Chapter three

Two years ago

It was Friday night and she was watching a stride competition. Correction, trying to watch a stride competition. Why do all these people have to be so ridiculous tall? She couldn't see most of it and she had to listen to what the others told each other to know what was happening.

14 year old Sakura was short and normally had no problems with it. She did have problems with her length at times like this – when her length was withholding her from something she wanted. She pushed people left and right to get past them – the only way for her to see something was if she stood in front of all the others – and that was her plan.

She was nearly there when she pushed a male to her right. The others hadn't really reacted when she pushed them, but this male reacted. "Foolish girl," he said to her. Sakura froze, not expecting him to speak. She turned to him and bowed slightly, "I'm sorry," she apologised. He didn't turn to her but he looked at her from his canthus.

"You could have asked if I wanted to move," he said. Sakura's face flushed and she bowed and apologized again. His voice… so deep and still soft. She decided that she liked his voice. "I'll ask next time," she added. He nodded, still not facing her. "Ehrm, you watch the races often?" she asked as a stupid attempt to start a conversation.

Now he turned to her and she could see his face in the light of the lanterns. He looked like he was five years older than her, and he was gorgeous. But when she looked him in the eye, she felt like she stopped breathing. Those eyes.. Those eyes looked like they held so much information, like they knew every secret of the world. They almost looked old, like they had seen too much, but they suited him.

"My cousin is running right now," was his short reply. She knew immediately which one, she could see the resemblance. While she wasn't well known at the competitions, she was one of the few who had even a bit of medical knowledge so the racers came many times to her when they had hurt themselves of just for a check-up.

Running now was Shisui, against someone whose name she didn't bother to remember. Shisui had visited her a few times after a race for a check-up but the other one was an outsider, and outsiders didn't go to her for a check-up.

She could finally see the racers and paid attention to the race for a minute of two, deciding to reply later, after she had seen how Shisui had been doing. "Shisui-san is doing good, even better than normal," she noted. The male raised an eyebrow. "You're an acquaintance of Shisui?" he asked. Sakura nodded. "I'm one of the so called nurses, I patch them up after a race if they have hurt themselves and they're too stubborn to go to the hospital again. Haruno Sakura at your service," she introduced herself.

"Uchiha Itachi. You're the reason he's still working probably after all those races?" Sakura wondered about that. "I think so. I'm not the one with the most medical knowledge. My mother taught me a few basic things, like first aid, but I've read much and I try to apply that," she replied.

"It's his last race tonight," Itachi said out of nowhere. Sakura almost chocked in her own saliva. "Why is he stopping?" He was one of the nicest racers she knew, her friends not counted, and she knew he was one of the best.

"We're going to college so we'll be able to take over the company in a few years," was his answer.

Present time

They had chosen a course of 2 kilometres, not long, she knew, but with extreme obstacles. She had to be extremely concentrated, or else she would hurt herself, she knew, so she couldn't really pay attention to her opponent.

She jumped over a low beam, landed on the ground and ducked under a higher beam. Running further, she tried to avoid the holes in the ground but it was hard, considering the fact that the lanterns gave only enough light to see half of the course. However, it wasn't hard to notice the next obstacle. A part of an old subway. She jumped on the railing, made sure her food landed right, and jumped again, only to land on the roof of the old subway.

She found her balance back and started running. It wasn't exactly a long part that she could run but she just had to run as fast as possible at parts like this because she would lose time while ducking obstacles. Sakura didn't even bother jumping on the railing, she just jumped off the roof and landed on the ground.

She hadn't exactly paid attention to the voices but now, on a part where she just had to run, she paid attention to it. The new electronics they had worked good, she decided. Everyone, even the ones that couldn't see the part where she was running, were able to follow what was happening now.

She jumped on the platform and jumped again, her hands clamping to the poles while she swayed her body forwards so she could grasp the next pole. She had to do this for ten times before she could let go and run again.

Next obstacle. She leaped to the wall and clamped her hands to the rope that was hanging there. She pushed her body in a more comfortable position and pulled her body up. Once she reached the top she left the rope hanging and let herself fall down to the ground. She wasn't able to land on her feet so she landed on her knees. She reminded herself that she had to train that landing later. She got up and ran further.

She jumped over the hole and grasped the swinging beam, landed on the platform and repeated that. She landed and speed up. This was her last running part so she had to sprint as fast as possible. It felt like she couldn't go fast enough. The finish came in sight and she smiled, she could make it, she could beat him – only to notice that he was already standing there. She faltered for a bit but didn't stop running, reaching the finish after a few seconds.

She put her Capri jeans on and searched for her blouse. She found her red one and looked up when there was a knocking sound on the door of the self-made changing room. "Who's there?" She wasn't really expecting someone while she was changing. "It's Naruto," was said from the other side of the door. She rolled her eyes with an amused smile on her face. She should have known that.

"You know I'm changing," she replied. "I've seen you in far less, Sakura-chan," was the reply and Naruto and he opened the door and entered. "What the hell, Naruto!" She put her blouse on as fast as possible and was even more shocked when a second person entered her changing room.

It may be called a room but it was cold and she was planning on going home as fast as possible. It was half way April and at day was it warm enough but at night it was pretty cold.

"You don't need to be so mad, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, faking a hurt tone. "Why did you take someone into the room I was changing?!" Naruto may be close to her and did things she wouldn't let many do, but this was too far. She looked at the stranger for a second time and realized something.

It was the male she had compete against. She smiled a bit at him, "I'm sorry for this. He can be a bit much at times. I'm Haruno Sakura. Naruto didn't tell me your name." He didn't smile back. He looked somewhat familiar, Sakura thought. "Hn. I'm Uchiha Sasuke." No way. "You're Itachi's little brother?"

YOLO

You thought I wrote that Itachi flashback for no reason?

Did you like their meeting?

How do you think Sakura still remembers Itachi? I mean, she met him once two years ago.

I wouldn't remember someone I met two years ago XD

I'm actually surprised about the fact that I updated on time. I'm not really used to writing multi-chaptered stories anymore so please bear with me. And gosh, I'm killing myself with the storyline. I have to make sure everything is at the right time, that the flashbacks are at the right year. I'm really afraid that I'll get the events at the wrong time but I'm helping myself to prevent that!

Thank you all for reading, following and reviewing