SORRY, NO CYBER-COOKIES FOR ANY OF MY LOVELY REVEIWERS. BUT BECAUSE YOU ALL HELPED ME MEET OVER 100 REVEIWS, I HAVE SOMETHING EVEN BETTER.

YOUR SUPRISE!

SORRY BUT IT WASENT OROCHIMARU-TEME, NICE GUESS THOUHG, I DIDDNT SEE THAT COMMING, JUST FOR THAT, I'LL FIND A WAY TO SLIP HIM IN THERE AS SOMEHTING.

OH AND FOR ANYONE WHO'S SEEN TOKYO MEW MEW, THE SCHOOL GYMNESIUN IS LIKE THE ONE MASAYA PRATICES IN.

IM NOT SURE WHAT THE ACTUAL AGE LIMIT FOR TOKYO UNIVERSITY IS, SO PRETENT IT STARTS AT SEVENTEEN.

I DONT OWN NARUTO OR THE PARENT TRAP.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

PART ONE

"Sasuke, you're not doing it properly" Itachi called out from the sidelines of their high school gymnasium. Sasuke was with his friend as he practiced his kendo. But he kept getting a few steps wrong. both he and Sasuke were in the school's Kendo club and had a match coming up in a few days. Sasuke seemed a little worried about it so for the first time, Itachi had offered to stay behind and help him.

He didn't usually do this, having become exceptionally good from a very young age, he preferred to practice in his home's training ground. Sasuke preferred to practice at school for some insane reason.

He sat on the stands and took to calling out every time Sasuke made the slightest wrong move. Even before he made it. Most people would give Sasuke leeway but Itachi was different. He was a complete perfectionist.

Itachi sighed as Sasuke lined himself up for another take and glanced to the side, and that's when he saw her.

A girl was standing at the open door to the school gymnasium and seemed to be watching Sasuke practice. She was dressed in their school's high school uniform. She was quite a little thing, her hair was short and rested lightly in her shoulders and the strange thing about it was that it was pink. She had large green eyes and a slightly prominent forehead. Her hands were clasped at her chest and she had her eyes completely on Sasuke.

What confused Itachi was what was she doing here? Because the kendo team had a match coming up, and because Itachi was an honour student, he had been given the keys and permission to stay extra hours as long as he locked up first. It was at least six o'clock now, so why was she still here. Could she be another one of Sasuke's fan-girls? But he didn't think they were this dedicated.

The girl caught him watching her and gasped as she turned and scampered away. Itachi blinked with surprise.

He hadn't been planning on making her leave?

"Sasuke" he called out and Sasuke temporarily stopped what he was doing "Hai Onii-sama?"

"Do you know that girl? Dose she always watch you practice?"

"What girl?" Sasuke said confused.

"You didn't notice her; I think she's been there all this time. Short pink hair, green eyes?"

Sasuke thought for a moment and shook his head "No, but I have a lot of fan girls. Jealous?" he smirked.

Itachi scoffed at the idea.

"Are you telling me that you're only realising about her now!" Sasuke's teammate and opponent said with shock "That's first year Haruno Sakura, and she's been hanging around to watch you since the beginning of the year!"

"Really?" Sasuke said.

"I don't believe this. Sakura's known in the freshman class as 'the cherry blossom of Konoha High' she's really pretty, really smart and a total sweetheart. She's friends with practically everyone and helps out with everyone's clubs. Since the beginning of the year she's been coming round and watching you. She's here for every one of your practices and every one of you matches and even when it's raining she comes. It's really creepy."

"Huh? I didn't know."

"that's because when ever you play kendo your mind dosent think of anything else, you dummy." He said sighing.

As the two of them lined up for another round, Itachi thought about what he had just heard.

Haruno Sakura.

The match came three days later. Itachi had already won his easily, now it was Sasuke's turn. Itachi watched as his little brother slipped on his helmet and took the correct stance for once. Suddenly the cries of "WE LOVE YOU SASUKE-KUN!" came from the open doors.

He glanced back with revulsion at the screaming fan girls at the door. Holding up banners and screaming like idiots. What confused him was, did they honestly think they would get Sasuke's attention like that, when Sasuke played kendo, his mind was always so in the match he didn't notice anything else. It was one of the small things the two brothers shared in common.

That was his best point, his focus.

There was one extremely loud fan, a purple haired girl by the name of Ami. She was yelling such idiotic things like how Sasuke was her boyfriend and future husband. He didn't recall Sasuke saying anything about a girlfriend or fiancée and had even witnessed Sasuke coldly turning her down...many times.

Perhaps the girl was an idiot.

None of Itachi's own fan girls dared show up. Itachi was known throughout...well, all of Japan for being cold, ruthless and unemotional. He just found no point in people.

They would all come up t him, expecting something he wasn't and then blame him for it when they were disappointed. It wasn't his fault he was quiet and antisocial. That was his personality.

His fan girls were no exception, but unlike reporters and 'business friends' as his father called them, he was able to send them away, any means necessary

Itachi was the heir to the Uchiha chained company line. A very rich and old business. From a young age he had been groomed to become the perfect heir, and believed there was no need for such idiocies as fan girls. So he had made it perfectly clear to them that he did not want them at his kendo matches.

They luckily obeyed.

Sasuke made a hit on the opponent from the other school's Men and groaned as they once again screamed and squealed like squawling pigs.

Then something pink caught his eye.

It was that girl again, what was her name...ah! Haruno Sakura.

Itachi mildly surprised himself since he usually never remembered the names of girls in this school unless they were a severe annoyance, and so far he had no problems with this girl.

Her pink hair was tied back in a shirt pony tail and unlike the other's she wasn't cheering madly. She was simply watching. Her eyes followed Sasuke's every move. When he lost a point she frowned and sighed and when he got a point she smiled with genuine happiness. And Itachi couldn't help think, he wished all the fan girls were like that.

Quiet!

She was an interesting thing. This Sakura, since the last time he saw her, she had still retuned for all of Sasuke's kendo practices, even in yesterday's rain she stood outside with an umbrella. Sasuke won his match and finally she cheered. Not anything stupid like 'we love you Sasuke' but instead "I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT SASUKE-KUN"

She was an odd one this Sakura.

It had been three months since Itachi had realised about Sasuke's not-so-secret admirer. Since then, she had always come and Itachi had realised a few things about her.

One was she had a very good sense of timing. Once he had witnessed her in the art room lecturing a teacher Kakashi-sensei, about the importance of being on time. And to his surprise Kakashi only smiled with good humour and nodded. She was like that with all the teachers, except with Orochimaru-sensei, the biology teacher, she seemed to intensely dislike him. But then again, so did everyone. And the students in her year. The only ones who probably didn't like her were Sasuke's other fan girls, for some reason? He wasn't too sure why though. He guessed it had something to do with how she wasn't a member of Sasuke's fan club since she didn't scream with all the other girls at the matches.

In fact, He wasn't exactly sure why he had taken a sudden interest in an Haruno Sakura. It wasn't normal for him. A girl was just a girl really. But for some reason, she interested him.

One day he had slept in late on the day for a practice match. Itachi had spent the whole night practicing his Kata that he had fallen asleep really late. And now he was late. The match was taking place on Saturday.

Taking a short cut through the school garden seemed like a good idea at the time but then Itachi heard something. He stopped short of himself to listen closer.

Crying.

Someone was crying. Little sniffs and sobs as if they were trying to hold it in, but they were crying.

Itachi didn't know what made him stop; he had a match to go to. But for some reason, something was just keeping him from going, a curiosity.

In the end he decided to satisfy his curiosity. The crying seemed to be coming from behind the school greenhouse. Peeling back the leaves he stood with surprise.

It was the Haruno girl. She was sitting on the ground with her knees drawn to her chest and her head buried in them as she sobbed and tried to repress cries. Hearing him she looked up and Itachi noticed her red eyes. And tears that were begging to pour out but she was too stubborn to allow.

"Sakura?" he said, forgetting that he wasn't suppose to know who she was.

Sakura blinked and then sniffed "Oh! Sempai!" she recognised his kendo uniform was that of a senior. Standing up she rushed the dust off her skirt and tried to smile her smile "I-I'm sorry, I just..." she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as the tears began to fall. She cried silently as her face did battle with her emotions and she tried to hold her tears in. She was losing miserably.

Itachi would never know exactly why he did it. for the rest of his existence it would always be a mystery, but despite his better judgment he reached out and patted her head gently.

Sakura sobbed and flung herself onto him, clutching into his kendo uniform and finally crying freely.

Itachi was just so surprised by her forwardness that all he ended up doing was patting her head. He didn't understand why though. Usually he would never act this way towards a girl, it gave them the wrong idea. In any other situation he would have walked off by now and left her. But try as he might, he just found he could not push the girl crying in his chest away.

Ten minutes later and Itachi had basically given up on his Kendo match. It was obvious he wasn't going to make it so he sat down and let Sakura cry to her heart's content. He dug in his duffel bag and found a pack of Kleenex tissues.

As Sakura began to calm down he handed them to here "Here" he said "wipe your face."

She looked at them and smiled "Thank you Sempai" and took one "God, I must look a right mess huh?"

He nodded "you do."

Sakura smirked "don't be nice, tell me how you really feel" she said with sarcasm.

Her voice had an almost melodic tone, but it was strong at the same time, sharp. Itachi realised that this would be the first time he had ever heard her voice.

Cleaning her eyes she looked at him "Hey, aren't you the cold and unemotional Uchiha Itachi-Sempai?" she said.

Cold and emotionless? He only nodded.

"I think someone needs to re-consider your name, what would your fans think if they knew you were being nice to heartbroken freshmen?"

She had a sense of humour he realised. And she didn't fawn over him like most girls, that was a plus in his book.

"Broken hearted?" he asked.

Sakura smiled painfully "Yeah, you see, I'm in love with Sasuke-sempai" she admitted. Itachi wanted to roll his eyes 'tell me something I don't know,'

"I see" he said.

This morning, after his match, I confessed to him."

"What happened?"

He turned me down...flat." she replied.

Itachi nodded. He had expected as much, Sasuke was as uninterested in girls as he was. They were both fixated on Kendo at the moment. Sakura sniffed "you must think I'm an idiot, huh?" she looked down sadly "but I really liked him. I think he was my first real love. It's just, when I saw him for the first time, practicing Kendo; I was so moved by him. The passion he put into it, I felt it was beautiful."

This surprised Itachi. Most of Sasuke's and his own fan girls were influence by their money, power and looks. She however had been influence by Sasuke himself.

"I'm really shy about things like this, so I felt it was oo much for me to confess. So I watched and cheered for him in every match and every practice, wishing him luck the entire way. "

"So that's what you were doing."

"You saw me?" she asked. Itachi had not realised that he had spoken his thoughts put loud. "a few times" he admitted "you come to Sasuke's matches"

Sakura nodded.

"So why don't you continue to peruse him?" he asked and then kicked himself. If Sasuke knew he was creating another fan girl , then simply being the little brother would not stop him from trying with all his might to get revenge in the worst way possible.

But Sakura shook her head "No, I confessed today because my parents and I are moving to another part of Tokyo for my father's business. I have no choice. So even though I knew he would reject me, I wanted him to at least know of my feelings."

Itachi frowned "you knew Sasuke would reject you?"

Sakura nodded "because he's so serious about kendo, he would never have room in his life for me; I sort of knew he would reject me. But..." she sniffed "...that didn't keep me from hoping...or from feeling the pain of rejection." Smiling she looked up "but I think I'll be fine now. I just needed to cry a bit so thank you" she knocked herself on the head with the back of her hand playfully "I guess I need to pick a better man to fall in love with next time huh?"

Itachi didn't know really what to say. He wasn't meant for girl talks about relationships. But he found Sakura a very mature and engaging woman and since she did not retain the same perspective as the other fan-girls, he had no doubt that she would find a good man one day.

He nodded "I'm sure"

Sakura smiled and patted Itachi's shoulder "Its been great talking with you Sempai, but I better get home."

She stood "thank you for talking with me, good luck on all your future matches." And then she was gone.

Itachi didn't even contemplate her being gone as he stood and went to be scolded by the captain of the kendo team for missing the match.

Five years later

Itachi had graduated college early.

From a young age Itachi had been considered a prodigy, he genius. So smart he had gotten into Tokyo University as one of the first applicants. And had graduated two years earlier from normal. He was now twenty one and working as a university lecturer for business studies as experience. In a few years he would stat working under his father in the Uchiha company and in a few more years he would be head of said company.

That was the plan, but he hadn't known then.

It had been on a spring day, Itachi was breaking for lunch and had decided to eat outside for once he was walking down the stone path that lead to the cafe off campus when the scream of "WATCH OUT!"

He turned round with shock as the sight of a loaded AV cart came rumbling down the straight straight at him. Many years of hard core kendo and judo practice came in handy as his instincts kicked in. He leaped out of the way and watched as the cart smashed into a tree. Miraculously it wasn't broken.

"I'm sorry!" someone called. Itachi looked up and shielded his eyes, they were standing in the sun and he couldn't see them properly as they ran over to him. "I'm so, so sorry!" she cried. And it was a she if her slightly pitched voice had anything to say about it. then again, it could be some insolent boy whose voice hadn't broken yet.

He blinked as the person came into full view. She huffed and puffed a little from running after the AV cart before standing up "A-are you alright sir?"

Itachi stared at her. He recognised her, he knew this much. Dammit, why did this girl seem so familiar?

A vision of a short haired crying girl flashed before his eyes as he suddenly remembered.

"Haruno? Haruno Sakura?" he questioned.

The girl raised a brow "How-how do you know my name " she puffed, still clearly out of breath.

It was Sakura.

Itachi was a little surprised that after not thinking about her for five years he had still managed to remember her name. He did a double take over her and noticed some major changes.

She was no longer a little thing anymore. She was tall; he once flat chest had developed into that of a woman. Her wide forehead had been grown into so it was no longer noticeable. Her hair was longer now and reached the lower part of her back. Her once normal green eyes seemed a brilliant emerald now.

She had become quite an attractive woman.

Itachi himself mentally.

Woman?

She was most likely no older than sixteen by now. What was she doing here at Tokyo University. Perhaps she was visiting and older sibling or cousin?

Sakura's eye's widened "Sir, your arm is bleeding!" She cried and opened her backpack. Kneeling down beside him she took out a small first-aid it.

Itachi lanced down at his arm and realised that it was indeed bleeding "are you sure you know how to use that?" he asked.

She nodded "yes Sir, I know the basics."

"Don't call me Sir" he said. He hated that. It made him feel...old. he was only twenty one for crying out loud. Even Sasuke had taken to calling him old man behind his back sometimes to piss him off.

Sakura smiled "then what should I call you."

He thought for a moment before saying "Itachi."

Sakura tightened the bandage she had been wrapping around his bicep and tied it. "Well Itachi" she said "I'm so, so, so, so SO sorry for nearly killing you with the AV cart. Stupid Ino, honestly one minute she's there and next minute she's chasing another boy. Knocked me into it and it went right over the hill. I tried to stop it, but as you can see...it got away from me" she smiled impishly.

Her smile suited her and to Itachi's unbelievable surprise he found himself smiling back, he never smiled.

"I think I'll just leave that there" Sakura said with a grin "let Ino get in trouble for once. As for you" she stood and helped him up "I insist you let me buy some coffee to make up for nearly killing you."

This was the part where he said 'no thanks' and went on his way. But it his surprise once again he found the words "Sure" slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them. Sakura grinned and started dragging him over to the Cafe off campus.

Sakura bought their coffee and they sat outside in the sun to drink them. Again he didn't understand why he was sitting here, why he hadn't left already. And also, why he was actually enjoying her company? Sakura was in interesting person to talk to, he enjoyed talking with her. In fact, there had been one time where she had actually been able to make him laugh.

Once.

But still, he rarely ever laughed, and especially in front of non relatives. But there was something about Sakura that put a person at ease. Something that made a person feel calm enough to be themselves. So in a way he wasn't too surprised with what had happened next.

"Sakura" he began "I would like to see you again, and do something like this again."

Sakura raised her eyebrow "what, me nearly running you over with an AV cart? Because I seriously advise against it. I don't know if I'll miss you next time."

He smirked "you didn't miss, I dodged, you have quite good aim, perhaps you should take up archery?"

"I don't know, can I use people as targets?"

"I don't think that's allowed."

"Shame"

He laughed. He found her sense of humour refreshing before coughing and going back to the task ahead. "But really, it would be...interesting to do this again."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she asked with a smile.

"If I said yes, what would you say?"

"I'd say let's meet Friday, seven o'clock, you can pick the restaurant."

He didn't know why he had done it.

Asked Sakura out that is.

She was sixteen, he was twenty one. Surly that could be seen as cradle robbing? But at the time, he hadn't thought of that. He had thought that he wanted to spend more time with her. So he asked her out.

The day before their date however he was walking with a fellow lecturer Konia when from the window he saw into the medical department. There Sakura was, sitting in the window of the students lounge. She looked up and saw him and with a bright smile waved.

"Hey Uchiha, why is Haruno Sakura from the medical department waving at you?"

"Medical department, but isn't she sixteen?"

Konia laughed "you haven't heard about Haruno Sakura. She skipped a year at high school and graduated top of her class, she's here on a full scholarship to the medical department and the highest recommendation from a world-class doctor, professor Tsunade. I thought you knew, everyone knows."

So she was a student?

That wasn't good. In all due respects he was basically a teacher.

He watched as a blond girl whispered something I Sakura's ear and her smile disappeared. Her friend was probably revealing to her the fact that he was no longer a student at the university.

A few hours later and Itachi was cracking his knuckles after his last class lecture for the day. It was probably a good thing that he was doing this simply for experience; he couldn't imagine himself doing this for the rest of his life. Teaching, that is. In fact, if anything he's rather be down at the dojo, training. Itachi loved martial arts; it was one of the times he truly felt at peace.

He thought of Sakura. She was probably going to cancel their date now that she knew he was a teacher. Oh well.

Itachi decided to ignore that weird sense of disappointment in his chest.

"Um, Uchiha Sensei?" he turned at the voice to see Sakura standing at the door with a frown "I didn't know you were a teacher..."

Here it comes 'I would like to cancel Friday'

"...so are we still on for Friday?"

Her question threw him for a moment before he finally was able to catch himself short. "If you want." He said "I'm in the business department and you're in the medical department so to me, you aren't even a student. I think we can keep our professional and our casual lives apart. Don't you agree?"

She grinned "yeah. So Friday, seven o'clock at the train station?"

"Yeah" was all he said.

She was late.

She had said seven o'clock, it was now seven thirty.

Itachi ran a hand though his hair. He was nervous, him!

It was almost laughable. He was nervous that a girl five years his younger, who he had met for the first time sine five years ago, was going to stand him up.

He was dressed in jeans and a black long sleeved polo neck shirt, his short hair reaching his shoulders was bound in a simply red hair tie.

She was late dammit, why hadn't he gotten her number before asking her out!

"Itachi-san!" someone called his name. He turned to find her running towards him. "I'm sorry I'm late" she cried once she had reached him "my clock died on ,y, I only realise I was late when my roommate reminded me of the time. Have you been waiting long?"

"No" he replied. Because it would not do for her to now that he had been worrying about her standing him up.

She was dressed in a white dress with a blue ribbon tied beneath the breast area, it was a sweetheart neckline that showed a little cleavage and her long hair had also been tied back in a low pony tail with another blue ribbon that clashed nicely with her pink hair.

She looked great.

"So" she said grabbing his sleeve "where are we going?"

Itachi needed up taking her to a Raman stall, not the classiest of places but she had said that she liked Raman when they had had coffee.

Sakura ordered the Beef Raman with Saki and he ordered the Miso Raman and a plate of Dango, his favourite sweet. Sakura watched with amusement as he bit into the sweet dumpling and tried to keep his face straight.

"So I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you like Dango?" she asked with a smile.

Itachi nodded "I like most sweets"

"Really, huh, I wouldn't have pegged you for having a sweet tooth."

Itachi smirked "didn't anyone ever tell you not to judge a book by it's cover?"

She laughed "that's true" she stretched "you know what would be good right now?"

"What?"

"Sake" she replied.

Itachi raised a brow "you underage, how would you know what Saki tastes like?"

"Don't underestimate my grandmother Tsunade, you would be so surprised. I've known the pleasures of Saki from the age of thirteen. I just happen to have more self control then she dose. One glass a day from me and I haven't had my glass yet. Say, why don't you order some for me, your what? Twenty? Twenty two?"

Itachi frowned "twenty one and I will be doing no such thing. Dink your lemonade"

"Yes father" she smiled and sipped her lemonade.

"My age doesn't bother you" he asked, always being the type to ask blunt questions. But Sakura didn't seem fazed by his straightforwardness as she blinked and looked up.

"No, why?"

"Because there is a five years age difference."

Sakura smirked "so? My grandmother married my grandfather Jiraya when she was seventeen and he's fourteen years older than her. It's like she says, age is but a number."

Itachi smiled "it seems you respect your grandmother a great deal."

Sakura nodded "she's my inspiration. She's a top class doctor you know. I've admired her whole life, she's the reason why I'm studying medicine. That and I love it."

And she began to explain exactly why she loved medicine.

Itachi listened and found himself interested in what she had to say. Sakura looked so animated when she talked about the things she loved, the passion was so easy to see. It was similar to himself when he played Kendo, so he could relate to her.

After she was done explaining they went back to their meals until Sakura once again turned to him "you know what I find strange, how come you knew my name that time when I nearly ran you over?"

Itachi raised his brow in confusion "you don't remember me?"

She shook her head, not really, sorry."

Well that was a first; he thought he was a pretty memorable person. "Back I your freshmen year, you confessed to my little brother Sasuke and got rejected. I was the one you cried all over."

Sakura thought for a moment before colouring red and slamming her hands on the table "that was you!" she gasped "and your Sasuke's brother! Oh god! I knew you were an Uchiha, but I thought you were a cousin or something. Oh wow you must have thought I was a total idiot." She buried her face in her hands.

Itachi found the action...rather cute. As he peeled her hands away "not really" he smirked.

She was a lot different from how he though she would be. Strong, opinionative, and even thouhg she now knew who he was she diddnt seem fazed by it other than being mortally embarraced. she just continued t laugh and talk with him like normal.

He liked her, something really just clicked for him when he was with her and he wanted to do it again.

When their meal was finished Itachi waked her to the train station.

"I had fun" she said with a smile. "We should do this again sometime."

Itachi nodded "yes, we should. Let''s start with next Saterday?"

SO THATS ANOTHER CHAPTER DONE. THERE WILL BE MORE BUT IT WILL TAKE A LITTLE LOGER SINCE I WANNA PLAN IT OUT PERFECTLY FIRST.

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