~Catching A Raven~

Chapter 1: Where There's Smoke

Sequel to Sparks. You don't have to, but I would love if you would check it out and leave a review if you haven't already! This will be a chapter story (^_^)! Not sure how many chapters, though, as I am using your reviews to fuel it! Chapters will be short and sweet until the story picks up.

Hahaha y'all took it to 25 pretty fast!

Sakura stared at the back of her Buntaichou, completely uncertain of what to make of him. Why? Why would he even think to pull a stunt like that? Not that he hadn't been amazing, because Uchiha Itachi was good at everything humanly possible, but Sakura still didn't get why.

Unless he liked her.

But that was out of the question, since she was a lowly Haruno and he was like a ninja god. Kami. Well, she wasn't all that low on the ninja food chain, being the best medic nin after Tsunade-sama, but still. She wasn't quite in his league.

Unless he was trying to win a bet with someone.

Okay, she got that there was a rumor that she was hard to get close to, but that was so not true! Okay, so she disliked creeps and anyone that tried too hard to protect her, or treat her like some delicate china or something, because she was a kunoichi! And sure she would probably erupt into anger sometimes and beat the crap out of guys … but she always healed them up nicely afterwards.

Sakura launched herself from limb to limb, trying to keep her senses sharp even as her mind was filled with proposed reasons why Uchiha-Buntaichou had so randomly kissed her. He'd never expressed any sort of interest in her before, verbal or non-verbal, and quite frankly it hadn't been a problem.

Until now.

Sure, sure, his sheer awesomeness in the field made Sakura automatically gravitate towards him, but she rarely saw him without his ANBU mask on… except for training… and then he usually watched and guided the other team members, pointing out weak spots and giving advice in his monosyllabic, direct way… which meant Sakura rarely had time to really look at him much less go into fangirl mode.

And he got hurt so rarely that she hardly ever had to heal him, or see him without his ANBU gear on. Which, now that he'd gotten her thinking about it with his stupid, stupid stunt, really sucked!

Sakura scowled behind her mask, wishing she could just hit him and be done with it… but even if she attacked, she would probably never land a hit because he was just too fast. She had to admit it. It was easy to admit that.

Maybe he'd done it as a sick joke.

Yes, that sounded much more like it, Sakura decided.

'Yeah, those damn Uchiha are prone to madness. We should know, based on how many are in ridiculously over-priced rooms in the Konoha Asylum,' her inner dryly reminded her. He must have some maniacal plan in mind.

Maybe he'd heard her comment about the ice pole in his ass and had decided to get even. Which made sense the more Sakura thought about it. Maybe this was his way of saying that he was way too hot for ice to survive in his ass.

Damn.

Maybe she should apologise for that.

Unless of course there was another reason, which there was most likely because she was nowhere near devious enough to think on the same level as Uchiha. If there was another reason, and she made him aware of her comment, she was royally screwed.

Damn.

The more she thought about it, the more annoyed Sakura got because she just couldn't seem to find an answer that fit.

By the time the trees thinned even more and the large Konoha Wall came into view, Sakura was beyond pissed off.

He'd just left her hanging. He'd kissed her, and then just backed away like it was nothing. As if he'd just flicked a bug off her shoulders as against smashing her against a tree and invading her mouth with his disgustingly, annoyingly, infuriatingly, amazingly skilled tongue.

Damn!

Sakura walked behind her Buntaichou as they passed through the gate, expending a lot of effort in lieu of hiding how pissed off she was from him. She was struggling to contain the waves of anger she knew would freak out Naruto (wherever he was), if they so much as wafted from her body.

She carefully controlled her steps on the way to Lady Tsunade's office where they would debrief.

How had he even got her against that tree so fast? Sakura had only ever seen him move in speeds comparable to that when…

When…

When in the heat of battle!

Oh, holy mother of flying Buddha, Uchiha-Buntaichou had used a freaking Shunshin no Jutsu in order to kiss her?

She would never have been able to evade him, even if she had seen it coming!

Sakura ground her teeth together, now thankful for the ANBU mask shielding her face from the world. She forced herself to concentrate on the steady crunch of gravel beneath her open-toed ninja sandals and to warm summer breeze that brushed over the exposed skin of her arms.

She was thoroughly distracted.

Itachi could sense it by the way she walked, and the notion was a rather satisfying one. He could tell that his kiss had surprised her and it was obvious to him that she was still in shock, but trying to behave as if she wasn't.

And he was anxious to know what her reaction would be. Whatever it was, it was bound to be amusing.

Itachi led the way up the spiralling staircase that led to Tsunade-sama's office, incredibly aware of Sakura right behind him. Like a true ninja, she was deathly silent the entire way.

He was proud of her.

Apart from her aesthetic appeal, which she certainly had a lot of with those wide, bright green eyes, contrasting pink hair, flawless skin, shapely figure and… and those beautiful lips, Sakura was a force to be reckoned with in the field. Her determination, stamina, fierceness, and desire to pull her own weight were things that Itachi found incredibly attractive in a woman. She had a brain of her own, and used it well, and she was prodigious in the medical field, an asset that Itachi truly believed contributed vastly to his team's status as the one with the most successful missions.

Itachi knocked gently, but firmly, on Tsunade-sama's door, waiting for her barked 'Come in' before pushing the wooden object open.

"Debrief," the Fifth commanded without looking up from her paperwork. Itachi had no doubt, however, that she knew exactly who they were.

As he related the details of the mission, Itachi found his attention on his subordinate. Was she still so shocked by his actions that she'd simply closed off? Apart from her breathing and his sense of her chakra, Sakura was not moving a muscle or making a sound.

Usually she was a bit more vivacious than this!

Itachi was unsure of what to make of her behaviour.

After being dismissed by the Hokage, Sakura opted for jumping out the window instead of going back down the stairs, but when Itachi made to go after her, he'd found that she'd teleported away.

Itachi followed suit, materializing in his bedroom on the Uchiha compound. He'd long since moved out of his parents' house, and he found that living on his own suited him much better. Sure he still went back to his mother's house for meals, at her request, but he was relieved of a large amount of unwanted pressure since he'd removed himself from his father's domain.

Itachi tugged off his mask and laid it in the spot he always put it, before tugging his hair tie off and allowing his hair to fall freely down his back. He slowly undressed, putting everything in its rightful place before heading to the shower to cleanse himself of the grime that came from a week's travel.

It was good to be home.

She was home. Alone.

Just to be certain her Buntaichou was not uncharacteristically lurking in her vicinity, Sakura sent out a pulse of chakra to 'see' all in the area. Her Buntaichou was nowhere to be found.

Good.

And Sakura released the killing intent she'd been bottling up for hours now, smirking evilly when all living creatures froze in terror, younger children and animals fleeing to safe areas.

Oh she was mad. She was so mad.

'SHANNARO! We are going to get even! We have to!' her inner roared angrily. 'No one, no one, no one, not even the almighty Uchiha Itachi, leaves Haruno Sakura hanging!'

'I'm done being the girl that gets trampled on, over-protected, over-looked, left behind, and taken advantage of by those blasted Uchiha,' Sakura ranted inwardly, not wanting to speak out loud and have other people be privy to the root of her frustration.

'I second that, damn it! If we could attack that long-haired, too-gorgeous bastard and flatten his hot ass, we would!' her inner snarled.

'Two can play this game that Uchiha Buntaichou is playing. And I will play his game until I find out what it is that he's up to. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire,' Sakura thought, her lips twisting into a devilish grin as she ground her fist into her palm.

"Just you watch, Uchiha Buntaichou. I'll make it so not even you will realize what it is I am doing, you bastard," Sakura muttered. "And I will find out what it is you are up to!

She wouldn't go down without a fight.

YOSH! Chapter one of the sequel! Watcha think!?

This is a humor fic of Sakura finding artful ways to get back at Itachi, flirtatiously, ridiculously and otherwise.

Please review with scenes/concepts you wanna see in the next chappie! And plz read my profile!

Hope you liked!

TayMor!