Author: Amaya
Editor: Aiko
Characters/Pairings: [Shisui x Sakura]; mentions of [Genma x Sakura] and other minor Sakura-centric pairings.
Categories: Romance, Drama, Action
Rating: Mature [See Warnings Below]
Warnings: This story contains strong language, depictions of violence and mature sexual content, including, but not limited to: breath play, superior/subordinate kinks, rough body play, power kinks and so on. You have been warned.

Full Summary: As the most elite of the elite shinobi to ever grace the village, Anbu operatives were easily some of the most frightening and striking characters one could come across. The way they protected the village while cloaked in shadows, appearing like some God-appointed deities when they were needed most and forgoing honor in exchange for anonymity—was as seductive as one could get. But to Sakura, the real allure lied in the deceptive red smiles painted on their masks, and in figuring out who was behind them. ["Don't start things you can't finish, Haruno."]

Kamen

Chapter || Thirteen

Shion was a good sized village located right on the border of Tsuchi no Kuni and Hi no Kuni, acting as mutual territory for shinobi on both sides of the border. It bustled with stalls offering all kinds of goods from both countries, like herbal teas from Fire and rock mochi from Earth, and had a steady influx of visitors, so the settlement was considered pretty well off for its size. Sakura had only ever been there once with Sai and Yamato a few months previous; she fell in love with the muted neons that contrasted with the earthy browns, and the different accents and thick aroma of foods she'd never tried before. So it was suffice to say she was excited to return, even if the circumstances weren't exactly ideal.

It only took four and a half days to reach the outskirts of Shion, in which she rarely saw any of her escorts.

They traveled independently from one another; Sakura followed the footpath and leapt through low branches, while Okami-Han kept to the higher, shadowy canopies. One officer, the canine one, was positioned one-hundred and fifty feet ahead and forty-five degrees to the left. Nezumi, the ferret-masked one, was eighty-five feet to her immediate right while Kitsune was positioned two-hundred feet behind her at her eight. Their Captain, Okami, kept up the rear two-hundred feet back at her five.

They had radios to communicate with her but they hardly ever used it beyond break announcements, opting to speak to one another through coded bird calls and high pitched whistles. At night, Sakura slept undisturbed while her escorts rotated shifts, each taking comfort on thick branches. During breaks they reconvened to discuss travel conditions and to check over injuries caused from minor scuffles that she hadn't had the chance to see. During this time, she handed out some of the MRE's she had packed; they initially refused the meals, but after a brief, electrically charged stare-down between Okami and herself, they took her offerings with polite murmurs of thanks and went off to eat their rations in privacy.

She had traveled with Anbu in variations of this system at least a dozen times in her life, each squad having their own preferred formations and travel methods, but it still amazed her. To think how much they had to trust one another and their abilities, the way they communicated, their teamwork—it was incredible. As much as Sakura liked to believe Team Seven's teamwork was well-oiled, her team had nothing on those in the Corps.

So if not for those small tells of their presence—the bird calls, the prickling in the back of her neck, the dancing shadows—Sakura would have forgotten about their presence completely. Not that she minded. It gave her time to compose herself, push aside thoughts that had no place on missions—act professional. The first day of their journey had been somewhat difficult after her debriefing with Okami. Outwardly, she remained as professional as possible, discussing their travel route and positions and action protocol. This wasn't her first time on a mission with someone she had been intimate with, so she knew how to block out the voice in the back of her mind that demanded she glance at him. But that didn't mean she was completely unaffected.

She wasn't so proud as to deny that his little parting gift was a major turn on. And honestly, Sakura didn't doubt that the site of him pleasuring himself to her would be ingrained into her memory for years to come. It was mostly during her break times that she'd remember the feel of his muscled body against hers, the sound of his deep, almost animalistic growl in her ear—the taste of him on the tip of her tongue.

She had never been with someone so bold as to rile not only her but himself up immediately before such an important assignment. Not even Genma was so venturesome, and the senbon-favoring Tokujo was easily the most lascivious man she had ever been with! He might've played with her a day before, maybe a few hours beforehand if he was feeling especially daring, but he'd always make sure they were both completely sated. Not wound up, tense like the string of a bow.

It made her wish they had saved a stray bandit for her to deal with.

But all that aside, the journey to Shion was was relatively smooth. No major confrontations, no serious injuries, near idyllic weather.

Until now.

She stood as still as possible, chin tilted up and body so straight, it hurt, her arms floating uselessly at her sides. Instinct demanded she move, run, make the earth crumble; her fingers twitched, itching to do something—anything—to get whatever the fuck was crawling up her spine off. She could feel her lungs tightening, both out of apprehension and because something was physically constricting around her rib cage, so she dared not move.

She wasn't exactly sure how she ended up in this predicament, and frankly she didn't care. One moment, they were resting, discussing their plan to rendezvous with the Iwagakure team, and the next, Sakura felt something slither up her legs, her hips, her chest, then coil so tightly around her, she couldn't move.

"Talk to us, Haruno." Okami's voice, as polished as ever, made her gaze snap over to him. If she strained her ears and squinted just right, Sakura could have sworn he sounded a little roiled.

Okami and his squad stood a few feet away, still and silent as they observed her, calculating stratagems on how to free her but she didn't care because—holy fuck it was crawling again. Sakura grunted as the creature constricted around her once before slackening, needlessly warning her of it's danger, the clicking of it's joints acting as a morbid background song that will haunt her dreams for years to come. Twenty pairs of legs caressed her skin, whispering their threats as if second nature to them, its segmented body vibrating with mirth.

"Its okay," Sakura called out, her tone as calm as she could muster. Okami's mask shifted, wordlessly acknowledging her. "I'm okay."

His head tilted back at that, the cords in his neck now prominent; she imagined his jaw setting in irritation. After a beat in tense silence, he and the rest of the squad took a few steps back, but retained their ready-to-strike posture just in case. Anxiety clumped her throat like cotton, making her breath shake more than it already did while fear boiled through her veins. Refusing to let her unease show, Sakura glanced at the creature that wound around her, slowly turning her head to meet beady black eyes head on. Large pincers separated to reveal serrated teeth as sharp as glass, and seeing the creature's gaping mouth made Sakura's stomach churn in discomfort.

The centipede, which snaked around her right leg, up her torso and around her neck, seemed to react to her words, it's body stretching and head twisting as if to get a better look at her, or maybe taunt her. Its antennae twitched, grazing her neck and cheek in silent warning. A high pitched chirping came from the thing, similar to the sounds a bush cricket made mixed with the hiss of an angry mantis. It fucking hissed. She didn't even know centipedes made noise, which was terrifying in and of itself. The massive insect curled it's head around her neck until the crown of its head nuzzled her cheek, although Sakura suspected the otherwise affectionate gesture was anything but.

The sounds of movement behind her tickled her ears, but Sakura forced herself to relax despite it. That didn't stop her teammates from drawing their weapons and pointing them at whoever approached her. She raised her hands, slowly, focusing on keeping them from shaking, and then an arm draped loosely across her chest. The arm holding her in place shifted, pulling her closer against a body that seemed to lack too much heat.

"Move," Hot breath fanned as far down as her shoulder and as high up as her ear, "and you die."

Swallowing, Sakura tiled her head to the side to assess what she could of her captor but all she could make out was the tail end of long golden hair, tangled and matted with blood. A kunoichi stood a few feet away as well, dressed in the standard claret uniform of Iwagakure's shinobi forces. The exhaustion on her face was discernible, revealed by dark gray smears painted beneath her eyes and bruising on her cheeks, her short, black hair a mess.

"Release her." Okami's timbre was all command, zero trace of negotiation or sympathy to be found.

"Not a chance."

His voice was deep, retaining faint traces of boyhood which led her to believe he wasn't much older than her, but weak and slurred with exhaustion. With him pressed so close, Sakura could feel the rattling of his chest, hear the wheeze in his breath. He smelled like death—like posies and sickness and poison. So this was him: the Tsuchikage's apprentice.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow you all up, hmm."

At the threat, Okami's posture transitioned into a more dangerous one, and then the atmosphere became heavy with intent. Tendrils of inky warning rolled off of the wolfish Anbu, traveling across the clearing to caress Sakura's cheeks; she felt his chakra crawling up the fissures of her spine, winding into her hair, tangling at the strands at the back of her neck. Like a chakra signature, the killing intent of a person had its own unique taste. Most of the time, it tasted thickly of unrestrained rage and darkness and danger, leaving the tongue dry and throat clotted with energy, and Okami's was no different, except that his was almost possessive and minty; it ripped all the breath from her lungs, amplified by the billowing presence of the rest of the team. For a moment, she was reminded of her fight, or rather, his fight against Hoshigaki Kisame.

She felt the vibration of the Tsuchikage's apprentice's tittering sneer, followed by his own lusty chakra lashing out against her team's. It was weaker than theirs', likely due to his condition, but still strong enough to suffocate her. Things were getting out of hand. She had to do something before someone did something stupid. She prayed the Gods gave her patience, because if they gave her strength, she'd kill a man.

"We were sent by the Hokage," Sakura calmly informed the young man, hoping it would stamp down his bloodlust. The uniquely pale centipede unwound part of its body to observe her again, that disgusting hiss and drawn out croaking making her lip curl into a grimace. Seeing that it hadn't lashed out at her and that its owner didn't respond, Sakura continued, "As per request of the Tsuchikage. My name is Haruno Sakura, apprentice to Lady Tsunade. I'm here to help heal Lord Tsuchikage's apprentice." She nodded towards the Anbu. "They're my escorts. We've been traveling for five days to get to you."

"Oh thank Kami!" Another voice on the other side of her breathed, however his relieved sigh went ignored.

"Oonoki-sama would never ask for help from birds like you," The dark haired kunoichi spat, narrowing her eyes as she met Sakura's growing glare.

Recognizing the slur behind the tone, Sakura sunk her teeth into the side of her cheek. "Well he did. So please, allow me to take a look at your injuries."

The kunoichi scoffed, but it was her captor who spoke. "Prove it then, Kunoichi."

Glancing sideways at the caustic woman, Sakura tsk'ed in annoyance. Her fingers were trembling now, her own chakra growing agitated with all the dark intent around her. "Do you honestly think we'd carry around a scroll with that kind of information on it? This is an unsanctioned mission, again, done as a favor for Lord Tsuchikage."

"And why would the Hokage send her precious apprentice all the way here, hmm?"

Sakura grunted, the taunt in his voice not even remotely lost to her. "Because she lost a bet. Owes him a favor." It was a calloused guess, because knowing her mentor, that was exactly what happened. She heard Okami's low admonishment—"Haruno."—but she paid him no mind, too focused on the centipede's pincers pressing into the underside of her jaw to care.

"Deidara-nii, don't trust them!"

The man ignored his teammate, moving to murmur into her ear once again, unknowingly revealing his agony with his breathing. "You have five seconds to make a believer out of me before I make a masterpiece out of you, hmm. And let me tell you, I'm not known for getting all the way to five, Pinky."

Having heard the threat, Okami's stance transitioned into something fierce, ready to strike, and his team mirrored him. They would attack whether or not Sakura was out of the way, her title and their mission be damned. Sakura closed her eyes, brows furrowed and lips drawn into a thin line; she hated doing this, but it seemed she had no choice. The longer they entertained this back and forth, the higher the chance of Deidara's condition weakening. She was surprised he was even awake, let alone able to stand and threaten her. So either he now owed the Gods a favor, or he was merely too stubborn to die.

She took one deep breath in, focusing on the lions that roared in her chest, on the thrumming of her chakra. She needed to distract him, keep him talking.

"Is that too high for you to count?" The taunt slipped out before she could restrain it. Inwardly, Sakura cursed herself for her recklessness, but was distracted by the bark of sharp laughter that emanated from this Deidara.

"Cute," He dryly chuckled. "I didn't realize the birds in Konoha had backbones. They usually snap," He made a harsh snicking noise with his throat as emphasis, "so easily, hmm."

Sakura shook her head with a smile full of glass, a mirthless huff acting as a laugh. "You've got a lot to learn about us Konoha-nin, then."

The ground groaned tiredly beneath her feet, it's flesh beginning to crack as her chakra seeped out of her. She felt her muscles twitch in response to a tickling sensation that danced along her arms. Her chakra swirled, undulating below her navel and fluttering against the lining of her stomach, rapidly winding its way up her spine and coloring her skin in a pattern that had only ever marked her once before—during her battle against Akasuna no Sasori.

It wasn't often that she resulted to intimidation via chakra. Having such an infamous, well-known team like hers, full of such fear-inducing shinobi like Mokuton no Tenzo and the Kannabi Kyoudai meant she didn't necessarily need to. She used the underestimation of others to her advantage, showing the true extent of her power when necessary and even then, Sakura knew her intent alone wasn't as provoking as Sasuke's or Naruto's or even Sai's. But she was still terrifying in her own right and when using her Yin Seal in tandem, she liked to say she was close.

Ino called it fluffing. Sakura called it being advantageous.

So when she felt the ground sink a few inches and heard the surprised curses of the Iwa-nin surrounding her, a wicked sort of satisfaction made Sakura grin to herself. And then the earth beneath her feet shattered, shards of rock blossoming from the ground like the blooming of her namesake. The markings of her seal stretched, winding up Deidara's arm which tightened around her minutely as he faltered. She surged chakra through the tendrils of her markings, coaxing it into Deidara's flesh as gently yet firmly as possible while still maintaining her presence.

Deidara grunted and made to pull away but Sakura latched onto his arm with both hands before he could. She sunk her nails into his skin more roughly than she normally would with a patient, but with men like Deidara, a little bit of roughness went a long way. She heard his accompanying teammates move to leap to his defense, but their strikes never came. She blinked, and then suddenly, Okami was so close to her, she could feel the edge of his tanto kissing her cheek as it bypassed her, resting comfortably against Deidara's neck.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Pain played upon the notes of Deidara's demand, twisting his question into a near-delirious drawl, accentuated by the quaking of his shoulders.

"Medical techniques can be applied to more than just healing," She vaguely replied whilst beginning to reign in her chakra. "Now, if you don't let me heal you, you will die. The poison is spreading every moment we wait and will spread even faster if you pass out. So if you're done wasting my time, sit the fuck down and let me do my goddamned job."

They remained rooted in place for a moment, until finally, the centipede slackened from its place around her. It unfurled from her legs and crawled the rest of the way up her body, climbing onto its owner but still close enough to reach her. Once the last leg left her body, Sakura took the acceptance for what it was and turned to finally face her captor.

She was immediately taken aback by how pale he was. His skin was absolutely ashen, devoid of all color except for the fatigue beneath his eyes and a feverish blush that was spread along the apples of his cheeks to the edge of his hairline, and only looked more muted against his blonde hair. She could visibly see the poison spreading through him in the form of dark purple veins splitting across his cheeks, even reaching into the yellowed whites of his eyes. Sakura immediately dismissed Okami's blade with the back of her hand and reached for the blonde's face, tilting his head back and gently pulling his eyelids back with her thumbs. His eyes were glossy, pupils blown so wide she could hardly make out the slate gray of his irises, and unfocused.

Sakura sucked in an astonished breath as she felt the muscles of his face pulse beneath her fingers. "How the hell are you still alive?" She breathed.

The blonde scoffed, the corner of his lip twitching into a crumpled copy of a smirk. "Us Iwa-nin are built like stone. It'll take more than," He paused, his breathing hitching and face twisting in discomfort when the cooling wave of Sakura's chakra flooded him. He cleared his throat, a motion that Sakura noted was difficult, then continued, "I-it'll take more than this to kill me, hmm."

Sakura rolled her eyes at that. Damn male pride.

Instead, she turned a sharp glimpse to the kunoichi; she was tense, nose scrunched with her grimace as she side-eyed them all. Not that Sakura could blame her. She was surrounded by less-than-friendly shinobi, with Nezumi on one side of her, his tanto positioned just under her jaw. On the other side of Deidara, the third quieter shinobi, who looked equally as ragged but at least twice their size, was in the same position with Inu; Kitsune stood between both of them with both of his hands outstretched, a pair of kunai also ready at their necks. Absently, she realized Okami hadn't moved from his place in front of Deidara, something she especially noted when she felt his shoulder brush against hers.

They looked like hell, probably felt like it too. Having weapons pointed at them wasn't going to help.

"Okami-taichou," Sakura glanced at him, but he didn't gift her the same respect. "Please stand down."

"Forgive me, Jonin Haruno, but our orders are to keep you safe," He replied, curtly.

Sakura bristled. "I understand, Taichou, but I doubt any of them have enough energy to fight against us right now." There was a collective scoff from the three Iwa-nin, and perhaps even one from her Captain, but no one dared to argue. With the easing of Okami's stance, the other three Anbu followed suit. "You need to lay down. My seal is the only thing keeping you up now. Where have you guys been staying?"

The largest in the group jerked his head back towards the treeline. "We set up camp by the ravine."

"Shion is less than a day's away. Why didn't you hunker down there?"

"The same reason you've got Anbu for an escort, hmm." Deidara gestured to Okami with the slight lifting of his chin, then uncut celestite met polished aventurine, and she understood. Being apprentices to Kage meant having neon-bright targets on their back at all times, regardless of territory or state of health, and with their colorful features, that target was painted a little larger. Any black-market bounty hunter would know who they were, so taking that into account, it probably wasn't the best idea for both of them to head into town together.

Sakura positioned Deidara at her side with an arm around his waist, and one of his around her shoulders. "Let's go."

Kamen

Shisui wouldn't say he was a judgmental person.

He didn't like to base his ideas and opinions of people on looks or upbringing, and as an Anbu, he couldn't. But he grew up in a clan where appearance and childhood were important, so without his permission, he did sometimes judge others on a surface level. He had done so with Haruno since the very beginning, after all, and admittedly, still did. He told himself he wasn't scrutinizing anyone or being biased, that he was following gut instincts and intuition.

So that was what he reiterated to himself as he eyed the three Iwa-nin before him.

There was something off about them, the Tsuchikage's apprentice especially—but he wasn't sure what. The man was very clearly on Death's door, already in the clutches of the Gods, and in the back of his mind, Shisui feared what would happen once he gave in. He would've liked to believe the blond's teammates would understand that there was nothing they could do, but he knew Iwagakure. They were shifty bastards with so much nationalistic pride, that would blame Sakura for their loss. He knew it, because this wouldn't have been the first time those sheep turned on those who tried to help.

So he was ready for them, and so was his team.

He sent his teammates to their posts, assigning them spots close enough for them to flicker back to once the mayhem started, but he remained close to Sakura—just in case.

And he waited.

He watched every little move everyone in the hastily erected camp made; every twitch, every hand movement, every fucking breath. Because he knew them. That was why his Hokage sent his squad, specifically. With three shinobi blessed with the Sharingan and one of the best specialty assassins in the village, those mountain goats stood no chance against them—Tsuchikage's apprentice be damned.

So he waited.

"My seal is already working on the rest of your injuries, but it won't do anything for the poison so I'll have to extract it manually," Haruno explained, wiping the sweat from her cheek with her shoulder. Her tone was short, not quite clipped but also not as clinical as her usual "doctor's voice". Once her hair was out of the way, she removed a scroll from her pouch and drew it open, revealing rolled up cases, and jars of herbs and bottles of ointments, and other such things. She began combining things into a motar; some sort of auburn powder and two pale green herbs, the bud of a lilac flower, then handed them to the kunoichi with the attitude. "Grind these as much as possible, then pour them into that bowl over there with some water."

The kunoichi's cheeks burnished with what Shisui assumed was irritation. "You're just a medic. Who are you to boss me around?"

Haruno whipped around, and he saw avalanches in her glare. "My seal is the only thing keeping the poison from circulating. It's localizing it, drawing it away from his organs. If I take my hands off of him now, it'll rush through his bloodstream all at once and kill him. So if that's too hard for you to do, give it to your friend," She sniped, jerking her head towards the massive man behind her. "While we're at it, if you're going to keep getting in my way, you can fuck on off. This procedure is delicate and will be painful as hell, so I don't need you bothering me every step of the way."

Had he been in his Jonin Blues, Shisui would've snickered at the way the woman's face contorted, so he settled on biting his smirk. He liked this side of Haruno, this rough, demanding one, as it paired well with the chaos that she personified. The markings on her skin hadn't yet receded and seemed to glow with her mood, and damn was it beautiful.

He had heard tales of the Byakugo no In; of the way his Hokage had used it to save Obito over twenty years ago; how it aided Haruno in her battle against Akasuna no Sasori.

It was considered the most powerful of all medical techniques, allowing the user to store a seemingly infinite amount of chakra into a secondary reserve, mastered only by Senju Tsunade and Haruno Sakura. It required the best chakra control, as it was very, very easy for the user to burn their keirakukei and destroy tenketsu, and was therefore considered an S-ranked Fuinjutsu. That tiny seal allowed its user to heal whole villages in one go, gave her the strength of an entire army—and if he were the type to believe in rumors, gave the user a bite of immortality.

And he had the honor of seeing it in action.

Witnessing the proof of her prowess, feeling the danger and the destruction in her chakra just rolling and crashing into him like waves—it was a sensation he wouldn't soon forget.

The kunoichi was sputtering, indignant and looking as if she would throw the materials in her hand to the ground. Deidara, as exhausted as he was, shouted at her, "Shut up, Kurotsuchi!"

And she did.

"Okay, I'm going to begin extracting as much of the poison as possible," Haruno began. She was kneeling over the Tsuchikage's apprentice, her small hands lingering over his naked chest. "It's going to hurt like hell, Deidara-san."

A huff. "Just get it over with, hmm!"

She waved the large, unnamed Iwa-nin over. "You're going to have to hold him down. This procedure is extremely painful, so he'll either fight you or pass out, but that's normal." Once the man situated himself over his teammate's side, trapping one of the blond's shoulders and an arm with his hands, Haruno looked up at Kurotsuchi. "Is that mixture done?"

"Here."

She placed the bowl beside Haruno, who took a deep breath. "You'll have to hold him down, too, just in case."

Shisui moved closer before he could think about it, led by his own curiosity. Manual poison extraction was indeed incredibly painful, but more than that, it was dangerous, especially considering the condition of her current patient. He had heard the screams that resulted from the procedure a few times before, but he had never seen it firsthand. So it was with almost childlike fascination, that Shisui watched as Haruno placed one hand inside the liquid Kurotsuchi made. When he removed her hand, a bubble similar in color to her chakra formed, and she carefully led it to Deidara's side.

"Alright," Sakura breathed. "One...two..."

Deidara's shoulders shot up from the ground, his body twisting as an agonized scream was torn from his already raw throat. Haruno yelled at the Iwa-nin to hold him down, and once he had been pinned, she pushed the bubble into his chest again. That kunoichi looked like she was biting back a snarl, her large companion fighting his own protest, but the two kept Deidara down. Haruno worked through it all—the thrashing, the cursing, the screaming—without so much as a flinch. He could see steam rising from the many gashes that gaped along Deidara's flesh. The skin knitted back together almost seamlessly, its sallow glisten darkening into something warmer, while what were once garish splotches of indigo rapidly faded into shades of pink.

The control she had to have, to be able to mend skin and internal organs, while simultaneously manipulating poison in the bloodstream was amazing! She was in control here, powerful in a way completely different than she was on the battlefield, but it was still every bit as incredible to him.

And so Shisui watched.

Author's Note

And so ends another chapter.

The mission is nearly over, we got to see another Akatsuki member in an Akatsuki-free world, and Shisui is catching more feels than a first baseman at a baseball game. So you know what that means! The moment we've all been waiting for!

I just want to thank you guys for being so amazing and supportive and awesome. Seriously, if it weren't for your continued support, I probably would've given up writing years ago and would've never even posted this. So thank you guys so, so much. I love you all!

Also before I go, Kannabi Kyoudai means "Brothers that Gods Do Not Help", and is a reference to the Kannabi Bridge, that Team Minato destroyed way back when. So Obito and Kakashi's tag team name that's known across the nations is Kannabi Kyoudai.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next episode! You better get prepared because it's gonna be one hell of a ride!