Forever and Always

I want you forever, forever and always
Through the good and the bad and the ugly
We'll grow old together, and always remember
Whether happy or sad or whatever
We'll still love each other, forever and always
Forever and always, forever and always

- Parachute

Two months after December:

She lays in her bed, reading a book late at night. She hears a pounding on her door. Before she enters the foyer, she glances at the ticking clock. It's one in the morning. Who could it be? She opens her door and finds a cloaked, disheveled Itachi standing in front of her door. He walks in and she steps aside before shutting the door completely.

"What happened?"she asks, concerned. He looks worried. She follows him into her living room. He stops, looking at the clock-the only thing that makes sound in this silence. She leans against a wall, letting him have his personal time. She scans his body, searching for any injuries. He has none.

"Where've you been these past months?" she asks.

He doesn't turn to look at her, continuing to watch the clock tick away. "Akatsuki scheduled me for some missions out in Kumo. That's why I haven't been around for a while." She walks over to him, wrapping her arm around his chest as she presses her face into his cloaked back. She breathes in his scent.

"I missed you."

"I know. I couldn't stop thinking about you for these past two months." Turning around now, he shrugs out of his cloak, tossing it onto the ground before staring at it with mixed expressions. She sees a look of disgust and sadness. His face reverts back to its stoic expression, unreadable. He leans down to kiss her, cupping the back of her neck. One of his hands moves to her waist, moving back and forth at the hem of her tank top. His thumb touches the bare skin of her hip. He moves his hand down the sides of her dark shorts, trailing down to her creamy thighs. He grips the back of her thigh and hooks it around his waist before doing the same to her other thigh.

She locks her legs around him, cooperating. She looks at him questioningly. She wants to ask what happened, wants to know why he was so worried, but she doesn't want to interrupt their special time.

He smashes his lips against hers. Her hands reach and entangle themselves in his hair. He trails kisses from her lips down her throat as he walks blindly in the dark. She grips his hair as he presses her against a wall in the hallway, keeping her between him and an inanimate object. He nibbles at her neck and she giggles, thinking of him as a vampire. She feels his lips forming a silent question against the base of her throat. He presses even deeper into her neck, tongue licking her vulnerable skin before he sucks greedily.

"Oh," she groans before sighing into his hair. She arches her throat back, giving him more open space as he moves back up her throat. His hands shift behind her tank top and she puts her hands on his wrist, stopping him.

"Itachi, I am not having sex in my hallway. To the bed, mister."

"Alright, Miss," he replies, smirking. He changes his hold on her into a bridal style and dashes to her room. He dumps her playfully onto the twin size bed and she squeals. Before she can sit up, he pounces on her, caging her in with his arms. He looks down at her and she looks up at him, nervous. They've had sex before, but the way he stares at her makes her nervous.

"What's the matter?" she asks. Maybe he doesn't want to do it anymore? A feeling of disappointment washes through her. He shakes his head. "I was just remembering how pretty you are."

She blushes.

He leans down to kiss her exposed collarbone. "Simply beautiful." He kisses her throat, lips brushing the mark he left on her just a minute ago. "You are the perfect one." He molds his lips against hers, crushing himself to her. She opens her mouth slightly and his tongue slips in. She wriggles and moves against him; his hand lifts her tank top over her head as she sits up, revealing her sport bra. He frowns.

"I don't know why you decided to wear this one of all days."

"Uh, hello? Didn't know you were going to come and play with me today." She smirks. He growls and moves the cloth off her, only to find chest bindings keeping her breasts veiled. He sighs, sounding defeated, and she laughs in amusement; in a blink, he pushes her back down and eyes her white bindings. He grabs a loose end and unwraps her chest, keeping his eyes locked onto her green ones. He sits on her thighs, keeping her trapped beneath him, and she sits up to chuck off his shirt. He presses her back down, his bare chest to hers, and continues where he left off.

-XXX-

A while later, they both lay in bed with calming heart beats and sweaty skin. She lays between him and the wall, naked underneath the blanket. She scoots closer to him, gingerly tugging at his hair. "Itachi, tell me what happened."

He lies on his back, eyes shut with his chest moving up and down as he breathes rhythmically. He opens his eyes, drapes an arm around the curve of her waist, and turns onto his side to stare at her. Her flushed cheeks and marked throat, her green and concern-filled eyes- he wants to keep her forever, alive. "I was on my way back to Konoha a couple hours ago and one of the Akatsuki members told me that Orochimaru had struck Konoha."

"What? Really? When was this?" she asks, looking alert now.

"Orochimaru took a civilian from Konoha, a female specifically, and skinned her. He hung her on the Hokage monument. I didn't set a foot on the site, but anyone on ground level could see a body dangling from the stone nose of the the third hokage. ANBU members were all over the place." Itachi stops speaking; he shuts his eyes, grits his teeth, and clenches his fists. He exhales loudly before continuing. "I searched the nearby members and didn't even see you at all. I thought that it might have been you, Sakura. It's reasonable, don't you think? You're a female; you work for ANBU. Why wouldn't he come after you so that he could push at ANBU or more specifically, Sarutobi? After all, Sarutobi was Orochimaru's mentor when he still lived here and Sarutobi still is the head of ANBU."

Sakura stiffens, scared that she could have been that woman. "When was this?"

"Midnight, an hour ago."

"Oh. Well, I was here all night. I didn't work tonight."

"Thank Kami, then." Itachi tightens his hold around her waist, snuggling his face into her hair. He shuts his eyes and tells her to sleep.

A/N: any feedback?