-1Warnings: rated M for language violence and sexy situations ; )

Hello my faithful readers!!! Just a heads up here: any fanart, or anything like that is more than welcome!! Well, I had a hard time with this chapter…I'm not sure why though…oh well here you go!

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It was the next day. Sakura was lounging in the recreation room, which was little more than a library with some chairs. She had read some of the dark texts, all of them were filled with disturbing jutsus and forbidden techniques that would make your skin crawl. Now she sat curled up in a fluffy old armchair, meditating, trying not to think of Itachi.

Her resolve shattered however when, the raspy voice of Kisame ran through her thoughts like a drill. "Hey girlie Itachi's face is all fucked up, what did you do to him?" Sakura sighed in exasperation and opened her eyes to glare at him. "It was nothing he didn't deserve." Kisame smirked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She nodded and brought her feet down to the floor so she was sitting normally. He laughed and slung an arm around the huge, ever-present sword by his side. "Whatever you say…nice hicky by the way."

Sakura blushed and her hand immediately went to the raised bit of flesh where Itachi's teeth had grazed her throat. "Shut the fuck up you overgrown fish stick."

He laughed harshly and swung his sword around to rest at his feet. "So where'd you get it hm?"

Sakura glanced down, thankfully he was dense. "None of your damned business Kisame."

He leaned back in his chair, propping up his feet on the table and replied, "I still don't know how Itachi's face got fucked up…" "I slapped him. That's all nothing more end of story. We don't get along." She had agitatedly drawn her cloak closer around her shoulders, looking Kisame straight in the eye. He smirked. "Don't get along eh? Where'd you get that hickey again?"

Her eyes swiftly narrowed and she swept out of the room. He wasn't so dense after all.

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"Itachi-san, you're back. How did it go?" said the calm voice of Deidara. Itachi turned to glare pure death at the blonde smart-ass. He could see his blue eyes shining with contempt at the sight of his bruised and swollen face. "The mission was completed." Deidara smirked and walked closer to the Uchiha to examine his face closer. "Really, looks like you didn't complete it fast enough. Who gave you that work-over? I should send them flowers." Itachi didn't answer. The kunai sinking into his stomach was answer enough. Deidara choked, and stumbled back, blood seeping from his wound. He gasped coughed and pulled the weapon from his abdomen. Itachi smirked as he ambled from the room, but the pain from his fractured cheekbone made him wince.

He walked out of the kitchen, making for his room. He knew the kunoichi wouldn't seek him out to heal the wound she had inflicted. He would be disappointed if she did. He carefully perched himself on the edge of his bed, assessing the damage. Fractured cheekbone, traumatized gum line, he could feel a tooth missing too. All of that from a slap to the face. He had to admit she was an amazing kunoichi. Strong, beautiful, and yet she had a sense of fragility about her that he couldn't resist. She was like a crystalline vase that looked so perfect you would shatter it just to see the end result, yet she was also like the undertow of a river, strong and steady, continuous in her determination and stubbornness. He couldn't make her out.

He smiled in contempt at the memory of that kiss. He had felt a jolt of adrenaline that didn't compare to the near-death experiences he encountered almost every day. It was something new, and new things didn't appear often in his line of work, he intended to make use of every moment of it. He knew time with the little spitfire could be entertaining, but you had to be cautious…or she would burn you.

He closed his eyes as a jolt of pain lanced through his jaw line. It would only get worse. The logical thing to do would be to get the kunoichi to heal him. But Itachi wasn't prone to logical thinking. He was prone to cold calculating plans, that were thought of in seconds and executed with acute precision. This was how he had been taught to think ever since he was born into the Uchiha clan. He had not developed a normal frame of mind. He had the mind of a cruel efficient killer, that of a skilled shinobi. He often looked back and wondered how it would have been if he hadn't been an Uchiha. But every time he did, the conclusion he came to was 'this was the way it was meant to be' and to 'make the best of your situation. So he did, and was mildly satisfied with his life. His goal to eliminate his clan to test his brother's and his own strength had succeeded, his plan to separate himself from the corruption of the ninja had succeeded, and his plan to become someone other than just an Uchiha had succeeded. Faliure was not in his vocabulary.

Sighing hoarsely he laid back on the mattress and tried to fall into an uneasy sleep but it would not come. So he started to strategize how to heal his face.

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"So Uchiha, did you do as I asked?" asked the hawk. Its possessed voice was tense, a reminder of what happened the last time the "Leader" spoke to him in this form. Itachi blinked from his perch on the tree branch and muttered a tense "Yes. But my performance was hindered due to my eyes. They have been troubling me." The hawk tilted its head to one side, studying his now almost unrecognizable face. "Is that so? Ask the medic to heal you then." Itachi blinked. "I doubt she would consider healing me unless it was an order, and I do not wish to get on her…bad side." The hawk uttered a warbling chirp and hopped from side to side. "So you want me…your leader to take the brunt, and tell her to take pity on you? That idea is almost laughable Uchiha." Itachi smirked despite the painful twang in his nerves. "The thing is sir, you don't have to take anything, she is your subordinate…I would just prefer her not knowing I need my eyes healed…I would rather it seem like a small requirement…otherwise the little brat might get cocky."

The hawk squinted at him for a moment as if considering, then said: "Very well, I will inform her of this requirement. but mark my words Uchiha this better not be a waste of my efforts…those crazy eyes of yours better be worth it."

"If you thought they weren't I wouldn't even be suggesting this to you and you know it."

"Dont question me again, or you will pay for it with your life Uchiha."

Without another word the deadly bird spread it's wings and glided off of the tree.

Good the plan was working out quite nicely. Now all that was required was a certain cherry blossoms ability to follow orders, and all would fall into place…more or less…

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"Sakura-san are you done sharpening weapons yet?" questioned the overly chipper voice of Tobi. Sakura gritted her teeth for about the hundredth time and spat out vehemently: "I can see why Deidara wants to murder you!" The masked man fell silent but Sakura felt him flinching in a jittery manner every time the whetstone scraped against the metal of her kunai or shuriken. She had come across this sharpening room in hopes to restore her weapons supply and find some peace and quiet. Her first wish was granted but the second flew out the window as soon as Tobi ambled in looking for Deidara. She hadn't the heart to turn him away. Now however she was ready to cut his head off. He was driving her up a fucking wall. Finally she completed sharpening her weapons and deposited the used whetstone on the table in front of her.

The room wasn't overly-large but it held an immense variety of weapons and tools. She had been awed at the sight. The table she had been sitting at was one of three, littered with kunai and sharpening whetstones. She exited the room out in the chilly hallway. She shivered and pulled the cloak closer to herself. The days were getting colder, and she was thankful for the thick material.

As she walked down the hall something swooped around her head and alighted on her shoulder. She saw it was a hawk. It glared at her with feral eyes and she winced as its talons bit into the tender flesh of her shoulder. "Haruno Sakura I have orders for you." Sakura yelped and tried to shake off the bird but it held fast to her cloak. "Calm down you foolish girl!" it snapped. She stopped her attempts to dislodge it and suddenly felt the chakra within the bird. A possession technique.

"In case you haven't noticed I am your Leader and I have orders for you."

"That so?"

"Yes. You are to heal Uchiha's eyes and whatever injuries he might have, his poor vision has become a slight hindrance to the organization."

The pink haired woman glared at the animal. "He did this didn't he?"

"Don't question me, get it done as soon as possible or there will be consequences."

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"Kakashi, how is he?" muttered a raven-haired boy. His charcoal black eyes stared blankly at the crackling fire, hands folded tensely in his lap. The man to his left, who was kneeling over an unconscious boy looked up, and then down again. "I'm not sure Sasuke I'm not a medic." the last word rang out with a bitter tone at the memory of the recent battle. Sasuke flinched and clenched his fists. "Out of all of us I didn't know shed have the gall to abandon the village like this."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow and continued to bandage up the thickly bleeding wound just below Naruto's shoulder. It was quite ridiculous how easily Itachi had brought down this ridiculously talented man. In only seconds he had brought down one of the strongest Leaf shinobi ever to be born into the Fire country. "You know Sasuke it wasn't a far cry from what you did. Her reasons are different though…I know she wouldn't do something like that without reason."

"Of course she wouldnt! It was join or die, what would you do in a situation like that?!"

"I would die."

Sasuke growled something inaudible and kicked the tree stump next to him. He was furious that his former teammate had done this. He was furious that it was out of her control. Kakashi looked up from tending Naruto's wounds and sighed. "Look Sasuke Sakura has been through a lot, in some ways a hell of a lot more than you ever did. Joining the Akatsuki was an escape to her."

Sasuke looked up at him, anger burning in his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

Kakashi looked at him with equal disdain and replied: "She had to deal with the pain of losing you, the guilt of knowing she had done nothing to stop you, not to mention the fact that her parents were murdered, and nothing was done about it. She never told you but she was the one who killed the head feudal lord of Earth Country. Sakura has been through hell and back, and I wouldn't be surprised if she saw the Akatsuki as a new lease on life."

Sasuke glared at the packed earth. "Tsunade…what will she do?"

"Knowing her…probably get her back at all costs…not only is Sakura like a surrogate daughter to her, but she has infiltrated the Akatsuki…information Konoha needs lies within the organization."

Sasuke glared pure animosity at the silver-haired man and his eyes flitted to Naruto. He knew he was deathly worried for the Kyuubi vessel. If they didn't get him back to Tsunade soon he would die. They had to leave soon but before they did all of them had some serious sulking to do.

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"Deidara what the hell happened to you?!" exclaimed Sakura as she burst into her room. The fact that he was snooping around her dresser escaped her when she noticed the gaping and heavily bleeding stab wound near his abdomen. He opened his mouth to speak but she shushed him and sat him down on her bed. Her hand shot into the drawer where he had been rummaging and pulled out a roll of gauze bandages.

"Who the fuck stabbed you?" she asked as she deposited her cloak on the chair in front of her desk. He looked up at her with his chilling blue eyes and smirked, muttering "Itachi woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." She rolled her eyes and motioned for him to remove his hand from the wound. He did, and she grabbed the hem of his shirt. "This is going to hurt because your stretching the traumatized flesh, but can you do your best to lift your arms over your head?" He grunted but slowly brought his arms up over his head. He didn't omit a cry of pain but she felt his muscles ripple in pain as she slowly pulled the smooth material over his chest. She pushed him down onto the bed and rushed to the bathroom, getting some wet cloth to clean the bloodied wound. Her eyes didn't miss the fact that he had a sculpted and muscled body under all that cloak. He flinched as she gently wiped away the blood but relaxed when her chakra rushed over the wound, knitting the flesh

"Up." she said. He complied and she wrapped the gauze bandages around his middle. "Be more careful around the bastard, oh and next time you're stabbed ask me to help and don't go rummaging around in my things."

She took his grunt as a thank you and he walked out the door.

Sakura shook her head in annoyance. Men. Her fingers fumbled for a notebook and a pen, she would need them for working on the bastards eyes. Even if she had sunken lower than thought possible on the moral ladder, she was still a medic and needed to take medical notes out of pure habit if nothing else. She left her cloak on the chair and stepped out of her room. The cold stone walls loomed around her like ominous guards.

I hate who I have become, but I don't regret changing myself…is that normal?

She sighed in exasperation and knocked sharply on Itachi's door.

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Well, I hope that makes up for the shortness of the last chapter! Do nto worry dear readers there will be more Ita-Saku-ness next chapter I promis! P.S. Reviews make me smile! ;)