Disclaimer: Naruto and any of its characters do not belong to me.

The Air We Breathe

Part IV

The henge was flawless.

Long chocolate brown hair perfectly coiffed and violet eyes, Sakura was every bit the beautiful courtesan. She adjusted the obi of her kimono slightly and then proceeded to walk into the massive ballroom filled with all kinds of elegant and rich people, shamisen in hand.

As she made her way through the crowd towards the other musicians, her eyes roamed the many faces in search of their two missing nin from Ishi no Kuni. Word had it the brothers had become good friends of the daimyo in this western region of Rain.

An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist and she turned to see Itachi, also under a henge. With their excellent chakra control and skills, they had been deemed the best pair to infiltrate the party and take out the targets. Genma and Shisui would serve as surveillance and secure the perimeter for an unhindered escape.

He leaned in close, whispered into her ear under the guise of flirting and she acted coy like a good little courtesan would. "In a booth to the right of where you'll be. They're with the daimyo." And then he was gone, lost among the crowd with his pale blond hair and brown eyes.

When Sakura reached the musicians' platform in the front of the room, she discreetly glanced to her right and sure enough they were there. She gracefully kneeled down and positioned her shamisen just right, bachi in hand. Looking demurely at the daimyo, violet eyes glancing at the two nukenin to the left of him, she nodded and upon his signal, began to play.

Not many knew she could actually play the shamisen. Her mother had taught her, told her that it was a good skill to have as any and that one day it would prove useful. Well Sakura thought, today was that day and silently thanked her for having the patience to teach her this three stringed instrument.

And as her ivory bachi adeptly struck both silken string and cat skin, as her performance was later accompanied by the shakuhachi, the pink haired kunoichi was aware that she was garnering the attention of many of the males in the room. Two of whom were the most important.

Two women brought her over to the canopied booth they sat in after her performance and Sakura made sure her henge was as undetectable as possible. They were shinobi after all and even though they had consumed a good amount of alcohol, the slightest slip could spell deep trouble.

Both nukenin peered at her with bright, slightly unfocused eyes.

"We've got a pretty one, Yuuta."

"Pretty and skilled." Kenta leaned in closer and stroked her lips.

The daimyo excused himself then, taking with him the two women who had retrieved Sakura.

It was a good thing the other courtesans were frequenting the booth. It divided their attention and gave her more breathing space to plan her next move. From over Kenta's shoulder, she spotted Itachi engaged in conversation with the daimyo but his eyes always seemed to travel, albeit discreetly, in her direction.

"You flatter me." Sakura chimed, giving them an embarrassed smile, even a small blush too.

Dark haired and bulky in build like his brother Yuuta, Kenta smirked. "Do you know who I am courtesan?"

"A very powerful man no doubt."

He laughed, pulled her closer until she was nearly sitting in his lap. "You have no idea." And then he groped her, fondled a breast and Sakura wanted nothing more than to pound his face into oblivion and rip off his arm but she was a kunoichi and this was a mission. Still, it didn't help the disgust from welling inside her.

But all hopes of this mission going smoothly flew out the window when Yuuta released a strangled yet furious yell of pain. She turned around just in time to see a blonde haired courtesan drop dead onto the ground, her throat slashed with a kunai. Yuuta ripped the dagger from his midsection, snarled with agony and everything suddenly went from bad to worse in a matter of seconds.

Kunai and exploding tags suddenly erupted, shook the foundations of the building as sharp blades clashed and blood was splattered across the marble floors. People were shouting and screaming as they fought for a way out of the massive ballroom. The daimyo's men were gathering, pushing against the tide of panicked bodies whilst trying to contain the situation.

Sakura's neck was seized from behind just as she saw another courtesan unsheathe a kodachi and attack a wounded Yuuta.

"Whores! Daring to attack us?!" Kenta sneered and tightened his grip.

Knowing there was no other way Sakura sent a surge of chakra to her hand and grabbing his wrist, crushed it with her inhuman strength. He let go instantly with a pain filled howl.

"Kunoichi!?" He raged, cradling his now broken wrist.

She scrambled to a stand, cursing the restrictive kimono when she nearly stumbled into the table. They hadn't counted on there being another attack tonight. Itachi had planned everything out perfectly but obviously no one had anticipated a bunch of courtesans—and then it occurred to her that they might not be courtesans at all but kunoichi on a death mission. Sakura supposed she should be thanking them for the distraction though.

Shuriken whizzed by her head but she easily dodged them. So much for the poison Sakura thought as another woman's body flew through the air and collided with the pillar. Another explosion went off, sent debris and burnt bodies through the air.

With her henge still in place—they couldn't afford to have Konoha linked with this disaster—Sakura took a kunai to her kimono and slit it high on the side to give her room to maneuver, briefly lamenting the loss of such a beautiful piece.

She barely had time to move out of the way of Kenta's attack. Even though heavier in build and nursing a useless hand, he was still a shinobi and he was still fast and powerful. The table broke in half and Sakura was forced to come to blows with him.

Moving swiftly and with a deadly grace, she agilely countered his punches and kicks with her own and when he made a move to grab a katana lying forgotten on the ground, Sakura unleashed her senbon hidden beneath the folds of her obi. He was too slow to dodge them all and when they struck his shoulder, he hissed and began to blindly attack.

And then she saw pale blond hair from the corner of her eye and instinctively, the pink haired medic swept to the side to give her ANBU captain an opening. Itachi's ninjaken soundlessly slid through a surprised Kenta's chest a moment later. The cool steel impaled his heart and all that was left of the missing nin was a gurgled choke.

As if the finale had finally arrived, a succession of smaller blasts rocked the ballroom and that was when the ceiling started to crumble. Large blocks of stone and razor sharp pieces of glass descended, slicing and whistling through the room now clouded with gray smoke and debris.

Sakura should have known getting out would be the toughest part. A quick scan around let her know that Yuuta was also dead along with most of the courtesans and several of the guests.

"Out. Now." Itachi commanded and they were soon flickering towards the nearest gaping hole in the wall.

But the last thing Sakura remembered was the collective whistle of flying kunai and the white hot explosions that abruptly took her breath away, leaving her to drown in the encroaching darkness.

...

"Blossom!" Shisui cupped the side of her face, gently shook her to coax any type of response from her. "Blossom! Damn it woman, wake up!"

"Should we start panicking yet?" Genma wiped the sweat from his brow, threw away the dented senbon and stuck another in his mouth.

"Not helping." Shisui glared at his teammate before focusing his attention once again on their medic.

Hell, she was lucky to still be alive. Had Itachi not seen the nearly invisible exploding tags, they would have been blown to smithereens. His cousin had immediately pulled the pink haired kunoichi to him and with a burst of powerful chakra had careened the both of them out of there as the flames from the 

blasts licked dangerously close and flying debris followed them out. They'd both been knocked unconscious though, with Sakura suffering the most damage. Patting her cheek with bursts of basic healing chakra, Shisui tried again to bring her back to consciousness.

…

Itachi stirred from his place in the shabby little inn room a little while later. Inhaling sharply, he snapped open his black eyes and was immediately consumed with a bout of harsh coughing.

"Damn Weasel, am I ever glad to see you awake." Genma breathed a sigh of relief as he handed the ANBU captain a glass of water.

"Blossom?" He immediately asked as he moved to stand up. A wave of vertigo crashed into him and he swayed a little but before Genma could stop him he was already on his feet, black hair spilling over his shoulders.

"She's…"

Seeing the green eyed medic on the other bed, Itachi calmly closed the distance and leaned over her prone form tucked beneath the thin cheap coverlet, fingers fluttering over her pulse.

"…fine." Genma finished quietly when he noticed the tension ease from the Uchiha's shoulders. "Tiger got her to wake up for all of ten seconds earlier in which she sucked in air like there was no tomorrow. But that was enough for us. She's breathing now."

"And where is my cousin?"

"Food and water."

"Our status report?"

The senbon user stretched out on the bed, finally able to relax now that Itachi was awake. "Targets eliminated. Turned out that a band of kunoichi had disguised themselves as the courtesans with the daimyo as their target. They blew up the whole building and themselves in the end but their man was able to get away. You were both caught in the last minute explosions. We're currently in a cheap little inn just inside the borders of Fire. The keepers think we're traveling merchants."

Itachi nodded, obsidian eyes never once leaving Sakura.

…

"I almost died you know." And she smiled wryly as she stepped out of bathroom, now clean and mostly healed up. Her prediction of probably dying by flying kunai or being blown into oblivion had been pretty damn accurate.

"So why the smile?" Itachi asked from his reclining position on the shabby and squeaky bed.

She let a small laugh escape. "Because I didn't."

Running fingers through her still wet pink locks, she sat on the edge of the bed. She then secured the straps of her white vest and arm guards, saw the feline mask beside her and picked it up.

"We're like cats…"

Itachi raised a dark eyebrow, finding himself curious to hear her thoughts. "How so?"

"We have so many lives…" Sakura whispered, tracing the twin red slashes on either side of the white porcelain mask. "Makes you wonder how soon we'll reach nine."

But then she smiled—a little bit wistful and a little bit accepting—and shrugged, biting her lower lip. "It's not a bad thing though…at least most of the time…"

She didn't notice Itachi move until he was standing directly in front of her. She scooted back, craned her neck upwards and tossed him an irritated and somewhat uncomfortable glare. All she received was an undecipherable look though after she leaned back on her elbows to give her more breathing room.

When he placed a knee between her legs, when the springs of the bed squeaked and groaned under his added weight, Sakura felt her throat go a little dry and the irritation slowly give way to wariness. Hovering over her, long black hair spilling over his shoulder and mingling with hers, Itachi stared at her, intense and almost sinful, as if he was the devil come to collect her soul.

"We are shinobi, Blossom." He whispered, voice dipped in a steely seriousness. "This is what we do…how we live."

Her verdant eyes couldn't help but be drawn to his lips. Her heart couldn't help but understand. "The air we breathe…"

"You're learning."

And the way he was once again brushing his thumb over her lips…

"I wanted to kill him for touching you." He confided quietly. "Here." His hand trailed up her thigh and he actually groped her, made her eyes widen almost comically and red tint her cheeks. Sakura didn't miss the devilish glint in his eyes though. "And here." His hand then slipped beneath her black undershirt and ANBU vest and she bit back a moan when he caressed her, gently squeezed her breast.

"We're shinobi." She threw back at him, emerald eyes helplessly hazing over.

"You're mine." Itachi came closer, a rare show of possessiveness coloring his deep dark eyes. He laced fingers through her hair, gripped and pulled, inhaled her breathy gasp as he looked into her eyes. "But you've always been mine haven't you, Blossom? Since the first time I saw you…the first time you saw me…"

Her mouth opened to deny his claims, but nothing came out. And Sakura wanted so badly to punch that smug look off his face and there was a good chance she would have attempted to had Shisui not walked through the croaking door that connected the two rooms.

But he paused when he saw them, grinned lecherously a second later. "Oh don't mind me. By all means, carry on." And in a conspiratorial whisper that wasn't very conspiratorial at all he added, "It's about time, Weasel. I was beginning to worry."

Sakura groaned in embarrassment and promptly ignored the way Itachi was slowly dragging his eyes up and down her body, the way his hand was still drawing circles on her skin.

"We'll continue this later." He whispered seductively into her ear, every bit the stalking predator.

And Sakura of course was his choice of prey.

But a part of her was still deciding if that was good or not. A part of her was wondering if she still had time to run.

"I've been hearing some interesting things lately."

Sakura looked up from the chart she was examining, arched a brow in question. "Interesting things?"

Shizune nodded. "About you and a certain Uchiha."

After only three days back from the mission, she was already itching to crush something. The pink haired medic put up a hand to stop any further comments. "Rumors, Shizune. That's all they are."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're sure?"

"Very sure."

"Positive?"

"What is this? Twenty questions?"

"No. Just…curious."

"Well 'curious' is starting to get irritating, Shizune. It's bad enough I have to put up with all the speculating glances from all the other staff in here, not to mention all the younger medics coming to me and asking for advice on how to snag hot dreamy shinobi, but you too? I don't even know how to snag hot dreamy shinobi damn it! But no, they just giggle, tell me to stop being so secretive, and hand over the goods! Do I look like someone who knows how to deal with hot dreamy shinobi Shizune? Do I?!" Sakura was ready snap the clipboard in half and tear the charts to shreds.

The older woman had a hard time trying to contain her laughter though. "Well…honestly speaking Sakura, you're on a team and best friends with three of Konoha's most eligible bachelors. And then Ai manages to see you with Uchiha Itachi…" Shizune shook her head. "I'd say they have good reason."

"You're not helping."

But she only smiled teasingly. "I didn't come here to help, Sakura."

The younger medic only sighed. "Merely to slake your curiosity. I feel so much better."

Shizune flicked her on the forehead. "I think you're lying, but what do I know. Either way, as long as you're happy with the way things are I won't press you for any more details. After all, we are a hospital and personal affairs should remain outside of these walls."

"Yeah Shizune, tell that to everyone else. And I'm not lying!"

"Mmm hmm…" She waved her hand offhandedly, hard pressed to believe the pink haired kunoichi when it was so obvious she was getting worked up over 'just rumors'.

"Shizune!"

But she was already gone, her faint laughter echoing down the hall of the hospital.

…

"Sakura-san! Please wait! I need some advice!"

Said woman took a deep calming breath—and found that it did absolutely nothing to cool down her bubbling annoyance. Turning around, she regarded the young medic with forced politeness, already knowing what she was going to ask.

"I'm a little busy right now, Yuko."

The brown haired girl looked pleadingly at her as she clutched a couple of manila folders to her chest. "It'll only take a second!"

Taking pity on her, Sakura relented with a small nod—even though she was probably the last person to ask for any kind of romantic advice.

"Well you see, I have a crush on this one boy but then he doesn't even know I exist but he's really cute and handsome and he's so smart! Every time I see him—"

"Yuko."

"Oh, right. Well, I was wondering what you would do in my situation."

"Does he happen to be in research and the only time you actually get to see him is if he decides to take a lunch in the break room?"

Her eyes widened with surprise which was then closely followed by a strange sort of awe. "How did you know?"

Sakura bit back her reply. She really didn't want to crush the younger girl's romantic aspirations and say that those in research never knew anyone existed besides themselves. That they hardly paid attention to another living human being if it didn't pertain to their choice of subject—she knew firsthand of course, what with being in research herself for a year—but instead Sakura decided to look on the brighter side of things.

"Lucky guess?" The green eyed medic responded with a lopsided smile and when Yuko vehemently nodded, even gushed a little at how she knew everything, Sakura was sorely tempted to shake some sense into the girl.

"Don't be afraid to approach him Yuko because chances are, he won't and then you'll just be left as you are, silently pining for him from the sidelines. Sometimes the girl has to take the first step." Sakura offered, thinking to herself that that line probably came from one of the many movies she'd seen. But it was better than nothing.

"You're right, Sakura-san." A look of determination crossed her face. "I'll ask him to join me for lunch or maybe dinner."

"And if he still doesn't acknowledge you, there are plenty of other boys out there who deserve your affections."

Yuko gave her a bright smile, gray eyes shining with gratitude. "I can see why Uchiha-san fell for you."

"We're not…" But the younger woman had already spun around and was hurrying around the corner. "…together…"

Sakura blew her bangs out of her eyes and stuffed her hands in the large pockets of her white medic coat as she continued towards her office, ignoring the voice in her head…in her heart that kept telling her to just give up and accept the inevitable.

…to be continued…

Notes: A shakuhachi is a type of flute.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!! The final part should be up in a few days.

-hasu