Title: Truth Hidden in Lies

Author: Shadow of the Moon

Summary: Sakura gets captured by the Akatsuki as bait. A mysterious girl from song intervenes and finds herself thrown into the mess. What ties does she have with Orochimaru? And how will Sakura manage to escape? Pairings: Kakashixoc, ItachixSakura. Plz R+R

'…'- thoughts

"…"- speech

Chapter One: Itachi and the abducted Sakura/the Mysterious Kunoichi from Song (a/n: I kno, very long title. But that can't be helped. LOL)

'Why is the world spinning?' Waking with a start, the pink haired kunoichi realized that she wasn't in the familiar surroundings of her bedroom. 'Where am I?'

The room she now inhabited was a dull brown. It was plain and the only furniture was a bed and table. 'Okay, so now I know that I'm definitely not in my room. Maybe possibly not even in Konoha.' Upon hearing faint footsteps, Sakura flipped back into the blankets and feigned sleep, hoping that this way; she may cover some information of her whereabouts.

Someone lightly entered the room, making it impossible to depict whether it was a man or woman by sound. It was obvious that they didn't want to wake the sleeping kunoichi. She heard him/her place something onto the table, then silently retreated out of the room.

Hearing him leave, Sakura awoke instantly. The person, whoever he/she was had placed a bowl of soup on the bedside table. Smelling the sweet aroma, her mouth watered, reminding that she had not eaten in quite a while. Sitting up, she placed herself against the frame of the bed and continued to stare at the soup. 'What if they put something into it, hoping to poison me?'

Someone entered the room once again. "Don't worry; I didn't put anything in there." A deep voice said "After all, why would I kill our hostage?" Sakura felt a sharp stab of pain in her heart when she saw the face of the man that had just entered the room. 'Sasuke.' Was the first word that came to mind. But the pair of cold blood red eyes stared down at her as if she was nothing more than a small fry, not worthy of his time. "S-sasuke..." she asked in a shaky and uncertain voice. She was trembling, afraid, but what was she afraid of?

He continued to stare down at her, face expressing no emotion. "I am not Sasuke" He said bluntly. "I am his brother. Uchiha Itachi."

'His brother? That's right. The man that he sworn to kill. But why am I here? I had nothing to do with this. How did I get dragged into this?'

Itachi's cold remark interrupted her train of thoughts. "Do not mistake me for that weakling."

She just continued to stare up at him dumbly, the man that so resembled the man that she once loved- no, still loved.

The silence between them was unbearable. "Why- why an I here?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Itachi turned around. "You will serve your purpose soon enough." He said, and left the room, leaving Sakura to wonder what in the world had happened.

"Kakashi, you should understand the situation here." The Gondaime was seated at her desk, hands folded neatly in front of her. But despite her calm

composure, Kakashi could tell that she was as worried as he was about the current situation. "Hai, Hokage-sama. Sakura has gone missing since last night."

The Hokage frowned at his reply. "Very well. Then you should understand what to do. At a time like this, Konoha cannot afford to send out many shinobis for missions. Shizune, Genma, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai are all out on other A-Ranked missions, so you are the only ninja available for this task." Her eyes narrowed. "You will most likely be facing dangerous enemies. One of the most possible threats is the Akatsuki, who is suspected for using her as bait for Naruto. There might also be other ninja along the way. Alliances with the Akatsuki, who will try and stop you. Are you up for the challenge? This is most likely to be classified as an A-Ranked mission, and at some points, even higher- if possible."

The silver haired jounin sighed. "Well, I'm not sure if I would complete this mission without a scratch, or even make it out alive. But" he said, running his hand through his hair "it can't be helped. Sakura is a student and dear comrade of mine, and I don't want to see any of my comrades die. Not ever."

Tsunade smiled. "So it's decided. You can leave tomorrow- at first light."

"Hai!"

A slim girl slid from the dark shadows of the room and into the open. "What need do you have of me Orochimaru- Sama?" She bowed respectfully. Orochimaru turned to face his subordinate, his mouth twisted into a cruel and uncaring smile. "I want you to kill a certain person."

"Oh?" came the girl's amused voice "Who do you have in mind?"

He laughed, as if he found the situation funny. "But I highly doubt that even you Ayame, can kill him."

"Oh really? Name your game." She was suddenly interested in this conversation, hoping that the victim would put up a challenge- whoever he or she is. She hadn't fought in quite a while, and was itching for a battle.

"The person I want you to defeat is an Uchiha." He said.

"Uchiha? Uchiha Sasuke?" She implied "But don't you have use for him later? Besides, he right here." She pointed at him, trying to prove her point. He narrowed his eyes at her, angry. 'Oops, bad move.' She thought.

Orochimaru laughed again. This girl amused him. "No. The Uchiha I want you to kill is, in fact, his older brother, Uchiha Itachi."

Upon hearing his name, Sasuke's ears perked up. "No!" he screamed at her. "Only I can kill him!" With that, he lunged himself at Ayame, Kunai ready. She easily evaded his attack, and parried it with an attack of her own. "ENOUGH!" Orochimaru roared, anger showing in his face. Ayame flinched. In all her years of training under his instructions, she had never seen him this angry. 'Well…except for this one time when I accidentally messed with his little experiments and he blew a fuse…' she left that thought, knowing that it will get her no where. Seeing that Sasuke had calmed down a bit, she answered: "I accept this mission, master." With that, she left silently.

"Orochimaru-sama, why?" Sasuke asked, confused.

The snake like sannin smiled. "Relax Sasuke, she can never defeat your older brother, despite her years of training with me. She is merely a pawn in this game, all just to stall enough time for us to cover our tracks."

Sasuke nodded. He understood now. 'I am also just a mere pawn in this sick game.'

Leaping from tree to tree, Ayame thought on the mission. 'Why did he assign me to this particular mission? He knows that I'm not strong enough to defeat him. So why did he assign me to this? Unless…' her thoughts trailed off for a brief second, saddened by the possibility. 'Unless I've already lived up my use, and he wants to get rid of me.' She suddenly felt tired and sad, something that she hadn't felt in a couple of years now

Hatake Kakashi flipped through the remaining pages of his Icha Icha series, sighing. The book had been something to keep his mind off of things, and now, he had finished his only source of entertainment.

Leaning back against his bedframe, he thought to himself: 'What will happen on the mission? There are endless possibilities. And one possibility is that no one would get out of it alive.' Sighing again, he turned to his side and tried to fall asleep.

Itachi studied the sleeping girl, face nonchalant. Her pink tresses tumbled from the pillow, and the moonlight reflected off her face, giving it a pale and ghostly glow. 'She looks lovelier this way..' He suddenly stopped, realizing what he had been thinking. The blankets were wrapped around her tightly, her hands clasped in the front securely, making her look innocent yet vulnerable at the same time. 'This is a pain. Why was I assign to this task?' he thought bitterly. 'Oh yeah, I was the one that kidnapped her to bait that Kyuubi boy.' He sighed, thinking of the troubles that were yet to come.

Ayame stopped at an inn near the outskirts of Konoha. She didn't know exactly why she bothered to stop there ,but the day's events were just too much for her to sort out. Orochimaru sending her off on a mission 'An impossible mission…'., and worrying about whether or not she was going to live to see the light of tomorrow. Sighing, she lugged herself up to the counter, counting out enough money for a night's stay.

"Sorry, but we're a full house tonight. Seems like many people are coming and going today." The inn keeper said in a lazy tone/.

Ayame's face fell.

"But..if you have to…"

Ayame's face lit up.

"You might have to share."

Grumbling, Ayame lugged her light pack over her shoulder and entered the room she had to share.

Upon hearing the door open, Hatake Kakashi quickly hid his 'wonderful book' under the covers. (Duh, cuz the materials inside are not suitable for children under the age of 17. a/n:I am so smart. LOL)

A girl had barged in, looking extremely pissed and angry. 'Also kinda tired and baggy.' He thought sadly, shaking his head.

"Who are you?" he asked in a polite tone.

She looked at him with groggy eyes. "Oh yeah, I'm your roommate since there isn't enough board tonight," she tossed some money on the table "Here's half the pay."

Kakashi didn't bother taking her money. It wasn't that he really minded. But he felt like there wasn't enough privacy. "It's ok…I guess."

She beamed. "Hi, name's Ayame."

"Kakashi here"

Looking around, she found a spot away from his side of the room and spreaded out a few sheets on the floor.

He studied her features. Her black, ebony hair had been put up in senbon needles, and had been taken off when sleeping. The girl looked seductive but dangerous as well ,so he decided to stay his distance.

"Uh, lady, I don't mind if you take my bed and I sleep on the floor."

He heard her voice from the other side of the room call out: "It's okay. I'm use to it."

That comment had left Kakashi very confused. 'How can a proper lady like her get used to sleeping on the hard floor?'

A/N: Well, that's it for now. Plz R+R if u liked it. I want at least 5 reviews before I update the next chapter! (PLZ)