NOTE: Oh sweet Internet! How I have missed thee! Our computer got a nasty virus so I was forced to play my GameBoy Advance SP instead of my lovely computer for 3 WHOLE DAYS!!!!! I'm so happy to have it back!!!!! But on the plus side, I had LOTS of time to think about my story! This chapter… I don't think it'll have much to do with the story; it's more of like filler. Who knows? Oh, and don't be grossed out about Sasuke being betrothed to another Uchiha. It's OK if they're like fifth cousins. If don't believe me, read/watch Fruits Basket. They marry inside the family all the time. Let's see, examples… Oh yes. There was Hatori and Kana until Akito smashed Hatori's face and Kana lost her memory… OK, bad example… Hiro and Kisa, until Akito hospitalized Kisa and Hiro blamed himself and they broke up… Same situation with Rin and Hatsuharu… Oh, Shigure and Akito! That one turned out well! Except Akito has that nasty disease that makes her vulnerable to die at any time… Oh, just forget it!

Sakura whirled around.

"Oh, Sasuke. It's just you. You scared me."

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the journal.

"It's an old diary… I think it used to be Itachi's."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he rushed to pick it up. His eyes scanned the pages thoroughly.

"It's his handwriting, all right. Ugh, I can't believe that weasel would do such a terrible thing!" Sasuke shouted as he threw the book at the wall. He paused for a moment, and then went to pick it up again.

"I think I'll keep this. Know what was going through his head a few days before the massacre."

He tucked his brother's journal under his arm.

"Let's go."

"Um, Sasuke, wait a minute…" Sakura said quietly.

"What?"

"The little girl…"

"Ah, you want to know more about her?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well, it's a long story. We should probably sit down," Sasuke said as he headed out the door. "We can sit in the kitchen."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. We were supposed to come back to get your paper thing and go back," Sakura pointed at Sasuke's piece of parchment snuggled next to the journal.

"We've got time. It's not that long of a story."

Once they were as comfortable seated around the table as they could be, they were, after all, in an old abandoned house, Sasuke began his tale.

"Her name was Hana Uchiha. She was very pretty, and my childhood friend."

"How sweet!" Sakura interrupted. "But wait, I don't remember any girls named Hana at the Academy. How old was she?"

"The same age as us. She wasn't illegible for the Academy. Hana had a sort of disease. I don't quite recall the name of it, but I remember that she was a sickly child. She wasn't just my friend, either. You see, in the Uchiha Clan, arranged marriages were still common. She was my intended."

Sakura's eyes widened.

"Intended?!? WOW! If the fan girls at the Academy knew that…" her voice trailed off as she realized she had been one of those girls.

Sasuke put a hand up.

"Let me finish."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, Hana and I were to be married when we got older. Her parents were thrilled to be able to marry her off to a shinobi in training. Hana was an only child; her parents were unable to conceive another child. In any case, on the day of the massacre, I had just gotten home from school when I found my parents… You know the story."

Sakura nodded grimly.

"I thought all was lost… I walked slowly to Hana's house, but I knew she would be gone, too. They were all gone. Her parents lay dead in the doorway. I walked up the steps to her room, sat on her bed, and cried. It was then that I heard someone else crying, too. I opened the closet and saw Hana. She was alive. I was so excited that I hugged her as hard as I could, and took her back to my house. I told her my plan of leaving in the morning. She agreed. No use staying in a place with all of those painful memories. We planned to go back to my house, seeing as her house was so small and had almost no places to hide. The problem was, though, because of Hana's health, she wasn't allowed outside at night. So as you can imagine, the cold air was very hard on her. And with her as emotional as she was at the moment, our entire clan being wiped out and all, she was extremely ill."

Sasuke put a hand to his forehead and trembled a bit.

"I thought… I thought Itachi had left. But he must have heard us or something… To this day, I still don't know…"

He fought back tears. It was too late to cry now. The feeling subsided and he looked Sakura straight in the eye.

"My best guess is that he knew while she was alive, our children would be full blood Uchihas. If he could kill one of us, then if the other happened to get married and have children, they would only be half blood and not nearly so serious of a threat. We ran as fast as we could back to the house. Itachi's like a cat; he likes to toy with his prey. If we truly wanted to catch us so easily, he would have. As soon as he got inside, Itachi kicked the door down. I was such a foolish child… I told Hana to run and I would hold him off."

Sasuke smirked.

"As if I could really overpower him at such a young age. Itachi kicked me aside and made his way upstairs to where Hana had run off to. I was so helpless… All I could do was watch… I…I heard her screams… I tried to get up, but I was so weak…so helpless… I passed out from grief. I didn't even have the decency to go upstairs and recover her body. Instead I ran into the village and informed the Hokage about the murders… They said she had died…in Itachi's room… Shortly before I left the village, I went back to that house and saw the blood stains on the floor…"

Sasuke looked up at Sakura. She was in tears. He laid his head down on the table and folded his hands over his head.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura… I had no right to tell you that story…"

Sakura reached out and took his hand.

"No… I'm very glad you did. Losing people hurts, I know. When I lost you, I…"

They sat there for a while, just gazing into each other's eyes. Sakura was the one who broke the tension.

"We'd better be heading back," she said, leaving the table and heading for the door.

"Right," Sasuke mumbled as he followed her.

When they reached the meeting room, Naruto greeted them and made a sly comment.

"Well you two sure took your sweet time getting here!"

"Ah, shut up, Naruto!" Sakura snapped with a whack on the head. "You may be the Hokage, but you still act like a little kid sometimes!"

"Sasuke Uchiha," Koharu addressed him, ignoring the quarrel between Sakura and Naruto. "Have you gotten what you needed?"

"Yes," Sasuke stated, holding up the parchment and the journal.

"Very well, then. Let Kakashi escort you to your cell."

Kakashi linked his arm around Sasuke's.

"Come on, kiddo, let's get going. No funny business, OK?"

Sasuke nodded.

Once he was in custody and Kakashi had locked the door, Kakashi questioned his items.

"What are those?"

"Family things," Sasuke muttered, studying the paper.

"Fair enough," Kakashi said, walking away.

"But not any ordinary piece of paper," Sasuke thought to himself.

It was the prophecy that had been made on the day of his birth.