A/N: again, thank you so much for your kind reviews :)
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As if he had been magically summoned by her thoughts, Itachi appeared next to her.
"We can go now," he said, smiling at her. Seeing her still shocked expression, he frowned a little. "Sakura?"
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CHAPTER 12 – BAD
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Her head snapped up. "Why didn't you tell me what you were doing for the victims of war?"
Itachi was a bit taken aback. Before he could answer, she continued, "Okay, you're not the type who would brag about what he does. But you can't do everything on your own. A woman just came, telling me to thank you about what you are doing for her family. And I had no idea what she was talking about. I understand that, since you are discreet and modest, you wouldn't tell anyone. But hadn't we agreed," and her gaze hardened as she met his eyes, "when we married, that we would share all our lives together? And that we would be sharing our decisions? Did it occur to you that maybe I wanted to give my financial support as well, had I known what was going on?"
She had not raised her voice enough for people to hear, but she was getting really angry. She was also saddened. Itachi hadn't deemed it necessary to tell her anything.
Her husband was staring at her quietly. He decided it was time for him to intervene. He had not missed the flash of hurt in his wife's eyes, and knowing that he had upset her made his heart constrict painfully, even if he didn't know exactly why.
"Did Shisui tell you about it?" he asked, wanting to make sure of that first.
She nodded, still angry. Preventing her from speaking again, Itachi continued, "Did he also tell you since when I began to pay for it?"
Slowly, Sakura shook her head.
Her husband sighed inwardly. He was going to kill his cousin. "Then I'm afraid he has made you misunderstand. All I did for the victims of war, I have told you. Only the latest news I didn't tell you, because it was yesterday night. There aren't enough funds to continue with the project, so I quickly offered to pay what I could in that moment. I was going to tell you about this during lunch, but first you didn't show up," Sakura's cheeks reddened in shame, "and then we were interrupted. Shisui himself has either misunderstood or, much more probably, wanted to make you angry with me. If you wish so, we can resume this subject later."
Sakura was now positively mortified. She had accused him immediately, without questioning Shisui's words and forgetting about his mischievous and ill-behaved nature. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, not looking up at him.
He surprised her by gently grabbing her chin and making her look up at him again. As soon as he was certain she would not try to avoid his gaze again, he began to caress her cheek with the back of his hand. "It's not your fault, Sakura," he replied, continuing to stroke her cheek and bringing up his other hand to play with a strand of her hair. "Shisui surely did it on purpose. I'm going to strangle him for this."
Sakura, even if she was feeling a strange warmth at his actions, internally pushed those unknown feelings aside and smirked at him. "Only if I don't get him first."
He returned her smirk. After paying, they finally left the restaurant and began to walk towards their house, holding hands again. Both had the afternoon free. While walking, they spoke about the victims of war, deciding that the next day they would arrange a Council meeting to discuss it all. As they were approaching their house, they saw a little group of very young children that seemed to be waiting for them. One of them was sitting on the ground, silently crying. As soon as the children spotted them, all except the one crying quickly hurried towards them.
"Sakura-sama! Sakura-sama! Please help us!" they cried out. Sakura immediately went in their direction, but didn't let go of Itachi's hand.
"What happened?" she asked gently, looking at the children, in particular the one who was crying on the ground.
One of the oldest children timidly answered, "He got hurt, Sakura-sama, and we were told that you are the best medic in the world and that you are always kind and gentle, and we are too far from the hospital right now, so could you please help him? Please?"
The other kids began to beg as well. Sakura smiled and nodded, leaving Itachi's side, sitting down near the injured child and quickly healing his fractured wrist, sprained ankle and various cuts and bruises on his face. While she worked, with a tender expression that Itachi found endearing, the other kids, enraptured, observed her. Itachi noticed with pleasure that the kids were both Uchiha and Senju. He also noticed that some kids, especially the girls, were sending glances his way as well.
A very short while later, Sakura was finished. She stood up and smiled at the child she had just healed. "All done." She helped him get up and met his adoring eyes.
"Thank you Sakura-sama!" he cried out in delight. He hugged her, and when he pulled back, not letting her go completely, he eagerly asked, "Can I marry you when I get older?"
To say that Sakura was surprised at the question would be an understatement. Not leaving her the time to reply, another child intervened, hugging her as well, "Why can you marry her, Kentaru-kun? I want to marry her too!"
"No! She's too pretty to marry either of you! I want to marry her!" a smaller child pouted, stepping closer to her.
Another child, this time a female, added, "But if Kentaru-kun and Souta-kun and Jinmu-kun can marry Sakura-sama, then I want to marry Itachi-sama!"
Things were definitely going out of hand. Itachi took a step forward and gently freed his wife from the adorable pouting children around her, putting his arm firmly around her waist. He then smiled a little at the young children.
"I'm sorry, but that's not possible. I am already married to Sakura, and Sakura is married to me." Seeing the kids about to protest, he added, pulling her closer to him, "And I'm afraid I'm not letting her go anytime soon."
The children seemed defeated. One of the oldest, the same one who had asked Sakura for help, said, "You're right. Sakura-sama is too beautiful to be with one of us, and Itachi-sama is too handsome to be with one of us, too. Since they are the prettiest, they belong together."
The other children seemed to accept that reasoning. They happily bowed to the Senju-Uchiha couple and ran away, but not before Sakura had warned them to be more careful in order not to get hurt again. Both smiling, Itachi and Sakura undid the seals of their home and walked in.
The Uchiha had to do some paperwork, sort out some reports and organize the following week of the strategic unit. He also had to check some scrolls about the details of the defence system of Konoha, which was what his subordinate had been speaking about earlier. Sakura had to complete a research on antidotes, which she had been studying carefully with Shizune. They wanted to create good basic antidotes, easy to prepare and to use, which people could carry on them all the time.
So husband and wife went to the living room and began their work, occasionally exchanging a few words, otherwise concentrating hard. The afternoon flew by. When it was around seven in the evening, Sakura pushed her scrolls aside, stood up and stretched.
"I think I'm done for today," she said, stifling a yawn. She went to the kitchen in order to prepare the meal she had promised to cook, while Itachi stood up as well and went to take a quick shower.
As the water ran down his spine, he thought back on what the children had said earlier that day. Although amused by their requests, he couldn't help but interrogate himself on the feeling he had had when they had spoken about Sakura. The thought of her being with someone else had made him feel… displeased. No, it was more than that. It had made him feel angry. To his inward surprise, Itachi discovered that he couldn't think of Sakura as anything else but his wife. His wife. Not someone else's. That was why he had felt strange at the children's words. On something, however, he had to agree with them: Sakura was a beautiful woman. A stunningly beautiful woman, inside and out. And, he added in his mind, stepping out of the shower to dry himself, he would definitely not let her go.
In the kitchen, Sakura had decided on a particularly tasty menu for that evening. She didn't know why the name was 'carbonara spaghetti', but she was confident she could make it. While she cooked, her thoughts wandered back to the children they had met. She reddened a little when she remembered their words. But she also remembered the strange feeling when the little girl had said she wanted to marry Itachi. Sakura, surprisingly, had felt something akin to unfriendliness towards the child. Itachi was her husband.
It was his reaction, however, that had puzzled her. His behaviour in the last days… no, in the last weeks, had been changing towards her. He was… more affectionate. He sought contact with her, not only emotionally, but also physically, with caresses and hand-holding. Yes, his behaviour towards her had changed.
And suddenly, Sakura realized something: her own behaviour towards him had been changing as well.
What did that mean?
She didn't really want to know. She really didn't. He was probably beginning to accept her as a friend, or he was getting used to her presence. Yes, that was probably it. Nothing more.
Sakura couldn't explain why, but that thought made her feel something in her chest. Something very close to emptiness. Total emptiness. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice Itachi quietly appearing next to the kitchen door and observing her. She continued cooking, lost in thought, slightly shivering from the evening coolness, turning off the stove and filling the dishes with food. She went to take some water, only to have it handed to her by her husband, whose presence she finally noticed. She smiled, a bit nervously, and gestured for him to sit down. She brought the two dishes to the table and sat down in front of him, as usual.
They ate in silence. The food was delicious, and Itachi told her so, making her blush prettily in delight. After eating, they did the washing-up together. She was the one who dried this time around, while he cleaned the dishes.
As usual, after dinner and after Sakura had taken a shower as well, they went back to the living room and sat each on one of the sofas. It was a way of relaxing after a day of work. Sakura, however, couldn't really relax. She was feeling cold. They had decided not to turn the heater on yet, since it was the beginning of autumn and it would be a waste, but it was already quite chilly outside.
She tried to distract herself by bringing up the subject of the war victims again. Discussing it together, they refined the details of what they would say to the Council the following day, and also decided to add medical check-ups for them as a request. They knew there were more pressing matters at hand, like the unsolved attack of the rogue ninja, but that didn't mean they would forget about other things. They continued to talk for a while, until Itachi noticed how Sakura was unconsciously rubbing her arms and shivering slightly.
He observed her for a moment and then asked, "Sakura, are you cold?"
She nodded, giving up at trying to hide her discomfort. But before she could do anything else, Itachi stood up. He went to the cupboard in one corner of the room and took out a blanket. He then surprised her by sitting down next to her and draping the warm fabric around them both. When her eyes met his in wonder, he simply shrugged and, with a swift move, put an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him under the blanket.
"I was feeling a little chilly as well," he murmured in her hair.
Sakura didn't know why he was keeping her so close to him, nor why she was letting him do so without protesting. But she wasn't about to say anything. It felt very, very good to be in his arms. It felt so warm and comfortable. It felt safe. It felt like home. It felt…
Sakura drifted off into unconsciousness.
Holding her to him, Itachi smiled a little. She had fallen asleep in his arms again. And he would never admit it to her, but he loved having her so near and breathing in her scent. He liked being close to her and he was beginning to use every situation he could to make that happen. She was making him desire things he had never desired before. He wondered what he would wish for next. Carefully drinking in her sleeping face, ready to fall asleep as well, Itachi decided he didn't mind what she was doing to him.
It felt too good to be something bad.
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A/N: please forgive the little reference to the carbonara spaghetti. It's just… I can't get enough of good Italian pasta. It's rare to find it in the rest of the world.
Oh, and the scene with the children... something very similar happened to me. I look after children of ages between three and thirteen when I have some free time, and it's really adorable to listen to their words sometimes. Three of them actually asked me to marry them, and it was quite disconcerting for me to receive such an offer.
I really love children :-)
Thanks for reading!
