Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto. I think we all know that by now.

Chapter 10

Moon Theory

Sakura gave a small sigh as she woke up in her bed. Alone. For some odd reason she had sort of hoped to have someone lying next to her when she awoke.

Well you probably would have, if you hadn't gone whispering Sasuke's stupid name!

Who would have known it would make him so angry?

Well, he is an Uchiha. They get touchy when they talk about family.

Che.

She raked a hand through her hair as she sat up in her bed. She pushed the blankets back, letting the cool, mountain air hit her legs. Small goose bumps rippled up them at the sudden change of temperature.

She walked over to the table where her scrolls on the Sharingan were placed. She looked down at the ending lines she had put down on the last scroll. The scroll she had finished writing after Itachi had left.

I've finished healing Itachi Uchiha. His blindness no longer affects him. As long as he does not use the Sharingan continually, it should be able to stabilize the change in chakra and the strain on the eyes. If he does not, then a healer will need to be nearby to continue ministrations.

Sakura closed the scroll and slipped it into the large pack she had next to her desk. It was odd, the fact that she now had her own room and place with the Akatsuki. She was already collecting information on their jutsus and had written all of it down. It was funny…the fact that she seemed to be the archivist of the Akatsuki. Of course, she doubted that any of them had written down their jutsus, in a hope that they would never be found by anyone else.

That was rather stupid, when Sakura thought about it.

When they died, their jutsus would be lost forever.

Sakura wouldn't let that happen. She was starting to become a packrat when it came to jutsus. For a moment it reminded her of Orochimaru, the fact that she was drawing upon so many of them.

The variety of jutsus merely fascinated her. The fact that a mere variation of a certain number of hand signs could produce so many significant, unique jutsus.

Kekkei genkai had always fascinated her as well.

The Haruno Clan had no kekkei genkai, or if they did, it wasn't that important and Sakura didn't know it. Perhaps that was why she was so fascinated. It was something she had thought she'd never be able to experience. The strength and pride in the fact that only your clan knew a powerful, wonderful jutsu.

Sakura gave a small smile.

She had them all beat now.

Sakura tugged off her sleeping gown. She would begin training with Deidara soon, but she didn't feel much like doing anything. She was tired, and she was a bit depressed.

And angry at herself for being such an idiot.

I would expect someone like Naruto to ruin a romantic moment like that, but not you Sakura! Baka!
He was probably furious with her.

And she had finished healing his eyes.

…she no longer held a use to him.

Sakura gave another loud sigh. She didn't expect Itachi to listen to her and not use his Sharingan. That meant, of course, that her work would never be done. She smirked.

She'd never really loose her usefulness.

She pulled on her shorts and a large, baggy t-shirt. Casual clothes. She pulled her hair back in a sloppy bun. No reason to dress up. Not like impressing Itachi with her looks would get him to talk to her at the moment.

It hadn't worked the last time.

Knock. Knock.

"You coming kitten, yeah?"

Sakura walked to her jewelry box and placed on her small little amulet with little Naruto's clay paw. She slipped it around her neck and smiled to herself. She wasn't going to let Itachi's mood affect her own. She was going to show him she wasn't weak enough that she'd give into her emotions and cry all day.

"Coming Deidara! I'll meet you outside!" Sakura grabbed two scrolls: an empty one to write down her experiments with the clay jutsus she'd be learning that day which also held the ones she'd been continuing to develop; and her special scroll, which she always took with her now.

She slid her door open, slipping on her sandals as she went and rushed outside, where Deidara was waiting for her, smiling.

"I have a new jutsu to teach you. I think you've graduated from simple clay birds, yeah."

Sakura grinned excitedly. "Do I get to blow things up now?" Secretly, she'd had an urge to blow up something. Maybe stick a bomb in Kisame's bath.

Deidara gave her a smile, but it was slightly nervous and worried, as if he had read her mind. Or maybe he was just worried about putting two very dangerous things together: Sakura, and explosives.

"Sure, yeah. Uh…I was going to teach you a simple exploding bird, jutsu."

Sakura whooped, and Deidara wondered if he was signing his own death certificate.

After all…she was still a bit mad at him. If he taught her something that could potentially harm him, well… but her face was so endearing and excited. Deidara sighed. He was getting soft.

"Let's go then, yeah." Deidara let her walk ahead of him, and he watched her as she moved. She looked good in the short, tight shorts. The long shirt skimmed her thighs, and it hung loosely across her body. It didn't hug her figure. She never seemed to worry about impressing men that way, which Deidara liked about her.

She was down to earth and humble. She hadn't even done anything special with her hair, merely put it up in a messy bun. In her clothes now, he could envision her planting flowers in a garden, a large straw hat on her head.

She'd look breathtaking surrounded by flowers.

Deidara blinked as he realized Sakura was talking to him. She looked back with one eyebrow raised, hands on her hips. "Are you coming or not, lazy?"

"Lazy, yeah?"

Sakura grinned. "Uh-huh. Better keep up, or I'll be better at clay jutsus than you."

"You take too long to mold the clay, yeah." Deidara countered.

"I don't have a special mouth on my hand to chew the clay for me." Sakura called back over her shoulder, skipping ahead of him. It was at these times that Deidara thought he saw a glimpse of the younger Sakura.

She had probably always let her emotions get to her. She probably clobbered anyone in reach when she was angry. She would have been an interesting teammate on any Genin team.

It must have been hard for her, however. She had been on a team with the Uchiha prodigy and the Kyuubi. She must have felt weak and inadequate.

But look at you now, Sakura-chan. You're better than any of them. Deidara shook his head with a small laugh as Sakura plopped herself down in the grass, waiting for him to sit down in front of her.

"See, you're slow!"

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled out in a panic. She felt herself slammed against a tree trunk and she let out a small gasp of pain. The ground where Shikamaru had stood exploded into dirt and dust.

Temari was surrounded by at least ten Cloud shinobi. She was swinging her fan, and the maelstroms she was creating were causing all of them to lose their balance. Ino wondered if maybe one of her swings had gone awry and that was what had slammed her into the tree. After all, there were no enemy shinobi coming after her.

Shikamaru landed on the ground beside Ino. "Don't worry, Ino. Let's let Temari and Naruto handle this one."

That was his polite way of saying, 'you can't handle this level of battle, so I'll stay here and protect you in case any of the shinobi get past Naruto and Temari'. It hurt, but then the truth usually does.

Ino frowned at the thought. She knew she wasn't strong but they were making her look like a little weakling! It wasn't her fault she had been stuck in a group of some of the strongest shinobi in all of Konoha and Suna.

She was a great shinobi. She was an ANBU after all! But…she knew she wasn't one of the strongest. She was like Hinata, Choji, or Tenten, a filler on the team when they needed an extra member. One of the extras in ANBU that they could put somewhere when the teams weren't even.

Naruto was using his Rasengan on three of the Cloud Jônin, his shadow clones making duplicates of the move. Temari was using her sickle winds once more.

Shikamaru shoved Ino down into a crouch as one of the gusts shot at them, cutting the tree behind them in half. "The point is to actually hit the enemy, Temari." Shikamaru called out lazily.

Temari found an opening in one of her enemy's attacks to flip Shikamaru off.

Shikamaru couldn't help but smirk slightly as he shook his head. "Che. Women. So troublesome."

"I never knew Naruto had such a large amount of chakra. That's an s-rank attack, isn't it? Like Chidori?"

"Hai."

"But Sasuke could only use Chidori twice when he left with Orochimaru. Naruto used Rasengan a lot more than that."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Naruto has more chakra."

Ino nodded as she continued to watch Temari and Naruto literally kick Cloud ass.

It ended quickly, and Temari was folding her fan as Naruto whooped and ranted about his superb skill and the fact that they all would have lost if he hadn't been there.

"You're so immature, Naruto." Ino snapped out. Well, Sakura isn't here to do it. I might as well make fun of the little idiot in her place.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. The action looked weird on his nineteen-year-old face. He looked more mature now, but he sure didn't act like it.

He'll always be Naruto.

Temari kicked one of the groaning Cloud shinobi. She lifted him up off of the ground, slamming him into a tree. Shikamaru, Ino, and Naruto winced. She was scary sometimes.

"I have a question for you." Temari smiled at him. "Answer nicely and I'll let you go, alright?"

"Sand bitch." The Cloud Jônin spat.

SLAM.

Naruto and Ino cringed. Shikamaru's eyes had narrowed at the insult to his wife.

"You haven't even begun to see bitchy." Temari still smiled. She turned to Ino. "Ino, I don't think he's going to cooperate. Can you search his mind?"

Ino nodded slowly, walking over. She grinned at Temari, seeing her plan. "Of course. What should I be looking for?"

The man looked between the two of them nervously.

"Oh, I want to know if he's seen any Akatsuki members around this area lately. But while you're in there, why don't you find us his greatest fear?" Temari shrugged. "Anything that you want to do."

Ino grinned as she began making hand signs.

The man gave a small gasp. "No, no, that's alright. Er. If it's the Akatsuki you were wondering about I…"

"Hm?" Temari raised one eyebrow as she held up her hand for Ino to stop her jutsu. "And?" My god, he's a pushover. What kind of a Jônin is he?

"It was said they passed through here…a month or so ago. Someone said they might have a base up in the mountains somewhere, but that mountain range is humongous. Our Kage just decided to let it go."

Temari slammed her fingers into a pressure point, knocking the man unconscious before she dropped him.

"You know, he's going to remember you." Shikamaru pointed out. "We're going to be enemies of the Cloud village now."

"Well, they shouldn't have attacked us!" Naruto yelled out. "We didn't do anything wrong, believe it!"

Shikamaru sighed. "Alright, let's go. We have a lot of ground to cover."

Temari looked up at the large mountain range that loomed over the forest. "Pick a mountain, any mountain." She joked softly.

"That's about how it's going to work." Shikamaru gave a small sigh. "If you were Akatsuki, which mountain would you live on?"

"The biggest!" Naruto supplied.

"Alright, we go for the smallest one." Ino teased.

Naruto stuck out his tongue.

Temari slung an arm around Shikamaru. "Alright hun, this is when your analytical skills are going to come in handy."

Shikamaru gave a sigh as he placed his fingertips together, breathing in deeply. "Che. This is such a drag." He closed his eyes and thought. Thousands of choices and theories flashed through his mind. It seemed like forever before he finally opened his eyes.

"We should split up." Naruto suggested.

"You idiot! If the Akatsuki caught us alone we'd be toast! Not even you can fight off Akatsuki on your own."

"Che." Naruto grunted.

Shikamaru gave another loud sigh. "We'll head there." He nodded his head at the second-to-last peak. "After going through what we know of the Akatsuki and their earlier hideouts and the way they think, that's the best I can come up with at the moment."

"It's better than anything else we can think of." Temari put in. "Let's go."

"Right." Ino nodded.

"YEAH! Let's head OUT—" Naruto grinned.

"…Believe it." Shikamaru, Ino, and Temari finished under their breath. They all looked at each other and couldn't help but burst into laughter.

When Naruto asked what they were laughing at, none of them had the ability to answer between their laughter.

Sakura sat down on the porch with Kisame, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she grinned at him. "You need to watch yourself, twinkle-toes. I almost got you."

Kisame grunted. "I'm sick, that's why."

Sakura reached out and placed her hand on his forehead. "Nope. Not even a cold, Kisame. You seem to forget that you can't fake it around a medic-nin." She grabbed her glass of water that had been waiting for her return from training and gulped half of it down.

"Hey kitten, want to explain to me why Itachi's been glaring daggers at me ever since the night he and Deidara fought?"

Sakura snickered. "I don't know why. You should go ask him."

"Ha." Kisame snorted. "I don't have a death wish, kitten."

Sakura looked up at the sunset. She liked sunsets. Mainly because of their colors. Pink, orange, red, yellow, gold, even some purple and blue.

Sakura had always liked to find pretty things the same color as her hair. It helped her to remember that pink was a pretty color, and that she shouldn't feel stupid because of her hair.

It didn't really help, but she'd grown out of it. So what if she was one of the only people in Konoha—probably in the world—who had pink hair?

At least she wasn't a guy.

She'd never have heard the end of it.

The air was cool, but not cold. She liked that about the mountains. She wondered when they'd be leaving. She didn't want to, but she knew that good things didn't last forever, and that they would be moving out soon.

The Akatsuki never remained in one place for very long.

Where would they go?

Mist? Grass? Waterfall? Sand? Back to Stone? Sound? Leaf?

The possibilities were endless.

She was completely free. No attachments. No responsibility to anyone but herself. And she loved it. She'd never felt such freedom. She'd always been held back. It wasn't as if she had hated it, but it had always been restricting to never be able to leave Konoha without a reason. Sometimes she had just wanted to get away.

That's why she'd become ANBU. Longer missions. Farther away from home.

A taste of what she now had a full-course meal of.

"Kisame, how long has it been since you've been to mist?"

"Che." Kisame leaned back against one of the house beams. "I dunno. Years. Why?"

"When we were there last, we met up with a man named Zabuza Momochi. He was one of the shinobi swordsmen. Did you know him?"

Kisame let out a small laugh. "He was a weak little twerp."

"He was not!" Sakura countered. "He was pretty strong when my team fought him."

"You were Genin though, weren't you?" Kisame raised one eyebrow. "If you fought him now, you'd see the difference."

Sakura shrugged. "Whatever. I liked his sword though."

"Better than Samehada?"

"Well, you never let me actually wield Samehada." Sakura answered back.

"I gave you an imitation."

"Yeah, and they keep breaking." Sakura sighed deeply with a frown. "How do you expect me to get better if you keep giving me swords that break?"

"Suck it up, kitten." Kisame grinned. "You'll survive."

Sakura stood with a sigh. "I suppose I should go take a shower before I train with Sasori."

"Need any company?"
Sakura looked back at him with a grin.

"That's why Itachi's been glaring at you."

Kisame let the thought sink in as the door closed behind Sakura and she walked inside the house.

Kisame then grinned.

And here I thought you were just another emotionless bastard, Itachi.

Good to see I was wrong.

Kisame then stood and headed inside.

He needed a drink.

Sakura sat in her room, contemplating. Her scroll sat on the bed in front of her, staring straight back.

She reached out a hand to pick it up, but stopped herself. She gave a small sigh as she laced her fingers together, resting her chin on them as she continued staring.

This wasn't the first time she'd done this. Usually every night before bed. Contemplation. Worry. Decisions…

Sakura gave a small sigh. What should she do with it? She was surprised that Itachi wasn't demanding that she teach him the jutsu. She wondered if he thought he was so powerful that it didn't matter.

No one else knew about it. Sasori might have thought something was up, but he didn't know what. Kisame was probably oblivious. Deidara well, Sakura didn't think it really mattered if he knew. He wouldn't hold anything against her.

Sakura raked a hand through her hair, sighing deeply in frustration. The scroll was glaring at her, or so it seemed.

It was oh so tempting to rip it to shreds right there. Sakura pouted slightly, still trying to understand why she wanted to destroy it.

Was it because she thought it was too powerful for anyone? Or was it because…she was jealous and didn't want anyone else to have it? She knew that wasn't true.

She was scared, in a sense. Of what the scroll could do in the wrong hands. What if Orochimaru had used it? He could have destroyed Konoha without a problem.

He never would have taken Sasuke then. He had the scroll he needed all along but he never once used it. What…what would have happened if he had been able to decipher the code?

I probably wouldn't be alive now anyway. And neither would Sasuke or Naruto.

It would have been a moot point.

Sakura sighed deeply as she reached out and picked up the scroll with one hand. She rang her fingers along the edge, deep in thought.

What if Tomokazu learned the jutsu?

Sakura shivered in response to the thought, walking towards the window. Would the Leader of the Akatsuki want to learn the jutsu? He was said to be extremely powerful anyway. Surely he wouldn't need it.

But Tomokazu…

What would be best for all of the shinobi world? For Konoha?

She propped her elbows on the windowsill looking at the night sky.

What is best for the people I love?

She felt the fire rise through her hand, consuming the scroll. She saw the edges of it blacken and curl, before it became ash in her hands.

This was all that remained of the greatest jutsu in the world.

She cupped her palm, closing her eyes as she exhaled, sending the ashes into the wind. She was letting it go. She needed to. She needed to know that no one would ever find out what was in that scroll.

It was a sad thought, as she realized that Tomokazu would now hunt her down to the ends of the earth.

But she could survive if he captured her. She would kill herself and he would never learn the jutsu. The world would be safe.

Besides…he couldn't live forever. If she merely escaped his grasp until he died of old age, she could then rest in peace. Perhaps she would find an apprentice and teach the jutsu to them, so that the knowledge would never completely disappear.

Sakura smiled at the thought. What kind of person in their right mind would want to be trained by a missing-nin from Konoha?

Perhaps it could become the kekkei genkai of the Haruno Clan.

Of course, there would be no Haruno Clan now. She had been her mother and father's only child. The only heir of the entire Haruno Clan. And she could never have children.

Sakura's brows furrowed for another moment. Why was she so sure Tomokazu was going to capture her? He wouldn't. She had Kisame, Sasori, and Deidara to protect her.

…and Itachi.

She knew, strangely enough, that he would never let her fall into Tomokazu's hands—He would never let his possession fall into Tomokazu's hands.

And that made her smile.

It was strangely comforting.

Sakura gave a small sigh before she closed her window, slipping into bed. She snuggled into the covers, but didn't close her eyes. She merely wrapped the blanket fully around herself and sat there…thinking.

The room was too hot to think in. Sakura slipped off the bed, taking her blanket with her as she opened her window once more and jumped through it. She placed a small amount of chakra into her feet and walked up the wall of the temple, finally getting to the roof.

She stopped when she realized that she wasn't the only one with such thoughts. Itachi was looking up at the night sky. It was cute. It reminded Sakura of the first time she had told him she'd heal his eyes. He had kissed her…and she had felt something then.

She pulled her blanket tighter around her as she sat down beside him. He didn't look at her, or acknowledge her presence at all.

It didn't bother her. She was used to getting the cold shoulder from him. She merely looked up at the sky as well. There were quite a few stars out. And the moon shone brightly.

It usually wasn't this bright. She supposed it had something to with being so high in the mountains. She smiled a small smile as she reached up her hand. She wanted to grab it. She wondered what it would look like, cupped in the palm of her hands?

It was a foolish thought. She knew the moon was merely rock. But it looked so ethereal and mysterious in the air. Like a piece of heaven. She wondered what heaven felt like.

"It's so beautiful, isn't it?" She whispered.

"Hn."

"The moon, I mean." She continued tracing its outline with her fingers. She felt Itachi look at her, but she continued, staring up into the sky. She could almost feel it. "It's one of those things that never change. The moon is always there, even when you can't see it."

Itachi continued to watch her. "The moon changes."

Sakura looked at him, drifting out of her musings. "It looks different, but it's always there. Even if you can't see all of the moon sometimes, it's still there. I wish people were like that."

"The moon hides behind clouds."

"It still does the same things it always does. It still rises every night and goes down before daybreak. And it's still there. You still know that even if you can't see it, the moon is somewhere in the sky. With people…they change and alter themselves completely, so that it's hard to see what they used to be."

"Hn."

"I wish they'd just show themselves and their feelings. I wish they didn't try and hide and change, to make themselves look like something they aren't." She stopped with a sigh. "I wish people were like the moon."

"They aren't."

Sakura gave a small sigh at his flat answer. She frowned. "That doesn't mean they can't do it. They can still try."

"It's easier to lie than to be honest, Sakura."

"You would know." Sakura bit back. She and Itachi hadn't had such an extended conversation for a long while. It was weird. A few sentences were the most she had ever gotten out of him.

"I do not lie." Itachi turned to her with a small smirk. "Lying is for the weak."

"I see." Sakura tried to sound serious, but she couldn't help but smile. "And we all know you aren't weak. But I'm honest too. Does that mean I'm strong?"

I've got you.

Come on, say it! Say it!

"Merely because I stated that to lie is weakness, I did not say that honesty is strength. It is merely the only other option."

Sakura frowned. Darn it. I can never win, can I?

"But if I don't lie, that means I'm not weak."

"Deceit is merely one weakness."

Sakura sighed. "So you mean I have more than one?"

"Hn."

Sakura rolled her eyes, before playfully brushing a few strands of his hair out of his eyes. She didn't even realize what she had done as she leaned in and whispered softly. "Insulting me isn't going to get me to kiss you, baka."

But her lips inched forward anyway. Her mind was screaming at her. Baka!? You called him BAKA? And you TOUCHED him? Are you insane!?

But his lips met hers as well.

It was a small kiss, not a passionate one, because Sakura pulled away slightly as she heard a sound in the distance. She reached into the folds of her blanket, where her kunai was placed.

Silence.

Sakura looked back at Itachi, who was watching her amusedly. "It was a bird."

Sakura blushed at that, looking down at her feet. She shifted in the blanket, placing her kunai back into its place. "Oh."

There was a long moment of silence.

"You know, I think I like crimson better than midnight blue, anyway." Sakura stood. She smiled back at him. "Besides, if you keep them that way, I'll have to stick around and heal them."

Then she headed back inside.

Itachi watched her, slightly confused. He supposed it was her way of an apology for what she had said the night before…how she had seen Sasuke when looking at Itachi himself.

But she liked crimson better than blue.

Itachi more than Sasuke.

Itachi couldn't help but smile at that. A true smile. It was small, but complete.

And of course, there was no one there to see it.

(A/N: Itachi SMILED!!!!!!!!!!! (-huge grin-) Sorry. I was excited.

-Sigh- I hope this wasn't awkward. I've been really busy this week. So much work…grrr…I'm hoping to get in a new chapter by the end of the weekend, but I can't make any promises. Sorry if this one was short.

So, Sakura is taking charge now! Yes! We need her a little more dominant. Not too much, though. I like Sakura's moon theory, and I think it's true. More Tomokazu and Sasuke in the next chapter.

Plus some Neji and them. Some flashbacks, most likely. But mainly…Sakura and Itachi of course! Yay Akatsuki!

(oh, and I hope no one took me saying I wanted Sakura to get closer to Sasori seriously. I was kidding. Dear lord, the last thing we need is MORE people going after Sakura. Now that Deidara's gotten a LITTLE bit over her, we finally have just her and Itachi…well Neji of course, but he doesn't really count at the moment 'cause he's all the way who-knows-where.)

Ahem. So, anyway, I guess that's it.

Until next time, Lady Hanaka signs off!

Question: Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?)