A/N: As I promised, Uchiha problems... And some Sakura stuff, too! This chapter is longer than usual because I had to fit a lot of stuff into it, so... Enjoy! ... I just hope it isn't too cramped... -.-;

If I change Itachi and keep him from killing the clan, I'm not exactly failing what I came here for and I can stay here, Sakura silently told herself as she walked down the hallway. Sakura was about to knock on Itachi's bedroom door, but hesitated when he heard the voice of another man.

This unnamed man and Itachi seemed to be whispering about something...

Shisui-san must be here, she thought, shrugging and started to walk off, but then stopped dead in her tracks.

"Madara," Itachi had said. Who was Madara? Was he an Uchiha, as well?

"Sasuke is capable to access Mangekyou. My brother was capable, as well. As soon as your vision fails, his eyes are yours for the taking and, not only will your vision be restored, but you'll be granted immortality. An added bonus."

"Are you sure this could work?"

"I'm positive."

Silence. "Alright."

"And, when you do this, you're pretty much guaranteed a spot."

A spot...? Sakura mentally asked herself. T-They're not talking about Akatsuki, are they?

"Sakura," she heard Itachi call her name. "Why don't you go get some lunch?"

Surprised and confused, Sakura silently ran out of the hallway and into the kitchen. She couldn't help but feel the tears well in her eyes as she sat at the table.

"Sakura-san?" asked Mikoto, looking at her with worry evident on her face. "What's wrong? You look like you just lost your best friend, dear."

"Oh, uh, i-it's nothing," she lied, shaking her head. "I think I just need some air." She rushed out of the house and down to the dock where Itachi and she had shared their real first kiss. After taking off her shoes, she dipped her feet into the water and ignored the feeling of the tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

She was such a fool. To believe that she could actually change the stone heart of an Uchiha? To have fallen in love with another one? How stupid could she be?

"Sakura," she heard the sorceress behind her and wasn't surprised. She had a feeling she'd be coming by sooner or later.

"Hm?" she asked, brushing the tears off her cheeks.

"It is soon," the sorceress told her. "The massacre, I mean. Untold tragedies will not only befall the Uchiha clan or you."

"So, what?" Sakura asked. "Are you going to say, "Take one for the team, Sakura' or, 'There are plenty other fish in the sea'?"

"It's for the best," the sorceress told her. "Trust me, and your head. You saw what happened because of Uchiha Itachi, your heart, however, doesn't want to remember it. Follow your head, it knows what it's doing."

"Some pep-talker you are," Sakura replied dryly. "Usually, people say to follow your heart."

"I'm not trying to cheer you up," the sorceress corrected. "I'm trying to show you the truth, the reality of life. Though he doesn't seem like it, he's a cold-blooded killer and a leopard never changes its spots."

"But aren't we all cold-blooded killers?" she asked. "That's what shinobi are, hired killers, right?"

"Itachi is not like any shinobi you've ever met, Child. He is not a proper shinobi and you should know that. He kills for entertainment, not for duty; for what he wants, not for what is right."

"No," she replied.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"No, he's not like that!"

"He is and if you wait around any longer, you'll see the truth!"

"No!" she screamed, placing her hands over her ears. "I don't want to hear it!" After a few moments of keeping her hands over her ears, she put her hands down and turned to see that the sorceress was gone.

Itachi was walking down the dirt trail and she turned back to the lake, ignoring him.

What was she to do? Beg him not to kill the clan? She could say, "I was sent here from the future to kill you so that you wouldn't kill the clan, but I love you and I don't want you to die, so please don't go through with the massacre and live a mediocre life with me." He'd only think she was totally insane...

What if she continued to try and change him? Try to make sure he didn't kill the clan? That could work... but it wouldn't. She'd be better off with the first plan.

"Hey, Sakura," she heard Itachi call her. "What're you doing here?"

"Thinking," she answered vaguely, not bothering to turn and look at him.

"Oh."

"Oh, what?"

"Oh, uh... I know you overheard me talking with somebody..."

"Yeah."

"H-How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you're going to take Sasuke-kun's eyes. Y-You're not thinking of killing the clan, are you?"

Itachi didn't answer.

"Are you?" she asked again.

"I've thought about it, okay?"

"How can you even think of killing your own family?"

"You haven't lived with my family long enough to know how hard it is, Sakura," he told her. "You don't know how it feels to have expectations from the moment you're born till the moment you die. You don't know anything about it!"

"That doesn't mean they deserve to die!"

"Yes they do! They all do!"

"And who are you to decide who deserves to live and die?" she asked, her voice raising as she stood to face him, "Who gave you the right to play God with other people's lives?"

"Will you just shut up for once, Sakura, and stop prying into my life?" he snapped, his eyes bleeding into Sharingan. He was angry.

She glared at him a few moments then stalked off to her room where she slammed the door shut and threw herself onto her bed to sulk.

"Itachi," called Fugaku. "Where is that boy?"

"Try the dock," she hollered and she heard the door close. Itachi was probably in trouble now, too. Good, she thought. He deserves it...

A few hours later, Sakura was still holed up in her room, steaming when she heard a knock on the door.

"Can I come in, Sakura?"

"I'm sure you're physically able to open a door, Itachi," she answered harshly.

She heard a frustrated sigh from the other side of the door and then he asked, "May I come in, Sakura?"

"No, you may not."

"We should have a talk."

"I don't care!"

The door opened to show Itachi and he walked into the room without permission. She threw a pillow at him, but he caught it and tossed it to the floor. He sat on the bed and she tried to push him off with her feet, but failed.

Giving in to defeat, she asked, "What?"

"I'm going on a mission," he told her. "I wanted to wish you goodnight and I don't want you mad at me. I promise you that everything will turn out fine."

"You're not killing the clan?" she asked hopefully.

"No," he told her but she could bet all the money in the world that he was lying.

"Liar!" she screamed, throwing another pillow at him. He caught that one, as well. Her anger flaring, she balled a fist and punched him square in the jaw and he fell off the bed.

He stared at her in shock for a few moments then looked angry. He stood, took her wrist and forced her to her feet. "That just proved to me that you are a shinobi. I don't know who you are, where you came from or why you're here, but..."

She stared at him with contempt until his angered look softened.

"What?" she asked. "But what?"

He released his hold on her and told her, "I can't do it. Look, I don't know who you are, but—"

"Haruno Sakura," she cut-in, knowing that she'd been found out. "My name is Haruno Sakura."

"Then you're..."

"Sasuke-kun's friend, Sakura, is me. I originally came from six years in the future to stop you from..."

"Stop me from killing the clan," he concluded.

She nodded. "You're going to cause a lot of destruction and heartbreak, especially for my friends and I... I was in love with Sasuke-kun in that time, but..."

"But?"

"But I met you and I've found myself so much better off with you than with anybody else."

"Then, you can stay with me."

"And you won't kill the clan?"

Once again, he didn't answer.

"Then, how can I possibly stay with you?"

"Join Akatsuki with me," he told her. "Show me what you can actually do and I can make you even stronger. You and I can do great things together."

"You mean terrible," she corrected, scowling as she took a step back.

"We both live in the real world, Sakura," he told her. "This isn't some fairytale where evil loses and good prevails. Let's be practical here, okay? Think it over. I will give you one chance and one chance only. Tell anybody, and I will not hesitate to take you down with the clan."

She nodded, actually willing to give his words some thought.

Well, this is the real world, Sakura thought. She was trying to talk herself into accepting his offer, but she just couldn't find a way around the unethical implications of what he was planning to do. Well, it's either sit back and watch him kill the clan and live in self-pity without him, or help him kill them and live in self-pity with him, she thought. The latter does seem more appealing.

She smirked and went to Itachi's room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Sakura," she answered. "Can I come in?"

"I'm sure you're physically able to open a door, Sakura," Itachi teased.

She shook her head in amusement and asked, "May I come in?"

"No, you may not," he answered.

"And why not?"

"Because you wouldn't let me into your room."

She chuckled and opened the door. There Itachi was, lying on his bed, reading a book. She asked, "No training today?"

"Nah," he answered. "Have you come up to a conclusion on where your loyalties lay?"

"I'll join," she answered. "But..."

"But what?"

"Please, don't make me hurt my friends."

He told her, "That isn't my decision to make, but I'll try to make that happen."

She smiled and asked, "So, what now?"

"The plan has already started... Shisui-san is dead."

A/N: Ooh, Shisui's dead! O.O And Sakura wants to join Akatsuki? Wow, what a turnaround...