The Secret Lover (ItaSaku)

Chapter 1 - Despair

"This is going to sound crazy, but... from the moment I first set eyes on you I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." - Leigh Fallor, Carrier of the Mark

Sakura, Naruto, Yamato and Sai just finished their mission where they had to walk a merchant back to his small village. They were resting under a big tree, on some green hills outside his village. The sun was shinning and the birds were singing. Sakura was playing with a kunai, spinning it on her finger while Naruto slept with his hands under his head and Yamato and Sai were writing a letter to the Hokage.

She wasn't tired at all. She still had much energy left.

"Sakura-chaaan" Naruto said in his sleep, having a retarded smile on his face while saliva was dipping from the corner of his mouth. She wanted to punch the stupidity out of him but something caught her attention. Not far away, she sensed two powerful and dangerous chakras. Perhaps it was a good thing that she became a senzorial ninja too.

She gently woke Naruto.

"Wh-what?" he mumbled.

"We gotta go." she said softly.

He got up, stretching his arms and they turned to Yamato and Sai. She didn't want to tell them the reason that she wanted so bad to go, but she knew that Naruto would want to fight those dangerous people if she told him. Sai just let his bird made of ink fly towards the village.

"Alright, can we go now?" she said impatiently.

They all nodded and started walking towards the village.

*

Two tall and dark figures appeared where they stood, under that tree. They wore black cloaks with red clouds on them. One of them had a huge sword on his back which sucked chakra.

"Heh, the Jichuuriki was here." the fish man said. His team mate only nodded while sitting down on the grass. He observed that near him, someone lost a necklace with a heart shaped pendant. Inside, were three small photos. The one from the middle was a pink haired girl who smiled brightly at the camera. Sakura Haruno, he thought. She was the ex team mate of his little brother. A girls who was hopelessly in love with him.
Near her, was a man with pink hair and a blonde woman with emerald eyes just like her. He never saw such an unique natural combination of colours. Pink and green. She looked rather beautiful for her age, even though she was 15, the same age as his brother. He stared at her photo for minutes until Kisame snapped his finger in front of him.

"We shall give the report to Leader-sama." he said trying to read the raven haired man. He knew that his partner always overanalyzed things but he acted strange now. He stared at that girl's photo for over 15 minutes. Did he know her? He put the pendant in his cloak poket and got up, activating his ring.

***

In three days, Team 7 was back in Konoha. Yamato went straight to the Hokage's tower to give the final report on the mission while Sakura stretched her arms saying that she needed a bath so bad. Sai waved and took the path to his home and Sakura and Naruto took the path to the same direction. Her home was in his way.

"Sakura-chan, what do you say? Will you come to me to eat Ramen, tomorrow? I'm paying." he said proudly, knowing that he could afford a date after he gets paid for this mission. She shook her head.

"You really are a baka, aren't you? You should tell Hinata to come instead."

He narrowed his eyes, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Why would I do that?" he asked confused. She sighed.

"Nevermind, see you there." she waved as she opened the door to her apartment. Naruto started shouting and jumping all the way home, making Sakura giggle.

*

After she took a bath, she wrapped herself in a fluffy white towel. She looked into the mirror and observed that her pendant was missing.

"No, no, no!" she screamed panicked as she started searching for it. It wasn't in the bathroom, nor in her room, nor in her dirty clothes which meant... She lost it in the mission. She collapsed onto the bed crying. It was the only significant gift that she had from her parents. They died when an epidemic hit the village and she blamed herself for not being able to find an antidote. Since then, she was mentally ill. She didn't care about her own life anymore and risked everything if other people weren't involved. She didn't care if she died.

The mask of happiness that she wore convinced everyone but as soon as she was alone, she either self harmed or cried herself to sleep. She couldn't take this pain anymore. There was nothing left for her. Sasuke was gone, her parents were gone, her world crushed.

Her fingers found their way in her hair, pulling the pink strands. She laid on the bed, facing the wall, pain flowing through her again like every night since that damned day. She could taste the salty tears on her lips.

This is the way she fell asleep every night. Sometimes with sheets strained with blood, sometimes strained with tears. Who would care, anyway? Nobody needed her anymore.

*

It was half past midnight and a dark shadow snuck into the village. Fools, he thought. Why was it so easy to sneak in? The Konoha shinobis really became this weak?

He landed on a building roof searching for a certain someone. The streets were quiet, only some lights could be seen. This place changed a bit...

He used his sharp senses to detect her chakra. It was weak, but he found her. He started running towards her location. The glass door from her balcony was slid open, the wind blowing through the white transparent curtains. Little foolish girl, it would be so easy for someone to harm her...

She was laid on her bed with only a short towel holding her thin frame. The skin of her long legs was shinning in the moonlight and her pink hair was all over the white pillow. She faced the wall so he could notice perfectly the curves of her body. He towered above her, taking a glance at her pretty face. Dry tears were all over her face and he kinda felt sorry for her even though he didn't know why she was like this. He put some strands of hair behind her ear, his fingertips brushing sightly the skin on her cheek, giving him some electricity that he never felt before. It was strange, he couldn't comperhend what was happening to his body, but seeing her like this, innocent, beautiful, vulnerable, almost naked, her parted pink lips which looked like cherry blossom petals made his heart take a leap. It was a foreign feeling, something he tried to push out of his heart all those years but in a moment of vulnerability, in just some seconds it started to consume him. This was wrong, he can't afford to feel this way. He is a criminal who has to carry the sins of his clan and fulfill his destiny. But it was so tempting just to have a taste of hapiness. He sighed and shook the thoughts from his head.

He put the pendant and the letter on her desk, dissapearing in the night's darkness.

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Sooo, what do you guys think?