"Not everyone is going to hurt you" anbu!itachi&Akatsuki!sakura au. Please
Itachi alights upon the roof of the bar, taking a bracing breath. According to all reports and to his own senses, she should be here. It has been a handful of years since they last met, but time does not dull this wound. In fact, it lingers, festering, beneath his skin.
It is hard to overcome the downfall of your hero.
He swallows, shaking away nerves he hasn’t felt since he was first assigned to her unit all those years ago. Then, he stands straight, activates his Sharingan, and descends.
She is seated on a barstool, nursing her, “Whiskey, keep it neat. My life may be going to hell, but I keep my drinks stiff and organized.” She turns to him, face open and smiling as she says, “Mass genjutsu? It seems pretty low-level, but you’re keeping even the shinobi here enthralled. I’m impressed. You’ve been practicing, Itachi.”
Itachi tries to ignore the frisson of excitement (?), pride (?), that runs through him. Even now, he seeks her approval. “Sakura.”
“How are you, Itachi?” she asks, looking him over with easy interest. She meets his gaze directly, unfearing of his kekkei genkai. He isn’t sure if he should be indignant or glad, but Sakura possesses certain skills that leaves her nigh immune to any kekkei genkai that would affect the mindscape. It is one of the reasons she was initially scouted for the Root program after all. “You look wan; is Konoha ill-suiting?”
Bile rises in his throat. “I’m not here to be recruited,” he spits, shaking his head in disgust at the very idea.
“Then what brings you here?” Sakura asks, sipping at her drink. “Konoha? The bounty on my head? Danzō?” She twists her lips with the last word, draining her glass dry.
“I have a duty to fulfill.”
“Duty,” Sakura scoffs. “Duty is the excuse fed to Konoha shinobi to serve the machinations of old war dogs. Duty is the excuse given to clan heirs to keep them complacent to clan wishes and traditions. Duty is what’s used to keep you willing to fulfill the selfishness of others.”
“Duty is honor, duty is loyalty, duty is fulfilment of fealty owed,” Itachi replies. “But I’m not surprised you don’t know that.”
Sakura doesn’t flinch, instead standing from her seat and vaulting over the bar countertop. “You still like your drinks fruity and sweet?”
Itachi doesn’t dignify that with a response, just watching as she pours him his favorite beer. He doesn’t acknowledge the painful fluttering in his chest, whether at her remembrance or at the flash of memories the action calls forth.
Sakura slides the beer his way and pours herself another whiskey. He eyes the glass warily, hesitating.
“Not everyone is going to hurt you,” Sakura says, voice soft and understanding.
“What do you want from me?” Itachi asks, feeling lost.
“Nothing,” she says, drinking her whiskey. “There is absolutely nothing that I want or need from you.” She leans forward against the bar, watching him intently. “And that’s why we can have this conversation. The real question here is what do you want? You, Uchiha Itachi. Not Danzō, not Tsunade, not Fugaku nor any of the Uchiha clan elders. What do you want?”
“I…” Itachi trails off, Sharingan capturing the slope of her throat as she swallows her whiskey perfectly for his permanent memory. “I don’t know.”
Sakura’s smile is wry and familiar, the one she often wore when he particularly pleased her. His face flushes with an equally familiar, but less welcome, warmth. She gestures around the bar, at everyone under genjutsu still. “Thankfully, we have time.”