Chapter 8: tonight, can we do something unforgiveable?

Tonight,

tonight can we do something unforgiveable?

If not unforgivable,

at least unforgettable.

Tell me how you got this far still

mostly intact,

slightly obscene,

and completely and painfully

unique.

Show me where that dirt came from,

that blood came from, who it belonged to,

and why those too sweet, too weak

have no hope of surviving you.

- Unknown

The first time Itachi met Shin was when they were both eighteen years old.

Shin had been a rising star, winning every single competition he would participate in, almost flawlessly. Itachi had been following his journey religiously, making notes, marking his upward trajectory. There were talks about Shin entering the Olympics.

Danzo, Itachi's coach at that time, became more and more impatient with Itachi the more Shin kept winning. Itachi never understood the logic; they had not competed directly against each other until that moment.

So when the time actually came, when Itachi faced off against Shin, the pressure had been paramount. The crowd was cheering for Shin but there had been a small group of dedicated, loyal fans who raised their voices when Itachi stepped out to the pool. It made him feel at least a little better, especially when Danzo kept shooting him warning glares.

That first time, Itachi came in third.

Danzo didn't let that deter him, which Itachi stopped minding, as well, because Shin had dismissed his congratulations as if Itachi didn't even exist. It had been embarrassing and humiliating, more so when the video had gone viral. For weeks, Itachi found himself become the butt of a joke.

He vowed to return the favour.

Over the next two years, Itachi broke records but he could not beat Shin even a single time. The pressure kept building and Shin still refused to acknowledge his presence. After his accident, Danzo dropped him like a hot pan and the next thing Itachi knew, he was Shin's new coach.

For a few days, Itachi was too pissed to talk to anyone. He only allowed the nurse and the doctor inside the room because it was unavoidable, and despite Sasuke's various pleas, he could not calm down enough to hold a proper conversation. No one had missed this fact, the fact that Itachi lost his coach to the man who had humiliated him, and everyone had more or less given up on his career, including his friends and family.

Whenever Itachi would talk about returning to swimming post his recovery, his parents initially became shifty-eyed and changed the topic entirely. When it became clear that Itachi wasn't going to give up, they sent ammunition.

Shisui and Obito, Naori and Temari, Inabi and Gaara, Uncle Rasa and Grandfather Madara – they all came with big smiles and best wishes, telling him to get well soon, how they can't wait for him to join in all the fun again, regaling trivial family news –

"The wife has put me on the couch for a few days," Shisui laughed guiltily, sitting in one of the chairs in Itachi's bedroom. "She caught me sneaking back in drunk after explicitly telling her I was not at the bar."

"You deserve it," Naori told him promptly. "Why'd you lie anyway?"

"I didn't lie," Shisui defended, "I honestly hadn't planned on drinking at all. They made me."

"Peer pressure got to you?" Itachi asked dryly, not believing it one bit. "You, who convinced all of us to get drunk when the adults weren't looking?"

"Mom was so pissed," Temari cackled. "Especially when baby bro talked back."

"You make decent drinks, by the way," Shisui said, pointing at Temari. "Is that the first time you had mixed?"

"Sort of?" Temari shrugged. "I had looked up a few on the internet and experimented. I'm actually considering taking up a gig at the local bar after graduation." She turned to Gaara, added, "How pissed do you think Mom would be at that?"

"On the scale of mildly annoyed to outright disowning you," Gaara replied seriously, "I would say 'disappointed for life'."

Temari stared, then snorted. "Thank you."

Gaara nodded. "You're welcome."

"Speaking of," Obito began carefully, "I could fix you up at my workplace, Itachi."

Itachi clenched his jaw. "And what role do you think I'd be good at?"

"Sales?" Obito suggested, eyebrows raised. "Or you could do a couple of computer courses? That should open up your options further. Isn't that right, Shisui?"

Shisui nodded. "Of course. In fact, Inabi was telling me just the other day about marine wildlife. Weren't you, Inabi?"

Inabi looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was a small thing, too, at least that time, younger than Gaara by less than a year. "Uh – yes. Yes."

"See?" Shisui grinned brightly. "Something that might interest you."

"I'm tired," Itachi said, pointedly burrowing himself deeper in the cushions. "Good bye."

Once Itachi began gaining some strength, he would sit on the edge of the pool in their backyard, feet dipped in, and breathed. Both Izumi and Sasuke were in college, his parents were at someone's house, which meant that Naruto was the one who found him hours later.

Naruto didn't coax him to step inside. Instead, he draped a thick blanket around Itachi's shoulders, brought him some cushions and his medicines, a steaming cup of hot chocolate, and joined him in his staring contest with the water.

It had truly felt like everything was over.

You know why everyone is worried, don't you? Naruto had said.

His back was on fire. You know why I can't give up, don't you?

And that was that.

Naruto became his only ally and Itachi would never, ever forget it. It had been reassuring to have someone in his corner, despite his parents' rising anger at his "madness", despite Sasuke's guilt-ridden desperate pleas of taking care of his health, despite Izumi's I can't watch you put yourself through that. Itachi ignored them all but it was becoming harder and harder by the day.

Until Kakashi showed up at his doorstep, offering to coach him. If you're still interested in swimming, and I have a feeling that you are.

She did voices.

Voices.

Jesus Christ. Maybe if she makes enough of a fool of herself, Itachi might be the one to put as much distance between them as possible. Which, granted, would solve all of her problems right now.

Alright, not all of them. She's currently staring at one in the face.

The sea of kids, toddlers really, the way she sees, are staring back at her hopefully, chubby and cute and innocent, wide eyed, as if Sakura holds the answers to the secrets of the universe.

Seriously, the dumbest population of the country. Anyone who even remotely believes she could be a role model for the upstanding future leaders of the world must be flying high on something. Not that Tsunade is, of course not, but the stress of managing a hospital must be getting to her head finally. The woman is in her fifties, for fuck's sake. What's the retirement age, again?

"What do you do?" A small girl asks, nose in the air. "You're not a doctor. Doctor saves lives."

Sakura smiles tightly. "I help the doctor."

"But the doctor does everything," she declares in a carrying voice.

The teacher throws an embarrassed look towards Sakura but doesn't intervene. Perfect. She might be one of those teachers who believe in letting children "find themselves". Not that Sakura particularly cares, but it's fucking shit up for her so maybe the teacher could be a little more helpful.

The little girl looks far more smug than it should have been possible at her age. She's properly smirking like a detective who just cornered the culprit in a game of words.

The girl is definitely going places. Sakura just hopes it's not in healthcare and they never cross paths. She does not want to become a murderer, if she can help it.

"Imagine that you are in the emergency room," Sakura begins, coolly holding the girl's gaze. "You have a broken leg. The doctor is a busy person so they might take some time to attend to your pain. Would you like to wait in terrible agony until they arrive?"

The girl frowns, quickly shakes her head. "No. I would want medicine."

"Exactly. Who do you think can give you medicine if the doctor is busy?"

She realises she's been caught because her eyes widen and she refuses to answer.

Sakura returns the smug smirk. "That's right. The nurse attends to you and makes the pain go away. We keep you calm and comfortable as much as possible, we give you medications on time, we check up on you regularly, and we are there for anything you might need."

One of the other kids perk up. "Even candies?"

Sakura holds back a laugh. "If the doctor allows, why not?" Then she lowers her voice slightly and cups her mouth. "But honestly? If you're a good patient, we might sneak them in."

"Candies are the best," he tells her, bouncing in his seat. "They make everyone happy."

"They do," Sakura agrees solemnly.

This kid is not all that bad. For starters, he seems pretty smart. Knows his priorities.

"Any other questions for Nurse Haruno?" The teacher calls out.

A hand shoots up in the air. This kid has the brownest eyes Sakura has ever encountered. She's sitting in the back and yet they stand out like nobody's business. If Sakura were to venture a guess, she'd say they look like sunlight hitting dry soil.

Naruto might be rubbing off on her a bit. Just a tad bit.

The teacher smiles. "Go ahead, Noora." Turning to Sakura, she explains, "Noora recently moved here from India with her parents. She's a curious child."

"Ah, cool." She turns expectantly to the kid.

Noora stares back, unblinking. "You have very pretty hair. Is it natural?"

The entire class erupts in giggles. Sakura stands there, trying to discern if kids their age engage in sarcasm or if this kid is a special case. But she isn't laughing with the rest of them. In fact, she seems to be actually waiting for an answer.

Shouldn't the teacher intervene now? This question is hardly related to her profession. Did Hinata ever mention being asked bizarre questions? Knowing her, though, she might have answered with the utmost sincerity anyway.

So Sakura channels her inner Hinata. "Thank you, that's very sweet. Yes, it's one hundred percent natural."

Which turns out to be the wrong thing to do because, promptly, five other hands rocket to the air and without waiting for permission, they all burst out in questions.

Do you have a boyfriend, Nurse Haruno?

"What? No–"

Don't be silly. Ask if she has a partner. Mommy says we should not automatically think everyone is straight.

Are you gay, Miss Haruno?

"I'd rather not–"

Nurse Haruno, who is your favourite patient?

"We don't have them, although, Maurie is pretty cool–"

Do you have a dog? I love dogs!

"I might be more of a cat person–"

Can we all go for ice cream? Miss Kim never allows us.

"Umm–"

What's straight?

"Ahhh–"

Did you know Kenji has two Dads?

"Well, that's–"

I love my Daddy. I think I would love two of him even more!

Do nurses see dead bodies, Nurse Haruno?

Have you seen dead bodies?

That's awesome!

Sakura spins to glare at the teacher incredulously. The teacher finally gets the hint and calls for order, hastily thanking Sakura for visiting and carting her out of the classroom.

Sakura dumps her food tray on the table. "Well, that was a disaster. I hope Tsunade learned her lesson."

Hinata giggles and puts her book aside. "How bad was it?"

Sakura drops down in the chair stiffly. She's still pissed. "Bad enough that it won't be happening ever again."

They eat mostly in silence after that. Sakura fiddles on her phone a little, scrolling through her social media feed. She comes across Temari's latest post from last evening wherein she's posing from behind a bar, elbows on the counter, winking in the camera. The caption reads, When you get enough tips to hire a photographer.

Sakura hits like.

A new follow request is pending from three hours ago.

Izumi (blue_pancake) has requested to follow you.

Well, this day is just getting better and better. Biting her lip, she accepts it and sends a request in return before putting her phone back in her pocket with a huff. Then she makes the mistake of glancing at Hinata's food tray.

It's nothing but bread in a variety of forms.

"Jesus, Hinata," Sakura actually reels back at the sight before she can help herself. "What's up with all the bread?"

A dash of pink crosses Hinata's cheeks and nose, and she looks up in embarrassment. "I know it's awful. I've been having bread cravings all week and I couldn't help myself."

"No, no – that's not," Sakura rubs her forehead. A headache is building up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to – it's just been a complicated morning. Ignore me."

After a few moments, Sakura heaves a sigh, gathering herself. "I mean it, okay? I'm sorry. You should have whatever you crave. The kid must be fussing up."

Hinata cracks a small smile. "It doesn't even have limbs yet."

"You know what I mean," Sakura says crossly, which makes Hinata laugh. "As the father of the limbless child, I say that you eat all the bread you can possibly find in this place."

"I am," Hinata agrees, gesturing at her plate sheepishly. "Although, I would kill for a milkshake right about now."

Sakura jumps to her feet and does an elaborate courtesy. "M'lady, your wish is my command."

Hinata is all too eager to rattle off exactly what kind of milkshake she wants and from where. Sakura dutifully notes it down in her phone.

The air outside is crisp and smells faintly of upcoming spring.

Sakura is bundled in a thick sweater despite the afternoon sun. The snow has melted considerably, creating slippery streets and wet shopfronts. The Christmas decorations have finally come off; it feels strangely empty; barren.

The ice cream truck is only a block away, on the edge of a small park. Despite the cool climate, a queue has formed in front of the truck. Sakura joins the back of the line, shaking her sandals to get rid of the collected water. With nothing to do, she miserably pulls her phone out and opens her social media feed again.

Once it's open, the feed refreshes automatically and she suddenly finds herself staring at Itachi's face.

He's posted a new photo a few seconds ago. It looks like the inside of a locker room with other men present in the background in varying stages of undress. Itachi himself has bare shoulders but the photo is cropped halfway down his chest. He's smiling but it's evident he looks nervous as hell.

The caption reads, Wish me luck.

Wait, what?

"Shit, shit, shit." Sakura freaks out, checking the date before realising she'd never known the dates of the competition, anyway.

Even the group has been mostly silent, all of them recovering from Christmas and New Year, and catching up with their respective work. Naruto hadn't said a word during their sessions and Sakura hadn't asked, either.

Since that night, on top of medical memes, Itachi has been sending her space facts. Apparently, there are eight times more atoms in a teaspoon of water than the total number of teaspoons of water in the entirety of Atlantic Ocean. Who would have known?

Itachi is – the way he spoke –

If he doesn't win–

He'll just try again, she reasons. If he can keep going even after explicit orders from professionals to take it easy after a spine injury, he can definitely stick with a loss and come back harder next time.

It sounds perfectly logical and yet, yet, the idea of him losing after coming this far unsettles her. She's worried, she realises, about the outcome. For him.

It's stupid, though. There's no personal stake for her, she has no reason to take this competition so seriously. This is not about her at all.

Except that it sort of is.

Not in a – a direct sense. Of course, not. But Sakura is personally invested ever since their phone call. She sees herself in Itachi, the part of her that chased the dream, and kept chasing it, unwilling to give it up, the echoes of her traitorous mind that keeps her awake at night, indulging in a fantasy world where she's skipping on stars, feeds her distractions and a safe gateway from the worst of her reality.

She sees herself in him and she's rooting for him to have his dream come true because if she pauses for a second, and thinks, just for a second, if she'd actually gotten to fly, if she'd actually been floating through space, at peace, feeling so, so loved –

As if nature is created for the sole purpose of loving you.

She checks the link below the caption for the live screening and clicks it open. A fresh tab pops up on the browser, the videos loads, and she's hit with on-going commentary. The details under the video states that the competitions will begin at sharp 2 PM.

It's 1:53 PM.

She has rounds. She has work. She can't – this is ridiculous. Surely, Itachi will update the status later. She'll get to know if he won or not. There's no need to actually watch the whole damn thing.

Itachi learns what they say about life coming in full circles. Because with Kakashi as his coach, a couple of years of recovery later, Itachi still comes in third. He still can't beat Shin.

Kakashi says that Itachi's position turned out to be better than what most of them had expected. He says it's not every day that a swimmer with previous injury is capable of pulling himself through in this manner. He says it's all about baby steps, that Itachi has successfully made a mark.

Itachi only believes it when he watches a few people approach Kakashi after the medals have been distributed. The ceremony is short and sweet but Itachi basks in the limelight, congratulates everyone except Shin, does well in his interviews, and he's smiling by the time he enters the locker room.

The only other person is Shin, who has already changed into his regular clothes.

Itachi ignores him, goes to his own locker.

He pulls out his phone and for a moment, he thinks he's got the wrong one. He rechecks the back cover, it's his, but the wall of notifications is definitely a new thing. Squinting, he tries to discern what they're about.

Halfway down, his chest is burning, his eyes are stinging. This is ridiculous – he can't afford becoming emotional over coming in third, he's not even broken any sort of record, and this outpour of affection is just – it's fucking overwhelming.

Itachi sits down.

Shuts his eyes.

Breathes.

His phone starts to ring. Izumi flashes across his screen and Itachi quickly presses the green button.

"Congratulations, babe," Izumi says excitedly without preamble. "I'm so proud of you! You did it!"

He grins helplessly. "Thank you. Did you watch?"

A brief pause, then Izumi says regretfully. "I couldn't, I'm sorry. I'm stuck in a meeting since the morning and only just escaped to the bathroom to make a quick call. Sorry, babe. How was it?"

"That's fine," he says dismissively. His cheeks feel suddenly frozen. "It was alright, I suppose. Kakashi said it's enough to sway a few sponsors in my direction."

From a few feet away, there's a snickering sound.

Itachi steadfastly ignores it.

"That's wonderful," Izumi says, now sounding a little rushed. "Listen, babe, we'll talk later, okay? I think I heard my manager step inside the bathroom. Gotta go. Love you. Congratulations once again!"

"Thank–"

The line goes dead.

All the warmth trickles out. He shouldn't – she's busy. He has no right to feel bad. In fact, he should be grateful that she took the time to sneak out of an important meeting to make the call. She could have continued with her work without it, but she chose to call, even a quick one, and that means a lot.

Resolutely telling himself that, Itachi locks his phone and throws it inside his bag carelessly. A few moments later, the door of the locker room opens and bangs shut.

He's alone now.

Itachi slams his fist against the metal.

Sakura watches the whole damn thing.

Turns out, it's not even that long. The competition finishes by the time she returns to the hospital after having bought Hinata's special milkshake. As soon as she enters the lobby, Itachi comes in third, and she ends up fist pumping the air with the wrong hand.

"Goddamnit!"

She turns around to go buy another one.

Halfway on her way back for the second time, her phone starts to ring. Incredibly, miraculously, Itachi is calling her, what the actual fuck.

She picks it up tentatively, believing that it's a misdial. "Hello?"

It's not. Itachi seems oddly, wrongly cheerful on the other end. "What's the recovery rate for a sprained finger, again?"

Sakura stops dead in her tracks in the middle of the pavement. The woman behind her makes an irritated sound and deliberately bumps into her shoulder while walking past. Sakura ignores it. "Whom did you punch?"

A small pause later, he admits rather bashfully, "My locker."

"What for?" Sakura asks, confused. She resumes walking again. "Your performance was great. You should be celebrating."

There's another pause on his side. Then, he asks, sounding tentative and something. "You watched it?"

Then it's Sakura's turn to throw in a pause. It would be embarrassing as fuck to admit that she was glued to her screen the whole time before remembering that she did voices. This can't be more embarrassing than that, surely?

"Yeah," she says, skin hot in the cool air. Then she freaks out and hastily adds, "I mean, lots of people must have. You did great. Congratulations, by the way."

"Thank you," he says sincerely. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital?"

"I am," she replies.

"Right," he says.

She should hang up. She doesn't want to.

"So," she begins brightly following the slight bout of silence, "you punched your locker in celebration. That's new."

On the other end, Itachi lets out a deep chuckle. Sakura's skin warms further. "Yeah, didn't you know? It's a trending ritual these days."

"Really?" she grins. "I should tell that to Tenten. It could be the tipping point to finally get her kicked out of the hospital."

He laughs prettily. "Who's that?"

Sakura tells him: lazy at her job, irresponsible, takes advantage of unsuspecting employees –

"I think the Chief knows what he's doing," Itachi says in amusement. "I highly doubt he's unsuspecting."

"Let me have this," Sakura says stubbornly. "This is a Tenten bashing seminar, okay? We will discuss the Chief's stupidity in a separate one."

"Alright," Itachi says dutifully. "I'm listening."

She has nothing more to add. "That's it and thank you for coming to my Ted talk."

"It was invigorating," he tells her. "Highly educative."

The hospital doors open and the smell of antiseptic hits her in the face, as per usual. She should definitely hang up now.

"I think Kakashi is calling me," he says before she can. "I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah," she says, nodding. "Listen, get that hand checked out. Just to be on the safer side."

"Yes, ma'am," he says, sounding highly amused.

She takes in a deep, steadying breath after cutting the call.

Sakura is trying to catch Temari's gaze and failing miserably.

To be completely fair, she's working behind the bar. Sakura can't just expect her to throw in the towel to look at her, that's ridiculous. Besides, Temari is still pissed so Sakura should, in fact, consider herself fortunate to even be allowed in the bar along with the rest of them.

Temari's workplace is small and dingy. Limited number of round tables, questionable music, tiles that can be politely called quirky, and the worst of all, a crowd of regulars who enjoy this setting – either that or they love hitting on Temari a little too much. Both possibilities are equally unsettling.

"Another round," Naruto hollers from their table. He waves his hands frantically in the air, grinning.

Konan groans, rubbing her temple. "I'm done."

"You barely had any," Sasuke accuses. "That's two, three, four. Four? Come on, I've seen you do better."

"I don't care," she replies and pillows her head on her arms. "Itachi, you're responsible for taking me home tonight. Wake me up when you're ready to leave."

Itachi rolls his eyes. "Anything else, honey?"

Konan smiles sweetly. "No, that's it, dear. You're a treasure."

Sakura is still trying to catch Temari's gaze unsuccessfully when Ino nudges her. "Stop making it so obvious."

Sakura sighs, turns to glare at Ino. "How long does it take to forgive? It's been nearly a month!"

"You're such a tool," Karin mumbles from her other side.

Sakura stares. "That doesn't help me."

Karin raises a bitchy eyebrow in return. "Wasn't trying to help you."

"Whatever."

Sakura crosses her arms and settles back in the chair with a huff. Itachi is indulging this evening, she sees. He's down two beers and even had a couple of garlic bread sticks dipped in cheese. Other than that, he's been sharing the chicken salad with Sasuke.

Sakura takes another miserable bite of her own salad. She's decided to try vegan and so far, it's been really, truly dissatisfying. She considers ordering a fresh new plate of chicken breast.

Or she could make up some excuse of wanting to try out a new drink and casually walk up to the bar. If she's lucky, Temari will even make a professional suggestion.

Her phone lights up on the table. Before she can check, Ino swoops down on it with a loud exclaim.

"You're on a dating app?" she shrieks. "Since when?"

Sakura curses. She seizes the phone back and clutches it in her hands. But Ino has managed to garner the attention of the rest of the table and they're all looking at her in varying degrees of amusement and surprise.

"That's great," Naruto cheers. "Got any matches yet?"

Sakura smiles tightly. "A few."

Sasuke holds out his palm. "May I?"

Sakura's gaze flits over to Itachi without her consent. He's smirking, as if this whole situation is amusing for him, and her heart sort of breaks and she shrugs at Sasuke, handing him the phone.

Naruto crowds closer to him, peering at the screen, too. Sakura looks away, tries to busy herself with her food and her beer.

As they make remarks on each match, Karin leans down to hiss in her ear. "Is this to make him jealous or something?"

Sakura reels back in shock. "What? No!" She lowers her voice when Itachi glances over. "I'm just trying to get back in the game."

Which is true. Ever since Ino had pointed out her lack of dating life during the New Year party, the thought had taken root in her mind. It's the perfect way to move on and not make a mess of things. She can just live her own life, find some nice person, and fall in love.

Easy peasy.

Sakura is actually a little proud of herself.

"Besides," she mutters to Karin, "there's no reason for him to get jealous, don't you think?"

"I know that," she glares.

Fuck it. Anyway, she already has a date set up in two days' time. She'll just focus on that instead of Temari's cold treatment or Itachi's indifference towards her romantic life. And, well, neither of them are doing anything wrong. Temari has every right to stew in righteous anger and Itachi should have no business knowing Sakura's romantic status.

Although, that goes down the gutter when Ino excuses herself to the washroom and Itachi takes her chair, instead. He grins at Sakura, waving his hand vaguely in the direction of Naruto and Sasuke, busy as they were scrolling through her profile.

"Excited?" he asks.

Sakura plasters on a grin. "Totally. As the man who successfully got engaged, any tips for me?"

He seems to think about it seriously. "Make sure he gets the tattoo right."

She sniggers, playfully nudging him. He nudges back lightly in retaliation and then proceeds to steal her pint of beer to take a deep gulp. She gulps, watching his bandaged hand. He has refused to elaborate on it; even Sasuke doesn't seem to know the cause of it.

Itachi downs the whole bottle with impressive speed. The bottle makes a dull noise when he smacks it back on the table.

Sakura stares. "What's the occasion?"

He winks. "My win-adjacent?"

"Fair enough." She flags down a passing waiter and calls for another round. "Let's get sloshed."

Forty minutes later, the lights are swaying and the music is fantastic.

"Never have I ever," Naruto is saying in a dramatic, carrying voice, "committed theft."

Konan and Sakura drink.

"Stole this beautiful scarf I couldn't afford," Konan explains.

Sakura nods. "Nicked this toy lizard to scare my mom with. She grounded me for a week."

"Never have I ever," Karin says, "drunk-dialled an ex."

No one drinks.

"At least we have that," Ino says bracingly.

"That?"

"You know what."

"That's not helping."

"DIGNITY!" she screeches, snapping her fingers. "I meant that."

"Never have I ever," Itachi begins pointedly, "smoked a joint."

Except for Itachi, everyone drinks. Sakura notices Temari watching them in intervals. She tries not to wave back.

"Never have I ever," Karin mumbles drunkenly, "sang in public."

Sakura, Naruto, and Ino raise their glasses in a toast and drink.

"Never have I ever," Ino goes next, "travelled outside the country."

Itachi, Sasuke, and Naruto drink.

"Always knew you were all spoiled," Karin says in disgust.

"Never have I ever," Sakura says, "been on TV."

Itachi shoots her a glare but drinks dutifully.

This goes on for a few more rounds until Naruto says, "Never have I ever broken into a place."

Which has Sakura banging the table-top, declaring, "Tonight is the night, my friend. You will break into a place and consume this alcoholic beverage before you return into your lover's embrace, I promise you thee."

They all stare at her.

She stares back, chin lifted.

Into the tube, they stumble in a pile, tripping over each other.

On the empty, drying streets, elbows hooked, they holler –

My mama don't like you and she likes everyone

And I never like to admit that I was wrong

And I've been so caught up in my job, didn't see what's going on

But now I know, I'm better sleeping on my own

"I'm going to be out of a job this time tomorrow," Konan tells them when they're outside of the pool. "It's you guys responsili-libity – responsi-whatever to get me new."

"Be my intern," Ino suggests. "You dance well. Teach 'em."

Sakura shushes them, picking the lock. Beside her, Itachi is peering down at her handiwork with fascination.

"Where did you learn?"

She glances at him quickly. He's holding his alcohol better than most. "Sneaked out of bedrooms when I was grounded."

"Cute."

Her fingers slip.

Itachi pats on her head sympathetically. "Maybe you need more practice."

She ignores him the best she can and successfully picks the lock. They pause with bated breath but no sirens break the relative quiet of the night.

"Hurry," Konan hisses, shoving them inside. "Felix might return any minute."

Sakura hurries inside, dragging Ino with her. Itachi leads them directly towards the pool and Konan switches on one of the lights. Sakura approaches the edge cautiously, feeling a strange sensation stirring inside her ribcage.

This is where Konan works, yes. But this is also where Itachi spends his time training, swimming rigorous laps, and she thinks she notices a few details from his reels.

The pool is big, bigger than your typical family pool. A low tower sits on the other side with marked diving boards. The highest one is at twenty feet.

"Cheers, sweetheart," Sasuke's ringing voice breaks through her mind.

Sakura turns. The rest of them are draped on two of the beach chairs, haphazardly piled on top of each other.

"Who wants to swim?"

Itachi pops out from under Naruto and Konan like a kid being promised candy.

Stripping down to her underwear while Itachi, not necessarily watched, but loitered around stripping down himself, is something of an experience.

While the context itself matters, Sakura still tries to pretend this is Naruto's studio and this is part of what she'd agreed to. It's easier if she thinks in that manner and it definitely helps that Naruto is around, as well.

He has refused to come inside the water, though, saying he's way too drunk for that. Sasuke isn't, so Naruto makes a whole show of getting rid of his clothes for him in what passes as a comically seductive role-play.

Thank fuck, she didn't ask who wants to skinny dip. She isn't ready for that yet.

Once Sakura, Itachi, Konan, and Sasuke are down to their underwear, Itachi dives in without a word and doesn't come back up immediately.

Sakura tries not to panic and, instead, waves cheerfully at the ones who have opted to sit this one out – Naruto, Karin, and Ino – and promptly falls in the pool with her back to it.

She resurfaces instantly, though, spitting out water from her mouth. The heating must be off because it's freezing. Goosebumps break out all over her skin and she shudders, bobbing in place. Two distinct splashes tell her Sasuke and Konan have joined and Itachi is still not resurfacing.

She wades a few feet away, takes a deep breath in, and goes under.

Itachi is floating with his knees tucked in near the middle of the pool. Intrigued and more than a little fascinated, she swims closer as quietly as possible.

His eyes are shut, he's completely unmoving and somehow still buoyed – he looks like he's deep in meditation. The bandage has come undone and three of his knuckles are bruised an ugly blue. His low ponytail glides behind him, dark hair smooth and powerful.

There's a long scar running the length of his sinuous back.

And just like that, Sakura falls in love.

What do you mean update cycle?