Before reading this story, please make sure to read up to chapter eight of A Curious Kind of Atonement, my other fanfiction :) It will really not make sense otherwise.

…And I feel like I'm giving homework.

"When Raban said you were in a warzone… do you know how worried I was? And I couldn't even come to your aid, couldn't set foot in that arena… I don't think I could live without knowing you were safe." He admitted.

His hand twitched into movement, but before he could complete the action, Raban cawed loudly from overhead, startling Sakura into moving backwards.

Her sensei hardly ever seemed to show emotion but now, in the gloom of the night and the crow's caws echoing throughout the street, his eyes flickered shut and his lips thinned.

"I just think you could be so much more," He said, the barest hint of frustration in his voice. He gestured with his hand at the village they stood in, the Hokages of the past staring down at them with carved stern eyes, "If you come with me, I will train you thoroughly. Your taijutsu will be flawless, your genjutsu without error. I have never offered another such an opportunity. You would be my companion, you would not have to die a tool."

"This is what I've always wanted to do, sensei. Be a shinobi."

"To follow Sasuke." He said quietly.

"At first, yeah," Sakura looked away, embarrassed, "But now I just want to make my family proud and be useful for my village. Leaving… leaving would change all of that."

"Are you really valued?" He suddenly put his hands on her shoulders, his eyes narrowed, "Do they see your worth, your potential? You told me that your sensei, Kakashi, does not train you as he does the others. That you felt neglected. You would be my only pupil. I would train you alone."

"My mother and –"

"Write them a letter, explain you have left of your own accord. Do not mention me. They will understand your leaving if you explain why."

"Team Seven," Sakura said firmly, looking stern, "I managed to become a genin and I have teammates –"

"Who will one day leave you behind. Genin teams don't last long. I don't mean to be hurtful, but the way this Kakashi-san neglects your training and favours the others will injure your progress as a ninja if you stay."

"Could I ever come back?" Sakura asked, hesitantly poking at a sore point.

Her sensei closed his eyes, "Perhaps. You would be questioned thoroughly, but if I train you… Yes, I imagine one day you could return."

"Stronger." Sakura mused, scraping the ground with her sandal and thinking hard. She imagined returning to Konoha with long hair, a bunch of cool techniques and mysterious sensei.

"Give me a day," She said, "I want a chance to say goodbye to everyone."

Her sensei gave her a rare smile, "I think that is the least I can do for you."

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"Um, Sasuke-kun," Sakura began her goodbyes the next day, hurrying to his side as he walked down the road, "I just wanted to let you know –"

"Can it wait?" Sasuke didn't even look at her, avoiding the people walking by with his smooth, innate grace.

The wind had a chilly bite to it that made her shiver before replying.

"Not really. Before I tell you that, um, could you tell me… am I good shinobi?"

Sasuke glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, "No. You don't train enough. You don't care enough. You spend too much time on your appearance and trying to get my attention. At this rate… you're worse than Naruto."

No hesitation. He didn't have to think about it for a second.

Sakura stopped walking for a second, her shock making her stumble, "Oh. I get it. Thanks, Sasuke-kun. I'm going to work much harder from now on. I'm going to be a better shinobi."

He kept walking, ignoring her words as though they meant nothing to him. Perhaps they didn't.

"You'll see." She muttered, eyes on his retreating back.

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Kakashi was easy to find, in his own apartment for once. He'd opened the door and, upon seeing her, waiting a beat before letting her in, clearly intrigued by her rare visit.

"So, what's the occasion?" He asked, casually splaying a hand over a book's spine in his bookcase.

"If you're trying to hide the title of one of your special novels, don't bother, you've already read them all in front of me." Sakura said disapprovingly.

Kakashi gave an awkward laugh, "Aha, um, not all of them."

"I came to ask you something. Why don't you teach me?"

He looked up at the ceiling, leaning against the bookcase. His flat was small and bare of character, save for the trashy, colourful novels displayed so prominently everywhere. He obviously never cleaned, a thick layer of dust covered the room they stood in. She spotted a picture of Team Seven and felt her stomach constrict in guilt.

"I had been informed I was, in fact, your sensei." Kakashi said carefully.

"Yeah, so have I," Sakura said, far more clumsily because she felt angry now and she didn't have Kakashi's years of experience at being a manipulative liar and being able to control her emotions like he so infuriatingly could, "My sensei. And it's funny because, I was so excited. So happy to finally be a genin, to have a team, a real proper sensei, to be able to learn something! But you haven't even tried to teach me! You make us wait hours for you to drag yourself out of bed so you can make us run laps or perform some equally useless task and I would be fine with that if you didn't insist on treating us differently! Sasuke is your real student, the only one you care about! Chidori, really? Special training for the chuunin exam? Where was my special training, when I was going into the Forest of Doom? Places where real ninja go to kill untrained ninja like me! I could have… I could have died! Naruto and Sasuke were helpless and I had to save them and I couldn't! Do you have any idea what that felt like –"

"Yes." Kakashi said simply, "I am intimately aware with the feeling of being helpless when people I care about need me. I know that feeling well."

"Then why didn't you prepare me?"

"I have trained you –"

"Not like Sasuke! Not even like Naruto! Maybe I don't have Sharingan or even as much chakra as Naruto, but I should not be ignored! You shouldn't favour them over me! It's not fair! Now, I'm going to get stronger on my own. That's a promise." She said, squaring her shoulders and holding her head up high.

"Sakura, I –"

"Goodbye Kakashi."

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Leaving was hard. Knowing she'd come back one day made it easier. She left a long, detailed note for her mother and grandma to find, hoping they would understand. She quit her job as a genin and left as soon as possible, before anyone could find out and the ramifications of her choice hit. She didn't properly say goodbye to anyone.

Her sensei met her at the border and took her hand.

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Sakura leapt up and delivered two kicks, stumbling onto the ground through the second. She landed hard on her knees and felt tears well in her eyes at her failure. She breathed in the earthy scent of the forest, felt the dirt beneath her stinging palms, and clenched her fists.

Her sensei was watching.

She sniffed hard and smiled at him, standing back up. She jumped in the air, spinning around and kicking out twice, landing on her feet roughly.

She flashed him a triumphant grin.

He waved a hand, "Again."

She faltered – Kakashi would have said something encouraging – then hardened. Kakashi wouldn't bother to train her at all. He'd be busy with the boys. Her real sensei was the only one who wanted her to succeed as much as she did.

She leapt into the air, blocking out all sounds of the forest, the chirp of insects and Raban's caw, and twisted into two sharp, clean kicks.

She hit the ground running, already breaking into a set of kicks, flowing neatly into one technique then another.

She turned to her sensei, beaming proudly, panting.

He nodded but then said, "Once more. Quicker this time."

Sakura bit her lip, about to complain, then swallowed her words. She was here to learn, not question.

She leapt into the air.

Her sensei's mouth twitched into a small, approving smile.

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"Sign your name." Her sensei said, spreading the scroll out completely onto the oak table and pointing to a bare space.

Sakura took a deep breath and bit down on her thumb, hard. It stung viciously, but her sensei was shaking his head.

"You'll need more than that for your whole name," He sighed, "Use a kunai."

Sakura recoiled, looking down at her kunai holster with trepidation. She'd never used one against herself before… except for when she cut her hair off. She gave a strained smile, feeling like she understood something now.

Being a shinobi wasn't what she had expected. She'd thought it was memorising hand seals and calculating trajectories of throwing shuriken, but really, it was pain, sore muscles and hard, hard work.

She wiped her thumb and pulled out a kunai. After she dithered a bit, wondering where to cut and how deep it should be, she passed it to her sensei sheepishly.

He shook his head, but took the kunai. He gestured for her to give him her arm. She stretched her left arm out slowly, childishly worried, and he pushed her sleeve up gently.

After a second of deliberation, he pressed his thumb against her arm suddenly just as the kunai slid across her arm, too quickly for her to realise it had happened.

She gasped, but what little pain she felt died quickly, and she examined the shallow little cut, feeling illogically put-out and tricked.

Writing her name in her own blood was gross, but the thought of having a crow summon of her own was cool enough to negate the unpleasantness of the situation.

Her sensei guided her hand to the right of the scroll, her fingertips red, and made her press down firmly.

"There," He said, "That will last even after your death."

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"Sensei! Sensei!" Sakura ran up to him, excited, "Look what I taught myself! I watched Kurenai-sensei and thought her jutsu was cool, so look!"

She held a kunai and gestured for him to attack her.

He obliged her and slowly made to punch her. A cloud of blossoms issued from the chakra pulsing out of her hand and kunai and blocked his strike.

"Oh!" She cried when he pulled his fist back sharply, examining it with a frown, "Did it sting? I didn't mean to –"

"Good." He said tonelessly, showing her the red welt on the back of his hand, "I want you to hone that technique. It is balanced, offensive yet defensive. Next time you show it to me, I want the petals to be capable of inflicting greater wounds."

A few weeks after that day, Sakura came to him, breathless with anticipation. She had made sure only to come to him after she perfected the new technique.

"OK, watch." She instructed him, aiming her hands at the training dummy he'd set up ages ago.

She concentrated her chakra into her hands and closed her eyes, shaping the chakra with her will.

Her eyes snapped open and the newly formed blossoms shot out in a brutal stream, smacking straight into the wooden dummy.

There was a loud crack, and the dummy broke in half.

Sakura rubbed her head bashfully, "Um, normally I can knock it over –"

Her sensei bent down next to the dummy and examined the splintered wood with a look of interest.

"Well done." He closed his eyes, pushing himself back up with perfect grace. He left the room without another word, leaving her utterly speechless.

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She lowered herself down to the ground again, eyes squeezed shut. Her arms shook violently as they took the strain of her body.

"Up." Her sensei said.

She gritted her teeth and pushed upwards, trying to keep her feet fixed in place.

"Down."

She lowered herself down once more. Her arms gave in and her face smacked off the ground painfully. She struggled back up into a sitting position, spitting dirt and blood.

She wiped her face, looking up at her sensei hopefully, giving him an apologetic shrug.

"Again." He said.

"Sensei, I'm tired and I think I'm bleeding…" She wiped her face again, wincing at the look on his face.

He didn't need to repeat himself. The coldness of his expression spoke for him.

She got back into the push-up position her sensei had taught her, the one designed for kunoichi.

"Up." He said. She could feel his eyes digging into her back. She straightened her spine until it felt like it was on the brink of splintering, and held the position.

He waited a little longer than usual then said, "down."

Her elbows shook with the strain once more and her muscles were shrieking indignantly as she lowered herself down, but she did it anyway.

"You are steadily improving." Her sensei said quietly, "Half a second more than your previous personal best."

"Half a second is nothing." A deep frown twisted Sakura's brow, her arms aching.

"Half a second is everything," Her sensei corrected her, "Keep improving at this pace and I will have to intensify your training."

Sakura nearly groaned but caught herself grinning. Her sensei took her training seriously, so seriously she worried about his priorities sometimes, but it made her feel important and now, with a satisfying pain in her arms and a spine like steel, like a real ninja.

"Thank you, sensei." She said, pushing herself up and holding the position without having to be asked.

He looked away, the edges of his mouth curling upwards, and brushed the thin strands of hair out of his eyes.

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"We've done this before," Sakura panted, flexing her sore muscles. They were surrounded by trees but when they had approached a smooth one with a wide trunk she had guessed his intention, "You know I can walk up trees."

"Run to the top branches." He said, pointing up to the sky.

Sakura craned her neck to look at the very peak of the tree. It practically touched the clouds above. She felt dizzy just contemplating being that high up.

But she wasn't supposed to give up anymore. She sighed feelingly and steadied herself, her sensei watching all the while.

She took off, running at the trunk, already pumping chakra to her feet, and latched onto the tree's surface instantly, sprinting directly upwards.

It was somehow like running down a hill, feeling the momentum gather around you, energy sparking off your feet and making you stumble – her chakra practically shoved her up the tree as she stomped up the trunk, not stopping until some branches got in her path. Her hand shot out and she pulled herself up into the air, flipping forwards onto a branch.

She looked down and choked, all of the air leaving her lungs in one gasp – she was dizzyingly high up, high enough that the air actually felt thinner and her sensei was a dark blur against the green of the grassy ground.

She looked up, fixing her chakra to glue her feet more firmly to the branch, and took in the sight before her.

The wood spread out as far as the eye could see, green leaves just turning golden in the late afternoon sunlight, the wind sending ripples through the treetops. The sky was vast and immense and somehow close yet far away, a shade of intense, beautiful blue. Suddenly feeling at ease with herself and her position, she raised her arms out wide and embraced the horizon.

Her sensei shouted something up. She strained her hearing as he repeated himself, come down now.

A flicker of panic broke her serenity and she nearly stumbled at the thought of somehow jumping down that far, remembering Naruto's massive failure at not nearly falling to his death.

She hopped down a few branches and slid, chakra automatically mapping to her fingertips, down the trunk until she froze in place, feeling her grip loosening against her will.

"Just let go," Her sensei said, his voice clearer now that she had descended further. She took a risk and looked down, seeing his mouth shape the words I'll catch you.

She took a deep breath and let go.

She didn't even have a second of falling, her stomach had no time to swoop in terror before her sensei's arms were around her and he was kicking off the tree and back down to the ground in precisely zero seconds.

He bent over, tucking his hand under the back of her knees to let her down gently, and said, "You alright?"

"No," She wriggled out of his arms, face aflame in embarrassment at her failure and their close proximity, "I am such a coward. I couldn't even climb down from a tree…"

"Not a coward," Her sensei shook his head, "It is sensible to know one's limits."

"You aren't just a normal shinobi, are you?" She asked, eyes narrowing. His face immediately cleared of all expression, the gentle, commiserating look gone. "Your speed is insane. I've studied records, you know, I've memorised the speeds of shinobi and I know exactly how fast you should be –"

"Sakura." His voice was flat and utterly devoid of emotion, "Stop."

She knew what he was saying. Stop digging before you hit something. He wasn't normal.

"Why did you tell me to let go? You clearly could have yanked me off the tree and had time to have nice cup of tea before hitting the ground." She said instead, because she had obviously left her survival instincts in Konoha.

A faint line appeared between his brows and his shoulders tightened, "I wanted to make sure you trusted me enough to catch you."

"Well," Sakura said, all earnest twelve year old genius, "Trust has to be earned, sensei. I'm sure you know all there is to know about me. I don't even know your name."

For a moment it looked like he was going to lose his temper but he just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers, looking pained. "Give me time." He eventually said.

"OK, sensei," She said gently, "But I won't wait forever."

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It took a year for him to tell her his name.

He said it very quickly, looking deeply into her eyes, clearly searching for some kind of recognition.

Itachi.

The name meant nothing to her.

By this time she's got new muscles and her stomach is impressively toned, enough so that she develops a habit of poking it every now and then and giggling gleefully. She's thirteen and painfully aware of hormones – something that had been an abstract concept found only in textbooks she'd scanned briefly and discarded due to boredom – and how they like to point out exactly how attractive her sensei is.

Itachi never really mentions an age or a birthday but lets it be known that he is old. Too old goes unsaid but she hears it all the same.

They live out of hotels, mostly, and never go revisit an old place, but they do seem to stay where they are for longer each time. She realises one day that they are drifting further and further away from Konoha and she doesn't know how she feels about that.

She doesn't hear news of Team 7 at all – they're hardly famous, just a little genin team, but she still expects every town to be alight with gossip of dead teenagers from Konoha whenever they visit. It's her worst fear, that something bad will happen while she's gone – the strange mark on Sasuke's neck, the way Konoha seemed generally hostile to Naruto, Kakashi's loneliness. But then she remembers how little protection she provided when she was there and hardens her resolve. She's doing this for all of them, getting the training she so desperately needs so one day she can return and be able to keep them safe.

She's fast now, fast enough that the first bandits Itachi unleashes her on don't stand a chance. She feels like other people are slowed down somehow – is this how it feels for Lee? – and that she's entered a new state of consciousness. Itachi called it hyperawareness. She can feel when people are going to attack and she's now quick enough to counter in time.

He only ever lets her practice her skills on himself, dummies or criminals and they both agreed after her disastrous first kill that she should minimise her murder streak, so even bandits just get knocked on the head when she wants to end the fight.

When she first started sparring with Itachi she simply couldn't do anything against him, even with him holding back massively. He taught her basic punching techniques, holds and blocks, etc. and eventually she could start going through martial forms against him until every detail was burned into her brain. She knew that the easiest form kick, twist, block, punch, feint kick, twist was one Itachi could counter without even having to think. After a while, she started making it up as she went along, compensating for her lack of strength with her light weight and speed, focusing on dodging and trying to disarm him.

Now she could spar with him simply, just a basic workout, but she knew he could kill her very easily. The thought never scared her. Kakashi could kill her. Sasuke could kill her. Maybe even Naruto. You learned to live with your own mortality after being put in a few life or death situations.

She and Itachi had now lived together long enough for it to stop being awkward. She had never lived with anyone but her parents and to have a sort-of stranger see her undress was out of the question, so she preserved her modesty obsessively, putting up towels and sheets whenever there was no room to change away from his eyes – always politely averted, him radiating disinterest – and tried to learn to be OK with him having absolutely no shame when it came to clothing standards.

When he came back from missions – and no, he never told her who gave him missions or what his job was – bleeding and tired, he thought nothing of taking his shirt off in front of her. Sometimes, if she was lucky, he had a ridiculously vile-looking wound on his chest or something that took her mind right off his abs, but most of the time he just ended up looking feral and like he needed a wash.

She usually handed him their medical supplies, heroically maintaining eye contact, or ran into another room (if there was one) and cursed her fate.

There was a man who sometimes visited, even though they had no fixed address, even though they always travelled under genjutsu. His name was Kisame and he had actual blue, scaly skin and razor-sharp teeth that he liked to display with his unsettling grins. Sakura knew he worked with Itachi and that he was dangerous – the fact that Itachi never left them alone together was telling enough. He mostly seemed curious about Sakura and, after she asked him a few nerdy questions about his fighting technique and how exactly his sword sucked up chakra, he even seemed to find her endearing.

Now Sakura sat on the edge of a hotel bed, proudly showing Kisame her favourite technique.

She opened her palm, willing hundreds of petals to come into being, swirling around her hand in a pink and purple blur. She turned her hand over and they immediately slowed, dancing in the air gently.

Kisame gave her a grin, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall, "Nice one, Saku-tan."

"She can use those to burn and wound," Itachi commented from where he was quietly and methodically removing mud and stones from the soles of his shoes, "The weakest concentration makes the skin bubble like acid, the strongest can melt flesh away completely."

Kisame looked interested at that, "Huh, not just a pretty face, eh? That take up a lot of chakra?"

"Sakura has perfect chakra control." Itachi spoke again, chipping away at some dried mud with a metal pick. If Sakura didn't know any better, she'd say the tone of his voice was proud.

Sakura just gave Kisame a sheepish grin, "I only learnt it at first because I thought it was pretty. Itachi persuaded me to make it more… um, lethal."

"That's his way." Kisame grunted, "Take something soft and sharpen it till stings."

Itachi had warned Sakura the first time she met Kisame not to tell him anything important – about her plans to go home one day, Itachi's pacifism, anything.

It made it difficult to talk to him most of the time.

"Well you aren't any different." She pointed out, grinning, "What's your motto again?"

"The weak are meat, the strong eat." Kisame bared his teeth, "It's my philosophy, sweetheart. I kill what I can, and kill what I can't."

"You are a logical fallacy." Sakura observed, but she said it fondly.

Itachi stayed silent for the rest of the conversation, but his eyes flicked from Kisame to Sakura throughout the night, the only sign of his concern. Itachi disliked her talking to people, mostly worried about what she'd give away. She had mentioned the need to socialise every now and then and he had looked at like she was in need of psychological help. She chatted with townspeople whenever possible, never saying anything incriminating, and enjoyed talking to Itachi for the most part, but she absolutely savoured her conversations with Kisame, who proved to be wittier than he looked and an incurable gossip.

"I want to be stronger," Sakura said when Kisame asked about her goals, "I'm gonna prove everyone who doubted me wrong."

Kisame winked at her then, "Knock 'em dead, kid. With Itachi as your mentor you should have no problem with a little mass murder."

It was said with the warmth of a shared joke, but Sakura didn't get it. She looked at her sensei in confusion and saw that he had abandoned his shoes.

"Kisame." He said warningly.

Kisame took one look at his partner's face and seemed to understand something instantly. He glanced at Sakura, his smile gone, "I see," He said evenly, "Sorry, Saku-tan. Ignore me."

But she couldn't.

What was she missing here?

HELLOOOOO and welcome to the long-awaited midquel/sequel/whateverthehellquel of A Curious Kind of Atonement.

Timeskip after this chapter :D :D

This story has only been planned in bits and pieces, so I absolutely do not know how it will end. I only know a few things, thus far. Updates might take a while or they may be alarmingly frequent, I dunno yet.

God I hope someone actually reads this fic, lol XD

Sakura chose Itachi.

Everything changes.

For one thing, Sakura's character isn't going to be all gloom and doom avenger rawr like she was in ACKA. She'll hopefully be perky and sweet, as in canon.

Sakura is not going to be insanely overpowered, I promise.

Quick poll for fun: Please give me suggestions on how you want the story to go. I have a basic guideline in my head but it's super rough and can be changed at any time.