So um, hi. Been a while huh...haha. My bad.
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto
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"Sakura is my intern otouto. And as much as I would love for all of us to bond over how fate has brought us together, I have a patient to see which means pinky can't stay and chat either," at this the older Uchiha looked up and met her eyes, "unless of course she wants to stay. I would miss her company but I could make do."
"No, I'm coming too," Sakura grumbled, her irritation with her lovely boss overshadowing her surprise at the situation. She turned to Sasuke who still looked a little lost under his usual apathy. "I was planning on making stir fry tonight. Should I expect company?"
Sasuke briefly glanced over at his brother before pushing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah."
Sakura took his one word answer to mean: "yes I'll be there, Naruto will be there, usual time, make sure there's tomatoes and I haven't decided if I'm going to talk about what has just occurred. Probably not. I will probably never mention this again."
Sakura sighed and grabbed her clipboard before exiting the room. She heard the two men exchange a few mumbled words before the click of Itachi's dress shoes followed her. Part of her wanted to ask him about what had just happened but what could she say? 'You're Sasuke's brother? Are you the reason he's so fucked up in the head? And if not, why is he acting like life is an audition for the inevitable Twilight reboot?'
Despite her curiosity, none of the questions bouncing back and forth in her head seemed appropriate so she just kept her mouth shut and quietly entered an examination room as Itachi went to grab the patient from the waiting room. Sakura felt the uncomfortable suffocation of insecurity grip her once she was alone. Seeing Sasuke reminded her of how much the past week had upset her. She hated when her boys were distant, especially because it always seemed like it was because she wasn't capable of helping either of them. Anytime there was a crisis with them they retreated into themselves. It annoyed the shit out of her.
Before she could snap the clipboard in between her lilac polished fingers, the elder Uchiha entered the room with the patient. Sakura was only half there as the woman described her headaches. Sakura felt herself write down a brief overview of the woman's case but a standard head injury case wasn't enough to pull her out of the chasm she felt Sasuke had kicked her into.
When the patient got up to leave, Sakura offered a half hearted upturn of her lips and wished the woman a good day as she walked past Sakura's chair. The older woman gave her a kind smile before Itachi guided her out into the hallway. Sakura let out a deep sigh as she stood up and went to exit the examination room. She had just passed the table when Itachi came back in and shut the door behind him.
"What are you doing?"
The doctor looked down at her with narrowed eyes. "You were not paying attention."
"Yes, I was! Do you wanna look at my notes," she asked thrusting her clipboard at him. He didn't remove his eyes from hers.
"You should always give your patients 100% of your attention. If you don't, you could mess up. You are not nearly at the level where you can even consider checking out during an appointment."
Sakura ground her teeth. "Sorry, I'll pay better attention next time."
He didn't look very impressed but turned to go. "You're going to be a really shitty doctor if you let personal matters affect you at work."
Sakura stiffened. "I won't."
"Yes, you have certainly convinced me of your professionalism."
She didn't know if it was the actual words or the layer of condescension behind them but something made her snap and before Itachi reached the door she grabbed the back of his coat and yanked him back.
He turned and opened his mouth to speak but she wasn't having it.
"Shut up! You are the biggest freakin' jackass and you have been nothing but rude and pretentious since I got here. Look, I'm sorry that I fucking tased you on the subway. I've lived here for four years and there are some real creeps here. Sorry that I don't do a background check every time someone tries to grope me in public. I really will try harder to correct that in the future!"
He looked as if he was alternating between amusement and absolute rage but she wasn't done yet.
"But either way, what happened on that subway was personal. I tased you as a young, frightened woman on the subway and you got a tased as a man on the subway who apparently doesn't understand how rails work."
At this he opened his mouth to protest and Sakura held up a finger. One of his eyebrows went up but he didn't try to continue.
"But either way, that whole event occurred between strangers and while I understand that you were upset because hey I was too, you have let it alter our entire working relationship. You never gave me a chance to apologize and while the past week has definitely put me off being best friends with you, I think I at least am owed the right of you being decent to me. You don't have to like me, hell I don't like you. But that shouldn't matter. I'm here because I want to be a doctor and because I want to help people. I earned this internship. I deserve to be here. And I think it's only fair that you act professional towards me."
As good as the words felt to say, Sakura saw her entire career flash before her eyes as he glared down at her. How could she be so stupid?! He was totally going to fire her. This was going to ruin everything and she was going to end up being some homeless person on the street and her knowledge of the human body was going to result in a gang kidnapping her and forcing her to be their doctor. Dammit Dammit Dammit!
"You are such a brat."
Itachi's first words sounded angry but more exasperated than anything else. He was still glaring at her when he took a deep breath in and closed his eyes.
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"You really have no concept of authority do you?"
He didn't open his eyes even after he spoke, although he could feel her glare. The throbbing in his head told him to immediately fire her but unfortunately the brat had made a point. He had not acted as he should have. He knew that, it irritated him but not nearly as much as she did. He opened his eyes and was unsurprised to find her glaring up at him.
"We will be civil. We will not bring up our previous differences including the subway incident. I will treat you as I would any normal human being," at this she looked like she wanted to deck him but this time he was the one who got to keep talking. "You will continue to be punctual, you will never check out during a patient's appointment again and if you do not keep up to my standard's I will fire you and you will know it was solely based on your actions while here and not my level of affection for you. Are we clear?"
"Didn't we already do the agreement thing last week?"
Itachi barely held in a sigh. Never in his life had he felt so frustrated. She was beginning to make him question his standing as a pacifist.
"Are we clear?"
His young intern looked up at him, pride shining in her eyes. Then she held out her hand and a smirk twisted her pink lips.
"Crystal."
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Sakura walked into her apartment dead, on her feet and on the inside. The day had dragged on for what felt like forever. They had seen patients until six o'clock and then ignored each other on the subway home until he got off at his stop. It was the first time he had ridden the subway home at the same time as her and she hoped it was the last. Either way, the day was finished and she had fourteen hours until she had to see him again.
"Sakura-chan!"
Sakura groaned at the sound of her best friend and yelped as he ran into the entryway and proceeded to hug her so tight her organs began to cry.
"Naruto...can't...breathe!"
He let her down but kept one arm wrapped around her hip. Now that she was taking air in again she smiled at the delicious smell that was radiating from her kitchen.
"Are you guys making dinner," she asked leaning into Naruto's shoulder.
"Uh huh. Well, Sasuke is doing most of the cooking but I chopped the vegetables!"
Sakura gasped. "Wait, you two are making dinner and there's vegetables involved?"
Naruto pouted and squeezed her hip as they walked into the kitchen. "I eat vegetables Sakura-chan."
"Yeah if they're dehydrated and in a ramen cup."
Sakura laughed as Sasuke's voice finally floated through the apartment. Naruto started yelling at him as the black haired boy finally came into view. Sasuke was wearing one of Ino's aprons, folded over at the waist so it only covered his bottom half. He was managing a pan of stir fry and a pot of what looked like cut apples covered in something that smelled sugary and sinful.
"Sasuke, are you making dessert," Sakura asked interrupting Naruto's tirade. Sasuke turned slightly and shot her a small smile.
"Only if you're good."
Sakura laughed as the Uchiha turned back around to attend to his work while Naruto scolded him for flirting with 'Sakura-chan'.
Sakura leaned against Naruto's shoulder again and let his warmth wash over her. It was amazing how much had changed since they were kids. 10 years ago she never would have thought that Naruto would mean as much as he did and that Sasuke could comfortably flirt with her without her heart speeding up.
The apron though, had always been there in her fantasies.
"So Sakura-chan, how was your internship?"
Sasuke didn't acknowledge the question at all and since Naruto seemed oblivious, Sakura assumed that's how he wanted it.
"It was fine. A little dry today but tomorrow I'll get to sit in on a surgery."
"That's so cool! Are you going to touch someone's brain?"
"Stir-fry's done."
Sasuke's interruption was welcome since Sakura wasn't feeling up to discussing work. Thankfully Naruto had no problem with moving onto a new topic. Unlike Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto was done with school with his bachelor degree. He was heading to the police academy in a few weeks and he hadn't been able to shut up about it for weeks.
"And then I'm going to be out on the streets, kicking ass and serving justice!"
Sakura laughed and Sasuke let out his customary scoff. "And filling out paperwork."
Naruto pouted. "Why do you always have to mention that Sakura-chan?"
"Because I'm worried that you're forgetting about it."
"Well whatever. I'm going to be the best detective Konoha has ever seen. Chief Uzimaki, believe it!"
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances and had a silent debate over how to respond. Eventually they both just shrugged before Sakura walked towards the Uchiha while Naruto protested.
"So where have you two been, it's been like a week since you stopped by?"
The question was casual but there was immediately an added tension to the atmosphere. Sasuke continued stirring and there was a brief silence where only the crackle of oil on her new steel pan entertained their ears.
Naruto of course broke it with a slightly stilted laugh. "Just been busy Sakura-chan. Trying to get ready for me to ship out. You know the apartment's going to be lonely without me, so I've just been trying to prep Sasu-chan for it." 'Sasu-chan' flicked a burning hot piece of broccoli at him in retaliation and Naruto's ensuing howl and call for vengeance had Sakura grabbing the pan from Sasuke's hands.
As the two boys began to argue and then wrestle behind her, Sakura felt her heart clench in hurt. Things had definitely changed since they were kids but the bond between Naruto and Sasuke wasn't one of them. Hell, Naruto probably already knew about Sasuke's asshole older brother. He'd probably met him, maybe even knew his favorite fucking color. But here she was, as always, left in the dark. The third wheel. And she was so tired of it!
The wooden spoon snapping in her hands made the boys pause in their mini judo match.
"Uh, Sakura-chan? You alright?"
Sakura sighed before turning around.
"You know I'm not stupid. I get that there's stuff going on that you're not telling me," Naruto bit his lip and Sasuke continued to stare at the floor, "and you know what, that's ok. No matter what happens, I'll always love you guys. Just know I'm here, ok?"
This made both of her boys look up and Naruto's usual trickster smile came out.
"We know you're here, Sakura-chan. As a matter of fact..."
Sakura had just turned off the stove when Naruto tackled her to the ground, his fingers digging into her sides. Sakura yelped and tried to kick him off but her true savior came in the form of Uchiha Sasuke as he threw the blonde off of her. Or at least she thought so until the duck head himself was tickling her.
Sakura screamed in protest until she felt a pair of lips at her ear.
"Thank-you."
The two stared at each other and Sakura beamed and Sasuke gave a smirk which was like a grin for him. The moment was beautiful and Sakura placed her hands on his cheeks.
"Forehead, I thought I told you to invite me when you three finally decided to have an orgy."
The moment broken, Sakura turned to glare at Ino who was standing next to a smirking Naruto. As Sasuke helped Sakura up and she turned the stove back on she heard the words that let her know she would be getting noise complaints tomorrow.
"Why Ino-chan, we didn't mean to leave you out. Don't worry, we'll make you feel real good tonight."
Naruto's head would be the first of many hollow objects to hit the wall tonight.
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Itachi sighed as he looked over his stack of paperwork. It was 7:42 in the morning and if he was right, which he was, his little brat would be here in three minutes. It had been a few days since his brother's visit and she'd been on her best behavior ever since. As charming as that was, he still hated her and actually his brother too, now that he thought about it. If he had to spend one more night on the phone with his sobbing mother or obviously bitter father, he was resigning as an Uchiha. He'd simply be Itachi. End of story.
"Good morning, Uchiha-sensei."
Right on time his little assistant walked in. He had a lot of opinions about her slightly damp hair, smudged pink lipstick and the coffee she was carrying which smelled delicious, an obvious brag, but he simply continued filling out the paperwork and decided to act with what little rationality his parents had given him.
"Good morning, Haruno-san."
The pink haired demon sat across from him. She matched her smudged lips to the pink stained lid of her coffee cup and took an unladylike gulp before setting it down.
"So what do you need me to do?"
"Go check that the surgery room is ready to go and go through this last checklist with the patient. Inform them I'll be down shortly," he commanded as he handed her a clipboard with a thick packet attached. She took it and nodded but he could see the excitement in her eyes.
"I'll do that right away, thank-you!" She almost gave him a little bow as she walked away before she caught herself and stiffly exited the room. The sight amused him and he wondered what it said of him that his intern was excited when he just let her do her job.
It didn't said good things. He had to admit that he was rather embarrassed of how he had behaved the first week and a half of her internship. The immaturity and lack of professionalism was unlike him and even the troubles brewing at home didn't excuse it. He normally had a very cool temperament but the past couple of weeks he'd been acting like his mother when she went through menopause. Not something he aspired to.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts as he collected up the papers he would need for the surgery.
"Come in."
Hidan poked his head and grinned his usual maniac smile. Itachi sighed before grabbing the last file and heading towards the door. "Follow me, I have a surgery."
"Maybe I'll watch." Itachi wanted to believe Hidan was kidding and the older man probably was but Itachi was never really sure with Hidan so he just didn't comment on it.
"So what's up?"
Hidan stretched his arms above his head and a few people they passed shot them horrified looks as pops and cracks as loud as gunshots echoed through the halls. "Not much, just the guys were all talking about having a big hang at the usual place. Been a while since we all got together."
"Who's here?" Itachi was now quite interested.
"Everyone except Konan, Zetsu, and Kakuzu. Going to be a rockin' party." Hidan's grin never faltered and even though Itachi was disappointed that his usual conversationalist wouldn't be there it still didn't sound like something he could pass up.
"What time?"
"Ten, you in?"
Before Itachi could answer a flash of pink hair blinded him as Sakura exited one of the waiting rooms and jumped right in front of him.
"We're all ready to go Sensei, we just need you there."
Itachi nodded and Hidan laughed.
"'Sensei'? That's real cute kid," he said laughing and Sakura glared at him.
"Shut up, it's his proper title,idiot." This only made Hidan laugh harder before he clapped her on the shoulder.
"You're alright kid. As a matter of fact, how you feel about hanging out with your Sensei tonight along with some dudes that are actually cool?"
Itachi looked up and glared at him and his intern seemed uncomfortable.
"I-I don't know." It was his intern's obvious discomfort that determined her fate. Itachi flicked Hidan's hand off her shoulder and gave her a smirk.
"Why not? A lot of them are doctors. It will be good networking for you."
Hidan scoffed. "Wow, she must be a lot like you if that's what makes her go."
Itachi didn't agree with his judgment on their similarities but it did look like his bribe had hit home.
"Ok sure, what time?"
"We're meeting at Pink Sunrise at ten. Wear something nice pinky," Hidan added with a wink. Before she could deck him, one of the doctors assisting Itachi poked his head out.
"Sir, are you ready?"
"Yes, thank-you we'll be in, in just one moment." Itachi turned to his still fuming intern. "Do you want to miss this surgery to put Hidan in the ER? Because if so, you should just know he loves pain."
"I do pinky, really turns me on."
None of this seemed to calm her down but Sakura nodded anyway and walked into the surgery room. Hidan started sniggering as her lab coat disappeared and Itachi was going to be a long test in patience. But he felt like he needed it and at least he'd be there to enjoy the stupid brat's suffering as well.
Even though he was faced with someone who wore blood as an accessory, Itachi wondered if he was the sadist.
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So, uh that's the chapter first. I know it's been like two years since I updated anything but what really is time but a human construct. Anyway, I hope your anger doesn't stop you from reviewing, reading over old reviews is the only reason this chapter exists. Who knows, maybe Itachi Taichou or The Course of a Year will be next:p(actually I know but whatever)
-Sakura478