Chapter 12 – Itachi's Chapter (Part 3)
It was March and thus the fifteenth birthday of Sasuke and Sakura had arrived. Unfortunately, Sakura's parents were gone due to work so Mikoto wanted to make it special. How? Not by inviting all Sakura's friends over to celebrate. No, Mikoto wanted to make it special by packing us all up and taking us to the mountains for the weekend. She rented a cabin that had three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a great view of everything. I knew what my mother wanted to happen. She wanted to isolate us all so she could carefully leave Sasuke and Sakura alone in hopes they would get romantic in the beautiful scenery. Her first attempt occurred when we went hiking.
"Ah!" Mikoto slipped and fell while climbing up a rocky hill.
"Oba-san!" Sakura was the first to Mikoto.
"Mikoto!" Fugaku rightfully went to his wife.
"Are you okay, Kaa-san?" Both Sasuke and I asked her.
"I think I twisted my ankle," She claimed. I went to check it. It was not twisted or even remotely damaged. I looked up only for her to give me the glare.
"Yes, it is twisted. I don't think you can go on. We should all turn around now."
"No, Itachi. Don't let me ruin you kids' hike. You all can go and Fugaku and I'll just get back to the car," She waved us off.
"Are you sure, Oba-san?" Sakura asked Mikoto who nodded. I helped her up as did Fugaku.
"Do your best to help, Itachi," She whispered in my ear then smiled to everyone and hobbled away with Fugaku.
"Let's keep going then," Sasuke sighed and kept walking. Sakura and I followed Sasuke. I was unsure of how to help two kids. What was I supposed to do? Push them into a cave and seal them up until they fell in love or died?
"Wow! It's so gorgeous!" Sakura exclaimed when we reached the top of the mountain where we could see all the surrounding mountains, "Too bad Oba-san couldn't see it."
"Well I have a camera. I can take some pictures for her," I pulled out the camera Mikoto gave me before the hike.
"Oh, good," Sakura was so considerate. I started snapping pictures when I heard Sakura talking to Sasuke.
"I'm so glad that we could celebrate our birthday up here."
"Hn."
"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun? Do you not like the mountains?"
"They're fine," His reply was short as usual with her.
"Say cheese," I turned to take a picture of them so Mikoto would be happy. Sakura smiled like a good girl but Sasuke tried to avoid being in the shot.
"Come on, Sasuke, get close to Sakura," I waved for him to get closer to her. He rolled his eyes and did so. I snapped a few but in all Sasuke was glaring at the camera.
"Let's go back," Sasuke began walking back down. Sakura followed as did I. While we moved down the mountain, Sakura was having trouble controlling her balance. She always managed to catch herself till finally she slipped on a rock. It was as if it happened in slow motion. She was falling and Sasuke was turning around having heard her yelp. His eyes grew wide in horror as did hers. Then she fell into him and her into a big thing of mud we had avoided earlier. Mikoto would have loved to have seen how they were all tangled up in eachother except for the fact Sakura's face was covered in mud and Sasuke's entire back was muddy as well. I helped them up and checked them for injury. Both were fine but filthy.
"What happened to you two?" Mikoto was appalled by how their appearance.
"Sakura fell and Sasuke caught her," I informed her making her smile slightly but the frowned at how filthy our car was going to be now.
"Is your ankle better, Oba-san?' Sakura observed that Mikoto was walking fine.
"Ye. I just needed to get off it. Right, Itachi?" She looked to me. I merely nodded and got into the car.
Mikoto's second attempt to create romance came when we got back to the cabin. While the two showered in separate showers, Mikoto and Fugaku went out to get food. I knew my mother wanted me to go so that Sasuke and Sakura could be alone but I was in no mood to go out in the then raining weather. I instead just sat in the living room waiting to see what my mother had done to get the kids together.
"Nii-san, have you seen my clothes?" Sasuke came out of the downstairs bathroom in just a towel.
She didn't.
"No," I answered hoping my mother did not do what I thought she did.
"I thought I put it down here…I guess I left it upstairs," He started for the stairs. I could not believe Mikoto's plan. They were just turning fifteen! They didn't need to be catching each other naked! It wasn't right. They were too young!
"I'll get it for you so you won't drip water everywhere," I assured him and ascended the stairs. I passed upstairs bathroom where Sakura was showering. I went into Sasuke and my room to get him some clothes.
"Ahh!" I heard a scream. I ran out of the room to see Sakura running out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.
"Snake!" She pointed to the bathroom when she saw me. I went inside the bathroom and sure enough there was a snake slithering into the shower. Sakura hated snakes. I saw the rest of my mother's plan. Sasuke was supposed to come in and save her but both would be naked. Hormones would be running and I cannot even finish what could possibly happen. I would scold my mother about her stunt later that night.
"Thank you, Itachi-nii-san," Sakura hugged me once I threw the snake out a window.
"What happened?" Sasuke finally appeared then froze. He looked away as he saw Sakura was still in a towel like himself. She blushed and ran away.
"There was a snake in the shower," I informed him. He nodded and went into out room to get dressed.
After dinner, the rain became worse outside. There were some flashes of lightning and thunder as well making Sakura sit closer and closer to me when we were playing board games.
"Well, I'm tired. I think I'll be off to bed," Mikoto yawned. She gave us all kisses in the head and went to her room with Fugaku following her.
"I'm going to bed as well," Sasuke got up and left Sakura and I.
"Do you think you can sleep alone tonight?" I asked Sakura.
"Yeah," She assured me with fake confidence. We said our good nights and went to our separate rooms. I crawled into bed with Sasuke who was still awake.
"Nii-san," I heard Sasuke call me.
"Yes?"
"Nevermind…" He turned away and went to sleep. I fell asleep soon afterwards.
"Itach-nii-san," I woke up to gentle shaking. I opened an eye to see Sakura standing there. In my tired state I merely pulled her into the bed with me and held her close. I fell back asleep.
When I woke up I the morning I found that in the night that Sakura had somehow ended up between Sasuke and me. Instead of clinging to me in her sleep she clung to Sasuke. I knew if Sasuke woke up with her on him he would not be pleased even though Mikoto would have been.
"Sakura," I whispered her name and poked her. She merely groaned and clung tighter to Sasuke.
"Sakura, wake up," I tried not to wake Sasuke while trying to wake Sakura. I poked and poked till she finally opened her eyes. I covered her mouth before she could scream and wake up Sasuke. She rolled away and I walked her out of the room.
"How did I-"
"I don't know," I answered before she finished asking, "But you better get back in your bed."
She did and just in time as Mikoto was coming up the stairs to wake us all up to celebrate the birth of Sasuke and Sakura.
March 23 was long and full of sweets and presents for the kids. We went out to the movies, a big meal and shopping. When we finally returned the cabin, it was late and all of us wanted to sleep especially since we would have to drive back to the city in the morning.
"Sasuke-kun, I almost forgot to give you your birthday present," Sakura remembered while we were about to go to our room to sleep. He opened it then looked up at her.
"Thanks."
She smiled.
"Here's yours," He pulled out a small box from his pocket and tossed it to her.
"What did she get you?" I asked him.
"Music," He answered and showed me a CD of his favorite band signed by the actual members.
"What did you get her?"
"Ear plugs."
"Ear plugs?" I did not understand then why he would give her such a gift.
