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His work back at the palace was just as tedious as he expected it to be. Long meetings where the negotiations of land rights, pasture rights, mineral rights with the land that was the indistinct border between them and the Senju. Tariffs, border patrols and the policing of the other races in their territories were issues that the Uchiha discussed and rehashed with their neighbors every three to five years.
Demons were touchy about their territory, and none of them were keen for a war, or for making an excuse to go to war. They were all made weaker for it. Thus, these discussions were taken quite seriously, but Itachi just couldn't manage to engage himself in their intricacies as he had in the past. His mind was far away, immersed in the delicate strands of magic that bound Sakura in her silence.
He found himself distanced from important issues by thoughts of smooth skin under his fingers, of a blush flushing her skin a color to match her hair. In his few free moments he perused the library, looking for relevant facts that would help him release her voice.
He found himself frustrated, less by his distraction, and more by the distance she was from him. For the most part he was incredibly patient, this restlessness was unfamiliar to him. It didn't take any time at all for him to regret not bringing her with him in spite of all the good reasons he had left her behind.
"So, what were you doing all this time?" probed Shisui one morning.
They had taken an early morning flight to a nearby mountaintop. Shisui was rather chipper despite the interruption to his regularly late sleeping schedule, leading Itachi to believe he had come along just to badger and question. Itachi sighed.
"Doing research," He replied vaguely. It wasn't a complete lie, part of his time had been researching how to rid Sakura of the seal. Perhaps the rest could be considered research too, he certainly analyzed the pink haired beauty enough to consider it so. The point was however, that Shisui considered research to be painfully boring, and hopefully that would stop the questions before they could manage to truly start.
"On what?" pressed the elder cousin, persistent and nonchalant in a manor that suggested he was anything but. Was he suspicious?
Suddenly all of Itachi's relatively baseless frustration threatened to dump itself on his overly nosey cousin. He didn't want Shisui in his business, he wanted to keep Sakura to himself in an entirely selfish way, that he didn't feel the need to justify to his cousin or even himself. He didn't indulge in allowing his temper to show though, he replied in a remote tone, hoping to throw Shisui off the scent of something interesting.
"The effects of blood magic on certain types of flora and fauna." He replied, attempting to pick a topic Shisui would find droll, but not so bad as to be unrealistic.
"And what were your findings?" Itachi raised a brow in question, Shisui was never this interested in mere research. The older male pointedly ignored the silent question, waiting for a response.
"Inconclusive as of yet," replied Itachi truthfully.
"Ah"
That was the end of it, Shisui let the subject drop as they observed the rising of the sun. The beautiful colors reminding him of Sakura, and he couldn't help but think she would have loved to see this them. He was also reminded of the time she had coaxed him into viewing the setting of the sun with her.
His frustration resurfaced and abruptly he took off, without waiting for the sun to climb its way fully into the sky. Something would have to be done about his agitation, or more than Shisui would catch on to the fact that something was bothering him. Perhaps a spar later on, the thought of taking the wind out of his bothersome cousin's wings with a few well-placed hits did a little to improve his mood.
In the end, he had to stay for nearly six weeks in totall just to throw off Shisui's curiosity, deliberately going out of his way to spend a good portion of time researching in the library in those final two weeks. Time technically well spent, but he was becoming antsy.
Slipping away was more difficult because of the obligations and responsibilities he held to his Father and the clan. Getting away from said responsibilities was more difficult than getting away without the notice of his cousin. But when he was finally flying back he felt a lightness in his chest he didn't know how to identify or objectify.
The first thing he noticed when he was getting close was that she was wearing the magic bracelets again. Strange, he would have thought his absence would have given her more time to become alienated from him. The thought that she may attempt to take off had occurred to him in his more pessimistic moments, even though he held a strong conviction that she would stick around to see this to the end. Her not having her voice he imagined would be akin to him not having his wings.
The reason for it became clearer the closer he got. She was no longer was at the castle, she was somewhere in the valley, she had used the bracelet to circumvent the wards around the castle without setting off the alarms he had attuned to her presence and magical signature. She was crafty, again he marveled at that fact. So different from females that he seemed to rub shoulders with on a more regular basis.
He followed the pulse of magic to the valley below the castle, and the lake that sparkled there in the summer sun. He didn't bother to cloak his presence, as he descended in lazy arcs, coming to rest on the rocky beach, scanning the water for a glimpse of pink.
She didn't disappoint and just a minute later she bobbed to the surface a good distance from shore. Her approach was slow, ducking under the surface to reappear several yards closer. He wasn't in a hurry, and she looked to be playing the wary card. Fair enough.
She stopped not too far out.
"Hello," he greeted gently. She nodded in return greeting.
"Scared of me Sakura?" he asked jumping to the heart of the issue. There was a pause before she shook her head, his eyes flashed red as he tried to analyze her expression. Her eyebrows were furrowed in contemplation of him.
'you said you would be back sooner'
Ah, so that was at the heart of the issue now.
"I apologize, I was detained by research…and a nosey Shisui" he added as an afterthought. Understanding dawned on her face and she made a sudden shift to sheepishness.
He smiled at her, an honest to goodness smile. He didn't bother to hide it, he felt a freedom here, with her, that he had never felt, even with his own family. It was strange. She gave him back a hesitant smile of her own.
He reached down to undo the clasps on his special made leather vest, finding amusement in the look on her face as he reached down to remove his leather boots. First confusion, brief understanding, before embarrassment flushed her cheeks when he moved to remove his pants.
Diving into the crisp mountain water was refreshing after flying double time to get here. She was diving away from him, a flash of pink underwater, he followed, great strides of his wings did lots to keep up with her. But the water was her element and she skimmed away from him, long pink hair streaming behind her.
She was dressed in what he considered as more normal Siren garb. Not nearly so covering as per usual, but perhaps this was her solution to no longer bathing naked, even when she considered herself safely alone and unobserved.
He couldn't use the water around him to garner oxygen as she could, so eventually he had to surface, pulling in huge draughts of air, drinking in the late afternoon sunshine and the beauty of their surroundings. When he felt the tugging on his legs he knew she had gotten into the spirit of his mood and he was grateful that she was no longer so awkward with him, or at least she was trying to move past it.
The pull of a sudden current jerked him below the surface and he allowed it to take him, she pulled him lower and lower, down to the bottom of the lake where the spring rose up from the base of the mountain. The water pressure grew and his lungs constricted but he wasn't worried. Sakura had trusted him many a time, this was an opportunity for him to allow her to control a situation.
She appeared out of the gloom of the lake bottom. A sudden desire to hold her, to feel her caught him a bit off guard. She swam closer, skin and hair casting a luminescence from the distant light of the sun far above.
Suddenly he could breath, air forming and pushing into his lungs from the water around him. He took and deep breath and suddenly lunged for Sakura. She grinned and slipped out of his reach, slicing through the water with an ease that should have been impossible without fins.
It was an unfair game of cat and mouse; the water was her element like the sky was his. He was following after her, large strokes of his wings pushing him along. She led him down into the mountain, following a convoluted network of underwater caves that led back under the castle.
The moment they surfaced on the rocks of an underground beach he pounced, pinning the pink haired mouse against the wall of the cave. Red eyes surveying her without impediment in the dark, drinking in her features even while he reigned in his urges.
The water around his legs swirled in agitation but the beautiful siren just panted, catching her breath, eyes closed.
He wasn't prepared for the way the water yanked out his legs from under him. It took but a moment for him to find himself on his back in shallow water the Siren straddling him, grin triumphant. The move was so in keeping with her playful nature that he laughed, a full laugh that started in his belly and worked up.
"Is this a challenge Sa-ku-ra?" he crooned when his laughter finally subsided. Her brow furrowed and she shook her head.
Success, the word her lips formed had him laughing again. Confusion rose in her features, she hadn't the foggiest clue what he found so funny.
She went to push away from him but he caught her hips and pulled her back down. He used his wing arms to push himself up into a sitting position so that they were nose to nose.
"Perhaps I am not opposed to you having a little success Sa-ku-ra if this is the result" his voice was low and he knew the moment she again became aware of the fact that they were both dressed in the equivalent of underwear. The red staining her cheeks and creeping down her neck would not have been visible in the darkness save for the fact he had his sharingan on. Watching the blush spread, he felt a form of satisfaction that he once again couldn't define, perhaps because this situation for him was a new and interesting one as well.
He allowed her to stand but caught her hand before she could dive back into the water. She tugged for her hand back, unhappy with him.
"Oh no you don't, you don't get to run away from me this time." He tugged her along up onto the rocky beach. "Come, Rin must have the evening meal ready now"
He pulled her along through a network of caves and tunnels, working his way up to where the baths for the castle were. Ushering her up the stairs to the main levels, ensuring that she didn't have the opportunity to bolt back to the water.
He was certain she didn't have a grasp on how truly beautiful she actually was, her shy nature contrasted with her slyness quiet nicely. Not to mention the fact that those legs were all but calling for him to touch them. The bare plane of her stomach and back, wet pink hair sticking to it. Hips swaying as she climbed the steps with a bit of an attitude, unimpressed with what he was sure she would deem as manhandling.
He waited until she closed the door of her bedroom, smirking when she stuck out her tongue at him in indignation. Proceeding on to his own chambers to find a change of clothes that he may be presentable for the evening meal.
They resumed work on her seal the following day, most of the morning found the pair of them sprawled across her four-poster bed. Her comatose, him drawing patterns along the soft skin of her throat absently, eyes closed in concentration.
The knots were slowly coming undone in the face of his careful patience. Magic that could slice and rend falling in harmless loops to be absorbed back into the main body of her magic. Soon, very soon she would have her song back.
Withdrawing his magic from her, he sat back, mind turning over that reality again and again. How would having her voice change things? Would it? He certainly hoped not. Would she want to leave when what he had promised her was complete? Again, he hoped not. Perhaps he would have to double his efforts to be convincing her to stay.
Watching her rouse from slumber was something he would place on the same scale as watching the sun set. Lashes flutter, impossibly green eyes open and she yawns with an abandon that would not be considered proper by court born ladies of nearly every species he had encountered. He stifled a smile, it wouldn't do for her to think he was laughing at her.
He saw the question in her eyes, in her furrowed pink brows.
"Not yet, but soon. Your voice is nearly yours again." She grinned, enthusiasm wiping away the last of the sleeping drug.
The following weeks were filled with innocent fun, he would read with her out in the garden, lounging and enjoying the sun while she whistled to the mountain birds, beckoning them closer. She was friends with all the cats that roamed the castle, all of them loved to come and cuddle with her, and she obliged them with pets and snuggles.
They went down to the little village a half days walk down the valley. Sakura seemed to have many friends here too, and not just among the animals. The humans were happy to see her, calling out greetings that he suspected were significantly subdued because of his presence. An Uchiha was entirely too distinctive, and given this was his families territory he wouldn't get away with being just another pretty face, they knew him for his power. For this moment, standing next to Sakura, he didn't have a problem with that, best that they know she was with him.
He coaxed her out flying with him only once. Mostly it was for himself, he was quickly enraptured by the excuse to hold her close once again. Her stomach still didn't agree with the twists and turns of the air.
Their last session was in the sun, sprawled out on the grass in the valley, not too far from the lake. When she roused, he was observing her attentively.
"Would you allow me to be the first to hear you sing little Siren?" he asked. She shivered and opened her mouth.
"M-my s-s-song" her voice was wobbly, a rasp from years of disuse. She startled herself, the look of utter surprise on her face brought a laugh out of him.
"Well, well, well what have we here?"
Sakura jumped, Itachi rolled over in a more sedate manor, giving his cousin a sour look. Of all the moments Shisui could have spoiled, why did it have to be this one.
The elder Uchiha was entirely too smug and Itachi could feel the unaffected look he adopted specifically for his cousin slip over his features. Reactions were what his cousin lived off of, what had him coming back for more.
Sakura had scrambled away, her flight instinct kicking in long before she registered that it was Shisui. Or maybe it was because it was Shisui that she dove into the lake waters, disappearing into its depths, leaving Itachi to deal with the too-smug Uchiha.
"Was that entirely necessary?" Itachi asked finally, suppressing a sigh.
"I figured you weren't just doing research,"
"I didn't figure you wanted a play by play of my personal life" was Itachi's dry response.
"Its like you don't know me at all little cousin." Shisui's held a hand to his heart in mock offence.
Itachi stood to his feet, brushing off his clothes, before turning to walk back to the castle grounds. Already he was wondering how long it would take to get rid of Shisui. Significantly shorter if Sakura chose to remain elusive. In the mean time, he had to put up with the elder demons taunting.
Entertaining Shisui was a task Itachi never had bothered to undertake, Shisui was quite good at keeping himself occupied. Really the opposite was true, when his elder cousin was like this it was best to avoid him, and when that became an impossibility the other option was to lead him to a state of complete boredom. A task somewhat more easily accomplished given the crafty demon's rather limited attention span.
"So, this is where you have been spending all this time?" Shisui marveled as Itachi settled himself in a comfortable chair in the library content to read till Shisui tired of his prodding.
"Hn" was Itachi's only response.
"Get very far on taking the curse off the Siren?"
Itachi lifted his eyes from his book in blank surprise. So Shisui hadn't heard Sakura's first two words. That could definitely be to his benefit, or more accurately, to her benefit. Perhaps getting rid of Shisui would be easier if he allowed Sakura to do it. The thought brought him great amusement that he was careful to keep from reaching his face. Shisui knew him better than anyone, except for maybe Sasuke, he would be able to read the smallest emotional inflection in his features.
"Hn" was his only response.
"I'll take that as a no" Shisui perused the bookshelves idly, stepping back to flip through a stack of books Itachi had piled on the desk.
The assumption that he had been unsuccessful rankled Itachi's pride, more than Shisui's sneaking up on them did. Itachi's patience wouldn't take long to wear thin if Shisui continued to insult him in such a manor. This was Itachi's territory, he had clearly marked it out with warding spells, but Shisui, of any demon he knew, was the least likely to recognize common etiquette. Rising to the slight now would only prove to the nosey demon that there was something here he felt protective of, and any fool who knew anything about him would know it wasn't the landscape that held the significance.
"Must have found something you liked in the little Siren to go back for her after so long" Shisui pressed, drawing conclusions and assumptions that were sure to rankle the Uchiha heir.
"Hn"
The lack of response finally drew a scowl from Shisui.
"Figured she was better between the sheets than any other partner?" another assumption, looking to bring a rise from the younger male.
"Hn" neither yes nor no. Itachi was being far more successful at riling Shisui.
"Well I am going to go down to the baths, I do expect to see the little pink haired imp at the evening meal"
Itachi almost smirked, but managed to keep his face neutral even as Shisui examined his features. Shisui might see Sakura sooner than that, then again, he might never see her coming.
Shisui descended the stone steps down to the baths, not bothering to awaken the fairy lights, relying on his Sharingan to navigate his way through the black. A tuneless whistle proceeded him, along with the foolish assumption that he was alone down in the lower portions of the mountain.
He had left his clothing in his room, there was no one here to impress with decency. Or so he thought, Sakura was still down at the lake, he would have noticed if she came up the winding mountain path. Ignorance was his downfall.
He had already lounging in the warm water when the haunting song started. So quiet at first that it could hardly be heard above the gurgling of the spring cycling fresh water into the pools. It rose in volume and by the time he sat upright to better hear and take note of the haunting strains he had already been snared under her compulsion.
The music gained strength, and Shisui abruptly became aware of the way his limbs were beginning to drag. He swore and jerked upright in the water, splashing to the edge and attempting to haul himself out with clumsy fingers. He slipped and fell with a splash back into the water, cursing again. He sharingan flickered off and his eyelids drooped. He sank back, struggling with the betrayal of his body.
She appeared then, all he could see was her bare feet as the stalked forward. Only the gurgle of water and the painful beauty of her song could be heard. Then he was gone beneath the tide of his subconscious.
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So enters Shisui. Nothing from Sakura's POV yet folks, sorry. Maybe next chapter.
So I have recently gotten onto Tumblr and am starting to figure things out over there. Please go check me out, I am posting story prompts and the like from stories of my own. If there is a demand for it I might post some Sakura/Itachi prompts over there. Or maybe people could send me prompts for this pairing that they would like me to write a story for. I work mostly in Fantasy AU, but that is pretty flexible, let me know what you wanna see and if I am feeling inspired I might post some more stories here. My name is LinzEJoe over there. Drop me a line, but have patience with me, I have no idea what I am doing over there yet.
R&R