Author's Note: Alright, it's been a long time huh? Gomen! But it came to the point where almost anything electronic was banned from usage over here at home and I was really busy with my exams and studies. And well, life got in the way. 'nough said.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to it. Sadly.
The room was lavishly decorated. Who knew that the Akatsuki had wealth and taste? There was a long table in the centre of the room with matching comfortable looking chairs. The whole thing practically screamed luxury.
Wait.
Sakura blinked.
Then she blinked again and rubbed her eyes, before peering our warily from between her fingers.
"That's funny. I can only see the Uchiha bastard in here."
Said Uchiha bastard smirked from his position at the head of the dining table. He was dressed rather casually, in a black shirt and pants, looking dastardly handsome and arrogantly bored. He raised an eyebrow at her, still looking ever so elegant and Sakura inwardly cursed the Uchiha brothers for being so darn good looking…
…wait, what?
"Take a seat, Haruno-san. We have important matters to discuss."
It was then that Sakura notice that a place had been set up at the far end of the long table, directly opposite Itachi. She glared at the male but he didn't say anything. She gingerly moved into the room and sat down. She glared at the male again who had the audacity to look indifferent.
"I was informed that I would be having dinner with the Akatsuki, not you."
"So you'd rather have dinner with a group of dangerous missing-nins than be content with just one? I'll take note, Haruno-san."
Sakura blanched, a furious blush rising to her cheeks.
"I'd prefer them to you anytime!" she snapped.
To her anger, this only seemed to amuse the usually stoic male.
"You are acting like a child Haruno-san. I find quite hard to believe that you were trembling in my presence merely a few hours ago."
If Sakura had been angry before, she was definitely seething now. The audacity of that man! Before she could retort however, the door opened and two servants came in, carrying trays of food. They laid them down in front of Sakura who could only stare in wonder at the delicious delicacies being put in front of her, the Uchiha forgotten.
She had only ever seen such expensive food in pictures and had never tasted it before. Yet a bunch of dangerous S-class nins had the privilege of such luxuries? For a brief moment, the thought of joining was very tempting. Hell, even the plate and cutleries were gold.
"I assume that you are hungry Haruno-san. Please eat."
It was a polite invitation but he might as well have ordered her to eat. For a moment, Sakura was tempted to act childishly by refusing to eat and sticking her tongue out at the arrogant bastard. Just as she was about to execute this plan, her stomach decided to rebel and let out a loud growl.
Damn.
Her cheeks coloured immediately and she refused to look up at the Uchiha who was without a doubt smirking. Instead, she picked up the heavy fork and gingerly picked at the food, suddenly feeling wary.
What if it was poisoned?
"If I had wanted to kill you Haruno-san, I would not have gone through the trouble of bringing you here and ordering servants to dress you up."
Oh.
Sakura flushed once again (she needed to stop that!) and took a bite before looking up at her captor. He seemed satisfied and began eating as well, much to the female's surprise. She didn't think that he would actually relax in her presence. This annoyed her as he obviously didn't consider her as a threat.
Well, she wasn't but really!
It had to be the most uncomfortable dinner Sakura had ever had in all her eighteen years. She inwardly groaned as she reflected back on her behaviour previously. She had made a fool out of herself! If anyone had told her that she would be dressed like a noble and having an exquisite dinner with Uchiha Itachi, she would have laughed at them. Then she would punch them.
She noted that Itachi didn't seem to bother about her discomfort and seemed quite relaxed about the situation. He ate leisurely and quite aristocratically if she could say. And he definitely took his time. By the time she was done he was still eating.
She began to fidget around on her chair uncomfortably. The previous boldness she had felt before was gone and there was a sense of growing nervousness and dread in the pit of her stomach. If Itachi noticed anything he certainly ignored it. In fact, Sakura could have sworn that he was purposely prolonging to enjoy her discomfort.
By the time he was done, Sakura was a near nervous wreck. He must have had some button beneath the table or something because the same two servants immediately appeared to remove the plates. While this was done, Sakura was aware of the stoic male observing her and looked down. When the servants finally left, Itachi spoke.
"I suppose you wish to know the reason you are here?"
Sakura's head snapped up immediately to look at the male. He seemed bored with his elbow resting on the table supporting his head while he lazily twirled a glass of blood red wine in the other hand with a casual air of elegance. He didn't wait for her to answer and spoke again.
"I will get to the point Haruno-san. The Akatsuki has need of your talent as a medic."
Sakura's jaw dropped and she stared at the male incredulously. Then, she began to laugh. Itachi seemed quite unperturbed and merely glanced at her, waiting for her laughter to subside and for her to speak.
"I'm sorry," she gasped, catching her breath. "But you seem to be under the impression that I was going to agree to that."
Itachi merely raised his brow at her. Sakura frowned at him.
"You should know, Itachi-san that I would rather die than work for the Akatsuki."
"You seem to think that we are offering you this position Haruno-san. This is not an offer. Let me rephrase it for you. You will be Akatsuki's medic like it or not!"
Sakura was outraged.
"W-what?!"
"Let's make a deal kunoichi. You agree to be Akatsuki's medic and we leave Naruto and Konoha alone. If you fail to comply, we will launch a full-scale on your beloved Konoha and we will not hesitate to destroy everything."
Sakura was horrified. It didn't help that Itachi was being so damn casual about it, as though he threatened to destroy hidden villages on a daily basis.
Did he?
"You can't fool me!" she snarled. "You need Naruto for the kyuubi! And you won't go through the trouble of destroying an entire village just to get me as your medic!"
To her agitation, Itachi merely smirked at her.
"It's true that we wouldn't waste our time on a normal circumstance. But times change and you would be a perfect excuse to test the power and strength of the tailed beasts."
Sakura suddenly found it hard to breathe.
It couldn't be.
"Y-you have caught the eight tailed beasts already?!"
Itachi merely inclined his head.
Oh god.
"E-even then, the kyuubi is more powerful than the rest! You c-can't possibly think that you would win against Konoha!"
"Yes, the kyuubi will destroy us if set free. But the real question, kunoichi, is that are you willing to sacrifice Naruto to break the seal? We know what happens when Naruto calls upon the kyuubi. Even then, can you control the beast? Remove the seal and you destroy your own village."
She began to tremble because it was true.
"Have you ever wondered what happened to Sound, kunoichi?"
She stiffened immediately.
"Have you ever wondered the sudden disappearance of the sound nins? Or the complete inactivity of Orochimaru?"
"W-what did y-you do to them?!"
Itachi observed the petite female in front of him. She was shaking and her breathing was heavy, close to pants. She was practically hyper-ventilating.
"Let's just say that we decided to have a trial run with the beasts and Sound was the test subject."
"A-and w-what about S-s-sasuke-kun?"
Itachi found himself rather annoyed with the affectionate suffix attached to his irritating brother's name by the pink-haired female.
"Sasuke-chan is assumed to be dead. His body was never found. Perhaps Orochimaru had already devoured him and died along with the snake, we do not know."
Sakura felt a tiny flare of hope at the thought that there was a chance that Sasuke just might be alive. But her thoughts were immediately pulled back to the current situation when Itachi spoke.
"Do we have a deal, Haruno-san?"
It was clear that he wanted to settle the matter.
Sakura thought about the matter carefully. She knew that she would do anything to keep her beloved friend safe. Was there any real thinking to it? Sakura had already made the decision the moment the threat was made.
"If I accept, you swear that you will leave Naruto and Konoha alone?"
"Yes, unless it is to defend ourselves."
"Don't you dare break this de-
There was a dull thud as a kunai narrowly streaked past her and hit the wall behind.
Sakura sat shell-shocked, her mouth opened in a silent 'o' and staring at the Uchiha who had barely moved at all.
In fact, she could swear that he didn't move.
She had forgotten that she was dealing with someone who had single-handedly murdered his entire family without any misgivings. She suddenly felt very stupid and foolish.
"Do not forget your place kunoichi," he hissed, and the room suddenly felt colder.
"You are not in a position to make demands."
For a few moments, they merely stared at each other and to her shame, Sakura was trembling throughout.
Finally, Itachi stood up, setting down the wine glass.
"I will send Hitomi to you. She shall be your attendant. You can start work tomorrow by gathering information of each Akatsuki member to begin health records. We have prepared a room which you will be shown to tomorrow."
He then strode towards the door briskly, passing Sakura and left the room.
True to his word, Hitomi entered the room shortly, only to be flustered by the fact that the pink-haired kunoichi was sitting stock-still in her chair silent save for the tears that were rolling down her cheeks.
It's rather short but it's really all I've got for now. I really sorry to my reviewers but I honestly haven't got time to respond to your reviews, I really will try to respond this chapter's reviews.
MANGA SPOILER AHEAD!!
Yeah, anyway, this story can be considered AU already since the whole Pein thing and the fact that Itachi is actually dead. WAILS Actually, anyone could tell that it was coming but hell, didn't stop me from wishing that it didn't! I am only comforted by the fact that Sasuke didn't kill him and he totally went in style. But still, damn. Gives me more reason to dislike Sasuke anyway.
SPOILER OVER
I can't promise when the next chapter will be out but it probably won't be soon and I'm actually planning on re-writing chapter 2. I'll see how it goes.
Bye for now!