Chapter 5: His Heart in Her Hand
11 Years Ago
Konoha Training Grounds
Hana studied her new teammates and tried to figure out if she had gotten gypped. Aburame Itsuki wasn't exactly the weirdest person she knew, but he ranked pretty high up there. And he was boring. She didn't care if he had bugs living under his skin. There was still something pretty strange about someone who wore sunglasses and a big jacket even in this heat.
Then there was Uchiha Itachi. She scowled at him. He was ignoring her. Wrinkling her nose, she buried her fingers into the fur of her favorite puppy and tried to decide if she could get away with throwing a kunai at him. She didn't like to be ignored. It didn't matter that he was ignoring everyone, even bug-boy - who he seemed to watch whenever he could - with an expression that was carefully blank. It made her want to throw a kunai at him.
It was really unfair that she got him out of everyone else.
What was so interesting about bugs, anyway? She had Onshi, which was cooler than anything Itsuki could do. He had bugs. She had a dog. She didn't care if Itachi was a genius; he missed some rather obvious things. Narrowing her eyes, she turned her attention back to their teacher. There was a faint twitch under the Jounin's eye. Her uncle had one of those.
"So," their new sensei said mildly. "Perhaps we can begin by talking about what we like and what we plan on doing as shinobi. Hana, why don't you go first?"
Hana stared at him. What? He wanted her to go first? Crossing her arms, she continued to stare at him, and when he didn't even blink, sighed.
"Dogs."
There! Let him make of that what he wished. Hana tilted her head and wondered how long it would take before the Jounin started rubbing his nose. She had seen Uchiha-sama make the motion once or twice... actually; any adult around Itachi seemed to develop that particular habit, but most especially his oto-san.
"And what do want to do as a shinobi?"
Hana huffed. "What all shinobi want to do, sensei."
The jounin sighed.
"Itachi?"
Itachi tilted his head and was silent for a long time. Hana didn't particularly like those silences. They usually meant Itachi was planning something and she hated it when he made her look like an idiot. So, she poked him in the arm. He cut his eyes to her, clearly unappreciative of the gesture.
"I like rice balls," he said. "I'm going to kill Orochimaru."
The jounin blinked. "Okay... That's a very... interesting... goal."
Itachi just shrugged, dark eyes unblinking.
"I like flowers." Itsuki said softly from where he was sitting. "Especially poisonous ones. I plan on becoming at least a jounin, perhaps ANBU."
The jounin nodded looking slightly relieved. "Excellent."
She sensed weakness. Hana jabbed Itachi with her elbow as the Jounin stood and directed them to the woods to start testing their abilities.
"Bet I can make him crack before you."
Itachi snorted. "You shouldn't make bets you can't win, Inuzuka."
She glared at him. "Bet you three dango sticks I can do it."
Itachi tilted head and for a moment and his eyes gleamed red. "I like goma."
Hana rolled her eyes. "You're going to lose."
He smirked. "I don't lose, Hana. You'll learn."
X
Present Day
Fire Country
"Um, Sakura-chan? We sort of need him alive to help deliver our message to Gaara."
Sakura shifted her eyes away from Sasuke's back and gave Naruto a fierce glare. "I know that. Why do you think he is still breathing?"
Sasuke didn't both to look back as they vaulted through the trees but Sakura knew he could hear them. She also knew that Sasuke was quite aware that she was considering all the ways to ship his neatly preserved internal organs back to his clan. Preferably to his brother. His crazy brother who spoke nonsense and kissed unsuspecting girls who had been drinking.
"Right. Well, okay. Just thought I would mention it, since you keep reaching for you kunai. And you should probably not skin Sasuke alive." Naruto smile faltered at her look. "Um, yes! We get to see Gaara!"
Yes. Wonderful. Swearing through clenched teeth, Sakura forced herself to forget and ignore what had happened in Konoha and concentrate on what was going on in the mission.
Kakashi had finally checked in. His news hadn't been good. There had been definitely more than rumors going on in Mist about possible Cloud and Sound alliances. This meant now it was urgent that they go and warn Sand. If a war started, they would need their allies ready and willing to step in.
Sasuke stopped suddenly, his eyes narrowing. "We have company coming."
Sakura moved to his side. "How many?"
"One."
Sakura slide her fingers into her gloves and took her place at Sasuke's left and Naruto slide next to her open side. All three of them were tense until a Sand-nin burst through the cover of the leaves. He skidded to a stop when he saw them and the relief on his face would have been comical at any other time.
His news wasn't good. Sakura bit her lip as she watched him take careful sips of out of Naruto's canteen, his expression weary. Gaara had been kidnapped by Akatsuki. Kankuro had been poisoned by some unknown poison and the only clues Sand had was the descriptions of the member and whatever information Kankuro could tell them when he woke up. She shot a worried look at Naruto, whose face was hard. Quickly assimilating the facts she turned to Sasuke.
"We're going to need back up." There team was equipped to handle a great deal but Akatsuki was an organization they didn't have any concrete information on. Just rumors and insubstantial facts.
Sasuke nodded. "Yes."
"Do you know where the Akatsuki took Gaara?" Sakura questioned the Sand-nin.
"No." He shook his head. "I was sent to relay the message. We had hoped to get help in time to save Kankuro but..."
Sakura let a heavy breath out. "We need to go to Sand, Naruto."
His fists clenched. "Gaara..."
"We can't help him if we don't know where he is." Sasuke said flatly. "And Sakura is right. We have our own mission to complete."
"Please tell Hokage-sama that we will continue to Sand and that we will require assistance in order to retrieve your Kazekage." Sakura requested softly. The Sand-nin nodded, handed back his canteen before taking off.
'At least Naruto is waiting until he leaves before exploding.' Sakura thought with a sigh.
"We have to save Gaara." Naruto said finally, his voice low.
"We will." Sakura informed him. "But we have to go to Sand first."
Naruto spun around. "Why? We can track him!"
Sasuke snorted. "Not easily, and we don't even know what direction we should be heading. We will waste a day going to Sand. We will lose two, perhaps three trying to locate a cold trail."
Naruto's jaw worked hard and Sakura laid a hand on his arm. "We can run through the night, Naruto. We have to drop off the scroll before we can start a new mission and I need to see what poison was used on Kankuro. We might have to deal with it in our battle with the Akatsuki and I want to have an antidote on hand if that is the case."
Naruto's fingers clenched.
"You want to tell Gaara we let his brother die?" Sasuke asked mildly.
Naruto finally shook his head. He took a deep breath and turned. "Alright. Let's go."
Sasuke turned to Sakura. "If you get tired, say something."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine."
"Sakura-chan..."
She stuck her hands on her hips and glared. "If I can survive Itachi's idea of a two day run, I can surely survive yours, Sasuke."
Sasuke twitched. "Right."
Naruto growled at them. "Let's go!"
Sakura waved her hand. "After you, Uchiha."
Sakura was pretty sure that if Sasuke had been capable of rolling his eyes, he would have. Instead, he jumped into the tree and she quickly followed.
They had to hurry.
X
Many shinobi found the hunt boring. Itachi was not one of them. There was something about sneaking up behind someone who was supposed to know better and was doing all that was possible to discourage pursuit which was...amusing.
The better the target was, the more Itachi enjoyed the chase. Kabuto was supposedly one of the best, but so far, Itachi had been unimpressed.
Haruno Sakura, on the other hand...
Itachi allowed himself a smug smile as he moved soundlessly through the trees. She certainly promised to be... interesting. He had been more entertained in their short confrontations than he remembered being in... years.
The way her body had unknowingly responded to his when he held her had been...not unexpected, but certainly interesting. If she hadn't been drunk...
Well, and he had indicated to Sasuke he'd back off if she told him to. While Itachi had no qualms about going around whatever he told his brother in order to achieve his goals, he had seen his mother in action when she was disappointed. Itachi liked his pertinent parts where they were. And as enjoyable as his thoughts were, he would have to satisfy this particular area of his life later. Eyes narrowing, he paused on a branch, letting his sharingan take in the scene around him.
He had been hunting Kabuto for five days now. Tracking him from Fire into Wind country had been easy enough, but the air had changed several miles back. He would need to be cautious to avoid detection now since his instincts told him he was nearing his goal.
Tsunade had requested that he discover what he could about the Akatsuki on this particular mission. From what he had learned, Kabuto had been acting as a spy for both sides for months now. He was the only direct link from Orochimaru to the Akatsuki organization, and with the rumors between Cloud and Sound, Konoha needed to know what they were dealing with from the Akatsuki as well.
Unfortunately, the information they had on the organization was greatly limited. Eyes roving around him carefully, he moved along the tree branches. The day Tsunade signed off on killing Orochimaru would be a day he would greatly enjoy. Unfortunately, he had information they needed. His eyes narrowed. However, as he had told his Hokage, if Orochimaru actually managed to lay a hand on his rather foolish brother, order or no, the threat would be dealt with.
Itachi frowned, stilling as he sensed a vibration through the tree he was standing on. Focusing his sharingan, he looked forward and a hiss escaped his teeth. Kabuto's trail was disappearing, but that was suddenly not his most important problem.
What was Sasuke doing fighting an Akatsuki?
Itachi only debated for a moment whether or not to continue on Kabuto's trail. He had heard exemplary tales about Team 7's competence, but when it came to Akatsuki...
Actually, it appeared that he would not be forced to make the decision just yet after all. The remnants of Kabuto's trial led straight towards the confrontation. If he happened to pause for a few minutes to take in the local scenery before resuming his hunt, Tsunade had been after him to rest more.
Itachi took a moment to survey the scene. His brother and his teammate were in pursuit of a shinobi on a flying bird which appeared to be made out of clay. He didn't see Sakura anywhere.
Itachi debated simply taking out the Akatsuki. It would be the most direct course of action, but not the most effective. The information that Konoha had on the organization was limited at best, and it was better to discover exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of this particular member was before forcing Akatsuki to recruit another.
He kept himself hidden as he ran, parallel to his brother and his teammate, deliberately keeping pace with them. The Akatsuki kept throwing back little pieces of animated clay, which were enhanced with chakra to explode at key moments. There was no point in getting into a ditch which only served the enemy's purpose.
Itachi was again tempted to simple jump up and take down the Akatsuki. However, now was as good a time as any to see just how well his brother was learning what he was taught and if that blond idiot was as competent as Tsunade insisted he was.
X
"Naruto."
"What?"
"Distract him."
"What do you think I am doing?"
Sasuke ignored the comment and worked a series of hand seals before activating the Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Fire shot out of his mouth and when the clay hit met his flame they hardened and hit the earth quicker than the blonde moron on the clay bird had expected and prematurely exploded. That suggested that they could get within a certain distance of Deidara without worry about getting something important blown off. Naruto didn't have the speed to make the sort of hit necessary to deal with the explosives while disabling the bird and he had no control of a fire jutsu.
This meant he was going to have to find a way to either slow the damn bird down or rip the beak off before attacking. Sasuke sighed mentally as he dodged another explosion. Naruto was getting too worked up to be of use. It was moments like these that he missed Sakura's level head.
"I've got an idea." Sasuke snapped, flinging himself to the right to dodge yet another of the fucking birds.
"I'm going to rip that guy's head off!"
"You can do that after my idea," Sasuke snarled. "Calm down Naruto, or you're going to get us both killed."
"Shut up! GAAARA!"
This meant he was going to have to do this on his own. Great.
He didn't have time to worry about Naruto. Sakura was facing the puppet master with no one but the old woman and they needed to get back to her. Making a fast series of seals, he reached for the shuriken he kept for this purpose on his belt. Flinging them forward, he snarled out the ninjutsu.
"Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi."
One of the shuriken was knocked out of the sky by one of the clay birds, but he managed to direct the other two around the beak and wing of a bird. Forming another set of seals, Sasuke formed the second jutsu as quickly as he could. The ninjutsu weren't complex enough to give the Akatsuki member trouble if he managed to get enough get another one of those exploding clay bombs into a wire to sever it.
"Ryuuka no Jutsu."
Fire raced along the guide wire and crashed into the large clay bird, stiffening a wing and charring Deidara. The beak fell off of the bird completely and Naruto howled, lunging after it. Sasuke swore himself when he realized that he hadn't gotten a clean hit on the Akatsuki and was about to chase after Naruto when a different explosion rocked the woods the blonde had fallen into.
"What..."
"Not bad, little brother."
Sasuke whirled around, disbelief pouring out of him. Itachi was standing on a log, his expression amused, the limp form of the Kazekage slung over one shoulder.
"Aniki," Sasuke hissed. Of course, Itachi would show up now. And pose on the log with the Kazekage slung over his shoulder and his hair blowing in the breeze.
There were days Sasuke hated his older brother.
"Gaara!" Naruto yelled, and was instantly at Itachi's side, and was grabbing at the limp form of the Kazekage. "Gaara. GAARA!"
Itachi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder in a moment of deliberate contact. He waited until the boy looked up at him. "The Kazekage is beyond our help."
Naruto snarled, "Shut up. Shut UP. That can't be right. It can't be. It's not fair. Why does everything bad always have to happen to him? Gaara!" Naruto shouted directly into the corpse's face. "Wake up, you idiot!"
Itachi's eyes met Sasuke's in a moment of wordless communication. Sasuke nodded, and moved to stand beside Naruto, who had lain Gaara down on the ground and was incapable of holding in his tears.
Itachi eyed Naruto's breakdown with clinical interest. He had expected more from him. Falling apart on a battlefield did no one any good. Let the dead morn the dead, there were other considerations.
"Where is Sakura?" he asked Sasuke.
"Finishing up the other Akatsuki," Sasuke said. "What happened to the one in the forest?"
Something dangerous lit in Itachi's eyes. "You let her fight the Akatsuki alone?"
"Someone had to watch this idiot," he said gesturing to Naruto who was still lost in grief. "Sakura had an elder of Sand to back her up. She'll be fine."
Itachi didn't say anything; he just turned to scan the area for Sakura's chakra.
Sasuke crouched down to meet Naruto's eyes. "Naruto. We need to go back for Sakura. Now."
"I'm not leaving him," Naruto snarled.
"Then take him with us," Sasuke said, standing. "And hurry. That Akatsuki said his master was even stronger than he was."
Itachi was already gone.
X
Sakura watched as the damn head finally stopped talking. She hurt in places she didn't want to think of, the places the chakra strings had attached to her stung, her stomach was cramping from the force of the chakra Chiyo had forced into her and she had never felt so exhilarated.
"Sakura, are you alright?"
"I feel like I have been mauled, but I'm okay." She stood slowly and tested her limbs. Once she had a chance to rest, what was left would be easy enough to heal. If Naruto or Sasuke managed to get themselves half-killed she was going to be in trouble, but for the moment she savored her victory.
She had beaten an Akatsuki. Closing her eyes, she tasted that thought before opening them again to look around the cave. Or what was left of the cave. With the roof blown off, sunlight brought a different view of what exactly they had managed to do.
Sasuke was going to have kittens.
"We'll, I'm glad I didn't have to face that alone." Sakura muttered.
"You did well. Your village is honored by your actions today." Chiyo told her, a slight smile on her wrinkled face. "It was an honor to fight by your side, Sakura."
Sakura bowed as best she could with her stomach muscles locking up on themselves before turning back to the puppet. "I hate to say this, but we better deal with what's left of him."
Chiyo was silent and Sakura turned. Her eyes softened at the abject misery on the older face. "Don't worry. I can do it."
"We need to destroy the heart."
Sakura sighed. She was out of weapons and she didn't dare touch anything on the ground. Pulling a face, she strode over to the puppet and used the tiniest amount of chakra she could to weaken the cover. Reaching inside, she made a face at the warmth of the organ in her hands.
She heard a noise, felt Chiyo gasp and pulled the heart out, squeezing with her fingers as she did so. It gave under her chakra-induced grip and oozed between her fingers.
"That is so gross." Naruto's voice was weak.
Sakura's head snapped up and she found Sasuke and Naruto starring at her with equally ill expressions, but it was the expression on Itachi's face that stole her rational thought.
There were very few moments in Itachi's life where he could remember being impressed. There were even less where he could remember being surprised. The fact that he was now both was only marginalized by the sudden, sharp; hungry desire he felt when he watched Haruno Sakura crush a human heart.
She was standing in the center of what had once been a cave. The entrance to the cave had been destroyed, and large holes punched through the roof, allowing light to shine in like spotlights. There were pieces of puppets strewn around like discarded body parts, dripping with a purple liquid like blood. And she - she was standing in the center of it all, the only evidence that she had been involved in the fight a scrape on her cheek and the sweat which plastered her hair to her neck.
Sakura had her arm at a right angle as she held the heart face-level. The look on her face was clinical, removed, and entirely unaffected when she crushed the container. The blood spurted outward, and dribbled down her arm.
The other teammate muttered something, drawing Sakura's attention away from the glorious mess in her hand.
She paled ever so slightly, but Itachi knew it wasn't because of what she'd done. He knew that some of his hunger was reflected in his expression. He wanted it to be. Everything in her called out to him, to wrap himself around her and possess her, to know her every part, every inch of her soul.
He watched her lower her hand and drop the heart to the ground at her feet like it was nothing. Itachi took a step towards her, barely conscious he had done so.
"So!" Sakura said, her voice unnaturally high. "We won here. What happened with you guys? Where's Gaara?"
'Why is Itachi here?'
Her eyes locked onto Sasuke's but he was starring at her, a mixture of pride and horror in his eyes. Naruto just looked constipated and she latched onto the thought, desperate to ignore the eyes that were burning against her skin, that hot look that had promised more than she was certain she could handle. He looked like he had wanted to... to...
"Damn, Sakura-chan, what did you do?"
She wasn't sure if she was terrified or thrilled. Swallowing, hard, she tried to smile. "Um, well... Naruto!"
He froze, hand centimeters off the ground. Marching towards her blonde friend, Sakura wondered if she could just kick him out of the cave. With force. She settled on bringing her fist down on top of his head before sliding so his body was between her and a still silent Itachi.
"Ow!"
"That is poisoned, you blond-idiot!" Grabbing him by the collar, she heaved. "Now, where is Gaara?"
Cave entrance. Outside in the fresh air, Sakura. Where there isn't blood and death and Itachi. Outside.
Naruto stiffened under her fingers and Sakura stopped dragging him. Twisting, stomach muscles complaining at the awkward motion, she stared at him. "Naruto?"
"Gaara..." his voice was rough and broke. Sakura's eyes widened and swung back to Chiyo, who was moving slowly in her direction.
"Gaara is dead."
Sakura blinked rapidly. Forgetting about Itachi and the way his eyes were still burning through her, she opened her arms and Naruto fell into her hug. Tangling her fingers into his blonde hair, she held him for a moment before stepping back.
"We should take him home." She told Naruto gently. He looked away before nodding.
"Yeah."
By the time they reached the cave entrance, Chiyo had been joined by Team Gai and Kakashi. Sakura blinked at how dirty they were.
"What happened to you?"
Neji looked up, eyes flickering behind her. "A minor inconvenience; the Akatsuki member got away."
Kakashi tilted his head. "Uchiha."
"Kakashi." Itachi replied as he approached. "If you continued that, old woman, you'll die."
Sakura's head snapped around but she held her tongue. This was Chiyo's choice to make. Swallowing as she watched the play of emotions on Naruto's face and shifted so she was standing close enough to feel Sasuke's body heat.
She didn't want to watch. It wasn't just that Chiyo was her friend; it was that she could see herself in what she was doing. That could be her some day. That could be - she would never let that happen to Naruto. She couldn't look away but when Naruto placed his hands on Chiyo's to share chakra in this desperate attempt to save Gaara, she had to. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stared instead back into the cave. She knew it was almost dishonoring to look away as her friend - Sasori's grandmother, an Elder of Sand, perhaps even Gaara's friend - sacrificed herself not only for her Kazekage, but perhaps looking for some way to right the wrongs of her family. Honor. And she couldn't watch.
Instead, she concentrated on facts. She had the hand seals now; she knew what she could do with them. She understood herself better than she had ever in her life and they had all but declared war on the Akatsuki.
What was going to happen next?
X
"So you squished a heart?"
Sakura slipped and crashed right back into the water she had been attempting to climb out of. Half a day's run out of Sand and they were finally near enough water to bathe. She and Tenten had decided to take advantage and had slipped away to clean themselves up.
Coming up, she spluttered at Tenten who was trying very hard not to laugh at her.
"What?"
Twisting up her damp hair into those familiar buns, Tenten smiled at her. "Naruto. It's all he has been able to talk about. Sasuke actually tried to punch him. So I thought I'd ask."
"Yes. I did. Nothing like a fresh organ sliding through a girls fingers to make her happy." She tried to keep her face straight, but the way Tenten's nose wrinkled in obvious disgust sent her into peals of laughter.
When she had finally finished, Tenten was offering her a hand out of the water, her eyes laughing.
"I think I know why Lee likes you so much now."
Sakura froze. Lee. Itachi. Not a good combination for her already frazzled nerves. The last few days had been a hard run back to Konoha to report so there hadn't been that much time for conversation. Figured that Naruto would manage it.
"Of course," Tenten continued, her dark eyes dancing, "Uchiha-san also seemed to be... appreciative."
Sakura scowled as she pulled her clothes back on. A flair of chakra and the damp clothing was dry.
"Thanks, Tenten."
"No problem. I'm meeting Neji to throw a few kunai around over there." She pointed away from camp. "Interested?"
"No thanks."
"See you at dinner, then." Tenten said cheerfully.
Sakura rubbed her eyes in with her palms. This had been one hell of a diplomatic mission. At least they were assured Sand's support in the event of a Sound/Cloud alliance. There was no way that Gaara would leave them in the lurch now.
Sakura tried not to think about exactly why Gaara was still alive. As a shinobi, Sakura knew objectively that fighting in difficult situations forged a bond. She and Chiyo had depended on each other in the worst sort of situation, and because of that they had come through it alive. She removed her hands from her eyes and stared down at them. With these hands, she had killed an Akatsuki member. Sure, she'd had help, but... she had felt the chakra pulsing from his heart extinguish in her grasp. His heart... the only part of him that was still real.
How could anyone do that to themselves? What kind of monsters were they facing?
She looked up a split second before her wrists were lightly, but firmly clasped in Itachi's hands.
"I understand that you're tired," he said, "but you should be more alert to your surroundings."
"Shut-up," Sakura said, pulling at her wrists. His grip only tightened. "You know as well as I do that you can sneak up on damn well anyone you want."
He chuckled, that unexpectedly warm sound which sparked a heat in her stomach, an entirely inappropriate one considering the situation. One of his fingers traced the line of her pulse on her right wrist.
She hid her shiver with a sigh, and met his gaze. "What do you want, Uchiha-san?"
"Many things," he murmured. That light was back in his eyes, and it was similar to the look Sasuke got right before he activated his sharingan. "To begin with, Sakura, I would have you call me by my name. Call me Itachi."
Her eyes widened, and she suddenly became aware that he was much closer than he had been moments ago. Had she moved or had he? He was crowding her, trying to make her feel hunted... it only made her irritated. She was the only living person in the world who had killed a member of the Akatsuki. While Sakura was under no illusions about the disparity between her and Itachi's skill level, she refused to be intimidated by him and his pretty eyes and long silky hair.
She tilted her head in an attempt to meet his gaze evenly. "Calling someone by their first name is a privilege that must be earned, Uchiha-san, either by familiarity or affection. You are my teammate's brother. I do not believe that would be appropriate to our relationship."
The man should not be allowed to smile like that. It should be made illegal. She'd speak with Tsunade about it when she got back.
"Let me assure you," kami, his voice was like velvet chocolate, "that I hold you in the highest esteem. 'Affection' is the least of what I feel for you. And," he lifted up her hand, her right hand, and the hand which had held Sasori's heart up to his mouth, "I intend to become extremely familiar with every part of you."
Her brain was still processing his statement when she felt his lips on the tip of her pinky. Wide-eyed, she stared at him as he kissed each fingertip before pressing a kiss in the precise center of her palm.
"Sakura."
Her brain stuttered at the way he said her name and the way his mouth moved against her skin when he said it. His eyes never left hers as he curled his fingers around hers and then he was that much closer again. Her spine hit the trunk of a tree and she stubbornly held his gaze.
"I think this is all very sudden, Uchiha-san." The words came out more of a whisper than she intended, but he didn't seem to mind. Instead he tangled his fingers in the damp hair at her temple and considered her, eyes moving slowly along her face as he if was looking for something.
"Perhaps."
She narrowed her eyes, irritation giving strength to reactions that had been glazed over by surprise at his early touch.
"I don't like surprises."
That smile was back and she could have sworn he was laughing at her.
"Surprises? I told you, Sakura, I learn from my oversights." He made an almost tsking noise in the back of his throat. "I do not repeat the same mistakes."
This conversation was not going where she had expected it to. Shutting her eyes in frustration, she tried again.
"What oversights were those?" She questioned. "I'm your brother's teammate, there is nothing to overlook."
Warm breath ghosted over her cheeks as velvet soft kisses were pressed gently against her closed eyelids. Her eyes snapped open in shock and she found that if she tilted her head in any direction her mouth would brush his. His eyes were almost sharingan bright. His chin raised a fraction, so that his next words were whispered delicately across her lips.
"You're going to be mine, Haruno Sakura."
He thought he had her well and truly trapped. She couldn't move back, she couldn't move to the side, any movement of her head at all would bring her lips in contact with his.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She briefly entertained the thought of just kissing him, and then shoving him away. She would not be backed into a corner.
But she didn't want to encourage him either. And there was a part of her that she did not trust which was far too enthusiastic about the idea.
So she didn't move forward and she didn't move backward and she ignored the rebellious thrill that raced across her spine at his words and the way her skin was tingling from the touch of his lips. "I do not belong to anyone. And I never will."
Sakura was getting really, really tired of hearing that laugh. Until last week she hadn't even been aware Itachi knew how to laugh. And what was worse was that a part of her got so...excited, so satisfied at the sound. She was getting tired of that too.
The hand in her hair loosened and he traced his little finger down her skin by her ear, under her jaw, down her neck until his hand had reached the V of her shirt. In one swift movement, he pulled the material back and shoved something small, hard, and cold into her bindings between her breasts.
"Keep that safe for me," he said against her lips. He moved so that he brushed his cheek across hers until his mouth came to rest just outside her ear. "And get some rest."
And with a nip at her ear lobe, he was gone.