Vespertine
Chapter Five: The Truth, part II
Is there a place deep within?
A place where you hide your darkest sins?
Shamed of what you are and what you been,
It must be hard living tired in your shoes.
The mood in the room shifted to something far less comfortable than a few minutes ago. What Itachi told her before was a lesser known version of history, but wasn't really shocking. However the darkness in his eyes told Sakura that this, what she was about to hear, would be. This was his big secret.
When he finally continued his tone was slightly different than before. Emptier. Emotionally guarded. This was personal to him.
"Madara had not been entirely alone in his grudge, though none were willing to act on it. There was always a certain level of dissent among a few in the clan. Shodai knew this, and because of it the Uchiha were never fully trusted. Of course, this only caused the resentment to grow and spread over time. When Senju Tobirama took power as Nidaime, he attempted to pacify the growing unrest by creating the Konoha Military Police. But it was a farce; an illusion of power and importance meant to placate them."
"It only made things worse," Sakura discerned. "How do you know all of this?"
"I'll get to that."
She flashed a small, sheepish smile. "Sorry. It's just that I've never heard any of this."
"Of course you haven't," he said flatly. "This information was never meant to be known."
Sakura fully believed that it wasn't, and suspected there was a very specific reason for that. An uneasy feeling began to settle in the pit of her stomach. "What happened after that?"
"The situation was tense but stable for many years. Then the Kyuubi attacked. Both the Sandaime and Yondaime believed it wasn't an accident, that the nine-tails was set upon the village by an outside force. Many remembered Madara's control of the Kyuubi years before, and many eyes turned to the Uchiha clan. No outright accusations were made, but the suspicion was there. I don't know if Madara intended the attack to have the aftereffect it did, but he was certainly pleased by it. If he hates anything more than Konoha it's the Uchiha clan for turning against him."
Though Itachi gave no outward sign of emotion, his aura seemed to darken, and again Sakura sensed a deep, simmering anger under the surface. After what she'd heard so far, she thought she could understand even if she didn't know exactly what was going on in his mind. The story he told made her angry too, and she wasn't even part of it.
"As a security measure we were segregated from the rest of the village, relocated into a single compound where our surveillance would be easier," he continued. "I was six when it happened, and I remember the outrage among the clan as we were forced from our homes. That was the catalyst."
"For what?" she asked warily.
"For the rebellion. Through their own paranoia, the Senju brought about the very thing they had tried to prevent. The Uchiha clan, led by my father, began work on a plot to overthrow the current government and take power for themselves."
Sakura stared at him in muted shock. She began to suspect where the story was going, and dreaded hearing what he would say next.
"It took several years. They expanded their network through the police force, gathering information and building funds. All the children of the clan were rigorously pushed to be perfect soldiers, to manifest the Sharingan as early as possible, and drilled to place loyalty to the clan above all else. I was sent into ANBU at twelve—"
"Twelve?" she exclaimed. "I was chasing stray cats around the village on D-ranked missions at twelve! But ANBU…that's just…wrong."
Itachi gave her a long look, impossible to read in the wavering firelight. "Regardless," he said at length, "that is the way Konoha operated in those days. Your sensei, Kakashi, was no different. Do you want to discuss ethics or do you want to hear what happened?"
Only mildly chagrined, Sakura silently nodded for him to continue, though her troubled frown remained.
"I was promoted to Captain a year later, and that was when my parents told me of the clan's intentions. I was shown the secret records which detailed the clan's grievances. I was given instructions to use my new position to spy on Konoha and report the information to the clan. No one is closer to the Hokage than the ANBU, and their eventual aim was for me to assassinate the Sandaime."
Sakura was appalled by the revelation, and the knot in her stomach grew and tightened. "But you didn't…. Did he find out somehow?"
Itachi's lips twisted in a faint smirk, but there was no humor in it. "He did. Because I told him."
Sakura gasped softly, eyes going wide, but kept silent this time, knowing he would answer her unasked questions.
"I struggled with it for weeks," he said quietly, voice draining of emotion again. "Over and over, I tried to reconcile myself to what was expected of me, but the more I learned of their plans the more I realized that I couldn't support them. I went to the Sandaime in secret and told him everything. I swore my loyalty to him and to the Leaf, and I became a double agent.
"It was easy enough. I sat at council meetings, in my place as clan heir. The elders were very confident of their plans, and my parents openly discussed it with me, even at home, though never in front of my brother. The coup would begin with the assassination of the Hokage, and as the resulting chaos spread through the village they would make their move to seize power. When I was given a date, I informed the Sandaime. He called a meeting of the village elders, and the decision was made."
Sakura's stomach curled with a sickly, hollow feeling, her jaw falling slack as she put the pieces together. "Gods…" she whispered, "you're saying the massacre was…by Konoha's order?"
Itachi held her gaze steadily. "Yes."
He fell silent, remembering the moment that changed the course of his life forever. Sakura's wide eyes were fixed on his profile, her mind reeling. His story had flipped her image of Konoha on its head, exposing horrible, ugly truths on the underside. A long minute passed before she found her voice again. "This doesn't seem possible," she murmured, shaking her head. "The Sandaime was a very noble, peace-loving man. He would never agree to wholesale slaughter, let alone order it."
"He was overruled by Danzou and the other elders," Itachi explained. "And he relented in the end because of that very thing: the preservation of peace."
"How does genocide preserve peace?"
Itachi sighed softly, as though he'd asked himself the same question many times. "Because there would have been civil war otherwise. Many would have died, including civilians…children. In addition to that, internal struggle on such a scale would have badly weakened the village. If our enemies learned of it, they would have used the opportunity to attack. My clansmen were traitors. What they were planning would have destroyed the village and its people and everything the idea of Hidden Leaf was founded on."
Sakura stared at him. This person next to her was not the same man, not the expressionless, ruthless man who'd done terrible things without blinking. This man's eyes were full of sincerity and conviction, and underneath, a void of unfathomable sadness. In that moment Sakura knew he was a completely different person than what the world believed.
He held her gaze intently, searchingly. "Do you see now, why it had to be done?"
That he would even ask such a question surprised her. It went beyond relating the facts. He wanted her to understand his point of view. Her opinion—her respect—mattered to him.
But Sakura was too shocked and outraged to be understanding.
"No, I don't," she answered firmly. "They could have talked about it before taking drastic measures. They could have worked something out! The Uchiha only wanted respect. They didn't want to be continually punished for sins of the past." She scoffed in disgust. "Well they got the ultimate punishment, didn't they? Extermination."
Itachi's eyes were downcast, hiding any thoughts or emotion from her view. But she could see the clench of his jaw, knew he was holding something back. She wanted him to tell her, to let it out, to be angry or sad or whatever else he was holding inside.
"Why you?" she asked sharply. "Why not an ANBU unit? Why did you do it alone?"
"If ANBU had carried out the order there would have been village-wide uproar. The Hokage and the elders wanted it kept quiet."
"I'll bet. Because it was fucked up and they knew it." Itachi said nothing to that. She gave him a long, hard look. "No matter what wrong they'd done, they were your family, Itachi. How could you bring yourself to kill them?"
It took him a long moment to reply. "I had no choice."
"There's always a choice," she argued.
"The alternative was unacceptable."
The sharpening edge to his tone told her he wasn't going to continue this line of conversation much longer. He'd told her his story, and their agreement did not include arguing about it. Sakura realized her anger at him was slightly irrational. Itachi wasn't really to blame; he was merely a pawn. Responsibility for the massacre belonged with the elders. As soon as she contacted Leaf again, Tsunade was going to hear about this.
Sakura studied him closely, trying to discern anything from his carefully masked features. He remained perfectly composed, but Sakura was beginning to learn that was his tell sign: the blanker his expression, the more intensely he felt something. "Do you regret it?" she asked quietly.
Itachi looked up at her. "It was the right thing to do."
She gave a faint, humorless smile. "That doesn't mean you can't feel remorse or sorrow. Do you feel nothing?" She'd seen it in his eyes for only a second, but it had been there. She wanted to hear him say it. Needed to.
"I regret…that it had to happen," he said quietly. "I, too, wish that Konoha had found another way."
They regarded each other in a long silence. Then Sakura stood, stressfully tugged her fingers through her hair as if the slight pain might give her some clarity. She couldn't hear anymore right now. Her head was spinning with these new revelations and she needed time to think and sort it all out.
A small pang in her stomach reminded her she hadn't eaten since that morning, and Itachi hadn't eaten at all and she'd been so caught up in his story that she'd forgotten, so she went to the kitchen and prepared some soup and bread. Itachi remained seated by the fire, vacantly watching the flames. She knew he was still thinking about what he'd told her, possibly reliving some of it in his mind. She put the food on the table for him, but hadn't made any for herself; she wanted to be alone for a while, so instead she went to the bed and grabbed her clean clothes before heading into the washroom.
She didn't turn the faucet on right away, just sat on the rim of the tub and stared at the floor.
"I can't believe this," she sighed softly to herself. Only she did believe it. She could tell herself she didn't, that Itachi was lying – indeed, that would be the easier path to take. But if she did that she would be ignoring her own intuition. She didn't want to think it could be true, but that was only because it contradicted so many things she'd been raised to believe in.
Konoha was supposed to be a place of justice and freedom. Sakura wasn't naïve; she knew the village hired out to all sorts, that they stole and spied and even killed for money. But those things were done to support the village and its people, and when they weren't doing that they were taking out Orochimaru and Akatsuki and anyone who threatened a peaceful way of life. Maybe they weren't the good guys, but they were certainly a lesser evil. From the inside, Konoha was a happy place full of kindness and tolerance and loyal comrades who would die for each other.
And now she was being told of ancient hatreds and conspiracies, betrayal and genocide. It was like peeling back the vibrant, unmarred skin of an orange to find that the flesh underneath had somehow rotted black.
Sighing, Sakura turned the water on, undressed, and stepped into the shower. She bathed mechanically, her mind still rolling over the raw, unadulterated truth of her village's history.
When examined logically, without the blinders of unquestioning patriotism, it made sense. The general reputation of the Uchiha was as gifted but supercilious and entitled, and there was certainly some truth in that. But at its base it was the same sort of subconscious prejudice that Naruto had to deal with as the demon fox host. And she had always thought it unnecessarily cruel that Sasuke had been forced to continue living in the compound where his entire family was murdered, where he'd once seen their dead bodies littering the streets. Sakura had been there once, and had been creeped out enough to never return. There were still bloodstains on the whitewashed walls and the place was probably filled with ghosts. She never understood why Sasuke didn't move somewhere else, until now. Konoha had still been keeping a distrustful eye on him, even though he was the only one left.
It all set her insides burning in outrage, and she was pretty sure there were other dark secrets Konoha didn't want the world or its own people to know. Like the real reason Root existed and what they were really up to, for one. It made her wonder how she could go on believing in her village any longer, following orders without question.
But no matter what, she wouldn't turn her back on her home. If there was something twisted and corrupted within Konoha, it wouldn't be fixed by running away. Naruto would change things. It was his primary goal in life to revolutionize the world of the ninja. Sakura would be there for that, supporting him alongside everyone else who believed they could change the system and make their world a better place.
She thought about Itachi, the man who had, in only a few short hours, completely altered her outlook on their home. And it was 'their' home, she realized with slight wonder. Itachi wasn't a missing-nin by choice; he was a discarded tool the elders no longer wanted around to remind them of their dirty deeds. No wonder he'd seemed so bitter when he alluded to what Konoha was supposed to have been.
This changed everything.
Danzou and the elders would push for Itachi's execution to keep their involvement in the massacre a secret, but Sakura would do everything she could to stop them from covering up the truth a second time.
An icy torrent blasting down over her head shocked her back to her senses, and with a muffled shriek she jumped back and turned the water off. She hadn't even gotten to shave her legs.
Sakura dressed and exited the washroom, her movements automatically quieting when she saw Itachi was asleep again, and when she noticed the empty bowl in the sink, she smiled. She moved silently to his bedside and gazed down at him.
He looked so young when he slept peacefully like this. He was young, only twenty-three, she recalled, but most of the time he seemed so aged and world-weary. She understood a little more about why, now. What must his life have been like? How had he lived with it all these years?
Itachi's account of the massacre had been rather matter of fact, mostly lacking any emotional attachment to the event. But what he'd displayed at the end proved the truth was the opposite: he cared very much, and it affected him deeply to this day. How could it not? He may have obediently carried out the atrocious order, but he was still a human being. He probably hated himself. He probably felt a hundred years old and just wanted it to end already.
It was obvious to Sakura that he wasn't telling her everything, only what he thought she needed to know, only what had relevance in the current situation, only what he wanted her to tell the Hokage. But she wanted to know so much more than that. She had a million questions for him and it was very hard trying to wait for the right moments to ask.
What she'd intuited through the chakra link had been correct—he wasn't a bad person at all. She had expected him to be cold to her, even mean, not to tease her and pay her compliments. He was milder in manner than she'd expected, more soft-spoken, not as dark and menacing as she seemed to remember. It had only been a few days, but her opinion of him had already been changing. And now…she couldn't help but feel compassion for him. She cared.
Sakura knew only a little of psychology, but she didn't need to be an expert to recognize that Itachi was a man scarred to his very core. He could warp the horrific tragedy of his past into a rational structure, could try to process and suppress the trauma as much as he liked. But beneath the carefully constructed resignation and acceptance was a tight knot of repressed pain and grief. She felt it through the connection they shared. He was suffering, so deeply and existentially that his entire personality had been altered. It amazed her that he wasn't insane.
Itachi stirred in his sleep, and Sakura silently backed away, not wanting to be found lurking over him if he woke. Her stomach gurgled plaintively, and she quietly went to reheat the leftover soup.
After the late meal which she ate absently and barely tasted, Sakura spent the next few hours curled up in her chair before the dwindling fire, unable to sleep, just thinking and rethinking of the night's revelations and her heightened resolve to do whatever she could to help him.
Itachi awoke sometime around midnight in a coughing fit. She rose and went to his side, gently helped him sit up and offered him a cloth for the blood that lightly speckled his lips. When it passed, he leaned back tiredly and closed his eyes. Without speaking, Sakura sat beside him and began a healing session. He'd done well to go all day without one, and only once coughed hard enough to expel blood. It was a good sign.
The silence between them was comfortable, but Sakura was filled with too many unanswered questions to keep quiet for long.
"I've been thinking."About you. "About what you told me." His eyes opened and found hers. She regarded him a moment, determined what she wanted to say first. "You never said what happened after…how you became a missing-nin."
"I had to."
"Because you were made a scapegoat?" she guessed darkly.
"Because of Sasuke."
Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I was originally to be exiled and listed as dead with the rest of the clan, and I had no doubt that eventually Danzou would send someone to try to kill me," he said evenly, showing nothing of what he thought of such treachery. "But then I did something I wasn't supposed to."
"You let Sasuke live," she realized.
"It was the first time in my life I ever directly disobeyed an order," he said very quietly. "I never intended to kill my little brother. It was the one thing I couldn't bring myself to do."
Sakura's heart wrenched a little at the sadness in his voice. "Did you let him see you on purpose?"
"No. But when he did, when I saw the hatred in his eyes I knew…that he would kill me."
"And you wanted him to," she whispered.
Itachi closed his eyes briefly, gave a single nod.
"Is that why you hurt him?" she asked thickly, "Why you tormented him over and over? To drive his hatred of you so deep that he would stop at nothing until he killed you?"
Itachi didn't have to answer; the truth was in his eyes.
"Why couldn't you just let him move on and have a chance to be happy?" she demanded, suddenly angry. Her chakra output paused. "You ruined his life to ease your own guilty conscience! If you wanted to die that badly you should have just killed yourself!"
"Do you really think he would have let it go?"
Sakura fell silent, her anger draining away slowly with the realization that he was right. Sasuke would have obsessed over it even without Itachi's provocations. Not having that closure would have eaten him alive inside.
"The day he became strong enough to kill me he would be strong enough to protect himself from anything," he said. "Until that day I had to stay alive to protect him."
"From what?"
He gave her a long look. "What do you think?"
Sakura thought about it for a moment, and then it hit her, and her eyes widened in disbelief. "There weren't supposed to be any survivors…"
Itachi confirmed it with a grim nod. "I had to beg the Sandaime to let him live. Sasuke didn't know about the coup, and he'd witnessed my involvement in the massacre. I could take the full blame and leave the village as a criminal. Sasuke would hate me and grow up loyal to Konoha, never knowing the truth. Danzou wanted us both killed, but the Hokage refused, and the other elders saw the benefit of having a scapegoat. But before I left I told them I would expose the truth of the massacre and many other village secrets if they ever harmed my brother."
"And so you've spent the last ten years as a missing-nin…" She gazed at him questioningly. "Wasn't it hard living like that…being in Akatsuki and going along with their deeds? I mean…the entire shinobi world thinks you're a heartless monster."
Itachi held her gaze unflinchingly. "It does not matter what the world thinks of me. I am, and have always been, a loyal shinobi of Konoha."
Sakura was at a loss for words. She felt so bad for him, so sad for his tragic life. But she doubted he'd appreciate her pity, so she kept those thoughts to herself and asked, "Why did you join Akatsuki? Was it because of Madara?"
Itachi nodded once. "I had learned of his existence before I left Konoha, and afterward I pretended to become his disciple and follow him so that I could monitor his movements. I eventually intended to destroy him once and for all."
"You will," she avowed quietly. "You'll have all the help you need. And the elders will be held accountable for their actions."
His lips twisted wryly. "You seem very confident about that."
"I know my shishou. And I know Naruto even better. The truth will come to light, Itachi. You should be pardoned."
Itachi just stared at her for the longest time, so intently that Sakura blushed and looked away. That possibility had never occurred to him as something tangible, and he didn't know what to make of the idea that he might live out the rest of his life as a free man, unburdened by terrible secrets and the heavy weight of sacrifice.
They fell quiet again until she'd finished the healing. Once Itachi confirmed he was in no discomfort, Sakura rose and pulled out her cot and sleeping bag, then went to rebuild the fire one last time before bed. The temperature had dropped in the last few hours so she piled up the logs, hoping it would burn until morning.
But several minutes and several attempts later the logs still didn't burn, only sizzled and smoked, refusing to light. She tried to reposition some of the kindling, but ended up burning herself.
"Damn it!" she muttered, reflexively sticking her abused fingers in her mouth. She channeled soothing chakra to the tips and tried not to think about the dirt and ash she'd just covered her tongue with.
"Is there a problem?" Itachi asked from behind her.
"The wood I cut today is still too green and wet to burn properly," she grumbled. She tried a small katon jutsu, but it didn't work either. Sakura frowned and rubbed her arms. "I should have thought about it," she muttered to herself. "I should have done this yesterday. And why the hell is it so cold tonight?"
"The rain has turned freezing," he informed mildly.
She turned around, surprised. "How do you know that?"
"Its sound has changed."
He was right. The steady, muted patter above them was heavier, sharper than before. Sakura stood and went to the window. "Great," she muttered, confirming the unpleasant change in weather. "The last thing we need when we have no firewood." She went to the utility closet and pulled out the battery operated space heater she'd brought with their supplies. "Well, I guess this will have to do for tonight."
"I can try to start the fire."
It took her a moment to understand what he meant. "No," she said finally, shaking her head. "You shouldn't strain yourself by expending chakra."
"I hardly think a jutsu I've been able to perform since four years old will strain me."
His sardonic and slightly haughty tone irritated her. She was cold and tired and the last thing she wanted to see was Itachi showing off with a giant fireball. "Are you cold?"
"No."
"Then it's fine. The heater can keep us both warm." Itachi didn't argue further, and after the heater was on, metal coils glowing vibrant orange, Sakura climbed onto her cot and pulled the ends of the sleeping bag over her head.
Neither of them slept, and both of them knew it. The embers in the hearth still glowed under the unlit logs but their warmth didn't spread far, and the little heater wasn't enough to fend off the wintry cold seeping through the stone walls and old, thin window panes. Sakura was freezing, little shivers running through her every couple of minutes as if there were a hole in her sleeping bag letting a draft over her back. On top of that, her mind was still racing. She knew Itachi was awake only by gut feeling, the tiny sense that another alert person was in the room with her. It felt the same as being watched.
Little did she know he was watching her. "Sakura," he said calmly, barely disturbing the silence.
Sighing, she peeked out from under the edge of her ineffective covering. "What."
"Your shivering is keeping me awake."
That same vaguely amused lilt to his voice as before. The first time he'd teased her it had been funny. Right now, not so much. "Bite me, Uchiha."
A very pregnant silence followed, and Sakura got the feeling she'd just flummoxed him with her particular word choice. She resisted the urge to giggle. Several more minutes ticked by as she tried in vain to fall asleep.
"Sakura."
She rolled her eyes and didn't bother to lower the covers again. "What."
"This bed is large enough to share."
Sakura froze, not quite sure she heard right. Then the covers flew down as she rose up a little, wide eyes meeting his. "Um. I don't…"
In the dim orange illumination of the heater, she clearly saw him smirk. "I won't bite…even though you did ask me to."
It was Sakura's turn to be flummoxed. Was he trying to freak her out? Was this payback? "I don't think it's a good idea…"
"If you stay as you are you will get sick."
And that couldn't happen, or she wouldn't be able to heal him. Rule number one of her medical training: 'the medic must see to their own health and safety before that of others.'
But less than a week ago this man had attacked her on a different bed and she'd contemplated planting a kunai in his skull.
"I can't believe you're even suggesting this," she said skeptically.
"It's just a bed, Sakura."
The way he said it made it sound like what he really meant was 'grow up.' Not only did it make her feel immature, but she realized the fact that he really was suggesting it said a lot about how much his opinion of her had changed in six days. After all, he'd been utterly at her mercy for the better part of their time together, and she'd done nothing but help him. Sakura had no such reassurances yet; until now, Itachi had been incapable of being much of a threat. It was a trust issue, and it appeared he now trusted her more than she trusted him.
But her distrust was reflexive, like a phantom pain, still lingering when there was no logical reason for it. Itachi was a good man who wore the mask of a monster. He was a loyal and incredibly selfless shinobi who still cared about the fate of Konoha even after all they'd done to him. If nothing else, he'd shared some of his darkest secrets with her tonight, and that alone should earn a little of her trust.
Sakura gathered her courage and maturity and stood, still wrapped up in her sleeping bag, and as gracefully as possible, she waddled over to the bed. Itachi shifted to give her plenty of room and she crawled in above the top sheet, leaving a thin but tangible barrier between them. It was blissfully warm under the comforter and blankets, and she tried not to sigh too loudly. Feeling a little too uneasy to lie down just yet, she leaned back against the headboard, folding her arms over her midsection. Unfortunately, she was now wide awake. She shot a quick glance at Itachi and saw he was still sitting upright as well, almost exactly as she was.
"Well this is…awkward," she laughed weakly. Itachi didn't acknowledge her. Even more discomfited than before, Sakura sunk lower under the blankets and closed her eyes, determined to count sheep if she had to. It was unclear how much time passed before Itachi softly spoke.
"Forgive my brother."
Her eyes flew open and she looked over at him. "What?"
He stared straight ahead, his profile illuminated by the softly pulsing glow of the heater. "What he was driven to do…it wasn't his fault. Don't hold it against him. I don't want to see him suffer for the past any more than he already has."
Sakura was stunned, to say the least. Forgive Sasuke? Itachi didn't even know half of what Sasuke had done to them. The problem wasn't that he'd left them to pursue revenge. It was what he'd done after that Sakura couldn't forget. He'd turned his blade on her, on Naruto. No one had manipulated him into that and she couldn't—wouldn't—be as understanding and dismissive about it as Naruto was. But she didn't say any of these things aloud, and instead casually replied, "What makes you think I hold anything against him?"
Itachi looked at her then, dark eyes glinting in the low light. "You're a bad liar, Sakura."
She frowned slightly. "You don't know me well enough to say that."
"I don't have to know you well. Your face and voice are very expressive. If you can't hide your feelings then you can't lie."
Her lips curled in a wry smirk. "Apparently no one is as good at lying as you, Itachi."
Itachi smirked faintly as well, and the quiet that settled around them was no longer uncomfortable, even though his words still hung between them. Sakura didn't have an answer. She wasn't sure if she could forgive Sasuke for everything. She supposed it would depend on what happened in the future and whether he truly regretted his actions. If he truly wanted forgiveness and was willing to earn it, she would do her best to try.
"So…what exactly do you plan to do once you're healed?" she asked quietly, picking at a loose thread on the faded green plaid comforter.
"Find my brother, and together with him, destroy Uchiha Madara," he said darkly.
Sakura turned her head and met his gaze. "How do you know Madara told him anything? What if Sasuke still thinks you're his enemy and attacks you again?"
"I know Madara has told him the truth about the massacre and my part in it, and of how I took measures to protect him over the years, because it would be the only way Sasuke would follow him. He is all too easily driven by his emotions."
"He's being manipulated through his grief," Sakura agreed, lips twisting cynically. "Again."
Itachi gave her a knowing look. "So you do hold a grudge."
Sakura smiled despite herself. "Maybe."
"What will you do then, when you see him again?"
She pondered it a moment, head tilted slightly to the side. "I think…I'm gonna punch him in the face," she said blithely. Itachi raised a brow at her. Sakura smiled. "Forgiveness or not, he still deserves it."
Itachi's lips curved faintly. "I'm sure he does. He was always very foolish."
"Tell me about it," she agreed. "He could never see the good things in his life even when they were right in front of him."
"Yes. That is definitely true," he murmured, holding her gaze steadily.
The moment lengthened into silence as Itachi studied her closely, his eyes softer, but still penetrating. Strangely, it wasn't unsettling to Sakura this time, and a warm smile found its way to her lips.
When neither of them said anything more for nearly a minute, Sakura finally sunk down into the bed. "Goodnight," she murmured softly, and rolled to her side.
"Goodnight, Sakura," came the equally quiet reply, and he turned his back to her as well.
The room fell silent again, but Sakura was painfully aware of him; his near-silent breathing, the faint pulse of his chakra that strangely resonated so much like her own, and the unnatural stillness of his body that told her he was every bit as aware of her. It was a long while before either of them slept.
Next Chapter: The Message
