I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

Sakura reentered Itachi's room the next morning to administer the next dose of painkillers into his IV. As she injected the medicine into his line, she felt the intensity of his gaze upon her. It took a real effort on her part to keep her hands steady, and resist the urge to turn and met his eyes.

For well over a year now, Sakura had harbored a certain fondness for the heir of the Uchiha clan. Perhaps fondness wasn't exactly the right word, because she was caught somewhere between lust and disgust for the way he conducted his affairs. In a moment of anger, a drunk Sasuke had revealed the truth about Itachi's love life. Naruto had been teasing him for the millionth time about how both he and his elder brother must be gay since they never dated anyone. Sasuke had yelled out that Itachi probably got even more than Gemna and Kakashi combined, and preceded to spill the beans about 'the contract'.

Of course, once he saw the shocked looks on both Naruto and Sakura's faces, he backpedaled and tried to play it off as a joke, but neither of his teammates had believed his lie. So in the end, they were swore to secrecy since Sasuke, in his inebriated state, was crying over the fact that Itachi was going to kill him. From that night on, the feelings that Sakura had started to develop for the elder Uchiha had been tainted. She still lusted over his body, but she felt nothing but contempt for the way he lived such a double life. She still admired his skills on the battlefield, his intelligence, and his cool-under-fire attitude, but her desire to possibly enter a relationship with him was gone.

There was no way in hell she would ever let herself get treated like a whore. Any man that thought she was good enough to sleep with was damn sure going to announce his admiration and attention to the world if he wanted to be with her. As hard as she had worked to reach a position of skill and authority demanded that she except no less than a full measure of acknowledgement from whichever man she entered a relationship with. As much as Sakura wanted Itachi, and she wanted him something fierce, she had too much respect for herself to be any man's piece of tail on the side.

Holding that thought uppermost in her mind, Sakura steeled herself to meet his eyes with a purely professional expression. Still, she was unable to stop herself from giving him a brief head-to-toe inspection. He was her favorite eye candy after all. From the top of his gorgeous head, past his beautiful face, down his long lean body, to the very tips of his toes, the man was masculine perfection personified. When she finally met his eyes, they were gleaming a smug knowledge, and she realized that he was perfectly aware that she was checking him out instead of assessing his wounds. She refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her blush however, and spoke.

"The painkiller should take effect in a few minutes, is there anything else that you need?" She asked him in her best professional tone. He frowned briefly, but quickly recovered his smirk.

"I saw you looking at my body….am I healing to your satisfaction?" He asked her with a touch of sexual suggestion in his voice, as he emphasized the word 'satisfaction'. Fighting back the shiver that threatened to run over her body from the sheer seduction of his low husky voice, Sakura nodded her head at him.

"I am pleased with your progress, and I am sure that Sasuke-kun, Mikoto-san, and Uchiha-sama will be relieved that you are recovering so quickly. They are waiting outside, I'm going to go let them know they can visit now." She told him calmly, as she headed towards the door. She was stopped by Itachi's hand around her wrist, and before she was able to control her reaction, her body was covered in goosebumps, and she let out a small gasp. He chuckled, and the sound of it brought her out of her haze.

She turned to look him in the eye as she very deliberately reached down with her other hand, and sent a jolt of chakra into his wrist, forcing him to release her. She saw his look of satisfaction change to one of shock before he quickly removed all trace of emotions from his face. His eyes burned into her with heat, and a small amount of anger before he masked them as well.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Sakura-san." He told her, as his eyes searched her face in interest.

"You didn't offend me Uchiha-san. I am just a little particular about who I allow to touch me." She told him with a touch of coolness to her tone. His eyes widened a miniscule amount before narrowing, but he didn't reach for her again as she headed for the door. She could feel the speculation in the weight of his stare almost physically on her back as she left the room.

ITACHI'S POV:

Oh, it is on, my little cherry blossom. Before I am done with you, you will be begging for my touch! He hastily dropped the predatory smirk that had formed on his face as his brother and parents entered the room. Sasuke raised his eyebrow at him, but decided to wait until a later time to ask what that particular look was about. He had a sinking feeling that it had something to do with the anger he had seen in Sakura's eyes as she informed them they could visit. I'll just have to make it clear that Sakura is off-limits, and hope like hell that he accepts it, Sasuke thought to himself.