Kabuto's bunker was empty. It didn't come as a surprise to Itachi. It had been several months, almost half a year, since he had been there. Still, though, he hadn't expected it to be so thoroughly cleaned out.

"When Orochimaru left bases behind he always left them furnished," Sasuke said, peering through the cell bars into the dusty but otherwise empty rooms. "Sometimes even with prisoners. I've never seen one cleaned out like this."

"Whatever he was working on here must have been important," Itachi said. He looked over at Sakura who was running her finger through some dust on a nearby bookshelf. He watched her scrape some of it into a glass tube and push a rubber stopper into it.

When she caught him watching her, she tossed him a similar tube. "If you find any kind of substance – running water, a puddle, anything – collect some of it. I'll analyze it when we get back to Konoha."

She handed a couple of tubes to Sasuke as well. Itachi was a bit impressed with her foresight. He had assumed that this would be a dead end, but maybe her research would give them another lead.

"What are you hoping to find in these samples?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know," she answered, "But if this was where Kabuto created that disease, there could be any number of things in the samples. Even in the air."

Itachi didn't think the air would harbor much of anything. Kabuto was a highly skilled medical shinobi – he wouldn't have allowed the air in his bunker to be contaminated.

But, Itachi thought, whoever cleaned out the bunker might have.

"That reminds me," she continued. "When we get back to the inn, I'll need to check all of our lungs. Especially yours, Itachi. Can't risk you getting sick right now."

After a rigorous amount of searching, collecting samples, and careful exploring of the bunker, Itachi made the decision to head back to Konoha. Their mission, while not a failure exactly, had been unproductive. Their only lead now was whatever clues were hidden in the collected samples.

Itachi kept the lead as they ran back toward the inn they had stayed in that night. He couldn't deny that he was still in a bad mood, and he hated himself for it. He wasn't the kind of man to let his behavior be affected by his emotions, but he just couldn't shake the coldness he felt.

Though Sakura's teasing the day prior had been affectionate and not meant to rile him up, he found himself annoyed with her. And with Sasuke as well, for encouraging her. It was one thing for her to say things like that in the privacy of the village. But when they were on a mission, in their uniforms, it was highly unacceptable to behave in such a way.

But she had dropped it when he asked her to.

He didn't want to feel annoyed with her. But she was making it very hard. At the tavern he had gotten the sense that she was enjoying the fact that he was quite obviously jealous. Well, maybe jealousy wasn't the right word. He definitely did not like watching men hit on her, but Sasuke didn't seem to enjoy it very much either. It was the way she leaned into their touches, let them whisper in her ear, and smiled at them with brightness that should have been reserved for him.

Of course he realized how ridiculous that was. She was very good at what she was doing, and it was for the good of the mission. She didn't mean any harm by it, even if she did revel in his reaction to it.

It wasn't until that Stone-nin touched her that a spark of very real, very painful jealousy burst in his chest. It was not Sakura's fault in any capacity, though he didn't feel her reaction was violent or angry enough. He had touched her in an incredibly intimate way. She had slapped him for merely looking at her, yet this guy with the audacity to touch her so grotesquely got off with just a broken wrist?

That man was scum, and Itachi knew it. But he had a courage that Itachi was severely lacking in. He saw what he wanted and he just took it without asking. Granted, it had not been welcome, but what made him able to just reach out and touch her – a stranger to him? How could he do such a thing while Itachi shook like a leaf just thinking about her?

If Itachi attempted to touch her like that, she would not break his wrist. In fact, she would welcome the advance. He knew it. She made it very clear. So why was he so afraid to do it?

"We're getting two rooms this time," Sasuke said once the small town was just coming into view on the horizon.

"Fine," Itachi said.

.

"Sakura can have the single," Itachi said, passing the room key to her. "You and I can take the double."

"No way," Sasuke said. "I want the single."

"Sasuke, be a gentleman."

"Whoa," Sakura said, pressing the key into Sasuke's hand. "I will be the gentleman. Enjoy your single room, Sasuke-kun."

"I will," he said, sticking out his tongue at Itachi.

The look on his face must have been livid, because Sasuke immediately bolted into his room while Sakura withered and shrank away from him.

He took that moment to study her. She looked absolutely exhausted. It must have been difficult for her to keep up their pace. He remembered how slow she had been several months ago and he doubted her speed had improved very much since then.

He felt a pang of guilt for forcing her to keep up a pace she was likely not comfortable with, and then for feeling so annoyed with her when she hadn't really done anything wrong.

Sharing a room with her wouldn't be too bad, he though. They had two separate beds, fortunately.

"I'll be happy to have a bed this time," she said, grinning at him as he unlocked the door to their shared room. "I can't believe you made me sleep on the floor."

He glared at her, not in the mood to be amused.

"I call first shower," she said as soon as the door was open. She disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Itachi alone.

And he was very grateful for the reprieve from her. He had thought that after their conversation in her kitchen things would feel different, better. He thought that maybe he could be smoother, more like the man she thought he was, or wanted him to be, or whatever iteration of Itachi was the one that could kiss her whenever he wanted to.

They had made real progress. They had spoken about a potential future. Their relationship was one that could feasibly work. One that they both wanted.

But nothing did feel different. He still felt nervous. He still felt like he was going insane. He knew what his next step was. He had to put moves on her. Itachi didn't know any moves. Itachi had never used moves before. For the millionth time, he lamented over how he had no clue what he was doing.

He rifled through his pack while he listened to the sounds of the water running. He tried not to imagine Sakura in the shower, naked and soapy. Would she be angry if he joined her? Would she pause her routine to let him touch her and kiss her?

He felt a hot blush rising in his cheeks as he pulled out his change of clothes and a couple bags of tea. He brewed some tea for the both of them, letting it steep while she showered.

When she finally emerged from the bathroom, he was both relieved and disappointed to see that she was not draped in nothing but a towel, but had changed into another of Naruto's shirts and a pair of spandex shorts just barely long enough to peek out from beneath the hem of her shirt.

"All yours, Uchiha-sama," she said, ringing out her wet hair with a towel. "Oh, you made tea. Thank you."

He had placed two mugs on the nightstand between the beds and had taken a seat on the bed closest to the door. He felt a mixture of shock and annoyance when she picked up the mug on his side, the one half empty, the one that was clearly his, and took a generous sip.

"Peppermint is quickly becoming my favorite tea, Itachi-kun," she said, pressing his mug into his hands and then kissing his forehead affectionately. He set the mug aside and clenched his teeth. She smelled deliciously sweet and clean, and a few droplets of water from her hair splashed down onto his hands, which were fisted tightly over his knees.

Moves. He needed to show her some moves.

He lashed out his hand and caught one of her wrists and brought her hand to his face. He kissed her palm tenderly before standing up and looming over her with clear intent. He pushed her back until her legs hit the bed behind her and she crashed down onto it.

The look of shock on her face greatly amused him, and the image of her sprawled out on the bed before him, hair haloed around her made him want to activate his Sharingan.

And well, she had seemed much more tolerant of that lately, so he did. He let his eyes bleed into red, roving them over her body before letting them settle back on her face. Her eyes had widened, not just a little. She looked innocent and adorable, though he knew that she was anything but innocent.

She didn't look away from him, and he saw the determined set of her jaw, the way her brow furrowed and unfurrowed. She was still uncomfortable with it, but she wasn't afraid of him.

He leaned down, hovering over her with his hands pressed down into the mattress on either side of her head. He watched her close her eyes – she wanted him to kiss her. She wriggled beneath him, but it had no effect. He was not touching her. When their lips were only a hair apart, not touching unless either of them made even the tiniest motion to, he whispered, "Try not to get into any trouble while I'm in the shower."

And then he was off her, retreating into the safety of the bathroom with his heart hammering in his chest.

But it wasn't really much safer in there. Her scent lingered in the damp air and her clothes were piled up carelessly by the door – a reminder that she had just been naked in the very spot he was standing.

Was she in the other room now, imagining him naked in here? Was she daydreaming about kissing him? Was she even thinking about him at all?

Surely she would be. Itachi considered his brash actions a moment of complete bravery on his part. She did the grabbing, the kissing, the teasing. But this time he had turned the tables on her. Would she recognize that for what it was – a move? He felt silly all of a sudden, for being so smitten and so nervous.

He was Itachi Uchiha. He fought in a war when he was only four years old. He graduated the academy at age seven and joined ANBU by eleven. He was a genius, a prodigy. There was no game he would let Sakura Haruno best him at.

With renewed determination, Itachi quickly finished his shower and wrapped his towel around his waist. He could play dirty if he had to.

But when he exited the bathroom, the lights were off and Sakura' form was bundled underneath the covers on her bed. He didn't even know it was possible to feel such a relieving form disappointment. She was obviously tired from their full day of running. How could he be annoyed with her for wanting to sleep?

"Oi, Itachi-kun," she mumbled from under her blankets. In the darkness he was able to see her wide green eyes peering at him from her intricately wrapped cocoon. "Where are your clothes? How can I sleep knowing you're naked?"

He quirked a small smile and retrieved his clothes from where he'd left them folded neatly on the bed. "I apologize, hime," he said. "I'm getting dressed now."

She made a small noise of disappointment, but he chose not to read too much into it. They had a lot more running to do tomorrow and she would need her rest. He shouldn't be keeping her awake.

He dressed quickly in the privacy of the bathroom and returned to his bed. At least he tried. There would be plenty more opportunities for flirtation when they weren't on a mission.

"Itachi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Goodnight."

He rolled over, feeling vaguely like she wanted to say something else. He couldn't quite pinpoint what the problem was, but he felt very dissatisfied.

With a brash and ill-made decision, Itachi slinked out of his own bed and pulled the covers that were bundled around Sakura. She shivered at the sudden intrusion of cold air and craned her neck to give him a wry look. Gently, he positioned himself beside her, curling his body around hers like she had done to him just the night before.

If there was any tension in her body before, it melted completely away as she pressed her back into him. She was viscous and smooth, melting against him in a way that made him absolutely positive that she was meant to fit there against him like that, designed only for him. She let out a content sigh when he wrapped his arm around her and settled his hand against her neck.

He kissed the back of her head and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Sakura."

.

Itachi wanted to believe that sleeping next to Sakura would be peaceful and give him a more restful sleep than he had ever had before. It seemed like a romantic notion, and he wanted very much to drift happily into his dreams while firmly latched around her.

But it turned out that sleeping next to a girl was much more stressful than he thought. Sakura had fallen asleep almost immediately after he had joined her, which was probably a good thing. Itachi had spent a good portion of the night just trying to get his heart rate under control. When he had finally begun to drift off, Sakura shifted so that she was facing him and hiked her leg over his waist, pressing herself impossibly close to him.

The position was far from unpleasant, but the sinful way her smooth, smooth leg brushed against a particularly sensitive portion of his anatomy left him completely incapable of falling asleep. Every so often she would make a noise, a soft groan, a whimper. She would cling tighter to him and nuzzle her face in his chest. Just what exactly was she dreaming of?

Itachi felt cursed, unable to enjoy what should have been a pleasant moment. If the Stone-nin were in his position right now, what would he be doing? Would he touch her like he had before?

Feeling a little hopeless, Itachi brushed her bangs away from her face and pressed his lips to her forehead. She stirred against him – he could feel her stretching out, her bones popping and cracking.

"Itachi?"

He stilled, unsure of what to do. "I didn't mean to wake you," he said.

Her hand, which had been curled up in a loose fist on his chest, flattened out as she smoothed her palm over his pectoral muscles. "Itachi, your heart is racing," she mumbled. "Are you feeling okay?"

Before he had a chance to answer, she sprang upright into a sitting position and turned back to face him. The alarm on her face alarmed him as well and he sat up with her.

"I forgot to check your lungs!"

He sighed and fell back against his pillow. She kept her flattened palms against his chest and he felt her chakra invade him. "Sakura," he said, watching her with one eye cracked open. "I'm fine. You can check in the morning."

"I just need to make sure your lungs are clear," she said.

He closed his open eye and let her check his lungs. After years of having little to no medical treatment in spite of his very serious condition, Itachi was grateful to have a medic as skilled as Sakura concerned about him. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be sick, so he could indulge her in this.

"You're good, Itachi-san," she said, withdrawing her chakra.

He opened his eyes to glare at her.

"I mean Uchiha-sama."

He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into a chaste kiss and then let her settle warmly against his side again. "Go back to sleep, Sakura," he said.

"Sakura-hime."

"Sakura-hime."

.

By the next morning, Itachi had been able to capture an astounding two and a half hours of sleep. It would certainly make the trip back to Konoha a bit more taxing, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

If anything, he was grateful for the practice of being close to her, of touching her and keeping his heart from imploding.

He could hear Sakura and Sasuke chatting behind him as they ran. Probably teasing him again as they were wont to do. He paid them no attention this time.

He briefly mused about whether normal people felt like this when entering romantic relationships, or if he was just odd – emotionally stunted in some way. Had his father felt this way about his mother? He couldn't imagine Fugaku being so nervous about Mikoto. But maybe he had been that way before they were married, before they'd had children.

With a sharp pang of regret and nostalgia he thought he had quashed a long time ago, Itachi missed his parents. Mikoto would have loved Sakura. Fugaku would have given him sage advice about how to handle her.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts from his mind because there was no use in thinking about it now.

"Are you alright, Itachi?" Sasuke asked, pulling up alongside him.

It hurt Itachi too much to look at his brother just then, so he merely nodded and pushed farther ahead.

"Is it about Sakura?" Sasuke whispered, keeping up Itachi's pace.

Itachi could sense her presence behind them and he wondered what she was thinking. Did she pick up on his change in mood the way Sasuke had? Did she think it was about her?

"When you were just a baby, Father and Mother left you in my care while they went on an errand," Itachi said. "It was my first time ever watching you alone and I was terrified that I would mess up somehow."

Sasuke cocked his head curiously.

"I was responsible for your life and that was a strange feeling," Itachi continued. "I had killed before, taken life away, but I knew next to nothing about preserving it."

Itachi spared a glance at Sasuke who was looking straight ahead as they ran, but he could tell he was still listening.

"We are tools, shinobi. Our lives are given and taken, and at times it feels very meaningless," Itachi said. "Why is any one life valued higher than another? Why is life valued at all?"

Itachi suddenly felt very cold.

"But it all became clear that day I had you in my care," he continued. "Your life is valuable to me. Your life was worth protecting, worth taking the lives of others for. So that was what I did. I sacrificed the lives of our family, our clan, for yours. It may have been the best choice for Konoha, but when I made that decision I was only thinking of you."

"Itachi…"

"I see both Father and Mother in you," Itachi said. "Lives I took to protect yours. It's hard to look at you sometimes. I wonder if I made the right choice."

"When you put it that way it sounds selfish," Sasuke said with a dry chuckle.

"I prevented a war and saved many lives. But looking back I believe the lives I took in exchange may have been more valuable," Itachi said. "There is no one I would hesitate to kill in exchange for your life."

"Not even Sakura?"

Itachi considered that for a moment. Exchanging Sakura's life for Sasuke's? Was her life worth more to him than Sasuke's was?

"Not even Sakura," Itachi said.

Sasuke caught his eye. "That's a little messed up, Itachi," he said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"As shinobi, we are meant to protect Konoha and all the lives in it," Itachi said. "But it is more important to protect the people you love. The lives worth more."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't know, Sasuke," Itachi said with a huff. "I miss Father and Mother. I wish they were still here."

"Oh," he said. "So what happened when I was a baby? Did I get hurt or something?"

"No," Itachi said, giving him a sideways glance. "Everything went fine. I would never let you get hurt."

Sasuke smirked.

.

Their return to Konoha was met with an overly excited Naruto. They had only been gone for a few days, not even a week, but Naruto had acted like he hadn't seen them in years.

He had greeted Sakura and Sasuke with unparalleled warmth and had even given Itachi a winning smile and an affectionate pat on the back. Itachi had carefully watched his interactions with Sasuke, both because he was genuinely curious about the nature of the relationship and because he hoped to glean some insight into how he should perhaps be behaving with Sakura.

After reporting back to the Hokage tower with the disappointing news that their mission had garnered no new information, the four of them went to the teahouse near the Uchiha compound that Sakura had mentioned to Itachi when he had first returned to Konoha.

It was an odd feeling being in such a cozy and intimate setting with the people he cared so much about. Even before he had left Konoha, he had never been in a position for this kind of thing. Between clan meetings, reporting to the Sandaime, and ANBU missions, Itachi had hardly had any time to develop any real friendships besides what he had with Shisui.

The other children at the academy had not liked him. His genin team had been taken from him. The only person who had really given him the time of day had been Izumi. Kakashi and Tenzo had been good comrades, but could he really have considered them to be friends?

Kisame had also been a good comrade. Kisame had teased him in much the same way that Sasuke or Sakura would. Did that mean they were friends? He certainly didn't hate the shark-nin, in spite of their current status as enemies.

Itachi considered that his connections with all of these people were not meaningless. They were important and they had shaped him. He couldn't say why the value of human life had suddenly become a concern for him, but when he weighed his love for the village against his love for the people in his life…

Well, he had chosen the village over his family. He looked around the table – Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke. They were his family. And he would not choose the village over them if he were forced the make that choice. If this made him selfish, then he could admit that he was selfish.

He felt a warm hand settle on his thigh and he glanced to his left where Sakura was smiling at him with a bit of a puzzled expression. "Earth to Itachi," she said. "What are you thinking about that's got you so spaced out?"

He stared at her, unblinking. He wondered what she would think of his current thoughts, or if she would be upset if she knew what he had said to Sasuke about choosing his life over hers. Of course that decision would be difficult to accept. He could no longer imagine a life without Sakura in it.

And maybe that would change one day. Maybe in the future he would grow to love her more than he loved Sasuke. It seemed impossible to even think about. Could he love anyone more than he loved Sasuke?

He glanced at Sasuke who was watching Naruto with one of the softest expressions he had ever seen on his stoic little brother. Naruto was chatting animatedly about something one of the Hyuugas had done in their absence – nothing particularly engaging. Yet Sasuke was watching him like he was the sun, the most important thing in the world.

Sasuke had never looked at him like that. Had Sakura ever looked at him like that? Had he ever looked at Sakura that way before?

"Itachi?"

Her expression had grown more worried and for a reason he couldn't quite explain, that made him happy.

"I apologize, hime," he murmured low, for only her to hear. "I was lost in thought."