CHAPTER 9- Testing the waters
It was her first day back at the hospital and Sakura was more than ready to enjoy it as much as she could. After two rather uneventful weeks of training with her friends, helping Tsunade out with some hospital paper work and getting the amount of rest that she very much needed, she was glad to be back at the place that she felt most at home at right after her bed.
The hospital.
"Are you sure that you are ready to get back to work yet, Haruno?"
Sakura rolled her emerald eyes for what felt like the hundredth time this morning before she offered her mentor a sigh. "Yes, Tsunade-shishou. If I managed to survive training sessions with Naruto and Sasuke, I think that I am capable of going back to work as well, don't you think?"
The blonde haired female sitting behind her office desk merely narrowed her eyes in return, honey orbs carefully scanning the young pink-haired woman in front of her. "If anything, the mere fact that you and the brats went to train even though you were supposed to get some rest is reason enough for me to keep you away from the hospital for some more days, if not even weeks." Tsunade reminded her.
This time Sakura didn't even bother to suppress the groan upon hearing her mentors words. "Oh come on Shishou, I think that as a medic I should know when it's okay to train and when I should rest."
Tsunade lifted a perfectly shaped brow in return, almost in a mocking manner as she rested her elbows on her desk and interlaced her fingers in front of her. "I'll keep my eye on you girl. I'll still restrict your working hours at the hospital and drag you out of here myself if I deem it fit until you have fully recovered, both mentally and physically."
Sakura smiled, instantly picking up the concern that laced her mentors words as her expression softened. "Don't worry Tsunade-shishou, I am fine, really. But if you feel like I am pushing myself to my limits or am on the brink of fainting mid-surgery, I promise that I'll take a day off if you tell me to do so."
Tsunade eyed her for some more moments, still not quite pleased by Sakura's decision to go back to work but the blonde knew that there was very little she could do to change Sakura's mind once she had settled her mind on something.
She let out a defeated sigh.
"Very well then Sakura, but don't overdo it today, understood?" Tsunade yielded, the concern that weighted down her heart easing a little at the sight of Sakura's eyes brightening upon hearing her approval.
"Got it Shishou." Sakura returned, standing up from where she was seated before she smoothed down the fabric of her white coat and tied her wavy hair into a bun, the smile never leaving her rosy lips. "Please tell Shizune to meet me at the laboratory in an hour, I've been meaning to ask her some things regarding a poison for some time already."
Tsunade merely waved her hand and hushed the glowing pinkette out of her office, her expression only softening when Sakura threw her one last smile over her shoulder before the door to her office closed.
As soon as it did, the Godaime turned her chair and gazed out of the broad hospital window behind her, lips pursed and honey eyes dark with concern.
She had nothing against Sakura returning to work at the hospital when she wasn't busy with any Hokage related business, not at all. Sakura was a great medic and a very important pillar that the hospital strongly needed and relied on, so her help was more than welcomed.
What troubled the Godaime was that the higher ups were in a state of unrest and kept on sticking their nose into business that was none of their concern, especially since the Hokage was an Uchiha and not everyone was too pleased about that little detail.
Many other clan-elders have also taken notice of that and even though no one with the exception of one or two minded that an Uchiha was named the Hokage, it stirred up an even bigger split between the clans and their opinions regarding what would be best for Konoha and how Itachi should take care of things.
Tsunade sighed once more.
Yes, things would only get more complicated from now on and she could only hope that Sakura would be able to be the pillar of support that Itachi would need in order to keep everything from getting out of hand.
"You again?"
"Well if this isn't a warm welcome from my favorite student."
Sakura rolled her eyes as she put her clipboard onto the desk that was the corner of the examination room and moved to put on some gloves before she turned to face a certain silver-haired nin who was casually sitting on the examination table.
He was giving her his usual eye-crinkle and if it weren't for the large rather painful and ugly looking gash that spread over his torso, she would have a hard time fighting the smile that dared to take over her lips.
"I would appreciate if you would drop by every once in a while without me having to stitch you up, sensei." Sakura sighed as she moved forward to stand in front of her old teacher who, in return, merely pouted.
"You wound me Sakura-chan." He sighed, hissing right after as her glowing palm roamed over the rather large gash to check if he had any internal bleeding. "Who knows, maybe I get hurt as an excuse to see you."
At that, Sakura couldn't help but snort as she removed her hand from his torso and gently slapped his bulky shoulder. "I love you too sensei, but being cheesy won't save you from me stitching you up this time."
The pinkette turned around to get the needed utensils and smirked in content as she heard him let out an exasperated sigh upon hearing her words.
"Oh well, it was worth a try." Kakashi muttered, glaring at the rather big needle in hope of getting it to disappear by doing so.
He hated needles just as much as he hated hospitals, and if it weren't for the damn itch that he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't even be here in the first place. So to say that he wasn't looking forward to meeting Sakura today was nothing but the truth because his favorite student was known for taking her sweet little time stitching him up as some sort of payment for not seeking her out earlier.
To be fair, he really didn't visit her that often lately and after what had happened to her in Suna, he suddenly became painfully aware of that.
Of course he knew that there was always a risk of the three of them not returning from a mission, regardless of how skilled they were and yet, ever since he heard the news about Sakura he felt a heavy burden settle on his heart that increased whenever he caught sight of her.
If it weren't for Itachi, Sakura wouldn't even be standing in front of him right now and somehow, this mere reminder eased his aversion towards the needle in the pinkette's grip.
That still didn't mean that it made the pain any less annoying, though.
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as Sakura started, Kakashi's eye fixed on the rather messy bun of pink hair atop of her head. Sakura, of course, didn't fail to notice his rather intense stare and briefly glanced upwards with a small smile.
"Is there anything stuck in my hair that I wasn't aware of?" She joked, knowing fully well that even though her hair looked like a mess, there was nothing in it.
Kakashi in return gave her his usual smile and affectionately ruffled her hair. "Ah Sakura-chan, you are still as attentive as you were as a little girl." He dramatically sighed.
"I was anything but attentive. Rather than that I was an oblivious, love-sick, stubborn little brat." Sakura corrected him, snorting as she added, "Then again, I am still quite stubborn."
Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Ah yes, you are really hot-headed, stubborn and got quite the temper Sakura-chan. How do the two of you get along anyways?"
At the unexpected mentioning of Itachi, Sakura dug the needle a little too hard into Kakashi's flesh, earning a sharp hiss from her former teacher.
Offering him a sheepish smile, the pinkette tried to find the right words to explain her current situation with the rather moody Uchiha- what was a pretty hard task if she were to be honest.
Her expression turned thoughtful as she took a cotton and gently patted it on the small part of the gash that started to bleed again, if only slightly.
"Well admittedly, I was having a hard time when I first started off as his advisor." She started, trying her best to sound as nonchalant as she could. "He was quite a jerk and nothing like the polite boy that I remembered him to be from the times that I managed to catch a glimpse of him whenever we visited Sasuke, but it's gotten somewhat more bearable after some time has passed."
Kakashi merely nodded, having already expected his student to have her troubles getting along with the Uchiha heir. "Itachi always was a rather reserved boy and hard to read, unlike Sasuke."
"They really are different." Sakura agreed, a small smile forming on her lips as she thought back to their last conversation two week ago. Itachi had given her two weeks off to fully recover before they would officially start their training session and since these two weeks were over today and they would have their first training session this evening, she was in quite a good mood.
"I don't like that look in your eyes Sakura-chan, it means trouble." Kakashi remarked, curiosity sparkling in his gray eyes as he eyed his former student in wonder. "You know that killing the Hokage who, may I add, also is the heir to the Uchiha clan and a former Anbu member is a rather stupid idea that I cannot and won't support as both a loyal citizen of Konoha and your friend, right?"
The pinkette chuckled as she run a finger along Kakashi's freshly stitched gash, clearly content with the result before she put the needle aside and removed her gloves. "Rest assured Kakashi-sensei, regardless of how much he drives me to my wits end, I know that deep, deep, deep down our dear Hokage is a good person at heart."
Or so she hoped because after all, Itachi was beyond hard to read.
Kakashi remained silent as he put on his shirt while Sakura scribbled something onto the clipboard that she had previously brought with her, her brows knitted and lips pursed as a certain detail caught her eyes.
"Kakashi-sensei, you are due to get your yearly physical examination."
"I know."
"You don't plan on doing it anytime soon, are you?"
A shrug.
"Not really."
Just as she had expected. Sighing, Sakura put a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and shook her head before she looked over her shoulder to shoot him a disapproving frown.
"I'm letting you off the hook for now because I was the one who just treated you and didn't notice anything suspicious while I was stitching you up, but if I find out that you didn't get your physical examination within the next two months, I am going to personally drag you to the hospital after burning all of your signed Icha Icha copies, got it?"
Sakura could practically see the shiver that crawled down Kakashi's spine at the last part and smirked in satisfaction as he gave her a curt nod an a lazy salute.
"Will do. Now, I think that I am half an hour late for my training session with Gai and Lee." Kakashi remembered as he scratched his mask-covered chin with a thoughtful expression before he gave her a wink and a wave. "Thanks for stitching me up Sakura."
Before she was able to do as much as utter a word, Kakahi poofed out of the room, leaving the pinkette to stare at where he was previously standing with a sigh.
Kakashi would never change.
She then grabbed her stuff and left to go to her next patient, a genin who somehow managed to twist his ankle during a D-rank mission and wouldn't stop crying, all the while wondering just what would expect her later on this day.
Despite of it being a sunny day in Konoha, Itachi was in anything but a good mood.
His day had already started off as annoyingly bad and he somehow knew that it would just get worse during the remainder of the day.
And it did.
A small part of him had hoped that during the training session with his stubborn little advisor this evening he would be able to let out some of his built up annoyance but since the higher ups and Sakura seemingly loved to irritate him, he found himself on Training ground three, all alone waiting for a certain pinkette that was more than late.
Itachi usually was a very calm and patient man, but somehow Sakura always managed to achieve the impossible with him and that was something that he didn't like.
At all.
He couldn't recall a time when he was more annoyed than he was now, all thanks to her.
It was half an hour after his arrival that he caught sight of the pinkette running towards the training ground, cheeks rosy and her breathing slightly more uneven than usual.
She was dressed in her usual attire and had her pink hair tied up into what looked like a birds nest, emerald eyes hastily scanning the training field in hope of catching sight of him.
Before she arrived, Itachi had actually considered to simply ditch her and return to his office but the moment his blood red eyes settled on her guilty face, he knew that he didn't have the heart to do that.
If it was because of the way her eyes dimmed out of disappointment upon not seeing him or because of the mere fact that he bothered to take note of that, he didn't know.
"I'm really sorry for being late." She suddenly started as she caught her breath, surprising Itachi by doing so. He certainly didn't expect her to start spologizing for being late whilst standing in the middle of nowhere, not even knowing where he was or rather, if he was still there to begin with. "There was an emergency at the Hospital that I had to take care of and I-"
The kunai that suddenly came flying at her out of nowhere and that she managed to dodge last second cut her off mid-explanation as she glared into the direction that it came from.
With her eyes narrowed, she crossed her arms upon seeing Itachi casually jumping out of a tree, his blank face not giving anything away as he slowly walked towards her.
"You know, that's a pretty rude way to tell someone to shut up."
Even though it seemed like their training session didn't start yet, Sakura knew better than to let her guard down, especially around Itachi. She knew that if he wanted it to, the kunai would have at least grazed her cheek and that knowledge was enough for Sakura to mentally prepare herself for anything that she may be faced with.
Itachi lifted a brow at her remark, calculating eyes boring into her own as he stopped several meters in front of her.
"You're late."
"And you are grumpy." She observed, tilting her head aside as her emerald eyes took in the way his own narrowed the slightest of bits in return. He was displeased and even though she knew that it would probably do no good to annoy the Uchiha further, she couldn't help but wonder what was up with him this time. "What put you in such a bad mood?"
Of course she didn't expect him to answer but what she also didn't expect was him to suddenly disappear into thin air right in front of her very eyes just to reappear right behind her, a kunai placed on her bare throat as he used the other hand to grab her waist and hold her in place.
"Don't let it become a habit Haruno." He muttered, his grip on her waist tightening as he felt Sakura tense out of alarm beneath his grip. The pinkette remained silent for some moments, glancing up at the steadily darkening sky before she balled her loose hand into a tight fist.
He wanted to play? Then he would have to watch her win the game.
Sakura moved at a speed that surprised even herself. She gathered her chakra into her elbow and swiftly jerked it backwards before she twisted her right food so that she could use her other leg to swing it towards Itachi.
The Uchiha, however, already predicted her move and jumped a couple of feet backwards to avoid her kick, sparks of amusement dancing in his eyes. He knew better than to grab her leg mid-kick whilst she was using her additional chakra and instead, settled for the easier way by forming the all too familiar combination of seals at a pace that Sakura couldn't make out.
The pinkette also jumped backwards and went into her fighting stance as she channeled her chakra into her fists, eyes narrowed while her gaze was fixed on Itachi.
She was ready.
"Katon no jutsu!"
Sakura's eyes narrowed even further as she channeled her chakra into the soles of her feet and pushed herself off of the ground and into the air, the bright orange flames that filled her visions nibbling on her skin.
Sakura landed on a branch in one of the nearby trees before she jumped off as soon as Itachi directed the fire towards the tree and glanced up at the sky once more just to see that the sun has already set.
A sudden thought hit her and as soon as it did, she turned on her heels and darted deeper into the forest located on the training ground.
She knew that he wasn't fighting her to test her strength, but that he was fighting her so that they would understand each others style of fighting better and so that they could get used to it.
And that was pretty damn sly.
She was running at full speed, jumping from one tree to the other without making a sound. The brisk night air was hitting against her cheeks and the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins made her feel more alive than ever. It were moments like this that reminded her just what it meant to actually live, to just free your head of all worries and simply let out everything that you carried in your chest whilst pushing yourself to your limits.
That a certain Uchiha was chasing her just added to the thrill because let's be honest, what is there more dangerous than an Uchiha who is ready to fight you and could probably kill within mere seconds if he wanted to?
If this wasn't a challenge then Sakura didn't know what else would be.
Sakura knew that he was hot on her trail and that with his Sharingan activated, he could easily make her out in the dark but unbeknownst to him, that was exactly what she wanted.
Little did she know that Itachi was thinking along similar lines. Whereas he was in quite a bad mood before and actually considered to just straight out leave, he now found himself quite enjoying their little session so far.
He knew that she wasn't running from him and had something in mind, Sakura was no one to charge into things without thinking about it beforehand. And admittedly, he quite liked that he didn't know what his little advisor had in mind.
It was quite refreshing, she was quite refreshing and he slowly started to think that maybe this was exactly what he needed every once in a while to get his mind off of all the serious things that plagued it.
Itachi watched how she jumped out of the last tree and stopped right in front of the lake that was placed in the middle of the clearing, facing him as he followed suit and moved to stand in front of her.
He always was the type to observe before he acted and for some reason, this time he found himself completely immersed by the sight in front of him. Sakura was standing right in front of him and he knew that if he would reach out, he could easily tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. The moonlight that was shining down on the lake reflected in her emerald eyes that were fearlessly gazing into his piercing scarlet ones while her entire body was calm.
And it was then that it actually sunk in.
"You don't fear me."
It wasn't a question, it was a fact that he subconsciously has been aware of for the past month. Sakura didn't seem to have expected his words though, the surprise that flashed in her eyes for the smallest of seconds giving her away in an instant.
Her expression then softened as she held his gaze, emerald eyes shining with sympathy as she took in the man in front of her. Despite of his blank face, she could easily make out the mixture of wonder as well as curiosity that was shining brightly in his eyes and for a moment, she felt like there actually was more to him than his cold and rude exterior.
The words left Sakura's lips before she could even think about them.
"I don't."
Her blunt confirmation only sparked Itachi's curiosity as he pursed his lips into a thin line and frowned ever so slightly. Why was it that everyone but her feared and respected him? He didn't know whether she was plain dumb or just naive and yet, a small of him found comfort in the fact that someone for a change didn't fear him.
That she didn't fear him.
"It would do you well to do so, Sakura."
The way her name rolled off his lips in that damned deep velvet voice of his caused a shiver to run down the length of her spine that she instantly brushed off and blamed on the adrenaline.
Yeah, adrenaline.
Right.
They were fighting.
"I know, just like it would do you well not to underestimate me." She returned, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips as her emerald eyes sparked with determination as she shifted her weight onto her right foot, what didn't get unnoticed by Itachi.
He narrowed his eyes and waited, then-
A shift in the air behind him.
He moved.
A dozen of clones suddenly materialized themselves out of thin air, chakra channeled into their fists as they aimed for every part that Itachi had left uncovered.
Itachi easily dodged the first whilst ducking beneath the second, swinging his leg out to pull the thirds leg so that it lost its balance before he jumped into the air and grabbed the fourth by their shoulder and yanked them backwards.
He then grabbed his kunai with his free hand and swung it backwards, the weapon piercing straight through one of the clone's chest. His eyes darkened as he heard the familiar poofing sound, indicating that the clone had indeed vanished into thin air.
One down, eleven more to go.
He turned to his right, eyes locking with his next target as it came running straight towards him, but Itachi met it halfway, disappearing just as her fist was about to graze his cheek just to appear out of seemingly nowhere right behind her.
Itachi extended one leg and harshly sent her off flying into the opposite direction and as it collided with one of the trees, the clone also disappeared.
He didn't look back even once.
Now, where was Sakura hiding?
As he grabbed the next clone by its slim neck whilst he dodged the remaining ones attacks, he briefly took the time to roam the clearing.
She was close, he knew as much, and it seemed like the pinkette took her sweet time observing him and his fighting style.
Itachi sent five more kunai's flying before he was forced to let go of the bunshin's neck, it having tried to subtly break his wrist while he was busy roaming the clearing.
Three. Four.
"Come on Hokage-sama, no genjutsus?"
Her teasing comment echoed through the clearing and reached his ear from every direction, meaning to mislead and distract him while he was fighting the remaining clones.
Too late did she realize her mistake and the moment she did, he had her pinned against the tree that had previously concealed her body.
Sakura didn't seem the least bit disappointed or surprised when she suddenly found herself caged between Itachi's rather lean body and the rough surface of the old tree, one hand keeping both of her wrists in an iron grip while he used his body weight to keep her from moving.
His breathing was not the least bit labored, she noticed as she tilted her chin upwards and locked eyes with surprisingly onyx instead of his red ones that were curiously gazing down at her.
He looked much like a little child that was fascinated with his new toy that he had received from his parents, curious, yet not knowing what to expect of it.
And that sufficed.
Her proud smirk was all warning that he received before she swiftly slid the sole of her feed up the tree trunk and roughly yanked her knee forwards, a mildly surprised huff escaping the Uchiha's lips as he felt her knee boring into his stomach.
It was enough to catch him off guard and Sakura used it to twist her body to the left, her wrists still in his hold before she channeled her chakra into the sole of her free leg and harshly kicked Itachi into his ribs.
Sure to say the crack that followed was pretty loud.
Itachi lost his hold on her but didn't tumble backwards like Sasuke and Naruto would if they were in his position. No, even though she had managed to probably break a rib or two, Itachi remained with his feet firmly planted on the ground, expression blank before he vanished in front of her very own eyes.
The eerie silence that followed upon his disappearance didn't last for more than two second before the sound of the sea suddenly parting and waves of water spiraling straight towards her broke it. Sakura instantly acted and jumped to the right, successfully dodging most of it even though she still managed to get pretty drenched.
As she landed back on the now wet ground, she barely had time to catch her breath before she felt the wind getting knocked out of her lungs and she was suddenly flung backwards towards the sea. The trees flew by in a blur and as she was nearing the water, she twisted so that her palms hit the surface of the water first and prevented her from being plunged right into the sea.
Sakura then focused on putting her chakra into her feet before she did a not so elegant back-flip and somehow managed to plant both of her feet onto the surface of the sea.
The ripples that she caused broke her reflection a second after she managed to catch a glimpse of her rather messy appearance. Her bun loosened sometime during their fight so that her damp bubblegum colored locks were now sticking on her back like glue, her face sporting some cuts and bruises and her stomach aching from Itachi's most recent kick.
Her emerald orbs scanned her surroundings and upon finding it empty, she tensed. Itachi was nowhere in sight, and if there was something that she learned during her time with the Uchiha was that this was certainly was not a good sign.
Cracking her knuckles, Sakura calmly remained standing on the water's surface and decided to do the most logical thing that anyone could do in this situation.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and waited.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
She knew exactly what expected her when she opened her eyes and when she did open them, she was not disappointed to see a handful of Itachi's standing right in front of her, all of them clad in his usual attire and wearing an amused smirk.
As she took in the sight, Sakura couldn't help but wonder how not even one strand of his black hair was out of place whereas she looked like she had been run over a dozen of times by a hoard of Naruto's Shadow Clones.
Damn the Uchiha and their genes.
"Only five?" Sakura inquired as she arched her brow, eyes gleaming with anticipation in the darkness of the night whereas Itachi's seemed to only darken in return, his smirk never leaving his lips.
"Let me assure you Haruno, I won't need any more to end this fight." He returned, his words holding the barest hint of a challenge that Sakura, of course, instantly picked up. "Though, I don't plan on fighting you for any longer."
Now that she didn't expect.
Sakura's confusion was clearly evident on her face as she eyed him in suspicion. Why would he suddenly refuse to continue their fight when it had only just started to get intense?
It didn't make any sense, unless-
Her eyes widened as she suddenly felt her every muscle tense. Well, she had walked straight into this one, even though it was her own fault to begin with since she provoked it into happening.
Then again, she didn't expect him to actually do it because Itachi was not one to listen to provocations.
Apparently, he made an exception.
Itachi knew that the realization dawned on her the second her body tensed. He watched her frown with dark, content-filled eyes before their gazes locked and she balled her fists, what only fueled his satisfaction.
She then lifted her hands and formed a series of familiar seals before she closed her eyes and pursed her lips into a thin line.
"Kai!"
She knew that it was in vain as much as he did. Whereas this was nothing near to his strongest genjutsu, it was still very hard for someone outside of the Uchiha clan to get out of it. Even Sasuke still had his troubles getting out of it to this very day and he doubted that if his very own brother who also possessed the Sharingan needed hours to get out of it, Sakura would probably take a day or even two.
Sakura of course also knew as much but refused to give up without a fight and thus, continued t form the seals in hope of getting the illusion to break even a little.
In vain.
She angrily blew a strand of her damp pink hair out of her face before she settled on glaring at the five Uchiha's in front of her that were seemingly taking pleasure in seeing her annoyed.
"It won't work." She unnecessarily stated, her shoulder sagging as she realized that no matter how hard she would try, she wouldn't get out of there without Itachi's help.
Itachi looked at her in a rather bored way. "I know."
Sakura rolled her eyes as his answer reached her ears before she exhaled. "So, you want me to learn how to get out of one of your genjutsus, I assume?"
Something flickered in his eyes. "Not today, no." He admitted as his clones abruptly vanished and left the two of them on their own once more.
They were standing opposite of one another, Sakura watching him with confusion filled eyes whereas Itachi kept his poker-face firmly in place.
Sakura arched her brow. "Then what's the point of luring me into one of your genjutsus?"
Itachi then also vanished right in front of her eyes into nothing but thin air, only fueling her confusion as she looked around in hope of catching a glimpse of him.
"You asked for it, didn't you Haruno?"
His velvet voice suddenly filled her mind, catching her off guard as her head whipped to her right, eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out where he had disappeared to.
She couldn't believe his words.
"You're not one to simply give into others orders or wished, Hokage-sama." She reminded him as she dared to take a step forwards and eventually settled to shift her eyes upwards at the beautiful, star-filled night sky.
"Aa." He agreed, his voice not escaping her mind and causing her entire body to tense with alarm. She suddenly felt vulnerable, like a stranger in her own body as he went on. "I can assure you that nothing has changed."
This only confused Sakura further. Just what the hell was he saying and where in Hokage's name had he wandered off to?
Her thoughts came to a screeching halt as she suddenly felt an icy gust of air hit her pale skin before she felt the genjutsu that she was trapped in fade into thin air. Nothing with the exception of the tenseness that has now also left her body has changed. Her surroundings were still the same with the only difference being that Itachi was casually leaning against a tree next to her, the Sharingan piercing through the darkness as his eyes were fixed on her.
"We have a lot to work on, Haruno." He spoke, giving her a once over as he took in her disheveled appearance. Even though she looked quite exhausted, he was surprised to find that her vibrant emerald eyes were wide awake and ever so attentively fixed on him even after their rather interesting fight.
Itachi watched her run a hand through her messy hair and found that even though she looked considerably more jiggered than she did before, she still didn't look bad at all.
Quite the opposite actually.
He instantly cut his line of thoughts short as her voice reached her keen hearing. "We do." Sakura instantly agreed. "It's going to take some time to get used to each others presence and to the fact that we are probably going to see each other more often than our families, but I guess that it's inevitable."
There was neither annoyance nor aversion in her words when she spoke them, lading Itachi to believe that she meant every word she said and whereas it was true, it was still hard to get used with the thought that he would see Sakura more often than he previously did.
They were the total opposite of each other and whereas he wondered if they would manage to get along outside of the battle ground where they could let out their pent up frustration and annoyance towards the other, he somehow had a feeling that this would not be the case with Sakura and that instead, there wouldn't be many troubles.
But only time would tell.
"Hn." He returned as he pushed himself off the tree, ignoring the way his ribs screamed in protest at the sudden movement. Broken ribs were nothing that he hadn't experienced before and even though he has also had worse than that, it still hurt, much to his annoyance.
That she managed to get a hit was surprising itself.
"You should go home and rest." Itachi continued. "I expect you at my office at dawn sharp so that we can discuss everything that we know so far about the ones that are targeting Konoha."
Sakura's expression turned serious within the split of a second as Itachi mentioned the previous attacks on Konoha's shinobi and gave him a curt nod. Someone was definitely targeting Konoha and if the Suna incident was anything to go by, they seemingly had a few certain people that they wanted to get to, even if it meant that they had to kill Konoha's shinobi and poison the Hokage's advisor.
"Of course, I'll be there on time."
She kept her eyes trained on Itachi and watched how he nodded, his expression devoid of any emotion as he walked past her without uttering another word and made his way back to what she assumed home.
Instead of following suit and going home as well, Sakura decided to stay in the clearing for some more minutes and to simply enjoy the silence and the beautiful sight of the star-filled sky.
She hugged herself as she turned to gaze onto the sea in front of her, a small frown etched on her expression as a sigh involuntarily passed her lips.
The incident that occurred in Suna still didn't leave her mind and every once in a while, the small voices in the back of her head would give her no rest and kept her awake by putting all kind of scenarios in her mind.
She suddenly was glad that at least the Itachi issue was solved and that they were somehow getting along now, even though they were still far from being anything close to friends.
They tolerated each other and accepted the situation that they were in, but that was about it.
Another sigh.
Well, maybe one day in the far, far future she would be able to at least consider him something similar to a friend but then again, she wasn't even too sure if Itachi Uchiha did friends.
A yawn escaped her lips and it was then that Sakura decided that she should probably stop all the useless thinking about her teammates brother and instead, make her way home and go to sleep.
She turned around and made her way out of the clearing and off the training ground, all the while unaware of the pair of crimson eyes that followed her every move.
A/N: I am back! I apologize for the delay, life has kept me quite busy lately and I honestly didn't even get five minutes to myself, what has taken quite a toll on me- hence the late update.
But I somehow managed to get this chapter done despite of the lack of time that I had to myself. So yayy me!
Also, can you believe that we hit over 100 reviews already?! Because I still can't! I am so thankful to every one of you who read, followed and reviewed this story so far! I can only repeat myself when I tell you that every one of your review motivates me to keep on writing, updating and to do my best to not disappoint you all!
I hope that you'll continue to show me your support by reviewing this chapter as well! Please tell me if you liked it, what you liked about it and what you think is going to happen next!:)
I love you. Every single one of you. Don't you dare forget that.
Love,
Sara.
