Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Why He Stayed	By : Phishouttawatta Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 2675 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I do not make money from writing this story Any original characters are the product of my imagination.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
Hello. So I am sure many of you AFF readers have noticed that I have posted all of these chapters in quick succession. I found my story going in a direction that would not be accepted on other sites (especially with the seduction element) and wanted to give my readers the full, uncensored version. LUCKY YOU GUYS! It's so much better this way :)Anyway, I wanted to thank you for reading, and thank those who have stuck with this story! Enjoy!!
Sakura stretched her arms over her head, leaning into the warm body against her front and cracking an eye open. Itachi's eyes were still closed, but she could tell he wasn't in an entirely deep sleep anymore. His hand moved, sliding from where it had rested on her hip to around her waist, his arm snaking its way around her to tug her closer. Sakura released a sigh of contentment, the heaviness of sleep and the warmth of Itachi's body against hers giving her a pleasantly drowsy feeling. She probably would have fallen back to sleep if not for the devilish thought that entered her mind. Her mouth met his chest, and she kissed him slowly over his sternum. Sakura felt Itachi shift, a small intake of breath that was different from the rest her only indication of his change in consciousness. Sakura's fingertips applied gentle pressure against the bicep that crossed over her lat, gradually pushing Itachi onto his back as she untangled her legs and her lips continued to kiss and caress their way down his body. Her hot breath fanned over his hip, and Sakura watched Itachi's eyebrows twitch downwards in the slightest, as if his dream mind were trying to make sense of the sensations his physical being was feeling. Sakura took a beat to realize with awe that Itachi must really trust her knowing most shinobi would have lashed out at a foreign touch during their sleep. Kami knows that during the nights that she spent with her previous "lovers" --whether she believed them to be none the wiser or not--her body was on alert all night, her hand wrapped around the handle of a kunai, and the amount of rest she got was as lacking as if she were out in enemy territory trying to sleep in on a thin bow of a tree.
Her small hand grasped him lightly, her tongue finding the blunt tip of him and swirling around his head, while her digits stroked slowly down his shaft. Itachi's eyes snapped open, their default red finding her darkened jade, tomoe swirling and perfectly memorizing the site before him before she brought him into her mouth entirely and drawing out a strong suck. His head snapped back onto the pillow and his breath came out as a his through his teeth as Sakura continued to enjoy and revel in his taste. In the back of her mind, Sakura had a thought that were she given a real partner (that lasted longer than a mission) that was all hers, this would be a regular thing. She almost couldn't believe no one had never requested this of her, but she guessed her other missions wanted to get right down to business, which had been--and still was--just fine with her. The tip of her tongue found its way to his urogenital opening, paying it attention and she heard his breath become ragged as her hand worked lower on his shaft, using the moisture that had come from her mouth as lubricant for her slowly pumping fist working in tandem wih the licking and sucking of her mouth over his head. As one who had never done this, she was thoroughly enjoying it. Having a man, her lover, struggling to grasp the frayed edges of his self-control, and, for that matter, eventually losing his hold entirely, was just as arousing as any attention he might pay to her body.
Feeling the rush of blood beneath her lips and the almost impossible hardness his length had attained, Sakura knew he was close and took him deeply into her throat, sucking and swallowing down his release as his hands fisted in the sheets (and thankfully not in her hair).  She licked and lapped at him, cleaning any residual that might have slipped passed her skillful mouth, delighted as he jumped at the effect she gave his oversensitive flesh.  Sakura sat back and gazed at Itachi then, now more than fully awake, who had a leisurely smile pulling at the edges of his lips. He sat up, leaning towards her to take her face between his palms and placed a sweet kiss on her mouth, followed by another as he pulled her on top of him.  Itachi's hands soon left her face to tantalize her body, leaving sizzling trails where his fingertips so lightly carressed. Sakura sighed into his mouth, trying to not move impatiently against him, already feeling warm from the generous service she gave him, but patiently keeping her arousal in check as to give Itachi some time to bathe in the aftermath of his own completion. Instead, she revelled in the feeling of his soft, unfairly full lips gliding over hers, though that did little to reign in her growing need. Thankfully, after staying that way for an unestimated amount of time, Sakura felt Itachi's strong fingers grasp her hips and lift over him to straddle his hips, barely making intimate contact, sending shooting jolts of electricity through Sakura's veins and making Itachi groan lowely, feeling himself growing and hardening against her, her opening teasing his head as she grinded and rolled her hips in small circles.
Itachi's hand gripping her hip while the other snaked up her back to grasp her shoulder. As Sakura bent down to kiss him, he snapped his hips into hers, filling her in one stroke, and Sakura released a wordless cry.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sasuke's eyebrows were uncharacteristically drawn together, creating a small bunching of wrinkles on his normally smooth face, making his appearance much more reminiscent of his younger genin days. He was quickly becoming inpatient with members of team Hebi; their bickering was getting on his last nerve, which were already whittled down to a small amount. Still being weak from the injuries he earned from his brother made it hard to do anything, and while Karin was healing him, she certainly wasn't moving at any impressive, or useful, pace. Not only that, but the team dynamic was beginning to wear on him. The constant fawning from his female teammate was something he could easily ignore, as he had done so many years before, but the bickering between her and Suigetsu made his right eyebrow tick. His mind immediately drew a parallel between his new teammates and old ones, almost wishing to replace those he had now to those he had in the past.
"Fuck you, Suigetsu!" shouted the bespectacled girl to his right, working on mending the tendons in the socket of his shoulder that had been pulled and torn during his battle. Sasuke wasn't entirely confident in rudimentary Karin's medic skills (if you could even call them that) which she developed in case she didn't have enough chakra with which to heal someone from a bite, but it was certainly favorable to letting the injury worsen. However, as Suigetsu continued to try to, successfully, rile her up, resulting in a reduced level of focus on Karin's part, Sasuke began to seriously consider the possibility of her making his injury worse.
"Be quiet." He spoke lowly, and without ire in his voice, but it was effective all the same, not counting the few grumbled comments from the peanut gallery. Sasuke decided he much rather preferred Naruto's lame-brained comments, followed by a simple, yet effective beating from Sakura. His eyes opened momentarily upwards toward the ceiling, not really seeing the stone of the cave, but instead recalling the green-eyed woman's face. To his chagrin, he could only recall her pained expression as his chidori ripped her body in half.
No one would understand, but he DID regret killing Sakura. Not only did it leave him THAT much shorter on chakra (energy that could have been put towards defeating Kakahshi), but she had been a teammate, a loyal one at that, and he meant what he had said when he had told her that Itachi would kill her slowly and painfully. Itachi could only be described as a monster, a sociopath, and a murderer. Sakura was soft and would have fallen quickly to his games and suffered a great deal from them. All those sentimental thoughts aside, the conclusion Sasuke reached was not any different that when he began to think of her: it was necessary to kill Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun," Karin began quietly, pausing to make sure she had the raven-haired boy's attention, "You seem...sad.  Is everything okay?" Sasuke leveled her with an annoyed glare, then turned his head away in dismissal.
"Don't be stupid." Karin sagged and lowered her head, light flashing on her lenses effectively hiding her eyes. Having only expressed concern for her Sasuke-kun, she had hoped perhaps to gain a better understanding of what was going on in the broody head of his, not so unlike a pink-haired medic nin had done years prior.  Karin hardened her reslove and became suddenly determined to heal Sasuke even quicker so he could take on his bastard of a brother. She would help him gain his revenge, then, and only then would he be free to love her like she wanted. A small smile graced Karin's lips, and Sasuke pondered.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A pink head poked out of a doorway. Glancing left and right, Sakura checked for any signs of life in the house. Characteristic silence met her, which made sense because the morning was still so new, it was grey outside. Exiting and turning to close the door as quietly as she could as to not wake her again-slumbering partner--hey, after a few rounds of mind-blowing sex, who WOULDN'T be tired?--and turned, only to just miss barreling into Deidara. He crossed his arms across his chest as he regarded her, hair askew, dirty clothes in one hand, towel clutched to her chest with the other. An enticing amount of toned thigh was left bare, and a slight pink flush was still present on her down to her collarbone, dusting her cheeks alluringly. He tried to ignore this as he scowled down at her.
"So, that's the way it is, hm?" he asked reproachfully, and Sakura tried not to let him ruin her high. Instead, she lifted her chin in and answered him cooly.
"Yeah, that's the way it is."
"Are you out of your mind?" he asked, voice raising an octave every word. Sakura shushed him harshly, looking back and forth again, making sure prying eyes and ears were not spying. With a free finger from her hand with her clothes in it, she snagged the front collar of his mesh shirt and dragged him down the hall to her room, trying her best not to stomp. Once inside, she shut the door and shoved his shoulder.
"Turn around," she ground out through her teeth as she grabbed a pair of scrubs the had borrowed from the hospital from her dresser. She hastily yanked up her pants, and as she slipped her shirt over her head, Sakura repeated the same command. Deidara did as told, more than a little begrudgingly, and he met the sight of Sakura in a green that matched her eyes and a look on her face that could kill.
"No, I'm not crazy. I know what I'm doing." Deidara looked at her in a way that was meant to belittle.
"I'm pretty sure I've got a good idea exactly what it is that you're doing, yeah," he shot back.
"You know that's not what I fucking meant!" Eyes becoming a more vibrant green with her anger, Sakura noted her mood had gone completely sour, and she made no qualms about letting Deidara read it on her face. It was his damn fault after all. All he had to do was sit back and the situation would work itself out for him.
Sakura menacingly approached Deidara, leaning in as she poked him in the chest in order to emphasize her words, earning a glower from him.
"When I tell you I know what I'm going, I know what I'm doing. You've got to trust me if we're going to work together." Sakura saw Deidara's visible eye roll as he made a sound of disbelief.
"Oh, yeah. You mean the way you trust me?" Deidara asked sarcastically.
"I trust you enough to not blow this whole thing," Sakura said, not mentioning that once this mission was over, she wouldn't trust a blonde hair on that crazy head.
"And I thought I could trust you to do the same thing, but when I find you sneaking out of Itachi's room like a damn teenager, I start to question your judgement. You can't believe a fucking word he says, hn. He probably came onto you because he knew he could seduce you 'cause you're in love with his look-a-like, dead brother!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Kisame heard a loud crash as he walked down the upstairs hallway. Shrugging it off even though his curiosity was poking at him to check it out, he kept walking.   It all happened in slow motion. Deidara, accompanied by large splinters of wood, flipped through the air space in front of Kisame's face, narrowly missing taking off his nose. The shark man's eyes followed the movement, gaze following Deidara's body until it became a heap of limbs on the floor. Slowly, he glanced up to where Sakura stood fuming, fist clenched, what was left of the bedroom door hanging from the hinges.
Kisame gave Sakura a look with raised brows. Reading his openly expressed question, Sakura cleared the flight of stairs, passing the unconscious blonde and muttering, "Didn't mind his own damn business."  Vague enough to still leave Kisame in the dark until she could figure out if he was swayable.  She wanted nothing more than to slip back into Itachi's room and his bed, to feel his skin heating up hers. But even that felt like it distract her enough to clear the lump that had formed in her throat and the burning that began nagging at the back of her eyes. She trudged down the stairs and out the door, feeling little satisfaction when it slammed behind her.
With her mission preoccupying much of her time and thoughts, she hadn't had very much time to mourn the loss of one of her best friends and the man she had once loved above all others, above her own home, and even over herself. She had let a few tears fall over her cheekbones during the time when she rested alone in her attic room, but had yet to be able to accept Sasuke's death and let go, unable to let her misery consume her as she knew she needed, knowing that if she had been stronger, she wouldn't have failed him and Naruto. She had become strong so she would no longer be watching their backs, but when it came down to it, she was still too weak to hold her own so he wasn't at a disadvantage when facing his brother. Sakura hadn't been able to mourn the fact that he hadn't even needed to avenge his family but fighting his brother, hadn't needed to die, that he died not knowing how much his brother had sacrificed for him, how much his brother loved him.
Though she had started her trek without a direction, she soon found herself walking through the doors of the hospital, mechanically pulling her hair into a ponytail as she stared blankly at her physician's coat hanging in her locker. Sasuke had given her the motivation, however indirectly, to become stronger. Without his departure, along with Naruto's, from the village, she would have never mustered up the courage to ask the Hokage to become her mentor. She would have never learned how to save lives, and while she saved so many every day, she realized that the one life she wanted, needed, to save was lost to her forever. It was because Sasuke, while not in physical danger, needed her, because she had failed him, because she was reminded of that every day, that she buried herself in work on a day when she wasn't even scheduled.  She assisted surgery after surgery, stopping only to rescrub and glove, the cap that covered her hair becoming damp with sweat after her third surgery of the day. One of her favorite nurses, Azumi, had given her a clear look of concern when Sakura asked her surgical assistant to close up, though almost all of her face was hidden behind a mask. Sakura met her eyes, unable to muster any other look than pure emotional exhaustion.
When she finally pulled her mask down to hang from her neck, she leaned over the wash basin of the scrub room, feeling the burning behind her eyes begin again and quashing it down before it could overflow.
"Mei-sempai?" Sakura looked to the OR door, seeing Azumi entering the door, hesitating as if unsure of how to approach her superior. Sakura straightened, pressing a foot to the water basin, and let the cool water run over her forearms down to her fingers.  She managed a false smile as she looked to her friend, so reminiscent of sweet Hinata with her long dark hair and ivory palor.
"Azumi," Sakura greeted, "I think that went well, don't you?" Azumi's eyebrows cinched toward one another minutely while she remained silent for another moment. She approached Sakura, standing in front of the faucet next to the ninja's, and went about adding some normalcy to their interaction by also scrubbing her hands before she finally spoke.
"As always, Mei-sempai, your surgical skills are a marvel, and we are blessed to have you in surgery," her light voice began with pure sincerity. Sakura heard another hesitation in her voice, one that could only signal a "but." "You seem unwell today Mei-sempai, not your normal self. Are you okay?" Sakura, drying her hands, allowed a small smile to pulled across her lips as she nodded.
"Yes, thank you. It was just not too long ago that I lost a dear friend of mine, and I am really feeling the loss today." Her voice was thickening she could hear it, and Sakura tried with all her might to quell what she knew would happen eventually today. Azumi also finished cleaning her hands, pulled off her gown and stuff it in the red bin.
"I don't mean to overstep here, Mei-sempai, but I would think this would be a day when you should be allowed to stay home and...mourn." Sakura's sad smile stayed on her face as they walked towards the locker room.
"Oh, I couldn't do that, Azumi." Her scrub nurse's eyes swirled in confusion, the grey of her eyes darkening to almost charcoal in color as she regarded Sakura with her head titled. "I don't understand."
"My friend is the reason that I began my studies in medicine. To not use the gift that I discovered only with his help would be disrespectful to his memory. It may sound crazy, but I feel closer to him this way." Empathy filled Azumi's face as she nodded, sending Sakura smiled that mirrored the nin's, both sad and wistful at the same time.
"I understand," the dark haired nurse began, "my late-husband inspired me to go into medicine as well." Reading the surprise in Sakura's wide eyes, Azumi added that where she was from, girls were encouraged to marry young. Though Sakura outwardly accepted the explanation, her brain concluded that her subordinate didn't look much older than herself, and, at nineteen, Sakura couldn't imagine having already been married. Then again, most ninja didn't live long enough to even get married. Azumi continued with her story as they stepped into the small women's locker room, looking far away and detached.
"One morning, before the sun was even awake, a large group of bandits attacked our village without warning. My husband protected me, but it cost him his life. After the sun rose and those murderous madmen had ridden away with food and goods, the spoils of their raid, I was somehow supposed to face the reality of my dead husband, the love of my life that I had known since I was a child, had loved since before I knew what love was. I didn't want to stay and rebuild my home, remarry, and become as helpless as I had been. So I ran and didn't stop until I was far enough away that I didn't know how to get back. I became what I am because I couldn't stop thinking about what could have been if I had owned the skills to save his life. I wanted to make sure that would never happen to me again and to not allow anyone else to feel so helpless." Sakura had sat down on the bench, absorbing all that her quiet, unobtrusive colleague had said, feeling that when she returned to the Akatsuki house, she would be able to face Itachi without feeling the same pangs of guilt and loss as she had this morning. Her muted brown eyes met grey, and she felt herself pulled into the embrace of her friend, returning it with the same fervor.
Two women who had lost so much to the world stepped away from each other, Azumi apologizing softly, that sorry, but she had to get back to work. Sakura waved off her apology with her hand and a grateful smile, vowing to find a way to thank her beyonds words someday. She pulled off her cap and threw it into her locker with the intent on washing it on a day when she didn't feel so tired. Sakura was running her fingertips through her hair, henge seeping away as if it the dark colors were being rinsed away, as she entered the cool night outside of the hospital doors where the mist had gathered to hang among the town, giving the night a damp chill that reminded her of the coast. At the edge of the light cast by the hospital, she saw him standing there, in as casual of clothes that she had ever seen, pants and a shirt, with a pull over jacket instead of his clouded cloak, his civilian guise, she realized.
Sakura couldn't help but smile and realized how painfully handsome he was as he smiled back, his dark eyes lighting up enough for her to notice he was happy to see her. Sakura approached him, her arms encircling her torso in attempt to block out the cold, and she saw him bring his sweatshirt up and over his head, offering it to her even as she protested. Sakura pulled it over her head, reveling in the warmth from his body and the scent of him surrounding her.
"You are no longer upset." Sakura flushed in embarrassment, knowing he had heard her scuffle with Deidara.
"Did I kill him?" she muttered, feeling his arms encircle her, leaning into him and letting her head be buried in his chest. She heard his laugh--perhaps she startled it out of him--and smiled broadly, enjoying the sound. He opened their stance, but kept one arm around her shoulder to pull her to his side as they walked through the sleepy village.
"No. It would seem that you dislocated his jaw, maybe even broke it in a few places." Sakura winced, guilt seeping into her while she kept reminding herself that the explosions expert totally deserved it. Though the mangekyo ate away at his vision every time he used it, he noticed her facial expression.
"I was surprised when I learned of your attack, but I imagine his lack of tact influenced his words." Sakura nodded, not entirely wanting to elaborate, but knowing that Itachi deserved an explanation. If she was going to trust him, it would have to be all or nothing.
"He accused me of sleeping with you because you look like Sasuke." The words were spoken so quickly, she knew they had rushed from her mouth. She expected him to stiffen and question her, but instead, he stayed silent for a moment, letting only the sounds of crickets and their sandals scuffing the packed dirt road permeate the night air.
"Before you say anything, you should know that was not the reason," she continued, not wanting to interpret his silence as newly formed doubt. A reassuring squeeze on her shoulder told her he thought otherwise. Their relationship, she realized, didn't need words. He understood her without her having to explain herself.
"You mourned for my brother today." Sakura nodded, feeling tears prick at her eyes again, but not stopping them this time as she nodded, her throat too tight to form words. They were just now on the main road, having walked so leisurely that the walk would take them more than an hour if they continued at this pace when it normally took Sakura twenty minutes when walking briskly. Itachi turned her to him and cupped her face between his hands, his thumbs wiping away fresh tears as they descended over her cheek bones. His lips pressed to her forehead, and she wondered as she let out a small hiccup of a sob, if instead of choosing to stay quiet, this time he couldn't find words, the grief perhaps consuming him as well. They continued to walk, her sniffle breaking the silence periodically.
"I suspect that Kisame will be impressionable to disbanding the Akatsuki as we have planned." Sakura's eyes widened at his words, her head snapping to gaze at him, his profile stark against the white of the moonlit mist around them.
"You think this is something that we will be able to act upon so soon?" Itachi nodded. Sakura worried at her lip, realizing that her mission had reached near completion. She had Itachi, knew his loyalty wasn't to the Akatsuki, but her mission objective had been so open ended compared to the others. Usually finding evidence to end a man was her objective, though more experience kunoichi, she knew, had targets they were meant to kill However, she knew this mission wasn't a short term mission. This was one she had prepared to take on for years if need be, luckily for her she had only been there for over three months.
"I have my suspicions that many ninja of Konoha are not privy to your mission, perhaps thinking instead you defected to search for my brother. The odds of nin from Leaf coming to find you outweigh them leaving you to do as you please, especially the Kyuubi vessel. A heavy blow could be dealt with three Akatsuki switching loyalties to Konoha." Sakura nodded, absorbing what Itachi proposed as they broke through the mist with their altitude, the house in view as they continued. She became distracted as she weighed the possibility of Naruto being in the party that she knew Tsunade would have hand picked to "save her." While she didn't expect Tsunade to let him come, Sakura realized that not much besides extensive injury and his own conscious stopped Naruto from helping his friends.
Itachi watched as the color drained from her face and ran a soothing hand across her back. Sakura's eyes gained focus as they swiveled towards him, worry etched into her forehead. This time, his hand took hers, and he lead her into the house and to his room, shutting the door as she continued to fret over what he knew to be inevitable. A fire was lit before Sakura took notice of the chill the room held as she stood by the door, and Itachi was in front of her soon, a hand cupping her cheek and migrating to thread into her hair. He meant for his kiss to make the thoughts flee form her mind, this time wanting her to lose herself, knowing she needed him this time.
Though he controlled the kiss, he could feel it evolving to expose the hunger they felt for each other. Her hands ran up his upper arms gripping over his muscles as one hand gripped her hip tightly, the other tangling through her rose locks. Itachi reached for the hem of the scrub shirt and jacket she wore, pulling them over her head, letting the clothing drop to the floor next to them as he loosening the knot in her pants.  He pushed them down over her hips leaving her bare to him as he pressed her backwards against the wall next to his door, knuckles grazing the underside of her breast lightly.
Sakura felt the cool of the wood of the old house supporting her, the only thing keeping her from drowning in the fire that Itachi sent blazing through her veins. She deftly pulled his shirt over his head as he descended to kneel, dragging his mouth down her belly and across her hip. Sakura gripped his shoulders as she felt his hands grip above her knees, spreading her legs and further exposing her to him. His hot breath fanned over her and she felt a sweet tightening begin inside of her, watched with baited breath as his tongue slipped out of his mouth to taste her. A sigh escaped her with a plea.
"Don't stop." The crook of his elbow slipped behind her knees, pulling her wider as he complied to her request, using his tongue to tease and lap at her, revelling in the little sounds she made, knowing she was giving into her desire in a way she never had been allowed to.  And as he drove her closer to the edge, the flicking of his tongue causing little pleasure-filled flinches, he resolved that though he had failed his family, he would not fail her, wouldn't let this mission ruin and consume her life as it had his. This was the mess of many before her, the result of his own clan's mistakes, and Sakura was not one he wanted to see involved. He had hoped none after him would have to carry this burden.
Sakura's hands clawed at the walls beside her, unable to find anything to grip as she was brought to the pinnacle of her ecstasy. Her back arched off the wall, hips flexing to shift but held still by Itachi's strong, calloused hands. Itachi dragged his mouth along her inner thigh as he rose to meet her heady gaze and molded his mouth to hers. Sakura wasn't sure when he had lost his pants, so engulfed was she in essence of him that she didn't hear them drop to the ground, nor did she feel Itachi kicked them to the side. What she did feel was Itachi grabbing her ass and lift her, his hard cock pressed to her hot, slick core as she wrapped her legs around his lean hips, and him filling her, bit by bit, teasingly in a way that made her head fall back against the wall and a mewl escape from her. Itachi attacked her throat like a man starved and felt her short finger nails biting into his the skin of his shoulders as he drove into her. He took her with the intent of consuming her mind and driving away any thoughts of a mission until they were just a man and a woman, two lovers in the heat of their passion and desires, until she was only a woman crying out as dropped her to the mattress, folding her knees to her chest so he could reach the deepest, most sensual places of her sex. He heard her breath hitch unmistakably, knew she was close, and reveled in bringing her to the breaking point where her mind shattered and all that was left was inescapable, unavoidable pleasure breaking over her in waves.
Feeling the slickness of her orgasm made his eyes roll back, and he hunched forward to bury his face in her neck, driving into her as the tightening of her womanly sheath felt as if it would burn him with the heat. He again felt the fluttering of her muscles and knew he could force her to orgasm again, felt the pulsing of his cock against her impossible tightness, and felt his own breath shudder in his lungs as her last keening release brought him as well.
Sakura felt as if she were drowning. Sounds were muffled, there was a terrible burning in her chest, and the dancing firelight looked like sunlight catching the churning waters of an ocean. She slowly felt herself being brought to the surface by light caresses and soft lips against her skin. Kisses pressed along her jaw found their way to her mouth, and she sought the lips as if they were going to give her life sustaining breaths. Sakura reveled in the feeling of Itachi's lips against hers, of his heart slowing from a gallop against hers, and of his body pressed intimately against hers. As Sakura fell into a doze, sent off by tender kisses, she had no thoughts of her mission, of tomorrow, or of anyone else existing in this world. For now, all there was to Sakura's world themselves and this room.
OOOOOOOOOO
They were close, he could feel it. Sasuke knew his brother was less than a day's travel away, and this time, he would be ready for him. Team Hebi had elected to stay at a tavern less than a day away from the border of Kiba no Kuni, expecting civilization to start becoming a rare occurrence, expected when looking for a criminal hideaway. He was sat with his team, sipping a cup of water while they shared a small jug of sake, one of the few beverages the tavern offered to its patrons. Sasuke was trying his damned near hardest to ignore a tipsy Karin's googly eyes, noticing the flush on her cheeks and spread over the bridge of her nose and Suigestu had got her giggling like a civilian school girl. He rolled his eyes as he laced his fingers in front of his hangs, resting his mouth just below his fingers.
Karin watched as the warm firelight danced in Sasuke's dark eyes, felt herself blushing, knew she was blatantly staring but for some reason, she didn't care. All she knew was that tonight was the night that she would have Sasuke revealing his hidden feelings for her. She knew that the team and romance dynamic were a hard thing to pull of, but they so obviously cared for each other, or at least that is what her fogged brain was telling her. Ignoring the other members of Team Hebi, who were too much of a good mood to pay attention to her anyway, Karin placed herself in her handsome teammate's eye line.
As Karin began to pour her heart out, Sasuke's eyes focused passed her, having heard the unmistakable tinkle of the bell from the front door of the tavern, alerting the owner to a new customer. He watched the middle-aged man turn the corner, heading for the front desk. Over Karin's drunken babbling, he was unable to hear who had come in, but became convinced it couldn't possibly be someone who was a threat to their team. Hunter-nin would not be so polite as to enter through the front door at a decent hour. Allowing himself this small comfort, he closed his weary eyes, resting them for only a moment before he heard a familiar voice. Red eyes snapped open, seeing orange, rising to see blonde, and widening as they met blue.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Kakashi's recovery team was weary. After weeks of taking the route suggested by Tsunade-sama, they had been led on wild goose chases, mostly from "intelligence" gathered from travelers and villagers who probably never even saw a pink-haired girl. Pinching the bridge of his nose in a frustrated gesture. He slowly surveyed their small team, who were rehydrating and crunching down on military ration pills. Sai was preoccupied with sketching, and Kakashi looked to what, or whom, appeared to be his model. His singular eye met Ino's, who gave him a weary smile despite being just as miserable as he. Kakashi's eye scanned to her left, seeing the movement of shadows cast by the sunlight through the leaves.
Something was off about them. There was no breeze on the forest floor, nothing to have moved those shadows, nothing to have rustled those leaves. A low, rumbling growl was heard and Kakashi stood, unalarmed by their new visitor, while Ino was suddenly looking more than alert, having been previously unaware of anything beside her. A jaguar slinked out of the shadows, leather straps buckled around her torso, showing a scroll strap between her shoulder blades.
"Kossori," Kakashi greeted as the feline approached him, relieved that the summon increased the chances that Sakura could very much indeed be alive and well. The spotted hunter rumbled her acknowledgement as she bowed her head so Kakashi could unhook the cover to the case that held the scroll revealing coordinates of Sakura's location. Kakashi's eyes, having pushed his hitae-ate out of the way, flew over the page, memorizing the location before turning his gaze back to the large cat, who had chosen to sit on her haunches.
"Why did Sakura choose not to send Kyuusoku with this information?" Showing her true heritage as a cat, Kossori hedged around the question.
"Oh?" she purred, "Not happy to see me?" Kakashi let out an audible sigh of frustration pass from him, and Kossori rolled her eyes.
"I was only teasing. You're no fun," standing, and stretching her back, the spotted feline continued, "Stealth was more greatly need that speed for this delivery, and I take no qualms in knowing that I hold that skill as a specialty."
"Did something happen to make stealth more favorable over speed?" questioned Sai, who's sketchpad bore the resemblance of a jaguar in the shadows.
"Ah, a perceptive human. I like that very much," she hummed appreciatively. "Jax encountered a ninja who attempted to capture him. He was able to evade him, but we can't risk our mission being compromised again."
"Mission?" Ino inquired, her blunt human nails finding a spot to scratch behind Kossori's ear, having met the cat on several occasions and knowing it was a favorite spot. The jaguar leaned into Ino's touch and let out a soft growl of appreciation, unable to produce a purr.
"The need to know details of which are described on the scroll in your mission point's hand. Though it is canines who are boasted to be the most loyal, you must trust me. Follow Sakura's instructions." Without presage, Kossori rushed towards the trunk of a tree, using her strong claws and limbs to lift herself to the nearest low lying bow.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I passed the most delicious looking boy and dog on the way here, and I'm famished."
"You can't eat them!" Ino all but screeched, "That's Kiba and Akamaru, our teammates." The jaguar's ears flattened to her skull, Ino's high pitched reply being one of the most painful to reach her sensitive hearing for quite some time.
"Calm yourself human," she said, leveling her with a look of derision, "Again, I was only teasing." The team watched as the jaguar seemed to fade and blend until she was part of the canopy, glad to know a creature who could so jarringly sneak up on them so easily was on their side.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Itachi laid entangled with Sakura, propped upon one elbow as his other hand traced her cheekbones where tears had flowed earlier this evening, where the resulting flush from their joining still lingered as she dozed off. As he pressed a soft kiss to her brow, he pulled her close beneath the covers, knowing this would end soon and remembering the words he had vowed silently. 'I will not fail her.'
- 10
- 11
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Why He Stayed