AN: I'm so disgusted with this chapter that I can't even revise it. Yeah, it's that bad. So please take this chapter with a grain of salt and read it only for the plot points for the rest of the story, and forgive my horrible ineptitude at writing for this chapter. Thank you for your patience, and I promise that the rest of this story is better than these chapters. Thank you for reading and please review.

Updated 8/25/13

Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 4: The Eye of a Tornado

"I guess I should have reacted the way most of the other girls were, but I couldn't get myself to react. I felt very still and very empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo."

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

Sakura clutched the sides of her hair as her stomach upheaved. There was nothing there to come out seeing as she hadn't eaten in days– but she gagged nothing over her bed. Deidara and Tobi jumped back, confused as to what was going on. "Sakura-san?" Tobi inquired.

Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably as inside her mind, she fought to find inner-Sakura. "Where'd he put her?" she croaked as her body rocked back in forth. She needed inner-Sakura. The pesky demon in her head gave her so much strength. Without inner-Sakura, Itachi could easily break the mental barricade that divided her knowledge of Konoha from her consciousness. He would kill her. She was going to die.

Not only that, but inner-Sakura was there for protection. She did the dirty work. Anything Sakura couldn't handle, inner-Sakura was there to take over. Itachi had effectively removed her final and best defense. Jade eyes peered from behind wet lashes as the two Akatsuki members stared at her incredulously.

"It's alright, Sakura-san. He sealed her away so she couldn't hurt us," Tobi said sweetly. Even Deidara was having trouble remaining callous towards the kunoichi. She just looked so pitiful.

"Calm down, yeah. Everything's going to be fine," he said, leaning over her. His hands went into his pouch, but instead of pulling out clay, he pulled out a vial. He grabbed Sakura's wrists –which now featured four bracelets on each wrist to contain her chakra – and removed them from her hair. Tilting her chin back, Deidara uncapped the solution and poured it down her throat. "Sleep more, yeah."

Exhaustion immediately hit her as her stomach turned into warm mush. She felt Deidara's strong hands behind her neck as he guided her back down into bed. When did the Akatsuki get so damn nice? Was the last conscious thought that crossed her mind as sleep took her once again.

When Sakura awoke, she didn't know what time of day it was. There were no windows in this room either. Slowly, she began to move her body parts to make sure they were all there and still functioning. Attempting to ignore the silent panic that was creeping within her as she once again realized inner-Sakura wasn't there, she shifted so her legs were now hanging off the futon. She hoisted herself up into a sitting position.

Her head felt heavy and light all at the same time. Like she hadn't slept in days and then rested for only a few minutes. Twitching her toes, she determined she could bear weight. You can do this, Haruno. She told herself. Pain struck her heart when there was no inner-Sakura in the back of her mind, yelling "Sharanno!"

It was as if someone had taken her twin sister and effectively shoved her behind a wall. Sakura could feel inner-Sakura there, but she could not release her nor hear her. She groaned as she placed weight on her legs. Nothing hurt, but everything was uncomfortable. What'd he give me? She wondered to herself. She could remember nothing of the substance Deidara had slid down her throat except it felt warm within her and it was thick. Sleeping serum? It was the only thing she could think of that had that effect on a person.

She made one lap around the room before she realized there was a note pinned to her door. 'Come to the kitchen when you wake up. It's right down the hall to your left. No, we won't kill you.'

Sakura was confused. Itachi kept such a tight seal on her room and body that she had only been from her room to the healing room in the last home they were in. Tentatively, Sakura opened the door to find she was in a dimly lit stone hallway. She could hear the sound of voices coming from said kitchen at the end of the hall.

One step at a time, she moved slowly to the room. There was no door on it and fairly quickly, Tobi and Deidara came into view. There was a window in this room, telling Sakura that it was only early morning.

"Hey, you're awake!" Deidara exclaimed when her presence appeared in the door frame. "We thought you were dead, yeah. Sleeping serum doesn't usually last twelve hours."

So it was sleeping serum. Secretly, she thanked Deidara. It had been what she'd needed to gain her head. "When inner-Sakura makes an appearance, it effectively drains my chakra," Sakura explained quietly.

"We figured it must have been some sort of exhaustion. Feeling better now, yeah?" Deidara asked. Sakura nodded. "Good, now I have a proposition for you. Come in and sit down."

Sakura perked a bit – he had a proposition? She walked warily to the table, and took the seat on the furthest end from where Deidara and Tobi were sitting. She waited quietly for an explanation, but to her surprise, Tobi began serving her tea, a breakfast roll, and some rice.

"Thank you," Sakura murmured as she slowly began eating. As she looked back up at Deidara, she realized he was staring at her, regarding her silently. It wasn't too dissimilar from what Itachi did to her all the time, and it made her temper prick. Thinking about the Uchiha still got her blood boiling. Those damned scrolls.

"Like I said," Deidara muttered after staring at the girl for a few moments. "I have a proposition. First, though, I need to know how long you're going to be with us if you intend on healing Itachi-san's eyes to the fullest."

Sakura took another bite as she thought. That was a difficult question to answer. Honestly, she was hoping Naruto and Kakashi would be retrieving her before that, but they couldn't know that. So she decided to be honest with the shinobi in front of her – she'd promised Itachi she would be, anyway. Additionally, at this moment, she liked Deidara leaps and bounds more than she liked Itachi Uchiha.

"It depends," she whispered. "The minimum will be two months. I can't give you a maximum. It depends on how his body reacts."

"That's what I thought, yeah," Deidara replied. Apparently, this was the right answer to his question because his face lightened considerably. "Back to my proposition. If you allow me to smear explosive tracking clay on you, you'll gain a considerable amount of freedom. We've already discussed it with our leader, and he's blessed it. We have no intention of that last debacle happening again."

Sakura was shocked and hadn't seen that one coming at all. "Explosive tracking clay?" she simply repeated as a question.

Deidara nodded his head. "If I feel you run away or try to tamper with it or do anything we don't want you to do, boom, you become one of my works of art."

His face broke into such a wide grin that Sakura began to think that Deidara may actually want her to run away or mess up. That way he could blow her up. "I think some on your neck and each ankle would do. Plus, you'll have to keep your chakra wristlets and you also won't be allowed out of your room at night. However, during the day, you'll be allowed to walk around the compound and do some other things so you won't get so crazy," he continued, waving his hands around at her.

Sakura thought for a moment. She had nothing to lose now, did she? If Kakashi and Naruto came to rescue her, she could easily disable it or remove it. Until then, she decided, it was best she keep herself on the Akatsuki's good side. "Alright, I'll do it."

X

"Why are we here?" Itachi asked. Kisame grunted in response. Less than an hour away from their base in Rock Country, and Kisame had stated that he needed to pick something up from the market.

"Pain-sama asked me to get something for Haruno-san," Kisame replied after a moment of looking around for the wardrobe shop. "Deidara-san ordered her some clothes so that she wasn't walking around in your old jounin outfits. Also, Pain-sama wants her to have an Akatsuki robe."

"Why?" Itachi asked, irritation coursing through him. Once he had captured the kunoichi, Pain had decided that there were plans in the works for Haruno Sakura. He told Itachi that the girl could heal his eyes, but the entire clan would be working on a covert operation to get the girl to join the Akatsuki.

"For when we travel," Kisame replied gruffly. He was clearly lost in the market as he could never remember where the clothing shop was.

Itachi thought this very foolish of their leader to expect Sakura to join them. The kunoichi had in no way defected from the village. The only thing she'd even done against the rules was her bargain with him, anyway. That was hardly a reason for punishment in Konoha as it was to protect Hatake. Plus, he surmised that the girl probably felt just a fierce of a loyalty to her village as she did her kyuubi friend.

The chances of her joining the Akatsuki? Slim to none at best, he decided. Then, he'd have to kill her.

His mind wandered back to the way she looked at him when she'd taken control of her body. The utter confusion and sadness there had stuck with him as he traveled with Kisame for the past week. Her glistening jade eyes were trusting in him when he'd entered her mind. They were the same glistening eyes that a five-year-old Sasuke had adorned the night Itachi killed their family. His insides knotted in a horrible guilt and Itachi pulled himself out of his thoughts abruptly.

Kisame had led them to a small clothing shop. "We have an order for Deidara."

The elderly woman behind the counter smiled and nodded. She had been working for Pain for years, developing and making Akatsuki regalia. Pain had one in every country so they could replace anything that was lost during missions or battle.

"Ah, yes, I remember this girl. She was so sweet," the elderly woman commented.

Itachi bristled, and he noticed Kisame stiffen. "The girl was with them?" Itachi asked quietly.

"Ah, yes. She gave me her measurements. She and Deidara-san were very friendly. Her robe, hat, and clothes are ready," the woman said.

They paid the woman and walked out of the town quickly. Once they were out of the borders and on their way to the base, Kisame turned to Itachi. He asked, "They'd have to have had a reason to let her out, right?"

"Hn," Itachi replied coolly. Inwardly, though, he was boiling. What stupid fools were Deidara and Tobi if they were going to allow a hostage to walk around a market, for kami's sake?

Itachi was shoving down the idea of slitting Deidara's throat when he entered the kitchen. Clearly, he was interrupting some sort of joke as all three of them were in the middle of laughing hysterically. The feeling of slitting Deidara's throat (he had been in charge of this, after all) only resurfaced at what he saw. "Deidara," he bit out roughly. "Why is the hostage in the kitchen and not sealed in her room? Especially after what happened?"

The trio turned to look at Itachi. Sakura had been making tea while Deidara and Tobi were slumped in their chairs at the table. Deidara perked a bit when he saw Itachi and Kisame enter. "Pain-sama told me it was fine, yeah. I planted explosive chakra on her neck and ankles. She isn't going anywhere."

"So you tested it out on the market?" Kisame asked disapprovingly as he moved past Itachi into the kitchen. He set the bag he had down on the table.

"We've been here a whole damned week without you guys. She was fine for three days before we went to the market," Deidara replied wryly at the feeling of being reprimanded.

"We should stop talking about Sakura like she isn't here," Sakura commented under her breath bitterly. Men. She thought. The pang of realization was less sharp when she'd realized inner-Sakura hadn't made a comment about their attitudes. It was getting easier to deal with. She took a deep breath in, and let it out. "Would either of you like tea?"

"Yes, please," Kisame replied politely, a little too politely, as Sakura poured him a glass.

Itachi grasped that she hadn't even looked in his direction since they'd arrived. Obviously, he was receiving the cold shoulder for what he'd done just prior to their move. Sakura looked up and raised a brow, asking him if he'd like tea again in a silent manner.

"No."

"Fine," she huffed. She sat down at the table next to Deidara.

"Sakura-san is a good cook," Tobi commented, "Better than Kisame-san or Deidara-senpai."

"I cook fine, yeah," Deidara retorted, irritation apparent.

Sakura laughed. "I'm not even that good!"

Hostages shouldn't laugh. Itachi remarked to himself. He moved past the group and walked into the hallway that held the sleeping quarters. His room was always the second door on the left, and as he walked in he realized it was still so.

The futon wasn't that bad and the rooms here were bigger, so he stretched out to enjoy his slumber. It didn't happen, though. Kisame, Deidara, Tobi, and Sakura were still in the kitchen enjoying their tea. It was only midafternoon, so Itachi couldn't even tell them to quiet the ruckus.

Technically, since Sakura was still his prisoner, he could confine her and make her stay in her room, miserable. He supposed that would be going against Pain's orders to make the girl want to stay with the Akatsuki. Therefore, he allowed the jovial exchange to continue.

A grumbling in his stomach and the wonderful smell of tempura was what told Itachi it was time for dinner. As he made his way back to the kitchen, he realized the laughing hadn't stopped. Silently, he took his seat between Kisame and Tobi at the circular table.

Sakura was serving the meal, just as his mother had once done for him. Sakura's jingle of a laugh was very distinctive, especially in a house full of gruff men.

After she sat, everyone began eating. Sakura was having trouble concentrating, though. Internally, she was a mess. She'd tried the entire time to keep laughing and stay upbeat. However, it was more difficult in practice due to the fact that she was technically a hostage in a house full of S-class criminals. A few of her laughs were genuine – such as when Tobi accidentally hit Deidara, or Deidara made a crack about Kisame. The rest, though, was fake. She was trying to stay calm and happy as not to make her captors confine her once again.

Subconsciously Sakura began to rub the eight bracelets on her wrists. Really? Eight? Two kept her in line with just Itachi. Now, she was featuring two chakra constraints from each member of the household. Even Naruto couldn't break out of these with his chakra. She thought.

"Are you feeling alright, Sakura-san?" Tobi asked. "You haven't eaten."

Sakura snapped back into reality, taking in the entire kitchen. Uchiha Itachi was glaring at her from his meal. She shot him a look – man oh man was she still pissed at him. Their first healing session back would be a little tense, she decided. Every bone in her body had the intention of confronting him with the scrolls. Those damned scrolls.

"I'm fine, Tobi-san. Thank you for your concern," Sakura replied quietly. Tobi simply nodded. The rest of the meal was finished in relative silence.

Itachi stood quickly once his meal was complete. "We'll be beginning the healing sessions again tomorrow at noon. Understood?"

"Hn," Sakura replied. Yes, she was mocking him and the way he replied. No, she didn't care at the moment. Every fiber in her being was reeling at the man before her.

Instead of slitting her throat like he urged to do, Itachi walked away silently.

X

"Lay down," she commanded. There had been no small talk or warming up to each other like there had been before. She'd entered the room, unrolled her research, and prepared for the healing session. Itachi obeyed silently, "Eyes," she said concisely.

He closed his eyes. Her soft hands were on his eyes in a matter of seconds and her healing chakra was pulsating into them. Her brow furrowed in exasperation – they'd gotten worse. The urge to hit him over the head over and over flushed within her. If not for the fact that she would die very quickly, she would have considered the idea more seriously.

Their position didn't change for more than twenty minutes. She pulled her hands back and began writing silently on the scroll in front of her. Itachi opened his eyes. He had deactivated his Sharingan for this healing session. He allowed a side-glance at the kunoichi and he notes she was scowling.

"Is something wrong?" he asked coolly.

"Yes," she replied shortly.

"Hm?" he goaded.

"You need to rest your eyes more. They are worse than the last time I looked at them," she remarked, her eyes never leaving the scroll.

"Having to put someone in my genjutsu will do that, Sakura-san," he commented. His voice stayed even and he ran a hand subconsciously through his ponytail. Sakura shot a glare up at him.

"That was your fault," she hissed. Itachi quirked a brow at her – a flash of amusement crossing his eyes. Discomfiting the woman was his goal from the very start of this particular healing session. It seemed to be working.

"I apologize for not knowing that you were schizophrenic," he intoned. Sakura's fist was headed straight toward his face, but he caught it easily. Her temper was not something to mess with – he knew that – but he also knew she had access to very little chakra.

He regarded her silently as he watched her face contort in frustration, confusion, anger, and then a little panic. Yanking her fist back, she muttered something to herself. Then, she said it louder. "I'm not schizophrenic. You should have never showed me those scrolls. In fact, you shouldn't even have them!"

"The Akatsuki must study the villages that are after its members, Sakura-san" Itachi replied.

"There was no need to show me those except for your own sick pleasure," she spat back, pulling herself up so she was standing, looming over him.

Now, though, instead of his old jounin attire, she was wearing what she'd ordered from the clothes maker. A black tunic with red stitching, a red skirt that was slit in several different places and bandages down to her knees made up her new attire. It was difficult for Itachi to take the girl seriously as he found himself appreciating the curves of her body.

His jounin outfit had done her no justice, and he couldn't appraise her properly when she'd been burned badly by Deidara's blasts. Coupled with bright pink hair, jade eyes, and a supple feminine physique, the girl in front of him was very attractive.

"Ugh! What're you staring at?" she screeched. Itachi's onyx eyes darted to hers and they locked in a heated staring competition. He felt no need to answer the question, but he went back to what they were talking about before.

"Did the scrolls disturb you? Did it bother you to find out that your beloved Konoha was capable of ordering such things?" he asked. He could see the blood rising to her cheeks. Her fist came down on the table and cracked it into six or seven pieces. She hadn't even used any chakra.

"Dammit!" she yelled. "All of those classified ANBU missions are to remain classified. I don't want to know about them. I don't want to know about what my friends and mentors were ordered to do!"

"Did you read the one about Hatake Kakashi?" Itachi asked, tilting his head. He was gaining some sort of sick joy watching the girl lose her temper. She kicked the wall, making pieces of stone fly out. "I believe it was that mission that made him quit ANBU."

Sakura stopped and turned to face the still-sitting Uchiha. Tears began to roll down her face. "He was forced to murder a seven-year-old boy because it was his mission. Of course it ended his career. Most of those missions in those scrolls should have ended careers. Inuzuka Hana-"she said, gulping. She was no longer able to finish her thoughts out loud. Inwardly, she finished, had to murder a group of Wave Genin in cold blood for no apparent reason other than to show power.

Itachi hadn't intended on making her cry – only on getting her mad. Those teary jade eyes always looked so sad, desperate, yet trusting up at him…just like Sasuke's had on that faithful night. He inwardly cursed himself for even bringing the conversation up. Clearly, speaking with the kunoichi only brought up painful feelings for the Uchiha as well.

"Perhaps showing you those scrolls was a mistake," he stated quietly. Sakura had slumped to the floor in exhaustion, but now her puffy emerald eyes were looking into his black ones.

"Oh," she replied quietly, not being able to think of anything else to say.

"We will rest for a few minutes and then continue healing?" he asked. Sakura nodded. "Tea?" he asked. All he got in return was another lifeless nod.

X

"You ask her."

"No."

"It's your mission, yeah!"

Sakura awoke sleepily at the sound of a rushed, whispered conversation outside of her bedroom door. She was sealed in for the evening, so she could not investigate further. Instead, she waited for the Akatsuki to walk in and face her. Stretching, she yawned and sat up so she would be prepared for whoever walked through that door.

"It's late, let's ask her tomorrow," a voice said. That was Kisame.

"We must confirm now. Pain-sama is waiting," another intoned flatly. That was Itachi, obviously.

"So why do I have to ask her, yeah?" Deidara whispered in a rushed tone.

"Sakura-san likes Deidara-san best," the fourth and final voice commented.

When the chakra seals unlocked and the group entered her room silently, Sakura realized that she was in nothing but her standard issue- ninja undergarments to sleep in. She had bought several pairs the other day while out shopping. She supposed if she was going to be with them for two months, she might as well have fresh underwear.

A bit of heat rose to her cheeks as she realized that all eyes in the room were trained on her form. "What?" she bit out, flushing from the attention – stupid horny males who only satiated their sexual desires when they could.

"I told you we should have waited," Kisame muttered knowingly.

"Ask her, Deidara-senpai," Tobi goaded from somewhere behind Kisame.

"Just ask!" Sakura exclaimed, wanting to return to her sleep. It had been a long day of emotional outbursts and healing with the Uchiha.

"Sakura-san, will you help us out, yeah, with a mission?"

AN: Please continue on to the story that is considerably better written then this, beginning in chapter 5, but much more so in 6 and 7.