Chapter One: The Secret Unveiled

A lone, dark-clad figure made his way to the back of the Haruno household, where a lady sat on the back porch. Not noticing the man, the lady tilted her head to stare up at the moonlit night. One could tell she was waiting for someone/something. The man stood there, watching her, also waiting…

Moments passed in silence, until the lady noticed the man's presence…


The man moved towards her, and embraced her in a hug. She sighed in his arms,


"She's doing it again."

From the upstairs' window, the shadowed face of a 12 year old boy looked out at the couple below.

"Yeah, she is…" the boy turned to face his sister behind him, "You think oka-san is cheating on oto-san, Haruka?"

Haruka glared at her brother, "I don't really care… well I do! But we don't' exactly know who oto-san is, really, so, why should we care?"

Haruka's brother let the curtain he was holding fall back into place, "We should. We should care; because… what if she decides marry?"

Haruka jumped up and grabbed her twin brother's arm, "Hiroshi, do you really think she would? I don't want that… that guy to be our oto-san! He's freaky!"

Hiroshi's worried face turned into a smirk, and he shook her off, "I was only joking, sis!" He pushed her out of his way and ran, knowing she'll come chasing after him.

"What? You were joking? Hiroshi, you come back here!"

Haruka took off, racing down the stairs; the front door was wide open, and Haruka ran outside, straight into…


Sasuke smiled at Haruka, "Hello, Haruka. Is Sakura at home today?"

"N-no… s-she's at the hospital." There's no way I'm telling Sasuke-san that oka-san is cheating on oto-san!

"That's not what I heard from Tsunade-sama. Where is she? Don't lie, Haruka."

"Really? I thought she had to operate on Naruto-san, or something…" Haruka could feel Sasuke's anger.

"Hey, Haruka, you really suck. I was upstairs in- oh, hi, Sasuke-san." Said Hiroshi.

"Hello, Hiroshi. Where is Sakura?"

"In the hospital…" answered Hiroshi, who had been eavesdropping.

Sasuke glared at the twins and walked out the door, "I'll check again."

The twins were both thinking the same thing: that was close!

"Haruka? Hiroshi? What are you doing here?" Sakura appeared in the doorway, her face was stained and it looked like she was crying. "Who was at the door?"

"Sasuke-san, he wanted to see you. We told him you were at the hospital."

"You lied to Sasuke? He's going to be mad… why did you lie? I was home."

"What? You don't know why we lied? We had to cover up for you! You think we are stupid kids who don't know there oka-san is cheating on oto-san!"

Sakura turned pale, "Oh, oh, you know! I'm so sorry! I'm just, just… I don't know what to think! I'm so stupid…I, I…" Sakura began to cry.

"Oka-san, oh, oka-san, don't cry! "Hiroshi glared at his sister for her out burst. "Haruka didn't mean that! We just didn't want you to marry that man! Oto-san is only a missing-nin; he'll come back one day!"

Sakura sat still, thinking… Marry Itachi? Would I marry Itachi? Would he ask me? Well, I do have his children! And how in the world did they find out?

"Come, I-I think he wants to meet you." Said Sakura, she wiped her tears, and walked to the back porch.

"What? He's still here!"

Sakura nodded.

"Do you think he will like us?" asked Haruka.

"I think he will…"

"There he is." whispered Hiroshi. A dark figure in a black cloak, with red clouds, stood there. The clock had a high collar that covered everything but his eyes.

"T-that's the sharingan. Like Sasuke-san's and Kakashi-sensei's, but, but it's so different… and-"

"And evil." Finished Haruka, her yes filled with anger.

"Haruka. Hiroshi." The man stated softly.

Sakura pushed them forward, "Go meet your oto-san."

A/N: "Second place is just the first loser." thats why Sasuke will always be a loser compared to Itachi.