Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Itachi would not have died. Nor would have Neji. Or Jiraiya. Or Asuma. Or any other character that was supposed to have lived.

Title: We Love, We Fall

Characters: Sakura/Itachi (pairing)

Type: One-shot

Genre: Angst, romance

Rating: M just in case for slight mature content, and if Sakura's age in the beginning isn't to everyone's liking.

Summary: Itachi remembers the little girl who he gave his heart to. Her name was Sakura, and long after their childhood, time and time again, he is reminded of why she owns all of him.

Note: In this story, the age gap between Sakura and Itachi is six years. I'm also changing the timeline a bit, as well as making it a bit AU, but that's beside the point. The major change in the timeline is the delay in the clan massacre, and how the characters would be older, so Sasuke would also be older when he goes after his brother to kill him. You'll understand.

The feel of her hand was achingly familiar. It ran along his cheek, trembling violently against his skin. Another was on his forearm, almost trying to coax him awake.

'Itachi,' her voice quivered, thick with emotion. It was a distant sound, and he struggled to keep in touch with his consciousness. She was not supposed to be here, he knew. She could be in danger. Sasuke could be nearby. Where was his brother? The last thought before he succumbed to the darkness was whether the gods were gifting him with the sound of her voice, the feel of her skin, before they finally took his life.

Fourteen Years Ago

She was a little girl of seven years, hair an odd shade of pink, eyes a bright emerald that drew him in. But what attracted him most was her smile. In all his life, pressured by the clan, by his father, by the responsibilities of the ANBU, never had something affected him so deeply. Perhaps it was the brightness, the purity she held that he had rarely encountered in his short life. The freedom she had that he never experienced was not something he thought he wanted before he met her. Her eyes twinkled when she was happy, and when she grinned, he would look at the sun above to compare which was brighter. He found her face harder to look at directly.

He was too old for her, but she refused to leave his side, and he slowly accepted the odd little girl into his daily routine. He sought her out in the mornings before she went to the academy, in the evenings in the parks, and after his missions near the river. She seemed content with his presence, but never failed to make him play a game. Whether it was tag or hide and seek, he always found himself involved and smiling like a fool by the end.

Some days, he took her home and rested a hand on her shoulder affectionately before telling her to run along inside the house for dinner. He did not remember how they met, or when, or even why. He decided he did not care. She was a shimmering light for him in the darkness of his own mind, the depiction of a childhood he secretly desired but never had. But if it meant meeting her, being with her, being loved by her, he would not have it any other way.

He was met by memories. Growing up with the superstition that his life would flash before his eyes before his death, he found it strange that he was already dead and yet, he remembered his past. His childhood, chuunin exams, the ANBU tests, clan meetings, the Hokage, Sakura...

Sakura

Sakura

Sakura...

He lived a sinful life, so he did not understand why he was blessed with her memories as he was taken to the afterlife. But it occurred to him, when he heard voices, the sound of metal scraping the ground. When he felt the sun blind him through his eyelids, and the bucket of cold water thrown over him. He was very much alive.

'Wake up, Uchiha,' a cold voice sounded. He knew that voice from his youth, and noted the irony of the situation. Morino Ibiki.

His body felt heavy and his lungs tight. But when he finally managed to open his eyes and rest his gaze on the infamous scarred face of the commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force, he knew where he was and how he got there.

Sakura

Sakura

Sakura...

Eleven Years Ago

She was still a child for goodness sake. So he did not know what overtook him to lean in and kiss her gently on her lips when she asked him if she meant as much to him as she said he meant to her. His only excuse was that the question struck him right in the heart.

'Itachi, how much do I mean to you?'

'I do not understand.'

'You are very important to me. Am I important to you?'

And when he kissed her, and felt her kiss back after a moment's hesitation, he knew she meant more to him than she could ever imagine. No emotion could describe what he felt for her, no word could describe just how fiercely he wanted to protect her. He knew from that moment on she owned his heart.

Konoha is cruel, he thought, as he was dragged to his holding cell in the dungeons. He was laid onto a straw mat, and the door to his cell closed as the guards left him to his own misery and lonely thoughts. He coughed violently, feeling the blood run through his fingers as he attempted to mask the sound. It only probed him to cough harder, his lungs unable to take the sufficient amount of air it needed.

His head throbbed painfully, his ribs broken and his vision blurred from the bruises around his eyes. The ache in his legs felt unbearable, but he pushed the thought of them aside and it helped to numb the pain. He raised his unbloodied hand to his forehead to touch a gash he knew was there. It was moist, and he could only assume in the darkness that it was bleeding profusely.

He didn't know how long he lay there, refusing to give into the urge to writhe in absolute agony from Ibiki's torture. But when the cell door opened yet again, and a lithe figure stepped inside, he felt his mind calm ever so slightly.

'Itachi,' the person said softly, and if it wasn't the voice, it was the scent of her that gave her away. He could not see her in the darkness, but her presence was all too familiar to forget.

He attempted to say her name but he coughed horribly instead, the mixture of bile and blood rising in the back of his throat. She was before him in seconds, helping him into a sitting position and raising a wet cloth to his mouth. He coughed violently into it, the pain in his side make it harder to breathe. Unable to find it in himself to curse his luck, his life, his entire being, he simply closed his eyes when he calmed down and leaned his head against the cold wall.

'Lay back down. I'm going to heal you.' Sakura murmured, and he felt himself gently pushed back down onto the mat. Not resisting, he allowed her to tend to his wounds, push chakra into his side and head. He grunted when she wiped the wounds on his neck with water from a small tub of water she brought in with her, and she pulled her hand back sharply.

'Where does it hurt most?'

'In places where you cannot heal.' He answered weakly.

She cannot fix him. His wretched body that was long ago meant to be lifeless and rotting in the ground meant nothing to him. The torture, as painful as it had been, did little to affect his soul any further. His broken, destroyed, unamendable soul. Thoughts of Sasuke entered his mind, and the guilt gnawed at him and what was left of his conscience. He was not mean to be alive. Not anymore. His time was up. So he was still here, he could not comprehend. Hadn't the gods made him suffer enough?

'Itachi,' she sounded strained. 'Please cooperate with me.' She touched his swollen eye, and he almost hissed in pain, jerking to the side.

'Was it you who healed my wounds before?' He whispered, voice course and scratchy.

Her hand found its way into his own, and she squeezed his fingers slightly.

'If we hadn't found you in time, you would have died. We were under direct orders to bring you back dead or alive. I healed what I could on the way, and Shizune healed the remainder of your wounds when we returned.'

Eyes now accustomed to the darkness, he was able to make out the silhouette of her form, the slight features of her face.

'You should have left me to die.'

The meaning of his words was not lost on her. 'If you just tell Ibiki what you know,' she tried, 'this could be all the torture you receive. They're going to do it again, Itachi. And they're not going to stop until you talk.'

'Then I'll die this way.' Was all he said.

Not another word was exchanged. Sakura healed his wounds, and left the cell quietly.

Nine Years Ago

He had told her to meet him at their usual meeting place in the park after midnight. He had never asked for such a thing before, so Sakura knew it was serious.

When Itachi arrived, he was dressed in black, his weapons on him. When he saw her, he pulled her into a fierce hug, bending down to rest his face in the crook of her neck and inhale her scent of berries.

'What is wrong?' She asked, frowning, arms coming around his back to return his embrace. He did not reply, and worry sprouted in her mind. 'Itachi?'

They finally pulled back, and when she saw his face, she almost gasped. In the moonlight, the blood smeared across his cheek and forehead flashed a bright red.

'What happened?' She panicked, raising a hand to wipe it away. But it was dried. He had not been on a mission, so why was he covered in blood, she could not understand. Her eyes fell to his attire, and the blood dirtied his clothing equally.

'I have to leave,' he said quietly.

'Where to? What happened to you?'

'Somewhere far away. I won't be back for a long time.'

'How long?'

'Perhaps never.'

She clasped his hands. 'What are you saying?' But she felt him press something cool into her palm. Looking down at it, she saw what it was. A smooth rock carved into a heart.

'I'm giving my heart to you, little Sakura,' Itachi said, smiling softly, 'take good care of it.'

He turned to leave, but she grasped his sleeve tight, eyes hot and watery.

'Don't leave,' she begged desperately.

'I must. Do not forget me.' He leaned in and placed a kiss against her temple, careful to not smear her skin with blood. He closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, but feeling the sting beneath his lids, he reopened them. Looking down at the rock in her hand, he nodded at her expectantly.

'Take care of it well. My wellbeing is in your hands. If I ever see you again, I want to see you holding this.'

He made a step the opposite way, and then paused, face contorted into helplessness. 'No matter what,' he said, 'do not hate me for what I have done. I would not be able to live with myself if you hate me.'

And just like that, he disappeared into the night.

Here he was, years later, his very life depending on her medic skills as she came to heal him after every interrogation on orders. The tortures got worse, the equipment more pain-inflicting. Ibiki was unrelenting, and yet, Itachi refused to give in.

Perhaps, the more he was wounded, the longer Sakura would stay with him each night. They spoke little, the air between them heavy. In the twelve days she had been healing him, she never asked him to confess again. Because she understood. She understood his loyalty. To Akatsuki. To his partners in crime. But most of all, she understood his loyalty to his village. To Konoha, who he never betrayed. Not truly.

'I'm going to tell Tsunade.' She said one night as she pushed chakra into his chest.

He opened his swollen eyes. 'Do not.'

'They can't keep doing this, Itachi. They have to know what Danzo has done. The village has to accept you as its shinobi. As one of their own. You have led...' her eyes watered, hands trembling lightly. He felt the urge to grasp them tightly and place gentle kisses across the back of them, but he had no strength, finding it a struggle to even move his neck. 'You've led an unfair life. I can't let this keep happening, knowing the truth.'

He watched her carefully, seeing the anger and pent up frustration in the depths of her moist eyes. Even now, he thought she was the most beautiful woman to have walked this earth and found it ridiculous because there was nothing left of his soul, his emotions, of the man he once was for her to love. He was nothing but broke bits and shattered pieces. Why couldn't she understand that? He was not worth her tears.

'Why didn't you just leave me to die?' He asked weakly, feeling the sleeplessness catch up to him.

She stared at him intently. 'How could you ask someone to desert the person they love? How could you ask me to do that?' She finally pulled her hands back, having healed the last of his injuries.

They were silent for a moment until he finally pulled himself into a sitting position. The pain was little to none, but the stiffness was still there, a result of his lack of any real physical movement. They stared eye to eye, and she had finally reigned over her emotions, taking a deep breath.

Oh how well she held up, he thought. His beautiful lover stood strong amongst the chaos. He had too once. But her aura of light, of purity and raw good was unattainable by even the strongest of all shinobi.

He felt weary but seeing Sakura, full of hope and love, gave him an ounce of strength. 'I've missed you,' he murmured.

Whatever control she had over her emotions snapped because the tears finally fell and a silent sob left her lips. 'I've missed you too,' she choked, and he pulled her into a hug, the feel of her in his arms making him feel so at peace he knew that if he had to choose a moment to die in his wretched life, he would choose this moment. He clutched her tightly, breathing in deeply, her hair tickling his nose.

'Please,' she breathed against his ear, 'let me tell Tsunade. The worst that could happen is she orders Ibiki to stop interrogation and lets you leave Konoha.'

'And the best?'

'You will be excused of all your crimes and you'll come back. You'll live.' she sniffed, pulling away to wipe at her tears.

'I'm tired,' he said wearily. 'Nothing good will come if I live. Sasuke would only come back. I don't want to run and hide anymore.'

'Have faith.' She whispered, grazing their lips together. The feel of them after so long increased the yearning in his heart.

Have faith

Gods, how he missed her. His arms came around to bring her closer in a desperate attempt to close the gap between them. The scent of berries pervaded his senses, and he sighed as nostalgia took over his mind. Nipping her bottom lip, he took the chance to delve his tongue into her mouth, coaxing her own. Her response to it, clashing, exploring, sliding hers against his sent spikes of pleasure through his veins, and his blood hummed with pleasure. But before they could go further, Sakura leaned her forehead against his, stopping them. They breathed heavily, the air intermingling between them. His grip around her waist tightened ever so slightly.

'I would rather you not,' he breathed, 'but I won't hold it against you if you tell her. For your sake.'

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed in relief, mouth tipping up in a smile. 'Thank you.'

Five Years Ago

Her heart was beating rapidly, pounding against her ribcage as she ripped through forest.

He was alive. He was healthy and alive.

Clutching the rock in her hand tightly, she moved through the trees silently. They had long since returned from the mission to retrieve Gaara. The Kazekage was now alive and the Konoha Nin returned to their village. Throughout the entire mission, however, Sakura could not forget Itachi during their encounter with Team Gai. He looked powerful, more powerful than she ever remembered being. Images of Kakashi fighting him flittered through her mind, and she remembered the sheer terror she felt at the time. The terror that something might happen to him when she finally found him after all those years.

It was last night, when she found a note in her bedroom, that she knew he had not forgotten her either. It made her heart soar as much as it made it pound.

Meet me tomorrow at midnight, near the river outside Konoha.

No sign as to who it was from, but she knew. Oh, how she knew.

She looked at the moon now, calculating the time, she had only minutes to midnight, and she was close to the river now. Pushing her last strength of the day, she ran on with only one thought in mind.

He was alive and he had not forgotten.

The very moment she stepped into the clearing near the river, she saw him. His face was illuminated by the moonlight when he caught sight of her. They both froze for a second, only the sound of her heart pounding and the crickets chirping were audible to her ears. It was only a moment later when it all finally sank in did she close the metres between them and throw herself into his arms. He welcomed her openly, arms closing around her waist as hers tightened around his neck. He gripped her with strength she knew could only mean he hadn't, couldn't, stop missing her even if he desperately wanted to.

It made her want to laugh and weep with happiness at once, but she stopped herself. Refusing to let go, she closed her eyes. 'I'm so glad,' she mumbled so softly that she thought he might not have heard her had he not tightened his embrace.

It could have been minutes or hours before they finally released each other, and when she had a good look at his face, she saw the changes. He had matured so much. The lines under his eyes were deeper, the frown his mouth was customarily in etched in more than she could remember. Muscle rippled under her hand and she could see his strength had reached heights nobody could really wish to attain.

They studied each other's faces, tracing each other's features as though examining the differences since they saw each other last. And in the silence of their study, she could hear it, the fast, hard drum of his heart in his chest. How rapidly it was beating, how loud it was sounding. And she knew, oh how she knew, she had not just fooled herself into thinking she loved this man and he loved her all those years ago. Their love was real and raw and every bit as pure as it had always been.

She opened her closed palm to him when she finally remembered. 'Look,' His eyes fell onto the heart-shaped stone, and his eyes softened. 'It's in good hands.' He observed.

And when their lips met and she had her very first real kiss, Sakura felt herself falling deeper into a love nobody could take her out of. The innocent kisses they shared as youth were child's play, and this, this right here, was what they were meant to be.

Although he felt no physical advancement in strength, he felt his mental and emotional state become stronger with each of Sakura's visits. The visits were sometimes twenty minutes, but never longer than half hour. It did nothing to reduce the intimacy of their exchanges. She gave him a peck on the lips often, but it never evolved into anything more than that, the circumstances were limited. Instead, it was her words that strengthened him. As she worked on his body, carefully healing every wound, she spoke of a future they would have.

'If you do not want to be a shinobi any longer, I would support you,' she said, focusing on a particular gash in his chest. 'If you want, we could leave Konoha, or even the Fire Country. We could travel for as long as we want and settle somewhere in a beautiful, small village where nobody knows us.'

He listened to her intently, eyes closed.

'We would have a small cottage for ourselves near a river or lake, and we could add parts to it and decorate in whatever way we wish. We would have children, as many as we want and have a big family. I've always wanted three sons and a girl. How about you?' she inquired.

'Two sons and three daughters,' he murmured.

'How come?'

'I've never had sisters. And it was often Sasuke and I as children, with no other company. I would want us to have a big family as well. Nobody would ever be lonely.'

She hummed in response, pleased. 'It would be nice. We could buy them puppies who will grow with us too. I'll become a doctor in the village, and you won't have to work. We'll say you are a cripple and a retired shinobi.'

He frowned. 'I don't want to leave the entire burden on you.'

She smiled softly, finally finishing her work. She bent forward and kissed his forehead, brushing away stray hair. 'Our family won't be a burden, and nor would you. Doctors make plenty of money.'

It was an encouraging future, one that he dreamed of at nights. It was a shelter, something he could seek refuge in and distract himself with during the tortures and interrogations. It was a beautiful dream, and he wanted it to be true. He believed he could live and look forward to the future if it meant he would have Sakura. But there was always the looming feeling of if.

If Tsunade accepted that he indeed followed orders.

If Konoha recognised him as a loyal ninja.

If Ibiki's interrogations didn't kill him first.

If the truth was never really revealed or believed in.

He chose to push the ifs aside, focussing on the hopeful future Sakura painted for him. And slowly, bit by bit, he felt his resolve returning.

Two Years Ago

They met as often as they could. Sometimes monthly, sometimes on a fortnight, sometimes multiple times a week. They would meet in the forest, or in an inn in a nearby town, and they would make love, exchange sweet words of passion and love and trust and loyalty. Sometimes, she found the time to stay the night, when she didn't have work early the next day or of the like. And it was during nights like these, where they lay in each other's arms, did she find out everything.

The truth behind the massacre, the reasons he left, why he could not kill Sasuke. She learnt about Uchiha Itachi, not the prodigy who was forced to grow up before he should and had innately become insane and murdered his entire clan, but the loyal shinobi who sacrificed everything he loved for the sake of his village. He was everything people claimed he wasn't, and it made Sakura's heart ache that such a man could be so misunderstood. It made her ache to know he had resigned himself to the fate of a silent hero, one who would never be appreciated.

Sometimes, when he was injured during an Akatsuki mission, she would heal him, and he would quietly marvel at her medic skills. He was proud of her, of the strong, talented kunoichi she had become. He thought absentmindedly more than once that his mother would have truly liked Sakura, and it causes a yearning in his heart that he mended by kissing her and letting her know through his actions that she was the world to him. His one true reason to keep going.

But then they lost contact. It was the fast approaching Shinobi War, and the increase in the missions to find Sasuke. She didn't see or hear from him for over two years. Until she and her team finally found him half-dead after his fight with his brother.

It was that particular day she entered his cell with a smile, clutching a water basin and her usual medical equipment bag hanging off her shoulder.

Itachi lay on his mat, unmoving, taking shallow breaths, eyes closed, trying his almighty best to keep as still as possible to reduce the pain.

'I told Tsunade,' she said excitedly, taking a step forward and putting the basin down, 'she said...' her voice died away when he opened his eyes. They did not focus on her, instead, somewhere behind her, and she did not need to examine him to know what happened.

The bag fell to the ground with a thud as she looked him up and down, her heart hammering hard in her chest, tightening with the pain she knew he felt ten times over.

'What have they done?' She whispered, falling to her knees before him. She grabbed his left hand that now missed an index finger. His hand shook slightly; the blood over the stump of where his finger had been was bloody and already festering, as though it had been left for hours. She laid it on his stomach gently and reached forward to examine his eyes. He winced and grunted in pain, but her suspicions were true.

'Can you fix this?' His voice quivered uncontrollably, as though he was cold, and his body began to convulse, a cough working its way up his throat. She sat him up as gently as she could and brought the basin close and he coughed into it, the blood spraying the clean water. She held his hair back as he coughed, horrid sounds escaping his lips.

How the mighty Uchiha had fallen.

It was half hour later, when she had cleaned and wrapped his hand, and healed all his other wounds and checked his eyes did she tell him. 'It can't be repaired.'

Itachi was blind.

He was silent for a moment, as though letting the thought digest, but she knew he had accepted it long before she entered the cell. 'I thought as much,' he said calmly, but the raw emotion in his voice was unmistakable, and she kissed the back of his hand.

'It's going to be okay.' She consoled quietly. 'It's going to be alright. I'm getting you out of here.'

He held his breath. 'What do you mean?'

'I told Tsunade a week ago, but she finally reached her decision today,' she paused, 'the village elders decided on your execution because of your lack of confession. Tsunade, she's researched Danzo and...' she swallowed this time, 'she's taking you out secretly. If only I could have reached you sooner,' the volume of her tone dropped considerably, helplessly. 'This wouldn't have happened.' Stroking the back of his now four-fingered hand, she held it against her cheek.

'We're leaving, Itachi. Tsunade's given me the permission to take you away from here for a new life until you can be cleared of your crimes, or forever. It won't matter. We're leaving tomorrow. But before that, I want her to look at your eyes. She might be able to do something if I can't.'

It was at midnight the day afterwards, that her teacher had come in with a team of ninjas who were to help them leave the village walls. Tsunade examined Itachi's eyes carefully, cautiously, taking her time. But her frown only grew by the moment.

When she finally finished, she shook her head gravely at Sakura.

'There is nothing I can do. That torture method was produced to cause permanent effects, so there is no cure or way to fix it. What's done has been done.'

Itachi listened wordlessly, knowing the Hokage was staring right at him, and he looked into the direction her voice.

'Remember this well, Uchiha Itachi. You are one of the best shinobi this village has ever been blessed with, and it has been an honour to know that you are who you are. I am going to try with all my power to clear your crimes. It would be your decision afterwards whether to come back to Konoha. Until then, I have secured a place for the two of you in the Water Country. Have a future, Uchiha. You have been through enough.'

Tsunade turned to Sakura. 'Are you sure you want to leave?' She asked one more time,

Sakura nodded firmly.

Tsunade smiled warmly. 'Then you take care of each other.'

The team Tsunade chose consisted of Naruto, Ino and Shikamaru, and Sakura said her farewell quietly, but Itachi could hear the sobs coming from Naruto and the girls. His heart tightened, but he knew he could not give her up now. Not now.

Having been healed of his injuries and removing the chakra suppression, the team moved out, moving in the darkness as nothing but shadows. It was miles away from Konoha that they finally departed. Shoving a pack of supplies into Sakura's hand, Naruto wiped at his tears viciously.

'Take care of yourself and visit sometime.'

Sakura could not stop herself from crying as she hugged her friends for the final time.

'I'll be the godmother of your kids, Forehead,' Ino grinned weakly.

'Of course, and I'll be yours.' Sakura did not miss the blush creeping up Shikamaru and Ino's necks, not even in the darkness of the night.

'I'll bring you to ruins if you upset her,' Naruto warned Itachi, who could not find the right way to respond.

When the team finally went back, Sakura wrapped her arms around Itachi's torso, closing her eyes. 'How about your other friends?' he asked.

'I've said goodbye to them during the day. It doesn't matter.' She composed herself, and he could sense her smile.

'Let's rest tonight, and we'll leave at dawn for the Water Country.'

That night, Itachi allowed himself to accept his now endless future. Everything smelt different, the soil felt different, the sounds of the night suddenly foreign to his ears. But holding onto Sakura, falling asleep to her breathing and awakening to her kiss was enough to settle his worries. He couldn't be selfish. He had what he wanted, and he wasn't going to regret anything now.

It was seventeen years later that rumour had it Uchiha Itachi had finally been excused of his past crimes in Konoha, and was welcome back home. But the blind and retired shinobi did not wish to return. He wished to live in the cottage with his family beside the lake in the little-known village. Here was home, with his two sons, one daughter and doctor wife.

'Akane activated the sharingan today,' Sakura told him when he and their sons Satoru and Kichirou returned from fishing one evening.

Their seven year old daughter hugged her father's waist tightly. 'I'm like daddy and big brothers now,' she grinned.

Itachi kissed Akane's temple. 'Good girl,' he said, 'I'm proud of you. You're an honour to the Uchiha family.'

At nights, when he and Sakura lay awake and just spoke of their day, she would often describe the world to him. What changed, what stayed the same, describe things he could not remember. But most of all, she described their children, their features, their physicality and how they changed with each passing year. It was not that he did not know, for they were his children and he loved them and embraced them and memorised the very structures of their faces. No. It was the peace and content that came with lying with his eyes closed and listening to his wife's soothing words. It was in being reminded every day and night why he became the man he was, how he was repaired, and why.

'Are you happy?' she inquired at times, each time voice drawled as sleep slowly took over her.

'I am,' he would answer every time, and he would mean it with all of his heart. Truly.

How'd y'all like it? Second ItaSaku one-shot and the longest one I have ever written, even in my other multi-chapter stories. It felt a little choppy to me but I'm pretty happy I pumped this all out in a few hours.

Drop in a word of what you think, if you wish