#not as bad as the tags sound i hope

One//Two//Three//Four//Five//Six//Seven//Eight//Nine//Ten//Eleven//Twelve//Thirteen//Fourteen//Fifteen//Sixteen//Seventeen//Eighteen//Nineteen//Twenty // Twenty-One (here) 

a/n: Please note that this story contains themes that may be triggering. These themes include: murder, attempted rape and detailed/graphic violence. If you are uncomfortable reading any/all of these themes, please do not proceed. 
Thank you.

Chapter Twenty-One
The Changing Tides

Sakura took a long sip of coffee. With the other hand, she scrolled through her phone, mentally organizing her day, her shipments and her thoughts.

Releasing a drawn-out sign, Sakura darkened the screen of her phone. Her gaze fell out the little café she had grabbed coffee from. The panels were covered in raindrops. Beyond them, she could see it was still raining. Just a slight drizzle that dampened everything, washing the grey city in even more grey.

It made her want to go to bed. Curl up and watch a movie between naps.

But she couldn’t. She still had so much to do. Between overseeing the packing of the storage to the North and checking in on Ino and Naruto, her day was already full. Not to mention she still needed to pass Madara’s copycat device off to Itachi. Now that Sakura had had three days to buy another phone and make a copy for her own use.

Opening her phone up again, Sakura sent Itachi a text message. The address to one of her many apartments and a time.

She finished her coffee after that and stood, intending to begin another very long day. Her phone pinged with another notification the moment she stepped outside. Under the awning of the doorway, Sakura pulled her phone out again.

This time, it was Kabuto. With a nasty email. Unsurprising since she had declined his latest payment, seeing as she had frozen all her orders. Just one more thing she had to deal with today. Mentally she went over her schedule again. She supposed she could reach out to Kabuto after her meetings with Ino and Naruto, and before she saw Itachi. As long as Kabuto didn’t take too long.

With that decided, Sakura replied to his email as she headed down the sidewalk, weaving between the businessmen moving with purpose and the tourists lingering without.

At the end of the block, Kakashi was waiting for her. His dark Charger idling on the curb, headlights off and windshield wipers on low. He reached across the center console and opened the passenger seat from the inside for her. Once inside, he merged into traffic.

They spent the better part of the day together, just as they had for the last two days straight. He went with her as she conducted her business, organizing shipments and helping her secure safe locations. The storage up north was almost done and after meeting with Ino and Naruto, Sakura was beginning to feel a little better about everything. At least on her side of things.

“I’m going to send Ino to double check on the store in downtown while Naruto surveils the port,” Sakura said as they drove back towards the city.

Kakashi glanced at her briefly before his eyes fell to the road again. “And what about your things in South Central?”

Her fingers stilled over her phone. “Shit, I forgot about that.”

“Do you want to go there now?”

“Can’t, I have to meet with Kabuto,” she said. When Kakashi peered at her, she sighed, “He’s bitching again. Believe me, I don’t want to meet with him either, but he put in an order a week ago and I cancelled it. Hopefully by going to talk to him, I can shut him up for a while.”

Kakashi still didn’t look overly happy but he didn’t reply. They drove without speaking for a few minutes after that. Just the road humming along beneath their feel to keep the silence at bay.

Eventually Sakura darkened the screen of her phone, a soft sigh spilling past her lips. “How about this: you to South Central and I’ll go talk to Kabuto, and we’ll check in afterwards? That way everything gets done.”

Even in the dark, Sakura could see the downward pull of his lips but he nodded nevertheless. “Fine. I’ll drop you at your apartment in downtown. I think that’s where you left your car, right?”

She nodded before she resumed her scrolling through her phone. That would give her just enough time to speak with Kabuto before Itachi showed up.

It was still raining when Kakashi dropped her off. Fortunately, the parking was underground, the only water on the pavement tracked in from other vehicles as they came and went.

“Kabuto’s annoying, but he still pays. Try not to kill him,” was Kakashi’s parting words.

Sakura merely smiled a smile without promise before she headed to her own car.

Less than an hour later, she crossed the main bridge between New York and New Jersey. It had been a while since Sakura had been to the warehouse Kabuto liked to hide out in, but she recalling the winding roads down to the river.

The parking lot was mostly empty, except for the crowd of usual cars. The ones Kabuto and his groupies paraded around in. Little sporty Hondas. The ones that made a lot of noise while going nowhere fast.

The warehouse itself was dark when Sakura entered, her boots echoing against the wide walls of the large bay. She expected to find Kabuto in the back, like she always did. Only when she got there, the table was empty. As were the chairs scattered around it.

Unease settled in the pit of Sakura’s stomach and her hand went for her gun automatically. Out of the corner of her eye, a shadow flickered. She turned towards it as she drew her weapon, but before she could defend herself, something struck her hard on the side of the head. And her whole world went dark.

xx

Pain, pounding and throbbing, hit Sakura like a wave as she woke from her forced unconsciousness. She exhaled a tight breath, not daring to open her eyes just yet as she prayed for the ache in the back of her skull to recede. It didn’t, but it slowed to a deep, pulsing throb rather than a sharp, stab as she inhaled and exhaled and inhaled again.

The first thing she noticed after the pain was that she was lying on her side, her hands tied behind her back. Something she likely only realized because she wasn’t able to reach for her tender skull.

The next was that there were voices. At least two, possibly three somewhere behind her. But it was hard to make out through her pounding head and their mumbling. She strained to hear what they were saying, but the more she concentrated, the more her head ached.

Sakura wasn’t entirely sure much time passed. She dozed off and on, grateful for those brief minutes when sleep chased away the pain lancing through her temples.

She was just drifting off again when a door somewhere nearby slammed open. “So?” someone demanded. She would recognize Kabuto’s voice anywhere.

“She came alone,” one of his men told him.

“Not even her sniper?”

“Nowhere in sight.”

“Well that’s the job of a sniper, isn’t it?” Kabuto bit back harshly. “Go. Search the area. Find out for sure if he’s around.”

There was a hurry of footsteps across the concrete floors. Only once they had faded did she hear softer steps approach where she was laying. Sakura pretended to be unconscious. Which didn’t matter because Kabuto still landed a swift kick to her ribs. She hissed, keeping her yelp of pain locked firmly behind her teeth.

Kabuto was smirking down at her when she finally managed to roll over. His glasses flashed against the single, overhead light. She glared up at him.

“Well, well, Tsunade. Seems our positions are finally reversed for once,” he said, his tone openly smug.

“The only thing that’s changed, Kabuto, is where I was only just considering killing you before, is now a definite,” Sakura retorted.

He didn’t reply. Simply struck her again. Automatically she curled in on herself, hoping that the metallic taste on her tongue was from the dust and metal shavings on the floor and not blood.

“You would think someone in your position would be nicer. But you always were a big talker. I guess that’s what got you here in the first place,” Kabuto said, squatting down to be closer to her level. He rested his chin on his fist, his elbow supported on his knee. “You should have known better than to cross me. I always got you your payments, perhaps one or two were a little late, but you got them. And then you had the audacity to deny me my guns when my men needed them most.”

“Kabuto-”

But she never got the rest of her statement out as one of his men approached her from behind. The strike to her lower back left her winded, gasping for breath. She wasn’t even able to find the strength to struugle against the hands that grabbed her as she was hauled up and settled roughly into a chair. She likely would have tipped over had someone not straightened her again.

“Kabuto,” she tried again as she caught her breath, “I didn’t deny you guns out of spite. There are factors in play that you don’t understand-”

She cut off abruptly as one of his men backhanded her. She spat out the blood that coated her tongue before she glared at him. The man grinned right back, his broken front tooth gleaming in the light.

Kabuto didn’t reprimand his man but he held up a hand to keep him back. “You see, that’s the problem isn’t it?” he said, casually throwing her words from their last meeting back at her. “You’re a pretty girl, Tsunade. I’m sure that’s helped you get out of situations in the past. But it won’t help you here. I’ve found another supplier who can get me what I need. Which means I’m done with your threats and demands.”

She wasn’t sure she liked the cruel smile playing on his lips, but before she could open her mouth, he turned to a man on his left, a large brute that made Kabuto’s small frame appear even smaller. “Do whatever you want with her. Just make sure you dispose of her body afterwards.”

Sakura’s eyes grew wide as her heart jumped in her chest. Kabuto said nothing else. Merely flashed her one last parting glance before he turned and walked out of the room. The heavy, metal door slammed closed behind him. It sounded more like a coffin closing heavily over her head.

Sakura stared at the door until the man Kabuto had addressed stepped towards her. There was a dark, sinister smile on his face as he purposefully reached for the belt of his pants.

Her stomach twisted with disgust and unconsciously she pressed herself back into her chair, wishing it would just swallow her up and make her disappear. It didn’t. Instead, it only pushed against her skin, into the bruises and aches that throbbed just below the surface.

A hard knot began to grow in Sakura’s chest. A mix of terror, hate, rage. And hopelessness. She knew exactly what position she was in. What would likely happen next. And how there was very little she could do to stop it.

Her breath quickly became labored as her distress grew, but Sakura didn’t bother screaming. There was no one to hear her anyway. And in that moment, every fiber of her being regretted her decision to not have Kakashi come with her. She never realized how much she had taken him for granted until now.

On either side of her, more men approached. All wearing that same, matching smile that made her actually, physically ill. She began to struggle, the bounds around her wrists burning into her skin and unyielding. Then one of them was on top of her, one hand grasping her breast painfully through her shirt while the other snaked up the inside of her thigh.

Sakura did the only thing she could think of. She kicked off the ground, knocking her chair backwards. With her hands still tied behind her back, she landed on them heavily. Pain raced through one wrist but she ignored it, using the momentum to roll away from the men crowding her. It gave her enough time to slip her hands in front of her before she pushed herself to her feet.

Sakura didn’t know how she was going to escape. There were at least ten of Kabuto’s men in the room. All with the intent to hurt her. Defile her. They stalked towards her purposely.

“Here, kitty kitty,” one of the men cooed cruelly.

The rest of them all laughed as they took a step forward. Sakura stepped back, matching their pace.

“C’mere, doll face, we’re not going to hurt you,” another off to one side snickered.

Sakura glared at him, realizing a moment too late that the distraction had work. Another man grabbed her from the side and knocked her to the ground, pressing his body down and on top and against her. She tried not to retch at the foul musk of sweat and cigarette smoke.

“C’mon, baby,” he said huskily in her ear. “We just wanna have some fun.”

With a growl of frustration and pain and terror, Sakura tried to shove him away when his fingers slipped under the hem of her shirt and splayed against her stomach. She struggled against him, feeling herself losing the battle. She had never felt so helpless. So desperate in a fight to escape.

That’s when her knee connected with something hard against his hip. A second later, her eyes caught the glint of a handle of a gun. And in that moment, something other than panic rippled through her. Something that distracted her from how alone and defenseless she felt.

Like a light turning on, Kakashi’s training kicked in. Sakura dug her heel into the man’s other hip and pushed out with as much strength as she could muster. It gave her just enough separation to reach down with her bound hands and grab his gun before she kicked him between the legs.

With a loud curse, he scrambled back, both hands cupping himself. The fury was obvious in his eyes when he peered up at her through watery eyes. “You bitch, I’m gonna fucking kill-”

A bullet through his eye cut him off abruptly before he slumped to the floor and didn’t move again.

The rest of the men stilled, realizing the shift of power at that exact moment. Then they all scrambled. But Sakura was already moving. She unloaded two more rounds into the bodies of two more men before a third managed to reach her.

His hand tightened around the barrel of the gun just as she pulled the trigger. A scream tore from his throat as she unloaded the last two bullets into his gut. He dropped his own weapon before he collapsed to the ground, his hands around his stomach where black blood bubbled.

Sakura didn’t give him a second glance. Merely grabbed his discarded gun from the floor before she moved on.

The rest of the men either scattered for cover or tried to restrain her as well. Only one made it close enough to touch her. He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back until she was looking up at him. There was a murderous sneer on his face but it vanished when she stomped on his foot and brought the gun in her tied hands up to hit him upside the nose.

He stumbled back as she ripped her hair out of his grasp. Her skull stung but her anger burned stronger. Sakura was nearly seeing red when she swung around to face him. Blood gushed out his nose as he pointed his gun at her. She dodged as the sharp crack rang through the air.

With her adrenaline pulsing, Sakura didn’t know if she had been shot, but she felt the rope binding her wrists together loosen. Not enough to fall away but enough that she was finally able to break her bounds and free her hands completely.

Then she went after the man once more. He aimed at her again just as she closed the space between them. Grabbing his wrist, she pushed his gun far above her head as she unloaded a round into his chest. This close, she felt the metal round rip through his ribs. When he gasped, she saw his broken front tooth. The man that had hit her.

With the cruelest of smiles, Sakura held his gaze as she lodged two more bullets through his flesh. Feeling the exact moment his heart stopped.

In less than a minute, Sakura took out the rest of the men. The ones who had come in unarmed looking for a show. She panted hard, her labored breathing echoing around the room like she had just run a marathon. And she felt like it with her aching sides and sore muscles.

The entire room looked like something out of a horror film. Bodies were strewn about, blood collecting in little pools around them and flecked up the walls and across the concrete. It took her a moment to realize that over her own panting, she could hear another. Just a soft, shaky inhale and exhale.

Looking down, Sakura saw the faint rise and fall of one of her attacker’s chest. Still alive. She fixed that with a single bullet to the back of his skull.

Then she exited through the door Kabuto had departed through. Her only thought of finding him. And ending him.

At the bottom of the staircase was another one man, supposedly standing guard. He must have not heard the commotion upstairs through the thick steel for he never even heard her approach. Only dropped to the ground with a single shot.

To her disappointment, Kabuto was already gone. That didn’t stop Sakura from taking out the rest of the men in the warehouse, one-by-one. Until all that remained in her wake were corpses and an unspoken story of what would become of those who tried to double-cross her.

xx

The entire apartment building was quiet when Sakura arrived. Still, she took the back stairs to the top floor where her condo was, only too aware of the blood and other bodily fluids that clung to her skin and clothes.

She tried not to think about it. About how her hands were still shaking, about how her hair stuck to the side of her neck from more than just sweat, about how much her wrist was killing her. She just focused on one step at a time and trying to get into her apartment before anyone saw her.

Which is why when she exited the stairwell and saw someone sitting on the step outside her door, she stilled. It took her a moment to recognize Itachi but she didn’t immediately relax when he looked up at the sound of the stairwell door closing behind her. The last thing she wanted was a visitor right now.

“What are you doing here?” she asked quietly when he didn’t speak or move to stand.

He stared at her a moment before he finally said, “We were supposed to meet hours ago.”

There was a faint note of irritation in his voice. One she didn’t understand until she realized she was still standing in the shadows. Just out of the hall light.

Letting out a small, ironic laugh, she took a single step forward. “Sorry. Something came up.”

Itachi didn’t move, but his eyes grew large as he traced her from top to bottom. He seemed like he was trying to find what to say as he pushed himself to his feet slowly. The questions of ‘how’ and ‘what’ and ‘are you okay’ formed over his expression, but the words never made it past his tongue as a door slammed closed elsewhere in the building.

It seemed to blink him out of his trance. “Let’s get you inside,” he said instead.

They didn’t speak after that. Even after Itachi slid the deadbolt in place behind him. Even after Sakura slipped her boots off. She simply headed further inside towards the bathroom.

There, she stripped slowly, carefully. First her pants, followed by her shirt. A low hiss escaped her when she reached back for the clasp of her bra. The dull ache in her sides sharpening to something more pronounced with the action.

Without hesitation, Itachi stepped forward from where he had been in the doorway. So still and silent and watchful she hadn’t realized he was there. She tensed at his initial contact, barely relaxing when he helped her slide the material off her shoulders and down her arms with gentle fingers.

In the mirror, Sakura saw the full extent of the damage. Blood splattered against her hands, smeared along her collarbone and neck, and flecked across her face. Bruises had already formed on her sides, dark and looking as painful as they felt. But it was her wrists that were the worst. Rope burns cut into her skin, the right one already swollen where she had landed on it.

Unable to look at the damage any longer, she peered up at Itachi. Through the mirror, their eyes met. His gaze never wavering from hers. She could see the questions lingering there but he didn’t ask and she didn’t answer. Merely turned away to turn on the shower.

By the time Sakura had scrubbed all the crimson and grime from her skin, the air in the bathroom was thick with steam. Itachi was no longer there, only a towel left by the shower stall the only evidence he had ever been there. She didn’t know if she was more or less relieved that he was gone.

Sakura dried herself in silence, wrapping the soft towel around her middle carefully before she used her hand to wipe the mist off the mirror. She frowned at the blemish in the corner of her mouth, recalling how the man with the broken tooth had hit her. Which was immediately followed with the memory of her unloading three bullets into his ribcage. Those shots ringing in her ear, feeling them ripple through his body under her hand.

Sakura looked away from the mirror sharply. She didn’t dare peer into it again before she headed into the adjoined bedroom. There, she pulled on a hoodie and a pair of pajama shorts before she wandered into the rest of the condo.

To her surprise, she found Itachi in the living room, sitting on the longue chair beside the coffee table. He was typing on his phone but he looked up when he heard her footsteps. She stopped in the doorway and eyed him uncertainly. She had thought he had left. With him sitting there, watching her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell him to go away or not.

In the end, she said nothing. Simply sat on one side of the couch. Itachi didn’t speak either. Not even when he stood a minute later. Sakura watched him curiously when he disappeared into the kitchen. She didn’t know what he was doing in there, but he came back a few minutes later with two shot glasses and a bottle of her best tequila.

He sat beside her before he uncorked the bottle. As soon as he filled one glass, Sakura grabbed it, tossing it back in one go. Hoping the unforgiving grip of alcohol would blur the memory of hands on her chest, between her legs. In her soul. She clung to her anger and the memory of their blood between her fingers. Warm and sticky.

Without a word, Itachi refilled her shot after he had finished topping off his. This time, they drank together.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Itachi asked eventually.

Sakura blew a long breath out between her lips. Not looking at him as she leaned forward to place her shot glass back down. He refilled it immediately.

“Not much to talk about,” Sakura said.

Not sure if she should be telling him anything. He was still CIA. And she had just doubled her kill count in one night. She didn’t know how she felt about that either.

“Just a deal gone bad,” she continued before she reached for the shot glass again. Hoping he didn’t see the way her hands trembled slightly.

She pretended not to notice he was still watching her. Or how close he sat beside her. Even after her shower, her skin was still crawling. She wanted to run her nails down her arms, over her chest. Tear the feeling of those other hands on her body.

“Do you need anything?” he asked.

Sakura let out a cruel laugh. What could he possibly do that could make her feel any better? Tell her he was sorry? Hold her? Perhaps pour her another drink?

“Why are you even still here?” she retorted instead, her anger rearing.

She hoped her words cut into him. Made him bleed. Made him hurt. Like she had. Like she still was.

Because there was something about Uchiha Itachi that made her feel vulnerable, like he could see into her, through her. And the worst part was, she didn’t entirely hate it. She felt safe with him. Secure. As if she could tell him her deepest, darkest secrets and he would only just listen. All without judgement.

But Itachi didn’t become offended by her harsh tone. Instead, a look of confusion passed over his face. Like he didn’t entirely understand why he was still there either. When he blinked, the look was gone. “I am just concerned about you,” he said so softly, so quietly like a caress.

Her eyes narrowed defensively. “It’s not part of your job to be concerned about me.”

“No, but I am anyway.”

“Why?”

Itachi didn’t immediately reply. Then he said, “Because you aren’t what I expected.”

“And what did you expect?” Sakura asked flatly, already feeling the pull of the alcohol. It helped dull the pain in her body and mind. She poured herself another drink before asking, “Did you think I was just some girl who was in over her head?”

To her surprise, he shook his head, his gaze falling somewhere out the window. “No. I thought you were cold and cruel and heartless.” Then he looked at her. “But you’re not. You’re smart and cunning, and though you may not be ‘good’, you’re not evil.”

Sakura stared at him, her anger dissipating as quickly as it had come. Their eyes met. Holding the full attention of the other for one heartbeat. And another.

Then Itachi laughed humorlessly.

“What?” she asked.

“I want to kiss you right now. But I shouldn’t,” he said with a fleeting smile. “I don’t know what happened tonight, but-.”

Itachi never finished that sentence. Not before Sakura reached up and gripped the front of his shirt before she sealed her mouth to his.

There were a million reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this, but Itachi never voiced one. Not even when she slipped herself into his lap, her arms wrapping around his middle as her fingers dug into the back of his shirt like he was her lifeline. He, in turn, held her gently, his hands cupping her face as if she were made of dust. One slip away from falling between his fingers. Lost forever.

She could still taste the bite of tequila on his tongue as he kissed her. His mouth moving with hers only to break away to press soft kisses to her jaw and chin and the corner of her mouth. Where the bruising still lingered. His lips were careful and soft like he was trying to kiss the ache away.

She fought against the swell of emotion that built in her chest. It stung in the deepest part of her chest and in the corner of her eyes. She tried to blink it back as she pulled his lips back to hers, but it was too late. The feeling had sunken too deep.

If he noticed her tears, he didn’t mention it. Only smoothed his fingers through her hair and along her spine as she rested her head on his shoulder. Just listening to his strong, steady heartbeat beside her own as the rain pattered softly against the window. It didn’t stop until just before dawn.

to be continued…