Rated M for later chapters

Then Our Hearts Combined
By: Rise of the Blossom

Chapter 1

"Well, if it isn't the most beautiful woman in my life."

She rolled her eyes while hanging her jacket up, ignoring the man lingering behind her. "You say that to every woman in your life, Shisui-san."

It was only once she'd turned around that he pushed his hip away from the counter, arms continuing to be folded over his chest as he smiled at her. "Ah, but I only mean it when it's you."

"That so?" she questioned playfully.

Shisui followed hot on her heels, allowing her to lead the way out of the staff room. "You know my heart, Sakura-chan," he murmured in that same mischievous tone. "You know it's yours."

Yeah, hers and every residents' in their nursing home.

Smirking, Sakura spun on her heel, surprising Shisui by coming to an abrupt halt, sizing him up with her hands on her hips. "Do I?"

It had been the same thing for the past two months – that was when she first started her new job.

Previously, she'd had every intention of working her way up to becoming a doctor, wanting to help people, but then she'd lost her grandmother after the woman spent many years in a residential home. The care she'd received was magnificent and it had Sakura realising that that was the kind of difference she wanted to make in a person's life, because in her grandmother's final moments, there had been someone there holding her hand. Right up to the very end. She was never alone. Never cold. Never scared. The healthcare assistants, the nurses, had become her family. That was the kind of difference she longed to make.

Was it hard? Oh, without a doubt and she was so goddamn frustrated whenever she saw or heard somebody brushing her job role off, claiming it to be nothing significant. However, they were not worth her time. They weren't worth stressing over. Her residents were her biggest concern.

And, apparently, Uchiha Shisui.

"You wound me," he said with a sigh.

He was an attractive man – which was putting it lightly. Dark curls fell into his eyes when he allowed his hair to grow out, always capturing her attention whenever he ran his hand through it, sweeping it back. But it was his eyes that really struck her. Despite being so dark in colour, they were so light, so carefree and happy. She'd yet to see Shisui on a bad day, because he never brought his bad moods to work. She admired his professionalism massively.

"I'm sorry," Sakura told him, also sighing. Her hand daringly came to his chest, patting over his heart. "I just don't think you could handle me, Shisui-san."

New interest sparked in his eye, making her heart feel like it skipped a beat. "Is that a challenge?"

"No," she said, laughing and brushing by him at the sight of their superior approaching. Raking her fingers through her hair and piling it high on top of her head, Sakura told him flippantly, "You'll have to work harder than that if you want my heart, Shisui-san."

The teasing lilt to her voice as she uttered his name seemed to spur him on and he followed closely once more, saluting to the senior nurse distractedly, not noticing Shizune's eye roll. "Ah, but that implies I have a shot to begin with."

Faint, tinkering laughter reached their ears and she pretended not to see Shizune covering her mouth politely, head turning away. Shisui's attempts to woo her were not a secret, after all. They all knew about it and found their banter utterly hilarious.

At first, it had been flattering – still was, in a way. But in the past month it'd felt more like a game between them. Flirty, yes, but not serious in the least and Sakura couldn't decide whether she was disappointed by that or not.

"I never said you didn't," Sakura shot back, ignoring the odd palpitation in her chest.

"Oh? I–"

The sight of their co-workers had him reluctantly falling silent, their haggard expressions conveying the gruelling day they'd had. No doubt the usual suspects had lashed out – definitely no doubt, Sakura noticed, wincing at the sight of the smallest of the healthcare assistants, her blue eye bloodshot and swollen.

It wasn't a real shift at their care home unless one of them received a good beating from the residents. Off the top of her head, Sakura could name three residents who attacked them every damn day without fail. But, the majority of the time, they genuinely didn't mean it and so they never held it against them.

"Hard day?" she asked, grimacing.

"Don't," the girl muttered as she stopped from rubbing at her eye at the last minute. "Just… Just don't."

Poor girl.

To try and give them all a break from time-to-time, or make things fair, they willingly alternated between night and day shifts. The days were undeniably the hardest shifts as all residents were obviously up, however, she personally enjoyed them more. It felt like she was putting herself to better use.

Handover was short and sweet, informing the night staff of who to watch out for, how everyone was doing and how the day had been overall for everyone. It was also during handover that she and Shisui were given their placement for that night, since they were always together during their shifts. It'd been that way since day one and was something she was extremely grateful for, because he was so good at his job. He didn't only show her how to do her job, but how to do it with empathy and grace, always working in a way that granted their residents the privacy they both deserved and needed.

End of life care was where they were working that night.

There were three floors to their care home – units, they called them. Main house, which was otherwise known as the ground floor (or end of life care). Then there was E.M.D, otherwise more kindly referred to as 'pleasant' dementia. Basically meaning that, while there were clear signs of the devastating illness, the residents weren't about to beat seven shades of shit out of them every other minute, though they had to stay on their guard just in case. Finally, there was E.M.I – a floor they all hoped they would never be placed on, but most definitely refused to show their reluctance, as it would only have a negative effect on the residents.

Sakura had been on the E.M.I unit several times, though her favourite unit was E.M.D, since her favourite (she would obviously deny having a favourite should anyone ask) resident was situated there.

"So," Shisui began once the healthcare assistants scarpered away, longing for fresh air and freedom. "Looks like we're in for an easy night."

Unfortunately. Although, saying that, spending twelve hours in Shisui's company wasn't exactly the worst thing. Had he not been her partner for the shift, it would have dragged painfully. She would have possibly been falling asleep only a few hours in. With him, however, he kept her awake and lively. He kept her on her toes. Honestly, Sakura dreaded the day she would be paired up with someone else and secretly hoped Shizune would never do such a cruel thing to them.

"There's always something to do," she said haughtily, displaying her goody-two-shoes personality unabashedly. "We could–"

"Clean for the day staff–"

"Don't use that tone with me," Sakura warned, resuming the playfulness they'd shared prior to handover.

As she'd hoped it would, that devilish smirk pulled at his lips. "Will you punish me?"

Humming, she leaned into the office, grabbing the folders from the desk and passing half to Shisui. "I already told you that you wouldn't be able to handle me," she replied.

Shutting and locking the door, she headed over to one of the sofas in the lounge, throwing herself down and settling all but one folder on the small, square table wedged between her sofa and the one Shisui sat on. They were plush, their colours vibrant, although Sakura had ensured she assessed the mats critically before sitting. Due to their old age and sometimes being unable to get up in time or call to a carer, many residents had accidents.

"Swap," Shisui stated and already knowing why, Sakura leaned forward, shuffling through her folders until she found the one he wanted, handing it over wordlessly and accepting the one already in his hand. Then, smiling, he asked, "Why don't you think I could handle you?"

She smirked at that, flipping open her folder and taking the time to read through the hourly behaviour reports. Her smirk slipped into a smile as she read the contents, glad that that particular resident had a good day. She was on the mend from a cold (while it didn't seem like much to others, it had the power to kill an elderly person).

"Not many can," she said with a mock sigh. Sitting back once more, she crossed one leg over the other, biting back a smile when she noticed him stealing a glance at her legs from above the folder he was reading. With false dejection, she murmured, "I think I'm too womanly for them."

That took him by surprise and, much to her utter pleasure, a faint blush swept over his cheeks. In response, Shisui cleared his throat and rose the folder just that little bit higher, blocking his face from view and it gave Sakura the chance to grin victoriously, since it was rare that she ever gained such a reaction from him.

"How's he been doing today?" she asked conversationally after a handful of seconds, peering up at him. Really, she should have been focusing on her files, but her stomach was flipping, begging of her to continue.

There was a faint sound of what Sakura could only presume to be a so-so. "Refusing to co-operate."

"Not eating again?"

"Not much."

She bit the inside of her cheek.

As she had her favourite on the E.M.D unit, Shisui's was on the end of life unit – well, not really a favourite. The resident was actually a relative of his. Wasn't usually allowed, due to the issues surrounding the resident's care plan stating he was not to be resuscitated (otherwise known as a DNAR). It was a conflict of interest, of sorts. The resident did not want to be resuscitated should his health decline in such a way, but Shisui could have other ideas. There was the possibility of him not wanting to let go.

"Want to go check on him? See if he's changed his mind at all?"

There was no denying that his relative responded better to meals and generally any part of his routine when it was Shisui caring for him. He was a proud man.

"Yeah, we probably should," he said with a sigh, standing with a huff. "He's not a fan of the guys who were on the day shift."

Meaning he wouldn't have terrorised them, but his aura would have made them extremely uncomfortable. It'd taken her a while to grow accustomed to him – even having Shisui there didn't make it any easier, if anything it made it worse somehow. Now, however, he was used to her. Kind of.

"Come on, then," ordered Shisui, already making his way to the double doors that would take them to the corridor of bedrooms.

The residential home was an odd design – its horseshoe shape working well for the units, allowing there to be many bedrooms on a single floor. So far, there were twenty-four residents in their unit, thirty-nine in the E.M.D unit and fourteen in the E.M.I. Usually, two members of staff for a ward as large as their own was unacceptable, however, that was where the usefulness of the horseshoe design came in.

So, when they walked into the home, they were greeted by the reception area. Nothing extravagant but it was certainly nicer than it had to be, with plenty of seats for visitors to rest or hangout in during protected mealtimes. That way, they didn't have to leave and could even have dinner of their own there, since there were also tables.

Anyway, where was she?

After walking in, they were greeted with the receptionist's desk front and centre. To the left and right were two sets of double doors, each granting them access to the end of life units, though with different access codes. Twenty bedrooms to each corridor made up the unit and every bedroom had an ensuite, making it so much easier to help the residents bathe or, for those who still had total control and were able to get up and about by themselves, be more independent.

Behind the receptionist's desk was an elevator that gained them access to the other units, although only those who were granted entry could do so, as passcodes were necessary and behind that was the lounge and dining areas for the end of life care residents, allowing them to integrate and do activities together. To make it less of a journey for them (and since, for safeguarding reasons, all doors in and out of units were locked), there were also doors to the corridors inside the lounge.

She and Shisui were on the righthand side of the unit and Shizune had decided to keep the number of residents on either side even, meaning that rather than it be two to twenty-four, they actually only had twelve residents to care for. There were two other healthcare assistants on the left side. It was a sneaky way of bypassing restrictions on the number of healthcare assistants, since in other places, there would only be three to twenty-four residents.

Near silence greeted them as they walked down the corridors, the sound of several televisions playing alerting them of residents still being awake. It wasn't an issue, simply something to take note of and to write down in their hourly logs.

Most doors were shut, though the few that were open, Sakura poked her head through, smiling warmly at those who caught sight of her, their eyes lighting up as they realised who would be taking care of them that evening.

That was the best part of her job, Sakura believed. Seeing how relieved they were – not that they had any reason to be, since all their healthcare assistants were lovely – and how much it brightened their day seeing her, knowing they liked her and thought of her as their family… It meant the world to her. It truly did.

When they finally reached his relative's bedroom, she allowed Shisui to take the lead, knocking on the closed door before granting himself entry with a cheery, "Evening, Uncle Madara."

His room wasn't much different from anyone else's, though due to his surname and his family's status and wealth, it was kitted out with the greatest comforts. Then again, he never really left his room, no matter how hard they tried to convince him to do so. There was nothing that they could do, in all honesty. It was his home – they couldn't bully him into doing anything he didn't want to do.

"Oh, it's you two tonight."

She smiled. "Is that relief I see, Madara-san?"

He snorted, relaxing further into his tilting bed as Shisui eased him upwards with the controls. It was odd seeing him looking so frail, Shisui had confided in her when she'd asked about the relation between them, before showing her a picture of Madara in his prime.

While he still had his long, lusciously thick hair, it was no longer black – it was fully grey, almost white in colour – though remained in his eyes. Shisui was often the one who cared for it, but he'd allowed her to on several occasions after he'd gotten to know her.

"They are incompetent," Madara answered when they asked about how his day had been. Of course, being the pessimist he was prone to be, he chose to complain about the day staff. "If you ask for something you must expect to wait several hours before receiving it."

Ah, that was the sad case for Uchiha Madara. Due to refusing to leave his room (which was tucked up in the corner of the unit as he demanded to have no neighbours), along with being so unpleasant at the best of times, many forgot about him. Due to always working with Shisui, it was impossible for her to do so – perhaps that was why he tolerated her?

"It says you didn't want to eat anything," Shisui informed him, waving his folder halfheartedly. "Explain, Uncle."

"They are incompetent," he repeated simply with a sigh.

She chuckled and glanced around his room, informing him of what she was about to do before going through his drawers, looking for fresh pyjamas for him. The only time he was ever properly dressed for the day was when family members visited. That happened two to three times a week. Other than that, he was always in pyjamas.

"Nobody would dare to bring any harm to you, Madara-san," she said with a smirk, facing him with the clean clothes folded neatly in her hands, smiling at his nod of approval at her choice. "You scare people with a single look."

At that, he smirked, eyes shutting as he resigned to what they had to do. Due to his previous wishes, Sakura turned her back (in front of him, so that he could see she had done so) while Shisui set about changing his underwear and pad (he wasn't entirely incontinent, but struggled to get about nowadays which meant accidents, so even though he was reluctant to do so, he wore a pad), waiting until he was decent before returning to his bedside.

"Oh, so you like scaring people?" she asked playfully, easing him up into a seated position and allowing him to lean on her.

"Uncle Madara used to run several companies single-handedly," Shisui told her (not for the first time, but they knew how proud of himself Madara was) while changing his socks, frowning minutely at how cold his feet were. "He grew accustomed to using scare tactics to keep people in line. Isn't that so, Uncle?"

It was a little chilly in his room, Sakura thought to herself when her eyes met Shisui's. He nodded in the direction of the window and, as they'd feared, it'd been left open. Sighing, she shut it firmly, once more closing his curtains. It wasn't unusual, as it was imperative they allowed fresh air to circulate the room. Due to never leaving it, the air grew stale quickly.

"You call it scare tactics; I call it being a leader."

"You bullied people and you know it," he said, laughing. "You got off on it."

He hummed with amusement. Breathing out a sigh a moment later when his shirt was changed and he was able to lay back once more, he opened his eyes. "Only with that brat Fugaku."

"Uncle Fugaku?" Shisui repeated, not trying to hide his amusement. "He doesn't seem the type to scare easy."

"Not anymore," he responded haughtily. "I worked him hard."

"You know of Fugaku, Sakura-chan," Shisui informed her and she looked up from writing in Madara's notes about the opened window, eyebrows raising fractionally. "He's Sasuke's father."

Oh! She smiled warmly and approached the bed once more. "I haven't spoken to Sasuke-kun in months," she said with a sigh. "Everyone's so busy."

"I would never be too busy for you," Shisui replied playfully and she didn't fail to notice Madara's knowing smirk.

Pretending she hadn't heard him, which seemed to amuse his uncle further, Sakura smiled at Madara, asking, "Do you see much of Sasuke-kun, Madara-san?"

"He comes by once a week with his brother."

"Itachi-san?"

Dark eyes rolled. "He only has one brother."

She blushed.

"Now, now, Uncle," mumbled Shisui, pouring him a cup of tea from the machine opposite his bed. Like she'd previously thought: his room was kitted out, ensuring he was never without. "Don't be scaring my Sakura-chan away."

"Are you both here all night?"

He asked that of them no matter what shift they worked and it never failed to worry Shisui, even if he never said it out loud. She looked to him, refraining from showing that she knew of his pain – he could be just as proud as his uncle, she'd quickly learned during their time together.

"Don't worry, Uncle," Shisui said, pushing aside his worry. "You're stuck with us all night now."

"I'll sneak you some food from the kitchen," Sakura added cheerfully and tucked his bedside table into place, allowing him to comfortably drink his tea without having to hold it the entire time. "Is there anything in particular you'd like?"

"Something that isn't mashed potatoes," he muttered with disdain.

She smiled. They always resorted to mashed potatoes because it was the easiest for him to swallow. Looking to Shisui, she said, "I'm sure we can find something, right?"

He nodded once. "Nothing spicy though, Uncle."

He muttered under his breath and Sakura knew by now not to ask what he'd said. To do so was asking for trouble.

"We'd better do our first rounds of the night," Sakura suggested, tucking Madara's file under her arm. "The sooner they're done, the sooner we can feed you, Madara-san."

"Then what are you still doing here?"

Shisui rolled his eyes at that, hand subtly coming to Madara's ankle and noticing his concern about his being cold was still there, Sakura turned on her heel, leaving early to turn the heating up in his room.

"See you soon, Uncle."

The rest of their checks went by with no issues and for that, Sakura commended the day staff, as she knew how difficult it was to get everyone ready and in bed within the two hour space (while providing the time and care they deserved, that was, as it was easy to rush through when stressed).

Only once their duties were done did Sakura stop Shisui in the corridor, hand catching his arm and she offered him a small smile. "It's just because it's late, Shisui-san," she reminded him.

But Shisui shook his head, looking over her shoulder in the direction of Madara's room. "I want him examined by a doctor. He's forgetting so much nowadays."

"He's also ninety-something years old," Sakura added. "Some things are bound to slip."

It only occurred to her that her hand was still holding onto him when Shisui looked down at it, smirking at her the next moment in an attempt to change the heavy subject. As always, it worked, but only because she allowed it to.

She pulled her hand back to herself. "Pervert."

His smirk widened. "Come, Sakura-chan. You haven't made many meals for Uncle. I'll show you how he likes it."

A/N - Just a short, fluffy story I started during a nightshift.