An Imperfect Spectrum

Cracked

It happened suddenly. She was crying, her eyes burning, then, she was surrounded by fire, unable to breath as Kakashi stared at her like she killed Pakkun, but it wasn't Pakkun it was Sasuke and a dangerously injured Naruto and there was blood on her hands, blood dripping from her arms onto the earth below her feet. Blood, soaking through her sleeves and into her skin, and she has to get away. She has to get clean.

She's gone in the moment that it takes Mikoto to blink. And then panic sets in and she has to find Sakura, but at the same time she left her son alone to be baby sat by Chunin of all things and she knows that that will not end well if she's gone for too much longer. She pulls Itachi into her arms and jumps to the rooftops, racing home, hoping Shisui at least stopped by to try and bother Itachi.

She made it home, dismissed the Chunin, and glanced around for a sight of Shisui, only to come up with nothing.She rounded on Itachi, who was taking his shoes off.

"Do you know where Shisui would be?"

"Training."

"Right. That brat. Watch your brother." She raced off again, heading towards the woods she knew her son liked to practice in, and expanded her chakra, attempting to sense where Shisui was.

Her sharingan activated, she jumped across the branches, chasing after the flickering chakra of Shisui Uchiha.

A kunai flashed in front of her, and were it not for her sharingan, it would've struck her in the head. Instead, it sailed over her head and hit the tree behind her. She stopped as Shisui materialized in front of her, confused.

"Mikoto? I am so sorry I didn't know that was you. You look kinda frazzled, are you okay?"

"Shisui. Sakura. She-"

"Sakura? What happened with her." The personality swap was almost a 180, with his demeanor immediately replaced with one of total seriousness.

"Her mom... She ran off... find her." Mikoto looked Shisui in the eyes. "Please."

He nodded once and took off, leaving Mikoto to fall against the tree and rest.

'Damn it Sakura,' Shisui thought as he raced through the woods, 'where the hell are you?'

It didn't take too long to find her, because despite his worried state of mind, he was a great tracker, and she wasn't too far from the walls of the compound, sitting on a branch on the edge of the woods, having a panic attack.

He runs up to her, sitting across from her, just out of reach, talking to her in attempts to steady her breathing just a bit. She barely notices he's there, but her breathing slows just a bit, her grip on her arms loosens ever so slightly, and she wobbles sideways, almost falling from the branch.

When she doesn't, and Shisui can ease that bit of his mind, he begins talking about all the things Itachi's done, and some of the things they had done together. About three stories in, she blinks at him, eyes focusing on him like she's finally seeing him there.

"That's it, Sakura, come on."

And she's still a bit out of it, but everything floods back and she leans forwards with a sigh, Shisui catching her before she fell off the branch completely.

"I'm sorry, Shisui. I must have worried everyone."

"No it's fine. I mean, they were worried, but still. It's fine."

"I'm still sorry though." She yawned.

"You can sleep a bit while I carry you to auntie's, if you want." And she didn't respond, but she did drop limp in his arms so he took that as acceptance of the idea.

He shifted her weight onto his back, like a sack of something, and made his way down the trees.

About halfway to Mikoto's, he shunshined to her door.

Sakura jerked awake, throwing herself from Shisui's arms and almost falling into the door, before catching herself with some chakra and Shisui's arm. He keeps it there just in case she falls again, but she moves forwards and opens the door, stepping inside on vaguely wobbly legs.

"Auntie!" Shisui called in after her, and Mikoto appeared seconds later, pulling Sakura into a tight hug.

Shisui dismissed himself soon after she was dragged into a hug. It made sense, she guessed. He was only there to track her down. Maybe. It was hard to think with the bone-crushing hug Mikoto was giving her. That, and she was whispering into Sakura's ear.

"I wish I could tell you she died easily, Sakura. I wish I could say she died quickly and that everything would be okay. But I know you, and I know you know she didn't. I know it won't be easy." Mikoto said, tears in her eyes as she held Sakura close. "But Sakura, it will get easier with time. And I'll do my best to be here for you."

She backed off Sakura, and, standing on her own, she remembered how utterly exhausted she was.

"Come on. Dinner's ready." She lead Sakura to the dining room, which was unnecessary, she knew where it was.

She poked at the noodles on her plate, ignoring the empty seat across the table where Fugaku was supposed to be. He was investigating the fire, and wouldn't be home until late, Mikoto had basically told her, though not in those exact words.

She managed three bites before she gave up on the idea of food that night. She placed her chopsticks beside her plate and excused herself, walking past the bathroom and up the stairs to her room. She passed by Sasuke's room, where he slept in his crib next to a toy dinosaur, and entered her room, throwing herself onto the bed and staring at the ceiling.

She barely left that room for three days, Mikoto checking in occasionally, and Itachi stopping at the door but never coming in, or knocking for that matter. The morning of the fourth day of her complete halt of life, Shisui was at her window, staring at her as if he'd never seen her before in his life.