Summary: [ItaSaku slight SasuSaku]
Sakura finally gets the man she so long waited for, but during the wedding ceremony two uninvited guests appear. Can her husband change what happened, or will he give her up to his hated brother?


Chapter seventeen:


“I see you know my name as well,” Kabuto snickered and pushed his glasses further up his nose. The small light from the newly awoken sun pierced through the thick mist and ended up reflecting in his round glasses.

“Hn,”

“I have orders from leader to bring the kunoichi back. I suggest you take my advice when I tell you it’ll be easier if you just let her go now.”

Itachi narrowed his eyes. What did leader want with Sakura? “No,”

Kabuto spread his legs and bent down into a fighting position. One hand moved down his leg to his weapon pouch. “I guess this can’t be avoided then,” He said and quickly withdrew a kunai – throwing it mercilessly at Itachi who easily dodged the attack.

Kabuto ran forward, throwing different weapons at Itachi which he easily dodged before throwing a few of his own. The sound of metal hitting metal pierced through the silent morning. Only a few birds had woken up so far and were happily singing their good morning tunes far away in the distance.

The gray-haired man sprinted towards the Sharingan user in full speed. A kunai was held up in the air by one of his hands, while his other hand started glowing green. Itachi took a quick step to his right and made a hard dash with one of his kunai’s at Kabuto’s arm. The pointy knife sank through the enemy’s flesh and the body suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Itachi smirked and looked up into the air where Kabuto came flying down with a chakra covered fist first.

Itachi crossed his arms in front of his face to prevent Kabuto’s hand from making any serious damage, only to receive hard dash on his right arm before a foot connected with his thigh. The elder Uchiha flew a couple of feet to the side from the hard hit, but before he landed on the ground he threw some chakra-covered shurikens in Kabuto’s direction.

Kabuto snickered as he avoided the Uchiha-prodigy’s weapons and filled chakra in his hand again. “You’re strong, but not strong enough,” He said in a low voice and sprinted towards Itachi once again.

Itachi watched the gray-haired man come closer and closer and decided it was time to end it all. As he was about to make some hand seals, he noted that his right arm refused to do as he wanted. Instead of moving – it hung completely limp by his side. He looked up just in time to see Kabuto’s fist nearing his face in a fast speed and he quickly moved his body to the side - feeling the smooth skin of Kabuto’s hand lightly brushing against his left temple. The elder Uchiha threw himself to the ground, steadied himself on his left hand and planted a hard kick straight onto Kabuto’s lower back. A loud crack was heard as the spy fell forward before he landed on the ground with a loud thump. Groaning, the gray-haired man tried to get up, only to end up falling face first onto the ground again.

Itachi limped unsteadily towards the exhausted body before him. Crimson eyes studied the man’s form as he wondered what this was all about. A sudden nausea rose through the Uchiha’s body. His vision became blurred and a thundering ache appeared behind his eyes. Groaning, he fell to the ground and landed on his knees. A hand shot up to his left temple and gently started massaging the sore spot in hope to get the ache to disappear, but it only made it worse.

“W-what did you do?” He growled angrily as he searched for the enemy through his blurred vision.

Kabuto laughed weakly before replying with a quiet; “Ruined your eyesight. The more you use the Sharingan the more damage you’ll cause yourself. It’ll get worse the longer you try to fight it. My chakra is in your system. What ninja are you when your eyes are useless?” A cough came from him when he felt Itachi’s hand press his face further down the dirty ground.

“Make it… go away,” Itachi’s pained voice demanded.

Another laugh escaped the spy’s lips. “I can’t and wouldn’t even if I could.”

Itachi removed his hand from the paralyzed body. Pain started forming where his thigh had gotten kicked. “Why… her? Why Sakura?”

Silence filled the air between them as Itachi waited for a reply. “Why?” He repeated when the answer never came.

A pained groan came from Kabuto as he tried to get up once again. “Great… power,” He whispered hoarsely before another cough escaped and he fell down onto the dirty ground again.

Itachi gritted his teeth. The pain was getting unbearable. “I’ll kill you for this,” his normally velvety voice growled. “I’ll rip your insides out-”

Kabuto laughed again and turned his head slowly to look at the elder Uchiha. Both his hands were glowing green as he brought them behind his back and pressed them onto his clothed body. “Where is the Kunoichi?”

Itachi opened his eyes. A blurry figure sat a couple of feet from him. The pain behind his eyes was getting worse by the second. If Kabuto’s attacks only affected the Sharingan; his charcoal eyes would still have their normal eyesight, wouldn’t they?

“Where is she?” Kabuto asked again and brushed the dirt from his clothes as he stood up.

“…”

“Very well,” The gray-haired man muttered and took a step towards the Uchiha.

A large bandaged sword flew through the thick morning mist and landed in between the two males. “The Kunoichi stays with us,” Another voice boomed.

Anger flashed through Itachi’s eyes as he switched them back to his normal ones. His sight was still blurry but even though, he could still make out Kisame’s Samehada dug into the ground a few feet from his face. He shakily pushed himself off of the ground and turned to face his team-mate who made himself visible by Itachi’s side.

“Hn,” The Sharingan user muttered sourly as his vision slowly came back to him.

Kisame held his hand out towards his sword and watched as it released itself from the ground and made its way to his hand. “Leave,” He said and threw Samehada over his shoulder. “The Kunoichi’s purpose for us hasn’t been fulfilled yet. If Leader wants her, he’ll have to wait.”

Kabuto grinned darkly at the shark’s statement. “You do know Leader always gets what he wants, don’t you?”

The shark shot a pissed glare at the enemy before raising a fine eyebrow.

“This isn’t over,” Kabuto’s voice hissed before he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two Akatsuki members alone.

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Itachi took a wobbling step forward, nearly falling over as his right leg gave in underneath his weight. Kisame reached a steady arm out to prevent the Uchiha from hitting the ground and received a sour look from the elder Uchiha as he slowly but determinatively rose to his full height.

“I’m fine,” Itachi growled and pushed the shark’s arm away before taking another step forward. Like before, his leg gave in again but this time, Kisame kept his arms to himself and watched silently as the Uchiha prodigy fell to the ground with a thump. Itachi was known for being an arrogant, self-centred bastard at times, and now was one of those times. So if he didn’t want help, he sure wasn’t getting it either.

Gritting his teeth together he pushed himself off of the ground with his good arm while throwing silent curses at Orochimaru’s ex-helper. He didn’t know much about Kabuto, mainly because he’d never actually thought of him as a threat before but also because he’d vanished when Sasuke had killed their common master. He needed to stop underestimate his enemies from now on.

Suppressing a sigh, he closed his eyes hard together before opening them and taking another step towards their hideout. He knew Kisame was watching him closely, but he refused to show any sign of weakness in front of his comrade. “Are they safe?”

“Hai,” Kisame replied quietly. “They left some time ago. Deidara’s keeping watch from the sky.” He added with a smile gracing his lips. He knew very well that Itachi was more concerned of a certain pink-haired kunoichi’s wellbeing than the other two Akatsuki members’, but kept quiet about it.

“Hn,” Itachi nodded. “Let’s go.”

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Sakura jumped quietly behind the puppet master through the trees. Deidara was nowhere to be seen, but she knew he was somewhere in front of them, riding on one of his clay birds high up in the sky. She missed his company a bit. Compared to the redhead, Deidara was more talkative and shared more of his life than Sasori did. Sakura didn’t know where she had him. He was mysterious and quiet and rarely spoke unless it was expected of him. She sighed loudly as she followed his boyish frame. She would have done anything if they could take a rest soon. She hadn’t kept herself in shape since Sasuke had proposed and it was getting clearly visible as they raced through the forest in a fast pace.

Sasori turned his head to look at her and said a quiet, “We’re stopping soon. There’s a town a few miles up ahead. We will be staying there until the others show up.”

“Hai,” Sakura breathed and sent more chakra to her feet. She was exhausted but knew that the faster they got there - the faster she’d get to rest.

Her mind drifted off to Itachi. A blush tainted her already rosy cheeks as she thought back on the previous night’s events. The images of his delicious face hovering inches above her own was still fresh in her memory and she couldn’t help but wondering if he had enjoyed it as much as she had. From the way things had turned out, he had seemed to like it, but then again he was known for playing with peoples minds so maybe it had been nothing but an act from his side.

Another sigh escaped her parted lips. Why was she so attracted by the Uchiha’s? Was it the darkness that surrounded them that made them so appealing to her? Was it the fact that they were secretive and dark that caught her attention, or was it that she was cursed – doomed – to fall head over heels over the most complicated people she’d ever get to meet? She had no clue at all.

Sasori stopped on top of the branch in front of her and motioned for her to do the same. “We’re here,” He said and jumped down onto the ground where Deidara was waiting for them. Sakura followed his example – landing not as gracefully as she’d intended next to the blonde.

“There’s an inn waiting for us. We have a room till tomorrow.” Deidara explained as they walked towards the town’s entrance. “I figured we could share,” He added and shot Sakura a glance. “She is to be kept under constant watch after all.”

“Hai,” Sasori mumbled and shot his comrade a quizzical look. How many warnings did his comrade actually need?

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Sakura threw herself down on the only bed in the small room they’d rented. Dust flew in every direction as her tired body collided with the yellow mattress, causing her to sneeze loudly when some of it tickled her nose.

“Bless you,” Deidara grinned and opened the dirty window to let some fresh air into the room. Sasori sat down on the floor by the door and kept a watchful eye on the younger ninjas.

“Thanks,” Sakura giggled and turned onto her tummy so she could see the blonde man. He gave her a small smile before walking over to the door.

“I thought I’d catch us some food. Can I get the lady anything special?” He winked.

Sakura pushed herself up on her elbow and gazed at the two Akatsuki members. “I’ll take whatever you’re having,” She replied with a tired smile and watched the blonde give a slight nod before he lowered his eyes to look at his team-mate.

“The same,” Sasori muttered before Deidara had the time to repeat the question.

“Hai, I’ll be back… eventually,” The blonde said before walking out the door.

Sakura made her way to the window once the door was closed and placed her elbows onto the windowsill and took a deep intake of air. Her green eyes scanned the surroundings outside, taking in every sad detail of the poor-looking town before her. Something near a house corner caught her eye and she nearly screamed out of happiness as her mind registered who it was she had spotted.

In a weak voice she said one simple name…

“Sasuke-kun,”