Notes: The only clearly mentioned pairing in what I have written so far is Sakura x Sasuke. That is not to say that this is the final pairing, or that there will be more pairings, or that there will be less. This was written in an attempt to deviate from the one or two expected clichés that occur in "Sakura meets Itachi" stories.
As a side note, "My Immortal" (rock version) by Evanescence made for good background music in the writing of this story.
Follows canon, except when it doesn't. (Where it disagrees, it's pretty obvious.) Written before Naruto Shippuuden, so I will be taking what I want from canon after the timeskip.
Disclaimer: So not mine. (Not even this disclaimer is…geez.)
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He found the girl at one of the village bar-and-brothels as he was passing through. This one was not like most of the women in her line of business. Just watching her, he knew that she was never going to catch any man's attention when more practiced and voluptuous women beckoned from the dim corners of the house. Her eyes were not quite green enough, her hair only a very light brown that appeared reddish in the light. Their eyes met over the noise, and even from that distance – as she approached – he knew the girl both wanted and did not want what her voice pleaded for.
He led her up to a room with him and sat her down. He asked her who was her master, how much – or how little – she had. Gradually, she overcame her hesitancy. Around that time, he decided that he'd been wrong to linger. Placing a small, weighted bag on the bedside table, he got up to leave.
An unexpected hand caught hold of his wrist. He looked down to see the girl's face. She was about his age, but although life had been just as cruel to her, there was no guile, no hardness in her face. She was too easily bought, to look adoringly on someone who had only heard her out and done nothing for her.
"Please, sir…" She swallowed visibly. "You know what I must do."
"You are inexperienced," he said.
"If – if there was anyone I wanted to be my first, I – I'd want it to be someone like you." She uttered the last three words in barely a whisper. Her voice was not beautiful or melodious to begin with, and her face was, at most, pretty.
He shook her off. "There's nothing I can do for you."
Hands clutched the hem of his shirt now. "There is."
He started to pull away, but an inexpert mouth bumped into his. This time he looked at her and saw only the green eyes, glittering with imminent tears. Sasuke knew she didn't know what she really wanted, and that he would be doing ill by both of them to comply.
But he took her anyway.
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Afterwards, as she lay exhausted and limp on the bed, Sasuke rose and showered in the adjacent bathroom. When he emerged, he didn't feel any less filthy. The girl still had the soft glow of aftermath on her, stretched out in an ungraceful, still-innocent manner on the rumpled sheets and fast asleep. It hadn't been his first, but it had been hers, and suddenly, Sasuke found himself repulsed by her, and himself.
He left the village and never went there again.
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By tacit agreement, Sakura and Itachi left the vicinity as quickly as possible, pausing in their journey southwest for only half-hour spells of rest time. The breaks were few and far between, and if food could be obtained and eaten in a shorter interval, the length of the break was adjusted. On the third day, Sakura declared that they would stop for a while and wash up; Itachi voiced no protest.
It was a good location, a copse bounded by concealing trees and a stream that blossomed into a wide, lazy river further down. Itachi waited upstream, managing to catch several fish before Sakura returned clad in her old clothes, but damp and somewhat cleaner.
"I'll cook the fish and you can go for a dip," she offered, unsurprised when the Uchiha declined. He didn't look like he needed to.
"Do you recognize this river?" He slid a gutted fish on a stick.
"No, but I think we're in the right direction nonetheless. Fire Country should be in sight within three days." Sakura started to lean back against a tree, then tensed. "Itachi, you really don't remember?" Not that he'd tell you if he was lying, idiot.
But the Uchiha just shook his head. She noticed how his hair looked silky, unlike Sasuke's, which stuck out like a crow's tailfeathers in the back, begging to be ruffled –
No. She continued to observe Itachi, now with a colder eye. Wouldn't he be proud to learn that his brother had become just like him.
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It was two hours before dawn. The sky was still dark. Sakura woke three minutes earlier than the intended time. Without getting up, she placed her right palm flat against the side of the tree she had been sitting against, sending a faint chakra signal up along the bark.
Itachi dropped from the overhanging branch, making less sound than a breeze slipping through grass. Sakura took her position as her shift began.
It was more than strange that the two of them could form a team so easily, setting traps and keeping watch over each other in regular three-hour blocks as any ANBU did. Sakura would never have considered it this way, but in all honesty, the Uchiha outranked her.
Several times, she wondered if it would be better for her to leave him, but there was the matter of the ring. Kisame had mentioned that she could not escape no matter what while she wore it, but here she was, probably leagues away from the man. There were two main explanations for this: Kisame had consented to her departure – unlikely – or she wasn't bound to him.
Sakura had noticed that both Itachi and Kisame wore rings, although she didn't think hers gave her any particular power or advantage. Even so, a link required a two-way connection, after all, with a seal at either end of it. So she would wait until Itachi was trussed up and rendered harmless in Konoha – and in the meantime, suppress the hysterical laugh that rose in response to the way she'd mentally strung the words "Itachi" and "harmless" in a sentence.
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Itachi watched for any sign of the missing-nin of the Mist and other intruders. But he also watched the sleeping ANBU woman.
It was bewildering to see someone last remembered as nine years old become an adult all of a sudden. As though – a blink – he had slept those intervening years away in another world. But according to the kunoichi, he had spent them as a criminal instead.
He'd thought of his brother because he remembered that Sakura had been about his age. Sasuke was most likely one of the police now, striving for Father's approval without understanding, still, that it was a worthless burden, a collar fettering him to the clan. Once Father noticed him, he'd be used and kept on a tight leash. Sometimes, disgusted and impatient, Itachi would consider thoughts that the other Uchiha feared to entertain.
Sakura stirred, letting out the softest of sighs. Itachi could tell that she had exhausted herself. He had assumed that any ANBU could keep up with his pace without breaking a sweat, but then again, he was still using his thirteen-year-old self to judge her. He must have been traveling faster than that. He decided that although she could set the pace in the days to come, he would take a more active role in finding the way back, even if it didn't seem entirely worth the effort.
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She left the privacy of the trees to join him by the fire, which added to the heat of late afternoon. Without saying a word, Itachi handed her the first fish that he had cooked, not letting go of the stick until she had a firm grasp. Sakura bit into it and was perversely glad that the murderer of the Uchiha clan could add culinary talent to his long list of accomplishments.
The simple act of eating the meal, however, increased her unease. For ten days, Itachi had betrayed nothing and asked very little. He kept his watches; helped her trace a path through the local woodlands; prepared the food every other night. She couldn't say what had convinced her to accept his food – because he had offered it in an innocuous tone? – but she knew the reason for her growing discomfort.
Itachi was troubling her conscience.
He was doing his share of the work to get them to Konoha. He didn't know that a horde of ANBU were going to put him through interrogation and other painful procedures.
"What massacre?"
"There was an incident the year you disappeared from the village…with the Inuzukas. The Hokage settled it. It's over now."
Unwavering red eyes.
"You don't have to lie to me."
He'd preferred her to say nothing, if everything that came out was bound to be false. And so they barely spoke. Itachi's silence, as he reached out to move the fish before one side burned, formed a natural part of him. Sakura paused with the fish before her mouth, watching him eat.
He was going to get burned.
"You can leave, if you don't want to return to Konoha," Itachi said without preamble.
She stared at him. "Why wouldn't I want to do that?"
"You were an accomplice to a missing-nin, for assisting Kisame. Those are grounds for a trial by the council."
"And who will accuse me?" Her eyes flashed. "You?"
He just looked at her, silent, until her scorn bled away to a queasy mixture of fear and shame, both of which he should feel, not her.
Four chakra signals – one of which she recognized – flared into her awareness. Neji, leading three others. Sakura sensed the ANBU approach, knowing that the other party had seen them long ago. She was content to wait, but at the same time wanted to warn them of Itachi's condition. If he had truly lost his memory, she didn't want him regaining it via battle. In fact, she doubted that she wanted him to regain his memory at all.
But the man beside her had already anticipated hostility. He had moved, a single, subtle step that placed him slightly ahead of her, covering her left flank. Sakura wondered if he thought he'd be protecting her.
Four shuriken lashed out at them from behind, all aimed at Itachi. Trusting him to duck, Sakura did nothing. Sure enough, he disappeared from view. Suddenly, a giant fireball blazed to life on her right. Metal pinged as kunai knocked each other aside; a cool and ruthless voice declared Neji's favored move, the Kaiten, and a sphere of spinning chakra rose up in time to deflect another blast of deadly fire. Neji wasn't taking any chances with genjutsu.
Regretting her earlier passivity, Sakura leapt forward and reached out. Her gloved hands yanked back a cat-masked ANBU by the arm. The shinobi was young and unsure of how to respond. While he hesitated, Sakura took his place and punched the ground.
Grass and dirt flew everywhere; huge trees wider than she could span with both arms toppled, uprooted as the earth crumpled. The blast forced the two main combatants and the supporting units of Neji's squad to jump away.
Sakura raised her voice – something she hadn't done in months. "Captain, Itachi, stop fighting for a moment!"
"Get out of range, Sakura," warned Neji behind his bird's mask. "Now is not the time to report!" The dust was settling.
"This is something you'll want to know!"
Itachi had remained silent, but he landed near Sakura. Before she could stop herself, she had met his gaze. His eyes, however, were only the standard Sharingan red. Why didn't he try to use the Mangekyou on someone as strong as Neji? Maybe the present circumstances don't make it a viable option, thought Sakura, or his memory loss had taken from him that rare and frightening technique.
Whatever the reason, he looked in Sakura's eyes and said, "Sakura-san, do you intend to explain the situation in a way that will satisfy us both?"
"If we go calmly to the village, you will encounter people who are capable of giving you much more satisfying answers than I could hope to give. Captain!" She snapped, annoyed as one of the ANBU tried to put in a blow. Itachi caught the fist and tossed the jounin aside in the same motion. "Please call off your squad!"
Neji dropped two meters away from them and made a quick motion with his hand, the signal to stand down. His white eyes locked on Sakura's face. "Report."
"Uchiha Itachi has been recovered from the enemy, with a few gaps in his memory. His recollection begins about a year before his forceful departure from Konoha. We await your decision, sir."
Neji's eyes had widened at her choice of phrase. She hoped he would understand that she had couched it in those terms for Itachi. Both she and the Hyuuga certainly knew the truth: that the Akatsuki was a disintegrating organization, that Itachi's atrocities were his death warrant as surely as Sasuke's chronic absence was his; that she had not even attempted to explain her involvement in Itachi's reappearance.
"We shall escort you back," Neji said. One of the ANBU summoned a small cat. "Send word to the Hokage."
Sakura glanced at Itachi's dispassionate face, and wondered how much he could guess.
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They were about half a day's distance from the village by nightfall. Neji halted the company and they fell to their respective duties as if assigned parts. Two of Neji's original squad kept watch; Itachi, who seamlessly partook in the activity, went to fetch water. Sakura had contrived another task so as to accompany the Uchiha, and was following him when Neji's voice called her back.
"Sakura, what is that on your hand?"
She glanced at the little ring. "The other one, Kisame, placed it on me. I believe it is a chakra-link, with double seals. Nothing has resulted from my separation from the Mist-nin, while I have been in the constant presence of Itachi, at short to midrange distances. I was warned against outside attempt to remove it, but I am confident that the Uchiha could remove it for me."
Neji nodded. "See that you do not forget." In a softer tone – for while they were not close, he was a friend, and they had come to bear mutual respect over the past few years – he asked, "Has he demonstrated any suspicious behavior to contradict your claim?"
Sakura shook her head. "His behavior pattern is convincing. It's not impossible that some form of retrograde amnesia resulted from the wound he had earlier. He was in extremely poor condition."
"When you found him." Neji's eyes narrowed, but he raised his hand to forestall her reply. "Do not tell me what I do not need to hear, Sakura. Some kinds of information are best limited to those who have to know. Tell your shishou."
"I will." Sakura left for the riverbank, ignoring the stare of the ANBU by the fire.
Itachi greeted her without inflection. His cold politeness engendered a tone of similar temperature in Sakura's voice. "Well, Uchiha-san, why do you keep your Sharingan activated? It could damage your normal eyesight, aside from lowering your chakra reserves."
"You know this." It wasn't a question. Sakura injected a little warmth, a little more concern into her manner.
"I do know that it requires considerable chakra to maintain. You won't get ambushed, Uchiha-san – it's not as though you'll be attacked any second in our company." A bald-faced lie, but as those went Sakura had told worse to herself.
He had been facing the river, having cleansed his face with water scooped from its calm, dark surface. Now he turned his head so that Sakura could see his inky black, natural eyes. They were just as unnerving as his red ones.
"Is there a reason for your change in address? You called me Itachi, but now it is Uchiha-san."
Sakura responded smoothly. "When I thought about it, addressing you as Itachi was too informal for passing acquaintances."
"Would you prefer that I called you… Haruno-san?"
She shrugged. "It doesn't matter because you have seniority. Call me however you like."
Itachi's voice, Sakura found, was infuriating chiefly because it was so enigmatic. "Sakura is a pretty name for a girl. It is better than being named for an unlucky animal."
"Oh?" Sakura said when she had recovered from momentary surprise. "But you aren't superstitious, are you?"
Itachi stood. "Children are named according to the whims of their parents."
And sometimes, Sakura thought darkly, their parents are right.
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Sakura fed more fuel to the leaping flames before taking a seat next to the Uchiha. Neji was keeping an eye on the proceedings – which was considerable caution, since he was Hyuuga. One of his subordinates, the cat-faced one, was taking a clearly much-needed rest against the bole of a tree. Sakura didn't need Byakugan to see how low the shinobi's reserves had run; Neji had probably stopped the group for his sake. The other ANBU were out of immediate sight, but years as a medic and further training made Sakura confident that she could find the sentinels in an instant if she cared to.
No, those two weren't of great concern to her. It was the silent man beside her. The firelight gave his face an orange hue, so solemn – he couldn't be more than twenty-three, twenty-four?
"Uchiha-san." Her voice was calm and soothing, one she had perfected over time for patients. "While your body has been on the mend, I would like to run a check. You were suffering from a severe injury when I first saw you…do you recall that?"
Itachi nodded and looked about to speak. Sakura sensed his ire when she went on at once.
"Excellent! So do you know who dealt the wound?"
"I remember the wound, not the moment it was inflicted, Sakura-san. I was about to ask if you could identify my attacker."
"As it happens, I'm afraid the life of my patient took precedence over analyzing the wound."
"Then whoever is responsible is free to attack again. It would have been worth my life to discover his or her identity." Itachi's tone might have been neutral, but his word choice recalled that of a superior chastising a foolish and incompetent underling. Sakura felt a sharp flare of anger; her retort – delivered with a bland smile – flew out before she could reconsider.
"But you don't know how much you are worth to Konoha, Uchiha-san. I'm sorry that you don't approve, but what's done is done, right?"
The insincerity of her cheeriness was telling, if not blatant. Itachi reached towards her with his hand without warning. Whatever he had intended – intimidation, maybe – required contact, and at this, Sakura sensed (and then saw) Neji descend from his perch on the tree to prevent it. And that was telling.
Itachi withdrew his hand and stood. The fire burned high between the two shinobi.
"Captain, I understand that you may have reservations against me. This level of hostility, however…is it warranted?" Behind and to Neji's right, the cat-ANBU stirred. Sakura knew it was not because of their voices; those were pitched low and soft. It was the intent that had charged the air, the swift chill and misleading stillness between the men.
"You are aware that you have been absent from the village for a number of years, Uchiha?" Once, Sakura had overheard the aging Morino Ibiki comment that Neji had been placed in the wrong force. Neji's voice was wintry and terrifying; he would have been a huge success in Torture and Interrogation.
"I am, captain."
"Then you understand." Neji turned, presenting his back to Itachi in what appeared to be both a temporary cessation of hostilities and an act of bravado. In fact, it was neither; the Hyuuga just had the luxury of his inherited Bloodline Limit.
Neji, Sakura observed with an ironic smile, hated dishonesty and avoided direct lies when he could, the nature of his profession (which often required disguise and concealment) notwithstanding. Seeing that Itachi had yet to resume his seat, his entire stance relentless and wary, she leaned into his field of vision.
"I said I'd give you a checkup, Uchiha-san. Come on, the captain is just going back to the tree."
"He appears to detest me. Why is that, Sakura-san?"
"It's nothing personal; he can be kind of prickly." She gave a breezy laugh. Itachi ignored her attempt to ease the tension.
"Should I sit or continue standing?" When Sakura gave him a very blank look, his eyes narrowed. Impatience, she thought. Itachi was not devoid of emotion.
"Well, continue standing if you wish."
"Which one of the two would expedite your task?" A minute edge had entered his default voice. Sakura wanted to push him further to see more of Itachi's mood-indicators, but decided that Anko would do a more professional job of it.
"I see what you mean," she said, unable to keep her own irritation from coloring her voice. At least he will underestimate me was no comfort to her ego. "It would not affect the inspection either way, as long as you are facing me." The explanation was plausible; his injury had been in the front, radiating into his face from the central hit near the chest.
Itachi shifted his left foot so that he stood facing her, his eyes just a few inches above her level. Then, in a deliberate, fluid motion, he lowered himself to the ground and sat. Secretly envying his striking grace, Sakura dropped to a seated position and formed the seals.
"Take off the outer shirt." She sounded weary to her own ears. "It will make things go quicker." Itachi complied, leaving on a body-hugging mesh shirt that would not be much trouble for chakra-infused hands. He was muscled, but lean enough that she could see the regular, metronomic beat of his heart.
Red was bleeding into his dark eyes. "You were not this tired before we set up camp."
"Uchiha-san, I have to ask you to release the Sharingan. I need to see how your normal eyes –"
Kami-sama, she had never been more frightened in her life, the moisture seared out of her throat, her heart racing to pump blood and adrenaline throughout her body. His anger was constricting, sudden like lightning, and totally justified. Itachi would have left her there to take the blow meant for him, but her chakra held him in place for a crucial second.
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Sakura let her kage bunshin wink out of existence and drew out a scroll of painted seals, careful to stay in the denser shadows between the trees. The three ANBU had ghosted into the scenery, just like her, while their captain pounded out the Uchiha's tenketsu with brutal, but necessary, force.
She could ask why Itachi had fallen for this set-up. The answer she came up with for herself was that while he knew she was keeping something from him, he had instinctively known she was, in her natural state, a person without guile. Moreover, in his eyes, she was not particularly intelligent. He had the genius, but still stunted mental limitations of his thirteen-year-old self.
And Sakura had betrayed his trust. It had been faster and easier than breathing.
When it was done, Neji and his squad helped her place several strong seals on the unconscious Uchiha. An hour or so later, Sakura sat back with a groan of fatigue. She raised her eyes to find that Neji had been waiting for her to do so.
"You are reckless and not entirely sane," he said in a tone completely at variance with the one he'd used to address Itachi. "One wonders why ANBU took so long to recruit you."
She laughed, albeit weakly. "After they took you in, they seriously considered going in a different direction."
The Hyuuga smiled, something akin to solidarity flickering through his white eyes. He told her that if she could satisfactorily explain her month-long MIA status, she would be promoted to squad leader next time she set foot in the ANBU compound.
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TBC