Chapter9 Recall:
It's official – He enrolled into Kizuna Uni, and was welcomed by several old faces with slightly altered personalities and roles in society (not that he was complaining; that was a much needed change to being constantly surrounded by highly sought after criminals). As a very sensitive and emotional man, he reflected his current phase of life versus what it used to be.
Chapter10 – There's No Turning Back (But to Keep Moving)
"Sasuke…?"
"Nii-san? What are you doing here?" Wrong, this is not the same Sasuke, not my little brother…
"Sorry, you got the wrong person." Itachi informed regrettably. Wait, what am I saying? Wasn't this the real reason I wanted to enrol in Kizuna Uni? Instead of backing off in awkwardness for his blunder, Sasuke released a short laugh and did an akimbo with his right arm.
"Are you teasing me? You came to fetch me right?" Wait, he doesn't know I'm not the singer, but an imposter who swore to protect him but ended up causing him more pain than anyone.
"I'm hungry. Let's go grab something to eat before you leave for work,Nii-san." He walked on, dragging him by his arm that broke him out of his stupor. It's that trusting smile; he knew I can never turn that down.
"Hn." Well, it can't hurt if it was for just a day, right?
Things turned out a certain way for a reason, was the first coherent thought that came to Itachi the moment he welcomed his eyes to the darkness of her room. That was the thought that kept him moving as he peeled himself off the sleeping bag to prepare for his second day in the University.
"See you at home, Itachi." He could barely make out her words from the clamorous crowd in the bus, if not for his ability to lip-read.
"Tonight is the day of the concert yea?" She pointed to her ears and shook her hand; the earlier bus had broken down, resulting in double the crowd and triple discomfort. Itachi bent down to speak into her ear.
"Will you be okay going to the concert alone?" Sakura shivered at the ticklish sensation and heat radiated from his proximity to her body and when she twisted her head to look at him, their faces were mere inches away. His eyes were watching hers in earnest; his pupils were like depthless murky pools of mystery that she could stare into the whole day and willingly get lost in them. She knew she was taking too long to answer when he raised his brows inquisitively. Rapidly blinking her eyes and looking away, she quickly nodded, suddenly coy. Attending Kanae's concert solo had always been her tradition, but it felt nice to be expressed concern over her safety.
"Alright, see you, Sakura." When Itachi finally leaned away, she immediately found herself yielding for the closeness. Why does the school have to be so close to home?
With the intention of keeping their relationship under wraps, the moment they alighted at the school's bus stop, they duly reverted into strangers. Still, she could not help peeking over her shoulder longingly at his retreating back, longing for a wave from him.
Her guess was that she was simply too used to his standard greetings and farewells, and a missed farewell felt like they just had a fervent argument, to which she was the one in the wrong and he was ignoring her as a punishment. However, she would not mind a furtive backward glance or a small wave, just to assure her that he cared.
Sighing in despair at her contradicting thoughts, she headed listlessly towards her classroom. Ino, who was waiting eagerly for her arrival, scurried to the doorway to escort her uncharacteristically torpid friend to her seat.
"The good news just keeps on rolling in; you are not going to believe this, Sakura. Sakura?"
"Good morning Ino and Hinata…" A concerned Hinata wanted to ask her what was wrong but Ino stopped her.
"Listen; remember the hot nerd I told you about at your house? I just heard from one of my seniors from cheerleading that he's studying in Kizuna U now! Do you know what that means?"
"O-Oh Ino, are you referring to the new student who looks like the local singer?" Ino whipped her head to a blushing Hinata.
"What?! You heard of that news too?"
"Y-Yea. Neji-nii san was telling me about it over yesterday's dinner gathering. Initially everyone thought that Kanae Itachi went back to continue his studies," Hinata supplied. Ino gazed at her with unadulterated admiration, pleased by Hinata's hidden ability to gossip hunt.
"You heard that, Sakura? Hinata can vouch for the credibility of my news. Now go ahead and beg us to take you to their cafeteria for lunch, you know we won't mind," Ino crossed her arms and nodded away like an understanding parent.
"The cafeteria is huge; plus our lunch break might not reconcile," Sakura prodded an arm on the table, not particularly keen with the idea of spying on someone whom she had made a pact with to remain strangers in school, despite how much she wanted to see him now.
Besides, it would really hurt should they come into contact and he delivered her a cold shoulder; she had no qualms at how cold he could get and even uncertain what that would do to her mood for the rest of the day.
"Come on, what's with your level of enthusiasm? This is someone who resembles your favourite man we are talking about! Someone much more attainable and still fulfil your dream!" Sakura had to subdue her scoff of disbelief at how wrong Ino was.
"They may appear similar, have similar names, but that's really it eh? I bet he can't even sing, much less play a guitar!" Sakura tried, speaking with so much conviction that caused the girls to widen their eyes in astonishment.
"W-Wow, how do you know that for sure? And what do you mean they have 'similar names'? You mean the new guy's also called Itachi?! How did you know that?" If Ino was able to control her delirium, she would make a fine Sherlock Holmes, pinpointing and analysing every word that came out of her subject's mouth with those sharp ears. If Ino was that alert, she would already have assailed her to fess up the truth and not granted her a chance to explain herself.
"Didn't Hinata just mention it?" When Hinata shook her head in befuddlement, Sakura felt she was caught with her skirt stuck in her underwear.
"O-Oh, along the way there were two girls discussing and I happened to overhear their conversation."
"Is that why you seemed so unimpressed because you already heard the news? But think about it this way – this is a guy who's studying in our future school and possibly living in your block," Ino paused to direct a finger at Hinata signalling she would elaborate more later, "Who's not some superstar but just a normal guy; he's like a dream bag who suddenly fell from the sky!" If Sakura did not know better, she would have thought Ino was testing her out with her near description of the actual scenario of Itachi's arrival.
"Trust me, Ino; after hearing everything, he's definitely anything but normal."
Itachi? Normal? Oh please. They hadn't had the chance to meet Itachi the clone, who happened to possess a different personality from the original; and apparently, that was normal.
Sakura was floored by her situation; one moment she recalled being engaged in a quibble with the girls, and the next she found herself treading along the Uni's cafeteria grounds, her eyes automatically occupied with scouting for a black ponytail.
Ino went to secure the girls a seat while the rest proceeded to order their lunch. Part of her hoped that she could find Itachi before he spotted her so she could locate a strategic spot to spy on him.
Even though this was not her first time here, she felt oddly intrusive, like a middle school girl giving a shot at using the staff's washroom without being caught.
She was eventually caught, no thanks to the girl who had always been jealous of her being the teacher's pet and went to tip off her.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" A male voice called out behind her, causing her to jump out of her skin.
"EEEK! Sorry sorry I didn't mean to…"
"Didn't mean to what?" When she spun around and realised it was Sasori, it brought about a wave of relief as she discreetly wiped off the imaginary sweat across her forehead. Turned out the middle school girl had a really sweet best friend, and her staunch friend just took the rap for her unauthorised access into the darn washroom.
"Nothing and I'm here for lunch obviously! What about you, I'm surprised you're still in school!" She was taken aback by her splurge of courage to challenge him, given his tendency to take jokes over-seriously.
"You came here with that boy?" Choosing to ignore her provocation to his inclination of skipping classes, he had subtly shifted the topic back to her, curiously scanning the crowd for the boy in question. Sakura felt herself instinctively ducking her head, both in embarrassment and fear of being spotted by Itachi by chance.
"N-No, my friends wanted to come here, so I just tagged along," Sakura replied, with the distinct impression that she was trying to convince herself of what she just said.
"You guys not friends anymore? He broke up with you?" Now she was seriously discombobulated; Sasori was not one you would describe as a social butterfly, but one known fact about him was his avid disinterest in other people's life, much less being caught gossiping about it.
She was so thrown off ground that she did not bother rectifying his speculation (where he was not too far off the mark about them not being friends anymore, and let's not even bother with the second point). Her brows were pinched in concern by his sudden abnormal behaviour. Switching on her medic mode, she rested the back of her palm against his cool forehead, checking for fever. Unwonted to bodily contact, especially with a female, he jerked back in mortification, twisting his head away to mask the rising blush he was unable to control.
This was the first time she witnessed Sasori being genuinely embarrassed, and it amused the hell out of her as she broke down in cachinnation. This was a better payback than she would have imagined, and it was not even intentional!
"Oh my Sasori-san, you are so cute! Despite how unemotional you always try to appear, you know you failed big time here."
"D-Don't do that again." If he was attempting to sound menacing, it was definitely not working; Sakura just continued laughing louder.
"But don't worry, this shall be our dirty little secret," Sakura declared in a hush tone, reinforced with a finger to her upturned lips. She tried poking him in his face for the glee of it, but being caught once, his reflexes improved and he assertively pushed her fingers away. Even the act of touching her finger was causing his face to flush.
"Sakura…" The saying 'There's two sides to everything' could not have been more true, Sakura reflected as she shook her head in amusement, mechanically ordering the same dishes from the Western store for Ino and herself. Speaking of which, why was she always gravitating to this one store despite the myriad of choices available?
Upon reaching their table, Ino once again chided her for her sluggishness but her displeasure was quickly forgotten as she drilled her about her little flirting session with Sasori.
"Don't think I didn't see that, you naughty little! Did you know him for a long time?" There was no stopping Ino when it came to gossiping and the sensitive topic of romance; not even an empty stomach and the waft of grilled salmon could distract her.
"Y-Yea, a few years." She admitted meekly as she flipped back to look for Sasori and caught his impish eyes on hers.
"What's his name?"
"Sasori; he's from the Sand too," She added meaningfully, to which Ino shrewdly refrained from entertaining that particular remark.
"Tell us how you met him!" Ino hurried as she ushered Hinata to join in the conversation.
"It's going to take some time…"
"Oh please, we've got all day!" As Hinata quietly slided in beside Ino, Sakura mentally prepped herself as she began to dig into a long suppressed memory from all those years ago – from the day where she was robbed of her family.
"I'm going to begin from when my parents were still around." She began gravely. Sensing this was not a simple 'babe you look hot, wanna hang out?' type of encounter, Ino promptly cooled down and put on a serious face.
Five years ago, where Sakura was just a gaiety star-struck middle school girl (she was still star-struck, but over the years she had mastered the art of toning her squeals down), living happily with her parents in the suburbs (the one next to Deidara). As the only child, she was treated as a precious jewel, serenaded with unconditional love and attention from her parents.
Though she might not always see eye to eye with her Mother with regards to hanging out with the boy next door or the appropriate length of her school skirt (she insisted hers was too long and wanted it altered shorter; her Mother thought it was not enough to just cover her knee caps), and though she loathed having to give up her favourite television programme every night during six thirty so her Father could watch the news (her Father said she would grow up to appreciate the daily news report, but sadly that day had yet to come) they were still very much her favourite persons on the round green Earth.
They made her smile.
Her idolising streak came from a coincidental stumble upon an open field; one fine afternoon she had to stay back to serve her detention for skipping classes with Deidara and by the time they were done, it was well into the evening. They decided to head to a nearby café to have their dinner (after a heated phone call with her Mother to pacify her that they would not do anything 'funny' and to head home immediately after dinner). However, halfway through their meal, Deidara had to leave early, and left her alone with her plate of lasagne that suddenly did not create sparks in her mouth.
Smacking her utensils down, she abandoned her half-eaten food and the half-ass café (it was five-star until someone had to abandon her) in a puff. She exited via the backdoor to prevent the doorman from giving her the pitiful eye while vowing never to have dinner (or any meals) with him again. Which decent guy would leave their date halfway through a date? (Granted, it was not much of a date date since she could not like Deidara that way, but still.)
After delivering a painful kick to the metal backdoor, Sakura looked up and noticed a modest crowd gathered a few hundred meters across the open field beside the cafe. There were a considerable cluster of girls and the only way to satisfy her curiosity was to drift towards them.
There was a figure singing on a make-shift stage and from the slender silhouette and long hair; she would have assumed that was a lady if not for his cavernous voice. When she neared the back of the crowd, she felt her jaw slackened and eyes that suddenly refused to blink, for not wanting to miss any part of the pretty guy's performance.
She had never met any guy who could pull off long hair better than Deidara.
She drank in all of him – his sonorous melancholy voice, his half-close eyes and the sensual way he was gripping onto the microphone on the stand; it was all very intense. Some people fell in love because of a compatible personality, some for the deceiving outer carapace and some others, a little bit of both.
Sakura fell in love with his sterling voice.
"Umm, excuse me… Who is that?" Sakura then was an extremely shy girl, but for the beautiful being pouring out his soul on stage, she broke out of her shell (and her Mother's strict rule of no speaking to strangers) and asked the girl in front.
"Who's that? Only the sexiest, most talented and wanted singer of Konoha, Kanae Itachi!"
"Oh the pride of being a Konoha citizen…" The girl's companion sighed in bliss, and they were once again being lured away by Itachi's singing, Sakura already forgotten.
Ka-na-e I-ta-chi, what a nice name.
After some earnest research (there were sadly limited amount of information about him), she got wind of the date of his first official solo gig in Konoha – one she was determined to be part of.
"No?"
"Yes, Sakura. No, you can't attend whatever-his-name-is's concert. Who's that anyway?"
"Only the most amazing and amazingly talent man you've ever met!"
"Oh, you mean your Father?" Sakura could seriously die of exasperation then. The clock was ticking, the days were getting shorter; his concert was looming closer than ever. She needed a sure-win plan, and fast.
The next day after school, instead of heading home, she hopped onto a bus, one that led her to her Father's office. She trotted timidly past the stiff security guards towards the pretty receptionist, who greeted her as though she was one of their staffs, and not a kid who had her school's address mixed up.
Emboldened by her comforting smile, she proceeded to beg to meet his Father, who in turned was begged to beg her Mother to allow her to attend Itachi's concert.
"Why me?" The last thing her Father wanted was to be dragged into women's petty bickers.
"Because you are her favourite man!" Women tended to associate men's massive ego as something undesirable, but that was because they have no idea how to turn it into their advantage.
The concert soon welcomed Sakura to the first row seats with open arms.
The first begging worked, so did the second. However, third time was not so lucky for Sakura. She had to overhear the conversation that was never meant to exist.
"Dear, she really wants to go, just once more, hmm?" He could never have enough of her daughter's glib tongue and revelation of his wife's thoughts about him – one the pleased him to no ends.
"That was what you told me two times back. The only reason I even gave in, was I assumed it was just a case of a silly teenage girl obsession that would soon go away. Obsessions should not be fed but quelled ASAP," Her Mother insisted vehemently.
"Look Dear…"
"Kizashi… Do you even have an idea how much those things cost?" Sakura had enough.
"Mum! You keep saying things like that because you will have no idea how amazing and amazingly talented he is, until you see his concerts!" Sakura stormed into the kitchen, eager to win no matter the cost.
"Oh, for goodness sake…"
"Once, just come to his concert once, and if you do not like what you hear, I promise I'll stop going to his concerts," Sakura offered as an ultimatum without an ounce of hesitation. Waging his future gigs was no impulsive act; it just proved how much faith she had in his voice.
"I can't believe I'm going to attend a high school drop out's concert with my daughter," Haruno Mebuki lamented over the cab trip to the concert arena. Sakura chose to ignore her whines as she pinned her eyes to their nearing destination.
"We're here, we're here!" Mebuki's complaint was cut short as she glanced around confusingly through the cab's window.
"Sakura, are you sure you've got the right address? This is the frigging forest."
"That's right, it's set at a large clearing a few hundred meters ahead. This was where his inspiration came from, so naturally he wanted this concert to be in the nature!"
After the fantastic concert, with her Mother grudgingly admitting so, Kizashi arrived to pick them up for dinner (it was a day concert).
"Half the drive I was wondering should I call Sakura to double-check the address!" Her Father quipped as Mebuki shook her head in resignation.
"Tell me something I don't know."
On their way back to the car after dinner, Sakura realised she had left Itachi's poster on the dining table's spare chair, and told them to go ahead while she scampered back to retrieve her favourite man.
On her way out towards the car, she saw her Mother's head peeking anxiously through the window, presumably looking for her and Sakura cheerfully directed a wave at her.
Sakura would never forget the brightness of the light that followed after her wave; it was like a camera flash, but a hundred times brighter. There was no chance for her brain to make out the source of the light, as it was immediately followed by a thunderous explosion, one with so much impact that caused everyone present at scene to cower in fear and nearby passers-by to fall back in bewilderment.
Sakura was still grinning, before the residual impact of the explosion got her and she landed on her butt, slightly knocking the air out of her small lungs. There she sat, on the dirty paved corridor, watching in blank fascination as her Father's car was consumed by the relentless licking flames. She thought she saw her Mother's hand waving back at her, telling her goodbye instead to hurry up.
Boy, how she yearned to feel those very hands that were the cause of the red marks on her skin.
"Mother…?"
"Someone call the ambulance!"
"They're on their way! Anybody hurt?" Sakura wanted to ask the yelling man whether her parents were considered hurt, but she could not find her voice.
"I-I think there were people in the car!"
"It's no use; the fire's too fierce to get close."
From where she was seated, the chameleon of flames was reminiscent of her school's yearly campfire. For one, they both happened during the dark.
"Quick, we need all the extinguishers we can grab from the supermarket!" Both also felt extremely warm and comforting, though this felt slightly off despite the similar sensation.
"Unlock the hose, quick!" She thought she could taste something funny, but she was unsure.
When the ambulance finally arrived fifteen minutes later, there was another contained explosion, and the firemen that had landed from the fire engine parked behind the emergency vehicle methodically jogged towards the raging inferno, and proceeded to extinguish the persistent fire taunting the disfigured car.
"Father…?" Just then, a female medic squatted in front of her, and placed her warm hands on her small and shaking shoulders. Sakura found a set of dark goldenrod orbs frowning at her addled face.
"Are you the daughter of the victims in the car? Are you alright?" She wanted to answer yes, but the bitter taste on her tongue would not leave her in peace.
"Don't worry; we've got the place covered. You just wait here for a while before we send you to the hospital okay?" Before she could nod, the lady patted on her shoulders in assurance and had already moved on to the next dazed passer-by.
Not an instance later, she felt someone pulling her up by her arms, and she found herself twisted around into a warm cuddle of a stranger. Her rational side was telling her to fight out of his grip, to not interact with strangers, especially one who just hugged you in the middle of a crisis. However, she found no strength to push away, and she realised that for once, she did not care.
"You can cry; nobody is going to say you are a cry baby." She felt herself slacking against the thin frame of the boy; felt his chin rested on top of her soot covered hair before stream after streams of tears began rolling down her dusty face.
The mysterious boy accompanied Sakura on the trip to the hospital in one of the ambulances – the one without her parent's body. At the hospital, they sat in daze on the cold plastic chairs, ignorant and deaf to the sense of urgencies along the pristine walkway and muffled talking from the television broadcast.
"…Unfortunately, there were two reported victims to this tragic incident. The police have labelled this case as unnatural death, and have already begun looking into the persons responsible for what was most likely related to a terrorist bombing," Came the mechanical voice of the female broadcaster.
Sakura thought she heard someone talking to her, and when she tried to focus, she realised it was the female medic from before. The words on her metal nametag spelt 'Tsunade.' Tsunade nodded to the boy, in gratitude for his presence before turning and bending down in front of Sakura.
"Hey, your name is Sakura right? Can I call you Sakura-chan?" She numbly nodded before Tsunade continued.
"Oh, Sakura-chan… I don't know a better way to say this, but your parents have just passed away. But I need you to know that you are not alone in this, okay? You have to be strong, for your parent's sake, and yourself," Tsunade said softly, before securing her in a gentle hug, afraid that she might shatter into a million pieces if she was not careful.
"What…?" Before the scream she had been holding could find its way out of her dry throat, she felt a determined grip on her right palm. She slowly turned towards him, the beautiful looking boy with geranium red hair who had appeared out of nowhere to accompany her.
"Your Father and Mother aren't dead; they just went to a better place." He told her with a serious yet soft tone, and Sakura felt the tears welled up behind her eyes.
"H-How do you k-know that?"
"Because mine has too, and they just called to say 'Hi, Sakura's papa and mama are with them.'" At his revelation, she felt the bitter taste lifted from her tongue.
"Funny, the bitter taste in my mouth is suddenly gone."
"I know, because I made them away." He had once tasted it many years ago, but back then there was no one to take it away. Over time, it just diluted and sat on his tongue, forever a part of him.
One was enough; there was no need for two innocent kids to experience the bitter taste of death, not as long as Sasori could help it.
Luckily for the girls, it was Geography after lunch break, and they were able to make up for their tardiness with Kakashi's even later arrival.
"Oh, wait; did anyone see that Itachi dude just now?" Ino suddenly asked after they were back at their desks.
"I-I don't think so…" Ino turned to Sakura, but she merely shrugged.
"We can look for him some other day; I doubt he'll be leaving any time soon," Sakura replied dryly.
After returning from his lunch break, Itachi whipped out the time-table from his pocket to check for his next class. Konan chanced upon that and called him out.
"Itachi-san, you know our school has an app for that."
"What's an 'app'? Itachi enquired innocently, and for a moment Konan was under the impression that this was one of his rural jokes again. But then, he was from the rural.
"Oh that's right, you do not own a phone," She sighed softly to herself, before pointing to the corner of his desk, "You see that black panel? It's an embedded touch-screen mini tablet for students to access the internet and school related information, like our time-table," Konan explained as Itachi was staring a hole into the peculiar device. He thought it resembled the flat panel in Sakura's living room. Konan peeled herself off her chair and headed over to his side.
"Here, to activate the tablet you need to press this button…" As Konan began the intricate process of explaining the complicated technology of the modern era, Itachi found himself tempted to activate his Sharingan just to speed up his learning. Never once would he have fathomed that he needed to conceal something as well-known and immanent as his heritage to the world.
"You tap over here to bring up your time-table… That's right," Konan instructed, and Itachi hastily stuffed that knowledge to the back of his mind.
"Oh, you have Taijutsu class now; is that your area of expertise?"
"I guess you can say that." Though to be honest, he was more of a genjutsu person than hand-to-hand combat. Not that he could admit that to her, of course.
"Wow, I can't tell. Anyway, do you how to get there?" Konan asked, referring to the open field at Kizuna High. Itachi groped around his pocket and fished out another neatly folded piece of paper.
"I have the map, I think I can manage."
"A-Alright, see ya, I-Itachi-san." She had to turn away to avoid Itachi seeing her stifled laughter to risk hurting his feelings; but really, who kept the physical map of the school around them these days?
Upon close scrutiny of the map, he quickly determined the shortest way to the field – cutting through the classroom blocks. However, he would prefer a route with lower human traffic, which led him to opting to circumvent the blocks and enter through the field's side gate, a slightly longer way. When he was finally there, he quickly located the washroom by the side of the sitting area.
After wriggling out of the stiff uniform (with relief), he swiftly replaced the P.E attire which consisted of a white cotton tee with blue bands around the round collar and sleeve ends, and navy blue bermudas.
While he was replacing his spectacles on his way out, he was rammed on his shoulders by a guy running in his direction, nearly knocking the glasses out of him. Looking through the glasses, he wondered for a moment if he was watching through the wrong lenses, or if the glasses were causing him to hallucinate.
"S-Sasuke?"
"N-Nii?!" There was no mistaking the spiky raven hair and those piercing eyes that momentarily softened upon making eye contact with Itachi, but it was quickly replaced with coldness and a sharp clear of throat.
"S-Sorry, I thought you were someone I know," Sasuke hastily composed himself and rearranged his facial expression to one of nonchalance with a hint of grumpiness.
"… It's alright." Itachi's eyes lingered on Sasuke's retreating back with pensive eyes, but he instantly replaced on his blank expression when he saw another figure approaching – one that resembled his ex-mentor.
With each passing day, it was proving more challenging to discern reality from illusion; all these spot-the-differences were putting a toll on Itachi's sanity. He surmised that if this went on, he might have to check himself into Konoha Hospital for a week of mind-cooling and reality-checking.
"Good afternoon, minna-san. Before we commence our training, let me introduce a new member – his name is… Why not you tell them?" Gently prompting him with a slap on his shoulder, he took a firm step forward.
"Hai, my name is Uchiha Itachi, nice to meet you." Itachi said with a humble bow before staring intently at the guy who was a duplicate of Sasuke, who appeared to be evading Itachi. A murmur over his sudden presence broke out and he was able to catch snippets of it.
"That's strange, we only accept new members through try-outs…"
"This is so sudden…"
"Is he good enough?"
"Enough! Itachi over here was personally recommended to me by our Secretary Officer, and by questioning Itachi it is as good as questioning your superior," Kakashi chastised with a glare across the surly members.
"By Minato-sensei?!"
"But Kakashi-sensei, this has never happened before, and we have a reputation to uphold…" Kakashi released an audible sigh, wishing for once he had a set of persuasive tongue and a heart to convince his pupils. This was nothing new though, and he always believed action realm over words, anyway. He decided to let Itachi to prove his worth.
"Sasuke! I want you to spar with Itachi." His order startled Sasuke, and he arched his brows into an uncomfortable frown as he turned to stare at his disturbingly familiar-looking opponent.
"S-Sasuke?! Isn't that a bit too harsh for the new guy?" Kakashi ignored that comment and gestured for everyone to step back. He crossed his arms and waited patiently as both parties stepped in front of one another in the makeshift semi-ring.
"M-My name is Kanae Sasuke. Don't think I'll be going easy on you because you are new…" Itachi mentally scoffed at his belligerent words, unimpressed but amused. You still talk big as usual.
"I don't expect you to go soft on me too, my little brother." Sasuke thought he heard the word 'brother,' but his thoughts were destructed as he eyed an oncoming frontal punch from Itachi. He deftly dodged to his right, and quickly blocked his next kick with his right forearm. Bending down, he delivered an upper-sky kick to Itachi's guts, but it was immediately deflected as Itachi grabbed his suspended leg, pulling him up and hurled him across the grass patch.
To break his fall, Sasuke shot out his stronger arm to stop the hurl, and charged forward. They were quickly interlocked in a superhuman speed of fists and kicks, darting and sidestepping hits at the very last instance before any real damages were dealt. Nobody was holding back; every kicks and punches were packed with the intent to hurt.
"Take that!" After narrowing avoiding Itachi's spinning heel kick, Sasuke took advantage of his current crouching position and did a drop roundhouse kick. Itachi anticipated that move and leapt into the air. Smirking, Sasuke shifted his weights onto both hands and summoned his spinning heel kick, sending Itachi flying. The jerking action caused Itachi's glasses to slip off and it landed unceremoniously by the side along with Itachi.
Half the fight for Itachi was really to resist from utilising his chakra and to focus on delivering pure brute strength. He could not count the number of instances he had to control his instinct to summon a shadow or crow clone to substitute with him, but eventually he got used to the fact that his opponent was no ninja. He simply needed to hypnotise himself into believing that his chakra channel was blocked and absorbed those suddenly inevitable hits in stride.
It was much easier to cast a genjutsu on others than on himself, he thought sadly.
"Not bad, Sasuke," Itachi called. Sasuke's eyes widen at the unprecedented sight of Itachi's bare face, before Itachi's body seemingly vanished into the warm afternoon air and resurfaced in front of Sasuke, who had just climbed up and once again found himself on all fours after an agile kick to his guts. There were collective murmurings and gasps at the sight of a defeated Sasuke, as Itachi walked towards Sasuke, assumedly to deliver his final move.
"He's good."
"Alright, that's enough. I think that was sufficient to prove his worth, so everyone should stop with the whisperings," Kakashi reprimanded as he ordered everyone to form pairs and commenced with their warm-ups and usual rounds around the field.
Sasuke took in the extended hand from Itachi and smirking to himself, grabbed onto it.
"You make a good fight," Itachi praised as he took the chance to take him in.
"I must say I'm surprised; where did you learn your kicks from?" Sasuke commented between coughs.
"Some were taught to me by my Father, but mostly I picked them out along the way by myself." Sasuke pondered upon his words, but his thoughts were once again interrupted by Itachi.
"You said you mistook me for someone else; is that somebody you are close with?" He tried to sound causal and non-imposing as he surveyed the field and the members of the Taijutsu team, many of whom were still gaping openly at him.
"Ah… That was my bad. It's just, you remind me of my older brother," He admitted bashfully, with hands shoved into his pocket while kicking absently at the grasses.
"What are you two standing there for? We're beginning the running without you!" Kakashi shouted across the field.
"Coming!" Itachi and Sasuke yelled back in unison; and this thus became the first conversation between the brothers across the Universe.
The whole afternoon at the hospital had been hectic; there was a fatal chain reaction of car crash on the expressway and within minutes from the accident, a barrage of victims with varying degree of injuries were pushed through the grand entrance. Tsunade was immediately summoned to lead a team for operations, and Sakura was appointed as her fourth assistant, with Shizune the first assistant guiding her.
"Pass me the scalpel." That was the cue to the beginning of the war with the grim reapers. When they thought they were done with one, one of the patients on the adjoining bed would cough out blood and be discovered to suffer from serious internal haemorrhage, or another one be diagnosed with a punctured lung – it was all very harrowing to experience.
After Sakura's third operation in a row, she was granted a ten-minute break to compensate for her missed dinner, only to be called back into the operating theatre by her mentor to prepare for a coronary artery bypass surgery – aka a major operation that would take at least three hours, consisting of lots of forehead wiping (of Tsunade) and equipment sanitising (for Tsunade).
When all victims were treated and cared for, consoled and pacified, assigned to their respective wards and discharged as per requested, it was Itachi's impending concert that fuelled her prostrated muscles and weary soul, propelling her to keep moving and stop whining. Really, idolisation was not much of a dreadful thing when you knew how to incorporate that as part of a healthy lifestyle movement. Just the mere imagery of Itachi's shirtless body and eyes closed in sheer pleasure of vocal expression could send her body into sexual overdrive (alright, maybe that was an exaggeration) and transformed her downturned mouth into a hundred watt smile at even the most churlish and unreasonable patients and staffs she passed by.
That said; it was still a relief to be relieved of her duties two hours earlier after acquiring special permission from her mentor. She knew despite Tsunade's tough carapace, she was very sensitive to Sakura's welfare and happiness, and that included to not depriving her of a two deserved hours of light stick waving and shrieking her hearts out along with hundred over teenagers and housewives.
However, she was still slightly behind time and had to cab her way to Konoha's Indoor Stadium for fear of missing out of his prefatory performance.
Before the cab came to a complete stop, she handled over two sheets of tens and told the driver to keep the change (so much for frugal lifestyle, but anything for her idol!) and bounded out of the vehicle before he could even utter 'thanks…?'
Even after dashing and coercing her way through the assemblage of overprotective parents and overzealous concert goers, she was greeted by an agonising long queue by the entry gate. Not wanting to be any further behind line, she whisked ahead of a rambunctious group of girls to join the queue, inadvertently knocking to the person in front.
"Oops, sorry…" He held an uncanny resemblance to Sasuke, with all the hair products and slightly slouching posture…
"Sakura? What are you doing here?"
"SASUKE-KUN? No, what are you doing here?" Sakura rubbed her eyes just to be sure (even though it made her vision even more blurry) – the ever-spiky raven hair; semi-permanent frown and complete disinterest of his surroundings (until you bumped into him from the back with considerable force), yes that was Sasuke alright.
"I-I'm queueing, isn't that obvious?" Sasuke supplied rather helpfully, presumably buying time to cook up a favourable excuse for himself.
"Right, I can totally see that for myself. I mean it Sasuke-kun, you do know this ain't a wrestling match right? Surely you could surmise as much from the selective crowd here," Sakura remarked as she gestured to their surroundings.
"Right… And why are you wearing a nurse outfit?" Once again, he eluded her first-grade level question, choosing to bring the attention to her. Sakura furrowed her brows in bafflement, about to upbraid him for his lame attempt at diversion when she glanced down and nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Oh shoot! I forgot to change before I come!"
"…Seriously? Are you that obsessed with my brother that you lost awareness of yourself?" Sasuke asked with an incredulous brow raised, as his eyes lingered on her shorter than usual skirt. If not for the overwhelming mortification she was experiencing now, she would have been flattered by his rare and unwonted heed to her apparels (or her in general).
"I-I was rushing for time; it's not like I have the whole day to sit around counting down to his concert…" She retaliated, not that pleased with his insinuation of her bordering unhealthy obsession over his brother…
"Wait, you actually came to attend your brother's concert…" Realising that Sakura finally caught onto the purpose of his presence, he made a start to deny his way through but was cut off by her.
"No, why are you in the queue? Don't family members get VIP passes and enter from the backdoor…" Sasuke cursed softly under his breath when he reached the ineluctable stage of admission – both the physical flashing of his ticket and verbal declaration of his plaintive plight. Sakura snapped her fingers in understanding.
"Ah-ha! Itachi doesn't know you're coming, because you turned down his invitation! Am I right Sasuke-kun?"
"Next! Your ticket, please Ms Nurse." Saved by the cheeky bouncer, Sasuke waved a 'so long!' and snaked along beyond the curtains before Sakura could squeeze any more information out of him. That sneaky dude.
Guided by the directives plastered along the walls, she unwittingly took charge and led an entourage of lost audience who purchased the same CAT as her down the gentle flight of steps… And winded up next to sneaky Sasuke.
"You!" They chorused, before indulging in an amicable moment of ludicrous laughing as Sakura plonked next to him.
"The guilty never gets away…"
"I was ushered on; said I was 'obstructing the traffic,'" Sasuke inveigled shamelessly, and she did not bother to point out the ratio of the generous width of the entrance to his lean (small) frame.
As the stadium descended into a momentary darkness, the diehard fans at the free-standing zone emitted a momentous shush towards all directions. Fortuitously, the people in the seats voiced solidarity and dutifully spread forth the shhs and tsks to any remaining rowdy groups around them.
Over the excessive choir of onomatopoeia, Sakura could feel and heard the persistent grumbling of her stomach, and by the look on Sasuke's, so did him. Sasuke sighed and offered her his home-made bento, which turned out to be decorative rice balls in the shape of cats. Sakura gave him a puckish grin, before silently slipping the bento from his gasp.
"Don't ask." She slyly nodded and accepted his cute peace-offering in merriment. To be honest, this was simply a dream come true – to be graced by the presence of two of her favourite men; as one performed his beautiful pieces the other was tucked next to her with nothing but an armrest separating them.
Since that impromptu date, there were no opportunities to get closer to him (excluding the 'man-made' ones, like Ino's suggestion of stealing his phone and later 'discovering' it by the foot of his chair and returning it to him) and needless to mention, there were simply zero effort on his part. Right now, she could finally understand why people committed all these fatuous acts that risked soiling their name, just to catch the other party's attention, all in the name of love.
During the concert, she kept sneaking furtive side-glances to gauge his reaction, but mostly to amuse herself over his overt adoration to his brother; his attention was completely sealed on the stage! This was the first time she witnessed the bashful and innocent side of Sasuke. The foul-tempered and unfeeling guy finally took a vacation and brought out the real Sasuke beneath the layers of walls he had erected over the years.
It was an assuring sight for her, and was once again in awe of Kanae Itachi's rein over people from all walks of life.
"His ballads are really amazing…" Sakura breathed out after he disappeared under the stage via a built-in platform to switch attire and prepare for his next masterpiece.
"Yea…" This was also her first time to see him comply and readily respond to her remarks; it was slightly unnerving. She decided there was no better time to do what was needed than now, while it was dark and Sasuke was in a good mood.
"S-Sasuke-kun?"
"Yea?" He answered distractedly. She had to raise her voice over the choir of encores to be heard by a bedazzled Sasuke.
"You are also an amazing person; probably one of the most amazing people I've met for a long time."
"Yea… Wait, did you say me?" Sasuke slowly turned his head to look at her with disconcerted eyes.
"I've wanted to tell you this since long ago…" Sasuke was still not catching the drift of the conversation, and continued to inspect her, nodding his head to speed her up.
"Sasuke-kun, I like you." Her timely confession was proceeded by shrills of uncontrolled cheers from the audiences, immediately dying down upon the play of a mellifluous piano piece by Itachi.
"Your voice, smell and presence; I've noticed them with acquiescence."
"Sakura… Why me?" His voice was laced with million specks of doubts, and suddenly she felt Itachi's song fading away, leaving just herself and the boy beside her in the vast galaxy.
"My heart, thoughts and footsteps; you've left me feeling all complex…"
"Do you need a reason to like someone?" Sakura asked in a slightly panicked voice.
"Your indifference hurts-"
"But, what do you like about me?" He was genuinely concerned and baffled by her question; she could imagine the gears turning behind those spikes that unknowingly impaled her heart to his.
"Everything! Your foul-temper and that tantalising smile of yours… The flashes of tenderness that surfaced occasionally beneath the penetrating glares; I like them all."
"-And till now I have no idea which is worse…"
"But… What's so good about that?" She felt herself balling her fists, unable to curt the raising desperateness for his acceptance that threatened her tears to fall. She hated that he was overanalysing her words and thinking everything from a rational point of view.
"I just like you for who you are!" She vehemently hissed; pissed that this was not going the way she anticipated, and feeling some of the humiliation from the people turning around to look at her quizzically. She would rather he plainly rejected her on the spot, rather than having to answer his titillating questions that risked exposing her heart more and more. He turned away from her intense gaze, stuck at how to have his feelings projected to her.
"Leaving you aside-"
"You know, Sakura, it's not that I dislike you," At his roundabout speech Sakura had to pinch her eyes shut to prevent the first drop of sadness from falling out, "But, there's just somebody now that… That I love beyond anything. I just can't find it in me to betray or dilute that love at this point by thinking of someone else," Sasuke confessed pensively. Sakura opened her eyes in shock at the rawness of his words, dumbfounded by the lady capable of evoking such tender emotions from this seemingly stony-heart being.
"Who…"
"My brother."
"Or be sated with having you as my imaginary bride?"
This time, she allowed the persisting tears to have their way.
Manoeuvring on sheer auto-pilot, she mindlessly unlocked her apartment door, kicked off her white flats and gently nudged the door shut with her foot before drifting into her room. She acknowledged Itachi with an unfocused nod without looking into his eye, before she wafted off into the bathroom.
While Itachi's eye lingered on the contents of his course book, his mind and attention was carried away by the sound of running water a few walls away. He was expecting a sizable radiation of enervation, but requited with incontinent dreamy-sighs and humdrum flatteries of Kanae's performance, not this complete blasé.
When Sakura padded back into the cosy confinement of her bedroom, he caught the momentary flash of surprise in her eyes at his presence, before her memory caught up and she emitted a weary laughter at forgetting about having a roommate that was a carbon-copy of her idol.
She wordlessly slipped onto her bed (with the lights on, as she vaguely noticed Itachi still occupied with his school work, and she was also too washed off to bother about it), lying over her blanket and face down into her pillow. The ringing silence that heeded was enough to put off Itachi from knowing ways to counter-attack a surprised attack, and he duly shut his book and wheeled around to face the embodiment of sorrow.
"Sakura?" He could hear suppressed sniffles and a slight trembling of her body as she shook her head into the pillow.
"I'm fine, Itachi." If there was one thing he picked up from the bickers between his parents and Deidara and Sasori, the one calling the 'fine' shots was anything but.
"Was the concert a let-down?" Frankly, he was at a loss of what to do now. He never had to console Kisame with words; leaving him in-charge of the killing would be enough to wipe off all lingering sorrows and his accumulated dissatisfactions during his mood swings.
"No, it was g-great, just… Somebody else has let me down…"
"…"
"During the concert, I confessed to the guy I liked, and it didn't turn out so well…" Though he was aware that Sakura fell in the age range of raging hormones and world exploration, it still took him by surprised that she was carrying a torch for someone that was not on her posters.
As much as he was concerned, he could not care less about the hassles and complications of romance, and handled rejections (to male and female ninjas and civilians alike) with nothing short of an unapologetic apology of regrets and gratitude. He never once found his heart reaching out to anyone and never had to fret over 'in the event the confession did not turn out so well…' notion.
"Was there someone else?" He speculated.
"Yea; the saying blood is thicker than water couldn't be more apt here…" Itachi briefly frowned at that comment; was that guy having incest with his sibling? He found the idea largely perturbing and immediately focused his attention on Sakura's shaking frame. He felt something in him stirred at her vulnerable state; an indescribable sensation of disquiet mingled with his acquiescence to reciprocate those quivering feelings.
He once again felt that twitching in his free hand, the irrational wanting of reaching out to offer her consolation and to relieve her of her consternation. He detested the lack of control over his mind and body, which was why he even mastered genjutsu in the first place; to not find himself corralled and entrapped by his lack of consciousness.
"Itachi, I feel so… I hate myself for behaving like this." Quickly pulling back his hand, he turned his eyes away from Sakura to shackle his heart from beating in surplus concern and to still his muddled mind from betraying his body. At her stifled sob, he was hit with memories from his clone, of that imbecile entity cuddling her without restraint against his better judgement.
The last time he formed an attachment with anyone, he was left with multifarious scars and bestowed with the guilt of stripping them of their lives. The only person whom he had real attachment that was still alive was ruthlessly subjected to his fabricated wrath and indelible psychological tortures.
"And you would think after all these decades that love would have advanced like technology; easier to handle…"
"I don't know about you, but I fear technology is still very hard for me to comprehend."
"Kinda like romance, hmm? Oh, and most of them these days don't even last beyond a month, much less a year." By now, Itachi was not sure whether she was referring to technology or love.
After mentally debating (for ways to console her), he figured he should just settle for verbal consolation; that way not only could he satisfy his defiant heart (to do something for her) but also refrained from bodily contact. Unfortunately for him, he did not have the courage and the unfettered heart like his clone. He cleared his throat.
"This sucks…"
"Sakura-"
"I should have given up long ago-"
"It's not you, it's him-"
"Maybe I'm just not good enough-"
"He doesn't know what he's giving up." At his explicit words, she desisted her babbling and peered through her watery eyes and over the blanket, wondering right into a pair of sincere and intense crimson orbs in the suddenly dark room. Instead of shrinking in fear at the intensity and unusual colour of his irises, she felt herself instantly mesmerised, gradually sinking into oblivion as he lured her away from her despondency, the cruelty of the world and consciousness, right into safety within the murky depths of his blazing Sharingan.
I'm thankful for everyone who just travelled through this emotional roller-coaster of a chapter with me; everyone is feeling so down, especially Sakura :[ Nothing like a little Sharingan to take some sorrows away – so Sharingan me too Itachi! (Any excuse for me to stare into those eyes xoxo)