Sakura's Rise

Chapter Seven: 3 Years

Approx. Word Count: 2,134

Itachi watched as Sakura's knees buckled under her weight. He had promised not to intervene when she was like this but if she fell from that height, she'd kill herself. As she finally let go of the tree, Itachi ground his teeth together. Why wouldn't she just use that extra chakra she was storing!? It could save her life but instead, her body put the barrier up allowing only a tiny amount of chakra to seep into the charka reserve. Itachi jumped off his own branch, in mid-air, he wrapped one arm around her upper body while the other rested under her legs. He sighed as he landed, she had passed out from the excessive use of her chakra. Itachi rested her against one of the trees before going and packing everything up. She'd likely be awake when he finished and he had decided she was done for the day.

...

Itachi sighed to himself, he hadn't expected to be carrying Sakura home today. Her head rested against his shoulder with her left hand clutching his shirt as he carried her bridal style to her home. He stood outside the house and looked up, he narrowed his eyes slightly, he couldn't sense a single chakra source inside. Maybe her parents were out? He shrugged it off and jumped up to her balcony. It was typical of her to leave her balcony open, he knew this from the last time she had exhausted herself and he brought her home. She had forgotten her keys and instead said goodbye and jumped up to the balcony and entered her room.

Itachi pushed the wall tall glass doors open gently before entering the room. He froze for a second to scan her room, all walls were a plain white and she had everything sorted neatly beside the pile of books sprawled over the floor at the foot of her bed. He walked over to the bed and gently placed her down. As he went to lean back up, Sakura's hand gripped his shirt tighter and a quiet whimper escaped her lips. Itachi frowned slightly and grabbed hold of her hand, "You're safe, Sakura" Itachi whispered. Sakura's hand slowly let go of his shirt as she snuggled into her pillow.

Itachi glanced back at Sakura before entering the rest of the house. It seemed like a normal house, neat and tidy with everything in its rightful place. Until he stumbled upon the master bedroom. The door had yellow police tape wrapped around it, he narrowed his eyes at it. Why would this be here? He had never heard of a crime being committed at the Haruno resident, surely he would have if it had happened of late. He tapped his foot against the floor gently, curiosity did kill the cat... more like Sakura would kill the Uchiha. He grimaced at the thought of Sakura finding out he was wandering her house without permission. It wasn't anything like his normal person but he hoped the mysterious of this pinkette would be somewhat revealed by her belongs and he wanted to know why he only felt her chakra.

Against his own advice, Itachi opened the door and stepped into the master bedroom. He instantly wished he hadn't. The room smelled of death and despair. Most of the floor was stained red, the bed stripped of everything including the mattress, showing that the floor under it was also stained. Objects in the room were still covered in splats of blood, including a picture frame on the bedside table. Itachi tried to force himself to leave, this was too personal for him to be invading like this, but he couldn't. His feet carried him over to the photo, without touching it he examined the picture. It was Sakura with who he assumed were her parents, Sakura couldn't have been any older than 10 in it. A grin from ear to ear as she held her parent's arms. This is why he could only feel her chakra. Her parents were murdered in this room.

***

It was nearly five months ago that happened, how long had she known!? Sakura's face softened at him. "It's like a sixth sense of mine... I know whenever that door has been opened. The smell...it just reeks the whole house out" Sakura answered his unasked question. "I don't blame you for being curious, I would have done the same thing" She replied with a shrug. Itachi couldn't find any words so he just stared at the crying girl.