Thank you to Aniles for the review. :) And here's part twelve...Enjoy everyone. :)


Sachi took another step down the tree and then paused to readjust her grip on Tora. Her eyes glanced downwards; she was more than halfway down the trunk; she didn't have much further to go.

She lifted her foot to take another step.

"HEY SACHI! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?"

The sudden and loud words penetrated Sachi's concentration causing her to simultaneously lose her grip on the tree and to look up in alarm. Her eyes landed on Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Goro, and Nana who were heading her way. However, for some reason, it was Sasuke who she locked eyes with; it was only for a moment because soon after her attention returned to her current predicament.

She was falling.

She needed to somehow regain her grip on the tree. She tried to grasp at the tree trunk with her feet, but it was no good-her chakra control and concentration were broken and she couldn't regain her composure. She couldn't grab any of the other branches because she was holding Tora.

She would just have to brace herself for the fall. It would hurt, but it wouldn't kill her. Coming to her decision, Sachi held Tora protectively against her body, shielding the cat from harm and then squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of her rough landing.

However, instead of slamming into the rough ground, Sachi felt herself hitting something that was certainly not the ground.

She opened her eyes. Black onyx orbs stared back at her. At first, Sachi could only stare in bewilderment at her savior. Then her bewilderment quickly turned to embarrassment as her current situation sunk in.

She was in the arms of Sasuke. Sachi's cheeks flushed a deep red. However, before Sachi could deal with her embarrassment, the scene before her faded away into shadows.


A seven year old Sachi walked besides a seven year old Sasuke, both carrying baskets. Sachi wore a smile upon her face. Sasuke on the other hand didn't look too happy.

"I don't understand why you like apple pie so much Sachi. It's way too sweet," Sasuke made a face.

Sachi smiled. "I like apple pie like you like tomatoes."

Sasuke shook his head. "Tomatoes aren't sweet."

"Sasuke." Sachi tugged at Sasuke's sleeve.

Sasuke's gaze quickly returned to Sachi's at her serious tone. "What?"

Sachi pointed to the big apple tree that was coming into view. It was the biggest apple tree of the entire orchard of Neringoko farm.

"There's a kitty stuck in that tree. We need to help it." With those words, Sachi dropped her basket and began to run towards the tree.

"Sachi! Wait up!" Sasuke called out before running after her.

Upon reaching the tree, Sachi cast a glance upwards. The kitty-Ringo-was pretty high up, but Sachi was determined to help him. While Sachi could reach the cat faster by using her powers, she didn't want to scare Ringo, so she decided that she would climb the tree. She lifted up an arm to reach for the nearest branch.

"Sachi wait!" Sachi paused at Sasuke's voice, her head turning towards him. She didn't need to hear his words out loud to know what he was going to say.

"Are you sure?" She asked him.

He nodded, his face determined. "I'll get the cat. You wait here."

"It's Ringo," Sachi informed him.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Sachi's announcement, a sour look falling over his face.

Why him of all the cats?

I'll get him if you don't want to.

Sasuke's eyes met Sachi's again; she once again knew his answer without having to hear it.

No. I'll do it.

Sachi nodded, she knew that there was nothing she could say to change the young Uchiha's mind. Sasuke was going to save the cat even if it was the one that he got along with the least.

Sachi moved to the side of the tree, while Sasuke positioned himself in front of the tree and began to climb up it. She watched as the boy slowly but steadily climbed up the big tree; he fumbled a bit as he made his way up the tree, but always managed to regain his composure. She watched as he finally made it to the branch where Ringo was.

She watched as he tried to get closer to the cat. Ringo, however, wasn't taking kindly to Sasuke's approach. Sachi watched as the cat puffed up at Sasuke's approach and proceeded to walk backwards further out onto the branch all the while keeping its eyes on Sasuke.

Finally, in a last ditch effort, Sasuke leapt out at the cat. Sasuke was successful in grabbing Ringo, but not without a struggle. It was this struggle that caused Sasuke to lose his balance on his branch.

Sachi, seeing Sasuke fall, reacted quickly without much thought. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from her spot. Suddenly she reappeared next to the falling Sasuke and grabbed a hold of his arm. Then all three of them, Sachi, Sasuke, and Ringo, vanished only to reappear moments later safely on flat ground.

Once they were on flat ground Sachi let go of Sasuke's arm. "You okay?" She asked Sasuke who seemed to still be taking in everything that had happened in such a short span of time.

Before Sasuke could reply, Ringo let out a hiss and then sunk his teeth into Sasuke's hand.

"Ouch!" Sasuke cried out, immediately loosening his grip on the cat and allowing Ringo to escape from his arms.

Ringo, at his escape, gave Sasuke one last hiss, his tail low.

"Ringo," Sachi called out to the cat. At her words the cat immediately turned towards her, it's tail swishing upwards into a curve. The cat let out a low meow and walked over to Sachi and rubbed against her legs. Sachi smiled and picked up Ringo, enfolding him in her arms.

"Stupid cat." Sasuke's retort caused Sachi to return her attention to the boy who was rubbing his bitten hand.

"You and Ringo just don't get along, do you?"

"No and we never will," Sasuke uttered, while eyeing Ringo with a dark expression.

Well I'm just glad that you are both okay.

At Sachi's words, an unhappy expression fell over the boy's face. "You shouldn't have to save me," he muttered while staring at the ground.

"It's okay Sasuke. You've done so much for me, so I'm glad to be able to do something for you."

Sachi's words caused a light blush to cover the boy's cheeks, but he still met her gaze. "No, you shouldn't have to save me. I promised. I promised that I would protect you."

Sachi opened her mouth to reply to the boy when a voice cut her off.

"Sachi wake up." The voice seemed like it was coming from far away.

Sachi frowned. Where was this voice coming from?

"Come on Sachi, wake up now."

Oww!

Along with the voice, this time Sachi felt her shoulders begin to hurt. Then before she knew it, the scenery once again faded into shadows.


Sachi's eyes opened to come face to face with Sasuke once again. Except this time it was the older Sasuke of team seven and not the younger Sasuke that she kept seeing in her dreams.

Dreams? Are they really dreams?

Once again Sachi found herself struggling with the meaning of her so-called dreams. However, before she could really dwell on them, she felt that pain in her shoulders again; it felt like Sasuke's fingers were digging into her skin.

She turned towards him to ask him to loosen his grip, but her words caught in her throat as she caught sight of his expression. His expression radiated anger. His expression both scared her and confused her; his anger seemed to be directed at her, but she didn't understand why he was angry.

"Tell me, what is your connection to Itachi Uchiha?" His voice was low, but deadly. It caused goose-bumps to rise on Sachi's arms. All she could do was stare wide eyed at him.

"Answer me." His grip tightened on Sachi even more and she bit back a cry as the pain in her shoulders intensified.

"T-too Tight," she managed to rasp out.

At her words Sasuke's grip loosened, but his piercing gaze remained as he stared at her expectantly. Sachi still confused by everything that was happening, but knew that she had to give an answer replied softly, "I don't know who that is."

However, as Sachi said this she felt that her words weren't quite true, but she couldn't explain it.

"Liar," Sasuke's words echoed her thoughts, "You know him. You have to."

"B-but I don't," Sachi protested, Sasuke's anger was scaring her and she just wanted him to let her go, however, her words only caused his grip to tighten again.

"I don't believe you. You-you're hiding something. You're somehow messing with my head-that's why I'm seeing all these visions with you in them."

"V-visions?" Sachi rasped, managing to ignore the pain in her shoulders. Visions? What did he mean by visions? Visions with her in them?

However, before Sachi could ask him, they were interrupted. "Sasuke that's enough. Let go of Sachi."

Sachi's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of Kakashi-sensei at their side. It was then that Sachi remembered that they were at Neringoko farm and that Sasuke had just saved her from falling from a tree.

"But-" Sasuke was cut off by Kakashi.

"Now's not the time. I suggest you do as I say." Kakashi's gaze then flicked downwards; Sachi and Sasuke followed his gaze. Sachi's eyes widened at the sight before them. All around them were cats; they were encircled by a sea of cats. These cats were all eyeing Sasuke menacingly, their bodies and tails puffed up as though ready to pounce at any moment. It was also then that Sachi noticed that the air was full of hissing.

Soon after Sachi felt the fingers on her shoulders once again loosen and she found herself placed on the ground. The hissing continued even after Sachi was placed onto the ground.

"Very good, now move away from Sachi," Kakashi told Sasuke.

Sasuke did as he told. He cast one more smoldering look at Sachi; a look that make Sachi's stomach squirm; she still didn't understand why he was so mad at her. Then Sasuke began to walk away from Sachi, the cats moving out of his way, but continuing to watch him with suspicion.

As Sachi watched Sasuke walk away, her mind was full of questions. Just what had happened? Why was Sasuke so mad at her? Just who was this Itachi Uchiha? And why did she feel like she knew him? And what did Sasuke mean by having visions with her in them? Could his visions be similar to her not quite dreams?

"Sachi are you alright?"

Sachi was pulled from her thoughts by Kakashi's words. She somehow managed to muster a smile. "I'm okay." However, even to her own ears her words sounded false, however Kakashi didn't press her, instead, he just gave a nod while giving her a scrutinizing look. Sachi wondered what he was thinking about.

"Mew!" Sachi's attention was turned to the cats in front of her as they all turned their attention to her now that Sasuke was gone. They all began to congregate around her, the closest ones rubbing against her legs.

Sachi smiled; this time for real. "I'm okay everyone and so is Tora." Sachi placed the cat that she held in her arms for so long onto the ground.

"SACHI! SACHI! I'M SO SORRY! ARE YOU OKAY?" Naruto's voice carried to Sachi over the chorus of meows. It looked like he was trying to get to Sachi, but the outer perimeter of cats were holding him at bay, hissing at him in warning. Sachi had a feeling that Naruto would fight his way through the cats if it wasn't for Goro grasping on to Naruto's arm.

Sachi replied, "I'm okay." However, her voice, not nearly as loud as Naruto's, was lost in the chorus of meows.

After trying to reply to Naruto, Sachi couldn't help but seek out Sasuke. She found him off to the side where Sakura was talking to him. However, when she looked at him, as though sensing her, she found herself staring into a pair of angry onyx eyes. Still confused and scared by his anger, she quickly looked away.

It was that moment that she realized her body was trembling. While before confusion and fear were the dominant emotions that she felt upon seeing Sasuke's anger, now she realized that she also felt a deep sense of hurt. She didn't understand it completely, but him looking at her like that really bothered her. The more she dwelled on, the more that sense of hurt grew; it grew so much that she could feel her eyes starting to tear. She blinked and shook her head. She would not cry; she refused to cry; she had done enough of that in the past.

"Sachi dear?" Sachi looked up to find that Nana had made her way through the sea of cats and now stood by her side.

Nana smiled at her kindly. "Let's head back, so we can care for those scratches."

It was then that Sachi realized the scratches on her hands and that her forehead and face also had the tell tale sting of scratches. She lifted her hand to her forehead and flinched as she confirmed what she had felt.

"Come on dear." Sachi felt Nana gently take her by the hand. Without saying anything more, Sachi let Nana guide her back to the house with the cats trailing beside and behind them.