Senko: Sorry that in the last chapter Sakura seems so bleh and all. I had planned for her to do that ;D because I just thought that she wanted to be his friend and he wasn't replying so she needs to do something to first of all grab his attention. I also planned for her choice of topic to change as well, as you can see in this chapter. Also, sorry if the point of views are confusing!

lilmisssushi: No problem! I like your reviews! ;D you always say something interesting! And thanks so much, your review is awesome! Glad to know you enjoy my story! My writing seems different? Hmm. I dunno. I get easily inspired xD and oh yeah, I can read your story and give feedback:3

neon kun: LOL! Yep, Naruto is being stupid as always but ya gotta love him for it!

narutofan4ever: AW! You mean it? He's the best in my story! THX SO MUCH!

blackXheart: LMAO! I've had tons of those moments! I read something funny while eating and then I end up almost choking! xD

: Sorry!

Nekio-chan: Woah, really? I never thought that last sentence was anything special o.O;; hmmm.

konohaGiRL: I don't know. I think she'll most likely fight in the story but not in this chapter! XD

ninjaxbunny: -hugglez you- YAY! I adore you too! Hahaha yeah, ya know I think that Ita-kun, being the hot and sexy guy he is, would attract males o.O;; not only is he hot as a guy, but he's got beautiful hair and long lashes...

theoneandonlydarkpowderpuff: YES! I have not abandoned that story. In fact, I have chapter one written already. I just haven't posted it. I might have it out next week. But beware, the story's main genre is humor so the characters might seen somewhat OOC.

starwishes: AW THANKS!

The Violent Tomboy: Glad to know my story is giving a good first impression! Perhaps it might even inspire you to write an ItaSaku ficcie:D we need more and MORE ItaSaku ficcies! Myahahah!

Sakura's Hope:HELL NO! o.O;; SAKURA IS NOT GOING TO DYE HER HAIR BLONDE!

Heartless Ghost and AkatsukiSakura: OMG! Thank you two so much for noticing my amateur error! Who could make such a stupid mistake! o.O;; THANK U SO MUCH! I was able to go over and fix it ;D

Thanks to Sachmet, animemistress419, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob..., sillymail, inuyashaHELP, Hao'sAnjul, Lady-Azura, SweetAssassin, Itachi's Poison, Iccena, The Squabbit, pilar, hinako89, BWOLFY, 1taCh1's GuRLie, and Eliza for reviewing!

Chapter 8

Itachi carefully took into consideration Sakura's new ideas and attempts. She was on yet another one of her talking sprees, but he didn't blame her; his lack of response was the cause of Sakura's endless talking. He didn't know what had gotten in to her. At first it seemed that she feared him and immediately gave up talking to him when he didn't reply. As of a couple days ago, though, she began talking and just wouldn't stop talking. Her conversations were dull, boring and pointless, but now her topics in conversation were changing.

"So it usually takes a couple days for a deep wound to recover but after studying Tsunade-sama's scrolls the other week, I think I might be able to construct an ointment designed to speed up the process of healing," said Sakura.

Itachi and Sakura sat against a tree. Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Ino trained on the empty field while Itachi and Sakura watched. After a good night's rest, Sakura was able to forgive Naruto's assumptions on yesterday's date.

A couple of days ago Sakura had made her mini goal to become Itachi's friend. After a while, she had come to realize that engaging in a conversation with Itachi was quite interesting. He didn't always reply, but he did reply when he felt he wanted to. Unlike Sasuke, he had never told her she was annoying or tried to hurt her feelings in order to avoid her.

Itachi had found that Sakrua could be smart when she wanted to. Her endless ramblings and obsession for pink were very annoying but at the same time quite amusing.

He found it a bit funny. He could have killed her. He could have killed his family. He could have killed them all, but he didn't. He didn't kill them because he wanted to see how different life would be. He didn't kill them...because he knew that one day the pain and guilt of destroying the people you cared about would come back to haunt you. And when that happens, you would wish you could go back in time and kill only those you wanted to die. But you can't go back because you can't fix or undo this mess you already made upon yourself. It was like a web, and Itachi was the prey.

He inwardly smirked. It was also a bit funny how fate was being such a bitch. He was never one to believe in fate or destiny. Why, you ask? Simply because fate controlled life and death, and Itachi was also capable of controlling such things.

He thought about the afternoon of the previous day, when he was training alone.

Flashback

Itachi hurled one last shuriken at the tree, his shurikens now formed a straight line down the tree. That was when he sensed an all too familiar chakra behind him.

"Come out, Kisame," he said, not bothering to turn around.

Kisame's chuckle was heard, and Itachi could sense Kisame stepping out of the tree that was situated a good distance away from him. When he knew Kisame was about ten feet away from him, he turned to face Kisame.

"What is it?" Itachi asked bluntly.

"I have a proposal for you," he said, "and maybe that cute fiancee of yours too."

Itachi did not reply, but instead waited for Kisame's proposal.

"Would you like to join Akatsuki?"

Itachi smirked. "I knew there was a reason for your abnormally overfriendly behavior."

"Intelligent as always," Kisame remarked. "Precisely why you would make a fine addition to Akatsuki, that and your impressive strength and abilities."

Itachi remained silent, listening attentively.

Kisame grinned, displaying his sharp teeth. "Akatsuki is composed of only the strongest ninjas. You belong with Akatsuki, Itachi, not a weak village filled with lovey-dovey and sympathetic ninjas. We are the real ninjas, and only with us can you achieve true power. To be a part of Akatsuki you must test your capacities."

"Test my capacity?"

"Yes. Kill your clan."

End Flashback

The same scene occurred when he was twelve, except that Kisame did not mention anything about a fiancee since he didn't have one back then. It was funny; it seemed as though he was fated to kill his family and to be alone.

"Itachi-kun! Hello!" Sakura's voice broke his stream of conciousness.

Itachi looked at her.

"Your hand is bleeding!" she exclaimed, a worried look on her face.

He glanced at his hands. He had almost forgotten all about it. Yesterday Gaara sparred with him and, well, let's just say that Gaara decided to avenge the innocent trees. The wound must have reopened.

"Ah, I forgot," he said, holding up his right hand and examining it.

Sakura took his hand in her own, "Here." Her fingers formed a few seals and a greenish chakra encircled Itachi's wound. In a matter of moments his hand was good as new.

He was impressed with her medical skills. He knew how to heal, but he only knew the basics and he wasn't perfect at healing. It took much work and he was more focused on destroying rather than saving.

Sakura smiled gently in relief when Itachi was well again, and it somehow made him wonder if she really was this generous. Sakura leaned against the tree and stared up at the puffy clouds and vast cerulean sky, smiling. "Do you believe in fate?"

"No."

"Same here! It's nice to know that someone else sees things my way, too. Ino-pig and Hinata-chan both believe that everything is planned out and that who we are and what we do were predetermined, but I believe that who we are and what we accomplish are influenced by our abilities rather than destiny."

He looked at her, astound by the way she constructed her choice of words. The words that she alone spoke within less than five minutes were the words he sought to hear his whole life.

"You were born strong, Itachi," Fugaku had told him countless times. "It was fated that you were to be strong and it was fated for you to be born into a strong clan as well."

"Just as I think we were fated to become friends," Shisui once said, "I think that you were fated to be born into the head of the clan to show the world the full strength of the Uchiha Clan."

There was only one other person he knew aside from Sakura and himself that did not believe in fate: Uchiha Mikoto.

"When they fall in love, many girls think that they were fated to be with that special someone of their's," Mikoto said. "Your father may be my special someone, but I don't think we were fated; I just think that I was very fortunate to have found him."

Sakura's knees were in contact with her chest. Slowly she placed her hands on her knees and rested her head on her hands. Her head faced Itachi and she smiled gently. Somehow Itachi didn't see a medic-nin staring back. He didn't his younger brother's teammate staring back. He didn't see a kunoichi, one that would never match his stength, staring back.

Instead he saw a beautiful angel, and small feeling inside him made him feel slightly unworthy of her illustriousness.

"HEY! EVERYONE!" a voice called out. Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, Hinata, Itachi, and Sakura turned to see Kankuro running towards them. He stopped once he approached them, panting and wheezing. "G-Gaara...he's under attack! W-Where's Kiba! Kiba isn't found anywhere!"

Everyone exchanged glances.

"I'll go find him," Itachi volunteered.

The group of seven rushed towards the Kazekage's tower. The Kazekage's room was a complete mess and there were few traces of blood. Time seemed to stand still between Gaara, whose arm was bleeding and stood near the window facing Kisame, and Kisame, who stood in the middle of the room facing Gaara. They were relieved to discover that they were not too late; although Shikamaru was injured, he wasn't hurt to the brink of death. Temari was unconcious, bleeding. Sakura and Hinatarushed over to team, examining the wounds. She then brought her hands together to form seals and then focused her chakra and healedShikamaru's wounds. Hinata formed some seals and began to heal Temari.

Meanwhile, Naruto lunged towards Kisame, creating a few additional bunshins which all attempted to ambush Kisame. Kisame instantly disappeared, causing the duplicates to crash into each other and vanish in smoke. The real Naruto got up, grunting. Ino threw a kunai, but Kisame easily deflected it. Sasuke charged towards Kisame with a punch. Kisame caught his punch but Sasuke swiftly launched a kick at Kisame's abdomen. Kisame didn't see it, and so Sasuke's kick sent Kisame flying and smashing again the wall.

Sakura took this chance to sprint towards Gaara, who had now fallen down to his knees. After inspecting the wound, she quickly began to heal him.

Kisame, amidst his fighting with Sasuke and Naruto, from the corner of his eye, noticed the now recovering Gaara. He growled in anger; he had used much effort to harm Gaara. Ignoring his two opponents, he immediately drew his Samehara and race towards Sakura. Sakura, upon feeling a presence behind her, jerked around to see the figure of Kisame hover over her. In the blink of a eye, Kisame swung his sword. Sakura dodged, but the sword slashed her right arm.

Itachi and Kiba stared at the scene that had just occurred. Itachi finally found Kiba and the scrambled to the Kazekage's tower. He remained stoic on the outside, but his inside screamed as he saw the Samehara gouge Sakura's right arm. Kisame, realizing Itachi, turned around and the two's gaze met for a couple seconds.

Itachi closed his eyes.

Kisame really shouldn't have done that. He really shouldn't have hurt Sakura. Itachi had originally planned to enjoy the fight, but it seems he lost his intentions.

He opened his eyes.

And then Kisame fell unconscious.

TBC

Senko: Well, whaddya think? Please review!