Okay, this is my first naruto fic...my second serious fanfiction. I probably shouldn't start a new one...but this came to me and i really wanted to get it started and see if it caught anyone's interest. btw...flaming won't get you anywhere...i do, however, appreciate constructive criticism...any flames will be fed to Calcifer.

i hope you all like it!

oh before i forget:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters...they all belong to kishi-face

I didn't know why I stayed. I only had one connection with the kunoichi, and it had just been severed.

Maybe it was the way her rose hair was fanned out around her. Maybe it was the way the blood spatter so intensely contasted the pale skin of her cheek. Or perhaps it was the way the way she looked up at me. Her emerald eyes, half-lidded, gazed up at me. She blinked slowly. It seemed that her orbs looked up at me as if she was expectant of something, but, in reality, they held no real, no readable emotion. The girl just stared at me. Then again, she was close to death. She probably had no energy to make any more movements.

Sasuke had brought her this close to death. My foolish brother valued his revenge for me over the woman who gave him unconditional love. Even when he was under the tutalage of Orochimaru, her loyalty for him was unshakable. She believed in him like no one else had, and he betrayed her. She got in his way, so he decided to kill her.

There he was. There was her Sasuke-kun. And there he was, and there they were. Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki. Sakura swallowed nervously as she peered from her hiding spot. The air around them was tense. The two brothers were just staring at eachother, waiting for the moment to strike.

She was worried. No matter how much Sasuke trained with Orochimaru, he would not defeat Itachi. Itachi had the Mangekyou, something she was certain Sasuke had never acquired. Sure, she believed in him. He was strong; simply put, he was an Uchiha. However, just moments ago, Orochimaru had been defeated by Itachi himself. Itachi had not even broken a sweat.

The rest of the Akatsuki seemed bored. She wondered if they would join in the fight. Would she? It would turn into a melee.

Did they know she was here? Itachi would. But would he be as preoccupied for the upcoming battle as much as Sasuke was? Not likely, but you never know. Would the rest of Akatsuki know she was present? Probably. They were not so interested in the fight that they would not take in their surroundings. They were S-class criminals, however. Her presence would not stir any unease into their psyche, even if she had risen to jounin level, trained by one of the legendary Sannin, Tsunade, who just happened to be the Hokage of Konohagakure. She did mask her chakra, though, as a precaution. It was probable, however, that a technique such as that would not work on these elite ninja.

She was concerned for Sasuke, borderline terrified. She knew of Itachi's power almost first-hand. He had bedridden Hatake Kakashi for months for Pete's sake. At the level he was now, Sasuke couldn't touch him. Would Sasuke keep fighting, even if he was losing? Of course he would. The whole reason for excelling the way he had as a ninja, the reason for betraying his village, was to take ultimate vengeance for his family, and himself, and kill his brother. That was all Sasuke had lived and breathed for years: revenge.

Even if he managed to incompasitate Itachi, the other members would be on him like Jiraiya on naked women...she chose to rephrase that...like Naruto on ramen. But she had heard of the way the Akatsuki regarded teammates. It was like they didn't care. That losing a member was just losing a member. The only annoyance seems to be finding a replacement, evident by having not yet found a replacement for Orochimaru.

Would Sasuke care if she helped? When it came to Itachi, yes. But the other Akatsuki? She could just picture him saying "Do as you wish."

There! A flash of a kunai and Sasuke charged. Swing and a miss for the younger Uchiha. Where had Itachi gone?

'Behind you!' Sakura wished to call out to him, but immediately thought better of it. If she had not been noticed yet, she did not want to bring attention to herself.

A kick to the back and Sasuke went flying. Itachi moved faster than the normal, non-bloodline limit eye could see. Sakura remembered Naruto mentioning that after his fight with Sasuke, Sasuke was able to see differently.

Thinking about that fight, she remembered in order to defeat Naruto, Sasuke had to call upon the power from his curse seal. Her eyes widened as a horrifying realization hit her. Orochimaru was dead: that seal would not be legitamate anymore. What sort of extra umph would Sasuke have up his sleeve? If anything, Orochimaru dying would not do him any good. How would Sasuke win without him? That was the whole reason he turned to Orochimaru. He needed power.

She looked down to watch the battle again, but payed not enough mind to her surroundings, when a hand went over her mouth and nose, as well as around her arms and waist. She was caught. By whom? Some member of the Akatsuki she was unable to identify without seeing him.

Away from the fight, as not to disturb it, her captor brought her down to meet the rest of the elite.

"Well, well, well," one snidly began, "What do we have here?"

"A konoha kunoichi," another said, gesturing to her forehead protector.

"What should we do with her, yeah?" asked the first. Sakura felt him shove her shoulder slightly, making it clear that he didn't want to be stuck with her. Good. She didn't want to be stuck with him either.

"Let's just keep her here until the battle is over. We do not want want to involve her in with the Uchiha battle," a new one said. Inner-Sakura nodded sagely in agreement. 'Wise choice.'

"She got herself involved," the second said, causing Sakura's eyebrow to tick in annoyance. She recognized this to be Kisame, his samehada slung over his shoulder. "I have an idea," he spoke again, raising his Samehada towards her.

Sakura felt woozy. She was being taken to the fight. Why? She could only guess. Kisame called out to Itachi.

"Lookie what we found here." Both fighters stopped to look. Itachi glanced over at Sasuke, Sasuke at Sakura, and Sakura look back and forth between the two.

Itachi was approaching her, and for some insane reason, Sasuke stay put looking up at Itachi. She was having trouble standing up straight, or even focusing her eyes. The Samehada drained much of her chakra. Quicker than she could react, Itachi had a kunai pressed to her throat.

He was doing it to get to Sasuke, she was sure. Itachi would hadn't cared that Sakura was there before. But the fact that it affected Sasuke to his advantage made it high up on his arsenal list.

"Matte." Sakura looked from the kunai to Sasuke, not sure if she had heard correctly. He told Itachi to stop? He was going to save her.

"What? Don't want your brother to kill your girlfriend?" Kisame taunted. Sasuke looked at her with a stony expression and shook his head.

"Ie. I want to kill her myself."

Sakura could not believe her ears. Itachi looked to Sasuke, lowered his weapon, and nodded to Kisame, who release Sakura. Was this a "be my guest" gesture? Sakura stood where she was. Impatiently, she was shoved toward Sasuke by Kisame's sandaled foot on her arse. She stumbled into Sasuke's chest. He seemed unaffected from her weight. She looked up at him. He had gotten taller, pailer, even more handsome that he had beem before. But he also seemed to have grown more cold in his expression, had lost whatever light had been left prior to his departure from their home. There was, for a split second, a flash of conflict in his eyes, but just as quickly it was gone when he sent her reiling with a harsh backhand.

To her merrit, Sakura recovered quickly, only mildly stumbling and regaining her footing, this time with a little wider stance for defense, though that would do little in her induced chakra-depleated state. Sasuke appeared in front of her and took a swipe at her face with his kunai. She ducked to get away from his deadly aim, feeling a droplet of nervous sweat disengaging from her brow with her swift movement.

He kept attacking, and she kept dodging, quickly becoming fatigued with effort. There was no return of attacks from her. He connected again, more forcefully this time, and sent her skidding across the ground. When she finally stopped, she struggled to get up, gritting her teeth as he approached her. She spoke to him, pleading as he came nearer and nearer.

"Sasuke! Stop! I don't want to fight you! Why are you doing this?"

"You are in my way. You are annoying," he echoed from his youth, coming closer still.

"But I didn't involve myself. I'm not-"

"Then why are you here?" Sakura didn't have an answer. Well, she did: 'Because I love you.'

"You being here is a disadvantage to me," he scowled, "You have no idea what you have given my brother by just simply being here. Not only are you distracting me, you are leverage for him. Do you have any idea what he will do to you?" Actually, she did, but he continued passed his own rhetorical question. "He won't just kill you. He will torture you for days, but really it is just in a blink of an eye." Sakura blinked, her brain trying to find meanings to the words he was saying. Sakura regarded him warily, the words that she was about to ask sounding not right even to herself.

"Are you saying that you killing me...is an act of mercy?" Sasuke's chidori sparkled in his hand, throwing shadows across his face.

"Yes." Sakura smiled, and closed her eyes. She felt it. The pain of his chakra tearing through her body, skin, veins, muscle, ligaments, bone, organs, and back out. There was no living through this.

'Sorry, Naruto. I thought I could release you from your promise. I failed you.'

Sakura slumped over him as he withdrew his hand, and Sasuke laid her down on the ground, turning to face his brother.

Itachi killed him. Simply killed him. He walked over to the pink-haired kunoichi.

"What are we going to do with her?" a member asked. Itachi turned to leave, but he stopped.

But most of all, the thing that made me stay was her hand. It wasn't her eyes, it wasn't her hair. It was her hand...grasping my cloak.

Alright! Whaddaya think? i like it i hope you do too...but i won't know unless i get revieeeeeeeeeeeeeeews!

I'm trying to figure out if this should just be a one shot or a ongoing story. i guess it depends on the responses i get...

if i decide to keep it going, the next chappy should be up soon

-Phishy