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.Heaven's Gate: Princess.

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Chapter Twenty-Five: The Tale of Uchiha Itachi, the Traitor.

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Uchiha Itachi sat on a big boulder facing a big lake. His eyes were distant as he stared at the moon.

"So,"

He turned to find his teammate, Kisame, sitting on the ground, frying pig's meat on a stick.

"You sure you gonna do it?"

Itachi looked back at the moon.

"Yes."

Kisame sighed.

"The Princess could bring peace to the world," he said.

"I have my mission," Itachi replied. "And the order is to gain the Princess's trust so I can be close enough to her to kill her without anyone suspecting me."

Kisame poked the meat and took it out of the fire.

"Here," he turned to Itachi and threw the meat. Itachi turned and grabbed it. They started eating.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow morning," he told Kisame. "You better stay around the country so you can come check on me once in a while."

"Okay," Kisame nodded.

"Don't judge me,"

"Okay."

-

Kisame stopped and turned to Sasuke.

"We have to jump over," he looked in front at a big rocky wall standing tall in front. "It's quite tall, can you do it?"

Sasuke looked at the wall and smirked.

"Yes," he nodded. Kisame rolled his eyes and shrugged. He jumped first, followed by Sasuke.

"See that?" he pointed to a big clearing on the horizon. "That… should be his base. I saw black uniformed ninjas going in and out of that place days ago, so that should be it."

Sasuke nodded and followed Kisame, walking just behind him.

"Continue," he said to Kisame who nodded.

-

Itachi bowed in front of the King and Queen. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at the sight of him but then shrugged.

"Okay, Itachi," he turned to Ino's mother who nodded and left the throne room. "You will be taking care of my daughter and keep her out of danger. The more you spend time with her you will know why she needs a bodyguard all to herself."

Tsunade smiled and turned toward the door as Sakura entered. She frowned in annoyance as Sakura walked impossibly slow.

"Sakura! Get your butt here!" Tsunade yelled.

Jiraiya slapped his forehead and turned to his wife.

"The way you speak is so un-Queen-like," he whispered.

Tsunade glared at him and he turned back to Itachi, ignoring her glare.

"Itachi, that is the Princess you'll be taking care of," Jiraiya gestured toward Sakura who wasn't even halfway toward them.

Itachi turned and see her. He was amazed by how beautiful she was. Her pink hair was shoulder-length, and her eyes were the brilliant shade of green. She was small though, barely a teenager.

"She's eleven," Jiraiya smiled as Sakura ran toward him. Sakura jumped onto his lap and curled up into a ball on his left, avoiding her mother's glare. "Do you think you can handle this job?"

Itachi's cold eyes stared at Sakura. Sakura stared back at him and beamed. He couldn't fight back the urge to smile back and so he did.

"Yes,"

-

"She was eleven?!" Sasuke was shocked. "My brother… fell for an eleven years old girl?"

Kisame scoffed at him.

"She is adorable, and he was just sixteen anyways," he sighed. "Who wouldn't fall in love with her, right Sasuke?" he grinned at him. "He knows the boundaries. He was just taking care of her, no kissy scenes or make out stuff involved. It was more of a brotherly love anyways."

Sasuke turned his head around to hide his red face from him.

"Okay, so anyways," Kisame continued. "Time went by and eventually everyone likes him. Especially Ino and Ten-ten who are Sakura's close friends. Shy Hinata was just too shy to even stay near him. Even the four Gods who were also eleven at the moment like and respected him. He was like a big brother to everyone she knew."

"The four Gods are eleven?"

"They are inside her body, so they age along with her," Kisame kicked a rock out of the way.

Sasuke nodded.

"He got too attached," Kisame's tone was different. "Got too attached to everyone, especially Sakura."

-

Sakura pulled on Itachi's long hair. He winced and grabbed her waist. She screamed in shock but laughed as he tickled her.

"Itachi,"

Itachi looked up. Tsunade stood in front of the door, her gold colored eyes stared at him. They looked strained, he nodded and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Sakura's tone rose up in panic.

"I'm just going to be outside," Itachi walked toward the garden. "Not far."

Sakura turned to her mother who was making her way toward her. Sakura nodded and saw Itachi closed the door.

"What is it mother?"

Itachi sat outside the door, listening to their conversation. He wasn't supposed to eavesdrop but the look in the Queen's face made him unsure and confused. He just thought it would be necessary to eavesdrop… just this once.

"You have to be strong Sakura," the Queen said.

"Strong? Why? I think I'm strong enough already. Every day you train me in ways that could only exist in Hell."

A 'smack' was heard, followed by Sakura's 'ouch!'

"I don't mean that," her tone changed. "I mean… well, Mommy's going to go soon, Sakura."

Itachi's eyes widened in shock.

"Go? Go where?" Sakura panicked. "Are you and Daddy fighting again? You can just punch him if he's mean to you, right Mommy?"

"No, not fighting. Mommy is just going to take a very long vacation,"

Itachi's eyes tightened at the thought. He knew what was going on… he just couldn't bear the thought of having the Queen gone and a weeping country.

He cursed the mission. He had seriously developed a feeling for the country and that wasn't something he was proud of. He was part of an organization where emotions were erased. They weren't supposed to come back. They were erased for a reason.

So this emotion that he was feeling won't get in the way of his mission.

"Long vacation? To where?"

"To Naruto's home, I'm going to have a long break,"

"Naruto's home? But his home is up there…" she trailed off. And then her voice broke as she screamed: "Mommy's not dying, are you Mommy?!"

Itachi covered his face as he tried to ignore her panicked screams and cries.

"Sakura!"

The screams stopped altogether.

"Do you want to see Mommy suffers?" a pause. And then her voice softened. "Mommy's going to a better place. Don't worry. We will still be able to talk, that's because you are still connected to Naruto and the others. So don't worry."

"I love you, Mommy…" Sakura's voice was mumbled.

"I love you, too," Tsunade's voice was thick with tears, but also with proud at what Sakura was able to accept.

It took a while until Tsunade spoke.

"Itachi,"

Itachi closed his eyes and then shook his head to chase away the terrible emotion he just felt. He put on his mask and opened the door.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

Sakura looked at Itachi, her green eyes were sparkling with the tears. She hid her face into her mother's arms and sobbed again.

"Are you listening to our conversation?"

Itachi nodded.

"Can I trust you to take care of her?" Tsunade looked at Itachi. Her gold eyes stared at his for a long time.

"Yes."

"Thank you," she smiled. Itachi studied her face and just realized that it was paler than usual. She took a deep breath and seemed to be gasping for a while. Itachi panicked. Could it be… her disease was growing wild right now?

"May I be excused to call Mrs. Yamanaka?"

Tsunade looked up and smiled her pale smile. New beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.

"Yes, please,"

Itachi opened the other door when suddenly a loud 'boom' was heard, it sounded very close. His head snapped around, shocked, his ears rang. The garden door was gone and a shinobi in black stood there.

"Hime-sama!" Itachi yelled, panicked. He ran toward them. The ninja raised his hand and threw kunai with explosives. Itachi was still distracted on the thought of the Queen dead that he didn't see them coming. They hit him and he was thrown away.

He shook his head and saw what was happening.

The shinobi walked forward and was about to grab Sakura but Tsunade hit him, sending him flying away. He came back and grabbed her instead by mistake.

"Mommy!" Sakura screamed as more tears rolled down her eyes. "Itachi nii-chan!"

Itachi ran to her and took her in his arms. He looked at the direction the ninja went, his eyes tightened with fury.

He looked at her and sighed.

"Can you call your four Keepers to come out, please?" he asked. "They need to protect you while I'm off to save the Queen."

Sakura nodded and closed her eyes. Itachi's eyes were looking outside and at the sky where grey smokes were polluting them.

"We're attacked," he muttered to himself.

He looked back at her when the four Gods were present. He turned to Naruto.

"Take care of her," he said. And then he turned to Gaara. "Cover the room with your sand; don't let anyone go through your sand." He turned to Neji. "Go get Kakashi to have some of the ANBU take care of the shinobis that are trying to get through the sand."

Gaara nodded.

"I'll get my sister," he said.

Itachi nodded.

"Thank you,"

-

"So he went to take the Queen," Kisame said. "He was more focused and it was easy to retrieve the Queen. Although…"

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"Mommy!" Sakura screamed as she ran to her mother's side. "No! Wake up!"

Itachi placed the Queen down on the ground. Sakura cried and refused to let go when Ino's mom came and tried to pull her. Kakashi looked away, his mask may cover the rest of his face, but his visible one eye produced lots of tears that wet his mask.

Jiraiya came running with an expression of shock. He stared at Itachi who looked away, hiding the look he had on his eyes; pain.

"Tsunade!" he screamed as he saw his wife, on the ground. Her eyes were closed and she had a peaceful face on. Even dead, she still looked beautiful.

"Her soul is up on Heaven," Temari appeared out of nowhere suddenly. Her eyes were both grave and relieved. "I just received a message from Pein. It's Tsunade's final message."

Temari closed her eyes and opened them. They were gold colored, she spoke but it was Tsunade's voice.

"Sorry I had to leave earlier than planned, Jiraiya. I didn't expect it as well. But all is well up here, so far so good. Be happy and take good care of Sakura. Itachi, thank you so much for your help on dealing with her, I appreciate it. I don't think we could ever find a better bodyguard. Sakura, sorry that Mommy is up here now. Take care, and don't worry. We can still talk to each other so you will never be alone."

Sakura cried and dashed toward Temari. She hugged her tight, but the message was over. Temari blinked and looked at Sakura, confused. She sighed with pity and placed her arms around Sakura, comforting her.

Itachi walked away, and no one cared. Everyone was too deep in their own emotion of loss.

"Itachi," Kisame stood next to a tree, hidden from everyone. "He demanded for you to kill the girl already."

Itachi glared at Kisame, he jumped and grabbed his sword involuntarily.

"He told me he'll send his men to kill you if you don't do the job,"

Itachi turned away.

"Tell him not to worry," he said. "I'll finish the job tonight. People will think it's a suicide, perfect timing. Since the Queen had just died."

Kisame nodded and walked away into the forest. He sighed and shook his head. Turned out the little girl was unable to change his cold heart.

-

"Did he do it?" Sasuke asked, remembering the time he was told to kill her but cowered out.

Kisame turned to Sasuke.

"He tried,"

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. His big brother… really did try to kill Sakura??

But…

It explained why Sakura, Ino, and Ten-ten were the only one on his side every time he talked about Itachi. The others, even Kakashi and the four Gods hated him.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, still shocked.

-

Sakura looked up at Itachi. Her eyes widened in shock at the sight of his shining katana shining under the half moon.

"Itachi nii-chan?" Sakura muttered, confused and shocked.

Itachi's face was a mask of no emotion. He walked toward her without hesitation.

Sakura took steps backward, frightened.

"Itachi nii-chan?" she sobbed.

Sakura tripped and fell on the mattress, she looked at him, her eyes were red with all the tears she'd shed.

Itachi placed his foot on her, locking her in place. Sakura grabbed his foot and tried to push it away, failing badly. He raised his katana. He could see the katana got reflected in her two big eyes.

"No!" she screamed.

Four lights shot out of her body, one of the light shot through his hands, making him drop his katana that landed just inches away from Sakura's hair; cutting some of the tip of her hair.

Her Keepers stood around her, shocked at the sight before them.

"You!" Gaara yelled, furious. "What are you doing?!"

"What I'm supposed to be doing since long ago," Itachi replied, his tone cold.

"To kill her?" Lee's words were barely a whisper.

"Yes."

Gaara screamed. His sand shot out of his gourd toward him. It punched him on the face and then on every part of his body. Neji followed, they were both blinded by fury.

Naruto stared at the sight; still shocked. He looked at Sakura who was sobbing out of fear and shock and disbelief.

His eyes tightened as the emotion engulfed him.

Itachi had betrayed them. Itachi had tried to kill her.

Itachi didn't deserve to live.

Naruto dashed toward Itachi, his claws were pointed at him.

Lee waited for the permission to kill Itachi. And Heaven granted it. Other than the fact that he was going to kill the Princess, he was also an Uchiha. An Uchiha barely deserve to live, it was still a shock how they even existed. They have such unstable emotion, but they were granted powerful bloodline that could destroy peace and harmony.

He nodded as the permission was granted. He ran toward Itachi and kicked him.

Itachi looked at Sakura as he blocked all the attacks, he had stopped attacking back a while ago. Sakura stared back at him.

And then, everything went black.

-

"Mangekyou Sharingan?" Sasuke guessed.

Kisame nodded as they crossed a big river.

"Argh, this is annoying!" he cursed. He raised his hand and the water went in half.

"Wow," Sasuke muttered.

"I know, I know," Kisame grinned at himself. "I'm cool."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and followed him close by.

"Well, because of that I didn't know what happened," Kisame said, "All I know is that whatever he said when she was in his head made her cry so hard when they killed him."

-

Sakura hugged Itachi's neck so hard that he'd be choking if he was still breathing. She glared at her Keepers and yelled at them. Her screams and yells were audible, but she sounded like a crazed girl.

They looked at each other guiltily and confusedly.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto reached out toward her.

She moved away from him, pushing Itachi's body away a little.

"You can go back now," she muttered, her voice was thick with tears and was mumbled by Itachi's hair.

Her Keepers looked at each other. Neji sighed and then nodded. Naruto closed his eyes tightly as she started screaming Itachi's name when they started to disappear.

"Sakura!" Mrs. Yamanaka burst into the room.

"What happened?!" Kakashi walked in, shocked. He looked at Itachi's dead body and fell onto his knees. "Who did this?!"

Sakura didn't answer. She kept on her endless crying while hugging his neck, not wanting to let go. Mrs. Yamanaka pulled on Sakura.

"Sakura, let go," she said, her tears rolled down her eyes. "He's gone."

"I know!" Sakura screamed. "Go away!"

She pushed Mrs. Yamanaka away from her and cried for the whole night.

-

"That's the entrance, I think," Kisame pointed to a big hole.

"It was a big clearing when we saw it from afar," Sasuke frowned.

"Maybe it's an illusion," Kisame guessed as he narrowed his eyes to look better.

Sasuke shrugged.

"We'll know sooner or later,"

Kisame nodded and took his sword.

"Ready?"

Sasuke nodded and they both walked forward cautiously.

-

Jiraiya's face reddened in anger as Temari appeared the next day and told him the story.

"He…" he was speechless. "He tried to kill Sakura?!"

Temari nodded, her face was filled with disappointment.

"That's why her Keepers killed him," she said. "I don't get why Sakura cries over him, though. My brother told me he had his foot on top of Sakura's chest with his katana in the air. Yet, she cries over him."

The King shook with fury. A toad appeared on his shoulder and muttered something to him. After a while he relaxed.

"You know how Sakura is, Temari," he said. "Thank you."

Temari nodded and bowed. She walked out toward the door and then the wind came and engulfed her, then she was gone.

Jiraiya leaned on his right hand and closed his eyes, frustrated.

"My Lord,"

He opened his eyes and found Mrs. Yamanaka bowing before him.

"What is it?"

"Sakura wants to talk to you,"

Jiraiya nodded and walked to her room as fast as he could.

"Sakura?" he opened the door.

Sakura screamed 'Daddy' and ran to hug him.

Jiraiya closed the door and nothing more was heard.

Kisame stood against a tree, his eyes were dark as he knew what happened and what had failed.

He turned and jumped away toward the Headquarter, to tell about Uchiha Itachi's failure. The one person who was now known as 'Uchiha Itachi, the Traitor' in the Fire Country.

-

"I still don't get how they still want to hire an Uchiha after what happened," Kisame cut through a big banana tree.

Sasuke climbed over the fallen banana trunk and followed Kisame close by.

"I think it's because me and him don't grow up together," he said. "I was taken by Matsuo Tabi when I was eight. Our village got massacred; even our parents and the two of us had to move from village to village, from city to city to survive. One day, our luck ran out and we stumbled in a desert with no way out. The two of us fainted, but when I woke up he was gone and I was in Matsuo Tabi's care already."

"Hm," Kisame nodded.

He looked forward, his mind elsewhere but he kept on cutting down trees that were in their way.

"Yes I killed everyone in the village. They wanted to take Sasuke and make him a sacrifice for the Uchiha God. It's dumb, so I had to take him away. They were in my way so I killed them. Even Mom…"

In truth, Tobi, their leader, was the one that found the two Uchiha siblings in the desert. But Tobi told him that Sasuke wasn't breathing by the time he found them. He took only Itachi because he was the one with more chance of survival. Now, he wasn't so sure whether what Tobi said was true or false.

Because now, here he was with the brother of the man whose soul must be rotting in Hell.

-

Sakura opened her eyes to find she was in a jail. The place was dark except for a straight thin white line on the floor. She crawled forward but her hands jerked her body back. She looked at her right hand and slumped when she found it was chained to the wall. She crawled back and leaned on the wall.

"How I wish I didn't open 'Heaven's Gate'," she muttered, shaking her head. "Sasuke-kun… will he come and rescue me?"

She buried her head in her knees as she cried.

During that time, she remembered the time she spent with Itachi and the time she spent with Sasuke. Both were unforgettable. As she remembered her time with Itachi, she remembered what he told her when she got sucked into his Mangekyou.

"Sorry, Sakura. I had to do my duty. But I will not kill you. Let them kill me, I will not go back to my leader saying I was too cowardly to kill you." Itachi sighed and stroke Sakura's cheek. Even though she was in an illusion, it felt real.

"We're not supposed to be feeling any emotion," Itachi smiled. "We're supposed to be brainwashed. But I'm really glad I accepted this mission even though it ended badly. Thanks to you, your Mother and Father, your faithful Keepers, and your loved ones around you I now know how it feels to be happy, to be sad, to feel pain, and to love."

Sakura cried and hugged him. He hugged her back tightly.

"I'm really sorry Sakura," he said. "Don't let anybody know about this conversation except your Father." He paused. "And if by any chance, you happen to meet my younger brother, please tell him this and that I'm sorry I left him."

Sakura nodded and let go of him as he started to fade away.

"I love you, Sakura," Itachi smiled. "I will see you again, so don't cry."

Sakura sobbed at the memory and hugged herself tighter.

She was now confused.

Would Sasuke ever give her more love than the one Itachi gave her? Or was that too much to ask from him?

She knew she love Sasuke more than anything since the love she felt for Itachi was the love she'd felt toward her brother.

But Sasuke was more immature than Itachi was… and she was afraid that he would always make choices that involved hurting her.

She shook her head and the thought went away.

For the time being, she would just have faith.

Sasuke promised her. And she's going to trust him.

As she looked around in the darkness, for the first time, she didn't feel lonely.

Maybe because she could feel the presence of someone very familiar around her as she dozed off.

-

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It was faster than expected but I spent most of the weekend making this anyways.

Hope you enjoy it, and CRY! Because Itachi's here :)

Thank you for all the supporting reviews. All the problems are way behind because I just watched Clannad :D

Haha, kidding. No, it's just because I've moved on. The past is past and we should look forward to the future.

"Keep moving forward" – Meet the Robinsons. (Originally Walt Disney's Quote)

SPOILER

Anyways, did any of you read the newest Naruto chapter from Onemanga??

I'm so pissed! Like, the damn guy Danzo got selected to be the 6th Hokage because Tsunade went into coma because she had to give all of her chakra to her slug to help the villagers.

At first, everyone agreed that KAKASHI should be next. Since he was the 4th's student, and the 4th was Jiraiya's and Jiraiya was the 3rd.

Then, this damned guy DANZO went the 3rd's philosophy is bad and bla, bla, bla. So his great-great-great student can't be Hokage cuz they'll be doing what he taught them.

I mean, if they don't want Kakashi to be one, then why not NARUTO?

I mean he rescued the village from Pein's attack and everyone was like celebrating (even Sakura hugged him), but they still don't consider him? Maybe cuz he's still too little to be a Hokage…

END SPOILER

Anyways and anyhow,

Reviews are appreciated.

PSIt'sRainy.