"Sit up straight you wretched child!" SMACK! Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration and pain as that blasted ruler came crashing down on her severely red wrist.

"I am sitting up straight you old—ouch!"

"Watch your tongue!" SMACK! Oh this woman was irking her senseless.

"Listen here you prehistoric creature! Hit me with that stick one more time and I'll-" SMACK!

"You're such a rude little girl. Why I never-!"

"SHANNARO!"

Just moments earlier…

Sakura and Itachi had just reentered the conference room where, seated on the couch, was an elderly woman sipping on a cup of tea. She looked up at their arrival and smiled sweetly at them.

"Itachi-kun, it's been quite some time since I've last seen you. My you've grown into quite the handsome young man." She cooed.

"Thank you. This is Haruno Sakura, your trainee." He started. "Sakura, this is Chiyo-baa-sama your etiquette teacher."

"How do you do? Such a pretty thing, just like Midori-sama." She hummed cheerfully. Sakura took her aged hand in her own and shook it politely.

"Nice to meet you."

"I'll leave you to it then. Good luck, Sakura." With that, Itachi left. Sakura always felt nervous whenever he left her to her own devices. But this time was a little different. Seriously, what could this cute little old lady do to her that wasn't worse than what she had already experienced with Shisui and the pretty boys?

"Well, now that those silly introductions are out of the way, why don't we get started, hm?" she gestured for her to sit down. Sakura complied and sat down on the opposite couch. Chiyo then took the tea pot and refilled her own cup offering to fill Sakura's. "Tea?"

"Sure." Twitch. Suddenly, a very dark shadow appeared on the old woman's face as she paused in mid action.

"Your reply should be 'Yes, please.'" Came her response. "Proper ladies do not use words like 'Sure.'" Sakura cocked a brow before rolling her eyes.

"Whatever…" Double twitch. Before Sakura could blink seering pain erupted on her forearm causing her to flinch. Nursing it gently, she looked up to see Chiyo wielding a ruler type item tightly in her hand while staring her down with malice. "What was that for?"

"Proper ladies do not use words like 'Whatever.'" She scolded again. Sakura smirked.

"What. Ever." SMACK! "Ow!"

"You will learn to choose your words wisely. Now, would you like a cup of tea?" she asked once more, her sweet façade back on. Sakura gritted her teeth.

"Yes, please." Chiyo hummed in approval as she poured in a generous amount of green tea. Sakura sighed and made a move to grab the cup. Just as her right hand gripped the handle and her left moved to cup the other side, the ruler came down once more. "Ouch! What'd I do this time?"

"Do not use contractions! And that is the incorrect way to hold a tea cup. Watch closely as I will only do this once." With that, Chiyo sat the stick down in front of her and took the cup in her wrinkled hands. Using her right hand only, she wrapped her index finger around the handle while moving her thumb at the top of the handle while the other fingers rested at the bottom; pinky in. "See? Now you try."

Sakura took the cup in her hand, copying the woman's exact movements. Her left hand twitched waiting to add it in for extra support. Chiyo seemed to be warning her with her eyes not to move that hand an inch.

"Good. When drinking your tea do not slurp loudly but sip quietly. Also keep your eyes on your tea and not on other people, lest you spill it on yourself. When finished, place the cup back on the saucer." Sakura sighed and sat the cup back in its rightful place before scratching an itch on her cheek.

SMACK!

"Geez! That hurts!" she protested.

"It is meant to hurt. Proper ladies must not scratch themselves in public for it is quite unbecoming." Chiyo chanted.

"Who cares? If I have an itch then I'm going to scratch!" Sakura retorted. Chiyo glared before huffing and setting the stick down. She picked up her small spoon and began stirring her tea soundlessly before bring it up to her mouth.

"You have much to learn. That mouth of yours is guaranteed to get you into trouble young lady." Sakura sneered.

"Same to you old woman." She snorted.

"Such insolence!" SMACK! Sakura hissed.

"That's getting old real fast!"

"Do not use contractions! Sit up straight you wretched child!"

Present time…

Sakura was on her feet, proudly holding a broken piece of the ruler in each of her hands as Chiyo stared up at her with surprise. The pinkette then tossed the pieces haphazardly to the side as she plopped down on the couch, legs and arms crossed arrogantly.

"You possess a very strong will. I like that. However, you must not think of me to be incompetent that I would bring only one correction stick." Sakura grimaced at the large bag filled with the accursed rulers. "We have much to go over."

"Damnit!" SMACK!

"No profanity!"


The police station was always busy. Of course, Konoha was a large place full of dastardly criminals that needed to be apprehended. Even so, the workers often found time to laze about and converse with one another. Something Itachi never quite count onto.

So imagine his surprise when he happened upon one Uchiha Yashiro lounging about the break room talking to one of the new recruits with a previously steaming cup of coffee in his hands.

"Yashiro-san," he called. There was an immediate frown on the man's at being interrupted. The frown deepened once he realized just who had halted his conversation. The captain's beloved first born. Mad scowl!

"Have you retrieved the file I asked for?" it was a simple question that required a simple answer. Too bad Yashiro refused to be simple. He grunted in annoyance and slid the younger Uchiha the file, sending a squinted glare for good measure and returning to his previous conversation.

Itachi smirked. Now that his daily vexing of Yashiro was complete he could continue on with his day. He stepped into his office and laid the file on his desk where he just stared at it. He pondered its contents before opening it.

He had asked Yashiro to look up Haruno and provide a file with vital information. He would not've bothered if the girl wasn't so darn mysterious. And he knew she wouldn't tell him herself so the only way to find out was to snoop.

Opening the folder, Itachi grimaced at the words that literally crept off the page.

Hours later, Itachi arrived to find both women at each other's throats. Chiyo was frowning deeply and Sakura looked beyond pissed with two severely red forearms. Just as he was about to collect the young girl, she foolishly, as he described, launched herself at the elderly woman only to receive an onslaught of slaps from the correction stick.

"When defending yourself, every body part is fair game young lady." Came the words of Chiyo as she laughed fruitfully at Sakura's expense. She then proceeded to cackle menacingly which unnerved both occupants.

So now, riding back to his house he noticed that Sakura had fallen asleep in the passenger seat with her head propped against the window. He smirked to himself as he recalled the predicament he had gotten himself into.

It was a gamble. Itachi did not gamble. But this, he simply couldn't resist. If the mission was a success, his name would no doubt go down in history. If it was a fail? There was no fail as Itachi did not fail. Itachi and the word fail do not even belong in the same brainwave.

He pulled into the driveway, swiftly exited the vehicle and moved to the other side where he opened Sakura's door. He removed her seatbelt and slipped his arms under her form, lifting her up from the seat and shutting the door with his foot.

"What? Are you playing chivalrous knight in shining armor now?" came the teasing remark from the organism he called brother. Itachi promptly ignored the boy and moved to guestroom where he gently laid her down on the bed.

"How was your day, otouto?" Itachi asked, sensing Sasuke at the door. The boy then snorted.

"You ask as if you care." Was he response. Itachi sighed, standing up from the bed.

"For the time being, I am your guardian. So yes, I do care. Have you eaten anything?" they both entered the kitchen where Itachi went to work on dinner and Sasuke sat down at the counter, resting his head in his palms.

"Not since lunch." Itachi hummed in acknowledgement. It was silent again, the only sounds being food cooking and the occasional tap of Sasuke's fingers rolling against the countertop. Soon they were alerted of their house guest as a yawning Sakura came strolling into the front room after her little catnap. She joined Sasuke at the counter where she laid her head down on her arms.

"Rough day?" he commented with a smirk. She grunted and blew up her hair tiredly.

"You have no idea." Sasuke snorted as he gazed at her from the corner of his eye. She was a strange one. Especially since Itachi never brought anyone room for the sake of a mission. Heck, he never even brought women home for the sake of pleasure! Not that Sasuke wanted him to, gross.

Not only that, but she was indifferent towards all of them, Shisui included. If he ever talked back to Itachi there a slim chance that'd he'd walk away unscathed. Maybe it was because she was a girl. But Itachi doesn't like girls, he thought.

He watched her again, noticing how her green eyes were locked on the enigmatic figure of his brother and how he moved about the kitchen. He smirked at the flicker of amusement that flashed in her eyes before she spoke.

"Itachi is a bit of a housewife, isn't he?" she whispered to him. At her statement, a strikingly familiar wooden spoon came flowing across the room and smacked against her forehead. "Ouch!"

Ah, screw all his previous thoughts. If she could provoke Itachi to the point of attack she was alright in his book.

"I met your father today," he stared at her. "He's really scary."

To her surprise, Sasuke laughed.

"Hn. Try being his kid."


A/N: This chapter was hard to write. I don't like hard things. Therefore I don't like this chapter. But alas, it had to be written. Trust me, if I could leave this chapter out and continue on with the story I would. Anyway, the etiquette teacher is elder Chiyo! Whoo! Are you surprised? I figure Chiyo is old enough and seems to fit the bill for etiquette teacher what with her fast hands on that correction stick. And those smacks really do hurt.

Also, Itachi had the Haruno filed looked up! Oh! What do you think is inside that caused him to grimace? I'll let you use your imagination on that one. Lastly, I had to add Sasuke's bit at the end. I love Sasuke when he's not hell bent on revenge. He's just so easy to work with. Itachi is the hard one what with his emotionless…ness. Question! Who should be our next special guest? I'm contemplating adding Sai in there just so Sakura can have someone to punch every now and again. And don't worry, Naruto will be popping up soon.

Thanks to: EmmettLover93, Karleta, Kaydreams, MadamGoldEyes, TeamTHEFT, Echo Uchiha, ProBowler, Akatsuki Sakura Uchiha, Lady Lauren, MartialArtsMistress, Oh-Holy-Ruler-Mika-chan, TobiBlack, and my anonymous reviewers who didn't leave names! I really appreciate your support thus far!

P.S.- It's late, technically early, and I know I'm going to be too busy to update later on so I'm giving this to you now. Be grateful! Haha! See you in chapter 8!