Itachi hadn't been expecting to find her so soon, or that he would run into her before he had had time to search the rest of the place. But then again, Sakura hadn't been the 'damsel in distress' type for quite some time now.

After jumping into the courtyard and finding himself in the middle of an undead shinobi army, Itachi had been ready to fight for his life. But the attack never came. Sasuke had been right about their attackers; those lifeless puppets had been simply standing there, devoid of pulse or chakra, waiting for orders and taking no initiatives, much to Itachi's relief. After that, he had sneaked into the cave like entrance of the rundown fortress, keeping clear of the corpses' sight, in case they were somehow linked to the mastermind that had planned it all.

After an hour of hiding in the shadows while scouting the empty place, Itachi had mapped out enough of the lair to know that Sakura was probably detained in the East corridors he still hadn't explored. Moreover, the twisted soul who was responsible for the zombie army standing outside was most likely also located in the East wing.

As he made his way through the hideout, Itachi noticed the lack of traps and guarding jutsus; proving that this was a trap just waiting to snap shut once its prey had entered.

Shaking those troublesome thoughts from his mind, Itachi concentrated on the task at hand; namely, finding Sakura Haruno. But before freeing the pink haired medic and leaving the dark and damp lair, the ANBU Captain had entered a room covered in seals from floor to ceiling. The Hokage had been right when she had speculated that someone had wanted to catch the Kyuubi vessel alive. The iron cage in the center was encircled by intricate sealing patterns that just needed a few drops of blood and the right hand seals to be completed.

While he had been absorbed with putting a plan into motion and deciphering the multiple layers of the massive ink trap, he had almost missed the presence sneaking around the corner. Slipping into a wide crack that snaked down the wall near the room's entrance, Itachi had seen the little Kunoichi waltz right by him. She had a very determined look on her face as she made her way towards the cursed contraption, chakra already focused into her fists in order to tear down the place with her bare hands. His body had reacted before his mind could, and Itachi had pulled her into his already constricted hiding place, with him.

The second he had felt her body tense in his arms, he knew she would crush him then and there if he didn't raise the white flag. He had thought that calling out her name had been a good call, until she had turned around to face him with an emotionless mask. That had just annoyed him the slightest bit. Not that he would ever admit it, but couldn't she have just stayed put while he came to her rescue? For a medic, she could be really reckless… And was that blood covering her?

His brain barely registered that she had asked him a question, and maybe made a snide remark at his own question, but pushed it all aside as his eyes inspected her. She had apparently released her Yin Seal as deep purple markings went from the diamond on her forehead, spreading across her face and down her neck to snake around her arms, torso and legs. Sakura must have been mortally wounded to have activated the Godaime Hokage's prized jutsu, which seemed to annoy him for some reason. When she had stepped away from him, Itachi had been able to see a darker smear that covered her back, but now that she was facing him, he could easily see the streak of blood that had crusted from the corner of her lips, down her neck, and over her shoulder. She was covered with the crimson substance, and seeing how a good portion of her normally pink tresses was caked with blood, she had probably been lying in the iron scented liquid for a while before getting up. But other than her ghoulish appearance, she seemed to be physically fine.

"Listen, Uchiha, I have everything under control right now so if you could…"

When he saw her face pale as her words drifted off, Itachi followed her gaze to the blond shouting near the cage. He did not roll his eyes, as the heir of the Uchiha clan it wouldn't have been proper of him, but he really wanted to. This plan was going to backfire on him if Sakura decided to interfere, so before she could take a step out of their hiding spot, he reached out for her.

Holding onto her wrist to keep her in place, he leaned down a bit before whispering into her ear:

"It's fine."

She turned her attention back to him, her green eyes squinting suspiciously at him. He could almost see the wheels spinning behind those gorgeous emerald eyes of hers. She eyed him from head to toe, then glanced back at the ever-ranting Naruto before her eyes settled on him again.

"That Naruto is a clone of yours, isn't it?"

He couldn't help the small smirk that took over his lips at hearing her hushed words. She was smart, which always made him want to play mind games with her, she was a fascinating puzzle, but his favorite game was still figuring out what made that terrible temper of hers go off.

"What are you up to this time?", she asked in hushed tones while her tense posture showed that she didn't trust him one bit, much to his distaste.

"Just trust me and stay put." Itachi hadn't meant for his words to come out with so much indifference, but seeing how anger was starting to slip into her whispered intonations, he flinched inwardly at his poor choice of words.

"Trust you? How the hell am I supposed to trust a guy that abducted my teammates, which includes his own little brother by-the-way, just to ask me out on a date? Or when you locked me up in that complex Genjutsu for 10 minutes just so that you could eat the last dango before I did? And then there's all those times when you got Shishou to send us on impossibly long missions so that we missed the yearly ANBU exams Naruto wanted us to partake in."

*Hn, so they had known*, he thought offhandedly while she finished her ranting.

"So excuse me if I have a hard time trusting you. I ditched my own teammates to get them to safety, I knew that I was getting myself into a messy situation when I set myself up as bait, I never asked for help, I was escaping just fine, thank you."

Now that she was just glaring daggers at him while catching her breath, Itachi took his chance to reply: "Technically, our Hokage sent me. Naruto arrived in Konoha with a wounded Sasuke, both boys begging to dispatch a team to go and find you. Tsunade-sama couldn't afford to send an official ANBU team into neutral and enemy territories, so I became your only imposed rescue team."

Hearing that her teammates had made it back to the hidden village safely seemed to calm her anger, making her words lighter: "Don't turn my words against me Uchiha-san. I didn't want anyone to come and get caught in this already messed up situation, that's why I didn't leave a trail for Naruto and Sasuke to follow."

As she finished her sentence, she couldn't help tugging her wrist out of his hold as she looked at the still fuming fake-Naruto, a sigh escaping her lips as if she suddenly felt very tired: "Why do you always make everything so damn complicated?"

Her words were bone weary, but Itachi needed her riled up and ready to fight: "You are the one complicating things for me right now. I want to draw out the enemy without him summoning his undead army that's waiting outside."

His voice had been as calm as always, like he had informed her of the weather or stated the time of day. Of course, that had only served to poke at her pride.

"Right, and sending a fake Naruto into his trap definitely won't compel him to bring out his little soldiers." Itachi didn't react to her angry and sarcastic words, and made sure that his face stayed as bored and stoic as he could, making it seem as if nothing ever bothered him. After all, his favorite game was riling her up, and he knew his current lack of emotion, as well as ignoring her snide remarks, was driving her crazy.

"Actually, it's very simple. Fake Naruto surrenders, enemy comes out unguarded, I take him down, end of story." Now she was fuming, much to his delight. It was interesting how a few mocking words could get her to be very emotional and easily manipulated one moment, before she ended up surprising him with a totally uncalled for action the next. But that only made teasing her that much more exciting.