Beginning notes: Another chapter is here for you. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Naruto.

Pianissimo—Act VI

Scene I: Discovery

Haruno Sakura had traveled all through the early morning, and the great sun now aroused itself out of slumber and decided to bless the earth with its warm rays though it went unfelt by the exhausted kunoichi. She approached a small village, its cozy atmosphere beckoning her tired body towards it, and she almost collapsed as soon as she entered an inn. Perhaps after a light nap, she would start asking around for information regarding the two Akatsuki. The room was small and rather damp, but it was warm. She needed nothing more. Sakura slept for half the morning before forcing her body awake to gather information about their whereabouts since she had suddenly lost their tracks in the forest.

She used the public bathhouse of the town to cleanse her body from the sweat and dirt that had mounted on her skin a considerable amount after a full day's worth of hard travel. The bathhouse occupied most of her hour before she got out, her slender body dripping wet and noticeably attractive.

The bar was the next place on her list of places to visit, where the hubbub was loud and merry carousing took place, causing a light headache to take place. The bar was dim and smoke filled the ambiance which stung her eyes as she squinted to look for an empty table. It was possible that she could catch a stray conversation amongst the men if she could blend in.

The chair in which she took her seat was uncomfortable and worn, but she shifted slightly to overcome her discomfort and ordered a fresh drink from a plump waitress. Burly men sat around a table together, some with strange tattoos on their arms that seemed to crawl across the skin to make their unique designs. They spoke in loud, drunken voices that seemed very distinct from the rest of the conversations.

"Damn all them ninjas. These two came into me wife's inn like theys owned it. She couldn't say nothing to them since one of them looked like some shark. She called him a sharkman, she did." One exclaimed in a gruff voice. He continued cursing the ninjas. Sakura's ears perked up and she calmly slid towards them another seat with her drink in hand.

Another man began to speak. "I really want to go home now. When are we going back?"

"It's only a half day's travel from here. I'm going to see my wife first thing."

Her heart pounded with fear and excitement as news of the two Akatsuki's whereabouts was being registered into her mind. Sakura sipped the rest of her drink and began to plan in her head. She looked at a clock on the wall through the dim, smoky air and thought about their movements. Either way, there was no time to waste. They could already be on their way from the little town. She would have to travel at top notch to catch up with them.

Scene II: Unnecessary

Itachi had taken up the second watch after sleeping a recuperating five hours, his partner snoring loudly with his mouth open and his massive, gnarly hands twitching dangerously even his sleep. His black eyes traveled to the door of the small, windowless room that contained the Kyuubi carrier's unconscious form; he had not budged in the slightest from where they had left him on the floor. Itachi was not surprised for the memory erasing jutsu was purposefully a very powerful one. His eyes were still uncomfortably tight and they felt swollen, though there was no sign of irritation. But it could not be denied that his vision was blurred even more than it had been before.

Sakura had to get here before his sight became useless.

There was an uncontrollable desire to leave the room and escape to the freedom of the early morning. He sat in a tree until the sun rose from the horizon. His thoughts wandered from one place to another, unaware of the warmth of the sun on the bare skin of his arms which were exposed due to a lack of his black robe. He squinted to focus his hazed vision on a pink flower blooming on the ground below him, but he could not make out its petals or its leaves. Only the pale color stood out to his eyes.

"What is my potential?" He said to the listening trees.

They did not reply, but they sighed with his conscience with the gentle sway of their branches. Itachi held out his hand to catch a stray leaf and he gazed at it—the outlines of the leaf were still unclear to his eyes—until the wind whisked it away from his hand.

His impassive face remained unchanging as an understanding slowly came to him. "Will it elude me before I die?"

The Uchiha's lightning quick hand reached into his weapon pouch and launched a kunai into the tree trunk across from his tree. He heard it thud into the wood and it rang in his hollow heart.

"It's unnecessary to think about these things."

"Oi, what are you doing up there?" Kisame's gruff voice inquired below. "I was hoping to get some proper breakfast."

"There's no time."

The other smirked. "You know, I realized that we're two days ahead of schedule. They aren't expecting us soon."

Itachi was almost surprised. He had not thought about the deadline date. True, the excitement and his desire to reach another rung in his potential had made him forget about the mission's deadline. Indeed, they were ahead of schedule.

"Hn. I supposed breakfast would be good. You can watch the Kyuubi." He jumped from the tree branch and lightly landed without a sound.

Kisame grinned. "You'd better bring at least two bottles of sake."

Scene III: Itachi

Sakura was darting through the trees, sweat gleaming on her forehead as she traveled hard while watching for their tracks. With each step, she felt as if her heart would burst with the thought of the final confrontation between her and the last Uchiha. She had to kill him first, and she swore to Kami-sama that if she didn't, she would be reborn into the world again to do so. The kunoichi wondered how far she would take things, and how it would have been if they had met under different circumstances. Could they have been close? Lovers? Friends? Family?

She unconsciously shuddered at the thought of being lovers. It gave her a nervous, almost love-sick kind of pain in her stomach that she couldn't stand because it made her feel helpless, weak, and traitorous. But she was.

Haruno Sakura tried to remember the reason why she couldn't kill him in her apartment. How suddenly her strength seemed to ebb away and how weary her heart was when she faced him with the kunai. She had felt so used and so stupid…so hurt, as if killing the person was equivalent as murdering herself. The feelings had confused her and undeniably shook her to the core of her being, causing her to question her life and her actions, which was ultimately a path that shinobi never wanted to find.

Seeing his Sharingan incited feelings again, and at first, Sasuke was the first face she would be reminded of when she saw Itachi. But after awhile, after those three long nights together, she began to see Itachi for Itachi and his words had been a strange comfort to her as much as they had been torture. He had shown her the reflection of herself during the past dreary years without Team 7, and how alone she was without anyone to care for her. But his strength to endure such horrible loneliness was attractive and so was the way he touched her. His gentle fingers and strange ways of displaying comfort were so alluring that she had been blind to the invisible powers that drew her to him. Perhaps, if they had been together, they would have been less lonely. Somehow, in some way, they could have been something a little closer to happiness.

It was no longer the younger Uchiha that came to mind, but it was the elder. Itachi had shown her that it was no use grieving and that following one's desire was the best road of life. He succeeded in reawakening her long dormant emotions and need for a companion, and before she realized it, she found out that she had gone in too far. It was too late to back out. He had warned her many times, that if she wished to challenge him, she would have to take to the last breath of her life.

There enigmatic relationship began with a dance of their bodies and it had then turned into a dance of deceit. She wondered what the next dance would be like.

The world didn't really make sense, and Fate always seemed to work against her heart.

Scene III: Questioning Potential

Itachi, as he walked through the village commonly dressed in his black outfit, looked at the bustling people around, triggering memories deeply buried in his mind about the Uchiha village. There were so many happy faces, blissfully unaware just like his own clan before he had massacred them. Young women in the streets caught his handsome figure and whispered to each other, giggling girlishly as he brushed past them.

The town was too similar to the one where he born, and for the first time in his life, he found himself enjoying those memories. The hostile bristling that he felt whenever he entered a town like this had disappeared, with the urge to kill everyone in sight. Maybe it was thinking about Sakura that made him like this.

Speaking of the rosette, he wondered if she had found out about where they were staying. The prospect of meeting her again excited him, and he anticipated it with a queer sense of satisfaction and eagerness. Killing her could bring him to a satisfaction that he had yet more potential. If he killed her, then he could be sure that he was not held back in anyway from achieving that peak because he knew that the kunoichi was different to him than the rest. A heartless shadow of a smile reached his face. Just as he killed his best friend to possess the Mangekyou, he had to kill her to prove himself that his potential was not inhibited by a certain rose-haired shinobi.

The Uchiha picked up dango and tempura for a light brunch along with a bottle of sake. People gave him stares of admiration at his impressive stature and air as he silently went from store to store, wondering what to buy. Itachi knew Kisame would be starving and could probably eat the dango and the tempura by himself, and so Itachi merely got himself small snacks. He didn't feel like eating anyway.

He took the food back to the inn, and found Kisame lazily sharpening his sword with his back resting against the wall. He briefly opened the door to Naruto's room where the Jinchuuriki lay motionless in the corner. The shark-like shinobi grinned at the bags of food and set aside his sword.

"Finally, I was going to give you until noon to get back here." He caught a bag of food thrown his way. "The sake any good?"

"Aa, it's aged well." He slid the bottle across the floor, letting slide perfectly before his partner's feet.

Kisame and Itachi spent the next few minutes eating before the former broke the silence. "I can almost smell her. She's getting close. You're waiting for your potential, aren't you?"

"I will see how far I can go. I will stop at nothing."

Kisame stopped chewing. "You can't forget about the mission."

Itachi threw a glance at the closed door again. "Don't worry. I will kill her." His thoughts ran back to Sakura again, but then another face slowly made itself known to him.

'I will avenge my family.'

Those pathetic words still echoed inside of him, ringing their melody of pity and contempt as the face of his little brother arose in his mind. Sasuke's empty eyes had been filled with hatred but also mixed with sorrow and betrayal when he fought with him. Sorrow of what he went through without his parents; of leaving his only friends and turning against their kindness and care; of the bitter, lonely life he led; of not dying with his parents that fateful day; of realizing true love too late. With each little thing of sorrow, there took away the little spots of hatred that he needed to defeat Itachi. In the end, the avenger had died without accomplishing his goal, thus erasing all meaning of the life he had led up until that moment.

Essentially, life was a gamble. If one focused his life on one thing and did all he could to prepare for that one thing, he had two results awaiting him. One was to achieve that life goal, or the other was to fail it. If he failed, all of the sweat and blood that went into accomplishing that goal would have been for naught. Their potential then would end at the moment. Sasuke had failed, and he died knowing that all of the things that he gave up was ultimately for an empty death.

Itachi vague recalled what day it was, the battle between the remaining two Uchiha. He remembered the snow and the white forest, and he also remembered the blood spectacularly splashed against the white background. He loved the snow.

Scene IV: Past

Sasuke faced his hated brother, the man who had murdered his entire clan with his bare hands. The trademark obsidian orbs of the Uchiha clan were hooded as they surveyed the calm exterior of Itachi. Sasuke's breath crystallized in the air with each puff of his composed breathing, while the elder beheld the grown form of his little brother with little interest.

"It's been awhile." Sasuke said quietly. He was dressed in a white robe tied with purple rope, a typical Orochimaru fashion.

Itachi stood with an ever impassive countenance as he looked directly into his brother's eyes. "Still not enough hate, Sasuke. You cannot face me yet."

The hooded onyx eyes snapped open wide in fury at those repetitive words. "These past year, I have hated you to the core. You will fight me here today, and I will avenge my family."

As soon as Sasuke finished that sentence, he disappeared and reappeared behind Itachi in a speech that mildly surprised the older Uchiha, but it was one that was too easy to follow. He felt Sasuke's sharp kunai tip against his neck, but he took his hesitation by converting it into an opportunity. With a speed unmatched in both the Akatsuki and in Konoha, Itachi disappeared only to have Sasuke follow behind him.

"I am prepared to kill you."

Itachi leapt against a tree and pushed off of it to meet Sasuke face to face, his hand expertly wielding a kunai under his long robe sleeves. With the free hand, he reached out to grab his little brother's neck and allowed his greater momentum to slam his back against another tree trunk.

"If you are held back by anything other than hate, as you are now, you will die. Choose wisely because I will not give you another chance."

"I've lived to hate you." Sasuke spat viciously.

Itachi's eyes became red as they stared straight into Sasuke's. "You have regret in your eyes."

"I regret nothing." He hissed with venom as he shoved his brother away. His own eyes turned crimson.

Itachi closed his eyes. "Then I will make you regret."

When he opened them, the normal Sharingan had merged into the Mangekyou but Sasuke seemed ready for it. He faced it head on, a mistake that turned the battle completely to Itachi's favor.

The Tsukiyomi, the deadliest genjutsu known to the shinobi world, turned Sasuke's mind into a horrible mix of black and red. A red moon loomed overhead, and Sasuke's head was forced to look straight into it in order to watch a scene from too long ago, too deeply buried in his memories.

A fresh wave of shock washed over him as he gazed at the bodies of his murdered parents, and the pangs of loneliness pierced his heart with each moment of when he realized that he did not have friends during his solitary childhood.

Sasuke's eyes stung with unshed tears as he watched his 12-year-old form argue pointlessly with Uzumaki Naruto, and Sakura's temper raging whenever Naruto succeeded in making her angry.

He even saw their 15-year-old figures when they were reunited for the first time two and a half years, but as always, Sasuke had turned away from them.

He saw Orochimaru's disgusting face as he fingered the lining of his jaw as would a seducer. Sasuke couldn't stop shaking now. His body was numb and cold, as if he had swallowed a chunk of ice.

Why didn't you kill me after you killed our parents? Why did you make me live this way? I'd rather die!

A color distorted Sakura blocked his path out of the Konoha gates, her eyes deep and tearful as she spoke.

'I love you with all of my heart!'

And the one soft caress that he had the courage to give her unconscious form upon that cold bench.

Uchiha Sasuke broke.

The jutsu abruptly ended but it was quickly replaced by a merciless trust of a kunai into his stomach. He felt it pierce his stomach. Pain sang in his system as Sasuke staggered back, his mouth filled with the bitter taste of blood.

"I can't…give up now." He gasped before he charged again.

Itachi could see the sorrow in his eyes. The battle dragged on with futile fire jutsus on Sasuke's part and effective combat from Itachi. It was a pointless battle.

"You didn't have enough hate." Itachi said as the victor. He stood in the middle of the snowy clearing, the feeble body of Sasuke slowly bleeding to death in the virgin snow. "If I could make you regret so easily, that means you could not detach from your fond memories. Foolish brother, you still do not understand when I say that to be strong, is to be isolated.

"You have too many of those useless memories that it was too easy to exploit them. You should have clung to life instead."

Sasuke looked at his brother, his body unresponsive and unmoving, and coughed up blood. It stained the snow even more. "So this was it? I gave up…Sakura and Naruto for this?"

Itachi remained unsympathetic as he said quietly, "This is how far your potential goes. Someone else is destined to kill me."

But already, Uchiha Sasuke's black orbs were sightless and his body was limp. This was the magnificent ending to the avenger's life.

"I'm afraid, my little brother, someone else is to avenge your family."

Scene V: Konoha

Tsunade had come close to feeling this desolated perhaps twice in her life when her brother and Dan had died, but this had to be a new record. Her wide amber eyes were fixed on Naruto's poor state and the simple box that served as Hinata's coffin and even disbelief could barely register into her brain as she watched Naruto's repetitive movements.

"Kami-sama, how did it come to this?" She whispered for no air wanted to travel to her lungs. "Sakura, what have you done?"

Tears slipped from Tsunade's eyes, a first since the day Dan died. She hastily wiped them away when the door was quietly opened to reveal Hyuuga Hiashi, the regal leader of the fabled Hyuuga clan. His white eyes made a momentous effort to keep indifferent…until he saw the coffin that held Hinata. His neck visibly retracted to hold back a noise of sorrow and a vein appeared at his temple, an evident sign of his anger. He went to the coffin and laid a callous hand on it, as if to reassure Hinata.

"I have heard that it was Haruno Sakura who unwittingly revealed the location of their hideout." The Hyuuga patriarch forced his voice to remain calm. "Will there be anything done about this?"

Tsunade bowed deeply. "I should have taught her better, Hyuuga-sama. Please forgive me."

Hiashi stiffened and anger passed over his face before disappearing. "Where is she now?"

There was a hesitation before she answered his question. "She has gone after the Akatsuki herself. Hatake Kakashi has gone after her also."

The obvious fury boiling inside of him seemed to lessen at those words. It made him relaxed enough to turn his attention to his deceased daughter. Even though Hinata was not a prodigy as he wished her to be, he had still attachments as a father, and it was his only regret that he could not have been more affectionate when she was still alive. Hiashi cleared his throat and four Hyuuga clan members entered to carry out the coffin to their own residence. They had to honor the dead heiress with a grand, proper burial.

The Hyuuga leader looked at Naruto with pity but did not say anything. Instead, he wordlessly bowed to the Hokage before he took his leave.

Tsunade was alone in the room with Naruto who had stopped rocking, but he was still huddled together in a little ball. He didn't seem to remember anything. His eyes were empty like a corpse's. A mix of anger and disappointment bubbled inside of her heart, knowing that it was ultimately her fault that Sakura had caused this. If she had realized sooner…

Scene VI: Third Dance

Kisame stretched, his stomach satisfied, and patted his trusty sword next to him. "I think it's about time I go out and hunt. Just sitting around is going to get this guy irritated." He hefted the huge sword onto his shoulder before heading out of the door. He hesitated and opened his mouth to say something, but Itachi cut him off.

"If I see her, I will kill her."

Content with the answer, Kisame disappeared, and the Uchiha was left to think over many things. None of them seemed to stay and make an impact, but he preferred it that way. His blurry vision found a vague interest in Naruto's still form, his chakra barely flowing from the seal, but his major injuries had somehow healed themselves. He suddenly found himself wondering why Sakura was willing to risk so much for her friend. If Kisame was killed, then he would die. In the Akatsuki, protection did not exist. It puzzled his ingenious mind, its complex working somehow not able to grasp the simple concept of friendship and love.

He walked outside in the late evening, his wandering thoughts distracting from where he was going. Instinctively, his spine tingled with warning as someone drew near and he quietly armed himself with a kunai under his sleeve. Anticipation grew ever closer as the awaited kunoichi approached him calmly and openly. Her long pink locks seemed to glow in the soft moon, her jounin outfit dirty and worn due to hard travel. She had found him.

Sakura's body screamed at her to stop moving; the all-out sprint toward the town in the hopes of catching up to Itachi had exhausted her more than the all day traveling. Her knees shook with each effort to walk, but she tried to compose herself as she walked toward an expectant Uchiha Itachi.

He could almost feel her exhaustion radiating from her body, but nonetheless, she kept walking steadily until she was only a few meters away. As soon as she stopped walking, she swayed dangerously, and it amused him to watch her struggle to retain consciousness. And before he could think about the weight of his action, he activated his Sharingan—ignoring the vicious pain behind his eyes—and put her to sleep. He was there to catch her before she crumpled to the ground, her body grimy and sweaty from her journey, and he hoisted her into his arms before heading back into the inn.

Once in the room, he carried her into the small bathroom where he laid her in a round, old-fashioned tub. From there, he proceeded to peel off her clothes and cast them aside on the floor. He called for warm water from the inn keeper and he washed her naked body, smoothing away the dirt from her pale, flawless skin with a wet cloth. She slept peacefully as all of this occurred, allowing her beauty to be ravaged by his eyes alone. Itachi carefully washed her hair and allowed to drip water all over him as he lifted her out of the tub again while maneuvering a large towel around her slim body. Even though the soap did not have a flowery scent, she smelled of plum blossoms and rain, an enticing scent that caused him to dip his head lower to kiss the delicate skin of her vulnerable neck. Not resisting the instinct that saved him numerous times in battle, he left a trail of kisses upward until he reached her full lips. He only paused for a short moment before pressing mouth against hers and he almost pulled away when she responded by deepening their kiss.

Itachi's kiss was like fire to her mouth but she returned it anyway, and felt him stop for a brief moment—perhaps because of surprise—before he continued. He gently coaxed her mouth to allow him entrance inside, and she granted it easily. He carried her out of the bathroom with her hands clutching the front of his shirt, and he laid her down without breaking their contact.

Sakura automatically moved her hands to trace his jaw then move down his chest, fingering his neck and collar bone with her dainty, nimble hands. One of his hand supported her head while the other slowly ran along her thigh, making her shiver at the feeling.

"Pianissimo, remember, Sakura?" He whispered in her ear, his breath warm against the side of her face, "Lies are always at a pianissimo."

She looked directly into his eyes and attempted to say something, but he swallowed her words with his lips. "You can decide if this is a lie or not."

Sakura wanted it to be true. Even though she knew that she had to kill him, she wanted to forget that for just one night. She hoped that Itachi was not completely playing her because she knew that she couldn't exist without him.

Their third dance began.

Ending notes: Well, there you have it. I can't believe this is almost at an end. I hope I have aroused your curiosity as to what will happen at the end.

Thank you for the reviews and the support! You guys are simply fantastic!