A/N: Okay, I couldn't resist putting up the prologue... I'll try to have the next chapters up soon, but no certainties! So, with no further adieu, Remembrance's sequel, Reminiscence!


Dearest Shishou:

Hello again, my dear Shishou and whoever may be reading this letter at the moment. It's been far too long, hasn't it? I truly hope this letter finds you well. How are things? Oh, no need to answer that, because you can't, you don't know where I am!

I'm not sure how long it's been since I've been in contact with anybody from Konoha and I figured that it was probably a good idea for me to inform you of my status. First off, I would like to tell you that I am, in fact, alive and well (no thanks to you) and I am actually quite content with my new lifestyle. It's much better living with those who are actually willing to tell me the truth and won't send me out to my death just to sate some drunken old hag's unquenchable curiosity.

Anyway, I'm no longer in the Akatsuki, but I hold my allegiance to a new home (a home that I'm not feeling particularly compelled to reveal to you). And, I succeeded in learning many things during my experiences with the Akatsuki, some pertaining to the mission you sent me on and some... not so much.

Whether the information I have unearthed is relevant or not, however, isn't important because I know that it's the true reason I was sent on this mission. Oh, Itachi says hi, by the way. Just thought you'd like to know that.

I would love to thank you so much for your complete kindness in assigning me this mission, because I know that you had nothing but the best of intentions in mind while sending me out to what could very well have been an emotional death sentence. I would not like to thank you, however, for using me as a puppet to find out about the secrets of the Uchiha Massacre and, also, for making me come this close to death several times over the past several months.

And, since I'm in such a happy and charitable mood, thanks to the kindness of my lover, Uchiha Itachi, you will find attached many of the Akatsuki's best-kept secrets and even some interesting trivia on the true goings-on of the Uchiha Massacre.

Enjoy,

The Female Formerly Known as Haruno Sakura


"You're as bad as Sasuke," Itachi commented, setting the letter he had just read over onto the table, a deeply amused smirk on his pale face, "You just have to dig the hole deeper and deeper."

Sakura shrugged, smiling innocently as she took a sip of her tea, and then winked. "I have no clue what you're talking about. All I did was write down the bare facts, nothing more and nothing less. I can't be blamed if it's a little... snippy."

"Snippy is a major understatement, Reina," the former Uchiha corrected, picking at his dumplings, "This is just downright rude."

"I learned from the best."

Itachi chuckled. "Well then, I taught you well, it seems."

"Very well."

"Alright, well, I guess all that's left is to send it and then head on our way home." Raising an elbow, a bird that had been hiding in a tree flew into the outdoor teahouse and landed on the inclined elbow. Itachi rolled the note into a cylinder, tied it to the bird's leg and let it go deliver the message. "I suppose that this means we're true missing-nin now?"

"It would seem so."

"Fantastic."

Downing the last of her tea, Sakura stood up, dropped a few coins on the table and jerked her head toward the street. "Should we get going, Ritsu? We've got a long way to go and it's not like we can really use our chakra to make us go faster during the last half of the journey."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "Not if we don't want to be discovered... and we don't."

Sakura nodded. "Let's go then. I want to get out of this smelly little town."

Itachi chuckled and stood as well, taking his lover's hand and heading toward the street in search of a place they could go to get some last-minute supplies for the long journey that was to come. "It doesn't smell that bad."

"It smells like civilization and it's been over a year since I've even stepped foot in a village."

"Does civilization even have a specific smell? Hm, some things never cease to amaze me."

"Not since you met me, anyway."

Nodding in agreement, he said, "Especially not since I met you."

"Come on, hurry up, I want to get out of here!"

Itachi sighed and followed after the now black-haired former kunoichi, absent-mindedly running his fingers through his own cropped hair. It was so short! How long had it been since he'd had his hair so short that it couldn't even go into a ponytail?

He couldn't remember.

"Ita—uh... Ritsu, you're slowing down again!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Then, a store caught his eye and he turned to see a department store and shrugged. It'd do. They just needed a couple of sleeping bags (or one really big one), a couple canteens, some non-perishable food and an ATM.

"Come on," he tugged on Sakura's hand and led the way into the store. "Let's shop and get out of this smelly town."

"Now you're making some sense!"


"You have got to be kidding," Sakura whined, holding the outfit at arm's length as she inspected it. "I am so not wearing this, Ita—erm... Ritsu. It's so... gothic."

They had gone into the store to buy what they needed but had found themselves looking through the clothes, admiring and wondering whether they should buy the things they liked or not.

"That's the point, Reina, dear," Itachi replied lightly, though it was obvious that he was trying to stifle his laughter. "I told you on our way here that I was going to get you into the whole grunge chic look, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did," the former kunoichi agreed with a snarl, "But I never expected you to keep your word."

Itachi chuckled and took the outfit from his lover, putting it back on the shelf, and went off to look for some other clothing types while Sakura inspected her make-over in the complimentary compact mirror she'd gotten with her make-up.

Her hair was now black; her eyes now steel blue, her lips a nice shade of pink and her cheeks had a faint rosy tinge to them. When Itachi had said that he was going to change her look, he hadn't been kidding.

When the Uchiha returned, she switched to inspecting his new look. His hair was now cropped and gelled into spikes, his ears pierced near the top, his eyes black without the Sharingan and he was currently wearing his "grunge chic" outfit. And Sakura had to admit that it was really working for him. It was as if he was made to look like a Goth-Punk-Marylyn-Manson-Wannabe type.

"How about this?" the former Uchiha suggested, holding up a pair of pink fishnet stockings, matching silk underthings with a little (pink) fur ball in the bum area. Then, he showed her the bunny-ear headband and Sakura's jaw dropped.

"What are you, Hugh Hefner?" she asked with disgust, waving away the tawdry outfit. "If you aren't going to take this seriously, at least let me shop for my own clothes."

Itachi rolled his eyes and returned with a pale pink pleated skirt and a white tank top to go with it, eyes narrowing at her approving smile. "Are you trying to keep me from having any fun while we're living in Waves?"

Sakura smirked and winked. "I'll take the outfit."

Itachi rolled his eyes again and brought the outfit to the counter where the rest of their purchases sat in a new rucksack, the cashier grinning far too sweetly. It would seem as though outpost towns didn't get a great deal of good-looking men very often. Either that or she was trying to suck up to the credit card the former Uchiha had pulled.

Sakura's eyes narrowed on the small piece of plastic and she watched nervously as it was swiped, Itachi signed the receipt (in a signature he had apparently copied with his Sharingan) and then as he pocketed it.

"Come again soon!" the girl said cheerfully and Sakura smiled half-heartedly as they walked out of the store and into the bustling streets filled with tourists.

"Won't the Akatsuki get suspicious when they find a credit card bill from that card?" she asked quietly as Itachi took her hand to lead her through a dense crowd of spectators watching a monkey juggle some apples, "And you even mentioned Waves. Isn't that sort of risky?"

"One, we look nothing like we used to," Itachi answered, dropping the fake tourist attitude that he'd adopted,, "Two, this may be a small town, but a lot of customers do come by, touring the sights. There is absolutely no way a girl could remember exactly who we are, where we're headed and our method of payment."

Sakura had to admit that he had a point.

"Anyway, even if they did track the transaction," he carried on, taking out the credit card and snapping it in half, "They just hit a dead end. I already took out all that we needed, leaving the rest to pay for our things." He tossed the pieces of plastic over his shoulder, his perfect-to-the-point-of-being-uncanny aim landing said card into the trash can a few feet away.

It seemed as though that old saying rang true; old habits do die hard.

"Well, now we've got clothes so that, when we walk into Waves, we should look like normal civilians. I even called in a few favors and we've got an apartment waiting for us."

"Seriously?" Sakura asked, amazed at all the forethought the man had put into this. "Wow, so we're pretty much set. All we have to do is find jobs... and get ID."

"Right here," Itachi said, pulling out two new pieces of plastic, one with Itachi's disguised-look and one with Sakura's.

Said former-kunoichi took the two cards and looked them over. It had fake names, fake birthdays, fake everything. "Wow," she repeated, handing them back. "How'd you pull that off?"

"Sharingan can be very convincing to those who know of its capabilities. And I used the pictures I had taken at the salon."

"You flashed Sharingan!" she hissed, "Now we're really going to be remembered!"

Itachi wrapped his arm around her and said, "Oh, ye of little faith, my love. You forget that I'm a missing-nin, I know all about these sorts of things, how to keep undetected while still living a normal life. I wasn't in Akatsuki the entire time I was away from the village, you know. I had to get accepted."

"Oh... well, okay."

"Just relax and enjoy the scenery. Sure, we're going to need to be discreet and careful, but that doesn't mean that we can't still enjoy our new life together. Getting paranoid is only going to make it all the more harder to live normally."

Sakura sighed and nodded. "Yeah, alright... I'll try to be a little bit more trusting in your abilities."

"Good, because there are a lot of them."

"Don't I know it."

With that said Sakura turned her head and planted a kiss to her lover's waiting lips as they strolled out of the town.

It had been a little less than a year since the two had faked their deaths, most of that time spent laying low and making sure not to do anything conspicuous, and now they were finally on their way to a normal life. It had been difficult and it would prove to be more so as time passed on, but so far, it was proving to be so worth it.


A/N: How's this for a beginning to a sequel?