Chapter 18: EPILOGUE: New Year's Day

Sakura's heart thumped hard in her chest, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

There was a noise from deeper in her room, and then she heard it.

Breathing.

"I've been waiting for you, Sakura," he whispered, sending chills down her spine.

"Did you see the gifts I left you? I set some out for you in the living room while you were getting ready for me in the shower."

Sakura had already backed out of the room, though, and was running for the front door. As she passed through the living room, snatching up her coat from where she'd dropped it during her interlude with Itachi, she couldn't help her eyes seeing the 'gifts' the madman had left her.

Everywhere.

Mementos everywhere.

Pictures of her at Akatsuki, dancing with Ino. With Itachi. With members of the MA club

Pictures of her sparring or practising at the MA club. On campus. In an elevator. At the hospital, in the halls, in class.

At the garden at the Uchihas' summer villa. At her locker on campus. At Shinobi with Ino, at the very beginning of term. Grocery shopping. Changing in her bedroom.

Her blood froze in her veins as she saw the ones of her showering. Covered in cuts and bruises and stitches from her fight with the kidnappers at the hospital. One of the few times she had broken down, given in and cried, huddled in a corner as the water sluiced down her in cold rivulets.

She swore as she whipped the coat around her shoulders and ran for the door. He was quicker, though, and grabbed for her.

"Sakura," he said, anger rising. "Sakura, listen to me!"

"No!" she snarled, whirling around and backfisting him in the face. His nose made a satisfying crunch as she made contact. "Let go of me!"

And she tore out of the apartment and into the snow, barefoot.

She wasn't sure when, but at some point during her escape she dropped her phone.

But by the gods, she ran.

Home safe. Sleep well, Sakura. - Itachi

Itachi hit send and smiled, letting out a deep breath. His lips still tingled from their kiss and he knew sleep would be a long time coming that night with the adrenaline still seeping through his veins. Could things have been any more perfect? He felt a shiver down his spine as he relieved the feeling of Sakura's small fingers in his loose hair...

With a small shake of his head to clear some of his daydreams, Itachi hung up his coat and set his shoes aside in a neat pair before letting a full grin spread across his face. Finally, he thought, his shoulders relaxing. Finally, things were coming together. From here on out, everything was going to run smoothly. He would make it happen.

Far more relaxed after a shower, Itachi had just closed the door to his bathroom behind him when he heard a knock on his apartment door.

With a towel around his wet hair and a thick bathrobe wrapped around him, he slipped his phone in his pocket and answered.

"Good morning," he said, nodding to the officers. It was just after three in the morning at that point.

"Uchiha Itachi?"

"Yes," said Itachi to his cousin, Nobuo. It was a formality, but they were following procedure. "How can I help you?"

The officers looked at each other. "We came to ask you that. We received a call from your father to immediately drop our assignment and come assist you."

Itachi shook his head. "There is a mistake. I only just returned home. Do you know when the call came in?"

"Approximately twenty ago; we waited until reinforcements were on their way to our previous assignment before arriving. We apologize for the delay."

Unease coiled in Itachi's stomach. "My father sent you? I have not spoken with my father since early afternoon."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Asked the second officer, Daiki, and Itachi nodded. "Would you mind if we came in to check your apartment to be sure?"

"Come in," he said, taking a step back. "And yes, I'm sure." Then it hit him. "What was your last assignment?"

"Before coming here?"

"Yes," said Itachi, drawing his phone from his pocket and checking the call history. There was no reply from Sakura. His heart bottomed out. She always replied to his messages. Always.

"We can't release that information—"

"Were you monitoring Haruno Sakura's residence?" demanded Itachi.

There was a pause, and Itachi took a step closer to them, his patience wearing thin as his anxiety ratcheted up.

"Had your back-up arrived before you left?" He asked, fist clenching nearly as tightly as his heart.

"It was on the way, only minutes away—"

"You need to go back," said Itachi, turning away to hurry to his room. "I'm getting changed and coming with you."

"But—"

"Search my apartment as fast as you can if you need to, but when I come out I'm going to Sakura's," said Itachi tersely.

"There's no need for concern," said Daiki, but Itachi had already disappeared behind the door to his room.

"I'll be leaving in three minutes," he called back. "Call my father to advise him that Sakura is in danger, and to double the patrols in her neighbourhood."

"Itachi, come on, there's been no evidence of—"

But Itachi was already dialing his father. "Did you call off Sakura's guard?" He asked without preamble.

"Itachi?" Mumbled Fugaku through the receiver, with the sound of blankets rustling. "What's this about Sakura? No, of course not. We agreed to give her her privacy but maintain the stake-out."

"Then you have a leak in the department. Someone used your name to call off her guards temporarily. She isn't answering texts," said Itachi, throwing on a sweater and dragging his jeans up with lightning fast fingers. "I'm on my way over."

"Itachi, wait, stay where you are," said Fugaku, very much awake now. "I'll have the officers over there shortly."

"Not good enough."

"If he's there—"

"She isn't replying to her phone, I'm going over there."

"Would you give me a moment, I'm getting dressed—"

"Daiki and Nobuo left their post because they said you ordered them to come check on me! This is deliberate and you have a mole and imposter, and Sakura is not responding!"

"I'll meet you over there," said Fugaku.

"If anything has happened to her—"

"For god's sake, Itachi, I know!" Snapped Fugaku.

Itachi swallowed to clear his dry throat, collecting his keys as he exited his room, his phone still at his ear. Daiki and Nobuo nodded to him and followed him out.

"We're on our way," said Itachi.

"Mind the roads," said Fugaku. "And be careful, son," he said with rare emotion.

"Hn."

With that, Itachi nodded at Daiki and Nobuo who hopped into their squad car. Itachi opened the throttle of his Audi as he tore out of his parking lot.

Ice, snow, stones and gravel tore at Sakura's feet as she raced down the empty road outside her apartment. She had to find shelter, she had to hide, but she didn't know where she may be safe. She didn't dare try Ino's; she didn't want to involve her in Madara's madness. Who could help her, though? Who could she turn to?

Her lungs burned from the frigid air, and her coat flapped around her naked torso, the moisture from her shower having been replaced by a cold sweat that ran down her back and stomach as she clutched the long winter coat around herself tighter.

Could she confront him? Did she dare stop running to confront him?

Was he armed?

She didn't know. She had swung hard and run for it on instinct.

And damnit, where had she put her phone?

Must have dropped it in my spectacular effort to flee, she decided, angrier and angrier at herself.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot," she muttered under her gasping breath, her teeth clenched to control her shivering.

The wind picked up then, gusting around her slender frame and Sakura noticed for the first time just how badly she was shaking. She could not tell whether it was from fear or from the dropping temperatures.

A phone. She needed a phone. She needed to call for help. Itachi, the police, the Uchihas, someone. But all her numbers had been saved in her phone's memory.

She swallowed and looked around. The street was empty of traffic and the apartment buildings surrounding her had wound down from their New Year's Eve festivities and lay silent as a graveyard.

In the distance she heard a shuffling, rushing noise; someone was running through the snow and they were getting louder. Sakura's heart leapt up into her throat.

Without another thought she tore off again in a new direction.

Why… why was she running?

Why had she hit him?

Confused and upset, Madara used his sleeve to wipe at the blood still trickling from his nose. He was sure it was broken, along with part of his left cheek. His breath fogged in front of him in the winter night, and he scanned the street for his quarry. There; he saw the pathway of unequal footprints, complete with individual little toe prints, leading down the next street.

All he wanted was her happiness. He'd tried to show her how much he cared; had gone to so much trouble to capture all her different emotions and expressions. She was so beautiful, so kind. She was so important to him. He hurried after her, following her trail.

He would forgive her for hitting him. She probably hadn't gotten a very good look at him, he reasoned. And he had surprised her.

She hadn't even made it to her room, where he'd prepared the biggest surprise.

There's still time, he reassured himself. The snow wasn't falling heavily enough to obscure her trail. He would catch up to her very shortly.

And then they'd have all the time together in the world.

Itachi had rarely felt cold rage seep through him the way he did when he screeched into Sakura's apartment parking lot and could already see the lights flashing from a half-dozen police cruisers. Looking up at Sakura's apartment, he could see her door, light crawling across her front entrance from the police lamps, was open and a perimeter of police tape ran across the area, barricading it from intruders.

Too late. His jaw clenched.

Struggling to contain the beast inside him that cried out for blood, Itachi gripped the steering wheel in white-fingered hands and scanned the area.

It was then he saw a group of officers off to the side, kneeling by the sidewalk and measuring two sets of footprints.

Itachi put his car in gear again and shot out of the parking lot, ignoring the shouts from behind him as he tore off down the road, following the footprints. As he got closer, he saw that the slender, narrower female footprint was not one of a shoe, but rather a bare foot.

Longer, heavier booted footprints followed closely beside hers.

He pressed harder on the accelerator.

It was the middle of the night when Sasuke heard movement from the bathroom down the hall; a thump, then a crash, and muttered swearing.

His brow furrowing, he let out a sigh and climbed out of bed.

"Karin," he called, rubbing his eyes as he turned on the hallway light. "What did you do?"

He leaned against the wall across from the bathroom door, yawning. He'd make sure she was alive and then leave her be. He had work first thing in the morning; this kind of nonsense was not going to be tolerated.

More rustling noises came from inside the bathroom, however, and another, smaller crash. "N-nothing!... crap... Go back to bed."

His brow arched.

"You don't sound alright," he muttered.

"I'm fine," she called. "Just—ow—dropped my tea cup and I'm trying to pick up the slivers before they cut up my feet worse. Go back to bed."

Shaking his head, Sasuke pushed away from the wall and collected the dustpan and broom from the nearby linen closet. He knocked on the bathroom door. "Broom and pan are right outside the door," he said, tapping the door with them and setting them on the ground. "I'm going back to bed."

He turned away and dragged his feet back to his room before his shoulders slumped and he realized how callously he had behaved. "Look," he said, turning back just as the bathroom door opened, "Do you need help? I have a first aid kit in my…"

His words trailed off as he heard Karin's quick intake of breath as their eyes met. She was topless. He tried to look away out of respect, but he was fixated on her.

He normally crimson hair had been bleached white and hung across her broad shoulders; her hands, no longer hidden under long sleeves, were larger than he remembered; her fingers unadorned by nail polish; her face denuded of makeup seemed less refined. But it was her masculine chest that surprised him the most.

"Karin?" He asked, finally tearing his eyes away to meet hers again behind her glasses; and it was then he took in just how horrified she—he?—was.

Her face paling by the heartbeat, Karin's lipstick-free mouth had fallen open in terror. Sasuke noted how thin and flat they looked without her usual primping.

When she moved, she was lightning fast. She grabbed the door and slammed it in Sasuke's face, ignoring how bewildered he was; but Sasuke had a predator's instincts and seized the door mid-swing, preventing it from closing. He nearly lost a pinkie but saved it just in time.

"Wait—wait, Karin, just… would you stop hyperventilating? You're going to pass out!" He yelled, genuinely concerned, yanking the door free of her grasp.

"You can't see me like this, you can't see me like this, you can't—" Karin had turned away from Sasuke, huddling against the back of the bathroom door with her arms wrapped around herself.

Scanning the bathroom furtively—hair bleach on one counter, used and discarded; another bottle of hair dye on the side of the tub, the empty carton beside it reading 'Cherry Blossom Pink'; a bottle of gin on the counter; no sign of a tea cup, but plenty of glass across the floor; and there, among the rubble of discarded clothing, the moulded cups that...—Sasuke turned to the towel rack and grabbed the oversized fluffy white bathrobe that hung there. Turning his head to the side to give Karin privacy, he held it out and wrapped it around her shuddering shoulders.

"Karin," he said, turning back to her once she was covered.

"Go away," she whispered.

Sasuke sighed and took a seat on the bathroom floor across from Karin, after sweeping up the glass shards.

"Oy," he said, voice gentler than he'd ever spoken to her. "Karin."

She shook her head, her face buried in her crossed arms, her legs tucked up to her chest. "Please, just go."

"No."

"You're a fucking prick," she spat. Her arms loosened enough to kick at Sasuke, but he grabbed her foot.

"Don't kick me. You're upset. It won't make you feel better to hurt someone else. That isn't who you are," Sasuke said.

Karin snorted, pulling her leg back and wrapping her arms around it again as she pulled her knees up to her chest once more. "What do you know about who I am?" She shook her head and laughed lowly under her breath. "Obviously I'm not who you thought I was."

"You are who I thought you were. You're a hard worker. A talented organizer. A determined negotiator. And a pawn to the Oto Corp," he recited, voice calm. "This is what they have over you, isn't it?"

Karin swallowed.

"You can keep your secrets, Karin. I'm not interested in other people's secrets. But," he picked up the box for the pink hair dye. "This," he lifted it up. "Isn't you." He tossed it into the garbage. "And don't ever try to manipulate me by trying to be her. You will never be anything like her."

"Because she's a 'real' girl?"

Sasuke looked at Karin, still pale, though with some colour coming back into her cheeks.

"You are only near me because they want you to be close to me. Don't bring Sakura into this," he said evenly.

Karin looked away towards the tub for a moment before wiggling her feet.

"I was supposed to get the surgery," she said quietly, when Sasuke remained where he was, listening. "They said that they supported those kinds of decisions, and they started me on the therapy meds right away. They said after a year or so, I should be able to transition. But they kept delaying it." She shrugged. "They kept delaying and delaying. It's been like this for six years now."

Sasuke remained quiet, but his mind reeled. Karin was six years older than he was…

"When I tried to leave, they said the drugs would stop. They warned me about the side effects. They said I would have to start all over again, and good luck finding a place that would take me," said Karin. She bit her lip, swallowed. "When you came into the picture, I tried to leave again. But they found out we'd met at the pub and that we were friends, they threatened to destroy my career, my life, to out me publicly if I tried to leave."

Sasuke listened as Karin talked, his head putting together all the little clues. Her medications. Her constant work. Her perpetual schedules. Sui's teasing. Her obsession with control and privacy. It all made sense.

"I swore to myself, when I was kicked out of my home and family, that I would never change who I was to suit someone else again," she said after a moment of silence. She wiped at her eyes with her wrist, holding her glasses in her other hand. She shook her head. "I've had that bottle of dye for weeks. I just couldn't bring myself to use it. But when you came back, I could see you had changed. I needed something to get your attention again, to distract you from Konoha. To make you feel that this was your home. They told me to do whatever I had to to ensure your compliance."

"My compliance in what?"

Karin tilted her head back, closing her eyes.

"In what they want."

"Karin," said Sasuke, his voice sharper.

She pressed her lips together, and Sasuke fought the urge to shake her.

"The law. They're using you, and your family and connections, to get around certain laws."

"What laws? I work in compliance. I helped design all the different protocols we need to follow to make sure we're following all those laws!" Said Sasuke, affronted.

She gave him a wan smile. "Oh, you naive little child," she sighed, her voice genuinely sorry. "If you spent all that time looking at every loophole as to how to stay within the law and avoid running across foul play… what happens when someone looks at those same notes and your scenarios, and reverses them?"

Sasuke's blood slowed in his veins.

"You get a skeleton key for how to get around the police and justice system of Konoha," said Karin, voice as calm and gentle as a preschool teacher's. "And with all the inside knowledge you've been using about Konoha's military police and judicial runnings to form your compliance scenarios, you've handed them everything they need to get around it all from the inside."

"But why?" Asked Sasuke, his fingers numb from dread.

"You really can't figure it out?" Said Karin.

Sasuke stared at her.

"Think hard. It will come to you. Think about what Oto Corp does. Think about what it does to its own people, often, if they can make them vulnerable and desperate enough," she said mirthlessly.

But Sasuke shook his head.

Karin scoffed at him, and narrowed her eyes. "You haven't forgotten Kimimaro. Or his wife. Or his son… or me."

And then it clicked.

"Test subjects," he breathed. Then he remembered the kidnapping Sakura had foiled. "He's smuggling people to Oto to use as test subjects for his biological warfare experiments."

Nausea cold and sick roiled in his stomach. Children. They were even kidnapping children.

"They have people there, inside Konoha, helping them, too."

"But why? Can't they just ask for volunteers?"

"Sasuke, have you not realized yet what this place is?"

Sasuke stared at her.

"We're a terrorist organization; and we don't 'run' the government here in Oto. We are the government," snapped Karin. "Why do you think we have such a massive communications department? A finance area that spans two entire floors? Does that sound reasonable for a single company? Or, how many divisions we have, everywhere?"

"The housing complex…" started Sasuke.

Karin shook her head. "Observation. You took out the bugs they planted initially. That's why they brought me in."

And everything was making sicker and sicker sense to Sasuke.

"It's not just test subjects, though. They're smuggling drugs and counterfeit goods out, too, aren't they?" He said, his shoulders tensing.

Karin nodded once.

"Everything is under observation. Everything. When you asked for that leave of absence over Christmas, it spooked a whole lot of power players. They were very relieved you spent pretty much the entire trip at home, by the way," she sighed. "Well, mostly. I had to bend over backwards to reassure them you were coming back. If you hadn't, I don't want to think about what they would have done to… anyway," she sighed again.

"Do me a favour," said Karin, exhausted. Dark smudges circled her weary eyes. "Keep your mouth shut, please. At least for now."

Sasuke looked pointedly at the dye on the ledge of the bath. "It wouldn't suit you."

To his surprise, Karin blushed. "I guess I'm blond for the next few days, then."

Sasuke shook his head. "Work from home tomorrow. If you have some of your natural hair left from your brush, I will take it to a pharmacy tomorrow and get you a matching colour so you can dye it back."

Karin stared at him, mouth dropping open.

"Hn?"

"You're… not being a prick."

Sasuke arched a brow. "About?"

Karin blushed again, and gestured to herself awkwardly, tucking her legs under her.

"You're Karin. Nothing has changed; now I'm aware of something that I wasn't aware of before, but nothing changed," said Sasuke. "And I respect your privacy and won't speak of it to anyone else."

Karin's eyes warmed, gathering wetness in the corners.

"No crying," he ordered. He hated that.

Karin laughed and shook her head, wiping the tears away before they could fall. "Understood."

With that, Sasuke stood and offered his hand to Karin, helping her to her feet. Together they tidied the bathroom and went their separate ways to bed. Sasuke mind was reeling, however, at all the new information.

Who could he talk to about this? He couldn't trust anyone here.

… what would happen if he tried to leave again?

How would he communicate with his family? He had to let them know what was going on.

But there was no one in Oto he could trust.

A wrinkled face and a Hello Kitty tenugui appeared in his mind.

Or, perhaps there was.

"I don't care what you have to do, you need to get here, now!"

Madara snarled into the phone and snapped it shut.

He'd had to leave his car behind in order to chase Sakura on foot, and he'd heard the sirens. He was running out of time.

He looked around the dark street, barely lit by the lamps whose glow was muted by the mounting snow.

He was losing her footprints. This was unacceptable, not only because it meant his Sakura was lost in the snow and quickly succumbing to hypothermia, but also because it would be harder to leave with her afterwards and not be followed. His mistake at the farmhouse could not be repeated.

Luckily he still had a few options left.

Picking up Sakura's trail again, he hurried after her. He just needed a few more minutes before his ride arrived.

Knowing he was going to regret it, but having no other choice, Itachi typed a message into his phone and sent it to a very select group of individuals.

Missing. Haruno Sakura. Photo attached. In this general location. (He added the GPS coordinates). Predator in pursuit. Likely armed. Need assistance locating and protecting her. Reward offered for anyone who finds and protects her, and/or captures assailant alive.

He hit send as he faced the alleyway he'd turned down. It was a dead end; another car had also been abandoned there, engine still running though it looked like it had been there for some time. He hopped the fence at the end and took off after the booted prints he saw, the same ones he'd followed from Sakura's apartment.

Sweat dampened Shisui's brow as he navigated the frozen Konoha streets. His trusty Land Rover had never failed him, and he had complete faith in it, but his insides were mush. How had everything gone so wrong?

His GPS beeped at him, and he arrived at the alleyway where the message was sent from. He pulled in and noted the other vehicle with its dimly lit interior light on, its engine sputtering as the tank ran dry.

Sakura's footprints led up to the wall at the end, and he followed them as far as he could until he reached the chain link fence with the garbage piled up the side.

Hoisting himself up, Shisui was about to swing over the side of the fence when he noticed only one set of prints. Heavier, from a man's boot.

There were no more Sakura-bare-foot-prints on this side of the fence.

Shisui dropped back down and spun around, searching the area. She hadn't run back down the alley. Where was she? Up the fire escapes? Would Sakura have been able to reach that high?

No, he shook his head, his eyes sharpened as much as they could in the narrow, dark alley. Sakura wouldn't have been able to reach that high to grab the ladders to pull them down. Her hand was still too damaged to lift her own body weight. Where could she have gone?

He was examining the fence again for any evidence that would help when he heard the muffled groan from beside him.

"Sakura?" He asked, turning to the… pile of garbage!

Not sparing a minute, Shisui grabbed at the bags and boxes piled there, ripping them away from the frosty grip that had settled around them. Snow flew through the air at being disturbed as he tossed the bags and boxes behind him, before finally his warm hands connected with a chilled arm that jerked in his grasp, followed by a curt scream.

"It's okay, Sakura," he said, kneeling so he could see her better. "It's me. It's me," he repeated, lowering his voice.

"Itachi?" Asked her quiet voice.

"No, Shisui," he said, smiling. He leaned closer and pushed a last bag out of the way as he searched for her hand, face, anything.

And then, with a tumble, Sakura shakily emerged. Her skin was grey, her hair frozen against her head in frosted chunks; her lips and hands were blue. All she had on was an oversize coat; the rest of her was bare.

Shisui's eyes widened. She was barely breathing, wasn't even trembling; her teeth weren't chattering.

"Sakura, we need to get you warm," he said, yanking off his jacket and stepping through the fallen garbage bags to wrap it around her.

"Doesn't hurt," she said, her words slurred.

His brow dipped. She was in worse condition than he thought. "We're taking you to my place. Can you walk?"

She tried to shake her head, but couldn't quite manage the full motion.

"I'm going to carry you to the car," he said, and Sakura accepted.

With gentle hands he lifted her and started back to his Land Rover.

"We're lucky I found you," he said, unlocking the door. He placed her gently inside. "Give me a minute, I'm going to get into the driver's seat. Sit tight."

Sakura made a humming sound, and Shisui's heart broke. He wrapped her head to toe in blankets before buckling her in securely.

He hopped in as fast as he could, turning on the ignition once more and letting the engine idle a moment as he pulled out his phone. He locked the doors, just in case.

"I'm just going to send a message before we go, okay?" He said, already typing. He looked at Sakura in the passenger seat, but she had closed her eyes, her breathing shallow and even.

"Oy!" He called, shaking her seat. "Wake up! Stay awake! No sleeping!"

He hit send on his phone when she opened one bleary eye to stare at him.

His brows drawing together, Shisui frowned. "Stay with me," he said, putting the Land Rover in gear. "We're on our way. Keep talking. It's really important you stay awake right now. You know that, right? Good," he said, splitting his attention between her and the road.

"Shi...sui…?"

"Yeah, Sakura?"

"How did you find me?"

"Hn? A message told me where to look for you. Cell phones are amazing these days. How are you doing? Tell me what you can feel. Can you feel your fingers?"

"No."

"Wrists? elbows?"

"Not much."

Shisui's stomach dropped.

"Arms? Shoulders?"

"Yeah. Some."

"That's good. We'll get you fixed up really soon," he said, taking a road she was less familiar with.

Sakura's tired eyes followed their path. "Itachi's house is back that way."

"We're not going to the Uchiha Main House. I said we were going to my place. I thought you'd like a break from everything," he said, navigating carefully.

"Itachi knows?"

"Hn. We may need to make a quick stop on the way, though, okay? I wasn't supposed to leave tonight, and I—hey. Hey!"

Sakura opened her eyes again.

Shisui let out a heavy breath.

Then Sakura's eyes flew open and she sat up straighter. "Itachi!"

"No, we're going to my place—"

"No, Itachi! Right there! Brake!"

Skidding to the side as he slammed on the brakes, Shisui's SUV slid sideways across the road as Itachi pulled up beside them, leaping from his car. Shisui lowered his window.

"Shisui! What are you doing here?" Itachi said, running to Shisui's door. His hair was a mess and his jacket was open, whipping around him in the windy night. "You have to help, I can't find her. Sakura's gone missing. Madara's out there, he got to her, and I think she ran out of her—"

"Itachi!"

His rambling cut short at the sound of Sakura's excited voice, Itachi practically launched himself through Shisui's driver's side window. "Sakura!"

"Oof," grunted Shisui as Itachi's elbow landed in his sternum. "Easy, 'tachi. She needs to be warmed up gradually. Hypothermia."

"My place is closest," said Itachi.

Sakura's head moved side to side as she listened to them speak, getting dizzy from the focus it took to keep up with them.

"Your family's place is a little further than—"

"My apartment!" Snapped Itachi, his restraint short-circuiting. His brows rose as he looked at Shisui. "Shisui, I'm sorry, I'm—"

Shisui sighed. "It's okay, we'll head over together. Call who you need to, and we'll all meet at your place."

Itachi nodded, sliding back out of Shisui's window. "I'll lead and buzz you straight in through the garage," he said.

With that Itachi drove off, Shisui following.

It took most of the night, but by mid-morning Sakura was resting safely in Itachi's apartment as the rest of her body regained its normal temperature. In an undershirt and boxers, Itachi rested alongside her in his bed, lending her his warmth. She had an IV line to feed her fluids and nutrients, and she would need a great deal of rest, but overall she had come through her ordeal far better than expected; though it may take a few days before her feet would be healed enough to walk or run comfortably.

Once the police and paramedics had arrived at Itachi's apartment and questioned Sakura and Itachi, Shisui slipped away. In his pocket, his phone burned a hole with its vibrating. Dozens of messages blinked at him, and he rubbed his red eyes as he slipped into the front seat of his Land Rover, listening to the most recent one.

He set off to the address input into his GPS, and held his tongue as a tall, dark-haired man opened the passenger door and jumped in when he stopped.

He waited for his passenger to speak first, turning back into traffic and merging onto an exit that led outside Konoha.

"Why?" Asked the man darkly, his eyes staring dead ahead. "How?"

Shisui sighed. "We almost lost her, you know." He changed lanes on the empty highway. "You need to be more careful."

This quieted the man a moment. He removed his hat and shook out his long, dark mane of wild hair.

"Will she be all right?" He asked, his hands curling into fists in his lap.

Shisui kept his eyes on the icy roads. "Yes," he replied. "She'll be fine in a few days. She just needs some rest."

The man nodded again. His chest rose and fell as he let out a long, deep breath.

"No one questioned you?" He asked.

Shisui shook his head. "They were more interested in Sakura's wellbeing and story. No one noticed I left."

"Good."

Madara turned to Shisui. "Next time we'll be successful."

Shisui smiled. "Yes, big brother."

AN: The End of "Forest Fire II".

I will be sending PM replies to the lovely readers who left / leave me comments. "Forest Fire III" will be out... later.

This epilogue is unbeta'd, but I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped me along the way with this story; your feedback, comments, suggestions and edits all made this a much stronger story than I ever thought I'd be able to write. All errors remain my own. If you find any, please let me know so I can go back and correct them, hahaha! Pokesimmo, AijoInu, nikolita, thank you especially for your help with "Forest Fire II".

To all my wonderful readers, I hope you've enjoyed "Forest Fire II" and for any questions, feel free to shoot 'em my way over on tumblr (beyondthemoor) where you can ask anonymously, if you so desire. I will be taking a break from the "Forest Fire" 'verse to finish up a few other projects over the course of this year, and I look forward to providing you more fun fanfic to read in the weeks, months, and years to come. Have a fantastic day!

-mm