Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ AB Type ❯ Flowing water ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Eau-Hermaphrodite 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 12.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 237 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 12.21.2006 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 237 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I don't own NARUTO series or any of its characters. They are property of Masashi Kishimoto
_____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _
'4:34 am' said the clock. In the distance she could still hear some drunk laughters and soft music. It was the city that loved the dances, the drinks, the multicolored neon letters, like the one that was under their window. It gave the whole room a greenish brightness.
She slowly opened her eyes, cautiously keeping her breathing even. Her first object of view was, of course, Itachi. From her point of view, his back was the only distinguishable part of his body. Her eyes following the curvature of every muscle, outlined by the dim light of neon and moon.
His breathing seemed even. She was pretty sure that he slept like a baby.
Sakura got up as quietly as possible and left the room in tip toes. She thought about that garden that was all messed up. It would be a perfect place to send the message. It was hidden enough and none would visit it, specially during night.
The night was pleasant, not cold like those that she suffered on that cave which the Akatsuki called their 'headquarters'. No, this was fresh but not cold, the sky was beautifully iluminated by thousands of stars and the moon . . .
'Stop it!, you have no time to think of such meaningless things, focus. . .focus', she berated herself, thinking that she was too soft.
Another thing to change.
Lately her list had became larger and larger. She started to wonder whether she was changing too fast or it was just that she had never realized before the amount of things that made her weak.
Now, what could she do to send the message. She hadn't any birds near to call for . . .Maybe a clone.
----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
< br> Mia entered the room still thinking that he was asleep. What was she hiding?. Itachi didn't worry for he would find out later.
She went to her bed and faked slumber. He could tell she was faking because of his extremely high skills, but she sounded rather convicing to any untrained ear.
He turned around to look at her. He could only distinguish the paleness of her skin because her dark hair mixed within the darkness of the room and because his eyesight wasn't in perfect shape at all. She was facing the ceiling and his eyes followed by their own the movement of her chest provoked by her breathing. This certanly awoke some lust in him, but he, as always, supressed it.
The girl was rapidly falling asleep, as he realized that her breathing seemed more natural. He decided to follow her example and started the difficult task of falling asleep. He always had a hard time when sleep time came. The bags under his eyes were a truthful proof of that. Of course he slept, but no so often as the rest of the people. Nightmares were one of the main reasons; they didn't let him rest his mind so he preferred to meditate. Dreams angered him to his last extents for it was the only thing he couldn't control. Not even with his Sharingan.
He closed his eyes and dispersed the Sharingan, immediatly feeling the relaxing sensation of the tenseness fading away from his head. He focused on his breathing, trying to make it even, deep and slow, and bit by bit, his mind flew away to another world lighter and free from human kind.
About an hour later, Mia's stir woke him up. It irked him a little the fact that he had finally got to sleep, though it seemed like seconds, and was harshly awoke by this girl's noisy slumber. She was talking nonsense he didn't pay much attention to, when a particular word caught his hearing.
'Sasuke'. . .Strike!, she knew him. How and why was the mystery, but this whole situation was definitely not the way it seemed to be. She was hiding some things to him that may be of considerable importance.
Why did she acted as if she didn't know him? Why to hide it? He noticed her strange beahvior when they dropped Sasuke in the border of the Fire country, but didn't scrutinize on that. He thought that it was very probable for her to know him, after all, they were about the same age and both from Konoha. So, there was no reason to hide such a petty fact.
Itachi felt that he was being carried in a situation he had no control over, and that bothered him so much. He felt insecure of the terrain he was stepping on. That wasn't something he was used to.
He kept staring at her, and she kept turning and spinning under the covers, visibly uncomfortable. She was having a nightmare probably.
This changed many things. He couldn't trust her in battle if she was hiding things that might involve him, so he should find out first and then proceed with their task.
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura sat in the border of a building, looking at the city and far away, at the forest that surrounded it. She had had a nightmare with Sasuke and his bloody face. The thing that scared her the most wasn't the image of a dying Sasuke.
It was the fact that she had killed him.
Mercilessly. Almost with a sadistic satisfaction. Seeing his red eyes fading to black, loosing little by little every breath of life in them. Even now she couldn't help the sinful sensation of fulfillment.
She closed her eyes and the wind blew, tossing her hair backwards.
She felt him coming.
"Mia san, I would like to ask you a thing", Itachi said calmly while standing next to her and looking at the same forest.
"What is it?", she said with worry. She was expecting this to happen.
"Why is it that you know my brother?", but, as she was expecting it, she had already prepared an answer.
"I met him in Konoha, during my years in the academy"
"I see. . ." He replied. Of course he thought about that, but he was sure that there was something else. This wasn't even the tip of the iceberg.
"Then why did you hide it?"
"You asked for one question only", she said playfully. But in her mind she was looking at light speed for excuses that would satisfy his curiosity.
On the other hand, Itachi was almost amused by her skills of evading problematic questions.
Almost.
Ok, less than almost.
"Is there any reason why you don't want to answer another question?", he said narrowing his eyes but keeping his stare on the forest.
"No, I just don't want to", Sakura replied, for the first time, feeling that it was ok to let inner Sakura see the light.
Itachi moved to face her and approached her at a dangerously slow step. He stood at one foot from her and bent down to her level. His hand reaching for the side of her head to toss away a strand of hair from her face. Then he grabbed her chin and moved himself closer to her face, mere inches apart.
"I don't like your behavior, kunoichi", he whispered in a low velvety tone.
"I don't like yours either', she said defiantly. What had happened to her? Where was all the fear that had normally taken over her body in a situation like this?
"Uh...we're on a big dilemma then, for my patience is not so . . .extensive", he said looking at her directly at the eyes with his hypnotizing Sharingan.
"Mine is already lost", she said, feeling the adrenaline fill her body. She was getting excited at the possibility of a fight.
What in the world was wrong with her?
Sakura could feel the tenseness of the situation, though it was charged with a hidden and dark meaning. It was so dense she could almost touch it, but she couldn't help the warmth it provoked on her lower belly.
She got scared at such feeling.
She got scared of her own thoughts.
Sakura grabbed his hand that was holding her chin and softly moved it away from her. His face didn't show a hint of anger, nor exitement or any emotion. Just then she released a breath that she had been holding without even realizing.
"I wouldn't like to be secrets that might interfere with our mission", he said serious while standing up. "So, if you have something to say, I recommend you to start right now", his voice became cold and indifferent again, which contrasted dramatically with the tone he had just used.
She narrowed her eyes.
"I don't have anything to say, Itachi san, so please don't be so paranoiac", she said lightly, like dismissing the matter.
Itachi remained silent. Of course that didn't convince him, not at all, but for now he would leave the topic. He would ponder over these things later. Now they had something very important to do.
"Let's start the jutsu, it's around seven", he said while seating cross-legged.
For Sakura, this was the first time she would actually use this technique. She had been taught to use this by Leader himself, but she never really had a chance to use it. So, needless to say, she was very nervous, always affraid that she could screw up some thing, or do it wrong and seem stupid in front of Itachi. She was kind of looking for his approval. He was one of the strongest persons she knew and was certain that being with him was a great chance to learn and become stronger and powerful. Plus, there was another thing that made her want to look perfect in front of him.
He had acknowledged her. And this was such a conflictive situation, because there were only two people in the world that had truly donde that, he and Naruto, and Naruto was her best friend and maybe something else, but Itachi . . .he was nothing of her, no relationship, not a friend, none. But he had done what not even both of her beloved mentors had done in years.
But he was such an imbecile.
"Start with a twenty percent", he ordered and closed his eyes to concentrate. She did the same, albeit it was kind of difficult with so much adrenaline still running throughout her body. Then suddenly, two clones were formed.
First they changed their appearance. Mia was a little girl of black eyes and dark hair and Itachi a robust man with green eyes and brown hair. They looked like father and daughter, without a hint of their real selves.
Mia looked at the clones and smiled.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big. Everything was so big! The gates had been remodelated and there were new buildings all over the place. The main street was bigger too and there were many people from Suna.
Sakura couldn't hide her excitement. To comeback and see those big gates again, those she had left with a crying Naruto behind them. To see all the faces she lived with for about seventeen years. Everything . . .it was too much for Sakura. But this was Gennosuke Mia, so, instead of running through the whole village to say hi to her friends and loved ones, she stood poker-faced, walking calmly next to Itachi.
She was becoming so much like him.
"I'm thirsty and hungry", Mia suddenly broke the silence between them. Itachi just looked at her from the corner of his eye and signaled a little restaurant. They both walked there without uttering a word.
They sat in a table next to a window and waited to order.
"So, what should we do?", she asked. They were supposed to steal the documents around midnight, and it was hardly eight in the afternoon.
"We will have to search for a place to stay", he replied.
"To prepare everything, you say?" she said.
"Hm. And to pass unadverted", Itachi finished.
The waitress arrived and they ordered.
During the meal, none of them spoke, it went completely silent. Sakura, though, took advantage of the situation and observed him meticulously. She realized, for example, that he took his time to eat the food, he chewed quite slow, he was right handed, he didn't like capers . . .
Gosh, she felt pathetic.
Any excuse as not to think about how happy she felt for returning to Konoha.
She was thinking about it again, damn! stop it!
Let's see . . .
She glanced all over the restaurant and the people to distact her mind. Her eyes passed over a blur of green.
Lee. He passed by the restaurant she was in, walking happily next to Ten Ten.
So much time without seeing him!, that made her remember all the people she hadn't seen in about one year and a half.
That made her remember Sasuke.
Yeah, he was here, and there was a high probability that he wasn't alive.
They finished and left the place to find an inn. There was one near the center with a great view to the Hokage tower.
"I'm going away for a while, I'll be back in he night", said Mia. Itachi replied with a 'hn' and that was all he cared.
'Idiot' she said inwardly.
Mia hurried to the outside. There, she headed for the Hokage building, just to have a look; the Yamanaka flowery, Ichiraku ramen . . .The hospital.
She needed to know about Sasuke.
"Excuse me, I would like to know if there is any Uchiha Sasuke registered", she said to the receptionist of the Hospital.
"Ehm . . .yes, he's in the room 202", the woman answered with that permanent smile all receptionists had.
"Thanks", Sakura said and walked through the hallways that now belonged to a distant past.
There was, the 202 room. Behind it, she didn't know what to expect.
Her hands started to sweat, her breathing raced up, her throat felt tight.
'Open it'.
Her legs were shaking and a cold rush of adrenaline ran from her feet to her head.
'Open the damn door', inner Sakura screamed.
His bloody face and dying eyes returned to her from her dream, attempting to break her will again.
'Shut up, Sakura!'
She entered, first looking at the floor and slowly, very slowly, raising her gaze.
The bed, white covers, dark hair . . .
Sasuke . . .
Her eyes filled with warm tears and her hand quickly covered her mouth to prevent it from gasping.
He didn't look as bad as she saw him the day before. His eyes, closed to her, showed a big amount of veins, as the rest of his skin did. He was like a ghost with too many injuries.
Suddenly she realized that destiny had a very twisted sense of humor.
This was the same room she had been hospitalized years ago, when the transfusion had place.
The same room, the same starless night sky.
"Sasuke", she couldn't help the venom that accompanied her words.
----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------
"Itachi san?", Sakura asked. She had entered the room and it seemed empty.
'Strange', they were supposed to prepare for the midnight attack, so he should be here.
'While he gets here before midnight, I'm alright', he didn't care if she went out, so why would she care about him? He should die if world wasn't so unfair.
Sakura entered the bathroom to drink some water. Her throat felt dry and her mind tired. She looked up to the mirror and laughed at the image she saw. The little girl in front stared back at her with such innocent eyes. Her smiling face remembered her of the twelve-year old Sakura who believed in fairy tales and a certain black haired Uchiha little boy.
A noise outside the bathroom woke her up. When she went out she found Itachi walking to the window.
"I observed the surroundings, and there is an easily avoidable guarding, here is the map", Itachi said and opened a scroll on top of the bed.
Sakura knew very well the Hokage building, at least that's what she tought until she saw the map. They had changed so many things. There were new rooms and some others were missing. Some had changed their purpose.
"We will enter here", he signaled a little entrance that was placed in the back of the building.
"The vigilance is very poor, so we won't call attention. Next, we go through this hallway to this stairs. Here is the room we are looking for", He said with a plain voice and looked up at her. She held a confused expression on her face. More like disturbed.
"Is anything wrong, Mia san?"
"No, nothing, is just that it seems so easy", another lie. She was getting used to lies, it was easier and easier to her as time passed by.
"It is, but you don't have to be overconfident", he stated. Experience had taught him that he always had to expect the worst of every situation, no mater how easy it seemed to be.
They preparated for the attack. The clothes, weapons and others, it was all ready.
They seemed invisible in this dark night. Their ran to the Hokage building. There were four guards on the main door. Two more on the back door.
Itachi walked to them and with the silent action of his sharingan the two men fell asleep.
They entered. The map replayed over and over again in their heads. The stairway and to the right the room they were looking for.
Itachi made her a gesture that indicated her to search on one side. He would search on some shelves.
Mia passed through a lot of names that meant so much to Sakura as if they were nothing, as if they were strangers. She was like a machine now. Cold and practical.
She activated the Sharingan to do the task easier and faster, cautiously facing Itachi with her back for him not to notice.
Soon she found the name she was looking for.
Uzumaki Naruto, Capitain of the third special ANBU squad.
Quickly she read the document and felt totally relieved when she saw that he was on a mission.
She looked at Itachi and made a signal. They ran to the outside.
Of course this couldn't be so easy.
Five ANBU stood there, waiting for them, with a series of traps all over the place. But she didn't worry at all. She had asked them to be there in the first place.
'Thanks, Tsunade shishou'
A kunai flew milimeters from her cheek and she realized they were fighting her seriously. Itachi directed a quick look at her, like reproval, and that was enough to make her inner self to burn in anger.
She threw three kunais while making a clone at light speed.
"Gougakyou no justu!" and all became the hell itself. She ran with three more clones throwing shurikens and kunais. The next Housenka no jutsu threw one ANBU unconscious to the ground. She quickly jumped backwards to fall right behind another ANBU. Without a blink she cut his throat with a kunai and stood there while the body fell to the ground, to her feet.
Itachi had already beaten two more and they escaped, leaving behind one ANBU half-alive.
------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------
Tsu nade watched the two fugitives run away, seated in her office with a hot coffee on her hand. She had been enclosed there the whole day, and still, it wasn't enough to calm her sorrow.
She had been thinking about Sakura. It hurt to realize that the mission originally given to the pink haired kunoichi had given a complete turn, and now she was being exposed at so many things Tsunade doubted she was prepared for. The way she had fought, the easiness which she killed those two ANBU, without hesitating . . .One year and a half on this mission was turning her into an authentic Akatsuki, and that was what the Fifth feared the most. Before, she had been completely sure about Sakura's position. She trusted her to remain the same Sakura everybody knew. But now, she had became a stranger, whose ambitions, powers and feelings were unknown for the Hokage.
How long would this act last, before it becomes real?
She felt so guilty. The ghosts of her past returning to whisper in her ear how she had failed to a loved person again. She regretted so much to give this assignament to Sakura.
She hadn't expected this to happen.
_____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _
'4:34 am' said the clock. In the distance she could still hear some drunk laughters and soft music. It was the city that loved the dances, the drinks, the multicolored neon letters, like the one that was under their window. It gave the whole room a greenish brightness.
She slowly opened her eyes, cautiously keeping her breathing even. Her first object of view was, of course, Itachi. From her point of view, his back was the only distinguishable part of his body. Her eyes following the curvature of every muscle, outlined by the dim light of neon and moon.
His breathing seemed even. She was pretty sure that he slept like a baby.
Sakura got up as quietly as possible and left the room in tip toes. She thought about that garden that was all messed up. It would be a perfect place to send the message. It was hidden enough and none would visit it, specially during night.
The night was pleasant, not cold like those that she suffered on that cave which the Akatsuki called their 'headquarters'. No, this was fresh but not cold, the sky was beautifully iluminated by thousands of stars and the moon . . .
'Stop it!, you have no time to think of such meaningless things, focus. . .focus', she berated herself, thinking that she was too soft.
Another thing to change.
Lately her list had became larger and larger. She started to wonder whether she was changing too fast or it was just that she had never realized before the amount of things that made her weak.
Now, what could she do to send the message. She hadn't any birds near to call for . . .Maybe a clone.
----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
< br> Mia entered the room still thinking that he was asleep. What was she hiding?. Itachi didn't worry for he would find out later.
She went to her bed and faked slumber. He could tell she was faking because of his extremely high skills, but she sounded rather convicing to any untrained ear.
He turned around to look at her. He could only distinguish the paleness of her skin because her dark hair mixed within the darkness of the room and because his eyesight wasn't in perfect shape at all. She was facing the ceiling and his eyes followed by their own the movement of her chest provoked by her breathing. This certanly awoke some lust in him, but he, as always, supressed it.
The girl was rapidly falling asleep, as he realized that her breathing seemed more natural. He decided to follow her example and started the difficult task of falling asleep. He always had a hard time when sleep time came. The bags under his eyes were a truthful proof of that. Of course he slept, but no so often as the rest of the people. Nightmares were one of the main reasons; they didn't let him rest his mind so he preferred to meditate. Dreams angered him to his last extents for it was the only thing he couldn't control. Not even with his Sharingan.
He closed his eyes and dispersed the Sharingan, immediatly feeling the relaxing sensation of the tenseness fading away from his head. He focused on his breathing, trying to make it even, deep and slow, and bit by bit, his mind flew away to another world lighter and free from human kind.
About an hour later, Mia's stir woke him up. It irked him a little the fact that he had finally got to sleep, though it seemed like seconds, and was harshly awoke by this girl's noisy slumber. She was talking nonsense he didn't pay much attention to, when a particular word caught his hearing.
'Sasuke'. . .Strike!, she knew him. How and why was the mystery, but this whole situation was definitely not the way it seemed to be. She was hiding some things to him that may be of considerable importance.
Why did she acted as if she didn't know him? Why to hide it? He noticed her strange beahvior when they dropped Sasuke in the border of the Fire country, but didn't scrutinize on that. He thought that it was very probable for her to know him, after all, they were about the same age and both from Konoha. So, there was no reason to hide such a petty fact.
Itachi felt that he was being carried in a situation he had no control over, and that bothered him so much. He felt insecure of the terrain he was stepping on. That wasn't something he was used to.
He kept staring at her, and she kept turning and spinning under the covers, visibly uncomfortable. She was having a nightmare probably.
This changed many things. He couldn't trust her in battle if she was hiding things that might involve him, so he should find out first and then proceed with their task.
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura sat in the border of a building, looking at the city and far away, at the forest that surrounded it. She had had a nightmare with Sasuke and his bloody face. The thing that scared her the most wasn't the image of a dying Sasuke.
It was the fact that she had killed him.
Mercilessly. Almost with a sadistic satisfaction. Seeing his red eyes fading to black, loosing little by little every breath of life in them. Even now she couldn't help the sinful sensation of fulfillment.
She closed her eyes and the wind blew, tossing her hair backwards.
She felt him coming.
"Mia san, I would like to ask you a thing", Itachi said calmly while standing next to her and looking at the same forest.
"What is it?", she said with worry. She was expecting this to happen.
"Why is it that you know my brother?", but, as she was expecting it, she had already prepared an answer.
"I met him in Konoha, during my years in the academy"
"I see. . ." He replied. Of course he thought about that, but he was sure that there was something else. This wasn't even the tip of the iceberg.
"Then why did you hide it?"
"You asked for one question only", she said playfully. But in her mind she was looking at light speed for excuses that would satisfy his curiosity.
On the other hand, Itachi was almost amused by her skills of evading problematic questions.
Almost.
Ok, less than almost.
"Is there any reason why you don't want to answer another question?", he said narrowing his eyes but keeping his stare on the forest.
"No, I just don't want to", Sakura replied, for the first time, feeling that it was ok to let inner Sakura see the light.
Itachi moved to face her and approached her at a dangerously slow step. He stood at one foot from her and bent down to her level. His hand reaching for the side of her head to toss away a strand of hair from her face. Then he grabbed her chin and moved himself closer to her face, mere inches apart.
"I don't like your behavior, kunoichi", he whispered in a low velvety tone.
"I don't like yours either', she said defiantly. What had happened to her? Where was all the fear that had normally taken over her body in a situation like this?
"Uh...we're on a big dilemma then, for my patience is not so . . .extensive", he said looking at her directly at the eyes with his hypnotizing Sharingan.
"Mine is already lost", she said, feeling the adrenaline fill her body. She was getting excited at the possibility of a fight.
What in the world was wrong with her?
Sakura could feel the tenseness of the situation, though it was charged with a hidden and dark meaning. It was so dense she could almost touch it, but she couldn't help the warmth it provoked on her lower belly.
She got scared at such feeling.
She got scared of her own thoughts.
Sakura grabbed his hand that was holding her chin and softly moved it away from her. His face didn't show a hint of anger, nor exitement or any emotion. Just then she released a breath that she had been holding without even realizing.
"I wouldn't like to be secrets that might interfere with our mission", he said serious while standing up. "So, if you have something to say, I recommend you to start right now", his voice became cold and indifferent again, which contrasted dramatically with the tone he had just used.
She narrowed her eyes.
"I don't have anything to say, Itachi san, so please don't be so paranoiac", she said lightly, like dismissing the matter.
Itachi remained silent. Of course that didn't convince him, not at all, but for now he would leave the topic. He would ponder over these things later. Now they had something very important to do.
"Let's start the jutsu, it's around seven", he said while seating cross-legged.
For Sakura, this was the first time she would actually use this technique. She had been taught to use this by Leader himself, but she never really had a chance to use it. So, needless to say, she was very nervous, always affraid that she could screw up some thing, or do it wrong and seem stupid in front of Itachi. She was kind of looking for his approval. He was one of the strongest persons she knew and was certain that being with him was a great chance to learn and become stronger and powerful. Plus, there was another thing that made her want to look perfect in front of him.
He had acknowledged her. And this was such a conflictive situation, because there were only two people in the world that had truly donde that, he and Naruto, and Naruto was her best friend and maybe something else, but Itachi . . .he was nothing of her, no relationship, not a friend, none. But he had done what not even both of her beloved mentors had done in years.
But he was such an imbecile.
"Start with a twenty percent", he ordered and closed his eyes to concentrate. She did the same, albeit it was kind of difficult with so much adrenaline still running throughout her body. Then suddenly, two clones were formed.
First they changed their appearance. Mia was a little girl of black eyes and dark hair and Itachi a robust man with green eyes and brown hair. They looked like father and daughter, without a hint of their real selves.
Mia looked at the clones and smiled.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big. Everything was so big! The gates had been remodelated and there were new buildings all over the place. The main street was bigger too and there were many people from Suna.
Sakura couldn't hide her excitement. To comeback and see those big gates again, those she had left with a crying Naruto behind them. To see all the faces she lived with for about seventeen years. Everything . . .it was too much for Sakura. But this was Gennosuke Mia, so, instead of running through the whole village to say hi to her friends and loved ones, she stood poker-faced, walking calmly next to Itachi.
She was becoming so much like him.
"I'm thirsty and hungry", Mia suddenly broke the silence between them. Itachi just looked at her from the corner of his eye and signaled a little restaurant. They both walked there without uttering a word.
They sat in a table next to a window and waited to order.
"So, what should we do?", she asked. They were supposed to steal the documents around midnight, and it was hardly eight in the afternoon.
"We will have to search for a place to stay", he replied.
"To prepare everything, you say?" she said.
"Hm. And to pass unadverted", Itachi finished.
The waitress arrived and they ordered.
During the meal, none of them spoke, it went completely silent. Sakura, though, took advantage of the situation and observed him meticulously. She realized, for example, that he took his time to eat the food, he chewed quite slow, he was right handed, he didn't like capers . . .
Gosh, she felt pathetic.
Any excuse as not to think about how happy she felt for returning to Konoha.
She was thinking about it again, damn! stop it!
Let's see . . .
She glanced all over the restaurant and the people to distact her mind. Her eyes passed over a blur of green.
Lee. He passed by the restaurant she was in, walking happily next to Ten Ten.
So much time without seeing him!, that made her remember all the people she hadn't seen in about one year and a half.
That made her remember Sasuke.
Yeah, he was here, and there was a high probability that he wasn't alive.
They finished and left the place to find an inn. There was one near the center with a great view to the Hokage tower.
"I'm going away for a while, I'll be back in he night", said Mia. Itachi replied with a 'hn' and that was all he cared.
'Idiot' she said inwardly.
Mia hurried to the outside. There, she headed for the Hokage building, just to have a look; the Yamanaka flowery, Ichiraku ramen . . .The hospital.
She needed to know about Sasuke.
"Excuse me, I would like to know if there is any Uchiha Sasuke registered", she said to the receptionist of the Hospital.
"Ehm . . .yes, he's in the room 202", the woman answered with that permanent smile all receptionists had.
"Thanks", Sakura said and walked through the hallways that now belonged to a distant past.
There was, the 202 room. Behind it, she didn't know what to expect.
Her hands started to sweat, her breathing raced up, her throat felt tight.
'Open it'.
Her legs were shaking and a cold rush of adrenaline ran from her feet to her head.
'Open the damn door', inner Sakura screamed.
His bloody face and dying eyes returned to her from her dream, attempting to break her will again.
'Shut up, Sakura!'
She entered, first looking at the floor and slowly, very slowly, raising her gaze.
The bed, white covers, dark hair . . .
Sasuke . . .
Her eyes filled with warm tears and her hand quickly covered her mouth to prevent it from gasping.
He didn't look as bad as she saw him the day before. His eyes, closed to her, showed a big amount of veins, as the rest of his skin did. He was like a ghost with too many injuries.
Suddenly she realized that destiny had a very twisted sense of humor.
This was the same room she had been hospitalized years ago, when the transfusion had place.
The same room, the same starless night sky.
"Sasuke", she couldn't help the venom that accompanied her words.
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"Itachi san?", Sakura asked. She had entered the room and it seemed empty.
'Strange', they were supposed to prepare for the midnight attack, so he should be here.
'While he gets here before midnight, I'm alright', he didn't care if she went out, so why would she care about him? He should die if world wasn't so unfair.
Sakura entered the bathroom to drink some water. Her throat felt dry and her mind tired. She looked up to the mirror and laughed at the image she saw. The little girl in front stared back at her with such innocent eyes. Her smiling face remembered her of the twelve-year old Sakura who believed in fairy tales and a certain black haired Uchiha little boy.
A noise outside the bathroom woke her up. When she went out she found Itachi walking to the window.
"I observed the surroundings, and there is an easily avoidable guarding, here is the map", Itachi said and opened a scroll on top of the bed.
Sakura knew very well the Hokage building, at least that's what she tought until she saw the map. They had changed so many things. There were new rooms and some others were missing. Some had changed their purpose.
"We will enter here", he signaled a little entrance that was placed in the back of the building.
"The vigilance is very poor, so we won't call attention. Next, we go through this hallway to this stairs. Here is the room we are looking for", He said with a plain voice and looked up at her. She held a confused expression on her face. More like disturbed.
"Is anything wrong, Mia san?"
"No, nothing, is just that it seems so easy", another lie. She was getting used to lies, it was easier and easier to her as time passed by.
"It is, but you don't have to be overconfident", he stated. Experience had taught him that he always had to expect the worst of every situation, no mater how easy it seemed to be.
They preparated for the attack. The clothes, weapons and others, it was all ready.
They seemed invisible in this dark night. Their ran to the Hokage building. There were four guards on the main door. Two more on the back door.
Itachi walked to them and with the silent action of his sharingan the two men fell asleep.
They entered. The map replayed over and over again in their heads. The stairway and to the right the room they were looking for.
Itachi made her a gesture that indicated her to search on one side. He would search on some shelves.
Mia passed through a lot of names that meant so much to Sakura as if they were nothing, as if they were strangers. She was like a machine now. Cold and practical.
She activated the Sharingan to do the task easier and faster, cautiously facing Itachi with her back for him not to notice.
Soon she found the name she was looking for.
Uzumaki Naruto, Capitain of the third special ANBU squad.
Quickly she read the document and felt totally relieved when she saw that he was on a mission.
She looked at Itachi and made a signal. They ran to the outside.
Of course this couldn't be so easy.
Five ANBU stood there, waiting for them, with a series of traps all over the place. But she didn't worry at all. She had asked them to be there in the first place.
'Thanks, Tsunade shishou'
A kunai flew milimeters from her cheek and she realized they were fighting her seriously. Itachi directed a quick look at her, like reproval, and that was enough to make her inner self to burn in anger.
She threw three kunais while making a clone at light speed.
"Gougakyou no justu!" and all became the hell itself. She ran with three more clones throwing shurikens and kunais. The next Housenka no jutsu threw one ANBU unconscious to the ground. She quickly jumped backwards to fall right behind another ANBU. Without a blink she cut his throat with a kunai and stood there while the body fell to the ground, to her feet.
Itachi had already beaten two more and they escaped, leaving behind one ANBU half-alive.
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Tsu nade watched the two fugitives run away, seated in her office with a hot coffee on her hand. She had been enclosed there the whole day, and still, it wasn't enough to calm her sorrow.
She had been thinking about Sakura. It hurt to realize that the mission originally given to the pink haired kunoichi had given a complete turn, and now she was being exposed at so many things Tsunade doubted she was prepared for. The way she had fought, the easiness which she killed those two ANBU, without hesitating . . .One year and a half on this mission was turning her into an authentic Akatsuki, and that was what the Fifth feared the most. Before, she had been completely sure about Sakura's position. She trusted her to remain the same Sakura everybody knew. But now, she had became a stranger, whose ambitions, powers and feelings were unknown for the Hokage.
How long would this act last, before it becomes real?
She felt so guilty. The ghosts of her past returning to whisper in her ear how she had failed to a loved person again. She regretted so much to give this assignament to Sakura.
She hadn't expected this to happen.