Amor Caecus

- bonis nocet qui malis parcet.

When she woke up over a pile of books at the library, she felt pain taking over her backs. Well, that was probably the price for sleeping curved on a desk… The weird thing being that as long as she could remember, she didn't fell asleep there.

God, she was probably so tired that she just passed out and dreamed about being at home… Or maybe she was still dreaming – now that could be an option, couldn't it? Perhaps listening to Naruto from time to time and actually going home to rest wouldn't be a bad idea.

Sakura got up and stretched while taking a good look around the things she was reading before fainting and a cool smile curled her lips as realization of why exactly she was there hit her.

Early on that morning, Kakashi had let her analyze his Sharingan for the first time… And to think that it all started after a spar where she found out that he was getting blind. She shook her head, unable to find the proper words to describe how surprised she was of the fact that he had been hiding that from all of them for what seemed to be a long time.

Sakura was almost sure he didn't start losing his sight all of sudden… It had probably been deteriorating through time and use, and that made her wonder at what point he would go for help… She could almost bet that if she didn't find out he'd probably be blind before telling someone by his own will.

Stubborn Kakashi, stupid male pride – she thought with a snort, twisting her nose a little bit.

It was just after a resigned sigh that she caught her notes and made her way to the exit, stopping for a mere second when Kurenai looked at her curiously after she waved. She looked a lot younger, how could that happen from night to day? Maybe she lent Tsunade's jutsu, god knows what her old shishou would do to keep her young looks.

"-Now where the hell did that kid come from?" – the dark haired young women grumbled, taking the way the girl came from and stopping in front of the desk full of books. – "Eyesight care…?" – she mumbled to herself, leading a hand to her chin. – "Interesting."

The reason why a kid her age was reading something so complex she didn't know… Just like she was almost one hundred percent sure she had never seen someone like her at the village before.

And she would surely remember a pink haired person with wide green eyes and delicate pale skin.

"-What's wrong Kurenai?" – a young Sarutobi asked, raising an eyebrow as he got to read the title of the book she had on her hands.

"-Oh" – she looked at him and then at where he was looking at. – "It's not mine, it's just-" – she paused for a moment, thinking. – "Have you ever seen a girl with pink hair here at Konoha?"

"-Why, thinking about dying your hair?" – he asked, amused with the grimace her face had turned into.

"-Hell, no!"

"-Then let's get going, shall we?"

Kurenai reserved a last look at the other side of the street as they left, smiling a bit when she recognized a pink spot turning on the corner.

Well, pink was ok – or so she thought.

xxxxx

Sakura was too immersed on her own thoughts to notice all the inquiring looks that people was sending her, openly pointing and commenting. She was on her way to the Hokage tower with way too many questions about how exactly the eyesight worked under bloodline limits mutations and the only person that could probably help her with that was Tsunade. Though she wasn't sure if her shishou knew anything about it, she'd take the risk… And she had to report the Hatake's condition anyway, it could be dangerous having him on missions at those terms and just the thought about having him hurt badly on a fight sent shivers through her spine.

She massaged her temples while thinking that the copy-nin would be definitely angry when he found out she had denounced him to Tsunade… But that was surely the wisest thing to do. Besides, having him stuck at Konoha and not out on missions would give her enough time to study the way his Sharingan worked and by that finding a way to reverse his imminent one-eye-blindness.

The girl was so absorbed by her thoughts that she didn't even notice the little unobservant dark-haired boy that came walking on her direction, and when she took notice of him it was too late to even deviate.

"-Ow, I'm so sorry!" – she quickly mended, holding his little body by the arm to prevent him from falling. – "I wasn't paying attention, I-" – Sakura stopped what she was about to say when her green eyes landed on the boy.

That dark hair, the onyx eyes… It couldn't be. It really, really couldn't be.

Sasuke was far, far away from Konoha and didn't have that age. He was as old as her and there was no way on earth he would have had a son… She blinked blankly, her mouth partially opened as if she wanted to say something, anything, but no words came out.

So she just kept there, standing in front of him in complete horror while he looked at her, confusion taking over his eyes. Sakura wasn't really thinking since the world around her has seemed to stop while she bended on her knees and held the boy's chin to turn his face to her.

It was him. It had to be him; no one else in the world could look this familiar with her Sasuke.

"-Aniki!" – she heard him scream, getting rid of her hand and running towards someone that was now standing behind her.

And when she turned to face the person, her green eyes widened as she tried to swallow all the feelings and thoughts that seized her… And the last thing she could remember was a dark blur moving on her direction.

xxxxx

Itachi should be training with his cousin, but for some reason he didn't feel like doing that today. It was more like he knew something was about to happen, and having no clue of what exactly it was started to annoy him beyond imagination.

He wasn't the kind of person that would let 'things flow' – like his foolish cousin was always telling him to -, he liked to have everything calculated: every little move and every little event. And that was why not being able to predict something accurately was so frustrating to him.

By not wanting to do anything useful he ended up walking on the streets by himself trying to find out what could happen to him on that ordinary day, but nothing besides civilians and known ninjas passed him by.

…That until he spotted something weird amongst the other people at the road.

Pink.

There was no doubt the color that met his eyes was pink, but what troubled him was that it was actually the color of someone's hair. He followed her steps by the corner of his eyes, but the girl seemed to be too concentrated on something important to take notice of anything that was happening around her.

It was then that he stated his younger brother walking towards her, his big dark eyes shining as he looked to something he held on his small hands and smiled. Foolish. At that distance there was nothing he could do to stop both from bumping into each other.

Well, to be honest he could have done something… But he just didn't feel like. It was more like there was something inside his head telling him to let it happen. Maybe that could be the unpredicted event he was waiting? His sixth sense never failed on him before.

There was a small chance it could be, and he was willing to take it. So he just stood there watching her grab his little brother by the arm and ask him to forgive her… But stopping right when she took notice of who he was. And judging by the look of her eyes, she knew him well.

What Itachi saw on her green eyes almost disconcerted him. Love, fear, nostalgia, happiness, distress… And it all happened in a matter of seconds, because at the very next moment his brother was screaming for him as he stood right behind her.

And when she turned to face him, confusion took over his mind as her face went pale and her eyes showed one emotion only: despair.

The Uchiha heir couldn't tell when she collapsed and when he moved to reach her, but the moment next he had the unconscious pink haired girl on his arms.

xxxxx

"-So the girl just collapsed in front of you?" – Itachi raised his dark eyes to watch his cousin grin at him. – "I knew you were ugly, but not this much…"

"-Hn."

"-You're no fun Itachi." – he pointed out, sighing. His conversations with his younger cousin usually consisted on a monologue… That was an unusual day though, since the boy willingly went after him for a "conversation" – if he could call what they just had one. – "Is that all? Maybe she was just a fangirl that fainted."

"-Hn." – apparently, that was not the case. Shisui knew his cousin – and knew him well enough to know that whatever it was that he was hiding, he wouldn't tell it. So all he could do was tease him until he got bored enough to leave or to challenge him for a spar.

"-You are really no fun, little cousin."

"-You say that every day." – onyx eyes narrowed at him. Little was not something that someone wise would call Itachi, but Shisui was never wise. Clever, dedicated, strong… Not wise, but that was just his ego speaking. He never really stopped to think twice about his actions, and that wouldn't change just because he was facing the infamous Uchiha prodigy. He was an Uchiha too, after all.

"-Maybe I hope you'll change in the middle of the night." – he teased again, but got no response or whatsoever from Itachi, just as expected.

"-Hn."

"-Was she pretty at least?" – no answer but a snort.

What could Itachi probably say about that? She had pink hair. He wouldn't call her pretty, but exotically delicate. Her skin was pale, soft and had no scars; her eyes were wide, green and as easy to read as an open book. She was no shinobi material, probably some civilian that got lost and confused Sasuke by someone else. - "I'll take your lack of answer as a yes. Gotta say little cousin, I'm willing to meet this girl."

Instead of saying anything the younger Uchiha just narrowed his eyes again. With the years he had learned that discussing with Shisui was just pointless and would eventually lead to a never ending conversation – more properly put, to a stupid monologue that he would be obliged to listen and eventually pretend to agree.

"-Oh there you are, Itachi!" – said boy raised his eyes to meet with his mother, hands on her hips and a not so friendly look on her face. Not that he cared, but Shisui by his side stepped behind. Idiot. – "Shisui, I didn't think I'd find you here too." – her feature changed completely as soon as she found the presence of the other Uchiha there, and that seemed to make him relax a little bit. Again, he was a complete fool.

Why did Itachi hang out with him? Honestly, he didn't even know the answer for that. Probably because Shisui was the only one that didn't treat him differently. He didn't measure words with him, he never pretended to be polite when he didn't want to… He always said whatever bothered him, and more than that, whenever he felt like punching him, he would just go and try. Try. Despite being a complete idiot, Shisui was the only one who never changed when near him. He was the only one who never tried to use him or take advantage of him. He was the only one that never lied to him.

"-Itachi, are you even listening to me?" – apparently he got lost between his own thoughts, and that made his mother even angrier. There even wasn't a reason for her to be angry, to start with.

"-No." – he answered simply and she rolled her eyes. He could feel Shisui behind him giggling, probably holding his laugh. He knew better than to laugh about Mikoto right in front of her.

"-I said the girl you brought here left this morning."

He blinked. Twice. It was obvious that the girl would just leave as soon as she was awake, and that's the main reason why he left the door and the window opened. He didn't care how she would leave as long as she was gone when he returned. He did not want her anywhere near Sasuke anymore, looking at him with that palpable intensity that she had before.

"-Mother, what exactly do I have to do with that?"

"-You brought her here, and by the very moment she stepped in this house she became of your concern. Now, you better go find her and invite her for a dinner. God knows what the poor girl had been through for passing out like that and…"

Itachi completely ignored the rest and told his mother that he would go look for the girl if that's what she wanted. He left Shisui listening to his mother persistent babbling while he went out for some fresh air.

Why in the world would he go after that girl? Besides, it wasn't his fault she passed out. It was better for her to get back to wherever she came from, anyway… He really did not like the way she looked at Sasuke.

But he should have expected that from his mom though… Once, when he was little, he saved a cat and brought him home. And when he tried to leave, his mother made him go after it saying that by the very moment he saved it, it was of his concern. It was just natural that she applied the same rule to human beings.

Well, he didn't exactly save the girl, but apparently it looked like that at his mother's eyes. And that was a problem.

"-I take you're not going after her?" – he looked at his cousin when he got out too, and then again at the sky.

It was getting cloudy. It would probably rain and he didn't like rainy days… It always felt like if something was wrong, as if the clouds were there just to hide something from his eyes. And he did not like to be deceived... Not even by the clouds.

"-Aa."

When he looked again, Shisui was no longer by his side. He was sure he went after the girl… So why bother going himself?

Itachi got up.

He really didn't like rainy days, nor cared for strange civilians.

xxxxx

It took Sakura more than thirty minutes to realize where exactly she was and what was happening around her.

She was completely lost.

…Maybe not literally since the Konoha she knew wasn't that different from that, but she was lost inside her own mind. She had no idea what to do or where to go… Everything seemed just so wrong and so unbelievable that she didn't even know what to think or who to run for help. How the hell did she get into that mess? Was she really not dreaming? Because if she was, she wanted to wake up.

She desperately wanted to wake up.

Her green eyes searched around the street as the raindrops started to fall, one by one, turning into a torrential rain in minutes. She didn't care she was getting all wet… She had always liked rainy days. It was like someone up there was sending water to wash the whole earth, to take everything away so when the clouds leave and the sun shine the world could start brand new, all over again.

Closing her eyes she could remember Sasuke. So young, so innocent, so lovely… So alive. Back at her time he wasn't like that. Not anymore… And he would never be like that again, she was sure. And it would be all Itachi's fault. The same Itachi that rescued him.

Aniki. Sakura clenched her fists, she could still hear his voice echoing inside her head. He sounded so secure that his brother would come for him, so dependent on him, so blind by the trust he had… And all of that would end with the massacre.

The Uchiha Massacre.

Reality knocked at her mind's door when she realized that maybe – and just maybe – she was there for a reason. She couldn't let that happen. She had to kill Itachi and make everything ok. Maybe she could – she looked at her own hands, tinnier than what she could remember, and then to the sky.

The raindrops were falling on her face gently, slipping through her cheeks and finally reaching the floor when she made a decision.

She would kill Uchiha Itachi, no matter what.

"-What are you doing here?"

Her vision was blurry, and she didn't know if it was because of the rain or because of her tears. They were mixed and running down her face, the only difference between them was the warmth… But she could tell that whoever that boy was, he was an Uchiha. He had a Sharingan.

"-As far as I know, I can be anywhere I want to be." – Sakura got up, testing her fingers and adjusting her gloves. She could feel her chakra flowing through her body, an answer to her recently acquired anger.

"-Now, now, little girls with pink hair shouldn't go around town talking like that to handsome guys like me."

Sakura knew it was unwise to fight an Uchiha like that, alone, especially now knowing your own body capability… But she was willing to test. She felt the uncontrollable need to hit something.

She was about to make a huge mistake, but she didn't care.

"-Spar me." – was all she said, and before he could even answer she was gone with the wind.

xxxxx

It took Shisui more time than he planned to find the missing pink haired girl. It did not seem that she wanted to be found, to start by… But it wasn't hard to gather information about someone with that hair color.

When he first set his eyes on the said girl, he couldn't quite tell what bothered his cousin so much. She sure seemed troubled with something, being there alone under the rain, but there was nothing else besides that. She was probably just another average civilian, and it wouldn't be hard to convince her to go back to the Uchiha compound with him.

At least that's what he first thought when he came closer so she could see him.

"-What are you doing here?" - she raised beautiful green eyes to him, and for the first time he could feel something different coming from her. Chakra. That girl was no average civilian.

"-As far as I know, I can be anywhere I want to be." – he couldn't quite believe the answer that came out from her mouth. She clearly couldn't see him well, probably thanks to the rain. No women had ever treated him that way.

He would give her another chance.

"-Now, now, little girls with pink hair shouldn't go around town talking like that to handsome guys like me."

The smile she gave him wasn't something he liked. It was no foolish little girl smile, it was devious, full of strength and full of motivation. What came next completely caught him by surprise:

"-Spar me." – and as the wind blew and the rain drops thickened, she disappeared.

xxxxx

Hey everyone (:

I'm always reading amazing ItaSaku fanfics, so I thought "why not"? lol Please note that english is not my main language, and since I have no beta you'll probably find a lot of Grammar mistakes... I also don't have a lot of time to revise my own stuff, due to work and studies... Oh well, hope the fanfic is fine! Please let me know your opinion, as in "should I continue this madness"?

Thanks! (: