Chapter 10
Edited 18.12.2015
Misconception
She woke up slowly, but already aware that she was not in her own house.
It was too bright to be her bedroom, the smell was wrong and there were the occasional footsteps outside the door.
'What happened? Last I remember I was talking with Hias-' that made her eyes fly open. She was still within the Hyūga compound!
Sakura turned her head to look around the room. It was big, too big for a single person. The walls were white with big windows and there was a sliding door located between them. There weren't that many furniture other than a bed, closet, and a writing table in the room. All in all, it looked empty, like no one lived there at the moment.
'That's positive, at least they didn't throw me in the same room with Neji,' Sakura sighed and pushed herself into a sitting position. She looked down at herself and noticed that her clothes had been changed into a thin, white sleeping Yukata.
"I really hope that it wasn't Neji," she muttered and looked up when the sliding door was pulled open.
"Sakura, you are awake," it was Neji.
'Talk about the devil,' Sakura thought dryly.
"Neji…" Sakura sighed.
"Are you feeling ok? Our medics said that you have not been eating properly, that being the reason for your fainting," Neji asked, not pleased about that fact.
Oh right, the only thing she ate that morning was part of the dango she gave to Tach- oh right, Tachi. How could she forget that she was "engaged" to him!? Time to bring it up and start their self-appointed mission about faking their relationship.
"Neji, there is something I have been meaning to tell you," Sakura started carefully, this could end up badly. The Hyūgas were a proud clan, they wouldn't take it kindly when they were denied something they wanted.
"Sakura, if you are trying to lose weight, don't. I find your body pleasing as it is," Neji said, clearly closing the discussion. Well that's positive, her figure was "pleasing" as it is.
"It is not that, I'm actually already eng-" Sakura started, but a voice from the door interrupted her.
"Sakura, it is good to see you up," Hiashi said and walked into the room like he owned it. Oh right, he kind of did.
'It's now or never,' Sakura thought.
"Hiashi-Sama, I have something that I must say," Sakura said in a firm voice, it seemed to catch his attention.
"What is it Sakura? Is there something you feel uncertain about?"
'Oh no! I absolute want to marry your nephew right now and have plenty of white-eyed babies with him!' Sakura thought sarcastically. These Hyūgas were a little bit too full of themselves, it's not like every Kunoichi would jump at the chance to marry into their clan. True, most probably would, but she was not one of them.
"I'm… I'm engaged!" Sakura blurted out.
*Insert awkward silence here*
"Of course we are," Neji said and took one of her hands into his larger ones, while Hiashi was nodding his head.
"It pleases me that you are getting used to the idea of marrying Neji," Hiashi said, a small, pleased smile working its way onto his lips.
…
"So, how did it go?" Itachi asked from the kitchen as he saw Sakura fall face first onto her couch. Sakura told him earlier that he was welcome to spend time at her house while she was at the Hyūgas, so he did, immediately taking advantage of the kitchen.
She mumbled something and waived her hand at him, letting it drop afterwards.
"That well, huh?" Itachi chuckled and set the onigiri he had been making onto the plate with the other identical ones. He took the teapot and two mugs, as well as the plate and made his way to the living room.
"I take it they weren't too happy about it," he said as he set down the tea pot, cups and plate.
Sakura lifter her head away from the pillow, glared at him and dropped her head back to the pillow, face first.
"Ah, I see. It was misconception," Itachi mumbled and poured them some tea. When Itachi was done he took a seat at the armchair.
"Misunderstanding!? Damn right it was!" Sakura yelled and jumped up from the couch, fire in her eyes.
"That bad?" Itachi asked calmly and lifted his mask enough to take a bite of the rise ball he made earlier.
"They are under the illusion that I'm happy to be engaged to Neji and Hiashi was already summoning a wedding planner, before I made an excuse to leave!" Sakura ranted and took the onigiri Tachi was offering. She took a bite and paused. It tasted even better than the ones she made from Sasukes mothers book!
"These are amazing, where did you learn to cook like this?" Sakura moaned and ate the whole thing in one bite. She sat back down on the couch with a sigh, clearly tired from her ordeal with the Hyūgas.
"Thank you. My mother was a really good cook, she used to teach me," Itachi said and smirked at the sight she was making. She looked like a pink chipmunk with her cheeks filled. Better not say that one aloud.
"Don't choke," he said chuckling and reached over to give her a cup of tea. She took it with a smile, a guilty blush on her face.
"Thanks," she said and took a sip and found that it was just how she preferred. She enjoyed sweets, almost too much so, but she preferred to have her tea without any milk or sugar. It seemed like she and Tachi had something in common.
"What are we going to do now? It seemed like Hiashi wanted us to marry as soon as possible," Sakura asked quietly and swirled the tea in her cup.
Tachi made a quiet hum as he took a sip from his cooling tea.
"We could… go on a mission to slow their plan down," he seemed a little unsure of himself.
Sakura sat up a little straighter.
"That… is actually a pretty good idea! While we're out, we can get "engaged," that way it doesn't sound too out of blue. Neji already knows of you too," Sakura thought and tapped her chin.
"I'll need my medic kit and I need to make a new patch of soldier pills," Sakura mumbled.
"Sakura, I really need to tell you something before we think about leaving," Tachi said, suddenly serious. This got Sakuras attention and she turned her eyes towards the Anbu.
"What is it Tachi? You don't need to worry about me, this wouldn't be the first high ranked mission that I'm taking," Sakura waived him away and got up to walk towards her room to back.
"No, that is not i-"Itachi tried, but sighed when he notices that Sakura was already half way up the stairs. He straightened his mask and followed her.
"-Besides, Hiashi let it slip that I'm being groomed to be a Hokage, can you believe that? I don't really want that position, in my mind, it has always belonged to Naruto, but I'm sure I can handle one Anbu ranked mission," Sakura reasoned and took out her bag.
'Great, the woman I'm trying to woo is the possible future Hokage,' Itachi thought sarcastically and leaned against the doorframe. He didn't want to take her out of the city without her knowing who he was. It would literally make her a missing nin too and Itachi didn't want to take away her choice. He wouldn't be able to play the part of "Tachi", if they ran into Kisame for example.
That would blow his cover in the most unfortunate way, he might as well say goodbye to his envisioned family right now. He sighed tiredly and looked up at the woman.
Sakura was halfway done packing already.
"You see, Sakura, Tachi is not my real name," Itachi said quietly and walked towards Sakura, she hardly looked up from the scroll she was scanning.
"Oh, don't worry, I know Anbus don't give out their real names. More often than not, your lives depend on the anonymity," Sakura said and looked at him with a small smile and went back to packing.
Itachi frowned, this was a lot harder than he thought. He knew that she wouldn't be all smiles when she found out who he really was.
"That is not what I meant. My real name is-" once again, she stopped him.
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind calling you Tachi, it suits you," Sakura said and took a hold of his hand. She only meant to give him a reassuring squeeze, when she noticed that his hand was really warm against her smaller one.
"You have really warm hands," Sakura said, her voice full of wonder as she turned towards him fully to inspect said appendages.
"I, *Cough* I have an affinity to fire," there was a steady blush growing on his cheeks. It has been years since anyone held his hands.
It felt… nice.
"Hmn, good to know. I might have to use you as a personal heater while we are out on that mission," Sakura joked and let go of his hands. She turned back to her pack, clearly almost done.
He did not need those images swimming in his head. He needed to focus, this was important!
"Sakura, my real name is U-" he tried once more, but a loud voice interrupted him.
"SA-KUUU-RA-CHAAAAAN! I'M HOOOMEEE!"
'Oh joy.'
…
Guess who's back!
I apologize it took me this long to get this chapter out, I moved into my new apartment and it took most of my time to make it… livable.
As always, thank you for reading and have a nice day! (:
R&R
TY
-Hana