Crimson Genii

15. – Supporting the Other

-X-

When Itachi appeared the following day at the Hospital, his face naturally detached and blank as he made his way in a lazy but purposeful gait towards her office after he nodded a polite greeting to the personnel at the front desk, the entire staff, patients and visitors stared in shock.

Of course, Sakura didn't know he was coming, so she remained busy as she gave Kiba his check-up. She made a point of ignoring his usual taunts, especially his new attempt to ask her out on a date.

"Come on, Sakura-chan, just one date," the Inuzuka male kept saying, now knowing that the Uchiha Heir had stopped his hand on the doorknob, listening intently. "Sometimes I wonder if you have a secret boyfriend or something!"

"He's not so secret, Kiba," she answered flatly, eyes rolling in mid-annoyance. "And I would appreciate if you stop hitting on me. It would be the best for your health, and Hana won't complain later about your ass getting soundly kicked."

The Canine Master smirked. "By who, you? Naw, Sakura-chan, you can't hurt me! I'm ANBU, you know."

She merely raised an eyebrow, deciding not to tell him who was really going to be the one delivering the lesson in respect to the poor Canine Master and opting to take a leaf from Itachi's mind-playing book. "Do you remember when they were carving Tsunade-sama's face on the Hokage Monument? Something happened when they were doing the first draft so they got someone to destroy it before she saw it."

He nodded, intrigued. Sakura raised her eyes from his chart and narrowed her eyes in a perfect, sadistic smile that almost made the Inuzuka male's skin crawl with sudden irrational fear.

"Yeah, that could have been a nice Doton, but it was actually my handiwork."

Kiba paled.

"Alright, you're ready," she intoned cheerfully, going back to her usual light mood. "Do try to be careful next time, Kiba. I'm not always going to be around to patch things up, and I'm positive that Hana and Tsume-sama won't be pleased with your recklessness."

"Oh please, they're both nagging at me with that every day!" he said, trying to save face when he noticed a shadow standing behind the office's door. Sakura merely tch'ed.

"Blah, blah, blah. Just do me a favor and remind your sister about Shisui's appointment, please. I won't run around the village hunting for that moron Uchiha because he feels like pulling my leg. Now shoo, you fleabag."

"That hurts me, Sakura-chan, come on--Oh, good morning, Uchiha-taichou."

Sakura whirled at the door and saw him greeting Kiba with a curt nod. "Inuzuka."

And without missing a beat, his onyx eyes slid to Sakura's. "There is something we need to discuss, Sakura."

"Yes, of course," she nodded, looking at Kiba pointedly. Being the exact opposite of Naruto and taking the hint much faster, the Canine Master finished putting his jacket on and strode towards the door...

...only to have the ANBU Vice-Commander staring blankly at him. Something in the Uchiha's eyes kind of made him want to squirm.

"If--you excuse me, Captain," he tried humbly, his acute senses picking up on a new sort of tension in the room. Itachi stepped aside smoothly. Just as Kiba was closing the door, he thought it was an appropriate time to take a deep breath to calm himself.

Then he noticed both the captain and the medic's scents were the same, thrumming with the same pulse.

Needless to say, Kiba felt like smacking himself in the face for not noticing this earlier.

"How did the meeting go?" he heard Sakura asking. Judging by the tone of her voice, the Inuzuka knew she was smiling.

"The results were satisfactory," Itachi said in a low tone, which told their eavesdropper that the Uchiha had left the vicinity of the door. "Everything worked out here as well, I presume."

"Yeah, but I don't think we'll get a moment of peace anytime soon when they see us," Sakura responded after a moment of silence. Her tone was soft; something Kiba had never heard her using, and the familiarity they were sporting with each other was something that had the Inuzuka shinobi more than baffled. "How was your mission to Kumo?"

"Long," the Uchiha answered in a whisper so low and confidential that Kiba understood everything.

The Uchiha and Sakura-chan were...

"Inuzuka, I'm counting to three," a female voice rose threateningly from behind him, making him jump. Hanabi stood in front of the door with her arms crossed and Byakugan activated, a sight that made him scramble for the exit in a poof of ninja smoke. Smirking haughtily, the youngest Hyuuga prodigy kept doing her rounds.

"You knew he was there, why didn't you say something?"

"I felt it was much better for you to teach him a lesson, but it seems that your apprentice is also quite efficient in the threatening field," Itachi answered airily, before whispering something to her that made her squeak in embarrassment.

"...No I didn't."

"Yes, you did," Itachi took a seat on the windowsill and crossed his arms. A little smirk tugged at the corner of his lips, showing how amused he was with the entire situation. "After you labeled my little brother a frigid homosexual, you called your other teammate out on his also-undisclosed tendencies. The only you did not insult would be Naruto-kun."

Sakura snorted and hid her face behind her hands to contain her discomfited laughter. "Oh Oh my God... they're really mad aren't they?"

"I believe they were, but after our sparring session Naruto-kun and Sai-kun seemed to get the message. I would not say the same for my otouto though."

"Good lord," Sakura shook her head in dismay. "Do you think he's...?"

The Uchiha male shook his head. "I would like to think he is behaving like a spoiled child because of our secret rather than our liaison itself."

"Gee, how much faith, honestly," she rolled her eyes, not really realizing how fortunate she was by being allowed to rebuke the ANBU Vice-Commander and not being punished by it. "I guess I'll have to deal with him then," she sighed, not missing the glint of amusement that appeared in his onyx eyes. "Yeah, keep laughing; I'm going to be the one suffering a bad moment with Sasuke, not you."

"I will make it up to you, Sakura," he murmured, straightening to his full height. "I have a meeting with the Clan Elders; do not wait up for me and rest."

"Alright," she said shyly, a little bit confused by the fact that he had told her about his schedule. She never asked, and he told her very little about his business with the Uchiha Elders in order to spare her of the unpleasantness of their usual nagging.

With a nod and a little, slight smirk, the Uchiha prodigy disappeared. Sakura sighed, bracing herself for the maelstrom of events that were to come.

-X-

Rolling her eyes in utter annoyance, she stared incredulously at the moronic teammates she had.

A little while after lunchtime, she was notified by a nurse about having visitors in her office. Thinking that was Shisui and silently thanking the Inuzukas for a having a good messenger service, she strode towards her office, only to find her little sanctuary in the Hospital packed with four elite shinobi.

"Alright," she said, deciding she would take matters into her own hands so as to show her lover that she had the ovaries to take her teammates. "Spill."

"Sakura-chan! I can't believe you're dating that bastard Uchiha!" Naruto started shouting, only to have Sasuke smacking him on his head.

"Shut up, dobe!" he hissed, looking equally displeased with Naruto's behavior as he was with Sakura. "And here I thought you had agreed with my brother to leave the issue alone!"

Sakura raised a brow minutely. "You have exactly five minutes to rant and bitch about the whole matter. After that, you're going to leave him alone and you're going to trust in my judgment."

"Judgment?" echoed Sai blandly with one of his fake smiles. "The man hurt you, Hag."

"How do you know?" she shot back sharply. "The only thing he did was keep our relationship secret because he wanted the Clan Elders to leave us alone. I was hurt because I had to keep everything from you guys." Sharp emerald eyes slid to the youngest Uchiha. "You know what I'm talking about," she said softly, her gaze fixed with Sasuke's.

"Still, I can't say I'm impressed by your silence," Kakashi drawled from the window, behind his prized book. "We're your teammates. You said we were your family."

"The guilt-trip is not going to work on me, Kakashi," she lectured indignantly, shaking her head. "Of course you guys are my family; don't you dare to pull that card on me! Besides, this year allowed me to learn some things regarding those underhanded manners."

"A year?" the Copy Ninja's eye rose from his book, his tone betraying his surprise. "You've been with Itachi for a year now?"

"Yes." She wasn't going to lie now. And her calm response only triggered a bristle among her brothers.

"WHAT?!" Naruto bellowed, but Sakura sent him a glare that shut him up instantly.

"I'm not going to repeat myself, Naruto!" she threatened in a clipped tone, pointing to a huge syringe that she had on her desk. "Lower your tone. We're in a Hospital."

"You're starting to talk like him," Sasuke muttered.

Sakura crossed her arms and sighed, trying to gather some more patience and ignoring Sasuke's remark.

"Okay, look. I really wanted to tell you guys about this, but I knew you were going to react like this, if not worse," she waved at Naruto's angry red face and Sasuke's dark scowl. "Not to mention the Elders would have been rather obnoxious with the entire situation."

"We could have helped you," offered the ever oblivious ex-ROOT. "Isn't that what friends do?"

"Yes, Sai. Friends help each other," she nodded patiently, feeling that she would have to address this view of emotions later with him. "It was bad enough that I couldn't say anything, but now that everything is out in the open it would be just a matter of time for them to start snubbing me."

"I won't let them!" Naruto exclaimed, still sulking. "You are way more awesome than many chicks I've met in the Uchiha Clan!"

"Don't let Mikoto-baa hear that or you'll pay dearly," Sakura said with a light smile, which slipped away as she regarded her four boys. "...Come on, guys. Please try to understand my position, I... I just couldn't tell you."

"Do you love him?"

Sakura froze for a moment at Sasuke's unexpected question. He was still frowning, but his eyes told that he was expecting a suitable answer. An honest one.

No more stalling, she decided.

"Yes."

"He's not good enough for you," he said abruptly. "He's just devoted to his duties. He'll want you as a trophy, something to appease the Elders' demand for him to take a wife."

She smiled tenderly. "Oh, Sasuke, have some faith. I know where I stand with Itachi. I know more about the Elders than you realize, and not because he felt the need to inform me about their ridiculous demands."

"So he didn't..." the youngest Uchiha asked. She shook her head with a wry smile.

"I learned almost everything on my own."

A silence fell on the five-man squad. Sakura knew that Sasuke was only waiting for her to show some hesitation about the entire situation, but he was going to be sorely mistaken if he really hoped for her to rethink the matter. Her mind and her heart had decided that there were better ways to gain the upper hand on the Elders... and on everyone that tried to meddle with her life.

Her life, a life she was the only one responsible to shape and carve.

Only then she understood why Itachi had been so adamant in his scheming guidance.

"I trust you," Kakashi said suddenly, earning the attention of the young shinobi. "I knew about you months ago. When I confronted him, he said he wanted to protect you."

The Copy Nin shrugged lazily. "And he did. I can't say I'm happy with your choice, but as long as he doesn't hurt you..."

"He won't, Kakashi," she said with a laugh. "You know it."

"He'd better be good to you, Sakura-chan," Naruto said with a pout, and Sai nodding his agreement. "Otherwise I'll kick his Uchiha ass all the way to Wave Country!"

"Such a remarkable wish," drawled a deep voice from the door as it opened. Sakura let out a giggle as Itachi's not-amused-at-all onyx orbs fixed on the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. "I would advise for you to stick to your goal to become Hokage, Naruto-kun."

"Aniki," Sasuke said tonelessly. "What brings you here?"

"There is a certain woman who wants to meet with Sakura over dinner," he said lightly, shifting his gaze to Sakura's puzzled countenance. "It is Mother's request that she join us this evening."

Her eyes widened in understanding and nervousness. "Of course," she said, blushing slightly. "I'll... I'll be there."

Itachi nodded elegantly before regarding her teammates with another nod, strolling away as if he owned the entire Hospital.

Sakura couldn't help but snort nervously. If Mikoto-baa knew, then everything was taken care of, Itachi had told her when he went to the Elders' meeting. The Uchiha Matriarch was nothing short of stern when it came to her sons' welfare and emotional stability. Itachi might be a one-man-army, but she had always taken great care in teaching her younglings honorable principles and respect.

It was just a matter of time before the Elders pitched a bitchy fit, Tsunade warned her that very morning when both kunoichi had breakfast together. But seeing as Itachi pretty much did everything he wanted to do – their liaison being the perfect example of that – the busty Hokage felt that they were going to be alright now.

Raising her emerald eyes, she gifted her teammates with a smile so brilliant that they could only stare.

"It's okay," she said softly. "Everything will be okay."

And if something went wrong, they were going to fix it, by hook or by crook.

Itachi had proven he was willing to go against the entire world for what they had.

It was time for Sakura to prove the same to him.

-

- Tenna' ento lye omenta -

-XxX-

AN: And it's oveeeeeeeeeeeer! 8D

I'd like to give my thanks, love and massive glompage to RapturesRevenge, for putting up with me and my weird ideas.

Of course, this is only the beginning for them. It you want to read more about Non-Massacre ItaSaku, then you must check out Paws-bells' collection and Just Enough's story. They are awesomely good IMO, and they deserve all the love they can get.

Once more, I'd like to thank you all so much for going through every theme. It's been a fun ride, hasn't it?

Thanks for reading,

Zelha.