Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hindsight's 20/20 ❯ Sakura ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto.

Author's notes: Well, I'm still not done with the editing of the first three chapters but I finished the 4th…so I figured I'd just post the full version chapter 4 with the original chapters 1-3 so as to at least give you guys the continuation of the story seeing as it took me so long to write it. Thanks to everyone who have reviewed the story and helped me out with it, this chapter is going to leave you all with a lot of questions but I promise that they'll all get answered as the story goes on. Hope you enjoy ^_^

~~~

Hindsight's 20/20: Chapter 4

By: Tea Leaf / Banana Soap

~~~

Haruno slouched in the thin window frame of one of the stained windows of her apartment. The ledge she sat on was thin and the paint was peeling but the wood was holding. Her back leaned against the frame, her shoulder rested against the window itself, and the leg on the windowsill was raised and bent at the knee, the foot resting on the ledge. A thick, slightly tattered sketchbook rested on her raised knee as her right hand sketched idly.

Her heavy eyelids hung over her faded green eyes; slight smudges under her eyes emphasized the pallor of her skin. Her legs were sore from standing for the past nine hours and running around the coffee shop. She was exhausted.

Her vision was foggy, unfocused, allowing her vague lines to blur together. She blinked to clear them and stared at the rough outline of a crouched man. She sighed and ripped out the page, crumpling it in her hands and tossing it into the wastebasket beside her. Try as she might, she kept messing up.

She leaned her head back against the window frame and closed her eyes briefly, relishing the fact that she was momentarily one step closer to rest. With effort, she pried her lids apart again and stared past the discolored glass separating her from the night and tried to distinguish a star or two from within the blazing city lights and obscuring smog. Even the sky was filthy.

She hated this place. But soon she would be able to leave; she could feel it in her bones. Her bank account had slowly been swelling over the years of backbreaking labor and her diploma was almost in her grasp. Just this one last year and she'd be long gone. They would be long gone.

And they could finally start over.

She heard the lock of the door shift and turned her head to watch the doorknob turn before the crooked plank swung inward.

"You're home early…" she remarked softly as she recognized Itachi's dark form in the doorway.

"Work was easier than anticipated tonight." He answered vaguely. For which she was vaguely grateful. She'd decided a while ago that she didn't want to be privy to the details of gang business anymore.

He moved slowly, his movements as tired as she felt. Languidly, the long katana that had been strapped to his back was detached and set to lean against the doorframe. The long coat was next, the leather lazily releasing its grip on his hard shoulders, before being hung on a hook beside the door near her similar coat.

"Did it go well?" She asked as she watched him move to the old refrigerator in her kitchen.

"Yes." He answered simply, as he pulled open the door by its only half attached handle. She studied him in the fridge's flickering light.

His one good eye was dark black again, proof that he'd let his guard down as he always had with her. There were deep lines panning out over his cheeks, testament to a lack of sleep that he would never be able to recover from. His dark hair was tied loosely at the back of his neck. Several stray strands had fallen from it and hung in disarray around his face, shadowing it even more than the faulty lighting. The long red scar that ran down the left side of his face looked black.

"What are you working on?" he asked her, not looking at her as he pulled out a carton of milk and set it on the grungy but clean counter.

"My next art project…but its just not working." She answered with a sigh as she looked down at her blank page.

"What are you drawing?" he asked as he pulled a chair up to the windowsill and sat on it, staring at her intently and sipping his glass of milk.

"Someone I used to know…but I'm having trouble remembering them." She admitted, her eyes landing on the full wastebasket on the ground beside her.

"Do you still see them?" he asked her in a dispassionate tone, his eye having never left her face.

"Sort of…" she answered evasively.

"Then ask them to model for you." He stated simply as he finished off his glass of milk.

She blinked in surprise at him as he stood and walked slowly back over to the kitchen, setting his empty glass in the chipped sink.

"You think so?" she questioned as she swung her leg off the ledge and closed her sketchbook.

"Might as well." He answered her over his shoulder as he headed towards her bedroom.

"Its late. Tomorrow's Monday." He reminded her.

She stood and followed him.

~~~

Mondays were always the hardest, she found. She always felt heavier on a Monday morning, like weights had been set on her stomach and tied to her legs. It always took an extra effort to push herself out of bed for the dawn training lessons Itachi had always insisted on doing with her. This particular Monday was even harder seeing as she had the added dread of asking a favor of someone today. She hated asking favors, they made her feel indebted to people. And if she had debts to pay, she was tied to them, tied to that person, tied to this city, tied to this life.

She groaned and groped slightly for the edge of the bed so as to push her body upwards. A strong calloused hand grasped her groping one and pulled, helping her up.

Her heavy eyelids finally opened and her hazy gaze focused on Itachi's deep black one. He was watching her intently. Finally his eye softened slightly and his dark eyebrows drew together fractionally. He tried to lay her back down but her other hand reached up and grasped his shirt, holding herself upright.

"You need more sleep. We'll skip training for today." He told her in his deep, monotonous voice.

"No" she said, her voice rough and husky from sleep, as she pushed him back slightly as he subtly tried to bodily force her back down to the lumpy mattress.

"If I lay back down, I won't be able to get up again." She told him, her hands still feebly clutching him for support.

He sighed inaudibly before grasping her hands and helping her to her feet.

She swayed slightly as a sharp pain shot from her left hip and knee and her leg gave out beneath her weight.

Her grip on him tightened as his did the same, pulling her against him and supporting her weight.

"Take the day off from school and sleep." He told her.

"It's not just school, I have work too." She said feebly, her voice still raw.

"I'll tell your boss you're sick." He countered.

She smiled slightly, her boss certainly wouldn't argue with an Akatsuki member.

"But I'm not sick. You know I hate lying." She told him, giving him her rare soft look and smile.

"You will be if you keep this up." He answered, not showing any reaction to her softness if it even affected him at all.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." She told him, her voice starting to smooth out.

She tested her leg again, carefully setting her weight on the overused and abused limb and biting her cheek against the wave of pain that shot up from her worn joints. She straightened and released her grip on him. He scrutinized her again, holding onto her for a second longer before releasing her with another of his inaudible sighs.

"So what are we doing for training today?" she asked him as he stepped back from her and turned away.

"Physical therapy." He answered flatly.

She smiled softly again.

~~~

The day wore on with Haruno fighting valiantly to stay awake during her classes and trying just as valiantly to hide her limp from her teammates during training with Kakashi second period.

She was pretty sure she fooled Naruto but she had caught Sasuke going easy on her and Kakashi watching her movements intently. Thankfully they had the tack to not mention it.

Finally last period rolled around and she sat at her desk by the window of her art class. The room was still buzzing with comments about the strange poster that had been posted on the art board. The main speculation was what had been used for the splatter marks covering it. At first it was believed to be paint but as time had gone on, the red had steadily gotten darker and darker as it aged and dried out. Now many suspected it to be blood. But why would there be blood on it? The second speculation was of whom the portrait depicted. The rumors centered on it being a shady character from the city's underground due to his sinister look and the blood, but no one knew whom in the underworld and if they did, they kept it to themselves. Lastly, speculation ran on whom the artist was. It was generally assumed that it was the same anonymous artist who had been leaving disturbing and even controversial works of art on the board for the past three years but no one had figured out their identity yet. No one had any idea about it and that was how she liked it.

It was one thing to pour your past, your life, your emotions, your very soul onto a canvas, it was quite another for other people to know it. There were things about her that she preferred to keep buried and hidden from the general public.

Such as who the people who had influenced and shaped her life were.

And so she decidedly ignored the low buzz of the art room as students chatted away as they worked, choosing instead to concentrate on her next project. She stared out the window, her gaze unfocused as she concentrated on the images in her head. Try as she might, she still couldn't quite formulate the image she needed. Page after page in her book were covered in failed sketches. No matter how she tried, they never looked right. It had been too long since she'd allowed herself to watch him for them to be right.

She sighed, finally caving to the inevitable. She needed to look at him. She needed him to model for her. There was just no way around it. And now was as good a time as any to bite the bullet.

She stood from her seat and closed her sketchbook, tucking it under her arm before grabbing her pencil and eraser and stuffing them in her jeans pocket.

"Going somewhere Haruno?" her sensei asked her as she rose.

"I just can't concentrate. I'm going to go for a walk to clear my head." She told him as she walked to the door and left the room, ignoring the curious stares Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji sent her.

Once outside of the classroom, she visibly favored her left leg. She'd abused the joints by working two twelve-hour shifts over the weekend and was paying for it today. The pressure point work Itachi had done on them this morning had helped for a bit but the effects had long since worn off.

She hobbled slowly through the first floor hallways, heading towards the stairs. She passed by the library and saw Tenten, Lee and Neji working at a table together. She didn't know whether to be glad for the opportunity or not. If those three were in the library, it meant that Kakashi had given his last class of the day free study time and so wasn't teaching right now. Which meant that she would be able to catch him alone and ask him to model for her sketch. She was dreading it.

Her already heavy feet suddenly felt heavier and her steps up the stairs were harder than they had been when she'd walked them earlier that day. Finally she reached the second floor and was facing the hall to his classroom. Her heart was pounding. It had been a very long time since she'd spoken with him alone. Was she nervous? She took and deep breath and firmed her resolve, then started walking forward again.

She slowed as she approached the door. Was that…giggling she heard? She frowned and set her sketchbook to lean against the lockers by the class door as she crept closer.

"Hatake-sensei!" came a disgustingly high voice in a teasing tone from inside the class. Haruno's frown deepened even more.

She crept closer to the not quite shut door and cautiously peaked in through the open crack. Her frown blackened into a murderous glare as she saw some stupid blonde bimbo clone of Ino's climb onto Kakashi's chair, straddling the obviously not protesting teacher.

The girl's hands reached up to run teasingly along the edge of upraised sweater that hid his face.

Her vision went red as she lost control of her body.

The door was suddenly shoved open violently and the two in the room looked up in surprise. But her body didn't stop. She slowly prowled into the room. Kakashi was saying something but she couldn't hear him over the blood rushing through her ears. The girl gave her a terrified look that she relished as she reached out and grabbed her by her no doubt prized, brittle, bleached tresses and yanked hard. The girl flew across the room.

Haruno shook out her hand freeing it from the clinging fistful of blonde hair.

A dark smirk spread across her lips as she looked at the cowering girl that huddled weakly at the base of the wall she'd crashed into.

"Run." Came her voice in a cold, cruel tone.

The girl didn't think twice and scrambled out the door, running as fast as her over-exposed legs would take her.

Haruno sneered at her retreating form.

"SAKURA!" She finally heard Kakashi yell as he grabbed her shoulder.

She shrugged him off violently and spun to face him.

He'd been about to say something but froze when he saw the dark look in her eyes. He recognized that look.

She ran her eyes slowly, appraisingly, from his head to his feet and back again.

Slowly she sneered, whether and him or herself, she wasn't sure.

"Why her?" she spat at him.

Kakashi blinked at her, taken aback by the question.

She glared at him contemptuously before spinning on her heal to leave.

As she did, her eyes finally noticed the fistful of hair that lay on the ground beside her. Her vision cleared and her eyes widened slightly. Her breathing quickened as she looked at it then back to Kakashi. He looked nervous, like he expected her to explode at any second.

It had happened again.

She took a step back.

Kakashi frowned.

"Sakura?" he questioned her.

She shook her head slightly.

"No…" she said softly as she took another step back.

"Sakura? Are you all right?" he asked her, taking a step towards her and reaching out to grasp her shoulder.

"Stop calling me that" she said in a small, almost scared voice as she scrambled away from him.

"Sakura" he said again, frustrated by her reactions.

"No!" she exclaimed as she raised her hands to grasp her head.

"Sakura? What's wrong with you?" he asked her, a little harsher than he'd intended as he took another step towards her.

"No!" she cried before tearing out of the classroom. Kakashi tried to follow but she was already flying down the stairs by the time he reached the hall.

He sighed and frowned. Then his gaze fell on the forgotten sketchbook leaning against the lockers.

He picked it up and opened it, his frown deepening as he flipped through a long series of morbid drawings only to clear as he came to the recent sketches.

They were all of him.

~~~

Haruno plowed through her night shift, for once glad for the mind-numbing work. A mind numbing was just was she needed. It was Monday night though and so not nearly as busy as she would have liked it to be. And so she filled her free moments with giving the shop the cleaning of an era, scrubbing the tables and counters until they were raw, scouring the coffee pots until you could finally see through the glass again. She couldn't allow herself to stop for a second. If she stopped than she'd remember that afternoon.

It had been a long time since she'd slipped like that. She's thought she finally had it under control. She'd been wrong.

She scrubbed the counter harder.

Finally the owner came up and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Kid, we're closed. Get lost." He told her brusquely.

Resignedly she tossed her rag back into the basin of the sink she'd been scrubbing.

"Fine." She answered as she pushed past his large body to get into the back room and grab her coat and school bag. Normally she would change out of her uniform before leaving but she couldn't be bothered to tonight.

She left through the front door with a slam and heard the lock slide home behind her as the owner turned his keys from the inside.

She debated her route home. She could take the street but it would take more time and would let her mind wander. Or she could take the alley and get home hopefully before her mind latched onto her lack of control.

She turned away from the streetlights and headed down the damp alleyway between the coffee shop and the dry cleaners beside it. The temperature dropped in the shadows and she loosened her coat a bit, hoping the cold would hold her concentration and occupy her mind.

She was trying so hard to stop her mind from thinking that she didn't sense the presence of the other occupant of the alley.

"Haruno, so good to see you."

She started at the sound of the cold deep voice that seeped out from the shadows of the alleyway.

Her eyes narrowed as her muscles tensed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. She was not in the mood to be harassed by Uchiha Sasuke.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" he asked sarcastically as he tilted his head to the side and gave her a piercing look. The hair on the back of her neck stood on edge.

"What do you want?" she asked cautiously as she subtly shifted so as to be in a better defensive position should she need it.

"What every man seems to want from you." He answered with a fake lightness as he stepped out of the shadows, allowing some of the light from the streetlamps at the end of the alley to hit him.

Haruno resisted the urge to take a step back as his expression became clear. She had seen that look before. She'd seen that intensity, that malice. She'd suffered it for years. She'd immortalized it on paper. Her gut reaction was to run but her mind knew there was no point, he would catch her without even breaking a sweat. She was trapped. She cursed herself for taking the alley even though she knew that even in the street, with him she'd be trapped.

Instead she focused on his words and frowned at them. What did he know about her relationship with men? She'd told him nothing about herself.

He stepped closer again and Haruno fought down her mixed emotions. One part of her was terrified, too busy reliving and reminding her of every event that had transpired after she had seen that look. One part was flustered as she again recognized his features but had yet to allow herself to believe the association her mind chose to make with them. Another part was angry, angry that she'd let her guard down and allowed him to surprise her, and angry that he seemed to think he could intimidate her.

She watched him with her hard eyes, waiting for him to continue, trying to read his intent in his twisted eyes.

"I want your skills." He continued.

She bristled slightly; another asshole wanted her as a weapon.

"As you said Uchiha, a lot of people want that from me and none of them have it. Why the hell would I change my policy now?" she asked him, squaring her shoulders and standing up to his attempt at physical intimidation as he moved closer still and towered over her. Her mind began to put the pieces together. He knew where she worked and when she worked as well as where she lived if he knew this route was a possibility for her. And he knew that she was sought after for unmentioned skills. He'd been investigating her.

He smirked and leaned close to her.

"Because I know the truth about you. I know who you really are and what really happened to you that year you disappeared." He whispered smugly in her ear.

Her eyes widened fractionally as she stiffened.

{What…?}

Sasuke's smirk grew; she was like a deer caught in his headlights. Now was the time to move in for the kill.

"Because…I own you." He whispered again to her ear, unable to keep his smugness from his voice.

For the second time that day, she snapped.

Haruno's eyes suddenly flared as rage flamed through her blood. Her vision swam red.

Before Sasuke could react, her hand was around his neck, crushing his windpipe and slamming him against the brick wall of the alley.

"You think you're so smart don't you?" she mocked.

He gasped to answer but she tightened her grip.

"I don't know what you think you know about me or why but you missed an important piece of information in your hunting. So here's a newsflash for you rookie, if you're going to know anything about me, know this:" she said her face close to his, eyes blazing as her grip remained firm despite his hands trying to pry at it.

"I. Belong. To. No One." She enunciated carefully, making sure he understood.

And with that she hefted her knee, knocking the wind out of him as she connected with his stomach. She let him drop into a curled heap on the filthy concrete that covered the ground.

"Go ahead and tell anyone anything you want. I don't give a flying fuck what they do or don't know about me. It's all irrelevant in the end." She told him coldly as she now towered over him, reversing their earlier position.

And with that she turned and continued her walk down the alley towards her apartment complex, breathing heavily as she tried to calm down and clear her vision.

Sasuke saw red as she left. The red of her coat. The red of his sharingan.

~~~

Haruno pulled off her bandana as she closed and locked her apartment door behind her. She leaned against the crooked and peeling wood as she ran a hand through her chin length pink locks, running her hand roughly against the scar on her forehead, tugging at her scalp slightly.

What the hell had that been about?

She slipped down to the floor, still leaning against the door and rested her elbows on her raised knees.

He seemed to expect her to understand.

She contemplated him. Her eyes kept seeing someone else when she looked at him. If she were to let her vision blur, he became Itachi.

Plus he used the sharingan…

She shook her head; she didn't want to figure this out. She really didn't. She didn't want it to be over already and it would be if Sasuke were who deep down she already knew he was.

There were only three people left in the world that could use the sharingan technique. It was a blood limit, passed down through only one clan. Said clan had been completely wiped out save two people. Itachi and his younger brother whom he'd never named. He'd told her she'd know when she saw him.

The third user was not of the same blood as the clan, his sharingan had been won from Itachi. She knew both Itachi and the one with his left eye.

And then there was Sasuke…who could also use the sharingan.

She dug her hands into her hair again. What a day…

She knew now why Sasuke was here when he had all that money at his disposal. He was here for Itachi. She'd known this would happen, he'd told her a long time ago that his brother would come for his head. He seemed to be anticipating the confrontation. She wasn't. She'd hoped it would never come. She'd hoped they could outrun their pasts before they caught up to them. It seemed she'd been denied.

But why had Sasuke tried to blackmail her? What did she have to do with anything? She'd only even met him two weeks ago…

She growled in frustration and decided she just didn't want to deal with it right now. Honestly she didn't want to deal with it at all. She didn't want to remember the fact that Itachi had murdered his clan. She didn't want to think about his selfish reasons for doing it. She didn't want to think about the role she'd promised Itachi she'd play in it all. She didn't want to think about why she'd promised it at all.

She looked around her apartment. It was dirty. So very dirty. Everything was dirty.

~~~

She heard the latch click hours later and kept scrubbing. It still wasn't clean. Nothing was clean yet. His heavy footsteps sounded on the creaky floor by the door and she figured that he was taking off his coat. The steps moved towards her bedroom where he no doubt noticed her discarded work uniform, school bag and coat. And now the steps let to her.

"Sakura…what are you doing?" came his voice a few moments later from the bathroom door. So similar to the one she'd heard earlier but with completely different intonations.

"It's dirty." She answered, her eyes locked on the stains and cracks of her bathtub as she continued to try and wash them away.

Itachi walked over to her and crouched down beside her before grabbing her hand away from the rag and inspecting it. The skin was wrinkled from the soapy water as well as raw from the power of the cleaner she was using. The hand was chaffed and blistered, even bleeding in a few spots, testament to its abuse.

"How long have you been scrubbing?" he asked her even though he knew the answer was hours longer than she should have been.

"Not long." She answered him; she couldn't have been her long seeing as no progress had been made. Everything was still dirty.

He looked through her. She hated when he did that.

"Stop." He told her bluntly.

She pulled her hand away and went back to scrubbing.

"I can't yet, it's not clean." She answered him.

"It will never be clean." He informed her.

"Why?" she asked as her hand dropped the rag, an almost pleading resonance to her tone.

"Because you don't see cleanly." He told her almost gently as he sat down beside her.

She avoided his eyes.

"It's never clean here…I want to leave." She said; ignoring his words and the sting they caused her.

"Then leave." He told her.

"I can't yet." She answered immediately.

"Yes you can." He told her straightforwardly.

"I'm not done school." She argued.

"You can go to school anywhere." He replied monotonously.

"I don't have enough money." She pursued.

"You don't need money, you can make money anywhere as you need it." He shot her down again.

She was silent for a moment. "What are you getting at?" she asked finally, in her apathetic tone.

"That you choose not to leave." He answered.

"I can't leave until it's clean." She admitted softly.

"It will never be clean. No matter where you go, it will never be clean to you." He told her, almost sadly.

"Why not?" she asked again, her voice breaking slightly.

"Because you'll never be clean. Just like I'll never be clean." He told her, now with resignation.

She sniffled softly.

"Our eyes are just too stained to be able to see cleanly." He continued.

"I want to be clean…" she whispered.

"You can't be. Murder stains us forever." He told her softly.

She looked up at him, her eyes glowing as held back tears swam in them.

His fingers reached up and caught the tear that threatened to escape.

"You need to learn to look through the stains." He told her before standing.

"Where are you going?" she asked him as she dropped her rag and stood as well.

"Home." He said simply, heading out before she could think of a response.

Leaving her alone in her dark and dirty apartment.

~~~

She couldn't remember the last time she'd woken up alone. She lay half awake, half asleep, lying on her side with her arm stretched across the empty space of her bed. She was cold.

The sun was slowly rising, breaking through her stained windows. She didn't get up yet. She didn't feel like it.

She didn't know how long she lay there, dazed.

There was a pounding on her door.

She ignored it.

She heard the lock flip but didn't react to it.

"Haruno-chan!" called a familiar voice from the front door.

Steps shuffled around her apartment until he got to her bedroom and looked in.

"You're still in bed?" he asked, plainly shocked. Everyone knew she rose with the sun.

"Are you sick?" he asked, suddenly worried as he rushed to her bedside and sat down, putting his hand to her forehead, pushing away the hair that had fallen across it in her sleep.

She looked up at him, her eyes glazed over. It took her a second to focus on his messy blonde hair and concerned blue eyes.

"No Naruto, I'm not sick." She told him, her voice dry.

"Are you sure?" he asked her lifting his hand from her forehead and pressing it to his own to compare the temperatures.

"I'm sure. What are you doing here Naruto?" She asked him.

"Well, I got worried when you didn't show up for school seeing as you always show up for school." He told her.

"I'm late for school?" she asked, not really showing any concern for it.

"Yeah, you shoulda seen Hatake-sensei's face when he realized you weren't showing up. Looked like he had food poisoning or something." He informed her light-heartedly.

"Really?" she asked idly.

"Serves him right…" she muttered.

Naruto frowned. "Did something happen between you two?" he asked.

"Nothing worth mentioning." She responded as she rolled onto her back.

The silence stretched for a moment.

"So, plan on getting up today or are you going to play hooky?" he asked her playfully.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"Well, I already missed class…might as well just stay in bed." She answered.

"You sure? Want me to tell Hatake that you're sick?" he asked her then, stretching out beside her on the bed.

"Why do you need to tell him anything?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"Because he's waiting downstairs with that freaky Uchiha kid and he'll know I talked to you seeing as I've been up here so long." He informed her easily.

"Oh…why did you all come?" she wondered out loud.

"Well, I was gonna come after practice anyway seeing as I was worried. But Hatake seemed to be worried too, I managed to land three hits on him during sparring so I suggested that maybe he come with me. And then Uchiha decided to tag along too using our match against Shika and Chouji's team this afternoon as an excuse." The blonde told her, his tone implying that he suspected ulterior motives that he didn't approve of on Sasuke's part.

She smiled inwardly at it.

"Was the sparring match today? I'd forgotten…" she mumbled.

"Yup, it's today. But me and Suck-suke can handle it just fine without you. Or we could reschedule, its no problem Haruno-chan." He informed her in his usual friendly tone.

"No…I'm really fine, I just lost track of time." She told him as she finally sat up.

"Are you sure? You legs seemed pretty sore yesterday; maybe you should take the day off…" he trailed off.

She smiled softly.

"Thank you for your concern Naruto, but I was just sore from work yesterday. I slept it off." She told him.

"Ok then, I'll meet you downstairs in a few then." He said as he leapt up onto his feet and disappeared from the room, closing the front door behind him, the key she'd given him two years ago in case of emergencies jangling in his pocket.

With a last look at her empty bed, she stood up.

~~~

The lobby was quiet as she jogged down the last few steps, now dressed in a pair of worn army pants and a white wife-beater type shirt with her red coat pulled overtop.

She didn't look at Kakashi or Sasuke. They both stared at her though or more specifically on the angry red burn scar that marred her forehead. She hadn't covered it with her bandana yet.

"Stop starring at me." She told them pointedly as she finger combed her hair back and tied it with an elastic band.

"Ready to go?" Naruto asked her.

"Of course." She responded as she pulled her bandana across her forehead and secured it behind her head, hiding her scar.

"When and where is the sparring?" she asked in general, walking past the guys and heading towards the door.

"All afternoon and in the field beside the school." Kakashi answered her, taking his behavior cues from her.

"Lunch must be finishing up right about now…" she said as she looked out the now open door at the high placement of the sun.

Sasuke looked at his watch and grunted assertively. Haruno rolled her eyes at his response.

"All the more reason to get back then. I'm in the mood to kick someone's ass anyway." She muttered nonchalantly as she stepped through the door.

"Alright Haruno-chan! Me too! Kinda sucks that its Chouji and Shika we're gonna beat up though." Naruto said boisterously as he caught up with her and grasped her around the shoulders as they walked towards the car.

"But at least I can beat some sense into that damn Yamanaka in the process!" she responded, warming up to the idea.

Naruto grinned.

Kakashi and Sasuke both fought down their glares.

~~~

"Damn…This is so troublesome…" Shikamaru complained as he stared across the football field at Team 7 doing their warm up. He himself was loafing under a tree.

Chouji, who was also loafing with him, nodded his agreement.

"I think Haruno and Naruto will go pretty easy on us but that new kid scares me…" he admitted.

Shikamaru agreed wholeheartedly.

"Oh would you two worms stop complaining! We've gone over the plan countless times! All we have to do is trap one of them and hold them hostage and we'll win. It'll be a sinch, all three of them are too dense to see think with strategy anyway!" Ino yapped at them.

The boys winced at her voice; it was just so grating.

"Alright teams, lets get this started." Kakashi said reluctantly as he moved towards the center of the field.

The two teams stood at their respective goal posts.

"Well…I'd say the rules…but there aren't any really. It's pretty much just a free-for-all-beating-fest…so go nuts. When someone says I quit, stop hitting them and let them leave. Last team left standing wins. And we reserve the right to stop the fight whenever we see fit." He told them in his trademark, lazy way.

Asuma-sensei, team 8's trainer and math teacher, coughed slightly. When put that way, the exercise seemed really pointless. When Gai had explained it to him, it had seemed much more worthwhile…maybe it had been the flash cards…

He took a long drag on his cigarette, half grateful for the excuse to be outside which allowed him to feed his nicotine addiction.

With a reluctant sigh, he pulled the stick away from his lips and flicked it to the ground.

The second it hit they sprang.

Haruno disappeared from the field. Knowing that Shikamaru was a master of tactics, they had decided in training that the best way to gain an advantage would be to watch how the other team worked and devise and break their strategy. She just happened to be the best suited for the job, which was why she was the one doing it.

Sasuke had gone straight for Ino, he seemed to judge her as the weakest seeing as her special techniques were dependent on aid from her companions.

Naruto had gone after Chouji, deciding that his jumbo jutsus would be easier to conquer than Shikamaru's shadows.

Shikamaru was biding his time, much like herself.

Ino was playing purely defensive, she knew because she'd fought the girl often over the past several years. She was leading Sasuke backwards.

She saw a shift in the shadows. Ino was luring him into Shikamaru's range.

Haruno let fly a quick senbon needle, landing it in the shadows right before Sasuke's feet. He read their agreed upon symbol and jumped back just before Shikamaru's shadow could latch onto him. She could hear Ino's curse from across the field.

Good she was angry; she'd start to act impulsively.

Haruno switched her attention back to Naruto. Chouji was chasing him around using his meat tank technique. Naruto was laughing; he was goading him on. Good, that meant Naruto was leading the combat and as she watched, Naruto lead Chouji further and further away from Shikamaru and Ino.

Now was her first opportunity to take Shikamaru out.

She shifter her eyes to him again but landed on nothingness. Her eyes widened and snapped around the field trying to find him.

There, a shift in the shadows of the trees where they ate lunch.

Right where Naruto was moving. She let her senbon fly but she was a second too late, Naruto was trapped.

Chouji abandoned him immediately and rolled towards Ino and Sasuke, who were now sparring viciously with tai-jutsu, Ino keeping her self too close to Sasuke to allow his hands the spare moment they needed to form nin-jutsu and gen-jutsu.

"Shit." She muttered.

Sasuke was so caught up with Ino that he didn't notice Chouji until he was hit. The larger boy crushed the Uchiha, Ino having performed a kawarimi jutsu with a nearby log before she too was crushed.

Now Sasuke was out of commission and Ino was free to use her mind-body-switch.

Haruno cursed again, she needed to take Ino out but where the hell had she disappeared to after her kawarimi?

"See Shika! I told you it would be easy!" her grating voice came from across the field.

{Fuck! She's too far from me!} Haruno finally spotted her in the key pose of her mind-body-switch near the trees where Shikamaru had been when the battle started.

She moved with the speed of the wind. The last thing Naruto needed was someone inside his head with access to everything which would be exactly what Ino would have.

Ino was smirking in that way that made Haruno's lip curl as she finalized her jutsu and projected her spirit towards her target.

Haruno fell back from the power of the impact.

Naruto blinked in surprise, as Haruno suddenly appeared five feet in front of him only to fall down as if she'd been hit.

~~~

It was black. Who would have expected that stupid blonde's mind to be black?

Ino shrugged, dismissing the thought. She had to threaten this body and get this damn fight over with, finally proving that she was better than damn Haruno Sakura once and for all. And avoid breaking any more nails than she already had sparring with that damn sexy ice block Sasuke-kun.

First things first, she had to open his stupid blue eyes.

She mentally commanded the eyes to open.

The space remained pitch black.

Ino frowned {what the hell…}

"Open your eyes." She commanded, now vocally.

Still nothing happened.

"What the fuck Uzumaki!" She screamed. "I'm in charge here so do as I damn well say and open your eyes!" she commanded again.

"Shut the fuck up Ino." Came a slow, lazy and definitely feminine voice.

Ino started and spun around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Who said that?!" she demanded, trying to hide her sudden fear behind her overbearing attitude.

"I did." Answered the voice. Ino pinpointed it as coming from her left and so she faced that direction.

"And who are you?" she questioned impetuously.

"Oh Ino-chan…I'm disappointed that you don't remember. Well, I guarantee you that I'm not that Uzumaki you were cursing a moment ago." The voice answered, a vague shape now forming in the distance in front of her.

"What? But…but I'm in Naruto's mind!" she argued.

"No doll, you're not." The voice stated. Ino could swear she saw a cigarette butt being flicked away from the form.

"Then where am I?" she asked haughtily.

"You're in my mind. Or at least, my other half's mind." The voice responded, the form moving closer to her now.

"What the fuck does that mean?" she demanded, she was starting to get really creeped out.

"Come now Ino-chan, do you really not recognize me?" the voice asked again.

The form was moving closer still, and slowly becoming clearer as if it was drawing its substance from the darkness surrounding them. The figure was distinctly female though it was the way it moved that gave it away; there were no real curves to speak off. As she moved closer, Ino started to make out color. More specifically, the pink of her shorn hair.

"Ha…Haruno?" she asked hesitantly, something inside her starting to shake as the other girl moved closer.

"Not quite doll…" the voice told her, a vaguely sadistic smirk now visible on her lips.

"Haruno's the one on the outside." She continued.

Her face was clear now, a bright red burn scar blazed on her exposed forehead. Her pink hair had been shorn to within an inch of her scalp. Her green eyes burned with something Ino couldn't recognize yet. White bandages that flattened what small distortions her breasts might have made covered her chest. Her dark blue drawstring pants were tied below her sharp hipbones, allowing the tip of a large, angry, freshly stitched slash across her abdomen to show. Her feet were bare, her pants ending just above her ankles. In her left hand she held a long white coat with flames along the bottom over her shoulder. In her right, she held a long steel pipe that she was using almost like a cane as she walked towards the blonde. As she got closer, bloodstains began to mar the steel.

"Figure it out yet?" the pink haired girl asked again.

"You're Haruno!" Ino stated.

The other girl paused a few steps in front of her and Ino fought against the trembling that started in her spine.

She sighed and lifted her pipe, slinging it across her shoulders as she tipped her head to a seemingly friendly angle as her green eyes burned into Ino's blue ones and her lips twisted into a deeper smirk.

A finger rose from the hand that draped across the end of the pipe, balancing it against her shoulder.

"Tsk tsk." She uttered as the finger ticked slowly from side to side.

"I just told you I was not Haruno. Haruno's the nice one. The one that goes easy on you instead of beating your sorry carcass into the ground like she should." She responded.

"Me on the other hand…" she flexed the arm balanced along the steel pipe and Ino suddenly noted that there was a tattoo there, a swirl with an elongated side line…

Her eyes widened.

"You…you were with ANBU…" She forced out as she finally allowed herself the step back she'd been fighting. ANBU had been the most notorious and violent gang in the city for years until its leader had been brutally murdered and they had disbanded. Many of the members had gone on to form the Akatsuki.

"Getting warmer." The ANBU told her.

Ino was at a loss for what to answer.

"Come on Ino-chan! Don't you recognize me? You've known me for years! You used me to get wheedle your way into my father's bed and in doing so, his pocket book. Don't you remember?" She pressed, taking a step towards the blonde to reform their original distance.

Ino frowned more but didn't move back, it was pointless.

"And you used to tell me that it was such a pretty and feminine name too…" the ANBU said with mock disappointment as she raised her eyes upwards.

"Sa…Sakura-chan?" Ino stuttered, tripping on the name that she had been banned from uttering.

"Bingo!" Sakura exclaimed brightly.

"So glad you finally remembered! What was it that made it so hard? I suppose I don't really look the same as I used to, the hospital had to cut off my hair so they could stitch up the slice on my skull that I got while Father was drunk and toying with his kunai. And I know this burn would normally have been hidden from you because of my bangs. And I certainly never showed off my tattoo or my brand new reason for visiting the hospital…" she rambled with a dangerous pleasantness as she indicated the cut on her belly.

"But still! Oh well. No matter really." She finally said with a shrug.

"Enough talk, you came here for a fight didn't you? You came to prove you were better than me, right?" she pressured, that gleam in her eyes intensifying.

Ino finally recognized it for bloodlust.

"Tell me I'm right Ino-chan." She cajoled her, her voice cold and cruel, her excited grin warping her face, her eyes narrowing and glowing eerily.

Finally she snapped beneath her fear and her hands rose to form the seal to release her jutsu.

Before her hands could meet completely, Sakura's steel pipe smashed down on them with a force Haruno had never used against her, crippling her fingers.

Ino cried out in sudden pain as she felt the bones snap. She looked down to see splinters stabbing through her skin, blood flowing from the wounds.

"Leaving so soon?" Sakura asked her, eyes widened in a fake innocent look.

"Get away from me…please don't hurt me…" Ino pleaded as she stumbled backwards.

"Come now Ino…you wanted to be better than me. Show me that you can be." Sakura told her, coldness returned, twisted smirk back in place.

Ino's eyes just widened more and Sakura sprung, swinging her pipe in a large arc. Ino turned away, raising her arms to protect herself from the blow.

The pipe caught her behind the neck and sent her flying across the space.

~~~

"Sakura! Sakura, are you all right?" Kakashi yelled at her as he shook her comatose body. Naruto was chewing his lip and kneeling beside her also.

Asuma was beside him doing much of the same in an effort to revive Ino.

Suddenly blood started to spill from between Ino's lips.

"What the hell is going on?" Asuma questioned in an almost awed tone.

No one could answer.

~~~

Sakura sighed as she stared down at the blonde girl. She was barely recognizable.

"Really Ino, you really don't have any skills after all. I'm so very disappointed." The pink haired girl admitted as she looked down at the beaten body at her feet.

Blood was oozing from her broken jaw, her cut lip, her swelling eye…from the rips on her limbs. Blood was flowing so freely. The blonde was barely breathing through the weight of the sticky liquid.

Sakura crouched down beside her and dipped her fingertips into the blood spilling from her lips and pooling around her head.

She raised her fingertips, a few drops fell and splashed onto Ino's cheek. She winced. Sakura smirked sadistically.

She ran her blood-coated fingers along her left cheek, leaving four dark crimson stripes.

"Remember this Ino. I win. Your life, your blood, is mine to collect whenever I so choose." She told her coldly, her face an inscrutable mask now.

"Do you understand me?" she questioned.

Ino didn't react.

"Do you understand me or do I have to work a little harder to beat it into your skull?" she grated cruelly.

"I…"Ino gasped then coughed up more blood.

"Nod if you understand." Sakura ordered.

It took all she had, but she managed to nod once.

"Good. Now, get out of my mind." She commanded, flaring her battle aura with such intensity that Ino was expulsed and forced back to her own body.

~~~

Ino shot up with a gasp, eyes wide as her instinct to flee took over immediately. Asuma caught her and held onto her as she struggled.

"Let go of me!" she screamed.

Haruno remained still. She didn't want to move yet.

"Ino! Calm down!" Asuma told her sternly.

Ino slowly stopped struggling as she realized that she was back in her own body and that her real body wasn't nearly as broken as she'd been convinced it was.

She pushed away from Asuma and ran her hands over her flesh, checking it for the injuries Sakura had inflicted upon her with her weapon of choice.

"Oh thank god…" she uttered with relief as she buried her face in her hands. Suddenly she pulled her hands away and stared at them. They were covered in blood. There was blood dripping from her lip. That was the blood she'd marked herself with.

Ino spun suddenly and her eyes fell on Sakura who lay beside her in the grass. She jumped at her and ripped off her bandana and stared at the burn scar there.

The men were so surprised by the move that no one stopped her.

Haruno resigned herself to Ino's examination.

Next Ino pulled down the hem of her pants by an inch and stared at the scar there and the still visible stitch marks. Ino stared at it for a long moment.

Finally she moved to her coat and pulled down the left shoulder, staring at the skin exposed on her upper arm.

Everyone frowned at the sight of the tattoo.

"Ne, Hatake-sensei…don't you…" Naruto questioned but he trailed off at the look on his sensei's face.

The tattoo, or any of Haruno's scars for that matter didn't surprise him. His face was perfectly calm, maybe even sad. Like he'd seen them before…

"It really was you…" Ino whispered as she backed up.

Haruno winced.

"Sakura! Are you alright?" Kakashi asked as soon as he saw movement flicked in her face.

She winced even deeper.

"Don't call me that." She whispered.

"You don't deserve a name like that." Ino spat at her.

Haruno opened her eyes to look at the blonde.

Ino stumbled back.

"You're a monster!" she accused.

"Ino." Haruno started as she sat up.

"Don't come near me, you psycho!" Ino screamed at her.

"Ino, please." Haruno pleaded with her as she stood up.

"Did you listen when I said please?!" Ino threw at her.

Haruno froze.

"You're a monster Sakura, a horrible fucking demented monster!" Ino screamed at her.

"Ino, I-" Haruno tried again.

"Don't speak to me! Don't ever come near me again!" Ino screamed as she backed away from the other girl.

Haruno stayed rooted to her place and lowered her eyes.

"Haruno-chan?" Naruto questioned as he set his hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head.

"Not now Naruto…give me a moment…please." She whispered so that only he could hear.

He nodded and backed up a step.

She pulled her coat back over her shoulder and raised the hem of her pants back over her scar. She bent down and picked up her bandana then straightened again and pulled it back over her forehead.

Ino was watching her from behind Asuma's back, as if she expected her to attack her again.

She drew in a shuddering breath as she looked away from her.

"Sakura."

"Don't call me that." She answered as she started to walk away.

"Sakura wait." He called after her again.

"Don't call me that." She said again, walking faster. She heard a motorcycle rev on the other side of the chain fence that ran along the field.

She almost collapsed with relief.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called again as he jogged and caught up with her grabbing her shoulder.

"Don't' call me that!" she yelled at him as she broke free off his grasp and broke into a run, speeding for the break in the fence and slipping through.

Kakashi followed her easily but froze as he saw who was waiting for her.

She climbed onto the back of the motorcycle with ease, she'd been riding on them since she was a child.

The two men stared each other down.

The man on the bike raised the tinted visor of his helmet. Kakashi raised the bandana that covered his left eye.

Sharingans stared each other down.

There was the jangle of the fence as again someone followed.

Itachi's eye shifted from Kakashi to the new arrival, widening slightly as he recognized him.

"Please, just drive." She pleaded in his ear.

He smiled slowly behind his helmet as he lowered his visor and they pair took off.

Sasuke watched the back disappear, his sharingan focused on the blood red circle on the back of his brother's black coat.