Clandestine

Summary: A ring; a promise, a representation of eternity, some kind of sick, twisted marriage proposal that made her toes curl. ItaSaku

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It wasn't so much a feeling as it was a definite fact - Sakura was being followed.

The prickly feeling of being watched had crawled up her spine more than once in the past few days, but now it was stronger. So strong she could almost taste it amongst the black, coppery swell of fear that had surged up to fill her mouth. She began to walk just a little faster, feeling the cool sweat gather in pinpricks on her skin and hating it. There were no chakra signals in the area that she could feel, and with her acute senses that should be enough to satisfy her that she was alone.

Something deeper told her otherwise.

An old alarm bell from the early days of evolution - worn, archaic, but still useful. A thing that ran deeper in her blood than the more highly developed senses of sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. All of which were currently telling her that she was safe and alone, but that most certainly was not the case. One of her gloved hands slid into her kunai pouch to lightly run across the cool rasp of one of her weapons.

Sakura pressed a little harder until the edge bit into her skin even through the fabric that covered her fingers, trying to settle herself.

Perhaps it wasn't the safest, or smartest, thing to be wandering around near the empty training grounds at night when she was convinced she was being followed, but Sakura just didn't feel safe in her house anymore. Not after the little 'gift' that had found its way onto her bedside table while she was sleeping. Sakura remembered waking in the middle of the night and feeling slightly unsettled. A faint, musky smell lingered in the air along with the slight rushing sound that accompanied a teleportation jutsu.

Rolling over, she had expected to see Naruto creeping about because he had run out of ramen and desperately wanted a midnight snack, or some other friendly familiar face. Instead she was greeted with the sight of nothing but a small silver ring lying on her previously empty nightstand. In the darkness it was barely a distinct shape, but Sakura still found herself reaching out to it. The metal was slightly warm as she impulsively slipped it onto her ring finger - it didn't fit.

For a moment, she wondered if Ino had left it here by accident. Sakura rarely wore jewellery - it was not at all practical - but Ino was very fond of it. She absentmindedly tipped her hand towards the faint fingers of light that managed to creep through her blinds only to feel a faint, icy shiver crawl down her spine - instinctively recognising what her sleep addled brain took a moment to process.

She recognised that ring.

Her eyes had widened for a moment as she stared at the glinting gem the colour of blood and felt bile rise in her throat, choking.

Thoughts clambered in her head for purchase and her heart hammered in her ears like the ominous beating of a drum for a long moment before she managed to collect herself. Even then, all Sakura managed to do was sit straight up in her bed and clutch her sheet to her chest as though the fluffy covering would be some protection. That belonged to the supposedly deceased Uchiha Itachi.

There had been the rumours, the newly printed bingo book that declared him dead, but no one had the body and some things just didn't add up... Like how his ring had managed to find its way to her while she was sleeping. Whoever had left it was making a statement...

Either it was Uchiha Itachi himself, or it was someone strong enough to kill him and neither of those options were pleasant. A ring was just a ring, she thought - unable to convince herself of this fact. But, really, it wasn't.

Rings were an ancient symbol; a promise, a representation of eternity, some kind of sick twisted marriage proposal that made her toes curl.

Sakura looked down at it anxiously - afraid that her putting it on might have activated a sealed jutsu, or caused some other unpleasant occurrence. In the back of her mind the warning bells that would become very familiar were ringing loudly. As it was, nothing happened for a long moment.

After that night, she had went to stay with Ino for a few days, leaving her ring behind in the flat that was being 'renovated'. Ino, thankfully, had bought the story without much probing - pleased to have someone to gossip to in the early hours of the morning, and share impromptu shopping trips with. For the first day everything had been fine. The icy coil of dread that had knotted itself in Sakura's stomach like a snake waiting to strike had loosened.

Then that ring had found its way into her hand while she was sleeping.

She had jerked awake to the elusive feeling of coldness trailing across her palm and the delicate blue veins that spider webbed across her wrist, only to find herself alone in Ino's lavender coloured and, usually, scented guest room. That same muskiness - dashed with the smell of pine needles and ash - lingered in the air, stronger this time. The cold weight of the ring in her hand was like an iron manacle wrapping around her throat.

For the rest of that night she didn't sleep.

It had been a week since then and the dread hadn't abated. She had barely slept at all, and continually glanced over her shoulder like a nervous little girl. Her behaviour was borderline embarrassing for someone who was supposed to be a seasoned kunoichi, but Sakura simply refused to tell anyone about the situation. She was strong now, she could handle it. But a week had passed and the deathly compression of fear began pushing in further.

She had left it in the park, in the training grounds, hurled it into the river, punched it into a tree in an act of fury, helplessness crawling over her skin like a thousand tiny insects. The whole time the feeling of being watched mounted until Sakura was sure that she would do anything to make it go away. A slight breath crawling across the back of her neck, that musky smell lingering in the air around her making her feel sick, and warm snatching caress across the back of her hand while she was hunched over her work papers.

And this damned ring.

It wouldn't leave her alone.

Now, it lay in her kunai pouch - she refused to let it touch her skin. Though, through all of this she hadn't caught one glimpse of whoever was doing this. Not the slightest shadow, sound, or any touch beyond the fleeting, incorporeal ones that might not have been real at all. This band of metal was the only proof that the entire thing wasn't completely in her head. Not that that thought was at all reassuring.

Tossing another glance over her shoulder, Sakura kept on walking. Someone following her was not going to stop her from training. If anything, someone following her should mean that she should do more training.

The ring thumped against her leg slightly when she landed too heavily like a reminder of the eyes that were watching her. When Sakura executed a perfect flip in the air she caught sight of a pair of eyes, gleaming redly in the dim moonlight - slitted like a cat's. She told herself that it was just her imagination as she flipped through several kata - the harsh pant of her own breathing not quite covering an unnatural rustle from her left.

If it was Uchiha Itachi, then he was just playing with her now. Such a high calibre ninja would not give himself away so obviously without purpose. But it wasn't Itachi, she reminded herself, he was dead.

Her nerve broke and she ran for the trees - cold sweat trickling down her back in icy droplets. It was a pleasantly warm summer's night with a clear glittering sky and very little wind, but it felt unnaturally still to Sakura - the calm before the storm. Forcing chakra into her legs, she began to sprint at full speed until the trees merged into blurs on either side and her feet barely touched the ground. Gritting her teeth, she tried to tell herself that she needed a run, and it wasn't because she was frightened and everything was fine.

Anger crawled up her skin - burning hot against the cold fear - when she felt the light pressure of the ring against her thigh something snapped. Plunging her hand into her kunai pouch, Sakura felt the small metal ring almost instantly. Usually it was icy cold, but for some reason it now felt scalding hot against her searching fingertips. Twisting her mouth into a thin line she grasped it a little harder and hurled it to the side with all her strength.

Only when she threw it away this time - darkness swelled up to swallow her vision almost instantly and she crumpled to the forest floor mid step, mouth still half-forming a furious curse.

...

When Sakura's eyes blinked open it was still dark - maybe even darker than before - and her hands and feet were bound tightly with chakra-restraining rope. Moving slightly, she glared furiously at the grass that occupied the bulk of her vision and tried to move any of her limbs only to be met with little success. The ring didn't seem to be anywhere on her person, but she still felt that creeping anxiety associated with its presence - coiled like a snake in the back of her mind.

"Falling asleep... outside, alone, defenceless? I would have thought a kunoichi would have had more sense," murmured a silky voice from somewhere above her.

Sakura stiffened, twisting frantically to try and see over her shoulder, but failing because of the way her limbs were clamped tightly together. Her hands were bound behind her back, pressed together so that she couldn't make any hand signs at all. She closed her eyes tightly, breathed heavily through her nose and attempted to gather enough chakra to break free of the bonds.

There was no movement or sound from the person beside her but the knowledge of their presence bore down hard on her.

"You're dead," she hissed in return, knowing that voice from the single time they had met.

"Am I?" Came his reply, tinged with the tiniest hint of amusement.

A single finger ran down the back of her exposed neck, "Does this feel dead to you, medic?"

No, it didn't. She felt flesh and blood and the strong steady beating of a pulse through the contact and it made her fear even stronger. She did not appreciate him deliberately choosing a vulnerable area to touch - just to rub in how much she was at his mercy. Itachi retracted his hand, much to her relief, only to grasp her shoulder instead and roll her over onto her back in a single fluid movement. Sakura's cheeks burned from the humiliation of being tossed about like a helpless doll but she stared blankly at the indigo sky rather than look at him.

"You understand what the proffering of a ring means, kunoichi?" Itachi said, smooth voice cutting the silence like a razor sharp blade.

Her heart plummeted down to her toes, but she struggled to keep her features blank. "Yes."

The stars twinkled benignly in the sky - unaware of her plight. She focused resolutely on the soft shining light of them while trying to move her hands slowly and carefully to test the strength of the bonds and how tightly he had tied them.

"And you understand what your actions imply by placing the proffered ring on your finger? Your ring finger, at that."

For some reason she hadn't imagined him speaking quite as much, but the same accent that coloured Sasuke's voice lingered in Itachi's. That cultured drawl that had enticed her so much as a young girl now made her furiously angry as a young woman. Concentrating, she managed to wriggle two fingers free of the bonds. Sakura knew she couldn't do much with those, but it was still a start. Her arms began to ache from being forced into the uncomfortable position she was bound it.

"Yes," she answered dully, teeth clenched in fury.

An elegant, long fingered hand eclipsed her view of the sky as she was forced onto her front once more; hissing biting curses into the sweet, dewy grass as he deftly undid her bonds. When she tried to force herself into a standing position, he brutally pushed her back down until it felt as though he meant to snap her in two.

"Good," Itachi answered, blandly, tone completely at odds with his actions.

"I'll be watching," he said, quietly, as though they were at a formal dinner party. It managed to sound like a threat. His hands released her from the bruising grip.

She lunged at him then, but her fist met nothing but air as his figure crumpled into nothing before her very eyes. Blackness curled over her vision like a thick, dark fog that choked her into unconscious despite how hard she fought against it.

...

The next few weeks could almost be considered pleasant if Sakura ignored the ever present Akatsuki ring and the prickly feeling of being watched.

After such a long time Sakura's defences began to lower, however minutely, and she found herself not thinking about the ring at all for one full day. One day when Inuzuka Kiba happened to be in the medical bay again for a relatively minor injury. He made a show of leering as she leaned over him to patch up the gaping lacerations on his chest and arms and brazenly placed a hand on the small of her back to pull her closer.

"You've definitely filled out, Sakura," he said, smiling toothily while giving her full hips an appreciative squeeze.

"Hands off," she barked, knowing she should cuff him for his behaviour, but not quite wanting to.

Kiba lifted his hands up and made a thoroughly failed attempt at appearing innocent that made her laugh and lightly clip the top of his shaggy brown hair with the edge of her clipboard. She barely resisted when he demanded her phone number, but still made a token glare of irritation - glad he couldn't see the little victory dance she was mentally doing. Hugging the clipboard to her chest she walked quickly to her office with a giddy smile on her face.

It was getting later now - the amber glow of the newly installed streetlights seeping in to cast fingers of orange light across her desk and not quite distracting her entirely from the sinister gleam of two red eyes.

"You were adamant that you knew what accepting the proffered ring meant, Sakura-san," Itachi said, eyes flashing as he blinked sharply.

Sakura stopped, hand grasping the metal doorknob so tightly that it groaned and left the imprint on her fingers for years afterwards. Letting out a hiss of air between her teeth she snapped the door closed behind her in a single irritable move. Perhaps if she was younger Sakura might have run rather than place herself in an enclosed space with him, but now this was merely a problem she was determine to solve alone.

"Fidelity," Itachi said, blandly.

The scrape of a chair moving made the sparse hairs on the back of her neck prickle though she displayed no other reaction. A larger part of her mind roared in fury at him presumptuously offering her one of her own chairs in her office, but the other wisely told her to remain calm and to wait for any sign of weakness. She lowered herself into the uncomfortable chair opposite him with a fleeting thought that she was glad for the small low table she used only for coffee breaks between them. Anything to add more distance between them.

Her eyes flickered towards the lamp on her large, proper desk, but she decided that she didn't want to see him properly. In the darkness it was easier to pretend that this was all merely the product of her overactive imagination.

"I wasn't aware that I had done anything... Itachi-san. Though even if I had you would have no reason to be angry about it," she snapped, after it became clear he was not going to speak until she answered.

There was a tense pause between them - heavy, hot and electric like the oppressive heat wave before a tropical storm.

"The ring on you carry suggests otherwise," he said, quietly.

Unbidden her hand went to brush the hated metal and she caught the savage triumph that flashed through his eyes. Fully meeting his gaze for the first time, Sakura became aware of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of tiny hands sliding up and down her form in a stream of delicate touches. The phantom warmth from them made fingers of heat flare low in her belly in a way that made her bite her lip until she tasted the coppery tang of blood.

Breaking his hypnotic gaze, Sakura cast away the genjutsu with desperate thoughts of Kiba and his large, strong, solid, real hands clasped at her waist. Even though she wasn't looking at him she could still feel his smirk boring into her like a kunai.

"You see, Sakura-san... my bloodline is much sought after," Itachi continued, casually, as though he hadn't essentially just assaulted her with genjutsu," and my foolish outou has designs with you in mind, do you understand?"

The walls were soundproofed but the volume her voice reached was probably testing the limits of the capacity to stifle noise.

"What is this?" she spat through gritted teeth, "some kind of pissing contest? Some kind of competition to see which one of you can knock me up first? You can go and fuck yourselves... or each other! But not me."

She stood, knocking the table away with a single furious gesture and feeling some primal pleasure from the way it crumpled to a pile of splinters at the opposite edge of the room. Itachi looks thoroughly unimpressed and merely looks up at her with a vaguely bored expression; as though he is watching a child's temper tantrum.

"If that was the case I would never have given you the ring," he said, eyes pinning her in place until she just couldn't take it anymore.

Slamming the door behind her, Sakura took off out of the hospital quicker than she had ever moved in her life.

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That night she slept surprisingly well, waking around three in the morning with a vague desire for a glass of water.

The ring which had previously not fitted on any of her fingers, or even her thumbs, was now sitting securely on her ring finger as though it had been made for her.

A small note sat on her previously empty nightstand like a glaring, white warning sign.

'Did you really think you could ever escape, Sakura-san?'

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Written for Half Elven in the ItaSaku Exchange over at the ItaSaku lj. She requested something creepy involving Itachi stalking Sakura and I hope it fulfils that brief. ;3 It's not the kind of thing I would normally write, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading,

Silver ~ x