YES IT IS I, RETURNING TO THE NARUTO FANDOM AFTER A MILLION YEARS. TO BRING YOU MORE CRACKSHIPS. Or rather, I was dragged kicking and screaming back into it by papalogia, who supplied the prompt for this.

Hopefully writing a bunch of shorter things will ease me back into the characters... so I can get back to work on Waking Up at September's End.

Prompt: Study Date, for Shisui x Sakura

Non-Massacre AU, obviously. I love that AU.

When Sakura had suggested that the group should study together for their upcoming evaluations, she had anticipated resistance. What she hadn't quite expected was to be wholly abandoned by said group.

Kakashi had smiled behind his mask, and then said he remembered seeing an old lady that needed help crossing the street. Sakura just waved him off. No use in trying with him, honestly.

Naruto had flat out told her that by no means was he going to sit in a stuffy room for several hours with a bunch of braniac nerds, and had promptly fucked off.

The others had been more or less gentler in their refusals, some of them even offering decent reasons, such as Ino who had to work in the flower shop, and Sai who needed to paint a pond at a specific lighting at a specific time (at this point Sakura no longer questioned the needs of the artist). Shikamaru, however, had also been brutal in his blunt, "I would rather sleep." (But then again, she had sort of expected that response from him.)

Itachi, though, his betrayal stung. She thought at least the Uchiha prodigy would be into this whole studying idea. The stoic man could generally be relied upon whenever Shikamaru was too exhausted to cater to the same intellectual pursuits. But then again, if Fugaku needed him and Sasuke for something, then that was that and Sakura was going to have to live with it. It had been like this for as long as she could remember, and it wasn't about to change anytime soon.

Thus leaving her all alone to study with a man she barely knew. Who might have be or might not be her not-quite-crush.

However, what puzzled her was why Fugaku would need Sasuke and Itachi for something clearly regarding the clan… and then leave Shisui behind.

Or Shisui could just be ditching. That was entirely a possibility with this particular Uchiha. He seemed to break the too-serious mold most of his clan were crafted from.

But then he would be ditching to study… with her. A man who, although he did not talk about it (much less brag), was every bit as talented and smart as his younger cousins. A man who - more likely than not - did not need the studying. In fact, she would bet serious money on it, despite her aversion to gambling (gifted to her by courtesy of being Tsunade's apprentice).

And so Sakura decided to over-analyze it. As she normally did.

Option One: He had decided to stay out of pity for his cousin's friend.

Very likely, given what she knew of him. Little though that actually was. Although they had never really talked one-on-one before, she had been witness to a number of Itachi's praise sessions for his cousin (okay, so it was more like - "Shisui was the one who taught me this" or "Shisui tried to help out a random stranger again" - but coming from Itachi that was tantamount to singing his praises from Konoha's rooftops).

Option Two: Shisui was using mentoring her as an excuse to get out of whatever Fugaku had planned for the clan that evening.

Also a distinct possibility. Shisui loved and was devoted to his clan by all appearances, but according to Sasuke he held quite a bit of disdain for certain precepts the clan adhered to. Plus, if it fell into line with his sense of humor… well Sakura had seen Naruto do much more extreme things than skip a meeting for the sake of a joke.

Option Three: The older shinobi wanted to help her learn for its own sake.

Which made her stomach feel all fluttery and blood rush to her ears. Reactions she thought she'd kicked all the way to Kumo at the same time as her crush on Sasuke and most definitely did not want back.

Sakura did not like this option. She refused to believe this was the truth.

Yes, she had a minor… something-feeling for him. He was handsome, and older, and mysterious, and kind, and smart, and talented, and funny. Who wouldn't have a something-feeling for him?

She could handle those... whatever-feelings maturely, though. Sakura had dealt with them before, she could do it again. She was a adult not a twelve years old, not that her hormones seemed to realize. (Because those were dead set on, "we have a shot™!")

So she wasn't… quite paying as close of attention as she should have as Shisui spoke on the advanced genjutsu scroll laid out before them on the table.

A hand waved in front of her face, and Shisui let out a low whistle to get her attention. "Calling Sakura-chan. Come in, Sakura-chan." When she blinked and her eyes lost their glazed-over appearance, he shot her a grin. "There she is!"

Sakura let out a cough. "Sorry about that." Heat crept across her cheeks at being caught daydreaming. Whoever invented hormones needed to be dismembered. That was her professional opinion as an accomplished medical ninja. Sakura would be more than willing to be the first to volunteer for the duty. With a smile, and an uprooted tree at the ready for optimal swing.

"Not a problem. Maybe we should move on to a different subject for a bit?"

That only made her redder. "You're a much gentler teacher than Tsunade-sama," she observed dryly. "She would have punted me halfway across Konoha for losing focus." And had, actually. Multiple times. Losing focus was deadly for a medical ninja - for themselves, and their patient. Tsunade was very... diligent in instilling this knowledge into her pupil's pink-bedecked skull.

"I think the librarian would frown on that," he retorted, gesturing vaguely to their surroundings. "And she's scary when she's angry."

Sakura couldn't help snorting in response. "Isn't the librarian a relative of the Uchihas?"

"And that is how I know," Shisui replied, somber. "Fuyumi is terrifying. You should see her at clan meetings."

That phrase gave Sakura pause. "You mean like the one that's supposed to be going on right now?"

"Oh, there isn't one." Shisui shrugged. "Itachi lied."

It took her a moment to process this revelation. "…He what?" Itachi? Mr. Straight-Lace? Lying about a-matter-of-utmost-importance?

"Lied," repeated Shisui. "Deceived. Bamboozled. Tricked. Hoodwinked. I could go on."

"No need," she reassured him. "I get the picture." That little weasel bastard. The sleep deprived ferret was going to pay for this. "Though why is what concerns me."

"You could say that he…" Shisui paused for half a beat, "…weaseled out of it."

Sakura returned his beaming, expectant expression with as blank a stare as she could muster. Long practice with Naruto, and Kakashi, and sometimes Kiba gave her the advantage here.

Finally, Shisui wilted. "No good?"

"No," Sakura said, allowing her actual amusement to shine through at his crestfallen expression. Looking at him, it was like she'd kicked his puppy. "It was fine. I'm just wondering how long you were sitting on it."

"The entire time."

She bit back a laugh. "Okay, so… Itachi ditched me. But I'm surprised Sasuke went along with it."

"Oh, he doesn't know," Shisui informed her, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Sasuke genuinely thinks there's a meeting, but in reality Aunt Mikoto just wanted to spend more time with him and enlisted me in getting it to happen. So right about now my precious little cousin is probably enduring some enforced mother-son bonding time."

"What about Itachi, then?"

"Total mama's boy," Shisui stated, with zero hesitation in outing his best friend. "He's probably enjoying the tea ceremony or flower arranging, or whatever it is Aunt Mikoto thinks entails an appropriate bonding activity."

Actually, Sakura was pretty sure Itachi enjoyed those pursuits for their own sake just as much, but that was neither here nor there. "I see. So I'm just… collateral damage to the prank, then?"

Shisui flinched, and let out a pained laugh. "Kind of? I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. If it makes you feel better, I did not expect everyone to decline and for Itachi to pick now. Also, I did have to bribe Itachi with five whole popcorn to get him to do it."

Somehow Itachi was the one that truly got the best end of this situation, Sakura couldn't help observing. "What did you get in exchange then? From their mother?"

He shrugged. "Time spent getting to know you, I guess. Seems a fair trade to me. I mean… we've known each other a long time, right? You and Naruto have been friends with Sasuke for years. But I can't really say that I know you all that well. Plus, you know… I thought we could swap some pointers. Genjutsu from me, and that thing you do where you rip giant trees right out of the ground because that is cool."

Sakura gaped like a fish at him, but somehow managed a nod in response. She was finally getting a feel for who he actually was.

Shisui had Sasuke's brain combined with Naruto's personality.

Suddenly, she understood why Itachi had patted her on the shoulder with a sympathetic, "Good luck," as he left. Oddly, this did not deter the hormones like by all rights it should have.

It was going to be a long study session.

But an interesting one.

Dare say she was looking forward to it.

Plus, she would get to hit things with a tree, and show off to her not-quite-crush. All in the name of atudying, of course.

Win-win as far as she was concerned.