Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Olive Branch:

'1. a branch of the olive tree especially when used as a symbol of peace

2. an offer or gesture of conciliation or goodwill'

- Merriam Webster Dictionary

Chapter Ten

Sakura was a quiet mission partner. She rarely spoke as they leapt across branches, and when she did it was brief and to the point. He figured that like many of their comrades, Sakura adopted a professional 'self' when the time came for it. He was grateful for this as he was hardly a socialite and aside from issuing directions, he usually kept to his thoughts during missions.

As far as he could remember, Izumi had been the opposite. When faced with danger she forced herself to focus, but during the few odd missions that they had together as children, Izumi had noisily bickered with her comrades, occasionally glancing his way with a 'ne, Itachi-kun?' that always caught him off guard.

But Sakura was mostly silent. Perhaps it was because she was a woman, not a child like Izumi had been. Or perhaps it was because Sakura had the chance to mature and grow, adapting herself to her role as a medic nin. If it weren't for the curse of hatred, Izumi would have had that chance.

They travelled for hours with minimal breaks before they eventually stopped at a cave that Itachi was well acquainted with. It was small and concealed behind a cluster of trees and foliage, but it would do the job. He set his pack down as Sakura poked at the charred remains of an old fire.

"Are you sure this place is safe? It looks like people have set up camp here before."

"I'm sure," he said. "I've sheltered here during missions to the Land of Tea."

Seemingly satisfied with his answer, she got up and left the cave muttering something about firewood. Itachi fought the urge to ask her to speak more clearly. He knew better than to tease her. Sasuke had never directly talked about Sakura's temper, but Itachi recalled several instances in which his baby brother had returned from training with his skin splotched black and blue. Sasuke would never tell their father that he had been beaten up by a tiny girl with pink hair, and whenever their father asked him about his injuries Sasuke would place the blame on Uzumaki Naruto or Hatake Kakashi. But Itachi knew better. There was a reason why his brother's bruises were left unhealed. Not to mention that he had caught Sasuke once or twice muttering under his breath about the power behind tiny fists.

Your pride will hold you back, baby brother.

By the time Sakura returned he had dug out a selection of food rations from his pack. He frowned as she stumbled into the cave, her arms overflowing with twigs and branches. She dumped the branches unceremoniously in the middle of the cave floor. "Do you know how long it took me to find this place again?"

Itachi held back a smile. "Surely it's a good thing that our camp is difficult to locate. It's certainly safer this way."

She sighed and rubbed at her head. A headache, Itachi figured. No wonder she seemed irritated. "You could have at least given me a heads up. You didn't even tell me that you'd put up a genjutsu."

"It goes without saying that I would use a genjutsu to conceal our location." Sakura grumbled something that even he struggled to make out. "You managed to locate our camp despite my genjutsu. You are a genjutsu type," he concluded.

Sakura nodded and plopped herself down on a blanket that she had folded into a cushion. "I am."

A thought came to mind, the possibility that he could teach Sakura some complex genjutsu. He had countless tricks and illusions up his sleeve, many of which did not actually require the Sharingan but simply an affinity for genjutsu and precise chakra control. He had no doubt that Sakura would be able to master them.

She certainly has the stubbornness and the determination, he thought, holding back a smile, as he lit their campfire with his katon jutsu. On the other side of the cave, she was not-too-subtly avoiding his eyes a she stared at the fire he had created. It threw a warm orange light that made her hair appear red. He was considering broaching the subject of teaching her some of his genjusu when she spoke.

"Itachi?"

"Hm." She hesitated. "Go on, Sakura."

"I've been thinking a lot about your memories. I can't help but feel that I would like to have met Shisui."

This was unexpected. Out of the blue. And so he said the most honest thing that he could muster. "He would have liked you."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Really? Or are you just saying that? Please don't be like Sasuke-kun and go on and on about how annoying I am."

"As I'm sure you know, my foolish little brother doesn't mean what he says."

"Yeah, I know. He's such a stubborn ass, if you don't mind me saying."

He didn't mind in the slightest. "I agree," Itachi said. "But I was not being polite. Shisui would have liked you a lot, Haruno Sakura."

It wasn't a lie. Not even close. He could easily envision a world in which the Coup had been prevented, with Shisui and Izumi alive and healthy. Shisui would tease Sasuke like a second older brother just like he always had, and whenever Team Seven called on Sasuke for missions, Shisui and Sakura would likely strike up a banter, teasing his baby brother and Uzumaki Naruto. He would have liked to imagine Izumi by his side, but the more he thought about it, the more Izumi's image was fading. No not fading exactly. Just displaced. As though somehow she no longer belonged in the space next to him. At least not in the way he had always felt she did.

"Is this cave soundproofed?"

Itachi glanced up. "I used a jutsu. Nobody can hear nor see us."

She nodded. "When we get to Kirigakure, how do you want to go about the mission? You have more experience than me so I'm assuming you have a better idea of what we should do."

Itachi dug through his pack for a water bottle. On the other side of the cave, Sakura chewed at her rations. "Well, the best way to go about this would be to assimilate into the village separately at different times."

Sakura nodded. "So that nobody will associate us with one another."

"Precisely. The best places to gather information are always in the backstreets, namely public spaces like bars and clubs. The best method would be that the person to arrive at Kirigakure first will take up a job in one of those spaces."

Her eyes were glazed over in distraction.

"Sakura?"

Her head snapped up and she shook out of her daze. "Oh, sorry about that. I was just thinking."

"About?"

"Well," she began cautiously, " I was thinking that my team would probably throw a fit at the thought of me snooping around the seedier parts of town. Quite frankly it's ridiculous because being a ninja's hardly a clean job anyway—"

"Sakura."

"Yeah, sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway I just…" She considered something. "I remembered something Sasuke told me before I left."

He waited.

She took one look at his expression and blurted out, "just forget I mentioned it. They were being silly, it was nothing."

"Your reaction suggests otherwise," he said.

Sakura shifted nervously, picking at the fabric of her sleeve cuff. "Sasuke didn't seem too pleased when I told him about you," she said, "he warned me about taking on a mission with you."

Itachi's eyes flashed with amusement. "He did, did he?"

"He said you were strict and that it wouldn't be like the missions with my team. That you wouldn't be as friendly."

"And am I?"

"Are you what?" she asked.

"Strict and unfriendly."

She almost laughed. Thinking about Sasuke's words, she both agreed and disagreed with him. On one hand she could see that Itachi was as serious as they come, and since she was used to missions with Team Seven and the light fun that accompanied that, Itachi was quiet and silent for the most part. She couldn't share the same jokes that she would with her team. He was far too different. More mature. However, Sasuke didn't know the other side of Itachi. The side that he had showed her. She liked to think that even though Itachi was a little distant, they had some kind of connection. A kind of camaraderie. Yes he was strict. She had seen that many times, such as the brutal pace they had travelled at, barely letting up to catch their breath. But there was a gentleness to him. Something she saw in glimpses.

"Sakura, you are staring at me."

Oh shoot!

From his demeanour it didn't seem as though he would care whether she agreed with Sasuke or not. She didn't detect any mockery or malice in his manner. "Strict, maybe a little," she said. "But unfriendly, no. You're not exactly a teddy bear but you're a kind man, Itachi."

He said nothing at first, then, "I would have to disagree."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. "As far as I'm aware, you're one of the kindest people I know."

She thought she saw him grimace, but she couldn't be certain due to the strange light of the fire. "I have done things in the name of the village that are inhumane, downright cruel, just to keep up the pretence that I am sided with my father." Sakura began to stop him but he spoke over her. "I will not discuss the details, Sakura. It's best that you do not know."

Sakura prickled with irritation. His constant self-blame was starting to seem irrational at this point. "Would an unkind man go to the lengths that you did to try and stop a civil war?"

"What kind of man would consider killing his entire family, even if he had a reason?" he retorted.

"A selfless man."

Itachi went quiet at that. He turned to the mouth of the cave and stared out at the thick forest cocooning them. That night, Itachi offered to keep first watch. The air between them seemed stilted after their discussion, and Sakura could feel it grating away at her. She hated situations like these where she was no longer sure where she stood with the other person. And was this considered a falling out? Was he angry at her?

No. He's angry at himself.

She curled up like a hedgehog in her sleeping bag. She tried to push away the thoughts of Itachi that were plaguing her head, but it was impossible. She didn't know how long she lay there before her exhaustion caught up with her and she gave in to sleep. Her dreams were heavy and clouded with colours and faces and ingredients for antidotes. She saw flashes of her team and the officers patrolling the streets. She was walking down Konoha's market. In the distance, an officer met her gaze squarely. He was headed straight towards her. What could she possibly have done wrong – she was just walking, wasn't she? She tried to divert away from his path, to avoid him at all costs. Even if she was innocent it was always a good idea to stay out of officers' way. And it worked, but as he passed by several feet away, he coughed a thick wet cough that tugged at her medic instincts. Another cough, this one louder. Closer.

She woke on her back, staring at the cave roof.

That was a weird dream. I could have sworn…

A cough.

The sound was damp and sticky, and it came from the mouth of the cave. Slowly, she angled her head toward the cave entrance. The hunched silhouette of Itachi was clearly visible despite the darkness outside. He was holding a rag to his face. A handkerchief. When he pulled it away, she saw the dark splodges that stained the fabric.

Blood.

She inhaled sharply. Itachi turned, tucking the handkerchief away in his pocket as he did so. His red eyes bore into hers and she found herself unable to move. Her limbs had locked into place and whilst hot fear shot through her, she couldn't look away.

Is this a jutsu?

Within seconds her paralysis melted away and she realised that yes, he had put her under a mild genjutsu. A harmless one, but even so she really didn't appreciate it.

"What the hell was that for," she snapped, unzipping herself from her sleeping bag. The fire had died out and the cave was lit only by the moonlight that filtered through the trees. She shivered as she neared him, but he stiffened and turned away from her. However, she wasn't deterred. She had dealt with proud teammates and difficult patients before. The cough she heard moments ago was the first sign that something was very wrong here. The second sign was the fact that his initial instinct was to paralyse her with his Sharingan.

He's on the defensive, she concluded, there's something else that he's hiding.

"Go back to sleep, Sakura." His voice was strained, as though he were trying to hold down another coughing fit – the third sign.

"No."

His tone sharpened. "Sakura, leave matters be and go back to sleep. That's an order."

"You expect me to pretend that you didn't just cough blood?" she said, undeterred. "Let me take a look."

"This is not something I am willing to discuss."

"And it's not something I'm willing to ignore."

She circled him until he had no option but to look at her. Her eyes zeroed in on a smear of dried blood on his palm. He closed his fist immediately. Kneeling down, she placed her palms on his shoulders, sending her chakra into his trachea and his lungs. His chakra resisted against hers at first, but with a stern look from her, he backed down and allowed her to work.

"Have you had any chest pain along with this?" she asked.

"It comes and goes."

"I see. Any dizziness or light-headedness?"

"Occasionally. Usually during or after a battle."

"And how long have you had this problem?"

He thought for a moment. "Since childhood."

"Hmm." She probed his lungs with her chakra, inspecting the build up of mucus, blood and scar tissue that she found there. It was strange and certainly not something she would be able to treat overnight, but . But she quickly pinpointed the root cause of the issue. She removed her hands. "Your katon-jutsu…you've burned your lungs."

He looked mildly annoyed by her conclusion. "I'm an Uchiha, Sakura. If that's the case, the whole clan would have burned lungs."

"No. Not necessarily. Lung tissue in general is extremely thin. It's delicate stuff. But yours is thinner than average. You use katon-jutsus often and you're not giving your lungs enough of a chance to heal between uses."

He said nothing, just stared at her. Then, "Sakura, you realise that when one uses a katon-jutsu, chakra is amassed in your lungs, not fire."

She lightly slapped him over the head. There was no doubt over where Sasuke got his sarcasm from. "I know that," she chided, "but chakra is hardly gentle stuff. If I can use it to send a crack up a mountainside what do you think it could do to your lungs?" She sighed. "It wouldn't be a problem for your clansmen, but like I said, your tissue is thinner than it should be. It looks like it's just genetic too, a recessive allele most likely. But you've gone and exacerbated the problem by overusing fire techniques with not enough rest. That's why you're getting dizziness after battles, because you've got blood in your alveoli. The blood build up inhibits oxygen transfer into your capillaries. I bet you had this problem when you were first learning the Gokyakou – no jutsu?"

His lips pursed, indicating to her that yes, he had.

"I'm not surprised that you're coughing blood," she said, sighing. "Your lungs have a lot of scar tissue. It shouldn't be an ongoing issue so long as you try not to use fire techniques too much, okay?"

He didn't look too happy with her suggestion. But she was the medic. She knew best. "I will try. We will be posing as civilians for the duration of this mission, so I should have no need to use any katon-jutsu."

"I should hope so. You'd blow our cover if you did."

"However, I can't avoid using the jutsu forever."

"That's true," she said. "I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I'll keep thinking of some kind of solution to help ease the pain."

He lowered his head, staring at the blood smeared in the palm of his hand. Some of it had dried under his fingernails.

"Thank you, Sakura."

After three days of travelling, they reached a small civilian fishing village just on the coast of Noodle Country. The air was sharp with the scent of fish and salt, and as they strolled down the paths leading to the centre of the village, Sakura was glad that Itachi had told her to wear casual clothing. If they had worn their shinobi attire, they would have stood out a mile. This was the kind of village where everybody knows everybody else. Despite this, fishermen carrying crates of their catch greeted them as they headed down to the one and only inn. They passed by a woman who was sitting on the stone steps of her house, gutting fish from a stained wooden bucket. Sakura smiled politely at the woman, who stood and wiped her hands on a towel.

"I have to say," the woman said, "and I don't normally say this, that you two are certainly a beautiful pair."

Sakura chuckled nervously. "Thank you, oba-san, but we're not actually a pair."

The woman shrugged. "You could've fooled me," she said to Sakura, "I was going to tell you that you'd really snagged a jewel there." She glanced at Itachi.

Sakura wondered what Itachi thought of women and young girls who awed over his looks. He didn't seem phased by the woman referring to him as a 'jewel' but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind that mask of his. Nodding at the woman, he said, "we need to check in at the inn, so if you don't mind we will be leaving now —"

"The inn?" The woman quirked a smile. "Good luck with that."

"I'm sorry?" Sakura asked.

"We don't get many travellers like yourselves around here. Usually they all go to the port town several miles south so the inn is in a bit of a state. Not much money to keep it nice."

Sakura wasn't too surprised. During a genin mission once, she learned about these small fishing towns that relied purely on their bounty. Because of port villages that focused their income on providing transport across water, these villages were not the usual stop for travellers. She and Itachi were well aware of the port village south of this one, but they decided that it would be wise to set up a base, of sorts, in a village that was far, but not too far, from Kiri's main transport system with the mainland. Port towns were frequented by shinobi who were setting out on missions or returning home, and Itachi thought it best to reduce the risk of encountering nin in general. Even if they intended to use Henges to infiltrate Kirigakure, all it took was one sensory nin to recognise their chakra. It wasn't worth the risk.

"Thank you for warning us but I'm sure we will manage." Itachi replied smoothly.

"It was good to meet you, oba-san," Sakura said. "I hope we meet again." They left her to gut her fish on her front steps.

As they descended a slope that led closer to the coastline, the grey shape of the inn came into view. It was a squat building. Not particularly impressive. After listening to the woman, Sakura didn't allow herself to get her hopes up. And besides, it didn't matter what kind of state the inn was in. It was only a base for the mission. She would be setting out to Kiri soon enough.

The lobby area of the hotel was dimly lit by several wall lamps. There was nobody behind the reception desk and Itachi had to ring a bell that was left beside a note taped to the desk that read 'please ring for service'.

At first, there was no response to the bell. Just silence. Then footsteps pattered down a hallway to the left of the desk, and a pair of dark eyes peered around the corner. The rest of the person's face was concealed by the wall, but by the looks of it they were young, or shorter than average.

"Erm, we're here for a room," Sakura said.

The eyes widened then disappeared once again. "Papa!" they heard. "Papa! There are people here!"

Sakura looked to Itachi, who stood impassively by her side. She had realised by now that the tiny person could only have been a child. The child of the inn's owner, it seemed. The footsteps returned, only this time they were accompanied by a set of heavier, slower feet. From the same hall, a portly man came into view with a little girl by his side. The girl's dark eyes indicated that she was the same child from before.

"Good day to you both. Are you looking for a room?" the man asked with a gentle smile. His hair was greying at the roots, but his skin was smooth.

"We are," Itachi replied. "Ideally one room with two separate beds."

The man looked at what seemed to be a registry of available rooms. "Hmm. I have rooms available, but I don't have any with two single beds. I'm afraid lots of single rooms have been taken by tradesmen at the moment. It's a good fishing season. First good season in a long time, let me tell you. Although, if you don't mind sharing, I do have a room with a double bed."

"That would be satisfactory," Itachi said. The man smiled and handed over a key attached to a wooden rectangle with the number twelve painted on it.

Sakura had mixed feelings about the fact that she and Itachi were to share a double bed. On one hand, she felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought that technically she would be sleeping next to her fiancé. Sure, their little marriage deal was hardly a real life romance, but in a literal sense they were engaged. And then there was the professional side of her. The side that reasoned that she was a kunoichi and this was her mission. She had shared a bed with her teammates before, so why was this any different?

It's different and you know it.

Sakura followed Itachi up a creaking staircase to the third floor, which opened up onto a corridor. The carpet was a shade of pinky-red, but the colour was faded over time. Despite this, it was well vacuumed, which told Sakura that even though the inn didn't make much in terms of income, they still took care with cleanliness. Judging by the man in reception with the little girl by his side, this was a family-run business.

They're just trying to make the best of what they've got.

She almost bumped, face-first, into Itachi as he stopped suddenly outside a dark wooden door marked with a little gold twelve. "Sorry," she said, rubbing her nose which had collided with his shoulder blade.

"Be careful," he told her quietly as he opened the door to their room. She noted briefly that he smelled of sweat and soap, but all thoughts melted out of her head when she entered the room after him and locked eyes with the bed.

The one bed.

The room itself was cosy enough – the walls were a deep red and the curtains were a warm brown – but all this was lost on her as her mind ran in loops and circles, all thoughts coming back to the same conclusion: that she was about to share a bed with her fiancé.

Cool down, Sakura, a voice in her head reminded her, right now he's not your fiancé. He's just your comrade.

The voice was right. This was highly unprofessional of her. She needed to get her head in gear. They weren't here to fret about trivial matters like this, they were here to gather information about Kirigakure and the Mizukage's plans. This was an extremely important mission. It could help save the village from a war with Kiri, should that indeed be what the Mizukage was planning.

Breathe, Sakura. You're a professional.

She had finally regained control of herself when Itachi turned to her, his expression deadly serious, and said, "Do you want to shower first or should I?"

A/N: Yep I've started falling into some of the clichés. Can't say that my inner fangirl doesn't enjoy it though. Not sure whether I've made Sakura start getting some interesting feelings too early on in the story? Is it too sudden? Let me know because it feels to me like I wasn't pushing their relationship that much and then whoomph!

I tried to edit this chapter as best as I could but I might have missed some typos or sentences that sound clunky, so I'm really sorry about that.

Although I'm glad you see you all are liking it! Thank you for making my day with your kindness :)