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6 Years Ago
Konoha Village
When Sakura was twelve she failed her first chunin exam. It had cut like a deep wound somewhere inside her. Sasuke was in the hospital and Naruto was sulking. Kakashi had smiled at them all with his one eye but something about his expression had rung false. Sakura wasn't sure she ever wanted to read beneath the underneath again if it left her with that sick sensation in her stomach when she realized how disappointed Kakashi was – that she was with herself.
Her feet took her to a familiar bridge and she had sat down, letting the late noon sun warm the back of her neck. She didn't want to be home. Her parents weren't shinobi so they didn't understand how devastated she felt… they hugged her, kissed her, asked her to pick up her room and went on about the day as if nothing happened. Fingers curling into her hair, she had sat in silence until a morose Naruto joined her. Somehow she found the strength to talk to him and somehow they ended up playing cards until it was too dark to see.
She had no idea where he had hidden the deck of cards or why he had them when he was so terrible at cards. He didn't really understand the strategies any better than he did on a battlefield and his tactic of charging right through their enemies didn't work here. Somehow she managed to find the patience to slowly and carefully walk him through the basics of a few simple games.
It was almost evening the second day when they met at the bridge to play cards while they waited for Kakashi to show up when Sasuke joined them. They were shielding their cards from the wind with their bodies, bickering about the rules when Naruto looked up and grinned.
"Oi! Teme! Come and join us! I've finally gotten where I can beat Sakura-chan and your next!"
Sakura took a great deal of pleasure in slapping him hard enough against the back of his head that her hand stung. Sasuke just scowled at them, jamming his hands into his pockets, his shoulders hunched. There was an expression in his face that had Sakura setting her cards down, her stomach going cold.
"We're being disbanded tomorrow."
"WHAT?" Naruto shot to his feet, his eyes wide.
Sakura kept herself still with only a great deal of effort. Her voice, when it came out, was very small. "Sasuke-kun?"
He shrugged his shoulders, the motion jerky. He averted his eyes. "I'm sure Kakashi will tell us tomorrow."
"That's stupid! How can they disband us! We just got started!" Naruto's fists were clenched at his sides, his knuckles white.
"Doesn't matter. We're all being sent our separate ways."
"Where?" Sakura asked quietly, her eyes wide. "We're not even chunin." 'We need to be a team to be chunin!'
He shrugged again, eyes shaded by his bangs. "The Clan has decided I need more specialized training. I don't know what they're doing with you two."
"The… clan?"
She stared at him with wide eyes trying to understand. She had known that Sasuke was under the pressure of his family to succeed, but she whose family wasn't shinobi and Naruto who was an orphan, had always been mildly jealous of having people who understood what they were going through. Except now he was saying that those people didn't want him on their team anymore. Somehow she had thought that Sasuke would just receive a pat on the head and admonishment to do better next time.
She hadn't expected his clan to respond like this.
"Your clan doesn't want us to be on the same team anymore so… we're not?"
"Officially we're just getting specialized training." Sasuke said flatly. "I'm going to be training with Kakashi."
Sakura wondered if it was possible to hurt that much from a single sentence. It was like the failure of the exams was being ground into her skin so everyone could see it.
They weren't good enough for the Uchihas.
"That's stupid!" Naruto shouted, stalking forward. "We're Team 7! How can you let them just pull us apart like this!"
"It's what the clan wants," Sasuke snapped back, shoulders straight, eyes slowly bleeding red. "I can't do anything about it."
Sasuke's look was defiant. For the first time Sakura saw exactly how hard what had happened in the forest was on Sasuke. Being saved by his brother and now being told that they weren't good enough by his family… Sasuke's confidence had taken the same hit hers had, but instead of dealing with it he was simply letting his clan steer him in a different direction.
They weren't good enough. Sasuke wasn't good enough for his clan, she wasn't good enough and Naruto wasn't good enough for Sasuke. Sakura curled her fists together and got angry. How could a single family have so much power over a situation? She didn't care that they ran the police and that Sasuke's brother was so good he could take on monsters in the forest and walk away from it without more than a scratch.
Sasuke was theirs!
"So you're just leaving?"
Sasuke turned away from them and started to walk. "The clan has already decided, Sakura. It's over."
She remembered Hyuuga Neji's face as he fought his cousin and Hinata's stubborn, frightened refusal to back down. She remembered the words "fate" and "destiny" and how Naruto had fought through both. Slowly she turned her eyes to Naruto, staring at him, wondering what he would do. His hands were still clenched, jaw flexing in anger and his eyes were narrowed to slits.
"They can't do this. I won't let them do this!" He took off after Sasuke, shouting his name as loudly as he could.
She lowered her eyes to the cards being blown about by the wind. Slowly she reached out and began gathering them back into the deck. Patiently, carefully she worked her mind racing. She had always thought 'clan' was just another word for 'family'. Kiba always seemed to so happy with his and Sasuke had always spoken with a firm sort of pride in his eyes, but now she wasn't certain. Family to her meant comfort and love and a place to hide when things got hard. Clan… clan meant her teammates were leaving her because Sasuke hadn't met expectations that weren't his own, meant that Sasuke was willing to just walk away from them because they were 'holding him back' from reaching those expectations, meant that she was alone when she had been whole before…
Sitting there, on the bridge listening to the echoes of the past year whistle through her ears she felt very, very small.
X
Present Day
Konoha Village
When Itachi had – 'kidnapped' was such a crude term, since the last way he thought of Sakura as was a child – abducted Sakura from underneath the Team 7's collective nose, he had done so fully anticipating a fall out. Team 7 was one of the few genin teams which had remained together in its entirety despite the layers of rank. They were notoriously protective of each other.
Laying down the gauntlet as he did had served two purposes. The first was to throw his opponents off balance, the second, as everyone kept informing him, provided him an opportunity to deal with the fact that Sakura was on his little brother's team. It appeared that he would need to make certain aspects… very clear.
He had not anticipated that they would respond so quickly, but Itachi found himself both unsurprised and unimpressed. So impatient. He hadn't even made it home yet. Sasuke appeared in front of him while the blond teammate flickered into existence behind him.
"Aniki," Sasuke said, his voice impassive. Itachi was amused. "Let's take a walk."
The blond wasn't even making an attempt to be subtle. His chakra was coming off him in spirals and he was close enough to be pushing against his personal space. Sasuke at least had enough self-preservation to stay out of immediate reach.
Sasuke was all too aware of his brother's amusement as they moved down the old path that lead to a small clearing near the compound. Gritting his back teeth together, he held his frustration firmly in check. Itachi had kidnapped Sakura. Right in front of them. When Naruto had come out of the genjutsu, howling profanities and swearing revenge, he had agreed to this little meeting because the only other option was to go to Sakura first.
He preferred to deal with his brother.
"Alright, Uchiha," Naruto snarled. "What the hell were you doing with our Sakura-chan?"
Of course, Itachi, being Itachi, just stood there. He looked at Naruto for a long moment and then flicked his gaze up to Sasuke. Sasuke smothered a sigh. It was amazing how one little gesture from his brother could speak so loudly and immediately make him feel five again.
He narrowed his eyes. That wasn't going to work either. They were here for a reason. Itachi wasn't going to deter him with a look.
"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "I'm talking to you."
"Then perhaps you should actually say something instead of asking inane questions." Itachi lifted his brow just enough to show how disinterested he was in the conversation. His stance was completely relaxed and Sasuke didn't need his sharingan to tell him that his brother hadn't bothered to pool any chakra for immediate use.
Why stick to verbal insults when he could use his body language to poke at them as well? Sasuke struggled to keep from lunging at his brother. That would solve nothing. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing that Itachi's silent taunts were going clear past Naruto.
"I said," Naruto said as he stalked around, whisker marks stark against his cheeks. "What the hell do you think you are doing with our Sakura-chan?"
"Learning her."
If Itachi was trying to provoke Naruto beyond the point of all reason, he was doing a good job.
"It's simple," Sasuke interrupted. "You might be interested in her now, learning her now, but what happens when you're done, Itachi? You need to understand. She's our teammate."
Itachi's eyes narrowed and he tensed ever so slightly. Interesting. "I am well aware of who her teammates are, little brother."
"Good." Naruto's voice was guttural. "Because if you hurt her we'll tear you apart. She's our Sakura-chan first. Don't forget that, Uchiha."
Sasuke watched as Itachi's eyes flickered over Naruto. "I take excellent care of what is mine. You should remember that as well."
"What the HELL does that—"
Sasuke reached over and yanked Naruto back. Just like his brother to give such a back handed insult, suggesting that he and Naruto had failed to care for Sakura at some point in their relationship. However, attempting to fully body tackle Itachi wouldn't solve anything, but it would give him ample opportunity to piss them off even more.
"We take care of Sakura just fine, Aniki."
Itachi's mouth curled at the edges. "Do you?"
Naruto's chakra flared so hot, he was practically steaming. Sasuke sent an accessing glance his way. He'd known for years about the Kyuubi… but that was hardly common knowledge. Sasuke didn't know if Itachi was one of the privileged few who knew about Naruto or if Itachi had figured it out himself, but if Naruto kept this up there was very little chance of it escaping Itachi's notice that there were two chakras in one body. Naruto had done a good job learning how to control the Kyuubi's chakra flux over the years, but anger still brought the Kyuubi out in him. And Naruto had been pissed about that genjutsu, even more now that Itachi was challenging something that he held very close –the protection of his precious people.
"Naruto. Control yourself," the words were specifically chosen to bring a verbal slap upside the other's head, and if that didn't work, Sasuke was going to have to deal with him before Itachi escaped due to a more immediate concern.
Naruto stepped away from Sasuke, towards Itachi, prowled forward with more of the fox in his movement than not, and spoke, "Just what are you implying, bastard? If you have something to say, come out and say it."
Something sharp and brilliant flickered behind his brother's eyes. The edge of his mouth curled as he studied Naruto. "As you have said, you are her teammate."
"Speak plainly, you bastard!"
Itachi just smiled a sharp, thin little smile that made Sasuke want to punch him.
"I wouldn't have thought you would be insecure enough that you would have to separate Sakura from everyone she considered friends. Feeling a little threatened, Aniki?"
Itachi just flicked his gaze back to Sasuke and slowly assessed him. Sasuke fought the impulse to squirm. He knew that look – somewhere, he had made a mistake. His brother was in the process of measuring just how long it would take to bring the ending blow. His eyes narrowed. Not this time.
"It's not my 'insecurity,' you have to worry about, little brother. I'm not the one instigating a confrontation over your spending a few hours with her."
"No," Sasuke snapped. "You're the one who came charging into our practice session to kidnap her."
"At least she likes spending time with us," Naruto followed up, quick as a beat. "She wants to practice with us. She wants to be with us. What does that say about you?"
"You may ask her, if you wish." His voice was smooth, eyes glinting. "I cannot speak for her personally. Sakura," and he drawled her name in a tone that spoke of familiarity and need. "Has always demonstrated a unique efficiency in speaking her mind, don't you think?"
Sasuke barely managed to keep from blanching. There was no way in hell Naruto would managed to keep his mouth shut about this conversation if he and Sakura started arguing about it, which they would. Naruto was still too pissed to think clearly and bringing up that she had been kidnapped would embarrass and irritate her.
And then she would react. Violently.
"You don't think we will?" Naruto challenged, voice low.
Itachi studied him before turning away, dismissing Naruto for the second time that evening. There was a glitter in Itachi's eyes and Sasuke clenched his fists. That was the expression he wore when he knew he had won.
Well, there was really no way of avoiding Sakura over this forever anyway. Sasuke knew enough to know when he was fooling himself. But he couldn't let Itachi just walk away so easily. Not about this. Sakura was too important. And from what he had implied… he would not let her be taken from them.
"Aniki. Don't think you can make her choose. If you try, it won't be you."
Itachi turned with fluid grace and Sasuke felt his brother at last begin to gather chakra. But he refused to respond. This wasn't his fight, he'd done his best to stay out of whatever was going on with his teammate and his brother, but if there was one thing that Sasuke was absolutely certain of it was that Team Seven was his family when his family was just a clan, and he would fight to protect that.
Sasuke swallowed, but forced himself to continue in a slow, even tone. "You already know that we won't stand for it if you hurt her. I don't need to repeat what will happen. Sakura's ours, Aniki. We've sweat and bled together since we were twelve years old. We've fought to stay together. She's ours. If you try to keep her just for yourself, you won't be able to do that without breaking her." Sasuke took one deliberate step forward, a hair's breadth away from his brother, Naruto's familiar heat one step beside him. "And we'll break you first."
There was a long pause before Sasuke sensed the chakra coiling in his brother relax.
"Maybe not so foolish after all," Itachi murmured. "But too little, too late, little brother."
And with that, Itachi turned and walked away.
X
Tonight was definitely not going how she had planned. She was supposed to have spent the evening with Ino, catching up on life and doing ridiculous things to her toenails. They made a point to clear their schedules at least one a month to hang out and catch up; had been doing so since they had both agreed to disagree about Sasuke. But tonight, whatever plans Ino had made for them had been cancelled with the appearance of the ANBU member and his soft request that she report to the hospital immediately. She had barely had the time needed to change and run into Ino knocking on her door, gasp out several fast apologies before she bolted across rooftops to the hospital.
The place had been in an uproar. Two genin teams had been attacked by unmarked shinobi (Sakura was putting money on Sound or Cloud) and she had been needed to deal with the more serious of the injuries. Tsunade and Shizune were both neck deep in council meetings. She had managed to save the young genin's leg, but he would need careful watching. Their Jounin instructor (had she been told his name?) had needed some serious work done to save his lung after he had taken a poisoned senbon.
After that, Sakura was quite certain she hadn't had a moment to herself. There had been an ambush on the border by Rain-nin and then an ANBU squad had reported in for immediate attention after something had obviously gone very wrong. Broken bones and one very tricky spinal injury would have been enough, but then she had to deal with torn ligaments and cut muscles. After that she found herself buried up to her elbows as she helped a particularly gifted chunin rearrange the internal organs of yet another ANBU who had been cut open. She was going to have to ask Tsunade if she could read the report on how they managed to get him home without losing pieces of him.
To put it shortly, she was exhausted.
Sakura pressed her fingers against the bridge of her nose and wondered if knocking her own head off would fix the headache that was currently pounding behind her eyes. Experience told her she was starting to feel the chakra drain from too many wounds and the way she had to blink to focus on charts told her she needed to home and sleep. Soon. Except there was still a stack of charts as thick as her wrist and she had another half hour to go on her shift. Straightening her posture, she rubbed her face briskly.
She didn't have time to quietly find a corner to collapse in like a silly genin. Picking up the first chart she could reach, she flicked it open and quickly started scanning the contents. Hyuuga. Gut wound. Suffering from severe chakra depletion (had to be, for an enemy to get that close) and blood loss. Concern over infection since the wound was sealed in the field. Allergic to certain classes of antibiotics. Sakura frowned. That would limit the nurses in treating the patient. While chakra was capable of burning out infection, unless it was a severe case, most patients were treated with antibiotics and herbs. It kept particularly stubborn shinobi off their feet longer, gave their coil systems time to recover and it didn't tax the chakra reserves of the hospital staff for something minor.
Best to look in on this one herself and make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding left. That would be something that would need to be dealt with. She would make a note to have Shizune look in on him in the next shift. She didn't have the chakra reserves to do anything more than that unless she had to.
Wishing that taking a solider pill wouldn't get her annexed to mopping floors for the next week; she pushed the door open and blinked as she recognized Mai. Sakura had the vague notion that the girl should have gotten off her shift already and pushed it aside. The ambush had left all hands on deck.
Sakura's tired eyes narrowed in on the syringe in the girls and she frowned.
"Mai?"
The girl jumped. She spun around, her brown eyes wide with surprise. "Oh, Sakura-san! I didn't hear you enter!"
Sakura tried to smile at her, but her insides were going cold. "Why are you administering an antibiotic to a patient without his chart?"
Mai's smile faltered and she looked confused. "I'm sorry?"
Sakura lifted the chart in her hand and took several very carefully contained steps forward. "His chart. I have it. You were treating the patient with the wrong chart."
Mai looked horrified. "But… I mean, I was given…" her eyes settled on a folder in front of her and her face paled. Her fingers tightened on the syringe and she swallowed several times. "I was given a chart, Haruno-san."
Sakura wondered what else could possibly go wrong tonight. Reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose, she took several even breaths to contain her growing temper.
"Did you bother to check the bands with the chart number?" Sakura tried to keep her voice even but it came out flat and hard. "Protocol demands that you check each patients ID number against the chart you have."
Mai's lips were trembling a little when Sakura lifted her eyes back to her face. "No, Haruno-san. I did not check."
Ice crawled down Sakura's spine. If Mai was not checking chart numbers against ID numbers then the odds that there were more nurses making the same breech in protocol to save time. Especially on a night like tonight; just the thought of how much retraining it would take to correct the problem was enough to spike her headache but the real problem was that protocol was there to protect the patients. Glancing at the tray filled with antibiotics, she glanced over the names and felt her temper surge. Carefully she tapped down on her anger, holding onto her temper by a thread.
"So you are unaware that the dose of antibiotics you were about to administer would be lethal for Hyuuga-kun here?"
Mai was trembling now, but she managed to answer. "N-no, Haruno-san."
The cold in her stomach turned to acid and her chest burned.
"Turn your name tag in to the front desk. I expect a complete report on Tsunade's desk by dawn explaining your actions and you will submit yourself for an evaluation." Sakura's voice was tight with suppressed temper.
"Yes." Mai whispered.
"You will not return to active duty until you have been approved by Tsunade, Shizune, or myself."
"Yes, Haruno-san."
Mai exited the room silently and Sakura carefully put the chart down. Fisting her knuckles, she took several deep, deep breaths. Shizune wouldn't be coming in for another three hours. Half a shift. Mai – a normally very competent nurse – had almost made a fatal mistake. She had no choice but to stick around until someone else could take control. They could not – could not! – allow this sort of situation to repeat itself. Ever.
The assurance that if they could just make it back to the village, they had a chance to survive whatever the injury was one that Tsunade had worked very hard to inspire. They couldn't afford stupid, unnecessary deaths because of lack of protocol! Reaching up, she rubbed her temples. The backs of her eyes were burning and she counted her breaths until she got her emotions under control. She was so tired. But she had a job to do.
Three hours. Carefully walking to the Hyuuga, she settled her hand onto his abdomen. The surge of emotions gave her a little more chakra to work with, but she would pay for it later. Ignoring the small voice in the back of her head, she went ahead and pushed chakra into the closed wound and very carefully burned away traces of infection while she checked for internal bleeding.
He had been too close to dying tonight, unaware – an unnecessary death – and one that couldn't be explained with honor and missions. It was the least she could do. Staggering a bit as she pulled back, she reached over with surprisingly steady hands and marked his chart as complete before heading back into the fray.
Only three hours.
Three hours in which she monitored every critical patient, double checked every distribution of medication, and tried not to fall over or snap off someone's neck. Sakura thought she might have to crawl home, and was seriously considering just curling up on her office floor. Except she knew the moment she closed her eyes someone would come through her office door in a panic. If that happened, her control was going to snap and she was either going to go on a rampage or burst into hysterics. She didn't know at this point which was worse. It was nights like tonight that seemed to destroy her emotional walls. Sakura lowered her eyes to hands and swallowed when she realized they were shaking.
She needed to go home. She had pushed herself too far again and Tsunade was not going to be kind if she was around long enough for her sensei to catch her working herself this hard again. Then she really would cry. Pressing the palms of her hands against her eyes, she pulled herself together enough to hand files over to Shizune, debrief her on the evening and to clean the blood out from under her short nails. Then she picked up her wallet and kunai from the locker room and stubbornly walked home.
Dawn had broken hours ago and the morning light made her eyes burn, reminding her of the pounding headache and how weak she felt. She had used too much chakra. Sakura made a point to not even brush up against someone. Her eyes and her throat burned with a combination of frustration, exhaustion, and the emotional grind that nights like tonight left behind. She felt raw. If she touched anyone, she would shatter and all her control would wind up in a storm of emotions that wouldn't stop until she had nothing left.
She was staring at her front door for several seconds before she realized it and started to fumble for her keys. Protein bar. Bed. Maybe her couch. That was all she wanted.
She did not want, could not deal with the sudden unveiling of chakra from within her house. But Sakura had already fit the key into her lock and she was just too damn tired to even think about teleporting elsewhere. She stumbled into her foyer, kicked off her shoes, and then made her way into her kitchen. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away.
No, even in her tired state she knew better than that. "Leave," she said flatly, while reaching into her cabinet. There were protein bars there, and she was only grabbing one of them because she knew her body needed the fuel to recover while she slept.
And then he was behind her. His warmth reached out to touch her even though he refrained. "That's hardly polite, Sakura."
Damn it. Why did he have to take everything she said like a challenge? Why did he have to show up now – why did he have to show up at all? What he want from her? Why did everything have to be so, so –
"Can't you just once," her voice broke, "just once cut me a break?" To her horror, her exhaustion was manifesting itself in what was beginning to look like dry sobs. No, no, there were tears too.
Damn. Sakura hunched her shoulders and refused to look at him. Uchiha Itachi did not get to see her cry. He had not earned that right. "Get out," she hissed.
"Your chakra levels are dangerously low." His voice was warm and dispassionate. It should not have made it harder for her to breathe. It should not have made her want to relax back into him. "You are nearing exhaustion."
"I passed exhaustion hours ago," Sakura gritted. She would have said more, but she had made a very definite choking noise at the end of that sentence and it was far more of a tell than she cared for. She really wanted to wipe her face, but that would have been even worse.
Then his hand was on the small of her back and his other reached up to cup her face, gently forcing her to lean her head back up against his shoulder. Sharingan eyes met hers and the intensity in them scorched her.
Those eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly. "What happened?"
A calloused thumb scraped the tear track. That soft touch was almost too much so she squeezed her eyes shut and drew in a dangerously ragged breath. He was so damn warm and the temptation to just turn and press her face into her chest was difficult to push down. The hand on her back moved up and down along her spine and she dragged in another long breath. Feeling a little steadier she opened her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. His eyes still burned with the sharingan and there was an expression there that made her chest tighten. It took several more even breaths before she tried to answer him.
"I was on shift…" her voice cracked and she had to bit her bottom lip to hide it's tell all trembling. She averted her eyes and breathed through her lips. She would not sniffle. Not in front of him. She was trembling with the effort. Digging her nails into her palms she lifted her chin to tell him to leave. The hand in the small of her back moved to her other cheek and he proceeded to drag his knuckles along her damp skin. The touch was soft and the long fingered hand cradling her cheek was gentle. Her breathing went ragged and this time she couldn't hide the way her lip trembled.
"Go on."
Sakura instinctively stiffened. Both his hands were cradling her face and it would be so easy for him to snap her neck right now. Even in her exhaustion, she could feel his chakra coiling, and even though his touch couldn't be called anything but gentle, she knew how easily that could change.
He was completely focused on her. Her tears had partially stilled, and she was breathing a little easier. His very presence had a bracing effect—something in her was responding to him as a challenge, while the rest just wanted to melt into him, and despite the confusion Sakura was united about one thing. She would not take his orders.
"I've had a bad day. I should be able to come home and collapse. I shouldn't have to deal with you."
"Then you should have set better traps." One of his hands left her face and slid down her spine to her back to wrap securely around her waist, and he bent down wrapping his other arm around her knee to support her as he lifted her up against his chest and carried her into her living room.
Sakura was too tired to do anything other than burry her forehead in the crook of his neck and grunt in protest. He was warm and solid and comforting around her, and if he would just hold still she could fall asleep right there.
He sat down on her couch and arranged her sidewise on his lap, her legs across his side, her back leaning against his other side and shoulder. She was more than a little disgruntled that he was moving her around so easily and she tried to pull herself together long enough to complain about it.
"Sakura."
Tilting her head back she swallowed when she realized his sharingan was still bright in his gaze. Closing her eyes she dropped her head back onto his shoulder and wondered if her arm would be numb in the morning if she just went to sleep…
"Sakura." This time his tone was a little firmer and she managed to grunt at him. His heartbeat was steady under her ear and it was trying to lull her to sleep. "How long were you at the hospital?"
She managed to make a noise. It sounded reasonable to her.
"Sakura."
His tone was soft. There wasn't an edge to it but it struck a nerve anyway. Sakura roused herself from the comfortable dose she had almost fallen into. Sighing low in her throat she opened her eyes and found the will to push the words out.
"Hospital protocol." They need shorter words for this.
Annoyance at the man holding her bubbled up in her chest and she halfheartedly tried to rally herself into kicking him out of her house and crawling into bed. Except her bed wasn't this warm and she was finally off her feet. Except every muscle she had ached, her exhaustion and emotional outburst left her feeling flat and empty. She couldn't feel her fingertips anymore and the world was slowly sliding away with each breath she took.
She closed her eyes, just for a moment, to gather some strength and focus...
He watched, some part of him with muted awe, as Sakura fell asleep in his arms. He knew that the kunoichi was tired—near exhausted—but Itachi could recall with perfect clarity the last time someone had trusted him enough to fall asleep like this. Sasuke had been four.
It was a novel experience.
Slowly letting the sharingan fade from his eyes, he considered how much chakra she had lost. With her efficiency, to be this drained meant she had performed multiple surgeries. He didn't doubt that after a point she would have been excused from such duties – a surgeon without chakra was useless – but something had obviously pushed her to her limits. It was nearing ten in the morning. Shifts were regulated to six-hour revolutions so she had worked at least one full shift, perhaps two if she was called in last evening and then half of another. There had been frustration mixed in with her weariness… frustration and temper that had only compounded with her exhaustion.
Sakura was obviously reluctant to talk about the incident. That was fine. There were other ways to discreetly discover what had occurred last night. Carefully he reached up to run his fingers through her hair until he came to the knot at the base of her skull. It took a few seconds but he worked the knot out and slipped her forehead protector off her head.
Running his fingers down her spine he shifted her weight carefully. It was a sign of how exhausted she was that she didn't stir as he lifted her as he stood. For a moment he considered settling her back onto the couch and decided against it. The bed was the best place for her to rest. It was more familiar and she wouldn't wake disoriented.
Her room was a soft mix of color and the smell of aged paper. Her bed was tucked at an angle that made the window was an easy escape but still managed to be out of immediate view in case of an unexpected visitor. The spaced along her walls that weren't lined with bookshelves stuffed with scrolls were filled with pictures; her dresser had a curious mix of half-polished weapons and feminine knickknacks.
Her bed however, was a rumpled mess. Lowering Sakura onto the mattress he set out organizing the blankets and sheets she seemed to have tied into a knot. It took a little longer than he had expected – how many blankets did she need? – before he had tucked her in. Once he was satisfied that she was comfortable, he considered his options. He wasn't going to leave her unprotected in her exhausted state. He supposed he could set a few traps around her window and doors, but the chances that she would be coherent enough to notice and deal with them when she woke were slim.
He had nothing he needed to do today. Walking over to the wall that faced her bed but was still out of view of the window, he settled comfortable onto the floor and eyed the room around him. A few things he immediately placed. The photos of her team, what looked like a dying tomato plant in her windowsill – ridiculous looking plant – and the walls scrolls delicately painted with the medicnin's oath. It was the collection of fanciful ribbons half shoved into a drawer, the dress thrown haphazardly over the back of a chair and the collection gear next to her closet that most interested him.
The hapless mixing of woman, medic and kunoichi was fascinating. Scanning a particularly dainty collection of breakables, he turned his eyes back to the woman who was so blissfully unaware of his perusal. A small smile tugged at his lips. She would be furious if she knew how many stories her room could tell him. How he wanted to explore each one, peel them apart and discover the secrets he could learn.
And that wasn't the only thing he wanted to discover. Itachi's eyes narrowed as he considered the exhausted form on the bed. Something had upset her. He would find out what it was.
The quiet sound of her breathing filled the room, and Itachi lost track of time as he simply watched her. From the way her covers had been tangled, Itachi assumed that she moved around when she was sleeping, but apparently, her exhaustion overwhelmed that impulse. She had not stirred from where he had set her and something about her stillness… caught him.
He wasn't sure he liked it, this strange feeling of… something.
Unwilling to have anything within himself that was unknown, Itachi prodded the feeling, coaxing it out to analyze the emotion. He already knew he was… displeased… with whatever it was which had so upset her. He already knew that she fascinated him, that he enjoyed being in her presence. He knew he was somewhat… disappointed to find that he was denied her company. He knew how he responded to the blatant challenges to what was between them, first by his own teammates and then by hers. And some deep, feral part of him was satisfied, flattered, with her trust.
It was that part of him, that part of him rarely touched which was the source of this strange feeling. It was… unlike any feeling he'd ever experienced.
It wasn't simple curiosity anymore. He had dug deep enough into her life, had pushed and coaxed enough responses that he could predict her fundamental reactions with unerring accuracy. Yet… she still managed to surprise him. She challenged him. She refused to be intimidated by him or his blood limit. He… admired that.
He wanted more.
Slowly, he turned that thought over in his mind. It wasn't just physical. He had known he was interested in sharing her bed for some time now. It was more than the way she moved, more than the way she looked covered in the blood of her enemies, more than how her hands felt against his skin. He wanted the smile she very rarely gave him; he was fascinated by the way she laughed when she was comfortable in her environment – full throated and open, shaking with merriment, vulnerable. He wanted all that determination and brilliance directed and focused on him… the way he was now focused on her.
He did not question the way he had focused on her. Itachi was well aware of his own intensity. But this… desire for her to be equally fixated on him. That was something new. He had never experienced that before.
He had taken lovers before, when he was younger and flushed with hormonally driven curiosity. They had been older, experienced women who had been eager, interested, and more than willing to teach him what he wanted to know. Not once in all of his experience had Itachi craved his lover's attention and appreciation in the same way he was finding that he wanted Sakura's.
Itachi's movement to stand was almost subconscious. He moved like a shadow to stand beside her bed. Staring down at her peaceful face, he felt the urge to reach out and touch her, feel her smooth skin, move her hair away from her face, simply… be near to her.
His eyes narrowed. This… fascination… had disturbing consequences. Here he was, giving up his time and attention, with one part of his brain working feverishly to insure that nothing ever upset her like this again… and yet, he was glad to do it. The thought of her being upset infuriated him, the thought of her being in danger…
Itachi grit his teeth. He was emotionally invested. She had become… someone precious to him. All while she persisted in calling him 'Uchiha-san.'
He felt his breathing begin to instinctively deepen, as it did before he was about to do a more complicated jutsu. Since she had become precious, she had become a vulnerability. The question was if it was an acceptable risk. The… seeming imbalance in their commitments was a factor, but one hardly worth considering. Itachi could already see signs of her softening towards him – the fact that she had fallen asleep in his arms was a significant one. And he had never failed to get exactly what he wanted.
The pertinent part of the question was if this vulnerability was one worth protecting… or eliminating. It would be so easy…
Reaching out he feathered his fingers across her hair, barely touching. So easy. To eliminate or to integrate her into every part of his life. To break the ties he could feel between them, the draw, or to accept them and allow them to grow.
He had never particularly been interested in something lasting. But with her… she sparked his curiosity. How would it feel to wrap himself so deeply in her life she came to expect it? There were consequences. Her strength hid a fragileness that would have to be guarded. As strong, as competent and efficient as she was, her tendency for forming bonds with other shinobi left her vulnerable. Her relationship with his brother and… her Naruto would create complications. He didn't care to share what was his. As strong, as competent and efficient as she was… she gave too freely of herself to others. There was a weakness in her. It was soft and tender, so easy to bleed. It would be his, if he chose this path. Her complications and her bonds and her driving need to protect everything that was hers. It would be his, if he chose this path.
She would become his weakest point… and yet to turn away from a challenge because of fear was contemptible. He had spent his entire life mastering his weaknesses into strengths. This wouldn't be any different. He wouldn't allow it to be. Slowly he lowered his hands into her hair and twisted his fingers through the soft strands. Hadn't he already made this decision? Once with Sasuke and now… now with Sakura.
Lips curving into the faintest of a smile he stroked her hair away from her eyes. Yes, he would accept this. He would take it into his hands and shape it, slowly, carefully. Would dig out her weaknesses and guard them, strengthen them. He had told her she would be his and now he would set about making it so. Because he never failed in a task he gave himself and Haruno Sakura was the goal he had set.
Everything.
She would give him everything she was.
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