Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews!

It means so much to me that you're enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

I'm sorry for the wait on this chapter, I was busy with work and then I was in Las Vegas over the weekend for a wedding...

But I managed to finish it, and now I present it to you my dear readers.

I still unfortunately do not own Naruto.

Help, I have done it again

I have been here many times before

Hurt myself again today

And the worst part is there's no one else to blame

Naruto was pacing the Hokage's office in frustration. He was desperately trying to keep calm but was finding it difficult.

"Why haven't you found her yet?" He demanded, glaring accusingly at Tsunade.

The Hokage returned his glare.

"I've told you several times Naruto, we are doing all we can."

"Bullshit!" Naruto yelled. "She's been missing for two months; you should have found her by now!"

"Mind your tone with me Naruto!" Tsunade hissed. She too was at the end of her patience. "There's only so much I can do. We have no clue where she went. Akamaru lost her scent; she obviously doesn't want to be found."

Naruto glared at her, not hiding the anguish and desperation is his eyes.

"This is your fault! If you had just let her go on the damn mission with us this wouldn't have happened! Now she's gone. Just like Sasuke..." He lowered his head in sadness and Tsunade felt a rush of sympathy for him.

He had now lost both of his teammates. The truth was, Tsunade did agree with him. She felt responsible for Sakura leaving the village. She knew that if she had just listened to Sakura and trusted her, this wouldn't have happened. She knew very well that Sakura must have gone off to find Itachi Uchiha herself, after being banned from the mission. She had suspected it the moment Shizune had told her Sakura had gone missing. She had brushed the thought off, hoping that the kunoichi had simply wanted some time to herself. She had told Shizune to wait a couple more days before looking for her.

But a couple more days had turned into a week with still no sign of Sakura.

After Ino Yamanaka insisted on going out to look for her friend Tsunade deployed Team Asuma, along with Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru, to track down the missing kunoichi.

Their search was fruitless however, when it became apparent that Sakura had covered her tracks. Eventually even Akamaru could no longer find her scent.

Two weeks after that, Team Kakashi returned to the village.

Tsunade had not sent word to them about their missing teammate, and she was not looking forward to filling them in. She had summoned Kakashi to her office immediately, and told him what had happened. He had masked his distress well, but the Hokage could see it in his posture. The two of them agreed that it would be unwise to keep it from Naruto, as he was bound to find out from someone else.

As expected, he had not taken it well.

He insisted on going out and looking for her himself and in order to calm him, Tsunade allowed it.

In the end, he and the rest of Team Kakashi were also unsuccessful in locating Sakura; Kakashi and Yamato had to practically drag Naruto kicking and screaming back to the village. Every chance he got, he would sneak out of the village to try to find anything that might lead him to Sakura. Tsunade knew, but she said nothing.

And every day he would be back in her office demanding why she wasn't doing more to find his friend.

As Tsunade looked at him now, he seemed so defeated. Her heart ached for the boy and she suppressed the desire to comfort him.

She had to play the part of the strong Hokage, no matter how broken and desperate she also felt.

"Sorry for yelling at you, Granny." Naruto said, looking up at her. "I'm just scared."

Tsunade stood and walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know Naruto." She said gently, as she hugged him. "I'm scared too." She admited.

No matter what, she vowed she would get her apprentice home safe.

Sakura's head was pounding.

She felt like someone had hit her. She groaned as she opened her eyes. Suddenly her memory caught up with her and she wanted to vomit.

She had been taken captive by the Akatsuki. She cursed herself and her stupidity. She should have been more careful; she shouldn't have been so open in her hunt for the organization.

She felt something cold on her wrist and looked down to see that she was wearing some sort of cuff. She tried drawing chakra and failed, confirming her suspicion.

'So they're not letting me have any chakra. I guess they aren't taking any chances.'

Looking around she noted that she was in some sort of dungeon. There was no bed or anything; it was completely empty.

Well, almost completely empty.

She was frustrated that she hadn't noticed him standing there, leaning against the wall watching her.

"I see you're awake." He remarked. "Good. I was beginning to think Kisame may have done permanent damage."

"What do you want?" She spat, not looking at him.

"I should ask you the same thing. It seems you were quite determined to find the Akatsuki."

She glanced at him, but avoided his face.

"Not the Akatsuki." She said. "You."

"Oh?" He took a step forward. "And what would a Kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf want with me?"

Sakura quickly looked away as he drew closer.

"Well what do you want with me?" She challenged. Although, given what she had heard Kisame say before she passed out, she had a sick feeling that she already knew.

"Simple." Itachi said, crouching down in front of her. "You're fox bait."

She glared at the floor since she couldn't glare at him.

"I'll never help you capture Naruto." She spat.

"You don't have a choice; you're not going anywhere."

"If you think I'm just going to cooperate with you, you've got another thing coming, asshole."

"Mind your manners, Kunoichi." He stood and walked towards the door, before looking back over his shoulder at her. "Kisame will be back later to check on you."

Sakura wasn't sure if he was just telling her that, or if it was meant to be a warning. But before she could ask, he was gone. She stared at the door for a minute before standing on shaky legs and examined the room more closely.

The door was locked from the outside. She could easily break it down if her chakra wasn't being suppressed. She supposed they knew that too.

There was no window to escape from either. The walls were thick and made of stone. Like the door, it was possible she could bust through with the help of her chakra enhanced strength.

As the situation stood, she had no hope of escaping from this cell. Resigning herself to waiting for Kisame to come as promised, she slumped down and leaned against the wall, staring at the door. She wasn't about to let the shark nin sneak up on her.

She didn't know how long she waited in that dungeon. She had begun counting the stones in the wall and had gotten to almost six hundred when the door opened and she was once again confronted by Kisame. She regarded him coldly while he smirked at her.

"Come on Pinky, time to go." He said.

She looked at him suspiciously.

"Go where, exactly?"

"You want to stay in this dungeon all night?"

She figured she didn't really have a choice so she grudgingly followed him out of her prison.

Kisame led her up a flight of stairs and into a hallway. Looking around it became apparent that they were in some sort of feudal era manor. Kisame led her up another flight of stairs and into another hallway. He stopped at the third door and looked at her.

"This one's yours."

She looked up at him, surprised.

"I get a room?" She had assumed he was taking her to a torture chamber or something.

He smirked at her.

"It was Itachi who ordered it. It seems he's nice enough to let you have a real bed."

Now she was really confused.

"But… why would he let me have a room?" She asked. 'Aren't I just fox bait?'

Kisame shrugged and looked uninterested.

"Why does Itachi do anything?" He replied, as if that were an acceptable answer. "Anyway, there's a bathroom down the hall that you can use. If you're going to be here for a while I don't want to have to smell you." He turned and walked back in the direction they came.

Pausing, he called back over his shoulder "Dinner is at seven. If you're late, you don't eat."

Sakura was left standing in the hallway by herself, completely unsure of what to do. Should she make a break for it and try to find an exit? It was likely that the chakra suppressing cuff they had put on her had some sort of tracking ability. Not to mention she was still feeling weak and didn't think she would be able to run very far even if she did make it out of the manor without them noticing.

She didn't even know how many Akatsuki members were in the manor. She knew the organization operated in two man teams, but she wasn't sure exactly how many members there were total. She wasn't sure if anyone did.

Well, standing in the hallway wasn't going to help her figure it out.

She opened the door to her room and stepped inside.

To her surprise it was a nice room. There was a large comfortable-looking bed, a dresser, and a desk. There was even a window.

She guessed since they allowed her to have a window that they didn't expect her to escape. Which meant that they would probably be alerted if she attempted to. She sat down on the bed and considered her situation.

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. She had expected torture and pain and maybe even death. But so far she all she had really been given was a bedroom. And having her chakra suppressed.

But just because they hadn't been completely cruel to her didn't mean she trusted them. Far from it. One wrong move and they would kill her without even blinking. But what could she do? She wasn't going to just let them use her to get to Naruto. If that meant death, then so be it. Naruto was her friend and she would rather die protecting him than let the Akatsuki get a hold of him.

But on the off chance she did manage to escape and get back to the village she was going to make damn sure she had plenty of information to bring back with her. She may fail at apprehending Itachi, but she wasn't going to go back completely empty handed.

She would watch them, study their skills and their patterns. She would learn everything there was to know about the Akatsuki.

Laying down and closing her eyes, she told herself that things would be okay.

Sakura was awoken by the rumbling of her stomach. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but judging by her still-present exhaustion she figured she hadn't gotten very much rest.

Her stomach rumbled again and she slowly crawled out of the bed and made her way to the door. Peering out into the hall and not seeing anyone, she left her room. She felt the cuff on her arm throb and she knew that Itachi and Kisame must have been alerted that she was moving around the manor. Not that she cared; Kisame had told her to come to dinner. Although, he had told her to come to come to dinner at seven and she had no clue what time it was. She suspected it was after seven.

Not knowing where the kitchen was she took the flight of stairs down to what she presumed was the ground floor. The staircase led down to a large entryway with large doors on both the far right and far left sides. Not knowing which way to go she went right.

Opening the large doors, she found herself in a large study. There were rows upon rows of old books and scrolls lining the walls, a large couch in the middle of the room as well as two armchairs facing an ornate fireplace.

Making a mental note to come back to this room at a later time, Sakura went back to the entryway and tried the other doors. This time they opened to where she wanted to go. There was a large table big enough to seat a good number of people. Sakura wondered if this was where the Akatsuki held their meetings.

The thought made her hurry past the table to the adjoining room; the kitchen. The lingering smell of food was still present but there was no food in sight.

'So they did already eat.' She thought glumly. Not that she was upset about missing out on sharing meal with Itachi and Kisame, but she was hungry. Scouring the cabinets, she looked for anything that she could eat.

There was nothing. The kitchen was completely devoid of food.

"Dinner was at seven."

Sakura spun around to find Itachi standing in the doorway watching her. She narrowed her eyes, not even bothering to look away. Her lack of sleep must have been making her bold.

"I was asleep." She stated. "Is there any food left?"

"No. Dinner was at seven." Itachi repeated.

Sakura scowled at him. "I told you, I was asleep. I missed dinner."

"That's your problem. Kisame told you when dinner was and that if you were late you wouldn't eat." Itachi replied in a bored tone.

"So you're just going to make me starve?" She hissed back at him. His tone was really pissing her off.

"I'm not 'making' you do anything. I didn't make you sleep through dinner, that was your own fault. If you don't want to starve, don't miss meals."

If it weren't for the fact that she didn't have a death wish, Sakura would have punched him in his stupid face. Who did he think he was? King of the universe?

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "Fine. I won't miss anymore meals. But is there any food that I can eat?"

"No."

"'No'?" She asked, raising her eyebrow. "You're telling me that there is absolutely no food in this whole place?"

"Not for you."

She looked at him in shock. "Are you hiding food from me?!" She asked accusingly. Instead of answering Itachi simply turned and started walking away. He glanced back at her.

"Don't miss breakfast."

And then he was gone.

Sakura was furious. And hungry. The only thing stopping her from tearing down the whole manor to find any food was the fact that she was still completely exhausted. She trudged back up the stairs to her room and sank into the bed.

Maybe tomorrow would be a better day. But as she drifted off to sleep, she seriously doubted it.

The sun rising over the horizon and glaring into her window was what woke Sakura the following morning. She estimated it was around five thirty or so. She groaned as her stomach grumbled painfully. She needed to eat soon or she was going to be seriously sick. At least now she felt rested, her strength had returned and she didn't feel dizzy. Her immediate goal was to eat.

Itachi had told her not to miss breakfast but he the damn Uchiha hadn't told her when breakfast was…

What was she supposed to do? Stand around the kitchen for who-knows-how-long to make sure she didn't miss out?

Sakura dragged herself out of bed and stretched. She certainly felt much better after getting proper sleep; however, she grimaced when she caught a whiff of herself. She figured it was time to take a bath. She left her room and walked down the hall to the bathroom that Kisame had pointed out to her the previous evening. It was a nice bathroom with an even nicer bath tub, and Sakura looked forward to using it to its full capabilities. She found a towel along with shampoo and soap, but frowned when she realized that she didn't have her bag. Which meant she didn't have a change of clothes.

Itachi and Kisame must have taken her bag from her when she was captured and didn't deem it safe to give it back to her.

'Guess I'll just have to keep wearing the clothes I have.' She thought glumly, as she turned on the water and sank into the tub.

The warm water felt amazing and she wanted nothing more than to just lay in that bath forever. Her stomach rumbled again and she was reminded that she needed to be at there when Itachi and Kisame ate or she would continue to be hungry. She quickly got clean and got out of the tub. After dressing into her clothes again she hurried out of the bathroom and downstairs to the dining room.

Itachi and Kisame were already there, sitting at the table.

Itachi ignored her presence while Kisame shot her a grin.

"So you decided to join us, huh?"

She glared at him coldly.

"I'm hungry." She stated simply. It's not like she was happy about having to share a meal with notorious criminals.

Someone had placed a bowl of food for her at the opposite end of the table, away from Itachi and Kisame. She didn't know if it was because they knew she wouldn't want to sit close to them, or because they didn't want to sit close her; and she really didn't care. She was surprised that they had actually went to the trouble of setting a place for her at the table in the first place.

She sat down and sniffed at the food suspiciously. She wouldn't put it past them to poison her.

Kisame was openly smirking at her, clearly entertained by her uneasiness. Itachi continued to ignore her.

"Don't worry Pinky, it's not poisoned. If we wanted to kill you there are plenty other, more fun, ways to do it." The shark nin assured her, still smirking.

Sakura wasn't sure if she believed him or not, but her stomach clearly didn't want to care about the possible danger as it rumbled loudly.

She tentatively picked up her chopsticks and took a small bite of rice.

It tasted normal and she wasn't dead, so she quickly shoveled more down and started on the fish and eggs also present. She ate quickly and ravenously, not caring about proper eating etiquette.

"Not very proper are you Pinky?" Kisame was clearly enjoying watching her eat like a starved animal.

Sakura decided to ignore him. Or at least try to ignore him.

He didn't seem to like being ignored as he continued, "Is there anything ladylike about you? Clearly not your body, considering you're as flat as a board."

Sakura choked on the food she had just tried to swallow. She stared at him furiously.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" She asked.

"Which is too bad really," He continued, ignoring her anger. "I prefer my women to have more feminine assets."

She jerked up from the table, placing herself in a fighting stance.

"I don't give a shit what kind of women you prefer, Sharky; but don't you dare insult me like that!" She yelled.

Kisame's grin widened as he too stood up.

"Clearly you still haven't learned your manners Pinky, so maybe I should remind you how to behave."

Sakura tensed, readying herself for his attack.

"Enough."

Itachi, who had previously been ignoring their exchange, looked at them both firmly. His eyes settled on Sakura and she boldly glared at him.

"Sit down Kunoichi."

"He started it." She hissed, with a glare towards Kisame.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you a child?" He asked.

Sakura stared at him and narrowed her eyes.

"You know, you've got a lot of nerve Uchiha."

"Why is that?" Itachi asked, though his bored tone indicated he clearly didn't care.

"You act like you're so far above everyone else; like you're some sort of god. But really you're the worst kind of person." She clenched her fists. "Do you even care? Are even sorry?"

Itachi simply looked at her with his bored expression.

"Am I sorry for taking you captive?" He asked.

Sakura stood as tall as she could and glared at the Uchiha.

"Are you sorry for slaughtering your family and destroying Sasuke's life, you bastard?!" She shouted.

Sakura didn't even register that Itachi had moved. One second he was still sitting at the table, the next he was standing directly in front of her. She hadn't noticed how tall he actually was; he always seemed short when standing next to Kisame. But now he was towering over her, his Sharingan eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No." He said simply.

Sakura took a step back, and bolted from the dining room, not stopping until she had slammed her bedroom door.

She hated him. It was because of him that she was in this mess in the first place. Everything wrong that had happened to her in her life was all that damned Uchiha's fault.

His fault that Sasuke had left her; his fault that Naruto was always in danger of being captured; his fault that she was now stuck here, held hostage by the Akatsuki.

She felt her anger growing, bubbling to the surface. Her fist flew into the wall beside her, leaving a large dent even without her chakra enhanced strength.

"I'll kill him." She hissed to herself, ignoring the pain in her hand. "I swear, I'll kill him."

Well it certainly doesn't look like our pink haired Kunoichi is going to be falling for Itachi any time soon.

I'm sorry if you guys are impatient but I want my story to be at least a little realistic. Right now, Sakura is still in love with Sasuke so I really don't see her falling for his brother immediately after meeting him. Especially given the circumstances. I want their relationship to actually develop, and not feel rushed or forced.

Please review this chapter and let me know what you guys think! I love getting your feedback and it motivates me to pump out more chapters!