The Darkest Secrets
Chapter Five: A Fool's Errand
Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Naruto. I just like to use the characters for my own nefarious plans.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sakura lay across the foot of Itachi's bed, waiting for him to finish with the shower. She had gone home with him after they finished at the training grounds, mainly because she was bored. She hadn't had a single mission in the last two weeks, and she had finally caught up with all of her work at the hospital. The normally busy kunoichi just had no idea what to do with herself when she had downtime. Thankfully, Itachi didn't seem to mind her presence. Besides that, she was still concerned about him. The entire way back to his house he was completely spaced out. He didn't even notice she was talking to him until she waved her hand in front of his face. An enemy ninja could have jumped out at him and he would have just kept walking.
The door to his room swung open and Itachi stepped in, clad in only a pair of pajama pants, with a towel draped around his bare shoulders, and his hair damp and loose from his normal ponytail. A small movement caught her eye, and her eyes tracked a droplet of water as it dripped from his hair and streaked down across his well-muscled chest, into the grooves of his rigid abdominal muscles, and down, down, until it reached the well-cut V line of his hips and…. She blinked, shaking her head slightly and forced herself to look elsewhere. She browsed the titles emblazoned on the spines of dozens of books on the bookshelf beside his bed.
However, the opening of his closet door drew her attention to him once more. She looked over just in time to watch him drop his towel into the laundry basket next to the closet, and watched him bend down to one of the lower shelves to retrieve an old t-shirt, his newly exposed back muscles rippling as he straightened up and pulled the shirt over his head. She breathed a sigh of relief as his naked torso disappeared from view. 'Really… get a grip, girl.'
Itachi strode over to the desk next to his bookshelf, plucking a hairbrush from the polished wood surface. He sat on the bed beside Sakura, quickly and efficiently running the brush through his long, slightly damp hair, before putting it back up with his customary red hair tie.
She waited until he was done before she sat up, facing him.
"Shogi?" He asked quietly.
She nodded. "Before that though… since I won our sparring match earlier, you have to tell me what's been bothering you the last few days. And tell me the truth, Uchiha. You know I can tell when you're lying."
"I don't recall making that deal," he deadpanned.
"It was implied," she replied flippantly, waving him off. Then she fixed him with a more serious expression. "Hey… I'm just worried about you, okay?"
He took a deep breath and nodded, looking away. "Well there's not much I can tell you."
"Classified?" She asked. He raised a brow. "It was implied."
She flicked him in the forehead, a small amount of chakra behind it. "Ow," He grumbled, rubbing at his forehead. "Feh… now you know how Sasuke feels," she retorted, wagging her finger in front of his face.
He was silent for several moments, his mind straying to the potential rescue mission ahead. He just had this horrible gut feeling about the whole thing…. Tsunade had wanted him to take a medic, and if it was Shisui's life in that hung in the balance… well, there was no one he trusted more than Sakura. But to get her involved in this mess would, with absolute certainty, put her life at risk. It was no secret that they were close, and that could easily be used against him. At her expense. It was absolutely unacceptable.
Sakura waited patiently, used to his long pauses while he gathered his thoughts. Uchiha Itachi was a man who preferred to use his words to the greatest effect, after all.
Finally, he answered her. "It has to do with a mission coming up. And that's all I can say. I mean it Sakura. Someday I may be able to tell you more, but for right now, please just trust that I can handle it."
She sighed, defeated. "Alright. Just be careful. Come back to me, ok?"
He grinned at her. "Always."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sasuke knocked softly on his elder brother's bedroom door, and waited patiently for a response. It was just past midnight, but he could still hear Itachi shuffling around inside. A soft call of "Come in," had the younger Uchiha stepping into the room. Itachi was sitting cross legged on the floor, documents and maps spread in a half circle around him, and a blank scroll for taking notes. He began swiftly packing them away as the door opened, settling them in an empty space on his bookshelf. He stood a faced Sasuke when he was finished.
"Preparing for a mission?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the stack of papers. "Hn," Itachi grunted, reverting to the monosyllabic language that all Uchiha seemed to share. "Ah," Sasuke said. To any outsider, the conversations between the brothers might appear as an interaction between crazy people. Or at least that's what Naruto said.
Itachi sat neatly on the foot of his bed, Sasuke following in a far less dignified manner. The younger Uchiha lay sprawled out on the rest of the bed, feet near the top, so that he looked at his brother upside down. Itachi reached over and flicked him in the forehead. Rubbing at the spot, he frowned up at his older brother. "Aniki, I'm not a kid anymore," he grouched.
"And?" The elder inquired, eyebrow raised.
"And? And stop poking me in the forehead like I'm still five!"
Itachi just chuckled at him, leaning back against the wall. His thoughts strayed back to just a little while ago, when a temperamental pink haired girl had done the same thing to him.
Eventually, Sasuke gave in to the urge to satisfy his nosiness. "So what did Sakura want?"
"I believe she was bored," the older Uchiha responded. He raised a brow at his younger sibling. "Why, does she need a specific reason to be here?"
"No," he responded, blushing slightly. "It's just that…. Well Sakura spends more time around you than with me or Naruto." Itachi continued to stare blankly at him. Sasuke pouted in response. "Aniki, you're hogging my teammate!" he whined.
"Well, have you and Naruto made an effort to seek her out? It goes both ways, you know."
"…..No, we haven't really tried I guess."
"Alright then."
He watched Itachi for a little while, noting how content he seemed. How he looked so much more relaxed than usual. It even looked like the barest hint of a smile may have permanently affixed itself to his face. "…Hey Aniki?"
"Hm?"
"You seem really comfortable around her. With all the time you guys spend together, I mean."
"…."
"I'm glad," he said softly.
A smile stretched across Itachi's lips as he considered his little brother's words. "Me too, Otouto."
A knowing smirk crossed Sasuke's features briefly before he swung his legs over the bed, standing and making his way to the door. "Goodnight, Aniki."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sakura laid stretched across her bed, picking out random shapes in the textured ceiling. It was too damn hot to do anything else today. There were probably all sorts of things she should be doing, but moving just seemed a challenge too great.
For example, she had to go over to the Uchiha main house and drag Sasuke out of his room for his yearly physical. It was way overdue. In fact it really should be done today. And maybe she should check on Itachi while she was over there. It had been a couple of days since their last conversation.
The door to her apartment slammed open suddenly, and she shot up in bed, pulling the kunai hidden beneath the mattress. A call of "Forehead!" made her relax, stowing the knife back in its hiding place. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and slowly shuffled towards the kitchen, where she could now hear the rustling of a plastic bag, and the sound of her silverware drawer opening and closing. Next, she heard the clatter of Ino shifting through the cabinet full of dishes.
Leave it to the pig to ransack her kitchen.
Her slightly irritated mood shifted instantly however, when she saw just what Ino was scooping into the commandeered dishes. Ino looked up from her task and smirked at Sakura. Holding both bowls just out of reach.
"So…. Just how much do you love me?"
"Ino, you are the most wonderful thing that ever walked the planet," she said as she snatched the bowl from Ino's hands. "For now," She laughed.
She groaned as she dumped a large spoonful into her mouth, and the flavor hit her tongue. Mint chocolate chip is clearly the most superior ice cream flavor. The girls settled into chairs at the breakfast bar, finishing up their cold treats. After tossing the dishes into the sink to be dealt with later, they headed to the living room and plopped down on the couch. Sakura sat waiting expectantly for Ino to fill her in on all the latest gossip, as per their normal routine.
They talked for a while about Ino's latest crush, and what the members of their respective Genin teams were up to these days. Sakura was pleased to learn that Choji had found a civilian girlfriend, and the relationship was pretty serious. She in turn relayed to Ino team seven's latest shenanigans.
As always in their conversations, Ino eventually managed to turn it to Sakura's love life. Or lack thereof, really.
"I mean really Forehead. Aren't you interested in anyone? Anyone at all?"
"Not really. I just don't have the time. I'm running things at the hospital now, and Shishou is keeping me busy with medical missions."
Ino sighed, looking vaguely disappointed. "I just thought with you spending all this time with Itachi lately, that maybe you two were, you know…." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Sakura laughed incredulously. "Itachi and I are just friends Ino. I just don't see him that way."
But there was a note of hesitation in her voice, and Ino leapt on it immediately. "Sure you don't Forehead," She said with a grin. "Keep telling yourself that."
"I will," Sakura replied stubbornly. "Because it's true." But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. She thought of him frequently, and couldn't deny that he was attractive. And he always had her back. She was one of the only people who understood and enjoyed his often warped sense of humor… and he was the only person (well, besides Ino) who was brave enough to tease her.
Maybe she did have a thing for him, after all.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Itachi stood before the Hokage, the remnants of his Anbu team beside him. The Hokage sat at her large oaken desk, propping her head up with one hand, and flat out glaring at Itachi. It would make a lesser man uncomfortable.
"And explain to me again why you have neglected to select a medic?"
Itachi sighed, and repeated what he had already said twice to his irate Hokage. "As I said before, the shinobi that took Shisui captive must have been very strong. You know well that he would not be taken down easily. And even if he were outnumbered and outmatched, Shunshin no Shisui is fast. He should have been able to escape. But he didn't."
"Furthermore, there are only a handful of medic shinobi in Anbu, and none of them have mastered your 'strength of one hundred' seal, so they cannot fight should we encounter the enemy. It is common strategy during a rescue mission to fan out and search for clues. Should this occur, we may not be able to protect our medic. It would be a liability that we cannot afford."
Tsunade rolled her eyes at him. "And if Shisui is seriously injured? What will you do then?"
"We can set up a teleportation scroll within the hospital, and bring a second scroll with us. When we find him, we will transport him immediately to the hospital," he said stubbornly.
Tsunade's brow began to twitch. "A transportation jutsu also saps the chakra of the person being transported. Captive shinobi generally have their chakra drained to a minimum as it is, so a transportation jutsu could kill him. You are supposed to be a genius! You should know this!"
"Honestly, Hokage-sama," he began quietly, a brief expression of defeat crossing his features. "I have little hope for Shisui's survival. They would have either wanted his eyes, or information. Once they realized that he wouldn't talk, it's highly likely that they simply took his eyes and killed him. Medics can't bring back the dead."
Tsunade studied the Uchiha heir for a moment, noting the slack in his posture, and the hidden sorrow in his eyes. Her expression softened, and she stood and came around the desk, stopping directly in front of him. "You give up too easily. There is always hope." Itachi looked at her doubtfully. "And besides. I told you that you may select a medic from outside of Anbu. Sakura has mastered the 'strength of one hundred' seal, so she can fight alongside you. She will join your team."
"But Hokage-sama, it's too dangerous, I won't put her in that position-"
"That's an order. Don't argue with me. You leave in an hour." She dismissed him with a wave of her hand.
As he left Hokage tower, his gut twisted with an emotion yet unknown to him.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
Sakura rushed to the gates, her pack slung hastily over one shoulder. She had just been assigned a mission and told that she had 45 minutes to get to the gates. Talk about short notice! She had to repack all the mission supplies that she had taken out to clean and restock, and now she only had two minutes before her team was assigned to leave. And she didn't even know who they were! Grumbling under her breath, she dropped from the rooftops to the dirt road below as the gates came into view.
Three masked figures that she easily recognized as Anbu team one stood at the entrance to the gates. Where was her team? Surely she wouldn't be sent out on an Anbu mission, right?
She stopped in front of Itachi's team and looked around, confused. Did her team leave without her?
It was Hana who cleared up the situation. "You're in the right place, Haruno. You're with us on this one."
She surveyed the three Anbu members before her, noting the tension in their stances. Were they always so serious on their missions? And where was their fourth member? "Where is Shisui?" she asked. "Is he not coming on this one?"
Itachi stepped forward. "Sakura," he began quietly. "Our mission… Is to locate and rescue Shisui Uchiha."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
They had headed out in the same direction that they found the masked shinobi from their previous mission as a team. Deep down, he just knew that they were connected. He led at point of their formation, with Hana and Sakura at his flanks, and Genma at the rear.
Once they had made it about halfway to the boarder, he signaled for Hana and her dogs to take the lead on the ground, and Genma came forward to fill in her place in the formation. After a couple hours of fruitless searching, Hana's dogs picked up two distinct trails. The rest of the team dropped to the ground to join them on the forest floor. Genma, their second best tracker, couched over the trails, observing the direction and depth of the footprints in front of him.
Standing, he turned to his team. "One of these trails is obviously fake," he began. "But it's a good fake. I honestly can't tell the difference." Hana nodded in agreement, having already come to that conclusion.
Running a hand through his hair, Itachi looked up, judging the position of the sun in the sky. They had about two hours of good daylight left. "We split into two teams, with one tracker apiece. Hana, you will be with me. Genma and Sakura, you're team two. Sakura, summon one of your slugs to send with us. We can use them to communicate should we leave the range of our radio headsets. We rendezvous at dusk, coordinates will be given at that time. Go!"
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
About an hour into their tracking, Itachi's radio crackled to life.
"Taichou, we've found what appears to be an abandoned building along a river. There's a large dam off to the side. No signs of life, but the trail heads in that direction. Should we investigate?" Genma asked.
An abandoned building… that sounded a lot more promising than what they had on this end. Nothing but trees for miles.
After some consideration, he responded. "Proceed with caution. If you see or sense anyone, withdraw and wait for our arrival. We'll head over now. We should reach you in about half an hour."
Heart pounding in his chest, he took off as fast as he could toward their teammates location, Hana hot on his heels. 'Please let this be it.' He thought. 'Please be alive.'
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
A/N: Well… it's been a while. Like, 5 months. Unfortunately I have no excuses for my behavior. I simply couldn't decide where I wanted certain events to occur, and how to work the transitions. Gomen nasai.
The next chapter is very emotional. And it's about halfway done, so hopefully it won't take nearly as long. Itachi will be very much OOC. But it's only to be expected. Till next time!
