Tenten gave Sakura a rather curious look. The dark haired girl sat behind the counter, her chin resting on both hands. Her hair was tied back in her signature twin buns and she wore a short sleeved dark blue shirt.

Sakura gave a wordless nod in acknowledgment of the look, and ducked into the shop, trying to avoid the mess of decorations that were tied to the top of the doorframe.

"Sorry," Tenten said hastily, hopping up to untangle Sakura from a particularly stubborn streamer, "It's my dad, he thinks strangling potential customers will make them like us. Oh! Sorry! Did that hurt?" She asked nervously, smoothing down the bit of pink hair she had accidently yanked whilst unravelling the streamer, "It's really just because he wants to attract new customers."

"That's fine," Sakura gave a patient smile, shaking herself free of the decorations at last, "I always enjoy a quick strangling before I shop."

Tenten stepped back and gave a quick, professional smile, "What were you looking for?"

"Anything new," Sakura said absently, "I've found that the paper bombs are useful, but anything flashy blows my cover."

She could see Tenten mulling it over, "So, no swords or axes as usual, right? OK. Have you thought about traps? We have some new stock. Wire traps. You set them up and wait for your – oh, OK."

Sakura was already walking towards the trap section, "Good idea, Tenten-san. I'm no good at setting traps though… I may have to attend a few classes before I get the hang of them."

"I could teach you!" Tenten said, her grin dazzling at the potential sale, "I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to traps."

"You're a bit of an expert when it comes to any weapon." Sakura corrected, smiling. She bent down to examine the stock.

She picked up a metallic ball and frowned, "What does this do?"

"That? Squeeze the sides," Tenten demonstrated, "and put it on the ground. That primes it, you see? The next contact it gets will set it off. It's quite flashy, so you might not like it."

Sakura rolled the trap around in her hand, feeling the subtle protrusions where you had to squeeze it, "Flashy in what way?"

Tenten spread her hands out like a true salesman, still beaming her plastic smile in the hope that Sakura would actually buy something this time, "It's very cool. It sets off a bright flash of light and metal spikes go flying! I can't tell you how hard it is to practise with. I nearly killed a squirrel last time. Lee still hasn't forgiven me."

Sakura's smile slipped slightly. Behind Tenten's calm, collected exterior lurked a girl capable of out-chatting Ino when the right topic of conversation came up. She couldn't deal with girly chatter. Not today.

She picked up a few more traps and studied them.

"I'll take these, thank you." Sakura said, ignoring the joyful gleam in Tenten's eyes at making a sale, "I'm pretty sure I can stretch my concealment jutsu to cover the traps. I just need to practise a lot more."

Tenten took her money and started to bag the traps up for Sakura. She heaved a sigh, "I wish I was as good at genjutsu as you. It would sure come in handy with all the traps at my disposal." She waved at the large array of gleaming traps on the shelves.

"I'd love to be able to win a fight with a twig," Sakura retorted, grinning, "How did you do that, by the way?"

"He wasn't looking and I was kinda annoyed at the time. It went straight up his nose." Tenten said with a wistful look.

Sakura gave a snort of laughter and waved goodbye, backing out of the shop carefully to avoid the death-trap decorations on the door.

Tenten waved back absently, her smile fading. She didn't know Sakura that well, only what she'd gathered during Sakura's rather infrequent visits to Tenten's father's weapons shop, but she knew enough to be worried. Sakura had smiled far too much during that quick visit.

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Sakura felt the rain hit her the moment she stepped out of the shop and squinted balefully up at the sky.

A crow was circling just above her.

Without hesitation, Sakura closed the shop door behind her and flicked a kunai at the crow in one, smooth movement.

She aimed to miss, just to scare it off. The crow gave an indignant caw and shot off into the sky, leaving feathers drifting down to her.

Sakura snatched one out of the air and examined it, her face carefully blank.

"That was an awful lot of killing intent just for a crow." Kakashi said knowingly from behind her.

Sakura tensed and let the feather fly away on the wind.

She turned, sighing in irritation at being caught.

"I was just being careful." Sakura said slowly. She had to take care regulate her voice; she'd noticed that a few people thought her slightly creepy when they first heard her speak. It was the dull, lifeless way she spoke. She frequently attempted to inject enthusiasm into it, but merely ended up sounding fake.

"I heard he could summon crows. That wouldn't have anything to do with that, now would it?" Kakashi gestured upwards, to where the crow had settled in a tree.

I heard he could summon crows.

Sakura remembered seeing a scroll with old, dried blood on it, brown smears on rough parchment. Black feathers emerging from the paper, a smooth dark head, powerful flapping wings, bright, intelligent eyes.

Yes, he could summon crows.

So could she.

But she would rather die than summon any of those treacherous, spying little sneaks again.

"Could he?" Sakura said flatly, "I wouldn't know."

Kakashi gave a disbelieving snort, implying who do you think you're kidding?

Only herself.

"I don't want to talk about any of that today, Kakashi." Sakura said, shaking her head. She brushed her slick hair backwards, annoyed that it was going to get curly from the rain.

"Am I not your sensei?" Kakashi's visible eye narrowed.

Sakura froze, the verbal slip astonishing her.

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei." She stuttered, horrified at her mistake.

He looked at her for a long moment, "…do you still think of him as your sensei?" He asked, suspicion evident in his voice.

God, she was so tired of people being suspicious of her.

Her voice turned cold, despite her efforts to sound casual, "I don't think of him at all, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good," He said mildly, "because I'm your sensei, Sakura. I always have been and I always will be."

Sakura closed her eyes. He was too good to her. Any other sensei would have abandoned her. Not him.

She opened her eyes and gave him a genuine smile, "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei."

She pulled her bag up to her chest and peered up at the sky. Yes, it was still raining heavily and by look of the dark grey clouds spreading across the sky, it wasn't going to end any time soon.

"Go home, Sakura." Kakashi said suddenly, interrupting her thoughts.

She frowned, feeling cold water sliding down her neck from the rain.

"I know what day it is today. Just go home. You shouldn't do it to yourself again." Kakashi said shrewdly.

"No one else remembers the day, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said severely, "There is no one left in the village to remember them."

"You don't owe them anything." Kakashi disagreed.

"Someone has to do something to honour their memory. I couldn't live with myself if I ignored the day."

"You do this every year, Sakura. I have to watch you go through this every year. Please, for my sake if not your own, stop." Kakashi said imploringly.

"I'm not doing anything awful to myself. It helps, in a way, to know I was not the only one fooled by him. I do it because I feel obligated to." Sakura started to walk off, ignoring her sensei's calls.

"Sakura, don't let him win." Kakashi said quietly, so quietly she almost didn't hear him.

Sakura gritted her teeth and carried on.

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She truly wasn't doing anything awful. Kakashi overreacted about everything.

Sakura sat on the floor of the abandoned Uchiha manor living room and spread the contents of her shopping bag onto the dusty carpet.

She carefully lit the candles and placed the lilies in their usual vase on the window sill, like she had done for the past four years.

In Sasuke's absence, she carried out the ritual she knew he used to perform himself.

She put both hands together and prayed that the Uchiha family were at peace.

It was the anniversary of their murder.

She knew she was crying, but ignored it.

How could she have been such a stupid little fool?

That man had killed so many people… just days before she'd first met him.

He was one of the most wanted missing nin in the Land of Fire, and she'd met him so many times. He'd casually walked around Konoha so many times. He'd talked about Sasuke, explained to her how the Sharingan worked, acted like the perfect sensei…

She had at least been suspicious of him. But she'd thought that he'd simply quit his job as a ninja and abandoned his village. She hadn't for one minute suspected he'd murdered his entire family.

She should have reported him.

That was what every high-ranking ninja she'd spoken to had said.

She'd been thoroughly interrogated by the Anbu and in the brief period in between Hokages whilst the village was still mourning the Sandaime, she had been tortured.

Kakashi had been so angry to find out that the interrogation unit had tortured her without even informing him. Yamanaka Inoichi had given the order. Ino hadn't spoken to her father for months after that.

In a way, Sakura didn't blame him for choosing to have her tortured. The situation was beyond suspicious. She had admitted to being tutored by a mass-murderer for six years and despite having the option to kill her several times, including in that hallway four years ago, he never had.

The torture had been bad. But Sakura had had nothing to tell, so they'd had to stop eventually. They were experts, so they hadn't even left scars, something she was thankful for. Like she needed any other reason to be stared at in the street.

There had been talk of sealing away her jutsu forever, to prevent her becoming another mass-murderer or traitor.

Tsunade had forbidden it.

Sakura smiled at the thought of the woman who had become her true sensei.

In those dark days when even Naruto wouldn't look at her, she had met Tsunade, and the older woman had welcomed her as her student gladly, without suspicion.

Sakura might not have made it through those months if not for Tsunade and another woman.

She'd met Anko one day whilst sitting alone near the Forest of Death, lost in awful memories, crying her pathetic little eyes out.

The woman had stumbled across her by accident.

They'd talked for a while, Sakura explaining how the whole village hated her and didn't trust her, and how her own sensei had thrown her away like she was nothing and before she could even finish her tale; Anko had slung one arm around her and offered her some dango.

"Kid," Anko had said cheerfully, "We've got a lot in common. We've both had a dickhead for a sensei. Lemme give you some advice. Move past it. Get stronger without him. Take what he taught you and use it to help yourself. Trust me when I say I know exactly how you feel right now. It's shit, I'm not gonna lie. It might get worse. This is when you'll find out who your real friends are. Keep 'em around, cause you'll need 'em. Don't push 'em away."

Sakura had listened attentively, needing to know that some people were worth trusting, had opinions worth listening to and didn't have an ulterior motive. There was no ulterior motive with Anko. She could tell that straight off. Anko had been telling the truth when she'd said they had loads in common, they got on well and Sakura often went to her for advice.

Tsunade had been pleased by their friendship, but Kakashi – already fragile from the revelation that his student had been secretly learning how to fight from Uchiha Itachi – had acted like Sakura had hurt him personally.

Sakura got up from her kneeling position and looked out of the grimy window. The Uchiha grounds were unkempt and wild, just the way she liked it. As morbid as it seemed, for a while this mansion had been the only safe haven for her.

Her mother had not reacted to the news of Sakura's 'betrayal' well, so home had no longer a place of safety and peace for her back then.

After Sasuke had left, she liked to come here because it gave her a feeling of connection with him, as silly as it sounded. The rooms were still haunted with the presence of the long-dead Uchiha, and it was almost comforting in a way. It was a nice feeling, at any rate. Though she felt watched, intensely studied, it was definitely a friendly kind of observation.

Sakura blew out the candles and wiped her face.

Kakashi had been referring to her yearly trek to the Uchiha mansion when he asked her to stop, but he'd also meant the brutal training regime she always put herself through this time of year.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

She left the building after gathering her things and headed home. Her mother had eventually come around after Sakura begged her to listen to her side of the story, but had been so overcome with horror at the realisation that her little girl had been in danger that she had banned his name from being spoken in the house, which had suited Sakura just fine.

Sakura gripped the plastic bag tightly and looked up at the sky again. It had become habit to check the sky for crows whenever she walked, and more often than not she simply waved a concealment jutsu over herself whenever she spotted one.

It gave her an itchy, watched feeling to walk the streets whilst invisible, able to see every crow flying around, head turning this way and that way, obviously searching for something. Or someone.

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Itachi lay back in the dark room, feeling his eyes ache as he forced the Sharingan to recede. The fight that day had actually tested him, left him with bloody fingers and sore ribs. The target had been a local lord who had spoken up against the bandit activity in the area he lived in. Akatsuki had accepted a 'request' to take care of him on the bandit leader's behalf.

Unfortunately, it was a rare case in which Pain underestimated a target and only sent two members. Kisame had been in his element, as always, but Itachi had been suffering from a fever as they infiltrated the lord's mansion and fought off his many guards, so his defence had been sloppy.

He was finding it hard to switch off the Sharingan lately. Keeping it up for too long hurt more than forcing it to recede did, so in the brief periods in which Itachi was alone he savoured having his own eyes to see through without the jolting pain vision usually brought him.

He had also coughed up blood the other day, to his distaste and resignation. It had already started. Pain had sent for an esteemed medic who had been stumped by his condition. The medic had not survived the check-up, to Itachi's regret. He always despised pointless death.

He wanted to ensure his own death would not be pointless. He wanted to choose his own downfall, and his ideal choice was Sasuke.

His poor little brother. Anyone with access to good spies knew that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru himself, something that Itachi had been proud to hear, but couldn't help feeling it wasn't enough. Orochimaru had been weaker than Itachi. He feared Sasuke was just as weak, if he truly had spent the last four years being trained by the former Sannin.

Whenever he thought of Sasuke, he thought of that stone Uchiha insignia, cracked by the kunai he had hurled at it in a rare fit of anger. The last time he had seen his little brother, he had broken his mind. He had gone too far and had briefly worried he had permanently damaged Sasuke. He had been relieved to hear that Tsunade, the only female Sannin, had healed the damage.

He had not seen Sakura for four years as well, not since that fateful day when his deceit had come undone and she had reacted so, so badly. He had expected tears. He had not expected the sheer bloodlust that had radiated from the twelve year old girl, nor her refusal to listen to his excuses. Perhaps he had not known her at all.

He had stopped the Mangekyo jutsu just in time to have his little brother run at him, screaming in rage. Sakura had just flopped to the floor weakly, her face pale and twitching.

That day frequented his nightmares.

He still didn't know why Sakura had been there at all. By rights, she ought to have never been in that town, let alone that hallway. If she hadn't seen him there, he would never have had to hurt her as much as he did. She could have stayed blissfully ignorant of her sensei's true nature, and he could have continued to watch her grow into the shinobi he had wanted her to be, not the vicious killing machine he assumed she was.

He only knew she was still alive because whenever he had to look at the Akatsuki's reports on the kyuubi boy (never very detailed or indeed accurate), she was there, mentioned as his teammate. He knew absolutely nothing of her life. Raban refused to tell him what he saw whenever he visited her, and every other crow he sent could find no trace of her.

Sakura did not want to be found, it seemed.

A spy had obtained a rough copy of the hokage's own bingo book in the making (after stealing it from the scribe who was writing it) and to Itachi's horror, Sakura's name had been mentioned.

Haruno Sakura, the neat writing had stated, a known associate of the mass-murderer, Uchiha Itachi (for more information on Uchiha, see page 23). Exact association unknown. Subject described relationship as 'training.' There are fears that Haruno was being trained to take Uchiha's place in the criminal organisation, Akatsuki (see page 56-57). Current status: under supervision.

Punishments include: torture of low degree, genin rank temporarily stripped, chuunin rank almost stripped. Current punishment: Career level capped at chuunin.

Threat level: Unknown, assumed low.

Itachi had always known that associating with Sakura could be risky for her, but had never thought her own village would punish her for he'd found out she'd been tortured… well, had Pain suddenly requested he take out Konoha's interrogation squad, he would have done so gladly.

To hear that she could never be more than a chuunin had actually relieved him. She would be less at risk of dying on the battlefield as a chuunin.

The idea that he had trained a random girl from Konoha for six years so that she could one day take his place in Akatsuki was laughable. Genuinely humorous. It had been rumoured that Konoha knew nothing of Akatsuki or their motives, and this only confirmed it.

He had wanted nothing more than to see Sakura for four whole years. He thought about her and Sasuke most days, and considered both of them his own, personal failures. He had failed to protect Sasuke and he had failed to keep Sakura safe under his supervision. If he could have them both live with him he would do so immediately. He had hoped that they could both find happiness together one day, but the thought no longer satisfied him the way it used to. In fact, the thought of them together gave him a curiously restless, unhappy feeling.

Itachi sat up in bed and looked at his blood-stained fingers. He knew he should be cleaning them now, in fact, he ought to have cleaned them several hours ago, but he was so tired and cold that the thought of getting out of bed to pour icy water on his hand did not thrill him as it should do.

His head ached and the fever had left him sweaty and breathless. On days like this he remembered his mother wiping his forehead and trying to sing him to sleep, which never worked because, serious even as a child, he merely informed her that her being noisy wasn't exactly conducive to sleep.

He had remembered what day it was. It was the day he killed his own family in cold blood, and soon it would be the day he had first met Sakura, ten years ago. He wished… he wished so many things it was unhealthy. Sometimes he would lie back on his bed in the darkness of his room and pretend that the massacre had never happened, that his mother was cooking downstairs, his little brother had fallen asleep on the porch again and his father was not making secret plots of treason against Konoha.

He had once asked Sakura to choose him over her village. She showed the same amount of loyalty he had done when he was younger, and had refused him. He wondered if, given the choice, she would choose her village over her family. He suspected she would not.

"Itachi?" Kisame's hoarse voice cut through the wood of the door like a knife, making Itachi's head hurt even more.

"What is it?" He replied calmly, getting to his feet, not quite ready to open the door to see his partner. All that would happen would be Kisame would notice he was unwell again and force him to see a medic, like Pain had done. Itachi didn't need a medic to tell him what was wrong with him. He could feel it in the crackle in his lungs, the whistle of his breath.

"The Leader's been good enough to give us some time off. Few months, by the sound of it. They still ain't got a fix on the kyuubi brat's location and the Leader wants us out from under his feet. He did mention something about keeping a low profile, though. Can't imagine what he meant." Kisame sounded as though he was grinning.

Itachi felt his ribs gingerly. They hurt, but nothing that would stop him travelling.

He could finally go to see Sakura with his own eyes.

It was time.

Genuinely did not expect to churn this chapter out so quickly, but I was writing this in between exam prep and the essays and finished it today. The exam's over and done with and I did the 750 word blog, so just the two essays left now! Nothing quite like finishing something you've had to do for ages, feels great!

Still don't feel that Christmassy at the moment, too much homework to do!

Yes, Sakura specialises in genjutsu now. But that isn't all she can do :) Next few chapters will showcase her skills.

For Desert Scar fans, in DS, Sakura was depressed and hurt and suffered from self-esteem issues. Sakura in this story will be different. Harder. Not as easily hurt. Being betrayed left a wound that scabbed over but never quite healed, so it should be interesting to see in what ways she differs from Desert Scar Sakura.

Btw, COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY REVIEWS I GOT LAST CHAPTER! So happy!

Quick poll for fun: Which is the best fanon representation of a Naruto character?

A) Tenten with a personality.

B) Sakura with a backbone.

C) Hinata with a voice.

D) Sasuke without a stick up his arse.

E) Other! Let me know!