Remember what I said about having one extra chapter last update? Turns out that was a lie since I finished CH5 between then and now.

Thank you to those who've reviewed and/or provided ideas for what you'd like to see in this story! Please keep sending in suggestions, either here or on my tumblr (username: magicabout - where you can comment anonymously if you want).

When Sasuke reappeared holding two glasses of water he tilted his head towards the trees in a wordless demand. Taking the glass, Sakura rose from her log and followed Sasuke on what soon became a leisurely tour of the traps protecting the house. He led her carefully towards each one, explaining its effects and demonstrating the seals necessary both to temporarily disrupt it to pass through unharmed, and the longer sequences needed to disable it completely.

Casually sipping at her water Sakura admired the workmanship, noting the traps she presumed to be Sasuke and Itachi's work and the older ones they'd simply updated with chakra to keep alive. After passing what looked like a nasty Doton pitfall trap, Sakura's curiosity was piqued.

"You said this was a safe house," she questioned Sasuke's back as he walked ahead of her, "but whose is it?"

"ANBU."

Pausing, she frowned at him, waiting for him to stop and look at her before continuing. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Danzou taken over ANBU with his zombie flunkies?"

"Most of ANBU was out of the village when Danzou took over. The members still in Konoha have been split up from their original cells and reassigned to Root squads, the better for Danzou to keep an eye on them."

Sakura mulled over his words for a few seconds. "One of the main reasons Danzou decided to attack in the first place was because so many upper-level shinobi were gone. But ANBU is supposed to serve as part of the village's defenses, especially in times when Konoha is most vulnerable.

"Tsunade-shishou was in the hospital. Why would so many ANBU be ordered on a mission away from the village…?"

Scrutinizing Sasuke's face offered no clues. Her teammate knew something, but he wasn't going to tell her. Sakura tried to put together all the information she'd learned from the Uchiha brothers during her stay. Itachi's alibi had something to do with an ANBU mission outside the village, presumably the same one that had diverted enough of Konoha's black ops away Danzou decided it was the perfect time to commit the unforgivable.

Her eyes flicked in the general direction of the cabin, hidden somewhere deeper in the woods. That Itachi and Sasuke thought it was safe meant they weren't worried about the ANBU still under Danzou's thumb giving their position away. She must be missing something.

Danzou was a distrustful bastard, but he was also a conniving, deceitful bastard who knew any information was a potential weapon. He had no moral qualms against torturing loyal ANBU for secrets that might betray their rebel teammates. Yet he hadn't used his ill-gotten knowledge to hunt down every hidden ANBU rendezvous point and safe house in Fire. Maybe he had more important things to worry about than chasing potential threats.

In the heady daze of safety she'd neglected to ask some important questions, deciding that for once in a long time she could push her worries aside for another day. Slanting her eyes back to her silent teammate, Sakura re-evaluated her priorities.

"Sasuke, where are we?"

"Three days' journey from the Valley of the End."

"Three days?" Her eyebrows rose. "I was a day and a half past Waterfall's border when you found me." Quickly her mind replayed the sequence of events following their appearance in the dark forest, pausing on the moment Itachi's hands had gripped her arms and she'd found herself in an unfamiliar house.

"Itachi transported all three of us more than half a day's run away?" She didn't bother hiding her incredulity.

"Shisui is the best in the Clan at moving short distances. Itachi is the best at long distance transportation."

Shaking her head, Sakura started muttering darkly. "I know you Uchiha have larger chakra coils, but that's just ridiculous. Was he even tired afterwards?"

"Cooking and gathering information aren't stressful activities," Sasuke said with a quirk to his lips. "Itachi will be fine."

"Training isn't a stressful activity either," she countered, "and I still had to fight with you to be able to fight you."

"That's different, and you know it." He gave her a reproving look. "Itachi wasn't suffering severe chakra depletion when he moved us. We were in hostile territory, Sakura. Getting you to safety was our top priority."

She pursed her lips, but conceded the point. Kami, was she this annoying when she took care of them? Her boys were stubborn, pig-headed males with kami complexes larger than the Kyuubi's chakra stores. Normally she was the uninjured one dragging their asses to the hospital post-mission to take care of anything she'd been unable to heal herself. Sakura had taken it for granted that she'd always be the one wielding the it's-for-your-own-goods and giving lectures on shinobi health basics straight from the Academy to people who should know better.

Why she was surprised that her teammates were overprotective, fretting busybodies about her health Sakura didn't know. They were overprotective, fretting busybodies about her social life too.

Kakashi-sensei and Naruto had acted like scandalized virgins when she'd suggested that maybe she wanted to make out with boys because it was fun and that they could take their male posturing elsewhere since she was a big girl and wouldn't let anyone get away with anything she didn't want them to. Which was rich considering one of them was a well-known pervert and Konoha's number one pervert had trained the other. Sasuke hadn't said much, but his disapproval had been equally clear. Nobody was good enough for the close teammate of an Uchiha.

Nodding at Sasuke that she wasn't going to argue further and that he should keep walking, Sakura changed the subject. "Where is the resistance's main base?"

"Former Sound."

"'Former Sound?'" This time he kept walking when she stopped and Sakura was forced to follow him.

"As in… what happened to Orochimaru? I'm assuming he didn't just clean up the guest bedrooms and put out the little hotel soap samples for visiting shinobi from his most hated former village."

She'd barely finished speaking when her brain made the connection in a dizzying flash and she snagged Sasuke's sleeve and dragged him to a halt.

"That's what the secret ANBU mission was for. Your brother killed Orochimaru."

"We were there too," Sasuke said with a trace of annoyance.

"Orochimaru, really? That's…wait, what? Weren't you supposed to be at the Kage summit?"

"You remember that random shinobi who was assigned to go with us in your place?"

She nodded, not sure how his comment related to destroying one of the village's greatest enemies.

"He was a Root spy sent by Danzou. Naruto made friends with him and he came over to our side."

Sakura couldn't help her automatic snort of disbelief. Trust Danzou to take advantage of her absence by placing an enemy on her team and forget that Naruto's Instant Friendship Justu was deadly in close quarters.

"It's a long story."

"A Naruto specialty."

Sasuke shook his head and turned in the direction of the cabin, the rest of the traps left for another day.

"Sai is not what one would call emotionally stable."

"And since you're the one telling me I know it must be true."

He glared at her, but kept talking. "It was obvious from the start. You know how Naruto is."

She laughed. "He can sniff out emotional instability almost as well as he can sniff out ramen. Better if he's not hungry."

"We weren't even out of Fire when we realized Danzou was probably up to something. Kakashi was in favor of turning back when we ran into the Hachibi jinchuuriki." He held up a hand before she could speak. "Killer B is the brother of the Raikage and, other than having an annoying tendency to rap whatever he says, is sane. Naruto made friends with him too."

"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Did Naruto induct him into his card-carrying Jinchuuriki Friendship Club?"

Sasuke's lips twitched upwards. "You know he carries those cards around with him?"

"He doesn't," Sakura laughed. "Please don't tell me he's been handing them out to people."

"He gave one to my brother, among others."

She snorted and waved him on to continue, holding a hand over her mouth to muffle her amusement.

"Killer B asked us what Konoha's ANBU was doing in Sound. We assumed Danzou was behind whatever it was, especially when we found Sai's tongue had been sealed to prevent him spilling Root secrets. Kakashi, as Acting Hokage, ordered a small squad of our ANBU guard off to report to Konoha while the rest of us investigated the situation in Sound.

"Imagine our surprise when we discovered ANBU ransacking Orochimaru's underground bunkers and laying siege to Sound's main base."

"How did that go?" Sakura asked, already knowing the answer.

"What do you think?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and made a vicious smirk. "All the jutsu in the world couldn't save Orochimaru when he was caught between us, my brother, ANBU and two jinchuuriki."

"Two jinchuuriki?"

"I thought it was a bad idea. Apparently Killer B was under house arrest in Lightning due to the Akatsuki threat and slipped his guards. I didn't want to incite an international incident by encouraging the escaped jinchuuriki of a village that doesn't like us into danger, but I was overruled."

Huffing, Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. "Naruto got us allied to Cloud somehow anyway."

"Damn it, Sasuke!" Sakura threw up her hands in frustration and gave her teammate the evil eye. "So your 'really lame and totally annoying' political mission turns into participating in a massive secret ANBU mission where you kick Orochimaru's ass.

"Meanwhile, I'm off playing cat-and-mouse with hunter-nin and fighting for the money just to eat." Sakura's mouth snapped closed almost before she'd finished speaking, her ire forgotten.

Though she'd said the words in annoyance at learning she'd been left out of her idiot teammates' antics yet again, it was too soon for her to bring up those memories, even jokingly. It was stupid to dwell on something that couldn't be changed. It would be better for everyone if she could just forget about it and let it go.

Frowning at the creases that had appeared between Sasuke's eyebrows, she tried to remember what she'd been talking about before her vocal slip.

"Do you know how sick of red meat I am?" Ranting about food in front of her mother hen teammate was probably a bad idea, but it carried the least painful sting of bad memories.

"Game is not what I'd call fine dining. I was ready to kill for some vegetables. Actually," she mused thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure I did kill for some vegetables."

Sasuke interrupted by grasping one of her wrists and giving her a light tug. "Sakura, shut up."

He took the empty glass out of her hand and stacked it inside the one he was holding. Then he reclaimed her wrist and started pulling her in the direction of the cabin.

"It wasn't fun without you around," he practically growled, leading her between twisted roots and fallen branches with his eyes fixed on the ground. "And we're going to eat lunch."

"Wait a minute, you haven't told me what happened after getting rid of Orochimaru."

Very slowly, Sasuke stopped and turned his head towards her. "I will continue talking if you come with me and promise to eat whatever I place in front of you."

Considering the bargain, Sakura looked her teammate straight in the eye. "I will eat everything within reason as long as you let me help."

"Deal," he said, without pausing to consider her terms.

Sakura grinned in triumph. "You'll let me help? Really?"

"It's impossible to live with Itachi and not learn how to cook. I'm just speeding up the process."

Sakura hummed vaguely in reply, thinking suddenly about Sasuke's newfound domestic skills. Uchiha Mikoto was reputedly one of the best cooks in the village. The rumors could be exaggerated due to the Uchiha pride in their matriarch, but Sakura didn't think so, not when she'd had the honor of being invited to Sasuke's for dinner. Mentally she recalculated what she knew of Itachi. Maybe the last twenty percent of his time was divided between training and cooking.

They walked in silence back to the cabin, Sasuke's hand still lightly encircling her wrist. Though he'd promised to continue the story, he did not speak again until both of them had removed their shoes and moved to the kitchen.

"You can make rice, right?"

Placing one hand on her hip, Sakura cocked her head. "Sasuke, are you seriously asking me that? Even Kakashi-sensei can make rice without burning it."

He gave her a dubious look but showed her where the rice was kept, telling her how many cups to make and pushing her in the direction of the battered metal rice cooker.

"A large portion of Sound's forces were the dregs of Rice's disbanded military. They weren't very happy with becoming indentured servants to a madman who fed them to his experiments or used them as disposable fighters." Sasuke began rummaging in the fridge, emerging in a moment with a small armful of vegetables; no doubt his worrywart tendencies wouldn't let him ignore her earlier comment.

"They were more than willing to either stand aside or join us after Naruto promised to give them back control of their country once we were gone. You know Kakashi—he just stood aside and let the dobe work his magic."

Sakura shook her head in mute disgust as she measured out cups of water into the appliance. Kakashi-sensei was so lazy!

"We spent a few days rounding up the last of Orochimaru's loyal followers and his escaped creations. You'll be happy to know my brother personally disposed of Yakushi Kabuto."

She accepted the news with a stiff nod. Medic-nin were the rarest breed of shinobi, even rarer than sensor types, who could be trained from practically anyone regardless of chakra control. In Konoha medic-nin were treated with an unusual degree of respect, a change from the other hidden villages that saw medic-nin only as second-rate shinobi who sacrificed battle prowess for a spot on the sidelines. To become a medic-nin in Konoha under the strict training protocols set in place by the Sannin Tsunade was to become the elite, those with the chakra control necessary to not only harm, but to heal as well.

That Kabuto had used Konoha's medic-nin teachings to betray the village was a long-standing sore point among the medical staff at the hospital, civilian and shinobi alike. Given the opportunity, Sakura would have gladly wrapped her fingers around Kabuto's neck and severed his arteries one by one, but she trusted Itachi to have done a thorough job in eliminating the traitor, and that was enough for her.

"Kakashi assigned some ANBU to stay with the remaining Rice shinobi to help them start rebuilding and we were preparing to actually leave for the Kage summit." He started washing the vegetables, eyes on his hands. "If I hadn't been there myself, I would have never believed it. Had we made it, Kakashi's excuse for tardiness would have been real, for once.

"Here," Sasuke handed her a cutting board, an onion, and a knife, which she awkwardly struggled with before dropping all three on the countertop. "Chop the onion."

"Uh." She blinked at the unexpected segue, staring at the onion as if she'd never seen one before. "Do I need to…?" Hesitantly, she pantomimed plucking bits off the white bulb.

"No, I've already peeled it for you. All you need to do is chop it."

"Is there a…method to this?"

"Hn." Sasuke picked up the knife and placed it in her open hand. Closing her fingers around the handle he moved her wrist until the blade of the knife was suspended above the onion. "Medium-size pieces of a similar consistency. I'll let you figure the rest out for yourself; you're a smart kunoichi and I have faith in you."

Growling, Sakura elbowed him in the side for his sass. Sasuke grunted low in his throat, but showed no other signs that she'd hit him. Raising the knife, Sakura gave the vegetable a suspicious look and considered various strategies for cutting it up evenly.

"The ANBU squad Kakashi sent to Konoha returned before we could depart, accompanied by a small contingent of shinobi who'd managed to flee the village during the coup. When we learned what had happened we knew Danzou would attempt to kill us and capture Naruto. Going to the Kage summit would have made us easy targets."

Sasuke had pulled out another cutting board and begun chopping some of the vegetables he'd washed. Squinting at the neat pile of vegetable pieces before him, and then at her own mess of onion bits, Sakura scowled and returned to her task.

"Rice offered us a potential solution. While Danzou was aware of ANBU's absence, he wasn't a part of the council and wouldn't have been privy to the order Homura and Koharu forced through while Tsunade was in a coma. Even if he interrogated them he had no way of knowing whether ANBU had succeeded or been slaughtered by Orochimaru. With most of Konoha's ANBU missing and a significant portion of both the Uchiha and the Hyuuga gone, it would be suicide to pit Konoha against Orochimaru's forces."

Sakura stilled, glancing at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye at the casual mention of his murdered family. Though he continued methodically chopping the vegetables in front of him, the tension in the air made her skin break out in goose bumps. His bangs were covering his face and she couldn't see his expression. Tentatively, Sakura reached for his shoulder and paused, her eyes on the slivers of onion clinging to her fingers.

The sound of the front door made them both jump. Sakura pulled her hand away and looked down at her pile of mangled onion. None of the pieces were the same size and they were all horribly misshapen.

"We've taken over Orochimaru's main base as headquarters for the rebel forces." Sasuke spoke as if he'd never stopped, picking up his explanation where he'd left off. "The Rice shinobi have let us stay because we've been helping them rebuild and train their forces.

"Those who aren't at the base are scattered across Fire and in the bordering countries acting as contacts to gather information and smuggle goods and people right under Danzou's nose. That's how we got your parents out before Danzou tightened the watch on the remaining ANBU and closed Konoha to outsiders."

Sasuke pushed the vegetables into neat piles with the side of the blade and put down his knife, turning to face Itachi as he walked into the living room.

"Hello, aniki, welcome back."

"I'm back," Itachi greeted, eyes flicking from her face to his brother's blank expression. Sakura knew she looked worried and that Itachi could tell something was wrong. The air in the house felt heavy with the weight of things left unsaid.

Biting her lip for a second in indecision, Sakura was struck by an idea.

"Itachi." The elder Uchiha inclined his head slightly in her direction. While he watched, Sakura raised a hand and poked Sasuke square in the forehead with her onion-sticky fingers. He recoiled in disbelief and stared at her, but she only turned and quirked an eyebrow at his brother.

She didn't miss the surprised look that flashed across Itachi's features before his eyes narrowed in calculation. Stepping quickly into the kitchen, he moved to stand in front of them. Then, watching her the whole time, he poked Sasuke in the forehead.

Reflexively, Sasuke covered his forehead with a hand, clearly worried about future assaults. "Sakura, don't encourage him."

His petulant words banished the gloomy air in the kitchen and Sakura grinned, holding up a hand before she could stop herself. Itachi didn't even hesitate before slapping her palm with his, and Sakura didn't miss his amused smirk when she openly gaped at him. Apparently he had been hanging out with Naruto.

Grumbling under his breath, Sasuke rubbed his abused forehead with one hand and frowned when it came away smelling of onions. "I'm going to regret putting you two together, aren't I?"

"Perhaps," Itachi allowed, sliding past Sakura before she could recover and claiming a position at the stove.

Politely brushed away from her chopping duty, Sakura frowned when she realized both Uchiha were about to fall back into their long-established routine, the one where they cooked for her while she sat on her butt doing nothing.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at their backs. "Sasuke, you said you'd let me help."

The brothers turned towards her, and though she'd addressed Sasuke it was Itachi who spoke.

"Did he?"

She nodded once and resettled her weight until her feet were planted firmly against the kitchen floor, body at ease but ready to shift into motion.

"How did the spar go?" He was watching her, but from the way his eyes flickered towards Sasuke she knew he wouldn't accept her response without his brother's corroboration.

"I kicked his ass," she huffed, raising one eyebrow challengingly.

In response, Itachi's eyes darted towards Sasuke, who looked away and muttered a quiet "Hn." Matter resolved to his satisfaction, Itachi glanced at her and the corners of his lips turned up.

"Is that so?"

She smirked, deciding to press her advantage. "He said there was no way I could be around you and not learn how to cook."

"It is a valuable talent to have," Itachi agreed, oblivious to the small insult.

"Not for shinobi," Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I don't see why I have to—"

"If you want to eat, you have to help," Itachi interrupted pleasantly. "Being able to cook with any ingredients on hand provides extreme versatility whether in the field or undercover. No brother of mine will ever go hungry."

Sakura hid her smile with a little cough into her hand. When she looked up Sasuke was frowning at her and she grinned unrepentantly.

"Cheer up, Sasuke. Misery loves company."

Stepping forward, she sidled past her teammate, jostling him away from the kitchen countertop with her body. Just because she could, she gave him a strong clap on the shoulder, smiling happily when he started brushing ineffectively at the onion residue.

"So, Itachi-sensei, what will we be cooking today?"

Itachi had watched her tease his brother with a very faint smile. One side of his mouth pulled higher at her words as he watched Sasuke picking onions off his shirtsleeve.

"Considering the ingredients Sasuke has laid out, I assume he intended to make a vegetable stir-fry."

Sasuke gave a small nod, still wrinkling his nose over his task. He mumbled something that sounded like "deficient," though whether he was commenting on her dietary or mental lack was unclear.

The kitchen was too small for Sakura to move far, but she tried not to hover directly at Itachi's side and get in his way as he removed a large wok and set it on the stove. Next he poured in some cooking oil and turned up the heat, before removing a pair of long-handled cooking chopsticks from a drawer.

At his request Sakura began passing him vegetables, observing his movements with interest as he added them to the mix. The whole time Itachi narrated his actions in a quiet voice, explaining what he was doing, why, and how the steps might change based on the ingredients used.

Sakura had never been particularly interested in cooking in the past, unwilling to fall into the stereotypical role of the female cooking for the males on team missions. But there was something about the fluidity of Itachi's movements that fascinated her, and she couldn't help the way her eyes followed the steady motion of his hands. While she'd very rarely seen him in battle, his skill was well known and she could see that grace in his manipulation of the cooking utensils.

In her preoccupation she didn't notice anything was wrong at first. Itachi was stirring the ingredients constantly, but didn't switch the chopsticks into his left hand. The one time he tried he'd barely lowered them into the wok before pulling away as if he'd changed his mind and needed a short break. But Sakura had seen him flinch the moment his fingers closed on the wood, almost dropping the chopsticks before tightening his hold as if nothing had happened.

Eyes narrowed, she forgot about watching his hands in appreciation and instead started looking for weakness with the trained eye of a shinobi and medic-nin.

It wasn't her imagination: Compared to his right hand, which he moved without hesitation, his left stayed locked awkwardly at his side. He held the handle of the wok loosely with his left hand, the unnatural straightness of his arm restricting the rotation of his wrist into a more comfortable position.

"Is something wrong with your arm?"

When Itachi's eyes met hers she stared at him, waiting for him to acknowledge what she already knew.

"No, nothing," he said, turning his gaze back to his cooking with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Sakura's heart leapt into her throat. He was much better at it, but the casual answer followed by brief bemusement—as if he wasn't sure why she was asking in the first place—was a classic Sasuke response to being injured. If she hadn't spent years around his younger brother who routinely played off any wound that wasn't broken, falling off, or bleeding too much to hide she might have never noticed the signs.

It was probably a minor wound, hence his unwillingness to even mention it, but she couldn't be sure unless she checked. Stubborn Uchiha pride had led Sasuke to ignore concussions and extreme muscle tears before.

Quietly, Sakura moved around Itachi's back to his other side, turning the stove off before wrapping one hand around his forearm. Her chakra slid into his skin easily and she sighed at the familiarity of living cells beneath her fingers.

Eyes slipping closed as she brushed delicately at the inner workings of Itachi's arm, Sakura started at the elbow and worked her way towards his hand. There were tears in the ligaments of his wrist, just as she'd suspected, and she began pushing her chakra into the affected area.

After encouraging the fibers to re-knit and repairing the ruptured blood vessels she couldn't resist letting her chakra continue homing in on any other anomalies. Small mostly-healed cuts faded and she poked carefully at old scars, untangling damaged nerve cells from within the built-up tissue.

When she awoke from her daze she found herself possessively running her hand over Itachi's arm while he stared at her, eyes dark and unreadable. Blushing, Sakura snatched her hand back and frowned at him, not about to forget how he'd lied to her earlier just because she'd been feeling up his arm.

"Stupid, what did you think you were doing? It was totally unnecessary to exacerbate it like that just so you could cook lunch. Why didn't you ask me to look at it? Why did you lie to me about it?"

"I apologize, I didn't wish to disturb your recovery—"

She cut him off with toss of her hand. "Bullshit. Even if that's true, you still shouldn't have been cooking. It was only a minor sprain, but it wasn't going to heal with you moving it like that! One of ANBU's most celebrated captains should know better than to aggravate pre-existing injuries for no reason."

"Sakura." She bit back the rest of her rant and cocked one hand on her hip impatiently.

"Thank you."

His voice was calm, even, and completely sincere. Sakura felt her righteous indignation evaporate in the face of how reasonable he was being.

"Uh, you're welcome."

Rather than face him, Sakura bit her lip and glanced away. Sasuke was standing behind the countertop that separated the kitchen area from the living room, watching her. She gave him a pointed look, but he didn't respond.

Sighing, Sakura turned her head in Itachi's direction. "I'm sorry for, uh, manhandling you and giving you the third degree. But you have to admit it's stupid for you to neglect your health, even something minor like this, when we're technically at war and in enemy territory.

"And even if we weren't, your body's going to break down if you let all the little aches and pains go without being treated. Physical fatigue will decrease your responsiveness and mobility in battle and then one day—"

Sakura stopped and pressed her lips together, aware that she was lecturing someone who knew better and didn't need a refresher course in Health Basics 101.

"Anyway," she continued, "the diagnostic scan is the first technique any medic learns and it takes very little chakra. Even without enough chakra to heal, a medic would still be able to determine the severity of the wound and advise the necessary field treatment."

"I will be more conscious of it in the future," Itachi said. "You don't need to worry."

"I'm not worried—" she began, but couldn't complete her sentence. "It's just… been a long time since I've healed anyone," she finished weakly.

"Sakura, what's wrong?"

She was going to tell Sasuke that nothing was wrong. She was going to meet his eyes, tell him she was fine, and go sit on the couch to put a little distance between herself and the two Uchiha.

Except when she raised her eyes and caught sight of his face she couldn't do it.

If she wanted to Sakura could brush Kakashi aside with vague assurances pretending not to see his concern, and he would let it go because he'd never press, too used to avoiding prying questions to ever ask them of others. Sakura had learned not to give Naruto the chance to question her, taking advantage of his easily distracted personality and his tendency to accept people at face value.

But Sasuke knew her weakness. He'd follow her around, shadowing her footsteps without saying a word. The space between them would swell with all the things she didn't want to say, but couldn't forget with him nearby to remind her until she was ready to spill everything just so he'd stop.

And now both he and Itachi were looking at her with those curst eyes, frank and unapologetic in their desire to know what was bothering her.

She could make an excuse now, if she really wanted to, and they would let her go. They would wait for her as long as she chose to keep the secret to herself.

Pursing her lips, Sakura brusquely moved past both Uchiha and took her customary spot on the couch, turning her head so she didn't have to see them watching her out of the corner of her eye.

Sulking by herself was never worth it in the face of Sasuke's unwavering patience. Rejecting his desire to be there for her even when she didn't want him would be akin to breaking their friendship, something Sakura would never do and Sasuke knew it, damn him.

"That's how they kept finding me in the beginning. Healing," she clarified, feeling their interest sharpening at her words. "I dyed my hair and hid my eyes, made myself blend in, and dropped the flashiest moves from Tsunade-shishou's style. It wasn't my looks and it wasn't my chakra. After that first week I barely had any, what was there to sense?

She folded her hands in her lap and stared without really seeing them.

"It was my own fault. I—every shinobi knows what life as a nukenin is like. We hunt enough of them for our villages to see what they have to do, what they become, to survive. I didn't want that.

"Medical care outside the capitals and the hidden villages is deplorable. I could have settled in any small village as a traveling doctor in exchange for food and a roof over my head, and I did, or at least I tried. But every time I picked a place to hide Root found me."

Gripping her clasped hands so tightly they hurt she finally chanced a look towards her silent audience. Sasuke's brow was drawn in a deep frown, the skin between his eyebrows puckered in anger. Itachi's expression was blank, but Sakura could sense the intensity that gathered beneath his stoic appearance.

"Danzou took my village, my way of life as a shinobi, and my pride as a medic. Those squads weren't hunting a kunoichi—they were hunting a female healer, as if my desire to help others was nothing more than a vulnerability to be used to capture me.

"The worst part is that Danzou got what he wanted. He couldn't have me for his twisted schemes so he crippled my effectiveness as a medic instead."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke took a step in her direction. "You just healed Itachi's arm."

"Yes," Itachi confirmed, rotating his healed left wrist. "It feels better than it has in a long time." He paused before adding, "I haven't always visited the medics to follow up on my injuries like I should have."

Sakura frowned at Itachi's admission but decided it was an issue for another time.

"I can heal now, when I've almost recovered my chakra and we're not under attack. But what happens when we're in the field and one of you gets seriously injured?"

Neither said anything. She could see the questions building up behind Sasuke's eyes, his mouth hovering over a demand for more information. Itachi was unreadable; if he understood what she was trying to explain he kept his thoughts to himself.

"What is a medic's primary function?"

When Sasuke said nothing, she glared at him and repeated her question.

"To heal."

"And who is the medic supposed to heal?"

Sasuke's mouth twisted into a scowl, resenting her confrontational tone and what he felt were insipid questions, but Sakura had to make him see.

"The team, Sakura. The medic is supposed to heal her team."

"Yes," she growled, "but how am I supposed to heal my team when I'm too busy healing myself?"

Gesturing angrily towards her forehead, Sakura rose and faced the brothers.

"Sakura," he hesitated, irritation blending into concern. "What are you talking about? You're the Godaime's apprentice, since when has not being able to heal everybody been a concern? With your chakra control you always have enough left over to heal the rest of us, even when we're falling over from chakra exhaustion."

"I can't—can't control it anymore," she said, feeling her simmering anger shudder and die at the confession.

It was a surprise to find she could be angry. Her temper had never been particularly stable, but she had thought she'd buried the banked rage at what Danzou's agents had done to her. Apparently she'd only needed a proper catalyst to unleash it.

She'd wanted to keep her issues hidden for just a little longer, be the normal pre-Danzou Sakura, but in a household full of overly perceptive Uchiha it had been a lost cause from the start. In front of the prodigy and, most of all, the boy who'd known her since she was twelve, Sakura had wanted to appear stronger after what she'd had to endure, not the "damaged good" she'd told Sasuke she wasn't.

Sakura turned and bent to retrieve the shirt from where she'd dropped it the previous night. When she held it up she made sure the front with its dark stain bisected by uneven stitches was clearly visible. Laying it across the couch cushions, she lifted the hem of her own shirt just enough that they could see the smooth, even skin of her stomach, no evidence of the wound that had bled enough to permanently mar the old shirt.

It was an injury that should have scarred, and in a battlefield scenario precious chakra couldn't be spared for cosmetic fixes unless the scar tissue was likely to inhibit bodily movement or function. Except that she'd woken the next day, head aching from strain, to find her stomach unblemished under the crust of dried blood.

Swallowing, Sakura tapped a finger against her forehead, again drawing attention to where she'd been cut the night they'd found her.

"As long as I have chakra my body will heal itself. I can't stop it or control what happens, not anymore."

How could she be a medic when her body rebelled against her, selfishly prioritizing her own health over the health of the ones she was supposed to care for, those who didn't have the training or the chakra control to heal themselves? Sakura stared at her feet feeling sick.

There was a light touch against her brow. She looked up expecting to see Sasuke and was startled to find Itachi instead.

Towards his younger brother a touch to the forehead turned into a sign of teasing affection. Against her skin his touch felt like a caress. Sakura couldn't help the small shiver that ran down her spine.

"You of all people," she whispered, staring into his dark eyes, "know how circumstances like that can condition a person."

He'd become a genin at age seven, chuunin at ten and ANBU Captain at thirteen. If anyone knew what it was like to be unprepared emotionally for the stress and trauma of shinobi life, it was him. She knew only Kakashi who'd advanced at a younger age, and in wartime too, but her sensei wasn't the one available to comfort her.

"That does not make it your fault," he said, hand falling back to his side, though the spark of warmth from his touch seemed to linger.

"You seem to think Danzou has ruined you somehow—made you less of a shinobi and less of a person. But that isn't true."

"I'm a medic," Sakura protested. "I'm not just a shinobi. Healing is part of who I am. How can I be complete when that part of me is missing?"

"Not missing." One side of his mouth quirked humorlessly. "Like your chakra, your control will return. It's probable that during your experiences you traded conscious control over your healing in favor of survival. It will come back to you."

She wanted to protest, wanted to ask him how he knew, how he could sound so damned confident, but Itachi spoke again before she could open her mouth.

"This is the proof." He held up his left arm and rotated his wrist. "You haven't lost the capacity to heal. It may take more time to retrain your instincts to consciously control your medical chakra, but your healing ability remains."

He paused, eyes searching her face.

"Sakura, you are not the only one who needed to be reconditioned after a long mission in enemy territory. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

For a second Itachi hesitated as if he might say something else, but he glanced at his brother and decided against it, heading towards the kitchen. Sasuke moved into the space he'd vacated, arms crossed over his chest.

"Have you been worrying about that this whole time?"

"Not…the whole time," she winced at his scowl. "It was a legitimate concern for me to worry about."

"Need I remind the team medic you're supposed to be recovering? How are you supposed to rest when you're stressing yourself out?"

"How am I supposed to be the team medic when I can't heal?"

"We've covered this," Sasuke nodded at his brother's back. "You can still heal. You have to work on your chakra control, but considering it's you I'm not worried and you shouldn't be either. You can get through this."

When she continued to frown he reached over and flicked her on the nose, making her go cross-eyed.

"Sakura, why do you think Naruto and I gave you five months? You don't have to be ready to save the world just yet."

"There won't be a world left to save after Naruto gets done with it."

"Let the dobe do his thing. You're mortal, just like the rest of us."

Itachi was in the kitchen doing something with the food and pretending that he couldn't hear everything they said. Looking pointedly at his back and then at her teammate she raised an eyebrow.

"Mere 'mortals,' huh?"

Sasuke snorted. "Careful, Sakura, your Team Seven Kami Complex is showing."

"Well if I'm bad at taking care of myself it's only because I learned from the best," she replied.

Apparently satisfied she'd moved from depression into witty repartee, Sasuke shook his head and walked into the kitchen.

"Sit down, Sakura. Eat some lunch, and I'll let you beat me up so you can practice your healing."

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, you know I can't resist your body." She grinned at him until he leaned over and asked Itachi to give her extra to make up for 'energy expenditure.'

When the eldest Uchiha offered her a heaping plate she frowned at him.

"You need to recover your strength," he said, unfazed by her displeasure. "This is the food you helped to prepare, Sakura, you should take pride in it."

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," she said, accepting the plate.

"If you're worried I have other wounds I've neglected to inform you of I would be glad to submit to a medical check-up after lunch. I'm sure Sasuke will cooperate as well."

"Fine," her teammate grumbled, emerging from the kitchen with two glasses of water, which he left at the foot of the couch within easy reach. "Sakura, you promised to eat."

"I promised to eat within reason." She poked dubiously at the small mountain of stir-fry and rice on her plate. "And don't try to distract me with medical stuff!"

Itachi appeared at that moment with two more plates, and Sakura was surprised to see that each held almost as much food as her own. Sasuke didn't say anything, but the dubious look he gave his brother spoke volumes.

"This amount of food is perfectly reasonable," Itachi said. "You're recovering on top of healing me and sparring with Sasuke this morning. Sasuke tends to neglect his own health when looking after others. And I need to replenish the energy that was used up by my body in the healing process."

Itachi ignored Sasuke's glare with serene indifference and began eating. Likely knowing that grumbling to his aniki was futile, Sasuke started eating as well. Sakura glanced between the two of them and smiled, hastily shoving food into her mouth when Sasuke glanced in her direction with narrowed eyes.

It was good—of course it was another joint culinary creation by the Uchiha brothers. Sakura didn't consider mutilating onions to have been a worthwhile contribution, but she still enjoyed the food. And she couldn't deny that eating heaps of lightly fried and crispy vegetables satisfied her non-meat cravings.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence and concentrated on their food. Sakura was amused to see Sasuke finish off his plate without a word of protest.

A few minutes later as she was trying to push the remaining grains of rice into a bigger clump before she ate the last broccoli floret, Sakura realized the brothers were done eating and exchanging silent looks.

For a clan that was obsessed with eyes it made sense that the Uchiha could communicate entirely through telepathic stares. That didn't mean Sakura appreciated being left out of their nonverbal conversation. Shoving the rest of her food in her mouth, Sakura tried to convey with her stare that they'd better tell her what was going on if they knew what was good for them.

Sasuke looked doubtful. Itachi widened his eyes slightly in reply. Sasuke's eyebrows creased and Itachi inclined his head the tiniest fraction. A beat, and Sasuke snorted, collecting their empty plates to take to the kitchen. Itachi turned to regard her as if nothing had just happened.

"There will be an ANBU Root patrol passing two hours' south of here in a week. We may be able to rendezvous and intercept one of our targets at that time."

Sasuke returned to his seat next to her on the couch and elaborated.

"We catch the Root patrols that pass near us and free the loyal ANBU members after eliminating the rest of the squad. Teams like ours are chipping away at Danzou's forces until he has no choice but to stay within the village walls or risk exposing Konoha to outside invasion with his shinobi spread too far away to help."

"You said Naruto had turned one of them," Sakura pointed out. "Would it be possible to convert the Root agents and send them back to Danzou, but reporting to us?"

"The resistance doesn't have the resources to hold and guard that many prisoners for the length of time it would take to de-condition them and Danzou will not trust any non-Root ANBU who return without the rest of their squad.

"We tried once." Sasuke's jaw clenched. "He left the body where we would find it."

"The Root members themselves are immune to outside influence due to the nature of the seals placed upon them," Itachi added. "Danzou has effectively made it impossible to create sleeper agents out of his own soldiers."

"But then how did Naruto…?"

"We haven't figured out exactly how Sai's seal works, but distance seems to affect the level of control exerted by it. He's restricted to the base as a precaution, especially because prolonged exposure to Naruto seems to erode his conditioning.

"Unfortunately," Sasuke's voice was dry, "it's not possible to just have the dobe lead his own Root therapy sessions. We don't know what additional conditioning Danzou has introduced since taking over the village and we can't risk bringing them into any of the resistance's bases."

Sakura thought about his words and frowned. It had been a relief to find out that the people she'd killed weren't loyal Konoha shinobi, but Danzou's mindless dogs. At the time she'd rationalized their deaths to avoid the cloying sense of betrayal to her village, knowing she couldn't merely incapacitate her opponents if she wanted to stay alive. But the luxury of safety allowed her to examine the situation from a different angle.

In a way, Danzou's Root members were his first victims. Conditioning of that magnitude took years to program effectively. The development of a seal complex enough to control speech and other mental functions would also have taken years. Danzou had been planning his coup for decades, building up his military force and waiting for the opportune time to strike.

Root was only the scapegoat, enslaved to fight to the death for a cause they didn't support. Naruto had saved one of them, but what of the others?

Itachi must have read something of her thoughts on her face.

"There's never a perfect answer during wartime. Miracles, like the one that occurred after Pein's attack, don't happen."

Itachi had witnessed the end of the Third Great Shinobi War and the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha. He would've been very young, but for a genius that didn't mean much, especially for one with Sharingan-granted photographic memory. Sakura had the clearance to access his medical records and it didn't take a great leap of logic to realize his awakening of the Sharingan at four was prompted by something other than prodigious talent.

She wanted to argue with him, but she wasn't Naruto. Sakura didn't have the blind certainty that things would always turn out for the best.

"Who's our target this time?" Sasuke asked into the sudden quiet.

"I don't know yet. Our contact was compromised."

"Compromised?" Sasuke glanced sharply at his brother.

"Followed," Itachi clarified. "I dispatched the assailant, but I thought it expedient to send our contact on to a safe house in case his identity had been exposed. His replacement should be here in the next few days with the details."

"Is that how you were injured?"

Frowning, Itachi rotated his healed left wrist. "I didn't expect our contact to engage with the enemy and I miscalculated the angle when blocking a strike meant for him."

The words were directed at her, Sakura realized. Incensed and not about to let him distract her again, she scowled with the righteous indignation of a pissed-off med-nin.

"Uchiha Itachi, you will tell me right now if you're wounded anywhere else."

"I am not." He had the gall to look and sound amused. Her teammate, who was in for it the next time they sparred, snorted.

"You," she pointed one finger at Sasuke, "stay. You," she jabbed her finger in the direction of his obnoxious older brother and moved to pat the couch cushion beside her, anger morphing into an expression of calculated sweetness.

Itachi sat down next to her, undaunted by her aura of murderous intent. Sakura smacked a palm against his chest and stared determinedly at his collarbone as she concentrated on the feel of her chakra moving gently through his body. Other than a few sparring-created bruises, everything was fine. Sakura checked over both of his eyes, asking him to activate the Sharingan while she measured his chakra usage.

"Alright," she finally grumbled, wishing she could scold him for neglecting something, "you're free to go."

"Thank you, Haruno-sensei." Ignoring the quirk to his lips, she glowered at her next patient.

Eloquently, Sasuke rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut as he took Itachi's place on the couch. There was nothing wrong with him either, other than a bit of eczema on his back that Sakura helpfully cleared up for him. After a cursory eye exam she sat back with a huff.

"You're fine too." She fixed them both with a significant look. "For once."

Sasuke shrugged. "You're not the only one on vacation."

"Meaning Shizune reminded Naruto of the frequent chakra exhaustion and willful disregard for injury."

"There are enough shinobi at base camp that our presence was not required," Itachi said smoothly.

Sakura gave him a look of arch skepticism and started rummaging for her hidden stash of pocky.

"Sasuke, when you go to meet the new contact it would be a good opportunity to take Sakura into town."

Sasuke was already nodding when she whipped her head around to stare at him. Reading her expression correctly, he snorted.

"Relax, Sakura, I'll take you. It's nothing to be excited about."

As a nukenin Sakura had generally avoided the smaller towns and villages. They weren't big enough to hide in and hunter-nin liked to stop by too frequently for them to provide any measure of safety or comfort. Despite what her teammate said she was excited, if only to visit a town without the worry of being caught. It felt almost normal, like they were making plans to do something together back in Konoha.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, maybe I'm just excited for our date." She batted her eyelashes at him, playing up her pout for dramatic effect.

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched at the word "date" and he frowned darkly. "Keep it up and I'm not going to take you."

"That," she declared, "would be cruel and unusual punishment, Sasuke-kun. You can't promise a girl something and then not deliver."

In response he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine." She smiled when Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her nonchalance. "If you won't take me I'll just have to appeal to your brother."

Previously ignored during their banter, Itachi was watching them with an amused tilt to his mouth.

"I'm afraid I can't take you. We visit the market on specific days to avoid our appearances being linked. Sasuke having gone yesterday has already changed the routine. I can't alter my schedule."

Sasuke smirked. "So you'll have to be nice to me, Sakura."

"Not likely!"

In a fit of immaturity she stuck her tongue out before realizing she'd done so in full view of his genius elder brother.

When she glanced at Itachi she could see the laughter in his eyes. Despite almost two days of treating him just like any other friend, Sakura was suddenly reminded that to her Uchiha Itachi was practically a stranger. He was one of the village's most talented shinobi, and he'd witnessed her emotional breakdowns.

Feeling strangely flustered, Sakura quickly looked away.

"Sasuke, you never finished showing me the rest of the traps."

Used to her whims, Sasuke's brow creased but he didn't ask her what was wrong when she grabbed his arm and began towing him out of the room.

Sakura could only hope her face wasn't as red as it felt.