"Sakura-channn!"
Sakura closed her eyes and braced herself as a familiar blond threw himself at her.
"Naruto!"
"Sakura-chan! It's been a whole month! Didn't you miss me?" Naruto and Sasuke had been sent on another escort mission, only this time it had been much longer than the previous disaster.
"I can't answer you're question if I can't breathe." He abruptly let her go and she took in a deep breath.
"Yes Naruto, I did miss your loud mouth." She grinned at his expression, full of happiness. "Did you and Sasuke just get back?"
"Yep! Oh, Sasuke! Didn't your mom say that she making dinner for us all tonight?"
Dinner? With Itachi's mom?
It wouldn't be the first time, but she hadn't been sleeping with Mikoto's oldest baby.
Sasuke slowly came up to where they stood, hands in his pockets. "Yes. We stopped by as soon as we got back and she demanded to have us all over for dinner."
"Even that prick Itachi will be there." Naruto gave an eye roll, though she still didn't understand why he hated Itachi so much.
"Don't let him hear you say that, dummy." Thankfully she had been correcting Naruto's name calling for years, so all he did was scoff.
"He thinks he's so bad and better than everyone else! Like on our last mission together! We totally had it!"
"Dobe, shut up."
"Ah, Sasuke! You know it's true!"
"Regardless, I get tired of your mouth and I've had to listen to it for the last month." He turned to face Sakura. "Mom said to be there at 6 unless you have a shift or mission."
"Nope, nothing going on today, let her know I will be there. Do I need to bring anything?"
"I don't think so." Of course he wouldn't think to ask.
"Alright, let Mikoto-san know I'll be there at 6 and I'll bring a side dish."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Why ask me if you'll just bring something anyway?"
"Because your mom always loves when I bring my Mom's old recipes, but you always forget to tell me."
"What are you gonna bring, Sakura-chan?!"
She turned to Naruto and gave him a smile. "It's a surprise. If Sasuke could tell me what his mom is making I could plan a little better."
Ever since she started going over to the Uchiha's family home - back when she was 12 - she loved whatever Mikoto cooked. When she inherited her mother's things after her passing when she was 15, Sasuke's mom had tried to fill the void. They connected by cooking, though she'd never let any of her ANBU team know what liked to cook.
Heck, Itachi didn't even know.
Sasuke groaned. "How am I supposed to know? All she said was have Naruto and Sakura over for dinner."
"You'll never change, Sasuke-kun."
"Whatever. I'm gonna go home and get some sleep."
"Oi! Sasuke! What about ramen?!" Naruto scrunched his eyes up and crossed his arms, throughly irritated.
"No one's stopping you." He called out as he kept walking, leaving a pouting blonde with Sakura.
"Don't even think about it." She warned before Naruto could even ask her.
"Ah, but who's gonna eat with me?"
"Why don't you ask Hinata?"
He scrunched his brows up at her. "Why would I ask her? She never even talks!"
She sighed. "Never mind, you're a lost cause."
"But she doesn't!"
"Naruto, I'm going to go home and fix a side. I'll see you later." She patted his head - which required her to stretch up on her tip toes - and laughed as he groaned.
"I'm not five, Sakura-chan."
"I know, it would be a lot easier to pat your head if you were."
..00..
"Ah! Sakura-chan! It's been too long!" Mikoto gathered Sakura in a tight hug as soon as she opened the door to the Uchiha main home. Because Fugaku was the head of the clan they occupied the center home in the Uchiha district. It used to fascinate her the first few times she visited, but now she loved the feel the old home emitted.
"It has, Mikoto-san!" She returned the hug, having missed the company of the older woman.
"Geez mom, let her breathe." Mikoto sniffed and turned to face her youngest son.
"Sasuke, be a dear and take the bag that Sakura sat on the floor; we have some catching up to do."
Sasuke groaned, but did as he was told. People may fear the Uchiha, but it was well known who really held the power.
"Come, Sakura-chan, we have a few minutes before dinner is ready."
Sakura followed Mikoto the the family room, sitting down opposite of her on the couch.
"Itachi tells me that you've been doing really well with the missions you've been given." She knew that she had been assigned to the same ANBU team as her oldest son, and often asked him to keep an eye out for her.
Not that Sakura was supposed to know that, of course, but Itachi has let it slip a time or two.
"Well, if he thinks so then I must be!" She let out a laugh. "While most of the time he can be a slave driver, I've learned that when he pays a compliment then he means it."
Mikoto let out a bark of laughter. "That's the truth! He's stoic, my Itachi, but he only says what he means."
They spent a little while longer talking until Sasuke appeared in the doorway.
"Mom, Itachi just got home, but Dad's not back from his shift."
"Alright, everything should be done and your father already said that he may have to miss dinner." She turned to Sakura. "This is what Itachi's future wife has to look forward to." With that she laughed and got up from the sofa and made her way into the kitchen.
What?
Sakura shook her head and got up as well, following behind Mikoto and a trailing Sasuke.
Thankfully, dinner didn't turn out as awkward as she feared. Itachi was as polite as he always had been, and Naruto and Sasuke still bickered as usual. A few times she had caught Mikoto looking at her in a strange way, but brushed it off as nothing.
After all, there was no way she knew that there was anything going on between her and her oldest son.
She stayed until after the sun had begun to set, and only left when Naruto offered to walk her home.
"I don't need anyone to walk me home, Naruto." She had grumbled under her breath.
He wrapped a golden arm around her and grinned. "But whenever I walk you home I pass by the ramen stand, and then I have an excuse as to why I stopped for food after dinner!"
She rolled her eyes, knowing she should have seen his answer coming.
"Sakura-san?"
She looked over her shoulder at Itachi, who stood at the doorway. "Yes, Itachi-san?" Thankfully she didn't have to call him taichou due to ANBU regulations, because that would have been weird.
And a little kinky. Maybe she should try that sometime.
"Don't forget we have training in the morning."
She nodded. "I didn't forget."
He nodded back and walked back into the house, and she and Naruto began the short walk to her apartment.
"I don't know how you work with him, Sakura-chan."
She looked up. "He's not that bad, you know."
He kicked some dirt up with his sandal. "That's not what Sasuke says."
"Sasuke and Itachi are brothers, Naruto. Brother's fight and bicker, but that doesn't mean either one is a bad person. Itachi's friends could easily say the same thing about Sasuke, but I doubt he talks to anyone that closely except for Shisui and he knows Sasuke well."
Naruto kept grumbling, but let it slide. She knew he wasn't the biggest fan of Itachi - heck, she hadn't been either until she joined ANBU - but it still got on her nerves when he kept bad mouthing him.
She loved Naruto, but he was like a dog with a bone when it came to certain things.
A few minutes later she had said her goodbyes to Naruto and made her way up to her apartment, flinging her sandals off as soon as she made her way through her door.
"You really should have a better place for your shoes."
She froze and slowly turned around to see Itachi, once again, sitting on her couch.
"How did you get here so quick?"
He raised a shoulder, but said nothing, as per usual. When she first began to spend time around Itachi she had thought he hated her because of how little he spoke, but Shisui assured her that he rarely even spoke to him.
She sighed and made her way to her kitchen to grab a water, thirsty for some reason. "Want anything?" She called over her shoulder.
"No."
She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and made her way to where he sat, plopping down next time him. "Not that I mind, but any particular reason you snuck into my apartment right after I left your house?"
He took the bottle from her hand and opened it, taking a drink before handing it back to her. She just rolled her eyes and sat the bottle on the table.
"Tonight marks two years that you have been part of my team."
She scrunched her eyebrows. "No it's not. I didn't join until a week from now."
"You we're officially offered the opportunity to join four days before that, and three before that I watched you save my brother's life. I approached Kakashi-sama that night about you joining my team, and he agreed, so technically it's been two years."
"You've never told me that before."
"There was no need. You didn't need to know why I wanted you to join, only that I did."
She picked to a pillow and smacked him. "Of course I did! Or at least I do now! I thought it was all for my medical skills."
He grabbed the pillow from her and placed it behind him. "Well, of course that helped, but it wasn't the main reason. You've gone from a weak child to a strong woman, and not just due to your medical skills."
She stared at him, not knowing what to say back.
"I'm glad you're part of my team, Sakura."
She smiled and huffed, not wanting him to know how much his words meant to her. "Only because I saved your ass a few months ago."
He finally cracked a smile, reaching out and pulling Sakura onto his lap. He ran a hand through her hair and pulled her chin down so he could hover his lips over hers. "Only because I let you save me."
Sakura smiled and ran a hand up his side. "Whatever."
His lips met hers forcefully, earning a groan from the pink haired woman. He twisted a fist in her hair and pulled, drawing his lips from hers and attaching them to her now exposed neck.
"Is this my reward?" She moaned, pressing down on Itachi.
He lifted his head from her neck and in one move lifted her from his lap and threw her over his shoulder, standing up in the process. She laughed and then moaned as he slapped her exposed backside. "Possibly."
..00..
Gosh, I can't believe how many people have found this story! It started out as a fun little idea, but I'm quickly falling in love with it.
Let me know what you think of this chapter!