Sakura sat in her apartment's kitchen with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. The doctor recommended that she not have too many sweets, but it was Christmas Eve—it was impossible not to. She watched the falling snow outside the kitchen window, wishing she could just fall into a deep sleep, like the girl in Sleeping Beauty. She wouldn't have to worry about people waking her up and telling her about the horrors of the world like war and death. She wouldn't have to be paranoid about her friends getting hurt on missions.

Speaking of her friends . . .

She was surprised they hadn't found her yet—it has been an hour already. They were probably trying to find out where she lived now, seeing as how she never told them she had moved in the first place. Oh well, they were ninja. They'll figure it out eventually.

There was a knock at the door. Sakura rolled her eyes. Just when her migraine was starting to go away, she just had to have visitors. She got up and went to answer the door, but apparently whoever it was had already let themself in. And Sakura couldn't say that she was surprised that this person was hooded and mysterious. Sakura sighed (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately) and greeted the figure.

"Hello, Tiashi," she greeted in monotone. The woman walked in, removing her hood. Her short blonde hair framed her face which was pink from the cold.

"How'd you know it was me?" she asked, surprised. "I hid my chakra completely! There's no way you could have known!" she exclaimed.

"Riko has visited me, then your boyfriend, and so now another person with a cloak comes up to me. Who else would it be?"

"Ghost of Christmas?" she answered jokingly. Sakura smirked at the older shinobi. "You got any more of that cocoa?"

While Sakura was getting Tiashi a drink, she got down to business. "So why has my brother sent you?"

"Didn't you read the letter he sent?"

"Nope. Burned it. I figure if he's got something to say, he should say it himself instead of having someone do it for him." Tiashi nodded thoughtfully, understanding Sakura's point.

"But he knows that you don't want him getting arrested, so he is keeping himself hidden for your happiness so that he can still make sure you're safe—"

"By running around with a price on his head? Yeah, that makes me so happy," she said sarcastically. "He showed up in the hospital, why not now?"

"First, he had to see for himself that you were okay, instead of someone else sugarcoating it for him. Second, he sent me here because he wants to know how you ended up in the hospital. He only knew before that you were hurt because of a rumor going around about what happened in that area. He would love to ask you himself, but he doesn't want you getting in his face about him being here in the village."

"Well, he will get his answer when he asks it himself."

"Fine, then I'll ask. Sakura, how did you end up in a hospital?"

Both females turned to see Riko leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen with his arms crossed over his chest. Sakura could tell that he was angry with her stubborn attitude. Sakura motioned for her brother to sit down. When he did, she started explaining until another person entered her apartment. It was the man from before in the hospital. Sakura banged her head on the table, not caring if it increased her headache.

"The whole team? Riko, are you completely insane?" she shouted.

"Probably. You were saying?"

Sakura started with the fact that she had to ask her teammates. When Sasuke and Naruto had come back after her brother had left, they gave her the play-by-play on what happened on the mission. She had been captured by the strange woman—whom the still couldn't identify—and she had tried throwing her off of the cliff behind the fight. Sasuke and Naruto had been held off while Sakura fell—and she unfortunately did complete her fall. By the time her teammates had reached her a minute after she had crashed to the ground, Naruto was summoning medical ninja and Sasuke was checking Sakura's pulse. It had turned out that when he first checked, there had been no pulse at all. The medics found none either and couldn't revive her for the first minute that they had tried. Right when they were about to call it quits, Sakura had somehow, in some impossible way, show signs of life, and at that point they were all transferred to the village hospital.

When she finished, the older people in the room were deep in thought. "Riko, why does that woman sound familiar?" Tiashi asked. Riko shook his head.

"Not sure—" He paused. A few seconds later, there was a pounding on the door. Sakura got up quickly and motioned for the three to leave. Riko shook his head. "I want to meet these two teammates of yours, Sakura." Sakura's eyes widened in horror at his suggestion.

"Are you kidding? You'll be discovered!" She then pointed to the remaining masked man. "And you! I thought you wanted to keep Sasuke from knowing everything?" Before he could retort, there was a banging on the front door.

"Sakura! We know you're here! Open up!" Naruto shouted. Suddenly the front door burst open and off its hinges as they walked in. As the two boys walked into the room, Sakura tried to calm herself. "Sakura, why'd you run off suddenly—hey! You're that guy from the hospital—oh, and you're brother's here, too?" Naruto kept running off questions while Sasuke stood there, staring at Tiashi.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked her suspiciously. She tensed up, narrowing her eyes at him in irritation (though Sakura knew it was only an act).

"No, I'm afraid not—"

"Liar. I do know you. You were Itachi's girlfriend before he killed the clan. You are supposed to be dead," he stated. Sasuke then turned to the hooded man beside her. After a moment he glared at him, his chakra levels intensifying. "You," he growled.

"Me," the man said, lowering his hood. The face beneath it was none other than the face of Itachi Uchiha. Naruto jumped back, shocked.

"Wait . . .! You were there in the hospital earlier!" he exclaimed in realization.

Sasuke's head shot over to Sakura, furry in his eyes. Sakura flinched at the look in his expression, already fearing the worst. "Back at the hospital . . . did you already know who he was?" he asked quietly. Sakura closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to relieve herself of the headache that had just come at full force. What was she supposed to tell him? She knew who it was before he had even come into the room, though she wasn't really sure if that was even her fault or not. She watched as Sasuke's eyes became angrier—and felt her headache turn into a migraine. "You knew who he was?" he shouted. "Do you have any idea what he's done? He's the reason—"

"Will you just shut up?" Sakura growled at him. "If anyone here is just going to scream and yell, then leave—better yet: Riko can knock you out," she said, her irritation getting the better of her. Naruto sat down at the table, doing his best to stay quiet. He was confused, and a little angry and afraid that Itachi was here in the same room as him and Sasuke. But then again, he wanted to know what was going on, so he figured it best to just shut up and listen.

Sasuke on the other hand wasn't having any of it. He charged at Itachi head-on, Chidori already up and blazing with power. When he reached his brother, Itachi grabbed him by the wrist and twisted him around, pinning him to the wall and shoving his forearm further up his back, earning a shout of pain from the younger Uchiha. "Haven't we tried this kind of thing already? It didn't end very well in your case, in case you have forgotten," he said, annoyed. Riko sighed.

"Itachi, let him go," he ordered, as if this was something that happened often and it was just part of their lives—like Sakura beating up Naruto. Sakura turned to her brother, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Okay, so you know that I'm all well and okay—so why are you and your friends still here?" she asked, not bothering any longer with beating around the bush. Riko ran a hand through his hair and started to pace around his sister's kitchen. "Riko!"

"I'm not leaving until I get a straight answer, Sakura! You say you're fine, but I know that's a bunch of crap. There's something going on with you and the fact that you aren't telling me everything—"

"Why should I tell you? You wouldn't even stay long enough to help out! Ever since Danzo started his scheming, you've been running around the world doing who-knows-what! Why would you even care now about what happens to me?" she shouted. "And don't even start giving me that 'because you're my sister' stuff again—it's gotten old—"

Sakura suddenly fell to the ground unconscious as Tiashi lowered her hand from where it had hit Sakura in the back on the neck. "Do you have a reason for that?" Riko questioned.

"I think I might know what's wrong with her," she whispered.

So, we now know who the mystery guy is! Can you say you were very surprised? I love Itachi! And Tiashi, if you haven't recognized from two other stories of mine, is my own character! Sooner or later I'll post a link on my profile to show what she looks like. And yes, I will always pair her up with Itachi. Because I can!

So, I'm probably not going on that vacation I was talking about the last chapter. There's too many events coming so...yeah. School starts next month! And I have no study, meaning a full schedual, and Yeabook class will demand that I stay after school a lot to finish deadlines. But I'll keep updating when I can!

PLEASE REVIEW!