Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto.

For a second, she thought she was dying.

Looking into Itachi's eyes, suddenly so wide, she wondered why he didn't try his Mangekyou Sharingan now.

Chances were, this time he might win.

But then her eyes lost focus, as Inner Sakura whisked her away to a safe place, away from the pain.

The first thing she saw when her eyes refocused was the sky, partially hidden by tree limbs. Beside her was Sasuke, leaning against a tree trunk, breathing heavily as blood flowed out of his wounds. She touched her abdomin, felt a sticky wetness.

God. Bleeding.

She was lucky she wasn't dead.

"You saved me?" She asked, though talking hurt. Of course, breathing hurt; it wasn't like she'd stop doing either.

"Hn." She took that for an affirmative.

"What happened?"

"He pulled away at the last second," he answered.

"Less than a second," she corrected, "if I know him."

Sasuke was watching her, his expression unreadable. But his eyes weren't. There was something very angry in them. But then his jaw clenched, and he doubled over in pain.

Sakura moved immediately, practically crawling in the dirt to get to him. "What's wrong?" She asked. "What hurts? Talk to me." She pushed him over, but when she couldn't see his injuries, stuck a hand in the collar of his shirt so she could rip it off him and get a better look.

God. There were holes in him. Possibility of broken ribs. Stab wounds. And a hundred different bruises.

"Don't worry," she said quickly, molding chakra. "I can fix this. I promise."

His eyes widened when she set her hands on him, using the technique that Tsunade had taught her. Shosen Jutsu.

I can fix this, she told herself. I will not let Sasuke die.

The holes slowly--so slowly--healed up. The bones mended.

"How?" He breathed out the question.

"Tsunade. What else hurts?" She asked worriedly. "I can fix it."

She was tired. But he was still in pain. She knew it. She tried to find where else he hurt, but he slapped her hands away. "Fix yourself," he commanded. "Now."

"But..." she began.

"Now."

She put her hand on her abdomin, tried to heal herself. It was getting harder to mold chakra. She was so tired.

"Don't stop," he urged. "If you stop, you die."

Sakura smiled at him. "I don't mind." And then her eyes closed.

She didn't die. She was certain that she was going to, but she didn't die.

But that didn't mean that Sasuke's swearing at her didn't make her wish she was dead.

Though she wasn't sure what the effect of killing her would be if she was already dead. Since Sasuke repeated the threat several times, she imagined that she would die multiple times. And wondered how many names her name would appear on that shrine Kakashi-sensei and Naruto coveted. Did being killed by a former teammate/missing-nin count as being killed in action?

"Sorry," she said. "But if you do kill me, can you tell my parents? I don't want them to worry." She watched with some interest as a vein throbbed on Sasuke's head. It was the first time she'd seen him so angry. "Are you all right?"

He looked away. "Fine."

She sat up. "If you're hurt I can fix it."

"If you're going to fix anything, fix yourself!"

She blinked at him. "But I'm tired."

He shoved her back down. "Then get some rest."

"What if you leave?"

"I'll tell you."

"Liar." Sakura closed her eyes. "You never say goodbye."

Sasuke was still there when she woke up, leaning against the tree meditating. She watched him, expecting him to disappear at any time.

Too many times he had disappeared when she stopped dreaming.

"Better?"

She blinked. "You're still here."

"I said I would be," he opened his eyes and looked at her seriously. "What were you doing with Akatsuki?"

"Achieving my godhood," she told him earnestly. "I've discovered that I'm really, really lucky."

"Sakura."

"Building up a resistance to Mangekyou Sharingan. I can turn it against Itachi and make him wear a dress. A pink one. With sparkles and embroidery. And braid his hair."

"Sakura."

Damn. I thought he'd go for that one.

She looked away, up towards the sky. "I'm the only one who knows where Naruto is."

Sasuke tensed. "You told them?"

She gave him a disgusted look. "You'd believe that?"

"Sakura. What did you tell them." It was no longer a question.

"That he's not in Konoha. And he won't be when you attack." She sent him a glare.

He showed no reaction. "Who told you that?"

"Itachi. Three days ago."

That surprised him. But he did his best to hide it.

"They didn't question you for three days?"

"Sasuke." She aimed a ferocious glare his way. "Two questions. One. Just how stupid do you think they are? Two. And how weak do you think I am?"

He didn't answer. Which, she thought, was answer enough.

"It's Mangekyou Sharingan, isn't it?" She asked. "You don't think I can do something you can't."

Silence. Damn it.

"Fine. I told them where Naruto was. I gave them directions, drew them a map, and packed their lunches for them. In return they broke my fingers, my feet, and tried to kill me. It may or may not have something to do with my cooking. I was in no position to ask at the time. Also, Itachi asked me to marry him. We are going to wed next Spring under the cherry blossom tree in Konoha, adopt Kisame, and have many, many little Uchihas. Since obviously you no longer intend to revive your clan. Itachi intends to rebuild the Konoha police force, and join ANBU part-time. I will continue to be a ninja until I'm pregnant, and then I will retire. My first daughter I am going to name Akina, and she will follow my steps into the ninja academy. My son, Michio, will become a doctor. And we will invite Orochimaru over for tea every Sunday, where we will complain about work and gossip about neighbors."

He seemed to be waiting for her to give more details. Sakura considered punching him through a wall. Then discarded the idea, since there were none around.

"Itachi?" He finally said something!

"Of course," she said, deadpan. "He is obviously besotted with me. And no one can compare to him."

Yes. Finally, a reaction!

Though maybe not a good one.

"You trained with Orochimaru, Sasuke," she said quietly, again looking away. "Who's to say that I can't change after training with Tsunade?"

Note: Oooh, fun. Now on to Fall.

Oh, and sorry if this seems a bit OOC. I'm just a bit of a sarcastic person, so that rubbed off on Sakura. And I've been watching a lot of Inuyasha lately, so sometimes Sasuke sounds more like Inuyasha than himself. Erg.

By the way, Akina means "Spring Flower," and Michio means "Man with Strength of Three Thousand."

Also, I know that Kisame is older than Itachi (by ten years). By saying that they will adopt him, it's kind of Sakura's way of naming a rotweiler "Fluffy." She's just being really sarcastic.