So, uh, I got sidetracked and instead of writing the next chapter of Life at Sea, this story decided that it needed to be written instead! I took a totally different approach when writing this oneshot, so any feedback would be wonderful. This is not the normal kind of story that I would write, so give me your best shot!

This story does not follow the cannon story completely, fair warning. This is fanfiction, story lines change. If you can't handle that, well, I'm sorry that slightly tweaking a story line bothers you.

Anyway!

I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.

If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!

S Lyubov'yu,

Casper


Sakura mentally screamed at herself to run faster, she couldn't afford to waste even a moment to stop and rest. Time was at the essence. She just had to make it there in time. It had been mere hours since she had found Itachi Uchiha and had been shown the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. Now that she knew the truth, she knew that she could not allow her former team mate to kill Itachi. She would not allow Sasuke to murder his only remaining family member in cold blood.

Itachi was innocent.

Danzo and the elders were to blame for the pain that Sasuke felt deep within his heart and soul.

She just had to make it in time to stop them. She mentally cursed Itachi for knocking her out once they had concluded their conversation. He had told her to stay away, to let nature take its coarse. But she had denied him, she had told him no. She refused to allow him to sacrifice himself for his brothers misguided attempt at atonement. When Itachi had realized that there would be no winning with her, he had made her promise him something. Once she had accepted the terms of the deal, he had given her no notice before knocking her out and fleeing towards his brother.

She mentally screamed at the elder Uchiha's foolishness. She refused to see more people die by the hands of the boy that she had once held close to her heart. She was sick or all the death. Sick of all the pain. It was a never ending cycle of pain and death. She just wanted a little peace in her life. She didn't want to watch more people die by the hands of the monster that Sasuke had become. She felt her eyes water and roughly rubbed her hand over her face, she could not afford to cry now.

The crying, scared little girl that she used to be was gone. In her place, stood a proud woman that would not back down. No longer would she hide from the monsters that plagued her nightmares at night. She would stand tall and proud and face them head on. She was done running away. If this was to be the day that she died, then she would run into battle with her head held high and her pride soaring towards the heavens.

She would not bow, she would not break, she would endure.

Because that was her ninja way!

A loud crash of thunder followed about a loud war cry broke her from her thoughts. The battle had started but she refused to allow herself to think that she had been too late. She pushed more chakra into her legs and feet and pushed her body well past its limits, running at speeds that could be considered inhuman, if not impossible. Trees passed by her vision in a blur as her feet ate the ground at an unstoppable pace. She mentally begged the Gods above that she would not arrive too late to stop the battle.

She knew that Itachi was more than willing to die if it meant that his brother would cease his monstrous actions. Sakura refused to allow him to die in such a way. He was innocent and if she managed to carry him away from this battle, she would beat his innocence into him whether he liked it or not. She refused to allow him to be forced to live in the shadows as a wanted man when he had every right to live as a happy, free man.

Another thunder bolt shook the ground, threatening to wipe Sakura's feet out from under her. She launched herself at the mountain that came into view, digging her fingers into the sharp rocks and scaled the wall as quickly as her body would allow. When the wall shook, she held tight until it stopped and doubled her efforts to get to the top. Just a little further, she repeated mentally. She mentally recited her mantra over and over, willing her body to move faster.

She couldn't afford to be too late.

Finally, she reached the top of the cliff and hauled her body up over the edge and allowed herself a single moment to catch her breath. Once her breathing evened out a little, she raised herself from the ground and surveyed the clearing.

Slabs of ancient rock lay shattered and crushed across the ground, reduced to nothing but rubble. The few trees that had stood proudly atop the mountain lay scorched and destroyed on their sides. Random spatters of blood littered the earth, some mere drops, others larger pools. Her gaze moved and she found herself locked eye to eye with the very man that she had come here to rescue from his fate.

Itachi gave the small, pink haired woman a small smile from his kneeling position on the ground. Twin trails of blood leaked from the corners of his mouth, his body broken and covered with crimson. He knew that she would arrive too late to save him from his fate and at that moment, part of him wished that he had listened to her and allowed her to help him. If he had only agreed to her help, he could have gone home, repaired his broken relationship with his precious, foolish, little brother. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off of him, her eyes filling with sadness and regret. He gave a small shake of his head, trying to convey to her that everything would be okay.

Even if he couldn't say for sure if it really would be.

With one last wet cough, Itachi's body finally gave out, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, and his body falling backwards.

Now there truly was one Uchiha left in this world, and oh how he wished that things could have been different.


Holding her hands to her chest, Sakura took a shuddering breath. So, this was how it ended. Across from her, the man she had loved and adored stood over his brother with a feral look of sick satisfaction. She had arrived too late to stop him, she had failed to arrive in time to reveal the truth behind the deaths of his family and loved ones. She had failed to save him from himself. She had failed to save Itachi from his misplaced hatred. Danzo and the elders were the ones to blame for the younger Uchiha's painful existence, not the still form of his elder brother slowly fading away from the plain of life. Tears silently leaked from her eyes as she watched his gaze turn from his brother's dying body to her own ridged frame.

"What are you doing here, Sa-ku-ra?", Sasuke asked, his voice dripping with venomous amusement.

Never before had her name passing his lips sounded for morbid and disgusting. Since his defection from their home, he had tried and failed to murder herself and Naruto or more than one occasion. After the first attempt at her life, she had all but thrown away her disgusting infatuation with the man standing mere feet from her. Though her body shook with ill concealed terror, her eyes were hardened with determination. She had failed to save his innocent brother, and now she was more than likely going to die by his hands as well. She lowered her hands from their place on her chest and slowly lowered them to the pouch strapped to her thigh. She withdrew a kunai and looked straight into his eyes, her resolve overpowering the fear she should have been carrying for those eyes.

"Not going to answer me? Seems you finally learned to keep your mouth shut. I must say, it's an improvement.", he hissed. He lowered his gaze to the kunai that she held loosely in her hand, a sadistic smirk forming over his lips at the sight. "Are you going to try to fight me, Sakura? What happened to loving me? To adoring me?"

"That petty crush from when we were children is dead and gone, just like your right to live. You have slaughtered countless people to accomplish your foolish goals. Itachi was right, you truly are a foolish child.", she spat, her voice not once wavering.

"You don't know the pain and anguish I had to go through to get to this point! You have no right to speak my brother's name!", he spat angrily before charging at her, his sword poised to attack.

Within seconds, Sasuke's form was upon her. She deflected his swords swings with her kunai as she pumped what little chakra she had left from her journey into her arms to help cushion his unrelenting blows. She refused to allow it to end this way. If she was destined to die alongside Itachi, then she would make sure to either take Sasuke down with her, or die trying. Itachi had told her the truth, he had shown her his memories, and he had shown her his resolve. She refused to allow his foolish little brother continue down the path of destruction that he had been walking for too many year.

With a battle cry, she struck her leg out, attempting to shatter Sasuke's knees. He twisted out of the way and landed a punch to her jaw, sending her flying a few feet backwards. She twisted her form and flipped herself into a defensive crouch near the ground. He had grown strong, but he wasn't the only one. She had trained and trained hard. She refused to sit back and watch more people suffer by the hands of this man. It had gone on for way too long. She knew that Naruto may never forgive her if she were to die in this fight, but it would be worth it in the end.

She lifted herself further off the ground until her body stood straight, her body screaming at her to stop, but she would endure. She was a ninja of the Leaf. She was a medical ninja. She had a purpose. She had would be the one to end this.

"No, Sasuke, it is you that has no right to speak Itachi's name. You destroyed every bond that was made with you to go after a foolish ambition that was doomed to fail from the start. Your brother was innocent. I've seen everything, and I know he showed you too before you murdered him. You claimed yourself an avenger, and what do you do? You fail to kill the person truly responsible for your agony. You used to think I was the pathetic one whe we were but mere children, when in truth, it was you who was always pathetic.", she spat out before wiping the small trickle of blood from her lips. She heard him growl before she launched herself back towards him.

They met halfway, both of their eyes burning, one with rage and the other with resolve. Neither was willing to give the other an inch. Sakura's eyes widened slightly when she felt her footing slip on the slick ground and willed herself not to trip backwards. She tightened her grip on her weapon and thrust her body forward, throwing all of her weight into the blow. She felt Sasuke's body move backwards and inwardly smirked at her small victory.

Her victory was short lived when she looked up to find him smiling down at her, her eyes glinting with malice and killing intent. Before she could understand what was happening, she heard the song of birds whistling through the air. Her eyes widened as she felt the electric current of the Chidori ripping threw clothing, flesh, and bone. Her mouth opened and an ear splitting scream tore from her throat. She flew backwards and landed brokenly against a stone slab on the ground. Her body screamed in pain as she fought to stay alive and conscious.

She wasn't done yet.

She bit her lip hard enough to bleed as she slowly raised herself from the ground, her body screaming loudly in protest to the abuse. Once she was back on her feet, although unsteadily, she raised her gaze to the Uchiha looking at her with a slightly impressed look. A cough escaped her lips, blood expelling from her throat. Her legs wobbled, threatening to collapse at any given moment. She stole a glance down at her broken body, her shirt was all but destroyed and gone, her chest bindings being the only things still intact, even if they were slightly singed. A gaping hole tore through her stomach, blood rushing from her body in steady waves. Another bloody cough tore through her body.

She didn't have much time left. She had to act fast, lest her attempts be wasted.

"I must say, I'm impressed a weak creature like you lived through my Chidori. I wonder how long you've got left considering the amount of blood you're losing.", he drawled without a care. He lazily walked towards the woman currently fighting to stay upright and conscious. He lifted her chin to make her look at him, her eyes flashing with anger and defiance.

"I may not have much time left in this life, but I have one more thing I must do before I can allow myself to die in this place.", she spat weakly.

Her body trembled with effort to keep her alive, more and more of her blood continued to coat what was left of her clothing, spattering gracelessly on the ground below. When he looked at her with a small amount of interest, she gave him a soft smile. She shakily raised her hands and placed them on his cheeks, leaving bloody hand prints in their wake. When he tried to flinch away from her touch, she tightened her grip, stopping his movement. He watched her with bated breath, watching for any sort of ill meant movements.

"What are you doing...?", he asked quietly, deciding it would just be easier to allow the dying woman to do whatever it was she was going to do. The determined resolve was gone from her eyes, they stared blankly into his own. Somehow, seeing them look so lifeless disturbed his heart. He quickly crushed down those feelings, mentally reminding himself that such pathetic feelings were beneath him.

"What should have been done a long time ago.", she whispered before channeling the last of her chakra into her fingertips, instantly sending the bursting waves into his eyes, causing them to burst.

Sasuke let out a painful, ear shattering scream as his eyes bursted, his hands raising to cover them, willing the nauseating pain to leave. He fell to his knees as the pain radiated through his body. He heard Sakura's body collapse to the ground but paid her no mind, she was as good as dead anyway. He raised himself to his hands and knees and slowly dragged himself in the direction of his brother's corpse, determined to replace his own eyes with his brothers.

When the blind Uchiha finally dragged himself to his brother's body, his hands searched for his face, determined to ignore the icy coldness of his brothers body. He trailed his fingers up his brothers cheeks until he found his eye sockets. He frowned when he passed his finger tips over his Itachi's closed eyelids. He pressed a finger firmed against them, his fears creeping in on him.

"Where are they?!", he roared angrily, his head whipping around in the direction that he had crawled from.

"Itachi made me promise to blind you and to make sure you never got your hands on his eyes. The Uchiha's will never be allowed to exist again.", she croaked from her position on the ground. Her duty had been completed. She could die in peace with no regrets. No regrets other than leaving her best friend, Naruto, all alone. She did her best to ignore the aching feeling in her slowing heart at the thought of never seeing him again. He would survive, she silently told herself. He would strive towards the future with her memory in his heart.

"What makes you think I won't just reproduce, Sa-ku-ra?", he taunted, smirking through his pain at his small victory.

"That jutsu I used on you didn't just burst your eyes, fool. Congratulations, you'll be shooting blanks for the rest of your life.", she wheezed, her breaths steadily growing more and more shallow by the moment.

"You bitch!", he screamed.

"Call me what you want, it matters not. I fulfilled my promise to Itachi, that's all I care about. I wish you the best in your future endeavors, Sasuke. Do not disrespect your brother or your family's memory anymore.", she sighed before closing her eyes, allowing herself to drift into an eternal slumber. Now she could rest in peace.


She sat up with a shocked gasp as her consciousness returned to her. Her eyes roaming her surroundings in a panic. She could not tell where she was or why she was there. She noticed that her clothing had been changed and that she no longer felt the pain of the Chidori running through her stomach. She looked down at her new state of dress and winced when she realized that she was wearing a black, high collar shirt that was common attire for the Uchiha clan. She lifted the hem of the shirt and her eyes widened when she saw that there were no signs that a gaping hold had once rested on on stomach.

She lowered the shirt back to its original place and swung her legs over the side of the bed she lay in, hefting herself off the soft, firm mattress. She grabbed a bedpost to steady her wobbly legs and waited her dizziness to pass. Once she was sure that she would not fall the minute she took a step, she exited the small room and went in search of her rescuer. She traveled down a narrow hallway that reminded her, scarily enough, of the Uchiha's main house back in the village. She roughly pushed those thoughts from her mind, refusing to allow her thoughts to even direct themselves in such a direction.

She could not afford for her thoughts to control her until she knew exactly where she was.

She heard movement around the corner and steeled herself in case she would have to defend herself. She could sense no chakra, not even her own. The very thought of being without her chakra was scary enough, even more so when you woke up in places that you did not recognize. She rounded the corner and halted when she realized who the figure standing mere feet from her was.

"Itachi...", she whispered, refusing to believe that it was really him. She had watched him die. She had watched his own younger brother stand over his dead body with a satisfied smile. How could this be? Was this someone's sick idea of a joke?

"Sakura, it seems you have finally awoken.", Itachi observed, placing the plate in his hand on the counter in front of him and turning around to face her. He took in her shocked look and found that he could not blame her for being surprised. It was a lot to take in, after all.

"What is going on? You died! I died! What the hell is this?!", she cried out in confusion. Yes, she was happy to see him, but she didn't understand why she was seeing him. None of this made any sense.

"You are correct, we are indeed dead, Sakura. The only explanation I can come up with is that this is the after life.", Itachi explained calmly. In truth, he was just as freaked out as she was. He had woken up in this place, a place that resembled his childhood home, just hours before she had arrived. He gave her a sad smile, he had never meant for her to die. But at the same time, he was happy that she was here with him.

During his life as a missing nin, he had always watched over her as she trained. After her team mates had gone and left her, he had taken it upon himself to watch over her progress, even helping her when she was overwhelmed.

All without her knowing that he was there with her.

"I do suppose that it could be worse, I could have woken up and been completely alone.", she admitted with a sheepish smile.

"I share your sentiment. I hate to ask this of you, because I know that it was a hard thing for you to do to him, but were you successful?", he asked carefully, not wanting to upset the already emotional girl.

"He no longer has his eyes, he can't reproduce anymore, and I transported your eyes to a place where nobody will ever be able to find them.", she confirmed with a nod.

"I have no idea how I could thank you for doing this for me, Sakura.", he admitted with a sigh. "I didn't plan for you to die this way. You had so much to live for, and I stole that away from you."

"You don't have to thank me, Itachi. If I hadn't wanted to do it, I never would have agreed. I really didn't have a whole lot to live for anymore, you died. After seeing the truth with my own eyes, the only thing I wanted to do was bring you home and help you prove you innocence. Nothing else seemed like it mattered after you showed me what happened. The only thing I regret is not being able to destroy Danzo myself for the torture he put you and Sasuke through.", she explained with a shake of her head. She would never blame him for how things had turned out. As long as she had him, being dead wouldn't be so bad.

"I am going to have to agree with you, the one thing I wish that I could have done was take Danzo out. But that is no longer an option I am afraid. I admire your determination to prove my innocence, but I still regret that you died in the process. Sasuke truly is a fool.", Itachi said with a frown.

"It's okay, Itachi. As long as I have you here, I don't think being dead will be so bad.", she smirked with a roll of her eyes.

"Why do you say that?", he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She closed the distance between them, her strides strong and purposeful. She brought her lips to his ear, a shudder running down his back when he felt her breath ghost over his ear and neck.

"Don't think for a moment that I never realized that it was you who was always following me around back home. You're not as sneaky as you think, I-ta-chi.", she purred in his ear, she smirked when she felt his breath catch at her small confession.

"Why did you never report me if you knew I was there?", he asked, wrapping his arms slowly around her waist, pulling her closed her him. He buried his nose in her hair and sighed contently at the contact. Oh, how he had longed for her touch while he was alive. Who knew that all he had to do to gain her touch was to die?

"I knew that there had to be a reason for you following me around like a lost puppy. The few times we met on the battle field, you never once made a move to harm me. You actually protected me instead of attacking me like you were supposed to.", she whispered, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"I do not know what it was, but I could not bear to see you hurting and in pain. The sight of you bleeding so openly made me physically ill just thinking about it. I do wish that we could have met under better circumstances.", he admitted with a small sigh, his arm tightening around her.

"Well, we have all the time in the world now. I'm not going anywhere, Itachi.", she assured, placing a small kiss just below his ear. She felt him tense and pulled away from him to look him in the eye, tilting her head in confusion. "I'm sorry, I just..."

Before she could finish, Itachi swooped in and captured her lips in his own, he let out a soft sigh when she immediately returned the gesture. He tilted his head, slanting his mouth over hers to deepen the kiss. After a moment, he pulled back, smirking when she whined at the loss of contact.

"So, what do we do now, Sakura?", he asked with a smirk.

"You take me back to that comfy bed I woke up on and show me how much you care about me.", she replied with a saucy smirk.

"And after that?", he asked, his eyes clouded with lust.

"We travel towards our eternity."


Whew, so, what do you think? Let me know!

Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!

Until Next Time!