Senko: The birthday scene in this chapter is REALLY similar to that of the birthday scene in "Worlds Apart" ok? Yeah. But, read this chapter carefully because this chapter will be a clue to what will happen in the next few chapters.

Also, sorry for the late review. As I said in "Worlds Apart," school was ending and I was overloaded with work. I know, I know, school ended on May 26 for me -.- for not updating asap after May 26, I admit I am guilty! T-T I was too lazy to type lol

Response to Reviews

sakura-nin: YES! You are correct! XD -gives you cookies- Gina01: Read to find out! ;D ItaItaParadise: Why, thank you! I try my best to keep characters in-character. Itachi's character is so hard to write. You don't know what's going through that genius head of his T-T ninjaxbunny: Thankiez for the awesome review! -gives cupcakes- konohaGiRL: Yes, she will have a mission. As you can see, I am going through the months. This chapter was for March and the next chapter will be or April, but there is no event in April. So, I am planning to make a mission in the next chapter :) .H.P.I.A.L.: That...is for me to know and you to find out! lol...actually, yes, of course! What kind of romance story would this be if that doesn't happen? Ehehe! neon kun: lol! Thankiez...but you know who's the best ItaSaku writers? Mitsukishiroi and leafygirl! They have the best ItaSaku fics:O shi hime: AWWW! Thanks so much! jezebel x3: Yes, Itachi is older than Sakura and he knows that. However, he also "knows" that the Hokage used a technique to make his body remain the same. Now that he's out of the coma, he will resume living and growing at that age.

Thanks to Phantomica, Ivory Black aka Torri-Chiob..., blacksheep18, nadeshiko-uchiha, Blizzie-chan, lonewolf4ever, animemistress419, Riley Mayori, ByakuyaBaka, Clacifer the all Mighty, raven, Hao'sAnjul, SilverStorm106, Duhreah, EnV, monkeyn3rdZ, SweetAssassin, Sylvok, Heartless Ghost, reminiscemina1215, theoneandonlydarkpowderpuff, huffpuff, toxicxkisses, kai'sgirl510, itachi-sama a.k.a cathrun, xSakura.Blossomx, hel, fluffy101, nutte, Darkmoon44, sillymail, silentxkill, shari and deathly cold for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Me no own. Duh.

Chapter 5

Several weeks had passed by. Valentine's Day marked the beginning of the medic-nin Sakura and her unofficial assistant, Itachi. Since that day, Itachi would accompany Sakura in the hospital whenever he wasn't training or wasn't on a mission. Sakura had begun to give Itachi basic healing lessons and he would help her heal whenever possible.

"So, Kiba, just be careful and don't use that left arm of yours too much for a week, ok?" Sakura said.

"Yes, yes," Kiba answered.

Itachi withdrew his hands from Akamaru. He had been healing Akamaru's small wounds while Sakura healed Kiba.

Sakura glanced at Akamaru, "It's a good thing Akamaru wasn't hurt too badly."

Kiba patted Akamaru's head, "Yeah. Hey, is your shift almost over?"

"It's actually over right now. You were my last patient," she answered.

Suddenly someone barged into the room. It was another medic-nin and she was panting and wheezing, "S-Sakura-sama…it's an…an emergency! Ji-jiraiya-sama is on the brink of death! Please come!"

"Itachi, go home. I might be home late," she said quickly before dashing off.

"Itachi!" a voice called out.

Itachi looked ahead to see a familiar blonde girl; it was Ino. He approached her, "Good evening, Ino."

"Good evening to you, too. Hey, where's Sakura? Is she going to be done soon?" she asked.

"There was an emergency and she sent me home. She said she'll be coming home late," he answered.

"What! Ah, damn it…" Ino cursed. "We were supposed to go out and celebrate her birthday."

"It's her birthday?" he asked. He didn't know it was her birthday.

"Yeah, didn't she tell you? Today's March 28, her birthday."

"No, she didn't."

"Oh well. Hey, give her this for me," Ino muttered, handing him a small gift in lavender wrapping paper before walking away.

Itachi slowly walked through the streets of Konoha. He had nothing to do now and it was just nine in the evening. Taking his time, he passed by a familiar shop and glanced at it. Something caught his eye and he stopped to take a better look.

Flashback

"Itachi, Itachi!" she pointed to an object and turned her head to face him.

He walked up to her to see what she was so excited about.

"Isn't it pretty?" she stared at the object. It was a simply yet beautiful two-piece necklace in the shape of a silver heart.

"Hn," he didn't see what was so good about the necklace. Girls, what was with them and hearts and romance? His attention diverted to her again when he heard a small gasp from her.

End Flashback

He contemplated on what to do and after a moment of painful thinking, he entered the shop.

Sakura concentrated hard on Jiraiya, her hands placed over his abdomen as she released the greenish chakra into him. She was breathing heavily, hoping that he would be alright. What could have happened for Jiraiya to be injured so badly? Did someone attack him? Whatever it was, it must have been a terrifying and powerful force.

"Sakura," a voice said.

Sakura turned to her side to see Tsunade smiling, "Tsunade-shishou…"

"It's alright. I'll over from here. Go home and rest, you've done enough," she gently smiled.

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura muttered and left the room. She closed the door to the room and leaned against it in exhaustion. She glanced up at the clock that hung nearby; it was almost eleven thirty. She inwardly cursed to herself as she imagined Ino's anger at her for missing their plans for her birthday.

Itachi was reading one of Sakura's medical scrolls (which she allowed him to read and encouraged him to read) when Sakura returned. Looking at the doorway, he could see her slump figure dragging herself to bed. Glancing up at the clock quickly; he could tell it was five minutes before midnight. He got up from his position and head over to her room. The light in her room was still on.

"Sakura," he spoke softly as he entered her room. She was lying on her bed.

Upon hearing his voice, Sakura got up and sat on her bed, "Oh, hey Itachi…"

He walked over to her and handed her the box that Ino had given him, "It's from Ino. She said to give it to you."

"Thank you," Sakura muttered, taking the box from him.

"Here," he said, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a necklace.

Sakura stared in awe. It was the same necklace she saw at that shop on Valentine's Day. He remembered. She smiled, restraining herself from crying at the sight of the necklace. She was at loss of words, "Itachi..."

"Ino told me it was your birthday," he said, handing her the necklace.

Sakura gazed at the beautiful necklace, "You didn't have to."

"It was my thanks for you allowing me to live with you," he stated.

She looked up at him and smiled and then stood up and quickly wrapped her arms around his waist. Then she let go, "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," he said.

He began to head back to his room. Did everyone hug another like this as a thank you for a gift? People should have more than one birthday a year then…Before he was able to leave the room he halted at the sound of her voice.

"Good night, Itachi-kun," she whispered.

He smiled to himself. He was moving up in her book.

"WHAT!" Sakura screeched at Naruto.

The following day, Sakura and Itachi returned to the hospital. Much to Sakura's surprise, Naruto was there. Apparently, he was also hurt and was in the hospital the previous day but he had specifically requested that no one tell Sakura.

"S-Sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto pleaded.

"Why didn't you tell me!" tears were forming in Sakura's eyes.

Naruto frowned in guilt, "I'm sorry…I just didn't want you to know. I bet you were really worried Ero-sennin wasn't going to survive. If you knew I was hurt you'd be going through even more pain and probably couldn't concentrate on healing the pervert. I didn't need as much help as him."

"But still…" Sakura's voice faded away and was replaced with a sniffle as she tried to hold back her tears. "I…you…what happened?"

"I…" Naruto paused. "I don't know. We were training and then the next minute I woke up here. They wouldn't tell me what happened. They said we were lucky we were near Konoha and that ANBU found us."

"Where did you guys travel to?"

"We traveled around to Sand and Grass and were returning to Konoha for awhile," Naruto grinned at her. "I wanted to spend yesterday with you to celebrate your fifteenth birthday. I couldn't miss it; it's the biggest day of the year."

The tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe she used to hate this blonde boy so much, "Naruto…"

Silence dominated the room for a minute as Sakura tried to stop herself from crying.

"I should check up on Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said. "Naruto, take care, OK? Take very good care of yourself."

"Yes, Mother," Naruto teased.

Sakura glared at him before leaving the room, followed by Itachi. Once outside, she shut the door and leaned against it, taking a deep breath. Itachi could clearly sense her sadness and pain. After quickly gathering herself together, Sakura turned to Itachi and smiled.

"C'mon, let's go see the perverted Sannin."

He simply nodded. Sakura opened the door to find Tsunade, an unfamiliar man, and Kakashi hovered over the weak Jiraiya, "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I'll come back later."

"No, stay," Tsunade insisted.

Sakura and Itachi entered the room and stood alongside Tsunade and Kakashi, forming a "U" around Jiraiya's bed.

"You were saying?" Kakashi asked.

"We were training and Naruto released the fourth tail," Jiraiya mumbled weakly. "If I had known it would be too much for me to handle, I wouldn't have angered him…"

"What did you do?" The unfamiliar man asked (Senko: He's that guy that's on the team with Naruto, Sai, and Sakura, but right now I don't think that Sakura knows who he is yet).

Jiraiya paused before answering, "I told him he couldn't help Sasuke."

There was a silence. Tsunade got up and headed for the door, followed by Kakashi and the unfamiliar man. She stopped and turned around before leaving, "Sakura, Jiraiya will be your last patient for the day."

Sakura nodded and Tsunade left.

"Itachi, can you hand me the bandages?" Sakura began to remove the old bandages around Jiraiya's arm.

Itachi nodded and reached for the bandages and handed it to Sakura.

Jiraiya studied the two and a grin formed on his face. Sakura looked at him questioningly, wondering what it was that the old man was grinning about.

"I heard about what happened with Itachi," he said.

"Oh," was Sakura's reply.

The rest of the time proceeded in silence, with Sakura occasionally ordering Itachi around and informing Jiraiya on his injuries. The two stopped by Naruto's room once more before deciding to head home. And this was how it was between them, but little did they know even the smallest things like working together will result in the formation of a bond, and a bond is the last thing that two enemies would want.

Senko: I'm very sorry about this short chapter! But yeah, this chapter was dedicated to the month of March and I have nothing else for March. The next chapter will be for April and there is nothing in April so…there will be a mission!

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