Three days after Sakura and Sasuke left Itachi started to get worried. He had learned from Kakashi that Kabuto had been discovered by Team 8 only ten miles north of Konoha – still well within Fire's borders.

If Kabuto was so close, then why was their mission taking so long? They should have been back a while ago. Was Tsunade not concerned? She seemed to be quite close with Sakura. Surely she was as worried as Itachi was.

With this in mind, Itachi made his way to the Hokage tower, intent on asking Tsunade to send him out as backup.

He knocked politely on her door and entered when she barked her approval.

But in a discouraging manner, she rolled her eyes when she saw him. "Itachi," she said with just the barest hint of venom in her tone. "I suppose you're here about Sasuke."

And Sakura, too, but he kept that to himself.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he said. "Teams 7 and 8 have not returned yet, and I'm worried they may need backup."

Tsunade scoffed. "Yeah, I'm sure they could use some help," she said icily. "Not from you, though."

The door behind him burst open, preventing him from saying whatever biting thing popped first into his mind. He was grateful for this because he didn't like to make a habit of disrespecting his superiors, but Tsunade (in a way that neither Hiruzen or Minato had) really grated on his nerves.

"Tsunade-baa-chan!"

Itachi turned his head at the sound of the familiar voice and was quite surprised to see Naruto in a full HAZMAT suit. He shuffled awkwardly into the room, his plastic encased head bumping ungracefully into the doorframe.

"Naruto," Tsunade said sharply, both alert and a little annoyed. "I told you not to come up here. I told Shizune to leave the crate downstairs for you."

"Yeah, yeah, I saw the crate," he said flippantly.

"Then why the hell did you come up here?" she demanded, cutting him off before he could tell her what she had just asked.

"What's Itachi doing here?" Naruto asked, giving Itachi a dubious look.

"Get out, Naruto!"

"I just don't understand why I have to wear this thing if I'm not sick!" he exclaimed brashly.

"Because you could still be carrying the infection," she said impatiently. "You could be infecting me and Itachi right now – so get out!"

She looked tired and frustrated and thankfully Naruto decided it was best to obey her at that moment, in spite of neglecting to do whatever it was he had come into her office to do. He turned politely to leave, but Itachi didn't miss the way he rolled his eyes at her as he shut the door behind him.

"Are they all sick?" Itachi asked when it seemed that Tsunade was not going to offer up any information on her own.

"All but Sakura and Naruto."

So Sasuke was sick… This was not good. He knew enough from listening to Sakura – this disease was designed specifically to infect and kill shinobi. Kabuto was a medical genius – a disease of this caliber was not something to be taken lightly.

Which meant that his only option was to trust Sakura.

"If you don't mind, Itachi," Tsunade said, still terse and irritable. "I have work to do."

"Wait," Itachi said, not caring for the way she shrugged him off so coldly. She could have a little compassion for a man whose little brother and future wife were in potential danger. "Is there anything I can do to help? Are they still at Kabuto's base? Shouldn't we make an effort to bring them to the hospital?"

"Absolutely not," she snapped. "I'm not bringing that disease anywhere near the village. It was risky enough bringing Naruto here."

"So you're just going to leave them out there?"

Her eyes finally drifted away from the pages on her desk that had seemed to capture her interest so well and settled on Itachi in a very disconcerting manner. Itachi only just managed not to flinch under the intense look.

"This is Sakura's specialty," she said slowly like she was talking to a small child. "I trust her to handle this, and so should you."

"They've already been there for three days," he argued. He could usually concede that the Hokage knew better than he did in most situations. But not where Sasuke and Sakura were concerned.

"I'm aware of the situation, Itachi," she snapped again. "Do you think I'm not worried, too? There's nothing that can be done. Now get out of my office."

Itachi was gone before she finished the sentence.

.

The feeling of sheer helplessness was absolutely overwhelming. Itachi liked to help people and was nearly always capable of doing so. He had even helped with the first iteration of this disease back in Toyeiki. Sakura had shown him how to use chakra to burn the infection and he had put that technique to good use and helped her clear the inn of patients.

And there was no doubt in his mind that if Sakura showed him what to do that he could be out there helping her. There was no reason she should have to do this alone. In Toyeiki she had Rokuda, and the nurses (well, the one who wasn't a spy) and himself.

Now she just had Naruto, and while Itachi considered him to be a competent ninja, he had a tendency to get underfoot.

Assuming they had killed Kabuto, what if they were unable to find a cure for the disease? Would Sasuke and Team 8 die out there? Would Sakura be able to come back after being exposed for so long?

There were too many unknowns that left Itachi feeling uneasy in the pit of his stomach.

"I know, I know," Itachi heard a familiar voice say. The streets of Konoha were bustling with activity as he walked home, but since most of the people he knew were currently away, curiosity got the better of him and he turned to see who had spoken.

"I just think it's a little unfair that Naruto just came in, swept him up and took him away without even telling us why," Ino Yamanaka said to her walking companion – another familiar, yet unplaceable face. "He was finally going to tell me about him and Temari."

"I'm sure he'll tell you when he gets back," said the white haired, violet-eyed boy next to her.

Ino rolled her eyes, but she had a grin on her face – much too cavalier an attitude to have while her best friend was in danger, Itachi thought.

"Oh, look, it's Itachi-san," she said when she caught him staring at her. She didn't seem to mind as she approached with the strange boy in tow behind her.

"Wow, you look just like Sasuke."

Oh, Itachi thought. That's where he knew this boy. He was Sasuke's teammate. One of the ones who helped to kidnap Sakura. Suigetsu, wasn't it?

"Sasuke looks just like me," Itachi corrected.

Suigetsu laughed.

"Itachi, this is Suigetsu," Ino said. "Suigetsu, this is Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. I think you guys may have met before."

Neither of them offered their hand to shake and Itachi began to feel a little uncomfortable. Just what was Ino doing with this kid?

"Tsunade-sama put me in charge of helping Suigetsu to… uh, assimilate," Ino explained, looking rather unnerved by Itachi's blatant look of concern.

"I see," Itachi said.

There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched between the three of them.

"We'll just be on our way, then…" Ino said.

"Wait," Itachi said for the second time that morning. "What were you saying about Naruto? Who did he take?"

"Oh," she said, visibly surprised by his question. "Naruto was just here a few minutes ago. He came to get Shikamaru."

"Did he say why?"

"No, he was in a hurry."

"Aren't you concerned about Sakura?"

"Why would I be?" she asked.

"She hasn't returned from her mission."

Ino pursed her lips and cocked her hip out in a very Sakura-like fashion. She pointed a manicured finger at Itachi's chest. "What are you talking about? Naruto's back. Why wouldn't Sakura be?"

"She's taking care of Team 8 and Sasuke," Itachi explained. "They're still near Kabuto's base."

He watched the realization dawn on her, her blue eyes widening. "What?" she shrieked. "Why didn't anyone tell me? Is she sick? Are they all sick?"

"Tsunade-sama said she is not sick," Itachi answered. "Neither is Naruto."

"But everyone else is?"

Itachi nodded.

"Well then what's the plan?" she demanded. "How can we help?"

"I don't think Tsunade-sama wants us to help."

"Oh, who cares?" Ino said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. She latched onto Suigetsu's hand and started dragging him of in the opposite direction. "Sakura needs our help. I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

Itachi watched her leave without the slightest idea of where she might be going or how she intended to help Sakura. He could hear her growling as she stomped away and then with a particularly angry stomp, she turned back to face him.

"Well?" she said. "Aren't you coming?"

.

Itachi followed Ino and Suigetsu to the hospital where they not so subtly broke into Sakura's office. Itachi was very much against this, but he didn't protest. Though he felt that this was a violation of Sakura's privacy, he wanted to get her and Sasuke home safely – which was more important.

Suigetsu made himself at home, reclining back in Sakura's chair and propping his feet up on her desk. Itachi sent him a heated glare, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Okay," Ino said as she pulled open the drawers of Sakura's desk. "Sakura has been researching what she found in Kabuto's bunker the first time, which led to her figuring out all of the methods by which the disease can be transmitted."

Itachi nodded, giving Ino his full attention. He didn't know how to help Sakura, but Ino might.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't help her much now since we've already got sick patients," Ino explained. "So we'll need to find what she was missing."

Itachi barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes.

"What makes you think we could find what Sakura missed?" Itachi asked. "She's the top in her field."

Ino's eyes flashed at him – a mirror of that heated glare he'd sent to Suigetsu. "Sakura is just a regular person. She needs help sometimes, too," Ino said, the gentle tone of her voice betraying the anger in her scowl. "She didn't cure that disease in Toyeiki by herself."

Itachi deflated a little bit, but he was still quite skeptical.

"What do you suggest we do, then?" he asked patiently.

"We're going to gather all her notes so far and find a way to get them to her," Ino answered.

"Naruto just retrieved a crate from the Hokage tower," Itachi said. "If there were notes she needed, wouldn't they have been in the crate?"

"I doubt it," Ino said. "Tsunade-sama probably just sent her the same stuff she sent her back when she was in Toyeiki. Even if Tsunade-sama thought about it, she wouldn't have known what notes to send."

"Then how do you know?" Suigetsu asked, relieving Itachi of that duty.

"Because I am her best friend," Ino snapped. "And she tells me everything. So I know that this-" she held up a black leather notebook she had pulled from the desk drawer "-is the notebook she's been using for all this Kabuto business."

Itachi watched her flip through the notebook to confirm that it was actually the right one (it was, and Itachi didn't know why that disappointed him).

"Great," Itachi said, and if he had been anyone else, they might have assumed he was being sarcastic. "Let's attach it to a messenger bird."

"Hold on, I'm going to write her an encouraging note first," Ino said, grabbing a slip of paper from the desk. "You know, so she knows how much we love her and how we know she can do it."

"She already knows those things, Ino-san," Itachi said with a sigh. He was starting to think he should have found his own way to help Sakura.

Ino slammed her hand down on the desk and clenched her teeth. "Listen, I know Sakura a lot better than you do," she said pointedly. "She appreciates gestures like this and finds them really encouraging. I'm surprised you don't know that already, Itachi-san."

Itachi had nothing to say to that because after a moment of thought, he realized she was right. Ino knew Sakura a lot better than he did. She had known her for much longer. Itachi didn't know about the notebook in her desk drawer. And while Sakura did seem to appreciate any nice gesture he made, he didn't know specifically which ones she liked best.

But Ino seemed to know and that was a valuable piece of information that he tucked away for later.

.

Nearly an hour later a messenger bird had finally been sent with Sakura's notebook attached and while this was a productive thing to have done, Itachi still felt too helpless.

Suigetsu had left, claiming that he needed to visit Juugo (Sasuke's other teammate, Itachi recalled), but Itachi noticed that the poor Mist-nin seemed to have been very annoyed with Ino. Suigetsu's blatant attempt at putting distance between him and the talkative blonde left Itachi without a similar excuse.

They were still in Sakura's office, and even knowing that Ino was Sakura's best friend, he didn't want to leave her there alone. And he didn't want to kick her out either. She was too feisty – she would make too much of a fuss.

So instead he listened to her complain about Sakura's absence and how Sakura always got better missions than she did and how Sakura made more money and people really seemed to like her.

Itachi barely paid any attention to what she was saying, but he caught enough to understand that Ino was jealous of Sakura, which struck him as rather odd. Ino wasn't lacking in any department that he was aware of. She was a talented kunoichi from a respectable clan. She was a bit annoying, but everyone had their faults.

It wasn't until she started complaining about her lack of love life that Itachi felt the need to speak up.

"You said you know Sakura better than anyone," Itachi said, interrupting whatever train of thought she had been spewing. "What does she think about me?"

Ino paused and her eyes widened, which was pretty disconcerting because they were already pretty wide.

"Well, for one," Ino began with a very sassy tone. "She would find it highly amusing that you'd ask me that."

Itachi suddenly regretted asking.

"But I think you already know that Sakura wears her heart on her sleeve. Whatever she's told you, that's what she thinks."

"That's not very helpful."

"Helpful?" Ino asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you need help for? Trouble in paradise?"

Itachi scowled and shook his head. "Forget I asked," he said. "We have more important things to be worrying about anyway."

Frantically, Ino grabbed Itachi's wrist and pushed him into Sakura's chair. He allowed her to without much protest, but he glared at her mutely so she would be aware of how much he disliked it.

"There isn't anything we can do to help Sakura right now," Ino said, hopping up onto Sakura's desk. "So why don't you tell me what you need help with? Is something wrong between you and Sakura?"

Itachi sighed and knew that he would come to regret this. But his curiosity got the better of him. "Nothing is wrong. In fact, things are going very well."

"Then why'd you ask?"

"You know Sakura really well," he said. "You know what she likes and doesn't like. She's already told me that she will marry me when the times comes, and though I don't believe she said that out of obligation, I just want to reassure her that it won't be a mistake."

"A mistake?"

"We were tossed into a sticky situation," Itachi answered. "But I love her and I want her to know that. So tell me what type of gestures she likes. What would she want from me?"

Ino was uncharacteristically stoic and she looked like she was about to explode.

"Ino?"

"You love her?" she shrieked. "Just tell her you love her! That's how she'll know, you idiot."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "I already told her," he said. "Or rather, she told me and I said it back."

Ino rolled her eyes so far back in her head Itachi thought she would faint. "I can't believe Sakura didn't tell me!" she exclaimed. "That bitch!"

"Hey," Itachi said sharply.

Ino ignored him. "When did this happen? Oh, I am so angry with her right now. She better hurry up and cure that thing so she can get back here and I can kill her."

"Ino," Itachi said, more sharply this time. "Focus. Just give me some pointers on how to impress her."

"Look, you don't need me to tell you any of this," Ino said. "Sakura just appreciates any gesture – any kind at all. She just likes knowing that you're thinking about her. Like when I was… depressed, Sakura would leave me nice notes or clean up my messes when I was too lazy."

"That's not big enough."

"Big?" Ino asked. "She doesn't need big. Sasuke fucked her up so much, even the tiniest bit of attention is enough to keep her going."

Itachi visibly recoiled.

"Oh, sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have said that. Just give her flowers or something."

Itachi actually did roll his eyes this time. He hadn't forgotten about the white lilies incident. "You have been astoundingly unhelpful, Ino," Itachi said, rising to his feet.

"Wait, no, I'm sorry," she said. "I'll help you."

Itachi gave her a skeptical look, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

.

Each passing hour with Ino left Itachi feeling increasingly uncomfortable. First they had broken into Sakura's office, and now they had broken into her apartment as well. Well, technically since Ino had a key it wasn't considered "breaking in" but that didn't make Itachi feel any better about it.

Ino led him straight up to Sakura's bedroom, to his utter discomfort. He hadn't been in there since he had cleaned it and it felt inappropriate to be in there without Sakura.

"What are we doing in here, Ino?"

"Relax, Itachi," Ino said, crawling onto the floor and reaching underneath the bed. Itachi distantly noted that both of them had dropped the suffixes, which felt very strange to him. "I'm just grabbing something real quick."

She pulled a plain looking wooden box out from underneath the bed and extended it to Itachi. He took it with a skeptical glance at her before he quickly turned and left the bedroom.

In the safety of the living room, Itachi set the box down on the coffee table and watched Ino pull the lid off of it.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" he asked. "Isn't this a massive violation of her privacy?"

For whatever reason, Ino beamed up at him and shook her head. "I can see why Sakura likes you so much," she said, much to Itachi's confusion.

She set the lid aside and pushed the box into Itachi's hands. "These are things that hold sentimental value to her," Ino explained. "If you want to know more about her, this box is the most efficient way to do that – you know, other than just talking to her and being around her. But I understand you can't do that right now."

Itachi had to hand it to her – this wasn't a bad idea. Ignoring the rising guilt in his gut, Itachi peered into the box. On the very top was a picture of Team 7. He picked it up and studied it. It was difficult at first to draw his eyes away from Sasuke. This Sasuke was so young, so closely resembling the Sasuke he had left behind all those years ago.

But thinking of Sasuke only reminded him that his precious little brother was sick, and he didn't want to think of that while he could do nothing about it.

So he turned his attention instead to Sakura, who couldn't have been more than twelve years old in the picture. Her hair was much longer and her eyes had a brightness in them – one born of innocence and youth that would likely never be there again.

He set the picture aside and picked up the next object in the box – a red ribbon.

"I gave her that when we were little kids," Ino said. "Everyone teased her because her forehead is so massive, but I told her she should show it off and be proud of it."

Itachi ran his finger over the worn ribbon. He imagined it would look quite good on her. "Don't you tease her about her forehead?" he asked.

"Sure, but she knows I don't mean it," she answered. "She calls me Pig and I know she doesn't mean it either. We just like to tease each other."

Itachi understood that because he had a very similar relationship with her. Sakura definitely liked to tease him a lot. He teased her on occasion – when the time called for it – but maybe he should tease her some more since she seemed to like it so much.

He placed the ribbon on the couch next to him beside the picture and peered back into the box. He pulled out a small glass jar that contained some sort of brownish liquid.

"It's a poison," Ino explained. "The first one she came up with an antidote for."

He set that aside too and reached in for the next item. There were various medical tools in there – ones that perhaps were given to her by Tsunade or maybe used during some sort of milestone achievement in the medical field.

He ignored all those things and grabbed onto a stack of small papers. Some of them were tests she had passed during her time at the academy while others were mission missives or medical documents. Nothing that was of particular interest to Itachi.

There were a handful of tickets and receipts in the box as well. Itachi quickly shuffled through them, looking for one in particular.

And there it was near the bottom of the stack – the receipt from their date. The restaurant's name was emblazed at the top and he checked the date just to make sure. She had kept a memento from their first date.

A slow grin spread across his face while he set the receipts aside, too.

There were a few more pictures in the boxes – ones of her and her parents, her with Sachi and Yamato, and a number of Konoha nins he didn't recognize. A handful of kunai and shuriken littered the bottom of the boxes – possible gifts, Itachi speculated.

The last thing in the box was a small pendant. It was a small ruby dangling from a silver chain. It was tiny and delicate, so Itachi placed it gently back into the box. "Do you know what this is?" he asked Ino.

"A necklace?"

Itachi didn't dignify that with a response as he carefully put all of Sakura's belongings back into the box and then placed the lid back on top.

"I don't know where she got that," Ino said.

Itachi passed the box back to Ino, who held it clutched in her lap. "So," she began. "Was the helpful? Did you find out what you needed to know?"

Itachi tilted his head while he pondered this. He didn't feel like he had gained any new insight into who Sakura was as a person. The things she valued he had already known about – they were typical for her. What person wouldn't value their friends, family, and career?

The necklace was a mystery to him and he would have to ask Sakura about that later. Though he wasn't sure how he would do such a thing without admitting that he had gone through her personal things.

And again he felt a sudden helplessness. Sasuke was in trouble and Sakura was the only person who could help him. She had held his own life in her hands so many times, and now she had Sasuke's too. It was easy to take her for granted sometimes – even in the short amount of time they'd known one another. He relied on her in a way he had never relied on anyone else before.

And the realization dawned on him that he literally couldn't live without her. She had been a crucial piece that had been missing from his life for so long, but now she was in it and he couldn't possibly make do without her.

"Yeah," Itachi said to Ino, "I did. I want to ask her to marry me."

Ino squealed with delight and crashed her body into his, embracing him in a frantic and disconcerting hug. "Oh, I can't believe it!" she yelled. "My best friend is getting married! And I'll get to be the maid of honor! We have so much work to do. We'll have to find her a dress. We need to pick a theme. What kind of food do you think Sakura will want? Oh, you guys should have a summer wedding! That would be lovely wouldn't it? I just think—"

"She hasn't agreed to marry me yet," Itachi said, interrupting her tirade. He pushed her away from him with a gentle but firm hand.

"I'll help you plan the proposal."

Itachi looked at her with a detached sort of interest. After the flower incident he didn't really want her help – not with something this big. Although she had proved pretty useful in providing him with the wooden box.

But she was a huge gossip and he didn't want it to get back to Sakura that he was planning on proposing. He supposed that cat was already out of the bag, though.

"Okay, you can help," Itachi conceded. "But don't tell Sakura anything."

Ino squealed again and Itachi just barely managed to evade her second hug.