"Sasuke-Kun do you want to go on a date with me?" An excited 12-year-old Sakura asked.
"No thanks," he replied not even looking at her.
"Oh alright," she tried to hide her disappointment.
"Sasuke let's strengthen our teamwork."
"Not interested."
"Hey Sasuke can we train together?"
"No."
"Sasuke…" Sakura's voice died in the back of her throat. There wasn't any point asking. They were 16 now and Sakura stopped bothering Sasuke long ago expecting him to brush her off and ignore her.
It's unfair because Sakura really wanted to train and get stronger. And as frustrating as it is Sasuke was a strong opponent. Even Naruto allowed her to train and tried to get her involved in their training sessions.
But he just said she was too weak, well duh Sasuke the point in training is to GET stronger. Besides she wasn't weak, sure she may not be as strong as those two but she could fight now.
After watching Naruto and Sasuke train for a couple of minutes Sakura got bored and went into a clear area, where Tsunade used to train her in the forest. She needed to let all her frustrations out and destroy something.
Covered in sweat, Sakura made her way back home for a nice hot shower. Debating on whether to get in some more training done afterward.
Maybe she could ask Ino.
A little bell rang from the store and Sasuke's older brother came out.
"Ah Sakura, good morning." Itachi greeted smiling lightly. He was holding some groceries.
"Morning Itachi," she greeted back.
"I see you've been busy doing some early training." He looked down at her form, which was covered in dust, mud, bruises, and scratches.
"Yeah…"
"Something wrong?"
"Why would anything be wrong?"
"I don't need the Sharingan to know these things, you can tell me." Curse these Uchihas reading people like a book.
However, Itachi always did look out for them which Sakura appreciated.
"It's not important just…. I wish Sasuke would train with me. I really want to practice my genjutsu but he won't even give me the time of day. We've been in a team for how long now and he still doesn't like me". Pouting, she crossed her arms.
She didn't mean to complain about his brother to him, but it just slipped out.
"That's not true, he likes you a lot trust me." Sakura snorted.
"I doubt that." He just smiled, like he knew something she didn't.
"He talks a lot about you to me, what does that say?"
Sakura opened her mouth to say something but closed it. Sasuke talked about her? Even if they weren't nice things, it surprised her.
Since when did he talk about other people?
"Oh."
"Tell you what, let me drop these off at home and I'll help train you. Shall we say 3?"
"Really?" Sakura's eye sparkled and he nodded.
"Thanks a lot, Itachi!"
She ran home to have a shower.
Itachi just chuckled, in some ways she and Sasuke were alike.
The next day Team 7 had their usual get-together at the Uchiha's house. It was a routine and Mikoto loved having them.
"Thanks again for helping me train yesterday Itachi, here I got you something as a thank you." Handing him some dangos, which Itachi greatly accepted.
"You didn't need to but thank you," he knew Sasuke was shooting daggers at him.
"What's this about you training Sakura-Chan? I hope you're not pushing her." Mikoto appeared from the kitchen frowning.
"Mother she's a strong girl, she can handle it."
"There's a difference between strong and your kind of strong Itachi." Which she did have a point.
Completely dismissing his mother, he turned towards the bright smiling kunoichi in hoping to push his brother's buttons.
Hey, this is what big brothers do.
"If you like we could have a sparring match today, although my schedule is a little busy so I won't be free until this evening. Is that alright with you?"
Sasuke stepped in between the two defensively.
"That won't be necessary."
"Hey, don't talk for me. I want to spar!"
"I'll spar with you." Sakura looked at Sasuke as if he grew two heads.
"Eh? Why? I thought you were going to practice with Naruto."
"I changed my mind." Grabbing her hand, he glared at his brother, making his way out.
"But we haven't even eaten yet."
The door slammed shut and Naruto who had seen Sasuke seething at rage the entire time turned to Itachi.
"Do you really have to piss him off?" The older Uchiha shrugged.
"I'm just trying to prove a point to someone."
"Are you teasing your brother again about Sakura?" Mikoto yelled from the kitchen in a sweet but not so sweet voice.
Naruto sweatdropped familiar with the tone.
"So what flowers do you want on your grave?"
I low-key headcanon that Sasuke would get jealous over Itachi's closeness to Sakura as the two brothers do have completely different personalities. Also, Itachi and Sakura share a love for sweets.
And knowing this he would purposely make him jealous until he confessed his feelings to her. Sakura meanwhile is just clueless, and poor Naruto is watching on the sidelines haha.