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Chapter Twelve: Crash


Sakura paced around the room for a few minutes, trying desperately to gather her thoughts. There could be no waiting; none. Time was of the essence here, and even though it was an unsavory idea that sent a shiver of trepidation down her spine…it was the only way. She had to find Sasuke, now, and tell him the truth, face-to-face. She had Itachi's mission scroll as proof, and that made things absolutely inarguable. He would have no choice but to believe her – she wasn't coming to him with a feeling or suspicion, as she had experienced before regarding Itachi's true nature, but incontrovertible evidence.

The pink-haired kunoichi directed a quick, nervous glance at the digital clock on the bedside table. She didn't have much time, and even though the temptation to just leave all of Itachi's possessions scattered on the floor, with his empty summoning scroll thrown in a corner, was great – she couldn't do it. If he came back and saw this mess, he'd figure it out, and he would probably track her down in a heartbeat and stop her from getting far.

Biting her lip, Sakura returned to the floor again, hastily and messily depositing all of Itachi's books and papers into the summoning scroll, before sealing it with a snap. Her thoughts a million miles away, she stuffed the scroll into the first pocket she felt inside the Akatsuki cloak, and then threw the cloak over the chair. In the next movement, she pulled out her radio piece, flipping open components and pressing buttons rapidly until the radar popped up, and she took the image in at a glance.

It looked like Sasuke and the others had fallen for it – from the positioning of their coordinates, they were probably in the forest outside of the opposite town. It was a little surprising, to be honest; one look out the window revealed that it was a few hours past sunrise, and she would have expected them to have figured it out and be heading straight in this direction right now.

A slight frown curved her lips as she prepared her belongings, sliding her own genjutsu-transfigured summoning scroll into her pocket. Of course Sasuke would have kept the others up continuously for the past two days; first, as they almost found her and Itachi's campsite in the woods, and last night, as they probably scoured the opposite town and its surroundings thoroughly. He would have had to allow them to get some rest by now.

Sakura left the room quickly, locking the door behind her and not looking back. She kept her head down (not that it helped too much – in the crowd of normal hair colors, she stood out like a sore thumb) as she weaved through the crowded streets, heading straight out of the town; only stopping to buy a few substantial protein bars from a convenience store, as a makeshift breakfast. She could only hope that whatever errands Itachi had to run took him in the opposite direction from where she was.

The pink-haired kunoichi only relaxed fractionally after the first fifteen minutes, once she had made her way back into the forest again. She broke out into a chakra-enhanced sprint immediately, her mind whirring as she ran.

She didn't need Itachi to explain it to her – from what she had read of the mission scroll, it was all too clear. Sakura was exceedingly familiar with Konoha's history; she had always found it interesting, and when she had been younger, she had even done an extra-credit assignment about the details of Konoha's founding, in order to make up for a poor score in a sparring match. She'd read the most dusty, obscure ("practically untouched!" the ancient librarian proclaimed) volumes detailing the feud and long-standing dissent between the Senju and the Uchiha clan…how some of the Uchiha felt that they were supposed to be the true rulers of Konoha, and that they were cheated, oppressed, and forced into complete subservience by the Senju.

The text and dates of Itachi's mission scroll picked up where the history books left off. Sakura's best estimation was that, when Itachi was twelve or thirteen, in the months or year before the massacre, the Uchiha had finally had enough. The elders would have planned it; as the head of the clan, Itachi and Sasuke's own father would have been intimately involved as well. They must have plotted to overthrow the leadership of the village in some kind of coup, and as Itachi was in ANBU, they must have seen him as being in the perfect position to spy on the Hokage and his administration…perhaps even take advantage of his own trusted position to perform a few key assassinations, as well.

Sakura bit her lip hard, feeling herself shiver as she remembered Itachi's cryptic quote to her, that long-ago evening in the cave. From the beginning to the end, I did what I thought was right.

It had made no sense then, but now, it was becoming all too painfully clear.

The little clues as to Itachi's true nature were all adding up in her head, resulting in something wilder than Sakura had ever imagined. The way he had always treated her with gentleness and respect, even when she had every reason to be deathly afraid of him, and the fact that even when he played the role of the cold, detached psychopath, it wasn't quite right…enough for her subconscious to pick up on the flaws. Even when they had fought that one time, Itachi had always acted in defense rather than offense, and when he had hurt her, he had apologized later, in his own way. He was strangely averse to violence of any sort, as evidenced further by his total refusal to kill that Lightning shinobi, and the fact that he didn't carry any weapons whatsoever. Not to mention that he didn't wield the Sharingan like a maniac, either – as a matter of fact, Sakura was beginning to suspect that if she put all of the people who had ever fallen "victim" to Itachi's bloodline limit in a room and then interrogated them, she would find that he was more prone to use sleeping genjutsu than horrible illusions of torture.

Her deepest instincts and suspicions about Itachi were right. He wasn't a bad person at all – perhaps even the complete opposite of his cultivated persona as the most psychopathic and depraved member of the Akatsuki. It was enough to turn her stomach, and Sakura forced the thoughts away, feeling her chest tighten. If she allowed herself to think about it any further; about the dark, twisted depths he had been forced to sink to under Konoha's orders…she would be sick.

Itachi wasn't an idiot. He would have known that a coup like what the Uchiha clan was planning would result in the loss of a huge amount of lives. From what she approximated of his personality, he would have found the idea entirely morally reprehensible.

I did what I thought was right.

He would have informed the Hokage. From there, as the scroll had quoted – following the village's orders, he would have begun to spy on the activities of his own clan.

double agent…

Sakura swallowed compulsively, the cold, emotionless words from the mission records pervading her mind again.

The rest was history. Simple deduction, really. When the clan showed no sign of abandoning their plans and continuing in subservience to Konoha; when they were probably just about ready to move forward and execute the coup, the Hokage and his council must have ordered Itachi, their double agent, to…kill them. To murder his entire family in cold blood in order to quell the rebellion, and take the blame for it, before exiling himself from Konoha.

Sakura closed her eyes, pained, and now feeling even more nauseous than she had a few minutes ago. She hadn't realized it before, but her mind was now filling in the blanks.

It was horrid. It made her shudder just to think about it. But, following their original line of reasoning…the village wouldn't have wanted to spare Sasuke, either. Why should they? As far as they were concerned, the Uchiha bloodline was irredeemably tainted, and Konoha would have been better off with every single one of them dead. By their reasoning, even the innocent five-year-old Sasuke would have been corrupted, solely by virtue of who his family was. They would have ordered Itachi to kill Sasuke as well. To make it a clean break.

Which meant that Itachi had clearly disobeyed the village's orders in order to spare his own younger brother's life.

Sakura felt herself slowing down against her will, before coming to a stop, standing in the middle of the cold forest, and soaked up to the middle of her shins in sleet. Her stomach heaved, rebelling against the vanilla-flavored protein bar she had eaten a few miles ago, and it took a concerted effort to keep it down. The information that Itachi had been ordered to murder his own family in order to quell a problem that could have been solved by some intensive diplomacy was just the tip of the iceberg. The implications of that were sickening and horrifying enough, but the realization of everything Itachi had done by saving Sasuke was just as disturbing.

Sakura forced herself to quicken her pace again, keeping her gaze fixed straight ahead and utterly focused, even though her mind was still reeling. Surely she was an awful person for thinking this, but it was undeniable – it would have been comparatively easier for Itachi to just kill Sasuke and make it a clean break. If Itachi had done that and subsequently vanished from Konoha…he could have gone far, far away from the Fire Country, perhaps even faked his own death, and established some kind of decent, peaceful life for himself.

She winced, and not from the razor-sharp wind that was tearing away at every inch of her exposed skin as she flitted through the treetops at rapid speeds. It would have been the easier thing to do. As disturbing as it was to imagine herself in Itachi's nightmarish situation, it was probably what she would have done…what the vast majority of people would have done.

If you could live with that kind of guilt, Inner Sakura told her, sounding unusually subdued.

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and Sakura frowned again, confused. From what she knew of Itachi's personality; from the melancholy that she could practically feel radiating off him in their quieter moments…she had no doubt that, even so many years later, he was plagued by guilt; understandably so. It was surprising that he hadn't—

The thought made her flinch, but honestly, it was surprising that Itachi hadn't just committed suicide after the Uchiha massacre. She had the feeling that, for him, it would have been the easier course of action, but fleetingly, Sakura considered Sasuke – his personality, his nature. As hard as it was to comprehend such a thing, he would have been even worse; even more intensely bitter and angry, if he had grown up knowing that he would never even have the chance to get revenge on his family's killer and avenge their deaths. It hurt to even think about it, but Sakura doubted that Sasuke would even have the strength or desire to continue living, without the motivation to grow up and become strong enough to kill his brother. There were times when Sasuke could barely cope as it was. If he had never been given somebody to take revenge on; something to strive towards… the rage and hopelessness and despair would have taken its toll on him, and eaten him from the inside out.

The image of a bottle of sake and a bottle of sleeping pills flickered beneath her eyelids. It would have been that; rather than giving himself over to Orochimaru's possession technique.

Her foot slipped on a branch, causing her to stumble and twist her ankle painfully. It took her a moment to realize that her vision had blurred over, and Sakura blinked the tears away impatiently, ignoring the twisting knot forming in her stomach. Itachi was more damn unselfish; more noble and self-sacrificing than she could have imagined that it was possible for anybody to be. And it fucking killed her to even think about the injustice that had been forced on both Uchiha brothers. If she could get her hands on the people who were cold-blooded and ruthless and heartless enough to order this kind of atrocity, she would have been glad to literally rip them limb from limb.

Itachi and Sasuke and the Uchiha clan weren't just chess pieces on some board. They were living, breathing people, whose lives had been destroyed by one order. It was a mess. A revolting, deplorable mess.

Unconsciously, Sakura quickened her pace even further, pouring yet more chakra into every leap and bound. It frightened her to no end, how close they had come to this…for some reason, out of guilt probably; Itachi must have intended to allow Sasuke to kill him. And Sasuke would have killed him; murdering the one person who had essentially sacrificed every chance of real life and happiness in order to look out for him.

But that wouldn't happen. She had found the mission record, and that changed everything. She would tell Sasuke, and he would know the truth. It would be traumatizing, yes, but better than finding out after the fact – and perhaps Sasuke's forgiveness (because really, how could he not forgive Itachi?) or a possibility of reconciliation between them, would be enough to absolve Itachi of some of his guilt. Sasuke's relentless thirst for revenge would be quenched, allowing him to finally begin some sort of semblance of a normal life, and Itachi…well, she could find out exactly what was wrong with him, and after several courses of medication, his illness would surely subside. And even it was a heart defect that was causing his health issues, instead of the other way around…he had no need to maintain the extraordinarily taxing lifestyle of a missing-nin any longer. That would definitely alleviate the problem. Maybe, if both of their issues were resolved, Itachi and Sasuke could even settle down in Konoha again…

Her mind continued to regurgitate similarly optimistic and hopeful scenarios for the future, and for the first time in what felt like a couple of days, Sakura felt her heart lighten somewhat. She scanned the area quickly, somewhat astonished at the sheer amount of ground she had managed to cover in such a comparatively short time. This was the fastest she'd ever run, including the trip to Sound with Sasuke three years ago. Traveling with Itachi had been educational, to say the least, and sheer adrenaline had given her as much energy and sustenance as the protein bars.

Sakura slowed into a normal walk now, looking around the forest cautiously. Another look at the radio piece confirmed that the team was close – within three miles, actually. Since they hadn't moved at all, she expected that they were still camping out and sleeping. Of course she wouldn't see them, though; Sasuke and Jugo were both very adept with genjutsu, and Karin's abilities would probably conceal the typical chakra signs that radiated from any concealment genjutsu. She would just have to rely on her instincts, and cast a genjutsu-dispelling technique every few minutes she even came close to sensing any abnormality.

She could only hope that she would spot them before they spotted her. True, her heart was racing in anticipation of seeing Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu again…but her nerves were starting to set in, at the same time. Even though she had the proof in her pocket, Sakura didn't expect that the conversation with Sasuke would be a pleasant one. Not only was she about to challenge everything he had believed in for the past ten, almost eleven years; the foundation of his entire personality, really…but she hadn't forgotten what she had overheard him saying about her on the radio piece. Her heart contracted painfully at the thought of being face-to-face with him again, for the first time in a couple of months – the person she loved. Had loved.

It took several minutes of slowly and patiently canvassing the entire area, and three false starts, before Sakura finally thought she had the right location. She formed the genjutsu-dispelling hand seal with fingers that were shaking slightly, focusing her gaze straight ahead. Just like that, something in the air seemed to fracture, and she took one deep, bracing breath before crossing over the threshold.

It was completely still, and even though her muscles subconsciously tensed in apprehension, nothing happened.

The first thing Sakura noticed was that there were only three of them, curled up around a dying fire, and sound asleep – Sasuke was always an early riser; he was probably off taking a bath somewhere or hunting down some form of breakfast. For the first time in her life, she only spared a passing thought for him, though, and for the first time in a couple of days, she felt a genuine smile tugging at her lips. To her gratitude, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo all looked okay; battered by the cold, yes, but not to the point where any of them had become ill. Sakura couldn't have imagined how happy seeing them would make her. Sure, when she had first come to Sound, they were just strange new shinobi who she'd have to coexist with…but, as cliché as it sounded, over the years, the three of them had become so much more. Even with everything that had been going on with Itachi…she had missed them, a lot.

Jugo was lying on his back a few feet from Karin and Suigetsu, snoring loudly, and Sakura was glad to see how relaxed his brow looked. She had often worried about the effect that the stress of Sasuke making them leave Sound and then relentlessly dragging them all over a few countries would have on him, and whether it was enough to trigger a transformation. To her relief, though, he appeared all right; his skin a healthy brown, and his features lacking the pinched expression they held when he was experiencing too much strain.

Her gaze flickered to Karin, leaning against a tree with her legs stretched out in front of her. Suigetsu's head was on her lap, and her arms lay across his face; her fingers still maintaining a tenuous hold on the dog-eared pages of her favorite romance novel, one of her few guilty pleasures. Seeing the softer side of Karin – as well as the very few instances where she and Suigetsu exchanged tender moments – was so rare that Sakura just took it in for a moment, feeling an overwhelming rush of fondness for her unlikely best friend. One thing that hadn't changed, though, was Karin's awful habit of falling asleep with her glasses on and then whining when she woke up in the morning to find them hopelessly smudged and bent. In order to spare everybody the annoyance of listening to her, Sakura gave her a somewhat affectionate smirk, before crossing over to her silently and reaching out, intending to gently pluck the glasses off her nose.

She was halfway there; her fingertips just barely resting on the thick black frames, when Karin's ruby-red eyes snapped open with alarming alacrity, and before Sakura could even think of pulling back, her friend's thin fingers locked around her wrist in an iron-hard grip.

Both of them stared at each other for an instant, equally startled. Then Karin let out a muffled screech, standing up so fast that she knocked Suigetsu to the floor, before flinging her arms around her in a formidable death grip. Sakura's first reaction was one of sheer astonishment; Karin was never the affectionate type, and even as she hugged her back hard, smiling and burying her head into the other girl's shoulder, Sakura was honestly unsure whether the red-haired kunoichi was trying to break her ribs or display affection. It sounded like Karin was both laughing and sobbing at once, and when Sakura tried to gently disengage herself from the embrace after seeing purple stars begin to explode behind her eyelids out of sheer pain, Karin only held on tighter, sounding more incoherent than she'd ever heard her. She could only pick out a few garbled words from the entirety of the rant – "you stupid pink-haired moron, I can't believe you put us through this," "so worried I was sick," "if he hurt you, I swear that I'll help Sasuke kill him—"

Distantly, through the ear that wasn't being deafened by Karin, Sakura could hear Suigetsu's sleepy mumblings turning into a yelp of recognition, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Jugo rubbing his eyes, sitting up and looking at her as if she was a hallucination.

"Holy shit, Sakura?"

"…Sakura-chan, is that really you?"

Karin was forced to let go, beaming, and Sakura turned toward the other two, now smiling so hard that her face was beginning to hurt, as she hugged both of them at the same time. All three of her teammates started talking excitedly at the same time, all trying to be louder than each other.

"Wait, so are you all right? Are you sure you're all right?"

"Did you kill him? Is that how you got away? Shit, Sakura, it's awesome that you escaped the pyscho, but Sasuke is going to be so pissed—"

"Forget that – how did Itachi even capture you, Sakura? How did he know that you and Sasuke were together? Talk about freak coincidences…"

Sakura opened her mouth and then closed it again, totally uncertain of how she could possibly answer their litany of questions. How could she ever explain to them the kind of terms that she and Itachi were on? She was suddenly all too conscious of the weight of Itachi's mission record in her pocket, covered by the hem of her sweater, but she wouldn't feel right telling them before telling Sasuke. "…I'm fine," she mumbled evasively. "I – I just – I didn't kill Itachi, or anything; he…he left me alone for once, when I was faking sleep, and I left as fast as I could."

They were all silent, and it sent a shiver down her spine – she'd always been an awful liar, but it had just been a half-truth, so…perhaps they wouldn't have seen it written all over her face?

It took Sakura a few moments to realize that her worries were in vain, and that Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo probably hadn't even heard anything she had said, because they weren't even looking at her, anyway. Their gazes were all fixed on some point behind and about a head higher than her.

Oh.

Sakura swallowed over her suddenly sandpaper-dry throat and turned around, her movements feeling stiff and mechanical. Sasuke was standing about a foot away from her, holding a fistful of dead trout in his right hand, and looking as if he had just seen a ghost. Her stunned gaze met his, and she was shocked to see how much older Sasuke suddenly seemed to be; taller, thinner, and the stress and travel had given him a more haggard appearance. She could see the beginnings of stress lines underneath his eyes, just like Itachi's, and his hair had become longer and looked like it would be rougher to the touch. She had to curl her hands into fists, subtly moving them behind her back, to keep herself from doing anything she would regret – whether it was punching him in the face, or throwing her arms around him.

It was hard, though. Looking at him had even more of an impact than hearing his voice over the radio yesterday; it felt like she had been brutally sucker punched in the stomach by somebody who was wearing spiked iron knuckles, and it took a concerted effort to keep her face and expression calm and even. She'd never seen him so stricken, and a few months ago, she'd probably have found it amusing, but now…

"Hello, Sasuke," she managed, forcing her voice into some semblance of normalcy.

Sasuke said nothing in return, his sharp blood-red eyes scanning over every inch of her body, as if they were searching for any sign of harm. His expression was strange, somehow; even more intense than she was accustomed to. Sakura couldn't help but flinch when he reached out in one unnaturally fast movement, quicker than the blink of an eye, his fingertips just barely skimming the skin of her face; sliding down the edge of her cheekbone in a quick caress. "Sakura," he said quietly, and a lot more gently and intimately than she would have expected.

She jerked back, unnerved, and from behind her, Suigetsu cleared his throat decisively. "Right then," he declared loudly, marching forward and wresting the handful of fish from Sasuke's grasp. "Breakfast. Jugo, you're the only other one with a decent Katon. And besides, we need to get another fish for Sakura. So…we'll go to the stream and catch another one, and we might as well cook everything while we're there."

"I'll come along too," Karin said, her voice higher-pitched than usual.

All three of them practically fled the clearing, and as bewildered as she was, Sakura still couldn't miss the oddly significant look that Karin shot Sasuke out of the corner of her eye as she left.

For a few moments, everything was torturously silent, and Sakura was forcibly assaulted by everything that stress had forced her mind to set aside. The last memories of Sasuke, before Kabuto had taken her away…the way he'd dragged her back from the border town, and how agitated she'd been at the very thought of Sasuke giving himself over to Orochimaru's possession technique. She had tried so hard to convince him not to, and she remembered the kiss; the way they had held each other; the way that, for a fraction of a second, she had seen the faintest glimpse of real feeling and emotion in him. After all that, in the few minutes that she'd had before Jugo told her that Kabuto-sensei wanted to see her in the lab, she had wondered whether they were finally on the verge of a real relationship. That was where she and Sasuke had left off: on more uncertain terms than ever. And now…

Itachi. The thought made her shiver somewhat, and for the first time, Sakura began to realize the true extent of the situation she had gotten herself into. Her whole body was a mess of tension, and her thoughts weren't much better. She longed to do something, anything, to relieve the achingly tangible tension between them, but she couldn't just whip the scroll out and read it to him, and she had no idea where to go from here. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts and indecision that it took her a moment to react when Sasuke curled his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her close to him and awkwardly wrapping his arms around her.

Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening, and even though her first instinct was to push him away, her stiffened muscles refused to cooperate. Taking her lack of reaction as encouragement, Sasuke tentatively pressed his palms against her back, stroking his hands along the length of her spine with forced gentleness – a strange parody of the way Itachi touched her – that really just ended up feeling…weird. She bit her lip, uncertain – she used to have wanted this more than anything else in the world. The Sakura of three months ago would have thought she had just died and gone to heaven. But now, all she could think of was Itachi, and how this just didn't feel right. Sasuke's movements forced her to turn her cheek to the side, pressing against his chest, and she could feel his strong, perfectly healthy heartbeat hammering just as fast as hers. To her confusion, he showed no signs of wanting to let go, and it was incredibly unnerving. Sasuke had never, ever reached out to her before. He had never done anything like this. It didn't make sense.

She closed her eyes, momentarily overwhelmed, and the words that she had overheard on the radio piece replayed in her head for the millionth time. No. Forget Sakura. It doesn't matter – in the larger scheme of things, she's not important. We have to focus on Itachi.

It felt like she had just ripped a scab off a festering wound, and all the pain came flooding back in a split second. Before she could think twice about it, Sakura had already pushed Sasuke away; her palms loaded with just enough chakra to make him stagger backward a few paces and almost collide with a tree.

"What the hell are you playing at, Sasuke?" she demanded, hearing her voice rise and feeling her face flush with anger, directed both at him and herself.

Sasuke looked more confused and unguarded than she had ever seen him; he obviously hadn't expected her to react like that. "What?"

She quoted the words she had heard him speak last night, her voice heavy with bitterness and sarcasm. "…The voice transmission was picked up from a radio piece, Sasuke. A radio piece I put up in one of the trees while your brother was sleeping. I don't know what you have to gain by acting like this right now and pretending that you—"

Sasuke took one purposeful step closer to her, but she didn't back down, not even when he glared at her with surprising vehemence. He knew that he was angrier at himself than he was at her, but more than anything else, this was incontrovertible proof that what Karin had told him was true – that Sakura really didn't believe that he cared for her as anything more than a convenience, and that knowledge had been upsetting even then, but seeing it reflected right before him was even worse. "You should know not to jump to conclusions like that, Sakura," he told her acidly.

"Jump to conclusions?" Sakura repeated incredulously. "I know what I heard!"

"You misunderstood!" Sasuke yelled back, so loudly that the birds in the trees all fluttered away.

It took several moments for him to calm down enough to speak properly again, and in that time, Sakura stared at him, torn between continued outrage and confusion. "…What?"

Sasuke reached backwards, rubbing the back of his neck in an obvious attempt to keep his emotions in check. "It was a radio piece, Sakura," he replied bitterly. "Transmissions have static to begin with, and it was a windy day. And, in reflection, I wasn't being specific. I was talking about your chakra. Karin insisted on trying to track your chakra in order to find you and Itachi, and in essence, I told her to forget about it. In the larger scheme of things, your chakra was unimportant, because compared to his, yours is weak and insignificant. It didn't matter. So I told her to forget that and focus on Itachi, because even though his was less familiar to her, it was still a million times stronger and easier to get a viable trail from."

Sakura's lips parted in pure, undiluted surprise, and all of a sudden, she felt like it had just gotten much harder to breathe. It made sense, but she didn't know whether she wanted it to or not. If she believed Sasuke, it meant that all the anguish she had put herself through last night was for nothing. It meant that she wasn't worthless, unlovable, foolish, pathetic, undesirable…

But if she didn't believe Sasuke, it would be easier. It would be so much easier to keep things as simple as Sasuke equals jackass who doesn't care, versus Itachi clearly cares, so I'll be with him instead.

"Oh," she whispered, feeling all the breath leave her body in a harsh sigh, as she buried her head in her hands exhaustedly, before raking her fingers through her hair.

She could see Sasuke watching her, an unfamiliar expression in his eyes, and then he reached out and locked his hand around her wrist tightly, pulling it away from her face. "Everybody makes mistakes," he told her stiffly. "It's all right."

Sakura wondered why he was acting so strangely, and she settled with nodding a little awkwardly. She had the feeling that there was something going on beneath the surface, but she would wait for him to broach the subject first. Sasuke had gone back to studying her intently, and she was overwhelmingly thankful that she had been careful to heal every single visible mark that Itachi had left on her skin last night. But she could see Sasuke taking note of the other things; she knew how stressed and tense she must look, and she had seen the dark, purplish circles underneath her eyes when she had woken up.

"Did he hurt you in any way?" Sasuke demanded, at last, holding her wrist tighter and forcing her to look up at him, and the expression on his face was more than a little frightening. The words were coming faster than usual, and she could see how much they pained him, but he looked determined to get them out. "Sakura, it's all right if he did – well, no, it's not all right, but I mean that I would never think any less of you, no matter what happened – but you have to tell me if he did."

Even though she knew that she couldn't technically blame them for this recurring theme that kept popping up in conversation, Sakura glared at him, pulling her wrist away roughly. Especially now that she knew the truth, she couldn't stand everybody's implications that Itachi was some kind of sadistic monster. Especially that it was Sasuke who was saying it, when in truth; in their comparatively short time together, Itachi had treated her with more kindness than Sasuke ever had. In reflection, it was so fucking obvious that it made her want to hiss with rage. She hadn't even known Itachi for more than a couple of days before she began to doubt his intentions and motivations regarding the Uchiha massacre…and Sasuke, his own younger brother, had never thought to question what had been so obvious to her. He had been so stupidly, infuriatingly blind that it made her mind reel.

"No," Sakura replied coldly. "Itachi never hurt me – verbally, physically, emotionally, or psychologically."

It took a moment for her words to sink in, and Sakura watched the disbelief register on Sasuke's features, soon followed by the increasingly guarded way he narrowed his eyes as he looked at her again. "…There's no need to pretend to be strong, Sakura," he responded, his tone equally cool. "There's no shame in admitting it."

His words made her see red, but Sakura forced herself to remain calm, taking one step forward and looking him squarely in the eye. "I'm not lying," she said slowly, through gritted teeth. "Look, Sasuke, this possibility might be hard for you to digest, but I want you to think about it and answer me honestly. Have you ever thought – have you ever even had the faintest suspicion – that Itachi might not be the person you think he is?"

She watched his eyes carefully, desperate to see even the faintest flicker of doubt or consideration in his gaze; for anything that she could possibly take advantage of, but there was nothing. Sasuke's gaze hardened even further, the muscles in his jaw tightening, as he grabbed her arm in a bruising grip, pulling her closer. "Genjutsu," he said tersely, staring her in the eye, as if trying to see the signs. "I should have known."

He threw her backwards with such vehemence that it knocked the breath out of her body as her head slammed into a tree. Sakura's vision went black, her world spinning mercilessly, and she would have collapsed were it not for his tight grip on her neck. Sasuke was breathing dangerously fast, and she could barely see the way the wheels of his Sharingan had begun to spin out of sheer rage. "So, he's too much of a filthy, despicable coward to face me himself," he spat, pressing down even harder. "I can't believe that he sent you, of all people,to do his dirty work. Sakura, damn it – I know you're in there somewhere, so try and break the genjutsu yourself, or I'll break it for you."

She was more than familiar with the methods that Sasuke used to break genjutsu inflicted on other human beings, and the pink-haired kunoichi seriously doubted that Karin knew enough medical techniques to fix her up afterwards. Without thinking twice about it, Sakura lashed out with a super-quick uppercut, sneaking in under his guard and catching Sasuke squarely in the chest. The strike knocked him breathless, forcing him to release his grip enough for her to grab his arm and roughly push it free. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this livid with anger. There was just no reasoning with him when the topic of Itachi came up, so even though she understood what kind of an impact her revelation would have on him, there was no way to discuss it like a rational human being; with gentleness and compassion. "It's not a fucking genjutsu, Sasuke!" she yelled, pulling the mission scroll out of her pocket and throwing it at him with all the force she possessed. "Try denying this!"

He caught it instinctively, and the incomprehension in his face was obvious as he looked at the rolled-up scroll. His fingers twitched almost compulsively, and she could practically see the inner conflict written on every one of his features. Sasuke looked at her again; angry, almost accusing, and Sakura glanced away quickly, feeling her insides begin to tie themselves into a knot. She knew what was coming, and the tension was enough to make her sick, but she didn't dare to approach him again.

She heard the rustle of paper as he unrolled the scroll, and Sakura's breath caught in her throat. It felt like she was reading it along with him – his eyes would be scanning over Itachi's name; the date of the mission, indelibly engraved into his memory; the mission rank…the mission parameters, neatly delineated under the date.

Several heartbeats of agonizing silence passed before Sakura finally risked glancing back at Sasuke again. He was holding the scroll open with a white-knuckled grip, and hadn't torn his eyes away from the words. If she had thought he had been pale before, it was nothing to how he looked now. He looked like somebody who had just had the foundations of his entire existence crumble beneath his feet. Which, in a way, they had. Her heart went out to him, despite her best efforts to remain impassive.

Sakura took a few steps closer, reaching up and resting her hand on the tense, dangerously rigid muscles of his shoulder comfortingly. Regardless of what had just happened between them, compassion won out over any anger she held toward him, and he needed somebody to hold onto. Underneath the layers of his black flak vest and long-sleeved dark shirt, she could feel tiny tremors running through his body. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke shook his head minutely. "No," he said, his voice curiously flat and dead-sounding. "No. No. It's not true. This has to be a fake."

Denial. It was predictable, considering Sasuke's personality, and instead of making her angry, his refusal to believe the truth, even when it was staring him in the face, filled her with pity. "Look at the seal," Sakura responded quietly, staring at the mission record. "Konoha's seal – undoubtedly authentic. And the signatures, from all twelve members of the council, and then the Hokage, right there at the bottom. It's real, Sasuke. It's completely genuine."

"It doesn't make sense!" Sasuke exploded, whirling around to face her. "Kami, Sakura, don't you see – it almost makes it worse – Itachi is still a murderer! They were just orders! What kind of person follows orders to kill their own family? He could have easily disobeyed them—"

"And if he did, do you think Konoha would have just taken it lying down?" Sakura interrupted bluntly. "They would have just imprisoned or killed him the second he refused or showed any signs of not carrying the orders out, and then sent someone else – maybe a whole team of other ANBU to wipe all of you out! All of you! Every single man, woman, and child." She lingered on the last word, glaring at him. "Itachi followed their orders because if he didn't, they would have killed you too. You: his little brother; the youngest, most innocent member of the Uchiha clan; the only one who had no idea what they were planning. The only one who had any potential for loyalty to the village and redemption."

Sasuke faltered visibly. "…He could have told my father," he returned, clutching the mission record tighter. "If what this says is right, they were planning a coup anyway – they could have just rebelled the second Itachi told them that the clan was going to be killed, and then Itachi wouldn't have had to carry out the massacre anyway. Actually," he continued coldly, narrowing his eyes at her. "Who asked him to rat out our family to the village, anyway?"

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment, locking her hands behind her back in order to quell the urge to punch him in the face. She couldn't believe that these words were actually coming out of his mouth. She didn't know what would be worse; that Sasuke didn't understand how many lives would have been lost in a coup like the Uchiha were planning, or the situation and extraordinary vulnerability that Konoha would have experienced during a violent changing of power of that sort…or that he did understand, and still blamed Itachi for preventing it from happening.

"I cannot believe that you and your brother are actually related to each other," Sakura told him quietly. "No matter what you think he should have done, he didn't. As hard as it may be for you to accept it, he believes that he did the right thing, and made some unimaginable sacrifices to do so, and I agree with him. I think that anybody in their right mind would think the same way. Disobeying the village's orders and letting someone else kill him, and you, and the rest of the family, would have been easier. Killing you, when he had the chance, would have been easier. Itachi gave up any chance of a decent, peaceful life for himself by letting you live. He gave you the opportunity to have something to live for and strive towards, knowing that when he finally allowed you to accomplish your goal, you would be able to have more of a normal life. I…I can't even begin to explain everything to you, Sasuke. Just think about it."

Sasuke's fingers flexed into a fist, but he didn't look angry at her now – just strangely anguished and contemplative. "He still ruined my life," he said shortly, his eyes looking a little shinier than usual. "He lied to me. Everything…it was all a lie."

"He let you have a life!" Sakura yelled back, her face flushing with anger. "What do you expect? You were five years old! Did you want him to sit you down and explain the whole convoluted mess to you, and expect you to understand? He didn't want to poison your mind against Konoha, like the rest of your asinine, power-hungry family, and lure you into doing something stupid in order to get revenge against the village – he was willing to take the blame for everything, so you would have a home you could trust and grow up in and rebuild your life!"

This appeared to take Sasuke so much by surprise that he even let the insult to his deceased family pass. "…Oh."

"Yeah," Sakura mocked bitterly, sticking her hands into her pockets. "…Oh. You sound so surprised, Sasuke. I imagine that Itachi was the best, most kind and gentle and caring older brother that anybody could ever have, and here you are now, so shocked at the idea that he would do such a thing for you. You thought his mission record was a fake, you still accused him of being a cruel murderer, and…for the kami's sake, don't you have any memories of how he really was a kind, good brother to you? Why is all of this so difficult to believe?"

"Stop," Sasuke ordered, his voice cracking a little, as he hastily turned away from her. "…Please."

Sakura's mouth was already open, ready with another retort, but something in his tone gave her reason to pause for a moment. She'd never heard him sound like this before. It wasn't anger, but something else entirely.

She quickly and silently retreated to the opposite side of the clearing, in order to give him some privacy; curling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on top of her knees and trying to come to terms with all that had passed in the last hour. Sakura was exhausted to the bone, and couldn't allow herself to feel relieved just yet; she was still unsure of what Sasuke's sorrow signified. Did this mean that he had forgiven Itachi?

Sakura stayed still, trying to make sense of her thoughts, and after what felt like forever, when she heard footsteps near her; crunching in the snow, she looked up to find Sasuke holding one hand out to her. His eyes were free of the Sharingan, but red and swollen nevertheless, and his face was set with a kind of grim determination she had never seen before. "Come on."

Sakura took his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet, and without releasing her hand, Sasuke promptly began to make his way through the woods, toward where she presumed Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo were cooking near the stream. "What are we doing?" she asked, confused as to whether he was going to tell the rest of them right now as well.

Sasuke spared one glance backward at her. "Getting the others. We're all heading to Konoha right now," he told her coldly. "I have some business to attend to."

His words triggered a strong sense of foreboding, and Sakura buried her heels in the ground, forcing him to stop as well. "What kind of business?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice calm and nonthreatening.

Sasuke gave her a tiny little smirk that chilled her more than the snow. "Wait and see."

Sakura narrowed her eyes dangerously, reaching out and grabbing his arm, making him turn back and look at her. "What kind of business?"

Her deathly serious tone brooked no argument, and the smile faded from Sasuke's face. "They ordered my family killed, Sakura. If you hadn't told me the truth, I would have killed Itachi, believing that he was the guilty one…making the biggest mistake of my life, in other words…and then blindly, stupidly gone back to Konoha." His right hand curled into a fist. "They destroyed my family. They destroyed my life…and Itachi's. All to preserve the status quo, and the so-called peace."

Sakura had the awful feeling that she knew where he was going with this, but before she could even open her mouth to say anything, Sasuke laughed a little. This in itself was unnerving, and then he took both of her hands in his own, pulling her close, as if he was going to tell her something truly amusing. "I'm going to destroy their status quo," he told her matter-of-factly. "I'm going to destroy their peace. I'm going to wipe out everything that made them wipe out my family. I'm going to decimate Konoha, Sakura, starting at the village gates, and finishing with their corrupt establishment itself."

Sakura was fairly sure her jaw dropped in utter shock. Unconcerned, Sasuke released her and continued making his way through the forest in order to find the others. He was serious. He was actually serious.

…And he was going to do it, unless somebody knocked some sense into his head.

Faster than the blink of an eye, in a trick that she had picked up from Itachi, Sakura disappeared and re-materialized in front of Sasuke. He had just enough time to see the anger blazing in her eyes before she sent the ground collapsing from beneath his feet.

Sasuke had suspected there was something slightly off about her from the beginning. The way one of her pushes had sent him staggering back several paces; the fact that a simple uppercut, one that he would have barely felt before she went missing, drove all the breath from his body. He had chalked it up to the fact that the emotional strain of seeing her again had weakened him, but now…well, there was no way to explain away the fact that Sakura had just stomped her right foot and carved an eight-foot-deep crater into the ground. A crater that he was now lying at the bottom of.

"You are such a dumbass!" Sakura raged, compacting packed snow and ice with her hands and pelting them at him from her remarkable vantage point. "Seriously, are you an absolute moron, Sasuke? Itachi notified Konoha of what the Uchiha clan was planning on doing because of his absolute loyalty to the village, and because he knew that a coup of that scale would probably lead to another war! He wanted to prevent that kind of senseless, needless loss of innocent life, and you – you idiot; he's done so much for you and you want to go against everything that he believes in by destroying Konoha and everybody in it? Kami, Sasuke, if you think that's how you're going to avenge what was done to you and your brother and that'll make everything right with you two and the world, you're so wrong – Itachi would probably kill you to stop you from doing something that senseless and unconscionable, anyway!"

Sakura stopped, momentarily exhausted, and her voice raw and arms sore from yelling and throwing snowballs, respectively. She stepped back from the edge of the crater, crossed her arms, and watched stonily as Sasuke finally clawed himself out; wet, covered with snow and with a few bruises forming on his face where particularly hard snowballs had struck him. She had never seen the great Sasuke Uchiha looking so ignominious before, but he still managed to glare at her condescendingly, regardless of his bedraggled appearance. "Then how do you presume I avenge the murder of my clan, Sakura?"

Her muscles tensed, but Sasuke read the expression on her face and sighed minutely. "…I have no intention of harming my brother," he said, his voice barely audible. "But I was ready to kill him…unjustifiably. I could have killed the person who saved my life, and my memories of Itachi would have remained tainted forever. I have been blaming the wrong person for my entire life. Do you understand why I want revenge on the people who did this?"

Sakura reached up and rubbed her forehead wearily. "Just forget about revenge for a day or so, Sasuke," she urged quietly. "Can you do that? Think about what could have been, and just be thankful that now, you know the truth…before it was too late."

Sasuke watched her, frowning a little. He looked hurt and vulnerable, and he finally reached out to her again. "Will you come with me to tell the others?"

Sakura hesitated, glancing down at the mission record in her pocket. She hadn't anticipated what would happen after she succeeded in telling Sasuke the truth and preventing him from pursuing Itachi. "Sasuke, I have to get back. Itachi doesn't know that I took this. I'll write to you and tell you everything tomorrow, all right?"

It took a few moments, but Sasuke finally gave her a reluctant nod. It was all too clear that, despite his tentative acceptance of Itachi, he didn't want to see her go.

"All right," Sakura said uncertainly, more than a little unsure of what to do, even as she stepped forward to say goodbye. "Tell Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo that I'm sorry I didn't have time to say goodbye, and that I'll see you—"

Sasuke cut her off by sliding one hand around the back of her neck and pulling her forward at the same second that he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was slower and more uncertain than usual, like he was trying to convey something that he couldn't manage in words, and she froze; her hand gripping his wrist lightly. After what felt like forever, Sasuke pulled back, and as Sakura stared up at him, astonished, he carefully brushed one lock of hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Sakura," he murmured softly.

She did the only thing she had the emotional capacity to do right now, in this situation: she gave him a weak smile, and fled; vanishing in the blink of an eyelid.


Sakura made the journey back to where she and Itachi were staying in what was surely record time. As she flew through the treetops, she had the slight suspicion that she was going into shock. She couldn't believe it. It seemed impossible. The hardest part was now over – Sasuke had actually listened to her, and it seemed like he wasn't going to do anything rash…for now. He didn't seem to harbor any ill will towards Itachi, and that was enough to almost make her want to sing with sheer joy. The knowledge of Sasuke's forgiveness would probably be enough to absolve Itachi of some of his guilt, and after they actually reconciled, perhaps all of them could head to Konoha…not to destroy it, as Sasuke had wanted to, but to sort out the misunderstanding.

Itachi had taken all of the mission records from several months out of the year of the massacre, erasing all trace of them from Konoha's records, and Sakura knew that Tsunade-sama was a reasonable person; faced with such proof – not to mention that the individuals who had ordered the massacre were still all on Konoha's council – she would have to reconsider Itachi's status as an S-ranked criminal. Not only that, but while they were in Konoha, they could have Itachi evaluated and settle on a course of medical treatment for his illness. It was going to be a complicated and maybe lengthy process, but in the end, it was all going to work out, and the thought made Sakura dizzy with exhilaration and happiness.

There were still a few missing links in the story that had to be figured out; most significantly, why exactly Itachi had joined the Akatsuki after he had been forced to leave Konoha. Sakura had the feeling that maybe it was an additional stipulation from Konoha's council, in order to make the circumstances and reasoning behind his defection more genuine, but she wasn't sure.

By the time she returned to the town, walking through the crowded streets at a rapid pace, her muscles ached mercilessly and she was starving, but it was worth it. Sakura stared at the positioning of the sun in the mostly cloud-covered sky anxiously. It had taken longer than she had expected. Too long. She could only hope that whatever errands Itachi had to run were numerous, lengthy in nature, and had been further impeded by how many people appeared to be out and about today.


His arms weighed down by the amount of bags lined up on them, Itachi somewhat clumsily maneuvered with the lock to the door of his and Sakura's room for a few minutes. His visit to the clinic had taken much longer than anticipated – it had been quite crowded today, and he hadn't known that in order to be prescribed medicine, one had to be seen and evaluated by an on-site medic first. It had been a predictably sobering process, but he had received what he needed from it: six bottles of pills that would keep him alive for another two months or so. It was the last course of medication he would ever receive – a bittersweet thought if there ever was one.

After the visit to the clinic, he had been sidetracked by a sale at the local bookstore, which had a particularly promising poetry section, and on the same street, there was an herbal store that happened to have shelves upon shelves of every flavor of tea imaginable, many of them foreign imports that he had been longing to try. As mildly embarrassing as it was to admit it, Itachi had inherited a bit of his mother's shopaholic tendencies. He had remembered to pick up a large box of shrimp fried rice for Sakura on his way back, and he hoped it was something she would enjoy.

The door swung open, and Itachi entered quietly, carefully depositing his bags on the floor. It took a few moments for him to notice that the room was completely empty. The blankets were in a state of disarray, as if Sakura had thrown them off her in a hurry. Her clothes and underwear, which he had folded neatly after getting out of bed and placed on the pillow next to her, were gone. The bathroom door was open as well, and one glance inside confirmed that the tiles were wet. Perhaps she had just wanted to get out and take a walk…

His worried gaze scanned over the room again, picking up on the smallest details, and Itachi felt his frown become even more pronounced as his eyes lit on a miniscule spot on the thin, grayish carpet that hadn't been there before. It was a color he was all too familiar with…the color of dried blood. He turned quickly, and in a rare physical display of emotion, his frown transformed into a confused, almost suspicious, tilt of his head.

He had most definitely not left his Akatsuki cloak crumpled over the back of the chair like that. He always spread it out and arranged it neatly and meticulously, in order to avoid wrinkles and creases.

Itachi had just reached out, brushing his fingertips against the material of the cloak tentatively, when the door burst open, and Sakura actually fell over the threshold. She was panting as if she had just run several miles; her hair in a state of utter disarray, and her face was flushed.

Itachi raised an eyebrow, surprised, and he couldn't miss the almost panicked expression that flitted over her face for a fraction of a second. "Oh, hello," Sakura commented evasively, shutting the door behind her with hands that were shaking a little. "How are you?"

"…Well," Itachi replied guardedly, not letting go of his cloak.

Sakura laughed a little, reaching back to rub her neck. "That's nice. I woke up a little while ago, and I was just…out, you know. Walking. I needed some fresh air."

In the next second, Itachi was in front of her, his fingers curving around her right wrist. She stiffened, surprised. He was…inspecting…her…palm. Right.

And then Itachi traced one fingernail over the thin, fresh paper cut she had sustained while going through his scrolls of mission records. Sakura flinched back, unable to hide the pain, and tried to pull her hand back to herself, even though Itachi showed no signs of letting go, and she started to panic quietly. Shit. Shit. It was a tiny paper cut – she hadn't thought it was necessary to heal it, but…"The smallest wounds are the worst," he commented, seemingly offhandedly.

"I was reading," Sakura returned quickly. "I stopped by the bookstore on my walk, right before I came here. Uncut pages, you know, they're a menace…"

"Sakura," Itachi interrupted coolly, nodding at one of the simple black bags deposited on the floor nearby. "I was at the bookstore right before I came here. There was only one book with uncut pages on the shelves, and that appeared to be an encyclopedia of various different yoga positions. Now, I suggest that you tell me the truth."

Sakura stared up at him for a few long moments, an absolutely unreadable emotion flickering over her eyes, and before Itachi could even attempt to read her expression, she actually threw herself at him; locking her arms around his neck and burying her head against his shoulder. He staggered back, taken by surprise, but he wrapped his arms around her anyway.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, far too fast, and sounding totally overwhelmed. "I know how much you wanted to keep it a secret – but I had to know, and it was so unimaginably horrible, I couldn't believe it. I mean, I had to tell Sasuke; I really did; it would be cruel to keep lying to him about something like this, because he wanted to kill you for it, and that couldn't happen because in essence, he'd be killing an innocent man—"

Itachi felt his heart jump into his throat, and he pushed Sakura away roughly. His heartbeat had kicked into overdrive, making him feel so dizzy and lightheaded that he had to grab the edge of the chair to keep himself standing. "You did what?"

His voice came out much louder and angrier than he had expected, and Sakura tilted her head to the side uncomprehendingly. "I told him about everything – about how everything you did was just because of a mission, and that you really had no choice," she explained, taking his limp hand and looking up at him hopefully. "I…I think he understands why you did everything you did, Itachi. He doesn't hold it against you at all."

Itachi turned away, seemingly unable to look at her. His long bangs had fallen over his face, partially obscuring it from view, but Sakura couldn't blame him; it must have certainly been an overwhelming realization. What she didn't understand was how miserable he looked, and she placed a comforting hand on his upper arm. "It's all right," she said quietly. "Please don't be sad – Sasuke forgives you, so you don't have to feel guilty. It was never your fault, Itachi. You don't have to die at his hands to repay the penance that you think you owe to him and the rest of your family."

"You don't understand," Itachi replied, sounding so strained that it hurt, like it was taking him all the effort in the world not to yell at her. "Sakura, you've ruined everything."

Her brow creased in a frown, and she situated herself in between him and the wall, forcing him to look at her. "I haven't ruined anything," she explained desperately. "Don't you understand? You and Sasuke can both go back to Konoha, and we can show Tsunade-sama the mission records as proof – she'd be willing to rescind your criminal status, and…and you and Sasuke can both live peacefully."

"No," Itachi snapped, and the sudden vehemence in every aspect of his manner was enough to make her flinch, as he took another step forward, purposefully backing her against the wall. "I cannot."

"Why?"

From the shallow, even breaths Itachi was taking, she could sense that he was tightly controlling his temper. He knew it was irrational, because Sakura, with all of her foolish, stupid, blindly hopeful idealism, was just trying to do the right thing, and she should hardly be blamed for her compassionate instincts, but at this moment, he was angrier than he had been in a long time. With a few words, she had ruined his best-laid plans; everything that he had spent the past seven years working towards – for nothing. For absolutely nothing. "In case you haven't noticed," he hissed, "I suffer from a certain…chronic sickness."

It took a second for comprehension to begin to dawn in Sakura's eyes. "Oh, I know," she said hastily, eager to assuage his worries. "But it'll be all right, really – we can go to Konoha and have Tsunade-sama evaluate you; she's the best medic-nin in the world, you know. I'm sure she'll be able to cure whatever the underlying problem is immediately, or over several healing sessions, with the help of several courses of medication." She blinked up at him with such genuine trust and innocence that it was sickening. "In any case, you won't have to deal with the strain of life as a missing-nin anymore, and that might help in alleviating your symptoms as well. You can be cured, and maybe you'll have to live a more sedate kind of life, but at least it's better than just taking these pills."

Sakura smiled up at him tentatively and hopefully, and even though part of Itachi had already realized the reason why she was so desperate, he couldn't stop himself. He almost hated her, for waving this kind of hope in front of him. She was offering him something that he wanted desperately, but could never have. As cruel as it was, he wanted to watch the optimism leave her eyes and make her feel as drained and sorrowful and bitter as he did.

"I saw a doctor today, Sakura," Itachi commented coolly. "One of the country's best, if the numerous credentials lining the walls of his office are any indication. He confirmed what I have been hearing from medical professionals from the time I was five."

He waited a heartbeat, enough to see the curiosity touch Sakura's features – she was probably considering the possibility of something as wonderful as an impending recovery, or a new course of treatment.

"I have approximately two months to live, give or take a few weeks," Itachi finished detachedly. "It is fatal, Sakura. Terminal. Regardless of what you have just done, it always has been, and it always will be."


to be continued


Again, thank you to everybody who reviewed the previous chapter, and as always, my thanks also to the very talented and amazing SwiftKick for taking the time to read this over.

Any and all feedback would be very much appreciated. :)