Author's Note: Hey guys. Its another double update. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 29:

4 Minutes

"Come on boy
I've been waiting for somebody
To pick up my stroll"

~"4Minutes" by Madonna~


Sasuke dragged himself downstairs one morning with his hair askew and an old pair of sweats. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he yawned and took a seat at the dining room table. He held up his tired head with his arm though multiple times he had to jerk himself awake when his head slipped out of his hand. A pleasant buttery smell entered his nose and he smirked. Breakfast was almost ready and he couldn't wait to eat it. Itachi came downstairs moments later looking no better than his younger brother. Sleep ringed his dark eyes and the ponytail that kept his hair out of his face was loose. He nodded in Sasuke's direction and slumped down across from him. Letting out a rather obnoxious yawn, Itachi shook open a newspaper that had been set on the table for the two boys. He leaned back in his chair as he began to read.

Both boys noses wrinkled with delight as food approached them via Sakura. She wore a wide smile and set a platter of pancakes down on the table. Smoothing down the apron she wore, Sakura said that she would be back with the rest of the food momentarily and went into the kitchen. Itachi forked himself a few pancakes easily without averting his gaze on the newspaper page he was interested in. Sasuke picked two pancakes from the plate and spread a large amount of butter onto them along with a small drizzle of syrup. He cut a triangular slice into them and stuffed them into his mouth. Sakura knew how to cook because those pancakes were absolutely perfect.

Sakura came back into the room with a high pile of bacon on a plate. She set it by Itachi because she knew the older Uchiha boy rather liked the food. With a pair of tongs, she put some bacon on Sasuke's plate and a larger helping on his brother's. Only then did Itachi look up from his paper and did so to give Sakura an appreciative look. She smirked and then winked in Sasuke's direction. She then left once again to bring in more food.

"I think I might love your girlfriend, little brother," Itachi said as he chewed on some bacon as he read his paper.

"You're only saying that because she feeds you," Sasuke stated.

"True, I've never been so well fed in my entire life," Itachi replied. "Well, that and she also does laundry for us."

"Us? She doesn't do my laundry," the younger Uchiha said. "I can't believe you have her doing your laundry. You've become lazy Itachi."

Itachi shrugged his shoulders and took a bite of pancakes. "What can I say? Your girlfriend acts like an old-fashion housewife."

Sasuke couldn't argue with that. Ever since Sakura had temporarily moved in with him, she's taken over the cooking and cleaning. He could tell that his parents appreciated that Sakura was doing this for them knowing that it was one less thing that they had to worry about when they got home in the evenings. She did this for them for two reasons as far as Sasuke could tell. The first reason was simple. It was a form of payment for allowing her to stay with the Uchiha family. The other reason seemed to remain hidden under Sakura's happy disposition. She needed to get her mind off of her father that the fact that she was kicked out not too long ago. Sasuke remembered how much she had cried when she came to him for comfort the first day she stayed with him. Nowadays she was more conservative with her emotions on the subject and hid it with keeping herself busy.

Sakura sauntered back into the room with eggs and toast and sat herself down next to Sasuke after placing the last of the food on the table. She no longer wore the apron and adjusted an oversized grey shirt with a band logo on it. Sasuke recognized it as one of his that he had been missing for awhile now.

"So what do you have planned today Itachi?" Sakura asked, covering her plate with food. "Anything exciting?"

"I have a paper to finish writing for one of my law classes and a few notes on current court cases that I have to take before heading back to school tomorrow," Itachi said. "Then there is the pile of laundry that I have to still do."

"Ah that sucks," Sakura said with a sympathetic glance. "And don't worry about the laundry I'll do it for you."

Itachi smirked in Sasuke's direction who countered back by mouthing "lazy-ass" when Sakura wasn't looking. It was starting to become clear that perhaps Itachi was taking advantage of the rosette's presence.

"So what do you have planned to do today besides my clothes Mama Sakura?" the older Uchiha asked, using his nickname for Sakura.

The girl frowned at the name but at the same time found it amusing. She twiddled her fork between her fingers and stabbed her half-eaten pancake on her plate.

"I start my internship sometime this week and need to work out a little so that I'm not too terribly out of shape on my first day," she announced. "I was thinking about going out for a run."

Then she turned to the boy next to her and smiled widely. "Would you like to come with me?"

Sasuke thought about the request for a second. Would he like to join Sakura and see her in short-shorts while she jogs? Why yes, in fact he would rather like to join her. The image of Sakura he now had in his head was not an appropriate one. He didn't know where it came from and blame his raging male hormones. Instead of replying in a hasty tone, Sasuke simply nodded and tried to cover his reddening face behind the glass of orange juice he now drank. It may have fooled Sakura, but Itachi slyly grinned at his brother's childish gesture.

"So you will go with me? That's great! Thanks Sasuke," Sakura said, hugging him.

Sasuke rolled his eyes with a small smirk and his brother chuckled to himself though Sakura heard him.

"You're going to regret asking him to run with you," he said after Sakura asked him what he had found to be funny.

"Oh, how so?"

"He's pretty fast. No one can catch up to him," Itachi explained. "Well, no one except for me that is. He hasn't gotten to the point where he can actually out-run me quite yet."

"Pssh, I'm pretty sure that I can keep up with him," Sakura proclaimed. "He can't be that fast."

Itachi shrugged and shook out his newspaper so that it was crisper in his grip. "Go ahead and test that theory out. But I'm telling you that you're not going to be able to catch him."


Sakura's tennis shoes tapped on the sidewalk as she ran in the park with Sasuke. She wore a tank top so that she wasn't too hot considering how hot it was outside. Her hair swished from side to side as she ran and sweat trickled down her forehead. She wiped the sweat away with her fist and turned around to see how far back Sasuke was. He wasn't too far behind, keeping a steady pace as he ran. He wasn't paying to much attention to the path he was following and seemed to be staring at something low to the ground though Sakura wasn't sure what it could be. Sakura called out his name and he shook from the trance he was in before slightly blushing.

"You okay back there?" she asked humorously. "I thought that you were supposed to be like this extremely fast runner or was Itachi just lying?"

"Maybe you're just faster," Sasuke spoke back. "On the other hand, maybe I'm just being nice by letting you think that you can out-run me."

"So you're saying that you're going easy on me?" she said, a playful smirk gathering on her face. "I'm not sure that I believe you."

Sasuke skidded into a halt and Sakura stopped soon after. He ran his hand through his moist hair and asked, "Wanna bet?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment and then nodded. She stretched her legs and lifted her knees to keep her blood pumping.

"Alrighty then, we'll race to see who's faster," Sakura suggested. "Whoever wins gets bragging rights."

"And I get my band tee back if I win," Sasuke added.

Sakura colored. "Oh, so you noticed."

The young man got closer to her and nodded. He was so close that she could feel his heavy breaths against her cheeks. She put her hands on her hips and bit her lower lip.

"Yeah I noticed, I've been looking for it for a couple of days now," he explained. "So you've been sleeping in it?"

The rosette nodded her head "yes" and shrugged her shoulders apologetically. "What can I say? It's really comfortable and I like the band."

That wasn't the whole story. Sakura had found that the shirt smelled a lot like her boyfriend and wore it at night since they weren't allowed to sleep in the same room. Not once did she wash the shirt since she feared that it would ruin the scent it carried. At first, she thought that stealing the shirt was a little creepy, but the feeling soon faltered away after wearing it a few times. That morning she had been a tad bold by wearing it to breakfast and was now embarrassed that Sasuke had found out about it.

"So I'm guessing if you win, you would like to keep it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes please," she answered.

Sasuke held out his hand for her to shake and said, "Deal."

The two of them stood side by side and lowered their bodies into a starting position. Sasuke counted to three and then the jumped into a quick run. They ran all around the park, circling the small path around a pond in the park that was off the main running trail. Sakura pushed her legs hard to keep pace with Sasuke, quickly coming to terms with what Itachi had said about Sasuke's speed. She was growing tired by the minute, but would not let herself lose to the boy by her side. It wasn't just because she wanted the shirt (though that was a large factor); she wanted to prove that she could beat Sasuke at something he was good at.

They rounded a set of trees by the trail and passed a pair of fellow joggers when the agreed finish line came into view. It was a bench swing by the playground and Sakura was relieved to see it. She was tired of running for the day and needed a break. There was no point in trying to win now; Sasuke was not even fazed by the workout while Sakura was struggling to keep up. She might as well slow down. However, she was glad she didn't. Sasuke let out a hearty grunt and slowed his pace. He clutched at his side as Sakura ran ahead. She reached the bench swing and stopped as soon as she got there. Pivoting around on her toes, she thrust her fists to the sky in triumph and cheered.

"Oh yeah! I won!" she shouted as Sasuke walked to the bench. "Looks like I'm the best runner between the two of us huh?"

"Looks like it," Sasuke huffed, scooting over so that Sakura could sit next to him on the bench. "I am no match for you."

He smirked as he wrapped his arm around Sakura's shoulders. Sakura gazed at him as she snuggled against his side. For someone who just lost, he was sure acting like he had won. Then Sakura's eyes grew wide and she pulled away from him.

"Wait a second, was that sarcasm?" she asked him roughly. When he didn't say anything and continued to smirk, Sakura added, "Oh my God, did you let me win? You did, didn't you?"

"So what if I did? You get to keep my shirt. I thought that you wanted it," he replied, getting close to her to nuzzle her cheek with his nose.

"I did, but I wanted to earn it fairly," she explained.

"Even if you lost, I would have let you keep it," Sasuke said. "You obviously like it too much."

Sakura wasn't sure how to answer to that and just ended up saying "thank you" for Sasuke's kindness. She leaned in towards Sasuke and planted a kiss on his lips which led to more kisses. When they finally pulled away from each other, Sakura sighed from how tired she was. Sasuke ran his fingers up and down her bare shoulders as he held her.

"Want to run some more?" he asked her.

Sakura shook her head. There was no way that she could run anymore today. The race had made her extremely tired.

"Nah, I think I'm done for the day," she said.

"Do you want to go back to my house?"

She nodded and started to get up, but wavered on her feet. Sasuke gripped onto her shoulder to keep her steady and shook his head when she told him that she was fine walking on her own.

"You're exhausted," he told her as he turned to have his back face her. "Here, I'll carry you to the car."

The rosette didn't argue with that and climbed onto his back. Her legs tightened around his waist and her arms hung on his shoulders as he made his arms into a makeshift seat to keep her lifted. Sakura rested her head on his shoulder as he began to walk and closed her eyes. Taking in a quick whiff, she could smell the familiar musky scent that came from his body and smiled to herself.


Author's Note: I'll post the other part to this double update sometime today. Itachi is a little OOC to me here, but I kinda like him that way. It makes him seem more like an older brother. Anyway, enjoy and please review. I'll post the other part later. :)