Wind And Fire Part 2

A/N: Chapter 5, dang this fic is getting longer and longer. LMAO! I do want to mention that at the current moment I am switching betas. Believe it or not, this entire fic was supposedly beta read. I got a little lax on re-reading after getting it back from them. So...now I have a new beta, who is very swamped. Now what I do is proof read and spell check the chapters and send them to her. I then post what I have and will edit later. So please forgive any grammar mistakes, they will be corrected. Otherwise it would be a long wait between chapters. I swear I'm not complaining, InuAtashi. ^_^ On to reviews, Archfiend: They aren't on speaking terms, I promise you. I mean, she answers his questions. She's not going to be flat out rude because of the way he's treated by most of the other medics. I don't know...I guess we don't see it the same way. Don't get me wrong, I see your point. As for Naruto, sure why not? Yes, there is an intentional darkness and desperation in the ItacSaku. LOL Wouldn't you say Itachi is starved for attention? A big thank you to all readers. You guys rawk!

xoxoxo-Ani



I'll just go ahead and say it, OOC coming up. -Ani

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Forgotten thoughts of yesterdays

Through my eyes I see the past

Well I don't know I don't know I don't know why

I Believe I Believe I Believe in the truth, from inside

Go away go away go away from me

Leave me alone



Ignorance spreads lies

How much will money buy

Well I'll take my time as I drift and die



Unwanted live my life in shame

Who's to blame for my mistakes



As I drift and die

Drift And Die-Puddle Of Mudd

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Chapter 5

Sanity Slips Away



Temari was the second nin to show up at the gate. The first one was, of all people Naruto. Temari raised her eyebrows and laughed. "Oi! Naruto-kun you passed the test. That's wicked awesome," she said to the blond.



"Temari-chan! I don't know who else is on the team. Do you?" he asked with a grin. He hadn't seen the former Suna nin in awhile.



"Iie. Genma didn't tell me shit about the mission. So man, how was Snow country? You were gone forever. They wouldn't tell any of us if you passed the ANBU test," she grinned at the jounin.



"Yeah, everyone thought I failed. It's all good though," he grinned at Temari. "How's Sasuke doing?" he asked in more serious tone.



Temari looked away for a moment; she didn't know how much she could tell him. "He's stable. I was primary on his case until I got called for this. Shikamaru is on the DL now, ruptured appendix. Go figure," she said hoping the subject change would distract him.



"Can I see him after this mission?"



'Shit,' she thought. No one had ever said no visitors. She couldn't lie to him. "I don't know why you couldn't," she shrugged. "Our other two members are on their way," she said.



Naruto looked at the medic and laughed. It always amazed him how she could sense people by the changes in the wind. "How is Sakura-chan doing? I bet she's really happy that teme's home, right?"



Temari sighed and glanced at the nin that landed behind them. "Not really. I think she has other things drawing her interest at the moment." Her eyes widened as she saw the deer mask hanging from the slender nin's waist.

After they passed the exam Shikamaru told her only Nara clan members wear deer masks. Her eyes widened more as the kunoichi turned and faced her. "Yoshino-san?"



Naruto chuckled at Temari. "Your shutome is on the team. *snort* That's too funny," he said between bursts of laughter.



Yoshino narrowed her eyes at the young jounin. "Hn, I didn't know I would be babysitting a gaki on this mission," she snapped at Naruto. She looked at Temari and gave a quick smile. "Your first real ANBU mission. Hn, I hope you're ready for this, Temari-chan. Are you okay? You're looking a little pale this morning."



"I'm just a little tired. That's all. No offense Yoshino-san, but I didn't know you were an ANBU medic."



"And I'm sure there are quite a few things I don't know about you, dear," Yoshino said, showing Temari the faded ANBU tattoo on her right shoulder. "I've been ANBU since before Shikamaru was born. I don't pull that many missions because I'm needed at the hospital."



Temari looked at her mother-in-law in awe. "Is Shikaku-san ANBU too?" she asked.



Yoshino laughed, "No, he's too much of a lazy ass. How is Shikamaru? I heard he was hurt or something. Genma mentioned it as he was leaving. I didn't have time to check in on him." She looked at her daughter-in-law and narrowed her eyes. Something was off about the normally witty jounin.



"His appendix ruptured and had to be removed. he's okay now." Temari turned away from Yoshino's hard gaze. "Here comes our captain," she said.



The three shinobi groaned when they saw Sai appear in a poof of smoke. Sai gave everyone his usual fake smile. "Who is our captain?" He looked from Naruto to Temari to Yoshino. "I see. It must be you because you are the oldest," he said with a fake smile. The next thing he knew he was flat on his back thanks to Yoshino's left hook.



"You are, baka," Yoshino said. "I was told there would be four nin for this mission. Genma also said the captain would have the map. Do you have the map, baka?" she asked the artist as he was getting up.



Sai nodded and pulled the map out of his shuriken holder.



"That makes you our fearless leader. So lead already," Yoshino snapped at the ink user.



Naruto glanced over at Temari. "Your shutome is mean. Seriously," he muttered.



Temari chuckled and nodded. She loved her mother-in-law dearly, but after years of dealing with a lazy husband and then lazy genius of a son, yeah, she was a little mean. She turned her attention to the ink user as he began to explain the mission.

****



Sakura's eyes snapped open and she looked around the lounge. Her eyes settled on the clock, 5:45am. She groaned as she sat up. She heard the door open and looked over at Shizune, who looked beyond exhausted. "Hey. It's almost over right?" she said to the older jounin.



Shizune frowned and sighed. "Go home for 4 hours or crash here. Temari got sent on an ANBU mission and we're short handed now," she said as the pinkette's smile turned into a frown.



"I'll just stay here I guess. I have spare scrubs in my locker. What are you going to do?"



"I'm on until you are come back," Shizune said with a shrug. "And don't even think about cutting it short. Four hours minimum," she said when Sakura started to object. "Tsunade-sama is going to come in too," she smirked. They both knew she would be way too hung over to show up before 10am.

****



Sakura sighed and headed to her locker for her spare clothes. She decided to sleep in one of the empty rooms near Itachi's room. All of the other rooms were occupied and she wouldn't be bothered at this end of the hallway. On her way back from the locker room she passed Shizune and told her what room she would be in. She hung her clean scrubs in the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed staring at the door. She wasn't fooling herself, she picked this end of the second floor for a reason. She flopped back on the bed and sighed. 'Why me?' she wondered staring up at the ceiling.



Itachi slowly opened his eyes and sat up. He could sense her chakra. He sighed and looked out the window. He wondered when she would come to him again. He hoped soon. She was very close. He considered breaking the barrier jutsu to find her, but he knew that would not help his cause. If he was moved to the prison then he wouldn't get to see her at all. In the end he settled on the dark corner and sat waiting for her to come to him. She would come, she just had to.



Sakura tried to sleep, but her mind had other ideas. Every time she closed her eyes her her mind would shift into high gear. She turned on her side and looked at the door again. It would be easy, deactivate the barrier and replace it. Simple and fast. Until someone noticed her chakra enforcing the barrier. 'Unless...' she thought, 'I was the last one to put the barrier up.' Her lips curved into a smile. She giggled to herself. She'd noticed as she walked by the door to Itachi's room. No one had replaced the barrier. She shook her head. "What the fuck was that?" she said out loud. She blushed at some of the thoughts that had been racing through her mind. She got out of bed and put on her sandals. She needed something to eat. She looked down at her clothes; she was wearing a black sports bra, black fishnet shirt and her red scrub pants. The scrubs always rode low on her hips no matter how tight she tied them. She decided the hell with it, she was going to the medic's lounge as is. As she passed the nurse's station Ino caught her attention.



"Woo forehead! Looking pretty hot in your new take on Konoha hospital's uniforms," Ino said grinning at Sakura.

Sakura rolled her eyes at her best friend and laughed. She pulled her pants up again. "I swear these pants won't stay up. Do you have this problem with the new scrub pants?" she asked the blond.



"It's because you don't have any hips, girl," Ino said shaking her hips at the pinkette.



Sakura wiggled her hips. "I have hips, Ino pig."



"Then why are you still holding your scrubs up?"



"I'm off duty right now, piglet."



"That's no excuse for holding your scrubs up, forehead," Ino laughed.



Sakura rolled her eyes and took a swing at her friend. The pants slipped down even lower on her hips. "I hate one-size-fits-all," she muttered pulling her scrubs up.



Ino giggled as Sakura re-tied her scrubs again. "Nice underwear, forehead. Don't go into ICU like that, you're bound to give someone a heart attack."



"I won't. Want to grab a bite in the lounge with me?" Sakura asked Ino.



"Oh joy! I just love vending machine food. Not even, forehead. Besides I don't go on break for another two hours," she said with an apologetic shrug.



Sakura glared at the vending machine and finally decided on a granola bar and a bottle of orange-pineapple juice. She walked back down to her temporary crash pad and paused before opening the door. She looked over her shoulder at the door to Itachi's room. It was like she had no control over herself as her hands flew through the signs to deactivate the jutsu. She touched her palm to the door and the barrier disappeared. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

****



Yoshino watched as her yome turned green and ran to the bushes again. She cocked an eyebrow at Naruto and called him over. "Let me ask you something, gaki. What's Temari's problem? She's a damn medic, this should not make her sick," she said waving her hand at the dead rouge nin on the ground.



Naruto looked down at the body and then back up at Shikamaru's mom. He still couldn't get over the fact he was on a team with his friend's mom. He laughed and then looked down again. He'd definitely seen worse. "I don't know, Yoshino-san. She's as tough as they come. She barely made a sound when we moved her to Konoha after she fell out of the tree. Maybe it was something she ate?"



"Maybe, gaki, but I doubt it," she said folding her arms over her chest. She had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

****



"Temari? Why are you back here?" Sai asked the gagging kunoichi.



Temari rinsed her mouth with water and spit. "What the fuck, Sai? Do you have a vomit fetish or something?" she growled at the ROOT member.



"Who would have vomit fetish?" Sai asked with his normal spaced out look. "You are so strange sand girl."



"Oh, you're one to talk. You wrote the book on strange. I don't know any other reason to watch someone puke. Do you need something?" she asked glaring.



Sai looked at her with concern. "The others want to head back now. Are you okay?" the artist asked Temari.



Temari took a long drink of water. "Yeah. Breakfast did not agree with me today, but I'm cool now," she said with a forced smile. The emotionless jounin wouldn't know the difference anyway.



Sai gave her a suspicious look. "Hn, if you say so," he grunted as he walked away.



Temari took a deep breath and tried to think of a reason she was so sick. She could only think of one reason and it wasn't a good thing in her mind. In fact, it scared the crap out of her. She forced a smile and went to join her team.

****



Sasuke woke up and looked over at the dark haired medic taking his vitals. He sighed. Temari still hadn't come back to work. He wondered what she saw in Shikamaru. He waited until Shizune finished. "Where's Temari?" he asked.



Shizune giggled at the hint of desperation in his voice. "She's on an ANBU mission," she told the younger Uchiha. His constant concern over Temari was amusing to her. It was almost like he had a crush on the wind user. She laughed again when his face fell at the news.



"Hn," he huffed, turning away from Shizune. "Let me ask you something. Would you move to another village to be with the one you loved?"



She almost doubled over laughing. Was he serious? Was he really trying to carry on a conversation with her? "Well, some people do some strange things for love...I suppose, if I was really in love," she smiled at the raven haired boy, who looked confused.



"Hn, am I allowed to have visitors?"



Shizune looked up from her book. "As far as I know. Why?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.



Sasuke tried to glare. "Why hasn't Naruto been to see me?" he asked looking away. He felt the tightness building in his chest.



"He just got back from Snow and had to head out on an ANBU mission. I suppose you'll see him before too long." Shizune picked up her book and started to read again. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see him frowning.



"Dobe is ANBU?" he asked with a slight wheeze.



"Hai. We want Sakura to take the test, but she won't. Says she likes being a medic," she said frowning at the wheezing.



"Hn," he wheezed leaning forward to breathe easier. "I can't...get...any air," he gasped and wheezed. He tried to take a deep breath and went into a coughing fit.



Shizune threw her book down and summoned her chakra to her hands. She forced her chakra into his lungs to dilate his bronchial passages. She looked into Sasuke's scared eyes. "It's okay. Calm down," she told him a soothing voice. The boy would never admit just how scared he was, but she knew. She felt his heart rate slowing down to a normal pace and started to withdraw her chakra. That's when she noticed more chakra points burning out. Only this time they were to his lungs. She forced her chakra into them and strengthened the points. She relaxed his muscles and leaned him back against the bed. She watched his eyes drift closed and picked her book up. She flipped through the pages trying to find her place. She glanced over at Sasuke and wondered how long it would be before those points burned out completely.

****



Itachi's breath hitched when she opened the door. He stood up slowly and looked at the pink haired medic. She wasn't wearing her regular uniform. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the exposed skin of her stomach. Her pants were riding dangerously low on her slender hips. His fingers twitched wanting to feel her skin. He waited for her to finish activating the barrier jutsu. "Sakura," he said in a low voice. "You came. You didn't want to, but you came anyway."



Sakura turned around and was caught in his onyx gaze. "Itachi..." she whispered as she watched him walk towards her. "I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she said looking up at him.



He looked her up and down. "You are not in uniform. You know there isn't anything wrong with me." He touched her fishnet covered shoulder. "You are off duty, and you still came," he said running his hand down her arm making her shiver. He looked down into her jade eyes, brushing his lips over hers. She gasped softly and he caught her mouth in a kiss. "You look tired. You should get some rest," he whispered in her ear.



She looked into his dark eyes and saw his concern for her. "Maybe...I just had to..." she trailed off as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. She could feel her scrubs slip down a few more centimeters, but at this point she didn't care. Her fingers tangled in his dark hair and she felt his hands come to rest on her hips. Her inner self was screaming, but she figured she was going to hell anyway...Might as well have fun on the way down. When he pulled away from the kiss, she looked up at him in confusion. "Doshite?" she asked, her eyes full of questions.



Itachi sighed, he couldn't ruin her life. He could sense her inner turmoil. "I've said it before, I don't deserve anything from you. You should be with someone who can share your life. Not someone who can destroy everything you've worked so hard for," he said staring into her jade eyes. He saw the tears well up and looked away. He didn't want to hurt her, but unfortunately it was exactly what he was doing. He started to walk away from her and she grabbed his wrist. He looked at the small hand clutching his arm.



"Don't," she whispered, still holding his wrist. "Who's going to find out?" Sakura looked up at him and had the sudden urge to laugh. She know just how irrational she was being. She let out a nervous laugh. She suddenly remembered something Kakashi told her once. It was in response to her saying she was going insane; he told her if she knew she was going insane, then she probably wasn't. "I'm going insane," she said out loud. She let go of his wrist and smacked herself on the forehead. 'Ugh, why did I say that out loud?' she groaned to herself.



Itachi looked down at the jounin and chuckled. "Are you?" The corners of his mouth twitched. He never smiled much, but when she was around him he found himself doing it more and more. He brushed his fingers through her cotton candy colored hair and pulled her close to him. He kissed the top of her head, breathing in her scent. "It would appear that we both are going insane together," he whispered in her ear, nipping her earlobe.



"Itachi," she purred against his throat, making him shiver. "Insanity is way more fun if you have company," she said in a throaty whisper, smiling when he groaned.



"Is it now?" He looked down at the beautiful kunoichi in his arms. He knew at that moment she would probably do anything for him. She smiled up at him and nipped at his neck. "Sakura," he said in a low voice. "Are you sure you know what you are getting into?" He watched her nod and he sighed again. "Not yet. You do need to rest. If you are off duty and still at the hospital that must mean you are supposed to be sleeping, yes?" He let his hand slide down to her bare skin and felt her shiver. He kissed her again and let his fingers brush her bare hip. "Would you like to sleep in here?"



Sakura looked up into his burning onyx eyes. "Hai, but you have to sleep in the bed too," she purred.



He shrugged and sat on the bed. "As you wish," he said watching her take off her fishnet shirt and settle on the bed. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept in the same bed with a woman or anyone else for that matter. He heard her giggle as she snuggled close to him. "What's so amusing?"



She turned over on her side to face him. "If you start calling me Princess Buttercup, I'll hurt you," she giggled.



Okay, now he was confused. "Nani?" he asked.



She giggled again and nipped at his neck. "I think you unknowingly quoted a movie. The Princess Bride," she breathed in his ear.



"Can't say I've seen that one. I haven't seen a movie since before I left Konoha," he said, his breath hitching as she sprinkled kisses along his jaw. "Sakura," he groaned and she moved down his neck to his chest. He ran his hand down her side, stopping at her hip. He ran his hand across her lower back, making her gasp and shiver. He pulled her closer and brushed his lips over her shoulder.



Sakura shivered at the feeling of his mouth on her shoulder. She looked up at him. Running her hand down his chest, she brought her mouth to his again. She nipped at his bottom lip. She felt his hand slide up the middle of her back and over to her side. She arched up to him and moaned against his mouth. Her hand slipped below the waistband of his pants, her fingertips barely brushing his abdomen. She smiled when he moaned. She felt his hand brush the side of her breast. She felt a spark of lust shoot through her. They both sensed the approaching chakra at the same time. "Fuck," she muttered, masking her chakra and getting out of the bed. She grabbed her shirt and slipped into the tiny bathroom near the door a split second before the barrier came down. She couldn't believe who came in the room. It was Ino carrying a tray of food. As soon as the blond passed she slipped out the door unnoticed.

****



Temari could feel her mother-in-law's gaze on her. She turned and looked at her. "Yoshino-san, is something wrong?" she asked. She saw Yoshino's eyes narrow as she walked closer to her.



She stopped in front of Temari and gave her a hard look. "You tell me, Temari-chan. Is there something wrong?" she said in a low voice. This was a private conversation; the older kunoichi didn't want the other two nin to hear anything.



Temari tried to hold her gaze, she really did. Finally she looked away. "Iie, there's nothing wrong," she mumbled.



Yoshino narrowed her eyes at her yome. "Usotsuki." She summoned chakra to her fingertips and held them up. "Let's see what's making you so sick this morning," she said placing her hand on Temari's arm. She let her chakra flow into Temari's system and closed her eyes. It didn't take the experienced medic long to find the problem. She withdrew her chakra. Her eyes widened and she looked at Temari. "Why didn't you tell Genma? You could of refused the mission," she hissed angrily. She looked up into her yome's green eyes, which were filling with tears. Her anger dissolved at the fear she could see in her eyes. "You didn't know," she said softly, hugging her. "Shh, don't cry. ANBU don't cry on mission. Besides, you don't want the gaki or the baka over here too."



Temari took a deep breath. "Gomen ne," she said in a shaky voice. Her shutome patted her shoulder and let her go. "I just figured it out this morning," she whispered. She couldn't looked Yoshino in the eyes.



"There are two people you need to tell as soon as we get back. I would hope you plan on telling my son first," Yoshino said with a half smile. "Tsunade will keep you on hospital duty. Temari-chan, are you not happy about this?"



Temari wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek. "I don't...know," she mumbled glancing up at her shutome. "It wasn't...," she trailed off.



Yoshino laughed. "I'll let you in on a secret, dear. There are very few kunoichi who plan for it to happen. It'll all work out. You'll see." They both looked up when they heard Naruto yelling at Sai. "Let's go before the gaki kills the baka," she squeezed Temari's shoulder.

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A/N: Usotsuki-liar; Yome-daughter-in-law; Shutome-mother-in-law. Thankies to Carol and her mom for the words for daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. -Ani