Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 20

It's a little scary.

Itachi has no expression when they told him that Sakura ran away.

It is as if Itachi had just shut down.

It is hard to believe that this emotionless man is the same man that treated Sakura like a porcelain doll during breakfast yesterday.

If Sasuke hadn't seen Itachi look at Sakura before, he would think that Itachi didn't even know the girl – that's how emotionless he is.

"Itachi," says Sasuke, "Say something."

"There's nothing to say," Itachi says.

"She didn't like the plan, you know," says Mikoto.

"I know," says Itachi.

Silence.

"Mother, father, can I speak to Itachi alone?" asks Sasuke.

Mikoto and Fugaku somewhat hesitantly leave the room. After the door shuts behind them, Sasuke turns to Itachi again. "At least show some emotion, Itachi."

"I don't know what to feel."

"How about sad? Worried? Anything?"

"I'm tired of being worried and depressed."

"What are you saying?"

Itachi walks over to a seat and sits down.

"I'm saying…I'm tired."

"Tired of Sakura?"

Sasuke is surprised and doesn't know what to say. It is silent.

"I give up."

"She loves you…" says Sasuke.

"If she truly loves me, she wouldn't do something as stupid as this."

Silence.

"If she truly loves me, she wouldn't put me through this over and over again."

"You put her through a lot too."

"I never let her believe I was dead."

"But you did put her through several years of pain."

Silence.

Itachi looks out the room's window. It isn't as grand as the one in his room in the palace, but Sasuke figures that looking out the window is calming for Itachi. Or maybe it reminds him of Sakura.

"I never truly believed that what she felt for me was real."

"What do you mean?"

"I always thought that her feelings for me were fake – maybe just an infatuation that she thought was love."

"That's such bull. Anyone with eyes can see that she loves you."

Itachi shrugs. "Either way, I'm tired of worrying." He pauses. "I love her. I love her with all of my being, but this is too much. I know when to walk away."

"I've seen the way you two look at each other. Are you sure you want to walk away from that?"

Silence.

"I'll respect your decision," continues Sasuke, "I'll follow your decision."

"Thank you, Sasuke."

"Are you sure?"

Silence.

"Yes."

As Itachi said that simple word, Sasuke realizes that it is as if a weight has just been lifted off of Itachi's shoulders. He looks his age again. He looks younger with that one word. It is as if he has been released after years of confinement. And this is how Sasuke realizes how bad the mental toll the war between Sakura and Akatsuki is, at least on Itachi.

This is all for the best, Sasuke tries to convince himself.

X

Ino shows up at their doorstep days later.

"Have you heard from Sakura?" she asks immediately.

"She was here a few days ago," says Sasuke.

"I know about that, but I meant like, since yesterday," she says.

"She was with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, but she disappeared this morning."

"I thought she was looking for Karin."

"Karin was staying with me. Suigetsu and Juugo were staying with Naruto."

"Wait, did Sakura know this?"

"No, she called me a few days ago and asked if I knew where Karin was."

"So she went to your house…and now she's gone?"

"Yeah." She pauses. "So you haven't heard from her?"

"No. Not since she left."

Ino raises her eyebrows. "Wait, you guys aren't even looking…are you…"

"No."

"Why not? She's your friend!"

Sasuke looks back into his house. Itachi isn't in sight. He pushes Ino out of their doorway a little and follows her out of the door. He closes the door behind him.

"Itachi's tired."

"Tired? She loves him!"

"I know, I know."

"What do you mean then? You don't get tired of someone you love. That's not love!"

"If you saw the impact all of this had on him, you'd understand."

"No, I wouldn't. I sure as hell don't know her as well as Itachi, and even you, but I would never give up on a friend…and she's more than that to him, isn't she?"

"Yamanaka. He's tired."

Ino takes a step back. "How do you know my last name?"

Silence.

"I never told anyone my last name. How do you know it?"

Crap.

"I thought you were acting weird recently." She pauses. "You're not Sasuke."

"Of course I'm Sasuke."

"No you're not. Sasuke would never have allowed his brother to give up like this. Sasuke wouldn't have let Sakura do all of this. Where is the real Sasuke?"

"I am Sasuke."

Ino takes another step back. Then she takes off running.

He never thought that he would have blown his cover like this. He always thought that it would have to do with memories of their childhood or something, but they never asked him to recall any events.

X

Days later, Akatsuki holds a meeting.

Itachi and Sasuke both haven't really been in the loop lately, but apparently Akatsuki had found out that Sakura is alive. They don't know how Akatsuki knew she is alive, but that doesn't matter that much. They don't know that the brothers knew and Itachi is planning on resigning today.

Sasuke can feel the drama winding down. He feels at ease lately.

He can see the change in Itachi too. He seems free.

"If we do manage to find her, what do you think we should do?" asks Pein.

"I don't think killing her will be a good idea. She has many loyal followers, especially after she took over the throne. People like her as empress," says Orochimaru.

"We'd be creating more enemies than allies if we killed her," says Konan. "We already have garnered quite the hatred since they believed she was dead. The news of her life is good news."

"I agree," says Pein. "Any ideas on what to do?"

"Tobi thinks we should invite her to join us," says Tobi.

"She won't," says Hidan, "We killed her damned father, remember?"

"She also killed Sasori, so we're even, yeah," says Deidara.

"It's worth a shot," says Pein, "But how do we find her?"

Tobi turns to Itachi almost exaggeratedly, which alerts the others to turn to him too.

"She'd come for him," says Tobi.

"Oh right, Itachi was her knight for years," says Kisame, "It's been a while. I totally forgot."

"I refuse," says Itachi.

Sasuke sees Tobi's eyebrows twitch a little. That can't be good, right?

"She won't come for me."

Sasuke feels as if Itachi felt a little pain as he said those words. But then again, he loves her a lot. It's hard to get over, right? It'll take a lot longer to get over her – years maybe.

"We still have Hatake," says Pein.

"He won't agree to do anything that will potentially put the girl in danger," says Orochimaru.

"He won't have a choice, then," says Pein, "Besides, she's not in danger here."

X

Sakura never showed up for Kakashi.

Sasuke knows that it isn't because she doesn't care for him. She is too smart for this. She doesn't think that Akatsuki is good for her country. She doesn't think that she would even be able to be in the same palace as Akatsuki. She probably didn't even consider it. She probably didn't even consider coming back for Itachi either.

She's cruel sometimes.

Itachi has just been living day by day. He hasn't been doing much. It seems that he has just been trying to live his life. He even enrolled in college. His parents are supportive and through all the money that Itachi has made over the years, he probably doesn't even have to do anything for the rest of his life.

He still visits Shisui.

Apparently, he's doing well, whatever that means. Sasuke has been there to see him too. He doesn't seem any different to him, but maybe Itachi sees things differently. Maybe he has finally gotten ahold of some rose colored glasses or something.

Akatsuki accepted Itachi's resignation, but at the same time, they said that they would call for him when they need him. Sasuke figures that Itachi hasn't been much of a use lately anyways and it doesn't seem like Itachi would be able serve as any danger to them, so they just let him go.

It seems that Akatsuki isn't evil, so to say, in this world. They are just very firm in their beliefs and maybe sometimes go about it wrongly, but they aren't bad people…probably just as most of them weren't bad people in his world either – just misled. Madara is the only bad one, and even then, he has his reasons.

Days go by. Sasuke loses count of the days that have passed since Itachi has seen or spoke of Sakura.

He's healing.

But sometimes, Sasuke finds him staring out the window again. At the beginning, he used to tear his eyes away from it immediately, but now, he looks at the window almost reminiscently – like all there is left there are his memories. No feelings, just memories.

Naruto and Ino and the rest of them haven't shown up either. Ino must have said something. Sasuke doesn't mind that much. He already went for years without them in his world.

When Akatsuki shows up at their door, Sasuke almost suffers a heart attack.

Something happened. Something definitely happened.

"Is your brother here?" asks Kisame.

"He's in class," says Sasuke.

"Can we come in?" asks Konan.

The only members here are Konan, Kisame, Tobi, and Kakuzu.

"No," says Sasuke, "My parents are here."

"We aren't some stupid high school kids that are going to get you in trouble," says Kisame. "And besides, we want to see your natural habitat."

Sasuke sighs. "Fine." They weren't going to back down anyways.

He had lied. His parents aren't home. He just didn't want these four losers poking around his house. It's like tainting the place or something.

"This is a nice place," says Konan.

"Yeah," says Kakuzu.

"Tobi thinks that we should wait in here until Itachi is back," says Tobi.

Sasuke's suspicions arise again as he looks at Tobi childishly flounder about the place.

Is he good…or not?

When Itachi comes back, he isn't very surprised that the four menaces are there, which stirs Sasuke's curiosity. Had he already known that they would be here?

"If this is about the recent war declaration, I don't care," Itachi says.

What recent war declaration?

"Can Tobi get a word alone with Itachi for a second?" says Tobi.

Sasuke immediately shoots Itachi a look. Itachi doesn't look at Sasuke. The other three agree and leave.

"Sasuke should stay," says Itachi, "I keep nothing from him."

Sasuke feels warm inside.

"Isn't that just endearing?" asks Tobi, obviously sarcastic.

Silence.

"Well, since you two aren't going to break the silence, I will do it," says Tobi, "You are joining us for this war." There is a finality to his tone.

"I'm not," says Itachi.

"Did you forget our agreement?" asks Tobi.

"What side are you on?" asks Itachi, changing the topic.

"I'm on no side," says Tobi.

"What do you want the outcome to be?" asks Itachi.

He shrugs. "I don't care. I just want a show."

And there it is.

"So you think that there'd be drama if I fought for Akatsuki," says Itachi.

"Of course. She loves you, doesn't she? How will she act? I want to know."

"You're sick."

"Oh come on. You have to be curious too, right? Will she choose you, or her country?"

"She'd choose her country."

"And how would you know that?"

"Because she's already done it once before."

Silence.

"Well, I'd want to see it for myself."

Silence.

"Move back by tonight," are Tobi's last words before he leaves.

Itachi sighs.

"Are you going to move back?" asks Sasuke.

"I don't have much of a choice," says Itachi, "A deal is a deal."

"We can run," proposes Sasuke, "We'll take mom and father with us."

"A deal is a deal, Sasuke," says Itachi.

It isn't hard to escape all of this, but Itachi is always so honorable.

He will never go back on his word.

X

Sasuke decided to move back with Itachi.

Apparently, Sakura is in Suna. She has gotten their backing and they have declared war. She definitely has the advantage of numbers on her side, since Akatsuki doesn't have that many followers, but at the same time, in his own world, Akatsuki was only a group of shinobi, but they managed to create such a disaster anyways.

Suna definitely didn't agree to help Sakura without any payment in return. Sasuke wonders what she gave up. He wonders how she's doing – and then he wonders how Naruto is doing – and Kakashi.

He shakes off the feelings of worry and walks over to the bookshelf in his room. He pulls out one of the books that Princess Sakura had picked out for him years ago. He never really sat down and read any of them. She claimed they were all interesting books, but he never really paid them any mind… but since he has nothing to do right now, might as well, right?

So this story may or may not be on hiatus. I haven't really decided yet. :( I'm not really sure where this story is going, so it will be on hiatus until I figure out what to do with it. Hahaha. :(