"Run Sasuke!" With that he bolted but not before looking back at me. We got off on the wrong foot, but we were still family. That much was proven with my Sharingan and willingness to protect him.

"Looks like it's just the four of us," said Jiraiya.

We all stood there for several moments. Each of us daring each other to make the first move. Itachi had his eyes focused on me, almost as if he could see straight through my bravado and see my knees trembling. I gathered what courage I had and activated my Mangekyo Sharingan along with my Byakugan. Itachi finally made the first move, by running straight at me, his Mangekyo burning at me. He pulled a kunai out, and I pulled out one of my own. He swiped at me and I dodged by leaning all the way back. I watched his kunai fly just above my nose before I knocked it out of his hand. I used the same hand I had used to knock it out of his hand to twist over and bring my legs up to kick at him.

He caught my leg and threw me into the wall and through it. It hurt like all hell, but I shook off the pain. When I was sure nothing was broken, I lunged at him, kunai at the ready. As it flew past his cheek, barely grazing it, he grabbed my arm and pulled me close to ensnare me into his Tsukiyomi.

I was pulled into this world where color did not exist. Everything was black and white as far as I could tell. I did not fight it. Instead, I welcomed it. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for.

"Itachi, stop," I said. Neither of us moved as he waited for me to continue. "This is just what I wanted, to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about," he said.

"I know the truth about the Uchiha clan. I know about how they were plotting a rebellion and that you destroyed them for the sake of Konoha, but I think Sasuke has a right to know too." Itachi's eyes widened as he took a step toward me.

"No!"

"I won't tell him without your permission, but I want to save you! You don't deserve to die like that! You should be praised as a hero for your great sacrifice!"

"No, I destroyed my family for power, I will never be praised like that!"

"But you didn't! No one knows what you've done! You deserve true happiness! I want to help you find it!"

"I would be happy enough to be killed by Sasuke," he said, slowly accepting that I knew the truth.

"But I wouldn't! I'm part of the Uchiha too! I want to salvage what's left of it! I want to save you and Sasuke!"

"Why?!" He shouted. I backed away. His usually impassive face was filled with anger and sadness. He carried a burden to heavy for me to bare. "Why do you want to save me? I destroyed the family you could have had!"

"No, my family was destroyed when I was born. My mother died and my father married another woman," I said calmly, "but I want the Uchiha to live in peace with Konoha! It will be a long struggle, but we can do it! I need your help!"

"How?!" he was so close to me now, his breath mixing with mine. "Why?! Why?! Why do you try so hard for someone you don't even know?! For someone who murdered everyone in his family?! Why?!"

"You and Sasuke are a part of my family, and I care for Sasuke just as much as you do. I want to save Sasuke from the dark path you are forcing him to go down! Why can't you see that you are hurting him in the long run?!" His hands shot up and curled around my throat. His hands were cold but strong.

"Shut up!" His eyes were wild. I had struck a cord that had not been touched for a long time. I gasped for breath and struggled to break free of his hold, but it was no use. "You don't know anything about me." What happened to the emotionless Itachi? This Itachi frightened me even more.

"You're right, I don't," I gasped. I reached up to his cheek and stroked it gently. He flinched slightly at the sudden contact. "I still want to save you though."

He released the genjutsu on me, but before I had time to recover, his hands were around my neck once more. He was going to kill me. He wasn't going to take the chance that I might tell Sasuke. I struggled against him, but I was powerless.

"Let... go..." I gasped. The edges of my vision were going black. Let go... Let go... Let go!...

LET GO!

His hands released me and he somehow went flying across the hallway into Jiraiya and Kisame. I felt my chakra dwindle and I felt a cold but familiar presence within me. Orochimaru's old chakra writhed and squirmed in my veins, ready to over come me at any moment. I didn't even have enough chakra to activate my eyes. I thought I heard Itachi say something as I fell to the floor.

My world went black.

I awoke to find a familiar face staring down at me, coal black eyes and hair. He looked worried. I managed to smile as my eyes fluttered open.

"The worried look on your face doesn't suit you, Sasuke," I muttered. He apparently heard it since he frowned and looked away.

"Tsuki-chan!" another familiar voice shouted.

"Naruto?" I barely managed to sit up before I was tackled by blue eyes and blond hair.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be okay I guess," my body felt like lead, but I was quite determined to sit up and look at my surroundings. Kakashi was there as well. He didn't look to bad, but I could tell he was struggling with it.

"Kakashi, if this is how you feel right now, go lie down right now!" I said.

"I wanted to see how you were going to react to being tackled by these two. Looks like you've created a special bond with these two boys," he said. Next to him stood a young girl who was about the same age as Naruto. She had lovely pink hair and pretty green eyes.

"I love your hair," I said to her. She blushed. "I'm Tsukiko Uchiha, a long lost relative of Sasuke's. You must be the female of the team."

"Haruno Sakura," she said with a bow, "and thank you."

"Sakura, huh? Gee, I wonder why your parents named you that?" I said jokingly.

"Well, it's good to see that Itachi's Tsukiyomi did not cause too much damage to your mind," said a woman with blond hair and big brown eyes. Standing next to her stood Jiraiya with a huge grin on his face.

"Thank you," I said. She smiled.

"You're welcome, I'm Tsunade, by the way, the fifth Hokage," she said.

"What exactly did he do to you?" asked Jiraiya. "I've never seen such a wild look on anyones face."

"That's not important. I have the Mangekyo so I was able to fight back to some extent," I said.

"Well, what ever happened, it must not have been too terrible," said Tsunade. "I'll need you and Kakashi to stay here in the hospital for at least a few more days, and Kakashi, that means go get in bed NOW!" Sure enough, Kakashi was gone and in his room before the Godaime could say another word to him. Tsunade left the room with Jiraiya hot on her heels.

Not being able to take the pain much longer, I laid back down with a sigh. Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at me worriedly.

"You going to be okay?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said. "A few days rest and I'll be out training again."

"Hey, maybe Kakashi-sensei will let you train with us," said Naruto.

"I don't know," I said. "I guess he wouldn't mind having another jounin to spar with. Anyway, you guys go on home. Kakashi and I will be fine." They all nodded and left the room.

Now that I was alone, I had time to think about what had occurred between Itachi and I. He had tried to kill me. Not that I blame him, it had been his mission to kill all the Uchihas. With no emotional ties to me, it would have been easy for him, had I not been so insistent in saving him. He may have been a serial killer, but he had done it on orders. He didn't deserve to die for the sake of another's crimes. Besides, it was better that the Uchiha die then have millions of others die and suffer because of their selfishness.

The honest to goodness truth was, if I had been in Itachi's place, I would have done the same thing. I had never seen the horrors of war, not like Itachi had. I had been protected from it all, by my biological mother, the Hokage, and even my foster parents, so I could only imagine the pain he had to go through, but I could still sympathize, care, and in the end love him. He was family, and through the nineteen years that I had lived so far, I had learned at least one thing.

Family does not get left behind. I needed my family, and Itachi was part of that family. I would save him... even if it meant my own death.

Later that night, I woke up to go to the bathroom and to stretch my legs a bit. I walked by Kakashi's room to see him still in bed. I walked by the office when I heard voices. Tsunade and Jiraiya were talking about the fight between Itachi and I.

"So tell me again what happened?" asked Tsunade.

"Well, after Itachi used his Tsukiyomi on her, he grabbed her by the throat and began to strangle her. I tried to get to her, but Kisame kept me away. When it looked like she was about to pass out, her body seemed to light up in a fiery blaze, and Itachi was thrown back into Kisame and myself. I'm not sure if any one else felt it, but something was there, protecting her. As quickly as it had come, it vanished. Itachi and Kisame fled leaving Tsukiko and I alone," Jiraiya replied thoughtfully.

"Anything else you can remember?"

"Well, I thought I heard something about the Phoenix, but I'm not sure," said Jiraiya. I felt a shiver run down my spine. I had no memory of this occurring, no flames engulfing me or a voice about the Phoenix.

This information was a little frightening for me and I hurried to the bathroom and to my room. Phoenix? What could that be about? Was it another ability I possessed, and if so, how could I access it?

These thoughts swirled around in my head in a never ending hurricane of emotion. Bolts of fright over not knowing struck me every now and again. Eventually I fell into a restless sleep.

I was gently floating down a river, my long black hair fanning out around me. The water was warm and inviting. On one side of the river, the trees were burning, and I saw Sasuke walking along that side, staring at me. On the other, the trees were burning from the black fire of Amaretasu, and Itachi was walking on that side, a sad smile on his face as he watched me.

The river ran into a cliff where there was a huge dragon carved into the cliff's face. The mouth of the dragon opened for the river to enter and I gently floated inside. The roof of the cave was covered in bright crystals that looked like stars, but as I took a closer look, I saw each crystal was reflecting my Mangekyo. I stopped moving and one of the crystals grew. Inside stood my reflection. She stared back at me, an impassive look on her face.

Suddenly it changed. It was no longer my reflection, but rather it was Naruto. He opened his eyes, and instead of meeting with happy blue eyes, I was met with angry, evil red eyes with slits for pupils.

"Naruto?"

The crystal between us disappeared, and he brought his right hand back and a rasengan appeared.

"Naruto?"

"This is for Sasuke!" And he attacked.

I awoke with a startled cry. I had never seen such a murderous look in Naruto's eyes. I felt a shiver crawl down my spine. What would have made him hate me so much? Did it have something to do with Sasuke? I shook my head. It was just a dream. Just a dream...

Just a dream...

I laid back down on my hospital bed and let out a frightened breath. It was nothing more then that. I looked around at the empty hospital room. On the window were some get well cards and a vase full of flowers. No doubt bought at the Yamanaka flower shop. It was a mix of daffodils and white chrysanthemums.

Suddenly the door burst open to reveal Tsunade with a clip board in hand. Behind her stood Kakashi and Jiraiya, they all had solemn looks on their faces. I raised my eyebrow at them.

"So, am I going to die?" I asked. "Give it to me straight now."

"This is important," said Tsunade. I quickly shut my mouth. "I need to know, for your sake, what exactly happened during Itachi's Tsukiyomi."

"Didn't I tell you not to worry," I said. "Nothing bad happened. I was able to fight it in time." My hand went to my throat subconsciously. I could still feel his hands on my throat.

"Look we need to know," said Jiraiya. "Something happened afterwards and it was probably triggered by Itachi's Mangekyo."

"What happened?" I asked, pretending I didn't know. Jiraiya explained what happened.

"Do you remember that?" asked Tsunade.

"No, I don't," I replied.

"Well, can you think of any time that sort of thing happened before?" she asked. I thought about it for a moment. I could vaguely remember something when I was six.

"Um, there was this one time a friend of mine and I were playing by this cliff," I started. I told them a story about how my friend fell off the cliff, and in my desperation, I ran down to see if she was all right. Her back was broken so she couldn't move. I hugged her, and the next thing I knew, I was somewhere else. I'm not sure how to describe it. There were lights all over the place. I reached out and touched one, and it came to life. The light engulfed me, and I found myself experiencing one of her past experiences. Suddenly the memory faded and the lights started to dissipate one by one. I did my best to save the lights, but it was no use. Eventually every light went out. I had thought it was just a dream at the time, but when I woke up, it had been a month since the incident. My friend was dead.

"That is the only strange thing that's happened to me," I said. Tsunade just nodded her head. Kakashi stared at me with his coal black eye, and I'm not sure if I was imagining it, but I thought I saw a hint of worry. Jiraiya had a stoic expression.

"That is unusual," said Tsunade. "Do you know anything about something called the Phoenix?"

I shook my head. Tsunade frowned. I felt like I was being interrogated.

"Look," I said. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm sure it'll never happen again." I sure as hell didn't tell them that the day after the incident occurred, the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and give out cookies again to reviewers. I tried to put more fight in this, but Tsukiko said she didn't want to destroy the building so she didn't use any of her ninjutsu. I was very disappointed. Anyway, ten cookies to each reviewer! So review please. The couples thing is still open for debate. If there's a couple you want to see happen here (that's not SasuSaku) go ahead and convince me, it won't be hard.