Chapter 20 – I Can't Get Enough Of You

The first month of being home seemed to fly by.

Both she and Itachi were sent on separate missions with their teams, though it was mostly his. Sakura remained at the hospital most of the time. He had been given his first mission mere days after returning home, although thankfully, it was only a two day mission and not a lengthier one. That meant he would be capable of resting more fully once he returned – and he had. Itachi had spent an entire week after that mission strolling around the village, eating dango and spending time with his family or Sakura.

It was an odd thought, but Sakura had never really seen Itachi so at peace in their village before. Well, in all honesty, she had never truly seen him around the village to know such a thing.

In five minutes, Sakura was going to go and take a look at an apartment that was available to rent. It was pretty basic, but close to the hospital, meaning she'd be there in no time if there was an emergency. Besides, it would only be herself living in the apartment, so it didn't need to be huge and luxurious. Just enough for her to get by between missions. If Sakura was to rent this place, she'd be able to decorate it however she wanted to, so that was a bonus, too.

Naruto had questioned her the day after the Uchiha dinner party, asked to know if she was only moving out so that Itachi would move in with her. No, was her reply. No, Sakura was not moving out for that reason. Taking care of Aiko had made Sakura realise that she was much too old to still be relying on her parents, as she could definitely take care of herself by now despite it not always seeming like she could.

In between missions and working at the hospital, Sakura and Itachi saw each other often. Whether it be for training or for a date. Either way, they had gained the villagers' curiosity and were watched closely. It didn't seem to bother Itachi in the slightest and honestly, it didn't bother Sakura that much either. The questions were annoying, sure, but it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be.

Like he had silently promised, Itachi was teaching Sakura some jutsu he had copied with his Sharingan. They had learned after he returned from his mission that her element was water – something Sakura was happy about. That made it easier for Itachi, also, as he was skilled in using water type jutsu. They started off with smaller jutsu, the easy ones that required less chakra, and had worked their way up. He told her she was a good student, a quick learner. Now, as a treat for all of her effort and hard work, Itachi was teaching her a much bigger jutsu.

"Are you ready, Forehead?"

"Why don't you ever knock?" Sakura sighed, grabbing her purse from the table.

From the opened glass doors of Sakura's balcony, Ino smirked and placed a hand on her hip, stepping into the bedroom without permission and not caring in the slightest. "I never have before, so why start now?"

Shaking her head with annoyance, Sakura made her way to the balcony doors. Unfortunately, once discovering that she was planning on moving out (finally), Ino had demanded that she be there to view the apartment, so that she could decide on what furniture her best friend and rival should buy. It had to be stylish, but not too stylish. After all, Ino didn't want the pink haired kunoichi to have the better apartment now, did she?

"So," Ino spoke up as they left her home via the balcony, "anything you want to tell me?"

"Nope."

"You sure about that?"

"I'm sure."

"Nothing at all?" The blonde scowled darkly, her blue eyes narrowing. "Not even about a certain Uchiha?"

Playing dumb, Sakura sighed. "Sasuke-kun isn't interested in you, Ino-Pig. You need to move on to someone else."

Just like she had been hoping, Ino dropped the subject and instead all but exploded in anger. "Move on? For your information, Forehead, I have moved on! And you know what? He's better than Sasuke-kun. He's better than Itachi-san! He–"

She was easily drowned out as Sakura allowed her mind to drift during the walk to her (hopefully) new apartment. Like she had thought earlier, it was much easier than she had believed it would be to ignore nosy gossipers. That included Ino!

Halfway through the journey, however, Sakura zoned back in as a certain name entered the conversation. Kiba. Ha! Ino thought that she had no idea what the two were up to, but how could she not? They were hardly discreet about it and had eye-sex every single time they saw each other. What Sakura couldn't understand was whether they were simply friends with benefits or not. If there had been an official date, she would have been told about it, as Ino would never be able to keep such information to herself. She'd want to show off.

What could be going on between them? Sakura looked at Ino from the corner of her eye. While the blonde was by no means a whore, she had been with a fair amount of men. All were failed relationships, ones where she ended up being hurt. Would this be the same? Sakura hoped not. It was awful seeing Ino in pain, seeing her crying. It took a lot to make her cry, so knowing just how badly she had been hurt, agonised Sakura.

"Oi, Sakura?" Ino suddenly mumbled, frowning softly. "Isn't this near Kakashi-sensei's apartment?"

How would Ino know such a thing? Well, for an entire year when they were younger, Ino had had an obsession with the jonin. That was all that needed to be said. "Yeah," she replied with a shrug. "It's about a floor down and seven doors to the right."

"Those places are tiny!"

"I don't need a big place."

"But–"

"I'm the one living there, not you, Ino." Sakura rolled her eyes with annoyance. "Besides, I'm hardly ever home, anyway."

That was true. Either Sakura was on a mission, or constantly at the hospital, so it would be rare for her to be at home. Once again she questioned why she was moving out. If she stayed with her parents, not only did they keep the place clean, but they also stopped the food in the refrigerator from going bad. But that was easily sorted. All Sakura had to do was give her food to Naruto, who'd have it all eaten in no time. Either that or invite her boys around for an all-you-can-eat.

Humming, Ino's eyes drifted up to the block of apartments. "I just can't understand why you'd want to live so close to your sensei. I mean, I like Asuma-sensei and all, but I wouldn't live near him."

Well, that was where they differed, wasn't it? Yes they both loved their teams dearly but as Ino just stated, there was such a thing as spending too much time together. That just didn't make sense to Sakura. Too much time? How could you spend too much time with your precious people considering what their occupations were? That wasn't even adding the fact that she felt so much safer having them near her.

Even though she didn't need permission, Sakura had asked Kakashi about the apartment a couple of days ago. She had asked him if he was uncomfortable with her moving in so close. "Not at all," he had replied with a shrug. There was the teasing tone in his voice when he asked if she had some ulterior motive, like tricking him into her bed, but that was all. Kakashi didn't seem bothered by having Sakura moving in quite close to him, but she deduced that it must've meant he was planning on gatecrashing every now and then for a meal. Or to be healed. Yeah, Sakura was guessing it was the latter.

Finally, a block of apartments entered their view and Sakura felt her excitement growing. No matter how much Ino put the place down, and no matter how small it was, she couldn't wait to make it hers. Nobody else's, just hers.

Standing outside of the building was an elderly man, although he looked no older than sixty and seemed to be in quite good shape for a man of his age. Sakura was guessing that he was a retired shinobi, especially if the scars that littered his arms and the one on his cheek meant anything. His hairline was receding and the colour of his hair was clearly not what it used to be when he was younger, but all in all, he appeared to be a nice guy. At least he smiled when he greeted them.

"Haruno-sama!" He bowed his head respectfully. "I was happy to find out that the Hokage's apprentice was willing to take a look at my apartments. My name is Arata and as you have most likely already figured out, I am the owner of this building. If you ever need anything, my office and home are both on the bottom floor. The same goes for any of my other staff."

Sakura smiled politely, her insides fluttering at being addressed as 'Haruno-sama'. It made her feel so important. "Thank you, Arata-san."

"Come, come." Arata gestured to the two women. "My wife is usually the one to show possible tenants around, but she is currently on bed rest after a nasty fall she had."

"Is her name Fumiko-san, by any chance?" Sakura asked softly as Arata granted them access to the building. There wasn't much to look at. As soon as you entered the main door, you were greeted by an old, worn out looking elevator and beside it, were stairs. To the left of the room, covering a good amount of the wall, were many letterboxes with the number of the rooms written on in clear handwriting. "I treated a civilian woman the other week after she had a fall down some stairs."

Arata nodded, sending her another smile. "My wife was very happy with you, Haruno-sama. She said you acted very professionally, though kept up a friendly environment to help her relax. I regret not being there myself, but our eldest son, Botan, escorted her to the hospital."

Yes, Sakura could recall meeting him, too. He was around fifteen years older than herself – so around Kakashi's age. Looked quite like his father, now that she had met the man.

"Do you have much trouble around here?" Ino questioned, glancing down the hallways as Arata led them up the stairs.

He shrugged. "Nothing serious. You get the occasional drunk trying to find his apartment, but they're harmless, really. It's mostly jonin living here, ones who are always away on missions or thing such as those. They're all mostly professional, so you needn't worry." Arata gave a throaty chuckle. "My wife often states that she feels much safer living with so many admirable shinobi in our building."

The hallways were just as plain as the main entrance, but it didn't bother her much. After all, Sakura wasn't exactly going to be spending much time out in the hallways, was she? Maybe the odd chat here and there in the main entrance when coming and going, or collecting her mail, but that would be it. It was what her apartment looked like that mattered most.

For an old man, he was definitely in shape, Sakura thought once more as they reached her floor. It was the sixth floor and the apartment right at the end of the hallway.

"Would you like for me to show you around?" Arata asked, pulling out the key to the door when they came to a stop in front of it. On the faded navy door was the number 'forty-two'. Sakura was guessing there were forty-nine apartments altogether, as there were seven to a floor and seven floors in total. "Or would you prefer to take your time and find me after?"

Ino answered for her. "We'll lock up once we're done looking around," she assured him with a brilliant smile. "Will you be in your office?" Arata nodded, handing Sakura the key. "Perfect! Thank you for showing us this much already."

Nodding once more, Arata left them to it.

"He so prefers me over you." Sakura laughed as she pushed the key into the lock, turning it to the left and unlocking it was surprising ease. She'd thought that it would be rather stiff, giving how old the place looked. "Not once did he address you or smile at you!"

Huffing, Ino folded her arms over her chest. It wasn't every day that somebody preferred Sakura over herself and the blonde felt her ego take a vicious blow. "Whatever. He's just an old man who doesn't know how much better I am than you–"

"Clearly, he knows that I'm the one who's the best out of the two of us."

With that said, Sakura opened the door, biting her lip with excitement.

It definitely was not luxurious, Sakura noted as she and Ino examined the place with a feminine eye, but it was liveable. Comfortable, even. There was a small living room, just big enough for a gathering of around seven people and on the right, conjoined to that, with only an archway separating them, was the kitchen. The kitchen was not spacious and would be a tight fit for three, though that hardly mattered. What mattered most about it, was that it was clean. No fungi or damp growing behind any of appliances, or covered by wallpaper.

The bathroom was decently sized, giving her a three-step space between her toilet and counter and then the bath, too. Oh! There was a shower over the bath. Sakura smiled to herself. No fungi or damp in the bathroom, either.

Finally, came the bedroom. It was the same size as the bedroom at her parents, much to her surprise. All rooms were currently bare, but all lights worked and as Ino fiddled with the boiler, they realised the heating worked, too. She switched it off as it began to warm up, as they realised it did in fact work. Turning on the tap, Ino was surprised to find that the hot water worked, too. She had expected the place to barely be clinging together.

"Well, I have to say," the blonde sighed, placing her hands on her hips as she looked around the living room, "it's a decent looking place. All it really needs is a paint job."

That was true, Sakura agreed as she looked around the room. It even smelled like somebody had been in to open the windows! There was no musty, dust smell and the air wasn't stale. Either the previous tenants had only just moved out, or Arata took care of every apartment there. Even the floors were sparkling clean! Like Sakura had been hoping, the floors were wooden throughout the apartment except from the kitchen and bathroom, which had tiled flooring.

"People are always saying that these buildings are such dumps," Sakura murmured. "But I really like this place!"

"Doesn't Shizune-san live in this building?"

Sakura nodded absently, running her hand down the plain, white wall. Perhaps a nice cream would look nice in here? "Yeah. She's on the second floor with Genma-san."

"I think you should paint it cream in here," Ino told her, glancing around. "Blue in the bathroom, red in the bedroom and cream everywhere else."

It was scary how alike she and Ino thought. "I was just thinking that."

"Are you paying the deposit and first month of rent today?"

"Yeah. I want to start painting today, too. That way I can move in by the end of the week, maybe even tomorrow if we can get some help."

Ino hummed thoughtfully. "We can start with the bedroom first. It's only just gone ten, which gives us plenty of time to paint the entire room and leave it to dry. Just leave the windows open and then you can sleep here tonight." She shrugged. "It's what I did with my apartment."

That didn't sound like a bad idea, in all honesty. And if she did that, she could leave the windows open overnight, too. Could also get an early start on the kitchen or the bathroom depending on how long it took to paint the bedroom.

"I'm going to go and pay for the apartment now," Sakura told Ino, patting her pouch. "Then, I think we should round up the boys, get the paint and have them help us."

"Sasuke-kun? Painting?" Ino scoffed, but followed Sakura out of the apartment anyway. "I'd pay to see that!"

It was hers!

Much to their disappointment, Sasuke refused to do any painting, although he did help move some of her bedroom furniture from her parents' to her new home. It probably would have been much simpler and easier to put it all into storage scrolls, but Sakura wanted to see them all struggle while she carried everything else effortlessly.

By late afternoon, she, Ino and Naruto managed to paint not only her bedroom, but also every other room, thanks to Naruto's misuse of his shadow clones. For once Sakura was not complaining. And despite how quickly it all went by, they didn't make a mess of the paint job. It was all even and neat and very pleasing to Sakura.

"You seem very happy."

She glanced up from her food. "Should I not be?"

Itachi paused in his own eating, but realising that Sakura was joking, he gave a small smile. "Of course you should be. I was simply stating facts. Did something happen?"

Oh she hadn't told him yet. Sakura practically beamed. "I got the apartment!"

"Congratulations," he told her with a smile. "Have you moved in already?"

"Not completely," she answered, continuing with her eating when Itachi did the same. "I'll be staying there tonight, but I won't officially move in until all of my belongings are there."

"Would you like any help?"

Sakura blushed and waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure you're too busy–"

"Not at all."

"Oh… Then, sure." Sakura smiled shyly. "If you could come by tomorrow, around noon?" An idea struck her. "Unless… Unless You want to help me with a little unpacking tonight?"

Itachi couldn't help but smirk, barely suppressing a chuckle at her antics. "Unpacking?" His smirk widened fractionally as her blushed increased. "Is that your way of asking me to spend the night, Sakura?"

Deciding that she most definitely did not appreciate being teased, Sakura leaned forward on the table and gave Itachi a sultry look, her foot slowly raising and stroking his leg. Basic seduction – everybody knew it. "So what if it is? Are you rejecting me?"

He wanted to shake his head with amusement, but settled on smirking once more. "I would never reject you, Sakura."

Whatever she decided to throw his way, he would double her efforts.

Sakura's heart warmed. Damn it! He knew she was a hopeless romantic and instead of returning her seductive look, Itachi was instead giving her a look filled with tenderness. Damn it! There was no comeback. Sakura's mind couldn't think of anything to say in return to his words. So, instead of replying, Sakura looked down at her food and continued eating like nothing was happening, even though her foot was currently sliding higher and higher up his leg. It made her smile innocently when she heard Itachi's breathing hitch.

"Is something the matter, Itachi?"

Much to her disappointment, other than the hitching of his breathing, Itachi showed absolutely no emotion. "Should there be?"

Her lips pursed. "No."

Fortunately, when an Uchiha man took his lover on a date, he didn't hold back in anything. An example of that would be the fact that they were in the back of a restaurant, meaning that they had privacy. There were other people there, sure, but they couldn't stare at Sakura and Itachi unless they physically turned around to do so and even then, they'd catch nothing more than a glimpse, for there were dividers positioned in certain parts of the restaurant.

She could seriously get used to being spoiled like this.

When her foot angled slightly, Itachi's eyes flashed. "Do not start something you cannot finish, Sakura."

"Is that a challenge?" She smirked, looking up at Itachi from beneath her eyelashes. Finally! A reaction. "I think we both know by now that I enjoy being challenged."

"Just as we both know you almost always lose at those challenges."

Sakura's smirked widened, grew more sultry. "Almost always," she repeated his words, adding emphasis to them. "And who says I don't lose on purpose? For all you know, I could be incredibly happy with being dominated."

Luckily, the hum of chatter covered her words easily, meaning no one other than Itachi heard them. "For all I know?" Itachi threw her own words back at her, smirking down at his meal as he ate it. His eyes slid up to hers languidly, lidded with desire. "We both know that is a lie." A blush swept over her cheeks. "I know your body just as well as you do, Sakura."

Another shiver ran up her spine from the way he kept saying her name. "And I know yours, just as well as you do."

To prove her point, Sakura continued her foot's previous movements, though moved it in a certain way that had Itachi forcing himself to remain composed. "That you do."

Just as she opened her mouth, about to tease him, two figures appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. Sakura slowly lowered her foot. ANBU. Oh God, were she and Itachi in trouble for indecent behaviour?

"Uchiha Itachi, Hokage-sama has a mission for you."

Her heart plunged into her stomach and Sakura had to hold back a sigh. When Itachi nodded once and the ANBU operatives left, he gave her an apologetic smile. "Forgive me, Sakura."

"Yeah, yeah." She gave him a small smirk. "You'd better make this up to me when you get back!"

He returned her smirk, standing from his place and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I will."

With that, after paying for the meal, he left.

It was cold.

Sakura wrapped her robe around herself tightly, falling back onto the sofa in her living room. Her living room. She smiled to herself, feeling proud of all the work that had been put into the place – and it was definitely worth it.

If only it was warmer!

The heating had been switched on just a minute ago, so it would take a while to heat up unfortunately. She couldn't understand why it was so cold when they were entering summer soon. Usually around this time of year, people would be shedding layers of clothing, not putting them back on. Yet there she sat in her warmest pyjamas and thickest bathrobe and Sakura was still freezing her ass off.

Switching on the television and putting on a soap opera, Sakura tried to ignore the slight tremble in her bones. It would simply take some getting used to. Normally, when she returned, the heating would be on (if it was a cold enough day for it) and dinner would be either on the table, or being prepared. That was just something she was going to have to learn not to expect any longer. Now, Sakura had to prepare all of her own meals as well as be responsible for things such as the heating. Leaving it on all day just to warm the place up would be foolish and a waste of money, since she was rarely ever in.

"A storm's heading this way."

Having sensed their chakra before, Sakura nodded, only slightly annoyed that neither of them had knocked and instead silently slipped through the door. "I guessed that."

"It's so warm in here, Sakura-chan!" Naruto sighed happily, removing his black and orange jacket and hanging it up on one of the hooks beside the front door. The other day, he'd learned the hard way not to throw his jacket on the floor or the back of the sofa.

Perhaps it was just her, then?

"It isn't that warm," Sasuke muttered and hung up his flak jacket before sitting next to Sakura. "It's the contrast of being outside that makes it feel warmer."

"Whatever," he groaned, pulling out a sake bottle from his recently hung up jacket. "Tsunade-baa-chan asked me to give you this."

Sakura raised a brow, reluctantly opening herself up to accept the bottle. "Really?"

Sasuke nodded once. "He didn't steal it from her."

"Eh?" the blond snapped, glaring at them. "Why–"

"To mess with her." Sakura smirked and in return, Naruto grinned wickedly. "You've done it before."

"Yeah, well, not this time," he stated, sitting at her other side with his grin still in place. "Tsunade-baa-chan said she hasn't seen you around, so asked me to give it to you."

"More like ordered you to."

Naruto shrugged, giving her television a disgusted look. "What're you watching?"

Something that she was missing a lot of. There was so much drama on the soap opera that, if you missed an episode, you may as well have missed half the series. So far, the main characters, Ai, Satsuki and Dei, were stuck in a love triangle. Ai and Satsuki were not allowed to be together because, in their village, same sex relationships were frowned upon. That was where Dei came in. He decided to pretend to be involved with Ai, his best friend, because he didn't like seeing her in pain, but then after a night of unexpected passion, they began to realise that it was more than just friendship between them. It was heartbreaking.

She was rooting for Dei and Ai. Of course, Sakura didn't agree with how Ai was keeping her affair with Dei from Satsuki, as it was always best to get things out in the open, however, she should not have been in a relationship with Satsuki in the first place. Now, Sakura was most definitely not against same sex relationships, but if it was seriously against the law, to the point where they would be killed for their actions… Sakura sighed. It wouldn't make any difference, if you were in love. You'd do anything to be with that person. Though they probably should have just left the village. Then again, Satsuki couldn't leave behind her younger sister, Yori, because she meant the world to her.

"My favourite show," Sakura muttered in reply, giving him such a look that made him pale. It always worked. "So don't complain about it."

Sasuke sighed and stood up. "I'll go and get some cups."

"Oh bring in some of the food out of the snack drawer!"

It was beginning to get warmer now that her boys were there. Maybe that was why it had felt so cold to Sakura? Because she had been alone? Whatever the reason, she was now warming up, had her favourite soap opera on and was having a few drinks with her boys. That seemed like a decent enough Friday night to her. Ino had invited her out to celebrate on finishing her new apartment, but Sakura hadn't been in the mood to go out. The blonde would only end up ditching her halfway through the night to go and find Kiba, anyway.

When Sasuke returned, he was frowning. "These are Uchiha sake cups."

His tone was questioning, not accusing. Sakura blushed. "Itachi took me out for dinner the other night, but was told he had a mission halfway through. When I got home, Arata-san told me that somebody had dropped off a gift for me."

But they had the Uchiha Clan's emblem on the bottom of the cups. Sasuke continued to frown as he glanced down at the cups, placing them onto the table. They were a dark navy colour and other than the emblem at the bottom of the cup, they were plain. That didn't mean they were inexpensive, though. What was Itachi thinking, buying Sakura things with the Uchiha insignia on it?

He stayed silent and poured them all some sake.

He'd question Itachi later on his intentions.

"Oi." Naruto smirked just as they had been about to drink up. "Who's in the mood for a bet?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the challenge and sat up straighter, whereas Sasuke merely stared. "Go on," she urged.

"Whoever drinks the most, wins."

"Wins what?" Sasuke questioned.

"Whatever the winner wants, the two losers have to do it." Sakura grinned.

She would win this bet and when she did, she was going to make those two suffer.

A shift in her bed had Sakura groaning, especially when the sheet was lifted and cold air came into the bed, making goosebumps litter her arms and back.

The last thing Sakura remembered was beating those two idiots before they had even finished the bottle and, once they had left, she had stripped down into an oversized nightshirt and drank the rest of the bottle. It was safe to say that her head was swimming.

"I see you had guests."

She smiled at the voice. "It feels like it's been forever since I've seen you."

Arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against a strong chest. "It does."

"Sasuke-kun and Naruto…" she breathed out slowly, her smile growing more tender at the affectionate kiss placed onto her neck. "They thought they'd win…"

"Win, what?" came his husky reply when she trailed off.

"A bet," Sakura whispered, shifting against him slightly. "Drinking."

It wouldn't be hard for him to connect the dots, after all, Itachi was a genius. That didn't even include the fact that she reeked of sake. Even in her intoxicated state, Sakura could smell it clearly.

"I gathered." Itachi sighed.

Entering her apartment had been uneasily simple. No seals had been placed around the apartment and the lock hadn't even been used on her front door. It seemed Sakura was still not entirely used to living alone, still expecting her parents to lock the door at night. He hoped she would remember to lock it at night and place the seals around her apartment – it was easy for it to slip your mind, but still, the thought of losing her over something as silly as that was painful for him to even think about.

Then, once Itachi had entered the living room (or seen it from the front door, since there was no hallway), he had been surprised to find an empty bottle of sake on the coffee table as well as the sake cups he had purchased for her not so long ago. Itachi could tell she hadn't been alone, for Naruto had left his overly bright jacket on the hook by the door, so he was comforted by the knowledge that Sakura hadn't been drinking alone.

After clearing up her living room (it was a bad habit of his to clean up annoying messes, although Itachi certainly wasn't extreme about it) he had followed her chakra into the bedroom, where he had found her curled up under the sheets.

"Itachi…?"

Hearing the question in her tone, he tightened his hold. "You are drunk, Sakura."

"I still know what I'm doing."

It had been well over a month since they had last been together in such a way and Itachi could definitely feel the need to have her, to take her, but would it be right of him to do so while she was drunk?

As if hearing his thoughts, Sakura turned around and smiled at him. However, just as she went to kiss him, the stench of pure sake on her breath had Itachi sighing. Not tonight.

"Another time, Sakura," he murmured, stroking her side softly. "I want you to be fully aware of everything and not smelling like you have just downed the entire contents of that sake bottle."

She pouted, but because that was pretty much what she had done, Sakura did not argue.

A/N - Only skimmed through this, so if you find any spelling errors or mistakes, let me know! I've been over it like ten times already, so my eyes got lazy in reading it again before posting it.

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED AND DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! :-)