They met officially for the first time through the bars of a jail cell. Good intentions or not Itachi was still a traitor to his village, had still committed genocide against his own people. Sakura did her best to keep that in mind as she stood a dozen feet away listening to Kakashi-sensei lay out Itachi 's situation for him in a calm, disconnected voice. Until she heard them both reference it a few times in conversation she 'd never realized they used to know each other before Itachi made his grand exit from the village he grew up in.

It was after Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shishou had both said their piece and left that Sakura finally had a chance to step out of the shadows and slowly approach the cell containing the one person she had always been most anxious and yet most terrified to meet: her soulmate.

'Ah. So you would be the reason that I can punch holes in the ground. '