Chapter 3: A Better Understanding

Sakura looked up at the owner of the voice only to find none other than Itachi. He had a small smile on his handsome face, as he stood, still awaiting an answer from her. Sakura blushed as she reliazed this before quickly inviting him to sit. Once he was comfortable, their conversation began.

"Funny coincedence running into you today Sakura. Your not by chance stalking me are you?" At that he put a sexy smirk on his face as Sakura's face heated up at the implications he was making.

"Hardly, Im actually out doing some shopping and what not, and decided to end my day here. So I conclude that it is YOU who is following ME." At that Itachi out right laughed, before shaking his head and changing the subject. "So since you're here, how about you update me on that whole party thing, hm?" Sakura lowered her head towards the table as she was suddenly reminded of the fight that Sasuke and herself had gotten into earlier.

'I actually don't know that much myself…how am I going to explain this one? I don't wanna sound like i'm tattling on Sasuke or nothing…(sigh)…' Sakura looked back up to see that Itachi was still patiently awaiting an answer for his question, so she did the only thing she could do in her situation. Tell the truth.

"Umm…actually Itachi…I really don't know that much myself. You see…Sasuke had invited me, and I immediately knew that I was gonna ask you to come with me (at this she blushed deeply at her amitteness), but then Sasuke and I got into a big fight, and he started acussing me of dating you! He's such an arrogant bastard sometimes, I swear! All I did was ask him if he had a brother which I knew was you, but I had wanted to ask him why he hadn't ever told me about you before, but he blew up, and-" "Sakura, do you mind if I cut in?" Sakura looked shocked and embarrased at the fact that she had just rambled to a guy that could probably care less about a brother he hadnt gotten along with in 8 years. "Y-Yea sure…s-sorry for all the rambling…" Itachi shook his head as if to say not a problem at all before his face took on one of seriousness. "I'm sorry to say, but I don't think you understand just how much Sasuke truly hates me. I'm going to tell you a secrect now that I ask you not to repeat, even to him. The true reason Sasuke hates me, started back around when he was alittle boy about 8 years old…

(Flashback)

A young Sasuke stood next to his older brother Itachi, as foster home care agents told Itachi that they would be seperating Itachi and Sasuke. Sasuke looked up at his older brother in fright and gripped his hand tighter, begging Itachi to reconsider his decision.

"Big brother, please! Don't let them separate us! Lets just move back in with momma and dad and then we wont have to leave each other, please!!" Sasuke looked close to tears as he stared up at his older brother who had his eyes closed as he knew what he had to do, but God strike him if he thinks it's what he wanted to do.

"Sasuke, you don't know father as I do. That's why you don't understand yet that what I'm doing is the best for you now, all though I wish I could avoid it, please just now that I'm doing this because I love you." With that, it seemed as if it was in slow motion that Itachi placed Sasuke's smaller hand, into the one of the lady holding her's out waiting to take Sasuke away. Sasuke fought tooth and nail to get away from the lady that was now taking him away from his beloved older brother.

"Itachi! Don't let them take me! Please! I wanna go back home with momma, please! Itachi!!" But Itachi kept his back turned as he heard his brother cry out to him, all the while making his heart ache horribly at what he had done. If their bastard of a father wouldn't have reported them missing and then claiming he wanted them put in homes to be more grateful and know that that's what happens to childern that run away, then just maybe they could've continued the fairly peaceful life they had started.

As Itachi heard car doors close with a firm shut, the sounds of his desperate brother were drowned out as the car pulled away. Only then did Itachi feel that he had the courage to turn around towards where his little brother had only stood moments ago. 'I promise you Sasuke, they will not keep us seperated forever. We will be together again, so have faith.' With that, he slowly turned to walk back up to the small apartment that they had shared. He missed him already. They had actually been doing better since they moved into the small place. Itachi had saved up enough money to surprisingly, buy a small house, but he knew better than to spend all of his money like that, so instead, he had rented them a small apartment, and on top of the job he had, they held a pretty decent life. 'I will get you back Sasuke, don't worry…'

(End Flashback)

Sakura had listened to the story intently. She felt tears surface her eyes, but forced them down with a harshness, knowing this wasn't the time or place to get to emotinally conflicted. "So you see, ever since then, the visit's I tried making to him only helped for a while, but eventually, all the stress just got to him one day, and it's the very same day that for the first time in our life's, that he told me he hated me. And he ment it."

(Flashback)

Itachi was currently making his way to the current home that Sasuke was living in. He was lucky enough to make a deal with the foster home parents that he would be able to visist his brother on occasion to check up on him. Today was one of those days. Itachi also had a check for Sasuke for $100 dollars just as a small surpise for him. As he arrived at the house, he knocked on the door and waited patienly for someone to answer. He was greeted by an older son of the foster parents, to which he let Itachi walk in as he waited for them to get Sasuke.

A now 12 year old Sasuke came walking in slowly, not as enthusiasctic about seeing his older brother as he had once been when he was younger. They walked out to the front pourch where Itachi embrassed his younger brother in a strong hug, to which Sasuke only half heartedly responded to. They sat on the steps before Itachi started speaking.

"So, how is everything going?" Sasuke looked bored as he answered, "The same as usual." Itachi looked over noticing the change in Sasuke's attitude lately. "It's funny, I cant believe your already twelve. And your starting to grow taller like you always wanted." Sasuke sort of shrugged his shoulders at the statement, and his brothers attempts to make small talk, neither of which worked to well. Itachi sighed seeing that his brother was'nt going to be too responsive today, so he jumped right to the surprise.

"I have something for you Sasuke." He then pulled out the check and handed it to Sasuke. Sasuke stared at it before placing the check back into Itachi's hands.

"I don't need it Itachi."

Sasuke looked as if he was about to leave and Itachi felt his insides boil at his brother's unresponsiveness.

"Sasuke, I don't know what the hell your problem is today, but you need to shape up. I'm trying to help you, but that's really hard when you act as if you don't care." "That's because I don't! I don't care anymore Itachi! Whats the point of caring if you cant rely on your family in a time of need?" "Sasuke, don't you dare speak of that! YOU know why I did what I did, but now I'm trying to change things! I promised I'd get you back, and I will!"

Sasuke looked infuriated at that statement and his eyes darkened dangerously. "You still seem to think that I care Itachi, but I don't! Ok, so you taking me from my family when I was younger, AND THEN giving me up was doing whats best for me, then FINE! I just want you to get it through your head that I DON'T CAR-!!! "(Punch)

Itachi looked at Sasuke with deadly eyes as his voice dropped down from the yelling it was at, to a quietly angry one.

"Don't you ever for a second say that what I did was out of selfishness. What I did was save both your and my future. Don't you get it? Our father would have gotten us killed when we were younger because of his debts, and I luckly found out about it before it was too late and got us out of there. I SAVED YOU!"

Sasuke still seemed shocked that Itachi had actually hit him. Then his eyes narrowed dangerously, before he too spoke in that quite tone. "Am I supposed to be thankful? Thankful that you broke up our family? Well I'm not. My life has been HELL living in home to home constantly. And to think this could've all been avoided……well guess what brother, just let the record show that I HATE YOU!"

With that, Sasuke stood quickly, and stormed back into the house, slamming the door as he disappeared through it. Itachi stood shocked, staring at the door as if it were some kind of monster come true. ' Very well then Sasuke , it seems that you have chosen the path you would like to walk, I wont stand in your way. I just hope someday you will be able to understand the sacrifices that I've made for us, and forgive me.' With that, Itachi slowly walked back to his car, not knowing that this one fateful meeting with his brother, would lead to the eventual anger and hatred between the two once close brothers.

(End Flashback)

Sakura stared at Itachi, shocked at all that she had found out. 'Wow……that REALLY explains why Sasuke blew up at me…when Itachi said they didn't like each other, he MENT it!' Itachi had a distant, but blank look on his face as he glanced down at his wrist watch. He quickly glanced back up saying,"Sakura, it was nice seeing you again, but I really must run. Remember to call me when you have more information on the party, and don't forget, that's our secrect." With that, Itachi stood from the table and left out of the book store. Sakura slowly made her way out of the book store, deciding that she had had enough adventure for the day. As she made her way back towards the dorms, she thought over what Itachi had told her. She still couldn't believe how she hadn't known all of this stuff before. I mean, Sasuke was her bestfriend. She could still remember how she came upon him her first day at Konoha University perfectly…

(Flashback)

A pink haired woman was silently making her way through the huge university. She had just gotten her room number, and was setting off to find it. 'Hmm…3rd floor, room 314, roomate name Sasu-', but before Sakura could even finish her thought, she bumped into a hard wall, and looked up only to see a man about 5'11 staring down at her.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I really wasn't paying attention to what I was doing." The man she addressed stared at her a minuet longer before a sly smirk spread across his handsom face. "No problem at all. By the way, my name is Skyler, and what would your name be?" Sakura looked up at him seeming to get a creepy vibe from him before answering 'Sakura Haruno,' and then looking as if she would leave.

"Hey, so where ya headed?" Skyler quickly popped out seeing as Sakura was tring to leave. Sakura turned around and stared at him before telling him she was looking for her room. Skyler put a look of shock on his face. "You're new here? I didn't know that…would you like some help?" He then put on a smile that she could instantly tell was fake, but she really wanted to just get to her room and relax, so she nodded her head, and handed him her paper.

"3rd floor, room 314 eh? No problem at all." Skyler walked away, leading her in a different direction then what she had been walking. Sakura walked behind him at a fairly good distance, still receiving the creepy feeling from him, and now wondering if it had been such a good idea to accept his help. Skyler led her to a staircase, telling her that the elevator was broken. "Sorry, they still havent fixed that damn elevator, or I would get ya up there that way. Good thing you don't have a lot of bags, huh?" Skyler turned around grinning at her, and the creepy feeling she got from him got even worse, but she forced a fake smile telling herself that she was almost to the room, and she could then dicth the creep.

They had only walked up about one flight of stairs before Skyler suddenly stopped and turned towards Sakura. They were standing on the platform turn off leading to the next set of stairs, and Sakura suddenly became worried.

"Skyler? What's wrong-"But before she could finish, she was being slammed into the side of the stair well. Sakura let out a surprised scream, before staring fear stricken eyes towards Skyler. "W-What the hell are you-" "Shut up! Don't you say shit! And if you scream, you better believe that I'm gonna kill your pretty ass!"

Sakura dropped her purse to the floor, which at the time had been the only thing she was carrying and cowered under Skyler's intense gaze as she struggled to get away. It was filled with a raging lust that she wished she wasn't on the reciveing end of.

'Damnit!! I knew I shouldn't of trusted him! Why the hell don't I ever listen to my fucking self?!' But Sakura knew that this was no time to be screaming at herself, when she should be trying to find a way out of this situation alive. She must have been zoning out, because a second later, her face was smacked to the side, and a powerful stinging feeling soon took over.

"Bitch, are you even listening to me?!" Sakura turned back towards him with hate filled eyes before screaming "FUCK YOU!" and renewing her struggles.

Skyler looked deadly pissed now as he smacked her once again,and throwing her on the floor. Sakura wanted to cry out, but she also wanted to live, so she instead fought for her freedom, tooth and nail. Skyler had just got her pinned down, and lowered his head to her ear. "What the hell did I tell you about screaming, bitch? Your so damn lucky that I havent had a good fuck in a while, or your ass would be DEAD. I hope you like it rough sweetheart!" With that feared and dreaded sentence, Skyler gripped at Sakura's shirt, before tearing it off.

Sakura let out a surprised yelp, earning herself yet another painful smack to the face. Tears started pouring out of Sakura's eyes as her struggles got weaker. 'I'm so fucking weak! And now this bastard is gonna take something not meant for his disgusting ass!'

Skyler was now making his way up Sakura's now bare chest, squeezing her left breast painfully, and making her cry out. His other hand pinned her hands above her head, and just as he lowered his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth, the sound of flesh hitting flesh hard was heard, before Skyler went limp on top of her body, knocking the wind out of her as he crashed on top of her.

Sakura let out a scream of relief as she pushed Skyler's body off of hers, and snatched up her ripped shirt and proceed to hold it close. She then looked up at the figure that had saved her and gasped. "Sa…Sasuk-ke?...."

(Up on third floor – Sasuke's POV)

Sasuke had just left his dorm room to meet up with a couple of friends at their house for a drink, when he caught the sound of screaming. He froze in his tracks as he tried to locate where the sound was coming from. He waited and didn't hear anything else, so he continued his walk towards the elevators, when he knew for sure he heard someone scream out 'FUCK YOU', and looked towards the stairwell door.

'No, can't be. Everyone knows not to go through that staircase…unless their new…' Sasuke sighed and made his way to the door. He quietly opened it and looked over the rail down the staircase at the source of the commotion. There towards the bottom, was Skyler, the college jackass as he would say, along with a distressed pink haired woman.

'Wait……pink hair? No fucking way…' With that thought he flew down the stairs to see Skyler feeling up on the beautiful pink haired woman, and lowering his head towards her chest. Before he reached his destination, Sasuke landed a powerful blow to his head, knocking Skyler out. He then watched as the woman grabbed her shirt and slipped it back on and held the front together with her hands, seeing as that was where Skyler ripped it. After collecting herself, she slowly looked up at him, and her eyes widened at the knowledge of who he was, as did his at the realization of her.

"Sa…Sasuk-ke..."

(Normal POV)

Sakura stared up at him disbelievingly as he did her, before she stood and launched herself at him. Sasuke caught her and Sakura cried her eye's out in a happy and thankful way. "Oh thank god Sasuke! It seems that after all these years, your still protecting me from danger!" As she cried on his chest, he wrapped his arms tighter around her and smiled sadly at what she had said. 'So it would seem Sakura.'

(End Flashback)

Sakura shook the horrifying yet happy experience from her mind, the only good thing about the memory being that she was reunited with her best friend. She had then found out that he was her roommate, and after she settled in, she reported what Skyler had done, and had him removed from the University. 'Hmm! Bastard got what he deserved!'

OK PEOPLE, HERE IS THE NEW UPDATE. IF MY LIFE WASN'T GOING SO CRAZY, I COULD'VE HAD THE UPDATE SOONER (LOL). YEP-ER, SO I HOPE EVERY ONE ENJOYS IT! NEXT CHAPTER: THE PARTY.