Cherry Bridge

XxXxX

She learned that in the midst of a crisis, she had to be strong. She could always cry later when there was enough time.

XxXxX

A/N

Hello, everybody!

I forgot to mention that I was absolutely stunned when the review bar hit 100! I checked my fic, and my jaw dropped to the floor, I swear.

Anyways, I want to give a special thanks to K&K for being so patient with me. I absolutely treasure your reviews and comments on my story – maybe one day my writing will be as good as yours! :)

And also, Jaylee-Rebel. You rock, seriously! I wish you the best of luck on your new fic, and I'm sure that you'll discover your writer's side in no time!

And please don't think I've forgotten the rest of you reviewers! I adore all of you, and I really, really, really appreciate that you take time to leave a comment behind for me. Just so you know, I have a special folder in my email inbox where I put only reviews, and I thank all of you for filling that folder up with so many encouraging feedbacks!

Now, enough of the sentimentality. Although I do love emotion, you're probably itching to read the next chapter. Onwards!

XxXxX

Chapter 10

"Okay, I think I've been patient enough," Kakashi's words came out in a low, intense tone. Naruto, his eyes narrowed in concentration, jumped as his attention was pulled from his Shadow Clones to his mentor.

"Hai?" he asked.

"Why exactly did Sakura's voice appear around us?" the copy ninja inquired. "How do you know that it wasn't fake?" A hard, sharp edge entered his voice. "And why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I bloody damn want an explanation myself," Kiba growled.

"Uh… hehe, sorry, Kaka-sensei," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, feeling the gazes of all the others on him. "It kinda slipped my mind. And I am a hundred percent sure that it was Sakura-chan, dattebayo!"

"Why?"

"Because she's done this weird mind-to-mind speaking thing before," the blonde explained. "About… um… almost a week ago. She spoke to me when I got back from training with you and Yamato-taichou, Sensei."

"Aha… And you automatically trust that?" Kakashi's lone eye narrowed dangerously.

Gulping, Naruto defended himself:

"But-but-but, Kaka-sensei! She sounded sooo much like Sakura-chan!"

The rest of the group groaned in unison, save Hinata, and Shino asked:

"What did she say?"

"Stuff about punching me through the Hokage mountain if I told anybody," Naruto admitted sheepishly.

"You're just whipped," Kiba sniffed.

Naruto sent the Inuzuka a deadly glare, but Kakashi interrupted, saying:

"I still can't believe you just let that pass, Naruto. But for the moment, we don't have much of a choice. Whether who we heard was really Sakura or an enemy, our goal is still clear."

"Hai!" The others chorused.

Kakashi's gaze slid to Naruto, and he continued:

"For now, we can only cope with what we've been given. Naruto, have any of your clones sensed anything?"

"Not yet, but they're bound to find something any time now!"

XxXxX

Sakura was ready to scream in frustration.

In her head, she ran through every single curse word she knew, thinking daggers at everybody in Team Hebi.

She'd tried to escape twice, and twice they had stopped her! The first time, when she had slowly dropped behind and then suddenly reversed directions, Suigetsu's monster sword had swept up behind her. As she dodged it, Juugo's arm had securely snagged her around the waist, effectively causing her to fold around his limb with a choked cry.

The second time… Sasuke had grabbed her arm, twisting it with bruising strength.

She absentmindedly brushed the bruise on her arm, a brief flare of her chakra soothing the pressured tissue. Glaring at the Sasuke's back, she wondered what the hell was going on in the Uchiha's head.

Gritting her teeth, she forced her gaze downwards, kicking herself in the ass for staring at him. She was only glad that he didn't have the Byakugan; otherwise he might have caught her staring.

Out of habit, she scanned her surroundings for the umpteenth time, hoping that she would feel her teams' familiar chakra. But there was nothing.

Sakura snuck a glance at Karin, leaping to the front and right. The redhead was silent, brooding over something. Sakura didn't care to wonder what the other kunoichi was thinking about, instead carefully checking that Karin wouldn't bother her.

The pinkette's eyes slid shut, and she quickly located her second mind. Frowning, she urged herself to hurry up the process of switching minds and leaving the confines of her body.

Finally, she was outside again. Now she had a huge range, much further than her chakra could ever go, and she searched intently for any familiar signatures.

She found… relieving and troubling presences.

Behind her and Team Hebi, about two miles away, she could feel the Konoha Teams searching in grid patterns. So, they had been thrown by the scent divisions, then. The woods nearby was filled with identically bright chakras, and she recognized them immediately.

They were Naruto's Kage Bunshin, and they were spreading out fast.

Hope lit within her, only to flicker unsteadily as Sakura examined the other signatures she had found.

When she finally recognized the chakra, she wanted to roll her eyes and gasp in horror simultaneously.

Why, oh why, was Itachi lingering near her loudmouth teammate?

Concern welled up inside of her. Even though she sympathized with the elder Uchiha brother, she was not willing to trust him alone with Naruto.

Her mind arrowed towards Itachi, her thoughts grim.

She wanted to talk with him.

XxXxX

Itachi's entire body tensed when a voice called sternly:

"Itachi-san."

Who was it? Itachi scanned the area with his chakra, frowning when he sensed nobody. Why was the voice so familiar?

"It's me, Itachi-san. It's Sakura."

Itachi's frown deepened. He must be hallucinating. Why would he be hearing the Konoha medic… in thin air?

Nevertheless, he didn't let his surprise show, instead murmuring:

"Sakura-san. May I ask what exactly you're doing?"

"Of course you can ask. The question is if I'll answer." There was amusement in her disjointed voice, which hardened into iron determination.

"However, I'm here for a different reason. Why are you nearing Naruto?" The sharp edge in her tone made Itachi smirk.

"Worried about Uzumaki, are we?" he asked, an almost teasing note in his deep voice.

"Just tell me!"

"You can't order me around, kunoichi. However, I will answer your question. I want to give Uzumaki a… present. And ask him something."

"What kind of a present?" There was suspicion in Sakura's voice.

Itachi took a moment to steady himself, and answered:

"Part of my strength."

"And why?"

"That question connects to what I want to ask your teammate about."

"Dammit, tell me! What is it, Itachi?"

The Uchiha sighed and gazed up at the sky which peeked through the treetops.

"I want to ask him… what he'll do if Sasuke attacks Konoha."

"And what do you want to hear from Naruto?"

Itachi's eyes slid closed. He sighed from somewhere deep in his chest and answered:

"My hope is that Uzumaki-san will protect Konoha. Even…" his voice trembled the tiniest bit, "Even if he has to kill Sasuke."

Dead silence.

Then,

"ARE YOU NUTS?!" Sakura yelled. "You've gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!"

"No, listen!" Itachi's voice was hard as his eyes snapped open. "It's the only way!"

"It is not the only way, you moronic idiot! Geez, what's with you Uchiha men?! Too stubborn, and too proud!" she ranted. "You listen to me, Uchiha Itachi! Naruto would never be able to kill Sasuke! He just… can't!"

"I will see what he answers himself."

"Ugh," Sakura groaned. "This is some messed up shit going on. I can't believe it's real."

"Language, Sakura." A smirk tugged at his lips.

"Don't you correct my language, mister! You have absolutely no right to, you friggin' prick!"

By now, Itachi was a hundred percent sure that this was the real Sakura talking to him. But curiosity surfaced inside him, and he asked:

"May I ask you something now, Sakura?"

"Whatever."

He took that as a 'yes'.

"How are you able to communicate with me over distances? And how did you break through Tsukuyomi?"

"I… don't really think I'm allowed to tell you."

"You shouldn't have found out about the Uchiha massacre, either," Itachi challenged. "You owe me an explanation."

"Fine," she snapped. "I am not a Haruno. I'm a Rokukan. Happy?"

Itachi's eyes widened, and he repeated slowly:

"Rokukan…? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! What is it? What's bothering you?"

The elder Uchiha brother shuddered, a small itch of discomfort crawling through him. It all made sense now – her ability to block his dojutsu, her voice in the air when she wasn't there… Why hadn't he seen it before!

"Itachi-san?" her voice sounded curious. "What's wrong?"

"Sakura… I urge you to run. No, hide. Hiding would be better. Hide and do not come out for a while."

"Why?"

"Because…" Itachi steeled himself.

"Uchiha Madara is after you."

To his surprise, Sakura only huffed a breath and answered:

"I know. He tried to capture me."

Itachi's eyebrows shot up. An intense expression for him.

"You evaded him? Congratulations, that is quite a feat."

"Actually, I didn't escape by myself." She sounded slightly sheepish. "Sasuke rescued me."

Now Itachi fought the urge to let his eyes open wide. His little brother had saved her? Then Sasuke had done the world a favour.

"That is… unexpected," he muttered.

"Itachi-san… why is Madara after me?" a slight quiver entered her voice.

"What does he want of me?"

Itachi sighed and answered reluctantly:

"I don't why… but he's been killing Rokukan Clan members for decades. And… he's been collecting the corpses."

XxXxX

Sakura fought a startled cry.

Her body, jumping through the trees behind Sasuke, flinched and nearly missed the next branch. Her foot slipped for a while before chakra gathered, sticking her to the wood.

Knowing that Madara had killed Eiri's parents and Azami's brother was bad enough… but hearing that the man had been murdering her family to collect their bodies for decades shocked her beyond words. It was purely disgusting.

She swallowed thickly, darting a glance towards Sasuke. She flinched as she realized that the younger Uchiha had noticed her body falter. His face was inclined towards her slightly.

"Itachi-san, sorry for the abrupt halt," she said. "But I have to stop now. Sasuke's noticed that something's up."

"Wait," Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You didn't tell me that you were travelling with my otouto."

"Whoops, I didn't?" she asked guiltily. "Sorry. It slipped my mind."

"Why are you with him?"

"He forced me along—Itachi, I have to go. Sayonara!"

She cut the conversation off, returning to her body just as Sasuke halted in front of her. She nearly crashed into him, only avoiding a collision with a graceful somersault through the air.

"Sakura," his voice was sharp. "What were you doing?"

"Me?" she asked innocently. "I wasn't doing anything."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he barked:

"Don't lie to me – what were you doing?"

Sakura sighed, placing a hand on her hip. Gathering all her skill in lying, she answered:

"Fine, I was thinking about how I used to have a crush on you. Sorry for staring at you, by the way. Anyways, I was remembering stuff, and not paying attention where I was going. Happy now?"

She knew out of experience that if you used an embarrassing truth, then people were more willing to believe the lie. She hoped that Sasuke would buy it.

Instead of scoffing, or otherwise making fun of her, he unexpectedly stepped closer to her on the branch, his proximity setting off alarm bells in her head. He didn't flash-step – his advance was deliberate and slow, meant to intimidate.

She backed away, her eyes darting from Sasuke to the rest of Team Hebi. They had stopped, eyeing her curiously.

"Sakura," Sasuke drawled, drawing her attention again. She gulped, forcing her gaze from his face. He had activated that bloody Sharingan of his, and was examining her with it.

"What?" she snapped, hoping with all her might that the lie wouldn't be caught.

She hoped in vain. The Sharingan picked up the tiniest twitch of her mouth, the slight trembling in her voice…

"You're lying to me," he stated, irritated. Why wouldn't she tell him?

Slowly, but surely, this new Sakura was getting under his skin. Her nervous, tense way around him had him convinced that she was hiding something from him. A big something. And he had to make sure she had nothing up her sleeves.

"I'm not," she automatically denied. The words had hardly left her mouth when he grabbed one of her wrists, jerking hard. She flailed, filling her legs with chakra, trying to keep her upright position. Before she could regain her balance, his leg hooked around her ankle, jerking her down.

With a startled yelp, she redirected chakra to the palm of her hand. As she fell, she lashed out at his face which was directly above her.

An earsplitting slap echoed through the forest.

Sasuke released her, reeling back, the Sharingan spinning wildly. He'd seen her move coming, but even though he could predict it, he couldn't completely avoid it.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, smirking as her eyes traced the red finger marks on the Uchiha's left jaw line, all the way from his chin to the corner of his jaw.

'Too bad I didn't hit him square in the face', she mused wistfully.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he spat:

"What the hell was that for?"

The pinkette fought the urge to laugh.

"For being a bastard, dearest Sasuke-kuuuun," she chirped sweetly. The light, mocking tone was meant to enrage him, and it worked.

The Uchiha's lips thinned, his gaze intensifying, and his hands ran through the seals of Chidori at lightning speed. Sakura, personally, was amazed that he could execute the seals that fast.

When the sound of a thousand birds ripped through the air, she acted.

Her eyes were fierce as she hauled back, aimed, and yelled:

"Shannaro!"

Her blow smashed into the branch, completely splintering it as the wood buckled and blew into millions of tiny shards. Sasuke found himself falling through the air, and turned his body so that he'd land on his feet. His hand darted to his sword, pulling it free of its sheath with a grating, metallic sound.

Sakura landed opposite of him, her gaze narrowed.

"You can't tell me what to do, Uchiha Sasuke," she hissed. "I'm not helping you with a single mission of your bloody revenge. Got that?"

Chakra scalpels flickered to life, and she prayed that her theory would work. She increased the flow of chakra, ignoring her body as it screamed pain at her. She was straining herself, she knew, but there was no way that she'd let Sasuke just drag her around.

The scalpels that she used were very rough, not very well defined ones. They were as good as kunai attached firmly to her hands, except that they could cut through most anything.

With another battle cry, she launched herself at Sasuke, pink hair streaming behind her.

He raised his katana, blue lightning racing across its blade. He swung at Sakura, meaning to incapacitate her.

Clang!

Sasuke started, shock written across his face.

She'd… blocked his blow?

Her green eyes blinked away tears of pain as she gripped his sword one-handed. As long as she could grip the supposedly un-blockable blade, it was no problem to meet his swing with her monster strength.

She lunged forward, using his own blade as leverage, and grabbed his other hand tightly in her own, abandoning the scalpel in that one hand. Quickly, she used his hand for her own purposes, forming seals for a bunshin.

Sasuke jerked, but she held him fast. Right before she managed to finish the bunshin technique, he wrenched his sword from her and managed to hit her in the side with the flat of the blade.

She hissed as his chidori lanced up her side, shocking her, but she completed a clone right in that moment. Her bunshin leaped up behind Sasuke, coming down with a chakra-laden fist.

"Gotcha!" she yelled.

But Sasuke merely leaned to the side, letting the clone soar past him. He was getting kinda pissed now, and used his free hand to wrench her head back.

Emerald green eyes glared up at him, daring him to use the Sharingan.

'Alright, if she's challenging me…'

The tomoes in his eyes whirled, bringing her into a genjutsu world.

She stood on a smooth, black surface. Gazing around, she spotted a pair of glowing red eyes staring at her. They changed, growing smaller until they melted into Sasuke's face which appeared just then.

"Stop it, Sakura," he ordered flatly.

"No."

"Why won't you go along peacefully?" he growled.

Rage boiled up inside of her, thick, suffocating, and blazing red.

"Go with you?" she hissed. "Peacefully?! Quit fooling with me, you self-absorbed prick! Why won't I go with you? Use that pretty little head of yours to think for once, dammit! You're my enemy at the moment, Sasuke! Duh! So why would I go peacefully?"

"Why am I your enemy?" Sasuke deadpanned. He was trying to get her to talk – maybe she'd spill the beans then.

"Hm… let me see," Sakura pretended to think, then held up three fingers.

"First of all, you left us, betraying Konoha in the process! Secondly, you've tried to kill Naruto twice, and me as well! And thirdly, I—"

She halted abruptly, turning white.

'… That was too close', she thought, heart pounding. 'I almost told him about Itachi…'

"Thirdly?" he asked smoothly, staring at her. She couldn't avert her gaze, and it was driving her nuts to stare into his burning red eyes.

"… I… um… forgot," she worked to make her voice sound sheepish. It failed miserably.

'Ouch, that was pathetic', she winced.

As if he'd read her thoughts, Sasuke continued:

"That was just sad, Sakura."

"Glad to see you crying," she snapped.

"You've always been the weakest member of Team 7. I kept picking fights with Naruto because you're just not worth my time."

Agony flared inside of her, but she forced it down. In a level, even tone, she whispered:

"You're wrong."

"How so?" he smirked.

Her eyes slid shut, then opened. When they did, they blazed with loathing and a small spark of smug pride.

"I'm different now, you shithead."

With that, she called forth her second mind, using its untainted clarity to stop the flow of her own chakra for a split second. That second was all she needed to free herself from the genjutsu.

However, she opened her eyes to reality, it wasn't much better.

Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin crouched around her, eyeing her warily. Opposite to her, Sasuke struggled to his feet, breathing heavily. His expression was priceless – incredulous and startled.

Sakura immediately reached for her chakra, fully intent on batting Team Hebi away, but was stopped as she realized that she couldn't feel her chakra.

She frowned, scanning her system. Her heart plummeted.

Karin grinned at the other kunoichi's astonished gaze, and snickered:

"Yep, that's right, gaki. You can't unlock that damn chakra of yours until I release it." The redhead ignored Sakura's scathing look, and continued proudly:

"Apart from tracking chakra and sensing it in accurate distances, I am also an expert at blocking chakra. Your lapse when Sasuke-kun caught you in his genjutsu was enough time for me to shut your chakra network down."

Leaning in, she hissed so quietly that only Sakura heard her:

"And that's why Sasuke-kun wants me along, not you. You're only here because he perceives you as an annoyance to him."

The pinkette glowered at the redhead, before abruptly turning her face aside. She refused to look at Sasuke who came to a halt in front of her.

He gazed at her for a long moment, simply looking at her.

He hated to admit it, but… he didn't like seeing her lying there, looking so helpless. It brought back the genin days, days that he didn't want to remember.

The image of a younger Sakura being painfully squeezed by Sabaku no Gaara's sand flashed through his mind.

It would be a mistake on his part to not restrain her after she'd disobeyed him so many times. But he also didn't want Sakura at Karin's mercy… the thought did uncomfortable things to his mind.

Slowly, almost surreally, he formed a series of seals.

Sakura heard the telltale brush of hands which indicated a jutsu being executed.

'What's he doing?' she wondered with a touch of panic.

The next instant, cool fingers brushed the hollow between her collarbones.

With a cry, she jerked away, but it was already done. Strange, square black patterns flared over her skin, before fading away, retreating into a black square at her throat.

She could feel a stronger, denser block around her chakra now in addition to Karin's first one.

"Karin, release the chakra block," Sasuke's voice was sharp and hard.

The redhead flinched, snarling inwardly. Why was Sasuke protecting the bitch?

"But Sasuke-kun…!" she whined.

"Now."

Huffing, she formed a seal and ordered:

"Kai!"

Sakura felt the first block slide out of her system harshly, like a splinter being pulled from under your skin. It stung, but was over after a few seconds.

Karin stood as soon as the technique was completed, and flounced off angrily.

Suigetsu grinned as he watched the original Sound kunoichi retreat, and said:

"Seriously, Cherry, if you'd asked me before attacking Sasuke, I'd have said no and you could've saved yourself the trouble."

"Baka," Sakura hissed, standing as well. Her knees knocked together; they were shaking that much from the sudden absence of her chakra.

Regaining her balance, she wrinkled her nose as Sasuke ordered:

"Let's go. We've wasted time."

Sakura rolled her eyes and followed him reluctantly.

Now that she had time, she could take an inventory of her wounds.

Apart from her chakra being blocked, there was a small headache forming. That probably came from forcefully breaking out of the genjutsu. Also, her hand was burnt.

It took a second for her to remember, but then she realized that the burn came from catching Sasuke's katana, which had been streamed with chidori.

Also, her side hurt every time she took a breath, which resulted from being shocked by the blue lightning.

Soon enough, they were leaping through the trees again. Sakura was second last, and Karin was behind her. The position left Sakura feeling uncomfortable, since she was sure that the redhead wasn't feeling particularly kindly inclined towards her at the moment.

But why was Karin always so ill-tempered around her? Sakura mulled over the other kunoichi's furious reactions, searching for an answer.

Just as she was deciding to leave the case alone, Karin's voice echoed in her mind:

"And that's why Sasuke-kun wants me along, not you."

A startled giggle burst through her lips, causing the males ahead of her to look at her curiously while Karin scowled.

Sakura didn't care, instead she laughed inwardly at her new discovery.

'Karin's afraid that Sasuke likes me', the pinkette mused. Another chuckle escaped her and she shook her head.

'I don't know why she would think that, especially after Sasuke just fought with me and bound my chakra. Oh well, women have their own motives that they themselves don't understand.'

She smiled, not noticing the odd gaze the Sasuke slanted at her.

XxXxX

Naruto was panicking.

Why?

Because… he was caught in Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu… yet again!

'Crap', he growled. 'I didn't even look in his eyes!'

"Uzumaki, I just want to talk to you," Itachi's face and torso appeared in a mass of crows, floating across the blood-red sky.

"Fuck you," Naruto spat through gritted teeth. "What do you want?"

"I want to ask you a question."

Naruto stared at the elder Uchiha, wondering if he should refuse to cooperate. But… at the moment, he couldn't really tell what the question was, since Itachi hadn't asked yet.

"Fine."

"What will you do—" Itachi's gaze locked onto bright blue, "—if Sasuke attacks Konoha?"

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of teacups and he spluttered:

"What? Why are you fucking spewing such shit?"

Inwardly, Itachi chuckled at the cuss words.

'Sakura…' he thought. 'You're teammates are a bad influence when it comes to language.'

"I'm not joking," he said out loud, "I'm serious, Naruto-kun. What would you do? Would you kill Sasuke?"

Naruto's spine snapped straight.

"No."

"But what if he plans on destroying Konoha? You'd have to kill him to stop him."

The sentence lingered in the air, and Naruto was silent. Itachi began to wonder if the Kyuubi Jinchuriki planned on answering, when the blonde blurted:

"I won't kill Sasuke, and I'll save Konoha anyways! Because…"

His face hardened with determination.

"… Because that's my Ninja Way, dattebayo!"

Silence.

Itachi couldn't deny the relief that washed through him. Naruto hadn't completely agreed to what Itachi was thinking about, but at least the boy was willing to protect Konoha.

Also, he felt a prickle of hope.

As he stared at the blonde shinobi, he could nearly feel the confidence and fierce loyalty radiating off of him.

Naruto gaped, wondering if his eyes were tricking him. Had Itachi just…?

Yes.

Uchiha Itachi had just smiled.

Then, all further thoughts were wiped from his mind as a crow jammed itself into his mouth, causing him to splutter and choke.

"I will give you a part of my strength, Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi's voice floated around him.

"I hope you will never need it."

With that, Itachi dispelled the illusion and warped himself away at the same time.

'Between Naruto and Sakura…' he thought, 'Sasuke will face two indestructible barriers. I only wish that this whole mess could have been avoided – I wish that Sasuke had the Will of Fire as well.'

XxXxX

A/N

Sappy ending to this chapter – Itachi being such a loving brother. FUZZY!

I have received quite a few requests to keep Itachi alive… but I really can't promise anything. The story line has already been set, and I can't change my mind on the spot.

Speaking of Itachi… I read this awesome fic called With Every Beat by halfdemonfan. Go on, get outta here and read it! On the double! It's really good, and I bet you won't regret it.

Oh yeah… reviews please! I take x-tra interest in how you thought the fight scenes are. I struggle to make them passable, and if you can help me I'll be really grateful!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Wow, no new Japanese words. Ah well, that's okay, I guess. Now go and read With Every Beat!