Chapter 3

Stretching and groaning, she gave Shisui the side-eye when he casually checked her out, his blatant behaviour soon making her roll her eyes.

The rest of their shift had been uneventful and fortunately for both them and their residents, nobody had shown any signs of the dreaded DNV, allowing them to go about their ordinary morning routine of washing and dressing those who wished to get up before handover.

That was always a controversial topic during handover – how many were put to bed or up and dressed the next morning, Sakura meant – and as much as she liked the people she worked with, she could never agree with half of them. Half of them believed that it was okay to pick and choose who was doing what, such as picking one resident to put to bed, without actually asking said resident if that was what they wanted to do.

With her and Shisui, they never rushed anyone and they never forced anyone to do anything they didn't want to do. They'd actually had a couple of complaints put in about them because of it, but because they were literally just doing their jobs, nothing ever came of the complaints. If anything, those who made the complaints (if complaints went to their usual senior, Shizune) were often told to redo their training. After all, just because they were in a residential home, it didn't take away their rights. They were still able to make their own choices – most of them, anyway. The only time somebody was to be woken up before they were ready was when they needed timed medication, so that it wouldn't conflict with anything else.

"No car?" questioned Shisui curiously when she grabbed her thick, beige parka and cream scarf, wrapping herself up in them. She shook her head and he asked, "Where is it?"

Sighing, she switched her shoes to a pair of comfortable boots, slipping her work shoes into the locker once her pants were tucked in. They weren't official shoes – they were told to wear what they found most comfortable, so she'd opted for all black trainers.

"Ino's car broke down and because she works two jobs, I decided to let her use mine."

"For how long?"

She shrugged. "Our friend's taking a look at it today for her, so hopefully I'll have mine back by tonight's shift."

Being a slave to public transport was horrendous, although Ino had gracefully driven her to work last night between appointments. While her friend worked during the week at her parents' flower store, she worked most nights as a makeup artist and hairdresser.

Why she didn't just upgrade from the car she'd bought when she first passed her test (considering the many issues she'd had with it), Sakura would never know. The first thing she did after getting her new job was get a new car, although she supposed since it was financed, that meant it wasn't necessarily hers.

"Well, I can't let my beautiful Sakura-chan wait around for a bus for who knows how long," Shisui said with a sigh. Smirking, he reached over her, grabbing his own jacket. It had to have been done purposely, since his smirk widened when she blushed faintly at the proximity. "I suppose I can give you a ride."

"You really don't have to," she tried to tell him, smiling shyly.

"Nonsense," he said. "I want to. We can even grab breakfast together."

That… sounded nice.

Nodding in agreement and murmuring her thanks, she waited for Shisui to ready himself for the cold weather. She reached behind herself, untucking her ponytail from her scarf when she'd felt the tell-tale tugging sensation, quickly stealing a glance at herself in the staff room mirror.

Due to not wearing makeup to work, she didn't have to worry about looking cakey or shiny, though she did look tired, Sakura noticed with a pout, gently fingering the developing shadows beneath her eyes. Nights always took it out of her – after the first week of night shifts, her skin had broken out horrifically but fortunately for her, her best friend was a sadist who enjoyed dealing with pimples.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," she said and turned, offering a smile. "Just admiring the effects of staying up all night."

His response was a chuckle and opening the door for her, allowing Sakura to leave first and wave goodbye to the residents who were awake and their colleagues. They seemed interested watching her leave with Shisui, though she couldn't understand why. Shisui walked her to her car after every shift and it wasn't like they were standing indecently close or showed any more attention to each other than usual, either.

"Don't you sleep during the day?"

The cold air hit them forcefully when they left the building and Sakura tucked her chin into her scarf, hands burrowing into her pockets. Apparently Uchiha Shisui didn't feel the cold as much, for he was busy tossing his keys into the air and catching them with one hand.

Having never seen his car before, she followed him. "Sometimes. Other times there's too much that needs my attention. That or the needy people in my life refuse to let me rest."

"Needy people?" he repeated curiously. "Such as?"

Oh, was he trying to find out if she had a boyfriend? They'd never discussed significant others before, always assuming they were both single and free to flirt shamelessly with one another.

Inwardly smirking, she looked forward. If he wanted to know, he would need to ask her outright. "Bills, family, friends, my cat."

"You have a cat?"

She hummed, thankful when she saw lights flashing when he unlocked his car. Desperate to escape the horrible weather, she made a beeline for the SUV, groaning with relief when she was finally out of the harsh winds that bit at her exposed features.

"Well, I co-own the cat, I suppose," Sakura told him, buckling herself in. Waiting until the engine was started and the music was turned down, she explained, "My roommate found the cat rooting through the bins behind our apartment complex and lured him upstairs."

"Your roommate is Ino-san, right?"

She nodded, smiling. It was nice that he actually listened to the stuff she told him, rather than pretending like a disheartening amount of people did (including those she loved). Relaxing back in her seat as Shisui set off out of the car park, she tried to loosen her muscles, grateful when he turned the heating onto its highest setting.

"It's weird, because she's never been a fan of animals – she hates the fur sticking to her clothes." Rolling her eyes at the memory of Ino's epic meltdown the one time her parents' cat had slept on her favourite pants, Sakura added, "But she saw this big mangy looking thing frantically trying to feed itself and took pity on him. I'm quite proud of her."

While she was in no way insinuating her best friend had no heart, she knew it was safe to say Ino was not known for being selfless. Yes, she was open-minded and yes, she took pity on many, but not to the extent that it moved her into taking action. Yet, she took in a scruffy stray (they'd made sure he was a stray before adopting him) and declared they would co-parent. Apparently, she'd had no say in the matter.

"My roommate would never do that," he said with a sigh of dejection. "He thinks having a feeding station for birds is already asking for trouble."

"I love having Ino as my roommate," she replied, giggling. "I get free haircuts and makeovers."

"So that's why you always look so radiant."

He was so cheesy, she thought to herself with a laugh. "Maybe you should sneak a cat into your place–"

"Itachi is my roommate."

Ah. Her mouth shut and she tried to hide her mirth. Yeah, there was no chance of Shisui ever having a pet, then.

"Besides, if I got a cat, there'd be the risk of it harming his precious birds–"

"Wait, I thought you said Itachi-san thought it was too much trouble?"

"No, I said it was asking for trouble. He loves all that nature stuff, but he knows that bird droppings attract all kinds of critters that destroy the lawn." Waving dismissively to show that he didn't really care about the lectures he'd unwillingly received, Shisui turned right into another car park. She was glad it wasn't far from work, because after he'd mentioned breakfast, she had quickly realised she was so hungry. "Since we obviously don't want to live together for the rest of our lives, we're only renting. We want our security deposit back at the end of the tenancy."

Wait. The gardens were included in the deposit? Sakura inwardly grimaced and made a mental note to inform Ino that she had to calm down with the personal showroom she was in the process of developing.

They had a shared garden with the other tenants of the building, but none of them truly cared about it, so Ino had taken it upon herself to tidy it all up, though didn't stop there. No, she had that gene where she didn't know when the hell to stop, so after tidying the garden, trimming the hedges and jet washing the paving slabs, she'd then purchased furniture for it. She had traded out the huge lights for pretty fairy lights. She'd dug up and disposed of soil to create her own water feature.

That was why the other tenants didn't bother with it.

Oh, Gods. Sakura was dreading the next inspection.

"How long have you been living with him for?" she asked politely.

He took a moment to respond as focused on reversing into a spot. Luckily for them, the car park was almost empty, meaning they'd managed to grab a spot close to the doors. They wouldn't have to walk too far in the wind, she silently rejoiced.

"About four years now, give or take."

"Wow, that long?"

The warmth that greeted them as they stepped into the café was total bliss and Sakura sighed, loosening her scarf happily. It was a large place with what had to have been a minimum of thirty tables of various sizes, the modern decor as warm as the café itself, welcoming them. She loved it.

"It doesn't feel that long," he argued, chuckling. Gesturing to a nearby table, he allowed her to lead the way and she scooted into a booth, unable to deny the butterflies that danced around in her belly when he sat opposite her. "We get on well and respect each other's privacy when necessary."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed a menu. "I wish Ino would respect mine," muttered Sakura with a huff. Examining the laminated booklet, she said, "She's always barging into my room and wanting to talk."

"Surely that isn't as bad–"

"Waking me when I've worked back-to-back night shifts and barely managed to get five hours between them is a bad thing," she told him with a smile that was too sweet and cheerful. "Trust me."

The responding laugh was free and full of amusement and she felt her smile warming, growing more genuine. "The worst I get is Itachi bringing me a cup of tea when I don't want one."

"The worst?" she demanded in disbelief. Lowering the menu to the table, she leaned forward with widening eyes. "Ino would ask me to get out of bed and bring her a cup of tea for the girl talk that she woke me up for."

His laughter returned. "When put like that, I do suppose you've got the worst roommate of the two."

"You got so lucky," Sakura muttered, not hiding her jealousy. "Sasuke-kun was always going on about the nice things Itachi-san did for him and now you're telling me that the worst thing he'll do is bring you a cup of tea." She pouted up at him. "I want one of those."

Shisui blinked in surprise, then smirked. "An Itachi?"

"No, no!" She waved her hands, laughing. "A nice roommate who goes out of their way for me and respects me."

"Itachi can be moody as hell," he told her.

"You leave him alone," she warned with a teasing smirk. "Otherwise he'll do the worst thing ever and bring you another cup of tea."

While she'd often wondered what it would be like, she never would have thought she and Shisui would really spend time together outside of work. It seemed impossible, like they would never have anything in common. But… Sakura found herself enjoying herself even though they were doing something as simple as eating breakfast together.

Despite his tendency to snack with her during their shifts, it seemed Shisui was a health nut of sorts, his healthy breakfast bringing forth a surge of embarrassment when her own plate of chocolate chip pancakes (complete with melted chocolate, of course) was presented to them.

"You eat a lot for such a small woman," he commented lightly, smirking.

"I was blessed with good genes," was all she could think to reply with.

Savouring the taste of her pancakes, she watched him silently. Sakura had always assumed he took great care of himself, since Shisui was by no means scrawny or carrying any extra pounds. In fact, the first thing she'd noticed about him was his physique – it wasn't exactly bulky, but he was muscular, and it was obvious even in their uniforms (hell, even with his jacket on, it was obvious he was well built). She'd believed that that was the reason why she was paired up with him, since she was so much smaller in comparison and usually, he was the one handling or manoeuvring the residents, allowing her to get on with their tasks. Half of the time, he could do it all by himself.

"So, do you work out?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Shisui nodded, pausing in his eating. "Every other day. There's a gym in our apartment complex, which is handy between shifts."

Wow. And Sakura had thought it was impressive that their apartment had two double bedrooms with a linked bathroom, considering many apartments nowadays were half the size of theirs. Then again, the Uchiha family was filthy rich – she knew that just from Madara's room alone. The chances of Shisui being in a complex similar to her own was laughable, especially considering he lived with Itachi. She had no doubts that his parents had ensured they never went without.

"I dance," she told him when Shisui asked how she stayed in shape other than her good genes. "For as long as I can remember."

Intrigued, he asked, "What kind of dance?"

Pervert, she wanted to scold playfully. "It started out as ballet and contemporary, but once I was old enough to choose for myself, I chose to do hip hop, too."

"All at once?"

"No," Sakura said, laughing. "I have three sessions a week, though two are on the same day."

Dancing had always been a big part of her and Sakura knew that her mother had wanted her to try and make it as a professional dancer. However, she'd had no choice but to break her mother's heart, because that simply wasn't what she wanted. To Sakura, dancing was a fun hobby and she loved earning her trophies and medals and crowns. That was all it was, though. To try and make it big would no doubt suck the fun out of it.

"So does that mean you do competitions?" She nodded. "Interesting."

"How's it interesting?" she asked with a frown.

She shouldn't have, Sakura realised when Shisui smirked impishly. "It means you wear those little costumes–"

"M-More coffee?"

Her cheeks were on fire as Shisui cheerily accepted more coffee, the poor waitress seeming just as awkward as herself as she hurriedly filled their mugs and disappeared.

"Well?"

"I'm not answering that!"

"Why not?"

"Because you're being a pervert."

"Am I? I do apologise."

"No, you don't!"

"No, I don't," he agreed, grinning widely.

Unable to hold it back any longer, she erupted with her laughter, nearly missing the way his gaze softened.

Gods, try as she might, she could never hold onto her anger or even pretend to be angry with Shisui – that grin was impossible to be mad at, always melting away her bad moods and it was something she cherished about him, because how rare was that to find that? To find someone so lighthearted and kind?

Don't ever change, she mentally begged.