Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands

Drop the dagger and lather the blood on your hands, Romeo

I thought that little quote from My Chemical Romance's The Sharpest Lives was appropriate of Itachi and Sakura's relationship.

TO NEVER LOSE

By Reverse

Chapter 9- Fleeting Sanity

"How smart is it to fight me, really?" I shook out my strawberry hair, pink to the very roots. I was like a tiger crouched and ready to spring. Sudden battle instincts overtook me and prey was the only word to describe the Black Ops in my eyes.

A voice filled with an inferno of calmness and authority halted my visionary bloodbath. "Stop."

It was only one word. I never realized what kind of effect one word could have.

It wasn't anybody I would have expected it to be. It wasn't Kakashi stepping in, or Naruto, or Tsunade. It was somebody whom I hardly even knew, and not Itachi. Shizune walked towards the fray.

But it wasn't her voice.

Beside her, proud and calm was Hinata Hyuga, standing tall on her own. "Think Nara, she hasn't made any move to attack Konoha, and she's Akatsuki, I've never heard of one traveling alone."

He nodded, his mask bobbing twice, as if it were a direct order. I noticed how Hinata was respected by him as his squad seemed to shrink away.

She looked at me then, no smile on her lovely face. She was completely calm, emotionless even when Shizune beside her looked horrified.

I managed to compose myself, control my insanity, or rather, cage it. I could feel it though, the thirst to kill. Almost like a drug-addict I was drawn to the violence.

I had a feeling she could feel it too; the byakugan was a gift of insight after all.

"I won't apologize but I will ask you to let me be your escort," She spoke diplomatically, but I could hear the order behind her words. This was no friendly escort, it was surveillance, and she was a jailor.

"Hn," I found myself using that tone. I guess what it really meant was 'I know what you are really saying' and I was certain she knew it too.

She sighed and I began walking again, leaving Shizune to go report to Tsunade. I kept my eyes open for a teahouse, abruptly turning when I found one.

I installed fear in the server's eyes but Hinata smiled reassuringly and they went to fill my order.

If she wasn't there I probably would have just threatened them… Maybe not though, that wouldn't encourage them to do a good job. I've noticed people respond better to kindness than torture, I had experienced it. I seemed to forget often enough.

Hinata turned to me as we waited and I knew she was going to speak. "Naruto still has hope, even though what you're part of is trying to kill him, he still has hope."

Her eyes relayed her worry and admiration for him, even though I didn't know if they were even more than friends. "Naruto will never lose hope."

She challenged me, "But for you, should he?"

I gazed at her, our eyes were locked and unbreakable, both full of a fierce non-emotion. A fire behind the calm, "No," I finally spoke. "He should have hope; I may be able to save him yet."

Hintat looked hopeful herself, and pained. The server brought out the food I had ordered and I tossed him the payment, taking the package into my left arm, my right free. Just another habit I had picked up on in my life.

We began walking through Konoha again, "Who's going to save you?"

I smiled menacingly and she paused. "Shikamaru says I'm 'to far gone'" I laughed haughtily, aggressively telling her his message.

"But in the end, I'm going to save, or rather salvage, myself. My current partner might help; he's really not so bad." I shrugged.

I was standing in front of the Uchiha compound, at the gates where I knew Itachi considered a monument to another life.

Hinata paused too, thinking, most likely that I was thinking about Sasuke. "Who's your current partner?"

I shrugged, staring out into the compound, mentally counting how many buildings there were till the one I was staying in, and how long it would take me to get there.

"Go report to Tsunade, say I threatened you, and you escaped unharmed. Then say I disappeared." I stated, wondering if it would come to a fight, I needed a good fight. Itachi might have to be the one I took that urge out on.

She stared at me, my sudden change in tone alerting her battle instincts. "Why?"

I glared, "Because if you follow me any longer I will kill you, Hinata."

She shrugged, "I think Naruto's right to have hope."

I glared at her, my mood already declining to kill instinct, she ran as fast as she could, she was gone by the time I swung to face the gates and this time I entered them.

I walked slowly to the building I knew was where I had been before. There was no need to knock, I just slid the door open and walked in. Itachi chose that moment to throw twelve kunai at my head. I already had a kunai in hand and reflected them, fluidly moving to send all of them away.

I couldn't see him from where I was so I wondered if it might have been a trap. My mental note of it was made and I walked carefully to put the food on the table. I really wanted a fight now. My instincts were reeling from the kunai and when I heard a footfall on the floor about three feet behind me I wasn't hesitant.

I rushed, charging through the air to kick Itachi, he blocked with his hands and I spun in the air to aim for his side. My hit was minimal, but it landed. I listened very carefully, trying to keep my eyes closed for most of the time but he was silently deadly and more often than not I had to watch for him.

I growled as he kicked my side and I hit the floor crouched to spring. I aimed for his chest and spun at the last possible moment to strike his shoulders with my palms, he was pushed back through the wall. My mind demanded he weep blood for making me feel so much pain, I shrugged it off and waited as he got up.

He just glared at me. I shrugged as turned to walk back to the table. I could feel him moving behind me, I detached a kunai from my belt. He hit my back with his foot and I gripped the Kunai in my teeth, turning my head to the left while blocking his hit.

Itachi had enough speed to rush in front of me and immobilize me against the floor. His hands pinned mine above my head and his calves crisscrossed over my thighs.

My kunai was still at his neck and I let it make a scratch before I spit it out. "I'm not sure who won." I admitted.

A few drops of blood rolled down his throat and I watched them with fascination, resisting the urge to taste it.

I wondered if it would be any different than anybody else's. I wondered if Itachi had a black heart and if it would affect the taste. I wondered how I had become this blood thirsty monster so recently when it used to just me a thirst to the fight, I was becoming more and more savage.

Somebody had better save me soon. "Control yourself," Itachi whispered.

I pushed him off me with the last bit of my strength and stood up roughly. "It's accelerating; I think it's my proximity to you."

He looked at me with an eerie consideration. "What is?" He demanded.

I laughed out a choked howl, "Rate of madness."

"I know how to stop it," He whispered. I was confused. "How?" I almost pleaded.

"Let go of whatever's haunting you." He advised. I smiled warmly, my mood changing abruptly like it seemed to these days.

"Don't forget it, don't try. Accept it, and move on." He glared, as if I was holding him back, but that wasn't right. I was holding myself back, not him. I wanted to strike out, lash out at him again, but it wasn't the same as before.

And I realized what the bloodlust was, it was a thirst for Sasuke, it was the anger and grudge I held against him and a substance the exact shade as his eyes. I would have to let go of Sasuke, my own personal ghost. And this time I couldn't attach myself to anyone. Not if I wanted to survive. Part of my mind welcomed that idea but I fought it down with my only weapon. And that's what I would have to attach myself to, hope.

I would have to have hope.

"Come here and eat Little Red Op," I heard a voice command, but the order sounded gentle and I found myself wanting to know what Itachi clung to so stubbornly. The nickname didn't pass by me but I was unfazed. His tone though; I couldn't help but notice it couldn't be madness or revenge.

I couldn't help but notice, in his own way; he had hope.

"What made you kill your family?" I questioned. I didn't sneer, I just stated it, I had done far worse to my family than just kill them mercifully, I had made them live with a ghost for a daughter.

Itachi glared, I just shrugged. "I'm not forcing you to answer."

"That's the worst part, I try to understand you but I can't" He sounded angry and at the same time, puzzled.

I smiled reassuringly. "Whatever, fine," I grumbled. "Can I see your eyes?"

He nodded, reclining on the bed we were sitting on. There really was only the bed or the floor. It was the only bed in this house. I leaned over and closed my own eyes letting my chakra reach out to examine his Sharingan. Behind the pinwheels there were three tunnels for the chakra to leak into, one was fine, the second had never been used and the third was shredded. It was affecting his vision.

"You're missing an evolution," I stated. "Before the Mangekyou, your off balance, I can repair it partially, but not permanently till you have it."

He sighed, "I assumed,"

"Huh?" I asked quietly.

He handed me the scroll he had come here for, I pressed my lips together, glancing at him before opening it.

The title was too long faded to read properly. But the washed out illustrations held up. They showed the three tunnels of the Sharingan and which ones needed to be unlocked to form the last one, a fourth one.

"I think you halted the development of the second when you went after the third," I whispered.

He shrugged. "We all make mistakes." I wanted to say not like yours, but my mistakes were just as rotten, just as bad; they had damaged me physically and mentally. Joining the Akatsuki was not a mistake, and even though I had made mistakes, I hadn't formed any regrets.

"I have an idea, it will be painful, but your chakra control is better than most, and you are a medic."

That startled me a little, but I calmly looked over to him. "It will probably be imposable for me to find anything about those last two Sharingan, and you're more useful than Kisame," He continued.

"Of course, if you like headaches…" I slyly interjected; he glared and continued. "And your eyesight is perfect; I'll be in the dark in two months." I nodded, the last part was true.

"We exchange eyes." He stated.

I was reeling. We would trade our eyes? That was something I never would have thought of, but I wanted to consider it.

"So I would be able to use the Sharingan, and you would be able to see?" I asked, we both got something out of this.

He nodded. "When?" I asked; I had enough chakra to do it.

He checked my chakra too it seemed, "Now."

Itachi was eager, eager to see the world in more than just shapes and colors, I wouldn't argue, I was eager to be able to use what he always used as an advantage against me. And I knew somebody who had unlocked the second stage of the Sharingan, he might still be able to help me. Itachi would see again though, he would become a dangerous killer, more dangerous than he was. At the same time, I might be able to hold a weapon to him if he turned on me. I'd be his equal in some ways.

And my chakra control was perfect; I'd be able to leave it uncovered if I wanted. I nodded.

I lay over him, my entire length pressed against his, purely professional. He told me to take whichever was easier, I chose the right, and it was more damaged and would be less painful. I cut the blood vessels and sealed them with chakra before sliding back his eyelid and removing his eye. He grunted with pain though I ignored it or fear of messing up my work.

I used my own chakra to channel it up to my eyes and seal my blood vessels, I found the three chakra tunnels behind my own eyes, I noticed how it could easily fit to mine. The Uchiha's had not adapted their chakra tunnels to form their eyes, but rather their eyes were adapted to their chakra tunnels.

When I was ready; I drew up my left hand to slide it under the lids and remove my own eye. It hurt like anything else but I couldn't mess up my concentration, and I couldn't close my hands tight like I wanted too. I pressed my legs, which I had unconsciously moved to straddle Itachi, into the bed with pain.

I carefully positioned my right eye to fit into his right socket, pinning up his eyelids with my thumb and little finger. My index and middle finger fit the eye in, matching it first up to the blood vessels, then to the chakra tunnels. I unsealed all the vessels; something started to happen but I turned my attention to my own eye replacement.

I repeated the action with extra care of my chakra tunnels, making sure all three matched up. I pulled my eyelid over to completely contain it as I shifted higher on the bed to do the same for Itachi.

I slipped over his lids and then paused; my jade eye was twisting with his chakra, he blinked and the regular three-pinwheels of the Sharingan stared back at me before I saw the conection. His chakra had adapted my eye to his natural Sharingan, if he ever got the other two naturally, it would adapt to. I was too tired to be in shock.

I unsealed the chakra tunnels in my own eyes, but I had made a miscalculation; there was still some of Itachi's chakra in the eye when I transplanted it.

My eyes closed and I fell straight onto Itachi's chest, limp as the burning set in. I couldn't help it this time.

I screamed.