CHAPTER 3- A new mission
Shisui was beyond annoyed and ready to give his dearest cousin an earful as soon as he'd get the chance to do so.
To say that Shisui was surprised upon feeling the all too familiar chakra signatures at the crack of dawn, though, would have been a lie. In fact, the young Uchiha has already expected them any minute now, knowing that the current Uchiha heir slash Hokage would summon him as soon as he returned and thus, he didn't even bother to go to sleep, regardless of how much he needed it after his latest mission.
The moment the two members of ANBU entered his families mansion was the moment that he took a large bite of the rice balls that his dearest aunt has made him as soon as she had heard of his return, and he could have not cared less about the fact that he must have looked like a starved madman shoving a rice ball down his throat as an desperate attempt to fill his stomach.
Despite of the darkness that covered the kitchen like a thick blanket, Shisui clearly saw his surroundings even without the Sharingan being activated and swiftly gulped down the last bite of the rice ball before he turned around to face his visitors as he wiped his mouth clean with the sleeve of his shirt.
"Let me guess," He drawled with a roll of his dark eyes, clearly unimpressed by the ANBU's rather dramatic entrance by appearing out of seemingly nowhere as he leaned with his back against the kitchen counter, facing his two visitors who were standing in the middle of the room like two mannequins with obvious annoyance. "Itachi wants my mission report?"
The ANBU with the Rat Mask covering his face gave Shisui a curt nod in return, as he had already expected.
Just why couldn't Itachi wait until he got some hours of sleep first? After all, he doubted that anyone in their right mind would willingly read his report at half past four in the morning if it could wait for another couple of hours.
He knew that Itachi wanted to get everything done right away so that they would not waste any more time and instead, swiftly acted to prevent any further damage to both his men and the village that he was responsible for.
He was undeniably a great Hokage and if someone deserved to have his face engraved into the Monument it would be his cousins but at times like this, Shisui wondered just how Itachi managed to work this much without sleeping at all.
"Alright then." Shisui eventually yielded with a sigh as his expression hardened. "You can go now, I'll handle it from here on."
The ANBU instantly did as orders and gave him a curt nod before they faded into thin air with a poofing sound, leaving Shisui once more behind on his own.
Said Uchiha merely shook his head at his cousin and inwardly hoped that he wasn't overworking himself again. Itachi had a knack for doing so and causing both him and his family, especially his aunt, to worry for his well being.
As of late, he has rarely been home due to all the paper-work and incidents during the past few weeks and even though they all knew that being the Hokage was a stressful position, Shisui barely managed to catch a glimpse of his cousin out of the office.
Shisui sighed softly before he grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter-top and decided to get this mission report over with and knock some sense into his thick-headed cousin.
Determined and wide awake, Shisui took a bite of the sour apple and proceeded by writing his mission report for as fast as he could.
He was careful not to leave out any detail and to write it in a way that would leave Itachi unable to come up with any questions that may indicate that Shisui has forgotten to write down something.
Shisui started from the very beginning, the minutes before the incident and ended his report with the exact time that he had passed the villages gates and went back home to the compound.
It took him a total of one hour and fifty-six minutes to complete the mission report and as soon as he was done, the Uchiha rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
Shisui then glanced out of the window and noticed that the sun was slowly beginning to rise, indicating that another night without sleep passed by in a blur.
Damn paper-work.
With that phrase repeating itself in his mind over and over again, Shisui grabbed his report and left for the Hokage tower.
-X-
Sakura was beyond frustrated and ready to turn the office that she currently found herself locked in thanks to the Rokudaime Hokage into a pile of ashes.
She had spent the first ten minutes trying to unlock the seal that Itachi had placed on the windows and doors just for the sake of it and to relieve some stress but after said minutes have passed she, although reluctantly, gave up.
The pink haired medic run a petite hand through her pink hair and grabbed the files that were innocently waiting for her on the Hokage's desk where she had left them and proceeded by sitting down on the Hokage's chair and sprawling them on the surface in front of her.
As soon as Sakura sat down on the chair however, she frowned. This chair was way more comfortable than she had imagined and after some more seconds of savoring the feeling of the rich cushions, she could understand how Itachi and Tsunade were able to sit on it for several hours without any break.
In all of her years as Tsunades apprentice, she never dared to even think of sitting on the Godaimes chair no matter the circumstances and she didn't know what lead her to do so now but frankly, she couldn't care less if Itachi saw her on his seat.
She needed some luxury every once in a while as well and even if it was given to her in the form of a chair, she wasn't one to complain.
Besides, it was his fault that he was stuck in this damn office for Hokage's knew how long anyways when she could do much more productive things at this time instead.
Like sleep, for example.
Well, she decided that dwelling on the matter would do no good either and decided to instead make the best out of the situation and do what she could do best, which was saving lives.
Even if this time she would do so by trying to figure out how to keep the others safe.
She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall out of the corner of her eye and figured that it would take some time until Shisui would arrive with the report, what left her with more than enough time to take care of the work at hand.
Grabbing the first file that she had received from the Hokage the day before, Sakura regarded it for some moments and run her index finger gently over its rough and worn cover.
She still didn't understand why Itachi wanted a report of this file. It was clearly nothing special if all ranked Jonin and above had access to it and at first sight, it didn't seem to differ much from her History book that she had received at the academy.
Then again, Sakura knew better than to judge a book by its cover and was quite curious as to what this file would tell her.
With that thought in mind, Sakura grabbed a pen, a sheet of paper and begun to read.
Sakura sent the next few hours merely sitting there, reading and taking notes of the most useful and important information in it.
Most of what was written in there she already knew, but she took notes so that it would be easier to summarize the file afterwards, It was nothing for the sore eye and due to the lack of sleep, Sakura had to force herself to remain attentive and to not skip any sentence or paragraph.
She had been trained to stay awake for longer periods and to still remain attentive, it was her job a a kunoichi, but she still couldn't stifle the yawn that escaped her.
She never once glanced upwards to look at the clock but judging by the way the sun had slowly risen and brightened up the room with it's warm and bright sun rays, she guessed that quite some time must have passed already.
It wasn't until her keen ears had picked up a familiar, yet muffled voice from behind the door that she dared to lift her eyes from the sheet of paper and lock them on the door.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, green orbs carefully watching the door for even the smallest sign that may give away what jutsu Itachi had used to lock it as she waited for her visitor to enter.
And enter he did, just not by using the door.
In the split of a second, the pinkette suddenly found herself staring at a black shirt that blocked the door from her sight. Her eyes trailed upwards until they locked with a familiar pair of dark orbs that were holding sparkles of amusement as well as surprise.
"You know, sitting behind that desk really suits you." Came the owners voice, and Sakura instantly picked up the teasing tone that laced his words.
Sakura sighed as she placed her pen onto the desk but couldn't help but smile slightly at his words as her eyes brightened.
"Good morning to you too, Shisui." Sakura greeted the older Uchiha as she leaned back in the chair, her eyes traveling downwards until they rested on the small stack of papers that he was holding in his right hand. "Brought me a present?"
Shisui couldn't help but huff lightly, his lips curling upwards into a wry smile. "I guess so, even if I would have preferred to give it to you after I took a nap." He admitted, carefully placing his report onto the table so that Sakura could have a look at it.
The pinkette in return mirrored his expression, sympathizing with him as she crossed her arms across her chest."Well, at least he didn't lock you in his office." She dryly returned and for a second, Shisui could have sworn that he had seen sparks of annoyance in her emerald orbs.
He knew that she was holding back in front of him due to him being Itachi's cousin, but he liked to believe that he and Sakura had somewhat grown to become something close to friends over the past years.
She knew that she could talk freely around him and yet, unlike others she respected his cousin too much to bad-mouth him even behind his back when she did have the chance.
Sakura was an honorable woman indeed.
Shisui gave a light chuckle and crinkled his eyes in an apologetic matter. "Well, Itachi never fails to surprise me with his rather special ways of handling the people around him."
Sakura couldn't have agreed more and snorted upon hearing his words, leaning forwards once more to have a look at Shisui's report.
"No kidding." She muttered under her breath as she opened it to have a look at it. The first thing she noted was that Shisui had a very nice handwriting that was certainly more neat than her own, messy one. It was a blessing to her already sore eyes and helped her to read it faster, what would save both of them quite some time.
The second thing, however, was a sentence that she had almost skipped. Her eyes narrowed in thought as her eyes rested on the words that stared back at her in a mocking fashion.
A blue colored chakra Scalpel was stuck in one of the Konoha-nin's legs. It disappeared as soon as we touched it.
Well now that was certainly something that she didn't expect. Using chakra Scalpels in combat was not very common since it requires great precision to form them, more so while fighting and whereas she was able to do so without much effort, Tsunade had once told her that she was one of the rare exceptions. Most were too unfocused, medic or not, to use them in a battle and so far, Sakura had not heard of many that did so with the exception of one person.
Kabuto.
Besides, it was strange enough that the chakra scalpel was stuck in one's leg. After all, the chakra used to materialize the Scalpel should have disappeared the instant the owner of it left.
"A chakra Scalpel huh?" Sakura mumbled silently to herself and pursed her lips into a thin line as she looked up at Shisui, who was still patiently standing in front of the desk.
He nodded curtly in return. "Indeed. I would have deemed it impossible if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes as well but I figured that if someone could explain this rather strange sight, it could be either you or Tsunade-sama."
Sakura hummed lightly and skimmed through the rest of the file before she closed it, her mind already occupied with the issue at hand. She would certainly have to talk to Tsunade-sama about the matter because this was certainly not something that they could ignore.
"Alright then. I'll talk to Tsunade-shishou about it, maybe she knows of someone that capable of doing something like that." Sakura told him before offering him a tired smile. "Thanks for your help Shisui-kun, you probably had no time to get some sleep before writing the report either huh?"
Shisui briefly marveled at Sakura's uncanny ability to read anyone like an open book. Then again, it could have also been possible that the very prominent dark cycles under his eyes gave it away.
He inwardly hoped it to be the first option though, since it would be way more impressive than him walking around like he had just been summoned with Edo-Tensei.
Shisui merely waved her off with a bright smile in return that seemed to lighten up the office in an instant. "There's no need to thank me for doing my duty Sakura-chan, and I'll manage without some more hours without sleep." He assured her, his eyes then fixing on her exhausted features. "Then again,I'm not so sure if the same goes for you."
Sakura sighed in return, her lips tilting upwards into a bittersweet smile. "I still have some work that I have to finish for Hokage-sama. I'll be fine- don't look at me like that Shisui, I won't kill your cousin just yet for locking me into his damn office."
Shisui smirked knowingly upon hearing Sakura and couldn't help but wonder just how long it would take until the pinkette and his cousin dearest would finally get along. Of course, he knew that Itachi was as cold as an ice-cube but she was supposed to be his right hand, a person that he could confide his thoughts and worries in regarding most recent issues like missions, attacks, or get political suggestions from.
Of course, he could always do the same with Tsunade, Kakashi, himself or someone else, but that wasn't the point of it.
And Itachi knew that just as well.
Yet, Shisui knew that it wouldn't take much longer until he would warm up to Sakura because in the end, who wouldn't?
Shisui exhaled deeply and crossed his arms above his chest. "Alright then. Send your teammates my regards and tell Naruto that he broke Rule number 125 and owes me a meal at Ichiraku's!"
The young woman couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes at that but nodded nonetheless. She would never understand them and their codes."Who the hell came up with these damn codes in the first place?" Sakura inquired, eyes narrowed.
The Uchiha in return shot her an apologetic smile. "Sorry Sakura-chan, but I can't tell you. Else I'd break Rule 236A." He apologized before he gave her a quick salute and shot her a wink. "See ya!"
And just like that, he suddenly disappeared into a puff of smoke and left Sakura to be on her own once more.
Blinking, the pinkette slowly closed Shisui's report and shook her head with a scoff. She was definitely spending way too much time with the boys and should probably hang out more often with Ino, Hinata and TenTen.
Massaging her temples, the pinkette then resumed to work on her report that was due until Itachi arrived, what wouldn't be until a few more hours.
The next three hours passed by in a blur. She finally managed to finish the report that Itachi had requested and wrote down a few keywords and theories regarding her recent discoveries thanks to Shisui's reports. Unfortunately, the autopsy results didn't arrive yet so she was unable to compare her notes with them and was left with no more work to do, so she decided to take the liberty and organize the documents, reports and papers on his desk.
Sakura snorted at her own thoughts. Here she was, cleaning his office and sorting all of his papers and files while he was sound asleep.
Oh the pleasure of being the Hokage's right hand man and assistant.
-X-
Today did not seem to be his day.
Itachi frowned as he walked through the corridors of the Hokage tower and towards his office. He had only managed to catch three hours of sleep thanks to none other than his cousin. His mother woke him up, looking rather displeased and demanding to know just why he locked his poor little assistant into his office for the majority of the night until now. Itachi of course, at first confused, wondered where his mother had gathered this piece of information from but after some moments, it clicked.
"Mother, I think that you have misunderstood." He had told her, his velvet voice rough due to the sleep but as soon as he saw his mothers eyes narrow, he realized his mistake.
His mother crossed her arms above her chest."Oh no, Itachi-kun, I think that I understood Shisui perfectly well." She assured him, and Itachi's eyes narrowed in an instant.
So he had been right after all.
Mikoto Uchiha was known for being one of the most loving, caring and kindhearted human beings existing. His father Uchiha Fugaku who was rather strict and rarely showed any emotions and his mother were the total opposites and yet, they balanced each other out perfectly fine.
Then again, his mother was also known for her temper.
And that's exactly what brought him to his current location, with only three hours of sleep and a really bad mood that he certain would only worsen after he'd enter his office.
He had to admit, however, that he was somewhat curious as to whether his little assistant had actually completed her task and had broken the rather easy seals that he had placed on the windows or still hadn't finished her work yet.
His lips pursed into a thin line. He would certainly prefer the first option.
Luck didn't seem to be on his side though. As soon as Itachi rounded the last corner, a small frame bumped right into him.
"Watch it– eep! Hokage-sama!" The petite female hastily bowed deeply, holding a pile of papers in pale, shaky hands as she realized her fatal mistake.
Itachi eyed the brunette girl with bored eyes and moved to simply pass her, but just as he was about to proceed to walk, his onyx eyes caught a certain word on one of the papers that she was currently holding.
"Report." He curtly demanded, eyes steadily fixed on the papers as the teenage girl jumped in place out of surprise upon hearing his voice.
She didn't dare to look up as she held the small staple of papers out to him, her eyes shut close in fear of facing him.
"These are the autopsy results that you have requested Hokage-sama. I-I entered your office but saw that Haruno-san was sleeping and didn't want to intrude." She rushed out in a breath, and Itachi had to admit that he was mildly amused at her rather amusing display.
That was, until he realized just what exactly she had just told him and felt himself freeze for the split of a second.
"Sleeping, you say?" Itachi lowly mumbled to himself, dipping his head lightly aside in wonder just what in Hokage's name was wrong with his little brothers teammate before he took the autopsy-results from the young girl and stalked past her, right towards his office.
Was she really as naive as to allow herself to fall asleep in his office whilst she should be doing her work? A part of him refused to believe it and yet, a bigger part of him knew that it was most likely the truth since this poor girl seemed even too afraid to look at him, not to mention lie to him.
It didn't take him long to reach his office and ever so soundlessly, Itachi pushed open the large doors and entered it in case his assistant was indeed asleep.
And asleep she was.
There, sitting in his chair was the pinkette with her head laying on her forearms on his desk, completely oblivious to his existence.
Itachi didn't know whether he should feel insulted or scoff at her foolishness. He took a few steps closer to his desk until he was standing directly in front of it, his eyes never leaving her face.
The sun rays that were shining through the broad windows of his office were caressing her face like a gentle touch, the soft sound of her breathing filling the silence that filled the room.
Itachi instantly noticed was that even in her sleep, her brows were lightly furrowed and her rosy lips were formed into a small pout. It seemed that even in her sleep she couldn't escape the stress of what she was suffering under.
Itachi's eyes then flickered over to the surface of his desk, that he unexpectedly found organized. There was a staple of mission records that he still had to read on the left corner of his desk, with Shisui's on top of it. Next to it were the papers that he still needed to read and sign and in the middle of the desk he found, much to his surprise, a seemingly finished report and summary of the file that he had given her, just like two loose papers that contained her noted regarding Shisui's report and some theories of her own.
Admittedly, he hadn't expected her to have finished all of it by the time that he arrived and yet, he was pleasantly surprised to see that she had managed to do so. There was still one little thing that somewhat unnerved him.
She was still asleep.
Sakura was seemingly too tired to sense his presence and although he had made sure not to make a sound, she should have sensed his chakra nonetheless.
It was dangerous for a shinobi not to sense others due to exhaustion but then again, Itachi knew that she most likely didn't consider him a threat and thus, she unconsciously decided to ignore it.
Itachi silently made his way to stand behind her and eyed her for another moment before he gently threw the autopsy results an inch away from her face on his desk and watched with satisfaction how the pink-haired kunoichi jolted awake with a soft gasp.
However, he didn't reckon her next move.
The moment the sound jerked Sakura out of her dreamless slumber her senses were on high alert and her eyes open wide. Out of reflex, Sakura grabbed the kunai that was located in her hip-pouch and held it tightly in her fist as she swung it towards whoever woke her.
Itachi was mildly amused at his assistants reaction and grabbed her fist long before the kunai would have come in reach of actually touching him and held it into a stone grip , leaving her unable to move her hand anymore.
The wheels in Sakura's mind were already spinning at full speed and within the blink of an eye she was already using her free hand to pull the second kunai and swung it backwards.
For the split of a moment, Sakura felt relieved upon feeling of her kunai being pressed just an inch away from her attackers neck but just as fast as her relief appeared, it disappeared the moment she felt the cool metal of a kunai that was certainly not hers press against the front of her delicate, bare throat.
It was then that she actually took a moment to swiftly scan her surroundings and as soon as she realized just where she was, she froze in place.
It all came back in a rush. Itachi locking her in his office, Shisui delivering his report and her miraculously and rather foolishly falling asleep on his desk.
Sakura felt like banging her head continuously on the desk as she realized just who was most likely holding the kunai at her throat and just whom she had so foolishly, foolishly attacked whilst being half asleep.
Itachi instantly felt her tense under his touch and couldn't hide the light lift of the corner of his mouth.
It was about time.
"I hope that you slept well, Haruno-san." His velvet voice met her ears in an instant, his lips only inches away from her ear what caused a shiver to involuntarily run down her spine.
Praying to whoever was willing to listen that he didn't notice, she pursed her lips into a tight line and allowed her hand to tighten around the handle of her kunai as she felt the metal of his kunai move closer to her throat. If she would even do as much as breathe wrong, it would break her skin and draw blood.
He was mocking her.
Admittedly, it was her own fault and yet, it still didn't sit her well that he got to tease her when she was the one whom he scared.
"I did, but next time please refrain from rather rudely waking me up like this, Hokage-sama." She gently chided him, her lips then curling into a sweet, yet dangerous smile as she slowly lowered her kunai. "Else you may get hurt."
Itachi dared to arch a brow at her words, clearly not having expected them. Had she just threatened him?
He slowly released her wrist and after a moment of hesitation, but didn't remove the kunai from her just yet. "Was that a threat, Haruno?" He inquired, his voice firm and holding the smallest hint of curiosity that Sakura didn't fail t notice.
Whereas inner Sakura was currently doing a victory dance, outer Sakura's expression was now amiss of any emotions, her poker-face perfectly in place.
"A warning, Uchiha-san." She curtly corrected him, inwardly hoping that she didn't just seal her death-sentence. Then again, it took more than Uchiha Itachi to intimidate her, even though he was very, very good at intimidating people. His mere penetrating gaze was enough to cause goosebumps to appear on her skin, making her feel like he could see into her very soul.
It was beyond unnerving.
"Hn." Was all she heard before she finally felt him retrieve his kunai, allowing her to exhale the breath that she had unconsciously been holding. Turning her head to throw him a halfhearted glare over her shoulder, Sakura then rose from her seat and walked towards the door.
She had done what he had requested and assumed that thus, he most likely didn't require her presence anymore. Besides, she doubted that she would survive any more minutes in this office, especially with him without having to fight the urge to punch him.
"The report and Shisui's file are on your desk. If you need anything, your guards will find me at training field three with my teammates." She told him, inwardly hoping that he would not force her to do some ridiculous work that he could just as well assign to someone else.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like luck was on her side this time though.
"Haruno." His voice cut through the office the instant her hand had touched the door handle, causing her to freeze in place.
Sakura bit down on her lower lip, forcing herself to remain calm and closed her eyes.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale-
All of sudden, her keen hearing picked up the sound of something whirling through the wind, aiming right for her head and Sakura instantly whirled around, forcing a small amount of chakra into her fingers before she caught the handle of the kunai just before the tip touched her forehead.
"You forgot something." He reminded her as he went through the files on his desk, not even bothering to look up at her.
Sakura lifted a brow at him and slowly lowered the kunai, her eyes never leaving him. A simple well done would have been enough, but she doubted that the Uchiha heir knew how to praise someone in the first place.
"Of course." She dryly muttered as she put her kunai back into her hip pouch. "I appreciate the reminder."
"Noted."
Sakura refrained from running a hand over her face out of frustration and instead settled on simply leaving the office before Itachi would come up with any more tasks for her. Fortunately for her, she managed to do so without him stopping or throwing any more kunais at her.
She just hoped that her teammates were ready for a long, hard training session because she damn as hell was.
-X-
Sasuke had instantly noticed that his teammate was in a bad mood, as had Naruto. The moment he had seen her approach their training ground from his position in the trees, his eyes picked up the way her face was holding a prominent frown and that her lips were pursed.
His eyes flickered to the tree a couple of meters away from him where Naruto was standing on one of the upper branches and instantly caught his blue eyes.
Sasuke arched a brow at him, mutely questioning what the hell he had done now to upset her, but the blonde in return shook his head and shrugged, signalizing him that this time, he really hadn't done anything that may have upset her.
The two of them returned to watching their teammate walk into the center of the training field. She faltered lightly in her steps when she passed Naruto's tree, but eventually continued to walk past it.
Sasuke instantly activated his Sharingan and narrowed his eyes, never leaving her form. That was, until the earth beneath the tree grumbled and was violently shaking. Sasuke instantly jumped off of the tree at full speed and dodged three kunai that came flying right towards him.
Shadow clones.
"Close call, ne Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's voice teasingly called from behind him, but he knew better than to turn around. Allowing himself a smirk, his hands quickly formed the familiar seals before he darted into the opposite direction towards Naruto's tree and placed his fingers to his mouth.
"Katon no jutsu!" He called before the enormous orange flames swallowed the tree that Naruto had formerly been standing on whole. His tomoe was spinning steadily in his blood-red eyes as he scanned the tree for any sign of the flash of pink that he had seen mere seconds ago but of course, it had disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.
"Teme!" Came Naruto's surprised cry as he landed a few meters opposite of him, his blue eyes wide with surprise. "A warning would be nice!"
Sasuke though paid him no mind and merely harrumphed at his words, a small smirk playing on his lips as he caught a movement out of the corner of his right eye.
As he had expected, she had managed to escape the flames just in time. "Pay better attention to your surroundings next time dobe." Sasuke chided his blonde friend, who in return shot him a fox-like grin.
"Ano teme, who said that I don't?" The blonde confidently returned before he disappeared into a puff of smoke. As soon as he did, a muffled grunt reached his ears and his head snapped to his left just in time to see Sakura flying towards him at full speed.
Sasuke jumped out of the way and watched how the pinkette was hurled straight into the base of a tree. Her body harshly collided against the tree-trunk and Sakura winced at the sharp pain that shot through her body upon the collision.
"Sorry Sakura-chan!" Came Naruto's far-away yell and Sakura opened her burning emerald eyes as she scoffed. Leave it to Naruto to apologize to her after kicking her into a tree.
Forcing herself stand back on her feet again, the pinkette narrowed her eyes and looked at her two teammates with a challenging glint in her eyes.
"So you two teamed up against me?" She observed with feigned hurt before she shot them a bright grin that they have come to learn meant no good. "I am honored that you think of me as that much of a challenge."
She heard Sasuke scoff upon hearing her words and her smirked in return. Their training session already seemed very promising.
They have spent the next three hours training that resulted with second degree burns, broken bones and bloody noses. Sometime nearing the end, Naruto had taken Sakura's side and attacked Sasuke as well, but the Uchiha of course expected no less from the blonde.
After all, the three of them all knew that on this training ground, the words allies and teams meant nothing.
"You're idiots." Sakura declared with a sigh as they were sitting on the grass, Naruto with his head on her lap while she was healing Sasuke's upper arm.
Naruto merely groaned in return and covered his ears. "Sakura-chan, why are you screaming so loudly?" He called, shutting his eyes as tightly close as possible.
Sakura glanced at Naruto before her eyes flickered to Sasuke, who merely gave a huff of amusement in return. Her voice had barely been above a whisper and for a moment, she wondered just how hard she had punched him.
"Sasuke, this is most likely going to hurt." She warned the raven-haired boy who simply gave her a nod in return. He trusted Sakura's abilities as a medic and knew that she knew what she was doing, so he saw no point in objecting.
Sakura offered him a weak smile before she forced some more chakra into her hands and added more pressure onto his biceps, causing the muscles under her hand to twitch out of protest.
Then she pushed them downwards.
She felt Sasuke tense under her touch and winced. She applied stronger pressure for some more moments until the green hue around her hands grew weaker and the pain numbed.
Sasuke once more grew more relaxed under her touch and allowed himself a small sigh as he regarded the girl next to him with attentive eyes.
The dark circles under her eyes were more prominent than before and he knew that she was probably exhausted after their training sessions, especially after she healed the dobe and him, so he carefully removed his arm from her hands.
At the confused look that he received from her after doing so, he shook his head. "You're tired." He curtly explained and watched how her forehead furrowed upon hearing his words.
Her stubbornness was well known to the boys, but he would not allow her to faint due to exhaustion simply because she overworked herself again.
"Sasuke, I know my limits." She told him, clearly offended that he was still not confident in her skills. Of course she knew that he was simply concerned, but he should know by know that she knew what she was doing.
As if on cue, a yawn escaped her and Sasuke eyed her with a knowing expression. Sakura merely sighed in return and threw him a look that suggested him to better let the matter rest.
"Sakura-chan, didn't you get enough sleep?" Naruto suddenly inquired, gazing up at her with concerned blue eyes. He also knew that she had a knack of overworking herself up to the point of exhaustion, especially since Tsunade became the head of the hospital and she basically was the one in charge whenever her mentor was busy with other matters.
Sakura couldn't refrain from snorting at his question and shot Sasuke a pointed look as Itachi's face briefly flashed in her mind. "Well, as good as you can sleep while being locked inside the Hokage's office by a certain someone."
Sasuke frowned and tilted his head lightly aside as he regarded her with his dark, onyx eyes. "Itachi locked you in his office?" He repeated in a low voice, clearly not having expected that.
He knew that his brother was capable of a lot of things and admittedly, Sasuke was anything but happy when he heard that Sakura got assigned to be his assistant but he knew better than to object.
Naruto's brows furrowed as he looked at Sasuke as well. "I always knew that your brother was weird!" He heatedly declared, clearly upset by the fact that he had dared to lock Sakura inside his office without her consent.
Sasuke's eyes darted to Naruto and glowed dangerously in the bright lightening. "Watch your mouth dobe." He warned the blonde. "I am sure that he had his reasons."
"That still doesn't justify his decision to lock me into his office." Sakura dryly reminded him, her expression turning thoughtful as she stared at a tree behind Sasuke.
She knew that he meant no harm, but that still gave him no right to do things like that. She had heard a lot about Sasuke's brother already and so far he was being a great Hokage. Everyone, especially the Uchiha clan, was more than content with their decision to name him the Rokudaime Hokage. The boys looked up to him while the girls and women were drooling over him.
It seemed like she was the only one that was having issues with him for reasons unknown. She hadn't done anything to upset or annoy him and she tried her best to be of help and yet, whenever she had the feeling that things got even the tiniest bit better between the two of them, they took two steps back again.
She guessed that they simply weren't made to get along with each other.
"Well guys, I'm hungry. Let's get some ramen!" Naruto called as he sat up with a bright grin, ripping her out of her musings. The mere thought of ramen was enough to make him feel better already and Sakura couldn't help but smile at him.
She loved her boys with all her heart, she truly did, but if they were to keep up their eating habits she doubted that they would manage to live until their thirties without their liver giving in.
She absently heard Sasuke mutter a "disgusting" under his breath and caught the disapproving glare that Naruto shot him as the two of them stood up. The two of them each offered her a hand that Sakura gladly accepted and together, they pulled the medic onto her feet.
She shot them a bright smile and linked her arms with hers. Whereas Naruto returned her bright grin with one of his own, Sasuke's blank expression didn't change, the only exception being the softening of his eyes.
Together, the three of them made their way off of the training ground and towards the heart of the village where Ichiraku's was located at.
Sakura sighed out of content. At least her day couldn't get any worse, now could it?
-X-
Then again, it apparently could.
She and her teammates were enjoying their ramen at Ichiraku's together with Kiba, Shino and Hinata whom they had coincidentally met on their way there. Naruto of course had instantly invited them to join them. Whereas Naruto and Kiba were having an eating contest, Sakura gleefully chattered with Hinata about the Hyuuga's latest mission in the land of snow while Sasuke and Shino exchanged a few sentences every once in a while with each other.
Sakura was finally at peace, enjoying some time off with her friends when she suddenly felt an all too familiar presence appearing out of seemingly nowhere behind where she was sitting.
The hairs on the back of her neck were standing upright and she dared to lift her eyes just in time to see Naruto from opposite of her looking at the person behind her with an uneasy smile, before his pity filled eyes fell on Sakura next.
"Haruno-san." Came the familiar voice from behind her and she felt her heart skip a beat. And here she was thinking that her day couldn't get any worse.
Sighing, the pinkette turned around on her seat and came face to face with none other than Uchiha Itachi.
He was standing closer than Sakura had expected and her emerald orbs instantly locked with his dark onyx ones that were gazing down at her. She noted that in comparison to before, he was now dressed in his usual attire and even though his gaze was locked with hers, she knew that his senses were on high alert for whatever reason there was.
"Yes Hokage-sama?" She inquired, her gaze turning questioning as he shifted his weight onto his other foot, causing him to lean lightly towards her.
The narrowing of his eyes told her more than enough, but he spoke nonetheless. "Pack light clothing and package. Meet me in my office in ten sharp." He spoke, voice low so that only she could pick up his words, and Sakura instantly nodded in return.
Something was wrong. He seemed troubled by something, what was a rarity itself and thus Sakura didn't dare to open her mouth and complain or object. Also, it seemed like she would have to leave Konoha for some days as well and if he wanted her at his office in ten minutes sharp, she would have to hurry.
Itachi Uchiha was no man that liked to be left waiting.
A/N: Here we go! I hope that you liked this chapter.
Now to the reviews from last chapter:
Starshinerose18: Thanks!The Itachi locking Sakura into his office Scene was rather spontaneous so I am happy to hear that you liked it!:)
Guest: Thanks a lot! Glad to hear/read that you liked the scene!
Mbravesgirl7: Thank you, I hope that you will like the future Itachi and Sakura interactions/Scenes as well:)
Shyzuka: Thanks, here you go with the next chapter!
Liag Kab: Merci beacoup:)
Guest 2: I am very happy to hear that you like it!
Izzy: Don't worry, I'm trying my best not to overdo it with the teasing since I don't think much of too much of it as well:)
Radita: Thanks!
Faith267: You're more than welcome. Thanks for reviewing!
Camelia-chan: Here you go!
54hay: Thank you, I appreciate it! Hope that you liked this one as well!:)
Dattebayodobe: Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoy reading it so far!
Parsimonia: Thanks a lot!
Also a big thank you to everyone who favored, followed and read this story so far! Please let me know if you liked this chapter as well by leaving a review! It's always nice to hear your thoughts and opinions on this story, they're what keeps me motivated:)
Until next chapter!
Love, Sara.