Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Rewritten: May 22nd, 2020 - June 25th, 2020.

WARNING: This chapter contains sexual content. I'm just going to assume that y'all don't mind reading lemon (why else would you be looking at a rated M story?) because putting break lines before and after distracts from the story and I sometimes honestly don't even know where to put the line.

Chapter 26 | Twenty-six | Cascade

She lifts Shisui's arm off of her gently as she slips out of his grasp. As always, her days start earlier than his. Usually, he wakes up when she gets up, but he must've been really tired from his training yesterday. He's been getting busier and busier lately, she thinks as she covers his bare upper body with the blanket that had shifted when she got up, tucking him in. After brushing his messy hair away from his face with her fingers and pressing her lips to his temple, she walks to the adjoining bathroom as silently as possible to prepare for her day.

Eight months have passed since they arrived in Amegakure. The hospital is really coming along and though the employees are still adjusting to the rules Sakura put in place, she has seen an improvement and a gradual drop in the mortality rates of the shinobi returning from missions. She tries to help out as much as she can with the construction, utilizing her limited wood-release jutsu, but the healing duties keep her busy enough.

Shisui has finished recruiting members for ANBU and has begun training them. It's a lot of work for him, but as one of the top-performing captains of Konoha ANBU, it's nothing he can't handle. In public, he's the tough, dutiful, emotionless ANBU captain, but when he returns to Sakura, she sees his mask fall away. He usually wears a mask when he poofs out of the room in uniform, but otherwise, he's just Shisui. When they find time to grab dinner together, not even his subordinates know it's him.

After their first night together, despite what they had said, they tried to keep a distance from each other for a few days, but when a particularly traumatizing nightmare haunted Sakura one night, she knocked on his door – and since then, they've slept in the same bed every night. Some nights, when Shisui finishes his day before she finishes a particularly long shift, she climbs into bed with him, and he does the same when she goes to sleep before him. Sometimes it's sexual, sometimes it's not, but she has found that she feels safe and wanted in his arms. Her nightmares cease to bother her whenever he's wrapped around her, and she's tired of feeling guilty for wanting to sleep well. They're both single and they're both consenting adults. There's no reason they can't keep each other company, she tells herself.

As she looks at her reflection in the mirror, she makes sure to heal the marks he had left on her neck and chest last night. Despite his initial gentleness, Shisui's a very passionate lover. He always makes sure that her needs are met before he focuses on his own. He has since forgone hiding his feelings for her. She knows he thinks that she'll love him back with time, worshipping her body every chance he gets, not letting her even doubt his feelings for her for a moment – and she wants to give in, she really does.

During one of their first nights in each other's arms, he had asked her about her sexual history and she had told him that she only did it twice before. He didn't have to ask to know who it was with. When she reluctantly asked him, he pretended to be asleep, but when she tickled him, he gave in. He told her that he and Hana were friends with benefits, and Sakura knew that the tables had flipped for him. He used to be with someone who loved him, but he didn't love back, and now he's with someone he loves, who doesn't love him back – and she couldn't possibly imagine how that feels.

Another night, a month or so later, she asked him who he would rather be with: someone who loves him more or someone he loves more.

Without hesitation, he said he'd rather be with someone he loves more, as long as they're open and willing. He told her that he had trust issues growing up because everyone he loved would leave. He told her that he knows that she won't be here forever, but he'd treasure all the time he had with her. He had joked about having the rest of his life to deal with women throwing themselves at him, but when he'd thought she'd fallen asleep, he whispered about being okay with anything as long as it's her and how he wished she would stay by his side forever, even if she never loved him back.

Raising a hand to the necklace around her neck, she can't help but smile. With him, she knows she's loved. He's the one that loves her the way she's always wanted to be loved, not Itachi. She still thinks about him every now and then, but now, she doesn't feel the need to cry every time he pops up in her mind. Now the memory of his clear eyes, how he used to look at her, and how he used to make her feel just makes her heart throb dully.

Today's a special day. Sasuke's being escorted here by guards his father sent with him since he has finished learning all that he can within Konoha, so Shisui will be teaching him for a while. She also received notice from Jiraiya-sama that he and Naruto will be passing by soon as well. Excited for the mini-team reunion, she realizes that she should tell them the truth soon, so they know their destiny as they grow into fine young men.

During her lunch break, she waits for Sasuke at the gate. To her surprise, Shisui joins her, in his regular clothes and no mask, but he has a bag on his back. As he closes the distance between them, he wraps an arm around her back and rubs up and down her upper arm to warm her up before giving her arm a light squeeze and letting go.

When she mentioned that they should stop sleeping together while the boys visit, not wanting things to get complicated, and knowing that Sasuke is very loyal to his brother, Shisui had told her, "You don't get nightmares when I'm here." She wasn't aware that he had noticed she still had nightmares, much less that she'd stopped having them since he's been around. "I'll come after they fall asleep."

"Okay," was all she could say.

She doesn't know when he started being able to soothe her worries so easily.

"Are you cold? You're shivering."

She wraps the white coat around her tighter, trying to keep her body warmth contained within its confines. "Just a little."

He unwraps his scarf from around his neck, and when she protests, he simply gives her a look. "Let me take care of you a little. You don't always have to be so brave," he says as he wraps the scarf around her, and when she inhales, all she smells is him – a mixture of rosewood, smoke, and a scent that is very distinctly him.

He smiles at her knowingly and adoringly before turning back to look for any sign of his youngest cousin. Since the first night, he and Sakura have been hyperaware of how intimate they are in public, despite knowing that they were already questionably close before coming here. In a moment of boldness, he steps behind her and wraps his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back to him. He has since gotten used to how small she is compared to him, tucking perfectly under his chin. When she pulls her head back to look at him with her impossibly green eyes, he looks down at her and says, "I'll let go when I sense them."

"Okay." She raises her dainty hands, the ones that can demolish mountains with just one punch but also heal the deadliest of injuries, to his forearms, and rubs them to keep him warm.

When he steps away from her moments later, with a tender kiss over her hair, she knows Sasuke is close, and when the familiar silhouette of her former teammate appears over the horizon, a large smile appears on her face. The fact that Sasuke is loyal to Konoha is also a reminder of what she has done here. She has fulfilled all of Sasuke's requests.

~:~

It only took a few days for Sasuke to realize what's happened between Sakura and Shisui, but somehow, Naruto understood. When Sasuke stormed off, Naruto followed after him to try to calm him down. Sakura didn't cry. She knew this would happen.

With a sigh and a heavy heart, she told Shisui that she would wait a few days for Sasuke to calm down before sitting the two teenagers down for a chat. She didn't see the two of them for a few days due to her busy schedule, but she also didn't go out of her way to look for them. At night or sometimes the morning after if one of them is asleep by the time the other returns back to their now shared room, Shisui told her that Sasuke's been showing up to his lessons with Naruto as scheduled since Jiraiya's catching up with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato, and both of the teenagers have been very motivated, especially since they challenge each other. He also told her that Sasuke is very angry at both of them, but at the same time, his eagerness to get stronger outweighs his anger at his new sensei.

After Shisui convinces her to come clean to the two teens, telling her that the two of them are old enough now to know the truth and start tackling their destinies, she sees Naruto drag Sasuke to her room. She would have taken the two out for dinner but she has to make sure that they're not overheard by anyone. Even though Sasuke is very upset with her and refuses to look at her, Sakura knows that he's listening. Shisui sits beside her, ready to comfort her, stand up for her, or do anything for her should she need it. He knows that the two boys won't take it badly, but just in case, he's here for her.

So when she tells them the truth about herself, Naruto listens with the most seriousness and intrigue that she has ever seen him exhibit, while Sasuke gradually faces her with gripping interest. Neither of the boys look too surprised, having thought that she was related to their teammate in some way for a while now because as their teammate is growing older and they're starting to look identical.

"There are jutsu to bring people back to life," Sasuke reasons, "I figured there would be a time-traveling jutsu."

"I thought you'd be her sister," Naruto shrugs, "But there's a time travel jutsu? Awesome!"

Sakura smiles at the two. She finally tells Naruto who his parents are, why she gave him the variation of the Fourth's kunai, and why she believes in him, but she asks Sasuke if he wants to know the truth before she tells him. When she tells him about the things he did in her time, about how he and Naruto saved the world and ended the war, and about their fated rivalry, the two boys look at each other as if shocked that they would have fought to the death ever.

"I'm glad that you two aren't like that," she says with a smile.

Sasuke glances at the way that Sakura and Shisui sit close to each other, shoulders touching. She doesn't even know when it became second nature to be close to Shisui. She shifts uncomfortably. After answering all of their questions, Naruto asks if they can hug, which Sasuke rejects, but Sakura heartily supports, but both the boys find it weird how hugging their teammate Sakura and 'Hikari' Sakura is so different, despite the two being the same person. 'Hikari' has been such a big part of their lives and they can't reconcile the two as the same person.

One is the girl that has always protected them and taken care of them while the other one is the one they swore to protect when they were just twelve years old. One is strong, the other is getting there. One is a woman, the other is but a girl.

To Naruto and Sasuke, they might as well be two completely different people.

When Naruto says so out loud, Sakura smiles, and they instinctively know she likes it that way.

Sasuke wonders why he doesn't think it's weird that his teammate Sakura grew up to be the designated time traveler, save his clan, date his brother, and then date his cousin. It's disturbing, but somehow it's not. He had stomped off a few days ago when he realized 'Hikari' and Shisui were involved, but Naruto followed him, and the boisterous blonde had told him about what he overheard the nights he could hear her crying in her room before she left.

"She looks happier," Naruto had said, "I don't like it either, but if this is what makes her happy, I'm going to support her."

Sasuke hates it when Naruto acts more mature than him, but despite knowing that his brother hurt her, he doesn't like that she is now with Shisui.

Shisui can't measure up to Itachi, he tells himself.

Making plans to grab dinner together later, Naruto and Sasuke exit her room, and Shisui stays behind. He's not even sure if Shisui has his own room at this point. He had seen some of Shisui's belongings in Sakura's room just now.

He tries not to let it bother him, but it still does. He tells himself it's not because he admired her and thought that she would be his sister-in-law one day. He tells himself that it's not because Itachi probably doesn't know, but it's not his business to choose sides when he doesn't know the full story. He wonders what his brother could have done so wrong that he chased her into the arms of another.

After training one day, Shisui tells him about how Sakura saved his life and how there's so much to her that they still don't know, even though they know her true identity now. He asks that Sasuke believe in Sakura, to which Sasuke snorts and responds, "I trust her more than I trust you."

Despite it being the opportune time for him to ask about Itachi, he decides not to. He tells himself it's not because he's afraid of the answer.

Months later, after Naruto has already left, he receives his monthly letter from his father, telling him that his brother is coming home for a while. He doesn't want to be the one to tell his father or Itachi that Sakura has moved on, so he doesn't mention her in his letter back. When the next letter comes, and his father mentions his brother's new companion, it clicks.

He doesn't know how he can look at his brother now, knowing that he hurt someone so dear to him.

~:~

It takes Sakura by surprise when Shisui hands her a wedding invitation from Konoha. Glancing at the names written elegantly inside the beautiful midnight blue card with gold etchings of flowers embroidering the edges and the proud engraving of the Uchiha clan symbol, Sakura can't help but squeal as she jumps into Shisui's arms in surprise and glee.

"Suzume and Shigure are getting married?!" With a huge smile on her face, she looks at the card again as she steps out of Shisui's protective arms. When she jumps up and down, she doesn't notice a note slipping out from the card.

Shisui picks it up for her, his observant eyes reading over the contents quickly. He inhales sharply, unsure if he wants her to read it, but it's too late. She has already noticed that he picked up something that had fallen out.

"What's that?" She asks when he makes no move to return it to her.

Hesitantly, he gives it to her.

He watches as she reads the contents. To his surprise, she doesn't react as strongly as he thought she would, but he can see the wheels turning in her head. She's still processing – maybe even overthinking.

Sakura doesn't know how to handle the news that Itachi has taken up with a girl who looks like she could be from the Hyuuga clan. Suzume said her name is Kikyo. Sakura can't remember a girl named Kikyo within the village, but who knows? Maybe it's because she never noticed. If this girl is a Hyuuga, that means that she was in the village. Itachi was sent on a mission with Obito. Does that mean that he had fallen for Kikyo when he was back in the village for the Chuunin exams? She decides to believe that he wasn't unfaithful to her before he left for his mission – but she doesn't know. She wants to have faith that he's a good man, that he wasn't just playing her for years, but it's hard to hold onto that faith when he was dating someone from the village the entire time.

"Sakura, are you okay?" She hears Shisui's worried voice.

She nods slowly. She tears her eyes away from Suzume's neat writing. "Yeah," she says, "I'm okay."

Her eyes betray her words – pain and betrayal reflected in her bright eyes clear as day. Shisui immediately takes her into his arms as if he could shield her from it all.

"I'm sorry," he whispers against her hair, which she has since dyed back to pink after telling Naruto and Sasuke the truth. He embraces her fiercely, angry at the person that keeps causing her such pain.

When she doesn't move to wrap her arms around him, choosing to grip the slip of paper with the damning gossip tightly in her hands against her chest instead, he places his hands on her shoulders and keeps her in front of him as he leans down at her unfocused eyes.

"We don't have to go back," he whispers, "I'll go wherever you want to go."

She smiles a little, bitterly, "Suzume's your cousin, Sushi."

"It's fine," he responds, "She'll understand." He pauses before continuing, "Besides, I don't want you to see him again." The look in his eyes tells her that he doesn't want whatever it is between them to end, as he hypothesizes that it will when she sees Itachi again.

Sakura considers her next words carefully. She hates that Shisui's so insecure about their undefined relationship. She's sure that she's causing him pain. She doesn't love him – not yet at least – but he deserves to know that he does matter to her.

Itachi has moved on, parading around Konoha with someone else. No one would blame her for moving on too.

"Be my boyfriend, Shisui," she whispers, dropping the crumpled paper in her hand as she raises her hands to cup his face tenderly.

She sees his eyes widen a little before he lifts her in joy. He lowers her enough so that she can kiss him and she instinctively wraps her legs around his waist. His arms drop to support her ample bottom as he makes their way to their bed.

(With Amegakure getting more and more mission requests and political visitors, Shisui returned his room keys so they could give the room to someone else who needs it – especially since he and Sakura had been sleeping in the same bed anyway.

Yahiko had given the boy a sly, slightly-perverted grin, which Shisui tried his best to ignore.)

He lowers her to the bed and props himself up against her with one arm, caressing her face with his free hand.

"You didn't answer me."

"Do you really need me to say it?"

She opens her mouth to protest, but when he presses his lips to hers in another searing kiss, she tries not to smile. More confident in her ability to pleasure Shisui than anything else, she lets her hands roam his familiar, toned body like they have many times before. Sliding her hands under the hem of his shirt, she pulls his shirt upwards impatiently before he takes off his shirt and tosses it aside. He grinds his hardened arousal against her, eliciting a pleasured moan out of her before he pushes her shirt and bra up to her underarms to reveal her creamy breasts.

He looks at her hungrily, like a starved man, before pinning her arms by the wrists above her head. He takes one of her pretty pink nipples into his mouth as he sucks, nips, and flicks it around, using his other hand to massage her other soft mound.

Sakura bites her bottom lip, closing her eyes to focus on the sensations Shisui's evoking. She writhes under him, bringing her hips up to grind against him, desperate to relieve some of the pressure accumulating in her.

Letting go of her breast, he slides his now-free hand up and down her body with a gentle, almost ticklish touch before slipping into her pants. Releasing her hard and swollen bud, he brings his forehead against hers, gazing at her face as he starts rubbing circles on the spot he knows she likes. Placing open-mouthed kisses down her neck, past the valley between her breasts, and releasing her wrists as he continues down her flat belly, he lifts himself off of her when he feels her getting closer. When he pulls his hand out of her pants, she whines his name.

His eyes lift to hers, seeing red tint her cheeks in embarrassment. With a smirk, he gets on his knees on the floor between her dangling legs, at the side of the bed, he takes off her pants and her wet underwear.

Knowing his intentions, Sakura holds her breath as he moves her legs over his shoulders and pulls her closer to the edge of the bed. Bringing his lips to her drenched sex, he laps up her juices. One of her hands moves to grip his hair instinctively, the other grabbing her own breast, pinching the peak between two fingers. Despite her pleasure, she tries to keep her thighs apart, like his strong hands remind her to, gripping at her thighs tightly. Slipping a hand from her thigh to her eager entrance, he slips a finger in her as he sucks on her clit.

"Ah – Shisui - " she lets out as he pumps another finger into her, scissoring his fingers, curling and uncurling his fingers, nibbling and sucking on the hardened nub unrepentantly. She tries not to pull out his hair as a burst of light flashes behind her closed lids and her body twitches against him.

He places gentle kisses all over her face as he lifts himself to her again. She doesn't even know when he took off her pants, she notices as he aligns himself with her properly lubricated entrance.

"Are you ready?" He asks her, voice husky against her ear.

She nods dumbly against his shoulder. She briefly wonders how she got so lucky with Shisui. She remembers the stories Ino told her of the times she had bad sex. Sakura doesn't think she's ever had bad sex. Maybe Uchiha's are sex gods after all. She pushes the other Uchiha out of her mind as forcefully as possible, willing herself to focus on the man stretching her out right now. She looks at his face, eyes closed in pleasure as he tries to control himself.

As he pulls out and pushes back into her silky heat, she keeps her hands on his shoulders, letting out low moans of pleasure, matching his own – and when he climaxes, he shakily murmurs, "I love you," against her ear. He hadn't said it since their first night together, knowing that she won't say it back, but it just escaped him.

When he collapses beside her, Sakura turns and caresses his face gently. He leans into her soft touch as he looks at her with all the love reflected in his eyes.

"We should go to Suzume's wedding," she whispers, "Nothing will change between us, I promise." She turns onto her side and snuggles into his side when he lifts his arm to wrap around her.

"You shouldn't promise that," he responds. Suddenly, Shisui looks far away.

"Why not?"

"You're not going to be able to keep it."

"What makes you say that?"

"You don't love me," he responds, pain evident in his voice.

She uses her hand to turn his face to look at her. "But I'm your girlfriend," she protests, "And I won't give up on this." She can't make any promises that she'll love him someday, but she knows she won't give up on what they do have – fierce, loyal friendship, and amazing, mind-blowing physical and sexual compatibility.

A low chuckle escapes him. "You just want me for my body."

"It's an amazing body," she whispers against his ear as she walks her fingers along his abdomen. With his free hand, he grabs her wrist and flips her over onto her back again, looming above her as he kisses her passionately, slipping his tongue into her mouth to discover every corner of her cavern. She couldn't care less that she could taste herself on his tongue. She can feel his limp member hardening against her thigh – and excitement bubbles within her as he lifts her in his strong arms and takes her to the bathroom.

He takes her against the bathroom counter, rougher than he usually does, but she loves it anyway. He carefully washes her body afterward, worshipping every part of her body as he cleans her with all the care in the world. She may not love Shisui, but she can definitely say she loves the way he makes her feel and she loves having sex with him.

~:~

Two months later, Sakura and Shisui find themselves at Konoha's gates for the first time in nearly a year after ensuring that Amegakure would be fine without them in the meantime. Shisui gives her hand a light squeeze before they pass the threshold and check-in with the guards.

Suzume's wedding is not for two weeks, but as one of Suzume's closest friends along with Izumi and Hana, she has to be here to attend Suzume's bachelorette party, which the other two planned since she was away. Suzume had insisted that Sakura arrive early so that she could try and pair her up with Konoha's most eligible bachelors, having been stockpiling their names and contact information ever since she saw Itachi with another.

In her letter to Shisui, she had expressed her anger and frustration over Itachi's aloofness and insensitivity to her former rival's feelings. She was adamant about finding her someone better – which annoyed Shisui because she didn't even consider her own cousin. Shisui wrote back to her, letting her know that he and Sakura are together now so she doesn't need to continue her vengeful search.

Uchiha weddings are usually very grand and he has spent the past two months explaining their traditions to Sakura since she has never experienced one, from the tea ceremonies to the speeches and the performances. With Suzume's father at one of the top positions in the clan, her wedding is bound to be a spectacle.

Sasuke, who had come back with them since he's required to attend the wedding as Fugaku's son, bids them farewell as he heads home to notify his father that he's home. Not able to go to the Hokage Tower in case her mini-me is there, Sakura tells Shisui she'll see him at home after he's done debriefing Tsunade, and hugs him before raising her hood to cover her hair and her face. She'd rather not bump into Itachi, and if all goes well, she won't have to see him at all, aside from the day of the wedding.

Unfortunately, the world has always enjoyed playing games on her.

Across the street, she spots Itachi and an unfamiliar female seated outside of a fusion restaurant that she doesn't recognize under a patio umbrella. Sakura can't see the girl's face, but she notices her long, brown hair cascading down her back and her perfectly proportioned body. Itachi sits across from her with a warm smile on his handsome face. If she had any doubts that he was in love with someone else, those doubts would vanish immediately at this sight. Suddenly feeling like she wants to run, cry, and throw up at the same time, she tries to will her body to move, to run home and hide, but she stays rooted in place, her body feeling numb.

When Itachi's eyes flicker to her, despite having trained himself to not look for signs of pink, his lips part in a muted gasp of surprise and his eyes widen a little as his gaze rests on Sakura for the first time in over a year and for the first time since he broke her heart. Despite knowing that her hair wasn't pink anymore, he couldn't help looking for her whenever he stepped outside and he had often caught glances of the other Sakura, but he knows this is the one of his dreams.

She dyed her hair back, he notices. It suits her much better than blonde does.

He wishes she would smile at him like she has countless times before and look at him with the warmth and affection that she used to, but she doesn't. She stares at him, hurt written all over her pretty features.

For a second, obsidian eyes lock on emerald, like no one else around them exists, but when the girl Sakura assumes is Kikyo reaches out and touches Itachi's forearm gently, he tears his attention away.

When he fails in keeping his attention on Kikyo and inadvertently looks back after answering Kikyo's question, Sakura is no longer there.