Senko: This was originally going to be the last chapter. However, I am extending the story. The story will continue for another few chapters because I want to make Itachi and Sakura meet ;D so I repeat myself in caps for the people who choose to ignore this, this is NOT THE LAST CHAPTER.

400+ reviews! And omg 73 reviews for the chapter 12! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! SENKO UBER WUVS ALL OF YOU! )

ninjaxbunny: It applies to me because I live off of muffins! Nuuuhhh I shall have nufin to eat now...and I must die and not be able to continue meh stories x.X lol Midnight-Miko66: Yes...it HAD to be sad -evil laughter- you think it was sad? That's good lol I was worrying if it wouldn't be sad enough. jezebel x3: That...is for me to know and you to find out lol Sakura5584.and.Naruto5: Uhh like...he wants to kill her? Yeah. lol. rebel-girl: Dude you would so make an awesome advertiser :D Mareno Mikato: o.O Uhhh...I can see that Itachi and blood are among the top on your first priorities list lol neon kun: I'm soooo soorrryyyyy neon kuuunnn T.T I shall inform you of my plans from now on lol uhm...well, that is if you really want me to tell you the ending? lol konohaGiRL: Aww you flatter me -blushies- lilmisssushi: I do not work fast lol man, if only you could see me here reading fanfics instead of writing them XD my writing style seems different? Well, my beta-reader's doing an awesome job in helping me improve my writing! But sadly, my beta-reader cannot beta for a whole month T-T so I'm on my own for a month now lol winner-loser: Almost cry? Aww and here I was hoping you would cry lol...maybe I should make the story even sadder? lol

Thanks to Earwen Telrunya, silly mail, Tachiko, Rhonda21, GinaCat, JusticeDream, huffpuff, Narutofan462, YufVin-Valentine, animemistress419, Neji's Girlfriend, heartless soul, Tiasha, Heartless Ghost, Anna, RaMeNLuVeRMoKoNa, Fukyuu no Tenshi, Sylvok, Aruxia, 'sayhellopunk-, blacksakura159, Mistress DragonFlame, blackXheart, Hao'sAnjul, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob..., SatuAka, Natsuhiboshi, XxShado-Of-LiesxX, priya, Gothic Miko Princess, BLUEEEyyy, Lady Tsunade, Shy-Princess, happy, poke-n-die, Isabella-Young, PuNk-RoCkEr713, Halfbreed741, Okami, theoneandonlydarkpowderpuff, Puppyeye1, Sheltie-chan, Sekiryu, sakura59515, sendoh11, happy go lucky, AngelxDeath, Phylie, D.K.-Missy, yosh, craazy nikki, Super Blahblahblah, Skullcandy, angelica, shadow miko, Sakura and Itachi Forever, NeoQueenSerenity1985, isa18, Lite1232, Saraiyu Aes Sedai, sakuraisitachislover, starfire1, and Sakura0777 for reviewing!

And always special thanks to my beta-reader alphadale! Alphadale, did you get my last PM? o.O I'm still thankful to have you as a beta-reader but you didn't beta this chapter T.T it's been weeks ( Senko misses you!

Disclaimer: No own. Duh.

Chapter 12

Sakura jolted awake, breathing heavily. Her eyes instantly shifted down, scanning her body. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw she was perfectly healthy; no blood or injuries anywhere. She surveyed her surroundings, realizing that it was a hospital since everything was white...except a certain dark-haired boy who sat beside her bed, his arms folded across his chest. "Sasuke...kun?"

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at her and nodded. "You're awake."

Suddenly, the door bolted open and an all too familiar hyperactive blonde jumped inside. "SAKURA-CHAN! I sensed your chakra! I was soooo worried about you!" he chirped, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Naru...to?" she whispered. "What...happened?"

"I found you asleep at the cherry blossom field and tried to wake you up but you wouldn't wake up," Sasuke answered. "So I brought you here and contacted Naruto."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you woke up!" Naruto cried. "I was hungry and I was trying to get the nurses to let me use their microwave to heat up some ramen."

"Oh..." Sakura said quietly.

"Damn," Naruto cursed. "It's dark outside already. Ugh...and the bastard and Hinata-chan and I were gonna take you out for a celebration but you've been sleeping since this afternoon. The nurses said you were under a powerful genjutsu."

"It's...my birthday? Genjutsu?" Sakura asked. She could have sworn it had been months since her birthday, what with the mission and teaching at the academy and all.

"Yeaahh?" Naruto drawled. "This afternoon we gave you presents. Wait, do you have amnesia, Sakura-chan? If you do, you should know that you are a kunoichi and I saved your life from the evil ninjas and you're hopelessly in love with me, the Uzumaki, Naruto! But sadly I cannot love you back because I am in love with Hinata-chan and-"

Naruto's sentence was cut off by a smack to his head from Sasuke. "Idiot..."

"You bastard! You hit me!" Naruto pointed his index finger at Sasuke. "I challenge you!"

Sakura inhaled, closing her eyes. Just when she thought that Kisame would end it for her, she was brought right back to the beginning. It seems that she had gone to some fantasy since she was the only one with any recollection of what happened. Perhaps the book was it's own little world, sucking in anyone who writes in it? Vaguely, she wished that Itachi would remember everything as well, but chances are that he was a fake character the book generated.

Why did things have to turn out this way? If she went back and wrote another sentence, would the book take her back to that realm? Her thoughts were interupted by two words.

"...Mangekyou Sharingan!" Naruto yelled. "Ha! You can't cheat with it since you'll never obtain it!"

Sasuke glared. "Never say never."

"Oh, what, are you gonna kill me to get it? You can't do that - you wuv me, Sasuke-kun," Naruto teased, purposely emphasizing the -kun suffix. "But it's too bad I can't return your love. I am Hinata-chan's and hers alone."

Sasuke turned his head away, closing his eyes in frustration. "Ew, you gay idiot. I would never like you."

"Never say never, Sasuke-kun," Naruto used his words against him.

"Ah," Sakura began, "the Mangekyou Sharingan..."

"Oh, that's right. The bastard never told you, right? The Mangekyou Sharingan is a type of Sharingan and it's really powerful and cheating," Naruto looked over at Sasuke when he said that last word.

"It's not cheating," Sasuke argued. "It's simply powerful and it's Tsukiyomi technique can trap you in a genjutsu for days when in reality only a couple seconds have passed by."

"Hey, hey, bastard, don't forget to include how you get it," Naruto said.

"I'm getting to that," Sasuke said annoyed. "You're so damn impatient. You can get it by killing your best friend."

And that was when it hit her.

Flashback

"Do you think of me as a friend?"

"No."

She frowned, saddened with the answer. She had thought that he would think of her at least as a friend, but it seems he hadn't…yet. She would have to work harder, pry more into his life and become his friend. "Do you…have any friends?"

"One."

She was slightly shocked. "Who?"

Itachi paused before answering. "Shisui."

End Flashback

Flashback

Sakura was still blushing as they walked down the roads of the Uchiha Estate. The residents were looking at them. The elders were admiring how good they looked together, the boys were glaring at Itachi, and the girls were glaring at Sakura.

"Itachi!" a voice called out.

The two stopped and turned around. Sakura hadn't seen him before.

"So, this is your fiancée," he said.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, Shisui."

End Flashback

If Itachi had the Mangekyou Sharingan and Shisui was his only friend, then Shisui should be dead. How could Shisui be alive? Unless, of course, somehow Itachi wasn't a made-up character the book generated, but what were the odds that this was true? Or maybe Itachi was an exception?

"Is there any exception?" Sakura asked. "Like...what if someone were to have the Mangekyou Sharingan and have his or her best friend still alive?"

Naruto laughed. "If only something like that was true, Sakura-chan. I know we, especially Sasuke, wish that it was true. But since it's not, Sasuke has no choice but to choose me over the Mangekyou Sharingan, right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke simply looked away and closed his eyes. "Whatever. I just feel that the Mangekyou Sharingan isn't worth it if I'll have to live being hunted down for killing someone."

"Riigghhtt," Naruto remarked sarcastically.

Then...if there were no exceptions, the only explanation for it would be that Itachi was real. She found if hard to believe but it was the only answer. Or maybe she's thinking too much?

The creak of the door signaled a visitor and in walked Tsunade. She smiled as she saw Sakura's conscious figure. "Sakura...it's good you're awake now. I was getting worried that you might sleep like this forever."

Sakura let out a weak laughter. "Yeah..."

"Are you feeling well? Do you know who put you under that genjutsu?" Tsunade asked, taking a seat on the white bed.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm fine but I don't know who casted the genjutsu."

"Did you see anyone suspicious?" Tsunade questioned. "We can't have someone who can perform such powerful genjutsu walking around. Residents might feel scared."

"No, I was alone in the cherry blossom field," Sakura answered.

"What did you see in the genjutsu?"

"Ah, just a bunch of random scary things...darkness everywhere and such," Sakura lied.

"Well then are you well enough to go on a mission? I completely understand if you don't feel well. It's just that a few hours ago a mission came up and you will be needed on this mission so I sent Sasuke to find you since he was the first shinobi I saw all day and that was when he saw you asleep."

Sakura looked up at her teacher and smiled. "I'm fine, Tsunade-shishou. I'll go on the mission."

"Let's see...it's dusk right now and your team will be leaving at nine o'clock sharp this evening, so that will give you some time to get ready," Tsunade said. "So, one more time are you sure you're feeling well?"

"Yes, shishou, I'm fine."

"Okay, team, gather around!" Naruto ordered, obviously proud of being appointed leader of this A-rank mission. Ino, Neji, and Sakura formed around Naruto. The same thoughts were occurring in their heads: Why was Naruto leader? They would have expected for Neji to be given the position. "Now, everyone, we must fill Sakura in on the information. Sakura-chan, our mission is to find the hideout of a rogue ninja that is said to be causing cruelty and randomly killing residents in the southern area of the Fire Country."

"However," Ino continued, "since this isn't really a mission where someone pays us and instead it's one where we're helping our country, we are free to kill the ninja if we feel it is for the better of this nation. Our main goal is to gather information and find the hideout."

"And you are playing the role of medic-nin on this team," Neji finished.

"Oh really?" Ino said in a shocked voice. "So there's a big meanie somewhere in this village and he can come and destroy my pretty face anytime? That is so scary!"

The middle-aged man chuckled, moving closer to Ino and wrapping a arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from him."

"Yay!" Ino beamed, although a voice inside her head encouraged her to restrain herself from throwing up at the man's touch against her bare skin. "You're so powerful. Say, do you know where he is? I want to know so I'll know not to go near him."

The man laid back against the wall. "Hmm, sorry, sweety. I don't know where this ninja is. But most of the murders he did took place in the south side of the town, so there has been some rumors that he's around that area."

"Ino-chan," Sakura approached them, interupting their conversation and speaking in her softest and girliest voice ever. "It's time for us to go."

"Aww..." Ino pretended to sound sad and faked a pout. "It's time for me to go, so I guess I'll see around then, mister?"

The man frowned. "Alright, but can I get a goodbye kiss?"

The Inner Ino: HOLY SHIT! FUCK NO! OH HELL NO! JUST LOOK AT YOU! YOU MUST BE AROUND 500 POUNDS AND YOU LOOK AS OLD AS MY DAD!

Ino smiled sweetly. "Sorry! No kisses on the first meeting!"

Sakura and Ino quickly dashed out of the bar. Once they were out of the bar, Ino exhaled deeply in relief. "Man, that was scary!"

"So, did you find anything?" Naruto asked.

"The man said he might be in the southern area of town since most of the murders happened there," Ino answered.

They had just arrived at the city hours ago and decided to start gathering information as quickly as possible. After much searching, they came across a bartender who pointed out a rich man in the bar who might have some information since he is involved with gangs. Naruto had tried to talk to the man but the man simply ignored him. Ino decided to talk to him and pretended to be a cute teenager in financial need and is willing to do anything. That's right, anything.

"Alright, well it's getting late so we'll begin searching tomorrow," Neji said.

"Hey! You have no say in what we do! I'm the leader!" Naruto glared at Neji.

Neji glowered back, ten times more deadly than what Naruto did. "Then what do you propose we do?"

"I say we start searching tomorrow!" Naruto declared.

"That's what I said."

"Huh? You did?"

"...idiot..."

"So then Shika-kun brought me to his favorite cloud gazing place and we lied there together and then guess what! He said he loves me!" Ino squealed, a blush appearing on her face as she recalled the event. Sakura and Ino walked side by side behind Naruto and Neji as the four made their way back to the hotel.

"Oh...that's really nice," Sakura said almost emotionlessly. She was still somewhat depressed and often looked away from Ino, trying to avoid eye contact or looking at Ino's face. No, it wasn't that Ino was ugly. In fact, Sakura had to admit that Ino was the second most beautiful person she knew, Tsunade being the first. It was simply that Ino was such a cheerful person and Sakura found it hard to see such a happy face when she herself felt so dead and alone.

Trying to avoid seeing Ino, even from the corner of her eye, Sakura looked to her right and directed her attention at the line of stores. Something caught her eye, and she stopped to gaze at it.

"And then, " Ino stopped. "Sakura?" Ino turned around to see Sakura looking through a shop's window. She walked over to Sakura. "What's so interesting?"

And there, in the middle of the display section was a beautiful necklace with a small yet cute cherry blossom as the pendant. "That's a pretty necklace, Sakura..." her sentence drifted into an end as she noticed a feeling of sadness wash over Sakura's eyes. Sakura stared at the necklace, remembering the familiarity of it.

Flashback

"Yo, Itachi-kun!" Sakura greeted, reminding Itachi of Kakashi.

Itachi blinked as he saw Sakura look up from the scroll she was reading. He had just arrived home and entered his room.

"You're back," he said.

"That's all?" she faked a frown and sulk. "No 'welcome back' or 'how was your trip' at all? Didn't you miss me?"

"When did you get back?"

"Just now, about half an hour ago," she answered, rolling up the scroll and getting up from the floor.

When she got up, she felt a gentle grasp on her hand. Her eyes met with Itachi's for moment before shifting down to their hands. He could tell she was still awkward from yesterday, but was trying hard to put up a comfortable front. His other hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. Sakura stared in awe and disbelief as he put the necklace on her. When he finished, she grabbed the pendant of the necklace and blinked.

"I'm…uh…." She couldn't find the words. "I…you…this necklace…um-"

"I never gave you a birthday present."

End Flashback

"Hello? Forehead girl? Are you ok?" Ino asked, waving a hand up and down in front of Sakura's face and snapping her out of her thoughs.

Sakura looked away from the window and took her handoff the cold glass, dropping her hand to her side. "Yeah."

"Sakura! Ino!" the two girls looked ahead to see Neji and Naruto standing from afar. "Hurry up!"

"Sakura? Sakura? Forehead girl!" Ino called in the dark.

"What," Sakura finally answered.

The two were lying in bed and all lights were off. To save their money, the four had decided to rent only two rooms. One would be for Neji and Naruto and the other would be for Sakura and Ino.

"Uhm...like, are you OK?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? I heard what happened from Naruto. Are you hiding something? Did you see something odd or frightening that you would like to talk about?"

"It's not that. I'm fine...just...yeah."

"Just?"

Sakura sighed. "I was just thinking...that it would hurt to love someone and find out that the love is fake."

"Well, I've been there. I realized that a few years ago. I was so in love with Sasuke and I thought that if he loved me back, everything would be perfect. But I overheard some stuff and found out that he left Konoha to kill the person who killed his family. And that made me realize that I was only fooling myself. Sasuke would throw away everything he has for revenge and it's probably all he cares about. There won't be a real love between him and me. So I gave up on him."

"Eh...yeah," Sakura whispered, silently wishing that Ino had known exactly what she meant. But it seems she didn't. "Well, night."

Two figures step foot onto the village, their black cloaks with imprinted crimson clouds gently flowed this way and that due to the breeze. The sounding of a bell rang as the figures proceeded into the city and roamed throughout the bustling streets.

"The man is in the south," Kisame said, "in a cave just outside the village."

"And you say we must kill him because he's secretly hiring assassins to hunt down Akatsuki members?" Itachi asked for confirmation.

"Yes."

"Let's hurry and get this over with then."

"No. It's late and I'm tired from searching for you all over Konoha. We'll do it tomorrow morning."

"Fine."

"Oh, c'mon, Itachi. Why did we have to pay for a room? We're Akatsuki - we should have just threatened for the room. For an Akatsuki member, you sure are nice. How did you even get to join?" Kisame whined, walking beside Itachi. "You haven't been Akatsuki material lately, you know that? A while ago you stopped and stared at a necklace, a necklace!"

Itachi remembered clearly what Kisame was referring to. While walking through the streets trying to find a suitable hotel, they past by a jewelry shop and something caught Itachi's eyes. It was a beautiful necklace with a cherry blossom pendant, so similar to one that he had given to her that it seemed to be an exact duplicate.

Itachi stopped and said in a low voice, "There are other shinobis in this hotel."

"What? There are?" Kisame's eyes slightly widened at the surprise. "But I didn't sense anything. Are they powerful?"

"There is a powerful barrier set up to conceal their chakra. Since I have Mangekyou Sharingan activated I can sense the barrier, but I can't detect their chakra to measure their strength," Itachi finished and proceeded towards their room.

But little did he know, a single wall separated him and the only love of his life.

Senko: Once again, in case you didn't read my note, this is NOT THE END.

It was the original ending chapter, yes. I had planned to end it with Sakura finding out about the Mangekyou Sharingan and she realizes that Itachi was real OR she is all depressed and wished it were real. However, I thought about it and I noticed that the ending was just plain mean and you readers might hate me for ending it like that. Crappy ending, right? So I decided to change the story and extend it and have Sakura and Itachi meet ;D

PLZ READ!

11/27: I'm so sorry for the late update. I actually had the entire thing typed up. YES, this ENTIRE STORY WAS DONE AND TYPED UP ON MY COMPUTER! However, I just recently moved and the internet in my room wasn't working and then the stupid computer had some issues and then my stupid hater brother went ahead and reformat the computer and I LOST EVERYTHING. YES. Everything. All the chapters...TT.TT so the past few days I've been sad ( all my hardwork...I had this chapter already typed up and I was planning on posting the chapters like one every week until the end but well I decided you readers need something )