Rebuild

Takes place in the Road to Naruto alternate universe let's pretend it was an actual world and not a genjutsu.

Following the events of the movie, Itachi comes home to help rebuild what used to be his home. Sakura shows him he could do so much more. ItaSaku.

"It's my village, too."

That was all the explanation Itachi gave, and knowing Itachi, the only explanation he'd ever give. He'd burst in unexpectedly as she was being debriefed by his father Fugaku following the events that devastated Konoha.

If Fugaku had been surprised, he didn't show it. The chief of police was weary, and he looked every inch of it, having to oversee the police actions that followed the disaster the masked man had wrought on the village. He had insisted on interviewing and debriefing Sakura himself, after reports of another Sakura and Menma had been running around in their place while SHE was in another Konoha altogether. It was very complicated business, and they were just getting started when the eldest Uchiha burst in the room without warning.

Fugaku raised an eyebrow and glanced behind Itachi. "I hope you didn't kill any policemen on your way in, Itachi," he said calmly, like he was just asking about the weather.

"Well, I tried—" Itachi's companion, a strange blue-skinned man with sharp teeth grinned from the doorway, hoisting a gigantic sword across his shoulders as he ambled in, dark cloak swishing. "But this guy told me it wasn't a good idea," he groused, sticking a thumb in Itachi's direction.

Fugaku shook his head and rubbed his forehead. "Must you always be like this, Itachi? Those guards have been working for 24 hours and needed sleep…that's not a fair way to treat them."

"I just want to help out however I can and…yes, it won't happen again, Father," Itachi said in a rush, shooting Kisame a dark look. The shark man merely stuck a tongue out, which made him look more menacing for some reason. As if just noticing her presence, Itachi's dark eyes shifted towards her, softened slightly. "Ah, Haruno-san. I'm glad to see you're doing fine. Must've been quite a scare you had, being in another world and all."

Sakura cocked her head, puzzled. "How did you…?"

Fugaku coughed in his hand. "I'd thank you not to derail my debriefing, Itachi," the elder Uchiha said formally. "Haruno-san has been through a lot and we'd like this to be over as quickly as possible." He sat down again and shuffled papers, just to give himself something to do. "I'll meet you back at the compound, alright? Take your….colleague with you, he's welcome as long as he doesn't cause trouble." At that, Kisame threw back his head and barked out a laugh.

"And Sasuke…?" Itachi prompted. "He's alright, isn't he?"

"He's fine," Fugaku said, a little snippily. "You know Sasuke, he'll always be fine. Can't say the same about you, my boy…Now, please," he looked meaningfully at the door. "Get out."

Itachi bowed formally, and it seemed to Sakura that the younger Uchiha was a bit stung with his father's coldness. Some things never changed, perhaps. "As you wish, Father. Haruno-san," he gave her another bow before exiting, the man named Kisame following after him.

And that's how Sakura Haruno first met Itachi Uchiha.

She had heard OF him, of course. How could she not? He had been hailed as the genius of the already-immensely talented Uchiha clan, the great hope and the great heir. She had even heard her parents speak of him glowingly, how they had looked forward to seeing Itachi become a full-fledged shinobi. Kizashi, her father, had even predicted that he would make a good Hokage someday, to which her mother had agreed. However, this was all so long ago, when she was still a child. Shortly after the war, Itachi had abruptly broke ties with the Uchiha clan, and passed the title of heir to Sasuke instead. He went and joined the mercenary group called the Akatsuki and had been rarely heard of since.

Sasuke himself rarely spoke about his big brother. Sakura had understood that they had not been close, and later on, when she knew her teammate a little better, was under the impression that Sasuke had resented his brother's great successes while still in Konoha. "Oh, HIM," Sasuke would say, a frown furrowing that usually-smiling face, "That weirdo. I guess he's still hanging out with the Akatsuki. Maybe this place bored him. Who knows?"

Sakura had a puppy crush on Sasuke once. The younger Uchiha always had a ready smile (and a ready rose) whenever she was around, and that thrilled her, never mind that she was the only child of the beloved heroes of Konoha and was considered a good catch. He had great talent and potential as well, but had simply never bestirred himself to be better, nor to improve. No matter how much Kakashi-sensei had asked Sasuke to apply himself with the power of youth! Sasuke had simply resisted, focusing more on collecting hordes of admirers as he cruised through life, uncaring.

Menma once commented that Sasuke probably turned out that way because he didn't want to compete with Itachi, full-stop. And even when Itachi had taken himself out of the equation, Sasuke had simply carried on with how he'd always been, much to Fugaku and the clan's disappointment.

These were the thoughts running through her mind when she dropped by the Uchiha compound to pick up Sasuke. Mikoto opened the door as Sakura raised her hand to knock. The older woman was dressed in her shinobi attire, apparently on her way out to help with the on-going recovery efforts.

"Oh, hello!" Mikoto said in slight surprise. "I thought you were at the police station."

"I was." Sakura confirmed. "The debriefing just finished a little while ago. I'm here to pick up Sasuke." When she saw Mikoto's puzzled look, she added: "We're going to visit Menma."

"Oh." A look of understanding dawned on Mikoto's face, hinting what Sakura already suspected—that she knew more than she would rather let on. Opening the entrance a little wider, Mikoto smiled again. "We're just having a little snack before we go help the others. Itachi just arrived with his friend, and we'd love you to join us."

"I don't want to be a bother…" Sakura began to say.

"Come on in, girlie. Water's fine!" Kisame's deep voice boomed from within the house.

Sighing, Sakura slipped off her shoes and stepped inside. Three sets of eyes looked up at her from where they were seated. She nodded briefly at her teammate.

"Yo," Sasuke greeted, a little glum. Mikoto quickly ushered her to sit across Itachi, who had a stick of dango dangling from his mouth. The two newcomers had shed their Akatsuki cloaks in favour of normal uniform clothes, drinking tea side by side like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Some onigiri?" Mikoto gently offered. "Itachi helped me make these."

Sakura glanced curiously at the older Uchiha, who merely kept on chewing, his eyes fixed on something behind her shoulder. He doesn't LOOK mercenary; she thought to herself as she was about to accept Mikoto's offered onigiri.

"Stop," Itachi suddenly said.

Mikoto and Sakura froze.

"Don't give her the salmon. She prefers the umbeoshi," he leaned over and plucked the offending onigiri from his mother's hands, replacing it with the one he suggested. The rice ball lay a bit heavy in her hands as a faint blush of self-consciousness crept up her cheeks, unbidden.

"Oh brother!" Sasuke complained loudly, crossing his arms. "Don't handle other people's food, nii-chan!"

Itachi merely shrugged and glanced at Sakura. "She should get what she wants, right?"

"What if she felt like having salmon at this moment?"

"Then she'd take the salmon, Sasuke."

"Maybe she would if you didn't force the umeboshi on her!"

"That is enough!" Mikoto's stern voice cut through the rising argument, eyebrow twitching. "We haven't sat down for five minutes and you two are already fighting! In front of our guest, no less!"

The two brothers immediately fell quiet, and Kisame chuckled as he tossed another onigiri in his mouth. "You're an outspoken one, Mikoto-san. I like that."

"Eww!" "Kisame!" Itachi and Sasuke chorused.

Mikoto blushed prettily instead. "Now, now, Kisame-san! You know how hard-headed these two can be!"

Itachi groaned in disgust, covering his face with one hand.

Sasuke stood up. "This is gross. I'm going." He gestured to Sakura. "You coming?"

"Y-yes!" Sakura bolted up, offending onigiri still in her hands, her tea still sitting at the table, untouched. She still wasn't sure what just happened and glanced uneasily at Itachi and Kisame.

For some reason, that mere glance irritated the hell out of Sasuke. "Fine, have it your way then," the younger Uchiha grumbled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted, but too late.

"Don't worry," Itachi said calmly. "My brother is a bit hot-headed, but you already knew that, right, Haruno-san?"

"Please, just call me Sakura," she replied absently, her eyes still on the spot where Sasuke disappeared. "I've never seen him so upset…"

"Sasuke upset is the only thing Itachi knows about his brother nowadays," Kisame laughed as he finished off his tea. His strange eyes were amused. "But then again you don't know, don't you?"

After the past week's events, Sakura wondered if she even knew anything at all.

She found Sasuke standing dejected at the landing of the Namikaze home.

Her poor, lonely boy, her Sasuke. She had an almost irresistible urge to hold him and tell him everything would be alright. But she didn't dare. Instead she stood beside him, leaning against the wall and waited for him to speak.

At length, he finally spoke. "Menma's still not feeling well…but I can't go back there." He meant the compound, of course. Sakura nodded.

"It's not fair," Sasuke continued, his face still partially hidden by his hair. "It's not fair that Itachi gets to abandon his responsibilities, leave, have his adventures and just…just…swan in back here like it was nothing!" He raised up one hand to angrily swipe at something across his face.

Now she felt really guilty for having stayed back and not running after him. "Sasuke-kun…"

"I know my father doesn't think much of me, but I'm trying, you know? And I think—I thought—I was getting somewhere before Itachi had to show his face again. I'm doing it for the village…" he mimicked Itachi scornfully. "Ha! He was just afraid that people forgot about him so he thought he'd check back in to make sure."

In the other world she so briefly stayed in, Ino told her about the fate of that other Sasuke. Try as she could, she could not reconcile that Sasuke and her Sasuke. This Sasuke, being vulnerable now. Her Sasuke, who more often than not like to make people believe that he cruised along life without a care with a world, and whose only interest were with women.

And as for the other Itachi…she shuddered to think about that one's fate.

"Sasuke-kun, you know you're being unfair…" Sakura chided softly as she covered one hand over hers. Sasuke had tried many, many times to flirt with her in the past, but it never worked. He still persisted sometimes, for old time's sake, but it was a comfort to know that he implicitly trusted her. Despite everything, Sasuke, first and foremost, was her friend. She nudged at him with her head. "Just give him a chance, hey? He's not been here for a day and already you're at each other's throats."

"You're sounding like my mother," Sasuke complained, but he finally raised his face to meet her eyes, a reluctant smile on his face.

"That's why I never dated you, idiot. Too weird."

"Ew, please, let's not talk about my mom in that way again. That shark dude traumatized me."

The pair stood together in companionable silence. "How about we go back to the town proper and help out, hey? I think Ino's there…she's pretty cute and I'm sure she'd love to go out with you…"

"You sure know how to cheer me up, Sakura-chan…" and with that, Sasuke laughed, an assuring sound.

She didn't see Itachi again until a few days after.

Sakura was getting sick of seeing rubble everywhere. Thankfully, the Hokage had the foresight to evacuate everyone in the vicinity of the Hokage Tower in the days leading up to the Red Moon. The masked man's attack wrought heavy destruction, but no civilian casualties. Unfortunately, not the same could be said about some of her fellow shinobi, some who had died protecting the village.

She still hadn't spoken to Menma yet. His parents had turned her away every time she tried to visit. She knew that he had somehow been involved in the mysterious events of the past week. For one, his equivalent in the other universe—Naruto—was not in that world when she fell in there. Secondly, it was hard to ignore the devastation that was wrought by the fight of what sounded like two Nine-Tails at the outskirts of Konoha. It was understood that Menma had been under a spell of some sort—the details were still hazy—but the experience was sure to have left him wiped out physically and emotionally. It wouldn't be easy to deal with knowledge that one had been partially responsible for such devastation. Fortunately, she was confident that his parents would be along with him every step of the way.

She looked up at the Hokage Monument, seeking guidance, help. Her father's face had crumbled in the explosion. All that met her was blankness.

"Nice to see you around, girlie!" Kisame's voice greeted her from about a meter away. The Akatsuki member was lounging around shirtless, a glass of cold tea in one hand. "Must be nice being the Fourth's daughter—all you have to do is show up and everyone feels better."

"Excuse me?" Sakura picked up a boulder twenty times her size and tossed it to the pile of rocks sitting next to Kisame, narrowly missing him. He flinched, taken by surprise. Sakura laughed.

He grinned. "You've got spunk, girlie. I like that in a woman."

She rolled her eyes. "I've heard THAT before."

"I believe Kisame complimented my mother on her outspokenness, not her spunk." Itachi coolly interjected as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, offering Sakura a drink.

"Thanks," she nodded at him and tried her best not to drink too greedily from the cup. She felt strangely flustered around the elder Uchiha, especially now that he was looking at her so intently.

"You've been working hard today," he commented. Ah, small talk.

"Everyone's been working hard," she replied, trying not to sound dismissive. She gulped the last of her water down. She wondered if she should speak her mind about his brother, figured Itachi wouldn't be around for long anyway, and barged on ahead. "You spoke to Sasuke lately?"

"If by 'speaking' you mean exchanging sulky looks with him whenever I run into him, then yes, I HAVE been 'speaking' to my little brother." The infamous Uchiha deadpan sarcasm was never one of her favourite things about the clan.

She sighed impatiently. "You're being a real boobhead, you know that?"

Itachi stared at her like she had just sprouted another head. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. A boobhead."

"…No one's ever called me a boobhead before."

"Maybe not to your FACE."

"I agree, though!" Kisame yelled from behind them. "He is a boobhead. Thank you for your excellent choice of words, girlie."

"Don't call me girlie!" Sakura yelled back.

"Well, that aside, seriously speaking, no, I have not spoken to my dear brother yet. I'd imagine he prefers it that way, for me to let his womanizing ways left unhindered." Itachi said, tucking one dark lock behind his ear. It suddenly occurred to Sakura how, well, pretty Itachi was. He was actually a male version of Mikoto. Sasuke was attractive, period. But Itachi…Itachi had an almost ethereal air about him, a delicate quality to his beauty.

Sakura realized she was staring and forced her eyes away, fighting back a blush. "Do you plan on leaving anytime soon?"

Itachi looked around. "When I'm satisfied everything's done, yes, I believe so."

"Don't listen to him," Kisame butted in again. "Peacetime is boring for mercenaries like us. Really, we should be thanking you that you got your village bombed." Itachi frowned at that, but said nothing.

The older Uchiha nodded at Sakura. "You all done here, then?" Sakura nodded back in an affirmative. Itachi quickly formed a series of hand seals and performed an Earth Release jutsu that flattened the surface back again, ready for reconstruction. The two stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"Show-off!" Kisame guffawed.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Anything else you wanted to ask me, Sakura?"

Sakura sighed. If only broken family bonds could be fixed so easily. She had a brainwave. "Actually, I have a favour to ask you."

A few minutes later, they were standing atop the Hokage Monument.

"Are you sure?" For the first time, Itachi actually looked dubious about something.

"Well, it's my father's face and you have Earth affinity. The official person who does this isn't available and I'm kind of tired looking up here and not seeing the Fourth's face." Sakura placed her hands on her hips. "And anyway, I'm Tsunade-sama's student. She'd be glad I took this task off her hands." When Itachi still didn't look convinced, she put a sad face on. "It'd be really good for morale, Itachi-san."

"Please, just call me Itachi. Someone who's taken the liberty of calling me a boobhead shouldn't stand on such formalities." She noticed he was staring at her face.

"W-what are you looking at? Do I have something on my face?" she stuttered, wiping away at her cheeks. Itachi was still staring.

"You don't look much like your father, do you? You take more after your mother." Itachi commented as he stepped around where the sculpture should be, eyes still not leaving Sakura's face. "I was going to use you face as a reference but I just noticed that you don't look much like him."

She was blushing now. She hoped she could pass it off by being in the sun too long. "Don't you know what the Hokage looks like?" she asked, just for the sake of saying something.

"Unfortunately, all too well," Itachi replied calmly as he performed his first set of hand signals. "I was fighting by his side when he fell in the last Great War." With that, he slammed one palm against the cliff wall, causing it to erupt, forming a partial sculpture of the Fourth Hokage's face.

She gaped at his words. "You fought at that war?"

"Sasuke never told you?" Another set of hand seals, another eruption that formed half of her father's face now. "I was. It was a terrible battle, as you may know." He looked sad as he said it, seeming to recall how it had been.

"But you were so young…!"

"I was deemed strong enough to go into battle, what did my age matter?" Itachi laughed humorlessly. "My father thought it would be a great honour to fight alongside the Fourth Hokage, and we lost a great leader because of it."

She felt her heart drop. She didn't want to ask, but she did. "What do you mean?"

Itachi averted his face from her as he finished recreating her father's façade into the unfeeling rock. "Your father is a great man. Was," he corrected himself, wincing slightly. "But his mind wasn't too much on the battle as it was ensuring that the younger ones were safe and out of harm's way. And that included myself."

He saw the stricken look on her face and hastily added, "It's hard to explain without you being there, but he made a lot of decisions with that in mind. Perhaps not the smartest move but…"

He was cut short by a resounding slap on his face. Sakura seemed stunned by her own reaction as she stepped back, cradling the offending hand to her chest.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...!" she began to say but Itachi held a hand up, a small smile on his face.

"It's not necessary, Sakura. I was speaking out of turn." He rubbed his cheek, the spot where she struck him turning into a deep shade of pink.

She was afraid that he was going to think the worst of her. What a strange thing to be worried about. She barely even knew him. But it mattered, somehow. It mattered that he didn't think of her as some spoiled brat who couldn't take criticism of her father.

"It was unnecessarily cruel of him to criticize his actions long after the fact, anyway," Itachi sighed. "I owe him my life," he acknowledged, turning to gaze at the reconstructed facade of the Fourth that now towered above them.

Sakura gave the smallest of nods, still ashamed of her reaction.

"Anyway, I shouldn't talk, seeing that I wasted his sacrifice and turned mercenary," he grinned, perhaps to highlight his ironic statement but it didn't look right on his face. It was a predatory smile, almost reminding her of Kisame's.

"So why did you do it?" she heard herself asking.

"Do what?"

"Become a mercenary. Waste my father's sacrifice."

The shark-like grin appeared again, and she decided that she didn't like it, not one bit. "You're probably thinking because you slapped me, gave you the right to ask impertinent questions, Sakura."

"That sounds like an excuse," she shot back, her temper flaring up.

"Unsurprisingly, I neither care nor worry about your opinion of me," he replied, bowing back slightly. "If you'll excuse me, Sakura, I have other things to do." With that, he was gone in a flash.

Her fingers curled into a fist, tightly.

"You and my brother having a fight?"

Sasuke's question surprised her as they stood side-by-side outside the Namikazes' door. Menma's parents had been turning down their request to see their friend for three consecutive days now, but Sasuke and her had reached an unspoken agreement to keep trying, anyway. They had both met up with each other, at this very spot, only to be turned away by Kushina or Minato. Sometimes they stayed for hours, sometimes they didn't stay at all. But they always persisted.

Sasuke had been mostly quiet during that time. Sakura was pretty sure it was the reentry of Itachi in his life was mostly to account for the Sasuke's uncharacteristic silence. Being left alone with him even for a small extended period of time usually meant Sasuke would attempt even a half-assed try at hitting on her. But so far, none came.

She felt a nudge at her side. "Well?" Sasuke prompted.

She shrugged. "Why would you say that, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hmm, there wasn't anything specific, just that he was grumpy all the time and I wasn't the cause. And neither was mom, dad, or the shark dude." Sasuke ticked off his fingers as he listed the names. "And anyway shark dude said that it was you who annoyed Itachi, so I guess I should be thanking you?"

"For what?" she asked, surprised.

Sasuke laughed. "For annoying him, for once! He's learned to ignore me a long time ago," he shrugged, as if to show that what Itachi thought didn't matter, if only Sakura didn't know better. "So I'm glad someone's getting under his skin for once."

Unbidden, she flashed back to her brief time in that alternate universe, the fate of this smiling boy and his brother...

Sasuke gave a yelp of surprise when Sakura suddenly threw her arms around him. "Sasuke-kun!"

"W-what is it, Sakura?"

"Please reconcile with Itachi, please!"

"What the hell? I thought you hated his guts."

"No I don't," she shook her head and tightened her hold. "Just...please. Take my word for it."

"What's gotten into you, Sakura-chan?" Sasuke laughed gently. "You never hug me unless I give you puppy eyes." The puppy eyes, Sakura admitted to herself, were quite irresistible.

"Hmpf," she shoved him away playfully and stuck her tongue out. "You always know how to make a girl feel special."

He shrugged, feigning hurt. "I do know how to make feel girls special. Apparently everyone except you, Sakura." His frankness made her blush. His dark eyes roved over her face for a moment, thoughtful. "Did something happen to you when you were somewhere else?"

"Yes," she admitted.

He sighed heavily. "Are you going to tell me?"

She considered it. She wanted to tell Sasuke, she really did, but for some reason something held her back. The other world frightened her, and she herself didn't even want to remember it at times. "Someday I will, Sasuke-kun. I promise."

He nodded and settled back. They were silent for a little while until Sasuke said, "So does this mean I'll get a date or...?"

She would maintain later that he earned that bump in his head fair and square.

"So you told Sasuke to make good with me, huh?"

Itachi's voice made Sakura startle as she was putting away her field medical kit. Some of the children who had been living in makeshift tents needed regular checkups until the buildings were rebuilt and they could move back in. However that also meant that they were more exposed to the elements, hence the need for the check-ups. "You scared me!" she scolded.

As usual, Itachi seemed unbothered by it. "Shall you walk with me, Sakura?" he asked, holding out one hand.

She stared at the proffered hand for one second before nodding. "Sure," she said.

The two walked side-by-side together. They were met by curious and frankly surprised looks. The Hokage's daughter and the Uchihas' prodigal son walking together? It had seemed unlikely. But there they were, and nothing else could be done with it.

"I understand that you care deeply about Sasuke, and that you wish to help him with his problems," Itachi finally said. "But I'd thank you to keep out of our affairs."

Sakura had to smile at that. "You Uchihas..." she chuckled. "You're so upfront with everyone else outside your family but I bet you don't even have the nerve to tell that to your own brother."

Itachi shrugged. "Believe what you want," he said dismissively, waving a long, elegant hand carelessly in the air. "It's just that our situation is a complicated one."

That made Sakura stop in her tracks. "So you really don't think that I don't understand what either of you are going through, is that it?"

"Uchiha has a long, proud history and..."

"I get it," Sakura interrupted, teeth gritting as she fought the urge to slap him again. "So you think I know nothing about having a legacy on my shoulders, is that it? Because my last name isn't as old and glorious as yours!"

For the first time since he arrived, Itachi looked uncertain of himself. "I didn't-I mean-"

"Oh, just can it!" she interrupted. "I'm so SORRY I convinced Sasuke to reconcile with you, what a horrible thing for me to do. Please, don't notice me so you can just go about living like a mercenary your entire life, the way you're meant to do!"

If Itachi looked repentant for a split-second before becoming angry himself. "Who do you think you are to speak like that?!"

"I'm the Hokage's daughter!" she burst out. "The Hokage who sacrificed himself for you and for the whole village because he thought there was something worth sacrificing for! I'm a Haruno, and I know what it's like, Itachi. I know what it's like to be handed something so heavy that all you want to do is run away, as far as you can and as fast as I can! And because I saw how bad things could get out there that you've got to appreciate what you've got! That's who I am, Itachi," she concluded, breathing hard like she had just run a marathon. She felt like it, too.

Itachi looked stunned, like she had slapped him again all over again. He was quick to retreat behind his mask of indifference, though. He bowed formally. "Thank you for the short walk, Haruno-san," he said. She didn't miss him going back to calling her by her family name. "It was most enlightening."

Finally, Sakura and Sasuke were able to meet Menma.

It came with a long list of compromises. Menma was on a curfew and couldn't stay out late. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura could talk to their friend about the events that left Konoha in a rubble. It was understood that Menma wouldn't be tried as a criminal, as he wasn't functioning under his own agency at that time, but it was going to take a while before they could sway the other countries to see things their way.

"Here," Sasuke tossed the both of them a box of chocolate. "Care of my mother. She thinks chocolate makes everyone feel better."

"She's right," Sakura and Menma chorused, wasting no time in unwrapping them.

Sasuke sighed. "What a month, huh?"

Sakura nodded glumly as the three gazed out from the Hokage mountain to Konoha below. The repairs were being done relatively quickly, and she estimated that it would only be a few days until everything would be completed. Families could begin moving back to their rebuilt homes.

"You feeling alright, Menma?" Sakura asked her friend gently.

Menma nodded, finishing the last of his chocolate. "Everyone's been telling me that it's not their fault and that they understand, but I feel so." He crumpled up the wrapper and stood up, pacing up and down restlessly. "I just feel so guilty. It IS my fault. That masked guy came in and messed everything up and I just can't allow everyone to convince me that it's not my fault even though he was using MY body and MY abilities!"

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other. She had a funny feeling that Sasuke didn't know what to say, having never been possessed as Menma had been. Finally, Sakura stood up and moved next to Menma, putting a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "We know it's not easy, but we'll get through this, alright? We'll sort it out. Right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded. "It's not going to be soon, and it's not going to be easy, but you'll be alright, Menma."

Menma rubbed his eyes and glanced up. "Well, enough about me. I'm getting kind of sick talking about this with Tsunade-sama." He looked closely at Sasuke. "Don't you have an announcement too?"

"Oh god, did you get someone pregnant?!" Sakura blurted out before she could stop herself.

"NO!" Sasuke denied, blushing. "No, I didn't, Sakura! Honestly!" He recovered from the embarrassment and coughed in his hand. "No, the announcement is, I'm no longer the recognized Uchiha heir!"

"What? Why?!"

Sasuke smiled. "Because Itachi's decided to leave Akatsuki behind and come back."

"That's great, Sasuke!" Menma said, a big smile blooming on his face. "I know how much you hated being heir."

"And how much I hated Itachi for leaving me stuck with it," Sasuke said, scratching his head sheepishly. "Anyway, we all had a long talk, mom, dad, me, and Itachi. He said that coming back and seeing Konoha needing so much help had given him a change of heart," as he said the last word, Sasuke's eyes slid to Sakura.

"W-what are you looking at me for?!" Sakura stammered, feeling the heat rise up in her cheeks.

Sasuke shrugged. "Oh I don't know, Sakura-chan. Sometimes I think you have a bad habit of sticking your nose in other people's business, but I'm really grateful you did. Just this one time, I'm glad you did."

"Ugh, are you going to do the whole 'friendship is great' schtick because I think I ate the chocolate too fast and now I'm getting sick..." Menma groused.

"I could think of a cure for that, Menma-kun..." Sakura teased lightly.

"And what's that?"

"A bowl of miso ramen!"

She could've sworn she'd never seen Menma take off so fast.

"So this is what you do, huh?"

Itachi suddenly showing up at her side was something she was getting used to. A group of children had just said their goodbyes and thanks as they ran up to their newly-constructed homes. It wasn't the same as what had been, but it was a start. They could all start over.

"Whatever do you mean, Itachi-kun?" she turned to face him with a smile. Gone was his distinctive Akatsuki cloak, replaced by the typical jounin uniform. He still had his guard up, but there was something like softness in those dark eyes.

He pointed one finger at her. "You. You're a meddler. That's what you do."

"Well some people have suggested that I shouldn't stick my nose in other people's business or all I was good for was waving at people being a war hero's daughter," Sakura countered, but without venom in it.

He shook his head. "That's what you do, and you shouldn't be criticized for that," he said.

"So you're really not going back to the Akatsuki, are you?"

"Kisame wasn't so happy about it."

"Where is he now, anyway?"

"Well I treated him to an all-day pass at the hot spring. That should butter him up. He's got a lot of explaining to the Akatsuki after this, losing me. But they'll get over it. As he said, being a mercenary is becoming boring these days."

"More boring than, say, being the Uchiha heir?"

He actually threw back his head and laughed. "That, Sakura-chan, remains to be seen. Although I am...how do you say it? Optimistic? For the first time in years. Funny how a disaster could start that."

Strange indeed. Sakura glanced up to her father's facade in Hokage Mountain. His sacrifice hadn't been for nothing... The thought was like a song in her heart.

"That's good...no, that's wonderful news, Itachi. I am very happy for you." She suddenly felt shy with an overwhelming need to stay close but at the same time to run away as fast as she could. So she remained stock-still, not knowing what else to say.

"My mother also asked me to invite you over for dinner," Itachi added, glancing away. "It could be a good change from eating alone."

"Oh, but that's very nice of her!"

"Ah-yeah, it is." He scratched his nose a little self-consciously, hinting that it might not have all been Mikoto's idea after all. "Well she invited Kisame too, so there's that." Sakura had to laugh at that detail.

"That'd make a very interesting party, Itachi-kun."

"That it is," he agreed. They looked at each other and he smiled again. Before she could register what was happening, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against her forehead. "Thank you, Sakura."

"Y-you're welcome, Itachi." There she was again with the blushing!

He turned to leave. "I'll see you later, alright? My parents are looking forward to having you over for dinner."

"Don't be a boobhead!" Sakura called out playfully.

"Not with you around, I won't!"

She watched him go with a small smile playing on her lips. How strange life was. How quickly things changed. She had a feeling-a feeling that she was standing still on the edge of a precipice and something big and deep and wide was about to happen, a free fall she was more than willing to embrace. It wasn't a feeling she had for a while, and she welcomed.

There were still things to do, though. Wounds to heal. They weren't quite out of the clear yet. There was Menma to look after and the village that had still to fully recover. But if there was anything she'd learned from her short transportation to the world where she'd been, there wasn't anywhere else she'd rather be than here.

- FIN