Yamato was determined to be a good ninja. Sakura, true to her word, had picked up Yamato from her parents home and taken him to the academy for his first day. He was older than the other kids. His eyes were duller than theirs, accustomed to loss and depravity in a way that the other students wouldn't be for quite some time.
But he worked hard and studied. He piled his books high in his arms and held onto them as if they meant the world to him. Sakura offered to help carry them when she had come to pick him up later that day, but he had refused.
"If I'm not strong enough to carry my own books," he'd said, "I can never be a ninja."
Sakura was pleasantly surprised by the way the children had adapted to life in Konoha. After a couple of weeks, they had fallen into a comfortable routine. Every day, Sakura left her apartment extra early in the morning to pick up Yamato and drop him off at the academy on her way to the hospital.
She got to know him on those early morning walks. She learned about his father, the shady merchant who was always yelling or drinking or both. She learned about his mother – a woman who had encouraged him to dream big and escape from the life that she had been chained to.
Sakura was no stranger to sob stories, but she found herself pitying Yamato and Sachi in a way that she hadn't with Sasuke. She questioned her own motives for this. Yamato and Sachi were in her care now (well, sort of) and Sasuke had never been anyone other than her teammate and crush.
After about a month, Sakura realized that she loved those kids. She loved them like they were her own flesh and blood.
Sachi, too, had grown accustomed to life in Konoha. She had formed a strong bond with Kizashi in much the same way she had with Itachi. The two were hardly ever separated from one another. Sakura would catch glimpses of the two of them, Kizashi holding Sachi close to his chest, smoothing her hair down with his palm. It reminded Sakura so much of Itachi that it almost hurt to look at.
On her off days, Sakura would take Sachi to Ino's flower shop and show her some of the flower arranging tricks that Ino had taught her. Or she would take her to Naruto's apartment.
Naruto was over the moon when Sakura had shown up on his doorstep two days after returning to Konoha with two orphans at her side. He ushered them inside, apologizing for the mess. He grinned widely at the kids and played games with them. He used shadow clones to play hide and seek. He took them to the training grounds and impressed them with his Rasengan. He loved them almost as much as Sakura did.
They had taken to calling him Uncle Naruto and came to expect certain things from him during their visits. Big bowls of ramen were not unheard of, nor where sneakily passed handfuls of candy. Sakura pretended not to notice when he gave Yamato shuriken and kunai, or Sachi an extra lollipop even though she hadn't had her supper yet.
If anything, Naruto needed those kids. They provided him with a distraction from Sasuke. With Yamato and Sachi around, Naruto was the happiest Sakura had ever seen him.
It was odd to think that it was all because of Itachi and his inability to leave a couple of orphans to their natural fate.
Sakura hadn't forgotten about Itachi. She was still confused by his behavior, and curious about whatever unknown factor was keeping her from really understanding him. She thought about him more than she wanted to admit.
It was the reason why she had snuck back into the hospital long after her shift was over to peruse through the Uchiha medical files. Yamato and Sachi were safe in bed at her parents' house. Tsunade was long gone for the day and Naruto was likely passed out on his sofa by now.
Shizune was her only concern now, and Sakura had ways of dealing with Shizune. She had seen the way Genma and Shizune looked at each other when they thought others weren't looking. Sakura wasn't one for meddling, but she found this to be an appropriate occasion for such behavior.
She had written a note signed by Genma for Shizune to come out to the training grounds after dark. Genma had been harder to lure out there, but the day prior, Sakura had made sure to mention several times in passing that Shizune was going to blow off some steam at the training grounds while she patched up his wounds. She hoped that Genma would catch the hint. She didn't want Shizune to be disappointed.
But either way, it achieved the same effect. Sakura was alone at the hospital, save for the night nurses and a few lower rank medics.
Sakura went straight for the back offices where she knew all of the medical files were kept. She didn't know exactly what she would find in Itachi's medical file – if anything at all. But it seemed as good a place as any to start.
Starting in the U's had left her empty-handed. Sasuke's file was the only still in the rows of current patients (and Sakura felt that it probably should have been added to the rest of the Uchiha pile by now), but that only meant that she would have to go through the patient archives.
The archives were deep underneath the hospital, stacked in cardboard boxes in the musty basement. It wasn't a pleasant locale, but Sakura didn't have any complaints. She sifted through the boxes until she came to one labeled "Uchiha."
She flipped over the files of the names she didn't know – those who had been unfortunately enough to have been killed by one of their own. She passed Mikoto and Fugaku and released the breath that caught in her throat before she could think too hard about it.
When she finally came to Itachi's file it felt far too heavy in her hands. It occurred to her that she was violating Itachi's privacy by doing this – that this information wasn't meant for her to see. It was why it was kept down in the basement, after all.
But, as always, curiosity got the better of her.
She skimmed over the basic information in his file. His name, birthday, height, weight, and a small picture of him in the corner. She found herself staring at the picture. He was wearing his ANBU uniform, his mask pushed up to the top of his head. He looked so young, too young to have done what he did. He looked so tired, so beaten down. Sakura thought of Yamato, who was sharper and duller than his classmates at the same time.
She tore her gaze away from the picture and flipped to the next page. She could see that the hospital staff had known his autoimmune disease, even if others had not been aware of it. He had been treated for it and cleared for duty in spite of the fact that now Konoha didn't allow someone with such a condition to be active on the roster.
The adjacent page detailed what was known about his eyes. He had awakened his Sharingan at age eight, far sooner than Sasuke had awakened his. Sakura also knew that he had awakened his Mangekyou, but the file did not mention that.
His file was brief and contained nothing that Sakura found useful. However, she slid the file into her pack anyway. No one would miss it here, and it might come in handy some day.
She pushed all of the cardboard boxes back to their rightful places and headed home for the night. She still had a lot of investigating to do.
.
"Hey, Forehead, hurry up already!"
Sakura groaned as she pulled on her shoes and finger combed her hair. It was getting long now, falling just past her shoulders. Quickly and messily, she piled it up on top of her head and twisted it into a bun.
"I'm coming," she shouted to Ino who was leaning against the other side of her bedroom door.
Sakura flung the door open, knowing full well that it would smack Ino in the face. The blonde staggered backwards and sent an annoyed glare to Sakura, who feigned innocence without any real validity.
"You couldn't have bothered with your hair?" Ino demanded, flicking her own perfectly coiffed bangs out of her eyes.
"I just got home from work, Ino," Sakura muttered, "Besides, it's just me and you."
"But what if there are cute boys there?"
"There are never cute boys there."
Ino huffed and Sakura giggled. Ino wasn't really as boy crazy as she seemed, but she certainly liked to talk about it often. It was a safe subject for the two of them now that Sasuke was gone and they were both kind of over him anyway.
Sakura really wanted to confide in Ino about Itachi. She felt the urge almost every day to tell someone about him – not just because he had helped her and was a freaking angel with Yamato and Sachi, but because it was a huge secret to be keeping to herself.
But Ino was terrible with secrets and it was hard enough to worry about Yamato and Sachi spilling the beans all the time. She didn't need to be worried about Ino, too.
It was Ino's turn to pick the restaurant and she had picked the swankiest place in Konoha. They might as well have been on a date with the romantic candles and dim lighting.
They were led to a small booth in the very back of the restaurant where they had a complete view of every patron.
It all felt very fishy to Sakura.
"Are you planning something?" Sakura asked as she took her seat. Ino had gone straight for the bench facing the rest of the restaurant, leaving Sakura to have her back turned to everyone.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Sakura pursed her lips and gave Ino a knowing look.
"Okay, fine," Ino conceded, "Temari is in town."
"So?"
"So, I think there's something going on between her and Shikamaru."
"Does that bother you?"
"Of course not," Ino said flippantly. Sakura believed her, but she still felt uneasy about the whole situation. "I'd be happy if they were together. They make such a cute couple."
"Then why are we spying on them?"
Ino shushed Sakura and ducked her head down behind her menu. She pointed to the front of the restaurant where Temari and Shikamaru had just entered.
"I knew it!" Ino whispered excitedly.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're wasting our time together on this."
"It's not wasted."
"But there's a lot of stuff I really wanted to talk about, Ino."
Ino was suddenly all ears. She dropped her menu down to the table and folded her arms, leaning in close to Sakura. "Like what?" she asked.
"Like…"
What did she want to talk about? Itachi's name circled around her mind, begging to be mentioned. She stifled that urge and took a different direction.
"Like Yamato and Sachi."
"You know, Sakura, I still don't really understand where they came from," Ino said, still glancing at Shikamaru and Temari out of the corner of her eye. "Some random shinobi shows up, and then two orphans are suddenly involved. You found the cure without my help, even though I found the entire reason for the existence of the infection. I think you're hiding something about the mission."
Sakura dropped her eyes to her lap.
"Does Tsunade know?"
Sakura shook her head.
"So there is something that you're hiding?"
Sakura nodded.
"Well, what is it? Tell me." Ino demanded.
Sakura shifted in her seat. The waiter approached the table and set down their drinks in front of them before disappearing into the back of the restaurant.
"It's complicated, Ino," Sakura finally said, "And I'm not sure if it's safe to tell you."
"Safe?" Ino asked, "What the hell does that mean? Are you in danger? Does it have something to do with Yamato and Sachi?"
"Okay, listen," Sakura said, her voice taking on a lower decibel, "I will tell you everything, but you have to promise to keep this quiet. I'm serious, if you tell anyone I could get into serious trouble."
Ino's eyes were wide and she leaned closer to Sakura over the table, Shikamaru and Temari completely gone from her mind.
"The man – the shinobi – that came to Toyeiki, it was Itachi," Sakura whispered, "He brought Yamato and Sachi with him."
"What?" Ino shrieked. Her voice was loud and stark in the comforting din of the restaurant. Every pair of eyes turned to look at her.
Shikamaru and Temari, who had just been seated, turned to look at Ino, too. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and turned back to the table, but Temari grabbed him by the ear and dragged him back to Sakura and Ino's table.
"What are you guys doing here?" Temari asked with a smirk, "Are you on a date?"
Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets and sighed.
"Uh, no," Sakura stammered, "We were just having a nice dinner together – you know, to catch up. It's been a while and I'm just filling Ino in on all the juicy gossip."
Sakura snuck a glance over at Ino, who was still gaping at her. She could see the cogs whirling behind her eyes. This was dangerous information and Ino was bound to spill it any second now if she couldn't get herself together.
"What's the gossip?" Temari asked, "It must be good to have Ino drooling on herself like that."
Ino snapped her mouth shut.
"Maybe we should go…" Sakura said.
"You haven't gotten your food yet," Shikamaru pointed out.
Sakura ignored him and yanked Ino out of her seat. They couldn't stay here now. They shouldn't have even been there to begin with.
"Bye-bye, then," Temari called after them with a jubilant wave as they stalked back to the restaurant entrance.
Sakura regretted ever opening her mouth.
.
"Itachi?" Ino squealed, "Itachi? Are you serious? Itachi Uchiha, older brother of Sasuke, the man we both committed our love to? That Itachi?"
"Shh, Ino, keep your voice down," Sakura urged.
They were back in Sakura's apartment. All the lights were dimmed, creating an atmosphere very similar to the one in the restaurant. Sakura poured Ino a glass of red wine. It might have been risky, but Sakura knew that the wine would dull her sense a bit and leave her more relaxed. And she definitely needed Ino to be relaxed right now.
"Yes, Ino, that Itachi."
Ino chugged half of her glass and slammed the remainder onto the coffee table. "And he didn't try to kill you? I know you didn't fight him. There's no way you'd come out of that alive."
Sakura ignored the jab. "We made a deal," she offered, "He was sick and he had Yamato and Sachi with him. Fighting me wouldn't have been in either of our best interest."
"What was the deal?"
"He was infected and I really needed to see how his body reacted to the bacteria, so I offered to heal him if he let me study him," Sakura explained.
"And he agreed to that?"
Sakura nodded.
"What about Yamato and Sachi?" Ino asked, "Where did they fit into this?"
"I'm not sure exactly how he came to find them," Sakura said. She felt nervous all of sudden, baring all her secrets for Ino to scrutinize. What would Ino have done differently had she been in Sakura's position? Would she have struck a deal with Itachi or would she have tried to fight him?
"Do you think it was something… untoward?" Ino asked.
"I don't know. Probably," Sakura answered, "But he was asking about an orphanage. There used to be one in Toyeiki. That's why he was there."
"Let me get this straight," Ino said, "Itachi was taking two orphans (who he probably had a hand in orphaning) to Toyeiki so that he could drop them off somewhere they would be safe."
"Exactly."
"What a sweetheart," Ino said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It made Sakura's heart clench up painfully. "So how did you end up with Yamato and Sachi?"
"I told him that I'd take them back to Konoha with me if he promised not to hurt me or anyone else in Toyeiki," Sakura said.
"He promised not to hurt you…"
Sakura nodded.
"And that's why you didn't tell anyone?"
Sakura furrowed her brow. She hadn't told anyone because she thought she might get into trouble. It never occurred to her that calling for backup like Ino had would have been the right thing to do. She could have studied the infection in the days that she waited for backup.
She felt sick to her stomach thinking about possibly betraying Itachi. He had done nothing to hurt her – just as he had promised. He had been far more accommodating than she expected him to be.
And that was the problem, wasn't it? That was the reason this secret felt so overwhelming. She couldn't explain Itachi's behavior.
"Itachi was… not at all like you'd expect," Sakura said.
Ino crossed her arms, waiting for a better explanation.
"You should have seen him with Sachi, Ino," Sakura gushed, "He was so sweet and tender with her. It was so weird seeing him like that. He read books to her and he held her when she cried."
Ino's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"And he was nice to me, too," Sakura continued, "I was openly hostile toward him. I said things that should have provoked him, but he was never anything less than cordial. He even made our meals for us for those few days we were together. He was everything that Sasuke should be but isn't."
"Wow," Ino said, "You've got the hots for him, huh?"
"More like I wish Sasuke acted more like his brother," Sakura muttered, only slightly annoyed.
"He really cooked for you?"
"Yeah, and the kids," Sakura answered, "He was very attentive to their needs."
"Any decent guy would be, Sakura," Ino said after downing the last remnants of wine from her glass.
"Exactly!" Sakura exclaimed, "He's fucking decent. Can you believe that? He should have been acting like a monster because that's what he is. He shouldn't be going well out of his way to take care of orphans. He shouldn't have been cooking meals for me. He even offered to stay and help me take care of Kabuto after you left!"
"He did?"
"Yeah!" Sakura was excited now, curling and uncurling herself up on her couch in an effort to dispel some of the weird energy that vibrated in her body. It felt so relieving to be finally telling someone about Itachi.
Ino pursed her lips, staring at the bottom of her empty wine glass. "I think we should tell Tsunade about this."
"No," Sakura said, "Absolutely not." It was exactly what she had been afraid of. Telling the Hokage would only get her into trouble. No harm was done and everyone had gone their separate ways. Why should the Hokage need to know?
"But don't you think something weird is up with Itachi?" Ino asked, "He is a monster, after all. Why would he act that way unless there was something weird going on? Don't you want to know what it is?"
"I do," Sakura said, "But I don't think we should tell Tsunade. I don't want to get into trouble."
Ino rolled her eyes.
"She's not your mentor, Ino," Sakura snapped, "I don't want to be on her bad side. I don't want to risk her dropping me as her apprentice."
"Then I guess we'll just have to figure this out without her help."
.
Ino was around far more often in the weeks after their dinner. She had always been a constant presence in Sakura's life from the time they were small children, but sharing the secret about Itachi seemed to solidify and strengthen their relationship somewhat.
Sakura's initial thought was that Ino was happy that Sakura had trusted her with such sensitive information, but the more she was around the blonde, the more she understood that Ino had really just missed her.
Ino was loud and abrasive. Her personality was polarizing. She had friends, of course. She wasn't unfriendly. But Sakura and Ino had a different kind of friendship. It almost felt like they were sisters sometimes.
After a particularly grueling day at the hospital, Sakura swung by the academy to pick up Yamato. Sachi was still at her parents' house, and Sakura wished that she could spend more time with her. She was still so young, and she seemed to prefer Kizashi's company anyway.
But Yamato and Sakura had grown close over the past months, and Ino had been a big part of that. When Sakura arrived at her apartment with Yamato in tow, Ino was there baking sweets for them.
"Ino, what are you doing here?" Sakura demanded. She sounded angry, but she wasn't. Not really, anyway.
"Oh, I'm just exercising the key you gave me," Ino said with a grin, swirling her batter-covered spatula around in the air, "just to make sure you didn't change the locks on me."
"Why would I give you a key and then change the lock?"
"Because I annoy you."
Sakura had no argument for that.
"And how was your day, Yamato?" Ino asked, "What'd you learn at the academy?"
Yamato launched into a rant about his classmates while Ino listened eagerly, actually entertained by the story instead of bored like Sakura was. Sakura watched them with amusement. Yamato seemed to really like Ino, which was perfect because lately, Sakura and Ino had been splitting orphan duty.
Four days last week, Sakura had to rely on Ino to pick up Yamato while she worked late at the hospital. The week before that Sachi had wanted to attend a play (something about a Princess Coco) that Sakura couldn't take her to because she was busy working on a poison antidote. Ino had been the one to take her.
Sakura's parents would gladly have done those things for her – for the kids, but Sakura didn't want to rely on them too much. It was already bad enough that she had burdened them with a couple of young kids just after their first one was grown and out of the house.
Whatever disappointment she felt in herself for relying on other people so much was overshadowed by the happiness that radiated off Yamato and Sachi. They adjusted well to their lives in Konoha. They were surrounded by people that loved and cared for them. It was exactly what Itachi would have wanted for them.
When Ino had finished baking and placed her confections on the table for Yamato, she fixed Sakura with her most intimidating stare (which really wasn't all that intimidating while she was covered in flour).
"Uh, what's wrong, Ino?" Sakura asked, pilfering a treat from the tray.
"I have something I'd like to discuss with you," she said matter-of-factly, "And Yamato, too."
Yamato, who was happily munching on said treats, perked his ears up at the mention of his name. Warily, Sakura joined him at the table and looked at Ino expectantly.
"Sakura, I know your secret had been on your mind lately," Ino started. Yamato glanced over at Sakura with curiosity. "I think it's time we address it."
"With Yamato?" Sakura asked. She didn't like the sound of that at all. Yamato was too young to be involved in matters like this. Not to mention that his status as a Konoha citizen was still in question until all of the paperwork was complete. The paperwork would likely not be completely anytime soon, since Yamato's parentage was an unknown. Tsunade's generosity spurred the whole process, and Sakura didn't want to do anything that would mess that up.
"Yes, with Yamato," Ino said, "He's kind of a crucial part of this."
"Part of what?" Yamato asked.
"Yeah, part of what?" Sakura echoed.
"We've got a mystery on our hands, people!" Ino exclaimed, "And the only two (three, I guess, if we include Sachi) people who can help are you guys!"
Sakura sighed and narrowed her eyes.
"I'm talking about Itachi, obviously," Ino said, unimpressed by the minute reactions from her two audience members.
Yamato gasped. "You know about Itachi?" he asked, "Sakura-san said I wasn't allowed to say his name out loud."
"You aren't," Sakura said.
"Right, right," Ino said, "I know about him, yes. Sakura told me about him bringing you and your sister to Toyeiki."
Yamato looked at Sakura, his face pained.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked him.
"I thought that was a secret," he said, "I thought you would get into trouble."
"It still is a secret," Sakura insisted, "And I will get into trouble if Ino doesn't shut her huge mouth." She sent a harsh glare in the blonde's direction.
Ino was unperturbed.
"She didn't mean to upset you, Yamato," Ino said in her most consoling tone, "It's just that Itachi is pretty well known around here, and it's very strange that he brought you to Toyeiki."
"Why is it so strange?" Yamato asked, "He helped me and my sister. He was nice to us."
"Yeah, that's what's so weird," Ino said, "Itachi is kind of a bad guy."
Sakura slammed her fist on the table, knocking over several of Ino's baked goods. "Ino, stop," she demanded, "Why are you saying all of this to him?"
"Itachi-san is not a bad guy!" Yamato exclaimed.
Ino help her hands up in front of her chest defensively, "Okay, okay," she said, "I just thought that maybe Yamato would have some of the answers you're looking for. Aren't you still curious?"
"I don't want to bring Yamato into this," Sakura said, crossing her arms over her chest, "It isn't fair to him."
"Bring me into what?" Yamato asked.
"We want to get to the bottom of Itachi's behavior," Ino supplied.
"Ino!"
"Sorry," the blonde muttered, "It makes perfect sense, though. Why wouldn't you ask the one person who'd be able to tell you more about Itachi?"
"Is he really the one person?" Sakura demanded.
"Who else knows him?" Ino asked.
The room fell silent. The three people at the table glanced between one another with apprehension.
"I'll tell you whatever you want to know," Yamato finally spoke, his voice weak. "I don't know why it has to be such a big secret, or why everyone thinks Itachi-san is so bad, but I'd like to talk about him."
Sakura threw a nervous glance at Ino before letting her eyes settle back on Yamato.
"Tell us everything, Yamato," Ino said.