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Itachi didn't know when it started, but he knew that he was starting to get used to how Sakura was just so affectionate. It seemed like she couldn't help it, like she would die if she didn't give everyone at least one hug a day.
Every morning she would have to wake up first to serve his breakfast in bed or she'd have a heart-attack. Itachi, being the almost-kind person that he was, just let himself go back to sleep (it wasn't hard with the warmth he was provided) if he woke up before her. Besides, what kind of guy would he be if he deprived himself of awesome breakfasts?
Then when she left for her work, she would ask him what he wanted from downtown as he usually trained just outside the house with different opponents every day.
When she came home, they would talk about their day and Itachi would grudgingly tell Sakura one secret about him.
At bedtime they had no shame- they decided to hold onto each other the way they would when they eventually fell asleep.
It was an existence Itachi admitted he could get used to. However, the worst part of the day- the part that constantly burned down his insides- was right before Sakura came home. That was when she spent her time with Mikio.
He worried everyday that Sakura would somehow fall in love with the guy and not take her place as the Uchiha matriarch. But then she would always come home complaining about how Mikio was getting worse every time.
"It's like the more I reject him, the more he wants me!" She exclaimed one late afternoon, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.
"Want me to annihilate him for you?" Itachi offered, partly serious. The lethal intent in his eyes sent shivers down her spine.
"You're not actually considering it, are you?" Sakura asked anxiously.
Itachi quelled the stream of murderous thoughts immediately. "No, I am not considering it."
She didn't look convinced. "You better not 'cause he's not my type. I've never been known to like light-haired guys, you know."
"Hn." Itachi said smirking to himself. Score one for team Uchiha.
"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed, remembering something. "I finally found someone for you."
Itachi groaned, really losing his temper this time. "Sakura, I don't want anyone. I'm not meant to go back to the real world. I. Want. To. Die. Here. Alone!"
Sakura looked taken aback. "You can't mean that."
He looked away, not feeling any grief for himself. "But I do." When he looked back at her, he saw the tears gathering in her eyes.
"That means I'll be here too." She told him softly, the first tear grazing her cheek.
"Why?"
"Because I'm most happy when you're happy." And she fled into the confines of their bathroom to cry her heart out. She sat on the floor weakly and tried to talk herself through it.
I can't be falling in... Sakura… he's your gay best friend! You'll only get hurt. You don't want that to happen again, do you?
In fact, you're damn lucky he's gay; otherwise you'd be putting your heart on a dartboard.
Sakura gathered back all her resolve. It made her strong, the fact that his homosexuality prevented him from ever loving her. What is it with these Uchihas? They're my favorite disease… and I'll probably never end up with any of them either.
Outside in the room, Itachi was having problems of his own. Among those problems were his conflicting thoughts and emotions and the fact that he'd have to get out of this place with her. He'd have to get out of the Village of the Glass Fountain for the Clan to be resurrected. So be it.
Just then, Sakura exited the bathroom looking tearstained but resigned to her fate. "Sorry about that. It won't happen again."
Itachi had swooped in and enveloped her in a tight hug. "I'm sorry I can't be happy the way you want me to be. I understand that your sisterly love makes you wish the world for me, but there are other ways to find happiness."
Sakura allowed herself sweet surrender in his arms. She almost laughed when he had said 'sisterly love.' Hah! She wished.
Unfortunately for her, she found Itachi warm in ways Sasuke would never be. He, like her, had sacrificed so much just for someone he loved and that side of him called out to her. What did Sasuke ever do? Tear down everything that meant something for revenge?
"How?" Sakura asked miserably.
"By just… I don't know." That wasn't something Itachi had ever said. All his life he was so sure of how to act, what to do, and what to expect. Somehow he knew this was all her fault- she was messing with him in ways he couldn't control.
Just then, the doorbell decided it would interrupt their little heart to heart talk. Sakura paled and ran to her closet. "Oh shit… Oooooh shit."
Recognizing Mikio's and other unknown chakras did not suit Itachi at all. He even staggered back when he saw Sakura pull out a stringy white bikini.
"You're going to the beach." It was a statement. He knew Mikio's habit of bringing hot girls to the beach to see them in the least amount of clothing possible.
"And I'm running late!" She said, grabbing her shades at the last minute. "You wanna come?"
"I'll think about it." But Sakura was already closing the door.
She was met by her favorite girls and Mikio. "Mikio, where are your friends?"
"They're reserving a spot for us by the beach." Seiko told her for him. "Thank Kami, otherwise it'd be so awkward- all of them are ex-boyfriends."
The other girls rolled their eyes in perfect unison and Mikio laughed.
"You look kind of flustered. Have you gotten all your stuff?" Chiyo asked kindly.
"Pretty much. Let's go."
The beach was the most tragically beautiful thing Sakura had ever seen. Beautiful because it simply was, with its clean white sand, clear blue waters, and colorful orderly stalls bordering the rows of the trees farthest from the shore. Terribly tragic- well, for a broken Haruno- because the harmonious colors of the sunset only emphasized the romance of passionate kisses many couples chose to share on the soft sand.
"Sakura?" The others had careless settled themselves on the spot reserved for them but Mikio, in love and observant, felt Sakura's torture.
"I can't just laze around, Mikio." Sakura said, not taking her eyes off the cause of her near relapse into tears. "I'm not that kind of girl."
"Sure. What about I take you diving or water-skiing?" He suggested, hoping to get a precious smile.
"Yeah, why not?" Before her very eyes, a couple disappeared after simply kissing. "Mikio… did you see that?! What the hell-"
"Sakura, calm down!" Mikio had grabbed both her shoulders and gently shook her out of her panic. "They found their happiness."
It finally dawned on her and pain flashed through her eyes, clear enough for Mikio to see.
She abruptly grabbed his hand and drew him in the direction of his group of friends. They were holding up surf boards. "You are going to teach me how to surf."
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A few hours after the sun had set, Mikio and Sakura just sat on their boards exhausted and drifting aimlessly.
In the glow of the moonlight, Mikio had to admit to himself that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and it was not just the hot bikini.
He wondered how the Uchiha put up with such a view easily. He never knew the struggles his friend currently faced. "Sakura?" She looked up at him from the dark waters. "Did I ever tell you that you're beautiful? When will I ever get the chance to get serious with you?"
She shook her head with an ironic smile and looked down at her hands. She then pointed out into sea. "Where does it lead?"
Mikio sighed at her intentional change of topic. "The edge of this world."
Her eyes immediately lit up with interest and he didn't like it. "Really?"
"So they say…" She started swimming towards it. There was something seriously wrong with that woman today, Mikio noted in exaspersation.
"Sakura! No! It's too far!" Maybe all her obedience abandoned ship when it saw where she was heading.
He groaned and swam after her as fast as his body allowed. That woman will eventually kill me and don't I know it.
After an hour or so, Sakura bumped into what felt like a wall made of marble. Something was wrong, though, because she could still see the waves and sky in the distance. This must be the barrier.
She pounded on it hard. Performing appropriate hand signs, she tried various powerful genjutsu techniques. Please… please… I need to get out of here…
Gathering all her chakra into her hands, she slammed her fists into it. What normally would have cracked, due to her immense power, was the barrier but her fists took the damage instead.
Tilting her head back, Sakura screamed out all the pain ear-splittingly. When her lungs finally gave in, her head bent in defeat.
"Sakura… is this about Itachi?" Mikio's voice was soft, but it was strangely intimidating and commanding.
"Not anymore, I swear." Sakura said, staring at her broken hands. Her voice sounded more like her but there was an edge to it that he couldn't understand.
What Mikio didn't know was that this was the voice of her strength. She had called to it once in the past, right when another Uchiha had abandoned her. That, she knew now, was just the illusion infatuation had created. She had stubbornly chosen to ignore all of Sasuke's faults, creating a fantasy that was never meant to be.
But Itachi… she knew almost all of him and she loved and accepted all that she saw. She cursed the fact that she was always the very first to fall and the last to recover from it.
