(A/N) I didn't get this up as soon as I wanted to so I apologize. I've been busy what with parties, swimming, and visiting family members. I can't guarantee that I'll update sooner because the next chapters are really important and I have to get them just right. There's a lot of planning involved with this story, so I hope you can understand if I don't update as soon as I would like to. I'm just concerned with making the best possible story.

I'd like to take a moment to thank all of my lovely reviewers. I'd like to write all of you in this author's note but I'm afraid I might forget one of you. But you all know your reviews are appreciated!

Notes:

Italics: Thoughts, dreams, flashbacks, emphasis.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto so don't break out the law suits.

Mikadzuki

Not That Different

"I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you."-Colin Raye

-0-

It was comfortable there in the still darkness, the sallow light of a torch chasing away the shadows. Sakura felt so at ease walking into the cell that held what Konoha fears and despises. A mix of relief and security consumed her.

'Security,' she scoffed in her head. 'I've gone insane. This is the place where I should feel the least secure.'

And yet she couldn't fight the overwhelming sense of balance here. In the past few months, this cell has been her constant. Out of everything that changed around her -becoming an interrogator to Sasuke's sudden return and execution- the one thing that had remained was Itachi. However, this constant was unreliable. He could escape any time he wanted to. Of course, it might be a bit difficult what with the ANBU guarding him. Still, all he has to do is remove the shackles.

'Just please, don't let it be soon…' she thought. Because in spite of herself and everything she stood for, she needed Itachi. He was her stability. So when she saw his outline in the darkness, she felt relieved, even though it was a sin.

At her entrance, he raised his head, black tresses falling around his haunting features, covering his eyes. His face, eternally passive, no longer frightened her (if it weren't for the eyes, that is).

"I brought a chair," she said, lifting up the stool. It wasn't the most comfortable seat, but it was better than sitting on the ground.

"You look haggard," Itachi stated, as if he hadn't heard her earlier comment.

Usually she would snap at him for stating the obvious. However, she was too tired and much too relieved to even become the slightest bit frustrated.

"You would too if you had insomnia," she said, setting the chair down and sitting on it.

"You've managed to acquire insomnia in your short absence?"

Why must he ask her about her 'absence'? She'd rather have him back to his old quiet and obstinate self. Any mention of her mission might send her over the edge. One word can breach her defenses and cause her resolve to come tumbling down. He noticed that she clenched her eyes closed as if it could will the darkness of her mind away.

"You're very inquisitive," she stated, remembering what he said before she had left for the mission. A question for a question. She wondered if that was why he was asking. "I've been through a lot during my…time away."

She bit her lip as she said that, willing her recent memories to go away. They came gnawing at the edges of her mind, trying to escape their confines. Quite like Itachi, she had put them in shackles.

"Such as?" Itachi asked, knowing what he was doing. He was slowly tearing down her resolve.

'Stop prying,' she wanted to say. 'These wounds are all too recent and you're only pouring salt into them.'

"Such as torturing and killing a woman, visiting a poverty-ridden land, and having nightmares about my village burning to the ground," she found herself saying.

They were silent for a while as Sakura tried to fight back her swelling emotions. She bit her lip and clutched at her chest. 'No,' she chanted over and over in her mind. 'I will not let them take control!' How could one simple torture bring back all of these things (the death of her parents, the death of Shizune, the death of Sasuke, the death of Ibiki)? How could only brief mentions of her mission bring this much anguish?

Her pain was apparent and she wished she could just melt into water and absorb into the ground beneath her feet. Her chest was tight, squeezing her heart until it felt as if it could burst. This was the effect of ignoring all of her troubles and worries and locking them up, trying to forget them as if they were only figments. This was from hiding within her shadows only to bring forth the ones that haunted the crevices of her struggling mind. She knew, though, that if she released them they would overwhelm her. There was nothing she could do.

"Cry," she heard Itachi say. But his voice was faraway, one of the realities of this world she could not face. No, this was too much.

"What will crying accomplish?" she choked out. "They'll only make me feel more worthless."

"It's a natural, albeit temporary, release," he replied.

His words were true, and she knew it, but she promised herself when she cut her hair and the ribbon of her past guilt attached to it that she would never cry again. She would be the strong one, she would be the shoulder to cry on, and she would be dependable. She no longer wanted to be the weak little girl who always had to be saved. Tears represented weakness. Shinobi didn't cry for it made them human and they weren't supposed to be human. They were supposed to be warriors who took their orders without question, killed without remorse, and lived without emotion.

"I'm not going to cry!" she growled. "I've exchanged my tears for strength. I'm not the one who cries anymore."

"Then how will you destroy your demons?" Itachi asked. "Or rather, how will you accept them?"

She heard him release the shackles, get up, and walk over to her. Her arms were wrapped around herself as if they were enough to hold her being together. He lifted her chin up and she looked into his dark eyes.

"You can see a person's soul in their eyes," he said. "Do you see mine?"

She tried to look away from those eyes, not wanting to see them so close for she was afraid of what they held. His grip on her chin was strong, though, and she was forced to look into his soul. And what a dark one it was. She could see the struggle in his eyes, the years of pain he'd endured, the things he had seen. The past soaked in blood, the forever tainted spirit, the warped ways of a shinobi. This was the soul of a fallen human, of a tortured heart, and his eyes told its story like a tape forever recording.

"Do you want these to be your eyes? This soul to be yours?"

She didn't reply for now the tears came. They came out in a deluge, curving down her face, turning it red. All of the years holding them in, and now they came out like a tumultuous river flooding its banks. For each tear, another demon came to the surface. Each streak down her face was a journey she had taken. This is the way tears work. They come on, bringing your tortured thoughts with them, and each time another one spills over, you remember all too well why you're crying in the first place, and proceed to weep harder. This is the way everything is brought to the surface; through tears. Her demons weren't going to be washed away by them, though. No, they would cling to her psyche, unrelenting and inexorable. But now that they were on the surface, she can focus more clearly on them.

All the while, Itachi watched her, learning about her own tortured soul. Her spirit had been shattered, her innocence taken away by the life of a shinobi. She was a girl who was forced to learn things no child should know, to be something no child should be. They were so alike and yet so different. Hr eyes were well on their way to becoming like his. All she needed was a little more blood, hate, fear, and a shattered world. On opposite sides of the battlefields, they both had their internal conflicts, yet it was the decisions they made that placed them on these opposing theatres of war.

'We're not so different, my dear interrogator,' he thought, his eyes darkening. 'We're both only puppets, performing on a stage drenched in blood. But our strings will eventually be severed by those who will it, and where will be then?'

Sakura's breathing began to slow and she felt a pain in her throat from all of the racking sobs. Not only that, she fell exhausted and empty. This emptiness was a good feeling, though. It was better than the demons she couldn't conjure up at that moment. She didn't even care that she let her guard down once again in front of the one she was supposed to be interrogating, the one who was her constant in this hellish world.

"I guess…I needed that," she said in a shaky breath.

"You've had glimpse into my soul," Itachi said, once again ignoring whatever she said. "What did you see?"

"Too much," she replied, her arms still around her body. "But I learned something. Our souls are the same. We both have our struggles and our demons. And I learned the one thing I should not know about my prisoner."

"What's that?"

"You're human."

Sakura didn't have to explain this for Itachi already knew what she meant. She'd prefer to think of him as a demon, as evil. But he was just like any other enemy she fought, only much more dangerous. He had a soul, even if it was tainted, as did she. But she'd prefer not to think of her prisoners as being like her; it just made interrogating and torturing them that much harder.

"Why?" she asked. "Why did you tell me to cry?"

"I couldn't ask my question if you were struggling with yourself," he said.

"And what question may that be?"

She braced herself for whatever was coming. She didn't know what Itachi would ask; he's more unpredictable than a twister. Whatever it was, though, she'd have to answer it if she was going to ask her questions.

"Where did you go?"

The question was innocent enough, and that was good. "Amegakure. My turn. Do you know any criminal organizations other than Akatsuki that would attack shinobi along Ame's borders?"

Itachi studied her for a while. He did not answer, but that wasn't entirely unexpected. What was unexpected was the quick flash of emotion that crossed his eyes. Anyone else would have missed it but she had been with him for too long and had just stared into them. She knew those eyes too well now and was able to catch the emotion before it was completely gone. It was anger.

"So you do know something," Sakura said carefully, not sure.

Another momentary pause filled the deafening silence of the cell. The only thing that could be heard was the steady stream of fire emitting from the torch on the wall that gave only a little light to the chamber. The corners of the cage were consumed in darkness that battled against the light from the torch. The barrier between the two constantly changed as the flame flickered, sometimes illuminating more or less than usual. She couldn't help but think how they were like the shadows that constantly fought against the edges of her mind. She abandoned that thought, though, for she was too numb.

"Yes, I do," Itachi finally replied. "But first, I have another question. You said you interrogated a woman. What was her name?"

A wave of guilt washed over her as she remembered she hadn't even known the missing-nin's name. "I don't know, but she had dark green eyes and blonde hair."

That seemed to be all he needed to know for Itachi said," The group, or rather its leader, has animosity towards Konoha."

"Do you know who the leader is?" she asked, her eyes pleading.

"I'm afraid not," he replied, but she could tell he knew more. It was beginning to seem this compromise was a one-way street. "I have another question. What are your fears?"

The question threw Sakura off guard. "What kind of question is that?"

She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell a missing-nin who possessed the Sharingan her fears. But she already had revealed so much more to him.

"It's a question I want an answer to," he replied.

She guessed it couldn't hurt. At least, for now. "I fear what any human would. Death, spiders, clowns…" She bit her lip and hesitated before she continued. "Being alone."

"Not every human fears those things," Itachi said. "But why do you fear being alone?"

"For one thing, I've never been alone. When I was a child, I had my friends and parents. Even though I've lost my parents and some friends, I've gained new ones. And…I see what loneliness does to a person. Naruto had to deal with it his whole life. The unimaginable pain and suffering he went through must have been unbearable. Sasuke, too." She looked at Itachi. "After you killed the clan, he was alone. Now look what's happened. He's dead." An unexpected pain clenched her heart. She had gotten over Sasuke, but his name opened the wound in her heart a bit because he was a death that l. She shook her head and continued her questions. "What is this organization after?"

"What every missing-nin organization is after," Itachi said. At her questioning look, he said," Power. Revenge. Something more than what they have."

"And they want power over Konoha? Revenge?"

"You've already asked a question," Itachi stated. "It's my turn. Tell me about your family."

"That's more of a statement," she muttered, but he was looking at her with those cold eyes and she hesitated. "They're all geniuses. They are the strategists in Konoha's operations in war. They're like advisors to the Hokage other than Homura and Koharu. However, my parents strayed from that. They became jonin and were killed on a mission. I, of course, had to follow in their tracks to the disdain of my family. I don't keep in touch with them anymore ever since…"

Ever since what? She became a jonin? Shizune was killed? When had she stopped speaking with them? She realized she never paid much mind to her family. When she was younger, she loved her parents, but now that they were dead her family was inconsequential. She felt guilty, though, that both Sasuke and Naruto didn't have families and she didn't even care much for hers. Of course, they weren't very close-knit. Harunos are analytical, not emotional. They didn't care much for bonds unless they were between other countries. Family didn't matter to them so it didn't matter to her. Only her parents had mattered to her.

And it was fine that way. She never felt they were negligent or heartless, she was happy with her parents. She was old enough to be on her own when she lost her parents so there was no point and trying to tie bonds that never existed in the first place.

She wanted to ask Itachi about his family, but she felt as if she'd be crossing a line. It's taboo to her; he did the unspeakable, murdering his family. So why would they matter to him and why should she ask him?

"You're wondering about my family," Itachi said. It wasn't a question and she felt as if he probed her mind.

She nodded mutely.

"I wasn't very close to them in the first place," he said, his face like stone once again.

In a quiet voice she asked," Did that make it easier to…"

"No," he answered, knowing what she meant.

"Just for the record, I don't believe your entire 'I did it for Sasuke' alibi," she said. "Well, maybe only one part."

"And what part would that be?" he asked almost disinterestedly.

"The part that you did it for Sasuke," she said. "But not to protect from the pressures of being in a prosperous clan. Maybe from the clan itself. I don't know. What I do know, however, is that I saw something in your eyes. You're human just like I am and no matter what, they were family and it wasn't out of hate you murdered them."

There was a silence as the two were absorb in their own separate thoughts. Sakura believed this theory. Even though it drove Sasuke to his death, Itachi killed the clan not because he hated them or his brother, but because he wanted to protect Sasuke. She would have disregarded this theory had she not look into those eyes. Everything about them just seems to haunt her. The eyes are the window of the soul, and even though his window was shattered and dark, it was still a window. And no one with a soul could murder their family without remorse.

"My question," she said in a tiny voice. "Do you think Konoha is in danger?"

Itachi looked at her for a long time, examining her carefully. He watched her pale-green eyes cloud with worry at the silence. He needed to gauge her reaction when he answered her.

"It's in far more danger than you can comprehend."

-0-

Sakura walked up to the Hokage's desk with a pile of papers in her hands. Surprisingly, the desk wasn't covered with sake bottles and mounds of papers. Actually, it was fairly clean without even a speck of dust. She handed the woman her papers which were her report of the mission to Amegakure. She had stayed up late last night in order to complete it and to perfection. Tsunade grabbed the sheets gruffly.

"So, you're sober?" Sakura asked, noting the desk and her crankiness.

"No, I'm pissed," Tsunade growled. "That damned Shikamaru better give me back my sake or his head will be mounted on my wall."

She had to remember to warn Shikamaru of his impending death. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Watching over Kakashi," Tsunade replied, skimming through the papers.

Sakura remembered her shishou telling her about his injuries. It made her stomach coil around her other organs and squeeze them until she could barely stand. How could he have been injured like that? The missing-nin he fought must have been on a higher level than the one she had killed.

"How's he doing?" she asked, looking at the floor and studying it.

"Better," Tsunade replied. "How was your interrogation with Uchiha?"

"Odd."

Tsunade peered up from her papers. "How so?"

She wanted to skip the embarrassing part about her breaking down. She also wanted to skip the part about what she had told him about her fears, family, and her theory about the Uchiha massacre. Instead she told her about the questions she had asked and Itachi's answers to them.

"He's probably just saying that to make you panic," Tsunade said after Sakura told her about the last thing Itachi told her before she left with a new demon to haunt her mind. As she said it, though, there was a hint of worry in her voice.

"I don't know," Sakura said uncertainly. "I mean, what about all of those missing-nin uprisings? Maybe Konoha is in danger."

"Well, you're dismissed for now," the Hokage said. "Go get some rest."

Sakura nodded and walked out of the room. The Hokage leaned back into her chair and sighed. She knew how imperative this situation was and didn't want to make another mistake. She had increased border control, but would that be enough to keep her village safe? She sent out ninja, but half of them were killed. She called in an ANBU and told him to gather all of the Niju Shotai and have them meet her. The ANBU nodded and left. Only minutes later, she was standing before the special troops she had created, and might now destroy.

"I'll get straight to the point," she said. "We're reassigning the Niju Shotai's objective. Instead of the Akatsuki, you will now be targeting the missing-nin along the borders. Each squad will be assigned a different mission."

"What about the Akatsuki?" an operative asked. "Just because the missing-nin have become more rowdy doesn't mean the Akatsuki have disappeared."

"ANBU will take over with that," Tsunade said. "That's all for today."

And with those words, she sealed Konoha's fate.

-0-

"Itachi, you aren't sleeping, now are you?"

A humorless laugh filled up the room, yet it was not loud enough for the guard to hear. It was nighttime, yet the moon did not shine in the eternally dark cell and no crickets could be heard through the thick walls.

"Tasukete," Itachi said silently as to not disturb the dust that encased his cell. "To what to I owe this displeasure?"

A grimace was set on the man's face at Itachi's words. Tasukete did not fear this man, but hated him with the most animosity he could muster. Maybe even a touch of envy, but he would never allow himself to admit that even if he was trapped in a cage like his rival. "You're taking too long."

"Taking too long at what?" he asked with disinterest.

He ground out," you know what, don't play games with me."

"Who sent you?" Itachi asked.

"Does it matter-"

"If you came here on your own accord, then I have no reason to speak to you," he said. "Good night, Tasukete."

The man growled and grabbed the front of Itachi's dingy shirt. "I am not afraid of you. I know that they are taking your chakra and I know you're nothing without it."

Itachi removed Tasukete's hand from his shirt, and twisted his arm. "I am growing tired of you. I know why you are here and I know if word gets back that you're here, you'll be severely punished. You take his trust for granted."

He released Tasukete's arm as if it was an afterthought, and closed his eyes, knowing the man wouldn't dare attack.

"You're too audacious," Tasukete hissed. "One of these days, Itachi, you will be killed by my hands."

"I forever wait for that day," Itachi replied as Tasukete faded into the darkness.

They both knew that he'd be back soon.

-0-

(A/N) In the last part I misspelled 'cage' and it came out as 'café' so it came out as '…even if he was trapped in a café…'. I found that hilarious. Instead of Trapped in a Closet by R. Kelly it's Trapped in a Café by Tasukete. Wow, that rhymes. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (which includes Sakura's breakdown and a cameo by Tasukete, the OC from the first chapter in this story if you can remember that far back).

I wonder why Itachi is asking those kinds of questions. They're almost as bad as Sakura's old ones. It makes me wonder…

Naruto: You wrote it down. He's asking those questions because-

What did I say, idiot?

Naruto: Oh, right. Confiscate ramen.

So, your review prize will be…um…pocky! That's all I have right now since I went out and bought three bags of it (along with Yan Yan). So, pocky and Yan Yan!

Itachi: You're getting desperate.