Sorry for the slightly late update, but I have a vacation coming upOne where I will have no access to a computer, so no updates for like a week! But after that, more goodness coming I can assure you. I may even, gasp, write things down on paper so I can be like ahead in the story line! It could happen, I hear people still do that. I have figured out the prize for the two who'd guess the incoming characters, I just need to figure out if I can get it to you guys. :Shrugs:
Disclaimer: Geez this hurts everytime. Naruto and all characters therein are not mine and I cannot claim money from them. But I can dream!
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Genius' in all but love.
Genius' looking for trouble
Haruno House
Sakura rolled over in bed her head still pressed into her pillow, trying desperately to ignore the sun against her window. A smile spread across her face and she gave up trying to pretend to sleep. Rolling over onto her back, she stared unseeing at the ceiling of her room a laugh bubbling up inside her.
She covered her face with her pillow and squealed, kicking her feet as the happiest feeling she'd ever felt built up in her. Her impromptu date with Itachi yesterday had been beyond romantic. She could still remember every detail as if it was just happening to her. Slipping her hand under her favourite stuffed toy she touched the cold plastic of Itachi's first present to her. Drawing it out, she cradled it in her hands as she relived the exact moment he'd given it to her.
Konoha Centre City, YesterdaySakura sat in Itachi's car for the second time in her life. She kept her eyes on Itachi as if afraid he would dissapear. Only a great force of will kept her hands in her lap and not on Itachi himself. He watched the road with great concentration as if it was important not to look at her. Sakura fidgeted with the need to have some sort of contact with him.
"Itachi-" She began.
He made a shushing motion with his hand, glancing in all the mirrors as if looking for something he hadn't found yet.
"Sakura, open the glove box." Itachi said not looking at her.
Sakura did so.
"Do you see the box there?" Itachi waited until Sakura nodded. "Take it out, it's a present for you."
Smiling in an idiotic fashion, Sakura slid the small box out. It was wrapped neatly in pale pink paper patterned with symbolic cherry blossoms. Sakura felt the smile grow.
"Do you like the paper?" Itachi asked an embarassed note in his voice.
Sakura nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Itachi cleared his throat.
"Then it was worth the embarassment of buying it." He said.
Sakura looked at him surprised, still hugging the unopened present.
"Why was it embarrassing?"
"I've had very little free time this week, between working for my father and trying to keep up with my work with Kisame." Itachi paused as if he'd said too much.
"I had to buy that paper in front of Kisame." Itachi finished simply, clearing his throat. "You've met him, you can imagine the rest."
Sakura nodded, she didn't like the thought of Kisame having anything to do Itachi, but it wasn't her decision. Itachi drove silently for a few minutes still continuing a straight path towards her home she noted sadly. Eventually his eyes slid across to her.
"You can open it, you know." He said. "I'd like to know what you think."
Sakura blushed, and carefully lifted one corner of the paper. Working carefully she pulled the box out. It was simple and square, slim, a little bigger than her hand and it rattled when she shook it carefully.
Itachi gave a short breath of laughter. Sakura looked up surprised a smile tugging on her lips.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
"Your face." He said simply, his face refinding its usual calmness.
He refused to say more before she'd opened the box. She deliberately lengthened the process by folding the pretty paper first and tucking it carefully into her bag. Slowly she lifted the top of the box to gaze at the tissue paper inside. Pushing it aside, she reached in and pulled out the smallest cell phone she'd ever seen.
It sat shiny and light in her hand, if she folded her fingers it would dissapear engulfed in the palm of her hand. Opening her hand again she looked at it. It was black with a hidden dark red circular design, but the design was such that she had to tip the phone from side to side to catch glimpses of it hidden deep in the black. When she held it flat she could almost see that something was hidden in the dark depths of the colour, but it was impossible as yet to decide what the design was.
"I tried to get one in your colours, but it wasn't possible, so I thought mine might be okay." Itachi said softly, eyes on the road.
Sakura felt tears prick her eyes. How she wished he wasn't driving so she could throw herself on him in a frenzy of kissing.
"Is it that bad?" Itachi asked.
Sakura shook her head clutching the phone to her chest. Itachi gave a brief smile of relief.
"I'm glad. Red is too strong for you, you suit pink." He said out of the blue.
Sakura giggled.
"Red and blue are your colours." Sakura said.
"Red and black." Itachi said. "Blue is too weak for me. With that phone even when I have no time to see you, I can still call you." Itachi said.
"May I call you?" Sakura asked excited at the idea.
Itachi shook his head.
"There's no way you can tell where I'm going to be, or who I'll be with." He glanced over at her. "We have to keep this a secret a while longer."
Sakura nodded dissapointed, another secret to keep. He reached out and brushed her cheek with his fingers. Sakura closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. For a long moment nothing was said and Sakura reveled in the differences of softness and roughness on his palm.
"Screw it." Itachi said suddenly, jerking the driving wheel to the right.
Sakura noted that instead of taking the turn for the suburbs where she lived, they were now on the highway out of town. A thrill of excitment ran through her. Itachi had both hands on the steering wheel, his brow furrowed in concentration, his eyes glaring at the road as if daring it to try and stop him in his chosen direction. They quickly left the traffic behind and found themselves alone.
Sakura sat quietly, aware that Itachi was fighting a battle within himself and the outcome concerned herself. Concerned their future together. She clutched the cellphone as if it was a lucky talismen which would tip that battle in her favour. It had to prove that he really cared, that he wasn't regretting his actions, that she did more than complicate his already complicated life.
All the fears and doubts that had worried her all the long week without him came running back to her. She was only a little girl, how could she possible give him what he needed in a partner. No matter how much she loved him, how could she, little perfect life Sakura understand or help him with his life which seemed to give him so much pain. She didn't understand his transitory dark moods, there were times when she saw such coldness in his eyes that she grew afraid for him. There was so much she didn't know, couldn't understand about this dark, complicated man beside her.
And yet, she would, if she could. If he just gave her a chance to understand him, she would try, all of him. She felt desperate sometimes to be able to prove herself, that it didn't matter how dark he was, how hurt. There was nothing she wouldn't try to heal. She felt it like a tidal pull inside her towards him, if she was just given the chance she'd devote herself to making him happy. That's why she'd keep his secrets, that's why she'd follow all his wishes, that's why she wasn't going to let him decide this all alone.
"Are you afraid?" Itachi suddenly asked.
"Only of you leaving me." Sakura said truthfully.
"It never frightens you?" Itachi said pushing the car to go faster.
The car climbed over the legal limit, the powerful engine purred as if finally being allowed to be itself.
"This thing that we have?" He asked, the frown on his face deepening.
"Does it frighten you?" Sakura asked closing her eyes, leaning her head back and feeling the wind pull on her hair.
Itachi was silent, Sakura felt his eyes slide onto her. She stayed very still letting him answer.
"More than anything else in my life." He finally answered.
The car swerved, Sakura kept her eyes closed, aware it was easier for him to speak when she was like this.
"Sakura-" He started, falling silent.
An edge of desperation was in his voice, a hint of rage.
"You should stay away from me."
"No."
The car swerved again, Sakura slid against the door jarring her elbow. She clutched the cellphone tighter, suddenly she was calm, calmer than she thought she should be. He wasn't going to leave her, unless she let him, and she wasn't going to let him go. She could feel the frustration rolling off him, the desire to strangle her until she did what he wanted. She almost grinned, almost laughed, but for the pain in her heart for the pain in his voice.
"Sakura, there are so many things you don't understand."
"I don't care."
"You should."
"No."
"Things I've done! Things about my family!" His voice was cracking, just like him. "Things you could never understand."
What did he do this last week to push this up? Sakura wondered.
"Sakura, what if I begged you? What if I begged you to stay away?" Itachi pleaded.
Sakura refused to be moved. The car slowed down, the engine complaining at the sudden loss of speed. Itachi pulled off the road, Sakura slowly opened her eyes the first tendril of fear growing in her.
Itachi turned in his seat, leaning forward, his face twisted by conflicting emotions.
"Please, Sakura, I've never asked anyone for anything in my entire life, I'm begging you." He took her hands and buried his face into them, as if he couldn't bear to look into her calm green eyes.
"Go away. Far, far away."
"No."
Tears fell hot onto her palms, Sakura didn't move, she felt as if she were the strong one, and he the weak one seeking shelter. She rained gentle kisses onto his bowed head. How she wished she had her hands so that she could stroke that tense back, ease his tension. Perphaps that was why he held them trapped before her.
"Red is too strong for you." He whispered.
"Red is the colour of love, the colour of my love for you." She whispered back.
"Red is the colour of blood," He said into her hands, "that's why it's my colour."
"And black?" Sakura asked lifting his face up to look at her.
"Death, and madness." He said eyes empty. "That's why it's my colour aswell."
"No." She leaned forward to press her mouth against his, she couldn't help herself.
"Black is the colour of the night, the secret night where we meet, the protecting night that guards our love from prying eyes. The loving night where I long to see you." She whispered not the least bit embarrassed at her words.
Itachi closed his eyes as if he were drowning and had only just given up all hope.
"I take the red and the black as my colours." She said, punctuating her words with kisses on his unresisting lips.
"I leave the pink of childhood behind, I take the red and black." She whispered fiercely.
"I pray," Itachi whispered back against her lips. "for only the second and probably last time in my life, I pray that you never regret those words."
He pulled back and Sakura almost cried with wanting to kiss him again.
He started the car and pulled back onto the road. His cheeks were marked with tears, but otherwise there were no signs of the emotion that had traveled for a moment across his features. They remained silent, each on their own side working to put back into order what the outburst had broken apart. Yet, as always, not everything fit as exactly as before.
Eventually he turned off the road, and Sakura recognised the trail. The little lake where they had started. He stopped the car and got out, walking off into the bushes without waiting for her. She opened the door slowly and followed him at a distance. He stood in the full sun, hands thrust into his pockets shoulders hunched. She waited watching him in the cool shade of the trees.
"The memories I have here of time spent with my father. They are very bitter to me now." He said without turning.
"Things are often bitter when you finally see the truth behind them. One day you will look at me with the same eyes I look at my father with. One day the bitterness will well up in you and you'll hate me."
Sakura wanted to deny it, she wanted to protest her love for him. But she knew Itachi the genius too well, he would never accept a theory that was unproven and based on anything as uncountable as love.
"No one can tell the future." She said approaching him slowly. "I know there are things about you that hurt, things that are painful. I know that being with you will sometimes be hard, but right now? I don't care."
Itachi turned his face a mask. Sakura slid her hands around his waist, stroking his back and pressing her face into his unmoving chest. Slowly she moved against him, he stayed as still as a statue, as if he could still pretend to be as unfeeling as he pretended to be before. As if she would still believe that he was nothing but coldness and perfection. A perfect machine.
Sakura tried to remember what to do to make him move under her touch. There had been so few chances to touch him, she was so young, so very inexperienced, she cursed herself. Itachi needed to be touched right now, before he found his way back down into the darkness. Needed to be brought back to the present, and he always responded to her touch. When she was touching him he rose closer and closer to the surface. The Itachi that was buried somewhere deep inside rose up and touched her as she touched him. He couldn't stay cold with her, he didn't know how anymore.
Hormones. Sakura thought, Are sometimes very useful.
She pulled at his shirt and ran her hands over the warm skin of his back. He shivered ever so slightly. Sakura looked up at him, triumph in her eyes. Let this be a competition then, he never could resist a competition. His eyes grew warm as she stared up at him daring him to stay cold. She moved her hands to the front of his body stoking over his chest, the softer skin of his stomach. He opened his mouth ever so slightly to breath deeper and Sakura let a smirk tug at her lips. He narrowed his eyes at her impertinance. Sakura sucked in a shaky breath at what that look did to her. She felt the danger of that look, maybe that was why she was so drawn to Itachi. Maybe she liked the edge of danger he represented.
Sakura felt heat flush her face and she let Itachi see what he did to her. She withdrew her hands, and Itachi stood an edge of incertainty in his eyes. She put her hands on his jacket and pushed it back off his shoulders. Itachi only moved his hands out of his pockets to let the jacket fall to the ground. He raised an eyebrow slightly,as if challenging her to go further. She did.
The shirt fell afterwards and Itachi stood, eyebrow still raised a small smile on his lips gazing down at her. Sakura swallowed hard, she'd thought he'd crack before now, but it looked like he was ready to play right to the end. With shaking hands she reached for his belt, but the moment she touched it Itachi had caught her hands in his.
"Don't." he warned.
"Why not?" Sakura asked, her voice as shaky as she felt. "I want to."
"And so do I." He said in that hot voice she only heard in times like this. "But I'm not going to touch you if you do that."
"I can make you." Sakura said simply.
Itachi made a sound between a sigh and a groan. He wrapped his arms around her, ever so slightly rubbing himself against her. Sakura started to enjoy it, if at first it was a little out of her experience.
"There are girls my age at school who sleep with their boyfriends." Sakura said moving with him trying to find what felt good for her.
"I know, some have made offers to me. They shouldn't, they are too young."
"Am I too young?" Sakura asked teasing him with her lips against his skin.
"Sometimes yes, sometimes I think you are much stronger than I can guess at." He drew a shuddering breath.
"Sakura." He pleaded.
Dissapointed in his continuing refusal Sakura moved back a pout on her lips.
"If you keep up like this, we're going to need to tie me down before we do anything." He warned with a chuckle.
"I could do that." Sakura said a gleam in her eye.
"Maybe it would be safer if I tied you down." He said rethinking. "You're the one misbehaving."
Sakura pouted harder, fingering the buttons on her shirt, Itachi's eyes dropped to her fingers and he smiled as if exasperated.
"Sakura." He growled in a warning.
She took a step towards him looking up at him through her eyelashes. He took a step back growling.
"I'm warning you young lady."
Sakura played with the top button, her eyes on Itachi's reddening face. He panted and his hands twitched at his sides. She took another step forward undoing the button, it didn't show much, but Itachi took a quick step backwards anyway. The gold chain he'd given her gleamed in the sunlight.
"You are impossible. And I'm not stupid enough to simply walk backwards into the lake." He said.
Sakura smirked.
"Then, if you don't come over here and convince me otherwise, I'm going to take it off." Sakura warned.
Itachi started to smile as if the idea pleased him greatly, shaking his head he stepped quickly forward his hands reaching for her. Sakura darted back, hands furiously undoing buttons. Itachi gave a yelp and dived at her his hands interferring with hers trying to redo buttons as fast as she undid them. Suddenly they were both laughing at the ridiculous nature of the situation.
Losing her balance Sakura collasped onto the dock, Itachi providing a convenient cushion. She lay ontop of him smiling into his face. He lay, one hand flung over his eyes a smile playing on his lips.
"Why am I the responsible one?" He asked plantively. "Aren't you supposed to be all shy and 'no, no, no I couldn't possibly let you do that before we're married!'?" He complained.
"Welcome to the 21st century baby." Sakura said smirking. "In this day and age when women see a piece of ass as hot as your's they jump on it."
Itachi laughed again running his hands through her hair.
"I wish we never needed to go back." He said staring at the sky.
Sakura linked her hands under her chin and regarded his face.
"But just think, if we stayed here, eventually your self control would crack and you'd end up ravaging me on this dock." Sakura said impishly.
Itachi blushed.
"How well you know me." He said. "But I wouldn't ravage you. I'd make it last, and I'd make you cry with need before that."
The heat in his voice, the way his eyes looked at her made her press herself against him.
"I need now." She said simply.
He looked at her considering.
"We're moving too fast. You're falling too fast." He said, trying not to move under her,trying to keep his hands playing lightly with her hair.
"Then catch me." Sakura moved, and Itachi reacted unable to control himself.
Suddenly, panting, he gripped her arms painfully. His eyes searching hers he seemed to decide something.
Leaning forward he whispered.
"There are things we can do. Things that might satisfy your curiousity."
Sakura paused listening.
"But you must let me choose. You've got no control, so I must have it for the two of us." He leaned back down playing lightly with her hair. "If we go too fast I'm afraid this'll finish too soon, too badly. I don't want you to get hurt."
Sakura leaned in to kiss him. But he put his finger on her lips.
"If I give you another present, will you stop tormenting me like this?" He looked at her a mock glare on his face. "Will you behave yourself?"
Sakura nodded kissing his finger. Itachi glared at her for real, sighing, Sakura pouted and sat back, straddling him.
"I'm not sure this is better." Itachi mumbled sitting up so their noses were almost touching.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flat box.
"This is the present I really wanted to give you." He said, holding it between them.
Sakura flipped open the box, her eyes widening at the small sparkling pendant.
"It's what was meant to go on your chain. Not the stupid childish keys." He said taking it out.
She slipped the chain free and Itachi threaded the pendant onto it. He reattached it around her neck. The keys sat in his hand. Sakura sat touching the pendant with wondering hands.
"D-does it look good?" She asked.
Itachi answered her with a gentle kiss.
Haruno House, presentLying in bed Sakura heard her parents heading out to work.
Doing overtime trying to kiss up to the boss. Sakura thought.
Immediately she pinched herself for her horrible thought.
They're earning the money that keeps a roof over your head, food in your stomach and clothes on your back, you ungrateful brat. Sakura thought scoldingly to herself.
Her hand reached up to touch the pendant warm against her skin. Sighing happily, Sakura flipped back the covers and got out of bed. She had work to do yet, and a long way to go before she could accomplish all that she dreamed of.
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Just when Sakura thinks she's found a safe shore, a new storm blows in! It's not easy being coverted by the Uchiha men! Damn wish I had that problem.