Kitsune Mistress
Princess of Ikana
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and its respective owners.
Chapter 13: Spark
Notes: this is future era Sakura/Itachi
Sakura awoke the next morning, confused as to what had happened. Itachi filled her in on their discovery over dinner.
He thought the text might have been referring to perhaps a previous lifetime where somehow she held the same name as in this life.
That Sakura of the past was one of the best medical shinobi of her time and went on to accomplish a lot. No specific details were given about her further than that.
"Ok… but it shouldn't matter, right? I don't know why learning about her made me faint, really silly, huh?" Sakura stumbled with her words as she began feeling woozy again, just from talking about it.
Itachi decided to stop keeping a deep secrets from her. He didn't have any others, but he knew that what he was about to discuss was going to cause a row.
"I really think something happened in the past that is affecting you now. There's a curse on your left wrist, and at some point, something is going to happen. I wasn't sure how much time you had initially when the mark first appeared. Maybe it was partly my immaturity, but it's the reason why I wanted to marry as young as we were…." he admitted.
Sakura's face grew pale as she looked at him in shock.
"You're… telling me the reason we got married is because you thought that a curse was going to take me before I was older?" she uttered very slowly.
"I would have waited, as you were just out of high school, but you would have died by now…" he continued carefully.
Tears glistened at her eyelids as she stood up and tossed what was left of her dinner to the floor. Itachi gasped
"Sakura, please listen…" Itachi begged her, gulping down his nervousness around the sensitive topic.
"Why should I? This marriage is a total setup and one that you manipulated from the very start!" she yelled, clearly hurt by what he had just revealed.
Itachi only shook his head and waved for her to come to him but she didn't.
Sakura glared at him once more before whisking her purse off their front table and leaving the house, slamming the door behind her.
He knew explaining why he wanted to hurry into marriage could possibly go wrong, but he didn't want to keep any more secrets from her. It wasn't fair and he was struggling to come to terms with her fate.
Sakura was never convinced that she would die as a result of the strange mark on her wrist. She figured that maybe it was just some old birthmark that had darkened at some point. As weird as it seemed, it didn't mean she was cursed.
She was perfectly healthy and just beginning her way into a meaningful career and had just graduated from university.
She would need some form of proof to believe him.
His team had located the area of an old village that once worshiped fox spirits in the Land of Fire, on the border of Sand. It was said that it was caught in a skirmish between shinobi villages and burned to the ground.
Years later, people became fearful of kitsune, as there was a spirit in the area kidnapping children, never to be seen again. Over time, the disappearances stopped and people began forgetting about it.
Itachi wanted to know why it stopped and why it was forgotten.
There were parts of the legends that were missing, so no one had the full story.
Sakura found herself at the local bar before sending a miffed text to Naruto about how stupid Itachi was and even more so…her.
She ordered a round of drinks for herself and joined a boisterous party of 4 others when she saw her colleague Shikamaru.
"Who are these lovely people, Shika?" she asked giddily.
He appeared a bit uncomfortable but answered.
"My family, my wife, Temari, and her two brothers, Kankuro and Gaara," he introduced them.
Sakura smiled broadly before sliding up to Gaara and inquiring about him.
Naruto was with Sasuke when his phone pinged. He saw what looked like a drunk text from Sakura…
"Looks like your bro is in trouble… Sakura's pissed," Naruto told Sasuke
"So? Marriage is full of random fights, not something we should get involved in," he replied, sipping his latte disinterestedly.
"Itachi told her why he wanted to marry so young," Naruto continued.
Sasuke sighed. He knew that particular subject was going to come back to bite them eventually.
"Give me your phone, I left mine at the office," Saskue asked before calling Itachi.
Itachi felt a headache coming on, as he cleared away their half-eaten dinner and decided to tidy up the house while he waited for Sakura to return.
His phone rang - it was Sasuke.
"Wouldn't it have been better if you had the discussion about why you wanted to marry her, before you did?" asked Sasuke, getting straight to the point.
"Naruto got a text from Sakura?" he asked instead.
"Of course, you're a dumbass," Sasuke responded dully.
"She wanted to know why my research site was such a find, and why I was so amped up to be involved in such a dig, even though I'm still studying for my Ph.D.," Itachi explained.
"The time to talk about that gem has long passed, you were better off avoiding it," Sasuke replied irritably.
Itachi groaned, knowing he was right, but he didn't want any more secrets in their marriage.
He did love her, and if it wasn't for the suspected curse, he would have waited for her to be older and more sure of the decision herself, but he never regretted getting married. If anything, he would marry her again if that's what it took to prove how in love he was with her.
"I should go get her, right?" he finally muttered.
"Yeah! Naruto says she's at the Astrobrew, in your neighborhood," Saskue scoffed before hanging up.
Sakura was having such a grand time testing out her gambling prowess with a new foe, as her old mentor had taught her more than to work with animals.
Kankuro was finishing his latest beer and tapping out as he knew his hand was worse. Temari was almost as fired up, feeling sure of her own hand. Shikamaru passed on playing to begin with, knowing how ruthless Sakura was, and Gaara was cold as ice with his poker face, not revealing anything.
Sakura began pouring drinks for him and attempting to sabotage his precise concentration as she had guessed he was secretly good at card games.
When she took things a step too far and attempted to wrap one arm around his shoulders… she felt herself being dragged towards the opening of the booth where Itachi now stood.
"What are you doing?" he asked with a chilled tone.
"...playing poker with some new friends…" Sakura uttered in shock. Never knowing how rough he could be, as he was always so gentle with her…
"We are going home, you've had enough fun for one night," he told her, lightly grabbing her jacket and purse.
"Night, Sakura," her party told her as she was escorted out of the premises by her husband.
Getting home, Sakura threw herself in the entrance and pouted about her fun being ruined for the night. She was mystified by this side of the man she thought she knew he revealed tonight.
"What else are you hiding from me, Mr. Uchiha?" she asked while trailing a finger down his arm.
"Nothing. That was my only secret, ," he replied, sounding tired now.
"What I meant was, were you always this strong?" she rephrased, as she began examining his arm muscles.
Itachi felt himself heat up as Sakura seemingly was sparkling with newfound arousal.
He pulled away from her and directed her towards the stairs of their new home.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" he dared to utter.
"...I will need more information tomorrow, but for right now, yes… now show me new ways of how much you 'love' me," she purred, leading him back to their bedroom.
A/N: ooo Itachi keeping her guessing 💪 and another hurdle out of the way as they begin connecting the dots from the past.
I know it's been awhile since an update but I am working on new chapters already as I need to finish some old projects this year to make way for the new ones.
