Chapter eight I do not own Naruto

*Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.

Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.*

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Itachi and Sakura walked in silence through the village. Both were sufficiently tired, not from the difficulty of the mission, but from the mayhem that had ensued at the finish. As they walked, Itachi was reflecting on the events of the mission. In the end, he figured that the mission had gone better that he could have imagined, despite the fact that the mission in itself was entirely pointless. I guess I may be able to make this new team work, he thought. I just can't underestimate my, um, wife. I could be in for trouble if she ever gets mad at me!

"Um, Sakura?"

Sakura, who had been thinking of the past 12 hours as well, did not even look up when Itachi spoke to her. "What?"

"Are you hungry?"

Sakura finally looked up and gave a tiny smile. "Starved."

Itachi pulled her gently by the arm. "Come on, let's eat."

Sakura glanced quickly at the hand pulling her toward the opposite side of the street before following his lead. She was surprised at how comfortable it was for him to lead her. Almost as surprised as Itachi was by the fact that she did not object to his touch. The two made their way to a small eating house and ordered their food. It was still early so the place was still empty, which gave Itachi and Sakura the chance to talk without any interruptions.

"So…" Itachi said, with no particular question in mind. "Um…How long have you been on a team with Kakashi and Naruto?"

Sakura played with her water glass as she spoke. "Well, since I was 12, but the team kinda fell apart when, um," She cleared her throat. "And then Naruto left to train and I was training with Tsunade-sama. We only reformed the team after Naruto got back."

Itachi could see her face turning red. "So the team fell apart after my brother left the village?"

Sakura looked at him in surprise.

"You know, Sakura, I don't mind hearing about Sasuke. But if you don't want to talk about him that's fine."

"No, I'm fine, I just…" She trailed off.

Itachi could see she was uncomfortable, but he wanted to know something and wasn't ready to let her off the hook. Careful to keep his tone casual he asked, "Did you love him?"

Sakura was taken aback by the forwardness of his question. "Um, well…" But she was spared from an immediate answer by the arrival of their food. Sakura could see that Itachi had not begun eating and was sure he was waiting for an answer. Sakura sighed and said "Yes, I did."

Itachi was slightly disappointed by this answer, though he didn't show it. "And do you still love him?"

Sakura stared into her plate. "I- I don't know. It's complicated."

"How is it complicated?" He asked, trying to sound casual, but he couldn't hide the underlying tone of annoyance in his voice.

Sakura looked up to meet his gaze, and Itachi was thrown off guard by the tears he saw welling up in her eyes. "I thought I loved him, but he always treated me like a nuisance, even though we were on the same team. For awhile, I thought he might have begun to like me, if not tolerate me." She paused to breathe deeply, fighting back the tears before she continued. "It's just, now I don't know how I feel. Though, I know I don't feel the same as I did before he left." She gave a small laugh, "Sometimes, I think that if I were to see him again, I'd want to punch him in the face, but then start crying."

She turned her head to her food when she had finished talking and began to eat.

Itachi sat for a minute feeling like an idiot before eating his food, as well. As he ate, Itachi wondered if he had been wrong to interrogate her that way. He couldn't figure out any reason that it might bother him so much that she had almost started crying at the thought of his younger brother. It upset him because she seemed to still have feelings for Sasuke, upset him because his stupid brother had caused her so much pain, and unsettled him because he seemed to care so much.

I know Sasuke is going to find me here. It's only a matter of time. Itachi gave an internal sigh. When he comes, I know he'll be surprised at who I'm married to, and I know I'll have to kill him. I just hope when that day comes Sakura doesn't completely hate me; I'm really starting to like her.

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A few days had passed since Itachi and Sakura's chat at breakfast, and things began to settle down for them. Although the two had not really spoken since the restaurant, they were beginning to understand how they were going to live their lives. They alternated between cooking meals, and cleaning, so as not to let the load fall too much on one of them. Sakura learned that Itachi liked to be left alone for much of the day, but did not like having nothing to do, and Itachi found that Sakura liked to take off in the morning and walk around the village and its surrounding areas, and while she normally did this alone, she did not mind having company.

Besides spending mealtimes together, the couple attempted to spend time together before the end of the night, when they would spend an awkward half-hour staring at each other saying things like "So…" and "Yeah…" before giving up and going to sleep.

This particular evening, Sakura was filling the silence by telling Itachi of how the hokage had tracked her down in the middle of the village.

"Then she started yelling about how she needed my advice for stuff. More like needs me to do the work she doesn't want to!" Sakura laughed.

"So does that mean you're going back to work?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, Tsunade-sama said that today was my last day of my vacation," She threw finger quotations around the last word, "So I guess I'd better show up tomorrow. Which is too bad, I was getting used to the silence."

Itachi smirked at what he could tell was a sarcastic jab on his conversation habits.

"So what time will you be home then?" He asked.

"Oh, I don't know," She said with a sigh. "Though, I can come back for lunch as usual if you want."

"Alright, that's fine."

"Okay, it's a deal. You get to make me lunch!"

Itachi did a double take. "But tomorrow's your turn." He said in his usual slow voice.

But Sakura wasn't listening; she had jumped up from the couch and bounded out of the living room. Itachi tried to call her back but Sakura only responded with a "G'night!" leaving Itachi sitting alone in the room.

Sometimes that girl acts so weird, he thought as he got up to join her in the next room.

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Ok, here you are! Sorry it's short! But things are gonna start happening real soon! Thank you to everyone for your reviews!