Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto…
I Will Always Be With You
Blah – flashbacks
Blah – normal narration
"blah" – talking
Chapter 13: Déjà vu all over again…
Sakura could feel her heart beating wildly against her ribcage. They were due to meet Itachi. With every passing second, her curiosity and anxieties began to haunt her very soul. One would think that an average ninja would have no qualms meeting a missing nin, then again Sakura was no ordinary ninja. Although she should've locked away her emotions into a buried old trunk, she expressed them freely, just as any other person would. The moment they crossed the border, passing into the Sand Village's territory, a familiar sensation filled Sakura's heart and mind. Meeting this man, seeing him again, brought back memories of their first encounter. Sakura frowned when she remembered the bouncing butterflies she felt in her stomach as she met the once child, who, now was a young man. It was all the same, the pacing of her heart, the cold sweat gradually trailing down her skin, and even the rhythm of her breathing – it was the exact replica to the event many years ago – except she did not embrace this meeting with happiness, but with fear.
Sakura skipped down the dusty dirt road hand in hand with her brother, Aki. The young child was very disappointed with her brother. Every time she saw a pretty little thing, he wouldn't let her stop to touch it. Sakura pouted and gave her brother the puppy dog look. "Ne, oni-chan, I wanna play in the field, I wanna touch that doggy, and I wanna pick some flowers!" the child whined continually.
Aki gaped down at his baby sister and smiled, "Sakura-chan, just be a good girl, okay? I promise you that you won't regret coming with me, we'll have tons of fun," he assured.
Sakura gave her brother a puzzled look, "Ni-chan?"
"Hai, Sakura-chan?"
"What does regret me???" the young girl tugged at her brother's polo shirt, striving to get his attention.
Aki chuckled at the sight and picked Sakura up so she could sit on his shoulders. "Regret means when you feel sad or disappointed in something," he cooed, "No regrets, is the exact opposite, you don't feel sad about anything," the young boy lectured trying to put it into the simplest words he possibly could.
Sakura twirled the strands of her brother's hair, tugging at it every once in a while. She stayed silent for a while as if she was trying to process the concept of the word 'regret.'
Sakura's face beamed as if a light bulb had just lit up – bringing about her newfound knowledge. "Ni-chan I don't regret spending any time with you today!" she slowly phrased.
Aki chuckled some more, Sakura was growing into an intelligent young child – she would certainly gain so much as a woman and as a ninja. The young Haruno thought of his baby sister's future. It was funny how it was now of all times when he began to think about Sakura's future suitors and how protective he would be of her.
Aki's dream-like state wavered as he felt Sakura's sudden loss of balance on his broad shoulders as she began to fall back. The startled young man immediately gripped the girl firmly within his arms as she began giggling. "Yay, ni-chan's looking at me now!"
The young Haruno let out a sigh of relief, "Sakura-chan, don't do that again, okay?"
Sakura hesitantly nodded then nudged another question, "Ne, Aki ni-chan, where are we going?"
"We're going to meet a friend of mine, okay?"
"Okay," they little girl agreed.
As the brother and sister continued walking down the path, a dark figure emerged from the shadows behind the tree.
Sakura tightened her grip on her brother's hand as she felt her heart beating faster than a race between two dogs. For some odd reason, she felt butterflies flying around in her stomach; it brought a rush of excitement into her mind. The little girl watched the silhouette move from the shadows. Its very existence seemed to cast a spell on her, as she could not take her beautiful, jade eyes from the form. There was something cryptic about the figure in the shadows, and as he stepped out into the light, the little girl was very much enchanted by the sight that lay in front of her. The little girl stared with awe at the young boy who stood before her brother and herself. He was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen – with dark, ebony eyes, fair, porcelain skin, and black, silky hair – the moment their eyes met, she immediately grew fond of him, and desired to see him more and more; she immediately loved him like a child would instantly adore a new toy, only deep in her heart, the little girl knew she could never grow tired of her newfound love.
The young child, reminiscing the boy she met a few months ago, assumed it was him, and immediately ran towards the boy and looked up at him. Sakura found it odd, everything was the same – the hair, skin, eyes, everything. Yet, there was something different about him, rather than the change in height – he seemed to have this luring and cordial aura around him, an aura he didn't have when they first met in her favorite park.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun, how'd you get so tall?" she pondered.
"Little girl," the young boy called out, "My name is not Sasuke. My name is Uchiha Itachi."
Sakura's grin widened, "Itachi-nisan, daisuke!" the little girl announced.
"Sakura," Ino called, "Sakura!" her friend exasperated for the umpteenth time.
Sakura woke up from her dream-like state and focused on her surroundings. She noticed the thick walls that separated them from the outside world – they were now inside the Kazekage's office. "How long was I out?" Sakura thought. She never expected her daydreams would last more than a mere second.
The Kazekage motioned them to follow him and they did. He led them to a desolate hallway where two Anbu ninjas guarded a thick, metal doorway that reached till the ceiling. "He's in here," Gaara replied with a stoic expression.
Shikamaru nodded. He gave everyone a stern look – motioning them to stand aside while he entered the room to speak with the s-class criminal. The whole team watched with tense eyes as the metal door opened and revealed the darkness of the isolated room – the moment the enormous, rusty doors opened, the cold, red eyes gleaming in the darkness could not go unnoticed. Shikamaru vigilantly gaped at the elder Uchiha. Despite the tangible evidence, he still could not believe this s-class criminal was easily captured by the sand ninjas – the one ninja who was known to have killed one of the most powerful clans in all of Konoha – and now, after many years of having an interminable killing spree, he easily gets captured by some Jounins. Impossible. This whole scenario was too suspicious to believe. Shikamaru's eyes suddenly widened as he heard the elder Uchiha's husky words. He immediately turned around to face one of his teammates. Everyone in the hallway suddenly stiffened as they all held the exact same reaction to the Uchiha's short and aloof greeting, "Ohayo, Sakura." All eyes fell on Sakura.
"Ohayo, Itachi-nisan!" Sakura greeted back. She was so happy she decided to tag along with her brother today. She knew this would do her some good and it led her to Itachi-nisan. Sakura was happy indeed. She couldn't wait to play with him.
Itachi looked at Aki. Aki shrugged as he knew that look all too well, "She wanted to come, and mom went out today, plus dad's away in a mission… I had no choice, and since we were going to hang out, I thought you could help me baby-sit her. You, after all, have a younger brother, don't you?" Aki grinned.
Itachi let out a long sigh. He knew Aki would sooner or later pull this trick on him. "Nothing will get done if I complain, will it?" the young teenager asked himself. He then gaped at the little girl who was hanging on tightly to his friend's sleeve. The innocent look she wore on her face reminded him of Sasuke. He always gave him those same look in his eyes when he sought his attention. When the little girl finally noticed his gaze, her face suddenly beamed and she showed him a wide smile. Itachi smirked at this sight as his perception on the girl softened. This might not be as hard as he thought after all. She couldn't be as stubborn and playful as his brother, right? Itachi held his hand out to her and gave her a warm smile, "Ohayo, what's your name?" he asked.
"Sakura!" she exclaimed, "My name is Haruno, Sakura, just like a cherry blossom!"
Itachi looked at Aki who chuckled at the sight before him. Itachi looked at his friend and gave him a playful glare. Before he picked Sakura up he walked towards Aki, "You owe me," he demanded as he turned his back on Aki and brought Sakura into his arms.
Aki's grin widened, "Of course, as long as you keep up with your deal, that is."
Itachi sighed once more, some friend he had. Itachi brought his gaze away from Aki as he felt a light tug on his sleeves. Sakura had tears in her eyes, "Itachi-nisan, you don't wanna play with me?"
Itachi quickly looked at Aki, hoping he could help cease her crying before it would get too worst, who, unfortunately, was walking towards the opposite direction, away from them. "Hey, where're you going?" Itachi was dumbfounded.
Aki looked back, "I have to train with the third Hokage today, you can handle things while I'm gone, right? See you in the afternoon!" he waved as he continued walking down the street towards the Hokage's tower.
Sakura looked at Aki's direction, "Where's aniki going?" she asked tear eyed, she never went anywhere with anyone without her aniki. Even though Itachi was fun, she needed her aniki with her.
Itachi looked at the near sobbing girl, "little girls are troublesome," he thought. He put her down and stooped low enough till they were nearly the same height. "Aki has to work, so I'm going to take care of you until he gets back," he slowly spoke, "Let's go to my house and pick up my brother then we'll go to the park and you can go play there."
Sakura tilted her head, "You have a brother?" she asked.
Itachi nodded, "His name is Sasuke," he answered.
Sakura's eyes widened in delight, "Sasuke-kun! I get to see Sasuke-kun again! Yay!" she began to jump up and down. No words could express Sakura's happiness at the moment.
Itachi tried to calm the girl down to no avail; she was seriously an energetic little bunny. As the two walked through the streets holding hands, as it was the only way he could get her to follow him, Itachi could not ignore the stares that followed their every move and the whispers that erupted as they passed. "Oh, isn't he the Uchiha prodigy? What's he doing with that little girl? I didn't know he had the heart for children," many men and women exchanged their thoughts. After awhile, they got too annoying. The young Uchiha simply decided to ignore everything they said.
As Itachi and Sakura entered the Uchiha district, Itachi's aunt couldn't help but notice the little pink girl that followed after her genius nephew. "Itachi, who's that adorable little child, don't tell me she's your daughter," she shook her head disapprovingly, "And at such a young age," the woman chuckled.
Itachi sighed, "No, auntie, she's my friend's sister, I'm just looking after her for him."
The woman smiled, "Alright, well you two have fun now, are you going to introduce her to Sasuke?" she asked.
"Hn," he replied and began to walk away, Sakura in hand.
The woman scratched her head as she watched her nephew and the little pink-haired girl walk towards the Uchiha mansion, "All the geniuses have to be the scurrilous ones," she sighed as she continued her laundry that remained untouched for days.
As Itachi pushed the well carved, mahogany doors and entered his home, he told Sakura to wait by the door as he called Sasuke, "Sasuke! Come here, now!" he demanded.
Quick footsteps could be heard coming down the hall until a panting Sasuke appeared in front of Itachi, "What is it, aniki?" the younger Uchiha asked.
"You're coming with me to the park," Itachi stated.
"Eh? Why?"
"Because I said so, and Sakura needs company her age," he added to convince his younger brother to come with him.
"Sakura-chan?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, that Sakura-chan, she's waiting for us by the door. You could like hurry up," he snapped, losing his temper. Taking care of children wasn't exactly his kind of thing to do.
Sasuke nodded as a blush appeared on his cheeks from the simple mention of Sakura's name.
"So my little brother has a crush on Haruno, interesting," Itachi thought, "I could blackmail him in the future." Itachi watched as Sasuke immediately put on some shoes, he was obviously excited to go with Sakura, there was no doubt in that. The second Sasuke had strapped his sandals on, they were off to the park.
Itachi watched the two five-year olds walking hand in hand as they walked ahead of him. They were both chatting away about some meeting in the forest. The two immediately ceased their talking as they saw the empty swings and ran towards the park; hoping no one would claim them before they could. As the two arrived there, they began a swinging contest as to who could swing the highest. Suddenly out of nowhere, Sakura jumped out of her swing as it reached the highest peak. Itachi's attention immediately focused on the two children as he heard Sasuke shouting out to Sakura and saw the scene playing before him. He pushed some chakara into his feet and dashed towards Sakura. Sasuke's screaming ceased once he saw his older brother catch Sakura midway through her fall. Sakura looked into the elder Uchiha's eyes and giggled, "See, I told you he would come to my rescue, Sasuke, I told you!" she nudged.
"You would always come to my rescue, right, Itachi-nisan?" Sakura assured, "You're always going to protect us, right? You're our knight in shining armor!" she grinned.
Itachi looked at both Sasuke and Sakura, even his little brother was engrossed into this little girl's dream of the assurance of having his protection. Itachi kneeled in front of the two children and ruffled both of their hair. "Ofcourse I will, I'll be there protecting you both at all times," he assured.
Sakura looked away from Itachi's cold gaze. Ironic isn't it, the one person who promised to protect her was the same person who was bringing pain into both hers and Sasuke's life. "Ohayo, Itachi."
Ino paced around the room as she waited for Sakura to come out. "Ino, would you please sit down! You're getting me more nervous!" Tenten pleaded.
"Tenten, calm down. But it is rather odd. What would Uchiha want from Haruno?" Neji pondered as he bit his thumb.
"I don't know, but if that bastard hurts Sakura-chan in anyway, I'm going to make him pay!" Naruto growled.
"N-Naruto-kun, p-please calm down, I'm sure Sakura-chan will be okay…t-they seem to k-know each ot-other," Hinata stuttered.
"What a troublesome situation," Shikamaru mumbled as he lay back comfortably on the lounge.
"Don't call this a 'troublesome situation' Shika-kun!" Ino exclaimed, "Forehead girl can be in trouble! Who knows what he'll do to her?!"
Shikamaru suddenly sat up, a seriously look was plastered on his face, "At least we know they know each other," he stated, " It gives Sakura a chance, she has a higher chance of surviving than we would if we were in her position." Shikamaru suddenly paused, "But, then again, with Uchiha Itachi, anything can happen."
"Someone's coming," Neji stated.
The whole group immediately took their stances as they heard the large metal doors suddenly blast open. They hesitantly relaxed as the messenger from Sand gave Shikamaru a scroll.
The platoon leader said his thanks to the ninja and gaped at the scroll. It was a message from Konoha. As Shikamaru cautiously opened the scroll, his eyes scanned through the short message.
"What's it say, Shika-kun?" Ino asked, looking over Shikamaru's shoulder, stealing small peeps as he read through the message.
Shikamaru's eyes widened as he finished reading the last words on the piece of parchment. The lazy boy closed his eyes while letting out an annoyed sigh, "How troublesome…"
Sakura stood cautiously at the corner of the small room. She intently watched Itachi's still figure as a smirk appeared on his lips.
"What are you smirking at?" the young kunoich asked. She tried to keep a steady, strong voice, which, unfortunately, decided to fail her with a high squeak.
"What are you so afraid of, little blossom?" he stoically asked, "Wasn't it you who entrusted your life to me, to be your knight and shining armor?"
"That was a long time ago," Sakura whispered, "Then you decided to kill everyone in your family! You hurt Sasuke terribly, you broke my trust, and you broke aniki's trust!" Sakura threw her emotions at the older Uchiha – she released all the hatred and the pain she'd been holding back these years. Sakura looked at Itachi, who did nothing but stare at the concrete floor. "Have you any idea of the sufferings you've caused Sasuke all these years?! He's lost sight of himself, and I've got you to blame!" The young kunoich turned her gaze at the empty wall beside her; she couldn't bear to look at him anymore. "Aki-nisan," her voice quivered from the mere mention of his name, "Even aniki suffered, he blamed himself for being unable to help you, and even stop you…"
"Aki-nisani, can we go play today," Sakura asked her brother as she flopped herself onto his queen-sized bed.
"Not now, Sakura," he coldly replied.
"Demo, aniki, you promised," she insisted as she walked towards Aki and began tugging at his shirt. "Aniki y-"
"Get out of my room now!" he screamed at Sakura.
Sakura immediately let go of his shirt as she backed away from her brother. Fear was evident in her eyes.
Aki gripped his head and mentally cursed at himself once he realized what he had done. He looked at his sister and immediately knew she was afraid, never had she looked at him with those eyes.
"Sakura," Aki tried to comfort the girl. Sakura, however, retreated farther away as she possibly could, simply remembering the anger in her brother's eyes and voice.
"Sakura," Aki repeated with a softer voice, "I'm sorry, please, we'll play later, okay? I promise… Just go and play with Sasuke," he slightly begged her.
Sakura nodded and slowly went out the door. She took a peak on Aki every few seconds, and each time she looked back, she couldn't help but notice the distressed look plastered her brother's face. Sakura was about to say something to Aki, when her view was suddenly blocked by the wooden door. The young girl let out a soft, depressed sigh, and began to stroll down the wooden floor, making her way to her room. Just as Sakura was about to leave, she heard loud bangs coming from the inside of Aki's room. "I'm sorry, Itachi," she suddenly heard her brother uncontrollably sob. Sakura's eyes widened as she continued to listen to her brother's sudden breakdown, "You must've been in pain, I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you needed me the most…I should've been there, I'm such an idiot!" The young girl jumped as she heard glass breaking on their mahogany floor. She frightfully ran into her room as she heard her brother's screams and the loud crashes that continually rung in her ears…
--
Hallo! ShamanShadow here! Sorry for the long awaited update! You see… I never told you this, but I always only planned on writing during my summer.. ) Please don't kill me! And I love you guyz for still being there and waiting for me to update… And I'm once again, truly sorry. But I am going to finish this story this summer!!!!! That's a PROMISE!!!! I kinda think this chappy sucks… but I hope it'll do… just tell me any criticism or advice or suggestion or something if you want to… Yes... I know it's taking me three years to write this... But I WILL FINISH IT THIS SUMMER! COUNT on THAT!!! 3
Nikki: Here's you're update, love!!!!
Aya Marie-chan: I'm sorry for slowly killing you… teehee… But here's the long awaited chappy…
Bubblygum: Sasuke can be a jerk… but he can be sweet too drools that's why we all love him, ne? Teehee… I don't think you'll like Itachi in this chappy though… hehe
Mezumi Azuma: Thank you… it's nice to hear I'm going a good work… fell free to tell me if I need to fix stuff or whatever
SakuraGaara: No… Sakura and Naruto will not die… yet… mwahahahahaha…. Kidding…
Lady Hasumi Takarabe: Here's the update… I'm sorry it really took long… but I will finish this story this summer…
I LOVE YOU GUYZ! )
R&R Please!