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Here is a little surprise. ;)

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Summer of 2017

Itachi freezes in the middle of turning around from the bar.

Through all the noise and flickering club lights, gyrating bodies and sweaty alcoholic scents, is Hyuga Hinata. She's donned in a short black piece and high boots, her dark hair framing her pale face, blood red lips in a surprised O.

Itachi freezes because he doesn't want to look for her, but sort of wants to so, so badly that it physically hurts.

If Hinata is here, the chances of her being here as well are tenfold. Itachi remembers the absolute adoration in her voice whenever she would update him on Hinata's life, or simply share some wise joke Hinata cracked on that day, or the way she would sometimes sound just a little bit jealous of the fact that Hinata could carry herself so well around. Itachi would tell her all the time that Hinata had been to places, so the chances of her having to fit in all situations were simply greater than … hers.

Fuck. It's just a name.

Except that it isn't.

For Itachi, Sakura is his classmate. For Itachi, Haruno is the fiery person who doesn't back down from any challenge – you just have to know which buttons to push. And, well, if there is anyone who knows that, it's him.

And for Itachi, Cherry is the one he could never have.

So yes, it's kind of confusing which name to refer to anymore. He supposes he could just say Sakura but Sakura means classmate and that's just – inadequate. It can never be enough to encompass what he felt for her.

Hinata begins to approach him and he quickly pushes every thought, every emotion away in a safe box in the back of his mind. It has never really worked all that well, but what choice does he have? Thinking about it, about her, only drives him mad. He has so many regrets, so many apologies, so many heartbreaks that he firmly believes need to be shut. Contained.

Hinata doesn't appear to be too mad. Rather, she throws him a small smile when she reaches him, adding a short wave to the greeting.

Itachi is nursing a glass of scotch, so he merely nods back. He doesn't even try to smile. He knows it's going to come out as a grimace.

"Hey!" Hinata leans up to shout in his ear.

Itachi moves his head down. "Hey. Long time."

Three years.

"I know! How have you been?"

Itachi goes along with the small talk. She tells him she's excited to graduate from college, has some freelancing projects lined up, and can't wait to start working. She asks if he's alone, and Izumi chooses that moment to come looking for him. So Itachi introduces Izumi –

Izumi, his girlfriend.

It's quite new, honestly, and Itachi is still wrapping his mind around it. Izumi has been his friend since the time he stepped inside the campus. He really enjoys her friendship, values her, and wishes he could someday return her feelings. Not that he doesn't like her. He does.

And he has no clue why something he believed in for months suddenly sound so flat and empty just because Hinata crossed paths with him after three long years in a random club during the break before their finals.

Izumi has no idea who Hinata is, so Itachi ends up introducing her as a friend of a friend. Hinata doesn't comment, merely informs them that her high school friends must be waiting for her. Itachi has no doubt that she specified "high school friends" for a very specific reason.

Itachi can breathe easily once more.

Not that it matters all that much. He still feels as though ants are crawling up his throat, as though his skin might burst in flames any moment, as though nothing exists in the world but him and this burning need to stop Hinata, grab her shoulders, and demand answers.

Where is she now? What is she doing? Is she okay? Is she enjoying her college? Did she make friends? She always wanted more friends but never quite figured out how to go about it. She never believed she was interesting enough to be liked by many. What an idiot.

Itachi almost smiles.

How in the world can she even have such a – such a – stupid thought? How can anyone not like her? How can anyone not see just how beautiful of a person she is? Everything about her is simply fascinating. Right from her unusual pink hair to the emerald green eyes to the tiny black spot on her right ear. Or the way she clenches her jaw when she's biting down on a particularly sassy response.

See, the thing is –

There is this reckless side to her. It isn't obvious, like the stars exploding in the sky or a truck crashing into another or even an abandoned slap in the middle of a party. It's in the way she tenses her shoulders. It's in the way her eyes fix on you. Under her skin, the carefully wrapped, unblemished foil of responsibility unravelling with every moment that passes. The sharp intake of breath she takes whenever her thoughts stray too far, become too outstanding for her to truly give in to them.

Itachi loved it. He loved witnessing the look in her eyes, the warning in them. He always thought it would leave the world burning if she lets it all go.

He'd first seen it in middle school. He was near the classroom door, leaning against the wall and discussing some or the other thing with Shikamaru. Sakura was entering the class, looking pissed off.

Itachi honestly only wanted to pull her legs a little, for no other reason but because he thought it might be fun. Sakura was one of the "nerds" or whatever – not that he ever really gave a shit about those stereotypes – and was always shy, kept to herself, had no friends that he knew of. So for her to be pissed over anything or anyone was strange, to say the least. It was quite amusing, really.

So Itachi had called out, all mischievous and jokes, "Who stole your homework, Haruno?"

Sakura appears so surprised by the address, she actually becomes suddenly still, neck snapping in his direction. Her anger melts away into confusion, and she opens her mouth to say –

But Itachi cuts her off. "Did you tell the Elves yet? Because it sure ain't coming back without magic."

And then she's pissed again. Itachi almost laughs. He expects her to just silently huff and leave, but apparently it's not a typical day.

Sakura straightens her spine, looking him dead in the eye, and for a moment all he can see is green.

"If you're so bored, why don't you join them? I'm sure you'd be appreciated for your selfless charity work."

Itachi's forehead lifts in response. That's … "Huh?"

Sakura thins her lips, pauses for a moment, and then shakes her head. "Never mind."

And that was it.

Looking back, it was a pretty dumb joke. Pathetic, truly. But it had sparked his interest, and Itachi wanted to know more and more and more and more and –

And here they are.

To be fair, "they" doesn't really exist anymore.

When he first sees her approaching his table in a simple dark blue overcoat, a cup of coffee in hand, hesitant stance, and an awkward smile, Itachi feels shaken to his core. He's too stunned to really think anything else apart from the fact that her eyes are still so green.

He knew she was in the city. Knew it because Temari can't stop herself from pestering him on a regular basis of why can't you meet her, just call her once, what's the worst that might happen, it's been five years you moron!

Sure, it's been five years but Sakura is Sakura – Haruno – Cherry – and Itachi still feels conflicted over her name.

She works as a teacher. That makes him laugh. Sakura can be a teacher, sure, but Haruno can never be one. Haruno is made for battles. She thinks he's laughing at her, which he sort of is, but not because he's worried about the kids, he's really not, but because he's wondering how long can she stay a teacher. One push and she might as well bury someone's body without blinking an eyelash.

She's studying him.

He feels it running across his skin – despite the hoodie – and wants to hide behind his miserable coffee because clearly Sakura can still pin him to one place, with just one look, and he wants to try that much harder to stay restless and wants to just stop so, so badly that he ends up jerking his feet underneath the table-top.

He tells her he's started working a job. He doesn't say that he left his ex-girlfriend behind in another city, left her to deal with the mess, the whole of it, and Izumi just wanted him out of her life and the least he could do was oblige without hurting her more than he already has.

See, the thing is –

Itachi believes in fate. He knows that she doesn't. He knows that she made the choice of approaching him, that she values human accountability. But what are the chances that Itachi got a job in the same city as hers, the closest one to their hometown, and what are the chances that they met in the same Starbucks at the same time?

He wants to know if she knew. Wants to know if she sought him out. Whether Temari pestered her, too. But Sakura shuts down, informs him in a curt manner that she had only stepped inside for a quick coffee, and all Itachi can think is –

Fate. Fate. Fate.

He cannot mess this up. He just can't. He has to do something. Has to keep her this time.

He says he'll see her around. Sakura pauses, slightly startled, but returns the bid. Itachi mentally vows to keep his word, come what may.

Sasuke can't stop grinning like a maniac.

Itachi tries to ignore him as much as possible, but Sasuke can be very annoying even on a normal day. His brother is draped like a starfish on the beanbag, watching him as he types on his phone without even looking at the screen.

Itachi wonders at what point he should be concerned about Sasuke and mobiles.

"We should go celebrate."

Itachi tsks, sketching out his fifth mural option. This line here doesn't fit … maybe curve it in … no, that's just terrible … might as well balance it out with an oval …

"Itachi."

Itachi picks up the eraser from the corner of his drafting desk. "What?"

Sasuke groans loudly. "We are going to celebrate. Get changed. I'm calling Kiba and Suigetsu. And Konan. And Temari."

"I'm not going anywhere." Okay, so the oval needs a little tweaking. The size could be smaller.

"I'm giving you five minutes before I snatch your colours."

Sasuke's idea to celebrate is to visit a loud club.

When Temari asks at one point what the hell they are celebrating, Itachi tells her that he got a mural gig directly by their clients, and Sasuke corrects him by telling her that Sakura got him the mural gig.

And then it's just another round of Temari-ness, until at one point she asks him if he's thanked her by kissing her, and Itachi wants to face-palm because how the hell did he not do that.

Thank her, he quickly tells himself. Not kiss her. Thank her.

So he types out a quick text. Sasuke ends up hooking up with a redhead before the night is over. Konan disappears halfway through to the washroom and takes a good twenty minutes to return. Suigetsu makes him drink a few pints which has him nicely buzzed. He's almost forgotten that he's waiting for a reply, immediately checks his phone, and sure enough – her text has arrived.

His respond makes her call, and not wanting to miss the chance, and too excited for life, he presses the phone to his ear, shouting in the device.

Sakura is all modest about it.

"This is not the time to be modest, Haruno. Tell you what, I'll buy you chocolate shake with extra chocolate tomorrow after work." That should work, Itachi is almost sure. 99.99%, mostly because it has been five years and she might still hate him a little.

She'll never hate chocolate shake, though. He's sure of that.

She gives in. "Fine, fine. Enjoy your party."

"Yeah." He's not done yet. "Hey, where are you, anyway?" Maybe he can invite her.

She bemoans about being at her relatives' place. "…and listen to more crap about my life choices."

He stills. He's not sure, but it could be her. Sounds like her. Meddling in a twenty-five year old adult's life sort of fits her profile. Itachi has never seen her, but he's heard her grating voice plenty.

"What's wrong with your life choices?" He'd hate for her to mess up Sakura's life, as well.

Sakura sighs. "Nothing. It's … never mind. I'll see you tomorrow?"

And Itachi knows.

He wants to tell her. It's at the tip of his tongue. Every time he sees her, every single text that they exchange, he feels it burdening him as though the entire world just becomes heavier and heavier, and one day he might crack under it –

I'll put in fake teeth.

He laughs so loudly that he spills his soup on the table-top. Sasuke is out with Kiba and his new date, which is fine, but the house already feels huge for just one person. Sometimes, he wishes that Sasuke hadn't moved out. Itachi hates living alone. There's so much empty space. He can't keep adding colours to it.

You'll be one of THOSE people. I never knew you had such high ambitions.

The reply is instant.

Cheers to that.

What are you up to?

Dinner.

You?

He smiles. Same.

She fits here.

Itachi's workplace is an explosion of colours, materials, textures, stuff, so much of it, and it's sort of like his apartment, but Sakura is not at his apartment, she's here, in the middle of this chaos, and it's perfect.

The space moulds around her beautifully, and Itachi keeps a mental checklist of everything that complements her eyes, like a slide show, simply because it's fascinating to do so. That shade of teal is pretty good … not too cold, not too similar …

She gets him tea.

It makes him want to – do. Something. He's not sure what. But they have a pretty good time, talking about daily routines and what not. She asks him what he's working on so he explains the project to her.

"I'm not kidding," she's saying at one point, hand gesturing around. "He's an absolute menace. Every time I enter class, he just waddles up to the desk with the silliest of reasons. He hates sitting in one place – that's the thing."

Itachi laughs, feeling happy for no reason at all but simply listening to her adoring voice when she's talking about her students.

"I always knew you were a dormant notorious kid all your life."

She dismisses it. "Yeah, yeah."

Sasuke bursts through the doors a little after ten at night.

Itachi is lounging on the couch, feet up, scrolling through his "My List" on Netflix, trying to decide which one fits his mood.

"I met Haruno."

He straightens up, the remote slipping through his fingers, clattering to the floor. Need to buy a carpet, maybe an emerald one, it'll go nicely with the brown centre table. The potted plants won't look so miserable, either.

"She's Naruto's friend."

Sasuke walks to the kitchen, still talking loudly over his shoulder. "Turns out, they're work colleagues. And to think Kiba wanted to set me up with her! You would have buried me alive."

Itachi is already on his feet, following Sasuke. "I wouldn't have buried you alive."

Sasuke turns dubiously to him, coming to a stop near the refrigerator. "Are you kidding me? You would at least stop talking to me."

Itachi smirks. "Maybe for a week or two."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "More like twenty years. Need I remind you what you said to Izumi when she made one comment on your girl? And she was your girlfriend."

Itachi laughs, flicking Sasuke's forehead before he can dodge it. "And you're my little brother."

Sasuke still doesn't seem convinced.

Itachi adds, sounding more truthful and genuine. "Maybe one year."

His hand is itching to text. So he shoves Sasuke aside to take out some ice cream.

Sasuke is silent for a bit. And when he speaks next, he sounds deliberately casual. "I think Kiba has more to worry. His date is beautiful. Namikaze Naruto. Can't believe Kiba got such a catch."

Itachi's ears perk up instantly. "Don't do that."

Sasuke avoids looking him in the eye, taking out two bowls and spoons. "I'm not doing anything."

He's definitely going to do something.

After Sasuke leaves, Itachi finally gives in to the urge.

What a small world.

Tell me about it.

He wants to say more, something, anything, but leaves it be. The ants are crawling up his throat again. He might crack under the pressure of the world.

The cats help.

They keep him occupied. Keep him grounded. Usually, Sakura does the trick but her eyes are too green at the moment, and she's asking him about his ex-girlfriend.

He can't exactly tell her the truth. She broke up with me because I had a nightmare once about you drowning and I ended up calling your name in my sleep.

So he doesn't say anything at all.

Sakura dated Lee, she says. And some man called Kabuto.

Itachi wonders why she dated them in the first place, and then wonders if she called out his name in her sleep, too. That's unfair. Just because he's drowning in his own puddle of guilt and regrets does not mean she's been waiting for him this whole time.

It's not like Itachi didn't take therapy. He did. He sort of had to when he went home after his fall out with Sakura and refused to talk with anyone for three straight days. Mikoto had to guilt him into going for it. When the counsellor didn't ask any questions other than what did you eat for lunch today, isn't the weather lovely these days, is there anything you'd want to talk about –

So Itachi said yes, he had food, and no, the weather sucks, and that he hates this woman called Guren.

Then the counsellor had to walk him through his choices. His choice to listen to Guren, his choice to act on it, his lack of faith in Sakura's choices because he took it away from her, believing he was making the right one, and Itachi ended up swimming in guilt for weeks after that.

Which, of course, the counsellor wasn't happy about, either.

Apparently, Itachi's Ghosts in the Closet are more tangible than he had thought. His Ghosts in the Closet is himself, the version of him who lacks self-worth, the one who couldn't leave Sakura alone.

People can get scared of things that are not real. Things that don't exist.

When Itachi was seven and Sasuke was six, Fugaku had an affair with their neighbour. Mikoto used to cry a lot during those times, but she didn't leave him. She stayed, and Itachi knows exactly why, because Mikoto sat them both down one night and said –

"You two might get separated. Do you want to risk that?"

"What?" Sasuke almost shouted, clutching Itachi's hand tightly. "No. No, no, no."

And Itachi could see it playing in his mind, the whole thing, the thing that doesn't exist, but terrified him all the same. The possibility of losing his brother, one of his parents, just because of something his father did, and Itachi wanted to yell at him even at seven years of age, he still does, wanted to demand why he couldn't keep his hands to himself when he knew he would destroy something precious.

Her house is small and cosy. He loves it.

It's not empty spaces like his. To be honest, it's not as colourful as his, either. But there are people here, which is sort of nice, and Sakura obviously feels a part of this group.

Itachi isn't stupid. He knew she didn't really feel a part of his high school group. It came out in the most subtle of ways, like when she'd thank Ino for something as small as lending her the textbook, or when she'd make sure to let Shikamaru sit beside Temari instead of herself because she took Shikamaru's laziness as a lack of interest in her.

Lee is clearly not happy with him. Itachi doesn't blame him. He's not happy with himself, either.

Still. His self-worth has definitely made some progress. So he ignores him entirely without sounding too rude, but Sasuke doesn't let it go.

She's holding his wrist and it's warmer than his sweater.

The hug makes complete sense to him.

And then when she cries, he is so close to finally cracking under the pressure, but the only thing that stops him is when she ends it with love is not enough.

Well, then. He doesn't know what else he has left to give.

Sakura is refusing to look him in the eye. Which doesn't faze him anymore. He's just glad that she's here, willing to still be around him, and it's impossible not to watch her.

He knows that she knows. He just doesn't care anymore.

She's staggering towards him in the rain.

Itachi's mind does the mental checklist again, as though on reflex, and decides that the murky backdrop is perfect, because the world is rearranging itself around her, and Itachi catches her, feeling the pressure melt away, because what's the pressure of the world when the world is in his arms?

And then it shatters when she nearly demands this –

"Do you – do you know my Aunt Guren?"

He freezes, gulping the sudden torrent of words down in his throat, but Sakura is looking up at him, the raindrops catching in her eyes, and all Itachi can see anymore is nothing but green, just like that moment in the middle school, and he remembers what he had thought, in that split second when Sakura had him locked in a gaze so colossal that it had enveloped his whole world in an emerald sky.

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