Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine. He's Hinata's. Uh I mean Kishimoto sensei's

Inspired by a couple of Chinese fanfics of SasuSaku/ItaIzu that I read on weibo/lofter.

Forgot the title and writers though… So let me know if it's yours and I'll credit~

An AU where Izumi also survives the Uchiha Massacre.

May be a little dramatic/slightly NSFW later on.

Chapter 1

The thirteen-year-old was shaking as he stood outside her home. He had decided to start this dreadful night from her, the girl he was starting to see as more than just a friend. He silently broke into the dark house, but strangely could only detect one chakra signature that wasn't hers.

He felt puzzled, confused, but carried out Danzo's instructions starting from the kind and loving Oba-chan, Izumi's mother. A myriad of emotions washed over him. He felt guilty, for killing the lady who was always kind and warm to him. Fear, at encountering the brown-haired girl somewhere sometime during this dreadful night, as he doesn't think he still has it in him to bring himself to kill her.

As he defected from his beloved Konoha, a small corner of his heart felt this weird sense of worry mixed with relief. He was relieved that Izumi was nowhere to be found tonight in the Uchiha district. At the same time he was worried at how she could be away. Had she been sent on a mission? Did Hiruzen actually know about the massacre yet pretended he didn't? Wasn't all the Uchiha stopped from going on missions in a delicate and indirect manner? Itachi would never know the answers to these questions until much later in life.

~~~~~

Akatsuki was a pretty terrible place. If he would be honest, the organization did not sit well with him. Not only were they mercenary, the Akatsuki members led pretty much a messy life. Time to time, when there aren't as much missions on hand, there would be members bringing back people, specifically women, of varying backgrounds. Thankfully there weren't any that were innocent civilians. But the ruckus that always happens in the Akatsuki hideout, Itachi having to witness some of the "action" was kind of over-stimulating for a growing teenager.

Sometimes he wonders if he was asexual, since all these sideline activities happening within Akatsuki was quite a turn off to him. He knew the basics of human, how reproduction works and all. He just didn't led a sufficiently peaceful life where he could reach the supposed age where he should be getting curious about such matters in a normal environment.

It didn't matter to him anyway, he was focused, focused on keeping a watch on Akatsuki to protect Konoha from outside. He was also focused, focused on keeping Sasuke safe, from keeping them safe.

Time to time, lying in his cold bed in the hideout, staring into the stones covering the ceiling of his "room" –a cave really- Itachi wonders if Danzo spared Izumi as well. As much as Itachi wasn't responsible for not killing Izumi since she was away, Danzo was also not responsible to spare Izumi as his deal with Itachi was to only spare Sasuke. Ever since the day he left, Itachi wished in his heart every night that Izumi was still alive.

~~~~~

It has been three years since he lived in exile, away from the village he loved enough to kill his clan for. He silently approached the dark corner where he last spoke to the same man cloaked in the Hokage attire.

"Itachi." The small old Hokage said in between puffs on his pipe.

"…"

"Sasuke will be graduating from the academy next year. I wouldn't say he is fine, because he would never be, but he is excelling, as expected of an Uchiha, and of course, son of Fugaku and Mikoto." The old man continued.

"…"

"Well, you might have noticed, Izumi was actually on a mission that night…" Hiruzen sounded kind of weary, before continuing, "I'm sorry Itachi… I couldn't protect her from Danzo when she came back…"

The moment instantly felt too deafeningly silent for Itachi to handle. His heart sank and he assumed the worst had happened to Izumi, before his thoughts were interrupted again.

"She is now in Danzo's underground ANBU organization…" Itachi's heart leapt. She… she is still alive… "The only thing I could do was to stop Danzo from imprinting his cursed mark on her. In exchange, she must be in his organization. He had me choose between that or her death…" Hiruzen ended with a quiet sigh.

"Please make sure you and the elders keep your promise." Itachi finally said, before disappearing and leaving the village. He fought the urge to go near the academy to peek at Sasuke.

With the new information that Hiruzen shared, Itachi felt relief wash over him. He could stop wishing for her to be alive, because she is. Sometimes he wonders why does he think so much about her, almost as much as he thinks about Sasuke.

Another two years passed before he would step foot in Konoha again, this time on the Akatsuki mission to capture the nine-tails' jinchuriki. The exchange with his beloved younger brother hurts, it cut his heart as he used Tsukuyomi on Sasuke to make his brother hate him. It was still his wish to one day die in the hands of his younger brother, to be judged and brought to justice by another Uchiha. So he had to make Sasuke hate him, and to make Sasuke's hatred grow even deeper. Yet the very process actually cuts Itachi just as deeply.

~~~~~

Izumi had largely stayed away from Sasuke's life since coming home to the atrocity that fateful night five years ago. She remembered everything so clearly, passing out from the shock. She couldn't bring herself to face Sasuke, his eyes, they are too alike to Mikoto-ba-chan and Itachi-kun.

Izumi struggled terribly since that fateful night. The conflict in her emotions has haunted her on many sleepless nights. She should be hating Itachi, yet in the corner of her heart, she loves him dearly. She couldn't understand why he did it, though she thought that it might have something to do with the coup, to do with the anguish in his eyes and the painful aura that she could always feel emitting from him. You see, Izumi was always watching Itachi. It was one of her talents as a shinobi, that she is able to follow or watch Itachi without him noticing. It was a special gift that she inherited from her non-Uchiha father.

She was again on her way back to Konoha after a terrible mission. The team had succeeded at retrieving the scroll, though it was at the expense of both her teammates, while Izumi herself was seriously injured. If not for her Susano'o, she would be as dead as the other two. This was nothing out of the norm for Izumi. Over the past five years, being made to work under Danzo's root ANBU, she had become numb to seeing all the death happening around her. Yes, her inner self does feel the sorrow, but she knew that all of them are like her, orphaned, alone, someone who would die nameless in the name of protecting Konoha, yet will never be recognized. Sometimes she'll think to herself, when will it be her turn to finally die and be freed from the sorrows of this world.

What dragged her out of her thoughts was a sudden explosion to her right. Her heavily wounded body couldn't dodge the heatwave that spread out from the explosive and she fell on her back. Before she could react, her body was pulled into a wooden barrel and her vision caved in as gas filled the closed barrel, and the world turned dark.

Hurhur, seems a bit heavy for a first chapter.

Let me know what you think! (: