"Sakura!" Sasuke said, looking panicked, "Have you seen Naruto?"

Sakura frowned in thought, "Um… no, not today. Except for this morning, he was eating ramen. Have you checked that restaurant he always goes to?"

"Of course!" Sasuke snapped, "The owner said a man named Jiraiya took him somewhere, to a town…"

"Jiraiya?" Sakura repeated, confused, "He's one of the Sannin, isn't he? What would he want with Naruto?"

"That's what I want to find out." Sasuke said grimly.

He turned and ran off, sprinting towards Konoha's exit. Sakura caught sight of the curse seal on his neck and shivered.

Something was wrong with Naruto? He was missing… taken by one of the Sannin, of all people? If Sasuke was worried enough to forget to conceal his concern, then Naruto was in real danger.

Sakura made her decision quickly, and chased after Sasuke, making sure to keep at a distance. He might not want her to come with him.

After Sakura had refused to leave her room for a few days, Team 7 had eventually turned up to drag her out, and had been horrified by what they had seen. Sakura had still been pale and shaking, sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around her knees, eyes blank. She was still suffering the effects of her first kill, and the knowledge that for the first time in six years she was truly alone after her sensei had retreated into the night.

He hadn't come back.

She'd truly made her choice, and that choice was Konoha. There was no room in her life for her sensei anymore. She told herself over and over again that her friends, her family, her village were all far more important than one mysterious man who didn't even trust her enough to tell her his name.

It didn't stop her staring out of her window at night, looking out for a crow, repeating in her mind over and over again, I changed my mind, come back.

The fact that he'd admitted she'd betray her village if she came with him had been what had made up her mind. Haruno Sakura may be a lot of things, the weak link in her team, bad-tempered and plagued by insecurity, but she was no traitor.

When Naruto broke down her bedroom door and Team 7 had tumbled in, Sakura looked at them all and burst into tears. How could she possibly ever betray them? She would end up just another rogue ninja, a genin who'd betrayed her village the first chance she got. Her mother would be spat at in the street, ostracised by the community. The shock of it could affect her grandmother's health.

Her other sensei, her technically real sensei, Kakashi. He had comforted her straightaway after she'd killed Dosu. Where was her other sensei? Why could he not enter the arena? Sakura pictured Kakashi's face after he learned of her betrayal, and saw a man with slumped shoulders, a hidden disappointed grimace and pain-filled eyes.

Team 7 would be destroyed. She pictured Naruto's confused face, slowly giving way to disbelieving devastation upon being told of Sakura's treason. She saw Sasuke understanding instantly what she had done and the condemnation she knew he'd feel nearly killed her. He wouldn't be like Naruto, who would insist she'd really been kidnapped and they needed to save Sakura-chan right now! Sasuke would write her off as a filthy traitor and add her name to list of people he wanted to kill. There was that 'certain man' he'd mentioned, and now her.

Kakashi might have even been part of the team sent to bring her back.

Yes, with his nin dogs' excellent tracking ability, she knew he would be the one leading the team that would either kill her or capture her. Would it hurt? Would he feel betrayed? Would he be the one to kill her?

If he did kill her, she would not receive a proper Konoha ninja's burial, a respectful event where all who knew you showed up to mourn your death as you were carried through the village. She would be tossed on a pile of traitors, thieves and murderers, and either burnt or left to rot. She pictured her classmates watching the abrupt bonfire of her corpse. Ino would cry. Even people she hadn't known well, like Kiba and Shikamaru, would surely be bewildered and upset. These were the people who had known her since she was a child.

No matter how much she cared about her sensei, her loyalty to her village was too strong to break for a man who she did not know well enough to call a friend.

It didn't matter that he'd looked so disappointed when she'd shaken her head no. It didn't matter. He'd asked her to do something that went against her nature.

Haruno Sakura was no traitor, Sakura vowed, running after Sasuke.

xxxxxxxx

Sakura rounded the corner of the hotel, beginning to feel frustrated. Sasuke had led her on a wild goose chase, running here and there, changing direction so quickly she'd actually got lost a few times. They'd ended up in a village only a few hours' run away from Konoha and for a while Sakura had stood, confounded by the different signs and buildings surrounding her, with no clues to tell her where Sasuke had gone.

She'd eventually scanned for any chakra surges, and had felt the faintest flare of chakra in a seedy-looking hotel. Chances were, she was simply going to stumble upon a random ninja practicing ninja arts in their hotel room, and she may even end up skewered for barging in.

There! The chakra flared again, weakly this time. Sakura frowned. If this really was Sasuke, what was he doing?

"And you tell me my work goes too far… I think you're the sadistic one here…" A man said, his voice guttural and harsh. He chuckled.

Sakura skidded to a halt.

Naruto stared at her, blue eyes wide in astonishment.

A large, imposing man with blue skin and gills leered at her. He held a large, spiky sword aloft, the end of which now pointed in her direction.

Sakura looked past the shark-like man and saw his companion, who was holding Sasuke's arm. They were both clad in the same black cloak with red clouds, just like her sensei had worn the night before.

It was her sensei.

He was staring back at her, his mouth slightly open as though surprised, his blood-red eyes –

Blood-red…

Sharingan?

Her sensei let go of Sasuke's arm and he hit the ground, hard. Sakura flinched at the audible crack in his wrist.

"Itachi…" The shark man said, white eyes drifting from Sakura to her sensei and back. He took a step towards her, "Should I take care of this?"

The threat should have registered, but Sakura's mind was caught on the name the man called her sensei. Itachi. The same name Orochimaru had spoken, his pale mouth twisted in a grimace.

Was this a dream?

Her sensei flicked one look at the shark man. It was enough to make him step back and lower his sword.

"Sakura-chan, run!" Naruto yelled, his fists up as though he hoped to protect her.

"Hm… Sakura-chan…. you ought to be a smart little girl and do as the brat says…" The shark man said, his voice lilting with dark humour.

Her sensei straightened up, almost absently flicking away drops of blood that had collected at his fingertips. Sasuke's blood?

Sasuke lay on the ground, moaning, blood pouring from his mouth. Naruto was trembling violently.

"…Sensei." Sakura managed to say at last, feeling her mouth move but not hearing her own quavering voice. Her mind was numb. Her limbs felt curiously heavy, her fingers tingled almost painfully. Her knees were shaking, she realised slowly, her mind a blank fog.

She could see the pieces of the puzzle in her confused mind, but couldn't bring herself to put them together. Not when the answer would hurt so much.

The shark man froze.

Her sensei's mouth quirked upwards in what looked like a smirk to Sakura's blurry eyes. He slowly moved his dark hair out of his eyes, and stared at her so intensely she felt something jolt in her stomach. It was fear.

"No, Kisame." Her sensei said quietly, his mouth shaping every word perfectly, every move practised and elegant, "This is not a toy I am willing to share."

Sasuke twisted on the floor, managing to lift his head to stare at Sakura.

"What are you talking about? How do you know Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted, glaring right at her sensei.

He spared the furious blonde a glance, "Sakura is my student." He answered carelessly, "I've been teaching her since she was six years old."

"What?" Naruto spluttered.

Sasuke's eyes bled into red.

"Your student? You get a little homesick, thought you'd pick up stray?" Kisame asked, his mouth opening to display several rows of needle-sharp teeth. It was not a friendly grin. It was a challenge.

Her sensei gave a languid shrug, "Hardly. I met a little girl six years ago, in Konoha. She seemed to care for my little brother. I thought if I trained her, she would live long enough to have a sizeable impact on my little brother. Then, if my brother ever showed his face to me whilst lacking hatred, weak, I would have a tool to break in front of him."

He looked down at the fallen Sasuke.

"It seems that day has come." He said, kicking at Sasuke's chin. His head rolled over to expose his neck, making him seem horribly vulnerable.

Kisame's grin became a little more vicious, "Oh boy, you are one sick bastard… I should take lessons from you." He laughed approvingly.

"Sa-Sakura-chan." Naruto stared at her, horrified.

Sakura closed her eyes, struggling to take it all in.

She began to put the pieces together.

Sharingan. Itachi. Sasuke knew him… a relative? He had to be, he had the Sharingan in both eyes, not like Kakashi-sensei… He reacted angrily when she asked him about Sasuke's family… He called Sasuke his little brother…

She opened her eyes.

"You were using me." She said calmly, feeling emotions seethe and boil inside her. There was too much to cope with. She could only seal away her feelings and deal with this mechanically, as though she was not involved in this situation, just a neutral stranger.

"Yes," Her sens – Itachi said smoothly, "I knew you would make yourself useful one day."

"Uchiha Itachi," Sakura said slowly, trying to piece it all together, "You did something. Something to Sasuke's family. To your family."

"A clever one." Kisame gave her an appraising look, "You keeping this one around?"

"Yes," Itachi replied, his eyes on Sakura, "I am Sasuke's brother. I killed our family, including our parents."

Sakura's knees gave way. Her elbow was caught in a tight grip. She looked up and saw that it was Kisame who had caught her. He gave her a disturbing grin.

"Sakura…" Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth. He clawed at the ground, trying to get up. Itachi casually slammed his foot into Sasuke's stomach. Kisame chuckled again.

Without realising it, Sakura lunged forward, her face enraged. The only thing stopping her from killing Itachi there and then was the fierce grip Kisame still had on Sakura's arm.

"Don't touch him." She snarled, trying to rip her arm out of Kisame's grip. It was no good. Fierce anger had leapt up in her stomach and was now taking over. She couldn't seal away the raging hatred that seeing Sasuke get hurt had summoned.

Itachi's eyes flickered with some unidentified emotion. He removed his foot slowly, his Sharingan spinning.

"You care that much for him…?" He said, tilting his head. His voice was curious but his glare said otherwise.

Sakura continued to struggle with Kisame in answer, desperate to get to Sasuke's side, not knowing what she'd do when she got there, only knowing she needed to save him somehow.

"Do you care for her?" Itachi looked down at his brother, who was writhing in pain, "I think you need another lesson in hatred, little brother."

He took a step towards Sakura. He was hindered by Sasuke's hand weakly grasping at his ankle, "Leave her alone," He said hoarsely, "Not Sakura too…"

Itachi gave the quietest of sighs and kicked Sasuke's hand away, ignoring the scream that ripped its way out of his throat.

"You son of a -!" Naruto yelled, lunging at Itachi. The older man dodged the blow effortlessly, and knocked Naruto down almost gently, carefully.

Kisame yanked Sakura in front of him and pushed her towards Itachi, a sick smile spreading across his face.

"I gave you a choice yesterday," Itachi said softly, coming to stand just in front of Sakura, his hand grasping her chin lightly, pulling her face up so her eyes met his, "Is your answer still the same?"

Sakura's eyes slid away from the achingly familiar face.

Her head was still so confused… her mind could not combine her sensei and this murderous, violent man. The only thing that made sense to her was the uncontrollable rage within her, so she clung to that.

"I won't go with you." She spat angrily.

The tiniest ripple of annoyance past over Itachi's face.

To Kisame's surprise, Sakura was ripped from his grip violently, and Itachi slammed her up against the wall.

"Then I will kill you here, and my brother will learn something about hatred." Itachi's eyes darkened.

Naruto tried to push himself to his feet, his face alarmed. Sasuke lay beside him, his eyes fixed on Sakura's face. She knew he must be reliving his worst nightmare now, first his brother killed his family and now he showed up to kill his friend?

Her sensei was going to kill her. Sakura couldn't stop the tears from falling and turned her head furiously, humiliated.

Itachi gripped her chin and very deliberately turned her face back to face him. His eyes swept over her tear-stained face.

He opened his mouth to say something and Sakura tried to slam her elbow into his stomach. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face the wall before she could blink.

"I hate you!" She snarled, "I hate you!"

She was shoved against the wall harder. She let out a cry of pain.

"No, don't!" Sakura heard Sasuke's desperate shout and turned to see Itachi holding a kunai up.

Kisame still hadn't stopped grinning.

Naruto was crying.

The kunai pressed against her spine painfully.

Sakura gave an involuntary fearful cry, and Sasuke closed his eyes, turning his face away.

"There is no point in trying to fight back," Itachi said, "I made sure you only knew genjutsu. Techniques that I can easily reverse. Did you not find that strange?"

He leant forward, placing his lips at her ear, "Give up. Come with me. I taught you everything you know."

Sakura somehow managed to give a mocking smirk, "You didn't teach me everything." She replied, before she exploded into thousands of petals.

Itachi's hand closed into a fist where he had been holding Sakura, and he looked at the crushed petals in his hand thoughtfully, "Kurenai-san…"

Kisame's twirled the sword in his grip, not even bothering to look, "The petals are a distraction, she's hiding round the corner."

The petals began to spin furiously. Itachi brushed the few on his palm off hastily.

"Ow!" Kisame cursed, slapping his hand at his cheek where a petal had brushed against it. The skin had been burnt and was beginning to bubble up.

The petals shot towards Itachi, who barely even glanced at them.

Sakura kept the hand seals up, gritting her teeth.

"That technique won't work in such close quarters," Itachi's cold voice said to her right.

She jumped in shock and hastily stepped back.

She had been so sure her petals were busy dissolving Itachi… a clone? Sakura looked up into her sensei's eyes. A very good clone.

Sakura was thrown back into the hallway carelessly, landing hard on her leg. She cried out.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted from the floor.

Sasuke began to shake with rage.

Itachi knelt down next to Sakura and made eye contact with her, "Watch carefully, Sasuke. You are about to see how the Sharingan is really meant to be used."

"No!" Sasuke yelled, suddenly infected with desperation, "No! No, don't use –"

The world went black.

A stabbing pain began in Sakura's stomach, she gave a choking scream and looked down. There was something sticking through her midriff, blood was –

"Sakura, listen to me." Itachi's voice said, low and urgent, right next to her ear, "You are not in pain. It is an illusion. I only wanted you to scream to show the others I was torturing you."

The various aches and pains in Sakura's body faded until all she felt was numb. She fell to the ground.

She was surrounded by nothingness, just black stretching all around her. The ground felt cold against her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I should never have lied to you. I should have trusted you with –"

"Shut up." Sakura said, her voice dull and flat. She could not move, "I don't want to hear it."

Itachi fell silent.

Sakura felt tears slide down her face and wondered if they were even real.

"Fine. If you want me to be cruel, I will be cruel." Itachi whispered suddenly.

Pain seared on her upper shoulder. Sakura screamed again, trying to get away from the source of the burning heat.

The pain stopped, and she gingerly felt her shoulder to see if she was injured. There was nothing but the smallest mark. A little Uchiha insignia, burned into her skin.

"The mark is not real." Itachi said in her mind, "Only you will see it. Just a reminder of me, so you do not forget what I have taught you. I spent six years training you to keep you alive. Do not make those years of training a waste of time. I do not want to return to Konoha to find you dead out of some misplaced sense of justice. Use my techniques. They will keep you safe in my absence."

"Goodbye, Sakura." Itachi said, and she felt his lips press against her cheek.

Then the world came flooding back to her, and she was lying on the floor in a pool of her own vomit.

Naruto was shouting.

Sakura found she could not lift her head. She managed to lift her eyes up and saw a large man with white, spiky hair standing next to Naruto. He met her pain-filled gaze and gave her a look of immense sympathy.

"Uchiha Itachi," The man growled, "They are only children. That boy is your brother! You are a monster."

The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck rose when she heard his voice, so cold and matter-of-fact.

"I know." He said simply.

Sakura felt a rushing sensation and was unconscious even before her head hit the ground.

xxxxxxxx

The shower was hot, filling the room with steam. Sakura sat on the floor of the shower, her arms wrapped protectively around herself, shaking despite the intense heat.

She rubbed her cheek in revulsion, remembering the cold, illusory lips that had pressed against her face when she was trapped in that illusion.

She had been informed Sasuke had ran at Itachi when Sakura started screaming, too blind with rage to realise he was outmatched by several leagues. Itachi had merely switched his target to his little brother and put him under a painful illusion, one that had apparently broken his mind.

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, her hands in her hair.

Jiraiya, the member of the Sannin, had shown up at the last minute and saved them all. Naruto had told Sakura that the only thing that had kept Kisame from grabbing Sakura's unconscious body had been Jiraiya's swift intervention. Kisame had called it 'a waste,' and clearly thought he was pleasing his partner by attempting to bring Sakura with them.

Itachi had looked at her once and simply shaken his head, Naruto mentioned.

Sakura opened her eyes and watched the blood from her wounds mix with the water, rushing down the plughole.

Her sensei was the infamous mass-murderer, Uchiha Itachi, the man that had killed his entire family in one night.

Sakura kept thinking back to the night before, shuddering at the thought of what would have happened if she had gone with him. He was apparently a member of a criminal organisation. Would he have taken her back there? Would she have been forced to join them?

Her sensei, a monster.

Sakura began to sob, not caring how loud she was being, not caring if her mother heard, just overcome with emotion.

He'd hugged her, kissed her on the forehead… he'd been like an older brother to her… her friend. She had seriously considered leaving her village for him. In her own way, she'd loved him.

The showerhead poured boiling hot water down onto her, turning her skin pink. The steam swirled around the room, painting the window with foggy condensation, until she could no longer see outside it.

She could hear the faint, rhythmic tapping of a crow's beak on the window.

She turned the shower up so that the water crashed to the stone floor, blocking off her hearing.

Outside the house, a crow sat on the window ledge and tried to peer through the steamy window. Raban gave a desolate caw and flew away.

Sakura rubbed her eyes and tried hard not to look at the burnt Uchiha logo on her arm, something that no one but herself seemed able to see. The water poured over it and blurred the insignia, unable to wash it away.


Looks like the game is up! Guess what guys?

There's a timeskip next chapter.

So Sakura will be legal, lol! XD

Btw, before anyone screeches about clichéd made up jutsus, the petal jutsu exists in canon, it's Kurenai's. I thought it would make sense that she'd teach it to Sakura. Itachi never bothered to check out what Kurenai taught Sakura, did he?

Quick poll for fun: Should Sakura be…?

A) A genjutsu-wielding illusionist who fights from afar.

B) The usual medical specialist with mutant strength.

C) A taijutsu specialist who refuses to use any kind of jutsu out of principle.

D) Any combination of the above options, like a genjutsu specialist with mutant strength, etc, or anything you want. Suggest what you want Sakura's talents to be, and I will select the most interesting or fitting one.