CHAPTER 12- A day at the Hokage's office
The next morning, Sakura was beyond tired. She barely managed to get a wink of sleep, her thoughts circulating around Itachi and what he had told her that night.
She had a hard time wrapping her mind around his words and when she finally managed to fall asleep, it didn't last for too long because she had to wake up two hours later.
It was a pain, really.
The pinkette was currently on her way to Itachi's office and tried not to let her lack of sleep dampen her mood too much. She was tired, yes, but because of that she shouldn't let the still innocent day suffer.
It didn't do anything to her yet and hopefully it wouldn't do so later on either.
Sakura reached the Hokage's office just as the sun was about to rise and once she was standing in front of his door, she did a quick silent prayer that today he wouldn't drive her to her wits end and for once had some mercy on her, before she knocked on the door.
When she felt the seal on the door fade into thin air, Sakura gently pushed the door open and entered the office, just to find herself surprised at the sight that greeted her.
She expected Itachi to be on his own but contrary to her expectations, Shisui was standing in front of his cousins desk, arms crossed above his chest and looking equally as tired as she did.
The Uchiha offered her a tired smirk upon seeing her enter the room, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "Guess I'm not the only one who didn't get any sleep at night. Let me guess, boy troubles?"
Sakura merely huffed, shooting Itachi a pointed glare as she walked to stand next to Shisui. "Something like that."
Shisui, having caught Sakura's not so subtle glare that was directed at Itachi couldn't help but arch a brow out of surprise, eyes sparkling with amusement. "What did he do this time?" He asked, genuinely curious.
Sakura's eyes caught Itachi's from where he was sitting behind his desk, his dark orbs filled with mild amusement as he slightly leaned back in his chair and leaned his elbow onto its armrest, chin placed on his fist. Sakura knew that he was enjoying himself and merely offered him an amiable, yet sharp smile.
"Good Morning Hokage-sama." She greeted, her voice not giving her feelings away. "Did you sleep well?"
To others, her question may have seemed innocent and friendly but Itachi didn't miss the sharp edge that Sakura's words held. Itachi knew that she was referring to last nights incident where he had left her at the Hokage Monument all on her own in the middle of the night, not knowing that Itachi didn't actually leave.
He decided to leave her in the illusion that he left last night and merely offered her a small hum. "I did, though I don't think that the same can be said for you, Haruno."
Sakura knew that he was trying to rile her up, especially since she was way easier to provoke whilst being low on sleep but Sakura knew better than to bite on his bait and instead, forced her smile not to waver.
"Well,you're not wrong. I admittedly am a bit tired, it was rather late when I returned home last night." Sakura spoke, and Shisui eyed the pinkette in wonder as he tried to catch on to the hidden messages that his cousin and the pink-haired medic seemingly exchanged.
"Why's that?" Shisui asked, still curious as Sakura turned to look at the Uchiha with a tight-lipped smile that this time, not even Shisui managed to miss.
"Well, I had to walk back home all the way from the Hokage Monument in the middle of the night because a certain someone left without me." Sakura explained, and Shisui took a few seconds until he finally understand just who this someone that she was referring to was before his eyes turned to look at his younger cousin with a raised brow. Shisui knew his cousin well enough to know that Itachi most likely didn't leave Sakura on her own last night but for some reason, Itachi seemingly wanted to leave his little advisor in the illusion that this was indeed the case and that he simply left without her.
Itachi looked at Shisui and for a moment, Sakura felt like they shared a silent message before Shisui's lips curled upwards into a small, amused smile.
"You left her just like that?" He inquired, clearly amused by this situation but Itachi's expression remained impassive.
"She never asked me to take her back with me." Itachi deadpanned, and Sakura's head whipped to Itachi at a speed that could have easily snapped her neck.
He couldn't be serious.
Disbelieving emerald eyes once more clashed with onyx ones as she lifted a brow. "You can't be serious." She said, refusing to believe that this was the only reason as to why he left without her.
Itachi merely held her gaze, his eyes not giving anything away as he took his time in taking in the way her eyes brightened out of mild anger.
Ah, there it was.
"Wait, what were the two of you doing there in the first place?" Shisui asked, his smile turning into a mischievous smirk as Sakura hesitated and looked at Itachi for help, who in return remained silent.
Seeing that Itachi wasn't going to help her out of this one, Sakura took it onto herself to squish Shisui's fantasies.
"He put me under a genjutsu and when I manage to break out of it, I found myself at the Hokage Monument where Itachi gave me a lecture as to how I took too long to get out of it." Sakura improvised, deciding against telling Shisui the entire truth.
Well, it wasn't quite a lie either since Itachi did put her under a genjutsu, but Shisui didn't need to know that this wasn't the true reason for their little trip to the Hokage Monument.
"Oh." Shisui said, clearly disappointed that their trip was this uneventful and not as dramatic and romantic as he hoped that it had been. "How boring."
Sakura shook her head with an amused smile whereas Itachi merely heaved a soft sigh. His cousin may have been the older one out of the two, but it was obvious that he was the more mature Uchiha out of them.
Though Shisui liked to cover up his emotions with a cheery expression every once in a while as well. Itachi knew best that there was another side to Shisui that he liked to keep to himself, but it was his cousins own decision whom he wanted to show it to.
"You should get some sleep, it's been a long mission." Itachi told his cousin, knowing that once Shisui grew comfortable enough that it would take him hours to leave his office.
Shisui nodded, instantly agreeing with Itachi as he lifted his arms into the air and stretched himself. It had been a long mission indeed and he really did need his sleep if he wanted to stay fit.
"You're right, I should probably go." Shisui agreed, shooting Itachi a smile. "Tell aunt Mikoto that I'll drop by for dinner tonight."
Itachi decided against commenting on that and Sakura smiled lightly as Shisui walked out of the office after he offered her one last wave of his hand.
The door closed and just like that, the duo was on their own again.
Sakura sighed as she sat down onto the chair on the opposite side of the desk, the smile still on her lips as she looked at Itachi. "So, what's today's plan?" She asked, pointedly deciding against bringing last nights topic up once more.
Itachi, instantly noticing that Sakura was not going to mention anything regarding the conversation they shared last night, sat up straight and placed his forearms on his desk, expression not giving any of his thoughts away.
"Today we'll review some proposals so that you can get used to the idea of advising me." Itachi started, his eyes shifting to one of the staples of papers to his right.
Sakura's eyes followed his and upon seeing the mountain of proposals, she arched a brow. If this was his definition of some, she didn't want to know what he meant by many.
"Alright, makes sense. Where do we start?"
For the following hours, both Itachi and Sakura occupied themselves with the proposals. They went through each and every paper of that staple and with every proposal, Itachi requested a detailed explanation from Sakura as to why she thought they should decline or accept it.
There have been a couple of times where their opinions differed but even then Sakura managed to give him a logic explanation that represented her point of view and opinion, much to his surprise.
It seemed like not only was Sakura skilled in the medical field, but also in the political.
Every once in a while a shinobi or kunoichi entered his office to drop off their mission records or to ask for permission regarding some paper stuff, and after the third time Sakura managed to successfully predict Itachi's answer.
It seemed like not only did she get an insight of Itachi's political and judgmental traits and opinions, but she also managed to figure out his trail of thoughts in the process.
"Proposal of raising the medical treatment costs for civilians up to Shinobi level."
At that, Sakura's interest was piqued.
"I don't think that it's a good idea." The medic eventually said, taking the paper that Itachi offered her with a small frown. She swiftly skimmed over its contents and whereas she did have to agree in one point or two, the overall idea didn't sit well with her.
Itachi was very well aware of her thoughts and hummed. "What makes you think that?" He inquired, genuinely curious as to what her argument would be in this case, especially since she was actively working in the medical field. In theory, a raise of the medical treatment costs for Konoha's civilians would benefit the hospital and it's staff but apparently, Sakura was not too fond of the idea regardless.
"Well, whereas it is true that the hospital's profits would increase and medical staff would also benefit of it, I don't think it's far to the civilians if we would raise their costs up to Shinobi level. You can't compare a shinobi's pay with the one that a civilian receives." She reminded him, placing the paper on the desk in front of her. "It would result of the civilians putting hospital visits off even more than they already do."
She was right in this aspect, but that didn't mean that he would let her off the hook this easily. "Shinobi and kunoichi get injured more often and therefore have to frequently pay a higher amount of costs." Itachi reasoned, and Sakura thinned her lips as she looked back to the paper.
"That's true, but that's why their insurance covers thirty percent of the bills. Konoha's citizens don't have this kind of insurance, so raising their medical treatment costs up to the Shinobi standard would still be too high." Sakura argued and as she lifted her eyes to see Itachi's small, yet satisfied smile she knew that she managed to convince him with this one.
"Hn, very well then."
Sakura placed the paper onto the small staple where the proposals that would be declined were stacked up at and lifted her eyes to glance at the clock.
It was already after noon and they still didn't take a break. She was slowly starting to get hungry and she knew that Itachi probably felt the same, but knowing the Uchiha he would probably want to clear his desk of all the proposals before he would even think of eating.
Not under her watch though. It would probably take them another three hours until they would be done and by then it would already be late evening. Mikoto probably wouldn't want her son's first meal of the day to be dinner and thus, Sakura decided that maybe she should change his usual working schedule a bit.
She stood up from the chair, the sound of it scraping against the office floor causing Itachi to look up at the pinkette with an arched brow, his eyes silently questioning her if something was the matter but Sakura merely offered him a smile.
"I'll get us some food." She declared, silently daring him to object but when he merely non-conversationally hummed and turned his attention back onto the paper in front of him, she knew that he wouldn't mind.
"Any special requests?" Sakura asked the Uchiha as she tilted her head aside, but the Uchiha didn't even bother to look up at her.
"I expect you to be back in fifteen minutes, so don't take any longer."
Sakura's smile fell upon hearing his words and the pinkette sighed as she made her way out of the office, shaking her head at the Uchiha.
She really should have expected that.
Sakura didn't bother to run and instead, settled on calmly walking towards her destination. The food-court that she had in mind was not too far away from the Hokage tower and even if she did take her time getting there, she still wouldn't exceed the fifteen minute time-limit that Itachi had given her.
The weather was quite nice and Sakura enjoyed the fresh breeze that caressed her skin as she strolled through Konoha's busy streets. Her former tiredness was all forgotten as she told herself to simply enjoy her little break from Itachi's stuffy office and continued to walk towards the food court that her and the girls have been to a couple of times before already.
Only five minutes passed when Sakura finally reached her destination and the young girl shot Sakura a bright smile upon seeing her.
"Sakura nee-san!" She called from where she was standing behind the counter, her brown hair pulled back into a messy low bun. "What would you like today?"
Sakura returned the girls smile and took a look at the Menu that was hanging on the wall behind her, thinking about what would come closest to Itachi's taste.
"Good afternoon Mayumi, could you give me Menu one and four to go please?" Sakura asked, and Mayumi bobbed her head as she scribbled the pinkette's order down.
"Will do Sakura-chan! It'll take around five minutes." Mayumi told her with an amiable smile and Sakura nodded before she moved to the side to allow the customers behind her to place their orders.
Sakura wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the busy street, bored as she waited for her and Itachi's food but so far, nothing interesting caught her eye.
Two minutes passed before her emerald eyes caught sight onto a group of three men that were lazily strolling through the street. They were talking to one another and usually, Sakura wouldn't have paid them any attention but this time, she couldn't help but notice their eyes strayed from person to person, analyzing them from head to toe in a way she didn't like.
One of their eyes eventually fell on her and when he noticed that Sakura was already looking at him, he merely smirked, shooting her a wink before he moved his eyes back onto the road.
Sakura frowned and for a moment, she felt a strange sense of familiarity overcome her and just when they rounded the corner, she froze. She had seen this smirk before.
She had seen him before.
And it was then that it clicked.
Sakura instantly darted after them, pushing through the crowds while she absentmindedly uttered apologies as she tried to keep her eyes set on the trio that rounded the corner. Her heart-rate picked up as she as well rounded the corner and entered a less busy street, eyes scanning the road in hope of catching sight of familiar silver-hair but when she was unable to see it, she came to a stop.
She couldn't have imagined it, she would have recognized his face anywhere and the mere fact that he seemingly recognized her as well was enough to strengthen her suspicion that it was him.
The one who poisoned her.
A yell from a woman behind her caused her to snap back into reality and her head to turn just in time to see a middle-aged man, probably not much older than Naruto and her pushing an old woman onto the ground as he grabbed her bag and made a mad dash into the opposite direction.
Just what she needed.
Sakura's eyes narrowed as she instantly followed the thief that had now slipped into the crowd, Sakura following close behind. The boy was pushing civilians left and right, yelling at them to move out of his way as he noticed that he was being chased.
"Stop it!" Sakura called as she jumped over a cabbage cart, the surprised gasps from Konoha's citizens following her every move.
The boy glanced over his shoulder and cursed as he saw Sakura catching up with him before he sharply turned to the right an disappeared into another smaller, less crowded street.
Sakura fastened her pace and was surprised to find that another one had joined the boy, a slightly younger girl who was now running next to him. She seemed to be faster than he was and the boy threw the bag towards his partner in crime before they entered another busy street and split up.
Sakura cursed as she followed the young girl that slipped into the crowd, disappearing beneath hundreds of new faces while Sakura's emerald eyes scanned each and every face in hope of catching sight of her.
Just when she was about to give up, thinking that she managed to escape did she feel the air behind her shift. Her head whipped to her right just in time to see a kunai flying towards her and the pinkette grabbed it mid-air with the help of her chakra, not risking to dodge it in case of it hurting innocent citizens.
A series of gasps and surprised calls followed the attack and Sakura instantly threw the kunai back towards the boy who tried to escape. He obviously didn't expect Sakura to be a kunoichi and tried to get out of her sight as fast as he could but the kunai was faster and pinned his sleeve onto the nearby wall of an alley.
The boy's wide eyes were fixed onto the Kunai before they flew back to Sakura and just as she charged towards him, a flash of red caught her sight out of the corner of her eye.
Sakura dodged the kick that was aimed at her head and did a turn before she grabbed the girl's arm and twisted it behind her back, earning a yelp but from as she tried to wriggle free.
"Let me go!" She called, struggling against Sakura's hold but the medic merely frowned out of disapproval.
"Where is the bag?" She inquired, tightening her grip on the girl when she stubbornly remained silent. The red-head gave a small pained yelp as she felt Sakura tighten her grip and gritted her teeth. "You'd like to know, wouldn't you?"
Well this wasn't going anywhere. Sakura sighed as she decided to take the calmer approach, noticing that a circle had formed itself around them, young and old eager to look at the source of commotion.
"Look, if you return that bag I'll put in a good word for you but in order to do that you have to tell me where it is. If you don't, you'll find yourself in bigger trouble than you'd like." Sakura told them, her eyes moving between the boy that was still trying to get the kunai out of his sleeve and the girl who was biting her tongue.
Contrary to her expectations, the young girl suddenly started to laugh, a smug expression on her face as she looked over her shoulder to throw Sakura a cocky look.
"You really think you're smart, don't 'cha girly?"
Safe to say, Sakura didn't expect the sudden shrill noise that entered her head as soon as the last word left the red-heads mouth. It was a shrill, continuous high noise that caused her to let the small girl go and to cover her ears instead, the pressure of it making Sakura dizzy.
She tried to keep her eyes open, vision blurry as her eyes fell onto the girl and a new boy who were working on freeing their pinned friend, the new boy shooting Sakura a nervous look before he formed a new series of seals.
Sakura tried to take another step forwards, reaching out to grab the boys collar but just as her fingertips brushed against the fabric the shrill noise returned, forcing her onto her knees.
She clenched her eyes shut, all sense of balance fading as the last thing she managed to make out was the sight of Konoha's citizens holding their heads in pain.
Sakura forced chakra into her hands in hope of dimming the noise but when it wouldn't work, she inwardly cursed.
Just when she felt like the noise was getting too much to bear, she felt someone gently grab her face, his touch so soft that she barely managed to make it out. He gently forced her eyes open with his thumbs and in the next moment, she found herself staring into an all too familiar pair of Sharingan eyes.
Itachi.
As soon as Sakura recognized him, she calmed under his touch. She trusted Itachi to get her out of this mess and allowed him to do his work. Indeed, not even seconds later the Uchiha broke the jutsu that the thieves placed on Sakura and the rest, the illusion shattering and the shrill noise gradually fading until it fully disappeared.
As soon as the noise died down Sakura was breathing heavily, head pounding as she clenched her eyes shut and a soft groan passed her lips.
The noise may have disappeared but the pain and nauseousness was still evident. Itachi removed his hands from her face and gently placed them on her shoulders, keeping her steady as his crimson eyes caught her dazed green ones.
"Thank you." She breathed, placing a hand on her forehead to calm herself as she looked around to see that the bystanders were also slowly starting to get back on their feed with each others help and support. "What about the thieves?"
Itachi averted his gaze and fixed them onto something behind her. Sakura's eyes followed his line of vision before they rested on the unconscious trio on the ground several meters away from her. She breathed a sigh of relief, grateful for Itachi's last minute rescue as she offered him a sheepish smile.
"I'm sorry, I didn't intend to cause such a commotion." Sakura apologized as she allowed Itachi to help her back up.
"I wouldn't worry about you causing a commotion." He assured her as he allowed his Sharingan to fade out of existence. "Though I would worry about you running late becoming an habit, Haruno."
Sakura couldn't help but smile, instantly feeling better as she shook her head at Itachi's words. "Don't worry, I'll try not to let it become a habit. Though, I am afraid that I left our lunch at the food-court because of a certain trio." She said, shooting the unconscious teens a pointed look.
Itachi also turned to look back at the teens before his eyes shifted to the crowd that was looking at the duo in both awe and suspense. The children in the front row were looking at him with wide, awe-struck eyes and Itachi could easily tell that his mere presence was enough to impress them.
"Woah, isn't that Hokage-sama?" A boy who seemed no older than ten exclaimed, clearly excited.
"It is! He saved Sakura nee-san!"A girl replied, eyes sparkling as her eyes moved from Itachi to Sakura, then back to Itachi.
Sakura shot them a smile before she shifted her eyes back to Itachi. "I think we should leave or else they might ask for your autograph." She joked, and Itachi curtly nodded in return before he turned around to leave, Sakura following suit.
"What about the thieves?" Sakura asked, eyes straying to them before she looked back up at Itachi in question.
"I've already informed Konoha's police force, they should be here every minute now." Itachi told her as they started to make their way back towards the Hokage tower.
Sakura hummed in return, slightly muffled that they didn't want to cooperate with her. They seemed to be her age and even though they were quite rude, they could've gotten away with less easier trouble if only they would have returned the woman's bag when she told them to.
Sakura and Itachi made their way back towards his office, picking up the food Sakura had previously ordered so that it wouldn't go to waste. On the way back, Sakura was inwardly wondering whether she should tell Itachi about what she had seen before she chased the thieve or if she should wait until she would see him again.
The duo ate their lunch without exchanging a word, Sakura remaining uncharacteristically silent as she ate her food. Itachi instantly noticed that something was off with the pinkette but decided against asking her. He knew that if something was bothering her she would either consult him by herself or leave it at that, though he had to admit that he preferred the more talkative Sakura.
After they finished lunch, they continued to work through the proposals and even though Sakura still tried her best to fulfill her part as the advisor, Itachi noticed that this time the pinkette was not as energetic as she had been before.
When there were only a handful of proposals left , Sakura eventually made up her mind and decided to tell Itachi.
She knew that he most likely already noticed her inner dilemma and purposefully didn't address it but since it was a matter that also concerned him, she figured that it would be best to let him know.
After all, she didn't want history to repeat itself.
"There is something that I should tell you, Uchiha-san." Sakura started, carefully choosing her words as she looked up at Itachi from the paper that she had previously read.
Itachi looked at her, not the least bit surprised as he remained silent and caught her gaze, mutely indicating that she should continue.
Sakura instantly got the message and placed her pen onto the desk before her eyes hardened, posture straightening as she looked him dead in the eye.
"I believe that the ones who poisoned me in Suna managed to get into Konoha."
Now that Itachi didn't expect.
His eyes sharply narrowed as he looked at Sakura, onyx orbs dangerously glowing in the dim light of his office. "What leads you to believe that?" He inquired, his low voice having a sudden steely edge to it that Sakura didn't miss.
The pinkette shifted slightly under his gaze. "Back when I was ordering our food I saw him and two strangers walking through Konoha's streets. At first, I didn't recognize him simply because I didn't expect it to be him out of all but when he recognized me as well, he didn't make a move to hide himself. It was quite the opposite actually. " Sakura told him, her own eyes narrowing as she thought back to their encounter. "It seemed like he wanted me to recognize him."
Itachi didn't like where this was going. If Sakura's words were to be trusted and she really did see one of them, that would mean that they somehow managed to escape Suna's prison.
If this was the case he would have already been notified of it and since he didn't receive any message from Gaara, this couldn't have possibly been the case.
So they either managed to break out of Suna's prison without them noticing or someone was playing a trick on Sakura.
Either way, he didn't like it.
"Are you one hundred percent sure that it really was him?" Itachi inquired, placing his elbows onto the surface of his desk and interlaced his fingers in front of him.
Sakura nodded, her expression grave. "Positive. I tried following them but I lost them before I was able to make out who his two comrades were, but they weren't the ones he's been with in Suna."
Itachi believed her, she had no reason to lie to him about something like that but there was something about it that put him off. If he really managed to get into Konoha and was keeping an eye on Sakura, this meant that she was in far more danger than he expected her to be in.
He would have to consult Gaara about this and ask him about his prisoners current status to ensure that it was really him and not just a genjutsu.
"It was the right thing to tell me." Itachi told her, picking up the way Sakura slightly relaxed. "If something like this happens again, don't follow them and instead instantly seek me out."
Sakura nodded as she leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes. She felt like part of the burden that weighted down on her was lifted and yet, she felt like something about this entire thing was off.
"I don't think that they plan on attacking me a second time." She told Itachi, feeling his gaze on her. "I think that they showed themselves to remind us that we shouldn't be too comfortable and instead, to stay on alert."
Itachi thought along the same lines as Sakura and to hear her tell him his exact same thoughts only strengthened his belief.
"I'll talk to the Kazekage and take care of this matter. Regardless of that, I want you to be on alert when you are on your own."
Sakura opened her eyes and gave him a curt nod, knowing how important it was for her to keep her senses on high alert if she didn't want a repetition of Suna's incident.
Sakura stifled a yawn as she straightened in her seat, trying to rid herself off her sleepiness. It was already late evening and even though they had only five more proposals to go, Sakura felt beyond tired.
This didn't go unnoticed by Itachi of course and the Uchiha mildly wondered just how many hours the pinkette spent thinking about what he told her last night.
The duo continued to work on the proposals and after they finished the last one, Sakura heaved a heavy sigh.
"Finally." She breathed, eyeing the two staples with tired eyes. It wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be but as a kunoichi and medic, she hated to sit on a chair for more than an hour straight.
She needed to move and since she hadn't done so for more than three hours straight, she believed that it was about time to do so.
"Well then, now that we are all done we can finally leave." Sakura said, smiling as her eyes drifted to Itachi, who in return looked at her with an arched brow.
"You are free to go, Haruno, but there are still a thing or two that I need to take care of before I can leave this office. I'll have two guards escort you home." Itachi told her, earning a frown from Sakura.
"You don't expect me to leave you on your own, do you?" Sakura asked, mildly surprising Itachi. At his silence, Sakura merely shook her head.
"We already took care of most things together today, so I don't see any harm in helping you out with a thing more or two. Besides, it gets faster done if you have a helping hand, right?" Sakura said, shooting him a small smile as she lightly tilted her head aside. "So, where do we start?"
Itachi watched Sakura for another moment in silence, mentally weighting his options. If he would let her go now, he would have some time for himself until he would get home where the next commotion would expect him. Then again, if he would let her go home now and without any guards since she would most likely refuse to get escorted home, chances were high that whoever had his eye on Sakura would use this opportunity to attack her.
"Hn, very well."
It turned out that whereas Sakura did try her best to be of as much help as she could, her exhaustion took the better of her and she eventually fell asleep sometime close to midnight.
He couldn't blame her, for it did take longer than he expected it to and yet, it still amazed him to see that Sakura, one of Konoha's top kunoichi and medics managed to fall asleep in his presence.
Doing so spoke of a high amount of trust and Itachi suspected that it partly had to do with the fact that Itachi carried her all the way from Suna back home when she was poisoned and close to death. In such cases, her body was at its most vulnerable and when he didn't take advantage of her then, her subconscious probably knew that it was safe to take a rest in his presence.
When Itachi was finally done with his paper-work, he moved to walk over to the pinkette that was curled up in the chair, head leaned against the chair's back and a file innocently resting on her lap.
He knelt down next to her and carefully lifted the file from her lap to place it onto his desk before he shifted his eyes back to Sakura, who was still sound asleep.
Itachi inwardly wondered how he always managed to find himself in such unforeseen situations whenever Sakura was involved and gently wrapped his arms around her small, sleeping frame.
When he carefully picked her up and moved her so that her head was resting on the crook of his neck, Sakura suddenly tensed. For a moment, Itachi thought that she would wake up but when she softly sighed and her entire body relaxed, he knew that this wouldn't be the case.
The Uchiha turned off the lights of his office and walked over to his window, his hold on Sakura tightening as he moved to stand on its edge.
Whereas the Hokage Tower was most likely close to deserted, Itachi didn't want to risk anyone catching sight of him leaving with a passed out Sakura in his arms.
People would start gossiping, some may even assume that he knocked her out cold and that was something that the Uchiha could easily live without.
He then jumped out of the window and onto the nearby rooftop, landing on it with the grace of a cat as he started his journey towards Sakura's apartment.
The night air was cold and biting on his skin as he jumped from roof to roof and Sakura slightly shivered in his hold.
For a moment, Itachi's thoughts took a dangerous turn as he was tempted to pull her closer but he forced himself to rid his mind of such thoughts.
It didn't take him long to reach her apartment and when he did, Itachi came face to face with the seal that protected her home from intruders. It took Itachi mere seconds to break it and he made a mental note to tell Sakura to update her seal as he walked into her apartment.
It was the first time that he entered her home and whereas he didn't have a special image in mind regarding how it may look like, he found that her home suited her.
The moment he entered it, the familiar smell of lilies reached his nose, the very same smell that belonged to Sakura. Itachi closed the door behind him, careful not to make any sound as he further walked into the apartment in hope of finding her room.
Since Sakura's apartment was not too big, it didn't take him too long until he found her bedroom and when he did, he removed the neatly made sheets that covered the bed before he gently lowered Sakura onto the mattress.
He made sure to properly place her head onto the pillow before he reached for the sheets and gently placed them over her sleeping form. When he was done, Itachi reached out to gently move a strand of pink-hair out of her face, his fingertips brushing against her cheek with the weight of a feather as he tugged it behind her ear.
He allowed his fingers to rest there for some moments as he took in the sight of Sakura's sleeping form, imprinting the image into his mind. There was something about the way the moonlight caressed her pale skin, her pink long hair that was sprawled over her pillow and her rosy lips that were ever so slightly parted to inhale small and even gusts of air.
He was immersed by the sight, and it was then that Itachi realized just what dangerous territory he was about to enter.
Itachi reluctantly removed his hand from Sakura's hair and straightened, eyes taking in the sight for one more moment before he forced himself to turn around and leave.
Just when he was about to leave her bedroom however, something on her dresser caught his eye and when he turned to have a proper look at it, he instantly halted.
It was a Kiku laying innocently on top of her dresser, its white petals glowing in the moonlight.
Itachi's eyes sharpened as he walked over and picked it up. He activated his Sharingan to properly examine it in case someone placed a jutsu on the flower but when he found no traces of any jutsu or seal, he allowed the Sharingan to fade out of existence once more.
Itachi looked at the flower that now rested innocently on the palm of his hand before his gaze shifted to the still sleeping Sakura. It seemed like someone took joy out of to toying with the kunoichi, but it also seemed like whoever the one behind this was forgot that she was his responsibility.
And whoever threatened what was his automatically secured a place on Itachi's list of people that he needed to remind just who they were dealing with.
Itachi tightened his hold onto the flower before he tucked it into the depths of his pants pockets and left Sakura's apartment, mind set.
It was time to take some action.
A/N: Et Voila, Chapitre 12! What do you think?
Nowadays I find it much more easier to update. Maybe it is because I finally got a somehow steady grip on my life, but maybe it's simply because I managed to overcome the nasty writers block that I had a couple of chapters ago. Either way, thanks to whichever one of the two it is I manage to update more regularly and it makes me really happy to get all the uplifting and motivating reviews from you guys!
You don't believe how much they motivate me to keep going and to update as soon as I can. Really.
As always, I hope that you liked this chapter and would be beyond happy if you would tell me by leaving a review!
See you next chapter!
Love,
Sara