Nothing But the Truth

Chapter 2: Pixie Dust

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Revised 7/6/13

Nothing but the Truth

Chapter 2: Pixie Dust

"All the world is made up of faith, trust, and pixie dust."

-J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Uchiha Itachi was sitting across from her in a traditional dining area at the compound they were in. The curiosity that was flitting throughout his red eyes was masked behind his normally stoic façade, but Sakura could see the unanswered questions flying through them. His crimson orbs were staring at her impassively, his mouth set in a soft line, the stress lines that ran from his eyes down his cheeks a little more prominent now than the last time she had seen him in the light almost three years prior. She was sipping the tea that he had served her after carefully testing the brew for poisons. Kisame was sitting grouchily on the other side of the small room, clearly not at all amused by the current turn of events, but he would not question Itachi's decisions.

Once Sakura had made her offer, she had been quickly released from her shackles and brought here by a silent Kisame and Itachi. They hadn't said a word, hadn't affirmed or denied her proposition, and Sakura was getting nervous and anxious with the lingering silence that engulfed the room in a large, angry embrace. It was not a contented silence that she would share with Kakashi, or even a tension filled silence she would share with her shishou when something was wrong. It was simply silence. A pressure-filled silence that had done little to relent since the Uchiha had started staring at her several minutes prior. They had walked into the small room, Itachi had beckoned her to sit, served her tea, and then commenced with staring at her as if reading her soul.

"Let's get the details of this worked out now," he said flatly. The pink haired girl's offer earlier had taken him aback a bit because he had done little to affirm that he would be using her services. "I'll be completely honest with you if you are with me. That's the only way this will work."

The 18 year old jounin from Konoha set her cup down tentatively. That was a shocking promise to say the least. The Uchiha was promising to be honest with her? The biggest questions was, what was his angle? There was no reason for him to want to be honest with her, and she wasn't expecting him to do so. What did he need to be honest about? Her honesty would be necessary. If she wasn't honest, she could destroy him completely, but he could lie to her all he wanted. In fact, he could be lying right now.

Sakura considered her response carefully. If she was going to be dealing with someone as calm and collective as Uchiha Itachi, then she needed to be equally contemplative. Her inner almost laughed out loud. Sakura was about as contemplative when angry as Naruto. However, during battle, when her emotions were held under a taut control, she was almost as stratigicaly inclined as Shikamaru. So, without further hesitation, she said definitively, "Agreed."

"You will heal my eyes, permanently, in exchange for letting Kakashi-san free, unharmed," Itachi said.

"Yes. I will be there when you drop his body in Fire Country, to ensure your honesty," she replied emphatically.

"Alright. You will also give me the information I want on the kyuubi," he stated as impassively as ever, but his voice held that hilt of an edge to it that made it clear he would not be trifled with.

"No," she replied both instantly and instinctively. She froze when she realized that she had completely denied the Uchiha without thinking about it. This particular retort had not been planned or well thought out at all – it had been a primitive reaction. Damn her temper. The Uchiha's eyebrow's raised and Kisame grunted his dissent from the corner, but the shark-nin did nothing to reprimand Itachi for trusting the slip of a kunoichi either. Sakura needed to think of something quickly to diffuse the intense gaze she was receiving form the Uchiha.