AN: I wrote a good portion of this under the influence of Nyquil. Damn colds, damn them to hell. Anyway, I tried to be a little more descriptive in this chapter. I hope you like it. Please review!

Slight revisions 6/29/13

Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 7: Can't Say Goodbye

"In time, in time they tell me, I'll not feel so bad. I don't want time to heal me. There's a reason I'm like this. I want time to set me ugly and knotted with loss of you, marking me. I won't smooth you away. I can't say goodbye."

― China Miéville, The Scar

It was the soft humming of chakra being implanted into her body that woke her slowly. The warmth from the chakra that wove its way slowly throughout her body sent a shiver down her spine, visibly, and the person who was healing her tensed. The chakra ceased and suddenly Sakura found herself whimpering subconsciously at the sudden lack of warm contact. Burying herself into her soft, velvety blankets and sheets further, a cool, calloused finger gripped her by the shoulder lightly.

"Sakura-san," the voice said steadily, "Remain still."

She couldn't place the mysterious voice, but she knew she recognized it. The sound was soft yet firm but she still failed, to her frustration and dissatisfaction, to think of who could have issued that kind of command. Deciding it was because she still wasn't fully conscious, she focused on coming around. Tears were pricking the sides of her sore eyes and threatened to fall unceremoniously from the orbs. Cursing herself for being so emotional, Sakura huffed in exasperation as the healing chakra on her back began to pulsate and consume her once again. Allowing herself to fall into a half-conscious state, her mind instantly flashed to the complete horror that had been the past afternoon.

Her entire heart ached at the realization that she had been fully prepared and poised to kill him, Sasuke, her teammate, the boy who she used to be in love with. Permitting herself to wryly laugh inwardly at that word, Sakura did not fail to see the irony in this completely screwed up situation she had planted her feet so firmly in. It wasn't until years had passed and Sakura found someone else, someone different to fill the void that Sasuke left, that she knew what love really, truly meant. The absolute chaos that had been that relationship also hit her chest, making her eyes constrict at her most recently failed attempts at happiness. Forcing back the memories of her failed relationship, she turned her mind back to Sasuke. He was much easier to think about then him.

Loved, loved, loved – Sakura had thought she'd been in love with Uchiha Sasuke and now she was vowing to kill him. She'd almost done it, too. Itachi had stopped her, thankfully. Truly, with every fiber of her being, she had not wanted to kill Sasuke. Now he was back in Konoha where he belonged. As one tear escaped her eyes, she clenched them shut tightly; trying to keep them from escaping because she knew that at least one Akatsuki was in the room with her.

Instead she focused on regaining her physical bearings while compartmentalizing her inner turmoil. The bed underneath her was familiar and warm – one she had slept on before. Was she back in her room in Konoha? No that would be too good to be true. She was surely at the Akatsuki base somewhere in Earth Country. Another gruff voice in the room was enough to rouse her completely and she recognized it this time.

"Kid going to be okay, Itachi?" Kisame asked roughly.

"It's been a while since I've needed to use medical chakra," Itachi responded flatly, "However she should be fine."

Kisame let out a bit of a sigh in relief. The death of the kunoichi would be majorly inconvenient at this point, wouldn't it? They needed her for the mission and to heal Itachi's eyes. Not that the Mist-nin had actually grown fond of the rambunctious, fowl, and volatile little kunoichi – no, it was nothing like that. His liking for the Leaf-nin was for practical reasons only – her abilities and the fact that she was trained by the only Leaf shinobi he had any sort of respect for.

Tsunade. Kisame usually found that Leaf shinobi were pathetically weak because of their nature to create emotional attachments to others. Sakura was a prime example, sacrificing herself so that they would allow Kakashi to go free. The girl's ideals were completely lost on Kisame; however, he held a certain amount of respect for Tsunade and Sakura was her protégé in every way, shape, and form. Therefore, it was hard for Kisame not to respect the kunoichi as well.

Kisame noted a change in Itachi since Sakura began healing his eyes. The Sharingan wielder did not wince in pain and seemed not to suffer from migraines as he had before – an additional compliment towards the kunoichi.

The few times Itachi had trained recently had also impressed Kisame – Itachi's speed and accuracy had already been something to admire, but with his newfound vision, Itachi was a deadly force of pure speed and subtle death.

Kisame had actually felt his blood curl when Itachi had suddenly appeared behind time during a training session, a kunai at his throat. The Uchiha had been training hard that day and Kisame chose to just observe. Itachi had been practicing a fire technique that he was mastering when suddenly; there he was, behind Kisame with a kunai at his neck and an evil gleam in his red eyes. It took a lot of skill to catch the shark-nin off guard.

Sakura mumbled something as she tensed under Itachi's medical chakra. They had unceremoniously deposited the girl on her bed once they arrived back at the base, removed her tunic, and assessed her wounds after her fight with Sasuke. Itachi determined that she had torn all of the muscles in her back and shoulders from swinging the tree on Sasuke and had been badly burned on her stomach from the younger Uchiha's chidori.

Itachi had hesitated whether or not to heal her. This was not something he had anticipated doing with the young medic-nin. It was only under Deidara's and Kisame's coercions that he chose to heal her as he was the only one with any medical experience. It was required that all Konoha ANBU at least have basic medical knowledge and therefore, Itachi was the only one who could heal her semi-properly.

After lightly cutting her bindings from her back, leaving her chest to the bed as not to expose her, he had lightly placed his hands on her back and began to heal her muscles. That's when Sakura began to mewl in the most disconcerting way. Then she shifted, burying herself deeper into the bed as if she was having some sort of dream. It was then that Itachi noticed the tears flowing from the girl's eyes.

How predictable. He had thought. Obviously the young kunoichi held some vestiges of a torch for his younger brother, and she was so emotional and uncalculating that it was no surprise to him when she began to regret her actions. Although when Sasuke had asked Sakura if she still needed him, she had blatantly and completely refused. Where had that come from? Was there some deeper meaning to her relationship with his brother other than the fact that she was his former teammate? How odd. And if she had some sort of deep emotional connection to Sasuke, what had caused it to dissipate? All of her actions pointed to the fact that she would be willing to kill him.

Finally, Itachi finished. His medical jutsu was nowhere near as refined as hers, so it took longer and used more chakra than it would have if she'd been the one doing the healing. Now she would only suffer with some soreness and muscle stiffness – nothing to be overly concerned about. It then occurred to him that if she was doing the healing, her patient would probably not feel a thing once they woke up.

"Sakura," he mumbled. The girl's eyes snapped open and another tear escaped her eyes. She tried to jerk up, but Itachi placed his hands firmly on her back. If the kunoichi jumped up, she would be completely exposed to them, "Calm down. You're at the base. You tore all the muscles in your back and shoulders. Do you understand?"

Sakura's face was burrowed so far into the pillow that she could only make a whimper of understanding as she nodded her head. Itachi sighed. Quietly, but monotonically, he stated, "Good. I'm going to leave the room to give you some privacy. Please dress yourself but make sure I can access your stomach to address the burn."

Itachi stood and walked out with Kisame behind him. Slowly, Sakura began to move her muscles a bit. They ached horribly, feeling as if she had been curled into a ball for days and not allowed to move, but she was grateful to Itachi for healing her. Since her hands could not reach her back and shoulders, she would have never been able to heal herself and would have been completely and utterly helpless and wounded. There were not many things that could fix a torn muscle except rest; however it was not uncommon for toxins from the muscles to release into the body causing irreversible damage with the ultimate outcome being death. Begrudgingly, she admitted coarsely to herself that Itachi had saved her life.

Tentatively, she pushed herself up despite the fact that every muscle in her body was rebelling against her. Sighing exhaustedly, felt her bindings slip, revealing her chest. That's why Itachi wouldn't let me move. She realized, flushing at the thought of exposing herself to the two Akatsuki. He had cut clean through her bandages and standard-issue kunoichi tube bra to access her back.

Sakura pulled herself off the bed and walked slowly to the dresser that held her scant amount of clothes. Rifling through the drawers quickly, she pulled on another bra without looking at her stomach, knowing from the pain that was emanating from that particular wound would mean it was grotesque. Then through silent sighs of pain and discomfort, she managed to pull on Itachi's jounin shirt. It was loose fitting enough that he would be able to heal her stomach. If her chakra wasn't nonexistent, she would just heal herself. However all of her reserves had gone into her battle with Sasuke and the subsequent transportation jutsu after.

Her mind wandered to Konoha where her shishou had probably just received the shock of her life. Undoubtedly Tsunade would have nearly keeled at the sudden appearance of a half-naked Sasuke in the middle of her office. It would be worth a few shots of sake, at least.

Sakura chuckled to herself, but her inner musings stopped with a light but steady tap on the door. "Come in," she called shyly. Surprisingly, Deidara walked in, his eyes brightening when he saw the kunoichi.

"How you feeling, yeah?" he asked rather compassionately, but then he shifted nervously when he saw the Sakura's eyebrows rise at his concern. Moving his legs a little awkwardly, he approached Sakura slowly as not to alarm her in any way. Sakura didn't fail to notice the uncertain look in his eye as he made his way closer to her.

"Better," she replied sweetly, trying to reciprocate the gesture of his concern. Her eyes glanced down and she realized there was a bowl of ramen in his hands, and her stomach automatically growled, to Sakura's horror, at the sight of the food. She was famished.

"Eat," Deidara commanded lightly, shoving the dish into her hands. "Itachi is resting and then he'll be back to take care of that nasty burn, yeah."

Sakura allowed a small smile to cross her lips and she thanked him. Slowly, she settled herself into a wooden chair in the room. Deidara lingered for a moment, his eyes not leaving the kunoichi, but then he swiftly made his exit and closed the door.

Only a few minutes later, there was another knock, this one more commanding. Itachi entered after Sakura had barely uttered a word of recognition. Clearly a little mussed and tired, Itachi looked at her through weary onyx eyes. Sakura couldn't help but notice the hairs that were fringing from his ponytail and that he looked unbelievably good like that – with bedroom eyes and hair – as if he had just finished having …

Sakura bit down on her tongue so hard that she squeaked. Itachi arched an eyebrow at her questioningly from the other side of the room but Sakura merely shook her head in response. Itachi made his way to her quickly and held his hand to her. Understanding that he meant to support her, she placed the bowl down on the table next to her and strained against his firm hands to stand up. Then he was standing behind her, their bodies only separated by a few inches, holding her forearms steadily to help her walk.

Once up, she found herself quite capable of walking but Itachi's obstinate grip on her forearms never wavered. Slowly, he helped her sink into the bed and lay on her back. He sighed, not knowing where to go from here. It was quite awkward, indeed. He found things much easier when the girl was unconscious. Musing over the idea of knocking her out, he quickly disbanded it as it would only set to infuriate the already injured kunoichi – knowing her temper, she would quickly tear all of her muscles again, completely disregarding his hard work.

"I need to see your stomach," he intoned flatly. Sakura nodded knowingly and slowly arched her back and pulled the shirt up lightly, just stopping underneath her breasts. Itachi couldn't stop himself – his gaze following her arched back as her hands lightly touched her pale, sickly flesh as her skin shuddered at the light touch.

His gaze then fell to the incongruous wound that covered her stomach, and Itachi's insides twisted. That, that mess was with minimal contact of the chidori. Burned flesh was all he could see at first, but as he looked closer, there were spots where blood and pus was beginning to slowly seep from the wound. Additionally, the skin on her ribs and the sides of her abdomen had some similar scars from the sparking lightning of the chidori.

Sakura sighed at Itachi's calloused fingers grazed with chakra across her stomach. Not daring to look at it, she clenched her eyes shut at Itachi's icy chakra began to seep its way into her wound. It was not something she liked, admittedly. His chakra was different from anyone she'd been healed by before – it was colder, more calculating, and less warmth with good intent. When Shizune, Tsunade, or Ino healing her, Sakura could almost feel the dire love and devotion to helping someone else around them. Itachi, however, did not seem to possess such feelings towards healing at all.

Allowing her mind to trail, Sakura went back to the fight. The utter shock that had coursed through her when Sasuke had lit his chidori was unbelievable and had practically left her breathless. Of course, she hadn't been fighting at full power. Surely, Sasuke knew that. Originally, she hadn't been fighting to kill. But as the chirping bird attack formed in his hands, Sakura knew that she would have to kill him as all bonds from their childhood slowly cracked, fizzled, and disappeared.

Itachi had stopped her, though, and told her that she'd never forgive herself. Sakura wasn't so sure if that was true or not – she had no problem thinking she would forgive herself just fine for killing Sasuke. Then, Naruto's face with his big blue eyes rushed into her head and a stab of guilt formed itself in her chest. He would be heartbroken if he discovered that Sakura had killed Sasuke. Sakura couldn't do that to him, and she knew it.

Concentrating on the burn and not the light curve of her breasts that he could see from where she'd placed her shirt, Itachi pulsed more healing chakra into the wound. No, he was definitely not looking at her body. This is sick. Itachi thought angrily to himself as he allowed himself a moment of inward emotion. Perhaps I will find a young woman to…entertain…me at that little party we'll be attending in a few days' time. I certainly haven't been visiting my contacts in town as much as I had previous, and having this kunoichi here all the time is clearly become a distraction to my…weakness. Itachi shook his head at himself a bit. Normal hormones are not a weakness, just a part of life. He clarified to himself.

Then to his utter discontentment, Sakura did that mewling noise that she had earlier signaling that she was deriving pleasure from the healing…from his hands on her. Itachi went stiff at the thought and lifted his hands a little as not to actually have physical contact with the kunoichi. Hovering his hands about half an inch away from her skin, he continued to heal her wound until a light pink scar was the only visible anomaly taken from her fight with Sasuke.

Well, except perhaps the clear emotional toll it was taking on her. Since returning with her from the base, a seamlessly ending stream of tears had been falling down her face, not that she addressed them or made any other sounds saying she was distressed. Sighing, Itachi knew that this was her way of coping with whatever transgressed between her and Sasuke. His choice was to bury it deeply within him and let it slowly disintegrate his body, mind, and soul. She just liked to cry and hit things.

Sakura didn't seem to notice that he was done as she lay on the bed, eyes closed, deep in thought. Itachi almost bit his lip in frustration, but he kept his calm demeanor. Lightly pulling the fabric of his jounin shirt (that didn't make him pleased in the slightest every damn time he saw it on her, no feelings of satisfaction here) down to cover her stomach, Itachi effectively snapped the girl out of her inner thoughts. Her eyes opened quickly to look at him and then down at her stomach. "Thank you," she practically whispered.

"Of course," he replied passively, the unflappable calm never leaving his face. "Rest now. We will need to leave first thing in the morning for the mission."

"Right," Sakura replied tentatively. As he turned to go, her hand shot up and lightly grabbed his before she could stop herself or think otherwise. He turned to look at her from the corner of his eye, and with a light, wary smile, she whispered, "Good night, Itachi-san."

X

One and a half days of nonstop travel, a few hours of rest, and then a few more to get ready, and Sakura could barely identify herself as she gazed at the unrecognizable reflection in the mirror at the inn the group was staying at. It had been so long since she'd gotten dressed up. In fact, she remembered, the last time she wore a kimono was at her very own engagement party. Ignoring the jolt of pain mixed with affection and confusion that etched her body at the memory, she spun in the mirror.

After showering, shaving her legs, putting on a real bra and underwear (not the standard issue kunoichi ones), and dabbing makeup on her face, Sakura felt a little more human than she had in weeks – three weeks actually – the time since she'd been kidnapped. Intertwining her fingers through her strawberry hair, she pulled it into a neat bun, clipping it together with decorative senbon needles. She then wrapped wire into it for added protection in case something was to happen at the party that would require her to defend herself.

Sighing lightly, her nerves were wreaking havoc on her demeanor. It had been a while since she'd been on a semi-seduction mission such as this. Ino was much, much better at these types of missions as Sakura had never truly discovered her overtly sexual side as her best friend had. Besides her one previous partner, she'd never even had sex. Plus, that particular situation was very different than her current one – she had never been out to seduce her former fiancé; it just sort of happened.

Remembering what Ino had told her a long time ago – that she was naturally charming and could get any man's attention with her natural flirtatiousness coupled with her stunning pink locks and expressive jade eyes– Sakura smoothed the deep purple kimono in attempts to calm herself. I can do this.

Now, she was beginning to question her decision to help the Akatsuki in the first place. They were a group of S-class criminals and she was aiding in their accumulation of funds in order to continue their assault on her best friend. Sighing ever so slightly, her thoughts were (thank goodness) interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

"You decent, kid?" Kisame asked. Sakura called to him and he entered the room. His eyes widened at the foreign sight of her. "Well you clean up real good, don't you?"

The compliment surely made Sakura blush a shade of pink which Kisame ignored. Walking over to her awkwardly, he placed a small ear bud and thin wire in her hand. Rather roughly, he asked, "You know how to conceal one of these?"

Sakura made a very distinct 'hm' of protest at the implication that she didn't and Kisame couldn't help but to smile amusedly at her. Sakura dragged the wire down her body and her back and Kisame tapped it on emphatically. Then she used a mild genjutsu to hide it completely and Kisame smirked at her in approval.

"Good, now let's go," he stated, and as if on cue, Itachi and Deidara walked into the room, Tobi not far behind.

Deidara stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of Sakura, and since Itachi had been concealing his own wire, he had not seen the sudden stop and had almost knocked into Deidara. Glancing up at what had made the irritating blond halt, Itachi couldn't help but gaze at the kunoichi as well because kami did she clean up well.

"Princess, you look simply amazing," Deidara sputtered, even leaving out his habitual 'yeah.'

Sakura's cheeks darkened further, only giving her a more flushed, petite look that forced Itachi to continue his appraisal of her. "Sakura-chan you look like a fairy from heaven!" Tobi interjected wildly waving his hands about.

The attention made Sakura a little fidgety because this situation had happened to her before – she had been sixteen at the time and her and three other male shinobi were on a mission not to dissimilar than this one. It was simply a reconnaissance mission in Mist, but Sakura had been forced to attend a party of a very wealthy lord, so she chose one of her teammates to escort her. When he saw her dressed like this for the first time, his jaw had gone visibly slack and he'd just stared at her until another teammate interrupted their little interlude. This party had been hers and said escort's first date, he would later claim after they had become romantically involved. Cringing outwardly, she huffed a bit, and said, "Are we ready?"

One hour later they were at the front gates of a mansion. No, Sakura decided, mansion was an understatement. Never in her 18 years did she ever think she would see a house this big. It could easily fit four or five Hokage towers inside it. Deidara's hand was firm, but soothing on her back as he led her to the front door.

"Stop gawking, sis," he whispered into her ear lightly, teasing her a bit. Her head snapped to him as she momentarily forgot that she was supposed to be his sister in this mission. Lightly smiling back at him, she nodded.

Itachi stood an acceptable distance away – far enough for him to be comfortable but close enough that anyone could ascertain that he was with this particular group and they were familiar with one another. Itachi handed their tickets to the guards, who scanned them, eyed them warily, and then allowed them to pass into the mansion, castle thing.

The inside was just as magnificent as the outside. Ivory pillars outlined a large ballroom right when the three shinobi entered. Intricate, delicate drawings of thousands of animals wound up these pillars as hundreds of people in similar outfits as theirs danced throughout the floor.

The floor was several different shades of gold and patterned throughout the entire front ballroom to be in the shape of diamonds. Two staircases on either sides of the room, encased by more of the engraved ivory pillars, held landings on the first, second, third, and fourth floors of the home. Itachi surmised that there were at least two floors above those, possibly the living quarters.

Deidara gulped as he had never been in a place so magnificent – not even on missions. Surely, it was something that Sakura and Itachi could adapt to as they were, in general, decent societal people, but this was something that was completely aghast for him. As a waiter passed with a tray of expensive looking sake, Deidara grabbed one and gulped it down without thinking or hesitating. A low growl of disapproval escaped Itachi's throat.

Directly in the center of those staircases was an entrance to what looked like a private room. Itachi bent over, placing a light hand on the small of Sakura's back, and whispered in a chilling voice, "That is probably where our target will be."

Sakura stiffened at the contact; despite having been touched by him before, it was only during situations of interrogations, her emotional outburst after the scroll incident, when he released her chakra from her binds, and his one episode of healing her two days previous. However accustomed Sakura had come to touching Itachi during their healing sessions, this brief contact felt so awkward and wrong to her that she wanted to shake it away. Itachi allowed another sound of disapproval come from the back of his throat as Deidara grabbed and downed another shot of sake before anyone could stop him – but he had released the growl in Sakura's ear, making her completely harden at the sound.

"My apologies," Itachi stated emphatically, now pulling away from her, "Deidara, stop it."

Deidara just glared at them both as he whispered, "I'm going to go scout. Sakura, get into that room. Itachi, make sure she's alright, yeah."

Another sound of discontent came from deep within Itachi at Deidara's orders but he complied anyway. Keeping his hand lightly on the small of Sakura's back he lead her gracefully through the crowd, despite the ridiculous sandals she had to wear for such an occasion. Sakura wasn't sure how she felt, being pulled around like this by Uchiha Itachi, but she complied with his touch and followed him wordlessly through the room. Itachi let out an almost inaudible sigh as they reached the door, "You are aware of the plan? You are responsible from here on out."

Sakura gave him a look, silently irking him, and nodded as she strolled, swaying her hips slightly to the guard outside of the private room. The guard stopped her, suddenly, and she looked at him with big emerald eyes and she was biting her bottom lip as she placed her hands delicately behind her back. She looked as if she was begging him for something, but Itachi saw them – no one else would – the hand signs she made. Suddenly, the guard's eyes glazed over and he was letting her in without another word of protest.

Every single fiber in her body was telling her to run. Get the hell out of this small, overly furnished room that only had a few people in it. There were many scantily clad women all with their…men. The main room featured several doors on the borders that surely led to…private rooms as many of the women were dragging the men to them individually, seductive looks on their faces.

Sakura was not new to this, though, and she knew she would be able to accomplish this task, for in the middle of the room sat one Noboru Tanaka. She recognized him instantly – it had been a few years but he'd hardly changed at all. Long, spikey hair that reminded her of Naruto, tattoos etched across his bare chest as he wore all of his dress shirts open, all the time, and piercingly dark eyes – darker then Uchiha Itachi's. A dwindling cigarette hung from his mouth and he discarded it.

Sakura gracefully glided her way to side of the room with refreshments – mostly alcohol and small hors d'oeuvres. Silently swaying to herself a bit she takes a bite out of one and turns a sidelong glance to the thug and he is staring at her with a hungry, lustful passion that she's never seen before. Sakura wills herself to blush a bit as she finishes off the finger food and takes a light drink of wine from the glass she acquired. He quirks a smile at her, which Sakura must concede that without the cigarette, could actually be considered charming.

Gracefully, well as gracefully as she can in these ridiculous sandals, Sakura makes her way over to him and kneels before his chair. Bowing lightly, she chirps, "Thank you for your hospitality, Tanaka-san."

"What's your name, beautiful?" he asks smoothly, his deep baritone voice coursing through her. Automatically, Sakura can understand why maybe in some way, shape, or form that women actually found him attractive. It's almost soothing, not gruff like Kisame's or authoritative like Kakashi's. It's just gentle to hear, and for a moment she is lost in thoughts.

"Yuma Sayuri," Sakura replied automatically.

"Yuma? Like the lord from the town over?" he asks in the same charming voice.

"My father, sir. I'm here with my brother, Yuko, and his friend, Hoshigi Hiro," Sakura replied as she raises her eyes to demurely meet the man before her.

"Ah, your father and I do business together," he states matter-of-factly. "He hasn't mentioned children."

"I'm aware of your business dealings, and it's not something he talks about often as my brother and I spend most of our time at school in Tea Country. I'm afraid my father has taken ill so he sent my brother and I here in his place as we are home on leave. We are very thankful for your hospitality," Sakura responds, remembering her manners.

"You may call me Noboru…" he trails off, "that is if you don't mind me calling you Sayuri."

"It would be an honor, Noboru," Sakura whispers. Now, Noboru had placed his hands gently on hers and he's pulling her up so that she's standing before him.

"Would you like to sit with me?" he asks suavely – not so much that it is in excess, but enough to send unwanted shivers down Sakura's spine. As per plan, she sits, but a little closer than he'd originally intended. In fact, Sakura is practically draped over the man.

He, however, doesn't seem to mind as he trails his fingers up and down her back slowly. Sakura finds herself shivering at the contact – hating the way her body responds to this natural stimulus. Damn her 18-year-old hormones. Damn them straight to hell.

Sakura is essentially sitting across Noboru's lap as her arms dangle around his neck and he is whispering things into her ear – that is all Itachi can see from his place in the insufferable ballroom. He's not enjoying this mission, no; he's not at all – especially now that Deidara has effectively inebriated himself out of usefulness. After his sixth shot of sake, Itachi had effectively knocked him out and through him unceremoniously into one of the side rooms to sleep it off. Now, detachedly, he was watching this thug grope his disgusting hands all over Sakura, and they were getting much too close to her chest.

To her eternal credit, the volatile kunoichi never wavered, and if anything, she seemed to be enjoying the attentions of said thug. Either she really was enjoying them, or she was an exceptionally good actress. Itachi chose to believe the latter as Sakura was now slowly, very slowly, pulling herself off of Noboru and tugging on his hand playfully.

Knowing that this was his signal, Itachi began to make his way up the stairs quietly to wait for them to come. Then, he would strike.

Sakura wasn't terribly surprised by how easy it was to get Noboru to take her upstairs, to his private quarters. He had mentioned something about a painting he had – Sakura jumped at the chance and begged him to take her to see it. Now his possessive grip was leading her up the stairs quickly as not to delay their supposed interaction much longer.

As they finally made their way through the back staircase and up to the third floor where his suite was, Sakura stopped in the hallway. Sensing Itachi's presence, she pulled a little on Noboru's hand. Then, slowly, if not a little forcefully, she planted a heated kiss on his lips.

Instantly, his hands were at her waist as she mewled in delight at the contact. His thumbs pressed into her forcefully and she squeaked a bit in protest, but the man only took this as further provocation to continue his actions. Before she knew it, he was slamming her roughly against the wall and attacking her neck. Instinctively, his leg was going between hers and she had no choice but to part hers. Bending down, he grabbed her kimono and whipped it open as to gain more access to her flesh. It took all Sakura had not to stab the man there, but they had all agreed that she not be the one to kill him.

Itachi had been all but completely prepared to kill the man in front of him, but something stopped him. The sight of Sakura's legs flinging open for the man had all but taken the breath out of him. One of the thug's hands was holding Sakura's wrists above her head, and the other was placed in a sensitive place between her thighs while he ravaged her neck. The sight made Itachi completely uncomfortable, and he hesitated in trying to attack the man as he did not want to leave Sakura in such an open position.

Sakura let out a bit of a hiss (although Tanaka seemed to think it was a pleasurable sigh) that snapped Itachi out of his thoughts complete. Her eyes were trained on him and her face looked angry. Itachi took this as the cue to attack and he was behind Tanaka and had snapped his neck before the man ever knew what happened. Sakura was quick to pull her kimono closed, her face flushed, as she stormed past Itachi angrily.

As he caught up with her rampage, she whirled around to look at him, "You couldn't have done it sooner?" she spat.

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself," he replied, just to anger her. Yes, it was juvenile and he knew it, but it was only a little of the solace he received from the kunoichi's sudden and possibly permanent place in his life. Itachi caught the chakra-infused fist of Sakura easily and put it down to her side.

"Well I wasn't," she huffed.

"I will take that into account for next time this happens," he replied shortly. "We need to receive Deidara before leaving."

What do you mean, next time? Uchiha?" Sakura asked angrily, her temper beginning to boil. "There will never be a next time. I'm healing your eyes and then I'm going home!"

Sakura ran to the door and exited, leaving Itachi to deal with a very unconscious Deidara by himself. Just as he made it to the door with eh inebriated blond, the alarm bells began to ring, and Itachi found himself enclosed by a very large group of rogue ninja.

AN: I apologize if the last half of this chapter makes no sense at all as I'm very quickly feeling drowsy and the need to sleep. Goodnight and please review for my sickly self :)