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Her Favorite Criminal 4

@beyondthemoor Because it was her birthday and I wanted to have this done in time, but I’m a terrible person, so here it is late. Happy birthday fandom mother!

“The blue one is the use once in the morning right after waking up, and again right before going to sleep. This will help repair your lungs. The red one is to carry around and use if you feel like you need it.”

Sakura handed over both inhalers to Itachi who took them with a grimace. She felt sorry for him when she remembered how she felt when they told her the same thing only hours ago when she woke up. Her surgery had gone smoother in comparison to poor Itachi’s. He was trying to be brave about it, but there was going to be a long recovery for him to go through before he could put on a uniform again. The same could be said for her, but at least she knew recovery was possible. Itachi had gotten it the worst out of all of them.

“If you need it, I’ll remind you each day.” She tapped the blue box and it was enough to make him look up and grin.

“You think I’ll need it?”

“I think you’ll be difficult until you have the attention,” she answered, crossing her arms. There was a familiar sort of knowing in her eyes that came from nearly a lifetime of knowing the Uchiha that was Itachi.

His smile was soft even when he tried to be teasing. “Then please take good care of me, housemate.”

Sakura groaned, sliding down in the chair across from Itachi. “Really? You gotta rub it in, don’t you?”

“Allow me this one joy.”

“You’re all overreacting, I swear. Nothing happened.”

Itachi’s smile fell away and his eyes turned hard. “A wanted criminal with a record as violent and vile as they come took advantage of the situation and snuck into your hospital room the day after your surgery. No one cares that all he did was leave flowers, that’s not the point. He bypassed the security detail and was around you when you were most vulnerable. He could have done anything he wanted when he was alone with you. He’s taunting us.”

Sakura bit her bottom lip and held her elbows. She hated how she wanted to defend Madara, a wanted criminal that had once been one of her most treasured people. She felt guilt for still holding a part of him in her heart. She hadn’t turned around and hated him like Itachi had, and Sakura suspected she never would.

Madara, as cruel as he may be to the rest to the world, was nothing but soft and kind with her. It was a tempting sort of feeling, to be the only thing loved by a man who hated the rest of the world. She wouldn’t lie, it made her feel special, even though she knew it was only because of how they shared a close history. She could have been any other girl in that same situation and Madara would have felt just as strongly.

“I don’t think he wanted to hurt me, and really, our efforts should be elsewhere. The force is left so thin now by all the officers on medical leave. I don’t know if that’s what Kabuto wanted, but it’s no coincidence that his associates have doubled their movements to and from Oto.”

“True, but Kabuto is not moving right now; he’s too scared,” Itachi muttered, looking down at the boxes in his hands. “He miscalculated and pissed off the wrong mob lord.”

Sakura blinked, remembering the hushed conversation outside her hospital room. “So, it is true, what they were saying about Madara going on a vengeance spree. They wouldn’t tell me.”

“I asked them not to.” Itachi looked up at her from where he sat in bed. “You deserve some peace for recovery, and if you found out I knew you would want to look further into.”

Sakura felt tense inside her body, like her arms, legs, chest, and face were all part of a suit she had climbed into and outgrown while inside. She felt tight and trapped. Below her ribcage was a fluttering desire to break free and be useful. Refusing such an urge would only leave her feeling agitated, but she knew the Uchiha wouldn’t understand that coming from her. She had been a child too long in their eyes to not need extra doting at a time like this.

“I still do. I need to be helpful in some way, even like this.”

Itachi glared at her and it was cutting enough to make Sakura flinch. A second later Itachi realized his mistake and looked away, cheeks reddening. “Don’t,” he whispered in that raw voice of his, still sore from surgery. “Don’t push yourself again. That’s the whole reason you’re here.”

“I don’t regret it.”

“I do. You were in sub par condition going into that building, and you were in charge of getting those other two out, both of which are okay and have already been discharged. They didn’t take as much of the smoke as you did.”

She looked away, uncomfortable with the unspoken accusation. Itachi was the only one who could say it out loud, but the second he did she’d bite back about he was just as much of a self destructive hypocrite as her and they’d both be sorry afterwords. Neither of them wanted that. She didn’t know what his reasons were, but she knew well enough that he stood in the same darkness of self destructive tendencies, maybe even more than her.

“It was bad all around,” she weakly offered.

Itachi might have said something more, but didn’t. He took her words and nodded, looking back down at the inhalers in his hands. For a while the pair of them sat in silence, content with the breeze from the open window and the feel of sunshine. Regardless of the state of the world, it was a nice day and it had been too long since either of them enjoyed one of those.

Sakura felt herself slipping and didn’t stop it when her body slouched down into a comfortable curl in the armchair that let her fall the rest of the way asleep. She felt like she could sleep around Itachi better than she could on her own. A little nap would be nicer than the fitful sleeps at night when the world was dark.

“Sakura?” Itachi’s voice was a whisper.

She mumbled something and turned her head into the seat, nestling. Outside someone with a window open was listening to Fleetwood Mac and it carried like a lullaby. Just what she needed.

Shisui was at Itachi’s door minutes later and when he walked in he was struck by the scene. Like something painted for fairytale picture books, the sunlight was golden and her lashes were long on her face as she slept cutely in her curled up position, but it was Itachi that made it a striking piece.

He leaned slightly forward in his bed, hands folded neatly as he gazed over at her fondly. His face was just as honey lit and soft in the same warm sunlight that made his eyes clear with love. Itachi sat in a hospital bed recovering from one of the worst accidents on the job, but he had never looked more content to Shisui in all the years the cousins had known each other.

“She’s sleeping,” Itachi whispered, watching her without looking away, even as he addressed Shisui.

“I can see that.”

Shisui stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind him, being as quiet as he needed to be as he shuffled the box of baked goods to his opposite hand. He rattled them once before putting them down on the nightstand alongside Itachi’s bed and then wen to the wall to lean against it and appreciate the setting.

“You act like you’ve never seen her sleep before,” Shisui finally snickered, voice still hushed.

Itachi’s gaze broke off with a complimentary flush across his face and up to his ears. “What are you here for?”

“Baked goods. Mom is getting things ready for the both of you to come home.”

The words made Itachi swallow and Shisui realized why after a moment. Sometimes he forgot that Sakura wasn’t an Uchiha or truly a part of their family. Same with the Naruto boy who had been a huge part of Sasuke’s childhood, but at least that one moved on. Sakura stayed close and it was like there was webbing between her and the family.

“You should have seen your mother with Sasuke though, he was complaining about something and she just went off on him about how he has no right to complain when he’s a slacker that lets his partner work harder than him on top of being a girl.”

“Don’t let Sakura hear you say that. She doesn’t like being thought of different for her sex.”

Shisui shrugged. “Yeah, I know, but that’s your mom. You remember how bad she was with your father when he approved Sakura’s application to the force. Ice Age.”

“It wasn’t that terrible.”

Shisui caught the snicker behind his hand, but his eyes danced with mirth. “Yeah it was. She was mad at everyone except Sakura. I mean, Mikoto was engaged at that age and everyone expected it with her and Sasuke being fused at the hip and all. Your dad only got out of it because he claimed it would help to keep an eye on her.”

Itachi’s hands, neatly folded over the bedsheets, flexed just enough to wrinkle the cloth underneath. There was a sill sort of pause while the world was silent aside from the music from outside fading in and out between classic soft rock and roll tracks. He watched her, searching for signs of waking, but Sakura didn’t stir. Finally, Itachi closed his eyes and nodded once.

“Ah. Between the two of them, mother is the more traditional of the pair.”

Shisui could tell his words had brushed up roughly against Itachi’s sore feelings, but didn’t take them back or regret voicing them. Itachi was a big boy and it had been years since then. Besides, there was more than one broken heart when it came to Sakura Haruno.

“Yeah, well your mom is super excited she’s coming home. The rooms have all been set up and she’s baking a shit ton of food. Your house smells like WildFlour Bread company.”

“By your tone I would have guessed you were annoyed by that, but I should know you better by now. How is that something to complain about, Shisui?” Itachi asked.

“She’s not letting me have any of it until you come home tomorrow. Can you believe that? It’s all warm and hot coming out of the oven and she’s not even let the quality control come in for a bite or two. She’s hogging it all for you two.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Itachi,” Shisui whined, dragging the name out. “She’s torturing me.”

“It is her right.”

“You’re so mean. You have no idea for how I suffer.”

“We all have crosses to bear and I don’t doubt that you already helped yourself to my cookies when brining them over.” Itachi gazed cooly over at the tin on the side table and then up at Shisui.

“Quality control, remember?”

“I’m sure dinner tomorrow night will be to your satisfaction. Don’t make yourself a nuisance.”

Shisui’s gasp was fake of course. “Since when am I a nuisance?”

Sakura’s chest rose on a sort of muffled yawn as her leg stretched out and she turned a bit before settling back into the chair like a mouse in a nest. Both men held their breath, waiting and watching until she was still again. Slowly, Shisui looked over at Itachi to see his cousin was glaring hard now.

“Yeah, tomorrow night, got it,” Shisui whispered. He waved and began to back up towards the door. “I’ll see you then.”

Itachi didn’t respond, but nodded and Shisui knew he wasn’t in the deepest level of trouble with his precious cousin. And even if it was only a little trouble, Sakura being there would smooth almost all other ills over and turn his cousin into a lamb. Shisui didn’t have anything to worry about.

Dropping his hands into his pockets he strolled back down through the halls and stopped when he caught sight of Obito walking with a phone cradled to his ear. The other Uchiha saw Shisui and turned the phone off and slipped it into his pocket.

“Back from visiting Itachi?” Obito asked with an easy smile. Even with his scars he had a nice smile that was more easy going than most Uchiha’s.

“Yeah, he’s resting now and kicked me out. Doesn’t want his favorite cousin in there to pity him. He’s such a brat when he wants to be left alone,” Shisui whined in a playful tone.

“No, I think that’s only when it’s you. Everyone else can take a hint and excuse themselves before he needs to glare you to death. You just have no social sense,” Obito said.

Shisui made a dark face. “Why is everyone so mean to me today? I have done literally nothing to deserve this sort of treatment. I thought you would understand me Obito nii.”

“I outgrew it. Ah, but I am here to see someone else. Have you seen where Sakura might be? Her hospital room was empty so I was going to check with Itachi, but if you just came from there did you happen to see her?”

“Sakura?” Something in Shisui’s gut turned forcefully in a way that humbled and sobered him. “What do you need her for?”

“Just to catch up on some things.” Obito smiled again and it made Shisui’s brain stem tingle. “You happen to see her?”

It took a second, but Shisui fell into an easy smile and shrugged. “Nah, haven’t seen her yet, but I know she likes the roof and the gardens and hates being cooped up. You know how she can get. From what I heard she’s driving the nurses here crazy with not staying put.”

“That sounds like her. I’ll check in those places, thank you Shisui.”

“No problem.”

The two parted with an easy wave and Shisui kept the smile up all the way down to the car port and didn’t drop it until he was behind the wheel and pulling out onto the main roadway. It fell off his face like dry plaster and he hated how he could still feel the danger in his gut and warning at the base of his brain.

What the hell had that been?

Sakura’s room looked the same. She remembered being sixteen and getting rid of band posters with growing shame and updating the walls with the periodic table of elements. This had been where Sasuke and Naruto spent countless hours and nights keeping her up till late.

She had of course come back to this room more than once since moving out, but it was always funny walking into it again. She couldn’t go back to her childhood, but walking into her old room felt like sliding into her favorite old shoes that fit her perfectly after years of shaping.

“Dinner will be ready in like thirty five to forty minutes, or whenever the table gets set,” Sasuke grumbled, walking in behind her. He sounded tired and she suspected that was because of all the shifts he had to cover while she, Itachi, and a handful of others recovered. “Mom’s making fancy stuff.”

“How you doing?” she asked, dropping her purse onto the end of the bed while Sasuke started to click open her luggage. She slapped his hands away before he could open it and see inside.

“I’m fine,” Sasuke grumbled, sounding a little more moody than usual. “Mom’s being unreasonable again.”

“I’ll try to help with that,” Sakura offered, knowing that would go over better than any other sympathetic phrasing or teasings would. Sakura was magic when it came to Mikoto.

“That’s good to hear, cause I need to take a shower and maybe just melt a little back into a human being.” Sasuke reached up and rubbed his face with both hands, groaning slightly. After a moment he pulled his hands down, stretching the skin just under his eyes before letting go. Hands still on his chin he looked over at Sakura and seemed to soften. “It’s good to have you here again, though, and I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Of course I’m safe. I’m doing a lot better than your brother so all this worrying and doting is unnecessary. The first thing he did after coming home is go to his room to take a nap.”

“Hospital beds aren’t all that comfortable, I hear.”

Sakura shrugged. “That’s true. Still, I’m fine, but your idea of a shower is a good one. I’ll see you later for dinner.”

“Perfect,” Sasuke said, leaving her with a smile.

Sakura unpacked, showered, and took some time to clean the bathroom with all her new things in it. Her hair was wet on her shoulders, but she toweled it mostly dry before dressing in a simple spring dress for dinner, too tired to go fancy and too sensitive to Mikoto’s standards to not wear something feminine.

Sakura’s hair was curly and bounced in damp curls around her face when she looked herself over in the mirror. She looked better than she had. She was braiding a strand behind her ear to clip back behind her head when she heard the soft knock at her door.

She opened it and found Mikoto standing there, lovely and ageless as ever with a wonderful smile on her face that felt like home. “Feeling better, sweets?” she asked Sakura.

Sakura dropped her hands after clipping her half braid back. “Much. Thanks for the time to freshen up. I think I needed it.”

Mikoto’s eyes were soft and dark as she reached for Sakura to draw her into a hug. “You’re always lovely, my girl. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.” She squeezed a little tighter. “I’m so happy to have you home again.”

Sakura’s heart hurt but she squeezed back. “Me too.”

Mikoto pulled away and cupped Sakura’s face. “Yes, you do look more like yourself. Well, dinner is just about ready. I’m off to rouse my baby from his own clean up. Will you check on Itachi and ask him to come down? I think he might still be sleeping but he needs to eat. I don’t trust hospital food. He needs something more on his bones.”

Sakura laughed, but agreed to do as Mikoto asked. She had dozed and napped well enough, and couldn’t tease Itachi for wanting the same once home.

His room was down the hallway around the corner from Sasuke’s. Sakura had been set up in a far off wing away from the boys, as per decorum’s sake. When they were younger Sakura remembered Itachi and Sasuke being closer, but Sasuke had made an attempt to move out from his elder brother’s shadow in more ways than one, and now they were on different levels.

Sakura knocked don his door and after a minute didn’t hear an answer. She called out softly and the result was no different. She tried the handle and found his door unlocked. She had been in his bedroom only a rare handful of times, and when she tried to think about how and when they had all been times that lasted less than five minutes.

Sasuke and her had snuck in once to try and ‘uncover’ his legendary porn mag collection after a fellow senior bragged about them to her, Sasuke, and Naruto. That had been mortifying to get caught in and she had never forgiven Kisame for it. Had there been anything she wouldn’t have done for Sasuke’s attentions back then?

“Itachi?” Sakura called, stepping into the room and then hesitating. His bed was towards the back of the room and she had to push open the door further to peer in and see more than just the foot of the bed. She saw his ankled and pushed in, leaving the door wide open behind her.

He was on his side with a pillow pulled down between his arms and another two under his head. He hadn’t bothered with a sheet or even changing his clothes. His hair was still tied back and Sakura made a clicking sound of disapproval, suspecting his hair would now be tangled.

She touched his shoulder and called his name again. “It’s dinner time. Your mom says you need to eat.”

He moved, but only turned his face deeper into the pillows. She heard him mumble something and she rolled his eyes when it sounded like he wouldn’t rouse for her.

Sakura sat down behind him on the bed and reached for the tie in his hair, pulling it out with a little more finesse than just the standard pull. It was a little tangled, but for an Uchiha that was unheard of. She ran her fingers through his hair, seeing no brush or comb, before parting it into four pieces and starting to cross weave his hair into a messy fishtail that ended up looking far nicer than anything on her ever had.

A droplet of water from her hair fell onto his neck just as she finished tying up the hair with a tie and he reacted, twitching and turning over suddenly to look up at her, eyes wide.

“You’re here?” he exclaimed, voice groggy with unbelief.

Sakura flicked his nose and scooted back off the bed. “Yeah, have been this whole time. You ready for dinner yet or does sleeping beauty need a few more hours?”

She turned back to look over her shoulder when she was at the door and saw that Itachi still hadn’t moved, but he looked plenty awake now. He reached back and fingered the braid. “You?” he asked, looking up at her.

“I swear it’s not as messy as mine usually are.”

He smiled, fingering it some more as it snaked over his shoulder. “It’s nice. It makes my hair seem thicker I think, and would be good for when working out.”

“Yeah, but if you were going to work out I would have just done a braid up and a bun up top because those work well for you,” Sakura said, using her hands over her head to demonstrate what she was talking about.

“I’m not sure I know how to do that,” Itachi mused, standing and joining her as they moved down the hallway. “Would you be agreeable to teaching me?”

“How to braid hair?” Sakura asked with a grin.

Itachi frowned at her smile. “I have more hair than you do, don’t think yourself silly.”

“Nah, nah, I get it. Yeah, I’ll show you a few things. I’m not an expert since cutting my own hair so long ago, but I remember enough. I’ll show you what you want.”

And after dinner that night where everyone complemented Sakura on Itachi’s hair, Sakura did end up teaching the older brother a handful of different braids and styles that he could use for leisure or work. She was surprised when he asked for more than just the fishtail and braided bun. Each night Itachi wanted to learn something new from her and actually put it to use the next morning.

Shisui tried to tease him about it once but ended up floundering when he realized that Itachi could actually pull each look off with amazing grace that did nothing to diminish his masculine beauty.

“How the hell does he do that?” Shisui grumbled to Sakura.

Sakura could only roll her shoulder and admit it was an Uchiha thing.(But it might have had something to do with how fit Itachi was when he wasn’t wearing a shirt.)

Sakura was combing Itachi’s hair a following night when he mentioned to her something she hadn’t thought of. “I’ve only ever seen you do this for one other Uchiha.”

Sakura’s fingers stilled. “…Until you there has only ever been one Uchiha that let me. It’s not the most flattering thing to do with your hair for a guy.”

“I appreciate it, nevertheless, and I’m glad I don’t have to be envious of my uncle in this anymore.” He reached up for her hand when she didn’t continue braiding. “Did I upset you?” he asked.

Sakura blinked and shook the feeling off. “Nah, no, no you didn’t. Sorry, I was just thinking. It’s been a while since… since I did this with anyone. I was much younger last time.”

“How young?”

Sakura’s eyes narrowed at the question. She had been older, a teenager, well past the age when it was considered cute. She should have known by that time that something was off with his doting to the point of sloppy fishtails and braids.

“Why do you ask?”

“You still care for him, even when he’s become what he has. I would like…to understand that feeling.”

“I don’t think you can understand that feeling,” Sakura admitted, pulling her hand back and going back to his dutch braid crown. “I don’t think I can even understand it, but I can’t hate him. There is nothing in him that has ever tried to harm me. It’s my morals that give me pause, because I know he’s a…bad sort of guy.”

“Sort of?”

Sakura grunted. “There is a sort of logic in his criminal activities, and several cases have had evidence of vigilante justice. What he’s doing in Oto right now…that doesn’t help him, only hurts the other guys…the guys that hurt his family.”

“Hurt you,” Itachi corrected her.

“Friends and family discount, same difference.”

“Maybe he is doing bad things for good reasons. You’re both still on opposite sides of the law and he’s not coming back without serving a great deal of time to atone for all he’s done.”

He reached back and grabbed her hand to still it. He didn’t look back but it felt like his eyes were on her as she waited for what he said next. His fingers on her knuckles were hot.

“And that’s not ever going to be enough to come close to deserving your sympathizes or anything more from you.”

She didn’t say much more after that but braided his hair dutifully and complemented it when they were finished before excusing herself for a walk.

The Uchiha had far forests of land she could get lost in if she didn’t know them so well. Just out of sight there was a child’s footpath that meandered down to a grandfather oak thick as any she’s ever seen. In his branches a treehouse for children sat, almost elven in the way it seemed to blend into the tree.

Sakura leaned back to look up into the branches at her childhood home away from home, where she had played with Naruto and Sasuke and where she had thought she would grow up to live permanently. At least that was what she promised Madara back when she was innocent and young enough to truly believe in such things. What he must have thought of her, the girl he babysat, saying such outlandish things.

Still, Sakura felt foolishly sentimental as she reached for the ladder and lifted herself up. There was a rope, but she had never been able to climb up that way as a child. It really had been a long time since she came back.

Sakura came up through the floor and pulled the rest of herself up, panting slightly as her lungs strained with the new work. She was still healing, after all. She rested there a minute more before standing up and walking through the tree house nice enough for adults. Tall as she was, Sakura didn’t have to bend in any of the three rooms. There was a crawlway up to a second level, but she was content to stay in the ‘living room’ on the bench in front of the windows, watching the birds. It was a world of peace for as far as she could see. This would have been a nice place to bring a book.

Sakura closed her eyes and meditated, content and relaxed. She ignored all the trouble from work, all the crime in the world, the attention of the Uchiha, the complication of her feelings for an evil man-no, not a evil, just a criminal.

She heard the rope clatter outside and turned around to see someone with dark hair climbing up. Sasuke or Itachi must have come out to get her. Dinner would be soon. They would be expecting her.

Sakura turned off the bench and stood, only to freeze as Madara pulled himself up through the hole in the floor. He looked up at her and grinned. “It’s a bit tighter than I remember it being, right?”

“Shit,” Sakura whispered, grimacing. “Madara, this is the Uchiha land.”

He frowned in haughtiness, standing. “And I’m an Uchiha, am I not? Aside from that, no one but I ever comes out here anymore. They would cover the world over before they thought to look in their own backyard for me.”

Sakura should had drawn her gun on him and arrested him on the spot, but she didn’t have her gun, she was alone, and no one would hear her if she tried to scream. But more than those reasons, she felt tired in her heart and didn’t want to go through the trouble of hating him.

She sighed, sitting back down. “What are you doing here? Come to check on me? I’m alive and fine, yeah.”

“I’m not convinced. Let me see you here,” he grunted, coming around the bench and sitting alongside her. He grabbed her face and she slapped his hand away on reflex, glaring when he chuckled. “Yes, I see it now. You’re better than before.”

“You’ve been too busy to be here. What were you really doing on Uchiha lands?”

Madara hummed, stretching his arm out behind her on the bench. She glared when his hand settled on her shoulder. “I was meeting someone who’s actually helping me with the Oto infestation. As terrible a criminal I may be, you can’t deny I’m an effective force in this war. The others know that without me they would be in far more trouble on account of the loss of so many boys and girls in blue.”

“Our uniform is charcoal.”

“You know what I mean. Hey, hey, I’m doing something decent, see? Proud of me yet?”

His words made her heart where ethics and morals battle emotion and feelings. “You’re still a criminal. I’m on the other side of this, I still have to uphold the law and I can’t condone what you’ve chosen to do.”

“You’re darling for still believing I’m the only dirty one here. You think it’s all my good luck and skill that has kept me this close to the net but still outside it? No, the rest of my dear family knows I’m better off to them and their efforts where I am now. They’re using me and I’m using them. I’ll not be arrested as long as I’m useful for dealing with the scum that needs dealing with.”

With his hand on her arm he tugged her closer and she glared up at him. His teasing smirk was gone and he looked tired.

“What if I told you I never chose this for myself? Would you still think I’m a criminal?”

“You are a criminal, Madara.We know you’ve broken the law more than just once on more than just one thing. You may not be evil, but you’re still a criminal.”

He tugged her closer still until she was pressed up against his chest. He bent into her and kissed her hair. “That’s fine. I’m content in that. I’ll be your criminal, just let me steal your heart, love.”

“I’m keeping that off the shelves for a while more, thanks,” Sakura snorted, smiling in spite of herself. Her snort made her throat itch and she had to turn away and cough a few times, covering her mouth with her wrist.

“Do you need water?” Madara asked, voice thin and hardly even there.

Sakura shook her head and leaned back into his side, forgetting how she was supposed to not want to be in his arms for a few minutes more. She felt safe there, and it was a nice sort of safe feeling. If she needed it, she knew he could be dangerous for her.

“Do you remember the promises you made me here, how we were going to get married and live in a tree house?” he asked in a whisper, brushing her hair back. “You braided flowers into my hair and told me you would braid my hair everyday if I let it grow longer. You told me you would be my bride one day when you grew up.”

She didn’t say anything but let him drone on about the memories they shared, about the things she said while still a child. Her eyes felt heavy as his voice washed over her, softer than velvet.

“Do you remember what I told you then, love, how I said I would look forward to the day you were a bride for me? I didn’t lie. And when you fake married Sasuke, I was so angry even if it was a scam, that he got to have something that was mine. That dream at the alter with you in white belongs to me, it’s mine. Wait a little longer and I’ll be able to give it to you.”

Sakura closed her eyes and leaned against his side as his voice washed over her, wave after wave. “Hey, you see how long my hair is now? You’re going to braid it for me some day. I saw a purse and it reminded me of the one you had when you were taller than Sasuke. I thought of you this morning. Hey Sakura....hey.”

She closed her eyes and let his voice drone on and on.

Later when she awoke she was alone on the bench and Sasuke was calling up to her to come inside for dinner. Shisui was joining them.

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