Chapter Five
The dull glow of my new phone blinded me; I couldn't see anything in my cavernous, dark room with the bright phone so close to my face. My light, almost transparent ivory nightgown was frequently blown against my skin by my fan. The sensation sent goose bumps erecting all over my body. I was cold, but at the same time, the shivers it caused to vibrate through my body was exciting.
The 10 digits sat there, gently calling my name, begging me to press 'Dial.' I wouldn't give in to their incessant yet seductive plea. But I yearned to talk to him. I knew he was already close. He was simply a few steps away. I'd just pull back the shade, unlatch the hook, pull away the right side of the double window…and…and…what? Nothing. Because I couldn't come up with anything to say to him, even just sitting here thinking about him. I took a last look at the screen of my phone. 'Itachi.' It looked beautiful, even in the straight, boxy letters the phone's text provided.
I gasped exasperatedly and shoved the cell underneath my pillow. I grabbed my sheets, pulling them up to my chin, finally giving into the angry prickles my feet were experiencing because of the cold. He's outside. His face made it's way into my mind. His strong profile I glimpsed when I was riding in the car with him. His gentle eyes that always had a teasing upward slant. My face grew hot and I snuggled deeper into my bed, pulling the silk sheets above my head.
I knew that every day was dangerous because at any moment, a Hyuuga could come running at me with a sword, or something but I had to hand it to them; if they weren't threatening my life right now, Uchiha Itachi wouldn't be standing outside my window right now. With another angry sigh I slipped my hand under my pillow, sliding the phone into a position for me to text.
"Hmmm," I muttered aloud.
"Hi, Itachi. Thanks for earlier, I know it's annoying to have to keep tabs on—"
"No…" my brow furrowed. Stupid.
"Hey, baby I—"
"Hell no," I whispered.
"Want to come inside? I know it's cold. (;" I let a low growl escape from my lips, closing the phone and throwing it lightly to the end of my bed. I groaned as I pulled myself up to get it, opening it again. I stared at the blinking cursor for what seemed like ages, continuously having to unlock the phone.
"Hey" was the simple message I sent. As soon as the phone alerted me that the message had sent, my heart began to beat erratically. What had I done? The last thing he probably wanted to see was a message from me, the stupid girl he had to babysit because my own security wasn't enough. I clenched my eyes, the grip on my phone tightening. All of a sudden, I didn't want him to text me back. I set the phone on my bedside table and turned away from it towards my door. I bit my lip, turning around to stare at the tiny silver cell. How could something so small cause me so much distress? I wish Itachi had never given me such a wretched thing.
A loud, buzzing noise resonated throughout my room. I snatched the phone off the bedside table before the second, quieter vibration following the first could even occur. I slid open the phone, and there it was. A box with five little words that sent my mind reeling.
"One new message from: Itachi"
With shaking hands, I pressed 'Read.'
"Hello, Miss Sakura," my eyes skimmed the introduction and I smiled. "I would love to talk to you, but as it is a school night and you have class in seven hours, I think it wise that you go to sleep. –Itachi." My mouth dropped open a little. He sounded like my father!
"Fine!" I exclaimed, though louder than I had anticipated. I forcefully opened the drawer of the bedside table, threw the phone in and slammed it shut. Mumbling, I faced toward my door again (purposefully away from the window) and let my wander mind eventually drift off to sleep.
"Sakura," my eyes opened a bit to see a dark haired figure leaning over me. I closed my eyes again. Hmmm…so early in the morning…Itachi? I rolled over, not wanting him to see me without make up on. "Sakura, we're late for school! Get your ass out of bed!" My eyes flew open as I turned around to see a very unhappy Sasuke. His arms were crossed, brow furrowed and I may have imagined it, but one of his eyes seemed to be twitching irately.
I jumped out of the bed and scrambled to my chest of drawers, opening some then closing them, realizing in my rush that I didn't even need anything in them. I pulled out a random bra, running over to where my school uniform was. I lifted my shirt over my head, preparing to put my bra on when I remembered Sasuke was still standing in my room. I quickly pulled my nightdress down, blushing furiously. He had a smug smirk on his face.
"Lacy underwear…nice," he grinned. I marched over to him, but he left before I reached him. I'd strangle him later…
I rushed outside and hopped on the bike. I came prepared this time…I wore shorts underneath my skirt. I hopped on, not bothering to latch the helmet onto my head. I gripped Sasuke's stomach. Flashes from yesterday appeared in my head, and my embrace got tighter, but Sasuke's body was rock hard; he didn't even flinch. My mouth twisted into a dissatisfied frown.
We pulled up to the school and I realized that noone was in the parking lot, which meant noone would stare at us like we had come naked. I guess that was a benefit of skipping first period. I hopped off the bike before it even came to a full stop, and began stomping off to the entrance. Sasuke caught up with me effortlessly, almost gliding at my side as we walked. Well, he was walking while I was working up a sweat jogging, trying to escape him.
"Are you pissed because I saw you half naked?" Sasuke asked in a voice that seemed infinitely too loud. I turned around to glare at him incredulously. How dare he speak of that mortifying event with such nonchalance? The people in front of us turned around to look at us. I flushed with anger and embarrassment, hugging my books to my chest and avoiding eye contact with Sasuke.
"And no," I began after it was obviously too late to answer him. "I'm pissed because you brought me to that ridiculous car show yesterday and that you left me to be with…with…that pig Ino and then you didn't even try to look for me!" I continued, all of my anger rushing and blurring the words together.
"Hey, you're the one who ran off!" he retorted, stopping in the middle of the hall. More people began to stare, looking quickly away when I looked at them. "Plus, it looked like you were having fun with that Gaara kid." He said, mostly under his breath. Even though I was angry with him, and he was angry with me I couldn't help but notice how good he still managed to look. He was one of the few people who could scowl and still pull it off. He looked back at me when I didn't respond, interrupting my ogling. I pursed my lips and continued to walk to class.
"See, you didn't mind me not being there. I'm sure you were having too much fun with Gaara and his engine, am I right?" he kept pressing the issue and it was beginning to irritate me.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I gasped back at him angrily. "Having too much fun…are you implying something?"
"Well, it looked that way to me when you came running over clinging to his arm…"
"I was scared!" I interrupted him, and I surprised myself and Sasuke when my eyes began to well up. I hadn't really thought about it until now; I had been too distracted by Itachi, but it was all coming down on me at once. I could have died. "And you weren't there when I needed you." I whispered, letting one tear escape before I wiped it away angrily and entered the classroom. I had already sat in my seat and told Temari that nothing was wrong by the time Sasuke followed me into the room, his foot touching the linoleum of the classroom floor at exactly the moment the bell rang.
"I was just making sure." Temari continued, pulling her eyes away from the oddly perplexed Uchiha. "You weren't in first period."
"I overslept." I said simply, knowing she wouldn't believe me. My red puffy eyes probably gave that away. Temari simply nodded and turned around. I knew she was getting frustrated with me; we hardly hung out anymore and even when we saw each other at school I rarely talked to her. The same went for everyone else, including Naruto, who I missed as well.
The rest of the day went by slowly and quietly, almost torturously so. Sasuke didn't so much as look at me since our argument this morning, but he was well enough to talk to everyone in the Hawks. It was a lonely lunch with noone I knew or wanted to talk with to talk to. I did catch a couple glimpses thrown my way from my old table. Did they notice my forlorn expression, my stares that just screamed "help me, I'm being held hostage by a douche bag Uchiha who won't let me sit with you because he's got daddy issues and doesn't want to disgrace his family"? If they did, they did nothing about it.
Sasuke dropped me off at my house and as soon as my feet hit the ground he was off, leaving the white helmet on my head. I watched his back all the way until he turned the corner. I took the horrid helmet off my head and threw it into the middle of the road. He deserved to have his helmet run over…I got halfway up my lengthy driveway before I gave a frustrated sigh and retrieved the helmet. I'd need it later anyway, incase Sasuke's maniacal driving drove my head into pavement the one day I didn't have the helmet.
I sat it on the informal dining room table after I walked inside. I ran upstairs, skipping steps. I threw my book bag on the white wicker trunk at the foot of my bed and grabbed my MacBook. I laid down on my stomach, waiting impatiently for the laptop to start up. I had planned on doing some homework early, but when I pulled up Word I hesitated, groaning and rolling over onto my back. Getting an early start on my homework…hah!
Sasuke left so now I couldn't go outside…Tsunade would never allow me to leave the premises alone. Maybe Aizu, my maid would take me somewhere. I got excited for a while and then remembered she was on her day off. Tsunade was on an overnight trip to Hong Kong today, too. So I was technically alone in this house besides Hideki, the butler, but he was in the servant's quarters. My eyes wandered to my bedside table drawer. The cell phone…Itachi!
I opened the drawer and pulled out the silver device, sliding it open. I opened up my contacts and realized there were more contacts then just Itachi's. The Uchiha's household number, every member of the Hawks, including Sasuke's and some names I didn't recognize. Madara, Deidara, Kisame…names that I may or may not have heard before but I definitely could not match faces to them. I ended up opening Itachi's contact information. I was so tempted to press the Talk button but I exited out when I realized he was probably asleep. Itachi wasn't a machine, he had to sleep too, which was probably during the day when he wasn't watching me.
My thoughts were interrupted by the growling of my stomach. I went downstairs, rummaging through the pantry. Nothing. Well, at least nothing I knew how to cook. I checked the freezer for frozen dinners…no frozen dinners but a lot of ice cream. I bent down to scavenger in the freezer's drawers. Satisfied with nothing in them, I grabbed a popsicle and shut the door. I screamed as I realized someone was behind the door, watching me.
Poised to fight with the popsicle in hand, my eyes instinctively closed when the intruder began moving, defeating the purpose of me even trying to fight at all. The popsicle was moved out of my grasp, leaving small ice chips behind.
"This is what you call a dinner?" his deep, honeyed voice said. I opened my eyes, meeting subtle, deep scarlet ones. "And is that what you call a defensive stance?" he continued playfully, but I was still distracted by his eyes.
"Your eyes…" I whispered, my hands instinctively folding into fists, my nails biting into my skin. "They're…red…" I said, unable to look away from them. He blinked, looking slightly confused. I could tell he was feigning unawareness.
"Are you sure? Hm, maybe they're reflecting the red sunset." He said, but I could tell there was a mocking tone to his explanation, almost as if he were answering a silly question a child had asked. Even though I knew this, I nodded, relaxing my muscles unwillingly. He held up the Popsicle, seemingly relieved that I hadn't continued to pressure him about it, but it was still on my mind.
"This isn't healthy for you," he said, his tone almost parental. I frowned.
"I can't cook…it was the only thing I could find that didn't require me to work with an oven or sharp objects. I usually don't do well with cooking…" I trailed off, smiling sheepishly. He shook his head, and returned the Popsicle to its box in the freezer.
"If you want this after dinner you may have it, but I'll make you something that's has actual nutritional value." He told me, walking over to the pantry. "You have tons of stuff in here. What about some Italiano?" He asked me, holding out a yellow box full of pasta. He said 'Italiano' with a perfect accent and it phased me a little; it took me a while before I smiled and nodded, embarrassed that he was having to cook for me but also pleased that he seemed interested in me enough to cook me dinner. This was 3rd date stuff, stuff one person did to impress the other. My daydreams were interrupted by my cruel realistic voice in my head that reminded me that he was here to protect me, and if that meant protecting my stomach from the evil of hunger than he was going to do it.
He began searching for the pots and pans; I at least knew where those were. When I was little I would watch Tsunade cook, forever aspiring to be like her but I just didn't get the cooking thing down. I reached underneath the stove and pulled out a pot, handing it to him.
"Thank you, Sakura." He told me pleasantly and I felt very satisfied with myself, wanting him to thank me more. I reached down and got a sauce pan for the sauce and another pan just in case. He thanked me for it all again, sending waves of pleasure through me. I smiled at him, but he never smiled back, just continuously preoccupied by cooking; by his job.
"I think we have some Prego in the pantry, I'll get it." I said and he shook his head.
"Prego? No, I'm not going to make you eat Prego. Just sit down and let me handle it."
"I'd feel bad though…at least let me help you, Itachi." Just saying his name sent an electrical current from my tongue to my toes. He finally smiled at me, the corner of his eyes crinkling.
"Okay then. Can you get me some cream, butter and salt then?" he asked. I went to the refrigerator to find the requested items, eager as a child. That's what I realized I sometimes felt around him…like a child. Was it because he was so much older than me that his maturity made me look juvenile in comparison?
He turned the stove up to a medium heat, pouring the cream in. I was impatient watching him cook, so my eyes strayed to just watching him. His arms would flex as he stirred or moved the pots around. If it got a little hot, he wiped his brow with his forearm. What mystified me most though, was his concentration. Everything he did was so calculated, so exact. His eyes were intense and focused. He looked up at me and I blushed, immediately looking at the bubbling cream. He took it off the heat and added butter, whisking it before returning it to the heat. Right as he sat the saucepan down, the water in the pot began to boil so he added in the pasta. It clinked the bottom of the pan as it fell in. A few drops came and hit my arm, and I reflexively pulled back, hissing.
"Sakura, are you alright?" Itachi asked, grabbing my wrist and examining my arm. I blushed furiously before removing my arm from his gentle grasp.
"Yes," I stuttered. "It just startled me is all, it didn't even hurt." I assured him.
"I'm sorry." He told me, looking down towards the food again, his brow furrowed.
"It's really okay…" I said again but he didn't even look up. He poured olive oil into the pan I provided and then added garlic powder and oregano, popping a few shrimp in afterwards.
"It's almost ready, so you may sit down if you wish." He told me, and I followed his orders, getting a plate and fork ready so he wouldn't have to find it himself. I sat down at the table, facing him. I realized I should have done this before…one, he couldn't see my brash staring when he couldn't see me and second, he was as good looking going as he was coming.
He turned around and I determinedly kept my eyes focused on the plate in his hand. The pasta was covered with his homemade alfredo sauce and sautéed shrimp. Needless to say, I was impressed and gawking. He set it down in front of me, and then pulled the chair out next to me, placing his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his fist, watching me intently.
I took the fork and speared a shrimp, then I delicately wound a strand of alfredo saturated noodle around it. I slid it in my mouth, trying to look as mannered as possible for my staring guest. He smiled lazily as he saw my eyes light up and my spine go straight.
"Oh my god." I mumbled as I covered my mouth, not wanting him to see the food in my mouth as I talked and chewed. "It's so good…" I continued, smiling. He shrugged.
"I learned it myself. Just follow the recipes, it's not hard." He stood up and crossed the floor to begin cleaning the dishes. As soon as he turned the water on I started my coughing and sputtering, trying to rid the taste of scalded, spoiled milk and raw fish out of my mouth. I shuttered; it was the most god awful thing I think I'd ever tasted. I stared, disheartened, at the rest of the pasta on my plate which seemed like the biggest plate of pasta ever now. I didn't want to be rude, so I downed a bit of water and continued eating.
Itachi was many things…beautiful, intelligent, graceful…but cook was definitely not one of them.
...Sorry hahhahaha it's been awhile...it's summer, and i'm constantly bored so i thought this would be a great thing to pick up again. I actually story boarded the rest of this story! I never do that! There are definitely some interesting things ahead (: Expect longer chapters and better writing now that I actually know where I'm going with this story. I'm so excited so I hope you guys like it...and hopefully my writing has steadily improved! Anyway, half of the next chapter is already written so expect that soon. This story shouldn't be that long, it's mostly straight forward and mostly...happy haha but we'll see. R&R muah muah