Oh man did I enjoy writing this chapter. That is all I will say for now. Enjoy : )

P.S. Im running out of clever ways to disclaim Naruto

I smiled to myself as I slipped my left sandal on and stood from the bed. I looked myself over in the mirror once more and still couldn't believe that Itachi had actually gotten me a gift.

When I awoke from passing out after Itachi reset my fingers and my nose I found three beautiful qipao dress folded neatly in the chair beside my bed with a note attached.

"The clothes I lent you were bloodied and torn. I found this in a nearby village while picking up supplies and Deidera kept pestering me to buy it. I don't need you destroying anymore of my clothes so take these."

-Itachi

The note made me giggle for two reasons. One being Deidera had been gone to the Akatskui headquarters for the entirety of the two days I was unconscious and when I asked him if he went supply shopping with Itachi he snorted in disgust at the idea of going anywhere with Itachi. And two because Itachi was too embarrassed to admit that he'd bought me a gift so he lied to cover it up.

I smiled as I stroked the sides of the beautiful red dress, stitched with golden cherry blossom flowers. I had my pink hair pulled back into a messy bun with my bangs framing the sides of my face. I was glad that I was able to heal the bruising and discoloration from my broken nose, it was not a pretty sight. I hadn't felt this beautiful in months. Even before I was brought here I never bothered to wear anything like this, I was always busy at the hospital or on missions with Team 7.

The distant memory of my life in the Leaf flashed across my mind, but it didn't hurt as bad as it used to. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was becoming accustomed to being here. I was home sick less and less every day. It never once changed my mind about my promise to myself to stop the infiltration on the Leaf. That was still my main goal, however I found myself wondering would things ever be the same if I went back after being gone so long? Would people be happy to see me? Were they even still looking for me? I didn't want to think about any of that right now. I just wanted to admire how beautiful I felt. And then I realized, I felt beautiful because of Itachi.

No, no way.

Did I feel beautiful because the dresses were beautiful? Or did I feel beautiful because the dresses were a gift from Itachi? I suppose it was a combination of both.

I left my room and walked down stairs to the kitchen. When walked in Itachi was seated next to Sasori reading a few scattered papers and Deidera was seated at the head of the table sipping tea.

Deidera glanced up from the table and choked.

"S-s-Sakura-chan! You look amazing!" he blurted out.

Itachi lifted his gaze above the papers he was holding up to his face and glared silently at Deidera before shifting his gaze to me.

"Oh, well thank you Deidera." I smiled nervously trying to pretend like Itachi wasn't burning a hole in the side of my face.

Ignoring Itachi's stare and Deidera's outburst I walked past the table and grabbed a plate filling it with fresh fruit, salmon, and eggs. As I poured myself a hot cup of tea, I noticed Kisame was missing, not that I really cared.

"Where is Kisame?" I asked popping a piece of salmon into my mouth.

Sasori gave a quiet laugh "Probably somewhere trying to find his dignity."

"Yea, you really kicked his ass." Deidera added.

"Yeah well, he kicked my ass back twice as hard so I guess we're even." I shrugged.

Walking back to the table with my tea and plate of food, I sat down next to Deidera.

Expecting Itachi to deliver another death glare for my seat choice I gazed at him across the table.

His attention remained on the papers he was passing back and forth between him and Sasori. He looked exhausted.

He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days and his usual long sleek black hair was a bit dull and hung down past his shoulders instead of in its usual ponytail. He had on a plain white shirt and navy slacks with his fingernails painted perfectly in their usual purple, and for the first time he looked….well…normal. No akastkui robe, no bandages, no weapon sacks attacked to his hip, just a dressed down Itachi.

I must have been staring for a while because Itachi eventually looked up and caught my eyes. I immediately looked down and felt my cheeks grow warm from blushing. Why was I blushing?

"Thank you for the clothes, Itachi" I said shoving a forkful of eggs into my mouth.

"Hn" he responded without looking away from his papers.

Deidera gave a confused look at the mention of Itachi buying me the dress.

"Itachi affording expensive dressed like that. What have you been doing that we don't know about, yeah?" he taunted.

Oh dear God.

"That is none of your concern." Itachi calmly responded.

Deidera must have put two and two together remembering when I asked him if he went shopping with Itachi and realized that Itachi told a white lie to save himself the trouble of admitting he bought me a gift out of the kindness of his heart.

"Oh but it is my concern, I'm the one who suggested your get them right?" he teased.

I was scanning the kitchen for the easiest exit, preparing myself for the nuclear disaster that was about to take place.

Still focusing his attention on the papers Itachi calmly responded. "I had to buy her something so she wouldn't have to go around wearing that worn out cloak you gave her. Sakura is not an Aktksui member, she can't walk around wearing the symbol around her shoulders she would be an instant target. Then again im sure you didn't have the intelligence to think about that, did you Deidera?"

"If you wouldn't have torn my cloak to shreds maybe she could have made the decision if she wanted to keep it or not without you making the decision for her, Itachi." Deidera slammed his tea cup down on the table.

"It's just a cloak." He responded.

"No its just my cloak that you tore to shreds because it came from me."

Itachi snorted as if he were offended at the statement "Why would I care?"

"I don't know Itachi, I keep asking myself that question. It's not everyday someone rapes a girl and then starts buying her gifts."

"Deidera!" my eyes widened in horror. It was my natural reaction to reach across the table and slap him across his face.

"Well it looks like I walked in at the wrong time" Kisame laughed as he walked past the table to grab food.

Deidera frowned at me touching his red, hot cheek "It's not like it's a secret Sakura!"

"Actually it was Deidera! You overheard by mistake, how could you blurt something like that out because you and Itachi are having a childish argument!?" I was the red faced one now.

Mortified that now Sasori and Kisame knew about the rape, angry tears welled in my eyes.

"Why are you mad at me? Shouldn't you be mad at Itachi? I'm not the one who raped you."

I couldn't believe he had said it aloud a second time, I balled my fist up and swung at his face knocking him out of his chair.

"Shut up!" I warned him.

He looked back at me stunned that I had attacked him. I knew I had hurt his feelings but I didn't care because at the time he had just hurt the hell out of mine.

Deidera rose to his feet and walked over to me apologizing.

"Sakura-chan….I'm sorry" he reached out a hand to grab my face.

"No, leave me alone! Go to hell! I said as I took a step back to avoid his touch.

"Sakura listen to me, yea? I said I was sorry" He took another step forward backing me into the kitchen wall.

Itachi reacted, instantly appearing at my side gripping Deidera's wrist tight.

"Let it go. She said no." he warned.

"Since when do you care when she says no?"

That hit a nerve.

Itachi tightened his grip on Deidera's wrist and flung him across the kitchen into the table.

Deidera wasn't phased in the slightest and jumped back to his feet launching a kunai embedding it into Itachi's throat.

Itachi choked and gargled blood as he gripped his neck falling to the floor.

"Itachi!" I panicked.

Suddenly his body transformed into a dozen ravens, flying away.

"That bastard is mocking me." Deidera spat.

Grabbing a hand full of molding clay, Deidera fed it to his molding hand as he stormed out of the kitchen and headed outside.

"This is going to get interesting, those two are long overdue for a fight. I'm surprised they lasted this long." Sasori sounded amused.

"They're going to kill each other if I don't do something." I moaned.

A loud explosion shook the compound. Great.

I ran out of the kitchen down the hall and outside to a giant, smoking, hole in the ground. Deidera and Itachi were engulfed in a taijutsu dance.

I could tell Itachi was just playing with him, not putting any effort into the fight. Deidera however was extremely serious and infuriated.

"You bastard! You think you can just boss her around and dictate everything she does? You think buying her gifts can make up for what you did?!" he screamed.

Itachi blocked a kick with his forearms.

"I'm not trying to make up for anything. Sakura has chosen to move on from what happened, what makes you think you have the right to bring it back up? You weren't involved."

Deidera snorted flipping backwards to avoid a punch combination.

"If she wasn't so afraid of you maybe she would make her own decisions on what she wants. But you already know that don't you Itachi? That's why you keep her on a leash, you're afraid if you give her the choice she won't choose you" he laughed.

"You don't know what you're talking about. You sound like a child." Was his only response.

They both broke away distancing themselves.

Deidera grabbed a handful of spiders and Itachi yielded hand signs.

"Art explosion!"

'Firestyle! Fireball—"

Before either could finish their attack I slammed a chakra infused punch into the ground causing a hairline crack in the earth to make its way straight towards them. I slammed my other fist down spitting the ground into two.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" I roared as the ground engulfed them both.

Itachi easily flipped out of the giant crater, as Deidera came out riding the back of his bird. They both landed gracefully on the ground.

"YOU TWO IDIOTS!" I screamed.

"Were you SERIOUSLY about to use a fire element attack on an explosive attack?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL EVERYONE INCLUDING YOURSELFS?! I was breathing heavily and angrily and still had my fists balled.

"No one asked you to come out here" Itachi said.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed.

"Both of you are talking about me like I wasn't standing right there!"

"You!" I pointed to Deidera. "Stop talking about me like im a puppet with no free will! I chose to put that behind me and you have no right to open your big mouth and bring it back up!" Deidera looked at me wide eyed.

"And you!" I turned my attention to Itachi. "I was handling my business between me and Deidera just fine before you butted in! I don't need you always dictating everything I do!"

"I'll do whatever I please Sakura" Itachi responded.

I felt like I was going to explode. I physically began to tremble.

"Both of you go to hell, I'm done!" I stormed away into the compound and headed straight for my bedroom.

I kicked my bed in frustration and it broke in half, collapsing onto the floor. I began grabbing all of my belongings and shoving them into a bag.

Itachi walked in the middle of my episode.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I'm leaving." I said as I shoved my journals into my bag.

"No you're not." He said calmly.

"Itachi, I'm done having you tell me what I can and cannot do. I was brought here against my will and now I'm leaving by choice. Besides I don't have a bed to sleep in anymore as you can see."

"Then sleep on the floor" he responded.

I gave him a "screw you" glare.

"Stop packing Sakura, you are staying."

"NO! You can't boss me around anymore! I won't stay because you ordered me to and expect that I have to do what you say!" I screamed at him.

Suddenly my back was rammed against the wall and Itachi's lips came crashing down on mine. I didn't have time to react, I drew a blank once again.

One hand played in my hair, as the other gripped my arm. This kiss was different than the last one. It wasn't forceful, or apologetic, it was desperate.

I stood there frozen as he hungrily massaged my lips with his. A few moments later he pulled back releasing his grip on my arm as he continued to lace his fingers through my hair.

His lips hovered over mine and he forced my chin up to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry. You can sleep in my bed." Was all he said before releasing his fingers from my hair and walking out of the room shutting the door behind him.

Holy shit.

I stood there frozen, wide eyed, and dumbfounded.

Did Itachi Uchiha just apologize….and mean it?!

I know, I'm evil for that cliffhanger. Try not to hate me too much : )