Hi. Just felt like writing something today. Hope you enjoy. Reviews are more than welcome.

dai86

Chapter 1

Late night visit

Itachi watched her tuck the little boy in bed through the apartment window. Normally, he would consider this an invasion of her privacy, something he wasn't prone to do. Especially after their falling out. But the spying was unintentional. He came tonight to talk to her and it would be better if the boy was out of the way for this, despite him being the main topic. So he waited until the kid was asleep.

The moonlight allowed him to see clearly as she bent down to kiss little Kazuki's forehead, her long hair falling over his head. Under the dim light, pink and blond hair looked paler, making an interesting blend. He sighed slightly. He was never one to be driven by appearances, but in this case one could say that even he could suffer from hindsight.

The Uchiha watched as she silently closed the bedroom door and moved to the living room to collect scattered items, probably the handwork of the four years old. She seemed tired, he noted. Being a single parent must not be easy. Normally, a young kunoichi with her skills would be striving in a shinobi career. Either that or considering the possibility of marrying some luck guy and starting a family. She was only 22 after all.

Well, Itachi figured a son at such young age ought to change plans. The fact that nobody seemed to know the identity of the boy's father only complicated her situation. Still, he heard she had several propositions from men volunteering for the position. Itachi didn't know why this bothered him, or why the fact that she remained unattached pleased him. He had no claim over her, not anymore.

It wasn't his place to help her when she struggled with her pregnancy. He watched with concern from afar as her friends supported her through the ordeal. He had no reason to get angry at the rumors going around the village or snap at the nasty comments about the pink haired kunoichi when he happened to stumble upon them.

Dark eyes darted to her form leaving to the kitchen. Straining his ears he could hear the electric click of the stove. It was the perfect moment to confront her. It's been years since they last spoke. Nonetheless, it was hard to completely rid yourself of someone else's presence in a village. But they managed to keep their interaction to a minimum. He would spend most of his time away from Konoha on missions, and she kept herself busy with her work in the hospital and parental duties. Miraculously, out of the several times he landed on the hospital, he had never seen a glimpse of pink. He suspected it was not incidental. It was their unspoken agreement.

Their contact over the last years was limited to a few occasional encounters on the streets, when they would blatantly ignore each other. There was this one time, he recalled, when they bumped on each other in the ANBU headquarters. He noticed a glimpse of shock and trepidation a second before her face went blank and she properly apologized for her lack of attention before continuing on her way out of the building.

Feigning disinterest he later approached Jun, the officer that had been accompanying her, to question about her presence there. He seemed to have no qualms about humoring the ANBU captain and explained that the medic came to heal a prisoner. Jun made no secret of his admiration of her skills. Itachi knew this much about her, having worked with the young kunoichi before. What threw him off was the added comment that the medic seemed a little shaken in the interrogation room. There'd been three officers with her while she healed the man, despite that Jun had noticed the tension on her posture. He dismissed it to the awful condition of the prisoner. Interrogations were never pretty. But Itachi knew better. Sakura had been an excellent field medic. He'd seen her tend to gore situations with nothing but extreme professionalism. He knew what bothered her – Sakura just never seemed to get comfortable around ANBU.

Back then he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. After all, he had made the decision to sever his bonds with the girl. And now… now what? What did he want? To rekindle their relationship in light of his newly acquired information? It didn't seem feasible. Still, he felt the need to confront her with the truth. The truth that she'd kept from him. He had drawn his conclusions from his investigation, but he needed to hear it from her. They needed to settle misunderstandings, and whatever the outcome might be, it would sprout from facts, however hurtful they were. There would be no more lies, and hopefully no more regrets.

- 00000000 -

Sakura finished tightening her living room and moved to the kitchen to make herself some tea before diving in the medical reports she brought from the hospital.

Reaching for her cup on the shelf she froze midway.

Stunned she slowly turned around to look over the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. Even before she laid eyes on the tall figure standing on her balcony she knew he was there. Not even years apart managed to erase the felling of his chakra from her memory. He held her gaze with his own blank one, silently asking for entrance. She could only stand there stunned, her mind trying to assimilate the fact that this man was standing on her balcony in the middle of the night, after all these years.

They seemed to stare at each other for quite some time before he cocked his head, hinting at his impatience for her lack of reaction. She shook out of it, hesitantly moving to the balcony door and sliding it open, gesturing him to enter. Without preamble he came in and as he moved passed her she reminisced on the scent of musk and rain she once knew too well. She closed the door and turned to him anxiously.

"Uchiha-san," his surname sounded so foreign on her lips. The last time she used it was right before the first time he kissed her. These last years however she simply didn't address him at all. His presence on her home now was nothing short of unexpected.

"Sakura," he addressed her with a hint of emotion, which to Itachi was something quite unusual. Her breath hitched at the sound of his voice calling her name so intimately. A sense of foreboding flooded her senses and suddenly it all felt too surreal. He kept on speaking, "we need to talk."

Dread settled on her stomach. She had feared this day would come, when he would want to confront her. She knew she wouldn't have the strength to lie to him, neither to tell him the truth. Even so, she vainly hoped this could be about something else.

"Really? What about?" She forced herself to sound casual.

"Kazuki's father," Itachi answered bluntly without missing a beat.

Sakura paled, feeling like she might sway on her feet. She tried to recompose herself the best she could. "I'm sorry, Uchiha-san. But this… it is a private matter. I mean… I'm sure you understand-"

"Stop it!" he commanded. The harshness in his tone forced her to take a step back. Sakura had forgotten how threatening this man could be. He barely raised his voice and still felt like it was reverberating through the apartment. For a second she feared her son would wake up, glancing at the bedroom door. Itachi noticed this and willed himself to calm down. "Don't worry. He won't wake up," he assured her. Sakura looked back at him, still lost for words.

"Sakura…," he started, "enough with lies and games. I just want the plain truth from you. Don't you think I deserve at least that?" He was back to his composed self. But she could see the emotions bubbling underneath. She had known this man better than anyone after all. She closed her eyes and took a calming breath. "Yes…"

As she opened her eyes after a long time she held his gaze unflinchingly. "Yes, you do Itachi."

The way she addressed him, finally looking into his eyes after years of averting hers away, shook him. He had forgotten how much he had missed her attention, how hard it had been… has been to get over her. No woman had ever gotten under his skin like Sakura had. And no other ever would, he came to realize. However, even after that epiphany, pride was not something he could let go of so easily. She had wounded him. And he was not one to forgive.

They were interrupted by the whistle of the kettle coming from the kitchen. She sighed and turned away. "Tea?" she offered. He followed her. Yes, it would be good to discuss four years of misleading and resentment over tea.

Tea would be good indeed.

- 00000000 -

Itachi noted the pile of files pushed to the side on the table. She had probably planned to work tonight before he showed up. Noticing her return, he looked back as she placed the cups in front of him and poured the tea in them. It surprised him that she still had these cups with cherry blossom pattern after all these years. It was one of the last gifts he had given her when they were together.

Sitting across the table from him she blew the steaming from her cup. Orange Pekoe, he recognized the scent - her favorite. It brought a jolt of memories. She took a sip of her tea, still not looking at him. He looked down at his own cup. It felt like a lifetime ago when they last had tea together. Her voice pulled him from his memories. "What…," she hesitated. "What do you want to know?" she asked from behind her own cup.

"Everything," he answered directly.

This time she faced him. "Why now? After all these years… why do you want to dig in the past? What difference does it make now?"

"Because only now I realized you deceived me."

She found almost unnerving how easily he kept his voice steady and calm.

"If it really doesn't make any difference, you should be able to disclose the truth without problem," the Uchiha insisted.

She went from surprised to angry in a blink. "Fuck you," she hissed, "are you doing this out of a whim? What right do you have to- have you even thought about my son?"

"Have you?"

He saw her move long before her hand made contact with his face. He made no move to prevent it however. Even though his cheek stung a little he showed no reaction. As he turned to face her again he was met with an angry girl bending over the table. Again he was struck with the familiarity of these emotion filled eyes. She was breathing heavily.

Anger suited her. Yes, much better than the politeness of her bland self, he realized.

"How dare you," she trembled. "Everything I had ever done was for Kazuki… everything." She whispered the last of her words lowering her head to hide the tears.

Itachi felt his heart constrict. Despite how much he longed for a reaction from her, a real one, he never liked to see her distressed to the point of crying. His hand twitched and once in a long time he indulged in his urges. He reached out for her hand, and the touch stunned him as much as it did her. She stiffened at the contact, not expecting it. Like her, he felt electricity running through his fingers. Her skin was warm to the touch as it had always been, if not a little softer. Unconsciously he sought more contact, squeezing her fingers gently and running his thumb over her knuckles. She tried to pry her hand away in a feeble attempt.

"I do not wish to distress you or Kazuki. I would never expose either of you to idle rumors. Whatever we discuss tonight is between us. I just need to know. I believe you can understand that."

He thought he felt her squeeze his hand back but only lightly. "Ok," she muttered as she sat back down, taking her hand away, "but… what brought this up now," she insisted on a more leveled tone.

"I heard Kazuki developed his kekkei gekkai."

'Oh, so he had heard about it.'

"I didn't realize ANBU captains busied themselves with Academy matters." Sakura drawled ironically.

"Sakura…," he frowned.

"Sorry," she apologized sincerely. "But this only proves what I told you back then," she muttered. "I never lied to you about Kazuki."

"But you didn't tell me the whole truth either." He looked at one of the pictures on the shelf, the one with Naruto holding the little boy. The kid's onyx eyes smiled in the picture. "You just let me make the wrong assumptions."

"I didn't think it would matter to you. I'd told you. Naruto has always been like a brother to me. We were never involved in that way." Her words sounded almost accusing. Maybe they were. He knew she resented him for doubting her in the past. "He is not Kazuki's father."

"I know that now –" he sounded apologetically.

"You should've known back then!" She hissed angrily.

Years ago, she managed to anger him enough to let go of the subject. Because of it he didn't pursued it anymore. It hurt too much to do so. She threw hurtful words at him, pushing him away. Her words made him believe she had betrayed him.

She'd betrayed him; he abandoned her to deal with the consequences. That's all there was to it.

At least he believed so.

But not this time. He wouldn't let Sakura push him away again. Instead of backing off or lashing angrily at her he tried something different.

"I'm sorry," he surprised her, "but I would have believed you if you had told me what really happened," he unfolded a paper and placed it on the table. "You refused to tell me who was Kazuki's father," he pushed her the paper, "and I had to find out on my own."

Sakura looked down on the paper with sad eyes, drawing forth memories better forgotten.

Happy New Year, everybody.

I´ll try to update soon.

dai86

(Edited on May,2012)