The Flicker and the Crow

by FireThatFox

Shisui and Itachi fall for the same woman, the same woman who caught the eye of one sadistic puppet master who never forgave her for beating him. Will their rivalry protect her, or put her in more danger...

"Hold on." He told her, his grip was failing him. She was slipping through his fingers.

"No!" He yelled as her small hand slipped from his grasp, her scream echoed through his head painfully.

He made the hand signs and body flickered under her mid-air in what he hoped was the right position. It was all a guess and his heart skipped a beat as his arms came around her grabbing her, holding her firmly against his body.

"I got you." He yelled over the air rushing past them hoping he really did have her.

He forced chakra to his heels and kicked off of a nearby tree propelling them away from the mountain into the water below.

He held his breath and hoped she had too, as he kicked his way to the surface.

"Holy shit." The woman in his arms gasped for air cursing as she did so.

Shisui laughed as he kicked out trying to get to the shore.

"Put your arms around my neck if you can, we'll get to the shore faster if I can use my legs." He told her.

She floated around to his side, he flipped and she grabbed his shoulders, pushing her body up so her arms could hold onto his neck. Her face pressed against the back of his neck her lips trembling against his skin.

She was crying he knew. Poor thing. He didn't know what had happened to her or why she had stumbled off the cliff but he had saved her, and he would make sure she was safe before going back to Konoha.

Konoha, he had been away for too long, five years. It would be good to get home.

"Thank you." Came her small tired voice from behind him, her lips moving against his neck, little puffs of hot air making him shiver in the water as he swam to the shore.

"No problem little kunoichi, we're almost there, hold on," he said as he swam.

He felt her grip slipping, they were so close. "Almost there, hold on pinky." He called over his shoulder to her.

She didn't respond.

"Pinky? Hey! Wake up!"

Her arms slid from around his neck and she sank.

"Hey!" he turned and grabbed her.

"Damn it." He huffed as he wrapped her arms back around his neck holding her in place with one hand and swimming with the other.

Slowly, so slowly he made his way to land, his feet touching bottom eventually. He dragged the girl around to his front and carried her bridal style out of the water.

He did a quick scan with his chakra, they were alone. He didn't like the idea of camping out in the open with an unconscious woman so he searched for a decent place to camp for the night. It would be dark soon, he needed to find a place quick.

Shisui found a cave, it was a small one, not very deep but it would have to do. Night had fallen and she still hadn't woken up. He laid the kunoichi on the ground and went to get firewood. Once the fire was blazing he dragged his pack around in front of him and took out soggy dried beef and fish. Driving a stick through the soggy meat he held it over the fire.

The girl began to stir as the meat dried, her eyes opened to his relief and she sat up.

"Hey, glad to see you're awake, you had me worried." Shisui grinned at her. He noticed her green eyes, he had always been a sucker for green eyes.

The girl looked up at her rescuer and smiled weakly. "Sorry."

She noticed his headband. "You're a Konoha nin? I don't know you, but you...look like an Uchiha?" She stared at him.

"I am" He smiled at her pleasantly, he had noticed her headband already naming her a Konoha kunoichi.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui." He told her handing her the dried fish.

"Shisui!" She dropped the fish on the ground in her surprise.

"Aw damn it!" She moaned and picked the now dirty fish up.

"Here." He handed her his dried beef.

"What, no I couldn't, you already saved my life, I don't want to take your dinner too." She smiled at him.

"Thank you by the way." She said, her eyes slightly glassy and she wavered where she sat.

"No problem like I said, eat it ok, I have more." He pulled out another piece of soggy meat and stuck it on a stick to dry over the fire.

"Thank you." She leaned over and rummaged in her pack for something.

"What are you looking for?" He asked her curiously.

"Antidote." She murmured, finding the small bottle and a syringe.

"You were poisoned?" He looked at her with concern.

She nodded to him like it was no big deal.

Maybe it wasn't for her he thought.

She popped the top off the bottle, and pushed the tip of the syringe into the rubber top casing, drawing the antidote out slowly. She flicked the syringe deftly, like she had done it a million times, and released any remaining air bubbles, stabbed herself in the leg and pushed down the plunger.

"Shit," Shisui said after she was done.

"Do you, do that a lot?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." She sat back sighing as the drug took effect.

She picked up the beef he had offered her and tore a bite off with her teeth and chewed.

"Bliss." She chewed and swallowed repeating the process until the meat was gone and the stick lay in her hand empty.

"So, do I know you or something? You said my name like you knew me." He asked her now that he could see she was feeling better.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself." The pinky smiled at him.

"I'm Haruno Sakura." She smiled at him.

"I am a teammate of your younger cousin Sasuke and a friend of the family." She sighed trying to keep her eyes open. She was so tired, it seemed her long day was catching up to her.

"So, you know Itachi too then." Shisui grinned at her.

"Yes." She laughed. "I know Itachi."

"How are they? I've been gone so long, I have no idea how they have been. The last letter I got was over a year ago. I think I remember them mentioning you a few times." Shisui rubbed his chin in thought.

"I'm sure Sasuke had a lot to complain about, I annoy him." She smiled sleepily.

Shisui noticed that she was falling asleep where she sat and moved to pull her against the cave wall to sit more comfortably. Her head fell onto his shoulder and she smiled.

"Thank you Shisui." and she was asleep.

Shisui had wanted to get more firewood, had thought of scouting out the area before bed but...her head was on his shoulder and well, it kinda felt nice. He pulled a few kunai from his pouch, tied some paperbombs to the ends and threw them into the mouth of the cave just outside by the grass that met the dirt. If someone came, he would know. If they got by his sensor he would have a warning.

He pulled his arm up from in between them and threw it around her shoulders drawing her near. They were cold and wet but the fire kept the chill away. Thier shared body heat was nice. The girl in his arms was nicer. Shisui smiled. It was good to hold someone like this. He watched the fire burn as he held her. She moved in her sleep turning her face into his neck. Her breath hot on his collar. He blushed.

Shisui had never had a girlfriend, at age 19 he had left the village on a long term mission to investigate a terrorist organization called the Akatsuki. He was the number one choice, he had the body flicker, could scout in and out of places before anyone sensed him, if they sensed him. At age 24 he was happy to be coming home finally. He had gotten all the information Konoha could possibly need.

Sakura twitched and moaned in her sleep bringing his attention back to her from his thoughts. "Hey." He nudged her gently.

"Hn." She said in her sleep.

Shisui grinned, a friend of the family indeed. It had been so long since he had heard that noise from another, it made him feel like he was home already. He brushed pink hair from his face, her hair was drying. She moved against him in her sleep, her hand came up to lay across his chest. He knew they had just met, he knew she didn't know what she was doing, but he couldn't stop his other arm from reaching across her pulling her into an embrace, pulling her into him.

He rested his head on top of hers and closed his eyes. Maybe he would ask her out when they got back to the village.

Morning came. Sakura snuggled deeper into her pillow as the cold air came into her bedroom through the window. She moaned, trying to fight off the morning that threatened her comfy cozy state. Her eyes snapped open when she realized her pillow had a heartbeat. She wasn't in her room. She was...she looked past her nose to the chest she was snuggled up against.

She backed away from the man quickly, barely noticing the frown on his face as she did so.

"I'm, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." She stammered.

Shisui grinned at her.

"It was nice, don't apologize." His grin faltered as her eyes narrowed at him.

"Look I didn't try anything I swear. We were both wet from the lake and it was cold, the fire could only keep us so warm." He explained.

"I hadn't meant to anyway. You were falling asleep, I didn't want you to fall asleep face first in the dirt, I went to prop you up against the wall of the cave and well I got trapped, you fell asleep before I could pull away." He told her hands out in front of him.

"I'm sorry." He said finally.

"Let's just forget about it." She sighed and then smiled.

"Thanks for saving me." She looked around the cave.

"Where are we?" She asked him

"At the bottom of the cliff, we both went over the side. I used a tree to push off of mid fall so we landed in the water instead of on the rocks." He told her.

"Wow." I don't even remember that." She was checking her body for injuries with glowing green hands.

Shisui watched fascinated, he had only heard of medical Jutsu but had never seen it being used first hand.

"You're a medic-nin?" He asked her.

"Among other things." She smiled at him her eyes sparkling.

He stared at her.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Oh. Uh, yes sorry. You're eyes they are um, you're really pretty." He blushed, he hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"Oh. Uh, thank you." She blushed.

Cocking her head to the side she watched him as if making her mind up about something. "You aren't like most Uchiha I know." She told him, almost accusingly.

"I know, I get that a lot or I used to, I suppose now that I'm coming home I'll get it a lot again." He grinned at her.

"How long have you been gone?" Sakura asked him.

"5 years. I told you that yesterday, do you have a concussion?"

She whistled. "I'm okay." She frowned then smiled." You don't remember me. I was 12 when you left, Sasuke and I had just been put on a team then."

"I would have remembered you." Shisui grinned again.

"So, you said you were poisoned?" He asked her.

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples, "Yeah, kinda a grudge if you can call it that. Are you familiar with Sasori of the Red Sand?" She asked him

Yeah, he was, very. He couldn't tell her that though, his mission had been Anbu and classified.

"Uh, I have heard of him." He said vaguely.

"Well, two years ago I almost took him down but the bastard got away. I made an antidote to his poison, saved the Kazekage's older brother, Kankuro's, life and he hasn't forgiven me ever since. His grandmother and I fought him, we almost didn't make it, wouldn't have if not for my antidote. He has made it his life goal to kill me." She concluded.

"You sure know how to make an impression on a guy." He teased her and she grimaced.

"Yeah, stone cold unemotional types and poison maniacs, that's the story of my life." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." She waved him off.

"Do you need to do anything else or are you headed back to Konoha, I need to get back as soon as possible." She turned to face him a hand on her hip.

"I was on my way back when I saw you trip over the edge of a cliff." He grinned at her.

"How did you get ahold of my hand, by the way, I remember that you were there in like, I don't know a flash out of nowhere." She laughed.

"Oh! Was that your body flicker?" Her eyes turned on him, sparkling with new interest.

"It was the only way to get to you before you went over, yeah." He cocked his head at her.

"Was it the poison? That made you stumble, you were so close tot he edge already I would have thought you would have used the antidote right away." He asked.

"I couldn't, he was following me, he likes to toy with you, play with his food, taunt you." She shivered.

"Anyway, I need to go, you want to travel together?" She asked him packing up what little things she had taken out of her bag.

"Yeah sounds good, I haven't been home in forever, it is going to be weird seeing everyone again. I can't wait to see Itachi." He smiled thinking of his little cousin and best friend.

"Are you close? Itachi is amazing, he is so strong and powerful and smart, he is impressive. It's hard for Sasuke sometimes, living in his shadow." She laughed a little.

A ping of jealousy flashed in Shisui. It was gone before he could place the feeling though.

"He is my cousin and best friend and yeah, he is amazing, always has been since he was a little squirt." Shisui grinned.

They left ten minutes later and walked through the gates of Konoha 11 hours later. They stood before the Hokage Senju Tsunade.

"Sakura report," The Hokage said to her apprentice.

"I lost all the herbs Shisou, I got attacked by Sasori on my way back. He took them from me and poisoned me. Shisui saved me after I fell off the side of a cliff. I would have died." Sakura told her mentor.

The Hokage's eyebrows rose high as she turned her head to look at the Uchiha standing next to her apprentice.

"Thank you, Uchiha. Sakura is not only my apprentice but she is like a daughter to me." The Hokage inclined her head to the Uchiha who raised his own brows in turn.

"It was my pleasure." Shisui bowed.

"Go get some rest. Itachi was in here earlier asking when you would be home, I told him to check back later. Do me a favor and tell your boyfriend not to bug me with trivial crap like that okay?" Tsunade gave her apprentice a scowl.

"How many times do I have to tell you, he is not my boyfriend, he doesn't even like me, it was probably about the poison that brought his team down on their last mission." Sakura sighed at her Shisou.

"Right." The Hokage rolled her eyes. "You're dismissed."

Sakura bowed and turned to Shisui, "Thankyou again Shisui, don't be a stranger." and she left the office for her apartment and a shower.

Shisui watched the girl leave the office, he closed his eyes, he could feel her chakra all the way down the stairs and out of the tower.

A cough brought him back to his surroundings.

"Report." The Hokage commanded with a smirk on her face.

Shisui blushed and started giving his latest report on the Akatsuki.

Itachi met him by the Tower stairs.

"Itachi!" Shisui hugged his friend and cousin hard.

"Shisui." Itachi hugged him back just as happy to see him back in Konoha.

"You've been away for a long time cousin, let's go home. Mom felt your chakra signature and has already started cooking." Itachi led the way to the compound.

"I can't wait to have a home cooked meal, you're mom is the best cook." Shisui grinned in anticipation.

"Hey, you know Haruno Sakura, do you know if she is seeing anyone?" Shisui asked his cousin.

Itachi steps faltered for just a moment, most wouldn't even have noticed but Shisui did.

"Not that I know of," Itachi said.

"I met her on the way back to the village. She fell off a cliff and"

Itachi interrupted him.

"Is she okay?" Itachi asked him.

"She is fine, not a scratch on her, we had to spend the night in a cave to rest but she is fine she just left the Hokage's Tower, she should be home by now." Shisui watched his younger cousin.

"Hn," Itachi said, walking as though nothing had happened.

But it had, and Shisui had noticed. Was there something between Sakura and Itachi? Itachi had said she wasn't seeing anyone when he had asked and Sakura hadn't mentioned anything when he had asked if she knew Itachi.

Shisui could feel her chakra signature, he would stop by and visit her tomorrow, just to see how she was doing after being poisoned.

Itachi watched his cousin out of the corner of his eye. Why was he asking about Sakura? Did something happen between them? Itachi hadn't had any competition for her affections...until now it seemed. He hadn't even been able to tell her himself that he had a crush on her. He was glad his cousin was back but maybe he could have waited a few more weeks.

…..."Little girl, you should know by now, you can't run from me." The voice of Sasori drawled in her ear as he held her up against him, ropes tied her body to his.

"A taste my dear, of the inevitable." A blade shot out of the end of his wrist.

Slowly, like a lover's touch, he ran the poisoned blade across her neck, as he hummed in her ear.

"Not to worry dear, I'll make you into a doll, my favorite doll." He ran his hand through her hair slowly, carefully.

"With me, you will never age, never grow old, with me, you will live forever." He kissed her cheek making her squirm in his sadistic embrace…..

Sakura woke with a scream ripping from her throat. Her fingers clutched her bedding, sweat poured down her face dripping from her chin with her tears.

Almost every night, since the first night, she had the same damn nightmare. Last night, was the only night, since that night, she hadn't had the nightmare.

Sakura took a breath slowly, then another carefully. Her head stopped aching and her heart started beating again. Her room was stuffy, she had to get out of her apartment, the walls were too close, the air was too still. She threw a t-shirt on over her bra and slipped a pair of shorts on over her underwear and jumped out her bedroom window into the crisp spring night.

Itachi was sitting on his roof when he saw her run by. She was flying fast over the rooftops of the market on the far end of the village. He immediately got up and followed her. It wasn't the first time she had run out of her apartment in the night to escape her demons. He often followed her to make sure she was safe, watched her to make sure nothing happened to her while she fought back the evil that tried to consume her. Itachi understood, he had his own demons to contend with.

She landed by the river per her usual. He knew she liked the fresh air of the moving water. Itachi took his usual seat in a nearby tree and watched her lay down on the cool new grass of Spring beside the water, her eyes open wide taking in the stars.

Sakura spread her arms and legs out over the fresh Spring grass and breathed in and out slowly as she looked at the mass of burning stars overhead. After a few minutes of concentration, relaxing mantras in her head, she began to feel human again. Her eyes closed as she listened to the night trying to forget the nightmare that plagued her. It was different almost every night, something small, something big. Sometimes, in the worst ones, she would die and be reborn as a puppet. It haunted her nights and made a harsh companion of her days.

Her Shisou knew about her dreams, knew they haunted her. The only advice she had given her apprentice was to endure. Endure...what the hell else had she been doing since? Endure, one word, so simple...so far from the truth. Sakura didn't want to endure, she wanted to conquer, she wanted to dominate her nightmare, rid herself of her torment..she needed to kill Sasori of the Red Sand.

"Easier said than done." She muttered to herself.

"I'd be dead now if it wasn't for Uchiha Shisui." She continued to talk to herself.

"Came out of nowhere...saved my life...not bad to look at either." Sakura giggled.

Itachi froze in his tree.

"Not that it matters, a guy like that, wouldn't look twice at me. He is as unobtainable as his genius cousin Itachi. Both gorgeous, both out of my league. I always pick the wrong man." She laughed at herself.

"I can't take this." She hit the ground beside her with her small fists, no chakra.

Letting out a frustrated groan she sat up, hands flat, arms out behind her holding her weight up.

Itachi leaned out of the tree watching her. Unobtainable?

"Sasuke." She hummed.

Itachi withdrew back into the tree.

"You ruined everything for me didn't you." She sighed flopping back down onto the ground flat and looking up at the stars once more.

"You're going to make me into a doll one day aren't you Sasori. I know it. Damn it!" She shot up from the ground and punched a fist into the ground. The earth exploded into dust and dirt around her.

Itachi sensed her signature fading as he sat in his tree watching the dirt and the dust settle. He stretched as he followed her back to her apartment. He waited for her to settle back into her bed, then made his way back to the Uchiha compound.

"So it's like that is it?" Shisui was leaning up against the fence of the main house waiting for Itachi.

"Hn." Itachi stood still watching his best friend and cousin who had been gone for 5 years.

"You said she wasn't seeing anyone," Shisui said calmly.

"She isn't," Itachi replied just as calmly.

"Yet you followed her from her room to the river." Shisui watched his younger cousin with great interest.

"I did." Itachi wasn't going to deny it, there was no reason to, besides, Shisui was a sensor nin, he already knew.

"You grew up while I was gone I see." Shisui grinned then reached out and ruffled Itachi's perfect ponytailed hair.

Itachi didn't bother to stop him, it was a familiar gesture, but he wasn't 17 anymore, he was 22 and a man. "Shisui."

"I don't blame you, she's beautiful." Shisui grinned.

"Hn," Itachi said.

"As you said though, she isn't seeing anyone, which means you have no claim on her...no one does." Shisui's grin widened and Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"Yet," Itachi said his eyes glowing red.

"Interesting, you really do like her don't you?" Shisui smirked.

"I do," Itachi said evenly eyes fading to thier natural coal.

"So do I," Shisui said eyes glowing red, tomes spinning.

"Welcome home Shisui." Itachi smiled a real smile at his cousin who laughed, his eyes fading back to their normal dark brown.

"Thanks, Itachi." Shisui grinned at his younger cousin and best friend.

Sakura woke up late the next morning. Rolling out of bed onto her feet she yawned, stretched and dragged her feet into her kitchen where she turned on her coffee maker.

30 minutes later she was dressed, sitting on the couch and drinking coffee while reading a medical scroll she had checked out of the Konoha library.

Knock. Knock.

Sakura got up, laid her scroll on her coffee table and went to her door. She knew who it was by the signature.

"Shisui san." She greeted him.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?" Shisui grinned at her.

"I'm better thank you. It always takes a day for me to get back to normal even with the antidote to one of Sasori's poisons. I would have thought by now I would have an immunity to them, considering how many times I have been poisoned by him." She laughed.

"He gets to you that often?" Shisui was surprised. Most people didn't make it out of a fight with the infamous puppet master much less get poisoned by him repeatedly...and survived to tell about it.

"As much as he can. If it wasn't for you, I think last time would really have been the last time. I owe you one." She smiled at him as she opened the door further inviting him in.

She led him into her living room and invited him to sit down.

"Would you like something to drink, I just made fresh coffee?" She offered him.

"I'm good, thank you but would you like to go to breakfast with me? My treat."Shisui counter offered.

"Oh well, uh, yeah I guess I could do that. I haven't eaten yet...or gone grocery shopping so I don't have any food in the place, just coffee." She laughed.

"Great! Uh, it's been five years since I've been back, could you pick the place?" He smiled at her.

"I know the perfect place, not too crowded, great food, and decent prices." Sakura set her coffee cup in the sink.

"Let me just grab my bag." She leaned into her bedroom and grabbed her bag from her bed.

Shisui opened the door for her locking it from the inside.

"Thanks." She said as he closed her door and they walked down the stairs together.

They made light conversation on the way to the small cafe.

"Has the village changed much since you have been gone?" Sakura asked him as they walked at a leisurely pace.

"Not a lot. There are a few less faces than I remember, but that's to be expected. The park is bigger, did they change it or is it just my imagination?" He asked her as they passed by the park.

"No they changed it, they added that line of trees back there as the new boarder, separating it from the training grounds." She pointed to the spikey tree line along the back of the park.

A flash of orange caught her eye and she cringed. She still had a small headache and didn't need to hear Naruto's loud mouth right now...it was too late. A black and orange blur was closing in on her fast. Just before the impact of blonde and loud Shisui stepped in front of her.

When she blinked she saw Naruto bent over backward, his arm thrown up across his back, his leg spread out in front of him under Shsisui's foot and a kunai to his throat.

"What the hell man!" Naruto yelled out.

"Welcome home Shisui." Sasuke's familiar coolness met Sakura's ears.

She turned to see Sasuke standing beside his cousin with a solemn look on his face.

"Sasuke, good to see you, is this a friend of yours?" Shisui still hadn't let go of Naruto.

"Yeah, you better believe I'm his friend, who the hell are you and what are you doing with SAKURA CHAN!" Naruto was yelling again.

"Naruto would you please lower your voice, my head is killing me and I am going to kill you if you don't shut up right now!" Sakura cracked her knuckles and glared at him menacingly.

"I love that fire." Shisui grinned at Sakura and let Naruto go in one graceful movement.

"What?" Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time Sakura blushed a deep red.

"If you'll excuse us, we were about to go to breakfast." Shisui took Sakura by the arm, tucking it into his and led her away from her boys.

"Hey, Sakura, seriously, who is this guy?" Naruto called after her.

She ignored him but heard Sasuke say, "That's my cousin Shisui, he just got back after a 5-year mission, he's a genius, don't mess with him."

Sakura leaned over to Shisui's ear, "A genius?" she asked him quietly.

"Some have been known to call me that but I'm just a regular guy. Who happens to know the body flicker." He winked at her and she laughed.

Breakfast was wonderful. Shisui was intelligent and sweet. He made her laugh. She needed to laugh, she had been rather down lately. Sakura smiled as they walked back to her apartment through the park. They stopped at the man made pond, she pulled the small roll from her pocket from her breakfast that she had saved for this purpose.

"I've missed this," Shisui said as he watched her throw crumbs to the ducks that had immediately flooded to her at the sight of the bun.

"Feeding ducks? Or being back in Konoha?" She teased him.

"Being with someone, enjoying a day with someone. Not looking over my shoulder constantly expecting the last killing blow before the lights go out forever." He frowned at the ducks.

"I will admit, it was stressful." He put his hand in his pocket and grinned at her.

"It's nice to be home...and to be here with you." He smiled and took her hand.

Sakura blushed and looked away. No one had ever taken her hand and held it like that before. No one had ever said such sweet things to her. Shisui wasn't just anyone either. Just that morning, while they were eating breakfast people, would stop at thier table and welcome him home, people ran across the street to hug and kiss him. She could hear the whispering while they walked. He was famous, he was revered, he was respected and he had bought her breakfast and was holding her hand.

"Shisui, I'm nothing special." She laughed nervously looking down at the ground.

"How can you say something like that?" He looked at her confused and a little disappointed.

"You're amazing. You have not only survived fighting with Akasuna no Sasori once but over and over. You're the apprentice to the Legendary Sannin Tsunade, the fifth Hokage! You're a medic-nin! You're beautiful and dangerous! I just met you and those are all the things I know about you, I can't wait to know more." He stepped closer to her.

Sakura looked up into his happy eyes, they were sparkling with humor, with...admiration. She didn't know what to say. No man had ever shown her this much, affection, this much attention and respect. Her heart fluttered.

"Sakura, um, can I ...kiss you?" Shisui blushed and ducked his head sheepishly.

"You want to to...kiss me?" She stuttered, she knew her face must be bright red right now.

"May I?" Shisui had never kissed a girl before, he wasn't sure he even knew how to do it but he wanted to try and he wanted his first kiss to be with Sakura.

Sakura nodded and looked up at him through her fly away hair that fell over her face. Shisui stepped closer to her, brushed the hair from her face and lowered his mouth over hers gently, timidly, he slowly pressed his lips to hers. She moved into him, he wrapped his arms around her, someone behind them coughed pointedly interrupting them. Shisui turned to glare at his younger cousin.

"Itachi," Shisui growled.

"Shisui." Itachi smiled a fake smile at him.

"Sakura may I speak with you a moment?" Itachi inclined his head to her, his eyes never leaving those of his cousin.

"We're busy, perhaps later," Shisui answered for her.

"It's okay Shisui, I'll be right back." Sakura stepped away from him and turned to Itachi who took her hand and pulled her away from Shisui off to the side.

Sakura stumbled a little and stared down at thier joined hands. Itachi Uchiha was holding her hand?

"Sakura, I wanted to ask you to go to dinner with me tonight, if you're available?" Itachi blinked at her.

"What?" She knew it had to be a mistake, she couldn't have heard him correctly.

"Dinner, will you go to dinner with me tonight?" Itachi asked her again looking behind her to Shisui who was watching them, his eyes burning red.

"Oh um. I." She paused. Shisui had just kissed her, did that mean they were going out? Ino kissed guys all the time and it didn't mean they were going out. "Okay," Sakura said after a moment.

"I'll pick you up at your apartment at 7 pm tonight." Itachi inclined his head and left her.

Sakura stood there for a moment watching him walk away. She shook her head as if to clear it. Had that just happened? Itachi Uchiha, the strongest most dangerous shinobi in the Leaf had asked her to dinner...and she had said yes.

Shisui came up behind Sakura taking her hand in his again.

"Is everything okay?" He asked her.

She jumped. "Shisui!"

She had almost forgotten he was there.

He smiled at her.

"Itachi he, just asked me to dinner tonight." She told him

"Oh," Shisui said.

"I said yes." She felt guilty, why did she feel guilty?

"Oh, well, we aren't boyfriend and girlfriend so it is okay, I can't expect you to say no when we have only had breakfast together and one kiss, that was interrupted." He tried to smile but it came out as a grimace.

"Are, are you okay with this, I can go tell him no if...if it makes you uncomfortable." She told him.

"You would do that?" Shisui looked down at her face. Her eyes were so green.

"Yes." She told him truthfully.

"I wouldn't ask that of you, it isn't fair. As much as I would like to." He laughed.

"We have only been on one date. I would like to see you again though, can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?" Shisui asked her grinning again.

"Yes, I would like that." She smiled up at him pleased he wasn't angry.

Shisui walked her back to her apartment, kissed her gently, then left to walk back to the compound.

Sasuke and Itachi were sitting on the front porch of the main house when Shisui walked through the gates to the Uchiha compound. He walked over to them at Itachi's wave.

"How was breakfast?" Itachi asked his cousin.

"Almost as good as the kiss, until we were interrupted." Shisui cut at his friend.

"Kiss? Breakfast?" Sasuke asked, then realization hit him.

"You're dating Sakura?!" Sasuke almost yelled standing up quickly.

"Sit down," Itachi commanded.

Sasuke sat down.

"Are you?" Sasuke asked Shisui more quietly.

"Yes," Shisui said grinning.

"So am I," Itachi said. "After dinner tonight that is."

Sasuke's mouth dropped open. "Where the hell did this come from?"

"You can't date her she's, she's...Sakura!" Sasuke's voice was rasing again and Itachi shushed him.

"Actually we can," Shisui said smugly.

"But but both of you?" Sasuke looked from one to the other his mouth still hanging open slightly.

"Until she decides which one of us she likes better, I suppose yes," Itachi said looking at Shisui.

"I already kissed her, twice," Shisui said smugly looking back at Itachi.

"A kiss is but a fleeting glance in the grand scheme of things cousin. I hope you enjoyed the kiss, it will be your last." Itachi rose from his seat and walked into the main house.

Sasuke and Shisui sat in silence together.

"How many girls has your brother dated since I've been gone Sasuke?" Shisui asked him.

"None, I didn't even know he liked Sakura, he never speaks to her, has never spoken of her," Sasuke told him.

Shisui may have been gone for a long time but he knew Itachi. This was serious. He almost felt guilty for pursuing the pink haired beauty...almost.

Itachi knocked on her door at 7 pm exactly.

"Good evening Sakura, you look beautiful." Itachi inclined his head to her.

She smiled demurely a hint of pink flushed her cheeks. Itachi smiled slowly as he looked her over. A simple white dress, white sandals, a silver charm bracelet on her slim wrist. It was one of the things he admired most about her. She was subtle, delicate and humble. He had never cared for the loud, flashy girls that tended to throw themselves at him. He liked the peaceful, the quiet natural beauty of the world, Sakura.

"Good evening Itachi, you look well." She reciprocated his formal greeting with a shy smile.

"I have picked out a small diner on the east end of the market if it suits you?" He took her hand in his, a bold move for him.

She glanced down at thier joined hands and then up to his eyes.

"That sounds wonderful Itachi." She smiled then quickly looked away.

Itachi was pleased, he liked it when she said his name.

They walked hand in hand to the diner, sat and ordered. He tried to think of something to talk about while they sipped thier tea but he wasn't much of a conversationalist. She helped fill that void by asking him how his family was, tactfully not asking specifically about Shisui, which he was grateful for.

"Mother would like you to come for dinner next week if you are free," Itachi told her after some small talk.

"I always love your mother's cooking, you bet I'll be there." She had laughed setting him more at ease.

Since Sasuke and her had been put on the same Genin team years ago she had been a consistent dinner guest and companion at festivals throughout the years. Itachi wanted to remind her of thier long term connections, to help reinforce his claim on her, something his newly returned cousin couldn't do.

Itachi smiled to himself, thinking he had gained the advantage.

Their meal came, they ate and left the diner.

"Would you like to walk along the Sakura tree park in the compound?" He asked her as they neared the Uchiha compound.

It would show the clan he was interested in her, would help to establish his claim on her further in front of the family as a whole.

"I would love that Itachi." She smiled up at him as they made thier way through the compound gates.

Itachi smiled back down at her and pulled her closer to his side. She glanced up at him curious as to why he would do such a thing but spotted Shisui sitting on his porch behind him, watching them walk by.

"Itachi." She said in a low voice, a warning.

"Hum?" He tried to pass his action off innocently.

She glared at him and pulled her hand from his, in a "you're not fooling me" gesture.

"Sorry." He said and meant it.

"It's okay." She sighed, she should have known something like this would happen, it was her own fault she supposed.

They walked down the well-groomed path that led through the Sakura trees of the compound. It was beautiful. There were a few fellow evening walkers who nodded and smiled knowing smiles at them. A pair of teenage girls stopped and openly glared at Sakura but averted thier eyes quickly when Itachi turned toward them.

"I come here sometimes at night after everyone has gone to bed to sit and meditate, it's quiet then." Itachi stopped by the small pond.

"Would you like to sit?" He waved to a small grouping of seat like rocks set purposefully beside the pond.

Sakura nodded and sat down, Itachi sat beside her and took her hand in his again.

"I won't lie," He said, "It is a competition, between my cousin and me, for your affection but, it isn't a game. I want you to know that." He told her as they watched the Sakura petals fall around them, some floating on the surface of the pond.

"Good, I would hate to think I am just a prize to be won." She tried to make light of it and laughed.

"Never," Itachi said squeezing her hand.

"I know you are having dinner with Shsiui tomorrow but would you like to spar with me in the morning?" Itachi asked her, his gaze intense upon her face.

"Spar? With you?" She laughed.

"You would slaughter me." She laughed again, Itachi Uchiha was asking her to spar with him, it was hilarious.

"We could start off with taijutsu only, I won't use my Sharingan, skill only, no Kekkei Genkai need be involved." He smiled at her, her laughter was endearing.

"That's fair, otherwise you would kick my ass." she laughed again.

"You sell yourself short Sakura, you are very talented." He told her.

She didn't respond right away, and silence stretched out between them. It wasn't awkward or unpleasant, it was a comfortable silence, one that can only come from knowing one another for years and trusting one another.

"I wouldn't mind learning how to use a katana." She confided in him, looking at him shyly.

"I will teach you." He smiled at her pleased she was interested in expanding her already impressive list of skills.

"Would you really?" She beamed at him.

Itachi's eyes bled red as he looked at her, her smile so wide, so genuine. Her eyes widened further at the sight of his red eyes.

"It would be my pleasure Sakura." He took her other hand in his.

"Itachi, your eyes." She lifted a hand, pulling it from his grasp to touch the side of his face.

"Ah, sorry. I wanted to remember your smile." He withdrew the chakra from his eyes so that they faded back to coal.

"Sasuke told me emotions trigger your eyes to respond, it's how you achieve your next level in your Sharingan." She dropped her hand from his face and took his hand once more.

"It is. It is usually from tragedy unfortunately but any strong emotion is said to cause change." He told her.

"Like love?" She asked him, her eyes never leaving his.

"Yes, like love." He said quietly leaning in closer to her, his mouth mere inches from hers.

Sakura exhaled, her breath hot against his mouth. Itachi pressed his lips to hers, a brief, quick kiss. He pulled away to look at her, her eyes were closed, a smile on her lips. Itachi's heart jumped in his chest as he leaned in to kiss her again. His hand left hers to cup her face, her skin soft and light beneath his fingers, her hair floating around them both, he opened her mouth with a flick of his tongue, sweet, so sweet was her flavor. He pulled back reluctantly when he had to breathe. Her cheeks tinted pink, his face warm.

"Sakura I." He began but paused, what could he say, how could he tell her how he felt?

"Itachi." She said his name softly, a whisper.

He smiled.

"Thank you." He got out.

"For coming to dinner with me." He added in case she was confused and thought he was thanking her for the kiss. Maybe he should thank her though, he frowned thinking.

She laughed.

"What's the frown for? Am I a bad kisser?" She teased.

"No!" he said too quickly, too loudly.

They both laughed. It was getting dark.

"Can I walk you home?" Itachi asked pulling her to her feet.

"Please." She smiled up at him. He looked so handsome in the dwindling sunlight, the light shining through his bangs, illuminating his dark eyes to a shinning black.

Itachi left her at her door with a chaste kiss and a promise to pick her up tomorrow morning for thier spar at 8 am.

Shisui met him by the gate to the compound as he returned from walking Sakura home.

"Have a good date cuz?" Shisui grinned at his younger cousin.

"Hn." Itachi looked at Shisui for any sign of animosity but found none.

Good, he thought they had come to an understanding of sorts. He was glad nothing had changed after his date with Sakura. If he were honest with himself, and he always was, he wasn't sure that the girl wouldn't come between them, now or in the future. He was falling for her, more and more with every day, and after the kiss they shared...he knew, this would only end when she picked one of them. He paused in his steps as the thought hit him...maybe not even then. They were Uchiha after all.

As if Shisui could read his mind…

"You love her don't you?" Shisui asked him.

"I don't know yet," Itachi answered him carefully. He was pretty sure he did though.

"Hn," Shisui answered in the common Uchiha manner, which was odd for him and made Itachi look at him with an odd expression on his face.

"Do you love her?" Itachi asked Shisui.

"No, not yet, but I could, easily," Shisui answered truthfully.

"Hn," Itachi said.

"So, what do we do?" Shisui asked.

"We do what we were going to do from the very beginning, let her choose," Itachi answered.

"And if she can't?" Shisui asked him.

"I don't know." Itachi didn't know, and it bothered him.

"Neither one of us will give her up to the other." Shisui voiced the obvious.

"Hn." Itachi agreed.

Shisui laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"I am sparing with her tomorrow morning before you have dinner with her." Itachi thought it only fair to tell him.

Shisui stopped walking and Itachi paused by his side.

"She wants me to teach her the katana." Itachi offered.

"You always were the clever one Itachi." Shisui grinned at his cousin.

"It was her own request." Itachi defended himself.

"I bet it was your idea to spar." Shisui was no fool.

"Hn." Itachi couldn't help but smile, so he did.

"Did you kiss her?" Shisui asked as they began walking again.

"Yes," Itachi .

Shisui glanced over at his cousin, he had never seen Itachi smile so fondly. No, once he had, when he had held his little brother for the first time when he had kissed Sasuke on the forehead and promised to protect him with his life when he was 4 years old.

"She's worth it isn't she?" Shisui stated.

"More than." Itachi nodded as they climbed the steps to the main house and went inside.

Sakura sat in the window of her bedroom, feet dangling over the sill. The moon was almost full, it would be a full moon tomorrow night or the next. She smiled as she thought of her date with Itachi. She frowned as she thought of her date with Shisui. She sighed.

Never in her life did she think she would have this problem. Who was she kidding she was Sakura Haruno, civilian born, nothing special Sakura Haruno. She supposed she had made her mark on the world with her accomplishments, yes, but these men, they were...so far above her. She smiled and shook her head. She had no idea what they saw in her but she wouldn't complain. She only wondered, how on earth was she supposed to choose between the two.

Itachi was quiet, shy, intelligent, skilled, dangerous. Shisui was laughter, smiles, intelligent, dangerous. Both devastatingly handsome. The problem was, they shared many of the same qualities she was attracted to most. Intelligence, skill, kindness, courage, and devotion. Sakura looked up at the moon again and briefly spared a thought for Sasuke. She had long given up on that sinking ship of a dream but the feelings were still there. The underlining truth...she was attracted to Uchiha...who could blame her she mused inside her mind. They were...a breed of thier own, literally.

Sakura gave one last glance at the almost full moon and hopped down from her window sill. She laid her ninja gear out on her chair for tomorrow morning. She didn't have a katana, she hoped Itachi would bring an extra one, she had forgotten to tell him. She was looking forward to learning how to use a sword, she knew he would be an excellent teacher, she had seen him practice with the blade many times over the years, had admired his grace, his deadly precision. He was the one that had inspired her to want to learn the art in fact. She smiled as she got ready for bed.

….."You disappoint me Doll." Sasori's drawling voice came to her in the dark.

Sakura couldn't see, she raised her head, her eyes open and tried to look around, where was she?

"Hope is a very very dangerous thing, my dear," Sasori said behind her, so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. It made her skin crawl.

"What? What do you mean?" She squeaked out, her voice weak. She growled in anger at her weakness.

A laugh...a chuckle slipped across her belly like a scorpion through the sand…

"You know what I mean." He said clearly, from a position all to close all too near for her taste.

"Why can't I see you?" She asked him, timidly, that fear creeping into her voice again. She clenched her fists in frustration. Why, why did this man get to her, crawling under her skin like no other….

"You know where I am, stop lying to yourself." A tap to her heart, a pain inside...she groaned...noooo.

That chuckle again, vindication.

"I'll see you again soon...Doll." Sasori's voice came to her, finding as if he were floating away, darkness closed in on her heart.

"I never want to see you again." She shouted into the dark before blinding light pulled her from his grasp…..

She woke with a start. The dreams had changed. Was it a warning? She had no idea but she didn't like it.

Sakura rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She pulled her limbs from her covers and dressed for the day.

An hour later, her dream pushed to the back of her mind, she opened her front door to Itachi standing there, two swords in his hand.

"Good morning Sakura, did you sleep well?" He inclined his head to her.

"Yes, and you?" She smiled.

"Yes." He could see the lines of strain in her eyes, she hadn't slept well, he knew.

"Did you have breakfast?" He asked her as they walked down the stairs of her apartment building.

"Uh." She blushed.

"We will stop on the way to the training grounds." He said lightly as they made thier way west through the village.

Shisui watched them walking together as he sat in the tree by her apartment. He had felt the spike in her chakra early that morning before dawn and had come to investigate. She had nightmares, he found out, he wondered if she had them often. He watched as his Sakura and his cousin rounded the corner toward the food stands, then jumped from his tree. He knew Itachi had sensed him there, knew he had ignored his presence in favor of paying Sakura his full attention.

Shisui wondered, did Itachi know she had nightmares, probably, he had known her longer. Shisui decided to ask her himself on their date tonight.

Itachi sheathed his katana after Sakura sheathed hers.

"You did wonderful." He complimented her.

"Your form is excellent, your muscle memory in tune with that needed for swordsmanship. You just need to refine your strokes, practice through trial and error." Itachi was indeed impressed with her. She had picked it up quickly.

"You flatter me, I am terrible." She smiled ruefully at him.

"Your form is good, and that is what matters. It was your first lesson, you have a good base." He told her honestly.

"With your chakra control, you have a dire advantage over your opponent." He had noticed she infused her blade with her chakra naturally and had to ask her several times to pull it back from her blade as they practiced.

She smiled, "Sorry, it was an accident. I didn't mean to."

"I know, it is good, only...until you master the blade, it is a bad idea to use your chakra with the sword. You could really hurt yourself or someone else." He warned her.

"You're a little scary." He almost laughed.

"That is a huge compliment coming from you." She grinned at him pleased with herself.

Itachi inclined his head to the smiling girl in front of him.

"Lunch?" He asked her.

"I would love to but I should check-in at the hospital, it has been a day or two and I have a few patients I need to see. Maybe tomorrow?" She handed him his sword back.

"Keep it, use it, practice. Tomorrow sounds great." He smiled at her. He found himself smiling more and more every time he was with her, he liked it.

"I couldn't possibly, it is your sword." She tried to protest.

"Now it is yours." He pushed the weapon back into her hands and smiled again.

"Itachi." She started.

"Sakura." he countered smiling again.

"You're teasing me?" She laughed a little.

"Maybe." he teased her.

"I like it, it is new. I've never seen the teasing side of you." She grinned mischievously at him.

"You bring it out of me, only you." He smiled at her and poked her in the forehead with two fingers.

Her eyes went wide. She had seen him do that to Sasuke many times, it meant something to him, which meant...she meant something to him.

"Itachi." She started but was interrupted.

"Sakura." Sasuke dropped down beside her from a tree overhead.

Itachi sighed. He had felt his brother in the trees for the last ten minutes and had hoped he would stay hidden for a little longer, at least long enough for him to kiss Sakura once.

"Hey, Sasuke." She greeted her teammate with a smile.

"Itachi is teaching you the katana?" He asked even though it was obvious.

"Yeah, isn't it cool?" She grinned at him.

"Yeah." Sasuke agreed smiling at her.

"I've never known him to teach anyone anything besides Shisui or myself." Sasuke looked from Sakura to his brother.

"Well, I guess I'm special." She teased him.

"You are," Itachi interjected before Sasuke could make a snarky remark.

"Anyway, one of the nurses from the hospital was looking for you," Sasuke told her.

"Oh! I should go then." She smiled at them.

"Thanks, Itachi! Bye Sasuke!" She called over her shoulder as she ran toward the hospital.

"Why did you lie Sasuke?" Itachi turned to his brother once she was out of earshot.

"Did you or Shisui ever stop to think what this little game will do to Sakura?" Sasuke asked his brother glowering at him.

"It isn't a game, for either of us," Itachi warned.

"That's not what it looks like to me, or to anyone else. People saw you with her last night, people saw her with Shisui. Do you not know what they are saying?" Sasuke asked him.

Itachi didn't, he didn't listen to gossip. "No." He replied.

"What are they saying?" He asked his brother.

"They are saying it is cruel what you two are doing, leading her on, playing with her when there is no future for either of you with her," Sasuke told Itachi.

"No future?" Itachi said as if to himself.

"You are the clan heir Itachi, you have to marry and Uchiha, and Shisui, though he is not part of the main family, he is one of the strongest most powerful Uchiha in history, the elders will not allow him to marry out of the clan for fear of tainting the strength of the bloodline he carries." Sasuke would have thought his brother of all people would have known this.

"I knew all of this when I chose her, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't know there was already talk though." Itachi frowned. They had only gone on one date.

"Well, there is. Sakura is the one who will get hurt here and you both know it, or you should. Be careful Itachi." Sasuke watched his older brother for a reaction.

"You've grown up Sasuke." Itachi smiled at his little brother and poked him in the forehead with two fingers like he had done to Sakura moments ago.

"Maybe I have." Sasuke grinned smugly, " But I mean it, she is the one who will get hurt the most when this game of yours plays out."

"As I already told you, it is not a game for me." Itachi's voice grew hard and Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Is it to Shisui though." Sasuke countered.

"I don't think so," Itachi said looking up to the sky.

"It's going to rain." He commented and began to walk from the training grounds toward home.

Sasuke followed him.

Shisui met Sakura by the steps of the hospital as she came out of the front doors. She smiled in surprise and hugged him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked him.

Shisui tapped her on the nose, "I'm here for our date."

She smiled at him. "Can I go home and change first?" She asked.

"Of course." He took her hand and tucking it into his arm as they walked to her apartment.

"How was the hospital?" He asked her.

"Good, Shisou wants me to work a regular shift tomorrow, some of my patients had waited for me to come back from my last mission to see a doctor." She smiled.

"I told them that any doctor would do but some of them are older and are set in thier ways." She grinned up at him.

"I'm sure it has more to do with you being you and not them being stubborn." He complimented her.

She nudged him with her hip as they walked, "Flatterer." She teased.

He bumped her back with his hip, "Only to you."

He waited in her living room while she changed into shorts and a tee-shirt.

They walked down the side streets fo the market till they came to the tempura stand he had wanted to take her to.

"Mind if we take it to go?" He asked her before they ordered.

"Sure, have a place in mind to eat it?" She grinned at him.

"Sure do." He smiled at her then ordered for them.

After thier food was ready and he had it in his hand he turned to her," come here." he held his arm out and she stepped into his embrace.

Several people turned to look at them. Some smiling, some frowning, one with outright disgust on her face.

"I'm going to body flicker us, hold on." He grinned down at her.

She squished up against him, much to his pleasure and he flickered them to the forest, then without warning to the outskirts of the forest by the mouth of the river and the rocky rapid.

She stumbled against him as they landed gently, she giggled self consciously.

"Sorry, it takes a bit getting used to." He apologized to her.

"I may be a shinobi but I will be the first to admit I'm a little bit of a klutz." She rolled her eyes at herself and smiled at him.

"Come here klutz." he crooked a finger at her.

She sat down in the grass by the fast flowing rapids of the river and breathed in the fresh air that flowed over the water.

"This is nice." She told him.

"I like it," he said casually pulling thier food containers from the bag between them.

They talked about the hospital, what she did there, her training with Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage, her adventures with the woman and her infamous drinking habits, temper and gambling addiction.

Shisui laughed as she talked asked small questions while he listened, he was fascinated.

"Wow, you're healing prowess is even more impressive than I first thought, you're amazing!" He played with a lock of her hair, they had moved closer as they talked.

"I just know what I've been taught." She replied modestly.

It was so attractive how humble she was, Shisui thought, he knew why Itachi was drawn to the girl, the woman he corrected himself. She was amazing, and so much more because she seemed completely oblivious to the fact.

"Tell me about Team 7, what was it like being trained by the famous Copy Nin of Konoha? Was Sasuke as much as a pretentious stuck up little brat as I imagined he would be before I left the village?" He laughed as he asked her.

"He was always brooding and a little dark, self centered but reliable." She laughed.

She told him about thier mission to Wave and how it turned from a C rank mission to an S rank in a matter of hours. He listened as she told him how useless she used to be, how Kakashi focused on Naruto and Sasuke, ignored her and how she had begged Tsunade to train her after Naruto left to train with the other legendary sannin Jiryah.

Sakura asked him to tell her about some of his missions if he could, she had heard from Sasuke he was in Anbu and had been from a very young age, like Itachi and knew he wouldn't be able to tell her about most of his missions.

"I'm an assassin and recon. My body flicker ability makes me a prime asset for such missions." His voice dropped a bit, "I'm not much of a killer at heart, but I'm good at it." He grew quiet for a moment.

"Stay away from Anbu Sakura, if you can. You're a medic and the apprentice of The Hokage, I doubt they will recruit you but if they try, say no, please. It will destroy you." He didn't smile that time, he didn't look at her, he looked at the rapids, the water, the moon, but not at her.

She leaned into him, they were already close.

"I won't. I wouldn't make a very good assassin." She admitted.

"Not at heart, but in skill, I think you would be better at it than I am, maybe even Itachi." He said.

"What do you mean?" She asked raising her head to look at him, bringing their faces closer.

He looked down at her, inches away, "Your perfect chakra control, your medical skills, could be weaponized, I'm surprised you haven't done it already, you would be practically unstoppable."

His breath as he spoke warmed her face and she blushed at both the action and the compliment.

"I'm not much of a killer, in fact, many people have criticized me for it over the years, but not to my face. I'm a medic first and foremost." She looked back up to him.

"You are kindhearted first and foremost. An admirable quality in my opinion." Shisui said into her eyes that sparkled with moonlight. The sun had set while they talked. The darkness drew in around them drawing them together.

"Thank you." Sakura said.

"You're welcome," Shisui spoke softly over her mouth as he brought his lips to hers.

Her hand came up over his chest as he laid her back onto the grass, his hands went to her hair as he deepened thier kiss.

Her fingers twisted the front of his shirt in her grasp as she opened her mouth to his demanding tongue.

His mouth covered hers, his lips pressed and moved across hers. He couldn't get enough.

A hand dropped from her head, moved down the side of her body, snuck under the hem of her shirt and made it's way back up her side.

"So soft." he murmured as his fingers traced the bottom of her bra.

"Shisui." She choked out in between gasps as he kissed her, clouding her judgment.

"Sakura." Shisui groaned as his fingers broke the barrier of her underwire and he pushed his hand up over her breast.

A groan escaped his lips as he felt her nipple harden under his touch.

"Stop." She said beneath him and his other hand went to her pants.

"Please." She broke thier kiss.

"I'm sorry." Shisui withdrew his hand from her breast and his hand from her pants.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry." He was ashamed, he knew it was too soon, she wasn't that kind of a girl, he had just, gotten carried away.

"It's okay," she said breathlessly, she smiled at him.

"It's just."

"Too soon." He finished for her smiling.

She nodded.

"I didn't mean to go that far, really, forgive me." He asked as he sat up and pulled her up to sit beside him.

"It's okay really Shisui, I like you I just, I'm not ready for that yet." She blushed at him.

"No, you're right, again it's my fault, I should control myself." He grinned at her.

"You're just so beautiful, it's hard around you." He told her holding her hand.

She blushed again.

"Let me take you home." He offered.

"Thanks, Shisui. You're a gentleman." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and he grinned again.

"I'm trying, it's hard around you." He laughed.

They body flickered to the door of her apartment, kissed innocently goodnight and he left.

Sakura leaned back against her door after closing it fanning her face.

"Shit." she groaned into her hands.

"What the hell am I doing?" She hung her head and made her way to her bathroom. She needed a cold shower.

Shisui had half expected half feared Itachi would be waiting for him by the compound gate but he wasn't. He was glad they weren't going to make it a tradition to their dates with Sakura. He didn't want to face his cousin at that moment. He felt bad for his lack of self-control, he had taken it too far with Sakura. He frowned, had Itachi gotten that far with her yet, no of course not, he scolded himself for the thought. Itachi had more self-control than he did. Itachi was better than him in that aspect, perhaps he was the right man for her after all.

Itachi sat in his room on his bed in the main house, he felt Shisui return from his date with Sakura and sighed. The tension he hadn't realized he had in his shoulders let loose and he relaxed a little. Neither one of them had spent the night with her yet. Neither one of them would until she made her choice if he had anything to say about it, which he didn't. He knew Shisui, he knew he was a good person, but he had been gone for years, what kind of a man had he become? Itachi would like to think he would not take advantage of her, or the situation, would not take it that far to solidify his position in her life, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure.

He set his book on his nightstand, turned off his light and laid down to sleep.

Sasori paced back and forth in his room in the Akatsuki base in Rain. Things were not going to plan. He hadn't counted on Shisui Uchiha or his cousin Itachi Uchiha showing an interest in his doll. His doll. He slammed his hand down on his work table. Several pieces of his newest puppet jumped upon impact. He looked over the pieces. He fingered the pink hair he had taken from a girl in a nearby village that morning. It was dyed but it would have to do. He traced the lines of the wood in the face he had finished carving moments ago, her face.

His thoughts moved back to the Uchiha.

"This won't do, I will not have it." He closed his eyes and counted, calming himself.

Walking to the other side of the room he pulled out her lock of hair he had stolen the last time he had poisoned her and she had lay unconscious at his feet. He placed it on the open scroll he kept inside the top drawer of his dresser. He made the hand signs for the Jutsu like he did almost every night. Sasori smiled as he entered her mind. Her chakra flowing through him, soft, like a lover's caress.

"Sakura, you shock me. Such wanton behavior is unacceptable." He said to the lock of hair, the only connection he had to her mind.

"I will not allow it, you will be punished. You belong to me Sakura, don't you know that? You are my doll." He purred into her ear in his mind, thier minds connected by his Jutsu.

He reached his hand out and turned her chin to his mouth. Whispering against her lips. "My doll."

He kissed her hard, bruising her lips as he forced his affection on her. She struggled in her mind against his touch, he held her hands in his, backed her up against the wall of her mind and held her in place, his hand roaming over her body like the damn Uchiha had done earlier that night, his body, his lover.

"Mine." he bit her lips painfully, blood exploding into his mouth. He licked her lips clean, stemming the flow.

He opened his eyes that had closed, breaking the Jutsu. He tucked the lock of her hair into the side of the drawer, rolled up the scroll and threw a shirt or two over it just in case.

Sasori smiled to himself. He could almost feel her fear through her dreams, he could almost taste her blood from his mind. It had been two years now since he had been able to infiltrate her mind in her dreams. At first, he had enjoyed it, she had been entertaining to say the least, but now, it was more, he had gotten to know her, on an intimate level, he had come to admire her, respect her, and now...it wasn't enough. He wanted more and he would have it, soon.

Itachi met Sakura in her office for lunch the next day with take out.

He lifted the bags when she opened her office door.

"I thought we could eat in?" He smiled at her.

"You're the best!" She hugged him and moved over so he could enter closing the door behind him.

"Sorry for the mess." She said as she cleared off the table by the window.

"It's been so busy today I haven't had time to clean anything up." She threw some folders onto a chair from the table and cringed.

"It feels like I'm just moving the mess around." She laughed.

"Busy is good." He smiles at her pulling containers from the bag and set them on the now clean table.

She sat down in a chair across from him and opened the box. "Spiced rice with pork!" She smiled at him.

"Do you like it? He asked her but knew she did, it was the only thing she ordered from the food stand he had bought it from.

"Yes, I love it, thank you Itachi." She smiled at him as they started to eat.

Halfway through thier meal, an Anbu knocked on her door glancing over at Itachi with interest.

"The Hokage wishes to see you Sakura sama, and you Itachi taichou." The Anbu bowed to Itachi.

"Thank you." Sakura said and Itachi bowed slightly to the Anbu who left shortly after.

"Well, we should go before she sends another, lunch will have to wait. I have learned to never keep her waiting." Sakura smiled.

"Self preservation?" Itachi actually laughed. She had never heard him laugh, she was happy she had such influence on him. He had a surprisingly deep sexy laugh, it made her toes curl.

"You got it." She grinned at him with one last lingering look at her food before they left her office together.

Tsunade surveyed her apprentice and the Uchiha through narrowed eyes as they stood before her in her office.

"What's changed?" She asked them bluntly.

"What do you mean Shisou?" Sakura asked nervously. The woman had the eyes of a bloodthirsty hawk.

"There is something going on here, what is it?" The blonde asked them eyes darting from one to the other.

Before Sakura could answer, Shisui walked into the office, hands in his pockets, relaxed like everything was right in his world.

He stopped dead, mid stride as he noticed Itachi and Sakura in the office with him.

"Uh, you summoned me Hokage sama?" He asked coming to stand on the other side of Sakura giving her an impish smile and winking at her.

Sakura blushed and Itachi rolled his eyes.

Tsunade stared at the three young people before her and groaned internally, her mind flashing back to her own younger years with Orochimaru and Jiryiah.

"Fucking hell Sakura!" The woman exclaimed shocking all three nin before her desk.

"Uh, what?" Sakura cringed under the hard look her Shisou was giving her.

"Are you dating them both?" Tsunade asked her.

"Yes," Sakura answered her truthfully.

"Well, that's great, I have a mission for the three of you but now, I don't know if that's such a good idea." She sighed glaring at each one in turn.

"Lady Hokage" Itachi began formally, "The mission comes first, I am sure both Sakura and Shisui will agree", he looked to his cousin and his...the woman next to him, turning back to the Hokage.

"I agree," Shisui said

"As do I." Sakura almost looked hurt at her Shisou's lack of faith in her professionalism.

"Uh huh, well I hope you understand the cost if you let it, whatever it is, interfere with the mission I have for you three. Sasori took the stores you had gathered on your foraging mission and unfortunately, they were needed, badly, for the hospital. I need you to go on another foraging mission, and I want them to go with you considering what happened last time." Tsunade told them.

"Since you can't go to the same place you went last time I suggest you go to Nanakusa Island, which is well known to grow all the regular medicinal herbs you will need to gather as well as many rare and more hard to find herbs," Tsunade told them.

"I know the place, we have gone there together before but Tsunade Sama are you sure I need both of them, I mean no offense but it is only a foraging mission." Sakura was right, it was unusual for two experienced Anbu to accompany an experienced medic-nin such as herself on a foraging mission.

"You know why Sakura, Sasori has expressed an...unhealthy obsession with you, there is a chance he will try to attack you while you are away from the village, like he has made a habit of doing int he past." Tsunade reminded her.

"But Shisou," Sakura started to protest.

"Sakura." Tsunade interrupted her apprentice, "You know that he is likely to attack you again, particularly on that island, he frequents the island for his uses, which is why most medic-nin avoid going there now. Since he stole our stores from you, we have no choice. He knows this and that is why I am sending the Uchiha with you, he will be expecting you no doubt." Tsunade frowned. She didn't want to send her apprentice to the Nanakusa Island, but there was no one else as skilled in both medicine and combat as Sakura was. It had to be her.

"You leave tomorrow morning, dismissed." Tsunade nodded to the two Uchiha.

"Sakura, stay a moment." Tsunade held her apprentice with a look.

"Yes, Shisou." Sakura groaned.

Itachi and Shisui shared a look.

"We'll wait for you at the bottom of the stairs Shisui told her and they left.

"Sakura." Tsunade began when the door shut. "What are you doing?"

"With the Uchiha?" Sakura knew what her Shisou was asking her.

"First Sasuke and now his brother and his cousin?" Tsunade got right to the point as usual.

"I am not infatuated with Sasuke anymore Tsunade Sama," Sakura told her.

"I understand that, but Sakura, his brother, and his newly returned cousin?" The blonde looked at her apprentice with a narrowed eye.

"I didn't initiate it, it kinda just happened," Sakura said lamely.

The blonde gave the girl a patient look, she understood how things "just happened".

"Be careful Sakura, the Uchiha are a...self indulgent clan" Tsunade warned her.

"Thank you Shisou." Sakura bowed her way out and left with the mission scroll tucked into her belt.

Sakura chewed her lip as she walked through the Hokage tower and down the front steps where Itachi and Shisui waited for her.

Both of them smiled as she walked up to them. She noticed that several people had stopped to stare at them, Uchiha. Some kept walking but thier heads turned as they walked to look.

Sakura ignored the looks, she could really care less, but she noticed both Itachi and Shisui stiffened.

Itachi spoke first. "It doesn't matter to us."

"Only if it bothers you flower." Shisui added.

"It doesn't bother me." She smiled at them and they relaxed a little.

Itachi doubted she had heard the talk, the whispering, she didn't pay attention to gossip, but Shisui had heard it and now that Sasuke had mentioned it to him, so had he.

That is what they had been talking about when she had come up to them.

"So tomorrow morning?" Shisui grinned at her.

"Yeah tomorrow, meet at the gate?" She asked them.

"Or your apartment?" Shisui grinned at her and nudged his cousin who gave him a blank look, a schooled blank look.

Sakura burst out laughing," Yeah that will help the rumor mill." Her eyes sparkled with mirth and Itachi smiled at her glad she was laughing instead of bothered.

"At the gate it is." Shisui bowed jokingly to her then Itachi.

"Shall we finish our lunch Sakura?" Itachi reached out to take her hand.

"Sounds great." Sakura smiled squeezing his hand.

"I already ate but thanks." Shisui smiled at them indulgently and they all laughed.

They met at the gate early the next morning. Shisui grinning like the loon he was and Itachi, face calm, smiled at her approach.

"Morning boys," Sakura smirked at thier forced calm, she could feel the tension beneath the surface strung taunt like a string on a shamisen.

"Morning beautiful." Shisui bowed to her, no doubt showing off for Itachi.

"Good morning Sakura," Itachi said quietly.

They set off at a brisk run, leaping to the trees. Five hours later they were at the coast and on a boat that would take them to Nanakusa Island.

Sakura stood by the rail of the boat looking out over the water. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the wind blew through her long hair trailing it out most becomingly behind her. She usually wore her hair up on missions but with two Uchiha looking over her, she felt she could quite literally, "Let her hair down".

"Did you sleep well last night?" Itachi joined her at the rail.

"I did." She told him and she had, in the absence of her usual nightmare, she was refreshed.

"I notice that you don't, typically," Itachi commented to her as Shisui joined them on her other side.

"No, not typically, did Sasuke tell you?" She wondered if he had just noticed or if Sasuke had told his brother, for he knew, having gone on several missions with her after the battle between her and Sasori.

He had asked her on their third mission, after the battle, when he had noticed the trend and she had poured her heart out to him along with her tears. He knew that the memory tormented her, and was the one that had suggested she tell her Shisou.

"No." Itachi replied, "I noticed."

"Ah, well I guess it isn't hard to tell if you look." She tried to smile at him.

He nodded.

"How often do you have them?" Shisui wanted to know, he found it unusual to have nightmares that frequently, no matter how traumatizing the event.

"Almost every night, since it happened, that battle between Sasori and I, it is almost always the same but, last time, it changed it's...hard to explain." She shivered at the recollection.

"That often?" Shisui hummed his concern.

"Isn't that, unusual Itachi, to dream of the same thing that often?" Shisui asked his cousin who nodded.

"It sounds like a Jutsu," Shisui commented offhandedly.

Itachi twitched then gasped. A sound neither Shisui or Sakura had ever heard pass his lips and they both looked at him curiously.

"That's it, it is a Jutsu." Itachi's eyes were wide, he hadn't thought of it, why hadn't he? He was disappointed in himself.

"Do you think? He would have to have access to her on a regular basis to cast such a Jutsu Itachi, it is unlikely, there is no need to frighten the woman." Shisui tried to grin but was conflicted, it was not likely but it was possible.

She had told him herself she had been poisoned several times by the puppetmaster, that he had tried but never was able to kill her. He had cast it off as a testament to her skill but, what if it wasn't, what if it was because he didn't want to kill her...

Itachi seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

"Would you, tell us about your dreams Sakura, if you can?" Itachi asked her.

"You said that lately, they had changed?" He tried to prompt her.

"You think that he did something, has control or can see into my head?" Sakura was no fool, she saw where they were going with this.

"It could be a genjutsu, Sasori is not known for his genjutsu but it doesn't mean he doesn't know any," Itachi said brainstorming.

"It could be a seal or some sort that he can release with some sort of trigger, a personal possession, hair or nail, some sort of personal connection to her." Shisui provided.

The cousins seemed to have momentarily forgotten she was there and went off on their own tangent talking back and forth while she stood there silently with thoughts of her own.

She tried to think back to her encounters with the puppetmaster, she couldn't place any one time throughout the years where he could have taken anything from her that might fit into their line of thought. Sakura furrowed her brow as she ticked off each meeting one by one until she thought back to the first.

"Oh no." The words escaped her lips.

The cousins stopped their back and forth and looked at the woman in between them.

"What is it, do you remember something Sakura?" Itachi asked her.

"The first time, when he could have killed me but he didn't, I was unconscious. I had always wondered why he hadn't killed me as I lay there at his feet. I thought, maybe he thought I would die from my wounds or his poison. He had stabbed me through the chest, had cut me with his poisoned blades several times over, by all regular accounts if I had been anyone else, I would have died." She told them.

"Why didn't you?" Shisui asked her in awe.

"My seal," She pointed to the rhombus on her forehead.

Shisui had noticed it had meant to ask her if it was the same as the Hokages but had forgotten, now he knew, it was.

"So when you woke, he was gone?" Itachi had never actually heard the story of how she survived the battle with the notorious member of the Akatsuki, Sasuke had told the family that she had survived, that her seal had saved her but that was all.

"Yes. I was barely alive, the antidote I had made, the one that saved Kankuro, I had three prepared, I took two and Lady Chiyo one. I had meant to give her two but she tricked me the clever old boot." Sakura smiled fondly and her eyes misted with tears of affection for her deceased friend.

"I used my seal when he stabbed me through my middle, but the blood loss, the poison, even with my seal, it took its toll on me and I fainted." She told them

"When I woke, he was gone." She ran her fingers through her hair.

"He took some of my hair. I only noticed it three days later, after I had fully recovered, my hair was shorter then, it was much more noticeable. He had cut a lock, from the back of my head." She turned to Shisui and Itachi.

"Why would he do that?" She asked them.

Shisui and Itachi shared a look. This was much more serious than they feared.

"To see into your dreams," Itachi told her what Shisui didn't want to.

"He can see into your head while you sleep, it is an old Jutsu a forbidden one," Shisui added.

"An Uchiha one." Itachi frowned.

"How did he get it?" Shisui asked Itachi.

"Does it matter? He has it, and he has a lock of her know what this means." Itachi and Shisui frowned together.

"What? What does it mean?" Sakura asked them.

"He can see everything you can, in your head," Itachi confirmed the half thought that had begun to form in her head.

"No." Sakura almost cried in anger.

"So, I'm a security risk to the Leaf?" She concluded.

"Yeah." Shisui reluctantly told her.

"But then why, I mean if that is true why hasn't the Leaf been attacked, I mean he had all the information he needed, he could have easily gotten into the village or at least led an attack with the Akatsuki to get to Naruto for the Nine-Tails." She protested if only because she wanted them to be wrong.

"Maybe he isn't interested in the Nine tails, not all of the Akatsuki are of the same mind," Shisui told her.

"How do you know?" She asked, genuinely curious how he would know that.

"Anbu." Was all he said.

"So then." She began.

"Yes." Itachi said, "He is only interested in you."

"Shit," Sakura said.

"Yeah," Shisui growled surprising both Itachi and himself.

"Why me?" She turned to them.

The cousins laughed at her, shared another Uchiha look. It was Shisui who enlightened her.

"I told you, you are an amazing woman Sakura, you are too humble for your own good." He winked at her.

"No." She said, her eyes going wide with fear and disgust.

"I'm afraid so," Itachi said by her side and Shisui sighed by her other side.

"We don't like it much either." He laughed and ruffled his already wayward hair.

"Hn." Itachi agreed.

"Well, what do we do then?" She asked them.

"Genjutsu?" Shisui asked Itachi.

"I think it is the only way," Itachi confirmed.

"But only when she sleeps," Itachi added to Shisui's nod.

"In the meantime, until we can either find the scroll or kill him, that is the best we can do," Itachi told Sakura.

She sighed and nodded her head, looking back out across the water.

"Great." She said glumly.

"At least you won't have any more nightmares while under the genjutsu." Itachi pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah, that's good." She couldn't remember the last time she hadn't had a nightmare for more than three nights in a row.

It was early evening by the time they made land. Sakura looked around the island as the boat pulled away. She heard the captain call out to Itachi as they left that they would be back for them in two weeks' time. She only needed one maybe one and a half weeks to gather what she needed. Between the three of them, maybe one.

"Since it is evening we should look for a place to make camp then get a fresh start in the morning," Shsiui suggested.

"Good idea," Itachi said looking around.

"Follow me." Sakura led them to a small natural cave in the other end of the landing site.

"This is where I usually camp when I come here to gather." She told them.

"He will know it then." Itachi tried to argue.

"Does it matter?" Shisui pointed out.

Itachi inclined his head to his cousin, it really didn't, he would know anyway, he could see through Sakura's eyes if he wanted to.

"He probably doesn't watch you as much as you think Sakura." Shisui tried to reassure her.

"He would have to perform the Jutsu constantly, keep his chakra flowing with yours through the established connection all day and night, it would drain him of his chakra, the most he can have it open for would be two or three hours is my guess, and I am overcompensating to be cautious," Shisui told her.

"Which is why he mostly comes to you at night, in your dreams. It is less suspicious and it costs him less chakra, your mind is more open, he encounters less resistance then." Itachi added.

"So, I'm not as big of a security risk as I originally thought?" She sounded happy.

"No, but a big enough risk we ought to take precautions." Itachi and Shisui looked at one another, Shisui nodded.

"We should put a seal on her, do you think it would work?" Shisui asked his cousin.

"It would but, then he would know that we know for sure, there would be no other reason for us to place such a seal on her. It would be like alerting him." Itachi wasn't telling Shisui he didn't already know, he said it for Sakura's benefit.

Shisui saw the reasoning behind Itachi's gesture and hummed his approval.

"We need to do it on the assumption he already knows about both of us," Shisui said.

"He knows," Sakura said quietly.

"How do you know?" Itachi asked her curious.

"My last dream, he...called me, he said I was, um, that I shocked him with my wanton behavior." She stammered glancing at Shisui.

"What?" Itachi's eyes grew dark as he looked from his cousin to Sakura.

"He knows about both of you, he told me he would punish me, that I belonged to him, in the last dream." She said and shivered.

Any question, and words Itachi had planned on saying died in his throat when she had said that.

Shisui's eyes spun red and his tomes shone black. Itachi's eyes spun and bled red as they both stood back to back and scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the puppetmaster.

"I'll take the first watch, Shisui put her under your genjutsu tonight, we will switch off every night, and we will place the seal on her tomorrow. I will need some time to prepare it." Itachi said and they made ready their camp for the night.

"I'll take a watch too." Sakura offered and the two Uchiha laughed at her.

She glowered at them behind her pink hair.

"The reason we are doing this is to keep him from invading your mind, we will take watch while you sleep." Shisui tapped her on the nose.

"Hn." Itachi smiled at her and poked her in the forehead.

Sakura huffed and glared at them which made them laugh at her again.

Sakura stirred the pot over the fire. Itachi had caught two rabbits and Shisui had dug up some wild potatoes to add to the mix. Sakura pulled onions and carrots from her storage scroll and cut them up, throwing them into the pot and lightly salting it.

Dinner was a cozy affair. One Uchiha on either side of her. They ate by the fire and chatted about where they would go to forage tomorrow. They all agreed it would be best to stick together in case of an attack. Sasori wasn't the only threat on the island. Even though most stayed away from the island, knowing he frequented it to forage there were a few like them, who came to gather and like them...were strong shinobi.

Nighttime was a bit awkward. Neither wanted the other to sleep too close to Sakura, in the end they had all agreed she would sleep to the back of the cave and the other to the side since one of them would always be on watch.

Sakura sat beside Shisui as his tomes spun in his eyes.

"Relax flower, I won't hurt you I promise, it will be nice." He tried to reassure her.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just. I have seen what Sasuke can do with his eyes and, you have the Mangekyou, it is just a lot scarier." She giggled nervously.

"Just remember, it won't be real but I am giving you complete freedom, you can go or do whatever you want in your dream, you'll like it I'm sure, once you get the hang of it." He smiled at her.

Itachi fidgeted next to her, the only movement he had made in the last hour. She turned her head to look at him. He tried to smile at her but he was nervous too. Shisui would have complete control over her while in his genjutsu, he trusted his cousin or he wouldn't have suggested it but, still, it was a lot of trust.

Shisui grinned at his cousin resisting the urge to tease him. He understood.

"Ready?" Shisui asked her.

She nodded and looked into his eyes. Shisui spun his tomes again and she fell over gently into Itachi's waiting arms. Itachi laid her down on her sleeping mat and covered her with her blanket.

He looked to his cousin who was clearly in the genjutsu with Sakura and frowned.

"Sakura." Shisui smiled at her as they landed in a field of flowers.

"Shisui?" Sakura looked at him curiously, "Where are we?" She asked him.

"You tell me flower." He grinned at her, "This is your world."

Sakura looked around her, "I think we are in Konoha, where Ino and I used to play and pick flowers." She said hesitantly.

"It must be it, you brought us here." He smiled at her expression.

"I did?" She asked in awe.

"Of course, like I said you have full control over the genjutsu, I just made it possible is all. Where do you want to go next, all you have to do it think of it, will it and it will happen." He grinned at the wonderment in her eyes.

The field of flowers disappeared as she closed her eyes and the waterfall by the river on the outskirts of the Konoha forest appeared around him.

She opened her eyes.

"Shisui! It worked!" She was delighted and hopped up and down like a child.

He laughed out loud at her delight.

"It did." He smiled fondly at her. She was adorable.

He took her hands in his and leaned forward to kiss her. She smiled up at him and kissed him gently.

"This isn't real?" She asked him.

"None of it, only the feelings we have." He spoke quietly.

"So, we are doing nothing outside, um, in the cave I mean with Itachi?" She asked.

"No time has passed there, only here. I have adjusted it so you can go anywhere and do anything but you will rest easy, I will leave and time will resume." He told her.

"Wow, that is some Kekkei Genkai, I'm jealous. I didn't know it was like that. Sasuke never explained it to me." She admitted.

"He isn't supposed to." Shisui smiled at her.

"How come you did?" She asked him.

"I didn't want you to be frightened and I trust you, I know you won't tell anyone our clan secrets." He kissed her again.

"So, we can do anything here and it isn't real?" She asked him blushing.

"What is it you want to do?" Shisui gave her a devilish grin.

Sakura avoided his gaze, her cheeks flaming. A smile like his ought to be outlawed she thought.

"Oh um, nothing." She said quickly looking away from him.

"Uh huh." He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her to his mouth with such force she stumbled, her hands rose and grasped at his chest.

"Shisui." She protested.

"It isn't real." He reminded her.

She opened her mouth to him and he slid his tongue over hers, his hands gripping the fabric of her shirt on her back now.

"Sakura." He practically moaned her name as he dropped to the ground pulling her with him.

"Shisui, wait." She pulled away a bit.

"It isn't real." He said again and started to untie her pants, slipping a hand inside.

She moaned into his kiss as his fingers traced circles over the outside of her panties that covered her sex.

"Shisui." She gasped when he slid his hand under the elastic of her panties.

"So wet." He groaned into her mouth as his other hand reach under her shirt for her breast.

"Wait Shisui." She said pulling back from him.

"Sakura, it isn't real." He protested slightly as he pulled his hand from her pants.

"I know ." She whispered in his ear, "But our feelings are, remember?" She reminded him.

He nodded and pulled his other hand out from under her shirt.

"I'm sorry." He said sheepishly.

"I can't control myself around you." He kissed her gently as she tied her pants back up.

"Good night Shisui." She smiled at him and shooed him away playfully with her hands.

Shisui laughed, hugged her and said goodnight before pulling himself from inside his genjutsu and her mind.

Itachi could tell the moment his cousin returned from his genjutsu.

"Your breathing, it's quick, what did you do?" Itachi eyed him suspiciously.

"Nothing you wouldn't have done, I showed her how to use the genjutsu to go and do whatever she wanted," Shisui said defensively.

"Is that all?" Itachi asked him.

"It is." Shisui raised an eyebrow at his cousin who was clearly challenging him.

"Hn," Itachi replied.

"Hn." Shisui grinned.

"I'm taking first watch as promised, I'll wake you in four hours." Itachi walked from the cave and leaped into the trees.

Shisui pulled his sleeping mat a few feet closer to Sakura before laying down and shutting his eyes.

Sasori pulled the scroll and the lock of hair from his drawer and laid them out on the top of the dresser. He made the hand signs and focused his chakra into the lock of Sakura's hair.

Nothing happened.

Sasori narrowed his eyes and tried again.

Nothing happened.

Sasori grit his teeth then sighed. He had half expected it, half dreaded it.

"Damn Uchiha." He muttered as he rolled the scroll and hair up, tied it and put it back in the drawer.

"It doesn't matter." He said to the almost completed doll with pink hair on his work table.

"Soon, I will have her here with me, out of their grasp forever." He smiled as he pet the pink hair of the doll and closed the door to his room as he left.

Sakura woke to the cawing of crows. She sat up and looked around for either Itachi or Shisui but didn't see them. She threw back the covers of her bedding and made her way to the mouth of the cave where she stopped and smiled.

Itachi fell from the sky above Shisui landing a kick to the shorthaired Uchiha's middle sending him backwards into a tree. Before impact Shisui's body flickered behind Itachi's mid air sending the raven haired man to the ground with a well placed kick of his own. Both men landed gracefully and squared off again.

"It's been a long time since we last sparred Itachi, I see you have some new moves." Shisui taunted his cousin.

"Yet you are just as predictable as ever cousin!" Itachi taunted back.

"Predict this!" Shisui called to Itachi flickering back and forth across the field to his cousin before Sakura could blink.

Itachi sped forward just as quickly as Shisui was flickering back and forth dodging each hit, each kunai, each punch and kick.

Amazing Sakura thought, they are amazing.

Sakura sat there watching them fly around the field, zip up and down the trees as she drank the coffee she found warming over their fire. She fried two eggs and ate as they verbally taunted one another, laughing at the more humorous taunts. She brushed and tied her hair up into a ponytail as they walked back to the cave together laughing.

"Good morning boys." Sakura grinned at them as they sat down beside her at the fire, each taking the cup of water she held out for them.

"Morning flower." Shisui winked at her.

"Good morning Sakura." Itachi inclined his head.

"Did you sleep well?" Itachi asked her.

"I did, thanks to the both of you, the best ever!" She stacked her dishes in the basket to be washed later.

"So what's the plan for the day flower?" Shisui asked her as he munched on the toast she had made for them.

"I need ripe Billberries, they are good for eyes, I treat many of the Uchiha, like you." She teased them.

"There should be some growing on the other end of the island, they will be ripe around now and I need to harvest them quickly, dry them and store them. Otherwise they aren't nearly as effective." She added.

"Sounds good to me."Shisui smiled at her and Itachi nodded finishing off the water she had given him.

Each of them carried a canvas bag to collect berries in and a storage scroll, when their bag was full they emptied the berries into the scroll and continued the process. By mid day they had picked all the berries that were ripe and available.

"Two days I think,before the other berries will be ripe enough to pick, we should come back then." She ran her wrist over her forehead wiping away the sweat.

"Will we dry them today?" Itachi asked her.

"Yes, after lunch, I'll stoke the fire and set out the drying baskets. We can restore them after they are dry, if I don't do it right away, they won't be as effective, they are a bit temperamental." She smiled ruefully at them.

"It's one of the reasons I wanted to get them out of the way first. Tomorrow we can look for yarrow, it's good for colds, cuts and wounds. I usually make it into a tea or a poultice." She said.

"I remember, it stings a bit." Itachi said.

"That's right, I used it on you a month ago when you came back all cut up from your infiltration mission you aren't allowed to tell me about." Sakura put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Sakura, I told you, it wasn't my fault really." Itachi protested.

"Not your fault? You had more than cuts and scrapes, you got stabbed twice in the leg, I had to sew your artery shut before I could heal you with my chakra to stop the bleeding!" She raised her voice and he took a step back from her.

"Then you had the audacity to flee your hospital room in the middle of the freakin night. I came in the next morning to check on you and you weren't there! I had to follow the trail of blood to your room in the compound!' She huffed at him.

"Sakura, you're yelling." Itachi pointed out.

"You damn super shinobi are all alike, you and freaking Kakashi think you don't need to stay in the hospital, even if I tell you that you need to stay until I release you." She glared at him.

"I came back." He protested looking over at his laughing cousin.

"You did not." She said indignantly.

"I dragged your ass back to the hospital. I knocked you out with my chakra and carried you back Itachi." She was poking him in the chest now.

Itachi grabbed her finger and encased her hand with his larger one.

"Thank you." He said to her his mouth twitching.

"Huh?" She looked at him stupidly, her cheeks flushed with their argument.

"For always patching me up, for taking care of me, for caring." He smiled at her.

"Oh." She blushed. "It's my job." She smiled at him.

"You're always there when I need you, and Sasuke, you take such good care of him, you don't know what it means to the family." He continued.

"I know our mother relaxed considerably when she found out you started training with Tsunade Sama. She knew Sasuke would always have a healer with him on his missions from then on." Itachi continued to praise her.

"Sasuke is almost as bad as you and Kakashi, but at least I can make him see reason for his more dire injuries, unlike you and some white haired nin I know." She huffed as she grinned, pulling her hand from his grasp turning to Shisui.

"And you, are you as stubborn as your cousins?" She asked him.

"Never, you can touch me and push your chakra into me anytime you want." Shisui winked at her and grinned.

Sakura rolled her eyes but she blushed as well making the Uchiha grin even more.

"Uh, let's get back to camp, I'm hungry, and I need to start drying these berries." She said quickly not looking at either Uchiha as she stored her last bag of berries into the storage scroll.

"Hn." Itachi said and Shiusi grinned.

Lunch was simple, grilled fish Shisui had caught for them on the way back to the cave and some blueberries Sakura had found not far from the Billberries.

Sakura set the Billberries in the metal baskets for drying after Itachi used a well placed fire jutsu to enlarge the fire. She sat back to check her handiwork and adjusted a few of the baskets.

The men went to find more firewood for the drying and for the night as she monitored the drying baskets.

Sakura sat beside the fire, a medical scroll in her hand reading.

"Sakura." The voice of Sasori caught her attention.

She leapt to her feet dropping the scroll as she looked around. Sakura stood in a defensive stance, eyes searching the nearby field, the cave, the sky.

"Sasori?" She spoke quietly feeling foolish.

"Yes dear. I'm here, in your head." He drawled, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"No.' She whispered.

"Yes dear, you see, after the Uchiha blocked my usual means of communication with you, I had to resort to coming to you in your waking hours." He told her.

"I would have liked to continue to haunt your dreams, it is much more artistic and amusing but this will suffice." He cooed at her.

Sakura wanted to throw up, she had hoped, a small part of her, had hoped the Uchiha were wrong, that he couldn't get inside her mind, but there was no denying this.

"What do you want?" She asked him.

"No need to be alarmed my dear." He reached out and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand in her mind.

Her hand immediately rose to her cheek, she had felt it.

"This is, so strange." She ran her hand over her cheek but there was nothing there.

"Is it?" He asked her.

He pulled on a lock of her hair and she turned to face the direction she felt he would be but there was no one there, she was alone. She ran her hands over her hair smoothing it down flat.

Sasori laughed in her head, "It's useless, we are connected you and I. You can't hide from me, you can't hide anything from me."

"Tell me what you want! Why are you doing this?" She yelled.

"You dear, I want you." He grabbed her chin in his hand and kissed her hard.

She stumbled back and fell to the ground. He laughed in her head.

"Enjoy your foraging trip, thanks to you I have everything I need." His voice began to fade away as he laughed in her ear.

Sakura sat frozen on the ground, her hands to her head. She felt like she was going insane.

Itachi and Shisui had felt her chakra spike and ran to her side. They found her on the ground shaking her head back and forth.

She told them what had happened.

"It's almost worse than the dreams, it's like, like he is part of me." She shuddered at the thought.

"Itachi, when will the seal be ready?" Shisui asked his cousin.

"Soon, before this evening." Itachi told him.

"I have been infusing the scroll with my chakra since we got here a little at a time. I don't want to rush it, I want to make sure it is secure."Itachi explained.

Sakura nodded.

"It will be okay Sakura. We're here for you." Shisui said kindly.

"I'm okay. It's just unnerving to have someone in your head, someone like him , it's just, I hate it." She said quietly looking up at them.

"When I thought they were dreams, I could tell myself it wasn't real. Now that I know it is really him, now that I know it is real, it changes everything." She laughed nervously.

"You won't have to worry after the seal is in place." Itachi took her hand and squeezed it.

"Trust me Sakura." He held her with his eyes.

She nodded and took a deep breath." I do Itachi."

That evening after dinner Sakura sat in the middle of the cave as Itachi wrote the seal on the floor. Shisui watched from the mouth of the cave concern written all over his face. He trusted his cousin to perform the sealing jutsu correctly but it would hurt.

"You must try to remain still Sakura, as still as you can. This will hurt but I will try to do it as quickly as possible." Itachi told her.

She looked up at him with trusting green eyes, "I can handle it, let's just get this over with." She tried to smile but her lips wavered.

Itachi knelt down beside her careful of the sealing formula written on the cave floor and took her face in his hands.

"It will help, he won't be able to enter your mind in a dream or while you're awake, I promise." Itachi kissed her quickly, rose and placed his hand over the sealing mark he had painted between her shoulder blades.

Sakura's whole body shuddered and ached, her head felt like it was going to explode. She gripped her sides to bruising trying not to move as the symbols and words of the formulas sped across the floor of the cave into the seal on her back. As Itachi said the last few words of the sealing jutsu she felt a burn like she had never felt before hit her heart. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell unconscious.

Itachi picked her up carefully as Shisui spread her bedding back out in the back of the cave, and laid her down.

"She will likely sleep for the next few days." Itachi said as they looked down at her.

"One of us can stay here and watch her while the others gathers the things from the list she wrote out for us tomorrow." Shisui said.

"Hn." Itachi responded his eyes never leaving Sakura's face.

"She looks more peaceful. The lines of strain have already left her face." Shisui said as he sat down beside his cousin.

"He'll know, like he knew we had put her in a genjutsu to prevent his nightmares." Itachi said.

"Itachi, he will come for her eventually. Sasori isn't like the other Akatsuki, he gets obsessed with his art. Unlike Deidara whose art is fleeting and brief, Sasori's is, more permanent. He makes his puppets out of people Itachi." Shisui told his cousin.

"He wants her then." Itachi said.

"I think he must, after all the time he has put into her, haunting her like this, he is not a patient man, I know. I watched all of them for the last 5 years. This is bad. He is smart Itachi. I think he knew I was watching the Akatsuki, he just didn't care because I never interfered with anything he was doing. This though, her, if I was watching him and he knew it means…" Shisui paused.

"It means he was watching you as well." Itachi finished for him.

"How much do you think he knows about you Shisui?" Itachi asked.

"It's hard to say, but enough. Like I said, he is smart...and he is cruel Itachi." Shisui looked at Sakura, her mouth parted slightly.

Itachi's eyes hardened, "I will protect her."

"We will protect her." Shisui gave his cousin a look.

"Hn." Itachi responded.

Two days passed before Sakura woke. She was a little sore but she healed herself easing the pains that ran up and down her spine. After a good breakfast she sat storing the dried berries while Shisui tracked down the yarrow, returning by mid day with enough stores to make her happy. They ate lunch , then Itachi left to find Ginkgo Biloba. He returned around dinner time with more than enough stores, Sakura was thrilled.

"You two will have to come with me everytime we need more stores for the hospital, this is amazing." She hummed as she riffled through the things they had brought back.

"I am feeling a lot better, after another good night's sleep I will join you tomorrow." She smiled as she took the bowl of rice and rabbit from Shisui who winked at her, sitting down beside her.

Itachi helped himself to some rice and rabbit sitting down on the other side of Sakura.

"One of us should still stay by you, Sasori is not the only threat on the island." Itachi said while they ate.

"It isn't because I think you need protecting." Itachi added when she stiffened in her seat.

"He's right flower." Shisui nudged her with his shoulder making her miss her mouth and poke herself in the face.

She glared at him and he laughed. Itachi's mouth twitched but he looked away quickly before she could turn her glare on him.

"Fine." She huffed and they ate the rest of their meal in peaceful silence.

Sasori sanded the wooden finger joints of his new doll, careful of each stroke. He painstakingly set the joints out in formation on his work table stringing them together slowly.

"Sasori my man!" Deidara stormed into his room without knocking.

"Knock first Deidara, and lower your voice, you're obnoxious." Sasori glared at the blonde as he sat down uninvited on one of his work stools.

"Yeah yeah we have a mission, we're going to Kumo yeah." Deidara eyed the new doll Sasori was working on with interest.

"Pink hair? That's odd for you, what inspired you to choose such an odd color hey?" Deidara leaned in closer to the work table peering at the green eyes in the dolls face.

"Hey, you know what I think I have seen a girl with green eyes and pink hair yeah isn't she the Godaime's apprentice?" Deidara grinned at the red head.

"Get out." Sasori turned to fix cold amber eyes on ice blue.

"Whatever yeah, we have a mission, Leader Sama's orders." Deidara got up stretched and walked out of the room.

Sasori set the fingers to his new doll down carefully alongside one another in position, sighed, grabbed his scrolls of puppets, cape and hat, following Deidara out of the base.

Two weeks later Shisui, Sakura and Itachi were standing before the Hokage reporting from their foraging mission.

"No Shisou, there weren't any issues." Sakura told the older woman.

"There is one thing however." Sakura paused. "The nightmares, Itachi and Shisui knew what they were when I described them to them, it is a jutsu, a stolen Uchiha jutsu Shisou. Sasori was using to enter my mind while I slept." Sakura said.

"Tell me how this jutsu works." Tsunade looked at Itachi.

"The caster needs a token or personal object of importance from the target. A lock of hair, fingernail, or some other biological link to make the jutsu work. Sakura believes he took a lock of her hair when she was first poisoned by him during their battle after the Kazekage was taken. She said that is when her nightmares started." Itachi explained.

"What is there to be done, does this not make her a security risk?" The Hokage's eyes narrowed.

"We have sealed her mind from the jutsu Lady Hokage, I performed the sealing with Sakura's permission and Shisui's assistance the second night of our mission." Itachi continued.

"She is safe and poses no security risk." Shisui added.

"I understand, very good. Sakura, how are you feeling, have you had anymore...visits from Sasori since the seal was put in place?" The blonde asked her apprentice.

"None Shisou, I feel better than I have since the first battle honestly." Sakura smiled.

Tsunade came from around her desk, "Let me see the seal Sakura."

Sakura didn't hesitate to turn her back on the two uchiha, lifted her shirt for the Hokage and winked at Itachi who smirked at Shisui.

Sakura rolled her eyes as Tsunade traced the outlines of the seal, "Not bad Itachi, very impressive. The Uchiha aren't known for their sealing abilities."

Itachi inclined his head gracefully to the Hokage.

"Tell me if you have anymore internal invasions from Sasori Sakura, thank you Itachi, Shisui. Dismissed." She waved them out of her office.

They walked down the steps together pausing at the front of the tower.

"I'm going to go home now, see you guys later. Thanks for all of your help." Sakura smiled and waved over her shoulder as she turned toward her apartment.

Shisui and Itachi watched her walk a little ways before turning themselves toward thier compound.

Sasuke was waiting for her by the door of her apartment when she arrived.

"Hey Sasuke." Sakura greeted him yawning.

"Welcome back Sakura. My mom felt your chakra signatures when you guys got back to the village and wanted to remind you of the dinner invitation. She knows you were gone on a mission but now that you're all back she wanted you to come to dinner tomorrow." He was leaning against the wall and pushed off as she opened the door to her apartment and followed her inside.

"Sure Sasuke, that would be great." Sakura smiled at him as she sat down on her couch.

"Want to come over for dinner tonight with Naruto?" She asked him with her eyes closed.

"Yeah, sounds good, you look kinda tired though are you sure?" Sasuke asked smirking, Naruto could still be a handful no matter how old they get.

"Yeah, I miss you guys." She opened her eyes and smiled.

"I'll make popcorn and iced tea." She said

"We'll bring some take out or something, 6pm?" He asked.

"See you then!" She said heading for the shower.

Sasuke left, locking the door behind him.

Later that night...

Sakura pulled three glasses from her cupboard and filled them with ice when her front door opened.

"Hey Sakura!" Naruto called out.

"We brought ramen and steamed buns!" He set a large bag down on the table.

"And dango." Sasuke set a smaller bag down on the table next to the bigger one.

"Thanks guys, the iced tea is almost done." She pulled the sweetener from the cupboard and added it to a mixer on the counter and pressed the button.

She poured three glasses of iced tea and handed one to each of her boys.

"What are we watching tonight?" Naruto asked as they made their way into her living room.

"I have a new action flick Ino and Shirkamaru left over here the last time we hung out, it is really good, I think you guys would like it." She handed Naruto the DVD.

"Oh! I've been wanting to watch this, let's put it in!" Naruto opened the case and put the DVD in the player turning on the TV and sitting down on the couch with the remote.

Sasuke took the recliner while Sakura sat on the other end of the couch by Naruto.

Halfway into their movie there was a knock on the door.

"I'll be right back." Sakura got up to get the door.

"Hey flower." Shisui grinned as she opened her door.

"Shisui." She smiled and stepped back so he could come in further, he had a small bag of food with him.

"I'm sorry I didn't know you had company, I should have asked before we left the Hokage tower if you had plans for tonight." He made to go btu she stopped him.

"Stay, you guys don't mind if Shisui stays do you?" She asked Sasuke and Naruto who had turned toward the door at his voice.

"Naw, the more the merrier!" Naruto grinned at Shisui from the end of the couch.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded to his cousin as his mouth was full.

"What cha watching?" Shisui Asked sitting in between Naruto and Sakura on the couch with his bag of food.

"Some action flick Inoa nd Shikamaru left over the last time they were here." Sakura told him.

"Wow, I almost forgot about movies." He chuckled.

"Not a lot of movie time on your long term mission?" Sakura teased him nudging him with her leg.

"Not really." He opened his bag and pulled out two small containers, one of tempura the other BBQ pork cutlets and rice.

Sakura leaned over and snagged a piece of his tempura.

Naruto was snoring by the end of the movie and Sasuke leaned back stretching in the recliner.

"Thanks for having us over Sakura, I'll get dobe home." Sasuke rose and kicked Naruto in the leg.

"Get up loud mouth we're leaving." Sasuke kicked him again on the way to the door.

"Urgh, asshole, don't kick me, thanks Sakura, see you." Naruto got up and went to the door.

"Hey,Aren't you coming?" Sasuke stuck his head back through the door before Naruto could close it looking at Shisui.

"I'll be there in a minute, you go on ahead of me." Shisui waved at them from the couch.

"You can't be in the apartment alone with..."Naruto had started to say but Sasuke shut the door on him before he could finish.

Sakura started picking up the paper plates and plastic silverware from her coffee table and headed for the kitchen, Shisui grabbed his empty food containers and followed her.

"You going to be okay tonight?" Shisui asked her once they had cleaned up.

Sakura leaned back against her kitchen counter her arms folded over her chest," Yeah, I should be okay now with the seal and everything right?" She asked him.

"Yeah it should work." He came to stand before her taking her hands in his uncrossing her arms.

"Is it bad that a part of me wishes we were still on that island? Being back in Konoha after so long, it almost feels like I don't belong anymore." Shisui said uncharacteristically serious for a change.

Sakura was pleased to see this more serious side of the constantly grinning man.

"Is it hard, being back after so long, it must feel like time has passed you by in a way?" She asked him squeezing his hands lightly.

"It does actually." He laughed then. "This might sound a little silly but you, you're kinda the connection between, if that makes sense?" His cheeks tinted slightly in embarrassment.

"I met you before I came home, but you are a part of my home...I'm not saying this well." He laughed again.

"You ground me, is what I mean, make me feel like I belong again." He grinned at her.

He knew he had done a horrible job of explaining how he felt to her. He was trying to tell her that without her he would feel much more out of place, even though Konoha was his home, even though the Uchiha compound was where he was born and raised, he had been gone a long time and so much has changed around him.

He had changed so much since he had been gone, he had seen and experienced so much in his time away. The Uchiha treated him, all of them Itachi included, like he was the same boy he was when he had left. Sakura, was the only one who treated him like the man he was now.

She had unknowingly given him so much, he wanted to give it back to her if he could.

"I could always stay here with you, you know, in case you need me?" He said gently kissing her softly.

"Shisui." She hummed into his mouth, lifting her arms up around his neck.

His hands dropped to settle on the curve of her waist pulling her into him.

"Sakura." He kissed her again, parting her lips when she exhaled, sliding his tongue over her lips along the roof of her mouth tickling her.

She giggled and pulled away slightly.

"Let me change, it isn't that late, you don't have to leave yet do you?" She asked shyly.

Would it be so wrong to ask him to stay? She wondered.

"Not yet." He smiled at her following her into her bedroom.

"I'll be right back." She went to her closet as he sat on the end of her bed and waited.

She came out a moment later in a sleeping wrap brushing her hair.

"Come here Sakura." Shisui held his arms out to her and she stepped into his embrace.

"Sit." He picked her up and set her on the bed next to him taking the brush from her hand. If he couldn't voice his words, he would show her.

He made a small twirling motion with his hands and she turned around for him. He took her hair in one hand and brushed it with the other.

"My mom," he started then stopped. "My mom used to brush my hair before bed sometimes, it helped calm me for sleep." He told her.

Sakura hadn't known his parents, they had died on a mission before she knew of him. He had never mentioned them before.

"It feels nice Shisui thank you." She murmured softly at his touch.

The brush gilded effortlessly through her hair over and over, the small wisping of it really was soothing and she felt her eyes close and her shoulders slump.

"Before she died, she told me I would find a woman one day, that would let me brush her hair for her like she did mine, that love isn't just lust, but affection and devotion." He said quietly.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly. She turned slowly to face him. His eyes were downcast, focused on a thick lock of her hair he was stroking with the brush over and over.

"Shisui?" She asked tentatively, almost whispering.

"I know I laugh a lot and joke but sometimes," He paused." Sometimes it is nice to just sit, to just be." He looked up at her.

He had such an un-Shisui look in his eyes, he looked almost like Itachi, softer, but no less intense for the emotion she saw in his eyes.

"Shisui." Her hand rose and she rested her fingers against the side of his face.

He leaned into her touch, bringing his cheek close to slide along hers until his nose was in her neck, her hair.

"I really like you Sakura." He said softly.

"I know you have known Itachi longer but." He hesitated, he wasn't sure he knew what he wanted to say.

"I think I saved you for a reason, I don't know." He ended lamely.

"If we are confessing things, that night, you saved me, was one of the only nights I didn't have a nightmare." She blushed as she met his eyes.

"That was the first night I had ever slept with a stranger in my arms, with a woman in my arms." He confessed.

"That was the first time I slept in the arms of a man, a stranger." She blushed further and looked at their joined hands.

Shisui was looking down at her when she tilted her head up to look at him. Their eyes were so close, neither broke the others gaze. Shisui hugged her and leaned back onto the bed, laying down on the pillows and bunched up blankets, taking her with him.

Sakura stayed in his arms as she listened to his heart beating under her ear. She hadn't meant to ask him, she didn't want to be alone. After spending the last two weeks in his company, with Iatchi, the thought of suddenly being alone terrified her. It was foolish she knew, it was a bad idea, she understood but her mouth moved before her brain had caught up.

"Stay with me tonight?" She asked him quietly.

"Hn." Shisui said and wrapped his arms more firmly around her.

An hour or two later Sakura woke. Where her body touched Shisui's she was warm but where the rest of her body was exposed she shivered. He must have felt her wake, for he woke as well.

"Cold?" He mumbled, sleep in his voice.

"Yes, sorry." She said.

A soft chuckle met her ears and a rustling of covers.

She was pulled to his side as the covers were pulled up around them.

"Better?" he asked her pulling her closer.

"Yes, thank you." She hugged him, her arms over his chest a leg over his, her face in his neck, she sighed content.

Shisui woke again a little before dawn. Heavy arms over his chest, a head under his chin, hair in his face. He gently brushed her hair from his face and smiled. Her breath was light and soft over his chest, his shirt having rode up in his sleep.

His hands met bare skin as he stroked her side, her shirt having rode up in her sleep. Shiusi sighed as body warmed to the feeling under his hands, she was so soft, so warm, so close. He closed his eyes as he continued to hold her, to stroke her body, her scent rose up and over the covers flooding his senses.

A crow watched from her bedroom window, it's cold dark eyes never blinking, never moving as the sun broke over the clouds.

Sakura woke with a start, her body jerking slightly.

"Good morning flower." Shisui grinned at her when she looked up, her head still on his chest.

"Good morning Shisui." She smiled at him suddenly shy.

"This is nice." Shisui said into the top of her head.

"I like waking up with you in my arms. I thought the first time...that it was because I had been away from home for so long, that I longed for, companionship. It isn't though." His arm hugged her close then let go to run his hand over her back and shoulders.

"It's you." He told her.

Sakura looked up at him then. It was nice to wake up in his arms. She had to admit it had been nice the first night they had slept with one another, even though she hadn't meant to sleep against him that night. She had thought of it several times after, and on their most recent mission.

"Shisui, last night, about, what you told me about your mother. thank you." She said sincerely.

"For opening up to me." She clarified in case he didn't understand because he didn't respond right away.

"I know you still aren't sure, but I am. I meant it when I told you, I really like you Sakura." He bent them and kissed her.

"Breakfast?" He asked her.

"I would love breakfast but I need to go grocery shopping, I haven't gone since we have been back." She almost groaned.

"I'll go, you take your time getting up and getting dressed. I'll just get some eggs and bread, maybe some ham okay? I'll be right back." He kissed her nose and flung the sheets back.

She squealed making him laugh and pulled the covers back up and over herself as he left the room to put on his shoes. She heard her front door click shut a moment later. She stretched out on her bed feeling completely relaxed and at peace.

She smiled as she slowly ran her hands over her body, then relaxing into a peaceful bliss, eyes closed. It was a good five minutes before she opened her eyes again and rolled out of bed into her closet to change for the day, a small smile on her face.

Shisui walked down the road to the market deep in thought. He hadn't meant to spend the night, something had changed in him though. He thought he was okay with letting her choose, taking her time, he could be patient, let it play out.

The thought of her being with anyone but him, angered him now he realized. His mother had told him that, that love wasn't just lust, it was affection and devotion. He stopped walking. He had gotten to know her more than the woman he had rescued, more than the fun plaything to flirt with, to get a rise out of. Over the last two weeks he had really come to respect her knowledge, her drive, her charisma.

He loved her, he realized.

"Shisui." Itachi spoke from beside him.

"Itachi." Shisui didn't greet his cousin with his usual grin, and Itachi noticed.

"You spent the night at Sakura's." Itachi stated.

"I spent the night with Sakura." Shisui corrected his younger cousin.

Itachi's mouth tightened.

"Are you not worried about her reputation?" Itachi spat out at his cousin surprising him with the venom in the younger man's tone.

"No more than you are or aren't by saying such things in public." Shisui glowered att Itachi.

Itachi looked around and noticed several heads turn away a little too quickly.

"Have a care for the woman Shisui, if not for yourself." Itachi's voice now lowered considerably.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Shisui stopped walking and stared at his cousin with hard eyes.

"It means, people are talking, people saw you leaving her apartment this morning." Itachi taunted.

"You act like you care about reputations and what others are saying but wasn't it you who kissed her in public, you who took her to breakfast then training, for the whole village to see?" Shisui countered.

"That was innocent." Itachi tried to defend himself.

"So was last night." Shisui said heatedly.

"I saw you, you were in bed with her, holding her, your hands...under the covers!" Itachi's voice was getting louder again.

Shisui laughed out loud. "You sound like an old woman Itachi." Shisui continued to taunt his friend.

"Sasuke was right, this is just a game to you isn't it." Itachi grabbed his arm, Shisui hadn't even moved.

"Careful Itachi, you may be the heir to the clan and a prodigy, but I had mastered the body flicker before you could even wipe the snot from your nose." The two men glared at one another their chakra cracking around them.

Sakura was pouring coffee into two mugs when Shisui returned. She smiled at him as he set his purchases on the counter and started to unpack them.

"Mmm bacon and ham?" She teased him.

"You can choose which one you want and we can have another tomorrow for breakfast." He gave her his signature grin.

"Tomorrow? Optimistic aren't we?" She continued to tease him.

"Hopeful flower." He grabbed her around the waist,lifting her and set her on the counter beside the groceries and kissed her.

Sakura giggled and squirmed against him playfully, this is nice, she thought leaning into his kiss. Growing up she had watched her parents flirt and love and tease...she had always dreamt of one day doing those things with Sasuke but well, after her infatuation faded, only friendship remained. She didn't regret his friendship, it meant so much more to her than some silly infatuation, but now, this, with Shisui...her heart fluttered in her chest.

"We have dinner tonight at the compound." She reminded him.

"So we do." He kissed her nose, holding up biscuits and a loaf of bread.

"Toast or biscuits?" He asked her nuzzling her neck making her squeal in delight.

"Biscuits!" She shrieked as he bit down on her earlobe.

He kissed her quickly on the mouth before pulling her down off the counter onto her feet, turning and pulling a pan from her cupboard.

He opened the carton of eggs as she added cream and sugar to her coffee.

"Cream and sugar?" She asked.

"Please." he grinned at her and cracked two eggs against the pan before pulling biscuits from the package to warm in her oven.

They continued in this vein in complete contentment, naturally as if they had done it a thousand times. Domestic bliss surrounded them and they sat down with ease to eat when the food was done.

Sakura poured them more coffee without asking, added cream and sugar to both of their cups and handed Shisui his as he passed her the basket of biscuits. They paused mid bit and laughed at one another, they both felt it.

After breakfast they sat side by side on the couch sipping coffee, their knees touching gently, hand in hand looking out her sliding glass door to her balcony.

"It is going to be a beautiful day out today." Sakura smiled into her coffee.

"It was already a beautiful morning flower and a wonderful night." Shisui grinned at her.

Sakura giggled in agreement, she couldn't remember the last time she had giggled so much if ever.

"Thank You Shisui." She said looking away from the window, her gaze settling on him.

Shisui's heart skipped several beats as he looked at her looking at him with big green eyes, full of...love?

"I should be thanking you flower, for letting me stay and for letting me make breakfast. It was, really nice." He told her.

He hadn't felt this at home with anyone since his parents had died, since he had left the village on his long term mission. He wished he was better with words, he wanted to tell her how she made him feel, how he...was falling in love with her.

She seemed to sense his frustrations because she smiled at him then.

"What are your plans for the day? Before dinner I mean." She took another sip of her coffee.

"Since we have another day or two off from our last mission I thought I would do a bit of training and research, see if I can't find out how Sasori got ahold of one of our clan's jutsu." One of them had to bring it up eventually, and it was what he had planned on doing after all.

"Would you care to join me?" He asked her.

"I'd love to." She smiled at him, they rose together and put their cups in the sink.

She grabbed her katana,her pack and her water bottle, five minutes later they were out the door headed for training ground 7.

Sasuke and Naruto were there when they arrived and stopped to greet them. Shisui and Sakura broke off from her two teammates to train on their own shortly after.

"So, do you think he spent the night?" Naruto asked Sasuke as they practiced their taijutsu.

"Yeah, he didn't return to the compound last night. Itachi was on the roof all night watching for him." Sasuke said.

"But why?" Naruto asked. Sakura wasn't a threat to the older Uchiha.

"Jealousy." Was all Sasuke said.

"Oh. Oh!" Naruto caught on finally.

"So they both, like Sakura chan?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Hn." Sasuke confirmed.

"It was Shisui that spent the night and not Itachi though." Sasuke said quietly almost to himself, but Naruto heard him.

"You don't think they, you know, do you?" Naruto asked, not sure if he wanted his friend to answer or not.

"Of course not Dobe, what kind of a girl do you think Sakura is?" Sasuke scolded his blonde friend for even thinking of such a thing.

"You're right, I'm sorry. Don't you have dinner at your house tonight, with Sakura?" Naruto asked blocking a well placed punch from his dark haired teammate.

"Hn." Sasuke groaned, from the kick to his side or the dinner Naruto wasn't sure.

Naruto stopped to look across the field at their other team mate and Shisui. Sasuke stopped beside him and looked too. Shisui and Sakura were standing close, heads together almost touching, not sparing but talking, smiling.

"Looks like your brother might be out of the running." Naruto observed.

"When is the last time you saw her smile like that?" Naruto pressed his opinion.

"A long time." Sasuke smiled. He was happy to see Sakura smile...and Shisui if he was honest. Shisui grinned all the time but Sasuke had to admit it had been a long time since he had seen the man smiles a true smile, of happiness, contentment.

Shisui smiled at his pink haired flower as they stood face to face teasing one another.

"Teach me your body flicker Shisui." She asked him when they had first walked out onto the field away from her boys.

"I think I can do that my flower." He took her hands in his and stepped up into her personal space, their foreheads almost touching.

"Focus your chakra internally, inside your heart, think of where you want to go, visualize it in your mind, then push your chakra out, in a line, like a stream of water, of energy to hat point, to that position, that place, and will your body to follow it." He watched her eyes as he talked.

She watched his eyes as he talked and told her how to focus her chakra. She smiled at him as he smiled at her.

"Try it." He let go of her hands.

"Okay." She closed her eyes, he hands falling to her sides.

He could feel her chakra moving inside of her, damn she was good, he thought to himself as he felt the flow move slowly, precisely inside of her, humming with suppressed energy.

She opened her eyes,"I think I got it."

"I think you did, I'm impressed, now the hand signs." He went through the hand signs slowly at first, then faster as she watched him over and over.

Her hands moved with his, slowly at first then faster and faster.

"Now, focus your chakra like I told you , visualize and will your body to follow your chakra." He instructed.

She closed her eyes, made the hand signs, moved the hakra, willed her body and flickered a few times then stopped. Her eyes opened.

"Did anything happen?" She asked him.

"Almost, your body flickered, try focusing on somewhere close by, like that tree." He pointed to a tree 10 feet away.

"Okay." She closed her eyes, focused, her body flickered, she moved two feet, stumbled and almost fell but Shisui caught her by the arm pulling her back up.

"Close, keep trying flower." He grinned at her.

It took her an hour but she did it.

"Wow." She said looking up at him in wonder, "that was, the oddest feeling, like I was, like I didn't exist for a minute. Is it always like hat?" She asked him smiling widely.

"Yeah, you're amazing." He said and hugged her.

"Sakura! That was incredible!" Naruto came bounding over to her and hugged her.

"Nice." Was all Sasuke said as he walked up to them a moment later.

"Thanks!" Sakura beamed at her boys.

"It's all thanks to Shisui." She looked over at him fondly and they shared a quick smile.

"Well, I'm done Naruto, lunch?" Sasuke asked the blonde who was still congratulating Sakura on her new skill.

"Believe it! Want to come Sakura, Shisui?" Naruto asked.

Shisui looked to Sakura to answer for them.

"Not today Naruto, we haven't even sparred yet, maybe some other time okay?" She told him.

"For sure!" Naruto and Sasuke left them.

Sasuke gave Sakura a pointed look as they walked away and she blushed.

"So taijutsu?" Sakura winked at Shisui and dropped into a defensive stance.

"Anything my flower wishes." Shisui smirked.

Itachi watched them from a tree across the field, his chakra suppressed, his hands clenched into fists at his side.

Two hours later found them standing in line at one of the many food stands in the market getting lunch to take back to Sakura's apartment.

"Four rice balls and a side of pickled radish please." Sakura ordered for them when it was their turn.

"Good choice, want me to grab us some flavored tea?" Shisui offered waving to stand behind them.

"That sounds great." Sakura smiled at him, she loved flavored tea.

Shisui walked over to the small tea stand and placed an order for pineapple lemon tea and matcha with coconut water.

"Shisui." Itachi stepped up beside him at the stand.

"Itachi." Shisui said casually, he had known his cousin had been following them all morning and wondered when he would finally come out of hiding.

"You didn't come back to the compound last night." Iatchi said just as casually.

"Nope." Shisui hummed as he waited for their tea.

"You think you've won." Itachi stated, not a question.

"This was never a game remember?" Shisui said now turning to face his cousin.

"She is important to me." Shisui told Iatchi seriously.

Itachi looked over his cousin, he wasn't grinning, his hands were not in his pockets. It confirmed everything Itachi had thought as he watched them that morning. Something changed.

Itachi sighed.

"So it seems." He said.

The girl behind the counter set Shisui's order up on the bar in front of him and thanked his for his purchase.

"Anything for you?" She asked Itachi.

"No, thank you." Itachi left in a swirl of crows.

Shisui apologized to the girl and took the tea back to where Sakura was waiting for him beside the other stand.

Sakura and Shisui spent the rest of the afternoon together reading through the Uchiha archives that Shisui had brought back to his house as Sakura was not allowed into their clan library.

"I can't find anything related to hat jutsu." Shisui ran his hands through his curly hair in frustration. They had been reading for hours.

Sakura finished the sentence she had been reading when he had started talking, set her scroll down and rubbed her eyes.

"There has to be something, somewhere, we just need to keep looking." She patted him on the leg.

"I'm going to make us some tea." Shisui got up and walked to the kitchen.

When he got back into his living room Sakura had already moved on yet another scroll, her eyes narrowed as she skimmed column after column of text.

"If there isn't any information in your library we won't find it will we." She looked up from the scroll.

"probably not." Shisui agreed with her.

"I wonder how he got it in the first place." She said out loud.

"There were a number of scrolls in my grandfathers time that were stolen when the village was infiltrated by the Sand. Sasori was originally from Suna, maybe he got it from a relative or stole it from someone in Suna." Shisui offered.

"Hum, maybe." She thought it was a decent enough possability.

"Let's assume we don't find anything on the jutsu, we will keep looking of course but just in case, what do you think we should do?" She asked him.

They both sat silently for a time, lost in their own thoughts.

Sakura let out a deep breath, fell back onto the floor she had been sitting on and pretended to die. Shisui laughed, scooted over to where she lay and grinned down at her.

"Wanna take a break?" He asked her.

"Do I ever." She groaned as she sat up massaging her shoulders. She had been hunched over for hours reading.

"Come here." Shisui motioned her to sit between his legs.

She moved in between his legs and his hands fell onto her shoulders massaging away the knots between her shoulders.

"That feels so good, where did you learn to do that so well?" She hummed her approval as his fingers dug deliciously into her muscles.

"My mom used to do it for my dad after a long mission." He told her as he moved to her lower back.

"I remember when they came home from a mission we would always have dinner together, watch TV or play a game, then I would go to bed and they would spend time together. I would sneak out though and watch them sometimes. I could never get enough of them when they first got back. I would sit over there." He pointed to a small spot behind the stairs tot hier left.

"And watch them drink tea and listen to hem talk or cuddle. It was nice, just seeing them, home and happy." He smiled at her when she turned around to look at him.

"I know what you mean." She thought of her own parents.

"It sounds like they really loved each other." She said placing a hand on his knee.

Shisui laughed softly, "One night, I came down stairs and I caught them dancing. There was soft music coming in through the window from the summer festival. We had decided to stay home because they had just gotten back from a mission and were tired."

"I saw my father's face as he looked down at my mother. I had never seen two people more in love than at that moment. I want that, one day." He said quietly, resting his chin on her shoulder.

Sakura's heart pounded in her chest. That was what she wanted too, to find love, like her parents, her dream. She reached a hand up behind her, leaning back into his chest and turning so she could kiss him. Her mouth covered his as her hand slid into his hair.

Shisui wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his lap, turning her to kiss her better. Sakura sat sideways in his lap pulling gently at his hair as she opened her mouth to him.

"Sakura." He whispered pulling away slightly.

"What is it Shisui?" She asked gently kissing his nose.

"I think I love you." He blushed and kissed her again.

"I could love you." She admitted.

He smiled into her mouth, her breath hot on his face. He picked her up and swung her around, she giggled landing on her feet in his arms.

"Could you now." He asked her, his forehead pressed to hers.

"Definitely." She laughed as he pulled her into a bear hug.

"You have no idea what that means to me, to hear you say that." He said.

"Sakura I." He started to say but stopped and looked to his front door.

Knock Knock Knock

Shisui opened the door to reveal Iatchi standing on his porch.

"Dinner." Itachi said shortly, spun and left.

Shisui turned back to Sakura who was frowning,"Shall we?"

Sakura sat beside Sasuke at the traditional dinner table as Mikoto complimented her on her kimono.

Sakura fingered the material nervously. It was one of Shisui's mother's kimonos and Sakura couldn't help but wonder if Mikoto recognized it.

Itachi had come to get them for dinner earlier, before Shisui or her had realized it, time had slipped by them. She hadn't had enough time to go home and change before dinner, so here she was in a borrowed kimono, under the clever eye of Mikoto Uchiha.

"If I'm not mistaken," She knew she wasn't." That is one of your late mother's kimonos is it not Shisui dear?"

Itachi would have choked on his tea if he hadn't been in control of his emotions since the two of them had walked through the door that evening. Even then, a small trickle of tea escaped his lips as he set down his cup. He knew how much Shisui had loved his mother.

"Here brother." Sasuke tossed Itachi his napkin with a small smirk.

"Thank You." Itachi inclined his head to his brother with a passive look on his face.

"Yes Aunt, Sakura looks beautiful in it, though their coloring is quite the opposite." Shisui looked at Sakura fondly.

In fact, Shisui hadn't stopped looking at Sakura since they had sat down at the table.

Mikoto smiled into her tea. Interesting, she thought glancing over at her eldest son whose face hadn't changed in the last 15 minutes.

"Thank you Shisui." Sakura smiled at the man sitting across the table.

"Itachi tells us that you're last mission was a success Sakura. I take it you found everything you needed for the hospital?" Fugaku, Sasuke and Itachi's father asked her conversationally.

"Yes sir, we did, Itachi and Shisui were a great help." She bowed slightly from her sitting position to the clan head.

"Good good, I found it odd that they were both accompanying you but after inquiring with the Hokage she told me of your most recent missfortune with Sasori of the Red Sand and how he had stolen all your previously collected supplies." Fugaku gave her the slightest politle incline of sympathy.

"Yes sir." Sakura said again.

"My my dear, it seems every time I turn around you are getting poisoned by the man." Mikoto tisked into her fresh cup of tea.

"He seems to enjoy watching me suffer, yes Mikoto sama." Sakura agreed.

"It is to be expected." Fugaku hummed placing his cup down on the table as the servants brought in the dishes for their dinner and set them around the table.

"You are the Hokage's apprentice and an accomplished poisons Master of your own right, are you not?" He asked her spooning rice onto his plate.

"He sees you as an equal, a compliment to be sure no?" Fugaku said as if it should be obvious.

"A compliment I would rather do without." Sakura grimaced.

Fugaku smiled indulgently at the young woman, "Ah now Sakura, it is a testament to your own skill, you have improved leaps and bounds since your Genin days, Sasuke too." Fugaku looked at his second born and smiled faintly.

"Sasuke still has room for improvement father." Itachi said quietly, the first he had really spoken that evening.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke gave his brother an offended look.

"Exactly what it sounds like, you need to improve your taijutsu and your swordsmanship still little brother." Itachi took the offered plate of BBQ beef from Sakura with a smile.

"My swordsmanship is fine Itachi." Sasuke didn't comment on his taijutsu, which could stand improvement if he were honest. He relied far too much on his sharingan.

"I can train with you Sasuke. I need to practice with the katana as well. Itachi taught me my first strokes but I should practice." She smiled at her friend beside her when he nodded.

"Tomorrow?" Sasuke asked her.

"Yes, I would like to check in at the hospital in the morning but the afternoon would be great." She said as she picked up her chopsticks.

"I'll meet you after your morning shift then." Sasuke said.

"I'll join you." Itachi set down the bowl of rice and picked up the small dish of pickled bamboo shoots.

Sasuke nodded and Sakura looked to Shisui who raised an eyebrow but kept silent.

"That would be nice Itachi, thank you." Sakura said.

Fugaku caught his wife's eye and she smiled into her tea cup, shaking her head slightly telling him she would tell him later.

Feeling he had gained the upper hand again Itachi smiled and picked up his chopsticks.

Sasuke watched his brother with pity in his eyes. He turned to look at Sakura who was looking at Shisui. Sasuke sighed, Shisui smirked, and they continued their meal.

Shisui walked Sakura home that evening. He had been surprised he hadn't gotten any interference from Itachi.

"Thank you for walking me home Shisui." Sakura reached up and pulled him into a kiss, her fingers wrapped in the front of his shirt.

"Would you like to come in?" She breathed into his mouth as he reluctantly pulled away from her.

"Yes, but, maybe I shouldn't." He said, truly regretful, he did want to come in, that night and every night after.

"I understand." She nodded, she did understand but she wanted him to come in anyway.

"Come find me after you train with Sasuke and Itachi?" He smiled that smile she had grown to adore.

"I promise." She smiled at him and closed her door.

Itachi was waiting for him on a bench halfway back to the compound.

"I know what you're doing Shisui." Iatchi stood to meet his cousin.

"What do you think I'm doing Itachi." Shisui stuck his hands in his pockets at ease, all was right in his world.

"Just because you spent one night and a day with her doesn't erase all the years she has known me, trusted me." Itachi said without taunt, it was a fact.

"You seem to think you have a relationship with her already but you don't. Sasuke told me you never talked to her, never showed any interest in her until I came home and made my intentions clear." Shisui countered.

"I was taking my time, being patient. I wanted it to be just right, when I told her how I felt about her." Itachi defended himself.

"You took too long." Shisui said simply.

"I have spoken with my parents already." Itachi told him and the statement had all the impact he had hoped for.

Shisui stopped walking and Itachi stopped beside him.

"You're the heir to the clan, you have to marry an Uchiha, you can't marry her." Shisui said calmly.

"I can now. They got my choice approved by the elder's. Her influence on the Hokage, her accomplishments as a medic mean more to them than a clan name, her unsurpassed chakra control, her intelligence and determination, they want it in our gene pool Shisui, it has been approved. I will tell her tomorrow when we meet to train with Sasuke." Itachi turned to walk away.

"This isn't the end, don't think you've won!" Shisui called after him.

Itachi stopped. "Of course I've won. Will you go against the clan Shisui? She is as good as mine." Itachi did smirk then, turned and walked back to the compound.

Calling over his shoulder, "I loved her first!"

"You've changed cousin." Shisui said to himself watching Itachi walk away.

Sasuke ran his hands through his hair and hopped down from the tree. He walked slowly to Sakura's apartment thinking over what he had heard. He knocked on Sakura's door a few minutes later.

"Sasuke?" She was surprised to see him there.

"Sorry, I know it is getting late but I need to talk to you." He walked past her into her apartment and sat down on her couch.

"What's up?" She asked him still puzzled as to why he was there.

"I mean, you're welcome anytime of course." She didn't want him to think he couldn't drop by whenever he wanted...Naruto did.

"It's about my cousin and my brother." Sasuke started.

"Do you like one more than the other, because if you are going to choose one of them, I think now is the time." He waited for her to answer.

He didn't want to have to tell her it was starting to get tense between them, it would only make her feel bad. He definitely didn't want to tell her Itachi had asked the elders to approve her as a bride yet, if he didn't have to.

"Oh well um, I like them both but." She paused thinking.

"It's funny, you know, I was thinking of this when you knocked." She smiled a little.

"I never thought either of them would be interested in someone like me so at first I didn't really hope, you know?" She blushed a little embarrassed.

Sasuke nodded, hoping she would continue, he didn't want to be there, talking about things like this with her but he felt he owed her, maybe a little.

"Your brother is great, talented, good looking but, I think I chose Shisui. He, we really, I'm not sure how to put it, but something changed last night, this morning, we're closer and I think...we want the same things." She ended, not sure if she had gotten her point across or not.

Sasuke didn't respond at first, only watched her and waited. When it was clear she wasn't going to add anything he said, "You need to tell Itachi then."

He got up to leave,"Tomorrow, before we train maybe." He added and left.

"I will." She called after him, he was already at the bottom of the stairs, "Thanks Sasuke!"

He raised his hand in acknowledgement without turning around.

Sakura was sitting in the training field meditating when they walked up.

"Good morning Sakura." Itachi said softly to her.

"Good morning Itachi." Sakura smiled.

Sasuke grunted. He wasn't a morning person, never had been.

"Shall we start today's training with some basic strokes , then move onto single edged forms?" Itachi suggested, to which both Sasuke and Sakura nodded.

Itachi drew his katana from its sheath and joined them.

An hour later Sakura had Sasuke in a locked position, bent backward, katana immobilized with a chakra infused fist, front foot locked with her front foot, wobbling precariously.

"When are you going to talk to Itachi Sakura?" Sasuke asked her quietly.

"After." She told him.

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a few more blows before they parted with a polite bow.

"You're a little scary." Sasuke admitted to her when they had cooled down.

Sakura smiled, she rarely received compliments from Sasuke.

"I can barely keep up with you." He continued to compliment her.

"Th thank you Sasuke." She grinned widely at him.

"I'll be off now." He stood abruptly nodded to her then his brother and left.

"He is right Sakura, you are a little scary with a katana, your precision is commendable." Itachi said moving next to her in Sasuke's absence.

"Thank you Itachi, for teaching me." She said sincerely.

"I wanted to talk to you." She paused as he tilted his head toward her slightly.

"I know that you have feelings for me, both you and Shisui." She said tentatively.

"I care about you both and." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I chose Shisui, Itachi. I wanted to tell you as soon as I realized, since the other night, we, something changed in our friendship, we are closer now because of it. It feels right." She waited for him to say something but he didn't. His face was blank as he sat beside her.

"I'm sorry Itachi, but I didn't want to lead you on. Forgive me?" She asked him, the pain in her voice was clear.

Itachi didn't say anything, he sat there, looking out over the field. He rose to his feet and stuck his hand out to help her up. Sakura took his hand and rose to meet his eyes.

"I understand Sakura." He said quietly, almost painfully.

"I had hoped that." He began but stopped.

"If you change your mind, know that I won't change mine and I am here, if you want." He disappeared in a whirl of crow's feathers.

Itachi touched down in his room and sat on his bed. This is not what he had planned but he would figure it out, he always did, he just needed a new plan. He wasn't used to failure, he had never failed before. He frowned, he wasn't about to start now. The prodigy of the Uchiha clan laid back in his bed, arms behind his head and began to think, to strategize.

Shisui met her by the door of her apartment. She came walking up the stairs one by one slowly, he could tell she was upset.

"Everything okay my flower?" Shisui asked her.

"I told Iatchi. I told him, I chose you." She smiled faintly at the sudden spark in his eye.

"I feel terrible Shisui." She said as they entered her apartment.

"You were honest with him, that's what matters." Shisui could hardly contain his joy.

Sakura could feel the energy thrumming through his veins, his frame. She laughed lightly stepping into his arms. He held her to himself, a smile of content on his face. This beautifully talented, thoughtful woman was his.

"I love you." He whispered in her ear as he bent to kiss her.

"I love you too Shisui." Her hands rose to run her fingers through his hair when a sharp pain shot through her body ending in her heart.

"NO! You're mine!" Sasori's voice echoed throughout her head.

Sakura's knees buckled beneath her, she gripped the front of Shisui's shirt to keep herself from falling.

"Sakura?!" Shisui grabbed her to keep her upright.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" He asked her frantic.

"Sasori, his voice, how?" She bit out, her head began to throb and she passed out in his arms.

Shisui body flicker them inside of the hospital's lobby calling out frantically for a doctor. He stood in the corner of a room while Shizune ran chakra covered hands over his girlfriend.

"Get Tsunade Sama!" Shizune yelled at him as she continued to push chakra into Sakura.

He bodyflickered into the Hokage tower, in the middle of a meeting with Anbu, grabbed the Hokage and body flickered into Sakura's hospital room where the Hokage stumbled from his less than graceful entrance.

"What the fucking hell Uchiha!" Tsunade started to yell but stopped when she caught sight of her apprentice in the hospital bed being attended to by her assistant.

"Sakura!" Tsunade ran to the bed and pushed chakra into her hands, examining Sakura. Shizune stepped back and let the Hokage examine the girl.

"What happened?" Tsunade barked at Shizune and Shisui.

"We were in her apartment, she just...collapsed, out of nowhere, she said she heard Sasori's voice, I think in her head and she just, she just collapsed and fell unconscious Hokage Sama." Shisui stared at Sakura's face, thoughts swirling around his head.

"I thought you Uchiha put a seal on her so this very thing wouldn't happen!" Tsunade turned to him angrily.

"Get me Itachi Uchiha now!" Tsunade barked at him and he flickered away.

Shisui body flicker into itachi's room after locating his chakra signature. Itachi leapt from his bed in surprise holding a kunai to Shisui's throat. Shisui body flickered to the other side of the room, "Itachi!"

"Sakura is hurt or in trouble, she collapsed, the seal Itachi, Sasori got through your seal, come to the hospital, the Hokage is with her now." Shisui said in a rush, body flickering away before Itachi could respond.

Itachi followed in a cloud of crow's feathers.

"Sakura!" Itachi fell beside the bed only to be pushed aside by Tsunade.

"Get out of the way Uchiha!" Tsunade growled.

"I thought you said your seal would work, why is my apprentice unconscious and why did curly over there tell me Sasori was able to get into her head again!" Tsunade roared at Itachi.

"The seal must have weakened." Guilt was written all over Itachi's face.

"She, we had a conversation, the seal is linked with my chakra, I." He fell into the seat by the window, this was all his fault.

"What happened!" Tsunade's face was red with fury.

"it's because she chose me..." Shisui's eyes darted to Itachi.

"Isn't it?" Shisui asked his cousin surprised by the calm in his own voice.

"This is all my fault." Itachi mumbled ignoring his cousin.

"The seal must have weakened because I was distracted Hokage sama. As you said yourself, Uchiha are not known for their sealing abilities, we use our chakra to seal, the seal I put on Sakura to prevent Sasori from entering her mind is linked to my chakra. So if I become...unfocused, she is...vulnerable." Itachi said reluctantly.

Tsunade looked from one Uchiha to the other making the connection.

"So she chose did she, and this is the result? I swear, you and your cursed clan!" She glared at both of the Uchiha in the room.

"You are both dismissed until I can find a solution to this mess." The Hokage told them.

Itachi and Shisui didn't move, they were both looking at Sakura as she lay unconscious in the bed.

"Leave!" Tsunade barked at them.

Shisui and Itachi left the room together, walked down the stairs to the front of the hospital and sat on a nearby bench, each lost in their own thoughts.

"This isn't just your fault Itachi, it is both of ours." Shisui spoke first, he knew his cousin would take all the blame on himself if he let him.

"It is because of me the seal weakened, don't try to placate me Shisui. I let my anger, my jealousy...it's my fault."Itachi didn't look at his cousin, he didn't need to, he didn't want to see the pity the forgiveness in his eyes.

"I was so focused on beating you, on winning her affection I...I let her down." Itachi said.

"So help me make it up to her. We need to find a solution. Together." Shisui tried to smile but couldn't.

"And if we can't?" Itachi asked looking up at his cousin finally.

"What is it you always used to say to me?" Shisui asked his cousin.

"Failure is not an option." Itachi said quietly.

"Exactly." Shisui said.

"Do you have a plan?" Itachi asked.

"Not yet, I have a few ideas though." Shisui stood up.

"Let's hear them then." Itachi stood up and they left for the Uchiha compound.

His world came rushing back to him in and instant. He felt sick and dizzy. Slowly, very slowly he rose to his feet gripping the edge of his work table.

Sasori glared at the doll on his work table before him. How could she do this to him. She hadn't loved anyone for years, years! He knew it, he had kept a close eye on her.

He knew he ought to have killed the curly haired Uchiha when he had the opportunity. Yes, Sasori thought, the moment I realized he was watching the organization. It hadn't seemed necessary at the time. After all, at the time, the Uchiha wasn't bothering him personally, now however...

A pain shot through the side of his head. Sasori grunted in annoyance. Breaking the seal with sheer willpower and forced chakra had come at a price. He had collapsed and she had fallen unconscious he was sure. The last thing he remembered was blackness, oblivion coming from her and red, blood from his own mind. If he had been anyone else, he wouldn't have been able to do it. It had taken almost all of his chakra. She was worth it though.

For the past few years, since their fated battle he had thought of her as his, had watched her, had played with her in her dreams, his doll. The recent turn of events were more than an annoyance, they were unacceptable, and now, now, she claimed to love someone...someone else! Preposterous! He would have to enlighten her, she seemed to be under the impression that she had a choice, he would show her, how very little freedom she had, she belonged to him, and no one else.

Pein wanted the nine tails jinchuriki, well, Sasori wanted the Hokage's apprentice. He saw no reason why they couldn't get what they wanted. Sasori rose and left his workroom to speak to Leader Sama. It was time he brought his Red puppet scroll back to life and what better way to do so than to attack the Leaf for the jinchuriki and get his doll at the same time.

Sakura woke to the most familiar and annoying beeping. She was in the hospital. Green eyes opened to worried honey.

"Thank goodness, those damn Uchiha I swear." Tsunade sighed and sat down in a chair by Sakura's bed.

"How ya feelin kid?" She asked her apprentice.

"Like shit Shisou." Sakura grinned at the Hokage.

"You look it." Tsunade slapped a hand on her leg like she had made a really good joke.

"You've been drinking haven't you Shisou?" Sakura cringed.

"After hours kid." Tsunade swirled the contents of a familiar bottle in front of Sakura's face before upending it into her mouth.

"Your boys were here earlier but they left to hatch a plan." Tsunade told her.

"Naruto and Sasuke?" Sakura was surprised.

"No, the other ones, Itachi and Shisui." Tsunade gave her apprentice a gimlet eye.

"Ah." Sakura looked at her hands that were folded in her lap.

"I don't blame you, Itachi is brilliant and good looking but he doesn't know how to laugh, Shisui suits you much better." Tsunade winked at her.

"We connected the other night, I think we have more in common." Sakura tried to be casual but Tsunade saw through it.

"They seem to be handling it well." She told her.

"They are just worried about you, and Itachi feels guilty, for the seal failing." Tsunade let her know.

"Let me check you before you leave, but I think you should be fine now. Maybe have Itachi reseal you." Tsunade cleared the buzz from her head and moved to give Sakura a healing chakra once over.

"You're good kid, now go find those boys of yours and figure out a plan." Tsunade smiled at the pink haired girl and waved her out the window.

Sakura took off without a backward glance, heading for the Uchiha compound.

Shisui felt her before she had even made it to the gate. He body flickered to meet her.

"Sakura." Shisui called her before the guards could approach her.

"Shisui." She walked the few paces it took for her to get to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so glad you're okay, you really had Itachi and I worried." He breathed into her hair as they continued to hug one another.

Itachi appears with a few black feathers."Sakura, Tsunade Sama released you? Are you well?" He asked her.

Sakura stepped out of Shisui's arms and much to Itachi's surprised hugged him too.

"Yes, I'm fine. She suggested that you reseal me, can you?" She asked him.

"I don't know if that's a good idea Sakura, I'm not sure if I can, protect you anymore." Itachi let her go and stepped back.

"You're with Shisui now, I understand but ." He paused and looked away from her." I still care about you. The seal might not hold." Itachi told them both.

"So then, what else is there, what can we do?" She looked from one to the other.

"Well, Itachi and I think the only way is if...we kill Sasori." Shisui told her.

"Or get your lock of hair back from him." Itachi added.

"Either or are about the same as far a difficulty." Shisui laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"The only sure way is to kill him." Itachi said.

Sakura agreed and nodded, "Yes, that's what I was thinking too."

"I don't even know where to begin such a task, I mean, he's Sasori and an Akatsuki member. We don't even know where their base is. I hardly know anything about him." She sighed and looked for somewhere to sit but there wasn't anywhere.

"I know enough." Shisui said quietly.

Itachi looked at his cousin for a moment. "Sakura, can we go to your apartment to talk about this further?"

Sakura looked from Itachi to Shisui, "Oh!" She understood. "Yes, of course."

An hour later they had a relatively well thought out plan together.

"We'll go to the Hokage in the morning with our plan and hopefully she will approve our mission." Sakura yawned and stretched.

"Agreed." Itachi rose and stretched.

"Coming Shisui?" Itachi asked when his cousin made no move to rise.

"Uh, in a minute, you go on ahead of me okay?" Shisui blushed a little and Itachi gave him an odd look.

"You don't have to pretend for my sake." Itachi turned to Sakura's door waving to them as he left.

Sakura giggled as soon as the door was shut and looked at Shisui who had gotten up from his chair to walk to her.

"Is he taking it as well as he appears to be?" She asked him.

"It is always hard to tell with him, even for me, but I think he is. He said he loved you, and I have no reason to doubt him. When you love someone you want them to be happy." Shisui pressed his forehead to hers bending over slightly to match her shorter stature.

"I told myself if you chose him, I would try to let you go, to be happy that you were happy." He said quietly.

"Don't get me wrong, " He grinned at her." I'm really glad you chose me."

They laughed together.

"Do you think I will be okay, without the seal?" Sakura didn't want to admit it but it worried her that she no longer had a line of defense against Sasori.

"I can stay with you, if you want. I might not be able to help you much, but I can be here for you." He took both of her hands in his.

"I'd like that." She smiled at him.

"I think, maybe, I should sleep on the couch tonight." He said.

"Not that I want to, I mean, I really enjoyed sleeping with you before...in your bed but." He looked at her.

"I don't want to move too fast with you, or make you think uh, well, that I have other reasons to spend the night." He ended a little flustered.

Sakura cocked her head to the side. "Ok, if you think it is best."

Shisui nodded.

"Unless." She started then stopped.

"Unless?" he asked.

"Well, how are you going to be here for me if you are there for me." She pointed at the couch.

Shisui grinned at her.

"If you want to sleep with me so badly Sakura, all you have to do is ask me." He grinned and winked at her.

"You ass! You know that's not what I meant!" She picked a pillow up off of her couch and threw it at him.

Shisui dodged the pillow and grabbed her around the waist, picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. Sakura giggled and squirmed in his arms the whole way.

"We can sleep together flower, if that is your wish." He set her down on the bed and pulled the covers back.

Sasori smiled a little smile as he left his meeting with Pein. Two days, they would leave in two days to attack the Leaf. Sasori could hardly wait to see his little Doll again.

Shisui and Sakura met Itachi outside of the Hokage Tower the next morning. They had a plan.

Twenty minutes later they walked out of the Hokage's Tower with their mission scroll allowing them to hunt down and kill one Sasori of the Red Sand, of the Akatsuki.

"I need to replenish my medical supplies before we leave and food stores for the journey." Sakura told them as they walked through the market.

"I will return to the compound. I have a few things I would like to attend to before our departure tomorrow." Itachi inclined his head to them and left.

"Want some company flower?" Shisui put an arm over Sakura's shoulder as they continued to walk through the market to the medical supply shop.

"Of course." She leaned into him playfully.

They stepped into the medical supply shop, Sakura put bandages, gauze, and other simples on the counter to purchase.

"Could I please have my usual order of poison and antidote herbs?" She asked the woman behind the counter.

"Two orders please?" Sakura called to the woman as she turned toward the back room of her shop.

Turning to Shisui, "Better safe than sorry. They won't have everything I need, we will need to stop by the hospital on the way home." She said lost in thought.

On the way home, Shisui smiled. He didn't think she had realized she had even said it, like they lived together.

"We should move in together." He said before he could stop himself.

"What?" Sakura had been going over the mental list of herbs she needed in her head and thought she may have heard him wrong.

"Uh, we should move in together. The compound or your apartment. I have a house, so it might be, I mean...you could have your own garden, grow your own herbs." He stammered.

"Is it too soon?" He asked her.

"Well," She laughed. "We have only been boyfriend and girlfriend for twenty four hours Shisui." She laughed a little nervously.

"And we aren't even engaged." She pointed out then covered her hand with her mouth.

"I didn't mean, I mean, I'm not pressuring you to ask me." She said in a rush.

"I didn't ask you to marry me? I thought I had." He pretended to be confused and she slapped him gently on the arm.

"Marry me Sakura." Shisui grinned at her.

"We are shinobi." She said.

"We are, could die anyday you know." He winked at her.

"I." Sakura was interrupted by the woman coming back with her herbs.

"Thank you for your purchase Sakura Sama." The woman bowed deeply as they left her shop.

"Tea?" Sakura asked Shisui and he nodded.

"Park?" Shisui asked her after they had gotten their tea and she nodded.

Sakura was walking but her head was whirling in and out of focus. She suddenly felt like her life was moving along far too quickly for her. They sat on a park bench and sipped thier tea.

"Don't answer me right away. Think about it." Shisui said.

"It's too soon isn't it?" She asked him.

"Not for me but if you need more time, I understand, but no, not for me." He had known that first night, when she had let him brush her hair, she was the one he wanted to spend all of his nights with.

"If I say yes." She paused and he held his breath." Would your elders even let us get married. I know you aren't the clan heir or part of the main family but I am not an Uchiha." She said hesitantly. Someone had to bring it up.

"That won't be a problem." He told her.

Sakura was a little surprised, "It won't?"

He rubbed his arm with one hand, then took her free hand in his.

"Itachi already got approval to marry you from the council." He said slowly to gage her reaction.

"He did? How did he...``oh." She furrowed her brow in thought.

"Oh!" She understood now.

"So you see, it won't be an issue for us. If they approved the clan heir to marry you, there is no reason they won't for me." He smiled a little at her.

"I didn't know that he, he told me, but. Am I a terrible person?" She said to herself more than Shisui.

"We put you in an awkward position Sakura, you didn't do anything wrong." He assured her.

"So is that a yes?" He couldn't stop himself from pushing just a little.

Sakura looked up at him, "Yes."

Shisui dropped his tea and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I will spend every day for the rest of our lives making sure you never regret it." He buried his face in her neck smiling.

Sakura dropped her tea and hugged him back. "You get to tell Itachi."

Sakura and Shisui met Itachi by the gate the next day. She had all the medical supplies she thought she would need sealed into two different scrolls, food and regular camp provisions. Sakura adjusted her weight as she slipped her katana on her back.

Itachi eyed the katana, it was the one he had given her when she had first asked him to teach her.

"Sakura, here, this is for you." Itachi handed her a wrapped box.

Shisui watched as she opened it.

"Itachi." She looked at the unwrapped katana.

"It's beautiful." She ran her fingers over the cool bone scabbard and the fine gold tracery decorating the guard. Her thumb passed over the gold and silver Uchiha clan crest inlay on the bottom of the hilt.

"Your skills have improved quickly, it is time you had a real katana." Itachi inclined his head at her surprised expression.

"I, this is too much." She tried to hand the sword back to him.

"Then consider it an engagement present." Itachi said.

"It was commissioned to be yours. I had planned on giving it to you already, before." Itachi told her, eyes dark with emotion that he was clearly suppressing.

"Thank You." Shisui said for her.

"Thank You Itachi." Sakura said for herself.

Itachi reached behind her pulling the old sword from her back and sliding the new one in its place. Shisui watched with interest and a slightly narrowed eye but smiled when Itachi's met his eye. Itachi inclined his head to his cousin. Sakura bit her lip as she watched the two. So, Shisui had told him about their engagement.

"Shall we...shall we go then?" She asked them.

"Hn." Itachi said.

"For sure." Shisui winked at her and they passed through the gate under the curious gazes of Kotetsu and Izumo.

The three made their way slowly toward Rain, taking the route Shisui deemed most direct. Sakura stopped to look at her map at midday and wondered how Shisui had come up with the route. She decided to ask him once their break was over.

Sakura fell into step with him, Itachi moving back to give them some space.

"Shisui, why are we going this way to Rain, wouldn't it be better to go through the mountains?" She asked him.

"It would, only they know that and have sentries there to watch for travelers. This is the most direct route that won't alert them to our presence, chakra suppression or not. Sasori is a known sensor nin as well as Pein, the leader." Shisui told her as they walked.

"I still don't understand, how do you know all of this." She asked him.

"Anbu." He smiled at her.

"He was gone for five years." Itachi added helpful.

"So you were, doing recon on the Akatsuki for five years?" She asked surprised.

"I can't really say, but yeah." Shisui winked at her and she laughed.

"Wow. That's helpful." She laughed. No wonder the Hokage wanted him to come with them.

By evening they had come to the mountains they would be going around. Itachi suggested they make camp for the night before crossing the border.

Shisui went to find them something for dinner claiming it would be best to save their food stores in case they were unable to hunt for themselves. Sakura was surprised at his caution expecting him to be a bit more impulsive. She smiled, there was still so much for her to learn about him.

Itachi watched her unpack their sleeping matts and lay them out beside the fire. He noticed she set them all equal distances from one another.

"Sakura, I'm happy for you two." Itachi startled her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, thank you." She smiled at him as she stacked their collected firewood closer to the fire.

"Shisui is a good man." Itachi continued.

"If you aren't with me, I am glad it's him." He said, eyes never leaving her.

"I hope that you understand it isn't because I didn't or don't have any feelings for you Itachi it is just well." Should she tell him?

"Something happened that night, when he spent the night." She blushed.

Itachi didn't say anything, hoping she would continue but not altogether sure if he really wanted to hear what she had to say.

"He opened up to me, about his mother, his parents and well...we found we had a few very special things in common." She ended looking up at him.

"Shisui's parents were very important to him, like mine. My mother mostly, my father is, the clan head and, duty comes first. That was one thing I was going to try to change when I become clan head." Itachi watched her.

She had just admitted she still had feelings for him.

"We have known one another for a long time. I should have told you how I felt about you years ago, but I didn't. I was waiting. I thought I had to wait for the right moment to tell you how I...well, it doesn't matter now." He turned from her and picked up the bucket by the fire for water.

"I'll go fill this for dinner." He went to walk by her but she stopped him with a small hand on his arm.

"How long...have you liked me?" She asked.

"Since you were put on Sasuke's Genin team and he had you and Naruto over for dinner that first week Sakura." He looked down at her, taking in the glitter of her eyes, the softness of her lips.

Without a second thought he bent his head and brushed his lips against hers. She pulled back quickly, her fingers pressed to her mouth. "Itachi, we musn't."

"Hn." The emotion in his eyes flared for a moment and was gone, replaced with his usual calm.

He walked past her into the woods to the stream they had passed on their way to their camp.

Red eyes watched him walk away before they faded back to black.

"I have our dinner Sakura, I hope you like fish as much as you said you did when we were foraging on the island." Shisui laughed a little watching her.

Her face was flushed, and her lips tingled.

"Shisui, I." She couldn't tell him, no good would come of it.

"I set the bedding out and stacked the firewood. After you gut the fish, I'll string them across the fire." She smiled at him, her eyes darting to the spot where Itachi had disappeared moments ago.

Shisui set the fish down by the fire, turned and took her in his arms.

"I love you." He kissed her gently.

"I know." Sakura kissed him back, hugging him to her body and burying her face in his chest so he couldn't see the look on her face.

She said yes, he told himself a few times before he let her go. She said she would marry me. That's all that matters he told himself as he cleaned the fish and Itachi returned from getting water.

She loves me, Shisui continued to reassure himself as Itachi set the water bucket down beside Sakura who smiled up at him. She is going to marry me, Shisui said to himself in anger as Itachi's gaze lingered on Sakura a little too long and her cheeks flushed red.

Sasori painted the nails of his newest puppet a light forest green, the color of Spring, the color of her eyes. He hummed a little as he combed out her hair, pink, pastel, fragile looking, he smiled. His Doll was anything but fragile.

A knock at his door, he sighed and put the small wooden comb down on his work table.

"Enter." He called and turned to see Deidara stroll into his private space as if he owned it.

"Sasori danna, Leader Sama has given us a secondary mission for the invasion of the Leaf village. We are to capture the Hokage's apprentice Haruno Sakura and force her into membership." Deidara picked up a small wooden figure from the work table and turned it left then right analyzing it's mechanics.

"Put that down." Sasori commanded.

"What does Leader Sama want with that slip of a girl?" Sasori demanded.

Deidara looked up from setting the figure down and smirked at his partner.

"Why do you care why he wants the girl Sasori my man?" Deidara sat down on one of the work benches uninvited looking over the doll Sasori was working on.

"You want her for your collection?" Deidara asked, as if he didn't already know, they all knew.

"She belongs to me." Sasori said storming out of his work room to speak to Leader Sama.

"So worked up over one little girl." Deidara cast one more look at the doll on the work table.

"Such a pointless waste...and he calls it art, pffft." Deidara left the work room, not wanting to be caught in it alone when Sasori returned, no doubt in a foul mood once he learned he wasn't to have the pink haired medic nin.

Sasori stormed through the halls to get to Pein's private quarters that he shared with Konan.

"Hey, what's the big fucking hurry ginger?" Hidan called to him as he stomped past his room.

"Nothing that concerns you." Sasori muttered as he continued to the end of the hall.

Konan met him at the door to their chambers.

"Sasori, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Konan spoke softly.

"I would like to inquire as to why Leader Sama wants me to capture Haruno Sakura and force her into membership with the organization?" Sasori controlled his voice into calm.

"She is a medic nin, of incredible prowess." Konan said simply.

"There are other medic nin, she was to belong to me." Sasori's voice rose slightly.

The door opened to reveal Pein.

"Sasori, we need her, not any medic nin will do, only her. She will be under your supervision, but you may not make her into a doll." Pein closed the door effectively ending the conversation.

Konan inclined her head to the red head and followed Pein into their chambers.

Sasori stood there for a moment. This wouldn't do. He didn't want her part of the organization, he didn't want her involved in this ridiculous plan of Leader Samas, he wanted her for himself. He hadn't planned on making her into a doll, he already had a doll that looked like her.

He walked back to his rooms slowly , thinking.

Itachi took first watch at his own request. He couldn't sleep anyway he knew. He was trying to be the better man. He wanted her to be happy, but he wanted her to be his just as much. His eyes bled red and he turned to look at her. Her head was on her arm, she lay on her back, her chest rose and fell gently with each breath. Itachi closed his eyes, they faded back to coal. She was engaged now, to his best friend. A sudden engagement too.

She still had feelings for him, he could tell, but could he do that to her, to Shisui, pursue her still, even if…

Itachi shook his head. His thoughts were going to a place he didn't want to go.

Shisui woke to Itachi touching his shoulder for his watch. They had both agreed to let Sakura sleep through the night.

"Thank you." Shisui waved at his cousin as he took his position by the camp.

"Hn." Itachi said laying down on his bedding, closing his eyes.

Sakura shifted in her sleep, a small gasp escaping her lips.

Itachi turned his head toward her. Her lips parted in a small pout, her fingers clenching and unclenching the fabric of her bedding. Itachi turned back to look at the stars over head, trying hard to ignore the pain in his side, creeping toward his heart.

Sasori ran his fingers over the lock of pink hair over and over as he sat on the end of his bed. It had been over two years now since that fated battle, two years since he couldn't get her out of his head. She reminded him of feelings he had long forgotten, feelings he had thought were locked deep down, far from reach. He wasn't the same person, he wasn't even a person anymore, he shouldn't have those feelings, feelings at all.

He brought the lock of hair to his lips. It was soft and smooth to the touch, he inhaled her scent he knew, had long evaporated but he liked to think he could still smell her, a soft flowery scent.

No, he didn't want her to join the Akatsuki, a woman like her, didn't belong in an organization like theirs, she didn't belong in a cage, in the dark, without hope. She wouldn't come willingly he knew. Force her Pein had said. Sasori smirked. No one could force his woman to do anything she didn't want to do.

Sasoir unrolled the scroll and placed the lock of hair in the middle. He let chakra flow from his fingers into the scroll and closed his eyes.

Sakura was back in that blasted cave, Lady Chiyo beside her, Sasori in front of them. She had just smashed his ugly masked puppet to bits, he stood in the shadows behind it.

"Sasori." She took a step toward him, arms up, fists ready.

"Sakura, my doll." He spoke her name, shivers went down her back. He smiled and stepped into the light.

"They are coming for you doll. They want your skills as a medic for the organization. Do not let them take you." He warned her.

"Who is coming for me?" She kept her hands at the ready but cocked her head to listen to him.

"The Akatsuki. They want you to join the organization to heal their wounded, to use your knowledge for their own benefit. You will never see the Leaf or any of your friends again if they succeed."

"Why are you telling me this, you are part of that organization, why warn me?" She asked her hands lowering to her side.

"I know you. You would never join them willingly, you would die fighting them, and they would kill you. That was never my desire for you to join the Akatsuki, I did not want that." He told her.

"What was it you wanted?" She asked him, Lady Chiyo fading from their existence, the cave disappeared, and they were in Suna, only in a cottage on the outskirts of the village.

"This, this is what I wanted." He waved his hand at their surroundings. A green house appeared, a workroom with puppets hanging on the walls, inside the cottage a kitchen, a bedroom.

Sakura looked around them. "You wanted me to live in a cottage in Suna? With you?"

"It is ridiculous, I know." He said quietly.

"I had no chance of that dream anymore than they do of you joining the Akatsuki, but yes, I did." He came forward, taking her hand in his.

"Does he make you happy?" He asked her.

"He could." She said honestly.

"What of the other Uchiha?" He asked her.

"He could too." She looked away.

"So, you aren't sure? Interesting." He said to himself and she pulled her hand from his.

"I have given my word to Shisui."

"I gave my word to the Village Hidden in the Sand." He trailed off in thought.

"They took my parent's from me and left me with a grandmother who couldn't, wouldn't accept reality. I turned myself into a puppet, my own reality, to escape...but you. In a moment, in one meeting destroyed that reality for me, showed me how lost I really was. I knew, after, I should have let you kill me then. I held on this long because I wanted...you. You were real in all the ways I never was, could no longer be." He tilted his head to the side.

"I release you. This will be the last time I come to you." He reached out, she flinched.

"I don't...I don't know how to do this." His hand dropped to his side and he looked at her with a sadness she had never seen in him before and she thought, she might understand a little, why he did the things he did.

"I just wanted to say goodbye." He turned from her then, the dream began to fade.

"Wait, Sasori." Sakura took his hand pulling him back.

"Is this really goodbye, you promise?" Her eyes widened and searched his amber eyes closely.

"It is." He held his breath.

"Then, goodbye Sasori." She leaned forward and kissed him, voluntarily, once, on his lips.

"Thank you Sakura."

Sasori opened his eyes breaking the connection and touched his lips. "Goodbye Sakura."

Sakura woke to the sound of water being poured over the coals of the fire.

"Coffee." Shisui smiled at her holding her mug out to her.

She looked down, he had put cream and sugar in it for her already.

"You remembered." She smiled and took a sip.

"Of course I did." He pulled the covers off of her and she squeaked.

Shisui started rolling the bedding up and sealing it away into their storage scroll.

"Sasori came to me last night." She started.

Itachi and Shisui stopped what they were doing and gave her their full attention.

"He warned me and said goodbye." She said a slight frown on her face.

"Warned you about what?" Itachi asked before Shisui could.

"The Akatsuki, they want me, for my medical skills. He said they were coming to try to force me into joining their organization."

"Why would he warn her of that?" Shisui asked his cousin.

"He told me he knew I would fight to the death before I let them take me, before I would join them. He said that was never his plan, he never wanted me to join the Akatsuki." She told them before Itachi could speculate.

"So what did he want?" Shisui asked her.

"Me." She said blushing a little.

"Hn." Itachi said and resumed picking up and packing their things away. He took the now empty mug from her hands, rinsed it in the bucket of water and stored it in a scroll.

"Did he say anything else?" Shisui asked her.

"He said goodbye, and I kissed him." She said quietly looking up at Shisui through her bangs.

"What?" Itachi blurted out.

"It wasn't real, it was in a dream" She tried to defend herself.

"He promised to stop coming to me, he broke the connection after he said goodbye." She said still a little defensively.

"Yeah, at least it wasn't real...not like the kiss Itachi gave you last night before bed." Shisui cut in with a glance at his cousin for his reaction.

"Hn." Itachi didn't even try to deny it.

"How did you?" She started.

"I saw, on the way back from the river with our fish." Shisui said seriously.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked her, not mad but curious all the same.

"I didn't want to cause problems, you have been getting along and it was less tense, I didn't want it to affect the mission." She said, it was only half true.

Shisui nodded, he understood.

"Don't keep things from me, trust me enough to understand okay?" He told her and she nodded.

"Let's head back to the village." Itachi tied his pack to his waist.

"What about our mission?" Shisui asked.

"It's over. Sakura won't want him dead now. She will explain to the Hokage what happened. We can't move forward with how things are." Itachi pointed out.

Shisui's face grew warm, he ought to have known that. It seemed the more he got to know Sakura, the more he realized Itachi knew her much better.

"Let's go." Sakura slung her pack over her head so that it fell across her body.

After giving their report and being dismissed from the tower, they pause.

As Shisui opened his mouth to speak an Anbu dropped down beside them.

"Shisui san, you are needed in the council at the Hokage's request." The masked man bows then leaps back to the tower window and disappears from view.

"I'll meet you later, at your apartment?" He kisses Sakura on the cheek then heads back into the tower.

"Lunch?" Itachi asks Sakura.

"Oh, um, I don't know Itachi." She looks around, not sure what to say.

"It's only lunch Sakura." Itachi smiles at her.

"Of course, I'm sorry. I'm being silly." She laughs a little.

They walk down the road toward the market. Fifteen minutes later they are sitting side by side by the river chatting while they eat.

"I used to follow you sometimes at night, you would come here after you had a nightmare." Itachi said changing their current topic of conversation suddenly.

"I didn't know that." She said, poking at a noodle in the box.

"I used to sense your chakra every now and then moving. Once I figured out it was common place for you to leave your home in the middle of the night, I followed you, curious at first." He continued.

"It was only after the first few times did I realize it was because you had nightmares. I didn't know from what exactly but you would talk sometimes, to yourself and, well, I figured it out. Sasuke had told me what happened."

"Why didn't you tell me, or talk to me?" She asked him.

"It wasn't my place. I didn't know if you wanted anyone to know." He said.

"So I waited, and watched, to make sure you were okay, and I followed you home, to make sure you got there safely." He raised his head back and took a deep breath, not looking at her. He exhaled through his nose and smiled.

"That's when I truly realized. I loved you. I wanted to protect you, to make you happy. I didn't want you to hurt, to be in pain, to have nightmares. I wanted to be the one ...to be there for you. That's why I followed you. I just wasn't ready to tell you yet." He looked at her then.

"I'm sorry, I waited so long...and that it was too late." He smiled a half smile at her.

"Itachi." She didn't know what to say. She felt guilty, she felt sad, like she had done this to him, and she had but not on purpose , no not on purpose.

"I meant what I said, if it can't be me, I'm glad it is Shisui." Itachi smiled at her.

"I should go, Shisui will be looking for you soon. See you later Sakura." He rose then and left.

Sakura picked up the take out boxes and threw them in a trash bin on her way back to her apartment. She opened the door to find Shisui laying on her couch, shoes by the door.

"Hey beautiful." He greeted her.

"Hey." She smiled and sat down on the couch beside him.

"Anbu scouts reported that the Akatsuki are on the move, they are headed for Konoha. Sasori wasn't lying." He told her.

"How many of them did they know?" She asked him.

"Four." He ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced.

"Pein, the leader is among them, so is Sasori, Deidara and Tobi." Shisui groaned.

"It isn't good." He said needlessly.

"They can't all be coming just for me." She was shocked.

"No, I think they are also coming for the nine tails, for Naruto." He confirmed.

"How far away are they?"

"One day, two at the most." He said.

"I gave the Anbu captains a briefing of what we will be going up against. The biggest problem is, I have no idea what Pein is capable of. I have never seen him in battle, I don't have any information on him other than he is the Leader." He said.

"To lead a group like that, to maintain control over them, or to inspire them...he must be formidable." She said contemplatively.

"My thoughts exactly flower." He laid his hand on her leg and squeezed it a bit.

"How was lunch with Itachi?" he asked without skipping a beat.

"It was good Shisui. He told me, just so you know, that if he couldn't be with me he was glad that it was you." She smiled down at him and he grinned back.

"He still cares for you."

"I still care for him." She said.

"But you're still going to marry me?" he asked her.

"You want me to change my mind?" She teased.

"No." he grinned at her.

"Good, because you're spending the night tonight." She played with his wayward locks, leaned over and kissed him playfully on the forehead.

"I am am I?" He grinned as she ran her fingers over his hair and through it.

"Yes, no arguing." She mock scolded him, one hand on the hip.

"And, what if I refuse?" He asked her innocently.

"I'll just have to use force." She smirked.

"Oh?" His eyes darkened as he looked at her.

Sakura giggled and poked him, "Yeah."

Morning came in the form of an alarm, the wooden clang rang throughout the village, shinobi jumped to attention and made their way to the platform on top of the Hokage's tower.

"We are under attack. Prepare for battle. Shisui brief them." Tsunade commanded and Shisui stepped forward away from Sakura to the front.

"As some of you know I have spent the last five years tracking and observing the Akatsuki. The ones that approach are all dangerous. Sasori of the Red Sand is a unique puppet master, who transformed himself into a puppet, who poisons all of his puppets with fast acting, painful poisons. Sakura Haruno has made up several antidotes and will hand them out to you before you leave. Secondly, Deidara is an explosion jutsu specialist, he forms clay into figures and explodes them in both short and long range attacks with his chakra. Third Tobi, posses a sharingan, I do not know how, but he has it in only one eye, can use Kamui to transport himself through dimensions so only after the third attack can he be hit otherwise attacks pass right through him, beware. I do not know the full extent of his abilities. Fourth and last, I fear there is nothing I can tell you about Pein, their leader, he was the most elusive, I had the opportunity of observing him only once in the five years I watched them. He is powerful, he is intelligent, be careful." Shisui stepped back in place beside Itachi and Sakura.

"Thank You Shisui. The Genin have already started to evacuate the civilians, special ops to the gates, medic staff to the hospital. Sakura, due to the Akatsuki's special interest in you I want you with either Shisui or Itachi at all times. Protect the Leaf! Dismissed!" Tsunade ordered.

Shinobi flew off in all directions.

"Shisou, what about Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"He has been sent to Mt. Myoboku to train, where he will be safe, don't worry Sakura, just keep a lookout for yourself, protect the village." Tsunade gave her a quick smile then turned to prepare the hospital for the inevitable rush of injured to come.

"We should go." Shisui advised.

"Wait, the antidotes. I need to get them to the hospital, with the recipe to make more." She started for the hospital.

"I will do it, you go with Shisui, prepare the defend the gates, if they can't get in, the less damage they can do. Remember, they don't know Naruto isn't here." Itachi moved to take the small bag of antidotes from her.

Sakura opened the bag and took out three giving one to each of them and keeping one for herself.

"Make sure you give the bag to Shizune, she is the only one beside Tsunade and myself who can craft the antidotes." Sakura instructed him.

"Hn." Itachi said and was off.

"Ready flower?" Shisui grinned at her.

"As I'll ever be." She tried to smile even though her stomach felt like it was turning over.

"Let's defend the village." Shisui started running to the gates over the rooftops, Sakura not far behind.

They heard the explosion before they saw the dust. Two huge summons erupted from the wreckage, swinging claws and teeth back and forth sending Leaf shinobi flying outward over buildings and into the side of the Hokage cliff.

All around them Leaf shinobi sprang into action. Waves of water, earth and fire erupted from multiple points around the village. Skirmishes of all kinds flew around them as they made their way to the heart of the battle, where Pein stood surrounded by Jounin.

"Give up, we have you surrounded." Sakura saw Asuma at the forefront of the Jounin surrounding Pein.

"Indeed you do." Pein said as if bored and threw his hands and arms out at his sides. "Almighty push." He said forcefully and the world around them was pushed away from his center point into dust and rubble.

Shisui grabbed Sakura and body flicker to the top of the Hokage cliffs.

"No." The shocked whimper escaped her lips.

It was total devastation.

"NO!" Sakura screamed in horror. Her home, her village, her friends.

"Sakura, we need to move, we need to see if anyone survived." Shisui was pulling her to her feet.

"You're not going anywhere yeah, at least not you Pinky." Deidara called down to them from above on top of a huge white flying bird.

Sakura and Shisui looked up to see tens and twenties of little clay spiders raining down upon them.

"Shit" she heard Shisui yell as he tried to body flicker away but couldn't.

Sasori stood on the cliff out of the way of the raining spiders, chakra strings attached to the fingers on one hand holding Shisui in place, the other sending chakra strings to attach themselves to Sakura pulling her to safety out of the exploding spiders range.

"Leader Sama wants her alive idiot." Sasori drawled to Deidara when he landed beside him barking at how he ruined his art.

"She wouldn't have died!" Deidara countered ignoring the pink haired medic who rose and rushed to Shisui's side pushing healing chakra into her hands as she ran.

Sakura bent over Shisui pressing her hands to him healing the multiple burns and bleeding over his body.

"Shisui." She panted his name as she tried to heal him as quickly as possible.

"Sakura, run, please." He groaned as he tried to sit up.

"It's no use, he can't use his little disappearing act now." Sasori said from directly behind her, flicking his wrist to make her stand and back up from Shisui.

"Come, Doll." He picked her up effortlessly and jumped from the cliff leaving Shisui to Deidara.

"Sasori, Sasori put me down please, I need to go back to Shisui!" Sakura screamed as the puppetmaster ran from building to building.

"Quiet, Deidara is no match for your...friend. We had to leave, we weren't the only ones there." He set her down in between two tall buildings and stepped away from her reluctantly.

"Why are you helping me? Aren't you going to take me to your Leader Sama?" She asked cautiously backing away a little at a time, pushing chakra into her fists as she moved.

"I told you, I don't want you to be part of the organization, you don't belong there." He said quietly, not moving, not looking at anything but her.

"Why take me from Shisui then, what do you want?" She asked, still not ready to trust him no matter what he said.

"Where is the nine tails?" He asked her.

"Not here." She snapped back jumping forward punching the ground at his feet and leaping up high into the air kicking off of the collapsing building.

"Damn it woman, I told you I am not here for you." Sasori called after her sending his strings out once more pulling her to his chest and dragging her to the shadows once more.

"If we get the nine tailed brat, we will leave. Look, I am running out of places to hide with you woman since Leader Sama destroyed your village, just tell me and I will go." Sasori said annoyed.

Sakura stood there facing him. "You tormented me for two years and now because your Leader wants to force me to join the Akatsuki, now you want to what...protect me?" She asked him in astonishment.

"Yes!" He finally lost his temper.

"You are mine, my Doll and I will not have you join." He glared at her.

"Why?" She really wanted to know.

"You don't belong there. Neither do I." He surprised her by saying.

"Wait, but you joined them of your own free will." She protested.

"Did I? Orochimaru found me when I was 15 after I left Suna, I had nowhere else to go." Sasori told her.

"And now?" She asked him stepping forward.

"Now I have a reason to leave, after I help them get the nine tails." He said still glaring at her.

"Unfortunately, I can not allow that Sasori. Haruno Sakura, come with me. Universal pull." Pein spoke from behind them.

Sakura's feet left the ground and her body pulled forward toward the orange haired man behind her but her arms were caught by Sasori's chakra strings and she yelped in pain.

"Sasori, think about what you are doing…" Pein said in his deep voice, annoyed and curious at the same time.

"Consider this my resignation Leader Sama." Sasori smirked at him, doubling the chakra strings around Sakura, winding them around her waist and legs, pulling her forcefully back into his arms and jumping to the tops of the few remaining buildings.

"Ohhhh Sasori san is leaving us Leader Sama?" Tobi sang from beside Pein where he had just appeared as Sasori had left with Sakura in his arms.

"It appears to be so. Bring me the girl Tobi, if Sasori dies, so be it." Pein turned then and disappeared in a blur.

Shisui rolled to avoid the spider jumping toward his face, then rose hastily wincing as his weight fell on his back foot that was still bleeding from Deidara's first attack.

"Damn it." He grit out in between his teeth as two more spiders jumped for his face.

"Need help cousin?" Itachi appeared in a swirl of cawing crows.

"I wouldn't say no if you're offering." Shisui grinned at Itachi.

"Where's Sakura?" Itachi asked as a huge ball of fire flew from his lips burning the new wave of jumping spiders Deidara sent their way.

"Sasori, saved her from the explosion then left with her." Shisui wrapped his foot quickly as Itachi dodged another wave of spiders from the yellow haired bomber.

"We need to go after her. I don't care what he told he in her dream or whatever, I don't trust him." Shisui made the hand signs for another fire jutsu sending out a wall of fire toward Deidara who foolishly flew down closer to them to drop more spiders.

"Ahk!" Deidara fell from his bird and landed a few feet away, standing quickly and sticking his hands into the clay pouches on either side of his belt.

Before he could finish molding his art, Itachi's eyes spun red and tomes spun black.

Deidara looked up into the red blazing eyes and froze.

"So beautiful." Deidara was transfixed.

Itachi's mouth twitched, it was too easy. "Amaterasu."

Deidara's screams could be heard as Itachi and Shisui ran together toward Sakura's faint chakra signature.

Sasori didn't know the Leaf village, he didn't know where to take her where she would be safe. The Hokage came to mind but dare he risk it, surely she would be surrounded by Anbu, they would attack him before he could even get close. He would leave, he decided, leave the village with her and decide how to get her back to her people later.

"Sasori san...Sasori san" Tobi sang as he moved out from behind the tree line behind Sasori and Sakura.

"Who is that?" Sakura asked Sasori.

"Tobi." Sasori wasn't looking forward to this. Unlike the rest of the Akatsuki, Sasori knew there was more to Tobi than he let the others see.

"What are you doing with the pinky haired woman Sasori san?" Tobi asked in his innocent sweet kid voice.

"Nothing that concerns you." Sasori said with hooded eyes as he watched Tobi come closer.

Sakura narrowed her eyes and moved into a defensive stance.

Tobi giggled playfully. "Oh, she is a spirited one! I can see why you want to play with her Sasori san!' Tobi giggled again.

Sakura looked to Sasori to ask him what was wrong with the guy when the guy moved.

"Crack!" Sasori fell to the ground.

Sakura gaped at the man who had caused her so many restless nights, so much fear and discomfort, then looked up into the one red eye of Tobi, tome spinning in his singular orb.

"Want to play with me now dear?" His voice had changed to a deep, dark..smooth threat.

"What..." She collapsed into his arms.

A masculine chuckle vibrated through his chest as he picked her up effortlessly from the ground.

"Put her down." Shisui commanded from the side where he and Itachi had just landed.

"Ah, so it's true, the girl has the Uchiha heir wrapped around her finger, and the second strongest Uchiha...known to the clan." Tobi sneered at them.

"The girl comes with me." Tobi faded from existence with Sakura in his arms.

"No!" Shisui yelled.

Itachi spun on his heel sending his chakra out in all directions looking for the slightest hint of her chakra signature.

"I can't find her anywhere Shisui." Itachi said quietly.

"She has to be here somewhere." Shisui joined his cousin in looking for her chakra signature but he too came up with nothing.

"She's gone, it's like she just disappeared." Shisui ran his hands through his hair and looked at his cousin who looked just as distraught as he was.

"We'll find her." Itachi said. They would, Itachi thought to himself, if he had to kill every last Akatsuki member to find her, he would.

"Kamui." Shisui's eyes bled red and black tomes spun in his eyes.

"No." Itachi almost moaned in anguish.

"How are we going to get her if he took her into his Kamui?" Itachi said to himself, his mind whirling trying to formulate a plan, a solution.

"I don't know." Shisui looked at his cousin, his face mirroring the anguish Itachi felt.

"We can't give up." Itachi said.

"We won't."

Sakura hit something hard and groaned, strong arms lifted her to a sitting position.

"Be a good little girl and I will make this as easy on you as possible dear." The deep voice of Tobi said into her ear as she sat in front of him, her body kept still by his arms on her biceps.

"Who are you? Why is your voice different and what do you want with me?" She shot the questions out of her mouth in anger before she could start shaking with fear.

"It doesn't matter who I am. Tell me, where is the nine tailed fox's Jinchiriki?" He asked her, his breath hot in her ear.

She tried to pull away from him but he was strong, his fingers like a vice.

"He isn't in the village, Tsunade Sama sent him away, we knew you were coming." She told him, triumph in her voice.

"I see." The man behind her hummed.

"Well, we will just have to wait for him to get back then now won't we? You are a team mate of his, a friend aren't you?" He purred.

"You're going to use me to get to him? I won't let you!" She jerked in his grasp, a chakra filled fist slammed into the void beneath them.

His hold never wavered but they were falling, crashing head over feet from the block they had once been sitting on, falling into image after image.

"Foolish girl! This is my Kamui, it is another dimension, do you want to get stuck in a different time?" He hissed as he spun, kicked and teleported them back up to another block like the one she had destroyed.

"Another dimension, time? You can go to other dimensions and travel through time?" She turned in his loosened grip to look at him.

"Essentially, yes, but I don't, only a fool warrants his own demise, too risky." He sits down confident now that she knows she won't be wrecking anymore blocks.

"Each void, each block or pillar...is a dimension?" She asked him.

"Or place in time, it depends on the wielder of the Kamui. In this case...they are different times in my life." He narrows his eye at her.

"Okay well as fascinating as that may be, it doesn't matter, you're still not getting your hands on Naruto.

"You'll find, little girl, that I always get what I want, now stay here and be good. Oh and if you get any more crack brained ideas about punching more of my memories, don't forget, you'll be lost, back in time, unless you have a kamui of your own...you can't escape." He gave her one last look and disappeared.

Sakura sat down and hugged her knees to her chest thinking furiously. She had to get back, back to Shisui and Itachi, she had to warn her Shisou, Naruto, her village.

Itachi and Shisui turned and looked at the puppet master as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Damn that Tobi." Sasori cursed as he felt the back of his head. He couldn't feel pain but he could feel the crack the orange masked bastard had made in the back of his head.

Sasori was only pleased he hadn't completed the process of transferring his puppet body back over to his human body completely, or he might have died from that blow to the head. Something for him to think about, later. He looked over at the two Uchiha who were staring at him.

"Well, where is the girl?" He drawled at them.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Shisui, the taller of the two spit out at him.

"Where did that masked man take Sakura?" Itachi, only slightly shorter than his cousin asked Sasori, his eyes narrowed, bled red.

"Don't even bother with the Sharingan, it doesn't work on me, I'm a puppet." Sasori scoffed at him.

"We know where he took her, well how he took her, not where." Shisui clarified.

"How?" Sasori asked them.

The two Uchiha exchanged a look and a question.

"Kamui, another dimension, we don't know how to get her back though." Itachi spoke for both of them.

"The answer is simple logic." Sasori gave them a scathing look of disgust. She chose them over him...ridiculous.

"Logic?" Shisui asked.

"Yes Uchiha logic, it's what you use to understand the most basic questions." Sasori said condescendingly.

"Another Kamui wielder." Itachi said quietly.

"I can't believe she passed both of us up for him." Sasori said to Itachi gesturing to Shisui.

Itachi's mouth twitched.

"Don't talk like you have a claim on Sakura, you don't know her." Shisui bit out at the red head.

"Don't I? My boy, I have been in her head for the last two years, almost every night. I know things about her she doesn't even know herself much less you." Sasori flicked a piece of lint from his pristine cloak.

Shisui growled and stepped toward the puppet master but was stopped by Itachi.

"That won't help anything." Itachi warned.

"So then, now that that is settled, who else has a Kamui that you Uchiha know of?" Sasori looked between them expectantly.

Shisui looked to Itachi, he had been gone so long, Itachi would know better than he would.

"Hatake." Itachi turned to look out over the village as if searching.

"Kakashi Hatake has a Kamui?" Shisui said in disbelief.

"Ah yes, my doll's sensei, he used it on Deidara if I'm not mistaken, took his arm with it." Sasori smiled a little.

"Find him Shisui." Itachi said.

"And you?" Shisui asked.

"I will stay here and watch him." Itachi nodded to Sasori.

"Hn." Shisui said and left.

"I don't need a babysitter Uchiha. I want to protect her just like you do." Sasori drawled but didn't make a move to leave or to attack.

"Why now?" Itachi asked the red head.

"Why now what?" Sasori was starting to get annoyed, he wanted to find Sakura too but knew he had to wait for the other Uchiha to find Hatake, he hated waiting. He smirked to himself, soon it wouldn't matter though, he would have all the time in the world.

"Why make your move to take her now?" Itachi asked.

"This was not my plan, Pein wanted her for the organization and...I couldn't let him take her." Sasori looked off into the distance.

"Why?" Itachi pushed.

"Because I love her too. The Akatsuki is not a place for her to shine, it would kill her." Sasori relented looking Itachi in the eye.

"Hn." Itachi turned away satisfied.

Shisui body flickered back and forth in between battles all over Konoha until he found him...stuck in a pile of rubble.

"Kakashi!" Shisui appeared in front of the silver haired Jounin and began pulling at the rocks and waste around him holding him down.

"Behind you." Kakashi growled.

Shisui kicked the last slab of cement free, grabbed Kakashi and flickered them both away, landing in front of Itachi and the still present Sasori.

"You!" Kakashi yelled his fist bursting with lightning.

"Stop!" Itachi yelled and Kakashi did, just barely grazing the front of Sasori's cloak.

"What, why, why stop me?" Kakashi glared from one Uchiha to the other.

"We need you to use your Kamui to get Sakura back." Shisui said in a rush as Itachi explained that Sasori had helped keep Sakura from the Akatsuki and was the one who had warned them of their attack.

"Sakura is in Kamui?' Kakashi asked confused.

"Are all you Leaf nin such imbeciles?" Sasori drawled out bored with this line of repetitive talk, he just wanted to get Sakura back.

"Enough." Shisui growled.

"It isn't helping anything, Kakashi please use your Kamui and bring Sakura back to us." Shisui asked.

"Give me a moment." Kakashi concentrated hard focusing his chakra into a point and …..he disappeared.

Sakura was sitting on the block hugging her knees to her chest still when Kakashi almost fell on top of her.

"Kakashi!" She crawled over to her former sensei and ran healing chakra over him, his chakra levels were low and he had cuts and bruises all over his face and body.

"Sa Sakura! It worked!" He panted, trying to catch his breath.

"What worked? How are you here?" She asked him as she healed him.

"Shisui found me, told me that you were taken. What the hell are Itachi and Shisui Uchiha doing working with Sasori of the Red Sand?" He asked her, his eye drooping from exhaustion.

"You need rest, here take this, it's a solider pill it will help with your chakra levels and energy." She pulled a pill from her pouch and he chewed it.

"We need to get back, Tobi, the Akatsuki member that brought me here, he plans on using me to get to Naruto, they want the nine tails, they know he isn't here and they want to draw him back." She explained her dream to him and about how Sasori had saved her from Deidara and about Itachi and Shisui.

"How long Kakashi, how much longer do you need to take us back?" She asked, she knew he was tired and didn't have a lot of chakra left but they needed to get back and fast.

"Don't worry Sakura, time doesn't move the same in here as it does outside. It is a moment out there for however long you are in here. Let me rest a bit and then we will go." He closed his eyes and laid back on the hard surface trying very hard to meditate to raise his chakra levels.

After what seemed like a very long time to Sakura Kakashi said he was ready to go back. He pulled her into an embrace and focused his chakra once more, pin pointing his line of chakra and visualizing the point where he had left Konoha to come into the Kamui and they disappeared.

Kakashi collapsed on the ground beside her unconcious. Hands pulled her to her feet and arms hugged her hard.

"Sakura." Shisui croaked into her hair as she looked over his shoulder at Sasori and Itachi, both wearing identical looks of relief and anguish.

"I'm okay." She pulled away from Shisui and smiled at them.

A tremendous BOOM, rent the air around them, dust rose from the wreckage Pein had caused with his almighty push. A huge Toad with a smoking pipe appeared flanked by two slightly smaller ones and a yellow haired, red coat wearing Naruto sat on top.

"Kami." Sakura choked on her words.

"It's Naruto." She said,

"He's...a Sage." Itachi looked on in wonder as Naruto stood and looked around.

They watched as Naruto jumped down from Gamabunta's head and walked toward Pein. They couldn't hear what they said to one another but they felt it when Pein sent out his jutsu again.

His almighty push, pushed already ruined buildings and injured back and away from him and Naruto. Sakura went flying, Sasori threw out his chakra string catching her before she could hit a wall and pulled her to him. Shisui and Itachi disappeared with Kakashi, it was chaos.

"I've got you." Sasori yelled above the thunder of cement and twisted metal flying around them.

"Sasori!" Sakura called out as she began to slip from his chakra strings.

Sasori's heart skipped a beat and his blood began to flow again for the first time in over twenty years. He closed his eyes as they hit a wall, he felt his back break in several different places before he slid down the side of the wall to the ground with Sakura in his arms.

"Sasori, Sasori speak to me, please Sasori, how do I, can I heal you?" Sakura ran glowing hands over his broken puppet body.

"It's fine. Don't waste your chakra dear." Sasori spoke to her so quietly she had to bend over and put her ear to his mouth.

"You can't fix me." He whispered and tried to smile at her.

"But you just need parts right or, what do I need to do to help you?" She pushed back the tears she never thought she would cry for this man, this puppet.

"I transferred too much of myself Sakura, I am too real now and yet not real enough for you to heal. I'm dying, let me go." He clenched his jaw and reached out for her hand taking her small hand in his stiff almost wooden one.

"But I just, I was just starting to understand you." The tears fell from her face making him gasp in pain.

He could feel now, because of her.

"It's enough, you were enough." He said and closed his eyes.

He opened them to find her staring at him, eyes wet , chin dripping with her tears, tears for him. He smiled.

"Take my pouch, there are several poisons of my own design, use them, replicate them. The green vial, the one the same color as your eyes, drink it, trust me." He laughed knowing how absurd his words must be.

"I promise it isn't poison. I had meant to give it to you, from the beginning to control you, to use you as my living puppet but now, it is your freedom, use it, please." He closed his eyes again, it was getting hard for him to focus.

"Sasori, what, I mean...I don't know what to say." The conflict in her eyes was clear.

"Say nothing, I already know." He closed his eyes, his hand went limp in hers.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Sasori, I'm so sorry." Sakura cried over him, she didn't even know what she was sorry for.

Itachi and Shisui found her shortly after. She tied Sasoi's pouch around her waist and sealed his body in a storage scroll.

"I do not want his body going to the Leaf, if it brands me as a traitor so be it." She looked boldly from Shisui to Itachi, daring them to confront her.

Itachi merely inclined his head, but Shisui frowned.

"We will seal it though, you must allow us to seal it, just in case." Shisui said.

Sakura nodded.

They returned to the main force that had gathered by the forest on the outskirts of the village, people who had died started coming back to life one by one. Naruto joined them from the back of Kakashi who had recovered and had gone looking for him. People cheered, and congratulated him. Sakura, Itachi and Shisui watched from the background, each in their own head.

Two days later Sakura buried Sasori by her favorite reading spot in Konoha forest, carved his name into a rock and set it under the tree casting a genjutsu over the name. Itachi and Shisui had helped her and waited with her for quite some time. They had left now, sensing she wanted to be alone.

They didn't understand why she was doing this, if it was her natural kindness and empathy for life or if it was something more.

Sakura pulled the green vial of liquid from Sasori's pouch that she had brought with her. For the last two days she had tested it, researched it and gone through every book that was salvaged from the wreckage of the Konoha library, but she still couldn't figure out what it was.

She knew it wasn't a poison, that it had healing properties in it that were, unknown. She could also feel his chakra swirling inside of it, gently, caressing the vial where her fingers touched it.

Sakura looked up through the branches of the trees, then down at the stone she had placed to mark his resting spot.

"I hope this isn't your final revenge." She uncorked the bottle and drank it.

A shiver ran through her blood, her body temperature dropped, she clacked her teeth together and fell over, hunched in on herself. She shook her head and blinked. Her eyesight was better. Everything was so much clearer.

She stood up and stretched, looking at her arms then her hands, her scars, were gone. She lifted her shirt and looked down to where Sasori had stabbed her in their first battle, the scar shone pink and smooth, it was still there but, all around it, her other scars were disappearing.

Sakura smoothed her hair back from her head and stopped. Her hair was stronger, softer and thicker.

"What is going on?" She whispered.

Her chakra hummed in her body, joyful and...lively. She felt an energy pulsating through her...vitality.

"Sasori, what was in that vial?" She stared down at the marker and wondered, wished she could talk to him, ask him...but he was dead. Gone.

She ran home, faster than she had ever been before. She opened the door to her apartment and ran to the bathroom looking herself over in the mirror. His eyes sparkled, her teeth shone healthy and white. She inhaled quickly trying to calm herself down.

Opening Sasori's pack she sifted through the contents and found her lock of hair she had guessed he had taken from her and a note.

Sakura,

I was a twisted lonely man until I met you. Don't change. I may die today, it is inevitable, but you, I want you to live forever.

Sasori

There was a small symbol under his name, a scorpion and a cup, she had never seen anything like it before.

What did that mean? She didn't know. Surely this , whatever it was, wouldn't make her a puppet. She looked herself over, touching her skin, no, she wasn't a puppet. She went to the night stand and placed the vial and the note together inside and shut the drawer.

A year later Sakura and Shisui got married, had two children and lived a wonderful life. Sakura never aged, her beauty remained the same until her children were grown, and her husband had died. Tsunade and Sakura spent years researching and analyzing the vial Sasori gave her but found nothing.

Shisui died happy, he teased her constantly about how lucky he was to have a wife that never grew old. Sakura had loved her time with her family, with her friends. Time passed, but not for Sakura. Her friends grew old and died around her. Everyone she once knew was no more. When people looked at her they didn't see her and they grew scared of her. Eventually she left Konoha. She kissed her grandchildren goodbye, who had children of their own by that time, and left.

She stopped by Sasori's grave one last time. "Goodbye Sasori. I don't know what you gave me, I don't know if it was a gift or a curse. I know I can't stay here anymore though. I don't belong here anymore. Maybe I'll find that cottage you spoke of once, the one from that dream."

She rose, throwing her bag over her body and leapt to the trees, following the sun out of Konoha toward Suna.