Chapter 38 – I Could Never Hate You

Itachi stared at the screen intensely for a moment, reluctantly moving closer to get a better look of the man. There was an anger swelling within him as he saw what the man was doing to the girl he considered as his younger sister, but the desperation in her eyes, the one that was silently begging him to remember the man, was keeping his anger at bay. Although, he couldn't say the same for the guy next to him, Sabaku Gaara. He looked like he was just about in control of himself and it made Itachi unsure. He had heard all about Gaara's anger problems, but it seemed as though Sakura wasn't aware of how close the redhead looked to snapping.

"I remember seeing him." Sakura told them both, since she hadn't really filled Gaara in, wanting Itachi there first just in case she was wrong. After all, accusing the wrong person of rape could ruin their lives! "Or somebody who looks exactly like him. It was on New Year's Day." she turned to Gaara. "Remember when Temari gave me a lift to Uchiha headquarters? It was then." Sakura then turned so that she was facing both of them, sighing when she saw that Itachi was in deep thought but still listening. "He was with some guy, remember, Itachi? I can still remember how petrified they made me feel, like I couldn't even move or breathe. The feeling eased up when they left and I couldn't see them, but I was still shaking, remember?"

The Uchiha's eyes widened as he nodded once, suddenly remembering everything. "Orochimaru and Kabuto." It sounded more like he hissed their names as his fists clenched.

"Orochimaru?" Gaara suddenly demanded. "I've heard of him!"

He immediately had their full attention.

His upper lip curled with a mixture of anger, disgust and loathing. "My father used to do business with him and when he disappeared and Temari took over, Orochimaru tried to continue their business. Temari would never go into full detail about what happened that day, but she has always said that Orochimaru was a snake. A disgusting, slimy snake. I think she was, is, scared of him, too."

"Your father went missing?" Itachi questioned, his eyes narrowing. "I remember your sister taking over, but at the time, I did not know the reasons. When was he last seen?"

Gaara shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care about him enough to find out."

"This could be important." The Uchiha argued, though his tone was much too calm to sound like he was actually arguing. "Do you know why he left?"

It took a couple of moments and during those moments, Gaara stared at the ground, his frown deepening with each passing moment. Sakura wanted to comfort him, knowing that he would be reliving the awful things his father had put him through, but she knew that Gaara wouldn't appreciate it, at least not in front of Itachi. Then, after a minute or so, Gaara shook his head. "You would have to ask Temari or Kankuro."

Biting her lip, Sakura looked from Gaara to Itachi, the latter looking slightly agitated. "Do you think it's all linked somehow?"

There was a sigh before Itachi answered. "I'm not sure. But you're right about this tape." Pointing at the silver haired man on screen, Itachi had to refrain from actually scowling. "This is Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's righthand man. That day at headquarters when you came to visit me, they had been there wishing to do business, illegal business."

"And you refused not only because it's wrong, but also because of the Uchiha police force."

He shook his head at Gaara. "No. What Orochimaru wanted was disgusting and I refused to have any part in it. I informed my cousin, Shisui, who is head of the Uchiha police force, on what Orochimaru was planning to do, but they are still in the middle of investigation." Itachi made his way over to the two piles of tapes, one watched, one unwatched. "These tapes could be all the evidence they need. Not only does it show his righthand man and other employees, but it also shows a part of what Orochimaru wanted."

"A–Are you talking about a…" Sakura made a face, trying to find a way to word her sentence without sounding like an idiot. "Like a sex slave industry or something?"

"Almost." Itachi nodded. "But I can't explain any further. It's still an ongoing investigation and even I don't know everything that is happening or what he is planning."

Sakura suddenly paled. "H–He said 'It was a pleasure to see you, Sakura–san.' not 'to meet you', b–but 'to see you'. Does that mean that he's–"

She cut herself off, moving over to the tapes and all but ripping the current one out of the player, shoving the next in and playing it in fast forward until it was finished. Itachi and Gaara exchanged looks, neither wanting to stop her, since this was obviously something Sakura needed to know, but also neither wanting her to see any more. At least, not until she had had a full night of rest and was emotionally and mentally prepared to watch more.

"Stop!" Gaara suddenly ordered her, making Sakura jump, but she did as he asked and when she did, Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He goes to our school." Both Sakura and Itachi's eyes widened. "Before she left, he used to hang around with Karin and another guy. They were nearly always together."

"It's Suigetsu!" she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "He's always smirking at me, like he knows some big secret about me, but I thought he was just being an asshole. I never thought that…" Sakura shook her head, looking away from the tapes. "Just take them to Shisui, Itachi. I don't want to see any more and I'll answer any questions I can for him."

"I will tell him to call you before asking you to write a statement or go to the station for questioning." Itachi told her before gathering the tapes.

Sakura bit her lip once again. "I don't want Sasuke to see those tapes." Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment as she seemed to struggle with how to explain herself. "The way he reacted… is reacting to just… finding out what happened…"

"I won't let him see them, Sakura." Itachi assured her, knowing exactly what she was trying to say. His little brother was most definitely not prepared to see some of the things that was on the tapes. Hell, Itachi had had to switch it off when he was on the first one! Though, that was more because he realised just what was on the tapes rather than because he couldn't handle it. Knowing that Sakura had been raped was one thing, but actually seeing it? No, Itachi planned on taking them straight to the Uchiha police station, even if it was almost two in the morning now. "Nobody other than Shisui will see them." When she nodded, Itachi gave her a serious look. "You should go and rest, Sakura. Gaara–kun, you should, too. The things that you have both seen…" he shook his head. "Try and get some rest. Shisui will no doubt come and visit you once he has seen them."

With that, he collected the tapes and left and the moment he did, Gaara took her hand, switching the lights off and locking the door before they made their way upstairs, both feeling completely exhausted.

It was Monday but Shisui still hadn't contacted her or come to see her. She shouldn't be worried though, right? After all, there were about thirty tapes to go through and it had taken a few hours for her and Gaara to get to the thirteenth tape! Not only that, but Shisui was also a very busy man. Perhaps he hadn't gotten around to watching the tapes just yet?

Sakura sighed, sitting back in her seat as she finished off her coursework. Sasuke still wasn't back and because of that, she had had to finish the English work by herself. What a jerk! Of course, Kakashi had given her a hand every so often, explaining things to her when Kurenai wasn't looking, but it wasn't the same. He wasn't the one who was going to be graded for the work, she and Sasuke were.

"You seem tired." he told her, his voice oddly softer than usual. "Is something wrong?"

"No…" Sakura mumbled and turned her head to the side to smile at him. Whether or not he could tell it was fake… she didn't know. "I was up most of the night watching my favourite television show, so I didn't get to sleep until like, four in the morning."

Kakashi shook his head, his eyes creasing with a smile. "What show could be so great that you sat up all night watching it?"

She smiled brightly. "Supernatural!"

"Supernatural?"

Nodding, Sakura couldn't help but let her smile grow. "It's about these two brothers, right, and they hunt demons and ghosts and vampires–"

"So anything that is supernatural." he interrupted her with a smirk.

"Yeah!" she turned back to her work, continuing with her writing. "I was about halfway through season four when I got hooked and couldn't turn it off. So, don't blame me for being up all night! Blame Dean Winchester. Oh! You should blame Castiel, too. He's an angel. Like, an actual angel! And he's hot, too."

He chuckled as Sakura continued telling him about her new favourite television show. It was always amusing when she found something new to obsess over, but Kakashi had noticed it was only when she was really down that it happened and needed something to take her mind off of whatever was upsetting her. Something had obviously happened and just the thought made him inwardly frown, though he continued to smile and nod at Sakura. The last time she had been upset, she had obsessed over another television show called 'One Tree Hill' and the time before that, it had been 'Gossip Girl'. At least this show sounded more interesting. Well, to him it did, anyway. Now he wouldn't have to listen to Sakura complaining about Brooke not ending up with Lucas, or about Serena acting like a whore.

But that was beside the point! What could have happened to upset Sakura this time? The last two times, it had been because of Sasuke. Had he been in contact with her? Or was it his absence that was getting to her? Kakashi shook his head. No, it wasn't that. Sure, it hurt her, but having Gaara with her seemed to make her happy. So, had something happened between them? There was only one way to find out.

"So how's it going with Gaara?"

Sakura frowned. She had just been about to tell him what 'shipping' meant when he interrupted her. Ugh! He was a bigger jerk than Sasuke. Then again, she liked talking about Gaara, too. Not in a bad way! Just… seeing him or talking to or about him made her happy. "Great!"

"Great?" Kakashi repeated and even though he didn't show it, he was now feeling stumped. What the hell could be making her feel down?

"What do you want me to say?" she asked before smirking. "If this is your way of asking if Gaara is a good kisser, then yes. Yes he is!"

Well.

He had not been expecting that to say the least.

And then it suddenly came to him. Sakura must be either entering or in the middle of one of her episodes. It would certainly explain why she was talking so quickly, her lack of sleep and why she seemed a little hyperactive. "Ah, no. That's not what I was asking." Kakashi chuckled, his eyes closing as he scratched the side of his face. Yes, Sakura was most likely about to either enter or was already having, one of her manic episodes. So, she wasn't 'down', she was 'up'. He would have to inform Tsunade during his lunch break because apparently, these were the episodes that made her most violent and dangerous when they weren't handled correctly. "I was just wondering how things were going with him. You seem happy."

"I am!" Sakura smiled softly before grinning. "Gaara makes me really happy."

He ignored the whimper of pain as his hands shot out, grabbing a hold of another's collar before slamming them against the wall. Looking over his shoulder, Gaara noticed that nobody was watching or even on the corridor except for him and the guy who was now pinned up against the wall, staring down at him in shock.

"G–Gaara?" he gasped out, trying to talk despite the fact there was an arm pressing against his throat. "What… What the hell?"

His eyes narrowed and his arm pressed down harder, making the other boy's eyes widen. Gaara barely even felt the pressure of his arm being grabbed desperately. "You're Suigetsu, right?" The white haired teen nodded quickly. When he did, Gaara couldn't stop himself from punching the guy in the gut. "Bastard."

With surprising speed, Suigetsu dropped one of his arms and shoved his hand into his pocket, making Gaara's eyes narrow further when he pulled out a knife.

"Put that pathetic piece of shit away," Gaara sneered and once again slammed Suigetsu against the wall, "or else I'll castrate you with it." At Suigetsu's paler than usual face, the redhead smirked before it slipped away to anger. "When somebody says no, it fucking means no."

Again, Suigetsu's eyes were wide. "What?"

"I know what you did to Sakura you fucking bastard." Gaara spat and suddenly, his fist was smashing into Suigetsu's gut again and he revelled in the pain he caused as the white haired teen tried to double over, but Gaara wouldn't let him and instead slammed him against the wall again. "I know what all of you did to her thanks to your bitch, Karin."

That seemed to get a reaction out of him, it seemed, as Suigetsu tried to break Gaara's hold, thrashing against it wildly. The moment Gaara punched him in the face with his free hand, however, he stopped, completely stunned as agony rippled across his face. Who would have thought Sabaku Gaara was so strong?

"Stay away from Sakura." Gaara spat through clenched teeth and at that moment, Suigetsu could have sworn that the redhead was going to murder him. He quickly shoved his knife back into his pocket so that Gaara couldn't use it. "If you try anything, I'll know. If you even look at her the wrong way, I'll know. And believe me, this is nothing compared to what I want to do to you, what I will do to you if do anything to her."

And with that, well, with one final blow to the face that busted Suigetsu's lip, Gaara threw him to the ground and stormed off.

He needed to calm down before he did something much worse than hitting him a few times.

Sakura frowned as she entered the reception. For some reason that Kakashi had refused to explain with others around, she had to go to Sarutobi's office. Apparently, it was because of something important. Her frown deepened as she impatiently drummed her fingers against her bicep, her arms folded over her chest. Sakura had never been one for patience.

"You can go in, now."

Looking over her shoulder at the receptionist, Sakura smiled politely and nodded once before making her way over to the door. She paused at the last moment, wondering how late Kakashi was going to be this time. He had said something about needing to find a renegade student or something along those lines. Renegade? Sakura frowned to herself as she opened the door, her eyes looking at the ground in deep thought. Did that mean one of the students had left? No, maybe she had heard him wrong, she concluded, shutting the door behind her. After all, renegade meant to betray or desert–

"Sakura?"

Hey, she knew that voice!

Head snapping up, Sakura couldn't help but smile at the sight before her. It was Itachi and Sasuke's cousin, Shisui! He looked quite hot in his police uniform, too. She inwardly groaned. She had known Shisui way too long to think of him as 'hot'. Although they weren't as close as her and the Uchiha brothers, they were still kind of close. In fact, they had all been on vacation together once or twice.

"Shisui!" she grinned up at him. Man, he had grown! The last time she had seen him, he hadn't been nearly as tall as he was now. He seemed to be around Itachi's height, maybe even taller! "I haven't seen you in years!"

Shisui smiled at her, but then grew serious. "I'm afraid I'm only here on business, Sakura."

It was then that she realised Sarutobi wasn't in the office. Wow. It was so strange not seeing him in his seat! Sakura had always thought that he was glued to the thing. Well, except for a few weeks ago when the whole Karin thing had blown up. That had been pretty bad–

What the hell was she thinking? Of course it had been bad! The bitch had posted a video that she had recorded of her and Gaara for everyone to see. She had recorded them thinking they were going to have sex in a field! Ugh. Yes, Sakura knew that some of the things she had done were disgusting and made her seem like a whore, but a field? Really?

"Sakura?"

Come on! Even if she had been willing to have sex in a field (Gaara was hot enough to seduce her, after all), Gaara would have never done it there. What was it that he had said that night? Something along the lines of wanting their first time together to be special. The memory made Sakura smile softly. No matter what, she was going to make sure that his first time was special. He deserved it, really, since he was always so nice to her, so patient and surprisingly caring, too.

She was really starting to give herself a headache. It was like her mind was going so much faster than the rest of her!

"Sakura!"

Looking up, Sakura smiled. "Sorry, did you say something?"

Shisui frowned, stepping forward and watching her carefully. "Yeah… I was saying that I'm here because of something Itachi brought to me. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" His frown deepened as he grabbed her hand, leading her over to the sofa and sitting down with her.

Silly Uchiha! They were always bossing her around, weren't they? First Sasuke, then Itachi and now Shisui. Hell, when Fugaku had been alive, he had bossed her around, too. Always making her feel pathetic. He had made his own son feel that way as well!

Sakura clenched her free hand into a fist. What the hell was going through her mind right now? Itachi had never bossed her around! He had always been so gentle and caring. As for Sasuke… Well, it was just better to say that he was Fugaku's son. And, whilst she wasn't disrespecting the dead, Fugaku had been a bit of a dick. But he had also been a good father when it really mattered, too.

"Yeah." Sakura nodded quickly, trying to sort her thoughts out. "Just… I just have a bit of headache, is all."

"I'm sorry." he looked down at their hands, giving hers a squeeze before letting go. "I would have come another time, but it is rather busy at headquarters right now and this is the only time I'm free. Itachi mentioned that you wouldn't want anybody else other than me for this case." There was a moment of silence as he sighed, looking back up at her. "I'm sure you know why I'm here, but just so that there is no confusion, I'm here about the… tapes… that Itachi brought to me on Saturday night. Well, ridiculously early on Sunday morning."

She winced, remembering how she had forced Gaara to watch thirteen of the tapes with her before waking Itachi up and telling him to come over because it was an emergency. And then she had made them both watch a few more tapes, too. Why had she done that again? Why couldn't it have waited until morning? Oh right! In case she forgot or her parents found them. Hm. Them seeing those tapes was the last thing she wanted! "Yeah, I know."

"Hiruzen–sama would be here right now, but he's looking for a certain student," his expression darkened and to be honest, it didn't suit him at all because like Itachi, he was always so caring and gentle with her, "Hozuki Suigetsu." To this, she tensed and seeing her tension, Shisui gave her a soft smile. "Don't worry, Sakura. I believe your… friend… Gaara–"

"Gaara?" she exclaimed, standing quickly and making her way over to the door. "What's wrong with Gaara? He isn't hurt, is he? Oh! I bet he's been fighting again, hasn't he? I keep telling him not to get into fights for my sake, but he keeps doing it anyway! Cha. I'd beat the shit out of him myself, but… I can't destroy a face that pretty, can I? I mean, have you seen him?"

Shisui's eyes widened as he was barely able to catch a single word of her speech. He was also just in time to stop Sakura from being hit in the face by the door as it opened, since she seemed to have missed the knock as she went to grab the handle, only to pause and smile at him just as it opened. Luckily for her, Shisui had always been pretty fast. Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her backwards and away from it.

To say she was shocked would be an understatement! "Shisui, what are you doing? I need to go and find Gaara!"

Walking into the office, Kakashi sighed and shook his head at Shisui, silently telling him that neither he nor Sarutobi had been able to find Suigetsu. It was like he had literally vanished! They had questioned the last person who saw him, which had been Gaara, but after that, it seemed he had left the premises. Whatever Gaara had said to him had obviously freaked him out and considering the furious look that had flashed through the redhead's eyes, Kakashi had a good idea what – or who – it had been about.

"Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Sakura frowned before glaring at him. "You were supposed to be here ages ago!"

"No I wasn't, Sakura." Kakashi replied slowly as he watched Shisui once again guide her towards the sofa.

"Oh?" she sat down, looking down at her legs as her eyebrows furrowed. "Oh. So… I suppose we should get on with this, then."

Shisui nodded once, though he looked a little hesitant. "The sooner, the better, but I understand if you need a day or so to–"

"No, today is fine. I just want to get this over with."

"Okay." he nodded again as he and Kakashi both sat down. Pulling out a recorder, Shisui gave Sakura a small smile. "Start from the beginning and take your time."

After he pressed record, she told them everything.

Damn she felt drained as she smiled and said goodbye to Shisui, who was still sat in Sarutobi's office, going through his notes.

During her statement, she had cried a couple of times (Sakura was, not for the first time, extremely glad that she had started carrying around make up wipes), and had had to be calmed down several times by Kakashi for two different reasons. The first being her talking way too fast for them and the second was that she had been crying so hard that she could barely even breathe, which meant that she was hardly even understandable.

Really, it should have been Tsunade who was there with her, or a legal representative or whatever they were called. Honestly, Sakura didn't care. She just wanted it all to be over.

Spotting a head of blond hair, Sakura grinned before quickening her pace and when she was side by side with him, her smile brightened.

"Sakura–chan!" Naruto exclaimed, seeming quite shocked to see her. "I thought you went home?"

Hearing the questioning tone in his voice, she shook her head. "Nope. There were just a couple of things I had to sort out. Anyways, how've you been doing? You haven't been over to see me in like, a week, or something. I thought you might have…"

Her expression saddened as she looked away and realising what she had thought, Naruto's steps faltered before he grabbed her hand and pulled her down a different corridor so that they could talk in private. He could feel her confusion rolling off of her in waves, but Naruto didn't look back and simply continued his way forward, letting go of her hand the moment he was certain that they were alone.

"Look, I know we agreed to be friends," Naruto told her slowly, "but there's something I need to ask you first."

Sakura still wasn't used to the 'new' Naruto. Even if he had his moments, he was definitely much more mature. "Anything." she tried to give him as much of a smile as possible, but it was difficult. It suddenly dawned on her that if she answered his question the wrong way, he might want nothing to do with her.

Naruto's eyebrows knitted together as he looked down at the ground, a pained expression flitting across his features before he looked back up at Sakura. "Do you regret what happened between us?"

She could feel her expression softening as she looked at Naruto and it didn't take her long to answer his question. "I regret not handling the situation between us properly." Sakura told him softly, feeling much calmer than she had earlier. "But that is the only thing I regret. Naruto," she whispered his name and grabbed his hand before clearing her throat, "I can't think of a better person to have given myself to. You were so gentle, so kind and loving. You have no idea how hard it was for me not to cry! I wanted so badly to love you back as much as you loved me, but I just couldn't. I–I tried. I really did!"

Before she could even react, Sakura was pulled into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry." he mumbled into her hair, his hold tight and secure. It made her feel safe. It was the sort of safety that only Naruto could make her feel. Her best friend. "I didn't want to ignore you… I just didn't know how to… I don't know! I'm not good at this sort of thing, you know? I just… I thought that you regretted what happened between us and… you know… that you didn't care. I was hurt, but I tried to get over it but then… then I found out about you and Sasuke… and it just made me feel so… so angry. Part of me wanted to hate you, but I could never hate you, Sakura–chan. You're my best friend, right?"

Trying to hide her tears and control her trembling, Sakura smiled into his chest, her own arms wrapping tightly around his waist. "Right."

A/N - In fanfictions, people always seem to forget that despite his personality, Suigetsu is a bad guy. He doesn't care about others and enjoys killing. Yes, he protected Hebi or Taka or whatever the hell they're called now, but originally, if it hadn't been for Sasuke telling him not to, he would have slaughtered that entire army - or whatever it had been. Also, they always make him magically fall in love or prefer Sakura over Karin, which honestly just makes no sense to me at all. He more or less sticks around just to annoy Karin.

I bet none of you expected it to be Kabuto! He's just so innocent. Just kidding. I think I made it pretty obvious, to be honest. I hope I surprised you all with the Suigetsu part, though. There will be more surprises to come!

Oh, somebody asked about Sakura's time in the psychiatric hospital and if they were really allowed to do that to her. In some hospitals, they can. I was reading online about it and they said that for the more unstable suicidal patients, they sometimes have to do that to them. However, given the fact that she was only sixteen/seventeen at the time, I thought it best not to have her completely stripped. I'm not sure if they'd do that to somebody who is still classed as a child in some countries. Don't forget that, including the fights with the unstable patients at the hospital, Sakura attempted suicide over twenty times.

Thank you to those who left me hair advice! I'm going to try out the products and everything you recommended! I didn't start dying my hair until I was thirteen, but it wasn't until around my sixteenth birthday that I really started to fuck with it. Bleach, crazy colours, blah. Somebody asked what type of dye I use. It's semi-permanent stuff called 'Crazy Colour' or 'Directions'. I used the bubble gum blue crazy colour dye before!

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! :-)