Woohoo! I was so excited about this because the lovely riseoftheblossom asked for this personally. Ahhhhh!
I hope I made you proud, Senpai.
No beta, all mistakes are my own.
Rain was hitting the window from the outside. Sakura was at her desk in her home, her head in her arms where she's been crying since she got home an hour or two ago.
She wondered why she was in the medical field in the first place. She knew that people could die, but she tried everything she could to keep an ANBU nin alive. He was practically gutted so Sakura knew it could happen, but her optimistic outlook on life made her believe she could do it.
She didn't notice, but the door opened. Footsteps came towards her. Once the noise stopped, she turned around to see Itachi staring back at her. She wanted to confide in him, wanted him to understand why she was in this mood of sorts but he wouldn't understand. His job was to take people's lives, not save them.
Itachi, though he didn't look like it, he was empathetic of Sakura's feelings. He was always so fascinated by her, how could someone show all the emotions she could? Maybe he never had an idea because he was raised by emotionally stunted Uchiha growing up, but he loved how she would show love the way she did. Itachi's gaze on her was soothing, as if he wanted to help her as best he could.
The Uchiha watched as Sakura wiped her red rimmed eyes in front of him.
"Let me guess, you're going to say the same thing Tsunade told me."
Itachi shook his head no.
"How can I? I don't know what is wrong." He shrugged. Without warning, Sakura got up from her seat and wrapped her arms around Itachi. He was shocked at first but he relaxed under her touch, making sure to wrap his arms around her waist.
"Would you like to talk about it?" Itachi questioned, Sakura shook her head no, though Itachi knew that if he wanted some information from her, to be persistent. He pulled away and held on to one hand to lead her to her bedroom. The walk was quite short, but Itachi already knew what he was going to do.
He sat himself on the bed, facing Sakura. He patted the spot beside him, signaling Sakura to come and sit down. She obliged, sitting close to him. The Uchiha then gently pulled her closer, moving her so they both could lay on her bed. Sakura knew what he was going to do and laid her head on his shoulder. She sniffled a little, but kept silent most of the time. Itachi then began to play with her hair.
Sakura sighed lightly, feeling comforted. She knew Itachi wanted to know what was going on, if only he could fix it.
"Do you ever wonder why you're in the position you're in? Like why you do what you do for a living?"
Itachi was silent as he thought to himself.
"I think about it all the time." He answered, surprising Sakura a little bit.
"But when I wonder why I do what I do, I have to realize that I do it because I have things I want to protect. I want to be useful and being a shinobi means I can do exactly that."
Sakura listened, nodding her head as he continued.
"The thing is, Sakura, when you begin to doubt what you do, you'll begin to resent it. I was like that for a little bit."
The pinkette leaned her head up to look at him in the face. He didn't look at her, but he was paying attention to her.
"When I was younger, when I started working for ANBU, I thought about it all the time. I was always worried that I wasn't being useful to the village, that I was useless and expendable. But it wasn't until I came back from my first mission, that a little Sasuke came up to me to hug me once he saw I was home. It would make me feel better, knowing that I was making the world safe for him and his friends. Now when I come home from missions, I look forward to seeing you."
Sakura began to tear up, but this time it was because of what Itachi said. It made her feel better.
"So, think of all the reasons you do what you do, think about it the next time everything turns to shit."
Sakura nodded, musing over what Itachi had said. He was never open about his emotions so it was nice to hear what she did.
"Though it's a little different,' Sakura sniffled. Itachi stopped playing with her hair to turn his body towards her. He placed a hand on her hip, using a thumb to draw circles in her soft skin.
"How is it different?"
"Well… you and I do the opposite. You take lives while I save them. It's a little different."
Itachi answered with a 'hn'.
"That is true, but is the reason why you do what you do the same as mine? To be useful? To help and protect what's yours?"
Sakura didn't think of it that way. She stared at itachi and nodded her head.
"I guess that is true."
"I remember you telling me you do what you do because you wanted to stand on your own two feet, because you had people you wanted to protect because you couldn't see your team hurt. Is that still the case?"
Sakura nodded her head once again, smiling softly.
"You always know what to say," She hummed, leaning forward to kiss his lips gently. Once she pulled away, Itachi began to play with her hair once again, knowing that it reassured her that he cared.
"So, I will be here when you would like to talk about it. Until then we can lay here and talk about anything or nothing at all. It's your choice."
Sakura nodded her head, closing her eyes for the time being. Itachi leaned over to kiss the diamond on her forehead.
"As long as you need me, I'll be here," he whispered, watching Sakura fall asleep.
Thanks for reading and give Riseoftheblossom a follow!