Author: Amaya
Editor: Aiko
Characters/Pairings: [Shisui x Sakura]; Uchiha Itachi, Team Seven
Categories: Romance, Drama, Action
Rating: Mature [See Warnings Below]

Warning: This story contains strong language, depictions of violence and mature sexual content including, but not limited to: breath play, superior/subordinate kinks, rough body play, power kinks and so on. You have been warned.

Full Summary: As the most elite of the elite shinobi to ever grace the village, Anbu operatives were easily some of the most frightening and striking characters one could come across. The way they protected the village while cloaked in shadows, appearing like some God-appointed deities when they were needed most and forgoing honor in exchange for anonymity—was as seductive as one could get. But to Sakura, the real allure lied in the deceptive red smiles painted on their masks, and in figuring out who was behind them. ["Don't start things you can't finish, Haruno."]

Kamen

Chapter || One

The first time Shisui ever encountered Haruno Sakura, she was around twelve years old. She looked ridiculous, what with that mop of bubblegum pink hair and her obnoxious red dress. She and her blonde haired teammate were following his younger cousin through the market at the time, apparently just off from a mission from Wave Country. Their clothing was scuffed, worn and withered by what seemed to be a battle and bandaged even at the cheeks, looking as if they had ran nonstop for miles, but she remained almost completely untouched aside from a tear on her dress and a yellowing bruise on her right arm.

There was a dazed look in her eyes, a far away gleam that just didn't suit her face. A look that made young Shisui pity her.

Their meeting wasn't really a memorable one, seeing as how they hadn't actually interacted. Young Itachi had been walking beside him at the time, both returning to the Uchiha Compound after a light training session when they had heard Sasuke's familiar growl, "usuratonkachi!" through the prattle of the crowd. Sure enough, when they investigated the cause, they found the youngest Uchiha in the midst of an argument with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki while little Sakura watched on, seemingly concerned with how she brought her arms up to shield her torso. Her presence was more of an afterthought.

"Oi, oi," Shisui had called out, hands clapping to silence the boys before they attacked each other. "What's gone and made you so fussy, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke had brushed him off, glare then directed to the ground as Itachi softly scolded him for the disturbance they were causing to the passersby. Neither boys offered an explanation for their spat, and neither did Sakura who avoided eye contact with everyone. They parted almost immediately after that, those of the Uchiha going one way, and the two outsiders going the other with the shy pinkette waving goodbye to them. After that, he had caught glimpses of her just as often as he did Naruto, as the two came by the compound every so often to meet with his cousin for things like dinner and training sessions. And even though it had been over ten years since the girl had been integrated into a portion of his life, Shisui couldn't remember ever actually speaking to the female member of the Legendary Team Seven. He had his own life, his own responsibilities after all. And yeah sure, he had heard of her accomplishments—everyone had.

Becoming Tsunade's apprentice.

Killing Sunagakure's infamous Akasuna no Sasori.

Becoming Head Medic of the hospital.

But that was all stuff that he'd heard in passing. And as an Anbu captain, he had to know all the important things about a person and their attainments. Those just so happened to be the only significant things about her. Outside of Anbu, their interactions were just as few and far between. She had healed him in the hospital maybe once or twice. He'd seen her and her team crossing the border checkpoints as they returned from missions. Every time he'd enter the Hokage's office, the white and black uniform discarded and a mission the topic of discussion, she was just leaving or vice versa. Very rarely did she remain in the room during briefings, and on those few instances that she did, her nose was buried in a book or a scroll as she sat by the window. She never looked at him, never really acknowledged him beyond a polite "excuse me" and he did the same. They shared a civil nod in greeting whenever they passed each other when retrieving Sasuke, sometimes she'd snicker at a comment he'd make. It wasn't that they were trying to be rude. They just didn't know each other. She probably only recognized him as "Sasuke's cousin" or by his reputation "Shushin no Shisui". And he only knew her as "Sasuke's teammate" and "the Hokage's apprentice". There really just wasn't a need to know one another.

But that all changed when he caught the way she looked at him one day.

He wasn't sure what it meant at the time—that look. He almost missed it, actually, and figured he had merely imagined the expression she made—wrote it off as a lingering adrenaline-induced hallucination or a trick of the eye. He was in the Hokage's office, having just returned with his squad from an S-ranked mission in full Anbu garb when she came in. Having seen her nearly every week as the Hokage's guard, he hadn't even thought twice about her presence, but usually he was outside the building, listening and watching from the shadows. This time, he was standing right in front of the blonde woman's desk as he relayed the details of his previous assignment. Tsunade had stopped him when Sakura arrived, beckoning the girl over to her side, and asked him to repeat his findings so she could hear.

That's when he noticed it. The look.

She had been listening to him intently, as expected, as Tsunade had tasked her with researching the poison that was used against his teammates during his mission. But there was something off about the encounter, as her gaze shifted between him and Genma and even Itachi. At first, he brushed it off as curiosity, as an interest in their persona. It wasn't unusual for others to accidentally stare as they tried to figure out their identities; he sometimes did it too when approached by another Anbu while off the clock. But the longer he observed the rosette, the more he realized that her wandering eyes held a particular spark that stirred his intrigue. There was a fire in those pools of emerald, a dangerous heat that he'd never seen in her, but had seen in the gazes of many women.

Desire.

That moment replayed in his head maybe once or twice since then, reappearing out of nowhere when he felt a little bored, and even now he wondered if he had seen it right. Either way, that day ignited something within him, something made him question that metaphorical mask Haruno Sakura wore.

Kamen

"Sakura-chan! You home? Sakura-chaaaan!"

Peering up from the scroll splayed across her table, Sakura remained rooted in her chair for a moment longer, hoping that if she were quiet enough Naruto would grow bored and wander off. It had worked a few times before, so why wouldn't it now? When he knocked on her door again, she allowed a long, overly exaggerated sigh to escape her, and sluggishly rose from her seat, rounded the table and headed straight towards the front door. On the other side, Naruto straightened to full height when she revealed herself, grin in place as he seemed to rock on his heels like a child. She quirked a brow at this, crossing her arms and leaning all her weight onto the door frame, clearly unimpressed.

"What is it Naruto? It's my one day off this week and you know that when I'm off I—"

"Team Seven: battle royale!"

Part of her wanted to laugh at the way Naruto announced his response, his hands making a sweeping gesture across his face as if to frame those four words, while another part of her wanted to groan in displeasure. Not only did he interrupt her (hadn't he grown out of that habit?), but she was definitely way too tired to manage a full-out attack on him and her dark-haired teammate. It was only Tuesday, a very busy Tuesday full of sutures and chakra exhaustion. She had ony just woken up from her nap maybe an hour ago and had intended on doing some light reading on her couch, so she certainly wasn't in the right state to even attempt sparring with her two overzealous friends. Doing anything, training or otherwise, seemed to require a stint of preperation when it came to them. Sighing again, Sakura prepared to dismiss the blonde when he interrupted her again.

"With Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura brought a finger to her lip as she considered the idea. It wasn't often that Kakashi had time to mingle with his old Gennin squad, let alone to train with them. Ever since they'd all made it to Jonnin, it seemed as if their sensei had nearly disappeared, both on and off the training field. Naruto blamed it on the porn. He kept insisting Kakashi was at home, giggling like a schoolgirl over the latest volume of Icha Icha on his couch. The first time he'd said it, both she and Sasuke had shared a look of gross horror because the way Naruto described it was a little too close to the truth. He'd even acted it out as he had been on her couch at the time, belly down, by kicking his feet like a teenage girl and gazing longingly at the magazine he'd been flipping through. But over the past eight months, Sakura knew it wasn't the sudden influx of porno novels that kept their former teacher away. She'd seen the stress on his masked face, in that lone silvery eye of his, and had ran into him a few too many times in the hospital for simple training injuries. She assumed he had taken on Anbu missions again, and although she wasn't too pleased at the thought, she also knew it wasn't her place to reprimand the man.

Anbu... She withheld a shiver. The most elite of the elite ninja to ever grace the village, Anbu operatives were easily the most frightening and striking characters she had ever come across. The way they protected the village, the way they appeared like some God-sent deity when they were needed most—the way they forwent honor in exchange for anonymity—was as seductive as one could get. But at the same time, she knew what the actions such an organization could do to a person. Killing people was always expected of a shinobi. But for Anbu, it went beyond that. While Chunnin and Jonnin may have had to defeat enemy ninja as a side effect of their mission or to defend themselves and others, Anbu were specifically tasked with making people, sometimes even whole families disappear.

Interest piqued, if not just so she could take out her annoyance on her former sensei (and to secretly see if he was doing okay), Sakura turned on her heel with the intent of retreating into her house to retrieve a few things. She supposed she could use the extra training anyway. Naruto, having caught the glint of excitement in her eye, let out an excited "yatta!", thrusting his fist into the air and nearly hopping with joy. Sakura rolled her eyes, not even bothering to fight off the smile that stretched across her lips at the childish antics of her longtime friend. She plucked a random weapons pouch from the pile of many beside her coffee table and snagged her hitai-ate from it's place on the kitchen counter. Although she wasn't intending on participating in any intense physical activities today, her attire was simple enough and flexible enough for her to wear out so she didn't bother changing. Her charcoal shirt was breathable, sleeveless and cropped at her natural waist; she wore her black spandex shorts, with both her pale pink skirt and elbow supports abandoned in her bedroom. She wouldn't need those today. After she had fastened her hitai-ate in it's usual spot and clasped the buckles on her boots, she followed the excitedly bouncing Naruto out into the street.

"So how'd you manage to get Kakashi-sensei to agree to this anyway?" She asked, her smile still in place.

Naruto blew on his knuckles, smirking. "Let's just say, there's a little red book with a bow on top waiting for him," He replied, now brushing his knuckles onto his puffed out chest. Sakura chortled openly at the answer, playfully smacking Naruto's shoulder with a little more force than she intended. He stumbled slightly, but didn't comment on it, merely rubbing his shoulder with that lopsided grin of his.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Ne Sakura-chan, do you think he'll take us to Ichiraku after?" She laughed again, shaking her head. Same old Naruto.

Kamen

"Shannaro—!"

The ground exploded beneath her knuckles, jagged clumps of earth leaping at the silver-haired man crouched several meters away. He leapt towards the side, avoiding the debris but having to destroy the stray boulder a silent Sasuke had kicked in his direction. He launched a flurry of kunai towards the right where Naruto charged at him, the sharp clanging of them being deflected and a curse reaching his ears a moment later.

His fingers went through a series of seals quickly, and then he head another curse, this time from his female student, along with a symphony of barks from his ninken as they popped into existence. The wind picked up, whistling loudly in his ear and he only had moments to react; he gripped Naruto's arm, careful to avoid the small Rasengan aimed at his midsection, and flung the blonde like a rag doll into Sasuke's direction.

"Oi, oi, I thought this was a free for all. I didn't know it was three against one," Kakashi chided, smiling when he heard Naruto and Sasuke grunt, followed by an annoyed, "usuratonkachi!" There was a loud crackling and a heat in the air as Sasuke's Chidori screeched, this time directed at Naruto who now aimed his colorful vocabulary at him in response. Kakashi nearly chuckled aloud upon realizing the young men had abandoned him to focus on beating up one another.

Some things never change.

Light but quickly approaching footsteps pulled him back into the battle at hand. Sakura had managed to dispel Pakkun and the others and was now working her way back towards him. He hadn't heard any telltale pops, meaning she must've used her sleep-inducing jutsu on them. Damned iryo-nin. He crossed his arms over his face, already anticipating the high kick his pupil had aimed at him. Thankfully, she hadn't reinforced her attack with chakra, so all he would have was a sore arm later. He immediately followed up with a series of jabs, a stray uppercut being the one to land and send the rosette reeling back a step, but she merely grunted and returned a flurry of jabs of her own. When Kakashi met her fist with his own, a gust of chakra lashed out at them. Her expression was one of surprise, but was soon replaced with excitement. Her free hand reached for her pouch where she removed a kunai and used it to block the shuriken that flew at her as well as pitch it back in Sasuke's direction. Without caring to know if the weapon landed, she moved to punch Kakashi again, but he also managed to mirror it with his fist. Their next few hits went like this, knuckles clashing against one another's blow for blow and Sharingan swirling almost uncontrollably.

"Copying my fighting style, Kaka-sensei?" She teased, jaw tight.

His mismatched eyes crinkled in that uniquely coy way of his. "Unlike popular belief, it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks," He lightly returned. He wouldn't ever admit it, but Kakashi was sure he felt blood oozing from his bruised knuckles and into his gloves.

Before Sakura could do or say anything in response, Kakashi shifted so he could capture her much smaller fists with his larger ones, keeping her rooted in place. Her eyes widened with realization. Before she could rip herself free from her former sensei, Sasuke's body flew at her, taking her harshly to the ground with him. The air left her lungs all at once making her vision blur with darkness, and the weight of Sasuke's limp body on top of hers surely didn't help. Naruto was suddenly on Kakashi, eyes glowing red with the Kyuubi's influence, but not quite a worrying shade of scarlet. With a groan, Sakura shoved Sasuke off of her, rolling onto all fours as she attempted to catch her breath, Sasuke doing the same beside her.

Damn Kakashi...

Noticing that their sensei was now locked into a taijutsu bout with Naruto, Sakura glanced at her dark haired teammate to find him mirroring her. He had quite a few scuffs to his outfit, the high collar of his shirt singed at the tips and torn on one side, while his beautifully fair skin was marred with dirt and bloody fingerprints. Quickly, she twisted her body so her left foot lifted into the air, then brought her heel down on Sasuke, only for him to catch the weak attack and pull her leg towards him, forcing her into a painful split that made her wince. Her right fist flew forward despite her position, only for him to deflect it towards the ground where he pinned her uncomfortably.

"Is that it?" He grunted, his Sharingan already tracking the fight between the remaining two combatants.

Stubbornly, and more than a little miffed at Sasuke's tone, Sakura threw her head back with the intention of smashing it into his jaw. The Uchiha read the movement easily, jerking back to avoid the impact, then completely rolling off to the side to get away from the elbow she thrusted back at him. Back on his knees, Sasuke twisted his left shoulder back in an attempt to evade Sakura's incoming fist, which caused the earth to rumble with her blow. Falling back into an awkward roll so he could ease back onto his feet, Sasuke found himself side stepping when Sakura found her own footing and began another barrage of attacks. Eyes alight with anticipation, Sasuke followed the flow of her movements until he managed to decipher her pattern; his hand caught her wrist as he twisted with her once again, forcing her to turn into him so he could land a few jabs on her side, then knocked her knee out from under her, taking her to the ground once again.

He grunted when Sakura's foot landed a solid push kick to his thigh, his knee buckling slightly. Taking advantage of Sasuke's lowered form, Sakura wrapped her legs around his waist hoping to pull him down with her weight or at least knock him off balance, but he managed to remain standing; he grasped her wrists, pulling her into his embrace, just to slam her roughly on her back, snatching the air from her lungs for the second time. He didn't wait for her to move, immediately turning her onto her back and forcing her face into the dirt with a hand tangled in her hair. A strangled, pained curse slipped from her, her hands reaching up for the hand tangled in her hair but the warning tug he made forced her to begrudgingly abandon her attempt.

"You're out."

Before Sakura could respond to concede her defeat, Sasuke adjusted so his palms braced himself on either side of her, shielding her prone form as Naruto ran towards him. The blonde's foot came in contact with his back, using him as a springboard to leap over the pair to re-engage Kakashi who had attempted to sneak up on the two of them. This time, Sasuke left her completely, rushing into the scrimmage without a second glance at her. Sakura allowed it, unfolding herself from the uncomfortable position she was in so she could watch the fight with a pout.

She stretched her muscles a bit, her inner thighs sore from the split Sasuke's previously forced her into, hoping she'd be able to alleviate most of her aches without needing her chakra. Once she worked out the aches, she leant back onto her hands, watching with rapt fascination as her comrades flung shuriken and let loose water dragons. She was dangerously close, being seated literally in the middle of the battlegrounds, but she knew her team would be able to fight around her. Their battle went on for a while just as it often did, with Naruto eventually falling beside her, out of breath and cheek swollen like a red balloon, leaving the two Sharingan wielders to dance around the field in a game of "I have a bigger dick". She nearly rolled her eyes.

Having saved her chakra for this moment, Sakura placed her hand over a particularly nasty wound on Naruto's shoulder, which was crisp and inflamed with damage from a stray lightening technique. She soothed it, halfway focusing on her actions and halfway on the fight raging on around them, when something strange nipped at the back of her neck. She looked around, tired beryl orbs tracing what she could of the woods around her, until she noticed a few wandering shadows. Squinting, she took note of the figures—four of them, all cloaked in black and seeming to trickle from the shadows like the remnants of rain.

Anbu, she instantly realized, tensing her shoulders. They seemed to be observing the group, but not in a bad or concerning way, seeing as how they purposely made themselves known. It seemed more as if they were curious, like they just happened to be passing by, but Sakura knew better than to think that. The appearance of Anbu was never a simple coincidence. The operatives lingered for a second or so longer before disappearing back into the treeline just as eerily as they appeared. Beside her, Naruto let out an exaggerated shiver. "Man, those guys give me the creeps," He mumbled, his chin jutting out in the direction the masked shinobi went off to.

Sakura furrowed her brows a bit, hands still working on his wound. "I thought you said they were cool?"

"They are! But that doesn't mean they don't give me the creeps too," He pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then he puffed out his bruised cheeks into a slight pout. "They're always showing up out of nowhere, and you never know they're there."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura moved on from his shoulder injury to the swelling of his cheek. "That's the point, Naruto. You're not supposed to know they're there. That's why they're the best."

With that, Naruto lightly batted her hand away then laid down onto the ground, hands folded behind his head in a makeshift pillow. "Yeah well, they're still creepy."

Sakura leant back with her hands planted behind her. Canting her head to the side so Naruto could see her taunting smile and the glitter in her eyes, Sakura mused, "I suppose that means you're just as creepy since you want to join them so badly."

Naruto's head whipped around at that. "Wha—me? Sakura-chan, I'm not creepy!"

"Oi, dobe! You're too loud!"

Naruto shot to his feet the moment Sasuke's reprimand reached him, his right fist shaking animatedly as he clenched it. "What was that, teme!? I couldn't hear you over the sound of you getting your ass kicked!" The way Sasuke's face comically darkened urged a snicker from Sakura's throat, but it bubbled into full blown laughter when Naruto let out a sound that was a little too high-pitched after a shruiken embedded itself into the ground right between his legs.

Kamen

The evening air rushed against Shisui's skin, not at all unwelcome in it's advances. Being the beginning of summer, the heat hadn't quite reached it's peak and wouldn't for another week or two, but it was still warm enough to slicken his flesh with sweat. Running a hand through his hair, he allowed himself to rest against the trunk of a tree. Itachi was somewhere towards the west, likely mimicking his current actions. The two were in the middle of drills with their other two teammates when they noticed the presence of another team, but they disregarded the group to focus on their own training. They had a mission to prepare for, and this temporary fourth member needed to adjust to their frequency before their departure. They were practicing formations for the past hour and a half, figuring out the best course of travel with this faceless shinobi that Shisui couldn't figure out the name of. They would be leaving for a village at the eastern edge of Fire Country over-morrow, and this man with the blue and white dog mask had been placed on their team specifically for this mission. The Hokage claimed it had to do with his knowledge about their target, which was good for their assignment, but bad for them as they only had tonight to learn to work together.

Not too long after that other team showed up, the earth began to shake. He prepared to investigate whatever caused the trees to shake like that, but the familiar laughter of Konoha's number one knucklehead eased away whatever concern he had, so he continued to ignore the group fighting around them. Or at least, he tried to.

After half an hour of miniature explosions, curiosity had needled at him a little too much, and being a shinobi from a war-torn clan meant that his appreciation and curiosity for other's abilities was more than a little high. He made his way to the edge of the treeline, casually because he wasn't at all worried about what was going on, and when he perched into the higher branches of the redwood tree he was currently in, he couldn't help but sit and watch. He had heard of Team Seven's strange sparring techniques, which, in all actuality wasn't as strange as people made it seem, and had seen the aftermath of their sessions but he had never witnessed them firsthand. Many, if not all, shinobi teams participated in last man standing or battle royal styled sparring sessions, but they usually came with restrictions of some sort. No weapons, no ninjutsu, time restraints—things like that. But not them. Having trained with Sasuke a few times, Shisui knew the younger man wasn't pulling any punches. There was a lack of restraint as he fought with his squad, and the same could be said for the rest of them. His senpai seemed to have been taking the brunt of the battle, his hitai-ate raised to reveal his Sharingan and his Raikiri aimed for death; while Uzumaki pitched a Rasen-Shuriken and Sasuke utilized his infamous Chidori. And then there was Haruno.

Shisui hated to admit that he had never seen the pinkette fight before. He had heard of her prowess and assumed her technique to be similar to her mistress's, but then again, he didn't think he'd ever seen Lady Tsunade fight either. There was never a need for her to. He had only heard stories of Tsunade's monstrous strength and ability to kill a man with an innocent flick of her fingers. So it was with raw, unfiltered fascination that he watched the medic rip the grounds apart like some sort of heavenly deity. The way she matched Kakashi's jabs blow for blow (or rather, how he matched her blows) whilst still having the attention to block a volley of shuriken, the way she deftly dispatched his senpai's ninken with what he assumed was a sleep-inducing medical ninjutsu—it absolutely captivated him.

Her petite stature and slim frame would've suggested her skill set as being something a little different, a little more practical for her form. Speed, for example, would've seemed more appropriate of an affinity. Or genjutsu. Maybe endurance. But such raw power wasn't something he had expected. Usually strength meant bulky bodies and slow movements, but with his Sharingan tracing every bit of her and her lack of layers, he could see that her body was deceptively feminine. He was so used to seeing her in her usual red and pink attire, or even in the white coat she donned while in the hospital, and both those outfits hardly did her figure any justice. He had to confess, he rather preferred the darker colors on her than red, but then again he held a bias for darker shades due to his clan. Her flexibility was also an amazing asset, though he should've suspected that she would be bendy, as it allowed her to perform insane twists and combos and grapples that made up for her slower attack speed.

Itachi snaked his way beside him, observing the quartet with blazing Sharingan while Genma watched on from a few branches below and their temporary member sat on the ground, both their expressions hidden behind their masks, but Shisui knew the two were just as intrigued as he was. Haruno's fighting style was a unique one that combined powerful boxing jabs with fluid Judo-based grapples and precise kicks that were so controlled, she could change their direction without shifting on her base foot. Her small frame allowed her an advantage over her teammates, as she was able to dodge just about anything that was thrown at her. Unfortunately, it seemed stamina was not her strong suit. While her chakra levels were still relatively high, it seemed as if her body couldn't keep up. He wondered if her endurance was just that lacking, or if she was just tired from the day. Either way, a handful of her attacks were weak, half-hearted, as if she knew they wouldn't have had an affect on Sasuke even if they landed. It almost seemed as if she threw her punch just to do it, to make a statement.

After pinning Haruno for a second time, Sasuke shielded her body with his own whilst also acting as a springboard for their third teammate then rolled off her body to join in on the fight against their superior, leaving the pink haired medic to catch her breath alone. Shisui focused on her without meaning to, watching as she stretched her body in ways only kunoichi could; he ignored the quiver in his chest. He wondered how well she'd fare in a spar against him. As for Team Seven's teamwork, while needing a few adjustments, it was definitely something to marvel at, and helped Shisui understand the reasons behind their fame.

"Let's go," Itachi quietly urged, already leaving the scene behind. Genma and their final teammate followed immediately after, but Shisui lingered a moment longer, fingers idly toying with a pendant draped loosely around his neck, just catching Haruno's eyes when she locked onto their presence.