Itachi/Sakura

Summary: With hope now lost Sakura takes on the mission of her life. Gone with the weak twelve year old Sakura and in with the new nineteen year old Sakura; Sakura takes the mission that only five people know about. She takes the mission to become a missing-nin.

Disclaimer: Read chapter one.

A/N: I'm updating now because I won't be on Saturday since it's my birthday. Okay now here's the story.

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Sakura continued running through the trees. She wasn't really tired after that small fight she had with Kakashi and Naruto. She had been training by herself for a couple years now and she left no time for being weak. She even took it so far as training with Gai-sensei and Lee.

As she traveled to where the trees took her she felt a strong charka even though the person was obviously masking it. She thought it felt familiar but she couldn't quite place it.

Sakura narrowly missed the kunai and shuriken thrown at her. She dodged and threw her own kunai with an exploding tag on it towards the trees. It was reflected but she knew that.

This person; whoever it was, was strong. With quick thinking Sakura made hand seals "Kanashibari no Jutsu" With that Sakura knew the person was frozen.

She heard a grunt followed by a struggle, but whoever it was just couldn't break free from Sakura's hold.

"Very good Kunoichi, but not good enough." Said a voice form behind her. She turned just before seeing red eyes and fainting.

Itachi grunted as he caught the fallen kunoichi. He didn't do anything but simply put her to sleep. With a sigh he heaved her onto his back.

Kisame emerged from the trees, rubbing his sore limbs. "Damn that kunoichi." He spat out. His beady little eyes narrowed at her. Itachi merely 'hned' before turning and walking away.

They walked until the sun was setting and finally decided to make camp. Itachi stayed with the girl while Kisame caught them some dinner. He knew the sharingan's effect would be wearing off soon and he didn't want the kunoichi to run off.

He looked at her and noticed for the first time her head band with the Konoha symbol had a slash straight through the leaf sign. He knew the girl was a missing-nin, but he didn't really believe it until he saw it. He wondered what she was doing soon close to the border, and why she was fighting the copy-nin and the kyuubi's container.

Before he could finish his thoughts however he heard a groan coming from his side. With a quick glance at Sakura he noticed she was still asleep, but she seemed to be having a nightmare because she started to mumble incoherent words. He caught a few like Sasuke; leave, why, night, and something else he couldn't make out. He pondered what the girl could be dreaming about before Kisame came back to the clearing with arms filled with fish.

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Sakura's dream during Itachi's mussing

It was the night Sasuke left. Just like she remembered it. She saw him walking towards the gate, and she called out to him with tears trailing down her cheeks. She confessed her love, and he simply disappeared, only to reappear right behind her with a simple thank you before knocking her out.

But then the dream started to change. Before she fell onto the bench, she landed into a pair of strong arms. The arms then leaned her against a strong chest. She could feel the muscles under the black material. She forgot all about Sasuke as she looked up into the eyes of the person who caught her. Sakura felt her breath leave her throat as she gazed into the red-eyes of Itachi. His face completely devoid of any emotion.

She could hear herself asking him why. Why did he catch her? Why was she hearing? Why did he have to kill his clan? Sakura had no power over her own voice. She sat there in the arms of the Uchiha clan killer and she was useless, like a puppet whose master abandoned her.

She wanted to struggle, to break free of his grasp on her. She wanted to yell at him. Throw all the emotions she was feeling at him. But she couldn't. She just sat there in his arms.

Deep inside her mind though, she knew, she knew that even if she could move she wouldn't. She felt safe in his arms. She felt like he would protect her. She felt like she truly belonged in his arms forever.

In the distance she heard somebody calling. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but as they came closer she heard her name. They were calling for her.

With one last look at Itachi's face, the world around her faded.

End dream sequence

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Sakura woke up with a start. She was met by a pair of red sharingan eyes. She didn't avert her eyes however as emerald-jade clashed with red. She stared into the depths of the red eyes that looked so much like blood. She found herself fascinated with them, but however she blinked and the moment pasted.

She dropped her gaze to the floor; only to be met with a hand. Itachi's hand grabbed her chin and made her look into his eyes again. For the first time ever she saw charcoal eyes stare back at her. The red was gone. His gaze still lacked emotion, but they were intense no matter what.

Itachi thought the same thing. When she didn't drop her gaze, he could see determination in her eyes, as well as a fighting spirit. She found her eyes to give away all her emotions and yet at the same time be devoid of any life.

He wondered what happened in her life to cause them to look like that. He remembered her from when they went to save the sand demon. Her eyes were a fierce cold jaded emerald that held such life. Now it looked as if the life had drained away, replaced with a bitter loathing for this world.

And then she blinked and he was brought back to earth. When she went to move her gaze south, he took her chin into his hand and moved it back up. He allowed her to see what many hadn't. His true eyes. The charcoal color that all Uchiha's have.

His vision was not as sharp as it was with the sharingan, and he could barely see her face. He knew his eyes sight was deteriorating, but he didn't think it had this much already.

He shook his head of the thoughts, and returned to the cherry blossom in front of him.

"Dinner is ready." With that he left to sit by the campfire where fish were roasting. He lifted one up and walked back to her. He handed the fish to her and she just looked at it. "It's not poisoned; if we wanted to kill you we would have done it while you were asleep."

With a hesitant nod, Sakura continued to stare at the food. She slowly brought the fish to her lips and opened her mouth. She took a small bite and tasted it thoroughly. When she realized it was safe to eat she downed the whole thing in her mouth in one big bite.

When she was done she looked back at Itachi who was staring at her with a thoughtful look. She tilted her head in confusion. "You're not very lady-like." He deadpanned. With that he returned to the fire and sat back down to eat his own fish.

Sakura sweat dropped when she heard his comment, but stopped when she thought about it. Did Uchiha Itachi just make fun of her? Who would have thought he had a personality, let alone a sense of humor.

When they were all down eating, Sakura wondered where she was going to sleep. She thought about asking questions, like why was she brought here and why they took her, but after decided that they probably weren't going to answer she dropped it.

Now that she was full, she was tired. She was about to fall asleep against the tree wshe was lying on, but opened her eyes to see a red-cloud cloaked figure in front of her. It wasn't Itachi, but Kisame.

"Come on kunoichi." He bent down and lifted her up. Her arms had been tied with charka ropes when she was done eating and so had her ankles.

Kisame threw her down none to gently on the sleeping bag. After that he turned and left her there, heading to his own right across from her. She noticed Itachi was already in his right next to her.

With a sigh she fell into a dreamless sleep. With no reminder of Sasuke, and no Itachi, she thought about the following day and what that would bring.

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Kanashibari no Jutsu- Body Freeze Jutsu