A/N: I know this story is 4 chapters in and I haven't put any disclaimer up yet, but: obviously I don't own Naruto, I only own any OCs that are created in my story, though so far all three have died.

I try my best to update when I can, but since July I've been working 80h a week so I don't have that much time for creative writing :(

Your feedback is very helpful, so please make sure to leave a review, or PM me. Also, don't be shy to ask any questions!

Enjoy the next chapter.

Over the next week after Shisui's first visit, the hospital staff began reducing the number of painkillers the pink haired child was being given in hopes that she would be released soon. They weren't being heartless, they had an unusually high number of casualties and the little girl's parents could take care of her at home seeing as nothing could be done about her leg, save for amputation.

Sakura wasn't able to get more than 2 straight hours of sleep at a time seeing as the nightmares were getting worse due to the decrease in medication. She would often see the two cloaked men kill her entire family while she was tied up to a tree and forced to watch and endure every agonizing scream coming from her mother, her father, her cousin, her aunt and her uncle. The worst nightmare was when the ANBU team never managed to rescue her in time and she was slowly tortured physically, mentally and emotionally by the blue-eyed man. He would slowly carve her skin off inch by inch, including her eyelids and throw her into a lake; at which point she would wake up crying and throat raw from screaming.

The doctors had to repair her vocal chords several times and eventually, they had to tie her down when she was sleeping for fear that the little girl would eventually manage to scratch her own eyes out.

Shisui had been visiting Sakura every day for one full week when he entered her room and found her folded onto herself and crying. If he was being honest with himself, he was surprised that she hadn't broken down earlier considering everything she'd been through. He sat down on her hospital bed and pulled her gently into a hug, always being mindful of her leg.

Her other injuries were healing nicely, though they would all leave deep scars on her body. The doctors spent an hour each day looking over her injuries and trying to mend her shattered leg. Unfortunately, they had told Sakura that her leg would never be 100% but she still hoped that she would at least be able to walk on it though she wasn't holding her breath.

Sakura held onto Shisui, no longer able to put up a strong front. The nightmare she had the previous night was the most vivid nightmare she had had since being rescued. The smell of the grass underneath her, the sound of flesh tearing apart and the ringing screams of agony stayed with her even after she woke up. She had tried everything to stop her heart from pounding in her chest and the churning in her stomach but nothing helped. She had been living in her nightmare for an hour before she felt the familiar chakra approaching her room. At that point, her mind was playing tricks on her, yelling at her that a familiar chakra meant that the blue-eyed man was coming to get her and she froze while being hunched over herself, crying.

"P-please... make it s-stop." She sobbed quietly, not sure what Shisui could do to help.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Shisui asked as his blood ran cold, only fearing the worst. He tried to hide the panic in his voice but failed miserably when all he could feel was Sakura's trembling body.

The little girl looked into Shisui's eyes and he was taken aback by the sheer amount of terror and helplessness in her eyes. He had seen the same look during the third shinobi war on seasoned veterans as they realized that only death awaited them. He couldn't tear his eyes away from hers as she spoke.

"I can't stop the nightmare" She began softly "They won't stop screaming, I want them to stop!" She quickly turned away from Shisui as her stomach churned, but began shrieking in pain when she moved her shattered leg. The pain set in and the young girl couldn't tolerate it as she bawled her eyes out and failed at taking in deep breaths.

Shisui did the only thing he could think of when he panicked, he forced Sakura to look into his blood red eyes and put her under a genjutsu. She slumped instantly into his arms, and he took a few breaths to calm himself down.

He prided himself on being an ANBU member, capable of leading his own squad and making life and death decisions every day. He always remained calm, always stayed level headed even when a teammate was near death, but for some reason, for this child, he panicked when she was the slightest bit distraught.

Her eyes were the window to her soul and displayed every raw emotion and her vulnerability to the world. Shisui wanted to protect her from every evil in the world, and secretly hoped she would not become a shinobi in order to reduce her chances of being hurt, but he promised himself that he would help her get strong if she became a genin in several years.

He had become quite close to Sakura over the past week; she was so very fond of all the stories he told her about his missions and anything else shinobi related, while he enjoyed any and all the stories she told him and was captivated by her ability to shift from a mature 6-year-old to a silly 6-year-old. She loved to talk about her aunt and uncle; it was clear the three had been very close, they were her shinobi parents, the only people to support her dream of following in their footsteps.

He had learned a lot about the girl; most notably the fact that she only had one friend her own age, and got bullied constantly when she tried to make new ones. She had once tried to defend a young yellow haired boy her own age from other kids who had begun to throw rocks and hurl insults; only to have the young boy miraculously get away when she distracted the other kids by shifting their attention onto her. Shisui greatly admired Sakura's desire to protect others even if they were strangers - it was something he strongly believed in - despite the fact that she was so small and unintimidating.

Unfortunately, ever since the day she had stood up the boy, the other children made sure to bully her the most for trying to be a hero. Sakura almost stopped going to the park altogether; she only went when she was meeting her friend there to play. She spent most of her time at home either with her aunt and uncle when they weren't on missions or reading the multitude of books at her disposal.

When she had been brought to the hospital, the only book in her possession had been her aunt's birthday present on chakra theory. Luckily for her, when Shisui had offered to bring her more books, he had found a book on her bed. The book, Poisonous Plants, was a birthday present from her uncle with a note that said he would start teaching her about poisons, so she should familiarize herself with the basics of poisons.

She had cried the night Shisui had brought her the book, with the knowledge that her uncle would never be able to teach her what he had wanted to. She spent most of the time when Shisui wasn't visiting her crying, mourning her aunt and uncle and trying to mend her broken heart.

Once Shisui calmed down after placing the child under a genjutsu, he went to search for her doctor to get an update on her condition. He had been informed that she would be discharged in a couple of weeks at the latest, since there was nothing they could do to heal her leg any further.

He quickly headed into town to grab some snacks for Sakura and himself before he broke her out of the genjutsu. The pain would probably subside within the hour, and he would be there to break her out and serve as distraction to her earlier nightmare.

He was a few blocks away from the market when he left his cousin's chakra nearby. Shisui quickly body flickered behind Itachi and tried to grab onto his arm. It was a game the two had been playing for years, as a way to test each other's skills. They had to reach out and touch the other without getting caught; this would work on their ability to hide their chakra and their ability to sense chakra as well. In their 4 years of playing this game, the score was tied at 2-2, and it had been 2 years since the last point had been made.

Itachi easily stepped away from Shisui's hand and turned around with a smirk.

"I sensed you before you body flickered, you're not hiding your chakra very well." Itachi stated as he took in his cousin's appearance. Shisui looked stressed which was something that rarely ever happened.

"Definitely not my best attempt that's for sure." Shisui said as he scratched the back of his head with his hand and an obviously fake smile plastered on.

"What's wrong?"

"I panicked with Sakura this morning, I didn't know what to do. She moved her leg and was in so much pain so I put her under a genjutsu. I was just so nervous." Shisui explained as he continued walking towards the market, Itachi following alongside him. "Do you think you can come visit her with me today? I'd really like you to meet her, she reminds me so much of you."

"Just because we both like reading books?"

"You both read the same kind of books; theory about chakra and anything else that no normal person would read." Shisui teased his cousin as he nudged him in the arm playfully. "There's something else too, but I can't quite put my finger on it, she can be so serious about life and she has such a big heart, always putting others before herself."

Itachi could hear the reverence for the young child in his cousin's voice which pleased him. He was very surprised at how quickly Shisui had become close to the pink haired girl they had saved about a week ago, usually Shisui avoided close relationships for fear of being betrayed or losing someone important.

Itachi still had a few more hours before his mother wanted to go shopping with him and his brother for new clothes which meant he could finally meet the injured child. He wouldn't admit it to Shisui but he was very curious to see what was so special about this girl for Shisui to instantly take a liking to her and visit her for hours every day.

"I can't right now, I have to eat first" Itachi bluffed just to see Shisui's reaction. The younger cousin was not disappointed when he glanced over and saw Shisui's disgruntled expression.

"No. We're getting you food and bringing it to the hospital with us, I have to get back to her, I should break her out of the genjutsu. I'll get enough food for the three of us, go to the hospital, I'll meet you there." With that Shisui body flickered away before Itachi could respond.

Itachi let out a quiet sigh and started to walk towards the hospital. This was a whole new side of Shisui he was going to have to get used to. It seems that his cousin had very little patience when it came to the pink haired girl so Itachi shouldn't push him too much. Most people were under the impression that the prodigious Uchiha clan heir was incapable of showing any form of emotion, the truth was that he only felt comfortable enough around one person to be himself and show his true colours and that was Shisui. The two had gotten close over the past few years after they discovered that they both were fiercely loyal to their village. They trained together and, once Itachi was able to, they completed missions together. Itachi continued on his way to the hospital while holding down the smirk he was so tempted of letting the world see as he thought of his best friend.

The last thing Sakura saw were Shisui's teary blood red eyes spinning. As soon as she looked into his eyes, her world shifted and she was sitting in a field of white lilies. The sun was shining down on her while birds circled above and all she could feel was a warmth inside of her like she was finally at peace. She basked in the sun for a while, simply listening to nature around her and enjoying life.

She didn't know how long she just laid down on the grass, but it felt like hours had passed before she stood up. Her mind automatically went into panic mode at the fact that her leg didn't hurt at all. Her heart began racing as a feeling of terror crept up through her body sending chills down her spine. At that moment, she could feel that something was terribly wrong and the world shifted away from flowers in the field to her hospital room.

She looked around the room and saw Shisui walking towards her bed with food containers. She shifted her gaze to look him in the eyes and saw the familiar onyx coloured eyes she had grown used to seeing for the past week. His eyes held a warmth which immediately calmed her down and she felt safe - even the tendril monster wouldn't be able to get to her with her knight in shining armour around.

Sakura also felt a second familiar chakra signature in the hallway, coming towards her room. It was not as warm like Shisui's; it was cool and sharp. While Shisui's chakra seemed to engulf her, and form a protective cocoon, this other felt like a reassuring presence, like a gentle hand on your shoulder set there for reassurance, letting you know that you are not alone.

A young boy walked through the room door; he had long black hair tied in a low ponytail, onyx eyes and held himself proudly. She could tell this boy was confident and powerful just by his posture; she also saw a very brief flash of sympathy in his eyes but it was gone less than one second later. Sakura tried to find a hint of emotion in his eyes thereafter but couldn't for the life of her, it was as if he blocked himself off from the world completely.

"Princess, this is Itachi, the cousin I was telling you about. He was on my team when we saved you." Shisui told the girl as he handed her one of the food containers. She accepted the food happily, took one bite of her fried rice and looked at the newcomer.

"Hi Itachi-san, it's nice to meet you. My name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura." She introduced herself with pride - she absolutely loved meeting new people, it was a chance for her to make a new friend. She had already doubled her friend count with the addition of Shisui; the thought of getting a third friend was thrilling.

Itachi hummed in agreement; he was never much of a talker when meeting someone new, even if this child was close to his brother's age. The first thing he had noticed when he walked through the door were bright emerald eyes and cotton candy pink hair. The two colours were such an oddly beautiful combination that he was frozen speechless until Shisui nudged him out of his daze.

Sakura continued eating her food in silence as she watched the two boys settle down with their own containers. Shisui sat down at the end of her bed with his legs crossed, facing her - like he usually did - and Itachi sat down on the plastic chair next to the bed while shooting curious glances at Shisui. Shisui was always mindful and sat next to her good leg in order to not accidentally jostle the shattered leg. She looked at her friend and could tell that he was itching to say something, but was hesitating. His eyes met hers and she silently implored him to say something and smiled brightly when he nodded his head while scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Umm... when we came in, there was a flare of chakra. What happened?" Shisui silently asked, genuinely curious as to how this child broke free of his genjutsu; granted it wasn't a very powerful one, but a genjutsu cast by a sharingan nonetheless.

"I remember looking at your eyes, but they were red." At this, Itachi focused his attention on her, ignoring his food. "Then I woke up in a field of white flowers, it was so peaceful. But when I stood up, my leg didn't hurt. I shouldn't have been able to stand up, so I panicked and woke up in this room. I guess I woke up from the dream."

Shisui's smile was so bright, Itachi couldn't help but give a small smile. The younger boy felt inexplicable pride for the girl, being able to break out of the genjutsu without actively thinking about it. She was able to realize that something was wrong and subconsciously disrupt her chakra flow enough to break free. It may have just been a fluke, but it was still a remarkable feat for a child so young.

Shisui quickly went to sit down next to Sakura and engulfed her in a bear hug, causing the girl's eyes to widen and blush furiously. He pulled away after several seconds and spoke as he brought his hand up to the top of her head "You're amazing princess! I put you under a genjutsu to stop your nightmare and you broke free of it on your own!".

Shisui ruffled Sakura's hair and noticed that the girl's smile was the brightest it had ever been, with tears gathering in her eyes and she quickly brought both her hands up and put them on top of Shisui's, holding his hand on top of her head. She sobbed quietly and guided Shisui's hand to ruffle her hair some more, all the while feeling elated at the gesture.

"I'm sorry princess, I didn't mean to make you cry." Shisui exclaimed, quite unsure of what to do in this situation.

"I-I-It's ok… you did nothing wrong, I just...it means so much to me. My aunt and uncle used to…" She trailed off with a watery smile and sniffling.

Shisui understood that the simple gesture of ruffling her hair actually meant the world to her, so he continued to do so and pulled her in for another hug. It was clear to him that Sakura craved simple touches and hugs that her aunt and uncle could no longer give her.

Itachi sat, feeling oddly like he was intruding on a special moment, and looked out the window while they finished up. He noticed Shisui turning his head in his direction and chanced a look at his cousin. The relief and adoration shone through Shisui, who had a few tears running down his cheek. Itachi felt a pang of jealousy at Shisui's ease of expressing himself, not afraid to show weakness to himself and now this pink haired girl. His only thought was of his father's stern reaction if he was to ever show any weakness and sighed sadly.

Itachi had left a few hours after getting to the hospital, claiming he had some shopping to do with his family, for which Shisui teased him and surprisingly, Sakura added in a few jabs, having felt that Itachi could be considered a friend. Itachi had sighed, stating that Shisui was a bad influence for her, but she just shot back a bright, mischievous smile which warmed Itachi's heart.

Shisui stayed with Sakura for another hour before having to go on a short mission. He promised her that he would be back the next day and he would bring a book on genjutsu with him so she could have varied reading material.

He ruffled her hair one last time before leaving, at which she told him to be safe. He walked down the hall and saw her doctor walking towards him. He stopped to talk to the doctor to get an update on her situation.

"She's doing a lot better, her injuries have all healed enough for her to be discharged next week, with the exception of her leg but there's nothing we can do for that. I highly doubt she will ever be able to use the leg given the extent of the damage. The bones that shattered pierced her muscles and cartilage which is irreparable with our skillset. It may be best that we amputate the leg so she won't be in constant pain."

"No! I mean, I can talk to her about it, but I don't think she would be alright with that." Shisui stated, horrified that they could even think of cutting off his princess' leg - she would never become a shinobi if she was missing a leg.

"I mean no offense, but I think this would be a decision for her and her parents to make. Not an Uchiha that has nothing to do civilians." The doctor stated as he left Shisui standing in the hallway.

Shisui took a moment to scold himself for taking charge of the girl when she still had parents - parents that were out of town and had no idea what had happened to their daughter. He hoped her parents would be arriving soon, but the way Sakura had spoken, they would only arrive in two weeks time at the earliest, which meant that she would be discharged before they returned home.

He tried his best to prepare for his mission and not get worried about Sakura. It was his first time leaving the village since he had saved her, and he didn't like it - he didn't like leaving her alone - so he made his way to the Uchiha leader's house before leaving for his mission. He knocked on the door and a beautiful woman answered with a warm smile on her face.

"Shisui-kun, how nice of you to stop by. Did you want to join us for dinner?"

"I can't today aunt Mikoto, I have to speak to Itachi before I leave for my mission, is he in?"

"He should be out in the yard training. Tell him to be at the table in 10 minutes and to make sure Sasuke is all cleaned up!" The Uchiha matriarch told him as he headed to the yard where he and Itachi spent a lot of their time training together.

He spotted Itachi trying to meditate with Sasuke in the middle of the open field; only Sasuke was fidgeting constantly, not used to sitting still for more than 5 minutes. Shisui stopped and made sure his chakra was completely masked before he put his plan into action. He created a shadow clone and sent him slowly walking towards Itachi, with its chakra not completely masked. When the clone was a quarter of the way to Itachi, Shisui body flickered in front of his cousin and reached out to poke his forehead - something Itachi always did to Sasuke - in order to take the lead in their game.

Itachi disappeared from in front of him, so Shisui did the next best thing and dropped flat to the ground and turned onto his back in time to see Itachi's hand above him. Shisui snickered as he looked at Itachi in the eyes and congratulated him on sensing him.

"Nii-san, you're done meditating?!" Sasuke exclaimed as he climbed onto Itachi's back.

"For now, yes, seeing as Shisui interrupted me" Itachi mock scolded as he stood up and held onto Sasuke's legs.

"Your mother said to be in the house in 10 minutes and to make sure Sasuke gets washed up. Also… if it's not too much to ask for, Itachi, can you check up on Sakura until I come back?" Shisui asked shyly. Itachi looked at his cousin with one eyebrow slightly raised - a clear sign of utter confusion for Itachi.

"Aren't you coming back in less than 24 hours?"

"Yeah, but I'd feel a lot better if I knew… if I know you would check in on her. I-I just… I just worry about her being alone." Shisui stammered out but noticed the smirk that made its way onto his cousin's face.

"I'll go see her tonight and tomorrow morning." Itachi reassured Shisui.

"Who are you going to go see?" Sasuke chimed in, his curiosity piqued.

"She's a young girl who's in the hospital and can't go home yet." Shisui informed his younger cousin.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She was hurt, but she's getting better, the doctors are helping her. She should be good to go home next week." Shisui informed his cousins with an ear to ear grin.

They reached the back door and Itachi kneeled down to let Sasuke get off his back. Sasuke stood in front of his brother, looking at the floor and kicking the ground with his feet shyly. He looked up into his brother's eyes and said "Can I go see her with you nii-san?" wanting to stick by his brother's side at all times.

Itachi brought up his hand and poked Sasuke's forehead "I'm sorry Sasuke, maybe next time. I promised your mother you would be in bed earlier tonight."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead and scowled at his brother. "You always say that." He turned around and ran into the house to go wash up before the meal.

Itachi straightened up and watched Sasuke leave with a twinge of guilt. He didn't like denying Sasuke anything, but he always did it with Sasuke's best interest in mind. If Itachi brought Sasuke to meet Sakura, he would always want to go to the hospital and his father would not approve of Sasuke having non Uchiha friends, especially not a civilian.

"I'll be leaving now, thanks again Tachi-chan." Shisui said happily as he slapped Itachi back before body flickering away.

Itachi's eyebrow was twitching at the name Shisui had called him. A few years ago, Shisui had begun calling him 'Tachi-chan' to get a rise out of him; at first Itachi had ignored it and pretended it didn't bother him. Shisui kept calling him that and eventually, Itachi's eyebrow developed an automatic twitch every time he heard that name.

Sakura had finished reading her book about poisons and was getting ready to reread the theory on chakra when she felt Itachi nearing her room. She waited, and smiled when he stopped just before her door and knocked.

"You can come in Itachi-san"

Itachi slowly opened the door and walked into the room. He looked incredibly unsure of what to do once inside and Sakura had to stifle her laughter for fear of making him even more uncomfortable. He looked around the room, frequently stopping his gaze out the window.

"I-I was going to read one of my books again. I don't know all the words, there are some pretty difficult one. D-do you think you could help me with them?" She asked quietly, hoping to make him more comfortable. She glanced at him and saw that he was looking at her with the smallest hint of a smile on his face, which helped Sakura relax.

Itachi hummed in agreement and took a seat on the plastic chair that remained beside the girl's bed. She opened her book and began flipping through the pages, searching for a specific chapter she was having some difficulties with the other day.

For the next few hours, Sakura read through her book and occasionally asked Itachi to help with the pronunciation and definition of certain words. At first, Itachi stayed sitting in the chair, but after a while Sakura insisted he sit on her bed to make it easier.

Itachi was very hesitant, seeing as he never got close enough to anyone aside from Sasuke, his mother and Shisui for physical contact, but once he sat on the bed, Sakura made sure to not brush up against him. She seemed to respect his silent request for personal space which he appreciated very much.

After a few hours of reading, Sakura started drifting off to sleep while reading about a chakra control exercise involving a leaf. Itachi sat back and watched the child's eyes shut more and more until her breathing finally evened out. He slowly reached out and moved the book from her lap, saving her place with her bookmark in the shape of the village insignia. He placed the book on her bed, making sure it stayed within reach so she could grab when she wanted to continue reading it. Before leaving, he glanced back at Sakura and felt bad at her uncomfortable position; she had to either sleep sitting up or read laying down since she couldn't move her leg whenever she wanted. He reached out and pulled the blankets up to better cover her and keep her warm while she slept, then went home, all the while thinking understanding how Shisui managed to get so close to the girl during the past week.

Shisui finished his mission and quickly ran back to the village as if the devil was chasing him. He trusted Itachi to check up on Sakura, but he still wanted to see her and make sure everything was alright. He felt very silly worrying about her; as he was gone for less than 24 hours, but he couldn't help it, she was just too precious to him.

He had made the eight-hour trek back to the village in five hours and went directly to the hospital, excited to see his princess. He told himself he would check up on her, stay for an hour then go home to sleep; seeing as he'd only had two hours of sleep in the past 35 hours. It was ten in the morning, Itachi would have stopped by to see Sakura two hours ago when visiting hours would have started.

Shisui quickly made his way to Sakura's hospital room, a route he could now do with his eyes closed if he wanted to and entered. He was not expecting to see Itachi sitting with Sakura and talking with her. Sure, Itachi was capable of talking, but he never voluntarily spoke with another human being for more than one sentence. The strangest thing of all was that Sakura was making up a story on the spot and Itachi gave his input to participate in the creative process. Shisui was flabbergasted, his whole world had been turned upside down in the matter of seconds. His eyes bled red to release the genjutsu - this was the only explanation as to why Itachi was acting the way he was - but nothing happened.

Sakura and Itachi had stopped discussing the possibilities of animals developing intricate chakra networks more advanced than humans and subsequently gaining control of the world to look at Shisui's shocked expression. Sakura burst out laughing while Itachi smirked, laughing at their friend's expense.

"What… what… why… how did… what the hell is going on here?" Shisui stammered out, not quite sure what he wanted to ask them, but determined to find out if this was actually a genjutsu that could not be dispelled by the sharingan.

"Whatever do you mean dear cousin?" Itachi teased Shisui. The latter sharply turned his head towards Itachi, bewildered expression fixed on his face.

"I'm sorry Shisui-san. I couldn't help it." Sakura managed to say between her fits of giggles, which only served to confused Shisui even more.

"It was Sakura's idea to pull a prank on you, she claims it would be a nice welcome home surprise for you." Itachi explained, not fully wanting to tell his cousin that he actually enjoyed going along with Sakura's plan. He had never really pulled a fast one on anyone before and the enjoyment he got from it served to make him even more at ease with the two others currently in the room with him.

Shisui silently walked over to Sakura's bed and sat down next to her. He tried to keep a straight face, not wanting to encourage her for her prank, but the light dancing in her eyes was enough to crack even the most stoic Uchiha; Shisui grinned silly before ruffling Sakura's hair. Her plan was actually pretty unbelievable when he stopped to think about it. She had managed to get Itachi of all people to go along with a prank - he still couldn't believe Itachi had done something so out of character, no one would ever believe him if he ever tried to tell the story.

Itachi made his way to the other side of Sakura's bed and leaned - he actually leaned - on the bed while Shisui kept messing up Sakura's hair as she laughed with glee. Itachi's hand twitched, he was tempted to ruffle Sakura's hair, she truly was the easiest child to take a liking to. She was remarkably mature for a six year old, and could easily read the people around her. He had noticed her leaning towards him when he was helping her with her reading, but she always caught herself before she would touch him and created more space between them.

Before leaving, Shisui took out a scroll and unsealed a book he had bought during his mission. He gave Sakura a book on medical ninjutsu, stating that he couldn't find any book on genjutsu, so he got her a different book that also required excellent chakra control. He knew she was a natural just by the fact that she was already able to sense another person's chakra fairly well. She was a bit confused at first, but accepted the book nonetheless; it was a new subject she could spend her waking hours devouring.

Two days after Shisui returned from his mission, he and Itachi were called to the Hokage tower along with Shiranui Genma and Hatake Kakashi for an ANBU mission. The first thought Shisui had when he heard about the mission was Sakura; he would be away from the village for 2 weeks. The team was to meet at the gates in 4 hours, which left him next to no time to figure out what he could do for the girl. If memory served him right, she was to be discharged from the hospital within the week and her parents weren't back from their business trip, which meant that she would have no way of getting home.

Shisui went home to pack for his extended mission, and arrived at the hospital 45 minutes after leaving the Hokage tower; 3 hours and 15 minutes left before departure. He went to see Sakura's doctor who was obviously occupied with another patient for an entire hour. Shisui tried to reel in his irritation when he saw the doctor leave the patient's room with a grin on his face. It didn't help that Shisui saw a young woman adjusting her skirt with flushed cheeks. He body flickered in front of the doctor, adamant that he would get his attention for Sakura's sake.

"Doctor," he started "I was wondering if it would be possible for me to bring Sakura home today."

"You are not one of her parents, so I cannot simply discharge her without their permission" the doctor stated blatantly.

"Her parents are still out of the village and won't return for another couple of weeks. I am the one taking care of her, but-"

"Hospital regulations, I cannot discharge a patient without parental care. Definitely not to a child" The doctor spat out sharply before he turned to walk the other direction.

Shisui's anger was reaching his tipping point due to the blatant rejection and his inability to help Sakura. He took a deep breath and activated his mangekyou sharingan and focused on the doctor who was walking away quickly.

"You will release Sakura into my charge right this moment." Shisui nearly growled out.

The doctor stopped in his tracks and finally looked at Shisui and said "I will sign the discharge papers and bring them to her room immediately."

Shisui let the smirk on his face grow as he walked towards Sakura's room, feeling a bit silly that he had to resort to his visual prowess for such a small task, but he didn't have time to argue, he had to be at the front gates in just under two hours.

He felt for Sakura's chakra and smiled when he felt it was relaxed; it didn't happen often but once in awhile she wasn't scared out of her mind due to her nightmares. He walked through the door and felt a strange warmth when he saw her ridiculously big smile aimed at him.

"Shisui-san!" Sakura exclaimed "Thank you so much for the book, I love it!"

Shisui simply walked up to his princess and ruffled her hair as he sat down on her bed. He faced her and studied her face; she had small bags under her eyes - they were just barely noticeable if you stood close to her, but still there - which was not good for a child her age. He was saddened that he was not able to help her through her nightmares during the night, but relished in the fact that he would be there for her after his mission.

"Princess, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come right out and say it ok?" At this, Sakura gave him a curious yet worried look. Dammit, he didn't pick the right words, he should have given it more thought as to how to word everything. "It's just that… well, your parents aren't back yet, and probably won't be back for a couple of weeks, right?" he asked the girl. She nodded slowly which prompted him to continue. He took a deep breath and rushed his next sentence "The doctor said you would be discharged within the week and I won't be here because I have a mission, but I can bring you home today- right now if you're ready to go."

Sakura stared at him for what felt like an eternity before she shyly looked down at her leg and gave a light nod. She looked up at Shisui with a small smile, teary eyes and choked out "I'd like that but...but what about my leg? Won't it hurt if I move it? I can't… I can't even walk on it."

"We'll figure it out. We'll make it work, trust me." Shisui assured the girl, determined to cause her the least amount of pain possible, but aware of the fact that it would be an unpleasant trip home for her.

After the doctor had Shisui sign the discharge papers, and had given Sakura crutches along with pain killers, the Uchiha and pink haired child attempted the walk back to Sakura's house. At first, Shisui tried to carry her bridal style but that was quickly shot down when he touched her leg and she whimpered in pain. The only reasonable way of carrying her was to hold her close to his chest, and her chin resting on his shoulder.

The walk was slow going, and Shisui resigned his fate that he would be late to meet his team at the gates - their captain was going to be at least an hour late anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Sakura kept quiet on the way home, trying her best to ease the pain in her leg, but Shisui felt every twitch and every wince the child made along the way. He talked to her about everything and nothing to try to distract her, and even managed to make her laugh a few times; mostly when he pretended to speak like Itachi - well more like a robot than Itachi but it worked.

The two arrived at Sakura's house when Shisui was an hour and fifteen minutes late for meeting his team at the gates, but he didn't bat an eye; he was just so happy that Sakura was finally home. The house was two storeys tall and fairly large which helped Shisui make the decision that Sakura would have to be set up on the first floor so she could have access to the kitchen.

He went to her room and grabbed her mattress, blankets, pillows and the stuffed wolf that was laying on her bed and brought it downstairs. He set up her bed between the bathroom and the kitchen - basically in the hallway - and helped her in it. He brought her crutches over and at her insistence he left to meet his team, all the while reassuring him that she would be alright; she could crawl to the bathroom and the kitchen if needed. He did take out all the food in the cupboards and placed them on the ground so she wouldn't have to throw things to knock food to the ground.

He reluctantly left Sakura's house after he made sure she had access to every possible thing she could want or need for the next four weeks, in the event that his mission ran longer than expected. He made his way to the front gates of the village and noticed that his captain was there; which Shisui was already expecting, seeing as he was two and a half hours late.

"Goddammit Shisui! What the fuck took you so long, even Kakashi beat you here." Genma blurted out when Shisui body flickered next to him.

"Well you see," Shisui started, "I rescued a princess from her prison, then I had to escort her back to her humble abode and ensure she was safe from the monsters and dragons." When he finished, Shisui glanced at Itachi and could visibly see his cousin fighting the smirk that threatened to creep onto his face.

"That's… that's even less believable than Kakashi's excuses. You expect us to believe you saved a princess in the village? I know your nickname is shunshin no Shisui, but… seriously? Next time you should think of a more believable lie" Genma said incredulously as all four ANBU members left the village.