She leaned backward just in time to let the kunai almost brush the tip of her nose. A well-placed handspring allowed her to evade the next few shuriken as well. Itachi was ruthless. Her eyes scanned the training ground trying to locate him but knew better than to completely trust what she saw.

She felt heat near her as she quickly dodged to the side, slamming an already clenched fist into the ground. Small tendrils of flame still licked the exposed side of her arms, but the chakra punch created enough debris to block most of the flames.

Itachi stood motionless on the other side of the open area, bored eyes taking in her flustered expression, sweaty hair, and heavy breathing.

They had been at it for an hour now and Sakura refused to give up. There was not a single hair on Itachi's head that was out of place. It infuriated her. She ran a glowing hand over her arms, soothing the burns beginning to blister.

Itachi tilted his head to the side, red eyes glowing. He watched with veiled interest as the chakra she summoned soothed the frayed nerves and angry pink skin. While watching her, he knew he should have taken the opportunity to launch his next attack, but he couldn't. He looked at her hand, then to his, attempting to replicate the same process she was doing. His hand weakly glowed green before fading. He grit his teeth together, dropping his hand to his side.

"Kunoichi, is that all you can do?" He baited her. Her hand froze and her eyes narrowed dangerously.

He could hear the click of her teeth clenching before he heard the response he knew was coming. "Excuse me?," Sakura managed to grit out as the last vestiges of her patience frayed.

He stared down at her menacingly, "It seems that hearing is on the list of areas that need improvement as well."

He knew he struck a chord the second she looked up at him with frenzied scarlet eyes. The three tomoe in her eyes started to spin faster as her breathing grew heavier. The hatred oozed off of her in waves, but she had made one mistake. She had met his gaze.

The furious screams of torment as she clawed her way out of his genjutsu should have given him the same sense of satisfaction it usually did during battle, but she had broken it faster than he expected.

He was angry, but he didn't understand if it was actually with her, himself, or the unjust situation as a whole. He just felt angry and her eyes reflected the same pain he had felt so many times before. Understanding and addressing his feelings in healthy ways had not made the list of things that Itachi Uchiha excelled in. So when she stared up at him with those hateful eyes, he too clearly saw himself in her and couldn't handle it.

He turned away, "Hn."

Sakura launched herself at him, chakra-enhanced fist pulled back to decimate him. There was a "whoosh" of air, and then nothing.

When her eyes focused on Itachi again, she was further back and he had not moved. A strong arm encircled her waist and a hand was placed gently on her wrist. Sakura continued to glare at Itachi, trying her best to pour every ounce of hatred for his clan, their clan, into him.

Itachi finally turned to face her, his anger clouding his eyes, "Tch. Pathetic."

Sakura screamed. The arm around her waist tightened to hold her still through her thrashing. When thrashing gave way to dejected panting, he slowly released her. Sakura pressed her forehead into the earth, summoning the last bit of her chakra as Shisui flickered back to the edge of the area. Just before her glowing fist hit the ground, she stopped. The chakra faded as she placed her fist slowly to the ground, tears following shortly after. Shisui was once again by her side, his hand stroking her back.

Sakura shrugged off his hand, pushed herself back onto her feet, and stood. Her body was soaked in sweat, blood, and tears as she surveyed the training ground. Shisui sucked in a breath, looking up at her from where he sat on his knees. With his sharingan activated, he etched in his memories every perfect moment of her unwillingness to yield to his cousin.

Itachi took in the sight of his older cousin on his knees at the side of his future bride and was struck with white-hot fury. The look of adoration on Shisui's face felt like the already present knife was twisted further.

The next words shattered the tense silence they were all bound in.

"Fuck."

"You."

With that, Sakura was gone.

Shisui glared over at his best friend, matching the burning expression Itachi already held.

Ice crept into Itachi's next words,

"You'd do well to remember your place, Shisui."

-

Dinner was… awkward to say the least.

Sakura approached the table that was filled with dark-haired men. Mikoto flurried around her carrying plates to the table. Sakura looked from the table to Mikoto, hesitant to announce her presence.

"I've got it, Sakura-chan, have a seat," Mikoto said as if reading her mind.

Each head but one at the table turned to face her as Itachi pointedly continued to stare at the wall behind Sasuke.

Sakura walked around the table to take her usual seat next to Sasuke who wouldn't meet her eyes. Before she could sit, Mikoto interrupted, "Oh honey, no."

Sakura froze.

"Shisui, move. Allow Sakura her seat next to Itachi," Fugaku broke the tension, giving Shisui a pointed look to move. Itachi and Shisui stared at Fugaku in sync as Shisui stood to trade places with Sakura. He offered her a brief squeeze of her hand for comfort that didn't go unnoticed.

Itachi's eyes narrowed into slits as Shisui sat next to Sasuke and Sakura sat next to him. Sakura tried to sit as far away from Itachi as possible. She looked to Sasuke for comfort but he stared down at the table with a pained expression.

Sakura looked up to meet Shisui's eyes and he tapped his foot against hers playfully. Sakura managed a small smile in his direction, which elicited a toothy grin.

Fugaku frowned.

Mikoto took her place at the table next to Sakura, facing her husband.

"I am glad we are all here together for dinner," Mikoto said happily, taking one of Sakura's hands in her own.

Sakura looked at their clasped hands, forcing a smile to her face. Mikoto's expression brightened.

"How was Sakura's training today," Fugaku asked.

Mikoto gave her husband a pointed look before turning back to Sakura. Sakura withdrew her hand and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Itachi.

"There are many areas that could use improvement."

Sakura's head turned to Itachi, mirroring the same dark expression he was currently giving Shisui.

"I admit there are areas she could improve, but Sakura held her own against Itachi."

Everyone turned to look at Shisui's face, as he was holding a rice ball to his mouth to conceal his smirk.

"I didn't know you were training with them, Shisui," Sasuke remarked.

Shisui tilted his head, chewing thoughtfully. "I wasn't but, I thought that maybe I would be able to help train Sakura-chan," he said with a smile.

"That's a great idea, Sasuke, you can train with them too," Mikoto said with a knowing smile.

Sasuke met his teammate's eyes, the guilt of not seeing her viridian eyes staring back at him caused him to frown. This was his fault, it was his fault she was in this situation with their clan.

Before Sasuke could voice his concern, everyone turned to look at the uninvited visitor. The ANBU tilted their head before speaking, "The Hokage requests Itachi Uchiha."

Itachi removed his hands from his bowl with a sigh, standing. Shisui brightened, turning to face Sakura, already planning the next few days.

"And... Shisui Uchiha."

Shisui sighed, pushing himself up from the table too. He trailed his fingers over Sakura's shoulder as he moved away from the table and up to Itachi and the ANBU with the rat mask.

"Race you?" Shisui asked Itachi. Itachi lost the fight not to roll his eyes muttering, "Tch."

Then the 3 of them were gone.

"I would like to excuse myself, if that is okay," Sakura said softly.

Mikoto turned back to face Sakura, a grimace on her face as she noticed the pink-haired girl had barely eaten.

"Tomorrow, if you would like, I would be happy to give you the full tour of the Uchiha compound," Mikoto asked Sakura, hoping that it might brighten her spirits. Sakura perked at the offer, the Uchiha were notoriously secretive and outsiders rarely had the chance to explore.

"I would like that," Sakura said with a smile.

-

The morning sun warmed her and helped stave off the unpleasant mood.

Mikoto had walked her through the small market and winding paths of homes, pointing out places significant to their family. They finally ended at the shrine at the outskirts of the compound, conversation had long since dwindled to a comfortable silence.

They both walked up the steps together before kneeling on the well-worn blue pillows in front of the altar. Mikoto extended her hand to Sakura and she placed a stick of incense in it from the box to her side. Mikoto then used a small fire jutsu to light the incense and place it upon the altar. They both clapped their hands then bowed their heads.

After a moment, Mikoto spoke. "I know it is not ideal…"

Sakura let out a long sigh and her shoulders slumped.

Mikoto frowned, staring down at the edges of the pillow beneath her knees, "I was not asked to wed Fugaku. It was arranged by our families, for the purity of the bloodline."

Sakura continued to stare at the ground, before softly whispering, "I didn't want to be an Uchiha like this…"

Mikoto's heart broke a little, she extended her hand and placed it on Sakura's, who wrapped her fingers around Mikoto's as well. A tear hit the pillow under her knees as Sakura squeezed Mikoto's hand.

"I'm scared," Sakura continued to whisper, "and angry. I don't… I don't know what to do anymore."

Mikoto let out a long sigh before looking up at the sky above their heads, "You may not have originally been an Uchiha." She then looked to Sakura and tilted her chin up to look into Sakura's tear-filled eyes, "But you are now, and you shall do what we have always done."

"You will hold your chin up high and demand the respect you deserve."

-

Shisui stared at Itachi's back as they ran through the forest. They were the perfect two-man team and at this moment, it was them against the world as it had always been. They weaved in sync through the trees.

Itachi dropped onto a branch and held his hand up to Shisui to signal he had seen their target. Shisui nodded from his place on a nearby tree. They glanced down at the man who was yelling at a woman who was trying to escape his grasp. She screamed, thrashed, and cried out for help.

Shisui whispered a soft bird call chirp, as the genjutsu seeped into the ground in the clearing. The yelling man froze, hand still roughly trapping the woman's wrist. Itachi was behind the man in a flash, already sliding his katana back in the sheath, while blood bubbled up from the man's neck.

The woman screamed as the man's body released her wrist and slid to the ground with a thump. Shisui flickered to the clearing and caught the woman before she fell.

The small bruised woman looked up at Shisui's ANBU mask with teary green eyes. Green like Sakura's had been. Shisui continued to stare at the woman's face before Itachi made a small noise and broke his trance.

Shisui's eyes flashed red and the woman fell limp in his arms.

Itachi and Shisui locked eyes and felt the tension between them lessen. They both nodded, Itachi sealed the body in a storage scroll, and they flickered away.

Shisui bumped his shoulder into Itachi's while they were running and Itachi smiled behind his mask.

"Race you?"

Itachi smirked and raced off ahead of Shisui without agreeing.

"HEY! That's cheating!"