Into the Night (ItaSaku)

Chapter 7

"Where is she?" the voice behind the hood asked as the person entered the small room.

"She ran away." the answer came pretty fast, however it could be seen that it was not a convincing one.

"And you let her escape just like that? No running after? I thought you could keep up with a little girl." the arrogance could be felt in the tone.

"Pein, you know very well that she's not just a little girl. Had you been here you would have known shes not an ordinary kunoichi. And I don't have to explain myself to you one bit." Itachi's rough answer didn't sit well with Pein and both of them knew this. Pein didn't trust Itachi and the other way around.

"What you failed to do I will continue." Pein said out of the blue.

"Stay away from her. She's mine to kill." Itachi's rough voice sounded in the hollow room heavily.

"Oh? And why is that so Uchiha?"

"She killed my brother. She will die by my hand." with these last words Itachi turned and exited the dark room, Deidara following him.

"Hey Uchiha. Are you really going to kill her?"

"It's none of your business what I do with her."

"You should go. To Konoha." Deidara's words surprised Itachi and when he looked at him he saw that he was not joking.

"Why the hell would you think that?"

"I heard some rumours. Pein is planning to attack Konoha 1 week from now." Deidara noticed that these news did not sit well with Itachi. For a short while he even thought that Itachi might hit him, but why, he didn't know.

"Damn. Make sure they don't track me. I have some business to take care of." saying these Itachi vanished.

"Great. Now I am left to do the explanations."

Ino arrived the next day at Haruno residence and knocked on the door. A few minutes ago she heard that Haruno Sakura returned from her secret mission, which they both shared, and the next second she was knocking on her door. When she met the patrol who was surveilling the area around the wall she found out that her friend was pretty much bruised and she had a twisted ankle. As soon as she heard she proceeded to her friend's house.

"How is your ankle Sakura?" the both of them were sitting at the kitchen's table in silence until Ino started first incquire.

"It's all healed already." Sakura's response didn't not give much reassurance and Ino had to know all the details before she informed the Hokage about the outcome of their missions.

"So I suppose he didn't not agree to your requirement?" Ino knew that she was choosing the wrong subject to talk about but she needed to know.

"No...He didn't. Basically he dismissed me as if I was a piece of paper. But he doesn't know everything. For that I am sorry. I could not tell him everything Ino. And now..." Sakura's eyes started to tear and a crystal clear tear rolled down her cheek. "And now he will hate me forever."

"Sakura. It's alright. Soon you will be able to tell him everything when they attack. Hopefully." Ino tried to comfort her friend but she only managed to make Sakura even more weary.

"Attack? What do you mean?"

"Of course you don't know. You couldn't have. Two days ago the Hokage got word from ANBU that the Akatsuki plan to attack Konoha 1 week from now. She already began insurring the village's safety. More and more support is coming from other villages mostly from Suna. We believe that we will be able to win."

"But still, one week from now...I won't be able to..." Sakura cut off when she noticed the frown that settled on her friend's face.

"What are you talking about?"