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2 and 1/2 Years Ago
Konoha Training Grounds

Sakura studied the form sprawled out on the training ground. There were signs of his temper – scorched trees, several bent shuriken – but anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was simply relaxing after a difficult bout of training. Sakura knew differently. Sasuke was sulking.

Rubbing her hands on the sides of her skirt, she considered him. She had shown up to tell him the good news. Naruto was coming home soon, but there was something about the way he was deliberately refusing to acknowledge her that told her it wouldn't be taken as well as she hoped. Ever since she had splintered that tree in front of his nose, he had never let her walk up on him. He always made a point to let her know he knew she was there.

Today he was flat out ignoring her. Pressing her lips together, she considered going back to the tower to finish those scrolls she had abounded and then decided against it. She refused to be intimidated by a sulking Uchiha. Stepping around several unsheathed blades, she settled next to him, starring at his face.

"What's wrong?"

He cracked one eye open and it was sharingan red. "Go away, Sakura."

She snorted and nudged his hip with her foot. "That might work with other people, Uchiha Sasuke, but it won't work with me. What's wrong?"

He shut his eye. He was silent for several moments and when she nudged him again he sighed at her. "My father is going to formally petition the Hokage that I be placed on a chunin ready team now, so that I may take the exam in six months."

"What?" Sakura shot to her feet and stared down at him.

He opened both his eyes and they were black, but she could still see the sharingan smoldering behind his eyes. "By the time my brother was our age, Sakura-chan; he was jounin and had been ANBU for years."

She clenched her fists. If it hadn't been for sharingan – it always came out when he was the most emotionally unstable – she would have thought he didn't care. Well, she hadn't spent the last three years busting her ass with Tsunade and everyone else who had trained her just so Sasuke could abandon them.

"You're not Itachi!" She snapped it at him, uncaring at how hard her voice sounded to her own ears. "You're Sasuke!"

Something shifted in his expression. Something minute that she couldn't put her finger on. It gave her hope.

"They don't care."

"Well I do. And so does Naruto." She swallowed. "I swear I'll beat you bloody if you ever think we don't."

He closed his eyes again, shutting her out. "The clan doesn't care, Sakura."

"What can you possibly gain by being a chunin without a team?" She let herself sink down into a sitting position. She was willing to conserve her strength. It would give her more to work with when she tried to kick his ribs in.

"ANBU."

She snorted. "Do you want to be ANBU?"

Sasuke was silent again and this time she jabbed him in the shoulder with the slightest bit of chakra.

"No."

"Then don't." She ordered. "We haven't spent the past three years training to quit now! I just got a letter from Naruto today and he is going to be home sometime next month. That gives us five months to learn how to work together again for the Chunin exams. Stay with us."

Sasuke sighed, sitting up. "The clan…"

"I don't care about the clan!" She wanted to hit him. "Do you think Tsunade does either?"

His eyes were sharp now. "What do you mean?"

She swallowed, her mind frantically working through ever answer she could possible give before settling in on the one she thought was mostly likely to work. Helping Tsunade out with her paperwork had some unexpected benefits when it came to understanding the details that made Konoha function.

"Not everyone cares so much about clans, Sasuke-kun. We appreciate what they do for the village, but not everyone is going to bend just because they ask it." She sucked in a deep breath. "You're learning to how to summon snakes from Anko, right?"

His face was so close to hers, his breath was brushing her lips. He'd sat up so quickly, she hadn't even seen him move. It was a good thing she had gotten over her crush on him years ago, or she would be blushing. "How did you know about that?"

She would have lifted her chin but she refused to risk kissing him. "I'm learning how to summon Katsuyu from Tsunade. Naruto can summon Gamabunta… well, sometimes."

Sasuke tilted his head at her. "So?"

"You can be such an idiot," she gritted out. "Do you think Anko volunteered herself to teach you a summons? Or do you think Tsunade thought that having three students on the same team who can copy what her old team used to do would be a good idea? She knows we are going to have to face Orochimaru again and do you really think she is going to let some clan dictate something that would ruin years of work?"

Sasuke just continued to watch her, but she could almost see the wheels spinning behind his eyes.

"Think, Sasuke! Stop being as dense as Naruto!" She poked him. She wanted to slug him. "It's going to take more than your precious clan to break up our team. Dammit, unless you go to Tsunade and tell her you're not interested, we should be okay."

His eyes were flat. "How long do you think Konoha allows teams to stay together, Sakura?"

"As long as we are damn useful," she snapped back. "I plan on making Jounin, Sasuke. Are you telling me that you don't plan on that?"

"Itachi—"

"Get. It. Through. Your. Skull!" Sakura reached over and shook him. "You're. Sasuke! Your path is different than your brother's! Make Jounin with us. Naruto has to go into ANBU if he wants to be Hokage and he is going to need you, you big idiot! Fight for us and with us!"

Sasuke sighed. "It's not that easy."

"Bullshit." She clenched her fingers around his arms but he didn't seem to notice. "Do you want to stay with us or not, Sasuke. Yes or No."

He stared at her for a long time and she refused to back down. Finally he shook his head.

"Yes."

"Then stop being such a… a… civilian about it and buck up!" She pointed a finger at him. "Surely you can hold the clan off for a month! One month!"

He blinked. "I suppose."

"Then do it. Find the resources you need and do it! I'm not going to give up on you, Sasuke-kun, don't you dare give up on us."

He stood in a smooth motion, tilting his head as he stared down at her. Sakura could practically see the way his brain was processing things, and then to her surprise, he offered his hand. "Okay."

She blinked, letting him pull her to her own feet. "Okay?"

"One month, Sakura."

She couldn't contain her smile. "You won't give up on us?"

He snorted. "I don't think your giving me much of a choice."

"Damn straight." Sakura said. "I'd break your legs and drag you into Tsunade's office myself if I had to."

He ignored her comment and looked at the sun. "Are you hungry?"

"You want to eat lunch with me?"

"Isn't that something teammates do?"

Her smile widened. "Yes. Yes it is."

X

Present Day
Hokage Tower

Sakura stared at the files on Tsunade's desk, her mind replaying over and over the past week. They had arrived in Konoha two days quicker than expected, partly because Gai and Kakashi couldn't be on the same mission without challenging each other to something ridiculous (this time, it had involved running) and partly because everyone had reasons to be home. The entire run she'd once again been tempted to strangle Sasuke. Especially after Lee had demanded the right to defend her "youthful vigor" since the Uchiha had obviously upset her.

This was all Sasuke's fault. She wasn't sure how it was Sasuke's fault, but some gut instinct told her that he was at the root of her problem. It made her want to squish him.

Clenching her fingers, she sighed and crossed her arms, ignoring the look on Tsunade's face. Okay, so maybe it wasn't all Sasuke's fault. He didn't get to choose who his brother was. Somehow, she felt that squishing that heart where the obviously insane Uchiha could see it hadn't been wise. It appeared that he had a… she didn't want to call it a fetish, but the man obviously appreciated violence in a way that wasn't healthy.

Okay, so it might be a fetish.

"Sakura, what about the poison that was used on Kankuro?"

"Same poison base that we extracted from Shisui a few weeks ago. We need to have it added to the medical kit that the ANBU carry with them into the field. I'm not sure how Rock-nin got their hands on the same poison that Sasori had. He claimed he had created it, which is probably true, and that means that someone leaked it. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw it again."

Itachi was tracking Akatsuki or someone involved with Akatsuki. She knew that Orochimaru was one of his high priorities, but what connections did the two have? Her stomach felt funny at the thought of Itachi getting himself poisoned and she brushed it off. Kabuto had other poisons to use. Odds were Itachi was aware of what he was going up against.

She refused to worry about that… that… Uchiha.

"We will have antidotes made up for all the teams today. Is there anything else that needs to be reported now?"

"I don't think so," Tenten said. "I mean, it's obvious that we need more information about the Akatsuki and we need to do find out what they are trying to accomplish, but nothing that we found at the site can be used in that way."

"It is obvious that they are interested in their own goals." Neji said quietly. "We don't have to fear them interfering in the Cloud/Sound alliance unless they feel they can gain something from it."

There was a long, tense silence.

"I expect written reports from all team leaders as well as Kakashi on my desk by tomorrow." Tsunade said firmly. "I don't care if the details seem unimportant. I want them."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Good. The rest of you have the next two days off. After that, your teams will be placed on active roster again." She lowered her eyes back to the paperwork on her desk, dismissing them.

"Sakura!" Lee said as he darted over. "I would be honored to treat you to dinner!"

Sakura looked over and sighed at the hopeful expression there. She liked Lee, really. He was her friend. But dealing with his 'youthful vigor' for long periods of time was not a skill she had mastered, especially when she was this tired. Opening her mouth, she was startled when Sasuke stepped forward.

"She is eating with us."

The 'us' in that sentence was very obviously not Team Gai. Sakura bit her lip and Lee shrugged, offering her thumbs up. "Perhaps another time then, Sakura-chan!"

Tenten waved. "I'll keep him out of trouble."

"Tenten! I am never in trouble!"

Neji shook his head. "Sasuke, I will be in the library early if you're interested in comparing reports."

"That's acceptable."

"Great." Naruto said. "I'm hungry. Where do you want to eat?"

"Not ramen," Sakura and Sasuke said at the same time.

Sakura turned and placed a hand on her hip. "Do we have time to go shower, oh great team leader?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Then I get to pick the restaurant." She challenged, her free hand fiddling with her gloves.

"Sure, Sakura," Naruto jumped in. "Just not tempura!"

X

"You shouldn't have said that, idiot." Sasuke snarled.

"How was I supposed to know she would get all female and cranky and demand tempura in response?" Naruto gripped back, slinking low in the booth.

"It's Sakura. She lives to annoy us." Sasuke growled.

Naruto shot him a glance out of the side of his eyes. They sparkled with barely repressed mischief. "Sort of like your brother, right?"

Sasuke shot him a dark look. "Shut. Up. Dobe. She's coming back."

Sakura slide into the booth and gave Sasuke her best smile. "Figured out what you want yet?"

"No."

"Tempura is good, Sasuke."

"It tastes like crap."

"Does Itachi like Tempura?" Naruto asked innocently.

It would be hard to tell who reacted first, as two identical lumps sprouted from Naruto's head and Sasuke and Sakura glared at each other.

"Owww…" Naruto said.

"Sasuke," Sakura spoke with the same clipped efficiency she used when involved in an operation, "I believe I asked you to give your brother a message for me. Tell me, how did that go?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "And I believe I told you to refrain from taunting Itachi with blood. It's bad enough that you've caught his attention anyway, what the hell were you thinking?

Sakura smiled at him, "Sasuke-kun, dodging my question with accusations is not going to help you. I had to destroy the living part of that Akatsuki. I didn't know Itachi was there. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is encourage his attentions, as I believe I made perfectly clear to you when I asked you to tell him to fuck off."

Naruto edged his chair away from the table. Sasuke and Sakura scarcely noticed.

Sasuke leaned forward in his seat and planted his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his hands as his gaze locked with Sakura. "I've never known Itachi to do anything without a reason. I've asked you this once before, and I'm asking again: what did you do?"

"Me!" Sakura pushed her chair back from the table and slammed her hand down on it, causing it to rattle. "I didn't do anything! All I've done, all I've ever done around your brother is my job. I have no idea what caused this—this fixation, but I asked you to take care of it and now he's, he's…"

She trailed off. Even in her temper, she didn't want to reveal to her team that Itachi had backed her in a tree and dropped a ring down her shirt. She didn't want to acknowledge that he'd claimed her. Not until she knew how to deal with it.

"Sakura." The way Sasuke said her name brought back a thousand memories and prodded at long-dead emotions. It instantly got her attention. "I'm trying to help you."

"I know," Sakura ran a shaking hand through her hair, "I know." She sat back down.

"What exactly's going here?" Naruto asked, secure in the knowledge that the next great shinobi war had narrowly been averted.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "We need to know what we're dealing with, Sakura."

"How should I know? He's your brother!"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto reached over and gently grabbed her chin, turning her from Sasuke to meet his blue eyes. "We're a team. Don't be selfish." He leaned forward to butt his forehead lightly against hers and then moved back. "If you're in trouble, share."

"I… I don't know if I'm in trouble."

Sasuke snorted. "Trust me. You're in trouble."

Naruto released Sakura's chin and turned to glare at Sasuke. "Shut-up, teme." He turned back to face Sakura, the gentleness gone from his eyes. What took its place was the confident command Naruto had when he refused to go down in a fight, when he determined that he would win. It was that look that made Sakura believe that one day he'd become Hokage. "Now you tell me, Sakura-chan. I'm not sitting through tempura for anything less than the truth."

"OK," Sakura said. "OK." She took a deep breath. "Last month Tsunade assigned me to go out with Ita – Uchiha-san's ANBU team. Shisui got hit with the same poison that got Kankuro and I had to perform an extraction on the field because we didn't have an antidote. After we got back, I made Uchiha-san stay in the hospital over-night. He'd run close to chakra exhaustion after taking so many missions back-to-back. And after that… I just kept seeing him. First that time with you at the food stand, Sasuke, and then he came to the hospital while I was on my rounds one night, and then, well, you both saw what happened after the fight with Sound."

Naruto nodded. Sasuke's lip curled in a faint expression of disgust.

"After we got back he came and found me while I was out drinking with Ino. Still haven't found out how he knew I was there..."

Sasuke stared back at her with a look of studied innocence.

She didn't let it go. "Especially after I asked you to take care of it, Sasuke."

"Saying 'no' to Itachi is like dangling the last potato chip in front of Chouji," Sasuke said. "You just don't do it. What happened at the bar, Sakura?"

Sakura took a breath; posture stiffening as she glared at Sasuke, but Naruto cut her off, "Sakura-chan. After."

She settled back into her seat, crossed her arms, and grumbled, "I was talking with Kiba and he just… came up and tangled his hand in my hair. Like it was a leash or something. I was drunk. I took him outside to tell him off. He…" Sakura's voice dropped along with her eyes, "he said he wanted to learn me."

Her gaze flickered up just in time to catch Sasuke's horrified expression.

"And apparently," she continued when neither of her teammates responded, "he hasn't changed his mind."

Sasuke eyed her balefully, then turned his hands around and hid his face in them.

"Itachi," he mumbled through his fingers, "has always been a law to himself. He's brilliant. He started setting traps that caught my father at age three. He set out at a very young age to learn everything that interested him, and he succeeded." Sasuke cracked his fingers opened and glared at her. "I don't know how you caught his interest. But congratulations. Itachi's never failed to master any subject he chose."

"Sasuke… in view of our long friendship, I am going to give you to the count of three to say something that that assures me that you do not view me as a 'subject.' Like I told your brother, I. Am. A person."

Sasuke dropped his hands to the table. "You didn't."

At Sakura's seething glare, his head followed his hands with a dull thud.

Sakura was two steps away from beating Sasuke into a very sorry pulp, when Naruto interrupted, "So – wait. Are you saying Itachi wants to, like, date Sakura?"

Sasuke grunted assent.

"Huh," Naruto said, turning the idea over in his brain. Then he grinned, put his hands behind his head, and leaned his chair back on its hind legs. "Well, you can't fault him for taste."

"Na-ru-to," Sakura slammed a hand down on the table between them and leaned forward, "I don't think you get it. I don't want to date It—Uchiha-san."

Naruto shrugged, "So don't. Just say no. It's not that big a deal, Sakura-chan." He let the front legs of his chair touch the ground again and gave her a feral grin. "And if it ever becomes a big deal, we'll deal with it. As a team."

Somehow, the words that had always reassured her fell flat. The dull thud that came from Sasuke as his head hit the table once again only added to her impression of impending doom.

X

She spent two days ignoring her problem. Part of it was deliberate and part of it was for self-survival. It- Uchiha-san was still out on his mission. That was a luxury she knew not to take for granted, but in a fit of self indulgence she had thrown herself back into her medical work and ignored any and all attempts of her team and friends to drag her out of the relative safety of her home.

Once her backlog had been taken care of at the hospital and she was caught up on the scrolls that Tsunade wanted her to research, she found herself with time on her hands and without excuses. So the night she found herself sitting on her couch, glaring at the pile of scrolls she had brought home – who knew that the advanced study of herb grinding was so boring? – she gave in and made the conscious decision to deal with her problem.

She couldn't underestimate Uchiha Itachi. He had a head start for formulating any plans so she would treat this like a mission. It was time to figure out her own plan of action and to do that she first needed to catalogue what she knew about the Uchiha heir.

Her starting point had been obvious. Sasuke. Her teammate wouldn't actually answer any questions if she directly probed and she had the faint feeling that he, that both of them, would consider what she was doing an act of war. Odds were if Sasuke realized what she was doing he would tie her to a chair in Naruto's apartment and force feed her ramen until she saw the error of her ways. Still, she wasn't stupid enough to ignore Itachi twice. He had played his hand first and now she was going to play her own. She was not a subject and she was not weak and she would not allow herself to be put inside one of Itachi's stupid games and played.

So she wasn't physically his match. Mentally, he probably had the edge, but she was smart. The only mednin who were better than her were Tsunade and Shizune and they could only claim experience as their edge. Her chakra calculations were always perfect and she was an intelligent, capable woman. Itachi wasn't the only one who excelled at everything he put his mind to.

So what did she know?

She knew he was a genius. So much so that even Sasuke was wary of exactly what was going on in his brother's mind. The relationship between the two had always been a bit odd, but she knew from personal experience how closely they watched each other's backs. She was fairly certain that only Orochimaru had dared attack what Itachi protected twice and she was also very certain that Itachi would kill him for it. She hoped she didn't ever hear the details of that particular kill.

So he was homicidally protective. He seemed to be sane, but there was a streak in him that was anything but. Remembering the way he had kissed her fingers, she clenched and unclenched her fists. It hadn't escaped her notice that the hand he had chosen to… well, it had been the hand she had used to finish off Sasori. He appreciated blood. She had the uneasy feeling he considered violence a sort of foreplay.

That was not a stable mind.

But he was brilliant in the field. He had the capability to take apart the enemy's weakness and correlate back to his team exactly what was necessary to win. He took the responsibility he had accepted seriously. He loved a good challenge. She was certain those matches with Shikamaru over a shogi board were deadly.

She didn't know enough about what made him tick. She only knew his basic responses, not what thought process created those responses. She didn't know his weaknesses and besides taking a peak at his ANBU file, she only knew the choices he had made. Again, she was lacking information on his thinking patterns. She didn't understand his thought process. In order to beat him, she needed more information and she wasn't going to be able to get that without going to the source and she was very unwilling to do that.

So she would have to use what she had. It wasn't much, but it gave her something. She knew her own strengths and weaknesses and she already had a list of people who she could go to for help if it became absolutely necessary, people who had never let her down in the past. Biting her lip, Sakura had the sinking feeling that that wasn't going to be enough this time. So she needed something else. Running her fingers through her hair, she stood.

She knew she was missing something.

She paused in the middle of her living room, eyes widening.

That blasted ring.

What had he said? 'Keep this safe for me.' Sprinting to her bedroom, she dove to her knees and dug through the pile of clothes in the bottom of her closet and pulled up a loose board. Sticking her hand inside, she fished around until she found what she was looking for. Picking up the small cloth bag she had tossed the ring into, too furious to actually deal with it, she headed into the living room where the light was better.

It was a very garish piece of jewelry. Heavy lines of gold and an ugly, flat looking stone. The closer she looked, the more familiar the ring became. It wasn't until she turned it so that the stone caught the light that she realized what it was.

Sasori's ring.

What the hell? Why would Itachi have gone back to get the dead puppet master's ring? When had he gone back to get it? Why had he given it to her? If it was some sort of sick memento she was going to kill him.

Sakura took a deep breath. As crazy as Itachi seemed to be at times, he never did anything without a reason. This meant that there was something important about this ring that he hadn't wanted anyone to find out about. He hadn't taken it with him on the mission he had left to check up on Sasuke. That could mean one or two things and both of them made her uneasy.

Grabbing a blank scroll, she set the ring on the table and studied it. Those lines in the gold looked deliberate and she didn't recognize the stone immediately. Itachi wouldn't be gone forever and if she wanted to figure out this puzzle then she would need to copy every detail she could find onto a scroll to refer to later. Maybe she would even have time tomorrow to go digging through the library to research jewelry and stones and how shinobi could use them. It wasn't something she considered before, and if worse came to worse; Sakura had a hunch that Kurenai would know something about jewels.

Somehow, figuring out the puzzle before Itachi came home felt like it would give her a leg up on the older Uchiha. Leverage. She was going to need that for their next meeting. Lips curling into a delighted smile, Sakura got to work.

X

Sakura stared at the pile of medical scrolls she had been organizing for Tsunade, wondering when her mid-afternoon energy rush was going to hit. The last three nights had been almost sleepless and she was starting to feel the effects. Apparently it was obvious enough that Tsunade had taken her off medical rounds for the day and stuck her in her office, re-organizing the shelves and boxes of scrolls that never seemed to end in the Hokage's office.

Not sleeping had been worth it though. She was pretty certain that she had organized, charted and examined every inch of the ring. She had used up three scrolls to do it; one just for the individual symbols that had been carved into the ring, not to mention the designs the ring had been formed into itself. She was fairly certain that there was another layer to the ring that she wasn't catching. Something to do with the stone. The library scrolls hadn't been much help, and she hadn't had time to track down Kurenai.

She had discovered that whatever the symbols were supposed to do, they were activated by blood. She wasn't sure if the blood was a one-time ordeal or if the user had to bleed every time they wanted to use it like with summoning, but at least she had a direction now in which to move in.

She just couldn't help but feel that there was a key she was missing. That damn stone was her problem but there was something else that always seemed to be hovering just outside of her perception. It was starting to drive her crazy. It had kept her up last night, starring at the ring until almost dawn, trying to figure out what piece she wasn't seeing. Not that it had done her a lot of good, and today she was tired. If only she knew how long Itachi was going to be gone. Then she might have been able to get some actual sleep instead of trying to get all the information she needed copied down and hidden before his return.

Running her fingers through her bangs, she turned at the sound of the door opening and blinked at the sight of Tsunade with a bag in her hand.

"I thought you were going to be in meetings all afternoon?"

"I got lucky and was able to force Shizune into some of them instead." Tsunade said with a smile. "Here, you might need these."

Sakura blinked at her before opening the bag and grinning. Dango. The sugar wasn't the best way to replace lost sleep, but the sweet treat would always be a welcome surprise.

"How are things going?"

Sakura chewed and swallowed hurriedly. "Okay. I'm halfway through the last box of scrolls that you had someone steal from the village of Mist."

Tsunade shot her an amused smile. "They were offered."

Sakura lifted a brow. "I imagine they were. Who was torturing them?"

Tsunade shook her head. "No comment."

"Right," Sakura muttered. She slid a long look at Tsunade from the corner of her eye. "There was some pretty interesting stuff though. Do you think I could look through them sometime?"

"The box of Mist scrolls? All that's in there is a bunch of ninjutsu."

Sakura shook her head. "No. Well, I would look at those just for pure curiosity, but there were other things. Like those scrolls from Sand that dealt with chakra control or the unmarked stuff that looks like its blood stained and possibly from Cloud."

'And the box of scrolls that had to do with summoning spells. I would really like to see those.'

Tsunade pursed her lips. "It's going to depend on the scrolls, Sakura. Let me know what you're interested in and I'll see. You would have to read most of them here, though. Some of those we aren't supposed to have. You can take the box of Sand scrolls home with you. Those are part of the treaty, so there is nothing too important in them. You might find something interesting, but don't be too disappointed if you don't."

"Thank you." Sakura murmured before finished off the last of the dango and moving to go back to the box of Mist scrolls. "Where do you want…"

The window opened. Sakura wasn't too surprised. It was the favorite access point for most of the ANBU who preferred not to walk the halls. Turning around, she tilted her head at the vaguely familiar person and then froze when the mask was lifted away from his face.

Itachi. He was home.

X

Itachi had been less than amused to begin with. He had been forced to walk away from what promised to be a very entertaining reaction from a certain medic-nin, not only because he had to return to the hunt, but because he had been… uncertain… as to how long his control would hold, with her in his arms and her hands resting lightly against him.

She hadn't run. The strength of will that demonstrated was matched by the strength demonstrated in the destruction of that cave and all one hundred puppets, which only highlighted the ruthless intelligence she had demonstrated when she crushed that Akatsuki heart in her hand. Glorious.

He wondered how she'd react to that little puzzle he'd dropped in her lap – or more accurately, down her shirt. His expectations might be a bit high, but she'd set the standard herself. Itachi admitted to himself that he'd be disappointed if she'd left it alone. Pushing down anticipation of a kind he'd never felt before had made him irritable.

Tracking Kabuto back to Sound only increased his foul mood. The knowledge that Orochimaru was alive was bad enough, being within sensing distance of the snake made him grit his teeth. He wanted Orochimaru dead. It would be so easy. Itachi was accustomed to doing what he wanted, and following the Hokage's orders in this case chafed.

But he had held, and he had accomplished his mission. His suspicions were confirmed, Kabuto was working as a double agent for Orochimaru. He now had the current location of Sound as well as the knowledge of just who he needed to follow to track down more information about the Akatsuki. He'd overheard enough information to confirm that Cloud and Sound had allied against Konoha.

But along with that information came the added benefit which had forced him to race home to Konoha before he violated his word. Orochimaru wanted a new body. He was tired of waiting. He was going to be coming after Sasuke.

Orochimaru was never going to touch his little brother.

Sasuke was his to protect. He'd made it so. He'd warned Orochimaru. And if he ever came close, to hell with his mission. Itachi had his own priorities. Filled with the desire to go home and see Sasuke, aware that if he stayed longer he'd kill Orochimaru anyway, and curious to see what Haruno Sakura had done with herself in the meantime, Itachi had left Sound and hurried home.

It had been unfortunate for that group of Cloud-nin who were nearing Konoha's boarders. While technically they were still outside of Konoha's territory, Itachi had been in no mood for technicalities. He didn't even feel like playing games. They did not deserve the dignity of genjutsu; they were conspiring to threaten his own. He'd kept one alive long enough to extract the information that they had, indeed, been sent on a foray to gather more information about Konoha, specifically about the weaknesses of the Uchiha compound, before taking his time tearing him apart.

Itachi hoped Cloud found the pieces. But he doubted it.

He was satisfied but still half-feral when he approached the Hokage's tower. An automatic chakra scan of the building revealed that two people were in her office, the Hokage herself and her lovely little apprentice. Itachi licked his lips behind his mask, an eager light coming into his eyes.

He'd have to be very careful. It wouldn't do to give the game away.

He released his hold on his chakra just before appearing at the Hokage's window. Many ANBU preferred to keep their anonymity, even when reporting, but Itachi wanted Sakura to know exactly who'd come into the room. He lifted his rat mask while still perched on the windowsill and met her wide eyes with his own.

The shock there unleashed something warm and aggressive in his stomach, and it took an effort not to move forward and back her against the wall and run his hands down her hair, down her sides, to her hands, while she looked up at him with those eyes and her mouth slightly opened…

Itachi sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and bit it lightly as he dropped his gaze from hers and very deliberately took in her appearance, starting from her toes and leisurely working his way up.

He released his lip when his eyes reached her face and her own were not ready to meet them. While he had been looking her over, she had risen to the challenge and instead of standing there blushing like a schoolgirl, she was in the process of giving him a very thorough inspection. He could appreciate that she took the opportunity to do so while he was distracted, and rewarded her by making his movements deliberately sinuous as he straightened and stepped into the room.

Her eyes were still on him, and Itachi was suddenly acutely aware of his appearance. He had not been neat with the invading Cloud-nin.

"Uchiha Itachi," Tsunade drawled, "I remember sending you out to track Kabuto. Not to inspect a slaughterhouse."

Itachi straightened, dragging his gaze from Sakura to meet the hard eyes of the Hokage. Deliberately, he flicked his gaze back to Sakura before raising an eyebrow to Tsunade.

"If I wanted Sakura to leave, I would have asked her to," Tsunade said, eyes narrowing.

"Report."

Itachi filed the observation of exactly how highly Sakura was trusted by the Hokage away before complying with Tsunade's order. "There was a four man team of Cloud shinobi invading our northeastern border. I killed them."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. Did you disappear them?"

Itachi nodded. While they were justified in killing shinobi who trespassed into their territory, Cloud technically still had a treaty with Konoha. While things were heading to a war already between the two villages, it would speed things along unnecessarily if the Cloud-nin's remains were ever identified. Itachi had made sure to leave the clearing splattered with their blood as a warning, but their bodies had been thoroughly 'disappeared.' It was a rookie question, but he supposed Tsunade had to verify it.

"What did you learn from them before you killed them?"

Itachi crossed his arms, "They confirmed what I had already discovered in Sound. Cloud's formed an alliance with Orochimaru for the destruction of Leaf. Cloud has a specific interest in the Hyuuga bloodline, just as Orochimaru has an interest in the Uchiha. This team's mission had been reconnaissance."

Sakura let out a low hiss. Tsunade turned her attention towards Sakura and Itachi allowed himself to turn and look at her as well.

"That snake bastard still wants Sasuke," Sakura spoke to her mentor, her words controlled and even. Her hands were clenched at her sides. "He's not going to get to touch him."

Itachi shoved down the impulse to move and catch her jutting lower lip in his. That beautiful ferocity was directed at protecting his baby brother. He'd have to give her an especially nice thank you later.

"No," Itachi agreed, putting a hint of steel into his voice. Sakura's eyes snapped back to his, her eyes widening at the expression on his face. "He will not."

He swung his eyes back to Tsunade, meeting her gaze calmly. She gave the barest hint of a nod, confirming that she remembered his warning.

"Anything else?" Tsunade questioned, nails tapping lightly at her desk.

Sakura only half listened to the rest of Itachi's report as her brain processed the fact that Orochimaru was going to go after her teammate again. Fists clenching, she forced herself to pay attention to what was going on between Tsunade and Itachi. There was some very subtle body language here, messages she had to watch carefully to catch.

"I will expect a complete report on my desk by morning." Tsunade informed him, dismissing him with a flick of her fingers. "Go wash off that blood."

Itachi gave a short bow before lifting his eyes to her face. Sakura froze at that look. The way she could almost see hints of the sharingan behind his eyes as he took her in before his hand lifted and flicked his mask into place.

The room seemed so much emptier without his presence to fill it.

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