Itachi had been careful when addressing Sakura for the past few hours. To Sakura, it seemed he was becoming more and more guarded, keeping even more to himself in an effort to shut her, as an intruder out. He had come in, and, before she could say anything, had told her that he was taking her clothes shopping. She was not to get any clothing that made her stick out in the usual crowd of the small village they were staying in.
He had glared at her every time she had even begun to think about striking up a conversation. She could tell he was using his rather deadly Mangekyou to predict, by her mannerisms, when she was going to try to speak. Overall, awkwardness ensued, following the couple like a black cloud, or a black hole, more likely, sucking up all of the things around them.
Itachi had been following her around docilely, Sakura noticed, and had only had one true moment of uneasiness at any time while they were shopping. Sakura had been trying on a slinky black halter dress that billowed out a little for a nice mini skirt. Itachi had seemed to glare at her. She had thought he was angry.
That was, until she saw the blood dripping almost imperceptibly from his nostrils.
Shocked, Sakura had stared, leaning forward(consequently making the nosebleed worse), she brushed the blood off of his face, then trailed her hands over the bags under his eyes.
"Even the great Uchiha Itachi is a little bit of a pervert," she whispered, looking at the dark lines that marked his insomnia.
Itachi glared at her. It would have looked so much more deadly if it weren't for the nervous, giddy feeling he hadn't had in his heart since he was much, much smaller. He thanked all gods that might exist that he had been trained so well to hide his emotions.
Itachi had promised himself he wouldn't get caught in a situation like this. He wouldn't let his instincts and attraction get the best of him. He would keep his head above water, no matter how delicious and tempting the smooth, silky, beautiful water was, especially when lit by the nice light pinks of the sunset over the clear, green water, but somehow…
…he became ensnared.
As he stared into Sakura's eyes, watching as she looked over him, he couldn't help it. He leaned forward, just a bit, as they were already close, and brought his lips to lightly meet hers, his eyes closing as he reveled in the smooth, if a little chapped, lips that had called his attention.
Sakura gasped a little, providing Itachi with a perfect opportunity. Pretty soon, the couch that Itachi had been sitting on while waiting was supporting both of their weights.
A few minutes after they had begun, and after a few two second breaks, Itachi pulled back and looked the pink-haired temptress in the eyes.
"We need to fix this," he muttered.
"Yes, "Sakura agreed, her eyes flickering between his red irises and his lips. "But what constitutes fixing?" she asked.
Itachi sighed. How to answer? He was forced to confess that he didn't have an answer for that particular question.
He could easily say "Forget it," but then they would both be even more unhappy than before, after all, even he would be plagued with the "what if" s when he couldn't sleep at night, which was often. On the other hand, he could ask her to be his, if just for a while, but there was a slight problem. No matter how short the relationship last, Akatsuki members were only allowed to date other Akatsuki members, which is why almost every Akatsuki member was single.
Itachi looked Sakura in the eyes, thinking of the best way to say what was on his mind without making her angry at him.
First, she needed to get out of that outfit and into her clothes, otherwise, he didn't know that they would make it through the conversation.
Since when had he ever acted with such brainlessness?
"Sakura," Itachi muttered. The kunoichi turned her head up from where it had been lying on his chest while he thought. Usually, he would have killed even a girl he took for a one night stand if she touched him after the deed was done. The girl had not done anything for him, and yet she was just lying on him. He must be sick. "Go get changed," Itachi mumbled in her ear.
After they had bought all the clothes Sakura had picked out, and the necessities of everyday living as a girl(Itachi stood outside the door of that particular shop), they went back to the base. Sakura wanted to run, she really did, but Itachi was still sucking out all of her chakra before they even left the house.
It was actually getting rather annoying.
When they got to Itachi's room, where Sakura was still staying, Sakura glared at him.
Itachi couldn't help it, he sighed, or at least half sighed. He caught himself half way through it, mentally berating himself. This girl could get under his skin. It must be a great power in a Medic, to be able to manipulate your patient's emotions. He wondered if it was also effective in a fight. After all, inducing anger in an opponent would cause them to hit harder, but they would be aiming less and just blowing off steam.
He mentally noted that, storing it away to write on a scroll as a positive trait. He, like all of the other members in their base, were to note any positive or negative attributes that their prospect had whenever there was an opportunity. He vaguely wondered if Deidara would put down: "she wears pretty underwear," as a positive trait and "she uses my shampoo," as a negative. The idiot had been trying to piss off the leader more and more lately.
Privately, Itachi thought he was suicidal.
It was then, during the "suicidal" bit that Itachi registered the hand waving in front of his face in an effort to get his attention.
Gods damn it. The only other person who had gotten him this comfortable was his own mother! Not even Sasuke was able to get Itachi completely comfortable.
He glared at the pink haired girl in front of him. Sakura glared right back, though her eyes were skeptical.
"I need to do laundry, Itachi," she mumbled.
Itachi turned his eyes to the pile of new clothes at his door, then at the girl still dressed in her civilian clothing. He turned away from her, grabbed the bags, and held the door open to let her through first. He had to remind himself yet again that he was not being nice to her, he was being practical. If he closed the sealed door and went to wash her clothes, underwear and all, then came back, she would most likely throw a fit. If he had allowed her to see his back, he would be a much easier target. Not to mention the fact that he got easily distracted in her presence.
Sakura walked past Itachi, keeping alert as he walked silently behind her. She went down the stairs with the quiet, practiced ease of the assassin she was, and he went with the silence and ease of a shadow. Hopping the last two steps, she began her trek down another flight of stairs, getting to the first floor. She opened the door, then waited for Itachi to tell her where to go.
"The laundry room is the third door on the left," he told he, "Right before the kitchen."
Sakura walked down the hallway.
"You know what?" she asked, but didn't pause for an answer from him. "We have barely talked at all today."
Itachi looked at her, recounting every word said in a waking moment today. She was right, if she compared him to the normal person, who liked to talk very much. For him, this was rather much.
"I talk more to you than I do my own partner," he finally told her. "I count that as very much."
Sakura looked back at him over her shoulder as she went through the door of the laundry room. She looked around. There was a washer, a dryer, and a small couch. The folding table to one side was up against a wall and currently empty. There were three hampers, one black, one blue, and one a bright, cheery yellow.
"Don't you have to talk to your partner in most situations?" Sakura asked him, sitting on the floor. Itachi gave her a pointed look, allowing his eyes to flash briefly to red. "Well, I suppose not," she muttered, sounding a little deflated.
Itachi sat gracefully right next to her, then emptied out the bags of clothes on the clean, mopped floor.
"You know, I don't think Sasuke can do that," Sakura mumbled, looking down at the shirt she was pulling tags and stickers off of."
Itachi looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't think Sasuke can flash between the Sharingan and his normal eyes so quickly," Sakura clarified.
Itachi began to help Sakura sort through the clothes, contemplating answering her. In the end, it wouldn't matter. If he told her, and she joined the Akatsuki, she would most likely just see it as a snippet of information about her comrade. If he told her and she didn't join, she would die.
Itachi looked up briefly from the pair of pants in his hands and into Sakura's face. "If Sasuke were to ever be able to do things as I do, then my entire scheme of making him hate me will have worked too well. This is caused by an instability in my emotions."
Sakura stared at him. She knew there were two main emotions that caused the Sharingan to activate: lust and anger.
"So you hide your emotions, but you get angry very easily?" she asked.
Itachi simply nodded, his face blank, his eyes their usual lazy, blank, clouded color.
Soon, they were done sorting the clothes into their separate piles. While the first load, Dark Colors, was in the wash, Sakura sat on the couch, Itachi sitting on the floor near her legs. It wasn't long before he heard her breathing and heart rate even out, and felt the pressure of her lying on the couch directly behind him.
Sighing, he picked her up, pulling her into his arms and walking up to their room. A part of him, very deeply concealed, even for the most part from him, liked the sound of that. He brushed it off. It was his room, she just stayed in it with him.
He came into his room and pulled the covers back with one arm, lying Sakura down on the bed beneath them.
He would have thought she was weak for needing so much rest, if it weren't for the fact that she had no chakra, because of him, left in her than was vitally necessary. For some odd reason he felt guilty because of that. As a ninja, she was very dependent on her extra chakra to stay alive, and he had taken it from her.
He looked down at her, calm, smiling face, then walked around the bed to what was quickly becoming "his side," no, no, it was his entire bed. He took off his cloak, letting the snaps fill the room, then he took off his shirt, and slipped into bed beside Sakura. Sighing, he drifted off into his meditative state, and eventually to sleep.
Naruto stared at the letter he had carried in his pocket for the past week. Had it really been that long? Yes. His best friend had left a week ago, and had told them that she wouldn't, no, couldn't come back in good conscience. He wondered silently if she was okay.
Tsunade put her on the "missing" list, but not on the criminal list. So far as they had seen, she had not done anything against their allies, Suna. She wasn't really a threat. She had told them just to call if they were to need her, and even left an extra scroll for her favorite summon-able cat.
He sighed, sinking against the monument he was leaning on. "Sakura-chan, if you're out there, take care of yourself. Stay out of trouble."
He spotted Hinata out of the corner of his eye and began making his way over to her, taking long, regular strides.
He walked up to her and let himself be noticed before saying, "Hi, Hinata-chan, I was wondering, do you want to go out to eat tonight? Don't worry, It's not Ichiraku's and I will pay…"
