"I heard you were ill last night. Feeling better?" Itachi asked. "Did you catch something, or rather, did something catch you?"
Sakura gave a nod, not trusting her voice. This was bad.
He leaned upon the desk, and she felt like a bug under his gaze.
Was it hot in here? Yes. Sweat pooled on her lower back, and she needed to take a step away.
His white teeth showed then as his smile curled even wider. He moved around the desk. He took two steps forward for every step back she took, closing the distance.
Until her heel smashed against the back wall. Oh no.
Before she could run for the door, an open hand slammed upon the side of the wall blocking her exit. She winced at Itachi's features. If any of his fanbases saw him now, they'd be screaming, not the kind of scream when he caught the snitch, more like the scream the snitch must emit, being squeezed to death while held high in the air.
"I think I'll start by setting expectations," he said, his warm minty breath just brushing her cheek as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.
She froze, already terrified. Expectations? Was he going to blackmail her about being Bunny or turn her in for reading about the Dark Arts?
His eyes became level with hers, the red in them searing through her. He'd activated his bloodline. "I expect nothing but passing grades from now on and your full attention and effort during our tutoring sessions."
Had..had she shit her pants yet?
"Until I see improvement - I'm afraid that you'll need to focus your studies on potions during our time together," his eyes then darkened to black, the bloodline magic gone along with the intensity.
But it gave Sakura a second to breathe. Wait. What did he just say? Sakura's head tilted sideways in confusion. Time together?
"How about you start by brewing Distilled Trident. If you succeed, I have some other text you may read for the duration of our study session." He leaned further away, giving space between them. A softer smile now pulling at his lips.
She scanned his face as her heart rate slowed to a reasonable pace. Was he insinuating what she thought he was? No. No way! Her eyes widened in delight. He would let her read the Dark Arts text as a human, take notes, and do what she wanted?!
He was going to use the reward system! Yes, yes, yes!
However, he leaned in again, his minty breath warm against her lips this time. "However, should you fail another exam," his bloodline activated, "everything you read in my presence will be potions related. Understood?"
Oh, ho. The threat was clear. Not even Bunny could curl up with the Dark Arts book. But the reward – her mouth watered – how sweet, she could almost taste it. She practically pounced on him, ignoring the demonic-like eyes as her excitement overcame her.
She gripped him in a tight hug, "I won't let you down." Quickly she released him, face flushing at her actions as his cheeks also rosied at her physical touch. Purebloods... "I got this in the bag," she pumped her fist just like Naruto.
She didn't end up having it in the bag. The potion was new to her. In fact, the class wouldn't cover it until spring. All she ended up with was a yellow gooey mess and being berated by Itachi.
"Your technique is all wrong. No wonder you get absolutely nowhere. Didn't Neji teach you anything?"
Gah! "Hey now, it was perfect until," her finger trailed down the list of steps. "At least step twenty-six, it was the rat livers."
"You failed at step five. You didn't make slivers of the eucalyptus leaves. You mutilated them beyond recognition." He flicked his wand and muttered a spell, and the potion was cleared from the cauldron. "Let's start with a first-year potion, Boil Cure."
With a sniff, she put her hands on her hips. "I can make a stupid boil cure."
"Prove it to me."
She glared as she removed snake fangs from their glass jar and ground them into the powder. Imagining, just a bit, that it might be Itachi's face. She turned to start her other ingredient preparation when Itachi picked up her mortar.
He pinched at the powder. "Inconsistent and also ruined, you overdid it."
"It needs a fine powder, you can't over-grind it," she insisted.
He shoved the pestle under her nose causing her step back. "Smell," Itachi said, not letting her take the mortar when she reached back out.
Sakura leaned forward and took a quick sniff. It smelled… fruity? Not like citrus, but like fresh pressed apple juice.
"If you over-grind snake fangs, they eventually go from powder to clumpy from the oil and heat of friction. It should smell like a quidditch locker room." He let out a very long sigh and placed the mortar on the counter. With a swish of his wand, he vanished the contents. "Again."
Her eyes grew wide. What? She'd done this before. She could still have used the powder to make the potion.
"I want a perfect Boil Cure Potion." He sat upon the chair across from her, curling in the seat with such a lack of eloquence that she almost thought he might be someone else entirely. He raised his leg, put a heel into the seat, and then propped his chin on his knee to watch her work. "And I mean perfect. Or you'll do it all again from step one."
They worked through dinner and then some. Each vanishing spell made Sakura want to scream. When she finally made something 'remotely adequate,' Itachi released her only to stalk beside her to the common room.
She had half a mind that wanted to cast a hex at anything. The moment she walked through the door, her gaze landed on Neji Hyuuga casually chatting up a seventh year. It took all her self-control to not cast a spell that would tie his long hair to the wooden back of the chair he sat in.
She'd never felt like such an inadequate bug before and hated it. Itachi hadn't held back on ripping her a new one, and it was all Neji's fault. How could he pass her off as if she was a dirty shoe to someone else? Everything inside her burned with fury and shame. She desperately needed help, but she really, really, really didn't want Itachi's. It had taken almost five hours to make a boil cure, a potion that usually took 20 minutes. There was no way she'd be ready for 4th-year potions. She wasn't going to learn anything at this rate. Professor Hatake was going to bite the dust.
She took a deep breath to keep in the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.
"Sakura," Itachi said.
She turned around, fingernails digging into the handle of her potion's case, anger overtaking over the sorrow. "Yes?" No, it wasn't sweetness that dripped from her mouth, but venom, pure venom.
"I'll see you tomorrow at the same time."
She vibrated on the spot, her face flushing. "But I only have tutoring on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays."
"End-of-semester exams are almost upon us. Do you wish to pass up an opportunity to improve your grades?"
Sakura bit her lip and looked down at her feet. He made a good point. If it really was going to be slow paced, should she be upset with more tutoring? Professor Hatake's life was on the line. Her fingers loosened on her potion case.
She raised her head and gave a nod. She should be thankful. She gave a half smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."
After all, she could only improve from a Boil Cure, right?
Wrong.
"I want to see slices, not a smash or smear or — " His fist smacked against the table with a loud thump, causing her to almost drop the knife in her hands.
"You better sharpen that blade before even starting. This isn't a 1st-year potion. Pristine equipment is paramount," Itachi warned. "Do you think the leather honing strap is there for aesthetic purposes?"
"No," Sakura whispered, looking down at her potions kit. Only one question formed in her mind. What piece of equipment was the leather honing strap?
She closed her eyes as she picked up the furry-tailed thing. Ew.
"That is a tail. And is not in this potion."
Well, at least she'd been right on that account. She dropped it back in the case and rubbed a hand on her robe. There was nothing else that looked remotely leathery. She stared.
Sakura could feel his gaze burning a hole in her head. She closed her eyes again and reached.
"Other side."
She squinted and moved her hand.
"You've got to be kidding me. Here," Itachi grabbed the end of her potions case and—lifted.
The thing had a secret compartment!
Sakura's eyes widened. There was an expansion in it too. Turns out she had more newt eyes. And… "What are those bricks?" She picked one up for closer inspection. Ooo, shiny, were they embedded with glitter?
"Whetstones."
"Huh?"
"You've never sharpened your blades, have you?" Itachi asked.
The question had been rhetorical as he continued on. "No wonder you're failing this class."
Sakura scratched the back of her head. "Well, there wasn't really an instruction manual with the case."
Itachi reached down and popped another bottom off.
Gah! Another secret compartment.
He pulled a small manual from it, and it extended it out. 'Caring for Your Equipment.'
"I think we'll call it a day for actually creating this potion. I want you to read and do what that says instead. Bring me your potions kit when you're done, and we'll assess from there. I'll be in the common room." And just like that. He left her, staring blankly at the manual.
Just how many secret compartments did this thing have?
Sakura gave a tug on the bottom, just in case there was one more. Nope.
She narrowed her gaze to the other side. Tug. How cute, there was a location for storing quills and ink. Pop! Ooo, she could put her potions book and cauldron in this one. She wouldn't have to bring an extra bag on potions day! She tried to pull out the bottom on this one. Nope, that was it.
Did the other muggle-borns know about this trick? Had she been the only one left clueless?
She sat down then, picking back up the manual. She thumbed through it. Sakura let out a groan. She was going to be here all night, wasn't she? There were even treatments to apply to the cutting board she'd never done.
Like her father often said, one couldn't buy enough elbow grease. By the time she was done, her blades were wicked sharp. Wicked enough to cut her pinky. Sadly on her dominant hand, too. Sadly, ambidexterity wasn't her strong suit. So it had taken half an hour to mend the wound with her wand. Her board had been clean until she sneezed on it while attempting to powder coat the outside of her cauldron. Thus, cleaned again.
It wasn't until curfew when she stumbled back into the common room bleary-eyed, wanting nothing more than to curl up in her covers and hope to never use a whetstone again.
Itachi cleared his throat when he saw her attempt to walk straight to her dorm.
She could feel several searing gazes upon her back as she approached his armchair. Yes, the female populace had acknowledged her existence because she was now in Itachi's bubble. The scariest of them all was, surprisingly, the 2nd years that had formed an Itachi fanclub. Their tiny pinched faces and hands twitched to cast a spell at her. Thank goodness they knew no curses.
They could have his affection. His evil, cruel, sadistic affection - all to themselves! All of it!
The only thing that made it bearable was that the armchair Itachi was sitting in wasn't his usual seat. Instead, it was on the other side of the room from the fireplace. Her gaze scanned, finding the vacant blue armchair with ease. Her lips twitched. She had won the war!
Itachi cleared his throat again to garner her attention. He extended his hand out for her potions kit.
If she hadn't spent over an hour organizing her newly found supplies and cleaning everything inside the case meticulously… she probably would have dropped it on his head. Although, maybe that would have been too much. After all, he did show her she even had extra compartments. No one else had even bothered. And the fact he really was trying to help, in his own evil way.
But hell no, would Sakura thank the cruel bastard for complaining about her and then ditching her.
Itachi was thorough with her supplies. Everything he pulled out and checked, to her labeling of ingredients (now in English and Latin) and her tools. He even measured the thickness of her goat horn powder coat with his nail, for goodness sake. He then checked the inside of her cauldron's conditioning. Then her knives for sharpness — except he wasn't stupid enough to touch the edge right on his finger — and then he proceeded to her stirring rod and boiling tube.
"Your cauldron's conditioning inside is perfect. The coating on the outside is way too thick. Wasteful. The rest is satisfactory. I'll see you tomorrow."
Ok. Maybe, just maybe, she felt a bit warm and fuzzy from the 'perfect.' It took her walking up the steps to her dormitory with a cocky-ass smile before the rest of his words sunk in. Satisfactory? Wasteful?
Her smile dropped to a grimace. Jerk. She opened the door to the dorm room with a sigh and sat down with her potions kit. She let out a groan and fell onto her bed. She'd have to do potions again with him tomorrow. If she ever needed a reason to study besides her favorite teacher dying, it would be to avoid Itachi.
Well, time for bed. Sakura rolled off to gather her clothes from her trunk. When she rose to go to the bathroom, she froze at the sight before her.
All of her dormmates were watching her. They were already ready for bed, but instead of huddling around braiding each other's hair, painting nails, or giggling, they had pillows at the foot of the beds, looking up at her like eager wolves.
Well, this felt ominous. Hopefully, this wouldn't be the classic retelling of the popular boy's attention resulting in a bullied girl.
"Hi," Sakura said because she didn't know what else to say.
It did little to alleviate their gaze.
Chiharu was the one who spoke first. "Go get dressed, and then we want details. Girl talk!"
Every single one of them nodded with excitement.
Sakura shook her head. "Look, I don't know what you think, but nothing is happening between us. He really is just tutoring me." And had let her sleep in his bed, but she'd be dead if she confessed such.
Chiharu gave a laugh. "We know that, silly. None of us stand a chance. He's the heir to one of the most powerful clans on the continent. But you've had him for several tutoring sessions now. Come on, tell us what he's really like!"
Ouch, that was harsh... But then the words caught up to Sakura. 'us?' – "But aren't you also in line to be a clan heir? You'd stand a chance, right?"
Chiharu gave her a confused look. "The Beppu clan is pretty bottom tier. We're mostly known for our garments. Even if I were heir, no main branch Uchiha would look twice at me, not like that, especially with this current political climate."
Sakura blinked.
Chiharu shifted uneasily. Her words barely came out loud enough to hear. "You know….war is on the horizon," she whispered as if that were real gossip instead of the discussion of Itachi.
Sakura's chest felt heavy, and she sat her clothing back down. "I know. We'll be expected to fight in it."
The other girls looked away in discomfort, but Chiharu held her gaze before nodding. "We'll be expected to contribute. I know my father's runecraft. I'll likely be tasked to make cloaks, leggings, and holsters…." Her lips quivered and then faltered to a frown. "Maybe. I know my mother's magic too. They might put me on the field." She looked away and shook her head before giving a lopsided smile. "But the Uchiha's are a war clan, Sakura. The Beppu clan is nothing compared to theirs. So let's hear it. What's Itachi Uchiha really like? Is he kind?"
Sakura looked around the room. The rest were still not making eye contact.
They really didn't want to talk about the war, did they?
Sakura turned back to Chiharu. The words of Kakashi rang in her ears. She should be a kid, just for a little longer. They wanted to. She shoved down her feelings and smiled. What was Itachi really like?
"Sometimes he can be very kind," Sakura answered, remembering that he'd not said a word about her being Bunny and that he'd carried her heavy butt up at least five staircases for several patrol rounds.
All gazes in the room returned to her, riveted. Io gave a soft sigh as if 'sometimes kind' was romantic for some reason.
Sakura frowned slightly. The other half of the time, Itachi tended to tickle innocently trapped animals, even if he freed them. "He also has a darker sense of humor, especially when teasing someone."
She glanced around the room, not quite sure what else there was to say.
"What's he smell like?" Akari asked, biting on the end of one of her braids.
"Akari!" Chiharu laughed as she tossed a spare pillow at Akari. "You don't have to answer that, Sakura."
Akari dipped her head sheepishly but looked up at Sakura with hope.
Sakura sank down upon the foot of her bed and felt a warmth in her chest. For the first time, she felt part of the group. Her lips twisted up. She did know what Itachi smelled like. "Gardenias and mint."
"Aha!" Akari exclaimed, flinging her braid away. "He's totally using my family's bath products. We're most famous for our gardenia soap," Akari informed Sakura. "It'll make you smell fresh flowers for 72 hours or your money back."
"Itachi isn't going to use gardenia soap!" Io cried out.
"Then he must be using our lotion," Akari countered. "His skin is probably baby soft from it."
They all had questions. Innocent ones. Were Itachi's nails clean? Any quirks? Did he ever laugh? Had she ever seen him really relax?
They all turned red and flustered from Sakura's description of him curling up in a chair like a cat. She even went so far as to act out his position on the windowsill just to watch their expressions.
What kind of quill did he use, and could she identify the ink maker?
Sakura stuttered and admitted she'd seen it but not recognized any branding. Mikki quickly jumped out of bed to grab a stationary collection from her drawer.
And that is when giggling over Itachi grew into something else. While Sakura's limited knowledge of stationary was expanded upon, as Mikki showed her quill after quill, she learned of Mikki's betrothal to Chisato, a 1st year. His family ran the stationary shop in Diagon Alley and branches throughout Europe. Chiharu had eyes for Toru, a 5th year. Akari confessed to having a crush on their year mate, Shino. Io wouldn't confess at all. Instead, her face burned red, and she yanked her coverings closed. She returned to the conversation the second Mikki pulled out her collection of inks because Io ended up being the most opinionated about what made the best ink.
When they finally went to bed that night, the room felt warmer, Sakura's toes not freezing beneath her comforter. The other breaths in the room lulled her to sleep, a lullaby she hadn't even noticed existed.