A/N: Their date and night of romance is here! Ahh I was so excited to write this chapter because I've put them through hell so far. Also beware this chapter is rated M for mature themes… and lemons… (sorry ) you miss out but if you really want to read it go to the A03 version.

From Weasel-san with Affection

Princess of Ikana

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and its respective owners.

Chapter 17: United

The anticipation was killing her. 5:00 pm rolled around and Sakura found herself waiting on the lone pier of Uchiha lake waiting for her beloved.

Tonight was supposed to be a full moon eclipse and well she wondered if that had anything to do with Itachi's plans at all.

She decided to dress up in a nice black dress that was form-fitting with just enough showing that you could just imagine what was underneath the rest of her attire.

Her hair was clipped up in a lazy up do unlike how she usually left it down with her headband.

After another 5 minutes had passed she began to tap her heel in frustration, what kind of a man left a woman waiting?

Suddenly a whirl of crows appeared and Itachi emerged from the flock with a bouquet of roses.

"I'm sorry, I was having an altercation with the lady at the floral store…." Itachi explained why he was late.

Sakura began to giggle before asking if the lady was a ninja and blonde

Itachi nodded

"I'm sorry, that's Ino and she just wanted to make sure you had planned everything right for tonight." Sakura laughed some more before accepting the beautiful arrangement from his arms.

Sasuke was at their training ground sitting against the log that Naruto was once tied to, when they were younger and began their ninja journey. Itachi wasn't home, and his parents, although they say all was forgiven, felt like they would rather leave him by himself than be in the same room as him. So Sasuke wandered and found himself at the familiar location.

On the plane of the in between, time seemed to pass at a faster pace than the world of the living.

Waiting for the enviable fallout was slowly getting to him knowing that they shouldn't be waiting around for it to start...

Rustling, broke through Sasuke's aggravated thoughts and he glanced to his left.

Naruto stumbled through the underbrush of the treeline. He looked like a total klutz before catching sight of him and gruffly shoving his hands in his pockets before strolling over.

"What's up dobe? Are we being summoned?" he asked, getting straight to the point, while standing up.

Naruto didn't reply but gestured to sit again. Sasuke shrugged and sat back down.

Naruto shuffled for a moment before pulling out a bento from one of his side pouches.

"I didn't want to eat alone in my apartment so I thought I'd come out here, didn't realize someone else would be here otherwise I would have brought more…"

Sasuke shook his head, normally by this point in the conversation he would be up and getting ready to leave but for once he decided to stay.

Tsunade had quite the headache with back to back meetings with various groups and making calls to other nations and among all the things you needed to do in order to prepare for an unwarranted war.

As things were looking close to being down she decided to take the night off and hide away at the Konoha local hot springs resort. Shizune took the night off as well and joined her later in the evening.

After much laughter and idle chatter they came to the topic of Sakura's surprise engagement.

"Did you know that she was involved with Uchiha-san Shizune?" asked Tsunade gloomily swirling her half empty sake bottle.

"No… but Sakura has been in love with an admirer since she was younger, just turns out it was Itachi-san this whole time…" she replied calmly.

Tsunade scoffed… love was quite a statement for a ninja… most of the populous had minor relationships as most ended in tragedy.

"Sakura is far too busy and an important subordinate to become the next Lady Uchiha… course if it wasn't for dark times ahead i would have already spoken to her… i guess it will have to wait till after everything and if we even survive…" Tsunade said before sinking into the hot water.

People were talking about them all over, but it didn't matter to them what the world thought at the moment because this moment was theirs.

Itachi led Sakura onto a new path she had never been before… hands childishly around her eyes in awaiting surprise he led her to his secret spot that no one had been shown before.

Eyes opened, she adjusted to the sight in front of her and gasped a little. It was a lake with a small cabin off in the distance…

"Where is this?" she was astonished that such a spot was unknown to any one.

"Uchiha land… we have a plot of land slightly away from the village no one knows about… this part is only known by the main house but my parents haven't come this way in years and Sasuke isn't privy to this information" Itachi replied in embarrassment.

Sakura gave him a look, he must have casted a powerful genjutsu to mask how far they had gone away from the village… this wasn't anywhere near it…

She let it go in "how" they got there and started to survey the area. As the sun had set not long after their initial walk around the main house's estate pond/small lake, the stars were beginning to twinkle in the inky blacky sky.

Distracted by the beauty of the sky, Itachi wrapped his arms around her slender but strong shoulders began to hum a familiar tune in her ear.

Memories flow forth and Sakura was whisked away to the village fall festival after she became a genin. She had managed to escape her team and wander away to a quiet spot in the woods. She was still close enough to hear the distance music from the main performances.

A soft ballad was heard and the somber tones made Sakura reminisce about the loss of her family and she began to weep quietly.

She hardly noticed a pair of arms sweep her up from her spot on a rock and began a slow simple waltz to the melody.

She began to sweep the fallen drops of tears away from her face recognizing weasel-san's mask from her side glance.

"I'm fine, go back to your post, Anbu-san" she choked out in a commanding tone, trying to appear unaffected as a shinobi should be.

He didn't say anything in response but continued their little dance. She then heard the sweetest tone she had ever heard. Weasel-san could sing… Sakura stared in amazement as his baritones mixed evenly with the tune. Instead of reprimanding him further she leaned into his embrace and took solace in his comforting efforts.

Sakura's eyes misted over slightly with the memory and turned around and took his hand and walked towards the cabin. Tonight was the night she wanted to make him hers.

Sasuke eventually headed back to the estate and climbed through his window, not wanting to bother anyone. Course nothing ever went the way it was supposed to.

Mikoto was awaiting him on the bed and held up her hand as he opened his mouth to react.

She sat him down and asked him what his plans were for the future.

Outside the room, Fugaku snuck back down to the kitchen and resumed his evening tea. They got Sasuke back and he hoped that there was less pressure on him as they were wrong to always compare him to his older brother.

Ino took a swig of liquor as she gossiped with Hinata of all people. Everyone else was busy with various missions and personal matters so she decided to take Hinata out on the town, as it may be one of their last chances with going to war soon.

Hinata was predictably shy and withdrawn as they hit bar after bar. After the 5th stop Ino gave up and escorted them to the nearest BBQ place.

"Sorry about not having much fun Ino, I'm just not used to being so carefree." she mumbled an apology

"It's okay, I know how much you love Naruto and you'll never stray from there anytime soon, besides those guys weren't worth shit." Ino brushed off her apology.

"Usually you drag Sakura out… is she on a mission or at the hospital tonight?" She inquired.

"Nah… she's losing her V card probably about now." Ino bluntly announced.

Hinata dropped what was left of her drink on her plate and had a coughing fit…

Naruto landed on his windowsill and entered his apartment through his window as usual… he was too lazy to find his keys in one of his many pockets.

He flicked on his lights and sat down at his table and turned on his kettle for some late night ramen when he noticed that he was not alone…

An unknown Uchiha stood before him…

"Um… what do you think you're doing? Uchiha…." he paused not knowing their first name.

"Mikoto" she supplied with a smile.

"..." Naruto stood still.

"I'm sorry Uzumaki-san, no harm meant I just wanted to talk to you about your teammate Sakura" she said sheepishly, feeling embarrassed she actually broke into his home unannounced

"Not to be rude Mikoto-san but couldn't you have asked Sasuke? He's our teammate as well" he stated the obvious.

"I already have, but I need more information that only you would know"

Naruto wasn't sure what the hell this was but all he knew was Sakura was going to have her hands full, if she truly wanted to marry Itachi in the future…

For her first time, Itachi was amazing… for not being intimate before… he sure knew her weak spots and was very catering to her needs over his own...

They were snuggled up together in front of a fire that Itachi prepared hours ago.

"I didn't know I could love you more than I did but I do now" Sakura started laughing a bit, hoping he would get her joke.

"Me too, you are the most beautiful creature I've ever had the pleasure of being mine" he replied kissing her shoulder.

There wasn't much sleep for the two of them that night, they just wanted to prolong that moment for as long as they could. Reality would set in at dawn.

~FIN

A/N: So yup Itachi and Sakura did the deed… next couple of chapters are going to be a bit rough but we'll see you next week :)