Hello! How're you guys doing? Well, I hope. To all the reviewers: THANK YOU SO MUCH. I love you guys. I really do.

2/3/2015: BIG change, DONE.

Chapter 21- Letters

Four pairs of eyes stared at the old woman accusingly, as she shrugged and started walking towards the forest. Kenji looked at Team 7 apologetically and put a hand on Sakura's head.

"You understand why she couldn't tell you, don't you?" he asked gently.

She laughed and nodded before Naruto grabbed her wrist and started dragging her back into the forest, Sasuke hurrying behind them.

"Okay, we don't like not knowing what happened out there. Tell us now," Naruto whined. Sakura rolled her eyes and looked back at the lake one more time, only to stop and pull her wrist back as she saw hundreds of the small blobs of light above the water's surface.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked quietly. She glanced at him once and frowned.

"Don't you see them?" She asked as she looked towards the lake once more, only to see that the blobs had disappeared. "Never mind." She let Naruto pull her away once more. Sasuke followed after them with a thoughtful expression.

Sakura glanced at him and tilted her head. "Are you okay?" He nodded but looked at her weirdly.

"What?"

"Ah. Nothing. Now tell us what happened." Kakashi stared at Sasuke for a few seconds, and chuckled knowingly. Then he glanced at the only female in his team and sighed.

"You seem rather worried," Kenji commented as he and Kakashi followed the group at an unhurried pace.

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked at him with a somewhat bored expression.

Kenji chuckled and touched his companion's forearm, and the companion in question stiffened and stared at his hand like it had committed a personal offence.

"Don't worry, Kakashi. Your student is strong, and there are many who will rise up to support her in her time of need. When the time comes, she will not be alone in the final battle." 'So there will be a battle.'

"Ah. I know that," Kakashi muttered. 'After all, I'll be among those who will support her.' "Um, could you please remove your arm from my person?"

Kenji stared at him, and he stared right back.

"But where will we find him?" Naruto asked angrily. "How will we defeat him if we don't know where he is?"

"Naruto! I just said that he'll come to us-or me, actually-on his own. We just have to be prepared."

"Us. To us. There's no way you're facing him alone, Sakura," Sasuke said firmly.

"Um, Sakura-sama?" A small voice came from outside the room.

"Come in, Shinta. And call me Sakura, please."

"Ah. Sakura-san. A letter came for you," he murmured shyly as he stepped in.

"Really? Who sent it?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I-ah, I didn't check," he said blushing. He handed the letter to Sakura and ran out of the room. Sakura opened the scroll and rolled it back up just as fast.

"It's from Itachi," she breathed anxiously.

"So, read it," Sasuke stated with one eyebrow raised.

"What, with you two hovering over my shoulder?"

"But-" Naruto broke off as his raven-haired best friend started pushing him out of the room.

"Let's give her some privacy, shall we? If she wants us to know the contents of that letter she'll tell us herself." She shot him a grateful look and he gave a small smile in return and slid the door shut.

Sasuke stared at the door before he sighed and turned, only to see Naruto pouting at him. He snorted and smacked him in the face, smirking when the blond glared at him with teary eyes.

"You jerk! You just want to look good in front of her all the time," he whined while rubbing his nose.

"Really? You do realize we're talking about the girl who's seen me slip and fall in the stream near the training grounds at least five times," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Uh- yeah, well. Don't you want to know what Itachi's written?" He asked with a sly smile.

"She should get to read it alone first," he muttured.

"Finally realized it's just a crush, eh?" Naruto laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hn. Doesn't change the fact that she's one of the most important people in my life."

"Believe me, I get it."

"And listen- Sakura should not find out about this. Ever."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. She'd probably be horrified."

"Whatever. I don't hear her crying so it can't be anything that bad," Sasuke commented. By now the two of them were sitting on the floor, against the door.

Sakura...

I hope you're well. I'm not quite sure if you have reached but I was bored so I started writing this letter. You will not believe how annoying my travelling companion is. She talks constantly and likes to talk about pointless things. Onto more important matters.

You're young, Sakura. You deserve to be with someone who can make you happy, be by your side whenever you need him, pamper you to the fullest, and someone who will actually be there to see that grin of yours when you're excited. Someone who can wipe your tears after you've lost a patient, someone who can hold your hand during festivals, someone who can hold you in his arms while you're watching a scary movie, someone who can treat you to dango(once in a while, of course. They're delicious but everything is good only in moderation) and watch your eyes shine with delight.

I will be that someone. I will be that man, and I will treat you like the queen you are. I only ask one thing of you: don't give up on us. On me. I've never done this sort of thing before but there's a first for everything and I'm glad all my firsts will be with you. Forgive me for trying to finish things the other day, I swear to you, I believed that it would be the right thing to do. Thank you for putting an end to that.

Reply when you can.

Yours truly,

Itachi

"I don't like spiders," Shisui snapped irritably.

"Eh? Why not?" Ino asked curiously as Genma started laughing. The three of them were at a teahouse, and Ino waved at Hinata and her teammates as they entered.

"Oh man, that was hilarious," He stopped laughing when he saw Ino glare at him and quickly explained. "Our team was on a mission-with Saku-and Itachi and Saku were sharing a room. So, Shisui here was trying to eavesdrop on any conversation they may have had with his ear against the wall when we heard Saku scream. We, of course, immediately ran to her rescue but Shisui was rendered rather useless when he saw what made Saku scream."

"What was it?" Ino asked apprehensively.

"A spider." She stared at him for a second before she burst out laughing. None of them noticed when Shino went still and looked at them.

"It's not funny. It was huge! It could have hurt us," Shisui snapped defensively knowing very well that wasn't entirely true.

"What species?" Asked a calm voice. They looked up at Shino, looking confused.

"Well, I-uh, I think it was a Huntsman spider," Genma answered.

"And what did you do then?" He questioned quietly.

"We made Itachi kill it, and then Hyūga summoned one of his birds-Charles, to be specific- and it ate the remains." They held back a flinch as Shino's expression (what they could see of it) hardened.

"That species is harmless."

"Err, so it..it wouldn't have killed us or anything?" Shisui winced at how childish he sounded.

"No. It was probably more scared than you were," Shino said in a strangely calm tone.

"Oh. I'm...sorry?" It sounded more like a question.

"That is alright. I did not expect you to know," he stated and walked back to his table.

"Well, that was odd," Shisui commented. When there was no reply, he glanced at his companions to see them staring at him with horror.

"What?"

"Shisui, don't move. But there is a huge insect sitting on your left shoulder," Genma said softly. There was a short buzz as another flew up and sat on Shisui's other shoulder. Ino glanced at Shino and saw him smirking. She paled and shot up from her seat.

"I'm outta here!" She yelled and ran out of the teahouse. Genma grabbed the menu-card but froze he saw dozens of insects on their table.

"Oh sh-they're Aburame's kikaichū!" He told Shisui who blanched.

"ABURAMEEE. I'M SORRYYYY," he wailed and Shino smirked in a sinister manner.

Thank you Leonelasunny20, for telling me the huntsman spider is actually harmless! I feel a bit bad for killing it off.

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