This story just popped into my head and I decided to get this story out of my head so I can continue "Welcome Home" and in the process, I'll write for this one also.

Hope you guys like it!

Summary: Things in Konoha have changed over the years. Naruto has become one of the best ninjas in the village and is training to be Hokage, Sasuke is still out there somewhere with Orochimaru, Kakashi got his new book of Icha Icha Paradise (some things don't change), and Sakura has become one of the Akatsuki and is partners with Itachi and Kisame. What will Sasuke do when he goes in search of his brother, but the one he finds instead is a wilted cherry blossom?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I draw horribly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A young woman walked in the bar with a black mini skirt and a black long-sleeved sweater on. Her hair was brown and it was very long. Her eyes were a mesmerizing blue. She scanned the room as if searching for someone, until her eyes laid on a figure in one of the tables. She went over to that table and sat down.

Red sharingan gazed on her figure and smirked.

-"I hate it when you use genjutsus to hide your true appearance." He said with a stoic face. His black fishnet shirt covered his chest and he had on black, baggy pants as well.

She sat down next to him and there both waited for a while until a waitress approached them.

-"Would you like anything to drink?" the man looked at the woman next to him as if waiting for her to answer for him. She looked up at the waitress, who was already blushing just by seeing the man's face.

-"Bring two bottles of sake." She stated while giving the waitress a fake smile. The waitress nodded and left to bring them there sake. When the waitress left, the man lifted an eyebrow and looked at the woman next to him.

-"Only two?" She looked at him and then nodded.

-"I'm not in the mood for more sake" she stated. At this he had wide eyes but then nodded.

They waited for several minutes, there sake came and went, until finally another man showed up.

-"Sorry I took so long Itachi, I had important things to take care of before I could come" he stated as he looked at the man and then looked at the woman right next to him in confusion. "Who might she be?"

-"My name is none of your concern, but if you wish to know it, you'll have to figure it out on you own." She stated, not once looking at the man at the table, and only looking at her glass that was half-filled with sake.

The man nodded and sat down.

-"Let's get down to business, did you bring me what I wanted?" the man called Itachi asked. The other man nodded and took out a beautiful katana that had the most spectacular design on it.

-"Just like you asked, here it is" he said putting the katana on top of the desk. The woman took the katana and opened it from its cover. The blade was very unique and sharp. It had a design of sakura trees on it. It was a wonderful piece of art that would be really sad to stain with blood. She knew it wouldn't be long until it was stained completely in red liquid. She sighed as she put the katana back in its cover and over her head.

Itachi got up from his seat and looked at the woman next to him. She nodded as she also got up. The man who had given the blade also stood up waiting for his payment. The woman took the blade out of the cover and stabbed the man in the stomach. The man's eyes grew wide as she took the blade out of the man and put it back in the cover. Itachi and the woman both left through the front door as everyone in the bar stared wide eyed.

-"Couldn't wait to stain your new toy could you, Sakura?" Itachi asked once they were outside.

-"Kai" she dispelled the genjutsu and her true features came into view. Her pink hair was long and silky smooth. Her giant emerald orbs glistened under the moon's stare. All the people that were walking around the streets stopped to look at the beautiful woman standing right before their eyes. "Why should I wait to stain my toy Itachi-san when I could do it right now, don't you think?" she asked with a giant fake smile in her face.

-"I hate it when you smile like that." He stated as they started walking off, leaving the bar behind them. At this statement, Sakura pouted childishly.

-"You're no fun Itachi."

-"If you don't really want to smile then don't smile at all."

-"Yeah and then I'd look like you, a grave." She stated looking at the sky. The stars were majestically lighting the sky. "By the way, where's Kisame?"

-"The boss gave him a solo mission. Do you like your new toy, cherry blossom?"

-"I hate it when you call me that and yes I like it a lot." She said grinning. Her grin faded and now all was left was a frown in her face. "Too bad such a beautiful piece of art had to be wasted for killing purposes." At this statement, Itachi paused and looked at her.

-"Do you miss them?" She quickly turned around and locked eyes with his red sharingan. His eyes showed sadness but his face was the usual stoic one.

-"I promised you on that day that I would stay with you forever, remember?" she added as she looked deeper in his eyes.

-"Hn, you shouldn't stare at my eyes like that. One day, it could kill you." She smirked at him and he smirked back.

-"I can't help but stare at those sharingan, they're beautiful and-" he cut her off.

-"deadly. They also probably remind you of otouto."

-"I don't know why, but I've always been attracted to those eyes. Inside of me there's something about them that I can't escape." She said as she broke there gaze and started off walking again.

-"Who do you miss Sakura?" he said while also continuing his walk. Then out of nowhere, a blur appeared in front of them.

-"Haruno Sakura, you're coming with us either you like it or not." Sakura smirked and looked at Itachi. He nodded in agreement and stepped right next to her.

-"Cut the formalities Naruto, you know I don't like them." She stated nonchalantly. The man who had called her took off his ANBU mask and looked at her. They locked gazes.

-"Sakura-chan, if you come back with us without force, Tsunade-baa-chan will go easy on your punishment, just please come back." He stated with sorrow-filled eyes.

-"How is Tsunade-shishou doing?" she asked, completely ignoring everything else that Naruto had spoken.

-"Sad, that her number one pupil has betrayed Konoha." Sakura nodded in agreement as if it weren't her they were talking about.

-" How about Hinata? When is the baby due?" she asked giving Naruto one of her fake smiles. Naruto flinched at the smile. He knew that Sakura wasn't happy and never would be if she stayed with Akatsuki.

-"She's fine and the baby is due for next month." She sighed at this and tried bringing that fake smile out again.

-"Too bad I won't be there to meet your son Naruto. How about Sasuke, heard anything new about him?" she asked as she gave him a confused face. Itachi flinched, hearing Sasuke's name come out of her mouth.

-"We haven't heard anything from him since our last rescue mission." He stated. "Sakura-chan, if you come now with us, you can see my son being born. Please, Sakura-chan, come back. Everybody misses you and most of all, the baa-chan and I do. She won't eat, sleep or anything for that matter. She wants you back and so do I."

Sakura lowered her eyes to the ground, not wanting to see Naruto's sapphires that always made her melt her cold exterior and breakdown to cry.

-"I'm not going back Naruto, and tell the Hokage that her duty to Konohagakure is higher then her duty for her apprentice. Tell her not to slack off and tell her to hit Jiraya, because that always calms her nerves when she's frustrated." She said the last sentence with a bit of laughter in her voice. "How's Kakashi-sensei?" At this question, Naruto looked up at her with wide eyes.

-"Since when did you care?"

-"Since I met him, I cared."

-"If you cared, you wouldn't have left him in that mission by himself, to run off with the Akatsuki. He almost died because he was alone during that mission." Sakura nodded in agreement, knowing that her sensei almost died because of her betrayal.

-"I guess that with this statement, you mean he's fine. I better go Naruto, it was nice seeing you again." She stated as Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of his ex-teammate disappearing into thin air. He jumped in to try to grab her but when he did, he only fell face first to the floor. She and Itachi had disappeared.

In Otogakure, a man with glasses and silver hair stepped into a room that was completely pitch black. He brought a tray of food with him and placed it on a small table that was in that room. He approached the bed and gave the man a shake in the shoulder. The man was already awake a long time ago but didn't want to get up. As a ninja, of course, you can't afford to have a nice nap. You can't trust no one and especially the people he was surrounded by.

-"What do you want Kabuto, get lost."

-"Dinner's in the table Sasuke-sama, do you wish anything else?"

-"No, leave." With the nod of his head, Kabuto left closing the door behind him.

-"Idiot" Sasuke scoffed as he got up and went toward his food. He hated Kabuto as much as he hated Orochimaru or more. He hated being stuck here, but soon he wouldn't have to be. 'I'm strong enough to beat Itachi, I'm sure of it and then my revenge will be done for.' He smirked at this thought of finally getting rid of his brother. He was going to challenge Itachi once he was done killing Orochimaru and all the sound nins. Tomorrow was his big day and he wasn't going to back down now.

After Sasuke ate, he went to his bed to get some more rest for the upcoming slaughter that all of these pathetic weaklings were going to experience.

Somewhere, in the outskirts of the snow country, Sakura and Itachi were walking through a forest. Sakura followed Itachi to the back of a tree where there were two black robes with red clouds on them and to fisherman hats. They each took one and put it on. Sakura's robe had her sleeves folded all the way up. She had long gone taken her sweater off to leave a small red tube top on.

They were walking for a while, deeper into the forest. Now as you all know, Itachi has an Akatsuki ring with the kanji letter for scarlet, well Sakura also had a ring, but her had the kanji for blossom.

Out of nowhere, a man with a fish-like face appeared all battered up and with many wounds. Sakura ran up to him and helped lay him down on the snow. She immediately started healing him. He looked up at her and smiled.

-"Hey, what's up kunoichi?" he asked while spitting some blood next to him. Itachi came next to him and stared at Kisame.

-"What happened to you, Kisame-san?" Sakura asked while she kept healing him.

-"I had a tough mission kunoichi, but I'm glad I found you. Did you get your new weapon?" Then when he said this, he saw it on her back and smirked at her. "Did you get me a bottle of sake?" Sakura and Itachi both sweat dropped.

Kisame loved sake as much as Sakura did. They'd do contests all the time to see which one could drink more. In the end, it would always be a tie. Sakura had gotten this habit from Tsunade. She drinks a lot of sake, the only difference is that Sakura could hold it but Tsunade can't.

-"Yes I brought you a full bottle of sake." She lied while grinning at Kisame. Kisame had gotten used to Sakura and he knew when she lied.

-"You guys get to have fun drinking sake while I have to kill some dude in a solo mission. The worst part of it is that you don't even remember to bring me sake!" he said as Sakura got up giving Kisame a hand so he could stand up. He got up from where he was and looked at Sakura. "You're getting better and better at the healing thing kunoichi, I don't even feel a thing. I'm as good as new." He stated giving her a grin. She smiled back at him and then all three started walking. "So, did the boss tell you about our next assignment?" Itachi looked at Kisame and nodded. Sakura looked at them and sighed. She doesn't like the next assignment at all.

-"We have to kill a certain someone that used to be part of the Akatsuki and also kill the people that are there with him."

-"So who's the lucky guy?" Kisame asked with a grin. Sakura gulped and then looked down at the ground.

-"We have to kill Orochimaru and all of sound." She stated as they walked on. Kisame sighed, knowing why the kunoichi was upset and glanced at Itachi. Itachi wasn't looking at anyone; he was looking straight ahead not caring about anything, although deep inside, Kisame knew that his partner didn't like Sakura's reaction whatsoever. Itachi liked Sakura; she was the first girl to get to him. It took a lot to get there (5years to be exact), but she finally arrived and touched his heart. Itachi knew that Sakura cared for Sasuke although Sakura tried hiding it. She loved his otouto, and Itachi, well, this made him want to kill his brother for ever hurting the kunoichi.

Itachi knew Sakura's story from top to bottom. She's 23 now and she entered the Akatsuki at the age of 18. She was every Akatsuki's members favorite. Although she had killed Sasori, no one seemed to care. The boss also considers her as one of the best Akatsuki members. Usually, the Akatsuki was put in two man squads, but like she wouldn't have a partner because there wasn't anyone left, they put her with Itachi and Kisame. Of course, she was completely against it saying that she hated Itachi and didn't want anything to do with him, but in the end, it seems like he grew on her as well.

She is the only girl in the Akatsuki and the best medic-nin out of all the members. No one hates her for it or are jealous of her because her heart captivated all of them. Kisame really never did know why she came to the Akatsuki, but he was glad she had come. Itachi did know, however, because they were always together and were completely inseparable. There've been rumors around the Akatsuki saying that Sakura and Itachi were going out but Kisame highly doubted it. Although Itachi and Sakura sleep in the same bed in the same room, he doesn't think that the kunoichi has anything with the elder Uchiha, but you never really did know.

Kisame snapped out of his thoughts when Itachi said that they would camp here tonight. He nodded knowing that while he was thinking, God knows how many hours had passed.

Like always, two tents were set up. One tent for Kisame and the other tent is for Sakura and Itachi. Yup, even in missions they'd sleep together. Kisame always snored so loudly he never did know what Itachi and Sakura did. One night he actually didn't go to sleep because he wanted to see what happened between them but the sleep took over him before he could find out. He gave up after that one, knowing that he loved his beauty sleep too much to be able to stay up.