'Come on, Naruto! Hurry up! ' Sakura shouted from the living room. She was already dressed in a beautiful red dress, a black bow tied around her waist. Her mother had helped her style her hair ' longer now than she had worn it at this age the first time around ' into a beautiful braid, and the red ribbon Ino had gifted her was woven through her pink tresses.

Naruto 's loud voice carried through the house: 'I 'm coming, Sakura-chan, geez! These clothes are weird, 'ttebayo! ' He was descending the stairs, his footsteps drowned out by her parents ' chuckles. Naruto paused at the living room door, awkwardly pulling at the straps of his overalls.

Her mother had taken Naruto out on a shopping spree, and once again Sakura had been infuriated by all the malevolent stares her friend kept getting. Some shopkeepers wouldn 't even allow them entry, but her mother had refused to put up with their crap.

Haruno Mebuki's temper was infamous.

Sakura gave her friend an once-over. 'You look great, Naruto! ' And it was true. Aside from the painfully orange overalls, his white shirt fit him well and his new shoes were clean and polished. 'Now, let 's go! You know Ino will have our heads if we 're late to her birthday party. '

'Yeah, yeah. '

A round of laughter tickled her ears as Kizashi playfully warned them: 'Don 't forget the gifts! ' Both kids nodded and hurried to grab the colorful parcels from the low table in the middle of the room.

'Go now and have fun. One of us will come to pick you up later, okay? ' As Mebuki stood up, she reached over to comb back Naruto 's hair.

'Naruto-kun, I already spoke with the orphanage, so you can sleep over tonight. ' Naruto puffed up with delight at the words and ran over to her parents, giving them both a tight hug.

The bond between Naruto and Kizashi in particular had grown into something irreplaceable. It made sense to Sakura, since both were, to put it simply, big bundles of joy and bad jokes. Kizashi would always find new ways to leave Naruto rolling with laughter, and Naruto in turn would hang onto her father's every word, no matter the topic, from tales of his journeys to other lands to storybook myths and legends.

Sakura smiled at the sight and noticed that her mother wore a similar expression. It was no secret to her that her parents hadn 't been able to have another child after Sakura had been born, and so Naruto had started to become a part of their small family.

With a kiss on each of their foreheads, Mebuki walked them to the front door and sent them on their way to Ino 's house.

Most of the Haruno 's neighbors had gotten used to seeing the two kids hanging out together, and although some had glared the first few times Naruto had visited the civilian neighborhood alongside Sakura, nowadays people greeted them with smiles and would oftentimes give them steaming anban.

Naruto was normally so happy to be treated with kindness that he 'd stop to talk to everyone, but as they walked down the street that lead to the Yamanaka Head Family's residence that day, he kept tugging on his clothes with an unnatural scowl on his face.

Sakura was worried. 'Why are you so nervous? '

Naruto started fidgeting with his wrapped gift, 'Um, it 's nothing Saku-chan, but... y ' know, what if ' what if Ino 's parents don 't like me and don't want me in their house? '

Sakura sighed and moved closer to her friend, lightly shoving his shoulder, 'Naruto, you already met her mother, remember? And Ino invited both of us. She 's your friend and her parents know that. '

Naruto 's mood seemed to lift then, and the two went on their way, laughing and chattering; occasionally, Sakura would throw murderous glares at anyone who dared do the same to her friend.

Faintly, she registered Shiranui Genma 's familiar chakra from the trees behind them. So, he was on Naruto 's guard today; good. Genma was attentive and took no one's shit. Sakura had gotten a few glimpses of the man helping Naruto on the occasion she hadn't been fast enough to get to him first.

Humming to herself, she linked her arm through Naruto 's as they skipped on the sidewalk. Barely fifteen minutes later, they were greeted by Ino, who was out in her front yard in order to greet all of her guests first.

She spotted them and grinned, before quickly scowling, 'It 's already ten whole minutes past six, you guys! Even

Sasuke

came before you did! '

'Sorry, Ino-chan, ' Sakura gave an apologetic smile before hugging the girl and wishing her a very happy birthday. 'You look beautiful. '

Ah, whatever age Ino happened to be, complimenting her would do the trick. The girl giggled and smoothed down the fabric of her periwinkle dress.

'Here you go, ' Sakura offered her the wrapped present she was holding, then nudged Naruto to do the same. 'We hope you like them. '

Ino took the gifts with a brilliant smile, 'Thanks, guys, ' she said, ushering them inside. 'Naruto, are you okay? '

'Huh? ' the boy looked up, clearly not expecting Ino to question his foul mood, which had made a sudden reappearance. 'Oh, happy birthday, Ino. '

But Ino had always been damningly observant, especially when it came to her friends ' moods and thoughts. 'You seem kinda down? ' she asked again, tilting her head to look at him closer.

Sakura sighed and grabbed Naruto 's hand in hers. 'He 's worried about your parents and the other adults. You know how most people treat him. '

'Oh, ' the blonde girl nodded, pouting. 'Well, don 't worry about my parents! They already know we 're friends and if anyone here does or says anything bad, Sakura-chan and I will beat them up and I 'll never invite them to my parties again, 'kay? '

Naruto laughed and thanked her, and the three children moved further inside the house. They greeted Ino 's mom, who guided them to the living room, 'I 'll bring out more juice. Ino, darling, why don 't you introduce Sakura-chan and Naruto-kun to everyone else? '

'Will do! ' the girl exclaimed, grabbing both their small forearms. Naruto gulped nervously, but once they made it inside the living room, he caught sight of Sasuke 's duck-butt hair and calmed down.

Sakura looked around the spacious room, waving to shy little Sasuke, who was sitting awkwardly with some of Ino's older cousins. The Yamanaka weren't as numerous as the Uchiha, the Hyuga, or the Aburame, but Ino nonetheless had quite a large extended family.

With a sort of resigned boredom, Sakura noticed a few ill-concealed looks of surprise directed at them ' mostly at Naruto ' until her feet halted right in front of the senior Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

She had seen Nara Shikaku only once in the wake of her time-jump, that time at the park when he'd saved her and Naruto from the civilian man assaulting him, and Inoichi-oji-chan had become a steady presence in Sakura's new life after she had befriended Ino. Meeting him anew had been an eerily difficult experience for Sakura. Both he and Shikaku-san had died in the war, and even though she had known, worked, and played plenty of shogi games with the latter, Yamanaka Inoichi had been like a second father to her. The months-old news of his death, followed by the sight of him alive and kind as ever, had been a confusing contradiction for her mind to digest.

This, though, was the first time Sakura had ever met Akimichi Choza. He was a walking, talking, painfully gentle reminder of her Choji, despite the stark contrast his scarlet hair presented to his son 's brown mane. The man smiled at them as Inoichi squatted down to greet them.

'Sakura-chan, you had Ino worried you wouldn 't come, ' he said softly, glancing at the boy beside her. 'Ah, you must be Naruto-kun? '

Naruto averted his eyes and stood a little too close to Sakura. Purely on instinct, she positioned herself between him and the adults, and was surprised to see Ino do the same. Even Sasuke had walked over to his friend, ready to defend him if need be.

The three Clan Heads watched the children with mounting curiosity, exchanging glances, before Choza-san laughed. 'Oh, my! You guys are a cute little bunch, aren 't you? '

Ino relaxed, but Sakura and Sasuke didn 't move an inch. Sakura's eyes stayed focused on her friend 's father. 'Naruto 's a little shy, oji-chan, ' she smiled with all the sweet charm and innocence of the little girl she actually wasn't. She then approached the trio and whispered, 'Give him a little time and he won 't be shutting his mouth. '

Her audience seemed amused, but Choza quickly shooed them away to mingle with the other children. Back in her original timeline, Sakura had met most of Ino 's cousins at similar gatherings, but she had never interacted much with them.

Ino soon got sick of the stares her cousin Inoki kept aiming at both Sakura and Naruto, and thankfully led them outside. Naruto didn 't seem to care, as he had been chatting ' or more accurately bickering ' ' with Sasuke the entire time, but Sakura had felt a bit uncomfortable; Inner reminding her exactly why she had never learned to enjoy Clan kids' parties.

She was a civilian, and everyone knew. It was some kind of brand that had stuck to her her entire life, just like the unusual color of her hair and her broad forehead. Her status, or lack thereof, had become even more apparent once she'd graduated alongside a class full of Clan children.

Giving nothing but a polite smile to Ino 's relatives, she followed her friends, surprised to see two more familiar faces enjoying the warm afternoon in the backyard.

'Ah, here you are! ' Ino shrieked and ran to the boys, gesturing for the other three to follow. 'Seriously, if you didn 't want to come, you should have stayed home to sleep and eat snacks, ' she huffed.

One of the boys sat up slowly, rubbing at his right ear, 'You 're too loud, Ino. '

Ino unceremoniously flicked his forehead, cheeks stained red in irritation, and, just for good measure, grabbed the bag of chips the other boy was munching on. 'Anyway, I don 't care. ' I told you about my new friends, ' she smiled towards the three children behind her, who had been watching the exchange in poorly concealed bemusement. 'These are Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, ' Ino introduced them, then pointed at the two boys, 'and these are Choji and Shikamaru. '

Sasuke, though ordinarily shy, fell back on his proper Uchiha upbringing with no hesitation and bowed his head, while Naruto gave them a cautious smile. Sakura stayed silent and motionless, observing. Shikamaru was doing much the same. Behind his lazy, careless gaze, she knew he was analyzing them. Even as a five-year-old, the Nara did what he 'd always done better than anyone in the world, she mused. Choji, on the other hand, had withdrawn into himself, subconsciously taking a step behind his friend. Sakura couldn 't forget how the boy had always been bullied and teased by most of their peers, much like she had been. It had taken many years for him to come out of his shell and fortify his self-confidence.

'It 's really nice to finally meet you, ' she finally said with a big grin. 'Ino-chan has talked a lot about you both! I hope we can all become friends? '

'Well, if those two had agreed to come with me to the park, you would have been friends already, ' Ino exclaimed, flailing in frustration.

'Shikamaru looks so done. '

Sakura agreed with Inner,

'And the sky is blue. '

They both snickered inside her head.

They all sat down on the dewy grass in a circle. Ino took it upon herself to inform them that the young Ino-Shika-Cho trio would be enrolling in the Academy soon, piquing Sasuke 's interest.

'We 'll be in the same class, then, ' the boy said, then pinned Sakura with a heated stare. 'What did your parents say? Did you ask them already? If they don 't let you attend, I already spoke with aniki to have our Clan sponsor you. '

Sakura blinked, beyond astonished. Clan sponsorships were a huge deal and little Sasuke had just dropped the idea so casually it had spun her head out of order. From the corner of her eye, she saw Shikamaru 's eyes snap towards her.

'Um, that 's ' ' clearing her throat, Sakura tried again, 'That's immensely kind of you, Sasuke, but there 's no need. My parents already said yes. '

'Really? That 's so great, dattebayo! ' Naruto exclaimed, standing up, briefly pausing, and sitting down with the look of a wilting flower. 'I guess I 'll be the only one not going, then. '

'Dobe, don 't be an idiot ' '

But Sakura cut him off, 'Don 't worry, Naruto, we 'll be going to the Hokage to ask for enrollment permission for you. '

Stars lit in his eyes then, and Sasuke nodded from beside him. Ino laughed and asked if she could come with.

'I don 't know, I was thinking of asking my otou-chan to accompany us, but you could come if you want. '

Soon it was time to start on the games, but Sakura saw Shikamaru and Choji didn't make a move to join her and her friends. She approached the latter, who awkwardly bit into a chip and looked away. Sakura frowned.

'You like onion and cheese flavor too? ' she asked, smiling, and pointed at the bag beside him.

Pink dusted his cheeks, but he nodded, 'Yeah. '

'Me too! ' she chirped then, 'but my favorite 's shrimp flavor! '

'I like those, too. ' A tentative smile was slowly lighting up his face.

'Don 't you want to play with us? '

'Um, ' he glanced at his friend, but found Shikamaru already down on his back with his eyes closed. Sakura knew that he was listening closely, though. 'I, well ' '

'Come on, the boys are a little wild and they like to bicker a lot, but they 're fun, I promise. '

Choji reluctantly agreed and they darted off to play ninja. Ino complained about how her dress would get ruined, but didn 't stop running and jumping and rolling in the grass until her mother came out to inform them that they'd be cutting the cake soon, and that the kids should wash up.

After they were done with the cake and snacks, Ino opened her presents. Sakura had bought her beaded necklace with a star-shaped pendant, and had also helped Naruto with the colorful keychain he'd made.

Some of Ino's relatives left soon after, but Sakura and her friends remained. Shikamaru had parked himself by the window, across from his father, with a shogi board between them. Curious, Sakura approached them and sat beside Shikamaru, but not close enough for him to feel uncomfortable.

She could tell that Shikaku was going easy on his son, but Shikamaru was nonetheless playing rather well for a five-year-old. His tactics were far from polished, of course, and some of his moves were random and careless, a stark contrast to what Sakura was used to, but she couldn 't help but admire his intelligence.

'You like shogi, Sakura-san? ' the older man asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She smiled up at him, 'Quite a lot. My otou-chan taught me a bit, although we mostly indulge in trivia games at home. '

'Indulge? Seriously, are you a forty-year-old lady or something? '

Inner admonished her, and Sakura bit her lip.

'Shit. I forgot. Shikaku-san always loved bringing up that side of me. '

'Well, get it together! '

Shikaku raised an eyebrow and Sakura fought back the urge to shift uncomfortably, maintaining a mask of innocence. 'Would you like to play with Shikamaru and I? '

'Ah, I would, Nara-san, but I think Naruto and I will have to leave soon. Maybe another time, if the offer still stands? ' with that, she turned towards her young friend, who casually shrugged, his attention still on the board in front of him.

'Sure thing. '

Sakura's eyes then travelled to the front of the room, where Uchiha Mikoto stood beside her father, chatting as they approached Inoichi-oji.

She rose up and gave a big smile to the two Nara, 'It seems my otou-chan is here. It was nice meeting you! Oh, and Shikamaru-san, happy birthday. Ino-chan mentioned your birthday was yesterday. '

The boy inclined his head and a simple, 'Thanks, ' was all he said, but Sakura noticed the bits of pink dusting the tips of his ears.

They all turned to stare when Kizashi 's laughter boomed through the house. Naruto ran across the room, flying into her father 's arms; he caught him easily and maneuvered him onto his shoulders, much to his delight.

Sakura 's heart fluttered, and she couldn 't help the fond smile that spread across her face. Sasuke said something to Ino and walked over to his mother, offering a bow to Kizashi, who ruffled his hair and nudged Mikoto with an elbow. She chuckled, brushing back Sasuke's bangs.

Shikaku raised a hand when Kizashi 's eyes fell on them and he smiled, waving back. Uchiha Mikoto gave them a shallow bow of her own, and Sakura turned around to bid the Nara goodbye, before she stepped away to hug Ino. She waved at Choji and his parents, then went to greet her father and took his hand. Mikoto bent down to give her a kiss on the forehead.

'Thank you for having us, Inoichi-oji-san! ' she said, and the man laughed, reassuring them they were welcome anytime.

They left the Yamanaka compound together, with Sakura and Sasuke sandwiched between their parents, gushing about how fun attending the Shinobi Academy was going to be, and Naruto occasionally piping in from his perch in her father 's arms. Sakura listened to Mikoto-san as she lamented how long it had been since she and Kizashi had last met up, and proposed that they go out for dinner with their families sometime soon. Eventually, the Uchiha had to break apart from them, and Kizashi picked Sakura up, carrying both kids in his arms, spinning them around in the still busy market streets, turning them into a giggling mess.

Later that night, Sakura cuddled Naruto in her bed, feeling his warmth lull her to sleep, with both her parents smiling down at them from her doorway. Genma 's chakra crackled peacefully from outside her window, and for once since she had leapt back in time, Sakura wasn 't woken up by nightmares of screams, smoke and death.

Sakura cursed her luck. Inner was yelling at her to

get the hell away NOW

, again and again and again.

Curiosity had completely taken over, and she really should have known better, but when she had seen Shimura Danzo walking down a side street near the library, Sakura hadn't given anything else a second thought, she'd just started following him.

She had brought her chakra volume down to resemble any other five-year-old civilian's, but as he got further and further from the village center, Sakura was eventually forced to make her signature mirror that of a small animal. She had conjured a concealment genjutsu to hide herself from plain sight, knowing that ROOT agents were bound to be guarding the man.

Upon reaching the outskirts of the village, Danzo disappeared into a small cave, one with seal-wards so strong that Sakura could feel them even from a distance. Two unidentifiable figures dropped down from the trees and followed him inside as soon as he was out of sight. Sakura let her chakra expand, searching for any other human or human-adjacent presence in her vicinity.

ROOT operatives were experts at obscuring every last drop of their chakra, but Haruno Sakura, even in this smaller and weaker body, was extremely sensitive to chakra as a whole. Once she had made sure no one was lurking outside, she approached the cave, trying to get a better look at the wards.

She had never studied fuinjutsu in much depth, apart from the basics and whatever Naruto and Tsunade had taught her, so she assumed it would take her a while to make sense of what she was seeing. The wards were clearly responding to chakra signatures, that much she could tell, and she refrained from touching them so as not to trigger some kind of alarm mechanism.

The sun's lower half was starting to graze the horizon. She had been picking and prodding at the wards with her chakra for hours, and she still hadn't figured out a safe way in. Then it hit her: altering her own signature as close as she could to that of the operatives, or even Danzo 's.

'That 's an awful idea, Outer. How do you even know if that will work? Just go back before anyone finds you. '

'So you want to give up now? We need evidence, and that 's how we 'll get it. '

Inner was banging her head against the imaginary walls inside Sakura 's mindscape, but didn 't offer a rebuttal. They both knew she was right.

Sakura performed the calculations in her mind, ordering her chakra to fold and change, to take on other undertones. It was something Shizune-senpai had taught her, a trick she had used in the scant few infiltration missions she had been sent on before the war.

'Did you actually memorize their signatures? '

Inner asked whilst helping with the process.

Sakura paused, cursing herself.

'No. '

They both deflated, but in a rare show of optimism, Inner smiled,

'At least we found their hideout, right? We 'll come back. '

She was right, Sakura mused. This did seem like the entrance to their base, and even if it wasn 't, she would find some sort of evidence in there.

'What if I make our signature mimic Sai 's? '

Inner sat cross-legged and gave it some thought.

'Could work, but what if his chakra isn 't in the wards' database? He 's like, what, now? Six or seven? Maybe they haven't sent him out on any missions yet, and I 'd rather not take that chance. '

It made sense. Sakura took one last glance around, memorizing the location with Inner 's help, and made her way back towards the village, her genjutsu cloak wrapped tightly around her.

Fall was milder in Konoha that year. The leaves had changed color and the earth carried the scent of petrichor, but it wasn 't as cold as she remembered fall being in her later years.

Itachi and Shisui hadn 't been able to train with her for the past three weeks and she was sticking to her regimen on her own. The pros were many, as she couldn 't really demonstrate any of her real, more advanced abilities when they were around. She also had more time for her senjutsu meditation sessions when she was alone, but the cons were steadily making themselves known.

She didn 't have a sparring partner, no one to test her speed against or evaluate her genjutsu skills. And she felt cripplingly lonely.

She missed Shisui 's laughter and his stories. His no-nonsense teaching methods and his tender words after she would accomplish whatever he had asked of her. It was three long, boring weeks without his teasing, or his attempts to outsmart her in various battles of wits; without him picking her up and tossing her high in the air, ruffling her hair in exactly the way she hated and making sure she would get home safely after their lessons.

She longed to hear Itachi 's gentle voice, longed for the chance to do her best to provoke one of those rare smiles of his. She missed the fuzzy feeling she got when he 'd bring over dango to share with her during breaks and the inevitable tap on her forehead when she was being a brat. Sasuke missed him a lot as well, and it was the only thing he could think about these days.

Later that night, a crow appeared on her windowsill, its smooth obsidian feathers and eerily intelligent eyes bathed in moonlight. She read the message attached to its leg and all but squealed once she was finished. Quickly, she donned an all-black ensemble, pulled out her weapons pouch from its hiding place under a loose floorboard beneath her bed, and jumped out of her bedroom window, making sure her clone was tucked under the covers.

She really had to redecorate and paint the walls something that wasn't pink someday soon.

Giddy and gleeful, she made her way towards her favorite training location, not even caring if anyone saw her, and pounced on Shisui 's back, laughing like an idiot. He got her off him with ease, hugging her properly before he lowered her down to the ground.

'Itachi-kun, you won 't hug me? ' she pouted, hiding her smile at his blank stare. Unprompted, she wrapped her hands around his middle, squeezing tight, and felt his own hands rest on her head after a moment of hesitation. 'I missed you two so much! '

'Sorry, birdie, we had a few back-to-back missions. I missed my little prodigy too, ' Shisui said, gazing at her and Itachi with inexplicable fondness. 'Now, you didn 't slack off, did you? '

'Nope, ' she chirped, not feeling like complaining the way she usually did when Shisui switched to his 'sadistic sensei' mode. 'I even perfected my senbon aim! '

'Show us, then. '

And she did. She showed them the progress she 's made in the tasks they had assigned to her before they'd left for their mission, managed to break out of some of Itachi 's genjutsu, and even placed a few of her own on him, and sparred with Shisui, who wanted to test her speed and stamina.

Sakura halted abruptly, her breaths coming out hard, while Shisui had barely broken a sweat. Before he had the time to ask her what was wrong, she dragged him down to the ground, taking his shirt off with an unnecessary amount of force, despite his protests.

A sharp gasp escaped her, and her glare turned to steel as she made eye contact with him. 'You 're injured. ' She stated, tone clipped.

'Ah, it 's nothing, Saku-chan, ' he tried to laugh it off, but Sakura picked up on the slight tension that overtook his whole body.

She brought her glowing hands to his shoulder first, where a deep gash was painting his skin dark red. The idiot had only lathered some salve on to stop the bleeding!

She sighed in relief when she didn 't detect any kind of poison, and, pouring some numbing chakra into his skin, started to close the wound. Her control, as always, helped with not expending any more chakra than necessary, what with the current size of her reserves.

Itachi had once again approached her to observe the process with his activated Sharingan. Sakura was tired, and had spent quite a bit of chakra on the genjutsu they had practiced together, but the medic in her took over and she refused to stop.

Once the shoulder wound was nothing but a faint white line, she wiped the sweat from her brow and moved to the dark purple bruising on his ribcage, her chakra seeping into the skin to evaluate the damage.

She wanted to hit him, but of course refrained from doing so while he was in such a state. 'Two broken ribs and some internal bleeding in your abdomen. ' She looked up at him, catching the slight wince when her fingers pressed over the bruised area. 'This is gonna, um, hurt no matter what I do. Itachi-kun, can you hold his shoulders down? '

Wordlessly, Itachi moved to do as she had instructed, eyes never leaving her hands.

Alright

, she nibbled on her lip,

I haven 't needed to do this in quite a while, but I 've done it countless times before.

'Breath, Outer. Remember what shisho taught you. '

'I can do this. '

'Numbing chakra first. '

She let it coat Shisui 's ribs, lungs, muscles and nerves, and felt his body relax.

'Just how much pain is he in?! He didn 't even say anything ' '

'Focus. '

'Right. Healing chakra now, to mend the bone structure. '

A strangled gasp escaped Shisui 's lips, but Itachi held his cousin down. Sakura used one of her hands to keep his legs from moving as well. Closing her eyes, she focused on her task. Skin and bone shifted, and Shisui convulsed in her hands, biting his lip so as not to let his cries escape.

'More chakra to bind the bones together. '

Inner recommended.

Sakura's hand moved as the aligned bones started bonding, repairing the damage around them.

'Soothing chakra to help with the pain. '

'I 'm moving to the abdomen now. Thankfully, it 's not too bad. '

He gave a sharp nod and her chakra changed course, finding the tears and bruises, soothing and closing them up, guiding the blood back to the veins, clearing the abdominal area. Had the bleeding been more serious, she would have had to perform surgery on him, but she thanked the gods that wasn 't the case. The forest floor wasn't the most sterile spot to open someone up.

'Alright, ' she breathed out, sitting down and wiping the perspiration off her face and neck, 'I 'm done. Make sure to keep your torso bandaged for a few days. Bones don 't heal easily, and they 'll be tender for a while. '

While Sakura tried to catch her breath, the two cousins examined the faint scar on Shisui 's shoulder and the now yellowish bruise.

'Itachi-kun, are you injured? ' she asked with all the authority of a seasoned medic.

He shook his head, 'Some scratches, nothing so severe. '

'Let me see. '

Obediently, he left his cousin 's side and pulled his sleeves up. There really were only a couple surface-area wounds, probably from kunai knives grazing him, but Sakura still checked for poison, sighing in relief for the second time that night when she didn 't find any. Even though it would only take a few days for them to heal, Sakura closed the scratches up anyway.

'Why didn 't you go to the hospital before you messaged me? Your internal bleeding could have turned life-threatening given enough time! And not to mention the pain you were in,

and your ribs

! They could have healed incorrectly, and if you were to just ignore that and go off on another mission, it could have become worse, some of the bone could have even

pierced

your lungs! ' she was almost screaming at that point, hot tears stinging her eyes. 'And no wound is a small wound! What if whatever weapon sliced or grazed you had been soaked in poison, huh? You could be dead in days, hours,

minutes

! '

'Sakura-chan, it 's okay. We 're fine now, aren 't we? ' Shisui smiled that stupid grin of his, and her anger spiked dangerously.

She jammed a trembling finger into his sternum, blinking more tears back. 'Do not mock me! You can 't be careless! Do you want to die? BECAUSE I DON 'T! '

Sakura didn't even see him move. All she knew was that she was suddenly being held tight in Shisui 's arms, his body warming her against the autumn cold. The dam in her mind burst, and she sobbed in his embrace, nails digging into his arms as he kept whispering soothing words. She was heaving, searching for Itachi, but her vision was blurry and she couldn 't catch sight of him. She whimpered his name and he offered his hand to her silently.

She had seen

so many

of her friends die. Some of them had breathed their last in her arms.

Sai, Kiba, Neji, Genma

. And some she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to at all.

Ino, Hinata, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei

. She couldn 't lose more. She didn't think she could live with that. They were shinobi and Sakura knew what that meant. They were supposed to be expendable, but for the life of her, she couldn 't bear the thought of seeing anyone precious to her die again.

'Don 't die, ' she managed to croak out, and once her voice no longer shook, she couldn 't stop repeating those words. Shisui held her tighter. Itachi moved a little closer.

The words coming out of Shisui 's mouth didn 't make sense to her, but she knew they were soft reassurances that he wasn't supposed to be giving. She was grateful nonetheless. She focused on the warmth of his body and the light squeezes coming from Itachi 's hand. Inner helped her count the strokes of Shisui 's fingers as he ran them through her hair and pushed away the images of broken and bloodied bodies flashing behind Sakura 's eyes.

Sakura didn 't know when or how she had gotten home, but she woke up the next morning tucked in her bed, still wearing her training clothes. On her windowsill was another crow, sitting comfortably, but its eyes were trained on her. It tapped the glass with its beak when she sat up on her bed, raised one of its wings as though in greeting, and flew off into the rising sun.

Sakura smiled, touched beyond words. She stood and stretched, ready to face the new day.