Sakura stumbled back, away from her old sensei, hands clasped over her mouth, her mind numb. She couldn't process what had just happened; it just didn't seem plausible enough to have been anything but a hallucination or a dream, and yet Itachi stood before her, looking ashamed and slightly embarrassed, his own hand covering his mouth.

She stared at him, aghast, for a few seconds before tearing her gaze away.

"Sakura –" Itachi began to say, his tone subdued.

"No, don't talk!" Sakura said wildly, waving a hand in his direction, not daring to look.

He fell silent.

Since when had he thought of her like that…?

She was first his student, then his enemy. How could he have ever changed his perception of her to something… romantic?

Was that what was going on here? He liked her?

She couldn't wrap her head around the concept of Itachi liking her, so she walked back to her bed and sat down, facing away from him.

Oddly enough, her first instinct had been to slap him, hard. She was glad she hadn't done it though, as slapping a half-blind man, no matter how good a ninja he was, wasn't something she wanted to be capable of doing.

She chewed her lip and started messing up her hair, her mouth a confused scowl.

A few agonising seconds passed with Sakura facing away from Itachi, but feeling his shame as keenly as if it was a tangible object in the room.

"…Why did you do that?" She asked finally, her tone flat. There was not a single drop of curiosity, just confusion. She absolutely hated being confused. How many times would she have to rearrange her perception of Itachi? Was there something about him that forced him to take on different personalities? If she'd been asked at twelve years old whether she thought he would ever look at her as a girl, not a student, she would have laughed until she cried. But now… she didn't know.

She couldn't predict his actions, couldn't judge his personality and couldn't know instinctively who he was and what he would do. She was half-expecting him to reveal a hyperactive personality to rival Naruto next. Wouldn't that be fun.

"I am not so sure of my control over my actions in this case, Sakura," Itachi said formally, his voice growing in volume as he approached from behind, "I never intended to reveal my – my attraction to you. It is weak and unlike me to be ruled by my emotions. I despise myself for it." His tone was matter-of-fact, despite his harsh words.

"Control," Sakura murmured, remembering, "you always placed such value on control. You must have been struggling with your emotions for a while to have lost it like that."

Itachi made an affirmative noise.

"So," She tried to gather her senses, which were lying in stunned heaps on the floor, "You like me."

"So it would seem." Itachi agreed.

Excellent, was Sakura's first thought to her confusion. And then, when it seemed more slapping was imminent, she leapt up and started fussing about with the box of medicine he'd brought back for her, pulling out some bandages and staring blankly at them.

"Right," She said absently, still staring hard at the bandages, "That's very strange."

"If it helps, I am just as confused by it as you." Itachi offered.

"Oh, am I that unattractive?" Sakura rolled her eyes, accidently meeting his gaze.

His dark eyes were searing in the dim light, the lids half-lowered until all she could see were gleaming slits, "No," He said fervently, "you are not."

Sakura's face glowed with embarrassment, she whirled back around to stare at the bandages some more, "Don't do that!" She hissed, expecting steam to rush from her ears, she was that flustered.

"Do what?" Itachi asked, sounding almost amused.

"This?" He whispered, arms suddenly circling around her from behind –

- And she felt her training with Tsunade kick in instantly and broke his loose grip, sliding away from him in one quick, fluid motion, hands coming up in a defensive position.

"That." She said, not amused in the slightest, "Stop it."

Itachi's flicker of amusement died down, "I didn't mean to –"

She put her hands squarely on the white table and casually used it to swing her legs into the air, swiping at his face.

He dodged as if he'd seen it coming years ago and had spent decades preparing for that very moment. He was simply one of the best ninja she'd ever seen in action, he moved like fighting came as easy as breathing to him, dodging was child's play to him.

"Fight me." She demanded.

She flew at him.

She was a flurry of kicks and punches, not merciful despite his near-death experience, knowing it wouldn't be enough to beat him.

He blocked her punches with the sides of his fists, knocking her knees down with his own as she tried to kick out at him, automatically flowing into the teacher-student fighting style they used to practice in, with her giving everything she had and Itachi lazily correcting her stance whilst defending himself.

"This," Sakura declared, panting and glaring at him, "is what we are. Teacher and student. That's what we've always been. We only just got this back, sensei. Don't change everything again."

Itachi looked away first. "Perhaps I am being selfish," He wondered out loud, "But I want more from you."

She threw a punch at his face, "Stop it! It's not funny!"

"Who's laughing?" Itachi grabbed her fist, "I'm being serious."

Her foot sliced through the air, missing his head by a few crucial inches as he ducked.

"It's not funny! It's me, Haruno Sakura, remember? The screw-up, the dead-last, the betrayed, the traitor, the useless! Why the hell would you look at me like that? Why would you like me, Itachi? It's me! No one, and I mean no one, has ever shown interest in me! I've got a temper, I can be cold and serious, and my voice does this weird thing where it sounds empty and emotionless and it freaks people out, I can even be stupid and over-emotional, I'm a messed up freak! My head's all screwed up, I attacked people, citizens who couldn't even defend themselves, when Sasuke, when he – when he died, I just – I'm… screwed up," She trailed off, eyes sliding away from his shocked face, "Why would anyone want that?"

Itachi's hands gripped her waist and before even her shinobi reflexes could kick in, he was yanking her towards him and their lips met, her mind went blank after realising she was crying and registering the light touch against her mouth.

He pulled away and gripped her shoulders, "I want that!" He insisted fiercely, "I care about you, regardless of what problems you have! I am responsible for the majority of your problems, why would I feel anything but guilt upon realising that? Deep underneath those issues is Sakura, the kind, compassionate, hot-headed, fiery medic nin, the girl who goes beyond the call of duty when it comes to helping people, the girl who survived years of undeserved hatred and still managed to retain her sense of loyalty! That is who I love, Sakura, and that person is you."

Sakura's mouth gaped open.

"Love?" She repeated, feeling his hands release her shoulders as though she'd burnt him.

He smoothed his hair back with one hand and sighed deeply, "Love." He confirmed.

Silence fell between them as Itachi's words sunk in.

That is who I love, Sakura, and that person is you.

Love.

Sakura wordlessly returned to her bed, the box of medicine in her lap, and began to toy with the bandages between her fingers.

Itachi closed his eyes, the slightly blurry view of Sakura's rigid body disappearing in a flicker of his lids. If only his feelings could be so quickly eradicated.

Sakura's hand drifted up her sleeve and she let her fingertips caress the brand mark, the Uchiha insignia that had long since been burned into her skin.

"Why did you brand me?" She asked quietly, "That wasn't necessary to keep your cover. No one else could see it."

"I didn't want you to abandon my teachings out of defiance and end up dead," He muttered, more subdued now that his confession of love had been ignored, "I also didn't want you to forget me."

"Well, it hurts. I know it's psychosomatic, but I can still feel it burning." She felt the heat coming off the scar, warming her hand.

"…I didn't design it with that in mind."

"Ah," Sakura nodded, laughing at herself, "I figured. It's my doing, then. Maybe I didn't want to forget you either."

xxxxxxxx

Kakashi stood at the monument for fallen heroes and closed his eyes. He wondered sometimes if he was cursed, if every shinobi he befriended was doomed to fall in battle or simply fall, as Sasuke and Sakura had.

It was raining lightly, the world disappearing into a grey mist, the monument before him streaked with rain and glistening.

He remembered touching the cut chakra strings on Sakura's bed and realising she was gone for good. The Hokage's response had been commendably quick, the moment the alarm had been raised over Sakura's disappearance she sent an Anbu retrieval team and summoned every ninja with ties to Sakura, commanding them to stay where they were. Luckily for Kakashi, Pakkun was fast and Anko was clever, so he had at least felt assured Sakura would be found quickly.

But Anko had returned alone, unharmed but without Sakura, despite Pakkun insisting they'd found her in Itachi's grip.

He couldn't accept that. Anko had been prepared to fight Itachi to the death to save Sakura, and yet it seemed she had left her alone without a fight. That didn't add up.

Kakashi knew the answer, he just didn't want to think about it. Sakura had not been kidnapped, she had left of her volition, and that was why Anko refused to tell him what she had said.

He'd kicked the bed she'd been tied to and had given the Hokage one hell of a tongue lashing over the sorely lacking security in the hospital, and had received a pay cut for his troubles. Gai had been the one to personally enforce his grounding. He hadn't been allowed to leave his apartment for three days when Sakura disappeared, the Hokage being convinced he'd go after his student and get killed.

Gai had made his confinement tolerable by insisting on singing hearty tunes in the morning and exercising noisily twenty-four seven, all day, every day. Kakashi had been close to murdering the taijutsu specialist close to the end of his imprisonment.

The Hokage and the majority of the village believed that they had been wrongly accusing Sakura all of these years, that she'd never intentionally betrayed them, that she had been kidnapped and assaulted by an obsessive missing nin. The guilt that was now permanently etched on the youthful face of the Hokage was difficult to observe. Every day the woman sunk lower and lower in her chair as she awaited news. Sakura was dead. Sakura had been captured. Sakura was hurt. Sakura was a traitor.

Kakashi knew the truth. It hadn't been difficult to work out. Uchiha Itachi was a very particular type of psychopath, the type that focused on manipulating and scheming, pushing people to their breaking points and beyond. It wasn't hard to believe that Sasuke's death would have driven him to seek Sakura out, perhaps to rub salt in the fresh wound of his brother's execution, perhaps because he was angered that his experiment, the enforced avenger, had been taken from him and had wanted to collect his greatest triumph.

He had broken Sakura so carefully and expertly, and now he wanted to pick up the pieces and fix them up, possibly brainwashing her to be on his side again.

Because she had definitely left of her own accord. Despite the forcibly cut chakra strings, the blood Pakkun had sniffed out, Kakashi knew Sakura had left willingly. Why else would she have asked him to ensure that her reputation survived? She was planning to leave with Itachi even then.

Out of his three-man team, two had turned traitor, one had died, and one had survived with only emotional scars to bear.

What were the odds of two genin on the same team betraying their village? Slim to none. Either Kakashi was cursed, or it was simply because Itachi had taken a special interest in Team Seven.

Sasuke was his brother. He had shaped his entire psyche, creating his thirst for vengeance, his loneliness that he could never combat with friendship because he had been so obsessed with obtaining revenge. So much so, that he betrayed Konoha and ended up being executed for his troubles.

Naruto was his target. He was the kyuubi, the thing they'd apparently been searching for. Had Itachi had his way, Naruto would be dead by now, leaving Kakashi alone once again.

And Sakura had been his protégé. What had possessed the man to seek out a girl who admired his brother, for the sole purpose of keeping her alive until she ceased to be useful and then could be killed in order to break Sasuke even more? Such a thorough, six-year long plot, and he never even killed her when he had the chance.

Kakashi feared for Sakura's safety more than ever at the realisation that he absolutely could not fathom what Itachi's motives were, why he had taken Sakura with him now and not earlier, and what he planned to do with her.

Tsunade was worried sick, but it was Sakura's family that Kakashi avoided in the streets. Her grandmother had been hospitalised with shock, and was being cared for by Shizune herself, and Sakura's mother was receiving regular visits from Anko, who was bizarrely convinced that Sakura was absolutely fine, that Itachi would be too scared to hurt her, considering who her friends were (the Hokage, himself, Anko, Naruto, etc.). Her blasé attitude pissed him off, actually, given that she treated him like he was merely sulking, not mourning his loss of another student, straight after he'd lost the first one.

Kakashi's sensitive hearing had picked up the light pad of a single set of footsteps a while ago, one person approaching from behind. He knew who it was even before he drew level with him.

Naruto knelt down and placed a sodden bouquet of flowers at the foot of the monument.

"Neither of the people we have lost are honoured on this monument, Naruto," Kakashi said bleakly, "Or ever will be."

"Sakura will," Naruto said, not stubbornly or defiantly, just with a calm, assured confidence that he knew best and that he was right, "If she fell in battle, they'd have to carve her name here. She's not a traitor, Kakashi-sensei. She's a hero, and we need to save her."

"Maybe." Kakashi said without feeling, not wanting to crush Naruto's hope, no matter how futile it was.

"And Sasuke," Naruto started to say, gritting his teeth, "he should be on here too."

"These heroes died for their village. Sasuke was killed by the village he abandoned. There's a difference, Naruto."

Naruto swallowed back a sob, his shoulders trembling, "No! That isn't fair!"

"What is fair about this?"

"Look!" Naruto jabbed a finger at the monument, right over the slightly faded name Uchiha Obito, "There's Uchihas on here! Sasuke died for them! He was trying to avenge them, he should at least –"

"Those Uchiha died in battle," Kakashi snapped, do not compare Obito with Sasuke, "They died for their village and they would never have abandoned it! If Sasuke had died fighting Itachi, if he had been wearing the Konoha hitae-ate, then he could have been on here. The only fallen heroes who deserve to be on this monument are the ones who died loyal to the last!"

Naruto flinched visibly, clenching his fists. Then his shoulders dropped and he stared down at the ground.

"No grave," He commented quietly, wiping away the rain that was dripping down his neck, "No monument. Just ashes. Nothing to remember him by but this."

He held up a hitae-ate clenched in his hand, the Konoha symbol defaced by a deep gouge.

"We have our memories." Kakashi replied, slipping his hands into his pockets and looking up at the clouds, "That's enough for me. It always is."

Naruto angrily wiped his eyes and gave a cry of anger, the carefully carved names of fallen heroes mocking him in stone. Sasuke would never be remembered as anything more than a traitor.

"Do you get used to losing people?" He finally asked, clearing his throat and sniffing, trying to shake the tears that were threatening to fall.

Kakashi stared at the grey clouds and put a hand out without looking, touching Obito's name.

"No." He said simply.

xxxxxxxx

"Relax your grip." Itachi chided her, adjusting her hand's position on the kunai, "Stop tensing your muscles. If you stiffen, your aim will suffer. Throwing weapons is instinctive, it's a skill that's hard to work for. Keep your eyes on the target and try to picture the kunai's point striking it."

Sakura let the tension in her shoulders drop and glared at the tree in front of her. There was a scar in the bark that she was aiming for.

Taijutsu, basic weaponry skills, stamina, even ninjutsu – she'd neglected them all in favour of medical based ninjutsu and genjutsu. Itachi had not been pleased to hear this, telling her in no uncertain terms that focusing on one or two fields is for specialists, and even they end up dead when they can no longer rely on that which they have favoured.

Her aim had always been shoddy.

They were in the forest on the outskirts of the town they were staying in, the sun piercing through the leaves of the trees, Itachi standing behind her with his hands on her elbows, his chest so close to her back she could feel the heat emanating from it.

"Don't worry about not hitting it," He said kindly, "There's no pressure."

Oh, that's easy for you to say, Sakura thought scathingly, you don't have an attractive ninja standing right behind you, so close their breath is touching your neck!

He released her elbows after correcting her grip and took a step back.

"Go."

A flick of her wrist, and the kunai whistled through the air, striking the tree within seconds, slightly below target.

Sakura threw her hands up in the air, frustrated, turning away from the tree.

Itachi moved to reassure her, "It's fine, don't get stressed."

She sighed, pushing her hair out of her face and shading her eyes with her hand, the glare of the sun becoming too much as she peered at Itachi.

"It isn't fine." Sakura disagreed, inwardly disappointed in herself, "If I don't have chakra, I'm dead. Without my genjutsu or ninjutsu, I'm pretty much useless."

There was no warning whatsoever as Itachi's hand struck the air where her face used to be as she took one step back automatically, blinking.

His expression was frustrated, "I taught you myself," He argued, "You can dodge strikes you don't know are coming. You can withstand torture and you survived the Forest of Death, Orochimaru and myself. When left with nothing but the basics, a specialist ninja finds out more often than not that they are more skilled than they have been giving themselves credit for."

Sakura rolled her eyes but smiled at his reassurance, having missed this sensei-student interaction more than she'd let on. Except, they weren't student and teacher anymore, were they?

Itachi's eyes had been unable to spot she hadn't hit the target straightaway, so Sakura walked up to him and studied his gaze.

"Let me have another go at fixing your eyes." She lifted her hands as her chakra pulsed through her fingers eagerly.

His mouth dropped into a frown, "No, your training comes first. My eyes can wait."

"You'd insist on being the last to be healed if you were the only mortally injured shinobi within miles," Sakura scoffed, "If you'd quit being a martyr for ten seconds you'd see there's no point in staying half-blind when you're friends with a medic nin."

Itachi's lips quirked at the word 'friends,' but he quietly acquiesced and lowered his head so that she could lightly touch his closed eyes with her glowing fingertips.

The sunlight dimmed, the birds chirping diminished until all Sakura could hear was her and Itachi's steady breathing.

Damage. Long-lasting damage.

Frayed, torn… beyond repair.

She didn't believe in things being impossible to heal but…

She hadn't sensed this before, but then, she hadn't been concentrating, just half-heartedly reducing what she could at the time.

She broke the connection with a gasp, stumbling backwards.

Itachi looked startled.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see his reaction to what she had to say.

"I can't do it." She said quietly, burning with shame and regret. Why was she so bloody useless? Why couldn't she –

"I didn't think anyone could," Itachi commented, brushing his fingers underneath his eyes thoughtfully, "Every medic I came across said as much."

"But –"

"Sakura," He said gently, "If I have a martyr complex, you feel you have to fix everything. You don't. Some things cannot be healed, some damage is irreversible. I accept that. Do you?"

She scowled, fighting the urge to go get some medical textbooks, study hard and come back to prove him wrong. Everything could be fixed, nothing irreparable.

Sasuke.

Some things were broken and messed up, and could never be healed or completely fixed into what they used to be. Throwing a tantrum or getting upset wouldn't help or change that.

But still, she'd arrogantly assumed she could heal his eyes…

She sighed. Then, she straightened, smiling, "The Hokage could probably fix your eyes. She's the best medic nin in the world, she fixed a shattered spine that everyone else claimed was broken forever. I believe in hoping for the best, not accepting the worst."

Itachi actually laughed, touching her cheek fleetingly before withdrawing, "My own little pessimist/optimist. I have never met anyone who has managed to be both self-defeating and eternally hopeful."

"I'm multi-talented." She shrugged, "But my aim still sucks."

Itachi lifted her wrist and pressed a kunai into her hand.

Just as she was about to throw, he kissed her cheek lightly and knocked her wrist, sending the kunai flying.

It hit the target dead-centre.

Sakura glared at him.

"Cheater."

"That may be true," He admitted shamelessly, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes sparkling with amusement, "But my aim is faultless."

And with that, he dropped a kiss on her lips with perfect aim.

Not over yet folks.

Argh, I hate April Fool's day. I was this close to being born on this day, but my Mum drank castor oil like a hero so she'd go into labour early so I wouldn't be stuck with April Fool's as my birthday. As a result, my birthday was two days ago, so I'm now nineteen!

I'm old.

Ish.

Only one year left of teenagedom! Thanks be to Christ, the horror and agony of being a teenager is nearly over.

I genuinely believe that as you age, you mature and that's all very nice and handy, but you forget what it was like to be you when you were younger. Like being a teenager. Adults look back on their school days as the 'best of their life' and act like they loved being young.

NO ONE LOVES BEING YOUNG.

Yay, I have freedom I'm too young to fully appreciate, hormones are driving me crazy, my self-esteem is shot to shit on a daily basis, I have acne and I don't understand why everything is changing…

THAT is how I felt when I was still a mere pubescent, folks. Though I never actually had acne, thank God.

I don't care if I look back at this rant when I'm thirty and good-naturedly roll my eyes, thinking 'oh, how silly I was, being young was great,' that will never change the fact that when I was a teenager, I hated it.

It sucked being in between a kid and an adult. People treated you like a kid for some things, but expected you to act 'grown up' for others.

Wow, this rant came from nowhere.

But yeah, it's been awesome being nineteen so far. All two days of it :D

I won't deny, the whole 'no one understands me, you were never young' bullshit teens try to pull is annoying, but I do think it's a pretty crappy age to be.

When I'm twenty, I imagine I will immediately long for my lost youth.

Romance!

I cannot write it.

I start rolling my eyes and getting annoyed whenever I try XD

Quick poll for APRIL FOOL'S DAY: Have you ever pranked anyone awesomely or been pranked awesomely?

No suggestions.

And yes.

Awesomely is a word.