Oi all! Yes, I uploaded 2 chapters at once! Sorry it took so long to get up, but with the site not letting me log in for a day and today I was sick/busy all day. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer- do not own.

Chapter 12

By the time they got back Diedera was fighting his way through Sasuke, trying to go find them. "What happened to you?!" He yelled as Itachi fought the door opened. "I fell off of a cliff, broke my wrist, sprained my ankle."

"Screw you! What happened to Sakura!?" Itachi walked her back to her bedroom, turning only at her door. "I showed her what she did to us with her pain killers. She went a little mad and I had to put her to sleep." He turned again, walking her in.

Sasuke looked down, things trailing from the door that Itachi hadn't noticed. He reached down and lifted a piece of clothing.

"Oh my god..." Diedera looked over, struggling to sit back down.

"What is it?" His eyes watched the cloth, but he didn't know...

"Her underwear." Sasuke gulped, holding them out a little. "They were torn off..." His eyes widened.

He turned, bursting into her room. Itachi leaned back against the opposing wall, Sakura still wrapped in his cloak. "What did you do to her?!"

"I knocked her out." Sasuke ran forwards, grabbing Itachi by the shirt collar. "Why were her underwear ripped off?! You sick fuck!!"

"Nothing happened!" Itachi grabbed them back, and Sasuke could tell he was horribly tired. "I showed her how her painkiller felt. I did it to her. She snapped a little." He looked over with a frown. "I don't want to give anymore details, but nothing happened." He slid down to the floor and Sasuke saw him reach down, numbing his leg. "You walked the whole way back with that?"

"I couldn't just stay out there with her. I don't want her to get cold." Itachi shivered slightly. He'd been out for hours wearing only his mesh shirt. It couldn't have been warmer than forty for the last hour...

"Are you alright?" Sasuke resigned and Itachi nodded. "I know Diedera has to be in pain by now. Can you help me out there?"

"He's fine. He hasn't been in any pain. It's been a pain keeping him here, though." Itachi nodded.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't planned on this. She wanted me to show her, she kind of lost it. I could barely... I wasn't thinking right. She numbed my wrist." He looked down at the appendage with a sigh. He just sat there for a moment, Sasuke standing over him. "Do you want me to help you down to your room?"

There was no answer. Sasuke bent down, looking at his face to find him asleep. It was a surprise, but not an extreme one. Sasuke could tell he was exhausted. He looked around, knowing he couldn't carry his brother downstairs.

It was a second later that Sasuke walked back into the room with a spare futon, a pillow and a blanket.

The next morning Diedera was the first to wake, but oddly enough he felt fine. He looked over the wounds, knowing with the amount of healing Sakura had done it should be as healed as it looked.

There were barely any scars at all.

Diedera stood and stretched, feeling a bit stiff after two days. He went to the kitchen and started cooking.

Sasuke was the next to wake, and he went into the kitchen to find Diedera, plate upon plate of food on the counter. "Didn't you take that a little far?"

"No." Diedera grinned. "After all this time without me cooking they're gonna miss it, yeah." He grinned and set down the fifth plate.

"There's no way all of this will be eaten." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Diedera waved him off, not really paying attention.

It was about ten minutes later that there was a knock at Sakura's door, Diedera not knowing that Itachi was in there. "Breakfast is ready!" He called in, not waiting for a response.

"Thank you."

Diedera stopped, wide eyed. He turned back to the kitchen and broke out the individual plates, getting them ready in shock. Sasuke noticed the look and came out, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't realize... Itachi and Sakura were so close." He stared for a moment before continuing with the food.

"Oh! No, Itachi carried her back with a broken wrist and a sprained ankle. He passed out leaning against the wall, so I took him in a pillow and a blanket." Diedera turned to him and sighed. "Don't help. I don't even know what I want of them."

Sasuke just stared for a minute. "I thought you loved her too. You'd want her for Itachi?"

"I'm not really kind, yeah. I have a tendency to be cold and cruel, but not be able to take serious things serious. I do love her, but I know with who she is, with how she responds and what she needs, I'm not it, yeah. Itachi is so much better for her." Diedera's eyes were dark, Sasuke could tell that even though he really did feel like this, Sakura broke his heart.

"You really are too much like Naruto." Diedera shrugged, getting the last plate together.

Finally the door opened, Itachi and Sakura coming out.

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Inside the room

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"Breakfast is ready!"

"Thank you." Itachi groaned, his wrist killing him, his ankle not much better. He grumbled as he tried to stabilize his weight on his right arm alone. He sat up, looking at the door across from him. He looked over, seeing Sakura's white hand held softly over the side of the bed. "Sakura?" He called to her and she didn't move. He called again, a little louder.

She didn't respond.

Itachi started panicking and jumped up, barely able to make it across the room. "Sakura?!"

She turned to him, finally waking a little. "Itachi?"

Itachi sighed and slid to the floor, reaching back to numb his foot.

"Where are we?" She looked around and Itachi smiled as he leaned back against the bed. "Your room."

"How?" She asked, sitting up.

"I carried you back." Sakura jumped down, eyes wide, looking over his wrist and ankle first thing. "Are you alright?! Itachi, you shouldn't have done that! You could have gotten gravely injured!"

"Sakura, I didn't push myself." She frowned, seeing the cracks in his bone with her chakra. "I'm going to have to set this. Though you didn't push yourself, you did end out with a bit of damage here." She looked up into his eyes, finding his closed. "Still tired?"

"Still naked." He smiled at her and she looked down, shaking her head. "Hold on, this is going to hurt."

She grabbed his hand and pulled, twisting in just the right way to cause the bones to snap into place. Itachi bit his lip, but gritted through the pain. "Your ankle isn't as well. I'll just bandage it, we'll have to just wait." She looked up at him, his eyes closed to her still.

She looked at his face, the smooth skin, his eyes that even closed looked big. His thick lashes, the one strand of hair that no matter what he did fell in front of his eyes.

She realized she was staring and stood quickly, grabbing an outfit from the closet.

"You know, I can see when you do that." He turned to her with a light smile. She blushed, shaking her head.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to play it off.

"You were looking at me." He held his eyes closed, but from her angle Sakura could still see his smile. "Am I that interesting?"

Sakura turned to him and smiled. "Actually," She blushed, turning to him, tightening an obi around the yukata she had slid on, "I think so." She walked over and bent down before him, smiling. "I'm dressed."

He opened his eyes to see her just a few inches away from him.

He'd never admit that he was madly in love with her. He'd never admit that whenever he saw that smile from her it made his heart melt.

She told him that Diedera had told her. Itachi had a feeling, though, that Diedera hadn't told her any major details. Like the last girl he loved he'd killed. After the Uchiha massacre he hadn't wanted to get close to anyone.

He was by himself for so long, it was so wondrous to have her here, smiling so brightly at him, no fear or hatred in her eyes, it meant the world to him. For him, she was everything.

What he didn't know was that she felt the same way.

She knew a while back that she'd started to have feelings for him, but she threw them off. She knew that once she got back to Konoha she'd have her life with Sasuke and things would be different. It was a miracle to her. That's what she'd always wanted.

Then she got the note.

She was broken, no cause to live, save them. Itachi and Diedera. She was surprised to find that even though she knew her and Sasuke wouldn't be together she wasn't sad. She wasn't nearly as disappointed as she thought she'd be. She was let down for a bit, but Diedera and Itachi took it away.

She couldn't say she didn't feel anything for Diedera, she did care about him, but not like Itachi. She'd always been in love with the idea of Sasuke instead of the man himself. But Itachi...

He seemed to be the idea that Sasuke wasn't. He was shy and soft, kind and caring. He was serious, but he had a sense of humor. He wasn't perfect. She knew this. It wasn't like she had it in her head that he was the ideal man, that he had no faults. She'd lived with him for nearly four months now. She'd been with him every day.

That's why she cared so deeply for him. Four months and he was there for her now more than ever. Four months and that was all it took. She knew now, if Naruto got her a special place in Konoha, if they took her back she wouldn't go. She was going to stay here with him no matter what.

She'd never leave his side. She knew it without a doubt.

They headed out to the living room.

Diedera looked at them with a smile as they headed out. "I made food. Hope you're hungry, yeah." He took the plates out and Sasuke watched him, more confused than anything. He wasn't about to pretend like he had any idea what was happening.

Diedera gave up too easily, but that was fine. He wasn't giving up for himself, he was giving up for his friend, which Sasuke felt was, if nothing else, noble.

He rolled his eyes as he walked out to the table. He sat down, looking across at Diedera who watched as Sakura and Itachi sat. "I hope you all like it, I'm not used to making breakfast, I hope it's not too heavy..." He frowned as he poked at it with his chopsticks.

The look induced fear in the others, they started poking as well. Sasuke knew why he was acting like that and went ahead and took a bite.

"It's good." He frowned. Sakura looked over and smiled.

"You haven't gotten to eat anything he's made, have you?" Sasuke looked up, locking eyes with her.

"Diedera, why the hell didn't you become a cook?!"

Diedera looked at him, half disturbed, half amused. "I start fires. No kitchen will keep me." Itachi held his hand over his mouth, trying to keep from laughing. Sakura smiled as she looked over at the young man.

"You know, you haven't started many fires since you got here." Sakura smiled, not really complaining, just commenting.

"I don't feel like I have to here. It's pretty nice, actually." Diedera smiled, looking over at the front door.

Sakura looked up at the clock. "I better eat fast, I'm going to have a massive backlog today." She nearly whimpered.

She ate fast and was about to take off. "Mind if I join you?" Sasuke asked and Sakura turned, smiling. "Hurry up and get ready!"

He grabbed a cloak and they headed out.