So, as I promised, I had written this for KarenClover. (I won't let me gift it to you so I'm sorry! Something about you not accepting gifts) I had offered them a one shot, but I think this is going to at least be 3 or 4 chapters. I wanted to thank them for being a supporter. They got ahold of me on tumblr and I came up with this.
I thought a one shot would be enough, but now I'm wanting to make this longer. I don't know how often I will update this, but it will be updated!
Once again, thank you for supporting me and thanks to KarenClover for giving me the idea.
I'm not good with slow burn, so I thought I might try it.
(no beta, all mistakes are mine)
Sakura has a date!
Which was a little weird, in her opinion. She had dated and pined for one guy and one guy only. So to have a budding relationship with his brother was a little bit out there. She wasn't going to make a big deal of it, though. She was happy that Itachi had asked her out. Granted, it was to thank her for healing his teammate, but it was a date nonetheless.
Hold it, Sakura. He is only doing it to be nice, not because he has an interest in you. She told herself over and over as she got ready for the night. It has to be, because she is pretty sure Itachi knew about the relationship she had with Sasuke. It's because he's only being nice…
There was a knock at her apartment door. She walked over, wearing a red and pink sundress. She had no idea where he was taking her, so she thought maybe this was good enough. Sakura went to the door and looked through the peephole to see Itachi standing on the other side. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.
"Hi, Uchiha-san." Sakura said, stepping to the side to let Itachi in. He nodded his head as he walked in.
"Please, this isn't formal. Just call me Itachi," He said with a straight face. Sakura nodded her head.
"Okay… Itachi-san…" She said quietly. Closing the door behind them. Itachi was looking around, taking in the small apartment.
"Cozy," He said aloud, making Sakura blush. She felt that meant he didn't like it.
I'm sorry that your mansion is bigger… She thought to herself, biting her tongue to not say anything unfavorable.
Itachi looked around the room before turning to face Sakura.
"Are you ready?" He asked calmly. Sakura nodded her head, going to the door to put her shoes on. Once ready, she motioned for Itachi to follow her out of her apartment. Itachi followed beside her. Sakura was about to pull ahead when the Uchiha spoke up.
"You look good."
Sakura blushed, a little surprised by what was said.
"Thank you, She said lightly, trying to use her bangs to hide her face from him for the moment. After that, they were silent. Itachi pulled ahead to lead them to the more modern part of town. Sakura looked around, realizing that she hadn't been here. She then looked over to Itachi.
He didn't look too bad. He looked more like his mom while Sasuke looked more like his father. His hair looked very well kept. She had never met a man who took care of his hair like this… but how would Itachi have time to take care of his hair? She stared at it, imagining running her hand through it when Itachi cleared his throat and stopped walking.
"Sakura-san. The restaurant is here."
Sakura turned red, a little embarrassed that she was in her head as they walked. She stopped turning around to chuckle, a little embarrassed. The medic then walked towards Itachi while he opened the door for her. Sakura stepped in the restaurant and noticed there were banners inside of it with the Uchiha symbol on it. Sakura wasn't surprised, if anyone would be proud of their clan, it would definitely be Itachi, or so she thought.
The host took them to the back of the restaurant to a private booth, possibly another perk that Itachi had in a restaurant owned by his clan. She sat on her knees on the side of the tiny table. Itachi sat across from her, making himself comfortable. Where they sat, there was a big window that looked out over a garden. Sakura hasn't been to anything this fancy in her life. She was looking out the window when Itachi cleared his throat.
"So… When did you decide to be a medic?" He asked, his voice even.
Sakura rubbed the back of her neck, a little nervous.
"I mean, look at my teammates and my sensei. They're all great in their own right. I just wanted to be able to walk on the same plane as them."
Itachi nodded as Sakura began to read through the menu. She saw the prices and began to sweat. She could afford it, but she was trying to save to get a house. Itachi apparently saw her hesitation.
"Don't worry. I said I would take you out, so I will pay for it."
Sakura sighed, feeling much better.
"I would not take you out and not cover it. That seems rude."
She looked over her menu to see that Itachi was staring at her as he talked. She put the menu down and smiled.
"Sorry, I'm used to having to pay my own way."
Itachi cocked his head to the side out of confusion.
"Has… Sasuke never paid for your dates?"
She tried to hold the laughter in.
"Not to talk bad about your brother, but he always thought we should pay for our own food. And he never took me to anything clan related for some reason… It was usually at Ichiraku"
Itachi nodded his head.
"This is just my favorite restaurant. It has nothing to do with it being clan. They just have really good pork dishes and desserts. I was told you liked sweets."
Sakura was a little surprised by that. She agreed with him.
"I do like sweets. I know its unbecoming of me but I can't help it– though who told you that?"
"Kakashi-sama did." He answered surely.
It all clicked in Sakura's head. Itachi was apparently nervous enough to ask Kakashi questions about her. It was surprising in the least, but she wasn't going to bring it up.
Sakura brought the menu back up, looking it over.
"How do you know Kakashi anyway?" She interrogated him, wondering what he was going to say. Itachi looked her over. Assuming it was safe, he answered politely.
"I cannot get into it, but we were on the same team back in the day."
Sakura, surprisingly, didn't know that. Kakashi doesn't talk about his past much. It wasn't until after the war she knew who he mourned over.
The waitress came over and began to take their orders. She still didn't know what to order when Itachi offered to order for her. He picked a simple tofu dish for himself, but opted for a pork dish for Sakura. Once the waitress walked away, Sakura began to relax
"So, if this is owned by your family, does that mean the people here will tell your family that you were out with a woman?"
Itachi shook his head no.
"Don't worry. I made sure to tell everyone here to not mention this to my parents, especially Sasuke. No offense, but I don't want him knowing that I took you out to dinner. You know how he can be."
Sakura sighed in relief, feeling much better with that answer.
"No offense to you, but he can be very… protective? I think that's the word I would use."
Itachi grinned at that. He understood Sakura's worry. When he smirked, Sakura looked up, looking at him as he was finally relaxed. It made her realize that Itachi really was handsome. She then looked away when he noticed her gaze on him.
She was about to say something when the waitress came over, pouring the both of them tea, making sure Sakura got hers first. She thanked the waitress as she poured Itachi his portion, leaving the teapot on the table before leaving the private booth, giving both Itachi and Sakura time to themselves for a little bit.
"So…" Sakura said, trying to think of something to talk about.
"What made you want to… do what you do?" She asked, not really knowing exactly what he did.
The smirk left Itachi's face. He thought to himself for a couple of seconds before he finally spoke up.
"I want to protect the most precious people to me. I wasn't able to save one of them and the other… well you already know who that is."
Sakura looked at Itachi. Once she figured out he wasn't lying, she smiled softly.
"I get it. I want to project people too. One, of course, you already know."
Itachi hummed in agreement.
"Though, that is one thing he didn't tell me. Why did you two break up?"
Sakura was surprised. She always assumed that Sasuke told Itachi everything. The way the younger Uchiha spoke about Itachi made her think they were really close.
"…. you don't want to hear that." She chuckled, going to drink her tea to hide her nervousness. Itachi shook his head no.
"I actually do. It didn't make any sense to me. He kind of hid you away from us."
Sakura was more than dumbfounded by that. She took a slow, deep breath to not let her anger show. Itachi wouldn't be able to handle an angry Sakura.
"Well… honestly, he got possessive over me. He always wanted to know where I was. He would do things like show up to my office unannounced because I have a male colleague. But when I ask him about his missions, he would keep quiet. I understood if he was ANBU or something, but he usually goes on missions with Naruto but he never told me what happened. I thought it was unfair that he asked me these types of questions and I had to answer but he wouldn't answer any of mine. He was seriously possessive."
Itachi took all of that in.
"I can see that." Was all he said as the food they ordered had been delivered. Once they were sitting in front of them, they both thanked their food before digging in. Sakura was surprised by what they were eating. She tried her best not to moan at the flavor. She never really was into pork foods, but this was great. She looked over to see what Itachi had, surprised he picked tofu. He picked up a piece of the jiggly cube and plopped it in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully and Sakura felt she was being weird, so she looked away.
"What?" Itachi asked after he swallowed his food.
Sakura waved it off.
"Don't worry about it."
Itachi wasn't going to let it go.
"Please, don't be afraid. What's wrong? Is it the food?"
Sakura shook her head.
"No no. I'm just surprised you picked tofu. You don't seem like the type of person to like Tofu."
Itachi chuckled. He was surprised she would think that.
"Why? What kind of food would you think I'd eat?"
"Honestly, this," Sakura motioned to her own plate.
Itachi understood where she was coming from.
"I'm what they call a Pescatarians, The only meat I eat is fish and seafood."
Sakura knew what the word meant. They both then ate in silence, but it was a comfortable silence. She felt great. With Sasuke, she felt like she had to say things to keep him interested, but with Itachi it was just much easier. She didn't feel like she had to try and keep his attention. It was like, even without talking, that he was paying attention to her. Once their meal was done, Sakura sat back, feeling full.
Itachi smiled softly at her, liking the way she was so relaxed. He had thought she would be a little bit more uptight, but this date was pretty relaxed. The waitress that's been serving them brought him from their thoughts. He then smiled, happy that what he had planned before was happening.
A couple of hours before, he had come and told the waitress to serve Sakura some anmitsu without her even asking for it. So when the waitress served her the anmitsu, Sakura lit up, smiling brightly. Itachi couldn't explain it but he loved seeing her like that. The waitress also brought him his signature dango, so he was happy as well.
Sakura began to eat away at the jelled fruit in front of him. She smiled until she ate the whole thing.
"Let me guess, Kakashi told you that about me?"
Itachi shook his head no.
"Actually Sasuke had told me that a long time ago. I just remembered it." he shrugged lightly, though the smile didn't drop off from Itachi's face. It was something so simple and yet she was enthralled by it.
"Well, thank you." She commented.
Itachi then finished his dango, placing the stick on the table.
"Are you ready?"
Sakura nodded her head yes, standing up to let Itachi walk her out of the restaurant and towards her apartment. Sakura was a little nervous though. This was a simple yet great date, something she hadn't had in a long time.
They walked in silence, Sakura walking closely to Itachi. It was a little different being comfortable in silence ,but Sakura was perfectly okay with it. They walked through the village and to her apartment door. Before unlocking the door. She turned to look at Itachi.
"You know, you didn't have to walk me. I could have made it fine on my own."
Itachi nodded his head.
"I am nothing if not a gentleman," he smirked. He looked down to Sakura as she stared up at him.
"You can come in if you'd like," She commented, but Itachi had to decline.
"I have a mission in the morning, so it's probably not a good idea, though thank you for inviting me in."
They both stared at each other, her green eyes connected to his darkened ones. Sakura, unfortunately, was the first one to break eye contact. She then got on her tiptoes, leaning forward to kiss Itachi's cheek.
"You're really sweet, thank you for today. Good luck tomorrow, though. Come back safe, okay?" She said with a smile. The smirk on Itachi's face was still there. He was taken aback by the kiss on his cheek, but he enjoyed it. He was happy to take her out.
He nodded his head, waving goodbye as Sakura went into her apartment.
What could have been a disaster was pretty great.
Thanks for reading!
I would love some Kudos!