Quick little oneshot (from the recesses of my brain)!
This is to celebrate (Yay, one-person party!) the one-year anniversary of my first fic Think Twice.
And although it's late, it is still in honor of "Think Twice," my structurally unsound first.
Disclaimer: No. No. No. No. No. No.
-o0-
Compromising Situations
-o0-
They were talking again.
It wasn't abnormal for his parents to talk at the dinner table, but when his father was motioning for Mikoto to join him in the kitchen for a private chat, Itachi was positive that there was only one subject they were going to discuss. Him.
The Uchiha heir wasn't paranoid either.
He was well aware that Fugaku had been stealing glances at his eldest son throughout dinner and knew that his parents were concerned. He wasn't particularly sure about which of his infamous attributes they were most concerned about, but he would resist whatever methods they used to rectify their concern.
Sparing a look towards his confused younger brother, Itachi rose from the table and exited the Uchiha residence in the direction in the center of Konoha; Ichiraku's sounded far more appealing anyway, he reasoned.
"Hey, there, 'tachi-kun!"
Itachi shifted his gaze only slightly to include his spastic cousin, "Shisui."
Shisui's face was smug as the elder Uchiha strode toward Itachi with confidence, "Walking out on Mikoto-san's delicious dinner? How very unusual, 'tachi-kun! Date, maybe?"
"Unlikely," Itachi grunted as he continued walking, unsurprised when Shisui kept his pace.
"Then where are you going?" Shisui huffed. "If you're planning on going somewhere, I'm following if you don't tell me!" he pouted.
"Ichiraku's."
Itachi's expression was blank as he watched with mild curiosity at the way Shisui's mouth twisted into a gleeful smile. Itachi's cousin was an anomaly in the Uchiha clan; his ability to smile without the promise of torture and lack of a smirk set him apart from the smug atmosphere of the Uchiha. "Oh ho ho ho! Yes!" Shisui chuckled happily, pumping a fist into the air.
"Hn?"
Shisui composed himself and his shoulders relaxed in comfort as he sighed happily, "Sakura-chan is at Ichiraku's! I made a list of her schedule over the last month and she's always at Ichiraku's right now!"
So that's it, Itachi sighed internally. "So, Shisui, you've progressed to stalking?"
Shisui's face turned red and his bottom lip stuck out into an unhappy pout. "I'm not stalking her! I'm learning her schedule so that when we're married I know her routine!"
"Hn," Itachi grunted in apathetic disapproval.
They had reached the small ramen stand and both pushed past the blue overhanging to the inside. Itachi, thankfully, spotted the pink-haired medic nin first and abruptly pushed Shisui out of the way, sitting on the barstool next to her.
"Ittttaaaachiiii-kun!" Shisui whined quietly, settling on the barstool next to Itachi. "That's not nice~!"
Itachi cast a quick glance toward the Hokage's apprentice, noticing her look of appreciation. "Hello, Haruno-san."
"Good evening, Uchiha-san, Shisui-kun."
"Heeeeey, Sakura-chan!" Itachi's cousin called happily, trying to look around Itachi with no success. " 'tachi-kun! You need to―!"
"Shisui," Itachi commanded, "pick up your menu and order."
"Fine," he pouted in a defeated tone as he picked up his menu and began to scrutinize the choices.
Itachi looked to his own menu and quickly selected his preference, turning slightly toward Sakura to observe her light gaze. "Yes?" he whispered, successful in his attempt to avoid Shisui's attention.
"Nothing, Uchiha-san," she whispered back lightly, a smile gracing her mouth for the barest of seconds. "It just seems that Shisui is annoying you."
"Hn," he affirmed.
"So if you would rather eat without him, I could arrange for our escape," Sakura whispered in a conspiratory tone.
"Our?"
"You, as well as I, would rather eat elsewhere without him, ne?" Sakura reasoned, "Besides, if I deviate from the schedule it'll throw him off."
So she knew about Shisui's stalking habits, he internally chuckled, smirking at the prospect of his cousin's frantic expression when his beloved Sakura was out of his sight and nodded his approval. "Please."
She nodded once in confirmation and raised her voice, "Shisui-kun!"
"Yes? Is there anything you need, Sakura-chan?" he asked hopefully.
Sakura placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, much to Shisui's confusion, and formed a handsign, "Don't stalk me!"
Shisui was left in astonishment as Itachi and Sakura disappeared in a flurry of petals.
-o0-
Itachi steadied the girl as they appeared in an unknown room. "So, you're one for theatrics," he commented.
Sakura took a slow intake of air and smiled lazily, "I find that Shisui is very receptive of theatrical rejection and abusive beatings."
Itachi nodded curtly and looked around the room, "Where are we?"
"The Hokage's records room." She chuckled at the Uchiha as his eyebrows furrowed, "It has a chakra cloaking seal, so when in doubt it's an effective place to hide," she added, "particularly when it's Shisui."
Itachi moved to sit on the lone desk in the center of the small room, avoiding several stacked books littered throughout the room. He watched as she lightly dusted herself off and adjusted her shorts into place.
She moved toward the door and he sent her a questioning look, to which she responded as she slipped into the hallway, "I'll be right back; I'm getting us food."
He reclined backward and let his back touch the rough wood of the elderly desk and stared up at the ceiling. He hadn't been planning to eat dinner with Sakura when he'd left the house; hell, he'd only spoken a few times with the girl when Sasuke happened to bring his teammates over.
He wasn't sure, but he'd heard that she was fearsomely strong and a proficient medic who had recently reached the title of Jonin, much to his younger brother's chagrin. Sasuke had insisted that Sakura wasn't deserving of the title, but Itachi had learned over years through the grapevine that no one under appreciated Sakura more than her own team.
"Uchiha-san?" the door creaked open slightly, "You here?"
"Yes," he called back, rising from his resting position.
"Oh! For a second, I thought you'd left!" she laughed nervously as she moved to stand near the desk. "It's not nearly as good as Ichiraku's, but I brought us sandwiches and soda. Probably not what you were expecting when you left the house, huh?"
"Not really," he sighed as he reached for the bag in her hand, unfazed by the skin on skin contact. "I wasn't particularly expecting to leave the house either."
"Ah, awkward Uchiha family moment?"
He shot her a curious look, seeking elaboration only to find that she had taken a place on the desk next to him and was happily biting into the sandwich. "Here's your drink," she said after swallowing.
He took the can from her and reluctantly began to eat the sandwich. "It's horrible," he whispered unhappily.
"It's hospital food. Sorry, it's all I could get hold of without attracting any notice." Sakura lightly touched his shoulder, "The soda should help to wash it down."
He popped the can open quickly and took a drink, nearly choking on the bitter taste of ginger ale. "...ugh..."
"I'm so sorry! It really was all I could find!" Sakura sighed, "I swear I'll make it up to you by buying you lunch sometime. You free tomorrow?"
"Yes," Itachi answered, praying that the lunch wouldn't be nearly as horrible as the hospital food she'd procured for the meal they were sharing.
"Alright, it's a plan." She stuck her small hand toward him and he shook it with his own larger hand.
-o0-
Shisui searched throughout the village with a firm grimace and eyes glazed in tears. "Sakura-chan!" he called throughout the nearly deserted streets.
"Shisui?"
"Sakura-chan?" he called again hopefully.
Sasuke appeared before him with a disapproving glare, "No, idiot."
"Ah, Sasu-chan!" he cried, grabbing onto Sasuke's shoulders in desperation, "You must help me!"
Sasuke looked bored as he pried Shisui's hands from his person and observed his cousin's desperation with disinterest, "I do not have to help you if I find your predicament stupid."
"It's not stupid at all, Sasu-chan! I'm searching for Saku- Wait!" Shisui clutched his cousin. "You see, Itachi and I went to Ichiraku's and they disappeared together!"
That caught Sasuke's interest, "Together?"
"Yes! She yelled, 'Don't stalk me!' and placed a hand on 'tachi-kun's shoulder and disappeared! It's dreadful! Horrible! Horrific!" Shisui cried.
Sasuke smacked Shisui with undue force to silence him and searched for Sakura with his chakra. "There you are, Sakura," Sasuke smirked with glee, disappearing from Shisui's view toward the hospital.
"Wait! Wait! What about me!" Shisui cried, searching around with desperation.
-o0-
"So, yes, to answer your question, I've been on an Anbu mission before," Sakura sighed. "I'm surprised you don't remember, it was your team after all."
Itachi pondered that for a second and responded quietly, "I apologize for not remembering."
"No problem! I get it, the masks and code names aren't really good for introductions." She took a gulp of soda.
"I suppose not." They sat in silence as both sipped from the bitter soda, both looking indiscriminately into space.
Itachi subtly broke the silence, "What time is it?"
Sakura looked down at the watch on her wrist and slipped off the desk, "Time to sleep if I want to be up for my shift." Itachi watched as she walked by him in silence, his intention of following her from the room shattered as she slipped on a stack of books.
Itachi couldn't think, unusual for him, and he moved instead, reaching to catch her from an inevitable fall. He held her up and sat her on the desk, standing before her to check for damage. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she laughed uneasily. "I just-"
"Your ankle twisted."
"Like I said, I'm perfectly fine!" Sakura tried to escape from Itachi's form, but found him relentless. "Uchiha-san, I am fine! Let me down!" she demanded.
Itachi trapped her, placing his arms on either side of her form before him, "You twisted your ankle."
"And I said I'm fine!" she crossed her arms defiantly, her face inches from his own.
"Well, well, well..." a calm, collected voice interjected. "Nii-san and Sakura-chan are awfully cozy!"
Both Itachi and Sakura snapped angry glares in the intruder's direction. "What the fuck do you want, Sasuke?" Sakura bit out.
"Blackmail! And now I have it!" Sasuke looked like a child who'd been given a flame-thrower. "When should I tell Mom and Dad to start planning a wedding?"
"Sasuke, your teammate has twisted her ankle and you don't have the common decency to be concerned?" Itachi yawned, bored with his brother's antics.
"She's a medic," Sasuke shrugged as he added under his breath arrogantly, "And that's all she's good for."
Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously and she wordlessly grabbed Itachi's shirt. Itachi averted his gaze to the pink-haired medic in confusion only to feel her lips slant against his own. His thoughts further scattered as she pulled him closer and he could only manage the act of reciprocating.
Itachi had never been kissed (he'd sent any girls running who might have tried with a death glare) and couldn't understand the intentions of his own body when he'd pressed closer to her, running the tip of his tongue across her lower lip and relishing the feel of her mouth opening for him. Sasuke's presence was a mere blip on Itachi's radar when Sakura's own tongue met his shyly and Itachi could only infer (through the haze) that it was her first kiss as well.
Sakura's hands clutched at his black shirt and Itachi's hands, that had previously trapped her into the space, circled around her subconsciously. They gasped for air and delved back into the depths of their kiss, neither registering Sasuke's clearing of his throat.
"Ahem!" Sasuke tried, irked. "Bastard! That's still my teammate!"
Still they ignored him and Sasuke fought the rising panic he felt as one of Itachi's hands rested itself at the hem of her shirt and slipped under. Sasuke knew it was his fault for provoking her into the revenge kiss, but he had to stop it. Now.
"Sakura-chan!" he called tentatively. "If you stop now, I'll allow you to spar with me tomorrow!"
Itachi broke away for a moment to direct a glare at his brother, "I'm afraid Sakura and I have already made plans tomorrow, Sasuke. In fact, you should be at home or with your other teammate..."
"Naruto," Sakura supplied breathlessly.
"Naruto," he finished. "I'll be sure to get her home."
Sasuke felt more panic slip through his usual mask, there was nothing he could do. "Will you be home soon?" he asked, petrified.
"Hn," he affirmed in displeasure as Sasuke slipped from the room.
"How'd he find us?" Sakura gasped as Itachi kissed her jawline mercilessly.
Itachi moved lower and was too preoccupied with his task to give his opinion. "I'll...ask...tomorrow," he said, finally pulling away and running a finger along the bothered skin. "Lunch."
"Meet me in the lobby and someone will get me," Sakura sighed. "I'll be-"
"I'll be paying."
Sakura stared at him in confusion, "What?"
His tongue shamelessly traced her bottom lip and he waited for her gasp. "I'll pay..." he said again between ragged breaths.
Sakura didn't register his actions as she was pulled into his hold and whisked away from the small records room to her apartment. He silently accepted her key while still supporting her weight as he led her to the couch.
"Can you heal yourself?" Itachi asked hesitantly.
"Of course. That's why I was saying that I was fine. Because I was." Sakura slowly directed her chakra to her palm and pressed it toward her aching appendage. "There!"
Itachi watched as she placed her foot carefully on the red carpet of her living area and was ready to catch her if she fell again, but found he was not needed as she turned to him confidently. "Hn."
"Are we back to monosyllables?"
"Can you walk on it?" he inquired.
Sakura took a first wobbly step and a second steady step. "I'm fine," she repeated, "Thank you, Uchiha-san, for helping me back to my apartment."
"Itachi."
"Excuse me?" she asked as she sent him a perplexed expression.
"Call me Itachi."
Sakura looked slightly taken aback, but then again, after what had happened in the records room, she supposed she shouldn't feel too surprised at his request for a first-name basis. "Alright, Itachi," she spoke confidently, "then you can call me Sakura."
"Good evening, Sakura, I shall see you tomorrow."
And with that, Itachi departed through the door rather than his usual cloud of smoke, leaving a bemused Sakura in his wake.
"Fuck! My ankle!" she cried, plopping herself onto the couch. She hadn't wanted to lie about her ankle, but she hated that weak feeling that overcame her while he was concerning himself over her sorry injury. "Goddamn!"
Suddenly, the disappeared Itachi was no longer missing from the room and was standing before her once again, a disapproving smirk barely touching his expressionless face. "Sakura."
Sakura was sure that a kunai had pierced her skull, because there was no way in hell Itachi had left her apartment only to confirm that she was lying. "I-Itachi?"
"You lied," he stated.
"Well, I-"
"I know enough of medical ninjutsu to understand that something simple like a twisted ankle can not be healed." Itachi sat beside her awkwardly, pulling a wrap from his weapon pouch.
"Well, I-"
"Do not take me for a fool," he commanded as he stared straight into her eyes.
"I would never," Sakura swore quietly, adverting his gaze.
Itachi gave a short nod and reached down to her leg, bringing her ankle within his grasp. He wrapped it for her, ignoring the awkward silence the pair had fallen into. "I will now assist you to bed."
"I-Itachi?" Sakura ventured. "I'll have to change first, so uh-"
Itachi said nothing, lifting her from the couch and supporting her with a firm arm around her stiff back as he helped her limp to the bedroom only ten feet away. He sat her on the bed and looked at her expectantly. "What do you require me to gather?"
Sakura fought the blush she was sure would overtake her shocked face. Uchiha Itachi...going through her drawers...Ino was gonna love this one, she thought sarcastically. "The bottom drawer has pajamas. All I need is a shirt though! My shorts should be fine!" she answered, her intense feelings of discomfort barely seeping through her upbeat tone.
"Hn," he responded as he crouched in front of the dark wood dresser. His hand surrounded the knob and began to pull the drawer open.
"Oh wait! I put a trap on that dresser!" Sakura cried out as Itachi easily countered the five senbon that flew at him from the corners of the room. He turned with a questioning glance as she explained that she often "lost" clothing to very persistent fanboys.
Itachi could completely empathize, having been stalked for the entirety of his life.
"I shall be leaving now, but I will send word to Tsunade-sama to grant you the day off in light of your injury. Farewell, Sakura."
"It's not that serious!" she yelled after his retreating form as he slid through her window.
-o0-
When Sasuke entered the Uchiha household, he was instantly confronted by his parents. Sasuke allowed himself to wonder why they were waiting in the entryway before he reigned himself back in to his real problem: Itachi.
Itachi being interested in his teammate was a problem. For many reasons, Sasuke didn't approve of them being involved in any way and he knew that Naruto and Kakashi would agree to a hasty sabotage plan.
After confirming with himself that he would bring the idea up with the other males of Team Seven, Sasuke made the conscious decision to actually listen to the endless demands streaming from his mother's mouth as she asked him question upon question about his outing and about his brother's whereabouts.
"...and have you seen Itachi?"
Sasuke caught the end of the question and fought the urge to let escape the answer that would undoubtedly make his parents very, very happy. His father, to Sasuke's extreme misfortune, managed to detect his desperate attempt to look for an escape route and moved to block his only exit. "Sasuke, where is your brother?" Fugaku demanded in his usual flat monotone.
"I, uh, may have seen him..." Sasuke stalled.
"Tell us."
Sasuke couldn't hold. Of course, he was afraid of Itachi and what he would do in retaliation for Sasuke's telling their parents of the Sakura incident...but with both Uchiha parents staring at him expectantly after literally backing him into a corner, he had no choice but to give up the information in an attempt to preserve himself. He caved.
Mikoto Uchiha's face lit up happily as to be expected of the woman who already considered Sakura her surrogate daughter. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Fugaku, I'm so happy!" she cried, throwing her arms around her stiff husband.
"Mikoto, Itachi may still back out. We need to take steps...to make it permanent." Fugaku was already formulating a plan and had no comment when Sasuke fled past him to go to his room.
Even more excited that her husband approved of the match, Mikoto smiled brightly. "There's a certain blonde who would always love to help."
"Hn."
"Let's go see her! Now!" she suggested, grabbing hold of her husband's arm, "She's still in her office at this time of night!"
"Hn," he affirmed, not resisting as his excited wife pulled him through the door into the cool night air of Konoha.
-o0-
"Ne, Tsunade-chan…" the hyperactive Uchiha matriarch called as she and her husband entered the office without knocking or permission.
"What the hell do you two want from me this late?" the disgruntled voice of the Hokage answered, clearly slurred and irritated.
"You sound so angry, Tsunade-chan! And here we've come to tell you some amazing news!" Mikoto jabbed, approaching the desk with her husband in tow.
"What the hell is it?" Tsunade snapped. "Spit it out already! If you can't tell, I'm a little irritated; Shizune hid my alcohol again."
"It's about our son," Fugaku began. "He seems to have taken an interest in your apprentice."
Mikoto pouted as she whispered her discontent. "You're no fun, Fugaku."
Tsunade cocked an eyebrow and seemed to ponder the statement. On one hand, their information could be taken as bad news by Sakura's unofficial guardian. Or, more optimistically, it could mean Tsunade had been presented the solution to a situation she'd been considering for the better part of a year. "Has Sasuke finally shown interest?"
"Sasuke?" Fugaku puzzled.
"No, no, no, Tsunade-chan! Itachi has! Sasuke witnessed them being super kissy-kissy in the medical records room!" Mikoto smiled, making overjoyed faces to rival Shisui's. "He even said that Itachi said that they have plans tomorrow!"
Tsunade cocked her head in thought, "I'd never considered Itachi-kun before…but it might just work. What are your opinions of the match?"
"Both my wife and I approve," Fugaku said quickly, cutting off his excited wife from her enthusiastic approval.
Tsunade spent an additional moment in thought before venturing to present her proposition, "Okay. Since we all agree that this match is suitable for all intents and purposes, the question rests with you: do you mind if Itachi and Sakura complete a low(-er) level mission together?"
"If it means my son will marry after twenty five years of questionable sexual preference, of course, Hokage-sama," he responded with an air of unexpected lightheartedness (well, as far as Uchiha go).
"Was that sarcasm, Uchiha-san?" Tsunade smirked. "Well, I'll do my part in this match making, but you two really should be getting home."
"Thanks, Tsunade-chan!" Mikoto smiled calmly, relieved by Tsunade's acceptance. "We'll do our best on our end too!"
"Just don't smother the boy by asking questions― that would make a nin like Itachi-kun instantly suspicious, and it could scare him off. In fact…" Tsunade smirked knowingly, "if you lead him to believe the match isn't wanted, he would more than likely be more inclined to pursue my apprentice."
"Reverse psychology might work on Sasuke, but Itachi has always been focused on the needs of the clan," Fugaku held his head high.
"True enough, Uchiha-san, but Itachi-kun is still a young man and kids his age value one thing above all else," she paused for effect, "their individual freedom of choice. That's why an arranged marriage would never work for neither Sakura nor Itachi-kun; they're both very headstrong."
"Tch," Fugaku scoffed, exiting the office.
Mikoto turned as she followed her husband and gave a small wave, "I'll talk to him later! Thank you."
"Bye-Bye."
-o0-
When Sakura rose the next day, she instantly knew that she had been correct about her injury. It wasn't serious and the pain was gone. Slowly, she tested her foot by rising from bed slowly and after gaining confidence, she took a few steps in the direction of her bedroom door.
She didn't realize she'd been intercepted until a low voice spoke out disapprovingly, "Sakura."
"I'm fine," she muttered out into the shoulder of the man before her. "What're you doing here?"
Itachi unexpectedly lifted her into his arms and set her back on the bed, obviously intending for her to move as little as possible, "Checking on my patient."
Sakura's eye twitched and her lips pursed unhappily, "Just who is the doctor here?"
Itachi didn't respond and instead began to inspect her ankle, causing a blush to rise in the pink-haired medic as he held her calf and foot gently. "You are fine."
Her teeth grated together, "Of course I am! It wasn't serious to begin with! Now I have a shift at the hospital to get to-!"
"No."
"No," she repeated angrily. "No?"
"Tsunade-sama has agreed to give you the day off because we have a mission tomorrow," Itachi responded lengthily as he set her leg down on the comforter. "Now that you are recovered, we shall go to lunch."
Sakura sighed unhappily as she stood and walked to her dresser, quickly grabbing clothes from the drawers and retreating toward the adjoining bathroom. "I'll be out in a little bit."
Itachi, faced with an expanse of thirty minutes to an hour of downtime, laid back against Sakura's queen sized bed, thinking of the strange encounter he'd had with his parents. For some reason, that for once he was completely in the dark about, his father had demanded that he abstain from relationships to focus only on his missions.
That was unusual.
Often, both his mother and father had tried to arrange several marriages and they had often expressed their discontent with his lack of action. Itachi was…confused at their sudden change in expectations. Of course he had no problem with the lack of pressure that their change had brought, but it irked him to say the least. They'd given him no indication other than the strange incident with his father that morning and Itachi could attribute it to one factor: Sasuke had seen Sakura kiss him.
Through his reasoning, Itachi could only infer that Sasuke had spilled the information to his parents and due to his father's attitude, his parents didn't approve of her. How? How could they not approve?
The thoughts plagued his brain; not only was Sakura strong, but she was also a respectable medic with political ties and thus was an ideal choice for his parents' approval. She was outwardly attractive and inwardly was quite intelligent, a quality Itachi valued (having been set up with several girls with half a brain to share amongst all of them).
Yet, his parents didn't approve?
-o0-
Mikoto smirked happily as she cut the vegetables before her. The plan was a success and the knowledge was such to make the woman unbelievably happy. Soon, she would have a daughter and the prospect of being able to do her hair, dress her, feed her, love her-
"Mikoto, she's an adult. You won't be able to play dress up with her," Fugaku sighed from the living room.
"But I'll give her the knowledge she'll need to dress up for Itachi!" Mikoto called back. "I have tons of outfits she can use to keep things…interesting."
"There's something very wrong with the idea of a mother trying to make things 'interesting' for her son and his wife," Fugaku shuddered as he entered the kitchen. "Is my sandwich done?" (Yes, I did just go there. XDD )
Sasuke entered behind his father and pouted slightly, "Poor Sakura."
"Poor Sakura? She'll be so loved," Mikoto smiled.
"Itachi gets what he wants," Fugaku nodded, taking his sandwich from his wife as she held it out to him.
"What Itachi wants is a girl that is temperamental and freakishly violent!" Sasuke chanted with a roll of his eyes. "And she's my teammate!" he bit out angrily.
"So?" his parents retaliated before turning again to their own devices.
-o0-
When Sakura exited her bathroom, fully clothed and thoroughly clean, she wasn't expecting a rather stiff Itachi ushering her through her apartment to the street outside. She wasn't expecting his arm to circle her shoulders and lead her around. But she definitely wasn't expecting his face to be screwed up in thought, his eyebrows drawn into a perplexed expression.
It was unlike anything she'd ever seen cross the man's face (not that she'd spent a lot of time around him outside of the last two days…) and he looked rather irritated with whatever problem was currently confronting him. His fierce expression was even scaring off most of the fangirls!
Itachi hurried her through a doorway and into a restaurant, pulling her into a small booth before thoughtlessly taking the seat beside her. He peered at the menu, unaware that Sakura was blatantly observing his odd state.
"What is wrong with you, Itachi?" she asked suddenly, sighing as she picked up her own menu.
Itachi tensed noticeably and spared her a glance, "There was an altercation between my father and myself that seems to have affected me more than it should."
Accepting this as an answer, Sakura huffed, "Clans and politics, I swear! I wish I didn't know so much about how they work…but under Tsunade-shishou, I had to study every clan in Konoha's customs and traditions. Some are just plain weird…"
"The Inuzuka's customs, I assume?"
"No, theirs are pretty straightforward and relaxed," she shivered, "but the Aburame's…let's just say that theirs are far more extreme than the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans' combined."
Itachi tried not to imagine the horrors that a bug-wielding clan could inflict on their enemies and the measures it took for the clan to maintain the secrecy of their full abilities. "Hn."
"Monosyllables again?" Itachi's companion sighed, her pink hair shaking with her head. "Both you and Sasuke really need to learn to avoid that particular sound."
"We inherited it from our father," he explained, motioning for the waitress. "Chichi-ue is not fond of unnecessary words."
"May I take your order…Uchiha-sama?" the waitress smiled brightly at the Uchiha heir, but did not fully extend the manners to Sakura.
Sakura, not bothered at all by the waitress' disregard, spoke first, "I would like biscuits and gravy, please, and for the drink…a Sprite would be lovely."
The young waitress frowned for a moment before writing down Sakura's order and turning to Itachi, "And for you, Uchiha-sama?"
Sakura paid little attention to his order and instead turned her attention to the young girl standing by their booth. She was overeager to please the uncaring Uchiha and clearly did not care for Sakura's presence next to the object of her affections. The girl would throw uncertain glances toward Sakura and enamored eyes to the apathetic face of Itachi. Sakura nearly smiled when she concluded that the girl had forgotten to breathe as she stared at his moving lips as he recited his order.
"I-Is that all?" the waitress stuttered.
"Yes," Itachi answered shortly, clearly conveying his wish for her to leave.
The girl took a step back and then another as she nodded her head slowly, "I-I'll be back with your drinks," before she scurried away unhappily.
Sakura let out a laugh she had been saving, "That poor girl!"
Itachi cast his companion a light glare as she continued to chuckle, "She should do her job."
Sakura stopped laughing and turned to the man beside her, "I thought she was doing pretty well actually, but if your order is wrong it's because she forgot how to breathe!"
"Tch…girls are irritating."
"Now you sound like Sasuke," Sakura pursed her lips, "If anyone is irritating, it's the two of you."
"You've lumped me into the same category as my brother," he said slowly with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Sakura nodded, "You've both very alike."
"Are we really?" Itachi was not amused, Sakura gathered; his lips were closed into a deep frown and his eyebrows were scrunched together in irritation.
"Sometimes."
He turned to face her fully and stared directly into her eyes, "Have you kissed my brother too?"
Sakura's eyes went wide and her eyebrows shot up as her mouth gaped in surprise, "N-No!"
"Do you want to?"
"No!" Her expression twisted into something resembling anger, "I would never kiss that sexist bastard!"
"So I am different than my brother?"
"Very! I was mistaken!" Sakura conceded angrily, "Only you would trap me through the use of awkward questions, Itachi."
"My brother is not clever enough to use such methods."
"Sneaky bastard," Sakura muttered as the waitress returned with their drinks and stumbled away. She gently closed her mouth around the straw and ignored him as she drank from her Sprite.
Itachi's eyes were instantly drawn to the straw and he was suddenly struck with an epiphany: He knew what he wanted from this…acquaintance, his father be damned. Itachi wanted to pursue a relationship, and as uncharacteristic of him as it already was, a relationship with his brother's teammate.
His hand shot out suddenly and moved the drink away from her. She was glaring at him in annoyance, but his other hand shot out as quickly as the first to rest itself on her shoulder and he tugged her closer to his person. "Sakura…"
To say the medic was surprised was an understatement- she was bewildered! "Itachi? What the hell are you doing?"
Itachi leaned forward, hunched over to be eye-level with the shorter medic, and whispered, "Cementing the difference between Sasuke and myself."
And he kissed her. In public.
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Alright, this is part one of a two-shot!
How is it so far?
It moves a little quickly, but hey! It's sixteen pages and that's more than I usually write per chapter.
Like I said, this is an anniversary fic to commemorate my first story, albiet it's a little late.
I like to think I've improved over the last year. Although I don't think I'm nearly a wacky as I used to be, I hope I'm still funny enough…oh God! Am I funny? Am I trying too hard? AH!
Please end my confusion by dropping me a review, if you would~
Await the second installment with patience! I just started school on Wednesday and Senior year is supposed to be busy…so we'll see about the timeline.
I love the many readers of the world…sometimes,
AJlovesKakashi
P.S. Please read the story I posted yesterday, "Last Night," if you don't mind. It doesn't have any reviews yet, but it's three times as funny and descriptive as this one (and shorter). And it's a oneshot! What have you got to lose? I'd be very appreciative~