Short & Simple

Sakura turned the knob and walked into the meeting observing the situation as she did.

"Gentlemen." She said as she bowed before them. Taking a seat on the right side of the table.

"Haruno-san." Fugaku said as he took a seat across from her, Gaara doing the same.

"Now where shall we begin?" Sakura asked as she looked at the two men across from her.

"I believe that we should start with first class priorities, routine check-ups can wait until later." Sakura continued as she picked up the files. Not Caring if she sounded uncharacteristically cold and aloof.

"Very well." Fugaku said as he handed Sakura a scroll.

Picking it up she unrolled it and read through it quickly before she rolled it back up and looked at him carefully.

"I am to understand that the leader of the Kemuri village is aware of this." Sakura said to Fugaku.

"He is."

"Uchiha-sama will you be joining us then?" Sakura asked as she waved over one of the runners.

"I will be." Fugaku said pleased by the professionalism the Haruno heiress was providing him with.

"Go tell the two Uchihas, and Sai to gather some of their men to head back into Kemuri." Sakura ordered and in the blink of an eye the runner was gone.

"Now Uchiha-sama I do expect that you are going only to oversee things and not try anything while we're there, Kemuri will be on alert and any little fiasco caused by anyone will ruin all chances of getting them to sign the treaty or allow me to do my job on the body. Understand." Sakura said

"No need to go over this with me, I've been told already." Fugaku replied with an edge in his tone.

Sakura might as well as dig herself a grave she was treating the chief Uchiha like someone of lower ranking, and she was doing hell of a job at it.

"Making sure you understand is all, I can't have anybody screw this up." She said with a forced smile on her face.

"I do hope that you know how to do an autopsy then; we can't have an untrained medic in there." Fugaku said.

"Trust me I know what I'm doing, I've been doing this since I was fourteen, it's like frosting a cake for me." Sakura replied.

Questioning her training and experience was going to put him in the infirmary, and herself in lock-up.

Gaara cleared his voice. "If that is all, Haruno I need the files on all the squads progresses." He said as he tried the clear the tense atmosphere.

Sakura turned to him speaking quickly. "I already sent them to you quarters. I'm sure you'll be please with what you see." Sakura said as she stood up.

"Good."

"If you two men wouldn't mind I need to change and get my equipment." Sakura said before she turned around and left the room closing the door behind her.

"You wouldn't mind doing a little spying for me will you Sai?" Sakura asked as she turned her head towards the quiet male leaning on the wall outside the meeting room.

"Who?" He asked.

"The Chief ... his unannounced visit is odd, and the fact that he wants to go with us when we do the treaty and autopsy is fishy enough to allow us to watch him more closely."

"If he catches us, or suspects anything you do realize that with his position as adviser we won't be able to get away with it unless we have concrete proof." Sai replied as he walked down the dirt path with her.

"That's why I asked you." Sakura said.

"You first need to get permission from Tsunade you know that right." Sai pointed out.

"Getting the okay is simple but we can't wait for it so I need you start right away."

"Now remember what you're saying cause if we do get caught I'm going to tell them that you said we had the permission." Sai.

"It's nice to know you have my back." Sakura said sarcastically.

"I may agree on you with him being up to something but, unfortunately I was just recently accepted back as a fellow shinobi and citizen, being in ROOT got me into alot of trouble whether or not I was brought up in it." Sai said.

"Don't remind me I had to get nearly the whole town to petition your acceptance remember."

Sai stopped walking and turned to her. "I read about situations as these, the book said that if someone does something to help me, then I should return the favor when asked."

"And it's so very true." Sakura said as she pulled him by the arm and dragged him down the path.

"So I basically have no choice in the matter and have to accept the favor you're asking of me." Sai said as he pointed at himself.

"Pretty much, like the saying goes, eye for an eye, nose for a nose, cheek for a cheek." Sakura said

"So what else am I to do when we arrive in Kemuri. I'm guessing that you're the one who was put in charge of the task." Sai said.

"I was. But the details of this mission will be given when everyone is round up." Sakura replied.

"Would you like it if i keep watch on the other Uchihas as well then?" Sai asked.

"No ... From what I was told by Tsunade, Itachi is very much against alot of his fathers and clans beliefs, so he's out of the question. Shisui on the other hand though .. I can't tell you. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious with him." Sakura said.

"That will not be any problem for me." Sai said.

"Good."

"Oh Naruto-kun what do you think of this color?" Mikoto asked as she looked at materials.

They were standing at the front desk of a very nice bridal shop and Naruto had absolutely no idea what he was doing. The building was bright litted, white with pink pinstriped walls, walls covered with racks and cubbies all filled with dresses. On the floors themselves were couches and side tables with colorful bouquets of flowers, mirrors with model stations, shoe stands and mannequins.

All in all, it was a sanctuary for all women; the place where they ruled, and men fumbled.

The front desk had pulled out wedding rings, colored material swatches, tiaras, and all the gems you could possibly name.

Mikoto was looking at a pretty teal colored silk material that glittered, she had a smile on as she stared waited for him to reply.

"The color doesn't scream Konoha citizen, not does it say Uchiha." Naruto said.

Mikoto turned her face down back to the colored cloth and frowned as she tapped her bottom lip. "You're right." She said as she put it back down and began looking through the swatches again.

"So how was you visiting time with Sasuke?" She asked as she picked up a book of pink color swatches.

"Weird .... Sasuke is just plain weird, but he told me to tell you that he's been thinking things through and through and that he's okay." Naruto replied softly.

"Well that's good, he surely needs to find that part of his mind he's obviously lost, I still can't see what he saw or sees in that girl, she's absolutely horrible!" Mikoto said.

"I bet if she could make the old lady, Sakura-chan, and Nami mad that fast then she's got to be one hell of a monster .... you know pink really isn't something for a wedding, bachelorette party perhaps but not a wedding ... it's so ... predictable."

"Anyways ... do you really think it's that predictable?" She asked as she looked through the swatches.

"Yeah, usually it means that the person who planned the wedding has no taste in colors .. or more so knows about the different types of colors." Naruto said.

"So what color are you going with?" Mikoto asked.

"I have no idea, when I figure out what book it's in I'll show you." Naruto replied as he rubbed his face tiredly.

"Don't tell me Hinata-chan gave you a name but didn't tell you what color is originated from."

"Pretty much, I promised her that she'd have a dream wedding, and that all she had to do was pick out her dress ..... I really should've thought it through before I said it."

"Here since you're helping me I'll help you." Mikoto said happily.

"I'd love that very much thank you, but are you sure you really want to because I think Sasukes wedding is going to be quiet hard enough for you." Naruto said.

Mikoto waved him off as she picked up another book. "Please, planning weddings is something I'm good at, as well as I'd be delighted to help you, especially since you look so lost in the simplest part of picking colors for the bridesmaid dresses, I can't wait till we pick the actually designs!" Mikoto squealed in happiness.

"Oh great, now I know why men leave it all to the women." Naruto said.

It wasn't fair, the Hokage put to much trust into her protégée. Itachi narrowed his eyes at the pink haired soldier, Shishui or him should have been elected to lead this mission, they were more quantifiable, more trained, but because they're clans name was Uchiha she was wary of them they didn't get to lead. She may preach about peace and trust, yet she sure as hell wasn't showing any towards them.

Then again Sakura was ANBU Captain material, she may act as though she's weak and hold back alot, but deep down there was a strong person beneath just waiting and observing till the right time to surface.

The gentle curves of a woman, and the strength of hundreds of men.

One force to be reckoned with.

He did it again, being mad at her and then completely defending her, she hadn't spoken to him, or even looked at him, and yet it took one look at her back to give him a headache. He needed to make up his mind soon, or he knew that there were going to be horrible side effects to whatever she was doing to him. Perhaps he should talk to Shisui, though then Shisui would figure out that he did mess with her, making him happy and then he would see wedding bells in the mans eyes.

What a shuddering thought. He was trying with all his might to stall on the marriage category for as long as he could, he wasn't ready for such a commitment to a complete stranger.

Wonder what Sasuke though about marriage? It was obvious that he'd planned for the child, hoping their father would favor him because he'd brought a child into the clan before him. That plan completely backfired though, the pregnancy was planned of course, the woman planned as well, but that was where he went wrong, it was a known fact that Sasuke wasn't going to be married off like himself so any woman he wanted he could have as a wife. First off bringing a child into the world as a wedlock would give the clan a bad name, even though Sasuke himself was born of wedlock but that was different their mother was a twin, DNA exactly the same as her sisters, if the eldest married, and passed then the second sister was suppose to take her place, that was the rule, their father had all claim on her because she was the replacement for her sister; basically according to the rules and the council and elders of the Uchiha Clan Fugaku was married to both women because they were the same.

When he took his fathers position he was definitely changing that, it was unfair and cruel.

Wedlock though was frowned upon not only in the clan but also in the village and country, especially if the parents are still so young, might as well be telling children to raise children. Another thing Sasuke didn't think through was the woman herself, yes she may have had an interesting ability but there was no evidence that led to believe that it was capable of being passed genetically to the child, it could be no more than something Orochimaru, or Kabuto did to her that made her that way. Second part where he went wrong with the woman was where he found her, how he meet her, and who he met her through, Orochimaru was not someone you wanted to play matchmaker for yourself, the people he surrounds himself with are complete idiots, and mentally sick people. Third part with the woman where he went wrong was her past, there were no records of her in any place, nothing to suggest that she was a shinobi somewhere else before she met Orochimaru or even came from a shinobi upbringing, which is not good in their fathers eyes, he didn't care if someone married out of the clan anymore though he didn't want to see civilians either, even if his own brother married one, but it didn't matter because his uncle didn't want the position as Chief anyways, the whole point of marrying shinobi women was because they could keep the sharingan gene strong still, while with civilians it could begin to dwindle into nothing more but descendants, another thing was so that they could begin mixing the sharingan with other kekki genkais making the clan stronger, seeing as no matter where you went in the world if a shinobi man married a shinobi woman her clan was thus his clan, it's how it went.

Sasuke really should of thought his plan through a little more thoroughly, if he had the pregnancy would have been accepted with wide open arms, and Itachi would have been frowned upon seeing as he's the older one of them. Thus making their father want to pressure him further into the faster looking into an arranged marriage with someone.

"Ah welcome my guest." A males voice said as it brought Itachi out of his reverie.

Looking up he found them standing at the wooden entrance gates of Kemuri, their leader Kyo was a man of average height, with a slim build, a few years older than Shisui but not much, his skin was chalky white and slightly aged and stressed, his hair the most interesting mixture of grey and green, his eyes as black as they could possibly get. His voice was noticeably sour his eyes narrowed in anger, shock and fright all at the same time. It was typical for someone in his position to be like that, he was mad because they lost the war, shocked that Akatsuki had betrayed them the way they had ... that part was actually Sakura who'd used her charm on Pein to win a bet for the head. Now Kemuri was scared for what was to become of them, would they be taken over? Annihilated? Would Konoha let it go? So many questions could be going through their heads at the moment.

"No need for manners, we know how you feel about us." Sakura replied as she stared up at the man.

The mans body relaxed visibly, Sakura was actually doing quiet a job.

"If you want me to figure out cause of death and tell you who exactly her killer or killers are exactly I need the body." Sakura continued.

"That's all you came for?!" Kyo asked slightly stunned that she was not doing anything else.

"Me of course, but Adviser of Konoha and Chief of the Uchiha Clan Uchiha Fugaku will be going over some documents with you." Sakura said as she handed the man three scrolls.

The mans nostrils flared in obvious anger. "Very well then, my men will escort you to the morgue, Uchiha-san if you'd follow me."

The pale white teammate of Naruto and Sakuras then turned to him. "I will go with Uchiha-sama, you shadow Haruno-taisho, Hokage-sama would prefer that." He said, his voice lacking any sort of emotion at all, making him wonder if he even knew what emotions even were. His face was even void of any actual thought as well.

The clan thought he was unemotional, they really should meet this boy.

Itachi nodded his head as he pointed his men towards Sakuras direction.

He quickly caught up to her. "I see the obvious psychological reasons why you are capable of becoming an ANBU Captain." He said quietly.

"That's nice to know." Sakura replied.

Turning to look at her he found that she mirrored her teammates face, her eyes just as dead as the boys as well. He'd never seen such a side before.

"Is something the matter?" He asked carefully.

"No." She answered simply.

He lifted a brow, something was wrong usually she was sarcastic, and interesting with the emotions she chose to use around people but now she seemed as though she was like that boy completely drained of any life what so ever.

Walking through the doors Itachi watched as she Sakura put her medic bag on a stool as she walked up to the corpse. She sighed as she placed her hands on the cool metal.

"It's indisputable, they tried to make it look as though we murdered her." Sakura said before she pushed off the examination table and walked back over to the stool where her medic bag was. Opening it as she pulled out some latex gloves and a pad and pen.

She sighed as she began jotting down notes. "She was bound." Sakura said to no one particular as she bent down and picked up a wrist turning it over to view the other side. Putting it down she walked to the end of the table and picked up her ankle. "Both wrist and ankles, bruised markings from the chakra ropes but no scrapes or cuts to indicate she put up any struggle."

Placing the pen and pad down onto the table she walked back over to the head of the table and picked up the woman's head. "There's not one mark on her that indicated she put up a fight, there's not even skin scrapings under her nails, usually when kidnappers grab someone they put force into their gripping giving the abducted the message that they're serious, but I see no marks, she wasn't touched at all."

Sakura slipped a glove off and placed her hand on the woman body, her eyes closing in concentration and her hand glowing green.

She pulled away quickly. "Externally, all her stomach muscles, her heart, and even some of her organs have been sliced up."

"How is that possible if she was never touched?!" One of the Kemuri medics asked.

"She wasn't touched physically by anyone. though she was touched though her joints, which the joints themselves had a slight trace of chakra, meaning she was controlled."

The medic gasped, and Sakura went back to jotting words on the parchment. "The only person in Akatsuki that is capable of doing such things as controlling anothers body with chakra is Akasuna no Sasori ... though the chakra didn't kill her, he's merely an accomplice to the murder. The killer however is Hidan, I don't quiet understand how the actual process of his jutsu works but I do know what he did. I've seen it before." Sakura replied as she continued her writing.

"Will there be anything else?" Sakura asked as she lifted her head back up to look at the other medic.

The medic shook their head before they turned away and walked over to a trash can, the sounds of their vomiting bouncing off the walls and echoing through the room causing Sakura to shake her head as well and frown at the disgusting smell.

"Very well then we'll be on our way." Sakura said as she slipped off her other glove throwing it in a nearby trash can. She placed her notes and pen into her bag. Before she slipped it over her head and nestled it onto her left shoulder before she snapped it closed.

"Have a lovely evening." Sakura said before she turned away and walked out of the room Itachi and his men following her.

When they were all outside of the building Sakura finally turned around and looked at them before she spoke quickly and quietly.

"Right now Uchiha-sama is going over the peace treaty with Kyo. There are two teams inside already watching, we are to watch the outside men, if you see anything suspicious report first before you take any action. I will only allow actions to be taken without my permission if it is truly needed in the situation. ... Everyone turn your radios to channel five, everyone pair up in couples." Sakura ordered as she watched them pair up before disappearing in a flash of black.

Itachi looked down at her. "Seems like we get to be partners." He said quietly.

"That's only because everyone is actually scared of you, even if you do have good looks, nobody is foolish enough to take the chance to partner with you because of your suspicious affiliation with Akatsuki." Sakura explained as she walked over to large tree and climbed up it until she was nearly at the top of it.

Itachi followed her up and when he reached her he found that right across from them was the window to Kyos office. They could see perfectly and clearly what the two were doing but the leaves, and branches made it hard to see who was in the trees.

"Why did you ask me that?" Sakura asked.

Itachi blinked before he turned his attention back to her looking at her as she lounged on a branch like a lazy house pet.

"Ask what?" He asked.

"Earlier you asked me if something was the matter, why did you ask me that?" She rephrased.

"Typically your behavior isn't so dead I guess you could say. I suspected that something was bothering you." Itachi said as walked over to the branch she was on. He leaned against it as he looked straight at her

"But why did you ask me that? And do not use the excuse that it could be problematic for the mission." Sakura said.

"Does it matter why I asked you?" Itachi asked.

"Don't answer my question with another question .... and no it doesn't actually matter I was merely wondering." Sakura said.

Pushing his weight onto the branch through his arms he leaped onto the branch seating himself across from Sakura.

"What do you think of Sasukes settling down the way he is?" Itachi asked carefully.

"I think nothing of it." Sakura replied as she stared out over into Kyo's office, watching as Fugaku continued to move his mouth in an aggravating manner.

"That's a lie." Itachi pointed out.

"Of course it is." Sakura said honestly.

"Why didn't you deny it?" Itachi asked.

Sakura sighed as she rubbed her temples. "I don't know .... To be quiet honest I don't want to think about Sasuke, I was to be rid of him, and yet at the same time I don't. I hate him for what he put me, Naruto, and Kakashi through, I hate that he came back with that bimbo, but then I'm glad he's back .... happy that he's still alive, he's here now. ... I .. I just don't .... I just don't know." Sakura said her voice barely above a whisper but he'd heard it all.

"I do hope that sleeping with me wasn't a way of revenge, or a way to think I could replace Sasuke." Itachi said.

Sakura smiled softly obviously trying not to laugh. "No. I wouldn't do that I was raised better than to ever allow myself to do such a thing to a man." Sakura replied smoothly.

"You know you shouldn't allow yourself to think you were never good enough for him." Itachi said to her catching her off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"Sakura I'm no fool I actually did pay attention to Sasuke especially when he was around you and the others. Naruto, you and Kakashi all looked past Sasukes horrible attitude and reached out to him. But my fathers attention was what he truly wanted, he wanted to be better than me and when Orochimaru presented the proposal to him he saw a chance at being better, even if it was through dark teachings. Although out of everyone one of you and your teammates Sasuke especially attached himself to you, that girl he brought back with him, she's nothing compared to you and he knows that, I would bet on my life that if it wasn't for the fact that you are unfortunately unable to conceive that he would've come back here and chosen you to carry his child."

Sakura looked at him with disbelief all over her face, Uchiha Itachi X-Akatsuki member was giving her a motivation speech of sorts ... and the most intriguing thing was, was that it was actually working.

" .... Thank you I guess." Sakura said.

"I'm merely stating the truth." Itachi said before he turned back to the window before them.

I Know it's short but hey I want to catch up.

Plus I just got this really cool Idea for a story .... and I mean like my own story you know.

Thanks for all my reviews.

omnipotent Porunga

PureCherryBlossom

ItaSaku29 - No denying or approving of your statement your answer will be given in upcoming chapters.

Itachisgirl88

Hao'sAnjul - the contents of the letter will be revealed in later chapters.

musa uchiha

shadow miko

minniemousemom

kitten652

Incondite. Lies.

Vampire666-666

Sarah-San equals epic fail.

If you didn't make the list I'm so very sorry, It's exactly 4:09 in the morning and I'm looking at the reviews in the last chapter so just review this chapter if I didn't get you.

Midori Blossom