A/N: This is just a fun project, I don't really care if you love it or hate it, I just hope it brings you some amusement either way. And as a side note - this will probably have a SasoSaku pairing, although that's not the focus of the story. (Sexual interactions will eventually be the reason its rated M.) ;D

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PANDEMIC

Chapter 01

. . .

Because one day I'll leave you, a phantom to lead you in the summer, to join The Black Parade.

Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance

. . .

Uchiha Itachi lay submerged in the overgrown grass; his lithe form propped by exposed elbows as he stared through the scope of a sniper rifle. "Target confirmed."

From his position on the crest of a long sloping hill, Itachi oversaw the majority of combat. He rarely made a move but the undead seemed to be cropping up from the wilderness below, pushing him to further diligence. Fortunately, the man was always observant and constantly analyzed the erratic movement of their opponents.

At this particular moment he was watching as his partner sliced through the waves of approaching undead. Hoshigaki Kisame was a skilled swordsman; with Itachi above and the broader man below, they were an almost unstoppable team. Almost. There were always shortcomings, but these were compensated for by the rest of their unit - Konan and Pein, who were a separately functioning two-man team, and Zetsu, the man who served as their scout and information specialist.

Together these five made up the ground team.

"It's about damn time," Kisame grunted into his headset.

His muscled form moved with surprising agility as he sidestepped out of the path of a particularly swift zombie and put distance between himself and the growing mass of mindless beasts. His small silvery eyes focused on Itachi before giving the younger man a sharp nod. Nice work Kisame, I'll take it from here, he smirked as the swordsman made his way back to their leader. They were under orders to regroup as soon as the threat in this sector was eliminated.

With one in the chamber, the talented sniper put his onyx eyes back to the scope. The wind was negligible, there was no interference with his shot. As Itachi dropped one index finger to the trigger, he let his other hand roam down to the magazine clip which stored a set of seven remaining bullets. He had nine targets - his lips pressed into a stern line. Challenge accepted.

Itachi pressed the trigger and listened to the muffled roar of gunfire. One down. He repositioned the barrel of the military issue rifle and picked off each target with ease. A satisfying geyser of blood and gore followed each of his headshots. The raven-haired man watched with a grimace as bullets pierced the soft skulls of the rotting corpses below. They scrambled amongst themselves as they were killed, like rats searching for the invisible source of their doom. Pitiful, disgusting things.

One let out an inhuman hiss and Itachi was disturbed to realize it was the one that had lunged at his partner with a speed not common to those shambling creatures. He instinctively hit the trigger and listened to the click that symbolized an empty chamber. The sniper cursed under his breath as he watched the straggler thud into the forest.

He had no option but to give chase. Pein would not tolerate failure on this: the zombie was too close to the survivors' base. If he remembered correctly, the mobile team had not come out on this mission, that meant five survivors were at the base and were completely unprepared to deal with any threat. Itachi had to eliminate this last target.

The slender man pushed his lying form off the ground, not bothering to brush the dried grass from his dark clothing. He grabbed a knife from his rifle bag and sprinted down the hill, taking note of his location so he could come back and retrieve his gear at a later time. His current priority was obvious.

Upon reaching the edge of the forest, Itachi crashed into the trees. His face was composed, his breathing light, being careful to maintain a quiet approach. Undead didn't normally pose that much of a threat individually, but his knife skills were rusty and he always was a cautious man. It wasn't long before he heard the familiar groan of lopsided steps, the sound could have been mistaken for an injured pedestrian but Itachi knew better - after living through this hell for seven months, one learned to distinguish between people and zombies.

He was virtually silent as he crept into a break in the trees. Sunlight filtered down through the canopy, catching on fallen leaves. Uchiha Itachi stopped abruptly, noticing an unnatural color splashed against the green background: pink. A soft pink that resembled the color of cherry blossoms in the spring. It was a lovely and grounding sight. And it was attached to a young woman, perhaps twenty. Her back was turned toward him and the stumbling zombie and she was hunched over a leafy plant.

Itachi moved swiftly, slicing the head off of the menacing creature with one swipe. Blood splattered across his face and into the hair of the girl crouching in front of him. She flinched. Itachi watched idly as the body fell to the ground with a crunch and the girl spun around. First he noticed her eyes, the color of gemstones and glittering just as brightly in her anger. Her eyebrows were knit together and her teeth were bared - an expression of pure rage.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Her tone was full of poison but he couldn't help the amusement that bubbled inside him at the thought of such a tone coming from her. She was much shorter than him but well muscled and slim from what he assumed was intense exercise. Whether this exercise occurred before or after the zombie apocalypse was all guesswork.

"I just saved your life. You don't appear grateful for my timely intervention," came his answer.

The pinkette stared at him, her expression shifting from anger to disbelief.

"I can take care of myself." As she said this, she turned her back on him and snapped a low-hanging branch from the tree above. Itachi winced slightly at how abrupt the simple motion was but he didn't allow the reaction to show in his expression. She tossed the weighty branch onto a section of light between them, about a foot from where the zombie now lay. It was snapped in half by a bear trap hidden beneath the withering leaves.

Emerald eyes met his own and she raised her eyebrows, setting one slender hand on her hip as if to say How's that? Itachi was taken slightly off guard by his own inability to spot the trap - it was hidden incredibly well.

"What's your name?" he questioned, moderately interested.

"Oh no, I don't think so."

Raven eyebrows knit together, "You won't tell me your name?"

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes before resting her gaze back on his face. She observed him critically for a moment, he looked so cute when he was confused. She let her eyes skim his figure briefly - he didn't look like a murderer. Noticing her roaming gaze, Itachi smirked.

"What if I say please?" he added in a husky voice.

A shiver shot up her spine, an unwanted response to the sexy tone. "Haruno Sakura."

Her tone was conceding, now he could probably get anything he wanted from her. At the moment his principal interest was reporting her presence to the leader and hopefully bringing this Sakura with him. She appeared to be quite resourceful, as the trap she had set was handmade. She could prove to be asset to their meager group.

Most notably, the herbs she had been bent over only minutes early were a rare type of medicine and the fact that she could tell them apart from any other plant spoke highly of her medical capabilities. Itachi's group was comprised mainly of fighters, the medic they had available was a man whose only qualification was that he had previously dabbled in poisons. He made an excellent weapons specialist but a less pleasant healer.

"How would you like to come to our base-" he began.

"No."

That single word held more finality than he had expected but he would not be deterred by this fiery little girl. He watched as she put a hand to her hair, picking at the clumps now matted together with dried blood - zombie blood. Sakura looked absolutely disgusted and he could swear he heard a soft whimper escape those pink lips.

"We have a fully functional shower."

The pinkette paused, her fingers still playing with tangled locks. She seemed to be considering his latest statement and Itachi was certain that he had won as he watched the contemplative look cross over her pretty features. Nothing sounded more appealing to Sakura in that moment than the opportunity to take a shower, but could she trust him? She shrugged her tense shoulders lightly. She was more than capable of defending herself against this charming character. Did I just think of him as charming?

Perhaps some shelter from the heat would be necessary too; yes, it had to be the heat. She had just noticed the dryness in her mouth and the fact that sweat was seeping into her red tank top and would become visible any moment now. She blushed slightly. In her mild irritation and embarrassment, Sakura failed to realize that he had specified the base as 'ours' which implied he wasn't the only one she would be dealing with.

"Where is this base of yours?"

Itachi smirked, gesturing for her to follow with a flick of his hand.