REMEMBER

CHAPTER 2

"So are we expecting the little ones to be as rumbustious as you were when you were a child?" Itachi teased as he stroke his wife's hair.

Sakura blushed and buried her face against his chest. "Hey, you had your share of being a mini terror!"

"I was the quiet one. That would be Sasuke."

She snorted. "Yeah right. Remember who convinced Shisui-san to jump of the roof on a dare?"

"That was not me," he replied as innocently as he could.

His wife could see right through it though. "Oh please, you can't pull of innocence. We both know that you are as unruly only much more subtle."

"Ah," he answered, pulling her for a kiss.

When the kiss ended, Sakura looked up at him dreamily. She then said, "But you were always my hero. You always looked out for me, even when I didn't know it."

XxXxXx

After their introductions, Mikoto had invited Mebuki and little Sakura to have lunch with them. She had been planning to take her sons to the new outdoor restaurant near the park. She thought it would be wonderful if Sakura could join them.

Mebuki gladly agreed. She wanted her daughter to make new friends and adjust to their new city fairly quickly as she was going to start in her new preschool in about a week's time.

After lunch, both mothers brought their kids to the playground and shooed them to play.

Sakura was hesitant in going. She looked back at her mother and saw that she was already engaged in an animated conversation with Mikoto. She looked down at her shoes, thinking of what she would do. She suddenly felt a hand on her head. Looking up, she saw Itachi in front of her. Sasuke had already gone off to play at the sandbox with some other kids.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

She blushed as she brought her hair down again. She shook her head.

Itachi let out a sigh and knelt in front of her. "Do you want to play?" At her nod, he offered his back, "Come on, hop on."

Sakura tilted her head to the side cutely. "Hop on?" She asked.

Itachi couldn't help but laugh and replied, "Yes, hop on. Come on. I'll give you a piggy back ride towards the sandbox."

Not really sure how she was going to do, she walked forward as Itachi gently took her arms and made her wrap them around his neck. "Hold on," He instructed as he stood up, supporting her weight at his back.

Sakura squealed and laughed in amusement. Itachi smirked as he made his way towards his brother.

"Thank you for the ride, Uchiha-san!" She said as he placed her down.

"My name is Itachi, Sakura-chan."

"Okay, Itachi-san!" She tilted her head again as she observed the older boy. "Are you okay to play with us younger kids? The older kids in my old school didn't want to play with me." She added sadly.

"Hey, don't steal my, 'nii-san!" Sasuke suddenly said as he pushed Sakura forward.

The little girl fell and scraped her knees. Just as big tears started to form in her eyes, Itachi admonished, "Sasuke! Apologize! Now!"

"No!" Sasuke fought back as he crossed his arms. "Girls are eeky and she's not our sister."

Itachi gave a disappointed glare at his younger brother. "Foolish little brother," He then turned to the crying little girl and said gently, "I am sorry about my brother. He can be very foolish at times. Does it hurt?"

Sakura nodded as she rubbed her fists in her eyes. "It's okay. Mommy said that other kids can be mean but that doesn't mean they are really bad."

With her remark, Itachi sent his brother another glare. "Apologize, Sasuke. Mother did not raise you to be like that."

Sasuke was being stubborn. He didn't want to do what his brother was demanding. He ran away to go to the monkey bars. Itachi sat beside Sakura and gently wiped the sand of her knees. The scratches weren't bad. He then tied his handkerchief around her knee.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Sakura-chan. So, where do you want to play?" Itachi asked.

Sakura scanned through the playground and then saw the biggest pit of plastic balls she had ever seen. She pointed that to Itachi.

"Good choice,"

Itachi led her there and allowed her to play as he went over to talk to his foolish little brother.

"Sasuke," Itachi called as he approached. The little boy didn't react but Itachi knew that he had heard him. "Why would you do something like that? Sakura-chan did not do anything to you."

Sasuke pouted as Itachi let out a sigh. He ruffled the little boy's hair, earning him a "hey". Itachi smirked and said, "Foolish little brother, just because we are nice to other people, we stop being brothers"

XxXxXx

Sakura was in heaven. She was having fun being swallowed by mounds of balls. She was small and it felt like a swimming pool of balls. It was never like this back home, she thought. There were even a lot of light green ones. She loved the color green contrary to what people thought because of her hair color.

As she was admiring the abundance of green plastic balls, a few kids approached her. "Hey pinky, what are you doing here? You're too small. This is a big kid play pen."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Sakura said sadly. She let go of the ball she was holding and started to leave the pen.

"Hurry up, will you! We can't play with you here!" Another kid shouted as he pushed her.

Tears started to form in her eyes. Sakura tried to leave as fast as her little feet could carry her. Once she was out, she didn't look back as she ran from the playpen. Because she was so upset, Sakura didn't notice that she ran straight to Mikoto.

"There, there, Sakura-chan," Mikoto soothed, patting the little girl on her head. Sakura looked up in horror and started crying in earnest. The little girl's tears twisted Mikoto's heart. "What's the matter, my dear?"

"I want my mommy."

"Aw, come here." Mikoto said as she hugged the weeping girl. Mikoto patted her back as she took out her handkerchief and started wiping her face. "What happened, Sakura-chan? Your mommy just went to the restroom. She will be back soon."

"The big kids said that I can't play here because I'm still small." Sakura said in a small voice.

Mikoto got angry at what she heard. "No, Sakura-chan. You can play here. Where are they? I will fight them and anybody. Yes, you can play at anything here."

Sakura was shocked when she heard Mikoto's outburst. She was amazed that a mother who had only met her was as protective as her mother. It was enough to halt her tears.

The older woman stood up and offered her hand to the little girl. She planned on telling this to Sakura's mother after but first she wanted to make sure that the girl was free to play.

As they were walking back towards the ball pit, Mikoto noticed that Itachi was walking towards them.

"There you are, Sakura-chan, I was getting worried." Itachi said, bending down slightly to look at the girl straight in the eyes.

Sakura held tight to Mikoto's leg, slightly hiding behind her. She was ashamed to look at the older boy as she still had tears on her face. She didn't want to lose her new friend just because she was being silly and allowed herself to cry.

"What's the matter, little one? Is your knee still bothering you?" Itachi asked.

"Some kids were picking on her, Itachi-kun." There was a censorship in her tone that was not lost to her son.

Itachi inwardly cringed at his failure. To be fair though, the ten-year-old did not think anything was going to happen to the little girl in the short time that he left her to find and talk to his errant brother.

Their mother always grilled unto him and Sasuke that they should always be respectful and honor girls. They should always be perfect gentlemen, looking out for the girls they choose to associate with.

With Itachi, that lesson weighed more. As he was the eldest son, he was taught by both parents that as the first son of the main house of Uchiha, he had the responsibility to take care of those younger and weaker than him, as well as the other members of his clan.

As the first son of the Clan Patriarch, Itachi had a rigid training on responsibility to prepare him for the mantle that he was born to inherit.

It couldn't be helped that having Sakura bullied by older children than her under his watch was a blow to his pride, even if he was only ten years old.

"I have figured as much, mother, when I returned with Sasuke and did not see her where I left her." Itachi answered as he looked up at his mother. "I have taken care of it."

He then looked back at Sakura and offered his hand, "Would you like to go back and play? I promise I will not leave you this time."

Sakura looked at his outstretched hand. She slowly nodded and hesitantly reached out to the older boy. "It's okay, Itachi-san. I know you and Sasuke-kun came here to play. I can play by the sandbox so you don't have to worry."

Itachi stopped walking and knelt in front of the little girl. She was very unusual. Not only was she using a speech pattern that was more adult, Itachi could tell that she was more sensitive to her surroundings and the people than his little brother. He gently bade her to look up at him. Once he had eye contact, he said, "I'm sure that you can build castles and have a world of make believe by the sandbox. But would it not be more be more fun if you played with us? Do not worry about my brother. Sasuke can be difficult at first but he is actually a good boy. As for me, I am sorry I was not able to protect you from other children but I promise that I will keep you safe. Will you give us a chance?"

Sakura couldn't help but blush. There in front of her was a handsome, older boy who was asking her to play with him and his brother. It had never happened to her before. It made her young heart flutter. She wasn't able to stop the smile from coming to her lips and nodding back. She knew she could trust her new friend.

If anyone was listening to the two now, you wouldn't guess with how they were talking to each other that they were children.

From a short distance, Mebuki joined Mikoto. The woman wondered what the ebony haired lady was looking at. She followed her gaze and noticed that she was looking at their children, Sakura and Itachi to be specific.

"What's going on?" Mebuki finally asked as the two children walked back to where Mikoto's youngest was playing.

Mikoto let out a proud and dreamy sigh. "You know how kids can sometimes be mean? They tried to bully Sakura-chan because she small. Apparently, Itachi-kun already took care of it. Knowing him, he had just reassured your daughter that everything is fine. With how they both look, I believe your daughter already feels better."

Mebuki could feel her annoyance and anger after finding out that her daughter was being bullied. But it turned to relief and amusement as quickly once she heard about Itachi.

Both mothers looked at their children. They look like they are having fun now. It would be interesting how things would turn out in the future.

(to be continued…)

Even if I didn't get that many reviews for the first chapter, I was surprised with how many clicked on favorite and alert. So, for you guys I've decided to continue. Things will start to shift in the next chapter. So I truly hope that you guys stick with me until the end.

Please review. Thanks

Michiko