I'm so sorry that this didn't come out sooner! The holidays to my mother seem to mean 'let's put everyone to work while they're home' rather than 'let's all relax and enjoy some hot tea'. .

Ugh.

Anyway, this one is ItaSaku. Don't ask me why, it just sort of slapped me in the face and wouldn't leave me alone even though I'm very "eeeehhhh" about ItaSaku. Still, I poured my soul into this like any good piece of writing.

I don't own Naruto.

The smell air smelled of blood and fire and dust and the ash that touched down lightly on his cheeks. He could hear clouds rumbling overhead, wind howling, carrying the sound of distant voice. He tried to open his eyes but it felt like they had been glued stuck, and every muscle in his body was limp and unresponsive. Lightning cracked somewhere in the sky, and he finally realized there were pellets of rain hitting his cheeks.

Itachi was not sure how much time he had passed unconscious since his battle with Sasuke, but the dying scent of raw chakra was fading in the air with the storm. He remembered dying face down…

Someone had rolled him onto his side.

He remembered voices, especially that loud Kyuubi jinchuriki. They were long gone by now, thinking him dead and trying to catch up to wherever Sasuke had run off to heal his wounds. Or at least, Itachi hoped Sasuke had had the strength to run off. If another enemy had found him…

No. He couldn't think these thoughts. He had done all that he could do for his brother. Kami, hadn't he sacrificed enough in his lifetime? Fate did not even have the decency to allow him to die when he should have. Instead, here he was lying prone in a broken battlefield, dying slowly while his body forced him to take one laborious breath after another, a mockery of his former glory.

Footsteps.

They were light and small, no doubt usually silent if not for the puddles that Itachi imagined located around the old Uchiha base. The footsteps stopped next to his body and small, gentle arms pulled him into their embrace.

He felt a hand descend on his forehead, warm chakra soothing away the cold and wrapping his mind in darkness.

..:+:..

When he woke up he felt a warm bed beneath his body, warm air surrounding him, the smell of hearth and spices tickling his nose. It felt like a home. His hands fisted at his sides but other than this he couldn't move his body without feeling a warning of immense pain. Itachi could feel the rough fabric of new nin-pants on his legs, and the softer fabric of the bed sheet on his bare chest. His caretaker must have heard his change in breathing because he heard those same footsteps approach his bedside. His shinobi instincts were screaming at waking up in an unfamiliar place, held by a stranger, and blind.

"Awake I see." A soft female voice put him somewhat at ease, although his body was still tense. "Try not to move, please. I don't want my handiwork to be undone. You were practically dead."

He was supposed to be dead and she ruined it.

The same gentle arms slowly slid under his back to help Itachi sit up against the headboard of the bed, each movement of this kind stranger slow and deliberate so as not to alarm the blind shinobi.

"I'm bringing a cup of water to your lips." She whispered, and a second later Itachi felt the cool touch of ceramic kiss his lips. He carefully drank the water, his caretaker slowly pouring the entire cupful into his mouth.

"There we go." Itachi imagined that the woman smiled softly at him. She sounded like the mothering type.

"Are you hungry?"

His stomach growled in answer.

Her chuckled drifted away as Itachi listened to her footsteps leave, the clink of dishes and the slosh of a ladle and liquid. The footsteps approached him once more, and Itachi felt the bedside sink under the weight of her body.

"Do you want me to feed you?"

His hand slowly, blindly, reached upwards. She chuckled and carefully settled the bowl of stew and a spoon in each of his hands, pausing to make sure he had a secure hold of them before he felt her hands let go.

"Didn't think so." She laughed softly. "Don't get frustrated if you miss your mouth a few times; you are still new to being blind."

At first Itachi thought to ask her how she had known this, but then his brain supplied him with the answer. It was hard for people not to notice freshly emptied eye-sockets, and she was obviously a medic of some sort. And since he could sense chakra from her and didn't feel any stiches, Itachi guessed this was a medic-nin. He hated to second-guess the charity of others, but this was too much of a coincidence and he had spent too much of his life looking over his shoulder.

"Done." He murmured, his voice softer than he intended and slightly croakish. He was about to attempt to repeat it louder, but her footsteps told him that she had managed to hear him. His nameless caretaker took the utensils out of his hands and walked away, Itachi listening to the sounds of the dishes being placed in a sink, noting that the kitchen was somewhere to his left.

Her footsteps approached him again, and he felt a heavy fabric –a napkin –brush against his face as she wiped off his lips and drops on his chest.

"Why are you helping me?" Itachi demanded softly.

He flinched when he felt gentle fingers run across the fabric that was tied around his empty eye sockets, feeling her healing chakra lightly probe them to check on their status. The chakra pulled away and she sighed.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I am a medic, Tsunade's apprentice in fact."

Yes, he remembered her now. Her chakra was familiar, her voice now clicking with the face in his mind's eye.

"I'm helping you because I know. I know about the massacre."

Itachi froze. "How?"

She was still sitting beside him on the bed; her hand had absently rested itself on his shoulder. He could smell her, sweet with a hint of spice. The indent she made on the bed told him that she did not weigh very much.

"I…" She cleared her throat. "Tsunade-sama was getting suspicious of the elders and Danzo. She sent me in as her spy to find evidence of what we were up against."

He felt Sakura take a shuddering breath.

"The things I found in those dark holes were horrible." She whispered. "Some of those secrets were worse than the Uchiha Clan massacre."

Unconsciously Itachi placed his hand over hers. "That was brave of you, kunoichi. But that still doesn't tell me why you are helping me."

She was silent for a long moment.

"I couldn't save one Uchiha. But I can save you."

..:+:..

Apparently they were located in an isolated hut about a mile away from the nearest village, which was about six miles away from the outskirts of Konoha. Sakura had to leave Itachi to go check in with her team, however the Hokage had been made aware of the fact that Sakura had saved Itachi and allowed Sakura a month off of mission duty. The excuse they had given to her team, as Sakura had told him, was that she was preoccupied doing top-secret research for the hospital.

"They really are all a bunch of idiots." Sakura complained to him as she moved around the small cottage. "Lovable, but stupid."

She talked a lot, much to Itachi's amusement. They never talked about the Uchiha Massacre after that first conversation, or the political upheaval he knew was happening within the Hidden Villages, and most especially never about his brother. He had never really been around talkative people, with the exception of a drunk Shisui. Other than that, Uchihas were not a talkative clan, neither had his teammates in ANBU, and most definitely not in Akatsuki. Sakura was like a breath of fresh air.

It amazed him how she could act so carefree despite the struggles that she had been through. Not that she told him much about her life, she was careful never to give too much information to the sort-of-but-not-really missing-nin. Still, any kunoichi with the skills and courage to act against Danzo, and with the amount of trust the Hokage seemed to have in her, must be very strong indeed. And Itachi knew she had been the one to defeat Sasori.

"I mean," She continues, "How on earth does anyone expect Sai to act normal? But still, I know he isn't daft! He should have learned by now at least the basics of human interaction, dammit! You know, Itachi, I bet he just does it to piss me off!"

Itachi would not have doubted it. Sakura was most amusing when she was angry. This kunoichi was a gentle caretaker and fiery hellcat all rolled into one.

Time passed unmeasured for Itachi, in his blind state. He had learned to care for himself in the small hut, where the kitchen and furniture was, how to cook simple meals without maiming himself (Sakura had been so anxious the first time he asked her to let him cook that he had to grab her shoulders and tell her to shut up). There was a separate bathroom that Sakura had helped him navigate the first couple times (he had insisted that he could wash his own hair, but she told him to shut up and let her touch his pretty hair).

Eventually Sakura had had to return to missions, although she dropped by whenever she could. On the especially long missions Itachi found himself missing her voice, yearning for the warmth that she brought to the cottage that the hearth could never replace.

..:+:..

Their first kiss happened without any grand prelude.

She had come back from a month-long mission and he had been loath to admit that he had been worried sick. She had cooked the two of them a large meal to celebrate her return, and the two stood side by side next to the sink washing dishes. She had been yammering away again, and Itachi just leaned over and shut her up with a kiss.

She was shocked into silence for a good five minutes, and Itachi could imagine her pretty green eyes wide, mouth gaping open, her hands moving on autopilot as they dried the dishes he pushed into them. Then she finally snapped, "Stop smirking you bastard" and continued to talk as if nothing had happened.

Of course, Itachi didn't let her get away that easily.

In their spare time they played shogi. Sakura would call out the position of her tiles, and Itachi, who's Sharingan had long ago memorized what a shogi board looked like, would tell her where to move his own pieces. They often got into fierce battles over shogi, because Sakura was stubborn and criticized his little tricks and cheats, and Itachi was thrilled to finally have an opponent just a lethal in strategy and tactics as himself. The first time Sakura had ever risen her voice at him was during a game of shogi, protesting what she thought was an illegal play. And much to Itachi's surprise, the first time he had ever risen his voice at anyone was when Sakura had used her own illegal play that he somehow could not find a weakness to. He had never yelled at anyone before in his life, but there they had been, two full-grown adults arguing over a play board.

It was hilarious, thinking back on it.

"I win." Itachi said smugly, tapping his tile on Sakura's side of the board.

"Goddammit, I fell for that trap again." Sakura muttered, and he could imagine her pink lips curling into a pout. "I demand a rematch!"

"Only the winner gets to demand anything." Itachi smirked at her from behind his blindfold.

"Save a blind man's life and suddenly he thinks he can get anything from me, ungrateful little…" Sakura muttered under her breath.

Itachi laughed softly, and he heard Sakura stop to listen. She always did that. Whenever she managed to make him laugh, she would just stop whatever she was doing and listen to the sound of his laughter.

He stood up and walked around the shogi board, kneeling behind Sakura, his arms placing themselves on the floor beside both of her legs and caging her in. His breath fanned across her shoulder and her felt her shiver. "The winner demands a kiss, my lady."

He heard Sakura scoff, but his chest against her back revealed her racing heartbeat. "You'll have to catch me first!"

She flickered and he felt her chakra signature at the doorway, laughter trailing after her as she ran into the grass outside. Itachi was quickly to follow, using chakra to expand his sense and avoid tripping or falling. For a blind man, he was still more graceful and dexterous than the average shinobi.

Sakura yelped as he suddenly tackled her from behind, and he turned their bodies as they fell so that she landed on top. The smell of crush wildflowers wafted in the air as they landed on a cushion of grass, and Sakura was laughing nonstop until she found her lips covered by his.

Her body adjusted itself across his own, tangling her legs with his. He heard felt her wrap one hand in his hair, tugging him closer. Her other hand wrapped around his waist. Itachi sat up and set her in his lap, and their tongues danced together as their hands drifted over their bodies, breathing in the other's scent.

"Sakura…" Itachi sighed.

She laughed softly, and he felt her torso move with the sound against his chest. "Oh Itachi…"

He was in heaven. Never in, in his entire, miserable life, did Itachi think he would be granted such a blessing. His destiny had been to live in the shadows, a sacrifice, a martyr, to be killed by his brother's hand and freed of his cursed life. He used to curse the day he had been brought back from the brink of death.

Love, however, had a way of sneaking up on people.

He wanted her.

Mind, body, soul, he wanted every bright and shining spark of goodness and love within her. Sakura had a heart big enough for the world, and he wanted it to be his, for her healing hands to put his shattered soul together, for her smiling lips (he felt her smile against him as they kissed) to tell him every morning and every night and every hour in between that she would never leave his side.

Once, Itachi had been forced and willing to give up everything. But in this moment with Sakura, wrapped up in her arms, touching her soft skin, kissing those pliant lips, loving her in a way that was deeper than any physical connection, Itachi wanted to be selfish.

She would be his.

Not Konoha's.

Not his brother's.

Her heart.

His heart.

As one.

"Come away with me, Sakura."

..:+:..

"The gang's all here!" Naruto cheered as Sasuke entered into Ichiraku.

The Konoha 12 and Team Gai were reunited that night, drinking and laughing at memories, cheering their victories and remembering those who they had lost. Sakura spent time with each of them, giving them a hug when no one was looking. Everyone was too preoccupied to notice her strange behavior.

"Hey guys." Sakura greeted with a sad smile as she approached her team, sitting at the iconic, designated Ichiraku front counter.

"Sakura-chan!" an oblivious Naruto cheered. "This is a great party! I think even Sai is interacting normally!"

"I always act in my usual behavior." Sai said, earning an eye roll from Naruto and a heavy sigh from Kakashi.

"Kakashi, did I not ask you to leave that thing at home?" Sakura asked with exasperated fondness, her sensei looking up at her with his lone eye from behind the colorful book.

"Ne, Sakura, I must not have hear you. Oh well, it's too late now." Kakashi shrugged and returned his gaze to the pages. Sakura smirked and kicked her sensei off of his seat, watching his body turn into a log and the real form of Kakashi reappear behind her, scowling. Sakura giggled as she took his stool.

"I haven't seen you around the village as much, hag." Sai spoke up.

Sakura waved her hand dismissingly. "Oh I have to do little missions around Fire Country for Tsunade-sama."

"You weren't there to heal us yesterday morning!" Naruto pouted.

Sakura glanced between Sasuke and Naruto, no doubt the 'us' the blone was referring to. "Training I assume?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Do you two have to turn everything into a death match?!" Sakura sighed with a smile.

The rest of the night Sakura spent as more of an observer than participant. After she had given her silent goodbyes to all of her friends, she sat next to Sasuke until the party wound down. Thanking Teuchi and paying for her round of drinks for the night, Sakura walked home.

"You're acting strange."

She glanced up as Sasuke appeared next to her. "Thank you, Sasuke."

He gave her a questioning glance.

"I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for you." She said softly. "Despite your faults, you're a good man."

"Stop talking that way." Sasuke spoke with unnecessary harshness.

Sakura smiled at him. "Your brother loved you very much, you know."

Sasuke froze. His hands clenched and unclenched before he snarled. "Stop talking like that, Sakura. I mean it. Stop sounding like you're saying goodbye."

"But I am, Sasuke."

Sakura teleported away.

"Arigato."

..:+:..

"Are you sure about this?" Tsunade asked her student, sadness weighing heavily on the Hokage, The words her apprentice had just spoken seemed to weigh heavily on her heart and age the blonde woman before Sakura's very eyes.

Sakura smiled softly. "Very much, Tsunade. I said my goodbyes last night."

Tsunade lifted the forehead protector with the red ribbon into her palms, gazing down at it and not bothering to stop the tears that flowed into her eyes and dropped onto the shiny metal surface. A deep, weary sigh left her. "It is the least you deserve, my child, after all that this world has put you through."

"Naruto is next in line for Hokage, Sasuke has returned, and you will be head of the hospital when Naruto takes over." Sakura approached the woman that meant so much more to her than just a teacher. Tsunade was Sakura's rock, her inspiration, her mother in all but blood. The kunoichi embraced each other. "Konoha is at peace. And I… I am needed elsewhere."

Tsunade shook her head. "You will always be needed here, Sakura."

"No." Sakura held up her hand, forestalling anything more Tsunade would have said. "My heart tells me that it is time to go. I was here for Naruto, I helped him bring back Sasuke, I have made Kakashi proud… My life is done here. My heart looks to the horizon, Tsunade. You cannot stop me."

Tsunade chuckled. "I should have known. Then this is it, Sakura? You are sure?"

Sakura's smile widened as she looked out the window and across the view of the village, her eyes picking out every location which held a memory: The bridge, the training grounds, the academy, the hospital, the Hokage monument…

"Yes." She whispered.

"You must love him very much." Tsunade also looked across the village, smiling at her own memories of Dan.

Sakura leaned against Tsunade familiarly. "Almost as much as he loves me." She giggled.

..:+:..

Sasuke burst into the Hokage's office, dragging Naruto in by the collar of his shirt, Kakashi and Sai behind them.

"She's already gone." Tsunade told them. She stood with her back to them, facing the windows with a sake bottle in one hand.

All of their eyes went to the unscratched forehead protector on her desk.

"What is this?" Kakashi demanded.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto picked up the headband, reverently running his hands over it, bringing it to his nose where he could smell her scent.

"She wanted you to have it, Naruto."

They looked up to see Tsunade sliding into her chair with a weary sigh. Her eyes were puffy, she had been crying. Her shoulders were slumped in defeat, her breath tinted with alcohol.

"Where did she go?!" Both Sasuke and Naruto yelled in unison.

Tsunade surprised them by giving them a soft smile. "She flew the nest. Sakura spread her wings. She said that she had fulfilled her purpose in Konoha. Now she wants to find her own path."

Naruto cried.

..:+:..

"Itachi-kun!"

His head whipped up and he walked quickly to the door, swinging it open to feel a warm body lunge at him, arms wrapping around his neck, lips pressing against his cheek. Itachi felt as if his heart would burst, such was the relief that flowed through him at that moment.

"Sakura –you came back." He sighed.

"I'm sorry." She breathed into his neck. "I couldn't give you an answer until I said my goodbyes. So yes, yes I'll go with you Itachi."

At the touch of her forehead on his collar-bone, Itachi leaned back and placed his hands on her head, running tracing the curve of her cheekbones and jaw, up to her forehead, and finally to run his hands through her silky, loose hair. Her forehead protector was gone.

"Sakura…" He pulled her closer, burying his face into her hair. She had given it all up for him. At first Itachi had regretted those words, asking her such a selfish thing to walk away from her village, her duties, and her friends. But then he had been too caught up in the moment to apologize, and in the morning she had been gone.

He thought he had lost her.

But she had come back. She had come back to him. This man who had been trampled by the world, spat upon by fortune, scorned by destiny, wearing a traitor's mark when he was in fact a martyr. He was to forever be the unsung hero, the faceless fallen soldier, a shadow of what might have been.

But Sakura.

Sakura was light and air and song and hope and everything beautiful. Where Itachi was the night she was the day, her happiness strong in the presence of sorrow, her courage steadfast in the face of defeat, her soul was a beacon for all things good and pure. She was a deity among mortals, defiant of fate, and Itachi worshipped her as if she was his lifeline to this earth and his soul forever in debt. He was tainted and broken, she was fractured but whole. With time she had put the pieces of him together, rebuilding the man that was Uchiha Itachi until he could stand by her side.

He didn't deserve her.

But she chose him.

"Come away with me, Sakura."

..:+:..

Years later rumors arose of a great healer in the far reaches of Water Country. People from every corner of the globe came to find her, however few got the chance to see her. If asked about her the townspeople would point to their local bridge builder. However Tazuna would merely smile to most of these pilgrims and tell them that he had no idea what they were talking about.

And if someone observant were to take the time to look around Tazuna's house they would see a lone kunai sitting above the fire place, untouched with a red ribbon wrapped around it emblazoned with a lone white circle.

Review, you know you want to ;)

But seriously, I'm not sure if I did okay with this pairing...

MERRY CRISTMAS MY LOVELY READERS

MAY MY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES ON THIS HOLY NIGHT (Time to party with Jesus, woot!) (because we get presents) (get it?) (I'll stop)

Lots O' Love,

~Lilithia