Seven Petals Till Sakura

III

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That Friday as any other week, Itachi looked at his clock marking 17:45 pm. Soon there will be arriving his classmates to study as they had been doing for the past months every Friday. Being a second-year high schooler, his opportunities for hang out with his friends were reduced a lot and they had decided to make a group study for pass time together without lacking their studies. He heard a knock from his front door and before he could stand up from his desk to go open, he heard a person running across the hallway. He resisted the urge of laugh noticing the same patron that has been occurring every week.

Itachi opened the door of his room and walk to the front door seeing five people at the corridor. One of them, completely uninvited, but not unexpected.

—Thanks for open, Sasuke –he said to his brother. The youngest one, contrary of the others who were busy greeting each other, stay firm at his place. It's almost impossible to think that he actually run away from his own bedroom just to be the one who will open the door.

Sasuke didn't responded, neither to his brother or the greeting of the friends of Itachi. He just kept his eyes in the only girl of the group.

—We're gonna stay at my room. If you need something, just knock –Itachi told Sasuke the same sentence like he always did. Even if he already knew. They had been doing the same routine for at least two months now.

Itachi and his friends locked themselves up at his room, joking at the same time that studying for the exams that soon will come up. One hour past like that and Itachi knew that, after the first of his friends decided to go home, his door will be knocked with an expecting guest.

—Come in –he said, knowing exactly what would happen next.

—Brother, can you help me with a problem? –it was what Sasuke said before sitting at the coffee table where everyone was. Always in the same spot like every single time.

For Itachi would always be fun how his little brother, as smart as he always has been, believes that it's credible that he, the number one of his class, can have doubts about a math problem. He can even resolve some of the problems that were in Itachi's book, high-school level, because Itachi has been teaching him how to do it. So Sasuke having doubts about a problem of his own grade it was, for start, ridiculous.

—What part is that you don't understand, Sasuke-kun? –asked Sakura. The only girl present in their reunions and, curiously, the girl who Sasuke always decided to sit beside.

Itachi held up his own book to cover his mouth. It was so funny seeing his little brother trying to catch the attention of his crush. For his prepotent little brother, saying that he didn't understand something, even if it was a lie, it was a really big deal.

When they start doing this reunions Itachi didn't think that will turned out like this. Yes, he already knew that Sasuke had his eyes put in Sakura, but he thought that it was just a little crush from seeing an older girl around the house for so many times, after all, she and Itachi had been friends since they started high school and became classmates. At some point it was natural for her to being around the house and, even if Itachi noticed that Sasuke would look specially interested when she was coming, he didn't think that it would be that serious to actually try to date her. Maybe Sasuke liked her from the start.

Itachi looked away from his own homework focusing on Sasuke who was bored listening the explanation of Sakura. Like he predicted before, it was something that Sasuke already knew.

—At least pretend that you're interested –it was what he wants to tell him, but then Sasuke would know that his facade was a disaster from the start and maybe decide to never come back. Itachi wouldn't like it, and for the face that their friends have been making, neither they.

If Sasuke would know that all his friends are already aware of his movements, he would probably change his high school aspiration to another prefecture because of his embarrassment.

—And that's it! There's something else that you don't understand? –Sakura said while giving the young teenager her best smile. Sasuke got startled and, listening to his friends' chuckle, it made Itachi cover his own snort at the view of his little brother trying his best to not demonstrate how nervous he was.

—No, that's all –Sasuke got up quickly and, with a relax expression that Itachi well knew it was fake, turned around to Sakura again. —Thanks –and that was all he said before left.

When Sasuke got out of the room and the door get closed again Itachi could heard the reliese laughter's coming from his friends. Sasori and Deidara, who were looking all the scene, finally could relieve themselves while joking of how tense he was. Itachi joined them and ended up cracking a big smile remembering how funny it was to see his brother trying to look cool in a room where everyone was older than him. In all that noise, he catched a glimpse of Sakura, her face completely red from all the situation.

—That child really is tough for liking this one –said Sasori winning a glare from Sakura, but he didn't care, it was already time for him to leave.

—Well, that's my call too –his other friend, Deidara, started packing on his own. —Had fun love birds –was the last thing he said before going home.

And like any other time, Sakura and he were the only ones left in his room. Deidara always maked fun of them because of that, insinuating that maybe they were more than friends. Sure, Sakura was really pretty and Itachi liked her a lot, as much as you can liked a good friend, but he wasn't interested in her at least in that way.

Besides, Itachi knew well that Sakura wasn't interested either.

—So, when are you gonna accept the confession of little Sasuke? I mean, Sasuke-kun –he asked making fun of the way she used to call him.

—I really hate when you smiled like that –Sakura threw him an eraser at the face, like everytime he jokes about it. —He hasn't confessed, so there's nothing to accept.

—Really? I was sure that he had gave you a letter last week when i was called by mom and he drag you to his room when he though I wouldn't notice. –Itachi remembered, pretending that he didn't notice Sakura's face turning pale. —Oh, sorry. Was I supposed to say that I didn't notice it?

—You are supposed to stay quiet! –she screamed, it was that loud that Itachi even wonder if Sasuke could heard her. —Really, what is the problem with you? You always end up making fun of me, are you sure that we are even friends? I'm starting to think that you enjoy making me mad.

—No, it's not something that weird. It's just that i like talking with my future sister-in-law –this time, he was able to avoid the flying pencil case.

—Would you knock it off?!

—What is the problem? don't you like him? –at this point, Itachi was really curious of why she keeps talking about it like it was something bad.

—I do like him, that's the real problem! It's that he's so damn cute! –she exclaimed as it was the most obvious truth in the world. —I can't go out with a middle schooler. Itachi, he is your brother, you should be the one telling me that dating him it's impossible and i have to reject his confession no matter that it was the most sincere that I ever though I could get.

Well, maybe heard how sweet and perfect it was a confession made by his brother it was starting to get weird. Itachi doesn't know if from now on he would be able to look at Sasuke without laughing.

—Well, it's because I'm his brother that I can't just tell you that you must reject him. I know that he can be pretty thick-head when it's about something that he really like –it was so clear that for Sasuke this wasn't just a little crush anymore, not with how much he had tried to catch her attention for the last few weeks. For Itachi, just that fact maked him want to encourage him more. —Besides, he's really cute when try to pretending that he isn't anxious with you around.

—...Damn you brocon.

He still remember the first time that Sakura meets Sasuke when, for work in a school project, she came to his home. Actually, it was Sakura the first in show interest in Sasuke saying how cute and cool he was, even if at that moment she assured that it was just like fawning over an idol. She would look through their albums searching for pictures of his little brother and squalled at how adorable he was. But now that her idol had actually paid special attention to her, it looked like Sakura wasn't sure of what it was the correct way to react.

—We are three years apart… –Sakura looked like if she was trying more to convince herself than Itachi. —No, it doesn't matter that he is actually really cool, i can't. It's not correct.

—Actually, our parents have an age gap of seven years. So, I don't think that three years it's a big problem.

—You should be the one telling me to not even considerate it! Oh god, I don't know what to do anymore –her face bumped the table and he retrieve himself from making a comment that could make her run away. That wouldn't be funny.

Even with all the screaming and things that were thrown at his head, Itachi was happy that someone would be that troubled about his brother. If Sakura was having a hard time deciding on what to do, that means that she really was into him.

—Do you want some coffee? –he asked to the grumpy girl even though the only thing that he could see it was a mass of hair. She moved her head up and down so he got up and walked to their kitchen, pretending that he didn't see a young teenager waiting patiently to invade his room.

On the way, his phone start ringing. It was Kisame. Itachi locked himself in the kitchen and let the phone ring for some seconds hoping that the two that were hiding in his room would recognize the sound. After that he spend the next thirty minutes talking with Kisame about a sea restaurant the he was interested in, Itachi wasn't that much fond about the topic, but tried his best to extend the conversation until Kisame, now boring, hang up their call. Itachi then got out of the kitchen and headed to the bathroom making sure to be noisy enough with his steps. Being the only ones in the house at that hour, they must will notice that he wasn't in the call anymore and, just like he predicts, when he returned to his room, he only saw Sakura who, for some reason that he can easily guess, was really flustered.

Weirdly enough, the door he left completely open was neatly closed when he returned. And by the look of Sakura he knew that she wasn't the one who closed it. Even if Itachi hadn't said anything, Sakura already knew that he was aware of what happened, and that only make him more eager to tease them. So sitting in front of her after give her a mug, he start drinking his own thinking how to formulate his question.

—So… how did it go with prince charming? –asked after the first sip of coffee. Sakura looked completely devastated. Apparently, all too well for her own standard.

—How will I face Mikoto-san and tell her that i start dating his younger son?! I'm gonna look as a depraved.

Itachi just thought that, even if she was really worried about it, she doesn't look that older. Even beside Sasuke, three years wasn't that big, especially when meanwhile she was quite childish, his younger brother always tried to act more mature. But he feared that the next thing Sakura would going to throw him was her bag so he decided to keep that for himself.

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