Prompt: Speech (don't ask)

Title: What were you thinking?

Summary: Sasuke needed someone to watch his cousin and somehow she got volunteered. Oh dear, poor Shisui ~ Shi/Saku

A/N: For those of you who have read Train from Sweet Release may realize this reads a lot like it. (It is not the same universe though! I'm just talking a bit about the style.)

Husnelle's prompt has sparked two stories… as in trying the Shisui/Sakura. So a very special thanks. Please enjoy a small amount of Shi/Saku, but please don't expect more (I'm returning to Saku/Ita.)

Also Hushnelle and I have released the first chapter of our collaboration fiction; link is in my profile so please check it out if you have the time!

One story down, one update to go. I'm going to reach my goal of two before my birthday! *feels energized*

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. May God bless and keep you,

Z.z

"What were you thinking?" she said, smacking her gum.

"What do you mean, what was I thinking?" The male voice on the phone answered back. "I was thinking that it would be nice if maybe you set me up. I mean; I'm your friend and I'm sure you have girls that are friends. I was thinking that you could introduce us."

She moved the phone away from her ear and ended the call. The man had nerve. When she was thirteen she had already planned to be married to him. Of course, it was obvious that wasn't happening now. She pulled out her keys and opened the door to her apartment and slammed the door behind her, locking the deadbolt.

She looked around the room. The hairbrush on the floor, the towel on the couch, the tacky green chair covered in several jackets and the desk with open drawers; were all exactly how she left them. Satisfied that no one had protruded upon her personal space, she hung up her purse, putting her keys back inside of it, and kicked off her heels in the shoe basket. Then, taking three large steps, she fell upon the fake leather couch and buried her head into one of the décor pillows.

"He's such an idiot!" she cried, slamming her left fist against the side of the couch. "I hate him!" She didn't, of course, and it was because she didn't her chest hurt every time he mentioned a girl. But she yelled it anyways, as if it helped fighting back, as if it gave her control. She slammed her fist against the couch several more times in fury.

Then the phone rang.

She pushed herself up and took a deep breath, calming herself down. Picking up the phone, she hit the answer button. "Hello?" She asked as if not knowing the caller.

"Its just me Sakura; we got disconnected," the man said.

"Ah."

"Look, I was thinking that I would set you up too. We could-"

"Set me up with who, Sasuke? Our male friends are basically from the same set." And rest assured, she had no desire to date any of them. There was only him and him only.

"My cousin is going to be in town on Tuesday. I'll just send him over to your place and you guys could go out to dinner."

"Cousin?"

"Look; he's a bit of a swoon for any pretty face so he'll probably pay for your dinner."

"Excuse me?"

"And he's not too much older than us…"

"How much older is he?"

"And you like funny guys. He's a lot like Naruto."

"Since when have I have said I like funny-"

"So I'll give him your address-"

"Don't you dare give him my address!"

"My plane's boarding Sakura. Look, you owe me one when I get back."

"Wait!" Sakura cried, but the sound of silence greeted her. He had already hung up.

She gaped like a fish for a moment then her eyes went to the pillow sitting quietly beside her. In a second the pillow flew across the room and smashed into the wall. "I'm not a babysitter! Is that what he sees me as, some girl that he can toss trash too? What kind of idiot thinks they can-"

Several thirty-minute rants later left her sitting on her couch, guzzling her homemade popcorn, watching her favorite chef make lasagna. By the end of the show she was fast asleep, her hand still in the popcorn bowl. It was then easy to imagine, waking up so normally, that yesterday's phone conversation didn't happen. Certainly Sasuke wasn't after some other girl and no strange man was coming to her house on Tuesday. Because, she would be getting off her twelve hour E.R. shift; and Sasuke couldn't be that stupid or conceited… right?

She pretended that the call was just a nightmare, an awful nightmare but a nightmare nonetheless. So when Tuesday came and she returned to her house (after delivering a premature baby, stitching a man's shoulder closed from a bullet wound along with other haphazards) she dressed down into her fuzziest of robes and prepared her bath with salts, bubbles and flower candles. She was fully prepared to go in too. In fact, she'd just stuck in her big toe and determined that it was just the perfect temperature. It was at that moment, when her big toe was removed from the liquid, the doorbell rang. And then it rang again.

And again.

Sighing dramatically at the water, she dropped her robe on the floor and quickly put on the dress she'd been wearing under her doctor's coat. She ran to the door, skidded to a stop and then looked out of the peep hole. A man with black hair and black eyes stood before her apartment door, wearing a button up shirt and slacks. He was slightly built, but he was taller and his hair was more curly than the person she'd first mistaken him as, Sasuke. It was then the phone conversation returned to her memory. This would be the cousin that was supposed to take her on a date. Her lips curled in a snarl, so much for a bath and early bedtime. She quickly opened the door.

Black eyes widened, and the man took several steps back. "I'm sorry," he looked back at the paper in his hands, checked her door number, "I have the wrong apartment; I'm looking for my cousin."

"You Sasuke's cousin?" Sakura bit out.

The man flinched at her tone and gave a half nod. "Do you know what his number is?"

She scoffed, "You're at the right place." Had Sasuke not tuned this guy in?

The eyes widened more and black eyebrows rose, "Are you his girlfriend?"

"No, I am not." Yet, how was she stuck doing something like this, and being mistaken as if she were? Did she get all the responsibility and none of the reward? She noticed the man looked confused and then decided she'd help him out.

"Sasuke is out of town," she explained, "and must have given you my address since he was unable to receive you." It was hard to be kind, even though the man had been played as much as her.

"Oh…He's not in the city?"

"That would be what 'out of town' means."

"Ah, yeah…" The man gave half nod at her words and stepped backwards again, this time running into the banister. His blacked eyes quickly scanned back and forth, looking for a different apartment number or perhaps a witness as the murdering aura seemed to continue to be directed at him.

"Look, I'm sorry to disturb you,"

"Yeah, me too," Sakura sighed, scratching the back of her head. How was she going to solve this one? Why was she the one that had to deal with this? Where was Naruto? Her mind went over the options as the stranger stood before her, unmoving like a rabbit sniffing the wind for a predator.

After several moments, he deemed passage safe, so he began to leave.

"Where are you going?" green eyes glared, his movement attracting her attention. She didn't wait for him to answer, instead she continued on. "I guess I'll take you to Sasuke's and give you the key to his house…" She trailed off, and then her head gave a jerky nod. Her nose twitched in decision. It wouldn't take too long. She reached into her house, grabbed her purse and grabbed her shoes from the basket. She shut the door and locked it.

She put her shoes on the ground and slid them on. "Follow me," she barked, grabbing his rolling luggage that stood by her door and began walking away and down the stairs.

Shisui followed slowly, fearful of the woman, but need for his luggage making him move toward her. He pulled out his phone and carefully began to dial the number responsible for what would probably be his death. He put the cell his ear, praying for the ringing to stop and for someone to answer.

"Hey Shisui, how was your flight?" a man said.

Shisui didn't even bother to answer, as his black eyes narrowed in anger at the nonchalant voice. "Why did you send me to this girl's house?" he hissed quietly hoping not to grab the woman's attention who's stiff back and long strides resembled a snake before it struck.

"Shisui, Sakura is probably ecstatic to see you."

"I think you mean angry." Shisui winced at the memory of wraith opening the door.

"Sakura doesn't get angry."

"Sasuke, I really think she is quite furious. I don't" Shisui broke midsentence, eyes widening as the woman easily picked up his suit case, which he knew weighed exactly 50 pounds for his flight, with one

hand "- Please don't throw that!"

The woman's head turned, green eyes narrowing upon him as if she had full intention to kill.

"Um… you know what, do whatever you want..." Shisui immediately turned away from the scene as if not daring to see the fate of his belongings. He cupped a hand over the mouth piece, in hopes the woman wouldn't hear. "Sasuke this isn't funny," he whispered, "I think she wants me dead."

"Are you sure you went to the right apartment?"

"Sasuke-," Pink and green blurred together in front of his eyes for a second, positioning themselves only several inches from his nose, "- I am sure."

The woman pulled away and extended her hand, a motion to take the phone.

He handed it over.

Sakura looked away from him and at her car. She took a deep breath and put the phone to her ear. "Hi Sasuke!" Sakura smiled to make her voice sound lighter. (Shisui's eyes widened to the size of saucers.) "How is your trip going?"

"Good, good… Sakura is everything going ok?"

"Of course, everything is fine," she giggled, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Shisui said something was wrong…"

Sakura laughed then, looking over at the man and shot him a death glare. "He's just being-being…" What had Sasuke said about this guy again?

"Funny?" Sasuke volunteered.

"Yep. He's a real hoot."

"Um...Hoo-?"

"Yeah! Well, we need to be going. Shisui needs to finish putting his stuff in the car," she said hinting mainly to the man who's jaw was hanging open before her.

"Where is he going?"

Sasuke was completely imbecilic if he thought she would just let some random guy stay in her house. "Sasuke, I am a young lady."

"And… What does that have to do with where he's going?"

"He can't stay at my apartment."

"Me and Naruto come over and stay all the time," mainly when they were too wasted to drive and Sakura was too worried to let them.

"I don't know him," she said, her grin stiffening in anger.

"I do. He's not going to do anything with my best pal."

Pal? She downgraded from best-girl-that's-a-friend to pal? "Excuse-"

"Look, put him on the phone. I'll make sure he won't try anything."

"He's not staying here. I have the key to your house. If you trust him so much, I'll just give the key to him and drop him off at your place. That way he even has your car to drive."

"Sakura, my place isn't a good idea. Naruto is staying over and-"

"I'm sure Naruto and him will get along well. Didn't you say they were a lot alike?"

"Sakura, no my -"

"Have a good trip Sasuke!" Sakura chimed, hanging up and turning off the cell phone even though it wasn't hers. She then looked at the man who's mouth was large enough to catch flies. She felt like slamming her head against a cement pillar. Her smile dropped and her eyes hardened to a glare. "Get in the car."

The man shut his mouth. Gave a dumb like nod. Then he raised his hands, as if she were going to shoot him at any moment, and started walking backwards towards the car.

Sakura tightened her grip on the keys and then started stalking towards the car. She'd be back for her bath in no time; it probably would only be lukewarm. Of course, her presumption was based on the fact that she was going to be able to drop off the man at Sasuke's house. It is probably needless to say, but her presumption would prove to be very wrong and Shisui was extremely uncomfortable, breaking into sweats actually, as the hot tempered woman broke into a smile in thinking of her bath while she drove to her best pal's house.

She knocked at least twelve times before determining Naruto probably wasn't in the house. Putting the key in the door and turning it, she heard the thumping of feet. Something large, loud and most likely blond headed crashed against the door on the opposite side. She turned the knob and tried to push in, the door wouldn't budge.

"Naruto! Open up the door!" Sakura yelled, pounding her fist on one side. There was no answer, only silence. "Naruto!" She screamed, putting her full weight against the door while turning the handle.

"Not going to happen, Sakura," a muffled voice finally came from the other side of the door.

"And why is that?" She growled, her upper lip curling into a growl.

"I'm sick…you should go..."

She knew a lie, especially when it came from Naruto. Naruto didn't get sick. He had such a good immune system that he'd even been tested on when he was a child. Of course, he got hurt a lot and that made up for whatever virus he never picked up. "You have five seconds before I head to one of the eight other entrances! Five… Four…"

"Sakura~" he whined.

"Two-" all she wanted to do was take a bath; was that so difficult?

"Come on." The man said banging his head on the door as if it would stop her.

How long did it take water to cool? "One. Zero." She moved to the right, visible to the window, as if she were going to go to the garage. Immediately she could hear Naruto's feet pound away, in the direction she had looked to go. The man was still a foolish kid, the trick worked every time. She opened the front door and walked in, motioning for Shisui to follow. She began pulling Sasuke's key off of her chain to give to the man beside her. She hoped that it wouldn't take long to put the luggage inside so she could leave quickly.

Immediately, hands covered her eyes, blackening her vision and she was pulled backwards into Sasuke's cousin's chest. "Hey! What the-" she struggled.

"Trust me, you do not want to see this," he began dragging her backwards, out of the house. Letting her go, he was able to slam the door shut in one quick motion. The door was clicked locked by the blonde man inside. "I'll get a hotel."

She blinked looked up at the man shivering as if something disgusting had taken place and then looked at the door. She slammed her hand against the door, "Naruto what did you do!"

There was no answer. It probably wasn't a good idea to ask.

She turned back to the man, whose luggage was still in her car and who was currently preventing her from relaxing. She couldn't force him to go into the house. Sighing, she began walking towards her car. The man followed her as if leashed.

"What is your price range?" She asked.

"I'm good with about anything," he answered, dipping his head.

It didn't matter what he was good with because after stopping at eight hotels, and being turned down by everyone, they learned that there was a convention of some sort that nerd and weird anime fans went to. After seeing multiple people (men and woman) dressed up in Japanese school girl costumes, and one began hitting on Sakura; she deemed that the search was a futile one.

Sitting back in her car, she gave a long drawn out sigh. Her bath was cold, her bubbles gone, and she had a strange man sitting in her passenger seat. She was Sasuke's second best friend (or at least she thought she was until she heard the word 'pal') so the responsibility of caring for his cousin did fall upon her shoulders. She pulled out of the drive way and headed home. "You can stay at my place."

"I'm sure there's room somewhere," the man said, eyes looking warily at the woman next to him.

"I haven't slept in almost twenty hours, and I am starting to lose it." She still didn't know whether or not that had been a man or woman hitting on her and if she wasn't so tired, she knew she would be in panic under both circumstances. "I'll set you up on my laptop, if you still want to search. If you find a place, I'll take you there when I wake up."

"Twenty hours?" the man questioned.

She looked over, "I work as an E.R. doctor for the East Valley Hospital. We work fourteen hour shifts due to the budget cuts we took. Usually I volunteer at the chemical lab before and get a bit of sleep during the slow hours, but there was quite a few patients. Nothing too bad though," she clarified returning her eyes to the road, "just a lot of little stuff."

"I'm sorry for disturbing you," Shisui said, resting his head against the back of the seat. "Sasuke gave me your address and told me to meet him there. If I'd known…"

She gave a rough laugh. "It's not really your fault. Sasuke told me he was sending you over; I thought he was kidding because he knows Tuesdays and Fridays are the days I get off my long shift. He's an idiot."

Shisui smiled, "He hasn't changed much then. Always has been a complete ass."

They both laughed then in agreement.

Sakura pulled into the parking lot of her apartment building. Getting all the bags, they both walked up the steps and into her small home. "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen," she told him. "The bathroom is on the left, bedroom on the right. My laptop is on the desk. Password is ER March fifth no spaces, no lowercases."

She then set the bags on the floor, made her way to the couch and promptly collapsed upon it. Several seconds later soft snores came from her direction.

Shisui tilted his head slightly; eyes widening at the fact that she'd been able to fall asleep so quickly. He set his stuff to the side and then gave a quiet laugh. The whole scenario was completely bizarre but he couldn't help but enjoy it (at least after the fact.) For a couple of hours, he truly thought she would pull over on the side of the road, pull out a gun and then shoot him. But she was just human. He wouldn't have answered the door if he'd just gotten off a long shift at his job.

He eyed the room, ignoring his Uchiha genes of perfection that wanted to go through the house and clean all of the clutter, shut all the drawers and cover the cute girl, who slept curled in the fetal position, with a blanket. Instead he moved onward, inspecting the house.

Surprisingly the bedroom was pretty spotless. It probably meant that the girl spent most of her time in the other room. It didn't look like she made it very far when she was tired.

He wandered to the bathroom. Floating candles, left unlit, stood in stale water covered in white foam. The robe lying on the floor and the pajamas resting on the counter, keyed him in on the fact the woman had made other plans for the night.

Last he went to the kitchen. It was messy, but not as messy as the living area-thankfully. Uchiha genes struck and he quietly began closing the drawers that had been left open, collecting the dishes that were on the counters and putting them in the sink. Deeming the room tolerable, he left and made his way outside where he walked down the stairs and turned on his phone.

Several voicemails were in his inbox; one from work, one from Itachi and one from Sasuke. Being lazy, he didn't check the messages and immediately called Sasuke, not caring the time zone the kid could be in.

"Shisui?" a dry voice asked.

"Little cousin!" Shisui chimed happily, projecting his voice to be loud on purpose.

"Do you know what time it is here?"

"I don't know and I don't care."

Over the phone, Shisui could hear Sasuke breathe out a long, drawn out sigh. "What do you want?"

"What I want is to know what you were thinking. How could you put your friend in such an uncomfortable position?"

"Huh, hold on. What are you talking about?"

"You never told me I'd be staying in a woman's apartment!"

"Look, I thought you'd guys would go out for dinner or something and hit it off. She's your type and all-"

"My type?" Shisui's eyes narrowed slightly. Since when did 'his type' consist of a fireball with the eyes of Medusa?

"Yeah, happy and flirty is your thing. I mean, Sakura is like the definition of every girl you've dated in your life."

Shisui's lips twisted to the side in remembering how the woman reacted when Sasuke was on the phone. Her tone and stance had changed… It clicked then for him. He hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. The girl was in love. The poor girl couldn't catch a break, could she?

Shisui sighed. "I hate to tell you this, but she is the exact opposite of what you described. She's angry and aggressive."

A yawn made its way over the phone and Shisui's eyes began glaring at the cement staircase. "Look, Shisui. You've obviously become delusional with a couple of shots. At the very most Sakura has some bark and that's only around Naruto. You and Sakura have a good night. Later." The phone cut off.

Shisui immediately tried to redial, but Sasuke's phone went directly to voice mail. "Idiot." Shisui then checked his own voice mail and called Itachi back. It took several rings, but eventually the call was answered.

"Hello?" a voice asked, and Shisui tilted his head to the side not recognizing the deep voice.

"Heya sexy," Shisui replied, in a light (yet still noticeably manly) voice.

The voice laughed and a crude comment was made as Shisui could hear the phone get passed around.

"Hello, this is Itachi Uchiha. How may I help you?"

Shisui almost sighed at how on cue his friend's answering was. "Hey sweetie, just wanted to let you know I landed safely."

He could hear Itachi's lips shift upward in a smile with the change of tone, "I'm glad to hear that."

"I almost got killed by a crazy lady when I got here though," Shisui complained, still keeping in the upper register. "Your brother's friends are insane it's scary." At that he got Itachi to laugh and Shisui smiled.

"If you think his friends are insane, you should meet mine." A couple of cheers and hell yes's filled one end of the phone and Shisui gave a chuckle.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, cousin," Shisui said, his voice returning to normal.

"Have a good night, Shisui."

With that, Shisui went up the stairs and back into the apartment. Walking in, he was immediately onslaught by the sight of the mess once more. Giving a strangled quiet laugh, Shisui rolled up his sleeve. Uchiha perfection wasn't going to let his sleep here in a place full of such destruction.

It was five a.m. when she awoke. It was barely light out, but her stomach growled at her with such ferocity she was forced into kicking her feet from out of the blanket and onto the carpeted floor. Her green eyes were barely opened as she made her way through the kitchen to the coffee maker. Her body swayed this way and that to avoid the drawers she'd left open for the past month.

She made it, not bumping into anything unlike usual. So she opened the cabinet and tried to stick her hand in the way back, to grab one of the last coffee cups she knew had to exist. But instead her hand bumped against a cup right away. The touch broke her out of the sleep daze she was in. She looked around.

Everything was clean. The counters spotless, the drawers closed, not a dirty dish in sight. She ran to the living room, everything was organized; her hairbrush on the counter without the strands, her desk files in a neat stack, her trash taken out. Her heart leapt from her chest.

Someone had been in her house! She'd been robbed!

She let out a cry as she desperately looked around. What had been stolen? Her mind tried to allocate what she had, but looking around she couldn't place half of the objects in the position they'd been in. The room was foreign to her, she didn't understand. How had they broken in? How could she not have woken up? (Well, that was a given.) How much had been taken?

A noise came from behind her and she turned around, arms up, hands in a fist, ready to fight. "Who are you? What did you steal? How did you get in my house!?" she questioned the black haired man standing in her hallway yawning.

The man tilted his head to the side as if her absolutely normal questions confused him.

"How did you get into my house! Answer me!"

He took a step forward and Sakura's muscle's tensed.

"Look, I-" he raised his hands and that was all it took.

She pounced on him, using her full body weight to take him to the floor. There she proceeded to shove her forearm into his neck to choke him.

His hand pounded against her carpet floor. As if they were in the wrestling arena and he wanted her to let him go. That wasn't going to happen.

"I'm going to give you one last chance," she growled, "who are you and why are you in my apartment?" She eased the pressure slightly, allowing him to take a breath.

He tried to shift up, to at least be eye level with the pink haired beast, who was straddling his upper body so that his arms were pinned under knees. He didn't even know someone could straddle wearing a dress.

"My name-" he moved trying to get into a more comfortable position, "is Shi-" he tried to use his hands to pull himself up, but it so happened the only thing he could reach was soft flesh of the woman's bottom. And the last thing he felt before the world went black was searing pain on the right side of his face.

"Shisui, I'm so sorry," were the first words he heard as he stirred. The words were barely heard over the pounding headache he felt. He raised his hand to touch his face, where he felt weight and cold. A bag of ice.

He opened one eye to stare up at the ceiling.

"How are you feeling?"

He sat up and turned slowly, holding the ice to his face as it seemed to make some of the pain go away. He looked toward the voice; the woman stood before him, holding a breakfast tray. Her pink hair was tied up and wet—she'd showered, and skin tight yoga pants then attracted his eye to the lower figure of her body. He closed his eye, forgoing any imaging of what exactly had happened that morning, but in a much different context. His head pounded louder at the increase in heart rate, making it easier to stop the thoughts.

"Like I got hit by a car," he finally replied. He opened his eye, forcing himself to look above the chin. "I'm sorry about this morning," he told her honestly, cheeks reddening. He'd had no idea about what he'd been touching.

She set the tray on the table and sat across from him on her desk chair. "I'm the one who's sorry. I've treated you poorly since you've got here and there is no excuse for my actions this morning. I'm truly sorry." The green eyes looked pained, so different from the violent fury he'd met yesterday. Sleep did amazing things to people.

Shisui gave a laugh and tilted his head to the side. "It's not a problem. I can tell my friends that girls like me so much they literally jump me every chance they get."

Immediately her stance changed. Her shoulders drew back and the pained look was gone, instead there was a mixture of yesterday's anger. He almost thought she'd hit him (again) but instead she put a hand to her mouth and coughed to hide laughter. "Do they give you black eyes all the time too?"

A cold feeling entered his spine at that moment, realizing where exactly the ice pack was resting. "Well, only when they get so excited about my house cleaning abilities," he said trying to lighten the mood he was feeling. "How bad is it?" he asked, wondering how he was going to explain himself when he got to his business meeting.

"Well, it's definitely swollen, but by tomorrow you should be able to open it. And thank you, for cleaning my house, even though it's a bit creepy."

"Ah…" Shisui tilted his head, not quite sure how to talk his way out of that one.

"I made you breakfast," she said, changing the topic, her hand motioning to the tray on the table.

His eye looked over at the plate, eyes widening slightly. He was pretty impressed. He thought the girl's cooking skills would resemble that of her housekeeping; it was obviously not so. He concentrated on the scent in the room then, surprised he hadn't noticed before. His stomach growled. Bacon, just crispy and not over cooked laid right next to the piece of toast covered by an over medium egg topped with a dollop of something green.

"What's on top?" Shisui asked, trying to keep suspicion of it being poison from his voice. It could all just be hoax to get rid of him. Instead of going for the food first, he took the ibuprofen and drank some milk.

"It's a homemade batch of tomatillo salsa," she answered, "It's pretty medium; I'm assuming you're not a pansy when it comes to heat, but just in case I only put a little bit on."

"What is a tomatillo?" He picked up a fork and picked up a bit of it in the sauce before sticking it in his mouth. It was bitterer than he expected, but the taste of roasted sweet peppers, onion and garlic hit him in perfect succession. Then there was the heat. And he was a bit of a pansy. He started drinking his glass of milk while she started explaining.

"They are kind of hard to describe. They are green and have a husk… I use them in place of tomatoes. You see, I love nachos and you can't have nachos without cheese and salsa. But every time I bought a jar of tomato salsa or made my own, your cousin would raid my pantry and eat it all. I can't even keep grape tomatoes in my house for salads. So when I saw a salsa recipe online for tomato haters, I thought I'd give it a try," Sakura then gave a laugh, "He won't even try it because, I quote, 'it is green, green things aren't meant to be eaten.'"

Shisui laughed with her, setting down the glass. "He was picky, even as a kid. His brother is the same way. I literally have to tie Itachi down and force feed him to try something new. I love trying new foods."

"Me too," Sakura smiled, "I usually end up watching food shows all day on the television when I'm off work. I try to make two new recipes during the week."

"See, I'm an awful cook so I watch the food travelling shows. I have a journal in my bag of all the restaurants I plan to eat at: labeled by country, state or province, then by city or town."

Her eyes widened with delight. "Really! I always seem them and want to go, but it doesn't seem all the fun if you're just going to experience the adventure all alone, no? That's why I try to replicate the meals; Naruto and Sasuke usually come over for dinner. They've started bringing their own food though…"

His head tilted to the side as he took a bite of toast, egg and salsa. The heat was a bit reduced by the other ingredient. Delicious. He swallowed. "That's a bit poor on their part. I'd love to have someone cook meals for me. And if they are anything like this, your friend and my cousin are crazy not to enjoy them."

"Naruto is even pickier than Sasuke. I have to make a soup based pasta dish that resembles ramen for him to eat a bowl of it."

"Well fresh ramen isn't that bad. When I was in Japan, I went to this amazing ma and pa stand-"

She held up her hand to cut him off. "I'm talking Cup of Noodles ramen."

Shisui made a face as he took another bite.

Sakura started laughing, "I know, right? I can slave for hours making a beautiful, moist, airy focaccia, dashed with capers, sundried tomatoes, olives, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and the only thing he cares about is if it comes in a Styrofoam cup with hot water. Sasuke at least ate it, although he picked, practically everything but the tomatoes off."

Shisui patted his face with the napkin. The food was amazing. Sure, bacon was hard to mess up. But he'd been to so many restaurants were people undercooked eggs, or burned them. This was perfect. His eye then focused on the woman once more as she prattled on about another story of risotto she'd made and he couldn't help but wonder how in the world he'd thought the woman before him was a beast.

She was inspiring. Hearing her talk about food and her ability to create it, her memory of the recipe sounded as if it came from a long line of generations and that she hadn't only made it a handful of times. Maybe getting a black eye was the best thing that ever happened to him. After all, she might not have made him breakfast and he never would have found out about her cooking skill.

It turned out that he wouldn't have gotten such amazing meals his entire visit, or been able to sit on the couch with someone and watch cooking and eating shows all day either. They found they could easily discuss technique, favorites, what they wanted to try and what they already had, and recommendations. By the end of the third day, Shisui was absolutely positive that the black eye had been the best thing that ever happened to him. And the pale green and dark purple tint around his right was actually starting to grow on him.

So as he looked up at the big bulletin board, holding tickets that would take him away from the lovely cuisine and the beautiful nurse that made them, he knew that if he didn't act now, it would be likely that the best thing that ever happened to him could easily become the worst. Because now he knew what it was like, and he'd always desire it. It was like tasting the ultimate cuisine only to find that the last of the ingredients in the world had been used to make it. There would be no pleasure from tasting anything less than it.

"I'm going to have to visit Sasuke more often," Shisui said, trying to start off on the right foot.

"Why?" Sakura stood beside him, his luggage to her right. She'd decided to help send him off and he been very grateful for it. As he had been able spend more time with the woman.

"So I can eat more of your delicious food, of course," He turned his head and winked at her.

"Why don't you just come to visit me then?"

Her green eyes were looking up at him, the fiery intent saying she expected an answer. In the back of his mind there was the inkling that no long distance relation lasted long, but then again, he'd never met someone quite like her before. He probably never would again.

And with that thought he kissed her.

From any vantage point at that moment, they looked like a couple desperate to not be separated, still in the honeymoon stages of love. He stepped away after several seconds, and while he tried to retain a very serious expression to demonstrate that he was serious about what he'd done, he couldn't help but smile at the expression on her face.

And then she threw the fifty pound bag at him.

He fell to the ground as it hit him in the chest and she walked over pushing on top of the bag so that he couldn't get up. "Call before you come so I can pick up ingredients."

"Will do," he wheezed, trying to get some air.

She left then, her heels clicking upon the tiled, white airport floor. He sat up and watched her walk away, hips swaying ever so slightly. There had definitely been a smile on that face. She was different. And there was absolutely nothing wrong with different.

He pulled out his phone, calling the one person he was supposed to have called days ago.

"Hello, this is Itachi Uchiha. How may I help you?"

"Hey, Tachi. You know how I said we should go the Bahamas this summer."

"Yes, you said there's a couple of restaurants you said you wanted to go to…"

"I think that maybe you and I should come over to the west coast instead."

"To visit Sasuke?"

"Well… not exactly…You see; I want you to meet my future wife."

"…"

"What do you think?" Shisui smiled proudly at the confession.

A long sigh sounded over the phone and he could hear the tapping of Itachi's fingers. "How much have you had to drink?"

"Why does everyone think I'm drunk!"

"Naruto, what the heck were you doing in Sasuke's apartment that was so bad that I got dragged out of the house by Shisui?" Sakura asked abruptly over dinner several weeks later, unable to contain her curiosity anymore.

"Well-" The blond headed man scratched at the back of his head, cheeks blushing red.

"Yes… what were you doing?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed in on Naruto as well.

"Well, I spent the night at Shino's since I was drunk. Then a couple days later I just couldn't stop itchy. So I went my doctor, because I thought that maybe I was allergic to something and it turns out I got this thing called Scabies."

"Scabies?" Sasuke questioned, wondering if his house was now infected.

"You know how in the movie The Mummy there are those beetles that crawl under the skin."

Everyone in the room shivered as one. "Yes…" Sakura and Sasuke nodded for him to continue.

"Well, that's what Scabies is, except the beetles are super tiny and there can be a lot of them."

Sasuke let loose a growl, "Let me get this right, you went to my house with these things on you."

"I said that I needed to quarantine my townhome didn't I?"

"That still doesn't explain why I was dragged out of the house," Sakura said.

"Well, the cure is this weird, sticky, blue cream. You have to put it on your body to like suffocate the buggers or something like that."

"…"

"You were walking around my house, naked and blue?" Sasuke hissed. Sasuke jumped over the table, tackling Naruto to the floor.

Sasuke wasn't probably going to sleep for weeks. Sakura smirked with such knowledge, served him right.