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Hunter	By : Zelha Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 3374 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, duh. I only own a pair of sleepers, so obviously I don't make any profit with this story.

Chapter List
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Disclaimer: I don’t own, or course. Not Naruto, nor Bjork’s songs. I do own a black cloak, but with no red
clouds. -pouts-.

Summary: Just when Sakura thought things couldn’t get
worse, she is forced to deal with a coolly and infuriating Uchiha. Compelled
by her skill and abrasive attitude, said Uchiha finds the pink-haired medic...
intriguing. Clearly, Fate was out of its mind.

AN: Hay there! I just want to point out that this
is my take on Non-Massacre!AU
ItaSaku, so please bear with me with the apparent
OOC-ness that I’m sure will follow in the present plot. I believe that Itachi
wouldn’t be so friggin’ psychotic insane if he didn’t
find out about you know who, so this
would be probably not so cool for the Canon!Itachi
fans. I’ve planned the whole story already, and most of the manga
arcs will be revisited and twisted from the point of view of the main
characters. Also, I'd like to tip my hat at Paws Bells and her stories, because
they were the ones that prompted my lovely bunny!muse to gnaw at my ear. Thank you for reviving my
muse!

For the
ones that want to find out about this madness, welcome and enjoy your stay!

To Adri. To Mitsuki. To Mary.
To Jess.

Hunter

Chapter 1: All is Full
of Love

The forest
smelled like always did. Birds and little animals were in their peaceful place,
while the wind swished gently among the dark green leaves of the trees.

Now if those two idiots stopped bickering, I
could try to soothe my migraine, a certain pink-haired medical kunoichi thought while rubbing her
fingertips on her temples.

The mission
had been quite easy for the infamous Team Seven. Naruto and Sasuke handled all
the bad guys, as usual, while their team leader drowned himself in his smutty
book. Good thing for his two star pupils that their third member was a female
that had a gentle healing touch as well as a nasty right hook.

Pity for
them as well, because they just didn’t realize how leveled she was with them.

“Headache,
Sakura?” Kakashi asked good-naturedly, without looking up from his reading. An
unladylike grunt served as answer enough for him, which prompted him to gaze at
his female former student.

“Come on,
Sasuke-teme! You know we had them until you chose to go all Shishi-Rendan
on the leader of the rogue nins!” a male but whiny
voice trailed back to her ears.

“Whatever,
dobe,” a deep voice in front of her answered, full of scorn and derision. “Your
Rasengan was too flashy for them. You might as well
wave a Konoha flag under their noses.”

“Why-you!--”

“Now now,
Naruto, Sasuke, remember your promise back in Wave,” Kakashi interjected. Both
young men scoffed at their sensei, but soon enough Sasuke tensed, activating
his Sharingan.

“Teme, what
the-” Kakashi bounced quickly in front of them, putting a hand in front of the
blond nin, stopping his whole team in two branches.

“Shhh,” he motioned Sakura to come forward. “We have
company.”

With an
inward groan, the pink-haired girl controlled her urge to roll her eyes and
obeyed her leader.

-X-

Dropping to
the dirt, the four ninjas approached cautiously the four bodies that lay in
front of them. Kakashi sighed deeply and slid down his hitai-ate, covering his
Sharingan.

“All clear,
but these fellows are injured,” he said, looking to one of their fallen comrades.

Sakura went
forward, pulling off her gloves. “I need to check on them for poison before
taking them back to the village,” she said, already in her medic mode. Kakashi
nodded, but nonetheless stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Try to
heal all the wounds you can, but don’t remove their masks,” he warned
seriously. “They are ANBU; therefore their identity must remain anonymous.”

“I know,
Kakashi-sensei, who do you think you’re talking to?” the scorned medic threw a
glare at him before kneeling next to the first White Op.

“Naruto, be
a dear and bring me some fresh water and your pack—no, on second thought I
think I’ll go with Kaka-sensei’s... gah, I think my
own sheets would be more sanitary than all of yours combined.”

“Sakura-chan,
that was mean,” the whiskered shinobi pouted. “I bathed in the rived before
entering Fire Country!”

“Which was
almost four days ago,” Sasuke added with a disgusted grimace.

“Sasuke-kun,
do you have extra bandages? This ANBU-san has deep gashes in his left leg.”

He reached
them to her wordlessly, already knowing that Sakura was beyond reasoning when
she was tending to a patient. She placed them on her lap to avoid dirtying them
by putting them on the ground, as tendrils of her chakra worked diligently on
the wounds with a soft, warm green glow.

The man
started when he regained consciousness, but Kakashi was already at his side.
“Relax. We’re on your side.”

“Hatake-sempai,”
a male muffled voice came out from the mask. “Where are we?”

“Concussion,”
Sakura reported as she moved one of her hands on his head while the other was
securing the bandage on his leg. “Tell me, ANBU-san, how much time has passed
since the Sandaime’s passing?”

“Oh... almost eight years, I think... or maybe seven years?”

“Let’s stay
at a mild concussion then, eh? Which is your favorite color?”

“...Blue,”
she got as an answer and snorted. “Of course, ANBU-san.
I would have been really worried if you said pink. Can you stand now?”

Promptly
pulled up by the medic and the seasoned Copy Nin, the man stood shakily on his
feet.

“Excellent,
ANBU-san!” she cheered as she kneeled next to the second operative. “Don’t put
too much weight on that leg until you’re properly treated in the hospital,
please. Now... let’s patch up the second ANBU-san.”

-X-

It took a
while, but soon enough she got to kneel at the fourth and last ANBU’s side. But
apparently he was awake, for his hand shot up to grip hers in a bruising hold.

“Ow! ANBU-san, you’re hurting your medic!” she exclaimed, but
she didn’t try to pull away because she knew how paranoid ninja were with
struggling people, especially when they had just regained consciousness. The
hand relaxed minutely when the masked face peered up and saw the woman’s
features hovering on his, apparently examining her.

“This is
Haruno Sakura, ANBU-taichou,” Kakashi helped clear
the man’s indecision by tipping Sakura’s hitai-ate forward until it was on her
forehead. “Surely you know about Tsunade-sama’s apprentice.”

The man
nodded slowly, releasing his grasp.

“We’re coming
back from a mission in Wave,” the silver-haired seasoned Jounin explained. “We
stumbled on you guys here. How many are in your squad? Four?”

The masked
ninja nodded again after a bit of hesitation. “All are safe and sound, though,”
Kakashi continued, watching how the lean White Op kept his tense stance.
“Haruno-san here patched them up and they’re just waiting for your command.”

“And you’re
set, ANBU-san,” she said, patting his shoulder. “Only a few kunai scratches and
some senbon punctures.”

“We can
accompany you back to the village,” Naruto offered, walking up to the masked
group’s leader. “It’s better if we are in a larger group to avoid more bad
guys. I’m sure they’ll run away if we’re together!”

Only then,
the ANBU Captain spoke, startling the youngsters with his cold and detached
voice seeping through his mask.

“We will
resume our patrolling task,” he said. “We appreciate the help, but we need to
go back to our duties.”

“What? Are
you mad?” Sakura blurted out in shock. “Your teammates are exhausted and with
no chakra to counter another attack like you just survived! How do you think
all of you can resume the patrolling if you are about to drop?”

“Haruno-san,”
another White Op said soothingly, but apparently aware of his Captain’s sudden
tenseness of shoulders, “it’s okay; we can carry on with our mission.”

“Gah!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air
regardless of the fact that she had the remaining of Sasuke’s bandages in her
grasp. “You ANBU are a bunch of reckless idiots! Go and get yourself killed, I
don’t care. But I’m telling Tsunade-sama of this encounter!”

“Medic,” the
masked Captain said, with a hint of annoyance in his tone. “You will not do
such a thing. We need to resume our appointed task; we cannot go back to Konoha
without completing our scouting.”

“Do
whatever you want, ANBU-san” she growled, pulling her gloves back on.
“Kaka-sensei, Naruto, Sasuke-kun, let’s go. We are already late and I don’t
like to disappoint my shishou by pulling a Kakashi.”

“Now
Sakura, that was mean even for you.”

The ANBU
squad stood surrounding the jounins. “Thank you for
taking care of us,” said the one that had addressed to her before. “We owe you
one, Haruno-san.”

“Yeah,
yeah,” she dismissed the praise with a wave of her hand. “Remember that when
you collapse from fatigue because your Captain is a freaking hard-headed
moron.”

“Sakura-chan!”
Naruto seemed scared of the irritation that rolled out from the ANBU’s aura.

“What,
ANBU-san?” she asked, smiling sweetly up at the White Op as she snapped closed
her medical bag. “Want to report my rudeness towards you? You are most welcome
to do it – but you’d have to get back to the village to actually file a
complaint against me.”

And with
that, she bounced to a tree and disappeared through the foliage. Kakashi bowed
stiffly to the ANBU, trying to do some damage control as the other two followed
the irate pink-haired medic.

“I’m sorry
about that... she had a bad time in our mission. My deepest
apologies, Itachi-san.”

“Do not
worry, Kakashi-san,” the man responded with a dry voice. “I will not report
her. But you will. Good afternoon.”

The ANBU
disappeared from sight, leaving a rather shocked Copy Ninja.

“Dammit.”

-X-

“You have
some guts to speak like that to an ANBU Captain, Sakura,” Tsunade scolded severely
to her sheepish apprentice, who flushed in embarrassment and anger at being
told off. “However, you are right. They should have gone back to the village if
they were so badly injured. You know your field of expertise, I’m sure of that.
But I’m afraid I’ll have to punish you for your bad manners towards a high-ranked
officer.”

“What?!
But that’s so unfair, shishou!” she protested, not daring to gaze at Naruto’s
and Sasuke’s eyes, for she knew that Naruto would sport a look of pity and
Sasuke a glance full of smugness. This humiliation hurt her more than Tsunade’s
reprimand.

“Shush,
we’ll talk about this later. Go take a nap in the medic’s lounge and report
back in four hours, we have a rather interesting sealing procedure to do this
evening. The rest of you, scram, I’m tired of seeing your dumb faces.”

Sakura just
wanted for the ground to split and swallow her. How stupid had she been by
going against a higher-ranked shinobi? Sure it felt good at the time, but now
she realized her mistake. No matter how stubborn that ANBU was, now she had to
pay for her rudeness. And being humiliated in front of Sasuke was worst than
any punishment.

“That
sucked big time, Sakura-chan,” Naruto tried to reassure her by pulling her to a
one-armed side hug. “But I know what’ll cheer you up: Lunch! My treat! And then
you can take that nap and go to work in the hospital full of energy!”

“Sounds
like a plan, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline my part,” Kakashi butted in,
waving goodbye to his students. “I need to run some errands, see you later!”

“Psh! That Kaka-sensei always thinks we’re going to
pull a trick to see his face again!” Naruto complained loudly, as his teammates
reached the bottom of the stairs of the Hokage Tower
and made their way through their bustling village, reaching the path that
divided the way to the Uchiha District from the other streets, which was
flanked by stone benches. “So, want to go, Sakura-chan?”

“Well...
are you coming with us, Sasuke-kun?” she ventured shyly, finally gazing at the
dark-haired ninja. “We haven’t had lunch yet...”

“I’m off,”
he rebuked coldly. “I need to go report to my Chichiue
and resume my training. Fugaku-sama would not appreciate me being late.”

“But,
Sasuke-kun, I thought we could--”

“I’m going
to say this one more time, Sakura: I don’t have time for stupid and annoying things
like dates and stuff. Don’t ask me again, this is getting obnoxious. Jeez.”

“Teme!
Don’t talk like that to Sakura-chan!” Naruto came in her defense, but the
Uchiha was already too far away to acknowledge them, his back displaying the
red Uchiha fan that was the renowned crest of his clan. “Oh come on,
Sakura-chan, I’m sure he doesn’t mean it...”

Sakura
tightened her lips in an attempt to squash her urge to cry but failing
miserably. Hot, bitter tears rolled down her cheeks, as Naruto pulled her to a
hug, trying to comfort her as he led her to one of the benches.

“There,
there...” he soothed, awkwardly patting her back. “I’m sure he’s just being an
asshole because he’s tired and he just wants to sleep, that’s all--”

“No,
Naruto...” she sobbed, wiping her tears angrily. “He’s right. I should train
more, be stronger – I should stop asking him... he’s not going to accept me
ever.”

“That’s not
true, Sakura-chan,” the blond replied hotly. “I’m sure he will open his eyes
soon, you just need to give him some time, that’s all!”

“What,
eight more years, Naruto?” she asked, shaking her head in defeat, still crying.
“I waited for eight years and he never made an attempt to be kind to me. He
just didn’t care when I went out with Neji or Kiba. He never cared enough to
ask if I was injured or exhausted. He just called me annoying and weak... and
he was right. I am weak, I am annoying...”

“Oh come
on, Sakura-chan, that’s so not true!” Naruto interjected, pulling back and
looking directly to her lovely but puffy emerald eyes. “How can you be weak
when you can punch an entire
building down? And how can you be annoying when you are the most caring person
I’ve ever met? You heal people without asking anything in return, even if
they’re assholes like that ANBU back in the forest... you are strong and
awesome, Sakura-chan, don’t think differently!”

“He’s
right, you know,” a deep voice signaled Kakashi’s arrival to the stone bench
they were sitting on. “I’m sorry for being such a snitch, Sakura. I had to tell
the Hokage about our rendezvous with the ANBU squad.”

“Whatever,
Kaka-sensei,” she sniffled, taking his offered handkerchief. “I know you had to
do it. I’m not mad at you. I’m... disappointed at my lack of control... I
should have gone straight to Tsunade-shishou and told
her about those ANBU’s injuries, but my anger got the better of me.”

“Don’t let
your emotions cloud your judgment, Sakura,” her team leader recited softly.
“But don’t let your self-esteem be stomped by anyone. You are a valuable asset
to Konoha; you are one of the top medic-nins in the whole village. Remember
what you have trained under Tsunade-sama, remember those times you bested one
of my traps. You are smart and strong, Sakura. Don’t let anyone belittle you.”

“You guys
are so right...” she said with a deep sigh. “But Sasuke- ... Sasuke’s words are
correct. I need to train more and forget about shallow things, like dating and
whatnot. I need to prove that I’m more than a stupid, annoying girl.”

“There’s a
few ways to prove that, Sakura,” Kakashi added with an eye crease, pointing at
the hospital. “In there, or in the field. And you know
how I don’t like that place, but if it’s you who treats me, I’ll get myself
inside willingly.”

“Liar,” she
smiled and hiccupped. “You go to the hospital only when you’re half-dead and
unconscious.”

“But still
I get your five-star treatment, Sakura-chan!” he shot back with a hidden grin,
knowing that his words would bristle his pink-haired friend. True to his
thought, he received an exasperated punch in his arm in retaliation.

“Idiot!”
she yelled, and then burst out laughing with Naruto at the sudden dejected look
on Kakashi’s face. “Thank you guys... I don’t know I would do without you.”

“Maybe you
should take that rest that Tsunade-sama said, you need to restore your chakra,”
Naruto said, scratching his head thoughtfully. “I kinda
wanted to go to Ichiraku, but I hadn’t seen that it’s almost sunset...”

“Go,
Naruto,” Sakura said with a wet smile. “I’ll go to the hospital now. Rain check
on that lunch?”

“Sure,
Sakura-chan!” he waved enthusiastically, bidding goodbye to his pink-haired
best friend. “See you tomorrow for training!”

Watching
her retreating back, he sighed. “Say, Kaka-sensei, are you sure she’ll be
okay?”

“I’m sure
of that, Naruto,” the older man responded, his nose already buried in his book.
“Looks can be deceiving. She is stronger than most shinobi.”

“I hope
you’re right...” the blond ninja sighed. “Eight years after our graduation and
Sasuke still has that pole of ice stuck up his ass. I still don’t see why he’s
so intent in proving he’s a worthy son to that imbecile of a father he has.
He’s a jounin already!”

“It’s
better not to ask, Naruto,” Kakashi sighed behind his Icha Icha.
“So how about that ramen? I hope you’re still hungry.”

“Yeah, I’m
starving!” the other agreed, bobbing his head and sending his wild locks flying
around his head. “It’s your turn to invite me though, Kaka-sensei!”

“Hmm?
Yeah, sure,” the silver-haired mumbled, in a tone that implied a certain
vanishing of its owner once the meal was consumed.

-X-

Entering
the medic’s lounge, Sakura let out a deep sigh.

Padding
silently to a bed in a corner, she placed her sandal boots at the foot of it
while she folded her dirty clothes, placing them on a chair.

Dressed in
a white jumpsuit that all medic-nins wore when they were on hospital duty, she
finally laid down on the bed. The shower she just had merely refreshed her
body, but did nothing to soothe her pained heart.

Eight years, she mused as she turned to her side, facing
the wall. Eight years and he still hadn’t
paid the slightest attention to me.

‘Maybe it
is time to let go of this crush’, her Inner personality intoned in a defeated
voice. ‘He only cares about his family, his career and his success’.

He doesn’t care about me, no matter how Naruto
keeps trying to get him to open up to us.

Sakura
curved her lips in a tender smile.

Naruto... it’s
ironic how the parentless of our team looks after us like he is our real father,
even more than Kakashi. Those two are
so precious to me. They were so right. It was time to let go and take care
of her own self. It was time to shake the ground and let the whole Konoha see
how much she had grown under Tsunade’s wing.

Sakura
closed her eyes, tears of humiliation and disappointment seeping from the closed
eyelids as she curled in her sleep.

-X-

Yawning
widely behind her hand, she accepted one of the energy bars that a nurse handed
to her.

“This is
better than a soldier pill,” the nurse had babbled as they made her way through
the hospital hallways. “It helps to rebuild the chakra storages and gives the
body plenty of energy. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you I sent your clothes to
the laundry, Sakura-sama; I expect them back from the cleaners in two hours at
maximum.”

“Good,
good, thank you very much, Yuuki,” she said between
munches, throwing a smile at the nurse trying not to spew her bites out. She
swallowed, “Tsunade-sama said something about a sealing procedure, am I right?
Where it is being held?”

The nurse
extended a medical chart on Sakura’s hand. “Tsunade-sama asked Shizune-sama to
attend the sealing procedure. It seemed a bit of an emergency, so they couldn’t
wait for you... however she asked me to give you these cases, an ANBU squad
just came back and they need to be tended to; almost all of them are badly
injured, but the Captain doesn’t allow anyone to get close to him to check on
his wounds.”

Sakura
sighed, a pink eyebrow twitching in silent frustration. “Why
those ANBU are so freaking stubborn, Yuuki?
Which is his room?”

Watching
the female stalking down the hallway, the nurse sighed in relief. She surely
was a lovely young lady, but sometimes her temper was worse than the Hokage’s.

“Good,
you’re awake, ANBU-san,” Sakura saluted coolly before dropping the chart on his
bed, not caring about the sudden tense posture, noting his stained bandages. “Awesome sight. Red is certainly a good color.”

This seemed
to still the masked White Op, allowing the pink-haired medic to do her job. “Two broken ribs and a punctured lung. No wonder you’re
upset, ANBU-san, but if you kept refusing treatment you would have died from
respiratory arrest. That doesn’t sound cool, I believe?”

No words
came out from the white rodent mask. A weasel, she noted absently, musing about
how strange was that mask when all the ANBU forces had masks related to the
zodiac. She figured this Op wasn’t as religious as the others, as she closed up
the lung and digging two fingers on his ribcage, motioning the ribs back to
their rightful position, effectively sealing them with a surge of green chakra.

Sakura
belatedly noted how the man didn’t flinch under her ministrations. His control
was impressive, she realized, any other person would have screeched into next century
when moving the rib shards so close of the lungs and heart, but he seemed quite
at ease with himself despite his obvious tense shoulders.

Sending
another wave of chakra to numb and soothe the soreness of the newly healed
wounds, she wrapped his torso in bandages and finally pushed his shoulder
softly, prompting him to lie down in the bed.

“You are to
rest here until I come back with your release form,” she said offhandedly,
checking the clock that hanged in the wall next to the bed, gasping when she
took in the evening hour that was displayed. “I can’t believe I missed the
first drawing of the seal! Stay put, ANBU-san, I’ll come back in an hour.”

Closing the
door hurriedly but silently, she ran up the hallway, leaving a nonplussed ANBU
operative alone in his hospital bed.

Hidden by
the mask, Uchiha Itachi allowed himself a raise of his brows and a deep sigh of
relief, his mind already processing the rather odd behavior of the female that
had all but challenged him in the forest without even knowing who he was.

How interesting, he mused inwardly, closing his Sharingan eyes
in a silent respite.
-XxX-
Much love for Sometime.Usagi for her awesome beta!
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