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Eight|Huit

The morning sun was rising slowly beyond the crowded mesh of green. It brought a glow of vapor to the field; morning dew evaporated across the fragmented patches of damp grass and dirt.

He inhaled deeply, shutting his kohl lashed lids and upturned his face to the rising warmth. Chin length ebony bangs shifted in a brief breeze, kissing his cheeks just barely. The caress of air slipped through the black and silver mesh of his shirt and over his bare forearms. It ruffled his navy blue standard issue capris and brought goosebumps to his bare calves.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, revealing depths as black as his hair.

It couldn't be past eight AM, he mused himself. A perfect day for sparing… training; clear skies, fresh morning air… While he would never admit it out loud, he felt it was so. And at the same time, he would never denounce it. Although, there were a select few people, such as Sakura and Naruto… even Kakashi… who would see what he didn't say just by looking at his eyes—even Sai during one of his rare moments. This was another thing he would never admit, not even to them when they called him out on it.

He gave a half sigh from where he sat perched on a tall tree stump and looked beyond the path just across the practice area. While it was unusual for Sakura to be late by even a minute, much less a second, he couldn't say he was worried about her—only curious. Normally, she would be here a good fifteen minutes before he was. There was a chance she could have gotten called in for hospital work, or, she might have come in late from a mission. He knew she shouldn't have any at the moment, but exceptions happened.

Just as these thoughts swept through his mind Sakura jogged from the path and across the way to him, looking only a little out of breath.

"Am I late?"

"Barely."

"That's good," she replied as she brushed a few stray leaves off her red top. "I worried it was more, so I took the shortcut."

His right brow rose. "I can see that."

She gave him a curious blank face before smiling. "Good to go?"

He hopped of the stump, now wondering why she hadn't explained why she was late. She was more private now than she ever had been before, but it was odd for her to not say anything about it. "What'd you want to work on today?"

She was in the process of pulling on her gloves. "Standard game? No summons and nothing big enough to get ANBU sniffing?"

He smiled earnestly, though crookedly and candidly. It didn't fill his face, but brought out his best features in a genuine way. "I thought you wanted to work on something today; trouble areas."

Her nose wrinkled as she adjusted the fit of the leather wrapping her fingers. "I'm not on a diet, Sasuke." She gave a shrug. "Its morning and I need some physical caffeine. If you're too tired just—."

He couldn't help but roll his eyes and held his hands up just to his chest in mock surrender. "I'm good. Don't start acting like Naruto, not when you're the only—just barely—sane one on this team."

She grinned.

Not bothering to wait for a reply he was only going to continue receiving with a grin he turned and walked twenty or so paces from her. When he moved to face her Kusanagi was pulled from her sheathe; the motion was fluid with the rest of his body. He watched as Sakura picked up a rock from the ground next to her, gave him a quick look of confirmation, and then tossed it into the air.

Two sets of eyes followed its movement, simultaneously narrowing as it descended.

The moment it met with terra firma they began.

Feet beat like pounding of two hearts in tandem. Sasuke drug his sword, sharp edge towards the ground; it just barely whispered across the dirty topsoil, singing as it cut through the air.

Sakura's hands were aglow with blue-green energy. As he came upon her, cutting sideways as he came to a digging stop, she faded from his sight. He barely registered her body flying over his head while his Sharingan activated. He twisted away from her, kicking as she moved to elbow him in the back. She ducked, reassigning her movement halfway to avoid it. He watched her draw low; her hands pressed into the ground and as she moved her leg to sweep under his one his eye widened. He wouldn't be able to recover quickly enough.

His back hit solidly and hard; he grunted and rolled away as her fiery fist smashed just where he'd been laying. He came to stand as she was on him again, fists flying. He dodged and tried to cut her.

Some would say it wasn't wise to show up at a sword fight with nothing but your fists, but those people didn't know Sakura.

With her it was completely different.

Naruto always talked a lot, and he was quick to return it in his own single to three word ways. They upped the ante a lot for one another; however, when he and Sakura fought, there generally were no words. Not because they weren't talking; it was a matter of choosing how to speak. They didn't use their mouths, but instead their actions.

In a breath of movement she was up close and personal once more, as she had been gradually inching into his working space. He ground his teeth together. All it took was one touch; he knew better.

He jumped back, creating space again as she drove head-long towards him. His Kusanagi was driven outward and towards her. She skittered to a stop just barely and clapped her hands together, still moving as her feet drew friction across overturned grass and soil. Halfway through the fluidity of his motion—the same motion of attacking with the point of his blade while in a partial kneel with one hand behind him—two pillars of solid rock came up and grasped his weapon. It held tight as he tried to pull it back out.

Bad move.

He inhaled sharply as he looked up. He had half a second to dive out of the way as she drove her whole body, right fist first, into the ground where he'd been standing.

Taijutsu was over; she'd made the first move on that. Nevermind the fact it was her strong suit.

A solid hour passed with the same savage, unspoken, driven method that was their own. In the end, Sakura found herself on her back, breath knocked out of her, weary, and calling the morning's victory to him—not that it really mattered anymore, as he was just as weary due to their unsupervised playtime.

"Feel better?" she asked as she pulled herself up, crossed her legs under her; her each foot rested under its respective thigh. She pulled a bottle of water out of her hip pouch and drank vigorously.

"I didn't feel bad to begin with," he replied before drinking from his own bottle and sitting not far from her. "Lunch," he muttered single-wordily, thinking it enough.

She raised a brow. "Don't you usually meet Naruto for that?"

He gave her a mock glare. "I'm not in the mood for ramen."

"Ah." She nodded and took another sip.

"He's with Hinata today anyway."

"They're getting serious…"

"I suppose."

Sakura exhaled long and wearily, glad she looked tired enough to cover up an emotional action with a physical one; she wasn't sure if this would be the right place or time to talk about…

"Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

Her face took on a thoughtful expression as she placed her elbow on her knee and her chin in her open palm. "Are you busy later tonight? Like, after… eleven?"

He blinked uncharacteristically and only once.

She frowned. "Well, I don't know. You might have a date—."

"No, I'm not," he quickly interrupted. "Why?"

She sighed this time, obviously and broke his gaze. "I've got some things I've got to do today. But, I need to talk to you about something privately. Do you mind if I come by then?"

"…No."

"Good." She nodded, satisfied the semi-hard part was over. Sasuke, being Sasuke and not Naruto, would never bother to ask her what it was about.

She stood up. "See you later then?" She dusted off her backside.

He pulled himself up as well. "Come have lunch with me."

She hesitated and eyeballed the sky, obviously trying to figure out the time. "Well… I guess. Maybe an hour at most."

He nodded.

She chuckled and slapped his back before digging her hands into her short's pockets and walking off. "You just don't want to look like a weirdo eating alone. I know."

He smirked, but didn't respond as he followed her out and back to the path.

…

"I'll take two dango, please."

"Ten fifty," an elderly voice replied.

Itachi reached for the wallet in his pants pocket; once brought forth, he opened it and felt for the folds for what bills were what. No ten bills, he thought. He took one of the twenties and held it out to Noin. "Well?"

"It's a twenty," she confirmed for him quietly.

With responding he handed the bill to the stand worked and waited for his change. Once again, he held it out for Noin to inspect; once again, she confirmed it was the correct amount.

"Thank you," he said after he got his order and dropped with the change he'd received; without waiting for a reply, he walked away in the same moment.

There was a grateful shout of thanks to his back, but he didn't say anything in return as he gave Noin one of the orders. He listened as she generously chewed up the desert as he handed one off to her one at a time.

"That was a large tip," she commented.

He shrugged. "I reward honesty."

"I guess so." She yawned next; he could hear it to his right as they strode down the village road back towards the house.

"Have fun last night?" she asked. He could hear the smile in her voice. And, he could feel her eyes on him, waiting for him to react in some way.

"I suppose that would depend on what you are referring to."

She snorted. "I can smell it all over you. Be sure to stay away from Pakkun's brat, or he will too. Doubt you want Kakashi breathing down your neck for rolling around with one of his pups."

Now it was his turn to consider snorting. He didn't however. "Sakura is no longer a pup, Noin. She's a grown woman who makes her own decisions, retried ANBU no less. Somehow I doubt Kakashi would even—."

"Ha. Once a pup, always a pup," she interrupted him.

He let it go; there wasn't much point in arguing with Noin, not when she got it in her head she was right.

"So, how serious is it?"

"Why are you asking me these questions?" he felt to ask, mostly because he didn't want to answer them. It was not his policy to kiss and tell… at least he thought it was, not having a lot of experience in said area.

She sighed, sounding exasperated. "You do realize I always know what you're feeling right? Kind of comes with the whole bond-animal thing, Uchiha. I can't exactly ignore it when I can tell something is on your mind."

This time he did sigh, long and hard. Of course he knew, he just tended to forget about it, like anything else one grew accustomed to.

"I'm not really concerning myself with the details," he admitted truthfully. "For now, I'm just letting it be and seeing where it goes." He shrugged as he turned a familiar right down the dirt path after the adequate number of steps was achieved.

"Not a bad route," she agreed, following next to him still.

He hadn't exactly expected things to go the way they had last night—at all. One moment he was trying to help ease her pain and the next… things just fell into place naturally. He wasn't ashamed or upset about the events that transpired, nor was he particularly worried.

However, the part of him that liked to calculate everything five or ten steps ahead of himself in order to take the best proper action nagged at him.

When she'd left him this morning she'd been quiet, soft spoken and laughed in his ear that she'd see him later; he could lock up when he left, seeing as how he figured out how to get in fairly easily. A gentle kiss was pressed to his brow and then she'd disappeared, saying she'd had something to do.

And he'd found he missed her more than when she'd been gone for the mission.

The sense of being bereft wasn't overwhelming, but it was there all the same. It was perhaps stronger now that they'd taken their friendship into a realm of something entirely new and more intimately involved.

In the back of his head, the emotional and calculating part of himself was asking what she thought of it all and how she felt. Yet, each time he tried to sort it out and reason out what to do or how to handle it all from here out the results were blank. He couldn't really mathematically manage how she would react down the long run.

Then again, it was hard to work out how someone would act or not act given that you were directly involved in the equation. He was biased; which, made it a little more frustrating.

And thus, in the end, he'd just concluded it was better to not worry about it as best as he could. For now it would be better to take it one moment at a time and not worry about the future. Depending on where things went he could and would then.

"Itachi, where are you going? We're here."

He paused, flashed his technique, and realized she was right. Somehow he'd miscounted the steps—distractedly—and walked a good foot past his open gate. "I had a moment," he replied as she turned around and followed next to her.

The porch was solid under his feet as he stepped up and across to the door, only to find it open.

"Sakura's about," Noin provided as he opened the screen door and she slipped in ahead of him.

"Itachi?"

"It's me," he confirmed as he let the screen door fall back against its frame gently. He crossed the room, a little surprised not to hear or smell food cooking in the kitchen for once. His brows rose as he came to gently bump the edge of the table with his upper thigh.

"I figured we'd celebrate your unbanning from take-out by getting… take-out." There was a smile in her voice as the sounds of plastic bags rustling began.

"Oh?"

She chuckled and he heard styrofoam sliding against itself as he stepped across the way to her, making sure to count correctly to the island he was positive she stood next to as she worked.

Her voice was directed at him as she spoke; she was looking at him. "That, and after my training session with your brother this morning and I was too worn out to cook. Sorry, hope you don't mind." Her smile had to be small, curious… her voice sounded as much.

Sakura blinked slowly, once or twice. A hesitant smile did cross her features as she paused and watched as he appeared to look at her. She didn't know why she felt guilty about being with Sasuke this morning… other than maybe the surgery she had yet to speak with him about. Which, was silly. There was nothing to feel guilty about. Sasuke was her team mate; of course she'd train with him… But…

She blinked, stilling as he reached up and touched her face. A calloused hand curved over her cheek, rested and then a thumb caressed softly. She watched as a brief half smile, half smirk became visible before he dipped in and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. For a short time her eyes closed, her hands dropped to the counter to rest and she fell into him. She inhaled softly as his fingers bare combed into her hair, into that area just behind her ear. And just like that… he was gone.

"Not at all," he murmured just loud enough for her to hear before he turned and took a seat at the table.

She stared at him for only a moment longer before she made their plates and came to sit down.

As she ate her small amount she thought about what they were going to do for the day. A good five minutes passed by before she felt like he'd eaten enough to want to converse. "I figured we could start with weapons today, if you want. I brought a few things with me in a duffel bag."

He nodded and wiped his mouth. "I don't see why not… Unless you've changed your mind."

She chuckled. "I don't think I would have brought the bag if I had."

"Sakura."

The pinkette blinked as Noin nudged her leg. She blinked down at her and then smirked. "Since when are you so quiet?"

The dog looked like she was frowning. "Bathroom," she muttered.

She smiled. "Are you hungry?"

"Nope, had dango. I'm just gonna go upstairs and take a nap. Wanted to let you know I was going to put hair all over Itachi's bed."

Itachi made a noise that sounded something like a grunt and Sakura laughed. "I see. But, you should know sweets like that—." She stopped short only because the wolfy mutt was halfway up the stairs and mostly out of earshot.

So, Sakura gave a soft laugh and rolled her eyes. "I suppose you were the one to give her dango."

He shrugged. "I don't treat her often. It's not as if I could have prior."

"I don't think you want to get into a fight with me about your past eating habits—which, by the way, were worse than Naruto's." Sakura stood and took her plate to the kitchen. "And that's saying something considering that boy lives and breathes salt-laden ramen."

Finished as well, Itachi stood and followed her into the kitchen as he heard the clatter of her plate and utensils.

"You could have a better bedside manner."

She snorted as she turned to look over at him; she shifted back to make room for him to put his stuff in the sink as well. "No one else complains."

He smirked. "Too afraid to, I imagine."

Had he just called her scary? "Hey now—."

"Hello?"

Sakura's head jerked towards the kitchen opening as a familiar voice trailed from the screen door. "Kakashi?" she called out, stepping into the open dining area and living space. She gave a smile at him on the other side of the door. "Come in. We were just finishing lunch."

"Glad I didn't interrupt anything," he replied as he stepped in.

He was in his usual Jounin uniform, Sakura noted without surprise. It's was rare to see him in anything, and almost humanizing when he chose to. "What can I do for you?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I was coming up this way, going to training grounds for a bit to run through work out. Thought I'd drop by and see how things were."

She suppressed the urge to blink at that, but didn't comment how odd that remark seemed. Kakashi rarely did anything without a purpose.

"Hello Itachi." He looked around briefly and smiled softly under the fabric of his mask. "Things look better since I was last here."

"I suppose so," he replied behind Sakura.

She smiled wider. "Well, since you're here… and you were going to work out anyway… Would you mind some practice work with Itachi? I'm kinda worn out from this morning with Sasuke. Plus, I need to see what he's doing without actually being involved." Might as well take advantage of him until he reveals himself, she mused.

His eyes slid from Itachi, to her as she spoke, and then back to Itachi. "I heard something about you learning to fight all over again…"

"I have been. We're starting weapons today."

"You don't mind do you?" she asked sweetly.

He sighed. "I doubt I have much of choice." There was humor hidden in his tone.

She chuckled. "If it makes you feel better, we got take out. So you can at least eat before we start."

"I think I'll take you up on that."

An hour later had Sakura sitting on a large rock in Itachi's back yard watching as he and Kakashi went through the rounds. Kakashi wasn't going too hard on him, which said a lot for Itachi's improvement. Overall, she was happy with how things had come along for him. He still wouldn't be able to take on missions, but if he had to defend himself he was more than capable of doing so.

Well, unless the surgery happened…

She refused to frown.

There was no reason to be nervous. Sasuke loved his brother. They just didn't have a real way to approach one another. She wasn't going to facilitate that; it wasn't like her to be nosey and pushy like Naruto. Not unless she had to.

Off topic, she berated herself.

She couldn't help it though. She wasn't even sure how to start the conversation with Sasuke. And she didn't want to talk to Itachi about first because she didn't want to get his hopes up. He wouldn't be obvious about it, but still. It just made more sense to ask Sasuke about it first. Neither would get mad over anything so trivial as who was asked first.

"You guys done?" she asked as Kakashi came over to her, Itachi not far behind.

"I think so. I've got some other things to do today."

She nodded and stood up.

"I'm going to take a shower, Sakura."

"Alright," she replied to Itachi before he turned around and headed back to the house. She noted Kakashi watching her as her gaze followed the elder Uchiha. As soon as he was back inside she looked over at him. Her hands went to her hips. "So, tell me what the real reason is for stopping by?"

"Never could pull anything over you."

She rolled her eyes. "Compliments won't get you out of it. Not that you want to be, or you'd be gone by now.

"What do you want to talk to me about?"

"Fair enough, I guess." His single black eye roved over to the house again. He dug his hands into his pockets. "There are about four people who know what's going on with Itachi right now; at least, on a deeper level than most.

"To sum it up, I'm one of those people and Tsunade told me about the surgery."

She blinked, not entirely sure what she was surprised about. "…Are you interested in—."

"No, I don't think it would work that well for me. Not until a little more research is done. No, I'm here because of you." He was looking at her now.

She frowned. "Is this some latent attempt at being a caring father figure?" Her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'm worried about how deep you're getting into this."

Her jaw flexed. "I swear, if you tell me he's not Sasuke, I'm going to—."

"Are you sure that's not what this is?" He scrutinized her, his one eye searching her own two.

"Kakashi—!"

"It's a valid question, Sakura." His voice was deep and calm, lacking any humor.

"No, I'm not confusing him for Sasuke. Kami," she muttered, looking away from him. Her focus stopped on a tree. "I'm over Sasuke. It's been months…"

"Don't discount all those years,Sakura."

"We didn't work, alright? I'm not the same person. Isn't that obvious?" Her gaze locked on his again.

"I know you've changed. You don't need to tell me, Sakura." His voice was less chastising and softer. "I'm just worried about you. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"If I get hurt it'll be my fault," she replied. "Look… I'm just not that girl and…"

"I'm not surprised," he said suddenly.

"Huh?" She blinked, confused at the change.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't trying to make this out be something it wasn't. I'm glad you're not. But, knowing that? I'm not surprised. You have a lot in common with him."

She just stared at him.

He smiled. "You both have a kind heart, even when you're too busy hiding it under a layer of protection."

She snorted eventually. "…So said the pot to the kettle."

He laughed then, ruffled her hair and turned around to go. "More than you know."

And then, in that mysterious Kakashi way that made Kakashi Kakashi, he left in a poof of smoke… as if she was still twelve and need dramatic shows of skill to impress her about him.

She shook her head and walked back to the house.

Silly man; somehow he'd manage to kill her nervousness for a few hours.

…

"Leaving?"

Green orbs blinked, darting upward from the couch where she'd been going through her bag. In that moment Itachi was right next to her. She smiled and turned to him. "Yeah, you'll be fine though, right Mr. Self-Sufficient?"

His calloused hands fumbled along her neck, almost startling her, and then reached up to curve along her cheeks. His forehead touched hers as he shut his eyes and inhaled deeply, tips of his fingers curling into her pink locks.

She stilled and her eyes softened. Her hands came up gently and pressed into his chest, staying there.

"I have to tell you," he whispered, "I miss you every time you're gone."

In romance novels there was always that fluffy moment writers talked about the instant you knew someone was that person; or, at the very least, told you that you knew you had a thing for a person, but might not know right away they were the one.

Sakura couldn't say with certainty she believed all that hogwash, even if it had given her a secretly dark warm fuzzy when she read them, but, she could say this was way up there. There were no metaphorical fireworks or dazzling stars blinding her vision; however, her heart did feel heavy, her skin felt warm, and somewhere—in that place emotions move about—something dropped in a good way. She almost lost her voice.

It was silly and perhaps a little over dramatic, but it was there all the same. It was especially there when he started kissing her like he would never see her again, like she was the only thing in the world.

"You're very good at that," she managed to whisper once he pulled away slowly.

He smiled at her and then hugged her, enveloping her in his somewhat larger frame. "Sure you can't stay?"

"I'd love to, but I have to do something important tonight." She pulled away from. "I'll be back tomorrow, same as always. At least until you get sick of me."

"Doubtful, but I imagine Tsunade will put you back on regular duties soon."

"Probably," she agreed as she went back to zipping up her bag. "Tell you what though, I'll bring an overnight bag tomorrow and stay to make up for tonight. I'll even bring dinner again, if you want. Or maybe I'll make something." She slid her bag over her shoulder and looked at him again.

He dug his hands into his pockets and exhaled long through his nose while he looked in her general direction. "I'm sure I'll survive somehow. It's getting late; I might turn in early."

She chuckled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she moved to go. As she made it to the door she said, "I'm sure Noin and you will get along just fine."

"Don't remind me."

Her laughter echoed all the way out the door and into the night. She still had a smile on her face even as she made her way down the path and back towards Konoha. It was almost eleven and she had just enough time to make it to Sasuke's if she went straight there.

The roads were darker out here than right in the main part of the village—not that it was far from the main part per say. But, things did get considerably brighter as she got closer to the less wooded areas. At this time of night everything was dead with the exception of the bar district, among a few other places.

She stifled a yawn as she came into her neighborhood—Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai's as well. She found it humorous that shinobi seemed to congregate in one living area. Maybe it made them feel more normal to be around people who understood them and their trade.

Sasuke's small place was just a block or two from her own. So, by the time she reached his door it was a good two or three minutes before her ETA.

She reached up to knock on his door but stopped when it opened, revealing to her the third semi-stoic member of her team.

He gave her an odd look. "I can sense your chakra approaching, Sakura." As if she needed a explanation.

"Right," she replied with a smile.

He stepped back and turned away from door, walking inside. She followed behind him and shut the door behind her.

As far as placement went, his apartment was almost identical to hers. But his kitchen was set to the right and completely open accept for an island. He also preferred to have traditional table with cushions for seating. And, it was far cleaner than hers; not that she would ever be shocked—Sasuke and OCD seemed to go hand in hand with the stick that had previously seemed to be stuck up his ass.

"Thirsty?" he asked.

"Warm green tea would be nice," she answered as she joined him at the table and set her bag next to her. Her eyes dropped to the pot on the table and the two small cups. She raised a brow at him as he began to pour. "Prepared, I see."

"It's not hard to remember what you like."

She took her cup with a smile and sipped from it. "Thank you."

He nodded. "You wanted to talk about something?"

She sighed and looked down at her cup as she set it carefully on the table. Her hands rested there. "Right to point, huh?"

"We've known each other a long time, Sakura. I don't really see the reason in easing into whatever it is you have to say to me with a bunch of useless BS about the weather and work." Coal orbs settled on her, but not harshly.

"True." She exhaled slowly and met his gaze. "What if…" she started, hesitating, "..what if I told you I'd found a way to fix your brother's blindness… The Mangekyo?

"Without killing anyone."

For the first time in her life she watched as genuine shock flashed across Sasuke's features, and not because of fear or anger. He didn't say anything to her for a moment; just stared like someone had sucker punched him in the gut and he hadn't reacted yet.

Eventually, he blinked once—more than likely out of necessity. And then his face softened, his eyes narrowed curiously, and his lips parted only slightly as if he were about to say something, but, he wasn't quite sure what yet.

So she went on.

"I've been running some tests on Itachi. I'm not sure if you're aware, but, he's always been—."

"Ill," he finished for her.

She nodded. "Yes. It took me a while, but I eventually figured out what your brother has is a rare birth defect that causes his chakra walls to become weakened. Too keep it simple: chakra does damage to inside of your brother's body when used more than just regularly

"I can fix that. The surgery is a little complicated, but not impossible." She kept her eyes locked on his. "In the midst of this, I've been researching the Sharingan based off what data I had from you, Kakashi, and Itachi.

"I can cure his blindness, Sasuke," she whispered. "But, it won't be permanent if he uses the Sharingan, not unless you agree to …trade eyes with your brother, to put it in simply.

"Not only would it help him, but, it would make your own Mangekyo permanent. You'd never have to worry about going blind yourself one day." She couldn't keep the hope out of her voice; not just for Sasuke and Itachi, but it was an amazing breakthrough regardless.

"Do you know what this means? Not just for you and Itachi, but for future generations of the Uchiha in Konoha? It means you can have a family one day without fear of your children killing each other for the Mangekyo. One surgery and it's over."

She really had nothing else to say after that; it would be rambling. But, that didn't stop her from biting her cheek and holding the rest in. The silence that echoed afterward made her want to fill that void with something. It didn't help that this was something she'd felt fairly nervous about telling him about anyway.

"Sakura…" He looked away, pulled his hands from the table and into his lap. "When you said you wanted to talk…" He swallowed. "I assumed you meant about us."

When his eyes locked on her again she stilled. Nervousness evaporated and was replaced by confusion, but most importantly fear; not for herself, but him.

She swallowed; her eyes softened and she frowned. It wasn't like Sasuke to be so honest. It was… weird. Different.

"When we broke it off…"

"Sasuke," she interrupted. "We just… we're better friends. We always have been. I just… I don't feel that way about you. I'm not sure I ever did. I think… more than anything else… I was in love with an ideal rather than you.

"We were together, what? Two months. You were never happy," she whispered. "You deserve someone who can make you happy. I can't do that…"

He closed his eyes, turned his head down and flexed his jaw as if upset. "… I'm not sure I know what that means."

And right before her eyes, he became that little boy she wanted to help and care for so badly all over again.

"I've spent my whole life hating everything. And even now, when I'm at a place where things are supposed to be good for me, I don't really know what it means or how I'm supposed to feel. You were the only thing that made sense when I came back… and then…"

She reached out and touched his arm. "Sasuke… I'm not that girl anymore. And I'm happy I'm not that naive anymore.

"You shouldn't settle for me when you can have something better. It's not fair to either of us."

"Does he make you happy?"

She was too startled to respond.

He looked at her then. "My brother."

She couldn't really say anything. How was it everyone seemed to know what was going on in her private life so well? It made no sense, unless there was some sort of rumor going around.

She sighed.

"He deserves to be happy, Sakura. More than me…" his voice was almost painful, filled with a thousand unspoken emotions she couldn't begin to unravel. "I suppose… if I have to give you up to anyone, it might as well be him."

"Sasuke—."

"I'll do the surgery. Just… I need some time."

She wanted to do something, anything to comfort him. This wasn't at all what she expected when she came in tonight. But, there it was. Somehow, mechanically, she stood up and grabbed her things; somehow, she made it across the room to his door. She stopped as she touched the knob.

"Don't hate him on my behalf—please," she said as she faced the door.

His laugh was bittersweet. "It's hard to hate a man for taking the woman you love when he gave up everything for you."

She wanted to say he was wrong, he didn't love her, that he just hadn't found what she had. She wanted to tell him he would. Instead, she just walked out.

AN :: And that took a while, don't cha think? Ok, so, this chapter was a little… boring. It felt boring to me. But, it was integral to show Sasuke at the start and to show some concern on Kakashi's part. So much of this story has been about her and Itachi that in order to move it along I needed to showcase some other characters.

I wasn't really sure about Sasuke's reaction. I thought maybe it might be humorous at one point, but scratched that idea. I think it's more important to work it this way, as I did when starting to craft this fiction.

And for those of you who don't know, I'm working on an original fiction n wattpad[dot]com. It's called the Chronicles of Rose Red. Look it up on the site. I'll be posting a ink to it on my profile soon. Any and all input is appreciated, especially if you enjoy my writing. The third chapter for it should be up very soon.

—Bladee