Naruto 1. Last Goodbyes and Council Meetings

**Hello everyone! I'm baaaack with a new story. I was shocked to see this idea get so many votes during the poll but it totally won by a decent gap. The next two winners were the only two one-shots I had up there so they will probably come sometime in the middle of this story. **

**I hope you guys like this, ive been working hard on it :D **

**Also fair warning things start out slow for the most part, im not going to have Itachi and Sakura immediately jump in bed together but trust me it will happen eventually :D I'm going to try to keep everyone as in character as I possibly can:**

_**THAT BEING SAID! Sasuke in the beginning of this story does not fall under the characters im gonna keep in character list. I found out a while back that I am completely incapable of writing Sasuke in character...don't know why but maybe it has to do with me not being able to write him as an asshole. lol okay im dragging on, sorry. **_

**NOTE: Ages have been altered in this story and are as followed:**

**Itachi: 17**

**Sakura: 17**

**Sasuke: 7**

**Shisui: 20**

**Kishi owns Naruto and its characters not lil 'ol me :(**

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Chapter 1- Last Goodbyes and Council Meetings.

March 28th; Haruno Sakura's birthday. She should be happy right? Her and her friends should be out celebrating, you don't turn 17 years old every day. The world, unfortunately, had other ideas for the pink haired kunoichi and her friends today though and it wasn't pleasant.

Sakura stayed glued to Naruto and Kakashi's sides as they entered the small prison located on the outskirts of the village. Today instead of celebrating, the three of them had to say goodbye to their best friend, student and teammate for the last time. Sakura and Naruto's heads were drooped as Tsunade approached them in the dark, dimly lit, hallway. There was a sigh before her voice filled the silence.

"I'm sorry." She said her voice softer than usual. She truly felt bad for the three shinobi before her. "I tried." She said honestly. Kakashi laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Lady Hokage. This isn't your fault. Sasuke made his own mistakes and now he needs to take responsibility for them." He said his voice sad

"I know, the brat didn't make it easy for me to stand up for him. I agree he needs punishment but I don't agree with an execution, let alone a public one. Those damn Elders just want to make an example out of him." She grumbled angrily. Sakura looked up at her master with unshed tears in her eyes.

"Can we see him?" She asked, her voice held strong. It didn't betray the horrible feelings that swam around inside her and for that she was thankful.

"Right, yes. I bought you guys 5 min with him. I'm sorry that's all I could manage." She said sadly. The team nodded before making their way past Tsunade and down the hallway. Naruto had yet to utter a word since he found out the news of Sasuke's execution. Sakura eyed him worriedly but he didn't even look up, his eyes stayed trained on the ground.

It didn't take them long to reach Sasuke's cell. The spiky black haired man sat in the corner with his knees pulled to his chest. Sakura felt a silent tear fall down the left side of her face as she looked at him. He stared back at her before moving to Naruto and then Kakashi. His eyes looked sad but his face still held the same stoic unemotional expression it always did.

"What are you all doing here?" He asked suddenly breaking the silence. Sakura felt herself move forward and her hand gripped one of the bars of his cell. The movement caught the Uchiha's eye and he looked at her for a bit before she answered.

"We…we came to say goodbye." She murmured quietly

"Hn. Do you know what they are going to do to me?" He asked seemingly curious. The group stiffened slightly before Kakashi spoke

"It's a public execution…" Sasuke grimaced as Kakashi went on "That's all we know though."

Silence stretched on for a moment before a humorless laugh erupted from Sasuke suddenly

"What's so funny?" Naruto spoke up moving closer to the bars.

"You know, I killed my brother and the next thing I was going to do was return to the village. I was ambushed by leaf village ninja and I went with them willingly. If I had of known I would be executed I would have never went without a fight." He admitted standing up and leaning against the wall.

"What's stopping you from leaving now?" Naruto asked "I mean, I'm sure you could easily blow a hole in that wall behind you and be free." Sasuke rose a brow at the blonde before smirking and shaking his head

"You don't think they slapped a chakra seal on me the moment they captured me?" he asked. Naruto suddenly tugged on the cell door

"We can get you out of here, there has to be a way..." he said yanking a few more time. Suddenly Sasuke was at the door directly in front of Naruto

"Don't be stupid, dobe." Sasuke said angrily "I made my mistakes, I won't pull you down with me." Sakura's eyes widened at the sincerity of his statement. After Naruto let the door go Sasuke continued

"Seeing as this is probably the last time I will talk to you guys I better get everything off my chest."

"Naruto, thank you for being you." The Uchiha grinned "I may have been an bastard on more than one occasion but I could never truly sever the bond you and I share." He said honestly, he stuck his fist out towards the blonde, Naruto didn't hesitate to bump the other man's fist with his own. "Brothers for life right dobe?" Sasuke asked, Naruto wordlessly nodded too sad on the inside to utter more than what he said next

"Always, Sasuke. I never gave up on you." He said his voice tight with held back tears. Sasuke took his hand back and dropped it to his side. A small hint of a smile showed on his face.

"I know Naruto, I owe you a lot." He finished before looking to his right at Kakashi.

"Kakashi…" He started before a grin took over his face "My biggest regret regarding you is not knowing what you look like under that damn mask." He said eliciting a surprised chuckle out of the older man. "If I'm being serious though, thank you for everything you have taught me. Part of me wouldn't be the way I am today without you. You gave me the kick start I needed to become a strong, powerful shinobi." He finished. Kakashi nodded

"You're welcome, Sasuke. I just wish I could have heard all this under different circumstances." The raven nodded before finally turning to Sakura.

"Sakura, I could never return your feelings. I know you were one of the only girls to truly love me and I pushed you away more times than I can count. I know I hurt you so many times and I'm sorry."

Sakura nodded her tears falling faster than before "I forgive you Sasuke." She squeezed out lacing her fingers with his through the metal bars "I still love you but I'm no longer in love with you so please don't hold onto your guilt. You have my forgiveness." She whispered the last part as he moved closer to her a hesitant smile on his face

"Thank you, I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that." He said honestly. "Take care of the idiot..." he added retracting his hand from hers.

"I will do everything in my power." She stated honestly.

"We will be there, Sasuke; in the crowd. Look for us and use us as your support if you wish." Kakashi said more sorrow leaking into his voice.

"Thank you guys, I just might take you up on that offer. I'll see you all tomorrow." He said sadly

"Times up!" A guard said suddenly as he rounded the corner.

"Wait Sakura." Sasuke said suddenly making the girl turn around "Happy birthday." He said sincerely, she forced a smile on her face more tears squeezing their way out of her eyes  
"Thank you." She murmured.

With a final glance at Sasuke the three shinobi turned around and walked away for the last time.

0000

Mitokada Homura one of Konoha's village advisors stood from his seat at the oval shaped table "We are all here for one reason." He began; addressing the three other people seated around the table. "That reason is to decide how Uchiha Sasuke will be put to death." Those words made Tsunade feel even heavier with anger.

"As I've said countless times before, killing him is _not _the answer!" Tsunade exclaimed her palm smacking loudly against the polished wood in front of her.

"On the contrary, Tsunade." Danzo spoke up in his deep voice. "Killing him is the only plausible action." He said keeping his expression indifferent. Tsunade clenched her hand into a fist

"How do you figure that?" she growled lowly

"Simple." He said sitting straighter in his chair "He must be made example of. We must assert our authority in this situation. We can't have our shinobi thinking they can commit such crimes and have it go unpunished. Sasuke has deserted and betrayed our village by abandoning it and teaming up with the likes of Orochimaru." Tsunade inwardly groaned in frustration, she had no way of making this better, she had no way of proving Sasuke was worth it. He _had _broken the rules and there was nothing she could do about this.

"I agree." Homura added moments after retaking his seat.

"As do I." Utatane Koharu, the last council member sitting at the table, finally spoke up. Tsunade hated them all.

"Now back to how he will die." Homura stated again bringing the attention back to the initial task.

"Burn him alive." Koharu suggested

"No, hang him." Homura countered. Tsunade barely resisted an eye roll.

"We will be-head him." Tsunade said with finality "I will not be persuaded otherwise."

"This isn't something you can decide on your own princess." Danzo said leaning back in his chair.

"That's how it's going to happen. Afterwards his body will be cremated; to protect the Uchiha's kekkei genkai" Tsunade stated. There was a collective sigh around the table before Homura spoke up

"I believe this is fair." He said. Koharu looked hesitant before nodding

"Agreed." Tsunade then looked over at Danzo not really caring what his answer was because it didn't matter.

"Fine." He said before taking a breath. "I do have one request though."

"Spit it out, Danzo. I have work to do." Tsunade grumbled letting her annoyance seep through a little.

"I would like to remove his eyes before we kill him and do it in front of everyone." He said with his still indifferent facial expression. Tsunade's eyes widened in shock

"Excuse me!?" she exclaimed "Why the hell would we do that? His eyes will burn with his body when we cremate him. That's the whole point of cremating him."

"Yes, Danzo. Please explain your reasoning behind this." Koharu said; the old woman looking more than a little interested.

"Taking his eyes will shame him." He started. "We will be taking away the thing that gives him the most power. We will be making even more of a statement."

"No! Don't you think executing him publically is shaming him enough!?" Tsunade cried in anger

"Yes." Homura and Koharu said in unison agreeing with Danzo and completely ignoring Tsunade. All eyes turned to Tsunade after that and the younger woman saw red.

"You people make me sick." She said her voice low. She got up from her seat "This meeting is over." She stated before walking out of the room angrily.

0000

"Dammit. We have to do something." Tsunade growled as she sat down in the chair behind her desk. Shizune stood in front of her, clipboard clutched in her hands opting to stay silent. "But there isn't anything we can do. Those bastards on the council made that clear." The blonde woman paused again before looking up at her assistant. "What is your opinion on Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Certainly he deserves punishment." The woman said still clutching her clipboard "But I don't think execution is needed." She sighed before continuing "Wouldn't it be so much better if none of this ever came to be and Sasuke didn't leave the village at all? I just wish the Uchiha clan massacre never happened."

There was a small pause of silence after Shizune uttered those words before Tsunade suddenly stood up with a look of complete awe on her face. "Shizune! You're a genius! I know what to do now. I need your help though." Shizune straightened her back getting serious again.

"Anything, Lady Tsunade."

"For starters. I need _everything_ on the Uchiha Clan Massacre and the one responsible for it…. Uchiha Itachi."

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**Annnnnd there yea go. Updates will come out every Friday but keep in mind I do have a life and it may be late once or twice but I will do my very best to not let that happen. **

**Anyways I miss you guys! Please review and let me know what you think! :D As for those reveiwers who don't sign in im gonna try to answer your reviews every update in the author's notes, I saw another writer do that and thought it was a neat idea. So don't be shy let me know what you think :D**

******Thank you to Li. Chan93 for all her beautiful help with this story and plot and bleh I don't know what I would without this woman in my life xD**


	2. Eye For An Eye

**SOOO Seriously early chapter here guys! :D I realise now how crappy the first chapter was sooo I decided to update early. Also changing my update day to Monday. So next chapter will be out in 1 week from now.**

**Hope this chapter is better, its a bit longer xD**

**I don't own Naruto...sadly.**

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Chapter 2 – An Eye for an Eye

It was meant to be a grand affair for all village ninja to attend, but only the shinobi that were available and not on missions, were in attendance. As Sakura looked around she could see about thirty or so people around them, not many but it created a small crowd on top of Hokage Mountain. Naruto stood on her right and Kakashi on her left. It was rare to see Kakashi without his little book out but Sakura figured reading it right now wouldn't be appropriate and her Sensei didn't look to be in the mood for much of anything.

The murmurs of confusion as to why they were all gathered here surrounded the three members of team seven. Sakura clenched her hands into fists and looked down at the ground. She still couldn't comprehend what was about to occur. As if losing Sasuke permanently wasn't bad enough, they all had to watch it happen. Sakura wasn't lying to Sasuke when she said she wasn't in love with him anymore. She loved him still but as a friend and teammate. She had moved on a year or so after he had left them.

Sakura's head snapped up when gasps of shock rang through the small crowd and the pinkette looked around. Her gaze locked with a head of black and spiky hair above the heads of the men and women around her and her stomach dropped. This was it. The murmurs and chatter grew in volume as Sasuke came completely into view.

All he was currently wearing was regular navy blue shinobi pants with sandals. His upper body was bare and the sunlight reflected off his pale skin. His hands were tied behind his back and two guards from the prison led him through the crowd and stopped in the centre of the group. The noise around Sakura didn't seem to calm down.

Without much thought Sakura reached for Naruto's hand next to her and grasped it. He glanced at her oddly but didn't pull away. The two guards pressed roughly on Sasuke's shoulders; forcing him painfully to his knees. He hadn't looked up as he was too preoccupied with looking at the large block of wood in front of him. Sakura could only guess now how they were going to kill him and it made her stomach churn.

Moments later Danzo walked through the crowd taking his place next to Sasuke. Sakura recognized him instantly as one of the village advisors but knew he didn't make an appearance all that often. The crowd knew this as well which made the chatter stop immediately. In the silence Danzo cleared his throat before speaking in his regular, monotone voice.

"Due to my influence we have captured a great enemy of the leaf. Today is the day I can say, a threat will be removed from our lives, a threat that has made us fear to walk outside in our own home. Our village, the very place we should feel the most secure." He stepped back and gestured slightly toward the raven kneeling at his side. "Uchiha Sasuke." He paused again "His crimes are many, and his punishment will be death."

There was a collective gasp after he finished speaking. Sakura could see the mixed feelings surrounding her. Some were clearly happy with this sentence and other's seemed to see it how it was and thought it to be unnecessary, just like she did. Suddenly Danzo cleared his throat again as a sign that he was about to begin speaking for a second time. Clearly his speech wasn't done and the crowd fell silent again.

"This…_Child_ has committed the most unforgivable act to us, this village. Abandoning us to join the ranks of Orochimaru; a fellow traitor to our village. He aided Orochimaru and the sound ninja in the attack on the leaf four years ago which resulted in the fourth Hokage's death."

"That's a dirty lie!" Naruto yelled his shoulders visibly shaking with anger. Sakura tightened her hand in his and yanked on his arm before whispering harshly

"Idiot! Shut up!" She warned. Danzo was annoyed by the interruption but immediately ignored Naruto's comment and demanded the attention of the crowd again as he spoke

"We are also lead to believe he has helped other enemies' in their plans that were meant to harm _our_ home." He paused for a moment raking his eyes over everyone once before continuing his speech.

"There is no way we could ever begin to forgive such acts against us and to our families that we spend our every waking moment trying to protect. There is only one way to ensure our village can sleep peacefully at night; and that is to eliminate Uchiha Sasuke!" his voice was slowly getting louder as he went on. The group remained silent, hanging on the man's every word. Were they all seriously falling for this? The thought made Sakura mad. Naruto wasn't fairing any better and Sakura feared he would snap soon. She just hoped she could hold onto him before he does something stupid and gets them all killed.

"This boy would never be able to set aside his rage, the hate inside of him will forever grow, until it has become the only thing he is. His family, the entirety of the Uchiha clan, was the same. They were consumed by their power, and became greedy.

They had unleashed on our village the nine tailed demon, leaving us to fend for ourselves when we needed them most! Sasuke has too, become consumed, by his own power; slaying his brother, Uchiha Itachi who killed his own kinsmen in a single night. But it hasn't been enough. Uchiha Sasuke went on to join the ranks of Akatsuki to destroy our home! He has proven time and time again to be nothing more than a child throwing a temper tantrum." Sakura stopped herself from growling, Sasuke never joined Akatsuki, she knew this for a fact. Danzo was making Sasuke sound far worse than he was.

"For such actions I cannot allow this boy any ounce of pride, what right does he have to it? Stripping us of our security, making us fear every rustle of the wind through the trees, every possible sound and shadow we see? I say we make him feel the same fear and pain we've felt all these years. And to do that, we take from him his eyes!" he said finishing his speech off with quite the dramatic end.

"What!?" Sakura found herself gasping out loud. She looked to her sides and noticed Kakashi looked somewhat shocked…at least as far as she could tell with his mask. When she glanced at Naruto and she unconsciously grasped his hand even tighter at the absolute murderous look on his face. He was beyond mad now. Her eyes then went to Sasuke and she gasped when his dark orbs locked with hers. The look of uncharacteristic vulnerability that broke through his features made her heart jump in her throat. She had never in her life seen that expression on Sasuke's face.

Before she could think any more on the matter, two of the guards from the prison showed up at Sasuke's side again and hauled him to his feet. Sasuke who, up until this point, had planned to give no resistance in the carrying out of his punishment began to squirm violently in the guards' firm grasp. Danzo took a step toward Sasuke arm outstretched…that's when hell broke loose.

Naruto wrenched his hand out of Sakura's and pushed his way through the crowd. Within a millisecond he was standing in between Danzo and Sasuke in a very threatening stance. Without much thought, Sakura too jumped in taking up a stance at Naruto's side ready to defend if need be. The thought that what they were doing right now was so bad on so many levels, against a man such as Danzo no less, crossed Sakura's mind fleetingly.

It took less than a second more before four ANBU members took their place at Danzo's side. Sakura had to give the man a little credit, he didn't flinch even once when Naruto had shown up. Now though, Naruto and Sakura were outnumbered not to mention what they were doing could be seen as traitorous behavior, they were defending a criminal…

There was a slight breeze to Sakura's right but she didn't have to look to realize it was Kakashi appearing beside her.

"Stand down you two." He almost growled, the annoyance clear in his voice. If Sakura was being honest the sound of his voice so irritated had the hair on her neck raising it wasn't Kakashi-like at all.

"I refuse to let him belittle Sasuke so badly. Isn't it bad enough they are publically executing him!?" Naruto asked the anger very easy to hear in his tone as he glared daggers at Danzo who still looked indifferent.

"It is not your choice. I will not ask again, Naruto. Stand down." Kakashi answered moving to Naruto's side and gripped his shoulder tightly. Before Kakashi could forcibly remove the two of them, Lady Tsunade pushed her way into the situation and Sakura hoped to kami the anger in her eyes wasn't directed at her or Naruto. Thankfully the blonde woman turned on Danzo and in a loud enough voice for the medium sized crowd to hear, she spoke

"Danzo…leave this alone or make yourself out to be more of a fool. I warned you this was a bad idea. Look at the crowd around you. Do the majority of them look like they agree with this entire situation?" She asked gesturing around them with a sweep of her arm. The crowd's displeased murmurs grew in volume and Sakura was happy to see the annoyed and somewhat disgusted look on some of the people's faces. Sakura could see Danzo's eyes take in the disgruntled people around him and he snapped his fingers once which made the four ANBU at his side vanish.

He turned around and the only sign of his irritation was the tiny tick sound he made with his tongue before walking off toward where he had come from originally. The tension quickly dissipated from Sakura's muscles as Danzo disappeared and she looked back at Sasuke. His eyes were wide as if he was surprised the three of them had stood up for him like that. The gratitude was displayed on his features too, but it was hidden a lot better. Tsunade clamped her hand painfully tight on the back of Sakura and Naruto's necks making them wince when she pushed them down slightly so they were kind of bent at the waist

"As for you two. I will be needing you both in my office when all this is over." She said her voice tight before letting them go.

After returning to their spots Sasuke was once again forced to his knees but this time his head was pushed down onto the block of wood in front of him. There was the distinct sound of a sword being unsheathed from its case before a man Sakura didn't know slowly made his way toward Sasuke. Sakura noticed with disgust that they were using Sasuke's own katana to kill him. The sword was raised above the man's head and Sakura clamped her eyes shut when it made its way down; she just couldn't watch.

0000

*Five Days Later*

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune yelled as she burst through the door to the Hokage's office. Her face was flushed from running and she was mildly out of breath. Tsunade stood from her seat at the sudden entrance and watched with bated breath as her assistant waved a scroll clutched in her hand around wildly. "I found it! I found the exact mission records you wanted so badly!" She said a wide smile stretching across her face. Tsunade grinned motioning Shizune over and taking the scroll from her. The blonde's grin turned into a full out smile when she read the detailed report of a mission that took place about ten years ago.

"Excellent work, Shizune." The older woman praised "Summon Sakura, we have much to discuss."

0000

Sakura felt heavy. Her heart hurt and she was almost angry with Tsunade for giving her a week off from work at the hospital to mourn. If anything she wanted to work more, she wished she could stop thinking about it all. Kakashi had been sent on a mission two days after the execution and Naruto had barely left his apartment. Sakura had tried visiting him yesterday but promptly had the door shut in her face. To say that stung was an understatement. She didn't blame him though, she knew the feeling of wanting to be alone. Unlike her Naruto felt like a failure; he failed to save his best friend and that was eating at him more than anything and the pinkette had no idea how to help him.

With a sigh she looked up at the tall building in front of her; Hokage Tower. Tsunade had summoned her and a feeling in her gut told her it was serious. The wary woman made her way slowly up the stairs before knocking on the door to her Master's office.

"Come in." She heard through the thick wood before she entered. Tsunade was sitting behind her desk as usual with two large piles of paperwork on each side of her. She looked tired but also excited…almost? Sakura wasn't sure how she felt about that. It was rare to see much of Tsunade's emotions unless she was raging mad about something. The blonde gestured toward the chair situated in front of her desk "Please sit Sakura." Sakura did as she was told and sat down.

"Do you have a mission for me?" Sakura asked not quite able to hide the way her voice rose with excitement at the thought of getting her mind off everything.

"Yes. I do." The older woman said before her face got serious. "This is unlike any mission you have ever been on Sakura. It's a solo mission and an important one at that."

"I can handle it." Sakura assured letting Tsunade know she could continue with the briefing.

"I have a very interesting and highly forbidden Jutsu." The woman began leaning back in her chair slightly as if getting ready for a long conversation "It's a time travelling Jutsu and I'm one of the very few people to have the privilege of knowing it. That being said your mission will be to travel back in time ten years to change the future…." Tsunade trailed off when she noticed the confused look on her apprentice's face.

"Time travel? That's actually possible?" Sakura asked shocked, Tsunade clucked her tongue in annoyance at the interruption before answering the question

"Yes, but it's not supposed to be. Going back in time is very dangerous, one wrong move and you can change the future entirely. This isn't always a bad change but sometimes it's destructive beyond repair." She paused to let that sink in to Sakura's mind before continuing "Your mission, as I was saying earlier is to travel back in time ten years.

The _only_ event you are to change is the Uchiha Clan Massacre. You need to make sure it doesn't happen." Sakura's eyes widened and she sucked in a breath so hard she choked on her own spit. After embarrassing herself by choking for a few seconds she calmed down and looked back up at the woman in front of her.

"Why would you want me to do that?" she asked incredulously. "You want me to kill Itachi…_the _Uchiha Itachi!?" Sakura asked knowing right then and there that she wouldn't be able to. He was capable of taking out his entire clan by himself, she was no match for him. Tsunade's lips thinned out into a straight line.

"If it comes to that yes. You are to stop it at all costs." She paused waving Shizune over from the corner of the room. Sakura hadn't even noticed the other woman was there. "Don't worry, Sakura. I have a fool proof plan to make your mission a lot easier. That's if it works out the way we want it to."

"Okay, what is this plan?"

"I had Shizune dig up everything she could on the massacre. Unfortunately there isn't much, which is troubling. With something as big as this was and still is there should be more information on it." Tsunade said with a frown.

Sakura couldn't help but nod in agreement "What does it say?"

"Basically all it says on the matter is solely based on Sasuke's testimony. Sasuke said his brother slaughtered their clan to test his abilities and that he wasn't sure why Itachi had left him as the only survivor." She pursed her lips "Besides that and the basic information on how many casualties there were, that's it."

"So your saying when I get there I need to do some research of my own. I don't know what it is but I feel like there is much more to this story." Sakura said,

Tsunade nodded "I agree. Get as much information as you can, and stop the massacre. You will have six months to complete this mission."

"So when I go back I have six months before the time of the massacre?" Sakura asking needing to clarify.

"Yes." Tsunade answered with a nod.

"I found everything we need to make this easier for you Sakura." Shizune added afterwards.

After that the three woman spent an entire two hours going over every tiny detail of Sakura's mission. Tsunade had definitely done her homework and she was right. This was a mission unlike any other Sakura has or ever will do. She was ready for it though, if it meant Sasuke could never have died she would do it.

That night as she lay in bed she let her thoughts wander to what she was about to do. She would be leaving tomorrow. Tsunade would be taking her to a specific area about a day's walk outside the village to transport her. She had been taught the jutsu she would need to use to travel back ten years and also the one she would need to come back to the present when her mission was complete. This whole thing was nerve racking. Sakura couldn't help but worry, what if something went wrong? Tsunade had warned her this wasn't a mission that she could fail, but what if she did? What would she do and the most worrisome of all questions…what kind of future would she come back to?

With a sigh she turned over on her side willing her mind to shut up before closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.

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**RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU HATE DANZO! *raises both hands***

**Did you like this one better? xD I promise the story will get moving next chapter :D **

**I only got two reviews last chapter but I'm blown away by the traffic and follows this story got! Thanks everyone! :D **

**Please please review, id love to hear your opinion, I answer everyone of your reviews I promise...Until next time cya guys later :D**


	3. Plans Set In Motion

**I'm baaack! :D Hello again. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE FOLLOWS AND FAVOURITES AND REVEIWS AND OH YOU ALL MADE ME FEEL SO LOVED! :D**

**Things, are starting to pick up now, enjoy!**

**I don't own Naruto...sadly.**

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Chapter 3 – Plans Set In Motion

"Please don't forget to give that scroll to Lord Third." Tsunade said from Sakura's side as they prepared her for the departure.

"Right." Sakura said with a firm nod. Nerves were fluttering around in her stomach like angry butterflies and she willed them to go away.

As if sensing her apprehension, Tsunade placed her hand on her apprentice's shoulder and said "You can do this Sakura. I have faith in you." With a sigh Sakura nodded again. She could do this. The pinkette watched as Tsunade looked up to the sky for a moment before furrowing her brow. The sun was just beginning to set and the evening air was getting cool.

"Remember Sakura, you will be transported into a rogue ninja camp. This rogue group is dangerous. They were plotting against the village and ANBU was dispatched to take them out. You have been held captive by these ninja for two months, your family was killed before you were taken prisoner and your family's home has already been given to another family. You are homeless, penniless and alone. I'm hoping Sarutobi-sensei will have faith and trust in my letter to him and aid us in this quest…but be careful, he may not and you will have to abort the mission and return to the present time.

If my calculations are correct you will be sent to the exact location of the group of rogue ninja's and Itachi's ANBU squad will show up about two hours later give or take a few minutes." She said before getting a serious look on her face. "But you must go now. We can't be a moment late or our plan will fall through the cracks."

"Hai, Lady Tsunade." Sakura said strongly. Pushing down her nerves, she stepped back and began the necessary hand signs. As she laid her hand on the ground, a circle of light formed around her and the wind picked up, whipping her short, pink tresses around her face violently. She shook her head at the sudden blurriness clouding her vision. There was a small moment of panic before her vision went dark and she collapsed.

0000

Sakura slowly opened her eyes and sat up before immediately regretting the hasty action as her head spun and throbbed in pain. As her vision cleared she took a look around. She was surrounded by trees and there was a small tent to her right. Glancing down at herself she was dressed in her normal shinobi attire; red and white shirt with black shorts, her pink medic apron and pouches that held her ninja tools.

It took her a moment to notice that there were two voices getting closer to her so she didn't get a chance to completely take in her surroundings. Every instinct in her told her to hide but she knew she had to stay put. She had to be caught by these men, it was part of the plan. They both rounded the corner laughing about something before stopping short when they noticed her sitting on the ground, a few feet in front of them.

Sakura forced a shocked expression with a hint of fear on her face before getting up so fast she felt dizzy, she really didn't like the side effects of that jutsu. It made her feel queasy and light headed.

"She's from the Leaf!" One of the men exclaimed pointing at her headband that was clearly displayed in its regular place. "A spy?" he asked a split second later. Sakura widened her eyes again as if she had been caught before turning around and taking off into the trees. She heard their collective shouts behind her before they were in hot pursuit. This was going to be a lot easier than she thought it would.

Seeing as she wasn't actually trying to get away she wasn't running as fast as she could and they caught up pretty quickly. Suddenly Sakura noticed what felt like wire wrap around her legs and she lurched forward off the branch she had landed on before tumbling to the ground in a painful heap. Thankfully it wasn't too far down and she wasn't injured too badly. Sakura was gasping for breath when the two landed next to her, the fall had knocked the wind out of her and she felt a throbbing pain in her left ankle. Abruptly they hauled her up to rest on her knees, her arms were tugged behind her back and she felt the same wire she was tripped with wrap painfully tight around her wrist.

That was easy….almost too easy.

0000

After bringing Sakura back to their camp, the two men bragged about their find to their buddies saying that Sakura was a spy and everyone should be thankful they didn't let her get away. The pinkette was sitting on her knees again and resisted an eye roll at their cocky attitudes. She knew they would get what was coming to them soon enough. Probably in the next hour or so.

Sakura was tugged from her thoughts when a man stood in front of her gripping her chin roughly, forcing her to look up at him.

"She's a pretty thing isn't she? Maybe you and I can have a little fun tonight, eh sweetheart?" he grinned showing off his yellow teeth. Sakura didn't stop the disgust from showing on her face.

"Fuck you." She growled before gathering saliva in her mouth and spitting it onto the ugly man's face. He shrank back in shock before quickly ridding the spit from his face. His expression suddenly changed to pure rage. Sakura saw the punch coming and did nothing to dodge it. Sure it hurt, like a bitch, but hey a few injuries could only help her cause when she was rescued.

Against her will she cried out when the resounding crack seemed to echo in her head and her neck snapped back due to the force of the punch. Pain shot up her nose and warm liquid began to trickle out of her nostrils in a steady stream. Her eyes watered and the salty flavour of her blood assaulted her taste buds when some of it dripped into her mouth. She spit it out before glaring at the man responsible. The men around her were laughing

"She's a feisty one, eh Akuma?" a man to her left laughed. The one who had punched her, Akuma, grinned.

"Oh yes." He gripped her chin again "That's okay I like them like that." Sakura snarled suddenly, having enough of this man's shit. She sat back on her butt and managed to get her legs out in front of her. She swung them to the side in an attempt to knock his feet out from under him but he easily dodged. She forgot these were relatively skilled ninja. That totally would have worked on a regular person. She didn't have even an ounce of a chance at taking any of them tied up the way she was.

00

About a half hour later Sakura was still sitting on her knees, which had begun to ache; surrounded by a few of the camp's occupants. Her face ached from the abuse it had taken, all because Akuma had thought she deserved a few more harsh slaps for no good reason. The last bits of light from the day were gone and many of the men had retired to their tents to sleep. Sakura was hoping beyond hope that the squad would get her within the next forty-five minutes to save her from the night she was sure to be put through. Sakura wasn't by any means a virgin, she had been on a few seduction missions in her life but that doesn't mean she enjoys when it's forced on her.

The queasy feeling that had assaulted her stomach after preforming that jutsu had yet to go away and her head was still pounding. Exhaustion was beginning to take hold of her and she couldn't shake it. Before she could dwell much more on how sick she was feeling, Akuma stood from his spot on the log to her left. The orange light from the fire made the lines on his face more prominent which made him look older than what he was. The light from the fire was blocked from Sakura's view when he stood in front of her. The pinkette shivered in disgust at the look on his face. Clearly he was looking forward to their night together.

The man dragged her by the arm to his tent and Sakura barely held back the wince as the action rubbed the wire against her already tender wrists Her ankle also didn't like the treatment as it throbbed. After being roughly thrown to the dirt covered ground, Sakura managed to barely pick herself up into a kneeling position and she turned to face Akuma with a glare firmly set on her face.

"So how about we have that fun now." Akuma grinned he trailed one finger lightly down her face. Sakura flinched away her eyes narrowing.

This wasn't part of the plan. Sakura was very much contemplating escaping and figuring out another way. Though as appealing as that sounded she couldn't risk compromising the ANBU squad's mission by causing a camp wide search for her. The men were asleep in their beds, the perfect scenario for Itachi's team to get the job done without a problem. Coming to that conclusion Sakura realized she would have to suck it up and deal with whatever she was going to go through tonight.

"It's a pity I had to rough up your pretty face earlier today." He said with a mock frown before brushing his thumb across Sakura's nose. She hissed in pain before jerking her head away. There was no doubt her nose was broken and she wished so badly that she was able to heal it, the pain in her nose only added to her pounding headache. Suddenly Sakura felt her stomach clench and bile rise in her throat. She willed it back down not wanting to throw up everywhere but secretly wanting the satisfaction of vomiting all over this vile man in front of her and seeing his reaction.

Akuma ran his rough hand down Sakura's neck before getting to the collar of her red shirt, he rolled the material between his two fingers a few times before moving his other hand to the same spot. He gripped it before quickly ripping it down the middle. The small squeak of surprise that came out of Sakura's mouth quickly turned to rage as she tugged on her bound hands. Thankfully her chest was tightly bound with bandages so he really couldn't see much besides her stomach, but that wasn't what pissed Sakura off so much. It was the fact that this was the _only _outfit she had right now. She hadn't brought anything with her, this was it and now she couldn't even wear that.

Before Sakura knew what was happening he had gone ahead and ripped her shorts too.

"What the fuck is your problem!? Why do you feel the need to ruin my clothes!?" Sakura growled angrily as she gathered chakra in her hands. It wasn't working though, sure chakra was gathering easily but her wrists were tied behind her and she couldn't break the wire.

"I would have to untie you to take your shirt off properly."

"And my shorts?" she asked again, her anger still obvious

"That was because I wanted to." He answered with a grin. Sakura was disgusted to say the least, she hated this man with every fiber of her being. She was currently sitting in front of him in nothing but panties and her medic apron which he had left on after removing her shorts. They had also removed her weapons pouch earlier and she felt so exposed and vulnerable.

With an inward sigh, Sakura closed her eyes and tried to think of happier thoughts to distract herself from the sound of Akuma untying his pants. The silence dragged on before there was a choked gasp followed by a wet gurgling sound. Sakura's eyes shot open to see Akuma grabbing at his neck; blood poured steadily from the obvious wound there. She glanced up further and looked beyond the dying man to see a head of spiky silver hair with a cat ANBU mask. She knew that hair, not to mention she could clearly see the sharingan in the ANBU's left eye. Kakashi-Sensei.

Sakura inwardly groaned at her luck. Of all people to rescue her it was her sensei. She was half naked for kami's sake. She plastered a look of uncertainty on her face as Akuma dropped to the ground no longer being held up by Kakashi. Seeing her hesitation, just like she wanted him to, Kakashi grabbed his mask and lowered it only enough to clearly show his 'Leaf' headband.

"Don't be afraid we are from the same village as you. We're here to help." He said his voice almost exactly the same as what she knew it to be, although it was a tad colder and held less emotion to it. She was relieved that wearing her headband had helped her in this situation. She nodded and a blush dusted her cheeks. This really shouldn't embarrass her all that much, but it was her sensei; not that he knew this. He went behind her and she sighed in relief when her wrists were set free. She brought them to her chest and rubbed at the sore marks the wire left behind.

"Can you walk?" She heard him ask. She nodded and accepted Kakashi's help in standing up only to falter slightly. She almost forgot about her sore ankle. It wasn't anything serious, she could walk just not that fast. Figuring this out immediately Kakashi picked Sakura up bridal style and wordlessly carried her out of the tent. Sakura was sure her face couldn't get any more red. She could feel the bare skin of her thighs against his arms. Who knew this would be so embarrassing! If this were Itachi carrying her or any other person besides Kakashi she would be fine! This was her sensei though and this was not fine.

When they left the tent, Kakashi's movement caused a light breeze to toss up her medic apron, giving anyone who was looking a clear view of her panties. She gasped lightly in embarrassment and pushed the fabric back down.

"Be careful." She mumbled quietly. Kakashi's mask stared down at her

"Careful?"

"If you move too quickly, you're going to see my underwear, this apron doesn't cover much."

"Hm. I don't particularly care too much. I'm not a pervert." Sakura held back a snort of laughter at that lie. What kind of man reads porn in front of his students and isn't considered a pervert? She kept that to herself, though.

Sakura tried to distract herself by looking around as she was carried through the camp. If she didn't know any better she would assume everyone was still sleeping, although the men that were guarding the camp were clearly dead; their bodies draped over one another in a small pile. Sakura closed her eyes and rested her head against Kakashi hoping he didn't feel the warmth of her blush through his thin sleeveless shirt and ANBU vest.

It didn't seem to take them long before reaching a clearing where Sakura guessed everyone was meeting up. The entire area was lit up by the moonlight as Kakashi placed her down beside a tree. She immediately brought her knees up to her chest in an attempt to cover whatever she could. She couldn't help but feel relieved the moment she was set down. Her blush wouldn't go away though.

Suddenly another man was squatting down in front of her. His mask resembled a dog. His hair was short, curly and a jet black colour that seemed to blend in with the dark sky.

"What's your name?" he asked his voice surprisingly friendly and soft. He was close enough so she could see the red and black swirl of his sharingan in both eyes. So he was an Uchiha.

"Sakura." She answered easily. She barely moved a muscle when he touched her face only wincing once when he pressed lightly on a tender part of her cheek. She wouldn't be surprised if her entire face was bruised.

"Your nose is broken and your face is bruising pretty badly." He said confirming her thoughts. Sakura shrugged.

She could tell them that she was a medic and could heal herself but the sudden nausea in her stomach crippled her speaking abilities, her stomach clenched again and this time she shoved the man in front of her to the side and out of the way. He stumbled, pushed off balance. He fell to the side a little before regaining his balance as Sakura threw up her stomach contents only a foot away from him. Sakura didn't know the time travel would affect her body this much. She hoped these symptoms would pass quickly, she couldn't take much more of this.

After wiping her mouth and grimacing down at the mess she made Sakura sat back down letting her back lean against the tree. She sighed before placing her own cool hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes and noticed the four man squad looking down at her. She couldn't see their facial expressions because of the masks but they seemed concerned.

"Are you alright?" the one with the weasel mask asked cocking his head to the side a little. That had to be Itachi. The long, black hair tied into a loose pony tail was a dead giveaway; not to mention that voice. She had only come in contact with him once but she would never forget his deep, oddly calming voice.

"I'm okay. Just feeling sick is all." She answered; not particularly enjoying how all of them were staring at her. She gasped and pulled her knees to her chest again as if just remembering her state of undress.

The man who had examined her face earlier knelt down to her side and removed a scroll from a pouch around his waist. He made a few hand signs before clothing appeared in the middle of the scroll in a puff of smoke.

"Here." He said handing her a shirt and pants "They're mine so they might be big on you." He warned. She nodded and grabbed the clothing.

"Thank you…uh…" she paused unsure of what to call him

"Shisui." He said quickly sounding as if he was smiling underneath his mask.

Sakura smiled at him "Thank you, Shisui." She said before pulling the navy blue, wide collared shirt over her head. She stood and watched with relief when all of them turned around to let her put the pants on. She removed her medic apron and pulled the pants up. Shisui was right, these were huge on her. She put a knot in the side of the shirt so it wouldn't look like she was swimming in the thing and tied the same coloured pants as tight as they would go. Leaning against the tree again she rolled the pant legs until they were no longer dragging on the ground. Sakura glanced up when she was done and as the four of them began to walk away from her she took in their appearances a little closer.

All of them wore the traditional ANBU attire, Kakashi and the other man Sakura couldn't place had sleeveless, dark blue and high collared shirts with the usual grey ANBU vests and forearm protectors. Shisui and Itachi looked exactly the same except they had wide collared short sleeved shirts underneath their vests.

Sakura was torn from her musings when Itachi suddenly appeared in front of her.

"We have to leave now." He said evenly. "I've been told your ankle is injured. Therefore I will be carrying you to our camp. We will rest there for the night and return to the village tomorrow."

"Okay I-"She started but was interrupted as he easily picked her up and into his arms. "I was going to say I'd rather get on your back. Wouldn't that be easier?" she asked as he jumped into one of the trees; after giving the signal to move out to the rest of his team.

"Hn. This works fine." He said shortly before pushing forward. The wind blew Sakura's hair around slightly as a big yawn snuck up on her just then and her eyes drooped.

"There are some question I need you to answer, Sakura." Itachi said ignoring the way her eyes fought to stay open.

"I'm tired." She whispered. Itachi must have heard her because he sighed

"We will need to have a talk in the morning then. Sleep now, you're safe." He assured. Sakura could feel the truth in those words, and shockingly enough; even though she was in the arms of a future ruthless murderer, she did feel safe.

So she let the day's events slowly catch up to her and her eyes drooped closed once more. Her head rested against Itachi's arm and she drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

**So enjoy it?**

**Please please review, id love to hear your opinion, I answer everyone of your reviews I promise...Cya you all next Monday! :D**

**p.s Id like to give a shout out to my girl Li. Chan93 She has been an immense help with this story (my boyfriend has too) I don't know what I would do without you two xD **


	4. Understanding Leaders & Annoying Fathers

**Even though its only a day early I still want to update now! I feel so happy over all the reviews ive been getting! I'm one away from 20 reviews guys, not to mention all the follows and faves! You all are too good to me, so as a thank you here is the next chapter a little early :)**

**It was also brought my attention that Shisui wasn't supposed to give out his name to Sakura... _ sorry...BUT we all make mistakes right!? xD**

**anyways, enjoy!**

**I don't own Naruto...sadly.**

* * *

Chapter 4 : Understanding Leaders and Annoying Father's

Nerves fluttered around in Sakura's stomach as the gates of Konoha came into view. She had run alongside Itachi for most of the trip back and to say he was hard to keep up with was an understatement. The rest of the team were either used to the brisk pace or they were always this fast. Sakura hid her heavy breathing as well as she could; refusing to show any type of weakness in front of the four man team.

"Like we discussed last night Sakura, we will need to go and speak to the Hokage right away." Itachi said before he motioned for them to move forward again and through the main gates of the village. Sakura thought back to the night before where she had been questioned beside the fire.

***Flashback starts***

_After sleeping for the hour long trip to their camp Sakura felt a little bit better. The nausea had passed and her headache wasn't so painful anymore. As for her ankle she would only feel pain if she stepped on it. _

_Once they got to the camp Shisui knelt in front of her again but this time he took off his mask and hooked it to the side of his pants; a sign that he was off duty for the time being. Unsurprisingly he was attractive. When is sharingan wasn't activated he had dark eyes. His hair was short, black and slightly curly and he had a kind smile gracing his features. He cupped her face again before placing his two thumbs on either side of her nose. _

_"I'm going to have to set it properly, this is going to hurt." He warned. She managed to give a short nod, her eyes clamping shut. There was an awful crunching sound that rang in her ears and she groaned at the pain that shot up her nose. _

_"Sorry…here, it's bleeding again." He said before handing her a cloth. She took it gratefully before holding it against the bottom of her nose. _

_"I'm a medic, so I can heal my wounds myself. I would have done it before we left but I was feeling pretty sick." She explained, he nodded giving her another smile. She suddenly thought of something. "Is anyone injured?" she asked looking around at the other three men who had also taken off their masks. She saw now that she actually knew all of them. Itachi, Kakashi and even Yamato were here. Itachi was currently setting up a fire for the night and Yamato and Kakashi were rolling out sleeping mats. She looked back at Shisui to see him shrug_

_"I don't think so. After what you have been through though, I don't think it's wise for you to be using too much of your chakra to heal others. Just worry about yourself okay?" he asked with a small smile_

_"Okay…but please let me know if there is a serious injury." _

_He nodded standing up "I'll let you know, but don't push yourself." He said before walking toward Itachi._

_After Sakura had healed her nose, ankle and managed to lighten the bruising on her face she stood up. The air was getting cold and she was grateful for the warm clothes Shisui had lent her. She made her way toward the small fire Itachi had made and sat beside the team captain. His dark eyes never left the dancing flames in front of him but she knew he was aware of her presence. Sakura pulled her legs up to her chest again before resting her chin on her knees. _

_The warmth of the fire heated her face comfortably and she glanced quickly at the man beside her. If she was being honest a decently sized part of her was somewhat frightened by Itachi. The man she had come in contact with in her own time was cruel, ruthless and in her opinion heartless. He was skilled and held an aura that screamed power. Sakura's mind thought back to when he put Kakashi into the hospital for a week or two from using his tsukuyomi and she had to supress a shudder. _

_Looking at him now though, Sakura had to admit he looked different, he didn't look so cold and heartless. He had even asked her if she was okay back in the clearing and had carried her all the way to camp. He told her she was safe and she had believed him immediately. _

_Sakura noticed that he had yet to make a sound. He looked as if he was thinking hard about something and Sakura was hesitant to break his concentration but she would rather get this out of the way now instead of tomorrow morning. She cleared her throat and ignored the other three men as they glanced at her. Itachi took his time before he turned to meet her gaze._

_"Feel free to ask me those questions now." She said breaking eye contact and looking back to the fire. "I'm feeling better." _

_"Tell me everything." He said simply. Sakura's eyes widened_

_"Where do I start?" She asked with a small humourless laugh._

_"From the beginning, why did no one know you were missing?" he asked. Sakura sighed forcing, what she hoped was a pained expression, onto her face. _

_"I was probably thought to have died with my family the day I was taken." She said sadness seeping into her tone. Suddenly all eyes were on her, which made it all the more important to act like telling them all this was painful. Her acting skills were now being seriously put to the test. She was in the midst of _highly_ trained shinobi, who no doubt were specifically trained in the art of detecting lies of any kind._

_Sakura went on to explain that day in as much detail as she could. Her and her 'family' had gone outside the village for a day of fun, something they didn't do often. She explained that she was the only ninja in her family and that her brother and parents were civilians. _

_"They killed my family right in front of me." Sakura whispered almost glaring at the fire. The best way to make this believable was to think of how she would feel if this actually happened to her parents. "They grilled me for information on the village and threatened the life of my mother, father and little brother. I never said a word and my family paid the price." She said satisfied when her eyes began to tear up. At seeing her unshed tears Shisui shuffled his weight around beside her before she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She gave him a small smile as thanks before going back to looking at the fire._

_She felt his hand slide off her shoulder and back into his lap. From what she gathered so far Shisui seemed to be a kind and caring man. He didn't like to see people hurting no matter who they were and it made Sakura wonder how a man such as him could possibly live with being in ANBU. _

_Itachi pulled her from her off topic thoughts with another question "What happened during your captivity?" _

_Sakura sighed and let her legs stretch out straight in front of her. "They beat me, treated me like crap and desperately tried to break me. I held strong though, killing my family did nothing to help their case. It made me more determined to keep my mouth shut. They never got anything out of me." Sakura went on to explain that they still fed her regularly and let her heal her wounds. _

_"Why did they keep you alive?" Itachi asked again seeming skeptical over the situation still. This made Sakura nervous, if Itachi didn't believe her story her mission could fail. Sakura still kept the hope that the third Hokage would help her once he read the scroll still hidden in her medic pouch. _

_"They were going to kill me." Sakura said; her voice still quiet. "Then they decided I was worth more alive than dead. They were under the impression they could use me as leverage for something. They thought I was more important to the village than what they were after. I still don't know what they wanted but I suppose it doesn't matter now." She finished. _

_Silence fell over the group after Sakura had finished speaking. The sounds that could be heard were the crackle and occasional popping sound coming from the fire and the crickets chirped loudly around them, but that doubled with the cool breeze rustling through the trees was oddly soothing._

_"You all get some sleep." Itachi's voice pierced the stillness "I'll take first watch."_

***Flashback Ends***

Standing in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage, was surreal. Sakura couldn't help but stare. She hadn't seen the man alive in years. He looked younger than what she remembered but not by much. He still held that aura of wisdom and calmness he always did. Right now he was staring at Sakura with an unreadable expression on his face. Itachi and Kakashi flanked her sides while Shisui and Yamato stood at the back of the room silently.

Itachi had already given the report for the mission and added everything Sakura had told him about herself. Still the Third's gaze never left Sakura. She started feel slightly antsy at the attention and she cleared her throat before speaking into the otherwise silent room.

"Lord Third, if I may have a moment of privacy with you?" Sakura asked bowing slightly before hesitantly looking up and making eye contact with the man in front of her.

"Very well. Everyone out please. Except Kakashi, you stay." He ordered.

"Hai." The three other men answered before making their way out of the room.

"Don't go far I will need you back in here in a moment." He said before the door shut behind them.

Kakashi left her side to take his place next to the third ready to defend the man if need be. With a sigh Sakura began

"You don't know me." Sakura began causing the Hokage to raise an eyebrow in question. "I'm not lying when I say I am a Leaf village shinobi, my name is Sakura. Right now, in this time, I am only seven years old and starting at the academy in three days." Now a blatant look of confusion covered the older man's face.

"I don't understand."

"I have a scroll that explains everything, Sir. Would you like to read it?" Sakura asked retrieving said scroll from her pouch and stepping forward to give it to him. Kakashi instantly took it from her, the lack of trust in his eyes was obvious and Sakura fought the urge to frown at her future Sensei. She had to keep in mind he also had no idea who she was yet.

"It's fine Kakashi. Hand it over." Hiruzen said calmly. Kakashi hesitantly handed it over and watched as the older man unrolled the scroll and began to read. Sakura and Kakashi could clearly see the look of shock on his face as he read. Three or so long minutes passed before the Hokage put the rolled up scroll onto his desk and looked at Sakura.

"That was…interesting." He paused as if gathering his thoughts. "I believe you Fuyuga Sakura. However, since I don't know for sure that this was not a forged letter I will be keeping a close eye on you during your-"he paused again "Mission of sorts. Understand?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Sakura agreed immediately before bowing. Sakura was giddy with the knowledge he was on her side. He even used her undercover last name 'Fuyuga'. Using 'Haruno' could prove to be problematic and could be easily traced back to her actual family.

After being told to bring in the other three men again, Kakashi and everyone else filed into the room.

"Sakura is indeed a shinobi of the village. However unfortunately due to her two month long captivity, her family's home has been inhabited by someone else. She is homeless and has no money and she is in need of a place to stay." Silence fell over the room at the unspoken question. Who could take her in? Kakashi stepped forward

"I would offer her a place at my home, Lord third, but I have no room for another person in my small apartment."

Yamato stepped forward then and said he was in the same boat as Kakashi and wouldn't be able to house Sakura either. Hiruzen nodded before moving his gaze to Shisui. Shisui rubbed at the back of his neck with a small frown on his face.

"My apartment is also full, Sir." He said pausing "It's just me and my younger sister but we only have two bedrooms." There was a small sigh before Itachi stepped forward

"I can offer up a bedroom in my home." He said an unreadable expression on his face. His shoulder's seemed tense though and this made Sakura a little wary.

"Thank you, Itachi." Hiruzen said before looking toward Sakura "Is this okay with you?" he asked knowing what her answer would be, but needing to ask anyways.

"Of course." Sakura said turning toward Itachi with a small smile "Thank you, Itachi. I appreciate your hospitality."

"Hn." He said in response, although Sakura could tell he almost looked worried about something.

With that being dealt with, they were all dismissed and Itachi's squad was given two days off to rest. Sakura walked in the middle of both Itachi and Shisui as they made their way toward the Uchiha compound.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Shisui asked looking over at Itachi; an unreadable expression on his face.

"It wouldn't hurt for you to be there." Itachi answered

"Yea, you could definitely use the support." Shisui added before looking ahead again. As they walked through the gates of the compound Sakura chanced a glance at the two men on either side of her.

"Is something wrong with me staying at your house, Itachi?" She asked hesitantly

"No. It will work out." He answered cryptically. Shisui sighed beside her which made her look his way.

"Itachi may have already told the Hokage he would take you in, but getting Itachi's permission is far from enough."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked not really understanding it all.

"There is a man you need to get approval from first." He paused a frown marring his features "And let me tell you, he isn't an easy man to gain approval for much of anything, if he is against it. Something tells me he will be against this…"

"Who is this man?" Sakura asked again, although she had a small idea of who it would be.

"My father." Itachi answered.

"Oh." Sakura murmured as silence fell over them yet again.

Sakura looked around as they walked through the small community of Uchiha. There were small shops including a Sweets shop with an older woman standing outside. She rushed over to Itachi with a warm smile on her face.

"Itachi, dear!" she exclaimed grabbing hold of his arm and all but dragging him toward the shop. Sakura followed when she noticed Shisui do the same. The older woman was chattering on and on about something to Itachi and he nodded and smiled softly before following her into the entrance. Shisui and Sakura remained outside.

"That's our aunt. She owns this Sweet Shop. Only people from our clan come to it usually." Shisui explained.

"How are you and Itachi related?" Sakura found herself asking curiously.

"Cousins." He answered with a smile on his face "Although more like brothers. I consider Sasuke to be like a little brother to me too."

Sakura decided to play dumb. "Sasuke?" she asked looking up at the man beside her.

"Itachi's seven year old little brother." He explained the smile still on his face.

"Ah okay." She answered before watching as Itachi exited the shop with what looked like a small bag of candy in his hand. The older woman hurried out after him and approached them with a small smile on her face.

"Oh and who is this pretty thing?" she asked kindly before placing her small hand on Sakura's shoulder. The pinkette gave the dark haired woman a warm smile

"Her name is Fuyuga Sakura." Itachi explained. The woman nodded before removing her hand

"Nice to meet you Sakura." She said sincerely "My name is Uruchi." She turned to Itachi "Remember, Itachi, those are for sweet little Sasuke!" she said motioning toward the bag of candy while wagging a finger at him.

Shisui scowled "Why don't you give me free sweets anymore?" he asked sounding depressed. The woman frowned

"You're not a child anymore, Shisui. You're twenty years old you have to buy the candy now." She admonished lightly. Shisui pouted, his bottom lip jutting out softly. Sakura hid her small laugh with her hand before following Itachi's lead when he began walking away; the small baggy of sweets still in his hand. They had just turned the corner when Sakura saw Itachi throw the bag in the air. She followed the item with her eyes as it arched over her and landed smoothly in Shisui's eager hands.

"Hey, isn't that for Sasuke?" She asked hands on her hips as she frowned at Itachi.

Itachi rose a brow at her. "My little brother hates sweets." He explained shortly before coming up to a rather large house near the middle of the compound.

"Yea he always gives me the bag when he gets them." Shisui said with a huge grin on his face. Sakura rolled her eyes but laughed anyways.

"Then why were you complaining about not getting free sweets anymore."

Shisui scoffed as if it was obvious "She can't know I get them anyways…besides you can never have too many sweets you know." He finished while opening the bag and popping one of the treats into his mouth. As they approached the door to the house the atmosphere changed to something far tenser when Itachi turned around and pinned Sakura with a stern look.

"I'm the one who needs to handle this situation. So no matter what is said, Sakura, please do not say a word." Sakura nodded getting even more worried over the situation, how bad could this be?

They all walked through the door, Itachi's hand on Sakura's back; guiding her through the hallway. Sakura hated to admit she found it kind of comforting. She really had no idea what kind of situation she was about to walk into.

"Father?" Itachi called

"In here." Came the gruff answer. Itachi followed the voice still guiding Sakura as all three of them walked through the living room. Sakura didn't have time to look around before she was lightly pushed into another room. This appeared to be a tea room. A small table sat in the middle of the room with two glass doors that led out into the backyard.

Uchiha Fugaku, a tall, well-built man with short and dark brown, almost black, hair stood from his spot at the table to greet them. His dark eyes narrowed when they landed on the pink haired woman in his home. Itachi removed his hand from Sakura's back not wanting his father to get the wrong impression.

"What's going on? Who is she?" He asked his voice harder than it needed to be. Sakura set her shoulders straight and held her head high. She would not cower in this man's presence. Especially not when she was standing next to Itachi, a man who was capable of single-handedly taking out his entire clan in one night. If you really wanted to get technical she should be more frightened and wary of him than his father.

"This is Sakura, Father. She is in need of a place to stay-"and just like that Fugaku's whole body went rigid and his eyes hardened. Sakura couldn't deny the man was intimidating.

"No! Absolutely not!" he yelled, making the three shinobi in front of him visibly stiffen.

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**ehhh? Sorry for the cliffy, I felt like this would be the perfect point for me to stop xD I know Fugaku is a bit of a jerk but for some reason I have a soft spot for him...am I the only one? o.o probably am. It's not a very big soft spot, but its there.**

**Please please review, id love to hear your opinion, I answer everyone of your reviews I promise...Cya you all next Monday! :D**

_**Unsigned Reveiws:**_

_**Guest:**_ Thank you! :D im glad you think so. I appreciate you taking the time to review :D


	5. Jailhouse Rules

**Hey guys, sooo I didn't update early (even though I totally could have) because I only got 4 reviews last chapter! D: that's 5 reviews less than the chapter before that :( I do appreciate those who did review though, so thank you for that.**

**buut for now, onto the next chapter, this one is a little shorter than I thought it would be. Sorry.**

**I don't own Naruto...sadly.**

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Chapter 5: Jailhouse Rules

Sakura glanced quickly at Itachi only to see his mouth set in a hard line, his brow furrowed in what she could only guess as annoyance.

"Tou-san, please hear me out." Itachi said in a calm voice.

"No, Itachi. She is not of the Uchiha clan so I will not allow her live in the compound. I'm sure there are plenty of other places she could stay elsewhere in the village." He said his tone seeming final.

"There isn't, trust me this was our last resort. We saved her from rogue ninjas, she was held captive for two months and she lost her home and has no money. It will just be for a few months I'm sure." Itachi explained. That was a slight lie they hadn't exhausted all their options but Sakura wasn't about to speak up on that.

"No!" Fugaku growled again.

"What's going on in here?" Sakura whipped her head around to spot the woman who had entered the room behind them.

"Kaa-san," Itachi breathed, showing only a slight sign of relief. His shoulders didn't seem as tense anymore as he watched his mother cross the room and take her place next to her husband.

Sakura couldn't help but stare. Uchiha Mikoto; No wonder both her sons were so handsome, she was gorgeous. Her long black hair was silky looking and her dark eyes were warm as she regarded the men in the room. Her eyes strayed toward Sakura and a flicker of confusion crossed her expression before she masked it and looked up to Fugaku, awaiting the answer to the question she had asked upon her entry into the room. She had pale smooth skin and Sakura could clearly tell which of her sons took after her in looks. Sasuke definitely had more of his mother in his features than his father. Sakura glanced at Itachi once before she concluded he had a bit of both his parents in him.

Sakura had been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't realized the suffocating awkward silence that had blanketed the room. The only sound was the quiet breathing of the five occupants and the glare Itachi and his father were sharing was intense. Shisui shuffled from one foot to the other beside Sakura. The awkwardness seemed to be getting to the man.

He cleared his throat making Sakura look over at him "I'm…I'm going to get out of here." He said before turning around

"No!" the loud shout made Shisui freeze in place before suddenly turning around and straightening his back. "I will not allow this woman to roam by herself. You will take her into the living room and sit with her while we chat in private. Do not take your eyes off of her, Shisui." He ordered sternly.

"Hai." Shisui said with a sharp nod before gently grabbing Sakura's arm and guiding her out of the room.

'_What the hell is this all about?' _Sakura found herself thinking '_Do they think I'm some kind of spy or something?'_ she sighed when she sat down on the soft navy blue couch. '_If Fugaku really thinks I'm a spy this arrangement will never work.' _She thought forlornly.

Shisui sat down next to her and refused to look at her.

"You're already failing your mission." Sakura found herself grumbling. Shisui looked over at her with a shy grin at being caught.

"Sorry Sakura. I knew this was going to be difficult. Itachi and Mikoto are good negotiators though, I just hope Mikoto will be on our side." Sakura didn't get a chance to answer him because of the muffled shouting in the room next to them. She couldn't understand what they were saying but she knew when each person was talking. Mikoto suddenly spoke, her voice seemed calm like she was trying to defuse a potentially bad situation.

"Is he always this difficult?" Sakura asked not hiding the disbelief in her voice

"Yes, he is very old fashioned. In his mind, you're not an Uchiha, you can't be trusted." Shisui answered leaning back into the cushions of the couch with a sigh.

Sakura wasn't sure how long it was before Itachi walked out of the room followed by Mikoto, and eventually Fugaku. Sakura looked up at Itachi before standing. He gave a short nod

"You can stay." He said before frowning "Although there are some rules." Sakura felt Shisui stand beside her.

"You may leave now, Shisui." Fugaku said lowly. Shisui bowed slightly before leaving the room and eventually we all heard the front door shut. Sakura turned toward Fugaku and bowed her head before speaking.

"Uchiha-sama, I will follow any rules you put down for me." She said honestly. She glanced up and was relieved to see her respect toward him was noted, he seemed at least a little pleased.

"My first and most important rule is that you will not leave or wander anywhere; this includes around the house, without an escort. Itachi will be that escort. You are completely Itachi's responsibility and if he is on a mission he is to appoint you another escort of his choosing. You will never be left alone.

You will also need to earn your keep. Seeing as you aren't allowed around without an escort or out of the compound unless absolutely necessary you will help Mikoto around the house doing whatever she wants you to without question." Sakura knew her eyes were wide…but she couldn't help it. She already felt like a prisoner. These rules were insane. A sudden question popped into her head and she forced down the urge to blush.

"If I may…" she trailed off "What am I to do about bathroom breaks and bathing?"

"Itachi will be with you during those times too." Sakura's mouth dropped open in shock and she couldn't control the blush that painted her cheeks. She didn't miss the way Itachi frowned and Mikoto spun around to face her husband.

"Fugaku! I am putting my foot down there, you will allow this woman the privacy to use the washroom and bath without our son in the room with her." She said sternly. To Sakura's absolute relief Fugaku grudgingly agreed.

"Fine, but he will be outside the room monitoring you during those times." Sakura noticed the way Itachi's frown deepened, perhaps he was second guessing his decision to let her stay. Sakura wouldn't blame him, this is turning out to be a lot of work for him.

"For now that is all. I will add to these rules as I see fit. You may settle in now."

Sakura nodded once "Thank you for your hospitality, Uchiha-sama." She said before approaching Itachi. He gestured to the staircase a few feet away and began walking toward it. Sakura hesitantly followed his tall frame up the stairs and into the long hallway.

"This is my bedroom." He stated quietly as he opened the door and let Sakura walk in first. The room was bright with sunlight streaming in from the big window situated above the side of his bed. There was a double bed pushed up against the far wall of the room with a navy blue comforter and white sheets with white pillows.

Upon further inspection Itachi's room was impeccably clean and organized. It smelled nice too, much to Sakura's surprise. To her left was a closet and beside that to the right was his dresser.

"Would you like the bed or the floor?" Itachi asked from behind her. She turned around to see him watching her, his hand rubbing the back of his neck slightly as if unsure of what he was supposed to do. The action seemed completely out of character only confirming yet again, he was different. It made Sakura wonder if he has ever had a girl in his room before. The thought made her inwardly giggle.

"Of course I'll take the floor. I'm not going to let you give up your bed Itachi." She said smiling at him. He frowned before looking away at something behind her.

"These rules my father has put up are ridiculous I know. I apologize for them, so if you want the bed I have no problems sleeping on a bed mat on the floor." He said again. Sakura crossed her arms against her chest and stared at him. His long dark pony tail was draped softly over his left shoulder, held together by a red band. His black bangs framed his face perfectly and his onyx eyes were deep and Sakura knew once she got the hang of reading those eyes she would be able to know exactly how he was feeling. Sakura guessed that his eyes, like Sasuke's most of the time were an open book.

It had come to her notice the Uchiha were generally very reserved and private. They would rarely show their emotions to anyone and hid their thoughts well with a blank mask. Sakura would make it apart of her mission to learn how to read them, or how to read Itachi in particular. She needed to be able to see what he was hiding if she ever wanted to figure out why and stop him from killing his clan.

Itachi locked eyes with her eventually getting sick of the silence. She smiled at him once he finally looked at her before speaking

"Itachi, the rules may be a little much but I'm not going to complain. You are being kind to me by letting me stay in your home free of charge. Sure I will be helping your mother but I have no money to offer you. You are giving me a warm place to sleep and eat. For that I'm thankful. I will take these rules and obey them. I am only worried I will become a burden to you because you're stuck with me all the time." She said. His lips thinned into a firm line

"You need clothes." He said suddenly turning around. Sakura blinked slightly confused with the sudden topic change. She glanced down at the ruffled and wrinkled clothes Shisui had lent her. They hung around her body making her look smaller than she was.

"Um, okay?" she mumbled still taken aback by the abrupt change in conversation

"I'll get mother and we'll go shopping." He said pausing at the doorway "Oh right, you have to come with me." He said with a frown as if just remembering the rules. Sakura nodded and followed behind him.

000

Two hours later Sakura found herself desperately trying to keep up as Mikoto dragged her into the fourth clothing shop of the day. With a small glance back she saw Itachi calmly walk in behind them carrying about five bags on his arms looking bored.

"Mrs. Uchiha…"Sakura mumbled

"Mikoto, dear." She interrupted distractedly

"Mikoto." Sakura said with a small sigh "I'm okay for clothes now, really you have bought far too much for me."

"Oh hush, let me have my fun. I am stuck with men in my house all the time, I've never had a girl to shop for." She said the excitement clear in her eyes and Sakura didn't have the heart to argue with her.

"Just humour her." Itachi advised from behind them. With an inward sigh Sakura decided to go with it.

"Besides, we still have to go bra and panty shopping!" Mikoto said happily. Sakura's faced turned red and dread pooled in her stomach at how excited Mikoto seemed to be about that. Her mind wouldn't let her stray far from the knowledge that Itachi would know what every single pair of her underwear would look like.

"Here we go." Mikoto said coming up to a display of all kinds of panties. She picked up a pale purple, lacy pair. "I have the same pair. They are so comfortable." She said with a smile before leaning close and whispering "Fugaku loves them." She murmured with a wink. Sakura's cheeks flamed and there was a soft groan behind them.

"Kaa-san!" Itachi almost whined.

"Oh please, Itachi. It's not like you don't know what your father and I do. You're here aren't you?" She asks raising a delicate brow at her eldest. Itachi frowned

"I don't need to hear about it." He grumbled.

Another thing Sakura had noticed was that Itachi was more carefree when he was around family, or particularly Mikoto and Shisui. She was interested in seeing him around Sasuke. Anyone else though, he was more closed off and professional; not letting you see much.

"Do you like these Itachi?" Mikoto asked holding up a pale blue garment with a tiny pink bow on the front. Itachi's dark eyes narrowed.

"I don't understand why my opinion matters here." He said

"Yes or no, Itachi?" Mikoto prodded further. There was a small sigh

"Sure." He muttered. Sakura didn't miss the light, barely there blush that dusted the tops of his cheeks before he looked away and trailed off to look at a display a few feet away. Itachi? Blushing? Sakura never thought she would see the day. Mikoto tossed a few more pairs of panties over her arm and after getting Sakura's quick approval, she proceeded to the back of the shop to look at bras.

0000

"Nii-san! Kaa-san!" a small black haired child bounded toward the front door when Itachi and Sakura walked in followed by Mikoto. Sakura held back her small gasp as little Sasuke bounded past her to greet his big brother and mom. Sakura had forgotten how cute Sasuke was.

"Who is she?" Sasuke asked finally as he watched Itachi carry the six bags of clothes into the living room and dropping them there.

"This is Sakura, Sasuke." He paused as Sakura bent down to Sasuke's level and smiled at him "She will be staying with us for a while." He explained.

"Hello Sasuke." Sakura greeted still smiling warmly.

"Hi." He answered almost shyly.

"Let's bring these bags upstairs." Itachi suggested before grabbing them all again and making his way toward the staircase. Sakura didn't miss the long stare Fugaku was giving her from his spot on the couch, it made Sakura nervous and she easily caught up to Itachi as he ascended the steps.

Itachi sat on his bed and watched as Sakura put away her new clothes on a small shelf he had cleared for her use, in his closet.

"So, who is going to watch me when you're on a mission?" Sakura asked curiously, piercing the silence that had blanketed the room. She heard Itachi shuffle slightly on his bed before answering her

"More than likely Tsukino."

"Tsukino?"

"Tsuki for short. He's my summoning animal." Itachi explained easily.

"What kind of animal?" she paused "Will he fit in the house?" she asked with a small laugh as she pictured Naruto's giant toad.

"He's a crow, but he's the size of a raven. So yes, he will." He said seriously. Sakura frowned, great she would have a crow perched on her shoulder all the time.

The opening of Itachi's bedroom door made the two of them look over. Mikoto poked her head in and smiled at them.

"Dinner will be ready in five minutes." She said before leaving and shutting the door. Itachi got up from his spot on the bed.

"We will get your bed ready after dinner." He said walking forward toward the door. "Are you ready?" he asked. Sakura nodded

"Yes, I just have to change." She said pulling at the same baggy clothes she had been wearing for almost a day and a half now.

"I'll be waiting outside." He said before exiting and closing the door.

Sakura quickly threw on a plain, red shirt and dark blue Capri pants. She sighed, getting used to civilian clothing wouldn't be easy. She decided to keep her chest bound instead of using one of the new bras for now. After deeming herself good enough she opened the door and joined Itachi in the hall.

As they made their way downstairs Sakura tried to squash down the nerves swirling in her stomach. This was probably going to be one awkward dinner.

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**Sorry for the shortness! Just to let you all know there will be a decent time skip in the next chapter, haven't decided if its gonna be a 2 week time skip or a 3 week. But none the less there is gonna be one. It's gonna be a little while before our dear Itachi and Sakura get together sooo I'd like to move things along a little :D**

**PLEASE REVEIW! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.**** I really like to know what you guys are thinking. Truly it gives me motivation to write. Also the more reviews and feedback I get the more likely I am to update early if its possible. So even if you don't have an account on here still review and I will answer it at the end of the next chapter. Sign the review with something other than 'G****uest' though so you know which answer belongs to you.**

**thanks for reading guys for those of you reviewing, favouriting and following im glad you're enjoying it! :D **

***Long A/N done* hehe**


	6. Friends & Nightmares

**Woot woot 8 reviews last chapter! :D thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! :D As promised with more feedback comes early updates! I hope the length of this chapter makes up for the shortness of the last, here you goo!**

**PLEASE keep in mind there is a _3_ week time skip at the beginning of this chapter**

**I don't own Naruto, Kishi is one Lucky/Talented bastard I tell you! :'( :P**

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Chapter 6: Friends and Nightmares

3 weeks later.

Sakura sat on the opposite side of the couch as Sasuke; watching him. Tsuki was perched on her shoulder lazily. This wasn't the first time Tsuki was stuck with her. He had been watching her for quite a few times now. Sakura couldn't help but let her mind wander to their first meeting.

***Flashback Starts***

_"This is Tsukino." Itachi said shortly before glancing at the large black bird perched quietly on the footboard of his bed. Sakura looked at the animal and took in its appearance. Tsuki was all black, his feather's had an almost glossy shine to them and his two eyes were small, beady and as dark as the rest of his body. He currently had his head cocked to one side as he also took in Sakura's appearance as she sat cross-legged on her bed on the floor. _

_"Is he nice?" Sakura found herself asking while narrowing her eyes at the crow. If it wasn't a serious question Sakura would have laughed at the way Tsuki narrowed his own eyes at her in response while ducking his head slightly._

_"Yes, if you're nice to him." _

_"Does he know he will have to follow me around everywhere?" Sakura asked again not taking her eyes off of the animal._

_"Of course, he knows what's expected of him." Itachi answered before looking at Tsuki. "You can go now. I just wanted you two to meet." Tsukino looked over at Itachi, nodding his small head once before disappearing back to where he came from. Sakura wasn't so sure she would get along with Tsuki but she had little choice in the matter. _

***Flashback Ends***

Sakura noticed the pout on Sasuke's face which had been there the majority of the evening. She knew what he was upset about. Itachi wasn't back from his day long mission, and he had told Sasuke he would help him with his academy homework, but it was getting late and Sasuke would be going to bed soon.

"Sasuke, have you finished your homework?" Mikoto's voice floated through the kitchen door and into the living room. Sasuke's pout deepened at his mother's question.

"No, I'm waiting for Itachi-nii to help me."

"Well your brother isn't here so you need to get it done." She admonished lightly, knowing full well her youngest was upset.

"How about I help you, Sasuke?" Sakura asked kindly, her voice making Tsuki perk up on her shoulder, his feathers ruffling slightly.

"Really?" Sasuke asked his eyes widening a little.

"Yea, how about it? Just for tonight. I'm sure your brother is trying his hardest to get back here but sometimes with missions there are delays." She explained. Sasuke looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding his acceptance. With a smile Sakura watched as he dashed up to his room to get his homework before returning and sitting down on the floor next to Sakura.

Sakura resisted and eye roll when Fugaku came out of nowhere and sat on the couch to 'observe' no doubt thinking Sakura wasn't capable of helping Sasuke.

"Would you two like some snacks?" Mikoto asked from in the kitchen still.

"Yes please, Kaa-san." Sasuke replied happily. Sakura smiled and began helping Sasuke with the work. After Mikoto returned with their snack of crackers and cheese Sakura felt a tiny pinch on her left ear lobe. She glanced over at Tsuki with an annoyed expression.

"Did you just bite me?" she asked incredulous. Sakura found it seriously annoying that the bird couldn't talk. As an answer to her question he nodded before jerking his head toward the plate of crackers. Sakura rolled her eyes before grabbing a cracker and holding it up for him to eat. He ate it very messily and got crumbs all over Sakura's shoulder as well as the floor. Fugaku grumbled to himself annoyed at the mess but Sakura decided to ignore it and went to work helping Sasuke answer a question.

Every once in a while she would feel another ear pinch and she would grab another cracker for Tsuki.

"The bird is getting crumbs everywhere." Fugaku finally snapped. Sakura barely contained a snort of laughter when Tsuki turned his beady eyed glare at the Clan leader in annoyance. Fugaku scoffed at the look before grumbling something along the lines of _'Itachi needs to pick a better bird.'_

"I apologize, Uchiha-sama. I will clean up the crumbs when Sasuke's homework is finished." Sakura said not taking her eyes off the scribbling of Sasuke's pencil.

"Hn." Was the only response she got from the uptight man. As an almost reward for the glare he shot at Fugaku Sakura gave Tsuki another cracker.

About a half hour in Sakura began to think back on the day Sasuke was entered into the academy. He was so happy but the conversation Itachi, Sasuke and her had after the ceremony, had Sakura looking at Fugaku out of the corner of her eye curiously.

***Flashback Starts***

_"Are you happy to finally be in the Academy Sasuke?" Sakura asked warmly as the young boy bit into one of the rice balls on his plate. He nodded with a smile on his face. The three of them were in the Uchiha household giving Sasuke his favourite lunch in a way to celebrate his entrance into the Academy. _

_Itachi came up beside Sakura and slid a plate full of cut up tomatoes across the table to settle beside Sasuke. Itachi paused and picked up a piece of tomato before he popped it into his mouth._

_"Want one?" He asked Sakura once he had chewed and swallowed his piece. She shook her head before looking back at Sasuke._

_"I'm very happy to be in the academy. Now I can train to be just like Itachi-nii." Sasuke said with a huge smile on his face. It was odd to see Sasuke so happy, carefree and so…childlike. She was so used to the broody and unhappy Sasuke that this innocent boy made her happy. She just hoped by completing this mission, he would stay happy and open like this forever. _

_Sakura glanced up at Itachi, not missing the way a small frown curved his lips at Sasuke's answer, right before he left her side to sit next to his brother._

_"Otouto, you can look up to me as a role model but I want you to be your own person. Don't try to be me." He said as Sasuke finished chewing the tomato in his mouth._

_"But tou-san is so proud of you. He always pays attention to you and I want him to pay attention to me too. So I want to be just like you." Sasuke argued with a small frown of his own. "He doesn't care about me." Sasuke said his voice going lower. Sakura felt a pang of sympathy for him right then. She was sure that Fugaku cared about Sasuke he just had a crappy way of showing it, but she could be wrong too, as is she had only just met the man._

_"Sasuke." Itachi said sadly before ruffling his little brother's dark locks "Father cares about you." He assured. _

_"Hn." Sasuke pouted not looking like he believed Itachi in the slightest. Itachi frowned again but decided to drop it. Neither he nor Sakura wanted to ruin this day for Sasuke._

_"How about when you're done eating we go out and you can help me practise my shuriken training?" Itachi asked his voice a little happier. Sasuke's dark expression lightened immediately as he nodded before taking another huge bite of his food, suddenly in a hurry to finish eating so they could go._

***Flashback ends***

Sakura knew by just how carefully he was watching the two of them work on homework he had to of cared about Sasuke at least a little, he wanted his son to succeed right? Sakura inwardly sighed, she would have to pay more attention to Fugaku from now on if she wanted the answer to that question.

Two weeks had passed and still Sakura knew little about the clan and how it worked. Her research part of her mission was lacking and it frustrated her. Then again she had to keep in mind she was under twenty four hour surveillance and had no time to get away. Not to mention the fact that the massacre didn't happen for another five and a half months and a lot can happen within that time. She hoped she would be able to figure out Itachi's motives. She would like to think her an Itachi were becoming friends or at least close to friends which hopefully would make seeing a change in him easier. Itachi seemed a little more relaxed around her now but of course still hesitant. She figured that's the way he will always be, friends or not.

Sakura just couldn't wrap her head around just how different Itachi was. The way he was around Sasuke was shocking to say the least. The love he had for his little brother was insane, which yet again begs the question as to why he did what he did. Why did he kill everyone?

"Sakura?" Sasuke said his little brow furrowed.

"Yes?"

"What about this one?" he asked pointing to another question. Sakura shook her head to clear it before returning to the task at hand.

000

After Sasuke's homework was finished Mikoto sent him upstairs to take his bath and then got him into bed. Before he disappeared into his bedroom he thanked Sakura for helping him

"Can you help with my homework whenever Nii-san is away?" He asked sounding hopeful. Sakura smiled and nodded enthusiastically

"Of course if that's what you want." The little boy grinned before going into his bedroom. Yes she wanted her Sasuke to always stay so carefree and happy. With an inward smile she yet again felt like what she was set out to do was the right thing. It would benefit Sasuke and that's what she was here for.

000

A couple hours later after everyone but Sakura had gone to bed; Itachi stumbled through the front door looking exhausted. He was wearing regular leaf shinobi gear and not ANBU which clearly stated this was a regular mission. His dark black hair was windblown and looked to be coming out of its tie a little. He also seemed slightly out of breath.

"I'm so late! Did Sasuke get his homework done?" Itachi asked hopefully. He looked like he was feeling really guilty over not being there. Sakura nodded quickly.

"I helped him. We agreed that whenever you're away I'll be the one to help him with his homework." Sakura explained standing up from her spot on the couch. Tsuki swayed from one foot to the other on her shoulder. Itachi's eyes glanced over at the black crow before nodding once. The bird then disappeared leaving Sakura's shoulder feeling lighter than it did all night.

The relief on Itachi's face and the way his body had relaxed made Sakura feel good about helping Sasuke and in turn helping Itachi.

"Thank you." He said running his right hand through his slightly messy hair before he undid his leaf headband.

"It was my pleasure." Sakura said truthfully. "How did your mission go?"

"It was okay. Successful but as you can probably tell I'm late because there were a few complications." He admitted with slight annoyance in his voice. Sakura smiled.

"Would you like some tea before you go to bed?" she asked. His eyes widened slightly, not expecting her offer.

"Okay." He said sounding surprised "Yes, I would like that, thank you."

He decided he would go shower first while Sakura made the tea. He then returned less than a minute later almost forgetting Sakura couldn't be left without an escort. This arrangement was getting old fast and Sakura knew they both felt it but never tried to argue with Fugaku over it. It was a lost cause. So feeling a little guilty Sakura watched Itachi summon Tsuki back. The crow did not look pleased over it either.

000

Sakura woke with a start; eyes flying open before looking around the room. The room was still shrouded in darkness and Sakura guessed it was still the middle of the night. She was slightly confused as to what woke her because the room was silent. She could hear Itachi's slow steady breaths from her left and with a soft sigh she turned over on her side, closing her eyes and trying to go back to sleep. That's when she heard it; the slight hitch in Itachi's breathing followed by a gasp and a small whimper.

Confused Sakura froze, her eyes wide open as she stared blankly at the door to the bedroom. She listened intently as he began to shuffle around on his bed as if distressed.

"No." he murmured. Sakura tensed and sat up. She immediately looked over at Itachi. He wasn't awake and the light from the moon that filtered in through his window illuminated his sleeping face. Sakura noticed immediately it wasn't calm and smooth like you would expect from someone who is sleeping. No his face was scrunched up in what looked like pain. His brows were furrowed and his jaw was tense as he clenched and unclenched it over and over. His hand weakly clawed at his chest and his breathing began to pick up.

His breathing was border lining on hyperventilating and before Sakura knew what she was doing she stood from her bed mat.

"Please." He whimpered softly his face scrunching up even more. "Stop."

'_He's having a nightmare.'_ Sakura concluded as she watched him squirm around on his bed, tangling his limbs in the sheets. After being here a month she knew he had nightmares but they never seemed to be this bad. The skin on his face and chest glistened in the moonlight with sweat. Sakura took in his appearance starting from his pain stricken face. His dark, black bangs were plastered to his face, his eyes scrunched shut tightly and his lips trembling. His chest rose and fell rapidly with his accelerated breathing and his left hand that was clawing at his chest was now in a tight fist.

Sakura noticed just below his pectoral muscles on his upper abdomen there was a small pale scar, it wasn't long; maybe an inch. Sakura knew for it to scar like that it must have been deep and it stood out pretty well against his pale skin. Just as another strangled gasp came out of the man's mouth Sakura figured she would wake him up from the dream. She moved toward the bed and placed her hand lightly on his shoulder before giving it a small shake.

"Ita-." His eyes flew open and before Sakura knew what was going on Itachi was up and out of bed and had her pinned against the opposite wall of the bedroom. She gasped when she felt the cool edge of a kunai at her throat. The question of where the kunai came from flitted through the pinkette's mind but that was the least of her worries at the moment. Itachi's eyes were wild, his sharingan was activated and they bore into her frightened green ones. Everything happened so fast that the fear of the situation took a few seconds to settle in, but now Sakura's whole body hummed with it, the adrenaline coursing through her veins made her skin tingle. There was no doubt in her mind that at this very moment she was feeling every bit of fear this man previously instilled in her the day she first met him. He was in a spot right now where one flick of his wrist could end her life. Her breathing was surprisingly calm although maybe a touch faster than usual.

"Itachi." She said trying not to concentrate on the feeling of the sharp blade scraping against the sensitive skin of her neck as she spoke. "It's Sakura, I'm not a threat." She said her voice surprisingly soft. Her voice made him pause. His breathing was still slightly erratic but Sakura could see the memory of his nightmare slowly dissipate from his eyes, his sharingan faded and he looked shocked. Immediately he let her go, removing the kunai from her neck and letting it clatter to floor noisily. Sakura felt a small splash of relief.

The adrenaline spike began to die down leaving her arms and legs jittery, she knew she was shaking. Her knees gave out on her and she slid to floor breathing heavily as she tried to get her heart back to beating at a regular pace. She looked up to see Itachi staggering back away from her before dropping to his knees on her bed mat. His eyes looked haunted and he looked…almost scared. The expression shocked her, she never thought she would see such an expression on him. His breathing remained heavy as if he was still stuck in the remnants of his dream.

"I'm sorry." Itachi mumbled placing his shaking hands over his face. Sakura gulped and was relieved when she felt herself began to calm. She watched Itachi carefully as his body shook. She was grateful to see that his breathing was beginning to slow and she decided to answer his apology.

"It's" she paused swallowing "It's okay Itachi." She said cursing her voice as it was slightly shaky.

"It's not okay, I shouldn't have done that." he said not removing his hands from his face. His voice sounded sad and it made her frown. Sakura realized he was feeling shameful of his behavior. It made her curious as to what his dream was about and why it made him react so violently.

"I should have known better. I shouldn't have woken you up. I knew you were having a nightmare and I should have left it alone." There was a small sigh as she watched him move his hands to rest on the top of his thighs. His breathing slowly came under control again and he had stopped shaking. On the outside he looked completely calm again. The way his head was still bowed however Sakura knew he wasn't completely normal again. Sakura let out a small sigh of relief at the realization they were somewhat out of the danger zone.

"Just accept my apology, please? This won't happen again, you're safe here and I don't want you to think you're not." He said refusing to look at her. Sakura frowned

"Apology accepted. Itachi you're an ANBU member, you're bound to get nightmares and sometimes they cause you to lash out, it's normal. Don't feel guilty." Sakura said trying to be reassuring. It seemed to have the opposite affect though because the Uchiha in front of her visibly stiffened. "I'm okay, you didn't hurt me." Sakura added as an afterthought.

His body relaxed again; she had said the right thing this time. Sakura briefly wondered why in the hell she was feeling so sorry for Itachi right now, he almost killed her not even five minutes ago. Although now she considered him somewhat of a friend. No she was never in ANBU she didn't know of the true horrors that happened during missions but she could imagine they weren't pleasant. She knew Kakashi-sensei had his own demons from the past and she couldn't bring herself to be angry at Itachi for what just happened. It wouldn't be right.

Slowly Itachi stood and approached Sakura who was still sitting on the floor. Her eyes widened when he leant her his hand to help her stand up. Hesitantly she grasped it and let him tug her up and off the floor. He looked at her for a moment before releasing her hand.

"How about a drink of water?" He asked. Sakura managed an enthusiastic nod and followed him out of the room. She knew this conversation was over and it was doubtful they would ever talk about it again.

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**There you goo...so im thinking eventually we will be able to touch base and further investigate the content of Itachi's dream but for now Sakura said it, they wont be talking about it again any time soon. **

**PLEASE REVEIW, It makes me update faster...im a review junky, its okay you can say it i know, I've accepted this already. ****Even if you don't have an account on here still review and I will answer it at the end of the next chapter. _Sign the review with something other than 'G_****_uest' though so you know which answer belongs to you._ **

_**To the only unsigned review I got last chapter: **_

_**Guest A-I am so happy to hear you're enjoying it, thank you for reviewing and I hope you continue to enjoy this :D I know I'm having a ton of fun writing it :D**_


	7. It Speaks!

**Woohoo! thanks for the 9 reviews last chapter guys :D makes me so happy xD Almost at 50 reviews guys 50! :D**

_**Important A/N at the bottom so please read :D**_

**I don't own Naruto Kishimoto-sensei does!**

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Chapter 7: It Speaks!

Sakura at times found herself worrying over how many missions Itachi went on. He was clearly overworked and being around him as much as she was, she noticed the fatigue he so desperately tried to mask in front of people. That level of tiredness, however, wasn't something you could hide 24/7. And well when he wasn't on a mission, Sakura was with him. You would think being around one another so much you would get sick of the other's company, but to Sakura's surprise Itachi's company had the opposite effect on her.

She had officially been here one month and six days. The time flew by. She still hadn't been able to find out any information on what she was supposed to but she also had come to realize she wasn't in any rush. This shocked Sakura because she figured she would want to get everything over with as quickly as possible but it wasn't like that. Sakura found herself enjoying her time spent with the Uchiha's. Shisui always knew how to make her smile and laugh, Mikoto was so sweet and loving, Sasuke was always so cheerful and carefree; his only worry was gaining his father's approval and Itachi was…well he was so different than what she expected.

She could honestly say she enjoyed being around him now and much to her surprise she realized just recently she kind of missed his presence while he was away on missions. Unfortunately though, she found herself in the company of Tsuki more often than Itachi as of late. The question as to why she felt annoyed wasn't something she knew the answer to besides the fact that Tsuki was dull and boring. Itachi may not be a man of many words but he at least spoke a small amount.

Yet again she found herself sitting in the living room alone with Tsuki on her shoulder looking bored. If she was being honest he looked like he was asleep.

"Pfft. Some guard bird you are." She grumbled lowly and noticed with more annoyance that he remained relaxed, his eyes closed. The bastard was still asleep. Sakura was contemplating throwing the offending animal off her shoulder to give him a rude awakening when Mikoto descended the stairs to Sakura's left and affectively interrupted her thoughts.

_'Lucky bird.' _Sakura thought sneeringly.

"Ah Sakura. What are you up to?" Mikoto asked kindly before sitting down across from her on the small lounge chair there.

"Hm? Not too much, Tsuki over here was just talking my ear off didn't you hear?" Sakura asked sarcastically, jerking her shoulder around again. Mikoto laughed, her voice a nice touch to the otherwise silent room. Sakura decided naptime was over and not so lightly poked Tsuki in the side of the head. His reaction was instant and he turned his head quickly before clamping down on Sakura's finger with his sharp beak. The pinkette yelped and yanked her finger away from him with a deep glare set on her face.

"What is with you and biting me?" she asked annoyed. Tsuki rolled his eyes…yes, rolled his eyes. Sakura shook her head before saying "You fell asleep on the job." She grumbled.

"As long as Fugaku isn't around it's not an issue." Mikoto said her tone relaxed. Sakura's eyes widened slightly

"But what about the rules?"

"I don't particularly agree with the rules, Sakura." Mikoto admitted. "My husband is a very protective man when it comes to his family and clan members. The majority of the time I like that about him. But I don't agree with how far he has gone with these rules. I wouldn't be surprised if you feel like a prisoner." She grumbled lowly. Sakura hadn't expected Mikoto to feel this way about all this at all. Sakura thought she was with her husband in his decisions about the escort. "Also I am trying to get him to let up a little. I'd like you to have a little freedom to go and spend some time with yourself.

"That…would be nice." Sakura found herself agreeing "Although, that being said, I honestly don't mind spending time with Itachi." She said with a small laugh and shrug of her shoulders. She felt Tsuki flex his feet in an attempt to stay on her shoulder with the movement. Suddenly Mikoto stood up.

"That's nice to hear." She said with a smile. "I have a few important errands to run, if I gave you a grocery list would you go out and get everything we need?" She asked walking toward the kitchen. Sakura stood and followed her

"Yea sure." She agreed easily.

Sakura walked out of the door looking down at the list of food she needed to get and ran right into someone.

"Sorry." She said immediately before she looked up hoping to kami it wasn't Fugaku. A sigh of relief found its way out of her when she looked up into the grinning face of Shisui.

"Hello. Where are you off too?" Shisui asked once Sakura had taken a step back.

"Grocery shopping." She said waving the list in the air before folding it and slipping it into her pocket. Tsuki was silent as ever peering at Shisui for a minute before getting bored and looking elsewhere. "Would you like to come with me?" Sakura found herself asking with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh, sure why not? I was coming to visit you guys anyways." Shisui said with a laugh before turning around and beginning to walk away. Sakura jogged to catch up to him as they walked through the compound, then out through the gates and into the rest of the village.

"Wait! Is Itachi back from his mission?" Sakura asked coming to a stop. Shisui was here and they were on the same team why didn't she put two and two together?

"No. I didn't go with Itachi this time. It's not an ANBU mission." Shisui explained as they began walking again

"So Kakashi-sen-"Sakura stopped herself before she called him sensei and would have to deal with Shisui's confusion. That isn't something she wanted to deal with right now. "-and Yamato aren't on missions right now either?" Shisui's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Yamato?" he asked confused.

"Yea the fourth guy on your team?" Sakura asked suddenly unsure, why didn't he recognize Yamato's name?

"Oh…that's not Yamato…who is Yamato?" he asked with a laugh before shaking his head and waving off his own question "Regardless they aren't officially on Itachi and I's ANBU squad. Taking out that group of rogue's was a special mission. They were put on our team for backup. It rarely happens though." He explained. Sakura nodded in understanding as they both arrived at the market.

Sakura whipped out the list and got to work gathering all the fruits, vegatables and meat that Mikoto had instructed her to get. With the help of Shisui the time it took to get all the food was cut in half and about twenty minutes later Sakura found herself getting the last item on the list; tomatoes and a lot of them.

"What is with this family and their obsession with tomatoes?" Sakura asked wrinkling her nose slightly. Shisui laughed

"Mostly it's Sasuke. That boy eats tomatoes like they are going out of style." He explained. "Although I believe everyone else enjoys them too, just not to that extent." Sakura shrugged before making sure she had everything she needed. She then went to pay for everything with the money Mikoto had given her.

The way home was quite amusing to say the least. Shisui was carrying one bag while Sakura carried the other. What was amusing was the way Shisui was teasing poor Tsukino.

"Who's a pretty bird?" he sang, in a voice usually used for babies, right in the poor birds face. Sakura stifled her small laughs with the back of her hand as Tsuki continued to look more and more miserable the longer Shisui spoke.

"You're so cute!" Shisui said with a small laugh before stroking the crow's head lightly "I could just eat you up!" Sakura couldn't hold back the laugh when she glanced at Tsuki's horrified expression. If someone had told her a little over a month ago that a bird could have so many different expressions she would have told them they were nuts. Now though she knew firsthand how expressive a bird could be. The teasing and baby talk went on for another three minutes before Sakura spoke.

"Awe, Tsuki. Would you like me to get this weird man away from you?" She asked giggling softly.

"Oh Kami, yes please! If you don't I might have to eliminate him right here!"

It took a moment before Sakura realized that voice had come from the bird perched on her shoulder. Completely startled she shrieked and dropped the bag of groceries. Also startled by her outburst; Tsuki flapped his wings and removed himself from Sakura, narrowly missing getting smacked by one of her flailing arms. The frightened pinkette whirled around and gaped in shock at Tsuki who had moved himself to stand on Shisui's head. The dark haired man standing in front of Sakura had an amused grin on his face.

"You speak!?" Sakura asked still completely shocked. She didn't miss the way the animal rolled his beady eyes in what seemed like exasperation.

"Tell me, Sa-kur-a. When have you ever come across a summon animal who couldn't speak?" He asked sounding annoyed.

"Don't be such a jerk, if you could speak this whole time, then why haven't you?" Sakura countered feeling her irritation rising. Shisui remained silent opting to watch the two speak to each other while he held onto the one grocery bag in his arms.

"I don't see a point." He answered shortly. Sakura gritted her teeth

"Why not?" she asked. She didn't quite know why Tsuki had the ability to make her this irritated but he had a knack for it…he was so infuriating.

"I've never been much of a talker." He explained "I only speak when I deem it necessary. Besides I don't think you are worth my precious breath."

Sakura glared at him before she grudgingly walked over to her toppled over grocery bag and put the items back in. she then picked it up and stomped her way toward the gates that led into the Uchiha compound. With a small laugh Shisui followed her, with Tsuki still standing on his head

"I knew you were a jerk but I didn't know you were a cocky self-centered one. I like you better when you don't speak." If a bird could grin Sakura knew the damn thing would be grinning.

"I do too." He said.

"Sorry for never telling you Sakura. It was quite a shock to me too when I first heard him talk." Shisui laughed.

That night dinner was once again pretty awkward for Sakura. Tsuki was still around but instead of on her shoulder like usual he was standing at the other side of the room. Sakura had pretty much let go of their little squabble earlier today but Fugaku refused to let the bird be near them while they ate. Sakura supposed she couldn't really blame the man as Tsuki had a bad habit of demanding small morsels of food from her while everyone ate.

As usual Fugaku  
didn't really make a point of including Sakura in conversations although the pinkette could tell he didn't hate her as much as he did a month ago. She had noticed a miniscule change in his behavior toward her, but she wasn't keeping her hopes up about it changing much more for her remaining time here. With a sigh, Sakura took it upon herself to break the slightly awkward silence

"How was class today, Sasuke?" Sakura asked taking a bite of her food while she waited for his reply. He swallowed down the bit of rice he had in his mouth before smiling up at her from her left. Sakura knew Sasuke could probably feel the tension radiating off of her and the boy was smart enough to know it was his father who made Sakura feel this way, the smile he shot her seemed kind of reassuring in a way and it made Sakura mirror it with her own smile.

"It was great!" He said enthusiastically "Kurenai-sensei taught us…" Sakura listened attentively to Sasuke as he told her all about what he learned today and even what he would probably learn tomorrow. Only when he had finished and had shovelled a large amount of food into his mouth did Sakura look up toward the opposite side of the table where Fugaku and Mikoto sat. Mikoto had a warm smile on her face as she looked at Sasuke but as Sakura glanced at the man directly in front of her, her happy mood plummeted yet again.

Fugaku looked indifferent as always and Sakura had to wonder if he had even listened to Sasuke's excited recollection of his lessons today. Sasuke seemed to notice as well because his enthusiastic mood dampened slightly which made Sakura frown. She watched as Fugaku looked down at his plate and she immediately felt a light jab in her side.

She looked over in time to see Sasuke giving her a goofy facial expression. He had taken both his pointer fingers hooking them into the sides of his mouth and stretching his lips while sticking his tongue out. His eyes were crossed and he was shaking his head back and forth. It took all of Sakura's will power not to burst out laughing. She knew what he was doing, he was trying to cheer her up. Meanwhile in reality he was the one who needed the cheering up.

The second Fugaku looked up again Sasuke was back to normal and eating his dinner. The older man narrowed his eyes at the way Mikoto tried to hide her grin of amusement. Sakura was probably doing a horrible job of hiding her own entertainment at Sasuke's display but she couldn't bring herself to care too much. So it was no surprise that when Fugaku looked down again, Sasuke shot her another goofy look, but this time she shot one right back at him and the both had to hide their quiet snickers behind their hands. Sakura came to the conclusion that with the help of little Sasuke here these dinners might not be so bad anymore.

00

After dinner was done and Sakura had helped clean up the pinkette sat on the couch and absently scratched Tsuki on the head. Sure he was a jerk but he kept her company when Itachi wasn't around and she couldn't really _hate _him completely.

"Sakura, Itachi-nii won't be back in time again. Will you help me with my work?" Sasuke asked hopefully as he approached her. Sakura grinned and nodded before they settled on the floor of the living room.

Fugaku had thankfully stopped hovering over the two when Sakura would help Sasuke about a week ago. It was a relief to Sakura that the man at least trusted her with teaching Sasuke the right way to do his homework. For Fugaku to even trust her with that was pretty big and Sakura didn't take the progress lightly. Sakura also found that Sasuke was needing the help less and less. He was generally able to do things on his own which made her proud of him.

As Mikoto took Sasuke upstairs to put him to bed Sakura found herself thankful to Tsunade for this opportunity. She would have never had the privilege to see Sasuke like this if it wasn't for her Master. She rather liked this Sasuke and seeing him being a child was something that motivated her that much more to stop the massacre from ever occurring.

After the rest of the household had gone to sleep Sakura took a quick shower before brushing her hair and teeth. She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment, her warm body only wrapped in a towel before she opened the bathroom door with a sigh. Itachi was supposed to be back sometime tonight and she figured she would be able to wait up for him but she was far more tired than she thought she would be after her shower.

Tsuki met her in the hall and with a few powerful flaps of his wings he perched himself in the usual place on her shoulder. Sakura winced slightly as his claws dug into her sensitive skin. She was used to there being a layer of clothing to cushion the sharp talons on his feet. She entered Itachi's bedroom and waited patiently for Tsuki to jump off her shoulder and take his other usual place on the footboard of the double bed in the room. After he was off Sakura flopped onto her back her body bouncing slightly as it hit the soft mattress of Itachi's bed. She closed her eyes once, she would rest for a few minutes before getting dressed.

00

The house was dark and quiet when Itachi returned. He wasn't sure how late it was but he knew it was in the early hours of the morning. He quietly made his way up to his bedroom before entering and closing the door behind him. He expected to see Sakura asleep in her bed but to his surprise she wasn't in her bed at all. She was actually asleep on _his_ bed and she was in nothing but a towel. Her body was lying across his mattress sideways so that her bare, smooth, legs were dangling off the side. The pale blue towel had ridden up to just above mid-thigh and Itachi found himself swallowing thickly at the sight.

He would be flat out lying to himself if he said he wasn't attracted to her. It was a foreign feeling to him because he wasn't used to feeling drawn to any one person. She was the first to elicit these feelings in him. To his utmost surprise he sort of, in a way, trusted her. He considered her a friend. She clearly cared about the people in his life. Sasuke liked her and she always helped him with his work when Itachi wasn't there. He admired her for it.

She didn't have to do these things but she seemed like she wanted to. It shocked Itachi yet pleased him at the same time. He just wished his father could see the same thing. Sakura was a girl who could be trusted, at least in his opinion she was. She had yet to prove him otherwise. Itachi shook his head free of his wandering thoughts before approaching a sleeping Tsuki balancing on his bedpost.

"Anything to report?" Itachi asked quietly after the bird was awake.

"No. Today was normal. Just like any other day." Tsuki grumbled. Itachi knew he wasn't the only one who was annoyed with these rules. As much as he liked spending time with Sakura, and yes, he did admit he enjoyed her company. It wasn't fair to ask Tsukino to watch over her all the time. The only reason he continued to ask his summon to do this was because Tsuki was better than having some random member of the clan that Sakura didn't know follow her around.

"I know, I'm sorry. I appreciate you doing this. You can go now."

"Yea, yea." Tsuki grumbled again. "Until next time." He finished before disappearing.

With a sigh Itachi quickly changed into a pair of sleep pants with no shirt before turning toward Sakura. She was fast asleep, her still wet, pastel pink hair formed perfectly around her head like a halo. He took in her calm peaceful face and the way her mouth hung open slightly, her chest rising and falling in rhythm with each breath she took.

Although, it didn't take him long to realize how tired he was from his mission and it put him into action. He effortlessly moved Sakura so she was lying on his bed the right way and he made sure her towel was covering her as best as it could. He then pulled up the blanket and placed it over her body so she would be warm. He watched with a smirk of satisfaction as she stirred in her sleep and burrowed deeper into the warm pillows and blankets before relaxing again.

After she was taken care of, Itachi brushed out his long dark hair before securing it back in its elastic. He decided he needed a shower in the morning as he was definitely too tired to take one now. He then settled into Sakura's bed covering himself in the blankets that smelled of her and quickly drifted off.

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**Fluff fluffy...fluffy fluff :D**

**IMPORTANT A/N**

**First off how did you like the first glimpse into our beloved Itachi's mind? ;) :D **

**Secondly I will have an extremily busy couple 2 weeks ahead of me for work, all my lovely co-workers are heading back to University and College for the year so I am getting all of their shifts! :D so that being said I'm totally aiming to update next Monday but if I'm a little late, please forgive me :( I don't wish to make you guys wait but something tells me I might have to. So yea, sorry in advance if it does happen. **

**THIRDLY if you haven't already PLEASE go check out my new ItaSaku one-shot I posted earlier, lots of sexiness and smut I must warn you! :P It's called "Rock Your World" let me know if you like it :D**

**I'm a review junky, and doubled with last chapters reviews and the reviews I got on 'Rock Your World' *whistles* damn you guys fed my addiction let me tell you xD **

_**To the only unsigned review I got last chapter: **_

_** ItaSakuDaisuki:**_

_**A-**Thank you for your review and I'd be happy to answer your questions...I'd give you my email buuut I don't exactly want that posted for everyone on the interwebs to see xD if you find a way to contact me on here by all means go for it. I'm interested in these questions xD As for time-skips I do apologize but seeing as this story is going to take place over a 6 month period some time skips are needed to get things moving. The first part of this story will be focusing on Itachi and Sakura's relationship and the second part will be massacre related shenanigans. I see a **minimum** of 21 chapters total. So we have a long way to go and time-skips unfortunately are inevitable. I will never skip a month like I did earlier again. That was a one time thing I assure you :D _


	8. Tickle Attack

**I managed to get this out to you guys today but I know for a fact I am going to need till Monday (Sept 15th) to release the next chapter. **

**Read on and please enjoy. I have a feeling a lot of your will like this chapter :)**

**I don't own Naruto Kishimoto-sensei does!**

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Chapter 8: Tickle Attack

Sakura's eyes fluttered open only to shut again quickly because of the bright light filtering in through the bedroom window. With her eyes still closed she turned over, burrowed her face into the pillow under her head and froze. The scent that clung to these pillows and the blanket currently wrapped around her was possibly the best smell she had ever encountered. This confused her because she knew it wasn't her own scent. It was so much better. She opened her eyes then and memories from the night before flooded back to her. She lifted the blanket and barely contained a groan, she had fallen asleep on Itachi's bed last night in nothing but a towel.

She glanced at the floor where her bed was and she saw Itachi sleeping contently, curled up on his side. His face was relaxed and the blanket only covered him from the waist down. Damn he was fit. Sakura couldn't stop the stupid grin that took over her expression as she drank in Itachi's appearance. After a moment though, the present situation caught up to her again and she sighed; her suspicions confirmed, Itachi had seen her in nothing but a towel and had even resituated her on his bed. The thought that he took care of her sent a small burst of warmth through her chest. He didn't have to do that he totally could have woken her up and asked her to move but he didn't. Sakura hadn't noticed the large smile that had split across her face. But soon the smile slipped and the embarrassment of him seeing her in a towel clouded everything else. She groaned softly and turned on her back; her arms were thrown over her eyes as she shook her head at herself.

'_You're such an idiot'_ she grumbled in her thoughts. After a moment of drowning in self-pity she removed her arms from her eyes and got out of bed. She was careful to keep the towel wrapped around her naked form as she tip-toed around Itachi to get to her clothes in the closet. After picking out a navy blue tank top and tight black shorts she hurried out of the room quietly and entered the bathroom that was across the hall from her.

She quickly got ready, getting dressed and brushing her teeth before throwing her short hair up into a small pony tail. As she exited the bathroom she contemplated waking Itachi up but instantly felt guilty at even thinking of doing it. She knew he was exhausted and who knows how late he ended up getting in last night. With a small sigh and a mini war inside her head she turned toward the stairs leading to the lower level of the house. Alarm bells were going off inside her at the thought of possibly getting caught alone. She couldn't hear much going on downstairs so she figured either the family had gone out or everyone was still sleeping. She would give Itachi an hour more to sleep before waking him up for his 'escort duty'. As she walked off the final step of the stair case she made her way into the kitchen.

Mikoto turned around to greet her only to have her face pale and a look of panic cross her features. She rushed over to the pinkette and not too lightly shoved her out of the kitchen.

"Why isn't Itachi with you!?" she whispered harshly before freezing in place as she felt her husband's presence directly behind them. Sakura looked up and cringed at the look of anger on the man's face.

'_Oh shit._' Sakura thought in a panic. Before she could say anything Fugaku's hard voice filled the tense silence making Mikoto grip Sakura's arm tightly as she waited for the outburst.

"Why the hell are you alone!?" He growled the rage pouring off of him in waves.

Sakura kept repeating to herself how so incredibly stupid she was. Why had she done this again? Oh right to give Itachi some extra time to sleep.

"I was trying to let Itachi sleep at least another hour…he got in late last night and has been exhausted lately I figure-" she was rudely cut off by another growl

"I don't care about that! I thought I made these rules clear Fuyuga Sakura!" Sakura blinked in mild confusion before she remembered her cover last name was Fuyuga still. She masked the confusion quickly before attempting to gather her scattered thoughts into a good reply but Fugaku wasn't finished. "These rules were the only reason I agreed to let you stay here. You've broken them and now I'm furious." Sakura bit back a sarcastic retort but her anger was beginning to simmer, dangerously close to boiling.

As his rant went on Sakura's anger had reached a boiling point, it had taken every ounce of self-control not to explode and yell and tell Fugaku what's what. She held back though because jeopardizing her place in this family could be damaging to her mission and she couldn't have that. Suddenly there was a warm hand on her shoulder and she knew immediately whose it was. Her body relaxed slightly at the knowledge that Itachi was here now.

Mikoto was here too but she hadn't really put up much of a fight against Fugaku and Sakura could only guess it was because it would be disrespectful to her husband if she openly fought against him in front of others. From the burning intensity in her eyes, though, Sakura knew he would get an earful when they were alone. After Itachi had arrived he quickly defused the situation and took partial blame for Sakura's mistake saying he should have paid more attention and should have noticed her leaving the room. Unfortunately even though his almost hour long rant was over Fugaku was still angry.

"Sakura lets go meet up with Shisui for a bit, would that be okay?" he asked her quietly. Sakura nodded enthusiastically wanting to get as far away from the elder Uchiha as she could so she could get a handle on her anger and not do something she regretted.

00

The three sat in the old abandoned training area on the outskirts of the compound in silence. Shisui was laying on his back with his eyes closed and Itachi was standing against one of the few trees in the area to their left. Sakura was still silently fuming over the incident this morning.

"Sakura, I can feel the anger rolling off of you. What happened?" Shisui asked from her side, his eyes still calmly closed.

"That….that ASSHOLE!" Sakura yelled slamming her fist lightly at the ground in frustration.

"Who, Itachi? Tell me something I don't know." Shisui grumbled. They both heard the annoyed 'Tch' coming from Itachi, Shisui smirked.

"No, not Itachi." She said letting her voice calm slightly.

"Then who?" Shisui prodded further. Itachi opted to stay silent as he watched.

"Fugaku." She said a slight snarl back in her voice. Shisui sat up then and looked at her; waiting for her to continue "Apparently leaving Itachi's room to let him sleep in on his day off was a big rule breaker." She paused standing up suddenly "I thought I would be nice and let his son sleep so I went down stairs without an 'escort' and Fugaku was there. He lost it and yelled and ranted at me for almost over an hour." She grumbled stomping her foot slight, she didn't care if she was being childish, she was mad dammit!

"Sounds like him." Shisui agreed watching her grumble some more and cross her arms over her chest. Suddenly her back straightened to an uncomfortable level and she began marching forward almost awkwardly. The two men watched her with a crease of confusion in their brow as her face took on a hard and annoyed expression. When she spoke next her voice was deep and gruff.

"I'm Uchiha Fugaku, I'm a badass and no one can mess with me! They will suffer the consequences of disobeying my stupid, unrealistic orders!" She grumbled. There was a loud guffaw of laughter from Shisui as he got up and watched her continue to march around. Oh this was rich.

"No, no." He said suddenly coming up beside her "He doesn't look like that." He said tipping her chin up slightly so her nose was in the air and he moved her other body parts, positioning them to better suit what she was trying to accomplish. "There much better." He said letting a few laughs through again.

She continued with her act only to stop when she saw Itachi. He looked weird. His lips were twitching and his shoulders looked like they were vibrating. It was very odd looking.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked jabbing her thumb at Itachi while looking at Shisui. The older man stopped chuckling long enough to look at his cousin.

"Oh. That what he looks like when he laughs." Shisui said with a smirk. Sakura's eyes popped and her mouth dropped open.

"But there isn't any sound coming out." She said confused.

"I don't know really, that's always how he's laughed."

At hearing their conversation Itachi had ceased his movement and there was a small scowl on his face. Suddenly full of confidence Sakura walked over to him and made eye contact. They stood there staring at each other before Sakura lifted her hands and began tickling his sides. The only reaction she got was a devious smirk and amusement dancing in his dark eyes. Annoyed that she wasn't getting a reaction she moved to his muscled abdomen

"Laugh like a real person dammit!" She said letting out a laugh of her own. His stomach muscles clenched but still she didn't get a reaction.

"Sakura." Shisui called from his spot in the grass. "Move down a bit. Just above his pant line." He said with a teasing grin. Itachi's eyes narrowed as he looked over Sakura's head toward his cousin. Sakura did as she was told and moved down, brushing the tips of her fingers lightly over the smooth skin underneath his shirt.

Itachi's eyes widened and he sucked in a gasp of breath before a rather loud snort came out of his nose followed by a short laugh and his shoulders shook like they were before only more violently this time. She felt the firm grip of his hands on her wrists as he pulled them away from his body. Sakura lost it and laughed at the expression on Itachi's face. Never before had she seen that type of reaction from him. She wasn't laughing hard enough to miss the mask of indifference he immediately put on his face again as she stepped back. Tears sprung to her eyes as she held her stomach, the muscles clenching tight with more laughter. Itachi cleared his throat and casually lent back onto the tree.

"Don't ever do that again." He said his voice even as if none of that happened. Sakura forced herself to calm down before she smiled at him. She had to admit even though it was brief she enjoyed the sound of his laughter. It was light and sweet, the way his eyes crinkled as he smiled was a nice change to his usual indifferent expression. Sure he had become more expressive around her lately but this was the first time she got to see his laugh.

She wasted no time in diving back in and attacking that same spot with her finger tips again; desperate to witness that reaction a second time. Itachi was quicker to react this time and he grabbed her and spun them around so her back was pressed against the tree and her wrists held above her head with one of his hands. They were suddenly really close to each other, their chests almost touching. There was an almost palpable current of something unknown humming through the space between them, which had not gone unnoticed by each of them. Sakura's breath hitched as she looked up into the dark eyes of the man in front of her waiting for his next move. For now Itachi decided to ignore the hum of whatever it was and with his free hand he assaulted her sides with his own tickle attack. She squealed loudly, the intense spell between them broken as she desperately tried to get out of the hold he had on her to no avail.

"Stop!" she gasped tears pouring down her face.

"I told you not to do that again." He growled playfully although still his facial expression didn't show the amusement that shone so clearly in his eyes.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry! Stop you're gonna make me pee my pants." She gasped more tears squeezing out of her eyes.

"Hn." He said before letting her go. Sakura swore she saw a small hint of a smile on his face but it was gone before she could tell for sure.

After Sakura's breathing had slowed and her eyes stopped watering she went back to join Shisui who had resumed sitting in his spot on the grass. She plopped down next to him and was surprised to see Itachi had followed her this time. He gracefully sat next to her as she turned to Shisui with a confused look on her face.

"How did you know about that ticklish spot on Itachi?" she asked curious. That wasn't exact a common spot and now that she thought about it, it was sort of an intimate spot to touch someone. How did Shisui find out about it?

"Mikoto divulged the sensitive information to me a couple years ago." Shisui said with a laugh and shake of his head. Sakura laughed when she heard Itachi mumble 'traitor' under his breath in annoyance.

"Awe it's okay 'Tachi!" Sakura teased "Your mother, Shisui and I are probably the only ones who know about it."

"Hn. That isn't a comforting thought." He said still looking annoyed but Sakura was beginning to be able to read his emotions through his eyes. They held amusement and a touch of something else she couldn't name as he looked at her. Sakura decided not to dwell on it now.

The rest of their afternoon was spent lazing in the sun and chatting about nothing important. The three were all laying down on their backs, eyes closed when out of nowhere

"Shisui-nii!"

"Shit!" Shisui cursed bolting upright when a girl who looked to be about fifteen hovered over him. Her long and curly black hair fell over her shoulder making a curtain around her head. Where the hell had she come from? Sakura hadn't even sensed her! "Akarui," Shisui sighed "How do you sneak up on me like that?" The girl smirked before straightening up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well Nii-san. I do have the greatest teacher of all." She said with a grin. Shisui puffed up with pride and Sakura knew he was the one to train her in that area.

"Oh Sakura. This is my little sister, Uchiha Akarui." He said standing. Sakura stood too and shook the younger woman's hand with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura." Akarui said kindly.

"So, Akarui, what brings you here?" Shisui asked after a moment.

"You promised to spar with me today." She responded eagerly. Shisui frowned and rubbed the back of his neck before speaking.

"Imouto, can't we push that to tomorrow?" he asked sounding sort of guilty. Akarui instantly frowned before an adorable pout surfaced on her face.

"But Shisui-nii, you promised." She drawled dramatically her eyes getting wide and glassy looking. Oh she was good, and judging by the way Shisui basically melted at her stare Sakura knew the girl knew what she was doing. She had her big brother wrapped tightly around her little finger.

"You're right I did." He caved moving toward her before wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Besides, you remember what day it is today right?" she asked. Sakura noticed immediately as both their moods suddenly plummeted and the pinkette's eye brows drew together in slight confusion. Akarui's voice suddenly sounded sad and even when Shisui spoke again his voice had taken on a more upset tone than before.

"Yea, Imouto. How could I forget?" he said with a frown before turning back to Itachi and Sakura. "See you both later." He said smiling, but the smile failed to reach his eyes.

Sakura turned to Itachi the moment the other two were out of sight.

"What is today?" she asked curiously. Itachi frowned

"Today is the 3rd year anniversary of their parent's death." He explained before beginning to walk in the direction of his house. Sakura jogged to catch up with him.

"That's horrible." Sakura murmured with a frown, suddenly feeling bad for Shisui and his sister. "How old is Akarui?" She found herself asking.

"Fifteen I believe." Itachi answered easily. Sakura nodded thoughtfully

"She is very good at being stealthy." Sakura pointed out after a few moments of silence as they continued to walk.

"Hn."

"That's not something I'm overly good at." She admitted a little sheepishly. She glanced at Itachi to see him looking at her thoughtfully.

"Maybe one day this week, we can work on that. Maybe I can help." He offered looking ahead again.

"Really?" Sakura asked shocked "I would really appreciate that!" She said truthfully. Itachi grinned.

"Besides, I've been wanting to spar with you for quite some time now." He admitted. Sakura grinned.

"That would be fun but I know you would totally kick my ass." She stated with a laugh. Itachi's lips twitched slightly as he looked down at her again.

As he looked at her, a small lock of hair escaped from behind her ear falling into her face. Itachi had to stop his almost automatic reaction to tuck it behind her ear again. Where did that come from? Itachi quickly looked away his brow furrowing slightly. What the hell was she doing to him?

"You can't be sure of that, I'm sure you're a talented Kunoichi."

"I suppose we shall see." She said frowning slightly. She knew she would have to hold back, showing her full strength would dig up questions Sakura couldn't answer yet. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts and promised herself she would think it over later. She sidled up closer to Itachi nudging his side a little with a smirk on her face

"You know." She began as he turned his head to look at her "You should laugh more often." She said.

He frowned. "I'm actually surprised you got me to laugh at all today. The only two people to ever make me laugh are Shisui, and Sasuke occasionally." He admitted

"Psh, I cheated. Tickling the right place almost always works. I'm going to make it my mission to make you laugh for real without the use of anything physical." Sakura said in a determined tone. Itachi found himself smiling slightly. He would be looking forward to this little mission of hers. It could be interesting.

000

The rest of the night ended up being fairly uneventful. Sakura sat across from Sasuke as he drank in every word Itachi spoke to him while they finished up his academy work.

"Nii-san?"

"Yes Sasuke?"

"Can you train with me tomorrow?" he asked sounding hopeful. Itachi smiled, though Sakura could see the guilt in his eyes, she knew he was going to turn him down.

"I have important business to attend to tomorrow, Otouto." He said before poking the young boy's forehead with two fingers. "Maybe another time okay?" Sasuke frowned and rubbed at the spot where Itachi had poked him. He pouted looking sad

"Okay…" he said trailing off. Sakura frowned. Itachi looked up at Sakura once before glancing down at his little brother again. He leant down to whisper to Sasuke loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"Maybe if you ask Sakura to take you out she will." Itachi suggested. Sakura grinned when Sasuke looked thoughtful for a minute before looking over at the pinkette.

"Would you train with me?" he asked, wide eyed.

"I would love to." Sakura said smiling warmly.

"Told you." Itachi added with a small laugh. Sakura's stomach flipped, there it was again, that beautiful sound she knew she would grow to crave.

000

Both Itachi and Sakura lay in their respective beds, the silence in the room comfortable.

"I have meetings all day tomorrow." Itachi murmured breaking the calm in the room. Sakura assumed it was his reasoning for turning down Sasuke's request earlier.

"That's okay. I really don't mind spending time with Sasuke." She said truthfully.

"I'm assuming since he doesn't have to go to the academy tomorrow it will just be you and him with Tsuki for the day." He said again. Sakura nodded in the darkness

"Sounds good to me." She paused "Your father is actually going to let me stay alone with Sasuke?"

"He won't have much choice."

"I suppose. Don't worry I'll look out for him."

"I don't doubt it. You're good with him, I know he really likes you." Itachi said and she could hear the slight smile in his voice. "Thank you, for being here when I'm not." He said softly.

"I enjoy it." She admitted. There was a small sigh before Itachi spoke again.

"I'm going to be overly busy for the next week or so I think." He admitted.

"Oh why?" Sakura found herself asking curiously

"Clan related stuff. I will be taking over my father's position in the next couple of years, they are preparing me for it." He said although Sakura felt like he was leaving something big out of that statement. She brushed it off for now. "Sasuke will turn to you while I'm gone."

"That's okay. Although I'm hardly a good replacement, I know Sasuke would rather have me step in then no one at all." She said with a small laugh.

"Yea."

Silence fell over the room again and Sakura's eyes drooped with fatigue.

"Sakura?"

"Hm?" she answered sleepily.

"Goodnight." He said his voice soft again. Sakura smiled before answering

"Goodnight."

* * *

**I very much enjoyed writing that tickle scene :3 I hope it was as cute as I thought it was xD**

******Also please don't let the fact that I wont be updating early this week discourage you from reviewing, even if I cant update early I still love to see what you guys are thinking. Even if you don't have a good comment I'll still reply to your review :D Thank you for the 8 reviews I received last chapter, I loved them all. I cant believe I'm already at 55 reviews, you guys really love me! :')**

******See you all on the 15th! **


	9. Spars & Slip Ups

**OMG you guys! Not only did you give me 14 REVEIWS last chapter! (which was totally awesome and I cant tell you how happy it made me!) But also, I am only 20 min late on this update AND ITS OVER DOUBLE THE WORD COUNT THAN USUAL! 6,990 words everyone! usually I only have about 3,500... o.o FYI I pretty much wrote this whole chapter in 3 days. **

**PLEASE GIVE A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MY GIRL Li. Chan93 for being such an awesome person and helping me so damn much with the spar scene in this chapter (she pretty much wrote the entire scene)honestly give her a cyber-high-five because this chapter WOULD NOT be here right now without her!**

**Anyways, enjoy this freakishly long chapter and please don't get used to the length, I doubt it will happen too often xD**

**I don't own Naruto... :(**

* * *

Chapter 9 – Spars and Slip Ups

Sasuke stared, his eyes narrowed. Sakura looked back at him raising one pink eyebrow in question at the determined look on his face.

"Sasuke what is it?" Sakura asked finally giving up on the silent staring contest they were having.

"You look familiar." He said sounding slightly confused yet interested at the same time.

"Well I have been living with you guys for over a month now…" Sakura said trailing off unsure of what he was talking about.

"No not that." He said crossing his arms over his chest "You look like a girl in my class." Sakura's blood ran cold. Oh no, he recognized her younger self. Tsuki who was perched on Sakura's shoulder moved his wings slightly, mildly interested in the conversation.

"Really?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yea she has pink hair and green eyes just like you. But, she is annoying and you're not annoying." Sakura couldn't help but smirk. She wasn't proud of her younger self that was for sure. She knew now how annoying she had been and she regretted everything she put Sasuke through. With a sigh Sakura asked the question she hoped she liked the answer to.

"What's her name?"

"I don't know, I don't pay enough attention to the girls in my class, they're all annoying." Sasuke grumbled before jumping off his seat on the couch, clearly no longer interested in talking about the Sakura look-a-like. The pinkette breathed a sigh of relief but made a mental note to watch Sasuke closely and make sure he didn't put any more interesting facts together about the two identical girls in his life. Tsuki relaxed slightly too, once again bored with his surroundings.

000

The two of them sat at the end of the dock looking out into the pond of water in front of them. Sasuke was relatively silent so Sakura spoke.

"So was the shuriken training with me worth it, Sasuke?" Sakura asked with a smirk. Sasuke nodded before frowning.

"I wish you knew the fire ball jutsu, though." He said. Sakura shook her head

"Why? You have your brother and father to help you with that." She said watching his expression drop. A look of sadness took over his eyes.

"Nii-san is never around anymore and Father expects me to be as good as Itachi but I can't seem to get it right away. It's only a tiny flame, tou-san is disappointed in me."

"Awe, Sasuke that's probably not true." Sakura tried to assure him, even though part of her knew Sasuke was probably telling the truth. As she waited her his reply Sakura glanced over at her left shoulder confirming Tsuki was yet again asleep on the job. The pinkette rolled her eyes but turned her attention back to Sasuke as he spoke.

"I tried to show him that I could do it. After I failed, all he did was turn around and walk away. He said he should have known I wouldn't be as good as Itachi-nii." Sasuke said his head bowed slightly. A flash of anger snapped through Sakura, how could Fugaku do that to his son?! Parents were supposed to guide their children, not put them down and make them feel weak. Sakura wondered if Itachi knew about this and if he did how does he feel about it?

"How about you show me the jutsu?" Sakura asked trying to bring the boy out of his upsetting thoughts.

"No. It's embarrassing." He said frowning as he shook his head.

"Sasuke, you can never get better unless you practice right? Just keep working at it, we all start somewhere." She paused "I'm not too sure how fast your brother learned it but I'm sure it wasn't something he mastered overnight." Sasuke looked up at her for a minute. The young boy sighed before standing

"Fine." He said before taking a deep breath, a look of concentration on his face. She watched him while he weaved the necessary hand signs. He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. Sakura felt the heat of the flame on her face. Tsuki awoke to the unexpected sensation and ruffled his feathers in annoyance for being woken up. Sakura observed that yes compared to the fireball jutsu she had witnessed him preform before this flame was significantly smaller. But knowing what she did about the future she knew he mastered it at some point.

After the flame had disappeared Sasuke glanced down at the pinkette half expecting to see disappointment on her face. To his shock she was smiling softly.

"That wasn't bad, Sasuke." She assured "With more practice and dedication you will have it mastered in no time I know it. Then you can show your father and blow his mind!" Sasuke felt the corners of his lips turn up in a small smile at her praise. She was right. He just needed to practise. Suddenly the small raven haired boy was excited to master the jutsu as quickly as possible. His father would have no choice but to be proud of him then right? Right! He could do this.

Sakura and Sasuke remained by the water for about an hour more while Sasuke continued to practice. Sakura tried to give him pointers about whatever she could but she had to admit she knew very little about the fire style jutsus. After that hour Sakura could tell the boy was getting tired and suggested they head home to eat something.

000

Itachi was stressed. Sakura knew it the moment the man walked through the door that night. His eyes looked more tired than usual and he had a line in between his eye brows as if he had been furrowing them together all day. His body was so tense it was obvious and Sakura's fingers itched to dig into the hard muscles of his shoulders in an attempt to relieve the stiffness there. Mikoto and Fugaku had yet to return so Sakura had made dinner for Sasuke and herself, she made a little extra for whomever wanted it once they were home.

"Are you okay?" She found herself asking as Itachi walked further into the room. She stood from her spot on the couch and approached him, laying a soft hand on his bicep. He glanced down at his arm where her thumb was rubbing a small circle against his skin before looking at her and running his other hand threw his hair with a sigh.

"Yea, I'm fine." He answered unconvincingly, but his body seemed to be slightly less tense than it was a moment ago.

"I made dinner, there are leftover rice balls in the kitchen if you want some?" She offered removing her hand from his arm. He nodded before moving toward the kitchen. "It's okay, go sit in the tea room and I'll bring it out for you." Sakura said before she rushed past him and placed a kettle full of water on the stove before preparing the food for him on a plate. Tsuki had left her shoulder, presumably to return to Itachi. She waited for the water to boil before letting the jasmine tea seep into it causing a nice aroma to fill the air.

She grabbed the tea pot, a cup and the plate of rice balls before moving out into the tea room. When she entered Itachi didn't even glance up at her. He was staring intently out the two large windows that looked out into the garden at the back of the house. He seemed lost in thought, but the clunk of the tea pot and plate on the table made him look back at her. She sat cross-legged on the other side of the table from him. Tsuki was nowhere to be found so she assumed he had left.

"I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it." Sakura's soft voice filled the silence as Itachi took a sip of the tea. He smirked.

"I'm fine, Sakura." He said with a small smirk. "You don't have to worry about me." He added.

"I'm-"She paused swallowing, was she worrying about him? Yes she was. "I'm not worrying about you." She lied.

"You're a horrible liar." He said with another smirk before taking a bite of the food on his plate. "Besides, even if I wanted to talk about it I can't, top secret clan stuff." He grumbled.

"Okay." Sakura cursed in her head at her luck. At this rate she would never figure out anything involving the clan. Everyone was going to be overly tight lipped about it. But why? What were they hiding?

Sakura was so lost her in thoughts she didn't hear Itachi calling her name before his hand came in contact with her arm making her glance up at his now concerned eyes.

"Sakura, are _you_ okay?" He asked raising an eyebrow. Sakura flushed before speaking

"Yes, sorry I was off in my own little world, did you say something?"

"I asked where my brother is." He answered

"Sleeping." Sakura laughed "We trained a bit today with shuriken and he was practicing his fire ball jutsu. He's tired." Sakura suddenly puffed up before speaking again "He said I was almost as good as you when we were training with the shuriken. I took it as a huge compliment." She said her voice betraying how happy it had made her. Itachi grinned.

"You've never seen me fight or train for that matter. What makes you think I'm so good?" he asked curiously before taking another drink of tea. Sakura's thoughts came to a skidding halt. She hadn't thought about that. She was judging his skill by what he was like in Akatsuki. Then again he is an ANBU captain, she could use that as her excuse.

"Well you're a captain of your own ANBU squad, you have to be pretty damn talented." She said with a laugh hoping that answer would quench his curiosity. He nodded.

"Tomorrow, if you're up to it, I'd like to spar with you." He paused "We can also do some stealth training as well."

"I'd like that." She said truthfully. Secretly she was excited yet nervous at the same time. How much would she have to hold back? She definitely couldn't show the strength she had gotten while training with Tsunade.

Itachi suddenly pushed his empty plate away,

"Thank you for the food."

"You're welcome." She said with a smile.

000

She couldn't see him because her eyes were blind folded and she couldn't hear him because he was as silent as a ghost. She reached out into the surrounding area with her senses desperate to feel a flicker of something but she got nothing. Suddenly she felt two warm hands wrap around her neck and a hard body rest up against her back. A gasp of shock broke free from her as her body tensed on instinct.

"You had no idea I was here did you?" Itachi soft voice said beside her left ear. Sakura took a shaky breath before shaking her head. As suddenly as he had come he was gone. The warmth he brought was gone along with him within seconds. She turned around and removed her blindfold.

Itachi was standing a few feet away from her.

"How did you do that?" she asked amazed at how undetectable he had been.

"It takes a lot of chakra control." He admitted. Sakura knew she had good chakra control and she could only hope with this training from him she could be just as undetectable.

"I have decent chakra control."

"Good, you'll need it." He said moving forward a few steps. "First I want you to picture the chakra flowing through your body. Close your eyes and feel it." She obeyed and her eyes fluttered shut. His voice startled the calm again as he spoke

"Once you've done that I want you to slow that flow down as much as possible. The slower it is the less likely you are to be sensed." He explained easily. Sakura gave a sharp nod, her eyes clamping shut a little harder as she concentrated.

It was harder than she thought, although not impossible. She could feel her chakra begin to slow. She knew this was how masking your chakra worked and the level she had slowed her chakra to at this point was generally the slowest she could make it go, which is why she wasn't the greatest at stealth.

"There you go. Now continue to get it as slow as you can."

"This is as far as I'm usually able to go." She explained peaking up at him. That broke her concentration and her chakra picked up its regular speed again making Sakura grumble in annoyance. Itachi grinned before shrugging.

"Try again." He suggested. She nodded closing her eyes again.

This went on for a little while longer and Itachi could see Sakura was getting slightly frustrated when she couldn't get it very much slower than what she usually did. He decided they would stop this training for the day.

"Now that you know it's something you need to work on, practice it. I'll be leaving for a two week long mission tomorrow so you will have plenty of time by yourself to practice." He said breaking her concentration again. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Sakura's heart twisted slightly at the knowledge that he was going to be gone for two whole weeks. She was going to be stuck with Tsuki for _two weeks_! A little voice in her head told her Tsuki wasn't the reason she was upset but she shoved that voice down for now.

"How about that spar, now?" She asked shaking her head to clear it. Itachi grinned and there was a slight gleam in his eye. He nodded.

"The rules. Just hand to hand combat and light weapon use. Kunai only." He said.

"Sounds good." She said as she watched him pick up a decent sized pebble off the ground before moving to the opposite side of the clearing.

_'Okay, Sakura. Keep your head the game. Don't go overboard. Hold back a bit.'_ She said giving herself a silent pep talk.

"When this hits the ground the match starts." He explained holding up the pebble from his side of the clearing. She nodded in understanding and reached for a kunai in the weapons pouch Itachi had given her earlier. She would have brought her own but it was taken by the rogue ninja's from the camp almost two months ago.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as Itachi tossed the small pebble into the air. Her knees bent reflexively as she readied her kunai. Adrenalin surged through her body instantly and her nervousness seemed to slow as she watched Itachi's dark eyes lower to her, readying himself for the spar. The pebble suddenly dropped, Sakura's stomach twisted at the realization that she needed to move. She lunged forward in a charge directly at Itachi before dread slammed into her as the man simply vanished from her view.

'_Shit!_' Sakura thought as her boots skidded across the ground to stop, her head snapped from side to side and then she glanced behind her.

Itachi had just up and disappeared on her, where the hell had he gone? She clenched her jaw lightly as she pushed her chakra out around her; trying to get a feel of the Uchiha's chakra, but to no avail. Kami it was like her first training session with Tsunade all over again. A sudden rush of air behind her was her only warning and Sakura's body twisted immediately as she gripped tighter onto the kunai in her hand. She spun, slicing in an arc in the hopes of deflecting a possible hit.

Itachi's right foot had barely touched the ground before Sakura's body had tensed, twisting toward him; her kunai slicing at his left shoulder. Even without his Sharingan it was simple to dodge. Itachi noticed that she was on edge and a little sloppy, but why? Jumping away from each other Sakura couldn't help the smirk that curved her lips at the sight of a small slit in the sleeve of Itachi's shirt, she hadn't done much but she was close enough to land a hit on his right bicep, she'd take that accomplishment! Talk about bragging rights! She had landed a hit on the legendary Uchiha Itachi of Akatsuki, though Akatsuki wasn't even a part of his life right now.

Sakura's eyes raised to Itachi's, the smirk on her face falling into a frown at the sight of his dark eyes, no Sharingan. The corners of Itachi's lips tugged upwards at the woman's face, was she disappointed?

"You're too tense, you could have landed that hit if you hadn't frozen." Itachi said his voice teasing. An annoyed grunt was Sakura's response, causing a small chuckle to leave him. Sakura pushed herself off the ground with her feet, running at Itachi as he jumped back to keep distance between them. If he wouldn't use the Sharingan then fine, that would just help Sakura all the more. She didn't have to worry about exposing herself or worry about him reading her movements, she could have the upper hand this way. At least that's what she told herself, but then why was she so pissed about it?

Sakura chased after Itachi, both occasionally exchanging blows with the other. Sakura was starting to get tired of it fast. It was clear that he was only playing with her, the small grin on his face was a dead giveaway. He was having fun leading her around the training field.

"I have to say Sakura, I expected you to at least be on Chunin level." He said his voice purposefully mocking "I'll admit though, you're showing exceptional form for a Genin." He finished with a grin at the way her eyes narrowed in anger.

_'Oh hell no!'_ Sakura grumbled in her thoughts before clicking her tongue in annoyance and pushing chakra into her legs and feet; kicking off the ground and propelling herself towards Itachi again. She swung her kunai towards his left shoulder in hopes of at least drawing a bit of blood, but Itachi's own kunai shot up to deflect the blow. He jumped back and away from her as he gave a small frown. She was holding back, he could tell in her movements, they were tense and controlled.

Sakura's eyes narrowed as they scanned for any opening as Itachi's foot touched the ground, he was on guard, she couldn't get a hit on him, but there _was_ one way. Without much thought to what she was doing, her hand shot out, throwing her only kunai out above him. She had pushed her chakra into it to make the blade sharper and it sliced through a small tree branch right above the Uchiha's head.

Itachi's head snapped up before he stepped back as the branch fell in front of him. Did she really think dropping a branch on him would help her cause? She had just lost her only—wait, it was a distraction. Itachi's eyes widened at the realization just as Sakura jumped from her previous spot at the edge of the clearing to a strong piece of the tree a few feet next to her. She grabbed ahold of a really large branch and pushed chakra into her arms before she pulled down with a yell, snapping the branch off the tree with ease.

Itachi's eyes widened as he watched her jump off the tree and land smoothly back onto her feet. She wasted no time before lunging at him again, swinging the branch at him like a bat. His body lurched back and to the side in order to avoid the more than likely devastating blow. Sakura thought quickly and threw the large piece of wood at him as he backed off.

'_How is she able to throw something like that? The amount of strength it requires is more than what should be possible…_' Itachi thought in shock as he skidded to a stop, the branch rolling to a halt in front of him.

Sakura retrieved her kunai from the fallen branch that she dropped over Itachi earlier; her shoulders rising and falling as she breathed slightly harder.

"Do _not_ go easy on me…I hate it when people treat me like I'm a weak girl." She growled. Itachi now knew when it came to combat she was quite the hot head. It didn't take much for him to rile her. He found it rather endearing to be honest. Itachi's eyes narrowed as a small smirk spread across his face. Oh he could see that clear as day, she was no weak girl. A cool breeze blew past them, making them both glance up. Neither of them missed the darkening clouds forming over their heads. Itachi looked down at Sakura before speaking.

"Then prove it to me, Sakura. Prove to me that you can handle me not going easy on you!" He said quickly before lunging forward, pushing chakra into his feet as his body shot towards Sakura like a bullet.

The quick movement barely gave her a chance to block his kunai with her own, only to have it knocked to the side and out of her hand when the two sharp objects collided. Sakura's body tipped back readying herself to land a kick at the raven in front of her. She clenched her jaw and kicked her left leg out and toward Itachi's side, only to have him grab it with his arm and pin it to there tightly. Taking a step back, he tightened the grip on her leg before he spun; throwing Sakura across the field. She gave a startled yelp before hitting the ground with a hard thud.

"Come now, don't tell me that burst of speed and power was a one shot deal?" Itachi laughed from across the clearing.

"Of course not!" Sakura shot back before she pushed herself up to her hands and knees. The pinkette was panting out short puffs of breathe as her body hummed with a mixture of adrenalin and fatigue. Neither of them had noticed the training field slowly growing darker and colder.

Lifting herself to her feet she clenched her fists, watching as Itachi slowly made his way towards her. How the hell was she going to do any of this while holding back? She should have never asked him to spar, it was such a stupid idea! A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that she wasn't doing a good job at holding back if her tree branch stunt had anything to say about it.

"You need to concentrate, Pinky." Itachi taunted with another grin. He enjoyed riling her up, it was amusing.

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously at the nickname before she let out a frustrated cry and jumped forward before stumbling to a stop. She turned herself to see Itachi standing behind her, his warm breath having caused the skin on the back of her neck to tingle. Her gazed snapped to where he was before, but there was nothing. How in the hell had he done that…again!? She had little to no time to dwell on it, though because Itachi's fist shot out at her face. Sakura tumbled quickly to the side and darted away from him. She needed distance! She needed to regroup herself so she could make a plan of attack, there's no way she'd be able to win otherwise. Again that annoying voice in the back of her mind told her she would never win if she continued to hold back, not against someone as talented as Uchiha Itachi anyways.

Sakura ran towards the cover of the trees, panting as she pushed chakra through her legs to get herself to move faster. She could feel him behind her as she jumped from branch to branch, but every time she looked back, she couldn't see him.

_'Is this what's it's like to have Uchiha Itachi, current member of ANBU and future Akatsuki member chasing after you?' _She couldn't deny the fear twisting in her stomach at the thought. Sakura skidded to a halt and pressed herself against the rough trunk of a tree. She held her hand to her mouth to quiet her laboured breathing. Why was she freaking out? It's not like he was going to kill her, this was just a spar and she needed to get that through her head.

_'Stay calm…'_ She thought still slightly panicked. Panicking would get her caught, she had to calm herself.

She took in a large lung full of air before she bit the side of her hand in an attempt to still herself. She closed her eyes to fully concentrate. Naruto and Sasuke were pretty good at learning in the middle of a fight, maybe having Itachi hovering behind her would help give her the strong motivation she needed to learn how to hide herself better.

She could feel her chakra flow decelerating, calming itself as she forced it to move slower. She knew the moment her chakra was gone she needed to try and move. No doubt Itachi would go right where he last sensed her chakra, if she was successful in making it disappear that is, and something told her she probably wouldn't. She wasn't doing horrible though, just a bit more and she'd-

A squeal ripped out of Sakura mouth as something cold and wet touched her nose. Her arms flew up to defend her face, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes quickly and Sakura found the space in front of her empty. She glanced up only to confirm that she was alone. Another wet splotch hit her dead center in the forehead.

_'It's…raining?' _It took her a moment to realize what had happened, not only had she screamed from a harmless drop of water but-Oooooh no…Oh no, no, no, she screamed! _'So much for hiding!' _she grumbled in her head, annoyed with herself.

What the hell is wrong with her? Seriously a drop of rain startled her? She was so much better than this! Why was this spar so stressful? It shouldn't be, she was supposed to be having fun. Maybe it was because she was holding back, Sakura wasn't used to having to hold back and clearly it was making her edgy.

She blinked as she watched the leaves twitch as the drops of rain began to pick up and soon it was pouring down on her, soaking into her clothes. A snapping sound in front of her caught her attention and her eyes shot down in time to see senbon flying towards her. She lifted her arms to protect her body because her only kunai was gone and the blades ripped through her shirt and shorts; cutting into her flesh. The wounds the senbon made, made her hiss in pain. She looked down at a cut on her arm and frowned, those weren't traditional senbon…

"Did you make needles out of wood!? You just shot me with splinters!" Sakura said with slight anger in her voice "Besides, we agreed on kunai only! You're cheating!"

"I couldn't resist." Itachi answered over the sound of the rain. "I was curious to see how you would react." She could barely make out Itachi's form in the shadows of a tree, the rain also making the area around her hazier. "Especially since rain made you squeal." He said laughing softly.

A vein in her right temple throbbed as she ground her teeth almost painfully; a low growl rumbling in her chest. He was so totally teasing her! A smirk spread its way across the raven's face which made the throbbing spread to her whole forehead. Oh hell no he was not getting away with teasing her!

"I have to say." He continued almost casually. "I'm impressed you could hit notes that high, that takes talent only the best scaredy cats are able to accomplish-"

"SHANNAROOO!" Sakura roared. Itachi paled at Sakura's yell; her small form lunging at him as she pulled back her fist. He could easily catch her hand, but something in the back of his mind screamed for him to move, to dodge the little fist aimed for his chest.

Itachi didn't usually ignore his gut instincts so he jumped to the side and watched as Sakura's fist came into contact with the trunk of the tree directly behind where he had just been standing. The wood splintered and shattered instantly. Itachi pushed chakra into his feet as his sandals slid on the wet and slippery forest floor. Itachi leapt into the tree behind him, his Sharingan activating as the tree Sakura had punched, fell. This spar had reached a new level, a level in which Itachi would feel better with his Kekai Genkai activated.

He propelled himself to the side again, moving to the next tree over as the halved tree slammed into the one he was just in. His lips tugged down into a deep frown at what had just happened. His red and black eyes slowly moved to focus on the panting woman on the ground. Her eyebrows were drawn together in worry. Itachi's frown deepened, she hadn't meant to do that. Why was she holding this back? What was she hiding and why?

"Oops…?" She giggled awkwardly as a shy smile worked its way onto her face. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly before looking up to the clearly confused and slightly shocked Uchiha still perched in the tree to her left.

_'FUCK! Do I really not know what _hold back _means anymore!?'_ She could rip her hair out by the handfuls at her own sheer stupidity. Sakura knew she was a smart woman and talented Kunoichi so why was she being so utterly stupid right now? She shouldn't have gotten so mad when he teased her, she just screwed herself!

Sakura didn't have much time to feel angry about her actions because Itachi suddenly jumped from his spot in the tree before landing in front of her. Sakura gave a startled gasp and leapt back a second too slow. Itachi's kunai cut through the fabric of her shirt and into her side a little. It wasn't deep, but with the rain mixing with her sweat, it made the wound sting. She jumped back and away from the raven before turning and running off to an untouched batch of trees. She pressed her hand to her bleeding side and pushed healing chakra into it. Itachi's body flickered in front of her towards the left, causing her whole body to tense. She lifted her foot and used her own kick to propel herself off of a tree trunk before using her momentum to run to the right. She removed her hand as the bleeding in her side had stopped.

Sakura found herself wondering why he wasn't stopping the spar, she doubted it was because he didn't take notice of her more than average level of enhanced strength. So why? Pride maybe? He needed to fully win to be completely satisfied? She wanted to stop if she was being honest. Not because she was tired or too injured but because she couldn't afford another slip up. She very well might have already compromised her mission, Itachi was bound to ask questions right? Someone doesn't just happen upon the strength she possessed by accident.

Again Itachi's form flickered to her right which caused her to instinctively veer left. Why the hell wasn't he attacking her!? The answer suddenly hit her, he was anticipating her breaking down another tree so he wouldn't attack her in the forest,

_'Oh shit-_' Sakura thought just as she broke through the tree line. She felt like all brain function had ceased. He was smart, he had led her out of the trees; where if she tried to land a hit, which she _so_ wasn't going to do again, at least not with chakra, there wouldn't be shrapnel to dodge. Sakura had learned her lesson though, no more slip ups.

Sliding across the mud as she tried to stop, Sakura turned to run back into the trees, feeling like a mouse that had fallen for the cat's trap without the cat doing more than staring at her. Red and black eyes were all she could see as Itachi leapt out of the trees towards her. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs painfully as his body slammed into hers'. It took a few minutes before reality slowly seeped into Sakura's mind as she looked up and into the now black again eyes of Itachi as he hovered over her on the ground.

Moments passed and Itachi was well aware of the position they were in. Both of them were drenched, their clothes clinging to them like a second skin. Itachi's dark bangs were plastered to his face and his pony tail hung over his shoulder dripping water onto Sakura's chest. Their breathing was slightly laboured from their close proximity and the workout they both just endured. As their chests moved with each breath they barely brushed up against each other. The small space between them seemed to crackle with an unknown sensation. Attraction maybe? Neither of them knew but they continued to look into each other's eyes as time seemed to still.

Itachi was holding himself up with his arms, his feet digging into the wet ground to prevent himself from laying completely on top of the pinkette. Her pink hair was darkened by the water still pelting down on them, her hair also plastered to her face slightly. Suddenly Itachi right foot slid back caused by the slipperiness of the muddy ground. The movement caused his right arm to give out at the elbow which made him fall forward. A small gasp of shock came out of Sakura's mouth as their faces were now only a few inches apart. Itachi suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to lower his face an inch or so more and press his lips to Sakura's. That thought forced his mind to snap back into reality. The cold rain continued to pour down on them and Itachi suddenly jerked away from the woman beneath him before quickly getting to his feet.

"We need to get out of this weather before we get sick." He explained not missing the way the surprised expression on Sakura's face turned slightly disappointed. Why was she disappointed? Was it because he hadn't kissed her? The question bounced around in Itachi's mind for a moment before the movement of Sakura getting to her feet pulled him from his thoughts.

As they walked back to the house Itachi watched as Sakura absently healed all her small wounds, the green chakra making her hand glow in the slight darkness around them. Itachi wanted to ask Sakura where her random burst of inhuman strength came from earlier but resisted, she looked tired. He vowed to question her about it later. Sakura moved her glowing hand to better heal the still tender wound on her side, courtesy of Itachi's kunai. It wasn't deep enough to scar so she wasn't overly worried about it.

Neither of them spoke for the remainder of the walk back to the house. It wasn't an awkward silence but a thoughtful silence. Both of them were mulling over what had just happened on the ground after their spar. Why hadn't Itachi just kissed her? Why did she want him to kiss her? Where did these feelings come from? Could Sakura actually have a relationship with him? No probably not considering her mission. Besides, she used to be in love with Sasuke, she felt pretty stupid to now be going after his brother. No she didn't have feelings for him! She just cared about him. He was a nice guy, that's all. The inner voice inside her begged to differ but Sakura kindly told it to shut the hell up.

000

The warmth of the house welcomed them as they stepped through the door. The house seemed to be empty for the time being and Sakura was relieved as she was sure her clothes were almost see-through at this point and didn't feel like explaining where they were. They reached Itachi's room, both hoping that when Mikoto came home she wouldn't noticed the water droplets throughout her house.

"I'll be right back." Itachi said suddenly before starting back down the hall.

"Wait you're leaving me by myself?" Sakura asked making him stop and turn around. He smiled. It was a genuinely nice smile that made Sakura suck in a breath because it was directed straight at her for the first time.

"I think you can manage by yourself for five minutes." Sakura smiled back at him. He trusted her, maybe not fully but at least there was a small amount there. That knowledge made Sakura happier than she thought it would.

"Okay." She answered before disappearing into his room. She moved over to her shelf in the closet before picking out something comfortable to wear. She settled on a pair of light grey track pants and a black tank-top.

She placed the clothing onto the bedside table and began to peel her wet shirt off. The drenched material stuck to her chest and she struggled to get it off but it wouldn't budge. She pulled it off enough for it to get stuck around her head. She found she couldn't pull it off any further. At this point her bra was completely uncovered. Her heart froze in her chest when she heard the bedroom door open again "Oh, by the way I'm drawing you a bath to help you-"Sakura couldn't see because of the shirt covering her face but she knew why he stopped short.

Her chest was heaving with half annoyance and half with the effort she had put forth to get her damn shirt off not to mention he probably had a _really_ nice view of her bra clad chest. Without another moment of hesitation she spun around so her back was to him.

"Itachi!" she squeaked embarrassingly. That seemed to snap him out of whatever he was doing because he immediately spoke

"Erm…my apologies…Do you need help?" he asked hesitantly his voice slightly deeper than usual.

"No I do not need help! Get out!" she cried her face heating to an uncomfortable level

"Right, I'll be back in a few minutes." He said quickly and she sighed in relief when the door closed and silence surrounded her. Eventually with a few more tugs she managed to get the offending shirt off. Her tight black shorts were far easier to get off surprisingly and she quickly slipped on the clothes she laid out for herself.

Her face was still tomato red when Itachi knocked on the door. She told him to enter before trying to will away the blood that had rushed to her cheeks. When the dark haired man walked in she was satisfied to see the slight pink tint to his own cheeks. Good she wasn't the only one embarrassed. He suddenly shoved a towel in her arms.

"Your bath is ready and um…sorry again." He said the embarrassment in his voice clear before he walked out of the room again. Sakura smiled holding the towel to her chest and making her way to the bathroom for her bath.

000

"So, you'll be gone for two weeks?" Sakura asked looking up at Itachi. He stood in his room clad in traditional ANBU garb which consisted of the grey ANBU vest, black pants with bandages covering his lower legs all the way to mid-calve. His katana could be seen over his right shoulder and his leaf headband was on display, his bangs falling over the sides of it. His ANBU weasel mask was clipped to his side.

"Yes." He nodded crossing his arms over his chest. Sakura nodded too before standing. Itachi lifted one hand and rubbed at the back of his neck almost awkwardly. "I should probably get going." He said dropping his arms back to his sides. Sakura nodded again and before she knew what she was doing she flung herself at him; wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder.

"Goodbye. Be safe." She murmured, her voice muffled against his shirt. He stood stock still for a few seconds unsure of what to do. He hadn't expected this kind of display from her. He also didn't expect the warm feeling that burst through his chest when she did it. Hesitantly his arms wrapped around the middle of her back and he tugged her closer so their bodies were touching.

"I will." He assured softly. She pulled back first, a small shy smile on her face.

"Kay, see you in two weeks." She said taking a small step back. He returned her shy smile. Before he left the room he bit the side of his thumb before weaving a few hand signs.

"Summoning Jutsu." He said before placing his hand on the ground. Tsuki suddenly appeared looking disgruntled as always before ruffling his feathers and taking his spot on the end of the headboard.

"See you two in a couple weeks, both of you get along!" he ordered playfully. Tsuki rolled his eyes.

"Yea, yea, yea." The bird drawled making Sakura laugh.

"Oh Sakura, feel free to sleep on my bed while I'm gone. I'm sure it's more comfortable than the floor." He said before turning on his heel and making his way toward Sasuke's room to say goodbye to him.

Sakura sighed, this would be a long two weeks.

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******Woot woot, next chapter im excited to write, it will be all in Itachi's POV over the two weeks he is gone. Are you excited? I'm excited so please be excited with me! :D**

******I very well might need the entire week to update (Monday Sept 22), lots a shifts at work again but i'll do my best. Thank you all again for your awesome as hell reviews, I loved every single one of them! :D Please do that again, shower me with love and make me the happiest woman alive! (:D dramatic? Maybe a little ;) )**

******anyways see you all next time and please please review! :D**

_******Unsigned Reveiws:**_

_Guest: __I'm glad you thought so :D and yay that was my plan all along, to make you giggle and laugh as much as I did writing it! :P Thank you for your review i appreciate the hell outta it ;P_


	10. No Witnesses

**Who likes an early update? I know I do! :D so here it is my lovely readers, as always thank you all so much for the 10 reviews last chapter! I'm so happy you all enjoyed it!**

**I hope I did this chapter alright, It's all in Itachi's POV.**

_**WARNING!: There is some graphic stuff in this chapter, its not overly bad but there is some blood and what not, quite a few deaths too. Sorry if that isn't your thing but this is a Rated M fic. **_

**Anyways onward Naruto is not owned by meee.**

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Chapter 10 – No Witnesses

_Her lips were warm and soft as they trailed down his neck leaving a path of heat in their wake. His breathing was laboured, desire coursing through him like an electric current. He felt her hand slip down his naked chest and over the scar that marked his upper abdomen before her nimble finger's tugged gently at the hem of his pants. His breathing hitched as her hand snuck under the only clothing he had left on his person. His eyes popped open to see short pink locks and bright green eyes looking at him, just as she gripped her hand around his-_

"Oi! Idiot, wake up!"

Itachi's eyes flew open as he sat up; kunai up in defense, fully prepared for an enemy attack. Instead of the enemy he was faced with the highly amused eyes of his cousin. Itachi gritted his teeth in frustration, of that look…and something else. "Hm, what were _you _dreaming about?" Shisui asked eyebrow raised in question his grin still firmly in place. Itachi inwardly cursed as he felt a small blush dust his cheeks.

"Nothing." He replied stoically and surprisingly convincing. Shisui wasn't buying it though. He straightened his legs as he stood from his crouch and gave a short laugh.

"Hn. Tell that to the tent you have going on in your pants." He grinned. Itachi's eyes shot down to his lap and outwardly groaned in pure annoyance. Casually covering the problem in his lap he glared at the short haired man next to him.

"What do you want?" the younger man grumbled. He had never had a dream like that before in his life. It bothered him that his subconscious seemed to be thinking about things it shouldn't be. Shisui shrugged and looked to the side at their other sleeping teammate.

"I'd like to sleep sometime tonight, it's your turn to guard." He replied, that stupid amused smirk still curving his lips.

"Hn."

"Everything seems relatively calm considering how close we are to our destination. We should scout out the area in a few hours." He suggested, going back to being serious again. Itachi was relieved that his little 'problem' had calmed down enough to safely stand up without getting another teasing session from Shisui. The younger raven nodded in confirmation to what his cousin said before grabbing his mask and placing it firmly over his face.

"Sleep well." He mumbled before jumping up and into one of the nearby trees to sit and guard his comrades.

They had been travelling for four days now. Their mission wasn't going to be an easy one either, it required delicate planning. They were after a former shinobi of the leaf who had gone rogue six years ago. His previous name was Himitsu Shugi but he now went by the name of Fumeiyo Omei. Omei had been impossible to find for five years and now suddenly one year ago he resurfaced, completely rich. He had a huge house on the outskirts of fire country with a woman and their two children. Four year old twin girls. A spy informed Konoha council that he made the money by selling sensitive information about the village. They don't know why he had just begun doing that now but there was only one way to stop the leak of information and that was to eliminate the man spilling the secrets. Itachi's orders were clear; there were to be no witnesses to the assassination.

The team hadn't come up with a plan yet though. They had to scout out the surroundings of the house before they could make a well thought out strategy. Itachi sighed as he looked up at the full moon through the trees. The dream he had, came back to him full force. He had never had a dream like that before. It shocked him that his subconscious had, had the time to come up with such a thing. With everything going on his life right now a relationship beyond friendship with Sakura shouldn't even be on his radar. So why couldn't he get her out of his head?

No! He had to stay away, he was too complicated to be with. She would never completely know him and his secrets, not to mention the elders of his clan would never allow it, let alone his father. Itachi frowned at the slight pang of disappointment that stabbed through his chest. He knew distancing himself from Sakura emotionally was the right thing, so why did it feel so wrong? The Uchiha clan was slowly spiraling into something too dark for the pinkette to begin to grasp, he wouldn't allow himself to drag her into all that.

Itachi suddenly rolled his eyes. Listen to him, acting like he knows Sakura wants him as much as he wants her. For all he knows she could just want to be friends and that's it. Who knew how she felt towards him? A small voice laughed darkly from inside the raven's head.

'_Right, you remember as well as I do the look she gave you in the clearing when you didn't kiss her. She was hoping for it as much as you were, who are you trying to fool?' _ Itachi made an annoyed 'tch' sound with his tongue before lowering his head and glaring out at the trees. Things with his clan were beginning to get rough. There had been talks of a total village takeover a few years back, no one had really paid much mind to it, but now, things were changing. The elders were slowly sinking their conniving claws into Itachi's father, bending him to see their way of thinking.

Itachi was ashamed to see his father falling for their schemes. At this point in time Itachi was playing 'double agent' He spied on his own clan for the village and relayed any and all important information to the Hokage. At the same time he was his father's go to person for information on the village, he was an ANBU captain after all and was privy to a decent amount of sensitive information. Itachi would always divulge as little as possible to his father, saying just enough to satisfy him and not arouse suspicion. Lately though that had been getting more difficult.

Itachi was relatively good at hiding the stress that the entire situation caused him but if things escalated anymore he wasn't so sure he'd be able to keep composed. Itachi sighed before digging the sharp point of his kunai into the rough bark of the tree he still sat on, resigning himself to three more hours of mental turmoil.

000

"So what's the plan, captain?" Genma asked from Itachi's side as they watched the large house, no not house, the mansion in front of them from the cover of the forest. Each of their chakras were heavily masked to avoid the detection of the many guards surrounding the building.

"I'm still thinking." Itachi said honestly. He couldn't really get a good read on the guards and their posts from this position. Gritting his teeth in annoyance he bit the side of his thumb to draw blood before weaving his hands into the familiar signs.

"Summoning jutsu." Itachi hoped to kami Sakura was alone and not in front of his parents at this moment. Tsuki appeared looking rather shocked to be summoned away from Sakura.

"What is it?" Tsuki asked immediately flapping his wings hard enough to pull him off the ground and onto Itachi's shoulder. The bird looked around for any immediate threats, he knew Itachi wouldn't summon him away from the pinkette unless he really needed him.

"Nothing too serious Tsukino, but I do need your help, something only you can help with." Itachi said honestly. "Was she alone at least?" He asked after a moment, knowing the bird would catch on.

"Yes, luckily." He replied. Itachi gave a small sigh of relief "What is it you need me to do?" he asked

"I need you to fly around that mansion and take in every single point where a guard is posted. I need to know not only their locations but how many in total are around the house. Also if you could peak into some of the windows and give me a brief idea of what we will be getting ourselves into."

Tsuki gave a sharp nod before taking off and exited the forest to fly around the home.

"I hope she is alone for a while, Crow." Shisui said using Itachi's code name. "Things could get ugly fast if she gets caught alone." Itachi nodded in agreement the last thing he wanted was for his father to lose it again with Itachi not there to intervene.

"What are you two talking about?" Genma asked Itachi as he moved to stand next to him on the thick branch of the tree.

"None of your business, Mole!" Shisui bit out, annoyed with his teammates usual nosy behavior.

"Shut up, _pussy_!" Genma shot back "I don't recall asking _you_." Itachi sighed as he felt Shisui's defense rise in the form of anger.

"Cat! My code name is _Cat_!" the short haired Uchiha growled back. Itachi was thankful the two men were mature enough to continue masking their chakra. If they failed to do that, the raven wouldn't hesitate to pummel them into the ground for getting the team caught.

"Crow, can I please get a new code name?" Shisui asked exasperatedly

"No, and would you two _please _grow the hell up?" Itachi asked completely calm as he patiently waited for his summon animal to return with the Intel.

Tsuki returned a half hour later and landed smoothly on Itachi's shoulder. Itachi held out his left arm in front of him, bending it at the elbow so Tsuki could face him while speaking. The bird hopped down the raven's arm.

"What took you so long?" Itachi asked once the Tsuki was settled.

"I was listening in on an interesting conversation." The crow explained.

"Report." Itachi ordered

"Ten guards in total outside of the building and three more in the surrounding area, patrolling. Three are stationed at the front door, three at the back and four are moving around the house. Two are covering the east side and the other two on the west side. There are two guards that I was able to see inside the home, but there may be more I couldn't see through the windows."

"Good job, Tsuki. Now about that conversation…" The captain replied, trailing off suggestively.

"I'm assuming you all know he is making a profit by selling leaf village info, correct?" The bird asked looking at each of the three men around him. Itachi nodded

"Yes, that's why we're here." He explained. Tsuki gave a short head nod before continuing.

"I'm not sure if this information matters much in the long run, but he is making money off of the trading of other valuable information that has nothing to do with the village." Tsuki paused "I'm not sure of the specifics but the man he is selling other information too is pretty well known around these parts. He is feared by all but according to the two guards that were speaking, people know very little about him." Tsuki blinked trying to recall the name the two men had called this mysterious man. "Apparently he goes by the name of Pein." He said gauging the reaction of everyone. The masks they wore hid all of their expressions but from what Tsuki could see no one knew that name. It wasn't familiar to them.

"Interesting to know." Shisui concluded shifting his weight between his feet before speaking again "Anything else?"

"Yes." Tsuki replied once more "The guards had been speaking about why they were hired in the first place." Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly in interest and yet at the same time, part of him didn't want to know. "Apparently just after his two daughters were born, his family was threatened. Even the guards don't know the specifics, all they do know is that his twins are to be protected at all costs. Omei pays them a hefty amount to fulfill that order." The crow finished. Itachi nodded.

"Thank you, Tsuki. I appreciate your help." Itachi said sincerely. "Now, go back to her. Try to have her alone a lot this week, or at least not around my parents, as I may need your help again." Tsuki nodded in affirmation before disappearing back to Sakura.

000

The next three days passed in a blur as the three man team watched the guards as closely as possible, memorizing their schedule and shift changes. This needed to be quick and clean with no witnesses. Itachi had decided he would be the one to infiltrate the building and carry out the mission while Shisui and Genma took care of the guards outside.

"Cat, put the back door guards under a gen-jutsu. If they wake from it, kill them. When you're done that move onto the other two guards on the west side." Itachi ordered. Shisui gave a sharp nod

"Understood." He answered

"Mole. I need you to take care of the guards on the east side and then the front doors." Genma also gave a sharp nod as he repositioned the mask on his face so it was sitting more comfortably

"Hai, sir."

"When the three guards at the back are under the gen-jutsu I will enter through that door and scout out the locations of the other two guards stationed inside before carrying out in the assassination of Fumeiyo Omei. Are we all clear on our plans?"

"Hai!" They both replied in unison.

"Good, we do this tonight."

000

The three men masked each of their chakra as they silently approached the home. Genma branched off to take care of his side of the building while Shisui and Itachi made their way to the back. Before the two ANBU were even in view of the enemy the three men dropped to the ground suddenly, caught in Shisui's gen-jutsu.

Shisui stood guard at the back door as Itachi silently slipped into the home. As he made his way further into the house he noticed it was rather bare. It was dark but he was able to see that there was furniture and some wall décor, but it didn't give off much of a homey feeling and Itachi guessed with how small Omei's family was, they didn't enter a lot of the rooms throughout the house very often. That thought made Itachi wonder why they had such a large home in the first place. Why bother when you won't use half of it?

The house was silent as its inhabitants slept peacefully, feeling safe. There didn't seem to be any guards on the first floor and Itachi took that as a sign that the family slept in the rooms located on the second floor. He made his way up the two flights of stairs and pressed his back to the wall by the staircase. His sharingan was activated and it helped him see a small amount better in the darkness of the house. Stealthily he peeked around the corner his eyes picking up on two men in the hallway. Each of them were guarding one door. The first man was two doors down from Itachi and the second was four doors down seemingly dozing off on the job. His back was against the door as he sat cross-legged, his head resting against the door frame. Both were on the same side of the hallway.

With a small inaudible sigh the raven jumped from his spot around the corner and rushed the guard at the first door. The brown haired man's eyes widened a fraction as Itachi appeared in front of him, his white and red weasel mask slightly more visible in the dark than the rest of his body. He knew when he was up as close to the man as he currently was his sharingan was easily visible, but before the guard could utter even a gasp of surprise Itachi grasped his chin and placed his other hand around the back of the man's head. He twisted his head sharply, effectively snapping his neck. Itachi looped his arm around the guard's upper body to prevent him from falling noisily to the floor and alerting his dozing partner.

Once Itachi laid the now dead man onto the ground softly he made his way over to the other guard. He made quick work of him, killing the man in his sleep before he hauled both of their bodies, disposing of them in a spare room on the other side of the hallway. He closed the empty room's door softly before opening the door to what he hoped was the bedroom of Omei. He turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Itachi entered the room only to figure out immediately that it was the wrong one. Two single beds sat side by side from each other, medium sized pink and black comforters covering the two small forms of Omei's twin girls. Their long blond hair was braided against the side of their heads in an identical manor, which made them look like clones. Itachi clenched his hands into fists before slowly backing out of the room. These two innocent children didn't deserve to die over their father's stupidity. Itachi's orders weren't to kill them, as long as they didn't see what he was about to do they didn't need to die. His gut clenched slightly at the realization he was about to orphan them both.

The raven made his way over to the second room and almost sighed in relief as he saw the two adult forms asleep on the bed in the center of the large bedroom. Thankfully they seemed to be sleeping slightly apart from each other which made the fact that he might not have to kill the woman too, more possible. He approached the side of the bed where Omei was sleeping. His upper body was exposed, the blanket only covering his lower half. He had light brown hair that spread around his head on his pillow. His partner looked peaceful as she slept, completely unaware of ANBU member currently in their bedroom. She, like their daughters had long blond hair except hers wasn't braided.

Itachi retrieved a kunai from the pouch at his hip, he raised it up in preparation for stabbing the rogue shinobi in the chest but a movement next to the man, made Itachi freeze. He glanced over toward the blonde woman at Omei's side to see her bright blue eyes wide open and trained on him. Time stood still and before Itachi could react the woman sat straight up and a loud scream escaped her mouth. Thinking quickly Itachi spun the kunai around his finger to make it so the blade was pointing outward before he lunged forward slightly and slashed at the woman's throat, cutting off her scream and replacing it with a horrible gurgling sound as she immediately began to choke on her own blood.

The small yet loud display had woken Itachi's target and the now wide awake Omei had Itachi at a disadvantage as the raven was leaning over the man's body slightly. Omei's hands immediately wrapped around Itachi's neck tightly making the raven choke out a gasp as the brown haired man's fingers pressed against his esophagus, cutting off his air supply. Itachi used his left hand to press against Omei's chest pulling himself away from him slightly before bringing down his right hand that still held the bloody kunai stabbing it forcefully into the top of Omei's chest, a few inches away from his heart.

The pain the stab caused made Omei's hands lose their grip and Itachi used the advantage to stab the kunai directly into the man's heart. Omei's eyes widened and he coughed, a splatter of blood hitting Itachi's mask.

"My girls." He wheezed "Don't…hurt them." Itachi's eyes widened, not expecting the guy to speak. Omei then stopped fighting against the raven and fell limp onto his bed, his eyes fluttering shut. Itachi's eyes shot toward the woman. She was dead too her eyes wide with fear and her hand covered in her own blood as it lay limp against her throat.

Itachi had been so preoccupied with his task he hadn't realized the bedroom door had been opened and two small four year old girls stood and watched as a mysterious man did something bad to their parents. Itachi's heart squeezed painfully hard in panic when he saw the two girls. He locked eyes with them and took a step forward around the bed and toward the pair. They both screamed at the same time, fear etched into their faces before they took off in a dead run down the hallway. With a curse Itachi ran after them, following them into their bedroom.

He found the two girls cowering in the corner of their room, crying and clinging to each other. Itachi felt his chest tighten at the pure terror that was rolling off of them in waves as he approached them. Itachi then did something that he had never done before in all his time as an ANBU member. He removed his mask. Seeing the two girls so scared made Itachi feel sick. The part that made him even sicker was the fact that they had seen what he did, that meant that he would have to do something he had never had to do before. He had to kill a child.

He raised his hands slightly in an action that showed he meant no harm to them as he approached further until he was right in front of them. He knelt down to their level and spoke in his softest voice.

"Shhh, it's okay. I won't hurt you." He lied smoothly. The little girls still looked frightened but the grip they had on each other loosened a little.

"Tou-san, Kaa-san. You hurt them." One of them cried, sniffling slightly.

"No, no I didn't." Itachi assured softly as his mind worked a mile a minute to come up with a believable story as to what went on in that room. "It was all a trick. Those weren't your parents, they were fakes. You're father hired me to stage their deaths. It was to protect you." Itachi explained hoping the two girls would believe him, the last thing he wanted was for them to be terrified in the last moments of their life. What Omei had said earlier flashed through his mind _"My girls, don't hurt them." _This was the last thing Itachi wanted to do and it killed him that he had to do it anyways.

"Really? So…our parents okay?" The other girl asked, her eyes wide. Itachi nodded enthusiastically, plastering a fake smile on his face, hoping it looked reassuring.

"In order for me to get you back to them though I need you two to go to sleep. What are your names?" Itachi asked still kneeling in front of them. They had drifted apart slightly and weren't clinging to each other anymore.

"I'm Yunīku and this is my sister Amai." Yunīku said starting to calm down. Both of their tears had ceased which made Itachi slightly relieved.

"Yunīku and Amai, I want to know what you both love to do the most?" he paused smiling again "If you could do anything right this moment what would it be?" The girls' eyes brightened at his words.

"I love to play with the horses we have." Yunīku said enthusiastically

"I like to play ninja's with daddy!" Amai added after her sister. Itachi smiled sadly before he spoke again.

"That sounds like fun!" he paused before pointing at his eyes "You see these black and red eyes?" he asked, they both nodded "They are magic, they can help you sleep and they'll make sure you dream of doing those things that you love." He said with a smile. The two girls' eyes widened and twin smiles adorned their precious faces. "How does that sound?" Itachi asked forcing his voice to stay even as the thought of what he was about to do haunted his mind.

"That sounds cool." Yunīku said in awe.

"Good, all you guys have to do it look into my eyes and it will happen okay? So look into them now." He said. The girls obeyed and instantly their two bodies went soft as the gen-jutsu sucked each of them into their different dreams. A small smile could be seen on each of their faces as Itachi caught their limp bodies before they fell over.

He laid both of them down on the floor onto their stomachs before removing the very kunai he used to kill their parents from his pouch. With a heavy heart he felt around the back of Yunīku's neck for the precise spot before digging the kunai in and severing her spinal cord with ease, killing the girl instantly. Itachi felt his stomach roll and salty tears sting at the back of his eyes. Why was this so hard? He had never had to kill a child before but it should be the same as killing an adult. Itachi knew that wasn't the case. These two girls were innocent, they hadn't done one bad thing in their life and here he was ending it because they had walked in on something they shouldn't have. Itachi assumed the reason they had gotten up was because of their mothers scream but he wasn't positive.

He gritted his teeth against the onslaught of emotions and with slightly shaky hands he moved onto to Amai. He repeated the actions of severing her spinal cord and before he could let his emotions take over he stood shoving the awful feelings down and put his blood splattered ANBU mask back on. With one last glance at the two sweet children he had just murdered he spun on his heel and left the room. The mission was over and Itachi had never felt so unhappy about the way it had ended, even if it would be considered a success.

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**Awwwe :'( our poor 'Tachi, I felt horrible making him do that :( How did you all like it? This chapter wasn't for nothing, the events will come back into play in later chapters. **

**Next chapter should be up no later than Monday Sept 29th :)**

**REVEIW REVEIW REVEIW my lovelies, I do rather enjoy your opinions! :D **

**Unsigned Reveiws from previous chapter:**_**Guest:** Haha, yay I'm so happy I made you laugh, that was the plan, I try to add something funny each chapter :P Thanks for the review and I hope I can get that reaction out of you more often xD_


	11. Reunion

**Woot another early update everyone! :D As always thank you so much for the 14 reviews. Due to popular demand, here is some more ItaSaku fluffy fluff! :D**

**I don't own Naruto, but I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Chapter 11 - Reunion

"You did well Team Crow." Hiruzen told the kneeling men before him. Itachi was in the middle and Shisui and Genma were on either side of him as he briefed the hokage and other council members on the success of their mission. The three team members had their heads bowed respectfully.

"If the children trusted you, I don't think it was necessary to kill them. You could have spared them and brought them back to the village." Danzo added as an afterthought. A flicker of regret and guilt shot through Itachi's chest. His eyes squeezed shut as Yunīku and Amai's innocent faces flashed through his mind. He could have saved them? He didn't have to kill them? Itachi felt guilty for doing it but now he downright felt disgusted in himself. He felt sick to his stomach.

As if sensing this Hiruzen was quick to speak up about the matter

"Now, now Danzo." He started, his voice disapproving "Itachi did what he thought was the right thing to do. I respect his decision and you should do the same."

"Hm." Was Danzo's only response. Itachi's jaw clenched but he stayed quiet. Why would Danzo say that? Why would he make Itachi feel worse for the sake of it? Shisui glanced over with a worried look at his cousin's stiff form. On the way into Konoha territory, he was too busy teasing Itachi about the morning he woke him up from that 'interesting' dream to notice his best friend was hurting. He felt like a horrible friend. With an inward sigh he returned to looking at the ground, promising himself he would address the situation with Itachi once they were dismissed.

"Is there anything else we need to discuss?"

"I believe we have briefed you on the entire mission, that was all that needed to be discussed." Itachi said his voice hard and slightly strained.

"Very well you three are dismissed. You will all have the week off to rest."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The three men said in unison before standing from their kneeling positions and heading toward the door.

"Itachi." Hiruzen called causing the raven to turn around immediately. The third hokage didn't say a word, he just gave Itachi a look that he knew well. The younger man nodded in understanding of the silent order before leaving the room with his two teammates.

Sure Itachi had the week off but he wouldn't be spending it doing nothing. The look Hiruzen had given him was a silent order to be watchful this week. Gather more intel on the going-ons of the clan and reporting to him at the earliest convenience.

"See you guys in a week." Genma called heading in the direction of his home. "Later, Pussy!" he laughed causing Shisui to grit his teeth in annoyance. He shoved his annoyance down for now and instead decided to address the issue about Itachi. The two friends walked side by side in comfortable silence for a few minutes as they headed in the direction of the compound.

"You okay?" Shisui finally asked. Itachi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hn, I'm fine." He assured, looking back ahead of him. Shisui frowned

"I know you're not." He answered "I didn't realize it before, but I think killing those two girls messed you up a lot more than you're letting on." He finished bluntly. Itachi glared at the road, he didn't want to talk about his right now.

"I'm fine." He said his voice hard. Shisui knew then that talking about this with him right now would be futile. Silence fell over them both again as they walked into the Uchiha compound. Shisui stopped at the corner where he would turn to go home and grabbed onto Itachi's arm. The younger man stopped and looked down at Shisui's hand curiously.

"Let it go, Itachi. Nothing could have been done about it. Dwelling on it will only make you feel worse about yourself. It wasn't your fault and you need to realize that sooner rather than later." He said completely serious. Itachi shrugged

"Sure." He said seemingly indifferent. Shisui knew better though. His cousin could be read like an open book through his dark eyes, and all the older man could see was pain. He released Itachi's arm with a nod and could only hope his words would get through to the man.

"See you later?" Shisui asked beginning to turn the corner. Itachi nodded before spinning on his heel and walking in the direction of his home. The raven found himself slightly looking forward to a certain pink haired Kunoichi that would be waiting for him.

000

Sakura felt the familiar chakra approaching the door and a giddy excitement coursed through her unexpectedly. She missed him. It shocked her how much she actually did miss the man. He had become someone important in her life as of late. Sakura knew she was getting attached and she also knew it was a really bad idea. For one it was unlikely the man would return her feelings, two, he was Sasuke's brother, and three liking him more than a friend could seriously compromise her mission. What if she ended up having to stop him by force? Could she kill him if it was needed? At this point Sakura didn't know, she had come to the realization it was too late to question her feelings.

Being around Itachi as much as she had been in the following two months she had come to the conclusion about one thing in particular. There was no way Itachi killed his clan just because he could. There had to have been a solid reason behind it, it made no sense for him to do it at random. It wasn't the way Itachi was as a person. He was kind and gentle with the people he cared about, which was his family. Sasuke was so important to him that Sakura couldn't fathom why the man would kill Sasuke's innocence and take everything he loved away from him in the blink of an eye. It just _didn't _make sense. None of it did and Sakura was determined to figure it all out and stop it.

Sakura jumped from Itachi's bed where she had been laying down reading a book and dashed out of the bedroom door, leaving a frantic Tsuki behind as he tried to keep up. Mikoto and Fugaku weren't home again and Sasuke was due home from the Academy any minute now so Sakura wasn't too worried about getting caught without Tsuki. The front door opened and Sakura's heart began to beat at a slightly faster pace as Itachi walked through the door. Without a thought she walked up to him and hugged him, just like she did when she was saying goodbye before his mission.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and without hesitation Itachi reciprocated the hug. He pulled her close to his body and leant down slightly to press his nose into her pink tresses. He inhaled silently and enjoyed her flowery scent. Itachi was a little surprised when some of the tension in his body began to drain just by Sakura's touch alone. They stood there for a minute and Sakura reluctantly pulled back to look into Itachi eyes. She was about to smile but it fell flat when she saw the sadness there. Her heart hammered in her chest, something was wrong.

"Where is Shisui is he okay? What's wrong, you look upset?" She asked in a rush, worry obvious in her voice. Itachi couldn't help but smile softly at the way she worried over him and his cousin. He went to unclip his ANBU vest before calmly walking past her while he answered her question.

"I'm fine. The whole team came back in one piece, so Shisui is perfectly fine as well." He said walking up the stairs knowing the pinkette was following. Tsuki was perched on the top of the step and disappeared when Itachi nodded at him.

With an unusually exaggerated sigh Itachi flopped onto his bed, his body bouncing slightly on the mattress.

"I didn't get you in trouble when I summoned Tsuki did I?" He asked after a moment of silence. Sakura sat down on her bed, the bed she hadn't used the entire two weeks Itachi was gone. The pinkette had taken what Itachi said to heart and slept in his bed. She remembered the day Tsuki disappeared. It freaked her out for a few minutes before she realized Itachi had summoned him away. Little did Tsuki and Itachi know that Sakura had taken full advantage of being completely alone in the house without supervision.

***Flashback Starts***

_Sakura was alone for the first time in almost two months of beginning her mission here. The house was quiet, her guard bird was gone and all the pinkette could think about was the fact that this was the perfect time to do some digging. Although the underlying fear of getting caught somehow, loomed over her head, Sakura thought up a way to get around the possibility of getting caught. She made a clone of herself. _

_The clone would search the house for anything that she deemed important while the real Sakura would stay in the bedroom where she was when Tsuki left. If the bird returned he would try the bedroom first to find her. When that happened she would simply call her clone back to her and receive its memories and any information it gathered. It was perfect and Sakura hoped beyond hope her searching would bring something of importance up. She needed information and soon._

_After her clone was made it walked with ease toward Fugaku's study on the east side of the home. She opened the door and snuck in, quietly closing the door behind her. Fugaku's study was large compared to some of the other rooms in the house. There was a large bookcase that covered the entire right wall that was filled with many different scrolls and books that looked important. His desk sat at the back of the room and behind it was a semi large window that looked out into the beautiful garden in the backyard. There were a few potted plants throughout the room that gave it a homier feel. Sakura figured Mikoto took care of them and kept them watered because Fugaku didn't seem like the type of person to do something like that himself._

_Sakura's clone wasted no more time observing the decorations before walking toward the desk. She started by searching through the drawers and unfortunately only finding empty scrolls and meaningless paperwork. She ran her finger along the inside edge of every drawer to see if there was a hidden compartment. She was losing hope with the desk in general when her finger felt a slight indent in the seam of the last drawer. She curled her finger underneath it and almost squealed with excitement when the bottom popped up and out of place to reveal the hidden space. _

_Sakura's excitement plummeted when she realized the area was empty. With slight annoyance she let the bottom click back into place and she carefully closed the drawer. After doing a quick overview of the small amount of papers on Fugaku's desk the pinkette gave up and after making sure everything was in the exact same place as she had found it she moved on to the bookcase._

_She was hoping to find _something_ she could use for information but she could find nothing. All the scrolls and books lining the entire wall had nothing to do with clan related things. Frustrated and annoyed Sakura left the office. She headed to Mikoto and Fugaku's bedroom and searched through their large closet. All she managed to find there were a box of old pictures of Sasuke and Itachi when they were younger. They were absolutely adorable but Sakura couldn't lose focus. _

_The clone figured out she wouldn't be finding anything useful and disappeared. Sakura instantly got the memories of her clone and it made her grit her teeth in frustration_

_"Damn it!" Nothing, absolutely nothing. What the hell was she going to do!?_

***Flashback End***

"No you didn't, no one was home at the time thankfully. Besides you didn't end up needing him again anyways." Sakura said with a small smile.

"How was your two weeks?" he asked again. Sakura grinned, he was in an unusually talkative mood. She stood from her spot on the floor and sat beside the raven as he lounged sideways on his bed, his legs dangling off the side and his feet resting on the floor. She scooted back so she was leaning against the wall before looking down at him. His eyes which had been previously closed were now open and looking at her. The pain she had saw earlier was still clearly there but it wasn't as potent as before. Clearly talking to her was helping ease his mind off of whatever was bothering him.

"It was okay. How about yours, did you miss me?" She asked teasingly, her small nose scrunching up slightly. He grinned before closing his eyes.

"Kind of." He allowed his grin not leaving his face.

"Ouch, just kind of?" she asked again sounding offended. Itachi knew she wasn't serious, he also knew he wasn't being completely truthful. He actually missed her a lot, if the dream he had anything to say about it.

"I did. More than I thought I would." He said truthfully, his eyes still closed. His mind wandered back to his mission without his permission and a frown marred his features. Sakura took notice right away.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked concerned. Itachi's eyes peaked open again to look at her. The worried expression on her face made his frown deepen. He didn't like when people worried about him.

"I'm fine, Sakura. What did I say about worrying about me?" he asked raising an eyebrow before going back to closing his eyes and folding his arms behind his head. "Just have a bit of a headache is all." He admitted. He wasn't lying really, he did have a headache, he just wasn't telling the whole truth.

Itachi felt two cool fingertips press against his temples. He opened his eyes again to be met with Sakura's cautious stare.

"May I help with the pain?" she asked patiently waiting for his approval. He waited a moment before nodding and closing his eyes. Sakura's cool healing chakra flowed from her finger tips and into his head, instantly calming the ache there. Itachi sighed contently as the pain slowly drifted away. Sakura suddenly gasped and her chakra left his body. His eyes flew open and he looked at her worried facial expression

"What? What's wrong?" he asked hurriedly, pushing himself up slightly so his elbows were bent and supporting his weight. Sakura didn't say a weird, instead she placed her hand calmly around Itachi's throat, her hand was slightly smaller than the bruises lining his skin but it was definitely a hand mark. Someone had tried to choke him. The feeling made her stomach clench in disgust.

As soon as Sakura's hands covered his sore throat he knew what she had seen. He knew Omei's hand had bruised him but he didn't realize it was that visible. Itachi softly wrapped his hand around her wrist and pried it away from his throat.

"I'm okay, Sakura. I'm not a porcelain doll I can take a lot more than a small bruise on my neck." This was a foreign feeling for him. He had never had to reassure someone else of his wellbeing, no one, besides his mother of course had really concerned themselves over his health that much. So the way Sakura worried over him was different. He couldn't say he didn't like it though, it was a nice enough change. It just meant she cared about him enough to worry and want to take care of him. Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Can I fade the bruises for you at least? Does your throat hurt?" She asked as he let go of her wrist.

"Hn, it hurts a little bit." He admitted "And if fading the bruises will stop you from worrying so much go ahead. But I really am fine." He said with a small smile. Sakura was happy to see the smile wasn't forced. Clearly part of him enjoyed her mother-hen nature. With a small smile of her own she set to work healing the bruises. Itachi had laid back down and let her do her thing.

000

"Nii-san, where are we going?" Sasuke asked once the three of them exited the compound and went out into the village.

"Just for a walk Sasuke." Itachi said with a smile. It had been four days since Itachi had gotten back from his mission. Sakura had noticed the pain in his eyes slowly dissipate but it was always still there a little bit. She wished he would confide in her, maybe she could help take his pain away. She knew that would never happen though. The situation obviously occurred during his mission and he would never be able to tell her about it. It was against the rules. Especially ANBU missions.

They had spent a bunch of time together and Sakura had to say she loved it. She knew she was getting too attached at this point. Whenever he would go to his clan meetings she would miss him and, quite frankly, it pissed her off. This was a mission and she was feeling things for Itachi that she wasn't supposed to, but she couldn't shove the feelings down anymore. They were stubborn and always resurfaced as soon as she would see his smile or hear his laugh. She had been lucky enough to hear that laugh more often.

The three of them sat down at a booth at the local dango shop to get out of the hot weather. Itachi order four sticks of the treat and three glasses of water.

"Sasuke." Sakura voiced, trying to get the young boys attention. When he looked up she continued "Have you ever heard your brother snort before?" she asked with a small laugh. Sasuke shook his head before looking over at his Aniki.

"Snort? No…" the boys said trailing off

"Sakura…" Itachi warned looking at her sternly, but she could see the small amount of amusement shining in his eyes. Sakura ignored his warning and wiggled her eyebrows at Sasuke.

"Wanna see him do it?" She asked with a wink. Sasuke nodded enthusiastically. Sakura immediately let her hand dive down and maneuver its way up the raven's shirt to just the right spot above his pant-line. Itachi's whole body was tense, his hands gripping the side of the table as she wiggled her finger against the soft skin there. The older man tried his hardest to hold in his laughter but it came out and much to Sakura and Sasuke's delight it was in the form of a small snort then a short bit of laughter.

The pinkette removed her hand when Sasuke got lost in a fit of boyish giggles

"Ita…chi-nii!" the boy gasped breathless "Do it again Sakura!"

"No." Itachi said trying to sound serious but couldn't help but smile at how happy and carefree his little brother was being. "No more…I have a better idea." Itachi said suddenly standing from his spot beside Sakura. He made his way around the table and watched with amusement the sudden worry in Sasuke's eyes as he approached him. "I think it's 'Tickle Sasuke Time'" Itachi said wasting no time in attacking the younger boy's side with merciless precision. The loud giggles and laughter could be heard throughout the shop making some of the other patrons turn and smile at the display.

"Aniki! Sto-ha-op!" the boy cried, tears welling in his little eyes. His laughter was infectious and Sakura found herself laughing along with him.

It was then that their order arrived and Itachi reluctantly returned to his seat. Sasuke wiped at his eyes and tried to catch his breath as Itachi pushed a glass of water so it was in front of him. Sakura glanced between the two men and smiled. Seeing them interact made her think of the future and what a shit storm it was for both of them. Mainly Sasuke as far as she could tell. They all conversed casually as Sakura and Itachi ate the sticky treat they ordered. Sakura became full pretty quickly and held up the last half eaten skewer to Itachi.

"Want the last couple?" She asked

"You don't want it?"

"No, I'm full. Besides clearly dango is your favourite dessert food." She said with a laugh while he quickly ate her leftovers.

"Oh what makes you say that?"

"The way you devoured them so quickly was a dead give-away." She said with a small laugh. Itachi smirked

"Well you aren't wrong." He admitted

000

_It was dark and silent in the room. So dark he couldn't see his hand in front of him. Itachi furrowed his brow when turning his sharingan on did nothing to help at all either. It was like he was in a dark void of nothingness. That's when heard it, the whimpering of a small child. Dread pooled in his stomach, he knew what was happening, he was trapped in this dream again. This dream his subconscious tortured him with this entire week. _

_"Please." A little girl cried in the darkness _

_"Please, Itachi, don't hurt us!" Another sobbed. Itachi's hands turned to fists as he grit his teeth. He couldn't take much more of this, he was ashamed in himself. It was just a mission, he had to do it so why was his mind torturing him for it. _

_"We can keep a secret, 'Tachi." Itachi recognized the calmer voice of Yunīku. Suddenly the room was a lot brighter. The walls and floor were white and bare. Itachi looked down at himself to see he was wearing is ANBU uniform, his blood splattered mask clipped to his hip._

_He glanced up sharply to see the two precious girls that refused to leave his head standing in the center of the room a few feet in front of him. Their long blonde hair was straight, tumbling over their shoulders smoothly. Yunīku's bright blue eyes and Amai's dark eyes gazed at the man in front of them._

_"Why did you hurt us?" Amai asked her small lip trembling. A sharp ache stabbed at Itachi's chest at the look of pure hurt and sadness on the girl's face. Itachi dropped to his knees in front of them, his head bowed_

_"I'm sorry!" He cried, tears pricking his eyes, he was going to cry. It had been so many years since he had cried, he had only been a little boy the last time and he had been scolded by his father for showing weakness, he had never cried since. He was weak. He couldn't complete one stupid mission without losing his hold on his emotions. Wet hot tears scalded the skin of his face as they ran down. Itachi bowed deeper in front of the two girls "I'm so very sorry Yunīku and Amai. You didn't deserve to die and I wish beyond anything I could go back in time and change things. I could have brought you back to the village, you could have been happy!"_

_"But you didn't." Yunīku said suddenly, her voice hard with something that sounded a lot like anger. Itachi's head snapped up. "You killed us! You took away our lives, because of _you _we will never be able to grow up. It's all your fault." Itachi's tears started falling faster as each word she spoke stabbed the knife of guilt harder into his heart._

_"Itachi."_

_"I'm sorry!" he cried again clawing at the pain in his chest_

_"Itachi…."_

_"I don't deserve your forgiveness!"_

_"Itachi!" _

_Blackness surrounded Itachi again and it took him a second to realize he was waking up._

It was happening again. Sakura sat up in her bed as she watched Itachi go through his dream. The entire week he was off he had been having the same nightmare over and over again. This one was different from the time he had attacked her when she woke him. He didn't seem scared or in pain this time. No this dream made him very sad. Just two nights ago he had actually cried in his sleep. That was a major shock to her system, she had never seen a man like Itachi cry. Then again Itachi was the first guy she had ever spent so much time with, even sharing the same room. Maybe even Kakashi-sensei had his moments when no one was around. It's not something she will ever find out though.

Itachi was whimpering in his sleep again and it the sound cut at Sakura's heart. Something horrible happened during his mission a week ago and it was affecting him badly. She didn't know what could have possibly rattled Itachi so badly and she didn't think she could sit by and let the dream run its course again for the sixth night in a row.

**"**Yunīku…" he mumbled, his voice sounding broken. Who was this Yunīku? Sakura didn't recognize the name. "Sorr…Amai.." he mumbled again before a quiet sob escaped his chest. Sakura couldn't take it anymore. She had to wake him up! Even if he attacked her, this time she would be ready. She couldn't let this dream go on anymore, she couldn't let him torture himself.

Sakura stood from her bed and quickly made her way toward the troubled man. She crawled onto his bed so she was kneeling in between him and the wall. She brushed his soft bangs out of his face and her heart squeezed at the sight of the tear tracks that ran from the outer corner of his eyes before disappearing into his hairline. He was crying again. She wiped away the tears before caressing his face lightly.

"Itachi." She called softly. His chest was rapidly rising and falling with his breathing but he gave no clue that he was planning on waking up. "Itachi…" she said again, nudging his shoulder lightly. Still nothing.

"Itachi!" she called loudly giving him a harder nudge. That seemed to work as the raven bolted up right with a quiet cry. Without thinking much Sakura immediately wrapped her arms around his bare torso from her positon by his side. She was slightly in front of him so it came off as sort of an awkward hug. Soft sobs came from his mouth as reality came crashing back to him.

"You're alright Itachi, I've got you." She said softly, soothingly. She slowly lowered him back down to the bed and he gave zero resistance. When Sakura looked at his face she frowned in sadness. His eyes were squeezed shut and tears leaked continuously out of the sides of them.

Sakura guessed that he was maybe a tad embarrassed at being caught crying, but some things couldn't be helped and Sakura was the last person who would judge him for it. Sakura laid down next to him and raked her hands through his hair calmly. His breathing calmed and he turned toward her slightly. She froze as she felt his arms wrap around her and pull her impossibly close to him. His forehead rested against her upper chest and she could feel the wetness of his tears through her thin tank-top. She relaxed her body once she realized that he was showing a rare need of comfort, he trusted her enough to receive that comfort from her. She felt honoured if she was being honest with herself.

Sakura felt like it was ten minutes they sat there. Eventually Itachi's breathing calmed and his tears stopped. He had yet to release his hold on her though so Sakura pulled back slightly before reaching up with the arm that wasn't underneath Itachi's body to run it through his ebony locks again. He sighed in contentment before Sakura leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his slightly sweaty forehead. Itachi stiffened, not expecting the feeling of her soft lips on his skin. Sakura also stiffened feeling like maybe she went too far in her efforts to comfort him.

Itachi looked up and their eyes met, their faces only inches apart from one another. Itachi didn't know if it was the whirlwind of unknown emotions running rapidly through his body or if he just didn't care anymore and wanted to try something out but his face inched closer to Sakura's, his eyes never leaving hers as he pressed his lips against hers. Itachi watched as Sakura's eyes widened to the size of saucers and time seemed to stand still at that very moment.

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**So...crazy cliffy there eh? *dodges tomatoes thrown at her* hehe you guys love me still right? I was a little nervous to post this kiss part, I hope it wasn't too soon. Sakura's reaction will be in the beginning of the next chapter! I will try to update early! **

_**How do you guys think Sakura will react? Tell me in a review! :D till next time (Oct 6 at the latest)**_

**Thanks again for all the support and reviews, I appreciate them all! :D**


	12. Reactions & Decisions

***chokes on drink when she sees how many reviews she got last chapter*...18 reviews!? *sobs* DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW AWESOME YOU GUYS ARE!? LIKE SERIOUSLY I LOVE YOU ALL! :D I am now at a total of 119 reviews T-T im so damn happy! :')**

**I hope you don't think Itachi is too OOC in this chapter, I struggled a little with that so please don't judge me too hard Dx**

**Anyways here is the next chapter a little early, it would have been out sooner but I ran into some issues during the beginning. Thanks to Li. Chan93 though, those issues got resolved, this woman is my savior I swear xD**

**I don't not own Naruto , Kishimoto-Sensei does!**

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Chapter 12 – Reactions and Decisions.

_Itachi looked up and their eyes met, their faces only inches apart from one another. Itachi didn't know if it was the whirlwind of unknown emotions running rapidly through his body or if he just didn't care anymore and wanted to try something out but his face inched closer to Sakura's, his eyes never leaving hers as he pressed his lips against hers. Itachi watched as Sakura's eyes widened to the size of saucers and time seemed to stand still at that very moment. _

His lips were warm as they pressed softly against hers. Sakura couldn't grasp or even begin to understand the raging emotions flowing through her. He was kissing her, which meant he returned at least a fraction of her feelings. Her lips remained unmoving and Itachi began to pull away, thinking that maybe this wasn't what she wanted.

_'No!'_ Sakura thought quickly before she moved forward, her hand coming to rest against the back of Itachi's head as she pulled him close to her again. She may not know exactly what she wanted after all this but one thing was for sure. Right at this very moment she wanted to continue to kiss the amazing man next to her. Their lips crashed together again and a small grunt of surprise escaped Itachi but he quickly recovered and kissed her back. So maybe he was right, this was something they both wanted.

His hands immediately reached up and cupped the sides of Sakura's face as their lips moved smoothly against one another's. Their eyes were shut against the onslaught of feelings coursing through their bodies. Sakura gasped when she felt the tip of Itachi's tongue touch her lips. The gasp caused her mouth to open slightly and the raven slipped his tongue inside. He sat up while Sakura moved sideways before straddling his lap. They were now face to face, their tongues brushing up against the others softly, memorizing the inside of each other's mouths. Their breathing began to pick up as Sakura's fingers wound their way into Itachi's long, ebony hair. She tugged softly at the roots making the raven suck in a sharp breath through his nose.

Their body heat spiked as Sakura felt Itachi's hands trail down from her face, to her neck and down her sides, only to rest lightly on her hips. His long pale finger gripped the soft curves of her hips before pulling her closer. The sound of a bedroom door opening across the hall shocked the pinkette out of their mindless make-out session like someone poured a bucket of cold water over her head. She suddenly scrambled off Itachi's lap, her breathing still heavy from their activities. Sakura looked at Itachi with wide eyes. His eyes were slightly hooded with what she could only guess was desire and Sakura would be lying if she said she wasn't turned on as well. But this was wrong. They couldn't do this. She was on a mission, but at this moment she wanted to continue, she wanted to kiss this man until their lips were bruised and neither of them could take it anymore.

Itachi watched Sakura's mind reel from her spot at the end of the bed. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him. As the situation wound down and the awkward silence consumed them, Itachi flopped down onto his back with an exasperated sigh. He pulled the blanket over himself so just his lower body was covered.

"Itachi…" Sakura said, her voice sounding shaky. "I want to continue…but we can't." she finished, her voice trembling with something. Itachi rose up onto his elbows to look at her. His brow furrowed, it sounded like she was about to cry but her eyes were dry.

"Why can't we?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "Look Sakura, I don't know what I feel for you but I can honestly say no girl has ever made me feel like this before." Itachi continued his voice beginning to sound more and more confused. A lump formed in Sakura's throat at the look of sheer uncertainty on Itachi's face.

"We can't." Sakura said again. Her mind wandered to the sound of the bedroom door they heard moments ago and she knew what excuse she could use without giving anything away about her mission. "Your father would never approve for one and if he ever found out we were together he would kick me out. If I get kicked out I'll be homeless." Itachi frowned at that.

"I don't care what my father thinks. He thinks I will be marrying someone from our clan. That's usually how it goes. I will be clan head soon and I'll need a wife eventually. I don't agree with arranged marriages. I want to marry the person I love, I don't want her to be chosen for me." He paused "You're right though, not only would my father disapprove but the clan elders would forbid it."

Sakura slumped in relief, yet at the same time disappointment when it sounded like Itachi was agreeing with her.

"However," He continued "Do you really want more than friendship with me?" he asked looking at her steadily. Her eyes widened slightly. She did want to be more than friends with him, but what if she said that and he wouldn't take no for an answer? Then her plan of avoiding all this would be for nothing. "I can tell if you're lying to me, Sakura. So don't even try." He warned. With a sigh Sakura gave him an answer.

"Yes, I would like more than friendship with you." She said honestly, breaking their eye contact. "But it won't work." He was silent for a few moments as if considering what she said. The silence forced her to look up and lock eyes with him again. He was sitting up now, his legs crossed and his forearms resting on the tops of his thighs; supporting his upper body as he looked at her. She swallowed at the intense, unreadable emotion in his eyes.

"One date." He said finally. Sakura frowned

"What?"

"Go on one date with me." He said again. Her eyes widened.

"Itachi we can't-" Suddenly he was right next to her looking at her with another unreadable expression. She blushed when his hand came up to cup the side of her face. His thumb rubbed the soft skin of her cheek gently as he continued to look her in the eye. The pinkette couldn't look away. Her mind was screaming no, that this was a bad idea. Going on even one date would string their feelings along and make it harder to separate in the future. Sakura knew, even if Itachi didn't that she wouldn't be around for much longer. The massacre happened in about four more months, regardless of the outcome she would be going home and back to her own time. But the uncharacteristic warmth in his expression made her go against her better judgement.

"Yes." She whispered "One date." She allowed. Itachi smiled then. The genuine way his lips stretched and his dark eyes lit up took Sakura's breath away. He was smiling at her, because of her. His expression was contagious and she felt her own lips mirror his. She couldn't deny that this was what she wanted, but the nagging feeling in the back of her head that told her they would both end up hurt in the end continued to bug her. For now though, she would push that feeling away and see what happened after their first date.

A gasp escaped Sakura suddenly when Itachi's lips pressed against hers again. Her hand reached up to lay gently against the side of his neck before her eyes fluttered shut and she surrendered to the feelings he elicited inside her. It was an innocent kiss and soon he pulled back, his smile still firmly on his face.

"Thank you." He murmured pressing their foreheads together. This Itachi she was witnessing now was even more caring and gentle then the man she was around the entire time she had been here. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy it far too much. She answered his thank you with a small smile before she pulled away.

"We should go to bed." She said then and got off the bed to return to her spot on the floor. A hand grasping her wrist lightly, stopped her in her tracks.

"Stay?" He asked suddenly, sadness filling those dark eyes again. Her eyes widened in shock. He wanted her to share his bed? Sakura was about to refuse but the sadness in his eyes made her stop. She knew he was thinking about his dream again.

"Itachi." She whispered before taking a step forward so she was right beside the bed. She laid her hand against the side of his face lightly and watched with surprise as he leant into her touch slightly.

"What happened on that mission? What is haunting you so badly?" she paused as he opened his mouth to no doubt tell her he couldn't say anything "You can tell me without divulging vital information." She informed him. His eyes lowered to look at his lap. Itachi reached up and removed her hand from his face and grasped it tightly in his. He was silent as he tugged her toward him, gesturing with a jerk of his head for her to lay down with him on the bed. She did with little hesitation and got comfortable with him spooning her from behind.

The silence in the room continued after Itachi had placed the blanket over them both and Sakura gave up on him saying anything to her about his mission. She was just about to drift off, encompassed by Itachi's warmth behind her, when his soft, sad voice filled the silence.

"I had to kill two innocents." Itachi shortly explained. Sakura stiffened before turning toward him.

"Itachi, that happens a lot. Don't beat yourself up over i-"

"They were both children." He interrupted, his eyes haunted. Sakura gasped. "I've never had to kill a child before…" he said his voice filled with pain. Sakura had never seen such raw emotion on Itachi's face before. It was alarming. The pinkette had no idea what to say to help sooth him.

"Itachi…" she said her voice sad. "I'm so sorry." She whispered wrapping her arm around his shoulder before pulling his warm body toward her in a one armed hug. She felt him bury his face into her neck and hair before inhaling deeply.

"I'm such a monster." He ground out, his voice thick with emotion. Sakura suddenly pulled back and gave him a stern look

"No!" she said adamantly. "You are _not _a monster!" He simply looked at her blankly and Sakura knew he didn't believe her.

"Itachi, I have never killed a child but I can only imagine the torture you are going through. But we, as ninja, have to do what we have to do. Sometimes the things we do aren't that bad but others eat away at us forever. What you did was not your fault! So let it go, don't torture yourself anymore. Please." She begged. He looked into her emerald green orbs and gave her a short nod. It wasn't as easy as she made it sound but he knew in some way she was correct. He knew it wasn't right for him to beat himself up over it. But the guilt of taking away those precious girls' lives will always haunt him. The trick was to push the painful memory aside and move on. But never would he forget them.

After Sakura was satisfied that her words had at least a little bit of an effect on the raven she snuggled closer to his warmth and sighed contently. She felt right, she felt safe in his arms and no longer did her feelings shock or worry her, because Itachi seemed to feel the exact same about her.

"Goodnight." She whispered into his chest. She felt his chin rest on the top of her head.

"Goodnight." He replied, the rumble of his chest vibrating against Sakura's cheek as she slowly nodded off into a comfortable sleep.

000

Itachi's eyes opened only to be assaulted by the morning sun. Squinting slightly as he waited for his eyes to adjust he noticed something warm curled into his side. He craned his neck awkwardly toward the being beside him and realized it was Sakura. At some point during the night she had moved further down and curled into him. Her right arm was thrown over his stomach and her face was buried in his side, her soft breath coming out in puffs against his skin. She was still fast asleep and he watched with slight interest, resisting the urge to smirk as he felt her face nuzzle impossibly deeper into his side as if unconsciously seeking the warmth his body gave off.

Sakura began to feel her senses come back to her, she noticed her face felt warm. The smell her nose was picking up was a very masculine scent. A mixture of the woods surrounding Konoha, the trees and earth and something else she couldn't quite put her finger on. Her arm was wrapped around something too solid and warm to be a pillow. Her eyes cracked open and the first thing she saw was skin. The memories of the night before flooded back to her and she knew she was currently curled into Itachi side. The small smile that curved her lips surprised her a little and she figured out pretty quickly that she enjoyed waking up like this. Without further ado she pulled away from the man and looked up only to lock eyes with his dark orbs.

"Good morning." She said with a smile. Itachi grinned at her.

"Good morning." He answered before sitting up. Sakura followed suit and stretched her muscles, they were slightly cramped from her previous position.

Both of them quickly got ready for the day and made their way downstairs only to be greeted by a cheery Mikoto.

"Good morning, you two!" She said setting two places at the table for them to eat breakfast.

"Morning," they both answered making everyone, aside from Fugaku, laugh lightly at their synchronization. The family talked quietly about plans for the day and Mikoto suddenly gasped

"Oh have you all heard the good news!?" She asked putting her chopsticks down on the top of her empty bowl. "Konoha and the cloud village have signed an alliance with each other. So there is a small festival being prepared for two days from now. Would you like to go to it Sasuke?" Mikoto asked her youngest son watching his eyes light up.

"Yes please, Kaa-san." He said sounding excited. She smiled nodding before looking at Sakura and Itachi "What about you two? Will you be attending it?" Sakura glanced at Itachi as he too placed his chopsticks on top of his empty bowl, signalling he was finished his meal.

"Yes, I'm sure we will end up going for a bit."

"Tou-san will you be going with us?" Sasuke asked with wide, yet guarded eyes. Sakura internally frowned knowing Sasuke was expecting an automatic no. But Fugaku surprised them all with his answer

"I might, I don't think I have anything special planned that day." He said putting his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his folded hands. Sasuke's eyes lit up like he had just received the greatest gift ever. The reaction elicited small smiles out of Sakura, Mikoto and even Itachi as they observed.

"Now I'm excited!" Mikoto admitted her own eyes lighting up slightly.

000

For an event that was thrown together in only two days' time, it was well done. Sakura and Itachi strolled through the streets of Konoha taking in the pretty lights and smiling faces of all the shop owners who had stayed open extra late for the special night. Not one person around them seemed unhappy as they participated in the children's games around them. The lovely sound of children laughing and running around brought a smile to the pinkette's face. Itachi and Sakura both decided they would go to the festival alone together and make it their first date. It seemed like the perfect setting for a date if Sakura was being honest and it made her think that this last minute event was fate. Maybe their date was meant to happen.

Both of them were munching on their chosen dinners, Sakura ate Yakika which was squid smothered in aromatic soya sauce and grilled on a skewer. Itachi was also eating off of a skewer but his was Yakitori, which was grilled chicken. They walked in comfortable silence, not getting too close as neither wanted anyone to begin to suspect there was something more than friendship between them. That made things difficult considering this was indeed a date, it was just different than most dates. They would have to wait until they were out of the eye of the public to really show any affection. Besides Itachi didn't seem to be the affectionate type, in public at least.

"Sak, sweetheart where are you going?" That voice made Sakura freeze in place and discreetly look around them in mild panic. Itachi stopped too once he realized Sakura had ceased movement. That was the voice of her mother. It didn't take Sakura long to spot the woman who was chasing a seven year old Sakura around a game table, her father quickly following calling her by the short version of her name. Suddenly Sakura grabbed Itachi's wrist and pulled him forward lightly, they had to get out of there before Itachi saw the miniature version of herself.

"Sakura?" Itachi asked, confusion clear in his voice as he allowed her to tug him along somewhere.

"I know a perfect place where we can watch the fireworks." She said as a short explanation. Sakura slowed to a fast paced walk and was happy she had worn a small dress instead of a yukata like she was planning on doing. She wouldn't have been able to run in a yukata, that's for sure. Itachi wasn't dressed up much either, he wore his black, high collared t-shirt with the Uchiha fan sewn on the back paired with his navy blue shinobi pants, mid-calf leg wrappings and shinobi sandals. Sakura still thought he looked handsome though, his dark black hair tied into a loose pony-tail that rested softly over his shoulder. His bangs, as always, framed his face perfectly.

Itachi smiled when they eventually made it to the top of Hokage Mountain. There was a flat part of the mountain directly behind the carved faces of the hokage.

"I suppose this would be a perfect place to watch the fireworks." Itachi agreed grinning at Sakura who was beside him. He frowned when he saw the expression on the pinkette's face. She looked sad as she stared at the center aread of the flat ground. Itachi moved toward her and grasped her hand in his. "What's wrong?" he asked looking at the place her eyes were fixated on, there wasn't anything there though. Suddenly Sakura seemed to snap out of it before giving his hand a tiny squeeze. She smiled and Itachi was happy to see it wasn't forced

"Nothing just thinking about something." She said truthfully. Being up here, Sakura didn't think it would trigger the memory of Sasuke's execution. The pinkette had forgotten this was where it had taken place. She forced down the sadness that came with that memory and focused on the remaining time of her night with Itachi. They both chose a spot on the ground to sit next to each other that had the perfect view of the entire village.

Sakura took in the beauty of the view they had. The lights from the festival twinkled nicely in the dark of the night, the loudness of the villagers could be heard all the way up here but it was kind of soothing. Sakura found herself scooting closer to her partner and resting her head softly on his shoulder. She missed Itachi's smirk before he lifted his arm to wrap around her shoulders and pull her even closer.

"You know, I don't know very much about you, Itachi." Sakura murmured after a moment of comfortable silence. The raven let out a small chuckle rubbing his hand up and down her right arm where it still rested over her shoulder.

"What would you like to know?" He asked curiously. He hoped she asked questions he could actually answer

"Hm. What's your favourite colour?" she asked making Itachi grin in surprise

"That's…a small question."

"Still a good question." She pointed out with a small laugh, still looking out at the view.

"Okay, my favourite colour would have to be red." Sakura's eyes widened

"It's not blue? Or Black?" she asked shocked. Seeing as that's all he wears she figured that's the colour he would like most. He grinned

"No, my entire clan wears those colours, that doesn't mean they are my favourite."

"Hm. Okay favourite food?"

"Dango." He said without hesitation. Sakura laughed making Itachi smile at the reaction.

"I knew that, what about actual food, not dessert." She elaborated

"Rice balls with seaweed." He said easily.

"Least favourite?" Itachi wrinkled his nose slightly before answering

"That would have to be steak." He said making Sakura laugh at the loathing look on his handsome face. She moved on with the other thing she wanted to know.

"Tell more about yourself? I've heard rumors that you are the prodigy of the Uchiha clan." She said looking up at him with a curious look on her face. His eyes narrowed playfully

"You want to know my whole life story?" he asked somewhat cautiously.

"The quick version." She paused still looking at him "Only if you want though." She added. Itachi shrugged, he supposed there really wasn't much harm in telling her.

"Well I guess I should start from the beginning." He began a far off look in his eye. "At age 7 I graduated from the Academy. I mastered my Sharingan at age 8 and passed the chunin exams at the age of 10." He paused taking a breath before continuing in his brief overview of his life "I was then enrolled in Anbu half a year after the chunin exams and became an Anbu captain at the age of 13. I am now 17 years old and well-"He paused again "Still going strong I suppose." He blinked slightly at the awed look on the pinkette's face once he finished.

"Wow." She said her green eyes wide and sparkling. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed "I had no idea just how talented you really were." Itachi frowned making her stop short

"Well it's not all it's cracked up to be, Sakura." He explained looking off into the dark sky. "I was kind of forced to grow up really quickly, I didn't get to enjoy really any of my childhood."

"I'm sorry." Sakura said after a moment of silence making Itachi lock eyes with her again.

"It's fine. I've come to accept it." He said smiling as reassurance. "Anyways, enough about me. Tell me about you." He said trying to get them on another topic. Sakura was about to open her mouth when they were interrupted by a loud boom and burst of light in the sky in front of them as the fireworks started. Sakura snuggled closer to Itachi's warmth before glancing at him with a small grin.

"We will save my life story for the second date. Is that okay with you?" She asked with a cheeky grin. Itachi's lips curved in a genuine smile. There was going to be a second date. He liked the sound of that. He nodded, answering her question.

"I'd like that." He said pulling her close and kissing the side of her head softly. She giggled lightly before looking back at the beautiful display of light happening before them. Sakura knew this couldn't last forever but right now, she was feeling a little selfish. She was allowed to be selfish once in a while right?

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**Some people may think this is moving too fast for Itachi and Sakura but keep in mind we have four months left until Sakura leaves. And at LEAST two of those months will be filled with Sakura's mission soooo their romance needs to move along a little. I apologize if this bothers some people :( I didn't mean for it to.**

**Anyways, as always I so very much enjoy seeing what you all think about each chapter so please review. Im still in shock over the 18 reviews I got last chapter, thank you all for loving me! :D**

**Unsigned Reviews from previous chapter:**

_**Guest: **Yes, yes, I am cruel I know :( lol im glad you still enjoyed the chapter though! :D And yay as you can see, eventually Sakura did respond to the kiss xD woot :P I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for your review :3_


	13. Surprise Attacks & Injuries

**First off...im TERRIBLY TERRIBLY sorry ****you had to wait so long for this update -.- I wrote an entire one-shot last week because I couldn't write this until that one-shot idea was out of my head. **

**That being said the one-shot is a SasukeXNaruto AU(called Home At Last) fic and if you are a fan of those two PLEASE GO AND READ IT! :D and please please please tell me what you thought of it :) I was very nervous about posting it cause it has my first boyxboy lemon in it. Also its been I think four days since I posted it and I have no activity on it what so ever. T-T *cries* **

**Anyways, here is the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy :)**

**Naruto is not owned by me. :(**

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Chapter 13: Surprise Attacks & Injuries

Watching Shisui and Itachi spar was amazing. There was never a dull moment or a standstill. They went at each other for an hour and a half straight. That large amount of time however led them to their current positions. Itachi was laying on his back, chest heaving with his rapid breathing. Shisui was on his hands and knees beside the raven also breathing rather heavily. They were both low on chakra and about ready to collapse.

"They're at 4 to 5 now." Akarui said with a small smile and shake of her head. "Shisui-nii is now in the lead." She sighed.

"They are entertaining to watch." Sakura admitted with a small laugh. Both girls watched as the two men stood from their exhausted positions on the ground.

"That was a good one." Shisui grinned bumping his fist with Itachi's once the younger raven had stood up.

"Agreed." Itachi smirked with a small sigh.

Both men were chatting amongst themselves as they began to make their way toward Sakura and Akarui.

"Okay, I think we are gonna get going." Shisui said, sidling up to his sister.

"Yea." Itachi said walking up to Sakura's side. The pinkette smiled at him as Itachi spoke again. "We will see you both later?" he asked.

"Sure." Akarui smiled "We should all go out for dinner or something soon."

"That would be fun!" Sakura agreed. Sakura liked Akarui, the girl was fun to be around. She seemed to have a slightly more serious personality than her brother but was still able to have fun. The pinkette could see herself finding a friend in the younger girl. Hopefully when all this was over she would still be alive in Sakura's time.

Once the four parted ways, Itachi and Sakura made their way back to the house. Sakura stepped closer to Itachi's side and sneakily snuck her hand into his. They clasped their hands together tightly and Itachi smiled at her as they continued to walk through the many trees around them. It was nice to be connected so simply like this, they couldn't do this in public or in the view of anyone other than Shisui and Akarui, who by the way, were all for their relationship. Shisui was convinced that Sakura was good for his cousin. Apparently she would be able to bring him out of his shell a little more.

They were currently taking the back way home so they would enter the house through the backyard, meaning they would be out of the public eye for pretty much their entire journey back.

"So you still up for our date tonight?" Sakura found herself asking while they walked. Itachi smirked

"Of course. I'll just need to shower and maybe take a little bit of a nap." He admitted.

"That's okay." Sakura answered "Maybe I'll take a nap with you….if you want me to." She said looking up at him. He smiled

"That would be nice." He admitted easily.

It had been about a week and a half since their first date and Sakura found herself getting excited for their second. Then again part of her was nervous because she knew she would have to tell him about herself and she was worried that she would slip up somewhere and blow her cover. If she continued to worry about that though she wouldn't have a good time and she really wanted to enjoy her time spent with Itachi. She was smart, she just had to pay attention. So far the plans for the evening were pretty much dinner and a movie. They would go to the movie first then dinner afterward. Itachi gave Sakura the choice as to where they ate and she had surprisingly chosen Ichiraku ramen.

The two of them entered the back yard of the house and Sakura found herself yet again in awe of how beautiful it was. There was a small koi pond with a little bridge that went over it in the centre. There were small paths that weaved around all the pretty flowers. Sakura especially enjoyed the large cherry blossom tree in the back corner of the yard.

"Does your mom maintain all this?" Sakura asked curiously as Itachi let go of her hand. The entire time she was here she had only seen Mikoto out here every so often.

"Sometimes." He answered. "But seeing as she is the matriarch of our clan she gets busy sometimes so a lot of our neighbors will pitch in and help. I'm actually surprised she hasn't sent you out here to work yet." He said with a laugh as they entered the back door that led into the tearoom.

"Me too honestly." Sakura admitted, noticing the silence in the house. "Is no one home again?" Sakura asked curiously.

"That seems to be the case." Itachi said almost sounding relieved. "Now I don't have to summon Tsuki when I take a shower." Sakura laughed and thought back to her little search of the house three or so weeks ago. Even if she was alone, at this point she knew it was futile to snoop around.

After Itachi had his shower he returned to his bedroom in nothing but a loose pair of grey track pants that hung low on his hips. Sakura, who was lounging back on his bed, sat up to admire the way the small droplets of water from the shower shone before they ran down his pale skin. Itachi was currently towel drying his long dark hair as he walked over to his dresser and grabbed his brush. Sakura stood and walked up behind him.

"May I?" she asked pointing toward the brush in his hand. He raised an eyebrow

"You want to brush my hair?" he asked with a small laugh. The pinkette nodded, blushing slightly

"If you're okay with it, yes." Itachi smirked before handing her the brush and damp towel in his hand

"Okay." He said before going to sit on the bed. Sakura grinned and followed him kneeling behind him, also on the bed. His hair was still pretty wet so she dried it more with the towel before tossing it to the floor and beginning to run the brush through the long black locks. Itachi's eyes closed letting the soothing feeling of the bristles on his scalp calm him.

Sakura enjoyed the feeling of brushing his hair it was intimate yet not too intimate. Something told her Itachi hadn't had his hair brushed by someone else in a really long time, but if the way his shoulders were slumped forward and the calmness of his breathing said anything she would guess he enjoyed the feeling. She suddenly sighed dramatically and Itachi asked her what was wrong.

"I'm jealous." She admitted with a small pout. Itachi laughed but without turning around spoke again

"And what do you have to be jealous about?" He asked curiously

"Your hair is amazing. I used to have long hair but it never was this nice, how do you keep it so soft and healthy?" Sakura missed the look of slight confusion on Itachi's face as he shrugged

"I'm not too sure." He admitted "I just use the shampoo and conditioner my mother buys for me." He paused as if thinking before he spoke again "I think I'd like you with long hair." He concluded with a sharp nod of his head.

"Oh really? Why is that?"

"I like your pink hair, it's beautiful and accents your eyes nicely. More of it would be even better." He said with a grin. Sakura placed the brush beside her after she had thoroughly combed out the tangles in his hair. She ran a hand through her hair and noticed it was sort of getting longer already.

"Well I was actually going to get your mother to cut my hair this week sometime," She said leaning forward to rest her chin on his right shoulder. "Maybe, instead, I'll just grow it out for you." She suggested with a small smile. Itachi looked over at her the best he could and gave her a smile.

"I'd like that."

"Good." Sakura said laying a soft kiss on the side of his pale neck before pulling back and taking his soft hair in her hands. "Can I braid your hair?" she asked curiously. Itachi wrinkled his nose a bit before shaking his head and handing her a small red elastic.

"No, thanks. Just put it in the elastic?" he asked. She pouted again but nodded and put it in his usual low ponytail.

"Okay." He suddenly turned around. "Nap time." He said before wrapping his arm around Sakura's stomach and pulling her across the bed with him before they both laid down. Sakura smiled at him before pushing herself up and laying a soft kiss on his lips.

"Hm…kay" she murmured against his lips before laying down and getting comfortable.

000

"That…wasn't a bad movie." Sakura said as the couple walked down the street toward the ramen shop.

"Hn. I've seen better." Itachi said with a laugh. Sakura was itching to grab a hold of the raven's hand but knew they were in public and with a sigh she stuffed her hands into the pockets of the black shorts she was wearing. "So why Ichiraku?" Itachi asked curiously as they turned a corner.

"I don't know…really good ramen?" she said phrasing it more like a question.

"They do have really good ramen." Itachi agreed as they arrived at their destination. Itachi moved the cloth hanging from the roof of the shop aside so Sakura could go in and take a seat on one of the stools.

"Itachi," The very familiar man behind the counter greeted warmly "Where is little Sasuke?" he asked before his eyes landed on Sakura.

"Couldn't make it this time, so I brought another guest." The Uchiha explained easily.

"And who might this guest be?" he asked curiously with a knowing look in his eye.

"I'm Fuyuga Sakura." She introduced herself with a smile.

"You must be one special girl." The man said raising his eye brows

"Why is that?"

"I think this is the first time I have ever seen Uchiha Itachi out with a girl." He explained making the pinkette blush prettily before glancing over at Itachi.

"Well," she began looking back in front of her "We aren't together or anything if that's what you're trying to get at. Just friends." She said sounding convincing. The older man smiled knowingly

"Okay, sure, sure." He paused turning his attention to Itachi. "She's a pretty one, Uchiha. You better treat her right." He said with a laugh. Itachi almost rolled his eyes, hiding his smirk.

"Hn."

"Anyways, what can I get for you two?"

000

"So…tell me about yourself. What's your favourite colour, food, and least favourite food?" Itachi shot off quickly as he took a few of the ramen noodles into his mouth. Sakura sighed at the taste of their dinner, Ichiraku ramen hadn't changed a bit even ten years from now. It was still just as good.

"Hm, favourite food would be syrup-coated dumplings and pickled plumbs. Least favourite food…" she trailed off thinking. "Nothing specific just anything spicy." Itachi nodded

"Favourite colour?" he asked after a moment. Sakura gave him a teasing look

"Guess?" she suggested.

"Hm…pink?" Itachi laughed at the way her nose scrunched up cutely in distaste. "Okay so not pink. How about red?" Sakura shook her head "White?"

"White isn't a colour, it's a shade." The pinkette pointed out. Itachi laughed

"True. Okay fine…what is it then? I give up."

"Green." She said taking another bite of her food. She missed the smile Itachi gave her.

"Just like your eyes." He pointed out making Sakura look over at him. She saw the small smile that curved his lips and it made her feel warm inside.

"I suppose so." She grinned. Itachi was about to ask another question when out of nowhere a man in ANBU attire appeared directly next to Itachi. The raven didn't even flinch as he turned toward the man beside him.

"Uchiha Itachi the hokage requests your presence immediately."

"Okay thank you." Itachi said standing as the man nodded and disappeared. Itachi paid for their food and turned to Sakura.

"I'm assuming this is a mission so I'll see you at home in a bit to grab my things." He paused a frown marring his face. "Sorry our night got cut short."

"It okay." She said with a reassuring smile, she totally understood. Things happen.

"I believe my parents are home so…" he trailed off weaving a few hand signs and summoned Tsuki. "He is needed." He finished before disappearing. Sakura sighed and quickly finished the last of her ramen before saying goodbye to the man behind the counter and left.

000

Itachi came home about five minutes after Sakura got up to their room. He didn't have time to say much as he gathered his uniform and Katana, all he said was it was an emergency mission and he was unsure when he would be back. After giving him a kiss Sakura told him to be careful.

"Always am." He said with a grin before opening his bedroom window and jumping out onto the roof. Sakura didn't feel right about all this. Something felt wrong. Shaking off her worry she left the bedroom to join the family downstairs.

Mikoto and Sasuke were playing a board game when Sakura entered the tea room. Fugaku was nowhere in sight as usual. Mikoto noticed Tsuki on Sakura's shoulder and raised a delicate brow.

"Where is Itachi?" she asked confused.

"He was sent on an emergency mission or something." Sakura explained.

"Oh, well would you like to join us?" She offered and Sakura smiled.

"I'd love to." She said sitting down next to Sasuke. The three of them played for a little while, talking about their days and how they went.

"So Sasuke…" Sakura said reaching over to pinch the boy's cheek gently.

"Hey!" He pouted rubbing at the side of his face "Why'd you do that?" He asked

"Can't help it. You're just too cute. Besides your cheeks are so pinch-able!"

"She's right, Sasuke." Mikoto grinned at the look on her little boys face.

"But what I was going to say is, how is that fireball jutsu coming?" she asked. The mild sting of his cheek was long forgotten as a sort of excitement took over his expression.

"Really good!" he admitted with a smile. "It's almost ready for me to show it to tou-san!" he exclaimed. Sakura smiled.

"That's good to hear, I'd like to see it again sometime."

"Oh can I come too?" Mikoto asked, her warm loving smile in place as she looked at Sasuke. His eyes brightened even more.

"Of course kaa-san!" he said getting excited.

"Great, I can't wait." She admitted. "I'm proud of you Sasuke." She said watching as her youngest son's grin widened. She then reached over and pinched his other cheek. Making him pout again before glaring at his mother.

"Kaaaaa-saaaan!" He whined. Mikoto looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Sakura, you're right, they are pinch-able." The two women looked at each other with twin smirks before they both lunged forward over the small table that the board game was still perched on and pinched each side of the tiny raven's cheeks at the same time, making him scream in protest at the teasing treatment. His reaction made both Sakura and Mikoto lose themselves in a fit of girlish giggles making Sasuke once again cross his arms and pout at them. This, of course, only made them laugh harder.

000

"So who do you think it is? Mist ninja?" Shisui asked jumping through the trees next to Itachi. Their masks were firmly in place, the wind pulling their hair back.

"Don't know." Itachi said shortly pushing himself forward "We will have to wait and see." Genma appeared next to Itachi as they continued forward "We are getting close…pay attention."

"Hai." The other two men acknowledged before intently staring ahead. Itachi eyes widened slightly at the view ahead of them on the trees.

"Drop down, paper bombs ahead." He ordered before landing softly into a small clearing, Genma and Shisui following after. The three men tensed when they felt the presence of two people in front of them. Itachi and Shisui both reached back to remove their weapons just as the two enemies exited the trees.

"No way…" Shisui said in awe as none other than Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin appeared in front of them. Next to him was short hunched over looking person with a cloth covering half of his face. Shisui and Itachi took out their weapons completely, their sharingan having been activated a while ago.

Itachi was taking in the cloaked figures appearance intently and with his sharingan he could see a lot of chakra strings coming from it. He secretly followed those strings with his eyes making sure not to move his head so their opponents wouldn't know he was looking. Itachi stomach dropped when he saw the shadowed figures surrounding the clearing, all attached to those strings. They were dealing with a puppeteer and judging by how many he seemed to be able to control at once, they were also dealing with a highly skilled one at that.

"Fall back…" Itachi whispered quiet enough so only his team could hear him. "It's an ambush."

"I sincerely hope you aren't thinking of running, Uchiha Itachi." Orochimaru said with a creepy grin on his face. "I came here especially for you and your cousin there, after all."

"Remember our deal…" the mystery puppeteer grumbled lowly in the direction of his partner.

"Yes, yes. You will get Uchiha Shisui for your puppet collection." Orochimaru answered rolling his eyes dramatically.

"What do you want with my cousin and I?" Itachi found himself asking. Orochimaru grinned again

"I need you for my experiments. I've been wanting you for quite some time now, Itachi."

"And what the hell do you want with me?" Shisui barked from beside his captain. Orochimaru laughed lightly.

"Well you see, when I planned this ambush I knew I could never take you both on alone. Not to mention you also have a third teammate. So I enlisted the help of my partner Sasori here." He paused to jab a thumb at the…thing beside him. Orochimaru took on a somewhat bored looking stance, his arms crossing over his chest "Of course, he doesn't give out favors, he always needs something in return. So seeing as I only need you, Itachi, I promised him Shisui's body to add to his puppet collection."

Itachi didn't need to see underneath Shisui mask to know the man had a look of disgust on his face.

"You use live bodies for your puppets?" Shisui asked clearly grossed out.

"Well." Sasori spoke up "They are dead before I make them into puppets but yes, they are real human bodies." He explained, a sense of pride in his voice. Itachi didn't miss the shiver of disgust that racked Shisui's body at the thought.

"Anyways, enough chit-chat." Orochimaru said before clapping his hands together once, his tongue licking his lips as he eyed Itachi. "Let's get this over with."

All at once the puppets came at the three man team. Itachi, Shisui and Genma put their backs against each other, weapons ready as they prepared to fight.

000

Pain throbbed through Shisui's entire body, his wounds still bleeding as he jumped from roof to roof, the barely alive body of Genma draped over his left shoulder. He had to make it to the hospital in time. He glanced behind him to make sure Itachi was still following and cursed. He wasn't behind him anymore. His cousin was far more injured than Shisui was but Genma was their first priority right now, if they didn't get him to the hospital he would die. Shisui just hoped Itachi didn't collapse somewhere.

Shisui appeared in the middle of the hallway of the hospital, collapsing to his knees as the weight of Genma's body proved to be too much for him now. Two nurses shrieked in surprise at his sudden appearance before jumping into action and removing the heavily wounded patient off Shisui's shoulder.

"What's his name?" The nurse asked looking at Shisui's masked face intently as the other hospital staff placed Genma's broken body onto a gurney.

"Shiranui Genma." Shisui answered before standing up on shaky legs.

"Are you injured?" The nurse asked placing her hand gently on his arm. Shisui shook his head

"No. None of this is my blood." He lied easily "Besides there is something else I need to take care of."

"It's mandatory for you to get a checkup." She told him almost sternly. Shisui smirked behind his mask.

"I'll be back, I promise." He said before disappearing into thin air making her roll her eyes.

000

Sakura shot up in bed when a loud bang echoed through the room. She glanced at the window to see Itachi's hand desperately fumbling for the latch on the window to open in. Sakura almost smiled but it fell flat when she realized that his hands were bloody. She knew this because he was currently smearing the red liquid onto the glass of the window as he attempted to open it with his shaking hands.

The pinkette was up from the floor and over at the window in two seconds flat. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she unlatched the window for him and watched as he weakly jumped in with a grunt of what Sakura guessed as pain. The man slowly straightened from his slightly hunched over position and looked at Sakura.

"Itachi are-"Oh no, he felt dizzy. His vision grew hazy and the pain in his chest and stomach seemed to disappear as he felt himself falling.

"Itachi!" He heard Sakura yell before everything went dark.

* * *

**Did you like it? x3 **

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**Unsigned Reviews' from last chapter:**

_Guest: I'm happy you are okay with the timeline of this story, its a relief to hear that, honestly :D Some people weren't happy but I know I can't please everyone and I'm okay with that! :P Thanks for reviewing. hope you enjoyed this chapter :)_

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_Mel: Sorry it took me so long to update this :( but thank you for the review!_

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	14. Saved

**I have a few very important things to point out. **

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**WARNING: Itachi is pretty OOC at the end of this chapter, please don't take it seriously, its supposed to be funny...**

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* * *

Chapter 14: Saved

"Itachi!" Sakura cried as his entire weight collapsed on top of her. She managed to catch him and keep both of them upright before she awkwardly shifted him around the room until she could gently lay him onto his bed. She immediately set to work, removing his vest and none too gently ripping his blood soaked shirt down the middle to reveal his chest and stomach. There was a lot of blood smeared around his pale skin and she had a hard time figuring out where his wounds were. She quickly turned the bedside lamp on before again trying to take in his injuries. There was a large gash across his stomach and another on his chest. It looked like maybe a sword did it, she couldn't tell.

Suddenly the bedroom door burst open and Mikoto ran in followed quickly by Fugaku. Tsukino was silently observing the events unfolding in front of him from the corner of the room. Mikoto's eyes widened and she was over at Sakura's side in an instant.

"What happened, we need to get him to the hospital," she said frantically, taking in his injuries and unconscious form.

"No I need to stop the bleeding now. It's okay, I'm a medical ninja I can do this. I need towels though, rubbing alcohol and bandages." Mikoto watched her for a second before jumping into action and running out the room in search for the supplies Sakura needed. Sakura's heart was pounding as adrenaline coursed through her making her go into medic mode as she tightened her messy pony tail to make sure no hair fell into her face.

"Here are the towels, I'll go get everything else for you," Mikoto said leaving the room again. Sakura carefully cleaned the blood off around the wounds so she could see them better before tossing the now soiled towel to the side of the bed. She stood hands hovering over his chest to begin healing the wound when Fugaku decided to finally speak up.

"We are taking him to the hospital. You aren't fit to heal him," he said taking a step forward. Sakura bit back the need to defend herself against his false accusations as healing chakra began to flow from her hands.

"If you take him to the hospital now he will bleed out. He has already lost too much blood and has passed out because of it, i-"

"No we are taking him now!"

Maybe it was the feeling of fear she had for Itachi's sake at that moment, even though she knew he would be okay. It could be the stress or maybe a bit of both but something snapped inside of Sakura and without stopping her healing treatment her head whipped over to look at the infuriating man a little ways away from her.

"No! You will let me help him! Contrary to your belief Uchiha-_sama, _I am _very_ capable of helping your son here. So if you would kindly _back the hell off_ and let me save him that would be _fantastic_!" she bit out before moving her head to look back at her work. Fugaku looked mildly shocked at her small outburst. He also looked like he wanted to snap back at her but surprising kept everything to himself and took a step back to observe. She put all her concentration on healing Itachi's wounds and as her healing chakra reached deeply into the gash she froze. Oh no….

"Mikoto!" Sakura cried her stomach dropping slightly. Mikoto rushed back into the room, the supplies Sakura wanted being held in her arms.

"What, what is it?" she asked

"He's been poisoned," she said making Mikoto gasp "I need two bowls. One needs to be full of water and the other empty. I need to get most of this poison out before we can take him to the hospital," Sakura ordered thinking back to the last time she had to do this to Kankuro from the sand village when he was poisoned by…Sasori from the Akatsuki. This must be Sasori's work then. Sakura just hoped to kami it wasn't as lethal of a poison as it was when she treated Kankuro. The logical part of her mind told her it couldn't have been and that Itachi wouldn't die here purely because he was still alive ten years from now. But the emotional side of her mind was still worried about him.

"Fugaku-sama. I need your help," she said gritting her teeth as she said that. The last thing she wanted to do was ask for his help. But she needed it. Someone needed to hold Itachi down when she begun retracting the poison, assuming the pain woke him.

"What do you need?" he asked his voice slightly strained sounding, it seems he liked this just as much as Sakura did.

"It's a very painful procedure to get this poison out so I'm going to need you to hold Itachi down and make sure he doesn't move." As she was waiting for Mikoto to return she quickly closed up the two big wounds on his chest and stomach and decided to leave the smaller lacerations open so she could get at the poison in his body.

"Shit, so he did come back here."

Sakura and Fugaku both looked over toward the window where Shisui had just jumped in from. He slumped against the wall and slid down into a sitting position with a grunt.

"Shisui, what happened?" Sakura asked as Mikoto came back into the room with the two bowls. The older woman placed them both on the bedside table before going over to Shisui who was clutching at his own stomach. Sakura immediately noticed all the blood covering his body but she went ahead and guessed it wasn't all his.

"We were ambushed, Itachi got the worst out of the two of us, but Genma is in really bad shape. He's at the hospital right now. I came looking for Itachi when I realized he wasn't behind me anymore. I'm glad he came here and didn't pass out somewhere," the man said letting Mikoto fuss over him.

"Where are you hurt?" Mikoto asked as Sakura turned back to the task at hand. She reached over into the bowl of water and formed a large bubble of liquid with her chakra. She held it in her hand as she got closer to Itachi. She already knew this poison wasn't nearly as bad as it could be. It didn't seem to be attacking his organs but it was definitely circulating around.

"Okay. Hold him down now. This is when the pain starts. Also I suggest you give him something to bite down on or he will more than likely wake up Sasuke," Sakura advised. Fugaku nodded and held Itachi's shoulder's, pinning them down to the mattress before grabbing the cloth that Mikoto had brought when she found the rubbing alcohol. The cloth was clean and would work for something Itachi could bite down on.

Sakura leaned over Itachi before pushing the bubble into the small laceration at the left side of his chest. The reaction was instant and Itachi's eyes shot open as he attempted to sit up. Fugaku managed to stop him and hold him down which only made Itachi panic more. His eyes wildly looked around before clamping shut as a small cry of pain escaped his lips. Fugaku unceremoniously shoved the cloth into his son's mouth which only heightened Itachi's confusion and panic. Sakura rolled her eyes, the poor man had no idea where he was and why he was in so much pain and being restrained and Fugaku goes and shoves a cloth in his mouth.

"Itachi, it's okay, you're at home. You've been poisoned. It's Sakura and I'm removing the poison right now, I know it hurts, I'm sorry," Sakura said trying to sound reassuring. Immediately Itachi's body relaxed when he had some idea of what was going on only to tense again as another shot of pain took over him. He bit down hard on the cloth in his mouth, a quiet moan of pain escaped him. Sakura watched as the dark liquid of the poison came out with the water as she extracted it from his body. She let the poison go in the empty bowl before grabbing another bubble and repeating the process. As Sakura leaned over him she felt Itachi's hand grip the fabric of her sleep pants tightly before he moaned again, unconsciously struggling against his father's grip. Sakura felt horrible for causing him such pain but she was saving him.

After another fifteen minutes Sakura had gotten as much of the poison as she could out and proceeded to heal the small cuts and lacerations still peppering his torso. Itachi was breathing heavily as he removed the cloth from his mouth and Fugaku let him go.

"Now we can take him to the hospital. I got about 90 percent of the poison out, he is no longer in the danger zone," Sakura said brushing the small bit of sweat that had gathered on her forehead. Mikoto was suddenly at her side hugging her.

"Thank you so much Sakura. You have some serious talent, what you did to get that poison out was incredible. I know you need a serious amount of chakra control for that, who taught you how to do all this?" She asked curiously.

"It's no problem," Sakura paused thinking over what she could say about Tsunade without giving away her name or any other information. "My mentor was a good friend of my mother's she passed away a few years ago," Sakura said. The room's occupants, aside from Itachi, nodded, seemingly accepting that explanation. Sakura watched as Itachi dozed off on the bed, his body thoroughly spent with everything it went through tonight. She then turned to Shisui. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Mikoto patched up the small wounds I had." Sakura went over to him and placed a hand on his chest, letting her healing chakra invade his body. She searched around for the poison she had found in Itachi but luckily there were no traces of it.

"Who did this to you guys?" Sakura asked her voice quiet. Shisui frowned

"I wish I could, but I can't tell you that, it's confidential. Clearly, though, it was a formidable opponent, one I've never had to face before." Sakura's mind went back to Sasori again and she knew he was behind it. Sakura was curious if he had a partner at this point in the past. She will probably never find out. With a sigh she stood.

"Are you strong enough to help me take Itachi to the hospital?" She asked then and lent him a helping hand. He grasped it and pulled himself up with her help before nodding.

"I can manage," He answered.

Sakura and Shisui removed Itachi from his bed, the younger raven grumbling something about wanting to sleep as they draped one of his arms over each of their shoulders to support him while they made their way to the hospital. The journey was relatively quick and Mikoto was following behind them carrying the bowl of poison carefully. Once Sakura convinced Fugaku that his son was out of the danger zone he decided to stay home. Something about having to leave early in the morning for something important. Sakura didn't know the specifics.

Once at the hospital the medical staff took Itachi into a room while Shisui went off to check on Genma. Mikoto followed Sakura into the room as Sakura listed off what happened and what she did to help him.

"You did all that?" the medic asked her eyes wide "That's…incredible," she breathed

"Yes but he still has a small amount of poison in him. I also brought the poison with me so you can research it and make a cure for it. That's always good to have just in case." The medic nodded before looking down at Itachi's chart and going over to him. A nurse came in to retrieve the bowl of poison from Mikoto and then left the room. The medic continued toward a now sleeping Itachi and placed her hand on his chest, using her healing chakra to feel around inside him.

"Just as you said, I can still feel traces of that poison," she said with a frown. She removed her hand and spoke again "I have some medication I can give him to hold off the effects of it until a cure is made."

"Good," Sakura answered with a nod. "Thank you."

"I'll go get it now. I would like to keep him overnight for observation, though. One person may stay here with him if you wish," the medic said after a moment and left the room to get the medication. Sakura looked at Mikoto.

"You can stay with him if you want," she said thinking about Tsuki who was probably still waiting for her outside the hospital. He would just have to stay with her for a little while longer.

"No, you stay," Mikoto answered with a small smile. "I need to be home for when Sasuke gets up," she paused. "And clearly my son will be in capable hands with you," she finished with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, sort of surprised Mikoto didn't want to stay.

"Positive," the older woman answered. "Goodnight Sakura and thank you again for saving my son," she murmured before pulling the pinkette into a warm hug. Sakura instantly hugged Mikoto back and smiled.

"You're welcome, Mikoto. I'm glad I could help him. I…" Sakura paused a moment staring at the wall behind the older woman. "I...care about him," she said blinking at the completely unexpected emotion she was feeling. Sakura missed the knowing smile Mikoto had on her face as she looked at her sleeping son. There was something going on between Itachi and Sakura, that much the matriarch knew. If Mikoto was being honest with herself, she didn't mind the two being together, as long as her son was happy, she was happy. She knew, however, that the clan would never approve. She wouldn't be the one to forbid their happiness though. Sakura pulled back first, her thoughts going a mile a minute as she said goodbye to Mikoto.

When Sakura told Mikoto that she cared about Itachi, she wasn't exactly telling the truth. Wait yes, she was telling the truth, but not the whole truth. She turned to look at the man across the room. His pale, relaxed face was visible in the small amount of moonlight that was filtering in through the hospital window. Sakura walked over to his side and pulled the small chair that was located a little ways away closer to the side of the bed and sat down. She took Itachi's hand in her own and stroked the side of his face softly. She definitely cared about him, more than she thought she ever could. Tonight had been an eye opener for her. Logically she knew he wouldn't have died tonight but she still feared for his life. It was the first time she had realized she was truly scared to lose him. His life was more or less in her hands. The question as to why he came home to her instead of going to the hospital was still swimming around in her head but she shoved it down and vowed to ask him when he was better.

Regardless though, as the pinkette let her thoughts go over the events of the night she had come to one very large conclusion. She was in love with Uchiha Itachi. She knew it was the worst possible thing she could have let happen. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to kill him if it came down to that. Her feelings might single handily make her fail this mission and yet, thinking back on her love for Sasuke, she realized another thing. Sasuke was on a whole other level than Itachi. Somehow her love for Itachi was a lot stronger than Sasuke's and that scared the hell out of her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the medic from earlier re-entering the room with the correct dosage of medication in her hand. Sakura retracted both of her hands from Itachi as the woman walked further into the room.

"I'm giving him one dose of Zyonex," she explained. Sakura paled "Now be warned there are-"

"Interesting side effects? Mainly varying between violence and being…too friendly?" Sakura asked with a slight wince.

"Yes," she agreed with a slight grin "We honestly don't know why it elicits such polar opposite reactions. It varies from person to person," she explained. Sakura nodded as she watched with unease as the medic injected the Zyonex.

After the woman had left Sakura went over to the hospital window, opening it and peaking outside.

"Tsuki!" She whispered loudly, hoping the bird would hear her. It took about two more tries before the flapping of wings could be heard and Tsuki perched himself on the edge of the window. He cocked his head in silent question.

"I'm staying here for the night with Itachi. I don't know if you want to stay too or if you want to leave. Technically we aren't breaking the rules if you leave, Itachi is still with me," Sakura smirked. Tsuki peaked around the pinkette to look into the room.

"How is he doing?" the bird asked curiously. Sakura looked over her shoulder at Itachi before turning back to answer Tsuki's question.

"Stable and definitely out of the danger zone," Sakura assured with a small smile. "They just gave him some meds to stop the effects of the poison until they come up with a cure. It should only take them a week at most, depending on how good they are." Tsuki nodded

"Well I won't stick around then. I think you are a little more trustworthy than Itachi's father gives you credit for, seeing as you saved his son's life," he said rolling his little beady eyes slightly.

"Okay. Take care Tsuki," Sakura answered with a smile. "And thank you, I'm glad you think I'm trustworthy," the pinkette said with a small, quiet laugh. "See you later." Tsuki nodded once before flying off and disappearing into the still dark sky.

000

"Itachi can you please stand up straight?" Sakura grumbled as she struggled to walk down the hallway in a straight line, which was horribly difficult with Itachi swaying all over the place. Sakura knew giving him Zyonex was a bad idea. He was definitely overly friendly, he had tried to 'inconspicuously' grab her butt numerous times on their way home. Sakura only hoped no one noticed. The humor was not lost on Sakura however, seeing Itachi do things like grab her butt was funny purely because it was so un-Itachi like.

"Sakurraaa," Itachi drew out her name dramatically as they entered their bedroom. Sakura lightly tossed the man onto the bed before answering.

"Yes Itaaaachiiii," she said mimicking his dramatic tone. He grinned devilishly and Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"Are you going to take care of me?" he asked

"Yes," she answered as she swung his legs up onto the bed with zero help from him.

"Hmm…" he hummed, tapping his finger lightly against his closed lips as if he was in deep thought. "Kinda like my own personal nurse," he said with a mischievous grin "My _naughty_ nurse perhaps?" Sakura's eyes widened to the size of saucers at the words that just came out of her Itachi's mouth. There was no way this was the same man she had been going out with for a few weeks now. He would never say something like that. Then again he was more or less high on medication at the moment, anything was possible.

"No!" she whispered harshly, her breath hitching slightly when she felt his warm hand slip its way under her shirt. She grabbed a hold of the hand, stopping its movement upward. "Itachi…" she warned her eyebrow raising.

"Yes, nurse?" he purred. Her eyes widened again. Okay she had to admit that was kind of hot. Her skin flushed slightly as she let his hand go and it immediately began to ascend again. Itachi smirked at the fact she was allowing him to go further and he sat up, pushing his hand further up her stomach until it reached the underwire of her bra. Before Sakura knew what was happening Itachi was standing beside her and her shirt was pulled over her head so she was left clad in only a bra and pants. The gasp of surprise was silenced when his lips met hers. The feeling of his hand sliding underneath her bra and cupping her left breast had her eyes flying open. Her breast fit perfectly in his palm and he allowed his thumb to brush over her slightly puckered nipple making her gasp and lean into his hand more.

Sakura's brain was foggy but not foggy enough to know this was wrong. Itachi wasn't in his right mind and she couldn't allow them to go further.

"Itachi-"she started before he removed his hand from under her bra and turned her around. She fell softly against the bed, the cool sheets against her back making her shiver slightly. Itachi was then on top of her.

"Shh…" he purred again and Sakura groaned in a mixture of frustration and desire as his skilled lips coasted down the column of her neck, laying soft open mouthed kisses there.

"Itachi, stop. We can't do this now! Your parents are downstairs," she whispered harshly. Sakura's heart froze when she heard the door open.

"Hey how is-" the person stopped talking abruptly and Sakura peaked over Itachi's shoulder as the raven continued his attention to Sakura's soft skin. She was relieved to see Shisui standing in the doorway. That relief however turned to unease when a suspicious grin took over his features and he took a step back to go out the door.

"Shisui!" Sakura whispered loudly again. "Help me, he isn't thinking straight right now. I don't want to use force to get him off of me!" she pleaded only to watch in horror as the man slowly back out of the room, gave her a wink and shut the door.

_'Damn that asshole, he will pay for that!'_ Sakura thought angrily as she glared at the closed door. It was then that the pinkette noticed Itachi had stopped moving. His face was buried in the side of her neck, his breathing calm and even. His arms were wrapped tightly around her so she couldn't move. Sakura sighed in exasperation, Itachi had passed out right on top of her. She still only had a bra and pants on and if anyone walked in at this moment it would cause _so _many problems. Sakura wiggled around trying to get loose from his strong hold to no avail. She could use her chakra but she didn't want to hurt him.

Sakura also came to the conclusion that she wasn't totally against this position. Itachi body was warm and his presence up against her was nice. She liked being close to him like this. Besides a nap didn't sound so bad at the moment. So with that in mind Sakura hoped to kami no one else would try to walk in as she closed her eyes, surrendering herself to Itachi's warmth and falling asleep rather quickly.

* * *

**Soooooo funny drugged up Itachi anyone? ^_^ **

**This totally would have been up sooner buuuut im not gonna lie, I just bought the new Naruto game a few days ago and have either been at work or glued to my boyfriends xbox xD So yes, writing got sidelined for a bit there. **

_**IMPORTANT QUESTION! **_

_**What would you guys like to see for Sakura and Itachi's first time together? ;) (as in a lemon) **__**Let me know in a review! :D**_

**I hope you all liked this, until next time (should be no later than Monday, October 27th :) )**

**Ps...Lossie, did I fix what you pointed out to me in this chapter? o.o Let me knoooow! :D**


	15. Lust, Love & Revenge

**So decently long chapter here guys, which is why its being posted now and not like two days ago xD **

**I know I say this all the time but THANK YOU for ALL your wonderful reviews :)**

**VERY IMPORTANT!: _I have been getting a lot of confusion with age in this story. I did post an age list on the first chapter when I first posted but A LOT of people are still confused. So here is another reminder that ages HAVE been changed to further benefit my story: :)_**

**_Itachi: 17 yrs old_**

**_Sakura: 17 yrs old_**

**_Sasuke: 7 yrs old_**

**_Shisui: 20 yrs old...I hope this helps._**

**_WARNING!: RATED M MATERIAL AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER PLEASE READ AT OWN DESCRETION 18+ MATERIAL PEOPLE! If you don't like it please don't read it and PLEASE don't report it and ruin it for everyone else, that's just not cool._**

**I do not own Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 15: Lust, Love & Revenge

"Mmph," came the muffled gasp as Sakura kissed Itachi before pushing him down so he was laying on his back in the grass. She was straddling him, each of her legs on either side of his body. Their lips were moving smoothly against one another's and Sakura's hands were roaming the plains of Itachi's bare chest. She had taken his shirt off and checked to see if she could feel any more of the poison in his system, thankfully it was all clear, the cure had worked.

It had taken the hospital five days to come up with a cure. Sakura had to deal with an overly touchy feely Itachi for five whole days. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't just a little sexually frustrated. Sure she thought about a more intimate relationship with the raven but she also knew it wouldn't be a good idea to get _that _attached, wasn't loving him too far already? Still though since he had been feeling better yesterday Itachi had noticed she was more, forthcoming in her desire for him. He wasn't complaining, he had been feeling it too, so what Sakura had told him about his actions while on that medication he couldn't say he was all that surprised.

He was definitely embarrassed that he went about it that way, but not surprised. Itachi pushed himself up so his weight was being supported by his elbows, before he pulled back from the kiss. All he could see were emerald green eyes, hooded with desire, staring back at him. Sakura's mouth was open the slightest bit as she breathed a little heavier than she had before. To say the look on her face didn't shoot straight to his groin would be an understatement. Itachi wasn't used to having a woman have this effect on him. He had never really noticed women until Sakura came along and now everything she did that his brain registered as 'sexy' turned him on. Itachi wasn't sure how he felt about that, he didn't like his body being out of his control, it sort of bothered him a bit. After a few moments of silence Sakura pulled herself together and got out of his lap to sit next to him. Her body was facing him when she pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

"So, Itachi. I have a question," she mumbled into the fabric of her pants. Itachi got up into a sitting positon, crossing his legs before raising a brow at her, signalling for her to continue. "Are you a virgin?" she asked innocently, hiding the small blush that dusted the tops of her cheeks. Itachi didn't hide his surprise, he hadn't been expecting a question like that. With a small sigh and light blush on his own cheeks he answered her.

"No I'm not. I lost it on a mission."

"Really?" Sakura asked raising her head to look at him better. He nodded, not looking proud over the fact. "Me too…" Sakura admitted. "Seduction missions are a bitch eh?"

Itachi smirked before stretching his arms back behind him and resting his weight on his hands. The pale skin of his chest reflected the sunlight a little and Sakura dropped her legs before moving closer to him. Her eyes raking down the smooth skin only to catch on that scar just below his pectoral muscle. She reached up to run her thumb across the puckered skin, immediately retracting her hand when Itachi stiffened in reaction to the touch.

"Sorry," she mumbled and Itachi felt slightly guilty.

"It's okay, you can touch me," he paused "Just not there," he clarified. Sakura nodded in understanding before looking up at him.

"How did you get that scar?" she asked curiously, immediately regretting it when his eyes shot away from her, something similar to pain swimming in those dark orbs. His body was stiff again as he no doubt remembered what gave him the wound. "Forget it. Sorry I asked, I didn't mean to be nosy," Sakura said trying to stop the pained look on his face. He shook his head trying to free the unwelcome memories from it before looking at her and smiling. Sakura could tell it wasn't totally genuine but it wasn't forced either.

"It's okay," he said before grabbing his shirt from beside him and pulling it on over his head. After pulling his pony tail out so it rested over his shoulder he held his arms out in an invitation to Sakura. She smiled and immediately got closer, crawling into his lap and resting her head on his shoulder contently. His right arm wrapped around her back to support her slightly.

"You know, I'm half expecting you to grope me right now…" Sakura trailed off with a snicker. She was answered with a groan as Itachi's free hand came up to cover his face in embarrassment.

"I don't think I can apologize enough for my actions," he said, his voice muffled by his hand. Sakura pushed her face closer to him so she could lay a soft kiss on his neck.

"I don't think you need to apologize. I am your girlfriend aren't I?" she asked with a small laugh as he peaked out from behind his hand. They hadn't really given their relationship a title per say but it was implied.

"I suppose you are," he agreed letting his hand fall, only to leave it resting on Sakura's upper thigh lightly.

"I just wish I didn't have to stop you every time you tried to take things further," Sakura grumbled, the smallest of pouts taking over her face. Itachi raised a brow in slight surprise.

"Oh really?" he asked humour evident in his eyes. Sakura grinned before moving forward, her hand coming up to cup the side of his face and her lips pressing softly against his once before pulling away.

"Of course, there were a few times where I wanted to say 'to hell with it' and let you have your way with me, _but_ I knew you would regret it when you got off the meds." She said with a laugh as Itachi's face turned beat red with embarrassment. That wasn't the only reason she didn't let it go further though, she couldn't get even more attached to him. She would only hurt them both more in the end if she did. He didn't need to know that though.

"You were probably right," the Uchiha allowed "I want to remember being with you so…intimately." Sakura smiled.

"I would want you to remember that too."

"Although I have to admit, you definitely got Shisui back pretty good," he paused "And all I have to say is I'm happy I wasn't involved in that. It did result in an interesting clan meeting, though." Sakura laughed loudly at that as she recalled her revenge on Shisui earlier this week.

_*Flashback S*_

_"Sakura," Akarui snickered as she watched the pinkette rummage through her brother's underwear drawer. "How did you get your hands on this itching powder anyways?" The younger woman asked. Sakura smirked evilly and Tsuki, who was perched on the pinkette's shoulder rolled his eyes at this absurd and childish situation._

_"I have my ways..." she said secretly. The black haired girl rolled her eyes but grinned anyways._

_"What did Shisui-nii do to you anyways?" Now it was Sakura's turn to roll her eyes. The pinkette still told Akarui about the whole incident between her and Itachi and Akarui's mouth popped open when she learned her brother just walked away._

_"What a jerk!" _

_"Right!?" Sakura exclaimed taking the powder out from her pocket and sprinkling the itchy substance inside Shisui's underwear making sure to get some inside the clothing._

_"You should put some in his pants too," Akarui added crossing her arms over her chest. Sakura laughed loudly._

_"What?" Akarui asked a grin taking over her face "The jerk deserves it."_

_"He may deserve it but I'm not that cruel," Sakura explained before pocketing the baggy that was still half full with the powder and shutting the drawer. "You said he doesn't have any missions right now correct?"_

_"No missions that I know of," Akarui nodded._

_"Okay well if he ends up leaving for an emergency one tell him about this okay? I'd hate to be the cause of him getting killed because his nether regions are itchy," Sakura said with a slight grimace at the thought. Akarui grinned_

_"Of course. My brother is an ass sometimes but I'd like him to stick around for a while longer."_

_"Me too," Sakura admitted with a laugh._

_000_

_Itachi knew he was being spoken to right now but he couldn't tear his eyes away from his fidgeting cousin that was sitting across from him. Itachi narrowed his eyes and delivered a swift kick to Shisui's leg under the table in an attempt to get him to stop moving so much. The action startled Shisui and he barely managed to hold in a yelp of surprise._

_"So, what do you have to say about this Itachi?" One of the elders asked, trying to grab the long haired raven's attention._

_"Hm?" Itachi said looking over at the old man. Said man narrowed his eyes at Itachi's lack of concentration. Itachi's eyes went back to Shisui and he resisted the urge to sigh loudly at his cousin who was still moving around with an annoyed expression on his face. Suddenly someone's fist came down hard on the wooden table, a loud thud echoing around the room._

_"For Kami's sake Shisui! Would you sit still!?" Fugaku yelled from his place at the head of the table. Itachi held in a snicker at the way Shisui's face paled slightly at Fugaku's explosion. _

_"I, ahh…" Shisui suddenly started vigorously scratching at his crotch area, "May I please be excused?" He asked trying so hard to be polite but really wanting to jump up and run out of the room. Fugaku's eyes narrowed dangerously._

_"We are in the middle of an important council meeting. What is your reasoning for wanting to be excused?"_

_"I..uhh…" Before Shisui finished his sentence suddenly he was up, out of his chair and dashing out the door. Everyone's eyes widened as they watched Shisui run like a bat out of hell. _

_"Excuse me father." Itachi said calmly before standing. _

_"You can't leave too!" Fugaku said getting aggravated. _

_"We can reschedule this meeting," Itachi answered holding his father's stern gaze with ease. The older man threw his eye glasses onto the table with a soft thud before he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He knew without looking up the elders in the room were looking at him, judging him for not being able to control a stupid situation like this._

_"Very well." He said looking up only to find Itachi no longer in the room. "Tch," Fugaku clicked his tongue in anger. Clearly Itachi didn't give a shit about his approval, seeing as he left before Fugaku could even think about it. _

_000_

_"Shisui!" Itachi called running to catch up to his cousin who was clearly heading in the direction of his apartment. "What's going on?" Itachi asked confused. Shisui's eyes shifted nervously around them to make sure no one was listening. _

_"My crotch is itchy as all hell and I don't know why," Shisui admitted. Itachi's eyes widened a small fraction before speaking._

_"When did this start?"_

_"Today, in that damn meeting. Actually it started before that when I was walking to the meeting place, but it wasn't bad so I ignored it. It got worse really fast."_

_"Have you…slept with anyone lately?" Itachi asked letting out a satisfied smirk at the glare that was shot his way._

_"Yes I have, but she was clean. I've slept with her multiple times before and never had this issue."_

_"Right and I'm sure you're the only one she has ever had sex with," Itachi said sarcastically before rolling his eyes._

_"It's not an STD okay?" He paused quickening his pace "It wouldn't come on this quickly if it was."_

_"I suppose you're probably right," Itachi allowed after a moment. "You did just come back from a mission, are you having an allergic reaction to something? By the way what was your mission about anyways? The only reason I wasn't assigned to it with you was because they gave me two weeks off to heal." _

_"No, that isn't it either, and well do you remember what happened regarding the Hyuga's after the peace treaty was signed with the cloud village?" Itachi frowned._

_"Yes, Hiashi killed an important ninja of the cloud village to save his daughter right? The cloud demanded Hiashi's life as punishment but his twin brother, Hizashi stepped in to take his place," Itachi said as an explanation. Shisui nodded._

_"I was delivering proof of that punishment to the cloud village," Shisui stated grimly. "Kakashi and I, along with a few Hyuga clan members made the journey. Apparently all is well and they didn't notice that it wasn't Hiashi's body." Itachi frowned again, it wasn't a happy ending for the Hyuga that's for sure._

_Eventually they got to Shisui's apartment and entered only to find Akarui and Sakura sitting on the couch, mischievous twin smiles on their faces._

_"So Nii-san. How are you feeling today?" she asked overly sweet. Shisui narrowed his eyes at her._

_"What did you do?" He asked._

_"I didn't do anything," Akarui said honestly._

_"She didn't, but I did," Sakura said after a moment. Shisui's eyes shot to Sakura's devious smirk and glared._

_"What did _you_ do!?" _

_Sakura shrugged and looked at her finger nails feigning indifference as she spoke again "Ahh the wonderful outcome of itching powder."_

_"What!? What did I do to deserve itching powder?" Sakura looked at him, raising a delicate pink brow._

_"What happened when I asked you for help this past week, when you…" She glanced at Itachi once before continuing "Walked in on something interesting…?"_

_Shisui's eyes widened "This is my payback for that?" he asked not being able to stop his small snort of laughter as he approached Sakura where she sat on the couch. She stood unsure of what he was trying to do. He had a proud sort of smile on his face as he put his fist out in front of him, signalling that he wanted her to bump her fist with his. She did and Shisui grinned "Good one," he allowed._

_*Flashback E*_

"Oh! I forgot to ask you, do you remember the night I was pulling the poison out of you?" Sakura asked once they had both stopped laughing.

Itachi grimaced "Yes, unfortunately I do."

"What was running through your head when you woke up while I was in the middle of doing it?"

"Honestly?" he asked with a small smirk. "I thought my father was killing me," he confessed with a small laugh.

"What!? Why would you think that?" She asked confused

"Think about it. I wake up to excruciating pain, my father is hovering over me, holding me down and stuffing a cloth in my mouth. Sakura rolled her eyes

"Yea, he wasn't exactly smart with the cloth," she agreed "That's why I told you what I was doing, I didn't want you to have a panic attack."

"Tch, I don't have panic attacks," he said before glancing down at their laps. "I never did thank you for saving me, Sakura," he said his voice quiet all of a sudden. Sakura smiled and lifted his chin with her finger, making him look at her.

"Hey, it was nothing," she assured "You know I would have done the same if it were Shisui or even your other partner Genma," she paused. "Although saving you was a little more emotionally exhausting I must say and if I'm being honest I was pretty scared that I would fail."

"You did fine," he said knowing it was his turn to reassure her, "Besides I felt safer with you anyways. Even though everything you were doing hurt like hell." Sakura smiled.

"That's nice to hear. Why did you come to me though?" She asked sounding curious. Itachi looked thoughtful for a second.

"I'm not too sure, honestly. I guess I wasn't thinking straight on the way to the hospital. I just wanted to go home, then I thought about you and my body acted on its own," he paused once before taking a breath and continuing "I didn't know how badly injured I actually was and I'm really happy you are a highly skilled medical ninja or I probably would have died."

"Hm, I never would have let that happen," Sakura said seriously.

"Hn. Thank you," He said.

"You're very welcome, Itachi," she answered smiling up at him.

000

It was a few days later before they ended up packing a picnic lunch and heading toward a secluded place in the forest for their third date. These didn't really feel like dates anymore though, more like just spending quality time alone together. Sakura eyed the dark clouds above them as she set the food out on the blanket they brought along with them.

"Think it will rain?" She asked Itachi as he sat cross legged directly in front of her. He shrugged

"Probably, if it does we will just pack up and go home." Sakura nodded in agreement as they both dug into the food.

"So," Itachi started after swallowing his first bite "I still haven't found out much about you," he pointed out. Sakura laughed.

"I suppose you haven't, we keep getting interrupted," she paused wiping her hands on a small napkin "What would you like to know? You already know my favourite foods and colour." Itachi thought for a second, his chin resting in his hand as he looked at her.

"Is your hair naturally pink?" He asked completely serious. A snort of laughter came out of Sakura's mouth and it made Itachi's heart flutter oddly at the way she threw her head back, her eyes closed and laughter bubbling up from her chest. That feeling had been happening to him more often around Sakura and it sort of confused him, it wasn't a feeling he was used to.

"Yes," she answered once her laughter had died down into soft snickers "It's definitely natural."

"Okay, what are your dreams?" he asked rather vaguely. Sakura gave him a look and, with a smirk, he elaborated "What do you want to accomplish when you're older?" he asked again. Sakura went silent as she thought this over carefully. This was a question she could answer honestly without having to worry about slipping up on her cover story.

"Well," she started taking a deep breath "I really like helping and saving people, so I guess what I want to do most in the coming years would be to become the best medical ninja I could possibly be," she paused "Also I wouldn't mind being a teacher for younger children, teaching them basic first aid and medical jutsus for when they are put on teams and given missions. I strongly believe there should be one medical ninja on every team."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Itachi agreed.

"Right? I mean it would limit casualties, which is always a good thing," she said with a smile, she knew that idea came from Tsunade herself, she simply agreed with it. Sakura flinched when she felt a cold drop on the bare shoulder her black tank top didn't cover. She looked up only to have three or four more cold drops of water fall on her face.

"Damn," she grumbled looking down at Itachi. He smirked,

"We figured this would happen," he said with a shrug. "Let's continue eating until it starts to pour, deal?" Sakura nodded and took another bite of her food.

The pair ended up eating over half of the picnic lunch before the rain really started to come down. The cool water soaked through their clothes until the cloth stuck to them like a second skin. Their hair was sticking to their faces as they packed everything up and headed back to the house. Goosebumps sprouted along Sakura's arms as they jogged through the forest. There was a large puddle that had gathered in the path ahead of them and Itachi watched as Sakura's eyes widened before she ran toward it. Her eyes were alight with excitement as she jumped and splashed down into the middle of the puddle. Water went everywhere, splashing Itachi's already soaked clothing. Sakura grinned before she kicked the water at Itachi again. His eyes narrowed, this was rather childish. Itachi had never deemed himself a child. He sort of skipped that stage in his life. He had a huge amount of responsibility weighing his shoulders down for as long as he could remember. With that in mind, the raven set down the basket with their leftover lunch and threw caution to the wind. He jumped into the puddle, the cold water biting at his sandaled feet. He could be a child now if he wanted. Something told him Sakura was the only one who could bring this behavior out in him though. Maybe Shisui was right, maybe this woman was good for him.

The two of them laughed and splashed each other as the rain continued to pour down around them. Sakura's heart warmed at the absolute carefree expression on Itachi's face. It was nice to see him let go of whatever always had him down or overthinking. He was currently letting loose, and she was lucky enough to witness it first hand, and she was single-handedly the first person to see this side of him, that she was aware of anyways. Suddenly her arms wrapped around his torso and her face was buried into his sopping wet, cloth covered chest. She wanted so badly, at this moment, to tell him how much she cared about him, how much she loved him, how much she adored his laugh, his smile and everything about him, but she bit her tongue. It was too soon. Itachi chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Sakura's back and leant down slightly to bury his nose into her now dark pink locks.

"We should head back," he murmured but didn't move. Sakura nodded looking up at him. Her arms moved to wrap around his neck and pull him down into a kiss. Their bodies were pressed impossibly close to each other and Sakura's eyes popped open as soon as her cool lips connected with his. Something was different this time. Her eyes fluttered shut again as she felt Itachi's strong arms tighten around her and their kiss deepened, both opening their mouths to let the other explore. Their breathing came out in short pants as the rain around them drowned out any other sound. It was just them, in this moment and neither of them could understand the feelings coursing through them. They both broke apart clearly breathless.

"What was that?" Sakura breathed out, her voice slightly shaky from the onslaught of emotion that simple kiss had elicited. Itachi remained silent, nothing but his harsh breathing could be heard over the rain. Before Sakura knew what was happening Itachi had grabbed the basket and was back at her side, taking her hand and pulling her in the direction of the house.

Once they were outside the house Itachi stopped them. He pushed out his chakra to see if he could sense if anyone was home. Satisfied that they would be alone he continued forward, still tightly grasping Sakura's hand. Sakura had a good idea about what was about to happen and she could honestly say she wouldn't be stopping this time, no this time they would go all the way with each other. The thought slightly scared Sakura, she truly didn't want to get this attached then up and leave, unavoidably hurting them both in the end. Something inside her stopped her from calling it off though. She needed this with him. She _needed_ him.

As they entered the tea room Itachi dropped the basket on the floor before turning around and lightly pushing the pinkette against the wall next to the door leading outside. Their bodies were flush against one another, the only thing separating them was a few soaked shirts and pants that seemed to cling to them anyways. Sakura's breathing hitched when Itachi captured her lips with his again. Her fingers weaved their way into his dark hair, the strands sticking to her skin.

From just outside the door to the tea room someone stood watching with a small knowing smirk on their face. Mikoto had her back against the wall, masking her chakra perfectly. She peaked once more around the corner where all she could see was her eldest son's back. With a small smile on her face she quietly made her way to the front door of the home and left unnoticed. Clearly they both needed some alone time.

At some point the couple had stumbled up the stairs of the home and into their bedroom. Their hands never leaving the other's body as they kissed and nipped at each other's exposed skin. Itachi's hands gripped the bottom of his shirt before pulling it off easily. Sakura had very little time to drink in his toned torso before his hands gripped the bottom of her shirt. He looked her in the eyes, silently asking if this was okay. The pinkette resisted an eye roll before placing her hands over his and pulled the shirt off herself. Their skin was still cool from the cold rain water but it was quickly warming up around them as their desire for one another became suffocating. Sakura felt Itachi wrap an arm around her waist and lift. Instinct made her wrap her legs around his waist and he carried her toward his dresser, opening the first drawer, grabbing something and then proceeding to move them both toward the bed across the room. He laid her down on the comforter and she arched her back to remove her bra with ease, exposing her naked upper body to Itachi.

Itachi had one foot on the floor while his other leg was on the bed when he froze over top of her. He sucked in a sharp breath when her breasts where exposed to him for the first time. Her nipples were hard still from the cold and her chest was heaving, a small blush making its way from her cheeks, down her neck and to the rest of her chest at Itachi's intense gaze. Without warning the raven ducked down and took one of the pink buds into his hot mouth. The drastic change in temperature had Sakura gasping out a moan as her back arched sharply, pushing herself further into Itachi's mouth.

The raven reached up with his hand and pinched her other nipple, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger, enjoying the way Sakura's legs that were still wrapped around his waist tightened and she began to circle her hips against his, looking for the friction they both wanted. Her breasts fit nicely in his hands, they weren't large but he liked their size. He switched sides, taking her other nipple into his mouth making the pinkette moan his name softly, her back arching even further off the bed. Itachi pulled away earning a pout from Sakura as he unwound her legs from around his hips and pulled lightly at the waist band of her dark pants. She lifted her hips off the bed a bit to allow him to completely pull them off, leaving her only in her red, lacy and almost see through panties.

Warmth pooled between Sakura's thighs at the heated look she received from Itachi when her panties were revealed. She watched as the raven swallowed thickly and glanced up to her face. Her breathing hitched at the lust she saw in his dark eyes. It was a look she had never seen from him before, he almost looked hungry. Her heart beat quickened when he forced himself to move away from her so he could remove his own pants and the large tent in his boxers was finally visible to Sakura. She was hungry too. They were hungry for each other and it was something Sakura had felt before but never to this extent. Itachi began to lose control of his actions and it scared yet excited him all at the same time. He had never had the privilege of losing himself in the feelings and desires of a woman. Sakura elicited feelings he had never felt before, he felt almost drunk with it and he loved it.

Before Sakura could blink she was suddenly moved to the middle of the bed and Itachi's lean form was hovering above her, his lips pressing harshly against hers and she reciprocated his actions just as wildly. Her eyes were shut, arms draping around his neck and legs wrapping tightly around his slender hips where she could clearly feel his hard arousal, the feel of his cock only heightened her own arousal and her lower muscles clenched with the glorious realization that he would be inside her soon.

Their first time wouldn't be slow and loving, no it would be wild and crazy; the lust they had both been holding back was breaking free like a dam. Sakura found herself perfectly okay with this, this was the first time either of them would be having sex with someone they truly cared about. There was a raw _need_ to feel close to one another and it was driving them both crazy. Sakura's eyes flew open when she felt Itachi's hand slip underneath her panties and sneak his index finger between her folds to lightly circle around her clit; making her arch impossibly closer to man above her.

"Ah, Itachi," she moaned letting her legs fall from his hips only to spread them, letting him have more room to move around as much as he liked. He took the hint that she wanted more and his finger trail down until he found her entrance. Slowly he inserted his one finger into her wet heat, holding back a groan at how wet and ready she was already. Her eyes fluttered closed, a loud whine escaping her as he removed his finger only to press two more inside her. He picked up a nice rhythm, slowly working her up and making her moan. Itachi watched as her chest heaved with her erratic breathing and her head was thrown back as he pleasured her. His lips found the column of her neck and he kissed along her smooth skin as a thought came to his mind. His lips made their way to her ear and in a soft voice he whispered

"You should wear one of those thongs' you bought, I'd love to see you in one of those," he said moving to nibble lightly on the lobe of her ear. Itachi smirked when he felt her inner muscles clench around his fingers as he continued his rhythm of pushing them in and out her. Clearly that turned her on a little.

"Kami." She murmured letting her head fall back into the soft pillows "Anything for you," she breathed, her eyes still closed.

"Hn," the raven smirked again before trailing his lips back down her body, taking one of her perfectly perky nipples into his mouth once more.

"Please," she gasped, forcing her eyes open to look at her lover. "I need you Itachi, don't make me wait any longer." Sakura wasn't sure she could handle the teasing and foreplay anymore, she needed him and she needed him now.

Itachi nodded his agreement before he removed his fingers, which were now slick with Sakura's arousal. The sight of her essence coating the two digits made his cock twitch with its own need. Not waiting another moment Itachi quickly removed his underwear and grabbed the small square package he had gotten from his dresser earlier. He ripped it open and slid the thing onto his hard length. Sakura watched him curiously as he did this, he was definitely larger than anyone she had ever been with before but she was confident her body could take him.

"Where did you get that?" she asked motioning toward the now empty package beside her hip. Itachi blushed slightly before crawling over top of her again.

"Um, Shisui gave it to me," he admitted. Sakura let out a small giggle before wrapping her arms around his neck, her hands going into his tied back, black hair and pulling him down for a kiss. Their chests were pressed tightly against each other when Itachi felt one of Sakura's arms leave his hair and push its way between them. A hiss escaped his lips as her small hand wrapped around his length giving it a few small tugs before guiding it into her heat. Itachi's head fell forward so it rested on Sakura's shoulder as he pushed his hips forward. Inch by inch the pinkette's warmth swallowed him, the feeling was indescribable.

Sakura's choked gasp made him stop moving and look at her when he was fully seated inside of her. His eyes silently asked her if she was okay, he wasn't particularly familiar with this and he didn't want to hurt her. She smiled weakly up at him in response to his obvious concern

"I'm fine, 'tachi. I'll tell you if you hurt me," she assured, tugging on the pony tail that was resting over his shoulder to pull him down for another kiss. Sakura circled her hips experimentally making both of their eyes roll back at the sensation. It didn't take long for Itachi to move as well, he slowly pulled almost all the way out before thrusting back in quickly.

"Ugh!" Sakura cried out at the delicious feeling of being so full of him. Her legs wrapped tighter around him, her back arched as he picked up his pace. She met his thrusts with her own movements loving the way they fit together so perfectly, the minor discomfort of his size was gone, and in its place was the best feeling she had ever experienced before. Her desire began to quickly build threatening to take over her senses completely. She welcomed the feeling.

Suddenly Itachi's arm was wrapping around her arched back, picking her up off the bed and pulling her close to him. Their positions were different now, they were still on the bed but his back was against the wall and she was sitting in his lap, still feeling him buried deep inside of her, now hitting an entirely new angle. Itachi wasted no time in gripping her hips and moving her against him. Sakura's hands went to his shoulders as she attempted to move herself up and down. Her forehead pressed against Itachi's, their eyes never wavering from one another's. Their tempo was wild and there was no particular rhythm anymore, they were both close and their erratic movement, heavy breathing and moans of pleasure were evidence of that.

"Oh, 'tachi." Sakura whispered drowning in his liquid black eyes. His breathing was ragged, his mouth open slightly as he stared into the beautiful green orbs in front of him. He could feel her muscles flutter around him as they continued to move together, he knew she was close and he was too. He removed a hand from her hips and reached in between them to press against her swollen clit.

"Ah!" Sakura moaned her head thrown back as her inner muscles clenched deliciously tight as her orgasm took over her body. She could feel Itachi thrusting up into her mercilessly as he grew closer to his own release.

Suddenly their positions were moved again Sakura was beneath him as he moved in and out of her at an even faster pace than before. His eyes were clamped shut as Sakura tried to hold onto him so she didn't slide into the headboard behind her. Itachi's teeth were gritted tight

"Itachi, don't hold back, let me hear you," she whispered softly in his ear. Her sweet voice sent him over the edge.

"Agh!" he cried burying his face into Sakura's neck. His hips stilled, pressing flush against her own as his release took over him, Sakura's name passing over his lips like a mantra.

The only thing that could be heard in the silent house was their ragged breathing before Itachi flipped to the side, carrying Sakura with him so she rested on top of him. His softening length still buried inside of her. Sakura's eyes drooped with fatigue as she began to calm down.

"Tired?" Itachi asked sounding less breathless than before. The pinkette nodded against his sweaty chest refusing to open her eyes. He then turned on his side letting her lie down on the bed, she turned on her stomach, face half buried in the pillow. The action caused him to slide out of her, making her whine slightly at the feeling. He then got out of bed and leant down to leave a soft kiss on her temple, brushing the sweat and rain damp hair behind her ear.

"Sleep, Sakura. I'll be right back," he whispered making her 'hm' in acknowledgment.

"Don't be too long," she mumbled softly. His heart seemed to flutter a bit at the look of her flushed, slightly sweaty skin as she fell asleep. He pulled the blanket up and covered her body and with another fond glance at her, he left the room.

After cleaning up in the bathroom Itachi returned to the room and crawled into bed with the pinkette as promised. He covered both of them with the blanket and smirked when Sakura immediately cuddled close to his warmth. He had to admit their activities had indeed wore him out and as the minutes ticked by his eyes drooped and he surrendered to the urge to sleep. Sakura's warm body pressed up against his helped him nod off quickly.

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**So thank you all for your opinions on what their first lemon should be like, I did take in what everyone wanted. Because a lot of you wanted wild and needy that's what I wrote. A lot of you also wanted loving and slow, SO I've come to the conclusion that there will simply have to be more than one lemon in this, you all who wanted sweet n slow will get sweet n slow at some point in the coming chapters :) I hope this makes everyone happy, that's what I'm aiming to do! :D**

**any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask in a review or PM :) thank you all for your continued support, this story wouldn't be here without you all! x3**

**Usigned reviews from last chapter:**

_Guest: Haha yes, I'm glad you enjoyed that, I gave myself a few laughs with drugged up Itachi ;) not something you see everyday :D_

_joys: Showing Sakura's medic side needed to happen sooner or later right? xD I thought about maybe having her be able to help out at the hospital once in a while to get some escape BUT alas Fugaku-butt would never allow that :/ lol so she is stuck where she is xD I'm happy to hear you are liking this story, though! :) _


	16. Past Crimes Revealed

**So I'm gonna say this now, I had a lot of issues with this chapter. I don't know if it was because I was tired (I got hired full time at work, YAY ME! :D) or I just didn't have any motivation, ooorrr maybe it was a bit of both! ANYWAYS I did manage to get it done a day early, much to my own surprise. **

**Things will begin to pick up now. :) I hope you all are ready ;)**

**P.S...Did any of you read the most recent Naruto chapter? if so COME FANGIRL WITH ME PLEASE! :D**

**I don't own Naruto.**

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Chapter 16: Past Crimes Revealed

Ever since being with each other intimately, the couple had taken advantage of any alone time they had together to explore each other's bodies more thoroughly. Sakura's love for Itachi had grown even stronger since then, and it had only been roughly two weeks. There was a loud sigh as Sakura laid her head down on Itachi's warm shoulder. Their breathing gradually slowed and the silence of the house surrounded them.

Everyone in the house was still asleep and as Itachi glanced down he noticed the way Sakura's eyes lingered over that scar located just below his chest. She was indeed curious about it and even though the memory was painful he decided maybe it was time to tell her about it. Who knows, maybe it will make him feel better if she knew. That way it wouldn't be something he was keeping from her.

"I was 13 years old." He started, swallowing the nervous lump in his throat. He had never told anyone other than a few officials about this event in his life. "It was during the last war and I was on my second ANBU mission as a captain when I was captured by the enemy. I had been separated from my team and they were able to take me down." Sakura was now sitting up slightly the comforter wrapped around her chest as she looked at Itachi wide eyed.

"Why are you telling me this?" She asked quietly.

"I know you have been curious about my scar," he explained tracing the pale mark with his index finger. "I catch you looking at it every time I'm shirtless around you. I….trust you. So I'm going to tell you." A pang of guilt shot through Sakura's heart. He trusted her and yet she was keeping so much from him. She shoved the feelings of guilt down and nodded at him to continue. With a deep breath he spoke again.

"They had me locked up for three weeks. Every single day they would torture me for information. I was an ANBU captain, I was privy to all kinds of useful information. No matter what they did though, I didn't budge, so the torture got worse and worse." Sakura frowned at the pain barely contained in his dark eyes.

"Stop. You don't have to tell me anymore. I can see these memories are hard for you. Don't put yourself through that just to satisfy my curiosity."

"It's okay. I want to tell you this."

"Okay," Sakura answered hesitantly

"One of the many things they did to me was stabbing me over and over again. The puncture wounds were shallow, shallow enough that when they healed me the scars went away," he paused pointing at the only scar that was visible "This one, however was pretty deep. They almost punctured my lung. It was the last thing they did to me before I was rescued, this one they didn't heal. It healed on its own eventually."

"They had their own medic to heal your wounds, only to inflict more later?"

"Yes, it was their way of keeping me alive, for as long as possible" he said with a grimace. "Do you remember that nightmare you woke me up from? I reacted violently and…almost hurt you?" Sakura nodded recalling that specific nightmare a week or so after she had gotten here.

"Yes, I definitely remember that," she said with a nervous laugh. "My life sort of flashed before my eyes there…" she admitted. Itachi frowned

"Yea, sorry about that. I was actually dreaming about that mission. The pain of being tortured kind of sticks with you forever."

Sakura laid back down so her head was resting on his chest again. She felt his arms immediately tighten around her and hold her close to him.

"I'm sorry that happened to you. Thank you," she murmured into his skin "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me that."

_'Even though you don't deserve that trust!' _ Sakura thought bitterly. Itachi craned his neck down slightly to lay a soft kiss on her head. He watched Sakura sleep for a while before finally falling asleep himself. He felt slightly better after telling her about that mission.

000

Itachi woke the next morning sleeping on his stomach. To his right he didn't see Sakura's head but as he craned his neck to look lower he saw her a little ways down curled into a ball, her face pressed against his ribs with one of her arms slung over his lower back. She was still fast asleep and he watched with interest as her body snuggled in closer to him, her grip tightening. He resisted the urge to smirk as he felt her face nuzzle impossibly deeper into his side as if unconsciously seeking the warmth his body gave off.

He could hear movement downstairs and decided to get up for the day. Slowly he removed himself from the bed, being careful not to wake the pinkette. He watched with a fond smile as she pulled the blankets tighter against her before settling again. Itachi quietly made his way around the room, gathering his underwear and other clothes he would wear for the day before slipping them on and leaving the room silently.

Sakura's eye peaked open when she heard the bedroom door click shut. When she was alone she stretched out earning a few popping sounds from her joints as she groaned at the awesome feeling of stretching her muscles after being curled up all night. Slowly the pinkette pulled herself out of bed wishing she could sleep longer but knowing she shouldn't. Sakura then noticed with only a bit of surprise that Itachi hadn't summoned Tsuki to watch her while he was downstairs. As of late Tsuki hadn't been needed all that often because for the most part Itachi hadn't been going on missions. The Hokage had given him two weeks to heal after he had been injured and even this past week he had only been given day missions. She enjoyed being able to spend time with him as often as she had been able to, it was nice.

Still though when his parents were in the house he always summoned Tsuki when he wouldn't be with her. Sakura wondered briefly if he had forgotten or if he had done it on purpose. With a small shrug of her shoulders she exited the room, pulling her hair up into a messy ponytail while walking down the stairs. The sound of raised voices, or rather one person with a raised voice reached her, making her stop in the middle of the staircase, mask her chakra and listen.

"You left her alone didn't you?" Fugaku said sounding angry.

"Yes, I think she has proved to be more than trustworthy. Or have you forgotten about her saving my life after that mission, father?" Itachi answered calmly, the slight hardness of his voice barely betraying his anger. Sakura had noticed the difference in behavior when Itachi was talking to his father. He showed very little emotion, he always took on a more bored tone of voice that made it sound like Fugaku was wasting his time. He was always a lot warmer toward his mother, a lot more playful toward Sasuke, carefree toward Shisui and generally all of the above for her. Warmth spread through Sakura at that realization. It just showed he cared about her, a lot.

"No I haven't forgotten!" Sakura could only guess Fugaku was pinching the bridge of his nose, something he seemed to always do when he was frustrated. "Itachi," he started his voice calmer, but more serious. "With our plan about to be set in motion we can't afford to trust anyone outside of our clan. You must understand that." Sakura stiffened. Plan? What plan? What were they planning on doing?

"Shh!" Mikoto hissed suddenly. "We can't speak of something like this right now," she said her voice sounding worried. Sakura realized she had stopped masking her chakra.

_'Dammit! Way to ruin your chances of hearing more, dumbass!' _she thought, annoyed with herself. Sakura decided to play it cool and walked down the remainder of the stairs. Itachi's head poked out of the kitchen door and offered her a warm smile that only she could see.

"Good morning, Sakura," He said. Mikoto walked out beside him.

"Good morning," Sakura answered smiling at both of them.

"Would you go and wake up Sasuke?" Mikoto asked sweetly. Sakura nodded and turned around to walk back up stairs. Fugaku spoke from in the kitchen, his voice serious.

"Itachi," he said in an almost warning.

"I'll come with you," Itachi murmured before following Sakura up the stairs. Sakura didn't turn around but rolled her eyes at Fugaku's not so subtle warning that she couldn't be left alone.

"I apologize, Sakura. My father has trust issues," Itachi said pausing as he began walking down the hall directly beside the pinkette.

"Don't apologize," Sakura said, offering him a smile. "It's not your fault. Besides I am kind of an outsider…"

"No you're not!" Itachi almost snapped. Sakura's eyes widened as she looked up at him. His voice immediately softened "You aren't an outsider. You've been living with us for four and a half, almost five months now and you saved my life. An outsider would have never done something like that. You care about me, and you care about my family. I respect you for that and if I'm being honest it makes me angry that my father can't see that."

"Itachi I-"

"We're here," he interrupted gesturing toward Sasuke's bedroom door. "As I'm sure you have noticed already my Otouto isn't exactly a morning person…" Itachi said trailing off with a small laugh. Sakura decided to drop their conversation for now and grinned.

"No he most definitely is not a morning person," she agreed.

The two of them entered the quiet bedroom. Sasuke was still fast asleep, his blanket pulled up to his chin and soft quiet snores escaped his little mouth. Sakura knelt down beside one side of his bed and Itachi took the other. Sakura reached up and softly poked one of the smaller raven's cheeks making him squirm slightly.

"Sasuke," she sang. The younger Uchiha grumbled something unintelligible before dramatically flopping onto his stomach and burying his face into his pillow.

"Otouto," Itachi said poking his little brother on his cheek as well. His face was buried still but there was a small bit of his cheek visible. "Time to get up."

"No," Sasuke grumbled. "Sleep."

"Kaa-san is making breakfast for everyone, she would be really disappointed if you didn't join us," he said poking the boy's face again.

"No," he drawled "Nii-san, go away." Itachi chuckled slightly. Sakura raised an eyebrow before placing her hand on Sasuke's back.

"Didn't you want to show Itachi, me and your mother your jutsu today?" She asked quietly although knowing Itachi could hear her. He smiled knowing she was talking about the fireball jutsu. She had told him how excited Sasuke was to have learned it. Itachi knew he really wanted their father to approve of it.

"Yes…" Sasuke mumbled turning his head a small amount just so one of his open eyes was looking at a smiling Sakura.

"Well you have to get up then don't you?" Sakura asked watching as Itachi stood from his spot, ripped the blankets off of Sasuke, picked the boy up and threw him over his shoulder.

"Itachi-nii!" Sasuke cried in surprised before crossing his arms as best as he could while hanging upside down. A large pout took over his face as Itachi left the room. Sakura made a few funny faces at Sasuke's pouting form, trying to make him smile, to no avail. There was no making this child happy in the mornings.

000

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" The flames were hot on their faces as Itachi, Sakura and Mikoto watched the ball of fire expand over the water on the lake with small smiles on their faces. When he was done Sasuke looked nervously as his mother and Itachi who stood at his sides.

"Sasuke that was amazing!" Mikoto cried kneeling down next to him and gathering him in a small hug before planting a kiss on his forehead. "I'm so proud of you." She said honestly. Sasuke smiled at the praise. He felt a hand on the top of his head and turned to look at a smirking Itachi.

"Good job, little brother," he paused, ruffling Sasuke's spiky locks. "I think you can show tou-san now. I'm sure he will be proud of you," he said with a genuine smile on his face. Sakura could clearly see how proud he really was. Sakura was pretty proud of Sasuke too. The person the small Uchiha truly wanted praise from though was Fugaku. Sakura could only hope the man didn't disappoint Sasuke further.

"How about we go home and make your favourite lunch?" Mikoto suggested, loving the happy smile on her son's face. She knew Fugaku would be proud of Sasuke. Even though it may not look like it sometimes, her husband loved both of his children dearly. He always had high hopes for Itachi and he wasn't disappointed. Itachi surpassed everyone's expectations. Sasuke took more time to learn things than Itachi did and it made the young boy think he was inadequate because of that. Mikoto knew Fugaku was always proud of Sasuke, he just had a horrible way of showing it, her husband had never been very good at openly showing his emotions to anyone, including herself at the beginning.

After they had gotten married when Mikoto was sixteen years old it had taken the birth of Itachi when she was seventeen for her to even catch a glimpse of emotion on her husband's face. It had been an arranged marriage but after a few years Mikoto began to fall for him, which is something she had wished would happen. They were in this for life, she had hoped they would at least be happy. Mikoto didn't need Fugaku to tell her he loved her. He showed her in the way he did things. The way he would kiss her softly in the mornings before he left or a look he would give her. She knew he loved her. He just didn't know how to say it. Even to this day he had only been able to say the words three times in their seventeen years of marriage. One of those time was when Sasuke was born. She hadn't seen him that happy in years.

With a small smile at both of her sons the four of them left the dock and made their way home.

000

That night Sakura reached for Itachi only to find his side of the bed empty. Her eyes opened, revealing the pitch black darkness of the room. The bed next to her was cold so he hadn't been here for a while. Where had he gone? Mission? No he would have woken her to tell her he was leaving if that were the case. With a small yawn the pinkette sat up in bed, her tank top strap falling down her shoulder and her eyes blinking slightly; still heavy with fatigue. She slowly got out of bed and made her way to the door.

Her hand reached for the doorknob of the bathroom door across the hallway only to stop when she heard the faint sound of voices coming from downstairs. She masked her chakra, which she had to admit she had been getting better at doing. Yesterday was proof of that, no one had noticed her until she had accidently stopped hiding it. She would have to spar with Itachi again soon to see if she had actually improved a decent amount. She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she descended the stairs. As she got closer to the first floor she realized the voices were coming from the tea room. She stopped just at the bottom of the stairs, her back against the wall. The door to the room was cracked only a small amount but it was enough for her to understand what was being said between what she could tell as Fugaku and Itachi. She suspected Mikoto was there as well but at the moment she wasn't speaking.

Sakura closed her eyes trying to hear better as the calm voice of her lover floated through the crack in the door.

"Tou-san,"

"Look, Itachi," Fugaku interrupted. "I know you're against what we are doing, but we have been slighted and cast aside for far too long. It is time we show our strength as a clan. I'm not going to try and convince you to want this like everyone else does, but as my son, I need you to be there with us, for us." Sakura heard Itachi take a small breath.

"I have expressed my dislike for this situation, yes. I have also agreed to join you, on one condition." There was a small pause before Itachi spoke again "You postpone the attack for another month."

"A month?" Fugaku asked sounding surprised. "No, I can't postpone it a month. What is your reasoning for this?"

"There is something I must do on my side to help us win the battle. I need more time to do it though. The attack on the village is not going to be easy-"

"We can do it without help on your side. If we have surprise on our side we are sure to win," Fugaku interrupted again.

Sakura swallowed thickly. Attack the village? Just what was this clan up to? Why would they do such a thing?

"Father, please. Let me do this. If I make sure the highest skilled ANBU are away from the village it will make our job a _lot_ easier." There was a small bout of silence. Sakura held her breath. There were so many questions running through her head at the moment. Why were the Uchiha wanting to attack the village? Did the Hokage know about this? Why was Itachi going along with it if he didn't agree with it? Sudden realization dawned on her then. Itachi killed his entire clan in a little over a month from now. Was this the reason why? Did he kill them all to stop this attack? That would make the most sense. So now her mission just got a thousand times more difficult. She didn't have to stop Itachi from killing his clan, she had to stop the whole plan of attack on the village. How in the hell was she supposed to do that!? Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by Mikoto's soft voice piercing the silence that had blanketed the room.

"I think we should allow Itachi to do this," she said. Fugaku sighed in response to her answer.

"Fine. I will postpone, but not for an entire month. I can give you two weeks and that's it."

"Hai," Itachi acknowledged "I will complete my task in two weeks." There was a shuffling sound in the room that gave Sakura the impression that the conversation was over. Silently she slipped back upstairs and back into the bedroom. Her mind was still reeling but there were quite a few things that made sense to her now. Itachi definitely didn't kill his clan to 'test his abilities' like Sasuke had said Itachi had told him. No Itachi must have killed his clan to save the village from the planned attack. To Sakura that was the last thing she would have expected and now she had more respect for the man than she ever thought she would. At the same time, even though her mission had more or less changed, the outcome needed to remain the same. She needed to stop the attack and make sure Itachi never had to go through the pain of killing his loved ones because of their own disloyalty to their village. She now knew what had made him the cold killer he was when she first met him. There was no doubt in her mind that he would have to kill every emotion inside him to get the job done.

The opening of the bedroom door made Sakura close her eyes and feign sleep as she laid still in the bed. She listened as Itachi moved around the room, removing his shirt and pants. She heard him slip on his sleep pants before crawling into bed next to her. He pulled her close to him and without much thought she cuddled up to him, her head on his chest.

"Did you get up?" Itachi asked quietly. Sakura decided telling only some of the truth would be best.

"Yes," she murmured "Just to go to the bathroom. Where were you?"

"Had to talk with my parents for a bit, nothing serious," he assured. Sakura nodded against his chest and tried to go to sleep.

She slowed her breathing down and remained still so it would seem like she was sleeping. She then felt Itachi's arms tighten around her. He placed a soft kiss against her head and whispered softly

"Please don't think badly of me," he said. Sakura's chest tightened at the small amount of pain in his voice. He must think she was sleeping, that and it was now obvious that he knew she had been listening in on his conversation with his parents. Sakura hoped he was the only one who noticed. Instead of caving to the need to assure him she would never think badly of him now, she simply stayed still and let him think she was indeed sleeping. Although, sleep wouldn't come easily to Sakura tonight.

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**I appreciate the few reviews I got for the last chapter, I was a little surprised I didn't get more than 10 though seeing as it was Sakura and Itachi's first time o.o BUT oh well I appreciated the readers that did take the time to review :)**

**_IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!_**

**My mother is coming to visit me this weekend from out of province so I make no promises that I will get this next chapter out on time. It might come mid next week. Or if I'm lucky and I'm not too tired from work I'll be able to post before she shows up. But I wont be writing at all while she is here. I rarely get to see her and I miss her like crazy :( **

**That being said, I know quite a few of you are looking forward to my next one-shot 'A Birthday Surprise' featuring a threesome between Shisui, Sakura and Itachi. (Rated M let me know if you want to know more about it) Would you all like me to take a week or a week and a half break from this story to write that and get it posted? Or do you want me to wait till after this story is done to write it? PLEASE LET ME KNOW I NEED PEOPLE'S OPINIONS! **

_**END OF IMPORTANT MESSAGE**_

**As always thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and please review to let me know what you thought :)**

_Unsigned Reveiws from last chapter:_

_CeciditTess:__ Wow thank you so much! The fact that you usually don't review but did is awesome, I really appreciate it! :) I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hope you continue to enjoy it! Thanks again!_

_joys:__ yay, I'm happy you liked the prank x3 there were a few people who were really excited for Sakura's revenge but didn't comment on the itching powder xD I hope you're satisfied with what's to come in the next chapters! :D_


	17. Confession

**So I'm going to say this now, I'm not pleased with this chapter. I'm so sorry if it seems rushed and it is rather short but this needed to be written and I'm not gonna lie im a little upset now that my mom is gone again so inspiration for this chapter didn't come easily to me. :/ Oh well I'm hoping to see her again soon, and thank you for all who told me to have a good time, I totally did but it was too short as always xD**

**Again I apologize for the crappiness of this chapter :/ Next one will be better. And I will try to get it written by Monday (Nov 17)**

**Anyways, onward! I do not own Naruto.**

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Chapter 17: Confessions

"Stop!" Itachi said, suddenly directly in front of her again and pushing her up against the tree. The rough bark dug into her back as she stared up into his confused dark eyes.

"What?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. Her breathing was laboured seeing as she just had to dodge a barrage of physical attacks only a moment ago, but Itachi was calm, his breathing even as he looked at her intently.

"You're holding back," he pointed out.

"No I'm no-"

"Don't lie to me, Sakura," he said, his eyes getting slightly harder. She swallowed slightly before speaking again.

"I'm not, I-"She paused, what was she supposed to say? He would know if she lied.

"The last time we sparred," He began his eyes narrowing. "That intense show of strength you displayed, hasn't left my mind," he said honestly. Sakura frowned. "I just never brought it up because I figured in time you would stop hiding it from me." Sakura's frown deepened when she saw the slight hurt in his eyes. She couldn't lie to him anymore. The stab of pain that shot through her heart due to the guilt she felt over keeping so many things from him was something she couldn't take anymore. It's not like what she was hiding was bad, her mission was to correct the wrongs of the past to make a better future for Sasuke and now Itachi. Sakura loved them both so much, she needed them to have a happy ending with no more pain and suffering.

But telling him what she was really doing here could ruin everything. He could be angry, as he should be, and have her kicked out of the compound. That happening would completely ruin her chances at stopping the massacre. If Sakura was going to tell him about everything then she needed to be smart about it. She needed him to know right away that she was here to make sure Sasuke had a normal life and didn't get executed at the young age of seventeen. He would be less likely to get angry over that, right?

"Sakura. Tell me why you are holding back, you are clearly hiding something from me. Please tell me, you can trust me."

"I need you to keep an open mind, Itachi. Please don't jump to conclusions. You need to let me explain," she began and her eyes widened as the words spilled out. Oh kami, she was really going to do this wasn't she? Sakura hoped beyond hope that the raven would understand. She just, couldn't keep this from him any longer. She needed to be open and honest and telling him might even help her in the end. If he knows what the future holds it will make him less likely to follow the path that caused that particular future. Itachi raised a brow at her, a flicker of worry crossing his features before it was gone.

"Sakura, you don't know me at all if you think I would be the kind of person to jump to conclusions," he said frowning. He had let his arms drop so his hands rested on each of her arms in a more relaxed manor.

"What I'm about to tell you will make no sense. Before I tell you the main thing there is something you need to know first." Itachi nodded slowly, he was beginning to grow wary of where this conversation was going.

"Everything I have done up until this point was for Sasuke. Sasuke is my main focus, his happiness is what I'm striving for." Itachi's hands dropped from Sakura's arms then and he looked at her, his expression changing to something more suspicious. She looked down, swallowing thickly as she continued. "The reason my medical skills are so good and the reason I have the strength I do is because Tsunade, one of the three legendary Sanin, trained me herself. I trained under her for quite some time-" Itachi cut her off, his voice slightly harder than before and it made Sakura's heart skip. She hadn't even gotten to the big part yet and he was already mad. No, wait, he wasn't mad, not yet. She had yet to see Itachi _mad_ but there was something is his voice that made Sakura worry over his reaction to when he found out everything.

"Impossible, Tsunade left the village. She had no students," he pointed out. Sakura wasn't looking at him but she could feel his hard stare.

"You're right she hasn't taken any students, yet." Sakura chanced a glance up only to see Itachi's eye brows furrowed in confusion and uncertainty. Sakura sighed before continuing. "Tsunade won't take on a student for another almost eight years," she said only slightly explaining. "I'm her only student aside from her assistant Shizune."

"What are you talking about? Sakura you aren't making a single bit of sense."

"I told you what I was going to tell you wouldn't make sense. One thing you need to know is that I care about you, I care about your family and I definitely care about your little brother. Like I said he is my main focus. My feelings for you are real but the _real _reason I am here isn't because my family died."

Itachi's eyes narrowed dangerously as some of the pieces began to fall into place. "Why are you here?" He asked, the warmth in his voice completely gone now, and in its place the cold and unemotional tone he usually used while speaking to officials and his father. It tore at Sakura's heart. She hadn't heard him talk to her like that, ever.

"I'm on a mission to stop something horrible from happening."

"Was your mission to infiltrate my clan and spy on us?" He asked taking a rather large step back. Sakura suddenly felt cold.

"Partly yes," she paused and watched as Itachi's eyes hardened even more and she rushed to add more "_But _I have your family's best interest in mind! I swear!"

"You lied to me, Sakura," he said "You entered my home under false pretenses and yet expect me to trust that you had _good_ intentions. Please tell how that is reasonable." He paused and Sakura didn't miss the flash of hurt in his eyes "Whatever we have going between us, is it even real? Or was it your way of getting closer and learning more about me and my family?"

"Itachi I told you my feelings for you are real. Falling for you was never something that was supposed to happen. I'm not here to harm you or your family, I'm here to stop you from doing something horrible and ruining your brother's life!" That last bit of information seemed to get Itachi's attention more so than anything yet.

"Ruin my brother's life?" he asked looking more confused than angry at the moment. "I don't understand how you can possibly know about the decisions I will make in the future and how they will affect my brother."

"There is so much I need to tell you but I just don't know how to explain. Everything I say is going to sound crazy!" Sakura was getting frantic now. Everything she was doing and why she was doing it was running through her mind at top speed, her words and explanations making no sense even in her own head. How could she possibly explain everything to Itachi without sounding like a lunatic?

"Well until you can figure out how to tell me what the hell you're talking about I'd like you to stay elsewhere, _away_ from me and especially away from my brother," Itachi said before turning around and walking toward his house. Sakura's stomach sank and her heart squeezed. Was this it? Where they over? Sakura felt like slapping herself, she shouldn't be worried about their relationship at such a crucial time when her mission was on the line. However the pain in her chest as she watched his retreating back, begged to differ.

"Stop!" She cried, feeling tears prick at her eyes. "I know what you end up choosing to do, to take care of your family's…plan to attack the village." Sakura watched as Itachi stopped walking, his whole body going rigid. Before he could say anything she continued "It's because I'm from the future. Ten years in the future to be exact. I know what you end up doing and I know how it affects Sasuke." Before Sakura could blink Itachi was right in front of her his eyes seemingly on fire with anger. The strong emotion causing his sharingan to activate as he stared down at her.

"You're in _no_ position to insult my intelligence," he growled making more tears gather at the corner of Sakura's eyes but she wouldn't let them fall and she calmly held his angry glare as she spoke again.

"I wouldn't dream of insulting your intelligence." She said her voice slightly thick with emotion. "In fact I can prove that I am indeed from the future. Sasuke was on my genin team. I have a photo of Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei and myself as team seven. Not to mention my seven year old self is currently in your brother's class. Please, Itachi. _Please _believe me. I won't lie to you any longer, I couldn't bear to keep this secret anymore."

"Time travel isn't possible," he said his eyes still hard but she could still see the hurt and betrayal he felt there clear as day. She had gotten so good at reading his emotions.

"That's what I thought, but I was proven wrong."

"Tch. Show me your proof and _maybe_ I'll think about believing you." He said moving away from her and walking away again. This time she immediately followed. He was giving her a chance to prove to him she wasn't lying, that was good right? Maybe this won't end as badly as she felt like it was going to a moment ago.

"Tsunade, who is the fifth Hokage, sent me here with a letter to give to Lord Third. He read it and whatever she said in the letter made him believe my story. He could possibly vouch for me as well," Sakura added as the two of them entered in through the backyard of the Uchiha home. Itachi glanced at her from the corner of his eye

"Hn," he answered.

Once inside the home Sakura walked upstairs, stopping a moment to say hello to Mikoto who was sweeping the living room floor. She went toward the closet once they were inside Itachi's room and grabbed her medic pouch that had been thankfully spared since that night she was saved from the rogues. She searched through it before taking out a carefully folded photograph that she took with her everywhere. She unfolded it before handing it over to Itachi who immediately took it and looked at it.

"My real name is Haruno Sakura," she murmured as he glanced down at the picture in her hand.

His eyes widened a fraction as he looked at the picture. A younger Sakura stood in the middle of two boys, one blonde with a scowl on his face that looked an awful lot like the jinchuriki of the leaf village and one dark haired boy who had a matching scowl, the two of them were looking at each other over Sakura's head. Behind them was indeed Kakashi. There was no mistaking it. He was older looking than he was now, but it was definitely him. The raven's eyes went back to the dark haired boy on Sakura's left. He looked identical to his little brother, his dark eyes looked haunted, he could see the pain there clear as day and it made Itachi wonder just how that got there. What happened? Itachi thought about what Sakura had said about his decision playing a horrible part in Sasuke's future. Was Itachi the cause of the pain he could so clearly see there?

Part of Itachi wanted to believe Sakura right away but a more logical side of him couldn't believe her. This picture however was hard _not_ to believe. He was hurt, there was no denying that. He had never been able to open up to anyone quite like he had been able to do with Sakura. She had been lying to him since the moment she arrived in his care. It made him angry that he didn't see it coming a mile away. He should have caught her lies before he fell for her. This feeling of betrayal was eating away at him, he had never felt this way before. Silently he handed the picture back to her and ignored the way she looked up at him, her expression full of hope. He wouldn't believe her so easily. He needed more proof.

"I'd like to go and speak to the Hokage," he said, his voice giving nothing away. Sakura's expression fell slightly before she nodded and they left the room.

000

The Hokage was busy but managed to give them ten minutes of his time. He was slightly shocked to see Itachi and Sakura stroll into his office. He noticed immediately that something wasn't right. Sakura looked upset and Itachi looked angry. The older man sat straighter in his seat as he watched the two of them approach his desk. Both bowed slightly and greeted him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked curiously.

"I have told Itachi the true nature of my being here." Sakura confessed looking down slightly. Hiruzen raised a brow in surprise.

"You do realize you have possibly compromised your mission, Fuguya Sakura."

"He now knows my real name, Hokage-sama. It's Haruno Sakura." Sakura paused and looked up at a still silent Itachi. "As you are probably aware of Itachi doesn't exactly believe me when I tell him I'm from the future." Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the pinkette in front of him.

"Sakura. You weren't supposed to tell anyone about the time travel. That is a top secret jutsu that only _very _few people know about. You are one of those people and Tsunade and I are the other two."

"I'm aware of that sir," Sakura confessed looking slightly ashamed. "But my…relationship with Uchiha Itachi has changed and I couldn't keep this from him anymore. I'm aware my decisions may have consequences and I will readily take the punishments for them." Suddenly Itachi stepped up, looking slightly less angry than before.

"If she is telling the truth, I will not breathe a word of this to anyone," he said glancing at Sakura. The third sighed before nodding.

"Very well. Yes, she is telling the truth."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Sakura said bowing. She glanced at Itachi through the curtain of her hair to see him looking thoughtful. She was relieved to see the anger was gone, but as she straightened, the hurt she had caused was still visible. She would regret hurting him forever.

The couple took their leave and walked through the darkening streets of the village. It was about dinner time as the two of them passed by Sakura's childhood home. She stopped walking and Itachi followed suit, looking at her questioningly.

"This is where my seven year old self lives," she explained looking over at the slightly illuminated window of her bedroom on the ground floor. She walked toward it to peer into the window. She felt Itachi's presence behind her as they both saw the young Sakura reading a book in her bed. They watched for a moment before Sakura broke the silence that had fallen between them.

"Do you believe me?" She turned away from the window to look at the raven. He pursed his lips slightly before giving a sharp nod in confirmation before he slowly turned around to continue their journey home.

"I believe your story. This doesn't mean I forgive you," he explained as she caught up to him.

"Understandable," she murmured. "Just know Itachi, my feelings for you were never planned. I'm pretty sure Tsunade would kick my ass so hard if she ever found out." Sakura cringed slightly just thinking about it.

"Hn."

Sakura sighed "Am I sleeping somewhere else now?" she asked wracking her brain for where she could go. Maybe Kakashi-sensei would take her in for at least a couple nights. She dreaded knocking on his door though.

"No," Itachi said not looking at her. Sakura noticed he wasn't angry anymore but he was still slightly cold toward her. She supposed she deserves this treatment, it really didn't make it hurt any less though. "You can stay. This stays between us though, no one else can know about this," He said as they passed the gates into the compound. The shops in the area were all closed for the day and the streets were more or less deserted. Mostly everyone was at home eating dinner with their families.

"Okay, thank you Itachi, for believing me." He glanced down at her. She wasn't looking at him but he saw the relief showing on her face. He was glad the Hokage confirmed her story if he was being honest. Itachi would forgive her, and soon he would need to know more about the future. He didn't wish for that pain he saw in his brother's eyes to happen. He would do anything in his power to make sure Sasuke remained happy.

"I'm not one to jump to conclusions, Sakura. I like to hear all sides of a story before I judge." He paused locking eyes with her. "But if I am to forgive you, I need you to promise to never lie to me or keep something important from me ever again," he said, his eyes intense. She nodded immediately

"I promise, I will never keep anything from you again. When you would like to know more about the future, let me know and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Hn," he nodded.

That night the two of them went upstairs to go to bed.

"I'd like to sleep alone tonight," Itachi murmured not looking at Sakura. He missed the hurt expression on her face but she nodded anyways and readied her bed on the floor, which had remained undisturbed for a while now as she had been sleeping with Itachi every night.

"It's okay, I understand," she said her voice a whisper. As the two laid down in their beds neither could fall asleep. They were silent but both knew the other was awake. Maybe this would be a restless night for them both.

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**Thank you Thank you THANK YOU! for all your lovely reviews last chapter :) I appreciated every one of them. You guys always make me feel so loved. Reveiws also totally motivate me, just so you know xD**

**So, a bit of drama in this chapter and if I'm being honest this isn't how this chapter was supposed to be. There was supposed to be a bit of a spar at the start and just over all it was supposed to be better but I lacked inspiration so I'm very sorry :/ (I bet you can all tell how unhappy I am with myself xD) haha.**

**Anyways Itachi is somewhat in the know now and I'm aiming for a Nov 17th update! Please review and show me some love, I could use it! :)**

_**P.S HOLY CRAP! I'M ONLY 6 REVEIWS AWAY FROM 200 REVEIWS! I THINK I MIGHT CRY, THANK YOU SO MUCH! T-T**_


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