900+ reviews already? You guys are crazy! And awesome. So...crazy awesome?
This chapter was supposed to be up yesterday night but I had some issues with the flow of the chapter so I took an extra day to update because I love you all like that.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support (of Sasori). Hope you all enjoy this chapter!
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Chapter 20: Saso-punch
The instant after Sasori punched Itachi silly, Sakura let out a shriek. Kisame immediately threw his arms around her to shield her in case Sasori had finally cracked and decided to murder Itachi. Deidara hopped nervously around behind Sasori in case he needed to run in to save Itachi's life.
"Get up," Sasori spat in such a nasty voice that Sakura flinched. Sasori's glare was completely frigid as he watched Itachi slowly stand. Itachi cracked his jaw once and then fixed Sasori with an equally frosty stare.
"Mind explaining, senpai?" Itachi ground out. Sasori's response was to grab Itachi by the front of the shirt. He took a couple of steps and then paused.
"Kisame, you remember telling me about that new café that opened up near here? Why don't you take Sakura now?" Sasori suggested without turning around. And Sakura was somewhat glad that she wouldn't have to see such a horrific look on Sasori's face ever again. With a nervous laugh, Kisame suddenly sprang to his feet.
"What a great idea. Come on, Squirrel-chan," Kisame said a little too brightly, pulling Sakura up and half-dragging her out of the studio before anyone could say anything else. In fact, Sakura had to run to keep up with Kisame's long strides until they were far enough from the building that Sakura yanked on Kisame's arm to stop him.
"That hurts," she said in a small voice, hating that there were more tears springing up in her eyes. Even though Kisame was usually the first to panic over her tears, this time, he just put his free hand on his face and sighed.
"Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. I just wanted to get you out of there before you had to watch Sasori-senpai beating Romeo to death," Kisame explained with a smile. When Sakura's eyes widened, Kisame put his arm around her shoulders and guided her into a small building. The café that he had brought her to was air-conditioned and smelled like freshly ground coffee beans (two things that Sakura was powerless to resist). They took a seat right next to the windows and Sakura could see that they were close to Deidara and Sasori's dorm. When a waitress stopped by with a bright smile to take their orders, Kisame chose plain coffee and a cup of French onion soup. Before Sakura could pick up the menu, he listed off a few desserts along with a vanilla latte.
"So…?" Kisame prompted as the waitress walked back to the kitchen.
Just the prompt was enough to bring moisture to her eyes again. Sakura blinked rapidly, trying to will the tears away. Settling back in his chair with a deep sigh, Kisame unzipped his short-sleeved hoodie and tossed it across the table at her. It was almost funny how after just a year, she understood what that meant. Sniffling, she slipped her arms into the huge sleeves and pulled the generous hoodie over her head so nobody would recognize her when she started whimpering.
"Do you think he hates me now?" Sakura asked in a whisper. Kisame stared blankly at her.
"Eh?"
"He doesn't talk to me. He avoids me. He won't touch me. Is there something wrong with me?" Sakura demanded as tears began spilling down her cheeks. As the waitress began walking over with their drinks, Kisame pointed at Sakura and exploded with laughter. The poor waitress yelped when she set down the drinks and Kisame started slapping the table. His booming laughter would have probably driven out all the other customers in the shop had there been any. Sakura's sob was interrupted with a hiccup. She was able to hold in her irritation for about 10 seconds before she grabbed a wad of napkins and lobbed them straight at Kisame's face.
"Stop LAUGHING AT ME!" Sakura half-shouted, flinging more napkins and only making Kisame chortle harder.
"Y-you mean… you-you don't… KNOW?" Kisame roared, shaking the table from the force of his snorting. Sakura stopped flinging things at him long enough to process his words.
"Know what?" asked Sakura in response.
"Your mature Itachi-kun… Is…is…" Kisame stuttered out between gasping breaths.
"Is what?" Sakura half-snarled, reaching across the table to shake his arm.
"A VIRGIN!" Kisame hooted, banging his fists furiously on the table until the noise echoed in the café.
"You're pathetic," Sasori sighed as soon as Sakura and Kisame were out of earshot. Sasori released his grip on the back of Itachi's shirt and shoved him away. They were standing in the parking lot just in front of their dance studio. Deidara hovered a little ways off with a sour expression.
"You think today's the only day you've made Sakura cry?" the redhead demanded, taking a step toward Itachi. Itachi's eyebrows knitted together
"You think you haven't hurt her by pretending to be cool and composed?" Sasori snarled, taking another step. Itachi stood his ground, glaring at his friend who seemed to have turned inexplicably psychotic.
"Are you so dense that you can't even see when the girl you're dating is in pain? Are you a fool? Are you blind? Or are you just not in love at all?" Sasori continued his taunting. It was only then that Itachi's eyes narrowed. Clenching his jaw tight, Itachi balled his hands into fists.
"What are you talking about? Are you accusing me of hurting Sakura? On purpose?" Itachi spat back. At this, the edge of Sasori's mouth pulled up into a half-smile that became terrifying on such a normally blank face.
"No. I'm accusing you of hurting her because you're an imbecile. What did you say to her? That you'd wait? That you'd wait until she was ready?"
Itachi blanched. It was always unnerving how spot-on Sasori was with his observations but this one was particularly disturbing.
"Aw, shit. You didn't!" Deidara interrupted. He had been standing quietly until then but now Deidara crossed his arms over his chest and fixed Itachi with a condemning glare.
"I'm sorry but why would a private matter like this be of any interest to you two?" Itachi demanded. His gaze was trained on Deidara so he was caught completely off-guard when Sasori drew his fist back and punched Itachi right in the mouth.
"It matters because she's my friend and you're a shitty boyfriend," Sasori responded.
"ITACHI! My-chan comes from a broken family! She was abandoned by her father and sort of by her mother. She needs constant reaffirmation that she's wanted and that she's loved. Do you realize what pushing her away does?" Deidara spat, jumping up and down like he might explode.
"I'm not pushing her away!" Itachi snarled.
"You're not?" Sasori queried as he picked Itachi up by the front of his shirt.
"I…I'm not."
"Excuse me?" Sakura whispered.
"He's a virgin, cute little Kitty-chan. Innocent. Unblemished," Kisame chuckled in a quieter voice when he realized that Sakura had turned a frightening shade of red.
"Um… Two things. How do you know that? And why would you tell me that?" she asked in a dazed voice. Kisame scratched his head.
"What? We're best friends. Of course I know. He sort of almost had an…encounter… freshman year but that didn't really work out," Kisame revealed with a mischievous grin. When Sakura tilted her head to the side, Kisame cackled.
"Okay, so Itachi met this really hot chick at this party. They were both drunk and they ended up going back to her place. But before they managed to do anything, the girl fell asleep and Itachi, being some kind of retarded knight, tucked her into bed and went home," Kisame snorted, shaking his head. Sakura blinked very slowly.
"So your amazing adult boyfriend is just about as clueless as you when it comes to this stuff," Kisame concluded with a satisfied smile. When Sakura's stare remained unchanged, Kisame reached across the table to wave his hand in front of her face. It took a long time but Sakura's gaze finally refocused and then she let out a long, shaky breath.
"Oh…so that was it," she managed to whisper.
"So the whole avoiding thing…" Sakura asked, looking into Kisame's grin.
"Him freaking out and not knowing what the hell to do. He was the same way when we tried to get him to join our club freshman year. Sakura-chan, I think that you think that Itachi is much cooler than he really is," Kisame easily responded.
"And one other thing, little Kitty-chan." When Sakura looked at him again, Kisame flashed a mischievous smirk.
"If he's 'Itachi-kun' and Deidara's 'Dei-chan', what the hell are Sasori-senpai and I?"
Sakura stared at him.
"Um…do you really think that's the most pressing issue at this point?" she demanded. Kisame raised his eyebrows, looking horrendously offended.
"My feelings are at stake, kid," Kisame insisted. Throwing her hands into the air, Sakura startled the waitress who had stopped by with their food. She let out another startled yelp and hurried off, looking thoroughly disturbed.
"FINE! You'll be Sakkun and he'll be Saso-kun!" Sakura snarled, banging her fist on the table.
"Sakkun?" he repeated.
"Sakana-kun*," Sakura clarified with a proud smile. Kisame breathed a deep sigh before he reached across the table and tweaked her nose.
"You're smiling again," Kisame noted with a chuckle.
Sakura tried to frown at him but he speared a chunk of cheesecake on the end of his fork and stuffed it into her mouth.
A little more chatting and a lot more sugar was enough to bring a bright grin to her face. Kisame always had some sort of magical cheering-up powers. He was like Naruto but less prone to saying something that made her want to punch him. When Sakura told him this, Kisame just chortled and patted her shoulder. On their way out, Kisame picked a whole array of random cakes from the dessert display and handed them to Sakura in a small pink box.
"Eat lots of stuff you like. Be happy and stuff. You being depressed really makes everyone else depressed too," Kisame grunted. Kisame blushed when she threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Kisame walked her back to Itachi's apartment and then left saying, "I need to make sure you're not a widow."
Since her stomach was full of eclairs and croissants and roll cake, Sakura skipped dinner. She took a long shower in the hottest water she could endure before securing her hair back in a tight bun at the top of her head and changing into a pair of loose black shorts under a light yellow tank top. She sat on the sofa that Itachi usually occupied for naps and began the arduous task of working through all her summer vacation homework. But she knew she had to get it done so Naruto and Ino would have someone to call and beg for help right before the end of break. Sighing, she worked through another integral and plugged the number back into the equation to make sure it worked. She yelped when there was a loud knock on the door.
"Open up, Kitten! We've got your husband!" Kisame yelled. Shoving her books to the side, Sakura ran to the door and yanked it open.
Sakura pursed her lips, trying to decide whether she was angry at Sasori or not. Apparently all of Sasori's silence had led to quite a bit of pent-up frustrations. Itachi's face had taken quite a beating and the faint odor of alcohol rolling off the both of them wasn't helping their case. With a sigh, Sakura gestured to the kitchen table and moved to the side. With Sasori on the right and Kisame on the right, Itachi managed to half-fall into the wooden chair without tripping over his feet. Sakura put her hand on his forehead to tilt his face up toward the light. Letting out a gasp, Sakura whirled around to scowl at Sasori.
"What? I don't get a hug?" Sasori asked in his usual monotone.
"Please leave," Sakura sighed in response.
Once the apartment was quiet, Sakura moved around the kitchen wetting a clean rag in cool water. She knelt in front of Itachi's chair to get a better look at his face. His dark eyes seemed to avoid her face and instead were fixated on his hands as she carefully dabbed at his split lip. Sakura also counted one black eye, one bruised jaw, and a small scrape on his left cheek. Even though she was as gentle as possible, Itachi winced when she tried to brush the gravel out of his cuts. She flinched too.
Uchiha Itachi looked utterly pathetic. He probably knew this because he refused to meet her eyes. Sakura lightly touched the beginnings of the bruise around Itachi's left eye and he hissed between clenched teeth. Sakura sighed as she pulled a clear plastic bag out of one of the cabinets and began filling it with ice straight from the freezer. She wrapped it in a thin cloth and handed it to Itachi who promptly placed it over his eye and let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Honestly. Going right for the eye. Are you seeing double? Is anything blurry?" Sakura asked, putting her hand on Itachi's shoulder so she could check his pupils. She didn't know much but she had spent enough time watching medical documentaries that problems with the eyes needed to be treated immediately. To her surprise, Itachi lifted his right arm and carefully brushed her left cheek with the backs of his fingers.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I didn't think… I didn't realize… I was so worried about hurting you that I ended up messing everything up," Itachi quickly said before Sakura could interrupt. But she shook her head.
"You meant well. It's okay," Sakura assured him with a little smile. This time, it was Itachi shaking his head.
"It's not okay. I'm an idiot and I would beat myself up if Sasori-senpai hadn't already done it for me. I'm really sorry, Sakura. I put a lot of pressure on you and then I left you all alone," Itachi sighed, leaning forward to rest his forehead against her stomach. When he wrapped his arms around her, Sakura felt a familiar heat creep up the back of her neck and flood her cheeks. She had almost forgotten how easily he made her blush.
"Do you think Saso-kun beat you up so you would look pathetic and I would be more willing to forgive you?" Sakura suddenly asked. She felt Itachi nod against her abdomen and she let out a short giggle.
"Well, I think it worked. I forgive you. But I think you need to apologize to Sasuke-kun more. He's been running around trying to cheer me up this whole time," Sakura finally said. At this, Itachi lifted his head to look up at her.
"Try not to hang out with my brother too much... It makes me worry…since you used to like him," Itachi admitted in a small voice. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw a faint shade of pink filter up to his cheeks.
"I'm a real dame otoko* aren't I?" Itachi mumbled as he hid his face against her front again. Stifling a laugh, Sakura pulled his face away from her and eased the ice pack back on top of his swelling eye again.
"I think so," she responded.
"Well since I'm hopeless, all I can promise you is that I'll try to stop being stupid. We'll let things happen naturally, alright?" Itachi asked. Sakura supposed she couldn't really disagree to his plan especially since he then proceeded to pull her in for a soft kiss that turned her insides into jelly.
Treating the rest of Itachi's injuries proved to be supremely difficult when he kept interrupting her for more kisses every few moments. ("Do you have any idea how hard it was keeping my hands off you? You smell too good. Is it perfume?" "Body wash. Now please stop sabotaging my work.") Sakura wanted to scold him when he tried deepening one of their kisses and ended up almost reopening the cut in his lower lip. Instead, she ended up sighing and placing another ice pack over that too.
"Saso-kun was really mad, huh?" Sakura remarked while she hunted through the cabinets for some painkillers. She was so engrossed in reading the label and getting a glass of water that she didn't notice Itachi's free hand reaching out for her. His fingers circled her wrist, pulling her straight into his lap.
"Saso-kun?" he repeated. Flushing a little, Sakura nodded.
"Yes. Saso-kun. Now eat your medicine and go to bed, Ikkun," Sakura quickly said, shaking two white pills into her palm. When Itachi made no move to reach for them, rolling her eyes, Sakura shoved the painkillers into his mouth and held the glass of water up to his lips. A smile tilted at the corner of his mouth over the rim of the cup. Turning even more red, Sakura hurriedly shoved the icepack back against his lip to avoid looking at him for too long.
"Thank you, My-chan," Itachi mumbled, letting the icepack fall back into his lap.
She let him kiss her one last time because his cool lips actually felt kind of nice.
It took a little less than a week for it to happen.
Looking back on it, Sakura realized that it really wasn't such a huge thing. It didn't need theatrics and awkwardness and crying and punching because things really did move along by themselves.
Sasori was currently acting as if Itachi was a piece of particularly large garbage that needed to be ignored. Deidara was giving Itachi the silent treatment and being clingier to Sakura than usual (much to Itachi's irritation). Still, things were relatively normal and the return of Sakura's regular smiles seemed to take the edge off of the baka-duo's anger.
Thursday morning, Sakura woke to Itachi lightly shaking her shoulder. They had fallen asleep watching TV again and her neck was stiff from letting her head loll back against the couch the entire night. Rubbing her eyes blearily, Sakura waited for Itachi's face to come into focus. His hair was neatly combed and tied back with just his bangs falling into his face. The clean scent of mint and soap clung to him when he bent his head to kiss her temple.
"I need to go to work today so I won't make it to practice. Don't wait up for me, okay?" he half-whispered. She nodded sleepily in response to his words. A smile crossed his face before he leaned in to kiss her lightly. She could taste toothpaste on his mouth.
"Bye-bye," she mumbled before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep again to the sound of his chuckle.
Unfortunately, Kisame and Deidara banging on the door less than an hour later wasn't the best way to be woken. Grumpy and still half-asleep, Sakura went on her morning run with them and then headed to the gym for her regular work-out. She had moved on to lifting light weights to build up muscle tone and endurance. As usual, Kisame got annoyed with Deidara's nagging halfway through his work-out and tackled him to the floor. After lunch, they retreated to the studio where they were joined by Sasori straight from his part-time job. Though they were supposed to be working on their routine for the cultural festival at Sakura's school, they ended up fooling around to learn new moves and poses. Kisame, self-proclaimed king of b-boying, ended up toppling over and bruising his elbow. This seemed to be the perfect reason to end practice and go for an early dinner.
Sasori and Sakura listened to Deidara and Kisame argue for the better part of 15 minutes about where to eat before Sasori looked over at Sakura.
"What do you want to eat?" he asked.
"Um…ramen?" she replied.
"We're eating ramen, peons," Sasori announced, grabbing Deidara and Kisame on his way out. Sakura trailed behind them, laughing the whole way.
By the time Itachi got home, it was close to midnight. Though Sakura had considered just going to sleep, she found that she wasn't too tired and there was a lot of homework left to be finished. Just as she scratched out the answer to the very last calculus problem left, Sakura heard the scratch of the key in the lock. She turned her head just as Itachi opened the door and stepped inside. Their eyes met and she couldn't help the automatic smile that spread across her face.
"You're up. Aren't you tired?" Itachi asked in greeting while he toed off his shoes and shut the door. Sakura watched as he tossed his keys on the kitchen counter and headed straight for the refrigerator to pour himself some water.
"I wasn't sleepy yet. And I finally got through all the math. I hate math," Sakura laughed, proudly waving the booklet in the air. Itachi loosened his tie as he crossed the kitchen to take a look at her work. He thumbed through the pages, eyebrows rising higher and higher with each passing section.
"I don't remember half of this. I've gotten soft," he remarked. Sakura scowled.
"That just means you didn't have to study that hard in high school," she pointed out. Itachi shrugged.
"Pulling an all-nighter?" he asked, eyeing the huge stack of books sitting on the coffee table. Shaking her head, Sakura got to her feet.
"I think I'll go to bed now. It's hard enough to deal with Dei-chan's chipper attitude when I'm not tired," Sakura admitted. She gathered her books up into her arms and rose on her tiptoes to kiss him before she retreated to the bedroom to get ready for bed. She had already showered and her damp hair was gathered back in a loose braid that fell down the back of her neck. As she slipped into a large t-shirt, she could hear the shower running.
Half an hour later, Sakura was lying on her back in a darkened room in what might arguably be the most comfortable bed she had ever had the pleasure of occupying. However, sleep simply seemed to elude her. Nothing she did seemed to help and the maddening tick of the clock really hasn't helping her situation. With a heavy sigh, Sakura climbed down from the loft and tip-toed into the kitchen to get a drink of water.
The apartment was dark except for one of the ceiling lights directly over the kitchen table. Despite the fact that he had a fully functional office, Itachi was hunched over his laptop here. The steady tap of his fingers on the keys was something she had grown used to hearing. When she walked past, she felt Itachi's eyes on her.
"Can't sleep?" he asked without looking up. Sakura drained her cup and set it in the sink before she wandered over to look over his shoulder at his work. As usual, the dense wall of legal terminology was more than enough to perplex her. She could hear Itachi inhale deeply for a moment before his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her straight into his lap.
"You can't get any work done like this," she giggled.
"I know," he agreed with a smile. He pressed a light kiss to the inside of her elbow. Feeling a little cheated, Sakura stole a kiss from his mouth which earned a startled look from him.
"Did you really miss me that much?" he teased before kissing her again. Sakura fixed him with a pointed look.
"Don't be mean to me or I'll seriously move to Fiji with Saso-kun," she warned. Itachi's pleasant expression melted into a frown.
"Don't," he warned, prompting a fresh set of giggles from Sakura who looped her arms around the back of his neck. She rested her cheek against his shoulder as they sat that way for several minutes. Just when Itachi wondered if she had fallen asleep, Sakura spoke.
"You know…I love you," she said. Feeling suddenly shy, she hid her face against his shoulder.
"Yeah," he responded as he let his fingers skim down her damp hair. She loved the way his long fingers curled gently around the back of her neck. His voice was low and melodious in her ear.
"I love you a lot," Sakura insisted, her hands curling into the front of his shirt. Something shifted in the air. Her shyness was overpowered by something else. She wanted something desperately but she didn't quite understand what. It felt like the space between them was so far apart even though he was right there. When she looked down at Itachi, his dark eyes were watching her a little strangely. The half-smile that quirked at his mouth seemed a little different.
"Is this what we meant by naturally?" he asked.
She wasn't unsure anymore.
"I think so," she whispered in response as his arms tightened around her.
"I love you, Sakura," Itachi said as their fingers tangled together.
It was a soft and bittersweet night. The warmth of his touch and his whispers filled her and flooded her with unbearable happiness. At the same time, she felt a small part of herself mourn for what she could never have again. It was something she had to let go but so difficult anyway.
"Are you scared?" was his question when a single tear leaked out of her eye. She nodded and he cupped her cheek in his right hand with such tenderness that her chest tightened.
"Don't be," was his whispered assurance.
Haruno Sakura felt a tickle against her cheek. She sighed as she snuggled against the stuffed bunny that she always hugged to her chest while she slept. It felt oddly solid but it was so warm that she didn't really mind. Stifling a yawn, she rolled onto her back to grab for the clock on the nightstand. But her hand struggled uselessly in the sheets, never quite reaching. She let out a frustrated groan before she decided that it wouldn't kill her to miss the morning run once and curled back on her side to sleep some more. But as she nestled up in the warmth, she felt a puff of warm air on her forehead. Her tired eyes began to focus until she realized that her stuffed rabbit was gone. Instead, she saw a smooth expanse of firm chest before her. Blinking a few times to clear her gaze, Sakura slowly looked up and found Itachi's cheek pressed to his shoulder as he slept. His dark eyelashes cupped his cheeks. But before she could be surprised, he sighed deeply and the noise brought back a torrent of images and sounds. A low noise rumbled out of his throat as he threw his arm over her waist to drag her closer.
"Itachi-kun," she whispered, afraid to break the quiet. His eyebrows twitched for a moment before she watched his eyelashes lift like a rising curtain. When his stare focused on her, she was startled by how clear his brown eyes were. Then again, she realized, she had never had the chance to look at him so up close before. She watched his eyes crinkle before he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
"Hi," she giggled.
"Hi," he chuckled back. When her stomach let out a loud growl, Itachi laughed before letting his arm slide away.
"Give me a minute. I'll go make you breakfast," Itachi grunted even as he buried his head under a pillow. So it was Sakura that sat up instead, pulling the covers up to her chest to hide most of her body. She couldn't help but laugh at how lazy Itachi looked. Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the clock.
"It's 6. We better get ready before Dei-chan bashes the door down," Sakura groaned even as she felt Itachi's arms sneak out of the blankets to pull her against his chest. She turned a little red as she found herself staring directly at his left pectoral. When she ran her pointer finger down it, she heard his soft chuckle.
"What are you doing?" he inquired, looking down at her.
"Um…I'm not exactly sure," she replied sleepily.
"HEYYYY! LOVEBIRDS! TIME TO BE HEALTHY, YEAH!"
Exchanging a sigh, when Itachi raised an eyebrow at her, Sakura groaned and snuggled closer to his chest.
"That idiot's not going away until someone shuts him up," Itachi remarked as they listened to him enthusiastically bash at the door.
"But I want to sleep more," Sakura whimpered, making Itachi laugh.
"I do too," he agreed.
"COME ON, NEWLYWEDS! TIME TO GET A DIFFERENT TYPE OF EXERCISE!" Kisame yelled, adding to the knocking. After some complaining and efforts to drown out the noise with pillows, Itachi reluctantly rolled out of bed. Squealing, Sakura covered her eyes when she caught a glimpse of Itachi's right butt cheek. He cleared his throat, clearly a little embarrassed as he hurriedly pulled his boxers on and climbed down from the loft. Sakura listened to him dig in his dresser for a clean t-shirt before he left the bedroom. She lay in bed, covers pulled up all the way to her nose. After a moment, she heard the front door open.
"Get dressed, lazy. I bet My-chan's sleeping in too, huh? Go wake her too, man," Kisame said in a voice that was far too cheerful for so early in the morning.
"We're taking a day off. Go away," Itachi flatly grumbled. Curious to see her friend's reactions, Sakura noticed Itachi's discarded white shirt tossed onto the foot of the bed and pulled it on. She fumbled to button it enough to cover herself before she peeked over the edge of the loft to look out the open doorway. Kisame and Deidara were ready to go in their shorts and t-shirts while Sasori stood looking somewhat awake between them. Deidara jumped up and down, trying to barge inside past Itachi but only succeeded in looking like an agitated rabbit. By chance, Itachi glanced back and met Sakura's eyes. She raised her fingers in a little wave before Itachi turned back to their friends.
"Besides, I think Sakura agrees with my plan," Itachi added. The trio in the doorway followed his gesturing hand to see Sakura carefully looking down at them.
"…Please…leave," Sakura called out with a little pout. As Deidara and Kisame stood gaping, Itachi closed the door on their faces. Ignoring the enraged shouts from outside, Itachi closed the bedroom door and climbed back up to the loft where Sakura stood trying to locate her clothing which had apparently ended up tossed a little haphazardly around. Itachi turned away for a moment and then looked back at her, almost as if he were doing a double-take. His eyes roved over her bare legs and her small frame swallowed up by his large shirt. When she blinked innocently at him, confused as to why he suddenly looked like he had forgotten what he was about to say, a smile curled at Itachi's mouth that made her shiver.
"Back to bed," he announced, tossing her over his shoulder and throwing them both in a tangled heap on the mattress. Sakura squealed when she felt his warm mouth on her ankles and then her knees.
"I meant back to sleep!" Sakura half-heartedly protested. He pressed a long kiss to her thigh just below the hem of his shirt.
"We can sleep later," Itachi replied.
They spent the rest of the morning dozing peacefully now that Sasori had managed to drag the sobbing pair off for their run. It was almost too cold with the air conditioner running but in their cocoon of blankets and limbs and whispered words, it was perfectly toasty. Itachi would drift off to sleep, wake for a little, kiss her bare shoulder, and then fall back asleep again. It was perfection, serene perfection and Sakura felt safer than safe and happier than happy. When Itachi's stomach let out a pleading growl of hunger, Sakura opened her eyes.
"We should eat something," she said, peeking out the hole in their fortress of blankets to check the time. But Itachi groaned as he pulled her closer. The curve of her back nestled perfectly against his chest and Sakura was so tempted to go along with his plan.
"Aren't you hungry? Did you even have dinner last night?" she demanded, remembering how late he had gotten home the night before.
"I'd rather starve then get up. I'll just eat you-"
Sakura interrupted him when her stomach let out a wail of protest too. There was a long pause and then Itachi let out a defeated sigh.
"Food, then."
They spent their day off eating and catching up on TV shows in their pajamas. With a mischievous giggle, Sakura plopped down on the sofa next to Itachi and dropped her bare legs into his lap.
"Aren't you being a little too relaxed?" Itachi asked as she began crunching through a box of strawberry candy.
"Then would you like us to go back to being awkward?" Sakura replied with an innocent smile. Shaking his head, Itachi reached over to steal a piece of candy from her.
"Do you need to rub that in?" he inquired.
"Only a little bit, Ikkun," she responded with a grin.
"I AM OPPOSED TO THIS!" Deidara roared, pointing an angry finger into Itachi's chest. Sakura and Itachi stared at him blankly as they stood in the doorway of the studio. After a full weekend of brooding, Deidara had waited to ambush the happy couple on Monday morning.
"On what grounds?" Itachi demanded. Deidara spluttered as he tried to think up an answer.
"Do I need a reason, yeah?" Deidara managed to spit back.
"Logically, you really don't have any say in this, Deidara. You're not Sakura-chan's guardian, nor are you a good role model to her in any sense," Sasori piped up while peeling a lollipop and examining it in the light.
"BUT I'M MY-CHAN'S BEST FRIEND, YEAH! THAT HAS TO COUNT FOR SOMETHING!" Deidara roared triumphantly.
"Wait…who's your best friend, Sakura-chan?" Kisame inquired. It was everybody's eyes that turned to Sakura. Though she was close to all of them, at times it was difficult to figure out who Sakura liked best. Frowning, Sakura put her hands on her hips.
"Sasuke-kun," she immediately responded.
"My-chan, you dirty traitor," Deidara immediately replied.
"Maybe you would be a better friend if you stopped obsessing over my BOOBS, DEI-CHAN!" Sakura retorted a little tartly. Deidara wilted, dissolving into a pouting pile of goo.
"Still…I don't approve. As My-chan's number one fan, I don't approve," he muttered while everyone seemed to ignore him. In fact, Kisame and Sasori seemed willing to act like nothing had changed. Though Sasori did make it a point to "accidentally" shove Itachi aside and hang all over Sakura, only Deidara was the one left grunting half-audibly about all the reasons he was unhappy. At the end of the day, Deidara randomly grabbed onto the back of Itachi's shirt and stared fiercely into Itachi's expression of slight irritation.
"You better take good care of My-chan or I'll set Sasori on you again," Deidara said in a low voice that promised death.
"Give him a black eye again and I'll make sure you'll never have babies, Dei-chan," Sakura cut in with a sweet voice. She fluttered her eyelashes at him before she took Itachi's hand and they walked off together. Deidara stood staring at Sakura's retreating back.
"…What did that bastard do to my sweet little girl?" Deidara whispered. Tilting his head to the side, Kisame threw his arm over his friend's shoulder.
"I don't know but I like it," Kisame announced with a smile.
"Go die in a hole, Fishface."
"I'll tell Sakura-chan on you."
"…I'm sorry."
Summer break ended too quickly and Sakura found herself waking one morning to a sigh.
"That's for you," Itachi groaned. Sakura lifted her head a little to hear a familiar banging on the door. Whining, she pulled the covers over her head and sunk down and burrowed up against his warm side.
"My-chan! Wake up or I'm breaking in and taking pictures of you and that idiot butt-naked and sending them to a-"
Before Deidara could finish his threat, Sakura had thrown herself out of bed and was pulling on clothes.
"Stupid Dei-chan," Sakura muttered as she jumped into a pair of shorts. Itachi let out an undignified snort without opening his eyes. His dark hair was a tangled mess around his face and his left arm was curled around the extra pillow he had bought a few days ago. Now there were two identical pillows on his bed and it somehow looked just right. Sakura took a moment to kiss Itachi's cheek and he reached out to automatically pull her in for another one. Giggling, she slipped free from his grip and climbed down from their loft. She opened up the top drawer of the dresser to grab a clean pair of socks. At some point, most of her clothing had migrated from her bags to that drawer in the dresser and about a third of the closet as well.
"HURRY UP, YEAH!" Deidara wailed even louder. Sakura half-tripped on the way to the door as she struggled to get her shoes on. When she finally opened the door, she found Kisame holding Deidara in a headlock. Deidara's face slowly turned purple as he raised his hand to wave at her.
"Where's the loverboy?" Kisame asked as they headed for the elevator.
"He has a class today. And don't yell so early in the morning, Dei-chan. Tanihara-san across the hall is a light sleeper," Sakura yawned, nudging Deidara with her elbow. Her two friends raised their eyebrows at her with identical leers.
"Ooh, getting to know the neighbors, are we?" Kisame teased.
Despite their jabs, Sakura immensely enjoyed the remaining week before school started again. As she had predicted, Ino called a few days into the week to beg for help with the summer homework. With a little smile, Sakura dropped off her finished work at the Yamanaka household where Ino's mother greeted her with a big hug. She was immediately gifted with fresh fruits and some various side dishes ("Since you don't get much home-cooking, sweetheart. Enjoy!") before she made her way back to Itachi's apartment where Itachi eyed her haul and laughed with her. Naruto, however, had been guiled into actually completing his homework for once by his girlfriend and left Sakura to spend the last few days of break generally dancing, sleeping, eating and running around Konoha with her boyfriend watching movies and trying out new restaurants.
Monday morning, on the usual commute to school, Sakura felt a little tug on the edge of her sleeve. It was crowded in the subway car so it took Sakura a minute to find Sasuke's face in the crowd. It wasn't her fault since his face was half-squished behind the belly of a rather large businessman. Sakura had managed to grab onto a pole to avoid being crushed in the immense barrage of commuters. At the next stop, Sakura held out her hand and Sasuke quickly grabbed onto it. When a fresh wave of people flooded into the already crammed car, Sakura yanked him over to her pole where they stood gripping onto it for dear life until the train started moving again.
"You're looking disgustingly happy again," Sasuke quickly observed.
"I am. Thank you. Hope you had a nice break too," she easily replied. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke lightly bumped his shoulder into hers as best as he could in their crushed circumstances.
"Stupid Sakura," he muttered.
"Stupid Sasuke," was her response.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan! Morning, Ugly Sasuke-jerk!" Naruto crowed when he spotted them walking through the front gates. While he ducked Sasuke's mock-punch, Naruto grinned at Sakura before he spotted Hinata a little further ahead and hurried to catch up to her. As soon as they reached their lockers to change shoes, Sakura heard a high-pitched squeal that made Sasuke stiffen completely. His expression turned murderous as a pair of arms flung themselves around his neck.
"Did you miss me, Sasuke-kun? I missed you! Did you dream about me?" Karin gushed. When Sasuke glanced desperately in her direction, Sakura shrugged.
"You should bond with your classmates, Sasuke-kun. Nice to see you, Uzumaki-san," Sakura said with a smile.
"Oh, hi there, Kaichou. You can call me Karin-chan!" Karin brightly replied, clearly delighted to see her beloved prince. When Sakura noticed Suigetsu and Juugo approaching, she stuck her tongue out at Sasuke and quickly ran off to her classroom.
"Yo, Sasuke-man! What's up!" she heard Suigetsu call out before she heard Sasuke smash his head into his locker.
The end of August marked an exciting time for Konoha High's seniors. Due to slashed school budgets, their annual fieldtrips had been restricted to nearby areas in the country. However, it was one of the few times they were allowed to genuinely have fun at the school's expense so there wasn't anyone complaining about their 1-day trip to Kamakura, a city located not too far from Konoha.
"Break off into pairs. Boys with boys. Girls with girls," their homeroom teacher instructed. While the other students scrambled to find their friends, Sakura reached to her back right and Hinata immediately hooked her pink through Sakura's. She didn't need to know that Sai and Naruto had exchanged fist bumps over Hinata's head.
"Now, one pair of girls merge with one pair of boys," the teacher continued. Tilting her head back, Sakura looked back at her three friends sitting in a row.
"Why, Sakura-chan. Fancy joining us?" Naruto asked in a posh accent.
"Why, Lord Naruto. You do honor me," she replied, fluttering her eyelashes until Hinata giggled.
They pushed their desks together in a square and began going through all the brochures and information packet that had been handed out.
"I want to go to Engakuji*," Sai said, pointing to a point on a map of the subway he had been studying. As Hinata wrote the destination down in their itinerary, Naruto jumped out of his seat.
"Ooh! Hokokuji*! HOKOKUJI! LIKE IN SAMURAI FILMS!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing excitedly to a photo of the big bamboo forest in a pamphlet he had been casually flipping through.
"We should go to the Great Buddha statue too. I bet everyone's going there to take photos," Sakura added with a thoughtful expression.
"Do you think sensei would let us ride the Enoden*?" Hinata suddenly asked, looking up.
"Good question. Sensei!" Sakura said, leaning back in her seat and raising her hand. Sarutobi Asuma walked up to her with his usual easy smile.
"Yes, Haruno-kun?" he said, putting his hands into his pockets.
"Would we be allowed to take the Enoden as long as he checked in with one of the teachers before we left?" inquired Sakura, holding up their itinerary. Asuma studied their list for a moment and then shrugged.
"That's fine. Everyone, did you hear Haruno-kun? You're permitted to take trains as long as you inform a teacher where you're going before you depart," Asuma announced, handing their itinerary back to the group.
Two days later, the senior class was boarding a train down to Kanagawa prefecture. By some hysterical coincidence, Sasuke's class had ended up in the same car with Class 3-C. As Sakura sat between Sai and Hinata to chat with their classmates, Naruto snickered as he watched Sasuke try to pry Karin off his right arm. Sasuke had ended up in a group with Karin, Ino and Shikamaru. While Ino was occupied with bothering Shikamaru, Sasuke was stuck dealing with Karin's advances.
"You know, Haruno-chan, we always thought you and Hyuuga-chan might be stuck-up. Because you're both so smart and pretty," one of the girls in their class admitted. Sakura and Hinata exchanged bewildered glances.
"I mean Hinata-chan's super-pretty but I don't think I really am," Sakura said at the same time that Hinata spoke.
"Sakura-chan's super-smart but I don't think I really am," Hinata replied. Everyone was quiet before they all burst into laughter together. Sakura had never really had much of chance to talk too much with the other girls. She had always gotten the impression that they were avoiding her. But once they boarded the train and began talking, Sakura had found that she had been completely wrong.
"You and Hyuuga-chan and Uchiha-kun all kind of have this…unapproachable air. Like you're too cool to talk to almost," one of the girls pointed out.
"Unapproachable? Maybe Sakura-chan didn't have coffee that day," Naruto interrupted, prompting a few more giggles as Sakura pinched his nose until it turned bright red and he squeaked out an apology.
"But seriously, your clothes are both so pretty!" someone interrupted. Since it was a rare day where they got to wear their own clothes for school, Hinata had gone for a light blue dress with long sleeves over sparkling black flats along with a long silver necklace. She was classy and sweet and this had earned Naruto a fair share of elbow jabs and jokes from his male classmates who complained about wanting a cute girlfriend too. Sakura, tired of listening to Deidara complain that she never wore the clothes Sasori had given her, had chosen a short white dress with strappy sleeves with black leggings. Early September was the start of slightly cooler weather so she had thrown a cropped grey jacket on top along with a pair of bright red sneakers.
"Yeah. Hyuuga-chan's cute and Haruno-chan's kind of spunky," another girl added.
"You guys are pretty too!" Sakura argued, earning a bunch of mock-punches and laughter. Though Naruto had also been chatting with some of the guys in class, he looked over to find Sasuke shoving Karin's face away with one hand while struggling to send a text on his phone. When Sasuke looked up at the sound of Naruto's laughter, he practically launched himself across the train car to wedge himself between Hinata and Sakura.
"Please don't leave me with her again," Sasuke groaned, shaking Sakura's arm until she finally looked at him.
"I would be happy to trade spots with Sasuke," Sai suddenly piped up. Everyone turned to look at him.
"…Sai…do you realize what you're volunteering to?" Naruto asked in a shaky voice. When Sai nodded, Sasuke grabbed both of Sai's hands to shake them furiously in desperate thanks.
"Just be sure to compliment her a lot, Sai-kun," Sakura called after him as Sai walked over to join Ino who eyed him with some confusion. It took a moment for Sakura's words to sink in.
"Wait…Sakura-chan…Sai-kun's compliments are…" Hinata began.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?" Karin screeched, jumping to her feet.
"I don't understand how you two are cousins, Naruto," Sakura sighed as she watched Karin shake a fist at Sai.
"Me neither," Naruto grunted.
"I said that your ugliness is only eclipsed by your shrill voice!" Sai enunciated carefully in a loud voice.
Everyone struggled to hide their laughter as Sai dodged one of Karin's punches.
As soon as they arrived in Kamakura, everyone broke off into their groups to follow their itineraries. Though they spent a good part of the trip following Sasuke as he ran from the sound of Karin's voice, they had time to take lots of pictures and to laugh over Naruto's silly poses for the camera. By the time they arrived at the Giant Buddha Statue, most of the other groups had gathered there as their final destination as well. After a bunch of botched photos courtesy of Naruto and Sasuke arguing, they managed to get a few good pictures. The day ended with souvenir shopping before the teachers took attendance and everyone boarded the train back up to Konoha.
Naruto and Hinata fell asleep together, their heads pressed together in the image of blissful love. A few people giggled and Kiba leaned in to take a picture for the yearbook. Sasuke and Sakura occupied their time looking through photos on Sakura's cell phone. He leaned over her shoulder to peek into her plastic bag full of souvenirs.
"Got anything for my brother?" Sasuke asked. Sakura frowned.
"None of your business, Nosey-kun," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. Giggling at his glower, Sakura showed him a couple packages of hato sabure*.
"Are these…pigeons?" he asked, holding up one of the cookies up to the light.
"Doves sound prettier! I tried one of these at the shop and they're pretty good. I bought some for your parents too," Sakura said, pointing to the other packages in her bag. Sasuke's lips pulled down into a thoughtful frown.
"You're going to give my old man diabetes," he sighed. Sakura smiled sheepishly.
That night, Sakura sat in bed, watching Itachi crunch his way through his second hato sabure while changing into pajama pants.
"These are surprisingly satisfying," he commented, popping the rest of the food into his mouth before he climbed up to the loft.
"You think Fugaku-san will like these?" Sakura asked, wrinkling her nose. Though he claimed to like her cooking, Sakura wasn't actually sure what kind of food the Uchiha patriarch enjoyed. Itachi rolled his eyes.
"Sakura, at this point, you could make a mud pie and feed it to my father and he'd love it. I think he likes you better than he likes his own children," Itachi scoffed, climbing into bed.
"You think he's gotten any more information about that phone number?" Sakura suddenly wondered aloud. It had been a couple months and all she had learned was that her unwanted fan was from America and that he was smart enough not to use credit cards. Part of her secretly hoped that he would never be found so she could stay with Itachi forever. She had grown used to doing laundry together and eating together and even fighting over the covers a little during the night. Still, it would be nice to feel secure in her own home again.
"Ah, speaking of which. Have you talked to your mother lately?" Itachi prompted. Though Kirie had promised to be back in Japan in November, neither Itachi nor Sakura had decided how to explain their living situation to her yet. Sakura hadn't even had the chance to tell her that they were dating. Last week, when she had talked to her mom, Sakura had spent a large part of the time listening about all the delicious bakeries in New York City.
"Mom, I have some news. It's really important to me so I would appreciate it if you would listen-" Sakura began, only to be cut off by the sound of high-pitched ringing.
"Oh, sweetie, that's my work phone. It's a big client. Tell you what, you can tell me all about your big news when I get home, okay? Love you!" Kirie quickly said before hanging up.
"Yes. But all I managed to hear was that Magnolia Bakery isn't nearly as good as everyone claims," Sakura huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Pouting a little, Sakura scooted over to use Itachi's left arm as a pillow.
"I'm sure you'll have time to speak with her soon. We still have almost two months. Everything will work out," Itachi assured her before he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.
"You promise?" she asked in a tiny voice.
"I promise."
I dub this chapter the unintentional tourist guide chapter. If anyone gets a chance to visit Japan, go to Kamakura! I've had friends go and send me pictures and it's seriously really beautiful.
Sakana*= Fish. Very creative. So Sakura's essentially calling him Fish-kun from now on.
Dame otoko* is a phrase that basically means 'useless man' or 'no-good man'.
Engakuji* is in the northern part of Kamakura. It's one of the Zen Temples in Kamakura meant to commemorate fallen soldiers founded in 1282.
Houkokuji* is also known as the Bamboo Temple. It has a bamboo garden in the back which is a popular tourist destination. Because who doesn't love some bamboo, right?
Enoden* is short for the Enoshima Electric Railway. It connects Kamakura to Kanagawa Prefecture. It's sort of like a tram that takes passengers through a really beautiful scenic route.
Hato sabure*= dove/pigeon biscuits. They're a popular souvenir in Kamakura. They're less of a cookie and more like a shortbread though and they're flipping delicious.
Extra love to all of you reviewers for all your love and input. Please be sure to leave your feedback in reviews this chapter too!