Pull Me in Gently

Chapter 2

"Ugh, why do we have to do the Rumba against the two of you losers, yeah?" Deidara shoved a fry into his mouth as Keiko nodded and Izumi giggled. Sasori glared at him as he took a drink of water.

"Because you need to see what good ballroom dancing is. No offense Keiko. You're amazing and perfect and understand art. Unlike this girly headed freak."

"Okay, okay, calm down. We don't want to have another lunch ruined because of your arguments about art do we?" Keiko placed her hand on Deidara's chest to prevent him from strangling Sasori as Izumi set her hand gently on Sasori's thigh.

"Fine, whatever." Deidara rolled his eyes and folded his arms. Keiko shook her head and turned her attention to Izumi.

"Are you ready for more tutoring?" Keiko wiggled her eyebrows and Izumi almost dropped her burger in surprise.

"Shut up Kei."

"What? I was just seeing if you were excited or not. I guess the answer is not. Rin is not going to like this." Izumi watched as Deidara and Sasori both perked up at the two girls conversation. Oh no. Here it comes.

"You're tutoring someone?" Sasori tilted his head as he continued to eat.

"Yeah, he needed help in ballroom and Rin volunteered me."

"Really now. This is getting interesting, yeah." Deidara sat up again and placed his arm around the back of Keiko's chair and grabbed his bottle of soda. "Who is the lucky guy?"

"Itachi Uchiha." Izumi looked down at her plate dejected. Sasori's eyes got wider and Deidara choked on his drink.

"Itachi? Seriously? What's he doing in a dance class?"

Izumi furrowed her brows and looked at Sasori. "Do you know him or something?"

"Heck yeah we know him. He's one of our friends, yeah."

"Wait wait wait. You two are friends with the most eligible bachelor in the city and you never mentioned this before because?" Keiko turned to Deidara. Izumi was grateful she was here so that she could ask questions.

"Because you can do a whole lot better than Itachi Uchiha."

"But we know all your close friends. We've never met him before." Izumi asked as she watched Sasori and Deidara roll their eyes.

"Do you remember that friend that I told you I have but he's always ridiculously busy and MIA? Yeah?" Izumi nodded. "That's Itachi. Not to mention he's so philosophical and quiet we usually piss him off with our fighting so he mainly hangs around Kisame."

Izumi looked down at her half eaten burger and contemplated what they had just told her. So they were good friends with Itachi. What were the chances?

"Hm, weird. You too have such an odd group of friends. I don't understand how any of you stand each other to be honest." Deidara poked Keiko in the side after her statement and she nudged him with her elbow.

"We're just awesome, yeah."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I've got to head to my math class. Do you want to walk me Izumi or do you want to stay with these crazy people?"

"You love us and you know it." Keiko winked and Izumi stuck out her tongue as she grabbed her backpack and threw away her trash. "Don't have too much fun with Itachi this afternoon!"

Saturday's tutoring session was much the same as Friday's. Itachi was getting better and better about feeling the dance itself so they added in music. By dinnertime he was able to hold a conversation and still dance everything well. Izumi was extremely pleased when she left.

Now it was Monday and Izumi was a little nervous that Itachi would have forgotten everything that he needed to remember. Frank opened the door and greeted her with a smile. He had become more and more relaxed around her the more she came.

"Good evening Frank. How are you this beautiful night?" Izumi smiled and bowed a little comically.

"Oh, Miss Izumi I was terrible until you walked in the door. Now I am relaxed and happy. I shall be able to take care of the house now without feeling melancholy. Izumi giggled and continued walking with him towards the ballroom.

"Well that makes me feel happier indeed. How is the rest of the Uchiha family?"

"Fugaku is grumpy as usual but doing well. Mikoto has been fussing all day about a few upcoming events and Sasuke has been trying to avoid Naruto all day because he's hanging out with Sakura. I'm sure you'll inquire about Mister Itachi directly." She nodded as the door to the ballroom came into view.

"As always Frank your company is much appreciated."

"The pleasure is all mine." Izumi smiled as Frank bowed and turned back down the hallway.

Izumi was first in the ballroom today and decided to actually stretch since she had the time. Her ballroom class was going over the Samba and this week they would be competing. Her dance partner was Sasori and Keiko was competing with Deidara. Izumi thought back to her lunchtime discussion and couldn't help but shake her head at how small the world was.

Izumi sat on the floor with her legs spread and her body leaning over to the right. Itachi walked in the room and chuckled as he sat down in front of her. He leaned his head to the side to match it up with hers. "Hello Izumi. I heard that you've met a few of my friends."

Izumi straightened up and pulled her legs under her. "I have indeed. I'm dancing with Sasori and Keiko is dancing with Deidara. I must say I would not peg them as your friends. The three of you seem very different."

Itachi chuckled as he helped her to her feet. "We are. We went to the same soccer camp during the summer and we were roommates. I guess we just got along somehow. They are very artistic."

"Oh, I've noticed! Sasori was talking to me the other day about his major and I could not believe that our university even had a puppeteer program. But he showed me some of his stuff and it's actually really good."

"At least he doesn't try to light fireworks in all of them like Deidara does with his statues every six months."

Izumi laughed. "Yeah, Keiko has had the pleasure of being there for that. She told me that she already promised to come to the next one too."

Itachi laughed and plugged in his phone. Izumi discretely watched him as she pulled out the dance book to make sure she could remember all the steps. He was wearing a dark blue shirt with jeans and his hair was pulled back in his classic ponytail. It looked so soft and he looked so good in that shade of blue.

She would be lying if she denied that she thought about him all weekend. After their session on Saturday she went home to an empty apartment. She finished some homework to get ahead in some of her classes and then went to bed early. The whole time thinking about everything that happened in their sessions. Sunday she spent the evening watching movies with Rin, Obito, and Keiko. During the films she couldn't help but wonder what Itachi was doing.

Without her noticing he turned around and looked at her. "Izumi?"

She jumped. "Yep?"

"You ready to get started? What are we doing today?"

Izumi took a deep breath to clear her head and smiled. "We are going to start with the same exercise from last week. Just to see if you're still loose. Then we are going to work on those hips. Especially since you have the mini competition this week. Did your teacher say anything to you today?"

"My teacher said that I was very improved and seemed to be more relaxed when it came to the dances. But mainly the Rumba. My Samba is still all over the place but we are finishing the dance next week."

Izumi nodded. "Cool, let's dance."

Itachi turned on the music and he grabbed Izumi. "How was the rest of your weekend?"

"It was good. My family had a big family brunch on Sunday with all the branches of the family. Obito asked me how I liked you as my new tutor. Then I just did homework and relaxed."

"That sounds nice."

"How about you?" Itachi spun Izumi and their dance sequence started over.

"It was good. I just relaxed for the most part which was awesome since this week we have the dance competition and then I have midterms and several papers coming up."

Itachi nodded along with her words and then swallowed a few times. It looked like he had something difficult to tell her. Izumi instantly felt nervous. What could he possibly have to say that would make him act this way?

"Izumi, I have something to confess."

Oh crap. What was with that word choice. Confess? What would he have to confess to her? Was he starting to crush on her too? Wait, she wasn't crushing on him. "Oh?"

"I lied to you about my reasons for wanting to be tutored. I said that it was to not embarrass my family. It's really because I have a crush on a girl in my class named Megumi. She's my dance partner for this week and I really wanted to impress her with my skills. Is that terrible?"

Izumi's heart sank and she ignored it. There was no way she was crushing on him to begin with. "No, that's not terrible and when I'm done with you she is going to be so in love she is going to ask you out herself."

Itachi's smile filled his whole face and Izumi's heart fluttered. So there was a girl he liked. That was fine. She could help him get her and then they could stay casual friends. The semester wouldn't be that long and then there would be summer. That was plenty of time for her to spend time with other guys and date. Right? Yeah, right. She barely dated as it was. And she wasn't even crushing on Itachi in the first place.

The song ended and Izumi smiled at Itachi. "I think you are ready for the next step. You did that flawlessly while talking so you are able to still do the dance without concentrating too hard. Now I'm going to throw something else in."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Hips."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly and he stared at Izumi without even blinking. Izumi full on laughed. "Oh, calm down. It's not that scary I know that they went over what your hips should be doing in class."

"They did but I didn't really understand what they were saying so I kind of just forgot about it."

"I can tell." Izumi slowly moved closer to Itachi until she was almost invading his space. She took his hands in hers in front of her. "It's simple. All you're doing is making a figure eight but with your hips. Watch." Izumi kept her eyes on Itachi as she slowly moved her hips in the right formation. The intensity of Itachi's gaze burned through her and a very faint blush rose to her cheeks.

"See?"

"Yeah. But I can't do that."

"Yes you can. It's not physically impossible."

Izumi let go of his hands and placed hers on his hips. She heard his breath hitch minutely and she tried to calm her frantically beating heart. She moved his hips around as best she could. Itachi fought it and they moved stiffly and awkwardly.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Take a deep breath and close your eyes." Itachi complied and she was able to move his hips a little better but they were still awkward. Izumi sighed. She had to think of a way to get it through his head what they were doing.

"It's no use. I still don't understand how this is supposed to feel and what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Okay, let's switch." Izumi grabbed his hands and placed them gently on her hips. She could feel Itachi's elevated pulse but he made no sign that this contact was effecting him. Izumi was sure that he could hear her heart beating as it threatened to rip out of her chest.

"Feel how my hips move and then think about how to make your hips do that. Got it?"

"Got it."

Izumi moved her hips in the figure eight formation. She did a few rotations and noticed that the more she moved Itachi subconsciously pulled her closer. Soon they were almost nose to nose.

"Do you see how it works now?"

"I think so."

"You ready to try then?" Itachi nodded and she placed her hands back on his hips and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She moved his hips and he was actually doing it correctly. Izumi smiled and looked up at him. He opened his eyes and smiled down at her.

A cough echoed through the ballroom and the two of them turned their heads to see Sasuke and Sakura standing in the doorway. Sakura was a bright red and Sasuke looked slightly shell shocked and disgusted. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all little brother." Itachi stepped back and Izumi's hands fell awkwardly off of his hips. "What do you need?"

"We are heading out now for the opening of the museum on campus. Father wanted me to fetch you. I hope you didn't forget."

Itachi looked at Izumi for half a second. "I did actually forget. I'll be in the car in five minutes." Sasuke turned on his heel and pulled Sakura with him. Izumi sighed. That was such an awkward time to be interrupted by someone.

"I'm deeply sorry but it seems that I have somewhere I have to be. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow?" Itachi spoke as he changed his shoes quickly. Izumi followed suit. Good thing she was wearing slip on boots today.

"Of course. You are progressing nicely and by Friday you will be ready to rock the Rumba." She smiled at him and then made her way to the front door as he made his way to the side entrance where the car was parked.

Izumi entered her apartment expecting it to be empty again. Keiko was pretty busy with projects for her psych class and was always on campus either working on those or working at the student health center. Tonight however she was perched on the couch grumpily eating m&ms with Rin next to her. There were bridal magazines spread all over the floor. Izumi took a seat next to her and immediately took a handful of candy.

"Iz, don't you think that Keiko should give Kakashi a chance and go on a date with him?"

Izumi snorted at the deepening frown on Keiko's face. Rin had been trying to set Kakashi and Keiko up since she was freshman. So, for the last three years they had been having this conversation. "Honestly Rin, I think that they should meet before you try to set them up. It's been years and they always just miss each other. If they were really meant to be together it would just happen."

"Traitor." Keiko angrily stuffed more m&ms in her mouth as the other two women laughed at her. "Anyway, why are you home so early? You were only dancing for like thirty minutes."

Izumi sighed and sank into the couch. Her cheeks heated up at the thought of what had happened at the Uchiha estate. "He had to go to the museum opening with his family so we had to cut it short."

"Girl, something happened. I can see it all over your face. What happened?" Keiko instantly sat up straighter as she looked at Izumi and Rin moved closer.

"I taught him how to do Rumba hips and we had to hold each others hips a few times. While he was watching mine he kept pulling me closer. When we switched so I was holding him there was no personal space and that was how Sasuke found us when he came to get Itachi for the opening."

"No freaking way!" Rin squealed.

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything. I definitely don't like him like that and he has a girl in his dance class that he's interested in and he wants the dance help so he can impress her. It was probably just the heat of the moment type of thing."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Keiko stated as she gave a knowing look to Rin. There was something else going on but they weren't going to push it.

"So, back to Keiko and Kakashi." Keiko rolled her eyes as Izumi laughed and stole her bowl of m&ms.