happily ever afters are but an illusion.
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Table: Epsilon
Word Count: 2868
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Oh, there are too many grammatical abuses to count. Run on sentence galore ♥.
Notes: None of them are related to each other (not that I remember, anyway), and are not in any chronological order. Well, I guess it's all AU now since Itachi's dead. It is written for 1sentence .
-
#01 - Motion
Sakura loves watching the members of Akatsuki train, because every person brings a different style, and in different ways, they are each performers - but unquestionably, watching Itachi is her favourite - because unlike Deidara or Kisame when they train, Itachi’s movements are smooth, flawless and precise, and to Sakura, it is the most beautiful dance she has ever beheld.
#02 - Cool
There is chilly draft on the Hokage monument where the pink haired kunoichi is perched, gazing far off into the distance, her mind empty aside from the lingering last words he gave her: even lost and apart, we will always still be under the same sky.
#03 - Young
Twenty-five year old Sakura finds that she is unable to stop herself from saving the elder Uchiha brother from his demise - as much as she wanted to remember the fact that he is an S-Classed criminal, the reason Sasuke is so messed up, and the one that is trying to kill Naruto - she finds that the only thing that comes to mind when she sees the dying Uchiha is the day from twenty years ago, when he rescued her from her demise.
#04 - Last
The last time his face flies by her vision, it is a sight of sorries and lies - there is probably no remorse, regret and apologies, but she allows herself this one fantasy amidst her heartbreak.
#05 - Wrong
“I love you,” he gasps to her in a harsh whisper, and she reciprocates, clawing her fingers into his silky ebony locks - he moans under her touch, and she allows her dull emeralds to flutter shut (for one night at least, she’ll pretend that Sasuke and Itachi are one in the same).
#06 - Gentle
Watching from the doorframe as Itachi stands protectively over their young daughter, Sakura can’t stop the overwhelming feeling that washes through her (a mixture of disbelief, amusement and happiness) - who knew there was such a loving side to Uchiha Itachi?
#07 - One
“Stay,” he murmurs, and she falters in her steps - it is so unexpected, yet expected all the same, “everything will be okay,” and she lets herself fall, lets herself believe for one night that he is no liar, and that everything will be okay.
#08 - Thousand
“They say that if you make 1000 cranes, your wish will come true,” Sakura says nonchalantly as her fingers fold on autopilot, “Do you believe it?” the stoic Uchiha man doesn’t reply, but she sees the slight eyebrow raise and is satisfied; after all, when she had finally acknowledged that she was in love with him, the wish she made on the 1000th crane had come true.
#09 - King
“Checkmate,” she beams at her partner, muffling her giggles with her hand, “You lose again, Uchiha!”
#10 - Learn
Sakura watches Itachi carefully from her peripheral, noting his moves carefully - though her memory had come back more than two weeks ago, she found that she couldn’t bring herself to tell him and be shooed away from his side forever; he was such a complex person, and with every new day she spent with him, she learned something new about him - his addiction with peaches, his absurd hate of green tea - and she just couldn’t let go.
#11 - Blur
Six months is long - long enough to blur the distinction between her and him, to shift her loyalties (even if it is just slightly), and most importantly, to make her forget that he is still, and will always be the enemy.
#12 - Wait
Even Naruto has stopped questioning her odd habit - still, she offers no explanation for them, instead returning, almost religiously nightly to the same cliff overlooking Konoha’s grounds (“-One day, I will return,”), and she had believed, still believes, and so she waits.
#13 - Change
Sakura blushed as she rid herself of the last piece of dripping clothing from her body as quickly as she humanely could, completely aware of her team Captain’s piercing Sharingan gaze (still undecisive as to whether she should feel flattered or violated).
#14 - Command
Sakura hates the understanding look in his eyes, the look of forgiveness and the fact that there is no hatred, no trace of accusation in his eyes as she raises her hand and signals the executioner to do his job - she hates that while he understands and forgives her, she will never be able to forgive herself for choosing duty over love.
#15 - Hold
Sakura smiled as the tears welled up against her emerald orbs, and buried herself deeper in his embrace - giving up the life shinobi life and even leaving her home was worth every moment of living freely with Itachi.
#16 - Need
She clings desperately to his body, her hands roaming his skin, trying to feel all of him at once - what was once a hobby has now become a necessity, and that necessity has slowly, but steadily, turned into obsession.
#17 - Vision
Sakura smiles softly as she strokes his hair and describes the clouds for him - if his sight is beyond her abilities to heal, she’ll do the next best thing and be his eyes.
#18 - Attention
When Sakura runs to heal Deidara, or even Kisame, Itachi feels the unfamiliar uneasiness reside within him, and makes it a point to keep her busy in the future, so her hands are always, only roaming over him.
#19 - Soul
Sakura knows his soul is tainted with the blood of all the innocent - and not so innocent - lives he takes every day; but even knowing this, she doesn’t hesitate to hold the broken man hidden beneath the layers of cruelty - because beneath the blood, he’s just another lost soul.
#20 - Picture
Sakura’s breath hitches in her throat as an old, worn-out paper flutters to the ground before her, the book it slipped out of falling to the floor with a thud, her entire body frozen - moving forward with shaking hands to retrieve the picture, she is unable to fight back the tears as the familiar obsidian hair and indifferent expression fill her vision, bringing back with it the realization that she will never again see that face.
#21 - Fool
Sasuke closes his eyes as the words foolish little brother ring through his head once again - seeing Sakura standing next to Itachi, her body and his standing at such an angle that both protected the other, he cannot help but think that those words Itachi uttered all those years ago are absolutely true - because if he had not foolishly left for his conquest, it would be him that Sakura would fight next to and love.
#22 - Mad
Naruto hides the sorrow on his face as he trudges towards the maximum security area of the mental ward - Room 520 - and pushes open the door slowly to reveal what he knew he would find - a broken pink haired girl, lost in her own world; since the day Sasuke achieved his revenge and Itachi lay asleep forever, Sakura has never woken up again, either.
#23 - Child
Sakura smiled softly as she watched the young girl run around meadow, her raven locks billowing in the wind - even if it took her last breath away, she would protect her daughter from the ultimate fate every Uchiha seemed to submit to - she would protect Itachi’s legacy.
#24 - Now
“Don’t think of the future, the past, or anything else,” she says slowly, her eyes unreadable, “All that matters is now - the present. We’re not living the future nor the past, so as long as we go now and make the choice now, I think we’ll be okay.”
#25 - Shadow
Itachi knows that his life will forever be a shadow - full of evil deeds and haunting pasts; but he thinks that as long as Sakura stays by his side, that shadow will disintegrate enough for him to be able to live with himself.
#26 - Goodbye
He hates her tears, but he never says anything - especially now, because he has lost all rights to say anything about them, since he is the cause - it doesn’t matter if he’s doing it for her own good, he knows there’s no real justifiable reason for his actions.
#27 - Hide
“Odou-san, you’ll never be able to find me!” the childish voice of his four year old daughter squeals out as she sprints out into the garden towards her ‘secret hiding spot’ - Itachi smirks as his Sharingan eyes bleed back into onyx - for his daughter, and only for her (and maybe Sakura, too), he’ll stand to play fair.
#28 - Fortune
Sakura nearly tears her hair out in frustration when she loses yet another round of strip poker - Shikamaru, already passed out from the alcohol is blissfully unaware, Genma is loudly cheering on the removal of her shirt, and Itachi is - well, had she thrown her embarrassment to the wind, she would’ve seen the semi-drunken, amused smirk curling on his lips.
#29 - Safe
“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan - you’re safe now,” her heart brother whispers as he crushes her tightly to his chest as they leap out of the crushed Akatsuki base; she smiles weakly up at him, putting on the front they so expect (what goes unsaid, is how perfectly safe she had felt just minutes ago, encircled by Itachi’s embrace).
#30 - Ghost
When she returns to Konoha, successful in her mission of bringing down the notorious Akatsuki pair consisting of crimson and azure, her ears are filled with the congratulatory hollers of all her comrades, and she smiles for them - but when she is alone, the consequences of choosing duty over love forever haunt her (-I’m sorry).
#31 - Book
Naruto’s eyes sting with unshed tears as he sends out the urgent order to add a new page to Konoha’s Bingo Book - to be listed under Akatsuki, S-classed, Uchiha Itachi’s partner and spouse: Haruno Sakura.
#32 - Eye
Kisame has learned the hard way to not be around Itachi or Sakura when he’s drunk - his mouth seems to know no limits (-“Holy shit, Pinky, Itachi. Imagine if your kid had one red eye and one green eye. He’d be like Christmas all year long!”).
#33 - Never
After he leaves, Sakura lets the tears fall - because even against her better judgement and several warning’s from Ino, she still let herself fall for him, and she knows he’ll never feel the same way, because to him, she’s just a means of release after every mission, and she means absolutely nothing to him.
#34 - Sing
Sakura has never been good at singing - Itachi learns this the hard way when she drags him to the new bar in the downtown district of Konoha and promptly beings to drink herself silly, the reason why she is now singing - or rather, screeching atop their table, her face completely flushed (though he has to admit it is amusing to see the normally (somewhat) composed kunoichi embarrassing herself completely).
#35 - Sudden
Sakura curses - and thanks - all the deities above when the snowstorm of the century hits while their team is busy trekking through Snow Country, and their whole team is forced to huddle together to keep warmth - somehow in the chaos, she ended up pressed tightly against Itachi, their ever stoic Captain.
#36 - Stop
Letting her eyes flutter shut, she wishes time would just stop for eternity - here in his arms, she thinks she’ll never need anything else again.
#37 - Time
Timing is always everything - Sakura knows this now as she watches the man she loves being towed to his death knowing that had she only been minutes earlier, their lives would be much different - they’d be away in a small seaside town, away from civilization together, and both very much alive.
#38 - Wash
Sakura sighed when she retrieved their latest batch of laundry from the drier - her ANBU gear looked about the right size for their five year old daughter, and she made a note to never force Itachi to do laundry again - his gear, drying on the small balcony was perfectly unharmed (oh, revenge is a sweet thing).
#39 - Torn
Her eyes are blank as she stares at the corpse and the man hovering above it, a maniacal smile on his thin lips, muttering unmentionables to the dead man - and Sakura can’t look away, because she chose Konoha, and she knew when she made the decision that this day would come - it was either Itachi or her home and ultimately, Sasuke - when given this ultimatum, she had foolishly chosen Konoha, and subsequently, the fate of her lover.
#40 - History
Selfishly, Sakura muses to herself that even if she had the power to change history, she wouldn’t alter anything, especially the Uchiha massacre (here, she stops suddenly and asks for Sasuke’s forgiveness silently, as she does every night), and Uchiha Sasuke’s death - yes, she misses him dearly, yes she loves him (as a valued friend and teammate - Team 7 will always be her family, no matter what) - because if even one of those events - significant or not - changes, she would’ve never met Itachi.
#41 - Power
“Maybe it’s time you finally opened those precious eyes of yours,” she whispers, teetering on the edge of acceptance and defiance; “Sometimes, some things are simply more important than becoming stronger,” - but when he shows no signs of listening to, or even hearing her, the dejected sigh that had been suppressed breaks free, and she swivels around to promptly walk away (-“When you finally see, I’ll be waiting,”).
#42 - Bother
Itachi carefully files away in his mind not to call his feisty pink haired girlfriend annoying - after witnessing his foolish little brother being used as a ball for the Hokage and Sakura for a game of catch from opposite ends of Konoha after calling the pinkette annoying, Itachi is sure he will never call her the taboo word.
#43 - God
In their world, where power and skill are the only means of survival, thoughts of God have long since been purged from the minds of shinobi - but Sakura, sitting helpless by the makeshift bed Itachi is lying on, finds her faith shifting as realization sets in; her medical skill will only aid him so far, and the rest lies in God’s hands - and she finds herself silently praying to deities she has ignored for far too long.
#44 - Wall
It all started with the paper thin walls of the hotel, the reason her whole life ended up spiralling out of control - now, here, in a completely different situation, him, trapped inside the jail cell, her, on the outside, looking in warily, she can’t help but feel the stab of déjà vu as once again, there is only a wall separating them.
#45 - Naked
Sasuke stares, and stares, and stares; Sakura is blushing furiously, the sheets wrapped half heartedly around her torso and Itachi is simply smirking from Sakura’s bed - Sasuke shakes his head and leaves, making a mental note to never barge into Sakura’s apartment again.
#46 - Drive
Itachi allows the whispers of a smile to slip across his features when the cheery voices of his otouto’s exuberant teammate floats to his ears - for some oddity, she is not the least bit intimidated by his daunting aura, and when her bright emeralds eyes spot him, she rushes up to him immediately, a childish grin on her cherub face (-“Look, Itachi-kun! I mastered that jutsu you taught me!”).
#47 - Harm
“A mistake,” he hisses into her ear, his left hand pressing the sharp blade into her neck - her glistening emeralds flutter shut, knowing it is probably the end, if the hot trickle of blood down her neck is any indication - but a second later, the heat and pressure are relieved from her person, and the last thing she hears is the clatter of metal on the wooden boards.
#48 - Precious
Sakura turns at the sound of her daughter’s voice calling out, and nearly loses the tray balanced delicately on her fingertips to the burst of laughter that cannot be contained at the scene (-“Look, mommy! I braided daddy’s hair - isn’t it pretty?”)
#49 - Hunger
Throwing the cereal box as hard as she could, the pinkette stormed out the side door, a curse of unmentionable curses flowing from her mouth (-“Stupid Uchiha bastard - who does he think he is, eating my last banana cupcake!).
#50 - Believe
Sasuke’s eyes shine with disbelief and Naruto tries to smother a look of complete horror as Sakura tells them as calmly as she can that she and the elder Uchiha brother are dating (-“I cannot believe you are in love with the Ice Bitch.”) - and it takes all the two men have not to go after the Uchiha heir and try to beat him up for even trying to be with their Sakura (try being the operative word).
* credits to Lady Silvamord for coining the term ‘Ice Bitch’. I absolutely love it.
Characters: Uchiha Itachi & Haruno Sakura
Table: Epsilon
Word Count: 2868
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: Oh, there are too many grammatical abuses to count. Run on sentence galore ♥.
Notes: None of them are related to each other (not that I remember, anyway), and are not in any chronological order. Well, I guess it's all AU now since Itachi's dead. It is written for 1sentence .
-
#01 - Motion
Sakura loves watching the members of Akatsuki train, because every person brings a different style, and in different ways, they are each performers - but unquestionably, watching Itachi is her favourite - because unlike Deidara or Kisame when they train, Itachi’s movements are smooth, flawless and precise, and to Sakura, it is the most beautiful dance she has ever beheld.
#02 - Cool
There is chilly draft on the Hokage monument where the pink haired kunoichi is perched, gazing far off into the distance, her mind empty aside from the lingering last words he gave her: even lost and apart, we will always still be under the same sky.
#03 - Young
Twenty-five year old Sakura finds that she is unable to stop herself from saving the elder Uchiha brother from his demise - as much as she wanted to remember the fact that he is an S-Classed criminal, the reason Sasuke is so messed up, and the one that is trying to kill Naruto - she finds that the only thing that comes to mind when she sees the dying Uchiha is the day from twenty years ago, when he rescued her from her demise.
#04 - Last
The last time his face flies by her vision, it is a sight of sorries and lies - there is probably no remorse, regret and apologies, but she allows herself this one fantasy amidst her heartbreak.
#05 - Wrong
“I love you,” he gasps to her in a harsh whisper, and she reciprocates, clawing her fingers into his silky ebony locks - he moans under her touch, and she allows her dull emeralds to flutter shut (for one night at least, she’ll pretend that Sasuke and Itachi are one in the same).
#06 - Gentle
Watching from the doorframe as Itachi stands protectively over their young daughter, Sakura can’t stop the overwhelming feeling that washes through her (a mixture of disbelief, amusement and happiness) - who knew there was such a loving side to Uchiha Itachi?
#07 - One
“Stay,” he murmurs, and she falters in her steps - it is so unexpected, yet expected all the same, “everything will be okay,” and she lets herself fall, lets herself believe for one night that he is no liar, and that everything will be okay.
#08 - Thousand
“They say that if you make 1000 cranes, your wish will come true,” Sakura says nonchalantly as her fingers fold on autopilot, “Do you believe it?” the stoic Uchiha man doesn’t reply, but she sees the slight eyebrow raise and is satisfied; after all, when she had finally acknowledged that she was in love with him, the wish she made on the 1000th crane had come true.
#09 - King
“Checkmate,” she beams at her partner, muffling her giggles with her hand, “You lose again, Uchiha!”
#10 - Learn
Sakura watches Itachi carefully from her peripheral, noting his moves carefully - though her memory had come back more than two weeks ago, she found that she couldn’t bring herself to tell him and be shooed away from his side forever; he was such a complex person, and with every new day she spent with him, she learned something new about him - his addiction with peaches, his absurd hate of green tea - and she just couldn’t let go.
#11 - Blur
Six months is long - long enough to blur the distinction between her and him, to shift her loyalties (even if it is just slightly), and most importantly, to make her forget that he is still, and will always be the enemy.
#12 - Wait
Even Naruto has stopped questioning her odd habit - still, she offers no explanation for them, instead returning, almost religiously nightly to the same cliff overlooking Konoha’s grounds (“-One day, I will return,”), and she had believed, still believes, and so she waits.
#13 - Change
Sakura blushed as she rid herself of the last piece of dripping clothing from her body as quickly as she humanely could, completely aware of her team Captain’s piercing Sharingan gaze (still undecisive as to whether she should feel flattered or violated).
#14 - Command
Sakura hates the understanding look in his eyes, the look of forgiveness and the fact that there is no hatred, no trace of accusation in his eyes as she raises her hand and signals the executioner to do his job - she hates that while he understands and forgives her, she will never be able to forgive herself for choosing duty over love.
#15 - Hold
Sakura smiled as the tears welled up against her emerald orbs, and buried herself deeper in his embrace - giving up the life shinobi life and even leaving her home was worth every moment of living freely with Itachi.
#16 - Need
She clings desperately to his body, her hands roaming his skin, trying to feel all of him at once - what was once a hobby has now become a necessity, and that necessity has slowly, but steadily, turned into obsession.
#17 - Vision
Sakura smiles softly as she strokes his hair and describes the clouds for him - if his sight is beyond her abilities to heal, she’ll do the next best thing and be his eyes.
#18 - Attention
When Sakura runs to heal Deidara, or even Kisame, Itachi feels the unfamiliar uneasiness reside within him, and makes it a point to keep her busy in the future, so her hands are always, only roaming over him.
#19 - Soul
Sakura knows his soul is tainted with the blood of all the innocent - and not so innocent - lives he takes every day; but even knowing this, she doesn’t hesitate to hold the broken man hidden beneath the layers of cruelty - because beneath the blood, he’s just another lost soul.
#20 - Picture
Sakura’s breath hitches in her throat as an old, worn-out paper flutters to the ground before her, the book it slipped out of falling to the floor with a thud, her entire body frozen - moving forward with shaking hands to retrieve the picture, she is unable to fight back the tears as the familiar obsidian hair and indifferent expression fill her vision, bringing back with it the realization that she will never again see that face.
#21 - Fool
Sasuke closes his eyes as the words foolish little brother ring through his head once again - seeing Sakura standing next to Itachi, her body and his standing at such an angle that both protected the other, he cannot help but think that those words Itachi uttered all those years ago are absolutely true - because if he had not foolishly left for his conquest, it would be him that Sakura would fight next to and love.
#22 - Mad
Naruto hides the sorrow on his face as he trudges towards the maximum security area of the mental ward - Room 520 - and pushes open the door slowly to reveal what he knew he would find - a broken pink haired girl, lost in her own world; since the day Sasuke achieved his revenge and Itachi lay asleep forever, Sakura has never woken up again, either.
#23 - Child
Sakura smiled softly as she watched the young girl run around meadow, her raven locks billowing in the wind - even if it took her last breath away, she would protect her daughter from the ultimate fate every Uchiha seemed to submit to - she would protect Itachi’s legacy.
#24 - Now
“Don’t think of the future, the past, or anything else,” she says slowly, her eyes unreadable, “All that matters is now - the present. We’re not living the future nor the past, so as long as we go now and make the choice now, I think we’ll be okay.”
#25 - Shadow
Itachi knows that his life will forever be a shadow - full of evil deeds and haunting pasts; but he thinks that as long as Sakura stays by his side, that shadow will disintegrate enough for him to be able to live with himself.
#26 - Goodbye
He hates her tears, but he never says anything - especially now, because he has lost all rights to say anything about them, since he is the cause - it doesn’t matter if he’s doing it for her own good, he knows there’s no real justifiable reason for his actions.
#27 - Hide
“Odou-san, you’ll never be able to find me!” the childish voice of his four year old daughter squeals out as she sprints out into the garden towards her ‘secret hiding spot’ - Itachi smirks as his Sharingan eyes bleed back into onyx - for his daughter, and only for her (and maybe Sakura, too), he’ll stand to play fair.
#28 - Fortune
Sakura nearly tears her hair out in frustration when she loses yet another round of strip poker - Shikamaru, already passed out from the alcohol is blissfully unaware, Genma is loudly cheering on the removal of her shirt, and Itachi is - well, had she thrown her embarrassment to the wind, she would’ve seen the semi-drunken, amused smirk curling on his lips.
#29 - Safe
“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan - you’re safe now,” her heart brother whispers as he crushes her tightly to his chest as they leap out of the crushed Akatsuki base; she smiles weakly up at him, putting on the front they so expect (what goes unsaid, is how perfectly safe she had felt just minutes ago, encircled by Itachi’s embrace).
#30 - Ghost
When she returns to Konoha, successful in her mission of bringing down the notorious Akatsuki pair consisting of crimson and azure, her ears are filled with the congratulatory hollers of all her comrades, and she smiles for them - but when she is alone, the consequences of choosing duty over love forever haunt her (-I’m sorry).
#31 - Book
Naruto’s eyes sting with unshed tears as he sends out the urgent order to add a new page to Konoha’s Bingo Book - to be listed under Akatsuki, S-classed, Uchiha Itachi’s partner and spouse: Haruno Sakura.
#32 - Eye
Kisame has learned the hard way to not be around Itachi or Sakura when he’s drunk - his mouth seems to know no limits (-“Holy shit, Pinky, Itachi. Imagine if your kid had one red eye and one green eye. He’d be like Christmas all year long!”).
#33 - Never
After he leaves, Sakura lets the tears fall - because even against her better judgement and several warning’s from Ino, she still let herself fall for him, and she knows he’ll never feel the same way, because to him, she’s just a means of release after every mission, and she means absolutely nothing to him.
#34 - Sing
Sakura has never been good at singing - Itachi learns this the hard way when she drags him to the new bar in the downtown district of Konoha and promptly beings to drink herself silly, the reason why she is now singing - or rather, screeching atop their table, her face completely flushed (though he has to admit it is amusing to see the normally (somewhat) composed kunoichi embarrassing herself completely).
#35 - Sudden
Sakura curses - and thanks - all the deities above when the snowstorm of the century hits while their team is busy trekking through Snow Country, and their whole team is forced to huddle together to keep warmth - somehow in the chaos, she ended up pressed tightly against Itachi, their ever stoic Captain.
#36 - Stop
Letting her eyes flutter shut, she wishes time would just stop for eternity - here in his arms, she thinks she’ll never need anything else again.
#37 - Time
Timing is always everything - Sakura knows this now as she watches the man she loves being towed to his death knowing that had she only been minutes earlier, their lives would be much different - they’d be away in a small seaside town, away from civilization together, and both very much alive.
#38 - Wash
Sakura sighed when she retrieved their latest batch of laundry from the drier - her ANBU gear looked about the right size for their five year old daughter, and she made a note to never force Itachi to do laundry again - his gear, drying on the small balcony was perfectly unharmed (oh, revenge is a sweet thing).
#39 - Torn
Her eyes are blank as she stares at the corpse and the man hovering above it, a maniacal smile on his thin lips, muttering unmentionables to the dead man - and Sakura can’t look away, because she chose Konoha, and she knew when she made the decision that this day would come - it was either Itachi or her home and ultimately, Sasuke - when given this ultimatum, she had foolishly chosen Konoha, and subsequently, the fate of her lover.
#40 - History
Selfishly, Sakura muses to herself that even if she had the power to change history, she wouldn’t alter anything, especially the Uchiha massacre (here, she stops suddenly and asks for Sasuke’s forgiveness silently, as she does every night), and Uchiha Sasuke’s death - yes, she misses him dearly, yes she loves him (as a valued friend and teammate - Team 7 will always be her family, no matter what) - because if even one of those events - significant or not - changes, she would’ve never met Itachi.
#41 - Power
“Maybe it’s time you finally opened those precious eyes of yours,” she whispers, teetering on the edge of acceptance and defiance; “Sometimes, some things are simply more important than becoming stronger,” - but when he shows no signs of listening to, or even hearing her, the dejected sigh that had been suppressed breaks free, and she swivels around to promptly walk away (-“When you finally see, I’ll be waiting,”).
#42 - Bother
Itachi carefully files away in his mind not to call his feisty pink haired girlfriend annoying - after witnessing his foolish little brother being used as a ball for the Hokage and Sakura for a game of catch from opposite ends of Konoha after calling the pinkette annoying, Itachi is sure he will never call her the taboo word.
#43 - God
In their world, where power and skill are the only means of survival, thoughts of God have long since been purged from the minds of shinobi - but Sakura, sitting helpless by the makeshift bed Itachi is lying on, finds her faith shifting as realization sets in; her medical skill will only aid him so far, and the rest lies in God’s hands - and she finds herself silently praying to deities she has ignored for far too long.
#44 - Wall
It all started with the paper thin walls of the hotel, the reason her whole life ended up spiralling out of control - now, here, in a completely different situation, him, trapped inside the jail cell, her, on the outside, looking in warily, she can’t help but feel the stab of déjà vu as once again, there is only a wall separating them.
#45 - Naked
Sasuke stares, and stares, and stares; Sakura is blushing furiously, the sheets wrapped half heartedly around her torso and Itachi is simply smirking from Sakura’s bed - Sasuke shakes his head and leaves, making a mental note to never barge into Sakura’s apartment again.
#46 - Drive
Itachi allows the whispers of a smile to slip across his features when the cheery voices of his otouto’s exuberant teammate floats to his ears - for some oddity, she is not the least bit intimidated by his daunting aura, and when her bright emeralds eyes spot him, she rushes up to him immediately, a childish grin on her cherub face (-“Look, Itachi-kun! I mastered that jutsu you taught me!”).
#47 - Harm
“A mistake,” he hisses into her ear, his left hand pressing the sharp blade into her neck - her glistening emeralds flutter shut, knowing it is probably the end, if the hot trickle of blood down her neck is any indication - but a second later, the heat and pressure are relieved from her person, and the last thing she hears is the clatter of metal on the wooden boards.
#48 - Precious
Sakura turns at the sound of her daughter’s voice calling out, and nearly loses the tray balanced delicately on her fingertips to the burst of laughter that cannot be contained at the scene (-“Look, mommy! I braided daddy’s hair - isn’t it pretty?”)
#49 - Hunger
Throwing the cereal box as hard as she could, the pinkette stormed out the side door, a curse of unmentionable curses flowing from her mouth (-“Stupid Uchiha bastard - who does he think he is, eating my last banana cupcake!).
#50 - Believe
Sasuke’s eyes shine with disbelief and Naruto tries to smother a look of complete horror as Sakura tells them as calmly as she can that she and the elder Uchiha brother are dating (-“I cannot believe you are in love with the Ice Bitch.”) - and it takes all the two men have not to go after the Uchiha heir and try to beat him up for even trying to be with their Sakura (try being the operative word).
* credits to Lady Silvamord for coining the term ‘Ice Bitch’. I absolutely love it.