That night when the clone popped he was sitting in his apartment still wearing the henge of skinny Hatake Kakashi with messy, droopy hair. His ANBU armor he wore still felt the same as ever, so much so he frankly forgot it looked like a wrinkled green jōnin uniform. He'd been acting lazy and dismissive all day. When the memories of the clone rushed into his head, he blinked a single eye and unconsciously slouched into the posture he'd been maintaining throughout the long winded council meetings.
Kakashi laid back further on the couch as he reviewed those memories. His clone had been hidden in the nooks of the hallway, stuck in to the junction between the wall and ceiling eaves with its chakra, hidden just in case. Only it was hours before someone came through. The clone, able to sense the girl, noted she hadn't attempted to move towards her door or leave her bed.
The person who did show up had a familiar bandana tied to keep his head warm in the chilly mist of spring. Genma gave one look at the location of his hidden clone, waved a hand its way, and proceeded to ignore it. While Kakashi knew he'd been shy and withdrawn after Sarutobi's words, the boy quickly bounced back to his obnoxiously flirty self. The boy couldn't help it, he flirted with everyone. Earlier that day he'd heard him coming onto one of the new ANBU recruits, which had made the recipient giggle. They'd been out of his range of sight but he'd sensed their fluttering emotions. Looking at Genma entering this barracks hallway he looked like he'd already forgotten he was here as a punishment.
The young teenager's enthusiasm brushed against his clone's chakra. He'd apparently recovered from the reprimand, or perhaps he was so used to getting yelled at for salacious advances he simply bounced back from it easier than the two Uchiha boys. Those two had snuck straight passed the girl's closed door, their cheeks tinted red as they hurried along. Genma however had few such compunctions. He banged on the girl's door calling out, "Sweetheart! You've been sleeping all day haven't you?"
A grumpy looking girl cracked open the door while keeping a defensive stance, Kakashi noted. She wasn't comfortable around them. She didn't trust them. Wise of her, Kakashi thought. If she hadn't been (after spending a night in T and I) he would have thought less of her. As it was she kept the door as a shield between her body and the loud teenager. She peered around it, but didn't say anything.
"Oh come on don't be that way."
There were dark rings under her eyes. The feelings inside her rolled.
"How do you expect to find anything if no one shows you around? Bet you've never had a tokubetsu jōnin for a tour guide." He waved his fingers in front of her face, flashing a twirling senbon between them. He promised, "I have lots of tricks. No lady has ever complained before."
"You're bad at talking to people, but in a different way than Shisui."
At the look on Genma's face, Kakashi's clone crinkled its eye in amusement. It almost missed when the girl reached her arm out and poked the 15 year old boy in the belly. The kid jumped back, now eyeing her warily.
Still holding her finger out she firmly asked, "You promise you'll be nice?"
The boy's shoulders relaxed. The hand which had reached for his weapons pouch fell away at the child's question. Genma smiled that disarming smile he used to woo all the other 15 year olds. He knelt down, grabbed her tiny hand into a soft hold and promised he would be nice so long as she didn't punch him.
She considered him for a moment longer, her eyes trailing the boy's chakra network. She nodded once and opened the door to reveal she was wearing a long black shirt, its length dangled around her knees. Kakashi's clone saw her trailing after Genma as the teenager prepared to show her "all the best spots."
Kakashi was so busy with Sarutobi and his surveillance of the Uchiha compound he didn't personally make it back to the ANBU facility for another week. However, his clones kept him informed. Most of what they witnessed was boring. So far they hadn't once needed to step in and protect the girl. Kakashi still sent them daily, just in case.
The next day when his clone popped he saw the memory of Itachi's gangly form appear outside her room. The boy was without his weasel's captain mask, his sharingan still activated and he stood there before the door his disgruntled expression bare to see as he mustered himself to face his humiliation. The pink receded from his cheeks as he stood there and straightened his shoulders. Only then did Itachi raise his arm. When he knocked on her door he didn't wait for a response before moving to enter the room.
Inside, Kakashi saw the girl gape at him and step back. She dropped the red dress she'd been trying to sew. The ANBU field sewing kit she'd borrowed from Genma clattered to the floor and the string rolled under a bunk. Itachi glowered at her and she warily watched in turn.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble. If the Hokage hadn't asked I wouldn't have told anyone. I thought the clan kids were stupid for talking about it so much."
As Itachi glowered down at her his red gaze faded back to black.
"Hn."
"Does that mean you forgive me?"
The 13 year old jōnin withdrew a tightly wrapped store bought bento from the pocket he'd been stowing it in. He looked down at it for a long moment, his grip tightening around the bento. He seemed annoyed he'd been given this task. Perhaps correctly reading the boy's aggressive body language, Haruno-san hadn't made to grab it.
She shrank away when the teenager dropped it on the table in front of her. Kakashi's clone saw Itachi staring at her till she ducked her head in embarrassment, pulled apart the cheap wooden chopsticks, and ate. Her quick peeks as if she wanted to check she was doing it right stopped when she discovered the Uchiha heir remained staring at her. Kakashi smiled. The entire family's social graces got blocked up in that one. The rest of the day went without anything of note and this is the memory which stuck out when the kage bunshin clone popped.
The next day's clone showed a memory of Genma returning. The bandana covered head ducked into a happy, goofy bow in front of the girl, which promptly made her giggle for how his hair upended itself out of the bandana and almost brushed his knees.
He grinned back and presented her some ANBU uniforms he'd asked to be cut down to her size. The same seamstress who'd sewn the ceremonial haori for all four Hokages also got all of the ANBU commissions. The boy pulled each miniature black shirt and tiny pair of pants out. Sans armor it wasn't an actual uniform, but in the dark garments she'd look like a little pink haired Yūgao, miniature and running around Headquarters in a way Yūgao would gut him for suggesting.
Genma was more excited about the clothes than the girl. The 15 year old flourished the custom garb with a presentation he had clearly practiced just for the kid. He held up the pieces, pointing out the pockets, the seals on them which allowed extra weapons and supply storage, the kanji sewn into each with her name on them. After showing off the clothes Genma excitedly pushed the girl into her room and closed the door behind her.
He exclaimed, "You have to change and show me."
So she did. When she came out she didn't look nearly as impressed as Genma clearly was. The boy howled a high pitched, "Aaah."
She wrinkled her nose at the sound, "What?"
Kakashi's clone smiled at the pink haired thing in the tiny ANBU garb. Genma explained she could be their new mascot. Sakura's indignant squeak of anger was the cutest thing Kakashi had ever seen. That was a good day.
The next morning his clone popped itself early. Kakashi had been in the middle of tracking a man who'd jumped over the Uchiha compound wall. His unauthorized and unregistered chakra signature needed to be found and caught. However, before he could reach it in time it disappeared in a similar manner to how Minato sensei's used to disappear when using the space time ninjutsu hiraishin. He'd just stopped to examine the spot and note down how much trouble team Ro would have to undergo to catch this person when his clone popped prematurely and fed it's memories. He processed them quick and moved to run back to Konoha, back to his squad.
This morning's clone had a worrying set of memories. They showed Shisui laying on the sofa staring blankly up at the ceiling. His clone could feel the boy's chakra dip as he lay there on the couch, unmoving and feeling worthless and depressive. The turmoil touching his clones chakra, those feelings coming from his otōto, they were on the edge of self hate.
His clone followed the girl as she came out of her room to grab a glass of water. Her hand still clutched the project of her ruined dress and the sewing kit. When she saw Shisui laying on the couch alone in the dark of the common room she paused. Her fingers twisted the singed red fabric. Haruno-san's chakra fluctuated in indecision, then it resolved and became determined.
She came to sit next to him. She didn't talk, not for an hour, but when she did it was with a bombshell question, "Why didn't you want me to save you?" The boy disappeared in a puff of smoke. The girl stared forlorn at the place he'd been.
Kakashi immediately made another three clones, one to watch the girl and the other two to search for Shisui. They popped at the end of five hours searching, returning the information of where they'd looked and the knowledge they couldn't find him.
The next week of memories Shisui didn't appear at all. It was just a mix of Genma and Itachi doing things which really shouldn't have surprised him. Genma gave her some questionable reading material, Icha Icha Paradise being the highlight. Kakashi hadn't even gotten to that book yet, the others had been so bad. The girl's face as she read through the first page turned from confusion to mortified. She snapped the book close, hid it under her pillow, and held her hands to her cheeks. Kakashi inwardly chuckled. One of the only sources of reading material he'd had as a kid living in the war camps were others' cast offs. The first time he'd read a sex scene had been after he'd been gutting out people's entrails for four months. He wasn't even halfway through his sixth year when he read it.
Next, he saw a moment where Itachi presented her with a shiny box. It was rather sweet of the kid to get her a treat. At least he thought so before she opened the box, which matched her pink hair shade perfectly. Inside it showed he'd bought her dango, but the smears of food and powder left behind made it clear there'd been a lot more originally. Itachi looked on, stoic as if he hadn't already eaten half the box. She stared inside it then looked back at him. She pushed it back, "It's ok you can have the rest."
When Shisui next appeared it wasn't for long. His otōto burst into her barracks room. Kakashi thought it was lucky she was a child and didn't have anything to look at anyways, for the boy probably would have been smacked by an older Kunoichi in training. Her mouth dropped open at the unannounced entry, wide eyes taking in his body, or what Kakashi now recognized was her observing the state of the person's chakra network. She didn't quite flinch as Shisui stomped over and gave her food in the form of shoving it onto the bed in a flurry of embarrassment.
Kakashi's clone picked up a muted form of the younger boy's emotions. They were all over the place. It was better than before, but being in the girl's presence, his accidental savior, frazzled him. His poor otōto. He'd have to find him. Unfortunately, the boy had been avoiding him and his clones almost as well as he'd been avoiding the girl. He'd only seen him twice, and those were brief, this past week. The Uchiha looked at her as if he wanted to say something, then his chakra seized with fear. When she opened her mouth he used shunshin to get away. Her hands dropped the package of food to her lap. Her head tilted down and hung there. His clone heard her murmur, "Thank you."
She was lonely. He hated seeing it. His clone pulled Weasel Taichou aside next time he saw the young captain.
"Don't just go to your room. I know you're stuck here same as her. Be present. You don't have to talk to her, but be there. She needs to see more people. She's your brother's age and she's been left largely alone for more than three weeks."
Weasel Taichou's chakra wavered in guilt. It reached his own and sunk in. Inu brushed off the feeling. He held Weasel there till he verbally confirmed.
"Hai Taichou. We will do better."
Sakura sat across from Itachi. He'd deviated from his prior behavior. This time when he knocked he waited for her to respond. Upon opening the door he gave a short bow. Her eyebrows went so high she thought they'd get stuck there. She couldn't help herself.
"Why are you bowing?"
He still bowed as he replied, "I apologize Haruno-san. I've been rude. Please, let me dine with you and make up for my past mistakes."
Her hand gripped the door. Sakura shot her eyes up and over him, sure she'd seen a flash of blue white in the hallway, but looking at the spot now nothing was there. The hallway was completely empty.
"Itachi, is there anyone here?"
"It's ANBU Headquarters."
"So there is?"
"Everyone here has been informed of your circumstances and has been ordered to guard you."
"Oh," Her voice was quiet.
"Would you accompany me to the common room to eat?" He was still bowing.
"Alright."
He stood up to his full height. He was the older, better looking version of her old classmate the girls had all been fawning over. When he looked at her so intense she wanted to squirm. If she wasn't aware of how dangerous him and Shisui were she might have thought he was attractive. Yet even after he apologized he was a dark, broody boy. The colors swirling and flowing inside him reflected this demeanor. She would not be scared of him anymore. She wouldn't. When he moved back to allow her to walk in front, she did so with her chin thrust high. It may have been an act, but she was determined not to feel small anymore. She was Haruno Sakura and she'd been taking care of herself since the age of four. She would survive this facility. She would be just fine.
Itachi sat them down to eat at the low tables. She kneeled and when he started a small tea ceremony she raised her eyebrows. She'd heard of this sort of thing, but her otousan and okaasan had never done it. She watched the boy who was the heir of the oldest, and possibly one of the largest clans in Konoha, how rigidly Itachi held himself as he did what he thought was proper. What someone, perhaps his parents or elders, had told him was proper and she realized he must be so used to following his elders' advice it was no wonder he was confused and upset about the councilman trying to trick them. Because that's exactly what it had been hadn't it? Uchiha Shisui had shown up in that forest expecting a friendly conversation and instead he'd been taken advantage of. Had the same thing happened to Itachi? She wondered. Sakura couldn't help but blurt into the silence.
"It's ok you know. If the elders took advantage of you or tricked you, it's not your fault. It's theirs. They shouldn't have done that."
Her okaasan always said the blame should go to the one responsible. It's how she'd gotten Sakura to stop crying after coming home from the academy on the particularly bad days. Those days all the other girls trash talked her grades and tried to make her cry due to her appearance. They'd been taking advantage of her good nature, her okaasan explained. They shouldn't have done it and it wasn't her fault.
Itachi's hand froze over her cup of tea. His eyes switched to their glowing, swirling bright red. Then the chakra shifted and the red faded. He looked back down and continued pouring the tea.
He didn't talk for the rest of the meal, but when she decided to fill the silence with some chatter he listened. So relieved to have someone to eat with after all these weeks she went on and on, talking about her parents' business, about the places they'd gone, about how she once saw the Raikage and his guards, but how the man looked huge and tan and dressed nothing like the Hokage.
She prattled and by the time he'd taken her back to her room she felt so much lighter. As if the nightmares she'd been having weren't as real. As if these halls weren't as empty as she assumed. He walked her all the way to her door and when she closed it, moved to wrap her blanket around her and curl up, she remembered the white blue spark of color she'd seen in the hallway. Sakura wasn't alone. She smiled and dug her head into her blanket.