Author's Note – Wow! I'm feeling good today! Have been away on holiday . But I'm back now!

Disclaimer: I don't own NaruNaru …. Sorry yall!

Chapter 21
Because You Live

"Because you live and breathe,
Because you make me believe in myself
when nobody else could help...
Because you live, girl.
there's twice as many stars in the sky.
It's all right, I survived, I'm alive again.
Because of you, made it through every storm...
I'm so glad I found an angel...
...My world...
Because you live there's a reason why,
I carry on when I lose the fight.
I want to give what you've given me...
Because you live I have everything I need to survive.
Because you live,
I live."

~Jesse McCartney - Because You Live

Sakura Haruno Age: 19

~She ran her hands over her belly, standing at the edge of a waterfall cliff. It was pouring down rain harder than she expected it would and her hospital gown was doused with water and perspiration, not uncommon for the medicine that was coursing through her veins that struggled to keep the effects of her day old poisoning from coming back, though she assumed herself safely in the clear. Even though Ganimaru was oddly silent when the young pregnant Kunoichi awoke this morning, she knew it was the goddess who had saved her life, keeping the toxins from reaching her heart and effectively pushing it out before it could destroy her body and mind.

~Sakura's head pounded in her temples, rushing blood throughout all the aching portions of her body and threatening to crack her skull open from the pressure, but she ignored it as she peered down at the Village Hidden in the Leaves. In the distance there was Hokage Mountain, and at the village's center, the Memorial stone, both things that stood for admiration and honor. People would walk by and see these things, feeling waves of overwhelming emotion and respect for those who had fallen in battle doing their home and their people a job of great importance in the art of ninjitsu and today she was to be laid here as well, an unfathomable farce concocted by a raging Hokage in the throes of giddy grief, all in an attempt to keep hidden a continuing heritage line and a forbidden goddess ensnared inside her very own adopted daughter.

~The Kunoichi's emerald and gold flecked eyes glazed over as she watched her own processional commence, chewing on the inside of her lip when the coffin containing her body was carted by friends to the only woman left that held any claim as a relative, adopted or not. There were words that passed between the Shinobis that carried her carcass and her Hokage, before her coffin was set on the ceremonial stand to be given final respects by villagers, teammates, loved ones, and friends. She watched in entrancing awe as Ino, one of her closest confidants brought her a bouquet of pink orchids, the pinkette's favorite, and laid them tearfully upon her casket. The blond then fell to her knees in agony, sobbing so hard her chest heaved, leaving it to Choji and Shikimaru both to tear her away from her friend's body. It was a heart wrenching scene that Sakura hadn't wanted to wish on anyone, happening to take a secondary glance at her teammate Sai and found even him to be hunched over in a form of grief he was struggling to hold back. Everyone believed this falsehood, this sham, this lie of a funeral concocted by the Hokage herself in an attempt to hide a yet to be born bloodline and a possessed Sannin level medical nin from the hands of enemies who would use her against them. In some instances, Sakura knew her sensei was right to make the funeral happen, no one would believe she was alive and no one would come to find her now, but it killed the young woman to watch her friends and loved ones all hurting so badly. She didn't know she commanded so much respect and love from her peers. It was touching and disconcerting at the same time, her memories of hurting herself over the years for a certain raven headed Shinobi must've put them all in tizzying fits while she selfishly struggled to find a way to feel alive, while her insides died.

~Naruto was the last one to go, his body language spoken clear as day to the Kunoichi even miles away. She saw his heaving chest, his slumped shoulders, and dejected, somber expression. He was suffocating inside, feeling a heavy ache for a woman he loved more than his own breath, and behind him Hinata Hyuuga was dying inside for a man she couldn't live without.

~Sakura eyes widened when the oldest of the Hyuuga daughters attempted to reach out for her blond friend, but he was so stricken with his grief he saw and felt nothing nary his own sadness. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to them, wishing they could hear her, though knowing they could not.

~ANBUs came to her coffin and gently carried it to her would be grave, the woman watching in far off silence figured it was about time she took her leave to go find some proper clothes so she didn't freeze and look like some crazy maniac running around in a hospital gown, but just before the masked ninjas had made it to her tombstone a squabble broke out, leaving Sakura in confusion as he casket was dropped and two people came bolting from the foliage lining the graveyard's outskirts. One with fiery orange flamed hair came forward first, his curse seal glowing and swiftly overtaking his form as he cackled loudly and leapt for the first ANBUs to attack. Next came Sasuke. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest as she watched in muted horror as the processional came to a screeching halt and Naruto struggled blindly against Juugo's merciless onslaught in an attempt to get to her fallen body before Sasuke could do anything to her, but he was powerless to stop the black haired man.

~"He's going to ruin everything!" the constantly changing train of thoughts coursing through her skull had managed to find one stray threaded notion to grasp a hold of and she clenched to it tightly. "Dammit, Sasuke! You're going to-?" She watched him kneel down beside her black and forest green clothed death box, seeing him speaking to her body like she was still alive. It took everything inside of her not to scream in frustration because she couldn't hear anything he was saying, that annoyed her the most. A time like this where for once she could see the honesty in people's words and eyes and in most cases one wasn't present to see or hear those things, but she was and dammit she wanted to know. No one else's words meant anything to her, only Sasuke's and she was too far away to see or hear a damn thing.

~A moment or two later Juugo was restrained by Choji's bulk and Shikamaru's shadow techiniques, the taller sound nin didn't stand a chance against hardened veterans of the ninjitsu way, but Sakura had to admit he big behemoth had put up a great fight and now Naruto was making his way towards their ex-teammate. At first, the woman was positive they were going to fight, something she hated to see more than anything else, they were supposed to be best friends and teammates, though when the blond Dobe fell to his knees beside the Uchiha, she knew instantly Naruto's hatred seemed quelled. They helped each other bury their fallen companion and were dragged off by Tsunade not a few moments later.

~If Sakura seemed worried, she didn't show it, turning her head towards the forest's edge as she struggled to hear if someone was trying to sneak up on her. She was sure the ANBUs had been told to come find her before she died of cold or was caught by some wayward villager having strayed too far, but they were too good to let themselves be heard, she knew because she trained a few of the ninjas herself, if they made mistakes they were punished severely. Whoever was nearby either didn't know she was about or they learned of her presence a little bit too late.

~"Whose there?" She called commandingly, narrowing her eyes as she stared into the foggy gloom of the forest, "I know you're there so stop pretending like I'm stupid and come out."

~It took a few moments, but the intruder morphed from the foliage shadows at length to show themselves to the pink haired Kunoichi. "Suigetsu? What are you doing here?" She blinked in confusion, suddenly remembering she hadn't seen him down there fighting with Juugo and briefly in her hazy mind last night she vaguely heard people saying they hadn't captured the Mist nin fighting with the traitor.

~"I could ask you the same thing," he said coldly, staring at the young woman with an odd look plastered onto his features. "You're supposed to be dead."

~Sakura pointed to the ruined processional, barely saved by Naruto's Dobe reactions to his broken comrade, "I am if you haven't noticed."

~"So why are you here?" He came forward a few feet and seeing the pinkette remain motionless, came to her side. His eyes glanced towards the funeral slowly breaking up, people going in all different directions and guards taking Juugo away.

~"It's a Konoha plan from the Hokage. It'll keep the Akatsuki from coming to find me I suppose."

~Suigetsu growled in annoyance, "those fuckers again. I saw one of them earlier this morning while I was trying to keep away from the Hunter Nin after me."

~Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, "what? There's an Akatsuki member here?" Her voice had gone so high pitched she almost cracked and her eyes darted around wildly as if he would just suddenly drop in on them unexpectedly.

~"We've got to get out of here!" She darted forward, grabbing the man's wrist and wrenching both of them towards the dense forest where she felt safer than out in the open. At first she felt him trying to pull himself away from her, possibly thinking about abandoning her out here all alone while he made some daring, albeit stupid plan to get to Sasuke and Juugo, but when Sakura's hand clutched tighter like a vise he relaxed and let the scantily clad woman lead him.

~"What are you doing?" The Mist nin asked finally, watching the crouched Kunoichi digging through a hidden tree hallow and yanking out strange packaged boxes.

~"If you haven't noticed, I'm almost naked and running around in the rain. I store supplies here sometimes when I'm training for long periods of time so I don't have to go home." She pulled out a kunai from the bottom of her stockpile and easily cut through the twine ties holding her bundled boxes together. In a second she had pulled out a red outfit not really fit for the rain though better than nothing and without forethought as to Suigetsu's presence, she tore off her soaked gown and began to bind her breasts with bandages before pulling on a tight fitting bra to hold her large breasts in place.

~Suigetsu stared in stuttering awe as he saw every inch of the pinkette in all her beautiful, taut, lithe, perfect… pregnant glory. He noticed the swelling baby bump, bigger than he'd seen it before and for some reason, though he was sure it should have repulsed him, he found himself drawn to the life within her, almost reaching out to touch her bare skin when he realized his thoughts and jerked himself completely away. Sasuke would annihilate his manhood, feed it to the dogs, and likely impale him on a stake without taking a second's pause for even looking at Sakura with more than a passing thought.

~He shook his head wildly, even when that disgusting whore Karin was still around, he'd never had these kind of odd reactions towards women. He knew how to control his own body, even if his mouth was a completely different story. Sure, he was a red blooded male with the same needs and wants that best fit his gender, but something about Sakura screamed out to his, made everything within his body's confines turn to gelatinous goo, like some kind of intoxicating scent was controlling him, or some siren's song had entranced him to his core. It was all unexplainable to him.

~She was struggling into a pair of skin tight black spandex shorts when the shark man looked back, seeming to be blissfully unaware of his racing thoughts, sighing in relief to not have been caught looking at her gloriously ample assets.

~"If I'd have cared about you seeing me naked, I would have told you to look away." He froze at Sakura's words, he'd been caught, he was going to die now and he tightly closed his eyes to wait for a death blow he didn't want to see coming, but it never came. One eye opened slowly, than the other and he saw Sakura giving him an odd look as she pulled her protective fishnet shirt on, pulling it to her hips and yanking on her red bikini top and sarong fashioned skirt that draped down to her calves. This was the equipment she used when she went to Suna for missions, but it would do until she could find something else and at least it was dry, though it wouldn't stay like that without her cloak sitting in one of the damn boxes somewhere.

~She pulled on her knee length red boots and long sleeved gloves edged in white, feeling the first bits of warmth come into her body from the covered skin, glad to have these clothes out here like she did, all she needed now was a cloak.

~Suigetsu watched in muted fascination as the well ass endowed Kunoichi bent over box after box searching listlessly for something that seemed lost and the Shinobi couldn't help the warmth flowing through his genitals until it was too late. He clumsily used his arm to cover the blossoming erection, but only succeeded in brushing against it and making it even more obvious. A curse escaped his lips and he flung himself to his feet and began to walk away grumbling about needing to use the bathroom.

~Sakura flung away the useless remains of her storage boxes, finding them hopelessly useless in her quest of a warm coat and sufficed herself with attaching her storage packs with poisons, powders, weapons, and herbal remedies, cursing out loud about how she wanted her sword. Her hand brushed against the two smaller dagger sized blades on her hips, but they weren't the same thing and hadn't been used in a long time, their primitive poison container hidden in their hilts was clumsily made a few years back and didn't match the potential her sword had, yet she would deal with what she had for the time being.

~"Suigetsu?" She called lowly, scrambling around to pick up her things and stuff them back into the hallow before she allowed anything to catch her off guard. The damn Taka member had been gone for longer than was necessary to take a piss and though she knew he wasn't leaving to use the bathroom, he'd been gone long enough.

~"Hey!" She said louder, "fish breath!" If anything was going to make him come that should've worked, but she got nothing, not even an aggravated sigh or loud complaint. She thought on it oddly and looked around carefully, eyes glancing everywhere all at once, scanning the abnormally quiet forest.

~Her green orbs narrowed slightly when she thought about the silence, even birds should have been chirping at least, though here she heard nothing. Absolute silence and it unnerved her to the core, spiking her instincts to unbearably high levels, attuning herself to everything around her; every rock, every tree, every speck of dirt and then suddenly she hear the rustle of something, clothing perhaps. She turned in the direction of it and raced ahead, blurring with the returning chakra she felt seeping back into her aching body.

~Sakura stumbled into a grassy green clearing that she'd been to thousands of times before and had thought nothing of it other than it was a great spot to stargaze and cloud surf, but today it was something different, some inexplicably more sinister.

~Someone stood over an unconscious Suigetsu, their sugegasa hanging so low on their head that Sakura couldn't make out their face. The black, red clouded cloak billowed slightly in the low wind and in an instant the medical Kunoichi knew what this man was part of the Akatsuki and the one Shark Breath had been talking about earlier. The one stalking the perimeter of Konoha, probably on the lookout for Naruto, well she wasn't about to let him have her best friend.

~"Who are you!" She yelled across the clearing and the man turned, his sandals crunching over a twig that gonged loud in the pinkette's ears as blood thrummed through her temples and pulsed lightly with her rage.

~"I am who I am." The stranger spoke in riddles, not a good sign.

~Sakura's fingers itched on the pommel of her dagger, glad she had poisoned its blade earlier before she decided to go gallivanting off for the stupid platinum haired Taka member. She didn't know why she felt a need to make Suigetsu come with her, maybe it was for her protection, maybe it was so she could protect him, either way it didn't matter. She saw him lying unconscious like a dropped ragdoll beside the Akatsuki member and knew only that she was going to kill this man if it was the last thing she did.

~"Who are you?"

~"Sa-" She cut herself off, remembering she was supposed to be dead, and without previous forethought she spouted the first thing that came to mind. "I'm a Uchiha."

~The man balked at her words for a moment and laughed shortly, "really? I didn't know the infamous Uchihas had a daughter."

~Sakura growled inwardly, she couldn't believe he knew who the Uchihas were. Yes, they were well known in Fire Country, but she didn't think some nameless rouge ninja would have any idea who they were. She searched his body with her emerald colored irises, trying to find a weak spot to attack for should this turn lethal before too long, but his damn cloak covered everything and she could see nothing useful to her.

~"They didn't. They have…" she paused in thought, remembering Sasuke's older brother, "had two sons."

~"So, you married a Uchiha?" He stepped menacingly closer, a smile playing on the lips of the man before her, an odd grimace as if in disbelief, but she still couldn't see anything of the man's face except his mouth and chin.

~"You could say that."

~"Either you did, or you didn't," he stepped forward again, testing the Kunoichi's tolerance and found it exceptionally honed, she wouldn't be easily afraid, although he would quickly change that.

~"Fine. I did. What of it? Now tell me your name." She watched as the figure laughed shortly and lifted his hands to his hat to lift the brim up so his face could be better seen.

~"Why, I am a Uchiha," Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan bore into her mind and tore it apart, searching endlessly through her memories and thoughts without a heed to what she was struggling to keep hidden. He saw it all, every last thing she had seen, heard, felt in the past months and let his smile drop when he realized everything, but there had been one hitch, one tightly surrounded brick protection he hadn't been able to cut through. Puzzlement crossed his features, though was swiftly replaced by another placid expression. Things like this were to be figured out in more likable circumstances, right now was not a time to try to piece together a mystery that clouded his brain.

~Sakura felt herself falling, released from the Shaingan's hold, but never made it to the ground as a pair of very warm hands slipped around her and cradled her close to a soothingly comfortable chest. She felt a cloak wrap around her shivering frame and looked up to see… "Sasuke! No, it's not him." In her mind, for a brief, hazy moment she had thought she saw the youngest Uchiha son, but knew without a doubt that this was the older. His long ponytailed hair, emotionless façade, and entirely Uchiha aura was close, though not close enough to be entirely mistaken for his brother.

~Her insides screamed for the man to put her down, feeling his searching hands holding her steadily to him, finally run along her baby bump, causing her whole body to seize up. He was gently, almost tenderly touching that which he didn't think was possible, looking down at the barely distended skin and seeing the life… lives that grew there and they were obviously of his bloodline, endless pools of chakra coursed through their tiny bodies even at this stage, their uncle could only imagine their potential in life.

~"He actually did it," Itachi whispered, somewhat unsure of his voice at first, but found it before he sounded surprised. He reigned in his coursing thoughts and just in time too because Sakura looked up at him with two pleading greens, flecked with vibrant gold, unafraid to stare him directly into his piercing gaze, even though she knew he could render her powerless in an instant. She had bounds of courage as well as fear, a healthy fear, that was good for an emotionally, mentally, and physically weakened Kunoichi, but he could see something rustling around in her head, something his Mangekyo couldn't show him. There was something angry, fierce, cunning... ancient swimming around in her bottomless uncut, jade pools and it gave him a healthy fear. There was only one thing he could think of that could possibly frighten him like that and he knew it was a God, probably the one he'd lost because there was no way this young woman was a Jinchuriki.

~"Please, don't hurt them," she brought both her trembling hands to her belly, brushing her fingertips against his, the movement froze him completely still. He hadn't felt a touch so feather light in what seemed like forever and his breath hitched in his throat for a split second, this woman had a power over him. Over him. Her whole body oozed this intoxicating scent that made his mind reel and he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame, burying his nose into her neck feeling the insatiable need to be closer to the very core of her soul. He was under the pink Kunoichi's spell.

~"I could never hurt my brother's offspring," he murmured, feeling her stiffen in his grip. This was a strange feeling that washed over him, unlike anything he'd ever felt before and he wondered vaguely if it was the power of the Living Scroll within her, there was no other explanation for it and his mind reeled over the possibilities suddenly laid out before him.

~From across the clearing, both ninjas heard a pained groan escape the lips of the shark toothed Shinobi. His eyes sprang open and he glanced at the sky for a long few moments, causing both huddled nins to startle and stare at him. They didn't move, wondering what the man would do and a strangled cry came from Sakura's lips when she saw a large, bleeding gash across his forehead, looking angry and gnarled. It needed to be healed before he lost too much more blood.

~Sensing Itachi's momentary distraction, Sakura flung the heel of her hand into his jaw, lacing the attack with chakra that glowed green with gold threads swirling through it. She watched the blow connect, throwing him backwards a few feet and she fell to the wet ground, gaining instant freedom. It took the oldest Uchiha a second to gain his bearings as his brain wondered through what had just happened. A young pink haired Kunoichi had just slammed an actual attack into him, if he wasn't so filled with shock he'd have felt anger for allowing his attention to veer elsewhere even for a moment, and as he climbed to his feet, he glared around furiously for the woman.

~Sakura picked up Suigetsu's head with one hand and pushed out some healing chakra to his wound, hoping to close it at least before Itachi tried getting to his feet, but something grabbed her by her shirt's back and flung her across the grass, rolling her until she was disoriented and dizzy. She knew that Suigetsu was in danger, heard his yelp of pain when his head slapped back down into the ground and there wasn't anything she could do to help him until she could figure out what way was up.

~"You're not so weak after all," Itachi muttered irritated, knowing the medical nin was neither injured, nor hurt, merely disorganized. She climbed to her unsteady feet and stared at him as he stood over the Mist nin, a kunai in one hand, ready to be aimed and thrown at any time. "So where's my little brother?" He asked dangerously, voice as even and emotionless as both brother's were known for.

~"Right here."

~Sakura's head darted to the man molding from the darkness, making his very angry presence known. He was followed in suit by her best blond friend and crying out happily, the pinkette raced to them, Naruto's expectant arms clutched to her so tightly she was sure he was going to squeeze the life out of her.

~"You...you!" The Dobe snarled, hugging her even tighter if that was at all possible, unable to finish his emotional sentence without breaking down into tears and looking like a complete idiot. He held her head to his chest and brushed his nose through her curly, wet locks, smelling the entirely feminine scent of her sweat and body. He didn't want to let her go and if it wasn't for Sakura's attempt to pull away he never would have.

"Sasuke," she whispered, voice laced with worry and the dark haired Shinobi slightly inclined his head towards her, a hard smile almost like a pained grimace graced the corners of his lips. "We will talk as soon as I kill him," he paused as if suddenly thinking of something, "I'm glad you're alive, Sa-ku-ra." The way he said her name made her shiver deliciously, but she pushed it from her mind as Naruto shoved her gently behind him in protection.

~"Little brother, I'm surprised to see you."

~"Don't!" Sasuke hissed, "don't ever call me that again! You don't deserve to call me that, you sick bastard!" His hand twitched mere inches above the hilt of his sword, wanting so badly to slice it across that damn smirk Itachi had glued to his face.

~"Good, you still hate me. Have you gotten stronger though?" He threw Sasuke a lethal glare, "the last time we met, I was not impressed, little brother."

~Sasuke nostrils flared and he flickered forward too quick for the eye to see, but his scream of fury echoed throughout the clearing. He dodged a thrown shuriken by his brother and landed the first blow, slicing at the man's waist, but was enraged when all he managed to cut through was Itachi's now empty cloak that suddenly sprang forward as a dozen midnight black crows squawked and scattered. The man had evaded the attack and was now behind the younger Uchiha, forming a genjutsu hand sign and inhaling deep. A sickeningly hot, blue blaze raged forth, ready to strike Sasuke in the back, and before the angry inferno smashed into the younger he darted away, slicing again and missing.

~Naruto shielded his loved one from the smothering heat, seeing her fear. She was afraid for Sasuke, feeling the overwhelming waves of Itachi's dark chakra literally pouring out of every orifice the ma possessed, knowing full well that these two were matched tit for tat in nearly every attack they had and could do, leaving everything down to luck and experience.

~The Kunoichi silently begged for Ganimaru to wake up from her exhausted slumber, wanting so badly to delve into the goddess' power and use it to help her loved one, but every time she searched out the Siren in her mind, she always came up irritatingly empty. It was as if the very goddess herself no longer existed inside her. Her mind was eerily empty and void of power and something inside Sakura forced her to wonder if the god she had begun to rely on had in fact suddenly disappeared. She prayed she was wrong.

~A sickening feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as every blurring movement she was forced to endure grew more and more lethal. More deadly. There was no stopping the fighting brothers, this battle had been set in stone years ago and wouldn't end until one of them was dead, Sakura just prayed it wasn't going to be Sasuke.

~Underneath where his red clouded cloak had sat, Itachi wore a tight black shirt and thick ebony colored pants that clung to his thin frame, offering little protection against any weapon he should come across, though he had to be hit first to need that kind of protection and with the older Uchiha's incredible speed, it was obvious to those who looked on that that type of guard wasn't needed.

~The two brothers fought back and forth with all kinds of genjutsus, some none of the on looking ninjas had seen before and likely learned in their absences, and while in the company of others. Sasuke fought hard to combine his attacks with Kusanagi, lacing the incredibly sharp blade with ferocious flaming pillars that shot and sputtered from the tip of the weapon, haphazardly landing wherever they fell and in one instance Naruto had to scoop up the still weakened Kunoichi to keep her from the all consuming blaze.

~"You've gotten better," Itachi murmured, forming a hand sign and three shadow clones separated themselves from his body.

~"Shut up!" The youngest Uchiha screamed, leaping forward and taking down one of the first clones, but he'd let his anger get the best of him, realizing only a minute too late the infuriating smirk the clone carried. As Kusanagi landed and cleanly sliced in half, part of Itachi's torso going one direction while the other flew differently, the shadow liquid that seeped out suddenly bubbled and exploded, throwing Sasuke back. He yelped shortly 6as his ragdoll body was flung to the ground and bobbled a few times, but refused to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him cry out, a moment later springing to his feet before Itachi had the chance to extinguish him.

~Menacing laughter tore through the air, forcing Sasuke to dart his eyes towards the maddening noise and was kicked backwards by the sandaled foot of another shadow clone just as it too exploded.

~Sakura screamed and reached out for the fallen Shinobi, held back by Naruto's vise-like grip as he struggled to shield the woman from suriken shrapnel that flew in every direction with the earth shattering blasts. She felt her knees growing weaker and they buckled beneath her as fat, heavy tears sprang to her eyes and flittered down her cheeks, "no! Please stop it! Don't kill him!"

~Sensing Sakura's pain, Naruto gripped to her tighter and dodged away from the final clone's blast, listening to her heart wrenching screams. She wanted to stay with Sasuke, couldn't bear to see him fighting like this and losing so badly, if nothing was done about it soon she knew as well as the Dobe did that the black haired Shinobi was going to be killed.

~Sasuke felt his head spinning, the force of the explosions had rocked him to his core and he inwardly cursed himself for being so stupid and making such a rookie mistake. He laid on the ground holding his aching chest, hoping that there wasn't too much internal damage done, but he wasn't able to catch his stolen breath for long as Itachi came down on him fast and hard, picking up the fallen brother by his hair and throwing him towards the forest. A deafening crash broke through the sounds of the burning clearing and Sasuke sluggishly pulled himself out of the wreckage of an ancient tree, feeling a few broken ribs grinding around in his chest, but he couldn't stop this now, refusing to admit any kind of defeat.

~Blood dribbled down his chin and he choked down a cough threatening to come up with a short laugh that caused him to wince, "is that all you have?" His older brother's eyebrow shot up as voided expression came over his placid face and they glared at each other fiercely.

~"No! Naruto, please! I can't leave him, he needs my healing, he's going to die!" Sakura struggled in the blond's grip, fighting to get away.

~"Do… do you love him that much?" This question froze Sakura stiff in her friend's arms.

~"What?"

~"Do you love that bastard so blindly that you would risk your life and the life of your kid for him?" His eyes were shadowed by his hair and the pinkette didn't know how to answer. She couldn't answer, afraid that the answer that was playing on her lips would wound the poor, devoted Shinobi.

~"Please, Naru. Let me save him-"

~"Answer the damn question, Sakura! Do you love him?" The sound of choking filled Sakura's ears, knowing it was the younger Uchiha and more tears poured down her face, but she'd finally stopped struggling.

~"Yes, more than my own life…"

~Itachi held Sasuke on his knees by the younger man's hair, tightening his handful sized clump and making the all ready wincing boy groan. He leaned in close to his brother's ear and whispered low, "I'm going to kill you now. I've given you the chances to kill me, but you're still pathetic and weak, it's time I scrubbed you away." Itachi lifted Sasuke's gaze to his own, readying his Mengekyo for one final assault, but from the corner of his eyes he saw a chakra blast coming his direction and had to leap for cover before it landed.

~Sasuke felt himself falling, unable to stop the descent and not really wanting to. He hated everything about his whole being, for not being strong enough, for falling steadily short every time he battled his brother. It wasn't fair to him, they had been friends… actual brothers when he was young, he couldn't understand for the life of him why that suddenly changed. He wanted to know why Itachi had done it, the burning desire to know and to avenge those murdered raged inside him so hot he could only see himself killing his brother. There was nothing he wanted more and wouldn't allow himself the luxury of getting anything less, no one would stand in his way no matter what and if he didn't die today, he would be right back to finding a way to kill his older brother. Nothing meant more than that; not a person, not a feeling, not a need, if he had to give up everything in his life to achieve this one goal, he was willing to pay that price.

~Naruto crushed his fist into Itachi's face, sensing his cheek bone shatter underneath the flesh, but instead of the Dobe's victim allowing himself to be thrown back to avoid more damage, the oldest remaining Uchiha forced his whole body to remain rigid intensifying the damage dealt and allowing him to give the next blow.

~Bringing his hands up to the shocked blond, Itachi grabbed Naruto by the throat and dove into the boy's mind using his Mengekyo, sifting through the memories and smiling painfully when he found the Shinobi's past rittled with hurtful memories. They were perfect to use against him and as the Sharingan user bombarded his blond captive's brain with intense waves of mind numbing pain from within, Naruto screamed like a maniacal dying animal, his trapped demon fighting to keep control of his flickering chakra threatening to pour out.

~The pinkette covered her ears and shook violently as her friend howled. She had to do something, even though she was weakened and about ready to fall over from cold and chakra loss. Even though Ganimaru seemed to have abandoned her, she needed to save the men in her life that meant the most. Blurring through the trees and leaping into the clearing she saw Naruto huddled into the fetal position, eyes open and mouth agape in silent screams while visions of his past raced through his mind and froze him useless. Sasuke was lying face down in the rain soaked grass as his brother stood over him with Kusanagi aimed for the boy's neck.

~"No!" Sakura bellowed, flickering forward with such speed, even Itachi hadn't noticed her coming. She grabbed Sasuke's shoulders and pulled him to her chest, shielding him with her own body from the coming blade. There was a few dredging seconds that went by as she waited for the sting and pain that she was sure was coming, but when she slowly opened her eyes and turned her face away from the soaked black locks of the man she loved, her gaze drifted to the sullen Akatsuki member standing limply behind her just simply watching.

~He'd never seen anyone with that amount of reckless abandon before, this Kunoichi was willing to risk her life and the life of her children for his weaker younger brother. She valued his life above all else and in her jade green iris pools, Itachi saw an emotion he didn't think was possible for any of the Uchihas to be given. There was always respect, sometimes jealous hatred, but never… love. This pink haired, god-toting ninja Itachi had now placed as Sakura Haruno from her earlier memories, was absolutely, irrevocably, insanely, stupidly, in love with his younger brother and was now carrying an advancement to a family line he had fought to squelch years ago. He didn't know what to do or what to say, everything suddenly held a higher meaning then there had been before and without realizing it, Itachi dropped Kusanagi with a light clattering to the earth.

~Sakura's eyes widened, continuing to clutch tight to the father of her unborn children. She didn't think in her wildest dreams that she was going to get out of this alive, there had been too many close calls and not enough good luck of late to allow her the freedom to imagine anything better than her dying in an effort to protect one who had a purpose in life.

~Itachi saw Sasuke twitch in the Kunoichi's arms and gather enough strength to lift himself up slightly, grabbing Sakura's arm tightly and pulling his gaze eyelevel with his older brother's. His blood red Sharingan eyes glared lethally up at him, warning him angrily that if one hair was harmed on the woman's head there would be hell to pay for it.

~The older frowned, the blood trickling from his nose and swollen, splitting cheekbone slowly drying on his face. He had come here for a reason and whether his brother was here or not he was going to finish it, disallowing anymore interruptions while he finished his goal.

~A perfectly manicured hand with black nail polish darted forward and grabbed Sakura's shirt, yanking her back, hoisting her into his grip. She struggled against him for a moment, but froze when he leaned in close to her ear to whisper, "cause me any more problems, little Goddess, and I'll tear my brother apart while you watch." Her fight ceased instantly and she gave Sasuke a pleading look, seeing the fiery anger coursing through the younger man as he tried to climb to his feet.

~"L-leave… her-her alone," Sasuke managed to get on one knee, using it for support while his free arm wrapped around his screaming chest. Every movement he made opened another floodgate of blossoming pain, but all he focused on was Itachi holding his pinkette, seeing the Uchiha elder trace tiny circles over the fishnetted skin of her belly where his children lie. The action nearly drove him crazy and without forethought to his own health, Sasuke flung himself at his brother in a crazed attempt to free Sakura.

~Itachi closed his eyes boredly and slammed his hand into Sasuke's face, the oddly resounding sound bounced off everything and came ringing back savagely. Everyone paying attention was shocked to see the black haired, white clothes clad Shinobi fall to his knees from the slapping blow, reaching up a partially gloved hand to touch the angry red mark forming there.

~"Stay down, little brother. If you want your little maiden alive and well, I suggest you heed my advice and become stronger like I told you to, because the next time we meet. One of us will die, and for this one's sake," he inclined his head towards the shaking Sakura, "you better hope it's me." In an instant he was gone, having teleported miles away to places unknown, even his fading chakra was mindlessly leaving and left no trace it had even been there.

~Sasuke inhaled sharply, more blooming pain coursing through him and sending waves of hot lava through his veins, leaving him a barely functioning blob of heated flesh and infuriated emotions. He wanted to chase them, to rip Sakura from the Shinobi's grasp, and tear Itachi apart, but again he'd fallen short. All his energy left him suddenly and he fell forward, cheek touching the soaking grass and wetting his ebony hair. Thoughts raced through his mind in a fast forwarded fashion, reeling flashes of pictures from his past blurring together with the impossible until he was almost dizzy.

xXx

~"Sasuke!" Sakura was calling his name, her cherry sweet voice rang in his ears gently, almost like tinkling bells. If he had been old enough to notice it at the time he might've stayed behind to listen to it more, but he was Sasuke Uchiha, a hardened child and broken soul, he couldn't show signs of weakness or affection, even toward someone he felt some kind of bonded connection to.

~The academy aged ninja in training shoved his hands further into his pockets and pretended not to hear her, but she was fast for a preteen girl and easily caught up to him in a moment. Her left hand reached up to grab his shoulder and there was a second where Sasuke felt his mind shift and then freeze, her touch was soft and inviting, almost feather light. If he wasn't so stuck up and hardened, he'd had allowed her to linger a minute more, yet his icy walls built higher around his heart and he blocked the woman out, shrugging away from her cruelly.

xXx

~Naruto always ogled over Sakura Haruno, his aqua blue eyes glazing over in ecstatic emotion when the younger pinkette of their team showed up for their training with Kakashi. Sasuke at times felt odd pangs of jealousy spark through him whenever the doting affection the blond Dobe could freely express was given the upmost attention, though it was always short lived when the raven haired boy remembered he wasn't allowed to feel such weak emotions. Then Sakura would laugh and Sasuke was stuck being jealous all over again. He couldn't understand the effect this slip of a Kunoichi had over him, he wanted to see her smile, be the reason for that little bit of happiness. He wanted to make her laugh, that bubbling sound that would make her emerald eyes sparkle with delight. So many times he wished he had the courage to show her how he felt, but his dark cloud of vengeance seemed to hang in close like a somber tapestry in a bright and cheery room, constantly darkening his thoughts and shutting everything else out. When Sasuke would pull himself away from the listless, cloudy haze of blissful ignorance they seemed to encompass themselves in, he realized how lonely his life was and how it would become, thinking about the future if only for a moment as it filled with darkness and hatred. Without some kind of a light, he was sure he was going to drown in the abyss of empty cold that continued to loom over him like a bad nightmare.

xXx

~"Sasuke!" The young, not quite five year old pinkette shrieked shrilly and came gallivanting down the green park hill, her hands tightly clasping some tattered remains of string. Tears crawled down her flushed cheeks and tiny, childish, rose colored lips were formed into a pouty frown. It was plainly obvious to anyone who looked on that this little girl had had something catastrophic happen to her and in Sasuke's still adolescent, naïve mind, he felt an odd overwhelming need to help her.

~"My kite," she murmured almost incoherently, handing the raven haired boy her kite's stringy skeleton. He blinked a few times, registering not only her words, but also their meaning.

~"Show me where it is," and in a flash the little girl had taken off, an ebony head in tow as the young girl led him to the criminal tree holding hostage her beloved kite.

~Sasuke awed for a brief moment the wood's immense size, wondering how he was possibly going to get up to their goal, but in his mind he set himself and reached for the first branch and then the next. Minutes later, the youngest Uchiha found he had scaled half the tree, but was still nowhere nearer to the kite. His head processed everything like lightning, hastening his pace to get to Sakura's lost toy, though as time dredged passed he found himself still so far away.

~"Sakura!" He yelled, eyes glancing down to the small rosette and gasped at the height, even the girl's small frame seemed microscopic from the dizzying altitude.

~For an agonizing second, Sasuke was terrified, but cool repose sunk down into him slowly, taking with it his fear. This wasn't a memory… couldn't have been, there wasn't a happy time before Itachi's betrayal that he remembered ever helping the bubbly pinkette. He hadn't met her until after his family's massacre, not until she saved him from his mental drowning that night in the pouring street.

~"That's because you're not remembering… you're dying." It sounded vaguely like his own voice, but he couldn't have been sure as the last words poured in from the abyss, the now swirling vortex of his surrounding dream was rapidly shifting. The tree disappeared, sending him jetting through the hazy darkness, falling through the vorpal as he flailed out to grab for anything. Suddenly, a pair of blood red irises sprang open from the veiling gloom and bore through the falling Uchiha. There was no doubt the eyes belonged to Itachi, the Mengekyo Sharingan of his brother was slowly sinking deep into the crevices of Sasuke's brain, sinking him not only deeper into the oblivion, but further under the spell of the red eyes.

~"You will die here, baby brother, alone and in pain." A heaviness grew in the raven haired Shinobi's skull, pressing like a gigantic weight and ripping the confines of his cerebral cortex to pieces. Thoughts jumbled in frantic disarray, shattering Sasuke's repose while white hot flames of searing anguish doubled him into the fetal position, clutching to his throbbing templesn as a dying animal's cry escaped his lips. For once in his life he was actually powerless to do anything to save himself, fear trickling like a plaguing sickness into the pit of his stomach. He was terrified for Sakura, fearing for their unborn children, needing to break his mind free of this spell's torture to get to her.

~Something soft then caressed the excruciating throb in his fore head, bringing the Shinobi from his writhing reverie. His Sharingan eyes met emotional, uncut jade and in them he found an instant calm, feeling the pain begin to subside as gentle fingers ran through his raven locks.

~"Find me," the pinkette whispered, her outline growing fuzzy and gray. She trailed her fingers down his arm tenderly as some force from the abyss grabbed her from behind and yanked her away visciously, until her whole body disappeared into the blackness, leaving no trace that she'd ever been there.

~Sasuke opened his eyes one last time before unconsciousness completely took him over. He looked over at Naruto's trembling form, hearing him bawl out Sakura's name, pleading with her unhearing ghost to return to him. They both were such pathetically sad Shinobi's; one couldn't love anyone else except a soft spoken, quick to temper Kunoichi, while the other spent so long running from her he ended up falling right back into her. She was the sunlight while they were the flowers, without her warmth and light, they wilted and began to wither. Without Sakura, Sasuke was sure he would die… she was slowly becoming his reason to feel again. Because she lived, he felt his insides begin to come back to life. With her around, her wasn't so hallow and his frigid heart that had, for years, felt nothing but an arctic chill suddenly warmed slightly more than before and his heart beat in his chest… All for her… Because she was alive…

~Author's Note – You can all throw bad Aubrey cookies at me now and some popcorn and tomatoes, I'm sorry for having mad you wait so long. Been "out of service" for a little while, shouldn't happen too often, but I am changing my life's schedule around a tad and trying to get things back on track. Lotsa of love, please critique and for the love of all that is holy! PPL IF YOU FIND A GRAMMAR SPELLING MISTAKE, what have you, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Put it in your review and tell me so I can change it right on the spot! Thank you and please do review, the last chapter didn't make very many and these are my life's blood to writing some days. The more reviews I get the more I write for the next chapter and the more inclined I am to write faster! I even enjoy random reviews from the SAME ppl, asking if I'm dead or something X.x;; Sorry I've been needing an ego boost lately, and haven't gotten one x.x Wah! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX