Chapter I

He knew

Eighteen years prior, Konoha hospital

Uchiha Itachi sat in the hospital with his parents, waiting for something which he did not know what it was. It disturbed him, but the reason would reveal itself soon, he knew, therefore he did not ask his mother.

Suddenly screams began to echo through the corridor they where sitting in. The screams were hollow, but still filled with so much pain it almost made the six year old boy want to run away (but he's an Uchiha, Uchiha's don't run). He looked up at his mother and saw the paleness of her face. She was trembling. And that did not make her son feel comfortable at all. He thought of the result if he would reach out to her. It would probably end with her smiling at him and pat him on the head before kissing him on the cheek or on his forehead. If he did not reach out to her however, she would continue being pale and have that almost scared facial expression.

Then he looked to his father who sat on his left. He was also pale, but not as much as his wife. His face also held the same stern facade as always. Itachi knew that if he tried to make his father calmer, the old man would just look at him and then look away. He hated that cold mind of his father. But he was certain that the clan was trying to make his mind like that to. After all, he is the clan heir.

Suddenly Itachi heard a yell from the opposite side of the corridor where the cries of the woman was heard. "LET ME SEE HER!! WHERE IS MIKARU?!" the man yelled. Recognition immediately came to the boy. That was his mother's friend's husband, Haruno Agito. He came running towards the door the woman's scream could be heard through. But before the blonde male could get past the Uchiha's, Itachi's father jumped up and stopped him.

"Mikaru was brought in quickly. She will be fine" Fugaku said sternly. His wife agreed silently.

"But her body might be to weak! What if I lose both her and the child?!" child? Child?!

Realization struck the boy who silently sat by and watched his parents trying to stop the hysterical man from going inside the medical ward. So there was a child to come, was it? Itachi did not know why everyone was so anxious about a kid. Because that's all it was right? A kid. Only heirs had to get attention, did they not? Could it be that this child being born was an heir? Maybe so… But he was not certain if the Haruno's where a clan, they where not many, and they did not have a bloodline, that's what he had concluded. But he had never seen them fight, so they might have one?

He looked up at the man, as if he would read his thoughts and tell him if they had a kekkei-genkai, but he barely seemed to have acknowledged the boy's existence. Then his mother said something that made him freeze.

"It's better to hear her scream and know she's alive than to not hear anything at all, isn't it?" she gently said, holding her hand over her big belly.

"Mikoto is right. She might be in pain, but she is still alive. Try to relax" Fugaku said.

If she was in such pain, why did they not try to do something about it? The genius Uchiha was confused. He might have been able to set traps to capture ANBU at the age of four, but these things… feelings, that he could not see nor grasp was somewhat beyond his understanding. If those emotions could be described in words, or even by vision, then he might be able to know what it was before he had ever felt it himself, but he knew that was not possible. His mother had made that clear to him when he was three. Feelings are not something meant to be understood, they're just supposed to be there.

That was not something Itachi was just going to accept. Feelings had to be there for some reason.

He hated to not know. Especially when it regarded something he was particularly interested in. Like this. He was going to understand feelings, not matter what.

His parents finally got the fair haired man sit down with his hands grasping his head. "I'm sorry… I'm just so worried about her… and the child" Agito sighed and tears began to flow down his face and down on the floor. His jaw was clenched and his eyes was staring emptily at the tile floor. His hands went through his rather wild locks and he stopped to untie his forehead protector. He held it in his hand and then let it drop to the bench.

"I know. But crying does not help Mikaru. In these kind of moments you have to be strong for her" Fugaku said rather friendly, he was talking to his best friend after all. He and his wife took a seat beside him. Mikoto stroke Agitos back in a soothing manner. She whispered kind words of encouragement.

She looked up with a bleak smile. "Itachi, come over here" she said and waved her hand slightly. Her kind eyes warmed when her son walked rather hastily. His still short legs made him take ten steps to get to his mother. For a grown up person it would take three steps.

When Itachi was by his mother he was lifted up by her to her lap. She began to stroke his hair and made him lean towards her big tummy. He did not like that tummy. It was an obstacle that kept him from being as close to his mother as he used to be. He would never admit it, not to himself or anyone else, he was mama's little boy.

Itachi had it clear to him that he was going to have a sibling soon, he was told about one half a year ago. He had wondered why his mother had been feeling nauseous for a while and asked her about it. She had said that he was soon going to have a little baby sister or baby brother.

He had mixed feelings about this. It might be fun to have a sibling, may it be a boy or girl. But, his mother would not have enough time for himself anymore. The clan elders would be lurking in the background, ready to leap out and dig their honor thirsty claws in that baby when he or she would come of age.

His eyes frowned and a terribly loud scream came from the operating room. Agito jumped up and looked to the door but then did not move anymore. Fugaku's facial control almost slipped for a second. Mikoto was as pale as snow by now. Itachi was beginning to figure why she looked so frightened. She was soon to be in the same room.

At the thought Itachi's big eyes widened and his small hands clenched on either side of his mother's pregnant belly. He didn't want his mom to feel any pain. So, he buried his face in her soft chest and worked hard to not let his tears slip past his closed eyelids. And Mikoto was rather surprised at this, but she knew he had figured out how things where going to be soon. Her arms wound him in the safe warmth of her being.

Suddenly the woman's screams stopped and where replaced by the cries of a baby. The light above the door saying 'emergency' was turned of and a nurse soon went out. Her front was bloodstained and she was sweating.

"Both your wife and child is perfectly fine, Haruno-sama. You can see them now if you like" the rather old nurse smiled and walked down the hall, probably to report to the head medic.

Agito whispered his wife's name in relief before he ran through the green doors of the emergency room. Then there was a woman's tired but delighted voice that sounded lowly. For some reason Itachi noticed his mother's change. Her cheeks got a rosy color to them and a real smile adored her lips for the first time since that ninja came to their house at lunch time. He also saw her eyes water and silent tears ran down her face.

"Okaa-chan, why are you crying?" Itachi pouted with a frown. Was she not happy her friend had stopped screaming and was feeling well? Was she sad over it because she cried?

Mikoto immediately looked at him with a little shock. Then she smiled once more. "I'm crying tears of happiness, darling" she said and put him down. "Come on, don't you want to see the baby?" she extended her hand so he could take it. He silently did. He and his mother walked inside the ward before his father.

The first thing Itachi saw was Agito standing over (kissing) his wife who laid on a medical bed. There was no sign of blood, since the staff had cleaned it up. Then he saw a small bundle of blankets at Mikaru's exposed chest. The boy silently wondered why she laid with it at her chest, that should be concealed by clothing instead.

"Mikaru! Oh God! How are you feeling?" Mikoto cried and subconsciously walked faster. Lucky her son, since he already was used to her shifts in speed depending on her mood. When they stood on the opposite side of Agito she let go of her son's hand and gently hugged her friend, carefully as to not touch the bundle.

"I'm as good as you can be after pushing a baby out of you" she smiled and hugged the thing on her chest a little bit tighter. "How are you then? Your belly seems pretty big too" Mikaru joked with a smile.

"I'm fine, it's just the seventh month after all," Mikoto gazed down on the bundle of blankets, "may I?" she asked carefully after a few seconds.

Mikaru smiled with a knowing look, she had obviously seen this coming. She did not say anything but carefully held up the bundle to her friend. Mikoto accepted it with a slight breath of excitement. The green heap of fabric was gently exchanged between the women and she held it like she was completely used to it. And she was.

Itachi watched his mother smiling at the thing in her arms, silently crying. He frowned and looked critically at it. What could be so special about that thing to make his mother cry? Was it so ugly she could not bare to watch it, but forced herself as to not hurt her friends feelings? Was it so beautiful it could make his mother smile because of it? His eyes narrowed as he found himself once again unable to grasp the feelings of one of the persons closest to him.

After a few minutes of just holding the baby in her arms, Mikoto caught her son glaring at the girl in her arms. Knowing perfectly well why he had such an expression she looked to Mikaru. The tired woman nodded slowly. The Uchiha lady smiled and kneeled down so she was as tall as her son. "Itachi, would you like to hold her?"

Her? Hold? Suddenly Itachi's face changed from displeased to hesitant. Would that be alright? What if he dropped her? What if she begins to scream or cry?

Mikoto noticed his inner quarrel and decided to solve it for him. She motioned for him to raise his arms, and since he did not want to go against her, he obeyed. She smiled reassuringly before extending her arms and carefully laying the bundle in his arms instead. "Hug her gently to you" she said and supported her son a little bit. She arranged his arms and hands so he could hold her properly.

But Itachi did not even notice the changing positions of his arms because he was far to caught up with the creature in front of him. His already big eyes became slightly wider as he stared more and more at the baby girl. Her fists where in tight knots by her chin and her eyes were closed. She was quite chubby, but that should be good. On top of her head, just by the edge of the blanket, small pink hairs peaked out. There was no flaw about her. Absolutely nothing.

He felt his little heart being rushed over with emotions of different sorts. As he stared down on her he felt himself get warm on the inside and he became light-headed. The fluffy feeling made him only want to look at her, only listen to her silent breathing, only feel her weight in his arms.

Then, as if she was aware of him staring at her, her eyes snapped open. Itachi almost lost his chin in the matter of a second. As he stared at the confused shining, stunning emerald eyes his mind went blank. He could not think of anything but her. Everything around them went away, like they where surrounded by a void, white space. Now he knew what his mother had meant when she said feelings are not meant to be understood or seen, they actually were just meant to be there.

"You don't want to hold her anymore?" Mikoto's sweet voice asked her absentminded son. She drew her head back and she got a complete shock when he glared at her. Her chin dropped and her hands dropped from under the baby. For a long time all she could do was to stare at her son, he who never had showed any rudeness towards her (slapping away the milk when he was a baby does not count). He might have been grumpy when she forced him to be still for to long, or when she carried him, but never ever had down right thrown a glare her way. "Itachi, is something wrong?" she managed at last.

Without a word, he swung around and went behind a curtain and sat down, out of sight from the adults who stared dumbly after him. Then he lifted her up close to his face. He tried to see what was going on in her head through her vibrant green eyes. But she just gave him a confused look before reaching her hand out and grasping his bangs. She gently tugged at it and laughed. Now he was even more confused by her. First she brings out totally new emotions from inside him, and then she laugh because she can pull his hair? Babies were strange. Or maybe girls in general were strange…

After a few more tugs at his raven black hair, she took her hand to his face and got a look of wonder. To him, her touches were as if he was touched by an angel. Her hands were so soft, and her touch was unlike anything he had experienced before. Sure his mother had done this, but it was just different to have this girl touching him like this.

Then, when she smiled, he was lost.

Now, he knew.

He would never be able to get away from her enchanting warmth. A warmth she did not even know she had.

He knew, his reason to live would be to protect her.

He knew.

---

Twelve years later, Konoha

"Sakura-chan! You can do it! Beat that stupid Sand bastard into oblivion!" the number one knuckle head ninja yelled at his female team mate who was fighting a ninja from the fellow village Suna.

The irritation the cry was causing was immediately noticed to any ninja smart enough to pay attention. The pink haired girl seemed to twitch a couple of times. But she did not respond. She only got down in fighting position with her fists tightly shut. Her eyes where hard and her face wore a frown. She slowly slid her gaze over to the judge of the match, urging him to call the start. At the intensity of her glare, he coughed and raised his hand.

"Let match seven begin!" Genma jumped out of the way of the two fighters as they clashed together.

Sakura slid across a small distance as she landed. Her green eyes scanned the area for a movement or chakra signal. Her senses were on high alert when she felt a energy flicker beneath her. Realizing what would happen, she leapt backwards, still close to the ground, and connected her feet to the cement wall. She knew the Sand ninja wanted to make her jump into the air, where she was practically defenseless, and attack her with a wind jutsu. What surprised her was that the ninja was able to use an earth technique.

The Sand ninja appeared from the ground by jumping up, creating a hole. His smug brown eyes glared at her small form on the giant wall. "Smart one there…" the ninja said and ran towards her.

"Why thank you" Sakura joked and ran to the left, still on the wall. Her hands came together and made the bunshin jutsu. Her two replicas ran along with her, confusing the enemy. Even though he could not see which one was the original, he went to aim at all three of them. But as he was about to throw a hurl of kunais, a body appeared behind him.

'What the—' he turned his head around and stared in shock at the girl behind him, but was even more surprised when he got a punch to the front of his ribcage instead of the back. He was sent backwards, landing on his shoulder blades and skidding a good distance of half the dome. A silent 'Oh' came from the audience.

"How's that?" Sakura put out her tongue in an innocent manner, completely unaware of pleased eyes watching her.

The Sand ninja stood up and glared at her. "I was going easy on you, but I think that's not necessary" he said and charged forward. His feet reeked with chakra and he approached her in blinding speed. Before she could put up her hands in defense, he delivered a kick to her stomach. A smirk adored his face as she was smashed into the wall. But as she did so, her body turned into a wounded log. He gasped and looked around in a slight panic.

The Haruno appeared behind him, down by the ground, and delivered a kick to his shoulder blades, where he already was wounded. He was flying up about ten meters before his attacker jumped up above him and started to send kicks to his abdomen. The last kick was enhanced with chakra and made him smash down to the ground with brutal force.

Even though he could barely stand, he did. He smirked with blood running down his chin. "So you can't use any jutsu? Che, and here I thought I was up against someone fun" he was having that kind of superior's smirk she hated.

"I'll show you a jutsu alright…" before she could finish the sentence, the earth crumbled and the audience was thrown into panic. For some reason Sakura could not see, the lords and other VIP's had been evacuated. The other, normal people was at the time trying to run away from the grandstands, screaming in fear and panic.

Sakura's green eyes stared around the edge of the wall surrounding the arena. Not a bird was in the sky. That was until a far too big snake appeared behind the wall that was facing her back. It threw its self on the heavy stone and broke it. Her body and mind was in to much shock to move after she had turned around and seen the snake's stomach falling towards her. Her wide eyes shut tightly, and a scream escaped her lips.

But when she did not feel a crushing weight over her, and instead found herself held by someone, her eyes snapped open again and her vision crossed the face of her saviour and she saw a white weasel mask. But, the raven black hair of his revealed that he was probably from the Uchiha clan. She had never known any other to have pitch black hair than those of the most powerful clan in Konoha.

The unidentified ANBU gracefully landed and looked down at her. "Did you get hurt?" His voice was muffled by the mask, but the silky texture of the rather hushed whisper was absolutely NOT passing through her brain without turning it to a poodle of worthlessness.

Her breath caught in her throat as her face became very red. "N-no… I'm fine, thank you" she said and jumped out of his princess hold on her. She turned and smiled at him before jumping of towards the grandstand the Hokage had been sitting in together with the Kazekage.

She stopped in surprise though, when she saw the two kage's standing, with the leader of Suna holding a kunai to the throat of her own leader. They seemed to be talking to each other. Suddenly the Hokage jumped away from the other man, and in full attire. His black clothes actually made him look younger than he was. The other kage also took off his traditional clothes, but who was under all that fabric was not the Kazekage, it was the snake sannin Orochimaru.

"Why are you here, Orochimaru?!" the Hokage yelled angrily.

"That is not something you need to know, sensei" the disgusting man said.

Then, four ninja's with purple bows just like Orochimaru's, surrounded the three people standing within the area of the rectangle they created.

"Do it" the snake bastard said. The four ninjas nodded.

"Ninpou, Shishi Enjin" they said in unison. At first, pink lines appeared between them, making the form of a box. Then, the pink lines was outdone by the transparent violet of the technique's purpose, to trap. Sakura gasped as the wall appeared right behind her, cutting away some of her hair. She immediately tumbled forward in surprise, and stared at the purple chakra. Her head flew to the left where a ninja with three pair of arms created the same kind of wall around himself, probably to stop attacks.

Then the red head to her right yelled: "Oi, boss, what do we do with this little chick?!"

Sakura jumped in surprise and was struck with the thought that she was the only one able to help her Hokage in this situation. The ANBU was forced to silently sit and wait until the wall disappeared.

"Leave her be. She can't do anything anyway" Orochimaru smirked. Soon she would not be a problem.

Sarutobi frowned and clenched his teeth together. He was not going to let one of his minions die. "Orochimaru, your fight is with me, so don't try anything."

The ANBU outside the violet prison were tense with well hid anxiousness. They stared holes through the scared girl inside the box of chakra, waiting for her to help the Hokage. The white cloaked captain tried to keep his emotions in check as he stared at her. But very fast, his patience ran out. "Haruno! Help Hokage-sama!" the man yelled. Sakura did not react to his screams because she was staring into the eyes of the sannin, much like she had done in the forest of death. Her body trembled with fear and her muscles had locked. "Haruno!"

Finally Sakura realized someone was calling out to her and she looked in that direction.

"Help Hokage-sama!" the ANBU yelled once again, his voice full of frustration that was trying to be concealed. The girl looked rather hesitant first, but once she became to think that her help might be needed she was about to charge forward.

"No! Haruno Sakura, you are to stay there, keeping out of this fight!" the Hokage yelled at both the girl and the ANBU's.

"But Hokage-sama…!" the black ANBU to the right protested but was stopped by his superior.

"No objections! She will just be in the way!" the words echoed through Sakura's mind until they hit her centre of anger. She felt her chakra boost into its max, making the sannin startled. His head turned in her direction and a smirk came to his face.

"That's right… She's a Haruno… Very interesting" Orochimaru ignored his opponent and began walking to the girl who was glaring at him. His snake like body was very quick to approach her and the second he did his fingers enclosed around her chin and he tilted her head upwards. With a satisfied smirk he jumped back when she aimed to deliver a punch to his stomach.

"Don't touch me you freak!" she yelled at him.

"As you wish, for now" he said and licked himself around his mouth before jumping back to his old sensei. "I do not seem to be able to figure why you let her participate in the exams before you told her about that!" he laughed out his words.

"Be quiet, Orochimaru!" the Hokage yelled and glared angrily, "she is not involved with our fight!"

The smirk did not disappear from his face as he tried a sad look. "But sensei, she does. Our fight started long ago, and there is where she became involved! Nothing you do can take her out of this now!" an insanely evil laugh left his throat.

Sakura stood by in surprise at the snakes words. What the hell was he talking about? Should she be afraid? Why did he want her? And why the hell was she involved in their fight from the first beginning?! What were they fighting about anyway?

When coffins began to form out of the ground, the Konoha ninja froze…

-

Uchiha Itachi was fighting down on the arena. A large amount of Sand ninja had seen him and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to assassin one of the most powerful people in Konoha. To bad they did not know they went for the strongest of them all.

His powerful eyes easily read the sand ninja's movements. He took out his katana and chopped the head of one that thought he could attack the Uchiha from behind. Just being in the blind spot of the sharingan is not going to save you from the alert senses of Itachi. The sudden scream from the roof of the grandstand did not escape him either. It was a girls voice, one he recognized as Sakura's. Immediately he wanted to turn around and see what the matter was, but an upcoming attack kept him from doing so.

The two remaining sand ninja took distance, one of them summoning a giant fan in the process. She smirked and opened the fan, making it even bigger than her. "Dai Kamaitachi no Jutsu!" she yelled and swung the far to big weapon against her enemy. Was that some kind of joke?

Itachi formed seals in blinding speed and put his hand over his stomach as he inhaled deeply. "Fuuton: Renkuudan" his voice echoed as he blew out the chakra mixed air to meet the incoming attack. The clash caused the wind to go in all directions and confuse the two sand ninjas. As they covered their eyes to protect them from the harsh pressure Itachi swiftly slit their throat with two kunai.

Now when he no longer occupied with enemies he looked up towards the purple barrier. Its inside had been filled with trees, and the sound of a fierce battle was heard.

Itachi frowned and ran towards the source of the scream.

-

Sakura sat on the ground clutching over her heart. It was beating so fast she was sure it would burst through her ribcage. Before her stood the man with snake eyes, licking his lips with that disgustingly long tongue. "Tayuya, Kidoumaru, weaken the effect on this side of the wall" he said reaching out for the pink locks of the girl.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked and slapped away his hand.

"Why would we do that?" the multiarmed man asked.

"Don't you enjoy seeing your enemies in pain, Kidoumaru?" Orochimaru smirked and jumped back into the thicket. At the comment the said man began laughing insanely.

"That's right! I love hearing my enemies screams of agony!" he yelled and the wall became a softer purple with a hissing sound. Sakura, the poor girl, flipped hear head around but soon regretted it when she failed to notice a branch wrapping around her thin ankle. She stared at it in shock before she gasped in surprise when it swung her up in the air.

She coughed when she choked on her own saliva. But that the branch didn't take in regard as it swung her high in the air and then into the wall. Lightning immediately surrounded her body and she widened her eyes before screaming. She didn't know what hurt the most, the impact or the electricity. She wanted to move her legs and arms to push herself away, but the signals didn't reach those specific limbs. When she thought when was going to die of vaporization she was dreadfully thrown down into the hard stone tiles covering the grandstand. Blood flew out her mouth as she coughed, trying to regain her breath.

"That's right! Suffer! Suffer and scream out your pain!" the sadistic man laughed. "Try not to die to soon, I want to enjoy this as long as possible!"

At the thought, Sakura wished for nothing but her death, then at least she could always bore him to death by not being alive and in pain. She did not even bother to gasp in surprise when she yet again was pulled up in the air. But she did cry out when her back once again was crashed against the chakra wall. This time, the branch around her ankle burnt up, and failed to hold her in place, causing her to fall down. She laid there, unmoving and extremely sore. Her legs refused to move and her arms were far to weak.

Her hazed eyes stared out the wall and saw the same mask she had seen a little while ago. It had been no meaning in him saving her if she was going to die here. "Sorry… Uchiha…"

-

Itachi felt his chakra flare out from his body and heating the area with an unpleasant and intense warmth. No one would hurt Sakura and live long to tell about it. Not even if he happened to be a legendary sannin. And that damn spider boy was going straight to hell when the ANBU would have the chance to finish him off. He strode forward towards the cube of chakra and kneeled in front of the redheaded woman, which happened to be closest to Sakura.

"You will let me enter" he said and glared at her with blazing sharingan.

The red head raised her head and glared back at him, "what the fuck? What makes you think you can…" she lost her words as she stared into the red ruby eyes of the Uchiha. Her chakra focus dropped for a second as she was trapped in a genjutsu, a horrific on at that. But she quickly recovered since she was a genjutsu user herself. But when she regained her vision both Itachi and Sakura was at a safe distance.

He held her fragile and bruised body tightly against his. His fingers gently brushed her bloody cheek, earning an eased sigh from her lips. The blood was still running from her wounds and mouth, she would be in trouble if she did not get any medical attention soon.

At the moment, Itachi was for the first time in his life thanking his clan for making him learn a little healing.

His hands glowed green and he placed one of them on her back while the other healed her arm. He closed his eyes to concentrate. Healing the burn was beyond his ability, but he could at least stop the bleeding. Her arm was badly sprained, but he could take care of that. Next was her ankle, and without touching it he could see it was seriously injured. His callused fingers gently pulled of her sandal and stroke over the blue skin. Even in her unconscious state she winced and immediately he knew the bone was broken.

As he healed the injury the barrier surrounding the battle ground of Orochimaru and the third dissolved. He quickly scanned the area for chakra's, and closed his eyes in grief when he no longer felt the one belonging to the old man. Instead, he felt the chakra of the five ninjas from sound, and they were all heading his way.

Orochimaru and his subordinates spurt out of the miniature forest and landed in front of Itachi and the fainted girl. He was helped by his underlings and his hands looked like they were rotting. Yet, a smirk adored his face. "This chakra and heavy stare… It's none other than Uchiha Itachi, the only man strong enough to kill me…" at the snakes words the other sound ninja gasped.

"Don't flatter yourself bastard, plenty of people can kill you" Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Only I have been the only one you confronted."

A low chuckle left the Sanin's mouth. "So it may be…" he smirked, "that girl… is she precious to you?"

Itachi frowned and glared at the disgusting man. He did not say anything, just keeping his mouth shut and tensing his muscles, ready to meet an attack.

Orochimaru laughed. "Do not worry at the moment, Itachi-kun, I am far to weak to take her now" he said and then nodded, and his subordinates jumped away from the dangerous Uchiha. The ANBU who had waited for the barrier to disappear immediately chased after them only to be caught in chakra filled spider net.

But that was not the concern at the moment. Was the bastard going to take her?

As Sakura's personal secret lifeguard Itachi immediately became worried. What was that snake planning now?

----

Presence, Konoha Hospital

"Good morning, Sakura-sama! Are you here to visit your mother?" a blonde girl asked as her senior passed her by the disk to the special long-time ward in the hospital.

"Yes I am. But I also came to check a few of my patients, could you give me my chart, Casella?" Sakura asked the girl.

"Of course, I have it right here" Casella said and handed the chart to the doctor.

"Thanks" Sakura mumbled and walked down the corridor while reading her patients status. One with the scarlet fever was feeling better while one with cancer felt worse. As she read it her body tensed. Cancer. The only disease she absolutely abhorred treating. The three she had had under her wing had died. And now she had yet another. Then there was…

"Sakura-chan!" A familiar male voice called from behind. The pink haired beauty turned around to stare at her father.

"Hi, too-chan" Sakura smiled. She stopped until he caught up to her.

"Are you going to visit your dear mother?" he asked her while stroking her hair.

"Yeah, and stop that too-chan, I'm not little anymore" she pouted.

"To me you'll always be a little girl" he smiled his wide grin that reminded her so much of a certain blonde knucklehead ninja.

With a huff she walked to the door to her mothers room. Her fingers trembled around the handle before she slid it open. Inside the white room a bed was placed, and in the bed a purple haired woman was sitting, looking out the window. "Good morning, kaa-chan" Sakura said with a smile, one she had a hard time keeping.

The woman turned her beautiful face to her family with a smile. "Good morning, Sakura-chan, honey" she said.

"How are you feeling?" Agito asked as he walked up to her bed and kissed her cheek.

"I'm feeling a bit groggy. I think it would help if you could open the window, it's such a lovely weather" Mikaru said and smiled once again when her only daughter opened the window for her. "Thank you, love."

"No problem. Did you need anything or can I start my round now?" Sakura asked, still with smile intact.

Mikaru laughed. "You need my permission to do your job?" she asked. When Sakura did not respond she just sighed and nodded, "I don't need anything, you can go darling."

Sakura nodded and hurried towards the door. As soon as her face was out of vision from her parents her smile disappeared and she got a grim look instead. She grabbed the door handle and opened it. "I'll come by later."

When Sakura had visited her patients she walked extremely slowly towards her mothers room. She hated being there. She hated not being able to throw herself at her mother and cry. She hated how she had to pretend everything was fine. She hated the way she had to be all grown up and professional. Was it really that bad to be sad and desperate when your mother had cancer?

She stood outside the door for a few minutes before she forced herself to walk in. She blinked when her mother and father hastily looked up with nervous faces, they had talked about something, she had heard their voices through the door, but she could not make out what. Her mother fiddled with the sheets and her father was rather stern looking, something he was not very often.

"What?" she asked a bit disturbed by their serious demeanor.

"Sit down, darling. We need to talk" Mikaru said softly.

Sakura wanted to retort that she could stand very well on her own, but she did not want to have a dispute with her parents at the moment. So she sat down on the chair across from the bed end.

"What is it?" she asked and tried to make out something from her parents face. Nothing.

"You see, now when your mother is sick, we are worried for you future" Sakura resisted the urge to snort, she could take care of her future just fine, thank you very much. "And we have been planning this ever since you were a baby, and Mikoto and Fugaku agrees to it too…"

What the hell were they talking about? What did her future have something to do with the Uchiha clan's leaders?

"And we have decided to go through with a marriage between you and their son" Agito said and watched his daughters reaction.

Sakura was at a loss of words. Her mouth was open and her eyes wide. "What-the-fuck…?" she asked without thinking really much of what she said.

"Please refrain from such language, darling" Mikaru said but winced when her child jumped up from her seated position with a furious face.

"YOU'VE ENGAGED ME WITH SASUKE?!" she yelled angrily. At the thought of being married to her hearts brother and team mate she felt disgusted. That would mean… No! Do not think such disgusting thoughts! she was ready to barf when pictures of her and Sasuke making out and doing other inappropriate activities popped up in her head. Yes, that was disgusting.

"Sakura! Keep your voice down! We are in a hospital!" her father said sternly.

Was he kidding her? It was she who worked there. It was she who had to be in her deadly sick mothers hospital room!

"Sakura, calm down, it's not Sasuke!" Mikaru said hurriedly and got a worried frown when her daughter twitched and stared at them in a mix of betrayal, hurt and utter rage.

"How could you?" she asked, angry tears burning in the corner of her eyes. "Aren't I supposed to be your daughter?!" she cried.

"Sakura, we were thinking of you! We would never had done this if it hadn't been for your own best!" Mikaru said desperately.

"How the hell could you be thinking of me when you are forcing me into a marriage with a man I barely know?!" Sakura did not want to hear the reply as she ran out the room, water falling over her cheeks.

She had always set out for love. She wanted to marry a man she loved and would love her back. She had dreamed of a magical fairytale her parents had. They had fallen in love when they were twenty, and married one year later, and had her four years after the happy event. They had never fought about anything serious, and whenever they fought they always made up soon after.

Sakura did not want to marry someone she barely knew. Haruno Sakura did not want to become Mrs. Uchiha Sakura. Haruno Sakura did not want to become Mrs. Uchiha Itachi Sakura. She wanted to stay a Haruno for the rest of her life at the moment.

She did not have any problem with Itachi, but the thought of that she was to marry him and become his unwilling bride had her picture of him as a nice gentleman and powerful ANBU captain become twisted into a merciless man who would only use her to his own gain. She knew that could not be, but she was to bloody angry to care. As she ran past the reception she threw the chart on the desk and ran straight to her office.

She slammed the door behind her and slid down to the ground, sobbing loudly. It had hit her; she was trapped. She knew there was no way she could get out of this arranged marriage unless she killed herself or Itachi. The later could be scratched at once. She pulled up her knees to her face and continued to cry.

She did not know how long it had been before she felt a presence outside her door. There was a knock. She immediately jumped to her feet in surprise. She dried away her tears and tried to hold her composure as she opened the door.

"What is--

She stopped talking when she saw who it was who had knocked. At first she only saw the white fabric of the ANBU vest, but then she had raised her gaze and stared at the face of her newly revealed fiancé she gawked and stammered before slamming the door shut right in his face. Immediately she regretted it and slapped her hand over her mouth as she blushed a deep crimson.

The door opened and Itachi stepped in, emotionless as ever. "Excuse me, Haruno-san, did I come at an inappropriate time?" he questioned and eyed her face which had the same color as his eyes.

"N-No! I-I'm sorry for my rude behavior! Is there any problem, Uchiha-sama?" she asked and turned to her desk, arranging some of the wildly spread papers which laid there.

"I was to ask you to heal me, if you are not occupied at the moment" he said and raised his arm, showing of a cut that had destroyed his glove down to his elbow and was oozing with blood. How he had managed to get here without fainting was beyond her understanding, since had been by the border of bird country on his latest mission.

"Of course, Uchiha-sama" Sakura said uncomfortably, she had met the person she wanted to meet the least. She grabbed his wrist rather carefully, both to touch him as little as possible, but also to not hurt him. She declared there was no infection and began healing it. "There all set."

"Thank you, Haruno-san" he said and gave her a polite nod.

"Don't mention it" she said almost grumpily. Great, she was with her unwanted future husband and her chakra had just gone down. Now one wrong step from him could be fatal.

"You are angry" he said and closed the door silently, but he was on the wrong side of it. He was on the inside.

"What makes you think so?" she asked, careful to not let her anger slip out.

"You are tense and I can see it in your eyes" he simply said.

"And this matters because?" she asked and slammed shut the drawer she had been checking. She narrowed her eyes and set her hands on the top of her desk.

Itachi walked to stand at the other side of her desk and mimicked her stance. "I can't have you this way when you come to live with us tomorrow, kaa-san would be in despair" he stated.

Sakura gawked at him. He knew they were engaged and he was not caring one single bit?! She recovered from her shock and got angry. "If you don't want me this way break the engagement!" she almost yelled at him, glaring into his ruby eyes.

He considered her for a moment. "I cannot do that" he said and stood straight.

"And why the hell not?!" she asked furiously. "You're a clan heir right? You should have some kind of power over this!" she threw her arms up.

"It is because I am a clan heir that I have no saying in this. You should know" he said. He obviously knew she was heir to her own clan. It was not as powerful as most of the other clans, and did not have any special blood line except excellent genjutsu and chakra control, but they had a great diplomatic influence. Sakura knew she had little saying about things that regarded her, but she thought that this would at least be her choice.

"It is something decided by our clan heads, and so I can not break this engagement, only they can" he said and walked to the door.

Sakura shook with anger and wanted to do nothing else but to yell at him to go drown himself, but held her mouth. But what he said next had her forgetting the anger for a moment.

"I'm sorry."

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Word count: 7668 words

A/N: I Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will come soon, promise.

If you like this, you might like my oneshots too. More of those wil come, but for now, check those I've made. Pleasie?

Now, for questions:

Marriages like Agito's and Mikaru's does exist. I live in one myself (my parents I should say…). I just don't think it's right to have one of Sakura's parents dead in the beginning. This is like a kind of pedagogic story for me. I'm writing about her mother with cancer, and I am trying to express how it is to have someone close to you dying.

This will be maybe 9 chapters at the most, if I get them to be this length, which is what I wish.

Isn't Itachi cute as a child? I think my self he's adorable! I can imagine him with a small ponytail that is so short it's not laying against his neck, but stands out. x3 Cute…

Anyway, Please review and give me constructive criticism! There is nothing more annoying than unnecessary flames.

The more you review, the faster I write :D