Ch. 4

The Pretender

"And she's not just royal,

Pledgedly loyal,

But she's faithful

Though she has no faith in me.

There's the ones that you love,

The ones that love you…

The ones that make you come…

The ones that make you come unglued."

-Make You Come Unglued, Marilyn Manson

Deidara paced the floor of his room, anxiously awaiting Sakura's arrival. He had summoned her here to talk about what had happened only a few hours before, and he told himself with every step that no matter what she would say he would keep his composure. He jumped at the sound of the door sliding open, and let out the breath he had been holding when he saw that it was the kunoichi.

"Deidara-kun, are you hurt? Do you need me to heal you, is everything alright?"If you think about it that way then yeah, I do need some healing of sorts…Deidara looked into Sakura's eyes, seeing the sincerity and innocence that enhanced them. There's no way that something so pure would consent to sex with someone like Itachi…

He moved closer to Sakura, and placed his hands on her shoulders. He tried to read how she reacted to his touch, but saw nothing.

"Sakura-chan, I'm actually quite alright. I just…needed to discuss something with you."

Sakura saw that Deidara was heavily plagued with something on his mind, something that was so worrying that it had temporarily alleviated his characteristic 'yeah's at the end of his sentences. But while Sakura saw that he was searching for how to phrase his words, she thought back on things she wished never happened.

Deidara running his fingers through her hair, whispering sweet nothings in her ear. His hand fluttering across her stomach and up to her breasts, pulling her shirt up the entire way…The way his skin was soft to the touch, how it flowed under her tiny hands so smoothly…

And his mouth, so tender and loving, covering hers in a passionate kiss.

But Sakura also was secretly happy that she had had that kind of encounter with the man. She was glad that she had willingly kissed someone in this compound, even if it hadn't been who she thought it was…

But her thoughts were againcut short as Deidara found his words.

"Sakura-chan, I was wondering how you felt for Itachi."

This took Sakura aback. She did not think that his troubles were centered around something of that magnitude. She did not know what to say, so she only stared into the young man's beautiful and innocent blue eyes. But when he looked expectedly at her for an answer after a short while, she laughed nervously, and her response was weak.

"Deidara-san, what on earth gave you any inclination that I had any feelings other than contempt for him?"Sakura looked inquisitively at the blonde when he blushed and stared down at the floor, fidgeting with his fingers nervously. He licked his lips and raised his head, but he still did not look Sakura in the eyes. He looked a little further over to the side. His face was now mostly red.

"Um…w-well, a few hours ago, uh, Sasori-san, Kisame-san and I were in the kitchen, yeah, and, well…"

Sakura nodded her head, motioning him to continue.

"And, well…it's just, we were drinking tea, you know, and, well, we kind of…heard…"He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"We heard you scream Itachi's name from the kitchen and we knew there was only one thing that you could possibly be doing, yeah."

He spoke the last sentence rather fast, and it took Sakura a moment to think about what he had said. Her eyes widened, and she could feel the blood quickly rushing to her face, filling her cheeks.

"Deidara-san…you must understand, just because I slept with him does not mean I have feelings for him. It's just…I had no choice."

Deidara was pretty sure he knew what that meant, but he had to be sure, as he was not quick to assume.

"You mean, he…he raped you?"

Deidara's face fell as he ran to embrace the young kunoichi when she nodded her head and started to cry. He held her lovingly yet gently, and his touch spoke volumes. He would never let anything happen to her ever again, he told her, and she clutched his back in grief. She pulled slightly away from him, his arms still wrapped tenderly around her back. He looked down into her tear-stained face, but saw only beauty. Some girls are amazingly breathtaking when they cry. And he was extremely surprised—yet pleased—when she wove her small fingers through his hair and brought his face closer to hers, enveloping him in a wet and intense kiss, encouraging him once again. She led him to the bed, pulling off his cloak for a second time.

But this time, she knew exactly what she was doing.

Sakura pushed him down onto the side of the bed and straddled him, still kissing him while she hurriedly pulled his mesh over his head. When she had removed that, along with the tee-shirt, bra and shorts she was wearing, she nearly slammed him into the mattress in fervent passion.

"A little aggressive there, yeah," Deidara said with a smug grin on his face.

Restless and eager, Sakura replied with a phrase that surprised both of them entirely.

"Deidara…some like it rough."

And with that she playfully nipped at his ear and kissed her way down his jaw line, connecting with his mouth again. She made small circles with her fingers dangerously low under Deidara's navel, seeing how long he could go without snapping, deciding to play a little game.

Sakura started kissing Deidara's neck, sometimes biting, just to goad him into losing her little one-sided game His hands ran everywhere along her back and sides, sometimes making her giggle. Deidara pulled her in closer when he felt her warm breath on his skin, but he resisted the urge take her right then and there, knowing now what she was trying to do. So he decided to play along, pushing her over on her back before she could go any further. He put his legs in between hers and spread them wide apart. One of his hands held Sakura's over her head while the other ran along the side of her face, down her neck and onto her stomach. He stopped it there and brought his mouth down to the same spot, trailing down to the line of her underwear. He left light, butterfly kisses in his wake. When his lips reached her panty line they stopped, but only for a second. He took a small amount of her thong in between his front teeth and pulled it down in one agonizingly slow motion. Sakura was now unclothed completely, and he framed the sight in his mental gallery of unappreciated but beautiful art. But his gaze did not go unnoticed; Sakura touched his cheek lightly and brought his face back up to hers once more, and they engaged in a battle of tongues yet again.

Deidara knew that now was a better time than ever, so he loosened the cloth that was wrapped tightly around his waist to remove his pants. When he did, Sakura knew, because she felt something hard graze her inner thigh. She moaned at the accidental touch, and Deidara inwardly grinned, wondering what other sounds he could cause her to make. He decided that he should find out.

He entered her slowly, letting her adjust to him. When he knew she was alright he continued, but he was still playing his game, so he kept his present pace. He could feel her tighten, driving him mad with lust, but he was determined to win, so he only sped up a little. She dug her nails into his back, silently pleading for him to go faster. But he did not, and her groans were becoming longer and more agonized, telling Deidara that he was well ahead. I win when she screams.

So he sped up bit by bit, with full knowledge that, to Sakura, it was excruciating. She clawed away at his shoulder blades, causing him to inhale sharply. But the pain went away quickly, and he found that she was on the verge of letting out a cry of ecstasy. So he gave in, resigning to the fact that "the verge" was good enough. As soon as he stopped holding back, Sakura let out a pleasured scream.

Well, looks like I won anyway.

Deidara worked his hand under Sakura's back, wanting her as close to him as humanly possible. He never wanted to let her go. Not even if it meant dying at the hands of Itachi; he loved her, he knew it, and so he would do anything it took to make her his completely.

The two were reaching their limits, and they both knew it. So with one last thrust, Deidara and Sakura let out pleasured moans, aware of nothing but the sound of each other's ragged breathing.

And they were especially unaware of the dark figure waiting outside of their door, leaning against the wall, who had heard everything that had occurred since the girl entered the room.

Sakura brushed her hair, fixed her makeup, and kissed Deidara goodbye before sneaking silently out of the room. It was about dinner time; she had no doubt that Itachi would be in the kitchen eating. So she decided to go straight to their room to change clothes and shower. She smelled like sex and sweat.

She successfully made it to her room, and was about to walk through the door that she had slid open when an immense force slammed her into the floor, and she was sure that she had broken something from the fall. She let out an alarmed gasp, and cursed angrily when she was slapped hard across the face. She fell silent as she looked up into the eyes of her attacker.

A bloody red, with a shuriken shaped symbol gracing the center. They could only belong to one person here.

"Why were you in Deidara's room, love? Did you forget something?"

Sakura winced at his mocking yet knowing tone. But she stopped breathing completely when she registered what he had actually said. Her eyes widened with fear and realization. He must have been listening through the door, having followed her there and beaten her back. And now he was smothering her, pressing her hard into the cold floor.

She knew that lying would be impossible, as he had activated his mangekou sharingan. And if he had indeed been listening, as his tone conveyed and her thoughts relayed, then she knew that a lie would mean certain death.

"Why are you asking, Uchiha-san? You know exactly why I was there."

Itachi's breathing slowed and his sharingan deactivated. He only looked her deep in the eyes and said something that would haunt Sakura forever.

"You are just like me. In almost every way. You pretend, you lie, you betray. Deception is your code of survival, like any worthy shinobi. But what surely bonds us is that we have both betrayed one person, the same person, who meant very much to us. One who has devoted his entire life to kill me and will likewise hate you when he discovers that you have become the Akatsuki's whore."

And with that, Itachi quickly stood and left, as if anything in the world would make him happier than being in a room with her.

Sakura lay stunned on the floor where Itachi had left her. His words were eating her up inside, taking their time on every little aspect of her mind. They would attack from different sides occasionally, killing her slowly with diverse approaches. Tears welled up and streamed out of her eyes without her even thinking. Nobody in the world would be able to help her, save her, after what he had said.

So her body acted of its own accord, standing up and walking out of the room without really consulting the mind first. But her semi-consciousness returned when she found herself turning into the kitchen, and she stopped dead right outside. She sensed three in the room, but she could not tell who was who. Their chakras were all very high. So she listened, matching the voices and discerning the people.

"Soooo, Deidara…what've you been up to today, huh? Noticed that little pinkie was gone too. You don't happen to know where she's been, do you??"

Definitely Kisame.

"Kisame-san, why the hell would I know where she is? After all, she lives with Itachi, yeah."

"Hmm…you sure about that?" Kisame asked.

Deidara sounded flustered when he answered.

"O-of course, yeah. She's not my problem to deal with. She belongs to Itachi, yeah."

"Whatever."

"Kisame-san, Deidara, I don't believe that we should speak about Sakura-san as if she were a possession. She is a human being, you know, just like us."

Sakura verified the third person in the room as Sasori. She felt a wave of compassion for the small man; he was quite understanding and kind.

But she suddenly felt a hand cover her mouth as a voice in her ear whispered, "Having fun listening to them talk about you, love?"

Sakura was pushed hard into the wall, all of her sounds of resistance completely muffled by Itachi's hand. She struggled to get away, but he pressed his entire body against her, almost suffocating her.

"Whisper like a good girl and I'll let you breathe."

So she nodded her head quickly and he pulled his hand off of her mouth. She inhaled sharply, careful not to make any noise. He brought his face close to her ear, whispering quite faintly. He spoke slowly.

"I want you to tell me what you were doing standing out here for no reason when you could have entered without a problem. I think it's a little odd, don't you?"

Sakura wanted to retort, but she decided not to test him right now.

"I was only trying to see who was in there," she whispered.

Itachi read between the lines with ease, picking up on the hidden meaning instantly.

"Well I'm obviously not. So then why did you remain outside?"

Sakura didn't have an answer, so she remained silent. So Itachi did too, deciding to use other methods to draw his conclusions. He unzipped the hooded jacked she was wearing and ran his hand up her shirt, tracing odd shapes at random on her stomach. When she remained silent he ripped the shirt and jacket off completely, leaving her in nothing but a bra and his old sweatpants. But Sakura did not say anything. She had nothing to say. She had just finished discerning the voices in the kitchen when he had shown up. So she only put her hands on his wrists, trying silently but frantically to stop his advances. When this did not work, she tried pleading.

"Itachi, I did not know why I did not enter the kitchen, I was not done matching voices to faces…"

But this was not good enough for him, even though he knew it was true. He brought his hand around to her back, unsnapping her bra and sliding it off slowly. Sakura whimpered, but tried to remain as quiet as possible. She softly begged him to stop, that they were not in the privacy of a room, that anyone could walk by and see her. But he seemed content with that fact, and only continued slowly.

"Don't worry, love. Two out of four of them have seen you, have had you. Why are you worrying? Don't you want to be able to say that you fucked four Akatsuki members in one go?"

Anger flared up everywhere inside of Sakura, making her breathing heavier and her eyes brighter.

"So that is what this is about? Are you still trying to get back at me for sleeping with Deidara? Wasn't what you said before—"

But Itachi cut her off there, pushing her to the ground after hearing her words. It seemed that her actually voicing what she had done had more affect on him than implying it. That gave her an idea.

"Are you afraid that you didn't measure up? Afraid that I liked him better? Or are you just angry that I didn't think you were enough so I went out for more?"

Itachi's breathing quickened at her taunting, but that was all. Dammit. I should have known. Uchihas never let their feelings get the better of them. But it turned out that Sakura's idea did not have to work; the voices in the kitchen stopped, and she heard the sound of feet making their way quickly to the hall. Sakura expected Itachi to disappear, leaving her completely topless on the floor, but he did not; on the contrary: he slowly brought his face down to her neck, kissing and biting, causing her to gasp. She certainly did not see that coming.

Sakura watched as Kisame, Deidara and Sasori poked their heads out of the doorway and beheld the sight before them. Kisame looked first at Sakura and smiled wickedly, raising his eyebrows. Then he looked at Itachi, still grinning, nodding his head in approval.

She saw Sasori do nothing, as usual; but then she caught a small expression on the man's face. He furrowed his brow in complete contrast to Kisame, looking repulsed by the entire situation.

Sakura did not look at Deidara. She did not want to see his face react to this, to her being violated like this. She decided that it was better this way, better if she did not put him in danger by continuing their affair. So she did something that completely broke her heart.

Sakura slowly snaked her arms around Itachi's neck as she brought one leg up, and she winked at Kisame playfully before she loosened the tie that held back Itachi's hair. It fell around her face entirely, blocking Kisame from view. She giggled as Itachi ran his hand down her bent leg, but inside she felt as if she would never truly laugh again. Deidara was the second love she had lost in four years; she knew now that she would not leave the compound in search for Sasuke, but she would stay here and learn to tolerate Itachi, just to prevent her heart from dying again. And she knew that she would never be the same when Itachi whispered faintly in her ear.

"Good girl…"

The next thing she knew, Sakura heard the pounding of fists in the kitchen, the harsh sound of soft swearing drifting through the hallway. She saw a shadow move hastily in the opposite direction, down the other corridor. She felt Itachi stop kissing her neck, and saw as he looked up and slightly back, in the direction of the shadow. And as he looked up, her line of vision returned. Her heart shattered completely as she caught a quick glimpse of blonde disappearing around a turn.

She heard Itachi let out a small laugh of triumph and satisfaction, and he got up and disappeared, leaving her lying there in only her sweatpants as she predicted he would sometime. She frantically sat up and covered her chest with her arm, searching for her clothes. But she let out a small scream of contempt and frustration as she realized that the sadistic bastard had taken her upper clothing with him. She started to cry, letting out all of her pent up emotions. She felt a gentle arm wrap itself around her back and under her knees, and she glanced up to see Sasori, a look of concern and sympathy etched into his features. He picked her up "bridal-style" and carried her so that her chest faced him, hiding her shame from the much less mature populace of the hall.

Sakura buried her face in his shoulder and cried, noting his very clean smell. She knew when they had arrived in his room, because he set her down on the bed. She immediately covered herself and huddled in the corner, afraid that he would take advantage of her weakness.

But he merely sat down on the edge and put his hand on her shoulder, offering very consoling words.

"Sakura-san, do not worry. I would never, ever hurt you. Please, feel free to think of me as a brother figure. After all, we are not all like Itachi."

Sakura slowly looked up, still covering herself. She was still crying quietly.

She nodded, and Sasori stood up, searching his drawers for a shirt that he thought would suit the poor girl. He pulled out a small white one with irrelevant writing on it, and he placed it on the bed next to her. Then he left to let her change.

When she had put on the shirt, Sakura located the door to the bathroom and washed the salty tears off her face. She then turned the sink off, walking out of the bathroom and through the bedroom, sliding the door open only to find Sasori waiting for her right outside.

"Sakura-san, are you feeling better?"

"Very much. Thank you."

The redhead gave Sakura a small smile, then walked back towards the kitchen, indicating for her to follow. She padded down the hallway after him, and then took her seat at the table when the arrived at the small kitchen. She saw that Kisame was there, looking at a magazine; but she blushed and averted her eyes when she saw him thrust it under the table and out of sight quickly, giving her more than a hint as to what it was.

When she sat, Kisame cleared his throat and hurriedly started conversation.

"Sakura-blossom, are you okay? You've seemed a little…out of sorts lately. I mean, of course, I know it has to do with Itachi"—a wide grin played across his face—"but what exactly happened? I mean, Deidara's been a little loopy too."

Sakura did not particularly want to discuss such a personal matter with someone who called her something as stupid as "Sakura-blossom", but it seemed that this was as good as it was gonna get, so she went with it.

"I was kidnapped by you all, as you well know. When I could not give him the answers he wanted, Itachi decided that would force them out of me by threatening me with rape. You know that I told him that I would never stay here with him and that, because of what Deidara told me afterwards, I had my panic attack.

Apparently, while I was out, Deidara took me to Itachi's room and helped me recover there. As it turned out, I somehow mistook him for Sasuke in my state of delirium and started kissing him. And to make the situation look worse, I was only wearing some cheap underwear I had found in Kisame's room because Deidara had kindly rid me of my vomit-covered clothes before I had even woken up. He had also covered me with his cloak, leaving him in only his shinobi pants."

Kisame blushed and quickly told Sasori that it was for women and not him, but Sasori only raised his eyebrows and told Sakura to continue.

"Anyway, while I was kissing Deidara—who I thought was Sasuke—Itachi walked in and turned on the light. When he saw Deidara and I kissing on his bed, scantily clad, he just stared at us. And then when I looked up and saw Deidara I kind of screamed, and I think it scared him because he fell off the bed. None the less he grabbed his cloak, decided that I needed it more, handed it back and left as quickly as possible. It's surprising that he's still alive.

And so after Deidara left Itachi finally snapped, and he pseudo-raped me. I say pseudo because I did not resist physically, because I wanted to get back on his good side. But I didn't want to, and it was torture the whole time. Only hours after Itachi and I…you know…Deidara called me to his room. He asked me if I had feelings for Itachi, and I told him I didn't, even though I didn't know what I was feeling right then. But I became sure of myself when he put his hands on my shoulder. Him touching me just felt so right…nothing at all like Itachi or Sasuke's touch. It was warm and caring, you know?"

Sakura looked at the two men before her and noticed that they were giving her quite incredulous looks that seemed to convey a no, we don't know, so please, for the love of God, continue. So Sakura cleared her throat and went on.

"Anyway, I kind of lost myself. I was so mad at Itachi, and I wanted to make him even madder. And Deidara wasn't doing anything to help my raging hormones; actually, he was completely contradictory of what my heart was telling me to do. He was incredibly unaware that he was egging me on. At any rate, we ended up having sex—oh, grow up sharkboy—, but it turns out that Itachi was listening to everything that we were doing. He ended up getting extremely mad again, but this time he didn't think rape would punish me enough. So he taunted me and said the one thing he knew would kill me, and for a while, it did, but I knew I had to shake it off, so I came down to dinner.

But before I came in I wanted to make sure that Itachi and Deidara weren't in the same room, so I stood outside and tried to tell you apart by your chakras. But they're all about the same, and it was too hard to discern you that way. So I stood outside and listened to the voices.

Once I figured out that Itachi wasn't in there with Deidara too, I started to walk in, but I was stopped by an unknown assailant, who turned to be Itachi, of course, asking me why I was standing outside of the kitchen, cautiously listening to you all speak, when there was no danger in entering the room in the first place. I told him that I was just trying to hear who was in there, but he didn't care and pushed me onto the floor. You saw the rest. And just to clear things up, I didn't really want him kissing me in front of you all, especially not Deidara. But I had no choice but to act like I was enjoying myself. I didn't want him to get hurt because of the way we felt about each other. And now here I am, trying to explain my innermost feelings to you two."

"Well, blossom. You must be quite talented."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying that it takes quite the skill to get it onwith two Akatsuki in one day."

Sakura just sat, glaring at Kisame for his vulgar comment. But he spoke again after a moment, making her even more uncomfortable.

"…Wanna make it three?"The next thing they knew, Kisame was slumping out of the kitchen, rubbing his head where Sakura's fist had left a large welt.