DISCLAIMER: All Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto

Author's Note: I can't sleep. It's almost 2 in the morning and I can't sleep. I've been going to bed at four in the morning for the past couple of days. So while I'm not wholly pleased with my sleeping schedule, at least I've got another chapter for you all.

Short. Sweet. Happy reading!

AU

Chapter 4:

Green eyes, Red eyes

Upon hearing the soft rustling of the leaves, Sakura barely managed to glance behind her before she felt arms grasping her waist and taking her away. In the next second, she was flying. Though she knew she wasn't really flying, she imagined that running at such an incredible speed was as close as she could to soaring the skies.

Beneath the sound of the whistling wind, Sakura's tinkling laughter echoed. She watched as the trees blurred all around her, their greens and browns mixing together like splattered watercolor paint on a canvas. When she caught a glimpse of a startled owl fly quickly from its branch, she threw her head back in joyous laughter. With her head still thrown back, she stared at the expanse of the pale blue sky above her.

The sky was always so peaceful and so beautiful. And even on those stormy nights when the clouds menacingly gathered together, even then, the sky was beautiful.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, her captor shared a semblance of her thoughts, but he stared at her, not at the sky.

As they burst through the tree line, they landed deftly and softly in a field of flowers. Slowly and just a bit unwillingly, Sakura's captor released her from his hold. Resettling her bare feet on the ground, she giggled softly as the grass tickled the soles of her feet. Sparing her surroundings a glance, she smiled at the thousands of yellow poppies dancing in the light breeze.

He always took her to places filled with flowers. But Sakura knew that today was different from all those other times he took her away. Poppies, after all, were her favorite.

Finally meeting the eyes of her captor, her smile brightened and a faint blush washed across her cheeks when she noticed that he was already gazing at her.

Wounding her arms around his neck, she closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest. Her captor followed suit by encircling his arms around her waist and placing his chin gently atop her pink hair. Standing in a field of yellow poppies with her dress fluttering against the wind and the dews on the grass glittering from the morning sun, she murmured, "I've missed you, Itachi."

And against the coldness of his skin, Itachi felt Sakura shiver ever so slightly as he welcomed the warmth of her embrace. Even after all these years, Itachi still couldn't believe why Sakura did not recoil under his touch the same way other people did. When he had asked her some time ago, she had laughed as if the answer to his question had been so obvious – "I love you," she had said.

Oh, how long had it been?

The first time Itachi saw her, she was no more than eight years of age. It had been raining heavily and back then, she had been wearing a tattered dress with her hair and her face covered in grime.

From the alley across the street, Itachi spotted the skulking figure of a hooded man. The man had eyes as red as the blood that dripped from the corners of his lips. Those red eyes wandered over to the pink-haired girl that stood with her head bowed down as the rain poured over her miserable form.

The girl did not move from her position even as the hooded man approached her. At that point, Itachi intended to ignore the girl. After all, anyone who didn't have the sense to at least run from danger deserved to die. Even though running would have been futile, it would have at least been a sign of one's desire to survive. And that man with the glowing red eyes, he was so much more than danger.

But as the man prepared to attack the defenseless little girl, she finally looked up from the ground. Her eyes, however, did not even stray towards the man who had fangs that were bared and ready for the kill. Rather, her eyes trailed over to Itachi's departing form.

Perhaps it was the lack of fear in the girl's eyes that made Itachi pause in the act of abandoning her to what should have been vicious fate. Or perhaps it was the purity and the honesty that were reflected in those eyes that made Itachi stop in his tracks. Eyes that showed an untainted soul despite the obviously cruel hand she had been dealt. Whatever the reason, under the pouring gray skies in an equally gray village, the girl's emerald eyes shone with something akin to a promise.

Within a split second, Itachi stood behind the man that had been prepared to attack the green-eyed girl. Itachi reached forward, and the man spluttered as a hand tore threw his chest. Pulling his heart out, Itachi watched the man crumble like a broken puppet to the ground.

Itachi paused as he waited for the resounding scream from the surely terrified child. But when a few seconds passed and the only sounds he could hear were the girl's heart and the rain, Itachi glanced down.

A streak of blood had splattered over the girl's face, but otherwise, her expression remained unchanged.

Arching a brow, Itachi asked, "Are you not afraid of me, child?"

Slowly, the girl shook her head.

"Do you know what I am?" he asked much carefully. The existence of his kind was not a secret to the villagers. Surely the girl should have known that fear was the only appropriate response.

The girl paused before answering. "You're a vampire."

"And you're still not afraid?"

This time, the girl closed her eyes when she replied. "Mama and papa were killed by a vampire. But you saved me even though you're a vampire." Opening her eyes, she looked Itachi in the eyes as she declared, "I'm not afraid of you. Not when you saved me despite being a vampire."

Itachi pursed his lips at the little girl's admission. He didn't know whether to marvel at the ease at which she trusted others in spite of her brutal revelation, or to the laugh at the stupidity of her budding ideals.

"The only time your eyes should be at the ground is when you are falling, otherwise, use them to know where your enemies are hiding." With that piece of advice, Itachi moved to leave. Yet as he turned, a small hand clutched at his fingers.

Itachi's breath hitched. A human had never touched him. They always flinched back at the first sight of Itachi and his kind. But this girl…this girl clung to him as if he was not a vampire…as if he was just another human.

Craning his neck backwards, Itachi sighed when he noted that the girl was not planning on releasing him anytime soon. Turning around completely, he bent down on one knee and faced the girl.

"What is your name, child?" he inquired.

The little one's eyes widened and a smile adorned her face when she answered. "Sakura," she said brightly.

"Itachi," he offered.

And under the pelleting rain, a green-eyed Sakura and a red-eyed Itachi met.

She was sixteen when he realized that he loved her. She was sixteen when a human boy asked her to return his affections. She was sixteen when he believed she might leave him to marry the human boy. She was sixteen when Itachi thought he felt his dead heart beat once again.

They were sitting in a clearing with wild flowers growing sporadically around them. She was making a wreath of flowers when she told him about the human boy.

"I saw Lee-san at the market today, Itachi," she said as she strung together the flowers in her hand.

"Hn." He thought she was just telling him another story about the villagers. After all, Sakura loved people and in return, they seemed to love her just as much. How would those same people feel when they found out that their beloved Sakura spent her days with a vampire?

"Anyways, he professed his love for me," she proclaimed calmly.

Sakura didn't notice how Itachi's entire body had stiffened at her words.

Itachi always knew that one day he would lose her. Humans were such fragile creatures and Sakura was no exception. But this…this was unexpected. A boy…a human boy might take her away from him.

For a moment, Itachi considered doing something that would remind people of the nature of his kind. Itachi knew the boy that Sakura had mentioned. He imagined the boy with his thick eyebrows and bowl-cut hair, and he thought about sinking his fangs into the boy's neck until every last drop of blood was gone. For a moment, Itachi considered the deplorable act.

But he remembered Sakura and any thoughts of the dead boy vanished. Over the years, Sakura had changed Itachi. He wasn't going to lie and pretend that he no longer attacked humans because at the end of the day, Itachi was still a vampire and blood was necessary for his survival. He, however, admitted that he was a little less cruel than his past self. Perhaps even a little kinder.

So Itachi forcibly shook away any thoughts of eliminating the boy and instead, prepared himself for the moment when Sakura would declare that she was abandoning him for Lee-san.

"Do you…share his sentiments?" As the words left his mouth, Itachi thought he felt his dead heart crack.

Smiling ruefully, Sakura shook her head. "I told him that I could not return his love." She paused and threaded two more flowers together. "I told him I was already in love with someone else."

Itachi remained silent but when Sakura raised her head to look at him, he realized that he loved her too.

And now at the present time, Sakura was nineteen years of age and she had grown beautifully. Sometimes, when the boys around the village allowed their gazes to linger on her form a little too long, Itachi thought she might have grown too beautifully.

Moving to cup her face in his hands, Itachi leaned down to place a whisper of a kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she seemed dazed.

The ever-present smirk on Itachi's face transformed into the smallest of smiles. Pulling her close to his body once more, Itachi could feel the thundering beat of Sakura's heart. Had his own heart been alive, it would have likely jolted out of his chest.

At nineteen years, Sakura's eyes still shone like bright emeralds with a promise still glinting in them.

At nineteen years, Itachi finally said, "I love you."

Author's Note: Like I said, short. Sweet. Hope you all liked it. If you did, please leave a review! I read em and they really push me to write more.

Other than that, hopefully you all have better sleeping habits than me.