Story: Nothing but the Truth

Author: MizukiYukiko

Rated: T

Pairing: ItachiXSakura

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Her arms locked around his shoulders before he could even register what she was doing. Burying her face in the crook of his neck, she whispered, "I'm so sorry that this happened to you." Itachi's eyes widened in shock; no one, not one person ever, had apologized to him. No one had ever viewed this as something that had happened to him.

Notes: 50_shinobi themed challenge #4. Inner demons.

Okay, so when I first started this story, I had not been following the anime or manga. Now that I've finally caught up, I've realized my timeline is grievously off. So you'll have to be patient with my cannon. It really doesn't bother me all that much since I've always felt that the story was a little heartbreaking for a bunch of fifteen and sixteen year olds to go through anyway. In this fic, which is pre- Invasion of Pein, Sakura and those in the original nine genin are 18, Team Gai is 19, and Itachi is 23.

I've taken unapologetic liberties with the cannon. I'm also revising the story. Chapters 1-5 are being almost completely redone, as this chapter is now edited. I will also be adding/changing some things in the rest of the chapters.

Revised 6/29/13

Please read and review, and I hope you find the added detail to your liking!

Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 1

"At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted on her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner."

Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

It was dark. It was cold. She shivered. It was with this movement that she felt the irritation of the chains around her wrists. I'm hanging. Her mind told her, as did the pain in her arms. This was replaced with a splitting pain in her face and her head. She had gotten hit, hard. Where was she? Her mind was a jumble of fragmented memories, thoughts, and feelings. As one emotion or memory came to her, it would be gone in an instant and she found herself questioning if it had truly been there in the first place. She didn't know. Her memories of the past few days, weeks, whatever were gone.

She groaned at the discomfort in her head and her arms. She didn't think they had much blood going to them. There were bits and pieces coming back to her. A battle? Yes, there had been a battle. Black cloaks with red clouds flashed through her mind. Akatsuki. The details were fuzzy, but she was certain that's who had taken her. Oh this is just fantastic, she thought bitterly to herself. Inner-Sakura's voice rang throughout her ears knowingly, calling her a weakling for ever getting captured in the first place. Then again, she remembered the last time she had been taken by enemy-nin, and Inner-Sakura had said the same thing to her. It was almost as if Sasuke was in her head, constantly calling her weak and annoying. Wincing at the memories of her long-forgotten teammate, she pushed them back, ignoring them.

Right now, she had to focus on the situation at hand. She had been captured by the Akatsuki. What wasn't clear was why. The Akatsuki weren't usually the take prisoner types. Killing an enemy was usually much more effective for their purposes. However, they did take prisoners when they had something to gain from such a situation – such as capturing the jinchuriki to extract the bijuu. Her mind raced, trying to decide why they had captured her. If they were in a battle, it was most likely to lure Naruto to them. She was the kyuubi's best friend and teammate, after all. There was also the slightest chance that they wanted her for her abilities as a medic. She had been abducted for the very same reason on a previous occasion.

Her eyes were adjusted completely to the darkness now. She was hanging in the middle of a dark, cold room. Four concrete walls surrounded her, and she believed herself to be in a jail cell of some sorts. The door that was directly in front of her allowed the smallest sliver of light to peak through the bottom of it – like a ray of hope that would only be crushed when shadowed men crossed it, red and black robes falling across their traitorous shoulders. How long had she been here?

She hung there for what felt like hours. She had no chakra and could do nothing to heal whatever wounds she had. She didn't even know what her injuries were because she couldn't effectively spread chakra to analyze her body. She raised her head to look at the binds and shifted a little. They were sucking her chakra away as her body began to generate it. She was talented, yes, but she didn't have too many strategies for escaping that didn't require a weapon or her chakra.

So, for the moment, all she could do was wait. Several more hours passed before she heard anything else. She was beginning to wonder if they had forgotten about her when she heard the clanging of metal doors from somewhere far off. We are in a prison of some sort. She noted, confirming her earlier suspicions.

There was the loud opening and closing of more doors beyond her own, and she was sure it was just her captors announcing their presence. No shinobi wouldn't wake up to the obnoxious sounds coming from the corridor beyond. Several more metal doors later, hers opened. The light to her eyes was like needles; she shut them automatically. As she adjusted to the light, she could tell that there were two figures standing in her room; one was large and burly while the other was shorter and more slim.

"Haruno Sakura," said one of the men. She knew who it was immediately. The voice was just so Uchiha – dark, baritone, sensual. It slipped off of his lips in a gentle caress that she knew to be deadly. She clamped her eyes shut instinctually, having one battled with the elder of the Uchiha brothers. The memories of his capturing Naruto in a genjutsu with only his finger played vividly in her mind. Additionally, he had put both Sasuke and Kakashi into a coma by using the Tsukuyomi, and she had no intentions of undergoing the same thing here.

"Uchiha Itachi," she hissed. Scumbag.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked the other voice which she also recognized. Hoshigaki Kisame – the fish – was a missing-nin from Mist if she remembered correctly. She had never fought him personally, but Neji had mentioned that he was an incredibly strong opponent. Well this was just fantastic. She had been captured by two of the scariest ninja on the entire planet. How the hell was she going to get out of this one, exactly?

She was silent in response for several seconds. Then the Uchiha was right in front of her in a flash so fast that she almost opened her eyes. Her hearing and sense of smell wasn't as good as Kiba's, but she was sure she would have felt him coming if he had gone any slower. However, he had moved so fast that the only way she could tell he moved was from the source of warmth that had settled in front of her. The heat radiated off of him and onto her due to how close he was, and it wasn't unwelcome because she was cold. The stupid cell was practically a dripping ice box and her ripped up jounin outfit was cold and wet.

"Haruno," he continued, his voice dripping with warning that sent shivers up and down her spine. Apparently, they wanted their question answered.

"No. I didn't know the Akatsuki were in the habit of taking prisoners," she muttered coldly. Although her instincts were telling her to cooperate, he inner self and her stubbornness were getting the best of her. She would not help the man who destroyed Sasuke so willingly. Now, she was faced with the possibility that she would have to be the one to kill Sasuke – as per what the Konoha 11 agreed upon, and it was all this bastard's fault.

"We're not, kunoichi, consider yourself unlucky," grunted Kisame from somewhere behind Itachi. His deep voice sent a shiver of fear catapulting down Sakura's spine. A hidden threat lay dormant from that sentence – the threat that could possibly mean the end of her short eighteen years of life.

"Open your eyes and look at me, kunoichi," commanded the man directly in front of her. His voice was deep and smooth, like warm chocolate. Dark chocolate. She thought to herself – bitter and without an ounce of sweetness.

"No. Thanks for asking," she spat back, her quick temper and obstinacy getting the best of her fear and feelings of self-preservation.

"She's feisty," commented Kisame, a laugh hidden beneath the surface of his scratchy voice..

Itachi walked away from her and circled her slowly, like a vulture. "We are interested in asking you a few things," the Uchiha said methodically, "About your good friend, the kyuubi."

Sakura laughed a hallow laugh. "You should just kill me, then. I'm not saying anything. I don't care how many days I spend in your Tsukuyomi."

"I could always just probe your mind, kunoichi. There's no reason to get violent here." Sakura noticed the mocking in his voice, and it made her cold blood boil with rage. She hid it well, though.

"Try." Her voice was defiant.

"Hm?" His voice was even and calm, but she could hear the curiosity in it. She was challenging him. When he was challenged by something or someone… well Uchiha Itachi always overcame these obstacles.

"Try. You won't find much there except a big mental barrier," she explained, trying to keep her breath even.

"Just like in the copy-nin, Itachi-san," Kisame noted. Sakura stiffened. They had Kakashi-sensei? How had they managed to capture him as well? Apparently his mental barrier that she had installed had worked, though. The fish didn't seem pleased by it, anyway.

"Ah, you must not have known that your sensei would come with you when we took you," Itachi mused. "But you see we couldn't get around his mental defenses, either. I noticed that my Tsukuyomi didn't even have the same…gratifying effect on him as it has in the past."

Sakura stiffened at Itachi's sudden presence since he was now back in front of her and very close. She laughed a little more, hiding her fear of Kakashi, "Sounds like you're losing your touch. Tell me, Akatsuki, how are your eyes feeling? Still going blind?"

That took it too far. Itachi's hand was at her throat, and he was tightening his grip. Sakura gasped for air, her throat closing over the pressure he exerted from his long, strong fingers. Tears sprang to her eyes, and when no air was getting to her lungs, her stomach lurched in fear. She didn't show it, though. She just opened up her eyes to stare at the Uchiha. If he was going to kill her, she was going to watch him do it.

His eyes were blood red, his Mangekyō Sharingan shining brightly in the dark room, and for a moment Sakura felt her breath leave her for a completely different reason. There, standing in front of her, was Sasuke's twin. Their similarities were breathtaking and the tears that were coming out of her eyes now were there for a completely different reason. However, Sakura had just opened her eyes and exposed them to Itachi. This was a mistake, judging by the wicked smirk on his lips. Just like that, she was gone. The last thing he said was, "Tsukuyomi."

Everything was red. Sakura looked up. She was still hanging, but now she was strapped to a post within the Tsukuyomi. She glared at the blackened Uchiha who stood in front of her. Then, there were several of him, and all of them had a sword. Dammit. She thought.

He wouldn't hear her scream, though. She was certain of that. As the many Itachi's began to stab her through her legs, arms, torso, and head, Sakura never screamed. She just stared outwardly, her eyes merely flinching and clenching at the pain. Each stab wound was hot, as if his sword had been coated in fire each time he thrust it into her body. But she remained tight lipped. This man would not get the best of her.

Itachi was finding himself frustrated with the kunoichi. He had known that the girl underwent training under Tsunade, but her strength surprised him. He had supposed she was just another weak Konoha kunoichi. Her resolution almost peaked his interest. The fact that he even noted her strength should be a compliment to the kunoichi, not that he'd ever tell her.

After another round of stabbing, Sakura looked up at him with an amused smile. If it were possibly for the inscrutable Uchiha to be shocked, he would have been. His eyes

"What's so funny, kunoichi?" he asked impassively. The woman was beginning to get under his usually unflappable skin.

"You're in my mind, are you not?" she murmured to him through clenched teeth. Blood seeped out of her mouth with each word, each movement, and he could tell the strain that she was undergoing to stay conscious.

"Yes," he replied evenly. Wasn't that obvious?

"Meet inner Sakura," she chuckled. Itachi felt confused but his question was soon answered by the black ground shaking. A surge of chakra hit him as a crack formed in the ground. He felt himself being vaulted out of the girl's mind. Where'd she get this chakra? He questioned to himself. Sakura's face was strained as her lips opened. "Kai!"

Itachi was back in the cell and he was looking at the unconscious kunoichi. He whipped around to Kisame, whose face was riddled with surprise. "Where'd she get that chakra?" Kisame asked the question that had been floating in his mind.

"Her mental block can hold chakra behind it," Itachi growled. Yes, this kunoichi was a little more of a handful than he thought. "Her chakra control is notable. It's like there's two different people in there – almost like the kyuubi. It'll be easier next time, now that I know that it's there."

Itachi turned to leave; his eyes were aching with that minor use, his vision blurring considerably with the use of his Mangekyo, "Put her in the room with Hatake."

Kisame grunted in response as he unchained the kunoichi and hauled her off as if she were a bag of feathers.

X

"Sakura." Her head hurt worse. She could barely hear her name being called somewhere unknown to her. Everything was dark, a pitch black emptiness that surrounded her completely. Air escaped her, thoughts escaped her – everything was dark and that's the way she wanted it for now. If it wasn't dark, that meant it was red, and she didn't want to be back in that place with that man.

"Sakura!" The voice was closer this time. She began to regain feeling within her body. Thump, thump, thump. That was her head pulsating harshly on her skull if she was placing the pain correctly.

She was still cold, she noted, just like before. But she wasn't hanging now; at least she didn't think she was. She was able to twitch her fingers – that was a good sign. Her other body parts began to move in succession, testing to make sure they were still functioning properly of their own accord. First, she raised an arm a hair, just to tell her that it could move. Then she jerked a knee. Finally, she allowed her eyelids to open warily, but they still felt like concrete, fighting against consciousness.

"Sakura!" The relief in Kakashi's voice and face was unmistakable. They were in a cell, still, but this one had some light coming from a barred window. It wasn't dripping wet like the other, either, so it wasn't damp like the holding cell she had been previously hanging in. Sakura sat up slowly to face her sensei, and he helped her to sit straight by placing a reassuring hand between her shoulders and lifting her so she was propped against the gray walls. She was on one of two beds in the 6 by 8 foot room. It was merely concrete attached to a wall, but it was markedly better than her previous surroundings, she decided. The Akatsuki had been kind enough to give them each a sleeping roll and a blanket to sleep with. That was all there was, though. Facilities must be somewhere else. She remarked bitterly to herself.

"Are you okay? What'd they find out, tell me now," Kakashi's voice was worried. He could see Sakura already slipping back into unconsciousness as she fought the lingering effects of the Tsukuyomi.

"Nothing, sensei…" Sakura said cautiously. "Mental block worked."

She was already gradually lying back down while Kakashi supported her once again. Kakashi said soothingly to her, "Go back to bed, okay? Rest up."

Her eyes closed and it was only a few seconds before sleep took her again.

X

She had been with Naruto, Kakashi, and Rock Lee. It was technically a S-class mission, but Sakura and Naruto were on it even though they weren't ANBU yet. But they had to be there to find the information they were looking for. They were trying to track down information about Sasuke. There was a rumor he was in a small country just south of Tea Country. Naruto and Lee had been their usual jubilant selves, so Sakura and Kakashi had stayed back from them to get some peace.

They were nearing the border between Fire Country and Tea Country to the south when the Akatsuki attempted to attack. Kakashi and Sakura took the lead in order to keep Naruto out of the fight so they Akatsuki wouldn't obtain the kyuubi. They couldn't.

He had gotten away, she knew, before she was struck down by a large explosion. Her face whipped around to find the source, which was the explosion-nin, Deidara, of course. Sakura knew the Iwa defector still held a grudge against her for killing Sasori all those years ago. When the fight began, she originally took on Kisame. She was taken out of the fight by Lee, though. Since he had no chakra and featured exceptional taijutsu skills, he would have been best for this fight anyway.

Then she turned her attention to Deidara who had set up a minefield of explosive birds around her. She had to use her chakra to create a barrier around herself. Kakashi, she noticed, had chosen to take on the Uchiha. He tried to fight with him close combat because they knew the Uchiha tried to avoid direct confrontation.

It was when she saw another Akatsuki take off in the direction of where Naruto had gone that she became distracted, her chakra barrier waivered slightly, and that was why she was here. It was her own mistake. She turned to look for less than a moment and a bird blew up next to her face.

She remembered hearing Kakashi scream for her and the Uchiha saying something like, "Alive, Deidara."

Then the explosion rang out and she was gone.

X

She awoke from the dream of the battle all of a sudden. "Sakura," Kakashi forced the girl awake. "C'mon Sakura." He was shaking her shoulders lightly.

Her eyes fluttered open to see her sensei directly above her. She tried to smile at him, but it hurt her face too much to do so, the feeling of stiff skin tearing as her face instantly went into a grimace. "Kaka-"she began but she choked on her dry throat. A coughing fit ensued that made the entire left side of her face peel in an absolutely furious pain.

"Take it easy, Sakura, here," Kakashi said. He handed her a small glass of water, and pushed her into a sitting position slowly, supporting her as he had done before. She drank it eagerly as she listened to her sensei explain what was going on a bit. "It's time to eat," he continued, "They said if I didn't wake you up soon, they would. I'd rather they stayed away from you."

Sakura took a moment to take in her surroundings. They were in the same cell as when she'd awoken before, but she hadn't gotten that good of a look at it. Her medic instinct took over for a moment, and she ran her thorough eyes up and down Kakashi carefully. It seemed that Kakashi had come out of the battle mostly unscathed. His clothes were ripped and it looked as if one of his fingers was broken, but nothing else seemed physically wrong besides that minor wound. It had been forced straight and splinted with a small piece of foam and what looked to be a handle of a toothbrush. "How long was I out?" she asked tentatively.

"Two days," Kakashi replied dozily. "Each time they would take me out to interrogate me, I would be so worried about you. I was afraid they were going to take you away."

Sakura stiffened. Interrogate? How many times? She looked up at him worried. "What happened to you?"

"Don't worry, Sakura. It was mostly mental probing done by Itachi. He's trying to find a way to break my mental barrier. I'm sure they'll be doing the same to you. It's holding up well though. You did wonderfully placing it," Kakashi explained. He sounded so tired, as if he hadn't rested a moment since their capture. That was hardly healthy. "Once his genjutsu becomes more than I can handle, I can kick him out."

So they had been torturing him in some ways. Perhaps not physically, but mentally at least. However, Kakashi had been forced to endure Itachi's Tsukuyomi previously, and he had found ways to escape the comatose state that takes hold after he has been tortured. Sakura looked at her sensei sadly. "Did you follow me here?"

"Deidara capturing you caught me off guard and Uchiha was able to get me in his genjutsu. When I awoke, I was here, and they were strapping me up for interrogation," his voice was getting more and more wary.

"Do you want me to heal you anywhere?" Sakura asked instinctively. She felt her chakra had begun to rebuild in her system.

"You can't" Kakashi stated plainly. After receiving a bemused look from Sakura, he held up his wrists to show a thin silver bracelet attached to both his arms. "Chakra constraints. Your body is gathering chakra, but it can't be released or activated unless these are off. And only the Uchiha can release it. It seems as if is in charge of this particular mission."

"Hm," Sakura said, her face turning towards her own wrists to see she was featuring the same bracelets. She seemed to be in deep thought – as if she was formulating a plan for something. Her thoughts were interrupted by the grumbling sensation coming from deep within her stomach. She laughed at her hunger, but she quickly stopped once her burned face began to sting once again.

Kakashi handed her a plate of food – it was only a small amount of rice, chicken, and half an apple. He also gave her a small glass of milk. Sakura gulped the food down in a few bites. It surely wasn't enough, but she was happy to get something into her stomach. It would keep her strength up if she was going to figure out a way out of this mess – it was all her fault, after all.

The sun soon set beyond their little window. "Where do you think we are, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Best not to speculate," he replied. She heard it in his voice – he had an idea, but the room could be bugged so he didn't want the Akatsuki to figure out he knew. Only years of working with him closely would allow her to understand the underlying meanings in his voice. Plus, Kakashi-sensei was always looking underneath the underneath. His ingenious mind was always working, even when he seemed to be clueless.

"Okay," Sakura replied. "It's impossible to tell, anyway. We have no idea how long they travelled with us."

"Yeah."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few hours. Sakura stayed up while Kakashi rested. He probably hasn't slept in days. She groaned to herself. This was all her fault, and she knew it. If she hadn't been so weak…they wouldn't be in this mess. If she hadn't allowed herself to get distracted by Naruto and his safety, then they wouldn't have been captured. The Akatsuki obviously wanted them for information, but they weren't going to get it out of her. This time, she was going to be strong enough to protect Naruto. He was always trying to protect her, even when he was the one in mortal danger. While she was here, she needed to make sure that she did everything she could to protect him this time.

The sun was beginning to peak through the window when a man that Sakura didn't recognize arrived to take them to use the facilities. His face was covered by an orange swirling mask. The man didn't speak much, but when he did, Sakura couldn't help but feel he was only a child. His words were innocent and almost kind. He allowed Sakura to go into a small bathroom to shower and use the restroom – Kakashi did the same in an adjacent room.

There was no mirror, so Sakura couldn't assess her skin wounds. But she knew they must be bad. Kakashi grimaced every time he looked at her, and judging by the raw cracking and burning of her skin every time she tried to flinch a muscle, she must have at least second degree burns across a large portion of her face and neck. By moving her chakra around internally, she could feel nothing was seriously injured. Her left cheekbone was fractured and it seemed as if she had sprained her right ankle, but those were minor injuries compared to the burns.

She was able to turn her head enough to see the burns on her shoulder. Touching her neck and the left side of her face uncertainly, she discerned the burns were even worse than she originally thought. And she had thought they were bad. Third degree burns seemed to envelope the left side of her head, neck, and shoulder. She moved her hands to her hair. Since it had been tied up at the time of the explosion, it seemed that not much had been burned off. The hooded cloak and the borrowed ANBU mask that she had been wearing seemed to take some of the impact from the explosion away though, and she knew it would probably be a lot worse if she hadn't been wearing those menial articles of clothing. They didn't help much, but it seemed to have spared her hair. Well that's something, I guess. She thought inwardly.

She stepped into the cool shower and rinsed off. There was scentless shampoo and soap in the shower. She scrubbed the cuts that riddled her body, and she realized that there were many bruises that covered her as well. They were large and deep. Must be from the other bombs that hit when my chakra shield was up. She hesitantly pat soap on her burns. Sakura's eyes instantly winced at the searing pain that shot through her entire face.

Her vision went black from the pain, and she leaned out of the shower. She reached the toilet just in time to vomit her entire dinner. C'mon Sakura, we can do this. You need to clean your wounds. She got back into the shower and rinsed her hair with the shampoo, and after several attempts at cleaning her burns more thoroughly, she deduced that it was the best she could do with what she had been given. There was a sink next to the toilet that had a new toothbrush, still in its packaging, and toothpaste. Avoiding stretching the skin on her left side, since it was still tender and searing with fury, she brushed her teeth a bit to make herself feel more like a human and less like a zombie.

They had also provided her with a set of clothes – plain black ninja pants and a baggy black shirt. It took her a moment to realize they were standard issue Konoha jounin pants and shirt. The shirt even had the small Uchiha emblem stitched onto the sleeve. These were his clothes, and now she had to wear them. Shuddering, she slipped them over her head and her senses were instantly overcome with everything that was Uchiha Itachi. He smelled like sandal wood and tea. The clothes were soft and comfortable, and she found it ironic and disturbing that they felt so…snuggly. The urge to bury her face into the shirt overcame her, which she shook off instantly. Perhaps it was because he smelled like Sasuke a little. There was something different between their scents – Itachi's was more masculine and refined – but she could still tell they were family just by the simple smell. Rolling her eyes, she realized that she was gaining Kakashi's sense of smell.

It was time to leave the bathroom, she decided, since she had been in there for a while. She didn't want to unknown Akatsuki to get impatient with her, and she wasn't stupid enough to believe that he was harmless just because of his slightly cheery demeanor. If he was in the Akatsuki, he was powerful, no matter how kind and childlike he had been so far. When she exited the bathroom, the man was there waiting for her along with Kakashi. He led them back to their room, chatting amiably how it was nice to have two new friends staying with them. Sakura and Kakashi just stared strange looks as they flanked him back to the cell. Once they were in and secured, he brought in a tray. There were two bowls of okayu and two small bowls of grapes.

"I will be back in twenty minutes. Itachi-san would like to speak with Sakura-san when you are finished," the main said pleasantly. With that, he left.

Sakura ate in silence, and Kakashi continued to watch her as if he were analyzing her deeply. Of course, he really was analyzing her. Her sensei knew her well, and he knew she was up to something. "What are planning on doing, Sakura?" he asked.

"It's best not to speculate," she replied, not making eye contact with Kakashi. She knew he'd understand. She had a plan, but she didn't want anyone to know yet.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Kakashi replied quietly.

No promises. She thought. Outwardly, she nodded her head in agreement.

X

She had been hanging in the cold, damp room again for an hour. No one had come in yet. There was a light above her head that was on this time, though. Then, Uchiha Itachi entered silently – Kisame not too far behind. "Haruno Sakura," he said in his monotonous voice.

"Uchiha Itachi," she hissed back. Her insides were mush as unadulterated fear coursed through her. She could act as big and tough as she wanted, but she was sure her façade was fooling no one. The second the men had entered the room, her heart rate accelerated, and her body began to shake with tremors from their suffocating presence. It was if their aura filled the room the second they entered it, and it was stifling, suffocating.

"Are you ready to begin?" he asked casually, walking up to her. Her jade eyes were downcast, staring at his feet. It was time to enact her crazy, probably not going to work, near suicidal plan that she had been subconsciously formulating from her first meeting with the Uchiha. She saw the way he would wince, the way he held his head. Just like it had with Kakashi-sensei, the Sharingan was blinding Itachi.

"Aren't your eyes bothering you, Uchiha?" she spat at him. "Three days of constant interrogation can't be good for your Sharingan."

"How does she know so much, Itachi-san?" Kisame growled behind him. Itachi put his hand up to him, silencing his partner. The last thing they needed was the girl making unknown accusations and then finding out information that he would rather her remain uninformed of.

"You forget, fishy," Sakura mocked, "Hatake Kakashi is my sensei, and he has a Sharingan. Except his doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" she mused.

Itachi was quickly in front of her, his red eyes glaring into her jade ones once she was finally brave enough to make eye contact with him. "What do you mean kunoichi?" he finally asked in that deep, deadly tenor.

"Well Akatsuki, I have a proposition for you," she said tauntingly.

"Hm?" was his almost silent response. He tilted his head, which was only a few inches from hers, in curiosity. "And what's that?"

"I can heal your eyes," she replied, trying to keep herself calm despite every sense in her body telling her to be afraid. His head tilted further, and a mischievous smirk began to tug at the corners of his lips at what she was saying. "If you release Kakashi-sensei without further injury, I will heal your eyes. Permanently."

AN: So I know it's kind of a cliché and overdone plot, but I like it, and it will be a bit different as the story goes. Please review!