Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while since my last update but I've been super busy with exams and after sitting a four exam everyday I haven't been in the mood to write. I am more in love with Itachi than ever after chapter 401, damn Kishi is torturing me!

I hope you don't find this chapter too boring. It's transitional and something that needed to be written for the rest of the story to work out. I promise next time we'll get to the good stuff, with this chapter I feel I have finally ended the introduction. I just re-read my chapter three and it's embarrassing, I hope it didn't put anyone off!

Pétales Aiment La Saleté

Amarante tapped her long, talon-esque nails on the cold plastic surface of the table she was sitting at. The room was dim with only a small gas lamp for light, the sound of thunder rumbled in the distance and rain beat harshly against the small window. The weather matches my mood she thought to herself grumpily, a slight frown on her beautiful face. Being stuck in this place was driving her stir crazy, she needed to get out and had been considering venturing to the small town a few miles away when the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Now she was stuck here.

She hated this place; it was always so miserable and grey, not to mention boring. Yet, it was this place that she'd been stuck for close to two weeks now with only that buffoon Tobi for company, his presence only managed to irritate her further. She had been partners with him for the best part of two years and was yet to have an intelligent conversation with him. His immaturity was on par with a three year old, and although at times she could find his behaviour to be mildly amusing for the most part it was down right annoying.

Unsurprisingly, she found she wasn't the only one to harbour feelings of severe annoyance for the masked shinobi. He often recounted tales of his time with his previous partner, who'd apparently had a tendency to strangle Tobi rather frequently. She didn't know much about the man she'd replaced other than he'd blown himself up in some sort of crazed suicide jutsu. He sounded like a complete fool to her, but Tobi recalled his time with his former “sempai” with fondness whenever he spoke of their adventures together, and the numerous beatings Deidara had bestowed upon him. She subconsciously twisted the ring on her right index finger.

She often wondered what someone like Tobi was doing in Akatsuki, it just didn't make sense. He constantly referred to himself as a “good boy”, not exactly what you'd expect from one of the hardened S-Class criminals of Akatsuki. His behaviour often resulted in her feeling quite the fool when battling alongside him, it rather undermined their reputation when he squealed about how scary the enemy was before proceeding to run away. She couldn't fathom what exactly Leader had been thinking when allowing someone so utterly childish into their organization.

As if on cue he dashed into the kitchen area, looking as if he was going to burst with excitement.

“Amarante-senpai!” he exclaimed loudly, despite the fact only a few feet of space separated them. She rolled her eyes; since they had become partners he'd taken to attaching “senpai” to the end of her name, just as he had with Deidara. This little habit infuriated her. She ground her teeth together, trying to keep her cool.

She definitely wasn't in the mood to converse with Tobi, and felt the urge to lunge forwards and slit his throat. That would shut him up for good. It's been too long since I killed someone she mused and inwardly reminded herself to keep her temper under control.

She instead found herself asking him, “what is it Tobi?” with unconcealed exasperation.

“Itachi-san and Kisame-san are coming to the base and should be here soon! Zetsu-san told me so because Tobi is a good boy!”

Itachi was coming here? This news had most certainly piqued her interest.

The base they had been residing in was rarely used by Akatsuki, the Leader had told them that he suspected something to happen nearby at some point. He wanted them to be on stand by for when it did. What he was expecting she had no idea, even she knew better than to question the Leader. He rarely deemed it necessary to explain his intentions to his members, he was a “god” and apparently they couldn't possibly hope to understand what went through his mind.

The base was located between the Fire Country and the Earth Country in a civilian area, nothing much ever happened here. She wasn't certain what the building had been used for before it had been made into an Akatsuki base, she couldn't imagine anyone in their right mind wanting to live in such a dismal building. It was an one-floor; concrete structure, with barred windows. From the outside it looked as if it could have served as a small prison but the inside told a different story. There were no cells to speak of; merely five simple bedrooms, a large kitchen and a bathroom. It was extremely basic and offered no form of entertainment, hence her boredom.

Maybe Itachi can provide me with some entertainment...

Amarante would never admit to it but she was in love with Itachi, well, perhaps love wasn't exactly the right word for it. She just wasn't sure how else to describe it. She readjusted her position in her chair, placing her chin in the palm of her hand. At first she assumed it was merely infatuation or lust; after all, he was devastatingly handsome. With time she had come to realize that her feelings for him ran a little deeper than she'd first thought. Amarante had scarcely met anyone whom she respected in her life time, however, she respected Itachi Uchiha. He was powerful, truly powerful, second only to the Leader in their elite organization. It was no secret that Akatsuki was formed out of the very strongest S-Ranked criminals, each member was roughly equivalent to a Kage in strength. This is what made them so fearsome; it sounded absurd to think the Five Great Shinobi Nations would fear an organization consisting of nine shinobi, but they did. Thus was the strength of Akatsuki.

No matter how powerful Itachi was, it wasn't his power that drew her to him. (Of course, she couldn't ever imagine herself loving a weak man, she was old fashioned in that way. She always believed that the man should be able to protect his lover, not that she needed protecting but it would be nice to know he had the the ability to do so.) No, strangely it was his coldness that made her seek out his affections. She had never seen Itachi fight with her own two eyes but she had heard tales of his ruthlessness. Tales that seriously turned her on. She longed for the day she finally got to see the infamous Uchiha fight, she wouldn't even mind standing on the sidelines. And standing on the sidelines was not something Amarante made a habit of.

Amarante sighed to herself softly, noticing that Tobi had disappeared from the room. It had never been her intention to join Akatsuki. She loved having freedom and being able to do whatever the hell she wanted to. But then one day Akatsuki had sought her out. Of course, she'd heard of them, everyone had. She had actually been deeply flattered by the Leader's invitation to join the organization. Being an Akatsuki was an honour, it was a testament to your strength and ability, she'd been pleased at his acknowledgement of her power. Despite this, she hadn't wanted to join, rules just weren't her style any longer. She soon learned the hard way that you simply don't say no to Akatsuki.

Over the years she had become some what notorious, mainly because of her involvement in various high profile assassinations. It was when she murdered her first Kage that she started really garnering attention. By her own admission this was not quite as an impressive a feat as it first might seem. She knew that defeating a kage sounded like a great accomplishment; but in reality the Country had been recovering from a string of attacks. The Tsuchikage whom she had killed stepped in mere days before she had been hired to assassinate him. She knew that he had only been made Tsuchikage in times of desperation, in normal circumstances she was certain he wouldn't have found himself in such a position. She'd slayed him with relative ease, it was far from the challenge she'd hoped for. The sum offered for carrying out such a mission had been very substantial indeed; she knew in killing their new Tsuchikage she'd be delivering the final blow to the village, but money talked. She'd needed no further persuasion.

Surprisingly, the Village Hidden in the Rock survived. It's allies had come to it's rescue, and slowly but surely it had regained it's strength.

The assassination of the Tsuchikage had earned her the title of “S-Rank” criminal, something which she found to be rather ironic. When she had been a little girl she hadn't even wished to be a shinobi, in fact, she'd absolutely loathed the prospect. She remembered her mother having to drag her to the Ninja Academy, kicking and screaming. Initially, she'd down right refused to do any work, misbehaving in any way she could find to do so. She was soon taught that under no circumstances would such behaviour be tolerated, often receiving punishments too cruel for a child of only six. After a while she stopped resisting and had reluctantly adapted to her life as a shinobi in training.

It had been the collapse of her village that had forced her into the life she was now living. She felt goosebumps rise up on her forearms, it had been a long time since she'd though about it, and it still made her uncomfortable to do so. It had been a small, isolated village and work had always been scarce. In the times of peace it had failed to prosper, the number of shinobi had been greatly decreased as the village could no longer afford to support them. She wondered where she'd be now if her family had been one of those cast out during this time. It didn't bare thinking about. The nearby villages had decided to take advantage of their significantly weakened establishment, after all, destroying their rival would mean more work for them. They had launched a surprise attack one night, no one had been expecting it, it was total destruction. It sent shivers down her spine just thinking back to that night, chaos was the only way she could thing to describe it. Chaos and destruction, the air had been filled with the pungent, metallic scent of blood. She'd battled hard alongside her fellow villagers, but they were only delaying the inevitable. They were vastly outnumbered, it had been that night that the notion of death finally become real to her. As a shinobi she had experienced death many times; but they had been faceless, unimportant people. Only this time they weren't. And witnessing those she loved dying right before her eyes, was a very different experience. Both her mother and father had been killed in the attack, and at the age of fifteen she had become an orphan, alone in the world.

Being a shinobi was the only way of life she knew, she had considered getting a job in a civilian town but realistically she knew such a future would bore her. She was a trained shinobi and it was the only way she knew how to live. After the fall of her village, something inside Amarante had snapped, the once kind girl inside her had slowly shrivelled away. She had barely noticed her former self slip away, as she slowly became more and more jaded, and one day she'd found that she even enjoyed inflicting pain. As time passed she grew to enjoy it more and more, it was the only way she knew how to feel any more. She wanted others to feel pain, just like she had.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by Kisame's distinct chuckle. A moment later his sickly blue, gilled face came into sight. However, it wasn't his startling looks that got her attention but the dainty body slumped over his shoulder.

“Who's that?” she demanded suspiciously as Itachi appeared from behind Kisame, whose bulk had been previously obstructing him from view.

“No welcome, Amarante-san?” Kisame asked with amusement, she met his eyes with a flinty glare. She knew how much the hulking shark-nin enjoyed winding others up and refused to rise to his teasing.

“It does not concern you Amarante-san.” His words were soft but she still found offence in them.

“If she's going to be staying here, then I think it does affect me Uchiha-san” she bit back shortly.

“This little cherry blossom is a kunoichi from Konoha, she's bait for the Kyuubi boy” Kisame answered. He knew how temperamental Amarante could be and saw no reason to risk upsetting her. Whilst it was true that he found enjoyment in stirring situations up, even he was aware of how sensitive the dangerous kunoichi was when it can to his stoic partner.

“So, tell me why you brought back bait rather than the Kyuubi?” she questioned snidely.

Itachi looked at her with impassive eyes, “it was the only way” he said simply.

Tsunade chewed on her thumb nail, a bad habit she'd had for many years. She'd been trying to kick it since she had been about eight years old, but when things got stressful, she always reverted to her old ways. It felt as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders these days. When she'd eventually accepted the job as hokage she'd had utter conviction that she would be willing to give her life to protect the village. Whilst this still remained true, she she couldn't help wishing sometimes that she hadn't accepted the position. Being willing to sacrifice your life in order to protect your village was very different than having to worry about it day and night. There was nothing she wanted more than to protect everyone, but she was world weary and knew this was nothing more than an impossible dream.

When she had returned to Konoha there had been very few familiar faces. She'd been out of Konoha for many years and the majority of her generation were long gone, ninja didn't exactly have long life spans. It was a real achievement to live to a decent age, as she'd some how managed to do. She knew she probably owed this to the fact that she had been out of the village for so long. She felt a great deal of love for the citizens of Konoha, they were her family now. She likened herself to a shepherd, and the shinobi of Konoha were her flock. She cast her thoughts to Team Kakashi, they had been gone for over a day now and if everything had gone well they should be returning very soon... if they'd all made it out alive and well.

She lifted her cup of sake to her lips and forced the thought to the back of her mind, there was no point in tempting fate. Tsunade had always been a big drinker but even for her it was unusual to be drinking so early in the day, she just needed to blur the edges a little. The weight of her decision to send Team Kakashi on such a mission had been pressing down on her since the moment she'd made it. Her instincts told her it was the right thing to do but she couldn't help but worry, Itachi and Kisame were two of the most dangerous men anyone could ever hope to meet. Had she just sent them into the lion's den? She knew there was no point in fretting, it wasn't exactly productive. They were strong, she just had to believe in them.

“Tsunade...”

A series of awkward glances shot across the wreckage of what had been the battle field, no one was entirely sure of what to do or say. Naruto's clenched fists shook at his sides. Sakura was gone. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to rip those bastards to shreds.

“Naruto..” Kakashi said gently, lightly placing his hand on the younger shinobi's shoulder.

The blonde's rage vanished underneath his former teacher's touch, only to be replaced with complete despair a moment later. He crumbled to his knees as a torrent of tears broke free, he couldn't be strong right now. He just didn't know what the hell he was supposed to do. There was no way he could let anything happen to Sakura, she was the most important person in the world to him, without her everything he'd ever achieved seemed meaningless. He didn't want to live out his dreams if Sakura wasn't there by his side.

He'd come to accept that perhaps they would never be lovers, that she could never give him what he's always desired so strongly from her, but the two of them were still kindred spirits. Neither of them had been anything special, they weren't born geniuses like Sasuke, but together they had strived to become strong. Something that they had achieved, he was so proud of his best friend for coming as far as she had. He'd never had any problem with Sakura being weak and was always willing to protect her with his life but even so he had been thrilled to learn of her strength after returning to Konoha. There was no doubt in his mind that these days she could happily fend for herself, but this was different... This was Akatsuki.

He had to save her, this much was clear to him. But could he really let Akatsuki have the Kyuubi? If it had only been his own life in exchange, there would not have been a moment of hesitation on his behalf. It could never be that simple for inside him lay a monster, the most feared entity in the world. He was it's protector and he knew that this was a responsibility that could not be ignored. Such power should never fall into the wrong hands, protecting the malevolent monster was his burden.

The tears seemed unstoppable, the fire within him was gone. All he could feel was chaos.

“Naruto.” Every pair of eyes turned to look at the man who had just spoken, Sasuke.

Sasuke fixed an impassive expression upon his face, determined not to betray his inner turmoil. He had thought that it was unlikely he would ever truly feel again, there had been too much misery and hatred in his life. Yet here he was, the great Uchiha avenger, overcome with emotion.

He found it difficult to identify all the things he was feeling, he could think of no words to describe it. He'd thought Itachi had taken everything from him long ago, that there was nothing he could do to hurt him any more. But he'd been wrong, his brother had found a way. He'd killed his really family and now he was destroying the people who had showed him unwavering, selfless love, even when he'd forsaken them. How could he be the relation of such a disgusting human being? Did his god forsaken brother not even have a morsel of humanity? Of course he didn't, it was foolish to ponder such things. There was one thing Sasuke, however, did not need to ponder. He was going to kill Itachi, that much was certain.

Tsunade raised her golden eyes to look at her visitors. Three wrinkled, old crones now stood before her. Just great. She never enjoyed her encounters with the old council members of Konoha and right now she had more important things to be worrying about. She suspected they were here to scold her as they so often did. They weren't exactly fans of her wayward rule over the village. Tsunade strongly believed in following her instincts and no matter how many times they gave her a smack on the wrist for doing so she wasn't about to change.

“Homura-san, Koharu-san, Danzou-san” the busty Godaime greeted them curtly.

“There is a matter we need to discuss with you Tsunade”

“I see, I assume you are planning to tell me what about?”

A tense moment passed before finally the woman amongst the small group spoke. “Yes. As the Godaime you are obviously aware that the shinobi world is at crises point.”

Tsunade frowned a little, “hai” she replied warily, unsure of where exactly they were going with this.

“We are on the brink of another great war. There is unrest between the Great Shinobi nations and allegiances are being made. Akatsuki are ready to make a move, it is a dangerous time for Konoha” the male adviser explained.

“We aren't sure you're the right person to lead us through such a time Tsunade” the old hag finished.

Her mouth dropped open. What were they suggesting? That she relinquish her position as Hokage? Like hell that was ever going to happen. She wasn't going to give in without a fight, she'd returned to her village after so much hurt because it had needed her. It still needed her.

“Your way of handling delicate situations isn't appropriate, you lack caution. You don't think enough about consequences, if – when a war breaks out, we need more of a tactician.”

Danzou's role in this suddenly became all too clear to her. She felt fury rising up in her, how dare they.

“So, you're planning on replacing me with that old cripple?” she replied with as much self control as she could muster.

“Hai.”

The Slug Sannin brought her fist down on her desk, obliterating it. Broken shards of wood danced through the air before collapsing lifelessly to the floor.

“I think you have just proven their point, Tsunade-hime, such a temper is not a good quality.” Danzou drawled. She bit down on her lip, as far as she was concerned they were lucky she hadn't taken down the whole tower. She looked up at them, a snarl on her beautiful face.

“At the end of the week we shall officially announce Danzou as the new Hokage.”

With that all three of them left, leaving the soon to be former Hokage shaking in rage.

“What is it Sasuke?”

The defeat in his former team mate's voice was unmistakeable.

“My team and I shall accompany you on your mission.”

He glanced over at Karin and Suigetsu, they had followed him this far he saw no reason why they wouldn't accompany him once more. He was their leader after all, they followed his orders. Karin gave a small nod and with that he turned his attention back to the broken, yellow haired ninja.

“No, you won't.” Sasuke was a little taken aback by his response, it wasn't what he'd been expecting. His previous words had been a statement, not a suggestion. Did Naruto truly believe that he'd just let his brother go after all these years? The notion was ludicrous.

“If you come they will kill Sakura. Are you really that selfish asshole?” Naruto hissed at his former friend, relieved to have a vent for his anger.

“You spat on our friendship a long time ago Sasuke but I never held it against you, you almost killed me but I still considered you my brother. If you use this opportunity to finally get your brother ...and Sakura dies.. I-I'll rip you apart with my bare hands”

Kakashi realized this was his moment to step in. Both his former pupils had surpassed him and in reality if it came to blows he wouldn't be able to stop them this time like he had once before. Sasuke had no idea how close Sakura and Naruto had become, they were like two halves of a whole. He could only imagine how much this must be tearing Naruto up, losing his most precious and knowing it was because of him.

Kakashi's own heart ached, he held a great deal of love for both Sakura and Naruto. It was tearing him up that he hadn't been able to protect them this time.

“Only I can defeat Itachi.”

The elite jounin looked up at the youngest Uchiha with a sigh. This much was true, only another with the sharingan could take down Itachi. He knew that he, himself wasn't a candidate for such a feat, despite his own possession of the sharingan. He lacked the Uchiha body needed to use his most deadly weapon efficiently.

“He's right Naruto...” Kakashi spoke soothingly to the young man on the cracked ground.

“I suggest we turn to Konoha – all of us together – and devise a plan.”

There was a shocked silence between the remaining shinobi. Allowing three missing-nins into Konoha? The missing-nins looked just as uncomfortable at the suggestion, did he seriously expect them to waltz into one of the most powerful villages, it was a death sentence.

Kakashi had been expecting their apprehension. “I'm sure Tsunade-sama will be understanding. Especially as it concerns Sakura, no doubt she will be just as keen as we are to have her returned safely to the village.”

Naruto finally rose to his feet, he silver haired sensei was right, he always was. He may have surpassed him in power but he still had a long way to go before surpassing him in wisdom. If Sasuke was the only one who could defeat his bastard brother than so be it. Anything to get Sakura back.

...

Tsunade was now well and truly drunk. Fuck it she'd thought, this place was no longer her responsibiltiy, so why should she act responsible? Shizune was at her side, good old Shizune. Always so reliable, she would stand by her master through anything, she'd never have to worry with Shizune there to look after her. Maybe they could leave the village? She could return to her life of gambling and drink and die a peaceful death away from the battle field. Maybe being fired wasn't such a bad thing after all.

She slurped loudly as she downed another glass of sake, her head pleasantly fuzzy. She ignored her dark haired assistants fussing, her words going right over the Sannin's head. She'd had so much pressure on her for so long now and she was finally free. Ever since Jiraiya's death things had seemed to go from bad to worse but it wasn't her problem any more, they could all go to hell.

She let out a drunken chuckle.

The door burst open.

She squinted a little, everything had become a little blurry. She identified the young man in the orange jump suit and his comrades easily enough, but who were those other two with them? And since when had Sakura worn glasses?

“Tsunade-baa-chan!” the loud blonde spat out urgently.

“Sakura has been captured by Uchiha Itachi...”

“..what?”

Thanks for picking me up on my technical glitch! Didn't notice at all D:

A/N - Wow, I literally just checked my email for the first time in ages and was so shocked! I don't have all that many reviews and just assumed that no one was really reading the story. Well, imagine my shock when I had over a hundred messages telling me I'd either been as a favourite author or you guys had added Façade to your favourites/alerts! Gosh, I was so happy I thought I could cry haha. Thank you so much everyone, it really does mean a lot to me and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

On another note, I hope I haven't annoyed anyone by having so much of Amarante in this chapter when she's not even a real Naruto character. That's exactly why she's in it so much, you need to understand her because she's going to be playing an important part in the plot! Not just the ItaSaku strand but the greater plot. See if you can figure out where she's from... Also, I haven't read an ItaSaku fic yet that had a love rival and thought it could be interesting. I promise we won't take a major look in to her again. It's mostly going to be just Sakura from now on and her pals back in Konoha.

One last thing, I know you want more dialogue and from now on there is going to be a lot more. This chapter is what I consider to be the end of the introduction. The real story is all set up now and ready to go! Reviews are love, I was really unsure about this chapter so let me know what you think!