Right. I know I have another story that I've not updated, and I'm sorry. But this is November, and I'm going to do NaNoWriMo (look it up if you've never heard if it, it's brilliant!). Therefore, expect frequent updates, slightly slapdash writing - though I've got a beta which should help a little - and a complete overhaul of the story some time after November ends. Con-crit is welcomed, and I hope you enjoy this adventure as much as I do!

~YIF

The world is gritty with the darkness of pre-dawn as a woman races through the forest. She leaps with all the lightness and grace of a woodland animal, but considerably more speed. She is Sakura Haruno, and her life is about to be turned upside-down.

She's not altogether unprepared for this though – the dark air is thick with tension, and on the wind, faint enough to be imagination, is the scent of blood.

The woods end abruptly, with a few crazily leaning trees and a cliff edge, but the woman leaps over, down, without pause. For a moment all her senses are filled by the rushing wind of her descent, but then her boots connect with bare rock and the world resolves back into clarity.

Chakra awareness comes first - the air positively thrums here, saturated with killing intent, and she recognises the harsh tinge of desperation running through it. The smell of smoke hits before her head has had time to snap back upright, and the blood is definitely not imagined now. Then her eyes and ears recover, and she flinches despite herself.

Ahead, standing in a strange mimicry of the hospital rooftop a few short years before, is the boy she's been chasing as long as she can remember. But it's not Naruto who is facing him down this time – he's behind along with the rest of her team, held up by a man who appeared to have Zabuza's sword. Sakura had been at the back of the group before, and that had given her the chance to slip round and ahead alone, feeling unusually bold and reckless.

She doesn't feel much of anything now. Not when Uchiha Itachi stands before his younger brother, hands shaping signs that are far too familiar. Her feet start moving as his lungs expand, prompted without conscious thought by the way Sasuke is facing the wrong way. It seems as long a sprint as she had before, trying to get between her teammates' attacks that day when they fell apart, but this time she is faster. Has to be faster.

She will not fail.

Unhesitating, her body intercepts the fireball half way to its intended target, feet planting down with a rush of chakra that sends the ground flying up in pieces. It's the only long-range attack she has in her arsnel, but she doesn't have time to doubt if it will prove effective against such an opponent as this. Instead she grunts in pain as the concentrated stream of fire billows out around her, just barely clinging to consciousness and calling healing chakra to her agonised skin.

The ground comes up to meet her before she's quite ready, and Sakura ends up almost on all fours, panting, on bare rock tilted at a crazy angle. There's no time to recover her stance, to check if Sasuke is alright after being hit by the remnants of the fireball and thrown into the air by the buckling ground, to do anything. Itachi is before her in an instant; unscathed, directly in front of her.

She has a moment to be thankful that her head is only at his waist height, then closes her eyes and leaps backwards, adrenaline pushing her despite the screaming of her skin. Weightless and in darkness, there is a sudden calm, but then her eyes reflexively open to see the jagged ground approaching, and she lands back in the battlefield.

Itachi is in front of her again immediately. This time his hands clutch her upper arms, gripping hard on her burned skin to render her helpless and making her cry out in pain. She refuses to look at him; bowing her head and hoping for a swift death instead. Anything, it doesn't matter to her now. Her team aren't far behind her, even with the towering cliff to block their signatures she can feel the heat of the Kyuubi on the edge of her senses. It seems fitting, that she should finally sacrifice herself to give her boys the chance at a reunion, at a happy future. They've always protected her in the past, and she will protect them now at any cost.

But Itachi does not strike. Instead he speaks: "Kunoichi. You are from the team my brother abandoned. Why did you protect him when he has betrayed you?"

For a moment Sakura is shocked, then furious. "You bastard," She hisses, "You made him leave us. Sasuke never would have gone, except for you. He's still my teammate, and I would do anything for him."

Unexpectedly, she hears a snort at that, rather like suppressed laughter. More likely, from a monster like him, it's just derision. "You would act to help him, even though he will spit upon your kindness? How unlike him you are."

"You don't know anything about me, or about him either. We're teammates, and nothing can ever break that bond, even if he's been hurt by you so much he can't see that right now. And when you're dead, it'll be over, and we'll damn well bring him home. It's only because of you that the team fell apart and we won't let you win. You -"

"I don't know anything?" Itachi's voice is definitely amused now, and it's all Sakura can do to keep looking down and not glare at him. "I know that you, Sakura, are naive where my little brother is simply foolish. And I know that he'll never love you, no matter how long you chase him."

Incensed, she stamps down, trying to impact the ground again, wanting to hurt him - more because it's probably true than because her team must be almost here by now and the chance of survival has returned to her mind. But he lifts her up, tugging her skin hard and making newly formed blisters crack and sting. The adrenaline is fading now and the pain becoming all that much more acute, threatening to overwhelm Sakura with its intensity.

Just a few more moments, that's all she needs to hold on for. Just keep his attention for a few seconds more. But even as she hears the sound of shifting undergrowth from far above, Itachi unexpectedly releases her arms. She drops, staggers, and is caught by the chin. Her eyes squeeze shut, but then she feels warm air ghost against her lips, intimate enough to shock her into looking.

The last thing she sees is red eyes, so close to her own as to fill her vision. Then, nothing.

And so it begins. Tomorrow, chapter 2 - Awakening