Notes: I said there would be no more speedy updates, but I don't think I've written this fast in a long time. I confess; when I began this story (which was a while back, because then I put it down for an interval of a year or so) I had a very basic plot in mind. Then a few things occurred to me out of the blue, and it suddenly got more complex. Good news, I already know the conclusion, but the trouble is arriving there.

This is the chapter where things get more complicated than I originally planned.

(By the way, if you squint, something Neji says about his father in this chapter can squit along as being canon-friendly.)

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to me like Chouji hates chips.

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Itachi had worked with a Hyuuga on one occasion. The shinobi in question had died on that less-than-brilliantly organized mission; while it had been a needless casualty, Itachi had learned more than what he already knew of his superiors' incompetence – that there was something on the Hyuuga, a seal, that destroyed his eyes so that enemies would not steal his family's Bloodline Limit.

If they could seal ability, it followed logically that the Hyuuga could also seal a person to their will by putting the fuinjutsu-equivalent of a leash on their own family members. For half an hour after he returned from that mission, this bothered Itachi, because people who troubled him once generally did not receive the opportunity to trouble him again – with the exception of the clan. The other Uchiha were a constant, abrasive presence over his shoulder, and knew he viewed them that way. The question was, why hadn't they placed a similar seal on Itachi, if he unsettled them so much?

The answer seemed obvious at the end of his thoughts. By birth, he was the son of the clan leader, the heir to the position. The Uchiha could not brand the future Head of their clan. It was unthinkable. They feared potential strength more than they pretended to encourage it, but tradition stopped them from even taking measures that they considered necessary. This was why the clan had become weak. As long as they could look across the street and see the family crest on the Konoha Military Police Headquarters – as long as they took pride in deeds they had not done but long-deceased ancestors had accomplished – they were weak. As long as they approached power with the intent to harness it instead of nurture it, they were weak. The clan's capacity for improvement was nonexistent, its institutions stagnant.

Itachi knew the man named Uchiha Fugaku well. He knew now that since no member of his clan had come to his cell to berate him for whatever he had done, the clan had either reformed dramatically or perished.

In this way, Itachi concluded that he was the only living Uchiha in the village. A recent memory came to the fore when he saw the kunoichi called Sakura accompanying his usual interrogators.

There had been a massacre.

He tilted his head up to look at them but made no other motion. As usual, the onlookers mistook his passivity for serenity.

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"Incredible, Sakura-chan," said Anko with a mocking air. "The Uchiha's not usually this perky." In discussion, they often called him Itachi, but now that they were within earshot of the prisoner, they termed him "the Uchiha."

Call someone by his family name and he becomes less of an individual, Sakura thought, even if he is one of only two surviving members.

The lighting in the room was bright enough to banish deep shadows in the corners, but dim enough that turning it off would not make everyone temporarily blind. Itachi's eyes were fathomless, as dark as his hair. Since he could not access his chakra, the Sharingan remained dormant.

Sakura made a discreet signal. Anko pulled the door shut again and gave her an impatient look; the others followed suit.

"You all know that I am an emotionally open person." When dry silence greeted the statement, Sakura barreled ahead. "Even I wouldn't feel like spilling my thoughts to a virtual stranger while all of you look on or listen in – and I know you. Now, you want Itachi to overcome both his memory block and his reticence, or at least have him become talkative enough to divulge what we want to know at the end of the day. I need to establish some rapport. I can't do that when both of us are uncomfortably aware of your scrutiny."

"What do you propose that we do?"

Ibiki had listened with surprising patience. Sakura appealed to him. "We could set up a barrier around Itachi and me. You will be able to see in, but not hear. I will definitely report in detail after each session."

"Do you honestly believe the subject will become more willing to cooperate because of this false privacy?"

"I cannot begin to understand how his mind works," said Sakura, "but I know I would. And I know the kekkai that is used for interrogation of multiple subjects in the same holding cell is simple to set up."

Anko leaned against the wall, one foot braced on the stone. "It's true that it's fairly standard. But I'm not sold on the idea, Sakura-chan."

"What has been tried before hasn't worked," said Ibiki. "We might as well."

He summoned two ANBU from the previously empty corridor. "Prepare a room with the barrier for multiples." He returned his gaze to the group. "We'll be escorting the Uchiha there."

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"Uchiha-san, please follow along."

He raised his head at the sound of her voice. Sakura made no move to approach him. Other ANBU stood waiting, ready to suppress him at any sign of trouble.

She released a breath she hadn't been aware of trapping when Itachi rose to his feet and walked out of the cell, flanked on all sides by two full squads of jounin. After a moment, Sakura, too, left the room.

Painted seals were strewn across the floor in an arrangement reminiscent of spiral arms. The seals at the ends veering inwards did not converge, but stopped at the boundary of a circular region about one and a half meters in diameter.

"Step in," instructed one of the ANBU. Sakura followed in after Itachi, and the ANBU at the other end of each "arm" of seals drew blood from their hands, touching the endmost seals. The characters pulsed once, giving off a faint blue glow. Sakura kept her eyes on Itachi but saw the painted signs spin at the edges of her vision. A pale barrier of chakra rose up around the circular area and curved overhead to form a strange, phosphorescent dome, blocking the rest of the room from view.

"Please be seated," Sakura said.

"After you, Sakura-san."

They sat very properly, with their legs under them. At once, Sakura was aware of the hardness of the floor. She resisted the urge to unfold her legs and sit with them crossed.

"How are you, Uchiha-san? Are you allotted enough food or time to rest?"

Itachi nodded – stiffly, she thought. In this light, the superficial similarities between him and his brother were heightened. He had the same nose, pale complexion, even longer lashes, if possible, but lacked the odd, barely-perceptible awkwardness that Sasuke had. As the first son, he did not have the elusive, blind urge to prove himself that younger male siblings tended to acquire.

"Feel free to ask me any questions on your mind." She had completed her visual assessment and felt the need to break the silence.

"Sakura-san, if it is permissible to ask, how did you become a member of the ANBU?"

As innocuous as Itachi's tone was, it aggravated Sakura until she realized that such was his purpose in choosing those words. She gave him a calm reply. "I passed the trials after months of training." An irrational suspicion that Itachi could see better in this light than she could assaulted Sakura's brittle equanimity. "Let's talk about you, Uchiha-san. I'm sorry if people have been treating you discourteously, but wouldn't it benefit you, too, if you regain your memory? Almost half of your life is in the parts you can't remember. I want to help you regain it."

"Your concern has proven less than beneficial in the past. Forgive me if I offend you."

"It's understandable. I tricked you because you are a strong ninja of unknown abilities. The decision minimized the chance of incurring casualties."

"I am aware of your motivation, Sakura-san. I merely wanted to alert you of my own, natural distrust." The Uchiha's gentle voice sounded a little flatter, revealed a – perhaps – calculated amount of anger.

"Do you remember the circumstances under which you left Konoha? It became almost common knowledge, after your departure, that you had a falling-out with your father, Uchiha Fugaku. Do you believe you can remember how you felt, what you might have been thinking?"

"Speculation aside, I am sure that you are fully knowledgeable of the events that both precipitated and followed my departure, as you phrase it. Why won't you divulge them? Perhaps on hearing them, the memory will occur to me."

"I could," countered Sakura. "However, no one knows more about what happened in those days than Uchiha Itachi, and only he has the power to explain the cause to your satisfaction. If I force it on you, the news might distance you even further from your memories and prevent a complete recollection."

He was silent. Then, with disconcerting politeness, Itachi said, "Pleas accept my apology. I possess regrettably little patience."

And to think, this was him at thirteen.

"Then it is a virtue you should cultivate." Having said that, Sakura wished she could bite her tongue and curb her quick temper. It was time for a truce. "Uchiha-san, if you have any other requests or questions, please state them. I will answer what is permissible to the best of my ability."

He appeared to study her; an appraising quality fell over his fine features. "How much are you willing to tell me of yourself, Sakura-san?"

That, she had not expected.

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"He tried to obtain more clues through the ploy of asking me personal questions. I did not want to lie to him, so I told him the barest facts, such as when I passed the chuunin exams, jounin exams, and medical exams."

Anko had been observing Sakura with an expression of piqued concern. Her eyes rested on Sakura like a tangible force. "You look kind of worn, eh? Did the Uchiha really get to you?"

"You know I hate duplicity…I'm bad at it." Sakura rubbed the tear ducts of her eyes, which were irritated and dry. "I think he's already aware, at some level, that his clan is no more. I nearly used the wrong tense early on in the conversation."

"Sakura…you are under a lot of pressure. If you need any information, just ask." Anko flashed her a wry, oddly wolfish smile. "I can afford to meet your demands, unlike you and that wretched Uchiha."

The other kunoichi toyed with a small ring on her right hand, then raised her head. "I would like to know everything about the Uchiha massacre and the days immediately before and after it – everything that is on file."

"Good. I'll send a missive to the police headquarters. In the meantime, the records in the ANBU are pretty well-kept."

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Walking outside was a disorienting experience. It had felt like night in the underground prison cells. To see that it was only around one in the afternoon disturbed Sakura. She hadn't even noticed the oppressive atmosphere until she was free of it. The bright blue sky and the sounds of people down the street had never seemed more surreal.

Neji had not come out of the compound with her, so she walked a short distance from the entrance and loitered under the pretext of waiting for him. A tall, vaguely familiar jounin raised his hand in greeting in the distance. Sakura returned the wave, finding it unbelievable that her hand did not tremble – not that anyone would guess from the neutral expression on her face. In life, it didn't matter how you really felt; it was what you did. And she was not about to let on that a forty-five minute chat with a criminal came anywhere near disturbing her composure.

Unfortunately, the familiar jounin with his dark green vest and dog-eared book was Kakashi. He took one look at her from his lazy-lidded eye, and lowered the book.

"Sakura-chan, hello."

"Kakashi-san. Great weather today, isn't it?"

Kakashi's eye winked as he (presumably) smiled. "I wouldn't know." He waved his little book. "This is a gripping tale of astounding brilliance and epic proportions. Reading it has already caused me to lose my way on the road of life more than once."

"I'm well aware of that."

"Well, Sakura-chan," said her former sensei, "I only thought you could use a smile. It looks better on you than what you were doing with your face before, eh?"

The spontaneous smirk that had overpowered her face faltered. "Did I look that bad, honestly?"

"No." Before that could cheer her, Kakashi added, "Actually, for an ANBU that was positively sunny."

Thanks to him, she could feel her mouth turn down at the corners. "Kakashi-san…"

The teasing glint left Kakashi's eye. "Sakura-chan…take care of yourself."

She blinked. "Yes, sir."

It sometimes amazed her how much her old teacher could convey with over two-thirds of his face hidden from view. "You were always smarter than those two idiots." Kakashi gave her another smile from behind the mask before going on his way; she didn't know how he did it, but somehow his usual, jaunty smile had seemed a little sad, too.

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"Good afternoon, sir."

The old man's eyes crinkled, which Sakura knew from experience was his equivalent of a smile, a bear-hug, and tearful arm-patting all in one. His face was brown and wrinkly at the corners of his mouth and eyes and the bridge of his nose. His eyes held a keen intelligence that often made Sakura think of a hawk. On her initiation into ANBU, he had been the one to put her name in the records. As for his name, she'd never found out.

"Hm. Sakura-san, here are the relevant files. I'm afraid you can't take these out of the building, but you can go into the adjacent room to look them over."

She accepted the sheaf of papers and bowed. "Thank you, sir."

The adjacent room, like many of those along this particular corridor, contained a rather sparse collection of furniture: two chairs, one at the large desk, the other perhaps meant for an assistant or secretary, which could be moved to the other side of the desk. Tall steel cabinets covered a wall and a half, nearly hitting the ceiling. A beaded cord dangled from the old fan directly overhead.

Sakura started towards the light switch, then changed direction to open the window. A tiny breeze filtered into the room, making her feel better at once. She spread open the topmost file and sat at the desk to read.

The first lines of the report resonated with her, the way that familiar things could. They were part of the official statement that the Hokage had released on the day after the tragedy. The words were sympathetic, respectful, and concise in their summary of the massacre. Uchiha Itachi, heir to the clan, committed a heinous mass-murder…there was a touch of anger, but all of it – despite the

(she reasoned)

earnest regret – sounded like something one would say to a grieving stranger by rote. The tone of the speech claimed familiarity, but the Sandaime had danced around making the rawest emotional statements. Of course. All this had technically been meant for the ears of a single eight- or nine-year-old, who hadn't even been conscious to hear at the time. No longer eight or nine herself, Sakura could detect much more beneath the surface of the written word.

She shuffled through the report, skimming through passages with a cursory eye until a phrase caught her attention. We were unable to prevent.

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." She looked up. "Oh, it's you, Neji-san."

The Hyuuga drew closer on soundless feet. Service in the ANBU really left its mark; ex-ANBU, for instance, retained the economical fluidity of movement that they gained through the experience. People with a natural presence who joined the ANBU became more subtle when they entered a room. Neji was one such person. "Sakura…" He sighed.

Going through all the possible, immediately-evident causes for his reaction, she arrived at the answer. "The ring. Yes, well…I will see to it. Later, Neji-san – is that alright? I'm in the middle of something that I can't take home to finish."

He read the heading upside-down, leaning his palms on the edge of the table. " 'On the tragedy that has befallen our village. The Uchiha.' You plan to attempt a personality analysis based on Itachi's past actions."

"There's something I don't get, Neji-san. Here." She showed him the sentence, the brief, unspectacular phrase that had set off an explosion of questions in her head. " 'We were unable to prevent.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Neji raised his head. "Sakura…are you feeling well?"

"Yes," she snapped quickly. "Sir."

He made a gesture with his hand telling her to dispense with that form of address. "It's just that I didn't have the chance to ask you after today's session."

"Ah. I'm fine, Neji-san. But back to what I was saying…What did the Sandaime suppose to mean? Unable? I'm sure he could have done something."

"Maybe it was just an unfortunate word choice. This is no longer part of the speech…it was written by an ANBU." But Neji's brows were furrowed. Sakura was glad for this indicator of her sanity; so she was not the only one with a bone to pick. "He – or she –"

Sakura checked the other pages. "He."

"He should have used a more accurate way to put it. Failed to prevent…"

"And we both know how lovely that word looks in writing." They exchanged a wry grimace.

"Point. Even so, 'unable' seems to imply helplessness – that they were powerless to do anything."

"Which would be ridiculous. You and I are ANBU. We could have – well, you and several others, at least, could have delayed Itachi. Add to that the fact that there's no way the commotion would have gone unnoticed for as long as it took Itachi to kill everyone barring Sasuke."

"He should not be underestimated, even at thirteen. With his speed, efficiency, and silence, the element of surprise could well have been all he needed."

Noticing that she'd been curling the corners of the report, Sakura stilled the idle finger. "From what I've gathered, though, Itachi's relationship with his father and the clan was not doing well before that night."

Neji came around the desk to sift through the papers. "I didn't know. That does put it in a different light." Sakura found herself watching his bandaged fingers tap on the wooden tabletop. His nails, like those of all ninja who cared about competency and hygiene, were trimmed to the pinkish area. "Then the Uchiha shinobi might have suspected hostility. At least one of them should have been able to alert the Hokage, or even the ones who were not at the compound."

"No," said Sakura as a sudden thought occurred. "They were all in the Uchiha compound when Itachi took action – all except Sasuke, the youngest. Perhaps training late into the night to improve…I can see that. But anything otherwise would have taken Itachi too long."

"Except that the Uchiha were active in the village. With their prominent role as the military police and Konoha shinobi, what are the chances that all the Uchiha were home that night? There might not have been many commissions from outside the country because of the war, but even then…"

When Neji fell silent, Sakura picked up from where he had left off in her head. The adult Uchiha were unlikely to have all been home at that time, which is an early hour of the night by professional standards. Itachi is capable of killing very swiftly, with as few flashy techniques as possible. That's still a lot of opportunity for screaming people to, well, scream. "I still think that if he had to go around the village to pick off individuals, it would have taken too much time; long enough for suspicion, for people to notice and act to delay his departure. Even with all of them already at home, it would have been hard to stop ANBU from noticing that multiple people were dying. Like you said, Neji-san – it was wartime, or near the end of it. ANBU would have been on high alert."

"Assuming that the Uchiha Clan's leaders agreed for all clan members to be at the compound at that hour and for all untrained women and children to remain indoors, I can think of only one clear reason for it. To me, it sounds like an In-Clan Arrest."

Sakura glanced up, but Neji was not looking at her. "…In-Clan Arrest?"

Now he met her inquiring stare. "Exactly what it sounds. Hyuuga had a few, although not within my lifetime. It's when the clan representatives ask the Hokage not to interfere because they want to keep all details of the matter strictly within the clan. If you said that Itachi's relations with his own clan were poor, it's possible that the other clan members might have wanted to restrain him for confidential questioning."

"That sounds as though he did something very serious even before the massacre." Sakura gave up fiddling with the papers, dropping her hands into her lap. "Even though his relations were strained, I don't think anyone came close to anticipating something so excessive or brutal as the massacre."

"Treason would have been an issue that a powerful, large clan preferred to deal with discreetly. Another is murder."

"Murder?"

Neji raised his eyebrows. Sakura coughed and resumed with less passion. "Okay…that might have been a possibility. There has to be more on that somewhere. Anyway, are you sure that the Sandaime would have condone such a thing? In-Clan Arrests sound a bit…"

"Barbaric?" Neji's sardonic smile said it all.

"…Yeah, Neji-san." She let the silence spin on, sensing that the discussion had veered near dangerous waters. The Hyuuga straightened and went to the window. She stared at his back. The wait felt long and deeply uncomfortable.

"I used to believe that was what had happened to my father," he said quietly. "I knew he would never murder or betray anyone… so the mere thought of his being treated that way made me so angry at all of them."

"I'm sorry, Neji-san." Sakura closed her eyes, hating herself for uttering the impersonal condolence. On opening them, she found him watching her with a small smile.

"It's alright. I was wrong." He leaned his back against the wall by the window. "I've just realized something. Look through those files and see if anything from the Uchiha Clan's family records is there."

Sakura rummaged through the stack. Twice. "No, nothing."

"They must have hidden them somewhere that no one outside of the clan knows." And they must have realized that Sasuke was too young to have already been told.

Sakura sat back and attempted a lighter tone. "So tell me, Neji-san – would it be a waste of time if I tried to look for them?"

He gave her a once-over, deliberately letting his eyes linger on the documents piled high on the desk.

"Yes…if you tried," he added. Sakura felt an answering grin spread on her face. "For me…no."

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Sakura only had to look at the two pairs of stonily skeptical eyes to know that she didn't have a case. Of course, that kind of detail had rarely – if ever – stopped her before.

"I would like to speak with Uchiha Itachi again."

Anko, when she raised a single brow like that, looked a heck of a lot less approachable than Neji with his expression of vexation. "Tell me you don't have a f – ing crush on this one, too."

The blunt insensitivity of the comment hit Sakura like a punch to the gut. Regret, like quicksilver, flickered through the other woman's eyes, but Anko had never been one to take words back. She was known for brutality like this.

"No," said Sakura in a relatively even tone, all things considered. "I don't have a f – ing crush on him. I've gone through the old ANBU records and I have some questions for him."

"Itachi-chan has a nightly interview with me'n Ibiki. You could come, but I don't think you'd like it – eh, Tadaro-san? You think Sakura-chan would enjoy it?"

Sakura wagered that the man beside Anko was grateful for his mask at that moment. "You've made yourself clear, Anko-san. I'll come back tomorrow."

As she put her hand on the door to push it open, Anko called to her, almost like a peace offering, "You can ask me some of those questions, Sakura. I might know the answers."

"Thanks, Anko-san," Sakura replied without turning. "It's okay. Maybe later!"

Even as she said it, she realized something unexpected. Sakura was never going to ask the ANBU about what she had discovered that afternoon.

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Many children who grow up in specific environments adopt a characteristic of their home as a source of comfort. For Sakura, the sound of rustling leaves served to quiet her nerves. If she looked out the window, she knew she would see the clouds drifting, cirrus and cumulus; some fluffy and airy, some like cotton stretched too thin. Dappled sunlight slanted into the room. It was late evening.

She heard a click as the bathroom door unlocked. Neji went into his room. Sakura left hers and paused at the doorway of the bathroom. The soap that her roommate used was like those almond-scented washes that smelled faintly nice in the bottle, and were virtually unidentifiable once they were used. The subtle fragrance dissipated quickly – unlike her, Neji did not fog up the bathroom with hot showers – and Sakura wondered if acknowledged geniuses ever sought comfort in the small, everyday things as well. Neji reemerged.

"Sakura, were you waiting for me?"

His damp hair looked tidy and heavy. She smiled at him. "Yes…dinner? I was thinking of eating out. Tomorrow, if you have time, can we spar? I'd ask Lee-san, but –" He nodded, making further elaboration unnecessary. "Great."

"Let's go."

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"I was thinking about what you said, concerning 'commotion.'" They were waiting for their orders. Neji had given her the choice, and without thinking she'd gone straight to the ramen stand. Her comfort food. It reminded her of Naruto, who was once again on a mission. Sitting there in the familiar fumes of Ichiraku's cooking almost fooled her senses into believing in his presence.

"Yes, Neji-san?"

"While it used to be an unofficial right of the old families to claim In-Clan Arrest and non-interference, it would have been beyond idiocy for the Uchiha not to shout for help, even if they couldn't make it out of the compound." He paused, apparently for Sakura to draw some inevitable conclusion. When she said nothing, he reluctantly spelled it out. "They must have asked for assistance from the Hokage to prevent interference. Set up a zone and sent ANBU to guard the perimeter so that no non-Uchiha crossed into it."

Ah. But Itachi was ANBU, and frighteningly intelligent. He would have caught wind of this. He might even have taken advantage of his position by using it to slip past the guard.

Sakura suddenly lost her appetite for food. "But that's sick. That would mean the ANBU ensured that the massacre was unpreventable."

If she had thought Neji's demeanor grim, she'd never seen him like this. "I had a look at the ANBU records myself, after you left. This may not be very significant given the situation at the time…but many ANBU assigned to unspecified posts near the Uchiha compound that night showed a strong suicidal streak in subsequent missions."

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TBC