A/N: Hey, I originally wrote this after browsing the new Naruto stories and finding a disgusting number of ItaSaku fics and an even more disgusting number of ItaSasu fics. Bleeargh. This is my twisted reaction to that. I also wanted to mess around with my writing style, particularly narrative voice. I think I kinda over-did it, but ah well.

I wrote this back before Naruto even came back in the manga. So, this is rather AU in a hypothetical future.

Illusions

Sasuke's scowl deepened. "Damn it."

Sakura dropped lightly to the forest floor next to her teammate in the clearing. "What is it, Sasuke-kun? Did you lose the trail?"

"No," he responded, scanning the trees. "It ended. Naruto and Kakashi must have gotten the real trail, and we picked the decoy." He snorted in frustration.

The missing nin they were tracking wouldn't have been too difficult of an opponent, but the young Uchiha had still been hoping for some action, even if just to distract him from the way things were going since he had returned to Konoha. He supposed that he should have been grateful just to be put on a mission outside the village, where he could be away from the suspicious glares and the accusatory whispers of "traitor" behind his back.

"Unless…"

The soft, thoughtful, slightly worried tone of the pink-haired kunoichi's voice drew Sasuke's mind back to the situation at hand.

"Unless the target is still here."

Suddenly, a cold, sharp sound rang out from the trees behind the two. It sounded almost like the laugh of someone unused to laughter. "She's a smart one."

There was an almost inaudible sound as the missing nin dropped to the ground near the clearing and began walking towards Sasuke and Sakura.

Damn! How did I miss noticing him? Sasuke fumed as he fluidly turned and dropped into a fighting stance, drawing a kunai from his pouch. I must have underestimated him. Stupid! How could-

Sasuke's thoughts ran dry as the opponent stepped into view.

It was a missing nin.

But not the one they had been sent out after.

It was him.

His brother, Uchiha Itachi.

Because of this man, Sasuke's entire clan was slaughtered.

Because of this man, Sasuke had set out for himself the dark and lonely path of Avenger.

Because of this man, Sasuke had turned to Orochimaru for power and had only narrowly avoided possession by the snake-bastard.

Because of this man, Sasuke was hated and mistrusted by the once-adoring villagers.

Because of this man, Sasuke's life had been twisted into a living hell.

Sasuke's senses narrowed until all he saw was his tormentor, his target, his brother – Itachi in a black sea of red-foamed waves. And the scream that tore from his throat was more feral than the howls of a wolf.

"I'll kill you!"

Sakura watched afraid as her teammate's eyes, now swirling black on red, widened in mad rage.

This was clearly his fight, not hers. She was not so naïve anymore as to think that he would hesitate to kill her if he saw her as between him and the target of his vengeance.

And so Sakura watched in helpless silence as Sasuke dropped his kunai in favor of the sound of a thousand birds.

And Sakura watched with a glimmer of hope as Sasuke charged Itachi, remembering even in his fury not to match his eyes against those of his brother.

And Sakura watched with concern as the chidori was diverted one, two, three times.

And Sakura watched with a growing fear as flame and earth and water and wind jutsu were launched, none reaching their lightening-fast target.

And Sakura watched with a trembling heart as Sasuke made a feeble, desperate attempt at a fourth chidori before collapsing, defenseless and drained.

And Sakura watched in hopeless pain as Itachi broke both of Sasuke's legs with startling efficiency.

Itachi bent over the mangled, stubborn, panting form of Sasuke. "Little brother, it appears that you still do not have enough hatred."

The dispassionate expression had never left his face, nor did it now. "Now, how does an older brother incur the hatred of his sibling?"

Itachi stood, and Sasuke followed his movements with smoldering eyes. "Perhaps he should break his younger brother's plaything?"

A jolt ran through Sakura and she tried to run but she was too slow from too much watching and Itachi was in front of her and she hadn't expected him to be so fast and right there and he grabbed her just under the jaw and tilted her head back and caught her eyes in his and she was lost, lost…

And Sasuke watched in fear as Sakura's body went rapidly rigid and then slack.

And Sasuke watched in rage as Itachi pressed his mouth coldly against that of an unresisting Sakura.

And Sasuke watched with a sick feeling in the center of his being as his brother dropped Sakura's limp body to the dirt.

"Your woman is pretty, and not as weak as I had expected," Itachi remarked in a tone more suited to assessing the quality of a steak.

"Bastard," Sasuke breathed in whispered violence.

Itachi continued unperturbed. "Perhaps you were planning to restore our clan with her? Whatever the case, I do not think you will find her so amenable from here on. I believe three sharingan users are quite enough for the moment."

"You bastard." The younger Uchiha's words were fiery with hate.

Itachi left his parting words ringing in Sasuke's ears. "Until next time, little brother."

…

…

…

The beaten Uchiha now reluctantly turned his attention to his fallen teammate. With pained grunts and more than one sharp curse, he managed to drag himself to her side. There, he waited, his back supported against a tree.

Sakura's eyes fluttered, then opened to behold a fearsome face close above hers. It was pale, framed in long, dark hair, and possessing the singularly terrible birthright of the Uchiha – crimson sharingan eyes filled with a dark intent.

Sakura seemed to curl in on herself, one hand clutching the front of her red garment, the other scrabbling in the dirt.

"Oh no, please. Please don't. Please, please no. No more." Her pitiful pleas were delivered in a shaky murmur of hope long dead.

Sasuke regarded the cringing girl for a moment in an excruciating mixture of horror and disgust. His eyes shifted back to their natural black. "Sakura, it's me, Sasuke."

His words seemed to cut through the girl's dread. She stilled her cringing.

"Sasuke-kun? It's the real you?" She blinked confusedly. "You're not… him? Not an illusion – not… not going to…" The girl closed her eyes and shuddered violently.

"He's gone." Sasuke reached out on an impulse, but when his hand touched her shoulder, she drew back as though she'd been scalded, with a cry of abject terror.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed with the wild panic of a cornered beast. "Just – just don't."

She took a few ragged breaths, and her entire body quivered.

Sasuke watched at a loss as Sakura steadied herself to look at him, her eyes shimmering with standing water.

"You – you're hurt." She inched back towards her perplexed teammate.

"No, you don't… You shouldn't…" Sasuke's protests died on his lips as Sakura set to work fixing his damaged body.

If only her psyche could be fixed with healing jutsu and expenditure of chakra.

The kunoichi's behavior mystified the young man. She worked on healing his worst injuries with trembling hands. On occasion, she paused and stared at nothing, an acutely distressed expression twisting her features. When she reset the bones of his legs, his quiet grunts of pain made her wince, as though the sound hurt her.

But his previous perplexity was put to shame once Sakura had finished mending his gravest wounds and breaks.

The girl who had recoiled at his touch rested her head at the base of his neck and leaned against his chest, settling herself with childlike murmurs.

He was too surprised and too drained to object. He was so tired and cold, and her body was so soft and warm… Like a cozy blanket or a stuffed animal from childhood…

When he put his arm around her shoulders, she still flinched, but this time she did not move away. Slowly she relaxed back against him.

That was how Kakashi and Naruto found them.