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When Sakura finally regained her senses, she found herself lying on a cold, hard floor. She sat up and looked around. There was nothing; no furniture, no people, no light, even though she could see perfectly well. She must be dead.

Sakura sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. Was that the best she could have done? Did she even stop the fight? Or did Sasuke continue even after seeing her collapsing on the ground, bleeding out in front of him? Did she prevent Sasuke from falling further in darkness?

xXx

Where Sasuke and the others are;

"What the hell happened?!" Suigetsu yelled, glaring at Sasuke. "You were supposed to save her, protect her!"

"Suigetsu!" Karin tried to calm him. "Leav-"

"SHUT UP!" Suigetsu shouted, pointing a finger threateningly at her. "Not another word from you!"

Any other time, he didn't mind arguing with her, but not now. He was too furious at Sasuke. At first, going after Itachi was only for Sasuke's revenge, but when Itachi came after Sakura, the whole point of going after him was to save Sakura first then let Sasuke get his revenge, not the other way around. Suigetsu had even stayed behind because he trusted that Sasuke would protect Sakura. He should have known he was wrong.

"Damn it!" Suigetsu cursed.

Karin opened her mouth to say something, but Jugo raised his hand, stopping her. Karin sighed and decided to stay quiet.

Suigetsu took a step forward and took a fistful of Sasuke's shirt. "What the hell happened?!"

When Sasuke didn't answer, Suigetsu let go and looked away angrily. He was too furious for words. A door opened slowly with a creak and someone stepped out.

Suigetsu almost wilted when he saw it wasn't his injured friend, but someone he had no clue was there in the first place. Even more frustrated than before, Suigetsu looked back at Sasuke.

"You were so focused on your revenge, you were unable to protect Sakura. You were even the one who injured her," Suigetsu jabbed his finger at the person who had just walked out of the room. "THEN WHY THE HELL IS HESTILL ALIVE?!"

Everyone looked at the person Suigetsu was talking about: Itachi. All of them, even Sasuke, had the same question. There was a terse silence while they all waited for someone else to answer.

"Why?" Sasuke finally asked Itachi, even though everyone else had their eyes on Sasuke. "Why did she save you?"

Startled, Suigetsu looked at Itachi, impatiently waiting for an explanation. Sakura saved him? That's why she got injured?

Itachi sighed. He looked back at the room he had come from, at the unconscious pink-haired girl lying on the futon. He slowly closed the door behind him and met Sasuke's gaze. What should he do now?

xXx

Back to Sakura;

Regret bloomed in her stomach. Was it worth betraying her home, friends, and family? How did her family feel after hearing the news of her betrayal? Did they hate her? Were they disappointed in her? Did her former master, Tsunade, regret training her?

All she ever wanted was to help Sasuke, to take his pain away. She loved him so much and it hurt to see him suffer. Now, after she found out what had happened to Itachi, seeing what he went through, she wanted to help both of them. But how could she do that? What would Sasuke do if he learned the truth?

"Thank you," a familiar voice said behind her.

She turned around and saw Mikoto, Sasuke and Itachi's mother, standing there. Troubled by her thankfulness, Sakura let her head fall. She stared at the ground, trying and failing to find something to say.

"It's time for you to go back," said a different voice.

Sakura looked up and saw a man with folded hands standing next to Mikoto. He had short, brown hair that reached his shoulders and onyx-colored eyes. He wore a simple kimono with grey pants. She had seen him before, during Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

'Sasuke's and Itachi's father, Fugaku,' Sakura thought as she stared at him. 'Wait, time to go back?'

"I-I can go back? I'm not dead?" Sakura asked hesitantly. If she wasn't dead….how come she could see them? And why?

"You are the only hope for the Uchiha, the only hope to save the bond between the two brothers who loved each other dearly," came a third voice, this time behind her.

Sakura turned around and immediately recognized the speaker.

"Shisui Uchiha," Sakura said, nodded.

"I had always admired the bond between them," he continued and pulled Sakura to her feet. "I regret dying so soon, but I also had no choice. Danzo stole my choice."

"Danzo…" Sakura repeated, growing irritated by the memory the name had generated. Danzo was the man who wanted something else for the village, who stood in the way of the only thing that could have prevented Sasuke and Itachi from losing their family, their clan. He did this because he didn't trust Shisui….but she felt like it was for something else. But what?

"Don't trust that man," Shisui warned.

Sakura looked at him, at them, and listened. After everything was said, Mikoto stepped closer to Sakura. She lifted one of her hands and placed it under Sakura's chin. What she did next surprised Sakura completely; she leaned closer and gave Sakura a kiss on her forehead.

The darkness that had surrounded them melted away and light enveloped the room. It was too bright for Sakura so she closed her eyes. The next thing she knew, she was sitting up straight on a futon, gasping loudly to catch her breath. Her body trembled, with cold or fear or shock, she didn't know.

Pain exploded through every inch of her body. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't do more than gasp in shock. She hadn't recovered from Sasuke's Chidori. She leaned a forward a bit and she groaned. She heard someone approach and kneel next to her. He must have been in the room this whole time, waiting for her to wake up.

"Sakura…" he whispered. "Are you okay?"

The voice helped bring her back to her senses a bit and ignore the pain. She almost laughed when she realized she was, once again, injured, staying at private room in an inn, waiting to be healed. How many times was this going to happen? If there was a third time, would she be just as lucky? Or would she die instead?

She looked up in response to the voice that had called out to her and stared into Itachi's worried face. Relief quelled the pain for a moment. Itachi was alive. That meant she had stopped the fight.

The door slammed open and she saw Suigetsu march in. She barely had time to recognize him before he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed.

"owh!" Sakura squealed.

"Sorry, sorry," Suigetsu said quickly and let go. "Geez, how many times are you gonna make us worry like that."

"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered guiltily. She looked up and noticed Karin and Jugo were also in the room. She continued to scan the room, but Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

"Where is he?" she asked.

Everyone stayed quiet and looked at Itachi.

Sakura followed their gazes and waited for Itachi to answer, worrying the worst had happened, that Itachi had somehow killed the little brother he used to love. Then she had a thought.

"Itachi…." she began. "You told him the truth?"

Sakura heard the others sucking air through their teeth and shuffling nervously. They must have learned the truth as well.

"Sakura, you know...what happened?" Jugo asked calmly.

She nodded.

"Is everything he said….really true?" Karin asked.

Sakura nodded once more. "At first I thought he was lying….but now I know...after seeing it."

"Sasuke went outside. He wanted to be alone," Suigetsu said, breaking the awkward silence.

Sakura stayed quiet and started rethinking about everything that had happened when she was in the dream world. Was it real?

"Guys, can I...can I talk to Itachi for a minute?" she asked softly.

Karin was the first to walk away. She didn't want to stay any longer then she needed to. Jugo nodded and followed Karin. Suigetsu hesitated at first but eventually left the room.

"Why did you change your mind?" Sakura asked.

"After seeing you would sacrifice your own life…" Itachi answered.

"I don't know if it was a hallucination..." She paused, trying to figure out how to finish her sentence, "but I saw them….."

"Saw what?" Itachi looked at her, confused.

"Uchiha Shisui and...your mother and father."

Itachi stayed quiet and gave her his full attention, wondering where she was going with this. What was she talking about?

"Shisui said to tell you that he doesn't hate you for doing what you did. He only regrets you had to go through that alone. You both were supposed to share the burden, but in the end, he left you alone with all of it." Sakura paused and met Itachi's gaze. His eyes had widened and his mouth was slightly open. She decided to continue,

"Your mother…..she said she loves you both and will be watching over you. And to not forget your promise, that you would take care of Sasuke."

Once more, she paused and waited a few seconds for Itachi to process what she had said before continuing. The last person who said something for her to forward to Itachi was his father.

"Your father…" she gave him a genuine smile. "He feels great remorse for the turn your life has taken. He blames himself for the pain you had to endure. He realized that you could have been the first Uchiha Hokage. He admitted that he burdened you with the Uchiha Clan's mission and had stolen your future. He is deeply sorry and hopes you can forgive him."

Tears fell down Itachi's cheeks; he couldn't help but cry. Finally, after all these years, he felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders. The guilt had been eating him alive. Even after death, after he had killed them, his parents didn't have ill will against him. They were still proud of him and watching over him and his little brother. His best friend, whom he thought wouldn't approve of the path Itachi had taken, didn't hate him. They all only regretted not being there with him. And now this girl, who loved his little brother so much….was willing to sacrifice her life, just for him to have the chance to tell Sasuke the truth.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," said Sakura. She wiped at her own tears with the back of her hand.

Eventually, Itachi left the room but not before Sakura completely healed his wounds. He was against it at first-she needed to heal herself first-but he gave up after seeing how persistent she was.

When she was alone, Sakura focused her chakra and healed her own wound, but even though it was gone, her body was still extremely sore. It took a while for her to even stand up, but she needed to find Sasuke and make sure he was okay. Of course he wasn't, but she didn't want to leave him alone. What if he did something stupid?

She slowly limped out of the room and saw the others sitting there, waiting for her and Itachi's conversation to finish. She didn't see Itachi. He must have gone somewhere to be alone. She asked Jugo where Sasuke was and to show her the way. He did. They found Sasuke sitting on a boulder outside staring at the full moon.

"Sasuke," she called and stood behind him, waiting for him to acknowledge her.

"Sakura…" he replied and turned to look at her. His eyes were filled with full of questions and confusion. "Are you okay?"

"I'm completely healed," she answered. She knelt next to him and gave him a hug. "I'm fine. You're going to be fine. We're going to be fine."

"What is going to happen? What should I do?" Sasuke asked.

~To Be Continued~

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