The initial shock of being escorted back to Toyeiki by the deranged and genocidal older brother of her former teammate had worn off by the time they strolled into the inn that evening.

The sun had just dipped below the horizon and what little activity that was still happening in town had died down. Sakura feared that she might have to sneak Itachi into the inn should they come across anyone who might recognize him, but they encountered no one – even in the lobby of the inn.

"The place is a little empty right now," Sakura said, "I've been healing people as they come in and they've been coming in waves. Hopefully it'll stay empty for a while so I can get some work done."

Sakura led them upstairs to the room closest to hers, "Your kids can stay in this room." The room had two beds and ten cots folded and lined against the wall. It was clear that the room had contained children recently as the walls were covered with crayon drawings pinned up by the nurses and forgotten toys were scattered around the floor.

"Uchiha-san," Sakura said, leaning to the other side of the hallway and flinging open the adjacent door, "You can stay in this room."

"Call me Itachi, please," he said.

Itachi had barely spoken on their way to Toyeiki, and hearing his voice startled Sakura and made her feel a bit uneasy, almost like she had forgotten who he was. She felt a cold wash of fear sink into her again and she shook it away with a shiver.

Was she in her right mind? Had she really brought an S-class criminal in for potentially an entire week to study him?

"The formality seems wrong, doesn't it?"

Boy, was that an understatement. Sakura suddenly had a list of Itachi's grievances spring to mind and the urge to read them back to him angrily swept over her. She could feel them practically spilling from her lips already. Here was a man who had committed more heinous atrocities than she could even imagine, caused more pain and heartbreak for the people she cared about and he was standing in front of her with the audacity to suggest that she should change the way she addressed him?

"Itachi-san would be fine, too, I suppose," he said, his voice measured. Her lack of response seemed to annoy him, but he seemed wise enough not to comment on it.

"Right," Sakura said, slowly coming back to her senses, "Itachi-san." The name tasted like poison on her tongue.

She turned back to Yamato still standing in the doorway behind her, "Let's get you guys a hot bath." She turned to Itachi and reached her arms out to take Sachi from him, "And we need to get you a change of clothes."

"No!" she shrieked, her voice echoing down the empty hallway. She retracted her hands and watched as Itachi shushed her and rocked her on his hip.

Yamato pulled at her shirt, "Maybe it would be better to let Itachi-san give her a bath instead," he suggested.

Sakura blanched and let her gaze fall on what was clearly Itachi's shirt bunched up around Sachi's hips, "I'm not sure that's entirely appropriate…"

"No, Sakura will give her a bath," Itachi insisted. He pried Sachi away from his side and held her out for Sakura to take. She began kicking and shrieking even louder this time, determined not to be held by the pink-haired medic.

Itachi set her down on the ground and knelt down next to her. Sakura noticed the hard set of his face, the way his eyes brooked no room for argument. She would have found it comical had it been any other person – he could definitely be intimidating when he wanted to be, and he had toned it down for the toddler in front of him.

"Sachi, calm down," he said, "Sakura is not an enemy and she will not hurt you. Let her give you a bath."

Sakura hadn't expected that to work so easily, but immediately Sachi turned to Sakura and extended her hand. Sakura took it and threw a pointed glance up at Itachi. She took Yamato's hand in her free one and pulled them into her room, shutting the door behind her

.

After each child was given a hot, scouring bath and a bowl of ramen from the kitchens, Sakura brought them back to their room. She tugged down at the hem of Sachi's new dress (well, new to her) as she pushed the door open and was surprised to find Itachi in the room.

It looked like he had cleaned up, straightening the linens on the beds, scooping the toys into a neat pile by the window, and wiping away any dust that had settled in the absence of patients.

Sakura wanted to make a snide remark about it – she had planned on cleaning up after dinner – but she chose to let it go.

"I'm surprised you had the energy to do all this," she said instead, careful to keep her tone neutral, "But I'm glad you're here now. I think it's time to go over some ground rules with the children."

Itachi nodded and took a seat at the end of the nearest bed. Sachi climbed down Sakura and ran to sit in his lap. Sakura huffed, teetering between amused and annoyed. Of all the people for a young girl to be infatuated with…

Sakura pulled herself up onto the opposite bed and patted the spot next to her. Yamato obligingly hopped up beside her and waited patiently for her to speak. She didn't miss the way Itachi's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Maybe Yamato hadn't been as well-behaved for him, she thought.

"Alright," Sakura began, "Rule number one. Neither of you are allowed to leave this room unless either Itachi or me is with you. Got it?"

Both children nodded.

"Good. Rule number two. There will be no screaming or yelling or any loud noise-making of any kind. There are many people here who are sick and are trying to recover. Understood?"

They nodded again.

"And rule three. You are not to enter the room at the end of the hall right here," Sakura said, "That's my office and there are lots of dangerous things in there. I don't want you to get hurt."

The children nodded in tandem.

"Good," she said, smiling, "Itachi-san, is there anything you'd like to add?"

"No," he answered.

"Alright then," she said, clapping her hands together with finality, "Let's get you guys into bed."

"I'm not tired yet, Sakura-san," Yamato said through a yawn.

"Of course you aren't, Yamato-chan," she said, pulling the covers up around his shoulders, "But if you want to be big and strong like Itachi-san, you have to get a good night's sleep."

Yamato acquiesced and snuggled down into his bed. Sakura ruffled his hair affectionately and turned to tuck Sachi in only to find that Itachi had already done it. He stood over her bed, watching her with an expression Sakura couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Itachi-san?"

His eyes snapped up to her.

"I'd like to run a few tests now, if you're up for it."

"Of course."

.

Itachi, like most people, was not a fan of being stuck with a needle. Or maybe it was the fact that it was an enemy doing the sticking, but Sakura couldn't help but notice the tense way he watched her.

He was sitting on the bed in his room, rigidly like he was expecting her to attack at any moment.

"I'm not going to attack you, Itachi-san," she said, not bothering to hide the irritation that tickled her chest, "It would be counter-productive to my mission."

Itachi said nothing, keeping his eyes trained forward.

"So, Sachi seems to really like you."

He didn't answer.

"What do you have to do to earn the blind trust of a little girl like that?"

Sakura withered under the scouring gaze he threw at her. She knew better than to poke the bear – especially this bear – but there was something about his relationship with the little girl that didn't sit well with Sakura.

"How much longer will this take?" Itachi asked, his voice restrained.

"I'm almost done," she said wearily, letting her glowing hands fall to his chest again. She let her chakra flow through him and noticed that he was resisting her less and less. He almost seemed to welcome her chakra.

Delving deeper, Sakura realized that he was probably in a lot of pain. His lungs were in poor condition, filled with blood. His throat was raw from coughing too much. His immune system was already in shambles and now he had to suffer through this mysterious infection on top of it all.

She set to work healing some of the damage in his lungs – not too much of it, she still needed her bargaining chip. Itachi visibly relaxed, letting the tension melt from his shoulders.

"She wet the bed," Itachi said, pulling her out of her own thoughts.

She paused and looked up at his face.

"I didn't bring any extra clothes for her, so I had to give her my shirt."

Oh. Well, she certainly hadn't been expecting that. The thought of Sachi tugging on Itachi's sleeve after having wet the bed amused her thoroughly, but she wisely decided against laughing.

Sakura pulled her hands away from him and collected the syringes and bottles from his bedside table and tucked them back into her medkit.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Itachi-san," she said, "I'll check in with you again in the morning. Try to get some rest."

.

Sakura tossed and turned for the better part of the night. Itachi had given her no indication that he was going to harm her – quite the opposite in fact. It just felt too strange to fall asleep with a known enemy on the other side of the wall. She wondered if he was sleeping – if he felt weird about being around her as well.

After a couple hours of restlessness, Sakura flicked the lights on and moved over to her desk where she started analyzing the samples she had retrieved from Itachi. If she wasn't able to sleep, she could at least be doing something productive.

It was tedious work and Itachi's samples looked much like the other samples she had been staring at for a month. She had hoped that finding someone with a recent infection would give her the clarity she needed or lead to a breakthrough.

After a few hours of searching, Sakura found that she had been right about Itachi's autoimmune disease being the reason he contracted the disease in spite of his capability with chakra. The weakness of his immune system left him extremely vulnerable to an infection like this one. The state of his body shocked her – he could die at any moment, really. His organs were slowly failing and his body was no longer able to fight off bacteria. She was surprised he was still alive at all. How long had he been living like this?

And she had promised to heal him. Completely.

She blinked rapidly, getting her eyes adjusted after having spent so much time looking under the microscope. How could she broach a topic like this with him? How would he react to her not being able to hold up her end of the bargain? Would he get violent?

A knock at the door startled her.

"Sakura-san?"

It was just Rokuda. Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

"Come in," she called, turning back to her microscope.

She heard the door open and then shut again.

"I see you amassed a few new patients," Rokuda said.

"Oh," Sakura said, "Yes, I meant to tell you. The man in the adjacent room has been recently infected. You don't need to keep an eye out for that anymore. I'm looking over his samples now."

Rokuda hummed thoughtfully.

"And the room across from him has a couple of kids," Sakura continued, "They aren't sick, but they were traveling with him."

"Sakura-san, I came up here to tell you that Kira left yesterday," Rokuda said, her voice laced with a bitter sadness, "I tried to stop her, but she kept talking on and on about how she wanted to see the world. She didn't seem to care at all that we really need her here."

Sakura pondered this information for a moment, still fixated on the sample beneath the microscope. Kira hadn't been anything special in terms of medical jutsu. She was just an extra helping hand.

"And what about Amika?" Sakura asked.

"She's still here for now," Rokuda answered, "But I think she wants to follow in Kira's footsteps soon. Before this epidemic both of them were going to move to Cloud together. I don't think they ever intended on being nurses. At least not like this."

Sakura swiveled away from her microscope and gave Rokuda a weak smile, "Rokuda-san, I owe you an apology. This is taking a lot longer than we promised it would. I'm sorry that we under-delivered."

"We are just grateful for your help, Sakura-san."

"Don't worry about losing Kira," Sakura said, turning back to her desk, "We'll manage without her. The worst part is over."

.

Late in the morning, Sakura peeked into the children's room to find them sleeping soundly. It was a wonder they managed to sleep so late, but Sakura guessed they must have been exhausted from all the traveling they had been doing.

She shut the door with a barely audible click and reached back for the handle of her own door when her hand collided with something warm and hard. She pulled her arm back to her chest and spun to face Itachi who appeared not to care that she had just smacked him in the torso.

"How are the children?" he asked.

"They're sleeping," she answered, her guard up after having been sneaked up on, "And you should be too."

"I'm hungry," he said, and Sakura wished that her voice was always as steady as his seemed to be.

"You know where the kitchens are," she replied with an annoyed tone. Was he really asking her to make breakfast for him?

"I don't know where they are," Itachi answered, his tone infuriatingly neutral again, "And I wasn't sure if it was wise to walk about freely. There might be someone here who could recognize me."

"Fine," Sakura said with a huff, "I'll get some breakfast for you."

Like a petulant child, Sakura stomped her feet as she started down the hallway, but paused when she felt Itachi's slender fingers wrap around her upper arm. She swung around to face him, to yell at him for touching her.

"If it is a problem, I will go myself," Itachi said, cutting her off before she could try to retaliate, "I don't want to inconvenience you."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"No."

They stared at one another for a moment before Itachi's stomach growled loudly. She looked up at his face to catch any embarrassment she might find pinkening his cheeks, but to her disappointment he appeared as cool and collected as ever.

"Let me show you where the kitchens are," she said with her best attempt at nonchalance.

.

Itachi didn't wait for permission before he began pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets and wrestling food out of the refrigerator. Sakura watched with mouth agape as Itachi began cutting up vegetables with dexterity only a ninja could possess.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, glancing up from the cutting board.

"I didn't peg you at the cooking type," she replied with a furrowed brow, "It doesn't seem like something you'd be good at."

"You don't know me," Itachi replied, and even though his tone didn't sound condescending or cruel in any way, Sakura felt herself bristling.

"I know you killed your entire clan. I know you tortured your little brother. I know that you and the rest of Akatsuki are planning on killing my best friend and doing god-knows-what with all the tailed-beasts," Sakura said, her voice growing louder with each word, "So yeah, it feels a little weird to throw good at cooking into the mix of things I already know about you."

Itachi set his knife down and braced himself against the counter in front of him, staring down at the cutting board. A beat of silence filled the room, tense and overwhelming. Sakura could feel her heartbeat up in her throat.

She didn't wait for him to respond before she left, slamming the door behind her.

.

A short while later, Sakura was interrupted from her studies by the sound of two children screaming.

In a panic, Sakura leapt from her chair and darted into their room to see what was the matter. She rolled her eyes when she saw the two siblings rolling around on the floor, pinching and biting one another.

"Knock it off," Sakura said in a tone much too casual, not quite authoritative enough, "Remember rule number two."

The children continued their scuffle in spite of Sakura's warning until she grabbed each of them by the collar and yanked them away from one another.

"Yamato-chan," Sakura said, "You're not acting very much like a ninja right now. Would a ninja attack his sister?"

"She started it!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Sachi, "She was pulling my hair."

"That doesn't excuse your behavior," Sakura said, "Now go get washed up and I'll make you two some breakfast."

Yamato dutifully trotted off to wash up and Sakura pretended not to hear when he muttered under his breath about stupid rules and stupider sisters.

When he was gone, Sakura turned back to Sachi.

"You really shouldn't provoke him like that," Sakura said, smoothing out the girl's rumpled dress. She would need to go find her some proper sleep clothes today, if time permitted.

Sachi said nothing, but the protrusion of her lower lip told Sakura exactly what Sachi thought of the whole ordeal.

"Come on, let's go get washed up."

.

Sakura hadn't imagined it would be so hard to help two perfectly able bodied children brush their teeth and wash their faces – nor had she expected there to be so much whining during the process.

After twenty grueling minutes, Sakura took them down to the kitchens to get them some breakfast. She listened carefully as she passed Itachi's door, but she heard nothing – meaning he was either sleeping (unlikely) or he was still down in the kitchens.

And he was – scooping an omelet out of a pan and onto a plate.

"Itachi-san!"

Sachi ran over to Itachi and latched herself around his leg, grinning up at him with bright eyes. Sakura wondered if Sachi would love the man so much if she knew some of the atrocities he'd committed – if she was even capable of understanding them at such a young age.

"Sachi, I made you some breakfast," Itachi said, patting the girl atop the head. He actually looked down at her and smiled – a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. It was an expression she rarely saw on Sasuke and certainly had not expected to see on his older brother.

Sakura watched as he scooped her up and set her down at the head of the table and placed a plate full of food in front of her.

"I made some for you, too, Yamato," Itachi said, setting down another plate at the opposite end of the table. Yamato took his seat without so much as a thank you and began stuffing his face with food.

"I took the liberty of making some for you as well, Sakura-san," Itachi said, adding two more plates to the table, "Though I understand if you do not want it."

Sakura eyed the plated omelet suspiciously.

"It wouldn't do me any good to poison you, now would it?" Itachi said with just a hint of mirth in his voice, "Besides, I'd never risk accidentally poisoning Sachi or Yamato."

Apparently their earlier encounter had been forgotten. Or at least forgiven.

Sakura sat down at the table slowly, cautiously. Itachi took the seat across from her. The four ate in silence – well, save for the sounds of Sachi and Yamato inhaling food with gaping mouths.

"Itachi-san, can you teach me some cool ninja moves today?" Yamato asked as he chewed with his mouth open.

"He needs to rest today, Yamato-chan," Sakura said before Itachi had a chance to answer, "Maybe in a couple of days if he's feeling better."

"I'm feeling no worse than usual," Itachi said, "Aside from the dizzy spell yesterday, I haven't noticed many symptoms."

"The symptoms will get worse, Itachi-san," Sakura said, "You need to rest and let your body heal itself. It's going to be much harder with your condition."

"Is Itachi-san going to die like mama?"

Sakura was stunned by the question and turned to look at Sachi's wide, brimming eyes. If the moment hadn't been so somber, Sakura would have found to sight of her comical – dark curls flying about her head, eyes as large as Sakura had ever seen glittering with unshed tears, quivering lower lip.

"I'm not going to die," Itachi said with unmistakable certainty, "Sakura-san is the best medic-nin in the world. She is very capable."

Sakura eyed Itachi with disdain, miffed that he would mock her so openly and in front of the children. But when she looked back at Sachi she saw that the girl had blinked the tears away and pulled her lower lip back to its rightful place.

"Thank you, Sakura-san," she said in the tiniest voice Sakura had ever heard.

Sakura fixed her gaze on Itachi who was regarding her with… was it appreciation? It was hard to tell, but it was warm and unsettling.

"Oh, I thought I heard voices in here."

Sakura turned to the door and saw Amika holding an armful of linens. She hefted them up higher to get a better grip before dumping them in a nearby laundry cart. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand and smiled warmly at Sakura.

"I was just working on getting some of the bed clothes changed," she said, "Are these new patients of yours? I could have fed them for you."

"Eh, no," Sakura said, "Not exactly. Well, kind of."

Amika raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Itachi-san is my patient," Sakura said, waving her hand in the general direction of the Uchiha, "The kids are his companions."

Amika smiled prettily at Itachi and nodded her head, "Itachi-san, you're in good hands here."

He nodded to her, and resumed eating.

"So, Sakura-san," Amika said, pulling up a chair, "Is there anything you need help with today?"

Sakura nearly snorted, "You actually want to help me?"

But when she looked over at Amika she found the young nurse staring intently at Itachi, an expression of sheer admiration on her face.

Sakura tensed up, feeling very uncomfortable with Amika's obvious attraction toward the famed Uchiha. It was one thing for Sachi to admire him – she wasn't in a position to protect Sachi from the man. He had made it clear he didn't really pose a danger to her anyway.

But Amika was her nurse. She had no idea what Itachi had done in his past, no idea what a monster he really was.

She couldn't really blame Amika. She didn't know the truth. She just saw Itachi for what he was at face value – an attractive man close to her age.

Sakura cleared her throat.

"What?" Amika asked, tearing her eyes away from Itachi to glance back at Sakura who was glaring at her.

"You want to help me, huh?" Sakura asked, "Why don't you start by going over the notes I left on my desk. See if you can find a reason why Itachi-san here hasn't keeled over yet in spite of his two very serious conditions."

"Sakura-san!"

"What?" Sakura asked, feigning innocence.

"Your bedside manner!" Amika said, aghast, "Your patient is sitting right here!"

"He's tough," Sakura said, chewing her food with indifference, "He can handle some harsh words. He's handled much worse."

Amika fixed her with a petulant look.

"Go," Sakura said, "Now."

Amika narrowed her eyes at Sakura and then flashed Itachi a bright smile, "You'll have to excuse her. She's a brilliant medic, but she has quite a mouth."

Wisely, Amika darted from the room before Sakura could gather enough chakra in her fist to punch the insolent girl through the nearest wall. When she was certain the girl was gone, Sakura resumed eating, pretending not to enjoy it as much as she actually was. She couldn't let Itachi know that he was a decent cook.

"She's right," Itachi said, that small trace of mirth back in his eyes again, "You do have quite a mouth."

She snapped her eyes up to his and pushed her chair away from the table with enough force to jostle everyone's plates.

"You are in no position to judge me, Uchiha," she said through clenched teeth.

"I was only teasing," Itachi said, and Sakura didn't miss the way his tone was almost remorseful.

"Teasing?" Sakura said, vaguely aware that her tone was bordering on hysterical, "You think we're friends now? That you can tease me like that?"

"That wasn't my-"

"You have no right to tease me like we're friends."

"I know."

"Do you even have friends? Is that why you feel the need to do this?"

Sakura was hovering over the table, leaning toward Itachi with growing rage, her hands trembling. It occurred to her that she must be out of her mind to say such things to a man like Itachi.

Itachi had remained seated and silent in spite of Sakura's hissy fit and glanced awkwardly between Sachi and Yamato who looked shocked and a little bit frightened.

"Rule number two, Sakura-san," Yamato said in that condescending way that kids sometimes say things.

Sakura felt herself deflating and sunk back into her chair with a groan.

After a beat of silence, Itachi pushed his chair back and began clearing the table.

"I'll clean up," Sakura said.

Itachi paused and eyed her skeptically.

"Just take the children back to their room, please," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Itachi dropped the plates he had been holding into the sink and scooped Sachi up. She attached herself to his hip in that way that toddlers do and rested her head on his shoulder, giving Sakura a reproachful look.

"Come on, Yamato," he said quietly but firmly. Yamato jumped up from his place at the table and followed Itachi to the door.