Sakura was jolted awake by something in her dream. She was shaking and an image from her dream passed through her head, but in the next instant, she couldn't remember what she had even been dreaming about.

She could feel sweat on her forehead as she began to take in her surroundings. Memory of yesterday's struggle was brought forth as she spotted Itachi lying a foot or two away with his back to her still unconscious. She could see the rise and fall of his chest and knew he hadn't died in the night.

Looking to the door of the little shack they were in and through the cracks in the walls, she could see light shining through. With Sakura's ninja training, she silently rose and exited the shack without waking the shinobi beside her. Outside, she was almost blinded by the light. She held a hand up to her eyes and looked around. Through the light green canopy that slightly shielded her from the sun's rays, she could see that the sun was right in the middle of the sky. It was noon.

She mourned the loss of half the day, but realized that it was good to have slept so long. The kunnoichi held her fist up clenching it, reveling in the feel of her chakra flowing through her again. This was the most chakra she had gained since she had been with the Akatsuki. She hadn't been allowed this much.

She eyed the door of the shack out of the corner of her eye. The man sleeping inside wouldn't hold the same advantage as he had all month, now. She even smiled at the thought that he was quite at her mercy in his ill,weakened state.

Feeling dehydrated, Sakura wondered just exactly where that river they had fallen into was. Looking at the ground, she found her footprints, along with a line, caked into the dried mud from where she had dragged Itachi through there. She frowned. She really was lucky that none of their attackers had found them.

Following the footprints, she tracked their progress backwards. She could already hear the rushing of the water. She realized they hadn't gone as far from the river as she had thought they had the night before as she stepped out of the trees and knelt by the water. She sighed as the cool liquid touched her lips. As she drank the water, She figured she ought to find a way to bring some back for Itachi as well.

A figure sat up in the darkness of the trees, legs hanging off a branch. He watched the kunnoichi drink from the river as he had been watching her since she had emerged from the shack. He had seen the way she smirked first at her fist, then at the little shed. He could feel her chakra. It was of little concern to him.

As he watched her, she began to wash her face off with the water, sighing with content. She rubbed the water up her arms before pausing and looking around her. At first, he thought that she had somehow sensed him, but as she stopped looking around and her hands went to the hem of her shirt, he realized her intentions.

The figure lighted from the branch, landing on the ground soundlessly. In the next instant, he was standing inches behind the girl.

"Sakura"

She started at the sudden voice behind her. She looked down as she felt someone's hand on hers where she had been about to pull her shirt off in the interest of taking a quick bath in the river.

Sakura jolted away from the hand and the voice, turning on her heel to face whoever it was, when her foot hooked on a rock and she lost her balance. As she fell backwards, she stuck her arms behind her and with the use of chakra, instead of splashing into the water, she landed on top of it. She had no intention of 'bathing' in that manner. Especially not with her newly realized audience...whoever it was.

Looking up at the figure, who she was quite wary of at the moment given her current position, she couldn't quite make him out at first. The light was behind him, turning him into a dark shape, but then he moved his head and it blocked the sun and she could clearly see who it was.

Her mouth fell open and she stuttered, "Wha-? H-how?" The Uchiha smirked down at her, and the kunnoichi's eyes narrowed, figuring it out.

Back in the woods, a bird flew away startled when from inside the nearby shack, a loud poof sounded as a kage bunshin was released.

Sakura picked herself up off of the water, keeping Itachi in her line of sight. She looked him up and down with medic's eyes. He was the picture of health. She found it hard to believe he had even been injured.

Suspicion entered her eyes as she realized that his condition was too perfect. Why was his Akatsuki robe whole again? What happened to the burned ends?

He gave her room as she dusted herself off from her fall. She rung her skirt out where it had dipped into the river when she fell. When it was lifted up, the water poured out of it and her skin-tight sport shorts underneath were exposed. She saw Itachi avert his eyes.

Seeing her chance, Sakura quickly lifted her fingers, making a hand sign. Itachi noticed immediately her use of chakra, but he was too late to stop the words out of her mouth.

"Kai!"

Sakura watched his eyes flicker and widen fractionally before becoming a hard blank stare. As before, the medic looked him up and down. The burns on his hand and leg were sweltering, she could see. She hadn't been able to yesterday, but if they didn't get disinfected soon, he would really be at risk. His finger twitched where her eyes rested on his hand and she looked up to meet his heavy gaze.

She noticed the deepening of his stress lines and the paleness of his face. He looked... haggard. Wordless communication passed between them. He resented the fact that she was seeing him like this. She could read that in his eyes. She knew that he could probably see pity in hers and hated it. She wondered if he saw the guilt. He had obtained those injuries in the place of her... for whatever reason he had done it.

As she watched, something shifted in his eyes. But then he turned away. She had seen it though, and it made her heart stir. Gratitude. He was alive after all and wouldn't be if she hadn't dragged him out of that river.

She found herself glad that she had made the choice she had. If just for that look she had seen deep behind his eyes. Before long, though, the smile that had begun to grow on her face disappeared. Her face paled as Itachi's head turned and pointed to their left. In that direction, she could feel what he had felt. Kisame's chakra was heading towards them at a fast, even rate. She was surprised that he was even able to move,yet, and the appearance of his chakra reminded her of the most important reason she shouldn't be smiling.

Her freedom. She had given it up. She had woken up reassured, when she had seen Itachi still asleep. She had thought she could have still escaped. She had been discouraged to discover that Itachi was indeed quite well,even if he was sporting some injuries and a lack of chakra. But, she had still hoped that she stood a chance. It was the closest to evenly matched they had been since they had captured her. but now... she had to get out of there before Kisame showed up. When he did, she'd lose all hope.

Itachi slowly turned to face her again in time to see the panic growing in her. He had anticipated that his partner would show up soon, and was prepared for Sakura's reaction.

The Uchiha reached for her and her adrenaline jumped in. In an instant, the ground around them was shattered by her fist. As dirt and rock flew in the air between the two, Sakura turned, gathering chakra into her legs to sprint the other direction from the shark-man's encroaching chakra.

She only just made it over the river when she was knocked to the ground on the other bank of it. Her leg shot around in a circle behind her, chakra loaded, but somehow Itachi dodged that and her face was pressed into the dirt by a hand in her hair. She felt a weight press onto her back and her arms were wrenched behind her. She grit her teeth at the uncomfortable, yet familiar pain of this arm position. She was almost used to the feeling by now as she felt chakra form a bond around her wrists.

Her heart was hammering and for a second she still tried to upturn his weight off of her, but after being held prisoner by them for so long, she realized when she had lost. She stilled, and soon the grip in her hair loosened from its painful hold, yet still remained there keeping her from lifting her head.

Damn it! Sakura scowled at the ground as hopeless tears stung the corners of her eyes. Nothing changed! She had thought she was a match for him now! That she hadn't had to be worried until Kisame got there! But here she was... with Uchiha Itachi currently using her for a chair. Damn it! She felt so worthless...

Itachi looked down at the kunnoichi below him. She had stopped struggling, and as he realized how tightly he had grabbed onto her hair, he loosened his grip. He could feel the smooth locks between his fingers. Despite the grimy mud here and there, he could tell that it was just as soft as he had thought it would be.

The girl was silent, when normally she would be yelling at him. That was how she had treated the other Akatsuki members who had ever managed to get the best of her. But he noticed she was shaking, and for a moment he slightly heard her sharp intake of breath. Guilt rushed through him. Sakura... I'm sorry...

Hoshigaki Kisame could feel a cold sweat coming on. He jumped from branch to branch slowly coming closer to the two chakra signatures. He wasn't afraid of his partner... no, it was just that he knew how much trouble he was in with Itachi right now. It was the look that had been on Itachi's face as the Uchiha had glared down at him. In his paralyzed state, the shark-man had found the sharingan boring into him, glowing a brighter red than normal, actually very terrifying.

His life seriously could have ended without a fight right then and there. That kunnoichi had done a good job on him. The paralysis she had put him under had been absolute. He couldn't move a muscle and his lungs were hardly able to move to let him breathe. But his death did not come.

His partner had quickly put two and two together and had stormed off after the little leaf. Kisame didn't know if the Uchiha just didn't have time to kill him, or if it was just another thing to add to the growing list of inconsistencies between that man and his title of 'Deadly, rogue, clan-killing Akatsuki member'.

Given the signs Itachi had left for him to follow, Kisame guessed that he didn't really have intentions of trying to kill him for letting Sakura get away. He had passed the dead anbu members on his way, finishing one off that was at the bottom of a cliff with a broken spine, but still breathing. That had given him a slight pleasure, but the sick feeling was still in his stomach even as he approached the spot where he could feel his partner's chakra signal along with the little leaf's.

As he broke through the trees into a clearing, he hid his unease and eventually forgot it at the sight before him.

Itachi caught the humor in his partner's eyes as the shark-man sauntered towards them. He felt Sakura stiffen beneath him, no doubt sensing Kisame and disliking being unable to keep her eye on him. Suddenly she flinched as she heard his booming laugh.

"Itachi-san! Here you are! I see you've found yourself a new..." He paused, trying to decide on a description of what it looked like, "...throne." He was eying the exposed backs of her legs and therefore was watching as she chakra kicked a rock backwards at his face, and dodged it easily.

Itachi wanted to rub his temples at these two's antics. Kisame always riled her up, and he always ended up taking the blunt force of her reactions. Such was happening now as her struggling had resumed full force along with a stream of curse words involving shark soup. He was forced to tighten his hold in her hair again to keep her from gaining any leverage on him. He felt her building up more chakra and looked to his partner.

"Kisame."

"Right."

Sakura stopped her squirming at the obvious command that had been passed between the two Akatsuki members. She heard Kisame walking towards her on the rocky surface and could see in her mind's eye the giant sword being raised, that had been dining on her chakra for the past month. The feeling of having your chakra drained by Samehada was awful. It felt like... dying.

"Stop." She had lowered her voice, from her earlier yelling at Kisame, to a low plead. "I'll be good..."

There was a moment of silence, but then Kisame chuckled softly. "Sorry, little leaf. We can't let you keep your chakra."

And with that, Sakura began to feel the sickening sensation of her chakra being pulled from her body. As all of her chakra was sucked out of her, except for less than even the normal civilian level, Itachi released his hold on her and stood up.

Her joy, earlier, from having her chakra back had been short lived, and now she was back to being weak and dizzy. With the sound of Samehada digesting behind her, she rose up onto her knees and puked.

It had happened the first time they had stolen her chakra,too, but hadn't happened since. She had thought it was because she had gotten used to it after that one time. Now,she realized that it must have stopped because she hadn't hardly had time to build up any chakra between drainings. This time,like the first time, she had had most of her chakra.

Also, much like the first time she had been drained, just before they had stolen her away, she began to feel her vision going black and her hearing fading away as she felt herself passing out. She didn't even feel herself hit the ground, she was already so out of it...

Author's Note:

So, I decided to go ahead and continue the story! Thank you those of you who reviewed last time, it was helpful!

I know the chapters are pretty short, but it's just the way I do. It also means faster updates ;)

Again, please tell me what you think about it. I wrote this like really late for me. I'm gonna read over it again in the morning to make sure I didn't miss anything major because right now, my head hurts and I'm about to pass out and sleep ^-^'

Thanks for reading! I hope to have the next chapter out soon.