Chapter Six: Avoiding

Sakura took her time, turning around and Itachi dreaded ever second of when she was turning, the first time he was actually frightened of being caught. She was looking at the water, but she looked up at the sight of black and red in the corner of her eye. There was Itachi, looking at her in all her birthday-suit glory.

"AGHGHGHGGHGHGHGHHGHGH!" Sakura screamed, trying to cover herself up as much as she could. Kisame leapt out from behind the tree.

"What! What's going on?" He asked, looking around and spotting Itachi.

Sakura screamed again. "AVERT YOU EYES!" She screamed, again trying not to show anything, which was difficult with the two men on to opposite sides of her.

But Itachi couldn't. He was so surprised and so…addicted to seeing her, he just could not look away. Finally he was snapped out of his trance when a bottle of shampoo came sailing at his head. He leaped out of the way and disappeared to the other side of the river, where he turned around (With a final look at her) and walked off, Kisame following behind him.

"Don't worry, Sakura!" Kisame yelled over his shoulder. "There's no reason for you to be embarrassed!"

Sakura watched them leave, her head in her hands, blushing furiously, the heat rising to her cheeks in a flaming hot way that only mortifying embarrassment can bring. She then started to laugh. A weird giggle that escaped from her throat and racked her body. What the heck am I laughing at? She thought. My body just must be getting rid of all the excitement…she thought, sighing.

She rinsed her body off another time then got out of the river, drying herself off with a towel and then putting a new set of under garments and clothes on, putting her old, slightly dirty and damp ones into her bag. She did NOT want to return to the cave, but if she didn't, she'd surely be dead.

She walked in, avoiding both of the men in there. Kisame grinned at her. "Aww…the ugly hag is embarrassed….you poor thing, getting all embarrassed over nothing. I don't know about Itachi, but I've seen plenty of girls naked before you and let me tell you none of THEM were embarrassed. And they had plenty more to show than you." Kisame said, eating another boiled shrimp from his plate.

Sakura was filling her plate with boiled shrimp and noodles when he made fun of her, and she threw the ladle at him, which he stealthily avoided. In some odd way, it was almost as if Kisame was attempting to make her feel better, and failing horribly at it.

"Thanks for the thought, Kisame, but you have an awful way of making a girl feel better. And how, if I may be so bold, did you even get a girl naked in the first place? With that face and all, you must have frightened her into taking her clothes off." She challenged, her smirk playful and menacing, and Kisame growled at her, speaking another rude comment at her…

Itachi sat in the corner, his eyes on his food, when normally they would have been watching the two fighting to make sure Kisame didn't make Sakura do anything stupid like strip like she did last time. He was also picking at his food, where as regular he would have been scoffing it down with his heavy appetite. All of this went noticed by Kisame, who smirked an evil smirk.

"So…Itachi, we haven't heard anything from you…how did YOU like the little peep show you received this morning?" Kisame asked, innocent.

Sakura blushed 50 shades of red and threw a chopstick in Kisame's direction, the chopstick being dodged but Kisame was laughing all the same. "Ah, what is THIS? Sakura is blushing? Does this actually means she cares what Itachi thinks?" Kisame asked.

"N-no." Sakura stammered, narrowing her eyes. "I just think what happened was simply embarrassing thing to go through, and I'm sure you would be blushing in a situation like this…" Sakura concluded, finishing her meal.

"I thought it was interesting. But I rather not something like it happen again." Itachi said, surprising both Kisame and more so Sakura, who blushed an even deeper red, her face now very similar to the color of the clouds on the Akatsuki robes. Kisame laughed at this, earning him a bullseye on Sakura's part, when she threw her last chopstick at his head.

-Next Morning-

Sakura woke up and stretched, starting to clean up her sleeping area as was a new sort of routine she had learned from traveling. They had decided last night to keep moving, since Sakura's wounds should have been healed by now and the letter read by Konoha, which meant the ANBU.

Sakura looked around, as was always, Itachi was gone and Kisame was asleep leaning on the wall. She stood up and walked to the entrance. "Going to take another bath?" Kisame asked jokingly from his corner. Sakura did not blush but looked back.

"After what happened yesterday? No way, I'm just going to wash my face." She said, and walked down to the river, taking a 'nature-calls' break on her way down. She yawned, singing a song and finally arrived at the river. Her jaw dropped.

There was Itachi. Taking a shower. Butt naked, in front of her. She slowly backed away, and started running. OMG! I saw Itachi…naked! She thought, blushing again and running into the cave.

"Oh, dear did you see Itachi naked?" Kisame asked as she rushed into the cave, flustered and panicky. "I'm awfully sorry, my mind slipped. I forgot to tell you that Itachi was taking a bath down there…." Kisame sighed.

"You knew! And you didn't tell me!" Sakura asked, looking for something near her to throw at him.

"Well, at least you got revenge. He saw you naked, you saw him. And eye for an eye, there you go." Kisame said, chowing down on an apple.

Itachi walked into the cave, avoiding Sakura completely. Oh my god…did he see me? She wondered in her mind. No…he'd be awfully mad, and if he did see me he'd probably have chased me an put me under a sharingan spell. She thought, a little sigh of relief spilling out of her mouth.

"Come one, we're packed up. I sensed some ANBU heading this way. We need to move." Itachi stated, his cold voice awakening her from her reverie and sent her to pick up her things. Kisame snuffed out the fire and the began to walk.

The silence was killing Sakura. Her mind was no longer her sanctuary, as she had no real things to even think about anymore…except Itachi naked. She didn't want to think about that at all, and so when they walked, she thought about not thinking of thinking of Itachi naked. Which was very difficult, because embarrassing enough, despite her age, Sakura had never seen a man naked, much less had one kiss her before. Of course, men had tried but she denied them. She was saving it for that one special person: Sasuke.

-Itachi's Point of View-

She had seen him naked. She had freaking saw him naked! She would pay for this…had she meant to spy on him? He had TOLD Kisame to tell her where he was and what he was doing. But I did see her naked…. He thought, the image of her smooth peaches-and-cream skin with the water surrounding it and her fuchsia-pink hair cascading down her back and contrasting with her skin. The emerald of her eyes as they turned towards of him…he shook his head, getting rid of the image.

I have no time to be thinking of this…I can't afford to. Emotions like this or against my conduct…it distracts me from my purpose. He said in his head. This is simply lust….chemistry. I only have lust towards her like all men have against beautiful women. He had just called her beautiful. Uchiha Itachi had never called anyone beautiful, with the exception of his mother, but that was different.

She is a tool. He repeated in her head. I'm using her. And that is all. He concluded, shutting his mind off to more thought and focusing on the road in front of him.

-Konoha- (Not the interesting part, but a semi-important part… ; P )

"Tsunade-sama…it has been 2 days since you sent out the report to search for Haruno, Sakura." Shizune said, walking into the first female Hokage's office. "No evidence has showed except a shirt belonging to her was found by a nearby river…we do not know if it was with her before or after she was captured, but the ANBU forces found traces of blood on it." Shizune reported.

"Thank you, Shizune." Tsunade said, her voice an audible whisper, and she placed her head in her hands, then ran her hands through her hair, a habit she had when she was nervous, and she was so stressed her scalp was numb with doing it so many times.

"You are dismissed." Tsunade said and went back to other paper work.

"…Tsunade-sama, if I should be so bold…You do not look well. Perhaps you could rest." Shizune said, walking closer to the desk.

"No, Shizune. Besides the troubling ordeal with Sakura-chan, things must still be run here. I'm fine, you are free to go." Tsunade said again, and Shizune took a last sad and worried look at Tsunade before walking out the door, shutting it softly.

"Oi, Shizune-sama." Naruto said, meeting her outside of the office. "…Any good news?" he asked anxiously.

Shizune looked to the ground, signaling no news, at least any good news anway. "W…what is it?" Naruto asked.

"We found some of her clothes. But…they had blood on them, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder than walking again. Naruto followed her.

"But…any good news?" Naruto asked.

"No, I'm sorry." Shizune said again, closing her eyes.

Naruto turned around. "I'm going to talk to Tsunade-sama." Shizune grabbed his arm.

"No! She's very stressed right now. Any more from somebody, especially you, she might break. Tsunade-sama is under a lot of pressure right now, she's lost someone important to her. If you, Sakura's best friend, as well as someone close to Tsunade, herself…she might let in to the pressure. I think it's best she handles this herself." Shizune said and continued walking, turning the corner.

"Sakura-chan…I will see you again." Naruto said, punching a fist into his hand.

-Sakura, Itachi, and Kisame-

Sakura yawned and shivered. The night was cold, and they were getting close to the Rock Country, but it was near the ocean and it was fall, turning Winter which made even her sweat from walking freeze. Neither Itachi nor Kisame shivered at all, and it in a way pissed her off that the people who were causing her so much trouble were in better conditions than she was. What happened to Karma! She asked bitterly in her mind.

"We'll stop here." Itachi said, the night growing colder and darker, and she saw the flash of red in the dark…Itachi's eyes. In this darkness, they looked almost warm and inviting and…familiar. She looked away when his eyes turned into her direction, an image of this morning popping into her mind.

Kisame got the wood and built a fire, while Sakura prepared to get the dinner. "We have nothing except instant ramen packages…" Sakura said, sighing. "And we had that for lunch…" she sighed. Naruto would be loving this. The thought of her best friends sent a feeling of longing spiraling through her.

After eating, and Sakura almost feeling like she was going to barf from all the ramen she ate, she got her sleeping mat ready as well as her blanket, snuggling into his and moving towards the fire.

"We should sleep somewhat close together to keep warm, unless we want to freeze." Itachi said, emotionless where as any other man Sakura knew, with the exception of Sasuke, probably, would have laughed jokingly as an opportunity to sleep next to a girl.

Sakura felt someone lay down to her right. Please not Itachi please not Itachi! She thought over and over, her eyes clenched tightly. But I don't want Kisame either! He'd probably do something to me! God, this a no win situation! She peeked open an eye and saw the silhouette of someone with deep black hair.

Oh…god…Itachi is sleeping next to me! Sakura thought. She probably would have felt better if she hadn't seen him naked and he hadn't seen her naked…and the fact that he looked like Sasuke… All her thinking wore her out as well as the walking they had done, and pretty soon she nodded off to sleep…

Sakura woke up, the cold making her want to keep under the blanket. She opened her eyes slightly but then shut them. From what she had seen in the sky, it was still partly dark, which must mean it was somewhere between 4 and 6 'o' clock. It was very warm, and she could feel a pressure around her waist. Odd.. She thought. She opened her eyes again, unable to keep them closed for some reason. She bit her lip to keep from screeching. Itachi's face was right there in front of hers. She looked around, accessing the situation. "oh my god…" she silently whispered.

His hand was around her waist. She quickly got out of her blanket, and his arm, and scooted her mat and everything away, then crawled back in, her heart pounding from more than just moving around so early in the morning. He must have subconsciously moved me closer because of my body heat… she thought, blushing again and the thought of it.

Her eyes got heavy again as she drifted off to sleep, her mind filled with thoughts of Itachi's arm around her waist and his scent and his closeness…

Holy canoli this is a long chapter for me! Isn't that the most cutest Kodak moment, though? –"Awwws"- But in reality, Sakura was right and Itachi just did it for the body heat. Sorry you guys, but I don't want things rushing THAT fast, and plus…would Itachi really do that? No! lol. But think of that, he saw her naked and she saw him naked. Which is something we'd all want to do, right? ;P Thank you for all your reviews! I feel so loved and all that good stuff!

GinaCat- You are an awesome reviewer! I don't think there hasn't been a chapter you haven't reviewed! Lol –hugs- you rock!

Sakura5584- Same goes for you, you are spectacularly awesome! I love all your comments thank you so much!

MidnightMiko666 – I know, right? So much Mishimoto doesn't tell us in the manga…..-laughs-

Itachilover101- Thanks for your review! I'll be sure to keep to this story, I like it a lot and I'm hoping that this part will have at least 10 chapters. Yep, I said part! I'm hoping to have 2 or more parts to this story, because there is no possible way that I could get a whole story in just on part! I have lots of plans for this Fanfic, and I hope you enjoy all of them!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed as well, but I felt that these people deserved recognition and questions answered, of course.

Naruku's Phoenix

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