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. |
Stepping out of the hospital as Mei, Sakura took a full breath and grinned. Things were beginning to work out for her afterall. Even though she was technically being held captive, she was given free reign around the town. Well almost free reign. It wasn't until she was on the dirt road the lead to the thicket, when she heard a voice next to her. "Mei-chan, fancy meeting you here, huh?" Sakura glanced all too unsurprised at Deidara grinning down at her. "Cut the crap, Deidara. I know that you have been following me around all day. I'm not stupid, you know," she said crossing her arms as he fell into step with her. The corner of Deidara's lip twitched showing his amusement of her sour mood. He knew she was good, but he didn't expect her to be able to sense his hidden chakra signal. Sakura never took well to being thought of as weak, for she had been for quite some time, a jounin. She figured her little scene in the forest with Sasuke would have given off the impression of weakness, such was always assumed of the kunoichi of Team Seven. Those who knew her from Team Kakashi knew better. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she refused to let them forget that, damn it! Perhaps, though, she should try to be as nondescript as possible while being in this town. No need to draw even more trouble her way. Dealing with four Akatsuki was putting her on edge as it was. Sakura quickly changed directions and disappeared into the thicket, Deidara not far behind her trudging figure. "It is completely necessary to follow me around all the time? I don't need to be babysat. I'm a big girl. I can handle myself," she remarked, not hiding the annoyance in her voice. "It was leader's idea, okay? I just happened to be the one chosen for the job since Itachi and Kisame are on a mission. We wouldn't want you to go to town and announce to everyone that you are being held captive by the Akatsuki and that you know where our base is." "Don't you make appearances in town anyway?" "Of course we do, yeah. The villagers just don't know where we come from exactly. This isn't a big ninja village. Not a lot of people are willing to go snoop around in the business in the Akatsuki, yeah." "So, what would happen if I tattled?" "We would kill you." Well, that was blunt. "What if I shouted it in the market surrounded by innocent people?" "We would kill all of them too," Sakura gave him an incredulous look. "What? Secrecy is a big part of the Akatsuki, okay? You can't expect us to let people get away with hearing about where we are stationed." Sakura shook her head in disbelief. "I just can't believe you would kill all those people." "Some of those people, no matter how innocent and bystander they look, could be hunting for us. You forget that, yeah." Though Sakura did understand what he was getting at, the medic nin inside of her and Inner-Sakura both expressed a general distaste for his reasoning. "You forget that I could be one of those people who has it out for you. Maybe that was my plan all along, and Sasuke just happened to play into it." Deidara let out a bark of a laugh as they made it to the house and ascended the two steps onto the porch. He stopped at the door and turned to her, his resting hand on the handle. "I know you think that you're better than I think you are, but you have no idea who you're dealing with, okay? Just sit tight and don't cause any trouble like a good girl, yeah." Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to retort but was successfully ignored by Deidara as he walked through the door, and the screen shut with a slam. Sakura growled audibly before descending the steps. She had no idea where to go where she could be alone. No doubt if she started to get too far away from the house, they would send someone after her to make sure she didn't run. Deciding her room was better than any other place, she jumped up onto the bit of roof that was underneath her window and climbed in through it. Letting her henge fall, Sakura flopped onto her bed. She damn well hoped that she hadn't been seen with Deidara. If the town's folk were fearful of the Akatsuki, associating with them was sure to have a negative effect on how the villagers would see her, or see Mei at least. Sakura turned on her stomach, and looked out of her window into the now setting sun. With a frustrated sigh, she drifted to sleep For the next two weeks, Sakura became used to her routine. Wake up, shower, eat (usually alone, everyone seemed to disappear until her shift was over), put on her henge no jutsu, go to the hospital, walk home (usually met by a member of Akatsuki once she reached the main road), get home, eat again, training alone, and go to sleep, repeating the whole thing over again. Working at the hospital was a plus. She had been right in assuming that she wouldn't be given money for food or clothes. If she needed anything from the other dwellers of the house, they only gave her the bare minimum: a little food to hold her down. They weren't sparing any expenses seeing as their precious Leader hadn't given them instructions with exactly she was to be dealt with yet. She also still wore hand-me-down clothes, seeing as she had yet to receive her first hospital paycheck. Luckily Ichibachi-san had realized her predicament and had set up a pay advance. Putting a henge on the clothes was easy enough, but she was becoming increasingly tired of the too-large clothes. What she wasn't used to was what she did with her days off. The first week and a half was spent trying to get used to her new shift. After all, she did work nights, so she didn't actually wake up in the morning anymore. She usually woke up in the middle of the afternoon, though sometimes Sakura awoke in the early mornings, unable to fall to be sleep. This morning happened to be one of those mornings. Sakura stared up at the dingy ceiling of her attic room. The sun had risen, and she knew she was the last one to wake up, but while she couldn't get to sleep, her body was dog tired. After what Sakura suspected to be twenty more minutes of nothing but breathing, no sleeping to be had, Sakura kicked off her covers with a growl. Yanking open the bottom drawer of the decrepit dresser, Sakura pulled out one of her very few articles of clothing, her OWN shirt. Though she had swiped a surgical needle and some suture thread from hospital, looking at the shirt, Sakura realized there was no salvaging to be made with just a needle and thread. She needed all new material. Might as well make her self a new shirt. Sakura kicked the drawer shut, and, deciding that she might as well put some tea on for herself, headed out of her room. Once she reached the kitchen, she found no one there, but there was a kettle already on the stove. Sakura hoped whoever put it on anticipated more than one person. Sakura, in the meantime, laid her head on her arms, hoping to maybe be able to doze for at least five minutes. "You are awake early, Sakura," a deep voice intoned. Sakura bolted up right, coming eye to eye with the crimson fire of the Sharingan. She watched the three tomoe spiral almost hypnotically. Only after a few minutes when she heard the whistle of the kettle and was snapped out of her reverie, did she realized that she had been staring. Sakura flushed with embarrassment. "I couldn't get to sleep," she mumbled, looking down at her shirt on the table. Itachi silently rose and poured then both a cup of tea. Sakura took her teeth and began ripping her shirt in shreds for medical bandages to put into her supplies. Itachi sat next to Sakura, waiting until she was done with her ripping to hand her her cup of tea. BOOM! Sakura yelped and mishandled her cup, spilling it's scalding contents right onto the hand and forearm of the elder Uchiha. Without thinking about what she was doing or whom she was touching, Sakura grabbed Itachi by the elbow and hurried him to the sink, where she ran his arm under cool water, soothing the burn he received. "I am so sorry, Itachi," Sakura said as she turned off the water and gently patted his skin dry with a dishtowel. Even though the burn wasn't that bad since she had acted quickly, Sakura's hands moved over Itachi's skin, a cool, healing chakra leaking out into him. As Sakura, felt Itachi relax, or as close to relaxed as you can get when you are perpetually unyielding, she let out a sigh of relief. "What the heck was that?" she asked, referring to the war-like explosion. "Deidara and Kisame are sparring," he said, gazing out the large paned window. Sparring? Sakura could only imagine what it would be. Another boom sounded, shaking the house, causing Sakura, who had finished healing the minimal damage to Itachi, to growl. "Lucky I wasn't handling white hot tea, this time," she muttered through clenched teeth. "Why aren't you out there with them?" "Like I said, you need some more training. I decided to wait until you woke up." Sakura nearly choked on her own spit. He was waiting for her? So she could train with him? Sakura gulped, her throat suddenly dry. "What?" she squeaked. "I do not wish to repeat myself. If you are done with breakfast, go get your equipment and some more," he looked at her oversized shirt, "suitable clothes." Sakura frowned at him, her temper instantly flaming. "This is all I have!" Itachi turned from her and headed up the stairs without a word. In his absence, Sakura turned her attention to what was going on out the sliding glass door, If Sakura's eyesight and hearing were good enough to zoom through the trees, she would have been aware miles away in the forest a dog howled at the discovery of a familiar scent. He sprinted off, and four figures followed. The team weaved through the trees, until they reached a small clearing, where the canine halted abrubtly. He circled the ground where a rusty stain was present, barked, then whined, unsure of what his discovery meant. Kiba approached. "Sakura was here alright. Akamaru, search the surrounding area," Kiba ordered as he knelt down to examine the ground. "I can't be sure of what happened here," he directed towards his teammates. "She was hit over there, flew this distance, landed, then rolled to this spot, where she bled," Kakashi stated, keeping the emotion out of his voice to hide how plainly disturbed he was by what he had discovered. He bent down as well, and then looked at his blonde teammate with one obsidian eye, "The amount of blood would suggest that her wounds are fatal." "Are you telling me Sakura is dead?" Kakashi stood, the bags under his eyes making him look all the more defeated that he felt. "It is certainly looking that way, Naruto." "Well where is she then? If she is dead wouldn't she be here? Who killed her?" Naruto cried, clenching his fists as his side, unable to accept the fact that he not only lost one of his best friends, but now two. Kakashi opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted when Kiba called to them from a few yards away where he was analyzing tracks. "Sasuke was here, looks like he fought someone. This is his blood. Whoever it was meant business." He turned to Kakashi. "Sasuke?" Naruto whispered. "Yes," Kiba answered. "These tracks suggest that he's wounded, but alive. He retreated in that direction. Do you think it was Sakura he clashed with?" Kakashi searched the ground, and found three spots. He knew exactly what those spots were, and he knew exactly whom they belonged to. "No. There are no characteristics here that would suggest that Sakura fought. The ground is relatively undisturbed, and there are no signs of damage made by her chakra…These are drop of Sakura's blood. She was carried away." "So maybe she's alive? We have to find her! And Sasuke too!" Naruto exclaimed. "Sakura is our first priority. This is a mission to aid Sakura. We cannot divert to go after Sasuke," Kakashi reminded firmly. "Kakashi you know me better than anyone, and I need to go after Sasuke while I have the chance! Does he not matter anymore? We need to go after him while we still-" "Sakura is first priority. She may be dying and waiting for our help. I will not put the capture of Sasuke before the rescue of Sakura during this mission." Kakashi shot a glare at Naruto, who's pain was evident in his eyes. Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose as if to relieve a headache. "Kiba, tail Sasuke. Follow his scent, report back to us with his position. Do not engage." Kiba nodded, and sent a bark of an order to Akamaru who took off. "Understood," he said to Kakashi, while sending Naruto a sympathetic look before disappearing into the forest. Naruto just stared at the ground hands with his hands clenched at his side. "Let's move out, Naruto. We don't have time to waste. Let it go. Sasuke made his choice. Sakura needs you now." "Ichibachi speaking." I greeted spinning in my chair to answer the dull wring of the office phone. An authoritative female voice met my ears. "Konohagakure? I must say this is a surprise. How can I help you mistress—" I was cut off by the woman who claimed to be the Hokage. For all I know this could be a practical joke, but she sounded like the real deal. As I listened to her proposal, however, I became skeptical. Leaning forward in my chair as my mood became more intense, I questioned her. "So you're claiming to be sending me an undercover ninja. You want me to give this person a job. How am I to know who he or she is when they arrive? How could you ensure—" I was cut off again. Something I found annoying, and also something I didn't have to deal with much being the head honcho at my hospital. Another proposal traveled into the earpiece of my phone. My eyes widened. That is a large sum of money; of which could greatly improve the state of our facility. I breathed in sharply, smelling the hospital cafeteria food as well as my lit candle, an attempt to flood out the sterile hospital smell that infected the rest of the offices. I let out the breath in a heaving sigh. What was I to do? If I acquiesced, I could possibly be putting my patients and staff in danger. As far as we knew, this ninja could not only be extremely hostile, but they could lure ninja battles and more violence into a village that didn't need any more of that, especially with the Akatsuki lurking nearby. However, if I refused, I risked the whole village be hounded by a much larger, much more powerful ninja village. Using my most threatening voice I could muster without being insulting, I agreed to the Hokage's offer. "Okay. I will accept your ninja into my staff, but you best know that if your people step out of line in anyway and put this hospital in danger, I will no longer cooperate, and you will have to move your operation elsewhere." I was met with assurance on the other line, saying that the ninja was very skilled, would work hard, and also be discreet while on their mission. "Very good then. I will expect your operative her by the date you set. We will be in touch." Affirmation from my new associate and the line went blank. I place with receiver down with a plastic click, and returned to my paperwork, seeing as my food had long grown cold due to the drawn out conversation. This ninja, whoever they were, better be worth my while. "I need blood! WHERE is my blood?" Sakura yelled out urgently, glancing over the heads of her scurrying coworkers, while pressing dressings to a civilian's chest wound. "He's bleeding through, I need help with pressure. You get over here!" Sakura put the dressings into the wound, sending a spark of chakra no one would notice, listening to the shrill flatline sound turn into a struggling beep as his bp returned to a more steady state. Wiping her brow with the top of her shoulder has to not get blood from her forearm onto her face, she directed some of the nurses to take the current patient, a man who had somehow got on the wrong end of a fight with a barstool, into the ICU. She looked at the clock and groaned. Though her night had been busy in the hospital, time was somehow dragging. It was hard getting used to only fixing every other ailment that came into the hospital. As a kunoichi, Sakura was proficient in the use of chakra to heal patients, but being guised as a civilian doctor was harder than she thought. Though she had been trained in the use of civilian surgical techniques, she was rustier than she had previously estimated. A few hours in the skill lab had brought her muscle memory pack up to par, and soon she was stitching sutures like a champion. This is didn't take away from the fact that some people she just could not save, not without risking revealing her identity to those around her. Taking the death of a patient had always been a hard thing for Sakura, a perfectionist at heart, and also a gifted medicnin, to deal with. Couple that with even remedial cases of people coming in with very treatable conditions (in the ninja world), but Sakura being able to do nothing more than diagnose and write a prescription on her little prescription pad was driving Sakura into a ditch. What had been a godsend was performing surgery. Having dexterous hands, Sakura was happy to get back to helping people in a way that yielded more results than sitting in the Emergency Room at night. Most of the surgeries were during the day. If she showed up early enough, she was able to get on the surgery board thanks to the lack of help at this particular hospital. The village, as quaint as it was, was not the most prosperous. It was because of this that many hotshot civilian surgeons didn't waste their time in it. Basically, the staff was happy to have her, and Ichibachi was very pleased with her intuition of hiring Sakura…er, Mei. Sakura stripped off her gloves, pressing the biohazard waste bin foot petal, opening the lid with a faint whoosh, alternating her foot to step on the washbasin petal to scrub off any foreign bodies she may have acquired. The water was cool on her skin, wetting her up to her elbows while she scrubbed away the microscopic germs. "Mei?" Sakura took a look over her shoulder to the E.R. secretary behind the desk, an older woman in plain blue scrubs, but with the eye shadow to match. Sakura yanked a paper towel from the dispenser, smoothing it over her hands and upper arms. "Call for you. I will transfer it over to you," meaning the phone closest to Sakura at the nurses station. Mei nodded, her brown eyes crinkling in thanks as she leaned over and took the receiver off the hook. "This is Mei Lee," she informed her caller, sinking down into a wheeled chair situated in front of the rarely used hospital radio. Such a small trauma center seldom got transfers from other hospitals, and the radio was mainly used when they needed to outsend patients who needed care that they could not provide. "Mei, hello. This is Ichibachi. I have your pay ready for you when your shift is over. I will be leaving it at the front desk, since I am heading home," Ichibachi's voice crackled into the receiver. That worked out perfectly. Sakura hadn't yet gone on her lunch break, but since it was slow, she figured she could kill two birds with one stone since the front desk Ichibachi was speaking of was just a little ways down the hall from the cafeteria. "Thank you very nice Ichibachi-san. Thank you for going out of your way like this." "No trouble at all, Mei. You have in such a short time begun to turn out hospital around. It's the least I could do." Mei's thin lips raised into a smile, happy that she was able to make some sort of progress, even as a mousy civilian. Ending her conversation, with her superior, she walked briskly to the badge swiper and signed out, letting the secretary know she was headed to lunch. She stopped by the front desk first, greeted and given the envelope she was expecting, pleased that it had taken a very minimal amount of time to pick up her paycheck, giving her ample time to sit in the doctor's lounge to eat her food. In the cafeteria she grabbed her tray and looked at the assortment of edibles laid out before her, trying to figure out what would pique her taste buds and give enough energy to allow her to end her shift without being extremely exhausted. She chose some a mochi ball, nice and filling, a ham sandwich, for some protein, an apple for sugar, and a sweet tea for some natural caffeine. Pleased with her lunch, she grabbed a brown paper bag from the little cart that had creamers, coffee, butter and the like on it, and bagged up her food. Reaching the lounge door, she pinned in the code to unlock the door, swinging it open to meet a pair of crimson eyes, making her stop dead in her tracks. She almost dropped her lunch, feeling adrenaline rush down to her toes, and she swallowed hard. Itachi's eyes flickered to her pail throat, instantly and unconsciously memorizing the movement. Snapping out of her shock, she glanced behind her before she hurriedly moved into the room, shutting the door. She leaned against it, dropping her henge and looking at him apprehensively, then hissed in a low voice. "What the hell are you doing here? If anyone were to see you, do you understand what huge trouble—?" "No one will remember seeing me." He blinked, not out of necessity, but as an emphasis to his words. Sakura then understood, leaving the door and walking around Itachi, feeling the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as his eyes followed her. She had her back to him, a position she wasn't entirely comfortable with, but assumed now as a show of indifference, one that she was sure was transparent. Unrolling the thick brown paper of her lunch bag, she reached in pulled out her mochi ball, and bit into it. She took a large bite, using it as an excuse to think while Itachi continued to pin him down with his bloodline stare. Sakura swallowed with difficulty, the combination of the sticky rice and the sudden dryness in her mouth, giving rise to such a result. "You didn't answer my question," Sakura vocalized bravely, before swiftly finishing her mochi aided by gulping down her sweet tea as fast as her bendy straw would allow. Itachi looked at her again, not answering Sakura's vague statement. "What are you doing here?" she repeated, searching for a napkin, in her bag, and finding none. Itachi was silent once more, opting to instead observe her teeth scrape the pad of her thumb in attempts to clear them of her sticky rice residue. Sakura stared at him expectantly, but after a few moments conceded to his silence and continued with her meal. She only had a few more minutes before she had to sign back in to continue her shift. As she bit into her apple, she spied Itachi twirling a 10-blade skillfully between his fingers, obviously not concerned with how sharp of an instrument it was. Sakura was mesmerized only until she felt the juices from the apple dribble from the corner of her mouth down to her chin. She hastily wiped her face, and another crisp bite from her apple before slipping her arm into the sleeve of the one piece of clothing she didn't have to henge: her doctor's coat, which she had left in the lounge, she realized absently. She stood, ignoring her better judgment and swiped the blade away from Itachi, mumbling something about hospital property and her need to get back to work. She stuffed the blade into her side pocket, leaving herself a mental note to have it run through the autoclave and returned it to the surgical wings upstairs. Sakura, trying her hardest to ignore the red irises that followed her as she bagged her remaining lunch items, focusing only on the sound the muted soft paper bag made as Sakura folded it in on itself. As Sakura brusquely moved past Itachi to exit the room, he grasped her elbow stopping her altogether, movement and thought. Sakura experienced what felt like an electric shock move through her arm and she unconsciously tried to pull away, resulting in his grip tightening to an almost vice-like intensity. Itachi moved closer to her, his mouth hovering just next to her ear. "Do not dawdle on your way back today. We must discuss Leader's decision." Though she was physically frozen in place, Inner Sakura snorted. Like there was much to discuss. From what she assumed, what Leader said was done, and she wouldn't have any choice in the matter.
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo