Chapter 28

"I've never seen you get so angry," Naruto said in a slightly awed voice, gazing out at the city lights spread out before them and Sakura shrugged her shoulders lifelessly and swung her legs absentmindedly over the edge of the tall skyscraper's roof. "I swear you almost broke my arms."

Sakura couldn't stop herself from giggling at that, a little sheepishly. "Sorry," she muttered, her melancholy returning. The small smile dropped from her lips as quickly as it had appeared. Like Naruto, her gaze was trained in front of her, at the dark skyline and the bright lights below. The sound of midnight traffic was loud off in the distance, and Sakura found the familiar sound comforting.

"What happened, Sakura?" Naruto was looking at her now, his blue fox eyes glowing faintly and searching her face and Sakura sighed wearily. "Did you see Sasuke's face?" The Druid nodded with grave understanding. "There was so much pain," he murmured. "Seeing his brother after everything he's done must have been hard but," his eyes were piercing when Sakura turned her head to lock eyes with him. "I think it was hard for Itachi as well." Sakura snorted with disbelief and opened her mouth to retort but Naruto raised his hand to silence her. "Trust me. You were too blinded by your fury, but I saw it."

Sakura didn't doubt anything the blonde boy said; she trusted and understood him too well to believe that he would try to deceive her. She believed him.

"I won't get involved with whatever issues they have," she said finally, her body relaxing after contemplating what Naruto had said. "This is something that Sasuke and Itachi have to work out on their own." She released a shaky breath. "But I wish I could help ease Sasuke's pain. I want to help so badly but..." she trailed off and Naruto nodded with silent understanding. "I know."

Sakura smiled gratefully. Out of everyone and other than Sasuke, Naruto was the person who understood her the best, who knew her the most. She had known him the longest, she realized, having met with and sat with him at the abandoned railway for years. He had only been a small fox at the time before he had revealed his true identity to her, but the mutual understanding and deep friendship was still there. The only difference was that she could talk to him now, and he could talk back.

"What else is bothering you?" He asked and Sakura rolled her eyes. Maybe he understood her just a bit too well. She scooted closer to him, leaning into his side, and he placed his arm comfortingly around her shoulders. She sighed again.

"If Tsunade could hide something like that from all of us," she shook her head, "Imagine what else she could be hiding? It hurt, you know. To think that she couldn't trust me with something like that." Naruto was silent for a while as he thought about what Sakura had just said. They sat in comfortable silence, watching the traffic and the stars and all the happily ignorant humans going about their perfectly and enviably normal lives. The kind of life Sakura would never know.

"Well when you think about it logically, I think Tsunade made the right call," he said finally, breaking the silence and Sakura tensed with surprise, straightening up to look at him with wide eyes. "What?" Naruto shrugged. "I mean, if she had divulged that kind of information to anyone who later fell under Ino's control," he shrugged again. "We'd all kinda be screwed don't you think?"

Sakura was stunned to say the least, both at the blonde Druid's surprising logic and at the fact that his logic and reasoning actually made sense.

"Wow," she breathed, and Naruto looked at her curiously. "What?"

"That actually made sense." He frowned with mock hurt. "Why do you sound so surprised?" And Sakura laughed at him, glad to be able to smile again and feeling her anger and inner turmoil slowly ebb away. She suddenly threw her arms around his shoulders, causing him to yelp with surprise, and hugged him tightly. "Thank you," she murmured into his shoulder before pulling away and Naruto grinned embarrassedly, running his fingers through his wild blonde hair. "Any time, but hey,"

"Yeah?"

"How come you aren't with Sasuke right now?" Naruto asked curiously and Sakura turned her gaze back to Manhattan. "He was with Tenten. She's known him longer than I have. I didn't want to disturb them." A gentle breeze ruffled both their hair. It was cold but Sakura didn't notice. She couldn't feel the cold anymore. If it affected Naruto, he didn't show it.

Naruto stretched loudly before laying down on his back, using his crossed arms to pillow his head. "I take it you're not the jealous type then." Amused, Sakura did the same and, gazing up at the partially cloudy night sky, a small smile found its way back onto her lips.

Please don't ever change, Naruto.

xxx

"So you're just gonna let Itachi win. Again." Tenten rolled her eyes at the sulking boy sitting beside her and Sasuke grunted in response before hissing with pain after Tenten poked him in the shoulder, hard. "Don't grunt at me, asswipe." She saw a small smile form across his lips and grinned. There's the sense of humour I missed, Sasuke. His blew his fringe out of his eyes and propped his knees up against his chest, resting his chin on crossed arms. "What do you want, Tenten?" He wasn't looking at her though; his gaze was trained on the training field down at the bottom of the hill leading up to the medic ward.

Tenten shrugged. "You looked like you needed me after I saw you storm out of the Council meeting earlier. It couldn't have been finished yet so I knew something must of happened. Sakura didn't come out after you either so I knew the Hokage and them must have kept her back. She would have followed you otherwise." Sasuke's ears pricked up at the mention of Sakura's name and Tenten rolled her eyes internally at one of her oldest friends. Always thinking of her. Even when you're the one suffering.

"I thought you would have been at the Mist by now," Sasuke said, his voice emotionless and Tenten shook her head. "I still have some things to clear up here before I go. Neji's gone though." Sasuke didn't miss the change in the brunette's voice at the mention of their Hyuuga friend.

"You love him," he said bluntly and Tenten poked him again, causing him to growl at her with annoyance. Tenten sniffed at him and crossed her arms. "Don't put words in my mouth." She peaked at his annoyed and irritable expression from the corner of her eye and smiled. "But yeah. I think I do."

"Hn."

"You're better than this, Sasuke," Tenten sighed with exasperation, nudging him with her shoulder to get a response from him and he looked at her with blazing eyes. "Stop," his voice was warning. Tenten wasn't fazed, but highly amused instead. She concealed her smile though before she slowly stood up. "I have an idea." Sasuke continued to glare up at her but she saw a sudden spark of curiosity there as well. She opened her arms, as though to embrace him and Sasuke frowned with confusion.

"Fight me."

"What?" Sasuke regarded the brunette wearily, suspiciously and Tenten rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Fight me," she said again, slowly as though she were talking to a small child and Sasuke frowned at her again, causing her to grin. "Let off some steam. It'll be good for everyone who has to encounter you later and you know it. So come on!" She bounded down the hill, leaving a stunned Sasuke to watch after her before finally, he pulled himself to his feet and followed shortly. Tenten didn't even have to turn around to know that he was standing behind her. Sasuke never turned down a challenge. She flexed her hands and raced forward so that she was standing a good few meters from him. She cleared the distance in seconds.

"Do you really believe you can win?" Sasuke asked, his face as expressionless as his voice and Tenten grinned. "Not a chance. But I'll give you one hell of a run for your money. It'll be fun, don't you think?" From across the field, Sasuke smirked and took a fighting stance, eyes suddenly blazing red as he activated his Sharingan. "Hn."

"Then let's go."

xxx

Sakura and Naruto returned from the surface after her anger had fully subsided and her emotions had calmed down, to the sound of vicious battling. They raced to the training grounds, curious to see what was going on and who was fighting.

Sakura could see two figures, moving too quickly for the human eye to see, but she could easily make out who was who. The raven-haired boy dodging knives was definitely Sasuke, and the brunette throwing them was Tenten. She was bleeding but Sasuke was bleeding as well and the field was strewn with knives and other various throwing weapons. Both opponents were sweating and panting and Tenten's hair had come out of her two buns and whipped wildly around as she moved, gracefully like a dancer. Sakura felt a pang of envy.

They were both panting and she wondered how long the battle had been going on for. Knowing how strong both of them were she didn't doubt that it had been quite a few hours since they had begun. She couldn't help but smile.

Sasuke looked exhilarated. His eyes were bright and alert, glowing red with his activated Sharingan and he looked like he was really enjoying himself. Dodging Tenten's weapons, unable to get within a few feet of the girl before she forced him back again.

"He's gotten stronger," a deep and masculine voice commented and Sakura squeaked and spun around, turning to face the last person she expected to see.

"Itachi Uchiha."

"You're Sasuke's older brother," Naruto commented, sounding curious, and Sakura wanted to role her eyes at him for stating the obvious as Itachi nodded. "Yes," he said quietly, eyes only trained on Sasuke. "I am his brother."

Sakura regarded the older male curiously. She had despised him for so long, and yet now she wasn't completely sure of her feelings about him at all. She wanted to dislike him because Sasuke did, but at the same time she didn't actually know him to be able to make any assumptions. She had after all assumed he was the enemy and had been wrong, though his previous actions hadn't helped. He looked so strikingly similar to Sasuke and yet so different at the same time.

"You have undergone many changes, Sakura Haruno," he said, eyes still focused on the training arena, but his voice lacked the contemptuous and malicious tone she had become accustomed to associating him with. The last she remembered was him looking at her as though she was something disgusting and pathetic, like a roach that needed to be crushed by his shoe. Hearing him speak to her respectfully and normally sounded strange and foreign to Sakura's ears but she nodded all the same and directed her gaze to the two figures sparring down below. "Yes. I have." I am not the human girl you once looked down on. I am a vampire now, and I am strong.

"I am sorry," he replied, almost as though he had read her thoughts, though his voice betrayed no emotion, "For the way I treated you before. I doubt it must have been pleasant for you." He was good at putting up walls and hiding his true feelings, just like Sasuke. Sakura wanted to laugh at just how unpleasant it had been but kept a straight face. "Thank you," she replied sincerely, "But I have come to understand the reasons for your actions. You don't need to apologise." She saw a small grateful but bitter smile form on the Uchiha's lips. "Alas, you do not understand everything yet. But you possess wisdom and a sense of forgiveness well beyond your years. My brother is lucky. He could do with both." The small smile vanished as he mentioned Sasuke's name.

Sakura felt a pang in her chest as the image of Sasuke's pained expression flashed briefly across her field of vision. "Sasuke, he-" she began but Itachi cut her off. "There will come a time when he will learn of why I had to do what I did. Why I had to push him away and press him to the extremes I needed to. I know him. He will understand." Sakura didn't feel the need to say anything more, having been satisfied with his answer. I hope so, she thought, for both your sakes, because he may understand but that doesn't mean he will forgive.

Naruto had remained utterly silent throughout their whole conversation and looked at Itachi thoughtfully with his bright and very large eyes. "He'll forgive you," he said seriously and Itachi smiled again, that same bitter smile. "Can you be so sure, Druid?" Naruto didn't falter. "I am sure." Sakura was sure she had seen some of the bitterness go from Itachi's fallen angel face.

"Your brother looks like you, Itachi," a feminine voice stated and Sakura squeaked again at the sudden increase in the number of spectators. The rest of the Akatsuki had somehow managed to soundlessly appear amongst the three of them and despite Sakura being a vampire now herself, she doubted she would ever fully get used to that. The voice had belonged to a beautiful girl with unusual blue hair, pinned by an expertly crafted paper rose.

A white-haired boy wearing a triangle symbol laughed and pointed a slim finger at Sakura's stunned expression. "Look, Kakazu, we scared the human." Sakura snarled, baring her fangs to show him that she was not human anymore and a black haired boy rolled his mismatched eyes with exasperation. "Sakura Haruno is a vampire now, Hidan you idiot." Hidan growled at the insult, flashing his middle fingers. "Fuck you!" and Kakazu growled back, warningly, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So childish," the red haired boy who Sakura knew was called Sasori sniffed disdainfully and she wondered how old he really was, though he looked about the same age as her, perhaps even a year younger. Sakura immediately felt her hackles raise when her eyes took in his angelic beauty, because though he was an ally, she couldn't force the memory of him almost killing her from her mind, the way his skin had been wood underneath her fist. She could clearly see the unnaturally obscene crack that she had once left in his cheek, though it wasn't there anymore.

Sensing her distrust, the boy smirked icily at her and Sakura looked away, feeling her skin prickle uncomfortably with a cold that didn't come from the temperature of the air around them. A face as beautiful as that shouldn't be so cold.

"Your brother sure looked happy to see you earlier didn't he, Itachi?" Hidan noted, his eyes darting between the Uchiha standing a little in front of him and the younger Uchiha battling below them, and if his words had bothered Itachi, he didn't show it, his beautiful face a composed and perfectly emotionless mask.

"Stop trying to stir trouble," the blue-haired girl snapped and an orange haired boy whose face was adorned with a surprising amount of piercings nodded from beside her, causing Hidan to fall into a brooding silence, muttering curse words to himself and Sakura looked him over sceptically. How can someone like that be powerful enough to be an Akatsuki member?

"We need to go, Itachi," Kakazu said, breaking Sakura out of her thoughts, "Ino will get suspicious if we're gone any longer." Sakura was sure Itachi had tensed, but it had happened to quickly for her to be sure; the man was a master of his emotions and Sakura envied him slightly. Her gaze moved quickly to the hill's downward incline where Tenten and Sasuke were shaking hands. The battle was over.

They were taking their time walking up the hill, showing how tired they both were and Tenten grinned when she caught sight of Sakura. Sakura and Sasuke locked eyes as his Sharingan slowly faded back to his normal obsidian and he smiled at her, small but warm and Sakura returned it, feeling as though rays of golden sunshine were pleasantly warming her from the inside, despite the reality being that sunshine would probably kill her. All the pain and anger she had seen in him earlier was gone and replaced with satisfied exhaustion. Sakura smiled again, at the brunette this time. Thank you, Tenten.

"How long have the two of you been watching us?" Tenten asked cheerfully as the pair reached them, panting and wiping the beads of sweat off of her porcelain smooth forehead with the back of her slender hand. The two of us? Sakura thought with confusion, turning to look behind her and feeling her breath hitch in her throat. Naruto looked just as stunned because the Akatsuki, and Itachi, were gone. And there was no trace that they had even been there at all.

xxx

"It is finally time," Tsunade said, addressing the final few remaining in the Druids' Land. "The relocation has been successful and now it is time for us to rejoin the rest of our forces."

Sakura felt her pulse speed up with relief. Not being able to know how everyone was doing had had her on edge, and the thought of finally seeing the rest of her friends again made her happy. She found Sasuke's hand and gripped it tightly. His fingers tickled her palm lightly and Sakura saw the Mizukage smirk from where she was lounging across one of the Council room's couches. "How sweet," she drawled and smiled seductively at Sasuke. "Care to tickle my palm as well, youngling?" Sasuke went rigid while Sakura flushed with embarrassment.

"Not now, Mei," Tsunade snapped and the Mizukage rolled her eyes before her all-knowing smirk reappeared. "Really, you're no fun, Tsunade."

"When do we move out, Lady Tsunade?" Tenten asked and the Hokage regarded the small group seriously.

"Now. Gather your belongings."

xxxxxxx

'You look horrible you know.'

Ino rolled her eyes with annoyance. "So you told me." She adjusted her position on her throne, where she was lounging lazily and the girl in the mirror sniffed with disgust. 'I bet Sakura doesn't look horrible.' Ino felt something within her snap and she jumped to her feet, feeling fury and hatred course through her veins at the mention of Sakura.

"She won't look so great when she's DEAD!" She shrieked hysterically at the girl opposite her, and the other Ino smirked smugly, maliciously. 'Look at you. Even the very mention of her name drives you over the edge. Are you that afraid of her?' The girl's mouth didn't move; it never moved but it didn't have to move for Ino to hear the voice.

"I am not afraid of that bitch," Ino snarled through clenched teeth, eyes narrowed and wild with insanity, moving down one of the throne's silver steps. "What could I possibly be afraid of?"

'You're afraid that she will get stronger than you,' the girl insisted and Ino balled up her fists. "Shut up." The girl wasn't deterred. 'How many times does she have to take Sasuke from you to realize that she already is?' Ino felt herself go white, whiter than she already was. "Shut up." Her voice shook and the thought of Sasuke was like Sakura was right there stabbing her through the heart. The stupid bitch had stolen her Sasuke twice, and as much as she tried to convince herself that she didn't still love him, that she didn't still want him, that he wasn't still hers, she couldn't bring herself to completely admit it. Sasuke's mine!

'And to think Sasuke didn't even want you to begin with,' the girl sniggered, her cyan-blue eyes as cold as icy wastelands. 'How pathetic are you? Remember how he broke up with you that day-'

"SHUT UP!" Ino screamed and hit the girl's pretty glass face, shattering it and causing the shards to cut her hands and fall to the floor, only to shatter further.

'Pathetic,' the voices of all the other Inos surrounding her chorused and Ino gripped her hair so tightly that it hurt. "Shut Up!" She screamed and sank to her knees as the girls laughed and talked over each other, shouted over each other. 'Remember how he still thought of Sakura? Even when he was under your control?'

'You couldn't make him love you.'

'You're broken, Ino Yamanaka.'

'Sasuke hates you. They all hate you.'

'Why can't you just accept that Sakura will always be better than you?'

"Stop it!" Ino shrieked, "STOP IT!"

xxx

"Who's she shouting at?" Hidan asked and Kakazu shrugged.

"She's the only one there."