One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven // Twenty-Eight // Twenty-Nine // Thirty // Thirty-One // Thirty-Two // Thirty-Three // Thirty-Four // Thirty-Five // Thirty-Six // Epilogue Part I // Epilogue Part II (here)
Epilogue
Part Two
The Ghost of You
15 Miles outside Venice, Italy
“I don’t like this. It feels like a trap.”
“Yes, but the question is by who?” Sakura asked.
A deep frown etched into the corners of her mouth. In the driver’s seat beside her, Kakashi raised his binoculars, his sights set down the street to a tavern that appeared otherwise unopened and unoccupied. They sat in a plain rental car. Only a few buildings down from the meeting point that had been provided to her. A small tavern in the middle of town.
Sakura still wasn’t certain Itachi had been the one to contact her. After all, he was dead. And so far, no one had come in or out of the pub.
“Itachi was the only one who ever messaged me that way,” she continued, her tone more withdrawn.
Kakashi lowered his sights to glance at her. “We witnessed his funeral,” he told her gently. As if she could ever forget. “If word got out about your attachment to him, it would be an easy trap for the CIA, Madara or even Kisame to set up.”
“The CIA would be most likely,” she said. “Shisui knew about our relationship and I don’t doubt he blames me for Itachi’s death. That doesn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. And if Itachi was alive, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t have contacted me before now.”
Kakashi didn’t reply to that and a moment of silence passed before he asked, “If it is the CIA, I wonder why they would have you meet here.”
“That’s another thing I don’t understand,” she agreed. “All of those three – the CIA, Madara and Kisame don’t have any territory here. This is neutral ground. Why ask to meet here?”
Not having an answer, he didn’t reply. Another few minutes passed before Kakashi finally asked, “So, do you not want to go in?”
Sakura inhaled a deep, silent breath. “No, I do.” Then she glanced at him. “You have my six?”
Kakashi flashed a quick smile in her direction. “I always do.”
His unwavering support steeled her nerves. Without another word, Sakura slipped out of the car. She pulled the collar of her jacket tighter around her neck as a breeze kicked up. She passed one last, purposeful gaze over the street. Other than a few pedestrians the block was empty. There weren’t even any lingering eyes in the windows.
Still, Sakura withdrew her gun as she stopped before the obviously closed tavern. She expected the front door to be locked, but the handle turned without resistance. It was utterly still inside. The door closed with an ominous, echoing thud as she shut it behind her.
The main bar was eerily silent upon her entrance, only her footsteps echoed against the polished wood as she stepped further inside. The teak chandelier was lit above her head, making the liquor bottles behind the bar flicker. In the lowlight, they looked like faces laughing at her.
Sakura turned away. She didn’t believe in ghosts.
The rest of the pub was empty. Totally and completely deserted. She didn’t understand why her mysterious stranger would send her here. It seemed like no one had been there since closing the night before.
Huffing a breath through her nose, Sakura turned back towards the door, intent on leaving when music reached her ears. It was faint, the gentle tinkle of a piano from somewhere else further inside the tavern.
Tightening the grip on her weapon, Sakura followed the sound. Towards the back of the room was another doorway. It led to a second bar that was a little smaller than the first. Off to one side, a wall of high-end liquors were lined on a the shelf behind a bar of polished mahogany. A number of square tables each with four chairs around them were set up about the main floor, all strategically placed to have a view towards an empty section of the room where a small band could set up.
In that space now was a single piano. And behind it sat Itachi.
If every cell in Sakura’s being hadn’t frozen on the spot, her gun would have slipped through her fingers and clattered to the floor. The world quit turning, the fire flickering in the fireplace stopped swaying and the tinkle of the piano faded into silence.
Itachi was here before her. He was skinnier than the last time she had seen him, the harsh contrast of shadows making his face appear more gaunt and his hair was a little shorter than before, but it was him.
Apparently, there was such thing as ghosts.
“The world becomes a dangerous place when you’re angry with it,” Itachi finally said.
As if someone had pressed play in the crescendo of a symphony, all of Sakura’s senses rushed back to her at once. Her hands trembled and she could feel the frantic beat of her heart in her chest like a bird trying to escape its cage. Noise, so much noise, filled her ears. The roar of the blood in her veins, the crackle of the fire, the tinkling of the piano. She just wanted it all to stop.
Sakura’s grip on her gun tightened until her knuckles turned white. If this wasn’t a hallucination, she didn’t want to shoot him on reflex and kill him. Again.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Immediately Itachi’s hands stilled over the keys as he looked up at her. “Are you disappointed?”
She didn’t know if it was the lighting or if it was because it had been so long since the last time she had seen him, but in that moment, he was the most handsome he had ever been. His skin was pale against the dark blue button-down shirt he wore under his jacket. His jaw and cheekbones were emphasized by the firelight, but it was his eyes that pierced through her soul and kept her rooted in place. They were like twin pools of liquid midnight.
He looked like death that had warmed over. An angel of darkness.
She had missed him so terribly. And now he was here before her. She didn’t know how, but it was true. All those sleepless nights and terrible moments of guilt and grief. Her hands shook. It took her a moment to realize it was out of anger.
“I saw your funeral,” she said accusingly. “You have a tombstone in Arlington.”
A strange expression passed over his face, as if he was grieving his own death. “The CIA thought this would be a perfect opportunity to send me deeper undercover.”
Astounded, Sakura could only stare as she relived that day. Her heart had shattered into a million different pieces and guilt had left her bedridden for nearly a week. And here he was, telling her all that she had witnessed was a lie?
“Does your family even know you’re alive?”
Again, a brief but painful look settled on his features. “Shisui and my mother do. Unfortunately to keep my brother safe, I have to keep him in the dark until my mission is complete.”
Taken aback, Sakura’s lips parted but no words escaped. It felt like someone had shoved her down onto the cold, hard concrete and kicked dirt into her face. She was full of grief and heartbreak and anger and betrayal, so full she thought all that emotion might crush her heart and explode out her chest.
When Itachi’s hands returned to the piano keys, she became even angrier. He was playing her song. And it wasn’t those shaky, four notes anymore. It was an entire verse, over and over again. That song no longer gave her an escape from reality. It reminded her of everything she’d had, could have had, and would have had if she hadn’t made her worse miscalculation of betraying Itachi. And here he was, playing her mistake right to her face.
“I don’t play anymore,” she snarled.
Itachi had just enough time to withdraw his fingers from the keys before she slammed the fallboard closed. He simply looked up at her like a parent watching their child throw a tantrum. All forced patience.
“That’s a shame. I did always enjoy watching you play.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How can you just lie to your brother like that?”
‘Lie to me.’ She didn’t say the words but they were heard just as clearly.
“I do not think you can lecture me on lying to those closest to me.”
“You should have contacted me before now!”
“I couldn’t!” Itachi suddenly snapped, all that patience gone. He stood abruptly, nearly knocking the wooden bench over in his haste. He still stood a head higher over her, but she didn’t flinch away from those impossibly dark eyes. “Not without the CIA finding out. And I needed time to heal. I did almost die, that much is true. I flatlined in surgery twice and was in a coma for nearly a week. I had to put my health first.”
Sakura wanted to argue, but she couldn’t find fault with his justification. It had taken months for her shoulder to mend; it still wasn’t completely healed. Itachi would’ve had a much longer recovery time.
Automatically her eyes drifted down to his stomach, where she was certain he would have a scar to match her own. The death grip on her gun loosened before she raised her other hand towards him. To touch him and feel him; to make sure he was really there.
She pulled her hand back before her fingers grazed his shirt.
“For the last nine months, I thought I had killed you,” she said, her voice suddenly soft in the wake of Itachi’s outburst of anger.
He inhaled and exhaled a silent breath before he replied, his tone equally as quiet. “You did.”
Not physically at least. But peering up at him, she could see the heartbreak lining his expression even now. There weren’t enough people in the world that could help shoulder the weight of all her guilt.
“Why did you come back? You could have stayed dead if you really hate me so much.”
“I told you already,” Itachi said not unkindly. “I have a mission to complete.”
Sakura’s shoulders stiffened at that. It suddenly occurred to her for the first time that this mission could very well be to dispose of her. He would be the perfect assassin for the job.
The sudden urge to turn tail and run nearly overwhelmed her, but her curiosity got the better of her. She had to know.
“Which is?”
Itachi’s expression was utterly unreadable. Like a Greek God, he might as well have been carved from stone. “What I’ve been doing all along: tracking Madara. Only this time, he won’t escape.”
Relief swept through her like a torrential downpour, only to dry up as quickly as it came as Itachi continued, “Because you’re going to help me.” From his tone, she clearly heard that he was telling and not asking. “I know you have been keeping tabs on him. I know you know where he is. You owe me at least that.”
He scrutinized her patiently but expectantly, like he wouldn’t leave until he got an answer from her. Still, Sakura hesitated. She wondered what he would do if she tried to walk out; what would happen if she told him the truth. Would things go back to the way they were, or would he disappear on her again as he hunted down his target?
“Madara’s in Hong Kong. He’s been there for the last four months.”
Itachi stilled, as if surprised she had told him without more persuasion on his part. Then he did the last thing she expected him to do. He cupped her face with both hands and bent his head until he sealed his mouth to hers.
It took Sakura by surprise, but she reacted an instant later, her eyes falling closed as she reached up with her empty hand to grip the open fold of his jacket to tug him closer. Itachi wasn’t gentle by any means. His kiss was bruising, putting all his emotions into that single action. His anger and heartbreak, but also his desperation and sorrow. It made her realize that he had missed her as much, if not more than she had missed him.
When Itachi finally pulled back, they were both panting slightly, the sound loud in the otherwise quiet room. He reached up to smooth her hair away from her face, his gaze tracking the action before his eyes dropped back to hers.
Then his expression hardened. “If you ever pull that shit on me again, we are going to have a problem.”
Even with his warning, Sakura couldn’t resist the corner of her mouth twitching in the start of a smirk. She trusted Itachi would follow through with his threat should she try to mislead him again, but she wasn’t concerned. Because if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that she wouldn’t let Itachi go again.
She holstered her gun before smiling up at him innocently. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
A vaguely disbelieving expression crossed Itachi’s face before he released a defeated sigh – as if he was just realizing for the first time that he was in love with an asshole. Even so, he kissed her again, only pausing some minutes later for Sakura to send Kakashi a text telling him not to wait for her.
Because she was going to spend the rest of the night with the man in front of her. And tomorrow, they would work on taking down the bastard known as Uchiha Madara.
end.
xx
So, this is the happiest ending I could give. It's not really a happy ending cause all the shit they've been through, they're going to go through again. But for now, they're happy.
This wasn't the original ending I had for the story. Originally, I wanted to write a sequel that had Itachi coming back much later to hunt down Madara. Together, Sakura and Itachi catch and kill him, but while protecting Itachi, Sakura gets killed. And that's how it ends, but I don't have as much time to write as I used to, and I did lose motivation with this story.
That being said, I still love this story and I'm happy with how it came out. Thank you everyone for your continued support. To those of you who have been with me since chapter one and those of you who just came across this fic, thank you for your reviews. They are incredibly motivating and I cannot say enough how much I appreciate them.
Still to come:
Not the Only One - MadaSaku/TobiSaku (continuation)
One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven // Twenty-Eight // Twenty-Nine // Thirty // Thirty-One (here)
Chapter Thirty-One
Red Tide
Itachi shoved Sakura down as glass exploded everywhere. She hit the ground hard, her palms stinging as she caught herself on the pavement, but in the chaos of it all, the pain didn’t register as she scrambled for her gun.
Around them, people screamed as bullets buzzed through the air. Sakura could hear the unmistakable thuds as a handful embedded into the other side of the car they had taken refuge behind. Beside her, the crack of Itachi’s gun filled her ears and she risked peering over the hood to unload an entire clip at their attackers. She ducked again when the headlight next to her head exploded.
“I can’t make out a plate,” she yelled over the gunfire.
Itachi shook his head, taking shelter next to her. “I can’t either. How many more rounds do you have?” he asked, emptying his clip and reloaded his weapon before he had even finished asking the question.
Sakura didn’t have to count. She always knew exactly how much she carried. “Two more clips.”
Somewhere nearby, a girl let out a sharp scream. One of absolute pure terror. It echoed in Sakura’s ears louder than the rest, but she didn’t dare divert her attention. Instead, she pushed herself back onto her knees and took aim, her bullets blending with Itachi’s as they fired back at the black SUV.
A handful punctured the side of the car and shattered the back window, but none seemed to land. Growling, Sakura took cover once more to reload her weapon, but before she could strike again, Itachi landed on top of her and shoved her flat against the ground.
“Get down,” he hissed.
A moment later she understood why when the unmistakable crack of a high-powered rifle ripped through the air. It shredded through the body of the car, raining shrapnel down on top of them. Sakura held Itachi flush against her as the bullets impacted the cement only inches from where they lay. She held her breath, her fingers digging into his sides as she prayed to whatever god might be up there that he wasn’t struck.
After what seemed like an eternity and then another one, there was a break in the shots. Itachi didn’t waste any time. In a blink of a moment, he was up and firing again. Sakura joined him, but before she could pull the trigger, blood sprayed out the passenger window. It seemed that was enough to make the driver nervous for they hit the gas and sped away. The firefight ending as quickly as it had begun.
The moment the car was out of sight, a hush fell over the street. Only the faint call of sirens in the distance broke up the utter quiet, a signal that help was on the way. Some minutes too late.
Without a word, Sakura slowly lowered herself back to the ground, her knees like rubber as the adrenaline washed out of her system. She stared at the car they had taken cover behind, counting the gaping wounds in the side of it where the bullets had ripped through the cheap metal. Just by the exit pattern, she knew it had been an AK-47. She tried not to think of how close they had just come to death. It still felt like he was breathing down her neck.
Pulling her gaze away, Sakura turned her head to glance at Itachi. He was still crouched beside her, his gun still poised between his hands as he stared down the road where the shooters had disappeared, as if he was expecting them to return for another round. There were small scratches on both his forearms that were still bleeding slightly, but she didn’t see any bullet or metal fragments. They fortunately didn’t appear to be anything significant.
Only once Itachi was certain they were safe for the time being, did he relax his tense stance. He holstered his gun before he glanced at her. He looked her over carefully, his eyes lingering somewhere near her shoulder.
It was then that she realized she had been grazed by some shrapnel. Blood was bubbling from the cut and trailing down her arm. Now that she was aware of it, her bicep began to burn, but it wasn’t anything worth worrying over.
“It’s nothing,” she said, wiping the blood away on her dress.
Itachi studied her for a long moment before he nodded. Then his eyes fell past her, his expression suddenly sobering some.
Confused, Sakura followed his gaze to find the body of a young girl was laying only a few yards away. A victim caught in the crossfire. There was a pool of blood slowly spreading around her, seeping into the cement and staining her pale pink dress. Her lifeless face didn’t look much younger than Sakura’s.
Sakura forced herself to tear her eyes away as hollowness carved a hole out in her chest. “We have to go,” she said quietly. “Before the police get here.”
Itachi didn’t answer but after a moment he pushed himself to his feet. He helped her stand as well before they both hurried into the closest alley and disappeared into the dark.
xx
Less than half an hour later, Sakura stood just behind Itachi as he knocked on the door of a grungy-looking apartment. The hallway itself was dimly lit with a blue carpet that was faded down the center from use and stained in some spots. It was apparent that the building was minimally cared for.
The patter of footsteps on the other side of the door had Sakura snapping her attention forward again, every sound making her a little jumpy after what they had just been through. She didn’t know who she was expecting but she blinked in surprise when the door swung open to reveal Shisui. Dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and a maroon shirt, he obviously hadn’t been expecting them. His brow cocked curiously but after taking in their disheveled clothes and somber expressions, he stepped back and gestured for them to come inside.
“I heard there was a shooting,” he said after they had closed the door behind them. “I should have figured it was you two.”
“You say that as if it was our fault,” Itachi said, his tone mildly irritated. But not as Shisui. Rather, at the situation itself. “Madara must have caught wind of our meeting today and was on the hunt for us.”
Sakura paused where the kitchen met the living room and took a curious glance around, noting that while the apartment building itself seemed in disrepair, Shisui’s apartment looked newly remodeled with granite counter tops and clean, oak floors. It was like walking through the wardrobe into Narnia.
Upon Itachi’s comment, she turned to regard them. “Actually, it was Izuna.”
Shisui paused from where he had sat behind his computer, cup of noddle in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other. There was some sort of CIA database displayed on the monitor with information scrolling by but he seemed to give it no mind.
“You’re certain?” Shisui asked.
She nodded as her gaze continued about the room. There were three different gaming systems in front of a large flat screen television with a wide, comfortable chair lined up right in front. For some reason, she wasn’t entirely surprised to learn Shisui was a gamer.
“Madara’s too subtle to do a drive-by shooting,” she said. “But Izuna…well, I might have pissed him off once or twice. Likely more.”
“Izuna is not someone you want as an enemy,” Shisui warned.
Sakura was hardly fazed. “Neither am I.”
“Izuna is the black sheep of the family,” Itachi said, if only to break the staring contest Sakura and Shisui suddenly found themselves in. “He was never CIA, but when Madara turned, Izuna was only too willing to help his brother. I believe money has always been his motive for…well everything.”
That hardly surprised Sakura, but she didn’t reply as her phone suddenly pinged in her pocket. She had texted both Kakashi and Ino while she had dashed through the city with Itachi. Kakashi she had heard from, but Ino….the blonde still hadn’t replied. At least until now.
‘Got out in time. With Shika,’ Ino’s message said. Then another text came in. ‘No eyes in the club. I think you were found, not followed, but I would still lay low.’
Sakura replied quickly, telling her to do the same before she returned her attention back to the Uchiha cousins. Shisui had set his Cup of Noodle down to free his hands. His fingers ran across his keyboard while Itachi stood just behind him.
“It looks like there’s only been two reports of gunshot wounds reported to the hospital tonight. Both of which seem to be bystanders, but I’ll keep looking in case one of Izuna’s men checks in. I’ll have the company pick anyone up if they go in for treatment,” Shisui said. Then he glanced at Itachi. “You two should stay here for now. Get washed up and wait a few hours until things calm down.”
“Thanks, Shi,” Itachi said.
The older of the two waved him off, only pulling his eyes away from his computer to shoot them both a look. “And stay out of the pantry.”
Itachi didn’t reply to that but he was smiling when he turned away. He led Sakura down the hall before opening the first door on the right. It was a spare bedroom. Inside there was a plain mattress with a single pillow and a simple dresser, a complete opposite to the rest of the apartment that was so well furnished.
Itachi didn’t give the room much of a look over, seemingly been there before. He simply steered her into the connected bathroom. Inside, he began pulling drawers open, searching for something. Sakura didn’t know what until he pulled out a first aid kit.
“Let me see your arm.”
She nearly laughed. “What? It’s nothing.”
“You’re still bleeding,” he told her.
“It’s barely a scratch.”
“Sakura.”
His tone was velvet wrapped around hard steel. It gave her pause, but when she met his gaze, she found only tenderness. It was enough to make her stop resisting. His touch was gentle as he pulled her arm closer. When he was sure there weren’t any metal shards embedded in her skin, he grabbed a washcloth and wetted it before he cleaned the blood and grime from her skin.
Goosebumps rose along her arm as he dapped disinfectant along the scrape before he grabbed a roll of gauze and bandaged the small wound. As soon as he was done, Sakura grabbed the medicine from the counter and began cleaning the cuts along his own arms. They were mere scratches. Probably not even worth cleaning at all, but she found the simple action soothed her. Helped calm the nerves that had become frayed from the shooting.
“We’re really something, aren’t we?” Sakura murmured at some point.
“Not quite the classic love story,” Itachi agreed with quiet amusement.
“That’s okay. I always thought they were kinda boring anyway.”
She looked away to put the disinfectant aside. When she turned back, she found he was watching her with an unreadable expression. She opened her mouth but before she could ask what that look was for, he slipped his arm around her waist and bent his head to kiss her.
It was simple and sweet. He kissed her simply for the sake of kissing her and she melted against him, her hands falling to his chest. All she felt was him, his heat and his hands as they slid up her spine to tangle into her already tangled hair.
Sakura wasn’t quite sure who deepened the kiss first. She was only acutely aware of the heat that began to build low in her stomach as his tongue twisted with hers, a little rougher, a little more demanding than usual. That arousal sharpened abruptly when Itachi grabbed her hips and pulled them flush against his. The fabric of his jeans felt rough even through the material of her dress, but it only added fuel to the fire that was simmering within her.
Just below her navel, his growing bulge pressed into her stomach and without breaking their kiss, she unbuttoned his pants and slipped her hand inside to grasp him. Itachi groaned against her lips as she squeezed him, his hot, velvety length heavy in her hand. That simply sound urged Sakura on.
Pulling his pants down, she dropped to her knees before she took him in her mouth. Itachi inhaled sharply through his teeth as his fingers threaded into her hair. She bobbed her head slowly at first, taking time to taste him before she built up speed.
Peering through her lashes, Sakura looked up to find Itachi’s expression was lined with pleasure. His lips were pursed, muting his groans and reminding her they weren’t alone. Still, it didn’t stop her from taking him all the way in her mouth before she pulled back to fist the bottom of his length, her tongue paying special attention to his head. His grip on her hair tightened to the point of near pain.
“Fuck,” Itachi growled, jerking her back onto her feet. “You drive me crazy.”
He crashed his mouth back against hers, his desperation like a riptide. So strong and frantic. Pulling her down, down and threatening to never let her up again. She didn’t resist when his hands slipped under the hem of her dress and pulled her panties down. As soon as they were gone, he hoisted her up onto the counter and stepped between her legs, bunching her skirt around her hips.
Sakura was already so wet that he slipped inside her easily. Just like every time before, he stretched her deliciously, but she wasn’t given the time to appreciate the initial penetration as he started a hard rhythm.
She cried out when his tip nudged her cervix. “Fuck! Right there,” she said with a rough whisper as she pulled him closer. A little needlessly because she was certain he already knew every inch of her body.
Her head fell back against the mirror as he moved against her and he took the opportunity to sink his teeth into the exposed flesh at her collarbone. The pained pleasure made her gasp again and she dug her fingers into his shirt.
“Is it true?” Itachi asked against her skin.
Sakura bit back another moan. “Is what true?”
“That you find Kisame hot.”
His statement was so out of the blue that it cut through Sakura’s lust-clouded mind. She paused, even as Itachi continued his pace, and looked up to meet his gaze. His eyes were as black as night and filled with heat and desire, but also something else. Jealousy perhaps?
“Did what I say bother you?” she asked.
His expression seemed to tighten as his hips eased to a slow rhythm. “You know it does.”
She couldn’t resist the small smile that formed in the corner of her mouth at his answer and she grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him closer until their lips were less than an inch apart. “But you’re the one fucking me, aren’t you? Not him.”
This close, Sakura could make out every flicker of his expression, which is why she saw the very moment his mouth turned up into a smirk right before he thrust up into her particularly hard. She bit back her yelp as his lips brushed against jaw. “And that is the way it is going to stay.”
His possessive tone might have made her bristle had they been in any other situation, but with him buried inside her, it only made her hotter, wetter. With her hands still gripping his collar, she forced his mouth to hers again, his lips muffling her cries of pleasure. She tightened around him, already feeling the familiar pressure of her approaching orgasm.
“I’m so close,” she told him, wrapping her legs tighter around his waist.
He replied by slipping his hand between them, his thumb pressing against the sensitive pearl just above where they were joined. “Then come for me. And only me.”
And she did.
With a broken moan, Sakura shuddered against him. He cupped the back of her neck to keep her from smashing her head back against the mirror, all the while keeping his pace. Her fingers gripped his shirt so tightly, she was amazed it didn’t tear as the waves of her climax washed through her.
Sakura wasn’t even consciously aware of his name tumbling from her lips, but those three syllables were enough to do Itachi in. He held her through his own orgasm, one hand bruising her hip with the other still at her neck. He groaned brokenly against the shell of her ear as he emptied himself inside of her, his hips continuing to roll against hers until the last waves of his climax washed through him.
The bathroom was utterly still after that. Only the sound of their shaking breaths echoing back at them filled the quiet. In the aftermath, Sakura’s fingers loosened their tight grip on his shirt but she didn’t release him completely as she rested her face in the crook of his neck. Just his mere presence relaxed her more than the sex ever could. A small smile crossed her lips.
“What is it?” Itachi asked, his arms tightening around her minutely.
Her eyes closed as she shook her head against his collarbone. “I just like that possessive side of you. It’s nice…to be wanted. It makes me happy.”
He didn’t immediately reply to that. Instead, he pulled back, just enough to look down at her to search her face. “You’ve never said that before.”
“It’s hard to admit it,” she told him quietly. “I’ve never been allowed to be happy about anything before.”
Sakura half-expected a look of pity to cross his face but it never came. He simply smiled softly before he bent his head to kiss her. This time, there was no lust or heat behind it, but neither was it lacking in passion. When he pulled away, he eased himself out of her before he helped her stand. With gentle hands, he unzipped her dress and slipped it off her before he finished undressing himself.
They showered together, not saying a word under the spray of the water and not needing to. Afterwards, they laid in bed, their clothes left in the bathroom and the used towels on the floor. Sakura could hear every beat of Itachi’s heart against her ear as she rested her head on his chest. His fingers dragged through her hair, lulling her to sleep as the stress of the day fell forgotten.
“What if we left?” Itachi asked into the quiet.
“In a few hours,” she murmured. “We need to give the streets some more time to settle down.”
He gave a small pause. Then said, “I meant leave New York. What if we just left everything and disappeared?”
As soon as his words registered, Sakura stilled. She took a moment to blink the sleep from her mind before she pushed herself up onto her elbows. Just enough to look down at him. “You mean run away?”
Itachi nodded before he ran his fingers through her hair. “We could do it. Leave here and never come back.”
“You know we can’t,” she said with a small, forced smile. Hoping he was teasing. Wishing he was just telling her a fantasy.
“Why not?”
Her smile faded when she realized he was serious. “Because you have parents and a brother. And Shisui. And I have…”
“You have what?”
She chewed the inside of her lip before answering, “I have things to do here.”
"Sakura..." he began.
And for once, she was glad he didn't say whatever he was about to. Instead, she lay back down upon his coaxing as the quiet settled over them again. No longer soft and comfortable. But stale and stagnant with words and thoughts unspoken.
Some time passed before Itachi’s hand fell still and his breath evened out. But even with his gentle warmth and comfortable weight of his arms around her, Sakura continued to lay awake, replaying his words over in her head.
It sounded like a wonderful fantasy but it was only that. Eventually the guilt would eat away at Itachi and she knew she wouldn’t be able to watch that happen. No matter how much the thought of being with him, where they could go to dinner or coffee or the movies without the fear of being seen or attacked, appealed to her.
Just before dawn, Sakura slipped out of bed. She dressed herself in her clothes from last night, ignoring the blood and grime on her dress. Not wanting to make a sound, she held her heels between her fingers as she crept down the hall.
To her surprise, Shisui was still awake. He was behind his computer, his back to her. Sakura tried to slip out unheard but his fingers stilled on the keyboard before she even made it halfway across the room.
"Not even going to say goodbye?"
She paused with a cringe before she glanced back at him. "I didn’t want to interrupt you."
"I meant to Itachi," he clarified, half turning in his chair to look at her.
She hid her frown. "It's easier this way."
"For you or for him?"
Sakura didn’t answer.
Shisui sighed in response before he spun his chair around to face her fully. "Look, I'm just worried about him. And you're, well you. If anything happens to him...."
"I'm threatened a dozen times a day, Shisui," she countered, unfazed.
However, Shisui simply shook his head, something akin to a sadness in his expression. "You misunderstand me. That wasn’t a threat. It's a plea."
Sakura held his gaze for a long moment as something passed between them. An unspoken understanding. Or perhaps it had been spoken.
She held Shisui’s gaze evenly as she nodded her head once. "I'll protect him any way I can."
"Thank you," he murmured.
Then he turned back to his computer, as if she had never been there.
xx
Sakura texted Kakashi the moment she was in the back of a taxi and on her way towards her apartment downtown, the closest one to Shisui’s. She wanted to be alone, but she knew the silence would only talk back to her. Ask her questions and give her ideas she didn’t want to deal with just yet.
He hadn’t replied by the time her cab dropped her off out front, but Kakashi had never failed her before. She doubted he would do so now.
Biting back a yawn, Sakura crossed the lobby to the elevator. She took it to her floor with every intention of changing into a pair of sweats and a comfortable t-shirt before she sat down with Kakashi and told him everything she had learned. There was still so much planning to be made. And she’d need a second, clearer head to help her do it.
Slipping into her condo, Sakura shut the door behind her and made her way further inside. The instant she flipped on the lights, she stilled. For it wasn’t Kakashi standing in her living room. But rather, Hashirama.
He was standing before the large, bay window, his back presented to her. There were two other men with him. Bodyguards, both dressed in clean, expensive suits. They eyed her stiffly as she entered the room, as if she were the uninvited guest rather than the other way around.
A little wary, Sakura scanned the rest of the immediate area, relieved when she found no one else present. Hashirama likely wasn’t here to bring her harm then. Not that she could really think of any other reason as to why he would be here at such an hour.
“It’s a little early for breakfast, isn’t it?” Sakura said pleasantly.
“Then it is a good thing I am not here for it,” Hashirama told her, his gaze still fixated out the window.
“I figured not,” she said with almost a sigh. She drew to a stop where the living room met the kitchen. “Two visits in less than one day. Must be something important.”
Before Hashirama, the sky was just beginning to lighten from a dark blue to a softer indigo. If she didn’t know any better, she would think he was waiting to watch the coming sunrise. But she did know better, which is why she was hardly surprised when he turned his back to the coming morning to regard her. “It is. There has been a change of plans.”
“Oh?” Sakura asked as he descended the two steps that led from the bay window down to where the living room furniture was neatly organized in front of a flat screen television.
Hashirama didn’t speak until he made himself comfortable on the end of her white, designer couch. “I have decided you won’t be using Tobirama’s men to assist with bringing down Akatsuki. You will use mine.”
His words made Sakura noticeably give pause. She stared at him for a long moment before she frowned. “That would delay any potential raids by at least a day. If not longer.”
“It is an inconvenience,” he nodded amicably, “but it is what I am ordering.”
Confused, Sakura furrowed her brows. “I’m already in communication with Tobirama’s men. It would be more than just an inconvenience. It would require me shuffling information, weapons, locations. All my resources,” she listed.
Hashirama nodded. “I understand. And I am willing to compensate you for the trouble.”
“It has nothing to do with money, Hashirama,” she shook her head. “There’s no way Tobirama would agree to this. What did he say when you told him?”
When he remained silent, cold understanding dawned on her. It settled deep in the pit of her stomach.
“He doesn’t know, does he?” she asked quietly.
Rather than offer her a direct reply, Hashirama adjusted the expensive watch on his wrist, his eyes briefly flickering to the time, as if he had somewhere to be. “My brother will no longer be assisting you with any matters pertaining to Akatsuki. All future assets needed will be brought to my attention and provided by me and my contacts only.”
“You mean to cut him out,” Sakura said, unable to keep her tone from taking on a sharper edge.
“I understand your hesitance. Tobirama was loyal to a point with you, just as he has been with me,” he told her. Somehow, she got the feeling that his tone was full of more compassion than he actually had. “But it is time the charity I have provided my brother come to an end. Tobirama is fully capable of handling his own assets and when Akatsuki has been dealt with, I am only willing to split with the profits to one other party.”
When he shot her a purposeful look, Sakura arched her brow in disbelief. “Me?”
“Do not be so surprised. You have proven that you can handle the work,” he told her. When she didn’t reply, Hashirama stood and made his way towards the door, only stopping briefly when he was beside her. “Do not think of this as a betrayal to my brother, Sakura. Tobirama will be given his own territory and the freedom to bring in and move product as he sees fit. It is time I stop holding his hand. What is that saying: Every sun has to set.”
Sakura pulled herself out of her thoughts as she recognized the saying. She couldn’t resist the small smile that formed on her lips. “I thought you didn’t know Arabic?”
He inclined his head slightly. “Perhaps I do not speak the tongue, but I do find their proverbs meaningful.” Then he nodded towards his guards, a silent signal for them to lead the way out. “Get some rest, Sakura. We will discuss the details later.”
Even after the door closed soundlessly behind him, Sakura didn’t immediately move. She stared at nothing as she thought, only coming back to herself when Kakashi stepped out of the shadows near the steps that led up to her bedroom.
He said nothing as he leaned against the wall. Simply waited for her to speak.
“How did he get in here?” she asked eventually.
“Front door.”
She frowned at that, wondering if he had somehow swiped the key Tobirama had stolen from her. Brothers.
“As soon as Akatsuki is dealt with, I’m selling this place,” she told him.
She swept past him to head to her bedroom where she grabbed a pair of sweats and a comfortable shirt. Even with Kakashi standing only a few feet away, she didn’t hesitate in stripping off her dress. She didn’t have to look to know that his back was turned.
“It seems that Hashirama doesn’t care for Tobirama as much as we thought,” he said.
“No,” Sakura agreed quietly. “It sounds like Hashirama had another motive when he took Tobirama in. He didn’t want a brother. He wanted a second set of hands to handle his growing assets.”
“And who better to do that than his poor, gangster brother who was living on the streets. Hashirama’s act of kindness pretty much guaranteed Tobirama’s blind loyalty,” Kakashi murmured. He only turned around after the rustling of clothes had stopped. “So, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell Tobirama or are you going to carry out Hashirama’s orders?”
Sakura didn’t look at him. Instead she turned her attention to her arm as she pulled off the bandage Itachi had placed. The cut still stung but the bleeding had stopped. She stared at it for a long moment as she thought.
It felt like there was a red tide coming in. As if the waters around her were about to turn as crimson as blood and become deprived of all oxygen. Killing all those it touched and void of all life.
Sakura looked up slowly as the first morning light peeked over the horizon and spilled out into the room. It cut across her eyes, setting her emerald orbs on fire with new life. The sunlight was still too weak to do any real damage, but soon, it wouldn’t be. Just like her.
“I’m going to do what I’ve always done: whatever the hell I want.”
One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven // Twenty-Eight // Twenty-Nine (here)
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Check or Checkmate?
The sun wasn’t quiet up yet when Sakura got a text. It was only because she was wide awake, laying on her back and staring at the ceiling that she even heard the soft chime of the notification.
Rolling over, she did her best not to wake the figure beside her as she reached for her phone. Itachi barely stirred, just readjusted his grip around her waist before he settled again.
To her surprise, Sakura found the message was from Tobirama. She wondered if he was up early or just hadn’t gone to bed yet. Likely the latter, but her mind didn’t linger on it as she read his message. All it contained was a time and location. A habit she suspected he had picked up from her.
Pulling up Google maps, Sakura punched in the address only to frown when it came back to a nice restaurant. A five-star bar and grill on the water. She didn’t know what would make him want to meet there, but she found her gaze automatically falling to Itachi.
His hair was splayed over the pillow beside her, a stray strand resting against his cheekbone. His breath came out in deep, even exhales as he slept, his gentle warmth tempting her to curl into him and try to catch a few more minutes of rest herself.
Sakura tried to remember how many nights he had been there now. Three, four, five? She couldn’t recall. And it wasn’t that fact that bothered her. But rather the part that she didn’t mind he kept showing up. He made her happy. Truly, honestly happy.
So why couldn’t she just let herself enjoy it?
She knew the answer before she had even fully asked the question. Because people like her couldn’t afford to be. That’s when mistakes were made, irrational thoughts were given and decisions that could cost her her life were chosen.
Turning back to her phone, Sakura told Tobirama she would be there. She set the device back down on the nightstand after that and moved to slip out of bed when Itachi stirred. His arm tightened around her middle before he dragged her back.
“Don’t go,” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep.
Sakura felt her worries wash away in an instant. “I was just going to get some water.”
He replied by pulling her closer.
Laughing softly, she turned in his grasp until she could look up at him. His hair was mussed from sleep and falling in his eyes but there was a lazy smile on his face as he gazed down at her. Reaching up, she brushed his hair back before her fingertips traced his jawline. His day-old stubble scraped against her palm.
“I’m not leaving yet,” she told him.
Itachi’s smile widened at that before he bent his head to kiss her. Sakura relaxed into it immediately. Her arms slipped around his shoulders and her legs tangled with his as he rolled her onto her back, his weight pressing her into the mattress.
She welcomed him between her legs, already feeling his hardening length against the inside of her thigh, but Itachi made no move to slip inside her. Instead, he kept kissing her, his mouth peppering light touches to her face and neck and shoulders. He pulled back once he reached her collarbone but said nothing. Simply gazed down at her, his fingers sweeping a stray hair from her brow.
There was so much emotion behind the action and in his dark eyes. Like he wasn’t looking at her but rather within her. It made her mouth go dry and her heart pound a little harder behind her ribs. Something swelled in her chest. She knew its name but she didn’t say it.
“You shouldn’t look at me like that,” she whispered.
Itachi’s gaze didn’t waver. “Why not?”
Sakura opened her mouth but nothing came out. She suddenly felt weighed down. Like his affections and attentions were more of a burden than a gift. A choice between feeling alive and remaining alive. She couldn’t ever remember a time she had felt more conflicted in her life.
“Because you can’t love me,” she finally murmured.
“Can’t or shouldn’t?”
“Does it matter?”
The warmth in Itachi’s gaze faded then. As if her concerns had suddenly fallen upon him as well. His expression became so melancholy, so dejected that Sakura nearly took the words back. Nearly said all that she had been trying to bury for who knew how long now.
“Fine,” Itachi murmured before she could speak. The sad look left his face as he met her gaze again. “I won’t tell you then. I will just show you.”
And he did. He kissed her thoroughly, leaving no question between them of his affections. Tears nearly sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them back fiercely, giving into the pleasure instead when Itachi reached between her legs. A low moan passed her lips as he spread her wetness before he pushed his fingers inside.
Sakura rolled her hips up against his palm, only to make a noise of complaint when he pulled away much too soon. But that protest quickly faded when he replaced his hand with something bigger and harder.
This time, when Itachi moved it was unhurriedly. His mouth lingered an inch above her own, watching every expression pass over her face as he hilted himself inside her with slow, deep thrusts. No matter how much she tried to coax him into speeding up, he kept his pace, pressing lingering kisses to her jaw and lips while his hands traced every inch of skin.
Sakura arched under him. She felt whole and yet needing something more at the same time. Balanced on the edge, so close to tumbling over but not quite able to make it. She clawed at his shoulders and had the thought of just rolling them over and riding herself to climax when Itachi pinned her hands beside her head.
“Don’t even think about it,” he murmured, his voice soft. A complete juxtaposition to the firm grip he had on her wrists.
A noise sounded in Sakura’s throat. Something between a whine and a growl. “I’m so close. I can’t…”
“All you have to do is ask.”
She raised her eyes to his. She had half-expected his expression to be arrogant and dominating. Instead, all she saw was tenderness and adoration softening his dark, obsidian gaze. The word tumbled from her lips.
“Please…”
Releasing his grip on her wrist, Itachi bent down to seal his mouth with hers. At the same time, he reached between them, his thumb pressing against the small bundle of nerves above her entrance. She ripped her lips away to cry out, her hips rising to meet his as her entire world exploded.
When Sakura finally came back down, Itachi was just finishing. He still above her, his forehead pressed into her shoulder as he fought for breath. She raised her hands to his back, his skin wet and sticky with sweat, but she didn’t mind as she held him against her.
“Don’t go,” Itachi murmured into her skin.
It was the same words he had whispered this morning. Only now they felt different. Opening her eyes, Sakura turned her head until she could look at him. He stared back almost shyly. Like a young boy asking his mother for permission.
Against her better judgement, she gave in. “I’m not going anywhere.”
They stayed in bed into the afternoon and beyond, only getting up to get the pizza they’d had delivered to the door. It was well into the evening before Sakura finally kicked the sheets back and got into the shower. She was utterly unsurprised when Itachi joined her.
After countless rounds, neither of them had the energy for another. They simply washed and stood under the spray as they enjoyed the other’s company. But Sakura had something to do. And she suspected Tobirama would be pissed if she didn’t show up.
As if sensing this, Itachi left fairly quickly after drying off. He didn’t say a word as he dressed himself. Only pausing in the bathroom doorway to watch her as she applied her makeup. She paused when she caught him staring, but he only entered the room to kiss her bare shoulder beside her bra strap. No words were exchanged between them. Only a gentle caress along her lower back before he left.
It wasn’t until the door had long closed behind him that his words echoed again in her head: “I won’t tell you then. I will just show you.”
That memory lingered in her head until she left her condo. Dressed in black, lacy dress and a pair of strappy heels, Sakura headed downtown to the address Tobirama had texted her.
He was already there when she arrived, seated at the bar and looking utterly stunning in a tailored black suit. He glanced over at her when she slipped into the tall barstool beside him. He looked like he had something to say, but decided against it before he grabbed the lemon drop beside his whiskey and pushed it across the counter towards her.
“Thanks,” she said before she took a long sip.
If he noticed, he said nothing. Merely drank from his own glass.
It wasn’t until they had both finished their first drinks and were waiting on their second round that Sakura finally turned in her chair. “So, you going to tell me what you want? Or did you drag me across the city just to see me in my finest dress?”
Tobirama eyed her for a long moment, his gaze raking up her form once and his expression flat. Say for the small tug in the corner of his mouth. “That's not your finest dress. And no, that’s not why I asked you here.”
When Sakura simply stared patiently at him, he explained, “You have the most guns in the city and I have the most men. Currently, we are Madara's biggest threat. I chose an upscale restaurant because it would be busy and full of rich nobodies with bodyguards. It would not only be difficult for Madara to kill us but detrimental. The last thing he needs is the entire New York City police force, the FBI and possibly the CIA on his ass.”
Upon the word ‘CIA’ Sakura felt herself still but she forced herself to relax. She had to hand it to Tobirama: it was smart of him to choose such a public place for them to meet. But she didn’t speak until the bartender dropped off their drinks and made himself busy once more before speaking, “You've obviously put a lot of thought into this meeting, so tell me what you wanted to discuss.”
“I want to discuss you,” he told her, his tone casual but firm and full of no-nonsense. This was a strictly business meeting. “You hit Akatsuki last week. Hard. My brother tells me he's been supplying you with more money and more contacts, but you're also going to need more men. I'm offering you, officially, my help.”
“And why would you do that?” she asked over the rim of her sugared martini glass. Disbelief and skepticism colored her tone.
Tobirama looked at her then. He seemed to actually look at her as a small frown settled in the corners of his mouth. “I think you're under the pretense that I hate you, Sakura. I don't. Frustrated, maybe. Annoyed, yes. But I'm not so insecure as to resent you for walking away.”
For some reason that struck something with her. A faint smile crossed her lips but she hid it behind her drink. When she lowered her glass back down, it was gone, and she turned in her chair to face Tobirama, one leg crossed over the other. “Tell me what you’re willing to give. And tell me what you want in return.”
“Three dozen men. And the promise that when all of this is over, Izuna will be one of the dead,” he said without pause.
This time Sakura let him see her smile. “I don’t need three dozen men to promise you that.”
“Then take them anyway.”
She cocked her brow in surprise but decided against questioning Tobirama further. He was being uncharacteristically generous and she didn’t want him to feel offended if she pressed any more. Instead, she nodded her appreciation and turned the conversation to lighter things before a waiter came by and asked if they would like to order dinner.
To Sakura’s surprise, she found that she actually enjoyed talking to Tobirama. He was a good storyteller and his voice had a faint, gravelly tone to it that was nice to listen to. Their conversation remained light until he finished his steak and sank back against the high-backed stools with a soft sigh.
“Do you really think you can beat Madara?” he asked.
Sakura stabbed another piece of lettuce out of her spring salad as she gave a soft of quiet humor. “Why do people keep asking me that?”
“Because Madara is crazy.”
“And you don’t think I am?” she returned.
Tobirama shot her a brief flash of amusement. “You are. But he is on his own level.”
The corner of Sakura’s mouth turned up but it quickly waned as she spun her fork slowly between her fingers.
A dark road, splattered with blood and lined with bullet casings, lay ahead for her. She wasn’t quite sure what would become of her when all of this was over but she knew she needed to take Madara down. Even if it was with her.
“I won’t lie: it’ll probably be the hardest thing I’ve done,” she eventually murmured.
“It’ll be the hardest thing most of us have done,” Tobirama said. Then his eyes flickered towards her. “What will you do afterwards?”
“Assuming I make it out alive? I’m not sure,” she replied.
But even as the words came out of her mouth, the image of Itachi from this morning came to mind. Asleep on her pillow, under her sheets, in her bed. How he seemed to just belong there. How even as he asked her to stay, she knew she would. If only it meant being with him for another few minutes.
Then Sakura blinked, chasing those thoughts from her mind. “What about you?” she asked.
Tobirama shrugged as he sipped his whiskey. “I’ll probably stay here with my brother. There will always be another Madara. Someone will always be challenging our territory. And it’s not as if I have anyone else.”
That made her frown. She stared at him as he drained the rest of his drink, barely blinking as the waiter returned to clear their dishes. “It never would have worked out between us, Tobirama.”
He turned his head to return her frown with one of his own. “That wasn’t what I was implying. But you’re right, it wouldn’t have. We’re not good for each other.”
He stood before Sakura could reply. She simply watched as he straightened the cuffs of his tailored suit before he turned to leave, only casting back over his shoulder, “I’ll make sure my men are ready to go by tomorrow.”
Then he was gone.
It was only after he had left that Sakura realized he had stuck her with the bill. But rather than become annoyed, she couldn’t help but laugh softly. He was exactly the same as when they had first met. And for some reason that relieved her.
That smile lingered on Sakura’s lips as she finished her martini. She ordered another and sipped it unhurriedly as her thoughts wandered. A nice moment alone.
But those never lasted long.
Sakura blinked herself out of her thoughts as someone slipped into the seat beside her where Tobirama had been some minutes ago. Her gaze unconsciously flickered to them – just a cursory glance – only to still when she recognized the man beside her.
Automatically her entire body went ridged. Her breath caught in her throat and the fingers grasping the stem of her martini tensed until she thought she might break the delicate glass.
“Madara.” She forced his name out as calmly as she could muster. Her tone a pretty flower encased in ice.
“Sakura,” he returned. Unlike her, he gave off no hostility. As if they were old friends having a drink together. “Such an elegant restaurant to be dining alone. Mind if I join you.”
It wasn’t a question or even a demand. It was more like a statement. That he was telling her he wanted to speak with her. And he would make her listen whether she wanted to or not.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and it took all of her self-control not to reach for the weapon stored in her clutch. Instead, she raked her eyes down his form, noting that he looked like he always did: calm and unperturbed. But Sakura knew that underneath all of that, he was just biding his time until he could get away with killing her.
Still, she couldn’t resist pressing him. She blamed it on her unhealthy addiction to adrenaline. “Nice suit. Your best ones at the dry cleaners?”
Madara look at her then. His face utterly blank before the corner of his mouth curled in humorless amusement. “I see your attitude has not improved much.”
Her eyes narrowed in response. “What do you want?”
“Nothing. Rather I have something for you that I believe you will find of interest.”
Sakura sincerely doubted that.
When she didn’t give any reaction, Madara took that as his cue to continue. He pulled an envelope out from the inside of his suit jacket and passed it across the counter towards her.
Distrustful, Sakura didn’t reach for it. She didn’t put it past the man to have some type of poison awaiting her inside. But Madara’s expression was a perfect mask. Cool indifference while he waited for her patiently. Biting back her sigh, she grabbed her napkin and carefully slid the contents out onto the counter.
Inside, there were half a dozen photos. They were of her and Itachi. That night they had eaten at that little diner together in Egypt after meeting with Temari. She flipped through them slowly, each one making her heart beat in her chest just a little harder. The photos themselves were in black and white but clear enough to see they were sharing a plate of nachos. Too intimate to feign simple or new acquaintances.
“I see there is more than one team you play for here. I wonder what Hashirama might think when he learns that you are associating with a CIA Agent,” Madara said. For once something colored his tone. Haughtiness, perhaps. When Sakura just stared back blankly, he added, “You appear rather close, do you not?”
Sakura didn’t immediately reply as she shuffled through the photos again, needing another moment to think. Another moment to decide her next move. They both knew she was caught. The question was would she admit it? Or would she not?
Obviously not.
“CIA?” Sakura repeated slowly. “Surely, you must be confused. Because that looks like the dinner I shared with Izuna.”
It was fortunate these photos were taken of Itachi from the back. And that the Uchiha genes were so strong. From behind, the distant cousins looked like twins. She just might be able to get away with this one.
Madara was already watching her when Sakura looked up. They both knew that unicorns were more likely to exist than there ever being a day that she and Izuna would share an intimate meal together, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t make Hashirama believe that.
She didn’t have to look into it to know that Izuna had been in Egypt the same time as her too. Hell, he had probably been the one to take the photos. Because as powerful and dangerous as these men were, they were also something else: predictable.
“Izuna can be such a sweetheart when he wants to be,” Sakura continued with a fake, sweet smile.
Madara’s expression remained carefully composed, even as she pushed his photos back towards him. “You cannot expect me to believe such a blatant lie.”
“You? No. Hashirama, yes,” she said. “Because even you know that he is further outside the loop than he should be given current circumstances.”
There was a small pinch to Madara’s expression that Sakura would have missed had she blinked. Then he repocketed the photos and it was gone.
“The CIA is not someone you can befriend,” he told her. A warning? Or perhaps a threat?
Sakura shrugged as she took another small sip from her drink. “Perhaps not. But then again, I haven’t sold their information to the Chinese.”
“But you do trade.”
“Only small time. And next to you, I’m not even a blip on their radar.”
“For now,” he agreed. “But I am not Hashirama. I am not so blind as to not see the shifts happening in the Underground.”
She couldn’t resist her smile. “And here I thought you were just another handsome face.”
Madara’s eyes tracked her as she grabbed her clutch and pulled a handful of bills from inside. Enough to cover her and Tobirama’s tab plus a generous tip. Then she stood with a parting smile. “Give Izuna my regards.”
She could feel Madara’s gaze burning a hole into her back as she walked away. She made her way towards the kitchen, pretending to go out the back. Only to slip into the bathroom the instant she rounded the corner.
Inside, she called Kakashi. She had him pick her up at the side door, half-suspicious, half-expecting Madara to have eyes on the front and back doors. Laying in wait for her.
Fifteen minutes later, Sakura was safely in the passenger seat of Kakashi’s car. Her own still lingering in the lot. She’d send Ino or someone later to collect it. When she was sure Madara was no longer interested in watching it.
“So, Madara knows that you’re working with the CIA,” Kakashi said when she filled him in on what had happened. “That isn’t good information for him to have.”
“No,” she agreed. “But I was able to cover for myself this time.”
“And what about the next?”
“We’ll just have to be more careful in the future,” she eventually said.
He didn’t say anything but the long sigh out his nose was enough to tell her that he wanted her to end her relationship with Itachi and the CIA. She knew Kakashi didn’t agree with her working with them. It was dangerous. Especially now that Madara knew. This was just another tally in Kakashi’s long list of reasons why she shouldn’t be operating with the agency. It could make everything she was working towards blow up in her face.
At the next intersection, Kakashi rolled to a stop as he waited for a red light. “Sakura, I don’t want to tell you what to do. You’ve proved time and time again that you’re smart and capable of handling your own, but what you have going with the CIA is risky. Way riskier than you should be taking with everything going on with Hashirama and Akatsuki and the Underground.”
“I know,” Sakura murmured. Because she knew he was right.
“Then break it off.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?” he asked.
Sakura’s inability to look him in the eye seemed to make the answer dawn on him. His eyes widened.
“Oh, my god. You’re sleeping with him.”
The light turned green then but Kakashi didn’t seem to notice as he shifted in his seat to look at her. Even without looking, she could feel his gaze burning a hole into the side of her head.
“Sakura, what the hell are you thinking? Tobirama was one thing, but a CIA agent? Are you out of your mind?”
“Don’t patronize me,” she snapped, finally drawing her gaze from out the window to glare back at him. “You gave up your military, your country, everything to stay with me. How am what I’m doing any different than what you did?”
“Because I didn’t have sex with you!”
His retort echoed inside the interior of the car before giving way to silence. She looked away again, suddenly feeling small beside him. Something cold and lonely settled deep within her chest and she wrapped her arms around herself. As if that could protect herself from his stare.
But as quickly as Kakashi’s anger came, it went. “Don’t tell me…” he said quietly, his voice so soft compared to only a minute ago. “You actually have feelings for him.”
She let out a small, exasperated sigh. “I’m not in love with him.”
“I think you are.”
This time when she met Kakashi’s gaze, there was only gentle sympathy reflecting in his mismatched eyes. He looked as hopeless as she felt.
Neither of them spoke again as a car horn sounded behind them. Kakashi returned his attention to the road and drove the rest of the way to her closest apartment. It was nothing special. Just a little place in the middle of town that was convenient.
It wasn’t until he pulled into the underground garage and she had unbuckled her seatbelt that he spoke again. “Listen, I’m not going to tell you what to do here,” he told her gently. “I’ve given you my opinion, but it’s up to you to decide if the risk is worth the cost. Just whatever you do, be careful. And call me if you need me. The CIA isn’t someone you can take advantage of. Believe me when I tell you that.”
Gratitude filled her, but she still couldn’t quite meet his gaze. She simply nodded before she slipped out of the car and made her way upstairs. It was only much later, after she had showered and was laying under the sheets, that she realized her bed had never felt so big before.
Also thought I’d try my hand at fantasy/myth…stuff…and then weather came into the anchorage and yes, I know I’m late (what else is new???)
The Man in Black
ItaSaku
Sakura saw him the first day at her new job. The hospital was always full of people of different looks and sizes. She never took a second glance at the young man in a black shirt and black jeans. Especially not when there was a code blue on her floor.
The next she had seen him had been a few days later. He had been dressed in a black suit. His sleek, dark hair tied back and falling down his shoulder. He said nothing. Only sat with one leg over the other and his hands clasped neatly in his lap. Like some businessman waiting for a meeting. Sakura paused when she recognized him but she had been unable to stop and speak with him as another code was called.
Months passed. And every so often Sakura would see that same man. He dressed differently each time, but always looking his best. A suit, a nice pair of pressed jeans, a silk dress shirt.
Sakura began looking for him everywhere. In the cafeteria, the doctors lounge, the parking lot. Only her mysterious visitor was never there. He always remained outside the patient rooms. Sitting quietly. As if he had nowhere else to be.
“We’ve checked our sutures, the patient’s stats are stable and there’s no sign of any distress,” Sakura told the class of to-be-surgeons. “We are free to close the patient up. Any questions?”
She looked up then, eyeing first the few young doctors in the operating room before gazing up at the audience in the observation deck. Most were interns, dressed in scrubs with notebooks and pens in hand. There were a few fellow surgeons as well, but it was none of them that gave Sakura notice.
For in the back was a man with dark hair and darker eyes dressed in all black.
Through the glass, their eyes met. And in that moment, the blood in Sakura’s veins froze. Her mouth moved before her mind did.
“Stop!” she told the surgical nurses, halting them in their tracks. “We missed something.”
They stared her with obvious surprise in their eyes but said nothing as they handed her tools back to her. No one spoke as Sakura returned to the patient, her hands exploring their open chest. There was nothing, nothing wrong. No bad sutures or missed clots. Everything was fine…
The same instant Sakura found the bleed, the screen monitoring the patient’s vitals sounded.
It took nearly an hour and a hell of a fight. The small bleed ruptured and the young woman on the table crashed twice. Each time, Sakura brought her back, calling for tools and more blood, fighting until her patient was finally stable once more.
When Sakura finally walked out of the OR, she was exhausted, weary but relieved. Nearly high off the adrenaline of such an intense surgery.
A long sigh passed her lips as she slipped onto the bench just outside the surgery floor’s changing rooms. She smiled her thanks as a few fellow surgeons congratulated her on her success, but she didn’t chat long. All she wanted was a warm shower and a bed. It had been a long day.
And that had been Sakura’s plan. Until she looked up just in time to see the last of the interns file out of the observation deck, leaving the room empty. All except one.
Exactly where she had seen him earlier was the same man. With little regard for anything else, Sakura did her best not to outright sprint across the floor, her eyes never leaving him lest he disappear like he always did.
He didn’t move. Only turned his head to watch as she nearly slammed the door shut behind her, locking them in together.
It was the first time they had been this close. The first time they had been alone. There was something a little off about him…something she couldn’t quite name. She studied him quietly, carefully. Like the scientist she was, taking everything in before acting, deciding.
He was a very handsome man. With high cheekbones and a straight nose. His eyelashes were long, nearly sweeping his cheeks with every blink. They framed those eyes the color of coal. The ones that had long ago been burned into her memory.
It unnerved her a little she couldn’t quite guess his age. He appeared young, the pressed shirt and dark jeans making him appear boyish. But his eyes, his soul felt old. Like he had witnessed the beginning of time, like he had been there before it.
“What are you?” Sakura asked, the question tumbling out of her mouth.
She half-expected him not to answer. Half-expected him to laugh, as if he was anything but human. Instead he inclined his head fractionally, as if he was seriously considering her question.
“That would depend upon your beliefs and perceptions,” he said, his voice rich and yet spilling out of his mouth smoothly like gentle water over stone. It filled Sakura’s chest, soothing the misgivings and unease building behind her breast bone.
“I believe in science,” she told him.
“Then I do not exist in your world.”
“But you do,” she said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
The stranger canted his head minutely, studying her as something shifted behind his gaze. Vague interest, perhaps. Sakura wasn’t sure if the look brought her comfort or took it from her.
“Who are you?” she asked, breaking the silence before it could settle too deeply in her bones.
He shrugged one shoulder gracefully, as if he had been asked that vary question many times over. “I have been given many names. Some are kinder than others, though I do prefer Itachi.”
“And what is your purpose here, Itachi?”
This time, a small smile settled over his features as he regarded her. “You ask many questions. May I first ask one of my own? You have not yet given your name, Doctor.”
She hesitated, not quite sure if she should tell him or not. But she supposed it wouldn’t be terribly hard for him to learn it if he truly wanted to know for malicious purposes. The internet was an incredibly resourceful tool.
“Sakura, Doctor Haruno Sakura.”
“Sakura,” he repeated slowly, as if memorizing the word. Then he blinked and that calm, easy expression was back upon his face. “As a scientist, you must have come to some of your own hypotheses of who or what I am.”
And she had. Initially, she had thought him a family member. Or perhaps that he worked in the hospital. Only the more she saw him, the more she came to realize he was only ever present right before a death. He never spoke. He hardly ever moved. Just sat outside the patient rooms. The ones coding or about to code, and disappeared as soon as time of death was called.
Sakura laughed quietly, as if trying to emphasize her own ridiculousness at the next words out of her mouth. “I would say you’re Death, but no such thing exists like that in the world.”
Itachi didn’t share her amusement. Only stared back. His fathomless, black eyes boring into hers.
Sakura’s smile fell slowly, a heavy feeling of unease settling down and down into her chest. Dug a hole so deep she thought she might not draw another breath. “You’re Death,” she stated.
He didn’t respond, but his gaze fell downcast. She didn’t understand the look until she recalled his words. Sudden guilt struck her, melting her fear like ice dunked in boiling water.
“Itachi,” she corrected softly.
He looked up again. This time, she couldn’t quite read his expression. It seemed to shimmer across his face like a photo that changed shape at different angles. It was oddly comforting. But also left her uneasy.
Why was he here?
Automatically her eyes dropped down to the operating room where a worker was quietly wiping up the blood from the floor. When she turned back to Itachi, he was still watching her. Waiting for her to speak.
“That woman was supposed to die, wasn’t she?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“And I stopped her,” she said quietly, trying to keep the rising dismay out of her voice. “So, what happens next? Are you going to take a life for a life?”
A small smile appeared in the corner of Itachi’s mouth. Not sinister or menacing. More an amused, little quirk of his lips. “Death is not so malicious. I am not here for revenge,” he told her. “Rather, death fluctuates. A man crossing the street increases his chance of dying but it does not mean death will take him for certain. There is no invisible clock above your head. I am simply here to escort those that may cross over.”
Sakura felt her breath draw a little easier at that but the heavy stone that had settled in her chest still hadn’t quite faded. Staring back down into the operating room, it didn’t take her long to recognize the feeling she had tried since med school to push aside. Sorrow.
“Then that means my patients…”
“Age, race, wealthy or poor. Death does not discriminate. As a surgeon, even you must accept that you cannot save everyone.”
It was a fact every doctor knew, but it didn’t make the pill any less bitter to swallow. When she glanced back at Itachi, he was still watching her, an understanding smile upon his face. It eased her own self-directed frustration and grief.
Then she blinked and the look was gone. Itachi straightened. “I must go. I am needed elsewhere.”
Sakura didn’t know what she was expecting. Perhaps for him to stand and walk out of the room or to at least melt into the shadows. He did neither. He was simply there and then he was not.
Blinking, Sakura took a step back before she peered about the room. There was no evidence he had ever been there. No sign or breeze or whisper. She half-wondered if she made the whole conversation up. Her own exhausted mind playing tricks on her.
xx
As it turned out, her mind was not playing tricks on her. Sakura continued to see Itachi. She didn’t entirely understand why. It began to unnerve her a little. So much so that she took to internet searches and even a couple of glimpses in the local library to find any information. To her disappointment, there was nothing. No forums or websites full of stories of people seeing Death.
Itachi had seemed pleasant enough, but even as the weeks turned to months, Sakura couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive every time she saw him. For he was still the man that escorted the dying to the dead.
On this particular day, it had been a busy shift for Sakura. So much so that for the first time in months she had forgotten about the man in black that always sat just outside the rooms of her dying patients. Her first two surgeries that morning had been a success. The next one had caused her a little trouble and by the time she had gotten out of it, her pager hadn’t stopped going off.
Sakura hadn’t even eaten lunch by the time dinner rolled around, but she didn’t notice her hunger. Not over her adrenaline as she pumped on a woman’s chest, doing everything in her power to keep the new mother’s blood circulating. In the background, her newborn cried, the sound almost drowned out by all the commotion in the room.
“What’re her stats at?” Sakura asked, stepping back to let another doctor continue compressions.
“Not good,” was the answer.
A deep frown settled on her mouth as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her wrist. She peered up at the monitor. Her pressure still wasn’t registering and they had yet to get a solid rhythm.
“Let’s push one more of Eppy,” Sakura ordered only too aware they were quickly running out of options. The dose of artificial adrenaline was their only chance left.
The room bustled with activity as the nurses and doctors jumped into motion. So much chaos in such a small space that she nearly missed the man dressed in black in the corner. Nearly.
No one else in the room seemed to notice him. All the attention on the unstable mother and the wellbeing of her newborn. A flash of cold went through Sakura the moment their eyes met. But it wasn’t fear for herself. Rather, for her patient.
In an instant, Sakura was moving again. She pushed the younger doctor’s hands out of the way to take over chest compressions once more. Whatever exhaustion she felt vanished as she worked with renewed vigor.
“Come on,” she chanted to herself and to the young mother below her. “Come on, come on. You can’t give up now.”
Sakura wasn’t sure how long she fought for. It felt like seconds had stretched into an eternity. And just when she thought there was nothing more she could do, she heard it. That familiar beep of a regular heart rhythm.
Sakura’s hands stopped, her eyes glued to the monitor, half-wondering she had imagined it, half-expecting it to stop when she saw she hadn’t. When it didn’t, she glanced at Itachi only to find he wasn’t looking at her. His eyes turned down as he tucked something into the pocket of his black suit.
Her confusion grew. She didn’t know what had happened. If he had intervened or if it had just not been the new mother’s time to go. However, Sakura wasn’t given the chance to wonder for too long. There was still a patient to attend to.
When Sakura finally left the room, it was late. The evening hours slunk into the halls as the night stole the lingering light on the horizon. For some reason she wasn’t entirely surprised to find Itachi standing at the window, watching the dark encompass the day. The dying sunlight threw his profile into harsh contrast and cast a long, creeping shadow behind him so dark she nearly couldn’t tell where it ended and he started.
Itachi didn’t greet her upon her approach and neither did she to him. Side-by-side, one living, one dead, they gazed through the window pane.
A long silence passed before Sakura spoke, “That woman was going to die. And then she didn’t.”
When Itachi didn’t answer, she glanced at him. There was no recognizable expression on his face but she got the impression that if he let her see, there would have been a frown upon his lips. When he did finally turn towards her, the feeling was gone.
“No, she did not,” he told her.
This time, it was Sakura’s turn to frown. And she let it show, not appreciating the vagueness of his reply. “She was down for a while. Medically speaking, she shouldn’t be alive. Nonetheless awake and talking. You did something. I know you did.”
“There is no reason to be so accusatory,” Itachi said. His expression remained unchanged as his gaze returned out the window once more. “Medical miracles have been known to take place before this instance.”
“I’m not so certain I believe in those anymore,” she told him, unable to keep the lingering suspicion out of her voice.
Beside her, Itachi shrugged, his hands deep in the pockets of his jacket. “Beliefs can change. After all, you did not believe in my existence until recently.”
“I’m still not sure that I do,” she told him, her tone giving away her skepticism. “It’s far more likely that I’m just going crazy.”
Itachi peered at her again, a faint smirk upon his lips. “You would know better than I. You are the doctor, after all.”
Sakura wasn’t quite sure she appreciated his teasing. Lest not when she was as exhausted as she was on this particular day but she let it go. “Why are you still here?”
Again, he shrugged. “I am always here. Even when you do not see me.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why?”
“Because I go where I am most needed. And I am needed here,” he told her, his attention falling back to the outside world.
Sakura followed his gaze, watching the last traces of light vanish under the all-encompassing black hands of the night. A dozen stars were already sprinkling above, quiet little sparkles of hope in an otherwise empty sky.
They stayed that way for some minutes. Neither speaking. Just silent company as they both harbored their own thoughts. And just when Sakura considered walking away. To find food or a bed or both, Itachi spoke. His voice calm and collected as it always was. But also haunting.
“I’m sorry, Sakura,” he murmured sincerely.
She looked back at him, not understanding. “For what?”
“For everything that happens next.”
There was a strange look on his face. One she couldn’t place, but that stone tumbled down her chest and settled deep, deep in her stomach. She turned towards him as cold washed over her. “What did you do?” she demanded.
He said nothing. Only stared right back.
The stone sunk deeper. And in the next moment, she turned on her heels the same instant Itachi was gone. Already sprinting back towards the young mother’s room as a code blue was called.
xx
Sakura wasn’t sure how much time passed after that incident. She did everything in her power to ignore the man that haunted her. Her reality. Her dreams. But the more she blocked him out, the more she seemed to think about him. He was always there.
Their last conversation rolled over and over in her mind. Like a horrible song that wouldn’t get out of her head. She was angry. Indescribably so. She lost count of her sleepless nights and the number of meals that tasted of ash on her tongue as that frustration continued to burn inside her. So much so that some of her closest friends began to ask if she was alright. Still, she made a point to ignore the man in black. Refused to acknowledge his presence with even so much as a glance in his direction.
She didn’t understand why Itachi had done what he did. Why he would bother saving the woman just to let her die less than an hour later. He was a monster. He was Death. And she should have known better than to think of him as anything other than such.
But Sakura was a curious person by nature. And as the weeks turned to months, she had more questions than hate, and the burning rage slipped away to something quiet, softer. Death was death. And in the end, there was no saving anyone from it.
Tonight was a quiet night. Uncommon but welcomed in Sakura’s line of work. She took the brief moment of downtime to sit in one of the plastic chairs provided by the hospital. A moment to relieve the ache on the bottoms of her feet.
She was not surprised in the slightest when she felt another join her some minutes later. Itachi didn’t immediately speak. Just let the normal hum of the hospital fill the silent between them.
“Are you going in there?” he asked eventually.
Sakura stared ahead to the patient room across the way. Inside was an elderly woman. The monitor showed her stats as stable but Sakura was becoming very familiar with what Itachi’s presence meant. It was the very reason she had sat outside this particular room.
“No,” she said quietly. It was early morning. Only one or two nurses on the floor, but she didn’t dare break the easy silence that had settled over the halls. “Her family has requested no extraordinary measures be taken. They’re ready to let her go.”
Sakura felt Itachi’s gaze linger on her, but he didn’t speak. They simply sat side-by-side as they tracked the heart monitor. Waited for that moment when the woman would no longer be in Sakura’s care as she turned to Itachi’s.
After a few moments, Sakura glanced at the man beside her. He was dressed nicely but comfortably in a dark grey sweater, his hair tied neatly with his bangs framing those dark, dark eyes. However, it wasn’t his style of dress that interested her. She stared at him, really studying him as she took in his youthful features. He appeared her age, but his poise and manner of speech gave her the impression he was old. Much, much older than her.
“That woman was going to die. And then she didn’t,” Sakura said quietly, repeating the very same words she had said to him those weeks ago. Because even though she was still mad about the incident, she wanted answers. “You stopped her from dying.”
Itachi didn’t look at her but she could just as easily see the frown upon his face. “I cannot stop death. I can only slow its demise,” he corrected, his voice just as soft as hers.
“She died less than an hour after her heart restarted,” Sakura stated. Trying to get the facts out in the air. Trying to understand what they all meant. “Why would you do that if only for such a short time?”
He didn’t answer but his expression was full of purpose. As if he was waiting for her to draw her own conclusion.
She still didn’t understand. She had run it over and over again. What reasons he could possibly have. Of all the times Sakura had seen Itachi, he had never once interfered as he had for that woman. So, what had made him do it for the new mother?
Oh.
“You wanted to give her time with her baby,” Sakura concluded.
Again, Itachi remained silent but he looked away. Either unable or unwilling to show his thoughts to her. She didn’t have to ask to know she was right. Tears nearly sprung to Sakura’s eyes as unexpected emotion welled in her chest.
Spending so much time around death and sorrow, she had thought Itachi to be cruel and unjust. Now, sitting beside him with his soothing company and gentle eyes, she realized she’d had the wrong idea all this time. Death was not a monster but rather a blessing. A kind spirit who helped those who had died find their way to their final resting place.
Guilt washed over her but she didn’t voice her apology. Itachi was already looking at her with forgiveness in his eyes. As if he had already forgiven her long ago.
They sat in comfortable silence after that. Waiting, watching as the time passed by.
Eventually Sakura spoke again, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Just one?”
She couldn’t help but smile sheepishly. “Perhaps more than one.”
Itachi side-glanced at her but there was a small quirk in the corner of his mouth. He nodded his permission.
“You’re not the only one of your kind, are you?” Sakura asked. “I mean, I don’t fully understand the afterlife, or whatever, or your purpose, but it isn’t possible for you to lead everyone who has died to the other side all on your own. Right?”
When Itachi didn’t immediately answer, Sakura peered at him only to find he was watching her with a small smile. Like he was enjoying watching her work through her theory aloud. The expression nearly made her look away in embarrassment.
“No,” he said before she could. “There are many of us. Reaper is the name most of us have taken but we are referred to differently elsewhere in the world. I am not sure where the title originated. That is just what we were called long before I became one.”
“Became one?” Sakura repeated, her brow furrowing. “You weren’t…I don’t know, born one?”
Itachi laughed but shook his head. “None of us are born one. You become one. You are chosen after you die.”
“Then you were a person once,” she said, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.
“I was.”
Sakura peered into the patient room again. Stared at each track of the woman’s heart rhythm as she considered her next words. “Can I ask…?” she hesitated after a moment.
“How I died?” When she nodded, he leaned back in his chair, unbothered by the hard plastic beneath him. “It was many years ago. So long I cannot even remember how much time has passed since. I died protecting my brother. He was young and reckless. Acting without considering the consequences for his actions.
“Where I grew up, we had a lake just outside of town. The children used to play near it, swimming in the summer and sledding in the winter. It was a beautiful place and I have many fond memories there,” Itachi told her, a faint smile playing on his lips.
“So, what happened?” she pressed softly.
Like a cloud over the sun, his expression shifted, taking the light out of his eyes and darkening his features. “Winter came late that year. And the ice had not fully set in,” he told her quietly. “Sasuke went sledding that morning at the top of the hill. He landed on the lake and cracked the ice. I was able to push him out of the way before it broke completely.”
Sakura just stared at Itachi, observing all the faint emotions passing behind his eyes. She didn’t know if he had drowned or frozen to death, and she didn’t ask. Because even if his death had occurred life times ago, there was no mistaking the wistfulness in his gaze. She wondered who else he may have left behind. His mother and father. Best friends. Perhaps even a lover.
“I’m sorry,” Sakura murmured. Truly and honestly.
Itachi blinked the memories away before he turned to gaze at her. He smiled faintly, if only to lessen her sympathy. “It is nothing to be sorry for. I am relieved I was able to save him and he lived many years before passing on. I am happy now to help those who cross over.”
Still, Sakura couldn’t shake the hollowness that had settled deep in her gut. She didn’t speak for some minutes, even when a nurse walked by. The young woman nodded in greeting, her eyes never drifting to the man in the next chair over.
Sakura waited until the other woman was out of ear range before asking the one question she did and didn’t want to know: “Why is it that I can see you?”
Beside her, Itachi exhaled slowly. “That I cannot say. There is a fine line between life and death. One many walk every day.”
A frown settled upon her features at his answer. Sakura wanted to ask him more but she wasn’t given the opportunity as an alarm abruptly sounded in the patient room across the way. Both she and Itachi looked up at the same time.
Sakura knew that was her cue to go, but she didn’t immediately move to stand as she chanced a look over at Itachi. Only he was no longer there. The plastic, blue chair empty.
Without even having to check, Sakura knew the elderly woman was already gone. And for the first time, it wasn’t sadness that lingered deep in her chest. But rather warmth. Knowing that Itachi was there to help the woman cross over to whatever adventure awaited them next.
xx
The days began to blend together. The summer heat fading into the cooler autumn before the frost of winter began settling in during the early morning hours. Life continued as it normally did. Sakura went to work, performed whatever operations she was needed in before saying hello to Itachi as she checked on her ongoing cases.
Their conversations never lasted long, but she was becoming familiar with his manner of speech and his quiet, subtle humor. She found he was actually quite funny, his humor dry but sharp and quick-witted. It made her long shifts bearable and even rather enjoyable. Something she thought she would never think, knowing somewhere in the hospital someone was drawing their last breath.
But in her line of work, it was the little things that helped her push through during the worst of her worst days. Days like today.
Sakura exhaled through her mouth slowly, trying to keep her emotions on the inside of her body. She glanced down at the labs in her hands again, confirming for a fourth time what the results were telling her.
“Are you okay?”
Sakura recognized Tsunade, her former mentor and colleague’s voice. “I’m fine. My patient is not,” she told her, passing the chart over.
Without a word, Tsunade accepted it. Only the sound of paper flipping back and forth to fill the silence. Eventually the older woman passed the labs back. “This is your heart kid?”
“Yeah,” Sakura murmured.
Four years old and born with a heart that didn’t want to work properly. Sakura had been on the boy’s case the minute he was born. She had performed every operation, supervised every procedure and ordered every test she could think of to keep this boy alive. She had pushed his body to the limit. And now it was no longer responding to any treatment or drugs she ordered.
Swallowing back the knot at the base of her throat, Sakura looked over the nurses’ station towards the patient in question. The little boy – far too little to ever be in a bed in this building – was fading in and out of consciousness. One of the Cardiac nurses was in the corner of the room, helping keep him and his exhausted father comfortable.
“He won’t survive the morning,” Tsunade said gently. Understanding and sympathy warming her usually cool, professional tone.
Sakura nodded, unable to look at her. Knowing if she did, those emotions she was trampling down so hard would claw their way to the surface. “I know.”
Tsunade said nothing else. Just rested a comforting hand on her shoulder before she left.
Sakura sat for a minute longer before she made her way towards the hospital room. The hall was quiet, empty. But when she reached the sliding glass door, her gaze caught a lone figure sitting in a chair behind her. She hesitated, her eyes briefly meeting Itachi’s in the glass’s reflection. The lump behind her breast bone grew bigger, heavier.
He said nothing. And neither did she. Merely slid the door open and entered.
About thirty minutes before sunrise, Sakura called time of death, leaving the father in the nurse’s care when she could no longer be of any further comfort to him. In the early hours before the hospital halls came to life, Sakura went in search on an on-call room. A place to catch up on the sleep she had lost that night.
What she found instead was an empty staircase. She lowered herself onto a middle stair and exhaled a breath from her soul. Emotion welled in her chest. It crept up slowly, like a weed rising from the ground. Growing, spreading, blooming until even her heart struggled to beat correctly. Tears slipped down her cheeks as she buried her face in her hands. A soft sob spilling from her lips as grief made itself at home in her chest.
“Sakura.”
She had felt Itachi kneel in front of her before he spoke, his comforting presence becoming familiar. But she didn’t acknowledge him. She didn’t know if looking him in the eye would make her feel better or worse. And she certainly couldn’t handle worse at that moment.
He called her name again, his voice settling over her and mixing in with the hurt. Two conflicting emotions tangling together and warring within her chest. She didn’t know how to speak, how to voice everything she wanted to say and couldn’t. In the end, she simply shook her head. Wishing he would just leave.
Hoping he would stay.
And he did. He didn’t speak. Simply straightened a hair that had fallen out of place before his fingers wrapped around her wrists. With a gentle tug, he pulled her hands away from her face, leaving her utterly and completely exposed to his viewing. She didn’t know what she was expecting. Certainly not the warm smile on his lips or the softness in his gaze.
“You are a kind soul,” Itachi told her. “You fought so hard. You did everything right.”
His words brought more tears to her eyes. She tried to look away but Itachi wouldn’t let her. She shook her head, letting slip a few more. “But it still wasn’t enough.”
“Do not take the blame for this,” Itachi murmured, his voice gentle with understanding. “It was his choice. He was ready.”
“He was four,” Sakura countered sharply.
Itachi didn’t take any offense to her harsh tone. He merely exhaled through his nose before he smiled again, one hand reaching up to wipe the dampness off her face. “He was an amazing boy. And full of so much more life and energy than his body could handle. But he was tired and he was ready to let go. He will miss his father, but I promise you this will not be the last they see of one other.”
Sakura wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Itachi had always been vague with what laid beyond but she trusted him enough with this. The hurt in her chest throbbed again. No longer an ache that stole her breath away, but to something duller. Something manageable.
Sakura didn’t speak but she let her head rest in his palm. He eased her pain so flawlessly it nearly escaped her that it was the first time they had touched. For some reason, she had believed that he wasn’t allowed to. Or perhaps he simply couldn’t. Two souls side by side, yet an entire world apart. It surprised her to find that his hands were just like any other man’s. Soft and warm, yet strong and capable.
Sakura wasn’t sure how long she sat there, with her face in his hands, taking comfort in his touch. She didn’t remember moving from that spot. Didn’t recall climbing those last few stairs to reach the on-call room where she woke some hours later. She nearly wondering if she had dreamt of Itachi in that stairwell.
But she could just as well feel his soothing aura, curled and wrapped around her like a blanket as if he were there with her. That same emotion swelled in her chest again. Unhindered and free to take hold without her grief overshadowing it. She recognized the feeling but didn’t dare linger on the implications.
Because Sakura was a doctor. And Itachi was Death. And they could not both survive in the same world.
xx
That realization didn’t stop Sakura from continuing to think about him. Her dreams remained filled with thoughts of Itachi. But where unease and distrust lingered, warmth and happiness filled the void. She took to spending nights at the hospital.
Sitting in the quiet places where she could speak with Itachi privately without the eyes of the other staff. He always came. Sometimes their visits were cut short, but he always found her wherever she may be in.
Sakura sat alone at a table in the cafeteria. This late at night the kitchen was closed, the oven cold and the food stored away. Only the coffee machine in the corner still worked, but it was cheap and made the drinks a little too watery. She was certain no one would wander this way.
Outside, snow drifted down. Little flecks of white filling in the darkness, casting the world into a hush as if all were in awe of its beautiful. Sakura made herself comfortable, sipping from one of the two steaming mugs of hot chocolate as she watched it fall.
“It’s a beautiful night,” Sakura murmured.
She sipped from her mug before she turned her head towards Itachi. He looked so terribly handsome in his black sweater with the snow falling behind him, his dark hair tied neatly with his bangs framing his eyes just so. Her body warmed with heat that had nothing to do with her drink.
“It is,” he said, his eyes meeting hers unwaveringly. Then they fell to the mug laid out for him. “What is this?”
“It’s hot chocolate,” she said before she frowned as a sudden thought occurred to her. “Although, I wasn’t sure how exactly that worked with your…status and all.”
“My status?” Itachi repeated, his tone pitching slightly with amusement. “I can confidently say I have never heard it referred to as such.”
She flushed but smiled again when Itachi raised the deep blue mug to his lips and drank, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I feel no hunger nor thirst,” he told her quietly as he studied to contents of the cup. “But I recall I did used to have a sweet tooth. It drove my mother mad when I filled up on sticky bread before dinner. This is delicious. Thank you.”
Sakura drank from her own mug again, if only to distract from the way his words warmed her down to her very core. When she peeked back up, she found Itachi was still watching her, that easy smile on his mouth.
“And what about you?” he asked. “You have never told me.”
“If I have a sweet tooth? I’m pretty sure my body is fifty percent sugar at this point. The rest is caffeine,” she teased.
However, Itachi shook his head. “No, about your mother. You have never spoken of her.”
The smile faded from her lips as her gaze fell to her mug. “I don’t remember much of her. She left home when I was six. My father raised me, but our relationship was never that strong. I see him during the holidays but we don’t keep that close in contact.”
She looked up when Itachi reached across the table to lay his hand over hers. His touch still made her skin tingle, sending little sparks of pleasure shooting up her arm. “I am sorry about your mother,” he said.
Sakura shrugged it off. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago.”
“Even time cannot heal all wounds.”
She wondered if he was thinking about his own mother. Or perhaps even his father or brother, but she didn’t ask. Instead, she turned her hand over, tangling her fingers together with his. Sakura wasn’t entirely sure who moved first. All she knew was in one moment Itachi was sitting beside her and in the next he was kissing her. His hands cupping the curve of her jaw as his mouth moved softly against hers.
It was short but sweet, leaving Sakura a little dazed when he pulled back. She blinked against her swimming head, their eyes meeting as their breath mingled.
“This is never going to work,” she whispered.
Itachi’s eyes never wavered from hers. “I know.”
She didn’t know what any of this meant. She opened her mouth, already her overactive mind beginning to move, but Itachi didn’t let her get too far. He kissed her again, pulling her closer than before. His kiss reaching down into her soul and trying to pull it into his own body.
He filled her with a warmth she had never known before. It left her breathless, frazzled. She wanted him more than anyone she could ever remember and she took everything she could, her fingers digging into his sweatshirt. Feeling his solid warmth beneath her palms. Wondering how she could have ever thought him to be Death. Cold and indifferent.
They passed the next hour wrapped around each other, whispering words for their ears only, between stolen kisses and lingering touched. Even after their hot chocolate had gone cold and the ground had turned completely white. Ignoring the complications and impossibilities of what they were doing.
It was Sakura’s pager that broke the serenity that had settled over the cafeteria. She pulled out of Itachi’s grasp just far enough to grab the device before she read the message with a quiet sigh. “I have to go, but I’ll see you soon.”
Sakura pressed a brief kiss to Itachi’s mouth again before she stood and was gone.
And in such a hurry she was, she missed the deep sorrow that settled across his face. “Yes, you will.”
xx
Sakura woke early that morning, long before her alarm roused her, excitement filling her with more energy than even the strongest coffee. The sun was still below the horizon by the time she arrived at the hospital. But she wasn’t the only one there and ready.
Interns and residents swarmed her before she reached the Attendings’ Lounge. She smiled at their enthusiasm and answered questions as she weaved around the young doctors in-training. It was after all an exciting day.
“Are you ready?” Itachi asked, appearing the moment her scrub shirt was over her head.
She smiled, expecting his arrival. He greeted her every morning since that night in the cafeteria less than a week ago, and always with that smile. The one that made her stomach flop and her heart beat just a little harder. Only this morning, she was already bouncing with energy.
“I’m always ready,” she told him.
“Then how are you feeling?”
Sakura pulled a hair tie out of her bag before she piled her hair into a secure bun. “Nervous, but excited,” she told him honestly. Because even if there was a reason to lie to him, she was comfortable enough to tell him the truth. “But I’ve been doing my research and double checking all the labs. I can pull off this heart transplant surgery.”
The small smile in the corner of Itachi’s mouth stretched wider. He said nothing as he stepped towards her, looking so terribly handsome in his jeans and black button up shirt. He stopped in front of her, his eyes dropping down to smooth out the collar of her shirt before his hands ran up her arms and her shoulders.
“I believe you will,” he told her, his voice reflecting back her own confidence.
Goosebumps rose across her flesh where he touched her. But it was those words that made her body hum. Because Itachi was Death and he had an understanding about the world she did not.
Sakura’s smile stretched wider. “I have to get ready for the surgery, but I’ll see you afterwards, yeah?”
Itachi nodded his answer. There was an unusual look in his eyes that she didn’t recognize, but she didn’t have time to ask. There were people she needed to talk to and labs she had to check once more. She would have to ask him about it at a later date.
The rest of the day was madness for Sakura. Enough so that she had already forgotten about Itachi and his weird vibe by noon. Both the observation deck and the OR was full. Both trainees looking for experience and doctors with curious minds filled the room, taking note of Sakura’s technique and knowledge. The surgery itself took a little over four hours, her steady hands ensuring every suture and every stitch was perfect.
With bated breath, she stood still over her open patient. Watching, waiting for that still heart to begin beating on its own. The rest of the OR waited with her. Not a breath taken. Not a movement made.
Then it happened. A pulse. And then another and another.
“We have a steady rhythm,” the surgical nurse at the monitor said.
Applause erupted throughout the room and the observation deck. Sakura exhaled the breath she had been holding with a quiet laugh. Behind her mask, her mouth stretched into a wide smile as she accepted her thanks from the other surgeons around her. Some with a few decades more experience than herself.
It was the lightest she had felt in days, the stress from the surgery weighing her down. A constant pull on her mind. It made her want to celebrate. To go find her friends and share every detail she had just experienced.
It made her want to talk to Itachi.
Automatically, Sakura lifted her eyes to the viewing gallery. The entire room was filled with excited faces. Every last person dressed in white, doctors’ coats. All except two. Both in black. The one on the left she didn’t recognize. From his long, dark hair and broad shoulders.
The other was Itachi, dressed in his finest suit. But it wasn’t his dress or even his presence that caught her notice. It was his face. The sadness expression she had ever seen tearing her soul wide open. He met her gaze for a brief moment before he bowed his head.
And that was the last thing Sakura saw before excruciating pain erupted deep in her head and the world went dark.
When she opened her eyes again, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. It was bright, too bright. Blinking hard, she waited for her eyes to adjust before she gazed around. To her surprise, she found she was in the same place. In the middle of the OR. Only she was alone. All the doctors and interns were gone. Even her patient had vanished. And in his place, Sakura had taken up occupancy on the surgical bed.
Confused, she looked down at herself only to find the blood stains on her scrubs from surgery were gone, leaving them clean and utterly spotless. With a quick examine, she found no wounds or stitches on her own body. She seemed perfectly fine.
“Sakura.”
Snapping her head towards Itachi’s voice, she found him standing on the other side of her bed. He looked no different than he normally did, his suit pressed and fitting his form so perfectly. But he felt different. A little more real, a little more like their souls were no longer worlds apart.
Sakura didn’t reach for him, her confusion twisting into something more akin to fear. She moved slowly, her eyes never leaving him, as she slid to her feet. The bed the only barrier between them.
A million questions rolled around in her head but her tongue remained still. Because she could still read that expression on his face. Feel his sorrow and grief from here.
“I’m so sorry,” Itachi murmured. Regretfully. Truthfully.
Something began to build in her chest. It took her a moment to realize it was panic. She took a step away from him. “What happened?”
“You had an aneurysm rupture in your brain,” he told her.
“An aneurysm,” she repeated. Both not understanding and understanding.
Because the dots were not hard to connect. His sorrow, her pain. This place and his presence.
A shaky breath escaped her as she took another step back. Itachi looked as if he wanted to reach for her, but he refrained much to her relief. Her chest tightened again as reality began to settle in.
“No,” she shook her head, trying to deny what he was telling her. “I didn’t die.”
“You were rushed into surgery after you collapsed but the doctors were unable to repair the damage to your vessels. You died from massive intercranial hemorrhaging,” he told her. His voice gentle but steady and his gaze unwavering.
She shook her head again. “My patient…”
“He survived.”
“But I didn’t.”
When Itachi shook his head, that mournful look in his eye, Sakura took another step back, tears springing to her eyes. She tried to release a shaky breath. What came out instead was a choked sob. Because she knew he wasn’t trying to be insensitive. He was simply acquainted with her well enough to know that she would want all the facts. Even if it ripped her heart out.
“You said death fluctuates,” she murmured through her tears as realization began to dawn on her. “I could see you because I had aneurysm. I was always on the verge of death. One strain, one stress away from it bursting.”
Itachi nodded woefully. “Yes.”
“You knew this was going to happen.”
Regret passed behind his eyes but he nodded again. “Yes.”
Sakura wanted to feel betrayed. Wanted to hurl angry insults and biting words so that perhaps he would feel just as hollow and empty as she currently did. But there was no use. There was no changing what had happened. There was nothing anyone could say or do. A situation she had seen many lovers and parents and family go through in her job.
She had never felt so helpless.
Feeling her knees begin to shake, Sakura lowered herself into one of the clean, metal chairs kept in the OR. They were hard and cold, only this time it wasn’t. It supported her weight comfortably. She dropped her head into her hands, trying to hide how much she was truly shaking.
Some minutes passed with just the faint echo of her own breathing as she tried to accept what had just come to pass. How she was supposed to possibly move on.
“I am so truly sorry, Sakura,” Itachi murmured.
She looked up when she felt him straighten a strand of her hair. He had knelt before her, looking so incredibly guilty and so incredibly remorseful. Against her desire, her heart went out to him.
“Things were not supposed to happen this way,” he continued softly. He was unable to meet her gaze but he couldn’t seem to pull away from her either. “We were not supposed to know each other as we do and I…and I was never supposed to fall in love with you.”
In all her life, Sakura swore she had ever been this full of emotion. Her heart was breaking and sealing back together all at once. She was torn. She wanted to push Itachi away. She wanted to pull him close, remembering all those nights they had shared. Talking into the dark, sharing hot chocolate and their deepest thoughts.
It would be a lie for her not to say she hadn’t considered this outcome. She knew things could not remain the way they had been. He was Death. And she had life. One had to give. And death only took.
Reaching out, Sakura ran her fingers through Itachi’s hair so featherlight, she barely felt its softness on her fingertips. He looked up as she pushed his bangs away from his face before she traced the ridge of his cheekbone.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“That remains to be seen,” another said.
Sakura followed the voice to find a man standing off to the side of the room. It was the same man she had seen in the observation deck. This close, she could make out more of his features, finding that his hair wasn’t black as she had first thought, but rather a dark brown. Just like Itachi, he gave off a certain wisdom. Only older, much older than the man kneeling before her.
Itachi didn’t move from his spot as the other man approached, his face still resting in her hand.
“You’re a Reaper,” Sakura said, not entirely sure if she was asking or stating.
He nodded. “I am Hashirama, the Elder Reaper. And I am here now to tell you that you have completed your job. You are released. You may continue to onto the afterlife.”
Her brow furrowed, not entirely sure what he was saying. Only to realize it was not her he was speaking to. But rather Itachi.
She looked down at him where he still had his face pressed into her hand. If he had heard Hashirama speak, he showed no indication. Sakura opened her mouth and tried to pull her hand away, but his own hand tightened around hers and kept it from moving away.
“If Sakura so chooses, I wish to spend it with her.”
Sakura’s confusion grew. She glanced at Hashirama before turning back to Itachi, both looking so out of place in this too-clean OR with Hashirama’s crisp sweater and Itachi’s fitted suit. She had so many questions and so few answers. Perhaps this was her afterlife. She had never given much thought to what her own would be like. Having spent so many hours in the hospital, she hadn’t had much time to give it much imagination. Maybe that was why she found herself here.
But if she could change it, there was no telling where she would like to end up. It’s not like there were any friends or family waiting for her. She was the first to go.
Emotion built in her chest again but before it could erupt, she realized Itachi was waiting for an answer. His black eyes peering up at her, so full of hope. Again, she thought of those late nights, just him in the dark as they talked about everything and nothing.
Or maybe there was a telling of where she would.
Smiling through her drying tears, Sakura pressed her palm against Itachi’s cheek again. “If I have a choice, I choose more late nights and dark on-call rooms. With hot chocolate on snowy nights.”
“I can give you that,” he murmured before his mouth met hers. Kissing her so sweetly it was as if it was their first again.
This time when she opened her eyes, they were no longer in the OR. But rather standing side by side on a hill overlooking a small village with a lake below. A boy some years younger than them was running towards them, his hair and eyes the same colors as Itachi.
He smiled wide, waving one hand over his head. “Itachi! Itachi! You’re finally home.”
There was a faint look of astonishment on Itachi’s face when Sakura glanced at him. Then he smiled. Warmth and happiness filling his expression and making him no longer appear years beyond his age.
“Sasuke,” Itachi breathed.
Then he looked at her, all the love and devotion clear in his eyes as he grabbed her hand and led her down the hill. “Come, my brother is waiting for us.”
One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven // Twenty-Eight // Twenty-Nine // Thirty (here)
Chapter Thirty
A Shot in the Dark
"You do have an actual plan, correct? To bring down Akatsuki?"
Sakura just smiled upon Hashirama's question. This wasn't the first time he had asked her this over the course of her short visit, but rather than bring her unease or the need to sooth his concerns, she found herself amused.
"No," she answered honestly. Then she added quickly before his frown could fully form, "And that's why it's going to work. Because if I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to take out Madara and his operation, then he won't know either."
Hashirama sat across from her behind a large, oak desk in the middle of his expensively furnished study. He looked like someone of importance, someone of nobility behind it. It made her wonder if he had chosen it simply for that purpose.
"I do not approve of that idea," he told her sternly.
Sakura shrugged as she pretended to brush lint off the leather arm of her wide, plush chair. "I have your money. And Tobirama's men and my guns. There is little else I need to win this war."
"I do not like your confidence either," he frowned, his tone just short of chiding. Then he sat forward in his chair as if he had just decided something important. "I will help you strategize. Together, we can make a plan. One that I am sure will end with Madara dead and Akatsuki dismantled–"
"No," Sakura interrupted with a quiet but firm tone. "I have enough moving parts already. One more cog in the machine will complicate things. Make it easier for a part to stall. And this late in the game, I can't have any failures."
Hashirama eyed her. He stared at her so long she thought he might argue more. But then he leaned back again, the faintest glint of amusement flickering in his eyes. "You still talk like you are speaking Arabic."
"It's a pretty language. It's a shame you never learned it."
"Perhaps one day."
Sakura sincerely doubted that but she smiled pleasantly nonetheless. "Perhaps."
Then she stood, smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles from her black, leather jacket. "Don't be too upset with me for my vagueness. I need you out of the line of fire. Once Akatsuki is taken out, someone will need to be there to swoop in to take their place before someone else can."
"Not you?"
His hard gaze didn't waver from hers but she smiled softly. "This is what I promised you, Hashirama. To take down Akatsuki so you can take their place in the New York Underworld."
His reply was a pleased smirk. A little dark, a little twisted. Knowing that he was satisfied with her words, she picked up the glass of brandy he had poured her at the beginning of their meeting and tossed it back all in one go. She didn't flinch at the burn. Simply smiled her farewell before she made her way out of the room.
One of Hashirama's staff was there to open the front door for her as she made her exit. They waited until she was down the marble staircase that led to the large, circle driveway before silently shutting it once more.
Only once Sakura was through the tall, iron gates and off the property did she finally feel Hashirama's gaze leave her. Her thoughts churned slowly as her conversation with Hashirama played over in her head. She hadn't been completely honest when she told him she didn't have a plan. She had one forming, but she'd need more information before she could organize the details and set it into motion. Something she hoped Ino could help her with.
They met at a little but busy café in Upper Manhattan. Ino was already there when Sakura arrived, sitting in the corner with a large coffee in a white, porcelain cup. The blonde drank it daintily, making sure not to spill it on her white blouse. In this setting, she looked like an accomplished businesswoman rather than a woman who knew something about everyone in the Underground.
"Any news?" Sakura asked, sliding into the seat across the small table.
"Nothing on the port you took over," she sighed disappointed. "All I know is Akatsuki is about to bring a huge shipment over, one big enough to rival Hashirama's supplies, but I don't know when. I keep listening for more information, but everyone who knows something either hasn't been given a date yet or they're keeping it all hush-hush."
"That's not surprising," Sakura said, sounding less disappointed than she was. "Madara knows that I'm speaking with the CIA. He'd want to keep that information under wraps."
Ino's eyes widened. "He does? Are you safe?"
"Never, but it's fine. Have you heard anything else?"
The blonde looked like she wanted to ask more but she reluctantly let it go. "Yeah, actually. I heard rumor that there are some Akatsuki members are in the city."
That caught Sakura's attention. "Who?"
"I don't know all their names, but for sure Deidara, as well as the arms dealer. The really big one."
Kisame, Sakura thought. It was news to her that he was back in New York, Itachi hadn't said anything to her, but she didn't say anything to Ino. It was best for everyone involved if as few people knew about Kisame's true loyalties as possible.
"Anyone else?"
Ino shook her head. "That's all I've heard. I'm meeting with another contact tomorrow night. I'll have more information later."
Sakura nodded slowly. "Let me know what you."
They lapsed into silence after that. Sakura lost in her thoughts and Ino quiet as she sipped her coffee. Some minutes passed before Sakura realized the blonde was watching her.
"What?" she asked.
Ino's gaze didn't waver from hers, unchagrined at being caught staring. "What's going on?"
Sakura shook her head, not understanding. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you're different. Something happened. Something's changed."
"Nothing happened," Sakura said. Then she let out the longest sigh someone had ever breathed. "But you're right: something has changed." When eyed her curiously, Sakura told her, "We're no longer just small time. We've moved up into the big leagues. There're greater rewards. Greater risks. So, I need to ask you something."
Ino's brow furrowed in confusion. "Ok?"
"Do you still want to stay?"
The blonde didn't immediately answer, as if a little lost for words. "You're asking if I want to leave you?"
"I'm asking if you're willing to lose everything. Your freedom. Your life."
Sakura felt her heart drop into her stomach when Ino's gaze fell to her coffee. When she raised them again, there was understanding and something strong reflecting in her blue eyes. "You're my best friend, Sakura. I know Shikamaru tried to shake you, that he blames you for dragging me back into the Underground, but it was only a matter of time before I came back myself. What I'm trying to say is…" she said with a small, unwavering smile, "wherever happens, happens. I'm not going anywhere."
Those words clung to Sakura even after she left the café. They filled her with a warmth she couldn't remember having for a long time. Knowing that her longest friend had her back and always would. She worried for Ino's safety, of course, but Ino was smart. Sakura knew she would keep herself safe. And if she did need help, Sakura would be right there. No matter Shikamaru's opinion of her.
However, her conversation with Ino had left her curious. Back in her condo, Sakura pulled her phone from her pocket. She spun the device slowly between her fingers as she considered her next move. Then she unlocked the screen and dialed out. Itachi answered on the first ring.
"I was just about to call you," he said.
"Hopefully to tell me that Kisame is back in New York."
His surprise was evident in his voice. "Yes, actually. How did you know?"
"I have every eye on Akatsuki. I know," she said, examining her nails.
"Well he has information for us," he told her, unperturbed by her lack of answer. "We need to meet. Tonight."
"It'll have to be somewhere discrete. Somewhere off the grid."
"Why?"
Sakura didn't immediately answer as her attention turned away from inspecting her nail polish to the view outside. Below, people hustled by in spring jackets, the morning drizzle likely to give way to afternoon sun.
"Madara knows about us," she eventually told him.
Itachi was quiet on the other end of the line for a long minute. Then he murmured, "How much danger are you in?"
Not exactly the response she was expecting but it made her smile nonetheless. Just a small upward turn of her lips. "None more than usual."
Sakura waited as he fell silent again. She could almost hear his thoughts through the line as he decided what he wanted to do. "Do you remember the place we first met? Officially."
Sakura's brow furrow as she thought back to all those months ago. Her first thought was Israel, but back then he had been undercover in another agency's uniform. Then she recalled that night at the club. How he had been alone in that upstairs balcony. She had bought them both shots if she recalled correctly and he had introduced himself in that utterly sexy, black button-down shirt.
"I remember," she said.
"Meet me there at midnight."
"Midnight it is. And Itachi," she said before he could hang up. "Wear that black shirt again."
Then Sakura ended the call. There was a brazen smirk on her face as she pressed the edge of her phone to the underside of her chin. Even without him standing before her, she could see the surprise that would be written on his face before it gave way to a soft smirk. It was one of her favorite expressions.
Then she chased the thought away. She needed to focus. Because she didn't doubt Madara still had a tail on her that she would need to shake if things were to go well tonight. And she wouldn't be going in alone.
xx
Just before midnight, Sakura arrived in Lower Manhattan. Ino was already there dressed in a sparkling blue dress and a pair of stiletto heels. She gave Sakura a onceover as they met on the third floor of an underground parking garage a few blocks away. The blonde took in her black, lacy dress. It wasn't Sakura's favorite but it hid the gun in her skirt and the one along her ribs well.
"You partying or working business?" Ino asked, her tone vaguely teasing.
Sakura answered with a smirk as she spun once, making the skirt of her dress flare. "Have to dress the part, don't I? How do I look?"
"Like you could be here to seduce or kill someone. I honestly don't know," she answered, making Sakura laugh. Then she sobered some. "I swear, Madara has an obsession with you if he's been following you for over six months now."
"I think it's closer to eight at this point," Sakura said unperturbed. "It's getting a little annoying. I had to drop my car off across town and hitch another one just to lose my tail."
A frown crossed Ino's face upon hearing that. "You think this is a good idea then?"
"Probably not, but I have business I have to discuss tonight. Are we ready?"
Ino nodded. "I talked to Choji earlier. He roped off the upstairs for you. Nothing too noticeable, but it should give you enough cover to do whatever you need to do. Just try not to shoot anyone. I don't think he'll welcome me back if I cause him any trouble."
"This should be a friendly meeting," Sakura told her. "Any shooting wouldn't be by me."
"Well…" the blonde shrugged, "we both know how trouble likes to find you."
Sakura couldn't disagree with that. But then again, she supposed that's what happens when someone does what she does for a living.
"Alright, we should get going," Sakura said with a glance at her phone. "I want you to watch the front door. Text me if anyone comes in that even looks remotely out of the ordinary. I don't think this meeting will take too long. I'll text you when we're on our way down."
"And you're sure you don't want me to wait for you afterwards?" Ino asked.
Sakura shook her head. "No. If someone is watching, I want us to leave separately. But don't worry. Kakashi is around."
With that said, the women left the parking garage to head towards the club. It was just as Sakura remembered with its tall windows and flashing neon lights. Deep bass spilled out onto the street and throbbed beneath their feet as they approached.
Choji greeted them at the door. Ino pressed a friendly kiss to his cheek and murmured something in his ear before he let them pass. He gave Sakura a vague warning look as she stepped past the entrance door. Not so much a threat but more of a plea for her not to start any trouble for him. She smiled comfortingly before she followed after the blonde.
Side-by-side, Ino and Sakura descended the staircase into the club. At the bottom, it opened up into a large room where guys and girls dressed to party weaved through each other. The dancefloor was already packed, as were the bathrooms and the bar, both with lines a few people deep.
Neither Sakura nor Ino could hear one another over the heavy beats or the hundreds of voices already talk-yelling over the music. But they didn't need to. Ino glanced at Sakura to which she nodded. Then they went their separate ways.
In the back, Sakura found the staircase that led to the second floor. The door was shut with a bouncer a few feet away, but he said nothing as Sakura approached. Only opened the door for her without a word.
As soon as the door closed again behind her, the music dulled. She could still feel the heavy bass pounding through her chest and under her heels, but it was muted enough that she could talk without shouting to be heard. Or eavesdropped on. Exactly what she needed.
To her surprise, the upstairs room was empty. Neither Kisame nor Itachi were there yet. Which was a little surprising since the latter was usually the first to arrive.
Nevertheless, Sakura did a single circle about the room. She paused briefly at the railing that overlooked the rest of the club, her khol-rimmed eyes scanning the faces below carefully. None were familiar to her, nor did any have wandering eyes.
She checked her phone again. There was nothing from Itachi. Nor was there any news from Kakashi, whom was perched somewhere nearby. Her silent and deadly eyes.
There was nothing left for her to do but wait. And so she lowered herself into one of the plush chairs and did just that.
Sakura didn't have to sit long before she heard the door downstairs open, followed by light footsteps on the steps. Even without glancing over her shoulder, she knew it was Itachi. She would recognize his footfalls anywhere and against her will, a small smile spread across her lips.
"Hello, darling."
He stopped behind her before he braced his hands on either side of the armchair to lean over her. "Hi," he murmured in her ear.
The warmth of his breath sent a shiver down her spine and automatically heat began to pool low in her stomach. She gave away none of this though as she peered at him out of the corner of her eyes. "You're late."
"It is twelve o'clock exactly. I am perfectly on time," he told her.
Even with the music in the background, she could hear the smugness in his voice. She shot him an unamused look. "You think you're so hot."
"I am hot or need I remind you again?"
Sakura turned her head fully to regard him, her expression torn between being unimpressed and amused, but before she could answer, another spoke behind them. "Are you two going to flirt all night or can we do what we came here for?"
Kisame's voice boomed over the music. Itachi froze for one moment before he straightened and stepped away from her.
Sakura couldn't resist her smile as the Israeli Agent joined them. She made a point of looking him over as he stepped further into the room, taking in his jeans and dark blue, button up shirt. "Don't despair, Kisame. You're hot too."
She ignored Itachi's gaze as Kisame sent her a flat look. Her smile stuck as the men joined her. Itachi took the chair closest to her while Kisame grabbed one nearby and dragged in closer. Only once they were all settled did Itachi speak, his earlier playfulness gone and replaced with only business.
"You said you had something for us. Something important."
Kisame nodded. And got straight to the point. "Akatsuki's shipped. Everything's on its way here."
Like clouds rolling in over a summer sun, Sakura's entire mood changed. She shifted in her seat, sitting up a littler straighter. Nothing but business on her mind. "When?"
"It'll be here in four days' time."
"That is not a lot of time to plan," Itachi said.
Kisame merely shrugged. "That's all the notice I have to give."
"It takes over a week for a cargo ship to cross the Atlantic. Why are we just hearing of this now?"
"Because that's all I was told. They're delivering guns, money, drugs to a warehouse in Southern New York. It'll be the biggest shipment they've sent here in years," he told them all, his expression just as solemn as both Sakura and Itachi's. "Enough to take control over the Underground. Enough for them to fully take root in America permanently."
Sakura didn't outwardly react to that as she sat back in her chair. Her mind was reeling, already racing through what needed to be done if she had any hope, any chance of overthrowing Madara and Akatsuki.
"How did you hear of this?" Itachi asked, continuing the conversation.
"Pein told us," Kisame replied. "He's ordering all members of Akatsuki not tied up in Egypt to relocate to America."
"Not Madara?"
Kisame exhaled through his nose slowly. "We already had this conversation, Itachi. I didn't know of Madara's involvement in Akatsuki. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only one who knows he's the true leader. And that is only because you told me."
Itachi frowned in reply but Sakura spoke before he could continue, "Where?"
Kisame turned to her, his confusion evident. "Where what?"
"You said Akatsuki was delivering the shipment to the south," she repeated slowly. "Where in the south, exactly?"
"To a warehouse in Brooklyn just east of Borough Park," the Israeli Agent told them. "That's where Pein has had it ordered to."
Itachi's brow furrowed. "Isn't there an Army base just south of there?"
Kisame nodded. "He figured the military wouldn't think to look for it under their noses."
"He's smart," Sakura said with a small smile.
"Incredibly," Kisame agreed reluctantly, his gaze lingering on her. "Which means that you two need to come up with a plan to intercept the shipment. That warehouse is heavily guarded and even more heavily armed. It'll take next to an army to bring it down."
"Or me."
Both Kisame and Itachi looked at her when she spoke. She couldn't help her growing smirk as she told them, "I took over that warehouse nearly a week ago. It's been under my control ever since."
Kisame stared at her a long moment before he gave an unamused laugh. "That's not possible."
In the other chair, understanding dawned on Itachi's face. "That's the other warehouse."
Sakura smiled while Kisame frowned. "There's no way you could have taken down all those men without drawing some attention. And even if you did, Pein would know it's not his men manning it any longer."
"Because of the cloud?"
Itachi's eyes narrowed upon her question. "What cloud?"
When Kisame remained silent, Sakura answered, her gaze not wavering from Kisame's. "All Akatsuki members have a tattoo. A red cloud outlined in black ink. Even you have one."
Sakura didn't have to look to know she would find one of the inside of Kisame's wrist. It was the same one she had seen on the men guarding the warehouses during her two raids. She hadn't known at the time what they were, but Temari had. A mark of loyalty towards Akatsuki.
Kisame stared at her for a long time. His eyes pinning her in place as he took her all in. Then he smiled. "You're good, little viper."
Sakura said nothing, but she a faint, arrogant smile passed her lips before her attention turned to Itachi when he sighed. "Even with the warehouse under your control, Akatsuki's going to be bringing in more muscle," he said. "You are not going to be able to handle all the incoming men and product yourself."
"Then what do you suggest?" she asked.
Itachi merely shook his head, his expression thoughtful but a little uncertain. Like a half-formed thought was brewing in his mind. "I am not sure yet," he added, his tone a little distant. "I need to make a call."
Without another word, Itachi stood and made his way towards the stairs, phone in hand.
Sakura watched him leave, her gaze tracking his movements until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, she turned back to Kisame. Only to find he was already watching her. She cocked her brow. "What?"
"Itachi is right," he told her. "Even with your men occupying the warehouse, it won't be enough. Pein is bringing dozens upon dozens of men. Unless you get more, you and all of them will be killed."
They both knew he was right, but Sakura simply smiled. She refused to show weaknesses, even if they were loosely on the same side. "I didn't think you cared so much about me," she teased.
"You just need to be prepared. I can't risk getting caught by helping you. You and Itachi are on your own, little viper."
"It's Tsunade," Sakura corrected, her mouth suddenly unsmiling.
"But you're not Tsunade, are you?" he challenged, his voice quiet but not quite threatening. "Because Tsunade should be in her forties and you don't look a day over thirty."
Sakura didn't immediately reply as she studied him. She tried to gauge his thoughts, but his expression was unreadable as the flashing lights above the dancefloor flickered across his profile.
It was at that moment that she realized how long Kisame had been tracking her. Tracking the real Tsunade. Likely since she had come into the Underground twenty-some years ago. Sakura suspected that if he didn't need her help with Akatsuki now, he would probably be working to bring her down. And who's to say he wasn't still going to do that anyway.
It was only Itachi's return that saved them from forever sitting in that moment, stuck in time. He paused, glancing from Sakura to Kisame and back again. "Did I miss something?" he asked.
Without tearing her gaze away, Sakura shook her head. "No. We're done here."
Kisame left without another word after that. Sakura continued to sit for a few more minutes, her gaze staring without seeing out past the railing where she could just see the DJ on stage below. Her mind spun as quickly as the music below them, the quick bass and house beats as rapid and interwoven as her thoughts.
It was Itachi that broke through all of that, his voice nudging her back to reality. "What are you going to do?"
"Nothing tonight," she said with a long sigh. When Itachi shot her a look of confusion, she explained, "I need to figure out what I'm going to do first. I can't make a play until I count my pieces."
And she needed rest before that. With waking up early to talk with Hashirama and staying up late to meet with him and Kisame, she'd had a long day. Only made more stressful by the fact that she only had a few days to act before Akatsuki would have nearly an entire army to take control of New York. It wasn't exactly as much warning as she had been hoping for, but she reasoned that she had been planning for this for a while now. She had everything she needed. She just needed to set the pieces into motion.
"Are you ready?"
His question made Sakura stop and look up at him. It took her a second to realize that he wasn't talking about Akatsuki. He meant right now. For some reason that made the stress in her shoulders fade and she couldn't resist the small smile that curled in the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah."
After sending Ino a quick text that they were heading down, Sakura followed Itachi down the stairs and back into the main room. Ino was already gone. Sakura let him take her hand and lead her through the crowd towards the far side of the club.
They made their exit through a side door. It dropped them out into the alley beside the building, the music only a faint throb compared to the pounding noise inside. It didn't escape Sakura's notice that Itachi didn't drop her hand but she didn't complain. Simply leaned closer to steal some of his heat as they walked through the night.
"I can hear you thinking," Itachi murmured after a few minutes of quiet.
Sakura inhaled deeply before she let out a long, slow sigh. "I'm just thinking about what Kisame said."
"He said a lot. What part?"
"Honestly, all of it," she told him. "But mostly the part where he said he didn't think we could take out Pein."
Itachi glanced down at her from where she was still leaning into his side. "You think he's right?"
"I do to a certain extent." When she continued to feel Itachi's gaze, she looked up at him. "He's right that if Pein gets here before we move, we're screwed. Akatsuki has more guns, more men, more resources than we do."
"But you have the Underground," he countered.
Sakura simply shook her head. "I have friends of friends and favors. But the Underground isn't mine to control. It's divided amongst a lot of players. I only hold power in one small part."
Itachi didn't immediately reply to that as they continued walking. Their footsteps echoing against the sidewalk as they slowly made their way. They passed another club, one with people still lingering out on the sidewalk, most drunk and stumbling down the street in pairs or groups.
"What if the CIA helped?" Itachi asked after a minute.
His question was so out of the blue, so unexpected that Sakura stopped abruptly. Itachi paused as well when she slipped out of his grasp. In the semi-darkness, she tried to read his expression. When she found only open honesty, her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"You said they wouldn't help."
"I said they would not unless they were sure they could corner Madara."
"But we don't know that Madara will be there," she countered.
Itachi shrugged. "What if the information hinted that he would be?"
Sakura stared, only one step below openly gawking. She opened her mouth only to close it once and then twice as his words registered. She didn't know if he actually believed that he could capture Madara or if he was willing to knowingly lie to his agency to get her manpower. He was willing to risk…perhaps everything and it was that fact that left her a little speechless.
Sakura opened her mouth again, but before she could speak the screech of tires pierced the night air. They both looked up in time to see a black car with its headlights blacked out screamed down the street towards them. Then the unmistakable pop of gunfire filled the air.
One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven (here)
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Gambit
Both Sakura and Itachi stilled the instant they heard the deadbolt slide out of place. Then, like a bullet fired from a gun, they were moving. He shoved the documents back into the desk while she slammed the doors shut, hiding any evidence they had ever been there.
The door opened the same second Itachi grabbed her and pushed her back against the wall beside the bookcase, his body pressing flush against hers as they tried not to be seen.
Neither of them dared move as the door closed again with a muted click. Footsteps echoed against the tiles, quiet and slow. Languid, as if they were in no hurry at all. With them hidden out of sight, Sakura couldn’t be sure it was actually Madara who had entered but she didn’t dare risk getting caught to be certain.
Adrenaline screamed through her system. Her heart pounded against her ribs. So hard she wondered if Itachi could feel it. His collarbone was less than an inch from her face, the scent of his cologne filling her nose with every silent breath. His forearms rested above and beside her head, her own hands on his hips, keeping him as close as possible to keep him from sticking out around the side of the bookcase.
They listened with baited breath as whoever it was moved about the kitchen. The jingle of keys as they were set on the counter, the faint shuffle and tearing of paper as mail was sorted and opened.
Silently, Sakura shifted her gaze up to Itachi only to find he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, his gaze was cut towards the kitchen, his concentration visible in his expression. This close, she could make out the little flecks of brown in his dark eyes. Just little slivers she had never noticed before.
With his body caged around her, she could feel every hard ridge of his muscles and the tension weaved into them. His entire form was bunched and tense, pulled as tight as a band. One wrong move away from snapping.
Her own body felt on fire with adrenaline and stress. For months they had been playing with fire and right now, they were the closest they had ever been to being burned. She knew everything would be blown if they were caught. The last thing they needed was a firefight.
A quiet scoff across the room drew Sakura’s attention again in an instant. Under Itachi’s weight, she went utterly rigid, recognizing Madara in the simple sound. It was him. It was then that she realized she had been hoping it was someone else. That whatever documents Itachi had found saying this apartment belonged to Madara were wrong.
Now that she was certainty, a new wave of adrenaline went through her. Sakura told herself to breathe, but even that became difficult when she heard his footsteps cross into the main living room. Right where they were hiding.
Unconsciously, Sakura dug her fingers into Itachi’s hips, drawing him impossibly closer. She ran through the scenarios in her mind. They would only have a split second after Madara caught them to act. With Itachi’s body pinning her in place, she wouldn’t have time to reach for her gun. But she would Itachi’s.
Her fingers twitched. And she was half a second away from drawing his weapon when a phone suddenly rang across the room. Madara’s footsteps faltered. Then he turned and made his way back to the kitchen.
Relief had never swept through Sakura so strongly before. Like a bucket of ice water, it filled her veins, leaving her knees weak and full of jello. She was certain it was only because Itachi was there that she didn’t sink to the floor.
“Yes?” Madara answered, his tone like the surface of a stone. Cold and hard.
The rest of the apartment was silent as Madara listened to whatever was being said on the other end of the line. After a few minutes, he growled softly. “Right now?” Then, “Fine.”
He hung up without saying goodbye before his footsteps disappeared into the bedroom. A minute later, they heard the spray of water as the shower turned on. Only once they heard the glass door of the shower stall close did Itachi peer out behind the bookcase.
They must have been in the clear for he left their makeshift shelter, gesturing for her to follow silently. And together, they slipped out of the apartment, closing the door soundlessly behind them before they all but ran down the hall and out of the complex.
Only once they were back in the car did Sakura dare breathe. She let out a long exhale before she said the first word that came to mind, “Fuck.” She dragged a rough hand through her hair and then said it again, “Fuck! This is so much worst than I had thought. I knew Madara was lying. I knew he still had Akatsuki moving in New York but I had no idea his influence had spread this wide.”
“It is not that bad yet,” Itachi said, his tone not entirely convincing, as if he didn’t entirely believe the words himself. “Madara is still working on his plan. He is still building. We do not have much time but we are not out of it yet.”
Sakura stared at him. She wanted to ask him how he could be so calm, but then she noticed the tension in his shoulders, his tight grip on the wheel. He wouldn’t even look at her. He was just as worried about this as she was.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura forced herself to slow down. “Alright, let’s say that we actually do have some time. We need to move now. Before he can put his plan into place.”
“We don’t even know what that entails though,” Itachi said quietly.
“No,” she agreed. “But if Madara’s intent is to overtake the New York Underground, he’s going to need guns. Lots of them.”
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
Sakura fell quiet as a plan slowly began to form in her head. She didn’t know if it would work – wasn’t even entirely sure it was possible – but it was the best option she could come up with.
“We need to cut off Madara’s supply lines,” she finally said. “Dry him up. I’ll talk to my contacts in the Underground. Now that we know where Akatsuki is, maybe I can try and cause him some trouble in the meantime to slow him down.”
It took a minute but eventually Itachi loosened his firm grip on the steering wheel. “That’s a good idea. I won’t reveal too much information to my company in case Madara has spies in the CIA but perhaps I can break some of his contacts with power. Weaken his protections. And I will see if Kisame is still in the States,” he added. “I need to speak with him again.”
Sakura nodded. It seemed they both agreed they wouldn’t be able to take Madara down outright. They would have to destabilize him at the roots before they could bring his entire network down.
With that still floating through her mind, Sakura pulled her phone out of the inner pocket of her jacket. She unlocked it, but did nothing else. Simply stared at the screen until it darkened again. Her gaze fell somewhere out the window, staring without seeing as the world outside passed by as they maneuvered through the slow, morning rush hour traffic. Her thoughts were a million miles away as she turned her cell phone over in her hand.
“Are we really going to be able to stop him?” Sakura eventually asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Beside her, Itachi was quiet. Then he shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’m going to try like hell to.”
She glanced towards him at that and caught his eye. It was only for a moment but that simple look put the worst of her troubles at ease. She knew he was right. They were short on time but they weren’t out of it. They would just have to move quickly.
They rode the rest of the way in silence. With Itachi focused on navigating through traffic and Sakura lost in her thoughts, only the roll of the pavement beneath their feet filled the quiet. The lull reminded her she hadn’t slept all night. She was exhausted. Bone-achingly tired. She didn’t even know she had dozed off until she heard a door close nearby.
A few seconds later, another one opened and she felt Itachi unbuckle her seatbelt before he lifted her up into his arms. That’s when she began to stir. “I can walk,” she murmured.
Itachi murmured something but she couldn’t make out the words. Only heard the rumble through his chest.
She didn’t even try to get out of his arms. “M’phone.”
“I have it.”
The next thing she knew she was being laid down on something soft. She let Itachi pull her boots off before she curled up onto her side, her face pressed into a pillow that smelled just like him. And then she was out. Completely oblivious to the rest of the world.
xx
Itachi was still asleep beside Sakura when she woke up later that evening. His arm was curled over her hip, the other stretched out under her pillow. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually she slipped out of his grasp. Only staying long enough to fix her hair and makeup. She paused at the foot of the bed, casting Itachi one last lingering look before she was gone.
Sakura sent Kakashi the images she had taken of Madara’s desk as she walked to her car. She had barely made it out of the neighborhood before he called.
“How the hell did you find all this information?” he asked.
Not the first thing she personally would have asked but she answered him nonetheless, describing her new connection with Tenten and how the woman had pointed her to Madara’s apartment. Sakura purposefully left Madara coming home out of the story. And Itachi. She didn’t need him to know she had literally fallen asleep in his car and his bed afterwards.
When she finished, Kakashi was quiet. Then he sighed. Even through the line, she knew he was running his fingers through his hair. “This isn’t good, Sakura,” he said.
She bit back her own sigh. “Yeah, I know.”
“Well…what do you want to do?”
Sakura didn’t immediately reply. She pulled her car to the curb and stared out the window, only the sound of the windshield wipers activating every few seconds to break up the utter stillness. Then she said, “We still have that store of weapons in the South, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“If we’re going to outsmart Madara, we have to start moving now, and I have an idea. Meet me in Lower Manhattan with a crate tonight.”
Two hours later, Kakashi arrived at the location Sakura had texted. Tenten and Lee were already there. They said nothing as he hopped out of his truck and lowered the tailgate. Only stared with blank expressions and mild suspicion in their eyes.
In the bed of the truck was a single crate. Kakashi used a crowbar to pop the top off before he sat back. Sakura didn’t need to see to know what lay inside. She had packed it herself. Instead, she simply leaned her hip against the tailgate and gestured for Tenten to take a look herself.
The brunette’s eyes widened when she saw it held dozens of handguns and magazines and silencers. “Holy shit. And you want what for these exactly?”
“Nothing,” Sakura said.
Tenten must have sensed something in her tone though for she cocked a skeptical brow. “Nothing?”
“It’s a gift,” Sakura told her, repeating Tenten’s earlier term. When even Lee continued to look doubtful, she added, “I hear that Akatsuki has moved into your territory to the South. Consider this my aid to assist in your plans to reclaim the streets they stole from you.”
Tenten still didn’t react. There were no thanks given as she held Sakura’s gaze, her dark eyes calculating, suspicious. “And what happens when I take my territory back? Are we in the middle of a temporary truce? The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
“My motives are not so ambitious. I have no interest in a territorial feud,” Sakura said, shrugging off her concerns. “What I do want is Akatsuki run out. Shut down. If you can keep them out of the streets, then consider this only the first shipment of what I can offer you.”
“You must really not like Akatsuki,” she said.
When Sakura said nothing, Tenten turned away to murmur to Lee. They spoke in hushed tones with their heads bent together. In the meantime, Sakura examined her nails, picking the dirt out from under one.
Eventually Tenten turned back. “I’m not sure I fully understand your intentions, but if Akatsuki really is your only goal then it seems we are on the same side after all.”
“Do we have a deal then?”
Tenten nodded. “We have a deal.”
Sakura’s answer was a pleased smile.
They exchanged the goods before they parted ways. Only when they were back on the interstate did Kakashi speak, “You think Tenten will be able to handle Akatsuki?”
“I’m not sure,” Sakura said, her gaze somewhere out the window. Then she looked at him. “But if she’s able to push them out, it’ll tell us how tough she really is.”
“You don’t sound concerned that she’ll turn against you.”
“Of course, I’m always prepared for that,” she told him. “But we have different objectives. Tenten wants her territory back so she can regain her control of the Underground in New York. I want Akatsuki out so I can continue to sell and move product. Our goals don’t conflict with each other. Rather, when Akatsuki is run out, they will run parallel.”
Kakashi made a noncommittal noise just as Sakura’s phone pinged. She eyed him, wondering what doubts he still had but didn’t ask as she pulled up her new message.
“We can talk more later,” she said, after finally looking down at her phone. “Hashirama wants to meet.”
“When?”
“Now.”
xx
The address Hashirama texted Sakura was to a restaurant overlooking the East River. It was on the fifth story of a tall building along the water’s edge and took up the entire floor. With its wooden ceiling and exposed, rustic lightbulbs, it was obviously an establishment that catered to those looking to spend money on a meaningful meal.
On a Thursday night, Sakura had expected every table to be full with a wait at the door and standing room only at the bar. What she found instead were two bodyguards perched on either side of the entrance just outside the elevator. They were dressed in pressed suits and stood like gargoyles. Not even acknowledging her as she passed.
Inside were two more guards. They stood only a few yards from the table Hashirama occupied. Close enough to do their jobs if needed, but far enough away to provide some privacy. Every other table in the room was empty. No guests or waitstaff stood in sight. There wasn’t even a bartender cleaning glasses or mixing cocktails behind the counter. Only a soft piano played over the speakers to keep the atmosphere comfortable.
The men in suits eyed Sakura as she entered the room but didn’t stop her when she approached Hashirama. He didn’t acknowledge her, his attention focused on the newspaper in hand, nor did he complain when she dropped herself down into the plush seat across the table. As if he had been expecting it. She eyed his half-eaten plate of steak and the glass of amber beside his hand. It didn’t look touched but the square of ice floating in the center was barely melted. This couldn’t be his first one.
“Hashirama,” she greeted, not bothering to let him finish his article.
He didn’t look in her direction but he shook out his paper, making the wilting edge stand up straight again. “I believe the last time we spoke, I made it undeniably clear you were to keep your relationship with Tobirama strictly professional.”
Sakura could only blink, a little blindsided. “What are you talking about?”
He turned the page in his paper. “I hear you’ve been to visit Tobirama in his suite.”
“And you automatically assumed I was banging him?” she asked, her voice turning flat.
This time he lowered his newspaper, if only to look at her.
Her urge to scoff was subdued by her own amusement. “I haven’t fucked your little brother in months, Hashirama. You shouldn’t believe everything Izuna tells you.” Then she paused purposefully, as if something suddenly occurred to her. “Unless, of course, you’re jealous.”
That was enough to make Hashirama’s expression shift. It was minute, subtle. Only a small pull in the corners of his mouth as if he was annoyed by her attempt to get under his skin. “You should know by now that your antagonizations do not work on me.”
“Then why are you so interested in who Tobirama fucks?” she asked, biting back the humor that was threatening to cross her lips. “Or perhaps you’re not interested in his sex life at all. Perhaps it’s mine you’re more curious about.”
“It may have been twenty years ago that I pulled you out of that orphanage, but you are still act as if you are a child,” Hashirama said, his tone obviously disapproving.
“Then get to the point. Why did you summon me?”
Hashirama took his time to answer. He held her gaze unwaveringly as he folded his newspaper up and set it aside, his eyes never leaving hers as he crossed one leg over the other and settled back into his chair.
“Because my faith in you is beginning to fail,” he said. His tone was light and even but there was an undertone that made the hair on the back of Sakura’s neck stand up. “I am not an unintelligent man, Sakura. I am not so blind as to not know you have an ulterior motive. So, tell me what you are really doing here in New York.”
Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Sakura’s attention and she glanced over to find one of Hashirama’s men had pulled a gun and was pointing it directly at her.
“What are you going to do? Shoot me?” she asked. When he simply stared, she bristled in defense. “Are you fucking serious, Hashirama? You’re going to turn my own guns against me? Don’t you dare begin accusing me of being disloyal when you have been actively searching for any excuse to shoot me. Did you forget that I was the one who supplied you with those weapons?”
Hashirama said nothing. Merely canted his head as if she had told him some insignificant thing.
Her eyes narrowed. “Then perhaps I should remind you that you’re not the only one here who’s armed.”
A red dot appeared on Hashirama’s chest at that moment. He looked down as it traveled up his center, over the buttons of his three-piece suit to settle directly over his heart.
“This glass may be reinforced, but even bullet-resistant windows can’t stop a .308 round from a M40A5 sniper rifle,” she warned.
Hashirama raised his gaze to meet hers. Even with her imminent threat, he continued to sit, poised like a king as something dark and unforgiving lingering behind his eyes. “You’ve learned well,” he complimented with a tone that sounded nothing like a compliment. “But I notice that you have failed to answer my request: what brings you to New York?”
The longer Sakura held his gaze, the more she began to realize Hashirama wouldn’t back down. It wasn’t the first time he had asked her this very question, but this time, he wouldn’t let her talk her way out of an answer. He had her cornered. A literal gun to her head.
Sakura sat utterly still. The blood in her veins simmered with anger, but it slowly began to cool as he continued to watch her. Perhaps there were more age lines and wrinkles beside his eyes but they were the same ones that had smiled at her when she was a child. The ones that held only warmth when he played with her and grew soft when he comforted her after a nightmare.
“I had to come back,” she eventually said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Why?”
“Because you’re the only family I have left.”
That gave Hashirama pause. As if something occurred to him that he had never considered before. “Tsunade has abandoned you.”
Sakura couldn’t find the words to answer and so she simply nodded, unable to meet his gaze. She hated how she felt like that poor, lonely, little girl in that cold, Russian orphanage. Unloved. Unwanted.
Hashirama didn’t say a single word, but he raised a hand and the guard pointing his weapon at Sakura lowered it. A second later, without prompt, the red dot of Kakashi’s scope vanished.
As if nothing had occurred, Hashirama picked up his brandy and sipped from it. Sakura didn’t quite know where to take the conversation next and so she sat quietly, waiting for him to continue. She was relieved when he didn’t make her wait long.
“I am hoping that you are working on resolving the issue in the East that has kept your supplies so limited,” Hashirama said casually, as if they hadn’t just drawn arms against one another.
She nodded. “I am.”
“Good. We will need to be ready to move again soon. The last I heard, Madara’s sources say that Akatsuki is recovering from the raids in Egypt.”
“Is that so?” she said nonchalantly.
Hashirama inclined his head slightly as he set his drink back down. “What do your sources say?”
There was something about his tone then that gave Sakura pause. She didn’t know what it was that caught her notice, but in that moment, she knew Hashirama was testing her. Testing her loyalties. Which meant only one thing: Hashirama knew Madara was lying. He knew Madara was betraying him.
She didn’t know how he knew and, in that instant, it didn’t matter. Because right now, Hashirama’s only concern was her next move. He was offering her an olive branch. The chance to pick a side.
She chose her next words carefully. For they would pave the road for their relationship moving forward.
“My sources say that Akatsuki is mobile. They’re on the move,” Sakura told him.
A small smile appeared in the corner of Hashirama’s mouth, but it disappeared behind his glass as he raised it to his lips again. She had passed his test. She was back in his good graces.
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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Surrender
The next week was a whirlwind of activity. The days blended together. Just a constant shuffle of gathering stores and distributing them out. Sakura met with Tenten a dozen times. Planning, organizing, arranging.
Just as Sakura had expected, Tenten’s first raid had gone off without a hitch. One, large warehouse on the southwest had been taken out and burned to the ground. Sakura had sat on the edge of her bed and watched on the television as the fire trucks tried to contain the blaze. Her smile had been downright sinister as she watched the embers blow away in the wind.
When Tenten had called the next night, Sakura had only been too willing to offer her more weapons. And her own, personal assistance on the next raid. Just so Sakura could witness firsthand how easily Tenten’s men could slip in and take control. Those that refused to surrender were taken down. And those that did...well, there was a reason Tenten was feared in the Underground. The pile of corpses was going to be difficult to hide.
With her chin propped up with her hand, Sakura watched Lee interrogate the only man they left alive. She sat backwards on a metal folding chair, listening as Lee’s knuckles came down against the man’s face again. He was already bleeding from his mouth and nose.
“Tell us where the other warehouses are,” Lee said. It sounded more like a kind request rather than a harsh demand. Or at least it would have if his knuckles weren’t painted red.
The man merely shook his head. Lee’s fist met his face again.
“Don’t worry. He’ll get an answer eventually. He always does,” Tenten said beside her.
Sakura glanced towards the brunette. She sat across the metal, circular table, her weapon beside the cash she was counting and a cigarette between her teeth.
“I’m not worried,” Sakura said.
Her gaze turned down to her own hand, where the knuckles of her left hand were bruised and slightly scuffed. A small injury in comparison to the man that had tried to turn his weapon on her.
The sound of Lee’s interrogation had Sakura looking up again. She watched him a moment longer before she spoke, “I’m impressed with your abilities. But I have been thinking.”
“About?”
“About these raids. We need to move more carefully. This is the second warehouse we’ve hit in less than a week. If Akatsuki starts to see their territory taken over too fast, we might accidentally press them into an all-out war,” Sakura explained.
Tenten cocked a brow. “Isn’t that what you want though? To take out Akatsuki’s resources so they can’t strike back.”
“Yes,” she nodded her agreement. “But I don’t want them to know that until I want them to.”
Because the last thing she wanted was for Madara to feel threatened and to attack before they were ready. Or worse, disappear completely.
A thoughtful look crossed Tenten’s face as she pulled the cigarette out of the mouth. She blew the smoke into the air, her eyes never leaving Sakura. “So, what do you want to do?”
Sakura’s gaze fell towards Lee again. Only this time she looked past him to where Tenten’s men were dismantling the corpses left in the wake of their raid. They were shoving the bloody parts into plastic bags. Sakura knew they would later fill them with rocks and dump them into the river where they would never be found again.
Sakura turned away after watching for only a moment. Because even after everything she had seen, the sight still made her lose her appetite. “I want you to leave some men here. Make this a shadow warehouse.”
Tenten frowned. “Wouldn’t Akatsuki know it isn’t their men?”
“No,” someone else answered before Sakura could.
Both women turned upon Ino’s approach, her heels echoing across the concrete floor. She drew to a stop beside the table, a smart smile on her blood-red lips.
“No one checks on these warehouses other than to count the number of guns,” Ino said. “As long as the numbers add up, they’ll be fine.”
Tenten stared at her. “And you are?”
“Ino,” Sakura answered for her. “She works for me. She’s my personal eyes and ears in the Underground. If you want any information on anything, she can get it for you.”
The brunette eyed Ino a moment longer before she jerked her chin towards one of the men nearby. He jumped to attention immediately, picking up an extra chair before hurrying over to them. He unfolded it and dusted off the seat before offering it to Ino. The blonde smiled her thanks before she elegantly settled into it.
When Sakura turned back to Tenten, she could see the brunette was still studying Ino. A little curious, a little cautious. Because while Ino didn’t look like much, neither did any of them. They were all young, strong women in a man’s world. And they had to be smarter, sharper. More ruthless to get what they wanted.
When Tenten spoke, the look in her eyes was gone. Still not entirely trustful, but no longer full of judgement. “What have you heard on Akatsuki?” she asked Ino.
“They’re scrambling after the first attack,” she said, brushing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “That last warehouse was their main distribution center and with it out of commission, they’re looking to move their incoming supplies to another facility.”
“Do you think they can move them here?” Sakura asked.
Ino canted her head thoughtfully. “Maybe. If we can get the rumors spreading, we might be able to persuade them to move their store to this warehouse. But we’ll have to move quick.”
“I can organize some men to work here,” Tenten said.
Sakura nodded. “And I can start snooping near the other warehouses to make Akatsuki nervous. I’ll just need their locations first.”
Tenten looked past Sakura as she finished speaking, a smile slowly spreading around the cigarette in her mouth. “I think we just might be able to get that.”
All three women looked towards Lee at that moment. He was leaning over the man he had been interrogating, a pleased smile on his face as the man whispered around the blood in his mouth. When he finished, Lee straightened and pulled his pistol out of his jacket, a single crack echoing through the floor.
“One warehouse down,” Lee said. “Three more to go.”
xx
That night Sakura was sitting at her counter with a slice of pizza in one hand and an icepack over the other when she got a call. It was Hashirama. She stared at his name on the caller ID as she finished chewing before she picked up. “Well, isn’t this a treat. What can I do for you?”
“I hear Akatsuki took a hard hit in the South,” he said without greeting.
Sakura couldn’t help her small huff of amusement, but it quickly turned to a muted hiss when she replaced the cold pack back against her knuckles. “That was three days ago. You’re just calling about that now?”
“I have been preoccupied with other matters that needed my immediate attention, but I wanted to check in,” he told her. “That was a large raid. How are your stores holding?”
“They’re comfortable.”
“I need you more than comfortable when it comes to Madara.”
“Well you are more than welcome to help my supplies,” she said, unperturbed by Hashirama’s hard tone.
“What do you need?”
Surprised, Sakura paused, her hand halfway back inside the pizza box. Then a smile began to form on her lips. “The usual amount, in cash. And two dozen more men. To start.”
They spoke for another half hour before finally hanging up. Even after the call ended, Sakura continued to sit at the counter, a pleased but thoughtful smirk settled deep in the corners of her mouth. Things were going far smoother than she could have ever hoped, especially with Naruto dead. Between Tenten and Ino’s help in the Underground and Hashirama now offering her more supplies, she almost had more weapons and money than she knew what to do with.
With so much power at her back, Madara’s threat seemed almost small. Insignificant. She would just have to make sure it didn’t all go to her head.
Pulling the ice pack off her hand, Sakura stood, about to make her way towards the liquor cabinet, when a knock suddenly sounded on the door.
Instantly on alert, she peered down the hall before she swiped her gun from the table and tiptoed towards the door. With her weapon at the ready, Sakura carefully slid the deadbolt out of place, only for her grip to loosen when she saw Itachi standing on the other side.
Sakura hadn’t been expecting him, but she didn’t turn him away. Merely left the door open as she headed back into the kitchen, depositing her gun back down on the table along the way.
“I didn’t know we were meeting tonight,” she said.
After closing the door, Itachi joined her in the kitchen, unperturbed. “Should I have called?”
Without looking back at him, Sakura retrieved a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. She filled both up and passed one off to him as he joined her at the counter. He was dressed in jeans and a warm but fitting, leather jacket. Casual, yet still so handsome.
Sakura hadn’t exactly been missing him but now that he was here in front of her, she found that she was glad he was. Biting back her smile, she shook her head.
The corner of Itachi’s mouth pulled up, but he said nothing before he tossed back his own shot.
“I just met with Kisame,” he told her as she refilled both their glasses. “He says Akatsuki is gathering a lot of supplies in Egypt. And they’re planning to ship it all to the States. Apparently Pein has finally spread the word to the rest of the members that they plan to expand in New York.”
“Any idea where?”
“Not yet. Especially now that their main warehouse in the South was attacked. I can only assume that was your doing,” he said, shooting her a mild look. One she didn’t understand until she realized she was smirking slightly.
Sakura shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she defended without heart. “I wasn’t even there.”
“But your guns were.”
Sakura met his gaze for a long moment before she looked away to reach for her glass. “What’s your point?”
“My point is you need to be more careful. The CIA recognized your weapons, which means that Madara will have as well,” he told her, his tone one step below chastising.
“It doesn’t matter if Madara knows it’s me anymore. Hashirama is aware Madara has betrayed him. Which means that I don’t have to pretend to be on the same side as Madara. Or Izuna, for that matter.”
She trailed off as she recalled her last meeting with the younger Uchiha brother. It suddenly occurred to her that before they had simply been at odds. Butting heads just to antagonize the other with the hope that the other would slip up enough to be given permission to end the other. Now, they were blatantly on opposite sides. Which meant Sakura needed to be more alert, more watchful for the younger Uchiha brother.
Perhaps Itachi had a point.
Sipping her tequila, Sakura look at Itachi again as he refilled his own shot glass. “Does Kisame know where the ships are going to make port?”
“Not yet,” he shook his head. “But he still has a lot of leads to follow. I think he’ll know more in the next week or so.”
She nodded, but said nothing more as she sipped her drink. She could feel Itachi’s gaze on her, but she didn’t look up until he asked, “What happened to your hand?”
She followed his stare down to her knuckles, where the flesh was still red and swollen. It was fortunate she hadn’t broken the skin knocking that man’s face in during the raid, but her fingers were still sore. Still, she couldn’t help but smile a little as she recalled sitting in the aftermath with Tenten and Ino. The victory was still sweet in her mouth.
When Sakura looked up again, she found Itachi was still watching her. He must have seen something in her expression for his eyes widened minutely. “You found another Akatsuki warehouse. Where?”
Had he been any other person, Sakura wouldn’t have answered, but somehow, she knew she could trust him. That any information she told him would be kept to himself. “A few miles from the last one.”
“I didn’t hear anything about a takedown.”
“We decided to keep it quiet,” she told him. “We didn’t want to push Madara into moving before we’re ready.”
Itachi opened his mouth but nothing came out. He shook his head slowly as an odd look of wonder crossed his expression. “You really are good at this, aren’t you? Buying and trading loyalties, working the Underground.”
She couldn’t help the smile that pulled in the corners of her mouth at his compliment and she hid it behind her shot glass. She took a long sip as she chased the heat from her cheeks before she eventually set it back down on the table, a thoughtful look suddenly coming over her expression.
“You never told me.”
He shook his head, not understanding. “Told you what?”
“How you heard about me. Tsunade. Sakura,” she clarified.
Itachi drained the rest of his own glass before he lowered it back down to the counter. Sakura filled them both again as he answered, “We heard there was someone new in the Underground. A new dealer. One Madara was meeting with.”
“And you found me?”
Itachi nodded before he let out a soft laugh. “To be honest, we didn’t think it was you until we saw you trade rifles with an associate of Izuna’s. You’re one of the best traders I’ve seen. You’re incredibly good at blending in.”
“The advantages of being pretty,” Sakura said with forced amusement.
But Itachi didn’t share it. He shook his head, an unusually serious look on his face. “The advantages of being smart,” he corrected her.
There was something so sincere about his tone that made Sakura still. She raised her gaze to meet his but he only held her stare for a moment before his eyes fell to her lips. He said nothing before he lowered his tequila and closed the distance between them.
His kiss started slow. A mere ghost of his lips over hers as his hands smoothed down her sides until they rested on her hips. Then they slid lower until his palms were on the backs of her thighs. Her hands fell to his shoulders as he hoisted her up and settled her on the counter.
The height change forced Sakura to angle her head down to his for once, but she didn’t complain. Merely tangled her fingers into his silky, black hair as she drew his mouth back up to hers again.
It didn’t take Itachi long to slip his tongue between her lips, his fingers dipping under the hem of her shirt to run across the smooth skin of her stomach. A gasp escaped her when he tickled her, but it quickly turned into a moan when he reached up and twisted his fingers into her hair to tilt her face up so he could press hot, open-mouthed kisses to the column of her neck. Heat pooled low in her stomach as he touched, kissed and teased her.
Her shirt was the first thing to go, landing somewhere on the counter before his attention turned to the base of her throat, her collarbone, the swell of her breast just above her bra. When he finally let the clasp of her bra free, she gasped, trying and failing to muffle her sounds of pleasure when his mouth wrapped around one pebbled nipple.
With one hand on her hip and the other at her back between her shoulder blades, Sakura couldn’t pull away even if she wanted to. She gave into his touch completely, her legs wrapping around his waist to draw him closer. Anything to help alleviate the ache growing between her thighs.
But it was the wrong angle, the wrong position and she bit back her whimper at the lack of friction.
“Itachi…” she said. She hated the way his name came out in a whine.
There was a smug smirk on his lips when he picked his head up to look at her but he merely kissed her again as his fingers went for the button of her jeans. He helped her slide out of them, and then her panties before his hands returned to her waist.
At first, she thought he might help her down so they could move elsewhere, but he simply slid her forward until she was balanced on the edge of the counter, unable to reach the ground. His support the only thing keeping her from falling forward.
There was a wicked look in his eyes. One she didn’t understand until his hands slipped under her knees to pull her thighs further apart. Then he lowered himself onto one of the stools she kept tucked under the island counter and eased her legs down onto his shoulders.
Itachi’s breath ghosted across the inside of her thigh before he nipped at the sensitive skin. Automatically she tried to jerk away, but he wouldn’t let her as he soothed the spot with an open kiss and gentle, sweeping caress of his thumb. He took his time working his way higher and higher, building up her anticipation until she was trembling under his touch.
Sakura couldn’t contain her cry even if she tried when his mouth finally found her center. She fell back, the countertop cold against her flush skin, but she didn’t notice. She merely reached down to twist her fingers into his hair, pulling him impossibly closer as he tasted her. His tongue lapping at her, sucking and kissing and tasting her until she was squirming beneath him.
With her legs still over his shoulders, she could barely raise her hips to meet him. She pressed her heels into his back, dug her fingers into his scalp, but Itachi moved at his own pace. She was so close, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. And he knew it.
“Tell me what you want,” Itachi said, pulling away just far enough to press sweet kisses to the inside of her thigh.
A low groan escaped her as she tried to bring his mouth back to her, but his grip was unyielding.
“Sakura…”
It took all of her willpower not to whimper. “Don’t stop. Oh Gods, please don’t stop.”
He tsked with disapproval. “That’s what you need. I am asking you what you want.”
“Fuck,” she cried as he slid two fingers deep into her core. Just a slow, smooth pump that stroked her fire but did little else. Sakura snapped. “You! God damnit. Please, I want you!”
With a satisfied smirk, Itachi lowered his mouth back down. This time, he touched her exactly how she wanted, building her higher and higher until she finally came. Her back arched off the counter and her thighs tightened around his shoulders as his name tumbled from her mouth. Itachi didn’t stop until he had pulled every second of her orgasm out of her.
With heaving breaths, Sakura fell back, boneless and shuddering. Carefully he lowered her legs from his shoulders before he stood. She jerked slightly when he pressed a kiss to her stomach and she opened her eyes to find him smirking. A little arrogant, a little proud.
Sakura frowned. “What?”
“Nothing,” he shook his head. “You are always so distant. It is just nice to hear you say you want me.”
It took all of her energy to glare and his expression softened into something sweeter. He helped her sit up, her legs still on either side of his clothed hips, before he kissed her slowly. She could taste herself on his lips but she didn’t complain as she slipped her tongue into his mouth.
When she finally pulled back, her expression was downright devilish. “I can show you exactly how much I want you,” she whispered in his ear.
Itachi perked up immediately. He helped her down off the counter onto shaky legs before she pulled him down the hall by the front of his shirt, undoing another button each time she stumbled. He laughed at her but he leaned down to meet her kiss every time she angled her face towards his.
And it occurred to her then as she leaned against the door frame to the bedroom, his hands cupping her face and his mouth sealed to hers, that she had never felt this way in her life. She felt genuinely happy. Exposed. And it had nothing to do with their manner of dress. Like he had opened up her chest and was looking directly at her heart and holding it as tenderly as fragile glass.
Inhaling a shaking breath, Sakura grabbed the open sides of Itachi’s shirt and tugged him the rest of the way into the bedroom. As soon as his shirt was gone, her movements became more hurried. Almost frantic. Like if he didn’t get inside her, she would burst.
Yanking his pants down, Sakura gave Itachi a single, hard shove. He stumbled back onto the bed and she climbed on top of him before he could recover. With one hand on his chest to support her weight, she leaned forward to kiss him, the other reaching back to grasp his heavy length. A low rumble of approval sounded in his chest at her touch, but it was faint in comparison to the groan that escaped him when she finally sank down onto him.
With their faces less than an inch apart she could make out every flicker, every flash of emotion that crossed his face. Arousal, desire, blooming pleasure and something else that made her own body fill with a warmth that had nothing to do with their physical contact. It made her core contract around him reflexively.
Itachi raised his hand to cup her face as their breath mingled, his hooded gaze meeting hers. “If you don’t move, I’m going to make you.”
This time, it was Sakura’s turn to laugh. With a sultry smile, she sat back, causing him to sink inside her deeper and him to groan again. Then she started a smooth, even pace, riding them both to completion.
And even afterwards, she laid on top of him, his softened length still inside her with his fingers trailing down her spine until he began to grow hard again. She allowed Itachi to take over the second time, his hips meeting hers in long, deep thrusts as his hands found hers. Fingers tangling together on either side of her head.
And as Sakura cried out his name again, she pretended that it was only the pleasure she could feel coursing through her body. Making her feel higher than she had ever been before.
One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four (here)
Chapter Twenty-Four
Can we just pretend?
They didn’t talk. Even after they returned to the parking garage where Itachi had left his car. He simply killed the engine and slipped out of the little Honda, the keys still in the ignition. Sakura went without resistance when he opened her door for her and led her over to his Lexus.
She didn’t know where they were going and she didn’t ask, even as the world outside sped by. She simply sat, watching each streetlight as it came and went out the window if only to distract herself from the reality that she had just thrown herself at Itachi. She didn’t know if she was more humiliated by that or by the fact he had stopped them.
Silently, Sakura snuck a peek in his direction, only to find his attention was focused solely on the road. He kept both hands on the wheel, his gaze flickering from the pavement ahead to the rearview mirror and back again. Itachi hadn’t bothered to put his jacket back on, instead leaving it abandoned in the backseat. Without it, she could clearly see his shoulder holster now, his gun tucked just under his arm.
Her eyes continued to wander. Over his shoulders where his grey shirt fit comfortably, not too tight nor too loose, and up to his face. She couldn’t read anything in his profile but that didn’t stop her from trying.
At some point, they pulled into a residential neighborhood. It was then that she realized they were heading towards his townhouse. The very one she had gone to that early morning the day after Ino’s parents had been murdered.
Itachi pulled into a small driveway beside the house and parked the car before he led her around the side to the front door. She followed after him silently, slipping her boots off in the entryway as he headed further inside, switching on lights as he went.
The last time Sakura has been here, she hadn’t ventured inside very far. She had simply gathered the information she had wanted and disappeared back out into the dark. This time, she made her way in slowly, eyeing the craftsmanship of the crystal light fixture above and the beautiful, dark wood floors.
At the end of the hall was a staircase that led to the top floor and just before that was a set of wooden, double doors that led to the rest of the home. They were open now and Sakura headed towards them, not entirely sure where Itachi had disappeared to. Not entirely sure what she was doing there.
He wasn’t in the living room, but she stood near the entrance anyway and gazed around. There was a rustic but modern feel to the place. She had half-expected Itachi’s house to be decorated in monotone greys but it wasn’t. All the furniture and cabinets were trimmed with wood of deep browns and auburns. The couch and large, floor rug under the coffee table were a matching off-white.
But it was the upright piano in the corner of the room that made her take a double-take. This one was tall and narrow, nothing like the baby grand piano in Tobirama’s condo. She barely saw it at all under all the piles of paperwork and miscellaneous items. More of a second table than a musical instrument.
Sakura had barely begun to study it when Itachi entered the room behind her and asked, “Do you want to shower?”
She pulled her attention away from the piano to look at him. In his hands he held a towel with a shirt and pair of sweats on top, both obviously his. She almost shook her head ‘no’ but thought better of it.
Under the spray of the water, it occurred to her that this wasn’t the first time she had showered under Itachi’s roof with nothing but his clothes to change into. Only this time it felt more intimate. Like things between them had shifted. Although, for better or for worse, she wasn’t yet sure.
Even after taking her time, Sakura’s head still wasn’t totally clear, but she couldn’t justify standing under the spray any longer after having washed her hair twice.
Itachi was in the kitchen when she finally wandered back downstairs. She paused in the doorway to watch him as he moved a kettle of hot water off the stove before he shut off the burner. It felt a little odd, not bad but odd, to be standing there in such a domestic setting.
“I know tequila is your favorite, but would you like some tea?” he asked with a quick glance in her direction before he opened a cabinet.
Sakura shot him a look. “You make me sound like I’m an alcoholic. I drink more than just tequila, you know.”
An amused smile crossed his face as he pulled out two mugs and filled them with water. The delicious scent of orange and cinnamon reached her nose as she approached the counter to accept the drink from him. On one side, the mug read: “Coffee, cause adulting is hard.”
She hid her smile as she sipped slowly. She could only agree with that.
The tea helped fight off the cold from her wet hair. It warmed her hands and her chest as she sipped, settling low in her stomach, but it was nothing compared to when she looked up and found Itachi already watching her.
He gazed at her over the top of his own mug. Just the two of them standing there quietly in his kitchen. Her wearing his clothes. Just being with him for no other purpose than company. They really didn’t have anything more to discuss and yet she found herself not having any desire to leave. Somewhere far in the back of her mind – or perhaps not even that far – she knew this was dangerous.
Not knowing what to say, Sakura chewed the inside of her lip. Fortunately, Itachi broke the silence, but it wasn’t exactly what she was expecting him to say.
“I’m going to shower. Make yourself at home.”
Alone again, Sakura didn’t really know what to do with herself. Her gaze wandered back over to the piano, but rather than making her way towards it, she eyed the rest of the room, giving pause when she saw a handful of photos on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. They were the only photos in sight.
With her mug in hand, Sakura wandered towards them. Immediately she recognized Shisui beside Itachi in almost all of them. Together, just doing ordinary things: riding dirt bikes on an unpaved road, playing soccer in high school or college, posing together in their nice button-down shirts at what appeared to be a wedding.
The last photo had Shisui in it as well, but between the two of them was another woman. They were all wearing matching team, baseball shirts with a field behind them. Likely at the local stadium. She was wedged in the middle of the pair, her arms thrown around their shoulders and a wide smile on her pretty face. She looked about their age, and with the same eyes and nose. Definitely a family member. Another cousin or perhaps a sister?
Sakura didn’t know. And an uncomfortable feeling began to grow in her chest, knowing she didn’t know because she had never asked. She thought back to all the times Itachi had ever asked her about herself. Perhaps back then she had thought he was prying, but now...now she wondered if he was just genuinely curious about her.
Turning away, Sakura passed the bookshelf and she paused to read a couple of titles there if only to distract herself. There was a mix of everything. From World War Two history to travel guides on places all around the world to poetry.
Still, she found her eyes wandering back to that piano in the corner. Glancing back towards the doorway, she listened to the quiet. She could just make out the muffled rush of water from the shower. Itachi wouldn’t be down for at least another few minutes.
Setting her mug on a coaster on the coffee table, Sakura wandered towards the instrument, her fingers skimming over the side in a featherlight touch before she lowered herself down onto the bench before it. She lifted the soundboard gingerly before she played a few slow keys, listening for their sound. The notes fell in tune, but she didn’t immediately continue. Instead she listened for the shower one floor above.
Only when it reached her ears did she finally raise both hands, her fingers falling on those familiar keys. Playing the song that had been buried so deep in her soul for so long, she no longer knew the name or if it even had one.
That was how Itachi found Sakura sometime later. He had heard the music from upstairs the moment he shut off the water for the shower, but had assumed she had found the radio. Only now did he realize how wrong he was.
Frozen in the doorway, Itachi simply stared, the hand towel-drying his hair stopped mid-motion. She was seated across the room, behind the instrument pushed into the corner. It had been there for so long he had nearly forgotten it was there. Her fingers moved over the keys so easily, so seamlessly. Like she wasn't playing a piece she had memorized, but instead playing a thought, a feeling. Just lost in the gentle sound her own hands were creating.
There were no words to describe the melody. It made him feel a little hopeful, a little sad and full of such a longing he couldn't quite remember the last time such an emptiness had settled so heavily in his chest.
With her back to him, she hadn’t yet seen him. And though he couldn’t see her face, she had never looked more stunning in that moment. Dressed in his shirt and sweats, her feet bare and her hair still wet and drying around her shoulders. Something that had nothing to do with the music rose up in his chest.
Without daring to make a sound, Itachi crossed the room towards her. He left his towel on the counter, his own bare feet not making a noise against the wooden floors. He stopped some paces behind her, waiting to speak until the song had passed its crescendo and had slowed into something softer and more drawn out.
“Where did you learn that song?” he asked. And he immediately regretted it when her fingers paused over the keys.
She frowned, seeming to seriously consider his question. “I don’t remember,” she murmured, briefly glancing at him over her shoulder. “It’s just always been there.”
Her fingers returned to the keys as Itachi lowered himself down into the seat beside her. Only this time she played softer. More like background music. He simply watched her play, unable to draw his eyes from her fingers as they danced so effortlessly across the keys.
Then she stopped again. “Do you have a sister?”
Blinking, Itachi lifted his head to meet her gaze. A little confused. Wondering where that question had suddenly come from. Still, he shook his head. “I have a brother.”
“And he's CIA?”
“No, he’s a helicopter pilot in the Army.”
She didn’t seem to know what to say after that and so resumed her song. Only this time she played slower like she was thinking less about the music and more about something else. Eventually she said, “You don’t talk about yourself very much.”
Neither did she, but he didn’t point that out. Merely canted his head. “What do you want to know?”
Sakura opened her mouth only to close it again. Like she couldn’t decide what she wanted to ask. Her uncharacteristic shyness was so charming, Itachi couldn’t resist smiling.
Then he pursed his lips, thinking what to tell her.
“My birthday is June 9th,” he finally began slowly. “I was born in Maryland but moved to New York at ten when my parents got stationed here. I have three Bachelor’s degrees.”
Sakura's brow rose. She looked like she was going to ask one question but changed it mid-thought. “What else?”
Itachi hummed thoughtfully. “I can speak Hebrew and enough Arabic to get by. In the morning, I need at least three cups of coffee to function, and you…” he started, his voice trailing off for a moment. “You have the most beautiful emerald eyes I have ever seen.”
Sakura’s fingers faltered on the piano. She stilled before she turned her head to look at him. He met her gaze unabashedly, a small smile pulling on the corner of his lips. She seemed like she didn’t know what to say, but her gaze dropped down to his mouth as she worried her own bottom lip between her teeth. Like she knew what she wanted to do but wasn’t sure she should do it.
Itachi made the decision for her. Ducking his head, he pressed his mouth to hers, starting where they had left off less than an hour before. Sakura responded without pause, shifting on the bench to better reach him. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist as he slid his hand across her jaw to angle her face towards his.
This time, there was no rush. No adrenaline to cloud their judgement. No worry or concern. It was simply them and all the emotion that had been building since longer than either of them were aware. He kissed her slow, taking his time to familiarize himself with her. Her taste, her feel, her scent. Only now he could only smell his own shampoo in her hair and his body wash on her skin.
Something primal reared in his chest. Adjusting his grip, Itachi pulled her closer until her legs were on either side of his hips. In one movement, he stood with her in his arms, her thighs secured around his waist. They only made it as far as the couch, his mouth never leaving hers as he lowered them both down.
There, they spent most of the night. With only soft moans and sighs to fill the quiet. His hands and lips traced every inch of skin, paying particular attention to the bruises still on her wrists, her stomach and her hips. Where the memory of her attackers would soon fade. His touch left her breathless and yet he gave her everything she wanted. When he finally pushed inside her, their bodies moved as one. Working together to find that release that made the rest of the world and all its problems fall away.
Itachi brought them to climax there and then again some time later after their hearts had settled to something less frantic before he brought her upstairs to his bedroom. Then they did it all again.
It was only much later when the horizon began to lighten did they lay still. Sakura rested half-across his chest, her head on his shoulder with her breath ghosting across his neck. Itachi dragged his fingers through her hair in lazy strokes, the action lulling him to sleep as much as her.
“This complicates things,” Sakura murmured into his skin after the silence had stretched on for several minutes.
Itachi frowned but didn’t stop the gentle motion of his hand. He liked the way her silky strands fell through his fingers. “I know.” Then he added, “I still do not regret it.”
“Neither do I,” she murmured. “But we both know this can't end well.”
Itachi’s grip around her tightened minutely. “Says who?”
“Itachi…”
He didn't answer her right away. He tried to remember the last time he had felt this content. He knew Sakura was right. Those very same words had been in the back of his mind, just waiting to spring forward. But he didn't want to talk about it right now. Right now, he just wanted one night.
Rolling them over into their sides, Itachi pulled her flush against him, until their breath matched every inhale and exhale, and their hearts found rhythm together. “We have plenty of other issues to concern ourselves with,” he told her. “Just for tonight, can we pretend this isn't one?”
Sakura didn’t respond, but after a moment, he felt her nodded against his chest. Itachi smiled against the crown of her head before he finally let his eyes slip closed. The warmth of her heat and the softness of her skin lulling him to sleep.
xx
When Sakura awoke in the morning, it was to a muffled shuffling somewhere nearby. She forced her eyes open abruptly, her mind already racing for where she had left her gun. Only to relax when she spotted Itachi across the room. The events from last night flooded her memory but there were no feelings of regret or embarrassment. Only a fullness she couldn't quite explain. It was still there when Itachi finished buttoning his jeans and turned to see she was awake.
“Hey,” he said with a soft, albeit apologetic smile. “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“No,” she lied, dragging a hand down her face. Then she glanced out the window. The sun was still out. “What time is it?”
“Almost three in the afternoon,” he told her as he grabbed a shirt and pulled it down over his head.
Which wasn’t surprising. They hadn’t fallen asleep until sunrise.
“I wish I could stay but my work called. I have to go.”
Sakura was surprised to see real guilt on his face. As if he honestly felt bad for leaving her there. She was just as surprised to feel disappointment rise in her chest. But she hid it behind a teasing smile.
“Or you could stay. Tell them you broke your phone,” she offered.
The guilt vanished to be replaced with amusement as he approached the bed to sit on the edge at her hip. “Unfortunately, it is important. But stay as long as you’d like. There is coffee already made and food in the cabinets.”
Sakura cocked her brow. “You tell me that like I actually know how to cook.”
“Surely even you can boil water for instant noodles.”
“I think you have more faith in me than you ought to.”
Itachi laughed – a true, honest laugh – before he leaned down to kiss her. He lingered for a moment before he pulled away and stood. “I have to go. I’ll leave a key on the counter.”
Then he was out the door.
Sakura laid there for a few minutes, just listening to the silence of the townhouse echoing back at her and her own breathing. It was this quiet she was used to waking up to. This stillness that echoed back at her. But never did she feel lonely. Not until now.
A long, heavy breath passed between her lips. She raised both hands to her face, her palms digging into her eyes. What did she just do? She had told herself only yesterday morning that she couldn’t get involved with Itachi and then the very same night she had jumped into bed with him.
She didn’t regret sleeping with him – Gods no. But she did regret sleeping with a CIA Agent. Kakashi had been annoyed when he had found out she had shared a bed with Tobirama. He would lose it when he found out she had done the very same thing with Itachi.
There were no outcomes of this that she could think of that would end well. The CIA didn’t exactly operate completely within the bounds of the law but they were still a government entity and she was an international criminal.
Dropping her arms back against the pillow, Sakura stared at the ceiling. Itachi hadn’t seemed too concerned about it. But then again, he had more to gain from this arrangement. Though she didn’t think he was using her. She had been manipulated enough times in the past to recognize it. Rather, she and Itachi were just strangely drawn towards one another. Like magnets, it had only been a matter of time before that invisible pull snapped them together.
But just as Itachi had said, there were plenty of other things to worry about. This one fell somewhere near the bottom of the list. At least for now.
That was enough to draw Sakura out of bed. She showered again, cleansing the stink of sweat and sex from her skin and replacing it with Itachi’s clean scent before she dressed herself in her clothes from yesterday. She grabbed her gun from under the mattress where she had stored it the previous night before retrieved her phone from the nightstand and headed downstairs.
Sure enough, there was a key sitting on the island counter. She pocketed it and took a sip of coffee from Itachi’s unfinished cup. Only to freeze as something caught her eye.
The piano, the one that had been so full and cluttered last night, lay bare. All the books and old mail that had been laid abandoned upon it were gone. There wasn’t even a trace of dust left. It had been wiped completely clean. Spotless.
Sakura knew without a shred of doubt Itachi had done it for her. Something settled in her chest. So heavy and full, that it felt both like happiness and sorrow. Her fingers itched for those keys. To feel their weight under her fingertips. To touch it and caress it as Itachi had done to her last night.
Sakura took one purposeful step back. Then she turned and made her way out the door.
