The book of friendship
Summary: He hadn't known that a book could tell people how to befriend one another until she gave one to him. But as it led him to interesting discoveries, he didn't mind humoring her.
Sakura looked up from her book as the Uchiha heir sat down next to her on the bench. It was a typical summer day, not too hot though, and the pink-haired kunoichi had settled under a tree for the shadow it provided.
"So? Did you read it?" She asked, tilting her head a little while watching him.
Itachi held out a book to her, and she took it. "Yes", he answered. "But I don't really understand why you wanted me to read it."
She pouted childishly, and began to lecture him. "It's a book to help you interact with other people. I think you do need a little advice like this if this friendship project is supposed to work. How about we test it out?"
He shrugged wordlessly and she took it as consent. "Then go ahead. Ask me questions to get to know me."
Itachi was very skeptical. How could a book teach people how to make friends? Sure, it gave a lot of advice and gave an exhaustive list of questions to ask to others, but it was just a book. And some things couldn't be taught by book, like friendship, in his opinion. But since Sakura seemed to really expect a lot from it, he decided to play along.
"Alright. How old are you?"
She gave a weird look and he was puzzled. What? Had he said something wrong? It was a basic question of the book, as far as he remembered. But then, the pink-haired kunoichi shook her head with a sigh.
"Uchiha-san, Uchiha-san! You can't ask this kind of question to a woman!" She then said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"It's extremely insensitive," she replied, a very serious look on her face. "Women hate to feel old, and when they tell their age to someone, they always feel old. Never ask that question at the beginning of a relationship. If possible, try to find out her age on your own, by asking some friends of hers about it, or try to deduct it. Continue."
Women had a very stupid way of thinking, he thought. "Given the fact that you are my brother's teammate, I can guess you are as old as him. Which makes you twenty." He said.
She grinned at him. "Well, yes. It's not that old, but saying it aloud myself does make me feel bad. Next question."
"… do you have a job?" Again, one of the basic question.
"Of course I do. I am Head healer at Konoha's hospital. And at this point of the conversation," she added "the person can return the question to you. What's your job?"
"… Anbu captain."
The conversation seemed quite surreal to him. They already knew each other's occupation after all.
"Alright," Sakura nodded, "it seems that you got the basics perfectly well. I expected no less of you. Let's make it a little more interesting then. Do you have a girlfriend?"
He blinked once, taken aback by the question. She was looking at him with curiosity, waiting for his reply. "… no." He finally said.
She looked surprised. "You don't? I don't believe you! With a reputation like yours, such skills, such looks, you're bound to have a girlfriend!"
He smirked. Was she acknowledging the fact that she thought all that of him, that is to say handsome and skilled? He didn't really know how to take it, but it was quite interesting to know.
"How about you?" He countered, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
She actually blushed and looked away, embarrassed. The color suited her, he decided.
"No", she replied. "I just don't have the time for that, and to be honest, I've never found a man who lived up to my standards."
Now he was really interested. She was intelligent, funny, and quite the looker, and yet, she was single? "Your standards must be very high then," he remarked with a smirk.
She pouted once more and crossed her arm with a huff. "Well, not really," she defended herself. "All I ask for is a handsome man, who is also stronger than me and at least as intelligent as me."
He would have laughed if he could. "That's what I said, you have very high standards."
"Do you really think so?" She asked, looking at him with dismay and disappointment.
"Yes. I'm afraid you'll never find your ideal man." Unless you want me, he added in thought. He certainly corresponded to each of her criteria.
"Well, what about you then? Who is your ideal woman?" She asked, wanting to change the subject.
He pondered over it with an inward smirk. What should he tell her? "I want her to be beautiful, caring and strong, as well as intelligent," he finally said.
Sakura frowned and brought her hand to her chin, as if thinking. "Then I guess you're as lucky as me," she said. "I never met such a woman."
Really? Because I sure did meet one, he thought, amused. And she is sitting right beside me.
"What about your teammates?" he asked with a smirk. "Didn't they fit your standards?"
She rolled her eyes. "Hardly," she said. "Naruto is quite a moron, even though it pains me to say it, and Sasuke is not nearly as intelligent as me. Besides, they're like brothers to me. I would feel really awkward if I was dating one of them."
He nodded thoughtfully. "What was your longest relationship with a man?" He asked.
She blushed again, and thought about it a few moments before answering. "I think it was three months," she said. "But I never understood how it lasted so long. I wasn't really in love with the guy, and he was quite clingy. In the end, I dumped him and since he kept pestering me afterwards, I had to literally beat some sense into him before he finally left me alone."
His smirk widened at her confession. He could just imagine her beating up the fellow. He knew from her reputation that she was much stronger than she appeared. In fact, she was one of the most powerful kunoichi of the village.
"Does this mean you are still a virgin?" He asked, irony tainting his deep velvet voice.
He hadn't known that it was possible to blush so deeply. She stiffened at the question, embarrassed and mortified, as he watched in amusement. That woman was definitely entertaining.
"Y… yes, and so, what about it!" She said sharply, in an embarrassed tone.
"Nothing. I was just wondering."
"Well, I guess you are no longer a virgin." She said, not looking at him, a frown on her face.
"Of course not."
She rolled her eyes at his arrogant statement. "Well, sorry for being such a prude," she said ironically. "It's just that I don't sleep with anyone, let alone a man I barely know and like. I never had a long enough relationship to make it to that stage."
"I never said it was wrong. I respect you for those beliefs."
She blushed again, and he couldn't get enough of it. She was so very cute when embarrassed.
"Enough talking about that," she protested. "I have an excellent idea to make our friendship project progress. Do you want to hear it?"
"By all means, go ahead."
"You told me you had one friend, remember? I want you to introduce him to me."
He stared at her blankly for a few seconds, not quite sure he had understood. "You want me to introduce him to you?" He repeated with an invisible frown.
"Yes, why not? You didn't lie to me about him, did you?"
"Of course not. I just don't understand why you want to meet him."
"It's what friends do. They introduce other people they know to their friends. It's a social interaction." She said, as if talking to a child. "You will introduce him to me in four days time, at the time and place I will indicate to you later on. Until then, we will continue getting to know each other through meetings like this one."
"… alright."
"Good. And don't forget to send me your schedule for the week. I need to know when you are free and when you are not."
He nodded wordlessly.
"Also, I think it's time we drop the last-name calling. We know enough of each other to switch to a first name one. From now on you will call me Sakura-san, and I will call you Itachi-san. Is it alright with you?"
Her voice was authoritarian, and something told him that she wouldn't accept refusal. She was a bossy woman, and even if he ordinarily didn't like to be given orders by others, he didn't mind doing what that little slip of a woman wanted. There was something so utterly innocent in her demands that made him unable to deny her. He would have grinned if he wasn't Itachi Uchiha. But he was Itachi Uchiha, so he merely smirked instead.
"Fine with me, Sakura-san." He replied.
He liked the slight shiver that ran though her body as her name rolled off his tongue. And he liked the way it sounded when he said it.
"Then I will wait for you tomorrow, same time, same place. Don't be late Itachi-san," she said, getting up and gathering her books.
And he liked the way his name sounded when she said it.
