Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or the show which is named after him, nor do I own any of the characters which appear in the aforementioned show yadda yadda yadda.

Pairing: Itachi X Sakura

Type: One-Shot

Warnings: Will probably have OOC (Out of Character)-ness. I apologize if there is OOCness in the story, I will do my best to...do my best? May have swearing in it.

Set: This story is set in an AU (Alternate Universe) realm.

Word Count: 2,820

Reshaped and edited by myself.

No Trespassing!

Violators Will Be Shot And Survivors Will Be Shot Again

+*+A ItaXSaku One-Shot+*+

It all started ages ago when I was about five. I was running away from the horrible orphanage when I came across this sign that said; "No trespassing! Violators will be Shot and Survivors will be Shot Again." Now I was only five, so sign reading was kind of impossible for me, but I now know what it said. Thankfully I hadn't been shot, though it was kind of a close call. Thank Kami for giant blue shark-people.

And as an afterthought; stupid weasel-ninja.

*_+_* Page Break *_+_*

When it had happened, it was the middle of the night. Itachi was milling around, doing one more round of the place before he woke up Kisame for his shift, when a bundle of pink and black burst out of the bushes and across Itachi's line of vision.

Itachi's eyes widened comically, then narrowed dangerously. Someone had infiltarted the farm, and they would pay with their life. Before anyone had time to blink, Itachi had his favorite gun trained on the...thing.

The Akatsuki may have been a farming family but they had had their fair share of idiots thinking they could sabotage the Akatsuki's crop or one of their prized animals. Their plans always ended in failure with the Akatsuki coming out on top. Always. And Itachi wasn't about to botch it all up.

When his eyes adjusted to the contrast between the darkness and the thing...he blinked. It was only a little girl. His eyes softened a bit, then they hardened again, the idiots could be trying new tactics. The Uchiha's were known for their...unique methods. He was ashamed to call them his biological family - apart from his birth mother of course, he rather liked Mikoto, she made him cookies on occasion and sent them to him.

The girl, whose wide green eyes were now looking right into the barrel of the gun, froze in fright and started to shiver.

"Who do you work for?" Itachi questioned in a smooth and deadly voice.

The girl shook her head, her bottom lip quivering. She didn't understand what he was saying but she remembered her parents being shot with that thing he had in his hand. She also remembered them not waking up afterwards, no matter how hard she had shaken them.

Itachi growled, cocked the gun and was about to fire when a big, blue, shark-like guy, took the gun out of his hands, whacked him on the head and then settled a strong hand on his shoulder.

Kisame looked at Itachi in disbelief, "where you about to fire a gun at a little girl?" He questioned, not even sure of the question himself. The situation was bizarre and just a little bit frightening.

Itachi furrowed his brow, confused at his own actions and shook off Kisame's hand. The little girl started to cry and Kisame looked torn between hitting Itachi again and comforting the little, pink haired girl.

"Itachi, I know you're only nine but even you know the difference between an enemy and a little girl, right?" He said, trying to reassure himself that Itachi wasn't cold-blooded, as he picked up the little girl and cradled her in his arms. When her sniffles quietened, he found he could do both.

Itachi shook his head, "I'm sorry Kisame, I don't know what came over me..." he trailed off, looking down at the ground in shame. It hadn't been long ago that he had been adopted by the Akatsuki, after his own parents - and whole family - had carelessly, and coldly, threw him away. He had wandered the streets of the nearby town before being found by the Kisame, who'd taken him to Pein.

Kisame sighed, "look kid, I'm sure you're just tired. It's been a long day and you're still not used to the hours we have to work. It'll be easier when we have a larger family. You know Pein has been thinking about recruiting even more members."

Itachi looked up at Kisame with wide eyes, "really?" He questioned, both daunted and excited by this prospect, at the same time.

"Yep." Kisame smiled, his white shark teeth glinting in the dark. He reached over and pet Itachi on the head, able to hold the little girl comfortably with just one muscled arm.

Itachi still looked guilty, even Kisame could see that and it was almost pitch black, so he wracked his brains a second to think of a solution. Then it came to him.

"I know how you can make it up to her."

"How?"

"Be her big brother and best friend. Protect her from the dangers of the world and teach her everything you can. I'll let Pein know of our new guest right away, who knows, she might have just gotten lost." Kisame said, though they both know the chance of someone getting lost and wandering all the way out into the middle of nowhere - which was where the Akatsuki farm was located - was very, very low.

*_+_* Page Break *_+_*

Many years passed and Itachi grew older and more mature. Sakura, however, grew up but stayed at the same maturity level. But Itachi found he didn't mind so much, Sakura wouldn't be Sakura if she didn't act like a bubbly, little girl. And suddenly she was 17, and he was 21.

*_+_* Page Break *_+_*

"Come on Itachi-kun! You promised we could go swimming today! If you don't hurry up, I'm going to die of old age before we even get there!" Sakura whined to Itachi through the bathroom door. Itachi rolled his charcoal eyes but smiled. Today was a big day, so he would let her childish behavior slide. He sighed, who was he kidding? She wouldn't be Sakura if she acted her age.

He made sure his pants were tied firmly - he wouldn't want a repeat of last year's 'prank' - and opened the bathroom door.

Sakura squealed lightly and grabbed onto his hand, pulling him excitedly through the mansion and out into the sunlight.

Itachi tried to shield his eyes from the bright light with the one hand that hadn't been captured, but Sakura paid no mind to the sudden intense light. She was a day person and he was a night person. It was strange how they could be friends, but they were. They were the best of friends. But when he finally saw her, he wished she would see him differently. He would have stopped still if she hadn't been dragging him along. She turned to smile widely at him. His breathe hitched.

When had she gotten so beautiful? Her hair was pastel pink in colour, feathered and cut short. Her eyes were child-like, wide and pastel green. Her skin was as pale as fresh snow. But her smile was the most beautiful characteristic about her - it was wide and refreshing.

She blushed lightly at the look she was getting. Sakura stopped in her tracks and fully faced Itachi.

"W-What's wrong Itachi-kun?" She asked, worried that she did something wrong and he didn't want to hang out with her today after all. She'd never gotten that look before and couldn't place it.

Itachi shook his head and smiled a small rare smile.

"Nothing is wrong, Sakura-chan. Let's go and have some...fun."

Sakura didn't notice his slight hesitation and cheered. She began dragging him along again with renewed vigor.

It was just going to be them today even though it was her birthday. The rest of the Akatsuki was out showing off their prized animals and selling their produce, as it was market day.

They said they'd make it up to Sakura by letting Itachi stay behind and making sure to bring something extra special home as an apology.

Sakura didn't mind in the least, she had wanted to spend the day with Itachi anyway.

*_+_* 10 Minutes Of Pulling Later And They Were There *_+_*

It was a beautiful spot; a waterhole surrounded by trees, bushes and flowers. It also had all sorts of strange, smooth, rock formations, and the bottom of the waterhole was covered in smooth river rocks. It also had a high, but not too high, cliff like rock that jutted out halfway across the water. The boys liked to jump off, but Sakura preferred getting in the water manually.

Thankfully, no one gotten hurt yet. There were safety rules concerning the rock that everyone abided to.

Sakura and Itachi stopped on top of the cliff, this was where most of the Akatsuki preferred to leave their stuff. This was mainly because this was their last stop.

Pein had found the waterhole when he'd first had the Akatsuki mansion built. To tell the truth, Pein was rich enough to retire for the rest of his life - before he'd started up the farm. But he loved the land. And he also wanted to rule the farming world, like he'd taken over the business, and mafia worlds.

Itachi had thought Pein was insane when they'd first met, but he was a really nice guy - once you got past the 'mess-with-me-and-I'll-kill-you' look he always had on his face. Kisame had told Itachi that Pein was really a huge pushover, especially when faced with his wife, Konan. This much was true, Itachi found out later. And he was also a pushover when the issue in question involved pink-haired girls.

Itachi looked at Sakura and did a double take. When had she taken off her clothes (she has a bikini on people ;p)?

She was wearing a tasteful two piece; it's background colour was black and it had light pink cherry blossom petals.

Sakura, who was looking down at the waterhole, stretched. Itachi had to look away, lest he start drooling. He distracted himself by taking off his shirt, throwing it on a nearby rock, running past Sakura and jumping in.

Sakura giggled, but didn't feel as daring as Itachi and decided to walk around the cliff-like rock to get to the waterhole. Yes, she preferred to do some things the manual way.

She didn't see a pair of glinting eyes in the bush nearby, nor the faint sound of crunching leaves as the thing began to move.

*_+_* Page Break *_+_*

Sakura grinned when she finally reached the bottom. She let her toes sink a little in the soft sand - which she figured Pein had imported into the waterhole. As she was just about to get start walking into the water, Itachi suddenly appeared. He was dripping wet.

He had a serious look in his eyes and they flashed in the sun, almost appearing to be blood red.

"Stay very still Sakura, there's something in the bush." Itachi said, voice deadly.

Sakura was in her own little world and hadn't heard one word Itachi'd said. She only just noticed he had a gorgeous chest, all muscle. The water running of it wasn't helping. She blushed.

Then she felt something latch onto her back and screamed.

She grabbed whatever it was on her back before Itachi could move and held it in front of her, preparing herself to chuck. Then she realised what it was and breathed a sigh of relief, letting it jump to the ground.

It was only Naruto's pet fox. Itachi visibly relaxed, but narrowed his eyes and looked around. Wherever the fox was, the master was always close by.

While Itachi was scrutinizing the surrounding bushland, Sakura was cooing at the little fox-creature, who Naruto had dyed to his specifications.

It was orange, yellow and white in colour and very fluffy. It also had bright blue eyes. She squealed.

"Oh, look Itachi! It's Naruto's fox!"

Itachi sweat-dropped at Sakura, "I still don't know why he dyed the poor thing." He muttered.

"Because it's cool! Believe it!" Naruto's loud voice came from the other side of the waterhole and both Sakura and Itachi turned to him. Beside him was Itachi's little brother, Sasuke Uchiha.

Despite the Akatsuki, Uchiha, and Uzumaki clans calling a ceasefire, Itachi had always been a little wary around the members of the other clans and couldn't relax fully when they were around.

Itachi had to hold in an enraged growl. He'd wanted to spend the day with Sakura - alone.

Sasuke and Naruto made their way over to where the two teens were; Naruto smiling goofily at Sakura - he'd always said he had a crush on Sakura, even though everyone knew that he was secretly crushing on Hinata - and Sasuke staring at Itachi. Sasuke had never been told what had happened to the Uchiha prodigy, and Itachi wanted to keep it that way. In fact, as far as he knew, Sasuke didn't even know they shared the same blood.

Sakura smiled widely and greeted them both enthusiastically, though she had wanted to share the day - alone - with Itachi as well, she wasn't about to tell her two other best friends to shove off.

Sasuke approached Sakura and gave her something, which he'd hidden behind his back. He blushed lightly as he was handing it over and stared bashfully at the ground.

"Here," he told her in a monotone, "this is from mother, Naruto and I."

Naruto grinned at Sakura, "Sasuke here wanted to give it to you. Really insistent about it actually."

Itachi glared angrily at the trees. He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that this particular feeling was called, 'jealousy.' He didn't like it.

Sasuke glared angrily at Naruto and punched him in the arm, "shut it idiot."

Naruto bared his fang-like teeth at Sasuke, "what did you call me, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked, "an idiot."

Sakura smiled and shook her head lightly at their behavior. Even though they were like this, they really were the best of friends. All three of them were.

She looked over at Itachi, he wasn't standing that far away from her, but she could tell he felt a little left out.

She lightly took his hand in her own and immediately felt pleasant sparks shooting up her arm from where their hands joined.

He whipped his head around to look at her, obsidian eyes wide, and she knew, at that exact moment, that he could feel the curious sparks too.

She smiled warmly at him and she could have sworn he blushed.

She laughed lightly at the very thought.

Itachi? Blush? Never!

+_+ Finished +_+

Constructive criticism and anonymous reviewers (meaning you don't have to log in to review) are welcome. If you see any mistakes please tell me. Thankyou to all my reviewers, you are all loved.