Hello, everyone! The next chapter is finally here. I apologize for publishing it so late. I'm not going to lie; I am incredibly stressed out right now. Summer depression is really taking its toll on me, and I'm fighting battles I'm barely winning. Nevertheless, I'm staying strong and keeping my stories just as active. Feel free to check out my profile to see how I and my stories are doing.


Itachi widened his eyes. When his head whipped to Osu and his companions, they appeared surprised but not remorseful.

"What have you done?" Itachi marched forward with his eyes blazing with anger. "I told you to retreat!"

Osu's surprised expression morphed into an angry one. "I didn't ask for whoever that was to intercept my attack," he said, "and I will most definitely not retreat! I will get my bounty!"

"You'll have to get through me first," Itachi grasped the handle of his sword.

Osu smirked as his companions leaned forward. "Very well," Osu huffed. "You're next."

The trio charged with their selected weapons, knowing their fire wouldn't hurt him. Itachi studied their movements as he unsheathed his sword. They were rash and uncoordinated, he noticed. If he timed his attack right, he could take them out with one swipe.

But then he sensed movement from behind him, and then above him. A flash of pink and green soared through the air and landed in his path. What happened next made his back hit the ground. Osu and his companions screamed in terror as the earth opened and swallowed them whole. They clawed the air to hold on to something but were then engulfed by something else.

Water.

Itachi quickly rose to his feet. The only reason he too didn't fall to his death was that the fissure started a distance away from him. Specifically, below Sakura's fist. Her irises were no longer emerald but replaced by two white circles. The rift had extended to the lake, which waters were rushing to drown their enemies' screams. Itachi spotted fish flopping helplessly on what was becoming a large puddle. No matter where the waters went, he realized, someone was going to die.

Sakura stood up. When Itachi approached her, he watched her eyes return to emerald irises. He then watched them fill with fear.

"Oh...oh no," Sakura staggered back. "What...what have I done?"

Itachi slowly approached her as she fell to her knees. After a weak attempt to resist, she released a gush of vomit. Her lips trembled as what she had eaten dripped into the watery graves of her attackers. She didn't dare look at the ashes that used to be her guardian. Even after his horrific fate, she was almost glad he wasn't able to see what she had done.

Itachi stood in front of her and looked down. What he witnessed sent him into a swirl of conflicting emotions. He was finally seeing the killer the world made Sakura and her clan to be, and yet...he wasn't.

Sakura's head whipped to him, revealing the darkest eyes he had ever seen.

"K-Kill me."

Itachi stepped back.

"I've lost everything I have and now," Sakura trembled, "I'm finally the monster everyone said I'd become. So kill me...stop me."

Itachi didn't know what to say, what to think, and how to react. His eventual response, surprising Sakura and himself, was anger.

"No."

Sakura widened her eyes.

"You claim never to take the life of another, but you won't hesitate to take your own?" Itachi clenched his fists. "You are a liar!"

Sakura inched back. The assassin had portrayed himself to be calm and collected; she didn't think it was possible for him to be anything else. It didn't seem like Itachi did either, for once he realized what he had done, he took another step back. Neither of them knew what to say after that. One thing was for sure, however. They had to get out of there.

"Let's...go back to the village," Itachi managed to say. He stiffened when Sakura suddenly rose and ran from the scene. He was too stunned to move until their growing distance forced him to follow her.

When they arrived at their resting area, however, the horses were nowhere to be found. This seemed to have devastated Sakura even more for she went to the edge of the lake, sat down, and lowered her head to her hands. Itachi scowled. The horses weren't hers, he remembered; they were only borrowed.

"I'll retrieve the horses," he volunteered, almost relieved he could fix the situation. "I will return shortly."

Sakura said nothing. She only kept her back to him, her eyes gazing at the draining lake in front of her.

~.~

When Itachi returned with the horses, which wasn't a difficult task for him considering his profession, Sakura was still sitting at the edge of her disaster. He secured the animals at a nearby tree with a rope and eyed her hunched position. He didn't know what had possessed him to do such a thing, but he then made his way to her and sat on her left. The skies were blanketed with thick clouds that covered the sun. It might rain soon.

"When my father first rescued me," Sakura started suddenly, not seeming to mind his presence, "I was so angry at him. I didn't appreciate what he did to help my parents and save me; I was just...so MAD that he took me away from them and left them there to die."

Itachi frowned and listened intently.

"One time, he was trying to get me to do something. I don't remember what, but I refused to do it. Then, when he got a little closer, I scratched him in the eye. That's how he got that scar on his left eye. It was my fault."

Itachi's frown deepened.

"It was the first time I've felt anything other than anger for him," Sakura took a shaky breath. "It was also the first time I became scared of myself. I remembered the monsters that ruined my life and how at that moment, I was no different from them." She coughed, covered her mouth with a fist, and shook her head. "The worst part was, he wasn't even mad at me. He only cupped his eye, gave me that sad, pitying look I hated, and told me he forgave me. Then he raised my hand to his wound and the next thing I knew, the wound became a scar. It was the day I discovered I could heal people, but he knew it before I did."

Itachi's expression softened. He blinked twice and swore he was looking at a different person.

"I mastered my abilities years after that, but no matter what I did, he would never let me erase that scar," Sakura went on. "He told me it was a reminder of when we finally got along and...a sign that I wasn't...a monster. Yes, I could hurt people, but I could heal them too."

She inhaled a sharp breath and leaned back. The clouds were darker and heavier. When she looked up to see them, a drop of water fell on her cheek. More droplets fell from the heavens until finally, the setting was engulfed in a thundering shower. Both Sakura and Itachi were drenched by the rain, but neither made a move to evade it.

Itachi's sharp eyes caught every drop that fell on Sakura's face and noticed that not each one came from the sky. He knew she was crying, but didn't know it was the first time she had done so in twenty years.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this," Sakura shook her head. "You probably don't care about anything I say but...I don't know."

Itachi was, once again, lost for words. What was it about this woman that left him speechless?

"I…" Sakura took another breath, "I think...I need to be alone."

Itachi immediately tensed. "You were alone when I retrieved the horses."

"I know, but," Sakura looked ahead, "I just...need to think, okay?"

"We need to find shelter."

"It's actually been a while since I've been under the rain," Sakura told him. "I would like to be alone with it."

Itachi frowned but couldn't deny her any longer. She had just lost her stepfather, after all. It was understandable that she needed time and space to cope with her sudden loss. And if he were to be completely honest with himself, he needed time alone as well. He seemed to be losing his senses and needed to regain himself. Maybe solitude was something they both needed right now.

He gave her a silent nod before watching her walk into the forest. He didn't overlook the drained lake, nor the fissure that changed everything.

~.~

The longer Sakura traversed in the rain, the less pain she found herself feeling. She finally realized what some people meant by saying the rain could wash away sorrows. She had wondered why she had avoided it, feared it even, but didn't realize why until she returned to the ashes of her stepfather. She felt guilty for not giving them a proper burial and then remembered why she didn't. Looking at the remains alone gave her so much pain, she didn't dare touch them. Her stepfather, the parent that had been there for her longer than her original parents were able to—the one that taught her how to be strong enough to find hope in an unmerciful world—was dead. Who would she come home to this time?

Sakura thought she could finally end his suffering today. They were close, so very close. She couldn't save her clan; she couldn't save her parents—she could've at least saved her stepfather. But no, she bitterly thought. He had perished before she could help him, and it was to save her life. Had her parents not died for the same reason? How many times do people have to die until she finally accepted her fate?

Sakura looked at the cliff before her and clenched her fists. She thought she could bargain with destiny by doing good, but what if the truly good thing to do was the one what she had been evading all along? She denied the inevitable, and people died because of it.

When Sakura looked down the long ravine, she watched the rain cascade to the foggy blanket below. She couldn't see where those raindrops would end up in, but there was one thing for sure. They were meant to fall, just like her.

She took a step toward the precipice, closed her eyes, and then took another step.

~.~

Itachi didn't know how long it had been since Sakura's departure but had the sudden urge to look for her. Something was wrong; he already knew that much, but the longer Sakura was unseen, the more he felt that something had to be done.

So he set off from under the tree he was sheltering himself from the rain with and took off to the woods. He found the tracks Sakura had left behind, broken leaves and grounded dirt for example, and arrived at her location within seconds. It was a wise tactic he had applied many times before, but what he saw next made him act on instinct. Sakura was standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at the unknown bottom. Then, to his unexpected horror, she stepped into the emptiness.

Sakura gasped when two arms pulled her back. She expected her back to hit the dirt, but it hit someone's chest instead. She was still in the person's grip, making it hard for her to move. Then she realized who was holding her, and what he stopped her from doing, and started to flail.

"Let me go!" she cried. "Let me go!"

Itachi grunted as she thrashed and screeched for her release. But he wouldn't relent. He might not know why but didn't care; he would not let her end herself.

"Let me go," Sakura's voice started to crack. Her movements were becoming sluggish as weariness overcame her body. "Please…"

Itachi adjusted himself, so they were sitting up. He kept his grip around her tight in case she tried to resist again and was relieved when she didn't. Through the cold rain pelting him, he could feel something warm trickling down his collar. Thin fingers gripped the fabric of his shirt as a form smaller than his own snuggled closer to his hold. He was more confused now than he ever was before, but he suddenly didn't want to think anymore. He pulled Sakura closer as they sat in the afternoon rain.