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After two days of traveling, the group of six had only made it halfway to Suna due to Naruto's constant complaining and Sakura's father having to stop at every sight seeing place along the way once they reached the Land of Rivers.

Whilst exiting the Land of Fire, a band of rogue ninja had attempted to rob Sakura's parents, however, Itachi disposed of them easily, despite the attackers being twice his age.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed, dancing on the balls of his feet as Itachi hands moved with such incredible speed Naruto even couldn't read what hand signs they were.

"Di-did you kill them?" Naruto asked nervously after the battle had ceased. The enemy lay on the floor, every single one of them still and unmoving.

"No. They're just unconscious," Itachi replied from his crouching position. His hands explored their bodies, looking for any form of identification.

"Did you find anything?" Mebuki asked, her arms still protectively wrapped around the three children.

"No. Let's keep moving."

"Itachi," Sasuke pouted, tugging on his older brother's shirt. "Why did you have to end the fight so quickly? I wanted to help."

Smiling, Itachi poked Sasuke gently on the forehead. "You'll get the chance soon enough, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned away frowning, but when Itachi bent down so that his knees touched the ground, Sasuke's demeanor completely changed. His eyes lit up and he hopped onto Itachi's back, clinging on to the brother he loved tightly.

Sakura stared at the affectionate scene before her and her face broke out in a huge smile. No way would she ever let the Uchiha massacre occur after witnessing this. Or the coup for that matter. Sasuke and Itachi would not suffer through that again. She still didn't quite have a plan, but it wasn't very important at the moment since Itachi had a mission to be their escort. Gaara was her only priority right now.

Another hour passed and they reached the capital city of River Country.

"Well kids, Itachi, get ready to unwind the next three days. We're staying here!" Kizashi announced.

"Mom...Dad...what...three days! Why are we here!?" Sakura questioned, a look of horror on her face.

"If I'm not mistaken there's a festival in this city this time of year," Itachi remarked, glancing up at the sky thoughtfully.

Kizashi laughed."Itachi is right on the mark. You didn't think we were going to spend the the entire vacation in Suna, did you Sakura?"

"Well, yes, actually." she admitted. It would have given her more time to spend with Gaara after all.

"I don't know why you're in such a rush to get there," Mebuki shook her head. "There's really nothing but sand."

"I...have reasons," Sakura faltered, unable to explain herself.

"Oh come on, don't be like that dear. There's plenty of things to do in the Land of Wind!" Kizashi chortled.

Mebuki gave her husband a look that told him to keep quiet. "Let's go. We need to get to the inn. I'm exhausted."

As they entered through the gates that led to the city, a tiny girl wrapped in a bright red shawl held out a flower to Itachi as he walked by.

The two boys must have received flowers from her as well because up ahead Naruto was currently chasing Sasuke around trying to stuff Daisy down his pants."

"You can have this," a deep voice from beside Sakura said. She spun around to find Itachi handing her the bright yellow flower he had received.

"Oh. Thank you. You don't want it?"

"It would look much better on you," he smiled. Before Sakura could respond Itachi tucked the flower behind her ear. Then he quickly rushed off to grab Naruto and Sasuke before they wandered too far ahead and got lost.

Sakura felt confused. She had assumed Itachi would remain quiet and serious the entire trip, due to the Uchiha coup looming over his head. But his soft side was shining through. A genuine smile reached her lips. She liked this side of him.

Later on, Sakura's father squealed with delight when he realized a bathhouse was located right across the street from their inn.

"I think we all earned the right to relax after a long journey," he stated merrily.

"A communal bath house?" Itachi questioned after he read the sign, mildly surprised. "You don't see many of those lately."

Sakura instantly froze in her tracks.

"What's that mean?" Naruto asked cocking his head to the side. Sasuke stroked his chin in contemplation.

"It's a bath house where are no separate bathing rooms for men and women. Everyone bathes together," Mebuki explained.

"Oh come on," Kizashi stared, noting the look of horror on Sasuke's face. "Without the skinship of mutual nakedness, you children won't be properly socialized."

Sasuke frowned. It never bothered him to bathe naked with his fellow clansmen back in Konoha, but men and women were always separated then. Not to mention Sakura of all people, his closest girl friend, would be washing herself in the same room as him. Needless to say, he felt extremely awkward.

"How come there aren't any of these back home?" Naruto asked once they were in the men's changing room, dumbfounded.

"They've been decreasing in numbers over the years," Itachi said.

"It's quite a shame really. Most people like to define themselves with their clothes or makeup, which from the psychological aspects is a layer of defense, giving a person a status, or conveying a message or a statement. In the public bath, however, everybody is naked, and clothes and make up cannot be used to distinguish rank or social group. So really, people would feel better about themselves if we were naked all the time," Kizashi finished, grinning.

"Relax Sasuke," Itachi said as he took off his shirt, taking note of Sasuke's horrified facial expression. "There's no reason to feel embarrassed about being naked in front of the opposite sex."

Upon entering the bathing area, Sakura cautiously looked around. Her parents were already on the far side of the room, but she wanted to avoid them too. A supply of small stools and buckets were placed by the door. A number of wash stations lined the wall, each equipped with two faucets. Not seeing the boys, she hurriedly picked up one stool, one bucket and sat down at a free set of faucets.

Within the next few seconds she heard the sound of feet squishing against a wet floor and suddenly Naruto's face was inches from her own.

"Hey Sakura!" the blonde greeted, not even bothering to cover himself with a towel. A mortified Sasuke hid behind him, his towel wrapped around him like a cloak.

Sakura opened her mouth to answer when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Turning around she and Itachi's eyes met.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked politely, indicating the space next to her, his long locks of black hair cascading down his back. He laughed when he noticed her expression. "I'd like to keep an eye on Sasuke." Sakura nodded her head meekly, trying to look anywhere but the lower half of his body. But she couldn't resist peeking at least once. She instantly shook herself out of those thoughts.

'What's wrong with me? He's only thirteen and probably not even developed yet. I'm such a sick person for even thinking of this!'

'It's so much fun hanging out with them! So much better than being alone!' Naruto thought gleefully as he began scrubbing his body with a washcloth.

'This is torture.' Sasuke hadn't even removed his towel yet. His eyes continuously darted back and forth. 'So many naked women in here.'

After the four of them had washed themselves free of any dirt, Sasuke taking a little longer to do so than the rest, they all climbed into the same bath, making sure no traces of shampoo could be found on their bodies before hopping in the hot water.

Once fully submerged, Sasuke immediately placed his hands over his private area and started sinking down under the water so only his eyes were visible. When he and Sakura made eye contact he quickly averted his gaze and started to climb up out of the bath until Itachi and Naruto reeled him back in.

Sakura had finally had enough. "We're naked. So what? Stop being a baby Sasuke."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "Baths are a time to sit back and relax!"

"How can I relax if you two are holding me down?" Sasuke grunted, his face turning a brighter shade of red every second. Naruto and Itachi were each holding him by an arm and keeping him planted in the water; seated right by the entrance to the bath itself. Why did they have to resort to such tactics? He couldn't understand.

"Just pretend we're not here," Sakura suggested.

"That's kind of hard when they're holding me down!" Sasuke pointed out, struggling against their grip.

"Pretend everyone's naked!" Naruto gave a thumbs up.

The glare Sasuke gave Naruto made him tremble with fear.

After everyone in their group had finished with their bath, they all departed for the changing rooms. Sakura didn't feel bothered to put her actual clothes on, seeing as they were only crossing the street to reach their destination, so she threw on a robe.

It seems everyone else had had the same idea. Except for Sasuke. As they made their way to the inn, a massive hornet decided to fly up her robe.

Sakura shrieked wildly as she thrashed about. "Help me!"

Sasuke lurched forward, ready to help, but then he remembered Sakura wanted someone to remove the hornet from inside her robe – in which she was wearing nothing under.

"Sa-Sakura, I can't...you're..."

"What!"

"Naked!"

"You've seen it all anyway!"

Sasuke instantly recoiled, too nervous to help her out. That's when Itachi stepped in to the rescue.

Naruto patted his friend on the back solemnly after the problem was solved. "It's okay Sasuke. I'll only use this against you in the future."

Sasuke hung his head in shame, never having been so embarrassed in his life.

The next day was spent entirely at the festival. Sakura's parents had stayed with the kids for while but later in the afternoon left to attend "adult only" parties. Itachi was left in charge.

Groups of choreographed dancers and musicians danced through the streets, chanting and singing as they did so, some wielding fans or brightly colored towels.

People lined up in a circle around a high wooden scaffold that held the musicians and singers.

Everyone around them performed the dance sequence in unison, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura frustrated as they tried to copy the movements to no avail.

"I can't dance at all," Sakura sighed. Even in her original timeline she had never learned how to properly dance. Nor had she been interested.

"This is embarrassing." Sasuke complained, crossing his arms and turning away from the others, his cheeks turning red.

"You're just mad because clearly the Uchiha aren't great at everything after all!"

The raven haired boy scowled.

"Watch me guys! I'm going to make up my own dance and it's going to be really awesome!" Naruto boasted in an arrogant manner. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, amused as the overexcited boy started swinging his hips awkwardly in a circle and waving his hands through the air like a maniac. As he began hopping around like a frog, wiggling his butt back and forth in a comedic fashion, both Sasuke and Sakura were unable to remain quiet— they burst out in a fit of giggles.

"What the heck was that?" Sakura gasped loudly after a few minutes, trying to catch her breath, her sides aching after laughing so hard.

"Just like I thought," Sasuke smirked as he stuck out his tongue in a degrading manner. "You really suck."

But Naruto paid no attention. Instead, he continued doing his own thing and soon enough Sasuke and Sakura were hopping around beside him.

"Sakura? Naruto? Sasuke?" A familiar voice squeaked from behind them. All three of them spun around at once.

"Hinata!" they exclaimed.

Sakura rushed forward to envelop her in a hug. She noticed Neji for the first time standing behind his cousin, a haughty look on his face.

"Neji!" Sakura said happily and she hugged him too.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sasuke asked.

"I told you guys we were attending a festival over vacation."

"You did?" Sasuke questioned.

"I don't think you were there for some reason when I said it but I definitely told Sakura and Naruto," Hinata replied.

"It didn't even cross my mind that you'd be here too," Sakura confessed.

"Yeah, I completely forgot," Naruto added.

"Well, come on then. Dance with us," Sakura grinned, beckoning the two Hyugas to join them.

"I'd rather not," Neji spoke stiffly. Rolling her eyes, Sakura grabbed him by the hand and soon enough he reluctantly gave in.

It was the best time Sakura had ever had in a long time. The light from the fire reflected off their happy faces.

Itachi clapped along to the music lightly with the other bystanders, content to see a genuine smile on his little brother's face.

"Some fools dance while some fools watch! If we're all to be a fool, then let's all dance!" a gravelly but pleasant voice exclaimed from behind him. There were shouts of agreement all around and that's when Itachi suddenly felt someone clasp his shoulder. He found himself being pushed headfirst into the congregation of dancers as the people surrounding him surged forward all at once to join in on the fun.

When Sakura saw that Itachi had joined the fray she ran over to him excitedly.

"Come on! Let's go dance over there!"

"I don't think I should partake in such unfitting activities," Itachi said.

"No I insist!"

"I'm here to protect you and act as your guard. There could be enemies lurking mff—"

Sakura had stood on the tips of her toes to cover Itachi's mouth with her hand, muffling his voice.

"Oh shut up already and come dance."

Itachi finally allowed himself to be dragged into the middle of the dancers by this little girl. Sakura could hardly believe the situation she was in right now. Dancing with Itachi Uchiha. She couldn't stop giggling like an idiot as he twirled her through the air. The very idea was highly absurd, but here they were, dancing together, even though both of them had no idea what they were doing.

Hinata and Sasuke were dancing beside them, or trying to anyway. Sasuke must have assumed swaying his hips in a zigzag motion made him look cool. Meanwhile, Naruto held out his arm to Neji jokingly but the byakugan user spat, "Hell no!" and crossed his arms haughtily.

Sakura laughed. Could things ever really be normal like this?

That's when she remembered. All of them. Every single one of her friends here with her now had died, with the exception of Hinata.

She suddenly felt overwhelmed and stopped dancing.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked, genuinely concerned.

She needed an excuse. And fast. "Nothing. I just—I'm tired. I want to sit down for a little while."

Without waiting for his reply she walked away and sat down on a bench that was hidden from everyone's viewpoint. Naruto, who had seen Sakura get visibly upset, rushed forward to comfort her but Itachi held him back.

"Let her be," he whispered quietly.

Sakura's original plan had been to not grow so attached to everyone so that she could one day leave and return to her own time. Protecting them from the shadows and seeing her friends grow up to be happy is what she had intended from the start. She slumped forward. How could that plan had ever worked? Besides, she had no idea if returning to her own time was even possible. "I'm an idiot." She put her head between her knees. "I don't even know anymore. I guess I'll just have to wing it. As long as the massacre doesn't happen; plus I have to save Gaara from the people of his village and himself."

Images of all the friends and enemies she wanted to help flashed through her mind.

"That's right. I just...have to keep moving forward. I can't stop. There's still things I need to do."

She remembered back to the day made the deal with Olivier.

'Write down the 3 people you want to save the most...' His words floated through her mind and she involuntarily shuddered.

Without giving it a second thought, Gaara's name had been the first one she wrote down. The two other names flashed through her mind.

"I...I don't know if I can do that."

A loud explosion made her jump, but she ignored it.

"And here I go, crying again," she muttered as she wiped her eyes. "All I am is useless. Why me? Why was I sent back? What can I even change? I don't know what to do anymore."

But in her heart, there was only one thing she was certain of, and that was how this would all end.

Suddenly, Sakura felt a great whoosh of wind as a streak of blonde went sailing past her followed by a miniscule figure with a massive nose.

"Catch me if you can old man!" a boy's voice cackled loudly.

When she caught sight of that long blonde hair and blue eyes she had to look at least five more times before she convinced herself she was really seeing him.

"Deidara!?" she sputtered incredulously.

His voice much higher than she remembered. 'Well obviously moron, he's just a kid.' Sakura mentally scolded herself.

It was because of him Gaara had died. She didn't know how to feel about seeing him again, but he clearly wasn't a missing-nin just yet. Just a kid like her. Only a few years older.

However, her fists had clenched once she had confirmed it was him. Not wanting to have the unlucky chance of running into him again, she hurriedly jumped off the bench to go find her friends, only to find Deidara's face pressed right up against hers.

"Have you been crying!?" He asked bluntly.

"What? No!" Sakura lied automatically.

"Close your eyes, hn." Deidara demanded. Sakura hesitated for a second but the fire in Deidara's eyes warned her not to disobey. Sakura closed her eyes. She felt him place something small in the palm of her hand.

"You can open them now!"

Sakura could practically feel Deidara shaking from excitement beside her. She opened her eyes again. It was a cherry blossom molded out of clay.

She didn't know how to respond. "Oh...uhm...thank you?"

A second later the cherry blossom exploded and soot covered Sakura's entire face.

"What are you constipated or something?" Deidara cackled madly. "What's your face all scrunched up for, hn?"

Sakura felt her a vein in her temple burst. "Why'd you do that!?"

"I'm just testing something out. All I do in my free time is experiment with explosions." Deidara's face glowed happily. "One day I'm going to join the Explosion Corps!"

"Where are you from?" Sakura asked, curious because she didn't actually know herself.

"Iwa! You? I'm Deidara by the way." He extended his hand and she shook it.

"Konoha. And I'm Sakura. So why are you even here in this city then?"

"Me and the old man are returning from a mission. What about you?"

"Old man?"

"My sensei."

Sakura nodded. "Oh I see. My family's on vacation. My friends are here with me too but I'm not sure where they are at the moment..."

"Ha! Did they ditch you?" Deidara laughed, his voice full of scorn.

"No!" 'No wonder he joined the Akatsuki. He's such a brat,' Sakura couldn't help but think. "But I'm leaving now. So bye."

As she stalked away Deidara followed her and talked non stop the whole way back to inner part of the city. The only thing he talked about? Art.

"Fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion," Deidara exclaimed, a dreamy expression on his face.

"You know what," Sakura finally said.

"What?"

She held her breath. "I think you're right." Maybe if I agree him he'll leave me alone.

Deidara grabbed her by the shoulders and looked deep into her eyes."Wait, are you being serious?"

"Yeah I am," she answered honestly. "Not let go of me." She brushed him off and continued walking.

"Everyone in my village always ridicules me for my love of art. But I finally found someone who agrees with me. Yes!" Deidara fist pumped the air.

When Sakura caught sight of her friends she dashed away, intent on leaving Deidara behind but he grabbed her by the hand before she could escape.

"It was nice meeting you! See you around Sakura!" Deidara waved at her and disappeared off into the night. He's really not that bad after all. Wait, what am I saying? Of course he is. He joined the Akatsuki after all.

But Sakura couldn't help but think maybe things didn't have to be that way.

Maybe he could change too.

"Who was that girl?" both Naruto and Sasuke asked. Sakura tried to muffle her laughter. "Deidara." she replied, not bothering to correct them.

Since it had gotten quite late Hinata and Neji said their goodbyes and they all departed for their respective hotels.

The next morning, Sakura's jaw nearly dropped to the floor in shock when she saw Deidara in the breakfast lounge, sipping tea and reading the newspaper casually, his feet up on the table.

"Why are you here?" she asked warily.

"Oh good. You're up. I followed you last night," Deidara commented as if it were no big deal.

"No seriously."

"What can I say? I'm bored and I'm stuck here for the day. I figured we could do something."

"Uh..."

That's when Sasuke and Naruto came bounding down the stairs at the smell of food.

"I guess you're friends would have to come too, hn," Deidara said as an afterthought, his eye the only thing visible from behind the newspaper.

"What's that girl from last night doing here?" Sasuke started to say but that's when the light bulb in his head went off.

"Oh...I thought you were a girl," he remarked casually and Naruto gasped a few seconds later, the truth about Deidara's gender finally hitting him.

Deidara growled, clenching his fist, but decided the one with dark hair wasn't worth his time."Whatever, hn." Instead he spun around to face the pink-haired girl.

"Hey Sakura, want to see the newest art piece I made?"

"I don't know...last time you blew it up in my face."

"I bet it exploded because his "art" is stupid," Sasuke commented.

That was the breaking point. Nobody insulted Deidara's art and got away with it. At least not without a lesson in pain.

Deidara's eye twitched and his face contorted with rage. He leapt onto Sasuke's table without warning and yanked the boy upwards by the collar of his shirt, causing Sasuke's cereal bowl to overturn in the process and spilling milk all over his clothes. Naruto watched the fight eagerly as he piled his plate to the brim with different types of dishes.

"What'd you say kid!? Are you mocking me, hn?"

"Yeah maybe I am you guy who looks like a girl!"

Both Deidara and Sasuke gasped as they were suddenly lifted into the air and hung like coats on the wall so that the ground was a good four feet below them.

Deidara dangled in the air helplessly, thrashing his arms about wildly, trying to remove his shirt out from underneath the hook. Sasuke only frowned and crossed his arms, refusing to look at the blonde or anyone else for that matter.

"What's going on here?" Itachi asked.

"He started it!" The two boys yelled at the same time, pointing at each other with scowls on their faces.

After both of them had calmed down, Itachi finally set them down on the ground. Deidara kissed the floor while Itachi gave his younger brother a talk about behaving in public in the next room over.

Once they exited the room Itachi spoke. "I have business to attend to today. I'll be back in a few hours. Behave yourselves. I believe Mr. and Mrs. Haruno went to the supermarket to get some items. Wait for them here before you go running off." And with that Itachi took off without even eating anything.

"I'm watching you Uchiha! I know your weakness!" Deidara shouted once Itachi had left.

"Oh yeah?" scoffed Sasuke.

"...Naked women..." he whispered.

Sasuke froze. "Wait what," he sputtered. He tried to keep cool but his body betrayed him as he trembled slightly—something that Deidara did not miss.

Smirking triumphantly, the artist put his hands on his hips and casually flipped a strand of blonde hair out of his face.

Sakura and Deidara exchanged glances as Naruto rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion. These simple gestures were as good as a confession.

"You traitors!" Before Sasuke could pounce on anyone the front door opened.

"Oh hey. What's up?" Deidara waved. Clearly Deidara knew this man.

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Friends of yours?"

"Let me introduce you sensei," Deidara said. The old man rolled his eyes.

"This is Sasuke." Deidara gestured to the raven haired boy. Leaning close to his sensei, he whispered loudly into his ear, "He's a total idiot."

"I heard that!" Sasuke fumed.

"He would have found out soon enough," Sakura shook her head sadly.

"Whose side are you people on!?"

Ignoring Sasuke, Deidara walked over to Naruto, who currently sat stuffing his face full of rice and other side dishes. "This is Naruto. He's kind of dumb too but he seems cool to me," Deidara grinned as he threw an arm around Naruto's shoulder as if they had been best friends their entire lives. Naruto smiled in response, painfully oblivious to the fact that he had just been insulted.

"And this is Sakura..." Deidara tapped his mouth, looking her up and down, searching for the right words to describe her.

"Now's not the time to be fooling around with kids younger than you," Onoki interrupted. "Once I finish my business here we are going. Be ready to leave by tomorrow morning."

"I don't have to stay with you all day, do I?" Deidara whined.

"Do whatever you want for today. Just don't blow up the town...too much." Onoki grinned deviously.

Once Sakura's parents had returned, they agreed to take them out into the city to see the second day of the festival. Her father took an instant liking to Deidara and his personality.

"It's okay if you guys walk ahead of us. Just don't wander too far away," Mebuki told them.

"Let's go explore the town some more!" Naruto cried.

"Since I'm the oldest I proclaim myself our awesome leader!" Deidara shouted. Sasuke bit back his retort.

After walking further they came upon a collection of amusement stands.

"For a little price you can see who you are fated to be with," a man sitting in front of a brewing cauldron called.

"Tch, I'll be he Hokage one day. I'll have all the women," boasted Naruto. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Not interested," Deidara said flatly and he walked away.

"Ill pass," Sakura agreed following after him quickly for he took long strides.

As the four of them made their way to the inner part of the city, Saske stopped suddenly.

"Hey guys, give me a minute. I need to do something."

"Where are you going?" Sakura questioned.

"We'll come with you!" Naruto flashed his trademark grin.

Raising his hands "No, no, it's okay. It'll take a second. Catch up with you in a second."

He turned and dashed back down the path leading to the inn.

Sakura heard a snicker coming from Deidara's direction. One glance at the evil gleam in his eyes and she instantly knew what was about to happen.

"Katsu!" he cried and the ground in front of Sasuke blew up, sending him flying through the air only to land on a pile of dirty hay.

"What the heck was that for!?" Sasuke demanded.

"Consider it my gift of friendship to you."

"We're not even friends!"

"From this day on we are, hn!" Deidara proclaimed and beat a fist to his chest, his hair flowing in the light breeze.

"I don't want to be friends with someone who looks like a girl!"

"Hey! I look like a girl." Sakura pointed out.

"I believe you are a girl," Deidara said in a pompous manner. Then he added, "But I can check just to make sure."

"Hey yeah. I am a girl Sasuke! What's that supposed to mean?" Then she paused after realizing the meaning behind Deidara's words. "Wait...what did you just say Deidara!?"

Sasuke sighed in fake exasperation, rubbing his temple. "You know that's not what I meant."

Deidara ducked as Sakura's fist went sailing past his head, cackling like a maniac.

Sakura turned back to face Sasuke. "Nope. We're not friends anymore."

Naruto's face lit up. "I want to jump in on this too! Sasuke," he spoke in a grave manner, " –we were actually never friends."

Sasuke threw his hands up in the air dramatically. "I guess I'm not friends with anyone then!"

"That's right, hn." Deidara flashed a cheeky grin.

"Tch. I'm not friends with any of you," Sakura stated, turning her back towards them.

""Wait what?" Naruto gasped.

"I guess this makes us all enemies then, hn."

"But...enemies can still hangout, right?" said Naruto. The others contemplated it for a moment, then nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright my fellow enemies, time to go adventuring!" Deidara slung his arms around Sakura and Naruto, reeling them in by his side. Sasuke frowned for he had been left out of the group hug. Not that he had wanted to have been included in it anyway.

As they walked on Sakura stopped suddenly. "That's so cute!"she squealed, pointing at a designer kimono. Everyone turned to look at her with mild surprise.

"I-I don't know what came over me." She admitted.

"You're all crazy, hn," Deidara reasoned as he scratched his elbow.

"Says the one who likes to blow things up for no reason," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

The four of them spent the rest of the day together, and by the time nightfall came even Sasuke had to admit he had enjoyed himself.

Deidara was pretty loud and obnoxious, but he was a fun guy to be with, even if he did try to boss them around because of their three year age gap and blow random things up.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Deidara began as they finally reached the inn, knowing someone had to say it.

Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke all stepped forward at the same time to hug him, not wanting to leave him behind.

"Hey, stop that you freaks. We're enemies, remember?" But he found himself hugging them back, also sad that their fun had ended so soon.

"We'll meet again one day," Deidara reassured them. "And when we do I want you all to fight me, since you all seem so bent on becoming great ninja." He flashed a grin and saluted them. "See ya!"

And without another word he walked away. Soon enough, his body was engulfed by the mist surrounding the city and he was gone.

That night Sakura woke up in cold sweat after having a terrible nightmare where everyone she loved died. It was always the same one.

She needed some fresh air so she threw on a robe and wandered outside.

"Itachi? What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." All of a sudden his body disappeared and reappeared standing behind her. Sakura turned around to face him, still in awe. He moved so fast.

"If there's something on your mind, you can tell me what it is. We are friends now after all, right?"

"Thank you, but I'm fine," Itachi lied smoothly, gracing her with a smile so familiar, she didn't even have to stop and think about where she had seen it before. Sai's fake smile. Sakura's hand found Itachi's after a second, interlacing their fingers tightly as she wrapped her small arms around his waist.

Itachi hadn't a clue why the young girl was doing it, but he found himself instinctively hugging her back, just like he would with Sasuke. And surprisingly – it felt good.

"You look like you needed a hug," she confessed.

"What-" he began, but she cut him off.

"A smile is the best way to deal with difficult situations. Even if it's a fake one. Used properly, you can fool anyone with them." She paused, and a sly smile darted across her face. "But you can't fool me."

"…Why did you think I was upset?" Itachi questioned after a minute or two had gone by,.

Sakura flopped down wordlessly beside him, hands laced in her lap, green gaze cast down on the ground. The girl's shoulders then rolled into a shrug. "You had a scary look on your face that people usually get when they're worried about something ," Sakura explained and peeked a glance at Itachi. "Kind of like this…" And Sakura imitated it, looking highly ridiculous on purpose, and even Itachi couldn't suppress a grin. But it also made him wonder. How could this little girl he only just met see through him so easily?

He sighed before speaking again. "You're young Sakura. There's still so many things you don't understand."

Sakura opened her mouth to retort but Itachi spoke again.

"Let's just say there's something only I can do."

"You're not some hero who can do everything by himself. You're just someone who's deluded himself into thinking he can do everything on his own," she finally said, momentarily forgetting to mask the mature tone in her voice. She stood up, ready to go back to bed, but then she paused, fingers lingering over the handle to the door. She frowned at the glass, uncertain of what to say. "Don't try to suffer by yourself. I'll be there for you when you need someone. Things will be okay. You'll see." Itachi could only stare at her, his mouth opening then closing again, unable to say anything for once. She knew something.

Sakura immediately realized she had said too much. "Well, it's late so I'm going to bed. Night." Then with small wave and a warmhearted smile, Sakura quickly opened the door and shut it again, leaving Itachi alone once again, with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. The comforting way in which she spoke made him want to believe her words...but then again, it also made him raise his eyebrow in suspicion. Although it really didn't matter one way or the other. She would soon despise him, just like everyone else. And Sasuke...he couldn't even bear to think about how his opinion of his loving older brother would drastically change. If only his father and the clan wasn't so stubborn. Or if the Third Hokage's attempt to negotiate a peaceful solution would actually work.

Itachi leaned back against a tree and put his arms behind his head, looking up at the stars, wishing someone could save him from the darkness that was inevitable. But he had his orders, and unless a miracle happened, they were final.

The next day was dedicated entirely to making their way to the Land of Wind. After crossing the sweltering desert for what seemed like hours, Sakura's father removed his hat and announced. "We've finally arrived! Welcome to Suna everyone!"

Sakura felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips. 'Here I come Gaara!'

This chapter was so much fun to write! If you have the time feel free to leave me a review telling me what you thought! :D Thanks for reading!