Perception

Warnings: Rated M for violence, language and sexual situations/adult themes. Naruto and its characters are owned by Kishimoto.

This chapter was quite fun to write, and it’s the start of what you’ve all been waiting for. Enjoy!

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Perception by Cynchick
Chapter 7: Sensitive Subject Matter


Making lunch with Deidara consisted mostly of Sakura doing all of the gathering and preparing while the still-pissed blonde sat at the island counter and watched her. She didn’t mind that he felt no inclination to help her; after all what his partner said to him would have made her fly off the handle too if she were in his position, so she gave him a few minutes to cool off and went about her task quietly so as not to remind him that technically she should be the true source of his wrath.


After a few minutes, Deidara was finally ready to let it go and leaned his chin on his good hand before emitting a long-suffering, frustrated sigh. He couldn’t believe he had just let himself be talked down from giving Tobi a much deserved beating by an enemy kunoichi with pink hair.


Sakura smiled; his temper reminded her of herself sometimes when she was pushed too far by Naruto. She set the tray of bread, fruit and cheese she had put together on the counter and sat on the stool to Deidara’s right. It wasn’t much of a meal, but it was all she could find. They kept no provisions that they couldn’t just pick up and eat, with the exception of tea, since it didn’t take much to boil water. If they wanted a hot meal, they got take out, which told her that they couldn’t be more than twenty miles from a town or they probably wouldn’t bother going out for it.


Pushing her over-analyzing thoughts aside, she turned her attention to the food. Deidara must have been hungry too because he immediately grabbed some of the assortment and started to eat. Sakura did the same, and after a moment she figured it was relatively safe to begin a conversation. “So, is he always like that?” she laughed.


Deidara rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately.”


Sakura raised her eyebrows. “I’m kind of surprised you haven’t killed him before now then.” She stuffed some cheese into her bread slice and took a bite.


He turned his head slightly to look at her. “I keep trying, but nobody will ever let me, yeah.” She smiled at that, and he smirked back before returning to his meal.


“How did someone like him end up in Akatsuki anyway?”


“Beats the hell outta me, yeah. I don’t know what crazy things go through Leader’s mind. I guess Zetsu found him years ago in Grass country and made him one of his peons. When Sasori-danna died,” he glanced at her with an unreadable expression, and she tried not to flinch, “he pestered and annoyed his way in to the organization. Leader gave him Sasori’s ring and stuck him with me, as if I hadn’t dealt with enough already, yeah.”


Sakura remembered that time in Wind country. Those were certainly a rough few days for the blonde Akatsuki. He had been severely injured and eventually dismembered, not to mention his partner was killed, and by her no less. Inner Sakura pointed out that it served him right for messing with the Leaf and their allies.


She told her inner self to can it and watched his profile as he spoke. She had noticed that he seemed to like that left stool because he always sat there, and she wondered if maybe it was habit; something he had done as a child and was doing now without realizing. What must it be like for him to be back here after all this time, to see the place like this? He must be hit with memories every time he turned a corner. No wonder he was always in a bad mood; the past wasn’t something too many missing-nin liked to dwell on.


“I remember.” She said, and he gave her another unreadable look, which she returned with her own. They stared at each other for a long moment, both sorting through the memories they shared from opposite sides. “Um…how did you get your arm back?”


He frowned, the memory apparently unpleasant. “Kakuzu.” was all he said.


“Oh.” She muttered, making a slightly revolted face at her memory of the creepy zombie-man. “I have to say…it was pretty cool to see you explode like that, even if it wasn’t really you.” She smirked.


“Heh. It was pretty artistic, yeah.” He smiled and resumed eating. Sakura went back to her own meal, but after a minute he spoke again. “You know, I always wondered what happened exactly…how you and that old hag killed Sasori-danna.” He looked at her curiously.


Now that was a conversation she had never expected to be having, and she was somewhat wary that it may be some sort of trick question so she chose her words very carefully. “Well…Chiyo-sama was his grandmother first of all…”


Deidara raised his eyebrows at the new piece of information. “Was she, now…that’s pretty twisted, yeah.”


Sakura frowned. “She was a puppet master too, and she used puppets she made for him as a child that looked like his dead parents to fight him.”


The blonde Akatsuki was laughing under his breath now. “Hehehe, now that’s really messed up! No wonder he turned out like he did, yeah.”


Sakura glared at him. “She wasn’t like that…though… I guess it was pretty twisted. He didn’t seem to care though. There were dozens of puppets flying all over the place, it was really strange; I didn’t know whose were who’s sometimes. Chiyo-sama even used me as a puppet at one point.” Her face was slightly wide-eyed as she remembered.


“I bet that was fun, hmm?” he asked, a gleam in his pale blue eyes.


“Well I didn’t really have time to notice then…but, now that I think about it, it was pretty exciting flying around like that.” she smiled. She wasn’t sure how much detail she should go into since this was the fight to the death with his old partner they were talking about, but he urged her to continue.


“So? How did it end, hmm?”


She looked up at him. “Did you ever see his real body? I mean, the one underneath...” she began.


“The pretty little chibi-doll? Of course, though not many others in Akatsuki ever did, yeah.”


“Well, once I found out where his heart was, Chiyo-sama made the parent puppets stab his heart with their swords, and he died…” she trailed off, watching him closely for a reaction.


He stared into space for a long moment, and then shrugged. “Sounds like a good fight, sounds like it was pretty artistic, yeah. When they found him the place was all broken up. Was that you?” he looked at her again.


She nodded. “Yeah.” She was quiet a moment before continuing. “You know, back then I was still a chuunin, nowhere near the level I am now. I’m pretty sure I just got lucky. He poisoned me, and I think…if Chiyo-sama wasn’t there…I probably would have died.”


He shrugged again. “Eh, he was probably too overconfident.”


“Actually, I think he let it happen…”


“What do you mean?” he narrowed his eyes at her curiously.


“He should have been able to block that last attack, but he didn’t. And Chiyo-sama said her attack left her open but he didn’t take advantage of it. She thought maybe…he let her hit him…I don’t really know.” she finished quietly.


“Hmm.” he answered, thinking over her words.


“Deidara-san…”


He caught on to her tone and cut her off. “I hope you’re not going to apologize for killing Sasori-danna.” He actually turned his body this time to look at her fully, grimacing slightly as his broken arm shifted in his lap. “And just call me Deidara, yeah.”


“He was your partner…” she said with apprehension.


“Yeah…but he was your enemy.”


Sakura stared at him with wide eyes. She never thought she would hear it put so simply. He noticed her look and sighed. “Look, I don’t hold it against you, yeah. What I would hold against you is if you felt bad for killing an enemy that would have killed you if he could have, to me that’s pathetic. That’s the world we live in, Sakura. Shinobi live short, violent lives and then we die. All we can hope for is a fitting death that creates a beautiful moment of art before we take our last breath. And Sasori-danna got one; he would have appreciated the manner of his death and that it was at your hands, yeah.”


She nodded and stared at him in wonder. His words had a sort of morbid poetry to them that she understood, warped as they were. She recalled his last words and quirked a brow at him. “What do you mean, about it being at my hands?”


Deidara smirked playfully. “Sasori-danna appreciated things that were artistic and beautiful, yeah. Not many shinobi are lucky enough to die at the hands of a beautiful kunoichi. Or if they do it’s because they were stupid enough to let a woman use her body against them and then stab or poison them in their sleep. It’s rare to encounter a kunoichi who is beautiful and strong enough to fight head on, so I’m sure he thought it wasn’t such a bad way to go, yeah.”


Sakura was taken aback by his words. “…Thank you.” She said quietly. He was apparently a very thoughtful person, and his honest appraisal of her had her slightly flustered. She hoped she wasn’t blushing.


The blonde merely shrugged. “Don’t thank me, yeah. I was just stating a fact, not giving you a compliment.”


Sakura laughed softly. He was being nice to her, and trying to brush it off. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easily. “Yeah…but in this case, they’re the same thing.” she pointed out playfully.


He frowned a little. “If you say so, yeah. Just don’t start thinking I was flirting with you.”


She huffed at him in mild irritation. “I know that, jeez. Are you always this sweet? You must be quite popular with the ladies.” she said sarcastically.


He grinned at her. “I figured that’d be pretty obvious, yeah.” he said deviously, as he held up his right hand and wiggled two of his tongues at her suggestively.


Sakura’s jaw dropped as she stared at him with huge eyes. The thought of what he was implying was so weird and horrifyingly fascinating that she was momentarily speechless. “That’s so…so…” she trailed off in bewilderment, not wanting to say anything that might offend him or give him the wrong idea.


He was grinning ear to ear now, thoroughly enjoying her flustered state. “What? Awesome? Artistic? Sexy?”


“Perverted!” she retorted indignantly. She was blushing furiously, thinking about his three mouths, doing…that…there…or there. She shook her head to clear the mental images from her mind. Meanwhile, Inner Sakura was having a field day.


Deidara, of course, could see right through her façade. “I know you’re thinking about it, yeah.”


“It’s kinda hard not to, thank you very much. I think I’m scarred for life now.” she retorted. He could see the wheels still turning in her head as she stared at his hand, now resting on the counter top between them. Suddenly she looked up at him with a gleam in her eyes that was slightly unsettling. “Can I see it?”


The blonde nearly choked at her question. “What?” he asked in shock, not believing she had actually just said that.


She held out her hand. “Can I see it? Your hand.” His teasing had backfired and awoken her curiosity.


She was serious, and he wasn’t sure what to think about it, or her. “Why…?” he asked warily.


The kunoichi looked back at his hand on the counter and cocked her head to the side a little. “It’s just really…interesting. I just want to look at it…please?” she looked back to his face.


She was giving him the eyes; those big green puppy eyes that got under the skin of even the hardest men. God damn it. Was she messing with him? He sighed. He was about to tell her that she better not try to pull anything or he would break her into little pieces, but decided against it when he felt no ill-intent from her, only genuine curiosity. He carefully held out his right arm, watching her like he thought she was going to bite it off.


She didn’t bite, only grabbed his hand gently, pushing the sleeve of his cloak away from his knuckles, and turned it over to examine his palm. “Wow…” she murmured, her fingers gently prodding the lips.


Deidara had no idea what to make of the look on her face, or her fascination with his hands. Most people he met were freaked out by them. “You’re a strange girl, Sakura.” he said quietly with something close to awe.


She looked up at his face with bright eyes and smiled. “I know,” she said simply, and went back to examining him. “It’s really…kinda cool actually.” She was too engrossed in her observations to see him smile at her. “How does it work exactly?”


He supposed he could tell her; it didn’t really matter one way or the other, since no one but him could ever do what it did. “There’s a special compound in my saliva that activates the explosive properties of the clay, which is also infused with my chakra, yeah.”


“Neat. How can they make such elaborate sculptures so quickly?”


He smirked. “Practice, yeah. Lots and lots of practice.”


She smiled at his answer. “Kinda like what I do as a medic, then. So…you enlarge them and/or detonate them with jutsu?”


“That’s right. Pretty artistic, hmm?”


“Yeah it is…is it a bloodline limit?”


“Yes.”


“So there’s a whole clan of people out there with mouths in their hands?”


“No.”


Sakura looked up in surprise and met his ice-blue eyes. He had a look that warned not to go too far into this particular subject, so she didn’t, and after a moment she returned to looking at his hand. She didn’t know what to think about what he had just revealed to her. Part of her wanted to feel bad for him, that he was the last of his clan like Kakashi and Sasuke, that he had some tragedy in his past that left him alone in the world. But another part of her reminded that the man next to her was not exactly the innocent type, and it was possible that he may even be the cause of his clan’s non-existence, like Itachi. It was best not to ask.


She pushed one of the lips back and began lightly tapping the teeth with her fingertip, when the mouth suddenly opened and the teeth lightly nipped her. She squeaked and snatched her hand away, looking up at Deidara in indignant surprise. “You bit me!”


He shrugged and gave her an evil smirk. “Oops.”


She gave him a reproving look. “Jerk. Keep doing that sort of thing and you’ll never get a girl to agree to a second date.”


“Who says I’d want a second date, hmm?” he saw her frown, and looked at her like it should be quite obvious. “Bad guy, remember?” indicating himself in a tone that could only be described as ‘duh’. “And there you go thinking naughty thoughts about me again. You must be kind of perverted, yeah.” he smirked.


Sakura flicked the center of his palm where the lips were with her middle finger, making it sting in retaliation to his teasing. He quirked a brow at her and almost laughed.


“Don’t call me a pervert; you’re the one who brought it up in the first place. And just because you’re a ‘bad guy’ doesn’t mean you have to act all cliché. Besides, being a womanizing pig isn’t necessarily ‘bad guy’ behavior; there are plenty of supposed ‘good guys’ out there who have the same mentality.” she reprimanded, and turned his hand over to look at the other side. She looked curiously at his black fingernails. All Akatsuki members had black nails, she’d noticed. “Is this some kind of jutsu? I can’t imagine you all sitting around giving each other manicures.”


They both laughed aloud, the mental images her words conjured being utterly ridiculous. He didn’t answer her question however, just gave her a ‘wouldn’t you like to know’ sort of look. She scratched his thumbnail with one of her own to see for herself, and when no paint chipped off she turned her attention to the ring on his index finger. “Blue…” she said, running her thumb over the kanji symbol. “Does it mean anything special?”


“Yep.”


She met his eyes, so similar in color to the background of his ring. “What does it mean?”


“Well…become a missing-nin and get yourself into Akatsuki and you’ll find out the answers to all three questions, yeah.” he smirked.


She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Sure. That will happen.”


He was still smirking, but his eyes were more serious. “No one in Akatsuki, or any missing-nin for that matter, started out with the intention of ending up where they are now, Sakura. Life has a way of not going where you though it would.”


Sakura stared at him in amazement. There was a lot more to this missing-nin that meets the eye, that’s for sure. And she knew he was absolutely right. She nodded in understanding, thinking of how different her own life was from the one she had imagined for herself so long ago. “Believe me, I know.” Her life hardly compared with that of a missing-nin, but she still understood. She let go of his hand finally, and he returned it to his lap.


They had been in the kitchen for quite a while now, and she wondered where everyone else was. The two still sat facing each other on their stools, their meal finished and long forgotten. They sat there quietly for a few more minutes, before Sakura stood and straightened her filthy shirt. “I should go clean up.”


The blonde man nodded in reply. She was on her way out of the kitchen when he spoke up. “You know, I never did thank you for the number you did on my arm, yeah.”


For a moment she was afraid of what he meant by that, but she could tell by the sardonic expression on his face that he was teasing. She turned to face him with a hand on her hip. “And I never thanked you for the lovely hickey you gave me.” she said dryly. He raised his eyebrow in curiosity, and she tilted her head and tossed her hair to reveal the still-red set of teeth marks visible on the pale skin of her neck.


He leaned closer to examine his handiwork and smiled. “It was my pleasure.”


“I’ll bet it was, perv.” She teased.


His smile turned mischievous. “Want another one, hmm?”


She gave a short laugh. “Are you flirting with me now?”


“…Maybe.”


Sakura simply smiled at the blonde Akatsuki and walked out of the kitchen, laughing softly.

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Still smiling slightly from her surprisingly enjoyable lunch with Deidara, Sakura made her way upstairs. She was more than ready to get out of her soiled clothes and take a long, hot shower.


Running on autopilot as she thought about the very enlightening conversation downstairs, she turned the handle on the bathroom door and went in, intending to get the water running and hot before - shit! - she barely ducked in time as something whizzed past her ear and stuck in the doorframe with a resounding thud. Her eyes widened as she saw a single shuriken embedded in the wood inches from her face. If she hadn’t moved…Silently thankful for hours of training to sharpen her instincts, she turned her head slowly to locate the source of the projectile.


And came face to face with a very shirtless Uchiha. How she hadn’t noticed his presence in time to save herself from this little embarrassment she had no idea. He had obviously just showered after his training session, and was apparently in the middle of re-strapping his leg holster when she opened the door, but the open pouch currently missing one shuriken was the last thing on her mind at the moment.


Her breath caught just slightly at what she saw, and she dearly hoped he hadn’t heard it. His hair was loose from its tie and falling in long, wet strands over his shoulders and upper back. It should have made him look more effeminate but oh no…it definitely did not. Not with the rest of him so…exposed. Sakura had noticed his smaller frame earlier in the yard, but he definitely couldn’t be considered scrawny. The lean, sinuous muscles on his arms and torso were well defined and even more visible due to a lack of any body fat. She had to slap her inner self; this was Itachi she was ogling like some piece of meat! Inner Sakura ignored her protest and pointed out wickedly that his black pants rode quite low around his narrow hips, and she couldn’t help but notice the way his hipbones protruded just a little, defining the top of that ‘v’ that led to…Stop it! He can see you looking, stupid! Don’t look there, look at his eyes. No wait! Don’t look at his eyes; he’ll kill you! Look at his…mouth. NO! Gah! She ended up looking at the floor instead, nervously hoping she wasn’t blushing.


What had seemed like an eternity to Sakura was really only a few seconds, and since she was obviously too flustered to say anything, Itachi spoke first.


“It’s considered rude to enter without knocking, kunoichi.” He said with dark amusement. He saw her eyebrows crease and she still wouldn’t look back up at him. He smirked. “It’s also impolite to stare.”


“Sorry. I didn’t mean to walk in…I was…distracted.” she said lamely, and looked over at the sink to avoid his piercing gaze. Among other things.


He seemed to read her mind, and made an amused sound. “Clearly.”


Her head snapped back to lock eyes with him. He was so damned arrogant! Obviously it ran in the family. She frowned indignantly at him. “You’re the one who left the door unlocked.”


He tilted his head slightly, his eyes glinting in the low light. “And you’re the one with the enhanced ability to sense chakra. You shouldn’t let your guard down so easily, kunoichi, who knows what could happen.”


Sakura’s eyes widened. Did he just…no. No way. He couldn’t possibly mean it like that…her mind was just corrupted from years with her teammates, that’s all. As if to prove her point to herself, she was distracted again by a tiny rivulet of water that suddenly dripped from the end of his hair and trailed its way down the plane of his smooth chest, her eyes following its progress as it moved along the ups and downs of his firm stomach and disappeared into the waistband of his pants.


She realized what she had just been doing and blinked. She looked up quickly and saw that he’d noticed, and that his face had lost some of its blankness and there was a small, amused smile on his lips. She blushed furiously and looked away. “I’ll come back…” she muttered and turned to leave.


“There’s no need, I’m finished.” he said softly. She turned around again to see him pick his black mesh-lined shirt up from the bench and pull it over his head. Sakura watched his toned abs disappear inch by inch and was relieved and a bit disappointed at the same time. He’d noticed that too, and was smirking at her again as he made to leave the room.


As he walked toward her, something inside Sakura kicked on; something that had been missing around the Uchiha ever since that night in the dining room. His arrogance and amusement at her embarrassment was pissing her off, and as he reached to door way to exit the room she didn’t move to let him pass. She blocked his way out with her body, just as he had in the kitchen the day she’d bumped into him. He stopped mere inches from her and stared down into her face with an unreadable expression. She looked up at him defiantly, waiting for his next move. His freshly-showered scent was beginning to get under her skin, but she concentrated on holding his intense crimson gaze. She was glad he’d put his shirt on or else this little improvisation would probably backfire on her.


They stared at each other for several tension filled seconds, and her breath caught slightly as Itachi reached his arm slowly and deliberately around behind her…and deftly twisted the shuriken out of the wall. After another tense moment he finally spoke. “Excuse me.” He said lightly.


Sakura knew she was probably pushing her limits, but she decided to push just a little further. Instead of moving back or out of the way, she merely shifted her body sideways and leaned against the doorframe, exactly as he had done to her, never breaking eye contact. Itachi knew exactly what she was doing, and his lips twitched in a small smirk before he accepted her challenge and moved forward, his body closing in on hers and making light, brushing contact as he shifted past her and disappeared down the hall.


Once he was gone, Sakura quickly closed the door and locked it. She leaned against it as she waited for her heartbeat to slow down and the nervous flutter in her stomach to go away. What was she thinking, testing him like that? She was already mortified about walking in on him dressing and that he’d caught her practically drooling over his half-naked body, now she had just added even more fuel to the fire of tension between them. She shouldn’t have done something so impulsive. What if he decided he wanted to use her as more than a hostage? She shook her head harshly, not wanting to go down that road of thought.


Moving away from the door she turned on the faucet and sat on the edge of the tub. Bastard probably used all the hot water. She still had to go to her room to get her clothes and personal items before getting in the shower, so once she determined that there was still hot water for her to use, she stood up. She looked at the moisture clinging to the already wet shower wall and the unbidden memory of tiny water droplets running over smooth, muscled skin invaded her mind, and she was struck by the thought that she was about to strip naked and stand in the same shower that Uchiha Itachi had just occupied, also while naked. She slapped Inner Sakura again, and told herself to shut up. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Deidara was right; she really was a pervert.

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Sakura walked through the hall of the lower floor, leaving the back study and heading for the kitchen. After lunch and the horribly embarrassing incident in the bathroom, she had holed herself up in the small library again and tried to distract herself with the few remaining books she hadn’t already looked at.


After a couple hours Tobi had come looking for her, letting her know that Kisame had gone to get dinner and would be back soon. After several minutes of him pestering her about what she was reading and was it any good and it sure smelled moldy in here, she managed to get rid of him and went back to snooping/reading until one of the older and most dilapidated books had fallen apart in her hands.


Covered with mildew spores and crumbling bits of paper, she had decided it was a good time to get ready for dinner and see if Kisame was back yet. She’d gotten too caught up in her conversation with Deidara at lunch to really eat her fill, and her stomach was protesting now.


She entered the large kitchen, still picking little specks of paper and mold from her only remaining shirt, and moved to the sink and turned it on to wash her hands.


After a moment she heard noises coming from the other room, and Kisame’s gruff booming voice drifted to her ears, meaning dinner was here, and her stomach cheered noisily at the thought. She was almost finished cleaning up and was about to turn the water off when she felt rather than heard someone come into the kitchen behind her.


This time there was no mistaking his presence, and her stomach fluttered nervously. He was the last person she wanted to be alone with right now, after what happened earlier. He had stopped in the doorway, and she could feel him watching her back like he was waiting for her to turn around and acknowledge him. She didn’t, and continued to run her hands under the water even though she had been done for some time.


She wasn’t going to freak out every time he was around, that was clearly what he wanted and she was getting tired of his arrogance. She wasn’t doing anything that could give him reason to hurt her, and she didn’t give a shit if he liked her or not. She thought fleetingly that making him dislike her was likely to lead to him killing her off instead of letting her go once she was no longer useful, but dismissed it with the thought that he probably intended to kill her anyway because things like compassion and sentimentality meant less than nothing to him.


After a moment of pretending she hadn’t noticed him, she heard his soft footsteps become increasingly louder as he slowly walked up behind her. She knew the only reason she had heard his steps at all was because he wanted her to hear him getting closer and feel the anticipation of not knowing what he was doing since she had refused to look at him. He was messing with her, trying to psych her out. It was working, she knew, but he was also pissing her off again.


He was right behind her, she could feel him and she knew there was no pretending not to notice him now, which is probably why he did it. She turned her head over her shoulder to glare at him and realized he was a lot closer than she had thought. Close enough to catch his scent again and feel the warmth of his body heat, though no part of him was touching her. This extreme invasion of her personal space was payback for earlier, she realized. He had a dark glint in his crimson eyes that told her he was absorbing every detail of her discomfort with his Sharingan and enjoying every second of it.


Just when she began to think he was standing so close for no reason other than to intimidate and freak her out, he reached up to the cabinet over her head to pull out a glass. The inside of his arm brushed against her shoulder as he brought the glass down, and since she was partially turned to be able to look at him his arm rubbed lightly over the upper part of her chest as he moved it around her and held the glass under the running tap.


As the glass filled slowly he retuned his red gaze to her green one, and she narrowed her eyes at him as he stared at her. She tensed when she felt his other arm move around in front of her to turn off the tap once the glass was full, and then rest casually on the counter next to her hip, effectively blocking her in. Turning the tap off was his way of telling her without words that he knew she was done with it and had been pretending as an excuse to avoid him.


The pink-haired woman continued to glare at the older Uchiha as he calmly sipped his water, never breaking eye contact with her. She knew she had given him extra ammunition to use against her. He was quite aware of her physical approval of him– she couldn’t quite bring herself to use the word attraction, the word having implications and consequences she didn’t want to think about – and he was using it against her.


Sakura was fuming. Itachi was an arrogant, self-important asshole, just like his younger brother only far worse. Just when she was starting to relax around him and not be scared out of her wits all the time, he had to go and find some new way of bearing down on her and making it hard to be in the same room as him. Sakura was a living, breathing woman who liked men, and the knowledge of who and what he was didn’t keep her from noticing the fact that Uchiha Itachi was impossibly gorgeous. But at the same time his physical appeal didn’t blind her to the fact that he was also incredibly dangerous. She could still feel the fear in the pit of her stomach, along with something she couldn’t or didn’t want to name. This new tactic of his was low and dirty and completely beneath him- using sex as a weapon- but he seemed to find it quite amusing as it was surely a tactic he didn’t get to use often, and she hated how well it was working. The older Uchiha really was the master of mindfucks, but she’d be damned if she let him mess with her head like this. Two can play that game.


He was taking his time drinking the water, and still hadn’t moved an inch away from her. He really wasn’t trapping her, just imposing and intimidating her trying to get a reaction. She could flinch or shy away from contact with his body, she could run if she wanted to, but then he would win, and Haruno Sakura was never one to give in without a fight. She smirked at him, and his eyebrow rose imperceptibly as he waited for her to move, and move she did. Rather than sliding away, she turned around inside the parameter of his arms until they were face to face, and looked up at him smugly. How’s that for scared and intimidated, ass. The small of her back was pressing against the counters edge, and from this position she was eye level with his chin. In reality he was only three of four inches taller than her, though his presence made him seem much bigger. Their torsos were less than six inches apart, his knee touching the side of her leg a little, and the amusement at her little stunt was clearly visible in his blood-red eyes, along with something darker and almost predatory as each continued to stare in challenge at the other.


They had been standing there like that for well over a minute now. Sakura wondered how such a short time could seem so endless, and why no one had interrupted them yet considering she could hear their voices in the next room getting ready to eat dinner. She knew she would lose this little challenge eventually; there was still too much fear mixed in with the anticipation and soon she would truly start to get uncomfortable.


Just as their close proximity and the intensity of holding eye contact with him was becoming too much, he went even further and leaned in toward her. The six inches of distance between them narrowed to less than two as he reached around her again and dumped the remaining contents of the water glass down the sink before setting the container on the counter behind her. She could feel the fabric of his heavy cloak against her chest, though his actual torso never touched hers. His face was hovering just above hers, and thankfully the angle gave her a chance to break that mesmerizing eye contact. His hand brushed against her hip briefly as he lowered his arms to his sides again. She met his eyes again as he slowly backed up, and this time the smirk was very clear on his handsome features.


He turned around and walked casually out of the kitchen and toward the dining room like nothing happened. Sakura took a deep, steadying breath and mentally shook herself out. She didn’t really want to analyze what just happened between them, she just knew that having to sit through dinner with him tonight would certainly be interesting. With a mental note to sit as far away from Itachi as possible, even if it meant sitting next to Tobi and letting him pester her to death, she made herself look as nonchalant as she could and walked towards the dining room for dinner with the Akatsuki.

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Dinner had been relatively normal, as normal as a meal with four S-class shinobi and their pink-haired hostage ever was. Kisame started the conversations, Tobi participated eagerly even if he was a little clueless and annoying, and Deidara joined in when he had something cool or artistic to say, which was usually the point where Kisame would get lost and have to change the subject. Sakura never said much during meals; these were not her friends and she wasn’t exactly an invited dinner guest. But eventually as days passed she found herself laughing at their jokes, with some reserve, and began to participate more in their discussions. Especially with Deidara, who appeared to have a hard time finding intelligent conversation with his comrades and seemed almost grateful that she was there to talk to. After nearly a week among them, Sakura was beginning to realize that as individual people these guys were actually tolerable, sometimes even sort of likeable, and that was beginning to worry her.


Itachi never said much during their meals together, if anything at all. He was not one to speak just to be sociable, though sometimes he would smirk or say little things in response to the conversation at hand in that soft velvety voice that was so quiet yet was always heard clearly.


Tonight had been no different from other nights, except for the small fact that Itachi hadn’t stopped staring at her. He’d watched her throughout the entire meal, burning holes in the side of her head as she pointedly ignored him. If the other Akatsuki had noticed they didn’t let on. She ate normally and talked to the other three men, never once looking at Itachi, avoiding meeting his eyes as they had a way of entrancing her and the others would definitely notice if they got into another staring contest. She knew he was still messing with her and trying to psych her out, and she wasn’t going to let him.


She had volunteered to help Kisame clean up after they were done so she wouldn’t be alone right away in case the Uchiha tried to screw with her some more. So she had happily exchanged insults with the shark man for a while, and afterward retired to her room.


Now, a few hours later, she found herself restless and unable to sleep. Strange thoughts and feelings about her captors and this entire situation were beginning to emerge and take form, most of which she was entirely unwilling and unprepared to deal with so she ignored them, but they were still there in the shadowy corners of her mind.


She got up out of bed with a sigh. She wouldn’t be able to sleep just yet so laying there was useless. She had been sleeping fully clothed since she had nothing else and didn’t want to be caught unprepared for anything. Pulling her boots on, she quietly opened the door to her room and walked down the hall to the stairs. She would make some tea, and hopefully it would calm her restless mind and help her fall asleep.


It was sometime around midnight, she guessed. The rest of the house was silent as she made her way downstairs as quietly as possible. There was a dim light up ahead, and she realized that someone was in the dining room. She intended to pass by and enter the kitchen, but she had been noticed and a penetrating voice called out to her.


“You’re up late, kunoichi.”


Sakura froze just outside the dining room. Oh, great. Cursing herself for getting out of bed, she reluctantly turned and stood in the doorway just enough to be seen, nerves making her stomach tighten. Itachi was sitting alone at the head of the long table. He was sitting at an angle, one knee drawn up to his chest with an elbow resting atop, the other arm resting on the table. He looked relaxed, and almost normal. Just a normal, handsome young man in his mid twenties and not the psychotic mass murderer he was known to be. It was such a paradox to her that for a moment she just stared before realizing that he was waiting for her to answer.


“Oh, uh…I couldn’t sleep, so I was going to make some tea.” she said quietly.


“I’ve already made some,” he said softly, and she saw the still-steaming pot of tea in front of him along side a plate of dango. The dango struck her as odd; for some reason she couldn’t picture someone like him liking it, but apparently she was wrong. Itachi gestured at the tabletop and looked at her expectantly. “Join me.”


Sakura’s eyes widened at his invitation. She tried to speak but she couldn’t seem to form words. “Uh…I…” she stammered.


Itachi gave her a small smile. “I’m not going to hurt you, kunoichi. There is no need to be so wary or distrustful of me, when you are obviously not so with my comrades. Please.” He gestured again.


Sakura just continued to stare at him. This was a side of Itachi she had never seen before, and almost wished she hadn’t. How could he say that like it’s so simple? Even now, as she heard him say he wouldn’t hurt her, her mind tacked on the unsaid ‘yet’ to the end of his words. Still, she reasoned, if he hadn’t hurt her yet he probably wasn’t going to now, and why did he have to be so damn well-mannered? She nodded. “Alright. I’ll just go get another cup.”


He waited for her to return, and she did a moment later with the cup and sat next to him at the first seat on the table’s side. She saw that his cloak was open, revealing his dark shirt and pants, and he had removed his hitai-ate. The change in appearance it gave him was striking. But when she sat down and looked at him up close she saw the most drastic change in him was that his Sharingan was off, and he was watching her with deep ebony-brown eyes that were the exact color of his brother’s, only softer and warmer due to the long lashes. His natural eyes were actually prettier and more hypnotic than the crimson, and she found herself staring again.


She caught herself and was surprised to see him grab her cup and begin to pour her tea for her. How someone she knew to be so vicious and cold could also be so polite and refined was baffling to her. She murmured her thanks and took a sip of her tea. Still bewildered and somewhat nervous, she remained silent until he spoke to her again.


“Why can’t you sleep?”


She looked at him pointedly. “Stress.”


“Ah. Are you not finding your stay with us to be comfortable, kunoichi?”


Sakura was tempted to answer with ‘duh’ but decided against it since he looked like he was genuinely curious. “More so than I would ever have expected, but I’m sure you can understand why I would be stressed, all the same.”


“Of course. Though as you’ve already seen, nothing will happen to you here that you do not bring upon yourself. Despite being from enemy factions, we have no issue with you or Konoha in general. I simply have orders and intend to carry them out. Surely you can understand this as you are also given missions to complete by your leader just as we are.” His voice was calm, almost bored sounding.


Sakura glared at him. “Your ‘mission’ just so happens to be killing my best friend. And the missions I and my comrades receive are a bit different in nature than yours.”


Itachi smiled softly and made an amused sound. “So naïve, little kunoichi. Obviously you have seen and done very little in service to your village to still believe such things.”


“What’s that supposed to mean?” she frowned.


“I was a Leaf shinobi too, once, so I know of what I speak. You have either been very sheltered or you are deluding yourself. Think about it one of these nights when you can’t sleep and perhaps you will understand my meaning.” she continued to scowl at him, and he merely shrugged. “But I have gotten away from my point. There is no need for the situation here to be unnecessarily hostile. No doubt you have a preformed dislike for me and it is mostly justified. But I have no more reason to harm you than the other three; you don’t need to be so afraid of me.”


Sakura scoffed. “I was beginning to think you got off on making me afraid of you.”


He smirked at her. “Your reactions amuse me, kunoichi. I think you will find that I am not the creature of nightmare you have grown up to believe in.”


Sakura snorted. “Somehow I doubt that.” she muttered into her teacup.


He reached for a stick of dango began to eat it while he watched her. “Hn.”


Sakura looked up from her cup at his response. It was the exact same reaction Sasuke always gave, the smirk and ‘hn’. She wondered if either of them were aware that they shared more than physical traits. He was watching her again, as if he was studying her. She found it ironic. Quite often she was finding herself the unwilling recipient of the older Uchiha’s undivided attention, attention she would have begged for from his brother so many years ago. But Itachi was not Sasuke, and the differences were becoming more pronounced the longer she was around him. “Why do you always watch me like that?”


He smirked “Does it make you uncomfortable?”


“You know it does.” And I think that’s why you do it, she finished in her head.


He tilted his head slightly, his dark eyes glinting. “You fascinate me.”


Sakura was surprised to hear his honest answer. His gaze was just as intense without the bloodline limit, and she felt herself starting to blush. She tried to brush it off. “I’m sure I’m not that interesting.”


“On the contrary, I find you to be quite a paradox. To me that is very interesting.”


Sakura frowned slightly. “How so?”


“You have shown yourself to be exceptionally intelligent, yet you still possess a naive optimism about the world around you. That naivety and emotionally biased judgment makes you appear weak, yet you have demonstrated several times that you are not, either physically or mentally. You are soft-hearted and emotional, but you are not easily frightened and you do not hesitate to defend yourself or your loved ones. In fact, your weaknesses appear to be the source of your strength, and that is fascinating to me. You are quite different from what I expected, kunoichi.”


She smiled softly, but didn’t thank him since it wasn’t entirely clear if he was complimenting or insulting her. It was probably both. She raised a fine, pink eyebrow at him. “Are you admitting you were wrong about me, Uchiha?”


A small, sardonic smile graced his handsome features. “You seemed surprised. No one is perfect, kunoichi, not even me.”


Sakura lifted a brow again, surprised that he would think that way, let alone admit it out loud. She chose not to comment on it and reached for the teapot to refill her cup. Itachi picked it up before she could get it, and reached for her cup to pour it for her again. She wondered where the other Itachi had gone, the one who had almost strangled her, and who this was sitting here pouring her tea like a gentleman and having a civilized conversation with her. Perhaps she had been a bit wrong about him as well, in some areas at least. The thought was not as comforting as it should have been.


He passed her refilled teacup back to her, and she decided it was a good time to change the subject. “Thank you. So…are you always up this late?”


“I never sleep well.” he answered quietly before drinking his own tea.


Sakura nodded in understanding; to sleep was to be vulnerable. “Paranoia?” she asked.


“Among other things.” he admitted. That explained the perpetual dark circles under his eyes. She wondered what sort of things would keep someone like Uchiha Itachi up at night. Perhaps even the cold killer was haunted by something from the past or present. Maybe the massacre of his entire clan and the prolonged torture of the little brother that once adored him didn’t sit as easily with him as it seemed.


“Why did you murder your clan?” she asked hesitantly, hoping she wasn’t going too far.


Itachi looked at her curiously. “My brother never told you?”


“No. Sasuke has a hard time trusting people, and I’m sure you can guess why. Why did you do that to him? Why did you leave him alive?” She was having a hard time keeping her voice down now.


“I killed my worthless clan to test my own limits, and I left Sasuke alive because he wasn’t worth killing.”


Sakura scowled. “And the other helpless children and infants you killed were?” His eyes narrowed dangerously at her, making her heart speed up slightly, but she needed to know. “I don’t believe you left him alive for that reason. But even if it was the truth, why couldn’t you just let him live? It’s bad enough that you took everything from him, why did you torment him like you have, so that he can never be happy again? Are you really that sadistic?”


“Maybe I am.”


His voice was taking on a darker edge now, and she reined her temper in before she pushed too far. She wanted answers, not a broken neck. “Did you care nothing for him? It’s clear that he adored you, or he wouldn’t be as tormented by it all as he is and may have been able to move on. I’m not sure he would have believed it was you if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes.”


Itachi’s face had returned to a blank mask. “No, he wouldn’t have. That is why I waited for him to return and see it for himself. He didn’t even retaliate, merely cried and ran away like the pathetic weakling he is.”


Sakura gaped at him in angry disbelief. “He was six years old, you bastard!” she pushed her chair back and stood up, gripping the table edge as she glared down at him. “He looked up to you! He loved you! What did you expect him to do, fight you?”


He looked up at her dispassionately. “Yes.”


The calmness with which he said it struck a thought in her mind. “That’s why you left him alive and tortured him all this time…you want him to kill you, don’t you?”


He smirked wistfully. “I don’t think my foolish brother will ever be able to kill me.”


“That’s not an answer.”


His eyes glinted dangerously, though they remained dark. “You forget your place here, kunoichi.”


Sakura continued to glare at the older Uchiha. “Sasuke is stronger than you realize, Itachi. That crying six year old was gone the night you left him in the compound with the corpses of his loved ones. He is strong enough to defeat you, even after you took everything from him. And stop calling me kunoichi! I have a name, damn it! You say you want things to be civil between us, yet you sit there and deliberately disrespect me. Didn’t your mother teach you any manners before you ran your sword through her heart?”


She snapped her mouth shut, knowing without doubt she’d just gone too far. Suddenly he was standing before her; once again he’d moved too fast to see clearly. He bore down on her until she was forced to back up and her rear pressed against the table’s edge. She tried to move away, but his hand came up and pushed against her collar, slowly pushing her down until her back pressed into the tabletop. His thumb and forefinger rested lightly against her neck, all the pressure under his palm against her sternum, not yet a chokehold but could easily become one if she struggled.


The outside of his thigh was brushing against hers, and he leaned over her backward-bent form until he was hovering just above her. His eyes were still dark, but she knew he didn’t need the Sharingan to overpower her. The pressure of his hand on her chest relaxed but she knew it would return the moment she began to fight him. She could feel his warm breath on her face, and the sweet smell of tea and dango reached out to her. She turned her face away from his nearness as he whispered menacingly in her ear. “You are pushing your limits, girl. I haven’t taken everything from my brother, and you don’t want me to.”


Her eyes widened in fear at his implication, and she began to squirm underneath him, but he held her still. From the corner of her eye she saw him frown a little at her reaction, and his deep velvet-like voice whispered in her ear again, closer this time. “You misunderstand my meaning. I would never lower myself to such vulgarity.” Bringing his other hand up, he ran his index and middle fingers softly over her jaw line. Her breath caught and she flinched, her pulse quickening at the sensation caused by his gentle touch. It was not unpleasant and somewhat thrilling, and that frightened her more than he did. He was whispering to her again, his fingers continuing their light trail on her cheek. “I won’t hurt you while you are here with me, but do not forget what I am…Sakura.”


His fingers pressed against her chin to turn her head in his direction, and she was so startled by her name on his lips that she complied willingly. His depthless eyes and hypnotic voice were doing funny things to her insides. She wanted to frown at him, but couldn’t seem to do it so she met his eyes calmly, breathing only slightly increased. “I hope he kills you.” she whispered with no hostility, mouth mere inches from his own.


A light smirk was his only response. His eyes slowly drifted away from hers and took in the details of her face up close before settling on her mouth, where they remained fixed. Sakura lay deathly still, trying to minimize her breathing while watching him watch her. His eyes darkened even more as he continued to stare at her slightly parted lips, and her pulse quickened with anticipation and something darker as he slowly and almost unknowingly leaned closer.


He seemed to catch himself suddenly and frowned, and when his eyes met hers again they were blood red, and searched hers as if looking for signs of deception or trickery. She could clearly see the confusion he couldn’t or didn’t bother to hide, along with that darker element that had her heart racing. His eyes moved from hers to observe the rest of her face again; his fingers softly grazing her cheek, the elevated pulse against her throat, they way his other hand pressed lightly against her chest, his wrist held in her grip from her forgotten attempt to struggle.


He stood up quickly and backed away from her, still frowning. He stared at her with an unreadable look for another moment, and she had barely lifted herself to her elbows before he turned and swiftly walked out of the dining room.


Sakura took a deep breath and pushed off of the table, continuing to lean against the edge as she collected herself. It seemed like Itachi’s tactic had backfired on him and he had been taken off-guard. Sakura was a bit shocked as well; she had been afraid he would hurt her despite his words, and yet it seemed as though he had been as caught up in that moment as she was and had to restrain himself from kissing her. What the hell was going on between them?

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A/N: Aaahhh, delicious sexual tension. ;)

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