Chapter 1: Try as I might, I'm never strong enough

Sakura had grown incredibly since her weak years as a genin, but that didn't seem to help her any. It seemed to only catch the attention of an infamous group known as Akatsuki. And this seemed to only piss off the pinkette even more.

Hehe, sorry for adding a different story whilst in the middle of trying to update all of my other stories. It's been hard, and I've had such wonderful inspiration for new stories, I can't help but write new ones. I seriously have around 75 story ideas… and yes, if you were wondering, I do have no life : ) please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Dodging a sword that was swung her way, Sakura flipped backward, and slinked away from her opponent. Her breathing was slightly labored, but that was to be expected. She had been trying to fight this man off for a little over an hour, and she was running low on chakra; Sakura assumed if she didn't end it soon then she would not be the victor in this battle. Of course she knew there would be another member lurking somewhere near; the famous Akatsuki always seemed to appear in pairs of two. Sakura was just worrying about the one in front of her first, and then she would try to think of something else to deter the other member from her course.

Watching as the man before her cackled darkly, Sakura forced more chakra into her fists. She had already delivered four chakra infused punches that had connected, and the man seemed to not be slowing down in the least bit, but Sakura wasn't surprised. Kisame Hoshigake was a strong opponent; she had often heard that the male had a great tolerance for pain. The fact that Sakura knew she had broken at least three of his ribs, his left arm, and seriously fractured his left leg was enough support for these assumptions.

The blue skinned Akatsuki member had only slowed in the slightest, but that was enough for Sakura to crack a smirk on her face. She had been able to defeat an Akatsuki member before, though she had not been alone like she was now. But, Sakura was older, and much more experienced than she had been when she was only fifteen. She was a high class jounin ninja, and was expected to take the anbu exams in the fall… if she made it till then.

Oh yes, Sakura knew who Kisame's partner was, and she knew very well she would not be able to beat him, even at full strength. Gritting her teeth together, Sakura thought that if she could at least kill one more Akatsuki member maybe her childhood friend would stand a better chance at surviving.

The Akatsuki were still very much after Naruto, and rumors stated that the members had collected seven out of nine of the Bijuu. The thought was startling; had these men really been powerful enough to defeat seven Bijuu? Shaking her head slightly, of course they had, she thought; they were a group of ten terrorizing shinobi, and Sakura had only been in the presence of four members, though she had heard about many others.

Ignoring the sensation in her belly that told her there was danger present, (really, Sakura mused, her stomach told her she was in danger now; and she hadn't been in it before?) Sakura slammed her eyes closed and flipped backward again. It was obvious why her senses were tingling as Sakura landed quietly on a branch several yards away from her previous spot; she had not sensed Itachi Uchiha until he had almost been before her.

It seemed Kisame's partner had thought the battle had gone on long enough; Sakura had never thought Itachi was one to be impatient, the thought almost made her giggle. She knew the Uchiha's game though; he would more than likely try to catch her in a genjutsu, which would not surprise her in the least. It seemed an Uchiha would always count on genjutsu, she thought idly, wimps.

Ignoring the need to open her eyes, Sakura instead sent most of her remaining chakra into her other senses; it would help her detect the Akatsuki members as they moved, even if they were trying to be as quiet as the wind. Hearing Kisame's slightly increased breath draw closer to her, Sakura had to force herself not to smile. The blue skinned man was strong, but she'd prefer to fight him over the Uchiha any day.

As she heard the pitch in the wind increase, Sakura quickly ducked under Kisame's large blade. The Samehada had sucked most of Sakura's chakra, even the bit she had been storing up over the years just in case. The sword was as nasty as its wielder, Sakura noted dryly as the sword tried to suck even more chakra from her being; nasty and greedy.

Sakura had never been one for sending glares, but she was sure if her eyes were open, the one she would have sent to Kisame would have stopped him dead in his tracks. Shooting a kick out from her kneeled position, Sakura felt a bit more satisfaction as she felt it impact with one of Kisame's shins.

Knowing she had to get out of there quickly, Sakura did a backward roll until she quickly stood to her feet. Flaring her chakra lightly, Sakura tried to sense where the elder Uchiha had gone.

"Shit shit shit," Sakura cursed as she felt the Uchiha's chakra behind her. Feeling the male's chakra flare significantly, Sakura quickly brought her hands together before creating a substitution of herself in the form of a log; she really did not want to be burned today...

The trick she had just done had saved her ass quite a few times in the first chuunin exams she had participated in. Appearing a foot behind Kisame, Sakura could tell the shark-like man had already expected her arrival. As he turned to slash his sword down on top of her, Sakura made one last attempt at connecting a chakra hardened punch.

Bringing back her fist, Sakura allowed extra chakra to focus around her fist. Sakura knew she would get extreme chakra burn from exerting so much, but she really couldn't stop herself. The previous blows had not been very effective against her current opponent; Sakura was just hopeful the Samehada would not suck all her chakra dry before her fist connected with his torso.

Sakura wasn't stupid enough to aim her punch at Kisame's heart; the male was incredibly tall, and her fist would never make it to her intended location with the time she had. Settling on aiming for something just as vital, but lower, Sakura's fist connected with Kisame's gut, and he went spiraling backward.

Sakura felt incredibly pleased as she heard Kisame's body slam through at least four trees that had been more than thirty feet back. Refusing to let the victorious feeling calm her erratic breathing, Sakura waited until she heard the movement of the other Akatsuki member.

She had known Itachi was going to use a powerful fire ninjutsu that was why she had used the substitution jutsu to get away from him. She had teleported directly behind Kisame because she had assumed that the Uchiha would not have used the fireball against his partner. Sakura's assumption had been correct, but in the commotion she had caused when sending Kisame through the trees, she had lost the Uchiha, and now had no idea where he had gone to.

Trying to focus her remaining bit of chakra into her feet, Sakura assumed her only bet was to run for it. She hoped Itachi would not chase after her, and rather stay back in concern for his partner; it was a long shot, but she had to try it either way.

Shooting off in the direction that she had been coming from, Sakura assumed she was closer to Suna than she was to Konoha. The idea of running through the desert in this heat made her sigh rather dramatically, but she would rather face the desert heat than another Akatsuki member any day.

Really, if the two hadn't caught her returning home from a mission that had ultimately drained a quarter of her chakra, Sakura would have put up a more decent fight. She was sure the Samehada would have drained more chakra from her, but she still would have had more to fight with. And maybe she could have tried to meet the Uchiha head on then; she was sure inner Sakura would have been positively gleeful to challenge a sharingan wielder.

Sakura's body stopped as she felt a hand tighten on her wrist. Ignoring the want to open her eyes, Sakura could tell who this ninja was by chakra alone; it seemed Itachi Uchiha had not went to check on his partner like she would have liked. Well… that was terribly rude of him.

But what was even more unnerving than the Uchiha capturing her so easily, was the incredible silence that had overcome the forest. In their battle, Sakura had noticed that the two males had not said anything to her; they had not even uttered a sentence to each other. The thought irritated her more than anything else, probably. She realized she was a Konoha nin, and Konoha nin were probably deemed 'kill on sight' by their leader, but why the hell hadn't they even said one single word to her? Were they trying to tease her? That thought made Sakura growl slightly.

Twisting her body backward, Sakura felt the grip on her wrist tighten, but that didn't stop her. The bruising hold the Uchiha had on her arm would eventually break her wrist, and she knew it would hurt, but she was ready for it. Arching backward awkwardly, Sakura felt her wrist crack but did not stop her movements. Bringing her free fist up, Sakura aimed a punch towards the Uchiha gut.

The male let go of her wrist and quickly parried the fist with his palm. The punch rushed past the male, and Itachi used her distraction of trying to hit him to hit her. Using an upward palm, Itachi slammed the palm into Sakura's stomach.

The pink haired woman let out a gasp of breath, but tried to scramble away from the Uchiha, even though she knew her attempts were futile. Opening her eyes out of realization, Sakura knew she was going to have to face the sharingan one way or another. She would rather have it be on her terms as opposed to when the Uchiha wanted to grace it upon her. And at least this way, inner Sakura would be ready.

Glaring a fierce emerald green, Sakura realized as her eyes began to flutter closed, that the combination of Itachi's sharingan and her emerald green eyes reminded her of Christmas.

XxxX

When her eyes opened again, Sakura realized she was in the world of the sharingan. Really, being tied to a cross should have scared her more than it did, but it seemed not to bother her too much. Sakura knew that her inner would never allow pain to be placed upon her while in a genjutsu.

Hearing some footsteps before her, Sakura raised her eyebrow as the Uchiha looked down at her menacingly. His eyes were emotionless and cold; Sakura could see why her ex-teammate had been so fearful of the man before her. "Welcome to the World of the sharingan."

Itachi's lips had not moved, but she knew it was his emotionless voice that had spoken. It was probably just the genjutsu, and though she was sure it scared other people, Sakura really wasn't impressed. Looking utterly apathetic, Sakura sighed before hearing her own voice; her lips did not move.

"An Uchiha?" Sakura almost cracked a smile at the look on the Uchiha's face. It was obvious he was still trying to be emotionless and unaffected, but it seemed that he couldn't be. Inner Sakura could be a scary mother fucker when she wanted to be, and it seemed that she deemed now was a necessary time to be one. "How absolutely rich. Want to play a game, hmmm?"

Sakura watched as Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, and his sharingan became more intense. She had to hand it to him; he wasn't shivering in fear yet. That in itself was a miracle, but then again Itachi had murdered his whole clan without batting an eyelash, maybe he could deal with a bit of Inner Sakura's scariness.

"I will not put up with your annoying self any longer, Kunochi," Itachi said while looking directly at Sakura, but Sakura had to fight off her laughter; she assumed Itachi Uchiha would want a serious reaction.

But knowing how her inner could react, Sakura was almost grateful for the words he had just spoken. The word "annoying" was inner Sakura's least favorite word; it had past connections with her ex-teammate, whom inner Sakura would like to rip out the heart of; if he had one, Sakura liked to chip in.

"You will not touch her," Sakura's inner stated; it's obvious the Uchiha had pissed her off. In an instant, the crimson world flickered in and out, before everything began to be focused in regular color. Sakura was no longer tied to the cross, but the image of the cross still lingered closely; this proved to Sakura that she and Itachi were still in a genjutsu.

Itachi's crimson eyes were wider than usual, and Sakura caught herself smirking at that. Looking to inner Sakura, she waited until her inner spoke. "Sakura does not have enough chakra to break your genjutsu alone, Uchiha," inner Sakura growled out. "But I myself have my own chakra system Sakura may borrow any time she sees fit. Do not underestimate her."

The Uchiha didn't say anything, but his eyes did tell Sakura something. It was a small feeling that she could see, but it was obvious to her that the male was pleased about something; even as emotionless as the Uchiha usually was, Sakura could tell that he wasn't hiding his emotions as well as she should have been.

"Perfect," Itachi muttered before flickering out of view. Looking around quickly, Sakura's eyes met that of inner Sakura's. It was obvious the twin pinkettes didn't quite know what to do; damn confusing Uchihas…

"What happened?" Sakura asked as she watched the cross behind her disappear. She could feel the world she was now in was only created by the soothing chakra of inner Sakura.

"He left the genjutsu," Inner Sakura growled out before looking to Sakura. "My guess is that you will lose consciousness, and be captured."

"It will be something we'll be able to break out of, though, right?" Sakura asked as the world began to fade into black.

"Oh most definitely," Inner Sakura said with a nod, as she too began to fade into the darkness. "We'll figure it out when we get there."

"Agreed."

Sooo, do you like it? I'm thinking about making this a Itachi x Sakura X Sasuke love mix : ) with twists and turns in the plot, like I'm sure you all enjoy. Let me know what you think, please!