Shades of Grey

Chapter 22

The next morning was more fun than Kisame could remember having in a long time. It started with Itachi telling the girl not to slow them down, and just got funnier from there. It was quickly apparent that the kunoichi did not appreciate having anyone question her abilities. That was how they found themselves running towards the capitol at breakneck speeds.

The little pink haired wraith had subtly picked up her speed. Itachi never one to be outdone had increased the demanding pace even further. It had carried on for hours. However, his partner had forgotten one thing. The girl was a jinchuriki and had the chakra supply of one. As powerful as he and his partner were, they could only last so long against that. Now Kisame found himself trying not to laugh out loud as the grumbled about stupid slow Akatsuki and he could have sworn that he saw Itachi roll his eyes at least once.

"You cheated." Itachi finally spoke up tired of hearing her not so subtle insults. "If you didn't have the chakra of the Kyuubi to fall back on then you would have fallen behind long ago."

"Ha." The girl laughed. "That's what you think. I didn't even touch the nine tails chakra."

"Impossible." The Uchiha retorted.

"Student of one of the Legendary Sannin." Sakura reminded him as she pushed aside her bangs revealing a jade jewel upon her forehead that was slightly glowing. "I had to learn my own tricks way before getting this fox you know."

"Indeed." The Uchiha could not help but to give her a smirk. He knew well what that jewel meant, and the fact that she had it was impressive.

"Where the hell am I?" The man on Kisame's back woke up and questioned.

"You are going to be turned in and tried for all of your crimes." Sakura was happy to enlighten him.

"You stupid bitch." Their prisoner growled in response. "When I get out of here, I am going to do things to you that you will never forget."

"I'd like to see you try." The kunoichi goaded.

The ninja could see that he would not get anywhere arguing with her, so he turned his attention to the two men that were his current captures. He noticed the red clouds upon their cloaks; Akatsuki. He had heard rumors about the members, including that they were highly motivated by money.

"If you let me go, I will take you to where I have hidden all my gains." He addressed Kisame.

"Please, he isn't a money hungry monster like you." Sakura rolled her eyes and heard Kisame chuckle over her rising to his defense.

"You are calling me a monster?" The man spat. "I saw what you did to my comrades. You aren't even a monster; you are a freakin blood thirsty animal."

In that moment, a few interesting things happened. The first being that the look in the kunoichi's eyes told him she had been hurt by the vile man's outburst. The next was that the prisoner's weight disappeared from his shoulders. Kisame whirled around and saw Itachi, sharingan burning, had the unfortunate fool pinned by the throat to a tree.

"You will not address her again." The Uchiha's voice gave away none of the anger spinning in his eyes. "You were wrong she is no monster, but I am. You are worth as much to me dead as alive, and I will not hesitate to sully my hands with your blood."

Kisame was in shock. He had never witnessed Itachi as angry as he was in this moment, and he had never seen him rise to the defense of anyone. He watched as the Uchiha tightened his hand around the man's throat causing him to turn an unhealthy shade of purple. Perhaps though the most startling occurrence was when Sakura walked up and gently place her hand upon his wrist.

"Please Itachi," she whispered. "Let him go; he isn't worth it. He is right, I did act like an animal."

Itachi gave the man one final squeeze before letting him go and watching in satisfaction as he slid to the ground. The few times that Kisame had seen the Uchiha mad, no one had been able to talk him down. Hell no one had ever been able to talk him out of anything he set his mind to. But, with one gentle touch and a quiet request the girl had tamed the beast. Kisame got the distinct feeling that having her around was going to be even more interesting than he had imagined.

"Kisame." Itachi turned to face him the tomes in his eyes still violently spinning. "Take him away I grow weary of his presence. We shall wait for you at the stream."

"Whatever you say kid." The shark nin quickly agreed, but oh how he would love to be a fly on the wall to see all that would happen while he was away.

It was little over an hour later before Sakura decided to talk to the still obviously angry man.

"Thank you, Itachi." She said in a sincere tone.

"Hn." Was his short reply.

"I think that I should go on and head out. I have been in Tea too long. Maybe I will catch the ferry and see if I can find a good mark in Grass." Sakura pondered her next steps.

"I already told you that you will be traveling with us." Itachi sighed while pinning her with his still spinning eyes.

"Will you stop making them spin like that? Or better yet just turn your sharingan off." The kunoichi suggested.

"No." He responded as the spinning stopped, but the crimson remained.

"That uses a lot of chakra you know." Sakura told him just as a thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute! You are having problems just like Kakashi aren't you?"

"I am unaware of what problems Hatake-san may have had." Itachi replied and she could tell from his tone that he was calming down.

"He was going blind." The medic supplied. "Not to mention he was having horrible headaches from overusing his sharingan."

"Hn." The Uchiha intoned unwilling to answer her conclusively.

"You had a headache from using your sharingan on me yesterday." She announced earning a raised brow from her companion. "Oh, don't act that way. I already told you that I am a trained medic, I notice those kinds of things. I know being a shinobi you are reluctant to reveal any weakness to an enemy, but you do not have anything to worry about. I am sure that even if I am able to completely master the Kyuubi, I will be no match for you."

"What happened to Hatake-san?" Itachi ignored her speech. He was certain that if she ever completely mastered the use of her demon, she would be able to take out Pein, not that it would be an easy fight.

"I healed him." The happiness in her voice was unmistakable.

"Hn," Itachi was truly astounded. The price of using his kekki giagi was well known amongst his clan, and they all knew the damage was irreparable.

"Hey, I have an idea." Sakura brightly chirped. "You want me to stay, for whatever crazy reason, and I want to go. So how about I stay with you long enough to heal your eyes. It took a month's worth of treatment for Kakashi, but I am afraid it will take at least twice as long with you."

"Why would you do such a thing?" He was honestly curious as to why she would repair her enemy's most valuable weapon. Had the girl no sense of self-preservation?

"Because you saved me." She honestly replied. "I don't even want to think about what could have happened if you wouldn't have stopped me. I do not like owing any one anything. This would make us even."

"I shall think about it." Itachi assured her. "Kisame will return shortly and we will find somewhere to stay for the night."