Disclaimer: For what feels like the millionth time, I don't own Naruto.
Sakura hit the ground with a painful thud, skidding a little and bringing the dirt and rock on the ground with her, scraping her exposed skin. Unfortunately, such were the consequences of not being quick enough to dodge a certain Uchiha's swift kick.
She bit back a groan—training with Itachi was every bit as painful as actually fighting him (minus the whole part where she would probably be dead in under a minute had she actually been in a serious battle with him). In layman's terms, it was hell. She actually found herself longing for Tsunade-shishou's brutal exercises, and Kakashi-sensei's smut reading self. Heck, she'd gladly volunteer herself for a week of prancing around in a tight green jumpsuit with Lee and Gai as opposed to this.
Her stomach let out a piteous rumble as she lay there, breathing hard and fast, her chest rising and falling rapidly with the effort. She ignored the growling of her stomach—she had lost all sense of hunger two hours ago after she had come out here with Itachi. In fact, she had pretty much lost all sense of anything after training with Itachi.
She swore to whoever was listening that if she made it through these three weeks, she'd never ever complain about Kaka-sensei or Shishou again. In fact, she'd buy them gifts every day and make sure to write extensive odes about their greatness. She'd never again lecture Tsunade-shishou for sleeping when there was paperwork to be completed, or Kakashi-sensei for being three hours late every time he scheduled training practice with them.
Someone up there was laughing at her. They had to be. All those years of lamenting about having a pervy teacher and a lazy, short-tempered mentor had arrived to bite her in the butt at last.
"Get up, Sakura."
And, of course, she couldn't overlook who was there with her either. And indeed, there he was: Itachi, Demon King extraordinaire, looking impeccable as always and making Sakura feel the urge to poke his eye out. Or something equally as violent. She figured that since he was going to go blind some day anyways, she might as well save him the trouble and just do it herself.
For the umpteenth time, she berated herself for her arrogance that had landed her in this mess. Really, making that stupid bet with Itachi? Thinking she could actually one-up him in a battle? Just what had she been thinking?
Just contemplating her impulsiveness when it came to Itachi made her mildly depressed.
I think I was too intoxicated with the idea of freedom from Itachi and being hounded by two annoying teammates to really reason well, she answered herself dully. And I'm supposed to be the smart one of Team Seven, dammit! I definitely pulled a Naruto on this one!
Gritting her teeth, she picked herself off the ground reluctantly, eyeing Itachi warily. What was the point? She'd just get tossed down there again.
But, on the other hand, it was better to get on the move—otherwise Itachi would probably come over and drag her off the ground himself.
"I'm getting up, I'm getting up," she muttered. She avoided wincing as her joints let out a loud, protesting squeak at the movement.
Ouch. I hope Itachi didn't hear that. That was all she needed right now: for Itachi to see her acting like a bent-out-of-shape old lady. Because that's so very flattering, Sakura.
Itachi approached her slowly, sweeping his gaze up and down her thoughtfully. She valiantly resisted the urge to cover herself—she wasn't a piece of fish he was buying at the market!
"You're still not moving quickly enough when you fight."
Obviously, she thought darkly, if she was having her ass served to her on an Itachi-shaped platter.
She ran a hand through her wet, sweat-soaked hair, trying to unstick it from where it was plastered against her forehead. Ew, she thought in disgust, her nose wrinkling at the moisture that was on her skin and hair. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was the copious amount of sweat and dirt that accompanied training. She was a girl, first and foremost, after all. It was another situation of kunoichi desire to get down and dirty versus womanly compulsion to stay clean and sparkling.
She glared a little at the Uchiha from under her lashes. Itachi was as immaculate as usual—she could just see those dazzling sparkles glinting off his ebony hair. He wasn't even out of breath! She swore that in another life he must have been a girl, because no guy could be that beautiful naturally.
"I know, Itachi," she answered wearily, trying to avoid wobbling on her feet. It had been a long day, and she wasn't exactly up for training right now, least of all with him. In fact, the only thing she wanted to fight with now was what color pajamas she was going to wear to bed. "I need to work on my speed."
She was so intent on not falling on her face that she missed the slightly softened look that came into Itachi's eyes at her fatigue.
"There's plenty of time to improve on it, Sakura." When she didn't answer, and her face still appeared crestfallen, Itachi chided her gently, "Discouragement will only hinder you further."
She glanced up, surprised at his… almost kind tone of voice. It was so un-Itachi like, it actually caught her off-guard. She smiled a little, feeling inexplicably warm. "I know."
Her hands clenched. "Shishou was more concerned about building up my strength and chakra control," Sakura said. "And Kaka-sensei didn't exactly give me the same special super-speed training that Sasuke-kun got from him." She realized that she sounded a little bitter at that, and quickly banished it from her voice. After all, she never resented the obvious favoritism and extra attention Kakashi had given to her dear friend. He had always deserved it, what with his prodigal ingeniousness. "But I just have to work harder, right?"
Itachi had a small smirk on now, fully approving of her determination. It was one thing that his foolish little brother had sorely lacked in all of his life, as Sasuke had usually taken things for granted. It was satisfactory to see that not everyone in Team Seven were lazy idiots. "And that is why you have me as your teacher, Sakura."
For a split second she forgot how disgruntled she was at being forced into training with Itachi. It… it was odd to have someone so intent on her, and her alone.
But nice, nevertheless.
She bobbed her head, acknowledging his words. Still, she was confused as to an aspect of their training. She figured now was as good a time as ever to ask him about it.
Clearing her throat, and feeling more than a bit uncomfortable with their rather relaxed air, she said, "Er, Itachi?"
He watched her expectantly.
"You do know that I'm already proficient in taijutsu…apart from the whole speed thing." For the duration of the lesson, Itachi had been drilling her in simple and rudimentary taijutsu exercises, for reasons beyond her understanding. Tsunade had focused most heavily on that aspect of shinobi training, and that was where Sakura was most advanced. The only conclusion she could come to was that Itachi didn't know that, which was rather difficult to conceive considering she threatened to beat him up on a regular basis.
"I am aware of that, Sakura."
Her forehead crinkled up as she raised her eyebrows. "Then why are we working on taijutsu? Wouldn't it be more time-efficient to just skip it and go onto ninjutsu or genjutsu?"
Itachi's voice was patient as he gave a perfunctory explanation. "It is always best to start with the basics, perfect them, and proceed from there, Sakura. Taijutsu is the most important of all the shinobi arts. Relying on genjutsu and ninjutsu is a crutch and a fatal weakness if you run out of chakra mid-battle." Somewhere in the far corners of her mind, his words made sense, but she was having a bit of trouble comprehending them right now. Her eyes were slipping shut, but she forced them open again. Belatedly, she hoped Itachi hadn't noticed…
"You're tired. We will stop here for the day, Sakura."
Of course. She should have remembered that he missed nothing, particularly when it was in regards to her.
She tried for her usual upbeat, energetic tone, the idea that he was taking pity on her inexplicably annoying her. "I can keep going, Itachi. We don't have to stop."
"Your body disagrees with you, I think," he replied without missing a beat, his eyes finding her unsteady form.
Smartass, she thought resentfully, unable to deny that her body was jumping in joy at the prospect of stopping for the day.
Her feet had already began to move sporadically of their own accord, trying to balance her as everything started getting blurry. Sakura felt like hitting herself—she knew the signs of dangerous exhaustion and she knew that she was experiencing them right now. Medical lessons all day, lack of food, strenuous training… hah. Some medic-nin she was. She didn't even have enough brains to know when to stop going. Unsurprisingly, she felt a hand gently grasp her arm, steadying her, while another hand grabbed her other wrist to help keep her upright. The only thing she had enough energy to wonder was how he had managed to catch her so quickly. Hadn't he been over there somewhere…?
Huh. This seemed to be a common occurrence as of late. The observation flashed quickly through her hazy mind, disappearing as fast as it had come.
She knew she was extremely far gone into the land of fatigue when she couldn't even muster up the energy to care or berate him for invading her personal space again. She knew she was extremely far gone into the land of fatigue when she was actually feeling safe and supported by having Itachi hold her up. She didn't even bother to analyze it right now, and allowed her body to act how it wanted to, without the resistance of her mind. It felt sort of… relieving, for once, just to give in to her natural reactions. Not to have to fight all the time.
Almost blindly, she tiredly leaned into the only source of warmth around her, which just so happened to be Itachi. Her eyes nearly shot open with surprise. For what she, Naruto, and Sasuke had always thought to be a human ice cube, Itachi was really warm. Like, really, really, warm. How was that even possible? Shouldn't he be all frigid and solid like a big, stone rock? Dammit, he definitely wasn't allowed to be this cozy warm! She stewed there for a moment over the matter of his body heat, though she was still sane enough to know she was acting more than a little erratic and irrational.
Her head plopped down onto his shoulder.
It was comfy.
It's just for a moment, she tiredly told herself.
Just until my head clears.
Itachi meanwhile, was a bit unsure of how to deal with the new development as Sakura leaned into his hands, her head drowsily resting on his shoulder. The natural scents of earth and exertion surrounded her, mixed with the remaining fragrance of whatever she used to wash her hair with. He tried to ignore the sudden onslaught of contentedness that permeated his soul as she curled into him more, muttering something about "ice cubes" and "unfair".
She must have been overtired if she wasn't being resistant to him, as she normally was. If she wasn't glaring at him with her entrancingly green eyes and threatening to punch him with her deceptively petite hands, as per usual. A hint of a smile was on his face as he slid his hands further up her arms to hold her more securely, his palms feeling the unbelievable softness of her skin. He brought her closer, eyes taking in the details of her face. Even after training, she was strangely beautiful, her face flushed with a healthy pink and her forehead streaked with traces of dirt.
Itachi found that Sakura, even while ragged and glowing from training, was still infinitely preferable to all of the extravagantly overdressed, traditionally beautiful women of the Uchiha clan. She held something invaluable within her, something which invariably ended up drawing him to her each time they were together. Something that attracted him like no other had before, either man or woman.
Oddly enough, looking at her right now, she reminded him of Sasuke when he had been young. Forever coming back to the Uchiha compound with his face covered in dirt and grime, snuggling next to Itachi as he fell asleep from exhaustion. Trusting. Innocent. Far more endearing than any other creature had the right to be.
Suddenly, a miniature snore emitted from her parted lips, making Itachi blink.
Sakura's eyes were firmly closed, part of her face obscured by his shoulder, her cheek pressed against the soft material of his clothing.
She had fallen asleep.
Standing up.
Standing up and leaning on him.
Itachi stared at her for a moment, completely bemused. This was a… first.
His eyes closing, he tilted his head forward, resting his forehead against hers wearily, and reveling in the feeling of being uninterrupted and alone with her. True, he would have preferred it more had she been awake and conscious, as well as willing, but he would take what he could while he still had the chance. He was leaving tonight, and he would be forced to leave her alone again. This translated into having her plaguing his mind while he was attempting to gather information on the Akatsuki, worrying that Hana and Shisui wouldn't be attentive or aware enough for one moment, and that he would come back to discover something had happened to her.
Itachi was no fool; he recognized that he was immersing himself far too deep in the endless lure that was Sakura. That he was becoming dangerously attached to a mere girl of sixteen, who also had the added complication of being his younger brother's precious teammate. That he should leave her be before it was too late for him to do so.
Unfortunately, when he wanted something, he usually tended to ignore the rational reasons that would prevent him from attaining it. After all, half the reward of the product was cleverly manipulating life to achieve it, was it not?
Dark eyes found their way to her face, puzzling over it, trying to unlock it.
"What are you doing to me, Sakura?"
It was softly whispered, though without fear and more of a fascinated inquiry.
In the barrenness of Suna, there was no one to hear, nor answer, his question.
Sakura sat on her rickety stool at the ramen bar, her arms crossed irritably and her eyes looking anywhere but at the handsome Uchiha seated beside her.
Falling asleep on a person and then being spontaneously woken up to eat tended to make you a bit self-conscious, and Sakura was experiencing an exceedingly bad case of that now.
Oh god, she had probably drooled. Naruto always told her she drooled in her sleep.
Just as she was blocking out Itachi, she also ignored Inner Sakura's helpful comment about the comfortable sleep she had gotten on the Itachi-pillow.
Honestly, Sakura growled at herself, still determinedly ignoring the amused man next to her, what was all that garbage about just 'resting there for a moment'? You went and fell asleep on the man! In her top ten embarrassing moments, this had to have ranked up next to the time that she had lost that bet to Ino and was forced to… eh. She shuddered, it was a memory better left alone and abandoned in the dark recesses of her mind.
She wondered how Itachi was sitting there, seemingly perfectly at ease, while she was tense and awkward beyond belief. Surreptitiously, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. Or maybe it was just a façade? Maybe he was actually angry that she had passed out on him after training?
Her eyes were metaphorical swirls of puzzlement.
No, that couldn't be. Itachi was just enough of a sadist to have left her body lying on the training grounds if he had gotten irritated with her. She should know—Sasuke-kun once said he'd fallen unconscious while training with his brother, and the next thing he knew, he was waking up to an amused Itachi happily munching onigiri and staring at him blandly. Though… considering the source that story had come from, it might have been embellished a little.
"Is something wrong, Sakura?"
Itachi watched as Sakura yelped and had to grab onto the countertop before she fell off her stool.
Sakura, flustered and incredibly horrified at her reaction to Itachi's impromptu words, muttered, "No."
"You were distracted."
That was obvious. What gave it away? The vacant expression she must've had on? She sighed, massaging the bridge of her nose softly, the good, blissful feeling causing her to say absentmindedly, "I was just thinking of you…"
She froze.
Itachi stilled, his eyes reflecting an odd emotion.
Wait. What? What did I just say? Damn mouth, speaking without permission again! Sakura thought frantically, slapping her hands over the offending part of her body.
Well, in hindsight, it had only been the truth. She peeked at Itachi, whose muscles were oddly tensed and hands were unnaturally still.
Just kill me now, she begged to whoever was listening.
Hastily, she corrected her words, unable to help babbling slightly. "I mean… I was just thinking of when you were leaving. You're leaving tonight, right? That's what you said earlier." Mentally, she wiped the nervousness away at the nice save. Beside her, she noticed as Itachi relaxed fractionally, though she was still unsure as to what had caused his reaction before.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Dare I hope you'll be missing me, Sakura?"
"No!" He looked at her blankly, hardly perturbed by her quick answer. Sakura, feeling a little rude at her outburst, hurriedly amended, "It's just… I was wondering where you were going. You left when we first got here too, and even Shisui-san didn't know where you were."
"Hn."
She rolled her eyes at his typically vague answer. Uchiha! "Does that mean you're not going to tell me?"
"Possibly."
"Not ever?" She pressed on, her interest peaked now. Really, what was he doing that was so important?
"No, just not in the near future."
"Because you can't tell me, or because you don't want to tell me?" She asked curiously, idly propping up her chin on a hand.
Itachi glanced at her, his dark eyes teasing. "I see now why Sasuke has such a hard time keeping anything from you. Are you this persistent in everything you do, Sakura?" At her embarrassed scowl, he added, "But in this matter, it's not something that you need trouble yourself with. I'm merely gathering information at the Hokage's request."
Unable to help herself, she questioned, "On what?"
She bit back a little yelp as two of Itachi's fingers raised up to poke her gently in the forehead. "I'm not telling you, remember?"
Rubbing her forehead more out of wounded pride at being treated like a child than actual pain, Sakura muttered, "Yeah, yeah. I remember." At any rate, it was probably just ANBU stuff, since Tsunade-shishou had personally given Itachi the orders to carry out a separate mission. Ugh, that was why she couldn't stand the ANBU Black Ops organization, nor ever see herself becoming one of them. There was far too much secrecy, and Sakura preferred living as openly and honestly as being a shinobi would allow. Besides, right now she was preoccupied with just making it to jounin status, never mind getting into ANBU.
Sighing, and leaning her head more into her hand in a weary gesture, she asked him, "So, the reason we had to start," she grimaced, "training today was because you're leaving tonight?"
"Essentially."
"Essentially?" She repeated incredulously. She eyeballed him dangerously. "Was there another reason that I was cruelly denied my dinner and punted around for two hours, Uchiha?" Oh, if there was, he was so having his ramen poisoned.
"Hn."
"Uchiha!"
Itachi turned his gaze on her fully, his dark eyes meeting hers in amusement. "Why do you do that, Sakura?"
That effectively confused her. "Do what?"
He smirked slightly, mirroring her position as he slid his hand to barely rest beneath his chin, his dark hair falling forwards as he tilted his head. "You alternate between my first and surname."
Damn. He had caught that. She inhaled softly, trying to figure out to explain it in a way that wouldn't make her look utterly stupid. "I guess… it depends on how I'm feeling towards you at the moment." She avoided smacking herself in the head. Because that didn't sound stupid at all.
He looked intrigued, leaning forwards minutely as he listened to her. "Oh?"
She bit her lip, then continued slowly. "I call you Itachi when you're acting… somewhat tolerably. But… when you make me feel like I want to send you flying through a bunch of trees, that's when I call you Uchiha." Sheepishly, and hating to be put on the spot like that, she met his eyes, quickly glancing away when she caught laughter in them. She knew she shouldn't have told him that!
She shifted uneasily on her stool, feeling it creak beneath her. "It's no big deal… I do the same to Sasuke-kun when he annoys me." She switched her attention back to him, triumphant in the idea that the smirk must have been wiped off his smug face with that statement.
To her disappointment, it was still there. Casting frantically around for another subject, lest he interrogate her more on the subject, she said, "Good job on distracting me from my original question, Uchiha."
Itachi leaned backwards, seemingly withdrawing from her personal space for the moment. "And what question was that, Sakura?"
"If there was another reason for why we had to start training so darn early," she replied, only too happy to remind him. She wasn't going to let him avoid this question. Her eyes clouded slightly as yet another question that had been troubling her rose to mind. Hesitantly, she went on, "Itachi… I don't even get why you would want to teach me." She sighed as she looked up at him. "Care to explain? We've got time."
To her surprise, Itachi actually had a contemplative expression on his face as he surveyed her, looking as though he was processing her request. Sourly, she realized he was probably editing what he was going to tell her. Wasn't that man capable of expressing his honest thoughts, straightforwardly and frankly?
"Why wouldn't I want to help you, Sakura?"
She blinked at his straightforward question. And narrowed her eyes a little at his answering-a-question-with-a-question method. She really hoped he didn't think she didn't notice that he was avoiding answering her.
"It's just…" You don't find me too weak? Was what she really wanted to say. She gave an inward sigh, reasoning that that statement wasn't completely true. After her apprenticeship with Tsunade-shishou, no one, including herself, would dare to call her weak. But… those early years of being denied hard training by Kakashi-sensei, and being forced to constantly watch the backs of her advancing friends, had really taken a toll on her self-assuredness, even now. "I don't want to annoy you."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Annoy me?"
Waving her hand around, she said, thinking it obvious, "Well… yeah. You're an ANBU captain, you have your oh-so-secret mission here. I just… figured you'd have better things to do."
"Such as?"
She was startled at his blunt question, and was momentarily stumped by it. "Er… improving diplomatic relations?"
Smirking, and finding it irresistible to tease her, he said, "So, the only activity I'm allowed to preoccupy myself with is 'improving diplomatic relations'?"
"Yes… I mean, no… I mean… I don't know!" She gave up trying to prove her point, clearly the loser in this battle. She exhaled loudly, staring down at the countertop with a murderous stare. The countertop was saved from bursting into flames when she was distracted from looking at it by Itachi's calming voice.
"Rest assured, if I didn't want to train you, I wouldn't. You are far from annoying to me, Sakura," he said after a moment, his eyes unwavering from her face where he was carefully watching her reaction. "But, to answer your earlier question, yes, there were other motives in wanting to train you."
Her fingers played distractedly with the edge of the counter top. Something inside of her was desperately warning her not to continue with this conversation, but she ignored it and plowed on, parroting his words from before. "Such as?"
"Selfishness."
"Eh?" How was wanting to train her selfishness? Reluctant as she was to admit it, it was hard to see taking up Itachi's precious time as selfishness on his part. If anything, and she couldn't believe she was actually defending him from herself, it was unselfish, what he was trying to do for her. "I'm not exactly following here." As seemed to be the norm whenever she spoke with Itachi.
Itachi couldn't help the curve that tilted the corner of his mouth upon seeing Sakura's innocently perplexed face. "Once we get back to Konoha…"
"Here you go! One vegetable ramen and beef ramen! Thank you for your patronage!"
Sakura nearly fell off her chair (for the second time that night) when the perky waitress cheerfully plopped their respective orders down in front of them, along with a set of chopsticks for each. She felt an unordinary amount of displeasure at the conversation being broken up so suddenly.
She shot a scowl at Itachi, who was smirking at her obvious ire. He had to have timed that to leave her hanging. She wouldn't put it past him and his scary psychic powers. Either that or someone up there really hated her.
"What were you going to—" She began, though a little hopeless at the idea of him continuing what he was saying. Sure enough, he interrupted.
"Eat, Sakura. We'll talk later," he told her quietly, turning to his own food and, in effect, ignoring her.
Unwilling to let him off the hook, (So kill her, she was curious about what he was going to say!), she twitched and heatedly asked, "When is later, Itachi? Later could be two seconds from now or two years from now." Sakura's infamous impatience was showing. It was at times such as these that her resemblance to her female mentor was really quite striking.
"Later is when I get back, Sakura. Then… we'll talk, I promise." His voice was low, his dark orbs suddenly clashing with her light green ones. For some reason, she felt like laughing—even their eyes were as different as day and night. How in the world did Itachi even… act like this around her when they were so markedly different? She shook her head, though she couldn't ignore the promise that she was sure he would keep. Even if she didn't want to talk with him, she had a feeling that she would listen to what he had to say anyways. Truth be told, she was getting a little tired of being constantly defiant to him twenty-four seven.
Looking down into the murky depths of her ramen bowl, she exhaled softly. "Fine, Itachi."
They did have a lot to talk about, and it was more than the conversation they had just been having. Much more. And the next time she saw him, she wouldn't let him forget it, for she fully intended on wrangling a few answers from him.
She realized, staring at her dinner, just how ravenous she really was. A fact which her stomach was helpfully reminding her with by twisting and turning in emptiness. And that smell was so mouthwatering…
It was like she hadn't eaten for years, what with the way her stomach was reacting to the food. And forget any more interruptions, she glowered as she remembered both Takano-san and Itachi had played a major part in withholding food gratification from her today. She was eating this meal no matter what! Even if the next Shinobi War broke out, everything could just go to hell until she was done snarfing!
Clearly, Sakura was particularly passionate when it came to the matter of food.
Well, at least Itachi's willing to treat me to a decent meal, unlike some certain, cheap shinobi that I know… an image of her three baka teammates flashed through her mind as she broke her chopsticks apart, scowling as she remembered all the times she'd reached the end of the meal and suddenly found herself sitting there alone with the bill. She shook her head, smiling ruefully. Idiots.
The next few minutes passed in comfortable silence, punctuated only by the sounds of noodles being sucked up (a majority of that sound was coming from Sakura. Itachi was just too elegant to slurp his ramen, Sakura observed, not without jealousy). She was thoroughly enjoying herself, despite of who her dinner partner was. And Itachi wasn't even that horrible of a dinner companion either, meaning that he was quiet while he ate, and didn't feel the need to break up eating with conversation. Sakura, while she loved to eat with her boys, was a long-sufferer of Naruto's never ending chatter during dinner. Though how he managed to talk and eat through several bowls of ramen at the same time was a bit of a mystery to her. Mostly she chalked it up to just being one of those incomprehensible Naruto things.
She childishly slurped up a noodle, pausing afterwards to savor the delicately salty flavor of this ramen shop's noodles. It was quite different from that of Ichiraku's, she decided after a moment. Perhaps not so spicy… maybe a little more seasoning to stave off the blandness that usually came with ramen… she'd really have to remember to bring Naruto here if he ever came to Suna… Sasuke-kun wouldn't like it, 'cause he didn't really love ramen the way Naruto did… Kakashi-sensei too, he always said after meeting Naruto, he'd had enough ramen to last him a lifetime…
"Sakura."
Itachi's voice broke through her disconnected thoughts. Seriously, she had actually forgotten who she was sitting with for a moment, so enthralled with her meal had she been. Was it too much to ask that he leave her alone in peaceful bliss with her ramen?
Then again, this was Itachi. He lived for her annoyance.
Her body froze as she turned to face him, suddenly feeling his warm hand gently holding her chin, his thumb reaching up to… stroke the corner of her mouth? Sakura's eyes snapped to his serious onyx ones, flustered and questioning.
"I-Itachi, what're you—"
She swallowed her words as the rough pad of his thumb softly skimmed over the sensitive flesh of her bottom lip, rubbing it softly, tenderly.
With the grace of an elephant, Sakura narrowly avoided choking on her own spit as she inhaled sharply. Opening her mouth, with a vicious telling off ready to be fired at him, she stopped as she got a good look at Itachi's face.
He was smiling, never mind how minute or lopsided it was. But it was an honest-to-goodness smile… that for some reason made her incredibly pleased to see, her eyes softening automatically in response. It highlighted each feature of his face, making it possible for Sakura to understand, for however brief a moment, why he had so many girls falling over themselves back in Konoha to catch his attention.
She blinked as Itachi withdrew his hand from her face, his fingertips delicately slipping off of her chin, and brought his thumb up to his mouth, his tongue flicking out to taste it.
What. The. Hell? Sakura wasn't really capable of rational thought at this point in time. A sad affliction that was happening way too often nowadays. An affliction that always seemed to affect her whenever Itachi got too close.
Like now.
She supposed it must have shown on her face, because Itachi laughed quietly as he turned back to his own bowl of ramen.
"You had some broth on your face, Sakura." His strikingly slim fingers picked up his previously forgotten chopsticks, dipping the wooden utensils into the bowl. A long slice of green onion was precariously selected from the bowl, expertly pulled out and raised to his lips. "The ingredients here really are quite… delightful, Sakura."
He was doing that on purpose, she fumed as she watched him. Her face turned bright red as the dark-hared Uchiha carelessly inserted the green onion into his mouth, his tongue flicking out in the same manner in which he'd licked his thumb.
It was too much. It was far, far too much for her innocent brain.
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry beyond belief, and her eyes identical pools of bewilderment.
"Ita—"
"Sakura!"
Sakura's view of Itachi was quite abruptly obscured as a person shoved herself between Sakura and Itachi, tossing enthusiastic arms around her. Once again, Sakura was smothered by a pair of arms and a humongous chest, making her choke and sputter for air.
It seemed the entire world was conspiring against her and Itachi being allowed to have a private, uninterrupted conversation.
"Dammit, Temari, get off of her! I don't want the Hokage comin' down here to kick our asses for suffocating her apprentice!"
Once again, she was saved by Kankuro's timely intervention as he hauled the enthusiastic blond away from her. She reminded herself to buy him a gift basket or something one day for all the times he'd saved her from his sister.
"Baka, get off of me! I'm allowed to hug her hello, aren't I?"
"'Hug' being the operative word, sis. Not 'kill' and 'suffocate'. It's a miracle Gaara and I lived past childhood after being raised by you."
Sakura giggled, her mood being drastically lightened by the appearance of her friend. "Ne, Kankuro-san, I don't mind."
Temari looked haughtily at her face-paint wearing younger brother. "See? Sakura says it's okay."
"Whatever. Crazy girls," Kankuro muttered, rolling his eyes. Choosing to ignore the two women next to him, he turned to Itachi, who was watching the entire scene impassively. "Oh, Uchiha-san, I had a message for you." He glared at his older sister from the corner of his eye, who had apparently delegated the task of passing on the message to him in favor of chatting with her friend. Lazy, bossy woman.
"Yes?"
Nearly jumping out of his skin, he rubbed his neck nervously at being on the receiving end of Itachi's unmoving stare. Damn, the man was even more intimidating when you actually talked to him. "My brother wants to see you in his office tonight." Glancing around him quickly, he lowered his voice, doubting that Itachi and Gaara wanted to broadcast what Itachi was doing. "Preferably right before you leave."
"Hn."
Unfamiliar with Uchiha-speak, Kankuro hovered uncertainly for a moment, before shrugging and deciding that he had done his duty in passing along the message. He turned back to the two girls, where Temari was cackling wickedly and Sakura was blushing like a ripe tomato wearing rouge. Sensibly, he decided it was better not to ask, lest he wanted to be scarred for life.
Sakura looked past Temari as she noticed Itachi smoothly sliding off his stool after placing enough money on the table to cover the meal. Where was he going? He had been talking to Kankuro only a minute before.
"Itachi?" She called out softly, making him turn as he reached the exit of the shop, which was somewhere close behind her. She blinked as he was suddenly in front of her, easily pulling her a short distance away from where Temari and Kankuro sat, eliciting an indignant "Hey!" from Temari, who had been robbed of her talking partner. He stopped when they were standing in a corner of the shop, hidden in the shadowy portion that the lamps didn't illuminate.
Sakura ignored being pulled about by him for once, curious as to what he was going to say. Maybe he was going to tell her more about what he was setting off to do? Her green eyes plainly asking him what her mouth didn't, Itachi smirked faintly and told her quietly, "I will see you in two days time, Sakura." Their bodies were close together, the conversation soft enough that outsiders wouldn't be able to hear.
Realization dawned on her. He must have been preparing to leave on whatever it was that Shishou had asked him to do. Stubbornly, she ignored the small wave of worry that hit her stomach, making the muscles clench. It was two days free of Itachi, after all. Her stomach must have been doing back flips of joy. Smiling somewhat, she replied, "Aa. I'll see you then."
"Shisui and Hana will watch out for you while I'm gone."
Darn. She thought he might've forgotten about that. "Look, Itachi, I think I can—"
"You lost the bet, Sakura. One of the conditions was that you allow them to accompany you," he reminded her in what she thought was an unnecessarily patronizing way.
Grumbling, she gave in and said, "Yeah, I remember."
"I'm only thinking of your safety."
Her eyes met his, surprising her at the apparent honesty in his for once. Shifting nervously, she stayed quiet, her throat too dry all of a sudden. Was it just her, or was this conversation happening a tad too quickly? There seemed to be a…hurried feeling in his words.
"And Sakura… that man you were with earlier today—"
"What man?" She questioned, though she had an inkling as to which one he was talking about.
"Takano," he told her, though his mouth twisted oddly, like there was a horrific taste in it.
"What about him?" She asked, if a little defensively. She couldn't imagine why Itachi would be talking to her about him. She had gotten the impression that he hadn't particularly liked the head medic-nin at the hospital.
"Don't…" He paused, as though assessing what her reaction would be. "Just be wary of him, if you continue to associate with him."
She sighed, deciding it was better not to argue with him on the subject. "I will, don't worry." She liked Takano-san, but that didn't mean she trusted him fully. She glared at Itachi, feeling insulted. Really, she wasn't stupid enough to become bosom buddies with someone she hadn't known all that long, as well as someone who had the potential to be an enemy.
"Very well. That is all." He looked away from her for a second, taking in the pitch black sky outside that signaled his time of departure was here. The conversation had been rushed, but he had told her all he needed to. "I will see you later then, Sakura," he promised in low tones.
She nodded, starting to reply, before she was cut off.
Her eyes widened drastically as Itachi leaned in, softly pulling her a step nearer to him simultaneously.
A gentle kiss was brushed against her forehead, lips caressing the skin there for the briefest of instances.
Sakura's heartbeat stopped, heat suffusing her face rapidly.
Then Itachi was walking away in his long strides, disappearing from her line of sight as he left the shop.
Sakura stood there, stock still.
Her mind was a blank. A torturous blank.
This couldn't be healthy for her.
Itachi was probably going to kill her brain dead before she turned twenty. If not sooner.
She'd have to ask Shishou if that was medically possible.
An arm was slung around her shoulders playfully, and she distantly heard Temari purr, "Well, well, well, Sakura. Care to explain?"
She turned and was met with Temari's famous shit-eating-grin.
I was about to ask the same question, Temari. The exact same question.
*Hides behind a tree before peeking out* So…sorry for the long wait? But really, sorry, because this chapter was an evil entity to write. It was just one of those times when you have to pull and fight and argue with it before it'll get written…if that makes sense ^_^. Another thing: thank you so much to everyone who reads/favorites/alerts/reviews my story, it really brings joy into my life and makes me feel guilty when I don't write fast enough!
Next, I'm happy to announce that I found a wonderful, talented beta reader in the form of BrittMarie! If you want to thank someone for getting the chapter out, thank her for editing it for me :-)
***SPOILER ALERT: Total fangirl moment here: Itachi's alive? Am I seeing that right? Just out of curiosity, what did everyone else think of the last chapter? I pretty much stared at it for ten minutes with a stupid grin on my face, praying that it's not a genjutsu or something, as well as praying that maybe by some freakish plot twist he and Sakura will get together…? Unlikely, but I'm hopeful.
I appreciate constructive criticism, helpful tips, or just plain ol' happy comments, so please leave a review!