57. Disaster Calls
"On the count of three..?"
"No, fours...on fours!"
"Suite yourself Iz, your just making it harder on yourself."
The small child laughed and began to stretch out her small limbs as her father kicked off his shoes and began to circle a space in the backyard to prepare himself, a small grin on his face.
It had been the dead of the afternoon and the climate was humid and dry, Ino had cut the sprinklers in her yard not too long ago so the blades of grass were still moist and warm beneath his toes. He wore a light grey cargo shorts and a white v-neck shirt that clung to every ridge of muscle he had developed since being away. His hair was gathered up into a ponytail on top of his head.
"Your dead meeeeat!" His daughter barked threateningly, she had been wearing a red and black ace of hearts swim suite that she had begged him to buy her earlier and since the beginning of the day she hadn't taken it off.
Well, except the occasions when she was running to the bathroom..
Itachi shoved a thumb into his chest.
"Me?"
His daughter nodded profusely, pink hair springing out in every direction of space around her.
"Ya you!"
She angled her fingers like a gun and pointed it at his face, squenching one of her eyes, sticking out her tongue.
Itachi eyes lingered on her for a moment and then, he lashed out and began to chase her.
The tiny child screamed at the top of her lungs and began to run towards the opposite side of the fence.
"Nono...tou-san this is not how it goes...!" she cried out, laughing.
"You talk a big game missy!"
"No I don'ttttttt!" she screamed, looking over her shoulder and seeing him close in on her, she wrenched her eyes closed tightly, just as Itachi scooped her up and spun her around, quickly.
"Cheeeeder, cheeeeder pumpkin eater!"
Itachi laughed.
"I'm allergic to pumpkins, I eat the faces of little girls."
"I'm not a lil guuuural!"
Itachi grunted.
"Your my little girl...so that makes your face, completely edible." he whispered, with a small growl hoping to scare her.
"Imma gonna eat your face Tou.."
She cackled and tossed her palms on her face but her father was a swift man, already he was pecking at her cheek with his lips and spinning them faster.
Izami had never been so completely content, so blithe and excited the days before she knew her father. There was something about when she came over her aunt Ino's house now.
She never wanted to leave and go home, waking up tucked beneath her fathers chest, eating cereal with him, watching morning cartoons and seeing him walk through the school doors...
she always ran to him and he always seemed content to catch her and hold her, caress her head of pink locks and tell her how much he missed her even though he had seen her eight hours ago.
All of the other children always stared at the two of them and some of them even tried to climb up her father in the hall, seeking his giant height for their enjoyment.
Izami had always looked down at her dangling feet and clutched tighter around his neck.
She smiled at the fact, just as he slowed the spin.
"Go faster pa!" She demanded, tossing back her head to stare into the sky, arms spread wide. Itachi stared down at her.
"Maybe tomorrow but right now...we've got to get you dressed and back to your Kaa."
"What?...noooo, noboddddies home." she pouted genuinely unpleased about the matter.
Itachi pouted back.
"She and your...she and Sasuke are back."
The mention of Sasuke seemed to put a small smile on her face and then she fought to get out of her fathers arms.
"Race you to the house!"
"Hmmmm, I'm game."
He placed her down and she ran, looking over her shoulder only once to see that Itachi hadn't taken a step to pursue her.
She dodged Ino's form that fled the house and Ino's eyes followed her.
"Izzy, stop running in the house your going to bust your ass."
Itachi chuckled and shook his head, wiping a hand over his face with a languid sigh.
Ino stared at him.
"I know that sound, that sound means your about to be bad, what are you about to do?"
Itachi placed his hands on his waist and spit, he leered up at the sky and sighed.
"She doesn't want to go home...I mention Sasuke and she's all for it."
Ino grinned.
"Aww fatherly rivalry, how sweet."
Itachi rolled his eyes at her.
"She's my daughter."
"Ya, naturally but you kinda gave up those rights when you left Sakura."
"I never knew I had those rights, remember and I was wanted...it's not like I wanted to fucking leave her."
"There's just a lot of blue print work that she wouldn't understand. She loves you and Sasuke...as much as you don't like him right now, you only hate him because he has the thing that you want..."
"..my family." Itachi said softly, like a hopeless man.
"Life is a bitch man...it fucks over everyone, just like it fucked you...it fucked Sasuke, the difference is. He fought hard...he fought hard for Sakura when you left...what choice did she have."
Itachi held up a hand to stop her.
"I don't care about them begin together, I'm an adult I know once I've lost something it'll be tough to get it back...but I'm not loosing my child."
"What do you mean, tough to get back..."
The both of them were quiet for a moment and then Ino rushed over towards him and tilted her head so that she was directly staring into his burning stare.
"Itachi...I'm saying this as a friend, to all three of you...don't try and break them up, Sakura's happy...your brother deserves to be happy. Sakura has changed him for the better.."
"You know I can't do that...and I know it's wrong but I can't be that guy who get's visitations from his daughter and pretends to be O-fucking-K with the arrangement. I'd be lying to myself if I tried to convince you that I was and you'd be lying to yourself if you believed me."
"So what, your going to seduce her...get her into bed with you and make her fall back in love?"
Itachi smiled, turning his head away from Ino's intense gaze and curiosity.
"She'd never fall out of love Ino.."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that..."
Itachi sighed.
"I'm not going to just walk away, I've been doing that for too long."
"Why stop?"
"Nobody is chasing me, I'm not wanted as a terror...I have a child, I have a chance to be what she needs."
"What makes you think Sasuke isn't what she needs."
Itachi was quiet for a moment, he closed his eyes.
"My brother and I may have these distinct looks to us but...he's not me, no matter how hard you try to fool yourself into believing he is. We're two very different people..."
"TOU-SAN, I'M READDDDY!"
Izami stood in the back doorway arch and Ino stared from her to Itachi.
"You can't take her home...that's a fucking recipe for disaster."
"I wonder how disaster tastes." Itachi whispered into her face and then began to walk towards his daughter, who hopped on her toes eagerly.
"C'mon pa!"
He chuckled as she took his hand and began to pull him.
"Itachi...please tell me your going to behave." Ino called out behind him, he looked over his shoulder.
"You know, that I'm no good with promises..."
"For Izzy..."
Itachi stared at her for a long moment, he picked up his daughter and stared into her mirrored version of his eyes. She hugged him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"...be nice Tou-san."
Ino laughed.
"Even she knows." she joked.
Itachi stared into her eyes and then sighed, he nodded.
"I love you Tou-san..." the child murmured and then buried her face in the crook of his neck.
Itachi hesitated for a moment, his heart seemed to stammer.
He hugged her tighter and sighed.
"I love you too." he whispered into her ear. "...aunt Ino is going to take you home, is that ok?"
"No." she whispered. "I want you pa.." she said in a heartbreaking tone of sadness. Itachi's breath fled his nostrils in a tremor and he shook his head.
"Remember our secret?"
"Ya."
"We have to keep it awhile longer ok..."
"Will you...take met to skewwwl?"
"Not tomorrow..."
"Why not...kaa-san, won't care.."
Itachi felt like he was being torn apart from a major body part, like his heart was being pried from his chest.
"Iz, I'll see you soon."
The child began to cry in his arms, her body trembling with sorrow.
"Daddy.." she wailed, sniffling and holding onto him tight.
Why is this so fucking hard..
It was hard to leave her when he held her as a baby and now it was hard to leave her, even harder than it had been then.
"Iz...stop crying..." he whispered.
"No!...I want you home!" She whimpered.
"Later...but not now...I'll still be around, I'll come visit you at school for lunch...we'll have fun."
The little child continued to cry, moaning into his collar. He could feel her hot tears stinging his shoulders. Ino sighed and then came to lend a helping hand after Itachi looked at her helplessly.
"Izzy...your father has to go, this isn't goodbye."
"Yes it is!" She began to fight, as Ino pulled her away, kicking and screaming. Itachi ran both his fingers through his hair, suddenly feeling his heartbeat go wild in his chest as Ino hugged the child to herself.
"No, no...it's a see you later..."
She looked at her father over Ino's shoulder, her eyes were red, tears still sliding down her small cherub cheeks, her lips trembled and she reached out her hand, defeated.
Itachi clasped her small fingers in his heavy hands and leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the forehead.
"...I'll see you tomorrow." He murmured.
The little child nudged at the tears in her eyes and rested her head on Ino's shoulder, Ino began to walk away and Izami kept her eyes on her father, until he turned away to stare at the sky, his shoulders trembled.
58. Help.
Sakura sat by the phone all night awaiting a call from Sasuke or someone informing her that they found Sasuke's body in the middle of the street.
He ran.
He left without his boots, carrying a fresh bottle of Vodka.
At first she didn't think to question it but then after a moment she realized the only reason she hadn't done that was because she was too busy on a guilt trip.
She didn't want to admit it but she was mildly relieved when he left so relieved that she coiled up on the chair and suddenly realized that several hours had gone by and he was not home.
She called Ino and explained to her every detail of what had happened, Ino seemed to detect the worry in her tone and try to ease her mind by telling her that she'd call up Kakashi and see what he could do about it.
Sakura figured Ino was just telling her that just so she could go to sleep and not stress over it but to her surprise around two o'clock in the morning she got a call from Kakashi.
At three o'clock on the dot Kakashi showed up at her door, Sasuke in handcuffs, holding up his connected chained wrist to Kakashi to unleash him, Kakashi tossed the keys at Sakura, who fumbled but finally caught them.
"You decide whether you feel safe enough to unlock him.."
She started to ask him what he meant but Sasuke began to yell out a stream of profanities at Kakashi, whom reguarded him like the fool that he was, with a simple sigh and a shake of his hair.
"He's high as a kite...this time I bought him to you but next time.."
"I understand, thanks Kakashi.."
Sakura covered Sasuke's lips and began to use all the strength in her to yank him into his apartment.
"Don't mention it...that could very well be my career."
"Secrets safe w-with me.."
Kakashi only grinned and tipped his hat, he ran off the the porch and out into the rain, Sakura mustered up enough strength to toss Sasuke intot the house and slam the door behind him.
"What the hell is wrong with you today?"
She asked him, shoveling her hair out of her face and scowling at him.
His eyes were blood shot, gore stained his lips...he wobbled slightly, cuffed hands raised towards her.
"Sakura...I shouldn't be around you, lemme go..." he spoke in this woozy voice, advancing towards her in a stagger. Sakura held fast to the keys and took a step back.
"No, your fucked up Sasuke and it's dangerous outside...go sleep it off."
She said and began to walk off, towards his bedroom, she could hear him following her. Cuffs jingling.
"I'm not fucking tired...give me the keys!"
"No...you'll thank me later, I saved you from loosing the shred of decency you've had."
He laughed loudly, as if the mere insult she had made was a joke of some sort.
"Don't write a check your ass can't handle...talking shit to me...I'm not in the mood, Sakura."
"I don't give a flying fuck...your just mad because I'm telling you the truth, you need help...doing drugs, seriously..."
She turned towards him, he was an inch away from her, breath huffing over her head.
He smelled like ash and liquor.
"Back the fuck up!" She barked at him.
"Give me the keys."
"No.."
Without a warning that he could move as agile, he reached out and nearly pried the keys from her fingers. She jerked away from him but he grabbed a fist full of her hair and his other hand gripped her throat.
"Give me...the fucking key!" he yelled at her in a pitch that wasn't too far from demonic. Sakura felt her breath yanking itself from her lungs, a searing pain shot up her neck and she screamed because it felt as if she'd loose her breath if she didn't repent from her later action of challenging him.
With her free hand she slapped him. Sasuke grinned ruefully and tossed her onto the bed by her hair, she fell into the cussion hard and herd the door slam.
She looked up to see if he had left, hair over her eyes, she could see him pasting the floor restlessly, like a man in fury.
She could barely catch her breath, it exploded from her chest like someone who had run several miles, almost painfully.
There are alot of things she wanted to do and shutting up wasn't one of those options, she stood up and ran at Sasuke with the intent to get back at him, she pushed him with no satisfaction of getting an ounce of pain out of him, he grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her towards him.
Throught gritted teeth, he leered into her eyes.
"I don't want to...but if I have to Sakura I will-"
"What!"
She yelled in a burst of tears feeling the emotion in her voice, she wasn't sure why she began to cry. She felt angry and weak, useless and like nothing she did mattered.
It felt like the moment she knew she wouldn't see the love of her life, gut wrenching and she felt like she was no one, she didn't mean a thing to Itachi.
He had left her so many times that she truly felt pathetic, pathetic for falling so hard for someone who would never be a part of her life.
The feeling of knowing that the love of your life existed on this earth but you're constantly being torn away from him made her insides tear and crumble.
Her lips trembled but she felt too angry to be sad, she wanted to punch Sasuke again and again and make her feel how fucked up her world is, how this one man turned her world upside down and destroyed it without a seconds thought.
Her mouth gaped, she was planning to say something but only a plume of heavy breath escaped and a cry.
She punched Sasuke weakly on his shoulders and her body went lax, falling against his with sudden exhaustion.
She finally crumbled, from everything, from the Earth, from everything that held her to being this person everyone saw her as.
She could feel Sasuke go stiff beneath her and then suddenly he was slipping down the wall, holding her like a statue in the graveyard.
He didn't try to quiet her, he didn't speak a word.
Her cries echoed off the walls.
She slid down with him, until they were both on the ground against the door.
Sasuke sighed and tucked her into his shoulder, pulling her body in between his legs and holding her together.
"I'm sorry..." he muttered, she felt him trembling beneath her, his fingers touching her hair.
She didn't say a word to him for a moment, the warmth and carefulness in which he handled her was enough to sedate the pain balling in her chest.
It felt like her heart was being wrung dry, bleeding remorselessly out of her.
She bit at the material of his shirt to keep the screams of anger in and Sasuke held her so tightly that she could hear the rampant thud of his heat against her chest.
They stayed that way for atleast an hour until Sasuke was able to loosen his grip just slightly.
Sakura refused to look at him, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath afterwards.
She knew she should have been embaressed but she didn't feel so bad about it.
She felt tired and yet she had no intentions of sleeping.
Sasuke pressed his face into her head of hair and sighed.
"She was my finace..." he whispered.
Sakura didn't need the diary to tell her what he was talking about she only let out a shaky sigh.
"...today's her birthday.." he continued.
"It must hurt..." she whispered. "...everytime you think about her...like, this excruciating pain but you keep thinking about her because it makes it feel like she's still here...even though..."
she touched her chest and began to cry more.
"...I don't think, I'll ever be over him...he's the first person I've ever loved...we had so many dreams, thoughts we shared with each other...sometimes, I wake up from a bad dream and I want to run after him, I want to find him...I feel driven to insanity, I feel like a fucking psyco."
She bald her fist up at her chest and Sasuke ran his fingers to her fist and sighed into her head of hair.
"...love, it's like some sorta deadly curse." Sasuke laughed bitterly. "...makes us drunk, happy, stupid and then...when it's gone it makes us sick, empty...insane..." he murmured. He smoothed out the fist she made and laced their fingers.
Sakura stared at them and sighed.
"Now, is not the time for me...to be this way...I don't want to loose her, I promised her, I'd move on."
"...and you will...if you want to move on."
"I need to...Sasuke, this is very unhealthy, I think we both could use help..."
"Help?"
"Therapy...I have a lot of things to get out as I'm sure you do too."
Sasuke's fingers froze.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"...you need to, not to me but to a professional...for help, there's nothing wrong with it..."
"I don't know if I like the idea of my shit being on someone elses plate, if I didn't enjoy it why would they?"
She looked up at him.
"What if...we went...together...?"
He stared at her for a long moment, seeing something heart warming in her eyes. A stray tear slipped down her cheek and his knuckles inched their way to wipe it away.
"We'll see..."
"That's all I'm asking for." She whispered and placed her head against his face, Sasuke kissed her temble and then closed his eyes with a deep sigh.
"Ok.."
59. The Fairytale.
Izami had been shocked to see her father behind the chain link fence during recess, he was walking along side the fence, fingers slipping across the cold metal.
"Tou!"
She screamed and flew out from the throng of children in the yard. She gripped the hem of her long flowery picture day dress. Her hair was slightly ravaged for the occasion; the berets were now displaced and strands of hair were sticking out in different directions.
Itachi couldn't describe the joy of seeing her after a solid two months of solitude and patience, he quickly tossed the gate open and she hopped into his arms with a sigh of relief, as if it were her first breath.
Itachi held her hard and spun around slowly rocking from side to side.
Both their hearts racing, Izami's quicker.
Itachi kissed the side of her head of hair and noticed the teachers scrutiny, she had probably had some doubts about his visits earlier but now, she and the rest of the teachers were frequent spectators of his visits, staring at him with favor and admiration.
They encouraged him to come, even told him when the field trips were coming up so that he could be a chaperone.
He didn't mind, he loved spending time with Izami, she had been alot like him with her wild spirit and deceptive mind. Passionate about things she stood for and brutal where it counted, even for a smile child she was wiser than her age. He found it almost too easy to look into her eyes and know exactly the thoughts that framed her mind.
"Hows my girl?" he asked, leaning his head back to examine her face. She smiled at him and rolled her eyes skyward.
"She's itching...in this dressss...I hate dresses..." She frowned and tugged at the straps fitfully and then abandoned the endeavor and then she sighed and tossed back her head. "...Tou-san, where were you yesterday!"
"Aww but doll, you look lovely...and completely natural with clothes on..." he said, fixing her strap on her shoulder, ruffled slightly that his daughter felt the need to get naked in public. He hadn't quite figured out who she developed that trait from. "anyway...I had to work, we went over this...remember?"
"Noooh."
He nodded, furrowing a brow at her.
"You just weren't paying attention, Ms. Asahina snitched on you, she said your hard of hearing...that's something we should work on, isn't it?"
He said in a very low and authoritative tone without ever meaning to pull age and status on her but it just came from him instantaneously.
Izami was like a little puppy, suddenly, she was pouting and her high was suddenly a low after her fathers scolding.
"She's borrring." She whined with a small sneer, wrapping her arms around her fathers neck.
"How do you know, if you never hear a word she says?"
"HMMMMmm?" she twisted her lips thoughtfully. Itachi shook his head.
"Exactly. Listen to what she has to say and if it's that boring, ignore her and make Kaa-san angry again." He suggested.
Izami rolled her eyes and fell against his chest, crossing her arms and closing her eyes.
"Finee...I'll listen." She murmured.
Her father grimaced.
"Good because I don't want you to fail...your too smart for that, use your brain more than you mouth...I know that might be somewhat of a challenge considering who your mother is but I believe in you beautiful."
Izami looked up at him and he winked.
"Tou...can I stay at your house tonight...?"
"hm, Izami..."
She stared at him with her dark lashes and her innocent face, there was purple jelly in the crook of her lip and her breath smelled like fruit punch and chocolate chip.
Itachi didn't want her to be torn from him again, not again but he couldn't risk Sakura finding out and pending him under legal restriction.
He wasn't sure where he stood with her but he was sure that him sneaking around this way would ruffle any women, even though he was doing it purely to assert and assure his place in Izami's life as her father.
That title is all I have to fight for...isn't it.
He didn't want to start anything but him being present there alone had already began something and every day that he had to say goodbye to his child, it was eating him up inside.
So much that he had even cleared out the guest room and painted it in her favorite color, they had both gone shopping for things that she'd like to be surrounded by in her room. He had even gone as far as to drag Ino into the lie, claiming that Izami was to say she was spending the night over at Ino's even though she had been at Itachi's.
No one is the wiser.
But he knew in the depths of his heart that there would be a time when Sakura found out for herself because nothing lived in the dark for too long.
"Please...Tou...I'll listen...I'll do whatever you want..." She began to pout, a method of her's that she knew how to use to her advantage.
Itachi shook his head.
"Cut that out, with the face..." he instructed her and she did, only to give him an even sadder one. Itachi stared at her without any change in his features that showed he'd reconsider and Izami had all but cried before he sighed and nodded.
"One more time...but Iz, we have to lay low for awhile...if you stay tonight you're not going to be able to stay for a long time."
"What...why?"
"...your mother...does she ever talk about me?"
The girl stared at her father, deterred by the question for a moment and then Itachi sighed and closed his eyes.
"I'm so stupid..." he muttered and uttered a few obscenities before shaking a few thoughts out of his head.
"Don't answer that...look, your mom and I...we're...uh"
Explaining the situation would prove to be difficult, Izami was smart but she wasn't a genius on relationships and struggles.
The child barely knew the meaning, if at all.
Life through the eyes of a child seemed to cruise on by, there were memorable moments and moments that sucked but how could one explain to his daughter his past, his blood thirsty, deceitful house of cards.
He only sighed and placed her down in the swing, kneeling behind her in the sand.
"Tell me.." she said curiously, looking over her shoulder at him.
Itachi placed his hand over her's on the chain ropes and pulled her back, standing slowly, until she was against his chest and dangling off the ground.
"...do you love her!"
Itachi chuckled at the question his daughter asked and then let her loose, to swing forward, her toes pointed and kicking.
Dress withering about in the wind.
"What the hell do you know about love." He asked around his smirk of interest.
"...fairytales, duuuuuurrrr!"
Itachi smirked.
"Oh ya, well, tell me...about these fairytales..."
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?" she said thoughtfully as her father pushed the swing forward, her heart fluttered the higher she teetered.
"...well...theres a Prince!...and ah-ah Princess...and hmmph, they are far aport...and-uh, the Prince is...Ham-some, and bwwwave an-and, he writes the Princess love lettors...a-and they fall deeply in love and they get married and they live happippy ever aftooooor and the end of the fairytales."
Itachi cocked up a brow and stopped the swing once it touched his chest, fingers gripping his daughters hips.
Izami screamed, kicking out her legs and staring down at the dirt.
"Who told you that story?"
"Kaa-san."
Itachi trembled a bit and then pushed her again, silently mulling over the details of that story noticing the similarities of what he and Sakura had, despite the ending that they didn't have.
I really fucked up...
"Iz?"
"Ya, Tou-san."
"Does your mother seem, happy?"
"Sometimes."
"What do you mean sometimes?"
"She cwwwies at night, when uncle Sasuke isn't home...but, I make her feel better!"
"You do?...how do you go about that?"
"I let her sleep wit Raki, she sleeps wit him ebbery night."
"The weasle...she sleeps with it."
"Ya, sometimes we sleep together, all tree of us, Raki the weasel, Kaa-san and me."
Itachi smirked thoughtfully.
"Hey...I think it's time I gave you another gift."
"Another!...oh! oh! Another Raki, Raki's parents?"
Itachi chuckled.
"No...a necklace..."
60. Midnight Love Song.
He found himself awake in the dead of night, he had never fallen asleep this early.
12:57 a.m
Sitting on the livingroom sofa with the small body of his child nuzzled against his chest. She was wearing a fuzzy cartoon gown and her barefoot had been tucked into the cushion of the chair.
She huffed and snored in a soothing manner, that radiated it's warmth around the usual cold climate of his cellar home.
There was a cartoon on, the one that she had always fallen asleep to. An anime that she didn't seem to understand but liked only because of the stunts that the main character pulled.
Stupid and completely irrelevant but...useful, it's good with kids.
Usually he'd banish the channel, knowing that it was infamous for showing raunchy anime during this late hour but tonight the cartoon had been doing a four hour long marathon and to his deepest and utter surprise he was astound to realize that he already knew too much about most of the characters and the plot.
So he watched and awaited everything to unfold.
He wouldn't be able to sleep for at least four more hours so why not.
He rested his head back on the chair and was just about to delve back into the scenery but his cell phone jingled on the table.
The caller I.D was Ino's. He thought to ignore it for a moment and then realized that he shouldn't because it could be something regarding Izami.
He hugged the child, deep in slumber to his chest and snatched up the phone.
Quickly he pressed the talk and froze the moment a flood of breathing rushed to his ears.
His body seemed to turn ice cold and his heartbeat went quiet momentarily.
"Itachi...is Izami there?"
For a moment he was honestly stunned by the sound of her matured voice, the way her words curled themselves into his heart.
"Yeah...she's asleep..."
A silence suffocated the air between them and then Sakura took a deep breath.
"I'm coming to get her."
"There's no need for that I'll have her back at Ino's tomorrow."
"What...you've got some nerve, you can't just take her without my permission...she's fragile."
He laughed with disbelief.
"Fragile...she's handling this just fine, I think it's you who can't stomach this ordeal..." he sighed. "...there doesn't have to be a scene, if you want me gone...I'll be gone but at least let her sleep. She's exhausted."
Her end of the phone was quiet for a moment, he could hear Ino groaning groggily in the background and realized that Sakura had probably caught her off guard by popping up this early in the morning to collect Izami.
"What are you doing here...in Konoha?"
She snapped.
Itachi smirked to himself and stared at the ceiling, he lulled on the sofa and caressed his daughters cheek with his thumb.
"I'm fulfilling a promise, I promised our daughter I'd come see her."
"Without my consent."
"I didn't feel as though it was necessary, she's just as much your daughter as she is mine."
"Donatin-"
"Don't you fucking say that...you didn't even tell me about her, you didn't even want me to know because you know that if I had known, I wouldn't have gone anywhere...you know that I would have spent every waking moment at your side waiting for her."
"...but you didn't."
"I couldn't, I had a name to clear and what good would it have done for her to be raised and picked on for the mistakes that I had made."
"I don't want to talk about this."
"I wasn't the one to bring it up."
More silence.
"I'll be over Ino's house in the morning just...take care of her...bring her back tomorrow, she has a lot to do."
"You know, I'm not going to hurt her...I love her, just as much as I love you."
He thought he heard her catch her breath but than too fast for him to tell, the phone flat lined in his ear and he lingered there in that aching silence with his eyes closed wishing that she had spoken it back.
61. Old Wounds Die Hard.
"Ok so tell me you haven't gotten dumb enough to kidnap your own daughter."
"Hmmph...oh fuck, what time is it?"
"Time for you to die...Sakura's headed your way, so look out, she's armed and dangerous."
"What..."
"Did you just wake up, damn when did you go to sleep?"
"Four in the morning..." he sighed. "...so, she's coming over here huh...you gave her the address?"
"Of course, don't play dumb Itachi...you are way too fucking smart for your own good. I bet your just grinning your ass off over there."
Hahaha...
"Izami's not even there...you probably got rid of her a long time ago..."
Hahah..
"Your guesses are outstanding, it's as though you possessed my mind and did those things yourself."
"Hmph, I know you too well, it's kind of creepy but...your always eight steps ahead of everyone so I've learned to think ten times as much as you, so that I could see through your shit! Itachi, where is Izami if she's not with you...?"
"Kaa came to pick her up...she's staying the night, with Mikoto."
"...I thought you wanted to spend time with her, why send her awwwwww...ohhhh...what the fuck, you're not-Itachi, she is not going to let y-"
He shushed Ino and poked two finger tips at his temples, he was hunched over on the sofa, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a button down shirt, that stopped around his forearms.
The muscles and veins tensed up at the hype of his door bell followed by impatient knocks.
The eldest Uchiha looked towards the door with a small sneer of a smile and then scoffed.
"I've got to go Ino, Mama bear is here."
"Itachi, seriously your brothers wife."
He smirked.
"Let's not get into titles...and anyway I don't know what the fuck you think is going to happen here but I assure you I intend to reach an understanding with Sakura about where I stand in the fuckery of our daughters life. Nothing more...nothing less."
"So, why send Izzy away?"
"She's a child, she shouldn't be concerned with this shit...and...should something horrible occur..I don't want her around to witness it."
"Something horrible like..."
More knocks...
"Itachi!...Izami...baby are you in there!?"
"Hmmm, I'll keep you posted..."
"..your going to do it aren't you...your going to try and get her into bed..."
"No, strictly business, what kind of a man do you think I am, she's married..."
"I don't believe you."
"You defy the logic of blondes Ino, I'm impressed, you should write a book...g'bye."
Quickly he hang up and stood to his feet. His bare foot slid lazily over the shag and he snatched a coffee mug from his table as he wandered to the door.
The party on the other side was knocking hysterically, flat palmed, keys jangling and he could hear the soft purr of a car in the distance.
He stood near the door for a moment, reaching his free hand out he caressed the brass handle and then sighed trying to regain the strength he had lost from the lack of sleep.
His head felt like it was barely above water.
His fingers curled around the knob and he opened the door quickly, a mask latched itself onto his face so quick and he was instantly the man who sat behind a sniper rifle.
A set of piercing green eyes caught his instantly an Sakura's chest rose up too quick and then sunk just as quickly as if she having a panic attack.
Itachi felt a slight twinge of sympathy for the worry on her face but that all vanished quickly when she pushed past him and into the house.
She had been wearing a dark brown stylish trench coat that hid most of her body but accentuated her curvy physique.
He watched her intrude into his home, boots knocking chips into the wooden floor boards of the living room.
"Izami!" She was calling out, desperately in search for their child. Itachi took another deep breath, downed the rest of his coffee and like the most patient predator in the world he closed the door very discreetly and carefully and locked it behind him and then he joined Sakura in the living room where she began to pick up Izami's over night bag and some of her stuffed animals.
"Where is my daughter, is she sleep...what room is she in?"
Her furiously cold eyes snapped towards his and he felt as though he had been stabbed with a flaming sword, it didn't help that her eyes looked soaked in sorrow.
He tread towards the living room where she had been, bending over the crystal table, pink wisps of hair framing her beautifully matured face.
The mug swung at his side, he held it by the mouth but once he reached the table he placed it down and rubbed at the light stubble around his jaw.
"She's probably still sleeping." he mused, walking towards a back room. He could hear Sakura stop dead from packing away the toys and then she sighed and hesitated before following him down the redwood wall halls.
Honestly he hadn't thought any thing through, he never seemed to have to think about much but when it came to Sakura his mind got jumbled, he did things that would be perceived as crazy or a little dramatic but he knew all too well that she understood what it was like to do crazy things for someone.
Or at least I hope she does..
"I specifically asked you to bring her over..."
"...and I specifically over slept, I had a late night, didn't get much sleep..." he said over his shoulder trying to judge her face but her brows were lower than a conniving child and her lips were stiff and unimpressed.
He chuckled on the inside.
"It's cute...you pretending to be angry at me."
It almost sounded like she gasped sharply.
"This is not a joke but I'm not angry with you, I just don't want to deal with this issue...I have enough to worry about in my life, your an old wound and I've happily gotten treatment for it so, just hand over Izami."
Itachi froze in the hall for a moment.
The hall would have been cast into a dreary black hole had it not been for a slice of light that peeked from the crack of the door at the end of the room.
Itachi turned towards her and she paused just in front of him.
"Tell me more...about how much you hate me."
He said to her, tilting his head, those eyes were set on her like an eagle circling it's prey. Those captivating eyes held so much emotion to them that it began to tear away at her resistance but she took a deep breath and shook it off, avoiding his eyes, avoiding the way his fingers clinched at the hem of his shirt.
She remembered a letter where he wrote that he had problems keeping his hands to himself, so everytime he was about to do something that would either hurt someone or hurt himself he clinched the hem of his shirt.
The memory of that alone made her heart flutter.
The rolling rumple of his voice sent a shiver down her spine, his voice was slightly hoarse.
"Well...I'm waiting.." he said softly. "...and we both know that there's no limit to how long I can last..."
She almost laughed at that perverted joke and instantly scolded herself for that.
Rolling her eyes, she leered at him.
"I don't want to do this..." she made the mistake of using her ring hand to rub at her temple. The diamond of promise til death caught Itachi's eyes like a skidding spark of lightening and he reached out and snatched up her hand, holding it towards the light to examine the fine cut facets of jewel. The band beneath the rock was engraved with his mother's name in Kanji and next to it was Sakura's.
It was funny seeing the ring on her finger because he had always thought he'd be the one to make that happen, the one to bring her into his family and introduce her to everyone, the one to bring her into the village they grew up in and tell her some of the stories.
Seeing it on her finger, it set off a little explosion in his chest and his breath trembled with fury. He didn't think it would be this hard, handling what he had run away from but now, when faced with this truth.
The truth that his soul mate was married to his little brother, he could only see red and for a moment he wanted to take the thing he loved the most...out of this Earth.
He hadn't even realized that he was squeezing her wrist livid until she screamed at him.
"Let go!"
She was strong, yanking and claiming her wrist savagely and nearly tripping over the heels of her boots.
"What is wrong with you!"
He only stared at her and laughed.
"So, you were so angry with me that you married my brother..."
Sakura frowned.
"It wasn't like that..."
"Enlighten me...what is it like?"
He took a step towards her and she took one back. Itachi was only aware of her eyes and how much smoggier they seemed since she had entered.
"I love him...he took care of me...I owe my sanity to him."
"...and he owes his victory to me."
Sakura frowned.
"Why did you even come back?"
"Am I no longer sexy enough to be in your fab life?"
Sakura laughed without humor.
"You know damn well my life is not fabulous...it never was.."
Itachi only took more steps forward but Sakura stood her ground refusing to give him the satisfaction of scaring her off or making her wary of what he'd do.
"...look I really can't do this right now, the car is running and I don't want Izami to see us like this."
"Neither did I."
"...She won't see us like this, she's going to have a normal childhood...not like mine..."
"I've no doubt that she will, you're a good mother, I always told you...that you would be but than again, I guess it didn't matter since I was too far away for the words to really matter, right?"
"What..."
"It's never even crossed my mind, to want someone else other than you."
"Itachi..."
He walked her into a dead end to the wall, her back bumped it lightly and then Itachi placed both his hands flat against the wall on either side of her head.
"It's alright, I'm not going to touch you...I'm not going to try and convince you of anything because I know that you known everything I could ever say to you, I know you feel everything I could ever do to you...give to you..."
he paused and smirked.
"..I know you love my brother but...I know that you love me too but you have pride and you have hate for me. Hate is not something that dies easily...it takes time to fade and I'm going to make it fade...I'm going to wipe it clean from here.." he touched her temple, after sliding a strand of pink hair away from her eye with his index finger.
"...and then I'm going to take it away from here..."
he touched his chest where his heart beat quietly beneath.
Sakura turned her head away from her, fist coiled at her side, she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the scorching heat emanating from his body, or the way the veins in his neck throbbed pungently when he removed his hands from the wall.
Sakura sighed.
"...don't make this hard..."
"What other choice do I have."
"Walk away...for Izami..."
"I've done that enough, I'm never going to do that again...I won't sabotage the arrangement you and my brother have going but whatever I can get out of you and I. I am going to take because there is nothing more pitiful than a man who has no one or nothing to come home to...Izami is all I have, so, please, I'm begging you...don't be stingy...it's in neither of our best interest to be that way. Let's move past everything, let's try to at least keep Izami happy..."
Sakura stared into his eyes, overwhelmed at the amount of earnestness in his voice, his eyes were severe and his breath clashed with her's.
She took a deep breath and tried to move the thoughts in her mind aside, make them shift a little for his proposal.
''Don't take my daughter away from me..." he said to her.
Sakura stared at him for a long moment before closing her eyes and nodding.
"I'm not that type of person...I know I didn't tell you, it was tough for me to even take it in myself...it took a lot of getting used to it took a whole lot of out me Itachi...but I would never pry her away from you...I promised myself I'd never be the type of parent my parents were. I'd never stop my daughter from loving anybody."
"Well I have a confession."
"What..."
"Hmmm, She's not here."
"Uh...where is she?"
"She's at my Mikoto's."
"Why?"
"I figured something like this would happen, I didn't want her to be around."
Sakura shook her head thoughtfully and then buried her face into her palm and began to laugh. Itachi stared at her, hearing a sniffle after every chuckle until she began to cry.
He didn't want to touch her, he wasn't sure his fingers could handle that type of task tactfully without doing something that would get him slapped or worse.
"Sakura..."
"I'm ok...I just...I..."
she looked up at him and he smiled because she was smiling but on the inside he was extremely confused.
Am I being punk'd right now..
"I have to go...Itachi, Sasuke's about to come home."
She broke away from him and practically ran down the hall. He followed behind her quickly and caught her by the hem of her coat.
"Did you quit your job?"
He asked once she had turned around and pushed herself away from him.
"Who told you that...Ino...?" she asked nearly breathlessly.
"Does it matter...how this bit of information came to my doorstep...it only matters if it's true."
He asked walking towards the front door and blocking it from her.
Hands on her hips, she took a few steps forward and then stared at him long and hard.
She shook her head.
"You don't have the right to ask me about my life, you dip in and out when you feel the need so...what does it even matter."
Itachi growled under his breath.
"You know why I had to leave!"
"You didn't have to...you could've just stayed a little longer...you could've been there after making love to me for the first time...I was waiting for you, I was so happy and you fucking left me...and you took your proposal."
Itachi chuckled.
"The necklace...Sakura, is that what your really mad about?"
"It's the principal of the matter ITACHI, you knew how I felt about it and you stripped it from me...you took it away, you said goodbye to me."
"I WAS PROTECTING YOU! Sakura...did you really think I'd leave you with something traceable back to me...Madara would kill anything that he knew I valued, anyone that would give me any kind of happiness and joy. I'm his brothers son and he hates me as much as he hated my father. He killed my father...I was making sure that he didn't get to you, I was making sure that you were safe..."
Sakura only shook her head.
"You could have just taken me with you."
"It wasn't safe and you're better off because of it, because I left you...after all why do my actions even matter anymore, you have my brother...a struggling druggie who now lives a miracle, I'd drink to that. "
He scoffed out a laugh and then opened the door. Sakura frowned at him, lingering on his eyes before she yanked out her cellphone and walked past him quickly, out into the windy climate.
He twisted to stare out the door and watched her slam the car door shut, she was backing out of the lot, a finger quickly whipping beneath her eyes before she yanked at the stick and stared back to back out.
Itachi watched the car until it disappeared and then he sighed and slammed the front door closed.
