Until I Was His

My temples ached; the relentless pounding flooded my consciousness with blind, throbbing pain. For a moment, it paused, my head lulling forward as I retched out the remnants of my empty stomach. The dry heaving finally ceased and my whole body shuddered, the agony exploding and ripping me in half. My breaths came in shaky gasps as I struggled to control the treacherous bile rising to my throat.

Medical instincts kicked in, having being drilled into my very soul for seven long years, and I deeply inhaled in the dank, stale air – filled with so much darkness and death I almost choked. The calming aura of healing chakra flowed through my veins and cooled the burning inferno roaring in my head, but soon, far too soon, the current trickled empty.

I pushed down the panic looming threateningly in my mind. My chakra reserves had never been so low.

"Sakura." A voice: deep, masculine, emotionless. And familiar.

My eyes didn't open right away. Instead I focused my other senses. I was in an upright position, though most of my weight was straining against the metal chains cutting off the circulation in my wrists, my body slumping forward pitifully. There was the clammy, moisture imbued smell of a mouldy cell and a thickness of the air always accompanied by darkness.

I waited a moment. The silence was almost excruciatingly heavy, saturated in tension.

Soon enough curiosity shoved me roughly forwards and my eyelids fluttered open. It was dark, there being hardly a difference than when my eyes were closed, and it took a minute to adjust. I was exhausted, I realised, and didn't have the strength to lift my head. Instead I stared groggily at the stone floor.

The man who had spoken was silent, the room so quiet it would be almost eerily empty if it wasn't for the sinister presence which seemed to be steadily suffocating, leeching, any semblance of will from me.

And he hadn't even spoken yet.

My lips were cracked and parched from the lack of water and I quickly moistened them with a flicker of my tongue. "Who are you?" I rasped, coughing to clear the dryness of my throat.

There was no answer. Instead, warm fingers held my chin and lifted my head slightly upwards, none too gently. Before I could really look at my capturer, a cool glass of water was held to my lips and I greedily sucked it up. A satisfied sigh escaped my lips.

Feeling slightly more confident now that the immediate threat of dehydration was gone, I flexed my numbing fingers, and said, louder this time, "Well?"

The index finger and thumb gripping my chin strengthened and roughly shoved my head upwards until I was facing the man. Eye to eye.

Crap.

Time itself seemed to pause. No, it was as if time suddenly ceased to exist. It was only the two of us, suspended in a swathe of nothingness, the kind of nothing you would see if you stuck your head through the end of the universe. My wrists were still caught, and my body hung listlessly in shock. He stood haughty yet impassive before me, as if viewing his hand of cards at poker, knowing he will win yet having to stay emotionless. Jet black hair was tied messily at the nape and Akatsuki cloak was a river of swirling shadows. And his eyes, oh god his eyes: swirling pools of the deepest crimson, pinwheels darker than the depths of hell. Bottomless, unfathomable…

Uchiha Itachi.

The understanding hit me like a punch to the gut and I struggled to further myself away from the most notorious criminals in all Five Great Shinobi Nations. And, to me, the most dangerous.

"Do you remember me, Sakura?" he purred, rolling my name across his tongue, low and menacing. His fingers traced delicately along my jaw line, brushing a strand of pale pink hair out of my eyes.

My heart thumped hard and fast in my chest, so loud I'm sure he could hear it. Fear (or was it adrenaline?) pumped through my veins and Itachi's lips curved into a smirk, as if he could sense it. He probably could, predator that he was. Desperately, I tried to twist away from his penetrating gaze, only to find I was stuck. Of course I was. All it took was a second.

I was helpless, strung like an animal for slaughter.

"There is no one coming to save you. Neither the kyuubi nor my foolish brother knows where you are," he murmured, gently caressing my cheek. "You are alone."

I shook my head, as if doing so would rid my mind of his poisonous words. I knew what he was trying to do. Break me. Finish off the job he started.

"However," he continued, his fingers trailing down to my suddenly parched lips. He tapped them thoughtfully. "I am not an unreasonable man." His smirk grew more pronounced. "As you well know."

Anger flared and before I could curb my temper, my spit was already dribbling down his cheek. "Shove it up your ass, Itachi," I growled, but the dramatic effect was lost as my voice shook at his name, betraying my terror.

A flicker of rage passed across his mangekyou eyes before he emotionlessly wiped the saliva off his face and leant towards me. I subconsciously licked my lips in preparation, our mouths inches apart. He paused and whispered, "You do not want to get on my bad side, Haruno-san."

I laughed humourlessly, a short, sharp sound. "Back to last name basis, are we?" I grimaced. "I'm not some slave to do your bidding, Uchiha-san. That night... haven't you figured it out yet? It meant nothing. It was a ploy, a distraction. And, as you well know, it worked."

I won't lie. I was absolutely terrified. But the sadistic jerk needed to get some of his own medicine and being the one giving it to him felt damn good. But as his lips thinned angrily, the simmering headache which plagued my temples increased tenfold and I sagged tiredly, my weight straining against the chains.

Suddenly we were back in my tiny, damp cell. Itachi had released me from his Tsukuyomi, and I felt lucky. He hadn't tortured me this time. Well, at least, it was not the usual mental torment the powerful genjutsu was used for.

Silence reigned, but I didn't think for one second that he had finished with me. Uchiha don't know how to lose.

I chewed my lower lip nervously, a habit I had picked up over the years.

As soon as I felt the gentle touch of his fingers twirling through stray strands of my pink hair I jerked away. The metallic tang of blood trickled from my sliced lip and the chains on my right wrist jangled as I attempted to wipe it away.

So fast I didn't see him move, Itachi's thumb hovered over my lips before swiping across them. "You look good in red," he murmured, before his mouth descended over mine. It wasn't a gentle kiss, by any means: merely a tool to assert his obvious authority. His hand supported the back of my neck and he quickly deepened the kiss. Unthinkingly I leant towards his touch, like a moth towards a flame. It was passionate, almost loving, even, no matter how ridiculous that sounded, and unlike anything I thought I knew of the man.

Suddenly, he pulled away and stared down at me emotionlessly. My breaths came in ragged gasps, and, as I realised what had happened, disgust twinged in my stomach. I ripped my eyes away from his, glaring at the unsympathetic stone floor. What I doing? Who was I to play with fire?

"Nothing?" he said, gripping my neck painfully and forcing me to look him in the eye. "Then why didn't you pull away?"

The self-same words I uttered all those weeks ago, when the current situation was very much reversed. Poetic irony at its best. Now, I was not in control. Now, Naruto and Sasuke weren't at my back. I had hardly managed to keep my dignity, something I believed was always to be mine, and mine alone.

It seemed as if Itachi not only controlled my freedom, but my very self.

A single, treacherous tear rolled down my cheek and he smirked, as if this was what he wanted all along. And it probably was. Why else would he have released the genjutsu?

Itachi paused at the door. Without turning around, he said, "Here, you are alone. Here, you are mine. Do not forget it."

And as the heavy slam of the closed door echoed heartlessly against the cold stone walls, I knew it was only a matter of time…

A/N: Alright! First Sakura/Itachi fanfic.

Uhm, please forgive any and all mistakes because, well, it's like 12am and it took me like an hour to write this so I'm kinda tired :P

Anyways, this is a one shot that might be turned into a chapter-story thingo. Basically I just started writing and didn't really know where it was going to end up ... and it ended up here. (Also sorry if there's any confusion about the 'that night... the past' references. If this is turned into a chapter fic I would go into detail about their previous encounter etcetc but in this one I just wanted a dark-yet-strangely-passionate Itachi and a strong-yet-confused Sakura.)

So yeah, just needed something to get back into the writing groove. Other fics with be updated within the month (hopefully, hehe).

Read, enjoy & review as always :)

- E