Kiss The Rain

A/N: Well, let's all clap for my poor beta. Because of certain blocks in my writing, she has had to wait paiently for me to hurry my backside up and write, but it has not been easy. Unlike me, she actually gets things done fast and had this back to me in less than 24 hours.

The tension is now beginning and will only grow as time goes on. But, who doesn't love a bit of sexual tension, right? Anyways, please read and review. I need them, I crave them, and most of all, it makes inner kogasangel happy, happy.

Enjoy!!!

~!~

When they finally stopped for the night, Sakura sank down to the ground with a groan. Her feet hurt, and she knew that she was going to have to be really careful in healing them. Because she had run without footwear, the skin on her feet was sore and bleeding in some spots.

Itachi watched as Sakura fired up what little chakra she had left and began to heal herself. He placed his bedroll down before glancing over at Kisame, who was quietly muttering to himself as he unrolled his own bedding.

When Kisame looked up, Itachi gave a sharp nod over to Sakura; when he nodded, Itachi took off, leaving the shark and the tired kunoichi alone. Kisame was quiet as he watched the last bits of her chakra flicker, and then she sighed.

“Well, I’m done for,” she muttered, closing her eyes wearily.

However, she soon felt hot breath against her neck, her eyes flew open and she found herself staring right at Kisame. The shark nin shoved a couple of rolls of bandages at her, snapping, “Wrap your feet in these. The blood is driving me crazy.”

Sakura frowned, but then nodded in understanding. Of course the blood was driving him crazy. Blood attracted sharks, and from the way he was staring at her feet, she knew that it would be only a matter of time before he snapped.

Once her feet were wrapped, Kisame seemed to relax as he said, “Itachi went to grab some food. Make yourself comfy, Princess. It’s going to be a while before he gets back.”

She watched as the shark nin sat down across from her and closed his eyes. For a moment, she thought that perhaps he was going to go to sleep. But when she moved, he said, “If you are thinking about running, don’t bother. My shoulder is a lot better off than your feet. And when I caught you, I’d make sure that you understood the real meaning of the word ‘pain.’”

Scowling over at him, she snapped, “I wasn’t going to run off. I’m trying to get comfortable, you asshole.”

The shark merely snorted and quieted down. But now Sakura could not help but wonder just how long it was going to take Konoha to get moving and get her the hell out of there.

When she settled down, she allowed her eyes to close, taking in a deep breath to calm herself. As she began to relax, she could not help but worry about how Naruto was going to take the news of her abduction.

~!~

“What do you mean ‘we’re going to wait’?” Naruto bellowed, not caring that he was screaming at the hokage. “How can you just sit there knowing that Sakura is with that madman?”

Tsunade’s eyebrows twitched, but she calmly said, “Sakura is more than capable of taking care of herself. Right now, I am more concerned about keeping you away from the Akatsuki. More than likely, they took Sakura as a way to lure you out, and that is just not going to happen.”

Naruto growled loudly, but froze when Shizune opened the door. “Lady Tsunade, the message has been sent.”

Tsunade nodded, and then glanced over at Naruto, who was now flanked by Kakashi and Sai. At his questioning look, she shrugged.

“It is no secret that Sakura and Gaara have formed some sort of friendship,” she explained. “I sent a message to him and let him know that Sakura has been abducted. I suspect that we will see him within a day or two.”

Naruto’s lip curled into a sneer. Oh, he wouldn’t want to be the one on the receiving end of Gaara’s temper. Kankuro once told him that Gaara’s selfish streak had not completely disappeared. He simply switched his focus to other things. But the fact still remained that Gaara protected what he saw as his, and Naruto knew that Gaara saw Sakura as a friend.

He almost pitied the Akatsuki. Almost, but not quite.

~!~

When Itachi returned, he found Kisame poking at a fire. Glancing around, he saw that the kunoichi was tucked into Kisame’s bedding. When he turned his gaze toward the shark, the other man shrugged.

“You know, when she’s asleep, I almost forget what a raving bitch she can be,” he said, and then motioned towards the bags that Itachi held. “I hope one of those has our dinner in it. I’m starving.”

He handed one of the bags over to his partner, and then walked over to where Sakura slept. He set the bags down beside her before moving to sit across from Kisame.

After several minutes, the shark said, “She fell asleep sitting up. I tried to get her to wake up long enough for her to unroll your bedding and get into it, but she wouldn’t budge. So instead of messing with your shit, I put her in mine.”

The shark looked put-out, but after a couple of minutes and a full belly, he sat back and shook his head. “So, are we heading straight for the base, or do we have to stop somewhere else?” he asked.

“We will be heading straight for the base,” Itachi murmured, his eyes upon Sakura’s slumbering form. “We are already behind schedule.”

Kisame nodded and then looked over his shoulder at Sakura. Before he could figure out just how in the hell he was going to fit in his bedding with the blanket-hogging kunoichi, Itachi solved the problem. He stood up, unrolling his own bedding before moving over to the kunoichi and gently lifting her from Kisame’s bedding.

“So, where in the hell are you going to sleep?” Kisame drawled, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively as he turned his eyes to the young woman in his partner’s arms.

Itachi simply turned away, settling the kunoichi within his own bedding before turning to look at his partner. “We leave at dawn,” he said, his tone holding no room for argument. Then he turned and moved to sit a few feet away from the pink-haired woman.

Kisame nodded, walked to his bedding, and frowned. Itachi had left the bags by his bedding, so he decided to see what they held. As he pulled out the contents, he noticed that his partner’s eyes were upon him. He pulled out a pair of sandals, pants, and a shirt, all black in color. Since they were too small to fit Itachi, the shark could only surmise that they were for the pink-haired terror.

Snorting, he pushed the clothing back into the bags and brought them over to where the girl slept before saying, “Her feet are a mess. Even now I can smell the blood.”

Itachi’s eyes narrowed, a small frown creasing his lips. If the girl could not run, then they would have to carry her. He watched as Kisame scented the air once more before turning back to his bedding and quietly slipping inside.

Itachi’s eyes turned back to the girl, and he took in a deep breath. He should have known that this was going to happen. Ever since that fateful day, he had been off balance, and he just could not seem to get back on track.

But with her immobile, she could not run off. At least one thing went right.

~!~

“Gaara, a message has arrived for you,” Kankuro announced as he opened the door. His younger brother looked up and gave him a look that told him to hurry up and read it.

Rolling his eyes, Kankuro unrolled the scroll. He scanned the document before whistling softly through his teeth. Temari, who was also waiting to hear what the scroll said, snapped, “Out with it, idiot.”

Raising his eyes from the scroll, he shook his head and calmly said, “Nope. This is something for Gaara to read.” He set the scroll on the desk before calmly leaving the office, closing the door behind him, and then running like hell down the hallway.

Temari listened as her brother’s frantic footsteps faded away, and then turned toward Gaara. The color drained from her face as she watched the young kazekage’s eyes darken with rage, his mouth lifting in a smile that meant death for those who stood against him.

The last time he wore that smile was the day he and Uzumaki Naruto fought, when Shukaku was allowed to roam free.

Someone was going to die a horrible death, and she prayed that it wasn’t her.

~!~

Sakura frowned as they continued to run through the forest. Because her feet were still in bad shape, she was now on Itachi’s back, and she had been given a stern warning from both him and Kisame about trying to escape or cause harm to Itachi.

Of course, she knew that he had already scanned her with those eyes of his, seeing that she didn’t have any chakra to call upon even if she wanted to escape. It happened at times; and because of the earlier fight with the shark, her escape attempt, and then her pathetic attempt to heal her feet, she was still drained.

They were quiet for several hours, and then Sakura couldn’t take it anymore. She tightened her arms around Itachi’s neck. He stiffened, as if waiting for her to attempt to choke him. But she simply leaned forward, her lips close to his ear so that he could hear her, before asking, “How much longer until we stop?”

His eyes closed as a small shiver raced through his body at the contact from her lips upon his ear. He shook his head to clear his mind of such unbecoming thoughts before turning his head toward her.

“We will stop within the hour,” he replied, and then turned his attention back in front of him. He felt the hot rush of her breath against the skin of his neck as she settled down, laying her head upon his shoulder.

Kisame watched as the kunoichi leaned forward, hearing her question, though he missed his partner’s reply. Whatever it was satisfied her, and he watched as she relaxed against Itachi’s back. It was quite amusing to see his normally composed partner being the one to carry the hostage. He was the one who normally did the carrying, because when people saw him, they usually either shit their pants before passing out from fright, or they did as they were told and didn’t kick up a fuss.

When they did stop, Itachi allowed the young woman to slide from his back, and then said, “We will rest for an hour and then continue.” He opened his pack, handed Sakura a couple of apples, and then frowned.

“How long will it take for your chakra to replenish?” he asked, and watched Sakura shrug.

“It depends,” she replied, glaring at Kisame, who was watching them with interest. “As long as I don’t have to use any chakra unnecessarily, then I should have most of it, if not all, back by morning.”

Itachi gave a sharp nod and then turned to Kisame. “We are about two days away from headquarters,” he said, and then turned to look over at Sakura. “We cannot have her injured. Leader would be most displeased.”

Snorting, Kisame asked, “Since when do you care what Leader thinks? We all know that you do things your way, and that Leader doesn’t care how we get the job done, as long as it gets done.”

Turning, Itachi said, “He wants to test her. He will be put out if she is not at the top of her game.”

Kisame turned to look at Sakura and frowned. Arrogant as he was, Itachi was right. Leader’s interest in the girl was most likely born of the fact that she shook off the mangekyo, and therefore, he would probably want to see the kunoichi and Itachi square off. But this time, he wanted to watch as the girl broke free.

Suddenly, he understood Itachi’s attitude. Their leader was going to use the girl to humiliate Itachi by having her break free of the mangekyo in front of the other Akatsuki members. It would be a perfect way for the leader to show the other members that Itachi was not so powerful.

Frowning, he had to wonder if the kunoichi was aware of just how precarious her and Itachi’s situation was.
~!~

“If you fight me, you will lose,” he said, and gave her a lazy grin. Sakura’s head cocked to the side, and she frowned at the lack of intensity in his tone.

Standing up and finally noticing that they were standing in the training fields in Konoha, she looked back over at the young man and retorted, “Perhaps it will be you who loses.”

He smiled at her, and then let loose a soft chuckle. “Perhaps,” he murmured, and then walked over to her, allowing his hand to fall upon her head. “Do you remember what your sensei taught you?” he asked.

“Lady Tsunade?” Sakura replied, but when he shook his head, she said, “Kakashi.”

She watched as he gave a short nod and she shook her head. “He taught us lots of things,” she responded, her brow wrinkling in concentration.

“Look underneath the underneath,” Itachi told her, and then sighed. “Under every stone lies a worm. If you find the worm, then you have found the truth of what you seek. It is a lesson that all shinobi learn.”

For a few moments, they stood in silence. But then he said, “You will never have to fear my hand, no matter what I say. But there are those who would seek to use you against me, and I cannot allow them to see any sort of weakness.”

“I don’t understand.” Sakura whispered, and then felt the air grow colder when he replied.

“You will soon enough.”

~!~

They had stopped for the night, and it was clear to her that she was too comfortable in Itachi’s presence. The fact that she had slept so soundly and didn’t even wake up told her that she was relaxing around him, and that didn’t sit well with her.

“Hey,” Kisame’s rough voice said, breaking her out of her thoughts. “You’d better eat up. Once we get started in the morning, we are not stopping until dusk.”

“Where is he?” she asked, and frowned when the shark shrugged.

“He’ll be back,” Kisame said, and then leaned back against a tree as he gazed at her speculatively. “How did you break out of it? Did Itachi’s little bastard of a brother teach you how to get out of it?”

Sakura barked out a rough laugh and shook her head. “Sasuke doesn’t exactly like people close to him, especially me,” she said, and then turned her attention to her feet. As she peeled off the bandages from her sore appendages, she said, “I don’t know how I do it.”

The shark watched as the girl summoned her chakra to her hands and began to heal her feet. He lifted an eyebrow when she sighed with relief and her face relaxed from its grimace. But when her chakra flickered out, he smirked.

“Guess that’s it for tonight, huh, Princess?” he jeered, laughing until something hit him upside the head. Glancing down, he saw an apple lying next to him. He picked it up and glared over at her.

He allowed a vicious grin to cross his lips and cocked his arm back. He knew full well that he would not have the same power with this arm as he would with his broken arm, but he didn’t care. He threw the apple at the girl, watching as it got close to her before a hand reached out and caught it.

Itachi’s eyes were pure red as he calmly handed the apple back to Sakura. Looking over at Kisame, he gave a sharp nod and watched as his partner stood up. Both men shot Sakura a glance that warned her not to even think about leaving and then turned to walk towards the woods.

Suddenly, Kisame was hit from behind. When he turned around to look at Sakura, her face was a mask of pure innocence. Turning back around, Kisame heard a soft squishing sound, and looked down to find that he had stepped on the apple that Itachi had given back to Sakura.

Little bitch.

~!~

“So, they are close,” the man murmured, and watched as the younger man nodded. “Surely one small kunoichi could not be so problematic that it has taken them this long to reach us. I wonder if we should send another team out to fetch them.”

Pein smirked. “Itachi said that the girl received some injury to her feet, and that is what has slowed them down,” he said, and then sighed. “I will enjoy seeing him fail.”

“You are so eager to see Itachi fail, but what will you do if he does not?” the man asked, curious. “After all, Itachi has surprised us before, so why not again?”

Pein glanced up and was slightly taken aback when he realized that the man had moved closer. He narrowed his eyes, but calmly replied, “He will fail. That girl has already proven that she can break free. The fact that he admitted it tells me that he, too, knows that he will fail.”

The man moved away from the large desk, and then sighed. “To throw off the mangekyo, she must be very strong willed,” he murmured to himself. “However, I will reserve my judgment until I see with my own eyes just how strong she is. If she can beat Itachi, then perhaps we need to think about retaining her for our own agenda.”

“So now you want to keep her,” Pein said, and shook his head. “What if she refuses?”

The man chuckled. “Well, then we show her the error of her ways.”

Pein smiled and sat back down. Perhaps this was going to be more fun than he had originally anticipated.

~!~

“So, he wasn’t pleased,” Kisame said, and then shook his head. “I’m not surprised. What’s going to happen to the girl?”

Itachi gave a slight shrug. “That is for the leader to decide,” he said, and then turned to head back toward camp. He ignored Kisame’s grunt of frustration, not stopping until he stood in the middle of the camp site.

Kisame’s growl vibrated throughout the forest before he snapped, “Where in the fuck did she go?”

Itachi’s eyes scanned the area, and he allowed a soft sigh to escape his lips.

Kisame sniffed the air and then smirked. “Her feet are bleeding,” he said and then pointed toward the west. “She went that way, and has not gotten very far.”

~!~

Sighing, Sakura slid her aching feet into the cool water. She lowered her head until her forehead rested against her knees, and she could not help but wonder what her friends were doing at the moment. Poor Naruto was probably scared for her safety, and she could almost bet that he was doing everything that he could to get to her.

But knowing her sensei, it was almost a sure bet that the female hokage would hold off on a rescue attempt.

“It’s clear to me that Uchiha Itachi has become quite taken with you,” Tsunade said, her honey-colored eyes staring up at her student. “I am almost certain that he will make a play for you. Should he succeed, you are to go with him without a fight. Of course, you will have to be convincing, so I would suggest that if you are injured, you should not heal yourself right away. The Akatsuki need not know that your chakra reserves run deeper than most shinobi.”

“And when he does capture me, what am I supposed to do? What if he tries to kill me?” she asked, her green eyes wide and her voice slightly high.

Tsunade laughed. “If he wanted you dead, you would not be standing here before me. No, you hold some sort of fascination for that man. Until we can figure out exactly what it is, you will have to simply handle the situation on your own for a while,” she replied, standing and walking over to her student.

Smiling fondly down at Sakura, the blonde sannin said, “In every woman’s life, there will be one special man with whom she forms an undeniable and unbreakable bond. When I was younger, I had thought that my special man was Dan. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the one who my heart cried for was the last person I would have ever expected.”

Sakura cocked her head to the side. “Who is it?” she asked, curious.

The blonde smiled and shook her head. “It’s not important. But I have a feeling that the bond that you have always wished for with Sasuke has been formed with Itachi. If it is as I suspect, then Itachi is the very last person you have to fear. Of course, this is all just a hunch.”

A hunch. She was betting her life on some stupid hunch that her sensei had, and now she was stuck in the middle of the woods with an over-grown smurf and a man who was clearly more mentally screwed up than she was.

It was quiet, but when the hairs on the back of her neck began to rise and a chill raced down her spine, she knew that her little piece of serenity was coming to an end. And from the feel of the air around her, the two men who were currently closing in on her were anything but happy.

~!~

Naruto sat at the table, glaring at the floor as his listened to the man speak. He was not an idiot, as most believed. But he was loyal to a fault, and he felt that he shouldered the blame for Sakura’s abduction.

Gaara had arrived even more quickly than the hokage had guessed. After handing Kakashi the small amount of money that she had lost, she explained the situation to the kazekage, who simply stared ahead as he absorbed her words.

Finally, he held up his hand for silence, and then calmly demanded to know which direction the two Akatsuki had taken. When he was given the information, he nodded and said, “They will not survive when we come face to face. They will pay for what they have done.”

Tsunade silently regarded the kazekage before asking, “What exactly is your relationship with my student? It is clear to me that she is one of the few that you have allowed close, and you not coming me when all of this trouble began tells me that you care enough about her to keep her secrets.”

Gaara was silent for several minutes, but then said, “She doesn’t fear me. At least, she doesn’t fear me anymore. She looks at me with the same eyes that she looks at Uzumaki Naruto with. She is the first person to trust me with her pain, and then she trusted me enough to know that I would do as she requested and be silent about what was going on. She was able to rest in my presence. She looks at me and sees Gaara.”

“I see,” Tsunade murmured, and turned her eyes towards the table. Of course Gaara would protect Sakura. She willingly came to him, and in return, he willingly gave her his protection. It was clear that the kazekage blamed himself for her capture. Had he insisted that she return with him to Suna, she would not have been captured.

“So now what?” Naruto demanded, finally tired of being silent. “You said that we are not going after her. Do you really expect us to sit around and twiddle our thumbs while Sakura deals with those two freaks by herself?”

“Uchiha Itachi will not harm her,” Gaara said, his tone stoic. “He is the one who protected her in the mangekyo. It was his mind that threw her out of the sharingan. He may threaten her, but in the end, he is not able to bring her harm. Or at least, he will not harm her of his own choice.”

Sasuke stood up. He glared over at the kazekage as he snapped, “He killed my entire family, yet you sit here saying that he won’t harm Sakura. Why would he protect her when he wouldn’t protect his own blood?”

Gaara looked up, calmly saying, “Perhaps he saw something in Sakura that he failed to see within you. Perhaps he found the strength in a little girl that was lacking in his own clan. Either way, he made his choice. Clearly, it was not you.”