Disclaimer: I do not own anything
Chapter One
The sight of the name engraved into the stone of the ninja memorial still caused the young Sakura to questioned her teammates' actions during their Chūnin exam. Uchiha Sasuke had been her friend, her teammate, and her heart's first childhood crush. However, Sakura had always been unsure about how he felt towards her, or for the fact Naruto. Even though the boy had a loving family and for that matter an adoring older brother, the young Uchiha was always a little aloof when it came to feelings. Perhaps it was a trait of his clan, to not be open about their feelings, but Sakura would never know why Sasuke was always distant, as he wasn't around to ask anymore. Six years ago, at the age of twelve Uchiha Sasuke had died in the Forest of Death during his Chūnin exam. The second son of the honorable Uchiha's clan head had not died because he was weak or could not handle the rigors of the Chūnin exam. Sasuke had died saving her, Sakura , from an attack that was meant for her.
Looking at his name on the memorial in front her, the image of holding him close to her body as he died play through her mind. When they had been attacked by Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin had targeted her and not her teammates. To this day, no one knew why Orochimaru wanted her, but he had. In the heat of the attack, Naruto had been knocked out, leaving Sasuke and herself against the leader of Sound. However, one spilt-second changed the course of Sasuke's life. When Orochimaru's snake-like head came flying towards Sakura, he jumped in front of her and received the curse seal that was meant for her. ANBU soon came flying onto the scene to attack the enemy, and in shock, Sakura held Sasuke as the seal began to slowly kill him. With tears running down her face all she could do was ask him why, and his last words were ones that she would never forget.
"You and Naruto taught me what friends are Sakura," he had struggled as he gasped for breath. "You taught me how to protect those that I am not duty-bound by blood to do so," he added as his eyes began to grow heavy. "Tell my family that I love them Sakura, and thank you for being my friend," he whispered before his heart stopped beating. Sasuke Uchiha had died in her arms, and there was nothing she could have done to stop him from doing so. In all her life she had never felt so weak then she did when she let her one of her best friends drift away in her arms. The moment had not only changed Sasuke's life but had given meaning to Sakura's. For as she held the body of the boy she cared for deeply, she vowed she would never lose someone she cared about again.
At eighteen, Sakura had become stronger than she was the day in the Forest of Death. After Orochimaru had killed the Third, and Tsunade became Hokage, Sakura had decided to become a medic-nin. Soon, she became none other than the new Hokage's student. The years since Sasuke's death, she and Naruto had become chūnin together then jōnin. They managed to stay close and the same team until Naruto had become a part of the ANBU first, only resigning after a year to become a teacher to a genin team that he felt drawn to. While she had become stronger since the death of her genin teammate, and now was a part of ANBU team herself, she felt like she was still not over Sasuke's death.
Why had he saved her?
His last words were never going to be enough explanation for her, and there would always be something in the back of her head wondering why? Why? She was not important to the village, her death would have meant nothing. Sasuke's death had, his clan had mourned for him officially for a year, lamenting him as a hero who had saved his team. An honorable death, his brother had told her, once in passing in perhaps a form of comfort. However, Sakura even knew the Uchiha Clan wondered why it had been Sasuke who died and not her. Despite being second born, the clan had loved Sasuke in their own way. Especially Itachi, he had loved Sasuke more than life itself, and after his death, the then seventeen-year-old had accepted a solo mission to try to kill Orochimaru. Two years, later he had come back only after driving to the Snake Sannin into hiding. It seemed the prodigy had come too close to killing Orochimaru one too many times, and the Sannin had disappeared into the night much to Kohana's dismay. Even now, they had not heard a word of where Orochimaru was, and sometimes Sakura dreamed that perhaps the head of ANBU had managed to kill the monster.
"Sakura," a deep voice that always managed to send shivers down her spine, no matter how many times the owner of the voice said her name. She knew the voice well, as it belonged to none of their Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's brother, and her superior in ANBU.
"Itachi," she replied as he sat down on the wooden bench next to her. Without words, she handed him the extra mug of hot tea she had brought along, and he took it, nodding in approval that she had made it how he liked, strong with lots of honey. Along the years, the somehow had started the tradition of starting their Thursday's morning drinking tea in front of Sasuke's name on the memorial. At first, it had been her tradition, but when Itachi had come back he began doing the same. They came on Thursday's because Sasuke died on a Thursday, and the drink his favorite brand of tea, which much to Itachi's displeasure was bitter, hence the unhealthy amount of honey Sakura put in it for him. Just like his brother, Sakura wasn't sure how Itachi felt about her. Before she had become ANBU last year, the only interactions they had together were their Thursday's mornings. Their mornings spent together were different, they were personal, in fact in front of the memorial was the only time they spoke to each other using their first names. In fact, it was the only time they spoke more than what was necessary. The pair's dynamic was odd, and Sakura always chalked up to the fact, in Itachi's eyes she would always be one of the reasons his little brother died.
"How was Mist?" Itachi asked, after a few moments of silence. "From your mission report I could tell it was rather intriguing," he added. As Head of ANBU, he was not only the captain of his own team but in charge of deciding which team went on what missions, and reported only to Hokage and no one else. Also, it was his duty to know everything about each and every ANBU, which also unnerved Sakura. Behind those dark eyes of his, he knew every detail about her life, private and personal, and yet she barely knew anything about his.
"Intriguing," she answered before taking a sip of her tea. "Just like the mission report stated, it was rather long too. I don't like being away from Kohana for almost two months like that," she added.
The man next to her nodded, "I know. You cannot blame me for that, it was only supposed to be two weeks. I wished it had last the timed planned, I had to drink tea alone for the past two months," he paused as he looked at the tea. "I have to say, you are the only one capable of making this brand of his decent," he murmured.
Sakura stilled and sighed. She knew Itachi actually drank the same brand that Sasuke loved, but in the past year, Sakura could no longer stand the taste of the tea. So, she switched the brands, using hers instead of Sasuke's. A part of her felt guilty, but when she had switched the tea it had been the first time she and Itachi actually talked. It was the day before her ANBU exam, and he not only sang her praise for finally making the tea taste decent, but he also wished her luck on her exam. It seemed, even the ANBU captain had not been able to detect the fact that she had switched tea brands.
"Itachi," Sakura began looking at her captain. "I have to be honest with you," she paused as his dark eyes caught hers. "I haven't been using that god awful brand of tea for the past year," Sakura stated.
Itachi was his usual emotionless self for a few moments before his lips turned up into a small smirk. "It was about time we stop torturing ourselves with it," he said. His words causing a wave of relief to rush over, Sakura. He was not made like she thought he would be, but instead, he seemed amused.
"I still have to use half a jar of honey to get any tea sweet enough for you," Sakura replied. It was odd, the most intimate thing she knew about him was how he liked his tea.
He nodded, "I like sweet things," he offered. "I always have, my mother used to hide the sweet jar from me. In fact, she still does, it is always in a different spot when I come over to visit."
"You don't live in the compound anymore?" She asked. When she was younger, and Sasuke was still alive, she knew Itachi lived in the room right across from his younger brother. In fact, Sakura had even seen the brooding older brother storm into said bedroom one too many times when she was a genin.
"I do, but not in my parent's home," he clarified, tilting his head. "I believed you moved out of your childhood home as well. Or that's as far as I've got into your file before I found the task unnecessary," he said. Itachi had only been Head of the ANBU for about three months, a job that rumor had it, he didn't want. Instead, the Clan had insisted he take it, and so he did. Sakura knew he spent the first month or so familiarizing himself with the very detail files of ANBU personnel. The fact that he admitted to not finishing hers, made her somewhat unsettled.
"My mother passed and my father left us three years ago," Sakura admitted. Her family life, or now the lack of it, was not something that she openly talked to people about. Not even Naruto knew the whole story, but she knew Itachi would find out one ay if he ever finished her file, and in a way she wished to him the facts on her own. "The house didn't have very good memories anymore, it was too big anyway."
"Houses have a funny way of keeping the ghosts in," Itachi remarked. His words made Sakura realize that perhaps, the heir of the Uchiha clan had moved out because he too was haunted by memories of loved ones that used to reside in it. Sakura knew that Itachi had been Sasuke's idol growing up. The two had shared a bond that no one would never be able to replicate, and Sakura knew no matter how much she had been told differently, she had taken that bond away.
"Do I have any missions coming up?" She questioned, changing the subject.
Itachi tilted his head, and she could tell he wasn't ready for the sudden shift of topics. "No, I rather like having my morning partner in Kohana," he remarked as he took one last sip of his tea. "I will see you next week, Sakura," he said, before standing and walking away, leaving her to spend a few more moments remembering the boy who had saved her life.
Sakura Haruno had once just been his little brother's teammate, Itachi thought as he began to go through mission files that the Hokage had sent to him. As he eyes drifted to the group picture of all active ANBU on his desk, her smiling face drew him in. Once upon a time, she had just been Sasuke's teammate. Overnight, though, she had become the girl his brother had sacrificed his life for, something he had never held resentment towards her for. Over the years, Sakura had become one of the few people he attempted to let in. After losing his brother, then failing to avenge him, it became harder than ever for him to let himself grow close to people. The pink hair medic-nin was the only expectation. Maybe it was because Sasuke had cared for her in a brotherly way, or maybe it was because she was just like him and had not yet let his brother go. Either way, he found himself looking forward to their Thursday morning's together.
"Taichou," The voice of his assistant, Nara Shikamaru, came to his ears. Like most ANBU who were not an active duty at the moment, he was dressed in dark pants, shirt, and a very light gray jōnin style vest. "Intel redid some files, apparently, you were right when you suspected some of the personnel files were not a hundred percent accurate."
Itachi nodded, as the Nara boy placed a small amount of files on his desk. His black eyes caught the name of one of the files, and he couldn't help but wondered why the name was on the file. "Haruno's was not accurate? She's the Hokage's apprentice, she should be the easier person to investigate," he questioned. The one thing he did not like about ANBU, was the Hokage and the village elders liked to know everything about their greatest weapons. It was important to know who they were sending out in missions, and telling top secret plans about the village's troubles.
"I know it shocked me too," Nara began. "I didn't look at it, but most likely there was just a typo," he said before walking out of the office.
With his curiosity peaked, Itachi wasted no time opening up Sakura's file. Like all files, her birth certificate was the first thing in the pile of papers, but his eyes were meet with was not the same certificate three months earlier when he took on the job. Not hesitating, he took out Sakura's original file from the nearby filing cabinet. In the original report, laid Sakura's Konoha's birth certificate stating she was born to Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, yet in the new file there now was an adoption certificate. Closing the original file, he began flipping through the new one. Behind the adoption certificate, there was document claiming her adoption was sealed until her parent's death. With her mother dying only six months ago, Itachi realized the file he had gotten had been indeed outdated. Even the ANBU couldn't get to a sealed file without the permission of the Hokage, but as he went back to look at adoption certificate he noticed a difference other than the parents. The adoption certificate stated the baby girl was born not in Konoha, but in Sound.
Reclining back in his seat, he went back to the paper that placed a seal on her adoption. His eyes were met with the Third's signature, one that was most likely hand signed and not stamped. As someone had seen how Hokage's operated, he knew they did not deal with the simple adoption of babies, instead, they merely had someone pressed the seal of their signature on files such as these to make them legally binding. Why had the Third taken interest in this adoption? Then his eyes peered over the adoption form one more time, and he realized that Sakura had been almost two by the time she was adopted. Yet,when Sakura had spoken of her parent's in the past there had never been a mention of her being adopted. In fact, he was wondering if she even knew she was adopted.
With a heavy sigh, he closed Sakura's file. Before this moment he had thought he knew everything about Sakura. After his brother's death, he had always kept an eye out for her. Now, even more so, as her superior. Unlike other ANBU agents, he didn't need to go through the file to find out who she was close too, what her likes or dislikes where, or who had trained her and what her academy grades were. He had watched Sakura grow up alongside his brother, he had been the ANBU that had to pry his brother's body out of the crying girl's arm, and he had been the ANBU that had kept watch outside her house for a month after the disastrous Chūnin exams. When he had returned from failing to kill Orochimaru, he had chalked his fascination up to the fact that he felt like Sasuke would want him to look out for her. Lately, his thoughts were beginning to make him think more than that. Maybe, the heart that some questioned he had, had grown to have feelings for the pink hair girl.
Sakura had a long day, a very long day. At first her Thursday had started normally, or as normal as having tea with Uchiha Itachi could be, but soon her day had tailspin. Her first shift back at the hospital after two months had been a long one. Not only had three ANBU squads had come in on their death beds, she was sure Itachi would love that news, but Naruto had bombarded her with his presence during her much need lunch break. She loved Naruto, but her breaks at the hospital were valuable, as they were her few moments of rest. However, Naruto's presence had lifted her spirits before she began what seems to be a marathon of surgeries that had caused what was suppose to be just a day shift, into an all day and night shift.
Stripping out of her once pristine doctor's coat and the rest of her clothes, Sakura stepped into her shower. She let her the warm water rinse away all the grime that was most likely on her body. Standing underneath the shower head, she leaned her head against the cool tile wall. Today, she had not lost a single person, and her mind couldn't help but wonder if she had started her medical training early if she would have been able to save Sasuke. Tsunade had once told her that cursed marks were created for a specific person in mind and that if someone received one that was not created for them, the result would be fatal. Years later, the questioned of why Orochimaru had targeted her had still not been answered. To be frank, it was one Sakura did not care to know. In fact, the only thing she wished she could do was to go back and change that horrible day. Survivor's guilt was something that would never be washed away.
Turning the warm water off, Sakura toweled herself dry as the unmistakable sound of someone knocking on her door reached her ears. With a groan, she hoped it was not some genin who had been sent out to drag her back to the hospital. If that was the case, she would march into Itachi's office tomorrow and demanded to be sent out off on a mission, at least then she could get some rest without being disturbed by hospital pages. Slipping on a large t-shirt and some sleep shorts that were a tad on the short side, Sakura exited her bathroom, leaving her pink hair wet and tossed over her shoulder. Whoever was her door, she hoped that they had a decent reason for keeping her from her much needed sleep.
Not even thinking to check who was behind her door through the peephole, Sakura unlocked the door to reveal a figure she knew very well. Dressed in black pants, and a blue shirt that was held closed by a small red band, there was no doubt in her mind that he was coming from his home. When she had seen him earlier today he had been dressed in his usual ANBU attire, armor in all, as he was always ready for a battle. Yet, not he stood outside of her apartment in normal clothes, and Sakura wasn't even sure how he knew where she lived. Or better yet, why he was standing at her door without a look in his eyes that she had never seen before.
"Taichou, is something wrong?" She asked, wondering if perhaps there was a mission that he had just been informed of he was collecting her personally.
Itachi shook his head "Yuji's, tomorrow eight am," he said.
Sakura tilted her head in confusion. Yuji's was a breakfast place near the hospital, and she had no idea why Itachi would want to meet her there. Or better yet, why he was asking her to breakfast at all. He wasn't asking, though, he was telling her. Uchiha Itachi didn't ask things, after all, he either knew or he demanded. Before she could even launch a complaint he had stalked away from her door and disappeared into the night. Leaving her mind to drift from one brother to another.
"Sasuke," she muttered as she walked out of her apartment and leaned over the railing on the landing. She looked up the night sky and the stars above her. "I hope you know what your brother is up to," she paused as one start seemed to brighten as her eyes locked on it. "Because I sure as hell don't."
AN: Hey! This is my first attempt at a story, so please be nice :)
Thank you for reading and I hoped you like this story! It's just an idea in my head, and I decided it was time I try and test the waters and see if anyone else like this story of mine! Hopefully there will be more to come :)
