A/N: X3
Itachi pulled into the driveway and turned off the ignition. He was trying to find a way to talk himself out of doing this, but, however he tried to convince himself, finding this author outweighed it by a great deal.
He got out of the car and headed for the door. Once he opened it, he was thrust into the sounds of his mother and father arguing and Sasuke blaring his music to drown out the sound.
"Somethings never change," he mumbled to himself, heading up the stairs to his brother's room.
He knocked on the door, but nobody answered. He knocked again, but, still, nobody answered.
He figured the music was way too loud for Sasuke to hear, so Itachi opened the door to see Itachi laying on his bed, sulking.
He walked into the room and shut off the music.
Sasuke shot his head up to Itachi and glared at him as their parents' voices carried up the stairs.
"I was listening to that," the younger said.
"Well, some things are more important."
"Like what?"
"Like the person named Haruno S."
"What do you want to know about her?"
"Who she is, what's her name?" asked Itachi. "Where can I find her? Why she wrote that poem?"
"She wrote a lot of poems," replied Sasuke.
"It was called, 'Jaded'."
"Never heard of it."
"Never?"
"Never, she ran off a few weeks ago, so maybe she wrote it then?"
"Well, what's her name?"
"Why are you so curious about her?"
"Just answer the question, Sasuke."
Sasuke sighed and said, "Her name is Haruno Sakura and I was dating her for two years before she ran off to her mother's house. She said something about having enough of my attitude."
"Sounds like a mother," Itachi commented, trying to put his brother in a good mood so he'd tell him more.
Sasuke chuckled and nodded in agreement. "Is there anything else? If there isn't, I've got a date with 1980's heavy metal."
"Where can I find her?"
Sasuke looked at him quizzically. "Why?"
"I just need to talk to her."
Sasuke sighed again and said, "She's a nurse, she works at the Konoha Hospital in downtown. You know it?"
Itachi nodded, turned Sasuke's music back on and left, shutting the door behind himself. He walked back down the stairs and was about to leave the house when he stopped, hearing his father's voice.
Hearing his voice, hoarse from shouting, brought back all of the memories he had of his father's strict parenting and Itachi's blood boiled.
He walked into the kitchen and the two parents stopped their shouting to stare at their estranged son in disbelief.
Itachi glared at his father and said, "I thought I'd tell you before I left that, father, you make one shitty lawyer."
His father's face turned beat red and it looked like he was going to backhand his son, but Itachi left before he could.
He hopped into his car and gripped the steering wheel, smirking in satisfaction.
He had just stood up to his father and he finally got a solid lead to finding the girl he'd been looking for. He even got a name!
"Haruno Sakura," he said aloud, starting the ignition and pulling out of the driveway. "Not that terrible of a name."
Itachi dialed the number to the Konoha hospital and got a receptionist.
"Hi, may I please talk to Haruno Sakura-san, please?"
"Um, I'm not sure if she's working right now, but I'll go and see if she is," the receptionist replied kindly and put him on hold.
He was forced to listen to a crappy cover of some song he swore he hadn't heard in fifteen years. Then, the music stopped and he heard a tired-sounding voice say, "Hello?"
"Hi, is this Haruno Sakura?"
"Yes," answered the girl. "May I ask who's calling?"
"My name is Itachi, I work for the Konoha Post and I was wondering if I could set up a day where you and I could talk?"
"Um, what is this for?"
"For... an article I'm working on about working as a nurse."
"I have a day off tomorrow, are you free then?"
Shit, he had to work.
"Yeah, I'm free," he lied, "Where would you like to meet?"
"Um, how about the restaurant inside the hospital?"
Itachi agreed and hung up.
Time to call Neji...
He called his boss and faked sick. Of course, he was told that, as long as he emailed the next issue by five o'clock the next night, he could stay home.
And he started getting ready for his big day. He needed to find a way of explaining himself to the girl without sounding like a complete psycho.
Easier said than done...
Itachi walked into the hospital restaurant and looked around.
He'd called Sasuke and asked him what Sakura looked like and got, "Pink hair, green eyes and she's very loud."
So, he just had to find a loud girl with pink hair and green eyes, explain himself to her and talk to her about her writing.
Itachi looked around the restaurant, then saw something pink on the other side. He walked over to it to see it was only some kind of poster.
Then, he turned to see a person with short pink hair walking into the restaurant and he headed over to the person.
"Haruno Sakura?" he asked.
The girl turned to look at him and it looked like she was going to have a heart attack.
"S-Sasuke-kun?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Um- No, I called you yesterday about an article?"
"Oh," she replied, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, you look a lot like a person I knew."
He nodded and asked, "Would you like to sit down?"
She nodded and the two found a place to sit down. They sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes while Itachi made a desperate attempt to find something to say. Needless to say, he failed.
"So, may I know your name?"
"M-My name?"
Sakura giggled and nodded. "Yes, your name."
"My name is Uchiha Itachi."
Her brow furrowed and she said, "Wow, it may just be a coincidence, but you have the same last name as a guy I once dated."
Itachi sighed and said, "It's not a coincidence. I'm Uchiha Sasuke's brother. I found out your name through him."
Sakura paled and said, "Well, if it was for your article-"
"No," he cut-in. "You see, I'm not a newspaper journalist; I'm a columnist. My column is called, 'Critique Corner', maybe you've heard of it?"
She nodded.
"My editor showed me a poem that he thought I should read and I did," he explained. "It was one of the best poems I've read."
She looked at him quizzically. "What does this have to do with me?"
"It was your poem, Haruno-san."
"You mean, 'Jaded'?"
Itachi nodded. "I wanted to talk to you about it."
"I-I'm sorry, but I have to go," Sakura said, rushing off.
Itachi couldn't help but just watch her leave in surprise. What was that about?
He sighed and ran a hand through his bangs.
At least now, I might be able to get some sleep...
A/N: So sorry, Itachi, bit we're not quite finished torturing you yet!