Chapter 20 The Game

Whew! Nine pages! I hope you enjoy this, becuase I really did work hard on it. Thanks for all the awesome reviews, and remember?: REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY! MORE REVIEWS = FASTER UPDATES!

Haha, anyway, please read, review and enjoy. Also forgive the tardiness, I know it's been almost two months since the last official update. But what can I say? Life gets in its own way.

Oh, and one last thing. If you're an Akatsuki x Sakura fan, I wrote a story for that, called Dancing Dawn. Check it out!

BTW, if you leave a review/comment, can you add "ring-aling COOKIE?" Just to see how many people actually read this.

"It's almost two, Itachi. Should we head to the restaurant?"

"Hn. Lets," replied the young man, holding on to his girlfriend's hand. The pinkette beamed at him, and he allowed her to lead the way.

Itachi honestly couldn't care less about their lunch with their friends. Well, they were mostly Sakura's friends. Still, he got along with them well enough, and they respected each other mutually. However, he craved Sakura's company, preferably alone. He mentally acknowledged that that sounded selfish, even downright spoiled; yet he argued to himself, he was human. He could be selfish, just about that one thing.

He glanced at the still smiling girl, who smiled politely at everyone they passed. They were all somehow known to her; either they were her patients or relations of her patients, and they all smiled back at her. Itachi always wondered how Sakura could find such a perfectly suited job for her at the tender age of twelve when Tsunade-sama took her under her wing. He knew that when she was still a genin along with Naruto and Sasuke, she wasn't as strong as them, physically or mentally. Was she smarter? Without a doubt, she even impressed her teacher, Kakashi. And her chakra control was unequaled, even by some jounin. However, Sakura always felt like a burden because her teammates were always looking after her while she could scarcely offer them backup.

Those were some sad times for Sakura, who always tried her best and who emotionally was really hard on herself. Itachi was happy that she had found a job that was not only fulfilling for her as a whole and matched her unique abilities and mind, but that also made her happy and feel that she was contributing to her village in some way.

Itachi smiled, just a twitch of his lips. That "some way" that Sakura had started with had turned into a "mammoth way." How many people had she saved from death? How many had she revitalized after old and new wounds had taken a toll on someone's body? She was the best medic there was, and even the very Tsunade admitted that Sakura was more than likely to surpass her.

As the pair, who with time had become a common sight accepted by the villagers who were happy for them both, turned the corner that would take them to the street of the restaurant, Itachi gave Sakura's hand a gentle squeeze, and Sakura did the same to him, making him tingle warmth that he was sure he'd never get tired of feeling.

Too bad that feeling was short-lived.

As Itachi reached for the handle to open the restaurant door for Sakura, he heard the jingle of the door bells a fraction of a second before he pulled his beloved back, a gasp of surprise emitting from her, not a moment too soon as the door swung open with blunt force passing right over the spot where Sakura was a split-second ago, to reveal a grinning, and somewhat hyper (it appeared), Ino Yamanaka.

"Sakura! Itachi! So glad you guys could make it!" the blonde gushed as she ripped Sakura from Itachi's arms and embraced her into a tight hug that made Sakura gasp for air.

"In-Ino…what…?" the green-eyed girl gasped, partly from the whiplash she had from being pulled by Itachi so quickly and then by Ino, who was hugging her with unexpected strength.

"Ino-san, if I may," Itachi said smoothly as he appeared beside the two girls, courteously tapping the blond on the shoulder, "I think Sakura was not expecting such a warm welcome for such a simple gathering." Ino blinked up at him innocently before she looked at Sakura, who seemed a bit dizzy, and startled.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed. "Sakura! You look a bit out of it – come and sit where it's warm!"

"Ino, it's sixteen degree-" The rose-colored girl started to say, but was cut off as Ino grabbed her forearm and yanked her into the restaurant, leaving a bewildered Itachi outside, who merely raised an eyebrow at the blonde before sighing and following them in, silently scoffing at having his beloved taken away from him, closing the door behind him.

Once inside, he took a second to look around, not to take in the décor since he had been in the restaurant before and it was simple, not jaw-dropping gorgeous, but to look where the hyper blonde had dragged his girlfriend. Man, that girl was fast. It took him all of two seconds to follow them inside and they disappeared. Either that girl was seriously hungry, or she had a hormonal unbalance, because although he had only met the blonde briefly, he was sure that the way she was acting was a bit out of character.

Sure enough, he spotted Sakura greeting the rest of her friends by a table on the other side of the restaurant, and he swiftly walked over. By the time he arrived, however, Sakura had been seated between Kiba and Choji, leaving Itachi the only seat left, which was beside the shy little Hinata Hyuga.

Without missing a beat, he smoothly took his place on the round table, and looked at the small group.

"G-good afternoon, Itachi-san," greeted the young Hyuga heiress.

"And to you, Hinata-san," he said with a nod in her direction.

"H-how are y-you?"

"I am well, thank you. And yourself?"

"F-fine, thanks," Hinata stuttered, a faint blush tainting her cheeks at her nervousness, but Itachi dismissed it as just part of her shyness.

As Hinata was called by Shikamaru to converse with him, the older Uchiha returned his attention to him before studying the rest of the group. They were seated in a rounded table, with Hinata to his left, followed by Shikamaru, Choji, Sakura, Kiba, Ino, and after a brief space for the waiters to pass the food around, himself. There were large windows all around the restaurant, some taking up most of the wall space to allow as much natural light and open space from outside as possible, with a few plants here and there to give the restaurant some color. It was simple, but nice.

"…and then Hana hit me because I ran away again without telling her, and I was like 'hey! That hurt!' and she just smacked me again, after which…"

Itachi turned his attention to the brown-haired Inuzuka boy, who was telling a tale to the rest of the table; effectively making them crack some smiles and a few shook their heads with tiny movements, as if the tale wasn't that really surprising. Knowing Kiba, it probably wasn't.

He glanced at Sakura. She was looking at Kiba, giving him her full attention as her manners demanded; her eyelids partly closed as her cheeks rose with a smile that constrained laughter back. Itachi flickered a smile of his own, the tiniest movement of his lips. Right now he didn't mind that it was not he, but another man, that was making Sakura have a good time. All that counted was that Sakura was happy.

"You know, Sakura," Kiba drawled after he had finished his story, having earned a few amused giggles and smiles, "this story reminds me strangely of you as a child."

"Kiba, we barely knew each other as children."

"Fine, fine. It reminds me of you as a tween."

"Did you seriously just use the word 'tween'?" Ino asked, giving him a look.

"What do you want from me, woman?" Kiba huffed, rolling his eyes. "It's what brats of that age are called now. Apparently they are too old to be 'children,' but too young to be 'teens.' So they came up with 'tweens.'"

"You were a brat once too, you know," Shikamaru gazed at him as all turned their attention to the lazy genius as he gave a tiny smirk. "As I remember, Kiba, you weren't a brat as you refer to those kids now. You were an actual brat, by definition."

Before Kiba could answer, Choji asked, "What's the tw for anyway? I can understand the 'een' because it's the ending of 'teen,' but I don't get the first part"

"How am I supposed to know?" the frustrated dog-nin growled out. "All I know is that that's what brats are calling themselves. I'm not a frickin' slang dictionary."

"Then maybe it would be wise to not use such words that make you sound like a doofus," said Ino as she flicked her pale locks back.

"Too late," added Choji, happily munching away on the contents of a newly opened bag of chips. "He already is a doofus." Everyone laughed, even Itachi who allowed himself a chuckle. Kiba eventually joined in after he brooded a bit, making goofy faces at everyone and talking in odd speech patterns with faux-sweet voices, playing the role of 'doofus.'

After the group calmed down, Hinata ventured, "So what were you saying before, Kiba-kun?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Thanks, Hina-chan!" the boy threw her a wolfish grin before going back to his original statement. "As I was saying, that day reminded me of you, Sakura, when you were a genin."

"How so?" the pinkette asked.

"Well, you were as violent as Hana!" Kiba laughed. "The only difference was that that was you almost every day while Hana rarely gets angry like that."

"Hey!" Sakura objected. "I wasn't an angry person!"

"Maybe not angry, but definitely violent," opined Ino.

"You have always been nice, Sakura, but your temper made you violent at times," said Choji.

"I will never understand how your team survived you, you troublesome woman," added in Shikamaru.

Sakura pouted at all of them, annoyed, before turning to Hinata, who hadn't said anything against her (but she hadn't said anything in her favor either). "You believe in me, don't you, Hina?" Sakura asked her, giving her a puppy-eyed look she was so amazingly good at because of the big, gleaming eyes she was gifted with. "You don't think I was a violent person, do you?"

"W-well," stammered poor Hinata, caught between backing up her friend, but not wanting to lie. So she did the nest best thing: she told the truth, but she sugar-coated it. "Y-you had your moments, Sakura-chan, b-but they were that– only moments."

"Then it must've been a lot of moments, `cause you sure hit Naruto a lot," said Ino. "I'm sure you would've hit Sasuke too, being the disrespectful I-work-alone ice cube he used to be then, if it wasn't for you crush on him."

Silence.

Ino, who was smirking with her eyes closed enjoying the teasing, cracked open one eye and looked at her group of friends, wary at the sudden silence which contrasted so sharply with the rippling laughter just a second ago. "What? Why's everyone so quiet all of a sudden? Hey, what's with that look, Shikamaru?"

"Troublesome…" the shadow-nin muttered as he turned his face away and rubbed his temples.

"Man, and I thought Naruto and I were the dumb ones," piped in Kiba quietly, shaking his head. Ino narrowed her eyes at him.

"What the heck are you talking about? I'm smarter than five of you put together!"

"Oh yeah? Then how come I realize that you just made a mistake and you didn't?" Kiba challenged her back. "And it's a pretty obvious mistake too."

"What mistake?" Ino all but yelled at him, raising out of her seat and planting her hands on the table as she leaned towards the dog-nin threateningly. "Whatmistake?"

"Uhm…" Hinata was desperately trying to think up ways to calm down the infuriated blonde and get her ex-teammate to stop antagonizing her so much, but she was at a loss what to do. "G-guys…d-don't fight…" Her words were blatantly ignored by the duo, and she glanced at the pinkette, who had tensed up slightly, and the pinkette's boyfriend, who's face had suddenly become unreadable. This was not good.

"Figure it out yourself, since you're so smart!" Kiba growled.

"I am smart, you god-breath moron! And I'm telling you, I made no mistake!" Ino snapped back; her voice rising along with his as the argument became more heated.

"Oh, so we're name-calling now? So you're not just a dumb blonde, you're a name-caller too? How mature!"

"So what? You act like a dog four thirds of the time!"

"How is that a bad thing? Dogs are awesome creatures!"

"Dogs are awesome but you're human! That's the problem, you mongrel!"

"You know, I'm thinking that you might be more violent than Sakura!"

"More violent? I'm a frickin' saint!"

Sakura cleared her throat politely. Now that was just rude.

"Not by the way you're acting, you're not!"

"I'm human! I have a right to get angry, and to defend myself when I'm insulted!"

"Haven't you ever heard 'with the patience of a saint'? Yeah, `cause you ain't got it! And defending yourself isn't screaming at some until they agree with you because theydon'twanttobecomedeaf!"

"You can –"

"That will be enough, I believe."

Everyone at the table turned to look at the calm, but commanding voice of the Uchiha, whose face was as unreadable as ever, but his eyes clearly showed some displeasure. Ino and Kiba shared a quick look, a silent truce agreed in a second, and they sat down uneasily. It wasn't pleasant when an Uchiha, least of all one of Itachi's rank, gave you a look like that, mild as it was.

Itachi let the silence stretch for a minute more, making everyone anxious as he pinned Ino and Kiba with his dark gaze; even Sakura was a bit uncomfortable with the situation. Finally, Itachi spoke.

"Are you two truly ninjas?" He didn't wait for them to answer before continuing. "Because right now you are not acting like you are. Where is your dignity, Kiba Inuzuka? And yours, Ino Yamanaka?"

Hinata and Sakura glanced at each other from across the table, identical uneasy, though impressed, looks. Shikamaru was alert, taking in every detail of what was happening while Choji munched on his slowly, his eyes darting from face to face and always coming to linger a bit longer on Itachi's face before moving on to others.

Ino spoke up, quietly and respectfully. "I apologize, Itachi-san," she said, and Itachi gazed at her urging her to continue. He did not miss the '-san' suffix at the end of his name. "I'm afraid I got carried away. My temper, like Sakura's, isn't exactly the best."

Sakura hmph'ed, but otherwise no one said anything. Itachi gave her hand a soft squeeze to let her know he understood, but his eyes never left Ino's, who had mustered up the courage to return his gaze.

After a moment, Itachi nodded, apparently satisfied with Ino before turning his gaze on the other guilty party. "And you, Inuzuka? What do you have to say?"

Kiba audibly gulped and, like Ino, gathered his courage to meet the passive Uchiha's eyes before answering. "I too apologize, Itachi…san," he added in hastily. "I was out of line. Ino and I have been arguing for years, so we kind of feed off of each other's comebacks, but this time was much too intense. I'm truly sorry about that, and that you had to witness it."

Itachi nodded at him and leaned back, his eyes closed. Everyone waited expectantly.

After a moment Itachi let out a quiet sigh; opening his onyx eyes he gazed at the group. "It is fine, and I understand friends argue. I have experience of two similar friends who argue constantly, but remain friends nonetheless. However, please keep in mind that if you must argue, you must keep it within range. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they both said instantly.

And just like that, the heavy atmosphere seemed to evaporate.

However, Ino, who was still a bit miffed at Kiba for insulting her intelligence and getting her on a tight spot with Itachi, asked once more, but cautiously. "So what was my mistake?"

Hinata answered for her, relieved to be able to speak after such a tense moment. "E-erm, you…well, Sakura is dating I-Itachi, and…and he's Sasuke's b-brother…" she explained.

Ino gave her a thanks before facing Sakura. "Sakura, you don't mind that I brought that up, right? It was years ago, and Itachi probably knows about that phase. And it was just that- a phase. And we weren't as bad as his still existing fan girls. We just liked him a bit, but it wasn't a big deal. We got over it within a few months."

Now the attention was on Sakura. "Well…" she started, aware that even Itachi was gazing at her. "I don't mind. It is the past, and it isn't a bad thing. It's just… well Ino, just because I don't mind it doesn't mean it isn't rude, or that Itachi has the same sentiments as me."

"I care not for that. Since Sakura and my little brother were friends, when they got together it was obvious to me. I'm aware of it. However," he added, stopping Ino who was about to give Kiba a smug look. "Like Sakura said, just because we don't mind, it doesn't mean it's not rude to talk of that in front of me, the current boyfriend. Currently, I do not care; as I said, it happened, and it was even amusing. But it just makes things… ah, awkward, seeing as I'm the brother of Sasuke. If it was someone else, I wouldn't mind too much."

"So you see?" Sakura added in quickly, a smile in place. "You're both wrong and right! Everybody wins!"

Kiba and Ino rolled their eyes at the pinkette's chirpy voice before scowling at each other.

"W-well," Hinata stuttered shyly. "Now that that's c-cleared up, I-I'd like to say that Sakura-chan has a v-very hot temper, but you did get a-a little violent n-now and again."

Sakura thought for a moment, looking over her file of memories. "I guess I can't argue with that," she finally said.

"WHAT!" Ino and Kiba practically jumped out of their seats. "We went through all that just for you to agree?" Sakura shrugged and just smiled at them, reaching for Itachi's hand across the table.

"Before I wouldn't argued, but someone made me realize that it necessarily isn't a bad thing to have," she said as she gazed lovingly at Itachi, who returned her gaze with his softened, love-filled one.

The rest of the group shared a look, which went unnoticed by the lovebirds.

"By the way, Kiba," the pinkette casually, steering the conversation back to normal. "Have you been following my instructions?"

Kiba blinked at her, clearly not remembering what she was talking about.

"You know, the dog snot and the wood splinters?"

"Hey! You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"I haven't. But you also said that you'd follow the instructions I gave you, and since you can't remember what they even were, clearly you've gone back on your word."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"No, I'm calling you an airhead."

Kiba hmph'ed and sat back.

"Ho. Now this is a story worth listening to, wouldn't you say, Shikamaru?" Choji smiled.

"Hm. Maybe. Sakura, would you care to indulge us?"

Kiba narrowed his eyes at her. "You wouldn't."

Ino smiled sweetly at her. "She would."

"She would," agreed everyone else. Itachi smiled, that action alone echoing their words.

"But I won't," Sakura finished. "Today."

Everyone laughed as Kiba's face deflated, and the group was marry once again.

"Oh my goodness, Sakura!" Ino suddenly exclaimed. "My nose is all shiny and looks greasy! Come with me to the bathroom and help me cover it up!"

"Ino, you can do it your-"

She never got to finish, as Ino yanked her out of her seat unceremoniously with surprising strength, and pulled her, racing, around the other side of the restaurant much like she had earlier before anyone could say anything. After an awkward pause, Ino's voice was heard, "Hinata! Get in here too! I need you both!"

Hinata let out a relieved breath and excused herself, bowing her head quickly to Itachi as he got up from his seat to let her pass. Once she was gone, Itachi sat down again, but this time he didn't miss the glint in his fellow male's eyes, a glint that told him to be wary and ready for anything. His instincts told him that whatever was coming was probably another of their tests, but he didn't know what they could do in a quiet little restaurant with the girls within easy earshot.

He took a deep breath to ready himself, and he looked at Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Kiba Inuzuka square in the face, prepared for whatever it was they had up their sleeves. He owed it to himself and Sakura, he promised to do anything for her and for their future.

As the air around them began to change, which was quickly picked up by the Uchiha prodigy (and he was impressed), Itachi's instincts told him that out of all the tests he'd gone through so far (not that he'd know, he was only aware of Shino's), this would be the hardest; perhaps because this time he was aware of it and required all his conscious effort. This realization left him wary and cautious. Why were they giving him the advantage? Was this test so much harder that he'd need it?

He was about to find out just how cunning the younger ninja's were. He was ready for anything. And that was that.

The test has now begun.