Hi guys! yeahh so im back after a VERY long time! sorry about that, i've been SO INCREDIBLY busy and i just havent had the time to write or upload anything. however, im on winter break right now so i'll try and upload a few more chapters. but without further ado, here is chapter 3...

Disclaimer: i dont own naruto and i never will :(

Sakura walked through the hallway of her room. She'd just finished eating lunch and was now making her way back to the room. Her mind kept replaying the events of two nights ago with her and Itachi. It was out of pure luck that she managed to evade him for this long, but she knew she couldn't hide from him forever. He would eventually find her and confront her. Sakura sighed. She didn't need this. Especially not now, when that day was coming up.

"Sakura."

Sakura jumped at the voice and turned around, meeting pools of obsidian.

"Sasuke! Don't scare me like that!" She put her hand to her chest. "I thought you were Itachi."

Sasuke frowned. "Speaking of Itachi, have you seen him? He's been acting weird since yesterday morning."

"Y-yesterday morning?" Sakura's eyes widened.

"Yeah. He snuck out in the middle of the night the day before yesterday too. I wonder what happened. Do you have any clue?"

"No of course not!" She played with her fingers and was nervously shuffling her feet. Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her unusual behaviour but didn't say anything about it.

"Well if you see him, tell him I was looking for him."

"Yeah sure, okay. I'll do that." Sakura watched Sasuke leave before running to her room and shutting the door. She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. "Why now of all times? Kami-sama, why do you make me suffer so much?"

"Problems Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes flew open and looked towards the source of the voice. "Itachi." She said, her tone firm and cold. "What are you doing in my room?" He walked towards her, Sakura taking a step backwards for every step he took forwards.

"You didn't answer my question the other day Sakura." He pulled out the scale. "Where did you get this from?"

Sakura winced when her back hit the wall. "I already told you. I found it on the floor." She glared at him when he put his hands on either side of her head, preventing her from escaping.

"Sakura, don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Just co-operate with me." Sakura's lips trembled.

"Why do you wanna know huh? It's none of your business!"

"It is my business!" His eyes were fierce and filled with fury. Sakura's eyes widened in fear. Itachi punched the wall and cursed under his breath.

"Ita-"

"Sasuke." Itachi breathed, backing away from her and walking towards the window. "It's because of Sasuke. Orochimaru used to babysit him when we were younger. One day, he tried to kidnap Sasuke but the guards caught him. The guards brought him to the king but Orochimaru grabbed me and threatened to kill me if they didn't let him escape. My father agreed and let him go, but before he left, he promised to return and take Sasuke. I vowed to kill him but my only lead on him was a scale identical to yours. Because of me, Sasuke is still in danger! Because of me, Sasuke could die! Now tell me, where did you get this scale from?" He turned around to face her and found that she had moved behind him. She looked down.

"I-" she took a deep breath and started again. "I used to have an older brother. He was probably a year or two older than you." She took a shaky breath. "We were really close. When I was about 10 years old, we got a new gardener. It was Orochimaru. We didn't know that of course but I had never liked him. One day, I was playing out in the garden alone. I though he already left so I didn't think much on it. He didn't leave." A fat tear rolled down her face. " He came up behind me and I think he tried to drug me but Sasori-nii came just in time. He pushed Orochimaru away, took my hand and started running. Orochimaru locked the gates though so we couldn't escape." By now, tears were streaming down her face uncontrollably and she furiously tried to wipe them away. "Sasori-nii stood in front of me protectively and told me not to worry. Orochimaru pushed him away and grabbed me. Luckily, a guard saw us. I bit Orochimaru's hand ans Sasori-nii punched him. I escaped, but instead, he was taken in my place. Orochimaru threatened to shoot Sasori-nii if we didn't let him go. That was the last time I ever saw him or Sasori-nii. The only thing that Orochimaru left was that scale. That stupid scale!" Sakura was full-out sobbing now and was hiccupping every three seconds. "It's- hic- all-hic-my-hic-fault! It's all because of me Sasori-nii's gone and mom's depressed!" Sakura dropped to her knees. "It's all my fault!"

Itachi gently lifted her back up and wrapped an arm around her, letting her rest her head against his chest. "It's not your fault." He murmured. "We'll find Orochimaru and we'll finish him together." They would put an end to this, no matter what.

so that was the third chapter. the mystery hasnt started yet, itll probably be in the next chapter but as always, please read and review!