Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Rewritten: December 19th, 2019 - March 20th, 2020.
Chapter 21 | Twenty-one | Diver
She senses a few familiar chakra signatures following behind her and catching up at a breakneck speed. She slows down a little to allow Shino, Lee, and Gaara to catch up, but not slow enough to lose Sasuke and his kidnappers. With one look from Sakura, Gaara dashes forward, crouched on his floating sand to balance himself. When he raises an arm, Sakura sees sand wrap around Jirobo's leg, trapping him. Kidomaru immediately grabs the unconscious Sasuke from the larger man's grasp and tries to run off, but Shino's bugs immediately stop him.
With these three to ensure Sasuke's safety, Sakura knows that he'll be fine. She briefly wonders where Naruto, Kakashi, and her younger self are. If they aren't here, they must be with Shisui, right? She hopes someone noticed Sound going after Shisui – because from what she remembers, Kimimaro, the leader of Sound Four, was pretty strong. Creating a shadow clone of herself and summoning two little Katsuyu's, Sakura tells Gaara that she's entrusting Sasuke to him as she places the little slug on his shoulder. She waits for the three young boy's confident confirmations before heading off to find Shisui.
She sends another clone to check on the Sandaime as she follows Shisui's chakra signature. It feels a little weak, but she can't be sure. It feels like he's battling someone, but it also feels like he's weakened. What happened to him? As she gets closer, she can feel other chakra signatures there.
Arriving at the scene, she sees Shisui with a stab wound through the abdomen. Was he poisoned? He's holding a bone in his hand and Sakura can tell that it's a human bone. Is that what stabbed him? She sees Itachi going against Kimimaro. She sees Tayuya unconscious and thrown aside like she's worthless, with bones sticking out of her. Did Kimimaro accidentally hurt her or...?
Sakon/Ukon are at the side, frozen. Despite being injured, Shisui has them in a genjutsu. Sakura rushes towards Shisui and when he sees her, it's like his guard lowers finally. He collapses towards her and she catches him. "Are you okay?" She asks. "What happened?"
He shakes his head, but he says, "I'm okay."
Not believing him, Sakura takes the bone in his hand from him and examines it. When Shisui sees Kimimaro aim a sharp bone towards her, he pushes her out of the way. Sakura watches as it pierces Shisui's shoulder. If he hadn't pushed her out of the way, it would've hit her head and she probably would've died.
She turns and looks at Itachi from her position on the ground, only to see Kimimaro aiming more bones towards her. Itachi appears between them and Kimimaro to protect them, but she also feels warmth wrap around her at the same time, blocking her vision. She doesn't have to look up to know it's Shisui. Blood seeps from his shoulder through to her clothes. Sakura laments that she's being protected again. Sakura reaches her arms around Shisui and begins healing him.
"Save your chakra," Shisui mumbles out but Sakura ignores him.
"What did you do to Sakon and Ukon?" She asks.
"Tsukuyomi," he responds.
"What happened to Tayuya?"
"When Itachi arrived, he grabbed her and used her as a shield from Kimimaro's attacks. I guess he's been practicing a lot while he was gone."
"Is your stomach okay?"
"Yeah."
"Liar."
He laughs a little. "You can worry about it later."
"Itachi has it handled."
As if right on time, Itachi appears next to them, crouching down so he can make sure Shisui is okay.
"Who's with Sasuke?" He asks.
"Gaara, Shino, and Lee are after him."
Itachi is silent for a second. "They're kids." Hearing something sharp in his tone, Sakura finally looks at him. He's looking at her with disbelief.
"What?" She asks, not sure what he's so off-put by.
"You left the fate of my little brother in the hands of three Genin?" It's the only time he has raised his voice at her. Compared to others, it sounds mild, but the look in his eyes could cut her.
"They're strong," she says, looking away because the way he's looking at her is starting to hurt. Suddenly feeling very aware of the position she and Shisui are in, she tries to move away from him and Shisui lets her go so she can help him lay down.
She doesn't have to look at Itachi to know that he's mad. "He'll be fine," she continues, "Those kids are strong. I trust them. Isn't that enough?"
She hears him sigh before he pauses, says, "No, it's not," and disappears.
It feels like someone is squeezing her heart and she feels tears prickling her eyes. She didn't even know he was still in Konoha. Did he leave and come back? Or was he in Konoha the entire time but didn't care to spend time with her? And now he just left because he can't trust her judgment? She doesn't know how she should feel.
After extracting the poison from Shisui, Sakura finally looks up. She sees that Sakon and Ukon have fainted from the Tsukuyomi Shisui put him in and Kimimaro is down on the ground, but staring blankly ahead, no doubt also in a genjutsu. She doesn't have to look at Tayuya to know that she's dead. Sakura knew her injuries were fatal when she arrived. No checkup was needed for her to know that.
"Are you okay?" Sakura asks as she helps him sit up.
He nods. "Are you?"
"I'm alright," she responds before changing the topic, "The Sandaime might be in trouble. You should stay here and rest."
"I'll go with you. It's dangerous."
"I don't need to be protected, Shisui."
"I know, but I always feel better knowing you're safe." She doesn't know what to say to this. Shisui has always been very sweet to her and she can empathize with how he feels. When she doesn't respond, he says, "I'll stay until people come to take these three into custody." He points his chin towards the twins and Kimimaro.
"Okay." She stands up, looks at him once more, and places a slug on his shoulder before turning around and rushing towards the Hokage Tower, where she senses the Sandaime.
~:~
By the time that Itachi arrives where Sasuke is, his little brother has already been rescued, but he is unconscious. Gaara has him in a protective sand bubble. He, recognizing Itachi, bows a little in respect. Lee and Shino, sensing no ill intent from the stranger, don't attack him either, but they remain alert. He notices that one of Sakura's slugs is on Sasuke's shoulder, glowing.
"I'll take him from here," Itachi announces.
Lee and Shino get defensive, despite their beat-up appearances. They never really met Itachi – the last time they had a picnic all together, Itachi took Sakura to the hospital and didn't meet the kids.
"I'm his brother," he explains. He nods his head in greeting.
Gaara remembers Itachi so he just allows him to take his little brother into his arms. Bringing Sasuke to a safe area, Itachi creates several kage bunshin of himself to watch over the kid.
Then, he quickly sets off again.
He had seen Sakura's face before he vanished. He knows she'll get over it, but he never feels good about hurting or disappointing her.
When he arrives back at where he left Sakura and Shisui, he only sees Shisui there, with a glowing slug on his shoulder. "Where's Sakura?" He asks.
"She went to help the Sandaime," Shisui responds.
"You let her go alone?"
Shisui scoffs. "If you really cared if she were in danger or not, you wouldn't have just left us here."
Itachi glares back. "If I had known you would leave her alone, I would've taken her with me."
"Don't act like she would've gone with you."
Itachi continues glaring. When the glow around the slug on his shoulder ceases, Shisui takes the slug into his hands and bows a little before the slug poofs away.
"She was waiting for you this month, you know?" Shisui asks.
Itachi knew. He just didn't want to go home. He didn't want to feel guilty.
"I knew you were still in Konoha but I'm not going to pretend like I understand why you didn't come home. You say you love her but you desert her and pretend like she doesn't exist."
"I don't - " How could he pretend she doesn't exist?
"You do. Every time you start second-guessing your relationship, you push her aside and it's like you've forgotten what she means to you."
"I don't." Shisui doesn't cut him off this time. He chooses not to tell Shisui that it's hard being away from Sakura. It's hard to make decisions that he knows she might not approve of. It's hard trying not to think about her and trying to push her out of his mind. It's impossible not to miss her. Sometimes he misses her so much it hurts. The longing, the desire, the love – and not being able to hold her when he needs to – sometimes it gets too much. So what if he's had to sleep with someone else for the mission? So what? Sakura's the only one he ever thinks about anyway.
"If you love her, act like it," is all Shisui says before stands up and flickers away, leaving Itachi standing there alone.
When Konoha reinforcements arrive a few moments later, they look at him and prepare to fight. Itachi flashes his hitai-ate that he hasn't worn in a while and the shinobi stand down. He can tell that one of them is a young Uchiha and that she recognizes him. He motions to Kimimaro, Sakon, Ukon, and Tayuya's bodies strewn about. "The girl is dead, but take the others into custody." With that, he disintegrates into a murder of crows and heads off to find Sakura and Shisui.
He can feel a battle ensuing on the roof of the Hokage Tower. The combination of dust and massive amounts of chakra is so heavy that it makes it a little hard to breathe. He spots both Sakura and Shisui talking with the ANBU, the Shishienjin that the Kabuto clones erected around Orochimaru and the Sandaime keeping them out. He knows when Sakura spots him because the way she looks at him has always comforted him, but she rips her attention from him almost immediately, leaving him cold.
He can tell that she and Shisui are trying to figure out a way to get past the barrier. He can see the wheels turning behind Sakura's eyes as Shisui continues talking to the ANBU captain there. He can tell by how Sakura's looking around that she's considering demolishing the building. It's not a bad plan, considering that it would destabilize the ground that Kabuto's on and he won't be able to uphold the barrier, but he can tell that she doesn't want to do that.
"Do it," he tells her.
She, Shisui, and the ANBU present look at him in surprise.
"Because of the external barrier, we won't be able to attack him unless he loses his focus – or his balance," he says. From the outside, they watch as Hiruzen and Orochimaru throw attack after attack at each other.
"C'mon...," he hears Sakura mumble as she stares past the barrier before them. Is she waiting for something? He focuses on the battle, trying to ignore Sakura's restlessness beside him, with his Sharingan activated. When he sees Orochimaru preparing a summoning jutsu, he looks at Sakura. Despite it being years that he has known her true identity, he's still surprised by how much she prepared for this mission.
She glances at him briefly before pulling her chakra infused fist back and hitting the ground beneath them. Itachi, Shisui, and the ANBU leap away to not get caught in her attack. They watch as she stands in the middle of all the destruction, waiting for Kabuto to have to jump away. To her surprise, three of his clones poof away and the barrier, like they had hoped, comes down. Orochimaru is forced to stop his jutsu due to the collapsing building and Hiruzen jumps away. The Sandaime is immediately surrounded by the ANBU members protectively as Kabuto lands beside Orochimaru on the rubble when it settles. Itachi and Shisui stand beside Sakura as they look at Orochimaru and Kabuto.
"You've lost, Orochimaru," Hiruzen says.
"You three again..." Orochimaru says as he looks at the three of them. His gaze stays on Sakura a bit longer, as if wondering who she is. He glances at the rest of Konoha and sees himself losing. "Retreat."
Wordlessly, Kabuto vanishes from his side. Orochimaru bites his lip as he continues glowering at them. When he's flanked by ANBU on a silent command from the Hokage, Orochimaru licks his lips disturbingly before dissipating into a bunch of snakes and slithering away. Once he's out of sight, Sakura immediately rushes to Hiruzen's side. Shisui stays by her side like the loyal bodyguard that he is, a fact that has started to irk Itachi.
But at the same time, who is he to be upset by this? Shisui's been the one to stay by her side, not him. He's the one that decided to accept the long-term mission, knowing fully well that it would include leaving her side for extended periods of time. He's also the one who has been staying at inns instead of going home to her. He has no right to be upset by how close his lover and his cousin have gotten in his voluntary absence.
He's not even sure they noticed when he left to get Sasuke.
A/N: Sorry this chapter took such a long time. I literally have no excuses, but now that everyone's in quarantine, I guess I have some time to write. :) Hope everyone's family and friends are well! Stay safe, wash your hands, and don't touch your face!
