A/N: Here is my newest fic, and I hope that you enjoy it. This is a strictly Itachi/Sakura pairing. Thanks for reading, and please review.

I do not own anything. It's true. Naruto and his pals belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I am only using them for my sick and twisted pleasure.

He stared at the lifeless bodies for several moments, but then lifted his eyes to the man before him.

"Why?" He demanded, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "Why did you kill them?"

The man's face was void of emotion and he simply shrugged. "They were the worst of this clan." He said, his tone lazy. "They were useless to me."

"Useless?" The younger man cried. "They were family!"

"Family," The man scoffed. "Is nothing more than an idealistic notion that people use to tell others that they belong to someone. It is a ridiculous weakness that I have culled in order to make this clan great, once more."

The younger man's face paled. He watched as the older man stepped forward and then stopped a few feet away from him, his eyes thoughtful.

"Will you be the one to bring our clan back to its original glory?" He wondered, his head cocking to the side. "Or will it be the other boy, the one with hope in his eyes."

"You won't touch him." The younger man snapped, his hand reaching behind him to grasp the sword that rested upon his back. "I'll make sure of it."

The older man laughed, but then shook his head. "Do your worst, boy." He said. "It won't be enough. It will never be enough. Tell me, how will you explain this mess to him? If he is anything like you, he'll come after me, and when he does, I'll be the judge of his strength, myself."

For the first time in his life, the younger man felt lost. He was about to speak once again, but a child's voice hit his ears, and froze him in his tracks.

"Mom? Dad? Are you here?"

The older man walked over to the window and before he left the room, he looked over his shoulder and grinned.

"It begins."

The younger man rushed to the window, and watched as the man disappeared into the night. He heard the small footsteps, and realized that the boy was heading for the very room that he was in.

He made his way over to the bodies of those he had loved, and as the door finally began to slide open, his last thought was, 'Damn you.'

Sakura awoke with a start and looked around her room with wild eyes. The dream had been so vivid, and she could not help but wonder why she was the one who was experiencing these strange dreams.

Of course, she could ask the young man from her dreams, but she didn't know where he was, or if he'd even cross her path, again.

All she knew was that the last time they had met, it had been while she and her team were on a mission, and it had been by pure bad luck that they had crossed paths with the infamous Itachi and Kisame.

The fight had been long, and hard. She had come very close to landing a punch on the Uchiha killer, but at the final moment, right before her fist struck, he had caught her, and introduced her to his mangekyo sharingan.

However, something had gone wrong. Instead of seeing her loved ones suffering, she saw his. She had seen that night, the same night that had haunted Sasuke for so long, and realized that it had haunted the man before her, too.

She didn't know what she had whispered, but suddenly, she was no longer in that hellish world, and was sitting on the ground, staring at his back as he walked away from her. She could see her friends rushing towards her, with Naruto leading them, but all she could do was stare at Itachi's back.

Now, as she sat in her bed, she tried to think about what she had said to cause him to release her, but she just could not remember. All she knew was that he had not killed his clan. At least, she didn't think so.

What she saw when she had been trapped by his sharingan had been real, she was almost sure of it. The pain and horror she had felt coming from him, and then the sadness that radiated from him as he told his little brother that he had been the one to kill their clan.

Itachi, on that night, had given his little brother a purpose and had even told him the way to gain their family's greatest weapon, while installing a hatred that would carry on in the younger Uchiha for years. It was that same hatred that had caused Sasuke to abandon the village for Orochimaru.

It was on that night, so long ago, that Uchiha Itachi died.

Sasuke would never learn from Itachi who had really killed their family. Even then, Itachi knew that Sasuke would never be strong enough to defeat the man unless he had a purpose, and Itachi, himself, would make sure that Sasuke was pushed to his limits, proving what he was willing to go through in order to avenge those that both men had loved.

Sakura's eyes turned towards the window and she felt tears stream down her cheeks. She could not help but grieve for the man, who had lost everything, just to ensure his little brother's safety. As she stared at the moon, she could not help but wonder where Itachi was, at that moment.

Itachi's eyes never left the moon, as his partner settled down next to him. The larger man glanced down at his companion, but then grumbled.

"How in the hell are we going to explain this one to the leader?" He demanded, his tone gruff.

Itachi simply shrugged. "Tell him whatever you wish." He said, clearly unconcerned with what their leader thought. "We tried, and were unsuccessful. I'm sure that when we return to face the leader, he will believe us, seeing as how we do not have the kyuubi with us."

Kisame grunted but then asked, "What happened with the little girl? Don't tell me that she broke out of your hold?"

Itachi's eyes finally moved towards his partner, and he shook his head. "I pulled her out." He said.

"Why?" The shark ninja demanded, his eyes narrowed.

"Something went wrong." Itachi said, his eyes once more upon the moon. "It wasn't working on her and she nearly freed herself, anyways."

Kisame's mouth dropped open as he watched his partner. Finally, he said, "I never thought that I'd see the day when the great Uchiha Itachi's mangekyo sharingan would be useless, and it was against a girl, too."

Itachi didn't reply, nor did he move when his partner grumbled that he was going to bed. Instead, his thoughts were upon the pink haired girl, and the one word that had made him freeze.

"Madara."

He had not heard that name in so long, and to hear it, coming from a girl he had vaguely remembered from his days when he had lived in Konoha, it unnerved him.

The name had fallen from her lips, and even though it had been only a whisper, he had heard it clearly. That name made his stomach churn, and he could feel the tendrils of rage festering inside of him.

For the first time in a long time, he felt something.

And, it was all that girl's doing.

It was all Haruno Sakura's fault.