I'm doing my best, I promise. I apologize for how long it is taking and how short this chapter is; don't hate me peeps.

I really am sorry for how long this is taking. I am in the middle of doing a million things and want to try to finish this over my Christmas break from college. I am going to do my best to do that because I realized this story is 4 years old and I'm just getting to good shit. I am so sorry y'all, but I appreciate and love every single one of you who reads this!

Enjoy~

Flashbacks

Inner Talking

Chapter 11

Third POV

It felt like an eternity to the people around them, but no one dared to move. The siblings were staring at each other; one in remorse and one was deathly calm. The snake and Itachi are looking at them, wondering when someone will talk or move. It's all high tension in the hallway they are in and no one knew how to dissipate it.

Mori looked like he was approaching a wounded animal as he took a step closer to his sister.

"No!" she barked at him. Sakura put her arm in front of her, looking at her brother, confusion and rage running through her. "You can't be real. Mori wouldn't have done that to me, to our parents, the village. You can't be real.."

Sakura looks as though she is going to fall apart any second. She's shaking and her eyes are wide open in disbelief. Mori looks like someone kicked his puppy, and the others can feel his sadness at his sisters' reaction.

He refuses to let his sister believe he isn't real and tries again, this time with words.

"Let me prove to you that I am your brother, Sakura-chan." He is pleading with her; it is very clear in his voice that he wants to have the chance to do just that.

Sakura is thinking about it, but her impulsive nature causes her to say, "I want a spar, right now. I want to see what you have up your sleeve. Then maybe, maybe, I will listen to what the two of you have to say." She looks at Mori then Orochimaru.

The two share a look between them then Mori says, "Deal, but if I win you have to hear us out."

Sakura thinks it over and nods, believing in her abilities. She thinks she might be able to take him in a fight. In her head, she might be young but she can still kick people's ass if they are twice her size.

Sakura turns away from her supposed brother and uncle and looks at Itachi.

"Is there an open plot of land near here? Preferably away from the village and hideout if you would like to still have one after this match," she asks him.

She might be mad, but she does not want to endanger all of those people just because she cannot control her anger. So a place away from the village and the base would be better for everyone in this situation. Itachi nodded his head then started to walk away, assuming they would all follow.

Sakura is right behind him and Mori and Orochimaru are a little bit behind her whispering to each other.

"How could she know about you, uncle?" Mori hissed.

"I don't know, but I get the feeling it has to do with the Uchiha. Your parents knew the deal, they could not speak of either of us," Orochimaru answered his nephew.

This was not the reunion they had expected or wanted with their sister and nephew. They had a plan in motion meaning something happened or there is a variable that was not taken into account. What it was, they were going to find out.

After their group left theft the building, it was only a few minutes run to the clearing they would be using.

Sakura followed Itachi over to a tree around the outskirts of the clearing. She looked up at him and said, "I refuse to acknowledge either of them until after this fight. If" she pauses, collecting herself, "M-mori is the real one, he will have to explain to me the Orochimaru portion of this."

Itachi nodded his head, although he was curious as to why she was telling him that. He thinks she is taking comfort in his presence so she knows this is real and it is not happening in her mind. He can still see the dazed look in her eyes with the slightest hint of hope.

Sakura turned on her heal and looked across the space at her supposed brother and uncle. They were standing around 100 feet from her, studying her. It made her uncomfortable, their gazes trained on her, like they are her parents wondering if she is okay.

She shakes her head and says, "Are you ready?"

Orochimaru looks at Mori and whispers, just soft enough to where only Mori could hear him, "Bring our Cherry back."

Mori nods his head and then responds to his sister, "Yes, Imouto."

That seemed to throw Sakura over the edge as she started to run at him. Mori also raced forward, worried but interested to see what his sister had learned over the past four years.

Sakura was being led by pure anger as she ran towards her brother. She is so confused and upset to the point of she has no real plan for this fight. The only goal is to beat the crap out of something, anything, to make her feel better.

When the siblings got close, Mori swung his arm forward to punch her in the gut. Sakura backs up and kicks her right foot out towards his stomach. He catches her foot and spins her. She catches herself with her hands and spins, jumping into a defensive crouch.

They are going back and forth for a few moments and Sakura is getting frustrated because she can tell he is holding back. Mori doesn't want to hurt her, but he is very unsure about going harder against her.

Sakura growls, "Stop holding back, I'm not a kid anymore."

Mori starts to sweat because he doesn't want to hurt his sister, but if she wants proof it's him he will have to step it up a notch. He goes into his right pouch on is leg and takes out four kunai. In his other pouch, just above the other one, he pulls on the wire he has.

"As you wish, Sakura-chan," he says.

Sakura starts collecting chakra to her hands and runs forward, watching Mori's hands as he ties the wire to all four of the kunai. As she gets within 10 feet she yells and strikes the ground with her fist, causing a mini earthquake and the surrounding area starts to fall apart.

To say Mori is surprised would be an understatement, but he took this opportunity to hide in the rubble his sister just created. They were both aware of the rain that had just started to fall onto them, but Mori was excited because he knew it would drown out the noises of his footsteps and the clanging of his kunai.

Sakura was huffing a little as she looked around at the crater she had made with her bare fist. She was in pain, usually she wears a glove to protect her hand, but this time it was just her bare fist. There is blood dripping from her knuckles and she smiles a little, enjoying the ability to let her strength lose.

"You know," Mori says, wrapping his wire around his sister, "as a little girl you always wanted to be strong. You loved me and used to ask me to train you, even when you could barely walk."

Sakura panicked a little, not expecting him to catch her off guard. It was worse because of the things he was saying.

"Niiii-chan!" a two-three year old version of her is yelling. She is waddling around the house, yelling for him. "Niiiiiii-chan!"

A younger version of Mori, his ten-eleven year old version, walks around the corner and catches her before she falls.

"Imoutou! You need to be more careful!" he scolds the younger version of herself.

Little Sakura's eyes fill with tears and she says, "B-but I just want-ted Ni-ni-ni-san to teach me his ceiling ting!"

Mori sighs and picks his sister up to rock her and says, "You know I can't do that yet, Cherry. You need to be at least a little older."

Little Sakura's eyes fill with tears as her face gets red and Mori laughs while he wipes the tears away cooing, "You know we call you Cherry because of how red your face gets Sakura! Come on, smile for me. I wanna see that cute little smile of yours." He starts to tickle her.

Although it looked like Sakura didn't want to at first, she started to giggle and smile when Mori started tickling her.

The feeling of the biting wire on her bare skin is what brought her back. Sakura feels torn, if he is fake then how could he know about that? Or could he really be alive?

She shakes her head and looks down at the wire wrapping itself around her and panicked a little. Concentrating on her hands, she started to form her chakra blades.

Mori seems to think he is winning this match, but he is not ready for his sister's capabilities.

Sakura's blades sliced right through his wire and she smirked at his shocked expression. She took a moment to feel pride at seeing the look on her brother's face.

Mori was so surprised he started to whisper as Sakura advanced on him with her enhanced strength. She was within five feet of him when she heard him whisper, "I'm so proud of you, Cherry."

Sakura was knocked off balance when he said that and hit the ground right next to him. Panting, wide eyed, she looked at her brother. Standing straight she starts to hyperventilate and whisper, "He couldn't know that…no one could just know that….how…"

Mori could tell his sister was hurt and confused, but he was worried about her. She looks horrified at the mere sight of him and he wants to change that.

He puts his hands up in a surrender gesture and pleads, "Cherry, please listen to uncle and I. There is so much to tell you, but we had to wait. You need to know this was for your safety, all of it. Please, hear us out."

Sakura looks as though she is going to run away, and he doesn't want that. He wants her to talk to him, even if it's out of anger. He wants to explain everything to her and reconnect, not push him away.

What the two were not aware of, was the fact that the people from the hideout had come outside to see the commotion. They were watching the match intently and were surprised at Sakura's talent. All of them thought her strength was impressive and the ability to cut the wire around her with her chakra was incredible. They could hear the two talking but they didn't want to interrupt.

They especially didn't want to because their leader had come outside and was observing the fight with them. It is always hard to tell what he is thinking; he always has a straight face on. They didn't want to look too hard at him for fear of him calling them out, so they just looked at the pair fighting in the clearing.

Mori can see that his sister was trying to process everything, so he takes a step towards her.

Sakura reacts by backing up and yelling, "WHY, if you're really alive why would you do this to us…mom and dad….to me!" Her voice cracked with betrayal and it hurt Mori and Orochimaru to hear the pain in her voice.

She has tears racing down her cheeks as she stars at him with an emotion they never expected from her; she looked so broken in that moment. But she raced forward and started punching her brother.

Mori was essentially dancing with her because she was trying to land a punch while yelling at him. "I spent so much time grieving for you! I went to the stone every single day! I got stronger to kill the man who killed you! I spent countless hours in the hospital because I was chakra depleted so I could come find the BASTARD who took you away from our family! SO WHY?" Everything she said was accented with a punch.

Mori felt each jab as though they were really hitting him and it killed him to see her like this. Hurt blazing in her eyes as she keeps coming at him, it was something he never expected. When her punching got slower, he grabbed her and hugged her.

She wants to fight, to keep yelling at this imposter, but her libs aren't moving how she wants them to. He starts rubbing her back and whispering it will be okay, she just has to let them explain. Sakura doesn't want to believe what is happening, but deep down she knows she wants this. Her brother, the boy she lost too young, still here, holding her, caring about her, and alive.

"Oh kami, it is you, nii-san," Sakura whispers, falling into the embrace. She starts sobbing into his chest as he tightens his hold on his sister and lets a few of his own tears fall.

"Ah, it is, Cherry." Mori whispers back.

While the brother and sister had their moment on the destroyed field, the group on the sideline was impressed with the young girl's capabilities. She had made a mess of the area with just a few punches and they weren't sure what to think of it besides that she must be strong. She held her own against her brother and was obviously not holding back.

The one thing everyone watching realized was that her attacks reminded them of someone, but only one could put their finger on it. Orochimaru was sure the only reason his niece knew these techniques because of his old teammate, Senju, Tsunade. He will have to question his niece at another time about who exactly she has been studying under to learn those moves so well.

Pein looks at the brother and sister, contemplating. She was a prisoner of Itachi's at the moment, so technically it was up to him when to bring her back to Konoha or lead them to find her. But he was entertaining the thought of stealing her and making her a new member. He was seriously contemplating this, and he could feel a few pairs of eyes on him, waiting for him to say something.

Itachi did not like the look on his leaders face, he had seen it a few too many times and he would not send Sakura on that path. The man had already taken too many good ninja from their beloved villages, and he would not take the pink glue to his brothers' team away.

As the two on the field were calming down, they were talking quietly to each other and then Orochimaru when he walked over. The group from the Akatsuki all gathered near their leader and Itachi was the first to speak. "You will not be holding onto my prisoner, leader."

The people in the group were shocked at the coldness he had in his voice when he said that. He was usually very quiet and never said a word unless it was his usual 'Hn', but he had just talked against their leaders intentions. Pein looked at Itachi and nodded, accepting this…for now.

Pein was even more intrigued now that he knew Itachi seemed protective of this girl. But he would listen to him for now, and when she got stronger and realized her village would not let her become the best she can be, he'll be there to recruit her. Oh how the hidden villages let such good talents go to waste.

He turns and starts walking back towards the hideout, shortly followed by Konan. The other members all look back and forth between their retreating leader and the Uchiha, wondering what the hell just happened. Their leader just walked away without a fight and Itachi had actually spoken on behalf of someone other than himself. Today was weird for them.

The little family starts to walk back over to the group of S-rank ninja. When they finally get to each other, Deidara starts with, "What's with the pink hair, yeah?"

Sakura gets red in the face but stops when she feels a hand on her arm. Upon further inspection she sees it's her uncle and he looks at Sasori and says, "It'sss a family trait, brat."

Sakura laughs and then looks at the guy who just asked that question. He has blond hair, tied in a high pony-tail with some of his hair covering his left eye. His Hitai-ate was from the Rock village and he has the customary slash through it to show he is a rouge ninja. Seems like a funny guy and he has a cool contraption on his eye. He does not look too much older than her.

Sakura stops laughing and asks, "Why do you look like a tranny?"

This made Kisame, Sasori, and Mori laugh. Oro cracked a smile and Itachi smirked. Deidara was fuming and stumbling over his words in the process, making them laugh harder. Sakura was giggling and saw his anger rising, so when he reached for her neck she side stepped and hit a pressure point with her chakra, causing him to stop moving.

"I could kill you if I go two inches over, I don't think you want that," Sakura says to him. His eyes are wide with shock and he cannot come up with words to say because his tongue is also paralyzed.

She was satisfied and then sends another burst of chakra into him, causing him to unfreeze. The others were impressed and some wanted to see her continue to antagonize the poor bastard. After Deidara got his bearings again, he stepped far away from the pinket, in his head she's one crazy bitch.

As the group turned to head back towards the hideout, Mori ad Orochimaru were finally thinking about why Sakura was there.

Mori walked over to the man in question who brought his sister here and says, "So why the hell did you take my sister hostage?"