A/N: I'm so glad people liked it! It really is easier to write then my other story (sorry guys who were reading both). Chapter 2, the plot unfolds. Yay! Um, yes, another thing. Don't mind the crappy poems (I forgot to mention that last time, eheh. And is that even considered a poem?) Well, anyhow…

Chapter 2
Secret Better Left Untold

As the week comes to end
We all run off to do what students do
Not me
Not ever
The one who's fate has been sealed away
Since the day you were born
Yet no one knows
No one cares
I hide a secret
One that's too big to share
So my job
Can you guess?
No?

It was Friday, which most people were glad for. However, some others, like Sakura for instance, had been too preoccupied in looking for other things, then to notice that it was the end of the week. Amongst the books she carried in her hands, a sheet of paper lay on top of them. Her head was down, brows knitting up and down, as she couldn't comprehend the page.

If she hadn't felt the hand on her shoulder, she never would have guessed that Ino had been repeatedly calling her name. "Hey, Earth to Sakura. You're going to crash into something at this rate. What are you so interested in anyway?"

"Hey, give it back!" the pink haired girl whined, as her coded message was whisked from in front of her. "I'm trying to crack this code. By myself," she couldn't help adding.

"Well you can have all the fun you want with that," the blonde said after about studying it for five seconds. "It's just a bunch of 0s and 1s to me. By the way, can you ask Shika if he'll walk me home today?"

Relived that the topic had been changed, she decided to take charge. "Ah, right. So still crushing on him, I see."

Ino looked at her with widened eyes for a moment before recovering. "Don't be silly, I never was. He's just a friend that's all. Don't read so much into these things," while she was speaking, observer girl noticed a fait color rise to her cheeks.

But she simply smiled, not pushing it any further. "Okay, I'll see you later in class then." Without another word, she hurried down the hall to math class, where she found who she was looking for, his head on his desk. "Shikamaru…" she prodded him with a pencil. He looked up sleepily. "Rough night, huh?" There was nod and a yawn in reply. "Anyway, I need you to solve this. I never was able to last night. Can you do it by this afternoon, thanks!" She handed him the message and went to her seat at the back of the class.

The teacher then walked in, asking everyone to take out the homework. He quickly pulled it out, but his brown eyes never left the page. "Binary and hexadecimal…huh?" he said aloud, frowning at how every single 0 and 1 as well at the 2 and 16 subscripts were squished together, forming multiple possibilities on how to read it. "Okay…that could be the letter T…the letter E…or possibly…"

On the way to her last period, she still had no word from Shikamaru, who she'd seen at lunch, still hunched over the paper, scribbling furiously. She felt kind of bad, dumping it on him like that, but he seemed occupied, which almost never happened.

Speaking of which, she mentally slapped herself, she'd forgotten to relay Ino's message. Convincing herself that the Phys. Ed. teacher never really cared if they were late or not, she ran off to see if he was still at his locker for his spare class.

On her rush down from the second floor, she picked up a piece of paper, that looked like had been dropped from a notebook. It had a bunch of messages on it, like it was passed back and forth in class. Her eyes scanned over it. The main message was: That Bastard! I can't believe he broke up with you!

Her eyebrows raised, and set the page back down on the floor. Well, last year's "Most likely to get married" couple had just broken up. One more thing to add to the database later. She then remembered that she had class to get to, and a mission to take care of.

Sakura tried to move as fast as possible, without making so much noise that a teacher would yell at her that running in the hall wasn't allowed. However, she was too busy looking in front of her, and didn't notice someone was walking in her direction from the side.

Only gravity made up the fate of those two. "Oww, shoot," she said, rubbing her side, and looked at who had run into her.

"Sorry," no other then Uchiha Sasuke apologized, rubbing his head of raven hair.

"No, it's my bad. I wasn't watching where I was going," she said with a smile of sorts. "Oh, I can pick up my stuff fine, thank you." She went and picked up her belongings. He was also doing the same, aiding her pick up some fallen papers from one of her binders. He frowned, even though it was barely noticeable, as he put the papers back. It was like he was looking for something. "Err, thanks…"

They both got up from the floor. "No problem," he replied, shrugging off the matter. She mumbled something incoherent, and was back on her way.

I'm a spy

"Damn," he said through his teeth, kicking a paper ball through the hallway. He hadn't managed to find what he'd originally been looking for. She was tricky. She was pro. With a slight huff, he also slowly made his way to class.

By the time the final bell had run, almost every single student in the building had their sights on the exit doors. There was a mess of people (whom Sakura skillfully dodged) all headed in one direction, she in the other. The only real thing that had kept her going through the whole day was the fact (or the hope) that Shikamaru would have the message decoded by now.

Inside the info room, she drummed her finger impatiently on the table. Her head popped up when the door opened. "So?" she asked excitedly.

"Hold it, keep your socks on," he said sitting opposite her, and unfolding the paper that now was covered by mostly pencil lead. "Okay, since all the numbers were jumbled together, it was hard to tell what was what. So after a few trial and error sessions, I managed to make out a few things. The first few letters were too hard to read, but after it says something about good information. The next line was: meet at…what looks like 16 and 4 then the word alley. Then the very last bit says 7 o'clock."

"Hmm…so, he must have used some kind of decoder, or he already knew what the message was…" she though out loud, "16 and 4…an intersection maybe? 16th Ave and 4th street is a relatively close intersection, unless it's 16th street and 4th avenue, if that exists." She smiled.

Her brunet partner tilted his head and sighed. "You always have a knack for trouble, don't you?"

"Relax, I'm just going to check it out for like, a second. Nothing wrong with that. Besides, it's on my way home."

He scratched his head. "Okay, just…be careful."

"Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine. It's not like I'm going in spying for the FBI or something. It's not dangerous work." It followed by a wink, as she grabbed her school bag and left the room. The only ambition on her mind now was getting the tiny secret that Uchiha Sasuke's vague email failed to tell her.

For a rather long time, the petal haired girl had leisurely strolled down to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, where she found Ino straightening out the bucket of cream colored roses. They sat down and chatted for awhile, mostly about how the business was going, what was for dinner, and so forth.

She'd glanced at her watch a few times, but decided she had enough time to help her blonde friend arrange some bouquets. Her skill had surpassed the taste of when she was a child. She was constantly scolded by Ino about matching colors, or what flowers went with what. Now her knack for remembering such insignificant things was a talent.

At a quarter to, she parted ways with her friend and resumed her walk down the illuminated streets. The sun had set, but it wasn't completely dark yet. There were still lots of people that bustled their way through the streets in attempt to get home quickly. The end of the week was always like this.

The lamp flickered dimly on top of the crossed signs of 16 and 4. Her emerald eyes scanned the area quickly, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Walking casually along, she passed the alleyway that was the only one on this side of the street. It was right between two small restaurants, the noise pouring out of the windows. She did a quick sidestep and was engulfed in the darkness.

The noise from the busy streets concealed her footsteps, as she moved further within. Sakura was very keen when it came with directions, with a type of photographic memory. The alley closed off at the back of a flat, but made a sharp right, behind the cramped few buildings. It took a left, then another left. The sounds from the streets were still quite loud, but it seemed eerily quiet within the confinements of the stuffy alley.

It was becoming hard to see, and just before she could turn the final left, a tiny glimmer in the near distance caused her to halt. She pussyfooted over to the wall, and peered around the corner. When nothing happened, she wrote it off as her imagination, until there was a noise from beside her.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, seeing the outline of what looked like a strongly built man, most likely in his late thirties. Sakura just stayed pressed against the wall, praying that no one noticed her still presence. Thankfully the mysterious man hadn't been too aware of his surroundings, keeping a sharp eye in front of him.

Following his gaze, she noted the shady and hardly definable outlines of two others. "So that's him, huh?" the man beside her spoke, then moved down further towards the end of the alley. The moon had appeared from behind the clouds, shedding a bit of light on the inside.

"You'd think they'd already killed him for committing murder," another male voice commented bitterly.

"You guys think you're all high and mighty…well you're wrong! I won't say anything. I've sworn to secrecy," a frantic and panic-stricken voice replied, moving into the portion of moonlight. He was a rather old man, in his fifties. He wore a dusty suit, and there was a frame missing from the sunglasses atop his head.

"We'll see about that," the first man spoke, partially stepping into the light. Only his face wasn't visible. From his leather jacket, he pulled out a tiny handgun. From her spot at the corner, she could only bite her tongue, to resist the urge to gasp out loud.

"Heh, you don't scare me the least, bastards," the threatened old man, and wasn't even fazed when the second man pulled out an identical weapon. "Have to do better then that."

"Listen here. We're warning you. Your leader will be hunted down sooner or later. It's only a matter of time. Cooperate and we'll set you free, if not…" he loaded the barrel.

Sakura could hardly believe she was watching this. This type of thing only happened in cliché TV dramas and the like. Stuff like this didn't happen in the real world. They just didn't. All sorts of things raced through her mind, as she desperately tried to think of a way this could all be explained. Maybe she'd gotten knocked out cold somewhere along the way home and this was all some sort of surreal nightmare.

Wait. What about the email? This was Sasuke's email, was it not? Why would a high school student be involved with some sort of murderer? What was Sharingan? Why the hell hadn't she listened to Shikamaru for once in her bloody life and stayed out of the world where this type of thing didn't happen?

Her thoughts reeled back to the recent information she'd given to her client. "The man who killed Asagi's father is a man named Naoki Gato." Now that she remembered that…he did sort of look like the mug shots from the police report, just older, and more beat up. This was 'the Fish'.

Another thing that had just recently dawned on her while the men were busy conversing, making some sort of agreement with each other, was what was Sasuke doing? After all, it was in his inbox. Maybe, perchance, that the email had been sent mistakenly to him. No, there was no way. He'd asked for specific info on Gato, meaning that he indeed passed that along. Was he the third figure, (she'd recently noticed the presence of someone in the corner) still completely cloaked in the shadows?

'I just wanted to know what it was all about. I didn't want specific details,' she screamed mentally.

"This is your last chance!" roared one of the men, and pulled the trigger on his weapon. This time a gasp did slip her pressed lips, then she immediately clamped both hands to her mouth, preventing it from happening again. The gun had been a rather quiet shot. She could only think of one thing that must have been used: a silencer.

The senile man had let out a small yelp of pain, fury written all over his face. Blood trickled out from his forearm, and spilled onto the concrete. The gun wound looked small, and it wasn't anywhere near fatal for a long while.

Now she was sure that it was some sort of horrible nightmare. Stuff like this didn't happen in her city. Things like this definitely didn't happen in front of her innocent jade eyes. The smell of the sticky liquid was quickly filling the air, and it didn't mix well with the mugginess of the area. It became nauseating very rapidly.

"Now," the second man fully stepped into the light. Sakura was actually surprised at how young he was. He didn't look that much older then she did, maybe a year or two. He had long brown hair, and wore dark shorts and a beige top. She hadn't gotten a good look at his face, but she could guess that it was very pale, and he looked quite strong, despite his skinny figure. "Mind telling us, if you want to live?"

Gato looked up, broken sunglasses falling crookedly off his disheveled gray hair. He spat at the brunet's feet. "The Akatsuki has spoken. You'll all join me in hell one day," without warning, he reached inside his trench coat with his good arm and pulled out a tiny, yet sharp-looking knife. Like a self-defense mechanism, the man who was fully in the light jumped back, firearm ready.

However, the knife was meant for no one other then the user. In one clean motion, a deep gash appeared at the throat, the blood spilling everywhere, a pool gathering at his feet. The whole body went limp. "Damn it!" the first man said, knowing it was already too late to attempt and save him.

Sakura pushed down a wave of nausea. That was enough. She decided against knowing what Uchiha Sasuke's secret was. She involuntarily stepped backwards, knocking over a garbage can. It clattered to the pavement. 'Oh…crap…' she thought, knowing everyone around the corner must have heard the noise. This, was really, really, really bad.

"What was that?" one of them asked. Without thinking and instinct taking over, she did an immediate 180 and ran as fast as she could.

"Shit!" the third voice finally spoke, but the pink haired girl was too busy making herself scarce then to wonder if it indeed was her classmate. She avoided about three more garbage cans, a few empty crates, and nearly missed a flight of stairs in her haste. She could see the illuminated street in front of her, and thanked whoever was up there.

She gripped her shoulder-bag tightly, hurrying out of the alley, and ran in a sort of zigzag pattern, avoiding as many people as possible and still just keep on going. She bumped into an older woman clutching a black briefcase, and shouted back a "Sorry!" and continued on her way.

After she was a good three blocks away, and could no longer keep up the pace, she slowed to a walk. That had been way too scary for her. She never imagined that something so innocent as digging into a tiny little secret would end up in a scenario she'd never even dreamed of. She walked down the still busy streets, since it was only 7:30. Her heart was still racing, and her face was still missing its color.

Hopefully for her, in a few hours, she'd wake up in bed, seeing that it all was a dream. A very realistic dream, but it could happen. A short while later, Sakura turned down a less busy street, entering a residential quarter. What would the excuse be tonight for coming home late? "Sorry I was busy spying on this weird group and this guy who they were questioning committed suicide?" Somehow, she didn't think her parents would be too thrilled with that answer, and most likely ban her from going to school ever again.

Turning to the right down her street, a car passed from behind her, and disappeared onto another street. She sighed, pushing the pink locks out from her face that had fallen out of her tie while she was running. Maybe she should give Shikamaru a call, tell him what she'd seen. Would he believe her? Her eyes wandered to the night sky, and the twinkling stars above.

Of course he'd believe her. She would never joke about something like this; he knew that perfectly well. Somehow, though, she didn't have any energy for that now. Maybe she'd skip dinner and go straight to sleep, that is, if she could. She was walking slowly down her street now, pondering.

In the middle of her thoughts, she heard a noise behind her. Sakura stopped, her green eyes glued on the sky, before shakily turning behind her…only to find no one there. Great, she cringed, she was becoming paranoid.

"Hey," a masculine voice spoke, making her jump two feet back. Staring back in front of her, there stood Uchiha Sasuke, looking taller then normal. Possibly because the shock had also sent her falling to the ground.

"Oh…" she breathed out, "sorry, you scared me. At night I'm especially paranoid, you know."

"Yeah, I guess so. Someone the likes of you should really be home earlier. Just not to get into any sort of trouble." He helped her up.

She didn't answer for a moment, evaluating what he'd said. When he meant 'Stay out of trouble', was he referring to certain crazy people that came out, or was he… "Thanks for your concern, but I can take care of myself. Anyway, what are you doing here? I've never seen you around this place before." This was her way of finding out if he was that third person.

"I was in the area," he replied simply and without hesitation, "visiting an acquaintance."

"An acquaintance…right," she repeated, and gave him a charming smile, "anyway, I'll see you around. I'm already late for dinner."

She reached for her bag and began to walk past him. Then she felt a firm grip tighten upon her right arm. "Think you're pretty smart, do you?"

"Excuse me?" she questioned, trying to play innocent.

He gave her a sort of stare, a deadly one. "I was kind of careless leaving that message on my computer. But I have to say, you were pretty good at figuring it out." Sakura subconsciously bit her bottom lip. She was in big, big pickle now. "Want to tell me how you did it?"

Well, there was only one thing left to do. "What are you talking about?"

His well-defined face was partially in the shadows, his dark eyes scanning her face. "A great snoop and a great information gatherer you may be," he complimented, "but you aren't very good at lying, nor at spying, as you displayed today."

The words then came spilling out before she had a chance to bite her tongue again. "I'm sorry. Really I am. I was being so stupid, I thought…well…"

His eyes narrowed. "Well at least you're honest…sort of. Anyway, I can't let you off the hook that easily."

There was a pit at the bottom of Sakura's stomach, and her heart was thumping loudly again. "Uh…" she said dumbly.

"You're coming with me," and with that note, he pulled her down the perpendicular street, where a car stood waiting, engine purring quietly.

"What? Back up for a sec," she protested, not digesting his words, "you can't just take me off the street, expect me to follow you just like that! That's called kidnapping you know. What will my parents say?"

"That's already taken care of," he said simply, opening the passenger side of the black car, "now, get inside."

"Wait…where the hell am I going?"

Sasuke sighed impatiently, "Look, just get in and I'll explain on the way."

"There is no way in hell I'm getting in that thing!"

The next part made her heart stop it's racing for a moment. From inside his jacket, he'd pulled a handgun. His expression was cold as stone. "I don't really want to shoot anyone tonight. But you've seen a bit too much. I can't have my biggest secret blown to the world, now can I? So, come with me."

Shaking, she finally agreed to his demand, sinking into the leather seats, and scooting over so he could sit down as well. The car rolled past her house, past her street, and back into the roads of the city. "So…where are you taking me?" she asked quietly.

He was looking out the window with a bored expression, "The train station." Noticing how she was silent, he spoke up again. "Look, it's not my idea to bring you along with me into my business. But…" his hands clenched into fists, "we…I…need your help."

Her eyes met his sharply. "What?"

"I trust, since you've found the web site, you know about Sharingan." She nodded in response. "Well, the president and his wife…a month ago they began to receive threats. Death threats. So a couple subordinates, and myself, we're in charge of finding out who's behind it."

She looked at him curiously. Somehow, this was all too much for one night. "The president…your father and mother, right?"

He smirked at the window, "You live up to your reputation of snoop, I'll say it again."

She also gave a small grin out her respected window, "I knew you weren't a high school student since you transferred here a month ago. Why all the trouble? To get me? Am I that famous?" She didn't get an answer back. "Tell me then, Uchiha Sasuke, what are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he glanced sideways, then back out the window. The train station was in view. "A spy."

TBC

Additional AN: Ah, Sasuke. He doesn't like to ask for help very often, as you can see. The story is still kind of unclear, though it's still unfolding. One other thing. If you want to check review responses, check out my lj (link from my bio). I don't really want to use the review response thing, if it's for thanking all you guys for reading, or whatnot. Hmm. I thought up chapter 3. How about a little preview?

Chapter 3 – Partners?
The doors finally opened again. "Quick," he said, giving her a push out of the elevator and on to a dark platform. It looked like a regular subway platform, except empty. The two sets of footsteps echoed against the walls, making it sound even more eerie. "This is Sharingan's private platform. One way to headquarters," he said, pointing to a tiny subway car that was stationed.

"One way…wait! But that means…" she received another forceful push into the open car, and practically fell into a rather uncomfortable seat. Sasuke did the same on the opposite side. The doors closed and the train immediately started moving. "I'm not…coming back for awhile…am I?"

"No, you aren't," he said flatly, and looked over at the distressed face the girl was giving him. "Don't look at me. You're the one who put her nose where it didn't belong. Learn the consequences of your actions."