A/N: And finally, my promised Shisui/Sakura fic! This chapter is dedicated to setting the stage for the story and recreating the backstories of our favorite characters to include the addition of soulmarks. The rating of this story will increase as story progresses! Enjoy!

Shisui would always remember the day he had gotten his soulmark.

He was one of the many soulmates who were born without their mark. While this certainly wasn't an uncommon occurrence, it was one that always held an undertone of anxiety. After all, not everyone received a soulmark. Whether their soulmate died before they were born or whether they never existed at all, a great number of people were never given a mark.

With the entire world at war, there were more than just a handful of unmarked.

Ever since his father had explained to him how soulmarks and soulmates worked when Shisui was just a young boy of four, Shisui had fretted over whether or not he would also join the ranks of the unmarked. Every morning for four years, he would check to see if his mark had come. To check to see if the legends were true and if the spirit of his soulmate had snuck into his bedroom in the dead of night to paint their mark on his skin. And every morning, he had been met with disappointment.

Until the morning of March twenty-eighth.

The eight year old Uchiha had gone to bed that night with clear skin and that morning, the moment he had pulled off his shirt to begin his daily search to see if his soulmate had come to leave their mark, he had spotted his soulmark written across his left pectoral in a flowing script.

He had been so excited about it's appearance that it had taken him longer than he would care to admit to calm down and actually read the content. He had been thrilled to discover that he did indeed have a soulmate but the fact that the phrase now inked across his chest was the most random, nonsensical bullshit he had ever read in his short life dampened the feeling.

Shisui wondered if his soulmark was connecting him to a psychopath. He could not think of any other reason as to why someone's first words to him would be "Pants are not studying the green wheatgrass today you bastard".

What on earth could that even mean? Was it some sort of secret code? Was she going to be intoxicated? Or maybe poisoned?

Despite his elation at having been given a soulmate, he had begun to develop a few reservations. More than anything, he had been upset that he would have to keep his shirt on even during the hottest of days when he trained lest someone spot his gods awful soulmark.

Shisui had hoped to received a mark that was a bit more... romantic.

At least, when he looked at the positives, there was absolutely no way that he could possibly miss whoever his soulmate was. Some people had marks that basically guaranteed they would never be united with their mates. Marks like "hello", "excuse me", or "sorry". He had the most specific soulmark, possibly out of all the soulmarks on the face of the planet.

Shisui just hoped that his soulmate would perhaps be in a drunken stupor when they finally met.

He had always been a hopeless romantic, constantly fantasizing over the first meeting with the person he was made for, the woman that the gods had tied him to. And there was no doubt in his young mind that his soulmate was a woman because the script on his chest, while absolutely bat shit crazy, was decidedly feminine.

He wanted the happily ever after that soulmarks promised and, while the content of the mark itself had put a damper on his discovery, he had already been excited to meet his soulmate.

Tomorrow, the day after, a year, a decade. However long it took, he would wait for her.

Shisui had tugged a clean shirt over his head but, for the rest of the day, he couldn't help but touch where the spirit of his soulmate had written on him. Directly over his heart...

Sakura had had her soulmark ever since she was born, although she hadn't been made aware of this fact until she was the tender age of five.

She had been at the academy studying when the girls in her class had gathered in a loose circle to show off their marks. Sakura had watched on, a feeling of shame building within her when she realized that she was the only girl in the class without a soulmark. Especially when the girls in her class had such romantic marks like "You're the prettiest girl I've ever met" and "I can't believe I finally found you".

Before the other girls could ask her about her soulmark, and before Sakura had to admit she was one of the unmarked, she had fled the classroom under the guise of needing to use the restroom, trying to hide the hot tears building in the corners of her eyes as she ran.

When Sakura got home that day, she had asked her parents why she didn't have a mark like the rest of the girls in her class. Her parents had taken one look at each other before laughing in mirth, only further confusing Sakura. Her mother had handed her a hand mirror with a smile stretched across her face and had told her to go find it.

After a solid fifteen minute of searching and acts of stretching that even contortionists would be proud of, she had located her soulmark printed in a small, professional script in the crook where her inner thigh met her hip.

Sakura had initially been upset that her mark was in such a personal place, a spot that she could never show off to her friends. After reading the content of her mark, however, she couldn't find it in her the care any longer. After all, out of all the soulmarks the girls in her class had, hers was the most beautiful.

"I didn't know angels had pink hair".

She had been so overwhelmingly happy that she not only had a soulmark but that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever read. Although her satisfaction had dimmed minutely when Sasuke's first words were not the words on her mark. While she had been disappointed that her girlhood crush had not been her soulmate, she knew that her true mate, the boy who had been made for her and her for him, was out there waiting for her.

Sakura resolutely decided that she would wait for her soulmate. One day they would be united, just like in the fairy tales, and she would get her happily ever after.

Sakura held onto her fantasy for years. She would daydream about her soulmate, wonder what he did and who he was. She wondered if she would meet him soon, like how Naruto and Hinata had met, or if she would be a grown up when it finally happened, like her parents. She wondered if he was from her village or if he came from another country. If he was a shinobi or a civilian. If he was from a clan like her and Sasuke or a family all his own.

She had buried herself in these fantasies and had never even considered that she could lose her soulmate until one night years later.

Sakura had been eight years old when her soulmark had disappeared.

She had woken up with a sudden, burning pain where her mark was written, the pain so severe that it had dragged a cry from her tiny lungs. She had flown out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom to check, some part of her concerned that she had been somehow burned in her sleep.

When she had investigated the spot where the now familiar writing of her soulmate had been scripted, it had been gone. Her heart had stopped beating in her chest, tears instantly springing forth from her wide eyes. She had spent a frantic ten minutes searching for her missing mark, desperately hoping that it had somehow moved, before realizing that it was well and truly gone from her body.

Sakura's sobbing had woken her mother who had gently knocked on the bathroom door to ask what was wrong. Sakura had flung herself into her mother's arms, begging to know where her soulmark had gone, why it had disappeared, and why it had hurt so badly when it had.

With a heavy heart, Mebuki had explained to her that her soulmate had passed away.

Sakura had spent the rest of the night crying, heart broken over the fact that she had lost her soulmate. That the boy who she was meant for had died. She mourned for not only his death but for the loss of the future they would have had together. The happiness they would have shared after they had finally met and fallen in love.

She couldn't even remember having fallen asleep, only waking up that morning in her too bright, too colorful bedroom. After dragging herself from bed and rubbing off the stains on her cheeks from her tears, she had become distracted by the unusual sensation of warmth where her soulmark had once been. Her skin tingled oddly and, when she had investigated the spot, she had been thrilled to discover that her mark had returned.

While her soul mark had been a faded gray color instead of the pitch black text it normally was, she knew by the fact it was there and the feeling in her skin that her soulmate was alive.

When Sakura had told her mother about what had happened, that her mark had returned and that her soulmate was alive, her mother had told her that maybe someone from the medical core had saved his life. That maybe one of the medical ninja had been able to reach him and bring him back from death.

In that moment, Sakura discovered her calling.

Even at her young age, she knew that she was destined to become a healer. That she would one day help save not only the lives of the injured but the lives of those who loved them. She promised herself that she would repay this favor she had been given a hundred, a thousand, times over.

When Sakura's soulmark fully recovered a week later, once again written across the crook of her inner thigh in ebony colored script, she already had half a bookshelf full of texts on anatomy and physiology and was already well on her way to becoming the youngest medical ninja in the history of the Leaf.

When Shisui was sixteen years old, he had died.

Or, perhaps more accurately: when Shisui was sixteen years old, he had killed himself.

That day would remain with him with the same clarity as the day that he had discovered his soulmark. It had been the day that he had finally told the Third Hokage and his advisers of his theoretical plan to use his Kotoamatsukami on Fugaku to force him to put an end to the Uchiha coup d'etat.

He had wanted to pursue this route as a last possible option but the revolt planned by his family was coming closer and closer to fruition everyday. It was only a matter of weeks before Fugaku implemented the Uchiha's plan to usurp the Hokage and lead a violent rebellion against the village. An uprising that would undoubtedly lead to attacks on the village from other countries. The revolt would mean the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi War, so soon after the conclusion of the Third, and Shisui was desperate to stop the inevitable carnage.

Shisui had been relieved when Hiruzen had given him permission to pursue his plan, even if the calculating stare from Lord Danzo had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He had the gut feeling that something was wrong and he should have known better than to ignore it, his relief from the Third Hokage okaying his plan allowing him to look past something that would have had him on high alert in the field.

It was because of this lack of caution that he had allowed himself to be caught off guard when Danzo had summoned him to a stone temple on the outskirts of the village.

The village elder had argued a number of points that Shisui couldn't help but admit were valid. Ones he had no argument against.

Danzo had been right when he said that stopping the coup wouldn't change how the village treated his clan. He had been right when he said that Hiruzen's promise to make the village change how they treated his family was impossible. He had been right when he had said that it didn't matter how much time passed, distrustful people such as himself would never change.

When Danzo had demanded to know if Shisui would use his Kotoamatsukami on him if he himself refused to change, the Uchiha silently knew that he would.

Lord Danzo had always been a stoic and gruff man, the old war hawk heeding his own counsel before the counsel of others. While this had lead to a number of confrontations in the past, Shisui could honestly say that he believed that the elder man had the village's best interest in mind. The man would do anything it took to protect the village and those in it.

Even going as far as to try to steal his eyes.

Danzo's cry of "Your sharingan shall be in my safekeeping!" had sent a thrill of dread down to his toes almost as quick as the adrenaline that immediately pumped into his blood.

Shisui had expected a debate but hadn't expected the bold assault. It was only due to his lightning fast reflexes, honed from hundreds of battles, that he had been able to activate his sharingan and place Danzo under a genjutsu in time to avoid his attack. Even though the man had been the one to attack him, he hadn't wanted to hurt him, instead asking for his forgiveness as he turned his bloodline jutsu against a member of his own village.

He just needed enough time to implement his plan to place Fugaku under Kotoamatsukami, to stop the revolt. He would deal with any consequences later.

When he had turned to leave, Danzo had shocked Shisui by appearing before him, laying a punch into his gut so severe that it only furthered his stunned state. A weakened condition only made much worse by the sudden blinding pain of the strikes to his face and the sharp sting in his scalp as the elder shinobi grabbed him by his hair to throw him upwards.

It had taken half of a second for the Uchiha to recover from his stunned state but it had been all the time that Danzo had needed. Shisui hadn't felt pain when Danzo had ripped out his eye in a strike quicker than a snake bite, instead feeling the jarring sensation of the sudden loss of something that had always been there.

Shisui had shot backwards, his hand instinctively coming up to cover the socket where his eye had been just a moment previous. The sudden loss of his eye resulted in a strange shift in depth perception that the Uchiha knew would have him at a serious disadvantage if this fight continued. His remaining sharingan struggled to adjust to focus on his foe while his mind struggled to understand the sight he was presented with.

Shisui had been surprised by a number of things in his lifetime. He had been surprised to find an unlikely companionship in his young cousin years ago. He had been startled by individuals who could keep up with his speed in battle. He had been shocked by sudden and uniquely powerful jutsu that had been thrown at him as he faced enemies on the field.

But nothing in his life compared to the unadulterated alarm he felt when Danzo pulled back the bandages wrapped around his head, revealing a stolen sharingan implanted in his hidden eye. Shisui watched in shock as the familiar crimson red of his stolen sharingan faded to gray, revealing to him that the elder shinobi had managed to not only discover but utilize the hidden Uchiha jutsu Izanagi.

"Give me the other one."

Dread settled in Shisui's heart as he realized the lengths Danzo would go to fulfill his plan, to stop him from putting an end to the coup. In that moment, as members of the Foundation gathered around the elder shinobi, he realized with no small amount of despair that he would not live passed this day.

Flying through the familiar hand signs for the Uchiha clan's signature Fireball Jutsu, Shisui used the burst of steam from his flame meeting his opponent's water jutsu to flee.

If he was going to die, it would be on his own terms. Terms that insured the survival of his best friend, a man who he knew would maintain peace in the village no matter the cost. Terms that would mean the people he loved most in this world would be safe.

It was only Shisui's knowledge of Itachi's scheduled patrol that day that allowed him to find his cousin. He had wanted to prevent the younger Uchiha from witnessing, and possibly preventing, him from using his most powerful genjutsu on Itachi's own father to plant false memories and force an end to the revolt.

With a whisper, he urged Itachi to follow him to the cliffside where Shisui knew he would die. He gazed up at the crescent moon for the last time, giving himself a few heartbeats to enjoy the sight he had often taken for granted before his best friend silently appeared behind him.

"It's too late to stop the coup d'etat by the Uchiha. If civil war breaks out in the leaf village, other nations are sure to attack... which means a full scale war," Shisui started, keeping his back turned to the younger male as he tore his gaze away from the sight of the moon.

When he turned, he watched Itachi's eyes widen at the sight of his missing eye.

"I was going to try to stop the coup d'etat with Kotoamatsukami but Lord Danzo took my right eye. He doesn't trust me. He intends to protect the village his own way, no matter what it takes or how it looks," he revealed, taking a deep steeling breath as he prepared for what was to come.

"I suspect he'll come after my left eye as well. So I want to give it to you before he has a chance."

After having had his eye violently stolen from his head not even ten minutes previous, his own cautious extraction was far less jarring. The only thing that was able to breach his careful composure was the sudden, complete blindness followed by Itachi quietly whispering his name in muted horror.

"You're the only person I can count on, my best friend. Please protect this village... and the honor of the Uchiha name."

With his sight gone, the only thing that informed Shisui that his wishes would he honored was the familiar sound of a crow summons appearing to take away his eye for safe keeping. One of the many crow summons that him and Itachi both shared. The sound of feathers, a sound which once filled him with comfort and companionship, now filled him with a sense of finality.

"I accept it." Anyone else would be fooled by Itachi's carefully composed words but Shisui knew better. "What will you do now?"

Shisui felt his heart clench in his chest, guilt wracking through him over what he was about to do to his best friend. He hated the thought of having to break his brother's heart in such a way, to force him to witness what he was about to do, but knew there was no other way. This was the right thing to do to save his family. This would allow him to give Itachi the power to stop the revolt, to save Sasuke, and to save himself.

There was no choice left.

"If I die, several circumstances will change..." Shisui explained as he took a step backwards towards the cliff he knew was at his back. He could hear the rushing water from the waterfall behind him, the sound making his heart race as he inched closer to his death.

"I've left behind a note already."

The sudden flare of chakra from Itachi told him the younger Uchiha had pieced together what he was about to do.

"Wait, Shisui!" Itachi cried out, the desperation in his voice making Shisui's chest ache.

"Don't stop me, Itachi."

He gave his best friend, his closest companion and a man he considered a brother, one final smile before taking the final step backwards. The sensation of the world falling out beneath his feet made his heart leap in his chest but, even as he felt the fear rush through his body, he refused to let it show.

He didn't want this moment to be more horrible than it had to be for Itachi. Even as he committed his own suicide, his concern was focused on his best friend and not himself.

"Shisui!" Itachi screamed as Shisui fell, his voice sounding so far away as he began to plummet.

Shisui was grateful for his blindness in that moment because he couldn't see the look on Itachi's face as he plummeted towards the raging waters below.

Take care of them.

As Shisui plunged towards the rapids beneath him, the sensation of rapidly increasing speed racing across his skin, he thought of his soulmate. He wondered if she would even be cognizant enough to notice his death, if she was even capable of caring. He hoped that she would avoid the heartbreak of knowing her soulmate had died. He prayed his suicide wouldn't hurt even more people, let alone his innocent mate who didn't even know his name or his voice.

At least he prayed.

And then there was nothing.

When Shisui had begun to regain consciousness, he had thought that he was in the afterlife.

He first became aware of the fact he was lying down. As his awareness expanded, he could feel the sensation of something wrapped around him as well as the softness of cloth beneath his fingertips. He became aware of the fact that he was warm, shortly followed by the sickly scent of cleaning chemicals that were frequently used in the hospital in Konoha.

It was this realization, and the confusion that came with it, that had finally forced him to return to himself entirely and open his eyes. When his crisp gaze was met with the sight of a too white ceiling of a familiar hospital room, his confusion only amplified.

This was not the afterlife.

"Shisui," Itachi's familiar voice had come from beside him, Shisui sluggishly tilting his head to regard his closest friend.

The young man had appeared as if he hadn't slept in days, the bags beneath his eyes all the more pronounced. Even with his ragged, sleepless exterior, Itachi had a hesitant smile on his lips as he sat up straight in the chair at Shisui's bedside. Sunlight poured in from the window behind him, illuminating the meticulously cleaned hospital room in a near blinding glow.

In the handful of heartbeats it took for Shisui to understand what he was seeing, why he was seeing, where he was, and what it meant, he had been assaulted by a barrage of emotion. Anger at having his last wishes ignored, concern at seeing his best friend so worn to the bone, and fear at the fate of their clan.

"What happened, Itachi?" he had demanded, the edge in his tone still sharp despite the weakness in his unused voice.

A thousand questions were just beneath the surface of his single demand, a thousand questions which Itachi understood without them having a voice behind them: Why can he see? How long had he been asleep? Had the revolt occurred? Had they taken over the village? Was their family dead? Were they at war again?

Itachi had dropped his head in shame before he began.

He had told him he had been out cold for a week. A week that had changed the course of history.

Itachi admitted to not wanting to allow Shisui to die. How he had been too selfish to live without his best friend at his side. How he had been too frightened, had felt too lost, to stop the revolt by himself. How he had instead thrown himself into the rapids after him, dragging Shisui's unbreathing and broken body from the water and taking him to the hospital.

It was there that Itachi had told Hiruzen of what had happened. How Danzo had attacked Shisui, how he had stolen his eye to prevent him from stopping the coup. The Third Hokage, distraught and infuriated by a grievous assault on one of the many citizens of the village he considered one of his children, had confronted Danzo about his betrayal.

The battle that ensued as Danzo tried, for the second time Itachi would later learn, to kill Hiruzen was one that demolished a portion of the forest and which had spawned fires that still burned even now. A battle which left Danzo in chains and Hiruzen returning Shisui's stolen eye.

With a heavy heart, Hiruzen had put his once close friend to death for his crimes against the village. While the reasoning given to the public for his death sentence was an assault on Shisui the Teleporter to steal his famed eyes in order to instill himself as leader of the village, information about his shadowy organization The Foundation and Shisui's plan to use his sharingan to stop the coup remained out of public knowledge.

Even then, the Foundation was being quietly disbanded, the members either being absorbed by ANBU, being reintegrated into the shinobi population, or silently scattering to the winds as they abandoned the village.

Itachi told Shisui of how Danzo's assault and the justice that followed had made way for proper negotiations with their clan. Negotiations that took place under the guise of the Uchiha threatening to leave the village as opposed to revolt against it.

The Uchiha's viewed Hiruzen punishing one of his closest advisers with death following the attack on Shisui as being a show of absolute trust and camaraderie with the Uchiha. How the return of Shisui's stolen sharingan, the most precious thing to an Uchiha shinobi, was seen as an act of respect and faith. A course of action that instilled doubt in the rebellion and a rekindled hope in the village.

With a smile that contained both hope and fear, Itachi told Shisui of the agreement brought upon by the negotiations between Fugaku and Hiruzen: that Itachi would be groomed to be the future Hokage and, when he came of age, Hiruzen would step down and pass down his seat to his successor. A plan that both sides were satisfied with, considering Itachi's connection with the Uchiha but loyalty to the village.

Shisui thought he was going to lose consciousness again with his heart racing in his chest from his excitement. He had never imagined that such a outcome could have occurred, that his near death could inspire peace in such a way. He had died that night praying that peace would come but he had no inkling that it would be because of his near death that his wish would be fulfilled.

Despite the elder Uchiha being furious with Itachi for blatantly ignoring his final wishes, for disrespecting his will in such a way, he could nearly find it in him to forgive him after he had somehow come up with a way to peace that didn't include war.

But secretly and selfishly, Shisui was happy to be alive. Not only because he could enjoy a peace he had never had the pleasure of basking in but that he once again had the chance to meet his soulmate...

Five years passed after the dreaded day where Sakura had briefly lost her soulmate and her mark.

Five years of the more rigorous training of her life as she dedicated herself to becoming a medical ninja on par with the legend Lady Tsunade and the founder of medical ninjutsu, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju.

Her studies set her apart even farther from her young classmates, her status as top student in the class and as one of the most promising shinobi of her age group further expanding to the most promising medical ninja of her generation. She took to these titles proudly, furthering her studies and training at the hospital where she served as an apprentice under the medical ninja Sukui for two years.

It was during this blossoming that she began to come into herself, her growing skill feeding her confidence.

By the time Sakura had graduated the academy, her other classmates were fighting over who would be assigned to her team, everyone wanting to be paired with the kunoichi who was already considered a medical ninja by the community despite not even holding the rank of genin. She had spent enough time helping out (or rather training on) her injured friends that none wanted to be separated from her and her healing jutsu.

When Sakura had been assigned to Team 7 with Sasuke and Naruto, she had been happy to be on a team with two people that she considered to be good friends. Although Naruto had been loudly unhappy about being placed on a team apart from Hinata.

The blond and the shy Hyuga had discovered that they were each others' soulmates far younger than anyone else in the class, the two realizing their connection at the unheard of age of five. The pair, despite being too young for romance, had been inseparable. At least until now.

The newly anointed Team 7 had been assigned the famous Kakashi Hatake as their mentor. The power house team of the future Fifth Hokage's little brother, the medical prodigy, and the Nine Tailed jinchuriki needed the supervision of a exemplary jonin to maximize their potential (and to keep them out of trouble it appeared as well).

Sakura had thought of herself as being one of the most valuable shinobi in her class. Her skill with medical ninjutsu had set her apart not only from her peers but even from the medical ninja who worked in the hospital she had spent years being an apprentice at. However, when Sakura finally saw her first battle against the Demon Brothers of the Mist, she had the crushing realization that her skills were dramatically lacking.

Despite being the most intelligent of her class, next to Shikamaru Nara, and despite her skills as a healer, she was woefully unprepared for the reality of combat. Her skills had been incredibly useful following the battle but Sakura had never felt more useless as she healed the cuts and abrasions dotting her friends and teammates who had protected her during the fight.

This feeling of helplessness fueled her need to learn more, to train more, to be able to save those she cared about from even feeling the pain from an injury as opposed to just cleaning up the aftermath. A mentality that helped her strengthen her body and hone her fighting skills to the point where, when the Chunin Exams came around, she felt confident enough to rise to the challenge.

An attitude, or rather an over confidence, that she would later feel nearly got those she cared about killed.

As her, Sasuke, and Naruto attempted to fight off a mysterious Grass Ninja, one hell bent on killing them with an ease that Sakura felt reflected a skill level far higher than a simple genin, she realized her mistake. She realized the very real danger they were in and the fact that, despite all of her training and determination, they were going to die.

If not for Sasuke's brother and his cousin Izumi appearing to save their lives and chase off the man who they called Orochimaru, Sakura felt as if they would have all died that day. Or perhaps something worse, as this Orochimaru had been in the process of attempting to bite Sasuke from across the field with his hideously elongated neck.

The rest of their challenge in the Forest of Death was met with more and more failure as they were assaulted by a group of Sound Shinobi that challenged every member of her team. Naruto had been knocked unconscious by a boy with tunnels in his hand that could produce great gusts of wind while Sasuke had been incapacitated by a strange device on another boy's arm that had him screaming on the ground as he clutched his head.

Before Sakura could even reach her teammates to heal them, to use the one skill she had spent years developing and that was supposed to set her apart from the rest, she had been grabbed by the hair by the kunoichi on the team of Sound Ninja.

The girl's taunting would forever stick with Sakura. Her ridicule of her well maintained hair, her mocking over her lack of fighting skill, and her taunting over her physical weakness still haunted her. It was this vicious girl's torment that finally forced Sakura to take action.

Sakura had sliced off her own hair, giving her just enough time to run through the hand signs for a replacement jutsu. What followed was one of the most desperate gambles of her life, a dance which resulted in her landing a hit of one of the shinobi just grievous enough to get the moment she needed to return Sasuke to his senses. An action that gave her just the advantage she needed to fall back to Naruto and bring him back from unconsciousness.

She had just barely given them the edge they needed to run for their lives. It had been a hollow victory but one that left them alive. It had been good enough for her, even if the pain where her pride had once been stung worse than the deep puncture wounds on her shins and forearms.

The rest of the Chunin Exams had been marked with a shocking number of victories following their hideous near defeats in the Forest of Death. Sasuke's defeat of Yoroi Akado, Naruto's shocking victory over Kiba Inuzuka, and her own bolstering triumph over her close friend and rival Ino Yamanaka.

Sakura felt as if she should have been more suspicious of their sudden good fortune. She should have been more concerned when her sensei Sukui had the perfect medical ninjutsu to teach her to stabilize her vestibular system in her inner ear which would render Dosu's technique useless during their final bout. She felt as if she should have been alarmed following her impressive defeat of Dosu, one of the shinobi who had assaulted her and her team in the Forest of Death.

She should have listened to the rising axiety she could feel building within her. An instinctual dread that culminated with the assault on Konoha, marked by the blood curdling scream from within Gaara's sand shell and the lulling sensation of a genjutsu which tugged at the back of her mind.

The brief fight in the stadium, one which was dominated by Kakashi and Gai, was rapidly followed by a desperate chase into the forest to follow Sasuke after he left in pursuit of Gaara to finish their match. The battle that followed had ended with Sakura desperately trying to defend Sasuke from the monstrous sand ninja only to be reminded of her weakness once again as she was pinned to a tree by a claw of sand and knocked unconscious.

When she woke up, the only difference she made in the battle was once again picking up the pieces at the end.

It was after the smoke finally settled and the fires were finally put out, after the Third Hokage's funeral and Sasuke's brothers ascension to the seat of Fifth Hokage, that Sakura found herself overwhelmed by not only the events of the Chunin Exams but the aftermath of the assault. The hospital was overflowing with injured and Sakura spent every day since the battle tending to her new patients.

It was during this time that Sakura lamented over her weakness. Despite saving her friends in the Forest of Death, despite winning her match against Dosu, and despite her spending her days tending to patients at the hospital, she still felt useless. She didn't know who to turn to to help her learn to fight. To help her learn to protect her loved ones.

Her hopelessness only magnified when she was asked to help with Rock Lee's case, the boy who had had his arm and leg crushed by Gaara during the Chunin Exams. She had only met him once and had been alarmed by his odd way of flirting right before he challenged Sasuke to a fight. When they first spoke, she had been surprised to learn that he was one of the unmarked. Despite his disappointment when he learned that she had been given a soulmate, they had struck up an easy friendship that, despite its comfortable nature, was always overshadowed by the dark cloud of his crippling injuries.

Lee was startlingly optimistic about his recovery, even after being told that he would never be able to be a ninja again. Sakura had wanted to do anything she could to help but, no matter what she tried, she found that she made no difference in his condition. The only thing she found herself able to help with had been abating his pain as his broken body desperately tried to recover.

Just another thing to add to the growing list in her mind of ways that she felt she was useless.

The only thing to pull her from her thoughts had been her overhearing a rumor from another hospital worker that Itachi was sending Jiraiya, a man who had become Naruto's new sensei, and Naruto out on a mission to seek out the legendary medical ninja Tsunade.

There were so many injured and so many critical cases that the hospital was ill equipped to handle. The return of Tsunade could mean the difference in life and death, or perhaps more importantly life and a life of suffering, in the numerous injured patients in the hospital.

One of those cases being Lee.

Sakura had just barely been able to catch Naruto on his way out of the village. She hadn't even been sure what she wanted to say and, when she frantically tried to piece together her thoughts, tears came instead. She told her teammate that she had done everything in her power to help Lee but neither her nor anyone else could save him.

She had pleaded with Naruto to bring back Tsunade back to save their friend.

"Naruto, I beg you! Please! Please bring Lady Tsunade back! I couldn't do it... I couldn't save Lee... The only person who can probably save him is her..."

Naruto, in his normal boisterous way, had declared that he would bring Tsunade home

"Don't worry, I'll bring her back! Promise of a lifetime!"

A promise that Sakura knew he would keep. And one that was fulfilled when he returned, just a week later, with the legend herself and her attendant Shizune.

Sakura could still remember watching Tsunade in amazement through the observation window in the OR as the elder woman pieced Lee's broken body back together. She had been overcome with how incredible Tsunade's feat had been and it was only when she felt the woman's eyes on her that she finally snapped out of her daze.

She watched as Tsunade had a brief conversation with Sukui, her current sensei, who had assisted in the surgery. She watched as her sensei said something with a smile, Tsunade's expression morphing into one of shock before her gaze shot back to Sakura. She had nearly shied away, intimidated by the sudden attention of the legend herself, but remained.

When Tsunade had smiled at her, nodding in approval, Sakura had felt a burst of pride.

In that moment, she knew what she had to do to overcome her own weakness, to continue to grow to be a medical ninja who could protect her loved ones, and to become the kunoichi she always wanted.

The next day, Sakura had approached Tsunade in her new office, the woman having taken over as director of the hospital. She strode up to her desk, appearing more confident than she had felt, and had asked Tsunade to take her on as her apprentice. To teach her to heal like she did, to fight like she did, and to be a kunoichi like her.

When Tsunade asked if she was the medical prodigy that she had been hearing so much about, the youngest medical ninja in history, and the one to handle Rock Lee's case before her arrival, Sakura had been surprised by the question but had answered truthfully.

An answer that was met with another nod of approval.

When Tsunade had agreed to take her on as her apprentice, Sakura had nearly begun to cry from her exhilaration. An elation that only magnified when Tsunade had suggested they go to one of the training fields to test her skills on the battlefield.

But a euphoria that had quickly diminished when Sakura spent the afternoon desperately skittering around strikes powerful enough to decimate mountains, ducking beneath thrown boulders that were larger than she was, and buckling under blows powerful enough to toss her across the training field.

No matter what it took, however, Sakura would do whatever it took to be the best medical ninja, the most powerful kunoichi, in all of the nations. She would make good on her debt, she would become a shinobi who she could once again feel proud of being, and she would become the person who could protect her loved ones.

And all the while she trained, she wondered if her soulmate would be proud of her as well, wherever he was.

It had been five years before Itachi finally assumed the mantle of Hokage. Five years of peace that abruptly ended with an assault upon Konoha lead by the Sand and Sound during the Chunin Exams.

It had been decided that Itachi would be handed the seat of Hokage following the conclusion of the Konoha held Chunin Exams, an change in leadership that had been expected and prepared for for the past five years. None had expected Itachi to assume his role by instead inheriting a decimated village following the assault on the village and the death of the Third Hokage.

On the morning following the attack, shortly after the burial and funeral for Hiruzen Sarutobi, Itachi Uchiha was named Fifth Hokage, the first Uchiha Hokage and the youngest Hokage to ever assume power. An event that should have been looked upon with pride and celebration had instead been treated as a solemn event overlaid with the sorrow of everyone's mourning of the deceased Third Hokage.

Some even looked upon Itachi's ascension with distrust, a wariness that was only abated by the Uchiha clan having proven it's loyalty to still wary villagers by throwing themselves into the fray to protect civilian and shinobi alike. While Orochimaru lead an assault against the village and perpetrated the assassination of the Third Hokage, the Uchiha clan had banded together to lead a counter assault of their own. One lead by Shisui and Itachi themselves.

It was only due to this show of loyalty that Itachi's induction as the Fifth Hokage was met with no resistance from the still uneasy villagers. And it was due to Itachi's handing of the aftermath of the assault that Konoha began to not only accept but respect the Uchiha.

Even Shisui found himself impressed with his best friend's handling of the consequences of the attack, his meticulous plans for recovery so spectacularly successful that it was only a few short months before the village had returned to its prime. Perhaps even better than where it had been before the assault.

The recovery period had been marked by a number of dramatic alterations to the village, all of which made a notable positive impact on the operations of the village and it's people. The most notable change, and the most helpful not only for the villagers themselves but for their morale, had been the return of the legendary Lady Tsunade. The Senju had taken over as director for the hospital and the changes she herself implemented in her hospital revolutionized the health care system for civilians and shinobi alike.

It was during this recovery period that Shisui found himself being called into his best friend's office, a summons that he doubted would ever lose its novelty.

It was at this critical juncture, this dramatic change in the lives of everyone in the village, that Shisui found his own life was changing as well. Itachi had asked Shisui to take over as leader of the Royal Guard and to personally supervise the protection of the Fire Daimyo at his palace. A position of great respect and responsibility and one which Shisui had been glad to accept.

Secretly, Shisui wondered if this was where he would finally meet his soulmate. It had been thirteen years since the appearance of his soulmark and, while his soulmate would undoubtedly be too young for romance, he still desperately wanted to finally meet them. To know their name, their face, to put a voice to the writing on his chest, and to get to know who they were.

When Shisui first arrived at the Fire Daimyo's palace with a contingent of his own hand picked guards, he had gone out of his way to introduce himself to each and every individual in the palace, young and old alike. He had insisted that it was so he could get a read on every person who would be under his protection but, secretly, it had been to see if his soulmate had been hidden among the population.

He had tried to temper his disappointment when none of the people he met responded to his friendly greetings with the nonsensical phrase plastered across his chest.

For two months, Shisui found himself adjusting to being the leader of the contingent protecting the Fire Daimyo. Just when he finally felt comfortable in his position, familiar with the land, and even more familiar with the people under his care, he had been surprised once again. This time in a far more pleasant way.

A happy surprise in the form of his baby cousin, Sasuke, showing up at the gate of the Fire Palace, side by side with the additional guards he had requested from Konoha.

Despite Shisui's confusion at having suddenly gained an unexpected subordinate, and a unlikely apprentice based on the letter from Itachi that Sasuke had brought with him, he was thrilled to have his baby cousin there to keep him company.

Even though Shisui had been unlucky, perhaps his cute cousin could meet his soulmate while he was serving under him? The person with wild handwriting who would one day tell him that "Just because you're the most gorgeous man I've ever met doesn't mean I won't kick your ass".

Although Sasuke would have to work on his attitude, his desperate search for the strength to finally impress Fugaku making the young Uchiha difficult company.

Shisui could understand Sasuke's desire for power, knowing without direct knowledge that Fugaku had been especially hard on the boy following his lack of a promotion following the disastrous Chunin Exams (something that he was certain was a point of contention between him and Itachi as well), especially considering Itachi's and his own sudden rise to prestigious positions.

Shisui gladly took Sasuke on not only as his subordinate but, at Itachi's request, as his apprentice. While they trained together to hone Sasuke's skill as a shinobi, he hoped to teach him a bit about learning to have pride in who he was outside of his father's approval.

After all, if Sasuke only knew what his father had almost done to the village. That he had tried to instigate a traitorous blood bath that had only been subverted by Shisui's own suicide attempt.

A story for another time. And certainly not one for him to tell.

And as the days, months, and then years passed, Shisui continued to make sure he introduced himself to every new face at the palace, hoping to soon hear the nonsensical phrase on his chest uttered from some beautiful woman who he had been made for.

A/N: Sukui, Sakura's first sensei, is actually a medical ninja from Konoha in canon.