predictable
034. prelude

"You know, this was bound to happen." Kisame laughed. "You're the Sannin Tsunade's apprentice—it was inevitable that we'd get you."

The girl—because that was all she was, Itachi thought—glared daggers at him. "What do you mean?" Her voice was dripping with venom.

"It's much too obvious of an idea to make you heal this dude's eyes." His partner pointed towards him, and Itachi averted his gaze elsewhere, wondering how those trees would look once the clarity in his vision was restored.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to work with you," Sakura spat.

Itachi's eyes narrowed, and in the blink of an eye, he was behind her, the deadly blade of a kunai pressing against her neck and cutting her skin. "One would do many things when her life is at stake."

And as he lay down on the grass and she pressed her fingers to his temples, feeling the way her chakra flowed through his system, he felt that this was the beginning to something very big and incomprehensible.

x

"I'm what?" When her jaw dropped, Itachi noticed that her mouth was just as big as her forehead.

"Do not make me repeat myself, or we might change our minds." Letting her go free wasn't something Kisame had been up for; Itachi had to struggle immensely to find legitimate reasons to let her go instead of just killing her. For the first time in his life, he actually wasn't sure if what he was doing was right.

"Oh. Okay." She swallowed. "Thanks."

He looked away, appearing to look indifferent as he studied a tree. He could see it all so clearly now; the patterns of the bark, each individual leaf—he used to just see blurs of color.

"Um, just so you know," she continued, voice rushed and a little more high-pitched than normal—why couldn't she just leave?—"I really appreciate this. And you were really cooperative with me—I know it must've been hard for someone like you to lay down for hours and let this girl touch you without slicing her up, so I'd just like to say thanks for your time and patience—"

"Go."

She squeaked in fear. "Right. Um. Bye."

And even as she disappeared, Itachi could tell there was something big was going to happen soon.

x

He didn't count time. Time was unimportant. So he wasn't sure how many years later it was when they met again.

She looked a little more frightened than she should've been, considering that she had once shared sleeping space and time and meals with him, but it was understandable; he was still dangerous. He was still Uchiha Itachi.

"We're not really enemies, right?" she asked meekly, voice small.

And he didn't consider her an enemy. Akatsuki had fallen apart, and he was rumored to be dead, therefore removing him from Konoha's bingo book. He was technically still a threat to her village, but as long as he remained "dead", he was safe.

"No," he said after a moment of contemplation.

The smile on her lips was faint. "Good. So I can do this with a smaller chance of death, right?" And before he could respond, or even ask what she was talking about, she stood on her tiptoes, placed her hands on his shoulders for support and pressed her lips chastely to his.

When she pulled away, he looked at her for a long moment.

"Your interest hasn't died down, I see," he finally settled on saying.

She looked startled. "You knew?"

He wasn't stupid. Of course he knew. "You wear your heart on your sleeve."

A pregnant pause hung in the air. "Oh." Her hands were behind her back, and she shuffled on her feet. "I'm…sorry."

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. What was she apologizing for? "You're forgiven." They stood in a silence she must've found awkward for the next few moments while he had a mental battle with himself.

There was no doubt that Sakura had been attracted to him all of those years ago, when she was healing his eyes. Even with his poor vision, he caught the slight anticipation in her features every time it was due for another healing session. He found her stealing glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking. (But he was always looking. Especially at her.)

The question was—was he willing to take the risk and express what he wanted as well?

His smirk was automatic.

Sasuke fell with Akatsuki. Everything he had ever worked towards fell with Akatsuki. There was nothing left now.

Nothing left, perhaps, except for her.

Placing his fingers on her chin and lifting her head up to face him, he slanted his mouth against hers, much harder and more passionate than her kiss by any amount.

And this was just the beginning.

A/N: In the beginning, I wanted to convey that the idea of kidnapping Sakura to heal Itachi's eyes was overly cliché, and people should stop using the idea. (But I'm a hypocrite, because I use it a lot, too.) I feel that this one didn't stand out very much, but I'm not sure why.