Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. This fanfiction was made out for pure enjoyment. No money was made off of this story. Naruto and its characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Summary: Uchiha brothers are miraculously back in Konoha. Home sweet home? Not quite. Obstacles are ahead of them. With a council member determined to wipe out the Uchiha clan, it seems impossible for them to have a normal life again. With the help of two ANBU members, they just might make it possible.
Chapter 2
"Moving In"
"Miho Kawano, Sakura's cousin."
Sasuke's eyes darted from Sakura to Miho. The resemblance was vague, but it was there. You just had to look at it close enough. Though, Sasuke questioned why he never saw this woman when he was growing up. She looked like she was either twenty or twenty-one.
"Miho has been studying Itachi before he came to Konoha, the past Hokage wanted her to keep an eye on him for his mission. I'm sure you've encountered her before, Itachi," Tsunade averted her gaze from Miho to the older Uchiha. Itachi's eyes were focused on Miho, as if he resembled her once.
"Outside Takumi Village, you attacked me," Itachi said simply to the girl who stood a few feet away from him. She turned around and looked at him up and down, "Hokage-sama ordered a mission, a hit and run. I was to attack you then retreat," she said nonchalantly, the corner of her mouth twitched as if she were going to smile. Sasuke looked amused, but he averted his gaze on Sakura. Who still refused to acknowledge his presence.
"Ah! Now that you're acquainted… Miho, Sakura, you know what to do. Watch the Uchiha brothers closely. Study and observe them."
"Tsunade-sama you make it sound like their animals," Miho chuckled and Sakura couldn't help but laugh as well. She knew Tsunade made it sound like they were animals on purpose. Both brothers rolled their eyes. Tsunade smiled and continued.
"Well then. Just so you know, both of you will be moving into the Uchiha complex. You must be with these two at all times, unless I state otherwise. You know my terms."
"Sensei-" Sakura tried to object. She rather not stay in the same house as Sasuke. It was just stirring up trouble. She knew he was staring at right now, but she really just didn't want to be under the same roof as them.
"Sakura, there is no point in arguing. You will stay with them until their trial. Which, I remind you all, is in a month and a half from now." Tsunade said as she gazed at all of them, taking her seat and folding her hands under her chin. Miho looked particularly bored and turned her head to look at her cousin. Who was almost fuming at the thought of having to not only study Sasuke and represent him at the trial, but also live with him for a month and fifteen days.
"You are all dismissed," with that they all walked out of her office. Once they all reached the outside of the council meeting, Itachi looked over at his little brother. "Sasuke, go help Sakura pack. I'll help Miho," Itachi turned to look at Miho who was behind him. She gave a soft smile before whispering to the highly pissed off Sakura. "Calm down, he's your teammate, you're gonna have deal with it," she walked away with Itachi. Miho's apartment was on the other side of the village, while Sakura's was closer to the Uchiha complex. Sakura huffed and started to walk towards her apartment, Sasuke followed shortly after her.
Their walk wasn't a conventional one. Sakura refused to talk to him, or at least make the first move to talk. Sasuke was just an anti-social and could go on without talking. The trip was silent. They arrived at Sakura's comfy apartment within fifteen minutes. The inside of her apartment has simple décor and gave off a spring aura, typical for Sakura. "You can take a seat on the couch while I pack," she finally said as she walked over to her room. The door to her room was a bright cherry red. Sasuke sat down on her white couch, the whole apartment just gave off the essence of Sakura.
After an hour of packing, Sakura had all her things that she needed. Sasuke was unbelievably bored and picked up her suitcase from her room. He noticed a pink picture frame on her bed. It was a family picture. It was obvious because they all had the Haruno sign somewhere, and Miho and Sakura were next to each other in it. They all either had red, pink or black hair. It was probably genetics, and Sasuke couldn't question it. Before he could pick it up for a closer look, Sakura snatched it up and pressed it against her chest. It was secured in her arms.
"Your family?" Sasuke asked, which he regretted later.
"Well duh it's her family dipshit, I'm wondering why we've only met her and her cousin."
"Hn."
"Oh don't you dare pull that on me."
"Yes, it was my family," she said as she lead him out the door. She locked it with her key as they started to walk to the Uchiha complex.
. . .
It took longer than Sasuke and Sakura to get to Miho's apartment. It was on the south side of Konoha.
"Miho Kawano. I've heard of you," Itachi was the first one to speak up. It amused Miho as she opened the door to her apartment.
"Funny. I don't hear that every day," she said in a bored tone before making her way to her room. She grabbed a few suitcases before starting to pack what she needed into the cases. Itachi followed her into her room, and leaned against her door frame. Her room consisted of reds and blacks, sometimes he could see violet here and there. He noticed the sketch books and paints that were on her desk next to scrolls and textbooks.
"Akatsuki made me research ANBU members, your name appeared in a scroll."
"Looks like we were researching each other without knowing," she dumped her clothes in one suitcase. She folded them neatly when she sorted out through them.
"What did you find out?"
She paused her packing before looking up at him, "More than you could imagine," she said before walking over to her bathroom to grab her necessities. Itachi's eyebrows were propped up in interest.
"This is going to be a long night," he thought to himself as his eyes followed her back into the room.
. . .
"What do you mean by was?" Sasuke asked her as they made their way to the Uchiha complex. Sakura gripped onto the picture frame tighter. She stayed quiet, but could feel his eyes on her from behind.
"You and I… Aren't so different, and we aren't so similar," she finally answered after what seemed like forever. His eyes narrowed and fixated on the back of her head. Her pink hair swayed with each step she took. Giving a silent sigh, Sasuke decided to drop the conversation.
"She'll tell us in due time, oh clueless one." Sasuke almost wanted to beat his inner thoughts.
He escorted her into her room, and set her things on her bed. Sasuke didn't realize that he picked the room that was nearest to his room. He assumed that Itachi would want Miho close to him, observation wise and such. Sasuke walked to his room and closed the door behind him, leaving Sakura in her room. Looking at his phone, as if it read his mind, Naruto started calling.
Sighing, he answered wordlessly.
"Teme?" Naruto asked on the other side of the line.
"Hn."
"How'd it go with Oba-chan?"
". . . Hn."
"Teme you gotta do better than that. No one can understand what your damn hns mean."
"All we talked about was my trial with Itachi…"
"And?"
"And… We have two observers living with us now."
"HAHAHAHAHA SUCKS FOR YOU!" Sasuke grew irritated with Naruto's laughter.
"Tch."
"WAIT 'TIL SAKURA-CHAN FINDS OUT! SHE'S GONNA LAUGH AND LAUGH! HAHAHAHA!"
"She already knows."
"Wait! How?" After a few moments of silence, Naruto finally got it. It was like an epiphany for the blonde.
"EHHHHHHHHHHH!" was the only thing he said, and made Sasuke go deaf for a few moments.
. . .
In an hour Itachi and Miho arrived at the Uchiha manor, it was around sunset by the time they came. Sakura knew all of them were probably starving. Sakura had to skip breakfast to go to work, Miho probably burned breakfast when training, they all skipped lunch, dinner was coming up soon. Before she could suggest she make dinner, her cousin beat her to it.
"My cousin and I will make dinner," she stated simply as she walked back down the stairs after putting her bags in her room. Sasuke was still in his room and Itachi was right behind the ANBU ninja.
"Guests shouldn't have to cook dinner," Itachi claimed as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Sakura opened the door of her room to hear their argument. She knew Miho wasn't going to let the boys cook tonight.
"Well we aren't welcomed guests aren't we? Therefore, let me and Sakura cook tonight," she glanced over her shoulder as they reached the kitchen to peek at Itachi. He simply leaned against the wall and folded his arms against his chest.
"Fine, but I'll be washing the dishes," Miho gave a carefree shrug to his response. He turned on his heels and went to his room. Now both brothers were locked in their rooms leaving the girls in the kitchen. Miho whipped her body around to face the stairs. "Sakura!" Sakura sighed and walked down over to her cousin to start dinner.
The girls decided to make sushi, tempura and onigiri since they lacked knowledge on what the boys liked to eat. Miho started with the tempura while Sakura did the sushi. Without looking up from the fish she was cutting, Sakura questioned her cousin.
"How are you so far with Itachi?"
"He doesn't seem to surprise me anymore. Very predictable, but I guess that's because I had to study him throughout the years," Miho gave a nonchalant shrug. She plopped a breaded shrimp into the fryer. "How about you and Sasuke?" without looking up, Miho already knew Sakura was stood up straighter as a response. "You're going to have to deal with it, and maybe… Oh I don't know, tell him one day?"
Sakura immediately stopped what she was doing and sighed, "You know I can't do that."
"Sure you can, you just need reason. And a push, which will probably be me and Ino," Miho laughed as she plopped more breaded shrimp into the fryer.
. . .
After dinner, the girls went up stairs to their rooms to get ready for bed. It was Itachi and Sasuke's turn for the dishes. They had to admit, the girls did a terrific job with cooking dinner. Not that it surprised them much. Though, now there they were, cleaning after their dinner. Sasuke was barely awake as he wiped the dishes dry and put them into the shelves. Itachi cleared his throat and got Sasuke's attention.
"We have to be careful with these two."
"Hn. We're not hiding anything from them."
"Exactly, because they know everything. Miho knows everything there is to me, most likely, out family too."
"We know nothing about these girls."
"Besides that they're cousins." That was just stating the obvious.
"So what exactly do you think we should do? Get to know them as they study us for our damn trial? Itachi it isn't like they willingly wanted to learn about us."
"Who knows." Sasuke's eyes flickered at Itachi. Who stared back at him. Itachi was leaning against the sink, now the dishes were clean and put away. It was only them while the girls were upstairs, both were most likely taking a shower.
"Alright. We'll watch them while they're watching us." Itachi nodded at his brother's decision. Sasuke looked up at the clock that was framed in the kitchen. It was already 9pm. He stood up and looked at his brother, "Aren't you going to bed?"
Itachi shook his head, "I have things to do before bed, goodnight Sasuke." Sasuke in reply just tilted his head and walked up the stairs to his room. Leaving Itachi leaning against the sink.
"Miho Kawano…"
. . .
Sakura woke up with the sun on her face, and instead of her normal pink sheets she found herself gripping onto white and red ones. She groaned as she recalled the events of yesterday. Moving into the Uchiha manor. After making her bed she went over to her cousin's room. She knocked, and there was no answer. Sakura opened it to see it empty, then suddenly a voice spoke behind her.
"She left with Itachi to go to her work," Sasuke told her. She turned to meet his face. He was clad only in his boxers and his hair was tousled a bit.
"He probably just woke up too," she thought to herself.
"Who cares about that! Oh my fucking gosh he's only in his boxers!" the inner fangirl in her squealed. Sakura almost scowled at herself, but she just nodded at Sasuke.
"Tsunade wanted me to tell you that you have vacation time, apparently she wants you to focus on the case," Sakura just gave him a nod of acknowledgment. She made her way back to her room to get ready for the day. She and Sasuke both had training sessions with the rest of Team 7, and she decided to get ready for it now.
Sakura, however, was still clad in a simply thin tank top and short shorts. She was oblivious to the eyes raking up and down her body as she walked away.