AN: I have not forgotten about the little collection of chakra accumulating in Sakura. None of the characters have figured it out yet though. Thanks for the reviews last time (even if I didn't get very many T.T)
Sakura realized as she began to stir that he had stayed, just as he promised to. It felt strange, having his warm, bare body flush against hers, but not unwelcomed at all. His arms were tied about her, pulling her nakedness against his chest. She spun in place so that she could see him. He was still asleep, and looked more at peace than ever before, even more so than when they had basked together in the wonderful after sex glory in the back of that grungy bar.
It was a sad thing, that a man who longed for peace more than anything, was the centerpiece of so many offending sides. His position as an S-class criminal made him a person that he did not want to be, and more than anything, Sakura wished she could help him. He deserved to be happy, with what he had been put through in his relatively short life. Sakura wondered if she was capable of making the man she lay in bed with happy, or at least content.
They had both been selfish the night they had met, both of them starving for physical satisfaction and attention. She had used him to feel needed, he had taken her virginity to feel loved, and she had let him. Sakura could not regret the things they had done together, despite their lack of history. Itachi knew how to leave her fulfilled, and she took advantage of his need for human contact to get that. It was despicable, but they were both guilty of the same things, so it made it somehow acceptable.
Sakura stretched slightly to move the bangs hiding his face away, revealing his closed eyes. His sooty eyelashes caressed his cheeks softly, the sight of it sending a pang of jealousy through her. It was unfair how beautiful he was, while she was not. Itachi would beg to differ, but she saw not a single pleasing feature on her body. Her hair was pink, her eyes too green to match with her hair, and her forehead too big to be considered adoring.
Itachi woke to find a pouting Sakura looking up at his face, her envy of him as clear as her bubblegum pink hair. It was cute, he thought, smirking to himself. He shifted, letting her know that he was indeed, awake, and her expression softened by this knowledge. Perhaps it was because she looked so different, so exotic compared to other girls, but she looked simply beautiful.
"Do you not have a mission to depart on this morning?" He murmured carefully, pulling her in closer to his chest. Sakura smiled sadly, knowing just what he meant, even if he had not said as much. He needed to return to the accursed Akatsuki, and she herself had to go on her way as well. It seemed to Sakura that Itachi was not a very blunt person, but instead preferred to speak in riddles, leaving her to interpret what he said. Thankfully, her mind was as broad as her forehead, and so she was capable of keeping up with his intellect.
"Yes, I do." She replied, snuggling into him despite this fact. Her head rested in the nook of his neck, and fit comfortably with him. He smiled when she could not see, pressing his lips to her pink hair.
"When do you return?" He inquired softly. This could only mean he intended to return to her little apartment as soon as she had. Sakura sighed, not knowing how to answer exactly. It was not something easy to explain.
"I do not know yet. The last time we went on a mission about Sasuke, we did not return for nearly three weeks."
Itachi sighed, not liking the staggering difference between the long three days they had been apart, and now the possible three weeks. It was a long time, but he would have to be patient. Besides, the three weeks of separation was the longest it could ever be. Then she would be home again, and she could once more devote her time to being with him. He found himself wanting such things, which went against everything he used to know.
"That is a long time." He finally muttered, tightening his arms again in a possessive manner. Sakura giggled for a second, liking the feeling she got in knowing that Itachi would miss her in their separation. To think that someone as disconnected with the world, someone so aloof could feel that way for her made Sakura feel more special than she had in a long time.
"I will miss you too." Sakura teased, tilting her face up to kiss his chin. He scowled for a moment at her implications, before returning the favor in a more sincere way. Itachi lifted her chin up with a thin finger, then crushing his lips onto hers forcefully. She parted her lips to let him explore her mouth, his hot tongue sliding against hers.
As she moaned into him, Sakura quickly discovered what his body's urges were leaning towards. He loomed over her, the kisses he gave her searing with their heat. Sakura saw how he was building that fire again, trying to rile her into submission. The pit of his stomach was churning with excitement, enticing him to run his hands along her abdomen in lithe movements. Itachi reveled with each groan he made her sound, still proud with the point that he could cause such a sensual thing in a woman.
Sakura turned her head from him, cutting off the kisses he burned her with. "Itachi we cannot. Not now."
He stopped what he was doing, slightly disappointed with what she said, but understanding nonetheless. She had a mission to go on, and he needed to return to the Akatsuki headquarters before Pein-sama sent Kisame on a search for him. Right then though, he was more concerned with what to do with his growing erection. Surely she knew that he hated leaving things undone by now, even if he had stopped in the middle of their love making twice so far.
"Sakura..." His voice trailing off, his tone begging and his eyes hazed with passion. Her heart stopped momentarily by the way he had said her name, his longing and desperation clear.
"Itachi, I have to go on a mission. You know that." She whispered, though her face scrunching up in disappointed. The last thing she wanted to do was leave him so that she could find Sasuke. As a kunoichi, her missions came foremost though, and that meant she had to go anyway.
"You are right." He mumbled, rolling over to his back, lying on a mess of sheets and pillows. Half of him was disbelieving of what was happening to him; he was starting to act like an adolecent, thinking more with his dick than with his head.
Sakura slowly sat up. "I hate it too." She muttered, placing a delicate hand on his bare chest and leaning down to kiss him. Sakura left the room, taking a towel from the floor with her.
When Sakura returned to the bedroom from her shower with only a towel to cover herself, she found Itachi had left already. She could not say she was all that surprised, but she felt the urge to break down and cry anyway. To think they would be apart for so long was something she did not want to accept.
After the bad mood he had caught her in the previous day, Naruto was slightly hesitant to knock on Sakura's front door. Then he heard a cry of anguish, and so he put this thought out of his head, knocking on it anyway, only concerned with her general well being. What he failed to realize was that she had not cried out in anguish, but in surprise. How was he to know that Itachi had been there, and had left all of his clothes besides his cloak? Of course Sakura had known that it was because he had not wanted something restricting, so she was startled when she heard the pounding on her door.
She wondered if he had returned for his clothes, having second thoughts about going in only a cloak, and so she literally ran to answer it. Instead she found an anxious Naruto standing there, and instantly deflated. Once again, he stared at her like a fish out of water; this was the second time he had seen her in such a revealed state in the past twenty-four hours.
"You took another shower?" He questioned. Sakura blushed profusely, remembering her other 'shower.' It had been more like a crazy, steamy make out session with Itachi than anything else. She had not even bothered with shampoo, but Naruto would not have known that.
"Well, some of us like to be clean." She retorted in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. He blinked, trying to comprehend what she had just told him.
"Hey! I am not dirty!" He finally said, understanding her insult after thinking about her comment for a few minutes. Sakura rolled her eyes, as if to disagree.
"Neither am I, seeing as I just got out of the shower." Sakura grumbled dryly. She was put down, and rightfully so. Receiving a blond knuckle-headed ninja instead of a gorgeous god of a shinobi was quite a let down.
"I wanted to make sure you remembered to wake up! You looked really tired last time I saw you." Naruto said cheerfully.
Sakura blushed. "Clearly, I am awake."
"Good thing too! Kakashi-sensei said to wake you up myself if you were not!" Naruto informed her. Sakura's eyes bulged slightly, and her face paled. It definitely was a good thing that she had not given in to what Itachi had wanted, or else they would have been discovered by her obnoxious teammate. That most certainly would not have been a good way to start the day. She supposed she should be thankful Itachi had left early as well, even if his leaving early did agitate her greatly.
"Good thing indeed." Sakura breathed, "Naruto, I have to get dressed. I will be out in a minute or two."
"Cannot I just come in and wait?"
Sakura sighed in exasperation, and quickly looked back into the living room. Pillows and throw-blankets were tossed this way and that, but besides that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Itachi's clothes were tossed in both the bathroom and her bedroom, out of his vantage point.
"Fine, but you cannot go in the bathroom."
Sakura opened the door more widely to let him in, and then retreated to her bedroom to get some clothes. Once having privacy, she dressed into her usual vest and beige skirt at her quickest. The room was a disaster area, and she needed to put it back into some form of order before she left. Slightly embarrassed, Sakura picked up Itachi's abandoned clothes to toss them into her hamper, and then moved to her bed to inspect it.
Her sheets honestly smelled like sex. It smelled like their sweat combined, but then there was another scent that she did not care to identify. Knowing that when she returned from their especially long and stressing mission, the last thing she was going to want to do was strip her bed, Sakura tugged the sheets off and piled then into the hamper. Not wanting to keep Naruto waiting any longer, Sakura snatched her weapons pouch and stumbled out of her room.
Kakashi looked up from his most recently acquired volume of the Icha Icha series to see his two students walking up to him. It was unusual for him to arrive at the meeting spot first, but he supposed he was not always late for things, as his pupils like to point out. In fact, this was not the first time he had showed up before anyone else; he had gotten to the dango shop before Sasuke all of those years ago... Only to have an epic battle with Itachi minutes later.
Sakura looked more tired than she had been yesterday, Kakashi noted dully. There was something else about her though, she was different somehow, even if he could not tell how. There was something about her that glowed, and something about it seemed familiar, but not on his student. If he recalled correctly, it was the same way Kurenai looked when she was with Asuma. It was none of his business though, if it was the same sort of glow, as long as it did not interfere with their upcoming mission.
He wondered if Naruto noticed the difference in Sakura, or it he was just reading into things again. If he was right, then neither Naruto nor Sasuke had a chance with their kunoichi teammate, though he doubted Sasuke could care any less than he already did. Then again, he had been wrong again.
"Kakashi-sensei, what exactly are we doing for this mission?" Sakura called in her approach. Clearly, she had not been paying attention to Naruto the day before, not that he had suspected otherwise.
"We have gotten a lead on Sasuke from one of out undercover spies." He replied, sounding rather bored. With much regret, he put his precious little book back into its spot in his weapons pouch.
"He is supposedly hiding out in Rain, near the border of grass. We are being sent out to find him, and if he is alone, bring him back to Konoha. If he is with a team, we will wait for back up, and trail him instead. Tsunade will deal with him after that."
Sakura had to think about what was happening, and it took her a few minutes for her to process the possible outcomes to the mission they were about to embark on. If everything went as it should, Sasuke would be coming home, coming back to Konoha. If this meant anything, it was that things in her life were about to get a lot more complicated than they already were. Sasuke was still hellbent on killing Itachi, which after what was currently between them, she could never allow. There could be a higher chance of Itachi getting caught in Konoha if they did continue, which of course, they had to.
With his Sharingan, it would not be hard for Sasuke to see even the slightest traces of Itachi's chakra, and this could make it even harder than it was for her to be around him. Sasuke was going to hate her for being part of the reason why he was brought home, but if he found out about her current relationship with his older brother, all hell would be let loose. Without a doubt in her mind, if Sasuke caught wind of their sexual encounters, he would tell anyone who would listen. On top of that, it could bring Itachi in danger, having him in such a close proximity with Sasuke.
Yet, she could not refuse to partake in the mission, no matter how much it would be putting her somewhat happy life in jeopardy. If she went against what she was just told, her teammates would suspect her of something she would rather them not find out. As far as they were concerned, she was still desperately in love with Sasuke, and had never even met Uchiha Itachi before. To contradict this publicly known fact would only put her in the path of other shinobi who would happily bed her. When she turned down every man who asked her favor, it would look unusual.
"I see. Will Sai and Yamato be coming as well?" Sakura asked faintly. She was treading in dangerous waters, and she knew it. No one could know of her and her lover, especially not Sasuke, who was the most likely to figure it out. Before she met Sasuke again, she had to come up with something to do with him, how she should act around him.
"No, this will just be the three of us." Kakashi replied. He had noticed it before, but this morning her wariness was even more prominent to him. She was hiding something from them, and that was unusual for someone as open as Sakura normally was. He would not push it though, he just hoped it would not interfere with the mission at hand.
"Almost like old times, right Sakura-chan?" Naruto chirped, putting his two hands behind his head proudly. Sakura smiled tiredly, keeping him at bay while she fabricated a response. Surely Naruto had to know that even if Sasuke did return, it would never be team seven again, Sakura reflected. Knowing Naruto though, she assumed that he was going to be as optimistic as ever, until the world caught up to him. As much as it was for his own good that he realized it would never be the same again, Sakura did not have the heart to tell Naruto that. He should be allowed to dream while he could.
"I guess so." She answered weakly. Mentally, Sakura shook her head, trying to focus herself. She needed to act normally on this mission, she did not want to give her over protective teammates any clues that she was not feeling quiet herself. The less they knew, the better.
"We should head out. We might be able to get to rain before the end of the day if we start now." Kakashi said, much to Sakura's relief. She was no longer in the spotlight, and Naruto forgot the weakness her voice had just portrayed. She just hoped that Kakashi had not caught it.
"Yes! Let's get that teme!" Naruto crowed in his boisterous voice, nearly waking half of the surrounding neighborhood. Glaring at him, Sakura hammered Naruto on the head effectively, which thankfully served to shut his over sized mouth.
"Shut up, you idiot! Do you think anyone wants to hear that first thing in the morning?" She growled, being sure to keep her voice down. Sakura did not want to be accused of the very thing she was scolding Naruto of. It would be unpardonable.
Naruto rubbed his head, smiling apologetically. "Sorry Sakura-chan. I forgot you are not a morning person."
Sakura chose not to respond to this comment, and instead sighed. After sharing a glance with Kakashi, they wordlessly started to walk away, leaving Naruto behind. As always, Naruto complained, ran up to them, and earned himself another smack upside the head for being so noisy. This process only ended once they were beyond the gates of Konoha, and well into their search for Sasuke.
Itachi hated himself for leaving her so abruptly, but his actions were necessary. If he had not, there was not a doubt in his mind that the copy-nin and the jinchuuriki would have caught him in Sakura's apartment. Making love to their beloved teammate. It was not something he ever intended to happen, no matter what the cost. Matters with his brother were pressing, and he needed to attend to them.
He knew that his brother was hiding out in Rain, perhaps because the Akatsuki was based there. It might have been haphazard of him, but he had led Konoha's leader in espionage, Jiraya, right to his younger brother. Now that his original plans were being thrown out of the window, he had to come up with a new one to replace it. Sasuke was being sent back into the safety of Konoha, where he had always intended him to be.
As much as it had made everything so much more complicated than he would prefer, Itachi could not regret his decision to make love to Sakura. It had made him decide to live, and he knew it was selfish of him. Still, he could not help it. His plans were already put into action, and Sasuke was returning home. He knew that Sakura and her team were fully capable of handling Sasuke, until he had gotten the chance to speak with his younger brother.
It would take more force than he ever wished to use on his younger brother, but Itachi had to tell Sasuke the truth. Sakura had been right about that point, however rash the idea of telling Sasuke about the massacre was. His younger brother would recover after knowing the truth, and then Itachi could have Sakura to himself. Itachi had to tell himself not to get too carried away though, he did not know what the counsel in Konoha would decide to be Sasuke's fate, or his own for that matter.
Konoha's counsel were made up of corrupt, power hungry, fools. They had forced him into killing his own family, and at such a young age. Itachi had always been peace loving, after seeing the horrors of a ninja war. Now, he never had considered it before, but he might be able to brace a life with relative peace, if Konoha could accept him. If they could be as understanding, as forgiving as Sakura was. He was tired of causing mayhem, he wanted to protect something worthwhile, for once.
His brother had been a fool, just as he had called him for all of those years. Itachi had told him to kill his best friend, not to run off to Orochimaru. Being as stubborn as he was though, Sasuke had resisted the orders subtly given to him. If he had done as he was told, Itachi may have been dead though, and he most certainly would not have Sakura. No, she would still belong to Sasuke if he had obeyed his instructions. For all he knew, they would have already started a family together. The very thought disturbed him.
It should not have been all that unsettling, Sakura had originally been meant for Sasuke. When he now thought of Sasuke being allowed to touch her, to make love to her as he had, it was though. He could never let Sasuke do that to Sakura, she was his, and only his. He refused to share her with him. This feeling was so strange, so foreign, Itachi hardly knew what to do with it. The last time he had cared for someone so much, he had been forced into killing them.
Itachi shook his head, not wanting to think back at that terrible time, when he performed the Uchiha clan massacre. He was back at headquarters, and not that he was all too surprised, but the entire area was utterly silent. It seemed that Deidara and Kisame had stayed up late the night previous, otherwise it would have been much louder in the base. Hidan was known to be noisy as well, so perhaps he was doing another ritual in his room, Itachi mused.
He went straight to his room, and then continued into the bathroom adjacent to it. Itachi stripped, smirking to himself as he did so. Sakura had undoubtedly found his clothes scattered about the room. Of course, he had left them intentionally, a promise to return as soon as she did.
If her mission went as well as he intended, Itachi knew he would have to be more discrete in his going to Sakura's apartment. Sasuke was still as obsessed with killing him as he always had, and it would be compromising if he found Itachi in Konoha. Sakura would be questioned for fraternizing with an S-class criminal, and everyone she knew would turn their backs on her. That could not be allowed; thusly, Itachi would strive to be more surreptitious.
The heat of his shower turned on, Itachi stood beneath the stream of water, letting the goosebumps cover his skin. Finding it too hot, he mixed cold water in, until finding a better temperature. Absentmindedly, he thought back to his short stay with Sakura. She had been so shocked at seeing him there, which was exactly what he had expected from her. Sakura had been so much more tired, he noted, when comparing her countenance then to their first meeting. That did not stop her though, she was just as feisty as before.
Itachi lathered the masculine shampoo into his long hair, scrubbing the soap into his scalp with his nails. It felt so good to be clean, though it felt even better to take a shower with his Sakura. He let the water cascade down his hair and body, rinsing the suds away. For a few minutes, he just stood there, letting his body absorb the heat of the water. As the heat began to wane, he turned it off, and dried himself with a towel.
What he had done would make life so much more difficult, especially if he wanted to keep any permanent relationship with Sakura, but it had been necessary to send Sasuke home. His younger brother had been roaming the shinobi world for too long, causing everyone who cared about him trouble, and more importantly, pain.
Sakura would surely understand why he took this course of action, when she discovered that he was the one who was behind Sasuke's return to Konoha. She needed to, because without her, Sasuke would never listen to him. There was simply something about Sakura that was reassuring, that could make anyone feel sage. Even Sasuke around his supposedly murdering bastard of a brother. He was putting so much responsibility in her hands, but in the end it was all for her anyway.
Dressed once more, Itachi settled on his bed, a good book in hand. Her mission could prove to be difficult, considering it was Sasuke she was dealing with, but he was just going to have to patiently wait for Sakura to return home.
AN: Do you know what makes me laugh? Whenever I try to write the name Sasuke, my computer keeps confusing it with 'seasick.' Very fitting, isn't it? Do you see that green lettering below this message? Well, do me a favor, and press it. Leave me some reviews here!! Thank you!