Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

An Unlikely Seduction	By : Mihkail Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Itachi/Sakura Views: 10876 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, and I do not profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
Sakura didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the bathroom, alone...but it felt like eternity. It didn't help whatsoever that she hadn't known what time it was when she was so rudely awakened in the first place. Now, she was left without a clock, in a small, humid room, with almost no sound to distract her. Only her thoughts kept her company...and they did a dreadful job.

Never in her life had she imagined she would be cornered into a predicament like this. The world's cruelest joke was being played on her, and it had lost its humor a long, long time ago.

On occasion, she'd hear some footsteps trail past the door. The first couple of times, it fed her with a fresh surge of adrenaline, for whether it was the threat of Itachi or Sasuke opening the door on her, neither option was a comforting thought. But after the third time, she began to feel a false sense of security. Then, after the fourth time...she just felt lonely.

She didn't want their company, though. She wanted answers. She wanted things to make sense. She wanted to feel the freedom of open spaces and blue skies again, instead of this house that made her feel like she was caught in enemy territory without a friend, where the slightest error could trigger a domino effect of chaos. She wanted to feel safe.

This was anything but safe.

One person in this house needed to be avoided at all costs. The other, whom she was forced to gift all her trust to, and completely rely on, wasn't even someone she understood...at all. Not even a little bit.

Why couldn't it just be over? What was taking him so long? If they had even spoken to one another once Itachi left the bathroom, it was out of her earshot, for she hadn't heard a damn thing. It wasn't just nerve-wracking, it was excruciating.

Now, one might think being stuck in a bathroom all alone would afford the perfect opportunity for her to reflect on the situation at hand, and at the very least, use it to gain some insight into understanding herself better, and possibly making some changes. Nope. It wasn't working. Her thoughts were a tornado, at their calmest moment, and they swirled with every conceivable negative emotion possible, from worry, to doubt, to shame, to anger and resentment, to even a creeping desire for some kind of vengeance on Itachi for...reasons she wasn't even sure were rational anymore.

But once in a while, she'd shock herself by considering walking out of the bathroom, with only her towel to cover her, retrieving her yukata from the tearoom, and leaving their house without even trying to conceal her presence. If Sasuke saw her, then whatever. To hell with him.

That particular thought was always counter-attacked with an even stronger burst of fear and resistance, however. Despite how relieving the idea of ending her stress so easily and quickly was, she knew it would only spell disaster in the long-run.

A deflated look aimed at the cupboards across from her. Her face hung, literally, with the corners of her lips sagging into a slight frown, and her tired eyes seeming to droop under the weight of her emotions. Her hair was still damp, and hung messily as she had yet to brush it. The simple, white towel barely covered her, with one corner tucked into her modest cleavage, and the bottom parting open slightly as her legs stretched out flat.

She felt sorry for herself, and her body language was incapable of hiding that fact. Itachi might have stopped and made her think when he asked her why she had stayed...but it hadn't been enough to make her reevaluate her perception of everything, including him, the way it should have.

The exhaustion that masked her face disappeared with tensing muscles and widening eyes the second she heard something quietly bump her door. Helpless, her gaze aligned with the spot she anticipated seeing a face emerge at any moment, once the door would swish to the side. Instead, her skin prickled unpleasantly at the voice she soon heard booming down the hall.

"SASUKE."

Amazingly, Sakura didn't hold her breath this time. She felt numb, quite suddenly. Physically, she was cold, and her breathing was shallow...but in the split-second it took for her to realize that Sasuke was about to open the door, her mind shut off. She didn't care. She didn't have time to care anymore. All she did was stare and wait for the inevitable.

"What?" The loud voice of her teammate shot back, as he questioned his brother in a somewhat startled and annoyed tone.

Itachi must have given him a look, because she didn't hear him again before Sasuke continued.

"I have to use the bathroom!"

Sakura couldn't tear her eyes from the door. Even when one second turned into two, and then three, she was absent, somehow. Removed from reality, as if watching a memory from someone else's eyes. The panic never came. Everything within her was eerily still. A rather stark and unbelievable contrast to what she had experienced in her solitude moments ago. The was the exact opposite reaction she was expecting to have, when shit finally hit the fan.

"Just wait for me there. I'll be done in a minute. You need to warm up anyway." The sound of Itachi's voice, somewhat softer this time, reached her.

" Tch... Warm up..." Sasuke mumbled, as if offended.

"Fine. But I still have to use the bathroom."

"You can't, Sasuke. Piss outside." Itachi insisted, leaving no room for discussion.

"You don't piss outsi—...Ohh." It started as a sharp retort, and then faded, as if he suddenly realized why he couldn't open the door.

A sigh was the last thing she heard from him before he walked away.

When the silence returned, and the coast had cleared—seemingly—Sakura was still staring up at the door, motionless. She felt...nothing. Not even relief, oddly enough. Maybe it was because it had all happened so fast, and there had been no way to truly prepare herself for it, regardless of how much she had already thought about the moment Sasuke would find her. She didn't know... All she could register was an emptiness inside her. An abrupt void that had sucked away all the draining feelings she'd been harboring in the blink of an eye. Ironically, it made room for a faint sadness, once she began to think about what had happened...but nothing else.

Everything was quiet again. Too quiet. Hopefully that meant Sasuke had left the house, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

She imagined Itachi would have enough decency to let her know it was safe to come out. But...she had no way of knowing that, either.

After a second eternity had past—five minutes or fifty—she'd reached her limit. There hadn't been any footsteps in a while, and she was too impatient, exhausted, and annoyed to sit any longer. All she needed to do was make a bee-line to the tearoom, throw on her yukata, and zip out of their house. Wrap her obi? Nah, she'd just hold it closed and run down the street. It was that easy.

In theory.

But... If she did that, she wouldn't get to grill Itachi with any more questions.

Then again, he was about to leave anyway, so he probably wouldn't hang around long enough to answer them...and it wasn't worth her getting caught at this point. The stress of waiting around, never knowing what was going to happen to her next, was getting old.

Sakura sighed as she bolted up off the floor, and turned to face the door. She had made up her mind. There was no turning back. Taking a deep breath, she puffed up her chest, and outstretched a hand. It hovered in space as she felt her nerves begin to slip again...but then her eyes narrowed, and she willed herself to fling the door open and dart out.

Her bare feet took six quick steps down the hallway before stopping. The adrenaline had returned the moment she'd passed the door frame, but when she paused mid-step and put her hand against the wall, she felt the overwhelming urge to throw up. There was more than one door in this hallway, and she had no idea which one lead to the tearoom.

Was she really that stupid? How had she not thought of that? She'd never been in their house before! What if this wasn't even the right hall? She hadn't even opened her eyes until Itachi had set her down in the tub!

She couldn't just open any door. What if Sasuke was behind one?

No... Sasuke wouldn't be in any of the rooms. Itachi told him to leave. He should be gone.

But she didn't know that. She could only guess, like she was forced to do with so many other things. Guess, assume, wonder...pull out her hair.

Sakura shuddered as a chill went down her back. The kind of chill she sometimes got when stumbling through her own house in the middle of the night, usually because she had to go to the bathroom. Sometimes she'd get that eery feeling of being watched, and followed, and at any second a hand would reach out of the darkness and grab her. It wasn't something she admitted to anyone, since she was supposed to a be shinobi...and a shinobi being afraid of the dark in her own house was essentially the most ridiculous thing in the world.

And yet, that's exactly what she felt then. At any moment, something or someone was going to pop out of nowhere and ambush her...but this time, it was actually a possible scenario...sort of.

The creepy chill escalated into a full-blown panic, and before she could control herself, she dove for the closest door. The next thing she knew, she was panting lightly, pressed against the wall, and facing a clean and orderly bedroom. More importantly, an empty, clean and orderly bedroom.

As Sakura slowly calmed down, she glanced around. The bed was made, the hard floor was free of clothes and garbage—unlike Naruto's room—and quiet. The lights were off, leaving it rather dim...but it made her feel safe. Well, safer. And at least she was one step closing to finding the tearoom.

Posture slumping a little as her muscles relaxed, she was just about to peel her back from the wall when she heard the distant pattering of footsteps again. Sakura stared down at the floor, keeping as quiet as possible as she searched for a clue that would help her determine who was wandering around out there. If she heard the bathroom door open a few feet away, it'd have to be Itachi.

A door did open, however, it wasn't the bathroom door. In the couple of seconds it took for her to understand what was happening, there was a soft hiss of shifting wood, and a beam of hallway light breaking into the bedroom.

Sakura's mouth fell open in horror and she nearly fainted as Sasuke walked past her. His head was tilted down slightly with his dark hair masking his face. He appeared to be counting something in his palm as he wandered into the room, past his bed, and to his dresser that was decorated with a couple picture frames. A drawer slid open, and he dug though the contents.

Paralyzed at first, as if she'd already been caught, Sakura stayed longer than she should have. Much, much longer. But as he pulled out a couple of throwing stars, oblivious as ever with his back to her, she regained control of her limbs, and slipped out the open door into the hallway.

Her face felt hot and her heart pounded as she nearly tripped over herself scrambling to get away, and in her moment of blind desperation, her mind thought it was a great idea to sprint the rest of the way out of the house and out into the street without even her yukata. Just a small white towel. Yeah, she sure wouldn't cause a scene with that, right?

Fortunately, luck was still on her side, as before she could pass the last door and make a blind turn down another hall, a hand reached out seemingly from thin air—the very hand that commonly haunted her wild imagination in the dead of night—and yanked her into the room.

Her first instinct was to shriek, but she couldn't. A cramp tightened her throat as she was whirled back into the tearoom, and watched the blur of the door snapping closed in front of her. The hand dropped her arm, and she turned to looked up into the eyes of Itachi, pure delirious green meeting cold black.

"Sakura...please tell me you weren't about to run outside like that." He asked quietly, a hard look piercing her as he watched her stagger backwards and prop her butt against the wall. Her hands fell to her knees as she bent forward slightly, and hung her head while she gasped for air.

"He was right there...right there...he walked right past me..." She whispered through ragged breaths, feeling his gaze study her. Let him. She was just happy to safely hidden again.

"So you thought running outside in a towel that barely covers you was your only option?" His question was patient and curious, like an adult entertaining the wild irrationality of a small child that didn't know any better. It roused a spark of anger in her, and she grit her teeth as her eyes clenched shut.

"No." She snorted, and then tried to admit as calmly as possible, "I wasn't really thinking...I just did it..."

Sakura looked up at him, and sighed when she found him merely staring down at her, expecting a more elaborate and sensible explanation.

"He almost caught me. Twice."

"What took you so long?!" Her whisper was harsh as the agitation spilled to the surface, and she glared at him, further fueled by his continued indifference. Well, seeming indifference.

"You were in there for twenty minutes. You should have waited for me to come back." He murmured, calmly, of course.

Wide eyes beheld him as if he had just sprouted a new limb. There was no way she had only been in there alone for twenty minutes. It had felt like two hours.

"That was not twenty minutes! You left me in there for forever! All alone! I didn't know what to do! I was going to run here but I didn't know which room the tearoom was!"

Itachi quirked an eyebrow at her, causing her to pause and stare curiously at him. Then, she heard him sigh softly through his nose as he turned and picked something off the floor.

She looked down to see her yukata, which had been neatly folded with the obi in a smaller, perfect square on top, handed to her. Her blue panties, she would later discover, was sandwiched in between.

"You walked from the front door to the tearoom with me, and you forgot how to get here..."

She couldn't tell whether it was a hint of amusement, or a hint of condescension in his words...but the thought of either annoyed her even more. Yet, as she opened her mouth to retort defensively, she realized she had nothing useful to throw at him. And naturally, that only made her more angry.

So what if she'd forgotten how to get there? There was so much going on in her brain in such a short amount of time, and she'd panicked in the hallway. These weren't normal circumstances for her.

As she thought silently, searching for something clever or snarky to say, he glanced away from her with a dazed sort of look. She watched him closely, holding her folded clothes a bit too tightly.

"He's gone." He spoke after a minute, and then turned away from her.

Well... That was a relief. Finally, she didn't have to worry about getting caught anymore. Funny that he always seemed to pick up on things faster than she did. She hadn't heard anything. Sasuke must not have used the front door, as he would have had to pass their's to get to it.

Sakura's eyes followed him to the open doors which offered the colorful view of the garden beyond. It was the last thing he needed to take care of. The tea pot and tea cups had been cleaned and put away. His robe had disappeared. Her clothes had been delivered. The only thing left to do was to return the room to darkness.

He had already dressed as well, in a simple black shirt and dark blue pants. His hair, still damp, had been retied in a ponytail that hung low on his neck. As Sakura watched him close them in a dim, empty room, she began losing the nerve it took to lash out at him. Her anger hadn't subsided, necessarily, but coming up with something to say just for the sake of trying to win an argument seemed like too much effort.

Plus, she just figured he was about to leave now, and she realized that she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

When he turned around to face her, he glanced down at the yukata still folded in her hands.

"Are you going to put that on?"

Sakura looked down at it, forgetting for a second that she'd been holding it at all...and then felt a pang of guilt when she rediscovered how he had carefully folded the pieces of clothing.

"...Yeah..." She mumbled finally, slowly deflating as she turned her back to him and reluctantly shed her towel. Yes, she was trying to be modest again. It was a habit she still couldn't shake, but at least it was a good habit.

As she slipped her arms through the loose sleeves, it occurred to her that she hadn't heard any movement from him. She half-expected him to leave the room, though her distracted mind didn't account for the fact that she was currently standing in front of the only other door.

The obi unraveled slowly in her hands as an uncomfortable silence crept into the room. Uncomfortable for her, anyway. Itachi remained near the double doors opposite her, gaze locked to the floor as his own thoughts wondered through their secretive mazes.

Her fingers grew still, and tightened lightly on the silky fabric while the yukata hung loosely around her.

"So... That's it?" She gave a nervous, exasperated laugh.

"You're just going to leave. And...I'm going to leave. And...and that's it." She continued when she heard nothing.

A hand touched her shoulder, shocking her, right before she was about to turn around angrily to yell at him. She thought he was ignoring her, honestly. But he had moved from one end of the room to the other without making a single noise. He took one of her hands in his, and dropped something into her palm.

Sakura looked down and stared curiously at a tiny white ball that looked like a pill.

"Swallow it." He instructed simply, and she blinked.

"What... What is it?"

"It will keep you from getting pregnant."

"Oh..." Her face was utterly blank at first as she stared in wonder at the small object. She didn't know those things existed... It wasn't that much of a surprise to her, but still, it wasn't something she'd ever thought of before, for obvious reasons. She'd never needed to think about any form of birth control.

But then, as she felt him brush past her and open the door, she erupted. Finally, truly, seriously erupted.

"OH. Ok. I get it. So you do this on a regular basis, huh? You take girls back to your house and...and...do stuff to them...and then when you're done, you just hand them a pill and kick them out like they're nothing? Really?! Is it that easy for you? Are you really that much of an...of an asshole?"

His form went rigid in the door frame, and he listened to her rant while facing the bright hallway.

"Just how many girls have you done this to?! Do you have a stash of this crap in your room, or something?!" Sakura wasn't quite screaming, but her voice was loud enough to ring through most of the house, and when he stood there quietly without even facing her, she felt her anger boil over, and chucked the pill he had given her at the back of his head with a frustrated growl.

And then...instantly regretted it, as she realized what a stupid and pointless move that had been when it tumbled down his hair and disappeared under the back of his shirt. Her fists were clenched at her sides, wrinkling the obi in one hand as she breathed heavily and glared daggers at him. Her eyes twitched from the back of his head to his shirt, then to the floor, as she vaguely wondered where the pill had gone.

Part of her was rational enough to feel guilty at her own childish outburst, but she wouldn't apologize. She felt justified. How was he going to politely invite her—a girl he was barely acquainted with—in for tea while waiting for Sasuke to return, and then just accidentally screw her brains out twice without any sort of explanation, before sending her on her way? He had taken her virginity, for crying out loud. She might be young and naïve, but she wasn't so ignorant that she didn't know this wasn't the type of thing that just casually happened all the time.

Slowly, Itachi turned around and met her infuriated stare, unflinching. He took a single step into the room, and slid the door shut behind him, encasing them in darkness once more.

Sakura, though she wasn't exactly afraid of him hurting her, automatically took a single step backward to keep the same amount of space comfortably between them.

Itachi gave her a long, hard look for a minute, and then grabbed the hem of his shirt and flapped it lightly. Her eyes wandered all over him, before a barely audible click came from the floor. They both looked down, spying the pill at the same time as it rolled across the wood towards her.

Glancing up at him, and then down at the floor, and then up at him again...eventually, she bent to hastily retrieve it, before standing upright again and crossing her arms over her chest, trying not to seem at all embarrassed.

The next few seconds consisted of a staring contest between them, with Sakura stubbornly waiting for some sort of response from him, and Itachi...well...

"Swallow it." He instructed a second time, and watched her finally pop it into her mouth while refusing to let her glare falter...despite wanting to look away from him. It had been so much easier to yell at him while he wasn't looking at her. Ironic, since she'd been pissed at him for keeping his back to her for so long in the first place. Be careful what you wish for...

"They are my mother's pills." He answered her simply, as if she had merely asked him a question, rather than depreciate him with her assumptions. He wasn't mad, though. A little insulted, but not mad. Not that she'd be able to tell if he was, as he was known for having a very long fuse in most situations. But he knew better than to be angry at her for this. She didn't understand, and he hadn't offered her much dialogue. That was his fault, and he knew.

As predicted, her features changed subtly at this unexpected news, into something that was, well...to put it bluntly, it was an oh shit face. He wondered if she was aware of how visible her emotions were, or if they always showed reflexively without her knowledge. He was quite perceptive, yes, but she was also very easy to read, and so it didn't take much work on his part to figure her out.

"She doesn't want any more children. So, yes...there is a stash, but it's not mine." That limited information alone was more than he'd wanted to share, as he was not one to offer personal details about his family too often, but given the state of mind she was floundering in, he deemed it necessary to compromise a little.

Sakure was still angry, but now, she was just as confused. She couldn't say she particularly enjoyed being angry at him. Feeling like this tended to leave her with a headache, regardless of how the matter was resolved. But it was what she had felt he deserved. How could she feel any different? He was just about to walk away from her after everything that had happened.

His gaze was steady and indecipherable, and he didn't wait long for her to find something else to throw at him. He had seen this coming, honestly. He'd just made the mistake of selfishly hoping he wouldn't have to deal with it for a while...or ever. He was tired, he was busy, and though he'd made no mention of it his own feelings yet, this was confusing him a little, too. But now, it was time to face her.

"I'm sorry, Sakura."

All signs of emotion drained from her face as she stared at him. That phrase had been the last thing she'd expected to hear. An apology? Really?

"This has...never happened before." He admitted slowly, choosing his words carefully as he thought. She was left hanging onto his every word was rapt attention, as if he were about to disclose the location to some secret treasure. All she had wanted were some answers to questions that had been driving her mad, and it looked like she was about to get them, finally.

"No, I don't normally bring girls back to my house...for any reason. Most of my time at home is spent eating or sleeping. I don't have enough spare time to indulge anyone else too often. Sasuke can attest to that, I am sure." If nothing else, he'd complain about how infrequently he gets to spar with him.

Sakura looked away from him as she slowly closed her yukata, feeling the first sign of regret as he went on.

"I didn't plan this any more than you did. It just happened." He paused after that, and watched her. Waiting for her to fire more questions. He wasn't about to ramble carelessly, unless she chose to pick his brain some more. And if she wanted to, she'd need to do it now, for she might not get another chance.

Sakura caught wind of this. Though she didn't know him very well, she could tell it wasn't common for him to open up. He was like Sasuke, in that respect.

"But... Why?" She asked, voice absent of nearly all her previous negativity.

"I don't get why it could just happen. It wasn't even once, it was twice. You can't say it just happened. Why did you...?"

"Why did you let me?" He turned the tables around on her, just like he'd done in the bathroom earlier.

Sakura glared at him suddenly, feeling he was simply evading her. But then, he answered for her...

"Because it felt good. It was fun. That's why you let me. And that's why I did it. I don't have a better answer than that. Do you?"

She continued to glare at him some more, flickering back and forth between his dark eyes, but eventually she lost her steam and sighed, looking away. He was right... And no, she couldn't actually think of a better answer. She was just unhappy with the fact that it didn't help her feel any less confused about everything.

"I just don't get you." She murmured after a minute of silence.

"My own father doesn't get me, Sakura. I wouldn't expect you to."

She paused at that, and fell quiet. Well...that changed things a little. This whole time she'd been thinking he was just keeping her in the dark because it was easy, and he didn't really care. But if his own family had trouble understanding him...she couldn't really take it personally anymore. And somehow, hearing this made her feel sad.

Sad for him, not for her.

Her hands smoothed out the winkled obi she'd been carelessly holding captive, looking for something to do as she contemplated. He remained in front of her, watching silently as she began wrapping it around her waist. Her mother usually helped her with it, especially because she had a hard time tying it in the back without it looking sloppy...but for now, her mediocre and crooked bow would have to suffice.

"So... It's...it's normal for you to just...do things like that? Just because you can, and it sounds fun, you're going to do it?" Brows knitting as she looked down at the floor, her hands smoothed over the front of her yukata, shifting everything in place and tugging her obi down a little.

"How old are you, Sakura?" He surprised her, and she looked up at him and blinked, saying in a small voice...

"Uhm.. 15."

Just as he'd thought.

"What kinds of missions have you been sent on?"

She stared at him curiously, clearly not getting where this was going.

"Well...uh... I've been on more D missions than I can count. A lot of C's, too. A few B's, a couple A's. I'm training to be a medic though, so I spend a lot of time at the hospital. Why...?" She watched him nod faintly, never taking his eyes off her.

"How many of your friends have died right in front of you?"

Her eyes widened, and she said nothing...too stunned to speak.

To him, that meant the answer was zero, and he let his eyes fall from hers, and trace over her clothes. He took a step forward, and then circled around her slowly, inspecting her as the solemn stillness crept in around them. When he was behind her, she didn't bother to turn and see what he was doing, but she soon felt gentle tugs at her back, as he took it upon himself to fix her bow.

"You and I see things very differently...because we've had different experiences..." His words were barely above a whisper, and his breath tickled the back of her neck.

"Sometimes I do things that don't always make sense to anyone else. And sometimes, they don't always make sense to me. But I've learned that not everything needs to make sense. I've learned to live in the moment, and to enjoy what I can, and who I can...while I can. And I think, Sakura, that sooner or later, you will understand why..."

"Don't patronize me." She insisted, though her voice was nearly as soft as his.

"I know what it is to be a shinobi. I know how quickly things can go wrong sometimes. I know about death and war. It's inevitable, and I chose this career with that understanding. So please... I'm not as ignorant as you think."

Itachi drifted in front of her, eyes still searching calmly for anything that needed to be adjusted. Then, his hands rose to her chest, and pulled together the flaps of fabric that shaped her sharp neckline. She had wrapped it the same way she had done this morning, leaving the V scooping far lower than it should have. Sakura looked up at him, holding still while he fussed over her. When he was satisfied with the results, he returned her gaze.

"You don't know death or war, Sakura. You think you do, because you've been familiarized with the concepts. You've heard others recant their stories, and you've been educated by your sensei. But you don't know the finality and pain that those things leave you with. Not until you have watched your own teammates fall around you—not until your own friend has died in your arms, will you know."

Her face was devoid of emotion, strangely...she had no response. The air felt heavy, weighted with morbid implications and unspoken sorrows. None of which she had a proper grasp of, but she could feel them there. He had said enough to cease her argument.

"That is why I appreciate every moment...and that is why, sometimes, things just happen."

When she did nothing but swallow quietly, he backed away from her, and turned to open the door. The bright light bathed her, illuminating the vibrant colors that composed her. He looked at her, secretly appreciating the bright green of her innocent eyes, the pastel pink of her hair, and the playful, feminine blue and yellow of her yukata. She truly was, in that moment, a beacon in the dark, with the shadows of the room lost behind her.

Sakura clasped her hands in front of her and looked down. She was still at a loss for words, yet she felt like there was also still so much she wanted to say. There was no time left though, was there... He had to go.

But when he turned and stepped out of the room, she found herself blurting something that her own brain barely had time to filter before it left her mouth...

"Are you like Sasuke?"

He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her.

Sakura swallowed again, feeling like she'd accidentally tripped and stumbled under the limelight long before she was ready to be there.

"I mean... Are you going to...going to follow your family tradition? Marry into your clan and...do what everyone expects you to?" She fidgeted once she was done forcing the rest of her words out, surprised at herself, yet unable to do anything about it now. Why had she chosen to say that? Why now? She didn't know.

He was taken aback by her question, but the only indication was his hesitation as his eyes fell down and lost themselves in the nearly glowing flowers that shielded her legs.

"If I choose to marry an Uchiha, it will not be because it's expected of me." He murmured gently.

The subject of marriage wasn't something he easily talked about, not even with his own parents. She had no idea how rare it was for him to allow her even that little piece of truth...but in that moment, he saw no harming in tell her.

Sakura held the look of discomforted surprise on her face, though whether it was still directed at herself, or at the answer he had given her, was hard to distinguish. Either way, she decided the only thing left to do was to nod, and step out of the room and into the hall.

He shut the door behind her, and lead the way to the front door. The steps that followed him was sluggish. It was obvious she wasn't ready to go yet, despite how desperate she had been earlier to flee and never return. Crazy how fast things could change.

But...that's exactly what their whole day had been like. Crazy, fast, and full of change.

With a demeanor nothing short of sadness and regret, she found herself on the front porch in no time at all, slipping her shoes on her feet with downcast eyes. Itachi stood next to her, waiting patiently as he always did, and looked out at the houses across from them. The tilt of their shadows indicated it was already past noon.

Something dawned on her as she was about to take her first step down, and she gasped quietly.

"What if people see us leaving at the same time? Won't it look suspicious?!" Her hands flew to the sides of her head dramatically as she stared at him.

The smirk that appeared at the corner of his mouth left her bewildered.

"Sakura... Who cares?"

Then, her jaw nearly hit the floor.

"What do you mean who cares?! What if Sasuke finds out?!" She whispered sharply, before looking around quite paranoid. No one was paying them any mind yet, thankfully.

She saw him turning to face her from the corner of her eye, but didn't pay him any attention until she felt him grab her shoulders and twist her to look at him.

"If Sasuke finds out, it's not going to change anything between you two. He doesn't care about you. Not the way you want him to. And he probably never will. In fact, he will be become more of a problem for me than he will for you."

There he went saying those words she never wanted to hear again. Even the second time around, they were tough to endure, yet it vaguely occurred to her that she didn't feel like tearing up this time. In fact, she wouldn't even consider herself crushed, at this point.

"A problem for you?" She snapped incredulously, only for him to nod in reassurance...but he didn't offer any further explanation. Instead, he left her with this...

"You deserve better, Sakura. Stop wasting your energy. You're stagnating in an obsession."

His hand drifted above her eyesight, leading her to believe he was going to pat her on the head...but then, he ruffled her hair in a noogie without warning.

"Ahh!" She yelped and immediately hopped away from him and stumbled off the porch, hands flying up to shield her head from him. Not that he could do much damage, as she still hadn't brushed her hair yet. She blinked dazedly at him while he smiled down at her. It was faint, but it was there, and it wasn't something she expected to see. A brief, mischievous smirk, sure... But a genuine smile? That was...weird.

Leaving the porch for the patchy sunlight that was steadily multiplying as the storm clouds dispersed, he took his time walking up to her. His face, however, melted back into a mysterious, blank mask, and when his shoulder brushed lightly against hers, leaving them standing side-by-side and facing opposite direction, he tilted his head slightly towards her ear.

"The next time you stop by for tea, please show up after eleven. I'd like more than three hours of sleep before entertaining you."

Sakura blushed instantly, missing the last smirk he gave her before he shifted past her and wandered off down the road, but certainly not missing the implication in his last words.

After a few seconds, she turned around...watching his casual gait disappear around a corner as he took a side street to an unknown training destination.

Dear Kami... She'd gotten some questions answered, that was for certain. In fact, she'd gotten more from him than she ever could have imagined. She just didn't realize that fully, because she still didn't know him as much as she should...and she definitely didn't know the way he interacted with his own family, who, although he was fiercely protective of and loyal to, didn't understand him as much as she assumed they did, either.

Itachi was an enigma. A beautiful, mysterious, elusive, wise, powerful enigma.

And she was a little girl in a dress, forever changed by a single encounter... She just didn't know that yet.
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

An Unlikely Seduction