Pulse
...
...
Beat 5
...
...
...
Keeping his breathing heavy and even, Itachi remained perfectly still as Haruno began to stir.
Without opening his eyes he knew she was awake - heard the faint shuffling of her rearranging her limbs, felt the tug of the chakra he had implanted in her to act as a contract, almost a leash, though he wouldn't have described it so vulgarly. He felt her eyes sliding across his form as she obviously tried to make it seem as though she was still deep in unconsciousness. He did not tend to sleep very much and with an unfamiliar, possible threat lying beside him it was foolish and near impossible to try to do so.
Itachi simply sat in a state of semi-deep meditation that allowed his mind and body to rest enough for him to function properly. He felt the faint tug of the energy he was expanding to keep her signature hidden and the genjustu around her body more acutely than he normally would have, but pointedly ignored it. Inwardly, he changed the schedule he had planned for them - choosing to stop in a nearby base just inside the border of Ame rather than continue passed it. It should be empty at this time of year.
His quick mind continued to reply the events of the past few days over and over again as he evaluated everything that had happened. The images swam behind his closed eyelids vivid and crystal clear - swelling to fill his mind. She had tracked him, had propositioned him (and that thought amused him more than anything else. Almost enough to make his lips quirk into a tiny smirk) and had survived a semi-dangerous binding ritual.
Now, having an extra, previously unplanned for person was not a particularly terrible irritation and he could work around her.
Hidan was the most pressing problem at the moment.
One which could effectively be eliminated if he had the time or inclination to do so - which he had neither of. Either way, it would be far easier to keep this genjutsu on her so that - should they encounter any Akatsuki he would have little explaining to do, if any. He also preferred the genjustu because it dulled her expressions behind the illusion, killed the infuriating glitter in her eyes and made it far easier to detach himself from the situation entirely.
She was a Healer and Kyuubi-bait if it came to that; nothing more and nothing less.
It was just that look in her eyes that riled him up in a way he hadn't experienced since cousin Shisui all those years ago. They were two of the few people unafraid to look him directly in the eye - to put up any kind of resistance even when in a vulnerable position. He hated that one look from her gleaming eyes could invoke any kind of emotion in him - positive or negative - and the genjutsu stamped down on that.
She seemed to be far more brazen when his eyes were closed - she hated to look into them, he knew, hated the pain and death he was sure she associated them with... and then there was his foolish outou in the mixture too. He could hear her moving to sit slightly, feel her encroaching body heat and wondered if she remembered that he had told her killing him would result in her own death.
Itachi remained perfectly still - a predator slinking silently behind unwary prey - and waited for her to make the, probably very foolish move, on her own terms. It would be good to establish from this point just how close an eye he would have to keep on her.
It would have made things much simpler, he reflected later, had she chosen to attack.
...
Waking up was not a pleasant experience.
It wasn't as though she was even touching him, but being close enough that his scent filled her senses with each breath was deeply unnerving. A mixture of pine-needles, leather and kunai oil with a harsh undertone of ash - almost identical to Sasuke's. Rather than pleasantly reminding her of him, it put her teeth on edge and would probably taint Sasuke's scent for her should she ever come across it again.
Sakura snapped open her vivid lime green eyes - slowly adjusting to the smoky darkness around them. The blurred body shape she could make out as she looked down at herself was still that of a skinny boy, though she felt none of her chakra being expended to maintain the illusion. A further examination of her system showed that the pinprick of Itachi's chakra still lingered by her heart - near dormant, but lightly humming in a manner that almost reminded her of a satisfied feline.
Her eyes turned to Itachi - though she remained perfectly still and made an effort to keep her breathing deep and long like someone in the depths of slumber. His eyes were closed, the pale unnerving gleam of Sharingan hidden for once. She took the opportunity to look at him - really look at him - without his unnerving hawk-like gaze on her. As her eyes adjusted to the inky blackness she could make out the dark fan of his eyelashes lying against his cheeks, the casual fold of his arms around his torso, the glint of the necklace at his throat, the barely noticeable spots of blood that still dotted his face in obscene splatters...
Sakura felt her teeth clench tightly as she thought of the bloody hand waving in a twisted salute. Those small marks bothered her more than she would ever let on. Moving slowly, liquidly, into a sitting position she raised a finger to her mouth and lightly flicked her tongue across it. Still somewhat in the muggy grasp of sleep, Sakura considered what she had just had the urge to do.
Clean him.
And, really, that was innocuous enough. The amount of times she had mopped ramen off of Naruto's face were ridiculously high and she regularly straightened Kakashi's shirt after healing him or lightly smoothed down the odd strand of Ino's shimmering golden hair if they were out shopping on a windy day. But this wasn't her friends she was talking about - it was Uchiha Itachi.
Those small dark marks looked profusely dirty on his pale skin, even though she knew for his crimes he deserved to be marked for life.
Letting out the smallest sigh, she reached out until her fingers were quivering less than a hair's breadth away from the skin of his face - so close that she could feel the heat curling from his flesh - before stopping and pulling her hand away. Her green eyes darted across his features for any hint that he had noticed her movement.
Oblivious to the pair of red eyes that snapped open and fixed on her form until long after she fell asleep, the emotion in them inscrutinable.
...
The next time Sakura woke it was obviously far later judging by the sickly yellow quality of the faint light that managed to penetrate even their underground camp. Itachi was awake and packing up his sparse belongings by the sounds of things and if she just kept her eyes closed she could bask in the faint lingering comfort of sleep and pretend it was just Naruto, or Kakashi.
Then the guilt at the thoughts of her teammates reared its head and she was forced to stop that train of thought entirely.
A sharp pulse of the chakra close to her heart - like the prickling burn of heartburn - was enough to jerk her into full, hideous consciousness. Casting a baleful glare in the direction of the culprit Sakura made a show of stretching out her still boyish limbs and yawning slightly. Apparently this was Itachi's cue to toss her a small sachet of field rations and stride out of the cave with his cloak swirling impressively around him.
Experimentally, Sakura felt for the chakra she had left planted in his system, but found that she couldn't locate it despite probably focusing hard enough to burst several blood vessels. Rubbing the spot on her chest above her heart, she scowled and peeled open the foil package with little gusto. Of course he wouldn't give her any hold over him at all. A small flicker of appreciation made itself apparent when she began chewing the bland breakfast, but Sakura told herself firmly that he was only feeding her because she would be thoroughly useless if she died of starvation.
Her bag hadn't been packed for more than the three day trip to Konoha and now she was running low on supplies. Itachi, being the devious bastard he was, had probably rifled through her meagre bag when she wasn't looking, but in the face of hunger Sakura hardly felt the need to complain. Standing, she brushed the crumbs from her body, checked that the ashes of the fire were well and truly cold and walked outside into the watery pre-dawn sunlight.
Itachi was waiting outside, the slight flicker of his expression telling her in no uncertain terms that he had just been doing something she was not meant to see. Judging by the lingering buzz of chakra in the air and the way he discreetly adjusted his ring suggested some kind of communication jutsu. As asking him directly would probably be a waste of time and energy, Sakura broached a more mundane topic.
"Going to remove this genjutsu?" she asked, adjusting the strap of her boot with some difficulty considering the fact that the illusion meant she couldn't actually see it.
The cold look he sent her was the only answer she really needed.
"I aim for us to arrive in Rain by tonight."
Sakura tried not to flinch at the thought of just how fast they would have to run to achieve that. Without another word, he turned and launched himself into the trees leaving her to follow like some kind of obedient puppy.
For the most part the journey was relatively smooth. They paused to eat around midday, but didn't even stop to sit. Itachi paused on a particularly large branch, handed her another foil package when she almost knocked him down after the unexpected stop, and then ate quickly and silently.
Around two o'clock every muscle in her entire body felt as though it was on fire. Sakura spent a good portion of her time scowling at his unbending back - always in front of her, mocking her inability to run level with him. The route Itachi chose surprised her a little; she had expected them to dip briefly into the Fire Country to avoid the marshes that ran along the border of Grass and Rain, but instead they headed straight for them.
Sakura was not particularly pleased about this. The fumes from the stagnant water ranged from putrid to utterly rancid - mostly reminding her of Naruto's wet woollen socks after a long mission. Chakra had to be expanded constantly in order to keep running steadily across the mixture of water and mud and the low, hazy fog lying over the marsh never shifted. It swirled around their ankles until midday, when it rose until Sakura was left following the edge of Itachi's cloak - unable to see anything else.
Huffing to herself, she irritably tugged her drenched hair away from her face and ignored the ache that had begun to build up in her muscles. She hated the oppressive weight of the mist and the lack of visibility made her increasingly edgy as they continued to run with no sign of stopping. If he was to leave her now, she would be hopelessly lost. The only thought that reassured her was that if he had meant to kill her, he certainly would have by now.
Somewhere in the sky she hadn't seen for what felt like an eternity, the sun was beginning to set. The whiteness of the mist became more of a dirty grey that made her feel as though she was going blind. Sakura frowned as her visibility dropped to the point where she was forced to follow Itachi's familiar, barely noticeable chakra signal because she couldn't even see his outline anymore.
Sometime after the sun had set completely, Sakura's chakra flickered alarmingly.
Panicked, she assured herself that she still had enough left to run for the rest of the night and then some. A few minutes later it flickered so furiously her foot plunged ankle deep into the filthy water of the marsh with an embarrassingly loud splash and a series of muttered curses before she managed to reign in her control. For someone who found precise control as easy and as natural as breathing that was more than frightening - especially when the next step she took lead to mud creeping up to her thighs.
Sakura struggled a little, hissing in irritation and all the while mindful of the fact that if she lost Itachi she would most likely wander around until she died here. The thick, sticky substance soaked through her clothes within seconds and seemed to pull her even further into the pool until some it just brushed her armpits. The sense of panic welled up with it as the acrid stench of rotting vegetation made her choke and cough - the splashing, sucking sounds of the marsh around her crashing over irrational thought.
They hadn't touched or spoken all day, but now Itachi slid his long fingered hands around her waist and yanked her forcefully out of the marsh she had began to sink into - his own chakra giving the tiniest waver that only someone as adept with chakra as she was might have noticed.
"We have entered an old sealing area which still affects chakra," he said quietly, still holding her up, despite how she arched to hold herself away from him," but I did not realise it would cause you such trouble. We are in Rain now, there is not much further to go. Can you run at all?"
His tone has a harsh and almost impatient edge beneath the layer of politeness he kept shielded around himself at all times - she felt his chakra within her shift uneasily, as though it was boiling and bubbling within her body. Paying attention to the way it reacted made it far easier to understand just what he was thinking.
Prickly, burning embarrassment swelled up as Sakura looked down at her own, now dangling, feet. Itachi was supporting her with ease. When she gave no answer, he swung his arm under the crook of her knee and pulled her up into the absolutely mortifying so called 'bridal position'. Sakura dearly wished to become acquainted with the disgusting, foul marsh water at this point.
"I'm not a princess with a twisted ankle!" She hissed, twisting so much she was sure he was tempted to drop her. The bruise-inducing grip he had on her limbs certainly suggested so.
"Certainly, but you are throwing a tantrum like one at the moment," he murmured, setting off at his usual speed-demon pace - his words almost lost in the rush of the wind, "This is the most efficient course of action."
The bite at his words made her look shamefully down at his blurred feet and the mushed greenery beneath - angry pinpricks of hot moisture forming at the corner of her eyes as she bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood. It had been quite some time since anyone had needed to carry her, and the mortification stung - scraping across her skin like a thousand needles. This person especially was one she didn't want to look weak in front of.
Later, when the muscles in her arms in legs were beginning to ache from keeping perfectly still in his jostling grip she wondered how ridiculous this must look - with Uchiha Itachi carrying what looked like a small, green haired boy like a delicate noble woman.
Later still, when he had said there wasn't much further to go - either he lied, or his concept of distance was very different from hers - and the boredom pressed on her enough that she chanced beginning a conversation.
"How well did you know Sasori?" was her opener, as she glared disinterestedly at the mist above her while carefully watching him out of her peripheral vision.
The blank look he gave her was entirely unencouraging.
"At all?" she pressed, folding her tighter arms around her body and watching him look blankly down at her, hair swirling in the wind.
"The fact that I assume you saw him true form would make you more knowledgeable about Sasori than his own partner is", was his succinct answer.
Sighing, Sakura gave up on any talk after that and focused on holding her body as far away from his as she could without tumbling from his grip and completely ignoring the not at all soothing body heat that radiated from him even in the chill of the surrounding night and mist.
Eventually the mist and pervasive dampness faded to reveal lush, rolling hills tinted with the finally visible moonlight. Sakura tried to disguise her delight as she breathed in the sweet, fresh air and felt the chakra begin to return to her cramped limbs. Even still he refused to release her, despite the completely unsubtle attempt she made at trying to elbow him in the ribs hard enough to crack a bone, wriggling like a cat.
A single look from those hateful eyes - heavy and red like bloody flesh - was enough to still her to a lump of quivering anger although she knew the chakra was seeping too slowly back into her system for her to be of much use for at least an hour. He ran for only another ten minutes or so - it must have been - before taking a few sharp turns and finally coming to a complete halt.
More carefully than she might have liked, he tipped her to the side so that her feet slid touched the unruly grass lightly. A clearly begrudged 'thank you' slipped, acidic, from her lips before she could stop herself.
Her limbs cramped the moment she stretched and stood on her own two feet - though she gritted her teeth and willed the lactic acid build-up away with all of her considerable willpower and medical skill. When she gave the slightest quiver - like a leaf caught in a strong gust of wind - his hand immediately slinked out towards her - not quite touching her, but there to prop her up if need be.
"Don't -" she muttered, making an angry swatting movement in his direction. She hated his courtesy - that fine, polished veneer of politeness that covered him like a shroud at all times.
He withdrew silently after a warning glance. It disturbed her slightly that she had begun to detect nuances of his emotions through his expressions already, but put that down to years of contact with Sasuke. Turning away, but keeping on guard, she regarded the place they had finally stopped at.
It wasn't the worst place Sakura had ever been forced to spend the night in, but it wasn't even in the same universe as acceptable. Acceptable and this base were currently very distant solar systems apart.
The building was something between a shack, and the seasonal longhouses that dotted the remote countryside of the Fire country - which were only used for a few months each year to graze cattle, sheep or other livestock in the arable land around them. Thin, long and narrow it sprawled drunkenly at the bottom of a hill - seemingly leaning against the slope for support, although Sakura suspected some kind of underground network lead from the building into the earth beneath and behind it.
There were only two small slit-like windows with dull, filthy glass panes that were mostly missing or broken, the door appeared to be one over-zealous tap away from sawdust and the mould and mildew that spotted the roof-tiles and wooden walls gave a delightful impression of neglect. Internally, Sakura was considering the far more welcoming knot of trees a few dozen metres away.
Itachi brushed past towards the dwelling.
Fingernails digging crescents into her palms, and toes curled with anger within her heavy boots, she stalked after him.
She welcomed the grasping claws of fury that dug into her skin as the door swung shut behind her and the thick, musty darkness enveloped them from all sides. Anger was better than fear any day.
...
...
I've been busy, but here is the update! Not much else to say other than that... This was more of a transition chapter and I struggled with it a tad. I think you'll enjoy the next few staying-in-the-base sections if you're still there lovely readers!
Thanks for reading ~
Silver.