Chapter 13

As it can be assumed, the Haruno clan never did have much luck. The Uchiha clan, on the other hand, had the worst luck of all.

Not even two days after our training session Itachi came to my house and looked disheveled. I had never seen Itachi disheveled in my entire two years of knowing him, I didn't even know he could be disheveled! He always seemed unbeatable.

"Sakura," he said seriously looking me in the eye, "we need to talk."

I was scared. Itachi was scaring me. I wasn't worried he would do something to me, I was worried that something had happened to him. I took his hand and he lead me into the woods just outside my house.

"Sakura," he said again, this time I could hear the shake in his voice as he tried not to break down in front of me, "I hate to ask anything from you, and I fear that this will be too much for you to handle."

"Itachi," I said seriously grabbing his hand, "what's wrong? What's happened to you?"

He shook his head and cupped my head in his hands. "I cannot tell you anything or answer any questions you may have. I need you to listen carefully and follow my instructions as closely as you can."

I nodded my head and blinked back the tears that were trying to leak out.

"Tomorrow morning you will hear of a terrible crime that has been committed by me. I can't tell you why I will have done such a thing, but I can tell you that whatever reason you hear of me doing it for is a lie."

My head was spinning. I didn't know what he was talking about. "A crime? But, Itachi why-"

"Please, let me finish, Sakura," Itachi pleaded. "I need you to know that there was no other option and I did what I had to for the good of-" he stopped himself when he realized he was giving away too much information. "My younger brother, Sasuke, will want to come after me. He'll want to become stronger so he can kill me. He'll want revenge. Other people - bad people - will offer him the power to do so; you cannot let him accept evil power. You must keep him in the village so that he can become stronger here, surrounded by people that love him. One day, he will kill me, and I need you to ensure that he acquires the strength to do so so he will be considered a hero."

I began crying. Itachi was talking about revenge, and killing, and his own death! I didn't want that to happen. "But, Itachi!"

"Please, Sakura," Itachi begged. "This is all I can ask of you. Keep him here by any means necessary, but never let him know I asked you to."

"What exactly are you asking of me, Itachi?" I asked.

"I'm asking you, Sakura," Itachi said, "to lie to him. Feign affection, feign ignorance, feign weakness. Lie to him until you are no longer able. Keep him away from the influence of evil. If you should fail, then you may join me."

"Of course, Itachi," I nodded my head. "Of course I will."

Itachi pulled me into a tight hug. In a few moments, he was gone.

I woke up in the middle of the night to hurried footsteps and muffled cries. Pushing open my door, I ran downstairs and threw the front door open. People were running this way and that - all ninja. Some were crying and some were cursing under their breath.

"What's going on?" I asked a passing man.

"Kid, what are you doing out here?" he demanded. "This is no time to be running around outside." He picked me up and threw me back into my house before slamming the door shut.

My eyes watered. Could whatever have happened been what Itachi was talking about? I rushed upstairs to my mother's bedroom, but did not find her there. Panicking, I ran downstairs hoping to find her somewhere. When I got to the kitchen, I saw her looking out the window with tears running down her face. She turned when she heard me enter.

"Sakura?" she asked. "Sakura, sweetie, what are you doing up?"

"Mommy, what's going on?" my voice was breaking and my hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. She closed the curtains and made her way to me in three short steps.

"Sweetie, listen to me," my mother said wrapping her arms around Sakura. "Something awful has happened because of... Because of... Itachi."

I knew that! I felt like screaming, but Itachi's words replayed in my head. I just wanted to know what had happened!

"What happened, Mommy?" I asked still shaking uncontrollably. Whether it was from fear, anger, or sadness, I didn't know.

"Nothing's certain right now, Sakura, but we think that he may be responsible for the death of his entire family."

I froze in my mother's arms. I knew from experience that anyone dying in your family was heart breaking, but everybody? The pain would be unbearable.

"Sasuke will seek me out for revenge - to kill me."

I couldn't understand. Why would Itachi doing something so... Heinous?

"Nothing is certain right now, so go back to bed, Sakura," My mother commanded. I silently obeyed. I wanted to be alone. Being alone meant I could think. Think about why Itachi would do this and tell me he wasn't the bad guy.

I didn't hear anything else the next morning. My mother said nothing, so I said nothing, but deep inside I was harboring hate. How could Itachi do this and then tell me he wasn't the bad guy? How could he do it to his brother?

On Monday school began and the event of the weekend was still on the forefront of everyone's minds. Many rumors had been started. Some blamed the event on Orochimaru, but that possibility was too hard to believe. To us in the academy, Orochimaru was like a myth. You always heard of evils he had done, but you never met anyone that had ever actually met him.

Itachi's name was thrown into the mud. Teachers were whispering to each other about the tragedy and stopping abruptly when a student got too close. Kids told stories of parents cursing Itachi throughout the weekend.

I looked to you, Sasuke, to see how you felt. Everyone seemed to be leaving the only survivor out of their stories. When I looked at you I saw a broken little boy, but below that I saw an intense hatred in your eyes. Even you, Itachi's brother, hated him. Not a single person looked on Itachi without hate anymore.

"What must it feel like," I wondered to myself, "to be hated by everyone...?"

I couldn't handle the idea. I could not - would not - believe that the man who helped me, made me feel special, treated me like his sister - that my brother would do something like this without a reason. He was a good man. He was the closest a ninja could get to being a pacifist! If he claimed the reason he had done was inescapable and for good, then I would believe him.

Even if no one else would, I was going to believe in Itachi Uchiha.

Pretending to be in love with you just so I could have an excuse to watch you and make sure you weren't planning on leaving was not an easy thing to do. You had grown cold and unfeeling. I was tempted on many occasions to punch you and tell you to get a grip on reality. To tell you that Itachi said he had done this for some sort of good and that you of all people should believe him! It was only by constant reminder that you were in the dark that I kept my mouth shut.

I kept my skills well hidden and only allowed them to be shown by being the smartest student in class. Knowledge was the only way I was allowed to let my skills be shown.

You may have guessed by now that it was rigged that I would be on your Genin team with Naruto and "The Copy Cat" ninja, Kakashi. I thought it was a laugh that I would be on the same team as Kakashi, the man that people sometimes thought was a descendent of my clan.

Only a few days prior to the forming of the Genin teams a crow tapped on my window. I found it strange that a crow would land on my window. My house was in the heart of the village and as far as you could get from the farming areas of Konoha. The crow tapped ferociously at the window and I finally opened it.

The crow looked me directly in the eye before extending its leg like a carrier pigeon or a messenger. I looked at its leg and saw a note. It was strange that someone would use a crow to send a message and not a hawk, but I took the note anyway. The crow gave me an affectionate nudge on the finger before flying away. I unfurled the note and read the simple two-word message.

Beware Orochimaru.

Orochimaru. He was that guy who everyone considered nothing but myth, a means to prevent young ninja from going rogue or a threat to get children to clean their bedrooms. I wondered why someone would want to tell me to beware of him when the threat of him seemed so far away.

Another crow tapped on my window months later with a note that said:

Uchiha Madara.

It wasn't hard for me to figure out what this one meant. The initials U.M. had haunted my family since the letter arrived. I crumpled the note in my hand and threw it on the wall in my anger.

You know what happened next. I failed. Orochimaru got to you because I had to pretend to be weak. I watched as you slowly succumbed to darkness and could do nothing about it. My world crumbled to pieces in a matter of seconds.

I shouted at you, I begged you, I declared fake affection and loyalty to you, but it was all in vain. In the end, you left, and I failed Itachi. It was the worst failure I had ever had.

Nothing could compare to the pain I felt.

I was shocked one day, months after you left, to find Itachi sitting casually on my bed. I rushed into his arms and cried. Apologies spewed from my mouth and he silenced them easily.

"It's okay," Itachi assured me. He forgave me even though I failed him.

He told me everything then. Why he had killed his family, who Madara was and how he nearly caused the destruction of the village by using the nine-tails to attack.

We faked my death and I was taken to join the Akatsuki. This was a delicate thing to do as we had to convince Madara that I didn't have my clan's Kekkei Genkei and was not the girl he was searching for.

Even after so many years of pretending and thinking I was finally free to be me, I was still keeping secrets.

At the base Itachi and I prepared for his fight against you. He grew sick and I helped keep him healthy until your fight.

And then the time finally came for the two of you to fight

I nervously paced nearby while I waited for the fight to end, after what seemed like decades, I heard them, his last words. "I'm sorry Sasuke, this will be the last time." I tensed and ran towards the completed fight. I prayed that I got there in time.

"Itachi!" I cried running over and kneeling at his body. I laid over him and cried, like I did when you "died", but this time, it was real. I sat back up and wiped the tears away, I couldn't breakdown, not yet. I had to get you. I reached over and grabbed your hand. I wiped the tears away again as they started to cloud my vision.

I grabbed your arm and hoisted it over my shoulder, and your head rolled to your chest. I was greeted by a blow in the stomach that knocked the wind out of me. I flew back into the wall that bore the Uchiha symbol and clutched my stomach, breathing heavily, while you were banged up against the wall as well and fell back to the ground.

I looked forward, still clutching my stomach and saw that hateful orange mask, Tobi... I glared at him feeling weak, by the chakra glowing in his hand, I figured the blow had drained most of my chakra.

"Tobi," I growled spitting at his feet. He knocked me ten feet away with one back-handed hit. I scrambled to my feet as he walked toward you. I couldn't let him win here! As he reached down to you I slid on the wet surface and grabbed your leg, but was kicked in my stomach up against the wall and was held there by his foot.

"I never did like you, Haruno," Tobi said lowly and letting the act I saw right through down. "I never liked any of the Harunos."

"Allow me to hide my diappointment," I breathed.

"You never should have been allowed to join..." Tobi said.

"Too bad I was, huh?" I smirked while kneeing his foot away and then punching his stomach, but he was unfazed. I dove for you, but he grapped my arm and threw me to the ground on top of Itachi. I yelled quite angry, frustrated, and weak. I tried to crawl towards you, but Tobi stepped on my back and stood on me, that was all I could take, for some reason I was completely worn out, I couldn't get to you.

"That's right, Haruno," he said twisting his foot painfully on my back, "stay in the dirt next to Itachi's remains where you belong."

I had never hated a man so much! I watched helplessly as he grabbed you and left. Tears swelled in my eyes and I hammered at the ground with my face down. My tears mixed with the dirt and created mud. Next time I saw him it would be the last!

I had failed Itachi again.

I stayed in hiding for two years before coming back. I'm not entirely sure why Madara allowed me back, but I know he plans to strike me down soon enough.

Sasuke stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before sitting up. He got off the bed and just stood next to it.

"There's one more thing," Sakura said her voice behind him. "Itachi always told me that if you continued pursuing revenge even after his death, he would be extremely disappointed in you. He wanted you to be the hero, Sasuke, not the bad guy."

Sasuke walked toward the door and slammed it shut behind him.

Sakura sighed. He had not given her permission to leave. She was stuck there until the morning.

Phew, thought I would never get this out... It's probably confusing, I'm sorry. If you have questions just ask me and I'll answer them and try to revise the confusion to make more sense.

There's a small hint in here of Sakura's Kekkei Genkei, can anybody find it?

A HUGE thank yu to: Gl0mP3R, Noir18, mun3litKnight, LadyMartel4000, OracleOfTheShadows, Neko the kawatta cat (your name makes me smile every time), Jade 36963, moonluver92, Wishing-On-Airplanes (can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars- er... Sorry...), sakuraflowerstar, Sinister Blossom, .x, and RiverSilverClaw. Yu guys... Wait for it... RAWK!

* POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP IN THE MANGA*

In light of certain discoveries we have made, my story A Blurred Past may not fit too well because of the whole Obito thing. Well I'm gonna keep it the same and not change it! I like how it's kind of like a, "I regret the decisions I've made and I want you to stop me," kind of thing. So... Yeah... I don't know if I'm going to have his identity be Madara or not now...

The Fuzz \|/