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Chapter Seventeen: Something You Must See

Darkness engulfed Sakura. A haze of red in the background appeared. Sakura calmed her rapidly beating heart. She didn't want to be in this terrible place again. But she knew that she had to, if there was any hope of defeating Itachi.

He suddenly appeared in front of her. Sakura threw a punch, but Itachi easily dodged it.

"Give it up. This is my world, now. Just because you got out of it once doesn't mean that you can do it again."

Sakura set her jaw in determination. No one was going to tell her she couldn't…especially not an Uchiha.

"Itachi…I'll make you pay for what you did to Sasuke. A sick bastard like you shouldn't be allowed to live." Sakura's green eyes were hard.

Itachi smirked. "Kunoichi…killing you will bring me more pleasure than anything in a long time. I'm going to enjoy hearing your screams of pain."

"If that's what it takes to stop you, Itachi, I'll do anything."

Itachi said nothing, his face remaining blank.

Sakura blinked, and the next thing she knew she was bound to a cross, in the same manner as she was before in the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sakura noticed that she wasn't in the same clothes as before. She didn't even have her sandals on. Her attire, if it could even be called that, was nothing more than a cloth wrapped around her chest and hips, barely even covering up the immodest parts.

Even her neck was bound, so tight that she could barely breathe, and her head was tied around the forehead, binding her entire body to the cross. She couldn't move a muscle.

Sakura's heart started beating so fast that it hurt. Her jade eyes roved every which way, searching for a sign of Itachi.

But there was nothing. She waited, and waited, and waited. Her body was now numb, as the ropes were so tight that hardly any blood was circulating. They dug cruelly into her skin, drawing blood in some places, and chafing her skin.

Sakura was also gagged, so she couldn't talk. Her mouth had by far gone dry, and she couldn't summon up enough saliva to even swallow. At least he allowed me to blink, the bastard, thought Sakura bitterly.

Sakura couldn't sleep, either. Eventually, she thought, I'll just blissfully pass out. It can't go on forever.

But to her, it seemed like it did. Every time she thought she would get close to at least being semiconscious, it would rain just enough to wake her up, and then as abruptly as it came it would fade away. It was no light drizzle, either, nor was it a soothing, warm rain.

It was the rain of a hurricane, fierce and pounding and merciless as it attacked her scantily clad body. It felt like a thousand stinging needles cascading down upon her vulnerable skin. Not only that, but it was freezing. It was at that temperature where it was warm enough that it didn't turn to ice, but only just.

Her breath came out in puffs that could be seen on the air. And then, all of a sudden it would be glaringly hot, and sweat would run down her body, and into her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot by now, and Sakura could never remember a time where she had been so tired.

The hours melted into days, and the weather would change so suddenly from hot to cold, and Sakura knew that under any normal circumstances she would be delirious at the least. But this was Itachi's world, and though her body was under immense strain, her brain remained active and working, so that she could not even succumb to the welcoming darkness of sleep.

On the third day, something happened. Sakura's body was so dead that it actually took awhile for her sharp mind to notice that something was different.

Sasuke rushed forward, but was too late to stop the inevitable.

He caught Sakura just as she fell, and gently laid her on the ground. He looked at her prone form, her wide open jade eyes, and pale skin. Her breathing was hitched, and her eyes unseeing.

Sasuke's face was hard. Damnit! How dare she do this to me now?! Why the hell did she do that!?

"You shouldn't have done that, Sakura. Tch. Typical of you. Always looking out for me."

He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I won't let you down, Sakura."

He touched her soft, pink locks, and then stood up.

As much as Neji wanted to see to the welfare of his cousin, whom he was genuinely concerned about, he knew that her former teammates would handle the situation and care for her. Neji, as the only Jounin on the team and the team leader, naturally went to help with the most powerful S-class nin here: Itachi Uchiha.

TenTen was the best choice for backup because she was his sparring partner, and she knew the weakness of the Byakugan. She was his backup if anything went wrong…and it usually did.

Lee and Choji intercepted Tobi, who had just been observing the fight.

Ino went to help Sai, while Shino and Kiba went to Hinata's rescue.

Shikamaru stayed with Naruto, binding Kisame with the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

Neji landed beside Sasuke, who shot him a sideways glance. "What the hell are you doing here, Hyuuga?"

"Taking care of one of our own."

"I'm not-"

"I was talking about Haruno, Uchiha. Like I'd save your sorry ass. In case you've forgotten, I was there on that little retrieval mission when you betrayed Konoha. Me and my comrades nearly died trying to save you. I'll never make that mistake again and endanger my comrades."

"Neji-" started TenTen, but Neji ignored her.

"However, Haruno is an important asset to Konoha. She is one of the strongest kunoichi, and the best medic-nin aside from the Hokage and Shizune. I'd be willing to risk my life for her."

Sasuke glared at him, and then smirked. "Still bitter about the whole main branch thing, are you Hyuuga?"

Not soliciting a response, Sasuke sighed. "Go help your cousin, Hyuuga. I believe she might actually want it. I don't need your help."

Neji glared. "As much as I wouldn't want to see your smiling face in Konoha again, it's orders. Too bad for you I'm good at following orders."

Sasuke turned on him, his Sharingan blazing. "I don't have time to argue, damnit! This is my fight, now go and help someone else!" When Neji didn't reply, Sasuke added quietly, "I need to save her. She's mine to protect."

Neji glared. "Fine. But don't expect me to cover you when your sorry ass gets kicked all the way back to Konoha and back."

Sasuke actually smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Before leaving, Neji added, "Uchiha…don't go and die. I still want to fight you."

"Right back at you."

They nodded at each other.

"And Uchiha…you'd better save her, or you're a dead man…there are a lot of people who would get upset."

Sasuke glared. "Meaning you?"

Neji looked at him curiously. "No…meaning you."

Neji nodded to TenTen and they took off in search of a fight before Sasuke could retort.

Sasuke then faced Itachi, who wasn't moving . Now's my chance!

He whipped out Kusanagi, and the chidori crackled in the air like the chirping of a thousand birds.

He raced at Itachi. "Damn you, Itachi! I'll kill you for what you've done to the people I love! Ahhh!"

Just as Kusanagi was about to rip through Itachi, he disappeared. Sasuke instantly canceled the chidori, and muttered, "What the hell?"

His Sharingan eyes roamed every which way, ticking off the places that Itachi wasn't.

He couldn't detect his presence anywhere. He's cloaking his chakra.

Sasuke's heart was beating rapidly at his thoughts. This is it. This is the day I've been waiting for over 7 years. It's finally come. Itachi…prepare to die!

Before he attacked again, Sasuke stole a glance at Sakura's unmoving form. He frowned. She said that she knew Itachi's weakness…and that she could defeat him! If he's out of the Mangekyou world…why isn't she?

Just as he turned around, Itachi was in front of him.

Instead of attacking Sasuke, Itachi put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Come, brother, there's something you must see."

Before Sasuke could react, Itachi's Sharingan was swirling, and Sasuke was caught up in the red world of Mangekyou Sharingan.

Sakura's dulled mind barely registered the fact that Itachi was there, in front of her. When it finally did, her eyes went wide with fright. Sakura had always relied on her mind, and her inner strength when it came down to the core of a problem, and when that was taken away from her, Sakura was helpless. Not to mention the fact that her newly required physical strength was slowly drained from her.

Things looked bleak. She had seriously underestimated Itachi. Where was her inner strength when she needed it most? It had abandoned her, like everything else had.

To Sakura, Itachi's face was the face of death. She could see her demise in the glimmer of his blood red eyes. Despite the cold, sweat beaded on her brow and her heart was racing. Her heart was about the only thing that could move.

Itachi stood staring at her for a few more moments, and then he spoke in his deep, reproachful voice.

"Sakura…did you enjoy your stay here?" He chuckled bitterly. "I've got a surprise for you, kunoichi of Konoha."

She blinked and yet again things changed. It was the same background, and she was in the same spot, but someone else was with them. Her mind screamed. Sasuke!?

Sai was panting. His stomach had a huge gash on it, which was spouting out blood freely, making him dizzy. He was wondering how the others were doing. If they were about to die, or not. He was pretty sure he cared if they died or not, but he'd have to look it up when…if…he ever got home.

Deidara had formed another clay bird, and it was flying at Sai and exploded in his face.

When the dust cleared, Deidara saw no one. He frowned. The explosion wasn't powerful enough to completely incinerate the boy, and Deidara knew that he couldn't have jumped out of the way in time, and the boy was completely out of chakra.

Then he detected a new surge of chakra directly above him. He looked up as a barrage of kunai and shurikan were flung at him.

"Dang. Just when I had won too. Just my luck, yeah."

Deidara managed to dodge all but one of them, which lodged itself into his right arm, immobilizing it.

Deidara looked at it and swore. Now he only one good arm to make exploding clay with. He used his scanner on his left eye to locate the perpetrator. He was surprised to find almost a female version of himself.

Blond hair pulled back in a high ponytail, with bangs covering one eye. Bright blue eyes. Pretty face.

Sai, too, was surprised when someone had rushed in and swooped him up and into the tree. He looked at his savior with shock.

"Beautiful?"

Hinata's vision was blurry. Her arm felt like it was on fire, and she didn't want to use any more chakra than necessary.

Then her Byakugan detected rapidly approaching chakra waves. They were all familiar to her. Could it be…

Hinata sighed in relief when Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino all landed beside her.

"Kiba…Shino…"

Shino approached her and said in a quiet voice. "Just rest, Hinata."

Kiba grinned. "Yeah. We'll take care of him for you!"

Hinata smiled. "Thank you." They were saved!

Okay guys…I'm really tired so I'll end it here for now. Sorry if it's not very long…but I have so much stuff I have to do…

So leave me a nice, long review and I'll get on writing a longer chapter next time!

Thanks!

belle2990

PS. I love the line, "She could see her demise in the glimmer of his blood red eyes" because it rhymed…and it sounded poetic. I didn't mean for it to rhyme…but I thought it sounded cool.