Note: For once, two chapters that are in order! Immediately follows Chapter 20.
The next day, Sakura found herself in an unusual situation: Sasuke was staring at her. It was surreal to sit in her eight year old body and be the one who was watching the instructor, feeling his eyes on her. She had not expected him to take the challenge and surprise meeting with Itachi so seriously, but clearly he was still thinking about it. She could also feel Ino staring at her enviously, a situation she wasn't sure how to deal with.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto was whispering to her, quietly.
"Hmm?" She didn't stop what she was writing, making coded notes on her research about seal tattoos. She needed to try for her summons again soon, to see if she still could. Because they were connected inter-dimensionally, she assumed they would be connected to her via her chakra laced blood contracts and not hindered by the timeline she currently resided in.
"That jerk is staring at you again."
"I know, Naruto." Sakura glanced behind her, where Shikamaru was dozing peacefully and grinned to herself. He hasn't changed a bit either. "It's not a big deal. He's probably curious about my weapons. We left in a hurry yesterday."
"You promised me ramen! I couldn't let you change your mind!" Sakura had been on a campaign to get Naruto to eat a healthier diet and it had kept him from his beloved ramen for nearly a week before she broke down yesterady in the face of his sad blue eyes.
"Ahem." They both looked up to see Nakajima looking down at them disapprovingly. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting?"
Naruto was gearing up to bluster out some excuse that would probably land them in more trouble, so Sakura cut him off smoothly. "No, Nakajima-sensei. We're sorry for being disruptive."
The man just raised an eyebrow at her, not believing it for a moment. "But not sorry for not paying attention?"
Sakura smiled at him. "Of course we were paying attention, Nakajima-sensei! Basic geographical knowledge is very important for a shinobi to have, after all."
"Ah, so you can tell me the names of all the lesser Elemental Countries?" Sakura was about to answer, but he looked directly at Naruto. "Naruto? Since you were also paying attention with Sakura-chan?"
To her internal surprise and Nakajima's obvious amazement, he rattled off the list of countries that she had bullied him into studying last week with a bored look on his face, "… Claw, Fang and Bear. I think that's all of them?"
"… Very good, Naruto-kun. I haven't even mentioned some of those."
He beamed at the man toothily. "Sakura-chan is very smart, Nakajima-sensei. I guess it rubbed off a little." Their teacher nodded at them and moved back to the front of the classroom and their classmate's attention on them waned after a few moments.
She went back to working on her private notes, but whispered to Naruto without looking. "I can't believe you remembered all those! Now that I know you can, I'm going to make you work harder."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him grimace and smiled to herself.
Throughout the rest of the morning lessons, Sasuke's startlingly intense gaze was only broken when he was called upon by Nakajima, who looked at him indulgently. He clearly had the wrong idea about why Sasuke was so fixated on her and Naruto, but he didn't call the boy out on it.
He sought them out at lunchtime, making a beeline for their desk before Sakura had even handed Naruto the bento she had packed for him.
"Sakura."
"Hello, Sasuke. Would you like to join us for lunch?" She could see that Naruto was making an ugly face at her offer, but she ignored him.
"… Sure." He followed them out to the tree they had been sitting at the yesterday and sat awkwardly with his own lunch. Naruto was devouring his food as usual and Sakura wondered if he would ever stop eating as if someone was going to take his food away at any moment.
She picked through her vegetables, wondering why she had packed so many cherry tomatoes. Sakura saw Sasuke eying her bento. "Want to trade? I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, even though I made my own lunch." He nodded and she happily handed over her lesser vegetables for his more delicious ones. Win-win for both of us!
Sakura munched happily on her new snow peas and watched Naruto finish his food with something that resembled sadness. Maybe I should start packing a double lunch for him.
"Why were you staring at Sakura-chan all day, jerk?" Sakura rolled her eyes. Leave it to Naruto to be tactful.
Sasuke was immediately defensive. "I was not! I just wanted to know if she would train with me after class! Nii-san said it was a good idea." Sakura nodded knowingly. If Itachi had suggested it, Sasuke would do it. Even when he had hated his brother in her time, she knew they had an exceptional bond. But why did Itachi suggest it to begin with? What is his motivation?
Naruto pointed a finger at him accusingly. "No way, me and Sakura-chan train after school every day! You can't just march over here and take her away!"
Sasuke just frowned at him. "It's not like you would be much challenge, moron."
Sensing a fight brewing, Sakura intervened. "Boys, we can all train together. That's fair, right?" Naruto sat back grumbling and Sasuke agreed with her reluctantly, clearly unhappy that he had to spend more time around Naruto.
After classes ended, the three of them met up on the same empty training area for Sakura to beat them both into the ground, using mostly her chakra control and previous experience at fighting their older selves. She hadn't yet regained a fraction of her own abilities, something that frustrated her every day, causing her to wake up earlier and earlier to train before heading to the Academy. Still, what she had was enough to impress two eight year old boys and she left them wrestling in the dirt with a fond goodbye, promising Naruto that she would find him later for tutoring.
For now, she had another Uchiha to find. She wasn't interested in revealing her time traveler status to anyone, not even her closest friends. That way only lead to more complications, something she had been firmly convinced of before she had even considered using the jutsu that brought her back. However, she was willing to share knowledge of considerable intellect with someone who would appreciate how she could put it to use to protect his precious little brother.
Sakura spread her senses out, looking for the chakra signature that matched the one she had met yesterday. She hoped he hadn't been sent out on a mission again, though it was likely given his status as ANBU captain.
Turns out, he found her first.
"Sakura-san."
She jumped and then was immediately annoyed that he had snuck up on her. He moves like a ghost. "Uchiha-san. Just the person I was looking for."
He raised a thin eyebrow at her in response.
"I had a question for you."
He nodded in understanding, still not saying anything.
She sighed, resigned to the fact that this was going to be a double conversation, filled with undertones and Uchiha-specific body language. "Why did you tell Sasuke it was a good idea to train with me?"
"He needs someone to train with."
Sakura restrained her temper, barely, and decided to lay her cards on the table. "But why me? I'm interested in your motivations."
He stilled, dark eyes regarding her curiously and shrugged gracefully, casually. "He needs more friends his own age. You seemed willing enough yesterday."
"My willingness isn't in question, Uchiha-san. Sasuke is a little prickly and wont to argue with my own best friend, but I am capable of getting along with nearly anyone." She put her hands on her hips, wording her next question very carefully. "Why did you decide now was a good time for him to start moving away from the familiarity of home?"
Sakura thought she saw a flash of red in his eyes, but it was gone in a second. She reminded herself to look at his forehead or his chin, anywhere else. His hand clenched into a fist once and then he forcefully relaxed. This obvious show of emotion told her how stressed he was. He wasn't quite the composed young adult she had met once upon a time.
"Is there ever a good time?" Answering questions with more questions? I won't be so easily dissuaded, Itachi.
She shrugged just as casually as he had, though perhaps not as gracefully. "There's no real way of knowing. That would require more foresight than I'm capable of." They were silent for a moment, regarding one another thoughtfully. "I will take care of your brother."
His shoulders tensed minutely. "He has many people to take care of him."
"Then I will be just one more to add to the list. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"
He didn't answer.
She smiled at him softly and intensely sad, a feeling that had never really left her when thought of his plight. Itachi's story was already written in stone and she was helpless to change the narrative, but she could change Sasuke's. "I promise, Itachi."
He nodded, not even bothered by the use of his given name, and then left swiftly in a gust of wind. Dramatic and slightly rude. Must be an Uchiha trait.
The weeks passed by quickly, too quickly for Sakura, but she didn't see Itachi again. She assumed whatever preparations he made the first time were taking place again, but she couldn't be sure until it was all over and that kept her on edge constantly. Naruto had taken to shooting her worried looks when he thought she wasn't looking and Sasuke was silently concerned.
He had shown up every day after Academy for training with them and she happily allowed him to join, much to Naruto's consternation. Sasuke had always been a quick learner, so it frustrated him to realize that Sakura was consistently better than him. He had no idea that she had run into Gai the third week of her arrival and had asked him to train with her, dramatically ramping up her own improvements.
To soothe Naruto's ruffled feathers, Sakura made sure to spend some quality alone time with him. She knew it was important to him to actually have friends and she loved him like a brother, so it wasn't a particular hardship for her. The time they spent together allowed her to momentarily forget the upcoming tragedy, but when he was gone, it all came back to her in a rush. She spent many sleepless nights reading or training, anything to get her mind off what she couldn't change.
The night of the original massacre arrived and she was nearly vibrating with tension. She had grabbed takeaway from a nearby restaurant for herself and Naruto, knowing she would be too wound up to cook for them. Sakura wanted Naruto to stay the night and he happily agreed. She needed him close to her so she could at least keep him safe.
Naruto was asleep on the futon in her sunroom and she crept downstairs to make herself another cup of calming herbal tea when there was a quiet knock on her door. Sakura's heart leapt to her throat when she recognized the chakra signatures on the other side, but she opened it calmly to face a blood-splattered Itachi carrying an unconscious Sasuke on his back.
"You said you would take care of him."
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet. She motioned him toward the sunroom, where he laid Sasuke down next to Naruto. Sakura thanked every god she knew that her best friend was a heavy sleeper, because seeing Itachi in full ANBU gear covered in blood was not a cheery sight to wake up to.
When they moved out of the room, she caught his arm, heedless of the gore. "What should I say to him?"
Itachi stared down at her hand. "When he's ready, tell him to find me."
"And when will he be ready?" Sakura gripped his arm fiercely, not letting go.
He gave her an empty smile and echoed her words back at her. "There's no real way of knowing."
Sakura nodded and dropped her hand. "He will recover, Itachi. I'll make sure of it."
He turned to leave and Sakura knew that the ANBU stationed near the Uchiha compound were probably close to discovering the massacre. Itachi stopped, considering, and then looked back at her seriously. "If you happen to meet a man named Danzo, do not trust him."
Sakura could only nod again and then like the ghost she had once compared him to, he was gone. She stared out into the cool night for a long moment and shut the door, walking to the sunroom to keep guard over her boys until they woke up to a different future than either of them had imagined.
As it turned out, Sakura didn't even have the chance to drink all of her cooling tea. Just a half hour after Itachi had left Sasuke in her care, ANBU was knocking on her door, much less politely than her previous guest.
She opened the door and peeked out, seeing an eerie cat mask staring back at her forebodingly. She recognized Yamato immediately, but did her best not to react. "Yes, ANBU-san? Can I help you?"
"Have you seen Uchiha Itachi tonight?"
Sakura had considered her options as she sat watch over the boys, deciding that lying with the truth was the ticket to not get sent to T&I for suspicious behavior or treason. "He was here about thirty minutes ago and left his brother with me."
She could see the eyes behind the mask widen. "Sasuke is alive?"
She affected a perplexed look. "Of course he is! Itachi would never let Sasuke get hurt."
Yamato was silent, probably thinking of the piles of dead bodies Itachi had left behind on his way out of the village. She tried not to look like she was thinking of the same thing.
"Did he say where he was going?"
Sakura shook her head. "Nope. He brought Sasuke here, said he needed to leave Konoha and then he was gone."
"Where is his brother now?"
She frowned at him. "He's sleeping, ANBU-san. If it's not necessary to wake him up, I'd prefer if you didn't."
"He needs to be questioned."
Sakura sighed and waved him inside, having kept him on the doorstep the entire time. She brought him to the sunroom, where the boys were still sleeping peacefully and tried to gently shake Sasuke awake. He rolled away from her grumpily and Sakura placed a firmer hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke. Wake up."
His eyes opened blearily and he blinked at her. "Sakura? W-what are you doing here?"
She smiled at him sadly. "I live here, Sasuke. Do you remember anything that happened tonight?"
While confused, he answered her easily enough. "I was talking to nii-san about our training today and I must have fallen asleep early. I don't know how I got here, though." Yamato shifted behind her and Sasuke's eyes became more alert when he finally noticed him. "What's going on, Sakura?"
She sat back on her heels, satisfied that Sasuke hadn't been unduly traumatized by Itachi's Mangekyo this time. He must have used a genjutsu that allowed Sasuke sleep through the entire ordeal instead. She wondered what had forced this massive change from her original timeline, but came up with only relatively shallow reasons. She never had a very clear idea of his original motivation to torture Sasuke in the first place, considering what his true mission was.
Sakura answered his question with a shrug, not admitting to more knowledge than she had to. "I'm not sure. Your brother brought you here to me and then left the village."
Yamato cut in. "The Uchiha Clan is dead to a man, thanks to Itachi. You are the only one left in Konoha now, Sasuke."
She winced. Damn, way to break it to the kid, Yamato.
Sasuke stared at both of them with wide eyes. "That can't be true! I just saw them today, my mother and my father … my cousins, they were all okay!" He pressed himself back against the wall by the futon, pointing an accusing finger at them. "You're lying! Nii-san would never, ever k-kill our family!" His voice had gotten consistently louder until he was yelling, which finally woke up Naruto. Sakura cut the blonde off with a shake of her head when he opened his mouth to sleepily ask a question. Thankfully, he just rubbed his eyes and stayed silent.
Yamato just stood there dispassionately. Sakura put a hand on Sasuke's knee comfortingly, only for him to jerk away. His eyes were filled with tears. "I don't believe you, I don't believe you, nii-san would never …" She crept up onto the futon herself and pulled him into a hug, which he resisted. She was firm and stronger and eventually he relented, crying into her sleep shirt.
Naruto moved closer to her back, confused, but wanting to help. Sakura looked behind her and mouthed "later" at him. She rubbed Sasuke's back as he sobbed and looked over his head at Yamato viciously. "Are you happy now, ANBU-san?"
"I have determined that he does not know anything more than could help."
She jerked her head toward the door. "Good, then get out." She would feel bad about being so mean to Yamato later, but now she had a terrified little boy to comfort. He left silently and soon Sasuke's sobs quieted as he fell into an exhausted sleep against her side, with one hand clutching onto her shirt. Naruto had uncharacteristically still throughout the entire process and she whispered to him when Sasuke's breaths evened out. "Sorry for shushing you earlier."
His blue eyes were scared. "What happened, Sakura-chan? Why is Sasuke here?"
She let out a tiny sigh and Sasuke whimpered as she moved, clutching her shirt tighter in his fist. She wondered how to word it and felt that with Naruto, it was probably best to be blunt. "Sasuke's brother killed his entire clan tonight and now he's gone."
"W-what? That's awful!"
Sakura nodded and grabbed his hand with her free one. "He only has us now, Naruto." She stared him down, willing him to understand the gravity of the situation. She hated to use his own abandonment against him. "You know what that's like."
"Sakura-chan …" He squeezed her hand so tightly she felt her bones creak. "He's still a jerk."
She smiled and nodded. "True and he's probably going to be more of a jerk for a while. But we'll make it through to the other side, because we're friends. Right?"
He nodded earnestly and she pulled him against her. "Go back to sleep for now, Naruto. Morning will be here soon enough."
Sakura stayed awake the rest of the night and into the early morning hours, forcing her mind into a meditative state whenever she got too restless. Dawn had come and gone when Naruto stirred again. It was a school day, but she wasn't planning on trying to force either of her boys to go if they didn't want to. Quietly, she asked him to deliver a message to Gai to explain her absence and she sent him on his way with a description of the man. "You can't miss him, Naruto. Just look for green spandex and rainbows."
While important, in truth she also wanted Naruto out of the house for when Sasuke would wake up again and realize that his horrible nightmare was not kept solely to dreams. He stirred against her side and rolled onto his back, opening his bloodshot eyes to slowly to look at her face. Sakura smiled at him uncertainly and he closed them quickly, taking several deep breaths. She could see the beginnings of a panic attack and laid her hand on the his arm, channeling calming chakra into his pathways to help ease him. After several minutes, his heavy breathing subsided and she moved her hand away slowly.
"Sakura. Will you … I have to go see." He opened his eyes and stared at her beseechingly. "I have to know for sure."
"Whatever you need, Sasuke. I'll go with you."
Slowly they made their way out of the house and she pinned a simple note for Naruto on her front door. Sasuke clutched her wrist, wanting to hold onto something, and she let him set the pace toward the Uchiha Compound.
Even as they approached, she feel its emptiness within. Itachi had been as thorough as his reputation had claimed. She noted that there were at least two ANBU present, watching them enter, but they did nothing to intervene. Sasuke's grip became tighter and tighter as they walked through the deserted pathways around the houses. She could feel his fingers crack against her skin and realized that he had fractured his own hand with his desperate hold. Sakura didn't mention it, allowing him to walk in silence and making note to heal him later.
There were no bodies to be found, but there was still blood everywhere she looked. She could see it painted across the sides of buildings and the interior of rooms through open windows, there was even some on the leaves of the trees outside. Sasuke came to a stop outside one of the large houses, staring at it with a white face. This must be his.
He opened the door with a lost expression that tugged at her heart. She could see the desperate hope he was clinging to and hated that it would never be realized. They were greeted by an enormous bloodstain in the front room, easily seen from the entranceway. Sasuke let go of her wrist and dropped to his knees, body wracked with silent, heaving sobs. He bent forward until his head was touching the ground and wrapped his arms around his body protectively.
Sakura could only offer the comfort of her presence, hoping that eventually, it could be enough for him. She rubbed his back again as he cried himself out and then she coaxed him to his feet, pulling him out of the house.
"You can stay with me for now, Sasuke. Until you're ready." He didn't respond, just leaned heavily on her as they slowly walked back. She felt eyes on her back, but she ignored them easily, considering she wasn't even supposed to know they were there. She did it well enough for Naruto's erratically assigned guard, she could do it for Sasuke's as well.
Naruto was waiting for them on her front step, tapping his toes anxiously against the steps. He jumped up when he saw them. "Sakura-chan! I talked to that weird green man for you. He said something like," Naruto scrunched up his face, trying to remember the exact words, "'Sakura-chan is truly an example of Konoha's finest! Tell her I will run 500 laps in honor of her kindness!'" He shrugged. "Or something like that."
"That sounds like Gai-sensei, for sure. Why don't you boys come in and I'll make us all breakfast." She smiled encouragingly at Sasuke. "You'll have to help us eat all the tomatoes I bought at the market, Sasuke."
He looked at her blankly. Naruto made a disgusted face. "Ugh, I can't believe you eat those slimy things. They're so gross."
"Don't be an idiot, Naruto." His voice was quiet, hoarse from all his crying, but they were the first words he had spoken all morning. No matter what, Sasuke would never let a chance to insult Naruto go past. Thank god for universal constants.
"Hey!" Naruto followed them inside, babbling insults and idle chatter to Sasuke and Sakura respectively as she moved around the kitchen making food. Slowly, Sasuke's body let go of its lingering tension and she was relieved at Naruto's ability to talk his way through anything, be it tragedy or murderous psychopaths. No matter what, he was still her number one unpredictable ninja.