Finding Time,

…In Training

(Chapter Three)

Sakura groaned quietly, rolling onto her side, using her pillow to drown out the noise of Shisui's shouting. He stood just outside her room, stopped from entering by her locked door. It had been five days since Sakura had first started going back in time and she was quickly becoming more familiar with Nozomi's mannerisms and attitude towards her family and companions.

Right now, for example, she felt a deep sense of irritation towards her sometimes-brother, her lack of sleep getting the best of her. It felt like she wasn't sleeping at all; considering that whenever she slept she just changed bodies again. However, she did feel slightly more rested in Nozomi's body than she did in her own.

Luck, perhaps, or it could have been purposeful. Something she wouldn't know until she found Madam Yokurai, the fortune teller, again. Which—Sakura told herself firmly—she would. There were too many questions left over that needed to be answered.

"Nozomi come on!" Shisui yelled again, this time bumping against her door. Sakura hissed out a curse under her breath and threw back the covers. The wood floors were freezing under her bare feet and she yelped, darting across the room to get clothes to change into. Shisui paused, though the blissful silence was short lived. "Are you up?"

"Yes," Sakura told him grumpily, changing into training clothes. "Now go away. I'll be there in a second."

"Great!" His footsteps retreated and she sighed in relief.

Nozomi's sensei was on another mission today and—after the last disaster of his last attempt to make her Genin team work together—he had allowed them to train alone. Shisui had been happy to hear this and had been insisting since last night that they train together, stating that Nozomi no longer spent enough time with him.

This was impossible, of course, since he snuck into her room all the time to bother her. But she was starting to like it; Shisui made her happy. To Nozomi, Shisui was her sun, brightening her life and bringing her joy. Sakura understood the feeling—Naruto was the source of her own happiness, always keeping her from getting too caught up in her pain. In many ways, Shisui and Naruto were very similar. It was a small comfort in a strange, alien world.

Dressed, Sakura put on her house slippers, glad to get her feet off the wood floors. She walked down the hallways she had begun to memorize, her stomach leading her to the kitchen where breakfast waited. The closer she got, the louder Shisui and her mother's voices became.

Shisui had a plate ready for her, she found as she sat down. As always, it was packed with too much food. Sakura filled up a cup with water and sat down to begin eating. While she knew she needed the strength the food would give her to keep up with Shisui, she also knew that too much food would leave her bending over a bush to dump the contents of her stomach back out during training.

They ate breakfast quickly, Shisui filling up most of the conversation with talk of Itachi, and also of his new position in the Police Branch. Their mother responded with enthusiasm, the pride in her voice clear. Sakura tried to be happy for Shisui, though Itachi's name continuously popping up made the words on her tongue bitter.

So she remained silent through the meal, helping to clean up when they were finished eating.

As Shisui and Sakura left for the training grounds, Nozomi's mother handed them two lunchboxes packed with filling, delicious-looking food. Sakura had to hang back to hide the tears in her eyes—the memory of her own mother doing the same thing was stabbing into her, making her feel guilty for not visiting the woman. Sakura shook off the feeling, not wanting Shisui to see her cry; he would demand answers and not be satisfied until she was spilling her guts at his feet.

Sakura appreciated his concern for her, though—even if it wasn't actually her whom he worried about. It was nice to be cared for nonetheless.

As they walked through the Uchiha lands to their family's private training grounds (something Sakura didn't, but should have, known about), Shisui asked for updates on Sakura's training. She spoke little of her team; focusing on the things they had studied during the short time she'd known them, as opposed to the people on her team.

Her sensei was an older man she'd never met before in her own time, despite her work in Tsunade's office, and she didn't have a formed enough opinion of him to comment on his personality.

He seemed more reliable than Kakashi; arriving promptly at the time he'd told them he would. He even felt more like a teacher than Kakashi ever had—but it still didn't feel right. No matter what, Kakashi would always be her only accepted teacher. Even Tsunade didn't have that place in her heart; the woman felt more like a grandmother—though Sakura would never say "grandmother" to Tsunade's face.

Team seven was sacred, and the discord in Nozomi's team made Sakura long for her own.

Of course, factoring in Sasuke disbanding from Konoha and Sai's insertion into their team, it seemed like Nozomi's Genin squad was far sturdier. But everyone in team seven loved one another, as Nozomi's teammates did not. Sakura knew, even though Sasuke was off somewhere in the world being irritating, and Sai continued to wear his flimsy poker-face, team seven meant something to them both.

Shisui set down their lunches in a patch of flat, grassy land, bringing her back to what was going on. They'd arrived at one of the training grounds—it was a large clearing, the trees circling the open area within easy leaping distance. It was an excellent space for training; a good mixture of thick forest for cover and open ground for hand-to-hand combat. Trust the Uchiha clan to have such a gem stored away.

Sakura started to stretch out Nozomi's body, preparing herself for a difficult battle. She had no doubts that Shisui was going to go easy on her, but that didn't mean it was going to be effortless fighting him. Shisui, despite his outward appearance of nonchalant silliness, was still an ANBU ranked ninja who stood on level with Itachi. To forget that would lead to her being swiftly beaten.

When they did begin to spar, Shisui, watching Sakura with sharp crimson eyes, the three tomoe in his sharingan spinning, critiqued each of her moves. Sakura learned something quickly as she tried to fend off his attacks and keep Nozomi's sharingan activated at the same time: Shisui was terrifyingly intelligent.

Within seconds her moves were being analyzed and blocked; Shisui's use of both his sharingan and his perceptive insight keeping him one step ahead at all times. She was beginning to respond faster to him though, thanks to his wise suggestions. He knew what he was talking about.

Sakura blinked sweat from her eyes, not having the time to wipe it away. Shisui would undoubtedly leap upon that split second of defenselessness. The girl stared ahead with the sharingan, ignoring her headache. No matter how many times she practiced with them, it never failed to leave her with a blinding migraine. She'd been keeping them activated much longer than she had been the last few days, too, so it was worse than normal.

"Give up?" her brother called teasingly, his voice coming from everywhere. Sakura tensed up, scanning the tree line. "You look tired."

"I'm not." She denied. His laughter rang out, making her eyebrow tick. She slipped a hand cautiously into the kunai pack at her side, one finger curling around the hole in the closest kunai. She had barely gotten her fingers around it when something smashed into the ground next to her, making the earth groan.

Sakura leapt away through the smoke the explosion had caused, flinging the kunai down at Shisui. His eyes snapped up, following her. The clone batted away the kunai, his fingers already moving. She tried to follow the jutsu he was about to use, leaping backwards, farther into the trees. But the clone's body swirled around dizzyingly and faded, leaving nothing behind. Sakura froze instantly on a tree branch, trying to shrink down into the leaves.

Crap. Genjutsu.

In her own body, Sakura could easily break almost any genjutsu. Nozomi, however, was weak to them. Keeping her breathing quiet, the girl moved around in the trees, her ears straining against the silent forest. Not for the first time that day Sakura was grateful she wasn't truly fighting against Shisui. She'd have been dead long, long ago.

As if to prove her most recent thought, branches from the tree behind her suddenly shot out, wrapping tightly around her waist, pinning her in against the thick trunk. Shisui melted out of the tree.

"Surrender?"

Sakura glared at him.

"Well?" he prompted. His smile was smug.

"I surrender."

Immediately Sakura's whole world changed. She was still in the clearing, where she'd been minute's earlier, kunai in hand, not thrown. She'd never leapt into the trees; never moved. The clone had been a diversion and she hadn't even noticed. Feeling sulky and cheated, Sakura put her kunai back away, scowling.

She released the sharingan a moment later, blinking her eyes a few time, not enjoying how the world seemed to dim. Her headache, seemingly bad before, was now blinding. The distraction of fighting had helped her ignore the pounding, but now there was nothing to distract her. Shisui jumped out of a tree somewhere in front of her, his brows knotted.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked worriedly, seeing the agony in her face.

"Headache," she told him hurriedly, not wanting him to worry. She tried to smile. "I've got some chakra left; I can make it go away, I think."

The boy looked surprised. "How long have you been studying healing jutsu?"

Sakura froze in horror, feeling stupid for letting something so massive leak out. She had to start paying more attention. "Uh, not long really—just a few books here and there."

The boy smiled, his warm brown eyes crinkling. "Medical ninjas are very useful. I'm glad you've decided to take it up. A healer is always needed in a battle." He looked at their lunch. "Let's eat. I'm starving!"

Sakura nodded and followed him silently. She focused first on getting Nozomi's wild chakra to behave so she could soothe her headache, before she let herself worry about letting slip something major. She'd gotten lucky this time—very lucky—that Nozomi loved to learn and often pushed herself into new things. It was the only reason she didn't have to fabricate some long, stupid story she wouldn't remember later.

Shisui served the food while Sakura poured their tea into the tiny cups they mother had packed. It was a nice meal; eaten in comfortable silence.

Shisui was the first to break it, watching her speculatively. "You haven't brought up Itachi in awhile."

She choked on her tea, spluttering for a moment as she tried to draw air into her abused lungs. She put down the rice ball she'd been nibbling on and rubbed a hand over her chest. Her brother waited, both eyebrows raised. Finally she managed to grind out, "what is there to talk about?"

"Plenty," he responded cheerfully. "What would you like to know? And don't say 'nothing'. I know you're still nervous about this whole mess and I think it's very important that you learn exactly what kind of person Itachi is. He's not a bad guy."

That's what you think, Sakura responded sarcastically in her head. Aloud she said: "I'm really not interested."

Her brother smiled at her indulgently. "The first time Itachi and I met we were very little. He was only four." Sakura breathed out in annoyance as he carried on without seeming to care she was irritated. "The third ninja war was raging on and we were a part of it."

"Wait—," Sakura held out a hand, horrified. "Itachi was involved when he was only four?"

Shisui's smile was small and bitter. "Even children are of use. Itachi was gifted even then and we needed him. He didn't go on missions; merely defended Konohagakure from outside invaders. He'd already gotten his Sharingan by then. He was a prodigy. Konoha's pride." He sighed, looking older somehow.

"War is never pretty, Nozomi. We were too young to see those things, but what could be done? War is…intense." He laughed as though the way he'd worded it amused him. "Honestly, I'm surprised we're as sane as we are. The things I saw changed me. I know that."

"Shisui…" Sakura trailed off, the words on her tongue seeming flimsy and inappropriate. Nothing she could say would make him feel better. She could not consol him in this.

They lapsed into silence; Sakura staring down at the tea leaves swimming slowly around the top of her cup as she let her mind wander. Learning of Itachi's childhood was making her feel sick. She didn't want to pity Itachi—she refused to pity him. So he'd been forced to kill people far before he was ready. It still didn't give him the right to murder his entire family!

"Shisui," Sakura spoke up, "you were seven then, right?"

"Hmm?" He spoke around a mouthful of rice and shrimp. "Yeah."

Sakura nodded absently and chewed on her lip. The same age as Sasuke was now—how could they have done that to children? It horrified her to imagine Shisui using hands still small and soft with youth to kill someone. At seven she'd been crying over her forehead, or imagining herself as a great ninja who saved people. She'd played with dolls. That was an appropriate life for a seven year old.

Shisui smiled slightly, seeing the thoughts clearly written in the twist of her mouth. "Oh Nozomi, you worry too much."

I worry just the right amount, Sakura griped in her mind, but once again withheld. She didn't feel like arguing with him in what was sure to be a losing battle. The girl took a large bite of her lunch, chewing it viciously as she sought something to change the subject over to. The inspiration came like the shot from a gun.

"Oh, Shisui," she mumbled around her mouthful. "Have you ever heard of anyone named Madara?"

In truth, Sakura herself knew very little about the supposed Uchiha clan member (which, if Itachi had only left Sasuke alive, she didn't see how he could possibly be wandering around…). Unless, as Naruto and Jiraiya had suspected after hearing word of the man, he was a part of the clan's slaughter. Tsunade had vaguely remembered the man's name, but after hours of searching through Uchiha documents she and Sakura had given up hope of finding anything about him in Konohagakure's records.

"Madara?" He seemed surprised by the question. "Of course. He was our clans elder; one of our first founders."

It was Sakura's turned to be surprised. If what her brother said was true, then there should have been records of him in the Uchiha file. It made very little sense that there wasn't.

"He helped the Senju clan found Konohagakure." Shisui picked a leaf from his shirt and twirled it between his fingers. He watched it blur into one large, solid green shape. "Of course, the Senju clan feared our power. They put leashes on us; restrained our power in the village. They gave us the Police Branch to keep us happy—we all understood, however, the insult in that."

"Insult?" Sakura repeated mutely.

"The Police Branch holds no real power—over civilians, perhaps, but not the council, or ANBU. It was a humiliation to have to bear such a thing and Madara didn't want to stand for it: he challenged the Hokage in a battle for our rights. We should have been at the top of Konohagakure. We have always been the strongest clan."

Shisui spun the leaf faster. His normally cheerful, happy face was drawn in rage, his eyes on the brink of crimson. "But the clan didn't agree with him then; we didn't want another war so soon as another had been stopped. So he was silenced, exiled and his ideas ignored. But it was wrong of us and we're only now seeing this. Madara had it right all along."

"Oh, yes," Sakura hurriedly agreed when the leaf froze its motion and her brother looked up. She felt suspended in place, chills breaking out into goose bumps on her arms. She didn't much like this Shisui.

The boy smiled proudly at her agreement. "I knew you were one of us, Nozomi."

The statement was odd—scary, almost, considering his previous statements. Sakura let the conversation die, going back to her food. When Shisui spoke of Madara's feelings about his clan…he seemed to agree with how the man had felt. And strongly. Surely the Uchiha clan had gotten over their previous disagreements? The whole village respected and looked up to the clan. They couldn't possibly feel cheated now.

"Nozomi, I have something I—," Shisui began, but stopped, seeing something from over her shoulder.

Sakura turned and spotted Itachi at the edge of the training grounds. He was wearing the ANBU uniform, his mask pulled up away from his face. The uniform looked good on him, the color offsetting the dark of his eyes. Sakura squashed the fan girl inside of her that, years ago, would have sent her squealing after him.

Shisui was stunned. "Itachi—that uniform—you…"

Itachi closed his eyes and when he opened them they were no longer crimson, but a deep, chocolate brown. "I was accepted into ANBU."

"When?"

"This afternoon."

"That's great!" Shisui exclaimed, smiling at his young friend. Sakura watched him stand and go to offer Itachi a warm handshake. Though he seemed excited and happy for Itachi, there was something deep in her brother's eyes. It was almost…anger, perhaps. But what could he be angry about? Getting into ANBU was an honor. Was he jealous? Somehow that didn't seem likely, but she still new very little about Shisui, in truth.

"Thank you, Shisui," Itachi replied politely, accepting the hand offered. He shook it briefly.

Shisui wrapped an arm around Itachi's shoulders and steered him towards Sakura and their lunch. "Come eat with us; we've got food left. You can tell us all about the test. And show us your tattoo!"

Itachi, dragged over, was forced to sit beside Sakura, who did her best not to recoil away from him in distaste. He obligingly rolled up his sleeve to show off the shiny, black tattoo on his upper arm. It was red, inflamed and painful looking, but a minor injury to someone used to battle wounds. Sakura studied the beautiful swirl of the ANBU insignia, admiring it. It'd always been a dream—a ridiculous one, perhaps—of hers to join ANBU.

To feel the power in knowing you had received a brand that told the world of your strength. Sakura sighed quietly and occupied her hands with the task of pulling blades of grass up and letting them fall in a shower over her legs.

Itachi and Shisui talked quietly about the ANBU test, Itachi confirming some of Shisui's questions on what it was like, but not divulging much more. It was against ANBU law to allow those outside the rank to know what the test was like. Itachi briefly asked Shisui about his Police Branch promotion and that flash of something she couldn't place sparked through her brother's dark eyes again.

But it was gone just as quickly as before. Sakura rubbed a blade of grass between her fingers, frowning at Shisui. In the week she'd been living as his sister, she'd never seen him like this. He was so…mad today—she figured it must be because of Itachi, but it seemed hard to believe after how Shisui had talked about the teen.

Shisui trusted and liked, Itachi. So he couldn't be that angry with the boy. Perhaps they'd argued about something while she wasn't around…

A bird ripped out of the forest and towards them, a small white tube around its ankle. Shisui stood and held out his arm hurriedly, receiving the fast moving pigeon with practiced ease. He unclipped the tube and rolled out the parchment tucked inside. While he read, the bird hopped up to his shoulder, waiting in case of a reply.

Itachi and Sakura watched him read. When he'd finished Itachi asked, "Is it from my father?"

"Yes," Shisui answered. "A meeting for all Branch members; I have to go now." He paused, having sent the bird away without reply. "Sorry I couldn't finish training with you, Nozomi. You'll walk her home right, Itachi?"

Sakura opened her mouth to quickly assure her sibling she did not need to be walked home. Itachi was already nodding, though. "Of course I will, Shisui."

The brown-haired teen beamed at them. "Great! I'll see you guys later."

Sakura watched him leave in horror. When he disappeared into the trees, she turned to face Itachi, struck with the realization she had been left alone—in the woods—with a crazed psychopathic murderer.

Excellent.

Itachi studied her for a moment, his face distant and impassive. She felt like a stranger he was trying to figure out: was she stupid, or just slow sometimes? "Would you…like to continue training?"

She yelped. "No!"

Itachi blinked, "oh." From the look on his face, he'd just decided she was the slow type.

Sakura cleared her throat, pink cheeked by her outburst. "Uh, that is, I'm really tired. Long day. Out of chakra, too."

"I see," he responded. "In that case, allow me to walk you home."

She smiled tensely, feeling it strain across her face. It was brittle looking and obviously forced. She didn't want to be around him, and it was pretty apparent he didn't want to be around her either. Well that was just fine.

Sakura gathered up all the lunch items, cleaning them briefly in the small stream near where they'd eaten; that done she packed them all away and slung the bag holding the now empty containers over her shoulder. Itachi stood where she'd left him, waiting without appearing to mind; his blank, uncaring mask was as perfectly set as ever. It irritated Sakura to no end and she jerked her eyes away from his face.

She stomped past him, not bothering to thank him for waiting for her while she needlessly straightened up. She knew her mother was waiting to take and clean them properly, but somehow, deep down, she'd been hoping it would annoy him if he had to wait even longer. The silence stretched between them for miles, making the air around them feel thick and anxious.

Sakura ignored the feeling as best she could, trying to recite the entire Medical Ninja's Guide To Success manual in her head. She kept mixing up diseases, her jumbled brain unable to properly place together symptoms to cures. At last, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Congratulations on getting into ANBU." She snapped, tone clipped. It was the worst possible way she could have delivered her sentiments she instantly regretted opening her mouth.

"Thank you, Nozomi." He was either ignoring the way she'd spoken, or he really didn't care. "I should be offering you congratulations as well for passing into the chunin rank."

Somehow, the way he'd worded it, made it feel like he was making fun of her. Like being a chunin was barely more than being a toddler. She clenched her teeth until her jaw began to ache.

She racked her brain for something else to talk about before she tried to hit him with something. "Sasuke." She spoke aloud, surprising both of them. He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"My brother?"

"I uh, saw him—that is—training the other day." She fumbled, "he's progressing well."

For just a bare moment, the older boy's eyes softened, making him look nearly his age for once. "Yes, he is doing well. Sasuke is going to be a great ninja one day—he has a talent not many ninja's are lucky to receive."

It was more than she'd ever heard him talk and Sakura did her best not to stare at him in an open-mouthed gape. "Do you train with him?"

"If possible."

"That's good," Sakura flashed him a small smile—the first she'd managed in his presence since she'd come here. She felt amazed her face didn't crack. There was a touch of amusement as she told him, "you know, Itachi, a little R&R is good for a ninja."

"I suppose." He blinked down at her, studying her for a moment. "It's hard to find time."

"Finding time is important, Itachi. 'Lost time is never found again', she quoted. "We only have one shot at life and then it's over. You shouldn't waste precious moments."

As she spoke, the trees thinned away, revealing the smooth stone pathway she and Shisui had taken earlier that morning to reach the training site. Itachi's feet made no noise compared to the tap of her sandals slapping lightly against the road. The quiet noise made her feel loud and clumsy.

Itachi didn't speak again, instead simply watching her silently as they made their way back to her house, occasionally moving a little out of her way as she would veer to a different side of the walkway. Exhaustion mixed with a blinding headache was making her usually straight walk into a wobbly mess. Later, when she had the mind to care, she'd be embarrassed she let Itachi see her in such a state.

She was halfway into her house when he cleared his throat. Thinking he was reminding her that she hadn't thanked him for walking her home, nor had she uttered the common polite "goodbye", Sakura turned, bright red. "Oh, sorry—,"

He, very unlike himself, cut her off. "Nozomi, would you like to come train with Sasuke and I this tomorrow?" There was an odd gleam in his eye she wasn't sure she was actually seeing. His mouth twisted up in amusement. "I've got time off and I think I could use a little rest and relaxation."

Sakura made the oddest, strangled laugh-thing noise she'd ever made. Her smile was small and twitching as she debated on amusement over the fact that Itachi had just made a joke, or disbelief that Itachi had just made a joke. He stared at her, though now he was looking a little worried.

She cleared her throat hurriedly, plastering on a nice, big fake smile Sai would have been jealous of. "Sure! I'd like that a lot, Itachi."

The boy inclined his head just so, "Sasuke and I will pick you up tomorrow morning then. Goodbye."

"Bye." She gave a clipped wave before going into Nozomi's house, absently kicking off her shoes in the front entrance. "I'm home!"

Her mother's voice came faintly from the living room, "welcome home, Nozomi. Where's Shisui?"

Only a ninja mother would notice two people had come towards the house, but only one entered. Sakura smiled, though in the back of her mind she thanked Kami her own mother was just a normal civilian. Too many times Kakashi or Naruto had popped into her window to talk, and she knew how awkward a conversation that would have been trying to explain their presence in her room to her worried mother.

"He got called away by the Branch. Itachi walked me home."

Her mother was suddenly at the sliding door pulling it open, looking excited and mischievous. "Itachi did?"

Sakura glared at the woman, cheeks threatening to turn pink. "Nothing happened. Shisui asked him to, anyway. I'm going to go shower."

The woman's black eyes studied her face for a moment. She brightened, so she must have liked whatever she saw. "Put your clothes in the laundry hamper; I'm about to start a new load in a moment."

Sakura huffed, knowing the woman was already returning to her needlework. "Fine, fine." She stopped by her room for a moment to get out some clean clothing before ducking into her bathroom for a quick shower. The hot water felt good on her aching shoulders and she stood under them for longer than she would have normally, enjoying the feeling.

Sakura scratched shampoo into her scalp, sighing at the tingling sensation her short nails left. She always felt grimy after a long training session and a shower was more than welcome. Shisui's chakra presence entered the house as she was toweling off, and the teen hastened to finish getting dry and dressed so she could talk to him before their mother pounced on him for news of the Branch meeting.

Her haste was unnecessary, however, since Shisui appeared to want to speak to her as well; he was laying on her bed, reading a scroll that had come unraveled and fallen to the floor when she came from the bathroom. Sakura shot him a look of dissaproval lined with annoyance.

"What are you doing?"

He peeked at her from under the scroll, "you decent?"

"Obviously." She snorted. "I wouldn't have come out if I wasn't." The girl hung up the towel she'd used to dry her hair, sitting next to him on the bed as she brushed out the after-shower tangles in Nozomi's dark, heavy hair. "What was the meeting about?"

"The usual," he told her and then in the same breath, "nothing exciting in the least—how was your walk home?"

"The usual; nothing exciting in the least," she mimicked. He shot her a dark glare from around the scroll. Smiling at him, she conceded. "It was nice. Itachi invited me to train with him and Sasuke tomorrow."

Shisui's eyebrows shot up, the devilish look in his eyes speaking loudly. "Did he now?"

"Don't look so hopeful." She groused, taking the scroll from his lax fingers and studying it. It was one of their family's jutsu scrolls and she gave it back, not interested. "It's just a training session. Nothing more."

"Of course." He agreed easily, though she knew it wouldn't be the last time that day the subject was broached. The girl stood momentarily to go fetch her own reading material before she got back onto the bed, forcing Shisui over against the wall to make space for herself. He grumbled for a minute but it wasn't long before he'd scooted back onto her side.

Sakura let her mind wander as she aimlessly read about the chunin guidelines for new recruits (something she already knew well from her own time and body). As it was prone to, considering her predicament, her brain turned to Itachi. She'd been wondering since that afternoon why it was Itachi hadn't joined the Police Branch. ANBU was a great honor, of course, it just seemed like he'd be more likely to follow in his families footsteps.

Which reminded her…

"Shisui," she said, laying her book on her stomach. He looked at her.

"Mm?"

Sakura turned her head on the pillow which smooshed her hair into her face. She began shoving it back under her head with her fingers while she spoke. "Shisui, why…did you seem so angry when you heard Itachi was accepted into ANBU?"

Her brother looked at her in surprise, chocolate eyes wide. Slowly, hesitating on an answer, he spoke, brow furrowing. "It's…complicated, Nozomi."

"Complicated." Sakura studied him intently, "a lot of things are complicated when it comes to Itachi."

"Agreed," Shisui laughed. "I am proud of Itachi; happy for him to receive such an honor." The boy set down his scroll and sat up. His short hair was in messy spikes around his head—he ran his fingers though them, furthering their chaos. "I just cannot understand why he would not join the Police Branch like the rest of our family has. Maybe I'm just overreacting, but it was disappointing to know he'd chosen ANBU over his family."

Sakura thought about it for a moment as Shisui waited patiently for her to reply. "Maybe…" she started, "Itachi doesn't see it like you do, Shisui. Maybe this is his way of protecting our family." Right before he destroys it entirely, Inner Sakura added angrily.

"You could be right." Shisui ruffled her hair with a grin. "No way of really knowing with Itachi."

Sakura harrumphed at that and picked her book back up. Itachi may be a mystery, but she still knew the ending to this story.

oOo

Later that night, after a warm, filling dinner where her mother gushed excitedly over her "date" with Itachi (she was plainly ignoring that Sakura had mentioned Sasuke was going along), Sakura laid down to finish reading the book Shisui had lent her that afternoon. He'd insisted she try reading something besides a handbook and had forcefully pushed a mystery novel into her hands. The girl put the book over her face, dropping her hands to her stomach with a sigh.

What should she wear? It seemed like something simplistic and loose would suffice, but her mother had been fretting about it all throughout dinner and it seemed likely that Sakura wasn't going to be get out of the house wearing something like that. But she had a feeling wearing anything overly girly would merely annoy Itachi, or amuse him and she didn't feel like giving him anything else embarrassing against her.

Sakura sighed, the book's smooth pages icy against her forehead when she adjusted it to a higher position. There was something else, besides clothing, bothering her. It kept coming back; the gentle look on Itachi's face when he spoke of Sasuke. It was bothering her endlessly. There was such obvious love for Sasuke in his eyes that it left her hopelessly confused.

Could this be the reason Itachi had not killed Sasuke, when he'd mercilessly ended the lives of the rest of his family? It seemed logical, really, to reach that conclusion.

But if Itachi had loved Sasuke and protected him from himself, why had the murders taken place at all? What had driven Itachi towards such a brutal act? Nothing was lining up and it was a terrible frustration.

And, on top of that annoyance, she just couldn't get Shisui's face out of her head when he'd seen Itachi in his ANBU uniform. How deep an insult was it really for Itachi to have refused a position in the Police Branch? The girl sighed; it had to be bad enough that easy-going Shisui would get angered.

Which, of course, raised the question: could Itachi's killings have had some deeper meaning than simple insanity? Sakura really didn't want to let herself think about paths like that. It was easier to imagine someone a heartless murderer than to realize some deep, insidious plot was underfoot. She wasn't going to let herself make assumptions, though—Sakura raised the book off her face and tried to focus on the words.

She would sneak into the records facility again and do some research before she passed judgment. She would also need to put in a search towards Madara. She had a feeling he had more of a part in what was going on than seemed. Or maybe she was just crazy.

One thing was for sure, Shisui and the rest of the family looked up to him and, considering what she'd heard of his life, that was not a good thing.

A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, everyone. But I finally got this thing finished! Phew. The broth continues to thicken! What will Sakura find? No clue. Keep reading. :)

Beta: Rukagohime [thank you, hon. I appreciate all your hard work].

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I make any claims towards ownership. I am not making any money from the writing of this fanfiction.