DAY 4:

The chirping of birds woke Sakura the next day. The first thing that crossed her mind when she woke up was her work. It was almost afternoon then and the light of sun coming from the window was too strong.

She looked at the clock and realized that it was about eleven then and she had almost slept for more than twelve hours. That was enough to make her panic and she rushed out of her bed and made her way towards the bathroom. An image of angry Tsunade flashed through her mind while she was taking a bath. It was all that made her rush things even more.

Packing her belongings into her purse and fetching her lab coat and skipping the breakfast, she made her way to the front door. As she opened the door, Shizune with Sarada in hands greeted her sight.

"Wow-"exclaimed Sakura,"Shizune-san, what are you doing here. I was just coming to the hospital."

Sakura suddenly started thinking many ways as to why Shizune might be here. Maybe, Tsunade had sent her to inquire about her sudden absence or maybe, Shizune wasn't able to handle Sarada, so she came here to return her or maybe, Shizune was sent to inform her that she wasn't working at the hospital properly (a warning before firing that is).

"Sakura, what do you mean by that?" asked Shizune, making a funny face, "today is Saturday. It's a day of for you and so is tomorrow. I guess you aren't looking at the calendar nowadays."

"Oh!" realization of her stupid actions hit Sakura and she started to laugh at herself.

"I can't believe I forgot my own holidays." replied Sakura, "Shizune-san, please come in."

Shizune made her way with Sakura in the sitting room, where Sakura asked her to sit while she entered the kitchen to make tea.

"Sakura, you look better than before." Shizune said a bit louder, "I guess, you were finally able to sleep properly."

"You think so?" asked Sakura, "I didn't even look at the mirror today but I feel like I'm fresh. I guess it really was the lack of sleep."

"Not just sleep. I think you were worried about Sarada way too much. I'm glad that you asked me about taking her in. it gave the positive results."

"Yeah, I think so too." Agreed Sakura while she entered the sitting room again, "Sarada cries too much. She didn't bother you, did she?"

"Nope, not at all." Replied Shizune, "in fact, she's so quiet that I got worried last night. She didn't cry even once."

Sakura felt a little confused hearing this kind of thing about Sarada. For her, it was that Sarada cried all the time, in the morning, in the evening and even at night regardless of time.

"Strange…." mumbled Sakura as she looked at Sarada's peaceful face.

A sudden realization hit her as she noticed how Sarada was not even a bit uneasy to look at her own mother while in someone else's hands. Did that mean that she was attached to Shizune more than Sakura?

"I think the tea is ready now, let me bring it to you." Sakura said as she heard noise from the kitchen and disappeared there once more.

Shizune and Sarada stayed there for the next hour and then gave their farewells to Sakura and left.

Before leaving, Shizune had asked her to take the baby for the holidays if she wanted because she must be missing her. But Sakura had declined, saying that she was busy with some personal issues in these holidays and it would be better if Sarada was not with her for some more days.

After Sakura was alone once more, she looked at the clock and saw that it was almost one now. She made her way into the bedroom again and sat down on the bed. She looked at the drawer of her side table and stared at it for a few minutes, thinking over various steps that she should take once she open the drawer.

In the end, she was ready and opened it. The black diary was still there. Sakura had half expected it to be gone.

She took the diary into her hands and slowly opened the page once again. The two letters, written with much delicacy appeared.

Uchiha Itachi

She opened the next page and found words and sentences cramped for such a small page without any sense of where the paragraphs were starting or ending but the writing was still as graceful as the written name.

I am starting this diary at the age of ten in hopes of sharing my feelings to a non-living since there is apparently no one else to whom I can share my feelings with, at least not with the people around me. I am just a child after all. They say, I'm naïve and small but the fact that I can comprehend with whatever is going on is still there and they don't believe that.

I listen to the voices behind the walls where I'm not allowed and even go to the places in secrecy where I'm not invited yet. I can't help it because I want to know. I want to understand the regard of wasting human lives and starting wars. I want to understand that why there is even a need to fight when we all are living on the same ground. Isn't it enough to live peacefully that we have to start a war to end our own lives? I think that this is Human folly.

Humans are foolish creatures with egos like mountains and the mountains don't break unless there is a huge earthquake. For me, this earthquake is in the form of a revolution. A revolution could be by any extraordinary means. It could be war or any other way. But for the people of this foolish world, the earthquake means only war.

I hate the people starting wars. I hate their egos and I hate these wars.

I want to live peacefully and grow old and tell beautiful stories of the world to others. But I believe it's just a dream in the end…

Sakura heard low grumbling of the clouds outside. Her mind drifted to the outside world. She had read only two to three pages of this diary and she had become so much confused that she wasn't sure whether to continue reading or not.

It was a fact that she never really knew about Itachi other than that he killed his clan, spared his brother's life and ran off to join Akatsuki and become an S-rated criminal.

After Sasuke had returned to the village when Kakashi had started his reign over the leaf, his attitude towards his dead brother had bewildered Sakura. Even Naruto was acting as if he was sorry for whatever Sasuke had done. That time, she had tried to do research over Itachi's case but his documents were placed in restricted section of Hokage's library and even though, she tried to take permission, she was lectured by Kakashi to not indulge in a business she won't be having anything to do with.

Now when she is reading his diary, she was starting to believe that Itachi was actually a good person and his actions had left an impression that could neither be termed as positive or negative or even neutral.

Sakura closed the diary and put it back into the drawer. The weather outside was getting darker by each passing minute. She looked at the clock and realized that it was only around two in the afternoon.

She got up and started her way to look in the mirror. As she stood in front of it, she realized that how much weak she had become. No wonder everyone was asking whether she was okay or not. Even in the hospital, some of the patients she didn't know had asked her about her health.

Suddenly, Sakura's eyes caught something she didn't saw earlier. There was a small prominent bruise on her shoulder blade, almost hidden under her clothes. She stripped her shoulder to get a better view and frowned. How could she get this bruise without even realizing? The last time she checked her appearance in the mirror was when she was showering yesterday and there was no bruise that time and she wasn't hurt physically after that.

Sakura touched the bruise and instantly a shot of pain ran through her entire shoulder that made her eyes squint. She got into the bathroom to look for some medicine from behind the mirror to apply over it.

As she took out a tube and closed the mirror, a short scream escaped her lips as she saw her own face with her eyes tearing blood and smiling insanely at her own self. Her hand lost its grip over the tube and she ran out of the bathroom and out in the lawn. The rain had already started and she started to drench while breathing harshly.

First, it was only a feeling, and then she started hallucinating; now she was seeing things as gruesome as this. She didn't even know what this was all about and who exactly is responsible for this. Was it the ghosts of dead Uchihas or was it something more resentful than that.

A distant laughter was heard as she stood there in the rain. That laughter came undoubtedly from within the house. She looked towards the entrance door only to realize that she had left it wide open and there was something in the house that she could clearly see from where she stood.

Her eyes went wide as she saw someone appearing from the left side of the corridor, the side where THAT door was located. He was wearing male clothes and his untied hairs were as long as her own, terminating till half of his back. He walked very slowly, so slowly that he took only one step with every two seconds. He went on and on and on and disappeared in her bedroom.

Sakura stood there frozen on her spot, completely drenched in the cold rain.

Time passed and she stood there for God knows how long, praying that the man she just saw would come out of her room. But he didn't.

The rain had long gone and now it was sunny again, though its intensity was far less than before. Sakura took a step forward not blinking at all, then another step and another until she was standing at the entrance. Now she was here, her heart rate had increased.

She stood there for some time and then started her way forward once again. Her hands were full of chakra as she was very close to her room's door.

She entered the room and saw it empty of any life. The bathroom door was wide open and so did her drawer.

There was no sign of any black diary there.