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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
- 7
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Chapter 8: Kiss Me Good-bye

Plopping
her tired self on the chair, Sakura groaned as she lifted her arms in order to
stretch them. Her shift had just ended, leaving her rather moody and with no
chakra to soothe her own pounding migraine.

She hadn’t
seen the Uchiha Heir in four days, but she knew that it was only a matter of
time before they would cross paths again. Frowning, the pink-haired medic
closed her eyes and remembered how bad Sasuke had reacted when Naruto had
confronted him with that little piece of information she found out during her
outing with Itachi.

Like a
cornered animal, the young Uchiha had lashed out at his two teammates, no matter
how she tried to reason with him and no matter how Naruto tried to beat his
words into his head. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he had remarked quite
cruelly that his family was not a topic of discussion between them, because
Naruto was a forsaken orphan and Sakura was just a pitiful, sheltered little
girl.

His
behavior was completely out of line and out of character, but his words had
dealt, once more, a sharp painful blow to her and Naruto. Kakashi didn’t say
anything, but he had told them that as long as his performance in missions was
acceptable they shouldn’t intrude upon matters that were beyond their jurisdiction.

She had
understood, of course, but Naruto was the most hurt from Sasuke’s introversion
and nasty comebacks. And Sakura didn’t forgive the Uchiha for addressing such
hurtful words to the friend that had been with him in the good and the bad moments
of his life.

Inner
Sakura’s opinion about the whole matter was spot on. ‘No matter how much we care about him, he won’t care about us.’

It was
painful, but the truth always came at the point of a knife.

Sighing
deeply, the medic opened her eyes, feeling a certain dread weigh on her senses.
A sharp knock on her office door startled her.

“Come in!”

The door
opened, allowing access to a person she had seen, but never spoken to.

“Are you
Haruno Sakura?” the man asked in a cold, detached voice, so much like that of
his very own firstborn son.

She stood
up swiftly, bowing deeply towards him. “Yes, Uchiha-sama. Please come in.”

Uchiha
Fugaku was a man in his fifties already, with a quite a few white hairs
mingling with the rest of his coal-colored ones. He surely looked his age,
especially with that deep frown curving his mouth as he surveyed the little
office with an open gesture of aversion and arrogance.

“What can I
do for you, Uchiha-sama?”

“I have
come to talk to you, Haruno-san,” the man started, not minding the mute
invitation from her to take a seat. To Sakura, it was an open act of arrogance.
“I have been informed of certain... encounters you have had with my son.”

Sakura
stared at him in shock. “...Uchiha-sama, Sasuke is my teammate--”

“I am not
referring to Sasuke, girl. It is of my knowledge that you have an... association with my eldest son. You sure
know that Itachi is the most prized asset of our Clan.”

The
pink-haired medic nodded meekly, clearly taken by surprise by the man.

“That is
why I have come, to ask you to leave my son to his own devices, namely his
missions and his family. He does not have the time for
pointless liaisons.”

Sakura’s
eyes went wide with shock. She couldn’t believe what the man was implying, and
the Clan Head continued as if he hadn’t seen her reaction.

“It is most
important that my son stays focused on his missions and his duties. He is the
Heir of the Uchiha Clan; I’m sure that this fact alone must have attracted your
attention, especially for someone coming from a civilian family.”

Emerald
eyes narrowed dangerously and her face reddened at the blatant insult, but
Sakura wrapped her inner persona under a leash before snapping.

“Therefore,
I feel that my son’s time is being compromised by your... relationship. I have
been informed of your current situation, and we would be most pleased in
helping you with your studies and the maintenance of your home. This, of course, means your
discretion and your distance would be appreciated.”

Sakura’s
mental leash over her temper got loose when she saw the faint sneer on the old
man’s face.

“Uchiha-sama,”
she began in a low voice. “Know that your son isn’t in any sort of liaison with
me. Neither of them, actually. My mother always taught me to respect my elders,
but the way you just addressed my departed family was both rude and
disrespectful.”

Striding
from behind her desk and opening the door, she completed her lashing out.

“I am the
Hokage’s apprentice and the third kunoichi in the whole village. I have no need of financial assistance, as you might
find upon further investigation of my background. Good afternoon, Uchiha-sama.
I shall not impose you of my presence any longer.”

“How dare
you, little girl--” the man started to say haughtily, but she was far too mad
to pay attention.

“I dare,
Uchiha-sama. No one has any right to badmouth my family, as you can understand.
Family is such a precious thing, am I right? We need to treasure our beloved
ones, even after their passing. Have a nice day.”

Without
waiting for him to step out of the office completely, she slammed her office
door violently. She was trembling with such rage that she almost started to
destroy her own workplace.

How dare
that goddamn Uchiha! Sakura seethed inwardly. How dare that decrepit man to
imply she was nothing but a gold-digger? How dare he to accuse her of taking up his firstborn’s time like she had nothing else to do
but bother their precious Uchiha Heir?

Oh, they
had done quite enough already, she decided, opening her door and stomping her way
out of the Hospital to the Hokage’s Tower. It was time to tell her shishou
about how nice the Clan leader was towards her apprentice; maybe she could tell
off the man, at least, although she really doubted that was the case.

Izumo saw
her approaching and waved, directing his wary eyes to her frazzled appearance.
She appeared as much tired as she felt, but all signs of weariness were completely
forgotten in her anger.

“Tsunade-sama
wants to speak with you,” he said with a nervous smile. Sakura merely nodded
and kept climbing the stairs, intent on her destination.

But as she
entered the Hokage’s office, she knew that something was off.

“Sakura,
what have you done?” the busty blonde said with a worried shake of her head.

“What?”

-X-

“What?!” Sakura shouted in utter anger.
Tsunade knitted her eyebrows in displeasure at her apprentice vocal rage.

“Keep your
voice down!” she ordered sternly. “You knew better than to piss off the Uchiha
Clan Head, Sakura! It was obvious that he wanted you to lose control. Now that
you did, he filed a complaint against you, to me.”

“What?!” her pink-haired pupil repeated
dumbly. “He was the one who sauntered into my office and started insulting me
and my family! Tsunade-shishou, this is outrageous!”

“As
outrageous as it is, I have no other choice but to take you off of the active
roster,” the Hokage said with a scowl. “I want you to lay low for a while;
Fugaku will forget everything in a few months and then you can go back to your
team--”

Sakura paled
so suddenly that her mentor feared she was having a heart attack. “Are you... firing me?” she asked in disbelief.
“After all I’ve done to the village, you’re going to dismiss me?”

“Don’t be
stupid, Sakura!” Tsunade snapped angrily. “I’m suspending you, not firing you!”

Sakura
clenched her fists, feeling her nails imbedding deeply in her palms.

“Haruno
Sakura, Jounin of Konohagakure,” Tsunade declared firmly. “Hereby you shall be
suspended from your duties as a medic and kunoichi until further notice.
Shizune, get this in the log and withdraw Sakura’s name from the mission
roster.”

The
Hokage’s assistant nodded grimly as she exited the office, leaving mentor and
apprentice alone. Tsunade sighed heavily.

“I had no
other choice, Sakura; you need to understand that having the Uchiha as enemies
is not wise,” she said tiredly. “I want to protect you from them, that’s why
I’m suspending you instead of a public scolding. They were going to retaliate
for sure if I let you go like last time.”

The young
kunoichi said nothing, so full with mortification and humiliation.

“Sakura, please
understand,” Tsunade said quietly. “I know this might sound horrible, but I
rather have you safe at home than targeted by that old Uchiha prick.”

“Is...” the
pink-haired young woman whispered, her eyes fixated on the floor. “Is that all,
Tsunade-sama?”

“...Yes.”

Pulling the
hitai-ate from her hair, Sakura walked and placed the plated red cloth on the
Hokage’s desk.

“I’ll take
my leave then,” she murmured, bowing to a frowning Tsunade, who nodded stiffly.

“I’ll let
you know when you can come back,” she answered, but her distressed pupil was
already closing her door.

-X-

She just
couldn’t believe it.

It was so
unfair to be punished when other person was the offender. Especially, when this
offender had snubbed her most precious memories.

Her mother,
her father.

For someone
who had loved and lost their beloved ones she certainly knew how to honor their
memory. Being such a successful ninja was the main matter of pride for her
father, and the story of how Sakura had cut her hair with a kunai to defend her
teammates was one that her mother loved to hear repeatedly. She had sustained
that this episode was the first step in Sakura’s path to independence in a
world of males.

This of
course, brought such an adorable scowl on her Otou-san’s features, prompting
her Okaa-san’s mirthful laughter. Their parents were happy, although they chose
not to fear for their daughter’s safety when she was out on missions.

They
trusted her, and this had meant the world for the young and only kunoichi of
their little family.

Sakura’s
steps were heavy with regret and anger. She felt so overwhelmed that she almost
missed the last step of the stairs, stumbling blindly onto the road.

She needed
to destroy something. She was so upset that she felt like crying and throwing a
fit in front of everyone, but her inner personality stopped her from doing so.
It was better to have a nice breakdown alone, in the privacy of her home; she
wasn’t going to let anyone see how the Uchiha had won.

Dull green
eyes blinked at the street. Most of the passersby were already gone, the night
starting to spread the mantle over the village. Sighing heavily, Haruno Sakura
started to walk, not noticing that someone had spotted her and was making his
way to her.

But the
person stopped when she lifted her head and took in two figures in front of the
very same tea shop she had gone with the Uchiha ANBU Captain. Itachi and Sasuke
were engaged in deep conversation, or at least Sasuke was talking and Itachi was
listening intently. To an outsider – Sakura – it seemed like both were sharing
a familial moment and they wouldn’t appreciate someone barging on them.

Only then,
the magnitude of her suspension took her senses by surprise, stumping her to an
abrupt halt of her feet.

She
couldn’t be with their teammates anymore. She was as good as done for.

Inhaling
deeply, she turned and fled, gritting her teeth to avoid her tears falling in
the middle of the street.

Sensing her
distress and watching her running away like she had seen a ghost, Uchiha Shisui
frowned deeply. His eyes had detailed the lack of hitai-ate tying the roseate
tresses in place, but for the life of him he couldn’t pinpoint what had
happened to the pink-haired medic to flee from his cousins.

...Maybe he
would have to find out by himself.

Uchiha
Shisui was a curious person, after all.

-X-

It was
silly really, how she could achieve new levels of brooding than Sasuke wouldn’t
dream of reaching.

Naruto,
ever the most precious and loyal of her friends, had found out about her
suspension and went to throw a tantrum of epic proportions to the Hokage, only
to have his body sailing over the village like a kite out of control.

Awful for
Shizune, who was the one that went looking for his battered form in order to
bring him back to Tsunade, Naruto kept cursing and shouting about his sister’s
unconventional and unfair punishment, and therefore making the whole village
find out about what needed to be kept in secret.

But
thankfully, the blonde Hokage had foreseen the Uzumaki’s stunt. In fact, she
had been expecting him to create a ruckus. That way the Uchiha would find out
faster, thanks to the gossip grapevine.

This
brought a parade of people to Sakura’s door. Almost all of them asking what had
happened to the usually obedient (albeit grumpy) kunoichi for making their
Hokage so mad that had earned her sorry self a suspension.

Slamming
the door to more than one of her friends’ faces, Sakura decided that these
times were the worst of her life.

And to top
her mood, Sasuke hadn’t sent any word of support nor had come with Naruto and
Kakashi to visit her.

She was
going insane, locked within her home.
Usually she didn’t mind being at her house on a day off and whatnot, but
knowing that she didn’t have anything to do with her punishment, along with her
restlessness for the inactivity made her a woman with a very nasty mood.

Cleaning
the house didn’t help, certainly. She kept bumping either with her parent’s
mementos or her own ninja equipment, throwing her back down memory lane and
keeping her in her sulky, broody state.

Of course,
after a week of this situation, Sakura was about to rip her own hair in boredom
and distress.

A firm
knock on her door brought her from her sullen reverie while she rearranged for
the ninth time her medical scrolls on the little shelf next to the sofa.

“Go away!”
she said after several minutes of knocking. Figuring it was Naruto again to
bring her whatever silly news he felt she needed to hear to cheer her up,
Sakura rolled her eyes and strode to the door, intent into delivering a nice
bump on the blond’s head.

The
knocking started again and she felt her eye twitch. “What the hell do y--” she
started to say as she flung the door open, but the sight in front of her
rendered her speechless.

“May I come
in?” said a deep, masculine voice.

Sakura
scowled. “What the hell are you doing
here?”

Uchiha
Itachi said nothing, keeping his gaze leveled on hers. The pink-haired woman
crossed her arms and stood her ground, intent on having the bane of her
existence out of her doorstep and her life.

After a
minute or so of staring at each other, Itachi blinked.

“Sakura-san.”

“What do
you want, Uchiha-san?” she all but hissed. “Did you come to laugh at my face or
maybe you came to see for yourself about my funny situation?”

“Hn,” he
said, tilting his head a little to a side. “So it was true.”

Sakura
smiled tersely. “Rub it in my face, will you,” she said in false cheerfulness.
“Now, you can go away. Good day, Uchiha-san.”

“I believe
we had agreed to address each other by first names, Sakura-san,” he merely
replied in a light tone. “May I come in or do you prefer to have our
conversation here for the populace’s amusement?”

He never
failed to make her gape openly, his unpredictability throwing her out of the
loop once more.

“Fine,” she
murmured angrily, retreating into her home and leaving the door open for him to
enter. He did so, closing the wooden panel softly behind his back. Entering the
living area, he found the owner of the house sitting in the sofa among a myriad
of scrolls and little boxes that were scattered around the table. A glance told
the visitor that those boxes were medical instruments and ninja regulated
weapons, such as kunai, shuriken and explosive tags.

“I
apologize for my sudden intrusion,” he said politely. The annoyed female huffed
softly, her eyes not leaving the cloth which was polishing the kunai in her
hands.

“You can
sit over there,” she said, pointing a chair next to the sofa. “Are you going to
tell me now why you are here?”

The Uchiha
Heir eyed her levelly again, to make his way to the sofa and sitting next to
the disgruntled kunoichi.

“I have
come to ask you about what you don’t want to reveal to your friends,” he said
straightforwardly. “I heard from Naruto-kun that you won’t come out of your
home. I want to know why.”

“You
already know why, Uchiha-san,” she shot back, narrowing her eyes. “Are you
going to insult me as well? I’ve earned a suspension because of your family and
I most certainly don’t want to do anything with any of you!”

“I see.
Shisui was right, after all.”

“What? What
does he have to do with this? My problem is with your family, not him!”

“Regardless
of your fondness for the idiot of a cousin of mine, Sakura-san, I believe he is
still part of my Clan.”

“That’s
it!” she snapped, flicking the kunai to the table, which sailed neatly and
stuck to the surface in a perfect ninety-degree angle. Standing up, she rounded
the coffee table and placed her fists on her hips. “Why the hell are you here?!
You--you, Uchiha! You are nothing but a gigantic pain in the ass for me! You,
your brother, your father--and the rest of your holier-than-thou freaking
Clan!”

“So you had
a disagreement with Sasuke?” he asked calmly. “That could not be, for you have
already proven him that you are more than worthy of his time. I do wonder
though, the reasons for the Hokage to have suspended you if you both are at
fault about your rift.”

Sakura
gaped, furrowing her brows. “Are you deaf? My suspension doesn’t have anything
to do with your brother, who I’m going to punt into next year when I see him
for being such a prick!”

“Then why
were you suspended, Sakura?” he asked directly, looking at her fiery emerald
eyes. “A kunoichi of your caliber must be out in the field, not locked up like
a caged bird of prey.”

“Oh that’s
so nice of you to say, huh? Get out!” she shouted, pointing at the door. “Your
family did nothing but ruin my life, insult my parents and mistreat me for too
long!”

Itachi
stood up, his thin eyebrows drawing together minutely
at the woman’s ire.

“I’m sure
you can explain yourself better, Sakura,” he insisted. “I will not leave until
you have.”

Walking
slowly to her, Itachi saw how she seemed to withdraw her shoulders in an
attempt to shield herself from an emotional attack. This was added to his
theory, marking what Shisui had said about her when he found her in the street.

“You have
been hurt,” he said quietly. “I want to know who wronged you.”

“And I want
you to leave, Uchiha-san,” she whispered, taking a step back. Her anger
simmered under the sudden desire to put some space between them, her
self-protective instincts kicking in. “Please, get out. Ask Sasuke about all
this if you want to know that badly.”

“Sasuke
doesn’t have a clue,” he responded softly. “He just figures you managed to
upset the wrong people.”

She took
another step back, lowering her eyes and clenching her fists. Itachi easily
recognized that reflex. Bingo.

“He’s
right,” Sakura murmured, still retreating. “That is why I’m paying a high price.”

Her back
pressed against the wall, but still she didn’t look at him. Itachi decided to
take the matter into his hands, raising a hand.

Sakura
almost flinched when he took her chin with two long fingers and forced her
gently to raise her head.

Onyx stared
into emerald that shone with pure hurt and confusion.

“Tell me,
Sakura,” he prodded with a gentle tone. “Answer me.”

To his
inward surprise, she just shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t... I can’t
tell you.”

“Why?”

“Because...
because...” she trailed off when she realized that his face was very close to
hers. So close that she could perceive his scent, fresh and clean but so masculine with cedar and spearmint. So close that
she could feel the warmth of his body. So close that she could see the depth of
his onyx orbs changing slowly into the deep crimson of the Sharingan.

She closed
her eyes with a frightened squeak. “No! Please!”

Itachi
straightened and dropped his hand. He hadn’t realized that his Sharingan had acted
on its own volition, activating itself due to his closeness with such a...
dangerous woman.

Shisui had
confided in him something about that phenomenon, when he related to his cousin
his first outing with the eldest daughter of the Inuzuka Clan. It was more a
matter of trust than self-preservation, according to the elder Uchiha.

Recalling
his friend’s words as the pink-haired female opened her eyes to regard him with
that familiar blush on her cheeks that made her so becoming for him, the Uchiha
prodigy decided then and there to follow his cousin’s advice for the first time
in his life outside of the battlefield.

Inhaling
softly the soft scent of peaches that emanated from her hair and body, Itachi disengaged
his Kekkei Genkai without taking his gaze from hers, placed his hand softly on
her neck and proceeded to press his lips to hers in an impromptu move that made
her gasp.

Unhurried
and planned; that was his kiss in that very moment. He didn’t take advantage of
her sudden intake of air although he very much wanted to do so, engrossed in
the feel of her soft lips against his. She had closed her eyes, her body
trembling with both surprised nervousness and restraint. Conscious of how much
damage her fists could do to him when she regained her wits, he kept his kiss
slow and shallow.

But
something broke his perfectly devised plan when Sakura emitted a low whimper
from the back of her throat, relaxing her lips bit by bit and starting to
respond to him, very cautiously, almost shyly.

His hands,
one against the wall and one on her neck, slid around her shoulders to pull her
lightly to his body.

The kiss,
then, began to transform from chaste and controlled to deep and almost
frenzied. The kunoichi was so responsive of the nudges and coiling of his
tongue that Itachi felt a low quiver in her back. Pulling back, he could see
with incensed onyx eyes that she was flushed red, her dark emerald eyes were
narrowed in pleasure and her hands were entangled in his own hair. She had
responded to her desires as much as he had.

Only then,
he understood Shisui’s words when he spoke about laying claim on a female. It
was so satisfactory that he only could place another quick kiss on her lips
before relaxing his grip on her back and waist.

And then
she chose to talk.

“Itachi...”

He smoothed
her face with his fingertips before pulling back and striding decisively to the
door.

“I’ll be
back, Sakura,” he said in a deep murmur that made her flush once more. Exiting
her house, back within his arrogant façade, his thoughts only were set on
finding out what had happened to her.

And then, staking
his claim for all to know.

-XxX-

AN: Good lord, this chapter was a pain in the butt!

It was so
frustrating to write Fugaku after the latest manga chapters that I almost lost
my mojo. My muse is certainly not pleased with this chapter and neither do I,
but I figured I needed to keep pushing forward if I want to finish this thing
this year, haha.

I’ll have
to let you know though that chapter nine is still in the making. I have a sort
of a writer’s block with this story, especially since I didn’t expect so many
people liking it, heh. I had to re-write the next chapter like four times,
because I felt it wasn’t good enough. I’ll come around soon, I hope. And I
still feel this story would be stalled for some more time. I apologize in
advance, but Manolito The
Muse is not amused with the manga events relating
Itachi.

Many thanks
and love to Sometime.Usagi for her awesome betaings and opinions!

Thanks for
reading!
- 7
- 8
- 9
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