The first time Sakura had ever sent him what he dubbed The Look, Itachi had nearly fallen over in shock. In the brief moment before he composed himself, he entertained the idea of showing that he was thrown for a loop by That Look, just to see Sakura's own surprise, but competent shinobi simply didn't do that.
And there were precious few shinobi as competent as he, most of whom he was currently living with.
Besides, Itachi mused, he didn't think his reputation in Akatsuki could take that kind of hit, never mind what Sakura currently thought of him. It was one thing to let himself get bossed around by a pink-headed girl that was a full foot shorter than him (she was allowed to boss around most of the organization because it was a very bad idea to piss off the only available medic-nin). It was quite another to seemingly trip over your own feet in your haste to help that same woman hold down a struggling Deidara currently attempting to bleed all over the kitchen floor.
Especially if she happened to hate your guts at time.
The second time that Itachi had seen Sakura give him The Look, it was in passing, and left Itachi bewildered in the wake of it. It had had the slight quality of...of something. He couldn't even begin to name the emotion that the look was tinged with, but he found he didn't much care for it.
This was staunchly confirmed when he heard Hidan's shouts and jeering; the harsh sounds followed the kuniochi's rapid departure down the hall, presumably far away from the battered living room.
Itachi didn't actually remember what happened next. He knew that he went into the room, and then outside, and then back to his bedroom. He could still recall the acrid tang of the living room, the slight damp smell to the outside air, and the comfortably clean smell of his bed.
What he didn't remember was how Hidan ended up in pieces on tree branches, strung up like garish Christmas lights.
Of course, he was intelligent enough to put two and two together to deduce what most likely happened, but that didn't mean it was easier to accept, or that he knew why. He did have a theory, but he refused to admit it was more than passing absurdity stemming from lack of caffeine.
Hidan's flinching did not jog his memory, even when he wondered what he could have said to the immortal that would possibly scare him.
The missing moments would confound him (NOT a viable theory, he would repeat to himself, just quality coffee withdrawal symptoms) for many weeks to come.
The third time Sakura gave him The Look, Itachi settled for merely being annoyed.
Pein had told him to assassinate a young mid-level shinobi from the hidden village in Swamp Country that had been gathering valuable information on the Akatsuki members that could be used to defeat them. He had been cold, wet, muddy, and more than ready to just finish the assignment and head back to the base where it was dry and warm.
It would be a satisfying end to an exasperatingly annoying day, except when Sakura caught the kunai that he flicked towards the boy's spine.
He narrowed his eyes and threw a senbon that she caught between his teeth, which he was sure was merely to emulate a certain shinobi in Konoha, and to aggravate him. Lest he empty his entire arsenal on her, he questioned her, which led to The Look and a backflip from their vantage point to inches in front of the target's face.
Certain that she was going to bungle the mission this way and create a mess for him to clean up, Itachi dropped beside her, only to find her threading her medical chakra into the man's temples.
Itachi took a deep breath. Sakura was showing far too much compassion; perhaps she wasn't fit to be an Akatsuki member after all? His thoughts soon became darker. If she turned traitor here (he wasn't sure she wasn't already, it looked an awful lot like she was healing the person he was meant to murder), would he kill her? Could he kill her? Probably not, he answered, and scared himself.
This disturbingly serious train of thought promptly derailed with Sakura's casual hand on his tense arm.
There were then a few nerve-fraying minutes in which he attempted to gain control of his libido, which had been growing stronger the longer he could feel her skin on his arm, and was all for tackling her then and there, audience be damned.
That and he was secretly hoping (dreading, he thinks) she would see fit to heal his arm, which had a bloody kunai in it that was slowly staining his cloak and her hand (Flesh wound. Just a flesh wound). Because of course the entire organization is not addicted to her chakra. And that fact did not bother him. At all.
Once he regained control, he saw Sakura smirking at her own sheer ability, and the target meandering away, memories modified to contain absolutely useless information, strategically. However, knowing the devious kunoichi's penchant for blackmail, they were still most likely mentally scarring for the poor young man.
Itachi shuddered. Like that time with Kisame and Tobi and the... no. Itachi shook his head.
He really didn't want to think about it.
The fourth time Itachi was on the receiving end of The Look (he cursed his intelligent brain for counting), he was bewildered, because he hadn't even done anything yet.
He had been sitting atop the kitchen table, eating a bowl of peach ice cream and minding his own business. Granted, everyone else was looking at him a little oddly, but he attributed that to the civilian clothing Pein was forcing him to wear for the mission. Itachi was planning on leaving after his ice cream (he always had sweets before a mission because his parents had not allowed him to have any). When Kisame joke about it, he leveled his partner a long, even stare.
That was apparently the signal for Sakura, standing in the doorway, to drop her bowl of cereal with a crash, making the milk splash all over the floor. Itachi switched his gaze to Sakura.
Cue The Look, courtesy of one cereal-covered and jaw-dropped pink kunoichi.
Walking through the forest later, he was still confused. And Kisame was still laughing.
On the fifth Look, Itachi was fed up with trying to decipher what it meant, and decided in his inebriated state that it would be a good idea to kiss her senseless because he was too tired and his head hurt too much to think about it anymore.
He doesn't know if the reaction he got was the one he wanted, conflicted as he is. No, the slap wasn't something he'd like to repeat, but he did enjoy the blush on her cheeks, or what little of it he saw before Sakura ran out and nearly slammed the door on his poor nose.
Lying on the bed with painkillers working their magic and a cool cloth on his forehead, Itachi sluggishly decided to bring out that blush whenever possible, preferably without the physical punishment that came with his actions.
Later, Itachi would learn why no one ever evaded Sakura when she wanted to hit them. The repercussions were much harder and faster blows, with chakra.
The sixth time Sakura gave him The Look (why was he still counting?), he accidentally pulled her into his Tsukiyomi, his often terrifying and mind-altering doujutsu. He dubs it an accident with the same firmness that he titles The Look, because though it is as possible to accidentally use Tsukiyomi as it is to have sex, his eyes had temporarily flashed uncontrollably at The Look.
And, foolish girl, she was deliberately looking into his Sharingan-activated eyes.
He could identify The Look now; he had it down to a science. This time it contained a warning, the message clearly written across her pretty eyes: Don't. Itachi held his jutsu for a moment along with her gaze, and gave her a face she knew well by now; an amused smirk that told her she would save a lot of wasted effort if she only let him, because he would, warning or not.
Then he pulled out of his doujutsu, and of course she had a fit about the jutsu, went on a rant about not trusting him anymore, and stomped off soon after.
But not before he noted with some degree of satisfaction the blush on her cheeks, and the way her expressive green eyes lacked any real anger.
By the time Itachi saw The Look for the seventh time, he'd reverted back to his other idea of crushing her to him and seeing what happened.
Apparently, Itachi smiled, what happened was not physical punishment. It was Sakura kissing back with full force and threading fingers through his hair and moving her hands down his back and up his torso.
Which was something he could definitely get used to, though it may have helped that he answered Sakura's knock at his door while still dripping wet from the shower and a towel riding low on his hips.
Speaking of, the body laying beside him stirred, and Sakura blinked up at him with wide eyes. Obviously seeing his wide smirk, she gave him a sleepier version of The Look (that would make it the 8th, his brain noted) and made his insides warm with her smile.
And that, Itachi decided, was it.
They did get out of his bed that day. Eventually. And even if it was only to move to the shower, Itachi insisted that it still counted. Technically.
I am fangirl, hear me squeal :) Itachi during the seventh look (and the sixth, for that matter, with that smirk) is quite the image, isn't it?
I take the stand that Narutoverse has so many characters that it's difficult to focus on one pairing when, with the right author, even the strangest pairings (cough KisaSaku cough) can make sense. I myself draw the past-crack line at HidanxHinata, though.
How'd I do? Was it funny? Did you hate it? R&R! Reviews are just as important to me as faves, which make me jump for joy (hard to do, sitting down).
Jade
*Edit* Added the look with the Tsukiyomi. I love that look, I hope you will too. And wow guys! You know I did a project on Uruguay? It's my third favorite country after USA and Australia. And I don't even know where Latvia is! I'm so happy, THANK YOU! ;)