Chapter Three-EDITED
"Sakura," Itachi said, bowing slightly in my direction. I blinked a couple of times before bowing myself. His voice was a deep, rich, velvety one and I noticed that his eyes were a deep, dark color; almost so dark they were onyx-black. My pulse slowed a bit, and I gasped for air a bit, not realizing I had stopped breathing. He had a fair complexion, and his body was very similar to Sasuke's. Itachi looked over at Sasuke, and I noticed tenseness between them as they stared at each other. Sasuke looked put off whereas Itachi, who seemed to have better control over his emotions, sported a nonchalant expression.
The more I stared at Itachi, the warmer my face became. Itachi's exotic looks could have scored him a job with any major modeling agency, easily. The nervous feeling in my stomach gave way to a warm fluttering. Itachi looked over at me, and I jumped as I realized I was staring. I averted my eyes.
"Okay, everyone, Sakura has had a difficult day today and she needs her rest. If you could all leave, that would be fantastic." Tsunade exclaimed, opening the door of the sitting room determinedly. The men stayed still for a second, and then they all stood at once and began filing out of the room. I watched them go. Sasuke was the last one to leave, and he turned around to look at me.
"Thank you." He muttered reluctantly. It wasn't sarcastic, and the earnest kindness of his words struck me; I was taken aback.
"Y-you're welcome." I stammered. He smirked and walked out of the room.
After taking a hot shower and reapplying medicine on the few scratches I had, I climbed into my clean sheets. I stared up at my ceiling, making faces and images out of the bumps. One looked like a boy with a cockatoo haircut. I looked away and found myself staring at a line of bumps that looked like the silhouette of a motorcycle. I looked away again and saw a tall figure. I sighed, exasperated and rolled over so I was staring out my window.
It was a full moon tonight, and it cast an ethereal light around my room and outside. I began to drift off to sleep thinking of marshmallows and cotton candy clouds when my tree outside began to move. Immediately I shot up alert, adrenaline coursing through my veins. It didn't appear to be moving, but one tree limb outside was swaying irregularly.
I couldn't decide if I wanted to see what it was or run out of my room. I slowly pushed the sheets off with my feet and crawled out. I crept up to my window, staring outside. My eyes widened: the tree branch wasn't swaying anymore. I opened up my window and looked two stories down at the ground. I looked back up and would have let out an ear-piercing screech if a hand hadn't grabbed my mouth and pushed me inside my room.
I fell to the ground and a heaviness crushed against my body. I began thrashing about, but whoever it was pinned my arms to my sides. I was grunting and making all sorts of noises, and the other person didn't make a sound. I eventually began to slow down, getting tired.
"Are you finished?" I heard that velvety voice say and I immediately calmed down. I nodded and Itachi got off of me, taking my hand and gracefully pulling me up. A scarlet blush crept on my face. Itachi had just been on me, his body pressed up close to mine. Itachi was in my room.
"What are you doing?" I whispered harshly.
"It's not a smart idea to be sticking your head out of windows like that, Sakura." Itachi warned. "You never know who is outside your window aiming a gun at your head." As he said this, he made a gun out of his hand and placed his fingertips to my forehead. He whispered, "Bang!" and I jumped. The corners of his lips twitched into a tiny smile.
"That still doesn't answer my question." I replied, crossing my arms. The window was open, the wind blowing my nightdress tight against my body and I was becoming cold. Goosebumps spread out on my arms and I shivered.
"Sasuke can't watch you 24/7. That's what I'm here for." He said. "You have school in the morning. You should get to bed."
"You're not my father." I told him, looking at him defiantly. I began walking toward my bed. "I'm 17 years old. I can take care of myself." At that precise moment, I stumbled over the trunk at the end of my bed and I was sent toppling to the floor. I looked at Itachi, who was smirking at me, shaking his head. He walked over and lifted me off the floor from my armpits like I was three years old. He flicked my head with his pointer finger and turned around.
"You're right. I guess you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." He said, sarcasm lacing his words. He jumped out of the window into the tree. I stomped over to the window and slammed it shut, locking it tightly. Itachi's eyes looked over at me and I stuck my tongue out, closing my curtains. What a horrible guy.
I nodded my head in tune with the beat of the song blasting in the car.
Day 'n' Night
I toss and turn I keep stress in my mind-mind.
I live for peace but see I don't attain
What I need for keeps to silly game we play
Sasuke sighed loudly. "What is this crap?" He said, reaching to change the station.
"Hey!" I cried as he began tuning the station to something else. "I was listening to that!"
"Yeah so was I and it's distracting me. Do you wanna get in a wreck?" He yelled. I crossed my arms and looked away from him. He was already pissed off because he couldn't ride his bike. Tsunade had refused with a lot of fuss. Sasuke was finally forced to agree on the condition that he could keep the top down of the Corvette we were currently in. The wind was doing wonders for my hair.
Hard rock starting blasting through the car. "We turned off Kid Cudi for this?" I asked him, my voice dripping with disgust. A vibrating filled the car and the music was so loud Sasuke couldn't even hear me. He just stared at the road ahead.
Keep holding on
When my brain's ticking like a bomb
The rest was lost as I flipped the station back to Kid Cudi. Sasuke looked over, glaring at me. I smirked at him and he hit recall on the radio board. I clicked recall again, and pretty soon we were fighting to see who could hit the recall button first. I looked up just in time to see a city bus pull out in front of us.
"Sasuke!" I called, and he grabbed the emergency brake. We stopped so fast I thought I would get whiplash. The bus driver shook his head at us and continued driving. Sasuke scoffed, and then pulled into the parking lot.
"Way to go, Sakura you almost got us in an accident." Sasuke exclaimed, pulling into a parking spot. People were beginning to stare.
"Not even close! If we had just stayed on my station and you weren't such a butthead we wouldn't have gotten into an accident!" I screamed back. People were definitely staring now. Butthead? Were we back in the first grade?
"Just get out of the car!" Sasuke screamed back with the same volume. I sighed exasperatedly and got out of the car, slamming the door and walking away. I was halfway to first period when I stopped suddenly. Ugh, Sakura, you forgot your book bag! I reluctantly turned around and jumped. Sasuke was standing there, book bag in hand and clearly annoyed.
"Don't junk up the Corvette with your crap." He said, dropping the bag in my hands. He walked by me and I stuck my tongue out at him. Wait…he's walking in the direction of my first period…I don't have first period with Sasuke!
"Where are you going? Your first period is on the other side of the school!" I asked after catching up with him. Sasuke ignored me and kept walking. "Hey!" I said, having to practically gallop to keep up with his long strides.
"I was switched into all of your classes, moron." He replied with an irritated snap. I stopped in the middle of the hallway. No…no no no no no!
I sat my tray on the table. Naruto looked at me, and then looked away. "What?" I snapped at him. I couldn't take crap from Naruto too…
"You never texted me last night." Was all he said.
"Yeah well I was kind of busy last night, sorry."
"With wh-" Naruto stopped as Sasuke set his tray on the table next to me. "What's this?" Naruto asked. Kiba, Shikamaru and Temari looked up. Sasuke didn't even say anything, just took a bite of his apple with a bored expression on his face.
"You can watch me somewhere else, can't you?" I said with an annoyed tone. Sasuke smirked.
"Am I annoying you?" He asked, clearly amused. I rolled my eyes. The rest of the Hawk sat at the table and the four of my friends did not look happy.
"Why are you guys sitting here?" Kiba growled, cocking one eyebrow.
"Hey, this is going to be the seating arrangement for a while so I suggest you just get used to it." Karin said with narrowed eyes.
"Hey, bastard, why don't you get you and the rest of your stupid gang and park it somewhere else." Naruto told Sasuke, looking straight into his eyes. Sasuke leaned in closer so his face and Naruto's face were inches apart.
"Why don't you shut up, faggot." Sasuke answered. The air got tense. There was obviously some past resentment passing between the two of them. Naruto stood up quickly as did Sasuke. As soon as they stood up, the Hawk, Kiba and Shikamaru stood up as well.
"Guys!" I stood up and looked at both of them. "Calm down!"
"Stay out of it!" Sasuke and Naruto yelled at me at the same time. My eye twitched in irritation. This was going to be a long lunch.
"What do we have next again?" Sasuke asked. He had only asked me that after every single class.
"P.E." I said with a shudder. I hated P.E. My relationship to athletics was similar to that of oil and water. Last time I had played softball I ended up with a black eye and a sore stomach. How I finagled that, I'm not sure.
When we reached the P.E. doors Sasuke opened them for me. I continued to walk right when the door suddenly closed, causing me to hit my forehead on the door. Of course he wouldn't open the door for me.
I changed into my P.E. uniform, walking over to talk with Temari and Ten Ten.
"We're just running again, right?" I asked, hope spiking my voice. We had been running for the past couple of weeks, which worked just fine with me if one considered how accident-prone I seemed to be in this class.
"I heard we were starting basketball today." TenTen said, pumped. Ten Ten was the epitome of the perfect athlete. She trained for hours a day and had the body to prove it. I usually ended up being on Ten Ten's team so she did all the work on the team for us. I groaned.
"Basketball?" I whined.
"Yes, Miss Haruno! Isn't it exciting?" I looked over to glare at Coach Gai. "You can improve your young bodies and strengthen your youthful muscles!" Sometimes he got too creepy for comfort. "Now if you guys could proceed with splitting into teams!" Temari and I immediately grabbed Ten Ten's arm. Suddenly a soft, cold hand grabbed my other arm. I looked over. A red head, who looked sleep deprived, had gotten a hold of my arm.
"Hey, Gaara." I said quietly. I had hung out with him before at Temari's house, and he intimidated me a bit. He was rather distant, but I used to have a crush on him in my younger years. He didn't say anything, but let his hand slide off my arm. Pretty soon Lee joined our group and Kiba came over as well.
My eyes met with Sasuke as he quietly came over and stood with our group. I looked away slightly miffed. My head was still throbbing from his oh-so-gentlemanly move earlier.
"Too many people in this group~" Coach Gai practically sung as he passed us. "Miss Haruno-san and Uchiha-sama if you could please go join that group over there." He pointed over at the rest of the Hawk and another dark-looking girl with heavy make up. I shook my head.
"Coach!" I cried. Sasuke simply pushed me from behind toward the group. I shouldered my body away from him and looked back at the group. Temari frowned and Gaara shrugged. I slumped my shoulders and began walking toward my new group. This was going to be anything but fun.
"I hope you know how to play basketball, Sakura-chan because you're probably going to be doing most of the work." Jugo said with a smirk. I looked at him pleadingly.
"B-but I don't…" I was interrupted by a whistle. I looked around. People were running around, grabbing at balls, dribbling them on the ground. I didn't know what to do, so I stepped slightly into the crowd of people. I soon became disoriented, my breathing becoming heavier with the stress of not knowing what the hell was going on.
"Hey Sakura, catch!" Sasuke yelled and threw the basketball. I stood there, staring at him, ball in hand. "What are you doing?" He yelled at me. I panicked and threw the ball back at him. Instead, Gaara caught it and began dribbling toward the other end of the court.
"Good job, Sakura." Jugo remarked snidely as he passed. I narrowed my eyes and began walking toward where everyone seemed to be clustered. For the next 15 minutes, that seemed to be the only thing I did. After my screw up before, the rest of my team refused to entrust me with the basketball. I finally resorted to just standing by our team's basket.
"Run! Do something Miss Haruno! Exercise and invigorate your body!" Coach Gai yelled at me. I stared at him blankly.
"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled at me and I turned around, right when a big orange ball came soaring through the air and right into the side of my head. I heard the clap of body hitting court, and then silence.
"Uhh…" I groaned. My head throbbed uncomfortably. I opened my eyes only to see a flashlight shining in my eye. I looked away, closing my eyes. "Agh, what the heck!" I rubbed my eyes.
The nurse, my family friend Shizune just grabbed my chin so she could shine the light in my face again. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan but I have to make sure you don't have a concussion." I kept my eyes open and she nodded her head. "Looking good." She shut off the flashlight and wrote a couple things on her clipboard. I looked around the room. Sasuke was standing at the end of the bed, his arms crossed.
"Thanks a lot you jerk!" I yelled at him. My head throbbed after I yelled and I winced.
"Take it easy, Sakura." Shizune warned, handing me an aspirin and a glass of water. I swallowed the pill. "Sasuke carried you over here after you got hit in the head. Be nice!" I looked over at Sasuke, who shrugged.
"Yeah except he's the one who got me in here in the first place!" I remarked under my breath.
"You can go ahead and leave school if you want, Sakura. You only have last period left and you've missed the first few minutes of it anyway." Shizune dismissed, walking out of the small room.
"Do you want to leave school?" Sasuke asked me. I thought about it. Either way, Sasuke was always going to be there. I sighed and nodded. I lifted the covers and slid off the bed, standing up. I got dizzy and swayed a bit. Sasuke rushed over and grabbed a hold of me.
"Are you okay?" He asked. I looked up at him. His eyes were a tempestuous grey, like clouds right before a storm. Up close I could see how perfect his skin really was, like pale smooth porcelain. He smelled like cologne and the dewy smell after someone first steps out of a shower. He kept looking into my eyes, searching them. I blinked a couple of times and nodded my head, pushing away from him.
"Y-yes, I'm fine." I told him, stepping back but I just swayed again. Sasuke sighed and picked me up like I was a rag doll. "W-what are you doing?" I shrieked.
"I want to get to my car without having you pass out." Sasuke snapped at me, walking me out of the building. I struggled a bit. "Will you stop squirming and just relax?" he complained. I pouted a bit. Somehow, Sasuke was carrying both me and our book bags. I looked down and saw his upper arms flexing with the weight, veins showing through his skin. I felt my face go up a couple degrees. Thank God it was the middle of class period so no one would see us.
He sat me down to open the Corvette door for me and I got in, looking at my hands in my lap. Sasuke is being unusually kind. I thought suspiciously. Sasuke finally got in and started the engine, backing up and driving out of the parking lot. He was driving a lot slower and fluid, not the same jerky, fast driving like this morning.
Sasuke turned right out of the parking lot and began going down the road into the more quiet part of town. "Where are we going?" I asked, looking around. "My house is the other way."
"We're not going to your house." Sasuke said, and I looked at him inquisitively. The buildings began to grow farther and farther apart. More trees and shrubbery began to appear. Sasuke finally pulled into a small parking lot outside…
"An ice cream shop?" I asked. Sasuke just got out. I followed his lead, tagging along with him into the oddly adorable place.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun." An old lady greeted him as we went through the door. He nodded at her.
"Two of my usual." He told her. She started scooping and handed him two cones of ice cream. He handed both to me, pulling out his wallet.
"It's okay, Sasuke-kun." She smiled at him. He nodded to her and threw a 20 into the tip jar. The old lady shook her head with a knowing smile on her face. Sasuke grabbed one of the cones out of my hand.
"Let's go." He muttered and I followed him out after smiling at the lady behind the counter. Sasuke walked past his car, across the street, and down a path through an overhand of vines.
"Sasuke, where are we going?" I asked him again.
"Just shut up and eat your ice cream before it melts." He demanded. My eyebrows came together in a frown, but I began to lick the drips from the scoop. Not far down the path, he turned and followed a bridge onto a gazebo that rested in the middle of a giant pond. I looked out and my breath rushed out between my lips. The sun glinted off the pond, and ducks swam on the surface. On the other side of the pond from where we came, there were fields upon fields of wildflowers. I had never seen this part of town.
"It's beautiful." I whispered. I looked over at Sasuke. He was leaning on the railing of the gazebo, staring out across the water. The wind made his hair wave a bit. The familiar feeling of my stomach jumping came back.
"My mom used to take me here." He told me. I looked out over the water. I knew his mom had died when he was smaller. It completely devastated his family. "This is the first time I've been here in a while."
I didn't know what to say. I knew where he was, I knew how he felt. But I just couldn't think of anything good enough to say. No words can comfort the loss of a parent. I couldn't think of how to respond, so I didn't. Sasuke and I stared at the gorgeous view in complete silence, and surprisingly it wasn't awkward at all.
Sasuke dropped me off at my house. "Do you- do you want to come inside?" I asked lamely. Sasuke smirked.
"It's okay. I've got some stuff to take care of at home. I'll talk to you later." I looked back at him one more time before nodding, getting out of the car, and shutting the door. He waited until I got inside before driving off. I locked the door, and turned around, and sighed. I smiled uncontrollably.
I walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. I shut the fridge door, turned around and screamed. Someone was sitting at my kitchen table! My grip instinctively tightened on the water bottle in my hand. I chucked the water bottle as hard as I could at the intruder. They gracefully got up off the chair, avoiding the water bottle.
"I-itachi!" I stammered. My heart rate started slowly declining again. "Stop doing that!" I yelled at him, irritated.
"Stop what?" He asked me, a sly look on his face.
"Being a creeper! I'm going to have to put a bell around your neck if you don't stop scaring me like that!"
"That looks like a nasty bump on your head." Itachi remarked, looking up at my forehead. I felt my bump and winced. He was right…I could feel a nasty one coming on. I rushed to the bathroom, and sure enough a red mark was forming on my head. Do they even create make up that can cover stuff like this?
I went back into the kitchen and Itachi was gone. "Itachi?" I called. No response. I walked up to my bedroom. Nothing. "He is such a little creeper." I whispered.
I'm trying, I'm trying! Second chapter in like…a week and a half right? So anyway, first song was Day 'n' Night by Kid Cudi and the second one was Coming Undone by Korn. I feel as my story progresses, the farther Itachi and Sasuke's personalities are straying from the actual Naruto characters. Is this okay with you guys? Any suggestions, comments, or constructive criticisms please leave me. Even criticisms are embraced gratefully.
I also created this image which I think is kinda cute. (: check it outt
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Thanks! (: