Title: Pink and Black
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. No copyright infringement is intended; this is written purely for entertainment purposes.
Underneath
004. Puppy love
A young, dark-haired boy leaned casually upon the academy's outer wall, assuming an imperturbable manner despite his head angling up every now and then as if searching for something. As his eyes slid down to the pavement once more, his keen sense of hearing picked up on a small shuffle of footsteps off to the corner.
"Who's there?"
A small gasp was heard before the figure quickly retreated. Was that pink hair? His brows furrowed as he called to mind a particular classmate with that atrocious hair colour, but a sharp poke to his forehead halted his thoughts. He whined, "Itte! Nii-san!"
Itachi smiled down at his little brother. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings, otouto."
Sasuke huffed and made a face, though he took Itachi's hand readily as the brothers made their way through the streets to head back to the Uchiha compound. He was happy that his beloved older brother had time to spend with him, but he disliked the infrequency of it due to Itachi being both the clan heir and an active chuunin, resulting in a heavy load of responsibilities that Itachi must attend to before spending what precious little leisure time he had with him. "I almost thought you forgot to come pick me up," Sasuke accused half-heartedly.
"Oh? I thought you were busy being distracted, rather..." Itachi teased. He had seen a ruffle of skirt disappear behind the corner while he approached Sasuke with a smooth and silent gait, and had assumed it was yet another of Sasuke's little fan girls who were forever cooing and squealing around him.
A tinge of red coloured Sasuke's cheeks as he groaned mentally. Itachi better not say anything to their mother!
"Tadaima."
"Okaerinasai!" Mikoto greeted her sons with a warm smile. "How was your day at the academy, Sasuke-chan?"
The young boy shrugged and sat down next to his mother. "It was all right. We did some taijutsu training today—" A low but audible rumble of the stomach interrupted his words, and Sasuke blushed brightly.
Mikoto raised a hand to her mouth to cover up a laugh. "My, my, someone is hungry this afternoon! Was your lunch not filling enough, Sasuke-chan?"
Embarrassed, he ducked his head down and mumbled a reply that was incoherent to both Mikoto and Itachi.
"What did you say, Sasuke-chan? You need to speak up for me to hear you." Mikoto coaxed gently.
Sasuke wished the earth would swallow him up and save him the mortification. Several long seconds passed, and finally, he gave in to the patient gaze of his mother. "A girl startled me and I dropped one of my onigiri." He grimaced, "…it was a tomato one too."
Grinning delightedly, Mikoto was eager to hear more about this story and continued to question. "What did she do to startle our Sasuke-chan so?"
"She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden!" Sasuke burst out, "She just thrust this package into my hands, said something so fast I could hardly understand her, and before I could make her repeat herself, she had the nerve to run away from me! Not to mention, my onigiri fell to the ground, thanks to her!"
Mikoto let out a peal of laughter, and even Itachi was unable to resist a chuckle at his brother's rather unfortunate circumstance.
"If I ever see her again—" Sasuke stopped abruptly and his eyes widened as he recalled the image of the annoying girl. "It was she! She was the one hiding in the corner after class today!"
Itachi lifted an eyebrow and remarked dryly, "Seems like you have quite a determined little fan girl there, Sasuke."
Mikoto's eyes twinkled. "She sounds like a lovely girl to me. Now, did you not say she gave you a present, Sasuke-chan?"
"Yes, she did! Here it is." Sasuke reached into his kunai pouch and retrieved a small, carefully wrapped package.
"Well? Go ahead and open it!"
He exhaled noisily, slightly exasperated at his mother's enthusiasm toward the whole situation. Nevertheless, he ripped the plain wrapping paper apart without further ado and was startled at finding a kunai lying within.
"A kunai? That is a rather unusual choice for a gift." Mikoto wondered aloud.
Itachi's eyes caught onto the familiar sight of the kunai. His hand hovered over the weapon while he looked at his younger brother, wordlessly asking for permission, and he took it up for further inspection when Sasuke nodded. The weight and design were identical to his regular set, and his eyes narrowed at the Uchiha fan engraved on the bottom of the hilt.
"This kunai belongs to me."
Mikoto and Sasuke both stared at him, uncomprehending of his declaration.
"Are you sure, Itachi-kun? Why would Sasuke-chan's classmate have one of your kunai in her possession?"
Itachi acknowledged with a tilt of his head. "It is indeed mine. I am not certain why or how she came upon it, but I intend to find out." He turned toward his brother and asked, "Do you remember this girl's name?"
"...Sakura," Sasuke answered after a moment's deliberation. "I only remember that much because her name matches her pink hair."
Sakura fidgeted in her seat while Iruka-sensei lectured on the dispelling technique if one was caught in a genjutsu. All through class, she could feel someone watching her intently as if burning a hole through the back of her head, and even without turning back, she knew it was Sasuke. She had only herself to blame since she had all but thrown his brother's kunai at him, and she was not exactly sure if he understood her request for him to return said weapon to its rightful owner. Damn her nervousness! Now if only class would be over soon and she could escape home to safety, she wished desperately.
"...that's it for today. Class dismissed," Iruka announced.
At record speed, Sakura packed her belongings up and raced toward the door. She heard Sasuke calling her name but she ignored him, so intent on avoiding her classmate that she ran on blindly without noticing where she was going. Eventually, she had to stop and catch her breath, and she found herself collapsing at the edge of a training ground.
"Sakura-san? Are you all right?"
She snapped her head up at the sound of his quiet tenor and came eye to eye with none other than Uchiha Itachi himself. She blanched, but as she scrambled to her feet she could feel her cheeks heating up at an alarming rate. "U-Uchiha-san," she bowed and stammered a greeting.
Sakura could feel Itachi studying her with interest, and when it seemed like he was not about to speak any time soon, she ventured timidly, "Did you get your kunai back, Uchiha-san?"
Itachi nodded. "I did, and thank you for returning it to me. But I am curious, how did you end up with it?"
"You must have forgotten already." Sakura shook her head and her lips stretched into a small smile. "I was practicing with my kunai at the academy training ground last week, and you passed by and saw how badly I must have been doing. You corrected my stance and demonstrated once for me." She grew more animated by then, her large green eyes dancing in merriment as she thought back to her improved accuracy after Itachi's tutelage.
"It's probably of little matter to you, but I thought you may appreciate your kunai back. I cleaned and sharpened it too! We'd covered how to in class a while ago and Iruka-sensei said I was very good at caring for my weapons!" Sakura bubbled with a hint of pride, but when Itachi failed to respond, she asked hesitantly, "It's fine, is it?"
"Aa." Itachi agreed. "You did a good job as well."
She beamed.
Itachi smiled gently in return, and offered a hand to the young girl. "Come, I'll walk you home."
She slipped her hand in his and relished at the warmth. "Ne, Uchiha-san..."
"Call me Itachi, Sakura-chan."
"Itachi-san, then," she accepted easily.
He squeezed her fingers and indicated for her to continue.
"I think I know why Sasuke-kun looks up to you so much now," she said. She caught him looking at her as if asking for an explanation, but she giggled and said no more.
It was a comfortable walk back home, with Sakura growing increasingly carefree in the presence of the Uchiha heir whom she thought to be aloof but kind previously. He made her feel safe, and that was a warm, fuzzy feeling that Sakura thought she rather liked a lot.
A/N: I'm not sure how effectively this one came across. I made a play at SasuSaku in the beginning, only to reveal in the end that Sakura's objective was Itachi all along. It is of course more admiration and respect at this point, but still. :)