A/N: The insomniac writer strikes again. Okay, no, that's a bit extreme, I could sleep if I really want to, but I've been really indecisive about my writing. Now that we're so close, should I speed up updates or keep them the same? Slower updates aren't an option since I'm so impatient and speeding them up would really appeal to my nature because of my impatience. Of course, the story is finished and is uploaded into the document manager, waiting to be posted, so I guess it all depends on how I'm feeling, right?

Ooh! And guess what! Something wonderful happened! Yesterday, I was invited to my old high school's awards ceremony because I was apparently getting an award. So, I went, thinking it all just a big hassle, but it turned out not to be! Wanna know why? Because I got an award for having the highest mark out of the entire graduating class! I won the D.A. Laslo Award! And the award? A thousand bucks! It pays to be a grammar queen... literally!

Okay, so, unless I find a way to wiggle one more chapter in there, this is the second last chapter! Finally, eh?


—Three years later—

"Haruno, come in, Haruno." The voice was barely comprehensible over the static, but Sakura recognized the voice as Shikamaru's and stopped on a branch so that she could reply.

"I'm here," she said, looking in all directions to make sure that there was nobody around and sat on the branch with her legs dangling off the side.

"Is there any sight of him?" the squad leader queried, the static making his voice sound hollow, as though they were speaking through tin cans. That was what they got for using headsets with such a small range. They hadn't expected they would have wound up being separated by such a huge distance.

"That's a negative," she answered almost regretfully. It would have been fun to kick the living shit out of the Akatsuki leader. Just like she had done the last time she'd seen... him.

She forced her mind away from that subject and caught herself unconsciously fiddling with the ring on her left ring finger. She mentally smacked herself and placed the fiddling hand on the trunk of the tree.

"Well, he's around here somewhere," he replied with a sigh, "Keep an eye out and remember to let me know if you notice anything. I don't want another Iwa situation, alright?"

He was talking about the mission they'd gone on six months ago. They'd been hunting another trail that they had thought would lead to Pein and, when she thought she'd found him, she'd left Shikamaru and the rest of the team out of it. She'd paid for it by almost getting her left arm cut off.

Apparently, she'd been lucky to have only lost all feeling in the limb and almost all use of it. Tsunade had told her that they'd almost had to amputate and she had then kept her off of missions since this one.

And now they were hunting what could be just another false lead. She'd actually been lucky to get the mission, though, so she didn't complain.

But she was so tired. Being off of missions for such a long time, relying only on rehabilitation to keep her busy, she'd gotten a bit out of shape. Not to mention her pretty-much-useless arm was like carrying around dead weight.

"Haruno?" She grimaced at the reluctance in the squad leader's voice, knowing that the only time he had a tone like that was when he was about to bring up a not-so-well-liked subject. AKA her arm.

"Mmm?" she grunted in reply, using her right hand to press the Speak button. Tsunade had told her to use the left one, that it'd be good exercise, but it was too hard. She was tired enough as it was.

"How's the arm?" he asked, "You sound pretty worn out, do you need me to send somebody to help you along?"

"No," she answered firmly.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Shikamaru sighed, but relented, "Fine. But keep me updated."

"Yup."

The fuzz died and she sighed, finally able to lose the strong face now that Shikamaru had ended their conversation. She grit her teeth and the tingling sensation as she pulled the glove down her arm so that she could reveal the nasty-looking scar that ran the entire length of the limb. She directed some chakra into her good hand and touched it to her arm. The chakra immediately went into the broken nerve endings and brought them into temporary life.

She pulled the armpit-high glove back up and flexed her fingers, making a fist and then loosening, making a fist and then loosening. Even when she brought her arm back to life, there was still very little that she could do with it. Chakra couldn't go through the mass of broken or destroyed nerves and tissue, the slightest touch brought a very uncomfortable tingling under her skin and she could barely move it.

It was useless. And she was supposed to be lucky.

Then, she felt a nearby chakra signature, a vaguely familiar one. She narrowed her eyes at the niggling feeling the sensation put in her mind and tried to remember where she'd felt this signature before. It definitely wasn't Pein's, his was much stronger and had more of a malicious edge to it. So then... then she remembered.

The man that owned the chakra signature smirking as he activated Mangekyou, herself smirking as she punched their opponent through a wall. This chakra was an Uchiha's. Definitely not Sasuke's and so, it was...

She bit her lower lip, wondering what she should do. If she knew that he was here, he obviously knew that she was here. What if he came for her? She didn't think she could bear to see him at the moment. Not in this weakened state. But, then again, what if he avoided her and she lost her only chance to ever see him again?

She stood back up, turning in the direction the chakra signature was coming from. She didn't see him immediately and so she thought she was crazy... until she noticed something in the trees move. Her eyes widened, her brows knitting together.

She took a step forward, clenching her jaw as tears welled in her eyes. She hadn't cried for three years and she was not going to start now. She cleared her throat and called out in as strong a voice as she could manage, "Itachi."

Nothing.

"Itachi," she called a bit louder, reaching the end of the branch and hopping onto another branch so that she could get closer. "Itachi."

Still nothing.

Now she could see him. He was staring at her, his eyes blank, almost lifeless, watching her as she continued to approach. Her jaw trembled as she continued on, the numbness returning to her left arm, but she didn't notice. "Itachi," she whispered.

"Sakura," he replied, his own voice a whisper as well. He blinked slowly, leaning against the trunk of the tree, his arms folded over his chest. He looked so calm and composed, but his eyes told all. His Sharingan-clad eyes flared deep red, giving away every emotion he felt. Anger, happiness, fear, lust, sadness, excitement.

"Why are you here?" she asked him, stopping when she was so close to him that her nose was practically touching his collar bone and closed her eyes, inhaling his scent. "Why did you come here?"

He placed his hands in hers and she bit back a groan as that familiar tingling shot up her left arm. All she could do was hold his hand with her right one as she buried her face in his chest. "I missed you."

"And I you."

She gasped at that admission and looked up into his eyes to see that there were no signs of him telling a lie. "You... did?"

He nodded. "I had to see you with my own eyes. I'd heard about your... your accident. Your arm, is it okay?"

She shook her head. "It's fine. There's no more pain." She didn't add that there was no more anything, either.

He kissed her forehead and then leaned down to whisper into her ear, "Forget about me." And then he had pulled his hands from hers, stepping around her and disappearing into the darkness.

But Sakura knew what to do. After she was sure he was gone and that he would think that she wouldn't be able to trail him, she pressed the Speak button on her headset and said, "Nara, something's come up. Carry out the mission without me."

"What? Haruno, ans—" She didn't hear the rest because she'd pulled the headset off and dropped it on the ground, running in the direction Itachi had gone in.

Forget him? He expected her to forget him? Right, like that was going to happen!


A/N: Woot! Go get him, Sakura!