AN: I have a confession to make. I think I had this chapter partially written by like the middle of the story. I've been waiting to put this chapter into play for a very long time. I'm highly pleased with it and am so grateful to have gotten to this point. Thanks for those who've journeyed with me on this fic and I sincerely hope you continue to enjoy it till the end.
"Reputations are made by searching for things that can't be done and doing them." -Frank Tyger-
Itachi raced down the mountainside, spurred by the conversation with Leader sama. He had left her alone. He nearly stumbled, feeling the aftershock of the explosion, the ground beneath him groaning and quaking with unshed tension. Bloody rain drizzled as he watched the forest burning, snake bits falling.Snakes meant one and only thing. Sound Itachi thought with narrowed eyes. More specifically Kabuto. Sakura... Itachi's fists clenched. Leader sama was cooperating with Sound? The tension between their two factions was tangibly taste able. If this was Leader sama's way of trying to alleviate the pressure, it was pathetic.
Sound. Kabuto. What could they possibly gain by giving into them? Sakura. Thoughts of the pink haired medic nin streamed through his sub conscious without his consent. If Sakura was fighting Kabuto and whatever he'd brought with him on her own....Itachi pushed himself forward, feeling the sinking feeling in his stomach rising. Itachi wasn't the kind to panic. He always maintained his calm even when his hands threatened to tremble whilst culling his clan. But this feeling, the sinking feelings he'd felt...The chakra burst from his feet as he leaped forward. Itachi was a man of control. He could not change his feelings, but he could make steps towards his reaction. He curbed the instinct to protect, and turned it to his advantage, giving him adrenaline.
He could sense Sakura's chakra signature, could feel her from his position, slowly closing in. The sinking feeling lessened and Itachi's head cleared. Grateful that she was still alive, relatively unscathed from what he could tell, he pressed on, towards her. He passed the corpses of the sound nin she'd left, body parts scattered in some cases. This was no small operation. And Leader sama had expected resistance. Kabuto had come prepared. Sakura was in a hurry as she passed this way, Itachi noted. And someone else had been as well. Two someone's; one forced, dragged by the appearance, the other doing the forcing. Itachi's glance hardened. Damn him for inteferring.
Itachi halted as he saw her pink hair. She sat, on more precisely she was on her knees, palms in front of her head hung.
"Sakura" Itachi's lilting tenor reached her ears.
"Itachi..." Sakura said, turning. Verdant green eyes held the answers. Shame,guilt, overwhelming guilt were painted, etched on her face. Her lip trembled, and she bit it, to still the motion, clenching her fist to stop her trembling.
"Speak" He ordered. "Tell me everything."
And so Sakura did. She told him every detail she could manage to remember from the fight from Kabuto. Sakura had excellent memory and Itachi could almost see the fight in his mind with the information she'd pieced together for him. Itachi's eyes flashed, darkened, as Sakura relayed what he had said to her.
"I-Itachi?" Sakura asked, the aura around him growing colder.
He turned from her.
"This is the end of the line" Itachi told her Akatsuki cloak covering his mouth. Sakura's green eyes widened. "It's over."
"W-what?" Sakura replied.
"I'm terminating our partnership." Itachi replied. "Go home"
Sakura stood stunned as the weight of his words hit her full force. She felt the air leave her lungs, as if he'd physically struck her with them.
"You- Y-You can't do that!" Sakura stammered as she fought for the words. "This is a partnership, remember Itachi?You don't make all the decisions here." She snapped.
"It's over, Sakura." Itachi replied with finality.
"No. I have a say in this too!" She replied, rising. The hell she was going to take this sitting down.
"No? No?!" Itachi's voice took on a hard tone, eyes glaring at the girl who so amiably defied him. It was the most emotion she had seen from him yet. Sakura's verdant eyes hardened into glassy jade. She wasn't afraid.
"No." Sakura repeated with confidence. "We're not finished. Not Yet." She replied firmly apple green eyes shinning with the strength of her conviction. Her unwavering belief in him. In him.
"I was ordered to kill you, Sakura. All along. Whatever false delusions you have about us are finished as well as our partnership." Itachi told her, confessing it. He could no longer pretend.
Sakura stiffened. Her hand reached trembling for her kunai. She'd been played; strung along, all along. Everything had been a lie, hadn't it? A game, a sick twisted game to him. Sakura felt hollow, numb. No. No, it was him who was lying. This was real. What they had shared was real. He wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't afraid. He was trying to push her away. Damn him. Again.
"But I cannot. I will not." He told her, sharingan eyes whirling. Sakura choked, his admonition shocking her to the core. What was he trying to tell her?
"It's for the best if we part" He said softly, almost tenderly. Almost.
"Itachi..." Sakura murmured awed and cowed by his strong statement. He was willingly defying Akatsuki. He wasn't going to kill her. And then she felt anger. No he was going to leave her, abandon her as every other person always did when things got hard. He was trying to protect her, but he had trained her. She didn't want protection. Not from him. She only wanted to be with him to see the truth for herself about Sasuke, about him, about herself.
"Stupid girl." Itachi said responding to the softness in her eyes. "Haven't I already told you? Don't pretend to know my motives." Itachi said, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look into his eyes.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "I'm still useful then? That's what this is about."
"That's what this has always been about, Sakura" Itachi returned with a disapproving glare. "But I don't need you, anymore"
"Liar." Sakura returned with a slap to his face."How dare you!"
Itachi turned, surprised by the lack of chakra behind the blow. His body had responded instantly, hands around her neck as he pushed her back. Sakura's hand worked of their own accord, breaking the hold. Itachi kicked hard, sending the girl flying into the rock. Kunai against her neck, blood trickling down.
"Stop pushing me away!" Sakura begged, eyes threatening tears. "Stop trying to protect me!" She pleaded. "I have no where else to go. You made sure of that. You tell me to go home, but I don't have one anymore. Or have you forgotten? I've sacrificed everything for this. I have no where else to go. And no one else to turn to. And now you. And this? You're leaving me too? What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Itachi didn't answer, lost in his own thoughts. Her own pitiful cries echoed his own at that time.
"Don't leave me" He'd told him with tears, the last he'd ever shed.
"Never" The sinister voice promised.
"Don't leave me!" She cried, and Itachi visibly flinched his haunted memories echoed in that heart wrenching sob. "Please....I want to finish this. I have to know. I can't go back now. I need answers for the questions I still have"
Itachi closed his eyes. How he knew that feeling, so familiar and haunting, though he had killed his emotions, sealed himself off from that so very long ago. To deny her, to turn her away was to turn himself away. Itachi couldn't do that. No longer. She was the same. For better or worse, and it was more than likely to be the latter, he had brought her into and she would stay with him until the end of it all, regardless of the ending.
"Come" He ordered though he knew he would regret it. She wouldn't last in his world for much longer. The closer the two were the more danger it placed on her. But to be without her was unthinkable too. Sakura had a habit of finding trouble greater than herself. Better she die with him than without him.
"Where are we going?" Sakura asked, as she used her palms to scrub the tears from her face.
"South west was where she last sensed him. I think I know where he went." Itachi said eyes narrowing.
Sakura grasped his cloak, and he turned to look at her.
"I'm sorry" She murmured, unable to look him in the eyes. Grasping her chin, he forced her eyes up, and he kissed her swiftly, pulling her close. Sakura melted in his embrace, allowing the warmth of his cloak, the unnatural heat of his body to warm her. He tasted like a mixture of sweetness and death, death he would unevitably deal.
"Come." He ordered, releasing her as he took off.
They traveled hard, the rain pelting them, punishing them as they pressed forward. Lightning lit the sky, both reliving the nightmares that plagued them, ghosts of those they used to know. Sakura was hard pressed to keep up. He was hastening to keep their trail cold, hastening because it was important. They traveled through the night at top speed, through lands Sakura wasn't entirely familiar with. They stopped to rest, but their rest was troubled. The grey followed them, lightning and thunder their companions as they traveled. No words were exchanged. None were needed. Whatever Itachi knew would solve the mystery once and for all. They would find answers. Two days of traveling with no sleep brought them to their location. The sun was setting, dark descending upon them.
"You will stay here" he ordered her.
"I refuse to stay put." Sakura replied. "We are Partners in this, Itachi"
"You are not an Uchiha, Sakura. This place is only for those of the clan." Itachi replied.
"U-uchiha?"Sakura stammered. Why would they be at a secret Uchiha compound with Itachi's past"
"Yes" Itachi replied, firmly.
"No." Sakura shook her head. "Uchiha Sasuke was my teammate. My precious Nakama. You cannot deny me this." Sakura replied. "I deserve to know"
He slammed her against the wall, and Sakura felt the wall shift. She was lying against a cracked Uchiha symbol, Uchiha Itachi pinning her against the weathered sandstone. She couldn't tell whether it was anger or jealousy in those ruby red mangekyo and she awaited her punishment, but none came. He simply stared at her with those sharingan eyes. He hadn't slammed her hard enough to break the wall or it would have broken her skin and Sakura felt no blood escaping, though she felt the heat from his gaze. Then what had broken the wall...? Ah. The wall must have been broken before now.
"Maybe I should have killed you before now. Your entitled attitude is annoying" Itachi threatened.
Sasuke...he had called her annoying all those years ago. Had he meant it the same way Itachi was? In an attempt to push her away further? Sakura wasn't going to bite. She wasn't going to cry, because she finally understood.
Sakura didn't blink under that angry gaze that threatened her life. Her eyes grew warm and soft, and it was this look that strayed his hand.
"Kill me, but I will not stay here. I would risk my fate against whatever is in that room to learn of what happened to him. What really happened to him. I cant go back now, Itachi" She said, serious.
Itachi's mouth slammed hard against hers in a feral kiss, and she gasped. Her surprise lasted moments until she was kissing him back, equally ferocious as her hands snaked around his neck. If she could go on kissing Itachi for a lifetime she probably would. His tongue massaged hers, rough and as she gasped for breath he nipped her lips, taking it away the second she'd thought she'd reclaimed it. Sakura loved him.
The rough administrations stopped almost as soon as they began, pressing a soft chaste kiss to her lips as his slashed forehead protected leaned against her warm forehead giving her cool relief. She could feel the slash, wondering if it made an impression on her. She realized with a start that the kiss was one of parting and she recoiled.
"Don't" She said desperate as she gripped his sleeve. Red eyes searched hers. He was looking for her strength, for her weakness. He finally sighed, resigned with whatever it was he had seen in her eyes. Kissing her one last time wistfully, he took her arms from his neck.
"Follow me. I will not be held responsible for your life should they choose to end it" He told her.
"That's fair" Sakura swallowed, clenching her fists and following.
As much as she wanted to hold his hand she knew from the space between them that he was distancing himself from her. Whether it was to protect her or to sever their tie mattered little; it hurt. It wounded her, and the old wounds opened and bleed freely, afresh from their scar material. Uchiha were always the same, always keeping those who loved them an arms distance away. It hurt. It forced her to understand the seriousness of the situation at hand. It brought out the determination in her eyes. She would rise to the challenge. He was pushing her away in an attempt to shield her, to protect her. She would not be pushed aside. She refused to be protected. She would stand with him and deal with her own oppositions, an equal.
It looked modern, like a sewer until they got further into the building. They walked the corridors lit with wooden torches. She could smell the oil burning from them, more Uchiha symbols and images that she didn't understand spread across the sandstone walls. Blood had stained these walls most of it older than she would ever know, but there nonetheless. She couldn't tell who's it had been. Perhaps some Uchiha of old, or one of their enemies as they were cut down. Itachi stood in front of the final barrier and his hand flashed through seals quicker than Sakura could follow. He bit his thumb and smeared it across the wall. A blinding flash appeared and Sakura used her arm to shield her eyes. Her pupils adjusted, she blinked shaking away the spots from her eyes and was greeted by cats in kimono.
"Itachi san. We expected you" A cat mewled.
Sakura blinked, wondering if she was insane. Cats? Cats wearing Kimono with Uchiha symbols imprinted on them? How..what…She remembered Pakkun, Kakashi's ninja dog summon and understanding dawned on her. These were the Uchiha familiars. She had never known, had never realized that the Uchiha had familiars. She'd never seen them around the Uchiha compound.
"We will take you to her, you and your guest" The cat said formally.
"I thank you for your mercy" Uchiha Itachi replied. She could only suppose he was talking about them not killing her on sight.
"You trust her. It speaks to the caliber of who she is. We will also place our trust in you and your Nakama."
Itachi recoiled at the word, flinching hard, but said nothing in affirmation or denial of what was stated. Sakura said nothing as well, following after him.
They were lead to awnings where an older cat sat surrounded by others of her kind.
Itachi smirked, as the cats stopped their talking and looked up at him, tails swaying in nervous anticipation. It was unnerving so many cat eyes upon them. There must have been hundreds in this underground lair and all of them were watching them.
"Itachi sama" The larger, older cat elder said.
Itachi bowed.
"I know what you seek, but it will only end in sorrow" She said. Itachi seemed to consider the words she said, turning them over in his mind before replying. Perhaps it was a formality of the clan. Sakura didn't know.
"Speak" Itachi commanded of the elder cat. "In the name of the Uchiha name I bear, I command you to speak." Itachi commanded again.
"You demand it. You always have. You know the truth, Itachi Kun. Look within yourself and realize the signs."The elder replied.
Itachi paused again,searching for the words. He found them and those red eyes lit up with an inner fire and he spoke after a time.
"He has passed these walls recently then, hasn't he?" Itachi stated, tenor voice strong and confident.
Sakura's eyes widened. He had to be talking about Sasuke. She choked. Sasuke had come through these halls before he died. Green eyes were wide with unshed tears. She hung on every last word they spoke.
"He came seeking the same knowledge" She replied speaking cryptically.
"What?" Itachi exclaimed, eyebrows rising.
Itachi was shocked, something Sakura had never seen before in his cool countenance. It startled her, made the hair rise on the back of her neck in alarm. Nothing took Itachi by surprise and yet here he was, shocked. Sakura felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at his own expression. It was harrowing.
"I did not keep the knowledge of him from you, even knowing that you would commit the genocide of the Uchiha clan, Itachi sama." She said, feral eyes welling into almond pools of sadness.
"You will explain yourself, and why I should not bring these walls down around us as we speak." He spat, fury heating the very air around him as his chakra aura practically ignited.
"He has sought the same power you did when you lacked it." She said simply.
"And you allowed him?!" Itachi asked with more anger in his voice than Sakura had ever thought him possible of.
"It was not within our rights to deny him. We are servants of the Uchiha. We gave him the same information you sought. He demanded it." She replied evenly.
Itachi's eyes hardened and his face had the most incredulous look of doubt suspicion and hate Sakura had ever seen etched onto his features. His statue-esque hatred emanated off of him in waves as bladed sharingan tomoe swirled and he turned stalking towards the exit. Sakura took one last baleful glance at the Uchiha cats and followed after him calling his name.
"Itachi!" She called again. He was practically running in his fast pace.
"Itachi!" Sakura jogged after him grabbing his sleeve, verdant green eyes scanning his as she looked at him in utter confusion.
She offered her heart in that look. Itachi could read people, could tell when they lied. She was sincere, earnest in her desire to take away his pain, to relieve it in any way she could. It was in her nature to heal pain. It was why he turned from it. It was his nature to keep it, after all. He had never felt so angry. He had never been so ill composed. He punched the wall, cracking the Uchiha symbol on the wall. Sakura turned, seeing the same Uchiha symbol on the wall next to it cracked. Understanding dawned in those apple green eyes.
"You cracked the other wall. You've been here before. You did the same thing before now. Why?" She pleaded, eyes filling with tears as she looked helplessly at him. Her hands grabbed his, anxious, desperate as she ran her fingertips across his bloodied hand.
"You wouldn't understand." He snapped, red eyes narrowed at her pity.
"Please.." She begged, a tear trailing a path down her creamy cheek. "Please Itachi. Make me understand it.." She begged, not knowing what she was asking for but knowing it was important.
And for once in his life, Itachi felt burdened, heavy under her gaze which promised such relief, promised to ease the burden he had carried since adolescence. He was so weary, so tired of carrying it for so long alone. He was always alone. Always. And it was so tiring, so exhausting bearing all of it, the secrets he had sworn to keep till the grave. That look promised companionship, someone who could and would bear the burden. She was strong, strong enough to continue to hope for his foolish brother's salvation, strong enough to fight until she had no more left within her, strong enough to fight off the darkness within him.
"I cannot." Itachi replied. It was his nature to turn from such things.
"Why?" Sakura demanded, angry. "Because you're afraid? Because I could die for this information? I'll tell you what, I did die for this Itachi."
Itachi eyed her, expressionless.
"I gave up my home, my life as I knew it and now you're keeping this from me?" Sakura exclaimed.
"I'm the same as you, abandoning everything I knew, cutting ties from everyone and everything for this, and you're denying me?" Sakura cried. "You hypocrit!" She cried.
She was right. She was right and it was this that gave him pause to re-evaluate his stance. She had proven herself time and time again. And he needed her thoughts, a second brilliant mind to help him think through the ramifications of this. Uchiha Itachi was weak in that moment, stripped of his shields and barriers that kept him from such an unbarring apple green gaze. From such a desperate plea. She was the same as he was and she had made her choice. The same that he had. And so he began to speak.
"The patriarch of the Uchiha clan, is Uchiha Madara." He began.
Sakura was startled that he spoke, but didn't question it, merely began to bind his raw and bleeding hand with the bandages she had pulled out from her pouch. And to her surprise he let her.
"Long ago he ruled the Uchiha clan. In the time of the Great Ninja Wars before the villages were formed, he fought against the first"
Sakura's eyes widened, shocked. "The first hokage?" She began, ignorant of the Uchiha history.
"Yes" He replied patiently. "Uchiha Madara was the leader of the Uchiha clan, the rivals of the Senju clan. The first was the Senju clan's patriarch." Itachi explained.
"But Uchiha Madara's statue is inthe valley of the end. He's a hero in Konoha's eyes." Sakura gasped.
"You know the parts of your history well, Sakura, but only the parts they want you to know. Both Senju and Uchiha clans grew tired of fighting as the casualties grew costly. The Senju clan suggested a truce between them and the Uchiha clan. Uchiha Madara opposed the truce, however it happened anyways, in spite of his wishes"
"What happened after that?" Sakura asked having finished bandaging his hand.
"The Senju Uchiha alliance occurred, and they decided to protect Konohagakure."
"So the first became the first Hokage. Certainly that led to a power struggle." Sakura said thoughtfully.
Approval shown in Itachi's eyes as he regarded her.
"It did. Uchiha Madara did not approve of it, feeling that the Uchiha would be made dogs to the Senju clan's power. He left angry, accusations of being war hungry destroying his leadership."
"But he came back, didn't he?" Sakura asked.
Itachi nodded. "He challenged the first's power in the valley of the end and lost. Even the first thought he was dead. The first honored the Uchiha, choosing to forget the stain Madara had left on the clan and letting his memory live out in honor, if not a lie. It kept the Uchiha in line." He paused.
"The second sought to establish a firm hold over the Uchiha and gave them the status of police. The Uchiha military was formed. Fractions split, some feeling more in line with how Uchiha Madara thought then the first and second hokage and the Uchiha who were in support of Konohagakure"
"Uchiha Madara was there the night the kyuubi attacked Konoha. It was assumed that the Uchiha in Konohagakure were to blame for the incident. Black ops were posted to watch the Uchiha's every move. The third opposed this but it didn't matter."
"Uchiha Madara was to blame for the Kyuubi's attack, wasn't he, Itachi?" Sakura asked softly.
"I will never know. There's not enough evidence, unless we were able to ask the kyuubi vessel himself. Regardless we are where we stand right now" Itachi said.
"but then what about the deaths of the Uchiha clan?" Sakura asked. "You didn't finish." She said.
"You know what happened that night, Sakura" He said simply.
"You killed them. You killed your entire clan. But there was no way you had the power to do it…Oh gods." She fell to her knees, realization overwhelming her senses.
"You asked him. You asked Uchiha Madara to help you" Sakura rasped.
Itachi said nothing. There was nothing to say.
"Why did you do it? Did you know who Uchiha Madara was and what he was up to? You wanted to kill the Uchiha that supported Konohagakure didn't you?" Sakura accused, standing as she glared at him.
"I cannot tell you that" Itachi replied, the last barrier erected to keep him from her, the strongest one.
"Bullshit. You've revealed more to me this night than you've ever revealed to anyone else alive. Tell me" She persuaded.
"I am sworn to secrecy, Sakura" He said with finality.
"How can I trust you then?" She trembled. "You stand for everything I am against, Itachi."
"You know that answer" He replied.
"Damn you. What are you afraid of by trusting me? What do you loose? I want to trust you…" She murmured.
"You can not afford to, Sakura. You are a kunoichi of Konoha. You would do best to leave things as they are. Our temporary truce is one of convenience. You know this. Trust those feelings" He said.
"You're pushing me away. Stop pushing me away! Stop trying to protect me! What's more stop trying to protect yourself. Why Itachi! Tell me!"
"I will not" He told her. "I can not" He replied regretfully, walking into the shadows of the forest.