A/N: Finally! An update! o.o


I could feel myself changing...

"I am sooooo sorry!" Haruno wailed, squeezing my hand so hard it felt about ready to snap. "I should have told you to hold on tightly before I even started the stupid skidoo. Are in a lot of pain? Oh, why am I even bothering to ask? Of course you are! I am soooooooo sorry!"

I lay in a ratty old cot in a tiny cabin, the only source of heat coming from an old wood-burning stove, with my injured leg splinted and elevated and my eyes drooping closed thanks to the pain-killers found in the first-aid kit on one of the skidoos. Haruno's words echoed distantly in my head, a faint lullaby to my inattentive ears. I felt the corners of my mouth quirk upward in the closest thing I'd had to a smile in a very long time. This made me wonder. Why was it Haruno's antics that were causing me to smile so suddenly?

While I'm on the subject, it may have been the pain killers that made me act different, feel different—be different—, but still, it worried me just how good it felt to be a normal person. I was remembering things, seeing things and feeling things that I had never experienced before. When did I ever have a dog named Yoshi? When would I have ever cried when he ran away and have my father comfort me? Why would I participate in a "hot dog" eating contest and why did I laugh when I lost? ... Why did I feel this odd affection for Haruno? Why was I noticing just how cute she looked when she was upset?

"I am so, so, sooooo sorry!"

I smiled softly, murmuring, "Fine..."

"No, it isn't fine! This is far from fine! If it were any farther from fine, you'd be dead!"

"It's a fractured ankle, not a brain tumor."

"But it was my fault!"

"Do you act this way with all of your patients?"

"Uh, no?"

"With Sasuke?"

"... Well, um, see, the thing about that is—"

"Yes or no?"

She sighed. "... No."

"Then don't do it for me. I don't need special attention and I'm sure that Sasuke will get angry if he sees you like this for me. He seems rather... troubled." This wasn't exactly a secret, I supposed. I mean, he was rather troubled in the shinobi world, also. And besides, he had tried to kill Haruno with fine china and if that didn't scream 'troubled' nothing did.

Haruno seemed to agree. "Yeah, I know... b-but I can't help it! I mean, how can I not want to do this sort of thing with the man I l—"

My eyes shot open and I looked at Haruno wide-eyed, my jaw hanging open. "Uh... what?"

Her face turned red and she quickly amended, "Th-This sort of thing with the man I-I... l-look up to with such admiration."

I sighed and watched as she stood to stare out the window as she whispered, "The ambulance should be here soon. Maybe I should go wait outside. She put her jacket on and was at the door in moments and the only thing I could think to do was stop her.

"Tell me what happened during that car wreck."

She froze and whispered, "I already did."

"I want the truth this time."

"Wh-What makes you think I haven't already?"

I sighed and sat up. "If you would just tell me the truth, I could help you. It has to do with Sasuke, even an idiot can see that, but what happened? A fight? Sasuke just cracked? Did we have some sort of love tryst?" I had to admit that all of the ideas had merit.

"All three," Haruno answered quietly, staring at the floor, "You and I made love just once... a-a few months before the wreck."

"So, Sasuke found out and snapped?"

"Something like that."

"I don't want to hear 'something like that'," I growled impatiently, "I want to know what happened."

Tears welled in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. "I... I became pregnant. Sasuke-kun had been so happy about it until we found out that I was two months along and the time our darling baby was conceived, he had been out of town. He quickly put the dots together and... h-he'd always been the type to take his anger out physically, but, this time, he was especially brutal. He... He killed our baby!" She choked back a sob, burying her face in her hands. "He forced you into the car and drove away. The car careened off a ditch and Sasuke-kun used the fact that it was both snowing and raining as an explanation.

"But, instead of killing you, he put you into a coma and after that he was never left alone long enough to do the job right. And, even if he was, he would get caught without an alibi."

So, Sasuke did try to kill me... just not in the way I remember.

She straightened her shoulders and held her chin high to pick up the pride her tears were leaking away and said in as strong a voice as she could manage, "I love you, Itachi."

My brow furrowed and I was at a complete for what to say. What was I supposed to say to something like this?

But Haruno opened her mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by a loud "Hiiiiiiya!" and the door was thrown open to show a busty blond wearing designer ski gear. Ino. Despite the fact that she had been in such a mad dash to get here, she had apparently had time to squeeze herself into the skin-tight suit, pull her hair back so not a single strand was out of place and apply her make-up perfectly.

She sighed with relief and exclaimed, "Itachi-kins! I was so worried about you!" She rushed forward and threw her arms around me tightly, exclaiming, "The hospital had to notify your next-of-kin that you were in an accident and they called me! And when I heard that Sakura got you into an accident—shame on you, Sakura!—I had to rush over here! It seems I even got here faster than the ambulance!"

I looked over Ino's shoulder to see Haruno staring at me with pain in her eyes. She nodded slightly and turned, walking out of the cabin.


A/N: Well, now you know why Itachi has amnesia! Surprised? Happy? Sad? Angry? Unimpressed? I won't know unless you tell me!