In which Sakura discovers the true meaning of theoretical strategy. In which Shisui is a mean but brilliant schemer. In which Shikamaru really doesn't want to know.
Dedicated to Cella, because she's damn awesome. Inspired in a scene from The Way of the Wind by Just Enough. Just inspired. INSPIRED.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
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Of Bishops and Kings
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"I thought we were playing shougi," the suspicious feminine voice rose from the other side of the table. "This doesn't look like a shougi board."
"Because it isn't," answered the man with his usual lazy tone. "This is a game very similar to shougi. It's called chess."
"Is that so..." Sakura trailed off, watching the black and white tiles of the board. "So how does it work?"
Shikamaru sighed, dropping a little book in the center of the table. "These are the rules and plays. Someone wants you to learn it, in order to challenge you afterwards."
The pink-haired medic frowned. "If this is some kind of trap from one of your idiot ANBU buddies, Nara, I swear I'm going to pull your intestines out through your nose."
"Jeez, woman, you're so troublesome," the brilliant tactician complained. "It's not a trap. It's just that this person is...interested, in how your mind works."
"I didn't know you were Konoha's new Cupid, Shikamaru," Sakura sneered with an evil grin. "This is so priceless; I bet someone in Sand would be very interested about this whole thing."
"Believe me, Haruno, it wasn't my damn idea," he sighed, annoyed. "And if you do that I'm going to broadcast to all the villages that you were involved in that thing with the Uchiha when that bout of flu broke out."
"Pft, as if that was my fault!" Sakura scowled. "Shisui is the one that has weird allergies. God knows I was on his stupid ass to let me analyze his blood. I didn't know he was going to contaminate the entire clan. Moron."
"Yeah, and then you had to treat them. Serves you right for being such a pain."
"Go to hell, my lazy friend," Sakura shot back, waving the little booklet he had given her. "Lend me this for a few days. And then I'll have your ass in complete, exterminating humiliation."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Pinky."
With a forced smile that didn't fool the ever observant eyes of the Chief ANBU Tactician, the medic nin retreated from his home. He was well aware that the third best medic of the village loathed being called Pinky, and so he provoked her in order to make her fall for the whole scheme his 'ANBU buddy' had devised.
Only he, Shikamaru, and the man's team knew of the mounting obsession-infatuation the White Op had for the pink-haired protégé of the Hokage. It had been little slips from his stoic and stony countenance that had warned the man's second in command about his partner's interest in the medic.
The other two found out after they had been sent on a rescue mission, in which Team Seven had been kidnapped by Iwa ninja. Seeing their nakama so frazzled and anxious, holding the soft body of the kunoichi close as they relocated to a safe place, was something the two shinobi hadn't ever seen in their lives. Luckily she was just drained, but the scare she had given them—him—and her teammates had put a new light on her inner workings.
Shikamaru had deducted the truth after the debriefing of that particular mission. However, it had been a real pain to nudge the man towards her. She was unattached, only devoted to her team, her work, and her trainings, so he figured it couldn't hurt to have a little bit of drama in her surely dull and routine life.
Especially when the man didn't know about what he had done to help him. Bless his cousin for shouldering the guilt about the whole scheme, he figured, for Shisui knew perfectly how social-retarded his Captain, nakama, and family, Uchiha Itachi was.
The upcoming chess game was going to be nothing but epic.
-X-
Sakura spent three days reading and analyzing the booklet.
Granted, chess was very similar to shougi, a game that she was accustomed to playing since the day Shikamaru decided to teach both her and Sasuke. Given the young Uchiha's usual grumpiness and competitiveness, he had learned the rules in the blink of an eye...
...Only to have a pink-haired kunoichi defeating him soundly in front of the Nara's amused gaze.
Sasuke hadn't touched a shougi board since then. Pity, they laughed between breaks in the ANBU HQ. The Haruno vs. Nara shougi battles were the main attraction of the mess room whenever they were off duty, earning a bunch of silent watchers around them whilst they played. Silent, however, since Sakura had punched the last whispering help through a wall.
Ah, fun times.
Truth be told, chess wasn't exactly the usual strategy game. It bore some serious thought to devise a good plan of attack, just like shougi. But, there were less pieces and a different set of rules. It seemed easier, but only on the surface.
It was the perfect game for a ninja who lived to see underneath the underneath.
Sakura smiled, setting down the booklet. Whoever had asked Shika for his help, they were in some serious trouble.
She wasn't one of the Hokage's apprentices and member of the tactical team for nothing.
Maybe she should ask Shiho for her input, seeing as the bespectacled girl had a brilliant brain as well...even if she didn't use it to gain Shikamaru's attention.
Oh, well.
-X-
"Ah, Sakura," the mess room was almost empty except for her and her myriad of reports, two operatives wolfing down their food without paying attention to their surroundings and the Chief ANBU Tactician, who had just entered the hall. "I take it you're finally done reading the chess booklet I gave you."
"Yeah, but I'm not done with it," she managed to said between clenched teeth, chewing a brush while she finished rolling up a scroll and secured it with a rubber band. "I want to test this game by challenging someone."
"Who?"
"My first victim was going to be Sasuke, but when I told him it was a board game he bailed out on me with the mission/training excuse," she took the brush and kept writing. The Nara snorted when he saw the evil smile on his friend's face.
"He's such a bad loser," he said with a sigh, plopping down on a chair in front of her. "What's all that? You haven't gotten a mission in two months."
"That baka Shisui finally let me analyze his blood, and I managed to isolate his allergies. He's going to be walking funny for a few days."
"Damn, woman, what did you do to him? He's needed for a mission the day after tomorrow. The Hokage will have your head if you incapacitated him just before sending his team off."
"Nah, I just needled him a lot with a bunch of chemicals," she waved a hand over the moist ink. "I needed to see which substances he was allergic to in order to elaborate a vaccine exclusively for him. He was almost sobbing by the time I was done."
"I keep insisting to Commander Morino that you're quite suited for the Interrogation Team, but he hasn't seen this side of you yet," Shika said with a wince, imagining how painful that treatment must be to reduce a prideful individual like Uchiha Shisui to tears. "Poor troublesome bastard."
"I'm sure Hana will coddle him enough for him to forget his ass-cheeks until departure time," Sakura said with a sarcastic laugh. "Now, want to tell me who's the moron that wants to challenge me to a chess match?"
"Nope."
"Aw, c'mon, Shika! It's not as if you're sworn to secrecy!"
"Actually, I was sworn to secrecy. I'm ANBU, after all. You're going to have to wait until he presents himself."
"You're not funny, Nara," Sakura hissed, as she finished with the last scroll. "If this is another prank from Naruto and Neji, I'll be seriously pissed."
"Rest assured, my friend," Shikamaru smirked as he leaned on the table and supported his chin. "This has nothing to do with that blond moron and the Hyuuga."
"Keep in mind that even if the guy wins the match I'm going to kick his sorry ass."
"Sure, sure."
-X-
After a long day in the ANBU ward, Sakura was pretty much ready to call it a day and drag herself home. Thankfully she had a glorious, hard-earned week off; thanks to all the procedures she had pulled off and finished in record time. Ibiki was pleased, Tsunade was proud, and Sakura only wanted to sleep for three days at least.
It wasn't as if she didn't have time to rest her mind when off of work. She had managed to locate her ever elusive silver-haired ex-sensei, whom had proven to be quite a hard opponent in chess. Even behind his stupid book o' porn he had managed to corner her King, and if not for one of her pawns reaching his end of the table and converting itself into a Queen, she could have been soundly defeated.
Kakashi wasn't very amused, so he had asked for a rematch.
They ended up playing the entire night, the score favoring an infuriating draw.
And since Sakura wasn't about to dethrone Gai-sensei from his position as Kakashi's Rival, she agreed to settle their little challenge on the training grounds. She wasn't sure how she was going to win the spar, but since Kakashi had been quite busy lately, he didn't know how many tricks his formerly sweet, ANBU-ranked student had under her pretty little sleeve.
That, and the fact that she made a habit of training with Shisui's team whenever they were in the village, and thus training with Uchiha Itachi himself.
Sakura sighed, stretching her arms over her head with a tired groan. Itachi, Shisui, Genma, and Yamato were rather accommodating whenever she asked for their help. However, since Genma was a bit vocal in his taunts while sparring, which earned him quite the painful ass-kickings, he wisely withdrew from the Taijutsu lineup, leaving her with only Shisui and Itachi. Yamato was of the opinion that two Uchiha was more than enough on her plate, but she knew better. Yamato just didn't want to test his mokuton against her monstrous strength.
Unfortunately for her, Shisui was too damn fast sometimes for her to have a clear hit, and Itachi had arrogantly said that he wasn't going to spar with her until she had defeated his cousin first. This was what had spurred Sakura's competitiveness, training herself and cultivating her stamina in order to kick both Uchiha's asses.
She probably was in over her head, but sparring with Shisui while Itachi watched and gave her pointers had actually proved to be quite fruitful...
But that didn't shake the fact that Itachi was...ugh. Damn Uchiha.
Of course she knew he was handsome! She wasn't blind, and she wasn't the exception to the rule whenever it came to admiring his good looks. But whenever she tried to get close to the prodigy, he muttered an excuse—a friggin' valid one, at that—and vanished promptly.
Shisui had dismissed his cousin's odd behavior with a laugh, but didn't elaborate, much to Sakura's suspicion.
Sakura paused while she was shrugging off her medical coat. Putting two and two together, and combining Shikamaru's urge for her to learn chess with Itachi's sudden departures...
Nah. She seriously was in over her head to think such ridiculous thoughts.
Besides, Itachi hadn't shown any interest in her. Even when Team Seven had been assisted by the ANBU team on that mission to Iwa he hadn't said anything transcendental.
Hell, he probably had a dozen girlfriends—or boyfriends—who knew.
Yawning noisily, Sakura flicked off the light and finally stepped out of her office, only to find two males waiting for her. Raising an expectant brow, she fixed her eyes on her teammates.
"I don't see any injures," she said by way of greeting. "Fess up."
"We caught wind of something very unpleasant," Sasuke said ominously, while Naruto nodded gravelly at his side. "My cousin has been saying that you've been seeing someone behind our backs."
Sakura blinked. And blinked once more. Then, she scowled. "What?"
"How could you, Sakura-chan! I thought we had an agreement! You get a boyfriend, we beat him up, and everybody is happy!"
"What the hell, Naruto? I didn't agree to that stupid plan of yours! And I'm not seeing anybody, you morons! Which cousin of yours has been spouting shit so I know who to kill?!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Shisui has the delusional thought that you're being courted by an Uchiha."
"Pffft," Sakura snorted quite unladylike. "The only Uchiha I hang out with is Shisui himself, your brother, and you. Since Hana has that baka Shisui wrapped around her little finger, and both of you brothers are asexual..."
"We are not asexual, woman," Sasuke replied sternly. "Just because we don't salivate like this dobe whenever we see a pair of female legs doesn't mean we don't like them."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled tauntingly, then turned to her blond, pouting teammate. "Trust me, Naruto, if I was seeing someone you would be the first one to know."
"So I can beat them?" the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki asked eagerly, making both of his friends sigh heavily.
"Yeah, whatever," Sakura answered as they exited the hospital. "Now take a hike, both of you idiots. I'm going home."
"Damn, Sakura-chan, ANBU made you so mean!"
She just waved and walked home, only to find Shisui and Itachi waiting for her at her door.
"What's this, an idiot parade?" she asked. "I'm not going to spar tonight, you guys."
"Aw, Sakura, and here I thought we were your friends!" Shisui hurried to answer. "What's that about idiots and parades? You met with Kiba tonight?"
"He's your future brother-in-law," Itachi pointed out dryly. "You would do well to try to earn his favor."
"Well, excuse me for being vindictive towards the ass that got me into the doghouse with Hana."
"Alright, I don't want to know," Sakura cut him off. "Whatever you did that pissed Hana off is your damn fault. Now move out of my way or I'll pass out right here."
"Tough day at the hospital?" Itachi asked mildly. She nodded numbly, fishing her keys out of her pouch.
"One of these days I'm going to drop dead during one of shishou's drills," she muttered, blinking slowly when a warm hand took her keys and opened her door for her.
"Aw, poor Sakura-chan," Shisui cooed mockingly. "Say, cousin, she shouldn't be alone if she's so tired, and vulnerable."
She missed the narrowed glare that the young Uchiha sent to the older. "Shisui–"
"AlrightIgottagoseeHanabye!"
Sakura blinked again. "Damn. He's fast, isn't he?"
And with that, she felt her knees buckling and everything went black.
-X-
Sakura woke up in her empty room. Groaning in protest, she rolled out of the bed and noticed she was still in her usual clothes. It was then when she winced as she remembered passing out in front of her home, next to Uchiha Itachi.
Damn.
Most surely he had been the one that had put her to bed. Thankfully, he wasn't like Genma and didn't undress her while she was vulnerably unconscious.
Going through her morning ablutions and yanking a brush through her hair, she wandered towards her living room, finding the man lying down on her couch, seemingly very interested in her chess booklet.
"Good morning," she heard his murmured greeting. "I took the liberty of making coffee. I hope you do not mind."
"Thanks...why are you still here?" she asked bluntly, and promptly blushed in embarrassment when his dark eyes slid from the book to her. "I mean, I'm grateful for your assistance last night, but...it wasn't necessary for you to stick around...and I know for a fact that couch is quite uncomfortable to sleep on."
"I was not going to leave you unattended while you were in such a vulnerable state," he pointed out mildly.
Sakura sighed. "Thank you, Itachi."
He sat up on the couch without taking his eyes off of her. "You are very much welcome, Sakura."
"Uhm," she cleared her throat and blushed once more, "did you have any breakfast? I can make you some pancakes."
"That would be agreeable," he said as he stood and followed her to the kitchen. While she was pulling out the ingredients of their breakfast, she noticed he hadn't left the booklet in the living room.
"You play chess?"
He nodded wordlessly. "It is simpler than shougi."
"It has the same principle, though," she commented as she prepared the batter for the pancakes. The Uchiha lifted his gaze, detailing how fluidly she went about the kitchen, heating up the pan and pouring the mix on it. "However, there are no special moves you can do in shougi like in chess, like the castling."
"But there's the promotion of the piece when they reach the opponent's field, which works similarly in both games."
"Yeah. I learned that the hard way," she chuckled as she remembered her match against her former sensei. "Kakashi almost won a game except I promoted a pawn to Queen."
"Thanks for the food," he murmured as she placed the plate in front of him. As they ate, they kept talking about the board game, and she ended up relaying a few of the matches she had with Kakashi.
"We should play," she said afterwards, while she was filling the sink to wash the dishes. "I figure I could buy a board now that Shikamaru confiscated his back."
"I did not know Nara had a chess board," Itachi said, moving up to stand next to her and grabbing a towel to dry the dishes. "I always thought he was a shougi junkie."
"He is, but one of his buddies asked him to introduce me to this game," she huffed. "Apparently one of his friends wants to challenge me, but I don't know what good that would be. I tend to scare people off whenever I demonstrate I'm smarter than them."
"Is that so?" Itachi narrowed his eyes in thought. "We should go to Nara's and play with his board. Just to see if you really are into this game."
"Sure, why not, I'm always up to nagging that lazy ass," she smiled at Itachi.
They walked out in companionable silence. Long ago she had learned that Itachi wasn't really into small talk, so she wisely kept her mouth shut until they reached Shikamaru's home. He was there of course, playing shougi against none other than Shisui.
"Ah, my favorite Uchiha!" exclaimed the pink-haired medic sweetly, missing the slight stiffening of the man next to her. "I really need to thank you for that gossip you're spreading about me, Shisui-kun."
Said Uchiha jumped like a scalded cat. "I didn't say anything, Sakura, I swear," he blurted out hastily, bringing his hands together in order to make the seals to his trademark teleporting move, only to find out that Shikamaru had him under his Kage Mane no Jutsu. "What the hell, Nara!"
"Sorry man, it was you or a letter to Suna," the ANBU Chief Tactician muttered gravelly. "I take it you both came to play chess."
"That is correct, Nara," Itachi said as he pulled out a roll of ninja wire and giving it to Sakura. "Allow me to set up the pieces while you secure my cousin, Sakura."
"Sure thing," she smirked. "After all, we need our silent audience."
-X-
Just like Shikamaru predicted, the match was nothing short of epic. Both Itachi and Sakura were so into the game that didn't notice how Shisui had finally broke free of his bindings—and that's saying a lot for the ANBU-ranked operatives in the scene. The older Uchiha snuck out, but not before flipping the bird to his pineapple-haired host.
"You can't promote without pawns," Itachi's arrogant voice sounded to the tree which Shikamaru was leaning on. "You should accept your defeat."
"You forget I already have your King in a check," she shot back. "Your Bishop is in danger from my Knight here, you see. So stop being an arrogant ass, because this is a draw."
"Be that as it may, the strategy you sported was rather easy to figure out. I thought you have been playing against Kakashi-san."
"Well, yeah, and I found out that sometimes a direct approach gives better results than underhanded plans," she replied, making Shikamaru shake his head in dry amusement. If the Uchiha didn't take that hint...
"Let's continue this somewhere else," came Itachi's answer after a long pause. "I'm sure Nara can lend us this board."
"Shika? Do you mind if we borrow this?"
"No, not at all," he answered without taking his eyes from the moving tree leaves. "Go ahead."
Dismissing the muttered 'get a room, troublesome pair' from her tactician friend, Sakura raised a brow to her opponent, who had his Sharingan on, memorizing the current set up of their game.
During the game, she had noticed a tiny kanji engraved in the wood. Since she was playing the whites, it didn't take long for her to realize the entire scheme she had inadvertently been part of.
And of course, when Itachi went to make the castling of his King, she had also noticed that his eyes weren't really on the board—but on her.
And since Shisui was concentrating on freeing himself and Shikamaru was in his usual cloud-watching position, they didn't notice when Itachi laid his King next to her Bishop, in clear surrender.
There was nothing clearer than that for a ninja.
"By the way, Shika..." Sakura said after Itachi had gathered his chess board. "Let Shisui know that we'll be expecting him in the usual place for our sparring session."
"Tch," Nara tsked in wry amusement. "Seriously, Pinky. You would do wonders in the Interrogation team."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sakura answered, as Itachi smirked.
Truly, sometimes, easy planned strategies went further than elaborated ones.
All in all, it had been a checkmate for all the parties involved.
-
- Tenna' ento lye omenta -
-XxX-
A/N: I have no idea why this came to mind. I can't explain it. But, I'll have you know that Sakura and Shikamaru (and Neji and Itachi sometimes) are my personal brainiac platonic OTP. XD
Of course, I have to thank my dearest MelissaRose85 for looking over this thingy, and to you guys for reading.