Sakura woke up feeling jittery and anxious. She didn't want to admit that the Uchiha in the adjacent room had gotten under her skin, but it was the truth. She had teased him pretty ruthlessly, believing that he could handle it. The fact that he had the nerve to use such a cold intimidation tactic against evidenced that she had gotten under his skin as well.

But if he thought that meant she would cease her efforts to learn the truth, he was sorely mistaken. Something was fishy about him and his story and she'd be damned if she didn't uncover the truth. Things just didn't add up.

There was a lot about the massacre that had never been said. The general public of Konoha had been led to believe that Itachi had snapped, gone insane. But the Itachi that she knew definitely wasn't insane. At least not in a way that she could see. For a shinobi, Itachi seemed just as well adjusted as anyone could have expected him to be.

The few times Itachi had been spotted before, it had always led to some type of battle. That was expected, Sakura thought. But Itachi was lauded as one of the most skilled and dangerous shinobi. It was suspicious that he had never left a casualty. He could have killed Kakashi. He had the opportunity. He could have killed all of them back during Gaara's rescue. But he didn't.

He could have killed her when she found him outside Toyeiki. It would have been easy. He could have hidden his tracks well. No one would have known he had done it. It would have eliminated her as a potential obstacle in the future should she ever stand between him and Naruto.

Sakura was certain that there was more to Itachi than met the eye. She just needed to know the why.

She shook herself from her thoughts and focused on the task in front of her instead. Yamato and Sachi were still sleeping soundly on their cots, so she kept as quiet as she could while she filled syringes with her vaccine. Once she had made several hundred, she could leave knowing that Toyeiki was safe. She could teach Rokuda how to make more of the vaccine, if necessary, but Sakura felt confident that now that the infection was under control that its spread would slow down and eventually die off completely.

After a couple of hours, Yamato and Sachi stirred from their slumber.

"Good morning," she said to them with a smile.

"Where is Itachi-san?"

Her smiled dropped.

"That's not a proper greeting, Yamato-chan," Sakura chided.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," he said, yawning, "Where is Itachi-san? I'm hungry."

"If you give me half an hour, I'll make you both some breakfast," she said, "I just have a few things I need to finish first."

"I'll just ask Itachi-san," he replied.

"No," she snapped, "He's probably still sleeping. Just be patient and I'll get you some food soon enough."

He pouted at her and crossed his arms, but said nothing else. Sachi looked warily between Sakura and her brother, but she, too, remained silent.

After a tense half hour of silence, Sakura took Yamato and Sachi down to the kitchen. Mercifully, it was empty. She fixed them some scrambled eggs and watched as they picked at them. Sakura wasn't hungry.

The children were likely to be in a sour mood once Itachi was gone. They really enjoyed his company, it seemed. She would have to have a talk with them about keeping quiet about Itachi once they were in Konoha.

Sakura was deeply worried that the children would somehow spoil her little secret. No one could know that she had teamed up with an s-class missing-nin, and children were notorious for not being the best at keeping secrets. Sakura made a mental note to ask Itachi if there was any sort of genjutsu he could place them under that would make them forget about him.

"This isn't as good as Itachi-san's," Yamato said, pushing his eggs around his plate.

"Well, I don't have fancy Sharingan to help me learn techniques," she said, miffed, "This is the best I can do."

Yamato dropped his fork. "Sakura-san!" he said, "Can Itachi-san show me his Sharingan today? You said he could when he was feeling better, and you made him not sick anymore, right?"

"Yeah, I did…" she said, "I guess that would be alright. If Itachi-san agrees."

"Yes!" he exclaimed, jumping down from his perch at the table, "I'll go find him right now."

"No, finish your food first."

"I'll eat later."

"I thought you said you were hungry."

"That was before," Yamato said, "I'm not hungry anymore."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him skeptically. "Fine," she conceded, "Let's go find Itachi-san."

.

After searching the entire inn, Yamato, Sachi, and Sakura found Itachi in the garden throwing shuriken at small targets he had set up everywhere. Sakura held Yamato's hand in hers while she watched Itachi nail every target with practiced ease. Sachi fidgeted on her hip and let out a whimper. It didn't take a genius to know that she wanted to be put down so that Itachi could pick her up.

But Sakura held onto the girl until it was obvious that Itachi was finished throwing his shuriken. Not that she expected an errant shuriken to hit her – Itachi didn't throw errant shuriken.

"Itachi-san!" Yamato yelled across the garden, "Sakura-san said you could show me your Sharingan now."

Itachi crossed the garden, eyeing Sakura with suspicion. "Did she now?" he asked. His tone was light, but his eyes were dark and serious.

"Yes," she answered confidently, in spite of the nervousness she felt at being so close to him after the previous night's incident, "I was wondering if there was a specific jutsu you could show them that would help them with their tongues once we're in Konoha."

"Their tongues…?"

"You know," she said, "So they don't go telling the entire village about their super cool Uncle Itachi."

Itachi blinked and Sakura had the impression that he had never thought of that before.

"I suppose I could place them under a genjutsu," he said, "But I'm not sure how effective that will be long term."

"You shouldn't have given them your real name."

"Yes, I agree," he said. His eyes were sharp on her. "But it's too late now."

"Itachi-san," Sachi said, reaching her arms out for the man.

Grudgingly, Sakura passed the girl over to him. Itachi took her with a genuine and disarming smile and hugged her close.

Sakura felt uncomfortable around Itachi now, and was unsure of what to do. She needed to be working on his autoimmune disease because the faster she got that done and out of the way, the quicker she could get home.

And Ino was supposed to arrive back any day now. She'd be annoyed that Sakura had come up with a vaccine without her help, but Sakura was interested to know what the blonde had dug up in her investigation.

"Alright," Itachi said, "Do you want to see my Sharingan now?"

He was looking at Yamato, who was bouncing up and down with excitement. There was no doubt in Sakura's mind that Itachi would never do anything to hurt either of them, but she was still nervous at the prospect of seeing them put under the Sharingan's effects.

"Wait," Sakura said, hating how her voice sounded small and scared, "What are you going to do to them?"

Itachi cocked his head to the side and gave her a bemused look. "I'm not going to hurt them," he said, "I'm going to put them under my Tsukuyomi, but they will be fine."

"Tsukuyomi…" Sakura repeated slowly.

"Yes," he continued, "I can put you under it as well. If you are curious."

She shook her head vehemently and took a step back.

"I thought not."

He turned back to the children and crouched down in front of Yamato. His eyes bled to red, the Mangekyo that she had studied before in Kakashi's eye. Sakura moved to stand behind him so that she couldn't see his eyes. She watched Yamato.

"This won't hurt," he said to Yamato.

Sakura watched as Yamato's eyes widened and then glazed over, glassy and unfocused. He looked as though he was about to fall over, but Itachi held him up with a hand on his shoulder.

He eased Yamato into a sitting position and then turned to Sachi. Sachi shifted her eyes between Yamato and Itachi hesitantly.

"I won't do it if you don't want me to," he said to her.

She took a step toward him, letting her hips bump into his knees. Sakura saw him smile at her and he placed his fingers against her chin. Sachi's eyes glazed over like Yamato's and she slumped forward. Itachi caught her and eased her down next to Yamato.

"See?" Itachi said, "If two children can be brave, so can you."

"It's not quite the same, is it, Itachi-san?" she asked, "They don't know the real you. They have no reason to be afraid of you."

"I don't blame you for being afraid of me," he said, "But you don't really need to be."

Sakura gave him a pointed look because she really didn't believe him, even though he made it feel like he was telling the truth. She wasn't a fool, in spite of what anyone else might think if they knew that she had joined forces with the infamous Itachi Uchiha.

"What's happening to them?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I put them on a beach," Itachi said, "I find beaches calming. I figured they might, too. They've been through a lot, losing both their parents."

Sakura said nothing. She wouldn't know what that feels like and she didn't want to think about what Itachi felt about "losing" his parents.

"I am with them," he said, "They aren't alone there. Not that anything could happen to them without my manipulation. I thought you might want to know."

"Are they together?"

"No," he answered, "I've never tried to put two people under the same genjutsu together. Maybe I'll try it someday. Not on them, though. I don't know what might happen. I don't want to hurt them."

"Right," she answered, not knowing what else to say.

Itachi sat down next to Yamato and Sachi and stretched himself out in the grass. He deactivated his Sharingan and looked up at the sky. It was the most relaxed – vulnerable – Sakura had ever seen him.

"I'd like to work on your autoimmune disease today," Sakura said. She felt more relaxed now that he had deactivated his Sharingan. "My partner should be back soon, and obviously you can't be here."

"I need to leave soon anyway," he said, but there was a wistfulness in his tone.

"Not looking forward to getting back to work, huh?" she asked.

He gave her a reproachful look.

"Your autoimmune disease isn't as complicated as you might think," Sakura said, glancing down into her lap. "There's a lot of inflammation, and obviously you are susceptible to infectious diseases. I can take care of the inflammation and I can stop your body from fighting against itself, but you will need to be very careful to avoid getting sick for several months after I've finished. It might cause your body to revert back to the way it was. It's fixable, but not if I can't get to you, and it's not likely that we'll meet again in an amicable way. So just be careful."

"I wouldn't expect you to fix me again if I get sick," he said, "That's beyond the scope of our agreement."

"Well, you've made me plenty of meals since you got here," she said flippantly, "I probably owe you for that. I'd have been eating gruel this whole time otherwise."

Itachi tore his eyes away from the sky and fixed her with a curious stare. His eyes were their usual coal black, but there was an intensity to them that made Sakura blush and look away from him.

"And you helped me with the patients," Sakura continued, "And Rokuda told me you helped her with her garden."

He dropped back down to his elbows and looked back at the sky.

"That was more than what we agreed on," she said.

"You were the one who said that it almost felt like we were friends," he said. His voice was quiet, almost nervous.

"Almost," she agreed, "But we aren't."

"We might have been."

"But we aren't."

They both fell silent. Sakura turned at looked at Yamato and Sachi who were both still glassy-eyed and unmoving. She wondered what it felt like to be in his Tsukuyomi – if they would feel somehow different after the genjutsu was lifted.

"Are you sure you don't want me to show it to you?" he asked.

"Please," she said, "I don't want to."

He nodded and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "I won't force it on you," he said, "I just thought you might be curious."

"Why do you want me to see it so much?"

"It can be just as pleasant as it is painful," he explained, "I can show you whatever your deepest desire is. I can show you whatever you ask me to."

"You presume a lot to think I trust you with that information."

"What information?"

She blushed. "My deepest desires."

"Maybe," he conceded, "I'll admit that I am curious, though, about what someone like you desires."

"Someone like me…"

"I won't ask you," he said.

"But that's why you want to use it on me," she said, putting two and two together, "So you can sate your curiosity."

"It's not a pressing matter," he answered, "Just a fleeting thought. I respect that you don't trust me with that information."

She scowled at the inflection of the last word – the way he stretched the syllables and teased her with them. He had no right to be curious about such a thing, if curiosity could be considered a right. This is how Sakura reminded herself that being friendly and being friends were not anywhere near the same thing. She wouldn't hesitate to tell Naruto her desires.

But Itachi would never have that privilege.

"Do you trust me?" Sakura asked him. She could play this game, too. She could flip the tables on him.

"Wholly, no," he answered with a patronizing smile, "But in some ways, I do."

"What ways?"

"I trust that you will take care of Yamato and Sachi," he said after a moment of consideration, "And I trust that you will heal me completely as you promised."

Sakura didn't respond, unsure of how to continue his game because she didn't fully understand what he meant by all of it.

"Trust is a fickle thing, isn't it?" he mused.

She pressed her lips together in a thin line and let her eyelids fall shut. She didn't think trust was fickle at all, but she wouldn't tell him that.

"I'll never understand you," Sakura said, "You are, without a doubt, the most confusing man I have ever met."

He regarded her with scrutiny, his brow furrowed. "I'm not as complicated as you make it seem," he said, "I'm no more confusing than any other man."

She hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe Kakashi is more confusing than you," she said, "He certainly has his moments." She was speaking to herself more than him, but he was still watching her with interest.

"Your sensei?"

Sakura nodded, but she didn't want to talk about Kakashi or anyone else on Team Seven.

"That's enough lazing around," she said, "Let's get to work now. Can you snap them out of it?" She gestured to the children.

Itachi sighed – hardly noticeable, but Sakura caught it.

.

Itachi sat on Sakura's bed and he seemed to be in a bad mood. Sakura had pulled up her desk chair in front of the bed and placed her hands in their usual spot on his chest to work on the inflammation in Itachi's heart and lungs.

Yamato and Sachi sat on their cots, Sachi with a stack of books that she casually flicked through as though she could read them and Yamato twirling his kunai again. Sakura was impressed by their patience. They had not complained very much about being holed up in a nasty inn for several days without anything to do. She herself was annoyed by how much time she had spent here.

Sakura worked in silence, because efficiency was important at a time like this when Ino would be back any day now and Itachi Uchiha was sitting casually on her bed like he belonged there.

The inn had been cleared of patients once again, and Itachi's room was empty. It probably came as a great relief to him. He seemed to value his privacy. But when he had released the genjutsu from Yamato and Sachi and carried their fatigued bodies up the stairs, it was Sakura's room that he entered instead of his own.

Sakura didn't complain because it was preferable to be in her office where all of her things were. But still, she thought, he shouldn't have presumed that it was acceptable to use her personal bed in such a manner.

And on top of that, he was scowling, sulking, for whatever reason. Sakura had an idea of what his problem might be. She suspected that he had been enjoying their conversation in the garden and she had cut it short. It had been dangerous territory again, because conversation about trust shouldn't be had between two enemies unless there was an exchange of it – and there should not be an exchange of it.

Yet here they were, irrefutably exchanging it. Sakura had her hands on his chest, her chakra in his heart and lungs. She could kill him if she wanted to. She could slow his heart down until it stopped completely. She could increase the inflammation in his lungs until he couldn't breathe. Itachi was trusting her, and she had given him every reason to.

If Sakura wracked her brain hard enough, she would find plenty of negative consequences for this. She knew that this was a very bad thing she had done – striking a deal with Itachi (and even worse, allowing this trust between them).

But really, there was no better way the situation could have gone. No one was hurt. Sakura didn't have to fight Itachi (a fight she was sure to have lost), and Itachi was no longer the sole caretaker of two orphaned children. Everyone got what they wanted. Sakura was even able to come up with a vaccine thanks to the criminal on her bed, so it wasn't like she could be too ungrateful.

There was no denying how odd it felt, though.

"Sakura," Itachi breathed, leaning forward slightly. His voice was labored and airy, and Sakura didn't miss how he had dropped the suffix from her name. "I feel better than I have in years. You undersold your medical prowess."

"Nonsense," she said, pushing lightly on his chest so that he was no longer leaning forward toward her, "I did the same thing those pills of yours do. I'm just better at it than they are."

She rolled her chair away from the bed and back toward her desk, inwardly pleased to hear the compliment from him. Back home, everyone took her medical skill for granted. Itachi probably wasn't used to medical care of this caliber.

"Speaking of your pills," she said, snatching an orange bottle from the shelf beside her desk, "I've got some for you here. Take one of these a day until they run out. They should last you a couple of month. Do not take more than one within twenty-four hours. These aren't like the ones you had before."

She turned back to Itachi, extending the pill bottle to him. He took it and put it in his pocket.

"It really is a miracle you're still alive," she said, "You must have been in so much pain all the time. Breathing must have been difficult for you, but you never showed it. Your resilience is astounding."

He didn't say anything, but Sakura could see the cogs whirling in his head.

"You're lucky you found me, Itachi-san," she continued, "You wouldn't have lived for much longer. If you had contracted a respiratory infection you definitely would have died."

He was silent, watching her with a detached interest. His mind was obviously very far away. Sakura felt a tinge of irritation deep in her chest, but she brushed it away quickly. She had no idea what he was going through right now. Maybe he had no clue how close to death he really had been.

"Itachi-san…" she started. His eyes seemed to focus on her more sharply, caught by the note of hesitancy that was strung in her voice. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know."

"You're spacing out on me."

He blinked rapidly and brought his palm to the back of his neck. Sakura watched as he stretched his arms high above his head and then moved them behind his back. He rolled his head side to side and took several deep breaths. He then stood up from the bed, forcing Sakura to roll her chair backwards a few inches. He bent forward and placed his hands on the ground and then pulled himself up into a handstand.

Sakura wanted to laugh, and it wouldn't have been at his expense necessarily, but she didn't want to offend him so she stayed quiet.

Itachi took several steps forward with his hands, earning some applause from both Yamato and Sachi. He dropped his feet back to the ground and spun to face Sakura.

"I've never felt this strong before," he said. He was grinning widely at her and it was almost unsettling, how happy he looked. He took a step toward Sakura, who shrunk farther back into her chair. "I didn't even realize how much pain I was in."

"It must have been awful," she said, grinning back at him because she couldn't help herself and his smile was so infectious. "You have some incredible pain tolerance to have been able to continue on as you have for so long."

He took another step toward her and reached out for her hand. Her instinct was to jerk her hand away from him, but she forced herself to let him hold it. He caught her fingers and yanked her up out of the chair.

In that moment, Sakura realized that she might have made a mistake. He was a lot stronger now, and probably felt more clarity in terms of shinobi instincts than he ever had before. She might have been able to take him in his weakened state, but there was no way she could last even a minute against the man the way he was now.

But he wasn't attacking her. He pulled her against his chest the way she had seen him do with Sachi so many times. He nearly crushed her with his new strength, but he didn't seem to notice. He simply held her close.

"Thank you," he whispered into her hair.

She stayed there for several seconds, enjoying the heat of his body and the way he seemed truly grateful to her in a way that no one else had ever expressed before.

And if she chose to dwell on it a little longer, she supposed that it was nice to be held by an attractive man (and denying his attractiveness would be ridiculous since he looked so similar to Sasuke).

"That's enough," she said, taking the biggest backwards step she could manage.

He was still smiling when they broke apart. "I'm sorry," he said, "I should have asked for permission first."

Sakura laughed at the absurdity of it all – that an s-class criminal should ask for permission to hug her. It was surreal – all of it was.

Before she could respond, Sakura felt a spike of chakra in the distance – a familiar signature. Ino. Itachi must have noticed too, because she felt his signature immediately dissipate as he masked it.

"Shit," Sakura said, "I didn't think she'd be back so soon."

"It's alright, Sakura," he said, "I can leave now. You've done more than enough for me. I won't hold you up any longer. You're done here in Toyeiki, yes?"

"Wait, no," she said, a note of panic rising in her voice, "I'm not done with you, yet. If you get sick again you'll be right back where you were before. In all that pain. And I promised that I'd heal you completely. That was our deal."

He gave her a disapproving look, but didn't argue. "What do you suppose we do, then?" he asked.

"If she came back so soon she must have found something," Sakura said, "Let me see what she found out before you go. We can make a plan after we have all the information."

He nodded in agreement.

"Take Yamato and Sachi into their old room and stay there with them until I come back," she ordered.

He crouched down and held out his arms for Sachi, who excitedly bounded into them. Yamato rolled his eyes and followed closely behind her.

"I'll try to keep her away from you," Sakura said, "But just use a henge if she gets too close."

Itachi fixed a sharp eye on her. "I know how to avoid detection," he said.

She blushed. "Yeah, sorry," she said, "Maybe you should be the one giving orders, eh?"

He shook his head with amusement, which struck Sakura oddly and left her feeling warmth spread through her chest that definitely should not have been there. She ignored it, pushed it aside, and went downstairs to greet Ino.

Nervously, Sakura busied herself in the lobby, pretending to gather linens, touching things in general, trying to look as if she was doing something. She couldn't sense Itachi upstairs, even knowing that he was there, so that brought her some relief. Ino probably wasn't astute enough to sense him anyway.

Ino burst through the front door, gasping for breath.

"Sakura!" she exclaimed, panting. She tossed her pack onto the nearest cot and collapsed down beside it. "I've got some really bad news."