges of her aura, but her own presence was just as gentle and caring as it had been when she was younger.

The aching in his forehead slowly receded, like knots being untied carefully. She still had red welts on her skin, he could see as her shoulder came into view, her sleeve slipping, and yet she was healing him first, like he was a priority. It made him feel oddly warm.

Then her breath caught and her hand jerked back.

Itachi closed his eyes, resigned. She had found the disease within seconds, she now knew he was dying…

"Hey," She whispered, her voice sounding harsh in the silent bathroom, "Open your eyes."

He followed her command unthinkingly.

She let her finger drift around his face, judging his vision. He clearly failed, given that the finger had drifted into the grey areas that used to be his peripheral vision.

She scowled furiously, "You didn't tell me you were going blind!"

That was what she had found, not the disease. He breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't ready for the speech he was going to give her about living without him somewhere else after his death. He didn't think she'd appreciate him abandoning her again, even if death was the cause, not betrayal.

"Brat, c'mere," Kisame suddenly called, making Sakura jump, "There's a crow asking for ya."

Sakura chewed her lip, looking deeply into his eyes, so deeply his breath hitched, wondering if perhaps she saw something that he saw in her –

She swiped a glowing hand over his eyes, assessing the damage.

She blinked, clearly processing what she had found. Then, she looked up at him and scowled again, "I thought we weren't going to keep secrets anymore. Remember what happened the last time we tried that?"

Itachi looked away. Was she always going to bring that up?

"You tell me everything from now on." She demanded, "Everything."

Then she left before he could reply.

xxxxxxxx

Sakura was going through the medical supplies Itachi had bought for her in the village their hotel was situated in. Judging by the little smile on her face, she found his bounty adequate enough.

She picked up a tub of cream and studied it closely, unscrewing the lid and smelling the contents, grimacing.

"Hey, brat." Kisame called. He was sitting at the table with Itachi, lounging back on his chair in a relaxed pose, one hand gripping his steaming mug.

Sakura made no acknowledgment of Kisame's call, calmly and methodically unpacking the medical supplies, counting the rolls of bandages.

Kisame's grin twisted into an annoyed frown, "Oi, brat!"

"I have a name." Sakura said coldly, so coldly that Itachi felt a flicker of unease. The Sakura he had known was not capable of speaking so harshly… and yet, the pleased smile, the careful unpacking, those were things he remembered about her, the pleasure she took in small rewards, the perfection she strived for in every area. Perhaps some parts of her had survived unchanged.

Kisame rolled his eyes. He lowered his voice, "I've forgotten her name," He hissed at Itachi, "What is it?"

"Sakura," She replied without turning around, "And credit me with some hearing, please."

"Sakura, then." Kisame said in tones that made it clear he was just humouring her, "I've a tiny injury. If you –"

"No." Sakura turned around then, and Itachi's heart sank at her expression. She was not smiling or glaring. Her face was completely blank, and he had learned to recognise that this was when she was feeling too much to allow herself to show. What had upset her?

"No?" Kisame scowled, "Why not? You're a bloody medic, I'm in need of medicine, help me out!"

"When we first met you asked Itachi for permission to kill me," Sakura said coolly, "You took pleasure in the fact that Itachi had been using me, and intended to kill me. When I lay unconscious, you attempted to take me with you and Itachi. Did you believe I would forget? Or did you simply forget yourself?" Her green eyes flickered over to Itachi's tense face, "I may have turned on my village," She forced herself to say, sticking to their story, "But I am still no friend of missing nins. Heal yourself."

The silence in the little hotel room was deafening.

Kisame kept glancing from her to Itachi and back, incredulous, "I don't know if you've noticed, brat, but not only are you living with a missing nin, you're in a missing nin organisation, you get missing nin visitors… you are a missing nin."

Sakura's face trembled; her pretence at being completely calm was seconds from being shattered. Kisame quirked an eyebrow, her reaction to his teasing clearly intriguing him.

Itachi was shaking his head subtly, but Sakura clearly either didn't see or care, "I'm not," She insisted, "I'm not a missing nin. I've left my village, but I'm not going to start committing crimes and acting like a traitor… I just wanted to leave peacefully…" She trailed off, her blank expression finally giving way to dejection.

Kisame rubbed his chin, raising an eyebrow at Itachi as if suggesting he had chosen poorly. He sighed, "Brat, face it. You don't just waltz out of your village in the company of a murderer and hope you can live 'peacefully.' There's no peace in this lifestyle."

Sakura turned away, hiding her face. She looked out of the window. Itachi saw that her shoulders were shaking.

Kisame might have been a cold-hearted murderer with a fondness for mutilation, but he hated feeling helpless, and he was as useless as any other man when it came to a crying woman.

So instead of comforting her, he glared at Itachi, "Why did you take her with you?" He whispered, "She's going to be a fucking liability!"

"I won't," Sakura said softly, "I'll do what you say. I don't have any choice."

That silenced Kisame. He looked uneasy, "Er, good. See that you do…"

"Sakura," Itachi said, "If you do not wish to assist Akatsuki, I will drop you off in the village and leave."

He knew they would both interpret this differently, Sakura would see it as further abandonment and Kisame would assume he would kill her.

Sakura shook her head violently, "No. I'm here now. I've made a commitment. I'm not hurting anyone by helping you. It's fine."

It looked as though she was spiralling further into denial, and it would do no good to try to pull her out of it.

"Good," He said, watching her closely for signs of distress, though with Sakura it was hard to tell, "I would hate to have wasted time collecting you."

Sakura's eyes slid away, but not before he saw them tear up.

It killed him to treat her like this, but Kisame would expect him to see her as just another pawn, a subordinate to train up and use as required.

But when he met Kisame's gaze, he did not see the entertained grin he had expected, but a speculative frown. Whatever it was Kisame was musing on, he didn't look pleased by the conclusions he had drawn.

Sakura coughed and held out a hand without looking at either of them, "Kisame-san, your injury?"

Kisame was startled into good manners, "Just Kisame will do." He said almost courteously, "It's just a little cut."

He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a deep gash in the flesh of his arm. Though Sakura gave him a severe look for downplaying the seriousness of his injury, Itachi knew Kisame would truly view it as a trifling irritation, not a potential threat due to blood loss or infection. He'd had a lot of worry over his cavalier partner over the years.

She assessed the wound, noting the blood had dried and the gash seemed to already be healing. She sighed and gestured for Kisame to sit on the bed.

He did so, sweeping his cloak away to more easily seat himself.

Sakura held his arm very gently, and began to clean the wound with antiseptic. Kisame didn't flinch at the sharp sting, just sat there and stared blankly out of the window. Itachi knew if it were him, he would have taken the opportunity to stare at Sakura, something he seemed to be doing more and more lately. He quashed the rising jealousy that Kisame was the one being handled so tenderly, that Sakura was treating him more gently and kindly than she had treated Itachi in years…

He wondered Sakura knew what this meant. Kisame couldn't have known whether she'd choose to treat the wound or heal it, and if it had needed healing he would have let her do it, putting himself at risk. Kisame trusted Sakura enough to let her metaphorically hold a kunai to his throat, just as Itachi had done.

Either Sakura simply seemed unusually trustworthy or, more likely, Kisame trusted Itachi's judgement.

Either way, it was a quiet moment, sitting in the white room with the sun rising, the first tentative rays of sunlight piercing the night sky, the only sound the hiss of the bandages that Sakura was wrapping around Kisame's arm.

"I'm finished." Sakura said, patting the clean, white bandage to make sure it was secure, "Don't scratch it or agitate the wound in any way."

Kisame inspected her handiwork without his usual shit-eating grin, the quiet of room affecting his humour. He got up from the bed and pulled his sleeve back down, his expression sober.

"Thanks, brat." He said, going back to sit down next to Itachi without a backwards glance, "Oh, and that Hokage of yours really knows her stuff, if she's the one who taught you."

What a backwards compliment… Itachi couldn't keep his smile off his face. Only Kisame. He was truly thankful she had bothered to see to his wound despite what had happened in the past, but he could never compliment someone to their face. Not unless he was about to decapitate them, of course.

Sakura paused, measuring the comment in her mind. A tiny, hesitant smile crossed her lips, "She does," She agreed, "She's the most talented medic in history."

"So far." Itachi corrected her, gazing at her intensely.

She flushed, her smile disappearing. So, Kisame could compliment her but not him? She was a complex little creature, wasn't she? How was he supposed to do this, manoeuvre around all of the obstacles in their relationship, keep her happy, keep her safe and make sure she was fine on her own before he died?

Kisame yawned, "I don't know about you two, but I certainly need my beauty sleep. I'll be in my room if you need me."

He addressed his last comment to the two of them, and Itachi realised how easily Sakura had been accepted into the Akatsuki fold. If he had simply taken her as a child and raised her there, would her life have been better? Not as painful as it had turned out to be? Perhaps, but then she might have grown to be a monster. Akatsuki had a particular talent for growing monsters out of decent people. Only Orochimaru could do it better.

Kisame left the room and Sakura shut her medical box, tidying up after herself, picking up bits of bandages and thread.

Itachi sat back in his chair and watched her covertly. She was a woman now, the ex-apprentice to the Hokage herself, an ex-chuunin of Konoha and, however unimportant, she was now a part of Akatsuki. It was time to stop looking for the little girl he had lost four years ago and to begin looking at the grown woman who had clawed her way through life on nothing but determination and hatred.

xxxxxxxx

Sakura turned over in her bed, the pillow cool against her cheek. There was a pleasant breeze flowing through the room, Itachi must have gotten too hot and opened the window. Or perhaps Raban had come back.

Excited at the thought of seeing her old friend again, she sat up in bed, Anko's coat falling off her as she moved.

It was dark, she must have slept through the day.

She slipped out of bed, bare feet feeling the cold more sharply than the rest of her. She couldn't hear Itachi murmuring or Raban's familiar croak.

The window was indeed open. She went over to close it and stopped dead.

There, on the floor, underneath the window, was Itachi.

It was like an ice-cold hand had squeezed her heart. In that instant, she looked at his body in disbelief, because no one could kill Itachi, he was Itachi for God's sake, capable of eradicating entire clans overnight! But she felt it somewhere deep inside her, perhaps her medic nature or something deeper, an inherent instinct, that Itachi was dead.

She dropped to her knees and pulled herself towards him, operating mechanically now, too hurt, too shocked to think clearly.

Her shaking hands touched his chest, rolling him over gently.

Her heart leapt.

He was breathing.

A heartbeat, albeit weak and irregular, but there!

Not dead, but dying.

She was mouthing all of the truly foul swear words Kakashi had taught her when drunk, pulse racing, so terrified that she could do nothing but let her chakra flow and take over.

She felt it the moment her chakra-laden hands touched his chest with a sizzle.

A blight, something dark and twisted, lodged in his lungs, heart, God… it was everywhere, in every organ, and it had been here for so long…

A disease. By the malignant feel of it, terminal.

He was dying.

Right underneath her hands, dying.

She could feel him lose strength with every laboured breath he took.

Her eyes flared, her hands glowed green.

She had only just got Itachi back.

She had just lost Sasuke.

She would not lose Itachi too.

Helllllooooooo! :D

I've missed this story, though it actually hasn't been TOO long since I updated… I think.

Ah, Kisame. I know nothing about him. If he was out of character, I'm very sorry :(

I was very pleased at the response I got last chapter, I had no idea so many of you liked Raban! He likes you too XD

This story's turning out to be very long, isn't it? Odd.

Cliffhanger, cliffhanger… terribly sorry. This story is just one mess of cliffhangers XD

Determined Sakura is determined!

I bid you adieu!

Quick poll for fun: Who is the best Akatsuki member?

A) Konan

B) Itachi

C) Deidara

D) Other! Let me know!

I'd say Konan, if only cause she really got Madara good with those explosive paper tag thingies. That was majorly awesome. Props to the only female Akatsuki!