Shades of Grey

Chapter 79

"She is going to make it." Kisame assured his partner once they had stopped for the night.

"Hn." Itachi remarked as he used his canteen to rinse the blood that still coated his hands.

"Have more faith in her than that." Hidan interjected. "She's a tough bitch."

"We will finish this before she returns." The Uchiha declared.

"Damn right we will." The Mist nin agreed.

Itachi was distraught. He wanted desperately to believe his partners, but they had not felt her blood pouring down their hands. He could not shake the feeling of warmth leaving her body. She had been so pale, so lifeless. Even with the damn fox Itachi was not sure she would return to him. He had decided that if they were ever parted, he would find her in the next life. However things played out with Pein Itachi would consider it a win.

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"Little one you must wake up now." Sakura heard a voice speak to her from somewhere within the darkness.

"I do not want to." The kunoichi sadly answered.

Truth be told she was too afraid to wake up, yet she could not remember why she was so scared. She could recall eyes, two sets of red eyes, and they made her tremble all the way down to her soul. She instinctively wanted to hide from them, however that annoying voice was calling out to her again.

"You do not have to fear him; he will not harm you." The voice tried to reassure her.

She looked harder at the glowing eyes and saw that the voice was right. True one set was angry and bent on destruction, but the other was not. The other eyes looked at her with what she could only describe as love. She tried to reach out to them, but they seemed so far away. Finally, she picked herself up off the ground and tried to follow them, but they just seemed to be getting even further away.

"Please do not leave me." Sakura cried into the endless darkness.

"It is you that left him." That voice came again and suddenly there was a giant red fox before her.

For some reason she felt no fear of the demonic looking being as she walked towards it and held up her hand. She felt a familiar comforting sensation when the creature nuzzled her outstretched palm.

"Where did he go?" Sakura could remember who exactly she was asking about, but she knew he was important.

"You sacrificed yourself for him." The fox lowered his head so that he could look into her eyes. "He cannot come save you this time."

"Then all is lost." A sorrow settled into her soul.

"No." The fox declared. "You are a fighter. You are the apprentice of one of the Legendary Sannin who can crumble mountains with a single punch. You are the vessel of the fearsome Kyuubi. You are Sakura Haruno and you have never given up. Will you do so now? Will you let him slip away from you?"

"No." Sakura's resolve grew. "I want to go back to him; I have to find him."

"Then you must wake up." The beast urged her. "I have sustained you for as long as I can while you remain unwilling to fight."

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Finally, the hideout in Rain was within sight and the partners were prepared to make what could well be their final stand. Itachi was going to make Pein pay. When Deidara had gone after Sakura it had Pein who had ordered the attack. If not for Pein's desire for the nine tails Sakura would have remained safely within Konoha. She probably would have eventually become the matriarch of the Uchiha clan. Even though she would not have been at his side she would have been safe. She would have been happy. So today in her name Itachi would make his final stand.