Being an only child, Sakura had always wished for a big brother to rescue her when things got tough. When she was picked on for her big forehead and teased for her never going to happen crush on Uchiha Sasuke, she'd longed for someone to protect her, to console her, to know exactly what to say and do.

As she hugged him tighter, she thought she could've used a big brother like Itachi.

"Some of the sensor types I encountered had such an acute level of control, they could change the pattern of portions of their own chakra."

When Itachi said those words, the wheels in Sakura's head spun wildly. She recognized the message he was trying to send her. She needed to dig deeper into Karin's supposed pregnancy and discover the truth.

During her examination, Sakura recalled Karin saying that she couldn't keep food down for close to a month.

"Oooh, really, really good rabbit, Sasuke-kun. It's, uh, excellent."

The way she moaned and gushed over the rabbit Sasuke caught on their mission made Sakura sneer at the time—now, she was shocked as she remembered Karin devouring that roasted hare…as well as the fish she and Sasuke caught…and the katsudon at that teahouse.

Snorting, Sakura thought, Couldn't keep anything down, huh?

An injured Karin came to mind—she'd fractured her leg during the ambush in the forest. Sakura kicked herself for allowing emotions to trample over logical thought. She'd examined Karin thoroughly after healing her—it was standard procedure, something Tsunade drilled into her during training. She would've detected Karin's pregnancy then if there was a baby to be found.

A vision of a tiny vial filled with Karin's blood popped into Sakura's head—she'd done a blood test! That would surely clear up this mystery right away. She needed to get to the lab…now.

Like a roaring wave, shame flooded through her. In her misery, Sakura had avoided Sasuke. His disheveled appearance told her that he was suffering—she knew Itachi's presence was hard for him to deal with. She should've been there for him. What kind of a friend was she?

"Itachi, I have to go," she said, frantically grabbing her things. "I have to find Sasuke. I have to—"

Before she could fly through the door, Itachi grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks.

"Sakura, after you've talked to my brother, could you…could you bring him here?"

Hope had made her giddy, but this—this made her numb with joy.

"D-do you mean it? You want to see him? Really?"

When he nodded, she threw her arms around his neck again and Itachi chuckled.

"Okay, go on. I'm sure he can't wait to see you," he said before pulling her off and shooing her out the door.

Sakura's feet barely touched the floor as she soared down the hall. She hadn't felt this light in weeks.

Sasuke hadn't felt this weighed down in years. He scooped up an armful of shirts and jammed them deep into his pack as a vision of Sakura vaulting over a table to wrap her arms around Itachi filled his head. Sasuke ground his teeth, thinking it used to be his arms that she ran to. Eyes shining with warmth, Sakura's hands would slide into his high collar, so soft around his bare neck. Now, she turned eyes full of fear on him like he was a stranger.

Stiffly, he forced himself to continue gathering his things. Dropping a handful of ryō into a pouch brought to mind Naruto leaving half a bowl of ramen on Ichiraku's counter—Naruto with his fake smile and nervous avoidance.

The burning in his eyes and the tightness in his chest told Sasuke his chakra was percolating, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He wanted to explode. He wanted to yell and hurt and burn down everything in sight…but he continued stuffing his pack full of clothes and weapons until a chilly detachment settled over him.

Itachi.

Sasuke thought he'd finally find peace—contentment—when he returned his brother to Konoha. All the empty spaces and question marks in his head would finally be erased.

Instead, Itachi brought disquiet—rage—as his homecoming gifts.

Cinching his pack, Sasuke hauled it onto his shoulders and slipped out the door. The backpack felt heavier than the last time he walked this path. Could it be that just weeks ago he'd been here, not knowing that his life was about to be turned upside-down?

Why? he thought. Why now? Just when he'd settled in—found his team again, found his purpose again—the rug was yanked out from under him.

Naruto was tired of him. Sakura was afraid of him.

"I don't need them," he muttered to himself as a swirl of leaves blew around him, pushing him toward the Main Gate.

"I almost had him," Karin lamented as she absently ran a hand over her bruised forearm. She'd touched Sasuke, held him—her lips were so close to his—and out of nowhere, he'd thrown her out.

"This is all their fault. Team Seven." Karin's lip curled with disdain. She thought of all the times she'd felt Sasuke's chakra calm when Naruto was around and wanted to kick something. She remembered watching Sasuke actually smile at Sakura around their campfire and she wanted to scream in frustration. "Stupid teammates!"

Flinging open the shoji, Karin stepped out to her balcony. "I was Sasuke's teammate once," she wailed to the night air. "Why do I mean less than they do?"

She thought she'd planned this all so carefully. She made sure to isolate Sasuke, yet Team Seven still managed to stay in his thoughts. As she contemplated her next move, a brisk wind whipped her hair and she sniffed.

That scent!

It was the unmistakable perfume of Sasuke's chakra—but her Kagura Shingan perceived something new. The cold shadow seeping into the shimmer of his energy made her smile. Karin vaulted over the rail and dropped into the streets, running toward Sasuke.

Her plan was working.

"Not here."

Sakura dropped another folder full of test results into a wire basket and dug for another. She flipped rapidly through unwieldy stacks of paper.

"Not here."

Tossing another folder, she moved a stack and cursed the inefficient filing system in Konoha's Specimen Lab. At this rate she'd never find Karin's—

"Got it!"

Sakura quickly scanned the various enzymes and blood cell counts until she found the hormone she was looking for.

"Normal," she said analytically—and then relief broke through her rational, scientific thoughts. "Normal!" she squealed. "She not…Karin's not…" Sakura didn't know whether she wanted to jump or dance or run.

Clutching the result sheet in her hand, she flew through the halls and out to the street toward Sasuke's apartment. Halfway there, her feet stopped before her brain knew why. A familiar, empty dread filled her belly as her steps turned toward the Main Gate.

Naruto loved dinner at Ichiraku's—the peaceful flutter of moths making the light from the lanterns flicker and the warm wafts of steam bathing him every time Ayame opened the kitchen doors were comforting. He'd had a lifetime of memories sitting at this stool.

He smiled into his broth and tilted the bowl against his lips. A blur of bright red suddenly flashed across the reflective curve of his near-empty bowl. Leaning back in his seat, Naruto watched Karin dash down the street and he frowned.

Where could she be going in such a rush?

"Thanks for dinner, old man." Naruto's eyes never left Karin's back as he put down his bowl and a few ryō.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Sakura repeated in a panicked murmur, "He's not there, he's not there, please don't be there, Sasuke-kun!"

She twisted her hands together under her chin and breathed one last imploring please before she stepped onto the road leading to the Main Gate.

Her heart dropped when she saw Sasuke shuffling toward her, head bowed, hands in his pockets. Her heart broke when she saw the pack on his back.

Not again, she thought. Her throat constricted and her eyes burned. I can't do this again.

"Sasuke."

She barely whispered, but his head jerked up as surprised as if she'd screamed his name. He stopped and she looked him over—he looked worse than he had after the night he'd spent on her rooftop. His eyes had a cold, dead look to them that made her more afraid than she'd ever been in her life. She had to reach him—make him understand.

"Don't go."

When he snorted and pushed past her, Sakura felt dread climb up her throat. She whirled and grabbed his elbow, turning him toward her—panic making her reckless.

"Sasuke-kun, I know…I know about..." Tears overflowed. She couldn't bring herself to say Karin's name. She might not be pregnant, but Sakura had seen their embrace in the market—there was no mistaking what Karin meant to Sasuke. "I just want you to be h-happy…that's all." She smiled weakly. "But, please, don't go. Your brother wants to see you and—"

"I don't give a shit what Itachi wants! My brother wants. My brother needs," he sneered. Sakura shuddered, watching Sasuke's expression ice over. "You want me happy? Then leave me alone." He started walking again.

Sasuke's departing back blurred in and out of focus as tears welled and spilled from Sakura's eyes.

He's walking away again, she thought, feeling as though he was sand slipping through her fingers. Not enough! Nothing I say is ever enough!

Desperation burned every last vestige of propriety and embarrassment out of Sakura. She flash-stepped behind him, throwing her arms around his shoulders, pressing her face against his back.

"Sasuke-kun, I can't let you go!"

He pried her hands off. "Go tell it to Itachi. He's the one who needs you." He turned, his eyes burning red. "I saw you, Sakura. I saw you with him." He threw her hands back at her and resumed walking.

Sakura stood dumbstruck for several seconds before her brain whirred with activity. Sasuke had seen her embracing Itachi. Did Sasuke think…no, that was crazy. As she watched him step closer to the other side of the gates, she knew she had to take a chance—she had to tell him everything and hope something she said mattered.

Running to catch up, she blurted, "I've been trying to make friends with Itachi. I want him to talk to you—I know how much you need to." He narrowed his eyes. "And when I thought Karin was…" The words caught in her throat. "Itachi told me to look underneath and I did and she's not, but if you're with her, I can make peace with that, Sasuke-kun, but I just want you to stay and be happy and if you can't do that with me in the village..." They both stopped when her babbling ended with a long sigh. "Then I'll go…just…please stay."

His forehead creased deeply. "What does Karin have to do with anything?"

Her name in his mouth cut Sakura deeply. Her voice trembled as she said, "I was there, in the marketplace, when you…when you held her. I understand what she means to you and—"

"She means nothing."

"Oh." She was confused—Sakura knew what she'd seen. Wiping her face, she asked, "Then why did you…that day?"

Sasuke turned his face to the side in a way that everyone mistook as arrogantly disconnected—but Sakura knew better. She knew it meant he was flustered by something.

"Sasuke?"

His internal struggle was plain—exactly what he was struggling with, she didn't know. Finally, he said, "I felt your chakra and I thought…" He trailed off as he looked away and folded his arms.

An idea sprang into Sakura's head—an insanely wild, intoxicating idea. Expecting a blistering denial didn't stop her from asking, "Did…did you think she was…me?"

She looked at the pink tinting his profile as he turned back toward the village and let out a long, held breath.

"Yes."

Her heart rocketed out of her chest.

"But it doesn't matter," he said to his sandals. "You…and Itachi…"

"Are friends," she finished for him. "I only wanted to show him how much you need him to change his mind—how much you need to talk to him." She stepped closer. "I did it…for you."

As she reached out for him, Sasuke caught her hand gently in his. "Then you don't…love Itachi?"

A trembling excitement filled Sakura as she smiled. "There's only one man I've ever loved…with all my heart."

Emboldened by the reddening of his face and the softening of his eyes, Sakura moved closer, resting a hand on his chest. "Sasuke-kun," she breathed, her eyes fluttering between his lips and his eyes, before his hand tipped her chin up and his mouth softly met hers.

The more Sasuke's chakra churned and clouded, the lighter Karin skipped. The sparkle of stars high in the sky and the glitter of early-winter frost painting Konoha windows added to the fairy tale atmosphere—her happy ending was finally coming true! She giggled and twirled then threw her arms out wide like a child.

She stumbled in her giddy dance when she noticed a change, an evening out of his chakra—what had calmed Sasuke's agitated energy? It stilled, spiked then glowed brilliantly. Karin choked, overwhelmed by its shimmering radiance.

Disengaging her Kagura Shingan as she came within visual range of Sasuke, Karin stopped cold.

"S-Sa-Sasuke-kun?" she stuttered, unable to believe what she was seeing.

A strong hand rose up like a cloud over the moon-white circle on her back. Seafoam green-tipped fingernails dipped in and out of the inky black ocean of his hair.

Minutes passed as she stood rooted in disbelief. Rage gave movement to her body as she whirled and stormed away, her mind already buzzing with plans to tear them apart—before a shoulder connected with hers and her glasses flew threw the wintry night air.

Hiraishin gave Naruto an advantage Karin did not have. So, unlike her, he was there to witness his teammates' first moments together.

As he watched Sasuke's arms close around Sakura, he blinked at the warm contentment. Naruto turned his face toward the waves of sheer joy radiating off the two of them—Sage Mode's sensitivity made him feel like he was basking in the summer sun. He couldn't help but smile.

Karin's chakra flickered on the edge of his awareness. He opened his eyes a crack to watch her stiffen and hiss Sasuke's name like a snake. The air around her rippled with anger. Naruto looked from his friends back to Karin—she'd never leave them alone. A plan formed in his head.

He flash-stepped to the street behind her and stuffed his hands in his pockets and hung his head. Sennin senses allowed him to purposefully, casually intersect his path with Karin's as she raged toward the heart of the village. Crashing into her shoulder, he snatched her glasses out of the air while she raved.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid moron! There are other people in the world, you know!"

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Depressed." He sighed deeply and held out her glasses.

"What's your problem?"

"Sasuke," Naruto mumbled. He had to hide a grin as Karin leaned closer and straightened her glasses. "He's leaving tomorrow on a really, really long mission. He'll be out of the village for six months!" He sighed again for effect. "It's a two-man job, but…Tsunade is sending me on a diplomatic mission." Naruto scuffed the ground with his shoe dejectedly.

He pretended to have a bolt of inspiration as he threw his finger in the air. "I know! I'll tell Sakura-chan to take the second post!" He laced his hands behind his head and walked off, whistling. "See ya, Karin!"

Naruto listened intently—Karin was still frozen…and then she took off running. He knew she'd be banging down the Hokage's door in moments. Snickering, he made his way back home.

The light from Itachi's room shone at the end of the dark hallway—it seemed so far away, Sasuke thought. A strange fear grew in his belly the closer he got. This time, his brother was awake, aware. He wouldn't be staring at his sleeping face—he'd have to confront him, talk to him, look into eyes that had watched over his whole life.

Sasuke felt small…and scared.

An arm slid around his waist—his eyes were bone-dry, unblinking, and his feet had grown roots.

"Sasuke-kun?"

He looked into Sakura's upturned face—she was smiling, despite the concern etched between her brows. She wound both arms around him and squeezed, pressing her cheek to his chest—could she feel his racing heart, he wondered. Tightly wound muscles moved stiffly as he laid his arms against her back. She hummed with contentment and Sasuke relaxed into the vibration. He closed his eyes and tucked into her embrace—his attention wrested away from the troubling glow in the distance.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered in his ear, electricity tingling through him. She gave him one more encouraging squeeze before releasing him.

Will it? he thought vaguely, a flicker of hope fighting against the fear.

She twined her fingers with his and tugged. The terrified child in Sasuke told him to dig in, don't go forward, run away—but with Sakura's gentle insistence, he soon found himself standing at Itachi's bedside, staring into familiar gray eyes.

"Little brother…"

Itachi watched Sakura squeeze Sasuke's hand one last time before she ducked out the door, nodding to him, and glancing back at Sasuke in concern. Having his brother so close made Itachi's muscles cramp—the seal was chafing at the proximity of Uchiha chakra. Despite the pain, he couldn't contain his smirk as he looked over his beloved little brother.

"Have you gotten taller?"

"Why?" Sasuke murmured and Itachi knew exactly what he was asking. He sighed, knowing this was the sole reason his brother was here—he wouldn't dream of disappointing him, but the thought of resurrecting all those old ghosts made his stomach lurch.

"I remember how tiny you were the first time kaasan put you in my arms—you were so pink and small..." Itachi thought wistfully of his baby brother's rounded belly and soft skin. Then the smile fell from his face. "Before that, the entire world was at war. Sasuke, I couldn't lose you, too."

"So you killed everyone we both loved?" Sasuke's voice was shrill with disbelief. "How did that solve anything?"

"I had a decision to make…and I made one. I made it with the future in mind—your future especially." Itachi's limbs burned, but he pushed down the pain. "I never wanted you to know war and our father was leading us both—and the rest of the world—straight toward it."

"Then why didn't you talk to—"

"You think it was an easy decision to make?" Itachi's eyes shone red as pinpricks of ice seemed to jab his chest and back. "You think I didn't exhaust every other possibility before I came to that? I spoke to tousan, the Hokage, the Elders—everyone who would listen!"

Cooling, Itachi blinked his eyes to gray and continued, "Every time I looked at you, I knew what I was fighting for. As your brother, I wasn't just a wall for you to climb over, Sasuke. I was a wall to protect you." With his newly-sharpened vision, Itachi saw a nervous mop of pink pacing on the edge of darkness in the hall. "Having precious people of your own now, I think you can understand how I felt."

Sasuke's brow smoothed. "Itachi, I—"

He slid from the bed to stand on shaky legs in front of Sasuke—he felt strange looking eye to eye with his little brother. "You have grown." Itachi's smiled, seeing the bashful hope of a six-year-old in Sasuke's face.

"Sasuke, I don't expect you to forgive me. I just wanted to explain so that maybe you could understand."

Itachi was shocked when strong arms yanked him into a fierce embrace. "Don't leave me again," Sasuke whispered weakly into his neck.

Trembling with gut-wrenching relief, Itachi clasped his brother tightly. "I won't," he whispered before pain swallowed him whole.

Yet again, Unicorn Paige saves the day. I think you need your own superhero suit, Paige. Not that hobo suit you're wearing now, dahling. Anyhoo, cake and bacon for you because you are awesome!

Please don't forget to check out SasuSaku Month on LiveJournal. There's a link to the awesomeness on my profile. March 28th is opening day! We can celebrate Sakura's birthday together...you know Sasuke will be there! Hee, hee.

Finally, eh? Please write and tell me if you liked the SasuSaku love. And, if you didn't, you need to eat more cake and reread it. Hee, hee. So...just a bit of an epilogue left and then...that's that, folks. Next week will be the end of Look Underneath. See you then!