Whew. Well, this chapter is a few days late, but since we gave everyone such a cliffhanger last week we felt it best to go ahead and get this out as soon as it was finished. Unfortunately, this month is going to be hit and miss for updates. It may be the end of the month before you see one from us, so we apologize in advance for the delays in updates.
A big thank you to and CleverBlue for the fabulous bit of fan art they gave us. Naruto and Sasuke's expressions are priceless!
Just Enough
Disclaimer: We're just borrowing the characters for a bit...
3 Years Ago
Konoha Village
Ino tried not to glare at the broad back in front of her. The way Shikamaru's knuckles were almost relaxed, as if they hadn't been clenched white not only moments before. Kami, how she hated hospitals. It always took forever to wash the smell of super heated air and disinfected out of her hair when she left and nothing good ever came from the place.
"Can you get the door, Ino?"
She glared at Chouji's back but did as he asked. Moving around to the front of them, she flicked her hair over her shoulder, jerked the hospital door open and stared balefully at the dark haired man who didn't even bother to open his eyes.
"Thanks," Chouji was unfailingly polite, even as he was maneuvering their injured teammate into the hospital.
"I can't believe you broke your leg, genius," Ino muttered, trailing after them and wrinkling her nose in the sterile environment. "On a gopher hole, no less. This is so embarrassing."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Chouji sighed.
"I mean, you're the chunin. You're the only one who passed the exam. And now you broke your leg on a gofer hole? What kind of shinobi doesn't bother to survey the terrain? You'd better not say anything if anyone asks. I'll think of something."
Chouji and Shikamaru, used to this behavior, merely exchanged a speaking glance and let Ino continue to work herself up. Fortunately, before Ino had a chance to launch into how aggravated she was at the inconvenience of the thing, a nurse came over to check them in.
It wasn't long before the three of them were perched uncomfortably in an examination room. Ino pursed her lips in agitation at the way Shikamaru just closed his eyes and for all appearances, went straight to sleep. She swore he planned these things. She would bet a month's worth of mission pay he had seen that thrice damned gopher hole and decided breaking his leg was an excellent way to get some uninterrupted sleep.
Ooooooo.
Chouji was completely unconcerned, fishing deep in his pocket for a small bag of chips. Ino narrowed her eyes at his as he started to crunch, loudly. Before she could erupt all over her – male, male, male – teammates the door opened. Spinning around, the frustrated words that she had waited to fling at anyone died in her throat.
"Sakura?"
Startled green eyes lifted up from the clipboard. Ino gawked at her in shock. She was wearing one of those boring white coats that made everyone looked washed out and Ino watched as her knuckles whitened around the clipboard.
"Ino… Chouji…. Shikamaru…" she sounded a little breathless but squared her shoulders and gave them a smile that Ino didn't recognize. "I'm here to treat your leg," moving forward, Sakura checked on the IV they had plugged into Shikamaru. "Has the morphine started to work? Are you in much pain?"
Shikamaru cracked his eyes opened. Chouji crunched a chip. Ino exploded. "WHAT? What do you mean; you're here to fix his leg? I want a real medic in here and I want one now!"
Shikamaru closed his eyes. Chouji opened up a new bag of chips. Sakura stiffened and turned around to look at Ino very, very slowly. "I am a real medic. I've been 'fixing' broken bones for the past six months. You need to calm down and be quiet, or else I will have you removed from this room."
Ino's jaw dropped. Sakura just stood there, a white-knuckled grip on her clipboard, and stared Ino down. The tenseness of the moment was only accentuated by the Chouji's constant chewing.
Shikamaru chose that moment to groan. Sakura turned back to face her patient. "I'm going to insert my chakra into your body and ascertain the damage. I'll apply a local anesthetic before I set the break, but this will let me know exactly where I need to set it, and if there's any other damage."
"Stop showing off, Forehead. If you know what to do, just do it. If you don't, then go find someone who does."
The line of Sakura's shoulders tightened but instead of turning to take the bait – or even curling in on herself which she was prone to do – her fingers touched very lightly on the injured leg. Shikamaru cracked on eye open but beyond that remained silent as the girl worked.
Ino huffed in irritation. There was no need to be dramatic!
"Well, we're in luck." Sakura said with a faint smile as she pulled her hands back and reached for his chart again. "The break is in the shaft of the bone."
Ino pursed her lips. Shikamaru just nodded and Chouji looked disinterested so it was clearly up to her to make sure the girl knew what she was talking about. Tossing her hair, even if the gesture was wasted on everyone in the room, she stared at Sakura.
"Why are we 'lucky'?"
Sakura looked up. There was a stubborn glint in the girl's eye that Ino didn't really remember seeing before. Not that it mattered. Ino scowled at her and ignored the look Shikamaru was sending her. Someone had to protect her team from incompetence.
"Because if he had broken his Tibial Plateau or Tibial Plafond instead of the shaft the break would require something more invasive than simply realigning the break and stimulating the healing in the bone with chakra." Sakura paused, giving Ino that unfamiliar smile again—the one that said 'professional' and 'competent' and 'detached.' "I'm going to reset the bone and stimulate the natural healing with chakra. Do you have any other questions? Shikamaru isn't the only patient I have to see before my shift ends and I'd like to be able to help him without any further delays."
'Yeah, I have questions. Who are you and what have you done with Sakura?' Ino crossed her arms and glared at the pink-haired stranger across from her. "Don't screw up."
A muscle in Sakura's cheek twitched, but she just turned to a supply cabinet and retrieved a larger needle, a brace and some wrappings. Ino watched as Sakura assembled her equipment on a small tray beside Shikamaru's bed.
She removed the thin blanket they'd placed over Shikamaru's body to warm his body and prevent shock. "Oh," Sakura blinked. "I hope you're not too fond of these pants, Shikamaru. I'm going to have to cut them off you."
Ino had no idea if he was referring to the conversation going on around him, the broken leg or the fact that he was going to have to replace those pants. Instead of snapping out with the questions she could just feel burbling up – she had more tact than that! – she leaned sullenly against the wall and watched in tense silence as Sakura deftly cut the pants from the knee down and dropped the fabric in a trash bin.
Her smile was hopeful. "Not too bothered by needles, are you, Shikamaru?"
The crunching in the corner stopped. Ino spared Chouji a glance and sighed at the way he was holding his chips protectively, eyes widening. Flicking her eyes back to Shikamaru she was startled by the size of the needle that Sakura was holding in her hand.
"What the hell is that?"
Sakura never looked up from where she was measuring liquid into the syringe connected to the really… large… needle.
"Novocain."
Even Shikamaru was looking vaguely disgruntled.
"Why can't you just use chakra?" Ino demanded. "Are your reserves really that low?"
Sakura paused and then set her empty bottle down. Instead of answering, she smiled at Shikamaru again. "This should feel no worse than a kunai prick."
Shikamaru sighed and closed his eyes again.
Sakura swiftly sterilized the area around his vein before expertly inserting the needle. Withdrawing the needle, she set it back on the table beside her. "It's a fast acting anesthetic, Shikamaru, so I'll be able to reset it soon. How are you holding up?"
Shikamaru's eyes flickered to hers and he just raised one eyebrow and sighed.
"So how did this happen? You were just out on a training exercise, weren't you?"
Ino straightened up. Shit. She hadn't thought of a cover story yet. "That's none of your business, Forehead."
Sakura tensed, shoulders becoming ramrod straight before she turned face her, "Actually, it is my business, Yamanaka-san. I'm required to report the cause of all injuries as a matter of hospital procedure. If you have a problem with that, you may take it up with the Hokage."
Ino hadn't heard anything past 'Yamanaka-san.' What. The. Hell. Where was the girl who would scream back in her face? Where was the girl who had proclaimed herself her 'greatest rival?' Where was the girl who—through it all—Ino had still counted as one of her closest friends? How dare she address her with so much formality! How could she?
Ino was astonished to find herself feeling strangely… adrift. Cut off, like she'd missed something important. It stung. One hand came up to clutch in a loose fist over her heart as she met Sakura's strangely dispassionate gaze.
"It was a gofer hole," Shikamaru's voice broke the tension in the room. "I was running," he inserted a sigh, "and I feel in. But I was going too fast and…" he sighed again.
Sakura paused from where she was reaching for his chart to make a notation. Ino would have hit Shikamaru, except he was almost drugged to his eyeballs by now. He wouldn't have felt it. She would hit him later. How could he just admit that he –
"Oh. Um…" Sakura blinked at him again before simply nodding and making a notation in his chart.
Ino could almost see the way her pen scrawled the words 'gopher hole'. Except, once Sakura got over her surprise, she appeared too simple absorb it. No amused smile. No knowing look. Just a placid sort of acceptance that melted into that professional expression again.
And it frustrated her. Ino prided herself in being able to read people, to find their weaknesses and to manipulate them. And somehow she had missed the mark with Sakura. This… seemingly competent girl was nothing like the person she had grown up with and it left Ino feeling betrayed. And angry.
Her eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned back against the wall. Fine. She was a shinobi, and a damned good one. She'd assess the new situation, this 'new Sakura' and make the necessary adjustments.
Sakura had caught her attention when they were kids because she was so shy, so uncertain of herself, and because Ino had, even then, seen the potential in the girl to bloom. How much better, she had thought on some subconscious level, if I am the one who causes that bloom, who nurtures it and guides it and prunes it so that it reflects what I think is beautiful. After all, she did the same thing to the bonsai trees in the flower shop all the time.
Then Sakura had rebelled. She had straightened up and walked away and hadn't come back since. Ino had let her go; she had better things to do than chase after errant blossoms. And it wasn't as if Sakura had been much competition. Sure, Sakura had shown that she was smart, and sure, Sakura had been assigned to Sasuke-kun's team, but there was still no doubt in Ino's mind that in any competition, she would come out ahead. That conviction had been shaken in their chunin exams, when the two of them had tied, but it was easy enough to chalk the encounter up to freakish circumstance. Who would have guessed that there were two Sakuras? One was more than enough.
And now? Now Sakura had caught Ino's attention again, jolted her out of her world which was her family and her team and caught her attention in the most irritating manner possible. How could she have misjudged the blossom so thoroughly? What was she missing? Who had Sakura become?
X
Present Day
Konoha Village
The eleven and a half hours after the Akatsuki had breached Konoha's walls had afforded little time for contemplation. Although they had taken all the proper precautions, it was still up to the ANBU captains to determine when and how the infiltration had taken place. His father, the head of the Konoha police, had demanded that the police be let in on the search and clean up, and considering Danzo's attempts to infiltrate the organization, Itachi had deemed it a wise move. His father was professional and competent in his position, however much his attitude made Itachi's head hurt.
Regardless, he had still managed to make the time to escort Sakura safely home—as safe as her apartment could be; the stubborn girl had still refused to fix her traps. It had been a quiet walk back, and he found himself anticipating what was to come. Sakura had done an exemplary job on the puzzle of the Akatsuki ring, what she would make of the pieces of information she had gleaned in relation to the 'trap?'
He had spent the night directing village security and was on Konoha's walls when a messenger had found him, informing him of 'Jiraiya-sama's' presence. Itachi's brows had furrowed—he had not seen or heard report of the sannin enter the village. He would have to investigate that breach later.
The meeting with the sannin and Sakura had fulfilled his expectations. Jiraiya's analysis of the seals had been fast and incisive, and the mission was exactly what he needed to have the final pieces of his trap fall into place. The fact that he would not be forced to relinquish Sakura's company was one which sent a warm sense of satisfaction curling around his spine. Two or three weeks with Haruno Sakura, alone? Maintaining the proper professional distance would be a challenge, but one well worth it. By the end of this mission, he would have her see, have her know, just how deeply he valued her, and he would earn her affection, attention, and wholehearted reciprocation in return.
His mind already planning ten steps ahead, Itachi froze the moment he heard his name leave her lips. Slowly, his heart echoing funnily in his ears, he turned to face her resolute expression. Oh, she knew exactly what she was doing, using his name here, in public. He felt his blood rushing through his body and knew that his eyes had shifted, since every detail was Sharingan-sharp.
A feral smile curled his lips. She had said his name. Without prompting, of her own free will, she had as much as acknowledged intimate nature of the relationship between them. She had ceded him victory, but on her own terms, as she knew he could not respond as he wished to her words in public. It gave him a rush of sheer, pride-filled appreciation and the deep overwhelming sense of accomplishment. This woman, Haruno Sakura, this strong, intelligent, vulnerable, stubborn, vibrant, infuriating, beautiful woman had conceded to him of her own free will.
And now? Now she was all his. She had said his name. There was no place in the world she could hide from him now.
"Itachi. We need to talk."
"Yes," he said, approaching her with a smooth stalking gait, "we do."
He placed his hand on her arm and transported them both out of the tower.
X
Hana was frustrated. She was starting to wonder if Itachi's biggest fascination with Haruno was that she was almost bloody impossible to find. She knew, she had spent the past few days attempting to track her down. How hard was it to find a pink haired girl? She wasn't working regular hospital shifts, she wasn't eating meals with her two favorite teammates and she wasn't at any of the training fields!
She was turning out to be as impossible to track as her own teammate.
And that irritated her!
So now she found herself standing in front of Haruno's apartment, knocking firmly on the door, waiting for any sign that the young medic was home. After events of the night before she had hoped that the kunoichi would have been out late and gotten a late start for the day and her quick check that morning had proved she wasn't on active duty. The only place left for her to be was here.
Except it was becoming glaringly obvious that she wasn't here, either. Hissing between her teeth, she turned on her heel and was about to stomp off to force Itsuki to help her when she noticed a familiar blonde moving up the path to Haruno's door.
Yamanaka.
Ino was hunting down Sakura for only slightly less nefarious purposes than Inuzuka Hana. Their girl time kept getting interrupted! She had just managed to corner Sakura into talking about exactly how Uchiha Itachi kissed when the village alarms had sounded. It was almost like it was a divine conspiracy!
But Ino was determined. This kind of gossip—a clan heir, and a smoking hot clan heir at that—getting down and dirty with someone was always news. But this particular clan heir had chosen her best friend, and Ino was damned before she let the slightest bit of information escape.
Sakura might think she had gotten away from the 'interrogation,' as she had termed it, but Ino was there, and she was going to set up a time where the two of them could talk all about it or else she'd show Sakura just what a real interrogation was—
—What was Kiba's sister doing at Sakura's door?
Ino's eyes narrowed as she paused to take in the scene. Kiba's sister. Kiba's sister who was a certain ex-teammate to a certain Uchiha. How very interesting. If she was standing outside it mean that Sakura wasn't home. Pushing her frustration aside, she pulled out a blinding smile and tossed her hair over her shoulder in a smooth, practiced move.
She didn't trust coincidence and this was an unexpected golden opportunity.
"Inuzuka-san," Ino said as she sauntered forward with an open, friendly smile. "Are you looking for Sakura?"
Who else would she be looking for? "I am at Sakura's door, Yamanaka. That would seem to be a logical conclusion." She hadn't been Itachi's teammate since their genin days for nothing. Was this blonde really as stupid as she looked?
If that was the case, this should be easy.
"Your friend's a hard woman to track down. You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?" Hana gave the other woman a fanged smile.
To her frustration, the blonde simply blinked and tilted her head. Yamanaka pursed her lips and then finally offered a blinding smile. "Well, she was supposed to be here. I guess she's not. I didn't expect to find you here though, Inuzuka."
Hana narrowed her eyes, sensing an undertone in the girl's voice. "I have business with Haruno."
That smile widened. "Oh? Sakura is usually willing to help out when she can, but we try to encourage that to be limited at the hospital. Mednin's you know, they never know when to stop working."
Hana's smile grew. An attempted misdirection? From this blonde bit of nothing? It was all too clear what Shisui saw in her, and it wasn't her intelligence.
"Oh no, it's nothing like that. I just wanted to talk to her about a matter of mutual interest." Hana prowled towards her. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"
Ino waved a hand airily around. "Mutual interest? I wasn't aware that you were so close to Sakura."
Hana snorted and decided that this avenue of conversation was over. Moving to slide around the blonde, she froze at Yamanaka's next statement.
"In fact, the only point of 'mutual interest' you would have with her would be Uchiha Itachi…"
Hana twisted around and stuffed her surprise at the blonde's boldness down. Finally, a chance to get answers! "So you're aware of their relationship?"
Ino snorted. "You would actually call it that?"
Hana narrowed her eyes. "Your words or hers?"
Ino placed a hand on her hip and stared her down. "Does it matter? Uchiha is a clan heir. You cannot possibly tell me this is more than some fascination on his part. As for Sakura… she's smart enough not to get her heart broken."
'I hope… If not, well, there is a reason karma gave her those two behemoths for teammates.'
Hana quirked a brow. "Are we talking about the same Itachi?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Itachi has never in his life cared about what the clan thinks."
Ino buffed her nails on her shirt. "Oh please. Everyone within a clan cares about what the elders think, even if it's just to know how to operate within the rules and boundaries as they wish. I sincerely doubt your ex-teammate is any different. What I want to know is why you're bothering to nose around. You aren't teammates anymore. You don't have a working relationship with Sakura."
Hana grinned and stepped closer to Ino, on the verge of invading her personal space. "A girl has the right to be curious, don't you think? And you may know your friend, Yamanaka, but I know Itachi. The bastard would never spend so much time on something he didn't intend to keep.
Stepping around Ino, Hana held up two fingers in a casual goodbye. "Later."
Ino let her go, staring after her with narrowed eyes.
X
Of all the things Sakura had expected – his eyes, his expression, the smooth motion of his walk – getting transported out of the tower wasn't one of them. Staggering a little as her feet readjusted to solid earth, Itachi righted her easily and held her arms until her knees were steady.
Furrowing her brows she glared up at him. "U –"
His fingers slid over her lips, a light burning behind his eyes. "I'll let this one slip by on habit, Sakura."
She swallowed and shrugged her shoulder to get him to release her other arm. She needed a little space. He allowed it and the sensation of his calluses dragging across her lips made them tingle. Scanning the area, she was startled when she realized he had brought them to the top of the monument. Neutral territory and complete privacy. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she turned to meet his gaze.
His eyes whirled with the pinwheels of the sharingan and he was making no move to shut it down.
"Nice choice."
His smiled, slow and sharp and feral before moving. Slowly he circled her, his body almost appearing boneless. "Almost as well done as your choice of locations."
She refused to blush. Refused. "Thank you."
"So, Sa-ku-ra," he drawled her name in those chocolate tones, "what, exactly, did you want to talk about?
She gulped, and she could feel his attention to the movement. Why was it so hard to breathe? His proximity was clouding her senses, filling them with him, and she was finding it hard to think. He was circling her like a wolf, like a vulture, and that wasn't helping either.
She reached out a hand to his chest, halting his circular progression, "I am not prey."
Itachi's burning eyes caught hers and he reached his hand to gently grab her wrist, this thumb tracing her pulse point. Slowly, he removed her hand from his chest and brought her fingers up to his lips. "What are you then?"
His mouth was hot. Sakura took a quick breath, "That's what I'd like to know. We're leaving on a mission, together. It's obvious that there's something between us. What am I to you?"
"Sakura. I thought I had made that clear."
Her eyes narrowed. "Evidently not."
A faint light of amusement flickered in his eyes, and then he was close, so close that their chests brushed together with each breath. "You're mine."
And then his hot mouth was on hers, scorching her straight down to her toes. A hand tangled in her hair just above her ear, short nails scraping her scalp as he wound her long hair around his hand.
An eternity of heartbeats later, he lifted his head long enough for her to catch her breath and gasp out, "Not yours."
The breath from his soft laughter caressed her lips an instant before his returned. Nipping lightly on her lower lip he used her gasp to slip his tongue between her lips and search out the places which made her moan. One hand was slowly tracing down her spine and when it reached her waist his arm suddenly wrapped around her, bringing her close against his body and holding her up as he bent her over backwards, holding her face close with his grip on her hair, and intensifying his kiss.
Sakura hooked her leg around his thigh to support herself—she would not just be held up by him, and jolted at the fresh batch of warmth which rushed through her at the more intimate contact. Her hand automatically reached up to cup his face as she pushed herself closer and began to kiss him back just as intensely as he was kissing her.
He tensed and she could almost feel the motion before he acted, dipping her further and ripping his lips from hers. He removed his hand from her hair, causing her head to drop back, exposing the long smooth stretch of her throat. The sudden drop forced her to hike her leg up higher and she fisted her hand in his hair and forgot to breathe when his mouth made contact with her neck. Itachi began to trace a line under the sensitive skin of her jaw, nipping and licking and sucking and tension, hot and tight, was coiling in her lower stomach.
He used the tip of his nose to trace down her neck and bit her gently where her neck met her shoulder.
She gasped and he mmmed in satisfaction. Her breath was coming in short, uneven gasps at the rasp of his tongue against the sting of his teeth and she was having a hard time filling her lungs. Heat rolled through her stomach as his wandering mouth and tongue took advantage of the cut of her shirt and nibbled a path to her collarbones. His mouth was hot against her delicate skin and she forced her mind to focus. Squeezing her eyes shut she took a long breath and pulled on his hair with enough pressure to create a small distance between her skin and his mouth.
If he kept kissing her she was going to let his mouth do whatever he wanted. As it was, it was taking a considerable amount of will power to ignore the urge to arch her back and give him access to anything.
"This," her voice was low and rough, "is not talking."
His breath was hot against her chest and she kept her eyes shut as it ghosted down the front of her shirt to tease sensitive skin. She knew his eyes were still sharingan bright and if she didn't get enough control before looking at him, she was going to give in and kiss him again.
"I think this is an excellent way to talk… Sakura."
His voice was as rough as hers and the way he rolled her name off his tongue in a slow invitation made her shiver. She had to bite down on the side of her tongue as she was reminded of how closely she was pressed up against him and the way she could feel the lean cut of his muscles through his clothing. He made no move to lift her to her feet or to adjust her position so she forced herself to open her eyes and tilt her head far enough forward to meet his gaze.
She swallowed at the way he was watching her. He was so close she could make out the individual tomoe of his sharingan. Her cheeks felt hot as she realized how and where he would be interested in using his bloodline limit off the battlefield and cleared her throat in the hopes to distract herself. The slow, amused smile curling his lips told her he had an idea what she was thinking.
"Talk. We need to talk. With words."
His lashes veiled his eyes for a moment and when they lifted the sharingan was still in place but some of the heat had faded. Slowly, a deliberate shift of each muscle, he straightened his spine. The motion lifted the foot still on the ground so that she was completely dependent on his hold and her nose was pressed into his neck for a heartbeat before gravity took over and she slid slowly down his chest. Swallowing hard she let her other leg fall away from his and wobbled as her knees tried to catch her. His hands were warm against her neck and spine as he steadied her and it was Sakura who took the first step away.
And then she took another because he was too close and his eyes were too hot and she couldn't breathe so near to him. She didn't dare retreat another step because his eyes were still sharingan red and he was eyeing her like a bird of prey and you did not show weakness to a predator.
Her blood was still rushing through her system, adrenaline and pheromones pumping along with it, and her exposed arms stung with the contrasting coldness of the air without his embrace.
Sakura didn't dare close her eyes, but she drew a breath. He watched the movement with interest, and awareness shot through her system along with a brief spurt of irritation. She latched onto that spark of irritation and held it, using it to lift her chin and glare into Itachi's eyes. She spread her hands slightly away from his sides and asked with a faint trace of exasperation, "What do you want from me?"
A slow, feral grin curled his lips and he took a step forward. When he spoke, his voice was deep and sent fissures of awareness though her. "Everything."
'Everything.' What the hell kind of answer was that. "Itachi. Stop being infuriating. I'm trying to talk to you."
He stepped closer. "Say it again," he purred.
Her arms tingled with the urge to cross them defensively and she had to force herself to hold her ground at the heat in his voice. His eyes burned with it and he had lowered his eyes to mouth. To watch. She considered his request and leaned forward a hairs breath, silently challenging him. Part of her brain was warning her that this was dangerous, that now was not the time, but another part of her needed this.
"Define everything."
His eyes wondered back to hers and she thought how unfair it was for him to have those eyelashes. His gaze smoldered with promises that made her toes curl but the smile curling his lips was faintly mocking.
"Curious, Sakura?"
"I think we're past curiosity."
"Ah." He murmured before shifting his weight forward so that his hair slide across his shoulder and threatened to brush against her chest. "Everything is you, Sakura."
The emphasis on her name was a slight goad but she refused to budge. "I never took you as someone who avoided direct conversation." She let her voice hang, deliberately refraining from using his name.
He breathed deeply, eyes flashing hot enough to scorch before he leaned in so that his hair was brushing her chest. The rest of him hovered a mere fingers breadth from own body and his lips ghosted across skin as he breathed his next words directly into her ear in a rolling purr that sent heat down her spine.
"I want you. Your passion. Your intelligence. Your trust. Your breathtaking efficiency. I want it all. Everything."
Sakura stilled at his words. This was most definitely a little more complicated than sex. But she had known that. Taking a careful breath she concentrated on anything but the way she could feel him, muscles coiled to spring – body ready to react to her slightest movement.
"How long?"
She could feel the way his lips curved against her ear. Confident. Satisfied. She was playing into a trap; she could feel it, but surely…
"Always."
It took a minute for that to sink in. 'Always.' When it did, her breath caught and she stumbled back, automatically falling into a defensive position even though all he did was stand there and look at her with intent eyes.
He'd never said anything to her that he didn't mean. Sasuke'd warned her. 'Always?'
The amused tilt of his lips did absolutely nothing to comfort her. She felt like she'd been backed into a corner and he knew it, damn him. The smug self-satisfaction she could see reflected in the way that he held himself made her want to deck him—the fact that to a stranger he would look completely impassive and look at how well she had already gotten to know him and wasn't it flattering were completely irrelevant and distracting thoughts.
And she couldn't even ask him to clarify. He'd just reiterate that he'd been perfectly specific and he didn't think she was so slow and would she like a demonstration of exactly what that entailed and damned if she made it that easy for him.
If he was angling for her heart, for all of her heart, if he was saying 'always,' then she needed to know if she could take him at his word. Uchiha Itachi or not, if she gave him her heart and he broke it, she'd tell Naruto. They'd never find the pieces.
"Be very careful here, Itachi. Don't make offers you can't back up."
His eyes went darker, and she knew his sharingan had increased. His posture was almost indolent which indicated more than anything exactly how much tension and chakra was circulating through his body. "I never say anything that is not in my power to accomplish."
"Can you really propose 'always' with me without your clan's approval?" she shot back, halting his progression. "I won't be anyone's mistress, Itachi-sama."
There was a blur and then he was standing directly in front of her, one hand resting on the side of her throat, his thumb caressing a teasing line up and down her windpipe. She stiffened at the implicit threat and met his eyes.
"I would not ask for all of you without giving all of myself in return," he growled, hot eyes boring into hers. "The clan will accept my decision. I will marry you or no one at all."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Got it all planned out, do you? I don't remember agreeing to this proposal."
His chuckle was everything dark and dangerous. "You will."
The way he was holding her life in his hand, the dark, heated intensity of his gaze, his obsessive determination to have all of her—logically, none of these things should tighten her stomach or send heat rushing down her spine. But Sakura couldn't ever remember being so turned on.
And logically, the worst thing she could do with his hand wrapped around her throat was meet that smug confidence head on. All the same, the corners of her lips twitched up. "You think you have everything figured out," she said softly. "And maybe if it was just you and just me, you might. But it's not. I won't marry into a clan, Itachi. Especially yours. I've seen what they've done to Sasuke. I want better than that for my children. I've seen what clan politics are like. I'm a shinobi on active duty with ties to the current and the next Hokage. I'm not going to have the time or the patience to deal with a bunch of old fogies who think that they have the right to try to tell me how to run my life and raise my children and decide who I should associate with just because I happen to marry into 'blood.' I won't do it."
His thumb had stopped moving halfway during her speech and he was staring at her with the absolute stillness which said she held his complete attention. It was almost intimidating, the focus she felt on her words.
He brought up his other hand to the other side of her throat and placed his thumbs on her jaw line, wrapping his hands around the back of her head and tilting it up so that she could not escape his speculative gaze. "Is that all which holds you back?"
And in the back of her mind, Sakura heard a trap click shut. She wouldn't lie to him. It would be cowardly, a weakness, and he didn't deserve it. She couldn't hide the way her eyes flickered down as she searched for words, and she knew it told him she was vulnerable, but he didn't press. He just waited.
Damn. Just… damn. The truth. To all the questions he wasn't asking. Her mouth was suddenly very dry but she refused to swallow. It was bad enough that she had looked away. Taking slow, very precise breaths she forced herself to think. There were questions there… underneath the underneath. A faint smile quirked her lips and she felt calmer. Could she love him? Could she trust him with everything, all her secrets and weaknesses… could she give him her strengths? Did she want to?
Was this decision even hers to make anymore?
He had boxed her in, led her feet carefully down the path but… she had let him. He was confident in himself and in what he was offering her; he was showing her the trap. The endgame. He wanted her. Sakura wasn't sure she had ever had someone so meticulous focusing this intensity in her life before and it thrilled and frightened her. He wanted her. He wanted her in his life and he was offering everything he wanted to take from her of himself. She… respected that.
If she said no… no, the question was… if she said yes. If she admitted that the only thing holding her back was his family, she was admitting that she could love him. That she was willing to let him into every crack of her life and to settle there. She was telling him that she wanted to know him completely and she wanted to be a part of every facet of his life. That she wanted his intensity and his insanity and his unconditional presence in her life. That she wanted him to want her in the same way. That she would accept his demands of trust and would expect the same in return. She would be saying that she wanted him to love her.
And the way her heart was hammering in her chest told her that she had already made her decision.
Lifting her eyes back to his, she met his gaze squarely. "Yes."
He was completely still as he absorbed her answer, hands motionless against her throat. Finally he moved, the utter stillness in his body cracking as he slid his hands down the sides of her neck and to her shoulders, down her arms before lazily sliding off her finger tips. The fine hairs on her arms stood up at the contact. Breathing a slow breath, he suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and unhurried. He made no move to deepen the contact and he made no move to touch her with any other part of his body.
He finally pulled back and took two, deliberate steps away from her. "Is there anything else that you feel we must discuss now?"
She shook her head slowly.
"Then I shall meet you at the front gate in one hour's time."
She nodded and watched as he disappeared in a puff of smoke before lifting her fingers to her lips and closing her eyes. She needed to get home and to pack, but couldn't make herself move for several long minutes. Itachi had all but proposed. She had given him what was just shy of an ultimatum. And then he had kissed her. It hadn't been a goodbye… and it hadn't tasted of regret. It had been warm. Soft. Accepting. When was this man going to stop confusing her?
Taking a deep breath she pulled herself together and snapped through the hand signals that would take her back to the village. She had a mission to prepare for. Everything else would have to be dealt with later.
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