Inspiration: Thinking of You- Katy Perry

"Oh, won't you walk through, and bust in the door and take me away? Oh, no more mistakes, cause in your eyes, I'd like to stay, stay"

Pairing: This particular chapter is almost entirely Ita/Saku

Notes: Currently, this chapter was un-beta'd AU; Alternate universe this takes place in is as follows: Sasuke did leave Konoha, but when he left he left with Itachi. He did not receive the curse mark. He didn't leave to get revenge, he left to get power. The Uchiha compound still exists, but they didn't plan on starting a war. They're all just serious, uptight jerks. Sakura and Naruto still left to get Sasuke back, so they still trained with Tsunade/Jiraiya, so they still have all of their abilities. Other than that, the other secrets and alternate story details, will be revealed in time.

Theme: Romance/Drama

Rating: M for Mature: following themes are or will be present in this chapter or throughout the fic: some vulgarities such as language, sexual themes, humiliation, drugs, and other dark themes.

[You're like an Indian Summer in the middle of winter; Like a hard candy with a surprise center~]

No matter how hard she tried, Sakura couldn't seem to get her feet to cooperate. Each few steps she found herself stumbling. The pads of her feet dragging the ground, which would nearly pitch her forward. And without fail, each time she nearly toppled over, there was a distinctly strong altering force at her side. Something strong and rough that kept her afloat, like a buoy against the rocking ocean waves.

Her head was swimming uncomfortably. She felt much the way she had heard her patients describe the way it felt to be without glasses when you really need them. Fuzzy, hard to focus, a mild headache, and disorientation. Whatever drugs Pein had injected her with upon her capture, was really screwing with her.

All of the thoughts floating around inside of her head felt surreal. She really had no idea whether anything she had experienced had actually happened or if it was all a strange, frightening dream.

The bravado she had produced was mostly because of that; If this was really a dream, she wouldn't let herself be outdone. She was probably laying in a cell somewhere, having drug induced, horrifying dreams.

Though, the strong pinning of her upper arm against a rough fabric felt too real, she wasn't entirely certain what was going on. "Where's Naruto?" She pitched the words into the taupe darkness that hazed together before her like fog.

At her side, she heard the words clearly, and she turned her head to meet them. Jarring words, waking her up to the fact that she couldn't be sleeping. "For now all ya need to know, is that Pein has em, hm." Her eyes met a slightly blurry figure by her free side. Blond hair, but not like Naruto at all. Taller, and his words were too cool, and too relaxed. She frowned at him, and belatedly realized that he was staring at her chest.

Only scarcely aware of the fact that she was nude- whether this wasa dream or reality- she sluggishly lifted her free arm up and covered herself. Doing so brought her attention to the ghoulishly pale fingers that were gripped tightly against her right upper arm. She followed the fingers back up to their place of origin. Tracing his arms, hidden beneath a black cloak, up to his wide shoulders, and resting on a face that, even in a dream, she couldn't misplace.

"Itachi..." She breathed the name that she had tried to purge from her mind s many nights before. The older brother of the boy she loved. The one who allowed Sasuke to leave them. Who accompanied Sasuke as he became a rogue. She had learned out of habit to hate the name Itachi as someone who corrupted Sasuke. A scowl dipped down to darken her features.

The tall, ghost of a man didn't look down to meet her eyes. His expression was a flat line of seriousness, and his sharingan activated eyes were trained ahead of them, focusing on the walk as if it were the only interesting thing in the world.

For the next few moments, Sakura attempted to weakly pull her arm from his tight grip. It was as effective in her current state as trying to punch a hole through the wall would have been; Entirely unthinkable. His fingers curled around her bicep were like chains.

He didn't look at her, and his grip didn't loosen. Each time she stumbled as a result of dimmed awareness, thanks to the chakra depleting drugs, those tight fingers countered her loss of balance by pulling her lightly, almost unnoticeably against him.

Somehow, she was thankful for that, even if she was so angry at just the thought of him; of the monster that took Sasuke from her.

They walked for what seemed to Sakura to be an eternity. Each hallway they turned down looked the same, like a labyrinth of exact replicas. 4 doors on each hallway, exactly the same spacing, and in the same places. Down the 3rd hallway they turned on, Itachi slowed her forcibly at the 2nd door. She watched obtusely as he turned his head towards the blond man at her other side.

There was a tense cloak over them as they exchanged words that she only half understood. The drugs were growing stronger now that her adrenaline wasn't pumping and keeping up a minor, false confidence. She was diminishing to an almost complacent state. It was beginning to worry her that she didn't care what was happening anymore. A very opposing set of thoughts.

And then, whatever words the two Akatsuki who were escorting her were exchanging, were gone. No more words were being spoken, and the door was being opened. It was abrupt that Itachi pushed her into the room. More taupe and gray. Boring clay colored walls, and only essential furniture. Dresser for clothing, one storage compartment, probably for weapons and other personals, and a single bed in the center wall on the far side of the room. A scratchy, most likely uncomfortable looking gray bed.

Sakura watched as the bed plummeted towards her- Or rather, as she plummeted towards the bed quickly, but softly. She landed face down against the side, sliding off so that her knees were on the ground, but her torso remained on the very not soft cot. Dizzy from the sudden motion, she groaned through a spinning in her head.

"I'll send for you when I'm done." She registered Itachi's voice, and she pushed herself entirely away from the bed, now sitting on the cold ground. Angling herself towards the sound of the conversation, she could sense the strained nature of their words, regardless of her state.

The blond looked annoyed to hear those words, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Why do you get to play with her first? What a pain, hm..." He grumbled. Sakura didn't like the sound of those words.

She gazed with her lips parted as she breathed rather heavily through her mouth. Itachi seemed to grow in stature. Taller, more intimidating. "I'll send for you." He repeated, as if even arguing with the blond was beneath him.

To Sakura's- possibly drug induced- mirth, the other Akatsuki seemed to listen. Or at least, as Itachi shut the door in the mans face, there was no countering shouts, or banging on the door. It was immediately after the oldest Uchiha son spun slowly around that Sakura realized her predicament.

She pressed lips together and leaned her back against the bed frame. "You'd better stay away." She informed him, her words remaining coherent, in spite of her mental clumsiness.

For a moment he remained near the door, seemingly unaffected entirely by her words, before he quickly lapsed the room. His vaulting steps carried him to her more quickly than her dulled reflexes could comprehend.

He didn't speak, didn't carefully negate the situation with tact and respect. Rather, he gruffly lifted her by the upper-arms until she was entirely standing, and then he was gazing down at her.

She was considerably relieved to see that his sharingan wasn't active anymore, and rather she was staring into black depths that made her want to drowned. Quickly she focused on his forehead rather than gazing into those eyes. The stupid drugs were taking a toll on her. If only she had her strength, and her wits, she wouldn't be in this situation. She could find Naruto and together they could definitely find their way out of this mess.

For a moment she let her disoriented thoughts shift over to Naruto. Her best friend. She missed him so much it almost made her cringe just thinking about what was happening to him.

Resurfacing from her thoughts she turned her head away from Itachi, noticing that he was still towering over her.

Her self-awareness was coming over her in waves; Sometimes more aware than others. During a minor surfacing of that awareness, she realized that her clothes were left discarded in the last room they were in, and that she was still almost entirely nude. Aside from the thin panties that covered her womanhood, her breasts were in full view.

While Sakura wasn't shy, or self-conscious, she still wasn't okay with the thought of Itachi, or any of the other Akatsuki seeing what she hadn't even shown a boy she loved. She shot her arms up to cover herself up.

Looking up at Itachi, she was only minorly glad to notice that he wasn't looking at her either way. His dark eyes were perched on her face.

It was a stretch of silence that was far too long to be comfortable, and it made Sakura's nerves come back with vengeance. She began to shake.

What if he was going to have his way with her? She thought about what Pein said before she was taken from the room. Teaching her a lesson...

She cringed, and again deviated her eyes away from him. "Please," She had the tact not to sound weak, or afraid, "Don't touch me." For a moment she was tempted to sink back to her knees and wrap her arms more tightly around herself. "I just want to find Naruto and leave." She wanted to sniffle. To cry, and scream. To admit that she was in over her head, or hell, she even wanted to plead Itachi for his help. To have mercy on her, and try to help her.

She did none of those things, rather she peered blankly, unseeingly, at the neutral colored walls.

Itachi thought this girl had some kind of nerves. At first the breadth of them impressed him, but now they made him want to shake her.

She was asking him not to touch her.

Didn't she know what was happening? Didn't she know the depth of what she was entangled in? Sakura thought he was going to touch her. Even drugged she had the presence of mind to tell him not to touch her.

He wanted to sneer at her, however he settled with giving her a petty frown. Of all the people in this place, out of all of them, he would be the only one she should really want to touch her.

Itachi almost frowned deeper at the thought of what the others would do to her when they got their hands on her.

Kisame would practically tear into her like she was a juicy, tender dumpling. Deidara would probably do things that Itachi didn't even want to think about, all in the name of art, and beauty. And Pein, whenever Pein got around to having a turn 'teaching this girl a lesson' he wasn't even sure if she would ever recover from that.

Yet she had the consciousness, the audacity, to ask him to spare her?

Though he didn't openly point his eyes at her, he did notice her hands trembling around her breasts, and the way she swayed each few moments, as if she were on a boat.

His stupid brother. This was all his stupid brothers fault.

His little brother left the village so abruptly, so young and with so much to look forward to. Sasuke left a big hole in Konoha the day he fled. Hell, both of the Uchiha sons did. He and his brother left at the same time, and when they did, they created a wave of sadness.

Two of the villages finest young ninja, leaving so simply. Going rogue without a second thought.

It was foolish really, for Itachi to allow Sasuke to leave with him. But Itachi was no one to tell his little brother no. Not his beloved little brother. So he allowed Sasuke to leave.

Now, because of the hole Sasuke left in this girls heart, she was here now undergoing this pain.

And Itachi knew she didn't deserve it.

Neither her, nor Naruto Uzumaki deserved this. They were simply trying to, quite foolishly, chase their friend, his brother, into the depths.

It was noble, and good, but damn was it stupid.

Itachi frowned at her. "It is hopeless for you to fight this. You're outnumbered, and those drugs will be heavy in your system until tomorrow," He paused to look her in the eyes, as her green irises drew themselves up to gaze at him. A startling fear lit them up, "and when they do begin to wear off, Pein will simply replace them."

She looked positively faint. He wondered if she might break down and cry for the first time. He never did like crying girls. Itachi spent far too much time in the company of ninja, and of Uchiha as well, to be able to tolerate crying. His father despised crying, and real ninja shouldn't cry.

Perhaps for that reason, because she was a very famous kunoichi, did she not cry now.

Itachi let his shoulders slump ever-so slightly. "Why did you come here?" He asked quietly, his tone dimly interested, but his expression was carefully composed indifference.

Her head twisted away from him again, as if she didn't want for him to gaze upon her face directly. Her words were surprisingly even toned for someone who was under the effects of the drug that he knew was very stupefying. "We didn't come here." She snapped, and her sudden spunk was surprising. Itachi would be able to say he admired her personality, though not out loud of course. "Naruto and I weren't looking for Sasuke this time. We were on another mission, and we stumbled into some of you guys. It was an accident." She was mumbling almost sheepishly by the end of it. A sadness corrupting her words.

"I see." He mumbled. He was still standing stiffly near her, and she was still keeping her eyes far from his own, and her arms tightly locked in front of her breasts. "That's unfortunate."

She chuckled, without humor. "Unfortunate." She mocked his word, sounding positively contrived. "You think this is unfortunate?" She wobbled a little, betraying the state of drugs in her system. Other than the hiccup in balance, she seemed otherwise fine however.

He gazed at her unrelentingly. She was fierce and beautiful. Strangely he thought that she would be a good match for an Uchiha. As an Uchiha bride, she would need to be bold and passionate, and bright like a star. It was a shame Sasuke left with him. Disinherited their family. Sakura had clearly loved his little brother back in the day. At least, as much as a sweet, puppy-love could be, it was clear. He knew it, Sasuke knew it, everyone knew it. She was infatuated with Sasuke, and didn't hide it.

Though Sasuke didn't feel the same way at the time.

Of course he didn't. Sasuke had many fans, just like Itachi himself had many fans. To simply chose a girl so flippantly because she had feelings for them, was foolish. Just any girl who liked an Uchiha, was not enough to become an Uchiha woman.

Strange that now, a girl who he had thought was another of his brothers mindless followers, would be so strongly suited for such a thing.

She took the absence of an immediate response from him, to be an insult and she arced her neck back towards him in anger. "You think the fact that we were captured was merely unfortunate?" She barked. "This is all Sasuke's fault." It was like she was spitting fire at him.

He wanted to smirk at her words and call her a silly girl. To tell her that she was stupid for using his brothers decision as a crutch to protect her weakness for being caught. But somehow, maybe she was right. Maybe her fate was such because Sasuke chose his path to be that of power, regardless of how it might effect others. Maybe that was a foolish decision his brother made.

And his brother made that decision, because Itachi himself made the decision to leave as well.

He blinked away the train of thought.

Before him, Sakura was wobbling again, her chest heaving, and her cheeks pink. She really did look positively exhausted, and irrational. Clearly the drugs, and her ability to focus through them was coming to a close.

She was rocking back and forth, her eyes becoming quickly glazed over. Breathing irregularly. Itachi frowned.

And then she was pitching forward towards him. Falling, nearly in slow motion. Her eyes unfocused, and her hands dropping away from her breasts.

He was moving against the motion without even realizing it. Immediately, instinctively, he shot his arms forward, and his arms circled around her shoulders. Her front slammed into him abruptly, and she made a startled noise.

Her arms did dash up and loop around his backside, and he felt her gasp against his chest. With her arms still clinging to his back, and his arms still looped around her shoulders he peered down at the top of her head.

She was tiny compared to him, and as he cradled her shoulders against his chest, he watched her head turn up to look at him. Gazing up at him, her green eyes look clouded, but somehow, so beautiful, he couldn't look away. "I'm sorry." She breathed, looking displaced from herself.

He didn't move, couldn't move. Rather he had to focus on her face, as he realized that she was pressing her naked breasts against him. A frown took over his face.

"Itachi?" A voice pitched from behind him.

Itachi tensed, his back muscles clenching. His eyes on Sakura, he registered her fear, her surprise, and her disoriented sadness.

Her voice was steady, but muffled against his chest. "Sasuke?" She asked dreamily, her hands against his back fisting his cloak. Itachi closed his eyes. This situation would not be easy to explain to his hotheaded brother.

Note: So yeah, beta anyone?