"Y-you're Sasuke's brother!" Sakura cried while still scrambling backwards. She knew, from her revived memories that he wasn't as bad as he'd led everyone to believe but he'd been dressed as Tobi, why would he do that?
How long exactly had he been pretending?
"Were you the one that stabbed me?" she interrogated harshly, stumbling to stand on her feet.
In the dark, the man nodded yes. "I had my reasons."
"Like hell you did!" Sakura stated while tossing the first thing her hand came in contact: a hairbrush from the vanity at her right. It flew through the air towards his head.
Itachi caught it immediately.
He tossed it behind him and started advancing on her which only unsettled Sakura more.
"STAY BACK!" she cried, near hysterical.
The man in front of her rolled his eyes and suddenly, Sakura felt him behind her, forcing her arm backwards at a tight, not yet painful, angle. He said his next words close against her ear: "You need to calm down, Sakura."
"Let go of me!" she shouted, not any bit listening.
Itachi sighed and crudely plopped her down onto the mattress before moving to lean against the wall opposite the bed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he locked eyes with Sakura again, who had scrambled as far back as she could from the man, hugging her legs to her chest.
"Just leave me alone," Sakura cried out, desperate and near close to losing her mind.
"I'm afraid I can't do that," Itachi stated quickly. "I made a promise to someone."
Sakura raised her head. "Who?"
"I'm afraid I can't say," Itachi replied simply.
Sakura crossed her eyebrows. "Then what can you tell me?"
Itachi straightened to his full height. "That I am here to help you."
Sakura pursed her lips, angry. He thinks he can help? How ungodly arrogant of him! What did he even have to do with any of this?
"How long have you been pretending to be Tobi?"
"The entire time you interacted with him." His reply was simple, and emotionless, which only infuriated Sakura more. How- how could he be so fucking calm about- about being a sociopath? About trying to kill her!
"Why would you attack me? Attack your own brother!"
"Because," Itachi sighed here and lowered his head before meeting her eyes again. "He is my brother but he is impetuous and unstable in his emotions, part of which I know I must take a great deal of responsibility for but, nonetheless, I was trying to teach him a lesson."
Sakura sat up straight now. "How was attacking me teaching him a lesson?"
"Because he is obsessed with you," Itachi answered simply. "I stabbed you to save you, don't you remember what he said?"
Sakura felt the world around her shimmer then and she realized he was casting a genjutsu around them.
Suddenly she was back in the Uchihia sanctuary, in the training arena, above the clouds. She saw herself being painfully restricted by the Uchiha:
"Sasuke! You're really hurting me!"
The man tsked and threw her away but stayed standing over her. "I'm not through with you yet, Sakura. When I get you back inside your cage, you will never leave it again, you hear me? You'll beg for an ounce of sunlight, for a breath of fresh air, but I guarantee you won't get any, ever."
The vision faded and once again, Sakura was back in that dark room, with Itachi standing before her.
"I stabbed you so that he would be too preoccupied with his worry for you to actually enact that disgusting plan. I'm sure you know well enough now that he never makes idle threats."
That was true. Sakura supposed that makes sense…but then she remembered something.
"If you weren't trying to hurt me then why was the blade poisoned?" she asked, calmer than before.
Itachi straightened to his full height. "That 'poison' was a special concoction made specifically to awaken your memories."
Sakura interest was piqued here. The man continued: "Your mind was sent to a negative space I created inside your mind, using both the poison and my sharingan."
"It was in that space that I was able to unlock your adolescent memories from this." Itachi raised his left hand, cradled within his pasty lithe hand was a crystal ball!
Her crystal?
"Is that mine?" she asked, now moving to kneel at the very edge of the bed so that her head could lean forward and look closely at the object's transparent surface.
Itachi nodded. "It is."
"Then what was that thing that the Kages destroyed?"
"An illusion. I placed a genjutsu across everyone's minds in the plaza, to make them think you have officially been sent back to death." He waited a moment before finishing: "As far as everyone in the world is concerned, you are dead right now."
A swirl of questions rose inside her chest. Everyone?
"Does Sasuke think that?" she assured herself that she was only asking about him first because she was afraid of him knowing she was still alive.
Itachi nodded.
And then it occurred to her. "Where's Naruto? Does he know? What about Gaara? You took them, didn't you?"
Itachi nodded. "Naruto's out getting dinner, he should be back in about an hour or so. I told him you should be awake by tonight and he insisted on getting you food from your favorite restaurant."
Sakura couldn't help smiling to herself. There was still at least one person that cared about her. Naruto was always that caring and considerate.
Which reminded her of another individual, one Itachi purposely failed to address.
"Where's Gaara?"
Itachi met her eyes straight. "For your sake, he has to leave for one year. I cannot tell you more right now."
Sakura pressed her lips into a thin line, about to ask for more info but Itachi's stone cold expression stopped her. She could tell he wouldn't be dissuaded.
Sighing, Sakura settled down more, resigned that she could accept this, for now. What was a year's time anyway? She would see Gaara soon enough.
Did she only want to see him as a friend?
Sakura decided to push this question away for now. There were more pressing matters to address, especially now that she had the chance she'd been waiting for so long now.
"How did I die?"
Itachi shifted his weight to one leg. "You asked me this question before, and my answer is as true as it was back then, I do not know. I wasn't present when the event occurred."
Sakura sucked on her lower lip. Was he telling the truth? He seemed to be but she wasn't really a good judge of character.
"What am I doing here?" her tone dropped lower as she asked her next question, a tone of melancholy ringing across her words: "Why did you...save me?"
Itachi's inclined his head slightly. "Because you don't deserve this fate, Sakura. Do you disagree?"
She remained quiet here.
Itachi cast his eyes downward, inhaled a deep breath before continuing. "Believe it or not Sakura, there are still good people in this world. I know you've suffered much at the hands of my brother but…" He trailed off, thinking of the right words. "…good can still come out of your situation."
"How?" Sakura threw at him. "I was KIDNAPPED. Taken from my home! R-raped…" Her voice stammered off when she said the last word, partly because she was ashamed to admit it, ashamed to say it and…also because she was a little confused about her feelings with Sasuke right now.
Even though she didn't hate him as much as she used to, her dignity still wouldn't let her forgive him. She screamed to his brother now with probably more anger than she actually had for Sasuke himself, but Sakura didn't care, this was the only way to assuage her own guilt for caring (if only infinitesimally) about someone that had raped her.
Because…part of her was afraid of being condemned, for being such an idiot.
"He treated me like an object! And here you are trying to get me to forgive him!"
"You are wrong." Itachi interjected simply. "I am here neither to justify nor absolve my brother of his actions. My objective is much simpler."
Sakura crossed her eyebrows. "What do you want?"
Itachi kept his eyes trained on her for some time, thinking. Finally, he said: "Another time, Sakura. I will tell you when you are more rested."
It was at that exact time that a distinct 'thud' sounded outside of their darkened room.
"It seems Naruto has come back." No sooner after he said that did the door to her room burst open and in came Naruto, stepping out from an equally darkened hallway. In his hands was a series of takeout bags.
"Sakura!" Naruto cried out while simultaneously jumping onto the bed she was resting on. In the dark, Sakura felt herself being drawn into a tight hug.
"Why is everything so dark?" It surprised Sakura that it took her this long to ask the question.
"You're eyes got damaged from my genjutsu during the Myael ceremony. It will take three days to heal. Until then you cannot look upon anything iridescent." Itachi stated plainly before standing up and trekking out the door.
Now Sakura was left alone, on a bed with a friend she hadn't seen for more than a year, with takeout that she couldn't even see in between them.
It felt weird.
Naruto seemed to share the same amount of awkwardness because he quickly cleared his throat. "Sakura! Look I got all your favorites!"
Her friends naivete still made her smile. "I can't look Naruto, it's too dark."
Naruto guffawed. "Oh right, well, I'll just tell you what I got. This one's roasted honey pheasant with lemon wedges and lychee sauce, this one's white cut chicken with green scallion dipping sauce, then there's the mini dragon buns I know you love-"
Sakura couldn't help laughing at everything he'd gotten. At first she couldn't tell the full magnitude of everything he'd bought because they'd all been stacked in a bag when he came in but now nearly the entire bed was covered with savory dishes in white takeout boxes. The ones that were sauce heavy she convinced Naruto to put on the carpeted floor, in precaution of them spilling.
"You're still smarter than me, Sakura," Naruto laughed lightly while stuffing his face with a red bean bun.
"Well, yeah, I am," Sakura stated happily before nibbling on a pork bun. Even though her appetite had diminished significantly during her year in captivity, Sakura still tried everything that was around her.
She hadn't felt this happy in so long.
Of course it was always fun feasting but it made it all the more special with Naruto by her side, her one true best friend.
After the meal, Sakura washed down her dinner with a cup of green bubble tea and Naruto an orange flavored one.
"Hey, how come Itachi didn't eat with us?" Sakura asked curiously while chewing on a few bubbles.
She could hear the exasperation in her friend's next words: "Oh Mister No Fun at All? He always eats by himself, even when Gaara was here."
Sakura almost choked on her mouthful of tapioca pearls. "You saw Gaara leave then? Do you know where he went?"
Naruto shrugged. "Beats me, when me and Itachi got back with your unconscious form from the execution, Gaara was just gone. He left a note on the table saying that he had an important mission to do and that he couldn't be back until a year later."
Sakura pursed her lips. "What about the Myael ceremony? I was told by Jugo that as long as I survived natural disasters would plague the world? Like…the whirlpool that killed my parents."
Naruto reached out a hand to cup Sakura's shoulder, squeezing it supportingly. "Itachi found a way to suppress the Myael repercussions. The disasters won't occur anymore. You don't have to feel bad."
Sakura's eyes still became downcast.
Suddenly she felt her friend grip her by the shoulders, shaking her. "Hey, Sakura, it wasn't your fault. Don't you think that."
She didn't say anything because she knew it was. How couldn't it be?
"HEY! I'm talking to you!" Naruto was now yelling, straight into her face, breaking her out of her reverie. "I told you it's not your fault! You didn't ask to be brought back, if anything it's Sasuke's-"
Sakura gasped, her attention completely reviving. "Naruto, do you know how I died?"
The man inclined his head. "Don't you know?"
Sakura quickly shook her head.
Naruto scratched his chin.
"Well, I wasn't actually there-" -Sakura was going to throw a bomb at some small unsuspecting creature if she heard those words again- "but you died the same day the Fourth Raikage died. That's all I know."
The Fourth Raikage? As in A?
"Wh-what? How-"
"You're body was found lying next to the Raikage, who was also lifeless, atop the summit of Mount Ghorma. No one knew who had murdered the two of you."
Sakura felt like she was a part of her own murder mystery.
She felt too embarrassed to ask Naruto about the origin of Sasuke's obsession. He probably didn't even know anyway. Which made Sakura wonder another thing: did her best friend know she'd been raped? Sure he knew she'd been brought back by Sasuke but…if he didn't, she certainly didn't want to tell him.
She sighed. It seemed the only person that could give her the answers she really needed was Sasuke.
All too suddenly she thought of the trick Sasuke had done to her before, when he thought she'd runaway…
Sakura quickly looked at her right arm, where the Uchiha fan had once blazed like hot coals across her skin. There was nothing there now but what if…
"Can you get Itachi back, Naruto? I need to talk to him," she asked and the blonde boy nodded before getting up and walking out. In a few minutes, Itachi strolled back in.
"Your brother put some kind of jutsu on my arm! I once left him for too long and the Uchiha fan started burning into my skin! It only stopped when I-"
"Came in contact with him?" Itachi finished for her; Sakura nodded.
"That wasn't a jutsu, it's…" Itachi searched for the right words. "…a 'rite' if you will, Uchiha men have over their wives. It's created during the wedding ceremony."
Sakura felt her heart sink. Oh god.
Naruto's expression was equally mortified.
"Y-you're married to him?" the blond boy questioned; his tone was unintentionally accusatory, causing Sakura to glare at him. Naruto quickly realized his folly and said: "Sorry, I meant, I-I was just…surprised. I know…you didn't have any choice in the matter."
So he did know about the rapes.
Well, now things just got a whole lot more uncomfortable between them. Another thing she could blame Sasuke for. Looking away from Naruto, Sakura addressed Itachi again: "How can I divorce him and get rid of this thing?"
"You can't," Itachi's reply was way too calm, it made Sakura want to scratch his eyes out. "There is no way to undo an Uchiha marriage, that's why everyone in our clan is so careful about the spouses they choose."
Oh my god.
Once again Naruto's expression mirrored her own feelings.
"Then why the hell did you even bother to save me? Why didn't you just let them send me back? I'd rather be dead then have to live my life as his sex slave." Yeah, she said it. Naruto's expression had blanched at the words 'sex slave' but Sakura didn't care. "It's only a matter of time until he-"
"He cannot use this rite right now." Itachi interjected.
"Why not?" she asked and Itachi pointed to her collarbone, which drew Sakura's attention to the silver chain she only now realized she was wearing. "That suppresses the rite. As long as you wear it, Sasuke cannot call you. It will appear to him as if you are dead."
Naruto spoke up next. "Then wouldn't he just try to bring her back again?"
Itachi nodded. "Yes…but for obvious reasons, he will fail."
Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "So that's it then? You brought me here so that I could live out the rest of my life here, like some secluded hermit? How gracious of you."
Itachi just looked at her, not even angry or showing hostility towards her overt animosity. Her bitter gaze turned to Naruto who seemed both astonished…and mortified, at her.
And that was when Sakura realized, her constant oppression with Sasuke had turned her into an angry bitter grinch with little to no patience.
She was turning into Sasuke.
Sakura realized this with absolute horror.
Ashamed of her own attitude, Sakura kept her gaze low as she spoke her next words: "Sorry, I-I'm grateful for you saving me, Itachi."
"And me! I did it too!" Naruto chimed up purposely whiney, just to make her laugh, which Sakura did.
"Yes, and you Naruto, thank you." She smiled genuinely at them but her heart still felt heavy from all the new information she'd learned. She needed time to process it. "I'm sorry to say so, but could you guys let me rest? I'm kind of tired."
Naruto left after saying a simple goodnight, and that he would see her tomorrow but as Itachi was leaving, he gave her one more revelation: "You won't have to live as a hermit forever Sakura, this I promise you. I'll tell you more when your eyes heal."
And with that he left her, closing her door with a soft thud.
Sakura's mind was spinning. There was too much information to process and too little time. She wanted to sleep so she closed her eyes.