The Darkest Secrets

Chapter Two: The Most Dangerous Poisons Are Secrets

A/N: Back again! Sorry it took so long. But I completely scrapped the majority of this chapter and started over…. The storyline was just progressing WAY too fast. And gave far too much away! We really can't have that. I am infinitely happier with this version. Plus I already have most of chapter two done now, since I moved over a bunch of stuff from chapter one… so I should even be on time next week! Yay! We get to meet Sakura in this chapter, and we will also see the basics of their current friendship. Enjoy! Flashbacks will be written in Italics. Thoguhts will be in 'thought'.

Also thank you to crimson dragonX for the review. It made me smile!

Present Day

ANBU Squad One had just returned from a routine border patrol that was… well, not very routine. Not that any of their missions were routine. In fact, they often had the propensity to go horribly wrong at any given moment. Given that fact, this mission wasn't necessarily bad, just… odd. As they entered the gates, Itachi signaled to his team to go on ahead and report in without him.

He would need to speak privately with the Hokage about the… issues they ran into, anyways.

Itachi moved through the forest at breakneck speeds, so fast that it seemed as though he were simply flying, and his feet never touching the branches. Only the slight shiver of the boughs behind him gave evidence to his lack of any flight capacity. Flanking him on either side were Hana Inuzuka and his cousin, Shisui. And lastly, guarding their backs, was Genma Shiranui.

They had spotted a barely noticeable column of smoke off to the western border, close to Hidden Grass territory, and immediately set out to investigate. Beyond Grass was only Rain, and Iwa. They didn't currently have any teams on missions out that way, and the ANBU patrols lit only smokeless fires. It was probably a few harmless travelers, but still… it would be unforgivable if the Captain of Konoha's most renowned ANBU squad let a single enemy slip past him.

They arrived at the campsite, just in time to see the retreating backs of three cloaked and hooded shinobi. A kunai flew from Shisui's hand, just catching the corner of the travelling pack worn by one of the three. The small tear was enough for a few small items to fall out.

"Shisui, Hana, follow them," Itachi ordered calmly. Hana was the best tracker, and Shisui's genjutsu should pin them down without much of a struggle. "Hai*, Taichou*," Their voices echoed eerily behind their porcelain masks, as they darted past him, after the fleeing shinobi.

Bending over the fallen items, he scooped up five small, nondescript vials and one scroll. Handing the vials over to Genma to investigate, he turned the scroll in his hands, searching for any seals or traps. Finding none on the outside of the scroll, he cautiously rolled open the first few inches… before the paper promptly burst into flame, and he was forced to drop it. But not before he saw something very interesting inked onto the parchment.

Something that made his heart feel as though it had dropped into his gut.

He stood there, looking down at his hands for a moment. "Captain?" Genma's voice questioned softly. "Did it burn you?" He said, walking up to his captain, and looking down at his hands. A slight tilt of his head indicated his concern for his superior.

Itachi drew back slightly, letting his hands drop back to his sides. "No…. I'm alright. The vials?" Nodding, Genma explained, "They look similar to the poison vials Shizune carries on missions. Did you manage to see anything in the scroll before it was destroyed?"

"No…. Nothing," He lied.

Just then, Shisui and Hana reappeared, out of breath, with no prisoners to bring back for questioning. "Those crazy assholes just incinerated themselves when we caught up to them. There was nothing left but ash," Hana spoke, huffing in annoyance. "It's an ANBU level body disposal technique. Most likely another village attempting to gather intelligence. We just don't know who." Shisui added.

Itachi simply nodded, turning back in the direction of the village. "We will head back and report to the Hokage," he ordered. And once more, they sped through the trees, back towards their home.

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Leaving his team to handle the report in at the Hokage tower, Itachi stalked down to the poisons lab, where Kotetsu had informed him that Sakura Haruno had been holed up the past few days.

Really, it couldn't have been more perfect, with the poison vials they had found on the enemy shinobi. There was no one he trusted more than his pink-haired friend to examine them. The components of the poisons would give them insight as to the origins of the mystery shinobi.

Not that he really needed a reason to go see her, he mused, as he stopped at the nearest food vendor. Or to bring her some food. That's what friends do, right? Even if it was in poor form to hold off on reporting in…. But he was certain his team could handle it without him.

He found her just where Kotetsu said she would be, dressed in her lab coat and hunched over several scrolls and microscope slides.

And since she didn't immediately recognize his presence, he felt it safe to assume she had been down here for quite some time, and was exhausted. Haruno Sakura was, after all, well known for using the hospital's staff showers and laundry services to stay here for days on end. He sniffed the air. Yup. Hospital shampoo. And she was completely oblivious…. Time to mess with her.

He cleared his throat and grinned as the pink haired woman jumped and spun around, eyes wide.

"Damn, Itachi! Why do you always try to sneak in here?!" She raged, tossing a pen at him. He caught it with ease, spinning it between his fingers as he raised a chastising brow. "Why, Sakura, if somebody hadn't decided to stay awake for days on end in her lab, she probably would have noticed me. Tapping his chin, he looked off in the distance, pretending to think hard. "Hmmm… now who does that sound like?"

"I know, I know," she sighed, "but this poison Kiba and Sasuke ran into last week is almost as complex as Sasori's poison, from when I healed Kankuro all those years ago. I've already made the antidote, but the way they bound the heavy metals to the more delicate herbal components is really interesting. Whoever this was, they're very talented, and I think it may be useful if…. Hey, is that dango*?"

He laughed at her sudden distraction as he pulled the dango out of the little styrofoam box. Her stomach growled mercilessly as she eyed the treat, and the cup of tea he had apparently produced from thin air. He set it on the table next to her, and she promptly began to devour it, like she hadn't seen food in days. Actually, that was probably the case….

When she finished, licking the last stubborn bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth, she looked up at him expectantly. "So, how was the patrol? You're back kind of early. Did something happen?"

She knew he was on patrol because it was the only non-classified Anbu duty, and he had stopped on his way out of the village to tell her he would be gone for several weeks. "We ran into a camp of unknown shinobi, and returned to report the incident," he replied. "They used a body disposal technique before we were able to capture them, which is cause for suspicion. But we were able to gather these from their packs." He pulled the five vials of poison from his kunai pouch and handed them over. "I was hoping you could tell me where these poisons are from. It may give us some insight to those shinobi's origins."

Nodding, Sakura took a small amount from each vial, placing them into various beakers, test tubes, and slides. He watched on with interest as she added reactants to the vials and beakers, jotting down notes. Then, she carefully examined each one under the microscope, and eventually, after several long minutes, sat back, a worried crease in her brow.

"These three," she began, setting aside the indicated bottles, "are poisons specific to this village. Two of which I recognize as the ones used by Anbu hunter-nin. These other two contain components most often found in Grass country." She picked up the three vials identified as Konoha poisons, eyeing them suspiciously. "If Grass has the recipe to some of our top poisons, there must be an information leak that needs to be addressed."

"I see…." He replied. "Konoha and Grass poisons…. We found them near the border of Grass, so that makes enough sense. I should go make my report to the Hokage. Can you come as well and report the findings of your poison analysis? You should get out of this lab for a while, anyways."

"Okay," she replied with a grin. She stood, her shoulder brushing his as they made their way out. "Wouldn't want to make you fuss over me anymore, you mother hen."

Itachi managed a vaguely insulted expression before a slightly uncharacteristic grin broke out on his face. It was so good to be home. "Well, I expect my mother would like the opportunity to fuss over you as well. She's always complaining about how she hardly sees her Sakura-chan anymore. And since you've hardly eaten anything, I'm sure she would be absolutely thrilled if you came for dinner."

"Oh my," she replied with mock concern. "I must go, if I've been missed so much. Eating all that food is a difficult task, but I will gladly take one for the team. I'll even assist you with your portion of dessert. Wouldn't want you to overeat."

They continued on their way to the Hokage tower, bickering about who had rights to the most sweets.

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Sakura returned to her empty home after making her report to the Hokage, toeing off her black boots and dropping her apartment key on the kitchen counter. Shuffling down the hall and into the bathroom, she started the shower as she tugged off the clothes she had been wearing the past few days in the lab. She had washed them a couple times at the hospital, but still, knowing that she had worn them for so long made her nose wrinkle in distaste.

Not that she wanted to spend enough time here to actually do laundry. The hospital had become her home, more so than this bleak little place would ever be. There was just a sense of loneliness that had seeped into the very walls, and the sooner she cleaned up and got to the Uchiha main house, the better. She could always just stay there. Hell, Mikoto had practically begged her to stay before, back when…. Shaking her head abruptly, she stepped into the shower stall.

Soon enough, the small room was filled with the scent of her peach body wash, and she was rinsing the last of the shampoo from her hair, while silently wondering what it was that Itachi had to stay behind to speak with Tsunade about.

Not many people could read Itachi Uchiha. He had appeared calm while she reported her findings on the poison, and even cheerful when he told her to go on ahead, and that he'd see her for dinner. But she could see the worry in his eyes, for just a brief moment before she turned to leave Tsunade's office. After all, she and Itachi were pretty close.

Shutting off the water, she wrung out her pink hair and reached for the navy blue towel with the Uchiha insignia stitched into it (she had borrowed it from Sasuke during a mission to the Land of Hot Water one day, and never returned it). She absentmindedly dried herself, as she allowed her thoughts to wander.

When she had first been placed on team seven, she had never pictured that being Sasuke's teammate would lead to any sort of friendship with his elder brother. For a long time, they had mostly ignored one another, only exchanging pleasantries during the team dinners that Mikoto had insisted on hosting.

But it changed, during the fourth shinobi war. Sakura's parents had refused to evacuate with the other civilians, saying simply that they would not leave while their only daughter fought for the village.

Sakura had been beside Tsunade for the majority of the battle, fending off attackers and tending to the wounded combatants. She was nowhere near the civilian district, where her parents lived. She had then gone immediately to the hospital after the battle, as per protocol for medic-nin. While the village had won the fight, there were now countless people fighting for their lives within the sterile white walls, and it was her duty to help each of them survive.

Her parents, however, were among the casualties found in the rubble, their bodies recovered by none other than Anbu team one, who had volunteered for the gruesome task of recovering and burying the dead. Itachi had come to her personally to deliver the news.

She had noticed him hovering outside of the operating room she was working in. When she finished, he simply indicated that she should follow him. On the roof of the hospital, away from prying eyes, he quietly informed her that her parents had been lost in an explosion that decimated at least half of the civilian district. Dazed and in denial, she had demanded to see them.

He had complied, and remained silently by her side as she examined the bodies with her chakra, first desperately searching for a pulse, and then automatically identifying injuries. Broken bones, blood loss, concussion… all things that she could have healed with chakra, if only she had been there. If only they hadn't stayed behind. Shaking and gasping, she bent over the broken corpses, forcing her chakra to heal, to mend bone and flesh. 'I can fix this, I can do it. I have to fix it.' The desperate mantra repeated over and over in her mind, as she focused only on the individual injuries, refusing to accept the bigger picture.

Then, gentle hands grasped her own, lifting them away from her parents. She shoved at them, screaming "No! I can fix it, let me fix it!" But they held steady, pulling her forward until she met a warm, firm chest. He sat with her on the cold ground beside the cemetery, beside the bodies awaiting burial, until the sun had long ago set. She sobbed into his chest until her head hurt and her vision blurred, as his hands rubbed soothing circles on her back, his voice whispering reassurances in her ear.

And then, he brought her to his own home, where Mikoto helped the shell-shocked young woman get cleaned up and into bed.

Itachi was a gentle soul who hated seeing the suffering of others, and he felt the need to do all that he could to make things right. Especially for her. A kind woman who put her heart and soul into protecting those she loved…. She did not deserve to feel such loss. So he sought her out each day, sometimes sitting silently beside her, or sparring with her when the frustration and anger became too much to bear.

And in return, she did everything she could for the man who had helped her through so much. Making sure that he took adequate breaks between his rigorous Anbu missions, or healing even the smallest papercut that dared mar his skin. When his demons came to haunt him – things he had done or seen during his long Anbu career – she was there to anchor him to reality, and remind him that he was not a bad person. And that was how they slowly became an inextricable part of each other's lives, until they were sharing jokes, and communicating with only simple facial expressions. They were the very best of friends.

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A/N Oh my, what did Itachi see, and why is he lying about it? Bad boy, Itachi! So next chapter we will meet the (new and improved) Uchiha head family, and probably the rest of team seven. A lot of major events will be tweaked a bit, since I feel like the Uchiha clan massacre NOT happening would make a lot of things different. For example, Sasuke never defects, and his personality will be a little (but not TOO much) different. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Hai – yes

Taichou – Captain

Dango – rice flour dumplings, usually with sauce, like mitarashi. You usually see them served on a stick, like in the Naruto anime (Anko eats them somewhere in the beginning of the forest of death episodes…)