There was absolutely no way Haruno Sakura was dreaming.

There was definitely one Uchiha Itachi standing at the foot of her Queen size bed.

Sakura lifted her pillow up from under her head and slammed it on top of her right ear.

"Haruno."

Sakura groaned. "Itachi-san... please just call me by my first name. It's embarrassing enough that you have to see me in this state."

Itachi raised an eyebrow at that. "Sakura-san, you are required for a mission. I am not here seeing you in 'this state' of my own volition."

She peeked her head out from underneath her pillow. There he was, looking stoic and composed in the middle of her bedroom. How did he even get past the traps she had set outside her apartment?
"If you would leave my bedroom for a mere five minutes, I would be happy to meet you in my living room."

"You have three minutes." Itachi said, and swept out of the room before Sakura had a moment to protest.

She sat up, exasperated.  It had to be him. She swung her legs off her mattress and stood up with an unexpected vigor. He just had to be the one to inform her of missions the morning after her drinking nights with Ino.

It was extremely unfair, she thought, while thrusting her arms through her plain, black, ANBU shirt. Him and his gorgeous eyes and hair and body. Not to mention that he's Sasuke's brother.

Sasuke. Her old flame. He was a strong crush for a while, she wouldn't try to deny that. It was just the fact that she got older, matured. Sasuke just couldn't seem to be able to get a handle on the fact that she had gotten stronger, and didn't need anyone's help anymore.

He didn't understand that, until a spar led to Sasuke's broken pelvic bone. He kept his distance, more or less now.

Her boots' clasps clicked closed as she finished donning her ANBU attire. She swept up her mask as she opened her bedroom door and stepped out to the living room with Itachi waiting.

He swept his eyes up and down her form, making sure she hadn't forgotten a piece of her uniform, and silently appreciating her toned figure.

"You are ready, then?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, I suppose. What's the mission today?"

"Hokage-sama is sending a team to retrieve the Daimyo from Iron country for the annual budget meeting here in Konoha." He moved towards her window, which she now noticed was cracked open. She hadn't left it that way last night, when she went to bed after her night with Ino. "Your security measures around your apartment could use some adjusting." He said with a smirk.

She shot him a glare "Well, maybe someone should learn to use doors like normal people."

He smirked and lept out the window. She followed suit and they began leaping across the rooftops until they reached the Hokage's office.

Their landing from swinging in through the window was nearly silent, and alerted the Hokage of their presence.

"Ah, good, you're both here. I assume Itachi has filled you in, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, "Yes Tsunade-shishou, I'm aware of the importance of the Daimyo's safety."

"Good, good. Itachi is leading this team, but I suppose you guessed that already." Sakura nodded. Tsunade went on, "Naruto and Sasuke will be joining you, Kakashi is currently out on a  mission, so don't worry about him."

At that moment, there were three knocks heard at the door. Sasuke and Naruto chose that moment to enter the room, successfully making Sakura smile.

Itachi noticed her smile, and his eyes lingered for a bit too long. Sasuke caught his brother staring at his former teammate. His brother didn't stare at anything, let alone girls.

Itachi whipped his eyes back to the Hokage's desk, effectively scolding himself in his head. He did not just stare at Sakura and her smile. He could not afford to let his attraction for her get in front of his better judgement. He was better trained than this.

Sakura remained oblivious while both the Uchihas in the room dwelled on Itachi's slip. Naruto trotted over to Sakura and gave her the largest bearhug he could manage.

"Sakura! I haven't seen you since the dobe and I left for that mission in Iwa!"

Sakura laughed, "Naruto! You're not supposed to talk about classified missions."

Sasuke spoke up, "You can't expect him to keep his mouth shut about anything, Sakura, you know this."

She nodded, still smiling, and turned back to the Hokage.

"You are all familiar with each other's tactics, so I trust you not to get in the way of each other. Sakura is designated medic on the team, but I hope she won't have to do any healing on this mission, alright?" The heads in the room bobbed their understanding. "Good. No time limit on this mission, just get the Daimyo here safe. Dismissed."

They all sprung from the room and headed to the Konoha gates.

At Itachi's lead, they all donned their masks, hiding their faces from all that was around them.

The journey to Iron country would require one stop halfway there to recouperate, but would be relatively short and uncomplicated. Or so they thought.