Chapter 12

The night sky above her was blank, void of stars like the glistening and shimmering rock against her back had stolen the very galaxies from it. In her lap and around her hips, brown bunnies snuffled and cuddled against her as she told them a story, a smile on her lips.

Sakura woke with the smile still pulling at her cheeks, but when she tried to remember her words, nothing came.

Around her, the room buzzed with others getting ready for the school day. Sakura took a moment to stretch before drawing back her bed curtains and putting her feet upon the thick plush blue carpet that covered the room. She glanced around at the others, doing nothing different. Sakura half wondered if last night had been a dream or if they'd return to not acknowledging her existence now that they had the information about Itachi they wanted. Her fingers clutched at the royal blue curtain.

She took a deep breath and drew back her shoulders. "Good morning," she called out.

The eyes of her fellow roommates in the room went to her, and then their actions were immediate.

"Good morning, Sakura!" Io almost yelled while the others winced at Io's volume and greeted her with average good mornings.

Sakura's smile returned, a warm feeling in her chest. Today was going to be a good day.

She gathered her things and made her way to the bathroom. Chiharu and Mikki looked up from their seats before the vanity.

"Good morning," they both greeted, and Sakura greeted back.

And then Mikki's eyes glanced at Chiharu, and the next moment, Mikki slipped out of the bathroom.

Weird. And Awkward. Sakura bit her lip, glancing at the back of Mikki before turning her gaze to Chiharu.

Chiharu nibbled on her fingernail.

Sakura released the tension in her jaw. She wasn't going to let the troll in the room go unaddressed. "Was that weird, or just me?"

Chiharu's eyes widened, and her hand went from her face to claim her hair brush. She gave a strangled laugh. "No, it was weird. I asked Mikki to give us a bit of privacy earlier…." Her eyes drifted off before coming back to Sakura. "You looked like you wanted to talk about the war last night. The others don't like to bring it up. But if you do want to talk…"

Oh. Oh. Sakura gave a relieved sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sakura asked. She motioned to the hairbrush trembling in Chiharu's hands. "We… we don't have to."

Chiharu shook her head. "Being scared of something doesn't make it go away. I–" her lips pursed, "I didn't know them, but many of my family members died in the last war, all my uncles and aunts on my mother's side. There were five of them. My mother was the only one of her siblings–"

Her words stopped, and she turned back to the mirror and furiously began brushing her hair.

Sakura took the seat Mikki left open beside Chiharu and gently touched Chiharu's shoulder. "It's ok, we don't need to–"

"We do, though, don't we?" Chiharu whispered. After a moment, she set the hairbrush down and turned back to face Sakura, her movement stilted. While her eyes looked glassy, no tears fell from her face.

"Yeah," Sakura said softly. "I think it would be good to be prepared."

Chiharu gave a sharp nod in return. "What do you know about the last war and the one coming?"

Because it was coming, wasn't it? They both knew it.

In the hour Sakura usually found herself at least trying to look presentable and study, she instead found herself discussing her learnings and fears.

Sakura had been wrong about a couple of things. The biggest, the cause of the high death rate among muggle-borns. It hadn't been due to a lack of training. Many hadn't been sent out to die on some foreign battlefield. Instead, they'd been hunted down in their homes. They'd been alone and the only magical being in their households. Similar to Chiharu's mother's family. Their homes had been unwarded or barely so. They'd been attacked without warning, found and killed, sometimes in their beds. It was one of the reasons Chiharu's mother had married into a warding family.

All was fair game - young, old, and magicless - and wasn't that just chilling? Whatever it took to eliminate combatants and demoralize opponents. For some reason, Sakura expected magical warfare to be more targeted with less collateral. She assumed that her parents might, at worst, be upset with her death and potentially obliviated, not that they'd be in a coffin beside her. But the reality of the last war was different. War was war, regardless of the world it was fought in. It didn't matter who was at the end of the wand or gun.

"How did they find the houses?" Sakura asked, trying to focus on circumventing the image forming in her head as her fingernails dug into her palm, almost hard enough to cut.

"My family was well known. I'm not sure about muggle-borns. There are loads of magical and nonmagical ways to find someone. They could follow you home from the train station, a tracking charm, a letter sent by an owl, or perhaps the school registry… I don't remember anyone saying how. It was kept fairly hushed. I'm only aware because it happened to us. Harder to hide a magical name like ours, but my mother mentioned it had happened to a muggle-born schoolmate and blames herself. If she'd just taken action sooner..."

Sakura gulped. Could they already know her address?

As painful as the conversation was, they each seemed to gain something. Sakura, a damning truth never discussed in the paper. Chiharu, that the upper years had already begun squad training.

A knock sounded on the entryway to the bathroom, and both girls turned to see Io blushing at having disturbed them.

"Want to walk down to breakfast?" she asked.

Crap! Sakura scrambled and grabbed her clothes. She'd completely forgotten the time, sitting still in her pajamas.

Chiharu turned back to the mirror and frantically began braiding her hair. "Wait for us!"

Us. Us. There was something about the word that felt a lot like belonging. And regardless of the heavy topic they'd chatted about, Sakura couldn't shake the lightness in her steps.

As the day progressed, it became apparent that while her roommates had realistic expectations about her relationship with Itachi Uchiha, his adoring fan club did not. That morning, the 2nd-years grumbled at her as she passed and scowled in her general direction. But at noon, things changed. It turned out that Professor Hatake's curriculum to teach his first human offensive spell, the stinging hex, happened in mid-November on a Tuesday.

Nobody left Professor Hatake's class without learning something. And learn they did.

No matter where she went, in the hallways and bathrooms and lunch, she'd get a sharp pinch on her back or ass. Of course, they were just 2nd-years. They didn't have the best aim, and the spell they were using was pretty weak from how young they were and the fact they had just learned it. The hex barely left a mark, a small red spot. Not even a bruise.

Instead of turning them in, Sakura opted for a different approach. Defense training.

It wasn't like they did a lot of dueling in her Defense class, and the conversation from this morning hung heavy upon her shoulders. She'd make use of whatever she could. She'd toss up a Protego shield spell or variation if she couldn't take evasive action. By the end of the day, she could protect her entire body, even her back. Her eyes narrowed in determination at each flick of her wand. One day, she would make it wide enough to enclose those she loved.

That being said, she also considered her environment and positioning. She had her behind against a wall in the library so it wouldn't get pinched and where she could have a 180-degree view of the area and book aisles in front of her. The young girls were foolish enough to only utilize the first two aisles on the left to lead the offense, although Sakura kept an eye on the right just in case they switched tactics.

However, their positioning on the left also meant they were more likely to hit the person sitting on her left. As it turned out, they had very poor aim with the spell they had just learned, and the more tired they got, the sloppier they were becoming.

Thus, poor Sasuke was starting to get the brunt of the hexes. Even though Sakura kept attempting to stretch out her Protego shield, it still wasn't enough to cover his whole body.

Sasuke, however, was a quick study. The second she started to cast Protego, he would too. Sadly though, his reflexes and speed were not quite up to par. But he'd only been at this for fifteen minutes, not multiple hours.

"Tch," he hissed as another hit him on the shoulder. He turned to the side, whipped his wand, and returned fire. His stinging hex zinged through the small opening between several books on the third shelf.

"Ow!" a voice cried from behind the book aisle.

Sasuke had a much better aim than the 2nd-years. That had been a direct hit.

"You'll get in trouble," Sakura whispered, although she couldn't help the smile of vindication creeping on her face. She struggled to contain it before scolding him, "Also, you shouldn't pick on 2nd-year girls."

"They started it. I don't care what year or gender they are. My clan's honor is at stake. I won't get pinched just so they can have some laughs."

"They weren't aiming at you," Sakura said, smile slipping out again. "They just have terrible aim." Really, really terrible aim. It was almost cute now how ferocious they were attempting to be.

Sasuke froze, and his eyes narrowed on Sakura. "Why are they aiming at you?"

"I made them angry." Sakura shrugged. "It's nothing, really. Just a girl thing."

Sasuke raised a brow. "A 'girl thing?'"

"Sorry I'm late," Naruto saddled into the seat across from Sakura and Sasuke and into the direct line of fire.

Uh-oh.

"Protego," Saura cast, forcing the magic out to get a wider shield.

It didn't reach Naruto, but it did cause him to go on alert. He fell out of his seat just in time to avoid getting shot. The weak spell was then absorbed by the shield.

Sasuke returned fire.

"Ow!"

"This library is not a spellcasting playground," The librarian rounded on them, her wrinkles jiggling in anger. "Out - all of you. This instant!"

Sakura bolted to her feet at the unfairness. They'd been trying to study. "They are the ones that started it," she accused, pointing at the aisle the hexes had come from.

"Except the only spells I saw were yours. Get out. No buts!"

"But–" Naruto whined.

The librarian drew her wand from her gray knotted bun.

They scrambled to grab their supplies and rushed out of the library. Naruto turned around, stuck out his tongue at the librarian, and ducked out of the entryway when she shot a spell at him.

"I had just gotten there," Naruto complained.

"They should have been sent out, too," Sakura said. The lack of justice stung.

"This way, we will at least get a chance to study." Sasuke let out a long sigh. "Have they been doing that in the hallway too? I thought you were just studying for defense more than normal."

Sakura could only smile back. She usually would be angry, but not even the 2nd-year girls could dampen her mood from the fact she and Shikamaru had eaten breakfast lunch with her dormmates, much to Shikamaru's chagrin.

Sakura pumped her fist at Sasuke's scowl. "Don't worry about me, Sasuke. Their spells are weak, and I'm getting pretty good at Protego. I can pretty much cast it in a millisecond. I can't wait for Professor Hatake to pair us up for dueling again."

"Hn."

Sakura gave a laugh and then looped her arms around both of the boys' shoulders. Thank goodness they weren't too tall. Not yet.

Sasuke stiffened at the touch at first but then relented. Naruto, on the other hand, looped a hand back on her.

"Come on, let's go find an empty classroom. I've already made notecards," Sakura said.

Naruto groaned and dropped his hand.

If there was one way to butter up Naruto…. "If we do well, let's call it for the day and get some hot chocolate from the kitchens."

Naruto perked up at that. "Oh! And let's get an early dinner and crash in the Hufflepuff dorm."

"We could play Gobstones," Sasuke smirked and stared at Naruto. "Unless you're scared of getting beat and squirted again."

It riled Naruto precisely as intended. "I'll beat you, believe it!"

Sakura laughed, a warm feeling in her chest. "I do have to go to tutoring tonight, but if we get done quickly enough, let's play a few games." Not that she particularly liked getting stinky, but the chance of getting the Gobstones to squirt Sasuke was worth the risk. Whenever she won, he always looked like he swallowed a lemon.

"Tutoring? You got tutored yesterday, though," Naruto pouted.

"I've got a new tutor. Itachi is tutoring me now," Sakura told him. "He wants to meet every day until I get better. The last potions exam…." Sakura winced. "I got lucky. Professor Chiyo let me retake it."

Sasuke scoffed. "I'd never seen such a bad potion before. But, you got crazy lucky nothing blew up. I'd have thought you were making another potion entirely with all the different ingredients you put in. I saw someone chop rat livers out of the corner of my eye and, for a moment, thought I was doing something wrong. Then I looked and saw it was you."

"Thanks, appreciate the confidence boost."

Both Naruto and Sasuke laughed with her. They weren't the best in potions either, but they were at least good enough to avoid a failing grade. But not much better than that. Otherwise, their study group would have focused on that subject too. Would Itachi be as evil to Sasuke as he was to her, though? Probably not.

As they settled into their new seats, Sasuke turned to her. "Is Itachi really tutoring you?"

"Yeah." Sakura shifted uneasily. "Is that alright?"

Sasuke paused in thought before giving a shrug. "It's probably nothing but… Just be aware he's a bit of a stickler for perfection."

Sakura gave a snort. "Oh, I already know. You're a day late and a dollar short."

However, later that evening, 'knowing it' and 'enduring it' were two different things.

Sakura bit down on her tongue for the sixth time as she watched her cauldron's contents vanish.

"What was wrong with it?" Itachi asked casually like he hadn't asked the question over forty times - even for the ingredient prep work.

She swallowed down a growl. If she answered wrong, then she was in for a lecture. Already it was close to curfew, and she'd barely had time to finish it if she restarted now.

He'd opted to return to 4th-year material because she'd have to make the potion in class tomorrow. This round had been going so well. She'd slivered and diced ingredients to perfection, prepping the ingredients she'd need quickly so she didn't mess up the timing like she'd done several times before.

Her fingers followed the recipe, looking for anything she might have missed. Itachi let her go to the end earlier when she messed up something at step three, not even two hours ago. But everything was right. Her labels had been double-checked, and she'd weighed and counted all the ingredients thrice. And the ingredient prep… There was no way she'd have gotten those wrong with the number of times he'd had her redo them. Her mother would probably be astounded at her newly found knife skills. If her mom ever learned of them, Sakura's sure she'd be set to do all the pasting, dicing, slicing, and chiffonading in the kitchen for the rest of her life.

Her eyes narrowed at the empty cauldron. Well. If the ingredients were correct, what else could have gone wrong?

She'd stirred clockwise, tapping her foot to the tune Itachi had taught her to keep time so that she stirred for exactly a minute and fifteen seconds before switching to figure eights for another minute and fifteen. She nodded to herself. She was confident she'd done it correctly. The color had been right to this point. She moved on to the next step. Frog bones. Freshly peeled and cleaned of ligaments. Simmering for another twenty. She'd been so close to the end. It couldn't be, could it?

"Nothing."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, but other than that, his face and tone remained expressionless. "Nothing?"

Why did he have to ask it like that? She swayed uncertainly on her feet before returning to the book and recipe. She reviewed the steps three more times. She could recite it in her sleep now. She looked up. The same expression was on his face. Once more, once more, she'd review it and her notes.

After another five minutes, her answer didn't change. Although the amount of sweat accumulating on her back did. "Nothing was wrong with the potion. It would have been correct if I let it simmer for another four minutes and removed and cooled it." She raised her gaze, watching as no muscle in his face twitched. She held her breath.

After what felt like a minute of hesitation, he finally answered her, "Correct. You accurately followed the potion recipe."

After gasping for air, Sakura couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She could feel it press to her ears. She'd done it! Finally!

"You've time to sharpen your blades before returning to the dorm. If you successfully create this potion tomorrow in class, we'll move on to the next potion. Otherwise, you'll be making this again."

Sakura bounced on the balls of her feet in her own excitement. Her face was hurting from all the smiling. "And the book?" Sakura asked.

Itachi raised a brow. "What about it?"

"Will I get to read it if I make it correctly in class?" She widened her eyes, attempting to be more Bunny-like.

"No."

"But why?" she asked, wanting to stomp her foot at the injustice. "You said that if I did well, I'd be able to read from the book."

"You did adequately; you followed the instructions precisely. Had you told me that while accurate, the viscosity of the concoction had been off due to using stale newt eyes, I would have let you read a chapter."

Sakura sputtered. "But, the potion," she motioned at the empty cauldron.

"There's more to potion making than following the recipe. An acceptable student follows it, an exceeding student understands it, and an outstanding student adjusts it. Had you balanced the potion to account for staler newt eyes..." Itachi leaned in close, his breath brushing her cheeks and right ear. He pitched his voice low in a seductive whisper, "I would have let you read to your heart's content."

Her heart's content?

He removed his hands from the tabletop and knocked on the top of the wood. "Sharpen the blade and head to bed. I expect to hear that you've made progress tomorrow from Professor Chiyo. I need to meet with Ouka before she starts her rounds."

Itachi then paused, and his knuckles rapped the table again. "Speaking of that book, though. I'd like you to meet me on my rounds Friday evening. I'd like to show you where I'll be meeting with Madara on Saturday, and we'll need to plan a way for you to hide. He hasn't said when he'll arrive, but knowing him, I suspect it will be early morning."

He looked expectantly at her.

"Friday night, common room. Got it," Sakura repeated.

And then, with that, Itachi turned and left the room.

Friday! Answers! Sakura broke into a cheer, but then her arms hung dumbly in the air. Wait. He would have let her read to her heart's content? Sakura's lips twisted in thought if she could have answered one measly little question. How could one balance a potion for stale newt eyes?

Her mind scrambled to find an answer but came up with a blank. She gave a groan. Life would be so much simpler in the magical world if there was an internet connection and a search engine. Maybe she'd make that her life's work.

She turned her attention to the task at hand, inspecting her blade. Itachi was right. It had dulled from all her work tonight, probably because the beetle abdomens needed to be cut on granite instead of a standard walnut cutting board. Why? She had no idea, but it was in the instructions. She referenced her equipment guide. The tiny chip meant she would have to return to using the whetstone instead of the honing strap. Great.

The preparation paid off. Professor Chiyo pretended to have a heart attack when she extended over a perfectly made healing potion. After that, the hag started cackling like crazy after giving her an E. Sakura felt assured that at least there would be no dead Professor Hatake tonight.

She owed Itachi a thank you. For the first time, she'd tackled a potion with confidence. Probably because she'd made it so many times with the restarts. She wanted to say it was perfect, but Itachi's word of adequate hung in her mind. Now the question was how did she get to the next level so she could read the next chapter of the book?