on still water

by: whisperedsilvers

prompt: "for you."

summary: and sometimes, there were days without rain. —shisui/sakura

X

take some rain with my sunshine

"So, to sum it up," Sakura tried to wrap her head around the mountain of information that she was just slammed with, "You are the niece of the Kumo Daimyo, the one who ran away from your husband – first husband - because of his philandering ways and his greed. You still have all of your wealth—kimonos, jewelry and silks to use as an offering for the Ōkami, but the Ōkami really is a summon from a powerful shinobi who works with the Daimyo and is actually looking for you, but once you realized that the Ōkami was connected with your uncle, you stopped the offerings which is why every time the festival comes, the damage to the village comes closer to your home."

Mira's mother nodded warily.

Shisui's eyebrows raised high on his forehead, he crossed his arms and demanded with incredulity, "Does your husband – Mira-chan's father – know?"

"He knows that I ran away from my first husband who…had money," Mira's mother said dryly and then shook her head quickly, "But he doesn't know anything else otherwise."

"Why is your uncle looking for you?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Mira's mother pulled out a necklace that she had hidden in her kimono, she answered, "This," The ruby of her necklace sparkled in the candlelight, "It's from my uncle. My father is the one that actually is looking for me, my uncle could care less about jewelry."

"So your father is the one looking for you and is using your uncle's business partner as a liaison," Shisui mused and then his eyes sharpened when he looked at the insignia on the ruby.

"When Mira-chan told me that she met someone with pink hair, I had to ask," Mira's mother pulled out a flyer that she had crumpled up underneath the chair of her stool, "If it was the same girl on the paper."

It was her page out of the bingo book blown up, the ring on her necklace most prominent and with a reward of over five million ryo.

"When she said yes," Mira's mother shivered, "I had to tell you because you have the same necklace."

Sakura grimaced, she had that ring pretty well in between her clothing, so the person who made the sketch had to have known that she had the ring. But, if Mira's mother knew of the insignia then, perhaps she could shed some light on the same question that has been bothering the whole of Konoha. She asked, "What is this insignia? What is the ruby?"

"I don't know the insignia, but the ruby is a tracking device," Mira's mother furrowed her brows, "Only blood or chakra can activate it. I don't have chakra, working chakra anyway to activate it, it also acts as a medium for communication."

"It's a transponder," Shisui murmured, "It would be easier to have an earpiece unless these rings have something to do with—"

"—the sealing," Sakura finished his sentence for him, nodding more to herself than to Mira's mother, she continued, "How long does the summon stay?"

"Until sunrise,"

"And he's looking for you," Shisui said thoughtfully, "You say when you offer a piece of your kimono or something you had left from your days with the Daimyo, he takes it and leaves."

"To report back to your father," Sakura's green eyes widened, "You never thought about leaving?"

Mira's mother sighed, "And go where?"

The two shinobi grimaced.

—

The plan was relatively simple. Find the Ōkami and follow it back to his master, but the trick lay in the how of the plan. As soon as the summon appeared, it disappeared just as quickly. Chakra vanishing with the snap of a wrist and the cool air of midnight.

"I think we should speed this up," Sakura sighed impatiently, "If the summon realized that there were shinobi in this village, the summoner would've decided to hide until the area is clear."

Shisui raised a brow, "And how exactly do you want to speed this up?"

"You do know who my teammates are, right?"

"What does Naruto and Sasuke-chan have to do with this?"

"They aren't exactly known for patience," she snorted and regretfully, she sliced her kimono mid-thigh, even though there weren't any layers to this piece, she needed all the free-range she could get, "If the wolf won't come to us, we're going to have to come to the wolf."

Sakura wrapped her fist in foamy, green chakra and slammed her fist against the forest floor. The earth crackled beneath her feet, trees splintering like skewers and shattering chips. The force of the blow caused alarm, but more importantly a flare of chakra.

"Did you get that?" she asked.

Shisui's eyes bled red and he smirked, "Forcing danger in the eyes of animal enforces adrenaline and the nervous system to react, thus causing—"

"You've been reading my medical books," she grinned with approval, "Animals are more prone to a fight-or-flight response."

"So forcing them to acknowledge the danger unconsciously gives away their position," he nodded his thanks, "Three kilometers east and five hundred yards north. It's moving."

And they bolted.

Forest running and tree branch leaping sounds silly in theory, but it was far more dangerous than what she had assumed. Basic survival training taught you to run, but to run with unstable terrain, darkness and unreliable plants was a feat on its own. Shisui's eyes were an advantage, but Sakura's sensitivity to chakra was a gift.

Ducking underneath a hanging willow, Sakura disappeared to the edge of the riverbank where she spotted a cave buried beneath vines and tangled ivy. Shisui, hot on her heels, paused mid-stride and used shunshin to reach her.

"Camp, I think," she said.

"It's empty," he announced, "They're running, chakra shifted at twenty-two degrees."

"The shrine?" Sakura questioned suddenly, "Why are they going back there?"

Shisui was silent for a moment, his eyes hell-red as he glanced at the back end of the river and then he grinned, "Let's play a game."

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Sakura's shunshin was nearly as good as his. Her training, supplemented with a handful of elemental ninjutsu that she picked up while on missions and his one-on-one sessions, pulled her straight up the ranks. It wouldn't be long until she was recruited for ANBU, he mused. Her kenjutsu was still rusty, even as she slashed through the Rain nin, but combined with her raw strength, it made her an unstoppable force.

Sakura's fist cracked the metal of their katanas, the silver bending backward until it snapped like a twig under the weight of a tree. She used their momentum to her advantage, flickering behind them she hooked her elbows under their arms and flipped them backward.

"Can you cool it with the acrobats?" Shisui whistled as he plunged a kunai into some nin's liver, "I can only take so much sensory information."

"Is the big bad ANBU tired?" she laughed, her fist closing over a tree root, "What about those pretty little eyes?"

"They would like to live to see you," he prodded back, "I can't do that if you're bending and flipping everywhere."

"Will you quit flirting!" one of the rain nin snapped, his fingers digging into the poison senbon she threw ten minutes ago.

"My wife and I apologize for neglecting you, nin-san," Shisui shoved two fingers into the fatal junction between his neck and throat. The nin collapsed, head-first into the dirt as Sakura slammed her fist into the earth.

Sakura appeared in front of him, hair disarray and emerald eyes glimmering, "Was that necessary?"

"Was the earthquake?"

She sniffed.

Earlier, Shisui and Sakura had sent Mira and her family into hiding. There weren't many buildings in the village, but there was a library and anyone could get lost in that labyrinth. The fallout was the real problem, the villagers were sent home and the patrols – or whatever patrols the village used as security – were heightened for maximum protection.

It wasn't a lot, but it would have to do until they could nip this in the bud. The idea was to contain the damage, minimize the causalities and deescalate tensions between their countries. The last one was a far-fetched theory, but semantics.

The earth shook beneath their feet, the sudden wave of chakra permeated the air, the trees crackling, and the dirt loosening.

"I know that wasn't me," Sakura said automatically, nervously, the hair on the back of her neck prickling, "The summon."

"Can you feel it?" Shisui asked suddenly.

"It," she paused and furrowed her brows, "It keeps disappearing."

"It's going west now," he announced, fingers grasping kunai from his holster and he inhaled.

"It feels like," Sakura wrinkled her nose, "Like a—"

"Person," he finished for her, "It's the flaring of chakra. It hides and disappears, but animals can't hide for long. That's the thing with summons. It's primal instincts take over."

"We need to draw it out," she declared, her fist slapping against her left palm.

"And how are we going to do that, Captain?" his eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

Even in grave danger, Shisui somehow cuts the tension like some sort of buffer. Stress was one thing, but easing into a fight with a clear head is a much better tactic than full-fledged adrenaline and pressure.

"How are you with slugs?"

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"—of a bitch!" Shisui hissed as Katsuyu swiveled through the forest with a speed that might've made Itachi shake. "I thought slugs were supposed to be slow!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Excuse you, Lady Katsuyu is the summon and she practically lives in water."

"I apologize for the speed, Uchiha-san. Us slugs are related to the octopus family, some of my sisters live in water and others take to the sea," Lady Katsuyu answered politely, "Though I cannot imagine the appeal of saltwater."

Sakura laughed, "It's alright, Lady Katsuyu. Shisui's just a big baby."

Shisui's grip on Sakura's waist tightened and he retorted hotly, "I am on a giant slug!"

"Once he gets it out of his system, he'll be okay," Sakura soothed her summon, "Really, he's very polite once you get to know him."

"If you say so, Lady Sakura," Katsuyu dipped her head in acknowledgment, "But I thought he was used to speed. Isn't he Shisui no Shunshin?"

Sakura's boisterous laugher only intensified Shisui's mutinous glare.

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"That has got to be the biggest wolf I've ever seen in my life," Sakura whistled as soon as she caught the wolf's silvery coat. It's muzzle stained red and eyes bluer than the sky. The wolf throbbed with chakra, but judging from the singe mark on the edge of his foot she mused that his master wasn't exactly lenient.

"Jump Sakura!" Shisui yelled as soon as the wolf opened his mouth. A gust of arctic wind scorched the atmosphere, burning the forest floor in black ice.

She grumbled when she landed on the tree opposite of Shisui, her legs wobbling on the branch, "I don't want to kill it."

"I don't either," Shisui breathed heavily, hell, the chakra of the Ōkami itself was heavy.

"We need to make it retreat back into its scroll," she told him, her fingers grasping the senbon in her bun, pink hair spilled down her shoulder blades and back.

Waving the senbon in air, he followed her line of thought until he calculated the angle of the moonlight and wind. Shisui smiled, "On your mark, then,"

"Ready," she started, small lips pulling back a wide-teethed grin, "Steady," Sakura pulled out her katana, "Go!"

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It took three fists to the earth, two B-level genjutsus and one frost-covered katana strike to knee to get the job done. Once the Ōkami disappeared back into its scroll, the nin in hiding appeared in plain sight. A chakra swap.

"I don't think summons are supposed to work this way," Sakura hummed, she tugged at the ropes against the rain nin's ankles and nodded with acceptance.

"Replace the animal with the shinobi?" Shisui mused, "Not all the time. It's rare, but if the nin itself has a clause within their summoning contract, it is possible."

"Huh," she looked at the furious gaze of their captured shinobi, his gag muffled all sounds of profanity and screams.

"Now all that's left to deal with is the Daimyo," Shisui groaned and tossed him into the cell for the night, "Tsunade-sama is going to kill us."

"You mean, you," Sakura laughed and tucked her katana into her side, "I'm her student."

"Like that's stops the two of you from destroying training ground four," he snorted and walked towards the village gate.

"We like to have fun!"

"Onee-sama!" Mira's voice carried into the village, she stumbled in front of them, and then frowned, "Did the Ōkami hurt you?"

"No," Sakura smiled, "He did make us chase him around a bit."

Mira's mother came up to them slowly, her eyes creased and asked anxiously, "Is it…is it over?"

Shisui nodded, "These nin won't bother you again. Our village leader will deal with your uncle and father."

Mira's mother looked like she could fall down and weep, "Thank you—thank you so much," her eyes misted over, "This has been haunting me for years, just thank you!" she smiled, grabbed Mira's hand, and bowed, "I hope your marriage is fruitful and your children healthy."

Shisui blinked rapidly as the two of them disappeared into the village. He laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Well, our children will be healthy as long as their mother's the best medical ninja in the world."

Sakura stared at him strangely, intensely, eyes flickering to the lanterns that glimmered like candlelight and asked, "Do you want to get married?"

"Obviously," he shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, it's just—"

"No," she huffed a laughed and repeated her question again, "Do you want to get married?"

Shisui stared at her, his mouth opened and closed, then opened again and he almost stammered "Was—was that a proposal?"

"Well, I guess, I mean," Sakura frowned, "Or is this about you asking me? I mean, we are sort of non-traditional and we've been dating for almost two years so I—"

"What—now?" Shisui sputtered incredulously.

"Was that a yes?" she giggled, eyes glittering, "There's a shrine, right over there, so we can, just you know," she laughed, "Get married."

"Don't you want a wedding?" he questioned still in shock, "Mikoto-obaa will kill me if she doesn't even have a part in my wedding."

"Shisui," she started, a shy smile curling at the corner of her lips, "I-I just want you."

Shisui stared at her.

"I mean we can have a wedding when we go back," she said, after a moment she placed her hand on his cheek, "But I just want you for myself, just for a little while."

"On one knee,"

"What?" Sakura asked quizzically.

"We'll get married right now," Shisui grinned and kissed her on the cheek before taking a step back, "If you get on one knee and ask."

She scowled, "I am not getting on one knee; my dress is ripped!

"Hey, you proposed!"

"My knee is bleeding!"

"You're a medic!"

"Shisui!"

Shisui laughed and kissed her again.

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footnote 1: Well, that's it. I had planned to make it longer, but I was running out of things to write about lol. A year later and here it is! Some stories don't need big plots and hella' drama, sometimes it's just about the moments in between.

footnote 2: I have a new tumblr now if you all want to connect because I can't seem to leave this fandom LOL.

Thank you so much for reading and sending in your reviews.