Beyond Words

Chapter Eight: Patience Pays Off

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Itachi contemplates their next plan of action in regards to the mission as he sits by the bed on one of the little bedside seats. It had started out well enough, but recently, they haven't been able to find any of their targets, nor have they been given the long awaited offer to join the organization. They have two more targets left, including the main target, Hasegawa Kajou. He knows he's repeatedly told Sakura to be patient, but he understands her exasperation in their current situation. The Uchiha's mind wanders to his petite partner as he sits by the warm fire, nursing a cup of medicinal tea recommended by her. He lets his eyes drift to her sleeping form on the bed and he notes the now healthy color of her face. She had recovered fairly well, thankfully, and Itachi is mildly impressed at her eagerness to continue the mission right away.

Finishing the rest of his tea, he places the cup in the sink and washes it before carefully climbing into bed so as not to disturb the pinkette also occupying it. It takes some time for Itachi to fall asleep and he thinks back to his actions earlier that evening.

0-0-0

Having nothing left to say, he decides to leave her alone and let her sleep. He very gently places a warm hand on the back of her neck and pulls her forward, placing a quick, soft kiss to her temple. "Just be careful. Goodnight, Sakura." He lets her go and makes his way to the washroom, leaving a wide-eyed, astounded Sakura behind, and a pool of squealing goo that was once Inner Sakura.

0-0-0

He inwardly smirks, gauging Sakura's reaction tomorrow. She will probably try to act as though nothing happened, but will fail miserably because she won't even be able to look him in the eye. Itachi closes his eyes with a faint smile playing on his lips, letting sleep overcome his consciousness.

The Next Day

Sakura wakes up slowly, letting the warm morning sun soak her face. She incoherently notes that there is another source of warmth which isn't the sun, somewhere nearby. Blinking her sleepy eyes, she sees nothing but black in front of her face and it takes some time, but she eventually realizes that it's the fabric of her partner's shirt and that she's curled up into a small ball, her head lightly pressed against Itachi's arm.

What?

She feels her face heat up at the compromising position she finds herself in, not for the first time in the past few days, and she absently wonders why someone up there loves to put h her in such uncomfortable positions. As slowly as she can, she moves herself to the far end of their shared bed, trying her damned hardest not to wake—

"Good morning, Sakura," she hears his smooth velvety tenor say, not at all roughened by sleep, which means he's been awake for some time.

Oh. Hell.

Sakura freezes wide-eyed, suddenly feeling like a young child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She can practically feel his amusement emanating from him.

"Good morning, Itachi," she squeaks out in a voice smaller than she would have liked. She chances a glance up at him, and as she had predicted, his charcoal eyes are glinting with amusement and his signature smirk is in its place.

He sits up casually, leaning his back against the headboard. "How was your sleep?" he asks good-naturedly, his eyes still clearly teasing her.

Deciding to steel herself against his teasing, she sits up and meets her partner's gaze. Sakura immediately feels her resolve crumble under his smoldering charcoal eyes as he watches her.

"I slept well, and you?" she manages to get out, pleased that it is not the squeak she had released earlier.

"I slept very well, thank you," he returns easily.

Sakura sits under his gaze, fidgeting uncomfortably at the silence that settles over them. Itachi, however, seems to be completely comfortable just watching his partner dart her eyes to various parts of their little cottage; anywhere but at him. He can't help but notice that although she had just woken up, and even with her sleep-mussed hair, there is something undeniably attractive and beautiful about her; an ethereal, natural beauty, reserved only for an enchantress.

Said enchantress chances a glance at her partner and catches him watching her with a look that can only be described as affectionate which makes her breath catch in her throat, and with a soft gasp and a cute blush, she looks away once more. She supposes that the possibility of last night never actually happening can be ruled out, if the look on Itachi's face is anything to go by.

The corner of Itachi's lips curl upward at the impossibly endearing kunoichi sitting in front of him. It's not that she had caught him watching her with blatant interest, but rather that he had allowed her to see. He no longer sees a reason to disguise his interest in her and after yesterday, he's certain that she's already aware of his attraction to her.

"Umm…" Sakura trails uncomfortably.

Deciding to save her from further embarrassment, he flashes her a rare smile, which Inner Sakura can only describe as 'heart-stoppingly gorgeous', before heading off to the kitchen to make them both breakfast.

For the second time in less than twelve hours, Sakura is left speechless, staring at Itachi's retreating figure. It takes a minute of two for her to break out of her stupor and follow him into the kitchen. Along the way, she tells herself that she absolutely cannot, will not, allow herself to fall for Itachi; whatever he's feeling now can only be temporary, and she doesn't think she'll be able to handle it when he tells her he's finally lost interest in her, if she allows her heart to be truly involved with him. Because really, how can Uchiha Itachi, youngest to join the ranks of ANBU, youngest to become an ANBU captain, and prized clan heir, among many other achievements, be interested in a mediocre kunoichi with a mostly civilian background—her father had been the only other shinobi in her family—and no family? Determined not to be too put off about this, she clears her mind of such thoughts.

Upon entering the little kitchen area, she sees Itachi looking into a pot of what seems to be boiling water, then depositing some noodles into the pot and then placing the lid back as he turns the heat of the stove down. He then moves to find a cutting board and a knife in one of the cupboards. Seeing Itachi working in the kitchen is a truly novel sight and he looks so uncharacteristically domestic that Sakura has to blink a few times to make sure she isn't just imagining this. She recalls Itachi bringing her food when she was sick, but she had never taken the time to consider that in order to bring her the food, he had to have cooked it first. And if she recalls correctly, his cooking had been fantastic. The entire idea of the famed Uchiha Itachi cooking, of all things, is quite laughable and Sakura has to fight to keep in a giggle that's threatening to free itself from her throat.

"Do you want some help?" she offers after some time and Itachi turns to regard her.

"Will you prepare the broth?" he asks, motioning to the unprepared vegetables.

Sakura nods wordlessly and falls into place beside her partner, easily cutting and preparing the vegetables. She can't help but feel like she's playing house and she wonders if this is how an idealistic couple would behave. Prepare breakfast, enjoy a good meal together, then perhaps sit and enjoy a few hours of each other's company—Sakura stops this particular train of thought before she gets too caught up in it to realize that it is not going to happen, especially not with Itachi. Such is the life of a shinobi.

She is pulled from her thoughts as a familiar warmth settles against her back, enveloping her in Itachi's masculine scent. He reaches past her from behind to get the seasonings from the cupboard in front of her. Sakura feels his warm breath and freezes at the lack of distance between them and the intimacy of their current position. She is tempted to lean back into his chest, but forces herself not to.

"The pot is nearly overflowing," he tells her in his smooth tenor, pleasantly noting her shivers at his close proximity.

Sakura's eyes widen in alarm and she turns the heat down immediately, stirring the contents of the boiling pot. The Uchiha smirks at the flustered kunoichi as he steps away from her, allowing her some space.

This will certainly be an interesting morning.

Sakura manages to get through the rest of breakfast preparations without making a complete fool of herself, and to her immense relief and mild, secret disappointment, Itachi does not come too close to her, other than a quick brush of their shoulders a few times, which she honestly does not mind. He notes amusedly that Sakura stubbornly refuses to meet his gaze for longer than two seconds and he smirks at the soft blush dusting her cheeks when she does.

"Itadakimasu," they say in unison as they begin to eat breakfast.

Breakfast is pleasant enough and Sakura is relived that her partner doesn't do anything to deliberately embarrass or fluster her because she is still determined to avoid the topic of Itachi's actions last night and any implications it may have.

"We will be returning to the village to investigate a possible headquarter site and follow up on a lead we received about one of our targets," Itachi informs Sakura after breakfast.

The petite medic nods her head in response, "I'll be ready in half an hour."

"Very well."

Sakura heads off to the washroom after cleaning up and she takes a quick shower before placing her usual henge on herself. She looks at her reflection in the mirror, seeing a brunette looking back at her with deep amber eyes similar to that of her shishou's. The shape of her eyes has also been altered from their once round, innocent shape to a narrower, more exotic shape. After one final check to make sure everything is right, she exits the washroom to find her partner already ready and waiting for her at the kitchen table. Sakura regards her partner with a slightly apologetic look on her face.

Itachi, now having hair a shade darker than her own in its usual ponytail at the nape of his neck and piercing blue eyes, nods, "Are you ready, Mai?"

"Hai, Takeo."

…..

Mai and Takeo enter the lounge of a small café in the Snow Village, making a bee-line for the counter to place an order before finding a slightly secluded table to sit at. They engage in simple, light conversation as the two asses the small, deceivingly quaint and peaceful café.

Takehashi Akemi, one of the targets on the mission list, is sitting a fair distance away and conversing with another girl.

"How do we get her alone?" Mai asks quietly.

"We simply wait for an opportunity," Takeo returns, equally quiet.

Much to Mai's inner irritation, they do just that. Akemi and her friend leave the café shortly and Mai and her partner follow soon after, hoping the target will leave her friend soon. However, the two spend a large part of the day together and it isn't until several hours later that they are able to get their target alone in an area secluded enough that they won't draw any attention getting the job done.

"I was wondering when you'd show yourselves," Akemi says after their surprise attack fails. Neither Mai nor Takeo reply; Instead, they drop their henge as it is an unnecessary waste of chakra. Their true identities are not immediate danger of being revealed because they're going to eliminate this threat soon enough anyway. Judging from her reaction, it seems that Akemi recognizes either the Uchiha clan or Itachi himself, for she visibly tenses as soon as he drops his henge and activates his sharingan.

"Just what is it you want from me?" Akemi asks boldly, but once again, Sakura and Itachi remain silent as they simply watch their target. "I recognize you both; you're Haruno Sakura," she says, motioning to the pinkette. "Student of the Fifth Hokage and infamous Copy-nin, Hatake Kakashi." Akemi then turns to Itachi, standing a fair distance from her. "And you're Uchiha Itachi, youngest person ever to graduate from the Academy in Konoha and to join the ranks of ANBU, as well as become a captain. Your reputations precede you."

This time, Itachi simply nods his head in acknowledgement before glancing briefly at Sakura. This seems to serve as some kind of signal, for at his command, they both launch into action. Anticipating their course of action, Akemi leaps a relatively safe distance away as she creates three bunshins of herself, launching them in Sakura's direction as she herself goes to face off against Itachi. Sakura and Itachi immediately sense that the bunshins are not ordinary ones and will not disappear until Akemi's chakra is completely depleted or she releases the jutsu. The two exchange glances briefly before returning their attention to their own respective opponents.

Sakura stands, crouched in a battle ready position, ready to move at any given moment as her opponents size her up. The bunshins predictably come at her all at once in a direct attack. She easily dodges the punches and kicks thrown her way and slams her chakra enhanced fist into the ground before leaping away to avoid the miniature earthquake. The Akemi bunshins are caught off guard and stumble in the flying rock and debris but soon jump away from the site. By the time they regroup and try to process what just happened, Sakura has already come up with a plan of action and is currently nowhere to be found. However, before the bunshins can take the time to look for her, she, along with two of her own clones, break through the ground beneath the three Akemi's, delivering chakra enhanced punches. The Akemi clones go flying upward but regain control of their situation soon enough. They realize that, like themselves, Sakura's clones will not disappear until her chakra supply has been depleted or she releases the jutsu. Sakura knows that all she can do now is stall these three and wait until Itachi can detain their target, or fight with them until they exhaust their chakra.

Itachi is some distance away dealing with the real Akemi. Like his partner, he waits for his opponent to make the first move, and like Akemi's clones, she does.

With a flurry of hand seals and a quiet whisper of "Doton: Doryuu Taiga," a land slide of mud comes rushing towards Itachi.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu," the Uchiha mutters. He lets out a huge fireball easily, drying the mud rushing towards him to hard dirt.

He suddenly disappears from his spot, only to reappear behind Akemi not a second later. He throws a hard kick to her side which she blocks with her arm. She, in turn, swivels around to deliver a kick of her own but finds that he's already moved. He's now on her right side, sending a barrage of creative blows. They engage in a taijutsu battle and in time, it becomes obvious that the two are very closely matched in terms of their Taijutsu abilities.

Seeing that they will get nowhere if they continue, Itachi leaps away, thinking of a different approach in detaining their target. Genjutsu would seem to be the obvious path to take, but he hasn't properly assessed her abilities and it could be potentially dangerous because she could turn his own technique on him. Although he's praised to be one of, if not the, best in genjutsu, he does not want to take any chances; for all he knows, she could be a specialist in genjutsu. So he supposes ninjutsu is the only other option he has left.

"Suiton: Suikoudan no Jutsu," he mutters quietly from his place. The snow around them that had melted from his Katon Jutsu immediately swirls around him, coming together in the form of a shark. The jutsu rushes towards Akemi and she does her best to avoid in, but it insistently pursues her.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" Akemi takes a deep breath and releases a stream of fire from her mouth, creating a barrier of fire in front of her. The wall of fire and the steam from the evaporated Suiton Jutsu obstruct her view and she misses Itachi making the appropriate hand seals for his next jutsu.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu." The fire dragon easily breaks through the barrier, catching her off guard. She is thrown back several yards from the force of the impact, her right side burned severely.

They continue in their struggle and Sakura can immediately tell that Akemi is getting tired. Her clones are slowing down and it's becoming easier to land a hit on them. Of course, she isn't in mint condition either; she has several injuries—none of which are fatal, however—along with a few broken bones, and her chakra supply is starting to run low, but she refuses to allow herself a break to heal herself or catch her breath. Then, catching Sakura off-guard, the Akemi clones disappear with a puff of smoke and she briefly wonders if Itachi has already finished the job. But she hears the sound of their battle still raging on and knows that can't be right.

Not bothering to stop and take a breather, Sakura releases her jutsu and her clones disappear and she rushes off to help Itachi. The Uchiha immediately senses the approach of his partner some distance away but it seems as though his opponent has not noticed it yet. He assumes she has already released her clones and that's why Sakura is on her way. He just hopes that she'll realize that she has the element of surprise.

They've resorted back to taijutsu now because Itachi had realized some time ago that he has an advantage over her because she's worn out from using her clones. Sensing a momentary lapse in concentration on her part, Itachi comes up behind her and forces her into a large, protruding piece of rock in the ground, twisting her arm at an unnatural angle and smirks in satisfaction at the pained gasp she lets out. She somehow twists free from his hold and he's forced to leap away from her to avoid her furious and nearly desperate punches and kicks. After some time, he manages to catch her weak spot and kicks her up into the air with every intention of breaking her bones on her way back down to earth. However, Sakura suddenly appears behind her and delivers a chakra enhanced punch, forcing her back down at unnatural speeds. Itachi quickly makes a large pile of snow, via a modified jutsu, to cushion her fall so she isn't killed immediately on contact with the ground from the impact. She is, however, knocked unconscious and the two waste no time in restraining her.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu." At Sakura's command, a black wolf is summoned. "I need you to take this body back to Konoha, Keitaro," she instructs her animal summons, petting his nose lightly. The wolf nuzzles into her hand affectionately before nodding obediently. He allows her to load the unconscious body without much hassle and disappears in smoke to fulfill his job.

Sakura doesn't know how she's missed it before, but Itachi has a large would stretching from his shoulder to his abdomen and is bleeding profusely, along with several less pressing injuries littered on his person.

"Itachi, you're hurt!" Sakura rushes to her partner's side and instructs him to sit down to make it easier on him and ease the stress of his body, but he stubbornly refuses, insisting they return to the cottage before starting any healing. "Stop being stubborn, you're seriously hurt" Sakura scolds him, having no patience for his oversized male ego right now. In the midst of her anger, she misses the way Itachi's pain hardened eyes soften slightly at her worried tone.

"I can make it," he tells her adamantly.

"Itachi," She growls menacingly.

They argue for a moment longer before Sakura finally gives up, deciding that every moment they spend arguing is another wasted not healing him.

They get back to their makeshift home soon enough and Sakura instructs her partner to discard his shirt and lay down on the bed while she washes her hands and gets the necessary supplies ready. When she sees his chest marred with several angry bruises along with many injuries, some still bleeding, she has to fight back her pained grimace. This isn't the worse she's seen, not by any stretch of the imagination, especially not with this particular patient, but that doesn't change the fact that his injuries are still extensive and must be causing him all kinds of pain, and his slightly labored breathing does it's part to worry her more as she rushes to her partner's side immediately.

She starts cleaning the blood off his chest first with warm water and a soft cloth and she feels his skin getting clammy and warm with a fever. She knows instantly that his wound is either infected or he has some kind of poison in his system. Now even more panicked than before—which is really saying something—she finishes up cleaning his wounds quickly and starts her assessment of his condition. As she had predicted, the large wound on his chest is infected and his body is fighting off the infection as best it can. His ribs are broken and are jabbing his lungs, making it difficult to breathe, which would account for his labored breathing.

Sakura wonders how the hell their targets are able to injure Itachi to this extent. Maybe next time, she needs to stay by him—but not get in the way, or stand on the sidelines, she quickly adds—just to watch his back and maybe deal with his injuries before they accumulate.

…..

It takes a grand total of six hours to finish heal Itachi's injuries, which isn't too bad, given the fact that her chakra level is dangerously low and has been for the entire time she's been healing her partner. Sakura feels her breath leave her in a heavy sigh of relief. She ignores her Inner's insistent rambling about her worrying about Itachi more than subordinate should be worrying about their captain, or even a medic about her patient.

It is well into the early hours of the morning by the time Sakura finishes, going on nothing but soldier pills in hopes of somewhat restoring her drained chakra supply. She realizes too late that she'd also sustained some injuries from her fight—though nowhere near as severe as Itachi's—that she'd planned to fix up afterwards, but she's too exhausted and can't even focus enough to drag herself onto her side of the bed. Instead, she literally passes out cold on the cold hard floor beside the bed.

…..

Itachi wakes up gingerly nearly two hours after Sakura falls asleep and the first thing he notices is the tension and stiffness in his muscles usually associated with a long and particularly grueling healing session. He recalls the previous day's events as short remembrances, each just a quick glimpse of parts of his fight. He absently wonders where his partner is because he doesn't feel the familiar warmth of her body heat less than a foot away on her side of the bed, but his sleep-muddled mind registers that he can feel her chakra signature nearby, the question is, where. He sits up slowly, finding his sleeping partner on the ground, her hair strewn about haphazardly and he briefly wonders why she's there. The raven haired Uchiha carefully picks her up and places her on her side of the bed lightly before reclaiming his spot beside her, not a foot away.

He tucks the blankets around her lightly, carefully not to wake her, and it is only then that he notices the dark circles that mar her paler-than-usual face right underneath her eyes and the stlightly strained look she's wearing. He realizes that she must have exhausted herself to finish healing his injuries to the extent that she was unable to even numb her own injuries—after all, he had found her on the floor sleeping. Itachi places a large hand over her forehead and lets his chakra flow through her, numbing her pain with his own chakra.

His eyes warm fondly at his now peacefully resting partner as he gently brushes a stray strand of hair from her face before bending down to place a soft kiss on her forehead. Only then does he allow himself to sink back into the pillows and go back to sleep.

0-0-0

Six weeks.

Six damn weeksis how much longer Itachi and Sakura have to wait before they receive the long awaited offer to join the organization. In that time, they've immobilized a total of four out of their five targets, the last being Hasegawa Kajou, their primary target, and they've managed to discreetly eliminate countless members of the organization. But finally, they are inducted into what they've recently leaned is called Akuma.

They'd been in one of the headquarters disguised as a small bar and once again, they'd gotten into a fight, but it had been an assessment of sorts and before the fight was over, a man named Yoshida Ryou, who had been sent to inform them of the decision made by "the head," he had said, stopped the fight.

And that's how Sakura—or Mai, rather—finds herself roaming the impossible large underground network trying to find her living temporary quarters.

Where's Itachi when you need him, anyway? She wonders sourly.

The living quarters, they were told, are optional as none of the members are obliged to stay in the main hq. But of course they're going to take advantage of the offer and map the place out to send back to Konoha in a week when their next report is due. Mai can't help but shiver from the chill she has deep in her bones, because she can't escape the inexplicably dark and menacing aura she gets from being here.

She's just returned from a meeting with a man behind a mask whose name was not given—they'd just called him boss—about the goals, rules, and ways of Akuma, an orientation of sorts, she supposes. Of course, nothing short of world domination would please that man.

'So typical, and so overrated,' she finds herself thinking.

It seems Akuma already has spies in Rain and they're working on infecting every single great nation with their spies so in time, no country's or village's secrets are secrets—from military tactics to funds and mission offers—so Akuma can infiltrate each village easily. Mai had fist thought it was a over-ambitious and very nearly impossible, but after listening to 'The Boss', she can't help but feel that he's just crazy enough that he makes the whole idea possible. And it doesn't help that the little he had revealed about their plans and progress leads her to make the conclusion that it is very much possible; but that's why she and Itachi are here.

Still though, Itachi's an amazing ninja, no doubt about it, but she's just not good enough, nowhere near as skilled or experienced as her partner and she can't help but doubt herself in being able to help Itachi more than hinder him in completing this mission. But Tsunade-shishou had chosen her for this mission and she will not let her down.

But before she can come up with a brilliant tactical plan that will destroy this organization and its goals, and ultimately save the day, without having Itachi do all the work or getting in his way…

She has to first find her room…

A/N:

So, how was it? I think this would be my most productive chapter yet—in terms of moving on with the plot, and not to mention my favorite (: I'm extremely excited for summer vacation and school is finally over for the year, however, I'll be travelling for the next month and a bit, so I will not be able to update until early or mid august so I thought I'd make a slightly longer chapter to make up for it. Thank you for reading!

Suggestions, advice, support, anything ! Feedback/reviews makes me suuper happy :D

Hope you enjoyed!

~Ja!