The following day, Saturday, Itachi had work to do since crime didn't take days off. When he got into his firm's building, he went straight towards Shisui's office and his cousin looked up in shock when he heard his hand-carved rosemary door open. The last time his younger cousin visited his office was when a psycho criminal had tried to kill him. It was a time Shisui wished to forget and he hoped, as bits of those moments replayed themselves, that he wouldn't have to induce another episode of amnesia upon himself.

"So….hi," Shisui said watching Itachi close the door and sit in the overstuffed leather chair in front of his desk.

"I need you to give blood."

Shisui relaxed after hearing the odd request and then smirked playfully, "Found a vampire?"

"Get one of our forensic people to get a vile of your blood, and then give it to me."

"Itachi…I know you've done some creepy things, but are you going all Angelina Jolie with the whole necklace of your beloved ones blood?"

"No, I just need it."

"Okay…" Shisui responded carefully, the situation wasn't becoming any clearer and internally he wondered if Anko had put a hallucinogenic in his coffee again, "want me to go down to the lab now?"

"Yes."

The older Uchiha got up and loosened his tie, "want to tell me what this is about?" he asked as he followed Itachi out.

"Not particularly."

"On a scale of legal, illegal, and deathwish – which is this?"

"Between legal and misdemeanor."

"Ahhh, that's not so bad," the older one responded with a relieved sigh as he put his arm around Itachi's shoulder and slyly commented, "nice hair."

.

…

.

Sakura brushed her hair to the side as she stood in front of the plasma screen. She was looking over the distinctive features of the AIDS and HIV virus.

She muttered something to herself in a foreign language and pressed the button on the remote to increase magnification on the sample on the left screen.

"Sakura," a familiar voice called her and she turned around on the balls of her feet. She hadn't heard anyone come in.

"Itachi?" she questioned the figure in front of her who resembled the man she wouldn't mind seeing on the front page of the paper for being put away for 99 consecutive life sentences without bail. "You're not dead, or arrested…shame."

Itachi ignored her. "There was a massive computer failure in our lab," he deadpanned his lie, "I need you to run these two samples against each other."

"Umm, sure," she said placing the remote down and slowly made her way towards him. She grabbed the Ziploc bag and the document papers. She signed off on the release forums and glanced at the vile, "just compare D.N.A?"

"Yes, and record if you notice any drugs or abnormalities in either vessel," he added without a hint of interest in his voice.

"Need an identity?" She asked as she moved towards a clear glass fridge under one of the plasma screens.

"No, we know who they came from."

"You're going to owe me again," Sakura said with a devilish smirk as she walked to the back of her lab where she kept most of her analysis equipment. She settled it on the desk and began to go about doing the forensic work by her computer.

"I know," Itachi replied coolly – and that was exactly what he wanted.

.

…

.

When Sakura felt like she had spent enough time copped up in the lap, she made her way upstairs. After checking out and changing, she went to the nurses' station to double check her upcoming surgery schedule. She was surprised to see Itachi standing there talking with one of the male doctors.

She approached cautiously and asked Claire, the night shift head-nurse, about tomorrow's spinal surgery.

"Yeap, the surgery is from noon till eight – that's the time slot I believe?" the nurse asked about the time slot.

"It should take five hours, but yeah…that should be fine. Say, Claire, how long has he been there?" She pointed to Itachi.

"About half an hour, maybe?" she replied unsure.

"Thanks, have a good night."

"You too."

Sakura approached Itachi and the unfamiliar doctor as they were at the tail end of the conversation. When the medic left, Sakura looked at the lawyer curiously, "and what are you doing here? Twice in one day…quit a surprise."

"Hn," Itachi replied, "let's go."

"Did you come to pick me up?" Sakura asked, having to rush a bit to catch up with him. Damn his long legs.

"Need to make sure it was a onetime stalker and that no one important is after you."

Sakura rolled her eyes as they walked out into the chilling autumn world outside the hospital. They both walked in a fast pace and Sakura did most of the questioning. She enjoyed being on decent terms with him.

"How was your day?"

"Fine."

"What do you do on a day to day basis?"

"I get search warrants, charge criminals, prepare cases, and go to court."

"All in one day?"

"I didn't have any court meetings today, but usually yes. This city is full of criminals."

"Do you ever yell in court, like they do on T.V?"

"Only when necessary to break down the witness."

"Harsh."

Itachi didn't respond.

"Do you ever interrogate people?"

"Not often."

"Why not?"

"I am called in to witness interrogation or be briefed on them to see what action could be taken against the suspect or criminal."

"Have you ever interrogated?"

"Back in the day."

"Do you have a gun?"

"Yes."

"On you?"

"Yes," He had started wearing it again since Sakura's stalker incident.

"Really?"

Itachi glared at her threateningly.

"Wow, can I see it?"

"No."

"I won't shoot you," she said defensively.

"Hn," was his only reply.

"How many guns do you have?"

"Three."

"Where do you keep them?"

Itachi looked down at her, silent for a moment as if contemplating whether or not to answer her, "one at work, one in the office at home, and if it calls for I carry the other one."

"This is a calls-for-it moment?"

"I've seen too many victims who assumed it was just a harmless stalker end up in the Konoha River or dismembered in garbage bags."

"That…is so comforting," Sakura muttered, "and here I thought, that's what you wanted to do to me."

Itachi didn't respond and the conversation came to a screeching halt.

When they got back into the apartment, the pink haired woman turned to him as they took of their coats, "so does this mean we will be living together in a civilized manner?"

"Just because I still want to kick you out of my apartment does not mean that I have to act like an uncivilized ape," Itachi replied smoothly.

"Could have fooled me," Sakura said sarcastically as she hung her coat and walked towards the bedroom to go to the bathroom to shower.

.

…

.

The next day passed just as easily, and Itachi picked her up again.

"You haven't done anything jackassy in a while," she said as they walked across the dark deserted street, "are you sure you want to get rid of me?" she teased.

"Positive."

.

…

.

Itachi's positiveness was proven that night when Sakura screamed in horror and ran out of the shower to try to kill the bastard with her own bare hands. Instead all she found was a note on the bed that said,

"Sorry I missed the look on your face – got called into work."

Sakura was angry beyond belief. It took her a few years to get used to being the only person with pink hair and in junior high it became her trademark. She was fine with being distinguished out of a crowd for her pigment deficiency, and even became proud when people could always identify her.

But green hair?

How the hell was green hair suppose to work!

Pink hair was caused by her father's albino-like D.N.A and her mother's red hair…green? Green hair is as unnatural as it came. Green hair was for high school boys who listened to punk music and wore those pants with straps coming out every which way. She didn't even notice the shampoo and conditioner switch since hers was Green-tea Kiwi, imported from France.

She glared at herself in the mirror as she fisted a thick chunk of her hair and tugged it while letting out a whimper.

Green hair was not for doctors.

.

…

.

When Itachi finally got back from work, he half expected the apartment to be on fire. To his surprise, the green-haired Sakura was sleeping soundly on her side of the bed. And to his dismay, after undressing and getting into bed, he had to jump out immediately. His side of the bed was disgustingly slimly and wet.

His eyes narrowed at her sleeping form and heard Satan meow for attention. He was inches away from picking her up and dropping her ass a bath tub filled with frozen cold water. His hands were shaking with need for revenge, but as he got closer – all his morals kicked in. "Fuck," he whispered under his breath. This was getting ridiculous.

It was the third time he was unable to sleep in his own damn bed and yet again, he was unable to throw Sakura off because of the way the light hit her face. The green even looked good in that light. Not that he would ever voice that.

After a shower to get the disgusting clear slime off his skin, he went into the living room and got the remaining three hours of sleep on the clawed up couch.

.

…

.

Itachi woke up to a very unusual feeling.

He was itchy.

Not a nose itch. Or a down there itch. Or that spot on the back that no one can ever reach itch.

It was a full body itch. It was incredibly bothersome and he groaned as he shifted his weight to get up, his behind itched. When he sat up, a piece of paper fell to the ground, and his face went from annoyed to murderous.

"Sorry I missed the look on your face – got called into work.

P.S: that slime that you made contact with is infected with a new string of chicken pox I made a few months back. Pretty neat, right? :)"

If he wasn't so god damn itchy and didn't despise her very existence, he might have appreciated the creativity of her comeback.

God damnit, he was itchy.

He began to scratch his arm and discovered that it was filled with hives. He really had the chicken pox and the desire to scratch himself was unbearable.

There was no way he'd be able to get to work.

Getting up, and scratching his chest, stomach, arms and anything else he could get his hands on, he made his way to the bathroom to take a cold enough shower to at least numb his body…that or bring about hypothermia.

Fuck, he was itchy.

.

…

.

Shisui met his beloved for a quick lunch, and watched with joy as she made the cashier extremely uncomfortable with her version of "humor"…which in many states would be considered harassment.

"How did your court case go?" she asked grabbing her tray with a meat sub, drink, and chips and settling it on a nearby empty table.

"Fine, Itachi called in sick and I'm taking over one of his cases this afternoon," Shisui said stealing Anko's bag of chips.

"Itachi? Sick?" Anko asked as she grabbed his drink and sipped it through a straw.

"Things have been so weird that I don't know if he's an evil clone or the worlds about to end."

"Hmmm," Anko mused placing the drink down and picking up her overstuffed sub with both of her hands, "I haven't seen him in nearly a week, and our child-killers division has been stealing him."

"Everything will be ooooooh," Shisui nearly choked as he tried to take a sip of his drink. Anko had dexterously taken off her shoes and was sliding her leg up his thigh.

Damn woman.

Damn he loved her.

"Oh?" She asked wickedly as she cocked her head to the side.

"I have to be back at work in thirty minutes," Shisui growled.

"We've done it in less time," Anko countered.

"When will you marry me?"

"Someday, let's go – woman's bathroom is free," she said standing up, Shisui followed after grabbing his uneaten sandwich and took in as much of it as possible on the way for a quickie.

.

…

.

When Sakura came home from work, Itachi was sitting on the kitchen counter twitching rhythmically, trying not to scratch himself. When she got closer, the light of the kitchen showed the red soreness of his skin from all his scratching relief, and it even made her cringe.

"How was your day?" She asked sweetly as she filled a large mug with lukewarm water from the tap.

"Hn," he glared. Mentally reminding himself that punching her in the face would be wrong.

She grabbed a pill from the pocket of her cargo pants and placed it into the water, it fizzled away and the liquid turned into a murky pink.

"Here drink this; it will take away the scratchy feeling. The chicken-pox itself will go away in a couple of hours – the strain only lasts 24 hours anyway."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at her as he accepted the mug.

She sat across from him and leaned forward as she watched him drink with an unreadable expression.

"It tastes like seaweed."

"You're lucky I didn't spice it with peppers," she countered.

His face twitched into a soft smirked much to his dismay.

"So, how was your day?" she asked after he finished the medicine. For all of his jackassness, he was an interesting person. And he put bad guys away. It was just a complicated relationship they had, though it seemed to be steering into a friendlier territory.

"Ordered a new mattress," he began as he placed the empty glass down between his case files, "but spent the majority of the time trying to get Satan to skin me."

"Satan's good at clawing," Sakura remarked sweetly as she picked up the little monster from the floor and cuddled him close. He meowed in frustration and jumped out of her grip the first chance it got.

"Hn," Itachi replied as he felt a delayed chill in his body, his desire to scratch any part of his body vanished in an instance.

"So, think of your next move?"

"Next move to make you suffer?" He asked coldly.

"You say tomato; I say sadistic-bastard-get-out-of-my-apartment-or-else-I'm-going-to-make-your-life-a-living-hell," Sakura replied in one breath.

"On levels of sadism, I believe you rank highest."

"I can go higher."

"I'm sure you could – but is your defense as good as your offense?"

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned in closer, "I do believe I am winning."

He smirked defiantly and she shifted in her seat uneasily, not knowing his next course of action was unsettlingly.

"Have you ever even had a roommate?" she asked.

"My cousin stayed with me for a few nights once," Itachi replied honestly after a moment of silence. It was still really awkward talking to her.

"Shisui?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"His girlfriend had gotten very pissed off…and he took a flight to New York to avoid her."

"Did you make his life a living hell as well?"

"Making Shisui's life anything he doesn't want it to be is very difficult."

"Oh?"

"He's the type of person who turns things in his favor very quickly. Very little faze him."

"Must be nice to have that kind of attitude in life."

"Hn."

"I wonder if being carefree is as fun as it seems…" she mused in an almost whisper.

Itachi stared at her for a moment before flipping the folder of a witness file and zoned her out while reading it. The need not to itch himself was a welcoming relief.

"Nice talking to you, peace-dude!" Sakura said in the hip-lingo she had picked up from kids, "I have work to do."

A few moments after Sakura left Itachi was frozen in his place. She had just said it was nice talking to him…they had another decent conversation.

He was getting used to her.

It was disgusting.

He couldn't get close to her like that…she was annoying and immature and in HIS apartment.

He had to get rid of her. Had to.

The next move would be a checkmate, and end the game they were playing. Rules and morals be damned.

A/N: I miscalculated my traveling, and ended up not having the extra week I thought I did between flights which explains the sudden disappearance. Anyway, I'm back. Australia was beautiful and lots of fun. :D My aussie readers- cheers, you can all drink me under the table :D...

Also updates wont be as often (uni started) and next chapter (Checkmate) will be lemony-ish (so be warned). My other stories will be updated sometime later this week as well. (Looks like it may turn into weekly updates, sincerest apologies).

Hope you enjoyed it! I appreciate all the reviews so so so so much!