Shades of Grey

Chapter 44

"Itachi." Sakura whispered without bothering to open her eyes.

"I am here." He assured her as he exited the compound.

"Itachi you have to go back." She coughed and the Uchiha was alarmed to see blood on her hand when she took it away from her mouth.

"We cannot go back." He told her. "We have to get you to the antidote and then back to the house as soon as possible."

"But Kurama told Kisame to kill any of the women that are left alive." The shaking kunoichi protested.

"Not to do so would be too big a risk." Itachi said. "I am sorry Sakura, but that is how it must be."

Itachi looked down at her when she did not reply; he expected more of a fight from her than that. It was no wonder though that she argued no further, Sakura had lost consciousness and was losing blood from the fan wounds at an alarming rate. The damn poison must be inhibiting the Kyuubi's fast healing rate.

"Hold on." He said as he cradled her, a whisper of desperation in his voice, though he knew that she could not hear. "You cannot die like this. I am sorry Sakura I let my feelings for you cloud my judgment. Please, just hang on and I promise not to fail you again."

It took Itachi longer than he would have liked to reach the café and Sakura's pack. Finally, he found her med kit and rummaged through it, but was quick to realize that he did not know what exactly he was looking for. When this was over, he would demand that she add labels to everything. For now, though he needed her to tell him what it was they needed. He shook her shoulders gently trying to rouse her into consciousness, but when that did not work his shakes grew more frantic.

"Sakura you must tell me what it is that I need to give you." He urged as he shook her.

"The green vial." She mumbled her face grimacing in pain. "Five milligrams from the green vial."

"How? Do I have to inject it?" He questioned as he found the vial he needed.

"Inject." She winced from the effort of speaking. "Into my thigh."

Relieved that he finally knew what she needed him to do Itachi carefully measured the dose that she required. As quickly as he cold he pushed aside her kimono and gave her the injection he had been instructed to do.

"Can you travel?" The Uchiha was worried about the strain that he knew would be upon her if he were to teleport them, but he knew they needed to get as far away as quick as possible.

"Just take me home please." She whispered.

Itachi wasted no time slashing his palm with a kunai. She wanted to go home and as bleak as the situation was, he was glad she thought of their cabin as such. He was not surprised that she had again lost unconsciousness by the time the light of the jutsu faded away. Traveling such a long way could put a strain on even a healthy body. Using great care not to jar the girl in his arms he made his way to her room and placed her gently upon the bed. He carefully removed her hairpins and the fan from where it hung at her waist for fear that she would harm herself further while she slept.

Finally, he sighed and went across the hall drawing a large basin of hot water and grabbing their supply of bandages and a rag. When he returned to her, she still had not moved. He would give anything right now just to see her open her eyes. For now, he would just have to do his best to ensure that she would. He removed her hastily tied bow and delicately pulled her arm from the bloodied kimono. It was alarming to feel that she was burning with fever. He used the water and cleaned her wounds before wrapping them tight enough to stop the flow of blood. Once he was done, he tucked her in and pulled a chair to the side of her bed. He vowed he would not leave her until she was well.

It was easy to see that she was still in pain as her body would occasionally tense and she would violently shiver. Itachi did this to her, and he would give anything to take her place. He should not have reacted the way that he did when Toshiro recognized her to be a kunoichi. Had he not flown off the handle she would have perhaps been able to take him out with a single touch, but he had not given her the chance. Truth be told Itachi had felt jealous at the way Toshiro had been touching her, he never wanted to see anyone touch her in such a manner, and that jealousy could cost her life.

Itachi made a decision right then. A decision that went against all the plans that he had laid and been following for most of his life. He was not going to leave her, not even for Sasuke. He would stay by her side and protect her for as long as she would allow.

Even if she hated him after this, and wanted nothing to do with him, he would watch over her from afar for the rest of her days. Itachi could not stand the thought of ever again allowing her to be in so much pain. But he knew that he had to learn to trust her. She was strong and forgetting that had proven to be dangerous. Exhausted from all that had transpired the Uchiha drifted off to sleep in the chair watching over her.

"Itachi." Sakura suddenly called out. "Itachi."

He woke the second that she had made a sound only to see her tossing her about. When he reached a hand out he quickly retracted it; her fever had grown more severe. He crossed the hall again and filled the basin with cool water. She called his name again before he made it back to her side.

"I am here Sakura." He assured her as he placed a cool rag across her head.

"I thought I lost you." She opened her eyes to look into his.

"You did not lose me." Itachi assured as he carefully wrapped a rag around her neck.

"Good." The kunoichi sighed in relief. "I was so scared that you were gone."

"I will never leave you." He said as he took her small hand into his much larger one.

"Thank you Itachi." She smiled up at him before closing her eyes again.

Itachi was astonished. In this fever induced state he would have thought that she would call out for Sasuke, Kakashi, or even Naruto. But she had not. She called for him. She had been afraid of losing him. Could that mean that her feelings for him were as strong as the ones that he now knew he held for her? He dared not to even hope for such a thing. He would never push her in a direction that she was not ready to go. But for now, she was with him and whether she ever knew it or not she would always be his.