"What the hell is that?" Asks Shisui as he watches Sakura load it into the trashbin.
"A breeding bench," She says, side eyeing Itachi who's watching her from the porch with his arms crossed.
"Uh?"
"It's for times when your omega is in heat and you're going to be gone."
Shisui tilts his head. "And you just... Leave them in it for extended periods?"
"Oh hell no," Says Sakura. "For instance. If you have an omega and they go into heat unexpectedly but you have to work. You get them set up and go to work but you have to come back and let them out on your lunch break then strap them back up before you leave."
"So you can't be gone for more than a few hours at a time then?"
"Exactly."
"Are they expensive?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Says Sakura. She tosses the last piece in and disappears back into the house.
"Made her get rid of it, huh?" Shisui asks Itachi as they follow her inside.
"Do you think that if I was more," He rolls his wrist in a gesture the alpha can't quite parse. "Stereotypical as an omega, things would be different?"
"I don't follow."
"Maybe," Says Itachi, "I'm reading this whole thing wrong."
"Itachi, you're being way more cryptic than necessary." Says Sakura.
"Can you still hate someone if you cry for them during your heats?"
Shisui and Sakura share a look of concern before the dark haired alpha says, "If they're the nearest alpha and your heat is bad enough, I think so."
"What if they're a good alpha," Says Itachi, "And it's merely that I'm shitty at being an omega?"
"Itachi, what is this about?" Asks Shisui. He's starting to get worried the alpha Itachi hates is one he knows. "Just because you don't bend over for every alpha that comes within a five foot radius, doesn't make you less of an omega."
"But something has to be dysfunctional if I was chosen to be left behind," Says the younger Uchiha.
"Oh, Itachi." Says Sakura.
"They left you because they knew we'd get distracted by having you back so he could escape," Says Shisui.
Itachi's gaze wanders to his left.
"There's nothing wrong with you. You're a good omega." Shisui wraps him in a hug. "But most importantly, you're a good person."
"He found me disposable."
"And I find you valuable." The older man says. "Sakura likes you enough to fight me for you."
"What if I'm never like the other omega?" He asks, gaze meeting Sakura's. "What if I never get excited about stuffed animals or entertaining the alpha around me?"
Shisui shifts Itachi upwards and the younger man locks his legs around a narrow waist. "I like it when you're feisty."
"How can you say that?" He asks. "You treat me like you've known me a lifetime but I've been gone for thirteen years."
"Because I've waited my entire lifetime for this moment." Says Shisui. "And I will wait a lifetime more if I have to."
"If I never love you?"
Shisui's gaze searches his face for a moment. "Then I'll let you go."
His face presses into the crook of the dark haired alpha's neck, grabbing Shisui's jacket in tight fists. "Sometimes, I-I wanted it."
Sakura's hand smooths over his back. "It isn't your fault," She tells him. "This person has been doing this long enough to learn how to manipulate you."
Itachi looks over his shoulder to peer at Sakura. This prompts Shisui to turn enough that he can comfortably look at the pink haired alpha. "I pleaded for it."
"It doesn't matter," Says Sakura. "It doesn't matter if you initiated it. It doesn't matter if you asked for it. You were in heat. You couldn't consent."
"So does this mean that any time an omega is in heat and begging, it's wrong to oblige them?" Asks Shisui.
"It's a little murky," Says the female alpha. "If you catch them when it first starts and they are aware, it should be fine. If it goes past that, they are essentially inebriated."
"And if I'm not in heat?" Asks Itachi.
Shisui and Sakura share a mildly confused glance.
"It still isn't your fault," She says. "You were surviving and trying to eliminate any more harm from coming to you."
His head lies on the shoulder of the dark haired alpha. Sakura cups his cheek, stroking just under his eye. "None of this was your fault."
Softly, he takes her wrist. Rubbing his cheek against it before drawing it down his neck.
"Hey," Says Shisui. "No fair."
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Vindictively, Sakura sticks her tongue out.
Itachi squirms and the alpha sets him down. They watch him strip down and he looks between them. "I," his eyes are darting around the room. "I," He tries again but his voice sticks in his throat.
Shisui steps back a little to give him space.
"I want to be marked again." He says. His eyes are closed, hand fisted at his sides. "I want to be claimed. I want to feel my alphas inside me."
The older Uchiha's mouth comes open, eyes wide. "Alphas? Do you have a dick, Sakura?"
"Only when an omega is in heat," She says. "All female alpha do."
"Where do you, ah," Shisui seems a little lost, "Keep it?"
"Oh," Says Sakura. "You know, just in my drawer with my dildos."
"You should ask her to show you next time I go into heat," Says Itachi.
"If it's in the drawer with her dildos, I'm not sure why she can't show me now," Argues Shisui.
Sakura rolls her eyes. "In any case, I don't think it's a good idea," She says. "You're still recovering from yesterday's fiasco. And the day before that."
"I'm okay," He says. "I'm ready."
"No, Itachi." Says the pink haired alpha. "And that's that."
Itachi sulks as Sakura starts on lunch.
"I love when you cook for me," Says Shisui. He can't help his amusement as she tenses. "I can taste all the love you put in it."
She looks at him with a stern expression. Then goes back to what she's doing.
"What?" He asks. "Nothing to say?"
Itachi sits in his lap. "Leave her alone."
Shisui's palms glide up and down Itachi's outer thighs, lips whispering butterfly kisses over the omega's neck.
His eyes close as he leans his head back against Shisui's shoulder. The alpha's fingers creep to Itachi's inner thighs but he grabs them, redirecting them around his waist. "Bad alpha."
Shisui snickers as Itachi pushes further against him. Something crinkles in the older Uchiha's jacket and the omega pauses.
"It's just some paperwork," Says Shisui and Itachi thinks no more of it.
"Sakura," He says.
She glances at him before going back to chopping vegetables. "No, Itachi."
With a huff, the Uchiha tosses his legs over either side of Shisui's and leans his head back to bare his throat. He guides one of Shisui's hands up to his chest, against his heart, and the other to his lower thigh. "Alpha," He says.
Sakura's glance lingers this time and she hisses when she knicks herself with the knife. "Goddamn it. Itachi I will crate you if you don't knock it off."
"You know who would gladly mark and nail you if you didn't just rub Sakura's smell all over your neck?" Asks Shisui. "Because I do."
"SAKURA!" Yells a blonde alpha as he comes into the kitchen from the hall.
"What the fuuuuck?!" Sakura just about screeches.
"You left your window unlocked." He turns to the pair of Uchiha in a compromised position. "Nice."
"Naruto," Says Sakura. "The fuck do you want?"
"Yamato sent me to drop off some reports with you."
"Oh," She says. "Is he back from Grass?"
"Yeah. But they put like, six omegas on him. So he's really busy."
"Damn," She says. "Do you think he needs some help?"
"I'm not sure," Admits Naruto. "They've been working me like a dog. Go here. Give so-and-so this. How am I supposed to be Hokage when they keep making me an errand boy?"
"I'll go talk to him, myself, I guess." She says as she accepts the files from him. "Tsunade-sama said all available shinobi are on duty. It isn't just you being worked so hard."
"I wonder why," Draws the blonde. "Anyway, I'm gonna go have ramen with Sasuke then finish up my work list."
"And you didn't invite me?" Asks Sakura. "What the hell."
"Something something Uchiha," Says Naruto as he walks back down the hall. "Something something omega."
"Does he actually hear Sasuke when he speaks?" Asks Shisui.
"No," Says Sakura. "He's always too busy trying to suck Sasuke's dick."
"So he didn't invite you because you cock block him too?"
"Shisui, I'm about to punch you in the cock if you don't fuck right off."
"Kinky," Says Itachi as he stands and stretches.
xXx
"Let me come with you," Itachi says. Shisui has already left to make an appearance in the Uchiha compound.
Sakura hesitates. "Yamato may have omega from the kennel you were found in," She says. "Are you sure you can handle that?"
He nods, allowing her to muzzle and collar him.
The house has a six foot fence around it. Tree saplings are twisted into the metal and it looks sort of whimsical. Sakura unlocks the gate. "He used to be my teacher," She says. "He prefers actual missions. So we must have a lot of omega coming through the system."
She shuts the gate, unclips his leash, and meanders up the short pathway to the porch. Wooden stairs creak in a way that sets a strange anticipation in the omega's stomach. The key that unlocks the gate also unlocks the door.
There are four crates in the living room. All of them covered with thick, quilted blankets. "Yamato-sensei?"
"I'm here," He calls back.
Sakura starts towards the stairs, pausing when she sees Itachi eyeing the locks on one of the crates. "Don't you even try it." Her fingers snatch his collar, towing him behind her to the second floor of the house.
They walk past a door with a frantically rattling knob and Sakura's grip on his collar becomes white knuckled.
The room they come to is dimly lit. An omega with orange hair sits in the tub, bound in chains that only let him sit a foot or two from the wall as Yamato washes his hair.
"I want my alpha," Says the omega.
"And you'll see him," Says Yamato. "But he needs to rest and heal."
"Yamato-sensei?" Asks Sakura.
"What brings you to my humble abode?" Asks the alpha. "Did you get my reports?"
"I did," She says. "You said a cache of alpha has been found in the same area as the kennel?"
"There were only three. I think they were being used to impregnate the omega."
"I want my alpha," The orange haired man says again.
"That's just sad," Says Sakura. "How long until they can be reunited?"
"Until the drugs wear off," Says Yamato. "They were pretty juiced to the point of not really knowing what was going on around them."
Sakura glances back at the Uchiha, tangling her fingers in his.
Yamato tilts back the head of the sulking omega, rinsing his hair with the showerhead. "I've never seen alpha look so much like animals. They couldn't communicate with us either."
"Were they defending their omega?"
"One of them was. This guy's alpha was fully prepared to murder-suicide if he thought it would keep him safe from us."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
"Did you find anything else?"
Yamato shakes his head. "But I'll keep sending stuff in. You probably have clearance to go speak with the alpha in a day or two."
"Awesome," Says Sakura. "I'll do that."
Itachi follows Sakura out of the room. Past the door still being pulled and pushed. He meets the gaze of a single, gleaming blue eye from one of the crates and freezes, honing in on the being inside.
He's almost frantic when he gets eye level with the crate and lifts the blanket.
The omega's hair is long, blonde, and dirty. She thinks Yamato hasn't had a chance to tidy them up yet.
"You," The blonde snarls and Sakura realizes this omega is male. "Always with that Uchiha privilege."
Itachi looks up at her, fingers splayed over the lock.
"He's safe where he's at," She says. "And I have my hands full anyway."
Itachi doesn't move when Sakura starts for the foyer.
"Come on." She says. "We'll talk about it when we get home. I have some work I have to send in to my Shishou."
Reluctantly, he follows her back to her house. She ignores his persistent gaze as she sets up her workspace.
He leans against her knees in front of the couch while she works. "I want you to take on that omega."
"Can't," Says Sakura. "I already have one I'm working with and he doesn't play nice with others."
"And if I'm good?" He asks. "If I provide you no trouble?"
"Itachi," She says, "You are my priority. If you start having an episode, what are the chances of that omega vanishing at the first opportunity?"
His fingers softly drum on his ankle as the silence lulls between them. "It was my fault he was taken. The beta used me for bait and then snatched him."
Sakura pauses. "This is why he doesn't like you?"
"Please, alpha." He says. "It's important that I make this right."
"Let me run it by Shisui and then get the authorization from your family and my Shishou and we'll go from there. Is that fair?"
"Thank you, Sakura." He says. His cheek rubs zealous over her knee and Sakura sighs