Disclaimer:
I'm sorry, my last chapter ended badly. Its ending sucked and I promise to make it up to you lol.
I do not own Naruto. I do not own Sakura. I do not own Sasuke. I do not own Shisui. I do not own Itachi. I do not own the Uchihas. Although, I wish I did own the Uchihas.
It had already been a week since the physical examination.
That night, Shisui had asked Sakura for permission to accompany her to her apartment. Yet, much to her annoyance and to his dismay, the kunoichi bluntly turned him down.
Sakura didn't know why he wanted to act like a gentleman. Was it his way of making up to her for his horribly upsetting manners? Was it his way to erase her impression of him and the newly surfacing impressions of the Uchiha clan?
Or was it just another way for him to continue on vexing her?
She had no clue as to why he was adamant about talking to her.
Either way, he managed to be of annoyance, for that night, that terrible night, he had insisted on accompanying her with Sakura annoyedly ignoring him. He would catch up to her if she was walking too fast, stop for her if she was pretending to pick something that she had "accidentally" dropped, and would even go as far as to drag her forcefully if she was purposely walking in slow motion.
Either way, he still managed to accompany her to her apartment.
The main reason as to why the pinkette didn't want the dark-haired man to be in her company in going to her home was that she despised the idea of him knowing her location or address. While she was certain that it didn't require too much of his intelligence as an ANBU shinobi to locate her home by himself alone, there was just no need to question her if she enjoyed the idea of the Uchiha teleporting to her window whenever he felt like screaming at her with mocking honorifics. She didn't want him to annoy her further.
For Kami's sake, it was just annoying!
Usually, around her friends, especially the loudmouthed ones, she would act like a loudmouth as well, and even prize them with their well-deserved chakra-powered punches.
There was Naruto who once ended up for a week at the hospital because the pinkette had found him attempting to peek at the women's bathhouse.
There was Sai, who wasn't much of a talker, but a highly unbearable human being if he tried. Unfortunately for her, Sai had trained himself and enhanced his reaction time in order to effectively dodge the teammate's predicted blows.
Sasuke was an exception, though. Sasuke usually behaved himself around his teammates and he would only earn the kunoichi's hits if they were training. Well, maybe the times when he would be in a rivalry with Naruto over little things like "Who Can Eat More Rounds of Rice?" were exceptional, too.
Even outside their team, Sakura treated people like this. Kiba once tried to pull a really, really, really horrible prank on Naruto but Sakura stomped on his left foot for good.
But despite everything, Sakura treated Shisui, who was barely a stranger, differently.
Shisui was just as loud and annoying as Naruto, but Sakura knew the Uchiha was well aware of it, of how she might respond to his vexing. She knew too damn well that he was the observant type and so he knew the consequences of his actions, but what really annoyed Sakura was a certain question that had lingered far too long inside her thick forehead: Why the hell is he doing it on purpose?
Naruto was always loud and annoying because, well, it's just so... Naruto. Believe it or not, Sakura's harsh treatment toward the Kyuubi vessel was one way to show her friendly affections toward the guy who always cheered her up. Yes, she was being friendly by offering the poor guy some bruises and fractured bones. Yes, she definitely was.
It was different for Shisui.
For one whole week, she had not attempted to send him a dangerous blow that could have him end up landing on the other side of the world. No, she hadn't tried to smack him on the head that would have his body traveling to the underworld, passing through the very thick layers of the Earth's surface. And nope, Sakura didn't even try to beat him up until he would be left incurable by even a medical ninja of her level, and even by the legendary sannin, Tsunade. What Sakura did was even harsher, more cruel, more evil, more inhumane...
She did nothing.
She would simply ignore him.
For one whole week, Sakura began to notice the Uchiha more and more in every crowd she encountered. Or was it because he was becoming more and more noticeable? Or were the two things actually the same thing? Nope, even a bright and intelligent shinobi like her couldn't find an answer to the impossible question.
It started on the second day when Sakura passed by the Uchiha in the hallway by the Hokage's office. Sakura was off to see her shishou to send her a report regarding the matter on the physical examinations. Shisui had just exited the office and though for common people, it was very, very, very challenging to notice his small movements, it was nearly impossible for Sakura. Nearly.
She had noticed that as soon as they passed by each other's bodies, the Uchiha's eyes directed at her own for a split second. It was as if he was expecting her to notice or approach him. Or was it a look of recognition? Or was it a look that said "That was only a one-time thing. I mean, c'mon, you can't seriously think you can easily have this Uchiha."
Either way, it caused her temples to ache.
It was always like that whenever they encountered each other. Shisui would glance at her, maybe one or more times, but on the other hand, Sakura would simply ignore his existence, not even bothering to return a glance as well.
She just couldn't give a damn to someone she could care less about. Or maybe it was better said if she meant it in a way that she couldn't help but give a damn if this person were to annoy her further? After all, it was a pattern she had noticed in their first night of meeting each other. Wait, did she really care if he was being annoying? Was she pitying herself?
So many questions. So many unanswered.
Sakura stopped letting the thoughts about him get to her mind as she ran her two hands through her soft pink tresses. She really needed to place emphasis on the fact that they were nothing but hospital acquaintances!
In her apartment unit, she slowly breathed out and looked outside.
Through the window, the sky told her that it was afternoon already. She stood up from the dining chair and observed the small brown basket full of dark indigo-colored chakra pills on the dining table.
Once again, she lifted one from the pile and tossed it into her open mouth to test its taste. It was definitely not sweet nor spicy, but it did taste like tomatoes. She happily crunched it inside her mouth until it was swallowable, feeling more energized and even happier about its perfection. The corners of her pink lips tugged upwards as she looked down at the pink note attached to the basket's handle.
The small brown basket was effortlessly carried by the pinkette, resting the weight of the handle and the whole object on her right elbow. She exited her apartment room and locked the door before she walked out of the whole complex itself.
She was now walking along with the villagers of the Hidden Leaf Village in the streets with roads being occupied by the shadows of the busy people, casually talking, casually shopping, or for some, just casually taking a stroll.
Her two green eyes observed the movements of her walking feet, silently appreciating the very trivial way of how her own shadow could never stop mimicking the normal swaying of her hips, the unnoticeable swinging of her arms, and the stops and turns of her legs.
Although, the small happiness immediately died when she realized that she was only enjoying the company of her shadow at the moment.
The males of her team were all off on a three-week duration of a mission to Iwagakure ever since she had helped out on the physical examination. Just two days ago, her rival-turned-best-friend, Yamanaka Ino, was also off on a mission to Sunagakure for the enhancement of the vegetation in such a literally deserted place. While she knew not a thing about the female blonde's mission duration, such a mission of significance would obviously take up about three weeks to a full month, if it was just teaching them how to grow some nutritious plants. Inner Sakura would really die of boredom if Ino's mission was to help out the Hidden Sand Village until the village would grow trees.
There was no one to turn to right now. Sakura had gone out with Hyuuga Hinata for two times already in this week. They would have their girly chats in cafes, with the pinkette sharing all sorts of stories about her Uzumaki teammate and even going as far as to share her some tips about attracting the blonde. It was no secret to their circle of friends that the Kyuubi vessel had been quite, rather, obsessively infatuated with the Haruno in the past. But it was a good thing that the Hyuuga heiress held no grudges towards her. And while Sakura genuinely enjoyed her company, it was rather weird on her part to keep on inviting the Byakugan princess for girly chats in peaceful cafes. She knew better than to disturb her daily trainings.
The boredom and loneliness went on and on, even to the extent wherein Sakura begged her shishou for a mission. However, the granddaughter of the First Hokage refused to her request straightforwardly. With the physical examinations of the shinobi of all levels over, she had a tough assignment of updating the personal information of every ninja from genin to jounin.
Deep in the kunoichi's heart, she thought that such a tough task was supposed to be manned by the Hokage itself. But then again, she preferred to do the Hokage's paperworks rather then losing the will to live out of boredom and solitude.
The train of thoughts inside the pinkette's head stilled until it came to a full stop when she had stopped walking. She lifted her chin up to look at the grand entrance before her.
The red and white emblem of the Uchiha district stood out from the black metals that supported its weight, forming an open gate.
When she was young, the entrance used to be a pale green kind of color. It just reminded her of the times when she was being so annoying towards a certain teammate of hers. Kami, she didn't even want to remember it.
Sakura's right foot landed a step on the grounds of the compound, casually taking a stroll around. She was so familiar with the town-like place and knew where to stop and take a turn.
Her two feet led her to one of the biggest buildings of the famed district, the manor that was occupied by Uchiha Sasuke's household members of four. They were damn rich, alright, but Sasuke never talked about it.
She thought about Sasuke and his family. Sakura knew that he deeply cared for his family, but there was a time when he tensed when they conversed about family pressure. The topic was like an off-limits area to the seventeen-year old Uchiha.
Sakura stood in front of the traditionally styled porch. The big house was empty and locked, she concluded for she couldn't sense any living signatures inside the building. Sasuke and his older brother, Itachi, were out on a mission, that was for sure. Maybe their parents were busy working, too. Uchiha Fugaku was, after all, the head of the Leaf Police Force, entirely filled with Uchihas. As for Uchiha Mikoto's whereabouts, the pinkette had no clue.
"Looking for Sasuke?" a familiar voice traveled through the air out of nowhere, catching the kunoichi off of her own guard. Her slender body jerked awkwardly as her face turned to the source of the voice, automatically widening her surprised eyes.
And lo and behold, there stood the man who had annoyed her about a week ago. This just seemed like the beginning of a cheap love story, she thought.
Shisui.
"Shannaro!" she couldn't help but yell at him instinctively. The black-haired man chuckled at her reaction and neared her feet's location, keeping an appropriate distance from her. After all, he was careful not to invade her personal space. Inner Sakura cursed him for his renowned skill at teleportation techniques.
"You surprised me, you idiot," she growled, not anymore caring about the whole matter on the silent treatment. Well, maybe for now.
Shisui's eyes scanned her face for a moment, studying her for whatever intentions she had. That was until his eyes landed on the small brown basket that had nearly permitted its contents to scatter around on the ground when she had earlier jerked out of surprise.
"You're going to give that to Sasuke?" he asked.
Of course, this kind of topic was quite sensitive to the pinkette and by sensitive, any reminder about him would just give away her thoughts about him to just anyone, to even the densest person.
Sakura's emerald eyes grew in width and her bright orbs rapidly moved to and from different directions. She attempted to look at anything but the sharp eyes of the Uchiha standing before her. The fair skin around her cheeks had been stained into a rosy kind of color, warmth surging through her face. She bit her lower lip and grasped the fabric around her collarbone using her right hand out of habit.
Definitely, even the densest person could read her mind from all the small details she was dangerously presenting.
Shisui was greeted with an odd feeling as his eyes studied every movement that the kunoichi before him performed. She was... vulnerable and oddly... interesting. The girl with the quickest of tempers and the superhuman strength that could turn large boulders into dust was showing a different side to her strong image.
It was a puzzle piece that the Uchiha didn't want to be the main source of attention of the viewers if they saw the whole picture of the puzzle.
And then his eyes laid on the basket's contents.
Chakra pills?
He breathed through his nose, enhancing the scent-smelling skill ten times the normal.
He smelled tomatoes. In the basket.
Chakra pills. Tomato flavored. Uchiha Sasuke.
"So you care for Sasuke's health?" Shisui asked, not out of curiosity, not even with the intentions of revealing her secrets, but... he honestly didn't know.
"I don't like him!" she instantly defended.
"I never mentioned anything about you liking him, Sakura-chan."
With that one sentence, the red streaks on the pinkette's cheeks grew even redder, which seemed to trigger the redness of her whole face as well. Sakura was out of words, she didn't know what to say. Sometimes, she wasn't so bright.
Shisui took one step to close the space between them despite noticing Sakura's attempts in backing away from his body. Although, Shisui showed no emotion. He closed their distance until Sakura's back touched the post around the porch.
Sakura didn't know what to do. Her lips were visibly parted but not a word would roll off of her tongue. Shisui was invading her personal space and she didn't like the heavy feeling it brought on her. He glued his palms on the wall, both just inches away from her face, pinning her so that she couldn't escape or move. His height advantage caused him to feel something warm and pleasant on his neck, the breath that was coming out of Sakura's soft pink lips, the breath that contained no words from the speechless girl.
Onyx and emerald.
Sakura could escape when she wanted to but there was still that feeling left from just the revelation of her secret romantic feelings to a stranger, to an Uchiha! How the hell was she supposed to act, knowing full well that the man she has loved up until now could learn about her real feelings especially because the chances of hearing it from his loudmouth of a cousin were probable?! Highly probable!
It was as if the feeling was also weighing her body, immobilizing her. What a kunoichi she was, all right.
She could feel Shisui's jet black eyes boring right into her own jade ones, but she avoided his gaze and set her own at the ground.
Other than that heavy feeling of worry, there was an odd feeling that surged right through her veins. It was the strangely odd feeling from being physically attached so close to the man whom she had been keeping a safe distance away from for seven whole days and nights.
For seven days, they were so far away from each other. Yeah, it wasn't uncomfortable for her with her face just about five inches away from his all of a sudden. Not uncomfortable at all.
"Why are you ignoring me?"
As Shisui's question left his lips, his words traveled through the thin space between their faces, his deep voice being the deepest it has ever been, his dark eyes darkening into the darkest shade of black. Certainly, he was not attracted to the woman. After all, he had just met her. And while he was not the type to cause scenes like this nor enjoy making women uncomfortable, deep, deep down... he thought that Sakura's flustered self was a sight to behold.
Yet, Sakura still couldn't set her eyes at him. It was insane and impossible. In the vulnerable state she was currently in, she would probably melt just from the warmth of his breath wrapping around her neck.
Nevertheless, she needed to defend herself.
"What do you expect? I barely even know you," she coldly responded. It was true though that she didn't know anything about him except for his famed reputation as well as the fact that he was an extremely irritating loudmouth.
Shisui expected the answer and he mentally nodded in agreement. However, he felt that toying with the woman had deepened his interest in her.
He stared down at her like she was a puzzle that he so badly wanted to solve. Sakura didn't want to appear weak to him so she stood up for his challenge and locked her eyes on his, biting her lower lip so hard that it was nearly about to rip and bleed from pink to red.
His face showed no emotion at all. Jade colored eyes searched his face for a clue, for something, for something, just something to answer the question that has been tickling the walls of her mind for a whole week now. They traveled over his fair and smooth skin to his uniquely mysterious eyes. The weight of his own black orbs heavily weighed on her own, that were subconsciously appreciating the length of his thick eyelashes.
"Why are you ignoring me?" Shisui bothered to ask. It wasn't because he was hurt, but because he just wanted an idea.
Sakura couldn't take it. Every drop of blood inside of her was heating, burning, boiling until they were ready to evaporate into her face, in which her cheeks were reddening and reddening as every second coolly passed by like a breeze.
"Why? Why are you purposely annoying me?!"
There was silence for a moment.
Shisui's sable eyes transitioned to a different presentation of a different emotion as he narrowed both at the flushed face of the girl whom he had pinned against the wall.
And as time seemed to laze, the ebony-haired man snapped out of it, whatever it was, and distanced himself from the pink-haired kunoichi, freeing her from his own cage at last.
Sakura mentally sighed over her freedom, as if a war had already ended inside her mind and everyone no longer slept in fear of being ambushed by sexy raven-haired men.
She's definitely got to stop it. Whatever it was.
"Sakura."
The tiny parade of victory beneath her large forehead was silenced.
She eyed a curious glance at the Uchiha before him, wondering what he was going to say. She didn't miss the part wherein he actually called her while dropping the childish honorific. The seriousness in his tone reached her instincts and got the better of her curiosity.
Sakura widened her emerald eyes to be greeted by a pair of serious onyx eyes.
"I promise not to tell your secret to anyone," he spoke in a deep voice.
The tiny parade of victory beneath her large forehead joyfully resumed.
"That is, if you go out with me on a date," Shisui said, a playful smirk playing on his serious face. Sakura thought that, even with a playful smirk etched on his face, the emotion or intention behind it could not be further comprehended.
Sakura's lips parted, in shock, in surprise, in disbelief, in what else? Was she taken aback? Was she currently dumbfounded? What was she doing? What the hell was she going to say? What the hell was she going to do? What was Inner Sakura doing all this time? Why the hell was Inner Sakura being silent? Was she at a loss for words, too? Was she taken aback? Was she dumbfounded as well? What the hell?
"Shannaro..."
The tiny parade of victory beneath her large forehead had died.