Sakura had gone back to Itachi's room after her shift had ended only to find that he had already left. She had suspected that he would leave, and that was probably best for him. He wouldn't have wanted to spend the night in the hospital again. But Sakura almost wished that he had stayed so that she could see him again.

When she arrived back home, her apartment was mercifully empty. Not that Sakura didn't enjoy Ino's company, but tonight she wanted to get some work done.

She changed into her comfiest pajamas and settled down onto her couch with some empty journals and several medical scrolls. Tonight she was going to attempt to come up with her own offensive medical jutsu.

It had been ages since Kabuto had proffered her the chance to learn from him, and even though she never would have considered such a thing, she found herself daydreaming often about what she might have learned from him.

She had a few ideas spinning around in her head. The one she had chosen to start with was the creation of chakra senbon. It wasn't necessarily medical in nature, but it would be a start to get her creative juices flowing. If she could create chakra scalpels, why not senbon, too?

The problem she ran into was how to dispel and throw the chakra senbon like it was an actual senbon. She set out scribbling in her journals, testing ideas on paper.

She didn't know how long she sat crouched over her scrolls before she heard a knock at her door. Ino, she suspected, looking for her makeup. After Itachi's impromptu healing session in her bedroom, Sakura had moved Ino's makeup aside to lay her blankets on the floor. She couldn't sleep in her room again until the blood had been cleaned up. She'd probably need another mattress.

"Come in."

The door opened up, and instead of Ino, it was Itachi standing there. Sakura was less surprised this time, and assumed that from now on she would have to get used to him showing up at her apartment.

His arms were filled with grocery sacks and even though the pallor of his skin was still in the 'too pale' range, he looked happy.

Sakura cocked her head with bemusement, still buried underneath her scrolls on the couch.

"Oh," he said when he saw her, "You look busy."

"Just a little project I'm working on," she said, pushing her books aside and rising to greet him. "What's in the bags?"

She helped him into the kitchen, taking a few bags from his arms and setting them on the counter. When his arms were free, he paused and looked over her with painful scrutiny.

As if just remembering that she was in pajamas – and not flattering ones – Sakura blushed and tugged at the hemline of her oversized sweatshirt. Fortunately, she had chosen to put on shorts underneath it, but Itachi probably didn't know that.

"I want to make you dinner," he said.

"Dinner?"

He took a step closer to her and brushed a lock of her hair away from her face. "Yes," he answered, "You said I had to rest, but I wanted to do something for you."

She smiled and looked down at her feet. "That's sweet, Itachi. Thank you."

"I should have warned you, I guess," he said with a grin, "I see you're in the habit of not wearing pants when you're at home."

She scoffed indignantly. "I have shorts on under here."

He grinned even wider. "I don't believe you."

She swatted him playfully and turned her back to him. "You'll have to take my word for it. I'm going to go change."

"No, don't," he said.

She eyed him reproachfully, but made no move to leave.

"You keep working on your thing and I'll make you dinner," he said, "Just pretend I'm not even here."

She didn't even begin to know how to argue with that. If he wanted to make her dinner, she certainly wasn't going to complain. He definitely should have been at home resting instead, but cooking wasn't anything too strenuous and she was here in case anything were to happen to him.

So she let him get to work in the kitchen while she went back to her scrolls. Not surprisingly, Sakura found it difficult to concentrate on what she should have been doing knowing that Itachi was in the next room. She couldn't get over the fact that instead of being home with Sasuke that he chose to be here with her instead. He had just returned from an extremely dangerous mission where he'd almost gotten himself killed. And now he was casually making her dinner as if that was a totally normal thing for him to be doing.

It almost felt like they were back in Toyeiki and any minute now she would have to wake Yamato and Sachi and take them down to eat. She almost wished that they were here, too.

But then the thought made her blush. Fantasizing about playing house with Itachi was a step further than she was willing to be right now.

She turned her attention back to her scrolls, pondering over ways to dispel chakra from her body – a much safer topic. Time went by much faster while she worked, and by the time Itachi had come back into the living room, Sakura almost had it.

"Dinner's ready, Sakura," he said.

"Hold on just a second," she said, scribbling a few more notes down before setting her journal aside and smiling warmly at him.

The impressive spread on her kitchen table looked inviting, steam rising from the plethora of dishes. The sheer amount of food was staggering.

"Do we have more dinner guests coming?" she asked teasingly.

"I've been out for days and all I've had since I woke up is some soup," he replied.

She smiled playfully as she took her seat. "It looks amazing, Itachi. Thank you." She didn't even realize how ravenous she was until the enticing smells wafted over to her. She tucked into the food without much ceremony, stuffing her face like she was the one who had barely eaten in days.

Itachi, who had admitted that he was starving, ate his food with much more grace and elegance, every bit the aristocratic clan head that he was meant to be.

"Tell me about the project you're working on," he said between bites.

She swallowed the bite of food in her mouth had the decency to look a little ashamed of the way she'd been eating. But she found the amused look Itachi was giving her encouraging.

"I'm developing a chakra senbon," she answered, "One that can be either thrown as if it were physical, or pushed out of the body with chakra."

"Like your chakra scalpels?"

"Exactly," she said, "The problem is that once the chakra is dispelled from the body, it no longer retains its shape. At least, to a certain degree. Senbons have to be sharp and precise, so it will take some work. I've got a long way to go."

"Your chakra control must be incredible," he said, and Sakura felt her heart swell with pride at the tone of admiration in his voice. "If you are successful, do you think you'll be able to create even bigger chakra weapons eventually? Like daggers or katanas?"

"I haven't really thought that far ahead, yet," she admitted, "But that does sound like a good idea."

"How will you make the senbon retain its shape after it's been ejected?"

"I don't know yet," she said, "I'm going to have to use trial and error to figure it out, I suppose."

"Do you know how much of your chakra it will consume to use it?"

"Not very much," she answered, taking another bite of her food. "I imagine the bigger the weapon, the more chakra I will need. Senbon shouldn't require much."

"Can you poison them like you would a regular senbon?"

Sakura hadn't thought of that before. Granted, she hadn't been working on the jutsu for very long. "Before Kabuto's biological warfare disease, I'd never seen chakra infected with anything before. I'll have to play around with it and see what I can do. I may be able to use what I learned in Toyeiki in conjunction with the chakra senbon. I also found a way to infuse Gaara's sand with poison, so maybe that technique could be useful, too."

"Oh, yeah," Itachi said, "How did your mission go?"

"It went smoothly," she answered, "Gaara-sama was quite pleased with my work. Truthfully, I spent most of my mission worried about yours."

"I'm sorry."

Sakura laughed. "You are not. You said you liked that I worried about you."

He smiled a half smile. "I was looking forward to seeing your reaction when I returned."

"My relief, you mean?"

He nodded.

"I was anything but relieved when you returned."

"I'm sorry for scaring you."

Sakura wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn't. "Do you want to see what I had to deal with when you came back?"

Itachi's brow furrowed dramatically and he paused. "You mean with my Sharingan? I thought—"

"What? No," she replied. "Come with me."

She led him to her bedroom and threw the door open. Carefully, she watched his face as he surveyed the damage. She really should have cleaned it up by now, but she had spent most of her time at the hospital, either working or sitting by his side. She hadn't really had time to clean up the mess.

And, oh, it was a mess. There was a clear trail of blood from the window to her bed, seeping into the wood. More blood than a human should probably lose at one time. Her mattress was soaked through, and piles of bloody rags and towels were scattered across the floor.

Itachi's mouth was set in a grim line as she watched his eyes scan the room. He let his eyes settle on her face.

"Where have you been sleeping?"

"The couch."

A pained expression flashed across his face. But when it disappeared, the look he fixed her with was one of sadness and pity. Sakura felt a stab of guilt and then anger. Guilt because it wasn't his fault that this happened. He had only been doing his duty. He got hurt and that wasn't something she should be upset with him about. And anger because she didn't need or want his pity.

"Don't look at me like that," she snapped.

"Like what?"

"It's just a little bit of blood," she answered.

"It looks like a scene from a horror movie," Itachi said.

"I'm going to clean it up soon," she said defensively. "I've just had a lot to do."

"I'll help you clean it up."

"I don't need your help."

"Nonsense," he said firmly. "It's my blood, isn't it? I'm going to help you clean it up."

.

It had been no use arguing with him. Both of them lacking an appetite after being in her bedroom, they cleaned the kitchen together and then moved on to the blood. Sakura had done the heavy lifting – moving her mattress to the curb and taking the towels to the laundry room. She didn't like that Itachi was doing any cleaning at all while he should be resting, but he had been adamant.

When she reentered her bedroom, he was on his knees, scrubbing away at the hardwood floor. In her genin days, Sakura always had an image of Itachi in her head – the one he helped to foster. Now that she was getting to know him, the image of him cleaning her bedroom floors didn't seem so strange. He was nothing if not helpful and considerate.

She watched him from the doorway, taking in his appearance in every way that she could. His long hair was tied low at the nape of his neck and hung down the length of his strong back. He was wearing standard issue shinobi clothes in black, making his body look smaller and slimmer than it actually was. His skin was too pale, but once he started to regain his strength that would change.

Sakura remembered in Toyeiki how old he looked. The harsh lines on his face made him appear much older than he actually was. No doubt the stress of everything he had been through had caused him to age prematurely.

But now there was a quality to his face that was youthful and healthy, in spite of how weak he still was. It hadn't been there in Toyeiki. In fact, Sakura couldn't recall ever seeing him look so… well, happy. He looked happy.

The thought made her smile. Here was a man who had been dealt an unfortunate set of cards and forced to burden things that a thirteen year old never should have to. And during all that strife, all he had wanted was to see Sasuke safe and happy. And now he had that. He had everything he wanted.

And that happiness looked so good on him.

He paused and looked at her with a raised brow. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said, unable to contain the grin that was more resembling a smirk now. "Everything is perfect."

"Not quite," he said with mild bemusement. "This blood is going to stain your floors."

She approached him and knelt down in front of him, pulling the scrubbing brush from his hands. She took his hands in hers and held them in her lap. "It's okay, Itachi," she said. "Thank you for coming over, for making me dinner, and helping me clean up. Thank you for being so perfect."

"Sakura, I'm not—"

"Can I kiss you?"

She saw the surprise on his face, more evident than he usually allowed. He blinked at her, his mouth opening and then closing like he didn't quite know what to say. And he probably didn't, Sakura thought, because he had probably never been asked that before.

But then he looked conflicted for whatever reason and Sakura's heart sank. Maybe he didn't want to kiss her. Maybe he had changed his mind about her. This dinner that she had deemed to be romantic by its very nature may have actually been nothing more than a simple thank you for saving his life.

But then she felt his hands on the side of her face as he pulled her close to him and pressed his lips to hers. It was sweet and chaste and full of affection. She pulled away before he could deepen it, more afraid that she would do that herself and he specifically told her he wanted to take things slow. She would respect that even though she was dying to kiss him harder, to press her body against his just to feel what it would be like to be touching him everywhere at once.

She moved her hands from his, sliding her palm over his forearm and then up to his bicep and his shoulder. Her eyes followed the movement of her hands, lingering over his muscles and smooth skin. She let her fingers trail down his chest, a place she had touched many times before, but not quite like this.

Her eyes roved over him, appreciating his toned abdomen and the pectoral muscles she could see even through his shirt. Her eyes dipped even lower, down into his lap before they shot back up to his face.

She should have been embarrassed to have openly ogled him. She expected to see amusement on his face. Instead, she found his eyes half lidded, his expression serious and dark.

"Sakura," he murmured.

"Itachi," she whispered back.

The air suddenly seemed very heavy and Sakura felt her breath catching in her throat. But Sakura didn't want air; she wanted Itachi's mouth on hers again. She reached forward to touch him again – it didn't matter where. But she paused when she felt his fingertips skim along the bare skin of her thigh. She shivered under his touch and inched closer to him, rising up on her knees so that she towered above him.

He let his hands wander along her thighs, stroking the back of them, sliding along the creamy skin behind her knees. Sakura watched his face as he touched her. He looked fascinated, enraptured by her, and Sakura felt a warm bubble burst in her chest.

She grabbed his face, probably too roughly, and turned his face up to hers and kissed him. Her body felt electric and on fire, just like the first time she had kissed him. She deepened the kiss and he allowed it this time, even when she inched even closer to him, straddling one of his legs with hers.

His hands skimmed up the sides of her thigh, stopping briefly at the hemline of the sweatshirt before they settled on her hips on top of the fabric. Warmth was curling in her stomach.

Sakura was no stranger to her own body. She may not have had sex with anyone else before, but she had touched herself. Who hadn't? She wasn't ashamed of it. But now she could feel her arousal slowly cresting. She could feel a dampness growing between her legs.

He wants to take this slow, she reminded herself.

She longed to grind down onto his leg that she had enticingly and dangerously straddled – anything to relieve the tension she felt.

But she froze, instead. She broke away from their kiss, waiting to see what he might do. No longer quite as distracted, Sakura realized that she could smell her own arousal. Which meant that Itachi could, too.

This time, she did feel a little ashamed. She felt her cheeks heat up.

Itachi didn't seem to notice her embarrassment. His eyes were locked onto her neck, of all places. Tenderly, he brushed away the pink hair there and pressed his lips to her pulse point.

Sakura stifled a groan and felt her legs wobble beneath her. She felt his grip on her hips tighten and then his tongue lashed out and tasted the thin skin of her throat. Sakura whimpered, and ground her hips down into his lap, unable to control herself. His grip tightened even further, but his lips froze on her neck.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling away from him slightly. "I really only wanted to kiss you."

He didn't respond, his body frozen still while he watched her with a mixture of curiosity and heat. She felt more heat pool in her belly looking at his sultry gaze. For someone who had also never been romantically involved with anyone, he sure did a good job of looking sexy.

Cautiously, she extricated herself from his lap. Instantly, she missed the heat of his body and the hardness of his thigh between her legs.

Itachi suddenly stiffened, on alert. A beat later, Sakura heard her front door open and Ino's shrill voice ringing out from her kitchen.

"Hey, Forehead!" she called, "Get your little black dress! We're going to the civilian district!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and flashed Itachi a look. "Stay here," she said. She breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption.

Down in the kitchen, Ino was rifling through Sakura' refrigerator. "What's with all this leftover food?" she asked. She slammed the door shut and Sakura saw that she was dressed to the nines in a startling short red dress and impressively tall black heels.

"Oh my god," Ino said, catching sight of Sakura in her sweatshirt. "Come on, let's get you changed. We have a lot of work to do to make you presentable."

"Ino, I'm not really feeling it tonight," she said. "I just want to stay in my pajamas, maybe watch a movie."

Ino eyed her suspiciously. "But there's a party happening right now in the civilian district. Full of hot guys, no doubt," she said. "I thought you wanted to practice flirting."

"No, you wanted me to practice flirting."

"Well, you need the practice," she insisted, "So go put that dress on."

Ino stomped off in the direction of Sakura's bedroom.

"Ino, wait."

Ino ignored her and threw open the door to her bedroom to find Itachi, who had resumed cleaning the floors and was back on his knees with the scrubbing brush.

"Yamanaka-san," he greeted, unfazed by her impromptu appearance.

Ino whipped around a glared at Sakura, who was glaring right back at her. "What the hell?" Ino demanded. "You didn't have to lie to me. You could have just told me he was here."

Sakura sighed because that was sort of true. "I didn't lie," she said. "I do want to stay home in my pajamas."

Ino scoffed. "Please, he's already got half your pajamas off."

"I'm wearing shorts under here!"

"And why the hell is he cleaning your floors?" Ino asked. "Shouldn't he be in the hospital?"

"I was cleared to leave by Tsunade-sama," Itachi interjected, but it fell on deaf ears.

"He offered to clean them, Ino," Sakura said tersely, "I didn't make him."

"So what, I'm just supposed to go to this party by myself now so you can stay here and watch pretty boy scrub your floors?"

"Ino!"

Sakura watched Ino's face wilt and then harden again. Ino had always been a little bit loud and abrasive, but she seemed to be in a worse mood than usual.

"This was all for you, you know," Ino said. "All these nights out, the getting dressed up. I wanted to help you find a man."

This was news to Sakura. If she had known that from the beginning, she might not have gone out with her all those times.

"You knew I liked Itachi."

Ino's eyes flickered over to Itachi who had ceased scrubbing the floor and was watching the two of them argue with wide eyes.

"I didn't think you were serious about him."

Sakura didn't know what to say to that because it felt too awkward having him right there, listening to them.

"Now you have someone and I don't," Ino said, her voice trembling. "We could have, like, gone on double dates or something. It just isn't fair that he was taken away from me right when things were getting good."

"Oh, Ino," Sakura said, wrapping her arms around her.

"No, stop," Ino said, but she didn't resist. "I'm not crying."

Sakura held onto her tight. It had never occurred to her that Ino was using Sakura's love life as a way to vet her own. Sakura didn't know the details about her relationship with Sai, but now that she thought about it, it had been quite a while since she had seen Ino with any other man. She had always been used to seeing her best friend with a flavor of the week. It seemed that now she wasn't ready for that again.

"So you've been trying to live vicariously through me, huh?" Sakura asked.

Ino pulled away from her. "That's ridiculous."

"That's why you've been trying to get me to go out and meet guys," Sakura said. "You aren't ready to date again so you're using me to do it."

"You've got it all wrong."

"That's why you wanted me to flirt with Gaara!"

Ino opened her mouth to protest but then closed it. And then opened it again. "Wait, did you?"

Sakura glanced over at Itachi who was watching her with rapt attention now. He'd abandoned his scrubbing brush and was back on his feet. Ino followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"It's okay, you can tell me later."

"I didn't flirt with him, Ino," Sakura said firmly.

"Did he flirt with you?"

"No!"

"Come on, Sakura, work with me a little bit here," Ino said. "I only asked you to do one thing. Just a little harmless flirting!"

"Well, I was a little preoccupied with the fact that my teammate was on a dangerous, life-threatening mission and I had no idea where he was or when he would be back," Sakura said, crossing her arms.

"Right, right," Ino said. "And pretty boy here was on that mission, too, if I recall correctly.

Sakura glared at her, sucking in a deep breath like the oxygen would somehow give her more patience.

"What do you want from me, Ino?"

"Well, before I realized you had company—" Sakura winced at the inflection of the word, "I wanted you to come party with me."

"Ino, I'm—"

"You should go with her," Itachi said, interrupting her thought before she could finish it. "I should get home." He moved to stand in the doorway, leaning against the frame, waiting for her response.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked. She didn't like the idea of abandoning him after he'd specifically come to see her, especially since he had been so nice to her. Not to mention he was still recovering from an injury and she didn't want to be too far away from him, just in case. And if she was honest, she wanted to kiss him again. And again and again.

But Ino also needed her right now, and Itachi seemed to understand that. He nodded and gave her a small, but genuine smile.

She leaned up onto his toes and kissed him on the corner of his mouth, quick and chaste. She was amused to see him blushing when she pulled away.

"I'll make it up to you," she said. "Thank you."

"Aww!" Ino cooed dramatically.

Sakura rolled her eyes.