Well, your yelling has made me stir my lazy butt and actually type. So, here is chapter 12!

- - -

"Cherry blossom. Wake up. It's time to eat," a deep, familiar voice said. "Cherry blossom!" Groaning, Sakura put a hand to her forehead.

"Wha – Oh, hi, sensei," she mumbled. "Is it time already?" Stumbling across the room, she pulled the door open. "I'll go make dinner, then…"

Itachi's hand stopped her halfway through the door. "We'll go out and eat tonight," he stated monotonously. Before she could say anything, he took her hand and strode out.

"Eh… Eh? Eh?! Itachi-san?"

You're on a date with him! ♪

I am not!! Sakura screamed in her head, blushing furiously. It's just dinner because he doesn't want to eat my cooking!

But your cooking is good!
Well, maybe he just got tired of it!
But –

Just drop it, okay?

I know! I'll just ask him!

Before Inner Sakura could do anything, Sakura formed the seals for horse and tiger.

"Kai!" When Itachi turned to give her a questioning glance, she grinned sheepishly. "Sorry…" He smirked as he heard her mutter something about Inner Sakura.

- - -

"Good night, Itachi-san," Sakura yawned as she climbed onto her bed.

"Good night."

Ha! Two syllables!

…You are sad, Saku-chan.

What? Why?

You didn't use to hang onto every syllable your sensei said.

Kakashi-sensei is boring. Itachi-sensei is…

Hot?

No!!

You have to admit that he is attractive.

Hai… But he's not –

Hot?

GOOD NIGHT, Inner.

G-good night, then…

Wow, Sakura thought sarcastically. Now even my inner's afraid of me…

- - -

Sakura was awakened by loud knocking on her door. Who –

You call that knocking?! Knocking down the door, more like! Inner Sakura shrieked. Slipping onto the floor, Sakura padded over and yanked it open. She'd opened her mouth to yell when a ball of orange tackled her to the ground. Sasuke and Kakashi stood outside.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! We got a mission!" Naruto shouted energetically. "An A-ranked mission!" A quick glance around confirmed that Itachi was gone. He had taken the ropes with him, leaving only the hooks on her wall.

"How long will you be away?" Sakura asked, hiding her face with her bangs. Let them think she was crying – it was actually to hide the grin on her face. The more time alone with Itachi, Ino, and Tsunade, the better.

Naruto's face fell, and he scuffed at the floor with a sandaled toe. "Um… well… we're going to be gone for half a year…" he said in a hushed tone.

"Who is 'us', Naruto?" Sakura already knew the answer, but asked anyway.

"Me, teme, and Kakashi-sensei!" he exclaimed sadly. "We'll – "

"We should go now," Kakashi interrupted rudely. "See you, Sakura."

"Don't grow any weaker," Sasuke sneered harshly. "If you can help it." He laughed and he and Kakashi left.

Naruto shook his fist at their retreating backs, muttering angrily. "Why you – I'll kill them for you, Sakura-chan!" he declared.

Just add green spandex, and you're got yourself another Rock Lee!

Urusai.

Sakura felt touched that Naruto cared about her enough to "kill" his teammates, but that could cost them the mission.

"It's all right, Naruto," she assured him, smiling. "Come back safely!"

And kill Sasuke while you're at it, Inner Sakura grumbled darkly.

Shut up.

Naruto hugged her one last time and patted her head awkwardly. "Ano, Sakura-chan… I should be going now…. But I'll bring you something back!"

Sakura laughed gently, gazing fondly at the orange-clad young man in front of her; she shook her head. "If you want to bring something back," she told him, "bring something back for Hinata."

He scratched his head. "Okay, then, Sakura-chan," he said confusedly. "If you think it'll make Hinata-chan happy!"

"It will; it will!" With a firm push, she got him out of her room and on his way to find Sasuke and Kakashi. Stepping back into her room and shutting the door, she spoke. "Did you get that?"

"Yes," Itachi replied. "Six months will be sufficient enough to train you. We begin now. Meet me at the training fields in five minutes."

"Hai, sensei!"

- - -

"Every day you will take a quick plunge into this stream," Itachi instructed, leading her to a small, clear river. Slowly, Sakura dipped a finger into the water – and immediately yanked it back out.

"Sensei! It's freezing!" she exclaimed.

"There's no ice yet," he replied tonelessly. "You may stop when the ice forms. Now, in!"

"Nani?!" She glared suspiciously at him. "Now?"

"That's what I said. Keep your clothes on; you can change afterwards," she said in a voice that forbade argument.

"Okay, okay…"

She stepped in.

- - -

"Forehead girl, why are you shivering? You haven't stopped since I saw you!" Ino asked. The girl in question curled more in her chair. They had met Ino shortly after returning to Sakura's house, and she'd insisted that they have lunch together.

"Sakura took a plunge in the river this morning," Itachi answered for her.

Ino straightened up. "What river?" she demanded.

"If you look out the window, you can see it," Itachi told her, pointing. Ino's eyes flew open.

"Are you crazy!" she hissed. "That water is freezing! Oh, you poor girl…" She hugged Sakura to her, stroking her hair. "By the way, where's your team?"

"They're on a mission for six months," Sakura said quietly. "I'm supposed to 'not grow any weaker', according to Sasuke."

"Why that – " Ino let out a stream of very unladylike sounds, made up of oaths and curses; violent gestures accompanied the words. Sakura laughed.

"It's okay, Ino. I won't get weaker."

"You'd better get stronger, then, forehead girl!" Ino growled. "So that when they come back you can beat the stuffing out of him!"

Sakura laughed again; it was a lively sound that tinkled through the air. Itachi found himself drawn to it.

"In six months, you will be chuunin," he promised. "We should train now." The girls agreed; they paid and left for the training grounds.

"So, forehead girl," Ino whispered, "do you like him?" A glint in her eye frightened Sakura.

Uh oh…

"Like who?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

Ino scoffed. "Don't play innocent with me. You know who I'm talking about." She winked, jerking her head almost unnoticeably in Itachi's direction.

Sakura hung her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "I like him, but he reminds me so much of Sasuke – I don't know whether I like him, or if it's just the old Sasuke that I see in him…"Ino thought throughout the miserable silence that followed.

Lost deep in thought, she didn't notice until she bumped into Sakura. Huh…?

"Ino-pig, we're here already," the pink-haired cherry blossom giggled.

"Huh? Oh…"

"Will you be training with us, Yamanaka-san?" Itachi inquired.

"Oh? Yeah, I'd like to, if you let me."

He nodded curtly. "Then come here every morning at six. Forgive me if I spend more time with Sakura."

"No problem!" Ino replied cheerfully. "She is your student, after all." Sakura beamed gratefully at her friend.

And so the grueling training began.

- - -

Tsunade watched as Sakura pushed chakra into her hands, literally bringing a more-than-half-dead fish back to life.

"Good job," she praised her sweating apprentice. Sakura grinned tiredly up at her, examining the flopping fish.

"Arigato, shishou," she breathed. Forcing chakra into her feet, she sprinted to the nearby lake and deposited her "patient". Immediately after dropping the fish, she collapsed.

She hit the ground with a thud; her eyes closed. A shadow loomed over her, and someone poked at her with a tentative finger. Sakura groaned.

"Ino-pig, stop that…"

"Just checking to make sure you're alive, y'know?" the blonde's voice rang out jubilantly. "What happened?"

"She used too much chakra," another voice cut in. Sakura's eyes fluttered open to land on the stern red and black of the Sharingan.

"Itachi-sensei!" she gasped, scrambling to get up.

"Aa… How did you do?" he asked, looking away. She grinned, undeterred by his lack of reaction.

"I don't know. Shishou said she would tell me when I got back," she replied, shrugging. "You wanna come?"

Ino smacked her head. "Of course, silly!" she shouted. "I want to be there when my best friend makes chuunin!"

"You just want to see your scores, too," Sakura teased. "You did really well – I bet you made chuunin too!"

"I agree," Itachi put in quietly. "After that, I'll increase your daily laps around Konoha to 500 instead of 100." He smirked when both of his students groaned. "You must build up your endurance," he lectured. "Now, let's go off to the Hokage's tower. Walk!"

As they passed through the town, Sakura noticed people staring at Itachi. "They're still not used to you yet," she remarked with a smile.

"Well, Tsunade-sama only announced that he was back last week," Ino reminded her. "It takes some time for people to get used to having a former S-class criminal running relatively free amidst them." ANBU still trailed his every move.

"Aa…" Itachi contributed.

"Can't you say something, Itachi-san?" Sakura asked, sighing.

"Hn…"

"I give up." Ino laughed. Itachi liked to annoy Sakura with his lack of response until she yelled at him. Then he would hug her, she would go red, and they'd go on as if nothing had happened.

Speaking of hugging – "Eep!"

"Forehead girl, this has happened a thousand times already!" Ino giggled. "Don't you get used to his hugs after a while?"
"Nope!" Sakura answered happily.

He's too hot to get used to!

Hi, Inner.

I hate sarcasm.

No, really? I would never have guessed.

- - -

"I am pleased to announce that you have both made chuunin!" Tsunade beamed. "Congratulations!"

Itachi smirked proudly. "Time to increase your training schedule," he said, watching in amusement as the two girls clutched at each other, sobbing.

"What happened?" a puzzled Tsunade asked bewilderedly. "Itachi?"

"He's a sadist, that's what happened!"

"I have decided to increase their daily laps around Konoha from 100 to 500," he replied, ignoring Sakura's outburst. "Get up; don't make fools of yourselves."

Scowling, Sakura obeyed. "Get the casts ready," she muttered as the three of them left. Ino laughed, and Itachi's mouth twitched.

"Now that you have reached the level of chuunin," he informed them, "we will begin to prepare you for jounin."

"Are you serious?!" Sakura yelped, turning and staring at him. "I'm gonna die…" she moaned, Ino along with her.

"Don't be ridiculous," Itachi scoffed. "Start your laps! If you don't finish, then we won't eat tonight."

Suddenly, laps sounded fun. Itachi followed closely behind; no matter how fast they went, he never seemed to get out of breath.

"How does he do that?" Ino grumbled quietly to Sakura. "We're always dying, and he looks like he never did anything!"

"That's why he's sensei," Sakura grunted. "Stop talking!"

Ino turned and jogged backwards, facing Itachi. "How do you do that? You're never dying like we are," she panted. He shrugged casually, motioning for her to turn back around.

"Breathe through your nose and don't talk unless you have to," he replied smoothly, his voice giving no indication that he was running.
"Oh." Ino promptly fell silent.

- - -

Next chapter, we get to see Hinata and the boys come back!!!!!!