A touch of imagination
To say that Itachi Uchiha was not amused would be an understatement. No. He was, in the right words, pissed off. And he didn't make any effort to hide it either. Following the new orders of the Hokage "Every team must include a medic-ninja." he has selected a skilled medic-nin to join his infamous squad eleven in their future missions. Given his status, he was the first ANBU captain to be able to select the desired person to join his team and he obviously chose what seemed to be the best option.
He requested Haruno Sakura, the very apprentice of the Hokage herself, and whereas the young woman lacked experience in the battle and was not the best fighter of them all, she was a great medic and a very smart and witted kunoichi. He was sure that with the proper training and after a couple of rough missions with his team she will improve greatly and will be able to keep up with them. All he knew was that she was good enough to keep herself alive and, for now, that was all that he needed. They will do the fighting for her and she'll be there to quickly patch them up. It was perfect, he thought bitterly. Anyone would have been honored to be given such an opportunity. She should have been honored. He mused as he angrily crumpled in his fist the poor piece of paper.
When he had voiced his decision, the Hokage watched him warily but approved it nonetheless. His teammates also approved of her wholeheartedly. They trusted his decision, knowing that he always sought out the best for the people under his command. She had been properly introduced to the rest of the guys one week after all the formalities and the paperwork had been dealt with and she seemed excited about it! He remembered how eager she was at their first training session and how adamant she was to prove them she was worthy to be fighting with them.
Without a word of complaint she accepted the black and gray ANBU attire and Itachi's order at carefully hiding her pink hair and renouncing at the usual red uniform during any mission with him. While he doesn't care of a person's choice of clothing and hair color he was very strict with a shinobi's appearance during combat. And pink hair was out of the question. It was an easily noticeable, distinctive color and it would put everyone in danger. And that was not something he desired.
They trained together almost daily for a couple of weeks before Sakura joined them in a mission. Whereas he decided that they will do the fighting for her he wanted to make sure that the kunoichi will be able to keep up with their traveling and the rough conditions of their missions without her getting exhausted and not being able to do her job as a medic. He sure didn't want or need to carry dead weight.
Their first mission last month was a surprise even for himself. Sakura was able to keep up with their fast ANBU rhythm of travel and did not say a word when they had to sleep on the rough soil under the bare sky while the mosquitos were circling them. She kept quiet and followed every order that was given to her. When they had to engage fight with the rogue shinobis they had been hunting for information, she did her own share, beating two of them to a bloody pulp and was still able to heal her teammates in the end, accepting their congratulations and words of encouragements with a small, shy smile.
When it was his time to be healed, Itachi shook his head considering that his wounds were not serious enough for the medic to waste any chakra on them. With a little twitch, that didn't go unnoticed by the Uchiha, she promptly turned on her heel and put her mask back over her face. With a nod they took off in a sprint towards Konoha. Even though he didn't say anything, he was impressed.
Since then, they only had two more missions together. Again, everything went smoothly, but this time along Itachi felt a little annoyance creeping in the back of his mind. Their medic behaved too well. She was on par with them when traveling, she always took part in the fight without getting herself killed and, at the end of every fight, she was still able to heal them and carry herself home. She was not the burden he half expected her to be during her first ANBU level missions and under his lead nonetheless. She was doing exactly what was expected of her without a complaint, nothing more, nothing less. In the past he's heard a lot of stories about team 7's missions and he's often seen them in action. So he knew better than to let himself be fooled by this. Something was off with their little cherry blossom. So, being the considerate taichou he took it upon himself to find it out.
For the last few days he had been tailing the Haruno girl, studying her behavior towards her former teammates and sensei noting how she acted a lot more freely than she did with them. Perhaps she found it harder to open up to them? Itachi soon dismissed the thought. Whereas they did not work in a team before, they have known each other since Team 7 had first formed, and, while he wasn't much of a talker and a friendly person, Shisui and Genma would have made it impossible for someone not to warm up towards them. They have even managed to get under his skin for crying out loud! From the information he had gathered she was on call at the hospital for that evening, thus giving him more than enough time to do a little scan of her apartment. He managed to get his cousin's help in the matter under the excuse that they need to know all they can about their fellow kunoichi to make sure that she was the most suitable for the position. His cousin scowled at him in response, reminding him how good the girl did during their training and missions, but followed the Uchiha heir to Sakura's apartment.
She had placed several seals and booby traps at the entrance, the younger man noted with satisfaction. At least she was being precautious. He was sure they'll find a lot more inside. And he was not disappointed at all, he thought as he watched his partner get tangled in a bunch of chakra enhanced ropes. With a muttered curse Shisui freed himself and was off to check her bedroom which also served as a library and study. Itachi activated his Sharingan and took an overall glance at the small apartment.
The narrow hall leading towards the bedroom was full of books and different scrolls. Besides the bookshelves, the only other piece of furniture was a tiny cherry wood table on which rested a couple of scrolls and a vase with five withered daisies. The doctor probably didn't spend a lot of time at her home lately. He opened the bathroom door and scanned the room with his Sharingan. There was no need to invade the girl's privacy so much. If there was anything she wanted hidden she would have surely used a chakra seal and with his eyes he would have sensed it immediately. He noticed a faint shade of green in the cabinets and smirked. A seal, just as he thought. He silently made his way to the cabinet above the sink and opened it.
He raised an eyebrow picking up the small chest. An emergency medical kit, he deduced as he raised the top and lifted the small containers at eye level. Special medical creams infused with her healing chakra, pills and teas all containing the woman's chakra. A very smart move, Itachi thought considering how often medics drive themselves to the bridge of exhaustion not always being able to heal everyone or even themselves. With a twinge of pride for his new teammate, he put the chest back and exited the room that smelled way too girly for his tastes. He knew that women use a lot of cosmetic and beauty products. But seeing a room full of bottles of shampoo, body creams, body washes, perfumes and what not made his head a little dizzy.
He scanned the living room and glanced lazily over the photos adorning on her pale yellow walls. There were some photos of her team 7, where they all smiled cutely at the camera, except maybe Sasuke who was smirking and Kakashi whose face was hidden behind his usual mask, but judging by the creases around his eyes, he too was smiling. There were pictures with the rookie nine and she even had one with Ino since they were little girls. His eyes softened a little. He liked how her short hair blew softly in the wind and how she laughed without a single care in the world. He liked the innocence in their eyes and he felt envious. He had never had the opportunity to be a child. Not with the clans expectations of him.
He sighed and pushed the memories in the back of his mind. He did another chakra scan of the woman's kitchen and sensing no disturbance he left for the bedroom. There was no need to check the kitchen thoroughly. He knew for a fact that Sakura didn't cook. And when she did... she usually had to replace most of the furniture and appliances. Plus, he remembered clearly that Shisui made a bee line for the medic's bedroom and didn't come out yet. He was probably rummaging through the poor girl's drawers checking what kind of lingerie she used. He sighed and pushed the door open. His raven colored eyebrows rose in astonishment. Shisui, his very perverted cousin, was seated at Sakura's desk his eyes glued to a piece of paper which he held tightly in his grasp. His mouth would now and then, take the shape of an "O" as his dark eyes would widen. He threw his head back and laughed wholeheartedly.
"Ne, Itachi-chan!" He called after his younger cousin. Chuckling he turned to face the other man and rose to his feet waving the pieces of paper. "Did you know that our dear, little, sweet Sakura-chan is a writer? She even wrote a couple of stories about you." His wide grin turned now into a deep frown. "But, I don't think she likes you that much. She already gruesomely killed you two times and I've barely read half the story." Itachi blinked for a couple of times and quickly snatched the papers from Shisui grasp, putting his right hand on the head of the squirming Uchiha to keep him at a safe distance.
"Oi! Give them back to me! Listen up you little brat!" Itachi ignored Shisui's rambles and threats as he was quite used to them and he kept reading the story, his Sharingan activating itself in anger as he read the very detailed scenes of his deaths. Firstly, Sakura's characters feed him to the sharks during a riot for being an inconsiderate, ice-bitch, lord of the land who never cared or appreciated other people's work and was too self-centered to see how women could easily do a man's job. Then a kind fairy revived him and he was given a second chance to life as a modest merchandiser, only for him to be robbed by bandits not a week after, and then be used as a kunai target practice by said bandits. His lifeless body was unceremoniously thrown off a cliff and left for the ravens to eat. He angrily crumpled the piece of paper in his hand, feeling both infuriated and hurt.
He shoved the papers into Shisui chest and stomped out of the apartment. His cousin watched bewildered his retreating figure and carefully laid the story back in Sakura's desk after he too left. He decided not to follow "the brat", how he often referred to both the brothers, not wanting Itachi to unleash his wrath upon him. With a nod he made his way towards the local tavern to treat himself to some delicious, well deserved serving of saké.
The Uchiha heir was fuming. He just left the young medic's apartment and headed towards the nearest training ground. He needed to blow of some steam. He would have wanted to pummel his cousin to the ground, but apparently the older Uchiha had deserted him. He worked himself to exhaustion making quite a mess from the training ground. Burned tree trunks were scattered all over and the ground itself looked like Tsunade had just had a fit. He took a deep breath and laid on a piece of grass from the margins which seemed to have survived untouched. He closed his eyes and with a somewhat clear mind tried to process today's events. Never once had he felt so much anger and hurt before.
He was always accused of being cold, and merciless with the shinobis under his command so this time, he thought he would do things differently. He wanted to show consideration towards the young kunoichi. He didn't take her easy, he just wanted to offer her some time to adjust to the changes. He never once doubted her skills, he just wanted to polish them enough so she would blend perfectly with his team. He wanted to be nice, and that was his reward. He thought bitterly. He felt his temper rising again. He wasn't used to this, he scoffed. People always liked and respected him, both as a shinobi and as a man. Single women, or even married ones would throw themselves at his feet if he even glanced their way. Sakura's stories were like a hard slap at his ego. And he didn't like it. Not one bit. He will have to change the Haruno's opinion of him. He decided, the wheels in his head turning as he made his way to the Yamanaka flower shop.
"Hello!" He greeted the cashier with a kind smile which made the woman almost faint. "I would like a bouquet of daisies, please."
A.N. First, I would like to apologise to all of you. I have not written in a while and both my English and writing skills have gone a little rusty. After returning to the site I've sadly noticed that a lot of the writers I used to read have gone MIA or have left this fandom. This saddens me and if you read this, please know that I miss you and it feels strange not having my email inbox full with story uploads. However, I hope that they had been replaced with equally good writers!
Thank you for reading my story, feel free to review it and tell me what your thoughts were! :)
-weaselcheater