Chapter 7 - Bored
Sakura ran her newly acquired brush through pink tangles thoroughly irritated. Letting out a frustrated growl she let go of the brush. It just stuck there like some accesory hanging from those long knotted strands! How did she ever manage to have long hair?
"That's it," she thought, "the very moment I get my hands on a kunai it's coming off." She once again started her furious battle with the tangles; she would not be defeated!
Hair finally falling smoothly down her back she entered the kitchen. The house did of course have an actual dining room, but that was only for formal occasions. She immediately felt four pairs of black eyes on her. For just a second the silence was tense, then Sasuke broke it with the happy exclamation of "Sakura nee-chan!". He promptly jumped up from his seat. Speeding around the table he came to a halt in front of her waving a piece of paper vigorously. "Look, look, I made you a drawing"
A genuine smile spread across her lips as she crouched down to his level. "Now Sasuke-chan, you need to keep it steady, if you want me to see it"
"Sorry" he said blushing slightly at his mistake. It was three stick figures. A tall dark haired one, a small dark haired one and one with a whole lot of pink. She could tell from the fine thin strokes, that the pink crayon had been unused prior to this. The tall one, she guessed to be Itachi, was standing a bit off with an unhappy look on his face, while both her and Sasuke's stick figures was grinning happily. Then she noticed that Sasuke had scribbled something down towards the bottom of the paper. 'Secret' it said in his shaky handwriting.
She grinned at him, "I like it very much, thank you" Sasuke grinned right back. As one they cast a glance in Itachi's direction. Sakura felt faintly disappointed when he didn't react in the slightest.
Oo o oO
It was simply a glance. Nothing more. Still it was highly unnerving. He found himself wishing he'd paid attention to his little brother's drawing beforehand, as it disappeared, neatly folded, down her pants pocket. This girl was a very bad influence on his innocent brother. Sasuke would never even have thought of the possibility of teasing him before that girl came along. They had just met yesterday for crying out loud and already they were the perfect partners in crime. If it was not for the fact that Sasuke had greeted him first when they returned earlier, he might even have gotten jealous.
He saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes before it was completely quelled. Replaced by resolve he couldn't quite place.
Oo o oO
How was she going to go about this? Thoughts flew through her head. How should she act? Greeting Mikoto and Itachi silently she turned to the clan head. Her mind quickly took in the stern face, that seemed to be stuck in a mask of displeasure, piercing dark eyes, lines of stress, dark hair streaked with gray. Stubborn and alway in need of control, she thought. Her mind made up she bowed deeply.
"Uchiha-sama, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Getting the right amount of awe into her voice was a precarious balance; too much and it would be taken as sarcasm, too little and it would sound forced. Good thing being Tsunade's apprentice had forced her to be diplomatic in her dealings with stuck up old men.
"Thank you so much for letting me stay in your home."
She cast a glance up through her bangs, noticing how the thoughtful expression turned to one of decision. He'd come to a conclusion about her personality. When the forced smile came on his face, she was relieved; he'd come to exactly the conclusion she wanted him to. Once again her hair seemed to come to her aid in the innocent girl act. She straightened and responded with a bright smile of her own, her eyes crinkling shut, so that he would not detect the disgust in her emerald eyes. This was too easy. It was a good thing that nervous and demure little girls did not meet the eyes of men.
Oo o oO
Fugaku took in the sight of the fragile girl with the atrocious hair color. His displeasure at having his oldest son taken away from his duties to watch this, rose exponentially. Sasuke seemed absolutely taken with her. He was glad to note that Itachi remained completely impassive and neutral in his greeting of her. It would not do if he showed the slightest sign of distraction. As she turned around to greet him, he took in her absolutely girly features. Mikoto would probably call her cute.
At her awed greeting, he reluctantly felt some of his displeasure ease away. She was at least polite, if not a bit clueless. His thin lips stretched in an unused way.
"It is no problem at all, as you see we have plenty of room. Now it is time for dinner."
That was Mikoto's cue as she quickly moved the food to the table the girl moving to help her, as a girl should. His wife, he decided, would also be happy for the company.
Oo o oO
She'd taken up a facade again, Itachi noticed. Dumb, polite, innocent and with her spirit veiled by layers of fake personality. The thing that clued him, was the way she thanked his father for letting her stay in their home. She knew very well that it was the Hokage's orders and that he was her guard, yet she made it sound like his father had offered to let her stay. More importantly she made it sound like she believed his father had offered.
At first he was sorely disappointed, he'd hoped that her spirit would disrupt a few things, but then his father had smiled that fake smile and he'd realized she'd tricked him. His father, the Uchiha clan head, had just played into her hand blindfolded. Pink hair, wide forehead and big doe-like eyes working in her favor.
She had effectively made sure she would not be seen as a threat. Maybe even seem like someone that could easily be manipulated. It was no secret that the Uchiha were masters of manipulation.
The dinner was eaten in comfortable silence.
Oo o oO
Sakura spent the next week mainly walking around the village between playing with Sasuke and helping Mikoto, Itachi acting like a second shadow. Bored did not cut it. She had never noticed how little there was to do in this blasted village. She'd just been too busy training, working at the hospital and then taking missions of course. With Akatsuki a constant threat to her best friend's life, there'd been plenty to do.
Until now she had not realized how very peaceful the village had been in her childhood. Previously she'd just scribed it off to being because she hadn't been a shinobi and hadn't known. Now, however she could see that it actually was more peaceful. There was no fearful whispers of Orochimaru. No rumors of how Akatsuki had almost killed the Kazekage. No empty part of town serving as a constant reminder of a most feared missing nin.
She turned her head towards said future missing nin. With her trained eyes it was obvious he was not getting enough sleep. Most people probably wouldn't notice, simply because his posture was perfect and those coldly assessing eyes screamed alertness. She thought privately the only time he'd be caught showing weakness was when he dropped dead from the strain, and she digressed, by then it wouldn't really matter.
It was the mirrored marks of stress that gave him away. During the course of this week they had grown more profound. He'd also developed a tick in his left eye, but that might be due to her new favorite past time; annoy Itachi. So she didn't really take that into account when she made her conclusions.
Still she had not seen him train even once during her time in the Uchiha household, she would have expected him to train constantly like Sasuke used to. That added together with the lack of sleep left her with the conclusion of him training while she was sleeping. Stupid Uchiha clan, did they want the kid to burn out?
"You know, Itachi-san..." she trailed off until she saw the small tilting of his head in her direction indicating that he was listening.
"You don't have to train all night you know, I'll gladly sit still a few hours so that you can train."
Oo o oO
Itachi stilled and she stopped half a step after. Was it that obvious?
"No, it's not. You're forgetting I'm a medic. I'm trained to notice such things."
That had Itachi's eyes widening. He hadn't spoken out loud had he? No he hadn't. She just stood there smiling knowingly at him, those emerald orbs glinting in amusement. Either she'd been able to read his body language, which would be quite a feat cause he didn't really think he had that much to begin with, or she'd expected him to think something like that. As a ninja he wasn't fond of either option, but as a young genius better watched from a safe distance... He was not given further time to dwell on the subject as she continued talking.
"I'll even train with you. I really need to build up my stamina again. My legs feel like lead after a little running and that really can't do, ne?"
Itachi shook his head automatically. When did they start walking again?
"I really should..." She froze. Confused he looked to see what could have made her stop so suddenly. It really could be anything, the street was rather crowded after all.
Oo o oO
She could not help it. She stopped dead in her tracks. He stood there, gangly body reclining against a wall just ten meters ahead of them. Familiar, gravity defying silver hair visible from behind that equally familiar book. Every so often he would lower the book slightly to turn a page making his mask covered face visible. The one visible eye crinkling as he chuckled from something in the novel. Kakashi-sensei. She wanted to so badly to call out to him. So very badly. But this was not her Kakashi-sensei. There would never be a team seven for her. She tugged absentmindedly on the scarf at her wrist.
Before she knew it, she was moving towards him. A plan was forming rapidly in her head. Silly, childish and pointless, but she was bored and she blamed it all on the imbalance between her older mind and younger body. She could feel the slight confusion from Itachi as he followed. When they were just two meters from him he looked up, greeting Itachi politely.
"Hello, Itachi-san. Who might your friend be?" He asked looking down to Sakura who'd moved until she stood directly in front of him just a foot's width between them. As she looked up to meet his curious dark eye, she realized he seemed a lot taller than she was used to. Stupid small body, she would have to jump as well.
Oo o oO
Itachi nodded politely to Kakashi, introducing Sakura briefly, as a girl he was showing around for the Hokage, all the while keeping half an eye on said girl. She was up to something and he was not going to like it. He could feel the tick in his left eye acting up again - like a 'Sakura sense', warning him of impending mischief.
Neither him nor Kakashi had expected her to move with such speed. In less than a heart beat she jumped up and snatched the book out of the copy-nin's hands. Touching the ground she whirled around in a blur of long pink hair.
"Sakura, what?"
He was interrupted as a tug on his wrist brought him along on a dash across the rooftops at breakneck speed. Leaving the young silver haired man standing down in the crowded street trying to comprehend, that a young pink haired girl had just kidnapped his precious book.
Itachi's body moved purely on instinct as they jumped across the rooftops. His mind momentarily cut off from his body. For some reason he dared not comprehend, Sakura had stolen a book from copy-nin Kakashi. He was usually not one to curse, but what the hell?
She just continued to catch him off guard. He thought of her as highly intelligent, but stealing from an ANBU captain was just downright foolish. She might not know that particular fact, but he'd realized that her ability to sense and read chakra was highly developed when in close proximity. She'd stood a mere foot from the guy, she should have sensed his well developed chakra reserves. Yet she went ahead and stole his freaking book! Until now she'd done nothing that didn't make sense in retrospect. He was however hard pressed to figure, what that could possibly be in this situation.
He was quite unnerved with her ability to disrupt his calm state of mind. She seemed to do it so effortlessly. Whether it was by silent or small actions that chipped away at his impassive facade almost without him noticing or loud and startling moves that knocked the mask out of the way for several moments.
When their chakra enhanced dash finally came to a halt they landed in a wide training area. As she let go of his wrist he finally snapped out of it. Grabbing her shoulder he turned her around roughly.
"What is that all about?" He ground out between his teeth, gesturing to the book held tightly in her left hand.
Her eyes glinted mischievously. White equally spaced teeth were showed in a wicked grin, that made a shiver run down his back. The tick returned full scale. He was not going to like her answer.
"I was bored."
