Disclaimer: We do not own Naruto.

Author's note. We are baaack! :D

First of all, we are SO SORRY for not uploading during almost a year ): we feel really guilty about it ): We had been super busy at school, leaving us with no time to write ):

For those of you who didn't lose faith in us, we wanted to make it up to you with a 4000 words chapter :D Enjoy it !

CHAPTER 4

Freeloaders and little brats

"Sakura, this is my brother Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura was shocked. She wasn't surprised they were brothers. Sasuke was almost a younger version of Itachi. What did surprised her was that their personalities and modals were just the opposite.

"You brought this to our house?" Sasuke said eyeing her from head to feet with a disgusted look.

"EXCUSE ME!? 'this' ? I may not be part of your family but I AM a person you asshole! Who do you think you are?!" She fumed.

The younger brother totally ignored her as if she were not there. He kept staring at Itachi waiting for an answer.

"Answer me!"

If she was angry before, now she was furious. How DARED he ignore her that way? She was a human for God's sake, not an object or an animal.

"Yes. She is my guest." Itachi said coolly. He kept his answers short. Sakura hoped that he did that to annoy his brother on purpose.

"Since when do you have any guests? Why did you bring her here?" he paused. "You know what? I don't care. Just get her out, now!"

"There's no need to ask your brother to do that. I'm out of here!"

Sakura made her way to the door and left.

Itachi sighed and then looked at Sasuke. "You'll never change, will you?"

He rushed to the door and went after the pink haired girl.

She tried to push back the tears that were forming in her eyes but it was too late when her cheeks were already wet.

"Sakura!" she heard Itachi shout behind her. He grabbed her arm to stop her. "Hey, where are you going?"

Sakura turned around after wiping her tears away. "I don't know, but I don't want to cause you any problems with your brother."

"I'm sorry about that. Forgive him, he's not a very... social person." he pleaded.

"Don't worry about that," she paused. "He's right, I shouldn't have entered your house and been so careless. I'm really sorry about breaking that vase." she said in a low voice.

He chuckled. "Forget about the vase. We have a lot of vases around the house that can replace it."

Sakura smiled. How can someone be so charming and have a brother so arrogant?

"Your brother is a piece of work, you know." she said.

"Yeah, but he wasn't always like this."

Oh.

"Let's go to Tenten's house. I got the paper I needed." He said showing her the paper in his hand.

She nodded. It seemed like he didn't want to talk about his 'little' brother's past, so she didn't ask about it even though she was curious.

She let the topic go and they started walking towards the residential part of the village.

Itachi stood in front of a door. Sakura was behind him. He knocked twice and waited.

The door opened and revealed an energetic teenager girl with tan skin and brown hair. She wore two buns, one in each side and bangs covering her forehead's sides.

"Hey Itachi. I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow morning, what's up?" she said.

"Hi Tenten. I know I told you I would be here tomorrow, but I need a favor."

"Oh yeah? Itachi Uchiha, a favor from me of all people? Your fangirls are gonna be sooo jealous!" she said teasingly and giggled.

"Uhm…I guess," he didn't know what to answer to that. "Would you help me?" he asked.

"It depends... What's it about?"

Itachi stepped aside letting Tenten see Sakura.

"Me." the pink haired girl said waving her hand.

"YOU have a girlfriend and didn't tell me anything?! I feel betrayed!"

Sakura had never felt so uncomfortable in her whole life. She sat on the couch beside her new acquaintance, Itachi, in a stranger's house. And besides that, this girl was already creating a nonexistent romantic relationship between her and the good-looking man who saved her just 14 hours ago.

"We're not a couple, We're..." he paused to choose carefully his words…"Friends."

"Yeah, we are friends." she clarified.

"Right. So, what do you need me for?" Tenten asked.

"Sakura is staying for a few days in town and you know how difficult my uncle and brother can be, so I can't let her stay at my house. I was hoping you would let her stay here."

"Of course!" the brunette replied with a big smile on her face. "I like you," she said turning to Sakura. "You don't seem to be like most girls in this town. All of them throw themselves at the Uchihas. I just don't understand why they like such bastards."

The pink haired girl couldn't help but laugh.

"Itachi, you know I love you, right?" said Tenten.

"Well, I see you're getting along already. Thank you, Ten. I knew I could count on you."

"Thank you so much! I really appreciate it." Sakura added.

"Anytime!"

Itachi left after talking to Tenten about some issues he had to take care of as the future leader of the village. He promised Sakura he was going to come for her tomorrow.

Tenten was an excellent host. She gave Sakura the opportunity to take a bath and lent her some clean clothes. Also, she had asked Sakura if she was hungry but she said she was still full from the lunch she had with Itachi.

"You had lunch with him? Wow." Tenten said in a surprised tone while making Sakura's bed. The guest room was a little dusty because Tenten's family didn't have guests very frequently. They had to clean it up and put new sheets to the bed.

"Yes. Why are you so surprised?" Sakura didn't understand why it wouldn't be normal. People eat together all the time. Or at least in her world.

"Well, because we are talking about Itachi here! He doesn't usually go around with girls and invite them for lunch. Besides, it's really rare to see him in town, he's always out."

"He was just being polite, I guess."

"Nah! I know him too well. He's a gentleman, yes, but that's as far as it goes. He must be interested in you, no doubt about it."

Sakura froze.

Interested in me? No way!

"I-I don't think so." She could feel her cheeks burning.

"YOU'RE BLUSHING! OMG! YOU LIKE HIM!"

"No, I don't!" Sakura said not just trying to convince her new friend, but herself as well.

"Are you telling me that you don't find Itachi handsome? Where are you from? Another planet?"

More or less. She thought.

"I'm not denying the Uchiha are handsome," she remembered Sasuke too. "I just don't think Itachi would have any interest in me, or at least not that kind of interest."

"Are? Who else are you talking about?" Tenten asked and frowned.

Crap.

"I was talking about Itachi's brother, too." Sakura confessed.

"OMG! YOU LIKE SASUKE! I thought you were different!" Tenten said with a disappointed voice. "WHY, dear GOD, WHY?"

"I don't like him either. He's good looking but that's all. Besides, he's a total jerk." Sakura recalled what he had said to her and felt annoyed.

"Why do you say that?" the brunette asked.

Sakura didn't answer, she just looked at her with a areyoureallyasking face. "I'm completely sure you know him better than I do".

"Of course I know how difficult the guy is, but what I mean is, how did you meet him?" she paused and tried to organize her ideas. "I think it is best if you tell me what you've done and where you've been since you got here for me to understand."

Sakura sighed.

"Let me get this straight, you are not from this town or any place near, that's why you are not familiarized with our spirits. Your friend disappeared and you were looking for him when you were attacked by two idiots and even though you weren't born here, you got your rujaki out, Prince Itachi saved you , went to his house and Sasuke yelled at you? Wow, that for sure was intense." Tenten said with an astonished face.

"Runjubi? What is that?" Sakura asked.

"Not Runjubi, it's rujaki. You told me that when one of the idiots was about to attack you, you felt a strange kind of energy inside you and then the boy was like, 8523 feet away, right?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well, I think that was your rujaki on a premature stage. When kids are trained to control their spirit, they go through different stages. Awakening your spirit is the most difficult one and it's the beginning of the premature stage. After that, your rujaki is hard to control at first because it has been imprisoned for a long time inside your body. Once you control it, not dominate it, you get to the other stage."

"Itachi told me there was an academy for children, where they teach them all these things. Isn't it dangerous to have all the kids in the same place when they can't even control their own spirit?"

"No, not at all. The teachers have special abilities to prevent tragedies from happening. Besides, the academy only accepts kids that had already awaken their spirit. Some people never get their rujaki out and they end up being servants or opening their own business at the market." Tenten explained.

"But that's unfair! Everyone should get the chance to learn. Why don't they open an academy for people to awake their spirit?" Sakura was annoyed. She had always been the one fighting for everyone to have the same opportunities and this wouldn't be the exception.

"I've asked myself the same question a million times and even talked to Itachi about it. But his uncle is too old fashioned to change that stupid law."

An awkward silence filled up the room.

"Well I guess that's enough talk for today. We'd better get to rest, Itachi is picking you up early tomorrow and it's late. Once again, if you need something, anything, just let me know ok?"

"Thank you. You are very nice." the pink haired smiled.

"You're very welcome. Good night!" Tenten said before walking through the door.

Now that Sakura was alone, she took a look around her new bedroom. It was small but had everything she could possibly need. All of the furniture was wooden, very classic. There was a mirror appropriately positioned next to the wardrobe and the bed was on the corner of the room. Next to it, there was a nightstand with a lamp on it.

She turned off the lights, laid on the bed and sighed.

I don't know why, but I feel like I know Tenten from somewhere. Sakura thought. I just feel so comfortable around her. For a moment, I felt like I was at a sleepover with my friends. Oh Karin... what are you doing right now? What's everybody doing? Have they noticed Naruto and I are gone?

With all these questions in mind, Sakura closed her eyes and decided to get some sleep before she started to cry.

"Good morning."

Itachi and Tenten cut their conversation as Sakura walked into the living room. They both turned around to look at her.

"Good Morning, Sakura." greeted Itachi. "You look...Normal."

The pink haired stared at the clothes she was wearing. Tenten lent her a tan short sleeved blouse with buttons on the neck, a brown knee-length skirt and a pair of leather boots. Also, she had her hair braided to the side with loose pieces of hair down her cheeks. Under her blouse, she wore the panther totem Naruto had given her.

"See, I told you that with these clothes you were going to look like any other girl from the village. You won't stand out for wearing weird and colorful clothes, but for your natural beauty." said Tenten proudly as she headed to the dining room. "Isn't it true, Itachi?"

"I agree." He said, totally ignoring Tenten's ulterior motives.

"Have you been waiting for a long time?" Sakura asked. "I'm sorry I was lat-"

"No, not at all." Itachi answered.

"Itachi was just telling me what you guys are going to do today while you finished getting ready for breakfast."

"And what's that?" She said with a puzzled face.

"You'll see." He smirked and looked at Sakura straight in the eyes.

Sakura had never seen Itachi's eyes in detail. Of course she was aware they were black, but this time she saw farther than that. His eyes remembered her of black pearls. With that gaze, she felt as if was being absorbed by a black hole.

"Are you gonna have a seat or do I have to drag you to the table? I'm hungry!" The awkward silence and gaze was interrupted by Tenten, who was already at the table.

Itachi and Sakura took their seats immediately.

The pink haired couldn't help but stare at the unusual food.

"Oh my God! This is amazing!"

Itachi and her "guest" were now at the village's garden inside the park near the market. Sakura had never been in a garden as beautiful as this one. How could there be so much life and color in a single landscape?

There were all kinds of plants and flowers. Enormous bushes with amazing shapes, that showed their gardeners had a tough job, were scattered around. They found roses of every imaginable color on their first steps. As they walked through the path that led to the fountain, she enjoyed the sight of stunning tulips, sunflowers that showed they had received perfect care and any other flower she could think of in the best conditions available in this land. In the middle of this perfection, she saw an unbelievable cherry blossom tree that made her feel at home. Admiring this landscape were lots of kids who enjoyed running around the grass as much as washing their hands in the round natural fountain surrounded by the finest stones she had ever seen, which gave the garden its final touch. However, the townspeople had something off. She didn't know what, but something was bothering them.

"How did you know I love flowers?" Sakura said smiling while picking up a lily.

"I didn't. But you seem like the kind of girl that does." Itachi explained.

"Am I that predictable?" she giggled. "Who's the gardener of this place? Whoever it is must be an expert, this is a pretty good job."

"My uncle has a strange attachment to flowers, so he pays the best gardeners to take care of this plaza. How do you know so much about them?"

"My family owns a flower shop," she explained. "My mother taught me everything I know about flowers. She loves nature. Actually, my parents told me they met under a cherry blossom tree, that's why they chose Sakura as my name."

Itachi was having trouble with himself since he couldn't figure out why he was so curious about her. Right now, he felt happy just by sharing some joy with her. Sakura was such a nice, cheerful and innocent girl. It had been years since he had met someone with a personality like hers, especially a woman. He missed having a female around at home, he missed his mother. Of course he had female friends, like Tenten, but with Sakura was different. He felt he needed to protect her, as if she were his little sister.

"Thank you, miss!" shouted a little boy, interrupting his thinking.

Itachi turned around to find Sakura crouching beside the infant giving him a yellow lily. She had a smile from ear to ear. "You are welcome, little guy".

His companion began walking happily towards a group of women by the fountain of the place. She gave a flower to each one of them along with a sincere smile. Then, she did the same thing with all the people in the plaza.

Seconds later the atmosphere there had changed completely.

Itachi was astonished by her actions.

The tension and the fear caused by the possibility of war is… gone. Itachi thought. It was such a simple thing to do, but the effect it had was so immense…

Everyone was smiling now. Sakura managed to, somehow, make people forget about their problems, their worry… She gave them a reason to smile and even though it was a temporary, the sadness reflected by the villagers turned into happiness, joy and even laughter.

When Sakura was done, she ran to where she had left Itachi. He welcomed her with amusement all over his face.

"What?" she said, feeling his black orbs on her." Why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's…nothing." Itachi said and tried to hide his face the second he realized he was blushing.

Is he… blushing? She thought.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat. "can we go now?"

"Yeah, sure."

Ugh… this place doesn't bring me any good memories.

Sakura and Itachi were at the Uchiha residence once again. Apparently, Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, fortunately for him. After the encounter they had the day before, she wasn't exactly in good terms with him and she would be more than pleased to give Sasuke a piece of her mind.

"Would you wait here while I talk to my uncle? It won't last much." said the Uchiha.

"I swear I won't break anything this time." Sakura murmured looking at her feet.

"I hope so…" Itachi replied with a disapproving face.

"I told you I would buy a ne-"

"Relax, I'm just kidding." He chuckled. "If you'd like, you could grab any book from the bookshelf and read a little bit, if you find any of those books interesting that is."

Sakura nodded.

"Feel yourself at home." Itachi said before leaving her alone at the living room.

I'd better not touch anything, unless I want the freaking good looking Uchiha jerk to yell at me again. She thought. But, looking through the bookshelf won't hurt anyone.

She read the book titles on the spine. 'How to be a leader', 'Fighting Principles', 'Philosophy jokes'… what the? , 'Cooking for males', 'Rujaki Basics'! This one sounds interesting.

She picked it up and started reading,

"With this book you will learn essential and basic information about rujaki, but first turn the page to find out some aspects you need to know before getting started with your training.

Rujaki users…

1) Do not have pity.

2) Cannot be harmed with physical attacks.

3) Are not permitted to release their spirits during official meetings.

4) Connect with their-"

*plop*

What was that sound? She looked around her searching for a possible explanation to what she just heard. Maybe I imagined it.

She was about to resume her reading when a louder noise came from the outside of the house. She knew she could call for Itachi, but she didn't want to interrupt his conversation with his uncle. She did not want to be disrespectful or impolite, especially in front of an Uchiha she hadn't been introduced to before.

To check for anything unusual, the pink haired girl decided to take a look at the window. To Sakura's surprise, at the back of the Uchiha residence there was a dark and lonely forest. Deep between the trees, she noticed a blue light like the one, along with Naruto, she had seen before finding the giant stone that in one way or another, was the cause of their 'planet/dimension travel'.

What if Naruto is over there? What if… we can return home? I have to go there, now!

As huge as the house was, it took her a couple of minutes to find the back door that would take her to the forest. She rushed out of the mansion and spotted the blue light. Her legs started running without her brain's permission. Her heart was racing.

What the hell? Why do I keep running but can't reach that stupid light? How many minutes have passed since I entered the forest?

One of her feet got trapped with a tree's root, causing Sakura to fall down.

"UGH! Damn it!" she cursed while standing up.

Once she was on her feet again, she realized the blue light was gone.

No, no, no, no, no. Where is it?

"Naruto!" she shouted desperately. "Are you there?"

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a growl behind her.

A black furred lion appeared before her glaring at her with his bright yellow eyes like the ones she had only seen in horror movies. As if chasing its prey, it slowly began walking towards Sakura.

In his gigantic paws she could see him drawing his claws as he growled, showing his anger and blood thirst, not to speak of the huge fangs that could tear her apart in an instant.

As anyone would do, she started running aimlessly, trying to lose the monster that chased after her by turning as fast as she could in the darkest places around her. Nonetheless, she felt these creepy eyes behind her no matter what she did. Eventually, thanks to the combination of fear and not knowing exactly where she was, Sakura ended up in a dead end…with the beast.

In this moment, she fell down and tried to reach whatever object was around her to throw at her attacker. Unfortunately, there was nothing close she could use. They were all alone, the creature and her, or so she thought.

Suddenly, the lion jumped at her with all its might, but before landing a bright light struck the animal, throwing it into a tree knocking it off and blinding both of them. She closed her eyes and felt that someone or maybe something had just picked her up. She couldn't tell who, but hung onto it trying not to fall.

"Are you alright?" She heard.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly to confirm who her savior was.

Itachi.

"Y-Yes, I am. Oh my God...Thank you so much!" she said desperately. "For a second, I-I thought I was going to die!"

The last thing she knew, she had her arms wrapped around Itachi's neck. Hugging him.

When the pink haired girl realized what she was doing, she let go immediately and blushed.

"I'm so, so sorry! I shouldn't have hugged you!"

"Don't worry about it. You were scared," he whispered and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. "At least now you know you can trust me... Because I trust you."

Huh? He can't be serious!

"You... Trust me?" Sakura was taken aback by this. "H-How can you trust me? We met two days ago! I could just stab you or something while you are not watching."

"I am completely sure I can trust you because I can see no evil in your eyes", Itachi said looking straight into her beautiful green orbs. "Your soul is good... I can feel it. What you did at the plaza today was... Amazing." He paused, trying to find the words to describe what he felt. "Do you know how many years have passed since the last time I saw people smiling from their hearts? A lot. You are special."

If Sakura had been blushing before, now she could be easily compared to a tomato.

There was something about how Itachi talked to her and the way he treated her that made Sakura feel safe. Comfortable. At home.

Itachi ended the awkward silence between them.

"Besides, stabbing me won't do any effect. You wouldn't be able to kill me even if you wanted to."

Rujaki users can't be harmed with physical attacks.

They both chuckled.

"I guess you are right... "

"Let's take you to Tenten's house, she must be worried." Itachi said and started heading back to the forest's trail.

"Wait!" she shouted. "Thank you Itachi, not only for saving my life multiple times now but for what you said. Even though I've been away from home only two days, I've never felt this comfortable around anyone lately."

He smiled. "I'm happy that you are starting to feel good around here. Your stay in this village may not be that bad... Or at least I'll try to make it less awful for you until we find a way of taking you back to your homeland. I'll help you in every way I can, I promise. "

"Thank you, Itachi." Sakura said sincerely. "I have no idea how to pay you back for this..."

"I do have an idea, actually."

"Name it. I'll do anything."

"I'll be more than glad if you accept to be my pupil. I want to teach you how to control your Rujaki and become one with it. That way you'll be able to defend yourself."

"No!" she snapped.

Itachi lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

"I mean, no." Sakura corrected herself. "I wouldn't like to be a nuisance. You have so much work to do-"

"Nonsense," Itachi said firmly. "Under any circumstances you would be a nuisance. If I didn't have any free time to do so, I wouldn't have offered. I'm a man of word."

Why is he so nice? This doesn't make any sense! He should be sick of me by now… listening to my misfortunes, answering my stupid questions, saving me… unless...

"Oh! I get it! You want me to be able to defend myself because you are sick of looking after a little brat like me."

"No, I want to you to control your powers because this is a dangerous place and I can't be around you to protect you all the time, even if I wanted to. But if in order for you to say yes I have to say that the reason why I'm offering you training is because I'm sick of looking after a little brat like you, then I'll say it. I'm sick of looking after a little brat like you."

"I KNEW IT!"

"So, what do you say?" Itachi finally asked.

Sakura took a deep breath and thought for a moment.

"My answer is yes."

Author's note.

So there you have it! No Naruto this chapter ): We promise to let you know how he is doing really soon (:

Imafangirlsowhat: you will find out soon (: that's all we can say for now.

IMPORTANT:We are not giving up on this fic (: We have a lot of ideas for future chapters, so there's plenty of material waiting to be written!

Also, we changed our pen name to sad'and'evil, mainly because ouatbpf25 was kind of unpronounceable, even for us xD So, do not panic!
Right now, we are at school break so we'll try to write these days (: It will motivate us even MORE if you guys leave a review :D

Thank you to those of you who have followed and/or favorite our story! We really appreciate it :D

Please please please review in order for us to get inspired! :D

Until next time!