I do not own

Naruto

Chapter 19

"You- how- you're-" Sasuke closed his mouth and tried to make his eyes and tongue work. He seemed to fail on both accounts and settled on activating his Sharingan to see if the man in front of him was real.

He was.

The man simply smirked and poked Sasuke on the forehead. Sasuke rubbed his forehead with a miffed expression on his face despite the circumstances. "Itachi, how are you-"

"Alive?" Itachi questioned. "I believe a certain pink-haired kunoichi is to thank for that."

"But," Sasuke felt the sting of tears at his eyes, "but I killed you."

"Are you wishing I was still dead?"

Sasuke shook his head quickly. "It was my greatest regret," Sasuke amended. "How did you-"

"-She-"

"She," Sasuke corrected himself, "save you?"

"I think you have enough information to figure that out on your own, little brother."

Sasuke wracked his brain for the information that would give him an answer, but he could hardly form a coherent word, much less a coherent thought.

Itachi laughed at Sasuke's confused expression, and Sasuke shook his head in resignation.

"Did you notice that I seemed off in the fight between us?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke thought back to the fight. Itachi's slow dodges, careless mistakes, and sluggish movements. "You were sick," Sasuke remembered slowly.

Itachi nodded his head urging Sasuke to continue, but Sasuke just shook his head again.

"I'm sure you know how terrible the Haruno disease is, seeing as you had it yourself," Itachi began. Sasuke nodded slowly. "There's a second stage to the disease. You pass into a coma. In that coma your vital signs drop, you seem dead to everyone - even yourself."

"So you had the disease, and went into a coma at the end of our fight," Sasuke stated rather than asked. "But how did you live past that?"

Itachi gave Sasuke a raised eyebrow that said, "Are you stupid?"

"Sakura," Sasuke concluded. "But, if after you slip into the coma you seem dead to everyone, how did Sakura know you were alive? How did she know you didn't just die? How could she have known it was the sickness?"

"I would say that it was because she's an amazing medic and knew immediately what it was, but that would be a lie, and I feel I've lied to my little brother enough to last a lifetime," Itachi began. "Sakura had hope. She had been told of my sickness before I battled you, but I refused to let her heal me. I wanted you to win no matter what. She probably still hasn't forgiven me..."

Itachi seemed to drift to the past as he chuckled lightly and gazed into nothingness. Sasuke resisted the urge to beat his brother over the head to make him continue.

"When she arrived at the scene she checked if you were alive and immediately turned to me - I had told her enough times that you were top priority for her not think of you first. She refused to accept that I was dead, and after figuring out I wasn't with her excellent expertise, she stabilized me enough to move us to a safer location, but I still appeared dead to bystanders. As I understand from what she's told me, that's when Tobi showed up, and she was only able to escape with me. It took her six months to wake me up, another six months for me to get back on my feet and a year of training and planning - with some goofing off here and there - before she returned to Tobi."

Sasuke stared at his feet. He was trying to process everything Itachi had just told him.

"She could've woken me and rehabilitated me faster if she had had tools, but she only had her chakra and hands. Towns with proper supplies were too far away and she couldnt leave my side without losing me."

Sasuke stayed silent. This whole time they had been plotting to bring him back? His brother had really wanted nothing more than for Sasuke to change his ways, and Sakura...

Sakura.

She had given up her entire life for Sasuke and had to watch with her hands tied behind her back while he threw everything she and Itachi had given him back in her face.

He really did feel slightly regretful of his past decisions now.

"So?" Itachi asked.

"What?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Are you going to talk to Sakura now, or will I have to force you to?" Itachi answered. Sasuke shot Itachi a glare and walked off deeper into the cave. He heard Itachi chuckle behind him, and could have sworn he heard Itachi mutter, "That's what I thought."

Sasuke groaned. He couldn't find Sakura anywhere in this stupid cave! How was he supposed to apologize if she made it so difficult? Sasuke kicked a rock and walked to the mouth of the cave. He caught something pink out of the corner of his eye and turned to see Sakura sitting on a ridge above the mouth of the cave. She was staring blankly out at the landscape before her and hadn't noticed his entrance.

He flash-stepped next to her on the ridge. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and stood up. Without saying anything, she jumped down and walked back into the cave.

Sasuke growled in frustration and followed after her. Why were women so difficult?

"Sakura, stop walking away from me!" Sasuke commanded and Sakura immediately turned on him.

"Why?" Sakura demanded. "So you can pretend you did nothing wrong like you always do? I'm done pretending that you're never the one to blame!"

"That's not it," Sasuke said grabbing Sakura's wrists to keep her in front of him.

"Then what is it, Sasuke?" Sakura sighed. Sasuke had never seen her so tired.

"Sometimes I am to blame for what happens to me. I shouldn't have betrayed your trust like that. You do deserve better than how I treated you back then, and I'm..."

Sasuke tried to push the word out but couldn't. Sakura seemed completely shocked at his words, suddenly, he was focusing on how close she was. She exhaled and Sasuke could feel her breath fan over his face.

"I know," she sighed stepping closer and putting a hand on his cheek. "I haven't exactly made it easy on you."

Sasuke shook his head and became more aware of her hand on his cheek. "Don't put this on yourself. I'm to blame and I'm..." Some inexplicable force was pulling him forward towards her. "I'm... I'm..." He decided to stop talking and just let the inexplicable force take over.

"SASUKE!" A voice exclaimed making Sasuke and Sakura immediately pull away from each other. Sasuke looked at Sakura - was she blushing? - before looking for the source of the voice.

"Naruto!" he heard a much calmer and very familiar voice chastise before Naruto came into view. Kakashi was right behind Naruto looking as though he was trying to stop Naruto from attacking Sasuke needlessly.

"Kakashi?" Sakura asked squinting towards Kakashi's still distant form.

"Sakura..." Sasuke growled in accusation.

"Sasuke," Sakura said as if she was telling him she was as confused as he was.

"Kakashi!" Naruto yelled as Kakashi had just grabbed him by the collar of his shirt to prevent Naruto from doing anything rash.

"Naruto," Kakashi reprimanded again.

"Sakura," Sasuke pressed grabbing her wrist.

"Naruto..." Sakura said as if recalling past memories. Her eyes softened and she ignored Sasuke and turned to her longtime friend instead.

"Sakura..." Naruto suddenly stopped dead in his tracks noticing her for the first time.

"Sakura," Kakashi choked stopping dead in his tracks as well. He hadn't truly believe Naruto until now

"Sakura," Sasuke pressed again squeezing her wrist tighter. He wanted answers.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted noticing how tightly he was holding onto Sakura's wrist.

"Kakashi," A new voice entered.

"Itachi...?" Kakashi questioned.

"Itachi...?" Naruto questioned looking at Kakashi and then following his line of vision to Itachi. "Itachi!?"

"Itachi..." Sasuke muttered coming to the same realization Sakura had come to.

"Itachi!" Sakura shouted. "You sent them here didn't you?" she pointed an accusing finger towards Kakashi and Naruto.

"Yes," Itachi answered honestly.

Sakura looked at Itachi for a few moments and then back at Naruto. "Oh no... No. You are not going to use Naruto as bait!"

Normally Naruto would have been outraged at being referred to as bait, but he was too confused to say anything.

"Sakura, don't jump to conclusions," Itachi chastised. "But, yes, I do plan on using Naruto as bait.

Well, what do you guys think? Itachi's back and here to stay - for now. Sorry it took so long to get this out. Schedules have changed so it's hard to find a time when I am alone and can write. I don't like writing when people can read over my shoulder...

I've also been bit by the Writer's Block bug and the Zelda bug, so I have been focusing more on a Zelda story I've just come up with... I apologize.

REQUEST: I am coming up with a story that I need prompts for. It's going to be like a one-shot collection, but with a plot. Yes that sounds weird, but it will make sense when I post it. GIVE ME ALL THE PROMPTS YOU'VE GOT! ... Please?

THANKS A BUNCH TO: RosieStories98, XLILXTROUBL3ZX, KayJune, LilyVampire, StarTrail, infinityXisXme, mdtiger, kimmlp, SakuraUchiha2328, GGirll, LadyMartel4000, Jasmine-.-Momo-chan, YourWorstNightmare16, trizteza91, summergrey, XxSakuraFanxX, Sekireiguy4368, and Guest (x4)

Have I told you lately... That you're awesome?

Cheers,

The Fuzz \|/