Chapter Six
For the umpteenth time, Sakura raised her fist only to lower it again before she could knock. It seemed she had found herself stuck in a neverending loop of uncertainty as she steeled her nerves only to lose them once more as she forced her body into motion. She was only too aware she'd been standing on her teammate's front steps long enough for everyone within the household to sense her chakra and begin to wonder just what the hell she was doing.
A deep sigh pressed out her nose.
What she was doing was being a coward. She could readily admit that, but in all honesty she would rather be stuck in a sixteen-hour surgery than finally confront Sasuke; because the truth was she had been avoiding her teammate for so long that she didn't know what to expect from him anymore. Annoyance was a given – Sasuke was always annoyed – but it was his other sentiments towards her that gave her pause.
"Are you just going to stand there all day or what?"
Sakura jumped. She spun on her heels to find an unimpressed Sasuke on the steps below her, flushed and sweating after what she could only assume was a recent brawl with Naruto. Automatically her eyes wandered over his inherited aristocratic features and broad shoulders before sweeping over the exposed skin on his muscular arms and legs. Upon finding him mostly unscathed with the exception of a few bumps and bruises that came with sparring, her gaze returned to his.
"I was considering it."
Sasuke merely cocked a brow. "No you weren't."
"Fine, maybe I was going to run away," she admitted sheepishly.
Sasuke sighed out his nose before he climbed the few steps up his family porch to stand out of the sun but he gave no further hint to his mood. Not that he really needed to. She knew her teammate well enough to know his scuffle with Naruto had not improved his temper.
"Why are you here, Sakura?"
"Isn't it customary to apologize after nearly flattening your teammate?"
Sasuke's frown deepened. "Are you trying to apologize or insult me?"
"Perhaps a little bit of both," she said with a small smile but it quickly faded.
Sasuke was still staring at her, his expression cool and his gaze hard like he was expecting more from her. It was that exact look that had made her avoid him for so long; like she owed him – as if he had never gone too far in a sparring match before. But she wasn't here to trivialize her actions by pointing out Sasuke's own past mistakes.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "It was an accident and I…" She trailed off as her words escaped her. "I'm sorry, Sasuke."
"Sakura, what the hell happened?" he asked. His voice wasn't accusatory, merely a mix of impatience and confusion. "You keep saying it was an accident, but you've never slipped up like that before; you don't make mistakes."
Guilt twinged in her chest, and she crossed her arms and leaned back against the porch railing as she avoided his intense gaze. She had no intention of explaining herself to her teammate but she wouldn't lie to him either. He deserved at least that much.
"You're right," she finally said. "I don't slip up and I don't make mistakes when it comes to my chakra. But what happened was personal and I'm not comfortable talking about it."
She expected Sasuke to become annoyed and demand an answer, but instead his expression softened as concern reflected back in his dark eyes. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
The words slipped out of her mouth easily, their shape so familiar on her tongue, and she flashed him a placating smile. They both knew she was lying but Sasuke didn't press and eventually she pushed herself off the railing as she readied herself to leave. "Anyway, I have to get to the hospital. I'm covering part of Shizune's shift today and I need to get going before I'm late."
Before she could step off the porch, Sasuke's fingers slipped around her elbow, effectively halting her escape as he slowly spun her back around to face him. His gaze was a little too unwavering, a little too piercing as he studied her. "If something were wrong, you would tell us, right?"
His seriousness stunned her. Her actions must have really troubled him for her to be on the receiving end of a tone that held such disquiet from the normally passive male, and she flashed him another smile, this one warmer and more sincere. "I'm fine, Sasuke." She observed his sunburned nose again and couldn't stop herself from placing her fingertips against the overheated skin as chakra briefly flared to life in her hand. "You, on the other hand, need to start wearing sunscreen."
Just as she expected, Sasuke rolled his eyes as he released his grasp on her. "Yes, Okaa-san."
She grinned and dropped her hand as the redness across the bridge of his nose vanished before she finally stepped off the porch and into the summer heat. With a promise to see him tomorrow for lunch, she finally left the Uchiha compound and journeyed through the busy streets of Konoha towards the hospital.
Sakura moved with a bit of urgency in her step, knowing she had stretched her time out too thin by hesitating in front of her teammate's house for too long. She was glad to have finally talked with Sasuke and to have dissolved the knot of stress that had been sitting in the pit of her stomach for so long, but she couldn't be late today; Shizune was waiting for her.
The cooler air hit her the moment she stepped through the doors of the large building and she breathed a sigh of relief as it chased away the heat from her skin. With a friendly greeting to the nurses at the front desk, Sakura continued towards the elevator and took the first available lift to her floor.
Just as she expected, Shizune was behind their shared desk with a pile of charts stacked before her as she scribbled her notes down furiously. Her other hand was threaded stressfully through her dark hair, giving Sakura the impression that the things she had planned to finish that day had been pushed aside for more important matters.
"That busy?" Sakura asked.
Shizune looked up abruptly and physically slumped in relief at the sight of her. "You have no idea," she muttered. "I need to get these charts done, but I'm supposed to be meeting Genma-," she glanced at the clock, "-five minutes ago and I still have another hour's worth of work to do."
"Just leave it; I'll get to it," Sakura waved her off as she approached the desk to flip open the closest folder.
"I'm not going to dump my work on you."
"Shizune, you've been planning this date with Genma for like a week. If you cancel on him, who do you think he's going to blame?" she asked. "Me."
An amused smile flitted across the older woman's face. "He wouldn't blame you."
"Well, he'd blame you and seeing as the work you have left to do can be done by me, it would in fact be my fault and I refuse to be blamed for something that I could prevent. So give me the damn chart and go."
Sakura held out her hand expectantly and with an exaggerated sigh, the dark-haired woman finally relented and passed along the file she had fervently been working on. "Thanks, Sakura. I owe you."
"Yeah, yeah," she waved her off as her attention turned to scanning through the chart.
In the background, she heard Shizune file away the rest of her documents and shrug off her lab coat before she left the office with a wish of a quiet night. The room became silent with the other medic's absence, but it wasn't unwelcome as Sakura took the moment of solitude to finish reading the patient's chart before moving onto the rest of the sizable pile. It appeared that Shizune had left her quite the workload between checking on patients' post-operations and ensuring the surgeries for the following day were adequately staffed by their residents. She knew it most definitely would not be a slow day as she organized her charts in order of urgency.
Sakura was in the middle of reading her last chart when a presence suddenly tickled her awareness. She turned towards the doorway expectantly as a subtle smile spread across her face. "Ryota, I thought your mother said not to leave your hospital room without her."
The little boy she had come to see almost daily merely shrugged. "She left to get my sister and I was bored."
Resting one hand on her hip, Sakura gave him a firm look at she did her best to bite back her smile. "You know better than to disobey your mom. You know she gets scared when you wander the halls alone."
"But I'm not alone. I'm with you!"
"Ryota," she warned lightly.
"Please," he begged. "I hate my room. There's nothing to do."
Sakura stern stare didn't faze him as he continued to pout at her with his wide eyes and childish frown until her resolve weakened and finally cracked. "Fine. You can come with me to do my post-ops, but then you have to go straight back to your room before your mother finds out that you've been gone."
He punched the air in victory. "Yes!"
"But," she quickly added, "you have to follow all of my orders. A good ninja always follows all orders so if I tell you to leave the room, you leave it and wait outside for me; if I tell you to not ask any questions, you stay quiet, okay?"
He nodded vigorously, excitement radiating off of him now that he knew she wasn't going to walk him straight back to his room. His energy was infectious and Sakura found herself biting back her laughter as he bounded up to her, thrilled to see other parts of the hospital than what he saw during his routine tests and procedures.
Without further delay, Sakura collected the rest of Shizune's charts before she made her way to the surgical floor below with Ryota energetically bouncing at her side. Apparently she was not the only one entertained by the boy's spirit for Oyone grin upon their arrival at the nurses' station. "You have a helper today, Sakura-san?"
Before she could answer, Ryota nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! We're going to see the post-pop people."
"They're post-op, Ryota," Sakura corrected, her voice light with humor. "They're not soda."
"Post-op," he repeated.
Oyone flashed her an amused grin before she held her hands out. "These are up-to-date?"
Sakura passed her the completed charts. "Yes, Shizune finished these ones before she left for the evening," she replied. "I still need to see these other patients, but I'll make sure to get their charts back to you soon."
Her head nurse merely nodded before she smiled down at the young child. "Have fun."
For the next few hours, Sakura made her rounds, checking on patients and ensuring they were all doing well in the wake of their operations. A few needed dressing changes and new IV lines put in, but she called in a nurse each time to do the procedures to keep Ryota's observant eyes from witnessing anything that may upset him.
For being so sick, he still had the same energy and enthusiasm as any other young child and she had to remind him to slow down a half dozen times; however as Sakura neared finishing her patient checks, she began to notice that Ryota was beginning to drag behind. One look at him and she knew all of the walking around and excitement had drained him of his energy and so she passed her remaining charts to another experienced surgeon before she walked the young boy back to his room and helped him into bed. She knew he had to have been exhausted when he curled up under the hospital sheets without complaint.
Before she could leave, she heard him call her name: "Sakura, can you stay with me for a little while? Just until my okaa-san returns?"
With a faint smile, Sakura nodded and quietly lowered herself into the chair next to his bed. "Of course. You go to sleep and when you wake up, your mother will be here."
He nodded sleepily before he closed his eyes and drifted off.
For a while, Sakura merely watched him. She studied the rise and fall of his chest while listening to the sound of his soft breaths. It made her wonder how such a sick child could still seem so relatively normal, but then again children were surprisingly resilient compared to adults when it came to illness.
Redirecting her thoughts before they could travel down a darker path, Sakura reached for the chart of the last patient they had visited into her lap and flipped it open. She set to work updating it, using the lull in medical emergencies to get caught up on her work. The time ticked by slowly, but she didn't complain, knowing the quiet wouldn't last for long. When the door to Ryota's room opened again, she looked up expectantly.
"Sorry to interrupt, Sakura-san," Oyone apologized, "but Hatake-san is waiting for you in your office."
"Kakashi?" she repeated. Her ex-sensei hardly ever came to the hospital, especially if it was for treatment and her expression tightened in confusion. "Thanks for letting me know. Can you take this chart back to the desk for me?"
The head nurse accepted her small stack as they exited the door and they bid one another a calm night before Sakura returned to the elevator. The hallway was almost entirely empty when she stepped out onto her floor. She passed a nurse on her way towards her office, but they merely exchanged polite nods before both women continued towards their destinations.
Mentally, Sakura contemplated the reasons behind Kakashi's visit. It was notoriously known that all shinobi hated hospitals but her ex-sensei was probably the worst when it came to seeking treatment. It made her wonder if there was something he had to discuss with her, and if so, what it was that would be so important he would rather come see her in her office than wait for her to get off shift.
Quickening her pace, Sakura rounded the corner. She passed her and Shizune's lab as she continued down the hall and in her state of distraction, it took her a few seconds to realize that where her lab should have been vacant, two men stood inside.
Slowing to a stop, Sakura carefully backpedaled until she stood outside the door. Through the glass, she watched as they rifled through the cabinets and medical refrigerators, and though they were both wearing surgical scrubs, Sakura didn't recognize either of them. It wasn't that uncommon as Konoha's hospital was large and she didn't know every person employed, but it was unusual for someone to be in her personal lab without her or Shizune's permission, and she frowned contemplatively.
"Can I help you find something?" Sakura asked upon entering the room.
Both men swiveled their heads towards her abruptly. Their expressions held no discernible emotion but the surgeon closest to her regarded her politely, his smile straining across his face tightly as if the muscles around his mouth were being stretched into a shape they weren't used to. "We were told we could find equipment here."
"There's no surgical equipment here. I'm afraid you're in the wrong place."
"Our apologies. We must have taken a wrong turn," he smiled again.
There was something about the look that was unsettling and as if an alarm had been pulled, all of Sakura's shinobi senses screamed at her at once. Outwardly, she remained calm but her guard rose as she stepped towards the nearest cupboard to close the door they had left open in their haste.
"Right," she murmured as she regarded the males, noting their lack of any form of identification. Even her trauma team had badges or key cards; these men had neither and the suspicion that had taken root suddenly flourished. "I'm sorry, which department do you work for again?"
"Surgical," the same man said.
"Which is on which floor?"
Silence met her challenge and every misgiving she held was suddenly amplified as the tension in the air thickened. She wasn't given a moment to think, only react as the man closest lunged at her, a kunai slicing through the air where her throat had been only a fraction of a second before. Her shinobi training kicked in and she ducked under his arm before she pushed chakra into her fingers as she squeezed his wrist, causing the bones to break with a sickening snap. A low, pained groan sounded in his throat as he dropped the weapon, but the victory was short lived as he used her firm grasp as leverage to send a hard knee aimed towards her ribs.
She released his arm as she jumped back, but he followed her, using the small space within the lab to attempt to trap her against the wall. She got the feeling he knew who she was and was aware she wasn't willing to use the full extent of her chakra, afraid that she may cause structural damages to the building, and he used that to his advantage as he boxed her into the corner, moving swiftly to avoid her strong fingers.
However, Sakura held her own as they fought back and forth. The unknown male pulled another kunai as he attempted to deal a deadly blow, but she blocked and dodged swipe after swipe, suffering a few lacerations on her forearms as she defended herself. She used all of her training, all of her knowledge to survive as she waited for her opening.
As to what they wanted, she hadn't the faintest idea – it wasn't as if she or Shizune kept classified materials in their lab – but whatever it was, these men were willing to kill for it and she was the only one standing in their way.
Another sharp sting lanced through her arm as the kunai nicked her again. It had been aiming for her ribs, and she saw her opening as she blocked and forced the weapon away. With quick movements, Sakura twisted under his arm, grabbing his forgotten kunai from the floor as she used his broken wrist to her advantage. She twisted the injured limb in her grasp until he was kneeling on the floor away from her and she was about to plunge the weapon into the back of his skull when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown backwards.
Her back collided painfully with the glass cabinet across the room, causing it to shatter upon impact, but Sakura recovered quickly and looked up just as the second male came at her, his fist aiming for her temple. She ducked, resulting in a grunt from him as his knuckles connected with the broken shards of glass before she jabbed a chakra-laced elbow into the side of his knee. The joint audibly shattered and he dropped to the floor as she jumped on him, trapping his forearm under her foot as she picked up a piece of broken glass and used it to slit his throat.
Blood immediately began to pool around him and he withered weakly just as a fist connected with her jaw. The force of it threw her backwards and her lower back slammed against the counter before a hand wrapped around her neck and pinned her to the wall.
The air caught in her chest and she clawed at her attacker's arm but his grip was unwavering as he forced more pressure on her throat. Her vision tunneled as a faint ringing buzzed in her ears that grew louder the longer her airway remained blocked. She could feel herself fighting, feel herself kicking and scratching, but none of her hits seemed to be landing. She reached for her chakra, tried to channel it into her hands but her lack of oxygen was making it impossible for her to focus.
Her legs and arms grew heavy, and the pain in her chest was beginning to grow unbearable, and just as she thought her head might explode, her fingers grasped something firm, something left on the counter next to her, and she swung blindly at her assailant. The object made contact with the side of his head and shattered, but Sakura struck him again and again until the fingers wrapped around her neck fell away and she collapsed to the floor limply.
The pressure in her chest disappeared and she coughed hoarsely as her body fought for breath. In the back of her mind she knew she had to move, she had to protect herself, but her movements were sluggish. After blinking hard to clear the spots from her vision, her eyes landed a discarded kunai some feet away and she dragged herself to it feebly, her fingers wrapping around the handle just as her attacker began to stir.
Suddenly the door to the lab sprang open and Sakura heard the distinctive crack of a neck being broken before a hand fell to her shoulder. "Sakura, are you alright? Can you hear me?"
Heavy relief swept through her at Kakashi's voice and she slumped against the tiled floor as relief overcame her. "Kashi…"
Glass crunched under boots as another hurriedly entered the room but Kakashi quickly ordered them to retrieve the Hokage before they sprinted out again. In the heavy stillness that followed, she heard Kakashi kneel beside her.
Exhaustion tugged at Sakura fiercely as her adrenaline crash hit her like another blow but eventually she forced her body to move. Kakashi mostly helped her sit up, his easy strength pulling her upright until she could lean back against the counter she had nearly been strangled against only moments before. Her entire body throbbed but it was the sharp sting in her palm that demanded the most attention and her gaze dropped to find the beaker she had used against her assailant had shattered and embedded deep into her skin in pieces. A low curse passed her lips but there was nothing she could do about it now. She'd need help extracting the foreign object before it could be healed.
Cradling her hand in her lap, Sakura finally surveyed her lab. It lay in ruins in the wake of her brief fight for life. Glass from the research cabinets were spread across the room, the larger slices reflecting the overhead lights as blood from the man she had killed seeped into the cracks of the tiles like a crimson spiderweb. The body of the second shinobi lay only a few feet away, face down.
Still somewhat dazed, Sakura pulled her gaze from them to peer up at Kakashi. His visible eye was intense and hardened with worry. "Are you alright?" he asked again.
"I think so." Her voice was gravelly, the words scraping against her throat as they came out. She tried to swallow the sting away but it lingered in her throat and she winced as she added, "They were looking for something."
"Do you know what?"
Sakura shook her head. "No. There's nothing here but experiments and…" She trailed off as a thought occurred to her that she hadn't considered before. "And the prototype antidote that Shizune and I have been working on."
"Antidote? For the toxin Itachi and Genma were poisoned with?" Kakashi asked. Upon her nod, his eye narrowed thoughtfully. "Is that the only thing they could have wanted?"
"It's the only thing here that has anything of value to us. But why take it? None of our shinobi have been attacked in months."
He frowned beneath his mask. "Perhaps those responsible for the ambush on our ANBU are planning to mount a larger attack."
"You think the two ambushes in Kusa were targeted?"
Kakashi pointedly eyed the lab before slipping his gaze back to her. "You don't?"
She frowned as she saw his point.
Before today, Sakura would have considered the possibility of it being coincidence. Rogue ninja weren't known to stay in one place for too long but it wasn't unheard of, and though however unlikely, it was still probable that Itachi had unintentionally run into the same group twice. But all of that changed with this attack. If these men had been after the antidote - which was becoming all the more likely the longer she thought on it - then there was no denying the incidents hadn't been by happenchance.
After a brief pause, Sakura eventually shook her head as answer to Kakashi question. "Even if they are organizing an attack, we only have a small vial of an antidote that barely works. What would be the point in stealing it?"
"You assume they know that," he said as he reached up to pull a small sliver of glass from her hair before letting it fall to the ground with a soft tinkle. "It's possible that they are under the assumption that it's already been perfected."
In either case, none of the possible reasons sat well with her but Sakura didn't comment further as the weight of the situation slowly began to sink in. She had nearly been killed inside the walls of her own hospital. The realization was just as shocking as it was terrifying. She wanted to express her gratitude towards Kakashi for having her back when she truly needed it but emotion clogged her throat and she leaned towards her ex-teacher until her temple rested against the rough fabric of his Jounin vest.
It bit into her skin but she took comfort in his familiarity and her eyes slipped closed tiredly as he cradled her face to his solid form. Her ex-teacher had always been a pillar of strength and now was no different as openly lowered her guard just long enough to collect herself.
For a few moments, they simply sat until the hurried click of heels sounded outside the door. Sakura picked her head up just as Tsunade appeared in the doorway, her expression fierce and her eyes observant. She silently regarded the two dead shinobi before her hazel orbs landed on Sakura. There was a slight pinch between the older woman's brows as her eyes lingered on the bruising on her throat and the glass puncturing the palm of her hand.
"Bring me a debriding kit," Tsunade ordered the medic standing a pace behind her. The woman sprang into action immediately before the Hokage stepped into the room. "Explain. Now."
##
A light breeze stirred the woods as Itachi and Shisui trekked towards the village. Through the canopy leaves of the tall oaks surrounding their home, an unfathomable number of stars peered down upon them from where they resided in the daunting blackness above. With only the crescent moon to guide their passage, the pair were forced to rely on their other senses to navigate through the night.
Out of habit, Itachi picked his head up to gaze upon the stone faces of the Hokage's Monument as they approached the village gates but under the light of the new moon, they were cast into harsh shadow and were nothing more than a black silhouette against the darkness. Beside him, Shisui yawned again, a sound Itachi had heard many times over since the sun had set hours before, but he was far too tired to complain of it; he himself wanted nothing more than to drop his gear into a pile and climb into bed.
His feet ached. They had been travelling for nearly three days, combing for any leads as to Izumi's whereabouts and all they had found was a piece of bloody clothing and not much else. The pair had combed the area for any other clues until their eyes throbbed in their sockets and and their heads pounded behind their temples. Itachi had wanted to continue scouring the outskirts of the little village, but he knew Shisui was right to call off the search. If the cloth had belonged to Izumi, her assailants had not left behind anything else for them to find.
Passing the threshold of the village gates, Itachi blinked himself out of his musings and drew to an abrupt halt in sync with Shisui as the gate guards greeted them with kunai and katana. "Identify yourselves."
He frowned at the less than friendly welcome, noting that instead of two guards there were now five, and he slowly removed his mask to reveal his identity. "Uchiha Itachi, Captain of ANBU Team Six and Uchiha Heir."
"Uchiha Shisui, Second-in-Command of ANBU Team Six and infamous village flirt."
Itachi suppressed his sigh as one of the guards lowered his weapon to flip through a clipboard. The rest remained on guard. "I have no record of you leaving on a mission."
"Check your records again," he countered as ice crept into his tone. He was fatigued and was not in the mood for his authority to be questioned by a Jounin. "We were dispatched on a classified mission three days prior. You should have documentation of our departure."
The man eyed him for one tense moment before he flipped through the clipboard again and eventually stopped to read an entry. Itachi saw the moment his shoulders relaxed and he gave a silent signal for the other guards to stand down as he finally lowered the paperwork. "Sorry for the hostile greeting. There was an incident earlier today."
"Incident?" Shisui repeated as he straightened. "What kind of incident?"
"There was an attack within the village," he explained. "The Hokage has ordered heightened security until a thorough investigation has been completed."
Shisui hummed thoughtfully, but said nothing more before the two Uchiha descendants excused themselves from the gate to venture further into the village. All thoughts of returning home and crashing into bed fell forgotten as the pair took the quickest route towards the Hokage Tower. It didn't escape Itachi's notice that there were more patrols out than normal and his brows furrowed as he considered what may have happened to prompt the Hokage to order such an increase in security.
His first thought was the Kyuubi, but given the amount of time that had passed since the village's last invasion for the Jinchuuriki, he doubted there had been an incident involving the Uzumaki kid. He then weighed the possibility of there having been a large scale attack within the village, but given the lack of destruction and smell of blood in the air, it seemed unlikely.
The only other option was an altercation with enemy nin. It had been a number of months since his last run-in with the unidentified shinobi in Kusa but it was the only attack in recent months of any importance. It was possible they had been lying low to give themselves time to slip into the village, but Itachi wouldn't be able to confirm his theory until they spoke with the Hokage.
Upon reaching the tower, both he and Shisui simultaneously pushed chakra into their feet before they launched themselves towards the window the Hokage always left open. Upon entering, they found themselves faced with a very unhappy leader.
An empty sake bottle lay on its side atop the Hokage's desk, something Itachi only noticed because it was the only thing that remained. The documents and files that were normally stacked high upon the wood were swept to the floor in a fit of rage as Tsunade wore a line in the rug in front of the desk.
Before her stood Hatake Kakashi, Mitarashi Anko, and Nara Shikamaru; all valued and trusted members of her counsel. Shikamaru and Kakashi for once looked somewhat attentive as they observed their agitated Hokage while Anko flickered a quick glance towards them, her expression briefly relaying that they were all in for a very long night.
"I want a report on every foreigner who entered and exited this village within the last month, and I want it yesterday! If we have any leaks within this village, I want names. And I want an update on that scouting party."
"I will get ANBU on it immediately," Anko nodded. "And the scouting party completed their search of the hospital. They found no other victims or disturbances."
"Good," the blonde woman said, her temper cooling minutely. "Nara, I'm putting you in charge of organizing patrols. This village is to remain on high alert until further notice. Hatake, find out who these men were and how they got their information. I want Shizune's report as soon as she has finished her autopsy."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"And put a guard on those bodies, twenty-four hours. I do not want someone sneaking off with them before we have attempted to identify these bastards."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed!"
The shinobi across from her bowed respectfully before they filed out of the room - or in Kakashi's case, disappeared in a poof of smoke. As soon as they were gone, Tsunade rounded abruptly. "And you two! Where the hell have you been?"
Automatically Itachi bowed. "We were needed outside the village for a few days on clan business."
"How convenient," the Hokage grumbled unhappily.
The pair moved to stand before her desk as she righted her overturned chair and sat down heavily. She sighed out her nose and rested her chin on her fist, her expression troubled and angry.
"There was a breach of security," Shisui ventured eventually.
The Hokage raised her hazel eyes to observe them. "Yes," she nodded. "Two men were found within the hospital some hours ago. When Sakura confronted them, they attacked."
"Sakura?" Shisui repeated sharply. "Is she okay? Was she injured?"
"Of course, she's okay," Tsunade said fiercely. "She's my apprentice."
There was a note of pride in her voice, but it went unheeded as Itachi realized his own muscles had stiffened at the news Sakura had been involved in the incident. He forced his body to relax, but his mind continued to reel as he filed through several possible scenarios, each ranging from minor to more severe injuries she may have sustained.
It was well known Haruno Sakura was capable of handling herself against even formidable opponents – she had been the first shinobi within the village to kill a member of Akatsuki – but her fighting style was highly destructive and she would be unwilling to use the full extent of her abilities within the walls of the hospital in fear of bringing harm to her patients. Just because she wasn't currently suffering from any major traumas, it didn't mean she hadn't received medical attention.
"Why was the hospital targeted?" Itachi asked, his voice not betraying his tension.
"We believe it was an attempt to steal the antitoxin Sakura and Shizune were working on. We don't have any concrete information at this time, but we strongly suspect it was the same shinobi responsible for yours and Shiranui's poisoning."
"They have moved into the village then," Itachi said.
The older woman nodded before Shisui spoke, "Why steal the antidote?"
"That is still unknown. There are several theories but with both men dead, it makes interrogation a little more difficult," she said, her voice laced with cool sarcasm. "It's possible they are incapable of creating their own antidote and were planning to replicate ours, or they were intending to steal it in the hopes that we would be unable to create another and max-produce it before they launch a more wide-scale assault."
"Hence the attack in the hospital," Shisui murmured.
"Have Haruno-san and Shizune-san successfully produced an antidote?" Itachi asked.
At the time of Genma's poisoning, he had been under the impression the two women had created an agent that was able to slow the toxin but not eliminate it within the body. If they had in fact already created one, now would be the time for ANBU to return to Kusa to further investigate.
However, Tsunade's frown answered his question long before she spoke. "They have not, and it is likely this enemy is unaware of that fact so we are keeping that information to ourselves for now."
Itachi and Shisui nodded obediently at the indirect order.
Then a dark expression passed over their leaders features and she expelled an agitated sigh. "Up until now, I have been lax on the investigation surrounding the ambushes on you and your team," she said as she met Itachi's gaze evenly. "That changes now. We are still unsure who these shinobi are or what vendetta they hold against our village, but I can guarantee an attack is coming. I would prefer to be on the offensive, but if we are unable to prepare in time, we need to be ready."
As the Hokage, Itachi didn't expect her to openly admit her mistake, but he heard her apology nonetheless, and he nodded as he accepted her orders. "What do you need from us?"
"Go find Hatake and help him with his investigation. I don't care if you have to question every person within this village. I want answers," she demanded. "If they were planning to steal the antidote, it is likely they intend to use the poison as their primary weapon against us, which means we may be running out of time. Find out if there are any more undercover agents hidden amongst us."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
The pair bowed before they exited the office, leaving the Hokage to her privacy. Outside, the night was silent but there was a suspense in the air as the possibility of war hung over their heads. It left a bad taste in Itachi's mouth and an unsettling feeling in his veins. It was not the first war he had witnessed, but before they had known their enemy. Right now, they were merely preparing for the possibility of shadows.
Without pause, Shisui set off towards the ANBU Headquarters. Itachi followed at a slower pace, his mind distance as he replayed his previous conversation with Sakura. It had ended less than pleasantly and news of her attack within the very hospital they had last spoken left him with a heaviness in the back of his mind.
"Itachi?"
Blinking, he realized he had fallen into his thoughts for some minutes and Shisui was looking at him expectantly, obviously waiting for a response to something he had said. He considered his next actions for only a fraction of a second. "There is something I must see to. I will meet you at Headquarters."
Shisui's brow arched in surprise but he was used to Itachi's strange habits and didn't question him. "All right. I'll catch you up on Hatake's progress later then."
With a faint nod, Itachi turned to head away from the heart of the village.
He was surprised with himself to learn that it was guilt that propelled him so ardently towards her residence now. She had helped him a number of times in the recent past and he had been unavailable when she needed it most. He was aware it was highly unlikely his presence within the village at the time would have changed events, but the feeling still remained.
Only after he was had knocked and was waiting for an answer that he realized he was not entirely sure what he was to say to her. It suddenly occurred to him that this visit was of a more personal than professional matter, but before he could reconsider, the door swung open to reveal not Sakura but another woman her age with a shock of blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
They narrowed at him. "Another ANBU? Can't you guys wait until morning to ask any more questions? I'm sure whatever info you need can wait."
Itachi bowed his head politely. "I apologize for the latest of the hour."
"Yeah yeah, I can see you're really sorry to be here-."
"Ino, who is it?" He heard the soft pad of bare feet against the wood a moment before Sakura appeared around the corner. Her eyes widened in surprise upon sight of him. "Itachi?"
The use of his given name was not lost on him, but he took no offense. Instead, he eyed her wet hair and evening attire as she approached the doorway, and he suddenly felt much like an intruder as Ino continued to eye him unpleasantly. That being said, it did bring him some relief to see she appeared healthy and unscathed. He had unintentionally been expecting the worst.
"Haruno-san," he greeted. "I hope I am not intruding."
"No," she shook her head. The fierce blonde glanced at her sharply and appeared ready to argue but Sakura continued before she could, "It's fine. You can go, Ino. Don't worry."
She didn't look convinced. "Are you sure you're all right? I don't mind spending the night."
"Ino, I don't need you to babysit me," Sakura said firmly, but her smile lightened her words.
Ino pursed her lips before she eventually relented. "Fine. But promise you'll send for me if you need anything, okay?"
"I will, I promise."
She turned back to him then, her blue eyes narrowing into hard sapphires. "Don't stay too long."
"Go home, Ino," Sakura sighed.
"I'm going, I'm going. Night, forehead."
"Night, Pig," Sakura returned benevolently.
Then the blonde woman descend the few steps to the entryway before she continued down the road. Only once she was on her way did Itachi return his gaze to Sakura, his brow arched curiously.
She merely shrugged at his silent question. "Old joke." Then she stepped aside as she gestured her invitation. "Come in?"
Without hesitation, Itachi stepped inside.
It had been some weeks since the last time he had set foot in Sakura's apartment, back then coughing up blood and struggling to breathe after he had pushed his body to its limits. He could still recall awaking the next morning to find her curled up beside him amongst her bloodstained sheets, utterly exhausted and dead to the world. She hadn't even stirred when he had moved her, telling just how complex and how much concentration had been required to mend the damage in his lungs.
At the time, he had been too preoccupied to observe his surroundings but as he followed her into the living room, he noticed how personal and lived in her tiny apartment was; a complete opposite to his own traditional family home.
Pictures of her friends and teammates hung on the walls and decorated the spaces on the shelves between her medical books. There was a well-used, handmade blanket draped haphazardly across the back of the very same couch he had settled her on that morning some weeks ago, while a steaming mug of tea and a book rested on the coffee table before it. To his observant gaze, it was only too apparent he had interrupted her attempt at a stress-free night, even if she was too kind to say so.
"How did your mission go?" Sakura asked, drawing his attention. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I am well, thank you," he replied as he turned to face her. "I heeded your warning and took precautions to avoid overstraining myself."
"No coughing up blood or difficulty breathing?"
He shook his head. "I have had some coughing and slight chest pain but it is minimal at best. My mission was far less physically taxing than my previous."
A small smile softened her features. "Good, I'm glad to hear that. I'll likely be busy for the next few days but I would like to do another assessment soon if you can meet with me."
"Of course," Itachi nodded. "I appreciate your help."
She smiled at him a moment longer but it slowly lost its vibrancy and she looked away as shame washed over her expression. "I...wanted to say sorry for what I said to you before you left. I know that I can't possibly understand the pressures you face between the village and your clan, and I had no right to say anything. I hope you can forgive me."
The suddenness of her apology took him aback, and he blinked in visible surprise before he shook his head. "You need not trouble yourself with that. I understand that your primary concern is my health and I have been making your work difficult for you."
"Yes, you have. But even so," she agreed. There was a faint smile pulling on her lips and the corner of Itachi's own mouth twitched at her mild teasing, but Sakura missed it as she bent down to retrieve her tea. "So what brought you by tonight then?"
"The incident that occurred this afternoon has come to my attention."
Sakura paused mid-sip as her eyes flickered back to his. "You heard about the attack?"
"The village is one step below complete lock down," he said patiently. "I heard about it."
A loaded sigh escaped her. "I told Tsunade-shishou that it's unnecessary. If there are any other spies within the village, they've likely gone back underground. They wouldn't be so bold as to make another attempt again so soon. Especially not with ANBU guarding the hospital like it's a prison."
Displeasure colored her tone, as if the assault had been more of an inconvenience than a life-and-death position, and the pride that had reflected in the Hokage's voice as she spoke of her student took on a whole new meaning.
The woman standing before him was strong, and not just in the physical sense. She could break boulders with her fists and flip shinobi twice her size without blinking, but she could also keep a cool head under pressure and work through intense situations. He had witnessed it before when Genma had been injured. It was no wonder the Hokage regarded the young kunoichi so highly, and it suddenly occurred to Itachi that perhaps Tsunade's anger hadn't been with the attack itself, but rather that her prized student had been on the receiving end of the assault.
"The Hokage is simply taking precautions," Itachi reasoned. "An attack within the village is a severe breach of security. She will want to ensure the safety of her people before lowering the guard once more."
Sakura frowned, still not happy, but she didn't voice any complaints before she sipped her tea again.
Itachi observed her again as he traced the lines of her cheekbones and jaw before traveling down the slender length of her throat and to her shoulders. Her skin was smooth and flawless, but Itachi knew better than most that not all wounds could be seen with the naked eye.
"Are you injured?"
Blinking herself out of her thoughts, Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm okay." Then her expression turned curious. "Is that why you came here?"
"Your safety is of the utmost importance now that the threat of war has arrived upon our doorstep. Our shinobi will be left defenseless without a means to defend against the poison these enemy nin have created, and with you injured, it would further delay an antidote."
Sakura stared, mildly perplexed, as she processed his answer. She seemed unsure how to respond and Itachi realized a moment too late that his comment had sounded less like a compliment as she was one of the few medics in the village that could create such an antitoxin, and more an inconvenience if she had suffered any injuries.
"You don't need to worry," Sakura said before he could amend his statement. "Shizune is securing our experiments now and I'll be back in the lab tomorrow to help her with the rest of our documents. We'll create an antidote soon enough." Then she turned away from him. "In the meantime, I want you to take this."
With one hand still holding her tea, she bent down to dig through a medical bag on the floor by the couch before she withdrew a small bottle and held it out to him. Itachi accepted it wordlessly and read the label briefly before his brow arched curiously. "Cough suppressants?"
"As much as I hate prescribing them, I know you're still adamant on hiding your condition from your family," she explained. "Should you need them, take them. But please use them sparingly."
Itachi nodded once before he slipped the bottle into an inner pocket in his uniform. "I will. Thank you."
She smiled in response, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Shisui's words floated through his head at that moment and he couldn't help but wonder if Sakura still thought of him as an 'ass' as she had so colorfully put it. He hadn't given her any reason to think otherwise and for reasons he couldn't identify, the fact she saw him in such a negative light, didn't settle well with him.
A small grimace twisted in the corner of Sakura's mouth as she lowered her mug again. She stared at it as though she no longer found her tea to be of an acceptable temperature and silently she turned away to head into her small kitchenette just as Itachi opened his mouth to speak. However, his next words fell forgotten as his eyes zeroed in on a series of shallow but jagged cuts along her shoulder blade. Just by the angles and pattern across her skin, he could tell it had been caused by glass and automatically he followed her to study the damage.
"Your shoulder-."
Sakura half-turned back to him only to visibly start at his sudden proximity. In her surprise, her mug slipped through her fingers and in the same instant, both shinobi shot forward to catch it before it could shatter to the floor. Itachi's reflexes were faster than hers and he caught it an inch from the floor as her tea sloshed over the wooden floors.
It all happened in less than a fraction of a second, and a long moment of tense stillness passed before they straightened. Itachi held her mug out to her and she hesitated only a moment before she accepted it, her body language openly tense and wary. Sakura seemed unable to meet his gaze and Itachi's brow furrowed as he realized with startling revelation that he had seen that expression on her face before:
Fear.
Months had passed since Sakura first revealed her knowledge of his disease. At the time, he had been too concerned with protecting his own privacy to realize how his presence affected her, but now it was only too obvious as she backed away and gave herself distance from him.
"I meant no ill-will," he murmured, his voice seeming to echo loudly in the quiet.
She nodded but still refused to meet his gaze. "I know."
Itachi had the urge to reach out to her, to show her he wasn't a threat, but he refrained and his attention dropped to the spilled tea that still pooled near his feet. "Allow me-," he said as he reached for the dish towel on the counter beside him.
"Don't." Sakura held out a hand to stop him only to slowly pull it back before she resumed fidgeting with her mug. "Please don't."
Her distress was nearly palpable and a thick lump knotted in Itachi's stomach that he was the source. He was still not entirely sure what had caused her sudden alarm - whether it was because of him specifically or if she was still shaken from the attack earlier that day - but he stepped back nonetheless, suddenly feeling like he had long overstayed his welcome.
"I should take my leave," he said softly. "Forgive me for taking up so much of your time."
Sakura said nothing and he silently excused himself.
Itachi took the fastest route to the ANBU tower, but his pace was unhurried as he replayed what he had just witnessed.
Itachi was acutely aware that both his talent and heritage intimidate those around him. He could make an entire squadron of enemy ninja flee on sight and turn a room silent with his mere presence, but he had never stricken fear within someone he considered a comrade like he just had.
Sakura was a valiant shinobi. He had been one of many ANBU guards to greet her and her team as they walked through the gates of Konoha after her confrontation with Sasori of Akatsuki. She had held her head held high then, even managing a smile after successfully completing a mission that had taken a turn for the worst. If even that could not shake her, it made him wonder:
What could he have done to make her so wary of him?
to be continued...