Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters within the series. That magnificent privilege goes to the amazing Kishimoto-sensei.
"Why was Kakuzu in such a hurry last night? Did something happen?" I asked sleepily the next morning. All of us (minus Kakuzu) were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast.
Deidara looked away, avoiding my eyes. Tobi stopped fidgeting. Kisame acted extremely interested in whatever was in his cereal bowl. Itachi stared blank-faced (what a shocker) at the table as if he hadn't heard me speak. Hidan tried to hide a bit of a smirk by filling his mouth up with cereal.
"What?" I asked, confused beyond belief.
"Kakuzu had a feeling that money would become involved in a conversation a few of us were having, so he was rather interested," Itachi stated eloquently.
Everyone visibly relaxed after Itachi said that. I was suspicious at this point. What could they possibly be hiding from me?
But Itachi's statement was completely plausible. I couldn't question it without making the others aware that I was too suspicious. I sighed. If they didn't want to tell me something, then I guess I'd just have to let it be… for now.
By the next day, everyone was still avoiding looking me in the face, as if they were guilty of something horrible (well, they were, but you know what I mean). So, I went to the one person who didn't seem to avoid me altogether just because of whatever it was that they had talked about with Kakuzu.
Itachi.
I searched for his chakra signature and found him in his room. I knocked twice, waiting for him to answer. The door opened, revealing the blank-faced Uchiha. "Yes?"
"Um, can I come in?" I asked, hoping that he would let me in so I could figure out what the deal was.
He stared at me for a moment, his black eyes assessing me. Finally, he nodded and stepped to the side, letting me in.
I looked around his room for a second; it was impeccably clean, no clothes lying around like I would expect of most any other guy, and there was a bookshelf standing near his dresser. I noticed that there were also no windows in his room, just like there were no windows anywhere else in the house.
He closed the door and walked past me to sit down on his bed. He looked up at me and gestured to a spot next to him. I blinked. 'That was… unexpected,' I thought. 'Have you ever noticed how hot he is?' Inner asked. I mentally punched her.
I hid my surprise and nervousness and sat next to him on his bed, drawing my legs up to sit cross-legged. He sat back against the headboard and brought one knee up to rest his arm on, leaving the other leg sprawled out behind me.
"What's troubling you, Sakura?" he asked, his deep voice sounding completely at ease. I had never seen or heard him so… relaxed. He's always been so formal around others. I wondered if this was what he was really like… And he said my name. He'd never said my name except for that one time when he knocked me out…
I took a deep breath. "I don't understand it," I finally said.
"Understand what?" he asked, still relaxed but giving the impression that he was all ears.
"Ever since the other night, everyone's been avoiding looking me in the eye. Did I do something wrong?" I asked, finally letting out what was bothering me.
He blinked, surprised. "Why would you think something was wrong with you?"
"It's just the way that they act around me; like they're guilty about something. I don't know," I said, sighing with frustration.
"You did nothing wrong, Sakura. Maybe they do feel guilty about something. Who knows?" he said, and I had a feeling he was trying not to get too specific.
"Well, you were supposed to know. That's why I came to you instead of someone else. Kakuzu kinda freaks me out; Hidan's annoying; Deidara won't say a word to me; Tobi… is Tobi; and Kisame is just being really quiet, like he's pretending I don't exist." I paused. "You're the only one who hasn't really treated me differently." Except for now.
He seemed to hesitate a moment before replying. "I'm sure it's nothing," he finally said.
I got up and walked to the door, pausing before I reached for the handle. "Hey, Itachi?"
I turned around, only to (once again) come face-to-chest with the Uchiha. I looked up, wary of what he was planning to do.
My heart nearly stopped when I found his arms around me. Was he… hugging me? My heart picked up a frantic rhythm, trying to find the right beat. Tentatively, I reached my arms up from their position at my sides to gently wrap them around his waist, leaning my face against his chest. I could hear his heart beating, and it wasn't nearly as fast as mine.
"Don't blame yourself," he said softly, placing a chaste kiss on the top of my head. That was it for my heart. It stopped, only to pick up again triple-time.
He let go of me momentarily and opened the door. I was sure my face was as red as a cherry (haha, go puns), but I focused on my breathing and walked calmly out the door, down the hall, and into my bedroom.
Holy hell.
After the whole Itachi incident, I was the one avoiding people. I stayed in my room most of the time, much like I had for a good part of my first week here. If I was honest with myself, I realized that I was avoiding the rest of the guys because I was afraid that they knew about… what happened with Itachi. I mean, nothing really happened, but I wasn't sure if I could face them (especially Itachi) because of it. I didn't know what Itachi was planning, but it had to be bad; Itachi didn't hug. I could say to some random person on the streets of some foreign country, "Hey, did you know that Itachi hugs?" and they'd be like, "You're a raving lunatic," and shove me in an asylum. Itachi and hugging just… didn't work.
So, I had concluded that he was up to something, and thus, I should avoid him.
A few days later, having made up my mind, I decided to come out of hiding.
"Sakura-chan!" Tobi cried from behind me. I jumped.
"T-Tobi! You startled me," I said, willing my racing pulse to slow down.
"We've been worried about you, Sakura-chan," he admonished, comically shaking a finger at me like a parent scolding a misbehaving child.
What he said had shocked me. "You were?" Since when did S-classed criminals worry about other people?
Tobi nodded. "Of course we were." Tobi wrapped an arm around my shoulders and walked me to the kitchen, where Deidara was sitting and munching on something. The blond looked up at our approach.
"Hey, Sakura!" he said in greeting, getting up to stand in front of Tobi and I. "Are you feeling okay, un?" he asked, putting a hand to my forehead. He brought the other to his, checking our temperatures and comparing them, I assumed.
Then I felt something moving underneath his hand and on my forehead. I blinked. Was his hand… kissing my forehead?!? I blushed, and I was absolutely positive that he felt it because he attempted a frown and said, "You're heating up, Sakura, un."
Right then and there I knew that he had consciously kissed my forehead with his hand, and that he was picking on me for blushing.
I willed the blush away and said, "I'm fine, Deidara. Thanks." I stepped back, away from Deidara's lecherous hand and Tobi's arm, and fixed myself something to eat.
Aaaw. I love DeixSaku and ItaxSaku. I think that I should warn you all that each chapter eventually goes up a bit in rating because the guys go from being cute and innocently flirting, to outright hitting on the poor girl. The next chapter should be skipped if you don't like KisaxSaku. It's understandable that a lot of people are uncomfortable with the pairing, seeing as he's so much older than her and he acts like a monster-shark sometimes. But I think the pairing is cool, so... Yeah. That's how it is. :)
Thanks for reading! And please review!
Much love,
child_of_the_moon
XO
