Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: This is my first Itachi x Sakura story. Itachi is a little O.O.C. (Out of Character). I want to thank ItachixSakura Forever for beta-ing. Be sure to check out her stories!

Summary: What the cherry-blossom kunoichi didn't expect from an Uchiha. (Itachi x Sakura)

Italics are flashbacks.

Bold are thoughts.

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Unexpected Gift

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-Valentine's Day-

Sakura irked, wanting to punch something, specifically the members of the group, as she stood outside his door… consisting in a black robe with red clouds. This wasn't what made her pissed, but rather what was underneath the robe. She just hoped that he didn't take the sash off… but then again, she wanted him too. Her emerald eyes looked to the left, and then to the right, glad at the fact that the members where not peeking, for if they were, she would give them more than a piece of her mind.

So, how did it happen? Why the lingerie? When a certain pale and yellow haired person joined the group, the rest of the members thought that it was a girl. Oh, how he proved them wrong. Supposedly, the lingerie was sleepwear, but Deidara was a boy, who just happened to look a little feminine.

When Sakura got captured by a certain Uchiha, they gave the lingerie to her, and she instantly grew pissed. Well, rather ticked-off (to be exact), and challenged them to a fight. Of course, in an instant, Shark-man just had to use the Samehada on her, and she couldn't do squat. Oh, how they loved teasing her.

She knocked on the wooden door and it slowly opened. There he was, sitting up on his bed, reading a scroll. "Itachi-sama, it's time," she said, walking towards him. He nodded, got off his bed, and walked to the black, leather chair. Sakura closed the door behind, and took out her pen and notepad to jot down notes.

Leaning down a little, she began to gently massage his temples, "Do you feel any pain after you turn off your Mangekyou Sharingan?"

He nodded, never leaving his onyx eyes off hers.

"So, Itachi-sama, how are your eyes right now? Can you see crystal clear?" Sakura asked worriedly.

He closed his eyes, completely silent. "Your eyes are deteriorating every time you use the Mangekyou Sharingan, aren't they?" she whispered.

She wrote it down in her notepad. Being a medical shinobi was hard work, but it was worth it. Her teacher, who happened to be a one of the legendary Sennin's, now currently the Hokage of Konohagakure, was the one that taught Sakura how to be stand on her own two feet, and how to manage her chakra while balancing it equally. Back in the past, Sakura couldn't do anything; she needed and wanted Tsunade's help.

Luckily, Tsunade agreed. Oh, how Tsunade trained Sakura, making her go through tough and exhausting training so that, in the end, she would turn up to be the kind of person Sakura always dreamed of. Besides- there weren't many medical shinobi's in the village, and having one willing to work her hardest to become one was not an offer Tsunade would let slide by.

"Okay, I will tell you when to turn on your Sharingan," she said, as she placed her fingers on his temples. She began to mold chakra on her fingertips.

"Now!" she said, at the same time, sending chakra to his eyes once he activated it.

"How does it feel, Itachi-sama?" she asked, continuing to send chakra to his eyes, brain, and temples.

He nodded slowly and she smiled at that. Yes, it was true, that after a few spars with him, she fell had fallen in love with the S-classed criminal before her. However, she could never admit her feelings to him, for it was obvious that he loathed such things, and his interest in such was greatly lacking.

Today was Valentine's Day; the same day a certain Uchiha broke her heart, and three years later… captured hers.

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-Valentine's Day-

It was a beautiful day today. Sixteen-year-old, Sakura was so excited upon hearing the news that Naruto had arrived back late last night… with Sasuke. Finally, Orochimaru and his henchmen had been defeated, nearly a year and half ago, but in order for Sasuke to be accepted back into Konohagakure, he had been assigned an S-ranked mission with Naruto and Kakashi.

Today happened to be Valentine's Day. Sakura wanted to heal Sasuke, just in case, anyway to be close to him, to talk to him… embrace him.

She got out of bed and started to get ready. Her usual attire was a red, sleeveless top, along with a skort and black boots. Well, not exactly boots, but the style was similar to it. Her cotton-candy hair was still left short since the incident back in the Forest of Death. Though her body had matured a little, she was still growing.

That's when she remembered it. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, her face held clear sadness as a single droplet came from her eye.

"The last time I cried was when Sasuke stayed with Orochimaru and disappeared. After that, I continued my training and stopped crying. Why am I crying again?" Sakura told herself worriedly.

Another tear slide down her cheek, trailing down to her mouth; she licked it, her response of her action being, "Salty."

Running out of the apartment, she smiled with the need to buy a Valentine's gift for him thumping through her thoughts.

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Her eyes had widened in shock as she watched them from afar. Ino-pig had gotten to Sasuke first.

Oh, great! Ino-pig just had to be there! But, why is Sasuke-kun… laughing with her? Sakura continued watching them as she began to read their lips, her present to Sasuke still lying in her hands.

"To tell you truth, I've watched you, and only you. Sakura… didn't do squat. Naruto and I always protected her. The only time she actually used herself was back in the Forest of Death, nothing else," Sasuke smirked at Ino.

"I like the idea that you stepped in and used your own powers," Sasuke smiled, the expression real.

Ino's eyes turned heart-shaped.

Emerald eyes widened in shock. And that's when it happened: Ino-pig kissed Sasuke, right on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. How many times have I held Sasuke in my arms and not even once he embraced me? Sakura's heart began to race and her eyes closed shut. This is not happening! No! It's just a hallucination!

Her eyes opened slowly and they were smiling together. "I love you, Sasuke-kun," was what Ino mouthed to him.

The present fell from the pink-haired kunoichi's hands as it crash sound, instantly gaining Ino and Sasuke's attention; they turned to see Sakura in tears.

"Always crying, eh, Forehead girl?" Ino laughed, Sasuke nodded.

Sakura turned around and ran. In the end, Ino-pig had captured Sasuke's heart, while he had broken mine.

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"Sakura, I have a mission for you and you only," Tsunade said, leaning forward against the desk.

Sakura looked up, still feeling heartbroken. A mission should do me good and get me away from this pain.

"However, since you are my apprentice and the only one that has surpassed me, are you willing to accept the condition?" Tsunade asked seriously.

"What kind of condition?" Sakura said, looking right into her sensei's eyes with serious eyes.

Tsunade rose an eyebrow. Something's not right.

"The solo mission requires…" Tsunade looked back at Sakura, trying to understand the girl, "Years of which God only knows how long to complete."

Sakura couldn't believe it. Years of which God only knows how long to complete? What kind of mission takes that long or worse, till death?

"This mission has never been done before in history," Tsunade added, as Sakura realized she wasn't going to see her friends for a very, very long time.

The pink-haired kunoichi nodded. At least I'll be away from this place and let my heart heal.

"The villages: Amegakure, Getsugakure, Hoshigakure, Iwagakure, Kemurigakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, Kusagakure, Otogakure, Sunagakure, Takigakure, Tonbogakure, and Yukigakure, want you to train their medical shinobi," Tsunade stated, Sakura giving a thought.

Thirteen villages total. Train each village for four months. Total four years and one month.

"I'll do it. Plus, it's a medical shinobi's job to help those who are in need and injured, despite the good and bad," Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and smirked. She wanted to leave this place, and come back home with a strong mind, body and heart. Tsunade nodded, agreeing with her apprentice.

"When you complete the mission, you will receive an excellent compensation. Now, get ready to leave in an hour," Tsunade commanded.

Sakura bowed.

"And Sakura, please be careful. Good luck," Tsunade stood up as Sakura stood straight.

"I will," Sakura waved and left the office.

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Itachi saw it. A tear slid down on Sakura's cheek. Foolish little kunoichi. Sakura didn't know, but her eyes had begun watery once again. She looked back into Itachi's ruby eyes and placed her fingertips at his temples. Before she could tell him what to do next, she saw her reflection. How is it possible that I'm able to see myself in the Sharingan? Looking deep into the crimson eyes, she noticed her eyes.

She wiped them away, "I apologize, Itachi-sama."

"Hn," was all he said.

She got into the position again, "Okay, this time I want to you to activate your Mangekyou Sharingan."

He nodded as she prepared herself to get ready. This was indeed going to be difficult. As soon as he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan, she would have to immediately close her eyes and send her chakra to him.

"On the count of three. One… two… three!" she said, shutting her eyes rapidly, sending her chakra to him as his scarlet eyes began to spin.

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-3 Years Later-

Nineteen-year-old Sakura had completed her mission, training each medical shinobi from each village in less time than that her sensei and she had estimated. The last two villages took only two weeks to train. Sakura trained them as if there was no tomorrow, just the way Tsunade did with her.

"Tomorrow is Valentine's Day," she said sadly, wanting to see almost everyone.

She looked up at the clear, night sky. The lonely mission was completed, and it was a long way to get back home. At least she had learned some new jutsus. Standing up, she looked at her surroundings. A smile spread on her face as she saw a crystal clear lake.

Sakura stripped off her clothes and ran to the lake.

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Kisame and Itachi were camping out. Their mission was to retrieve Naruto once again. They were eating fish quietly, when they felt chakra not to far away. They both paused for a moment and Kisame placed his hand on his Samehada.

Itachi looked at Kisame with intense Sharingan eyes. They both nodded, and Itachi turned into a puff a smoke as Kisame went back to eating with one hand, while the other held his sword.

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He suppressed his chakra, not wanting the girl to sense him. She was smiling as she danced naked on the water. His eyes never left her, remembering that one time Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura had attacked him. Question was, why was she alone?

Sitting on the tree trunk, he continued watching her and her graceful dance. Her fighting skills to him were unknown. He smirked underneath his collar, wanting to test her abilities.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu," Sakura finished her hand signals and a water dragon appeared.

She smiled at it and began petting it. Itachi rose an eyebrow, wondering how she was able to summon something like that. That's when the dragon began to dance with her as it swirled around her, hiding her feminine parts.

Turning with her toes, swaying her hips, letting her hands trace her body without touching, Itachi got up from the tree trunk and left the girl alone, his thoughts on her.

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-Valentine's Day-

Shit! Shit! Shit! This is so not good! Two Akatsuki members are right in front of me!

Both members took off their hats. Sakura couldn't believe it. There was no way she would be able to get home if those two were standing in her way. Just my luck! Uchiha Itachi had to be here! She remembered the first time seeing Itachi, though she had never spoke to him.

Damn it! I forgot how sexy he looked. He's sexier than Sasuke-kun!

She put on her black gloves as she observed the two. Kisame smirked at her and bowed, "I believe we've never met before, kitten," Kisame snickered, his hand on the Samehada.

"Who are you calling kitten, Shark-man?" Sakura began to charge up her chakra in her hands.

"Shark-man? Never heard that one before. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Hoshigaki Kisame," he bowed and then, suddenly appeared behind Sakura. His bandaged blade was on her left shoulder.

Sakura swiftly bent down, not knowing what his blade actually did, sending her charged right foot to his abdomen. The clone disappeared.

"What?!" Sakura yelled, as she turned to face none other then Kisame, who was right in front of her, his blade on her right shoulder.

"My blade is unique," he leered, "for it drains the chakra of a shinobi with one quick swift and…"

That's when he pulled the blade; her cloned disappeared.

Kisame growled, quickly feeling a powerful blow right in the kidneys, "There is no way in hell that I'll let your blade eat my chakra away!"

"Kisame," Itachi said, as Sakura and Kisame looked at him. Kisame nodded, rubbing his lower back, and then, walked back a few feet.

"Kitten, I underestimated you," Kisame groaned, and bowed.

They were a few feet away from each. Itachi and Sakura were looking at each other; she knew that Mangekyou Sharingan was deadly, so she was preparing for its appearance to make sure she avoided its dangerous clutches. Sakura, luckily, had something up her sleeve for that and anyone who had an eye ability.

"Foolish little Kunoichi," Itachi said coldly as he punched her in the stomach, sending her twenty feet away from her spot.

There was no way she was going down. Doing a black flipping, and landing on her feet, that when she charged at him, her punches and kicks missing him. DAMN IT!

Then, she felt another blow, his knee on her chest. She coughed out blood as placed his hand on her forehead. He pushed her off him, sending her another few feet away.

Kisame was having a grand time watching the kitten get her ass kicked. He was sitting on the log, his lower back still in pain. Man, I heard about punches like these, but they were only from the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade. Wait! Could the kitten be… Kisame turned to Sakura and noticed she could barely stand up. Itachi's expression never changed.

That's when Itachi's eyes met Sakura's, "Mangekyou Sharingan."

Sakura smirked as she punched him out of his world without every moving a muscle. Itachi's eyes began to swift from side to side, "My fists aren't my only weapons."

That's when his blurry vision saw green chakra coming from her. A medical kunoichi?

"Hey, Kitten! You're a medical shinobi?" Kisame yelled.

"Hai. I am the Hokage Tsunade's apprentice. My power exceeds hers," Sakura smirked.

Itachi touched his head, feeling an agonizing migraine. He couldn't see straight; his vision had worsened. She looked back at Itachi and felt sorry for the guy, "I'll tell you what I did, if you let me go home." She said, knowing what the motivation of their attack was.

"I do not need your help to unbind me from this jutsu; either way, I'm going to be getting what I want, and you will assist me whether you want to or not," he said, still trying to look at his surroundings.

"That's more of command than a deal. I would rather die fighting," Sakura spat.

Sakura looked at him, Kisame, then back at him. "Alright. I'll heal your eyes, if you promise me to never, ever, go after Naruto."

Itachi stayed quiet and Kisame appeared behind her. Sakura saw Itachi nod, and that's when her body felt drained. Itachi placed his hand underneath her chin and activated his Mangekyou Sharingan.

And she blacked out.

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"Turn off your Mangekyou Sharingan, Itachi-sama," she said, as she opened her eyes slowly and looked into Itachi's onyx eyes once again.

"Okay, I'm going to do one more test. Do not activate the Sharingan nor Mangekyou Sharingan. I just need you to relax and close your eyes," she said strongly, for she knew that his vision was getting back to normal.

He took a quiet, deep breath, and closed his eyes. Feeling the warm fingertips again on his temples, he sensed her chakra healing his normal eyes. "Itachi, how do you feel now?" she asked simply.

He slowly nodded again.

She smiled indicating that he felt a lot better than before.

"Okay, Itachi-sama. I want you to slowly open your eyes. Tell me if your vision is back; make the comparison to a number of 20," she said, as he nodded.

He slowly opened his eyes, and his vision became crystal clear. Looking around slowly, he thought to himself in disbelief; he couldn't believe that she was able to pull it off. Sakura smiled at him as he looked down at her.

"I better get to bed," Sakura said quietly as she walked to the door.

"Sakura-chan," Itachi said quietly, as she turned to see him.

"Hai?" she asked kindly.

That's when he appeared behind her. She opened the door, and that's when the Akatsuki members' eyes widened. Luckily, the leader wasn't there, though he was grateful when he heard about Sakura's abilities. The Akatsuki were glad to have a medical shinobi, especially about the fact that it happened to be girl.

Sakura frowned at this and became angry, but she wasn't able to use her chakra because she had used it all to heal Itachi's eyes.

"Itachi got –hiccup- lucky tonight!" said a drunk, Kisame.

"I wish Lord Jashin could've granted me some tonight," Hidan prayed, rosary beads swirled around his hands together.

"I envy you, Itachi… yeah," Deidara said, with jealously.

Poor Tobi… he had no clue what they were talking about.

"Sakura, I'll pay you, if you show me your body," Kakuzu winked, as he held a small bag of money in his hand.

Zetsu's black and white face started to talk about spying on Sakura… when she was in the shower.

Sakura heard all of this and made a fist. Her faced irked once again.

"You guys are lucky at the fact that my chakra is completely drained!" she yelled, making everyone quiet.

That's when they all rose their eyebrows.

"Grow up!" she yelled, stomping away from the group and into her room, slamming the door.

The members looked at Itachi. "We were just joking," they all teased, except for Deidara and Tobi, who walked away from them.

Itachi looked at her door.

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Later that night, Itachi walked into her room, his footsteps quiet; once he entered, he noted the fact that she was asleep. The white sheet was up to her petite waist, exposing her creamy back. He looked down at her and noticed a tear stain on her cheek. That's when he realized something; he had never seen her cry. In fact, he never actually saw her because of his feeble vision until tonight; what he saw before him was a grown woman.

That's when she shifted slowly, and opened her eyes. Her eyes traveled to his.

"Itachi-sama, is everything okay?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands.

Pulling the blanket closer to her half-naked body, she stood up. Itachi never realized how short she was compared to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked once again, worried about his eyes or if he was injured.

"You love me, don't you, Sakura?" Itachi said sternly as Sakura's eyes widened; she instinctively scrambled to the door.

She looked up and noticed a seal on the door. Itachi appeared in front her, scaring her, as her heart began to race.

"I know you despise emotions, Itachi-sama. I'm so sorry," she said sadly, wanting to cry.

She closed her eyes. He's going to kill me and I don't have any chakra to defend myself.

Itachi lifted her chin, muttering words that stopped her breath and paused her movement. She opened her eyes and they met once again, crimson and emerald, "Mangekyou Sharingan."

It was too late now; there was nothing she could do to escape. "Amaterasu," Itachi said, inside his world, in her mind. Images of Sakura's past flashed by; even though they passed by in seconds, to be exact, it seemed like an eternity to her; so many little things compressed into one to form a story of her life. It showed the good times, along with the sad. Walking behind her, Itachi witnessed with actions his brother had done, and his reaction when Sakura muttered the three words that she prayed she would only have to say once; but no such luck was presented. His courage shook, for no response from the boy had been given; so after, Sakura had asked as best as she could to be let under Tsunade's wing, and to get trained under her calculating skills.

Years later, under the witness of Sakura's memories, he saw his foolish little brother meeting with the girl's rival; if he was correct, her name was Ino. How had he managed to end up with her even though Sakura had been the one to always be by his side? Then again, that's just how naïve his brother was; he wasn't in the least surprised.

He looked at Sakura and saw a few tears gliding down her cheek. Why hadn't she used the jutsu that had been placed on him at their first encounter?

He continued watching as he saw Tsunade tell Sakura about a solo mission. That explains why she was alone when we had clashed with one another.

Itachi knew that this was enough for him to see; so, slipping out of her memories, he turned off his lethal weapon.

He looked down to see her crying; the blanket was on the floor, leaving her only half-naked, for she had used her arms to cover her breasts.

Out of the blue, he embraced her. Sakura was shocked to feel this.

He felt calm and satisfied about his action, and caressed her figure. He was silent, the reason of his sudden action unknown; then again, Sakura wasn't complaining. She smiled and hugged him back; and for once, Itachi felt the embracement of warmth.

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Sakura opened her eyes and looked down to see that she was on top of a certain Uchiha. She sat up, blushing madly, realizing that she was half-naked, while he was still in his Akatsuki coat. Opening his charcoal eyes, the first thing he saw was his blushing kunoichi; seeing this made him smirk, his collar hiding.

"Good morning, Itachi-sama," she said, and looked away.

Itachi sat up, and placed a hand underneath her chin, gently. Their eyes meet.

"I won't use you as tool, but I would like you to stay by my side, Sakura," he said quietly.

Sakura beamed, her feelings for Itachi growing even more so. "Itachi, I promise to stay by your side and to help the Akatsuki tend to their injuries."

She kissed his forehead, realizing that she was home with a certain Uchiha.

"I love you, Itachi," she whispered happily, as Itachi embraced her again, never letting go.

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Fin

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I hope you liked it. I want to thank ItachixSakura Forever once again for beta-ing.

Ki Wingz