So yeah, this was done for a fic trade with Bundyangel. Her part was a SaiSaku fic, and I say it's great!! :D so check it out.

http: /www. fanfiction. net/s/4166144/1/ TheTimeWeveLost (Take away the spaces)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Itachi wouldn't die and there'd be no Orochimaru comin out of Sasuke. ew.

Broken Smile

She was always smiling when he saw her, that broken smile of hers. Laughing, and giggling when she was with her friends. But he also saw it when her friends turned away, the sad and even torturous expression on her face.

She was faking it.

The fair façade she always wore would drop when she thought no one was looking. Of course, she didn't know he was looking, always.

Her friends never saw through that mask she wore, not once. He was the only who noticed this, but she never knew he was watching.

Haruno Sakura sighed as she closed the door behind her, slumping down onto her room floor. Another day gone by smoothly. She pulled her cheeks a bit, massaging it.

"Smiling smiling...Such a tiring routine." She muttered, getting up and straightening her uniform. She flip her pastel pink hair back after dropping her bag on the chair, moving to sit beside the window. Loud voices could be heard from downstairs, making her sigh again.

"Grown ups and their stupid fights." She whispered, clenching her fist.

The perfect Haruno Sakura that everyone knew wasn't exactly perfect. She didn't have loving parents like everyone thought she did. Her childhood wasn't exactly sunshine and daisies either, getting teased because of her wide forehead, picked on because of her pink hair and green eyes…

Needless to say, no one knew the real Haruno Sakura, and they didn't bother to. She eyed her cellphone on the table, wondering if she should get out of the house while she could before her parents started throwing out their anger on her. She had enough of the abuse as it was. Sighing, Sakura slipped out of her uniform, quickly pulling on a loose black shirt and a pair of baggy pants, she grabbed her purse and cellphone.

Opening her window, she climbed down the cherry blossom tree outside it and landed quietly, careful as not to alert her parents. Not that they cared anyway. She slipped out the front gate and gave a breath of relief when she was out. "At least they didn't notice." She said to herself. Sakura hummed as she continued down the sidewalk, wondering where to go next.

Uchiha Itachi grumbled as he eyed his workload on his table, wishing he could just burn the whole stack of papers and pretend he didn't received any of it. He grabbed a pile before starting to read it, muttering curses under his breath every now and then.

College just wasn't as fun as any high school student thought.

He barely got through half of it when a knock came at his door, snapping him out of his work. He mumbled a 'come in' before returning to his papers, and only turned when the person that knocked was standing in front of him.

"What is it." He stated, a bit impatient. His lack of sleep was getting to him, and he wanted to finish his work soon.

"I'm going out to Hyuuga's place." Uchiha Sasuke said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Seems like Naruto has got into another fight with Hyuuga and Hinata asked me to go stop them."

Itachi shrugged. "Go ahead then."

"I don't think I'll be back tonight." He added, as to say that was the reason he even told Itachi where he was going. Although they were close, they didn't normally tell each other where they were going if they went out. But if one of them would not be returning home, then they would take note to inform the other.

"Fine." Itachi replied, waving his hand to dismiss his younger brother. "Stay out of trouble."

Sasuke smirked. "Whatever." He retorted, and walked out of the door.

The elder Uchiha sighed after hearing the footsteps disappearing, looks like it was gonna be a lonely night in the mansion…again.

Sakura smiled softly as she reached her destination, brushing aside the hair that was sticking her in the eyes, she pulled out her cellphone, dialing a number. The Uchiha mansion never had anyone to answer the door no matter how loud it was. It was just not heard through the house and they didn't have any butlers or maids, no matter how rich they were.

She waited patiently as the dial tone rang a few times, before someone picked up.

"'Lo." A disgruntled voice said, as if being impatient.

"What stuck up your butt to sound like that?" Sakura joked, giggling a bit when the person on the other side grumbled.

"Shut up." The person retorted. "What do you want? It's late."

"Indeed it is." Sakura mused, glancing up at the sky. She must have taken longer than she estimated to reach the mansion. "I need a place to stay tonight. They're at it again, Itachi."

"…Great." Itachi said sarcastically. Technically, Itachi and Sasuke were the only ones that knew what was going on in Sakura's household. Sasuke had accidentally stumbled upon her when she was running from her parents, and he took in her appearance which was less than the perfect girl he saw in school. Hair in a mess, clothes torn and she was bleeding in several places. He had immediately questioned her, asking her who the hell was it who gave her all those bruises and cuts when she fainted from blood loss.

Itachi had drove her to the hospital and paid for her medical bills, despite her protest after that. Sasuke forced her to spill her entire story during her stay in the hospital, and so the Uchiha brothers were always there for her ever since.

Although Sakura always had the knack of calling Itachi first before Sasuke, since they were in the same college. She had skipped one year of high school as her grades were outstanding, leaving her other friends, including Sasuke in their last year of high school now. The younger Uchiha was also given a chance to skip, but he declined it for certain reasons.

"So…am I allowed in?" Sakura asked, leaning against the brown oak door. She heard a sigh from the other side and she assumed Itachi was a tad bit lazy to open the door for her.

"Hey…" she started, before feeling herself falling backwards as the door was pulled open by someone on the other side. She flapped her arms around in hopes of catching something, but felt a pair of warm arms wrapped around her arms before she did anything.

"Whoa…" Itachi said, pulling her in like that. He chuckled when he saw her slightly angered and surprised expression. "Sorry, didn't know you were leaning against the door." He said, setting her upright. "Your own fault though."

Sakura huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at him all the way as he moved to close and lock the door. She raised an eyebrow when she heard the 'click' sound of the lock, and he just smiled as he turned to walk back to his room.

"You're locking the door so early?" she asked as she followed the older teen up the stairs.

He nodded, turning slightly so he could see her face. "Sasuke's over at Neji's house. Seems like Naruto got into another fight over Hinata…I think."

The girl behind him giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. "I guess Neji got a little protective of Hinata-chan again huh?" She smiled softly, remembering all the times Neji would threaten Naruto if he even thought of hurting his cousin sister. Needless to say, it all ended up in a fist fight in which Sasuke and Kiba or anyone else had to step in to stop them from terrorizing the places they were at.

Itachi shrugged, smirking to himself. As they reached his room, he turned the doorknob and opened the door, glancing at the pink haired girl. "You know your own room right?" he said. This wasn't the first time she came here to stay after all. They even gave her a room to stay permanently. "I still got work to do, so if there's anything you need, well, you know the house." He said, going into his room.

"You mean the assignments you missed the whole week?" Sakura questioned as she stepped into the room with him. He didn't object, but nodded to answer her question. "Where did you go anyway?" she continued, closing the door softly and sitting on the bed.

"Dad needed some help in his company across the sea, so I flew there for the week." Itach replied, sitting back at his desk.

"That's nice." Sakura said, having never been overseas before. "How was it?"

"Pure torture." Itachi muttered, picking up his pile of work again. "The people were dumb, asking questions about every single small thing." He complained. "They even panicked over a cup of spilled coffee." He grumbled, shaking his head. "I don't know how they even got hired."

Sakura giggled at the thought of Itachi managing those people. "So I take it you didn't have enough sleep over that?" she said, noticing his slightly snappy attitude.

He nodded, going through the papers in his hand. "Hey, why did we get so many reading materials?" Itachi asked her, pointing to his mountain of papers stacked on his desk. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"We didn't." she answered, getting up to see the papers.

Itachi handed her a pile as she read through it, and she grinned when she finished. She shook her head as she laughed softly. Picking a few from the whole stack, she handed them to him.

"That," she pointed to the papers in his hand. "Is what we did the whole week. And that," She pointed to the mountain of papers. "Is what Sasuke's been doing in his whole month of high school assignments."

The elder Uchiha's right brow twitched in annoyance when he realized what the girl said, making a mental note to get Sasuke back for this. He always left work on Itachi's table, making him think it was his work. This would be the fifth time he got tricked.

"Geez Itachi, one would think you'd learn to check the name on the document before reading it by now." Sakura teased as she dumped the rest of the papers on the ground.

He sighed, shifting in his seat a bit before returning to his work. Sakura was silent after that, smiling softly as she gazed out the window beside him. Itachi paused in his reading when he noticed her smile.

"It's nice…" he muttered, catching her attention.

"What's nice?" she asked, confused. Could reading assignments be nice?

"Your smile." He replied. "You should smile like that more often."

Confusion was clearly written on her face. "What do you mean? I always smile." She said, frowning a little.

Itachi sighed, setting down the papers again. He turned his seat so that he was facing her. "Sakura, I know you've been forcing yourself to smile." The elder Uchiha stated bluntly, making her cringe at the truth.

"Oh…well…maybe you were mistaken?" Sakura said, trying to avoid this topic. Sasuke and Itachi had always tried to talk to her about it, but when it was with both of them, she could easily wriggle out of it. Now, sitting alone with Itachi in his room, it wasn't exactly easy to do that.

"Sakura…"

Said girl kept quiet for a while, staring out the window. She let out a long sigh and nodded. "Yes, I guess I was."

"Are you going to stop?"

She shrugged at his question. "If I don't smile, people will start asking me stupid questions. I hate it." Sakura answered, pushing a strand of hair behind her ears. "I smile so that people won't know what's behind it, so they won't bother." She added, smiling softly at her friend.

Itachi stared at her smiling face, remembering all the times she had a strained smile on her face, whether it was talking to friends or listening to them. Sasuke had mentioned that when she was around people, she would force herself to smile despite anything else she felt.

"Sakura is just too kind sometimes." Sasuke told his brother as Itachi drove them home. "She puts her feeling away just for the sake of others."

Itachi nodded, sighing. "One day it's going to be her downfall, she might actually break."

The younger Uchiha said nothing, but turned his eyes towards his brother. "But when she's with you…her smile…" he trailed off, smirking and shaking his head. "Never mind."

Itachi raised a questioning brow. "When she's with me her smile…?"

The younger of the two continued to smirk as he closed his eyes. "You'll find out one day Itachi."

He shook himself out of his thoughts when he noticed green eyes staring at him. Sakura blushed when Itachi caught her staring. It seems like he zoned out for a while.

"Oh-Sorry!" Sakura muttered, turning her face. "Y-you stopped talking for a while so…"

Itachi smiled, getting up from his place to sit beside her. She pretended to not notice him, staying exactly where she was, but he could see the faint blush on her cheeks from being so close to him. He moved closer to her, placing an arm around her shoulders to which she squeaked at the contact. She had never been so close to the elder Uchiha before.

"I-Itachi…?" she asked softly, staring into his onyx eyes.

"I noticed all this…" Itachi whispered to her, his bangs covering his eyes. "I noticed everything about you Sakura…ever since I saw you the first time…"

Sakura felt her breathing stop as her heart thumped wildly in her chest, was he going to…?

"Because as cheesy as this is going to sound…Sakura...I...love you." Itachi said, looking at her with emotions in his eyes which no one had been able to read. "So please…" he begged, acting out of character. "If you keep doing this…you'll break…"

The girl he held stared a while before tears started sliding down her cheeks, touched by his concern and his confession. Uchiha Itachi has never begged anyone or said please once, she was so happy that her love was not a one-sided thing, and was even more happy to know that someone noticed her pain.

"Itachi…" she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his shirt. "Thank you…thank you…" her words were muffled by his shirt. "Thank you for noticing me…I love you…so much…"

The elder Uchiha let out a breath he was holding. Truthfully, he had been afraid that the girl would reject him and run back to her house that was a hell hole. He knew Sasuke and himself would never allow her to return there if it was their choice. Much his misfortune however, Sasuke came barging into his room the next minute.

"Hey Aniki, I heard Sakura's parents…" he trailed off when the two people in the room raised their heads to see him. "Oh damn…I just interrupted something." Sasuke muttered to himself, but he was slightly happy to see Itachi embracing Sakura.

"So…" Sasuke said, uncertain. Sakura smiled at him, pushing Itachi away for a bit.

"What about my parents?" Sakura asked.

"Aa. Your parents were walking down the street just now, with a bat and a knife in their hands." Sasuke explained. Sakura paled when he said that, and Itachi held her hands in comfort. "They were shouting and making a ruckus as they went, but the police were rounding and saw them, so after questioning them, it appears that they spilled the truth about wanting to find you so they can teach you never to leave the house again." He continued. "Of course, they were drunk. I was there at the right time, and I told them the whole story." He finished.

Sakura blinked. "So my parents…?"

"Will not be seeing you for a long time." Sasuke confirmed, smirking. "They have a restraining order. You won't be seeing them if we can help it."

Her tears started to well up in her eyes again and she pulled Itachi up towards Sasuke, where she hugged both of them tightly. Sasuke was caught in an awkward position with who he hoped to call a sister-in-law soon and his brother. Itachi merely chuckled and embraced the both of them.

Sakura, being in the middle, could only smiled in happiness and cried as she hugged the two Uchiha. She was finally out of her hell, and together with the person who noticed her, who loved her despite everything. And she was damned if she continued her smiling façade.

"Hey Sakura-chan, you happy today?" Naruto, her best friend asked one day at lunch. Her other friends nodded, looking at her.

"She does seem more radiant today, doesn't she?" Ino teased, watching the red seeped into the pink haired girl's cheeks.

"Shut up…I'm always happy." Sakura muttered, taking a bit of her sandwich. Neji chuckled and leaned over to ruffle her hair.

"Right, as if." He retorted. "You've always had a smile that never reached your eyes, but nowadays you have a more real smile."

Sakura laughed, making her friends laugh with her. Sasuke smirked when he saw a figure approaching their table. He coughed, gaining their attention.

"I know the reason." He started, and everyone's attention turned to him. "It's because…"

"Sakura." A deep voice said, startling everyone.

Said girl's smile widened as she turned to regard the figure behind her. "I'm just about done." She told him as she packed her things and waved at her friends. "Gotta go guys! See you later!" and Itachi took her hand, throwing a casual wave back at the stunned faces of his juniors.

"Because she's in love." Sasuke said, smirking as he watched the couple walk out of the cafeteria.

Because a girl is most beautiful and radiant when she's in love, that's why the broken smile on her face will never appear again, not when she's with the one she loves the most in the whole world.

And that's done. Hopefully it didn't sound rushed, cause I had no idea how to get Sakura's parents out of the picture...hope u guys enjoyed it!

And of course, for Bundyangel, really hope you liked it. :D

Please review!