A/N: So this is the first time I've tried writing a non-massacre fic. Thoughts? Review! :)
Sakura started walking down one of the hallways in the hospital but found a large crowd in the middle. There was a group of female nurses and doctors surrounding a bed in the middle of the hallways. Sakura winced at hearing all the shrieks but knew she should probably check out what was happening.
"What's going on here?" she asked loudly.
She shoved her way through some of the women to reach the bed. A bleeding Uchiha Itachi was lying there, about to faint.
"NO, I'LL TREAT ITACHI-KUN!"
"YOU CAN'T EVEN ADDRESS HIM RESPECTFULLY. I WILL TREAT UCHIHA-SAN!"
"NO, NO. ITACHI-SAN WILL OBVIOUSLY WANT MY SOOTHING HANDS TO BE TREATING HIM."
"SOOTHING? DID YOU MEAN SEETHING? I SHOULD DEFINITELY HEAL HIM!"
Sakura put a gentle hand on Itachi's forehead before raising her other hand to get the other women's attention.
"Excuse me!" she called clearly. "As the head medic, I will take this case. You all need to get back to your patients at once."
Knowing that they couldn't really say anything to her, they dispersed, muttering curses under their breath.
"Well, you've almost succeeded in getting yourself killed," Sakura remarked, wheeling him towards an open room.
"And your hospital staff nearly finished the job," Itachi replied dryly.
They had reached a room now and Sakura rolled the bed inside. Before she began treating him, she closed and locked the door.
"Feel the need to be in a locked room with me, Sakura?" he asked, a devilish grin playing with his lips.
"Well, if you'd rather they come back and kill you, I can unlock it," Sakura shot back briskly. "Now, shut up. I need to heal these injuries of yours."
As experienced fingers peeled back the tatters of his clothes, Itachi felt the need to say one last thing.
"I didn't know our relationship was progressing so quickly," he chuckled.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" she asked exasperatedly. "I swear I will break your jaw, Itachi. They're not too hard to heal."
Itachi promptly stopped talking and let Sakura's warm chakra radiate through his body. A few hours later, she gave him one last look and smiled triumphantly.
"Well, looks like you're all done," Sakura declared. "I'll call in one of the nurses to wrap you up."
She turned to leave but wasn't allowed to do so. Her wrist was caught by a surprisingly forceful hand, what with it having been covered in blood just a couple hours earlier.
"The head medic can't even bandage a patient?" Itachi asked playfully. "Come on, Haruno. Finish what you started."
"Why did I ever save you from those women?" Sakura sighed. "I should've left you there to die."
"And leave a string of broken hearts behind?" Itachi retorted. "I think not."
She started wrapping the bandages in a rather aggressive manner.
"Cool it, Haruno," he grumbled. "You mad at me or something?"
"Maybe if you would stop getting yourself half killed, I wouldn't be mad," Sakura muttered under her breath.
Itachi just barely caught her words.
"So you were worried about me," he realized. "Isn't that sweet? Sasuke'll be jealous."
Sakura glared at him with fierce green eyes.
"Sasuke-kun and I are just friends," she told him. "And I would never be worried about an idiot like you, Uchiha."
"It doesn't seem that way," Itachi grinned. "It's okay to admit it. I mean, you're not quite my little brother's young teammate anymore, are you?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sakura mumbled.
His dark eyes moved up and down her body in a most suggestive manner.
"I mean, you're older now," he shrugged. "It's different."
"Nothing is different," she rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You still just sit there happily while all the fangirls fawn over you, as you always have."
"Oh, and we find the real issue!" Itachi exclaimed. "So, because I was lying on the bed, bleeding my guts out while some women argued over my treatment, you're magically angry at me?"
"YES!" Sakura shouted.
She clapped a hand over her mouth as soon as she realized what she'd just said.
"That just slipped out," she said shakily. "Your bandages are done. A nurse will periodically come to check on you. If you are feeling anything strange, please press this button and somebody will help you. As your doctor, I recommend three days of rest. As someone who knows you, I know you'll be gone tomorrow morning."
Itachi looked at her curiously. That was quite a shift in mood she had just made.
"All the medical crap didn't just make me forget what you said," he informed her. "Stay a while, Haruno. Let's talk about this."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sakura sniffed. "I have other patients to attend to."
"I'm sure," Itachi said sarcastically. "I will keep pressing this button unless you stay."
Sakura raised her eyebrows. What was he playing at?
"And a nice nurse will be glad to keep you company," she laughed. "The nurses are rather attractive, wouldn't you say?"
"Well, they're nothing compared to the doctors," Itachi replied smoothly. "Come on, Sakura."
Sakura took a deep breath and pulled one of the visitor chairs up to the bed.
"Fine," she told him. "Let's talk."
Itachi felt a genuine smile pulling at the corners of his lips.
"First of all, why were you so irritated with that situation?" he asked.
"You really have to ask this?" Sakura snorted. "Itachi, though you were evidently on the brink of passing out, you weren't quite gone yet. And that amused look on your face was not helping any of those girls stop the whole ridiculous fanfare about treating you."
"So, I was a little amused," Itachi shrugged. "What's wrong with that?"
"Amusement indicates enjoyment," she answered. "And the fact that you were enjoying that is despicable."
He started coughing. Sakura didn't miss the bits of blood that came with the coughs. She reached out but quickly dropped her hand when his fit ended.
"In all seriousness, Sakura," Itachi began. "It wasn't a big deal. You know that I'm used to all that. Though, Sasuke never quite reached that stage. I wonder–"
"That," Sakura interrupted heatedly. "Is because Sasuke-kun can accept that girls are attracted to him without having to go and flirt with all of them."
"Why does it matter who I flirt with?" Itachi asked. "Besides, I don't recall you complaining about being flirted with."
She stared at him, openmouthed. He was satisfied with his retort; apparently, it had gotten to her.
"That is completely different," she insisted. "You don't even–"
"Oh yes," Itachi replied evenly. "I do flirt with you at times, Sakura. And you know it well."
She shook her head, her pink locks whirling through the air. Evidently, she had no response.
"Maybe," he said softly. "Maybe, it's because you thought there was something real there."
Sakura laughed. He noticed that her voice was a little higher pitched than usual.
"Don't be ridiculous," she told him. "I'm not one of your easy admirers. I've known you practically my whole life."
"What does knowing me your whole life have to do with anything?" Itachi inquired.
"I know how you are with your lady friends," Sakura responded. "I would never be stupid enough to fall for you."
She said it bitterly, like she'd been through the whole experience.
"You may not be easy, but you sure sound like an admirer to me," Itachi murmured.
He reached out to put a gentle finger on her cheek.
"Look, I can't do this," Sakura said, turning away. "I'm your little brother's teammate. And I thought I was your friend as well."
"We could be a lot more than friends, Sakura," he offered. "Friendship can be a prerequisite to love."
"And sleeping with you would–" she started.
"I don't want to sleep with you," Itachi interrupted, a disgusted look on his face. "Now, just hear me out."
He locked eyes with her for a moment and when she nodded, he kept going.
"It has been a long time since we first met," Itachi continued. "That first day you came bouncing through the door with Sasuke. My mom loved you right away and hoped that you and Sasuke would get married and have little pink haired Uchiha babies one day or something idiotic like that."
Sakura giggled. It sounded exactly like Mikoto-san to be thinking such things.
"You were blushing as Sasuke reluctantly introduced us," he grinned. "That was probably because he was standing too close to you. You still had that enormous crush on him at the time."
He paused for a moment. She was almost worried that their talk had been too exhausting for him but after a few seconds, he stated talking again.
"And then, something ridiculous happened," Itachi sighed. "You walked in four years later, a medic ninja, all grown up, intelligent, beautiful… What was I supposed to do? I didn't think it'd be appropriate to go after you."
"Like that stopped you," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Are we just going to pretend that one night in the club didn't happen?"
"I was a little drunk, okay?" he retorted defensively. "And it was just a kiss."
Sakura stood up, frustrated.
"That's exactly why it was ridiculous to fall for you, Itachi," she shook her head. "It wasn't just a kiss. It was a full blown kiss and it… It–"
"Made me feel something that I didn't want to feel," he finished. "Admit it, Haruno. You kind of want to feel that again."
"I kind of… WHAT?!" Sakura exclaimed, sitting back down. "No! Especially not for y–"
She was cut off by a tender hand pushing her head down. Soft lips enveloped hers and for a few blindingly brilliant moments, she was kissing him back.
"Uchiha Itachi!" she reprimanded him as she pulled away. "That was completely unnecessary and outrageously–"
"Perfect?" Itachi smiled. "Oh, I know."
"I have other patients to look after," Sakura said suddenly. "Bye! 3 days of rest, remember!"
"Didn't you say I'd be gone tomorrow morning?" he murmured, but she was already gone.
He grinned after her for a few minutes before closing his eyes and getting some sleep.
The next morning:
Sakura walked in, expecting to have to tidy up the room for the next patient. After all, Itachi never waited as long as his doctors told him to. Oh no, the Uchiha heir had better things to do than recover fully. Obviously, his health wasn't a high priority.
"Good morning, Sakura," Itachi said cheerfully.
She did a double take.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, carefully avoiding his eyes.
"Well, the nice nurse told me that my doctor was going to do a very important checkup in the morning," Itachi explained. "I didn't want to miss it."
"Load of BS," Sakura muttered. "I can't believe you're actually here."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Me either."
There was a moment of silence before Sakura walked over to the bed to plant a light kiss on his lips.
"Stick around for the rest of the three days and I'll consider falling for you, Uchiha," she breathed.
"Fall for me and I'll consider falling for you, Haruno," he shot back.
Sakura grinned at him.
"Don't act so hard to get," she laughed. "We both know you fell for me a long time ago."
She began walking out of the room.
"Goes double for you," Itachi called after her.
Sakura stopped at the door.
"You have another checkup in a couple hours," she informed him.
"I'll be waiting, Doctor," Itachi smirked.
She glared at him but, behind the glare, he saw the sparkle in her eyes.