Standard Disclaimers Apply

The Nineteenth Hour: Plans III

"What if you survived? What would you do?"

He sighs. "Sakura, you know that's impossible." He doesn't want her to build up any strange ideas, any false hope.

"I know. I'm just saying. You asked me about what I have in plan, so it's only fair that I ask you back. Besides, there's no guarantee that I'll survive another day. I'm a ninja."

He doubts his little brother would kill her, mostly because he knows about the skills she possesses. To him, she is useful. He does not mention this however, because he knows she will be angry with Sasuke, and Itachi wants anything but her to be angry right now.

"If I were to survive -which is highly unlikely- I would…"

"You would?" she anticipates with bright eyes.

"I'm not telling."

He turns away from the scowling kunoichi.

He doesn't want her to be angry, but a little teasing can't be too bad. Besides, how can he tell her his future plans of stealing her away and living together somewhere far, far away from this mess?

The Twentieth Hour: Boredom

She stands up abruptly, arms crossed over her chest. "Okay. I can't take this anymore."

"Take what?"

"This is bor-"

"Don't say it," he snaps.

"Say what?"

"You were about to say I'm boring, weren't you?"

"Not you, THIS."

She might as well have been insulting him, because insulting his creation was just as bad as insulting the great mastermind himself.

"You said it was boring last time as well." To any other person, his expression would seem like his usual stoic and blank face, but to Sakura who has come across way too many Uchiha's than she would like to in her lifetime, she understood.

This was the Uchiha way of sulking.

"Listen, I know it would be better to spend our time all romantically cuddled up and stuff, but you know me. I can't sit still –unless it's an operation, in which I would be standing still."

"Are you implying you would like to operate on my body?" He starts unzipping his robe, revealing the mesh shirt that barely covered his lovely, delicious-looking-

"NO! Besides, it'd be too late anyway…" She hated how every little thing they talked about ended up being pessimistic. "What I'm trying to say is…let's do something fun!"

The Twenty-First Hour: Fun

"Define 'fun'."

She briefly recalled their hide-and-seek games and their little sparring adventures. "You know…like what we did last time!"

"Last time? You mean the torturing and the kissing?" He seemed serious.

She immediately flushed. "No! Not that!"

"Was that not fun?" His expression hinted that yes, he was still very serious.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

He chuckled a little, breaking his stoic façade. "I was just kidding. What did you have in mind?"

She smiled boldly and answered with the excitement of a child. "Let's spar! I've got some sick new moves to beat you with!"

He smirked. "I'm looking forward to that."

The Twenty-Second Hour: Foreplay

"I'll let you start first this time," she offers out of pride. "Just to be fair."

"Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" He runs a hand through his hair. "But no, I couldn't do that. Ladies first."

"Come on, princess, I insist," she taunts.

He wasn't having any of it.

"I'm the princess? Last time I checked, a sassy, little, pink-haired brat was the real princess."

His teasing remark was reciprocated nicely with her own.

"Princesses dress themselves nicely. Aren't you the one with the long hair and dress right now? Talk about a fashionista."

"It's a cloak."

"You keep telling yourself that."

His smile was sly.

Retaliating back and forth, it was just like the foreplay right before the main act. Oh, he was going to have so much fun.

The Twenty-Third Hour: Attack

"Can you just shut up and attack already?" she pesters, annoyed at the fact that they had been arguing for an hour over who should initiate the spar.

"Only if you come at me first," he flashed his prince-charming smile. Although he usually hated wasting time, arguing like this didn't irritate him at all. Instead, it was the opposite. He was having fun.

On the contrary, she was seething in anger. Stomping up to him, she yelled, "If you don't attack me right this instant, I'm going to hit you."

"Too bad for you, I'm not going to attack you."

That did it. She attacked him.

Which also coincidentally started the spar.

As she continued to (attempt to) hit him, he dodged every incoming attack. They went on like that for a few moments before she realized what she had just done.

Pausing in her motions, she cried out, "Aw man! I attacked you first, didn't I?"

He grabbed her wrists, successfully restraining her. "Yes, which means I can attack you now."

Then he kissed her.

The Twenty-Fourth Hour: Hide-and-Seek

"So that was…a successful…spar, I guess," she says to herself, blushing as the memory of their kiss resurfaced in her mind. After he had kissed her, she had tried to slap him, but he had suddenly disappeared into thin air.

So they were playing hide-and-seek now, Fun Activity #2 on their list of "Fun Things We Did Last Time, Omitting Any Form of Making Out and Torture". (Although Fun Activity #1, sparring, had teetered on the edge of "Omitting Any Form of Making Out".)

She knew the same trick would not work twice. Clutching her chest in faked pain was a dumb idea to begin with, but because she knew Itachi was slightly (very) perverted, she knew it would work.

But doing it again wouldn't make him slip up and give his chakra signature away.

Maybe she could clutch her… No, no more clutching in pain!

She was smarter than this. She just needed time.

A/N: So this year, I decided to torture myself a little bit ('cause you know me and my masochistic urges) and sign up for summer school! Yay! Fun! ...Anyway, thanks for reading! Please leave reviews! Have a nice day!