BLOODSTONE

PART 1
(Uzusaku)

Sakura knew the exact second the greyhound bus had crossed into Bloodstone Valley's borders because of two things. First, the shadows inside the bus stopped moving and became features fixed in place. Second, the vibrations on her wrist, caused by the ticking hands of her watch stopped.

Sakura turned her hand over and saw her watch had frozen in place and began to count. Before she could get to a full minute it began ticking again. The shadows also seemed to free on their own and move with the swaying of the bus.

Yup, she was in Bloodstone.

Sakura yawned, leaning forward in her seat until the bones in her spine popped back into place with a comfortable click. Easing back down into her seat she pulled up the earpieces to her her headphone and settled them over her ears before turning on her phone's radio station. There wasn't any point in looking for a station or searching through the channels; everyone in Bloodstone knew there was only one station that came in without static.

"Another day in the valley of the sunken sun and tons of families are planning getaways. Are you planning such trip with your painfully typical 2.5 family unit? Stop at our many beautiful tourist areas, such as Hanged Man's Needle, Carcass Creek, or Savage Canyon Camping Grounds just outside of Salt Fall Canyon. Don't forget the sunscreen, bug spray, and plenty of guns to guarantee a weekend you won't forget. Mention this radio commercial at any of the National Park stations for a 15% discount on your season pass. That's right, just mention Coyote news. And now for the weather!"

The only thing that played after that was soft flute music with wind chimes in the background while the greyhound bus rolled on, shuddering with every bend in the road.

Sakura watched out the window as they past the isolated power lines that connect to nothing, past the gas station that has been closed for as long as anyone knows, fenced off and as dilapidated and past the abandoned general store where teenagers used to dare kids to walk up to and ring the welcome bell to. There's never been a soul to cross the dusty thresholds in 24 years, but on hot nights teenagers swear there's something moving around behind the muddied windows.

"And now a word from out sponsors, Black Widows Pest Control: A happy home is an empty home."

Sakura turns off her phone's radio receiver and drops her cell into the front pocket of her denim vest. She can feel the bus shift into a lower gear as the drop off station comes into view. She rises to stand in the isle as it ambles into the alcove on the side of the road. A pair of twins and their cousin are waiting under the shade of the station's roof, looking excited for the returning visitor.

The bus eases to a stop and Sakura pulls her duffle down, before walking down the empt isle and exiting the bus. She's a single step left before a complete exit when she's tackled by a body heavy enough to topple her. She grunts and grabs for the rails to keep her steady as her ribs are bruised under his arms.

"Naruto," she coughs, pulling herself back up.

He follows her, face buried in her shoulder and refusing to detach from the woman who was his best friend growing up. His twin smacks him across the back of his head, but Naruto only whines and doesn't even lessen his hold. Still, Sakura's able to drag both himself and her out of the bus and onto the sidewalk. She doesn't have a chance to turn around and thank the driver, as he's already pulling away. Sakura can't remember the driver's face or gender, but thinks nothing of it as Karin elbows in.

"Don't be a hog you pervert!" she screeches at her cousin, shoving him off before taking his place and planting a kiss on the side of Sakura's face. "I missed you so much."

Naruto pouted, rubbing the side of his already bruising face while behind him Menma chuckles, arms crossed over his chest. Sakura wiggles her fingers over Karin's shoulder and he wavs in reply.

"So, you guys said you needed me for something urgent? I got away as soon as I could."

It's Menma that answers her, leaving Karin and Naruto to glare at each other over Sakura's shoulders. "Not soon enough. The old man's already done enough damage. This is why we don't advertise to tourists." He frowns at his female cousin and then coughs loudly. Karin just glares back. "You done? I'm actually looking forward to hugging my girlfriend after three months away."

"Your girlfriend?" Karin scoffs, letting Sakura go. "Someone's been daydreaming too hard. Punch him in the face Sakura and set him straight."

Menma opens his arms and Sakura rolls her eyes before moving towards them. He holds her tight and pulls her up off her feet, face buried deep in her neck. When he speaks her shoulder muffles his words. "You cut your hair even shorter."

One of his hands moves up to cradle the underside of her skull, brushing over the short strands that have been nearly buzzed. A thick strip down the center of her skull was left long enough to curl into a victory roll, but everything lower than her ears was buzzed short.

Karin grins, leaning on Naruto. "I think she looks badass. I like it."

"You would," Naruto huffed. "You shaved half your head last year-ow! I didn't say that was a bad thing."

"Yeah, yeah. So, this fellow you're all hung up on…I got a text from Sasuke but it didn't seem urgent."

"It's not urgent, but he's super annoying." Naruto shoved his female cousin off him and rubbed the side of his face. "And of course Sasuke would say something like that. He doesn't think anything's urgent unless they're out there in the desert digging up his precious crash sites. He never cares if it's other stuff that get's unwanted attention."

"Well, isn't that why you called me?" Sakura gave Menma one final squeeze and then pushed him off. He detached on a deep inhale and she rolled her eyes at what he likely thought was a throaty chuckle.

"Yeah, that and you've been gone for so long. How much longer are you going to stay away from us?"

"Naruto, college takes four years. I've only been gone three months."

The blond's eyes widen comically and nearly fill with tears. "What?! Four years? Can't you just skip three years and graduate early like you did in high school?"

"Sorry Naruto, but you're going to have to learn to tie your own shoes without me around you all the time," Sakura sighs, secretly loving how crestfallen her friend gets over her absence. Beyond Bloodstone the world is so rigid and set. Relationships are hard to form and Sakura sometimes doubts she'll ever feel like she fits.

"I can tie my shoes already, and that's not why I want you around," Naruto grumbles, receiving a pat on the back by his less emotional twin brother.

"All that to say, why don't you settle in at home? I bet you're bushed from the long ride and it's hot enough outside as it is. Let's get back." Karin nods to her jeep parked nearby and the quartet piles in.

The sun is setting as they leave the parking lot in town, but it's still setting by the time Karin drives her jeep into the garage. Sunsets in bloodstone seem to last forever before they're over like a switch. There is no fade out, one second the sun's there, bleeding fire and flame like the punctured yoke of an egg, the next second the sky's a dusky gray blue, fading darker like the smoke trail from a candle.

Sakura waits outside the garage to see it all happen. Their family ranch has nothing but wild open range behind it, dotted plentifully with tumble weed and prickly pear cactus and saguaro alike. The cousins are already moving back into the house, but Menma waits behind, watching her watch the sunset.

It dies with a flicker and is out like a flame.

"Better?" he calls out to her.

Sakura turns and grins. "I've missed this."

"You don't have to," he teases as she reaches the base of the staircase leading up the back of the house. He stands in her way and she pauses on the landing, waiting for him to move. "You could just stay here with us."

"I'd be chaos to your family."

"I like chaos." He shrugs easily. "And it's not like we're so perfect here without you. "Naruto nearly burned the house down last week trying to make nachos."

"Oh yeah, and who egged him on?" Sakura steps up the stairs until she is one slat below Menma, close and short. She pokes the middle of his chest where her eyes come up to and he almost flinches. "Last I remembered nachos were a different brother's favorite snack food."

She goes to poke him again and he catches her hand, pulling her to him to pin to his chest. She protests but he just laughs. "I'm weak for a select number of vices, but don't think nachos are the worst of it."

"Menma," she warns, voice low and almost dangerous.

They both know she can lift him and throw him over her shoulder if she wants to. And he knows she's not shy about doing it either. Still, he doesn't let her go. He just pulls her closer and leans down to rest face in her hair, breathing her in. She can feel him shiver.

"Hey," she pokes his ribs and he makes a sound, but doesn't move. "You okay? You're acting funny."

When he answers her his voice is muffled by her hair. "You've never been gone so long and you're going to be gone even longer."

"Yeah, you knew that though. Menma, what did you think it would be like? I'm getting a degree in Herbal Sciences for the sake of our desert. And besides, you weren't even there when I left. I thought you…I thought you didn't mind that I was going."

She feels more than hears the sharp intake of breath as he tenses around her. The heat from his body is like the heat from the desert, swallowing and dry. He is a flame around her. "I cared!" he growls, gripping her like his life depends on it. "Of course I cared. But I was so angry with you. I was so mad that you could…that you got to leave here and I couldn't go with you. You went somewhere I couldn't follow and you knew it, you knew I wouldn't be able to follow you. I thought that was the real reason you were leaving, because you couldn't stand it, us, this place, me?"

Sakura feels herself deflate and reaches up to embrace her friend back. He's holding her like she might slip away in pieces, so she rubs circles into the taunt cartography of his back, sharp and lines with years of labor and hard work. He's as defined as Naruto, and maybe more so.

Under her hands he begins to unwind a bit, his grip loosens. His breathing becomes softer, easier. Her hands trail up and down his spine, nails lightly scratching and she hears him make a sound of comfort, not unlike a purr. It's like how it was when they were children. Both boys were more animal and too prone to ministrations as a means of calming down. Sakura was their favorite person to go to.

The sky opens up above them, choked thick with stars even in the dim light of dusk. The stars will only grow brighter the longer the night shadows stretch. In the far off bushes Sakura sees six glowing eyes reflect the light from the porch before the two dogs turn and run back into the wilds of their desert.

"Come on, I'm hungry. Let's get inside and have some dinner. Don't you think your family will be wondering where we've gone?"

Sakura teases, reaching up, trailing her nails from his spine to his neck to his scalp. He sucks in a breath and bites his lip before pulling away. The look on his face is one of dejection and playful hurt. Sakura kisses his jaw before shouldering past, knowing better than to look back. No doubt he'll need a minute to collect himself before joining her inside.

At the door she's grabbed by the wrist and yanked inside by Naruto. Before she can say anything the younger twin slides the class door shut and latches it closed, switching on the lock.

"Naruto, he won't be able to get in like that," Sakura chastises, noticing how he still hasn't let go of her yet. Somewhere in the background in the kitchen Sakura can hear Karin listening to Coyote radio.

Naruto huffs loudly. "Serves him right for stealing and hogging you to himself like that. As if he's the one that missed you the most. He was such an awful jerk when you were away. I bet he didn't contact you nearly as much as I did. You got my messages, right?"

"If I didn't get them why would I have responded to you all those times? Don't worry about it, I didn't keep track of who texted me more and it doesn't matter one way or the other."

She should have known she said the wrong thing before she opened her mouth. Naruto dropped her hand and gasped, eyes wide. "He didn't! No way, there is no way that jerk texted you more than me. Where's your phone, it was here a second ago, Karin brought it in-a hah!"

Sakura whined, slapping her vest pockets in vain, remembering taking the phone out to put in the bag Karin carried in. Naruto had found it and swiped it open, using the password she was too lazy to change. When she reached for it Naruto turned around and blocked her, bending just out of reach.

"Where are there so many Uchiha texting you? Those basters know better to stay to themselves with us, but they harass you while you're out of state? What a load of bull-ow-Sakura!" Naruto cried out as Sakura tackled him to the floor and sat on his chest, ripping her phone out of his hand.

"Naruto, you should know better," Sakura chastised, keeping him pinned down. She sat on his chest but the front of her feet were pressing down on the insides of his wrists keeping them from pushing her off. "You've never been able to beat me in a wrestling match."

"Yeah….or…." He let his words trail off as he eyed her up and down, lids lowering slightly. "Maybe I'm right where I want to be."

For being the most whiny and cuddly male Sakura knew, she was a bit thrown by the way his words came out. It sounded like something she would expect from his brother, but Naruto had been too honest and soft for demanding words that ate up space.

Sakura moved her feet off his wrists and moved to get off, but Naruto pushed up off the ground and unbalanced her, making it easy for him to flip her over and sit on her chest in a reversal of situations. His grin was nothing but foxy as he smiled down at her in triumph. She watched the subtle whiskers on his cheek fade under the new blush. He was too easy to please.

"Oh no, I'm so scared. What't the worst you're going to do to me here?" Sakura sighed, hating how she had to admit how little she disliked the situation. Naruto was probably one of her favorite people to hug, and he was too freaking cute to resist for long.

When Naruto hesitated, eyes wide and waiting Sakura huffed out a breath before opening her arms and welcoming him to snuggles. Naruto wouldn't have done much more without the invitation, which was something that made him different from his brother.

"Are you going to scratch me too, the way you do?" he asked into her neck, pushing his face against her like a cat or dog looking for pets.

"Sure, hun."

Sakura cooed, feeling tired as she wraps her arms around him and drags her nails lightly down his back and sides, diverting in circles that sooth him as well as his brother. His sounds of contentment are louder and easier to laugh at, but Sakura doesn't, because she's missed Naruto and missed how safe the way they embrace has made her feel. Holding Naruto was like holding the world.

Sakura felt the footsteps before she heard them as Menma stomped across the floor, having come in a different way. He stoped where they lay on the floor and glared at his brother before kneeling down and falling down alongside Sakura, wrapping arms around her waist and snaking them between her and Naruto.

Naruto whined but doesn't say much more when he realized his twin has settled and isn't going to take any more territory in their battle over Sakura. Naruto will forgive his twin just enough because he knows what it's like to miss a part of your heart. Sakura has been a chunk of their souls for as long as they could remember.

"I swear if you two are cuddling Sakura again without me I will skin the both of you," Karin grumbles as she marches out of the kitchen with one of her chopping knives still in hand.

From behind her shoulder Menma mutters a muffled 'uck off' and Naruto just squeaks and holds onto Sakura tighter, bracing for the wrath.

"Why you little shit…"

Karin stabs the knife down into the cutting board nearby, letting it stand out while she stomps the rest of the way over to where the friends lay. She gabs the collar of Menma's white cotton tee shirt, once so neatly tucked into his jeans, and hauls him up and off Sakura before tossing him against the fall wall where he rolls and slams into the fridge. Karin turns to glare at Naruto but doesn't move to throw him off.

"Come on, off of Sakura, she needs to eat my food and get her energy back, or did you guys forget why she came back in the first place? She's really busy trying her best and you guys are acting like toddlers."

"It's not like you weren't jealous or didn't want to get it going on yourself," Menma slurs, holding his head as he rises. His eyes are blue fire, unfocused and flickering.

"Yeah, but Sakura's sharing my bed, so it's not like I won't get my fill," Karin sasses back, a triumphant grin on her lips as the blood drains from her cousin's face. It's enough to get her to laugh into the back of her hand while Naruto helps Sakura up.

"Come on you lot. Food, remember?" Sakura says, waving to the cousins.

Karin spins on her heel and follows the group back into the kitchen to help them to Tamales and chips. Instead of eating at the table the group moves into the living room and puts on Netflix to watch a marathon of old Twilight Zone episodes.

Naruto had brought the chips in with him and Menma had brought the bowls of heated queso and salsa dip. Sakura knew she spilled awfully, but didn't care since it was nothing in comparison to Naruto.

In the dark of the room she felt a hand reach for hers and she squeezed it back.

And even though the plan had been for Karin and Sakura to share a bed, Naruto sneaked in beside them somewhere in the night and when Sakura woke in the early hours she felt Menma stretched out along the far end of the bed across her feet, one hand reaching to hold onto her leg in his sleep.

Naruto snuggled into her back, nudging the back of her legs with his knee absently. Karin made a sigh sound through her nose before tugging on the short strands of Sakura's hair, rubbing it between her fingers.

It was morning, time to wake and get to work, but Sakura couldn't help but feel she was right where she needed to be.

Alas, duty calls.

Sakura slid onto the stool at the counter of her favorite diner. Her feet ached in the worn converse that didn't breath well in the heat but were too comfortable otherwise to trade in for sandals like everyone else.

The bar was sparsely populated with two other ladies and one man and eight empty stools. Still, Sakura chose the stool to the immediate right of the man. He looked up when she settled down and she smiled easily, knowing what she looked like.

Somewhere in the background the radio behind the counter played a jingle before going to the weather and warning about the dog park and rings in the sky. Sakura waves to the blond pouring coffee and Ino sighs but nods back in return. She'll be back with Sakura's regular.

"I don't think I've seen you around here recently," the man starts, leaning in a little. Sakura can smell his aftershave and knows he's not a part of the desert. He's too clean and too awake to be a part of the landscape.

Sakura lets her long lashes play 'catch me' as the flutter prettily while her hand brushes the finger from the long of her hair. She hadn't curled it, but it remembers how to fall across her forehead from yesterday. "My bus came in late yesterday. You been here long to recognize all the locals or do you just really want to talk to me?"

"Can the answer be all of the above?" he flirts.

"Wow," Sakura laughs. "You're fun. I gotta ask what a smooth talker like you is doing in a pit stop like this? I'm now living in the city myself, but I come back every blue moon or so to see family and friends. I couldn't wait to leave this place behind, so what draws you?"

"Lots. You'd be surprised what's under these rocks if you're brave enough to just pull them up," he laughs back, picking up the toothpick from his plate to place between his teeth and let dangle. He's a cowboy now and Sakura tries hard not to laugh.

"Careful, there's scorpions under those rocks."

"A few bugs never stop the truly determined."

"You got a name, truly determined?" She lets her shoulders do the thing where they raise slightly and never lower, making her seem smaller and softer.

"Genma. What about you?"

"Sakura."

He lifted his water glass. "It's a pleasure Sakura. Seeing as how you're a local, do you mind if I ask you a few questions, mostly about the red rocks by the petroglyphs?"

"Yeah," she drawls. "I'm no expert, but I've seen them. You a researcher or something."

"Yeah, something like that. I just thought it was fascinating how an ancient desert people were knowledgeable enough to depict squid and octopus. I've got theories."

"I'm sure you do," Sakura hums, looking up as Ino comes over with a plate of waffles. "Thanks, pig."

Ino huffs, dropping off the breakfast with a slit stare. "I'm adding it to your tab, forehead."

"Love you too," Sakura responds with a wave, leaning on the counter, closer to her food.

The man glances between Sakura and the waitress and then snorts. "She's a prickly one. What's with the nickname?"

"Forehead?" Sakura makes her eyes go wide, questioning.

"Yeah," he says with a nod, looking at her face with too much openness to his expression. Absently, Sakura cuts into her waffle and stuffs her face with a forkful before answering.

"Ah," she says before swallowing and wiping the cream off her lips, knowing he is watching. "I guess I could show you. It's not like you'll remember it anyway."

Sakura leans back and reaches up to move the heavy lock of hair off her forehead, exposing the long space of skin slit with a purple rhombus no bigger than a nickel.

Genma leans forward, staring as he hears something wet rip behind the mark. The rhombus split down the middle all on it's own and spread it's halves open wide to show a spinning gray eye. The eye bled into a purple color as it began to turn, growing even darker as more lines and tomes appear- spinning faster and faster until all there is to see is red like the sky, red like the rocks, red like the blood, red as red as red….

Then it goes still and the color drains before the eye seals closed behind a purple rhombus that also loses it's color in an attempt to blend in with the surrounding skin.

Sakura droped her hair and turned back to her waffles. Beside her Genma drooled, staring off into nothing. When she's done Sakura pat him on the back and swaggered out of the diner, slightly woozy and light footed as she wishes him a safe journey back to wherever his home is.

BLOODSTONE

PART 2
(ItaSaku)

Sakura made herself an eyesore where she knew she would be seen; lounging across the hood of the sleek, midnight black 1972 Dodge Charger. Autumn break had the temperatures in the valley dropping and for a native such as herself, the heat of the metal frame warmed her like a lizard on asphalt.

When the owner of the vehicle emerged from the office building to see who decorated his hood Sakura couldn't help but grin at the look of utter disgust that overtook the stiff's face. His face was hardly ever expressive, but she could tell by the tightness of his eyes and the shadow of a curl in his lips. He didn't look happy to see her and that thrilled her.

"Ah," he began in a monotone. "The pariah is back. I had thought you left for good. Did they kick you out so soon?" He stopped in front of his car and stared down at her, refusing to approach any further in his perfectly pressed navy suit.

"It's called fall break, and it's nice to see you too, Uchiha. You've missed me."

Itachi Uchiha would have rolled his eyes if he were any other person, but instead he huffed a breath and frowned. "Hardly. Please remove yourself, least you wish to be flung from my windshield at sixty five miles an hour."

"Testy."

"Those are the speed limits and I intend to take advantage of them."

"Where do you intend to throw me off the road?" She leans forward. "It wouldn't be anywhere near the Iron Rails?"

Itachi hisses. "You're a gnat in the wind."

"And you're an outsider to this valley." When his stare narrows she leans forward. "Well, all you Uchiha are mesa invaders, you know." She pauses. "And…other things, but the mesa invader title is the kindest I think."

"I'll call you your names to your face."

"Warms my heart when a boy gives me pet names."

"Get off my car."

Sakura pouts. "I thought you wanted to throw me from your windshield. That not the plan anymore?"

"I need to leave, make up your mind and be done with it." Itachi reaches into the pocket of his trousers and removes his keys. He rolls them over in his hand once more letting them slip partway between his fingers before catching them. He turns his wrist over and angels his chin at her. "Are you going to move or must I lay hands on you?"

Sakura grins and it's a feral twist of her lips. "Wow, you're not making it difficult for me to twist your words at all, you know. By all means, lay hands."

Itachi shuffles, impossibly poised in spite of the color flushing across his ears. He ignores her, moving to the driver's side and opening the door before letting himself in. Before he can lock the doors, Sakura has the passenger's side door open and is sliding into the open seat. Itachi pauses to watch her help herself to the seatbelt and buckle up.

She looks up, catching his baffled expression. She taps the tip of his nose with her pointer finger. "Be safe, buckle up!"

For whatever reason he doesn't boot her out or even voice his complaints. It's been a while since she made herself a thorn in his side, all things considered. He had enough patience to put up with her for a few hours while he examined her ancestral lands. Uchiha usually didn't like 'outsiders' involved in their business, but it was more trouble than it was worth to completely cut out some people from the sites.

Itachi turned his key into the ignition and let his mind wander to Sasuke. If he knew Sakura was back his foolish little brother wouldn't still be at the academy in Phoenix for the weekend seminar. It would be terrible to withstand the boy's whining once he came back home and found out he missed his old friend.

"This excursion stays a secret. If anyone asks, I have no idea you were here. You're showing me out to a site."

Sakura mocks a salute. "Yes, sir."

"…You are insufferable."

A twinkle comes into her eyes. "I try."

Sakura's family technically owned the land where most of the Uchiha did their business, but because of government overrides there is a level of authority that supersedes generations of inheritance and ceremony and sacred keeping. Most of the locals are content to let the agents wander aimlessly in the twisted red rock canyon. Lesser men have died from it.

'Four every year since 1983,' Sakura chirps in his memory.

But Uchiha are not lesser men and it took very little time for the people of Bloodstone to recognize that after the clan moved in seven and a half years ago. Peace was never a word that fit in Bloodstone, but it was even more foreign to the name Uchiha.

"Who told you I would be heading out to the Reigns?" Itachi asks, accelerating as he turns onto the arrow straight highway leading away from the city's populace.

"I only guessed that much," Sakura hummed. "But I heard about things showing up after that last rain and I figured it wouldn't be long until one of you suits turned his nose up. I guessed it would be you, and I was right."

"Things?" He echoes her earlier word.

"Things," Sakura teases, stressing the single word. "Indeed, Uchiha. I'm sure you heard some fascinating stories from the technology you left out there."

Her words sound like a tease but Itachi doesn't let them get to him. He doesn't let her see how irritated she can be to someone like him. "The geography has been known to cause interference to our technology when it tries to communicate with us."

"The hills don't like to share their secrets," Sakura breathed, closing her eyes and nodding like the old women who have nothing better to do than sit outside on their porches and makes jokes about all the misfortunes left in the world. "You're lucky you heard as much as you did, Itachi."

"Do not use my first name so casually, Haruno."

Her voice drops an octave and suddenly it's breathy in his ear as he's driving. "I-ta-chi."

He is a man of impressive will for how stony his entire body goes, refusing to react to the bait. He isn't like any of his cousins, he will not give in. The skin over his knuckles goes white as he holds onto the edges of the wheel like it's the only thing that can keep him grounded.

"Haruno," his voice is a growl that could have been so easily sexy if he tried, but it's too threatening to be misconstrued.

Sakura knows when to back off, so she raises her palms and smiles, scooting back over to her side of the car. "Sorry, sorry, I just thought we were such old friends it was time we moved onto first names. Do you still want to hear what I know about the Iron Rails or wanna wait until we get there. It won't be much longer with the way you drive, speed demon."

The Iron Rails was a spot of land just on the edge of Bloodstone's official boundaries, named from back when the railroad started laying down iron for track back in the early 1900's. They didn't get far. Too many bad luck incidents made them turn tail and go the long way around the red rock, but not before many of the rails were bolted down, making the site iconic to the local histories.

"I doubt you'll have anything useful to say."

Sakura knew that was Itachi speak for 'tell me,' since if he wanted her to shut up or keep her opinions to herself, he would have refused to comment or reply with a typical Itachi 'ah' or the famed Uchiha 'hn' expression. It had taken Sakura years to move from the 'hn' stage with Itachi, and that was only after she won over Sasuke.

"You hear any stories about your pretty red eyes in the desert?"

Itachi almost flinched, but coming to the bend he had been decelerating, so the twitch was easy to miss. But, Sakura didn't.

Itachi lied. "No."

Sakura rolled her shoulders and turned her face out the window to watch the dusty red lands blur past. The sky was low, sparsely populate with a handful of clouds that looked like they rose upwards forever in thick, stacking columns. Another rain would be soon. It was the monsoon season, and even if water didn't fall from the sky, there would be lightning and thunder once the sun set. Her arms were already tingling.

There was nowhere in the world where the sky was more gorgeous than Bloodstone and the state of Arizona. Come dusk, the sky would be a sea of the best colors mixing and bleeding and sagging deep deep deep enough to touch. She missed the sights from the mesas like when she was young and still running with three eyed coyotes.

"You know, once upon a time there was a bad day. It was a bad day because the world wasn't working the way it should have. We all began in a different world, and then we emerged into a better world, before leaving that one behind for an even better world. We repeated the cycle again and again until we knew there should be no more worlds. Ever time we left one to come to another, things followed."

"Save me your stories. I've heard them all before."

In a rare moment Sakura snaps in a voice as deep as desert thunder. "It is a honor to hear these stories."

It shocks him to the heart and he feels small beside her. Itachi is rightly humbled, but Sakura does not continue. The road bends and Itachi sees the first few feet of rail and knows the location is close. He takes his car off road and they roll down across the dust to the base of a sheer red rock wall that the tracks had meant to blast through. A hundred years later, the rock still stands.

He stops his car and lets it idle before turning the key back and removing it. A sideways glance tells him that Sakura is not herself, her eyes are tight and her stance is ridged in her seat. It's enough to send a thrill of danger through him. He's greatly offended her and he needs to make it right.

"I apologize for my trivializing of your words. I forget myself."

Sakura turns to him slowly. "You did not forget yourself, Uchiha, you remembered yourself. You take and you take and you never think to thank or give credit to anything but your own gods. Forget this self if you don't want to be used in the end." She punctuates her words by un-clicking her belt and slipping out the passenger's side door and slamming it shut behind her. It bangs and Itachi feels her words settle in him like a prophecy.

Itachi scrambles out and rounds his car's front to see her stand with a little less rigidity, but the playfulness is gone from her frame. She removes a pair of aviators from her breast pocket and slips them on, glancing west where the sun still hangs high. Her short hair is spun gold and rose under the sunbeams. She looks like a part of the desert.

"What things followed?"

She turns to him and her brows show surprise. Itachi takes his own sunglasses out of his pocket but doesn't slip them on, not until he sees her eyes and she decides to forgive him.

"What things followed from the other worlds?" he asks again.

She swallows and looks towards the end of the rails. "Nothing good. Each world was left because it was worse off. Maybe one day too this world will be filled with the monsters we make. But like all invaders, they were unwelcome. Stone remembers, but stone doesn't stand forever."

Sakura lifts a hand towards the evidence of erosion tearing down the side of another mesa not too far off. A recent rain has finished decades of weathering by pushing it apart and tearing the front half down. Itachi sees what used to be the interior of an old tribal dwelling left in natural ruin, having been exposed with the rockslide. It had been perfectly hidden and sealed days earlier.

"There's not much that stands longer than stone," Itachi intones, slipping his sunglasses into place.

Sakura huffs a breath and it sounds chastising. "Not much that you know," she says. There's a little bit of teasing back in her voice and Itachi doesn't know why he feels relieved. Her teasing voice means more mischief for him to deal with.

"One bad day, Uchiha, and that's all any empire really needs to know how to crumble. Come on, let's see if our 'bad day' made it through."

It doesn't look like a lot, but the dust and the desert that separates his car and their destination is longer than it looks. Skitting a patch of barrel cactus Sakura begins to sprint before punctuating her flight with a vault upwards, grabbing red rock and swinging up onto a narrow ledge. Itachi takes the longer way around the rubble. By the time he catches up with her Sakura has her face set into a look of discontent.

"Ugh, you look so good in a suit, but really it's not practical way out here."

He ignores the way her forwardness makes his ears burn. "That is why you are here, is it not, Haruno?" he dryly comments, pretending he doesn't care how he sees her. His eyes are still safe behind tinted shades.

She twitches and turns sharply to look far off towards the sky and Itachi sees the way her shoulders rise.

"What?" he asks when she doesn't say anything.

"Thunder. It's far off, we have maybe four hours like this. Rain isn't much further behind."

Itachi doesn't say anything along the lines of how she shouldn't be able to hear thunder from so far away, but knows that's a quirk of hers he is better off not exploring.

Sakura grins and jumps down from the ledge, disturbing nary a pebble with her dismount. She leads him into the newly uncovered ruins and down the corridors where there is nothing but swirling red stone rising high on either side, blasted and loved by the winds of a desert for too many thousands of years. There are other areas hit harder from the rains, and it's almost amazing to see the difference from one year to another.

Itachi stops at another rockslide site, this one more rugged than the last. Sakura pauses beside him, shoulders dropping. "The storms here are getting worse every year. I don't want to know what the rains look like next year."

"There are always going to be monsoons in the desert."

Sakura bites her lip. "But they're getting worse. It wasn't like this when I was a kid, I don't remember them so badly. Look at all the destruction they brought."

"I see it. But that is the way of things. No point in getting worked up over the rain. Your desert will survive."

She almost turns on him, angry again, but when she spins he is looking at her and she realizes his words weren't condescending but empowering. In the Uchiha manner he might have as well have said 'believe in the strength of your desert' for how her heart took it.

He turns first and walks away, down under the arches and past the wall of paintings protected from the worst of the winds. The drawings of white tentacle creatures that could have been squid or octopus before an evolutionary step stand out. Archeologists claim the drawings support their theory that the desert was, once upon a time, close to a major water source such as the ocean-back before California's tectonic plate shifted up or something like that.

Sakura just laughs at the theory.

The red rocks around them are amazing, but after another bend Sakura stops suddenly and looks down. Her lips falter before forming an O shape and whistling sharply.

"Yeah, that's a big hole," she adds.

Itachi eyes the far edge and sees what used to be stairs. "That's not a hole. The rain just uncovered the roof."

Sakura sticks close to his side as Itachi moved to the stairs and retrieves a light from his trouser pockets. He pushes up his sunglasses into his hair and Sakura slides her own back into her breast pocket. The long curl of hair stays between her eyes, covering her oversized forehead.

It gets dark quick.

The chamber is different from the famous lava tunnels that populate to the east in abundance. Their valley was built by ancient eruptions after all. Sakura's hand reaches for the wall and slides down it as she follows the stairs downwards. Her fingers brush over a vein of turquoise and it glows a bit before dimming just as quickly.

"So…" she begins, knowing Itachi is listening even if he doesn't reply. "Where is Sasuke this week? I'm only off for a few days and I was hoping I would get to see him before I go back."

"You think that wise?" Itachi's tone is not amused.

"I think it would be fun."

He huffs a breath, stepping down off the stairs onto earth. "I'm sure you do."

Sakura follows him soon after. "You're such a stick in the mud. You never liked me playing with Sasuke even when we were kids. What's one tiny visit between months of separation?"

"He doesn't need the distraction right now."

"From what? Nothing's so important that he needs to be cloistered away like some boy emperor. Naruto said he was training somewhere in Phoenix, but that's as specific as it gets."

Itachi doesn't reply and Sakura hums, expecting the silent treatment. Sasuke was always a testy subject for the older brother. It didn't help matters when the child who once idolized and looked up to his big brother now resents the same person almost as well while turning his attention and affections to others.

The only person Itachi probably disliked more than her was Naruto, for how close Sasuke was to the other boy. But between Naruto and Sakura, the way Itachi behaved was noticeably different. He seemed to go out of his way to make things harder for her. Itachi was too sophisticated to tease, but he did seem to go out of his way to bug her. It was only fair she returned the favor.

"It's fine, he texts me all the time, you know."

Itachi staggers but keeps walking. "Ah."

"Yeah, I've been busy, but I'm sure if I asked to meet up before I go back we'd be able to work something out. He always wants to see me."

Itachi turns his light off and stops, sending the both of them into pitch darkness. Sakura looses sense of up and down and hits something with her foot and falls. Seconds later Itachi looms over her, light in her face. Sakura's breath stops in her throat when she sees his spinning red eyes.

"It's true, you do have the sharingan."

Itachi blinks and then hisses, turning the light away before crouching down atop her and angling his phone again so she has to squint into the light. "You stay away from my brother. Don't you dare drag him into anything after I've worked so hard to keep him away from this."

Sakura grabs the front of Itachi's shirt and holds him to keep him from pulling away. He tugs but her fist is a grip of iron. "And you think the way you're treating him ins't pushing him straight into the thick of it? Do you even know how much you've hurt Sasuke with the way you treat him as inferior? You wanna threaten me you go ahead and try, but be smart about it."

"You don't know anything."

"I know more than you, and I know what Sasuke tells me, which is not what you tell him. He knows about all of this, he knows about the cover ups being real cover ups for other cover ups and he knows about the things you and your uncle dug up in the desert. He knows what you hide from him and the more you shut him out the harder he tries to get in." She shakes his shirt and drags him closer. "Like this, it's only a matter of time before he finds his own Ancestor and gives himself pretty cursed eyes."

Itachi is rightly shocked, knowing for sure not what he had suspected for years. Sakura knows more about the desert than Shisui or Madara gave her credit for. They had told him to ignore her, that she wasn't worth the bother, but Sakura knows about the Ancestors and their eyes and lying about it being a genetic mutation where blood leaks into the iris isn't going to fix things this time.

"What did you say about Sasuke finding an Ancestor?" Itachi forces himself to ask. That's not something Sasuke should know about. Sasuke doesn't need to be a part of this. He just needs to pretend to cover up bogus Alien crashes and process data. He doesn't need to know what his family does in the dark.

"There's a snake in the business. Someone is leaking Sasuke information. I've intercepted tons of it, but there's no way in hell he doesn't know enough to make him curious. It only serves your family right, digging up what doesn't belong to you."

Sakura angles her hips up into Itachi and flips him over, hand still at his throat. He drops his phone but the light is still on, leaving them half in shadow. Itachi swallows, red eyes wide.

"How did you know?"

She lifts a single brow, leveling him with a look of 'do you think I'm stupid?'

"Who do you think watched over the bad things all these generations?" Sakura leans down over him and he can feel her breath. "You've been messing in matters you have no business with, and everyone else is content to watch this curse consume you. Tell me, how bad are the nightmares? Have you started having vision loss yet?"

"That's only because I was weaker than the others," Itachi snaps in a rare flush of emotion.

"No, it was because you stole and thought yourself right to do it, right to conquer. I could leave you alone and you'll be dead in another five years, but not before wasting away if you're already showing signs."

Itachi breaths deep, narrowing his beautiful eyes at her. "It would serve me right, wouldn't it?"

Sakura's eyes soften. "You know, it really sucks to have feelings for you."

Itachi's expression is dumbstruck and open as Sakura leans down and fits her lips over his. There is only a split second of hesitation before he responds, reaching up and pulling her down, closer to him. The hand around his throat slips up into his hair and he moans into her mouth at the feel of her fingernails running down his scalp. He moves and Sakura feels him all around her as he bends into her, every inch of his craving more of her.

Itachi breaks on a breathy gasp before trailing kissing down her jaw and throat, nibbling on her collarbone before diving back into her again like a man starved after years in the desert. He's so animated he doesn't even notice the tears running down her eyes until his fingers trail through their path. He pulls away suddenly and holds her face, eyes narrowed in concern.

"Sakura!" he says her name so honestly, like he's been saying it for years. "Did I hurt you? What's wrong?"

Sakura's face falls into his neck and she cuddle in a little closer, her shoulders shaking with soft little sobs she tries to keep to herself. "Nothing." Her voice is muffled by the front of his shirt.

"Is it me, Sakura did I do something? Tell me and I'll fix it. Tell me if this is too fast for you. I can change that."

"That's not the problem," Sakura laughs, even though her eyes are still damp as she shakes her head. "You-you're perfect just the way you are. Right here, this moment here is perfect."

His hands shake a bit as he pats her hair down away from her face, stroking lovingly. He's finally able to touch her the way he's wanted to. He's finally free to be honest about what he wants. "Tell me and I'll make it all better," he whispers, kissing the top of her head.

Sakura reaches up and touches the side of his face. He leans into her hand, turning to quickly kiss her palm before nestling into where she holds his face. When she looks up her hair is pushed back and the bright red eye in the center of her forehead is spinning until it's not red anymore, but gray like the thunder and surrounded by rings. There's a crack in the world around them before Itachi falls unconscious under her a second later.

Sakura swallows and pushes herself up. She rubs her wet eyes dry while the slit in her forehead seals back up with a sound like tearing paper. It's not her neatest job, but at least like this he won't remember what happened between them. That's the way it should be.

"Business," she says out loud, turning back towards the far end of the cave. She wipes her eyes again, forcing them to turn white and see in the dark until she reaches the end where the earth decided to split and expose the rare bloodstone quarts that mutated out of the turquoise. Encased in crystal the color of an Arizona sky there is a body. His eyes are closed and his clothing is undatable, but Sakura remembers the visions when he opens his eyes and the world burns in black fire.

"I'm sure the Uchiha would just love to find you, Indra, but that's not going to happen today."

Sakura puts her hands on the side of the wall still made of red stone and concentrates, asking for favor. She doesn't have the sort of power to move earth and stone, but she knows how to ask and listen. When she opens her eyes again the seam is sealed and there is a pain in the back of her brain she knows comes from Indra, who curses her efforts to keep him separated from the waking world. She'll take the headache. The heartache is just a little harder to deal with.

She hears Itachi stir behind her and sighs. Swallowing, Sakura turns on her heel and skips back to where Itachi is just picking himself back up and collecting his phone.

"Wow, you took a bad tumble. You okay?"

Itachi glares at her, flashing his phone around. He doesn't say anything, but pushes past her, finds nothing, and then turns back towards the stairs.

Outside he stops and shuffles through his pockets before finding his sunglasses on his forehead where he left them. They're a little dusty, but they're too expensive to be damaged with such a simple fall.

"Haruno," he barks. The way he says her name is so different. Minutes ago he whispered it like a prayer and held her to him.

She blinks and smiles wide, wider than she knows how to. "Yes?"

"You knew this would be a dead end." It wasn't a question.

"Nah, just figured it would be. You have fun."

"Don't waste my time in the future." He turns and stalks off to his car, trailing dust like it's his business. Sakura watches as he opens the driver side door and steps in, only to pause before disappearing out of view. He's glaring at her. "Hurry up, just don't stand there. I'm taking you back."

"Wow, what a gentle man. You gonna treat me to dinner too?" she laughs, skipping over.

"Don't push your luck, Haruno."

His almost smile melts her on the inside but she doesn't show it. She just buckles up and breaths deep, praying that there is a day when she doesn't have to draw lines between them. Protector and invader. It should have been simple, but Itachi Uchiha was too lovely to not be so complicated.

She should have known better.