Inspiration: Hey Lady- Thriving Ivory

"Hey lady, don't give up on me. Don't burn your heart out love, till we're ash overseas"

Pairing: Sakura/Sasuke, mild Itachi/Sakura, some Kisame/Sakura, and always, always Naruto/Sakura

Notes: For those of you who've been with me since I began this fic, I'm so happy. College semester just started back for me, so I've been distracted by the new work load, so instead of posting once or twice a week, it'll probably be once a week, maybe once in a week and a half. That said, for the chapter notes. This chapter moves a bit more story along. I have drafted some thoughts on it, and it'll probably be around 30 chapters. So look forward to seeing it around quite a bit longer. There won't be any instant gratification in this fic. The ships that are present will be hints until later. Don't worry, there will be an end game ship, but it won't be an super romance until later. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for being amazing readers, and thanks for everyone who's ever reviewed for me. I really love reading your reviews, and I appreciate your comments, good, bad, happy and sad. They always make me feel fortunate, and the smile on my face never ceases when I read them. Thanks again. So enjoy the chapter, it's a long one. Oh and on another note, I have lost a majority of my betas time, which is normal, because life sneaks up on everyone, but Kariska who was my lovely beta and I'd like to thank him for being so absolutely amazing in all the past chapters. You're absolutely perfect. Thanks again.

Theme: Romance/Drama

Rating: Mmmm 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.

[She checks her pulse, gotta know if her heart's still beating]

"Whatever his name is," Kisame's words came out in a puff, ruffling her hair. She was close enough that she swore she could hear his heartbeat. She could definitely feel it thrumming beneath her palm. "I know where he is."

Sakura took a moment to consider her actions, and words very carefully. At first instinct, she wanted to be angry, to confront him and ask him why he didn't tell her sooner.

After, she wanted to cry. Naruto was surely alive and Kisame seemed to know where he was. It didn't matter why he didn't bring it up earlier. She didn't care anymore.

She released a shuttering breath. "Where is he?"

Against her thighs which were perched on both sides of him, she could feel his legs trembling slightly. The feeling stirred a sudden discomfort inside of her. With one of his hands still capturing her shoulder, she attempted to shrug it off. Both of her hands dropped away from his chest and she tried to move very slowly, and carefully. While she was beginning to trust him more and more with each passing moment, she didn't exactly want to be straddling him any longer.

Any motion she was in the process of carrying out ceased as he frowned, and his fingers cut into her skin. Pressing so roughly that she yelped in surprise.

Sakura shot her eye up to meet his, and he seemed unchanged, except for the minor furrow of his brows. "You don't have time for that." He grumbled. She relaxed slightly, and in the absence of focusing on the task, remained seated with her hips atop him. He didn't move his other free hand, which sat limply on the bed at his side. "Whatever you're thinking about freeing him, just get it out of your head, girl." His words were low and rumbling like the ocean, and they broke her heart further.

She was overtaken by a wave of rage and sadness that made more tears spring to her eyes.

Her forgotten quest of trying to remove herself out of his presence was renewed. Though her strength was indeed entirely gone, and her chakra was a bust, she could do this at least. "I can't just let him stay in there." Snapping the words out, both of her hands pressed harshly against the hard flat surface of his torso. Pushing against him only made his hand on her upper arm tighten uncomfortably again.

She ignored the feeling promptly, empowered by a sudden image of Naruto's blue eyes in her head. His strength and determination; the fact that he was alone now. Regardless of what she was going through, she would fight for him.

"I won't leave him alone down there."

Her words and tears seemed to be a breaking point in the blue skinned man's patience. His frown increased in intensity. "Oh, yeah? And just what the hell are you going to do if you know where he is, hm?" His triangle point teeth were sharp, but it was his words that cut into her. It was his tone that shut down her struggling yet again.

Sasuke wouldn't be this weak.

Naruto wouldn't be this vulnerable.

Itachi wouldn't allow this to happen.

Though tears were still surfacing and occasionally slipping down her cheeks, she wasn't sobbing. Silent tears were betraying her, but at least she was holding a semblance of her dignity. It was all she could take pride in at this time.

"I don't care." She snarled, realizing how out of breath she was. The chakra sapping drug was still making her sluggish, still taking away her fight, and slowing her muscles with fatigue. She realized immediately that what she really needed was sleep. To sleep off the effects of this drug. The food he gave her would help somewhat, but she needed more rest to recover.

"I don't care what it takes, or what I can do." A sigh broke through her lips and she knew she was defeated. "I won't leave him there."

The hand on her upper arm loosened and though she was fatigued, defeated and deeply saddened, she immediately took advantage of it by pitching herself backwards.

Though she didn't expect for it to work, it did. His fingers never regained their grip, though she was sure he could have managed it if he really wanted to, and she slid backwards off of his lap and abruptly landed on her backside on the floor. She groaned against the feeling of her tail bone slamming into the hard ground.

This birthed a mangled noise, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh from the tall, mysterious man before her. "You really don't quit do you, you leaf bastards." Kisame gazed down at her, and she noted the absence of his frown.

Her own face was contorted in a minor wave of pain from her fall. Maybe she didn't handle it as well as she meant to but the idea behind it had been accomplished. Get out of touching distance from him; check.

Only a few goals left now. Get some of her chakra back, so that she might be able to free Naruto.

Belatedly, the thought crossed her mind that she wanted to see Sasuke and Itachi again. Those Uchiha brothers who caused her so much pain in her youth.

"Kisame," She breathed his name, everything in her head was moving at light speed, "I need your help." Uncertain of why she was asking him, she just knew she had to do this.

She was taking a chance on whether she could really trust him, but what did she have to lose at this point.

The Akatsuki before her was giving her relentless eye contact, and he waited several seconds before speaking. "What'd you have in mind?"

Things were at rock bottom at this point, but the only good thing was, that she could see a light.

With Kisame's help, and possibly Sasuke and Itachi's assistance as well, she could do this.

She needed to see Naruto. She just simply needed to see his shining blue eyes, and his reassuring face. Her best friend was alone, and it was all her fault. If it was the last thing she ever did, she would break Naruto out of whatever hell he was suffering in because of her.

In the presence of his brother's very poorly hidden angst, panic and anger, Itachi had been scouting.

When Sasuke came into his room nearly an hour ago Itachi realized something very pivotal. His little, foolish brother was actually in over his head. There was no hiding it, no denying it, Sasuke was overreacting, and just plain freaking out.

He hadn't seen his brother act in such a way since they were much younger. Sasuke had hardened considerably after they fled Konoha. Maybe because that was just what he thought was expected of him, and maybe because he was so obsessed with his quest for power that it just had to be done. He accepted his need to harden himself off to emotions, and he tried to do so. It was a vain effort of course. One could never truly shut themselves off from emotions.

Itachi recognized it many years ago. To be a ninja is to hide your emotions. To know that they will only get in the way, yet to accept that they are present. It was an art form; accepting the presence of an emotion, but not allowing it to affect you externally. Not to let it tilt your judgment from acceptable to dangerous.

A very fine line indeed.

Simply trying to ignore your emotions all together; to deny their existence like Sasuke tried to do, was a quick way to go to war with yourself. It was no way to live. His little brother needed to learn the difference between the two, and quickly.

Itachi approached the main room, his footsteps masked entirely, and he stopped just outside of the entry way. Inside the main, circular room, Deidara, Konan and Sasori stood in a circle.

He kept his ears open, and his head down as he listened to the voice of Deidara who was apparently very annoyed. His expression was a dark cloud, and the two rather stoic persons before him seemed to be listening to him without judgment or external interest. They were probably only listening because he had force himself on them.

Keeping his back to the wall in a way he hoped would look rather casual if someone stumbled upon him, he listened to the words they were speaking.

"Leader has been mysteriously absent all day." Deidara mumbled, his blue eyes shifting back and forth over the two before him. "After I told him that brat wanted to see him, he disappeared and he hasn't returned."

Itachi wondered why Pein would tell Deidara about Naruto, considering the fact that Deidara is not very subtle. But then again, who in the Akatsuki would be able to double cross Pein of all people?

"I wonder if he's going to go and see that pinky, hm? Maybe I'll have time to get her alone before he ruins her. She's such a pretty canvas too." He grumbled. Sasori and Konan both seemed to be entirely guarded against expressing any happiness in the thought. They both just gazed at him evenly.

"Where is the girl?" Konan's words were a tad bit surprising to the older of the Uchiha's, but he watched regardless.

His chakra was masked in an effort to remain distinctly unnoticeable.

"Haven't seen her since she was with Itachi Uchiha, hm." Deidara mused, his eyelids flickering over his icy blue eyes momentarily, mediating on the thought.

Konan nodded thoughtfully.

Sasori had turned his attention away from them entirely. He turned to leave without a second notice. Deidara at least, was miffed by the lack of interest on the red heads part.

He frowned. "Fine," He snubbed, as if he was the one who dismissed the conversation.

Konan shook her head lightly at him.

From his place Itachi decided it was best to move on. No information would come now.

Deidara had seen Naruto, and that was a start for now. He turned quietly and headed back down the hall towards his room. He would pass Kisame's room before he made it there.

His thoughts turned to the pink haired girl.

He had been absorbed in his task of finding the blond boy. They could do nothing to remove the medic from her position until they found Naruto, so he had been pouring his attention into that wholely. He hadn't spared many thoughts on what Sakura was going through now.

In fact, he had decided it was best if he didn't think about what she was experiencing at all.

Yet he worried.

He was worrying over her and it was becoming distracting.

The girl who was so confident and strong in front of Pein. Undressed, with a loss of dignity, who still fought like she was born to fight. The young girl he remembered from Konoha who was so clearly infatuated with his little brother, who Itachi had now felt in his arms. When she had finally fainted from exhaustion, she landed in his arms.

It was surprisingly intriguing, the feel of her skin, which was too hot to the touch, and the smell of her hair.

Sakura was too brash for this situation. She was the kind of girl that would go down clawing her way up, and it was distressing to think of what situations she could get herself in to.

Itachi slowed himself as he came to the hallway where he knew Kisame's room to be.

He trusted the blue skinned man. They had become something akin to friends since he and his brother had joined this organization. Yet, he didn't know how to feel.

Didn't know what to think about how Kisame would treat her.

In all the years they'd been a part of the Akatsuki, he had never known Kisame to take it easy on any females. He may not have been as aggressive as Pein, but Kisame was rather heavy handed, and like all of them, he grew lonely which as a curse at times like this.

Itachi activated his sharingan and gazed at the door. One strong, cold chakra signal he recognized to be Kisame and the other was so faint it resembled the strength of a civilian level chakra.

Most disturbingly, they were close together. They were nearly right on top of each other.

Itachi froze, entirely uncertain of what to do. What would his brother do? What would his brother want him to do?

He wanted to sigh. Of course Sasuke would take a moment to watch, before most likely forcing himself inside with only a second thought. That boy might have been an Uchiha, but sometimes he thought more like his friend Naruto than he would most likely admit out loud.

When it came to his old team, Sasuke was really quite fearless. Though he would never admit it out loud, Itachi knew.

He watched with a stiff back, his ears attentive, listening for sounds and his eyes glued to the sight. The distance between their signatures was so small it was entirely unsettling, and Itachi wondered if he had placed too much faith in the fact that Kisame wouldn't be excessive.

And then there was a break, and it was like tipping over a glass. The very slight presence of Sakura's chakra, as small as it was, broke away from Kisame's, and Itachi released a relieved breath.

He wasn't sure what he had witnessed, but he tried to put any theories out of his head. Rather he focused all of his attention on them for another moment, watching for any signs of struggle.

There was an absence of movement from either signature and he took it as a good sign.

Sakura was strong enough to handle herself, he assured himself before turning to leave. He couldn't allow his feelings and concerns to get in the way of their overall goal.

He could see her face, could practically feel her skin.

Imagining the way her hands would slide across his wounds, warm with chakra, erasing any pain he might have felt wasn't difficult. He remembered the way her bright green eyes had glistened with unshed tears as she told him he would be okay, her soothing voice expunging any pain almost more than her healing hands.

"Damn it!" He turned the words out into the darkness where they disappeared amongst the silence. "Peeein!" Resuming the act of pitching around like a fish out of water against his chains, he growled.

Naruto had officially reached his limit on waiting. He wasn't going to wait even one more fucking minute to see his Sakura. She was here somewhere, and he was tired of waiting for her to appear.

"Pein!" He groaned the name and ignored the stiffness of his muscles from being held in the same position for the last several hours. His arms were held above him, but he could still choose whether to sit or stand. A very limited amount of freedom which he had mostly used to sit in the bottom of the cell. Sitting caused his wrists to be held above his head. Had he chosen to stand his arms would be chained, but not above his head.

This fact didn't make him any more prone to simply stand all day, regardless of the fact that his wrists would have been more comfortable.

"Get your ass in here and keep your word!" He yelled, though he didn't believe anyone could hear him.

He had drifted off to sleep momentarily after the blonde haired Akatsuki left his cell. He hoped Pein would come in immediately after that, but the creep was nowhere to be found as of yet. Unable to fight the wave of exhaustion that came over him after he realized the other man wasn't coming, Naruto quickly dozed off with his wrists above him and his legs spread out wide.

He didn't know how long he had slept like that, just that he had woken up more hungry than before, if at all possible.

Beyond annoyed, he was now so angry and uncomfortable he wanted to explode.

All he could do to calm himself down was to picture Sakura's smiling face.

Maybe Sasuke was here. Maybe Sasuke had run into Sakura and had chosen to help her. He still had faith that Sasuke wasn't a bad guy, and he was going to stand by that thought now, for her sake.

He growled, and the sound was met by the very abrasive loudness of a door opening. Against the smothering emptiness of the room it sounded like a bomb. Naruto felt the immediate rush of adrenaline and he fought to keep himself under control. He immediately felt Kurama's intense excitment at the prospect of breaking loose. He couldn't have that. He gathered his control quickly.

"Pein!" He bellowed, his blue eyes hardening as he scouted the darkness for the appearance of who he hoped would bring him Sakura.

"Not quite." A low voice rumbled through the darkness. His steps weren't particularly quiet, and Naruto could hear him as he grew closer.

The dim light was unforgiving and gave Naruto absolutely no visibility on the Akatsuki, only one thing was clear; that wasn't Pein's voice. He remembered Pein's voice very well. This wasn't the man he wanted to see. He let out a very deep groan. "Where's Pein? Where's Sakura?" He barked.

He was met with a gruff, amused noise that might have been a chuckle. "I see you really are teammates." The darkness gave way, and there was a tall man standing in the dull light directly above Naruto's cell. It was casting just enough brightness past the bars that Naruto could make out the blue skin, the dark eyes, and the trademark Akatsuki cloak. A pale, nearly frightening smirk lit the face there. "You must spend a lot of time together to be so similar."

And there was a moment of silence that blanketed over them, which Naruto used to catch his breath, and steady his nerves. Did he just say… "Sakura?" Naruto found that his voice was a bit rougher than he meant to it be, and the desperation that came through was unintentional. It made him cringe to think of where Sakura might be. "Pein said-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before the man parted his lips and let of a surly laugh, followed by a very short and serious expression.

"We've got no time for this shit, kid. I know you wanna see Sakura, and I know what Pein told you." He took a wide step forward, and his chest was nearly touching the bars.

Naruto's entire attention was immediately spun towards this man, his shoulders beginning to shake with anticipation. He could hear the echoing of Kurama inside of him, mocking him for his excitement. He ignored the fox in favor of glaring at the Akatsuki before him. "Wha-" He attempted to speak again but the snap he received was too harsh to interrupt.

"Just shut up already and let me speak." His words gradually faded from a loud rasp, to a quiet tone. One that Naruto almost had to strain to hear. "Unless you wanna die in here, you better do exactly what I say."

Naruto's full focus was on those sharp teeth, gleaming against the light as he spoke words on an calm, low voice.

"When I left the little girl was alright-" He said and Naruto stood upright abruptly, his chains rattling loudly.

"-Sakura?" He cut in again on reflex and it seemed to lash against the man's patience, but he didn't mention it. Rather he just simply kept explaining as if Naruto hadn't spoken at all.

"-I don't know how long we can play this game before Pein realizes that she isn't alone." He frowned, his dark blue skin picking up the shadows in a way that made him quiet intimidating. "I haven't talked to em, but Itachi seems to be in on this, which means the little Uchiha is in on it too." Naruto knew instinctively he was talking about Sasuke and he had to chew down the urge to call out Sasuke's name as well in surprise. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not risking my ass for anyone of you losers, I'm just in this for the show." He paused in his quiet speech only long enough to smirk lightly, before continuing. "Pein's gonna come for her tonight, and then he's probably gonna bring her to you."

Naruto's heart was hammering uncomfortably hard in his chest and he took a step closer to the bars, using up the last of the slack in his chains. His wrists stretched behind him, but his face was closer to the man now. "Sakura's coming?" His tone was so hopeful, that it seemed to bring another smirk to the man before him.

"You don't listen well, do ya kid. I said shut up. Now-" His face was back gravely serious. "When Pein brings the girl, don't do anything."

A frown creased Naruto's expression. "What? But I have to help Sak-" He couldn't finish the sentence before there was a very impatient, angry expression on that face. It shut him up immediately.

"Don't do anything, or else she's going to die." He cut in thickly. "Pein will kill her and you won't be able to do shit."

Naruto felt the prickle of discomfort and pain arrest his heart at the thought of his Sakura being harmed. "What do I do?"

The man before him took a step away from the bars. "Just memorize her face and take comfort in the fact that she's alive. Bare through anything that happens and wait it out. If you act too soon, everything's going to go to hell and it'll be on your head. Just be glad you saw her and don't do anything."

Helpless. Naruto was entirely helpless. There was nothing he could do about anything. Could he even trust this man? It was an Akatsuki. "How do I know I can trust you?" He voiced his suspicions out loud.

The man chuckled, "That's the first smart thing you've said since I showed up." He took another step backwards, "You can't trust anyone. Not any one of us anyways," Black eyes cut across Naruto in a way that was almost familiar. "Trust that girl. Even if you don't trust us, trust her." He shrugged. "That's all I can say, kid. Good luck." He added and was disappearing into the darkness again.

Any words he could think of to say were falling short, and the steps were rapidly fading away. "Thanks." He said shortly, and the only response left by the blue skinned Akatsuki was the sound of the door shutting behind him.

Naruto breathed out deeply. The only thing he wanted was Sakura's safety, and he would do anything necessary to make sure she was okay. No matter what it took.