Senko: Shisui will be making his first appearance in this chapter. Do not question me on his behavior and traits because I do not know how he acts. I don't know what kind of possible friendship he and Itachi could have had. However, I will portray their friendship as something similar to that of Naruto and Sasuke's.

IIMPORTANT NOTE: I edited the previous chapter. Blonde Hurricane informed me that if Sasuke achieved the Mangekyou Sharingan, he would be the THIRD user. There is no limitation as to how many people can acquire it. Also, I changed Itachi's Tsukiyomi's "one second" to "one minute" because Iccena told me it's actually a minute ;)

Responses to Reviews

Hao'sAnjul: Actually, it's not really the past D: see, the book just transfers Sakura and Itachi to a realm where Itachi hadn't killed the clan yet. And also as I mentioned in one of my notes (I think in chapter 4), Orochimaru would have wanted Itachi's body but he would know that Itachi is too strong. He would then move to Sasuke, thus still resulting in the events of the chuunin exam and the death of the third Hokage ;D mksanime: That's for me to know, and you to find out later ;D Mistress DragonFlame: In my head, the picture of him carrying her like that just popped up…but you know, you have such a great point o.O;; gosh, what is with me lol I need to use my common sense (if I have any, that is lol)The Squabbit: Yeah T-T when I become president, I am going to make a machine that will make hot anime bishies like Itachi come to life…but I'm gonna make so he doesn't go around killing people o.O or me lolSweetAssassin: READ! Hehe :3 Iccena: Really? O.O I'll trust you since I don't trust myself lol Baka'sAngel and inuuyashaHELP: o.O;; he's not turning twelve. That was the preview for my NEW story "The Other Uchiha" lol and for Baka'sAngel, in this story Sakura is 17 and Itachi is 22 and in my other story Sakura is 14 and Itachi is - ahem – 12 (v.v) hatakevee90: That is for me to know and you to find out loltheoneandonlydarkpowderpuff: Sorry bout that!KagomeAngel91: Senko-sama? – feels so honored and special – Lilmisssushi: Yeah, yeah, Itachi-kun is definitely the sexier Uchiha hehe and omg I wish I could wake up lying on top of Itachi xD uhm…like you said, preferably alive o.O;; oh, good luck to you and take care too! You must live to not only read my story but MAKE YOUR OWN WONDERFUL STORY!Neon kun: I didn't think you were serious about bothering me on YM xD lol anyway, I've got your SasuSaku oneshot! Dedicated to – drumrolls – YOU! – throws confetti – Sharinganmistress: -gasps- OMG…you are so cool! Thank you so much! Here! –gives you BRE- Here's the Best Reviewer Ever reward! Oh, did you know when I typed the BRE award I accidentally typed the "BRA" award and I was like "WTH" LMAO hc727: Maybe :D XTakaX27: Maybe she does know, but I think that she does. In the episodes before Sasuke betrays the Leaf, I don't recall him or anyone telling her anything about the Mangekyou Sharingan. Also, she is never present when the Mangekyou Sharingan is used, like around episode 80 when Itachi appeared. Ninjaxbunny: I did, so hand over the cookies now! D:

Thanks to bloodstained demon, BWOLFY, blackXheart, Heartless Ghost, Boyesgirl, wynter89, animemistress419, Rhonda21, hinako89, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob…, starwishes, Mica-Sakura-Choice-Akaichok…, sillymail, EnV, sendoh11, Reiyuka Yumikoto, pilar-ayesha, .Homicidal.Psychotic.Insane…, The Violent Tomboy, Sakura's hope, Itachi's Poison, Itachi's-Gurl41, Sylvok, sAyUrI-aNbU, and psychochild22 for reviewing!

Disclaimer: No own. Duh.

Chapter 10

"Is this all, Sakura?" Kakashi asked with exhaustion clear in his voice.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, thanks a lot for helping out, Kakashi-sensei."

"Don't call me sensei anymore," he said. "You're no longer my student."

"Yeah, I guess. Well, it's getting late. I'll see you sometime, Kakashi-san," she said.

"Yeah," he said, and then leaving in a puff of smoke.

She spent the whole yesterday packing up her belongings. Today, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi had gone to her place and helped deliver her stuff to her new residence: the Uchiha Estate. She took one last look at her house before closing the door and leaving.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Sakura exclaimed in disbelief.

Mikoto smiled. "I said this is your room."

"But this is his room, too," she said, pointing to Itachi, who was sitting on what she thought was her bed.

"We only have three rooms: one for me and Fugaku-kun, one for Sasuke-kun, and one for Itachi-kun. Didn't they tell you?"

"No, they did not."

"Well, I'm very sorry but you've already brought all your stuff here. I understand if you feel uncomfortable about this, but look at it this way – you'll have to sleep in the same bed with him sooner or later."

Sakura sulked.

"I'm very, very sorry, Sakura-san," Mikoto frowned apologetically.

Sakura couldn't help but smile in return. "It's alright, Mikoto-san. You do have a point."

Mikoto smiled. "Well, I'll be going now. Itachi-kun, help Sakura-san unpack her things."

"Hai," he replied.

When Mikoto left, Sakura and Itachi unpacked Sakura's things. Upon unpacking her things, Itachi stared for a long moment. Sakura noticed this.

"What is it?"

He continued to stare. "Pink…everywhere…"

Sakura let out a small nervous laughter. All of her things were pink, and she couldn't blame Itachi for feeling that way. Her pink shirts, pink skirts, pink sweaters, pink hair clips, pink socks, pink sandals, pink accessories, and yes, pink undergarments were everywhere. After unpacking, the two were silent, both feeling awkward at having to stay and sleep together in the same room. When they finished, Sakura grew uncomfortable of the silence and left the room to explore the house.

"I'm going to look around," she said before leaving.

Sakura wandered throughout the halls of the main Uchiha house. The house was large, much bigger than hers. Carefully, she made note of which room lied behind what door. She passed by a room, but stopped and entered it when she realized that Mikoto was there; it was the kitchen. Mikoto, sensing Sakura's presence, turned around and smiled.

"Hey, Sakura-san," she greeted. "You're all done unpacking?"

"Yeah," Sakura said. "Are you cooking? I can help."

Mikoto giggled. "Sure! Can you make rice?"

"Yes, I can," Sakura answered.

Mikoto beamed widely. "This is so fun! Now, there's another girl in the house who can help me cook! Don't tell Sasuke-kun because he'll be very embarrassed, but he cannot cook at all. When it involves tomatoes, he'll make something close to decent. Other than that, his food can send you to the hospital. It happened to Itachi-kun a couple years back."

Sakura was shocked. "Wow…I never knew Sasuke couldn't cook. I thought since he's already smart and powerful, he'd know how to cook."

"I don't blame you for thinking that."

Time flew by quickly and the girls had finished preparing dinner. Everyone was seated at the table and eating silently, except Mikoto and Sakura.

"I saw this beautiful white kimono with cherry blossom decorations!" Mikoto said. "I think that you would look great in it. It matches your pink hair. Speaking of hair, is your hair naturally pink?"

"Yep!" Sakura beamed proudly. "My mom has pink hair, so that's why I have pink hair too. But I often wonder how she got pink hair and how the pink hair started."

"Don't you mean had?" Sasuke said.

"Hm? What did you say?" Sakura said.

"You said your mother has pink hair, but she's dead already so she had pink hair."

'Oh crap,' Sakura thought.

'Nice going, smart-ass!' Inner Sakura screamed.

Sakura quickly thought up an excuse. "Uh…well, my mom's death was a really big thing to me and it's still hard for me to cope with the fact. I still feel her presence in my heart and I like to think she's watching over me. I like to think that she is still here." Sakura silently sighed in relief.

Mikoto frowned sadly. "Aw, Sakura-san…I'm so sorry. I'm touched by your love to your mother."

"Enough of this nonsense and pointless topic," Fugaku spoke. "Sasuke, your Aunt Hanna needs you to take care of her daughter tomorrow. She's going to be away for the day."

Sasuke frowned. "But otou-san, nii-san said he'd finally train me tomorrow."

Fugaku glanced at Sasuke. "Are you disobeying me?"

Sasuke stared down at the table for a second and then shook his head. "No. I'll watch Asako tomorrow."

"Good. Besides, Itachi cannot afford to waste time training you when he needs to train himself."

Sakura ate silently, putting on a smiling front. But inside, she felt a slight hint of sadness for her teammate…and her fiancée. With a father like this, it's no wonder the two boys grew to crave power. After dinner, Sakura helped Mikoto wash the dishes before returning to her, er, their bed. Itachi sat on the bed reading a scroll. Sakura, after grabbing her pajamas and going into the bathroom to change, sat down beside Itachi.

"What are you reading?" she asked out of curiosity, eyeing the scroll.

Itachi rolled up the scroll before she was able to read the contents. "Stuff about the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"I see. The Mangekyou Sharingan seems to be such a powerful tool. I kind of wish I had something like that."

"Great tools like that come at a price."

"What about the Byakugan? Aren't the Hyuugas born with it?"

"I like to think the Sharingan is more powerful."

Sakura laughed. "It's late. We should sleep now."

"You can take the bed," he said, getting off from the bed, but he stopped when he felt a gentle tug on his dark shirt.

Sakura contemplated her decision for a second before pulling on his shirt. When he turned around, she looked up and met his dark eyes. "Just…sleep here. With me."

"Alright."

When he switched the lights off and darkness filled the room, he slipped under the covers and lied next to her. Sakura could feel the warmth from his body because of the proximity. She silently thanked the darkness for hiding her blush. When she calmed down, she stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

"Itachi-kun?" she whispered, checking to see if he was already sleeping.

"Hn," he replied, indicating he was still awake.

"Do you think of me as a friend?"

"No."

She frowned, saddened with the answer. She had thought that he would think of her at least as a friend, but it seems he hadn't…yet. She would have to work harder, pry more into his life and become his friend. "Do you…have any friends?"

"One."

She was slightly shocked. "Who?"

Itachi paused before answering. "Shisui."

"Is he an Uchiha?"

"Go sleep already."

Sakura slightly giggled. "Ok."

"Itachi-kun, Itachi-kun! Wait!" Mikoto said, rushing towards Itachi and Sakura, who were standing in front of the door and ready to leave.

Itachi and Sakura halted and turned around to see Mikoto in front of them. She smiled. "You two look so cute together!"

Sakura blushed. Itachi remained stoic.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see the two of you together like this. I can't get over it! I can't believe my little boy is engaged! Pink and black…Sakura-san and Itachi-kun, you two look so good together."

"Okaa-san, you're embarrassing her," Itachi said. "And we're going to be late."

"Oh, sorry! Off you go!" Mikoto smiled.

Sakura was still blushing as they walked down the roads of the Uchiha Estate. The residents were looking at them. The elders were admiring how good they looked together, the boys were glaring at Itachi, and the girls were glaring at Sakura.

"Itachi!" a voice called out.

The two stopped and turned around. Sakura hadn't seen him before.

"So, this is your fiancée," he said.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, Shisui."

'Shisui!' Sakura said to herself.

'It's Itachi's friend!' Inner Sakura recalled.

"So, are we training today?" he said.

"Yes."

Shisui grinned. "Ready to get your ass kicked again?"

"That's my line."

"So cocky of you to say that, Itachi."

"Look who's talking."

Sakura watched the conversation between the two men. In a way, it reminded her of Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto would be overconfident and Sasuke would be the one always beating Naruto. Of course, Naruto was the only one that was able to see a side of Sasuke that hardly anyone else say. She was slightly surprised to see how easily Itachi talked to Shisui; she assumed the two must be very good friends. The conversation soon came to an end and Shisui left, telling Itachi to be at their training area in half an hour.

"So, I guess you should be heading off to that training area Shisui was talking about. I'm going to go to see Tsunade-shishou."

"I'll walk you there."

She blinked twice. "Wow…you're awfully nice. Do you consider me a friend now?"

"No," he said. "Let's go."

When they reached the Hokage's Tower, they met a few of their fellow ninjas. It was Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji, the InoShikaCho team.

"Your big forehead is radiating a blinding light, forehead girl," Ino teased.

Sakura glared and retorted, "Your ugly pig smell is making people die from lack of oxygen."

Shikamaru sighed and Chouji…ate a banana! Having barely noticed this, Sakura's mouth hung open in shock.

"Ch-Chouji, are you eating…a banana?" she stuttered, pointing to the banana.

"Surprisingly, I lost a game of Shoji (Senko: Is this what it's called? I don't remember.) to Shikamaru, so I had to eat a box of bananas," he said, throwing the banana's cover on the ground.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"That's littering!" Ino screeched. "Pick that up this instant!"

"Sorry, Ino," Choji said. "Part of the bet was that the loser would litter in front of you."

"Where are you guys going?" Shikamaru asked.

Sakura beamed. "I was just on my way to see Tsunade-shishou, and Itachi-kun was just about to go training."

"Well, we'll be going now. We don't want to delay your meeting," Shikamaru said.

When the trio left, Sakura dashed in front of the Uchiha prodigy, frolicking. She turned around and faced him, walking towards him to give him a quick kiss on the cheek for walking her to the Hokage's Tower. "Thanks for walking me here, Itachi-"

She couldn't finish.

She slipped.

She slipped on Chouji's banana peel.

'WHAT THE FUCK!' Inner Sakura screamed.

And Itachi attempted to grab her hand to save her from falling…

But she dragged Itachi down with her…

And he landed right on top of her…

And his lips unintentionally met hers.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Tsunade asked, watching her favorite pupil.

"Sakura-sama! Are you sick?" Mikki exclaimed, a worried look on her face. On the way to the Hokage's office, Sakura ran into Mikki (Senko: Remember from chapter 4?) and it turns out that Mikki was also headed for the Hokage's Office.

Sakura, currently, was playing with the hem of her skirt and held a flustered face. The events of only a few minutes ago still replayed in her head and no matter how hard she tried to forget it she still remembered every detail.

How she tripped on Chouji's damn banana peel.

How she fell.

How Itachi fell on top of her.

How Itachi's lips touched hers.

It was just a short kiss, his lips quickly brushing against hers. But whatever kind it was, it was still a kiss and she couldn't believe that the Uchiha, Itachi had kissed her. She had always thought that Sasuke would be her first kiss, and this thought made her just slightly angry with losing her first kiss, but she found she couldn't be angry. A part of her wanted to have him kiss her again, a deeper kiss than the one they had shared only moments ago.

"I…I'm okay."

"That's good then. So, Mikki and you will be going on a short C-rank mission. This should only take about one or two days. You are just to escort a civilian back to his village, which isn't very far away," Tsunade said.

BAM

Shisui barely dodged Itachi's punch. He stepped back, exhaling a breath of relief. "What's with you, Itachi? You could have killed me!"

Itachi regained his posture, not answering Shisui.

Shisui sighed. "And now you're ignoring me. You're such a bastard. Anyway, you've gotten stronger, way stronger than when we last fought – which was, what, three weeks ago? I can't believe you improved this much. What's your secret?"

"I don't have a secret," Itachi looked at him, "you're just untalented."

Shisui laughed. "You're funny. Anyway, let's head back."

It had been hours since Itachi had dropped off Sakura at the Hokage's Tower. Since then, he had a hard time registering what had happened. Sure, it wasn't his fault. He was just trying to save her from falling, but nevertheless he did fall on top of her and, well, it did count as a kiss right? Their lips did meet. He was Uchiha, Itachi, and Itachi does not do kissing whatsoever.

"Hey, Itachi, look!" Shisui pointed to an item displayed in front of the window of a shop. Itachi stop his stream of thoughts and looked at what Shisui was examining. The store was a jewelry shop and Shisui was admiring the glimmering female accessories.

"I think that Keiko-chan would love that necklace," he said, pointing to a necklace with a small heart locket. "And her birthday is next week, too. Come on, let's go in. I have to buy it before someone else does."

Itachi followed Shisui inside the store. Shisui continued to look around the shop. Bored, Itachi decided to look around as well. His roaming stopped when he came across a certain necklace. It was a simple necklace with a small cherry blossom as the pendant. Suddenly, an all too familiar face flashed across his mind.

'I never gave her a birthday present,' he recalled. He turned around to see Shisui purchasing the necklace. When his gaze returned to the necklace, the same face appeared in his mind again. He wanted to stalk off and leave the necklace, but it was as if the necklace held an invincible aura that pulled him closer.

"That necklace was really pretty, though, Itachi," Shisui said, walking down the street with his newly bought necklace. "It really suits Sakura-san. You should have gotten it."

"Hn."

That night Itachi slept uncomfortably. One reason that was to blame was because his mind kept drifting off to the necklace. Should be buy it for her? A part of him wants to get the necklace for her, wants to see how perfectly that necklace dangled around her smooth neck; then again, there was that part of him that said it was a mere necklace and doing something such as buying a necklace for a girl showed too much weakness. Another reason that was to blame was the emptiness of the bed. Twice he slept in the same bed with her and he missed having her company already. Night never seemed to be so long before and he had never in his life yearned to see the morning ray shine and the return of a certain pink-haired kunoichi.

The next day dragged on and Itachi couldn't believe he never noticed how boring life actually was. He always beat Shisui in sparring. He always received the same dreamy stares from the village girls. He always walked through the streets with the admiring eyes of the civilians laid upon him. Dusk arrived yet again and Itachi was walking home. On his way home, something caught his eye yet again. Something from a certain store, and he contemplated for a long time what to do.

"Yo, Itachi-kun!" Sakura greeted, reminding Itachi of Kakashi.

Itachi blinked as he saw Sakura look up from the scroll she was reading. He had just arrived home and entered his room.

"You're back," he said.

"That's all?" she faked a frown and sulk. "No 'welcome back' or 'how was your trip' at all? Didn't you miss me?"

"When did you get back?"

"Just now, about half an hour ago," she answered, rolling up the scroll and getting up from the floor.

When she got up, she felt a gentle grasp on her hand. Her eyes met with Itachi's for moment before shifting down to their hands. He could tell she was still awkward from yesterday, but was trying hard to put up a comfortable front. His other hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. Sakura stared in awe and disbelief as he put the necklace on her. When he finished, she grabbed the pendant of the necklace and blinked.

"I'm…uh…." She couldn't find the words. "I…you…this necklace…um-"

"I never gave you a birthday present."

She stared up at him again, her emerald eyes meeting his dark eyes. Gently, she wrapped her arms around his waste and pulled him into a soft embrace. He could sense her smile and joy.

"Thank you," she whispered.

And suddenly, the feeling of boredom he felt earlier now gradually subsided.

Senko: So sorry for the slow update! I was busy and all, so yeah! Also, FF had some sort of problem, I think, and I couldn't log in :) To make up for it, I made this chappie longer! I was actually going to separate them and make them chapters but I thought nah lol

Will Sakura and Itachi progress beyond a simple, quick kiss? Find out in the very, VERY near chapters of WA! Gosh, these two are really slow, aren't they? xD