Chapter 2, My Girl
The following day she felt like shit.
Worse than shit, actually.
She didn't know how you could feel worse than shit, her head was throbbing too much to think, but she knew that she was feeling the worst hangover of her life.
Forcing one green eye open, she peered at the nightstand beside her bed and reached for the medicine that Itachi left behind. Popping two aspirins in her mouth and downing a glass of water, she stayed in bed for another ten minutes before forcing herself to sit upright. For a second, she forgot about why she drank and moved to grab her phone to text Shikamaru, to pause, and then feel herself suddenly grow cold.
Oh right, he dumped me. Hence the drinking and the killer hangover. She rubbed her face with her hand and kicked her bare legs to the side of the bed. And then looked at her diamond ring on the nightstand. It glittered evilly at her, and she glared back. Throwing the ring across the room, she hugged a stray strand of hair from her face. She'd worry about the ring later. Right now, she had other things to worry about.
At some point in the evening, she had peeled off her tux and only had her white shirt on. She began unbuttoning her shirt as she looked over her texts. There were a few from Ino, one from Sasuke, and one from Itachi.
Oh, and it was only 7am. God, why was she up so early? She groaned while scratching her head and then licking her still-dry lips. Damn her internal clock.
Begrudgingly, she poured herself another glass of water while finally going through the messages from her friends.
Ino, text one: "Hey, forehead! Where'd you run off too? Your plate at the table is getting cold!"
Ino, text two: "Did I just see you leave the ballroom with Itachi? What's going on? Text me?"
Ino, text three: "Hey, I'm at your door. Let me in! I've been knocking on your door for five minutes. Are you alright?"
Sakura sighed. It was too early to talk about her broken engagement. Especially to Ino. She'd ask questions and maybe go on a rampage. She'd call Shikimaru, her best friend, and demand to know what the fuck he was thinking to text Sakura during such a busy time. She'd try to kill him the next time she saw the surgeon. Or worse, she'd try to fix their relationship. Leaning sideways back into her bed, Sakura tentatively texted her back.
"Hey, I wasn't feeling well. Itachi noticed and took me back. I'm okay now, more or less. I was probably asleep when you were at my door. I'll call you later?" Maybe after lunch she'd tell Ino about Shikamaru. Maybe not. She'd decide once her head cleared a little.
Next, she read Sasuke's text:
"Hey, Itachi said you weren't feeling well. Text me when you wake up? Naruto is worried. Itachi said you're probably asleep and to not bother you… But please give us an update on your condition as soon as you can."
Sakura felt her lips morph into a frown. She felt terrible having her friends worry over her during their wedding. But she felt their love through the screen. Her boys were probably knocked out in bed at the moment. They never were early risers. But texting them back wouldn't hurt. They'd likely see it once they woke up some time that afternoon.
"Sorry to dip early on your special day. I'm feeling a bit better now! I'll stop by sometime this afternoon."
She bit her lower lip, wondering if that was enough. Clearly, her boys were concerned about her wellbeing. It wasn't like her to disappear like that. She hesitantly thumbed on her phone, "If you guys aren't too busy, that is." She added a winky face for good measure. There, that sounded more like her. Hopefully, her text would ease their worries.
Finally, Sakura looked at Itachi's message. Grabbing a now stale roll from the silver basket that Itachi stole her last night, she read his text. It was from this morning.
"Hey, I just wanted to check up on you. I let everyone know you weren't feeling well, so you jumped in bed. Let me know if you need anything else, squirt." She huffed through her nose, "Squirt"? She was almost the same height as him! She angrily bit the hard roll in her hand and messaged him back, ready to rip him a new one. But suddenly, she remembered that Itachi had done her a huge favor by saving her from making a fool of herself at the wedding. He was allowed a pass in teasing her.
This time, at least.
Deleting her initial scathing text, she instead typed, "Hey, thanks for being my hero. Are you still up with me treating you for breakfast?"
Surprisingly, Itachi messaged her right away. "Sure. When were you thinking?" Sakura stood up, biting her lip in thought. Her stomach churned with the movement. She put a hand to her mouth. Swallowing the rising bile in her stomach, she grabbed her thermos from her duffel bag and guzzled the day-old warm water inside. "Maybe in like 30ish minutes? I need to make myself look human." She put her phone down, stole a glance at her appearance, and grimaced. Her hair was wild. Her perfect gelled low-bun from the night before had come undone in her sleep, probably by her own wandering hands, and created a perfect rats' nest at the base of her neck. She looked monstrous: her smokey red lipstick was smeared on the side of her face, and her mascara had flaked and smudged onto her pale cheekbones. Dear God, where do I begin?
Her phone dinged.
Itachi texted a thumbs-up emoji.
Whatever was her plan, she better jump on quickly; Itachi would be arriving soon.
It took a while for the pink-haired woman to comb through her waist-length tresses. So long, in fact, that she barely had time to shower and throw on a fresh pair of clothes. When a knock hit her door, she realized the time was up. Looking at her makeup-less reflection, she decided sunglasses were in order and grabbed her shades. She hadn't thought much about her outfit; the young doctor figured her black crop top and grey sweatpants would do. When she opened the door, she realized just how wrong she was. Itachi stood before her looking overly perfect in his white polo, navy straight-legged slacks, and blue leather shoes. Damn Uchihas, always looking hot.
Her face must have shown her discontent because he arched a brow and asked, "What?" "I have to change," she said quickly. "Huh, why?" "Because you look a billion times better than me." He laughed. "You're ridiculous. You look fine." Her frown deepened. "You have to say that, I'm your little brother's best friend." He stepped into her messy room.
"Not true. You can check with Naruto on that, if you want." "Let me at least change my pants." As she retreated inside the room, he a sigh and closed her hotel room's door behind him.
"Fine, if it's quick," he relented, peering again at her disaster of a suite. She opened her suitcase and pulled out a pair of white high-waisted shorts. And just as quickly, she began to take off her pants.
"What are you doing?" Sakura looked over her shoulder, "Changing my pants."
Itachi was backing away from her. "Right now? Here?"
"I've changed a billion times in front of Sasuke and Naruto; it's fine. Besides, you've seen me in swimsuits since I was like five. How's this any different?" "Sakura, this is inappropriate. I'll wait in the hall." As he was talking, she kicked off her pants and jumped into her shorts. Itachi's eyes were wide. "I'm telling you, it's not a big deal." She grabbed her bag, "Come on, let's get food."
They found a spot nearby the hotel, a lovely mom-and-pop cafe. Because it was so early, they were able to grab a seat on the patio. Hardly anyone else was there. It suited Sakura just fine. Her head was pounding from her hefty hangover. Even though she had guzzled water all morning and taken an aspirin, the light and sound of the world around her was cruelly making her symptoms worse.
She sipped the coffee the waitress had given them not that long before. The still too-hot liquid felt heavenly going down her throat. "I was surprised to get your text so early. I was sure you'd be dead to the world till noon." Sakura smirked. "Working at the clinic means early hours. My body betrayed me with waking me up this morning out of habit." Itachi sipped his own coffee and chuckled. "I know the feeling. How is the clinic doing, by the way?" "It's great! I love my job. Most of my patients are kids, with a few teens sprinkled in. They're all cute and funny. Though I might be biased, they keep drawing me pictures and being the cutest little beans." "I'm glad you're doing well. You've been there for a while now, haven't you?" "Yea, three years!" she said proudly, finishing her coffee. "That's great… But I thought you wanted to be a surgeon?" Sakura's smile fell. "Yea, well, I wasn't cut out for that kind of work. Besides, kids need doctors too."
Itachi nodded, "That's true." Adjusting her sunglasses, Sakura asked, "What about you?" "What about me?" "Well, you're a bigshot now, working for big corps and occasionally celebrities. That must be exciting?" He shrugged, his expression suddenly becoming more reserved. "If nothing else, it's interesting." Sakura sensed she said the wrong thing and slouched in her metal-wired chair. "Anything else going on in your life?" "No, I'm not that exciting. I just work, mostly."
She reached for her orange juice and downed the whole thing, "Come on, some of it has to be exciting. Do you have new celebrity friends?" He opened his mouth to respond to suddenly have her belch. She excused herself and flourished her hand for him to continue. He blinked once then obliged, "No. I try to keep things professional. I don't like to blur lines." Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're a lawyer, aren't you? Isn't skewing and blurring things who you are?" He tucked a loose strand of his long black hair behind his ear. "No, not really."
Green eyes stared at her empty water, coffee, and juice glasses, and her hand suddenly reached across the table. "Yea, yea, bigshot. Whatever you say." Sakura grabbed his mug and took a sip of his coffee. Smiling on the rip of his cup, she took another sip to notice Itachi's intense frown. "Excuse me?"
"I'm out of coffee and in serious need," she explained nonchalantly. Taking a large sip, she handed him back his coffee. He shook his head.
"You've been spending too much time with Naruto and Sasuke." "Uhhhh, why do you say that?"
"You're very…" he paused. "You're a complete tomboy." "Psh. I've grown into a proper lady, what do you know?" He put up a sideways fist and extended his thumb, "You undress around other men." "I already told you, it wasn't like I was naked; it was like I was showing you my swimsuit!" He extended his pointing finger, "You comfortably burp in front of people." "It's a natural thing! Everyone burps." He then raised a third finger, "And you drink from other people's cups or take their stuff without thinking. None of that is very proper or lady-like." "That's not necessarily related to me being a 'tomboy. We're like siblings, right?"
Itachi didn't immediately respond; he put his hand down and then stared at his cup. "We've known each other for a long time," he agreed. "See? I'm sure you and Sasuke do things you wouldn't dare do to people outside of each other." He held the handle of his mug and drank his coffee, sipping slowly in what Sakura assumed to be in thought.
"Perhaps..."
The waitress returned with two plates expertly resting on one arm and a pitcher of water, and a metal canister of coffee in her other hand. She placed the pitchers on the table and set the appropriate meal in front of the person who ordered it. Sakura had ordered greasy hash browns, eggs, pancakes, and bacon. Itachi had ordered oatmeal and blueberries. Filling their glasses with coffee and water, the waitress made a quick and polite departure.
"You're going to be able to eat all of that?" Sakura took a moment to respond; she was already shoveling food into her mouth. Itachi chuckled. Sakura peered over her sunglasses. Swallowing, she asked, "What?" "You know, maybe you're right. Thinking about it, it's not that you're a tomboy. You just haven't changed since you were a kid." "Sooooooo," she waved her hand, encouraging Itachi to make a point. "It's a good thing. You're always yourself. It's kind of refreshing, actually. Most girls aren't-" "If you say something akin to, 'I'm not like most girls,' I'm going to throw my pancakes at you."
Itachi put his hands up in surrender. "I was going to say, most girls aren't comfortable around me." Sakura stabbed her sunny-side-up eggs and allowed the gooey center to spill upon her near burnt hash browns. "Good, because there would have been MAJOR consequences if you were going to say the other thing." "Oh, and why is that?" he asked, sprinkling brown sugar onto his oatmeal. "Because that saying is bullshit. It's singling out women for traits that you deem are superior or quirky while simultaneously putting down other women. Not cool." "I'll keep that in mind," he said while elegantly spooning his oatmeal into his mouth.
Sakura began focusing on her own plate, feeling better with every bite.
Halfway into breakfast, she asked him, "What do you mean by that?" "Mean by what?" "You said, 'girls aren't' comfortable around me.'" He drank from his water glass and said, "They don't speak to me. They just sort of hang around. You know?" "Probably because they're waiting on you," she pointed her empty fork at him, "to make the first move." "Nah, I don't think so. I think I intimidate them." "Oh geeeee, the super handsome and fancy bigshot lawyer makes women feel intimidated? You don't say."
He snorted, "I'm not that impressive." "Itachi, you're fucking hot. That alone would make a girl tongue-tied. But you're also super crazy well-known, and a badass. Of course, you're impressive." "You think so?"
She bites into her bacon, nearly shivering as her senses went into overdrive as the meat snapped and cracked on her tongue. Blessed be to the fool who first discovered bacon. To then respond, "Think so? I know so! I've seen how girls have lost their shit over Sasuke for as far back as I can remember. Hell, I was one of those girls, remember?"
"Oh, do I? Mother was counting on you being her daughter-in-law." Sakura felt her cheeks warm. She didn't realize she had a fan. "Weeellll, anyway, that's Sasuke. And while he's clearly off the market and has been since we were teens, it didn't stop girls from fawning over him. Now here you come, a fucking practical God, and you're confused as to why girls don't feel comfortable around you."
Itachi coughed on his spoonful of oatmeal. "You think I'm a God?" he chocked. "Well, you're hot as shit, so I wouldn't be surprised if you confessed to me right now you were." He banged on his chest with his fist. "Um, thanks?" "Look, I'm not just kissing your ass. I'm speaking from a girl's perspective here. You're all smoldering and mysterious. If I didn't grow up with you and see you blow milk out of her nose when you got embarrassed at twelve years old, even I might have succumbed to your sexiness."
"It was ONE time, and you and Sasuke won't let me forget it-" "Yea, yea. It was funny as hell, so of course, we won't. Anyway, my point is, your stare alone could probably impregnate a woman. Just take the plunge and do something to relax them." "Like what? Tell a joke?"
Sakura swallowed a bite of pancakes. "No, your jokes suck. Ehm, depending on the setting, do some small talk. Compliment her shoes or bag or something. If you think she's cute, mention her dress or makeup. Ask her if she's read a recent article or something like that. Small things like that, you know?"
Itachi licked his lips in thought, Sakura averted her eyes to her hashbrowns. "Maybe you're on to something."
She smirked, "I told you, I've matured. I know things."
He smiled back at her, "Noted, Haruno-Sensei."
After paying for breakfast, Sakura grabbed her coffee to go, and the two left the restaurant. Sakura fingered her now mostly dry hair as they retraced their steps to the hotel.
"It's gotten long."
"Hm?"
"Your hair." Sakura paused her fingers mid-way down the length of her hair. "Yea, I suppose so." "I remember when we were little, you said you were growing it out for Sasuke because he liked girls with long hair." She laughed, thinking back to her innocent crush on her best friend. "Yea, well, Sasuke liking long hair clearly didn't mean anything."
"It's beautiful at this length, though." Sakura peered at Itachi and smiled. "What?" He asked, clearly becoming uncomfortable. "You don't often compliment me." "Oh?" "Nope." "I've rarely insulted you." "True. But you've always been a smartass. It's okay, though. It's the Uchiha way." Itachi rolled his eyes.
"And you're not a smart ass?" "I'm like, 25% smartass. Uchihas are like, 80% smartass." "And Sasuke?" Sakura pursed her lips in thought. "He's like, 99% smartass." Itachi laughed.
Sakura happily waved goodbye to Itachi in the lobby and went to Naruto and Sasuke's suite. Upon arrival, she politely knocking on their door and not using the spare key they had given her. One DOES NOT just enter the suite of newlyweds. She'd walked in on them once when they were first dating. And that was more than she'd like to see her best friends ever again, thank you very much.
"Commmmmiiiiiiiiing," she heard Naruto excitedly scream. Her smile widened, despite her slightly still-pulsing headache. Her blonde best friend swung open the door to address the guest who had knocked. She lifted her sunglasses from her eyes and placed them on top of her head. The newly-married man was still wearing his pajamas, a bright orange set that no one but him could pull off. If she wasn't awake from all the coffee she had already consumed, she most certainly was awake now.
Naruto immediately hugged her then stepped back to inspect her from head to toe. "How are you feeling!? Itachi said you were sick?"
Sick of Shikamaru's bullshit, she thought to herself. But instead said, "Oh, it was just a bug. I think I ate something that didn't agree with me earlier." "Mkaayyy," Naruto said, clearly not fully believing her but not wanting to push it. Sakura didn't often lie. So if she was concealing something, it was always best to wait for her to open up on her own.
He gently grabbed her hand and pulled her into his suite. His and Sasuke's unit was three times bigger than hers and was more apartment than a room. Clearly, Sasuke's parents didn't spare any expense for their son's wedding celebration.
The suite had a balcony, a small kitchen, a lavish bathroom, and a giant living room and bedroom. And, as thanks to Sasuke, she was sure, it was immaculately clean despite the tower of wedding gifts situated throughout the space. She made a mental note to definitely not let the younger Uchiha brother see her untidy hotel room by any means. He would kill her. Speaking of the Devil, Sasuke suddenly walked out of the bedroom with only his boxers and a towel around his still wet shoulders. Clearly, he had just gotten out of the shower. He smiled when he saw her.
"Hey dweeb, ever heard of a shirt?" she teased. "I thought I'd bless you with the sight of my abs." She good-naturedly shoved him once he was in arm's reach. Naruto laughed. "I appreciate the view." "Heeyyyy, what did I say about flirting in front of me?" "Not to?" "Yep!" "Yeaaaaa, not going to happen for a while, sorry. It's a newlywed thing. You'll get a taste of it sooner rather than later," Sasuke winked.
Suddenly talking about her nonexistent upcoming wedding made her smile fade and her ringless finger grow cold.
"Sakura?" Naruto's voice was immediately full of concern. "What's wrong?"
She tried to laugh, say something funny, or maybe distracting, but her throat had tightened. When she opened her mouth, a pathetic squeak had come out, and her eyes filled with tears. "What's wrong?" Sasuke and Naruto repeated, each taking one of her hands and then sitting her on the couch. "S-Shikamaru," she forced out between terrible sobs, "h-h-he broke up with me."
Both of her best friend's faces were filled with shock. "What? When?" She wiped her nose with the back of her arm. Sasuke gave her his wet towel. Sakura wiped her eyes, nose, then arm with it. "Four days ago," she choked out. "Four days ago?" Sasuke said in confusion.
"And you're just now telling us about it?" "I didn't want to distract you guys from the celebration." "Or you were prolonging the weasel's death!" Sakura laughed while fat tears rolled down her face.
"You'd really kill him for me?"
Naruto and Sasuke said in unison, "Without question."
"Besides, we have numerous big lawyers within the family; we'd get out of whatever trouble we'd get in." Sakura thought of Itachi speaking on their behalf and suddenly stopped crying. How ridiculous would he sound before a judge, saving Sasuke and Naruto from jail for murder?
Seeing her relax, Sasuke leaned forward and wiped her newly forming tears from her eyes. "Sakura, I don't care what's going on in our lives. You tell us when something big like this happens to you, alright? We love you."
"Believe it!" Naruto chimed in.
She reached for each of her boys' hands. God, she was lucky. What did she do to deserve such wonderful and caring friends?
"But in all seriousness, when's the punk's funeral?" Sasuke asked.
She smacked him playfully on his smooth bare chest. "Never, because that jerk saves hundreds of lives every year."
The dark-haired male pouted.
She kissed him on the cheek.
Sasuke sighed and then brushed still-wet hair from his eyes, "How are you doing? This is no small thing. You two have been together since you were twenty. This is an end to a seven-year relationship."
Seven years.
Damn.
Seven years was a long time. There were so many good times in those seven years. She honestly thought they would have stayed together no matter what. They'd been friends since high school, their friends and families were both tight-knit, and they loved each other… Couldn't they have stuck it out? Couldn't they have stayed together?
"We're both always busy and have different wants. You don't want kids, you don't want to move from Konoha, and you don't want to cut back on work. You know that this isn't going to work out."
Shikamaru was right. Maybe that's what made this so hard. In reality, they had probably been done for a while. Sakura didn't see their problems because she didn't want to acknowledge the truth of the matter… Shikamaru had fallen out of love with her some time ago. And she didn't want to be left alone, so she played along as if that wasn't the case.
"I think I'm doing okay. In all honesty, it hasn't fully hit me yet. It feels like it's a mistake or a lie," Sakura glanced at her ringless hand. "But it's not."
Hesitantly, Naruto asked, "Did he tell you why?"
She nodded.
"He texted me that-"
"Wait a second. He broke up with you over TEXT?" "Well, yea, but-" Sasuke jumped to his feet. "What are you doing?" "Getting my phone." "Why?" "Because I'm calling Ino." "No! Please don't! It's too early for this and-" "Too late!"
His phone was pressed to his ear.
"Wait!"
"Ino," Sasuke suddenly grated out, "Yes, it's Sasuke. I need you to come to the suite pronto. We have a situation that I think you could be of use in." He paused for a moment when his face suddenly reddened. He blurted out, "No! That's not why I want for you to come up! I keep telling you! A threesome will NEVER happen," and hung up.
Sakura blinked. "A threesome?"
"Don't ask. Anyway, she's on her way. And Sakura, don't mince words. Because I always have bail ready. I'll risk it all and kill that idiot. And I know Ino will our back on that." "You always have bail ready?" Naruto asked. Sasuke sighed. "Yes, because you tend to be brash and break things or people and-"
A knock interrupted Sasuke in explanation.
He immediately opened the door.
"Okay, you say there's no threesome, but why else would you call me over here?" She stepped into the suite with a clack of white high heels. Her natural blonde knee-length hair was perfectly curled. Her form-fitting purple dress, gold hoop earrings, and dangly bracelets were bombshell-music-video ready.
Ino was always beautiful.
But upon seeing her, her playful smile turned into that of concern. "Sakura?" She then looked at Sasuke and Naruto.
"What is going on?"
"Shikamaru broke off that engagement," Naruto said.
"Via text," Sasuke finished through gritted teeth.
"WHAT?!"
Seeing the rage in her friends' eyes suddenly made everything feel all that much real. Which made her broken engagement suddenly feel all the more hurtful. But being with her concerned friends also made her feel immensely loved. Not knowing how to sort through this complex and emotional realization, she did the only thing she knew how to do, she cried.
"Sakura, I'll talk to him. This is a mistake. There's no way he thought this through. It must be work. It's getting to him. I've got you, girl. I'll fix this. He wouldn't-"
"Stop," Sakura said through sobs. She wiped her face again with Sasuke's towel. "He's not wrong. I mean, how he did it was wrong. But… He's not wrong with why he wanted to break up. We weren't doing well."
She hiccupped a few times, then blew her nose on Sasuke's towel. It was gross, but her nose was dripping. If she was going to lay her fucked up relationship bare, she should at least have a clean nose, right? At least give a girl her dignity, you know?
"I don't want someone to be with me because you tell them to." Ino's brow furrowed, "This doesn't make sense. He loves you. He adores you. Why would he do this?"
"Because we're getting older, and he wants kids," Sakura whispered. Ino stepped forward and sat on the coffee table before Sakura and Naruto. Sasuke sat back down beside Sakura.
"Sakura…" The blonde didn't know what to say. They both knew kids were one thing Shikimaru always wanted. He dreamed about being a father… And having a stay-at-home wife. At first, they both believed that he could change his wants. But Sakura knew that deep down, he was hoping she would change. When it became clear that neither one of them was going to budge, he wanted out. She couldn't blame him.
"He loves me," she slowly agreed with Ino. "But he isn't in love with me, you know? He was bound to break it off. I guess over text was harsh, but what did I expect? We were holding it off for so long."
This all felt like it was her fault.
She didn't want to accept that their relationship was dead. She was avoiding the conversation and the problem. Now, it was broken at one of the worst times possible.
"Sakura, let me talk to him. This… Can be fixed." Ino whispered. "It's already broken. Please don't bring it up. Not right now, at least."
She pursed her full lips, wanted to push the matter, but looked away suddenly and nodded. "Fine. I'll respect your wishes."
"Thank you," Sakura whispered.
After the excitement in Sasuke and Naruto's suite, Sakura decided to pack up early and head home ahead of schedule. She and Shikamaru had a lot to discuss and a lot of planning to do. They had just bought a house, had assets together, and a dog to figure out who it would stay with. Her head pounded, thinking about it. She was thankful that Sasuke bought her ticket for her. She didn't have the energy to do that for herself. He told her the information would be ready for her at the front desk when she checked out.
After she packed her bags, she double-checked the room for all any lingering possessions and found her ring behind an armchair. It looked beautiful but was somehow less impressive than when she saw it that morning.
It also looked less magical.
It was just a glamorous rock.
And now it wasn't even hers anymore.
Placing the object in her pants pocket, she grabbed her two suitcases and headed to the lobby. She was surprised to see Itachi at the front counter as well, his own bags at his feet.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"A situation with a client came up. I need to head back early." He eyed her bags. "And I'm guessing you're going home early too?"
"Yea, I should probably see Shikamaru sooner rather than later." Itachi reached forward and patted her head. Sakura genuinely laughed. She grabbed his large hand and leaned on his shoulder, "I'm not a kid or a dog, silly. You don't need to pat me." She could feel his eyes on her. "As we've discussed earlier, I'm an idiot when talking to women. Forgive me."
"So I'm a woman now?" She asked while eyeing him.
"A mature woman, so you've said twice this morning." She chuckled. "Yea, I did say that, didn't I?"
"Did I tell you I like your shoes?" She playfully smacked his chest and finally let go of his hand.
"Hey, no using my tricks on me."
"I can't seem to win," he said with a shrug.
"Well, are you taking the plane?" "Yep, Sasuke bought me a ticket." "Cool, he probably got you a ticket on the plane I'm on then." "Why'd you say that?" "Because he texted me five minutes ago asking if I could take a friend along on my firm's private jet."
"E-Excuse me-a-hold-wait-a-second." Her brain was short-circuiting. "A PRIVATE JET!?" She screamed. "Indoor voice, Sakura-chan." She smacked him again.
"Key, sir?" the man at the front desk asked. The refined lawyer presented his hotel key. "Mind checking out this young lady here as well?" "Of course. Ma'am, what was the room you were in?" Sakura's mouth opened and closed like a soundless and perhaps dead fish. She was still in complete shock. She was going on a private jet? With Itachi!?
Sensing her distress, Itachi sighed and grabbed the two hotel keys that were in her hand. Like the night before, he took charge. Completing her checking out process, the older gentleman smiled enthusiastically at the both of them, "You both have a great day!"
"You as well."
A teenage lobby boy abruptly appeared and took their bags the moment their keys were returned. Itachi politely led her by the small of her back towards the front entrance, "The car is waiting." Sakura's mouth was still agape in complete shock.
Once they were settled in the vehicle and Itachi gave the location they were looking to go to the driver, he turned to her. "You still having a heart attack?"
"Maybe?" she winced.
He laughed.
"Just don't die on my watch. I don't need my brother to kill me. I'm the best lawyer in the family. Who would defend him?"
Fair point.
She pressed a hand to her chest and took deep cleansing breaths.
"That's my girl," he said, relaxing in his seat and flashing her a soft smile.
Sakura tried to ignore the way his words made her stomach flip flop.
Another part of her relished in them too.
"That's my girl."