Satsuki was walking through the market place. People shuffled from stall to stall, shoving into each other as they go. She took in a deep breath and could smell the sweet, warm scent of cinnamon bread. She looked for the source and finally came to a stall stocked full of bread. As she browsed the selection she faintly noticed a small child peering over the edge of the table.

The young boy had ratty brown hair, hazel eyes, and a gap in between his two front teeth. His dirty hand reached across the baked goods and grabbed at the largest loaf. He quickly skittered away as the stall man shouted.

"I'll get him!" Satsuki dashed off in the direction the child had run off to. She wandered into an alleyway and tapped her finger to her chin.

"Now, where could he have gone?" Satsuki peeked over a trash bin and snatched the hood of the boy. She lifted the squirming brat into the air and held him away from her. While she tried to calm the boy down something collided with her leg, hard.

Satsuki dropped the boy and he rolled away. He jumped to his feet and held up a pair of fists in front of his face. She looked down and saw a little girl with pig tails wrapped around her legs. She tilted her head to the side.

"What do you want with nii-chan?" Satsuki looked between the two.

"Nii-chan did something bad and has to be punished." The little girl gasped and scrambled to her feet. She put her tiny fists on her hips and glared at the boy. He sighed and shook his head.

"We need to eat Sara." The little girl pouted and picked the loaf up from its place on a blanket. She clutched at it and teetered between her brother and Satsuki. Satsuki sighed.

"How about this, you return the bread and apologize and I'll take you guys out for dinner." The little girl's eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. The little boy pouted and slowly lowered his hands.

"Fine."

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"So, you see! No harm, no foul." Satsuki grinned and held out the loaf of bread. The bulky stall owner just grunted. Satsuki's grin faded and she gently set the bread back on the stall. She nudged the boy in the arm and he scowled.

"I'm… sorry." He turned on his heel and walked away. Sara waved to the man and jogged to catch up with her brother. Satsuki followed after them.

"Hey! Food's this way!" The boy froze and then quickly adjusted his course.

"What's your name anyway? Or would you rather me call you Rat?" The boy glared darkly at Satsuki and she laughed.

"Nii-chan's name is Sora." Sara gripped her brother's hand and swung it back and forth. He blushed and looked away slightly. Satsuki looked at the two of them blankly, then…

"Aww! You two are adorable!" She crushed the two of them into a hug.

"Argh!" Sora pulled free and started frantically started brushing himself off.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of cooties!" Satsuki busted up, laughing at his face. She was still laughing when they got to the ramen stand.

"Shut up!" Satsuki immediately stopped laughing. She still had a crazy grin on her face, though. Sara giggled as Satsuki lifted her up onto the stool. She reached towards Sora but he scoffed and scrambled on by himself.

"So how old are you guys anyway?" She asked after they ordered.

"I'm six!" Sara held up seven fingers. Sora reached over and pushed one down.

"Eight." Satsuki opened her mouth to say something when the curtain was pulled aside to reveal Itachi and Mamori.

"N-Nani?" Mamori gave her a blank look that slid over to the children beside her.

"It's illegal to steal people's children, Satsuki." Her face turned red and she turned her head away.

"My name's Sara." Sara looked up at Mamori with a grin. Mamori gave her a nod.

"Mamori." She sat down next to Itachi who slightly shifted away. Satsuki looked at them curiously.

"Are you two on a date?" Mamori choked on her noodles. As she coughed Itachi glared at Satsuki.

"The Hokage has ordered us to get acquainted seeing as how we will be on an ANBU team together." He turned back to his noodles. Mamori had finally gotten her breath back but was sporting a deep red blush. Itachi glanced at her before turning back to his noodles with a smirk.

"Oh… Well, see ya! Have fun on your date, guys!" Satsuki ducked out before getting hit by some chopsticks. She turned back to Sora and Sara.

"It's getting a little late. Where do you guys live?" Sora grabbed Sara's hand and sped up.

"We can get home by ourselves. Thanks for the meal." He disappeared into the crowd dragging a waving Sara behind him. Satsuki shrugged and rushed off to the hospital.

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"Where is she?" The desk clerk rubbed the bridge of her nose with an irritated sigh.

"M'ame, her shift is over. Please leave if you don't have an appointment or are not mortally injured. You're disturbing the patients." Satsuki scowled and stalked to the door. She whirled around and put two fingers to her eyes before pointing them at the desk clerk. She repeated the action once more before storming out the doors.

Sakura's apartment was just down the road from the hospital and perfect for a single med-nin, according to Sakura. She lived on the second floor and Satsuki skipped every other step before banging on her door. She tapped her foot impatiently before bursting in after five minutes. She knew Sakura was home, she could sense her chakra.

She looked around the apartment and sighed. Sakura really needed to decorate. The apartment looked barely lived in, which it was. Sakura was always either at the hospital, Hokage's office or on a mission. The living room was to her left; filled with only a mocha brown sofa, matching glass-topped coffee table and end tables with lamps. The kitchen was to the right; there were no dishes in the sink but half full cups of Instant Ramen cluttered the counter.

"Naruto, get out!" Satsuki rolled her eyes and walked down the hallway in front of her.

"I'm not that mor…" Satsuki jolted to a stop in the bedroom doorway. Sakura sat up in her bed and turned her face away. She brought her hands up to her face.

Satsuki stumbled hesitantly into the room. "Wha…?" Sakura turned around with a watery smile and got out of bed.

"Oh! Hey, Satsuki-chan! If I had known it was you I would have answered the door. Would you like some tea?" Sakura brushed by Satsuki and hustled down the hallway. Satsuki quickly followed after her but once again paused at the kitchen doorway.

Sakura was busying herself with getting the pot and some cups out of the cupboards. She went to the sink and started filling the pot. Everything was silent except for the sound of rushing water. Satsuki shuffled from foot to foot before walking over to the table. Sakura stayed by the stove watching the pot as it began to heat up.

"What just happened?" Satsuki asked quietly.

"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Sakura's back was still turned to Satsuki. Her voice was cheerful.

Satsuki's brow furrowed and she glared at the table. She shoved back her chair and stomped over to Sakura. She grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face her, "You know what I'm-".

Sakura's eyes were squeezed shut and fat tears were rolling down her cheeks. Satsuki's hand softened on her shoulder before dropping away all together. Sakura broke down. She brought her hands to her face and turned back to the stove.

"I… d-don't know… wha-what you're… talking about." Satsuki sighed. She reached across to turn off the stove and gently guided Sakura to the sofa.

"You were crying in your room, all by yourself. The moment I walked in you were all happy happy smiles again. Why? Don't even try and tell me everything's fine, either! You were sobbing just five seconds ago!"

Satsuki settled down next to her on the couch. Sakura had finally calmed down, kind of. Tears were still flowing but there were no more sobs. She was looking down at her clenched hands. The scene reminded her of when she had visited the hospital a few days ago. Right after Sasuke's physical.

"This is about him." It wasn't a question. Sakura's hands tightened and the tears fell faster.

"I was walking home. It's such a short walk. It never should have happened; I mean I would have been home in a minute. It's so stupid!" her eyes glinted as she jerked her head up. After her little outburst, though, Sakura's face crumpled and she looked back down.

"Sakura, what happened?" Sakura gave a humorless chuckle.

"I saw him. That was it. We walked right by each other. It was so normal. He walked right by me; like I was just some other passerby. He didn't even glance my way or… anything…" Sakura closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch. Satsuki looked down. She clenched her hands and then jumped out of her seat. She grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her to the door, ignoring her protests.

"We need to get out. Moping around here is just going to put salt on the wound. Let's have some fun!" Sakura looked bewildered as Satsuki continued to drag her to a club.

"B-But, I'm not dressed for it and you're too young!" Sakura tugged at her hand but Satsuki had an iron grip on it. Satsuki looked back at Sakura with an incredulous look.

"Girlie, you're beautiful enough without some superficial cloth marring your personality. Also, what the managers don't know won't hurt them." She gave Sakura a wink and strode through the door into the pulsing room.

The normal lights were down and the strobe lights were spinning. A DJ was at the front of the room, headphones pressed to his ears, and the bar was in the back. People were crowded on the dance floor, not even really dancing just bouncing around, swaying, and grinding to the music. Sakura rubbed her arm nervously.

"Hey! Guys! Over here!" A blond head bobbed from the line of bar stools and soon the duo was joined by Ino.

"You look awful. Come on, let's go get a drink!" Ino dragged Sakura to the bar leaving Satsuki with a sweatdrop. Satsuki trailed after them and sat at the bar. The bartender gave the two newcomers a suspicious look which was erased when Ino gave him a wink.

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"And then! And then!..." Sakura bust up laughing and didn't even finish what she was going to say. Ino, for some reason, joined her. Satsuki gave a slight grin, her cheeks dusted with red. Satsuki was mildly tipsy while Ino and Sakura were… obviously shitfaced. Satsuki's gaze lazed around the room and rested on the door where two new people were walking in. One these new people looked as though she was about to set on fire.

"Oh~no~. Guys! Hide me!... It's Mammm..Mamamo.. Mammmori!" Satsuki slipped off of her stool and crouched behind Ino. An arm whipped out and grabbed Satsuki's arm.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." Mamori dragged Satsuki out of the club. Sakura stumbled out behind them giggling.

"What do you think you are doing? You're only 15!" Mamori ground her teeth and tugged at Satsuki's arm.

"Sakura-chan.. hic!... needed a litt-hic-le pick me up!" Satsuki tripped over her feet and Mamori stopped walking in order to steady her.

"Yeah~ Satsuki's a great friend!" Sakura's voice pitched and she went down, dragging Satsuki down with her.

Satsuki looked up and saw a pair of dark eyes looking down on her. Itachi stood there as Mamori struggled to drag the girls up. "Help me!" Mamori growled. Itachi sighed and reached for Satsuki. However, the moment his hand got close she flinched and he pulled away. Satsuki sobered up and wobbled to her feet, no sign of a smile anywhere.

"I'm good. Come on, Sakura-chan. Let's get you home." Sakura looked between the two Uchihas with confusion but allowed herself to be dragged away.

Mamori's gaze followed after the two before she turned in the direction of her apartment. Itachi stood, staring at the ground where Satsuki was, before looking after Mamori. His long stride caught up to her form quickly.

"You don't have to follow me home." Itachi didn't say anything in response and stayed by her side. Mamori sighed and continued on as silence fell between them.

It was cooling off the longer the moon hung in the sky. Mamori took in a breath of the crisp air and closed her eyes briefly. A hand brushed against her arm and her body shifted closer to it. She opened her eyes and noticed a pole in the way. She moved around it but paused as she realized that Itachi had stopped. His arm was lifted slightly and his hand reached a little in front of him. A warmth lingered on her arm and she blushed.

"Come on. It's late." She gave a small smile and turned away from him. His eyes followed the sway of her long, green braid. He closed his eyes, took in a breath, and followed her.