Disclaimer: Wolf-Chan's getting on my case about my non-disclaiming disclaimers, so: I. Do. Not. Own!

Chapter 21: Miscalculations

...and it all happened in the blink of an eye.

It was as if time held still as the dust settled to reveal Sakura and Itachi at each others' throats…literally. Itachi's outstretched hand was wrapped lightly around Sakura's neck. Sakura's arm stretched up and her fingertips were pointed at Itachi's neck, but there was one problem…"I miscalculated…"

Sakura was the first one to move as she slowly lowered her arm. It was obvious that Itachi had won…again…but…'Shoot, I was this close! How could I have miscalculated that little detail? UG!' Sakura mentally bashed her head against a wall, 'How could I miscalculate the differences in our reach!?! I was this close, this close! And I blew it! GYAAAA!'
As Sakura continued her inner rant, Itachi lowered his hand. But Itachi wasn't free from thoughts either…it's just that his thoughts were more orderly and calm. 'How unusual…I miscalculated…' Itachi watched as Sakura moved her hand up to rub her neck as if he had hurt her, though he knew he hadn't. In doing so, though, she noticed (apparently for the first time) that her back was bleeding from her previous skid.

As Itachi watched Sakura heal herself, his thought process continued, '…She shouldn't have been able to do that…She shouldn't have been able to sense me coming, let alone be able to have time to counter attack…How did she do it…I wonder…' Itachi eyed Sakura carefully as her skin began to knit itself back together.

She was in no condition to be able to do what she did, so how she'd done it was a mystery to him…but, 'She pulled a number of muscles with that last maneuver. Her body's not used to moving at that speed…technically it should have been physically impossible for her to have moved like that, considering how beat up and tired she had been…and considering that she had let down her guard right before I attacked. Yet somehow she did…'

Itachi let a small smile creep onto his face. It was miniscule, but it was there as he thought, 'That's Sakura for you…you think you have her figured out, then she goes and proves you wrong. That's something that obviously hasn't changed…she's still the only one who I can read like a book, and yet be unable to know what she will do next. She's so predictable, that she's unpredictable. She's a contradiction in and of herself…'

As Sakura healed herself she calmed down over her miscalculation. Instead of yelling at herself for messing up, she decided to look over her plan to see where it'd gone wrong. She had thought she'd calculated everything in, even their differences in reach, so where had she gone wrong?

The original plan had included two main aspects that she needed. One: she needed to know where Itachi was going to attack her from (and preferably how, though that wasn't a necessity) and Two: she needed him to underestimate her and because of that be caught off guard by her. But for most of the fight she only had one or the other, not both.

And then she had remembered something, something she hadn't originally noticed. Back when she had had no Chakra, she had felt completely cut off. She hadn't been able to sense anything that she had normally been able to sense. But she had been so…focused…on trying to sense the things she normally was able to sense, that she didn't notice. She didn't notice something that had appeared, something new. But during their fight, she had suddenly remembered what she hadn't noticed.

For what she had noticed was, in a way, a new sense, but at the same time, it was something that she'd always had. It was kind of like when someone has a blindfold put on them. Their sight is completely cut off, but their body will try to compensate by paying more attention to the other senses. What had happened to her was much the same, only at an elevated level.

She had lost her Chakra. She had no longer been able to sense things that she never before realized she had been noticing as well as the things she had known she was noticing. She suddenly couldn't feel other peoples Chakra, but that wasn't the biggest thing; after all, she was used to people's Chakra, like Itachi's, disappearing from her 'radar'. No, what the biggest thing was, was that she had suddenly not been able to feel her own Chakra.

No one ever notices how much they notice their own Chakra. Even when you hide your Chakra signature, it's still there, and you still are dully aware of it. But when her Chakra had been 'locked away', she'd been unable to notice her own Chakra at all. And though she hadn't noticed it at the time, she had been 'compensated' for her lack of…Chakra senses.

At the time, she had thought she had noticed Itachi and Kisame because her eye just happened to catch sight of their movement…but that hadn't been the case. Her eyes hadn't caught sight of their movement by luck (which hated her), but because something had drawn her eyes to them without her noticing. Now she knew what that something was.

What had drawn her eyes to them was that she unconsciously 'sensed' them. Not their Chakra, but something else, something that nobody could completely hide…because they weren't completely aware of it themselves. And that was, as best as she could describe it, their presence. Everyone has a presence…it was probably a mixture of things like Chakra, attitude, ability, and so on and so forth…but everyone had it, and that was the main thing.

It could be hidden…but covering an object up doesn't make it disappear, it just makes it harder to know what it is…the same thing could be said about presence. You can cover it up, but it still exists. You can hide it away, but if you get too used to hiding something well…you tend to end up believing that no one will ever find it, so even you begin to forget about it. It's safe, it cannot be found…you become comfortable, and you end up forgetting that what is hidden may be found...that what is covered and forgotten, may be noticed and figured out.

Long story short, Sakura decided, she had noticed Itachi's well-hidden-but-not-invisible presence, and she had noticed it because a part of her presence was missing. Because she hadn't been able to sense herself, something she never really noticed she had always been sensing before, she had 'sensed' a part of Itachi and Kisame's presence. It was kind of like everyone wore a semi-transparent blindfold that only let in certain colors.

Because everyone was wearing the same blindfold, no one noticed that they weren't seeing things as clearly as they could. But for her, the blindfold had been slightly loosened. Suddenly new colors were slipping in through small gaps that hadn't been there before, but at the same time, parts of the blindfold were now overlapping each other, making it even harder to see through. For every give there was a take…for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction.

Once Sakura had remembered how she'd 'sensed' Itachi before, she'd decided to try it again; after all, there was nothing to lose and plenty to gain. If she could sense him coming at her, she'd be able to react. She'd known that she'd have to move very quickly to counter in time, since Itachi would most likely now be coming at her at near--if not at--top speed, so that he could end their battle quickly. She also knew that that kind of speed wouldn't come easy or without a price, and that it still might not be enough to match up against Itachi...but she had to try.

She had then quickly recalculated her plan as she sank into her 'ice cold' lack of perception…that would hopefully help her perceive something she otherwise wouldn't perceive. As everything else had begun to fade away, something else had begun to appear. Sakura had concentrated on it, but then it was suddenly moving. It all happened so suddenly, so quickly, that Sakura's brain hadn't been able to keep up.

But her brain hadn't needed to keep up, because she already (unconsciously) knew what she had to do. Her mind had felt a thousand steps behind what was happening around her, but her body hadn't. Without knowing it, she had somehow 'programmed' her body to do what she wanted, even though she wasn't able to follow what it was doing as it was doing it.

It was a reaction, simple as that. She hadn't acted against the stimuli, she had merely reacted to the stimuli. Reactions take no conscious thought, and that was why it had worked. It was the same as when you touch something hot and automatically pull your hand back. You don't think 'That's hot; I should pull my hand back before it begins to blister', that would take too long. That's why it's an automatic reaction. You unconsciously know what's happening and react to it before you are consciously aware of what's just happened.

It had been her automatic reaction that had enabled Sakura to enact her plan, but she now knew that it was also responsible, in a way, for causing her plan to fail. She hadn't miscalculated the differences in their reach…in a way, she hadn't miscalculated anything at all. What had gone wrong was that, since her mind couldn't keep up with her actions, she couldn't adjust small details in time for it to have any effect.

Sakura sighed as she came out of her healing, almost trance-like state. 'After all that planning…after all that effort…I still failed…like always.' Sakura looked down at her hands as one discouraging thought led to another, 'I always fail…I failed to stop Sasuke from leaving…I failed to get strong enough to bring him back…I failed to stop Itachi from killing his clan…I failed to figure out that I couldn't change time…I failed to be there for Konoha when it was being attacked…I failed…to become more than the weakest link…'

Sakura mentally slapped herself, 'Thinking like that's not going to help any! I know I'm the weakest link…but I'm trying to change that! So what if I failed this time, I now know something that I didn't know before! I may have lost this time, but next time could be different! I want to get stronger, but I should know better than to expect it to happen in a day, 'cause that's not going to happen. The best things take time!'

Even after all that, though, Sakura still had a heavy heart. She had still failed so many times before, why should it change now? That thought brought Sakura a memory from long ago, of something Naruto had once said to Neji. When she remembered that, she couldn't stop herself from giving a weak laugh. You know things are bad when you're putting yourself and Naruto in the same boat.

Itachi watched as Sakura finished healing herself and then just started staring at her hands, obviously getting lost in thought. When she laughed weakly, Itachi decided to bring her back to reality, "What was the laugh for?" Sakura jumped, apparently he'd startled her. She quickly returned her hands to her side and looked up at him, a blush on her face.

"I just remembered something, that's all…" Itachi just raised an eyebrow. Sakura knew what that meant, so he didn't waste words in telling her to go into detail. But to his surprise, her face dropped a little and she turned away. She didn't look at him as she began to speak, "I remembered something from back when I was a Gennin…during my first Chunin exam…well…I already had failed the exam by this time, but…both my teammates were still in it…"

Sakura paused, then continued, "For the last part of the exam, Naruto had to face Neji…and I was just…reminded…of something that was said during that battle. Naruto had just gotten back up after Neji had beaten him down…more than once…and Neji had asked him why he kept getting up when he was destined to lose…when he knew he was a failure. And Naruto answered…because someone had told him he was a failure."

Sakura gave another small, weak, laugh, and then said, "Then, after Naruto had turned the tables and beaten Neji, he told him something around the lines of 'I'm a failure, but even a failure can succeed if he tries hard enough…but you, you aren't a failure, so don't act like one'. Those weren't his exact words, but that was the basic meaning of them, and…"

Sakura gave another, even weaker and possibly sadder, laugh as she started walking towards the branch where her robe was hung, "and…I couldn't help but think that he and I were so much alike…Neji had said 'once a failure, always a failure', but Naruto proved him wrong. He showed Neji that even a failure could succeed…Naruto and I were both so alike, especially back then…we were both weak failures. I don't know when it was exactly that Naruto began to change, but he started to get stronger, and as he got stronger, he failed less and less. But I…oh, I've changed, but, I'm still a worthless failure who's so wea--"

Sakura was cut off when Itachi suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around roughly. Sakura gulped, she had forgotten whom it was she was talking to and how frightening he could be when he was angry. Itachi was glaring at her and his anger weighed down on her, almost like a physical pressure.

"That's enough, Sakura. I don't want to hear you call yourself worthless ever again." Sakura couldn't stop herself from trying to shrink back at the harshness in his voice. Alas, he was still holding her shoulders, so she didn't really go anywhere. He wasn't truly yelling at her because his volume hadn't really changed from normal…but the way he was saying it still made Sakura feel like she was being yelled at; and it both frightened and saddened her at the same time.

Itachi let the pause continue, and some of the frightening atmosphere dissipated. Itachi loosened his grip on Sakura's shoulders, but didn't let go. Instead he locked eyes with her before he continued speaking, "As to the rest of that…do you think that a 'worthless, weak, failure', would have even been able to have keep up with me back there?" He waited, and finally Sakura reluctantly shook her head no.

Itachi continued, "Do you think a 'worthless, weak, failure' would have been able to end that battle in a draw?"

Sakura shook her head no immediately. Itachi was about to continue, but then Sakura said, "But we didn't tie, I lost. If that had been real, I'd have been dead before I could do anything about it."

Itachi stared at Sakura, she had completely missed the reality of what had happened back there. "If that had been real, we could have both been dead." Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but he purposefully interrupted, "If that had been real, you'd have had your Chakra, and if we ignore everything up to the part where we came to a stand-still, we'd have been on equal ground. I could have cut off your air supply or broken your neck, but you could have cut my throat with a Chakra scalpel. So in the end, we were truly at a draw, end of story."

Now it was Sakura who was staring at him, but he didn't mind. Sakura was a genius, as was he, but sometimes even geniuses could overlook the obvious for reading too deeply into it. But he could see that now that he had pointed it out to her, she was beginning to put the pieces together to get the same picture he'd already seen. Hopefully this would bring an end to her inferiority complex…and if it didn't…well, he had more than enough evidence and patience to show her that she wasn't a 'worthless, weak, failure'.

Sakura continued to stare up at him, but he noticed that her eyes had glazed over…she had become lost in thought…again. That was truly what worried him most about her. When she got lost in thought or concentrated on one specific thing (such as a book or healing herself), she became oblivious to the outside world, and that put her in danger. But as long as he was around, he would be able to protect her from those dangers.

'Besides,' Itachi thought, a small smirk on his face, 'that's one of the things I love about her.'

There, I hope you're happy. I had to cut off the ending (about two hundred words) I wanted to give so that I wouldn't give you a cliffy (I'm conforming to Wolf-Chan's demands once again, just like in my disclaimer. -goes off into a corner to pout-).

There is a poll on my profile if you want to vote on who Yuri's subordinate will be. I'll leave it open until tomorow the 16th.

Well, just to warn you, I may not/probably won't be able to give you all the next chapter on the 23 or the 29, due to Holiday things (If I can, I will update, but the posibility is slim). I'm also not going to be able to type the next chapter today because my dad needs the computer, and he's given me 10 minutes to do what it takes to update this chapter. I hope you like it...and at least you won't be hanging off a cliffhanger for two weeks. So be happy.

Oh, and because I'm rushed to do this all in 10 minutes, I'm not going to be able to read through it for spelling mess-ups, so if you see any, please write in and tell me what it was.

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome (as are people going to my forum, Circles, which there is a link to on my profile), but flamers will have to deal with an angry Itachi. Now, onto the pretty list!

Thanks to: Sakimi1014, Quiet Moon, SnowSkadi, magickbendingdemon, Selene98, bubbleyum (well, the way I see it, he gives her more credit than she gives herself), sammyamber123, XxPinkCherryBlossoms4, Rangerette, InvisibleCrimsonTenshi, sakura-angel113, xokatherine229, Blue-SouledKunoichi, akatsuki's hikari, NightWing101, xMissxPepperx, C.SasuSaku.W, 43InuAsha, CosenAngel, Crazy Neko Girl, I-Love-Akatsuki, Chrisomu, luckyazn, LilBitzer, Taki-kun (very funny!), Kinomi-chan, Crazedchocolatefan, aznkitty180, Hao'sAnjul (hey, at least there wasn't a cliffy this time), SpeedDemon315, emo marionette bella-chan, Megan, Gothic Saku-chan, LadySakuraForest, Kenji Hino, urascoldaswater, & Alone in a Blizzard for reviewing!