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Chapter 9
Without a conscience, we become lesser beings, without that ability to restrain we are merely animals. Sakura had come close to that, the moment she bent in to kill Jugo by snapping every bone in his body, now that she had time to reflect she had come to fear her breaking points more than she was wary of them. She didn't know what her body or her subconscious would resort to when she faced her actual enemies, with Orochimaru's agents everywhere she was sure that she was bound to see the snake again. Until now, she hadn't been able to think of the terrifying man, but now she was able to separate her emotions from her thoughts, or at least tone it down.
She knew that this feature would benefit her, the way she looked and reflected on it, she had reacting on emotion to keep herself from falling into the cold façade of 'Blood Hound' but she knew that the emotional separation would be better for her, it was safer, and although she was happy to be able to express emotions freely, she knew that like everything it had its downfalls. She guessed that this was the reason Itachi had brought her here was to perfect that ability, although she knew that she wasn't the only primary reason. She knew that Fugaku was out and this was one of Itachi's few chances to go somewhere away from the compound. She knew that as much as he loved his family, he needed his space. As he was an incredibly secretive person, and when you lived in such a small community you just needed to be alone sometimes.
Sakura knew the feeling, in a cell all alone knowing that she had cell mates scattered in the prison, everything you did they knew, as every sound echoed off the walls, although it was an eerie comparison but she knew the concept. At the moment, Itachi was bathing in the sunlight with reckless abandon; it would be one of the few times now that she had seen his guard down. It made her happy that he could relax in her presence although she wasn't sure if it was completely if he trusted her or if he didn't consider her a threat. No matter what the reason though it made her extremely happy. Holding a cup of tea in her hand and a small plate of cut up apples she approached him. As expected he didn't get up from his reclining position.
Instead he lazily opened one eye that looked rather dully at her then it closed again not minding her approach. Smiling she sat down beside him, setting the tea on his chest and letting go, knowing that he would catch it without a problem as she began to snack on the tidbits of fruit. She opened the small medical book she had brought with her; although she was up here for vocational purposes, she had no intentions of dropping any of her studies. To drink the tea he shifted positions sitting fully upright, it made her realize how much taller he was than her, for some reason a flash of competition ran through her. Since awakening her emotions she had found herself to be incredibly competitive and it irked her to lose, even when it came to height and such things.
As if he read her thoughts he leaned again her, her head was only up to his shoulder, rubbing in her face how short she really was, and she had thought that she was decently sized for a woman her age. In a deliberately slow movement he reached for an apple piece, still feeling a bit irked she moved the plate away from his reach. Stubbornly she looked at him, and then took a piece, the piece he had been reaching for, and then she popped it in her mouth in an equal return of annoyance. She watched as his eyes narrowed, and then he began to reach of another snack, only to have her move it out of reach again, despite the slight strain she had to do in order to keep it out of his longer reach. And then she used her other hand to push him back, as if she were telling a disobedient dog 'no'.
It surprised her to see him smirk. As if to say, 'Are you really gonna try that with me?' Somehow she felt more irked than ever and as a result she took the piece he was reaching for and popped it in her mouth. His smirk turned into a devilish grin, something that told her that she had pushed it too far, but her stubbornness told her to hold ground, so she merely tightened her jaw and snubbed him as best she could, throwing her nose in the air in a clear sign that she was ignoring him. Part of her expected to him sigh and go away, but most of her, made her almost break out in a cold sweat for what was to come, she knew that he was an incredibly selfish person who got whatever he wanted she wasn't sure how this defiance, would get him.
A few moments later she had decided that closing her eyes had been a mistake. One moment she was sitting up a moment later she found her back on the ground, his body pinning hers and reaching for the plate with practiced ease. Struggling she found that he was heavy incredibly so, more than his slight build let on, and every blow she sought to give him was blocked, soon she found that her arms and legs were pinned and unusable. As if to taunt her he ate them like that deliberately crunching them, as if to annoy her further he then laid his head just under her chin, as if she were just a big pillow to lean against in the sun. Mad, she wriggled, but then stopped as he poked her in the belly as if a direct order to stop, knowing that she would never get out of his grasp without his consent she subsided, and lay there.
In her head she imagined wriggling one hand free and poking him back, in childish defiance that she couldn't help but feel as if reading her thoughts he snuggled into her bosom, even more, if that was possible, which brought her into a whole new line of thought. Had anyone ever seen Itachi this way? Because if they ever did, why the hell did they not tell her?
~(Itachi)~
It was quite fun to tease her, rile her up and then lead her around in circles, he found that innocence quite refreshing, most women would have tried to make a move on him, but he had a feeling that Sakura had no such inclination or notion on how to seduce. It sort of made him happy, it meant she hadn't felt any romance, and as he trained her to her pinnacle, he knew that her affections would focus solely on him. The notion was comforting and it gave him a sort of smug satisfaction that paralleled with the coming of a reward.
It made him happy that she was willing to deny him what he wanted, or at least try too, it made things more interesting, and he found that he could never be bored in her presence. She was too competitive to go down without a fight. He liked that, although he would never like the loud mouthed Naruto who did that same, in all retrospect Sakura was like the loud blonde, but she did things in a quieter manner that suited his nature perfectly. It was sort of like playing with a kitten who did not yet know her limits. Although Itachi was sure that she would pick a fight every moment she got when she began to mature into her full potential.
With nothing better to do, the suns' rays beating down at them with warmth, Itachi also had a soft pillow to lie on his head. With nothing pressing or important on his mind, he dozed off.
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In the corner, Itachi heard her grumble. Despite the harsh use of her voice, she had managed to coax it out again and was strengthening it with complaints about him. Itachi smirked smugly at the notion as he easily rolled the onigiri that would serve as their meal. Although her words were whispered, Itachi could piece together every word that she said.
Ambitions were wonderful; apparently hers was too able to beat him at something one day. Itachi smirked at the impossible notion, but he had a feeling that if he didn't watch himself in the future she might just catch him by surprise a notion he rarely felt these days. Her voice was soothing, is she stayed calm and spoke he was sure that her voice would be like a rolling stream, light but meaningful that made people listen to what she said, as it was she didn't speak much, although Itachi knew she had a lot to say. However, due to years of keeping her opinion to herself Itachi was sure that she wouldn't say what she wanted to say out loud that much, those years of silence would make her a diplomatic person.
It showed even now, as she tried to reason with the Kyuubi boy and his brother handling them easily and able to convince them to do something they normally weren't used to doing, complaints from Sasuke said as much. Although Itachi would have to watch for his brother, Itachi was sure that the younger Uchiha was getting a little too close to his prize, and Itachi didn't want Sakura to be swiped from under his nose. Done with the assortment of onigiri, he placed them on a plate decorating it, in the perfectionist side of him, and brought it to the table where he set it down, immediately he swiped one up to ensure that he got something if Sakura decided to swipe the plate again. Wisely she did no such thing; it meant she wasn't ready to be defeated twice in one day. What a shame, smiling secretively to himself he ate his onigiri, as the girl bit into the rice a smile alighting on her face.
It meant that all animosity was dropped, at least for the moment, another thing he loved about her, without an effort she always forgave him easily.
~(Sakura)~
They passed their days peacefully, well despite the few mishaps cause by her stubborn pride. After the incident with the apple pieces, she had tried to gain the upper hand on him, all of her attempts failing, quite miserably. In everyday of peace and quiet without any human interaction aside from him, she found that her memories of the far distant past were slowly but surely coming to her.
It seemed that even as a child she had lived in a solitude environment. She guessed that the similarities acted as triggers in her brain that allowed her to remember from those days, the singing of the birds, reminded her of the forestry that surrounded her, of course the trees were different all spiky with pinecones and snow. She rarely remembered a scene with spring although she didn't remember the sturdy flowers that grew there in the steady snow fall. All of that cold made her think that she was somewhere from the north a clue to her mysterious heritage.
Another reoccurring thing was her mother, although Sakrua couldn't remember her face, she remembered her voice and gestures, another thing that she remembered or didn't remember was her father. In all of the memories that she had she had never remembered a father, nor did she remember ever asking her mother who her father was, Sakura was sure that at that age, she didn't know how women conceived children, being that she saw no other children always in the company of her mother and the nature that surrounded them, and the occasional guest who stayed at their house, Sakura hadn't known what a father was.
Strangely enough, Sakura didn't want to know, her memories of the kind woman was enough for the memories of a parent. The woman had never left her alone, and they survived on her greenhouse garden, and the animals they caught in their traps. A perfectly secluded life, and it made Sakura wonder what was the purpose of Orochimaru's takeover of their house. If she remembered correctly they owned nothing of great consequence aside from the price of memories and keep sakes. As it was they lived a humble existence. At least from what Sakura could remember.
If they had something, then the attack would have been more plausible, or else, why attack a house out in the middle of nowhere? It didn't make sense, they had close to nothing but each other, and Sakura was sure that the man was too busy attack just a mother and daughter just for fun. Which brought up another thing, who exactly was her mother? What did her mother have, to cause Orochimaru to attack them? From what Sakura remembered the only things her mother could really do was set up traps and garden, perfectly normal things that women do. Did that mean that he father was someone that had offended Orochimaru in some way?
The possibilities were endless, and Sakura had found herself with more questions than she did answers in solving the mystery of her past. It made Sakura want to know the center of her origins from the moment she had been conceived, but that was impossible wasn't it? The only people that could have told her was her mother, who was now dead, or Orochimaru, who had killed her for his, hidden agenda. She had a feeling that he would only confuse her more with her words in an attempt to sway her to his side. Which she knew would ultimately never be worth it. A tidbit of the past for her soul was not a good trade no matter how tempting it would be.
She knew that she would never get the straight truth from him; no one ever would, at least not for more than a million years. She ran her fingers through her short cropped hair in contemplation dropping the subject of thought she knew would only lead her in a circle for the tenth time she had dwelled on it. It had been a week since she and Itachi had stayed up in this secluded place, and as much as she wanted to live there forever. Sakura knew that they had to go back soon, their food was dwindling, and Itachi had many duties he had to fill out according to his station.
And no matter how much she wished she knew that she couldn't keep him to herself. Shhe wasn't the only person who relied on him. And she certainly wouldn't deny the right of others to have him, he was an important figure in their politics. From what she heard, he was the reason why the Uchiha clan didn't attack the Hokage as much unrest there was in the compound. With him there to keep them all in check, the Hokage would be safe and the village would stay peaceful. Even though she knew this she couldn't help but feel a jealous notion toward anyone who wanted his company.
She wondered vaguely if there was something wrong with her. As it was he evoked strange feelings in her, then again he did save her so it was natural that he would be different from the rest of the people. But for some reason that answer felt strange to her, she was sure that Itachi might mean more to her than that. But beyond admiration of someone or friendship, Sakura wasn't sure what was beyond that. Was it love? Sakura didn't know, Sakura had only loved her mother but was sure that those feelings were much different than what she felt for Itachi.
It was yet another unanswered question that continued to haunt her. It made her curse the fact that she was so behind in knowledge of the world. Although she learned fast, she knew that despite all of her efforts she would always be slightly behind in the ways of the world and understanding other human beings. She knew that in some ways she would never be able to catch up, although it frustrated her, Itachi made up for all of her misgivings. What she didn't understand he explained to her in detail. What she couldn't do, he could do without a problem. While most people were afraid of her, he was the one who brought her into his home without batting an eye.
Everything she did he took in stride. But even that peace, she knew would have to end. She was of no blood relation to him, and she knew that soon he would have to marry, despite Mikoto's words of children from her. Sakura knew that Itachi would be shown disapproval, and Sakura didn't want that for him. He had his own life to live, and she had no right to take that from him. As it was she had been selfish in staying with him, all of those nights sitting side by side silently, in the sunlight where he basked in the sun with no one but her to watch him do so.
She knew that all of this would come to an ending one day. His destiny was here in Konoha while she, despite all of her wishes to stay here; she had the duty of avenging her mother and finding out who she was. She knew that her road on life would slowly curve away from the path he walked and then soon after they would only become fading memories, she could feel the inevitability of it. Sitting there on the small wooden porch that led inward to the small cabin, in the pale moonlight, inside she could hear Itachi's light breathing of sleep; here he seemed to sleep easier.
If only by a bit, then again no one ever came here, she wasn't even sure if anyone knew where they were. She turned to see his sleeping face his body free of any blanket it was a warm and beautiful night. He was at peace, she knew because he held no underlying tenseness of a nin ready to spring at any disturbance. His brows weren't slightly wrinkled in light of a nightmare, something he had often when he was down in the compound. He never told her about them and she never asked, just as when she had a bad dream he merely stayed by her never asking what it was about, and she never told him.
They had a mutual understanding about that, unspoken as it was; Sakura felt that Itachi was the closest person to her. She smiled slightly as he shifted in his sleep toward her, for now she was content with where she was, no matter how short their time together would be. Tired she crawled toward the sleeping space next to him, her favorite place to sleep. She looked down at his face, and lazily one of his eyes opened to looked at her, then closed, like a lazy cat. Sakura leaned down impulsively and touched her lips to his cheek, and then she snuggled into the warmth of the futon, dozing off, she didn't fully fall into her sleep until she felt the warmth of his arm come around her, and encircle her in a sphere of security.
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The only thing I can think of is ADORABLE!!! Aren't they? Anyway, thanks for waiting for so long I think I can update faster now since its spring break! No WORK!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA…. Wait I still have ACT prep… damn… Thanks for reading!!!
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To my anonymous:
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To couples lover: Here's more of the warm and fluffy!!!! XD
