As the World Falls Down

The usual disclaimer applies: I don't own Naruto, nor do I recieve any form of gain for my fanfiction.

5-12-08 A/N - Further minor revisions.

Chapter 3

Sakura ran her fingers through her hair, trying to stave off the depression that was setting in. She changed into a clingy spaghetti strap night shirt with matching loose fitting cotton pants. It was so hard to hide from this feeling after the sun went down, and she found herself alone again. She plopped down on her couch, curling around a soft pillow. During the day, she kept herself so busy that she wouldn’t think about what was missing from her life.

At ten years old, she thought she knew what she wanted from life, Sasuke. So much so that she would spend countless hours preening in front of a mirror, trying to impress him and give up her best friend in a rivalry over him.

At twelve, she thought her dreams were coming true when they were put in the same cell. She would have ample time to woo him with her charms.

At thirteen, he had broken her heart. She had vowed to become stronger and to help return him to his rightful place, Konoha. She began training under Tsunade hoping to never have to look at anyone’s back again.

At sixteen, she was privy to top secret information. Orochimaru had changed bodies again, and somehow Sasuke had managed to convince him to wait three more years for his own body. She had changed slightly over the years, but her heart remained loyal to that one person. While other girls were exploring the opposite sex, she was still studying and training. All for one goal: Sasuke.

At nineteen, the news spread like wild-fire. Sasuke had materialized out of nowhere in the Hokage’s office and plopped the gruesome visage of Orochimaru’s decapitated head in the middle of her desk. Tsunade had freaked badly, there was blood all over her papers. Naruto had finally been the one to calm the Hokage. Apparently Sasuke’s ploy to buy his way back into Konoha had been successful, and the citizens welcomed him back, slapping each other on the back and saying they knew all along he was on an undercover mission.

After about six months, once he had settled back into Konoha life, Sasuke had propositioned her. At first Sakura had been overjoyed thinking he was asking her to carry his child. It may not have been the marriage proposal she had always dreamed of, but it was a start. But realization soon sank in as he continued speaking.

He had an elaborate plan concocted to capture Itachi. Naruto was one of last remaining Jinchuuriki hosts who had not yet fallen to the Akatsuki. Itachi was Kyubi’s predetermined host among the Akatsuki. Sasuke had already coerced Naruto to help by being the bait for Itachi, how Sakura didn’t know.

Knowing that she would be unable to stop the two of them, and that they were liable to get badly injured, she agreed to help capture him, if only to patch them back together. Naruto would convince Tsunade that the three of them needed to get away for a small vacation, and none of Konoha would be any the wiser.

He didn’t want to impregnate her; he wanted Sakura to use her medical knowledge to turn Itachi into a living sperm bank. Sasuke wanted to restart the Uchiha clan, and felt that before he killed Itachi, he would milk him for all he was worth, literally.

The mission was a success, although Naruto had needed to push himself to his limit, Sakura had pulled Sasuke out of the line of fire just in time. Having felt the by-blow of one of Naruto’s Kyubi-infused attacks before, she had moved none too soon.

Itachi however had been taken by surprise by the attack, and was barely able to stand after receiving the brunt of it. If not for his quick reflexes and self preservation instincts, the older Uchiha would have been dead.

Sakura went about returning Naruto to his normal state, which had become increasingly difficult over the years, while Sasuke finished the battle with Itachi. After Sasuke apprehended him, Sakura administered a drug to knock him unconscious for two days. They were able to sneak him back into Konoha undetected.

Sasuke had obviously planned everything out, because his large house not only had a small laboratory in the basement, it also contained an interrogation room, and another room which had been converted into a prison cell.

Sakura was unsure how Sasuke had convinced Naruto to keep his mouth shut about Itachi, and wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but months passed and nobody seemed aware of the missing Akatsuki’s presence under their noses.

She had spent weeks researching the best techniques for preserving semen and also artificial insemination. What kinds of machines were needed. What kind of tests to run. The things to watch out for and not to do.

Once Sasuke provided her with all the medical equipment she needed, she began phase two of the plan, collection. This part required more research on her part as well as letting go of something inside that she tried not to examine too closely. This was all done for the man whom she had loved unfailingly since she was ten.

Sakura had tried not to notice the steady stream of women that Sasuke seemed to seduce on a regular basis. He really meant business about the whole clan revival, and already had two illegitimate children on the way.

She tried not to allow the feeling of hurt and betrayal to creep in when she remembered all the years that she had waited and dedicated to him. But sometimes in the dead of night, those feelings came out no matter how much she tried to suppress them, and her mind would not shut down no matter how exhausted she was. She clenched her soft pillow closer to her chest, trying to stave off the loneliness threatening to eat her whole.

When Sakura had gone to Naruto to learn Jiraiya’s legendary spying technique, Naruto had given her a funny look, thinking it was some trick and that she would pummel him. When he realized that she was serious, he conceded, and soon the pair was spying on the women’s bathing quarters. Sakura had wanted to pummel him at first, but in light of learning the technique had agreed. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen what they were looking at when she was in a public bath house anyway.

Naruto was used to how quickly Sakura learned, having trained with her at the academy and also under Kakashi’s tutelage. But he was still amazed when she picked up the technique that had taken him months to master on her first try. His boisterous voice telling her how great she was alerted the women in the bath house to the pair’s presence and they had to flee quickly or suffer a severe beating.

Sakura had quickly put the technique to use, and accompanied with the books she read, quickly filled the gaps in her knowledge about males. She did not understand that experiencing it first hand was a totally different ballgame.

With her newfound knowledge, she felt prepared to do what she had come to do, but when Itachi’s raven eyes had glared murder at her when she approached him, it didn’t stop the trepidation she felt from nearly overwhelming her.

What if he broke free? What if the seals weren’t working? What if’s plagued her nearly causing her to back out of the room. Her other doubts plagued her as well. Would it really be as easy as it looked? Especially if he wasn’t willing? She had never touched a male penis before, what if she used too much pressure? A part of her felt some resentment towards Sasuke at being played like a chess piece to get her to do this for him. He knew he was her weakness and had used it against her.

Thankfully her hand had remained steady, due to countless hours of training them to be, when she moved to Itachi’s side for the first time. His venomous glare would have been the death of her three times over if looks could kill, thankfully they couldn’t. Even more thankfully the bonds held and the seals had drained the majority of his chakra. His untrusting gaze watched as she placed her specimen cup and lube on the table, removing the lid on the specimen cup.

His look momentarily turned incredulous as he realized what she intended to do, and she felt some guilt that she was in essence raping him. The lube splurted onto her rubber gloves and she focused on that rather than him. Replacing the cap became a crucial motion as she tried to delay the inevitable. Spreading the lubrication over the gloves, she turned towards him. When she reached for the hem of his robe, he struggled to stay out of her grasp, but had neither the freedom of movement nor the strength to fight for long.

When she finally grasped his flaccid member she had to control the blood from rushing to her face. She began to run her gloved hand along his length as she had seen done during her spying. Panic started to fill her when he immediately didn’t begin to respond to her touches. She covertly examined his genitals while keeping her expression carefully neutral.

Running her thumb along the bottom where the book said the most nerves were, therefore the most pleasure receptors, she gently smoothed the lube over it and was fascinated when she felt him slowly begin to lengthen and harden under her ministrations.

Always a quick study, she watched his reactions and learned from them. His surprise had turned to anger and finally lust, for his own reasons he had not hidden his expressions from her. She would never forget the look on his face when he came that first time.

What surprised her most was that she felt none of the feelings she had worried she would. The silly romance novels had talked about passion and lust but she felt none of these feelings when handling Itachi so intimately.

That night she cried herself to sleep.

She didn’t blame Sasuke for her lost innocence. She was probably the only nineteen year old virgin in Konoha anyway. With Sasuke’s six year absence, how could he know? What woman in her right mind decided who she wanted to marry at ten and held a flame for him even after he disappeared with little to no hope of return, saving her virginity on the slim to nil chance he would in fact return.

Since he had returned, she had become a tool for Sasuke to use. A means to an end. And it hurt. The ache in her chest made it feel like her heart might burst. Why didn’t he want her? She had become stronger. She was the only person aside from Naruto who had never given up on him, never betrayed him. She had spent the last six years trying to shape herself into a person who could be worth to be his wife. Worthy of his love. So why? Unable and not wanting to control the tears any longer, she allowed them to spill free. Why was it never her that he wanted. She was only ever good enough to look at his back in his eyes.

The worst part was that she felt tainted from handling Itachi in such a familiar way. Tainted! The word rang in her head over and over, spurring a fresh torrent of tears. It took over an hour for her to exhaust herself beyond thought, and she fell asleep on the couch, still gripping the pillow to her chest.