Chapter dedicated to the phenomenon called the Butterfly Effect, which states that a butterfly flapping its wings at a certain moment in time at a certain place can cause hurricanes in another part of the world.
Enjoy! :)
CHAPTER 18 - The Butterfly Effect
Sakura checks the time. 9.10 PM.
She packs up her books, her laptop, and throws the comforter off her lap. She gets out of her bed, grabs a jacket, shrugs it on, and pulls open the door of her apartment.
Sakura pauses at the door of 10A. She takes a deep breath, and knocks on the door.
Sasuke opens it. "Hey!" he grins and pulls her in a hug. "I wasn't sure whether you were home. We just got back. Happy New Year! You want some dinner?"
She pulls back, unable to stop herself from smiling. "Nah, I'm good. I already ate. I'll have some wine, though."
Sasuke moves aside so that she can enter. As soon as she crosses the threshold, she sees Itachi standing up from his desk chair, turning to her. Even as Sasuke goes to the kitchen to grab the wine, Sakura hesitates for a heartbeat, before she's striding towards him and jumping into his arms.
Itachi holds her securely.
"Hi," he says, smile pressed against her hair.
Sakura's feet are still in the air. She tightens her arms around his neck. "Hi," she chuckles. "Happy New Year!"
Itachi places her back on the ground, and shifts to look her in the face. His arms stay put, and Sakura doesn't protest.
This is the first time she's standing in front of him since the night in that desert. She still remembers the pain and the regret etched on his face, and she's glad to see that he's smiling down at her right now.
Sakura knows that she needs to talk to him, needs to address their conversation in some way. But it can wait. She's missed him too much to be risking anything of that sort. All she wants is to sit and chat with them, have a piece of their daily routine back.
She drinks in his face as much as she can. It occurs to her that perhaps Itachi is made to be looked at.
"Itachi, what do you wanna eat?" Sasuke calls out from the kitchen.
Sakura throws one last apologetic smile at Itachi, before she joins Sasuke at the breakfast bar. She grabs the bottle of wine that he's pulled out of the cupboard, and pours it in a glass for herself.
"You guys want some?" she asks.
"Yeah," Sasuke affirms, still staring at his phone, scrolling through different restaurants to order from.
"Yeah, sure," Itachi says from the couch. "And how about some pizza? It's the quickest, and I miss it."
Sasuke snorts. "Alright." He places the order for it.
"By the way," Sasuke pockets his phone and brings out a tin box. "This is for you. Mom made it."
Sakura blinks in surprise. "Oh. Thanks. What is it?"
"Cookies," he says. "She baked them this morning."
Sakura opens the lid of the box and takes one. She bites into it and nearly moans. "Oh my god, this is so good."
Sasuke smirks. "I know."
"I can't believe you grew up eating these!" she complains and finishes the cookie in three bites. "How are you not fat?"
Sasuke laughs and goes to grab one for himself. Sakura slaps his hand away. "Nuh uh. These are mine."
"My mom made them. I have a right to them before you do."
"She made them for me. You've had your share over Christmas."
Sasuke manages to steal one, anyway, and quickly stuffs it in his mouth. Sakura narrows her eyes at him, shuts the lid of the box, and holds it possessively near her body.
"Oops," Sasuke smirks after he swallows the last bit.
Sakura smirks back evilly. "How's Naruto?" she asks in an innocent voice.
Expectedly, Sasuke blushes up a storm. "He's fine."
"Yeah? I bet he is."
"Shut up," he grumbles.
"Yeah," Sakura drags out. "I don't think so."
Sasuke glares at her, still sporting a bright red face, and drinks his wine instead. Sakura smiles sweetly before joining Itachi on the couch.
"Why isn't Naruto here, anyway?" she asks.
"He's returning tomorrow," Itachi replies. "Jiraiya paid a visit."
Sakura remembers the man from Shikamaru and Temari's wedding. He is large, tall, with long white hair, and tattoos on his face. Despite being in his fifties, the man can belt out powerful tunes.
"How was your holiday?" Sasuke asks. He's sitting on the floor with legs stretched out in front of him.
Sakura tells them about Sai and Ino, about Tenten, and all the surgeries that she got to perform, and the variety of strange cases. She doesn't tell them about the priest, though, wanting to keep it personal.
In return, they tell her about how much Konoha has changed, how they helped Mrs. Uchiha in the bakery due to the holiday rush, and Sakura thinks Itachi wearing an apron to make pasteries, and then Sasuke ruins it – unintentionally, of course – by telling her about the New Year's party at someone called Kimimaro's house –
"The whole old gang was there," Sasuke is telling her. "Ukon, Jirobo, Anko, Kurenai, Yamato, Izumi –"
Sakura tenses, throwing a quick glance at Itachi. His face is unreadable and he doesn't offer any information.
"…and Granny Chiyo had come to the bakery, and she invited us for tea at her place. She was over the moon to see us again!"
"Who's Granny Chiyo?" Sakura asks curiously.
"Oh!" Sasuke beams. "She's Izumi's grandmother. She's been a regular at the bakery, though I suppose technically everyone has been a regular – Konoha is a pretty small town. But well, that's how Izumi became our friend in the first place. She'd come with Granny Chiyo every time."
Sakura remembers all the cheesy romantic movies Uncle Obito made her watch growing up, and thinks how this sounds like one of those. A little girl accompanying her Grandma to the bakery, and falling for the baker's emotionally isolated elder son.
She tries, she really does, but jealousy courses through her and she struggles not to be obvious about it. Jealous people are usually the most curious. And then she mentally curses herself for letting Sai's words get to her head.
Sasuke continues to regale the holidays and Sakura dutifully listens to every word. She doesn't look much at Itachi, and he's been quiet anyway, before leaving when the pizza gets there, announcing that she needs to wake up early next morning for work.
When she's lying in her bed, her phone beeps. 11.38 PM. The text is from Itachi.
Coffee in the morning?
Sakura pauses. Itachi and she don't really text much, they never had to since the other would be available at home, and she goes through their measly chat before replying.
I can't. Going in early for a surgery.
Okay.
Sakura thinks this is it, keeps the phone away, but it beeps again two minutes later, and she snatches it with heart pounding in her chest.
Shouldn't you be asleep?
I should be.
But you're not.
No, I'm not.
Do you want to go for a walk?
Can we go up to the roof? I don't feel like walking.
Meet me in the hallway in five minutes.
xXx
Sakura is bundled up in a sweater under a coat, and a thick scarf around her neck. The city is colder than ever. It doesn't snow here, but it gets pretty close.
Itachi is wearing a thick coat, as well. He's brought rum and silently offers it to her.
"It'll warm you up," he says.
Sakura takes it. They're standing side by side against the compound wall, looking out over the city. It's quiet, with white and yellow dotted streets, and a few moving vehicles here and there.
"Prepared for tomorrow?" she asks him.
Itachi is going on the television show, Akatsuki, the next afternoon. She is hoping to catch the live broadcast during her lunch break.
"As much as I could be," he answers.
"Good."
"What kind of a surgery is it?" he asks after some time of silence.
Sakura bites her lip. She's been studying it for hours now, and she feels a thrill every time she thinks about it. She'll be assisting Dr. Orochimaru again.
"It's a CABG – coronary artery bypass graft," she grins, unable to stop her excitement from pouring out. "But the patient will be awake."
Itachi's neck snaps back in surprise. "I didn't know that was possible."
"It's fairly new," she tells him. "And rare."
"How do you …?" he frowns in puzzlement.
She gets it. "We give the patient a localised anaesthesia."
He looks impressed. "Sounds like a promising case."
"It is," she says, still grinning. "My name will go down in medical history along with Dr. Orochimaru's."
He smiles prettily. "To history," he dips his head and raises the bottle of rum in her direction.
Sakura nods happily. "To history."
Itachi takes a sip and hands it to her. "You seem … different," he remarks.
Sakura drinks and then shrugs. The alcohol is working rather nicely. She's starting to feel warm.
"I'm done," she announces and hands back the bottle. "I can't go hungover tomorrow."
He chuckles and caps it instead. "Neither can I."
"Why were you awake?" she asks.
Itachi smiles slightly. "No particular reason. What about you?"
"No particular reason."
They stay for another fifteen minutes or so, before calling it a night. They hover in the hallway between their two apartments.
"Good luck," she offers.
Itachi holds her gaze, as steady as always.
"I'll see you after work directly," she continues when he doesn't respond.
He nods then, a slight dip of his head in acknowledgement of her words. Sakura tries not to fidget, but her chest is clenched painfully, and she's tingly all over. Must be the alcohol, she thinks.
She hesitates a little. She isn't sure what's going on, why the silence is not terrifying anymore but meaningful, and the world has narrowed down to him again. After a few moments, though, she walks towards him and wraps her arms around his neck, and pulls him down to her.
Itachi's hands automatically hold her, and she breathes in the familiar mint soap.
"I missed you," she says softly, and tries not to think about the future when he'd be gone, probably never to return. "I hope things go okay tomorrow."
"They will," he assures her just as gently. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Try not to get in trouble until then."
Sakura chuckles and tightens her arms one more time, before pulling back, but not away. "I'll try."
Itachi is slightly smirking and the sight of it makes her feel something. She grins back.
xXx
Sakura's morning surgery is successful, and she's on her way to lunch – and Itachi's live interview – when there's an emergency case and she gets paged.
So she spends her afternoon in the operating room, repairing the left lung of a young woman in her twenties. It's an accident, a slight error in judgement and the truck didn't see her.
By the time Sakura becomes free, she's hungry, and her feet are aching, and it is well into the evening. She changes out of her uniform before grabbing her phone. She sends Itachi a quick text.
What happened? I got free just now.
It takes five heart-stopping minutes for him to respond. Come home.
xXx
When the elevator doors open on the tenth floor, Sakura stops in surprise at the loud chatter and laughter coming from 10A.
Feeling a thrill, she goes and rings the bell quickly.
Naruto throws the door open, beaming from ear-to-ear and envelopes her in a hug with a loud cheer.
Sakura laughs and she's breathless by the time he lets her go and invites her in. There are about fifteen people in the room, eating and drinking and mingling. Sasuke bounds over to her, smiling the same smile as Naruto, and throws his arms around her.
"We did it!" he declares loudly, and spins her once for good measure. "He did it!"
Sasuke puts her back on the ground, looking happy beyond words. "He did it," he repeats excitedly. "And I don't mean just the interview, Sakura! The interview went perfectly, and our office phone starts to ring immediately –"
"And they're all these huge companies," Naruto positively vibrates. "Everyone wanting to book appointments to speak with Itachi, wanting to negotiate all kinds of deal! Can you believe it? We became the talk of the country overnight!"
"Overnight, Sakura!" Sasuke laughs incredulously. "The bastard really did it!"
"Where is he?" she asks, finding their happiness contagious.
Sasuke looks around and spots him just as Sakura does. He's speaking with Hidan and Nagato in one corner, and Sakura wonders whether he realised that she's here –
And he's shooting her glances with a smirk on his face.
The laughter bubbles out of her because this day has been so great and she really feels like dancing, just to get all this energy out of her. Instead, she strides towards Itachi, ignoring the fact that he's busy, and he seems to be waiting for her because he opens his arms just as she jumps into them.
"Oh my god, you did it!"
"I told you that I would," he reminds her with no heat behind the words.
"I know!"
She pulls back and sighs a long sigh. He looks truly happy.
Someone clears their throat and Sakura quickly moves away, remembering that his co-workers can see her throwing herself on their Boss. She feels the warm blush crawling up her neck, and excuses herself saying I'll get something to eat.
Sakura stays with Naruto for most of the time, as he regales the interview word-by-word to her. At one point, Sasuke joins them and the way he wraps his arms around Naruto from behind, rests his chin on his shoulder – and Naruto doesn't stop his story for even a second – has Sakura smiling throughout.
He even shows her the interview video. Sakura watches in fascination as Uncle Obito fires question after question at Itachi – who is dressed in a dark blue blue suit and black shirt, black rimmed glasses – and he answers each of them precisely and calmly. Itachi wasn't kidding. He really did know the exact way to trace Danzo's activities in all the companies. Of course, he didn't have the time to explain about each and every company that Danzo ever sneaked in, but he did explain about four major ones, including Kizoshan, and pointed out the pattern for everyone. Like he had said, it is meant to start a conversation. From what she sees, there is absolutely no doubt that he succeeded.
The show runs beyond the designated one-hour period, when Uncle Obito receives the green signal to continue it, because even the producers don't want to interrupt Itachi. Sakura can't stop smiling by the time it gets over.
She's surprised when Kakashi and Uncle Obito show up. Itachi invited them, they tell her, and how can they refuse when their daughter lives across the hall?
Just as she's about to offer them a drink, Itachi comes over, smiling.
"Thank you so much for today!" he shakes Uncle Obito's hand. "I couldn't have done it without you and the Akatsuki. Danzo will think twice before messing with anyone again."
"It's no problem," Uncle Obito chuckles. "Besides, it helped me, as well. I'm the journalist who led the interview to expose a powerful businessman in the country."
"Well, since everyone is happy," Kakashi says, a little dryly, "why don't we eat? I was promised food, Itachi. Come on, now, get to it."
Itachi nods and quickly leaves to go to the breakfast bar. As soon as he does, Kakashi throws her a wink. And Sakura remembers that they hadn't asked her who the man was, when she broke down on Christmas Eve, simply because it was obvious. They haven't prodded yet, and Sakura knows that it won't last.
She sticks with the two of them after that. Itachi's co-workers – she'd met them during the birthday party – Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Yahiko, Tobi, Deidara, Zetsu, Nagato, Sasori, they all make small talk with her, and she congratulates them in return. Sasori sits with her for a bit, and Deidara comes at one point to tell her I told you so while nodding towards Sasuke and Naruto.
By the time the clock hits 11, Sakura is tired. Uncle Obito and Kakashi bid her goodbye, and the co-workers start to trickle out of the apartment slowly, as Itachi reminds them all that they have to work extra harder because we have a lot to do now.
It's almost quarter to midnight when it's just the four of them – and they're lazying around, too tired to hold proper conversations any longer. She's sitting with her feet in Sasuke's lap. Naruto is stretched out on the floor, and Itachi is in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess slowly.
"By the way," Itachi calls out from where he is collecting the plastic cups. "Samui called me today."
"Great," Sakura mutters lowly. Then louder, "What did she want? Didn't you threaten her that last time?"
He shrugs. "She wanted to thank me. She saw the interview today."
Sasuke raises his eyebrows sceptically. "Really?"
"Hard to believe," Naruto grumbles from his spot.
"Yeah, well," Itachi says. "I told her she deserved it."
There's a moment of silence before Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto start giggling.
She doesn't realise when she falls asleep, but Itachi is shaking her awake, looking thoroughly amused.
Sakura jolts up to sit in surprise. Sasuke and Naruto are nowhere to be seen.
"What time is it?" she croaks out.
"You need to stop falling asleep at random places," he says instead, still standing, smirking down at her.
"Whatever," she sighs. Her phone is in her pocket, and she pulls it out. 1.23 AM. "Fuck. Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"
Itachi shrugs casually. "Naruto left just ten minutes ago."
She rubs at her eyes and stretches out her back. "Give me a minute. I'm going."
"I didn't say anything," he points out.
Sakura rolls her eyes. She blinks a few times to get the sleep out of her system, and stretches a few more times for good measure. Meanwhile, Itachi has gone over to pull out a bottle of wine.
"You want to drink? Now?" she eyes him wearily.
"I don't see any problem with it. It's a day of celebration."
"I've never seen you drunk," she says with sudden wonder.
He smirks. "Do you want to?"
"Yes," she replies in an instant.
"On one condition," he holds up a finger. "You'll have to get drunk with me."
Sakura stares, a thrill running up her body. She doesn't have to get into work early tomorrow. He does, but he must have thought about it, so she grins. "Done."
xXx
They don't go to the roof. They sit on the couch with a bottle of wine and a bottle of rum, and Itachi found some snacks in one of the cupboards. She asks him about the interview, even though she's already heard it from Naruto, already seen the video of it, but she wants to know from him, and doesn't regret it when he looks so happy to be doing it.
"What about your surgery?" he asks after he's done.
So Sakura tells him all about it, and then about the young woman, the reason why she couldn't watch the interview live.
And Sakura feels it. The whole time, ever since he returned from Konoha, she's felt it. A different atmosphere between them, wherein the quiet is not terrifying but comfortable and nervous, wherein the eye contact says much more than their words, wherein every movement is jerky and as though they're both holding back from doing something more.
And Sakura knows it, too. She knows that she needs to talk to him, needs to address their conversation, needs to know what next? The thought is paralyzing so she doesn't.
But now they're both slightly drunk. And Sakura doesn't have such qualms anymore.
"Itachi," she begins at one point in the night.
"Yeah?"
They're sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch. "I don't want you to leave."
He rolls his head towards hers lazily. "Why not?"
Sakura sighs sadly. "Because I want you here," she says and feels like Sai.
He narrows his eyes. "What for?"
"What do you mean 'what for'?" she frowns. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know," he says seriously. "You never really told me how you feel."
Even in her drunken state, she can't say the words outloud, so she doesn't say anything at all. She gulps instead, and gets to her feet, realising that this has been a huge, huge mistake. Itachi quickly scrambles up, as she starts stalking towards the front door.
"Sakura? Where are you going?"
She stops. "Home, genius."
He comes to stand in front of her and pouts slightly. "So soon?"
"It's the middle of the night."
"Is it because I pointed out that you never told me how you feel?"
She stares back. "No," she eventually says. "No."
"I think it is."
Silence.
She turns around and opens the door.
"Sakura –"
He grabs her elbow before she can take a single step out, and spins her around. It doesn't take much because she's already changed her mind, and then Itachi is pulling her close, his arms wrapping around her waist –
And then he's kissing her.
2 chapters to go. Please review! :)