Chapter13 Recall:

Something kyaaa worthy happened for Sakura; Itachi finally managed to access the hidden archive room with the help from Konan; Sakura confronted Sasori about Chiyo and made a sweet promise with Chiyo.

Chapter14 – The Truth

Pein had wanted Konan to approach Itachi after he was informed of their new 'classmate,' to observe him while he looked up his records. Though Minato never told him much, it was enough to let him know that Itachi was different from the rest – it was unlike him to just admit a new student into the school, much less the APEX programme. After all, every student who was admitted had been placed under discreet observation and had their backgrounds checked before they were recommended or approved by the institution's senior committee.

Konan recalled how she had to skip an anticipated talk by her favourite sculptor to camp by the male washroom, and then to coincidentally bumped into Itachi after he exited looking stiff and confused. Not that she was complaining; whenever there was news of a new member, she would take it upon herself to make them feel as welcomed as possible (even if he was lecherous and/ or favoured extreme practices). She knew how it felt to not belong.

That was the mantra she was mentally chanting as she attempted to distract herself with folding more cranes. However, the groaning and smooching noise at the back of the classroom seemed to grow louder with each completed crane.

"Ugggh Hidan… Touch me there, yes that's where…" Hidan's latest playmate moaned.

Hurry back would you, Nagato?

Itachi found Nagato (or Pein, as Konan explicitly reminded to not address him by his real name) at the back of the classroom block, who seemed to be communicating with a bird on his finger. At his approaching footsteps, Pein raised his hand and the blue bird fluttered off towards the rolling hills.

"Konan said you were looking for me…?" Itachi stood at a safe distance beside him as he turned towards the scenery, in the direction where the bird had taken off.

"Yes, I wanted to speak to you privately, and two guys heading over to an unsupervised area might rise unnecessary attention, if you get my drift," Pein explained gravely and Itachi raised an amused brow.

What happened to the God Almighty Pein who did as he pleased?

"I made sure I wasn't followed on my way here," Itachi answered half-seriously and half-mockingly, though the latter was lost on the visibly relieved guy.

"I believe neither Minato-sensei nor Konan has told you anything about true nature of the APEX programme." Itachi nodded and Pein turned to face him with his arms crossed, all business-like.

"I know you can use chakra." At the word 'chakra,' Itachi's turned his head to look at him as he continued, "In fact everyone in our class can, some better than the others, but not necessarily consciously."

"Is that the real purpose of this programme, to gather people who can manipulate chakra?" Never mind the fact he could not detect chakra from any of them, but what was the school planning with a horde of chakra-able teenagers?

"Ho, you pick up first, Itachi. To aid in the cultivation of the student's chakra, we are given training. If you notice on the time-table, we have P.E. every Friday," Pein suddenly mentioned.

"Another cover up."

"That's right. I enjoy talking with you; there's no need for me to spell everything out unlike some of the others…" He shook his head as though to shake off those offending memories and continued. "I'm sure you have more questions, but I'll leave that portion to our P.E. teacher." He remarked ambiguously and began to walk off.

"Training on campus?"

"You'll see."

Itachi was not surprised as he joined the rest of his classmates seated on the field, and saw Minato standing at the head of the group.

"Looks like everyone's here," Minato began and smiled warmly at Itachi. "From here on I'll be more tied up at my desk, but don't hesitate to approach me for anything." Everyone nodded and he exchanged a meaningful look with Pein.

"Itachi, I assume Pein has given you a heads up about APEX and what today's lesson entails?"

"What? You mean all this time he didn't know?" Deidara exclaimed from the back.

"It was not the right time then, Deidara. Anyway, I'll be commencing our class now. Everyone get into your teams and continue where you left off." As everyone paired up and sped off, Itachi waited patiently for his 'mission.'

"You and I shall be a team for today. We're a little behind time, so follow closely." With that, he sprinted across the field and motioned towards the forested area a little downhill. Needless to say, Minato was impressed by his speed and ability to keep up with him as he juggled between the branches and he gave an amused smile to a bemused Itachi.

"You can ask me anything, you know," Minato chortled when Itachi snapped his head towards him as though he just read his mind.

"Where are we going now?" That was not the question he was expecting, but if it were him, he would be concerned as to why his P.E. teacher was leading them out of the school during school.

"We've gotten words that there might be an abandoned bag of ordnance in the forest nearest to the city, and things could get nasty if they were to fall into the wrong hands. So, we're heading over there to retrieve it," He explained calmly as he signalled for them to descend to cross a traffic light.

"This may sound disrespectful, but may I ask why are we doing that?" Minato directed them into an obscured alley and into another wooded area. He cocked his head, seemingly mulling over his question.

"Why, you ask? It's because we were ordered to." Itachi narrowed his eyes and resisted his snort as Minato continued his lingo. Twenty minutes later, they set foot into the same forest Itachi found Kabuto entered, but found no traces of the reported bag.

They trekked carefully on the dry patches of soil, careful not to leave evidence of their activity and followed a trail of indented mud into a small and heavily canopied clearing. There was a patch of soil that stood out from the rest, its colour slightly darker than its surroundings. As their eyes met, they nodded and quickly set to digging out whatever was buried underneath.

Minato launched a hefty shove up and Itachi strained to pull the soiled sandbag out of the hole, caught off-guard by it bulkiness.

Minato easily hopped out of the artificial hole and slipped on a pair of latex gloves. Next, he brandished a marked kunai to slice the rope tied around its mouth. His hand reached in and coiled around a semi-automatic pistol, and was surprised to find two unfired bullets when he detached the magazine.

"What are these?" Whatever they were, Itachi surmised they were dangerous; most of the technologies from the modern were, thinking back about Sakura's phone which blacked out without warning on its own.

"Firearms, and most of them were either partially loaded or empty. These must be the stolen weapons from the military's armoury room," He hissed under his breath, and proceeded to secure the deadly sandbag with a spare rope in his pocket. Luging the bag over his shoulder, he managed a smile to Itachi.

"It's late; shall we head back now?" Itachi's eye remained pinned on the heavy sac on his sagging shoulder.

"Ah, we're going back on the express train. Come over and put your hand on my other shoulder, will you Itachi?" Itachi frowned but complied, and in a gush of the wind they were back in Minato's office.

"This must be the legendary Flying Raijin."

"You've heard about it? That means Konan must have showed you the old records," Minato said through laboured breaths as he tugged the sandbag into an empty cupboard and slammed it shut with a seal to the handle.

"I won't breathe a word about what I read."

"I'm not worried about that, rather I'm glad you seem to be taking things so well so far…" Minato smiled approvingly at Itachi, and caught him eyeing the sealed cardboard.

"Ah, don't worry about those. I'll hand them over to the police force after work. Now, the others should be back soon…" Right in the moment, a series of knocking sound brought a recess to their conversation.

"Welcome back, everyone. What have we got here? Let's start with Pein." Everyone shifted to the rear as he stood forward.

"Konan and I managed to identify and locate the witnesses during the recent missing orphan case – but we were too late; they were put under a genjutsu to make them forget what they see, not even after dispelling it," Pein summarised sombrely.

"We're really sorry, Minato-sensei," Konan added next to Pein after Minato sighed.

"It's alright, it can't be helped. What about Kisame and Zetsu?" Zetsu, the teenager with a similar height to Itachi and asparagus green hair spoke up from the back.

"We visited last week's victim's parents to follow up but they have yet to hear a word from their son or the suspected kidnapper; there's nothing we can do about the boy for now," He reported and retreated to the back of the entourage. Minato nodded understandingly. Itachi stood by the side and observed the discussion with astute eyes.

It seems that this group is involved with solving the missing children's case…

"Sasori and Deidara?"

"We've finally discovered the source of poison from the remaining blood sample. There were a significant trace of Oleandrin and Oleondroside, possible only from a chronic overdose of the oleander plant, which I believe to be the cause of death. Deidara has already submitted the findings to the chemist and you can expect a report soon," Sasori spoke on behalf of the pair. Hidan yawned indiscreetly while Kakuzu took Minato's expectant look as his cue to report.

"Under your new order, we have tracked the robber and cornered him into an abandoned school before he surrendered." Minato could hear the weariness in his tone and knew that something was amiss. Kakuzu was usually upbeat during debriefs.

"But someone had to 'accidentally' kill the guy in his excitement," Kakuzu finished and tilted his head at Hidan, who was scampering to his own defence.

"Hey! Who knew that guy is such a pussy? I was merely taunting him with his blood and he couldn't stop twisting in my grasp…" He licked his lips in ecstasy at the thought of his gushing blood and terrified eyes.

"We were able to recover all the stolen loots and have returned them to the bank locker with an anonymous slip, and I have the body here for collection," Kakuzu said and passed Minato a blue scroll.

"Thank You. I understand that killing is inevitable, but I maintain that it's best if avoided; Hidan I'll not report what Kakuzu said to the committee but I'll schedule you for a month's counselling starting today as a precaution. Anything else from everybody?" Itachi felt that now could not be a better time to voice his burning questions.

"Is this some kind of undercover cop society?" Minato chuckled at his conclusion.

"Something like that." Pein stood forward once again to speak up.

"Beneath the surface, we call ourselves… The Akatsuki, where we assist the police force in some tricky cases… And you're now a part of us."

"Who knows, in this world of darkness, you could be our new dawn of light." Minato's soft eyes shone behind his words of prophecy, like he had a secret only he knew. "Alright, good job everyone. Class is dismissed."

"Itachi-san, are you okay? You seem a bit out of sorts," Konan enquired politely on their way to the cafeteria. She wondered if he was overwhelmed by the stun everyone unintentionally pulled on him, the poor dude. That was the reason she had insisted that Minato or Nagato to tell him the truth on day one.

"To be honest, not really. I'm still trying to adjust to this… Sudden turn of events." It should not sound so unbelievable that he was surrounded by a group of chakra users, or that they were secretly crime fighters and had not thought to inform him until now.

"Humans are generalists; we are made to be able to adapt and survive in a myriad of conditions, you'll be fine," Konan offered in her assuring tone that soothed him somehow. From the way she spoke, it felt as though she was speaking from experience.

"So, what brought you to Konoha?" One thing he had picked up during his treacherous waking hours in Akatsuki (the evil one) was to direct assumptive questions that seemed like he had prior knowledge. Although he already knew she was from Rain, he was not supposed to know. Konan spun her head towards him in surprise.

"You really are a ninja, aren't you?"

"I guess you can say that," He relied gnomically, the fact that modern day concept of ninja might be different from what he knew only occurring to him then.

"Did you really graduate from the Mist's ninja academy?"

"I did graduate from a ninja academy, but it's not the Mist's." He wanted to add that the academy used to be where the high school stood proudly, but that might raise unnecessary questions.

They settled at the usual seats by the east side and resumed their chitter-chatter.

Konan explained that Nagato and her were orphans from the State of Rain, and met their guardian Jiraya by the bath spring when Nagato innocuously followed him into the ladies' section.

"That sounded like him alright." He recalled Jiraya's weakness for woman and took up Kisame's suggestion of using that to lure him away from the juvenescent Naruto then.

"Did you say something, Itachi-san?"

"Don't mind me; please continue." Apparently, the story they were fed (which had not changed up-to-date) was Jiraya's pervy acts were done in the name of research, which he seemed to have taken too much pleasure in. Jiraya had discovered that they could manipulate chakra and began to train them during his half year sojourn in Rain.

"It was truly a miracle; it was as if we were destined to chance upon this great man."

"You have Pein and his curiosity to thank for." Konan nodded mirthfully. Gosh, she had missed that naivety; Nagato's gaits were much lighter then and his smiles spoke of freedom. Since they met Jiraya, he had grown into a man long before he hit puberty.

Their cries put the State's name to shame when the six months was up; Jiraya was leaving. He was surprised to find himself exceptionally attached to this duo; he had meant this as a way to do his part to make the world a better place, nothing more.

"Then he had to say something really cool, 'if taking you in can make you see the sun shine after the rain, then I guess it can't be helped.' Secretly I think he couldn't bear to leave us but was too chauvinist to admit," Konan recounted fondly, wondering if he still remembered what he said.

"I'm sure he feels the same," Itachi commented suddenly, his mind drifting to Naruto, the boy he deemed as Sasuke's sun and compass in his sinuous path to finding himself.

"About what?"

"That it was a miracle to have met you and Pein."

"Yo, what you guys discussing about? I'm Hidan, by the way. Need any tips for women and their needs; you're looking at the man who knows and have seen it all." His lascivious introductory was enough to throw off all hints of credibility and confidence Itachi might have in him.

"Nothing much. Just girls things, right Itachi-san?" Konan sent him an impish wink as Hidan shrugged off Itachi's disinterest.

"Your loss."

"You must be Uchiha Itachi; I've heard so much about you," The guy with asparagus green hair joined the table and extended a pale hand to shake with him.

"Nice to meet you too, Zetsu. And there's nothing much about me, please disregard what you heard," He answered bashfully, wondered what was being said about him. It did not use to bother him, this opinion of others, but over here, he realised he wanted to belong as much as he could.

"Rest assured, Itachi-san, it's nothing bad. But it was mostly about your uncanny resemblance to Kanae-san, and the rumours were true it seems," Zetsu answered.

"I see. Though personally, I haven met him, this Kanae guy." And I'm already developing a distaste towards him.

"Oh, you'll see. He's one hell of a singer!" Hidan chipped in next to Konan.

Sasuke's footsteps faltered when he saw the male figure ahead.

"Itachi…?" At the mention of his name, Itachi whirred around and caught him in a paralyzed stance.

"Ah, Sasuke ka? Are you going home?"

"Er, well yea…" At the uncooperative grumbling of his stomach, Itachi's eyes softened and his mouth turned to form a smirk.

"Wanna grab something along the way? I'm just heading over to the dango store." He signalled with his good thumb sign pointed down the road.

"Er…"

"You don't want to?"

"No, that's not it! … Alright," He conceded since he was free for the afternoon anyway. It was just because he had time to squander, he vehemently reminded himself when Itachi returned a full-lip smile at his slighter shorter frame. They boarded a direct bus to the snack streets and quickly located the centuries old dango store.

As he allowed Itachi to usher him to the seats while he queued for the food and paid for them, Sasuke wondered what had gotten into him for the umpteen times this afternoon. For one, he was not even particularly fond of sweet stuffs. His back snapped to attention when he returned.

"I figured you do not have much of a sweet tooth, so I ordered something else for you," He informed causally as he inhaled a lungful of the pleasant saccharine scent in the shop.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen! Here are your orders – two cups of green teas and…" After the waitress left with a wink to Itachi, Sasuke scowled at his plate of delicacies.

"Mochis are sweet too, you know," He remarked ungratefully, and Itachi had to resist from escalating into a laughing fit at his juvenile demeanour.

"This is different, just try one. I swear your teeth won't fall off from eating this." He watched as Sasuke did an eye roll and poked tentatively at one of the powdery pink balls, before picking up his courage and dumped it into his mouth. It was not like he had a clue of the agony of decaying teeth.

"How is it?" Itachi asked as he chewed on his dango. Mmm, I can never get enough of these.

"It's not so sweet, I guess. I can taste peanut butter; since when do they have that?" He swallowed and made it his mission to polish off the rest of the half-dozen balls while appearing to do so under Itachi's duress.

"So how's school today?"

"The same old, though I still cannot get used to Jiraya's classes. He's too… Descriptive and far too excited about his teaching materials." He excused himself to order a second helping of mochis.

"What does he specialises in?"

"Biology; does he teach you too?"

"No, a pity or fortunately, I'm not sure," He smirked as Sasuke gobbled down his second plate and continued, "Is there anyone you're interested in?" At his abrupt question, Sasuke nearly choked on the munched up balls, and gulped down the green tea Itachi passed to him in one goal.

"W-What?"

"Or are you too shy to talk about it?" Itachi felt like a mean older brother, but too bad for Sasuke, he was really itching to hear about his love life. He remembered back then how his brother had to beg Itachi to fend off the entourage of love-struck female classmates after school. Oh, those good days.

"… Recently there's a girl who confessed to me," He mumbled grudgingly as the incident hit him suddenly.

"And what did you say?" Judging from his contemplative expression and straight face, the feeling was not mutual.

"I told her I'm not interested, and she had to cry on me. Such stuffs are so troublesome," He lamented with a shake of his head as he continued, "But the worst part was she had to do it during my brother's concert… You okay?" Itachi tried to suppress his coughing fit as he raised a palm in assurance.

"S-Sorry, you were saying?" S-So Sasuke's the homo- the guy Sakura likes? Damn I think I scalded my tongue. He hated it when he burned his tongue and it would affect the taste and experience of the remaining food.

"She confessed in the midst of the concert, and I was like, where did that come from? Anyway, we've been ignoring one another since," He shrugged and finished off his drink. Itachi was sure he was the only one giving the cold shoulder; Sakura would not want this to ruin their friendship.

"You know, it takes a lot of courage to do something like that," He tried causally, and Sasuke eyed him in curiosity. "As a rule of thumb, you should always thank the lady for her interest. Be chivalrous; that way they would take the blow better and things wouldn't get so awkward afterwards," Itachi advised earnestly while Sasuke mentally took down his tips. At least, those were what Kisame told him when he could no longer stand the way he always sharinganed his way out of confessions.

"So… What should I do now?"

"Go apologise to her and be friends again. You wouldn't want to lose a precious friend because of your impertinence." He seemed to be considering his words and regarded him suspiciously.

"Why do you know so much about this? Are you a player by chance?" Itachi downed the remaining tasteless tea and smiled enigmatically at his brother's look-alike.

"I can't even differentiate between a prank and a love confession, does that make me one?"

It was amazing, the way he could confide in Uchiha Itachi and how his supportive responses sounded so soothing to his ears. There was no room for pretences and pleasantries, but simply a time to pour out your guts and to connect over good food.

"Are you going home now?" They ended spending the day store hopping, each insisting on footing the bill for the next. Even though it was well over dusk, the bustling night life in Konoha never ceased to astound Itachi.

"Yea, I need to send my brother off to the airport for his tour." At the mention of his brother, Sasuke turned away in reticence, presumably to mask his gloominess. Just then a scrawny boy bolted passed them and ran smacked into Itachi's knees.

"Owww…" Itachi bent down to rub curatively at his dusty brown spikes.

"Are you alright?" He recognised him as the boy who he saw at the bus stop in the morning.

"Yea… Sorry about that!" He brushed off the dust and scampered off into the night. He returned his attention to Sasuke, who had been watching them.

"That's nice of you. I'm sure he'll appreciate it," Itachi affirmed. Sasuke glanced up in sanguine at Itachi's buoyant smile illuminated under the street lamp.

"I hope so."

It disturbed Sakura of the peanut of knowledge he had about Uchiha Itachi in ratio to her growing fondness to him. She tossed and turned to peer down at his still frame and his even breathing, an indication that he was still awake.

"Ne, Itachi. There's still a lot that I don't know about you," Sakura spoke behind closed eyes and wrapped the blanket protectively around herself.

"Hmm, what do you want to know?" As much as he wanted to share, there were certain things that he had to be careful about.

"Tell me about your family." His eyes peeled apart and he shifted his head to watch the ruffle of pink peeking out above her blanket.

"The graphical or verbal version?" Sakura recalled her jaw-dropping experience in getting a glimpse into his memories, and although it was tempting to wallow in his adorable adolescent form, she preferred to indulge in the tranquilising melody of his voice.

"The verbal version," She giggled coyly at the privilege and his surprising willingness to share. Her stifled laughter was interrupted by a sudden pull on her left arm, and she found herself collapsing on top of his hard muscles, where he swiftly rolled her over to his side.

"EHH?" He snaked an arm around her stiff shoulders, and gradually the frisson of bewilderment worn off and she allowed herself to soak in the warmth and body contact with this enthralling man.

"Are you comfortable like this?" His voice was barely above a whisper. She responded by twisting to face him and digging closer.

"Why did you pull me down like that?" She admonished him while the silly grin on her face belied any trace of her displeasure.

"So I don't have to raise my voice," He leaned in and whispered into her ear, sending sensual thrill throughout her body.

"Liar, you just me next to you right?" She purred as her hand crept onto his chest.

"So do you still want to hear about my family?" Sakura mentally rolled her eyes at his pathetic attempt of evasion, but nodded her head as she felt him clasped her hand in his tender grip.

"Well, you saw my Mother, Uchiha Mikoto, and my little brother. My Father, Uchiha Fugaku, was the Head of the clan and the Konoha Military Police Force. He seldom smiles and always carries a grave expression even on his off days," Itachi recounted affectionately, the pride apparent in his slightly upturned lips.

"He was especially fond of putting pressure on me, always calling me to his room to lecture me about my duty and honour. This naggy characteristic must be what caught my Mother's eye in the first place."

"Or maybe she imparted that to him," Sakura added as he flinched away to her poke in his waist.

"The ninja academy where my brother and I used to study was where your high school sat; on top of the existing subjects you are learning, there are also technique lessons. I remember the first technique we learnt was making clones." His fingers were twirling the strands of her hair, tickling her ear. She reached up to cup his hand against her cheek in an attempt to stop him.

"Like the ones you made?"

"No, basic clones are merely illusions. Then there was tree walking. It was to hone your sense of chakra control at specific parts in your body." He thought that was easy enough.

He smirked into the darkness when he felt Sakura' goose bumps as his slender fingers glided slothfully to and fro on her cold cheeks.

"Then comes the ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. You've already know the last two. Have a guess what ninjutsu is?" Sakura cocked her head and drew no clues from his inscrutable face.

"Drawing power from the elements?"

"Close, but everyone is born with an affinity to an element. For the Uchiha clan it has always been the fire."

"Show me!" It was impossible to extinguish the ignited fire in her eyes. He adored how she would always get so excited when they discussed his abilities. He relished in her innocence – the way she viewed them as a natural phenomenon instead of a power to be feared or obtained.

"Alright, watch the sky… " He focused a miniscule amount of chakra in his mouth, inhaled and breathed out a steady stream of fireball, momentarily engulfing the room in an explosion of orange-red light. The fire soon dissipated, the only indication that it occurred was the lingering heat that settled over them like a cocoon.

"Holy shit… That's so… Convenient. It would come in handy should the house run out of gas or if I need to heat up the bath," Sakura hinted and beamed up at Itachi.

"This is not how we're supposed to use our powers, Sakura…"

"Like that stopped you from using it to heat up your bath." He chose to leave that open for debate. She angled her head towards him, staring intently into his black orbs.

"What are those eyes, the ones with red iris and three commas…?" Sakura trailed off as she reached up and brushed away a fallen lock on his eye.

"You mean this…?" Her hand flinched and her own eye widened in recognition at the blazing crimson that put the previous fire to shame. She swallowed in part-trepidation and part-fascination as she struggled to not get lost in the intensity of its colour.

"Y-Yea… It's so beautiful."

"It's called the Sharingan." He rolled his eyes around and relished in his sharpened senses and sudden vividness of the world around him. I can never get enough of this.

"The 'Copy Wheel Eye' huh… What does it copy?"

"The nin, gen, and taijutsu of others. It also allows the user to see people's chakra flow and anticipate the opponent's moves. This eye is also exclusive to the Uchiha clan," Itachi recited from the recess of his mind.

"I-I don't know what to say… This is a pure gift from Heaven, it's no wonder you love it so much," Sakura reflected and poked playfully at his cheek. He responded by grabbing her hand and used his other hand to pull her face close to his, their lips a hair's breadth away. If she moved even a little, she would be able to taste those dewy lips again…

"Y-You must miss them, your parents and your little brother," She whispered and was proud on Itachi's behalf to have such honourable parents, who sacrificed their lives to protect their village. Itachi traced her sealed eyes with his thumb, not answering her question.

Her half-masted eyes sprang opened as she was suddenly carried and lowered onto her bed. He leaned down and gazed into her sparkling jade eyes, then lightly bumped his forehead to hers.

"Good night, Sakura. Thanks for listening to my ramblings." With that, his head lifted from hers, leaving her heart pumping rapidly and lips wanting.

"G-Good night, I-Itachi…" Her palpable disappointment made his chest cringed in despair. Itachi released a controlled breath and shielded his eyes with his hand, deactivating his Sharingan.

I can't… Involve myself with someone like her. A traitor like me shouldn't be deserving of her attention and affection.

What Itachi did not understand was that his heart was more traitorous than his rational mind could fathom; the moment he had kissed her, the heart that felt knew there was no going back.

Thankfully for my last minute skills, I was able to cook up a chapter and made it for my school's submission. Watch out; fluffy level is gonna increase from here! (Though I'm not sorry for it)